Lady Vulpix

Nice story, Silver. It took me some effort to imagine a cute female Machop, but I guess it's possible. I just wonder what 'bombad' means. Take 9 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Shonata, take 15 stamps for your creative story. I think Trinity's quite an intriguing character, and so are Daisuke and Bandit. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Jeff, I'll do my best to read your battle soon.

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Knight of the I.N.D.E.E.D. after waiting for about 3 years to get a reply.
And how did this forum get into my sig?

TheBlueAvenger

Okay. Here is my conclusion for ths scenario. Whoo, worked long and hard on it...

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***Maza the Abra***

“You… you monster…” I kneeled over Blue’s body, weeping silently. He was covered in burns and deep scratches, and his skin was slowly turning green. It would seem that the Salamence also knew Poison attacks. Previsiona lay not to far away, hurt in a similar manner, although she did not appear to be poisoned.

“How does it feel, worm?” called the man from atop the hovering Salamence. “How does it feel to lose everyone you’ve ever loved? How does it feel to lose your home?” He broke into a fit of maniacal laughter.

I stood up. “You bastard… you destroyed this village. They never did anything to you. You had no right to do this!”

The man put his hand to his chin. “Oh my God, you’re right… what have I done?” A lone tear dropped from his eye, and his hand dropped back down. “Oh wait, I remember now. I don’t care!” He burst into laughter again. “Say ‘goodnight,’ Abra! Reaper, give it full power!” The Salamence turned its head toward me and opened its mouth. I saw sparks of orange flitting around inside, merging together into a massive ball. The orb grew and grew, until finally it shot out of the dragon’s mouth like a cannon. I closed my eyes and concentrated…

…And when I opened my eyes, I stood on the opposite side of the Salamence. The man looked at the spot where I should have been and started glancing around in confusion. I Teleported over to Blue and pulled two Pokeballs off of his belt.

“Previsiona, Mona, return!” Two jets of red light shot from the balls, and enveloped the two unconscious Pokemon; after a second or two, they were gone – resting safely inside the Pokeballs. The man followed my voice and looked over at me.

“Big mistake, worm! Reaper, Rock Tomb!” I quickly buckled the balls back onto Blue’s belt and Teleported away from him. Reaper psychokinetically lifted several giant rocks from the ground and made them hover for a moment. I braced myself for an attack. Reaper moved the rocks in the air…

But not toward me! The rocks were flying over Blue! “You monster! You wouldn’t!” I was openly crying now, the tears flooding down my face.

“Oh, but I would…” the man replied. “Remember the name Armand DiAnnio, for you’ll be hearing it a lot in the future! Now, Reaper! Seal his fate!” Reaper grinned and dropped the rocks. I yelled and very quickly sent out a psychic call for help, but I had a grim feeling that my call had been absorbed by the darkness…

***Cambiamente the Ditto***

“Don’t worry, your friend is doing just fine. He’ll be out in a moment,” said the nurse. The nurse, a kindly, pink-haired woman of about 40, had taken Merc over an hour ago into the intensive care room. She said that Explosion could be a very dangerous move, particular if the user was unaccustomed to using it. Pokemon like Electrode and Weezing, who exploded with alarming regularity, needed only a quick heal and they would be off. But apparently the nurse didn’t get many Mr. Mimes in the Center for Explosion treatment.

99 floated over to my side. “You know that Merc is not going to be happy when he comes back out, right?”

“I know. This will be a major blow to his confidence.”

“I’d be surprised if he ever uses Metronome again.” 99 paused. “Then again, that could be a good thing.”

“How so?”

“This means that when he gets angry with us, he can’t, for example, use Aeroblast or Frenzy Plant or anything like that to kick our behinds.”

“Yeah, he’ll just have that crazy Dragon attack. Let’s not forget the Psychic attacks either.”

“Aw man, you’re right. At least when he Metronomes, there’s a chance that he’ll just Splash or something.”

Just then, the light over the emergency room door went out, and the door opened. Merc walked out, limping slightly. He waved. “Hey guys!”

We moved over to his side and asked how he was doing.

“I’m doing pretty well – I only cough every once in a while, and I…” Merc stopped.

“What’s wrong, Merc?” 99 asked.

“It’s weird… for a second, I thought I heard Maza’s voice. I hope he’s okay…”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” I replied. “He’s with Blue.”

“Still… as much as I love Blue – he’s a great guy and everything – he is still a novice trainer. What if, I don’t know, some psychotic villain with a super-Pokemon attacked him?”

“Don’t worry, Merc,” 99 said. “Blue’s hometown is far enough out of the way that nobody would notice him.”

“I suppose you’re right…” Merc sighed. Then he snapped his head up. “Speaking of psychotic supervillains, wasn’t there a meeting called by the Guild?”

“Oh yeah, you’re right!” I nodded. I turned toward the nurse. “Excuse me, could you tell me where the big meeting is going to be today?”

The nurse nodded. “You want the meeting hall. Just go into the big building on your right when you leave the Center; you can’t miss it.”

“Thank you.” I gestured to 99 and Merc. “Let’s go!” We raced out of the Pokemon Center.

***Maza***

The rocks crashed down on top of Blue. I heard a very loud crack, which I could only hope wasn’t the sound of bones breaking. I glared up at Armand. “You… you… you’re going to kill him!”

Armand rolled his eyes. “My, aren’t we a perceptive Abra? Haven’t you figured it out yet? I destroy things. It’s what I do. Put me and Reaper in a city and we’ll demolish it before you can blink.” He glanced down at me. Or, to be more precise, he glanced down at where I should have been and gasped. I reappeared directly behind him, on top of Reaper. He turned to look at me and was met by a Fie Punch to his gut. I heard a sharp exhalation and dropped back. Armand scowled at me. “At the risk of sounding clichéd, that was the worst, and last, mistake you’ll ever make.” He grabbed me by my head and held me at eye level.

I lit my fist on fire and flailed at him, but he was holding me too far away. “How could you do this… you destroyed the home of not only people, but poor helpless Pokemon as well!” I yelled.

Armand didn’t reply. Instead, he just tossed me off of Reaper’s back. I hit the ground with a resounding thud, but luckily, Reaper hadn’t been too far off of the ground. I turned toward the pile of stones and noticed Blue’s hand sticking out from a small hole. I grabbed it and, pausing only to turn and glare at Armand, Teleported away with Blue.

Unfortunately, I could only Teleport to the entrance of the cave. Armand looked around frantically before locking on to me. “You’re as good as dead, worm!” he howled. Reaper flapped its wings and lifted up, taking off after me. I Teleported into the cave, Blue still in tow.

***Trezzatura the Beldum, after the meeting***

Bobbery, Groviglio, and I regrouped after Lord Absol’s big meeting. “Wow. Things certainly have kicked into high gear, huh?” Groviglio remarked.

“Yep. I remember Blue’s fight against a Crimson Blade. He went down pretty easy, but that Lord Absol made these guys out to be real threats,” Bobbery muttered.

I shivered. I knew that that Lord Absol guy meant well (or at least I was reasonably certain), but he gave me the creeps like nothing else. I was ecstatic to get out of that meeting hall; I could not shake the feeling that Lord Absol had been watching me the whole time – but with those thick sunglasses, who could tell?

Bobbery continued. “But did you see those three Pokemon that came in halfway during the meeting? I think they were a Mr. Mime and a Ditto, but I couldn’t make out the third one. Black as the night sky. Lord Absol gave them such a look…”

“A Mr. Mime and a Ditto, eh?” said Groviglio. “You don’t suppose it was Merc and Cambiamente, do you?”

“Nah, they know better than that. Besides, they were training at the barracks. That’s a long way away,” I replied. “So, do we want to stay here or go out to the lab?”

Groviglio and Bobbery both fell silent for a moment. Then they both spoke up at the same time: “Defense.” Groviglio kept talking, saying, “It’s a lab, so there’d probably be Steel and Poison Pokemon there. Bad idea.” Bobbery nodded in agreement.

“Sounds good to me,” I said. “Let’s head on back to the base.” We turned around and started walking back the way we had come.

***Mercandos***

“Oh man, was that ever embarrassing…” 99 moaned. “Not only did we come in late, but you just had to yell, ‘Oh crap, we’re late,’ didn’t you?”

“Hey! I told you I was sorry!” growled Cambiamente. “Besides, that look that Lord Absol gave us was punishment enough! He is scary!”

99 nodded reluctantly. “You’re right; that man is scary. Those glasses, those clothes… Brrr!”

“Meh, he wasn’t so bad,” I said. “He mentioned, though, that there was a Lord Magikarp around. He must be one frightening guy, if only because he’s named after the weakest Pokemon in existence. …I wonder if there’s a Lord Mr. Mime around?”

“Nah, too redundant – It’d probably just be Lord Mime or something like that. Now, a Lady Mr. Mime, that would be scary,” 99 said. He paused. “Anyway, do we want to stay here or hit the lab?”

“I vote for the lab,” I said. “There must be lots of strong Pokemon there, perfect for training.”

“I agree with Merc,” replied Cambiamente. “I’d like a chance to Transform into some rare Pokemon.”

“Then it’s settled,” 99 remarked. “Let’s head over to where the transportation is. Maybe we can head over to the lab early.”

***Maza***

“I PROMISE you will regret this!” yelled Armand from outside of the cave. I Teleported in quick flashes through the rocky dungeon, making sure that I never let go of Blue’s arm. A loud rumble shook the caverns, making rocks and dust fall from the ceiling. Several Zubats and a few Geodudes emerged from their hiding places and ran for the exit. One of the Zubats was pegged by a falling rock and screeched. I looked around in panic.

That must be one powerful Salamence! I thought. It has the power to create Earthquakes this massive! What did Armand do to it?! I glanced back at Blue. His face was an even more alarming shade of green and his skin felt even clammier than before. Blue’s going to die if I can’t get to a town fast enough… I Teleported one more time and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I concentrated and found myself ever closer to the exit.

Suddenly, a stream of blue flames shot just over my head. I looked at the source – the exit of the cavern – and the intimidating form of Reaper stood there. Armand was sitting on top of it, chuckling.

“You thought you could get away, you worthless piece of garbage,” he said calmly. “But let this be known – I NEVER take prisoners. I make it a point to leave no survivors. And in case you’re too stupid to follow what I’m saying, which I suspect, let me put it in layman’s terms. You will die. Now. There is no question about it. Reaper! Shoot to kill!” The dragon nodded and charged up another lethal blast. The orange sparks played across its mouth, and the deadly orange ball formed again…

***Bobbery the Snorlax***

We sat in front of a building. Several other Pokemon and their trainers were showing up every so often, so we had assumed we were in the right place. Groviglio had brought a magazine, and we were reading it.

“The Blades are an incredibly lethal force, and the ruthlessness of the Rockets are beyond measure,” I read aloud, “but neither of them can stand up to the sheer destructive power of… Bobbery?! Darn it, Groviglio, d’you have to change the words?!” Groviglio snickered as I drew stares from the surrounding people and Pokemon. Trezzatura giggled as a man decked in camouflage pants and a white T-shirt walked up to the group.

“Okay, Dragon Tamers!” he called. Everyone turned to face him. “You have all elected to be here of your own accord, and I commend you for that. We have received word that a few Crimson Blade members have been seen outside of the perimeter. While this is not necessarily an attack, we have to be on guard. Fall into position!” The Pokemon and their trainers moved into a long squad of members, stretching past the building we were in front of. “Now remember, don’t let anyone through! If someone gets past, try and subdue them, but don’t let anyone else through either! Just keep fighting!” He saluted, and everyone saluted back.

“Okay, guys! Let’s be on our toes!” I muttered to Groviglio and Trezzatura. They both nodded.

Trezzatura turned to me. “Hey, Bobbery… I think I saw something behind the building… I’m just going to go check it out. If the fight starts without me, y’know, don’t wait up.” He flew off behind the building.

I rolled my eyes. “Pssh, coward.” Then a loud thumping, followed by the sound of something smashing, then a yell, then a whistling met my ears. The whistling got progressively louder, until… THUNK! I was met with a Beldum to the head.

Trezzatura floated down, still a little wobbly, and apologized. “There’s a Blade back there!” he cried. The man in the white t-shirt heard this.

“Troops, the Blades have started attacking! I want this half of our group to go out back and protect the area. The rest, stay with me!” We were among the group heading to confront the Blade, and we charged off.

***Mercandos***

We reached the meeting area. Already, several Pokemon and their trainers were there; some recognized us from the meeting and started snickering. I glared at them as an Alakazam stepped up towards the center of the group.

“Fellow Dragon Tamers, I am pleased to see so many of you here so early! Lord Absol will be along in a few more hours, but we can be heading off as a primary strike force. Everyone who’s interested can come over here with me.” The Alakazam moved over out of the way, and we and a few other Pokemon and trainers followed him. He lowered his voice. “Now, just stand in a circle like so…” We formed a circle around him. He shut his eyes and glowed with a mystic green light that extended to wrap around all of us. Everything went black suddenly and, just as suddenly, we were returned to the real world.

We were standing in front of an imposing, slightly dilapidated building – some of the windows were cracked and the door we were standing in front of had been almost completely burnt off. The Alakazam stood in front of us and began to whisper.

“Now, the thing is, you need to be really quiet about this. We don’t know what Pokemon are here; we suspect them to be super powerful, so we shall have to be very careful.” He waved his spoon in the general direction of the door and walked into it. We followed.

Almost immediately, a reek of wrongness assaulted us; the smell of failed experiments and old, dried blood is never pleasant. Shadows loomed ominously around every corner, and there were dead electrical devices everywhere. Every so often, one of the devices would jump to life and spray some sparks, shocking (quite literally) everyone in the vicinity. Soon it became so dark that we could barely see each other. I heard the Alakazam’s voice up ahead.

“Guys, I think we are starting to see the Pokemon here… I’m sensing something bad – GWARCK!” He ended abruptly and made no further noises.

99, Cambiamente (currently in the form of a Haunter he had seen traveling with us), and I looked at each other. “I say we go find out what happened to him,” I whispered.

“I agree,” mumbled 99. Cam nodded as well.

“Very well,” I muttered. We charged forward.

***Maza***

I ducked, and the massive burst of energy shot harmlessly over my head. Armand cursed quite loudly, and I used that moment of distraction to Teleport behind him. He looked around and saw me.

“You accursed waste!” With that, he proceeded to curse some more, but this time, he had Reaper charging after me. I Teleported from one rock to the next, tree after tree, but the man would not quit! I found a waterfall and Teleported behind it. Armand failed to see me and had Reaper hover in place.

“Come on out, little Abra… I’ve got a treat for you…” he called in a deceptively calm voice. Then I heard a scream. Despite my better judgment, I stepped out of the waterfall. What greeted my eyes was certainly a treat – Armand had failed to take into account the dangers of the Peaceful Rest Valley. A Territorial Oak had jumped onto Reaper’s back and was viciously attacking Armand in the groin area with its roots. Armand’s curses got progressively louder. He saw me and went berserk.

“You won’t get away from this valley alive – certainly not if I’m having this much trouble! Reaper!” Armand grabbed hold of Reaper, while Reaper shook itself free of the violent tree. It flew up into the sky, leaving Armand’s final audible words: “I will get you! You can count on it!” Two small objects fell from the area of the sky were Armand disappeared and thudded against the ground – they were Pokeballs! They burst open in a flash of red, revealing two very vicious and eager Pokemon – one a Slugma, the other an Eevee. They both hissed at me. I left Blue at the waterfall and stepped in front of them. I put my hands up in a fighting stance.

“Bring it.”

Battle time! Maza (Abra, level 7) versus Crimson Blade Slugma (level 8) and Crimson Blade Eevee (level 15)!

The Eevee charged first, using an Agility to speed up its attack. I lit my fist on fire and braced myself. That is, I tried to light my fist on fire, but it just wasn’t happening. I tried two or three more times, and then it hit me… the waterfall! I was still too wet to do a Fire Punch! Just as that thought ran through my mind, the Eevee hit me with a powerful Double-Edge. The Slugma, on the other hand, was sitting farther away. I wondered what it was doing, until a couple of rocks smacked me in the back of the head. Rock Throw.

I Teleported away from the rocks and onto Eevee’s back. Even though I couldn’t light my fist up, I was still able to punch, and so I wailed on its back as hard as I could. The Eevee shook me off and I landed a few feet away. It barely looked phased at all – as if my punches had had no effect. Slugma slithered over to Eevee and began to breathe fire at me. I Teleported out of the way… and then, to my surprise, Eevee began spitting flames too! They knocked into me, singing my chest. Thoughts were racing through my mind. How can an Eevee use Flamethrower?! That defied all of the Pokemon laws! Have the Crimson Blades been experimenting on these poor souls?

