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Posted by: Living Arrow Aug 16 2009, 03:29 PM

The cold winds of Arasam curled through the streets on their aloof courses around the mountain, drawing puffs of steam from the mouths of the pedestrians in the city. Four trainers walked those streets with a destination clearly in mind but none of them really knew what they would do once they got there. The lack of expectation was unnerving to all of them but one in particular was down right petrified.

Holy crap! I’m not ready for this! Two hours prep and hardly a combination worth mentioning between my two battlers? I might as well take the runner-up token now!

Darryn chewed angrily at the insides of his cheeks, silently berating himself for falling for Troy’s persistent charms. Despite having the support of his friends and the accessories needed to make a fine entrance in a Contest Appeal, he really didn’t feel all that appealing. The past two hours had flown by and now he was being herded into the second embarrassment of the day. How Darryn managed to get himself into these things was a mystery but he always was a sucker for pretty boys.

“The one thing you must remember is to use your Pokemon’s power completely. I don’t mean its strength or speed. What I mean is its inner ability to refine its attacks into their most efficient and impressive forms. Let’s take your Butterfree for example.” Troy coached Darryn from a bench on the side of the sparring field at the Pokemon Center. Jaima was busy with Meiko on the other field but for some reason, Tuesday had chosen to watch Darryn train for a while.
The topic of focus for the moment was the Appeal Round. Apparently, only one Pokemon could be selected and it was an opportunity to show of the Pokemon’s quality of care and raising by effectively showing off its attacks and abilities in a chosen category. Since he would have to save his strongest Pokemon for the Battling Round, Darryn had decided to go with India for the appeal. lady, November and Bravo would be with Joy for hours yet, still recovering from their Gym battle previously. Lady had protested that Darryn should take part in any form of battling without her there, but the Nurse had sedated her before she had oppotunity to burn his face off. Even so, Lady had fought the drowziness and managed to convince Darryn to allow her to come and watch, despite being wrapped in several bandages.

“She’s called India, by the way.” Darryn corrected Troy, smiling up at the round purple face looking down at him from her perch on the human’s head.

“You’re called India! Stop interrupting and listen up!” Troy whined, pouting like a child. Darryn didn’t really see the pout as such. Instead, the perfect formation of those full lips caught his attention, making him feel so…
“OK, so what you need to do is select an attack and perfect its execution while making sure you are able to move into the next move as smoothly as possible so it doesn’t look too rehersed.”

“O…K… doesn’t seem too hard…” Darryn held a finger to his chin in thought for a moment. “Now… what moves does India have again?... Right, I remember!” His Butterfree swept off his head and out onto the field, her wings wide and firm as she prepared to show off her moves. “Let’s go with Stun Spore, India.”

The Butterfree climbed higher in the air and squealed with delight, spinning slowly while beating her wings and released gold-yellow spores into the air. The shimmering motes of paralysing dust fell in a spiral cascade even as India soared higher, creating a golden-fountain.

“OK, India. Stop it now and use Gust to keep the spores in the air around you. Remember what Troy said though, and keep it smooth as possible!”


“So, Darryn. How did the combinations for your appeal come together? They’re probably not as good as Jaima’s, mind.” Meiko teased as they made their way up the street towards the Contest Hall. Darryn looked at her out of the corner of his eye and held his breath. Saying ‘I doubt it’ would be rude but saying ‘Yeah, you’re right’ would be defeatist.

“They looked really really good by the end of the training.” Tuesday piped up for once. Darryn hope she was right. He really wanted Troy, an experienced Co-ordinator, to be able to see that his beautification techniques were just as efficient even if he had been focusing on the strength and power of his battlers for Gym battles.

The Contest Hall came into view. A grand building that looked more like a sports arena from the outside by with so many bright lights and star-shaped ornaments, rippling banners and uniformed employees made it so much more garish than the bland counterpart Gym on the other side of town. Spectators, yes – SPECTATORS, were buying tickets at the entrance and making their way inside with big smiles on their faces and autographs books in their hands. One particular group of people had clearly come as fans of a particular Co-ordinator, all dressed in the same bright pink with a banner reading “The Grace of Stacie” shared between them. Darryn gulped.

“I had no idea it was such a popular event… There’s going to be an audience, like a proper one from shows on tv. Why wasn’t I told this before?!” Darryn demanded of no-one in particular, crying inside as they drew closer to the contestant registration booth at the side entrance, away from the growing crowd at the main doors. “We should probably just go to Petropolis instead.”

“Oh, man up, Darryn!” Meiko poked him in the ribs. “It’s just a few people – they can’t hurt you.”

“A FEW!?” Darryn gestured at the seething mass of people. “Does that look like a few to you?! They’ll all be watching and expecting so much and I’ve never even done this before! God, my routine is so stupid and I’m going to make a complete fool of myself… Let’s just go back to the Pokemon Center and saddle up for the south west? Next badge. Right, Jaima? How’s that sound instead?”

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 17 2009, 01:13 AM

Tuesday looked up (This whole being shorter than everyone else thing is becoming tedious) at Darryn and grinned. "Don't be a scaredy-skitty, Darryn," she teased lightly. "Where's all your mucho-super confidence from earlier today?"

