Charizard04621

Hmm, sorry I haven't posted here at all in a while. To tell the truth, I haven't even looked into this thread for more than a month. >_< I've been procrastinating and doing really nothing much at all, while you've all been busy but doing your jobs anyway. I'll have to resign as part of the Staff... Hopefully you'll find somebody more useful than me. I'll still linger as a Dragon Tamer, but I no longer have what it takes to be a member of the Staff anymore. I've been lazy and selfish, and you've all been picking up the slack.

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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?

AntiAsh Superstar

I second the call for 'think about this hard plz', Karin. Although it's your call in the end I wouldn't want you to do something that you may regret later on, yanno? :/

Anyways... my latest RBG. And may I have another, this time for Milliardo, from the Universal Adoption Centre please? I always like to have at least one battle pending just for training's sake. *pays seven stamps* btw, sorry if the ending seems a little randomly tagged on. That's 'coz it was. X)
Everybody was on edge these days, it seemed. Especially Milliardo. The Umbreon had never exactly been very patient in the first place. But lately it was getting ridiculous. Even the things he normally found fun seemed to have lost their edge. He had played his trainer's punk CDs so many times he had even memorised the sleeve notes. He had sparred with Katnip until both pokémon ached all over. He had spent so much time making a fuss of Pandora that she was starting to complain that she missed the Milliardo how put his foot in it every other sentence. Hell, even seeing how long it took to goad Thunderblast into trying to hit him had lost its appeal. Fact was, he was worried. Lately nothing seemed to be going right for anybody. The constant threat of terrorist action by the Crimson Blades was making everyone in Ulthuan edgy. Everyone was paranoid, jumping at shadows in case they turned out to belong to red-uniformed madmen. Milliardo especially. On the inside he had always been quite highly strung, even if he normally did an admirable job of not showing it. But now... well, with the team growing ever more involved with the internal politics of the Dragon's Guild, with the obvious threats to national safety, with the sister he often moaned about but cared for deeply inwardly stuck out in the middle of all the chaos... was it any wonder the Umbreon was starting to revert back to the razorblade-tongued creature he was before he discovered the delights of playing the part of the one you love to hate?
"That does it. I'm sick of the whole lot of you. I'm going for a walk." It was only ten in the morning and already Milliardo was wishing he were back in bed. The day had started out exactly the same as every day. The team had woken up early on account of the humans in the household both having to hold down jobs. Sindel had prepared a lovely breakfast that somehow didn't quite taste as delicious as it would have been at any other time. Milliardo had declined to join the small group heading for the local Dragons Guild department with a snort of 'I'm only going to bite the first person who says something stupid anyway, go have your fun kissing Guild butt'. And from that point spent the next hour or so flopped on the couch staring blankly out of the window.
"Oh no you don't." The cause of Milliardo's sudden outburst placed herself smartly in between the Umbreon and the door. "All I said was 'are you okay?'. Nobody's so much as spoken to you since breakfast seeing as your usual clique actually decided to do something with their time and went to help Ade at the Guild. Really, Milliardo, talk to me instead of bottling it up. It'll do you a whole world of good."
"And what would you know about what would do me good, Pearl?" Milliardo spat, raising his head up from the sofa to glare over at the Ninetales. "Take your therapist nonsense to someone who actually cares."
"Nuh-uh." The Ninetales walked over to the sofa and sat herself down resolutely. "I've had this conversation too many times now, Milliardo. And doesn't it always feel much better once you've actually caved in and got your problems off your chest?"
"I guess, but I'm not in the mood. Hadn't you better go check Celeste hasn't gotten herself ran over by a lorry or something instead of bugging me?"
"Actually she's in the garden playing with Brandy and Megan. I think I can trust Brandy to look after her for a little while. So then. Since I've some time to spare how about you tell me what's making you such a pain to live with lately?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's just everything that's happened lately? I mean, all the getting attacked every ten seconds and having to watch everyone I know get pummelled or worse tends to even get to me at times, you know. Besides, I can't help worry about Rhi, which is bloody stupid I know after I witnessed her bounce back from being shot in the head with a laser and all but there you are. She's my sister and she's in the middle of God knows where getting mixed up in God knows what and I'm bloody powerless to do a thing to help. How's that for a start, Pearl? Good enough for you?"
"Actually yes, that's plenty."
"Good. Now piss off and let me wallow in my own misery."
"Not a chance, Milliardo." Pearl fixed the Umbreon with a look that somehow managed to be both stern and sympathetic at the same time. "The situation's getting to all of us, you know. Everywhere's in such chaos these days. Look at what happened to poor Bolovayr the other day. He goes on his first date only to find the cinema he was going to had been taken over by the Blades as a base. All the stupidity's wearing away at all of us, it's not just you. But we just have to be strong. If we let it get to us as much as it ought to it's as good as handing victory to the Blades on a silver platter. And please don't worry about Rhi. Out of everybody she's probably the most likely to come out of this intact. She's had military training, after all, plus she does have that magic to hide behind if need be. I'm sure she's fine, just let her do what she has to." Here the Ninetales paused as if remembering something important. "You can't be a hero all the time, Milliardo. I know you're always the first to leap into the offensive if there are injustices being done and we all love you for that passion. But sometimes you just have to accept that there's really nothing you can do aside from wait things out." There was a long pause as the two pokémon stared at each other for a long time. Finally Milliardo sat up and hopped down from the sofa, making as if to leave. As he passed Pearl he paused for a second.
"Maybe," the Umbreon murmured without looking up. "That doesn't mean I have to like it. By the way, I'm going for that walk now, Pearl. I need to think things over."
"As you like." Pearl made no move to stop her friend. He did have to think things over, after all. She just hoped that when he came back he would have finally settled things within his troubled mind.

As it happened events turned out in such a way that Milliardo came back an altogether happier pokémon. He had been wandering for a while now, not really sure where he was going but knowing that he would most likely end up really upsetting somebody if he stayed around the house. So he just walked. And walked. And walked. Until somehow or other instinct had led him to the one place he had so resolutely set his mind against going to. The large, oaken doors of the Dragon's Guild. Or rather, the branch of the Dragons Guild he was most familiar with. No doubt there were many, many others. But this was the one he knew best. The branch dedicated to pokémon research and training.
"Great," the Umbreon grumbled. "Subconsciousness, one day you and I are really gonna have to have a little heart to heart." Resigning himself to his fate, he quietly slipped in through the door, ignoring the heads that turned around to see who this latest visitor was and trying his best to pretend that he wasn't at all bothered by the fact that most of those heads, upon recognising which Umbreon he was, rather quickly tried to look as if they were staring at something else. Silently he padded through the busy corridors, trying to find something he could do to take his mind of things. He stuck his head in the great library to find half of his teammates rushing from shelf to shelf trying to assist in the latest piece of research. He peered into the laboratories to find nameless Guild members working on their various projects. And then he wandered into the barracks, where pokémon and human alike honed their battling skills. Or just hang out waiting decades for the powers that be to get their butts in gear with the rehousing scheme if your name happens to be Jeff, Milliardo thought to himself, seeing the trainer nicknamed Blue and his team hanging out in the corner they had set up as their temporary home. Idly Milliardo contemplated going over and saying hi, or at the very least making some ill-judged comments about how Mercandos looked like he was auditioning for a part in an unnecessary sequel to The Mummy, but then he thought better of it. Instead he made his way over to a small area reserved for training equipment and began pummeling a large pokédoll that was usually used for target practice. It wasn't fair, any of it! Truth be told, yet again Pearl had unerringly got straight to the heart of the problem. He did feel like he wasn't in control, like the situation had grown beyond anything he could deal with, and that scared him more than he cared to admit. Powerless wasn't something that the Umbreon cared to feel.
"Something bothering you, Milliardo?" A familiar voice sounded from behind the Umbreon, causing him to stop short in his assaults on the target doll. Quickly he whipped his head around to see a rather petite Jolteon stood in the doorway, a wry smile upon her face. "We've missed your nonsense, you know."
"I...." Milliardo caught himself short. Was he just about to admit that he had missed his sister? "Where the hell have you been? We've all been worried sick."
"Some have been worrying more than others, it seems," Rhiannon noted. "You don't need to play the tough guy around us, you know. We know you too well for that to work." The Jolteon sighed, hopping onto a spare bunk and settling down upon it. "We do like these surroundings, you know, but maybe we can get Ade to bring a bean bag in here. We used to have one for a bed when we were training with the Dark Cloak, you know."
"That's not answering my question," Milliardo snapped. "Unless you've been on a wondrous trip to bean bag land where everything is a plush toy, in which case all I can say is learn your lesson about eating strange mushrooms. Now are you going to get round to telling me what you've been up to all this time or do I have to force it out of you?" They both knew this was a bluff. Milliardo wasn't the sort to hurt his family. And even if he were, what could he possibly do to Rhiannon? If she used her full power she could have levelled the entire building in seconds. However, Rhiannon finally gave up on playing games regardless.
"Getting reinforcements," the Jolteon finally admitted. "It took longer than we expected, and we're sorry about that, truly. You of all creatures should agree with us when we say life does tend to get in the way at times. But our mission was very successful. And we may even have something of a plan."
"Care to share this with the rest of us, then? And what reinforcements are you talking about?" Milliardo frowned. "I see no reinforcements. Again, Rhi, lay off the mushrooms."
"The only one we can think of who might be able to take care of Reaper. The way we see it, if we can deal with her then we remove the main weapon the Blades have. And don't worry. We haven't gone mad. Reinforcements are on their way. They've just been a little held up, that's all. They'll arrive when we need them."
"If you say so," Milliardo snorted, clearly unimpressed. "I leave all that planning for battle shit to you, Rhi, seeing as you're so bloody good at it and all." Finally he sighed, and his tone suddenly softened. "Look, I don't really want to yell at you now, Rhi. I missed having you around to freak me out, you know."
"And we missed being around you too, Milliardo. Many a dark night we have lain awake worrying about what evils may have befallen you and..."
"Rhi?"
"Yes?"
"Just a tip for future reference. Next time you want to try and confuse me by pretending to be the Rhi you're not just after a switch you might want to try doing a better job of stifling the giggle." The Umbreon rolled his eyes. "That was a crap impression anyway. I know your other half is all poetic and gothic and weird but she's not THAT over the top."
"Oh, you're no fun!" Rhiannon pouted. "Fine. No more stupidity. If..."
"If?"
"If you can catch me!" Rhiannon stuck her tongue out at her brother and then shot off through the door and down the stone corridor, Milliardo in hot pursuit. Finally, it seemed, life stood a chance of getting back to normal.

Normal, however, wasn't something I had much experience of. Especially at the minute. Right now I had been assigned a gargantuan task by the Guild. When Scott, the old Dragon Master, had vanished so too had half of the Guild's archives it seemed. So the previous morning a rather flustered Lady Ninetales had slammed a large list upon my desk.
"The Guild used to have a large online information source about the more basic facts about our organisation and our country," she had began. "Since the chaos occurred that's made our hierarchy such a mess it's been lost from our systems completely. If you don't mind, consider its rebuilding your pet project for the next few weeks. There's some pointers as to where you might look to regain the information on this list, and of course you can get others to help if you want. We just need it up and running again as soon as possible. Thanks." And that, it seemed, was that. So since then I had been practically living in the library trying to summarize all the important information as succinctly as possible. It was easier said than done, especially seeing as although I knew some of the facts myself neither the geography or the history of the land had ever been of much interest to me before now. However, I was getting into the swing of things. Slowly.
"Oh, this is getting silly!" By now I had spent a good half of the day working on this project. I had delegated as much of the work as I felt comfortable to others, but even so I was finding myself stretched to my limits. "I need a break."
"Would sir like a drink?" Beckham offered.
"Go on, then, Becks. An orange juice would do me nicely." I watched as my Wartortle performed his now trademark magic trick of pulling a glass of drink out of his shell and handing it to me with his best goofy smile. I accepted the drink and knocked it back in one. "Man, I had no idea this job was going to be such hard work!"
"Yes you did," Pandora commented with a yawn from where she was curled up in a corner. To be honest I was a little worried about the Houndour. Since she had come into the Guild base with me this morning all she had done was either sleep or offer unhelpful criticism. This sort of behaviour was never a good sign. "You knew how loaded down with projects and stuff Gabi gets. Seems perfectly obvious that if you took the same rank as her you'd end up just as busy."
"I know, I know, but..." I sighed deeply. "It's just been one thing after another, really."
"Yes. It has. Life sucks, you might as well get used to it." My Houndour could be remarkably perceptive at times, and had far better social skills than she gave herself credit for. However, sometimes these bouts of sheer pessimism ruined it for her. "Please, I need to sleep."
"Mother, are you okay?" Marius finally squirmed over from where he was busy working his way through the large list of links Lady Ninetales had supplied me with. He looked over at his adoptive mother with concern. "If you'd rather leave this place for a little while do let me know and I'll accompany you on a short walk if you feel that a touch of fresh air would assist."
"No, no, I'm fine," the Houndour moaned. "Let me sleep, guys. It's just one of those days where I really can't be bothered to wake up. I'm sure you've all had them."
"Actually, no," everybody else commented.
"Well Becks is mad and hyper and as for you, Marius... neither you nor Ade seem to realise that sleep's actually required and when you do you both moan it's eating into your computer time. I'm sure somebody normal like Pearl would understand."
"That's as maybe." I leaned back against one of the thousands of oaken bookcases that filled the massive Guild library. "But I do rather like the idea of taking a break from this and going out. Actually, how does this sound for a plan? We head out and go say hi to Gina? We've not had a decent sparring session for a while now and it'd help put a bit of variety into the day, don't you think?"
"Whatever," Pandora sighed. "I'm in no mood to battle, though."
"Actually I wasn't thinking of you, although you're welcome to come along and watch, in fact I insist. Trust me, the worst thing you can do if you're feeling a little under the weather is sit around. I was more thinking of... you." I pointed at Beckham. "Is it fair to say you haven't had a battle in ages?"
"Yup, that'd be fair to say," the Wartortle nodded.
"And is it fair to say that not only that, you haven't exactly been great at keeping up with the non-battle training and are in danger of getting out of shape?"
"Yup, I'd agree with that, too," he grinned, still nodding eagerly.
"And don't you think it's about time you got back into the swing of things?"
"Yup!" Suddenly Beckham paused. "Wait a sec, what am I agreeing to again? I'm confused. I hope you're not trying to trick me into selling my soul to Bill Gates or anything!"
"No, no, nothing that sinister. Just a friendly training session, that's all."
"Oh." the Wartortle blinked. "Okay, count me in!"

It had been a while since we had last been to the large building that housed the Mercenary Trainers Union. Last time we had visited, in fact, the entire building had been in something of a state, only just beginning to recover from the attack in which Armand DiAnnio first announced his presence to the world. Now, however, it was back to its former glory, and almost skyscraper-like presence deep within the heart of Sector Alpha. Here was the base of every trainer for hire within the realm, the headquarters of the groups responsible for everything from random entertainments to the organisation of pre-tournament training grounds. And of course, random training sessions. Oh, they got more than their fair share of those. One of the many floors of the building was devoted entirely to training. All a trainer had to do was make an appointment and they could have a friendly pokémon battle with one of the mercenaries in one of many controlled environments. It was a feature I had taken great advantage of in the past, not least because I was actually quite good friends with one of the trainers who worked for the Union. And now I was officially part of the Dragons Guild I could cut even more red tape. Nowadays it was just a case of ringing my friend Gina directly on her mobile, going 'You got anyone booked for ten minutes time? No? Good, see you in ten minutes then' and just showing up. Like today, for example. It had taken less time to arrange the battle than it had to walk the three blocks between the Guild headquarters and the MTU building. Mercifully with all the pokémon I had with me. For even Pandora had been finally persuaded to tag along and, as I had suspected, actually getting out of the library had done wonders for her mood. As for Beckham, he was beside himself.
"Guys, you ought to pay close attention because I've actually been working on a top secret ultra killer move that's guaranteed to finish off any pokémon in seconds!"
"What, you talk to them you mean?" Pandora snorted in a tone that wouldn't have sounded out of place coming from her boyfriend.
"No, no, no, you see all I need is a rope and a grand piano. You see, what you do it you tie the rope around the grand piano and then set it up so with the flick of a switch you crush your opponent like in a really slapstick cartoon, it's brilliant! Except you need a switch. And a place to hang the piano from. And... oh well, I was lying about having been working on a secret killer move. I can always try to get my opponent drunk on pink stuff and trip it up, though."
"Or you could always just battle it seriously," I reminded my Wartortle. "Contrary to popular belief I do seem to recall you being actually quite good at that."
"Yeah but..." Beckham pulled a face. "Seriously??? That's what you do when you're opponent's pulling a gun on you and going 'fight seriously or die' in cruelly mocking tones and has your wife and kids tied to railroad tracks."
"You don't have a wife and kids."
"Well then I don't need to be serious then do I?" I opened my mouth. Then shut it again. Why did it feel like I had just totally lost that argument in spite of the total lack of coherent logic?
"I guess not," I finally conceded as we reached the large glass doors that led into the building's lobby. They slid open with a barely audible swoosh.

To reveal a large Tyranitar blinking at me with a curious expression.

"Aiee! Sumanai, Ade-san!" the creature gasped upon noticing my startled expression. "Oh, Gina-sama told me not to go, she would greet you, but no... I should know, I am okkanai and not fit for greeting guests but... Sumanai, sumanai!"
"Fushouka..." Pandora pushed her way past me with a disgruntled expression on her face. "Give it a rest. Everyone knows you didn't mean any harm, there's no need to get in such a state over it."
"Oh! Konnichiwa! Dochirahe, Pandora-chan?" the Tyranitar beamed upon noticing my Houndour. "Er... I mean... how are you?"
"I have a headache and you're not helping, if you must know." Pandora rolled her eyes, although her expression softened a second later. "Sorry. I'm just feeling a bit under the weather so if I'm a bit bitchy just ignore me."
"Er... someone mind explaining to me what's going on here?" I asked once I had finally calmed down after being so abruptly startled. "Wait... no, no need. You're Gina's new Tyranitar, aren't you?" Fushouka nodded eagerly.
"Hai!" the Tyranitar beamed. "Come, come, Gina-sama is waiting for you all!" Our group found ourselves being bustled along in a curiously over-eager fashion. Although we weren't being bustled along so quickly that I didn't have time to study this odd pokémon in more detail. On first glance she seemed as ferocious as any other Tyranitar. The imposing stature, the sharp claws and fangs, they were all present and correct. It was when you looked more closely that you realised that this was anything but a normal specimen of its species. Fushouka, it seemed, suffered from the exact same problem as Pandora when it came to looking ferocious. Her eyes didn't carry a single glimmer of malice within them. If anything she seemed almost anxious to be welcoming. So as she rushed us through the corridors and stairways that led to her owner's cluttered little office she took great pains to chat away to us all. It was all lost on me and Beckham, of course, and Pandora to an extent. However Marius seemed to be perfectly happy to engage the Tyranitar in, from what I could tell from the Dratini's end of the conversation, a pokémon variant on Japanese. Hence I didn't really have much of an idea as to what either was on about, and hence I was rather relieved when our little party finally reached Gina's office. And passed the little blue door that led to what I assumed would be mostly paperwork strewn about the floor. My experience was that women tended to be the tidier of the genders, although clearly nobody had bothered to tell Gina that. Hell, she made me seem organised half the time!
"Hey, haven't we just passed the office?" Pandora asked, voicing my own concerns rather quickly.
"Hai." Fushouka nodded. "Gina-sama is waiting in... in the main hall." The Tyranitar smiled to herself, evidently pleased that she had remembered the right words. "Come now. This way please."