Those sympathetic thoughts were knocked from my brain as the two Pokemon simultaneously hit me with another Flamethrower. I Teleported near Eevee again, and found that my fist was on fire! The fire attacks must have dried me out. I smacked the Eevee across the face with a broadside slap, and it recoiled, singe marks lining its vengeful face. It Growled at me, but it had no effect. The Slugma, behind us, coughed up a vast purple cloud of Smog, falling in a sickening haze. I held my breath and Teleported away from the cloud, but I could hear the Eevee coughing and hacking inside. I knew then… the key to winning here! The Eevee, still wheezing, starting wobbling around in circles. At first I thought that it was about ready to go down, but I thought again when a gigantic thundercloud rolled in and started to pour rain. The smog cloud cleared away, and I noticed that the Slugma was in visible pain. The Eevee also caught my eye – it had turned dark blue, almost as if it were a Water type now. Then it hit me. The Crimson Blades had messed with these Pokemon’s abilities – the Eevee had Forecast! Who knows what the Slugma was capable of!

Speaking of the Slugma, it wasn’t having any more of the rain. It glowed a brilliant orange, and the thunderclouds rolled away as quickly as they had come. The sun shone brightly and Eevee blurred. When it became visible, it was a bright orange. That served to confirm my suspicions.

I Teleported between the Slugma and the Eevee. Slugma took one look at me and launched a massive Fire Blast; at the same moment, I Teleported again behind Eevee. That last Teleport had me feeling pain – all the energy I had expended defending Blue and fighting that Numel was beginning to take its toll. However, the pain I was feeling was nothing compared to the Eevee – it had taken the brunt of the Fire Blast, and it was magnified by the sun’s rays. That was all it could take, and it toppled over, completely unconscious. The Slugma glared at me and shot another stream of flames. I Teleported again, for what I was sure to be that last time. I simply couldn’t take it. However, the valley’s dangers worked in my favor as the flames traveled past where I stood and struck a Territorial Oak. It shuffled over, fuming, and reared back. The Slugma looked noticeably confused, but not for long – the Oak launched one massive root at the Slugma, striking it and sending off into the distance. I dove behind the waterfall again with Blue just as the tree exploded violently.

Battle over! Maza gains three levels! Maza is now level 10!

I stepped out from behind the waterfall, feeling more and more exhausted. I looked around, and as luck would have it, a berry bush sat to my right. I plucked a berry off of it and immediately felt restored; I grabbed another one and stuffed it in Blue’s mouth. While he remained unconscious, the green tint of his skin went away, to be replaced by a healthier-looking skin tone. I grabbed a hold of Blue again and Teleported out of the waterfall.

When we landed, I immediately tripped over a small silvery box. It opened and dissolved, leaving only a fine cloud of dust that I couldn’t help but inhale. After I finished coughing, I noticed that my fist had encased itself in ice. I panicked and flailed my arm and the ice disappeared. I paused and focused once more. The ice reappeared. Interesting.

Maza has mastered the move Ice Punch!

I grabbed Blue and began the trek home.

***Mercandos (a few hours later)***

It had been a few hours since the Alakazam had been kidnapped. We had branched off of the rest of the group to look for him separately, but so far it had not been going well. It remained dark, and the fact that a wild, vicious Pokemon might leap out any second and attack us was not helping our nerves.

Then I got an idea. “Hey, 99. I think we need to break out that attack,” I whispered to 99.

“Really? Are you sure?” he replied.

“Yeah. Trust me.” I focused and a dim aura of power emanated from my hands. Meanwhile, 99 charged himself up and electricity was sparking over his skin. We both released our attacks at the same time. My Hidden Power attracted his Thunderbolt, and they spun around each other in the air like fruit flies. They spun closer and closer to each other until they were just one orb, spinning silently in they air. Then it burst in a brilliant display of fireworks that lit up the entire room. We took a look around us – several Pokemon had fled from our attack, and we were pleasantly surprised to see the Alakazam on the floor in front of us, unconscious. I slapped him on the face, and he immediately woke up.

“Oh! Hey!” he cried, startled. “Thanks! How did you find me?”

“Pure luck,” replied Cambiamente. The Alakazam rolled his eyes, and then paused.

“I’m getting a message… You guys are wanted back at the compound as soon as possible.”

“Well then, it was really convenient that we found you, huh?” 99 replied.

“Yep. I can Teleport you there straight away. Just hold on…”

***Bobbery***

The Crimson Blade had called in several of his cohorts, and we were rapidly being outnumbered. Thankfully, more people came in to fight as time passed.

I was back to back to back with Trezzatura and Groviglio. I was Tackling anything that came my way, Trezzatura was doing the same with Take Down, while Groviglio kept summoning his Hidden Power to attack. Suddenly, a Hypno ran over to us.

“Hey! You guys are needed in the emergency ward!” it cried. It grabbed us and Teleported away.

***Blue***

I opened my eyes for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. The last thing I remembered was being face to face with that Salamence… Oooh! That Salamence! I made a vow right then and there to someday defeat it. Then I took a look at my surroundings. I was in a hospital ward, bandages covering my chest and arms. More importantly, I was surrounded by Groviglio, Bobbery, Trezzatura, Cambiamente, 99, and Mercandos. They all cheered up considerably when they saw me open my eyes.

“Where…?” I started.

A nurse walked over. “You’re back in Sector Alpha. You were quite a mess.”

“But how… how did I get here…?”

“It’s the strangest thing… we heard a knock on the door. When we opened it, we found you unconscious, and an Abra was right next to you, also unconscious.”

I bolted upright. “Maza! Where’s Maza, Mona, and Previsiona?!” The nurse pointed to my right. I turned and saw three more beds, smaller ones, and in them were Mona, Previsiona, and Maza. They all lifted their heads, and I saw that they hall had been bandaged up considerably as well.

I wanted to hear the whole story, but for now, I was just happy to be with my Pokemon again…

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The avatar was made by Orion.

The Born Legacy - On hiatus due to writer's block/school

Plushies: Butterfree, Golduck, Ditto, Armaldo, Fearow, Ludicolo, Hypno, Aggron, Pinsir, Sneasel, Vileplume, Houndour, Feraligatr, Ariados, Arcanine

My Adopted and Captured Pokemon/RP Stories

Tsuyoi's Lair... Join or your soul will forever be lost to the merciless ravages of time and space...

AC/CC items for sale/trade: Endeavor TM

PancaKe

Hey guys - I've decided to give this a go again , but I'm struggling with writers block. If I could get an extension on the scenario at the moment, that would be great. It's a pain to try and write with writers block, but sometimes, I think that's the only cure. *sigh* ^_^

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Lady Vulpix

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Knight of the I.N.D.E.E.D. after waiting for about 3 years to get a reply.
And how did this forum get into my sig?

Lady Vulpix

Sorry about the double-post, but I made the previous post more than 2 days ago and no one would have noticed if I'd editted in.

Jeff, I liked your story, and how it intertwined with Silver's. Though according to my intro, which I posted before you did, the meeting took place before the Guild opened to the public. Maybe there was another meeting among the Dragon Tamers for those who missed the first one? Take 6 stamps. ¢¢¢¢¢¢

__________________

Knight of the I.N.D.E.E.D. after waiting for about 3 years to get a reply.
And how did this forum get into my sig?

TheBlueAvenger

Oh, whoops, I forgot about that little detail. ^^; Thanks.

Now, is that just for the intro, or is it also for the thing I posted on this page?

__________________

The avatar was made by Orion.

The Born Legacy - On hiatus due to writer's block/school

Plushies: Butterfree, Golduck, Ditto, Armaldo, Fearow, Ludicolo, Hypno, Aggron, Pinsir, Sneasel, Vileplume, Houndour, Feraligatr, Ariados, Arcanine

My Adopted and Captured Pokemon/RP Stories

Tsuyoi's Lair... Join or your soul will forever be lost to the merciless ravages of time and space...

AC/CC items for sale/trade: Endeavor TM

Lady Vulpix

It was for your intro. For your post on this page you can have another 16 stamps. The sudden scene changes were a bit confusing and took me some getting used to, but it was quite an interesting story. Maza had a really rough time over there; he made it through very well. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

__________________

Knight of the I.N.D.E.E.D. after waiting for about 3 years to get a reply.
And how did this forum get into my sig?

*Murkrow

May I have an extension please? I have most of the battles sorted out, it's the rest that's causing me problems o_O I can't think of a decent intro to save my life at the moment.

Lady Vulpix

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Knight of the I.N.D.E.E.D. after waiting for about 3 years to get a reply.
And how did this forum get into my sig?

Kerel

??:?? - Sewage

-Damn, Bruce, it's too dark to see my watch.
-Well, I don't think I can help you with that, but I think that maybe if we turn left now we might find an exit to this labyrinth.
-Look, I got us into this and therefore I'm the only one who can get us out.
-That's not a logical...well...it's you.
-Hey, just follow me. We'll find the Tauros when we least expect it.

++++++
In the meantime in a parallel universe:

Kerel: Hello, Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, and all you people that don't fit any of those. Welcome to Our TV Special Episode. Yeah We've been through a money crisis, and we need stamps, we heard our battles hadn't been awesome enough or descriptive enough to get lots and lots of stamps (even though we are grateful and definitely not complaining for what we already got), so... This time we decided to hire A Special Effects team for our show, so we can make this the most amazing battle ever!!!.

And Remember, if you want to donate Stamps to Our TV show, some of them might actually be donated to the poor children from Himalaya who dont have stamps to send their letters. So call us to 1-800-STAMPS4KEREL and donate!!!!

Just think about those poor kids...

well, now lets go back to the battle:

??:?? +10 or so minutes, deep inside the darkness:

Bruce: Kerel, have you noticed we seem to be being followed by lots of people carrying filming equipment???

Kerel: That's ridiculous!, lets just go on.

Few metters behind:
Maria (whispering): do you think they noticed us?
John: I don't know, have you finished applying the make up to the Tauros?
Maria: I think so, but it's so dark in here.
John: Very well, let's release it.

At that moment, lots of lights suddenly turned on. We were at some huge circular chamber and it was all plain blue...eh...I guess I saw that wrong...there were buildings, as if we were back in the streets.

We could see the Tauros, It looked big and angry, its scar close to his eye reminded me of a character from the lion king, but it's not about that what we're gonna talk now.

Other world:

It's about donations!!!

Welcome back, the most exciting battle is about to begin, and the phones seem to be already ringing, remember you can make a small Himalayan kid happy today. They need stamps and YOU can make a difference.

Now back to the Stage:

BATTLE: LEVEL 7 TAUROS VS LEVEL 7 BRUCE (Zangoose):

Bruce
Zangoose lv.7 (M)
Moves: Scratch, Leer, BOM: Strength
Trait: Immunity (Cannot be poisoned.)
Uncanny patience

HP 31
Attack 25
Defense 17
Speed 22
Special Attack 17
Special Defense 17

Tauros Enemy:

Tackle NRM
Stomp NRM
Leer NRM
Tail Whip NRM

HP 31
Attack 23
Defense 22
Speed 24
Special Attack 15
Special Defense 19

-K:Alright Bruce, Here he comes and I've already learned that sending the Gastly against a normal type pokemon would be pointless so you go!!
-Bruce: Wait a moment, You learned something??
-K: Just go!

The Tauros started running angrily towards Bruce and used his STOMP on him.
There was a big explosion and Bruce was sent flying 10 meters from that place.

*slow..mo..t..i..o..n* While he was flying Bruce turned around in mid air and landed in a Ninja pose* (and when he landed he was already wearing a black ninja outfit.

B: This is weird. I'll use Leer on Him.

Bruce stared at the Tauros, and from his eyes Red Lasers came out, the Tauros tried to dodge that but he coudn't.

The Tauros wich was already surrounded by a Blue anime styled flame Decided to Tackle Bruce.

Like a Blue Fireball, the Tauros shot himself towards Bruce,
Bruce jumped just in time and The FireBall hit a hellicopter wich crashed into a nearby Building.

Cut and paste MATRIX scene here.

Tauros: We will end this n??:?? - Sewage

-Damn, Bruce, it's too dark to see my watch.
-Well, I don't think I can help you with that, but I think that maybe if we turn left now we might find an exit to this labyrinth.
-Look, I got us into this and therefore I'm the only one who can get us out.
-That's not a logical...well...it's you.
-Hey, just follow me. We'll find the Tauros when we least expect it.

++++++
In the meantime in a parallel universe:

Kerel: Hello, Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, and all you people that don't fit any of those. Welcome to Our TV Special Episode. Yeah We've been through a money crisis, and we need stamps, we heard our battles hadn't been awesome enough or descriptive enough to get lots and lots of stamps (even though we are grateful and definitely not complaining for what we already got), so... This time we decided to hire A Special Effects team for our show, so we can make this the most amazing battle ever!!!.

And Remember, if you want to donate Stamps to Our TV show, some of them might actually be donated to the poor children from Himalaya who dont have stamps to send their letters. So call us to 1-800-STAMPS4KEREL and donate!!!!

Just think about those poor kids...

well, now lets go back to the battle:

??:?? +10 or so minutes, deep inside the darkness:

Bruce: Kerel, have you noticed we seem to be being followed by lots of people carrying filming equipment???

Kerel: That's ridiculous!, lets just go on.

Few metters behind:
Maria (whispering): do you think they noticed us?
John: I don't know, have you finished applying the make up to the Tauros?
Maria: I think so, but it's so dark in here.
John: Very well, let's release it.

At that moment, lots of lights suddenly turned on. We were at some huge circular chamber and it was all plain blue...eh...I guess I saw that wrong...there were buildings, as if we were back in the streets.

We could see the Tauros, It looked big and angry, its scar close to his eye reminded me of a character from the lion king, but it's not about that what we're gonna talk now.

Other world:

It's about donations!!!

Welcome back, the most exciting battle is about to begin, and the phones seem to be already ringing, remember you can make a small Himalayan kid happy today. They need stamps and YOU can make a difference.

Now back to the Stage:

BATTLE: LEVEL 7 TAUROS VS LEVEL 7 BRUCE (Zangoose):

Bruce
Zangoose lv.7 (M)
Moves: Scratch, Leer, BOM: Strength
Trait: Immunity (Cannot be poisoned.)
Uncanny patience

HP 31
Attack 25
Defense 17
Speed 22
Special Attack 17
Special Defense 17

Tauros Enemy:

Tackle NRM
Stomp NRM
Leer NRM
Tail Whip NRM

HP 31
Attack 23
Defense 22
Speed 24
Special Attack 15
Special Defense 19

-K:Alright Bruce, Here he comes and I've already learned that sending the Gastly against a normal type pokemon would be pointless so you go!!
-Bruce: Wait a moment, You learned something??
-K: Just go!

The Tauros started running angrily towards Bruce and used his STOMP on him.
There was a big explosion and Bruce was sent flying 10 meters from that place.

*slow..mo..t..i..o..n* While he was flying Bruce turned around in mid air and landed in a Ninja pose* (and when he landed he was already wearing a black ninja outfit.

B: This is weird. I'll use Leer on Him.

Bruce stared at the Tauros, and from his eyes Red Lasers came out, the Tauros tried to dodge that but he coudn't.

The Tauros wich was already surrounded by a Blue anime styled flame Decided to Tackle Bruce.

Like a Blue Fireball, the Tauros shot himself towards Bruce,
Bruce jumped just in time and The FireBall hit a hellicopter wich crashed into a nearby Building.

*** Cut and paste MATRIX scene here. ***

Back to the Alley where they were fighting:
The Tauros ran towards Bruce, it seemed impossible for our hero to dodge it and sudenly...

Parallel world:

Now this is Action, isn't it!? I bet you like it as much as we do! So lets look at our donations panel, remember we accept Stamps, Coins, Golden Dragons, Fake Dragon Guild's membership cards, Video Game consoles and of course TMs and HM.

Donation Panel:

Stamps 0
Old books: 4
Rusted pipe: 1
Lousy Underpants: 3
Fake membership: 1

Well, that's something but YOU still have time to donate, and please if someone named ..."Alan Davenport" would like to retrive his undies, we are eagier to return them.

Back to the Battle:

Bruce wearing a Green Lantern's ring and the Tauros in a Bikers outfit.

Bruce grabbed the Stampeding Tauros by his horns and threw it away using his STRENGTH attack.

IT'S A CRITICAL!!! (Real Virtual dice rolled here, ask Lady Vulpix if you don't belive me)

The Tauros Was thrown again into the air and got through the Brick Wall at the end of the alley, Destroying it along with the following 3 buildings. (BIG CRASH SFX). Lots of dust was lifted and nothing could be seen besides it.

Then the Tauros already a little dizzy but furious Charged towards Bruce, but instead of dodging it, in a risky and not recommended for (himalayan) children maneuver, Bruce hit him with a donated rusty pipe and made the final damage point, while getting hit himself too.