"It all died in a flaming burst of defeat," he muttered darkly.

Tuesday hid a snicker, very nearly having to clap her hands over her mouth to do so, since the first words that came to mind were "I sense manly tears approaching." Rather than be excessively rude, however, she smiled at him reassuringly. "You'll do fine, Darryn. Besides, Jaima already won the gym battle. He's not going to be greedy and win this, too."

"Great, so neither of us will win!" Darryn said. "Let's just go."

"Stop being such a baby," Meiko scolded him, glaring.

Tuesday tied. "You two bicker worse than Brone and Anika," she said, shaking her head. "It's a good thing you're gay, Darryn, or I'd suggest marriage. The two of you fight like a husband and wife."

"Tuesday!" Meiko said, startled and embarrassed.

"What?" she asked, but couldn't hide her grin. "I'm just saying. Lighten up, both of you. You're worse than Poe."

"Who?" Meiko asked.

Tuesday sighed. "Nevermind. Darryn, if you back out of this now, I will quote every piece of literature I know on the way to Petropolis and you will die of brain overload."

"Please, spare us," Jaima said to Darryn, grinning at Tuesday's tactic.

Darryn let his shoulders drop. "I don't know why I let you people talk me into this," he mumbled.

"No one talks you into anything," Meik jibed. "All you need is one fluttered eyelash from your boyfriend-"

"HE ISN'T MY BOYFRIEND!" Darryn snapped loudly.

"Anyone I know?"

Tuesday snickered as Darryn turned around to come face-to-face with none other than Troy, smirking in what may have been victory at the now-blushing contestant. "Geez, Darryn goes all mushy for Troy like Scarlet for Rhett."

"Who?" Meiko asked, looking down at Tuesday.

The smaller girl sighed heavily. "Nevermind."

"You know, Darryn may make it through the whole contest," Meiko said thoughtfully, before grinning, "but he better not look at Troy at all during it. One smile his way and he's liable to go completely brain dead."

"He wouldn't let it end like that." Tuesday smiled as they headed to the stands, taking their seats. She sat down right next to Meiko and found Jaima with her eyes, before turning her attention back to Darryn.

"I wouldn't count Darryn out just yet," Tuesday assured Meiko. "You didn't see him practicing." She grinned. "I bet we're in for quite a show. Darryn might just be the Inigo Montoya of contest battling."

Meiko smiled softly, before turning and giving Tuesday a funny look. "Who?"

Tuesday let her shoulders sag with a sigh. "Nevermind."

Leaning back in the seat, Tuesday crossed her legs and pulled out her sketchbook. Lots of pokemon to sketch, a good show to watch, and two awesome friends to root for.

This was going to be awesome.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Aug 17 2009, 04:04 PM

This... Was going to suck.

Jaima had never once been this nervous. Not facing Chloe, not facing Otis, not even when facing Lemonade, and that had been his very first battle ever. But here, in this contest hall, wearing a silk (silk!) Green embroidered gi top and black silk (siiiilk!) black loose http://www.scubb.com/images/prd_detailed/GC%20bloody%20roar%20primal%20fury_ss1.jpghe was nervous. He hoped, beyond all hope, that he wasn't sweating. He was wearing silk (he couldn't believe he was wearing silk!), and that was bad to sweat in.

Darryn, across from him, looked like Jaima felt. Nervous, out of his element... But not uncomfortable in his own clothes. Then again, he was probably used to wearing such expensive, or at least good looking, clothing. Not Jaima. He was used to wearing hand-me-downs, thrift store finds, old, unused, and dyed martial arts wear (it'd taken his mother three days of coaxing to get him to spring for the green dye after he'd gotten the job at the lab).

When Meiko had once again hauled out her wallet and told him in no uncertain terms that not only was he participating in the contest for Darryn's comfort, but was also going to let her dress him and pay for it if need be, he was too surprised to answer. She pulled him to the computer and typed in (easily, meaning she'd probably been to this site before) the address of a shop in Johto. She looked him over (and he found himself blushing at how long it took her to do so) and then keyed in several items, showing them to him while leaving her hand over the price.

He'd wanted to say no. He'd wanted to tell her there was no reason to spend so much money on such an extravagance, for something he likely would wear only one time ever. However, looking into her round igglybuff stare with that hopeful, excited smile, somehow "no" turned to "ok" in transit from his brain to his mouth, and she'd squealed, clapped, and hopped as she turned to confirm the order.

The next thing he knew, a small clear ball with green and black cloth inside was delivered through the computer, and Meiko popped it open to release the most expensive looking clothing he'd ever seen. She had even picked out (silk!) underwear!

When he left to try it on, at her eager urging, Jaima contemplated why he was kowtowing to this girl, an old friend, yes, but still, someone he hadn't seen for more than a week at a time since she started her journey. He came to only one conclusion.

He was weak.

He waited for the introductions to start. He had no delusions that his appeals round would be anything less than a disaster. But Meiko was right: He wasn't here for himself, he was here to support Darryn.

If only there weren't all these... spectators

* * * * *

This was going to be awesome! Meiko was nervous, yes, but not as much for Jaima as for Darryn. He so needed the boost in confidence that winning would bring. Or even getting past the appeals!