"Hey, Ade! Long time no see!" Sure enough, Gina was waiting for us in a large, well-lit hallway that was obviously used for large-scale battles. She was dressed in a khaki short-sleeved shirt, blue denim skirt and sandals, plus her usual gigantic round spectacles, and seemed remarkably chirpy for someone who was being held at gunpoint a mere few weeks ago. "Guess the Dragons Guild must be keeping you pretty busy these days, huh?"
"You could say that," I grumbled. "Still, it needs to be done, I guess. How is life treating you?"
"Not bad, not bad," the mercenary laughed brightly. "The work's been kinda slowing down lately. People want us more as bodyguards than to put on displays what with all this nonsense with the Crimson Blades, so there's my specialist subject screwed."
"And you're smiling about this why?"
"Oh, because I'll never pass up a chance to slack off," came the truthful response. "If work's quiet it means I can concentrate on more important things like surfing the Net on company time trying to find an online store I can buy some cheap summer clothes from. And on that note I'm very pissed off with you, you've made me actually have to leave my office!"
"Oh boo hoo." I tried and failed to suppress a smirk. "You should thank me. If you sit on your butt all day you're going to get fat."
"Yeah right!" Gina grinned. "Just for that prepare to get your butt whipped!" All of a sudden she seemed to calm down slightly. Brushing a few strands of dark blue hair out of her face, she began her pre-battle rituals. "Okay, which pokémon will you be using?"
"I'll be using Beckham here." I gestured to my Wartortle.
"Yeah! As a semi-automatic weapon!" Beckham added unhelpfully. "Really, Ade, you don't use me, do you? I'm not, like, a can opener or something... although we have discovered I'm pretty handy at cleaning Soo's car so I might be a car wash if I figured out how to shoot out car shampoo as well as water. And I might be a dishwasher as well, or I would be if my Water Gun wasn't so powerful it keeps breaking the plates and... wait, what were we talking about again?"
"You were going to have a battle, Becks," I reminded him.
"Oh yeah!" Beckham grinned broadly. "Right! Bring it on! Whatever 'it' happens to be."
"Right..." Gina pulled out her pokédex and scanned Beckham with interest. "Okay... third bracket, mid-strength... hmm... okay, I think I've got just the pokémon. Let's see how you deal with another Water type!" Carefully Gina selected a pokéball from her belt and opened it up in a blinding flash of light. And once that light had died down there stood a Marshtomp at the peak of its health, all raring to go. "How does this fellow grab you?"
"Grabs me just fine," I replied coolly. "What do you think, Becks?"
"I reckon it's not grabbing you at all, Ade, and if it did that'd be kinda weird. But as for the battle... yeah. This'll do just as well as anything, I reckon." The Wartortle took a step forward. It really had been quite a while since his last match and he had to admit to being a little concerned as to whether he still could fight. Although such thoughts were swiftly banished from his mind. Concerns? What fun were they? "Right! Bring it on, I'm gonna kick your butt, and all that other pre-match tough talk. I'm ready and waiting!"

FIGHT!!! L32 Wartortle v L32 Marshtomp!

Beckham watched his opponent carefully. Sure, he liked to mess about as much as the next guy – maybe more, in fact – but even he knew to keep his guard up in battle. And sure enough his wariness was justified, the strange creature he was fighting suddenly giving a yell and charging straight for him. Thinking quickly, Beckham withdrew into his shell, stopping whatever attack his opponent was attempting from hitting any vulnerable part of his body. A grunt of displeasure told him that it was safe to poke his head back out. So he did. And...
"Okay, hit him now!" Gina cried over to her Marshtomp, who complied admirably. Beckham found himself being hammered in the face with a disturbing amount of dirt from the floor. How on earth had his opponent managed that one? The floor had looked rather clean!
"Blimey!" Beckham staggered a little from the attack but still somehow managed to stay upright. It was going to take a lot more than that to keep him down! "That was a pretty impressive little trick you pulled there. Wish I could do that, although there are those who'd say I make enough of a mess with my Water Gun."
"It is a useful skill," his opponent commented. "But there's more to me than that. Just watch."
"Hey, I might be daft but I'm not that daft!" Before the Marshtomp could show Beckham exactly what other moves it knew the Wartortle had taken in a deep breath and fired out the strongest Water Gun that he could muster. Which, incidentally, was almost ridiculously powerful, a huge torrent of water spewing from his mouth and pinning his opponent against the far wall.
"Agh! G... stop it!" The water seemed to show no signs of letting up. It seemed almost improbable that Beckham could have stored so much liquid inside his body. Then again, he probably kept it in the same mystical storage area he kept his never-ending supply of drinks in. "I can't... I can't..."
"Say 'uncle'!" Beckham managed to say through the water. "Actually, never really understood that phrase, what have uncles to do with giving up? Come to think of it, there's a lot of phrases that don't really make much sense to me."
"Becks!" I called over rather testily. "Will you pay attention to what you're doing????"
"Eh?" You could almost see the cogs inside Beckham's head turning as he pondered what I had just said. And then the rather big flaw in trying to talk when he was using Water Gun struck him. "Oh cra..." My Wartortle didn't get a chance to finish what he was about to say. Already his opponent had managed to free itself from where it was pinned and rushed at him with alarming speed, striking Beckham hard with a ferocious Take Down that did exactly as its name suggested and floored the Wartortle. Onto his back. Which was never a good position for any of his species to be in.
"Er... Euston, we have a problem..." Again Beckham was struck, this time with a hard Stomp onto his exposed chest. His shell absorbed a lot of the damage, or course, but it still sent vibrations jarring throughout his body. It still hurt. And Beckham was still exposed.
"Hey, Gina, this is a bit unfair don't you think?" I called over to my sparring partner, who simply shrugged by way of reply.
"Getting out of situations like this is an invaluable part of training," she replied. "Besides, its Beckham's fault really. If he hadn't have got distracted at the start of the match he would have probably won by now."
"Damn!" I snarled through gritted teeth. "Becks, can't you do something?"
"Believe me I'd like to, but... oof!" Another Stomp. "Alright, let's see how this one goes, I got an idea and for once it's not really a bad one..." Again the Marshtomp's leg was coming down. This time, however, Beckham somehow managed to throw his weight so that he span around and the leg crashed down just a fraction of an inch away from his head. Now was the chance he had been waiting for! Quickly he craned his head over and sank his teeth into his opponent's leg before it could move away again, causing the Marshtomp to cry out loudly in pain.
"Get OFF me!" it roared, kicking hard with the leg Beckham was currently attached to and sending the Wartortle flying through the air.
"Now this is the only way to travel!" Beckham laughed, his face slowing slight signs of concentration. Slowly a soft glow formed around his back. And when he finally struck the far wall he simply seemed to bounce off and land on his feet without so much as a scratch. I had to admit, that was the most novel use for Protect that I had seen in a long time! "Right, so I stuffed up a bit back there. But, as you can see, the amazing Beckham and his mystery shell of power are totally unharmed in spite of a total beating! Thank you and goodnight, ladies and gentlemen!" Beckham made a rather stupid bow to his opponent, who seemed understandably annoyed.
"You mock me????" it roared, rushing at Beckham angrily.
"Nah. Just my way of saying it's time I wrapped this one up." Almost casually Beckham stepped to one side and stuck one foot out, tripping his opponent as it passed. Almost in the same movement he stepped back into place and fired a second Water Gun into his opponent's back, sending it crashing face down to the floor. This time it didn't make any attempt to get up. Beckham had won.
"So much for you not being in shape!" I chuckled, wandering over to my Wartortle and patting him on the head. "Nice job! Although next time pleas try to keep your mouth shut whilst you're battling."
"Never gonna happen, Ade," Beckham grinned. "I talk more than Talky McTalkerson, the conversational champion of Yakkingonandonandonland. At least I won, right? And on that note I reckon I deserve a drink to celebrate."
"Fat chance, Becks!" I laughed. "We're heading back to the Guild and getting on with boring things like work, sorry." I had to laugh. Even Beckham's battles tended to turn out as a carefully controlled farce. And maybe he wasn't the most skilled fighter ever. But when it came to lifting the mood, Beckham was the undisputed champion.

Beckham wins!
Beckham grew to L33!

Back home other pokémon were facing challenges of their own. Namely Bolovayr was contemplating a move that would alter him forever. Lately he had become rather smitten with Jeff's Gastly, Lady Bow, the two seeming to have hit it off straight away. Hell, they had even started dating; and even if their first date hadn't exactly gone as planned it was still rather exciting. There was just one slight problem, and that was one of aesthetics. Next to Lady Bow, a white Gastly, Bolovayr felt slightly shabby. He so dearly wanted to be something other than a regular, normal colour for his species! Which was why he was staring longingly at the drawers that contained most of the training equipment of the household. He knew that a Shiny Juice lay within there, an extra Christmas present that had never been used. He also knew that he most likely would get in trouble for taking it without permission. But he so dearly wanted to be that little bit different!
"Have to admit, blue would suit you a lot better." A voice from behind him caused Bolovayr to whirl around sharply. Thunderblast was leaning against the doorway sporting a broad smile. "Sorry. Guess I shouldn't go listening in on other people's thoughts, should I?"
"No, you shouldn't!" Bolovayr blushed deeply. How much had the Raichu delved into his mind?
"Enough to know you're a terminal case of smitten-ness," Thunderblast yawned, walking past the Gastly and over to a large mirror where she peered at herself critically. "I think I need some new accessories. Do you think a hat would suit me?"
"Er... that depends on the hat, surely," Bolovayr stuttered. He was never really sure how to act around Thunderblast. Then again, few were.
"Correct answer!" the Raichu beamed. "I like you, Bolovayr, so I'll let you in on a little secret. I think that juice was for you anyway. Hell, I'm not too sure there's anyone else on the team it'd make much of a difference on anyway. So why don't you just do what I'd do in your situation? Get it out, drink it and don't worry about what happens then?"
"Because..." Bolovayr began but was cut short again.
"Silly Gastly, what do you think Ade's going to do? If you want it that much he's not exactly going to complain, is he? Look, here." Thunderblast concentrated hard on the drawer, which flew open. A small vial of liquid slowly floated out and into her paw; at this point she practically thrust it into Bolovayr's face. "See? I was the one who stole it so just blame me. Then Ade will yell at me. And I'll go 'yeah, I took it, what can you do?' and then he's going to open and close his mouth a few times and them walk away grumbling 'I give up with you I really do'. I've been down this road enough times to know how it works by now." The Raichu set the juice down on the floor. "Think about it. If you want it that much then why not?" She winked at the Gastly. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it, I think. I need to go look into how to alter hats to accommodate my ears." At this point the Raichu walked off just as suddenly as she ad arrived. Leaving Bolovayr to stare longingly at the juice on the floor. He knew that he should at least wait, but... but...

If you want it that much then why not?

That seemed like the soundest piece of advice the Gastly had heard in a long time. With a mental shrug he moved over to the juice, lifted it up and opened it with his ghost-like powers. For one breif moment he hesitated. There would be no going back after this, but... to hell with it. Thunderblast was right. Blue would suit him a lot better anyway. Quickly he knocked the drink back in one. And waited. And waited.
"Hm... well it doesn't feel like anything's changed..." Bolovayr mused to himself. "There is really only one way to find out, however." Slowly he floated over to the mirror, half expecting to find himself the same dull purple as ever. That wasn't the case, however. In the mirror was a Gastly whose traditional gas-like aura had now been changed to a noble-coloured blue. Indeed, the colouration did suit him. Suited him so much that he almost cried from happiness. "Yes..." the Gastly grinned. "This, I have to say, I like."

__________________

classy_cat18

Whoo! Done with this one! I still have a ways to go before I get done with the scenario.

Shonta’s POV

We sat at Millennium Park as we tried to decide how to help the Dragon’s Guild. Daisuke and I watched the Pokemon practice their attacks. Nama, however, chose to sleep in my lap.

“So you’ve adopted a Slakoth, huh? Those guys are hard to train, with them wanting to only sleep and all,” Daisuke said.

“Don’t underestimate Nama,” I nearly snapped. “She wants very badly to be a Vigoroth. Besides, the poor girl was stuck at the adoption center for months.”

Daisuke held his hands up in defense. “Okay, okay! You don’t have to bite my head off.” He turned back to the Pokemon. Beacon had just blasted a Hidden Power Ice at Lunar and Solar, who dodged it. “I think I’m going to help them hold the fort here. How about you?”

“I think I’ll do the same, although a couple of my Pokemon might object.” I put two of my fingers between my lips and let out a sharp whistle. Immediately every Pokemon stopped what they were doing and looked at Daisuke and me. “Recess is over, kiddies. It’s time to get down to business.” The Pokemon approached us. “Daisuke and I have decided to help defeat the Crimson Blades that are going to attack Sector Alpha.”

Bandit jumped in front of the group. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! You mean the Crimson Blades that may have psychic powers?”

“It’s either this or to go to the abandoned laboratory to check out any leftover experiments.”

“You’re not chickening out, are you Bandit?” Trinity asked with a grin.

He crossed his arms. “Of course not! It’s just that I don’t know if we can hold our own against these guys. And I thought you said that you needed to be a nicer person.”

“I say a lot of things.”

I rolled my eyes. “Does anyone want to go to the laboratory instead?” No one said anything. “Okay then. I don’t know when they’ll strike, so I suggest we use time wisely.”

Bandit raised a hand. “Does wetting ourselves count as spending time wisely?” He laughed at his own joke.

“Bandit, I swear I’ll pop you if you don’t stop being so annoying,” Trinity groaned.

“I’m up for it!” Lily said cheerfully.

“Good for you, Lily! Now rest up, everybody! We have a big day ahead of us!” I said. Daisuke and I went our separate ways, as did our Pokemon.

Bandit’s POV

I released a huge yawn as I looked out from the rooftop. “Tell me again why we’re staying awake when we could be catching Z’s,” I told Lily.

“Shonta said she didn’t know when the Crimson Blades would strike, so we’re going to watch out for them!” she said enthusiastically. “Besides, I couldn’t sleep,” she added as an afterthought.

“Don’t you know that you let sleeping Kecleon lie?”

“No, but I thought that Trinity would be crankier if I woke her up. So, see anything suspicious yet?”

“No, just the same…old…thing. Can I go back inside now? I’m really tired.”

Lily looked up at me with watery eyes. “Would you really leave me out here all alone?” She rubbed against me. I could smell her Sweet Scent. “You’re my best friend.”

I backed away from her. The Oddish wasn’t going to pull anything on me. Her sad eyes and quivering lips weren’t going to work on me. “Sorry, kid, but I ain’t moved. Besides, Beacon’s your best friend.”

She kept her look for a minute and then cheered up again. “Yeah, but you’re a close second!”

I groaned, only slightly annoyed by her persistence of keeping me from getting my beauty rest. “I’m going to bed.”

Lily growled and kicked me in the shin. “Fine! But if anything attacks Shonta don’t come crawling to me!” She turned her back to me.

“Trust me; I’ll be too busy kicking their ass to come crawling to you.” I walked down the stairs and into the living room. That’s when I noticed that the front door was open. I sniffed the air. Someone had snuck in. My heartbeat started to quicken. Somehow something was quick enough to evade Lily’s and my sight.

My eyes scanned the room. Empty. I climbed down the rest of the stairs and activated my Faint Attack. Everything was silent and that was weird. Trinity would’ve heard the intruder and everything would’ve been in chaos. I tipped down the hall, first peeking into my teammates’ room. Everyone was sound asleep. I continued down the hall and looked into Shonta’s room. Our intruder was in there.

She was standing over a sleeping Shonta, ready to plunge one of her clawed hands into Shonta’s chest. Growling softly, she leaned forward and whispered something into Shonta’s ear. It was time to stop it before it started. I turned visible and cleared my throat. “Am I interrupting something?” I asked the Zangoose.

The Zangoose snapped her head towards me and hissed. “I was sure I wouldn’t be disturbed!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I should’ve let you kill my trainer. Who cares if I’m left homeless?” I said, laying the sarcasm on thick.

She jumped off the bed, wearing a sly grin. “Oh, so you’re the traitor Diablo was talking about. You’re a cutie.” She chuckled.

The sound of Diablo’s name froze my blood. Diablo? This loony is associated with my former loony boss? On the other hand, it was nice to be called a cutie. No other girl called me that in a long time. I shook my head furiously. Pull yourself together! This Zangoose was close to killing my trainer! “Leave this house and I won’t sic my team on you,” I said as bravely as I could.

The Zangoose only stepped closer to me. “That’s so cute. But I made sure that your team or your trainer wouldn’t bother me.” She lightly scratched under my chin with a claw. “I’ll leave her alone for now, though. Diablo told me to watch out for you and the Oddish.” She ran on all fours out of the house.

I was left in a bit of a stupor. It was like I had awoken from some dream. Maybe I was dreaming. Sure! Like anyone could think that someone like me was cute! I chuckled to myself as I climbed on Shonta’s bed, sure that I would see no signs that the Zangoose was even there, but my chuckling stopped when I smelled her scent on the covers. “She was here.” I immediately jumped off the bed and ran to the now closed door.

Lily hurriedly hopped down the stairs. “Bandit! I thought I saw something leave the house!” she panted.

“What, you didn’t see it enter the house?” She shook her head. “Now that’s just peachy!” I kicked the wall in anger and held my foot in pain.

“Did you see it?”

“Lily, someone was trying to kill our trainer! This Zangoose was standing over Shonta, ready to spear her heart!”

She gasped. “You think we should go after it?”

I shook my head. “She’s long gone. We’ll tell Shonta in the morning about this. Right now we have to go to sleep.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~

We didn’t get to tell Shonta about the Zangoose in the morning. The next morning, in the middle of our breakfast, came the screaming. Shonta dashed to the windows. “It’s started! Everyone out of the house!” she yelled at us.

We all stopped eating and headed for the door. I opened it and got a surprise. The same Zangoose that tried to murder Shonta was standing outside, her claws bloodied. Her expression was that of extreme anger. “You…come with me,” she growled at me.

“Why?” I said, trying to hide the fear in my voice.

“Your family is in trouble. You must help them.”

I knew who she was talking about. “They’re not my family anymore. I have a new family.”

With lightning fast speed she slashed at me, her claws missing my face by an inch. “You fool! You would really desert them after all that they did for you? They cared for you when you needed care! They fed and sheltered you! What do you do? You turn your back on them!” she roared.