Both were thrown against a Big pipe which broke releasing a lot of water and destroying the whole place.

In a very very smart action, I released Whale Lord So he could Surf us outta There, and The Tauros used Surf too. AND YES, A TAUROS CAN USE SURF!!

Bruce: According to my pokedex its true.

We got Back to the Spanish Community City and then...flooded it.

But after a while it was ok, and I delivered the Tauros, or "El Torou" and then...

Alternate world:

Well well... Looks like our donations Finally touched some one for we were donated 1 million Dollars, which unluckily were claimed by our SFX team, but well, that's how life is, but remember you STILL can make a difference, so your donations will still be accepted even after our show, so just Give us a Call, and Thank you everyone for Watching!!! Kerel Out.

Screen turns black.

AntiAsh Superstar

Uhh... whoops, I got very muchly carried away and even part one is a two-poster. Please don't kill me for inflicting so much reading on anyone who's trying to keep up with my stories.
---
Somewhere in the world, in the middle of a top-secret complex, Leona Doyoku was busy tending to her squadron. It was their big day tomorrow, and she wanted everything to be perfect.
"Vital signs... all good. Psychic readouts... stable. Check, check and check." The short woman, dressed entirely in red aside from her black miniskirt and high heels, smiled to herself with satisfaction, surveying the scene in from of her with no small amount of pride. Large, casket-like metal cases covered in wires and lights covered the room. Machinery constantly buzzed. Computers constantly performed their duties. Oh, how long it had taken to reach this stage! The equipment had been a pain to get. They had been constantly having to siphon off small amounts of money from Team Rocket's funding. Cryogenic capsules didn't come cheap, after all. Nor did machinery capable of dealing with the complex matter of psychic energy. And how many test subjects had died in the months leading up to this? Leona had lost count. Still, what did that all matter? She was here now. With her babies. The ones who would help usher in the anarchy of the new world.
"Nervous, Leona?" Suddenly she felt arms around her. Sighing, she let herself lean into this newcomer, a tall, skinny man with mid-length, messy blonde hair. Tenderly he planted a kiss upon her cheek.
"Of course I'm nervous. Tomorrow will either make or break me. And whilst they all look okay I'm worried. You might have been the fluke success, Dagger."
"I hardly think that's the case." The man allowed himself to be led over to the only cryogenics tube that lay empty. He allowed Leona to help him off with his shirt, revealing a surprisingly large amount of muscle behind the thin frame. And then he lay down in the tube, wires being fastened to his body even as the two talked. "You set your mind to a project. And you delivered. You are the greatest scientific genius this world has seen. I bear the proof of that."
"I'm glad you were a success, Dagger," Leona smiled, leaning over and planting a soft kiss on the man's forehead. "Nobody else would bother saying that. Armand is a most generous employer but he stinks at being supportive. Anyway, you get your rest. You have a big day tomorrow."
"Agreed. Tomorrow we stop playing around. With the last pockets of Rocket resistance being slowly wiped out we can get on with the plan, right?"
"Right," Leona smiled. "Sweet dreams, Dagger." Slowly the lid of the tube closed upon the most successful assassin of his time.
"I don't dream, Leona," he managed to comment before becoming completely sealed in. "But if I did, I would only dream of you."

"Jeez." The past few days had been trying indeed for Rhiannon. Not that there was anything palpably wrong with the world, of course. In fact, Pandora's forced absence aside, life had been a positive breeze. Even Milliardo, who normally would have made life hell for his teammates without his mate's positive influence, seemed simply too depressed to even be bothered mocking the others. No, what was wrong with Rhiannon didn't lay within the confines of the four walls that housed her friends. It lay outside, in the big wide world. It lay waste to everything it passed just for the sheer sport of it. And what made it all so much more vexing was that, for the first time since her childhood, Rhiannon lacked the strength to do anything about it. No amount of genetic mutations and schoolings in the black arts were going to help against one who had undergone the exact same training. Especially one who had thrived under those evil conditions that lay hidden deep within the Jolteon's past. Inwardly she shuddered. Why was it so hard to just be a normal pokémon for once? Why couldn't she leave behind the darkness? The pain? Why did trouble seem to follow her like a bad stench? Sadly she shook her head. "What am I gonna do, huh? She keeps getting me in these messes and I guess I have to follow through once they've started, but... I wish life could just be simple for once." The Jolteon paced around in the relative solitude of the garden at midnight, safe in the knowledge that nobody would be able to see her. "No such luck, though, Rhi. Oh well. So what're we supposed to do? Take stock of what resources we've got available, I guess. No point in me suggesting anything before I know what's there to do stuff with in the first place. Then, I guess, we ad lib it from there and hopefully she won't take over in the middle of it all and get someone killed. Aagh!" The Jolteon let out a small scream of frustration. "This is impossible! God dammit, Amon, why did you have to go and die on me? I could use your help right about now. Some tactical advice, for instance. Or even a little nuzzle would be nice."
"Uh... R... Rhiannon?" The Jolteon gave a start and turned around sheepishly, looking as if she had just been caught in the middle of doing something naughty. It was only Brandy, the timid Onix who was forced to live in the garden due to lack of space indoors. "Are... are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah, Brandy, I'm fine!" Rhiannon bluffed. "I couldn't sleep, that's all. And it's really annoying, everyone else can, obviously, and there's nobody for me to play tag with! No fair!" Brandy didn't have to respond. Rhiannon could tell what she was too shy to say. It sure didn't sound like you were pissed off about tag, Rhi. "Oh great." The Jolteon's ears drooped. "Yeah, I can take things seriously when I have to, it wasn't just my weird side that got the military training, you know. 'Course, don't let anyone else know that. I'd much rather have somebody else doing the leading."
"S... well, me too." That was at least something that Brandy could identify with! The Onix was far too submissive for her own good. "Why do you pretend to... to... well, be like Ryo-Ohki, basically?"
"Because it's fun!" Rhiannon grinned. "I don't like having to be serious. I really would rather just play games all day and collect dolls. But..." Here her tone changed abruptly. "...but sometimes the time for fun and games has to end. Ulthuan still isn't safe. The Crimson Blades haven't been dealt with, and until they are we have to be prepared for every eventuality." Here she offered a weak smile. "That's just the way it is. Anyway, go back to sleep, Brandy. None of this is worth you worrying over. We're sorry if we disturbed your rest." With a silent nod the Jolteon walked back inside the house. Leaving one very confused Onix wondering exactly what important events she must have somehow missed.

To: All Dragon Tamers members

You are requested to attend an urgent meeting concerning a potential threat to national security. Your assistance in this matter will be invaluable, although full details can only be discussed at the meeting itself. Kindly be at 278 High Rise by 9pm sharp today for a full briefing.

From: Dragons Guild, Tactical Neutralisation Unit

I stared at the memo in my hand over and over, trying very hard to make some sort of sense out of it. Sadly 'sense' was something that seemed in rather short supply lately. No matter how much I pondered there seemed no logical explanation for the communication at all. Hadn't the Guild been trying very hard to stop us from getting in the way for the past few months? What had caused this sudden change of heart?
"Anyone else think they can make any sense out of this?" As ever when I had no ideas of my own, I turned to my pokémon for advice. Or at least those who were in the room at the time. Which basically amounted to Pearl, Marius, Thunderblast and Bolovayr.
"Have you tried contacting Gabi?" Pearl asked.
"Yeah. And Amy. And Karin. None of us have a clue what this is about. The Guild's getting stranger by the day."
"Give me that." The memo was rather rudely tugged out of my hand by an unseen force and found its way over to Thunderblast. The Raichu squinted at the words for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders. "Makes sense to me. There's a meeting at 9pm at 278 High Rise. What more do you want it to say?"
"An explanation as to what the meeting's about would be nice."
"Well it says the full details will be discussed at the meeting, doesn't it? God you can be dense sometimes, Ade." For a moment it seemed as if Thunderblast was about to say something else, but then she paused for a second, cocking her head to one side curiously. "The door, Ade."
"What?"
"The door. It needs answering." I listened carefully but heard nothing at all. Had the Raichu got it wrong? Unlikely. Thunderblast may have been a lot of things – eccentric, overly pushy and unpredictable to name but a few – but she rarely made mistakes. And sure enough, ten seconds later there came an urgent rapping at the front door. "Told you."
"I would have thought performing stunts like that would have long since lost any iota of entertainment they may have once held for you," Marius commented with a smile. "Were you always such a show-off?"
"No," came the honest reply. "It's you guys. You bring out the worst in me."
"Well at least you're honest, I guess," I chuckled, getting up from my seat and heading for the front door. "It's okay, Soo, I've got it!" I called up the stairs to where Soo was, I assumed, too enthralled with playing The Sims 2 to notice much else. "Hello?" I opened the wooden door with a loud creak. And then stood, slack-jawed, at the sight which greeted me.
"Hi Ade," Gina grinned brightly, decked out in a black catsuit and looking like she had gone several rounds with a championship boxer. Behind her stood Kirei's elder sister Adreena, her lover Tamotsu and an Eevee and Tyranitar I didn't recognise. And in her arms... a petite, almost cute Houndour with several prominent scars across her limbs, a Houndour who practically leapt out of Gina's arms upon seeing me, a look of sheer joy upon her face. My friend held the pokémon out towards me. "Does this belong to you, by any chance?"

"So that how it is." An hour passed. An hour in which Gina had done her best to explain the events that had led her to my doorstep. An hour in which Milliardo and Pandora had conveniently made themselves scarce, my Umbreon commenting 'we have some catching up to do' as they left the room side by side. An hour in which Gina's Minun, Chiro, made a nuisance of himself trying to chat up Kaguya and/or Yuki. And an hour in which I became more and more unsettled with every passing moment. "I have no idea what they're planning. But I do know we ought to be worried if a single assassin can pack that much power. I mean, it's not just that I got by butt kicked. Hell, I might be in pretty decent shape but I'm no fighter. It's the way he moved, the way he went about it all. It wasn't human."
"Great. That sounds just what we needed." I rolled my eyes. "Listen, Gina, I know you hate paperwork and all, but I don't suppose you can file out an official report on this, do you? We should probably let the Dragons Guild know about this. Or at least the parts of the Guild we have access to." When it came to the Guild I was no nearer to finding out everything I wanted to know. They'd even employed me full time, but that didn't help any. All I could gather was that there existed at least one arm of the Guild that seemed to operate on its own whims. And there were probably more. The entire management and organisational structure seemed a total nightmare. For a start, not a single person seemed to know who the current Dragon Master was. Then there was the total lack of communication rife throughout the Guild. Everyone seemed to have their own little secrets and agendas. All I could do was to help out where I could, assisting in the induction and training of new recruits to the Guild and sitting around its great library poring through books and reports and getting myself even more confused than ever.
"If I have to," Gina sighed with forced despair. "Dear Dragons Guild. I got my head handed to me by a weird psychic assassin who moved faster than a speeding Rapidash. Please sort this out before he strikes again and I get myself killed. Love Gina Williamson. That do you?"
"Not quite what I had in mind. I mean, it'll do me but I doubt Lady Ninetales or any of the higher up Lords would be too impressed."
"Fine, I'll do it the boring way then. Anyways, time I was getting back home. I need a decent bubble bath and a large bottle of red wine. By tomorrow morning I'm going to be hurting like hell."
"I'll bet. You really ought to have those injuries seen to, though." I rose to show my friend out, but then one of those sudden, random thoughts struck me. It happened all the time. I'd be in the middle of something and then my train of thought would take a totally unexpected swerve. And these swerves often turned out to be the most useful thoughts of them all. "Say, before you go, I remember a while back your work place was having an official Guild inspection, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, that's right. Why bring that up?"
"Do you remember Lord Absol much? What he was like, anything about him at all?"
"He gave me the creeps," Gina mused, casting her mind as far back as she could. "Real weird guy. He dressed a bit like you do, Ade. You know, all over the top black and silver. But he was almost totally covered up by clothing. I couldn't even see his face properly because he was wearing sunglasses. What I did see was enough though. He had a very gaunt look about him. He kept asking really weird questions, nothing about my work at all. Oh, and he seemed to have a weird thing about contact. He wouldn't shake hands or anything. Fact is, he scared me a bit."
"Uh huh." I couldn't tell Gina about the really weird thing about the whole incident. One of the first things I did when I had a free moment in between my work at the Guild was look for the report on this inspection. There hadn't even been an inspection scheduled in the first place.
"Why are you asking about him?" Gina asked.
"Oh, the guy's pretty much ordered us to a meeting, that's all."
"Cripes. Poor you. Trust me, Ade, the less time you have to spend with that guy the better." Gina's words were less than comforting. But I couldn't help feeling she was probably speaking the truth.

9pm came and went. I swiftly discovered that anything Gina had to say about Lord Absol was simply sugar-coating things. The man was cold. He spoke in a calm, detached manner. He answered questions with a clinical precision, only giving out the barest minimum to keep his inquisitors happy. And if there were ever any interruptions – a handful of Dragon Tamers and their pokémon stumbling in late with mumbled apologies, for instance – not even the large sunglasses could fully hide the murderous looks he would throw. After the breifing everyone left with a deep sense of unease. Maybe me more than most.
"So what will you be doing?" the man asked me after the meeting. "I've already got decisions from the other Dragon Tamers staff members."
"I think I ought to stay here and help defend the city."
"Good. We could use a few more experienced pokémon in the force we're getting assembled." He turned back to his papers, then returned his attention to me once again. "Yes? Was there anything else?"
"Actually there was. Why did you pull that stunt with my Houndour a few weeks ago?"
"I have no idea what you're babbling about, man."
"Bull." Lord Absol turned to look at me straight on. A chill ran through my body that I couldn't quite explain. It was almost like that weird sensation of fear that passed through you when you met the gaze of Tsuyoi, the selfish being that seemed to love meddling in my affairs. Only not quite. When he looked at you you could feel his powers rummaging through your mind. At least Lord Absol's gaze was just creepy rather than possessed of unnatural abilities.
"You're no fool, are you?" Lord Absol commented with a hint of a smile. "I can see I'm going to have to watch you. I'm very sorry about having to do that but I needed to buy myself a little time. Whilst you were busy fretting over that minor – and I do mean minor, I note your Houndour has returned to you with very few signs of ill effects – problem you weren't potentially interfering in my business."
"And what is your business?"
"I'm tired of this." The man rose to his feet. "You don't have the authority to ask a question such as that, much less expect an answer. Just get your Dragon Tamers to do the job that is required of them and I will do what is required of me. You have twelve hours before we need to assemble to brace ourselves against the Crimson Blades. Don't let me down." With this Lord Absol simply breezed past me and out of the room. Leaving me even less sure of myself than ever.