For someone who had no desire to be in a contest, Meiko had a lot of knowledge. This was thanks to her mother, who, before she began to stand up for herself about it, pressed Meiko to learn about them. Meiko did so, and continued to do so, but now it was with a sly smile and a bit of knowledge that Meiko didn't think that her mother had: the new fad coming to Johto was not contests, it was pokéthlons. And that was right up her alley.

Still, she knew what an appeal was, and coached Jaima through the process. He didn't look thrilled, or confident, or anything he'd been in the gym arena, but that was OK. Having him there would mean a lot to Darryn once he stopped being a Nervous Numel. Honestly, he had this in the bag if he were any judge.

Unless, that is, Jaima surprised her like he had in the gym. Then Jaima's win hands down.

She settled next to Tuesday and smiled. Dressing Jaima had been... fun. He'd been so shellshocked he hadn't even thrown a fit.

It was like... it was fun. She blushed. His allowing her to dress him and taking her advice had given her a nice warm feeling.

The contest hall went quiet. It was time for the appeals.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 18 2009, 12:02 AM

Meiko... would probably have been marked on the Weird Scale right next to Tuesday, if she ever visited Pallet Town. Or, at least, if she ever visited Pallet Town while thinking about Jaima.

No, Tuesday was not a mind reader, but nor was she stupid. Meiko's eyes were following Jaima across the floor as her smile grew and then a blush tinged her cheeks. Tuesday was only twelve and so had yet to hit the stage where she found boys physically attractive, but even she could see that Jaima looked very nice in his forest-green gi.

Tuesday had looked around at the various pokemon that other trainers had out of their pokeballs. She had sketched both a fiesty chikorita and what looked to be a timid monferno. However, she had since turned her sketchpad toward the idea of capturing a picture of Meiko, though she made certain to turn so that the girl wouldn't see what she was drawing. She would probably disagree that she was currently going googly-eyed over a boy, but, well... she was.

Tuesday smiled as she traced out the line of Meiko's cheekbone, thinking idly to herself that she would have to tell Brone about her new friends.

Oh! Tuesday stopped drawing, startled. I forgot.

After she had dressed and danced out into the lobby of the pokemon centre, she had been greeted first by Mr. Postman, who, apparently belated, delivered a letter to her. They hadn't had time to dawdle, so Tuesday took only long enough to see that the letter was from Brone, and not about him.

In all the excitement of seeing her first contest, however, she had completely forgotten about the letter!

With a grin, Tuesday closed her sketchbook and pulled out Brone's letter. Making sure that nothing was yet happening with Darryn or Jaima, she began to read and catch up on news back home.

Grinning from ear-to-ear like a cat that ate an entire bird collection, Tuesday slipped the letter back into her bag and glanced up to see the contestants' order being decided.

Perfect timing.

Posted by: Living Arrow Aug 18 2009, 02:56 PM

“No no nooo…” Darryn moaned quietly, his palms sweating madly as he huddled with the Co-ordinators that had assembled behind the curtains at the side of the stage. So many of those faces were just as nervous as his own but they were completely outnumbered by the confident grins that played around the others. It just made Darryn feel worse.

Tuesday looked up at Darryn with a hopeful smile of encouragement but, as usual, she left it at a facial expression and allowed Jaima and Meiko to offer the words of support instead. The girl looked tired and in need of a make-over but Darryn didn’t have the time to fawn over a child – other things had to come first, if only for a couple of hours.

“Aaaand WELCOME to the Arasam Contest Hall here atop the Magnificent Mount Carello!” A bold, brash voice announced loudly over the loud-speakers, stemming from a petite woman stood in the middle of the stage, clutching a golden microphone. Her hair was a tawny brown, her smile wide and easy and her eyes bright and cheerfully blue. Her outfit consisted a skirt so thin that Darryn thought at first she was only wearing a belt, a tank top, pink and white sneakers and leg-warmers. That meant she could only be one person. Gillian Meridian – the Contest Announcer of Furoh.

“Registration took place only an hour ago and all of our stunning Co-ordinators have taken their places backstage but first, let’s meet our judges!” Gillian swept an arm in the direction of the ornately constructed desk at the front of the stage. Four figures sat there, all waiting patiently for the ceremony to end and the competition to begin.

“First off, we have our Pokemon Contest Director - Mr Contesta!”
“I am very happy to be here!”

“Next up is the President of the Pokemon Fan Club! Mr Sukizo!”
“I’m going to be looking for something truly remarkable!”

“And the third member of the panel is our very own Nurse Joy!”
“I must say it is wonderful to see so many enthusiastic Co-ordinators with us today!”

The crowd roared into a frenzy of whistles and cheers that drummed a thunder worse than any Darryn had ever heard into the walls of the Contest Hall. The ground shook under its furore, dying down only a little as Gillian made her next announcement.

“And for our final Judge for the Appeals Round, it’s our very own Hall Leader. Give it up for-”

“And the Pokemon that you are entering for your Appeal Round is-?” The registration clerk asked Darryn as he fidgeted nervously at the kiosk. He lifted up his Net Ball and clicked it into the scanner.

“My Butterfree, India.” He said, hoping that she was truly up to what he was going to ask of her.