“Yeah? Well, they all turned their backs to me when I decided to help someone outside the gang! They’re selfish and wrong!” I roared back. “Their problems don’t concern me anymore.”

“Bandit, do you know this Zangoose?” Shonta asked me curiously.

“No!” I snapped. Shonta stepped back in surprise.

The Zangoose did a polite bow. “I am Katana, chief assassin of the Sector Alpha branch of the Demons.”

Shonta’s eyes grew wide. “Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Sector Alpha branch!?! There are more of you guys?” She turned to Katana. “And you have assassins in your gang?”

“Yes. Someone has to get rid of those that threaten the safety of the gang. In fact, I was actually hired to kill you, human.”

“Kill me? Why? What have I done to deserve this? Never mind. What’s wrong with the gang?”

“Humans in red clothes invaded our hideout. We fought back, but their Pokemon were too strong for us. They overwhelmed us. We…” She growled in disgust. “We need your help.”

“Why my help?”

“My research on you has led me to believe that you are a Dragon Tamer and the humans in red are called Crimson Blades. You two are enemies, are you not?” Shonta nodded. “As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Are you in or out?”

Shonta rubbed her chin. “I do hate those guys, but how can I be sure that this isn’t some scheme to try to rub me out?”

My mind was filled with doubt. It’s a trick. It has to be! They’re trying to lure me and into a trap so they can kill us! “I’m out,” I said bluntly.

Then Lily stepped up and frowned at me. “Bandit, they were your friends! It’s not their fault that they have a crazy yet powerful boss! Do this for them, not for Diablo or Katana!”

“But Lily…”

“If you’re not going to save them, I will!”

Katana bowed again. “Thank you both.”

I sighed, realizing the predicament I was in. Lily was my friend and teammate. I couldn't let her jump into danger alone. But I didn’t know if I could trust Katana or not. On one hand, she tried to kill Shonta in the middle of the night. I still didn’t know how she managed to break in without anyone besides Lily and me knowing. On the other hand, her friends were probably in trouble. Friends that may still be my friends. “Hold the phone. This may be a trap,” I said to Lily.

“I give you my word as a Demon that I am not leading you into a trap,” Katana said solemnly.

“The word of a Demon means squat to me,” I said.

“Then I give you my word as a Pokemon that wants to rid the world of these Crimson Blades.”

I smirked. “Now that does mean something.”

Katana smiled and walked down the steps. “Follow me. I know where they’re keeping them.” She ran a few steps and stopped at the feet of a Blade.

“Get back inside the house if you know what’s good for you,” the Blade warned.

I stepped back but felt a claw poke my back. I looked back and saw Nama smile at me. It was a miracle that I noticed her. She was one of those Pokemon that was happy being in the background. “Go with Katana and take Lily with you. We’ll handle this guy,” she told me calmly. “And yes, I am sure.”

“You heard her, Katana. Don’t worry about the guy in red,” I whispered to her.

Katana smiled evilly and ran straight for the Blade on two legs. She jumped up in his face and swiped at him with her claws. The Blade screamed out in pain and fell on his back. I couldn’t see what Katana had done to his face as I ran with her, Lily in tow.

I asked Katana a question that has been bothering me since last night. “How did you get past the rest of the team when you broke into the house?”

“I have a friend, an Abra that sometimes helps me in my missions,” she answered.

“So that’s why they stayed asleep! That Abra must know Hypnosis!” Lily chirped as she struggled to keep up with us.

We ran past Blades and Tamers alike on our way to the hideout. I would’ve stopped to help him but I had priorities. Every now and then, however, some Blade would step in our way and threaten to attack us. They would suffer the same fate as the one that tried to stop the rest of the team. Now I knew how her claws got bloody in the first place. But that got me to thinking. Where were the Blades with the super speed and the psychic powers?

“We’re here,” Katana announced. She had stopped in front of a warehouse, one of the warehouses that the gang uses for shelter. She went through the open door. I stood beside her, angry at the sight. The gang was cramped in one of the corners of the building, with a Charmeleon and Aipom facing them. All of them looked tired, but the gang looked even more tired.

Skye the Pidgeotto looked at us and chuckled. “So you got help. Thanks, Katana,” he said.

“Don’t you care that I left the gang?” I asked them.

“No. At least, not right now. I’m just glad that you can help us.”

“Where’s Diablo?” Katana inquired.

“He went after the humans,” Skye answered.

The Charmeleon turned to face us. “Go home, kiddies. The grownups are talking here,” he said darkly.

“Looks like you’re doing more than just talking,” Lily said seriously. “Are you the leader of this group of punks?”

“We’re not punks. We’re Crimson Blades!” the Aipom said proudly.

Katana stepped in front of us. “You’re not Crimson Blades. The humans that own you are Crimson Blades. You’re just their pets. So where are your other friends?”

“They left. They had better things to do than to mess with your weakling friends here.” He took his hand-shaped tail and slapped Skye with it.

I felt my anger boil. “Then why do you mess with them? Don’t you think you have more important things to do?”

The Charmeleon shook his head. “Unlike my friends, I don’t think I’m below beating up defenseless Pokemon. But if you want to sacrifice yourselves for them…” He let it hang.

Lily walked up to the Charmeleon. “I’ll battle you for them.”

The Charmeleon stared at Lily in disbelief for a second, then threw his head back and laughed. “You? Fight me? Are you nuts?”

“I may have a type disadvantage but I can still hold my own against you.”

“Ooh, the big bad weed is going to teach me a lesson! Ha! I’ll give you a battle and, to make it fair, I won’t use any of my fire attacks!”

“Don’t trust him, Lily!” I yelled out.

Lily seemed to ignore me. “You’re on!”


Charmeleon charged forward, its claws high in the air. Lily, not budging from her spot, swung her head hard and launched razor-sharp leaves at him. Charmeleon kept on running until the last second. Then he leapt high into the air.

“Lily, get back!” I yelled.

Lily jumped back, but was too late. Charmeleon brought his claws down on her, leaving scratch marks on her face. She yelled out in pain and stumbled back, shaking her head. “Had enough, weed?” Charmeleon crowed.

He should’ve known better than to underestimate the power of a Grass Pokemon. Especially one with condition-altering attacks. While Lily was shaking her head, golden toxic spores were being shaken off of her leaves. Charmeleon foolishly allowed himself to inhale those spores. He coughed loudly and his body stiffened. “What…happened?” he asked himself.

“Ha! Stun Spore!” I said.

Katana looked confused. “Stun Spore? That little weed can already use Stun Spore?”

“Hey, level-wise Lily is the strongest on our team.”

“Is that so?” She smirked. “Go, Lily.”

Lily stood before Charmeleon. “Had enough, lizard?” she asked him.

“You…can’t…beat me,” Charmeleon grunted.

Lily cocked her head and walked twenty paces away from him, toward the doorway where the sun was shining. She turned to him and lowered her head. “We’ll see about that.” Tiny particles of sunlight slowly floated to her, making her leaves glow. When it got almost impossible to look at her without having little spots appear before my eyes, a beam shot out and hit the Charmeleon square in the stomach. He sailed through the air and landed on his back.

“She did it,” Katana said in awe.

“Wait!” came a weak reply. Charmeleon was getting up! He was on one knee, staring at Lily with hatred. “That little Solarbeam won’t be enough to stop me.”

“No way! That was Lily’s strongest attack!” I said.

Lily was swaying from side to side, a gesture that she uses when she’s deep in thought. She didn’t have long to think because Charmeleon stood up and coughed up a black cloud. It filled the entire warehouse, filling everyone’s nostrils. Katana and I strained to see what was in front of us. “Lily!” I cried out.

A few seconds passed before we heard Lily’s reply. “Where are you guys? In fact, where’s Charmeleon?” We then heard her cry out in pain again. Charmeleon was obviously using the Smokescreen as a way to blind Lily.

“Somewhere,” Katana coughed.

My eyes were getting watery. I shut them to keep the smoke from getting into them. “Lily, try to keep from using any of your projectile attacks! You could hit us!” I told her.

“I got an idea! Bandit, Katana, get out of here!” Lily commanded.

Katana tapped my shoulder. “We have to get the others out of here,” she whispered. “I think they’re in this direction.” She pulled my arm and dragged me.

As we walked I saw particles of light floating over our heads. Is Lily trying to use another Solarbeam? No, it can’t be another Solarbeam. The light’s coming from everywhere but the sunlight. It has to be either Absorb or Giga Drain.

The smoke finally cleared. I turned my head to the center of the warehouse. Lily was scratched, bloody, and weary. But she was still standing. Charmeleon, however, wasn’t. He was drained of all his energy.


Skye got up and walked to me. “Thanks a lot, rookie,” he said to me. He extended a wing and wrapped it around me.

“Don’t thank me; thank Lily,” I said. “I may not be part of the gang, but we’re still friends. Right?” I asked him.

He chuckled. “Right. Hey Katana, did you see Diablo on your way here?”

She shook her head. “I hope he’s alright.”

We watched the Aipom run to his fallen partner. He helped him to his feet and sneered at us. “This ain’t over! You still have me to fight!”

Katana’s eyes narrowed. “You lost, you fool. Lily battled you for these Pokemon and you lost. They go free and you just go.” She glanced at Lily, who had plopped on the floor, ready to keel over at any second.

He smiled wickedly. “I know. But I cannot say the same for your friend. Charmeleon?”

Charmeleon nodded and fired a Flamethrower. Lily only sat there as the attack burnt her to a crisp. She fell back, KO’ed. “Lily!” I yelled. I tore away from Skye and ran over to her.

Aipom walked Charmeleon over to a corner of the warehouse and sat him down. “Wait here, buddy. I’ll take care of the rest of these losers.”

“No you won’t,” said a familiar voice. Turning to the doorway I saw Diablo glaring at the two Pokemon with a snarl. He seemed to be chewing on something. “These Pokemon are under my protection…for now.”

Aipom and Charmeleon looked very surprised, maybe even afraid. They completely forgot about the rest of us and walked together out of the warehouse, careful not to anger Diablo any further.

“Thank you, Diablo,” Katana said, bowing.

Diablo walked to me, smiling and still chewing on whatever was in his mouth. He finally spit it out. It was a human thumb. I made a face. “Uh, hello there,” I said nervously.

He gave me a toothy smile. I nearly peed myself. “Ah, the traitor. What brings you here?”

“Katana wanted us to help the gang. That is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

He turned to Katana. “I said to find help. I didn’t say to find him,” he said to her. “But now that he’s here…” He licked his lips at me.

I cleared my throat. “I really need to get back to my trainer. You think we can schedule the maiming for another day?”

He chuckled as he brought his face close to mine. “But of course. I hope you know that one day you will be mine again and that your trainer will be no more. But not by the hands of those Crimson Blades. She will die as my teeth are ripping her flesh. Katana will make sure that I alone kill her.”

“So you won’t need me for the assassination?” Katana asked.

“On the contrary. The human will need a guardian I can trust.”

She bowed again. “Yes, sir.” She stood behind me and, surprisingly, put his arms around me. “It should be fun watching over you.”

“You’re supposed to be watching over my trainer!” I said angrily.

“Who cares about your trainer?”

“Oh brother.”

__________________

Lady Vulpix

Sorry for the delay, Ade. I liked your story. It was original and fun to read. Becks's 'strategies' made me laugh, and Pearl was right on the spot again. Though I was left wondering what kind of mushrooms Rhi likes to eat. Take 22 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
As for Milly, he'll be battling a Metang.

__________________

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?

AntiAsh Superstar

Hehe, thanks, Gabi. The new opponent oughta be interesting... I mean, given how odd Metangs look Milly's got more than enough ammo for his usual mind games before he even meets his opponent!

Anyways, that's beside the point. Shonta, your writing has been really improving immensely since you first started. Am I right in thinking you're enjoying this a lot more than you used to? Coz it's really showing if you are. I like Diablo a lot as a character even if he is... well, freaky doesn't quite do it justice. And it's nice to see how Katana fits into things. Take eleven stamps.

__________________

Lady Vulpix

Wrapping things up a little from the perspective of two Guild members. Still waiting for Amy to post the detailed version.

<Eshree's POV>

I was getting fed up with the whole situation, and seriously questioning my decision to stay. Could I really do anything to help? I had joined the Dragon's Guild with the intention of making things better and, the way things had turned out, I felt I had ended up as Lady Ninetales's lackey. The day I'm referring to, for example, she had charged me with the task of receiving the new shipment of pokemon-related books, classifying them and taking them to the library. And just when I was getting back from doing that, she met me again at the corridor and asked me to go back and pick a book on evolution, just because I had recently made a mistaken comment about the evolution of Smoochum into Jynx. Namely, I ended up revealing that I had the wrong idea about the event that triggered it. I won't forget the way she looked at me back then, as if I'd committed a crime or something. She gave me a lecture about how it was possible for a talented trainer like me to make such a mistake, especially when I owned a Smoochum myself. Then I think I made it worse when I said I didn't own her, we just stuck together out of friendship. She said something like "if you're going to get technical with me, do it with yourself first and learn the basics". And, of course, when the books came in, she reminded me of that moment, but only after I got back from the library.

I sighed. Was the whole thing really worth it? Was it fair to drag my friends into the unknown and expose them to dangers we'd never find back home, to spend the days sorting books and performing other unimportant tasks? And was Lady Ninetales right about me being a pathetic trainer? No, a pathetic pokemon trainer. I knew my fair deal about training, but my knowledge of pokemon was seriously lacking. Maybe she was right. Maybe I ought to do what she said and read the book and stop complaining, so that I could eventually become useful and do what I had come to do.

I was about to head back to the library when something happened. A shadow, with a vaguely canine shape, came flying out of Lady Ninetales's office and into the corridor when we were standing. With everything that had been going on lately, my boss immediately assumed it was some sort of attack, and 'sounded the alarm'. Well, she actually started yelling. I was a bit more skeptical. Why would an attacker send a shadow right in front of us? And especially, why would it have it swing around doing nothing but blowing away the few little things it could find? This looked more like a ghost pulling a trick. Anyway, we were soon surrounded by about 10 other Guild members, and the thing was still moving from side to side and nobody could catch it. We followed it until it gave a sudden turn and entered an office. There, it circled around the place for a few times and finally disappeared.

We were all curious as to what that had been all about. Lady Ninetales had the theory that it was a warning, and that we ought to increase security. Though I soon found out that it was something else altogether. Shortly after I followed my boss into her office, Linshee -my friend, and the Smoochum we had argued about earlier- came in jumping up and down excitedly. She seemed oblivious to the whole situation, though it was impossible for her not to have heard the commotion. I'd always wondered how she managed to stay so chirpy most of the time. After all, she'd had more than her share of rough times given her young age, and this wasn't the least of them. However, whenever tears did come out of her eyes, it was enough to shake the hardest of all hearts.
"Hey there, sweetie!," I greeted her, lifting her up.
"Hi! It's good you're back," she told me. "I have something to tell you."
"Really? What is it?"
"The seven-tailed fox was here."
It took me a while to figure out who she was referring to. Back home, I'd seen quite a few foxes with different amounts of tails, but I doubted any of them could have made it here. I then remembered there was a pokemon among those affiliated with the Guild that could fit that description.
"Hero?," I asked.
"Yes, I think that was his name," she replied.
"What did he want?"
"Hmm... He told me, but I couldn't understand him well. He said he had to complete a mission or something. A dare, he said. I asked him what that was and he told me he'd explain it later, but I think he forgot, he's already gone."
"I wonder what that was all about. I would ask someone here, but I fear I may be missing something obvious that I should already know and could end up making a fool of myself again. Or worse."
"What's wrong with not knowing something? You ask, you learn, then you know."
"It's not that simple."
"Ahem..." Lady Ninetales interrupted us. "I'm sure that conversation you're having with your Smoochum can be very productive in terms of trainer-pokemon bonding, but don't you have a book to pick from the library?"
"Oh, sorry. Yes, I'll get it right now."

I spent the rest of my working day reading the book, and then gathered my friends and headed back to the small place the Guild had provided for us to live. I had once thought of asking for a bigger place, but then remembered that a less fortunate trainer was still living in the barracks, so I stayed quiet. I was thinking of doing something to help him, but I just didn't know what I could do... other than finding out who was in charge of providing accomodations for trainers like us and reminding them of what they were supposed to do. Or finding the forms and signing them myself, did I have the power to do that? Probably not, I couldn't be more powerless if I tried. So, after we walked in, and after we had the light meal the locals called 'tea', I decided to call the only human in this world who could answer my latest questions: Lady Vulpix.

<Gabi's POV>

Getting a call from Golden Growlithe was always shocking. But that was probably because I found myself shocked just by thinking of him. He was a walking puzzle. And he was so casual about it too! He could tell the most unimaginable things as if they were completely normal. And viceversa. Right now, it was more viceversa. He had basically called to ask me what a dare was.
"Well, it's a part of a game," I told him. "If we're talking about the same thing, and I don't know anything else called 'dare'. The game is Truth or Dare, each player in his or her turn chooses either truth or dare. If it's truth, someone asks them a question and they have to answer honestly; they're often quite embarrassing questions. If it's dare, they have to do what they're told which is often even more embarrassing than truth. I don't like the game that much."
"Was I supposed to know about it?," he asked me.
"Well, most people who grew up on Earth know about it. Even in distant countries with different cultures it's quite popular."
He sighed. "I'm glad I asked you and not Lady Ninetales, then."
"How long are you going to keep this up?"
"Keep what up?"
"Everything. Whatever it is you're doing here."
"I don't know. I've been asking myself the same question. I guess it's a matter of honor now. We've come this far, the least we can do is do something useful before we go. Though I reckon it could take time."
Now it was I who sighed. "Making things better takes time and a lot of patience. I've thought of leaving a few times, but now my whole life is here, and I have friends who need me, and I need them too. And I must admit I like the idea of being able to make a difference, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. Where I came from, none of what I did really mattered much."
"You mean you're from abroad too?"
"Yes, not as far 'abroad' as you are from, but I didn't grow up in Ulthuan either."
"Wow. We have more in common than I thought. I guess I should stop questioning myself and start thinking of how to break out of this routine and do something valuable for a change. Just one more question."
"What is it?"
"Hero caused a commotion and got a dozen Guild members on alert because of a game?!"
"He did?! Hold on."