"So how are the new recruits coming along?" With so little time left to me I really had to rush to fit everything in. I had brief words with the other Tamers staff, most of the conversation being geared towards how none of us trusted Lord Absol an inch. I tore back home to peck Soo on the cheek, trip over Kassandra and apologise for having to rush out again. Then I headed for the Dragons Guild complex to check up on things there and try to conduct a little research on my new least favourite person. Sadly that was a no-go. Every time I thought I found a lead on Lord Absol's division the files seemed to be either conveniently missing or kept under tight security. So I ended up flopping upon one of the bunk beds located within the Guild's barracks and staring abjectly at the ceiling, Rhiannon sat upon my legs. The Jolteon seemed to be in her element at the Guild and spent a great deal of time helping supervise the military style barracks. Small wonder, really. She was once a general in a well-organised pokémon army, even if it did happen to be a dark and twisted one.
"Unruly. But we see great potential in them. Give them a few months and they'll be truly impressive. Twelve hours, however, is pushing it. We can work our own little brand of miracles at times, Ade, but even we have our limits."
"Fair enough. I bow to your superior judgment on these matters." I paused for a moment, stroking behind my pokémon's ears absently. "I don't know, Rhi. What am I supposed to do?"
"We took stock of the resources available to us, Ade, and the outlook doesn't seem as bleak as you make out. On your team alone you have fifteen pokémon ready and willing to fight. Not to mention the help from Soo, Gabi, Gina... all the other trainers. In addition there's are others who will rally to our cause if required. Tamotsu, for example, is a far more skilled warrior than he lets on. There is a whole colony of Ninetales to the north that Lucky is confident in his abilities to obtain the aid of. Not to mention the able skills of the non-pokémon defences. Sector Alpha has taken worse than Armand DiAnnio and still stands strong. However..."
"However what?"
"Lord Absol's involvement concerns us. We know his department only ever seems to get involved with really big events. For him to come out and publicly request our help with this laboratory indicates one of two things. Either there is something potentially dangerous that needs to be sorted out. Or..."
"Or he's trying to distract us again whilst he does whatever it is he does. The thought had crossed my mind, too, Rhi."
"It's not just that. We know that this laboratory, whatever the problems there may be, is not Lord Absol's primary objective."
"Say what?" Well that got my attention pretty quickly! "Rhi, if you've been holding out on something now's the time to tell me."
"It's Lord Absol. We know what his true mission is. The sudden activity of Reaper has forced his hand, you see. For he was dispatched to finally take care of the results of the Inner Circle project. He told us himself, back when we were still an Eevee and easily recognisable as the notorious Lady Rhiannon." The Jolteon shuddered. The memories were still fresh in her mind. A dark night. A stone room halfway between a laboratory and a temple. Flashing lights. Wires. And a terrible blackness, a blackness that she had confronted as best as she could. But that blackness had tainted her. Its evil had been absorbed into her very being. That night Rhiannon had been changed forever, passed from a mere normal Eevee to something more... monstrous. And she hadn't been the only one, either. Altogether the strange fusion of black magic and genetic engineering that called itself the Inner Circle project had produced four successful results. Rhiannon, of course. Alto, a Scizor who had been missing since the eventual destruction of the evil lab that spawned him. Abbadon, a Charizard whose destructive outbursts had left him even more feared than the Crimson Blades in certain circles. And of course, a certain Salamence who had been making a real name for herself lately. "Which leaves us in a certain... predicament. One day Reaper will stop just playing with her prey. She'll want to go for the kill eventually. When that happens our hand will be forced and Lord Absol will realise your new Jolteon is the same Eevee he made a poor job of trying to capture a few months back. Then he will hound us relentlessly. We don't know if he wants us dead or captured or what. But he's a nuisance we could do without."
"Great. You're a walking magnet for trouble, you know that?" I rolled my eyes. Why oh why did I always seem to end up in the middle of chaos like this? "So what are you going to do?"
"We don't know," Rhiannon admitted. "We play it as it comes. In the meantime, we're still worried by this laboratory. Ade, would you grant us a favour?"
"Depends on the favour, really. But try me anyway."
"We're asking for permission to lead a few of your pokémon to Unicorn Gate. The trainers there will need as much help as they can get. We'd only want a small, select team. Just something to dart quickly in and out so that we can satisfy ourselves that there will be no further distractions from that area."
"Wouldn't you rather be here in case Armand decides to lead whatever assault he has planned himself?" I shifted uncomfortably. Something didn't sit right about this. "I could do with as much help as I can get, you know."
"We know Reaper. She's not going to do anything apart from look threatening yet. It's too soon. She may well delight in the suffering of others but her trainer has spoiled her. If she has one glaring weakness it's that she's lazy. She wouldn't put herself out unless she was forced to."
"Not that great a comfort, Rhi. Who did you plan on taking?"
"If they'll agree, of course, we were hoping to bring along Milliardo, Bolovayr and Katnip."
"Ouch. That's two of my strongest fighters out of the picture."
"True, but in terms of pokémon with a lot of battle experience you would still have Pearl and Thunderblast. We would rather not do this, but we're just.... troubled, that's all. Please trust us."
"Sometimes it seems like you're the only one here who's got a clue as to what's going on, Rhi," I commented. "Of course I trust you. I can't say I like what you're asking, but you must be asking for a reason. So okay, if they agree then take them. Just say you'll come back quickly if you sense we're in trouble."
"Deal." Rhiannon nodded happily, her demeanour shifting almost imperceptibly. "I'd say we'll only be gone an hour or two anyway. Plenty of time to sort that place out, come back, kick Reaper's butt and finish off with a nice saucer of tea, right?" The smile on my pokémon's face was genuine enough, but it also left me with a deep-rooted feeling of anxiety. Why couldn't I shake the notion that we hadn't even known the true meaning of trouble until today?

__________________

AntiAsh Superstar

"Rhi. Remind me again why we're doing this." Twelve hours had passed since that most fateful meeting of the Dragon Tamers. And the transport towards Unicorn Gate had only just left. Not that it mattered to some. Some had other ways of getting where they wanted to be. "And, whilst I'm at it, why can't you just warp us straight into the lab instead of landing us on the top floor of Unicorn Gate?"
"Same reason Sindel can't teleport to a place she hasn't been before," Rhiannon replied to the irritable query from her brother. "I mean, we could try but do you want us to run the risk of me opening the other end of the gate in the middle of a wall? Or worse, in the testing bays with whatever scariness they have going on there? No? Then just shut up for once and let me concentrate. You know she's the one who's actually any good at this." Currently Rhiannon's little group were stood just outside the city walls of Sector Alpha, waiting for the Jolteon to weave her peculiar brand of magic. Only there was a peculiar difference this time, something odd that had never happened in all the previous times Rhiannon had ever attempted something like this in front of others. And it wasn't lost on her companions, least of all her brother.
"Fine. Whatever. Just get on with it." Normally Milliardo would have gone to great lengths to avoid any contact with Rhiannon's magical powers. He partly blamed them for her erratic mental state. But for some reason today he found it rather easy to trust in his sister's skills. Which was why the usual anxiety didn't flare up within him when the glowing emerald set deep within Rhiannon's skull tore its way through her forehead, illuminating her muzzle with its soft green hue. He just watched calmly. Even as the skies tore open in front of the little group of pokémon to reveal a pure black void that sucked in all warmth and light with its yawning darkness. For he trusted Rhiannon. Maybe more so now than at any time before.
"You know I'm not exactly comfortable with this, right?" Bolovayr whined from the back of the group. The Gastly spent most of his life obsessing over the unexplained. And now it was staring him right in the face he was starting to act rather skittish. "You know how likely it is that this will go wrong, right?"
"Meaning?" Milliardo asked.
"In a plane with infinite realities how are we supposed to tell if we arrive back in the right one? I hope one of you brought a decent map of the astral plane."
"Sometimes, Bolovayr, you sound like you know too much about certain things. I think I prefer you when you're staying out of the way."
"No, he's got a good point, you know," Rhiannon admitted. "But we've both got our ways of dealing with that problem. She just seems to know her way around. Can't say I'm so lucky."
"Good way to fill your elite squadron with confidence, oh mighty general," Milliardo quipped drily. "So what are you saying? We're about to get hopelessly lost?"
"No, silly!" The Jolteon smiled brightly. "I got my own way of navigating. Trust me, okay? And hold on tight." By 'hold on tight' what Rhiannon meant was 'Katnip hold on tight and let the others use your tail as a rope to cling to', it turned out. But nobody questioned her request. They simply did as they were told and followed Rhiannon into nothingness.

"Whoa!" Milliardo yelled above the roar of the winds as they carried the train of pokémon past a frenzy of colours brighter and more varied than even the most stunning of fireworks displays. It was near impossible to take everything in at once. In fact the Umbreon suspected that anyone who attempted such a thing would be rendered insane. He just concentrated on the sensation of being dragged along, of being lighter than air. Of actually flying. "Last time you did this it $&^%ed me over for days, why's it suddenly got so fun?"
"Last time you were going against the wind!" the Jolteon called back to explain. "That's what you do to cross realities. Here we're just using it to teleport, so we just let the wind carry us where we want to be."
"Sis, I swear you get more confusing every day. Just get us there and I'll worry about the sleepless nights I'll have from trying to get my head around that one later, okay?"

The bitter wind of the Nagarythe borders on a late evening in the middle of February was a far cry from the exciting and unique gales of the astral plane that could lift a creature and drag it along until they either grew bored of the creatures will overcame them; reality, however, was not so exciting. So when the little group was deposited unceremoniously upon the stony rooftop of the Unicorn Gate fortress it was with a great deal of grumbling and complaining.
"Damn it, Rhi, let us out with a little more grace next time, okay?" The portal back to the physical world had opened up about five feet in the air and hence ejected the pokémon in a most painful manner onto the stone slabs that surrounded the Gate's most prominent feature, the gigantic statue of a unicorn that dwarfed all around it.
"Look, matey, I warned you I wasn't that great at this, didn't I?" Rhiannon shot back as quick as a flash. "At least we're here!"
"Yeah, that's somethin'," Katnip nodded. "Cheers, Rhi, we owe ya one. Ya must've saved us a good hour there." The Raticate looked carefully all about his surroundings. "Right. So does anyone know where this secret lab is that we're supposed ta be checkin' out?"
"Half a mile east of here," Bolovayr replied calmly. "It's hidden underground." The rest of the team turned to look at the Gastly oddly. "What?" he asked. "Come on, this is like the pokémon answer to Area 51! Of course I know where it is. Getting past the security might be the hard part, though."
"Bolovayr, there's a fine line between being informed and being downright creepy. Learn where it is and never cross it again if you ever want to have any kind of social life." Milliardo sighed deeply. "Sadly for us I guess you and your obsession with conspiracies and demons and aliens might actually come in useful here. That's why you brought him here, isn't it?" This last question was directed rather pointedly at Rhiannon, who simply chuckled slightly.
"But of course, Milliardo," the Jolteon smirked. "Who better to get into the mindset of whomever created this place?" Suddenly she turned to the single exit leading to the lower portions of the Unicorn Gate complex. "Now come on, we have to get on with this if we want to be back in time to help should Armand decide to attack. Speed is of the essence here. We need to get there, we need to infiltrate the base. We need to find out what's going on and possibly neutralise it as quickly as we can. We're sorry if this seems a lot to ask of a small group such as this."
"Don't worry 'bout it," Katnip grinned in a sudden bout of optimism. Which, it had to be said, was a breath of fresh air during times as trying as these. "If anyone's gonna pull off the impossible, it'll be us. Right?"
"You got that right, rat boy." Milliardo and Katnip stared at each other for the longest of times until Bolovayr finally interrupted the one time it looked like they were actually going to admit they were best friends.
"I feel left out," the Gastly complained bitterly. "You've all known each other for years."
"Technically we haven't really been acquainted with Katnip for that long," Rhiannon commented. "And our history with Milliardo goes way back but contains an unfairly large gap. We get along well enough, you included, Bolovayr. Now we mustn't delay any further. Do you think you can take us to the entrance of this lab?"
"Can I ever!" Bolovayr seemed to swell to twice his usual size with pride. Finally, something that he alone could help with! They all seemed to have their uses. Pearl with her seemingly endless compassion. Beckham with his ability to entertain. Rhiannon seemed to have an endless supply of mystical abilities. Katnip was one of the best fighters the Gastly had ever seen. Marius could do things with technology that most hadn't even thought of yet. Sindel could feed entire armies with her delicious cooking. Pandora could see warnings of potential dangers in her dreams. Milliardo could talk his way out of trouble just as easily as he could talk his way into it. Hell, even Ryo-Ohki had his definite place in the team, being the only creature capable of making the normally highly strung Sindel relax. But so far Bolovayr had been having a hard time in figuring out what use he was to his friends. Until now, that is. "Follow me, guys."

"Seriously. Somebody have a word with these Guild people. None of them have any taste whatsoever."
"Yer fergettin' that Ade's one of those 'Guild people' now, dude."
"I rest my case, rat boy." It had only taken ten minutes to reach the secret base., conveniently located in the middle of nowhere. The entrance was a large, imposing steel door set solidly into a huge hill of sandstone. So solidly that it seemed as if the entire hill had been formed around the entrance. A harsh wind whipped at the faces of the pokémon, hurling tiny particles of sand into their eyes and generally being more of a nuisance than Tsuyoi's sister Komaru after an entire pack of sugar cubes. But there was no time to be worrying about that now. The most important thing was in entering this strange complex and finding out what lay behind the gleaming steer in front of them. "You know, I do wonder what the logic is in placing something this important here."
"Eh?" Katnip gave Milliardo an odd look.
"Really, rat-boy, don't you know anything? Right, let's play 'Combined Geography and Bloody Obvious Facts', unit one. Number one, we're ten minutes away from Unicorn Gate; that's ten minutes for a Jolteon, an Umbreon, a Gastly and a Raticate, all travelling at top speed, mind you. Number two, almost all the Gates are on the Nagarythe borders, right? Number three, Nagarythe has this weird reputation for being a shadow-filled cesspit of evil. Put them all together and what do you get?"
"Actually we think this rather clever of them," Rhiannon commented. "This place is so isolated that no common folk would think of exploring around here. Nor would any of the evils of Nagarythe think to look right under their noses for hidden booty. They'd assume this area's already been looted. Besides, why do you think the Gates are there in the first place? As long as something is on the correct side of the border it's quite safe from most of the dangers in the Shadowlands. But that's as maybe. We have to worry about getting into the complex now, don't we?"
"No we don't. Rhi, just blow the door down."
"We could," the Jolteon admitted, "but that would draw unnecessary attention to ourselves."
"Gee. All of a sudden I wish we'd brought Marius with us. He would have opened the door, disabled the security and downloaded a perfect copy of that new Jimmy Eat World track that Ade keeps running into dodgy copies of by now."
"Milliardo, you really can be dense when you like," Rhiannon scolded. "Aside from anything else we have to come up with a strategy for when we get in there. Leaving aside the fact that getting inside is simplicity itself when you have a Dark pokémon in the group who can simply turn into shadow and slip underneath the door." Milliardo opened his mouth as if to speak. And then closed it again. For once he was lost for words. "Right. The way we see it we have only one option. We get in there, we strike hard and fast. If we had more time available Milliardo could come in useful again and be our scout, but..."
"Me? Why me?"
"Well not only are you the stealthiest amongst us but you're also the hardiest. It's a good combination for a scout in our opinion. Anyway, there's no time for that. We suggest we get inside first, and once inside we cover as much ground as we can as a team." The Jolteon blinked suddenly. "Sorry guys. Best we can come up with at short notice without resorting to 'nuke the place'."
"Sometimes I wish I'd never agreed to help you, Rhi." Milliardo rolled his eyes. "But whatever. Give me a few minutes, okay?" All of a sudden the Umbreon seemed to melt into the floor, his physical form dissolving suddenly to bend in with the shadows cast by the rocky outcropping in front of the group of pokémon. For a moment it seemed as if that was it, as if Milliardo had vanished completely. And the there was a mechanical click! that caused the steel doors to slide slowly open with an almost over the top sluggishness, revealing Milliardo illuminated from behind with bright neon lights. "Well that was easy," the Umbreon commented. "Almost too ea..."
"Dude, behind ya!!" Katnip cried out suddenly.
"Oh my God. Trust me to blurt out something like that at the exact moment something happens. What is this, a work of fiction or something?" Sighing, the Umbreon wheeled round to find out what the fuss was all about. "Okay, what is it this time?" His amber eyes widened. "It just gets worse, doesn't it?" He found himself staring down a long, metallic cylinder that was attached to a circular, silver device that had dropped from the ceiling via a trapdoor and a weird combination of metal bars and cords.
"INTRUDER DETECTED," a robotic voice buzzed loudly. "COMMENCING REMOVAL PROCESS."
"Removal process? Is it me or is this probably going to involve me dying?"
"Not if ya move, ya big dolt!" At the very last second Katnip launched himself at his friend, barging him out of the way with a Quick Attack just before the strange machine fired a large red laser beam at where Milliardo's head had been just seconds before. Instead the beam struck dull metal, boring a small hole into the floor before dying away. "Right! That's it!" With a cry of rage Katnip flew for the strange metal contraption, clamping onto the bars and cords suspending it from the ceiling and gnawing through them with his Super Fang. The entire thing clattered to the floor noisily. "Nobody tries ta kill one of my buddies an' gets away with it!"
"I could have handled that myself," Milliardo complained, doing his best to stop his body from showing just how scared he had been. "How many of these do you think there are?"
"I'd say about ten more." Bolovayr didn't look too happy, and a cursory glance up the corridor explained why. A whole truckload of the strange lasers had dropped down the instant the first had been severed. "You know, the only way this could be any worse is if there were psychotic aliens with corrosive blood and sharp fangs lurking beneath the floor."
"Fortunately whatever higher being likes &^*&ing with our lives isn't that sadistic," Milliardo snarled, directing his attentions to this latest threat. "Okay, guys. Let's do what we do best and defy all the odds."