“Okie dokie… and your two Pokemon for the Battling Round, should you proceed?”

“That would be my Jolteon – Romeo – and my Cranidos – Zulu.” Darryn said again, pushing the Quick and Luxury Balls into the scanner. Images of all three Pokemon swept onto the screen with their names and health details.

“Alrighty… now we just need to know what category you’re entering them for.” The clerk went on, not even looking up from her computer screen. Darryn chewed his lip. He was completely new to the idea of categories so had gone along with Troy’s loose descriptions that had been given in his extremely brief training.

“Ok, so I’d like India in for Beauty, Romeo Cool and Zulu’s a Tough entrant.” Darryn said again, hoping – no - *praying* that those had been the right choices.

“Very well… take a selection of ball capsules and seals from the box behind you and you’re all set!” The clerk’s practiced smile couldn’t have looked more plastic than she tried. “Take the second door on your right, third left, through the double doors, right and up two flights of stairs, straight on and the men’s dressing room is on the left. M’kay?”

Darryn blinked. No? That wasn’t “m’kay”, that was very NOT “m’kay”!

“Yeah, thanks.” Darryn said out of habit and cursed himself as he joined Jaima and they made their way to get ready.



“Give it up for TROY!!!”

If the shock of the original applause was enough to make the backstage Co-ordinators gasp, this next bout was scream-drawing.

“Troy!?” Darryn squealed, pushing past a few younger Co-ordinators to see across the stage properly. Those beautiful icy eyes were already looking directly at him, twisted by a smile that looked all too… smug.

“Your boyfriend is the Hall Leader!?” Meiko hissed, “Why didn’t you say?!”

“NOT my boyfriend! I just assumed he was a Co-ordinator – he never said he actually Led the Hall!”

“Is this his sort of date if yours was a Gym Match?” Jaima asked, looking nearly as mischievous as Meiko.

“NOT a date!”

“Now, if you would all turn your attention to the screen, we’ll see the running order for the entrants! This has all been selected by impartial lottery and Co-ordinators should get into their positions immediately. So, with no further ado, here is how our evening shall play out!” Gillian announced again, a massive screen flickering to life above the stage. Photos of each Co-ordinator began appearing one by one, marking who would follow who out onto the stage for their Appeal.

As each face materialised, Darryn’s breath caught, waiting for his own to stare back at him.

“There’s Jaima!” Tuesday pointed at the screen, marking their friend as the twelfth entrant to be called out.

“And there’s Darryn!” Meiko pointed at the bottom right of the screen. “He’s last… let’s hope that’s not irony…”

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 19 2009, 02:08 AM

Tuesday and Meiko were back in the stands.

After Darryn and Jaima had registered their pokemon, Meiko and Tuesday had joined them to learn the order of contestants. With Jaima being 12th and Darryn last, Tuesday would have a chance to watch other contestants do their appeals and learn the way of it, before either of her friends played their hand.

Zorro and Tempest were now sitting as far apart as they could without leaving Meiko and Tuesday. Zorro was sitting next to Tuesday, but Tempest had moved over to the other side of Meiko. Tuesday was a little surprised by that, as Tempest had never been very trusting of people or other pokemon. For whatever reason, however, she wasn't bothered by this group that Tuesday had chosen. Maybe it was because Tuesday trusted them so explicitly.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen! Let's bring out our first contestant," the announcer spoke into the microphone. "Everyone, let's give a warm welcome to Terrence Devido and Jackie the monferno!"

The boy that Tuesday had seen before while she was sketching his monferno appeared, walking into the show area. His monferno walked beside him, looking nervous. Yes, clearly timid by nature.

The boy was tall and thin, with dark brown hair swept back over his head. Even from this distance, Tuesday could see that his eyes were a startling dark blue.

The announcer, who had vanished from the show area to reappear in the stands, spoke again in the microphone.

"You may begin."

Terrence turned his head to look at his monferno. "Jackie, use flame wheel," he said confidently.

The monferno let out a cry. Her tail swung in a circle behind her, the flame on the end blazing brilliantly. With a monkeyish shriek, she flipped backward, through the ring of fire that she had left behind. She continued to move, her tail whipping around her as she flipped, somersaulted, and then twisted in the air, the swift movements causing something of a light show as the flames lingered like the remnants of a July 4th sparkler in the air.

Finally, after one final twist, the monferno somersaulted midair, and landed firmly on her feet, her tail settling behind her.

The crowd erupted into applause, Tuesday clapping along with them. She was biased, of course, fire being her favorite element. She couldn't deny that what she had just witnessed had been a brilliant show, but there were many other trainers yet to go.

"Thank you, Terrence and Jackie, for that wonderful performance. And now, ladies and gentlemen, let us move on to our next contestant. Please welcome Samantha Lorenzo and her Floatzel, Tyrone."

The pretty latino girl danced out into the show arena with an otter-like pokemon at her side. The floatzel seemed to strut out onto the field and nearly began before the call was given.

"You may begin."

"You know what to do, Tyrone," Samantha told her pokemon. "Whirlpool."

The Floatzel hunkered down, presumably to gather energy, before throwing his head back and released a swirling blast of water from his mouth, straight into the air above him.