I started searching for Hero. He wasn't in the room, nor in the kitchen. I doubted he'd be in the garden or the bathroom. He could have left the house or he could be in the 'pillow room'. Luckily for me, it was the latter. He was sleeping, curled up on a pillow.
"Hero?," I called him gently. No reaction. I tried a little louder. "Hero?!"
"Erm?," he woke up and lifted his head.
"Sleeping so early?"
"Yes, it's been a long and exhausting day. Did you wake me up to ask why I was sleeping?"
"No, I woke you up to ask if your long and exhausting day had involved a game of Truth and Dare, and somehow scaring a lot of people at the Dragon's Guild."
"Hey, it's not my fault. It's Thunderblast you should talk to. She was the one who dared me to retrieve something from Lady Ninetales's office without her noticing."
I took my hands to my head and slowly pressed my way down to my shoulders. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Love me. No, really, I didn't do any harm. I only took a pencil. It's not my fault Lady Ninetales acts like she's seen a ghost when she's just seen a... scratch that. I didn't hurt anyone, nor break anything, and I doubt she'll miss the pencil but I can return it if it makes you feel better."
"You should, with an apology. It's not the pencil, it's the panic you caused. We're in the middle of a crisis, we never know when an attack will come. Doing something like that in a situation like this is really pushing it."
"Alright, alright. I will apologise tomorrow. You should have seen it, though. That ghostly shadow was a masterpiece."
"You can't be humble even when you apologise, can you?"
"What fun would that be?"

I got back to Golden Growlithe and told him everything Hero had said.
"Will you please tell him and whoever was playing with him not to do something like that again until this whole Team Rocket/Crimson Blades thing is over?"
"Don't worry, I think he got the message. I'll talk to Thunderblast when I can, it seems the dare was her idea."
"Thunderblast... the psychic Raichu? The one who lives with Lord Umbreon?"
"Yes, that's her. I must admit it sounds weird to hear the name Lord Umbreon. I've got used to being called Lady Vulpix over the years, but it sounded really odd at first. I still like it more when people call me Gabi."
"Ok, I can call you Gabi when we're having an informal conversation like this, but I don't know him well, and he's my superior in the Guild, so I think it's safer to call him by his title."
"That's ok."
"By the way, what happened at the lab? I haven't seen the end of the report yet."
"That would be because I haven't submitted it yet," I frowned at the thought. "Sorry, I've been busy, and I was hoping to get some help from Amy, who was there with me, but it turns out she's busy as well. It was... complicated. In a scary way. I can tell you, even Caledor looked scared and he's known for his unbelievable level of cheerfulness. We found some Psionic Wave Emitters and some members of Team Rocket. We came across an executive who has a talent for being particularly irritating. I've found her three times already. She calls herself Gia."
"I'll make sure to keep tabs on her. What can you tell me about her?"
"She's blonde, taller than me, but most people are, here. She has long wavy hair and a piercing look on her face. And she always manages to say exactly what would hurt you the most. I'm thinking she may have some psychic abilities, though I don't think they're as strong as the ones the enhanced soldiers from the Crimson Blades are said to have. She seems to enjoy annoying everyone and shoving her knowledge on our faces. I doubt she'd do that if she actually knew anything that could destroy us."
"Now that you describe her... she might be the one who took that Gene guy out a few days before the lab was taken over. It would make sense."
"Yes, I think it would. But how did she walk into the Guild?"
"She was dressed as a civilian and nobody knew her. She said she knew Gene and he said it was ok, but seeing how he was found unconscious in the woods later that day... I wouldn't be surprised if she had made her way to him through threats or something. He wouldn't say anything to me, and the authorities never tell me any of the important stuff, but I'll do some research on that woman, see what I can find."
"Good. Now there's just one more thing."
"What is it?"
"Something escaped from the lab. Something big and powerful. It looked like a Rapidash with especially shiny white fur, but it almost tore the lab down on its way out. It managed to disable the lab's force fields and when it was surrounded, it dashed forward and disappeared. All Lagi could tell was that it was really furious. I believe Ade... Lord Umbreon has already mentioned that creature in one of his reports. When Gia heard about it, she didn't even try to stop us. She just told us to go and get it."
"I'll check it out. That sounds dangerous, as if we didn't have enough threats to worry about already. Did anyone get hurt?"
"Some were wounded, but nothing too serious, luckily. Everyone's better now. Once more I apologise for the long delay."
"Don't worry. What about the pokemon in the lab?"
"They were recovering from the effect of Team Rocket's PWEs when we left them. Some of them said something about rebuilding the lab into a place they could call home, and taking the wheel of it themselves."
"Ah, yes, that's what Glyph told me."
"Oh, wait. That's right, Glyph was with us! Didn't he tell you all of this when he returned?"
"He did, but he used telepathy. I couldn't work with that. And he didn't tell me anything about that Rocket woman you mentioned. Now I'm resorting to the wonders of technology to get the report done."
"What do you mean?"
"This phone the Guild gave me can record the conversations, so then I can play it and type it, and save us both the hassle of going through that in our minds again when we want to write the final report."
"Wait, you have to write a report about it too? You weren't even there!"
"I have to write a summary for the Guild based on the input of all the trainers who went there. I can send it to you to help you with your own report while I'm at it."
"Oh. That's a good idea. Thanks."
"You're welcome. We'll stay in touch then."
"Alright. See you."
"Bye."

__________________

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?

classy_cat18

Thanks a lot, Ade. Yeah, I’ve been enjoying this much more than when I first did this. Now I think of writing as a way to unwind after a long day of pulling vertices and rigging characters. Heh, as if I hadn’t been staring at the computer screen long enough.

EDIT: I bought Nama a Water Gun and Thundershock TM from the Reward Center.

Shonta’s POV

Meanwhile back at my place…

The Blade slowly rose to his feet, covering his face with one hand. “I thought you Dragon Tamers were more honorable. Having your Pokemon attack me like that is not honorable!”

“Hey, that Zangoose is not mine!” I said in defense. “And you would do the same to me!”

He gave me an evil grin. “I do not need my Pokemon to defeat you. For you see, true strength comes from within.” He raised a hand and pointed to my front door. I felt my feet leave the ground. I was actually hovering above the ground for a few seconds until my body suddenly shot backwards. It went through the doorway and into the kitchen, where it crashed into the counter.

“Shonta!” my teammates shouted. Trinity and Beacon ran through the doorway and looked down on me.

I lay there on my back on the kitchen floor, my back seriously aching. “Ow, my pride,” I groaned.

“You’ll be feeling that tonight,” Trinity commented.

“Are you kidding? I’m feeling it right now.” I sat up, wincing from the pain.

The Blade stepped into my house, still smiling from the little stunt he pulled. For the first time since the meeting yesterday I remembered Lord Absol’s warning about the psychic Crimson Blades. I scooted toward the wall, afraid of what else he could do to me. “What happened to your courage, Tamer?” he asked me coolly.

Trinity stood between the Blade and me while Beacon opted to stand beside me. “You leave our trainer alone,” she growled.

“Get out of the way, Ninetales. I have some business with your trainer.”

“You’ll have to go through me first!” She shot a Flamethrower at the Blade, who made no attempt to evade. Just when we were sure the attack would hit, the Blade disappeared into thin air. Trinity gasped at the sight. “Where did…?”

The Blade reappeared behind Trinity. Trinity whirled around and glared at him. The Blade smirked. “What’s the matter? Can’t hit me?” He raised his hand again and Trinity was hurled back out of the house. We waved his hand and the door was shut and locked. He turned back to me. Beacon and I flattened ourselves against the cabinets. “Now where were we?” He raised a hand and slowly closed it in a fist. My throat started to close itself. I put my hands around it and gasped for air. “I think a nice, slow death will be suitable.”

I looked pleadingly at Beacon. “Do something,” I said weakly.

Beacon’s eyes darted from me to the Blade with fear. She gulped loudly and turned to face the Blade. “Stop hurting her!” she yelled as she released a Thunderbolt for him. The Blade dodged but apparently wasn’t able to use his super speed and concentrate on his psychic powers at the same time. My throat was released. I lay on my side, taking in deep breaths.

“Why you…I’ll make you pay for that!” the Blade said with a scowl. But then he heard something from outside. Thumping noises came from the other side of the front door. Finally it burst from its hinges, revealing a very angry Ninetales.

“No one locks me out of my own home,” Trinity growled, her teeth bared. “Shonta! The back door!”

I nodded and rose on shaky legs. I wobbled out of the back door and into the backyard. I peered back into the house and saw Jewel standing in front of the Blade. Suddenly the Blade was propelled backward by some invisible force. He rolled on the grass a few times before stopping on his back. I stood over him with a smug look on my face. “How does it feel, Blade?” I said to him.

“My name’s Cutter and you’ll be wise to remember it,” he grunted as he rose to his feet. “Your Pokemon are weak. I could beat them with my weakest Pokemon.”

I smiled wickedly. “Oh yeah? Then you shouldn’t have a problem battling my Slakoth. If she wins, you get out of my house and leave us alone.”

Cutter glanced in the doorway. Nama was standing there, wearing a sleepy grin as if nothing had happened so far. “Your Slakoth? Are you kidding?”

I shook my head. “I’m dead serious.”

Cutter chuckled and pulled out a pokeball. “Okay, but if you lose you’ll just be dead. Go, Slugma!”

“Let’s go, Nama!”


“Let’s take her out quick, Slugma! Flamethrower!” Cutter commanded. Slugma wasted no time to attack as he shot a Flamethower at Nama. Nama ran as fast to the side as she could and barely dodged the attack. I bet she could feel the heat on her backside, though.

Cutter’s eyes grew in surprise at Nama’s speed. “Slugma, another Flamethrower!” Cutter shouted. Slugma responded before Cutter could finish his sentence.

Nama won’t be able to dodge this one! “Nama, Water Gun!” Nama quickly shot out a stream of water that collided with the Flamethrower. The two attacks combined created a cloud of steam that enveloped the backyard. Everyone stood still until the steam cleared.

Nama gave a sigh of relief. “That was close.”

Cutter decided not to give Nama any more breaks. “Slugma! Keep going with the Flamethrowers!”

“Nama! Dodge!” Thanks to her Truant ability, Nama couldn’t attack but every other turn. I knew this was frustrating her. Nama jumped to the side, panting as she felt the heat from the dodged Flamethrower. Then she spotted the trashcan and hid behind it. “That’s a good idea, Nama! Now give Slugma a Yawn!” Nama peered from behind the trashcan and yawned deeply, causing Slugma to yawn in return.

“Slugma, another Flamethrower!” Slugma tried to hit Nama again, but she promptly hid behind the trashcan again. It was starting to melt. Cutter didn’t bother telling Slugma to fire another Flamethrower as Slugma was quickly drifting off to sleep.

“Alright, Nama! Now fire another Water Gun!” The Slakoth took a deep breath and fired another stream of water that sizzled as it impacted with Slugma. Slugma’s magma body slowly hardened until he was encased in a shell of rock. Nama fired another Water Gun and broke apart the shell, but also knocked out Slugma.


“You lost. Now get out,” I said with a scowl. I pointed to the back door.

But Cutter wasn’t budging. “Who’s going to make me? I can defeat you with ease.”

Another psychic blast from Jewel shot out of the house and blasted Cutter. He sailed over the high wooden fence and landed in a Dumpster. <Bet he didn’t see that coming,> Jewel said.

“Question! How are we supposed to keep him out? Trinity knocked down the door!” Athena said in a panic.

“Heh heh. Oops,” Trinity said.

<He’ll be out for a while, me using more power and all. I suggest we move to another place,> Jewel said.

“Good idea,” I agreed. I looked over at Nama who was curled up and sleeping. I returned her to her pokeball. “Nama’s got the right idea. Let’s go to the Guild headquarters and rest up.”

“Ah, don’t tell me you’re tired already!” Moriko said cheerfully. She slapped my back, unaware of the fact that it was still bruised from when I was slammed against the counter. I cried out in pain. “Oops.”

I smiled at her. “That’s okay. Let’s go while I feel like moving.” I slowly walked with the team through the house and out onto the streets, where the action had died down a little. I felt relieved. Even though I didn’t want to turn away from my duty as a Dragon Tamer and a member of the Guild, neither did I have to put my team through the stress of having to deal with more psychic Crimson Blades.

“What are you doing here?” a harsh female voice asked me.

I turned my head and saw Dixie trying to stare me down. Speak of the devil. “I’m just taking a stroll,” I joked, smiling as widely as I could.

“Don’t play cute with me! You’re a Dragon Tamer! I know what you goody-goods are trying to do! Well, it won’t work. I sent my boyfriend to destroy you!” She threw her head back and gave a shrill laugh.

I tilted my head to the side. “You mean Cutter? He’s out like a lightbulb.”

She promptly stopped her laughing. “You knocked out my Cutter?”

“Not me. Jewel.”

“Your Pokemon are always GETTING IN MY WAY!” she screamed. “I’m ending this here and now! Go Eevee! You can do it, girl!” She threw a pokeball, revealing an Eevee.

“Don’t you have anything that’s not cute? Jewel, take out this little fluffball.”

“Wait!” Beacon cried out, startling me. “Let me try this.”

I stared at Beacon with a look of disbelief. Beacon wasn’t one to jump into battles that weren’t official. “Are you sure, Beacon? This girl fights dirty.”

“I won’t get any stronger if I don’t battle for what is right. I’ll battle in Jewel’s place.”

“Alright then. Get in there, Beacon.”

Beacon’s POV

“Eevee! Start with a Tackle attack!” Dixie told her.

I went on the offensive and charged forward in a Tackle attack of my own. We collided and sent each other backwards. I skidded to a halt and released a Thunderbolt. It shocked the poor Eevee and brought her to her knees. Dixie looked at her pleadingly, encouraging her to get back to her feet.

Eevee opened her mouth and spit out an orb of dark energy. I didn’t know whether to dodge it or counter with an attack of my own. At the last second I remembered my Light Screen move and raised one. A dome of light surrounded me. I still felt the attack, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I gave a small smile. So far, so good.

“Eevee! Another Tackle attack!” Dixie shouted.

Eevee charged again, not exactly looking very threatening. I braced myself for impact, thinking that the Light Screen would help protect me. Instead I felt the full force of the attack. I fell on my side, surprised. “What happened?” I asked Shonta.

“Light Screen only shields you from special attacks,” she explained. “It doesn’t do anything against physical attacks.”

“Oh no,” I whimpered.

“Oh yes! I won’t lose! I will win for my trainer!” the Eevee said to me. “Now I will show you my hidden power!” She was surrounded by a brown aura. That aura seemed to seep into the ground. Then the ground seemed to turn up as if someone was tunneling through it. And it was heading straight for me!

“Run, Beacon!” Shonta told me.

I ran as fast as I could but the attack was catching up to me. I didn’t want to look back. I guess I should’ve so I would’ve known what hit me. The thing emerged from the ground and struck me from behind. It was a powerful attack that sent me flying.

“Ha! Your Mareep is through!” Dixie laughed.

I should’ve been through. I wasn’t. I had a bit of energy left to battle. But I was badly hurt. I only lay there as Eevee approached me. “Are you ready to surrender?” she asked me.

I looked over at Shonta and my teammates. They all looked concerned. I can’t just admit defeat. I’ll never get stronger and evolve! I have to win this! At that moment a blue aura surrounded me. I felt a little cold inside. I found the strength to get up and stare Eevee in the face. “I’m not going to let you beat me,” I said quietly.

Eevee started to say something but looked down and gasped. Small patches of ice had formed under my hooves. I giggled. “You may want to run,” I told her. Eevee did as I told her but by then the aura had grown stronger. My breath had gotten cooler. I took a deep breath and breathed out icy wind and snow. Eevee stopped and turned around just in time to see the attack come. Her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. She stood her ground at first but the cold soon made her lie down and shiver.

“Give her a Thunderbolt while she’s down!” Shonta told me.

I didn’t want to attack Eevee while she was down but I knew if I gave her the chance to recover she would hit me with another Hidden Power. I shot out another Thunderbolt and knocked out the little Eevee.

Shonta’s POV

Beacon looked pretty beat up. I walked to her and stroked her head. “You did a good job. Take a nice rest.” I returned her to her pokeball.

I looked up at Dixie. She was pissed. But I wanted to make her feel worse. “What’s the matter, Dixie? If your Eevee can’t take the cold she should get out of the freezer,” I joked.

Without warning, Dixie screamed as loud as she could. “YOU! I SHOULD KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO ME!”

“Why does everyone want to kill me?”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE A NUISANCE!”

“She may be a nuisance but we’re willing to protect her,” Moriko said with a smile as she stood between me and Dixie.

Dixie screamed again before calming down and speaking at a normal volume. “You will die, Tamer. I will see to it.”

“No, Blade. Not while I’m around,” said a familiar voice.

My head whipped this way and that as I searched for the source of the sound. I found Katana standing in an alley with Bandit and holding a badly burnt Lily. “What are you doing here?” I asked her, my voice shaking.

“I came to make sure you weren’t dead. I am, after all, your guardian.” She gave a polite bow.

“My guardian? Says who?”

“Diablo, of course.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Diablo, huh? Didn’t he want me killed?”

“Yes. That’s why I’m your guardian. I’m here to make sure these Crimson Blades don’t take away his wish to kill you himself.”

“Boy, don’t I feel wanted.”

Dixie was gone in a flash. I couldn’t tell how strong Katana was and neither could Dixie, but Katana’s confidence scared us. She could’ve been the weakest Pokemon there and we wouldn’t know. “Promise me you won’t try to kill me,” I told Katana.

“I promise,” she said.

Bandit climbed on my shoulder. “I would sleep with a baseball bat if I were you,” Bandit whispered in my ear. “She’s absolutely certifiable.”

“Why would you say that, my dear?” Katana asked sweetly.

“Because you’re a schizo!”

“Um, people? Haven’t you noticed that the sky has become dark?” Trinity spoke up. She was looking up at the sky in surprise and possibly worried.

“Really? I just noticed that,” I admitted.

“Look up there!” Athena said.

I looked up and saw a large silhouette floating near the sun. Fire and lightning were shooting up toward it. I couldn’t see what it was but some part of me was extremely curious. “Let’s go see,” I said in a low voice. I took off down the alley, eventually seeing other Tamers. I stopped when I could make out the mysterious silhouette. “It’s a Salamence! And it looks like someone’s riding it!”

Daisuke stood beside me. There was a cut on his forehead but he was otherwise fine. “That’s Armand DiAnnio and the Salamence is called Reaper,” he informed us.

“Reaper? Didn’t we hear Dixie mention that name?” Athena asked.

“We tried attacking Reaper but she didn’t even gain a scratch. I’m nervous about what that Pokemon will do next.”

“I think we’re about to find out!” She pointed to the sky. Reaper seemed to be glowing to the point that it was blinding. It turned out to be an attack that she shot as well as some sort of fireball. Somehow it didn’t do damage. I can’t tell you why. I guess I wasn’t at the heart of the action but just a bystander.

Ade says that this isn’t over. I agree with him. All I can say is my team and I will be ready for whatever comes our way. It will be tough but we will survive.

There we go! I would like a RBG for my L5 Zangoose Katana from the Universal Adoption Center. *pays 7 stamps*

__________________

Aipom Of Doom

Our problems started shortly after the second round of the Unicorn Games. I had been Dan's entry in the tournament. but I woke up feeling quite ill two days before I was supposed to battle in the finals. However, I wanted to battle in the finals if at all possible; I worried that Dan's threshold for me being "too sick to battle" would be lower than mine. So, Blaze and I decided that it would be best if I could try to get better without telling anyone else (with the exzzception of Thunderblast; trying to hide things from psychic Raichus is fruitless, and furthermore she was very useful at getting me medicines discreetly).