"This is weird." It had taken a longer time than the group had expected to navigate their way to a point where they could really stop and take stock of the situation. If it wasn't automated lasers than it was iron blast doors that threated to block their progress. And if it wasn't those then it was protective barriers of a more mystical nature that only seemed to yield when blasted away by Rhiannon's far stronger aura. So when the group had finally got the chance to take a break they grabbed it with all the paws they had, finally grinding to a halt in a long, darkened corridor that was obviously in need of serious maintenance. The floor tiles were all dented. The piping along the sides of the walls was cracked in several places. And one of the neon bulbs flickered in a manner that was sure to induce epilectic fits in all who laid eyes upon it. It wasn't a great place to be, all told. But at least it was preferable to being shot at with lasers.
"What's weird, Rhi?" Milliardo snorted irritably. "Aside from this whole dumbass setup. Places like this give me the creeps."
"Hey, they're not exactly my favourite places to be either, you know!" the Jolteon shouted back with uncharacteristic anger. "Just because it's a bit creepy means nothing! You try spending some time with wires poking into you and a big metal cap crushing your skull and then maybe you'll have a real reason to be freaked out by all of this!"
"Hey, I like creepy!" Bolovayr protested.
"You stay out of this!" both Eeveelution siblings yelled at once.
"Well excuse me for having an opinion!" the Gastly yelled back.
"Uhh... guys, what's gotten inta ya all of a sudden?" Katnip asked. "Weren't we, like, supposed ta be investigatin' here?"
"Yes, we were," Bolovayr nodded. "Until these two started yelling and alerted every living thing in this place to our presence!"
"Can it! You've been no help whatsoever!" Milliardo snapped.
"Excuse me? Who found you this place to begin with?" Katnip watched dumbfounded as his friends seemed to turn on each other right in front of his eyes. What was going on here? They had been just fine a few moments ago; a little stressed, maybe, but otherwise perfectly normal. But the further the pokémon seemed to progress the more irritable they became. Until it had suddenly reached this point. The point where the three of them were almost coming to blows, the looks in their eyes far from sane. Well, Katnip was having no more of this. There was only one course of action open to him.

WHAK!
WHAK!
WHAK!

"Dudes, snap outta this now!" the Raticate yelled at his friends, all now smarting from being whipped hard in the face with his tail. Apart from Bolovayr, whose immaterial body had prevented Katnip's tail from striking. But even in this case the shock of having it pass through his body seemed to have had just as big an effect. "It's this place! It's doin' somethin' weird to us! Hell, even I'm startin' ta get a headache, an' it don't feel natural if ya ask me. But we gotta work tagether on this. We can't let it get to us!" Katnips's colleagues looked amongst each other shamefacedly.
"We agree." Rhiannon commented finally. "There seems to be some strange aura around this place designed to cloud the senses and make those who stay in it too long lose control. We're better than to let it affect us. We apologise."
"Is this Rhiannon speaking for all of us or just for herself, I wonder?" Milliardo pondered.
"Dude, need another slap?" Katnip growled.
"Like to see you try, rat boy!" the Umbreon shot back.
"I'll take that as a 'no' then." the Raticate smirked, finally returning his attentions to the greater task facing them. "Do any of ya have any idea what's causin' this, then?"
"Hmph. If we knew that then we'd already be dealing with it, wouldn't we? God, rat boy, can your tiny little brain not fathom such simple concepts?"
"Dude..." Katnip looked about ready to retort when he was cut off short by maniacal laughter coming from the furthest end of this badly-lit corridor. The group turned to see a tall, gangly man with a weathered face and dark grey hair in a military-style crew cut. He was dressed in a black uniform. Complete with the obligatory bright red R plastered on the front, of course.
"Well, well," the rather obvious member of Team Rocket smirked, advancing slowly towards the group. "What have we here? I was sent over to find out what all that ruckus was about earlier, but looks like we just got ourselves some new recruits. What are you guys doing here? Was your trainer one of the ones who've been sneaking in and trying to mess up our plans? Well, doesn't matter now, does it? We won't be stopped. And soon you'll all be working for us."
"Oh my God. Even that psycho DiAnnio's given up on the whole stealing pokémon thing. It's so last season." Milliardo rolled his eyes before addressing the rest of his group. "At least we know what's going wrong here now. Everything."
We doubt that you could break us, human. The Umbreon turned to stare at Rhiannon oddly. His sister had started glowing with a soft green light; never a good sign in Milliardo's book. Well, if nothing else it had rather effectively stopped the Rocket from coming any closer. If anything he looked downright petrified. Now if you don't mind telling us what you're doing here we'd be much obliged. Otherwise... Here the floor buckled slightly below the man's feet and he lurched downwards with a cry that was half pain, half surprise.
"What have you done?" the Rocket gasped.
The gravitational pull from the ground beneath you has now been doubled. Non-compliance will be met with further increases in its strength until you're reduced to a mushy Rocket-shaped pancake on the floor. We doubt your pride as a Rocket is so great you'd be willing to die for your cause, whatever it may be.
"Damn you!" the Rocket cried before his body gave another lurch and he was reduced to practically laying on the floor. "Alright! Alright! We're going to use this base to wipe out the Crimson Blades for good!"
Explain.
"The Blades have that terrible enhanced Salamence, don't they? It's far stronger than anything our programs could ever produce. So when we heard there was a supremely powerful creature in here we had to take advantage of that. We planted devices to stir the pokémon up some. Then were were gonna set them on the Crimson Blades and regain our glory!"
We seriously doubt that whatever rumours say is here could stand up to the likes of Reaper.
"We got ourselves a pretty reliable source, you know. Besides, there's so many... ah! Stop it! There's so many enhanced pokémon in here we can just pick and choose, you know!" The Rocket gasped in relief as the pressure was finally lifted.
Interesting plan. We think it a shame that it won't work. There's so much more to the project that spawned Reaper than you can ever hope to imagine. The technology that was used upon her has long since been lost to the world. Rather mercifully, we might add. But don't kid yourself. If you can't defeat us then you can't hope to win against the Crimson Blades.
"Really. Well then." The Rocket slowly staggered to his feet and produced a pokéball from his belt. "Let's see how the spoils of our time here stand up to the likes of you then." Abruptly he threw the ball, illuminating the corridor in a flash of bright white light.
"Well that's new," Milliardo was heard to comment. For as the light died down it revealed a small Eevee, seemingly normal apart from the bright orange ruff around its neck. "Genetically modified Eevees have never been done before, have they?"
"They've been done more successfully than that, that's for sure," Rhiannon commented to her brother. You insult us, human.
"Oh no. I got a special treat for you." The Rocket clicked his fingers. And yet another automated laser dropped down from the ceiling. It took aim. And it fired.

"Rhiannon!!!!" Quite what happened next nobody could really explain, although with hindsight it simply seemed as if Rhiannon's persona shifted at possibly the worse moment possible. There had never been any logic behind her switches of personality for the most part, after all. This one was just impeccably timed to occur at the worst moment possible. So the laser was fired. And for once the Jolteon seemed glued to the floor, paralysed either by fear or something else entirely. No amount of rushing was going to save her. The shot had been snapped off too quickly. And so the ruby red beam flew straight at Rhiannon. And struck her squarely in the head. "No!!!" Milliardo practically screamed, rushing to his fallen sister's side. A thin trickle of blood was slowly oozing from her injury. "Don't you dare leave me now! Not after you dragged us all into this bloody mess! We didn't come this far for this to happen!" The Umbreon quickly turned to his friends, too concerned to even pretend to hide the tears. "I'm taking her somewhere safer, she'll be dead for sure if she takes another one of those. You... you guys..." A sudden steel entered his voice. "Do me a favour. Deal with that Rocket whilst I'm gone. Because I promise you, if he's still here when I've sorted Rhi out I am going to kill him, and damn any stupid Dragon Tamers code of conduct." With this Milliardo somehow managed to sling Rhiannon onto his back and took off at full speed.
"Well that was easier than I thought," the Rocket smirked. "After all that I thought that Jolteon might have had some fight in it." Katnip and Bolovayr turned to glare at the man with the most hateful looks a pokémon could make. How dare he take this all so casually! He could well have killed Rhiannon with that shot! "But looks like you two have some fight in you. Come on. Show us what you've got."
"Dude, yer askin' fer it..." Katnip snarled, taking a step forward but soon finding his way by Bolovayr. "Dude, what're ya playin' at?"
"Sorry. But I'd really feel more comfortable if you, Katnip, would make sure that our nasty little foe over there doesn't pull any more sneak attacks. I think I can handle his Eevee myself."
"Makes sense. An' besides, I owe it ta Milly ta take at least one good chunk outta that scumbag on his behalf." The Raticate nodded to Bolovayr with a grim smile. "Good luck, dude."
"Thanks." Bolovayr floated over to a decent position in from of the strange Eevee, swallowing any inner apprehension as he did so. 'Good luck', Katnip had said. Why did he have this horrible feeling that he was going to need it?

FIGHT! L15 Eevee v L8 Gastly!
"Why are you following that madman?" Bolovayr asked his opponent as the two circled each other cautiously.
"I was born to serve," the Eevee replied dully. "That is my reason for existence. I do not doubt. I do not question. I just do as they want. Now enough chatter." The Eevee's eyes glowed a light blue. "You have to be eliminated." All of a sudden a huge burst of flame shot out from the ground just in front of the small creature, hurling itself towards Bolovayr at lightning-fast speeds. He only just managed to move out of the way in time.
"Since when did Eevees know Ember?" the Gastly complained.
"Since I was created."
"I don't really have much of an answer for that one!" Bolovayr admitted. "But you were right. This is no time for idle chatter." Bolovayr stared hard at his opponent, trying very hard to maintain eye contact. For a moment it seemed as if nothing would happen. Then the Eevee's eyes drooped. Slowly... slowly... sl...
"Nice try." The second Ember took Bolovayr totally by surprise, mostly concentrating as he was on putting the Eevee to sleep with his Hypnosis attack. To him it seemed as if one minute his opponent was dozing off, the next his side was being consumed by intense, burning pain. He cried out in pain, causing the Eevee to chuckle softly to itself. "I am, on the whole, immune to such things as hypnosis. I need no sleep. I simply recharge. Now, enough games, you will be taken out swiftly!" Again the eyes began to glow blue, but Bolovayr had no intention of waiting around to find out what other tricks the little pokémon had up its proverbial sleeve. He was going to strike. And strike well.
"You're not the only one who knows unusual moves, you know!" he cried out, concentrating all of his power and expressing it in the form of a huge beam of freezing cold energy, an Ice Beam that he sent hurtling towards his opponent with all the force he could muster. The attack caught the Eevee off guard, so intent on its own attack it seemed to be. It was sent hurtling backwards, knocked off its feet by the anger-fuelled force of the attack. "If you ally yourself with such evil then expect no mercy!" Bolovayr wasn't going to make the same mistake twice! From now on he would leave his opponent no openings at all. Quickly he fired off yet another Ice Beam, hoping to take the little tyke down before it could pull off any nastier tricks than just Ember. Sadly this plan didn't seem to work very well. With almost disturbingly fast reactions the pokémon flipped backwards and out of the way, leaving Bolovayr's attack to create a small patch of ice upon the metal floor. The two pokémon glared at each other for a moment.
"You're stronger than you look," the Eevee finally commented. "What do they call you?"
"My name's Bolovayr," my Gastly replied. "And yourself?"
"They know me as Number 13," came the reply. "But you may call me Enigma. It's a pleasure doing battle with you, Bolovayr. Shame I have to end it now."
"Eh?" All of a sudden Bolovayr understood his opponent's plan. The Eevee had been talking to distract him whilst it gathered up the energy to perform another attack! And sure enough, those eyes were glowing blue again. "Oh nuts!" It was too late to escape. Not that it would have been easy to avoid the little pokémon's attack in the first place. Large globules of liquid metal seemed to tear themselves from the walls, reforming themselves into long, thin needles and shooting towards the Gastly at high speeds. One tore into his side. Then another. And another. Each needle brought with it a new spasm of pain. Until Bolovayr was nearly paralysed by the terrible sensations coursing throughout his ethereal body. "W...what..?" he gasped.
"My secret," Enigma responded. The two pokémon locked eyes for a second time. And then Bolovayr smirked, rising back high into the air.
"I doubt that. Secrets have a way of revealing themselves, you know." The Gastly concentrated hard, putting all his faith in a move he didn't actually know. Suddenly his eyes began to glow the same soft blue as those of his opponent. And, sure enough, the exact same thing happened. Metal began to tear itself away from the walls and rain down upon the Eevee who, whilst he did a very credible job of avoiding a lot of it, couldn't help but be inflicted with several very nasty gashes in the process of the attack. "You have a Steel-type Hidden Power, as well as a lot of other very weird tricks I wouldn't have expected from an Eevee."
"And you clearly know Mimic," came the calm response, Enigma evidently not bothered by his multiple injuries. "I'm impressed. But I have to win, and you cannot stop me!" Almost angrily he took a flying leap for the Gastly. A big mistake. For the instant he did so he left himself wide open for a second Ice Beam, this one striking from point-blank range and knocking the Eevee back to the floor, this time for good. Bolovayr breathed hard. That had been a tough one. And yet... and yet... why did he have a feeling that the battle shouldn't have been over yet?
"Hello?" Cautiously he hovered over to where the Eevee with the flame-coloured ruff lay prone and prodded him cautiously with his tongue. "Hello? Are you still awake?" No response. Apparently it was just Bolovayr's near legendary paranoia getting the better of him. The battle was truly his after all.

Bolovayr wins!
Bolovayr grew to L10!
Bolovayr learns Double Team as his free TM!

"Dude!" A sudden yell from Katnip snapped Bolovayr out of his contemplative state. "The Rocket's gettin' away!" Sure enough, the sneaky Rocket was already high-tailing it down the corridor, his left arm smeared with blood from where Katnip had taken a large chunk out of his flesh by way of revenge for Rhiannon.
"Well what am I supposed to do about that?" the Gastly cried out in panic.
"Leave that one to me." Both pokémon turned to see Enigma stood upright once more, his eyes glowing their weird colour of blue once again. Within seconds the Rocket's exit had been cut short rather abruptly by twisting pillars of steel that rose up from the floor on all sides until they pierced the ceiling, effectively trapping him in a most unnatural cage. "He was just a means to an end."
"Didn't I beat you?" Bolovayr was confused.
"Maybe. Maybe not. It was a rather fun battle, though." The Eevee smiled slightly. "And thanks to that meddling Rocket I'm free to leave this place. At long last. Five years is far too long a time to be used as a test subject."
"Five years???"
"I'm older than I look," Enigma smirked with a conspiratorial wink.
"And odder," Bolovayr commented. "I couldn't help but notice the moves you're capable of using whilst I was scrying your mind with Mimic, and I have to ask you about..."
"The fifteen instances of Hidden Power, right?" Enigma chuckled to himself. "That's my thing, you see. I was originally used in experiments into if a pokémon could be forced into having more than one Hidden Power. When they found out that they could then they just kept doing it over and over. Until... well, here I am now. A master of the elements who's not once seen any of the things he's supposed to be able to master in their natural state." Was that a trace of regret in the Eevee's tone? "There's worse than me in here, though. If I were you I'd get out of here. I know I fully intend on doing that as soon as I can find an exit."
"Love ta, but if nothin' else we gotta find our friends first," Katnip complained.
"The Jolteon and Umbreon?" Enigma looked deep in thought. "They're nearby, and both still very much alive. Head down the corridor and turn right, you'll bump into them eventually." Suddenly the Eevee noticed that Katnip and Bolovayr were both regarding him with very odd expressions. "What?"
"How do ya know that?" Katnip asked.
"Don't ask questions you're not ready for the answers to," the Eevee smirked, sporting an expression that indicated he would be wagging his finger cheekily had he the fingers to wag. "In other words it's none of your business. Just trust me on this one, okay? Hope you find them soon. And that you get out safely." Nodding his goodbyes, Enigma scampered quickly in the opposite direction to where he had just directed the two pokémon, past the imprisoned Rocket and back to the entrance. Katnip and Bolovayr shared a look that seemed to say 'what the hell was that all about?'
"You trust him?" Bolovayr finally asked.
"Hell no," came the response. "He switches sides too easily fer my likin'. But I don't think he was lyin' about this one. 'Sides, there's an easy enough way ta find out, ain't there? Come on. We need ta find Milly and Rhi, an' fast. I don't think he was lyin' about needin' ta get out of here fast, either."