"Now, Aqua Jet through it to break it up, Tyrone!"

"Flo!" The Floatzel's entire body was covered with water when he spat a sharp water gun at the ground, blasting himself into the air and somersaulting right through the center of his whirlpool.

The whirlpool seemed to shatter abruptly into a million water droplets, which spread outward in various directions, each catching the light and sparkling like diamonds.

The Floatzel flipped and headed for the ground feet-first. Everything might have worked out perfectly if not for the tremendous amount of mud from his attacks. The Floatzel slipped the moment his paws touched the ground and he crashed face-first into a puddle, eliciting a roar of laughter from the crowd.

"Oh, too bad," the announcer declared with a pained expression. "It seems Tyrone could use some practice on his landings, or perhaps it would be better if he kept his feet on the ground or in the water. Now, let's move onto our next contestant, Jeremy Scarlet and his Aipom, George."

Tuesday continued to watch as trainer after trainer brought their pokemon out into the show arena to give their appeals. Some of them were really good, but some were also fairly bad. When Jaima's turn finally came, she was more than ready to see what he had in store.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Aug 20 2009, 03:04 PM

Jaima looked at the woman in the kiosk next to Darryns. She was elegantly dressed, but obviously bored of her current role in the Contest happenings of the day. If she'd had gum, she'd be snapping it. "Name?"

"Jaima Kuonji."

"Pokemon, contest type, and round they will be in?" At Jaima's confused look, she rolled her eyes. "You get one pokémon for appeals and two for combat should you be chosen to pass the appeals round."

"Oh, I know that," Jaima said, sheepishly. "I just don't know what a contest type is."

The woman stared at him blankly, then huffed a sigh. "There are five contest types: Beauty, Cool, Smart, Tough, and Cute." Her eyes wrinkled a bit at the corners, showing a hint of pleasure in her otherwise annoyed façade. Evidently she enjoyed cute contests the most. "Your appeals will have to match a certain kind, and your pokémon is also judged by his or her appearance based on the type. In the battle round, your combinations will also be judged based on how well they match type." She looked at him, not quite glaring, but wishing him away with such force that Jaima swallowed. "So what are your pokémon, their contest types, and the round they'll be in?"

"Umm," Jaima said. It was evidently the wrong answer. The woman started tapping the end of her pen on the desk in annoyance. Jaima straightened. "Shadow, my Lucario... um... tough... Appeals!"

"Lu," the lucario blinked at Jaima, who shrugged at him.

"Mercury, my Kirlia, Beauty (Thank you, Trainer Jaima!) , and Grondir, my Ivysaur, Tough, for battle!" Jaima smiled hopefully at the woman, who wrote it down and nodded.

"Music?"

Jaima looked from side to side, then leaned in a bit, whispering. "Were we supposed to bring music..?"

The woman's eyes actually widened, then she shrugged. "We'll find you something." She completed the form, then pointed to a set of double doors. "Follow the arrows to the dressing room. Men's is marked clearly. You'll be disqualified for peeking into the girl's room, we've had problems with that." Jaima frowned, but still bowed politely as he took his sheet.

He and Darryn made their way to the dressing room to get ready.

* * * * *

Meiko and Tuesday had made their way backstage somehow for the introduction of the judges, and Jaima did not miss the look on Meiko's face when Nurse Joy, the same Joy he'd been close to in Lenoilia, was announced as a judge. Despite the uncomfortable tension, however, both the girls' presence was a comfort. At least for Jaima.

He couldn't help joining Meiko in some teasing of their friend, and was rewarded with the unconscious glee of watching someone deny the obvious. It was a little shady that Troy had invited him to be a contestant like this when he was the hall leader, but simply inviting Darryn did not guarantee him to pass the appeals round, let alone grant him an instant win.

For all he knew about Troy, challenging Darryn to a contest was the man's idea of a date.

He watched from the sidelines as Meiko and Tuesday made their way back to their seats, Meiko having forgotten Nurse Joy in the face of seeing Jaima in the outfit she'd bought him. He smiled back before they were too far away to see him and waved, then concentrated on his Appeal.

It seemed to take no time for his turn to arrive, and though he walked out serenely, he was thankful for the loose garment he was wearing, which hid his trembling so long as he controlled his hands.

"Shadow, Detect!" Jaima swallowed, but Shadow performed brilliantly, stepping back and allowing his eyes to flash. "Now Iron Claw!"

Shadow lunged forward, striking at the air, then got a slightly mischievous look in his eye. He took a second step forward and struck, this time at Jaima. The crowd gasped, but Shadow's training had always included sneak attacks, and Jaima blocked and countered almost without thinking about it.

"What are you doooiiiing," he muttered to the Lucario, faking a smile. Shadow winked, then pressed the attack. He wasn't moving at nearly his full speed, and though it may have seemed fast to the non-martial artists in the crowd, someone more experienced than Jaima would have thought the lucario was taking it easy.

After a few strikes, Jaima's instinct took over, and he was striking back, sucking low to sweep only to jump over a counter low kick, rolling on his shoulder to pass Shadow and spin with a backfist. True to her word, music came over the speakers, a kind of thumping techno beat that Jaima never really listened to outside of certain martial arts and dance (Mariko's favorite type) and racing (Surprisingly, his mother's secret shame) movies. Shadow began to speed up, a small amount, to match the music, and Jaima was forced to do so as well.