However, when I woke up the next morning, I was feeling even worse, and apparently Blaze had caught whatever I had; in retrospect, snuggling up with a sick Pokemon for most of a day wasn't the smartest thing for him to do. The rest of the team quickly noticed that we were both quite sick. After a discussion with Thunderblast on what medicines she'd already given us, a call to the Pokemon Center to see what they would recommend, and a few loudly-whispered comments from Hydro about sexually-transmitted diseases (which I employed Thunderblast to smack him for), we took a few more medicines and went back to sleep.

This pattern continued on for the rest of the day, and into the next day, where I unhappily watched other Pokemon compete in the Unicorn Games on the television. We went to the Pokemon Center a few times, but only got told that we were sick (as if I couldn't have told them that) and that we should take the medicines we'd already taken. Both Blaze and I kept feeling worse, and that night we were taken to a Pokemon hospital.

There, we were told that we had some severe, contagious virus with some long name that I didn't even try to remember. We were also told that though Blaze and I would get through just fine with lots of rest, we needed to stay at the hospital for a week for quarantine. They also said that Thunderblast, Hydro, and Flare needed to be quarantined too, due to their species being either vulnerable to this virus or carriers of it (Hydro jumped at the opportunity to sit around for a week playing video games, and Flare, being the lazy type, didn't mind either. Thunderblast wasn't as happy about it, but thankfully went along without putting up a fuss). Also, they "strongly recommended" that about half of the rest of the team stay. Not wanting to go far with almost half of the team in quarantine, Dan and the remainder of the team stuck close to the hospital, not doing anything particularly interesting.

So, eight of us spent our week in the hospital, though only Blaze and I actually were sick. Hydro and Aipom (as well as Tyrant, who wasn't technically quarantined with us, but camped out in the hospital room anyway) seemed to be always playing video games. Flare was also playing with them more often than not, though she did play with Tulie when the young Dratini was around. Thunderblast, apparently bored enough to do community service, used her psychic powers to help the hospital staff with assorted things. It kept her busy, though she did grumble about not being able to see Kasumi (her Growlithe girlfriend) at all. Blaze and I, meanwhile, were cuddled together and asleep (and under the influence of some sort of strong medicines) most of the time. By the end of the week, having slept away the sickness, we prepared to get on with being Dragon Tamers. Or so we thought.

In that week where we did about nothing, Dan had done a lot of thinking, and this turned out to be a bad thing. Apparently, he had originally planned to have left Ulthuan after not too long, but had enjoyed being a Dragon Tamer so much that he stayed much longer. But by this time, his family was pressuring him to come back, and he also needed to get back to a formal school if he wanted to continue his education. After pondering all of this for the week in the hospital, he decided it would be for the best if he went back to his home.

His seemingly sudden change in plans got mixed reactions from the team. Some thought it would be nice to have a less hectic life, as being a Dragon Tamer did imply quite a bit of moving around and sudden changes of plans, and in our case, nowhere that we really could call home. Others really didn't care. I fell into the third group, those of us who didn't want to leave. I quite enjoyed being a Dragon Tamer, and I was reluctant to leave.

However, we couldn't get Dan to change his mind. He said that any of us could stay behind if we wanted; Zippy promptly flew off after hearing this, but no one else wanted to leave the group. So, we all ended up on a boat trip (as Flatten was a bit big to fit on an airplane) to Dan's home. We arrived there about a week later, surprisingly without having had any major fights despite having the whole team in close proximity of each other practically the entire time.

Over the next few months, the team settled into our new lives. Dan went almost immediately back to school, and started learning all sorts of complex math and science problems, which for some inexplicable reason he enjoyed doing. Sai seemed to like it also, and he and Dan spent quite a while over textbooks and problem sets each night. Sai effectively retired from battling; he had occasional sparring matches against some of the other strong Pokemon around, but not many.

Some of the other Pokemon were content with their new arrangements, too. Having a permanent home gave Tyrant and Hydro the excuse to create a large new home theater (I'm still not sure where they got funding for it, however), and play their video games all day long. Flatten, as one might expect, quite enjoyed his sedentary lifestyle, though I suppose I can't blame a Snorlax for that.

Flare and Gaea continued parenting Tulie, who had grown up tremendously. She was quite intelligent, and seemed to really enjoy reading (as well as whining about the lack of male Dratinis that could be her boyfriend). Flare and Gaea themselves enjoyed our new home, Flare because she was lazy and Gaea because she was too pacifistic to stomach much of the fighting we had done with the Dragon Tamers.

Mopia also seemed quite content. Her attitude had changed completely, after Zippy flew away, never to return. She became friends with Eesha, and the Taillow seemed to be a much better influence than Zippy had been. Mopia was still quite lazy, and more often than not seemed to be asleep, hanging from some high place by her tail. However, she actually talked to the rest of us now, and turned out to be quite an interesting Pokemon. She also turned out to be brilliant at English, which was also the subject that Dan disliked the most in school. It amused me that Dan received extensive coaching for many of his English assignments from Mopia, and that quite a few ended up being done by her (what would his teachers say if they found out that his Aipom did his homework?).

Eesha, on the other hand, didn't seem all that smart, but was quite socially adept; she made friends with every single Pokemon on the team, which was quite an accomplishment (of course, this was after Zippy left, but I don't think even Eesha could become friends with her). This left Eesha as the natural peace keeper for our team, and she was quite good at calming down everyone. She also seemed to have made friends with every Pokemon - trained or wild - that lived within about a mile of our house. It seemed that to every Pokemon you met, you were "one of Eesha's teammates".

Of course, not everyone was as thrilled about our new arrangement. Thunderblast certainly didn't like being away from her girlfriend, and she also complained that our new life was too boring and she didn't get to battle enough (even though she seemed to be battling almost every single day). Being the independent sort that she is, she simply left and headed back to Ulthuan, and joined Ade's team (after all, that's where Sumi was).

Aqua also was somewhat dissatisfied with our present status. She too liked to battle, and didn't get to nearly as much as she wanted; plus she preferred when we were on the Dragon Tamers and traveled much more often. Nevertheless, she tolerated the move and tried to enjoy herself; she took to a routine of daily exercise and training, as well as spending enough time playing video games with Hydro and Tyrant to be about at their skill level.

Aipom, surprisingly enough, was another Pokemon who felt he'd rather be a Dragon Tamer. He'd changed a fair amount, and become much less shy as of late. He found that he truly did enjoy battling, and trained with Aqua often, as well as with Blaze and I (the four of us being the only ones that seemed to care about battling anymore, besides Thunderblast). He also got into a few relationships; the first one was with Mopia, shortly after her attitude changed and she became more open. Both of them adamantly deny that they were ever a couple, but I still doubt that. Sometime afterwards, Aipom (publicly, this time) became Aqua's boyfriend, and the two have been together, and at least seemingly happy with each other.

As for Blaze and I, we had stayed boyfriend and girlfriend (or you could look at it as husband and wife, or whatever). We were very close, both as friends and as a couple. Many of the others said that we should have a kid, but neither of us really liked babies. Not that I wouldn't try my hardest to be a good mother if I did have a child; just that Blaze and I tried to protect against that possibility (Thunderblast, thankfully, agreed to forge prescriptions for Eevee-strength birth control pills. Having a psychic Raichu as a friend can be quite handy).

However, we weren't completely content with our new arrangement. We both liked battling, and there weren't enough serious battles around; most were "friendly" battles where we agreed not to use anything that would hurt either of us much. It was fine, but got boring after a while; I wished that I could find a real battle, me versus some bad guy, where I could fight all-out. Blaze wasn't quite as masochistic as me, but agreed that he wouldn't mind battling more competitively. And also, being bred as a prize for the Oracle Games, I had quite a connection with the Dragon Tamers, and I wanted to go back; Blaze apparently felt the same way.

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

I yawned and rolled over to check the clock. It was 1AM; Blaze and I had been curled up, asleep. I normally would have gone back to sleep, but I decided instead to go see if Thunderblast was online; she seemed to like instant messaging late at night, and I did need to talk to her.

I opened up the laptop computer that I'd had laying near me and turned it on. If there was one thing I liked about all of the electronics that Tyrant, Hydro, Thunderblast, and Dan had set up, it was that they'd gotten a bunch of used laptop computers and gotten them connected to a wireless network. Quite a number of Dragon Tamers' Pokemon had been getting AIM screennames, and I did enjoy being able to chat with my friends that I'd left behind.

I waited for the computer to boot up, and logged onto the instant messenger service, yawning as it took its time to connect. Finally, I was able to see that Thunderblast was indeed online. "Geez," I muttered, "figures she wouldn't be on at all until this late."

maytpmf: Hey, Thunderblast. I had gotten quite good at typing; though Eevee paws aren't made for typing, they're small enough that you can use them for the purpose decently.

The reply came quickly; thunderblasttpm: May! What's up!
maytpmf: Not too much... you busy?
thunderblasttpm: Nah, just taking a break from Sumiing ;( I grunted at this comment; I had no problem with Thunderblast's lesbian tendencies, but I really didn't need to hear about them.
maytpmf: Did I really need to know that?
thunderblasttpm: Nah, I guess you didn't. But anyway, what were you IMIng me about?
maytpmf: Oh, I was just wondering about those airplane tickets you said you were getting me...
thunderblasttpm: Yeah, they're in a letter I sent to you guys. Err, a reliable source tells me it will be coming tomorrow, so you better go and get the mail and open the letter before Dan does.
maytpmf: You couldn't have gotten them here in some way that's less likely to get us caught? I expected better from you, Thunderblast :(.
thunderblasttpm: What, how else am I supposed to get stuff to you? Just be waiting near the door with Blaze around 2 PM and you'll be fine.
maytpmf: ... if you say so.
thunderblasttpm: I do say so ;(. Hmm. anyway brb, Sumi is calling me to bed with her again.
maytpmf: Eww, do you have to keep telling me this stuff?
thunderblasttpm: What's so bad about it? I'm sure you and Blaze do things like it :P
maytpmf: But I don't go telling people who don't want to know, do I?
Auto-response from thunderblasttpm: Sumiing.

"Ugh," I muttered, turning off the laptop. Well, at least things were going as I had hoped.

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


I yawned, basking in the sun coming through the front window of Dan's house. May was at one of the laptop computers again, chatting to an assortment of friends from Ulthuan. We were waiting by the front door for the mail to arrive; May had said that there was a letter from Thunderblast coming, and we needed to grab it and get something from it before anyone else saw it (I had no idea what, though).

Finally, after having been waiting for quite a while, an assortment of envelopes and magazines poured in through the slot in the door. "Mail's here!" May called, seizing the letter from Thunderblast and opening it. I gathered up the other things, and passed them to Dan, who had walked over. May had pulled out Thunderblast's letter, and had slipped two small pieces of paper out of the envelope and under the nearest piece of furniture.

"It's a letter from Thunderblast!" she called out, after having glanced around to see if anyone had noticed her hiding the said pieces of paper. The letter wasn't all that long; I walked over to May and read the few paragraphs over her shoulder.

When we were done, May handed the letter to Dan. "Funny, you'd think Thunderblast would have e-mailed...," he mused, reading the letter. "Well, either way, it's nice to hear from her. It sounds like she's enjoying herself back in Ulthuan." He took the other mail, and handed the letter off to Flare, who had walked over to see what Thunderblast had written.

May turned off the laptop computer, and slipped the two pieces of paper on top of the keyboard as she closed it. "Blaze, could you take this up to our room for me?" she asked, and I did so.

She walked ahead of me and glanced around the room, visibly relieved that no one else was there (it did, after all, house Tulie, Gaea, and Flare also, and during the day everyone's rooms became subject for use by anyone). I set the laptop down in our corner, and opened it up to see what these important pieces of paper were, as May slammed the door shut via Tackling it.

"Airline tickets? To Ulthuan? On Friday afternoon? Uh... May?" I asked, in disbelief, as I read what was printed on the two pieces of paper. It was a Tuesday; did May really plan on having is go back to Ulthuan in three days? I knew she had been arranging something with Thunderblast, and I wasn't opposed to the idea of going back, but this seemed a bit sudden.

"Yeah, I told you Thunderblast was good at this stuff."

"So did you arrange where we're going to stay? And how we're going to be able to help with the Dragon Tamers even without a trainer?"

"Uh, well we can always stay at Ade's place, I don't think he'd kick us out. And we can tag along with him to the Dragon Tamers missions."

"... So your plan is to barge into someone's house and stay there until they kick us out?" I wasn't liking the sound of this.

"No, I'd ask if we could stay before we did, I'm not that rude."

"Well, you wouldn't be giving him much of a choice! And there's what, 30 Pokemon living there already? Wouldn't it be a bit crowded"

"Well, with 30 Pokemon around we could easily find ourselves somewhere out of the way and barely be noticed. Or, if we really needed to, we could go find other people... I'm sure SOME Dragon Tamer would be willing to take us in."

"I'm really not liking how little planning you were doing on this. I mean, at the worst, we could always stick around Pokemon Centers and the Eevee House like we did before, but still..."

"Relax, we'll be fine," May replied, sitting down next to me. "So anyway, the plan is that we'll sneak out Thursday night and get on the train to the airport... it's not too far of a walk."

"Wait... we'll SNEAK out?!?"

"Well, we can wake up Dan and Sai maybe and say goodbye..."

"No, not happening, sorry." I knew that May could be compulsive, but this really surprised me. Could she really intend to just try to leave without telling everyone? Even Thunderblast told the entire team a few hours before she left, and everyone had a chance to say goodbye to her, and we all wished we could have had some more time.

"Aww, why do you want to spoil everything?" May stared at me sadly, though I could tell she was just acting.

"Why do YOU want to spoil everything for everyone else?" I asked, a bit annoyed. "Sorry, I'm not going unless we tell the entire team. Tomorrow, preferably."

"Fine." May then grumbled something to herself. I still wasn't sure how she could have thought that we wouldn't leave without telling all of our friends.

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

So, the next day we'd told the team of our plans; they were surprised, to say the least, but quickly accepted the idea, and all wished us well. Between then and Thursday, we'd talked to a bunch of our friends outside the team, and said our final goodbyes to them, as well as chatting about our decision and plans with our teammates.

Friday morning, it turned out Gaea and Flare had prepared a nice party for us, and had baked a breakfast of pancakes for everyone, followed by a delicious chocolate cake later on; at about noon we said our final good-byes and got into the car with Dan and Sai to go off to the airport.

"Well, we're here," Dan commented, parking the car in the airport's parking garage. "Oh, and I have a few things to give you guys..." He unzipped my tiny duffel bag, which was only half full, yet still contained all of May's and my things; Pokemon tend to travel light.

Dan stuffed a wallet into the bag; I looked in and found some stamps and our two Dragon Tamers ID cards. "I'm a bit scared that you guys didn't even try to get your ID cards for the trip," he said, "since you probably will need to use them, and it would be easier to use these than get new ones made up. I gave you some stamps if you need them, and I got it arranged so that you guys can go and use my Any Item at the reward center, if you need stuff."

"Wow... thanks," I was glad that someone had thought of those things, since they'd never occurred to May or me.

"No problem. And also, I have some items that might be of interest to you guys. At least, it can't hurt to have them with you." He held out his hands; in them were a Gold Key, a Silver Key, and a Pokemon Collar.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you had those," I commented, grabbing the Gold Key. It was strung through a chain; Dan attached it around my neck. "That will let you get through your opponent's Protect, Safeguard, or, uh... some other attack, you should look it up. But Protect and Safeguard were the more useful ones anyway."

"You want either of these, May?" Dan turned and held the remaining two items to her.

"Nah, I've heard that they have Crystal Keys at the Reward Center now, that break through Barriers, Reflects, and Light Screens. I think I'll go get one of them."

"Fair enough," Dan commented, and put the Collar and Silver Key in my bag. "I'll give these two to you anyway, you're more likely to find a use for them than me. And, I have a few more things..." He reached into his pocket and held out two more necklace-looking things; one had a black plastic cube attached to it, and the other had a coin.

"These are my Status Coin and Status Die... I think you guys should take them, too." He turned to May first, and showed her how to pop the coin out of the casing it was held in. "This you can flip when either of you get hit by some sort of status effect; it will either remove it, or give the same thing to the opponent that caused it." After popping the coin back into the necklace, he put it around May's neck.

"And this is the Status Die," Dan turned to me, and opened up the black plastic case, revealing a large wooden die with a symbol carved in each side; the ones I could see looked like they represented Burn and Confusion. "It's not that nice, but you can roll this to inflict a random effect on one of your opponents." He closed the case and put it around my neck. "And both of those can be used, uh, once a day?" Sai nodded yes.

"Wow, thanks," I said, poking at the two objects hanging around my neck. I had been vaguely familiar with these sort of mystical items, though I'd never used one before, and I didn't even know Dan had any.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to be using them," Dan chuckled, and then opened the car door. "Well, we better get inside, and make sure we don't miss your flight."

"Alright, here we go," May said, smiling a bit. "Aren't you excited?"

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, as we walked down the hall to the plane. We'd said our farewells to Dan and Sai, and now were heading down to board the plane. We walked up to the flight attendant at the door, and showed her our tickets.

She fidgeted nervously. "Um, do you have anyone with you? A trainer or something? It's against airline policy to let Pokemon fly unattended." I started to panic. How could Thunderblast have missed this when she was booking or flight?

May, however, started to cry; I immediately recognized this being from her acting skills. Apparently she wasn't surprised at all, and had a plan already; I calmed down as I realized that May and Thunderblast must have known about this small detail already, and planned a way to get around it. I just wished the could have told me that.

"W.. What?" May sniffled, certainly genuinely enough to fool the flight attendant who didn't know her. "You... you mean we're not going to be able to get back to our trainer in Ulthuan?" She fell to the floor and started to sob.

"There, there, it's okay," I stroked May's back; I figured I might as well help out in this. "I'm sure we can find some way to get back... maybe,"I tried to sound as unconvincing as possible, and I started sadly up at the flight attendant.

"Err, what seems to be the problem here?" A man about to get on the flight had come up behind us, and had seen our little act.

"Uh, well, see, these two need to get on the flight to get back to their trainer, but this airline has a strict policy of not allowing Pokemon on unattended."

The man stared down at us a second, while I was consoling May, who was still sobbing onto the carpet. I had to admit, she could be quite an actress when she needed to be.

"Well, I could 'accompany' them, I guess... Would that be okay?" The man said. May's plan had worked perfectly; by creating such an unpleasant scene in front of quite a few people and Pokemon that were about to board the flight, she pretty much forced the flight attendant and the first passenger behind her to take pity and bend the rules enough to let us on.

"You.. you will?" May wasn't done acting, of course. She sniffled a bit, and still had tears running down her fur as she turned to the man and smiled a bit. "So we'll be able to get to our trainer?"

"Sure, little Eevee," he said, bending down and scratching her behind the neck. prompting May to squeal joyously. "Well, let's go," he said, and headed towards the plane, with May close behind. I picked up my bag, and ran behind to catch up.