As it happened Milliardo hadn't really had to take his sister far before he found a good place to set her down, try to tend to her injury as best he could with the limited resources available and then fall asleep crying into her side. It was a slumber of exhaustion, of darkness and of sorrow. So when he finally woke up again he wasn't feeling in the best of moods. In fact, he woke up in the sort of mood that was going to ensure the next creature he spoke to was probably going to end up in tears.
"Goddamit, Rhi..." the Umbreon whispered, gazing down at his unconscious sister. "You can't even get being almost omnipotent right, can you? Look at you. You're a bloody mess. That shot could have killed you... in fact..." Here Milliardo did a double take. Was he seeing things? Or had Rhiannon's wound completely healed over in the course of his short nap?"What the %*&£???"
"Uh?" The Jolteon's eyes opened slowly, wandered around the cramped corridor for a while only to eventually come to a rest upon Milliardo. "Milliardo, where am I?"
"Never mind that, Rhi, do you remember what happened to you? No. Wait. First things first." The Umbreon tood in a deep breath. And then... "What the $&^% were you %*&$ing playing at, you bloody stupid excuse for a pokémon? Did it ever, maybe just for one second occur to you that you're supposed to %*^&ing dodge when a bleeding huge laser gun is pointing directly at you? I've been worried sick about you, you know. The least you could do is give me an explanation, and it'd better be a $^%$ing good one or I'll..." It slowly dawned upon Milliardo that his sister wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. She was far too bust pawing at the area where she had been shot and looking extremely worried. "Rhiannon! Are you even paying attention to me?"
"Oh no..." the Jolteon whispered, proving that, in fact, she wasn't. "This is worse than I could have ever have thought!"
"Say what?"
"Milliardo, look at me." Rhiannon faced her brother with a disturbingly serious expression upon her face. "Can you see any injury on my head? Anything at all, no matter how small?" Registering the blank look on the Umbreon's face she shrank back, suddenly very small. "I didn't think so. Milliardo, this means we've bigger problems than we first thought."
"Why, because you managed to heal yourself so quickly? Funny, most would think that a good thing. Don't start going all Scratchy on me."
"No! No!" Rhiannon shouted, suddenly agitated. "Don't you see? It's the enhancements! They healed me, even when I was practically dead!"
"So?"
"Milliardo, think! If it works that way for me then what about the others in the Inner Circle project? Don't you see? If it works this way then we're going to have twice as difficult a time dealing with Reaper! Because anything I can do she can do about fifty times better!" Rhiannon still doubted that her brother fully grasped the situation, so she simply sighed and looked about the area. "Oh, forget it. You'll see what I'm getting at sooner or later I guess. Where are we, anyway?"
"God knows," Milliardo admitted. "I just panicked after you got shot. I wanted to take you as far away from the action as I could."
"Looks like you took us right into the middle of the holding bays," the Jolteon noted, taking in the various barred doors that looked like they led into cells. "Even when you're not trying to you manage to save the day, don't you?" Rhiannon smiled broadly. "This is exactly where we wanted to be!"
"Well, you know I hate to blow my own trumpet and all, but..."
"Dude, that's all ya ever do." All of a sudden the conversation was interrupted by Katnip and Bolovayr racing down the corridor towards them. "Just tell the truth fer once an' admit it was a giant fluke." Finally the two pokémon pulled up alongside the siblings. The Raticate turned and grinned broadly at Rhiannon, although the smile was obviously hiding no small degree of concern. "Ya okay?" he asked.
"Never felt better!" Rhiannon grinned brightly. "Come on, let's get this out of the way. Whatever the Rockets have in place to send this place into chaos is really giving me a migrane." Without further ado the Jolteon began making her way past the various doors, peering slowly past the bars of each to view to contents inside. The occupants of the cells were an eclectic bunch to say the least. They ranged from the normal-looking – a Skitty, for instance, whose only hint of being abnormal was in the fact that it seemed to be moving at twice the speed its kind could normally manage – to the obviously modified, such as a Bagon with wings. They were an odd bunch to say the least. But none of them seemed to even be on the level of Enigma, never mind the sort of creature that could have helped to bring Reaper down. In fact the group were just about ready to give up when Bolovayr made a rather important discovery.
"Hey!" the Gastly called. "I've found it!"
"You've found what?" Milliardo grumbled. "Wait. Let me guess. Proof that Clefairy really did come from the moon, right?"
"No! This! This thing we thought was just a window! It's a door! Look!" Hurriedly the pokémon rushed to where Bolovayr was hovering excitedly. And sure enough, upon closer inspection the wall that they had just glanced over did indeed seem to have hinges. "Shall I try opening it?"
"No." Rhiannon shook her head. "We don't know what's in there. Katnip, mind if I use you as a stepladder?"
"Why me?"
"You're the tallest of course! C'mon, Katnip, I'm not that heavy, really! I know I eat way more sugar than I ought to but seriously, I burn most of that off anyway and I always did have a pretty fast metabolism. Pretty please? Won't you do it just this once?" The Jolteon pulled her most irresistibly cute expression, the expression that so far hadn't once failed in her getting her own way. And this time was no exception.
"Oh go on then. Be quick, tho, would ya?"
"Yay! Thanks, Katnip!" Rhiannon favoured the Raticate with a peck on the cheek that left him rather red in the face before hopping up onto his head, propping her front paws up against the iron surface of the well-concealed door and peering through what had initially had been assumed to be a window. Which it was. Only it was a window into another room. A room shrouded in near darkness and filled with flashing computer panels and large pipes. A room that was dominated by a central feature. A large glass tank filled with a jelly-like substance and glowing with a soft neon light that semi-illuminated the rest of the room. A glass tank that contained a snow-white Rapidash seemingly floating in the clear jelly. Rhiannon couldn't help but be drawn towards this creature. There was something strange about it. Something that she couldn't quite place. Yet it was... an odd feeling. She found herself rather drawn towards this creature. As if somehow she would miss something important if she looked away.
"Rhi, are you alright?" The Jolteon didn't even hear the concerned words of her brother. She was too busy staring. And staring. And staring. She didn't even notice as her emerald gemstone slowly opened. Nothing seemed amiss to her. It was just her and the magnificent creature in the room in front of her. Time and space seemed to stand still. Until the eyes of the Rapidash flicked open and Rhiannon fell backwards with a shrill scream of terror.
"Rhi!"
"Ya okay?"
"What happened?"
"It... it..." How could she hope to explain? The sudden sense of dread that had passed through her the instant that second of eye contact had actually been established? "I think we found our threat, guys..." Rhiannon was saved any further explanations. The situation made itself quite clear the instant a huge explosion tore the door she had just been peering through right off its hinges, filling the corridor with thick black smoke that left all in the vicinity choking on the fumes.
"What the %&^*?" Milliardo spluttered, squinting through the darkness with his superior vision. What he saw made him do a double take. A Rapidash strode proudly from the room, the fine hair covering its body as white as snow. For some reason it reminded him somewhat of Hokiri, the horned Ponyta that had been his trainer's prize in the Unicorn Games who ended up being given to Soo as a result of issues surrounding certain Dragon Tamers having already filled the quota of pokémon their licence allowed. "Rhi, what the hell is that thing?"
"I... I..." Rhiannon seemed almost paralysed by fear. "I... I... Guys! We have to get out of here! Now!"
"You what? With this thing on the loose?"
"Milliardo!" Rhiannon snapped, her tone suddenly almost glacial. "This is a minor distraction. We're sorry. But if we don't get back to Sector Alpha in the next ten minutes there will seriously be little home left for us to return to. This creature is strong, but the trainers already in the base can deal with it. Ade needs us all by his side now, do you not understand that?"
"I..."
"Never mind. We're sorry, but we can't afford to give you much choice in the matter." So saying Rhiannon opened her gemstone once again, causing a huge inky void to open directly underneath the feet of her little group. "Forgive us." And that was the last thing she said before her void swallowed them all.

__________________

Wolfsong

Before story notes: I had a major case of writer’s block so apologies in advance. This is for the last scenario but I had an extensions. I had bought the slash, detect, 2 mimic tms, and the flame wheel tm from the reward center. The haze tm that tiny got was an emt move as well as the mega punch tm that I already gave to flame. If you were wondering the stat modification dies lowered the rattata’s special attack and raised Colby’s attack. Also that was helping hand that Colby used. ^^; Once more apologies if this isn’t as good as usual.


I yawned, as I stood up. Once again, I was up before the rest of the team. Sinopa was nestled in between Blazer and me. I looked around expecting all of the others to still be asleep. To my surprise, Ayla was up before I was this morning and not Dodger. She was pacing up and down the balcony. “Morning.” she said without even looking at me. “What’s wrong?” I asked her. Ayla just sighed before turning and looking at me. “Nothing and everything. So what brings you out here this early in the morning?” she asked. “I was hoping that Dodger was awake.” “Why?” “Because I wanted to ask him if he would take me to the Dark Isles so that I could visit Mom and Wakan.” Ayla smiled wistfully. “That sounds like fun.” she said wistfully.

An idea struck me, and I grinned. “Would you like to come with me?” I asked. Ayla’s face broke into a smile before going back to the way it had been before I had made the offer.” “I’d like to come Yana, I really would. Though for some reason I think I’d better stay here.” “Come where?” a groggy voice asked. I turned around to see that Dodger had finally woken up. “I was wondering if you would be kind enough to take me to the Dark Isles so that I could visit my Mom and Wakan. Dodger shrugged. “I guess I could take you.” “Thank you.” I told him smiling. “No problemo. Just climb aboard.” Before we left I whispered to Ayla that I hoped that everything would work out for the best. Then, I jumped up on Dodger’s back as he beat his powerful wings.

Slowly, we rose high into the air. Neither of us talked during the long and rather boring flight. When we finally made it, Dodger circled lower and lower till I could jump off without hurting myself. “I’ll be back in a little while. Keep an eye on the sky.” “Got it.” I replied as he slowly rose back towards the heavens.

I hadn’t been here since I was a houndour, but I had an idea about how I could contact Mom and Wakan. I took a deep breath before throwing back my head and howling at the top of my lungs. “I forgot how good that makes you feel.” I said, chuckling to myself. It took a minute before two howls answered mine. “That sounds like Mom and Wakan.” I said to myself. I couldn’t wait to see their reactions when they saw that I was no longer a houndour but a houndoom. I howled again and a third howl joined the chorus. This time they sounded close by. Sure enough, five minutes later I was in the midst of three houndooms.

They, well Mom and Wakan, recognized me immediately. Mom ran over and gave me a welcoming nuzzle. Wakan just whistled. “Now I wish that we weren’t brother and sister.” That caused me to blush. “Drop it, please.” I said. “I…” Wakan laughed. “Sis has a boyfriend he sang.” “Stop it please.” I pleased blushing even more. “Wakan, that’s enough.” Mom told him and he stopped. “Party pooper.” I heard him mutter. “Aiyana, you remember Tamal don’t you?” Mom asked me. “Is he the one with the grass typed hidden power who used to use it to make a swing for me when I was a little pup?” I asked. Tamal nodded his head. “I’m surprised that you remember that as you were quite young at the time.” I was about to say something when I froze.

“Something’s coming.” I said. “What?” “I don’t know.” I admitted I just got the feeling that something was coming here. I looked at all three of their faces. My hidden power is of the psychic type.” I explained before a giragarig had teleported in the middle of the four of us. “You!” Mom snarled. “Easy Lade. I’m by myself and normally wouldn’t set a hoof on the Dark Isles but I’ve got a business deal for all of you.” The girafarig said smugly. “We don’t want any dealings with the Rockets. We’re not stupid.” Tamal stated simply. “I know you’re not which is why I’m here. I need you to help the Rockets take down the Crimson Blades. That faction was trouble form the get go if you ask me. If you help, I can guarantee that you won’t have to worry about getting recaptured.” Wakan, Mom, Tamal, and I all closed in snarling. “We will not help Team Rocket.” “Then you are the enemy. “We won’t be helping the other faction either.” The girafarig shook his head. “You leave me no choice but to force you into helping up.” he said, glaring at Mom. I stepped forward. “Leave her out of this. I’ll battle you.” “Wait a minute, you aren’t one of the escaped houndooms. I recognize you. You belong to one of the Tamers, because there aren’t that many spotted houndooms out there after all.” The girafarig lowered his head and charged.

Yana L.27 F Spotted Houndoom Vs. Team Rocket’s L.35 M Girafarig

I stood in my spot until my hidden power sent me a message telling me to jump to the side… NOW! When it did, I moved as fast as I could and grinned as the surprised girafarig skidded to a stop. While it was busy trying to stop, I focused on calling out the power of the sun. As I did so, I was surrounded by a fiery red glow that soon launched itself in a beam straight up into the sky. A split second later, I was hit by a bolt of electricity that caused me to howl out in pain. When the thunderbolt had finally stopped, I turned around and scooped up some mud in my paw before throwing it into the girafarig’s face. I smiled in relief as the mud temporarily blinded my opponent. He began shaking his head from side to side in an attempt to get the mud out of his eyes. Picking one of my new moves, I decided to make the most out of the sun while it was out. As I focused on my overheat attack I could feel my body temperature rising till I could no longer contain the flames building up inside. When I opened my mouth, intense flames spilled out and slammed into the girafarig about the time he had gotten the last bit of mud out of his eyes. I didn’t feel up to using anymore fire attacks anytime soon though. The attack had taken a lot out of me, but it was worth it as it had seemed to significantly hurt my opponent as well. Smirking, the girafarig reared up on its hind legs before charging me. He slammed into me with enough force to send me rolling backwards several feet. I quickly scrambled to my paws as I exhaled a dense smog. It worked just like I had hoped it would. It provided just enough of a distraction to give me some time to think. I quickly came up with an idea by the time the smog dissipated. The girafarig was charging towards me in an attempt to use another take down. I stood my ground as I concentrated on secreting some vile tasting sludge in my mouth. I just about gagged at the taste but managed to spit the poisonous sludge all over the girafarig’s face where it exploded causing him to stumble. Quickly changing tactics, he reared up on his hind legs and stomped the ground which caused an earthquake sending waves of seismic energy racing towards me. Uh oh, I thought as I remembered a TM that Amy had gotten at the EMT and had given to me. Please let this work I thought as I concentrated on countering the move. Though it tired me out, I succeeded in redirecting the earthquake back to the girafarig. It wasn’t until he had slumped to the ground unconscious that the earth finally stopped shaking.

I won!
I grew to L.29!

Mom hurried over to make sure that I was okay. After I had regained enough energy, we walked back to where Wakan and Tamal were. Dodger arrived not long after and I was glad to see them. After saying good by to Mom, Wakan, and Tamal along with promising to visit again as soon as I could we headed back home. When we got home, the others were in the living room. Something looked off and it took a few minutes for me to realize that the twins had evolved.



I awoke to both of the twins jumping up and down on my stomach shouting “Wakey wakey Amy!” I groaned and rolled onto my side pulling the covers over my head. Come on Amy.” Colby said as he burrowed under the covers and sat right in front of my face. “All right, all right I’m up.” “Yay!” the two of them cheered. “So what do the two of you want?” I asked, climbing out of bed. “We want to evolve.” That caught me off guard considering that I learned shortly after letting them join the team that Tiny didn’t want to evolve. “We?” I asked. “Me and Tiny.” Still surprised, I turned to Tiny. “Is this true?” I asked. He nodded his head yes. “Its just when I was trying to be forced to evolve I didn’t want to. Since being on this team, I’ve had time to think and I have changed my mind. I am ready and I want to. Since you took us in, you never pushed the issue and I appreciate that.” I nodded my head. “What did you decide on?” I asked. Tiny smiled. “A flareon.” So can we go?” Colby asked. I was confused. “Go where?” “To get a Fire Stone.” “We don’t have to. I have a fire stone in my bag. Actually, I have two.” “So we can both evolve today?” Tiny asked. I nodded my head yes. “Yay!” the two of them shouted. “Let me get ready then we can wake the others up and you can evolve. Then we’ll try and figure out what we’re going to do today.” The twins pouted, but they agreed to wait.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone except Yana and Dodger were present. Ayla then informed me that they had gone to visit her family. “So what did you wake us up for?” “Do I have a battle today?” Darin asked before I could answer Sinopa. “Sorry Darin, not today. Sinopa, the reason we woke you all up is for mainly two reasons. One, the twins decided that they wanted to evolve and I thought you all might want to see it. Also, we need to plan what we are going to do today. Kiara was the first to react to the news. She stepped forward and gave each of them a smile and a motherly nuzzle. “I’m happy for you.” “So what are they going to evolve into? We all know Colby wanted to be a vaporeon.” Sweetie asked. “Flareon.” Tiny announced proudly. The two of them then gave me a look that plainly said stop talking and hurry up.

I walked over and grabbed my bag. I then sat down on the floor and opened it up. I had to pull out quite a few TM boxes before I got down to the stones. When I reached them, I pulled out a water stone first, and then laid a fire stone down beside it. I thought that Colby would dash forward and touch the stone before anyone could react, however this was not the case. Colby looked over at Tiny and the two of them nodded at each other. Then, as one the two of them walked over and touched the respective stones at the same time. We all gasped as the two of them were enveloped in a dazzling but blinding white light. I watched as both of them began growing in height when the phone started ringing. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as I went to answer it. Sure enough it wasn’t good news. Gabi was calling a staff meeting. I told her that I would be there and hurried back into the living room. By that time, the twins’ evolution was complete and Dodger and Yana had returned. There was silence as I returned to the living room. “Gabi’s called a staff meeting so I’ll be going in a little bit. I’ll take some but not all of you with me so who wants to come can come.” At that, Yana, Kiara, and the twins volunteered. Sinopa decided to stay with Blazer at home. “Before we go, I have some TMs to hand out.” I told the gathered group. “Tiny, would you like the flame wheel tm that I bought. I hadn’t decided who to give it to but I think you could make some use out of it seeing as you don’t know any fire moves at all right now.” “Really? If you’re sure, I would appreciate it.” “Here you go.” I said as I handed him the tm. “I had a slash TM that I had bought for you before you had evolved.” I explained as I handed the second tm box to him. “Colby I have an Haze Tm that I was saving for you when I got it from the emt as well as a detect tm for you.” I handed him the boxes. I also have a Mimic TM for Kiara and one for Yana.” I handed them the tms. “Its time to go.” I announced as I stood up.