When it was over, Jaima was panting a bit, but in a mirrored stance to Shadow's, and the audience was dead silent. Until Meiko began clapping, followed by Joy, who was wide eyed and just beginning to smile. Soon the audience was joining in with enthusiastic light applause.

Jaima smiled and bowed to the audience, Shadow mimicking him in synch, and they walked off the stage together. Jaima looked at Shadow, and someone came back and handed him two notes. One was in blocky, neat hand writing. That was really Cool. It's Tough that you didn't have more time to prepare. Better luck next time, Troy. Jaima blinked at the note, then a flash of understanding hit him. He hadn't used the moves from the right contest style. With a puff of air out of his cheeks, he headed to back. If he hadn't made it through his appeal round, he was going to go sit with the girls, but he wanted to tell Darryn good luck first.

Posted by: Living Arrow Aug 21 2009, 02:36 PM

"Darryn? Daaarryyyn?"

Darryn blinked twice, shaking his head to snap himself from the world he had spent so long trying to escape to. Everything had gone so fast. The first appeal. The second. Jaima's. The world was spinning with the intensity of it all, a calamity of noise and lights that swirled in and out of Darryn's mind like a kaleidoscope of delusion that seduced him into false securities and temporary insanity.

"S-sorry, Jai." Darryn blinked and smiled softly, trying desperately to quell the nausea rising in his throat. "You did amazingly well out there... But I think your appeal was a little off given your category... It was still cool, though. You really need to teach me how to throw a punch and a kick like that!"

"Huh, thanks Darryn." Jaima scratched at the back of his head. "I guess preparation is the key to these things, huh?"

Darryn gulped and that nausea jumped right onto the back of his tongue. He had spent possibly the shortest time in Contest history preparing for this. Nothing could make him feel any less prepared. Well, he was more prepared than Jaima had been.

"Anyway, I wanted to wish you luck before you go out there - it's not as bad as it might seem, really." Jaima offered, trying to pry a smile out of Darryn.

"You're a terrible liar, Jaima." Darryn muttered, rolling his eyes and smiling weakly back. They laughed and jaima clapped Darryn on the shoulder, leaving him to join the short queue of Co-ordinators that were left to enter the stage. The seconds seemed to count down in double time, Darryn's entry jumping towards him like a Spoink on crack.

"And last but not least, we have Darryn Kellor from Celadon City!" Gillian announced Darryn's entry with all the flair and gusto of a professional Master of Ceremonies and, with a shocking flair of confidence that came from Darryn's bones, he walked onto the stage with his head held high. As we walked, he reached up to fasten his microphone to his ear where it curled around his cheek to rest a little to the side of his mouth. Jaima, Tuesday and Meiko all gaped from the side of the stage.

"Since when was he going to sing?!" Meiko demanded, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Same time he put on those dancing shoes?" Tuesday offered, a mild frown tugged her brow.

"Good questions girls but think about this... How does he fit all that in his bag?!" Jaima gasped.

Darryn gulped for the final time as India's Pokeball miraculously found his hand. He primed the ball capsule and span on the spot, tossing the orb aloft in a swift, smooth, stylish motion.

"India, the stage is yours!"

Pink and red hearts, accompanied by a dusting of confetti seals flooded the air as India came rushing out of her Pokeball, spinning upwards completely in time with Darryn's own pirouette. The snapped to a halt as one, Darryn's hair whipping loosely around his face over his smiling, nay, grinning face while India mimicked him with her expertly-tied cerise ribbon that Darryn had put on her to wear as an accessory.
The crowd immediately whooped and shouted encouragement after seeing such a performance simply for the initial entry, applause snatching at the air even as Darryn's song began. He touched a finger to his mic to ensure its position before the act began and sent out a prayer of hope that everythign would go smoothly.

The fist few chords hit the airwaves and Darryn's mouth opened to reveal his voice. Clear, crisp counter-tenor tones drew forth from his lips as he began the routine, India flying above him and moving in sync while executing her attacks in the following manner:



Even before the appluase had chance to die, Darryn found himself already moving away from the stage, the excitement of all he ahd done overwhelming him completely. India squealed with delight atop his head as he reached backstage, his legs feeling like they were made of concrete and about to break at any moment. He saw his friends hurrying towards him but couldn't stop himself from collapsing into a seat, panting heavily drinking in air greedily.

He had done it. The Appeals were over. Now all he needed to hear were the scores...

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 22 2009, 01:02 AM

Tuesday was extremely lucky, as the first contest that she had ever been to had two of her best friends entering, as well as a number of other talented contestants. She watched with excitement as contestants one through eleven did their appeals, some fairing extremely well and others... not so good.

She was excited, of course, when it was Jaima's turn, but she had been unprepared for what she would see.

Tuesday had never studied up on contests or on how to tell whether a move was cute, cool, tough, smart, or... there was another one, right? She had never bothered to take notice. The only thing that she knew at all during Jaima's appeal was that he and Shadow rocked together.