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

The flight was quite long, but May and I slept most of the way. I would have preferred it if we could have been cuddled up, but that just wouldn't work well with May's act of being a young, scared Eevee. I was glad that humans could be so ignorant of Pokemon ages; though it was obvious to me that May was a mature, adult Eevee, none of the humans on the flight were able to tell that, and guessed her age based on her outburst while we were boarding. One Jolteon that was walking by came over and congratulated May for being a good actor and asked what her motive for doing that was; however, he promised not to tell anyone, and no one else commented.

We exited the plane about four hours after we got on it, and stepped out into Lothern's Airport. It felt great to know we were back in Ulthuan. However, my plan right now was on how to convince the guy that had taken responsibility for us that we had actually found our trainer.

"So, did your trainer say where he was going to meet you?" he asked me as we walked into a large room in the airline terminal.

"Uh, come to think of it, he didn't. Around here, somewhere, I guess..." I was trying to think of ways for us to convince the guy that we were fine. I supposed if we needed to we could just wait until he decided to leave, and hope that he didn't get someone else to watch us after that.

"Eeee!" May squealed, "There he is!" She darted off across the room, towards a hallway on the other side. I was relieved; apparently May had come up with a good plan for this part of our journey also.

"Wow, she's very observant," I commented to the guy. "Yeah, that's definitely our trainer over there, he just went down that hallway. Anyway, thanks!" I started jogging in the direction May had run. As I turned down the hallway that May had gone into, I glanced behind me. The man was already picking up his things and preparing to go on his way.

I breathed a sigh of relief, and headed into the hallway to find where May went.

"Blaze! Over here!" I heard her call from behind me. She had gone into a corner that led off to yet another hallway to our left; I had to say that she had done a good job at picking the last place just about everyone would look after entering the hallway to find her. I trotted over. "He isn't following you, is he?"

"No, he wasn't even paying attention," I replied, sitting down next to her. "I'm not sure whether to congratulate you for having that all planned out and doing it so well, or yell at you for not telling me about it. That really had me panicked for a few moments there."

"Yeah, I knew it would, but I thought you'd be better off panicked for two seconds than worrying your ass off for a long time," May responded.

"You still could have told me a minute or so before."

"Yeah, I guess I should have," she said, and then kissed me on the cheek. "Do you accept my apology for that?"

"Sure."

"Okay, good." She got up. "You didn't happen to notice if there were any bathrooms around while you were walking over this way, did you? After that long flight, I really gotta pee."

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

So, we headed west from Lothern by train, and arrived in Sector Alpha not too long afterwards. By then, it was quite late; sunset was fast approaching as we entered a familiar park, the one we always used to battle at and play in, in the center of Sector Alpha.

"Well, let's see," May thought for a moment. "We could always go to the Pokemon Center, that isn't too far from here. The Eevee House is a bit far, and I think that all of the places Dragon Tamers that I know live are too far also. Hmm, maybe..." She turned towards the woods to our right.

"Hmm, you think Jolt and Spark are still around?" They were a wild Pichu and Jolteon, whom we had met in the woods a few years ago. Since then, we had visited them various times, up until we left Ulthuan; I'd felt bad about not being able to say goodbye to them then. They were pleasant, hospitable Pokemon, always willing to help, though both had a grudge against the whole concept of Pokemon Trainers, because they had experienced an abusive one.

"It's worth a try," May said.

We walked a distance into the woods, to the area that the two usually stayed in. It wasn't very long before I heard a happy-sounding yell from a branch above us, and then saw a Pikachu leap down, land in a ball, and roll a few times before standing in front of us.

"Blaze and May! How've you guys been? Jolt and I had been wondering where you guys got to, we haven't seen you for almost a year. Uh, as you can see, I evolved, like my new look?" Spark was still as hyperactive as ever, it seemed.

"Yeah," I responded, for a lack of anything better to say. "I take it you still live in trees?" The two had a knack for tree-climbing and a bunch of Pidgeotto friends, which left them the fairly odd arrangement of living in and maintaining Pidgeotto nests, at least when the owners were elsewhere.

"Yeah," Spark said. "Well, the two Pidgeottos we were friends with evolved, and had to make bigger nests, so we got their older ones. It's really cool! You guys want to stay for a while?"

"Well, for tonight, at least," May then went on to explain our our situation, and plans.

Spark nodded. "Well, I think it's cool that you guys want to go around by yourself, and be able to help all of your friends with their dragon taming..."

May cut him off with a laugh, and explained that the Dragon Tamers didn't involve taming any dragons.

"... oh, anyway, it would be cool for you to go around yourselves and help your friends with fighting all of those bad guys. But if you have any problems, feel free to come over here and stay with us a while as long as you want. And we have plenty of friends around the woods who can help you. These woods are protected, you see, so no one is allowed to go in and catch Pokemon, the only thing that happens is that sometimes the Dragon Tamers - you know, I always thought they tamed dragons, and I didn't know why they needed so many Pokemon - come in and find those who'd like to help them and take them to their adoption centers. But that's only the ones that agree, and they let the rest of us stay here and not be bothered." I did know all of this, but it didn't seem possible to stop Spark's rambling.

"Anyway, err, how do we get up to your nests? You wouldn't have happened to built an easier way than climbing trees, would you?" I asked, looking nervously at the large structures perched high in the tree.

"Well, sort of," Spark turned around and looked upward. "HEY, MARIE! CAN YOU COME DO ME A FAVOR?" he yelled at one of the nests.

From the nest a large Pidgeot, who I supposed must have been Marie, soon appeared, and she glided around for about half a minute, somehow managing to fit through all of the trees despite her huge wingspan, before landing a few feet away. I had seen plenty of Pidgeots in my life, but I'd never gotten over just how big they were.

"Hey, Marie, this is Blaze and May, some old friends of mine," Spark said to the Pidgeot. "Do you think you could fly them up to our nest for me? They plan to stay for the night."

"Sure," she turned around and indicated for May and I to climb onto her back. We did, and soon she had flown up and landed on a branch near a large nest, where a Jolteon was sleeping; this was Spark's friend and roommate, Jolt.

"Thanks, Ms. Pidgeot," May said as we jumped from her back into the nest, still somewhat intimidated by the size of the bird.

"No problem," she chuckled, and then added, "and you can call me Marie." She then flew off to a larger nest on a slightly lower branch; I glanced down and saw some baby Pidgeys sitting there, looking up at their returning mother.

"Cute, aren't they?" Spark had climbed up the tree, and appeared in the nest with us. "They were born a few weeks ago. Marie's been teaching them about using Gust lately; so if you feel some wayward tornado-like things, don't worry."

Spark then walked over to the other side of the nest, which was about five feet in diameter; small, but big enough to hold the four of us. "Hey, Jolt!" he poked at his friend, carefully avoiding the pointy ends of her spikes. "Remember Blaze and May?"

The Jolteon sat up, and stared at us a moment, before fully waking up and remembering us. "Oh, hi! I haven't seen you guys for a while, how've you been?"

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

"Well, let's go," May said, as we exited the woods early the next morning. Nothing too interesting had happened overnight, and while we were glad to see Spark and Jolt (and our new friend Marie), we had much else to do. "I guess we should head over to Ade's place, and see if Thunderblast is around. She'll be glad to know we're here."

"Fair enough, though I'd be willing to bet she already knows that... Though I'm sure she'll be glad to see us anyway."

We walked out of the park. I was glad I had returned to Ulthuan; now we had an assortment of things to get done and decided, but soon enough we'd be back to our (relatively) normal lives as Dragon Tamers.

__________________

Lady Vulpix

__________________

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?

Wolfsong

__________________

AntiAsh Superstar

Gabi: Not at all bad for a quick conclusion. I can kinda tell you would have rather had more time to work on it tho. I couldn't help but chuckle after reading what actually happened at Lady Ninetales' office. btw, must remember to catch you on AIM soon - I'd like to borrow Golden Growlithe for a paragraph or two when the next scenario's ready to be posted and need to grill you on how he'd react to certain things. ^^ Anyways, take eight stamps.

Shonta: Nice! You're doing very well with this scenario. Tho why do I get the feeling Dixie will prolly be hounding you to the end of time? If I've one criticism it's that I do think your battle segments could use a little more detail, the first one in particular seemed very rushed compared to the rest of the story. Have thirteen stamps.

Dan: Have only really skimmed your battle so will read it and rate it properly tomorrow unless someone else has got to it. It's nice to see you back, though, although what I have read of your story does leave me with the feeling I'll need to have words with Thunderblast about randomly scheming without telling me first... AGAIN. >_> However did you cope with her? X)

__________________

Darkfire

Notes:
-Yes, I have an extension for this scenario. Page 19, first post under the scenario.
-Amaris and Naois are from PokeZoo. For a list of where each of my Pokemon originated from, check out my AC page.
-Still making up my own characters, so sorry if anyone seems overly like another character already made. I’ve been using these people in stories and such for a while now. ^^U
-I’m staying a bit vague on some areas such as like what exactly happened between two certain Crimson Blades with a freaky bond.
-Yes, it seems Darkfire has changed a lot, but she’s not as bad of an actor as she thinks she is.
-I'm really hoping I didn't mess this one up too badly. ^_~
-If I ask for an RBG, can I tack it onto a scenario battle?

-Last Failure, First Success-


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

It was another dream. The shadows held Darkfire, sending waves of warmth and chills through her body. Had she noticed, she would have pulled from the shadows, but there was no recognition in her mind and eyes that her body felt the touch of ancient powers. Instead, she was focused solely on the images racing through her mind. The split had come, her band of Crimson Blades erupting from the stunned Rockets. Darkfire felt both triumph and guilt. She watched the warring bodies divide, and she alone witnessed Armand escape to spread the fighting with his prisoner, Giovanni.

Familiar faces gathered and the mass split fully, many escaping to fight another day. Blades mercilessly hunted down the retreating Rockets as one group had come to the meeting prepared for war and the other side came expecting nothing of the sort. Overwhelmed, all Rockets began to flee now. No Crimson Blade would retreat from this battle. Pride and determination made certain of it.

One individual of the Blades raised his head from the battles and looked for her, cold gray eyes searching. His long black hair was tied at the nape of his neck, and he was over-all a very handsome, if distanced, man. He stood tall over most men, she knew he was an unusual 6’3” She had measured him once just for laughs. He seemed fully aware of her presence, something that wouldn’t surprise her much. He was a powerful being, and seemed to be able to tell things most humans couldn’t. She felt her soul cry out to him, and saw recognition in his eyes. For a moment, the gray shifted into a shade of pale blue, but as the Rockets managed a few counter attacks on their pursuers, the cold look returned and he lead an attack to crush them. In that moment, she was proud of him.

The scene faded, and shadows retreated from her mortal body. A familiar fire burned into life from nothing in the darkness, spreading light and warmth over Darkfire. She opened her eyes and looked into the fire, mind slowing its frantic work as she took a closer look at this from another point of view. It had been months since she had left the Dragon Tamers, yet it seemed like years to her. She had gathered many more Pokemon to her team, strengthening the it. Two precious Eggs stayed in her possession as she waited for them to hatch. Apparently her thievery had caused major issues in the Guild, and was the talk of Sector Alpha. Over the months, she had spent a large portion of her free time training them.

Dream visits from the god-like beings had become something to expect at least once a week. She had swiftly becomes used to it now, though at times she wished they would bring Rayne to the meetings. She had grown very close to the Kabuto, their bond strengthening with each passing day. She recognized him returning the small bits of affection that a human like herself could give, and returned them for all the dignity that his ego would allow. All the same, the bond was there and strong. So strong, if fact, Darkfire was certain it made the other Pokemon uneasy.

“You must aid the Tamers now…” One of the voices whispered Darkfire faded from the dream, consciously willing herself to wake. Dawn was coming to the waking world, and she hated oversleeping when there was a job to do. If she was going to fight anyone, it would be Rockets, the nearest of whom she had located a day’s travel north from where she was settled. A final urging came from the beings in the dream, as they had urged her since leaving the Tamers. All chorused within her mind, “Gentle warrior, dark spy.”

Darkfire opened her eyes, taking in the weak light. Warm bodies pressed against her from all sides, the dim glow of Noise’s flame the only real light around for miles. Rayne was already awake, as was obvious from the pair of staring red eyes glowing in the darkness. She shifted under the pile of fur, reaching out of it slowly and sending her hand searching until her fingers caught on her belt. She slowly dragged it back over to her body and began to recall the furry mass one by one, taking count as she recalled them.

First was Naois, her Charmander, and the second Pokemon she had ever gained. He was followed by Amaris the Absol, who she had adopted with Naois. Darkfire took note just how much the young Absol had grown and matured. Then, she recalled two Eevee, Kai and Ayende. The former was gifted with a gray mane and tail; black fur adorning the latter. The Growlithe, Kalil, was next, followed by two Torchic. One of the Torchic was actually a Ditto named Hinto, while the other was the real Torchic, Kana. The last two Pokemon out were the black Meowth, Kenshin, and the Aron, Dasha. The only Pokemon missing were ones she knew were safe and secure in their Pokeballs. They were Ares the Umbreon and Alana the Ponyta, both of whom preferred to sleep in their Pokeballs rather than out under the stars.

Darkfire and Rayne were soon the only tow souls left open to the caress of the cool, early morning breeze. Darkfire secured the belt around her waist and sat up fully, taking in her surroundings. Years of training had drilled caution into her. All worthy of the title ‘spy’ had to be fully aware of things around him or her. Failing in this could result in death or failure. When she wasn’t meeting with the voices of the dreams, she could swear she slept with one eye open. However, once the dreams began, explosions over her head couldn’t wake her. Rayne knew when she was dreaming and he took it as his responsibility to keep watch through the night.

Darkfire offered the Kabuto his Pokeball, which he entered to absorb the rest he needed. She then took to the task of collecting a few scattered items in the small campsite and polished herself off. All the while she kept moving to warm up stiff muscles for the daylong jog she was about to embark on so she could chase away the Rockets. That was helping the Tamers enough on her part. In addition, she was helping the Crimson Blades, a glorious bonus. The last things on her list to double-check on were the Eggs that she kept warm and safe in her pack. At the beginning, she would have given the Eggs to the Blades, but plans changed. Now she was on her own, handing her resignation to Armand, and she knew there was nothing he could do about it. She would become strong enough to defeat everyone.

She set the bag down and pushed around the warm clothing to reveal two large Eggs. She knew what was inside of them. Twin Dratini. Rayne had taken a personal interest in guarding them, and she was pleased that not a scratch was on either Egg, and the shells gleamed with health and radiated the warmth of life. Darkfire carefully resettled the clothing around the Eggs, secured the bag, and stood. She was ready to go. The Eggs, she realized, had grown much over the past few months. She shifted herself, wondering how much longer before the Eggs gave way to the lives within them.

She had been ordered to cause a great uproar when she was forced to depart or had gathered enough information to take out the Tamers. With Cyndane holding a threat over her head, it was better to err to the side of caution. She had not even realized what was happening until she was fleeing the Dragon Tamer Central with two precious Eggs tucked away into her bag. Reviewing this mentally, she started.

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

It was noon when she made her first stop. She trotted swiftly down a rarely treaded path, cutting through thick woods. She had made extremely good time, as she was only three or so hours away from the Rockets. Apparently, they were moving in her direction. A feeling within her mind told her that Tamers were heading on the path she had been using, and Blades were driving the Rockets to her direction. She knew he was in her mind, and it didn’t surprise her. Ever since the days in the labs, they had developed an extraordinary bond. She banished thoughts of him from her mind, not wanting to tell him accidentally of her betrayal until he could hear her out. She knew he would consider her actions a betrayal, but he would be expecting it. That she was certain of.

Darkfire broke free from the woods and jumped over a small cliff. She jumped only enough that she cleared the vertical area of the bank, her feet hitting the part where a sloped decent began. He was guiding her to him. She felt an urge to be near him, knowing fully well that he was using his powers to herd her like an obedient dog. She threw her head back and laughed, startling herself and the wild Pokemon inhabiting the surrounding area. She slid expertly down the bank, eyes intent on the water below her. He didn’t need to urge her, for she was going to meet him in the heat of battle. If the Rockets regrouped, it wouldn’t end well. For them at least.

She leapt from the bank and landed in water that came half way to her knees. It was shallow water, but it was cold enough to send delighted shivers down her spine as the water sank into her shoes and chilled her burning feet. She splashed the biting, icy water over her sweat-soaked flesh and ignored the cramps that resulted as warm muscles clenched against the cold. She took only a little time basking in the stream before she continued up stream. She strutted against the current, careful of where she set her feet. A slippery rock would mean a fall and cost her precious time, and stepping in the water where there was no current would result in leeches attacking her legs.

She fought for a half-mile through the waters, letting the extra-laborious work unclench her muscles as they grew used to the cold and warmed up a bit. By that time, she saw a dip in the bank on the side opposite of where she had entered the water. Without hesitation, she approached the bank and leapt out of the water in a powerful bound. Shaking her legs free of a little excess water, she began her jog back into the woods, ignoring the irritating feeling of her wet clothes clinging to her sensitive skin. Her mind was a flow of overlapping emotions, half hers, half that of her other soul’s. The one who was her other half. His blood was in her veins, and all of her ached to be near him. He wanted her.

She speed into a dead run, wondering what was so urgent that he would call her in such a manner. He had never used their bond to pull her so hard, knowing that she was sensitive to him. Did he not feel that she was close enough to hear him? Did he think she was still with the Tamers? She felt him coming towards her is such a manner it reminded her of the first time he had done so. Seeing her dying, a failure, he had gone to her. He had succeeded, or he had been lucky. Either way, she had seen him approach her young, dying body, and felt the urgent approach of his mind. After that moment, they had always been with each other, even if only in mind. At least until she had been sent to the Tamers. She had ignored the lack of his touch long enough. Now that they were nearing, his urgent message grew stronger. He felt her, so why was he calling so loudly?

She sprinted, her legs beginning to burn, but her body wouldn’t stop her. Nothing could. She thought about the old days in the lab where she and hundreds of other Rockets had been experimented on secretly to discover how to unlock psychic potential in humans. After that, they had moved on to working on the Pokemon, learning how to change all of the different species. From what she had last heard, they were still searching. But she was certain the Blades held the secret of the results of the human research. They had only used subjects who were in their prime, fit and most likely to be able top cope. Hundreds had died, and only she and her other half had survived the experiments in the end. She fought to suppress her memories of what they had done, but flashbacks of pain came to her, and his healing touch. He had been the first success, and she the last failure. After his success, there had been no more need for the experiments to continue. He was the result they had wanted, and his powers had been astounding to them. They had desired to create more soldiers as powerful as he, but Darkfire secretly knew no one could match his power.