I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect with evolving but once I touched the stone it was no turning back. Not that I wanted to, but still. I had finally decided that I was ready. The evolution process was exhilarating. I had grown some but I was still significantly smaller than I should have been. I shrugged it was nothing knew and I can’t say that I didn’t expect it. One thing I did notice was that I was considerably warmer afterwards which was kind of a duh moment considering that I was now a flareon. I felt stronger as well. Then Amy surprised me with a couple of nice TMs. Soon after, Amy announced that it was time to go. We arrived at the meeting on time, but it grew really boring to us really fast so Tiny and I left to explore the city. Amy had told us to be careful (since she knew that we knew the way home) and we promised that we would be. We hadn’t gone very far when we heard the sound of an explosion in the distance. “Let’s go check it out.” Colby suggested. I shrugged and we took off running towards the source of the sound.


It took us a while to reach the source of explosion because of the amount of people running away. Tiny was probably thinking that they had more sense than we did but by then we had reached it. Or rather, what was left of it. The building, or at least I think that was what it used to be, was now nothing more than a huge pile of debris. A skitty was lying in the middle of the street knocked out. She must have been thrown to the middle of the road. “Hey, look.” Tiny whispered. A rattata that looked strong was nosing through the remains of the building. He froze then dug something out that must have been a tm because he briefly glowed yellow before he began looking around again. The rattata came to a few bricks that were still standing and it charged them knocking them over. “Hey you stop that.” I ordered him. The small rat stopped and turned to look at us. “Who are you to tell me, a pokemon of the Crimson Blade’s, what to do?” it asked, glaring at us. I gulped before answering him. “Colby and Tiny.” With that he launched himself into a quick attack that slammed into both me and Tiny. The two of us quickly scrambled back to our paws.

Colby L. 11 Black M Vaporeon & Tiny L.11 M Flareon Vs. Crimson Blade’s L.15 M Rattata

Tiny looked at me and I nodded. As one, we both pulled out our stat modification dies. I rolled mine and immediately felt a tickling sensation that seemed to seep down into my muscles. I felt stronger and I grinned and looked up to see the rattata briefly engulfed in a glow. I wasn’t sure what Tiny’s die did, but it would probably be beneficial to us in the long run. “I don’t know that that was supposed to do, but it doesn’t matter.” the rattata stated as he began to glow yellow and a crackling of electricity could be heard. “Crap.” I managed to squeak out but that was all that I could do. I heard Tiny scream for me to run, but I was essentially rooted to the spot with a deer in the headlights look as the thunder raced from the rat to me. The next thing I knew, Tiny had leaped in front of me and took the full force of the thunder. He winced but it would have been much more painful for me. “Thanks.” I told him. Tiny just nodded. I decided to try double team next I concentrated but only came out with one clone. It looked as if I would have to practice that in order to get more like Tiny did. Tiny just smirked with his four clones. “Show off.” I whispered not meaning it at all. I made a note to practice it if I survived to get any spare time. Our opponent didn’t seem to be phased at all. “You two just wasted a turn.” He stated before he opened his mouth spitting out several star shaped heat seeking missiles that tore through our clones and slammed into us. We glared at him and he glared back before darting forwards and slamming into me and biting down with his hyper fang. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth to prevent crying out in pain as I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he did indeed hurt me. When I felt him release me, I opened my eyes and looked around. I didn’t see our opponent anywhere, but I did see a hole in the ground. “Tiny, he’s gone underground!” I shouted as I provided a launching point so that when Tiny used his hidden power it would be even more powerful when he hit the ground. Tiny nodded, took a running start, jumped on me before slamming into the ground caused the earth to shake. A few minutes later, the rattata surfaced clearly disoriented. Not only did he miss Tiny by a mile but he tried to hit the me with his quick attack and ended up hitting a street sign. Since I was closest, I hit him with a tackle knocking him out. “Let’s go back.” I suggested. “If the meetings not over, then we can wait and if it is we can go on home. “Sounds like a good idea.” Tiny admitted.

Tiny and I won!
Tiny grew to L.12!
I grew to L.12!

__________________

Lady Vulpix

Oh... so much to read... but I will.

I've decided to post part 2 of my story for the current scenario, and leave the conclussion for later. It's already long enough as it is.

<Caledor's POV>

So, we only had 12 hours to go. Because it was obvious we were going. I had mixed feelings about the whole thing, but no one would stop me from sorting out whatever was wrong and finding some answers. But before we left, we had many things to take care of, so you could bet those 12 hours were going to fly. For starters, it was Valentine's Day and for the first time ever that actually meant something for me. So, while the heads of the Dragon Tamers were having their last minute meeting, Kiara and I exchanged presents. She got me an awesome Detect TM which I couldn't wait to test next time I had a brawl with Hero or Tsunami. I got her a Flame Wheel TM. It wasn't much, but it could help in the event she ended up frozen for some reason, which I hoped would never happen. Pidgeot and Water Angel decided to spend some time alone, and he took her somewhere... he never told us where, just that it wasn't the Eevee House. I bet those two had things to do and talk about in private. They didn't come back until it was almost time to go. Hero ran off as well. He didn't say where he was going, but we all knew he was off to see Tracker. It doesn't take psychic powers to notice how his face changes when he thinks of her. Oh, and Tsunami? He was really jealous and making vain attempts to hide it. I couldn't believe it... Kiara actually liked me and wanted to be with me! After all the time I'd yearned for her secretly... it was better than anything I'd ever hoped for.

Oh, and of course there was the Dragon's Guild opening. Turns out "Gabi's idea" (which really wasn't her idea at all) was accepted and she was asked to set it in motion immediately. All she could do was issue some announcements and welcome 2 new members: two Dragon Tamers named Jeff and Shonta. Jeff was looking for a new place to live and asked if the Guild could help him get one. Gabi agreed to put the request through, but couldn't really do much. Even the opening celebration was put off until our return from Unicorn's Gate, and the section of the Guild we were now working at was left in charge of the new Universal Scholar and DT staff member Ade. Am I going too fast? Well, it was a fast day. The thing is Ade had been helping us a lot, and now with this whole mission thing the girls needed as much help as they culd get, so they offered him to join them as a Dragon Tamers worker, and he accepted and got down to work immediately. So, that's pretty much what happened during the 12 hours we'd been given to put our things in order before we left. During the staff meeting it was decided that 2 DT workers would go to Unicorn's Gate and the other 2 would stay and defend Sector Alpha from the threats of the two criminal organisations. Luckily for me, the ones who decided to go were Gabi and Amy, so that meant I wouldn't have to say goodbye to Kiara on Valentine's Day.

We gathered at the Guild's building when the time came. Unlike the times when we fought the Black Battallion and the Dark Cloak, there were just a handful of us now. I couldn't blame others for wanting to stay, or even to leave the country, but I was glad Gabi had chosen to go. Soon, a large group of pokemon entered the hall. Most of them were psychic pokemon. There was even an Espeon who got my mind mixed up for a second. I mean, the moment before they arrived I was looking at a picture on the wall which had what looked like a medieval knight riding a griffin. Then for some reason I thought I so the griffin standing next to me, but it was just an Espeon holding the same pose. Crazy, I know. In my defense I can say I'd only seen him out of the corner of my eye and had other things in my mind when the mixup took place.

"So there are griffins here," the Espeon said, as if he'd read my mind. Which come to think of it he might have.
"I think they're extinct now," I told him.
"Ah," he sighed deeply, looking down and then at the picture. "Gone but not forgotten."
"Do I know you?," I asked him. Something about him seemed only familiar.
"Yes, we met at the Blizzard Room. I'm Glyph."
"Glyph! Yes, I remember you now. Funny how you remembered me right away."
"I don't get to see someone like you everyday. I must admit I was impressed from the first time I saw you."
"What do you mean? Haven't we met only once before?"
"Actually I've seen you once before we met. But I didn't show myself, I just watched in amazement and reflected."
"You're starting to sound like a stalker to me."
"Oh, no, not at all. It's just that I was too puzzled to talk to you back then. It was a... strange situation."
"What isn't strange these days? Wait, weren't you from... elsewhere?"
For a moment I'd almost forgotten we were surrounded by a small crowd.
"Yes, I am, and I miss it dearly," he replied. "But we have a mission to accomplish and can't leave just like that."
"Then where did you see me?"
"Well... Elsewhere, of course."
"Ah, so it was that one time. Yes, it was the weirdest experience in my life and I'm known for my weirdness. Can't blame you for being puzzled. But wait, what are you doing here? Do you work for Lord Absol now?"
"No, just for the Guild. They called for everyone who could teleport to assist with the transportation, so I came here to help."
"They told you where the lab is?"
"Not really, but I can synch with the others and follow. It's not hard, I've done it before."

The conversation shifted when Kiara asked me who I was talking too.
"Ah, he's Glyph. He works with Golden Growlithe of the Dragon's Guild. We met at the Blizzard Room before the Unicorn Games. Glyph, this is Kiara. She's... She's great."
I blushed for not having come up with anything better to say. Kiara didn't seem to mind, or maybe her blush wasn't noticeable on her already red fur.
"Pleased to meet you," he said, but before the conversation could continue, he received a psychic pulse. I could feel it as well. "Oh, we have to go now. Stand still for a moment, we're taking you there."

I can't say not standing still was an option. He didn't even give me time to blink. Before we knew it, we were in a different hall. One with white walls and metallic doors. I looked around. The place seemed empty except for us.
"What happened to the chairs and the table?," I asked.
"Pardon?," said Glyph.
I shook my head. Of course Glyph wouldn't know about that place. And maybe it wasn't a good idea for me to talk much about it either. With all that was going on, most Tamers were afraid of the genetic experiments from that lab, or at least prejudiced against them. I didn't want anyone to see me as an enemy. But then the question arose... What would I do now that I was back at the lab? What did I need to see, or do, or solve so badly that it was threatening to keep me serious for a while? What was I looking for?

Pokemon and trainers started scattering during my inner dialogue. I asked Glyph for the reason and he said the obvious: they were spreading out in small groups to cover a larger area. Some of the teleporters disappeared. Glyph looked at them as they left.
"I guess I could go back to the Guild, but I'd rather stay here," he decided. "This is the closest I've ever been to uncovering the secrets of the Dragon's Guild."
"If that's your mission, you may not live to accomplish it," Tsunami butted in proving that he'd been listening to the whole conversation.
"That and helping you guys in your fight against Team Rocket and the Crimson Blades," Glyph replied, unphazed.
"So, how do you like Ulthuan so far?," Tsunami asked with noticeable sarcasm.
"It's scary, full of rude beings and conflicts, and intrigues around every corner. That, and I'm earthbound. Being here is a tough job... at least we're still together. My team, I mean. I don't know if I'd be able to handle it without them."
"Sorry," Tsunami apologized. "But if it's so bad, then why are you staying?"
"Because it's the right thing. We're needed here, and we promised Harims that we would help. Besides, Esh... Ivan seems to enjoy being a member of the Dragon's Guild. I must admit it feels good to know you can make a difference. Back home, most things we did didn't matter that much."
Tsunami nodded. I seemed to recall Gabi saying something similar once. Something about staying in Ulthuan for her friends and the ones who needed her.

My thoughts were interrupted again, this time by the sound of Tiny and Colby chasing Sugar. They seemed to have become even more energetic since their evolution. For a moment, I wished I could join them. But then Amy scolded them and even their party was over. Still, it was good to see they hadn't grown up. I didn't want to grow up either. I didn't want to have to struggle for a moment of joy. But for some reason I felt like every nerve in my body was being pulled at that time. I couldn't ignore it no matter how hard I tried. I tried to think of good things. Even in the lab we could fight something to have fun with... there was that holographic projector that could simulate nearly every environment (or so I'd thought when I used it, then I found out it had actually missed a few fun ones, like frozen lakes and other stuff). Yes... I could hold on to that thought for a while.

"I think we should start searching for the source of the problem," suggested Gabi.
"I think the strange vibrations and the rampaging pokemon on every room and corridor I can sense may have something to do with it," Ventura answered with a hint of sarcasm which probably was as much sarcasm as she could manage.
"Vibrations?," Gabi asked.
"I feel confusion," said Lagi, "but I can't tell if it's the pokemon or our own group. We should get closer."
By now the conversation had become impossible to ignore. Well, if I had to face whatever it was I'd be facing, at least I wouldn't be alone.
"Shall we go together?," I asked, my eyes turning to Kiara.
Kiara nodded. "Sure."
"So let me get this straight," Gabi addressed Ventura. "Any direction we pick will be the same?"
"As far as I can tell, yes," she replied. "There's too much commotion to locate a control room or anything like that like we did back at the Team Rocket base."
"Then I suggest we go forward," said Hero, already running ahead.
"I guess we follow right?," Amy gathered.
"I guess so," Gabi agreed. "And here I was thinking he'd finally grown past his acts of impulsiveness."
"It's Hero. You can't expect him to grow up," commented Tsunami. It was strange to hear him say that about Hero rather than me.
"Well, I think he has grown a lot," Gabi considered, "but that's beside the point. Let's go, we shouldn't let him get in trouble alone."
"Yes! Let's go and get in trouble together!," I grinned. Being silly was a source of endless fun.
Tsunami chuckled. "Whatever."

So we all moved forward, until we reached a corridor with doors at either side. There were a few doors which I'd never seen open, but now were. It was enough to spike anyone's curiosity, but now I wasn't sure I'd like what I would find if I walked through any of them.

"Any idea where he went?," Amy interrupted my train of thoughts before it could run over me.
Only then I remembered we were looking after Hero. I wondered what was going on with me.
"That's easy. Into the first open door," Ventura answered.
Needless to say, that's where we all went.

The first open door led to a room with some small ray machines and other metallic equipment. A group of pokemon were disassembling everything using nothing but brute force, and hurling random things at Hero, who was doing an amazing job at dodging everything.
"You're here at last!," Hero exclaimed. "What took you so long?"
"Don't start it, please," Gabi told him. "What's going on?"
"Right here, I don't know. But I've caught a familiar scent ahead. I'm going to investigate."
"You shouldn't go alone," Gabi advised him.
"Right," I agreed. "You should wait for us and let me guide you. I know more about this place than you do."
Did he listen to my advice? Of course not. A couple of Quick-Attacks later he was already in the next room. Me, I was being attacked by a vicious Banette for the sole reason of having stepped forward to try and reach my friend. The Faint Attack caught me by surprise and caused me to fall back. It hurt like hell, but it wasn't just my body. Something was wrong and I knew it. I'd been fighting hard to ignore it all my life, but it was there and I couldn't hide it anymore. I couldn't attack the Banette, it was just a pawn in a sick game which neither of us knew the rules of. It was just like me, and maybe even younger than me. I couldn't help thinking... if I'd never been carried out of the lab by Scott on the day the first Griphon Games finished, now it could have been me attacking the ones I now cared for. The thought was more horrible than anything else I'd ever imagined. My worst fear was looking at me and laughing on my face, and I couldn't pretend it didn't exist anymore. But then, something happened. Then Kiara darted forward with a great Agility and bit the Banette. She was... she was fighting for me! Then I remember how other fears I'd had in the past had been easily washed away by her gentle smile. It all revolved around the same thought. If someone like her could care so much for me, maybe I wasn't a scary monster after all.

<Sylvan's POV>

Caledor had frozen in his place, and Lagi was looking at him thoughtfully. I was worried about him, but the four pokemon who were thrashing the room wouldn't give me the chance to talk to him. There was the Banette that had attacked him, who was now engaged in a battle with Kiara, and 3 others: a Hitmonlee, and Ampharos, and a Seviper. None of us were as fast as Hero was (well, Ventura could teleport, but she'd never refuse a battle) and I reckoned we wouldn't get anywhere if we didn't stop these pokemon first.
"We should stop them before they cause any more trouble," Ventura proposed, confirming my thoughts.
"I'll join you, if you don't mind," I offered.
Her response was a psychic pulse telling me to block the Ampharos's attacks. It was typical of Ventura to boss me around like that whenever we were battling, but there was no time to argue, so I did as she said.