Watching them duke it out in the show area was enthralling and Tuesday couldn't help but grin. When their appeal was over and the stadium was filled with silence, Tuesday looked around in search of faces just as awed as hers. She couldn't read the emotions in most people's eyes, but she saw a few stunned looks, and then Meiko started clapping. Tuesday glanced quickly at the girl's face, seeing her cheeks tinged pink with a blush and a smile ripping the corners of her lips upward.

Tuesday grinned widely and applauded loudly for her friend.

Jaima's appeal being the coolest thing since books, Tuesday was utterly shocked and slightly disgusted to find out that he had done the wrong types of attacks for the category he had signed up in. Should it matter? It looked brilliant!

"Don't worry about it, Tuesy," Jaima assured her. "I tried it out and I learned something." He smiled. "And I'm pretty sure Shadow had fun with it."

Sitting on the other side of Jaima, Shadow was smirking. Tuesday, placated by his contentment with the way things happened, smiled. That crisis over, she remembered what she had been planning to ask Jaima, before he surprised her by coming up into the stands to sit with them.

"Hey, Jaima, do you think you could teach me to do that?" she asked a little nervously. She was so much of a bookworm that doing things outside of her mind was a rarity, but what she had seen Jaima doing with Shadow... it looked really cool and she wanted to learn it.

"Do what?" Jaima asked, looking at her in mild confusion.

"What you were doing in the arena with Shadow," Tuesday admitted. She shrugged. "You know, martial arts." She supposed she could have gotten into it sooner. After all, Anika knew two or three types of martial arts and Tuesday had often seen her practicing. She thought that she had probably avoided trying it because of that, though. She and her sister rarely saw eye to eye, so Tuesday just expected to want nothing to do with something like that.

Seeing Jaima so well-learned and sparring with Shadow, however, had opened her ever-keen desire to learn to the idea of martial arts.

Jaima rubbed his head, looking slightly sheepish. "Well, Tuesy," he admitted, "I don't think I'd be a very good teacher. I'm not sure I could show you what to do- OW!"

Tuesday blinked at Jaima turned to look at Shadow with an annoyed look on his face. "What was that for?" he asked.

"Lu," Shadow replied easily, eyes half-lidded lazily.

Jaima gave the lucario a look of confusion, before turning back to Tuesday. "Shadow's the one that actually taught me," he said, "and I'm not sure-" He half-glared behind him as the lucario nudged him hard with his arm. "I don't know if I-" Jaima grit his teeth. "Shad- All right!" He turned to half-glare at the lucario, amusement dancing in his eyes. "I get the picture." He looked back at Tuesday. "I don't think I could teach you all that well," he admitted, "but you're welcome to train with me and Shadow."

Tuesday grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah," Jaima said, his face softening at her look of excitement.

Behind him, Shadow looked rather smug. Zorro leaned back to look at the lucario, cocking his head to the side in curiosity. Shadow muttered something and Zorro let out a cry of joy, throwing his paws in the air and toppling off of the bleachers in his excitement. From down below them, he let out a whoop of delight.

Meiko was still blushing when she stammered to Jaima that she thought his appeal was amazing, and Tuesday, sitting nearby like a fly on the wall, had to clamp her hands over her mouth to keep from giggling loudly when she broke out in song in her head.

Jaima and Meiko sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

Jaima, however, did see her with her hands clamped over her mouth, and asked, "What's so funny?"

Tuesday, grinning like the Persian that ate the Natu, declared in a "you know I'm not as innocent as I look" voice, "Nothing!"

Jaima cocked an eyebrow at her, but Tuesday just grinned. Her eyes happened to travel past Jaima, then, and she saw the newest contestant walk out into the arena. "Oh, look! A charmander! It's a charmander!" Hopping down into the seat in front of Jaima, she called Dante out of his pokeball and then the two of them leaned over the railing to watch the appeal be preformed.

The charmander's name was Firedash and he looked magnificient. His orange coat sparkled beneath the lights and the black kerchief with flame-pattern around his neck stood out against his leathery skin.

The charmander and his trainer stood in perfect stillness, back to back, as the audience grew silent. It seemed as the final person stopped muttering to his companion, the music started.

The music was made up mostly of drums - fast beats made by hand that ran in a tune Tuesday thought was distinctly familiar; woodsy... wild.

There was a moment's hesitation from the trainer and his pokemon, and then black smoke flooded from the charmander's mouth in a smokescreen attack, blackening the field in darkness. Tuesday waited with the rest of the audience to see what would happen next.

For a long time, there was nothing, and then the music sped up a notch, another drum added into the mix, and flames erupted out of the arena, spiralling out of the smoke and into the air above the arena, causing a number of people in the crowd to gasp in surprise and awe.

"That's a FireSpin attack!" Tuesday said excitedly. Dante didn't yet know the attack, but Tuesday loved fire type pokemon and had studied up on a number of the attacks that they could learn. Fire Spin was one of the more powerful attacks and, in her opinion, a very beautiful one.

The music changed again, the two beating drums joined by a flute, giving the music an eerie quality that had shivers running up Tuesday's spine, but she couldn't help but grin. Gasps suddenly filled the crowd, as something appeared within the smoke - a large flaming smile, like the faded recesses of the Cheshire Cat's grin.