She grimaced and shoved at her other soul, backing her him off. She could hear the surprise coming from him. He had felt her fighting herself, and he was relaxing his hold swiftly, knowing that he was the cause of her distress. She shook her head, sending him an invitation to stay, which he took. He settled in her mind, a silent watcher. She wondered if she would ever be able to do what he was doing. She knew he was in control of himself, but in a way she was just like him. She just needed to have enough free time to try. But she couldn’t remain a Blade. She had to tell him. But not now. She had to be closer.

A snap and a surge of energy announced a Pokemon forcefully releasing itself for its Pokeball. She watched the energy form into that of a trotting Umbreon, who materialized as he moved. Ares looked back at her calmly, his blood-red eyes taking her in. She wondered what the Pokemon was up to. She was a little confused by the Dark type’s personality and attitude towards her. He acted like a normal male out to prove something, but Darkfire hated the way he went about it. Though it did remind her of her other soul. He acted the same way sometimes.

“Yes?” She asked levelly, still running. She felt a small part of her react smugly when he had to pick his pace up to keep up with her.

<I wish to know to where we travel.> His Psychic allowed him to respond in her mind. Her other soul felt the presence and listened in.

There was a hint of arrogance in the Umbreon’s reply that reminded her of her own burst of smugness. The emotion was most likely one of her other soul’s emotions transferred to her personality. But there was something else. It hit her that he was also taunting her. Not with his words, but there was something about the emotions that he spoke with that told her that he knew he was the strongest Pokemon on her team, and that if he chose, he could defeat them all. The only Pokemon that stood a chance was Amaris, who had also never been in a serious battle in her life.

“To war.” So she had to prove herself? She would do just that.

<A war sounds fun. Who are we killing?> He whispered back, body tensing with excitement.

“We are not. I do not like death.”

<Chicken.> Ares hissed. <Who’s he?>

“You’ll meet him in a few hours.” Darkfire replied. Her other soul remained a silent presence. She wondered what he was thinking. He could not review her mind without permission just as she could not feel his emotions unless he sent them to her. Did the powerful Umbreon surprise him? Upset him? She had to know. She was naturally an impatient girl. She smirked and continued running beside Ares.

‘I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell.
I know right now you can’t tell.
But stay a while and maybe then you’ll see a different side of me.’

She silently sang in her mind, felling now both males in her mind were definitely paying attention. She was suddenly overly fond of the song. It was swiftly becoming one of her favorites.

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

They arrived at a small clearing and hid before looking around curiously. Only one of many Rockets remained, talking to a pair of Rattata. Ares panted softly, the heat of the late afternoon sun beating harshly down on his black coat. She drew two Pokeballs, knowing through Ares that the occupants were awake and ready for battle. Ares wasn’t going to battle for her, allowing her a chance to impress the now stoic beast. He signaled that he was ready and she stood, feeling something else. She knew that she wouldn’t be interrupted anytime soon. A guardian was watching over her. An angel above all things. She smirked as she walked out of hiding, the Umbreon at her side.

The Rocket tensed and wheeled around to face her. She saw he was exhausted, his brown hair a bit tussled, brown eyes showing wariness. He recognized her, but he didn’t know for what side she was in favor. She loved that art of twisting an opponent’s fear. He was the last of his group, her friends in the Blades and Tamers had finished off the rest of his group. She didn’t mind clean up. She released Naois and Amaris.

“Hello, Rocket.” She breathed.

“You’ll never beat me.” He snarled as his Rattata leapt into battle. Her Charmander and Absol were ready.

Naois and Amaris’s fight! Naois (7) and Amaris (7) vs. Rattata (15) and Rattata (15)

“Attack!” The Rocket called. Darkfire noted his posture and voice, taking in that the Pokemon were trained to battle without command.

“Dragon Dance-Defense Curl and Sunny Day!” She called. The rat Pokemon leapt in a simultaneous Tackle. Naois released a blast of Dragon like energy as he spun in an ancient dance, ending the small skit by curling into a ball. He was left unfazed when the Rattata attacking him smashed into his body. His defense was up along with his attacking power and speed. Amaris, on the other hand, summoned a bright ball of energy, blinding the Pokemon attacking her momentarily as she fired the orb into the sky, summoning the sun to beat down with increased harshness. The Rattata stopped trying to attack to cover their sensitive eyes.

"Stop messing around!" The Rocket snapped. A strange man walked out of the woods and leaned against a tree, eyes intent on the battle. The Rocket didn't see the Crimson Blade, but Darkfire did.

"Ember and Flamethrower!" She called. Mentally she was calculating everything that could go wrong, but with the Fire attacks her Pokemon had and the increased power of their attacks, there was no way she could not be victorious.

She watched Naois as he fired his Ember, the attack twice as big as it would be normally. The ball of fire struck one of the Rattata, sending it recoiling back with pain. Amaris chased the recoiling Pokemon and blasted a stream of fire at it. She smirked calmly at the sight of the wounded Pokemon. Ares, however, seemed less than impressed. The fire stopped as the attack ended, and Darkfire was surprised to see the rat Pokemon still on its feet. It snarled, eyes narrowed, and lunged. Supernatural power fueled the attack as it slammed into Amaris. Darkfire and Naois were both shocked as they listened to her scream of pain. Amaris collapsed to the ground, shaking from the shock of the attack and the pain. Ares barely flickered an eyelash at the scene.

<Reversal.> He said in her mind. Darkfire cursed heavily. The attack would be deadly due to the wounds the Pokemon had received. Amaris should have been knocked out, but Darkfire was relieved to see she was still conscious, if barely. Amaris stood slowly as the second Pokemon lunged at her. She was about to call an attack from Naois, but he was already preparing for a powerful attack. He lunged at the Pokemon threatening the young Absol, claws gleaming wickedly in the intense light.

The Rattata stopped rushing at Amaris and lunged at Naois, who struck viciously with his Slash. The Pokemon endured the attack for a moment, before attacking with its own claws and teeth, inflicting an impossible amount of damage on the Charmander. He wisely attempted to retreat back, but was unable to escape. Both Rattata had him cornered, one preventing retreat while the other finished its insane flurry of movement.

<Counter.> Darkfire was about to kick Ares. But she restrained herself. It wasn’t his fault she was failing so much so soon into the battle. <I could help…>

“Don’t you dare. Amaris. Naois, and I can handle this without you.” She growled. She then took notice of the shadow in her mind. Without looking at him, she hissed, “Either of you.” The shadow of her other soul in her mind was amused. He allowed her the chance to do this on her own. Ares, on the other hand, seemed more like he had been offering to battle for his own benefit. That was another reason she had denied him. She knew his motivations would never be in the direction of helping for the sake of another’s need. It was all an act so he could become more powerful. The shadow, her other soul, seemed to agree. Ares ignored him, and kept firmly in Darkfire’s mind.

“Get them now!” The Rocket yelled. The Rattata who was badly wounded from the fire attacks gave a snarl and opened its mouth, emitting a loud Screech. Amaris curled up into a ball, trying to stop the noise. Naois pressed his claws to the side of his head where his ears were and closed his eyes, trying to block out the attack. The other Rattata, Slash marks on his body, went up to Naois casually and began to concoct a toxic.

“Naois, move!” She tried to call, but the sound drowned in the Screech. Naois didn’t hear. Thankfully Amaris, who was closer, managed to hear her shout. She uncurled enough to see what was happening. She leapt to her feet with astounding determination to help and she limped over to where the two were, her coat glowing. She placed herself swiftly between the attacking Rattata and Naois. Using her Magic Coat attack, the Toxic splashed off of her and back onto the Rattata. It hissed with pain as its own Toxic slashed into the claw marks in it’s back and side. It retreated a moment before returning and slamming into Naois to compromise for failing to Toxic him. Naois stumbled back in pain, and Amaris was too weak to be of much help against a Quick Attack. The Screech stopped, and Naois recovered enough to try and chase down the nearly knocked out Rattata. It was hard on him, but he knew that with one Pokemon down, the competition would ease up slightly. Darkfire grimaced as she saw both of her Pokemon were ready to pass out.

Her hands clenched as she called, “Amaris, pin ’em with a Leer. Naois, Ember at will!” Amaris lifted her head defiantly and glared at the two enemy Pokemon, her eyes glowing a deadly red. Terror filled the eyes of the Rattata, and they froze with their fear, unable to move. Naois took the advantage of the strong sunlight to launch a fireball at the weakest of the pair, enough to knock it out. The Rocket snarled a curse and returned the defeated Pokemon. Amaris grinned, starting to like the idea of battling, and Naois relaxed slightly as the powerful sunlight began to fade back into its normal warm rays. Without warning, the remaining Rattata, still poisoned and it’s attacking power increased, launched itself at Amaris and began to slash at her with its claws, doing a vast amount of damage. Amaris panicked at the unexpected Fury Swipes attack and Slashed back. Naois joined her in Slashing the remaining opponent until it collapsed, defeated.

Amaris and Naois are victorious! Both grow to Level 9, but Naois learn nothing move-wise. Amaris, however, learns Taunt (Level 9 level-up attack.)

The Rocket recalled the last defeated Pokemon and fled. The watching shadow moved as if to intercept him, but stilled at a mental command from Darkfire. She recalled Amaris and Naois, both of whom glowed with pride for their hard earned victory. Ares snorted, dissatisfied.

<A more experienced trainer could have handled that better.> He growled mentally.

<She has time yet to learn.> The other half of her soul responded.

<Get out of my head! Both of you!> Darkfire mentally shouted, teasing. Ares flicked an ear, but withdrew. The man in her mind seemed startled, then a chuckle sounded in her head. He approached, coming out of the forest. She took in his darkly handsome face, the powerful build of his body, his long black hair and cold eyes swirling in a mixture of silver and pale blue. Eyes that could strike fear into the hearts of even brave men. His face spoke of a hard past, and a man capable of cruel acts. Only Darkfire wasn’t afraid of him. Even before the lab incidents, she had opened herself only around this wicked man, hiding herself from others.

He had helped her become the best she could become, and he had taught her to hide all emotion. He alone knew her true nature. Not even Cyndane knew her better than this man who had become her brother. After the accident when she was but a child, and he a teenager in training and climbing the ranks swiftly, she remained distant from the others, only trusting him. He spoke, using a voice infinitely more gentle than anyone other than Darkfire herself could imagine him capable of using. “Welcome, Darkfire.”

“Hello, Shaidar.” She said softly. She suddenly felt exhausted. She dropped to her knees and Ares stiffened, expecting foul play. Shaidar’s eyes were on her. She felt his gaze, and it soothed her. It was over. It was all over.

“I know,” he spoke softly. “And I agree. Enough acting. Go now. The rule of the Blades will be short and harsh. Armand is not as invincible as he seems. Neither is Reaper.”

“Are you alluding to an assassination?” She asked softly. It wasn’t below this man to murder or organize the murder of his leader. He hated Armand for the experiments and he was not about to misuse the powers gifted to him. He would at the least lead Dragon Tamers to falling Armand with whispered hints. He was powerful, but he avoided what was in him. He hated it immensely, and she knew why. But neither of them spoke of this. It was between them, facts and fiction. She learned that he had feared her coming so near the Rocket and that Tamers had been following her. He didn’t want her sandwiched between two enemies, and had thus urged her.

“You know the answer. At the least I will present myself to the Tamers if it makes certain Armand is put out of power. I am not certain the man can be killed at this hour of the game.” He eyed her bulging pack. “You incriminated yourself.”

“I can redeem myself as well. Don’t worry about me.” She stood and Ares pressed against her leg. Shaidar bowed his head and turned briskly on his heel, leaving her. Both knew she would not follow him. Possibly never again would she follow this human she trusted. She was lonely now, feeling the shadow in her mind vanish. She left, traveling away from the Crimson Blade. He had been waiting for this, for her to be able to free herself from the web of power struggles she had been thrown into. She felt what he knew, and worried for him. She gave a silent prayer to her new Gods that he didn’t let his ego get in his way.

<You trust him, yet the man reeks of a murderer. Death clings to him like a second scent, power and danger worn like a second skin.> Ares was shaken by Shaidar. Darkfire laughed at him.

“Don’t wet yourself, Ares. He stopped taking Umbreon skins for a coat a long time ago.” Ares snarled, but still pressed closely against her leg. “I have much to learn, but considering I came to Ulthuan on a shipment of Rockets, and I have only lived here a few months, I believe I am doing well for myself.”

<You have much to learn.> He agreed. <Perhaps you need a teacher. >

She reached down and stroked her fingers over his sleek coat. He didn’t pull away, much to her amusement. “Is that an offer, Master Ares?”

<I am a God to you, child.> He seemed sullen for some reason, and his tone made her laugh. It felt good to be free. She wondered what kind of person she really was. At the least, she already knew she was a bad actor. She had lived her rage and stress, but now she was no more than a regular traveler with no true source of income besides any winnings she might gain from battles. Income. She would need money.

<The Eggs.> Darkfire ran into the forest, Ares following swiftly. She wondered just what his motivation was, but something told her he was curious about her now. After all, what sort of woman would rely and trust a man like Shaidar so easily, bond or no bond? She wondered now if he was controlling her mind, whispering suggestions like Shaidar intended to do. She pushed her thoughts away and fled into the forest.

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

The Eggs slowly began to break down the middle, eggshell pieces slowly falling out of place and scattering on the ground. Alana was watching with wide eyes, Kana perched on top of her head and watching eagerly. Kalil was sitting at her feet, Kai nest to him and watching. Across from them Ares was laid out casually, Kenshin and Ayende lying on either side of him. Amaris and Naois sat next to Ayende, both looking recovered on the mostly part from their fierce battle. Hinto was perched on top of Darkfire’s head in the form of a Pidgey, eyes eager on the Eggs. Rayne was closest to the Eggs, though Darkfire didn’t know why. He had always been the most protective of the Eggs, the one who bothered Darkfire to constantly check on them even when it didn’t seem necessary.

One of the Eggs shattered, and a young Dratini tumbled out of the shattered Egg. Darkfire tenderly reached over and took the young hatchling into her hands. She wrapped a towel around it and held it close to her for warmth. Upon closer inspection, she noticed it was a male, and announced it. She didn’t miss the face that Rayne emitted a proud feeling at hearing the Dratini was male. She began to suspect something going on with Rayne and the Dratini twins, but what she couldn’t guess. Once the first-born had fallen asleep, she set him gently down beside Rayne, and grabbed another towel. The second twin came out with even less grace, spraying eggshell pieces all over the place. An audible gasp was heard from most of the group save Darkfire, Rayne, and Ares at the sight of the second twin.

Darkfire knelt down and wrapped the second Dratini up warmly, careful around the abnormal wings. This one, male as well, was one of the winged Dratini, making it a descendant of Lagi, Lady Vulpix’s Dragonite. That meant the wingless male was a descendant as well. This was definitely a plus. But instead of mentioning this, she set the second son beside Rayne for inspection. She gathered them back up once he nodded approval and wrapped them both warmly in her blanket. This would definitely make certain her life would be interesting. She already had names for them. She brushed her fingertips over the first Dratini born and announced, “Radek.” When she touched the second, winged Dratini, she named him as well, “Menos.”

__________________

AntiAsh Superstar

Hehe, sorry guys, haven't really had a chance to sit down and pay close enough attention to give any outstanding battles a proper rating. Darkfire, I'm not really sure what you're asking in your last pre-story pointer, do you mean writing an RBG as if it relates to an actual scenario? If so then fine, there's no guidelines at all as to what RBGs have to contain aside from the battle with the opponent you're given.

Anyways, this is prolly not my best work but I'll admit to it being more of a filler to get Milliardo up a level and get my plot back on track more than anything. ^^;;
---
In a hidden temple well-concealed within the myriad folds of Caledor's famed mountain ranges, a certain little Eevee was busy staring at one of her most recent teammates with a curious mixture of curiosity and pity. She knew what he was capable of, of course, and she could understand why her superiors were so adamant about keeping him contained within metal restraints and well-consecrated boundaries. However... she had learned a lot over the past week. Enough to know that keeping the captive so tightly controlled was removing his power to such an extent that it negated the very reasons for keeping him around in the first place.
"You seem troubled, Enigma." The red-ruffed pokémon's master approached her from behind. He was dressed in his usual garb of jet black clothes halfway between gothic fashion and body armour trimmed in silver, his hair shielding his pale face from scrutiny. Lord Absol. Captain of the Tactical Neutralisation Unit of the Dragons Guild; or, as they referred to themselves, the Order of the Dragon. The very elite of the Dragons Guild's private guard, not to mention one of the finest soldiers currently in active duty. "What's on your mind?"
"We're clearly not releasing this one's potential, Lord Absol," the Eevee commented. "Let's face facts here, shall we? Reaper has shown she's capable of wiping out entire settlements in a single blast. I've seen some quite remarkable things with regards to Rhiannon. And as to the fourth, Abbadon... well, his reputation precedes him, shall we say."
"Your point is?"
"This one should be able to utilise that kind of power! But the best we've been able to get off him so far is a pretty weak form of brainwashing." Enigma sighed. "And, if you want my opinion, that's just his defenses reflecting a little of the magic we've been using to restrain him. In this state, Lord Absol, I reckon he's a liability."
"Then what would you suggest we do?"
"I think you already know what options we have," the Eevee winked cheekily.
"True." Lord Absol strode around the room, casting pensive glances over to the far corner where the Scizor, Alto, was chained within the confines of a circle of faintly glowing runes. His Eevee was right as always, of course. Which left him with several options. Eliminate the demonically-fused pokémon in the name of the Old Ones. Keep going the way they had been up until this point. Or... "I want a meeting with our best psychics and mages in ten minutes. Don't ask questions, just do it. I don't care what you have to do... no, I don't care! I want that meeting arranged. Now. Thank you." The strange man finished speaking into a radio device he always carried with him before turning to Enigma. "I see what you're implying, Enigma. And although your counsel hasn't once led me astray so far I still need to consider this carefully. We're toying with dangerous forces here and there can be no room for error."
"I understand." Enigma bowed politely. "Just think about it, is all I ask. It might not turn out as badly as you'd think."
"True," Lord Absol mused. "But then again, it could turn out far, far worse."