Ventura promptly attacked the Hitmonlee with Psychic, but then came her first surprise as a part of the attack came back to her with a visible dark aura.
"Double shield," she sighed. "At least it wasn't Psychic/Psychic. Well, this'll make things more interesting."
I had no idea of what she could find interesting in battling seemingly mindless pokemon, but I must admit even I liked it when I saw her sculpture starting to glow. I hadn't seen that for a while. She hadn't even carried it during her last few battles, but apparently she'd thought this mission was important enough to take it. I still remembered what it meant, though. It meant that the Hitmonlee was now poisoned. Though that didn't stop him from getting back at her, kicking her with a leg enveloped in flames. The attack was so strong it caused Ventura to cry out in pain - something she was normally too stubborn to do.

At that moment I stopped trying to block the Ampharos and shot a set of magical leaves at the Hitmonlee instead. It was the best I could do from that distance. It wasn't a safe move, though. As soon as I turned and fired, I felt something hard and painfully hot hit my side. So they both knew fire attacks. I was sure Ventura was enjoying the whole thing, but I had started to get sick of it.

"What did I tell you?!," Ventura scolded me while shooting poisonous spheres at the Hitmonlee.
It was apparently too much for the fighting pokemon, who already had poison in his bloodstream. He collapsed on top of a strange machine. I would have attacked the Ampharos, but Ventura told me to use Synthesis instead. Well, that was what her pulse said. Her words just said "this time listen to me, please".
I did listen to her, and let my skin and ribs heal as much as I could manage. Another Fire Punch came, and it hurt even more than the previous one, but I managed to endure it. I had to.

Ventura floated still for a moment. Don't ask me how she did it, but it looked as if time had stopped.
"What now?," I asked her.
"Now you use Giga Drain," she told me. First verbal command she gave me that day.
I nodded and trapped the Ampharos with my vines, using them to suck in his energy. I'd realized this method was easier and more comfortable than biting, and didn't leave a disgusting taste in my mouth. I felt a slight relief, but my ribs were still in pain. If the Ampharos managed to hit me again with his fire, I didn't think I'd tell the tale. However, it didn't. It just threw some weird cottony things at me. They tickled and forced my vines to retreat, but they didn't cause any pain.
"Can you explain this?," I asked Ventura.
"After the battle," she said, shooting a Signal Beam at the Ampharos.
I tried to Body Slam the Ampharos, only to find my moves to be more sluggish than usual. I managed to get there, but not before I witnessed something extremely weird: an electric pseudo-dragon performing Metronome. Luckily for me, all that came out of it was a punch on my stomach, and my clover protected me from getting seriously hurt. My Body Slam connected, but the Ampharos didn't seem phased.
"We're getting nowhere fast," Ventura commented, while releasing a shower of Sleep Powder on us. It seemed to work on the Ampharos, since he stopped attacking and started tumbling instead. It was a weird way of falling asleep, though.
I coughed. "Did you have to throw it at both of us?"
"Sorry, you were too close. But I knew your clover would protect you from the effects."
"From falling asleep, maybe. Not from the tickles in my lungs and throat."
"Ah, don't be a whiner. Let's recover before he wakes up. Here, have some sunlight."

I've never understood how Sunny Day manages to work in enclosed spaces. It has to be one of the wonders of nature. What I know is that the light in the room suddenly became more intense, allowing for my Synthesis to heal me completely while a strange mist surrounded the Ampharos. Then Ventura used Morning Sun to heal herself. The Ampharos kept tumbling and tripped on a round metallic object, but didn't fall.
"What's going on?," I asked.
"No idea," Ventura said. "But I think we should pin him to the ground just to be safe."

I used another Body Slam, but when I stepped back again the Ampharos bounced forward. Ventura didn't do anything, she just watched as he hit me like a bouncing punchbag.
"Alright, I'll tell you my theory," Ventura said. "I think this ampharos knows Sleep Talk, but just as he knows Metronome which he shouldn't, I think Sleep Talk has a strange effect on him and causes him to perform any move whatsoever, not just those he has learnt. That looked like Flail, by the way."
"Really? It didn't feel like it. Either we're not really denting him much, or my clover is s tronger than I thought."
"You are stronger than you think," she told me. "When you understand that, I won't have to give you instructions so often."
"Well, then. Let me try something."
Ventura didn't respond, so I just channelled the sunlight that had invaded the room into the Ampharos. It was enough to make it stop tumbling and fall on the floor. It may have even been too much.

Both Ventura and I grew to level 53.

"Solarbeam? That was a bit excessive, but it did the job," Ventura said.
"You're a good trainer after all," Gabi commended the Venomoth. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to be joking. And what's even more shocking, Ventura said "thanks."

By then, Kiara had already defeated the Banette, and Yana was engaged in a battle against the Seviper.
"Now, can you tell me what you said you were going to explain after the battle?," I urged Ventura.
"And what was that? Sorry, I had too many things to think about as we battled."
"As if I hadn't. I was asking you what the Ampharos threw at me, and why."
"Oh, that?," she asked, showing me an image of the ticklish cottony flakes. "That's Cotton Spore. I'd never seen it before either, but I learned about it from a Pokedex. Maybe if you took a look at one of those things it would help you as well. You can get to know more about what you can expect in a battle. At least make sure you know what each attack does. Cotton Spore slows you down. I bet he felt he needed the speed advantage once his Fire Punch was disabled."
"I don't think he was feeling much at all. If you ask me, he seemed to be out of his mind... or controlled by something."
"Let me scan the area," Ventura said. "Argh! Something's messing up my radar. There definitely is something, and we're close to it."
"Then try not to use your radar sense until we know it's safe," Gabi told her. "We don't want that thing to affect you too."
"Obviously. But I'm going to hate this," she replied.

<Hero's POV>

There were many rooms connected to each other. It was almost like a maze. It made me wonder how they'd managed to hide a place so big. Maybe we were underground, or something. Some of the rooms had computers, some had weird machinery and some had microscopes and all kinds of glass containers which were mostly broken and scattered around the floor. I had to slow down a few times in order to avoid stepping on the shards. I found a few more mad pokemon, but I didn't let them stop me. Apparently they couldn't think clearly, and they were easy to avoid. I wanted to get as far as possible. If I could, I wanted to get to the source of the problem. I wasn't sure of what I'd do if I got there, but I'd think about it when the time came.

At one point, the sounds behind me changed from the usual bedlam into the sound of a battle. I looked back, wondering if my friends had caught up with me, only to find the mysterious Espeon known as Glyph engaged in a battle with a ridiculously colorful Raichu. That thing reminded me of Akira, a similarly odd-looking Raichu who used to be trained by a girl named Angela and had even tried her luck at a tournament. I wondered what had happened to both of them. A cold and painful sensation brought my mind back to the present. Apparently I'd been hit by a shard of ice or something just as cold. I realized I couldn't spend more time watching the bad science fiction scene that featured the alien fighting the genetic freak. I had to keep going... whatever it was that I was going.

"Hey, you!... Hero was your name, right? I could use some help here," Glyph called out to me. Apparently the Raichu was giving him a beating.
"Why don't you just teleport away?," I asked him.
"It's not so easy. Bringing you all here took a lot out of me," he replied, while failing to dodge a Thunderpunch.
"I'd help you, but I need to find something, and the noise in this room is driving me crazy. If I keep hearing that screeching sound I'll go nuts."
"Screeching sound? What are you talking about?"
Glyph managed to push the Raichu far enough with a Psychic attack to listen for a second.
"Ah, yes, I hear it now!," he said. "It's coming from... above?"
The Raichu charge forwards again, causing the Espeon to be occupied once more, but still leaving me clear enough to look up. Then I saw it... something stuck at the corner of the room, just below the ceiling. It looked like a metallic box with a few square things coming out of it. I'd seen it before... twice, actually, both years earlier. The first time, Team Rocket had been trying to lay waste to some place in order to claim the land for themselves. Come to think of it, we never did find out what was so important about that place. The second time... Just a decoy from Mewtwo, trying to trick us into believing Team Rocket was involved. But Mewtwo was long gone, so this had to be Team Rocket's doing. And luckily, I knew how to undo it.

All I had to do was destroy that thing... that PWE which was causing pokemon to go into a mindless rampage. I tried a couple of Flamethrowers, but the thing was high above and was barely touched by it. It seemed to move down a little after the second burst of fire... maybe whatever was holding it was begining to melt or at least stretch. But it was still too high. I'd have to do something creative if I wanted to bring it down. Luckily, creativity was one of my many talents. I took a few seconds to calculate the necessary speed, timing, destination and angle, and then launched myself up with a Quick-Attack. Normally, that wouldn't have taken me high enough, but I combined it with another move, teleporting in mid-air until I was just high enough to catch the PWE in my mouth. I executed that part of my plan flawlessly. The only disappointment came from the fact that the thing was more stuck than I'd expected, thus I ended up hanging from the wall, with that awful thing vibrating inside my mouth and almost causing my head to explode. I exhaled more fire... I couldn't even think of what attack I was using, but it was fire and that was what mattered. It was strong. I felt the metal beginning to melt, and hadn't my mouth been used to being a passageway for my fire, I would have been burnt by its touch. But things being as they were, my mouth shut itself around the half-melted object, my teeth piercing it, imbued with dark energy. I wasn't even thinking. It just... happened.

The next thing I remembered, I was lying on the floor, with an intense pain on my back, and a confused Raichu and Espeon staring at me.
"What happened?," I asked.
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Glyph told me. I turned around and stood up.
"That thing... it was a psionic wave emitter," I explained. "I've seen them before. They're made by Team Rocket. They cause pokemon to go berserk. There must be more of them, seeded around the lab."
"That explains what's going on," Glyph said. "And also why the Raichu fell unconscious at the same time as you did."
"Oh... thanks for helping me up too," the Raichu said with an unfittingly acute and childish voice. "And thanks to you for saving me, as it seems you've done."
"No problem," I said. "Just... did I do anything embarassing?"
I looked at Glyph worriedly.
"Nothing aside from falling from the ceiling," he answered. "I'm amazed that you didn't hit your head."
"Yes, that's me... amazing," I said, still a bit embarassed for allowing the PWE to affect me, but glad that I hadn't done any harm.
"I think we should look for the rest of the boxes and destroy them," Glyph suggested.
"You can do that, but it won't eliminate the root of the problem," I told him. "Team Rocket planted those things for a reason, and I want to find out what it is."
"Yes, but... why on your own?"
"Because no one else seems to be able to keep up, and I don't like waiting."
"Are you always such a braggart?"
"Yes. Bear with it. But while you're at it notice how the others haven't reached us yet."
"They're busy. Waiting can't possibly hurt you so much, especially when it could save your life. This is no game, something could go horribly wrong here, and I don't know about you, but I wouldn't like to be on my own when I have to face a threat I can't deal with."
"Is that why you came after me?"
Glyph nodded.
"You guys don't stop at anything to help us, don't you?," I laughed.
"It's the promise we've made to Harims," he replied. "If we let anything bad happen to any of you... we wouldn't have the heart to go back home."
"Well, sorry to be the one to tell you this, kid, but bad things are going to happen. They already have. And unless you're actually Gods in disguise, there's nothing you can do to avoid that. All you can do is give it your best shot and help as much as you can. I believe we can make a difference, but this is too big for us to come out of it unharmed."
"How do you know that?"
"Well, there's what Pidgeot saw, and the information Tracker has managed to gather... my contact in the police, I mean. And... ah, yes, of course. All the stories we've heard about the massacres Armand DiAnnio has caused. And Giovanni... he's not much better. Look at what his people did to Pidgeot, and how they got both Charlie and Ryan to attempt suicide, and all the others they killed. I've heard he tried to kill Gabi's brother just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He failed at that, but did manage to take 3 years of his life away from him."
"Oh, sorry to hear that," Glyph said. "Even though half the names you've said don't ring a bell, it sounds horrible. All the more reason for you not to try to go up against either of them on your own."
"Don't worry, I'm not planning to fight anyone on my own. I'm just looking for clues," I told him. "Speaking of which..." here I turned to the Raichu. "You live here, don't you? You must have seen something, or at least heard something."
"I did see a stranger walk into the lab," the Raichu said. "A blonde woman. I thought she was a new researcher. But then a group of men in dark uniforms walked in followed by a group of pokemon. They stuck a thing like the one you broke on the wall, and moved on to the next room. Then I heard fighting... even some shots. I was scared and went into hiding. I can be good at battling other pokemon, but I can do nothing against fire weapons. I hid behind a pile of boxes at the storage room until I started feeling uncomfortable. It was that noise, you know... I just couldn't get it out of my head. I felt like breaking things. After some time it was too much to bear, and then... then I blacked out, and your Espeon friend helped me up when I came into my senses, here in this room."
"Ok, I have a new suggestion," Glyph tried again. "How about you two wait here, while I go back to the others, then we break as many boxes as we can find, and meet you again to search for these intruders?"
"I'll go with you," I said.
"You've both just been released from the effects of that thing, I don't know what would happen if you came into contact with another so soon, and I don't think I could hold myself up against you."
"Flattery won't take you anywhere... Well, maybe it will, but not for important things."
"And what about logic?"
"Logic?... Yes, that can be quite useful."
"Then listen for once and don't risk yourself, and me. I'm sure you can handle a few minutes' wait."

I growled in response, but I complied. I remembered the Poliwhirl I'd faced on the Griphon Games' final round. He'd been overconfident, and that had been his downfall. Back then I'd promised myself never to make the same mistake; I wouldn't make it now... not when the stakes were so high. I'd just have to take another blow to my pride and wait, as much as I hated it. This reminded me of that time when I'd taken a shot on my leg in order to save Gabi, and had to spend the following 3 weeks without running. Those had been the worst 3 weeks of my life. I wondered why I was getting so nostalgic all of a sudden. I hoped I wasn't gettng old. Of course not, I might be the oldest in my team, but I was still full of life. Besides I'd already said I wouldn't stop until I reached 1000 years of age, and Ihad to live up to my word... whether it was possible or not. I had a Ghost type Hidden Power, maybe I could use it to come back and fulfill my wish in case anything went wrong. Bah, my mind was drifting badly. Why the hell did I have to wait for so long?! I sighed. It had probably just been a minute since Glyph had left. I had to do something to keep my mind occupied.
"So... what's your name?," I asked the Raichu.
"I have no name," the childlike voice replied. "They call me experiment 324."
"Don't you mind that?"
The Raichu shrugged.
"What's in a name? It's just a way for others to identify you."
"A name can say a lot about you. I took years before choosing my own name."
"You mean you've named yourself?"
"Yes. Well, actually someone I care for called me that a couple of times, and I decided I wanted it as my name. I guess you can do the same. Pick a name that you like and have others call you by that name."
"I... I'll have to think about it," the Raichu said. "But thanks. I think I may do it."

I was beginning to wonder whether the wait would drive me crazy faster than a PWE could, but then Glyph and my friends showed up at last.
"Hero! There you are!," Gabi exclaimed with joy in her face. She ran to hug me, but I jumped back.
"Sorry, my back still hurts from the fight," I told her.
"Fight?," she asked me. "Who did you battle?"
"A very annoying PWE," I replied, pointing to the remnants of the gimmick. "And boredom. I'm still trying to decide which one was worse."
"You never change, do you?," Tsunami shot at me.
"Neither do you. That's what makes us the awesome mates we are."
"Awesome mates?," asked the Raichu.
"Mates, pals, buddies... friends, you know."
"A Ninetales and a Vaporeon? That's something you don't see everyday."
"You do in the real world," Caledor stepped forward. "There's a lot more to life than you can learn inside a lab."
"How would you know how much you can learn here?"
"Well, because... I grew up here."
Did my ears deceive me? Was there a serious tone in Caledor's voice? Nah, that was impossible. And judging by the way he grinned when Kiara moved closer to him, I reckoned I must have been hearing things that weren't there.
"Wow! I didn't know. You guys are making the outside world sound more interesting each time you talk about it. I really hope I can go there sometime."
"You can come with us when we get out," Gabi offered. "They shouldn't force you to stay here."
"She can understand me?," the Raichu turned to me, stunned.
"Long story," I told him. "Full of weird details concerning a scary Vulpix I'd rather not think about."
"If you're talking about Solitude, she wasn't scary. She was good company, and an excellent guide," Glyph said.
"The weird must understand each other," I concluded. "Either way I'd rather not think about her."
"But why?"
"Because she's a manipulative bitch who hides and deceives and makes sure to stay always one step ahead of me, alright? She's not someone I'd like to occupy my thoughts with."
"I think you're misjudging her, but it's alright, I won't mention her again."
I snorted. "Let's just go and find the Rockets, shall we?"

__________________

Knight of the I.N.D.E.E.D. after waiting for about 3 years to get a reply.
And how did this forum get into my sig?