"Mind if I ask you something that's really, really been bugging me for years now? How come every Friday you make really big plans for the weekend but then when it actually becomes the weekend you and Scarygirl just spend the entire time doing %^*& all?"
"Don't know, Milliardo. It just happens that way, okay?"
"Well stop being such lazy prats for once." Weekends could be a chore sometimes. I had been really putting my all into my work lately, so when I actually did get a chance to unwind I liked to take it. Unfortunately for me whenever I put my feet up somebody would usually start berating me for something.
"Calm down, Milliardo. Why so antsy all of a sudden?"
"I'm me. I'm always irritable, didn't you know that by now?" The Umbreon stuck his tongue out.
"True. Actually, mind if I ask you something that's been bugging me for a while now?" I eyed my pokémon curiously.
"Go ahead. Shoot."
"Why, whenever you're talking telepathically, does your voice always come out with a slight British accent to it?"
"Oh my God, Ade, you need to stop spending so much time with Thunderblast, you're getting as random as she is." Milliardo paused for a second. "Wait a minute. Does it?"
"Yup," I nodded.
"Hmph. Weird. Well, I always did like to think I was a reincarnated Sid Vicious, maybe that's it."
"Or maybe it's that whole Sex Pistols, Clash and the like obsession full stop. Okay. Question answered."
"Yours, maybe, but what about mine?" Milliardo glowered before turning to see Pearl and Rhiannon walk into the room chatting amongst themselves. "Aha! Allies! Hey, girls, don't you agree with me that Ade's doing way too much sitting on his butt lately?"
"Well it would be quite nice to get out of the house if that's what you're trying to get us to say," Pearl noted. "What about a nice picnic? Spring has finally settled in and we should take advantage of the fact."
"Quite right," Rhiannon agreed. "We can't really say how long this period of relative calm is going to last, either. We would advise making the most of the time we all have to relax."
"I dunno..." I yawned, getting up from my flopped position on the couch and stretching. Why was I feeling so sluggish lately? It was weird, not to mention a little disconcerting. "Personally I reckon you guys probably do have a point. Although I'm not sure I like your way of putting it, Rhi. Sounds far too fatalistic for my liking. So anyway... yeah, a picnic sounds good, actually."
"And I suppose yours truly will be doing all the preparation?" Sindel stuck her head through the doorway. "And the packing? And..."
"Look, if you don't want to do it we'll muddle through," I said, rolling my eyes. How long had my Alakazam been just listening in, exactly? "You do make the best food in Caledor, though, anything the rest of us could do wouldn't be a patch on a picnic you've prepared."
"Flattery will get you everywhere, Ade," Sindel beamed, a look of satisfaction upon her face. "One picnic for everyone will be all ready in an hour or two." With this the Alakazam headed back to the kitchen.
"You sure know how to handle her, don't you?" Milliardo commented, genuinely impressed. Saying more than two words to Sindel without the conversation turning into some sort of insult-flinging competition had never been something my Umbreon had been particularly good at. She had always presented herself as too easy a target for him to resist.
"Oh, all she really wants is a little appreciation for all the work she puts in," I noted. "Which is way too much, I should add. I don't think I've ever actually known Sindel to actually sit down and relax, she always has to be doing something."
"And moaning about it constantly."
"Hey, give the girl a break!" I chuckled, play cuffing Milliardo on the head. "I think she's just the sort who needs a little praise for her efforts every now and then. Come on, you have to understand that one, given how you won't shut up until we've all spent a good half hour worshipping the ground you walk on. Difference is, you don't really provide any help around the house."
"Hey!" the Umbreon replied crossly. "Do I not at least make sure life is never dull around here? Present moment excepted, of course."
"Yeah," I finally conceded. "Yeah, can't deny that one."

As it turned out the picnic was a huge success. There hadn't really been much of a chance for everyone to go out and bond in quite a while. So now that we were finally sat in the middle of our favourite park, underneath the warm May sun and faced with the most exquisite picnic spread I had ever seen things finally seemed like they were getting back on course.
"I have to say, Sindel, I wish there were more of you around, your catering skills are so good we could make our fortune from that and finally be free of Tsuyoi," I found myself commenting. It was a pretty lame compliment, but judging from the blush I received by way of response its meaning was pretty clear. "We ought to clone you."
"Eh?" Thunderblast interrupted, "Don't do that."
"Why not?" Sindel asked, evidently having taken the comment the wrong way.
"Cloning isn't big and it isn't clever," the Raichu nodded, before frowning. "Hang on. Why did I say that? I don't know what I'm talking about. Pass me another apple." And so I had shrugged and just put the outburst down to my Raichu's erratic personality. And the day had passed without any further event. Milliardo and Katnip spent at least an hour sparring. Brandy took it upon herself to nanny the infants of the group. Beckham and Megan talked incessantly to anyone and everyone. Scratchy stayed away from the crowds and looked over at the surrounding foliage with what seemed a twinge of sadness. Bolovayr... well he just ate and fell asleep, having still not quite adjusted to the slightly more nocturnal habits of his new girlfriend, Lady Bow. Rhiannon seemed contend to gaze at the horizon and smile to herself. Even Pandora seemed to be rather enjoying herself. So I was content for a while to just lay back with Soo draped across me and take in the sun. Okay, so I wasn't exactly being a very good goth by drinking in the sun like this. But hey. As much as I reveled in playing to stereotypes, sometimes life was just too damn good for random desires to stick to an image to get in the way of it.

"If it's all the same to you guys I might go for a bit of an explore." We had all eaten our fill. Which was more than we should have eaten. Yet again Sindel's food had been too good to eat in mere moderation. Sometimes I wondered if the Alakazam wouldn't eventually be the death of us all via overeating. Anyway, now that the food had been eaten and most of the team was content to just laze around in the warm sunshine Milliardo had taken it upon himself to get all restless again. "Anyone fancy joining me?" The Umbreon looked around at the various flopped people and pokémon with disgust. "Stupid question. Sit and get all out of shape for all I care, when you're finally lynched by a ferocious gang of keep-fit instructors for your crimes against movement don't come crying to me. I, at least, am going to find something better to do with my time."
"Wait up, dude," Katnip suddenly called out. "Could prolly do with workin' off some of the food I just stuffed meself with. Count me in. Where're ya plannin' on explorin' anyways?"
"Over in that direction." Milliardo indicated the far corner of the park, where a few grassy knolls and a small copse of trees stood, with a nod of his head."Looks better than this boring place."
"Count me in! I'm an intrepid explorer!" Beckham suddenly called out, shooting upright in seconds before falling down just as quickly. Clearly he wasn't about to go anywhere any time soon. The practically empty six pack of beer strewn around his feet was pretty clear proof of that.
"Uhh... how about we don't?" Milliardo shook his head in bemusement. "Anyone else? No? Okay, rat-boy, looks like it's just you and me then."
"Fine with me," his Raticate friend shrugged. "Race ya there."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Milliardo shook his head. "I may like to compete with you every chance I get but that's only in competitions where I stand a chance! Nothing short of teleportation's going to give anyone much of a chance against you, you abuser of Quick Attack, you!"
"What's wrong?" Katnip grinned. "Scared are ya? Tell ya what, I'll even let ya try an' cheat. It's not gonna do you any good anyways."
"That does it," Milliardo seethed with forced anger. "You've just signed your own death warrant, rat-boy. I'll see you there." Without any further words the two pokémon dashed off at speeds that would have turned most pokémon green with envy. Leaving the rest of us to just continue with our lazy, peaceful little day.

"Damn you all the way to hell and back in triplicate," Milliardo found himself grumbling. "On a crowded London tube train in the middle of summer, too." The race hadn't exactly gone his way. As he had expected, Katnip was far too fast for him; hence why he had tried to trip the Raticate with his Hidden Power vines. This only added to his mounting frustration, however, as no matter what angle he sent them shooting from, no matter what intricate routes he caused them to snake along, Katnip always seemed to avoid them with infuriating ease. And so the race ended up exactly as both pokémon knew it would.
"What kept ya?" Katnip grinned cheekily. "Thought ya might've been able ta do a bit better than that, dude! Aren't ya supposed ta be some kinda award-winnin' champion who's miles better than me or somethin'?"
"Can it, rat-boy," the Umbreon grumbled, finally catching up to the small group of trees the two had originally earmarked as the goal for their little race. He turned his head carefully, taking in the sights of this new end of the park. Truth be told, it wasn't all that different from the end they had just came from. The grass was still the same soft shade of green. The sun was just as warm. The air was just as fresh. The only difference was that at least at this end there wasn't the constant droning sound of Beckham and Megan excitedly chattering about their plans to have a monopoly on time itself. To be honest Milliardo was kind of disappointed. "Gee. I was kind of hoping over here might have been at least slightly less boring than over there!"
"Dude, ya really need ta learn ta just relax!" Katnip chuckled. "Nothin' wrong with just lazin' around every now and then."
"Yes there is something wrong with it! Everything." The Umbreon rolled his eyes. "You know very well I can't sit still for more than ten seconds." The Umbreon sighed. "Wanna spar for a bit?"
"Ya know I'll beat ya at that, too, right?"
"Fat chance," Milliardo grinned. "Racing... fine, I can live with the fact that you're miles faster than I am. But I refuse to accept you can beat me in a fight, rat-boy. After all, tactics are something you need to actually have a brain for."
"That's fightin' talk, dude," Katnip sneered, striking a battle pose. "I'll teach ya a few lessons about tactics ya prolly never even knew about."
"I'll believe that when I see it!" Milliardo snorted, clearly unimpressed yet striking up a battle pose himself. "Bring it on, rat boy."

Sadly, the sparring session was never fated to happen.

"Would you mind keeping the racket down?" A grumpy voice was suddenly heard from the centre of the copse of trees. Both pokémon paused and turned their heads almost simultaneously to witness a strange-looking, metallic creature clumping its way from where it had evidently been sleeping. "It's hard enough to find a peaceful enough place to sleep anyway without you fighters barging in as if you own this park. I mean, all I was hoping to do was to catch fifty winks but no... can't get any rest at all these days."
"Sorry, dude," Katnip offered. "Didn't realise anyone was around. We can always go spar someplace else if we're botherin' ya."
"Oh you might as well carry on now, I've woken up and it's going to be hours before I get to sleep again anyway," came the sullen response.
"Oh my God. It's another Scratchy." Milliardo rolled his eyes. "And I always thought one was one too many for this world."
"Dude, be nice..." Katnip whispered to his friend in spite of his thinking the exact same thing himself. "Anyways, we''ll just be getting' along now. Sorry fer disturbin' ya and all..." The Metang – for that was what the strange pokémon was – they were looking at paused for a second. It's eyes widened. And then the voice that it spoke with was anything but its own.
"Oh, don't go just yet. Not before we've had a chance to have a little fun first." This new voice was a darkly seductive female one that seemed to carry a slight undercurrent of menage within its silky tones. It was the sort of voice you generally found it hard to forget once you'd heard it once.
"I really don't want to hear what your idea of 'fun' is, thanks," Milliardo growled, finding his voice far faster than Katnip. "Although I can guess what it involves. What the hell are you playing here? Can you $&%^ing Blades not leave us be for more than ten seconds?"
"If it's any consolation it will all be over soon enough, Milliardo," the voice sneered. "Soon enough my dear Armand will have everyone exactly where he wants. In the meantime I really have to practice for my role in the upcoming turmoil. Which is where you two will come in rather nicely. I'm afraid I haven't had much chance to practice my mind control skills for a while."
"Your point is?"
"You'd better hope I'm in need of practice in this as I think I am, fools, or I shall see you torn apart!" Without any further warning the Metang shot forward at Katnip. And just as quickly Milliardo shoved his friend out of the way, taking a severe blow in the process. He winced, silently glad of his natural resilience. A blow like that would have broken the bones of anything less sturdily built!
"Rat boy, go get some help!" the Umbreon snarled, picking himself up. "Seems today isn't as peaceful as we thought it was going to be."
"What about you?" Katnip asked.
"Oh, don't worry about me," Milliardo smirked. "If this Reaper puppet wants a fight then it'll damn well get one."
"You always did strike me as being ridiculously easy to talk into your own demise, Umbreon," the Metang with Reaper's voice sneered. "However, you will make a fine test subject. I hope for your sake you are as resilient as your sister, otherwise you will die today."
"If you were here yourself, maybe," Milliardo conceded. "However, anything without huge amounts of unfair enhancements doesn't stand a chance against me, with or without a sick creature like you controlling it. Bring it on, dragon."

FIGHT!!! L26 Umbreon v L26 Metang!

To be honest Milliardo wasn't exactly feeling in the best of conditions to begin with. That blow he had taken for Katnip had really taken it out of him to begin with! However the Umbreon refused flatly to lose. Especially to a pawn of the Crimson Blades!
"Hope you're feeling in top shape, because you're going to need to be!" he yelled, concentrating hard and sending out several pulses of jet black energy that shot along the ground, speeding towards his opponent and rearing up at the last moment to strike the Metang hard. However, the pokémon merely sneered.
"If that's the best you can do then I really do feel sorry for you," Reaper's voice smirked before she sent her pawn shooting forward to collide with Milliardo once again. Fortunately his reactions were still as good as ever and seeing as he wasn't trying to throw himself into the Metang's path this time he avoided the attack with ease. As the pokémon passed, therefore, he kicked a patch of dirt into its face. Yet instead of looking irritated it simply smirked even more.
"Great." Milliardo rolled his eyes. "The problems with fighting remote controlled pokémon, all wrapped up in one un-handy lesson." His mind was racing. Surely there had to be some way of weakening the Metang a little! In the end he simply decided to stick with what he knew. There were precious few options other than that, after all. He would just have to be careful. He knew the exact best way to get to the demonic force behind his opponent, of course, but taking the direct route would probably get him killed. Best to find a different weak spot instead. "What are you trying to prove here, anyway?"
"Nothing really," came the response. "As I say. I needed a little warm-up for the main event."
"The main event?"
"You'll see soon enough," came the enigmatic response. Milliardo found himself shivering. This wasn't really working, was it? He was hoping he might find a way to goad Reaper into being careless. But the more he thought about it the more he realised that she would be far more likely to just show up herself and kill him if he wound her up too much. Not particularly something he wanted to happen. "In the meantime, I suggest you quit your blathering and attack if you want to survive."
"Well seeing as you asked so nicely..." Milliardo concentrated hard, forming a dark ball of crackling energy at the tip of his nose. "See how you like this!" Here he shot the Shadow Ball he had been forming directly at his opponent.
"Pathetic." The Metang moved to one side with ease before darting forward yet again and colliding hard with Milliardo for a second time. The Umbreon grunted hard, clearly winded by the attack. "I expected better."
"Well..." Milliardo growled, "...let's take it up a notch shall we?" Once again the Umbreon conjured up the most powerful Shadow Ball he could muster. Only this time he threw it on something of a curve. For all this time he had slowly been realising a real weakness that he could exploit. Controlling the action from a distance was clearly not easy for Reaper and there was a decided delay in the reactions of the Metang she was using as a puppet. Attacking it head on was probably not a smart idea. However... throw a little unpredictability into the mix and he actually stood a chance. Which was why he had made his attack take the most strange route it was possible to throw it. His opponent was so busy trying to judge when to dodge the Shadow Ball that it left itself wide open to further attack. "Heh... now I gotcha, you bitch!" Quickly Milliardo darted forward before the Metang could react and sunk his teeth hard into its metallic body with a loud crunch!
"Pest!" the Metang snorted with Reaper's voice, roughly tossing Milliardo off before he could cause too much damage. However, the damage had already been done. Its eyes had been taken away from the Shadow Ball that was even now careering towards it. And by the time it realised what was going on it was too late. The attack had already struck the pokémon hard, sending it reeling into Milliardo's next trick, a huge flurry of vines that rose out of the ground to hold his opponent neatly in place.
"You think I'm a pest? Join the club." Milliardo smirked as the Metang squirmed in its bonds. "Although I have to admit you're kind of a satisfying enemy to have. I mean, right now I'm guessing the most dangerous creature in Ulthuan is pissed off with me! Talk about whole new levels of infamy!"
"You're going to suffer for this!"
"Heard that one before too. As long as you're getting others to do your dirty work for you I can't see that happening, though. After all, I am not only Unicorn Games champion but also the most talented, skilled, handsome and downright modest pokémon you're ever likely to meet." Milliardo grinned broadly. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to knock out this Metang you're controlling. If I ever hear your voice again it'll be too soon." With this the Umbreon launched himself at the struggling Metang and brought it down with one more well-aimed Crunch that seemed to stop it in its tracks for good. He had no idea why; maybe the shock had broken its connection with its evil puppet-master, or maybe Reaper couldn't stop the onset of unconsciousness. Either way, however, Milliardo had won the battle. For now, at any rate.

Milliardo wins!
Milliardo grew to L27!

"Milliardo! Are you alright?" By now everybody else in our remarkably large party was rushing towards the battered Umbreon, their faces showing varied degrees of curiosity and concern. Milliardo had to admit that it was kind of nice to know that they cared for him that much. Although, obviously, he wouldn't be caught dead actually saying that.
"Course I am," he scoffed, acting as if he hadn't so much as broken a sweat. When, in fact, not only had he broken a sweat but probably several of his ribs as well. "After all, I am your all-powerful, all-knowing lord and master after all."
"Really?" Thunderblast peered over at Milliardo critically before walking over to him. "You don't look alright." Gently she poked him in the side and seemed surprised when he didn't so much as flinch. "I don't know. Either you're a scarily good actor, those injuries aren't as bad as they look or you don't have a single nerve ending in your entire body."
"Well excuse me for looking a little scuffed up. I've had a possessed Metang ramming into me at a million miles an hour." At this point the Umbreon noticed Pandora marching up to him and his expression softened. "Look. I'm okay!"
"Like hell you are!" the Houndour snapped in a tone that didn't quite seem to know whether to be a yell or a sob. In the end it finally settled into a pathetic whimper as she nuzzled Milliardo softly. "Stop being such a magnet for trouble, okay?"
"I'd say 'okay' but I wouldn't be who I am if I wasn't." Finally Milliardo gave in to the urge to wince in pain. "Although as to the 'are you alright' question, I guess if I was being truthful I'd say 'I've felt better but I've also felt a lot worse'. Ade, we are going to one of those Pokécenter things on the way home for the miracle drag-you-from-the-brink-of-death-in-under-an-hour treatment, okay?"
"Sure, buddy." I stooped down to have a better look at my Umbreon. It was true that he did look a bit of a mess. But it was also true that he had been in far worse states in the past. "What about the Metang you were fighting?"
"Let's bring it in for questioning!" Soo's Charmander, Kassandra shouted excitedly, having been watching far more of the TV show '24' than was truly healthy.
"No point." Milliardo shook his head. "We've got in enough scrapes with the supernatural by now for me to know it probably won't remember anything anyway. Right, Rhi?" The Umbreon turned to his sister for confirmation, which the Jolteon supplied with trademark precision.
"Quite right," Rhiannon agreed. "Although we do wonder, Milliardo... what exactly did it say when it spoke?"
"Aside from all the usual sneering we can expect from the main weapon that DiAnnio bastard's got? Not much. She said something about this being a warm-up, though. I really haven't a $^$*ing clue what she meant by that, but it's a safe bet it's nothing good."
"Agreed." Rhiannon frowned. "This is a bad omen. If Reaper is starting to use her actual power instead of the flashy shows of strength she has been using so far..."
"Wait. You mean she's not been using her full power until now?"
"Milliardo." Rhiannon rolled her eyes. "We wouldn't have that much difficulty in performing the acts she has committed up until this point. Throwing around energy bolts and the like is hardly complex if you know what you're doing, it's merely about projecting your ethereal energy in the correct way. Now she is actually starting to use her real skills, however..." The Jolteon shuddered. "Ade. May we suggest a course of action?"
"I'm all ears, Rhi."
"First off, we get Milliardo fully healed. Then you may want to inform the Guild of this most recent contact with the Blades. And then... and then we all train most vigorously. We can't help but feel the darkest days are yet to come."

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