"What is that?" Tuesday asked, looking at Dante as though he would have the answer. The charmeleon raised his claws and shrugged.

Jaima leaned over her shoulder, then, adjusting his glasses and peering into the smoke. "Looks like Fire Fang," he said informatively, "though I've never seen it used in the middle of a smokescreen attack before."

"It's creepy," Tuesday said, and grinned, "and awesome!" Jaima laughed at her.

"Meeeeeleon!" Dante snapped, turning Tuesday's attention back to the arena just as the charmander used a new attack. A glow emanated from within the smoke, and then the dark cover began disipating, revealing the charmander slowly, as the fire-lizard danced around within his own billowing flamethrower attack, slashing his glowing claws through the air and sending the smokescreen scurrying away like a frightened opponent.

The music, which had progressively been getting louder and faster, slowed to a steady, rhythmic drumbeat that matched the regular beating of one's heart. The charmander released an ember attack, spun in a circle, and slashed through the flames with his tail, spinning to a halt just as the music stopped abruptly.

Tuesday looked at Dante, as the charmeleon turned to look at her, and then the two leapt up, cheering. The idea of someday participating in a contest suddenly looked a whole lot more doable.

The next contestant was brought out - an older girl with a Croagunk - and Tuesday watched as the girl and her pokemon performed a complicated series of gymnastic moves. That was followed by a pair of twins, who performed a cute appeal with their twin pichu. Then that was followed by a young boy with his magikarp.

He surprised Tuesday, who had expected the fish to know only Splash, but using not only that attack, but also Flail and an attack Tuesday had never read about called Bounce. She hardly thought that boy had won, but it was interesting to witness.

Tuesday sat, enthralled by each contestant that... contested. Time seemed to fly by quickly, however, and then it was time for the final contestant's appeal.

Darryn's.

Now, Tuesday had watched every appeal, paid attention to every detail, and taken everything in with the hopes of perhaps using it somewhere, or recording it, at least. She had thought that many of the contestant's appeals were beautiful, Jaima's was awesome, the charmander's was brilliant, and that many others were worthy of television.

But Darryn's left them all behind.

"Since when was he going to sing?!" Meiko demanded, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Same time he put on those dancing shoes?" Tuesday offered, frowning lightly. Her father liked to sing. In fact, he sang all the time - in the car, in the shower, when he was battling, when he was bathing his pokemon. You'd think all of that practice would help, but... no. It didn't.

And Tuesday thought Darryn was awesome, but this might be taking it too far.

"Good questions, girls, but think about this... How does he fit all that in his bag?!"

"Good question," Tuesday quipped.

And then Darryn was singing, and India was dancing, and Tuesday's soul was nearly crying, because she had seen some beautiful things, but this beat it all. It just... made everything else pale in comparison.

The song was a brilliant choice that seemed to reflect Darryn from what little Tuesday knew of him, and she couldn't help but smile as she listened to him, the words dancing off of his tongue as fluidly as his butterfree glided through the air.

And then it was over, all too soon, and Tuesday actually had to wipe her eyes as Jaima took her other hand and helped pull her through the throngs of people so she didn't get separated and lost.

They saw Darryn backstage, sitting in a chair and either hyperventilating or trying to catch his breath. Tuesday, grinning, released Jaima's hands and bounded forward.

"Darryn!" she cried, and leapt up onto his lap, hugging him around the neck to everyone's complete surprise - even her own. "That was brilliant!" she cried. "It was so beautiful!"

"Er... thanks," Darryn said, sounding embarrassed.

Jaima stepped up behind Tuesday, arms crossed over his chest. "Darryn, I'd like to know what your intentions are toward my sister..."

Darryn looked up at him, wide-eyed and confused, then looked at Tuesday hugging him, and his bare chest. "I- but - I... NO!" he said, startled and flushing furiously.

Tuesday giggled and Jaima laughed with her at Darryn's plight.

Meiko walked over to him and punched him hard in the arm. "What were you so nervous for?" she demanded. "That was amazing!"

"Seconded!" Tuesday chirped, grinning. She climbed off of Darryn so he could button his shirt, blushing at all of the praise.

The sound of a microphone ringing called their attention and Tuesday heard Darryn take a deep, nervous breath.

"They're announcing the scores..."

Posted by: Living Arrow Aug 23 2009, 02:53 PM

“Wow! Those were some impressive displays of Pokemon and ther abilities! Let’s give it up for our competing Co-ordinators!!!” Gillian Meridian shrieked into the camera facing in her direction, spreading her arms wide to gather up the roar from the appreciating crowd. Backstage, Co-ordinators waited in thick suspense as the Judges all conspired their fates behind their enormous, sweeping desk.

“Well, I guess it’s time to pack up.” Darryn muttered, finishing buttoning up his shirt. The sweat that he had perspired ran like ice as he waited for those scores, knowing that only a select few would make the grade. According to Troy it was customary that a Co-ordinator score at least a 35 out of a possible 40 to earn a battle with the Hall Leader.

“Oh, quiet you.” Meiko rolled her eyes and prodded Darryn square in the chest. “You don’t know the outcome yet – just wait and see what happens before you start queening out all over the place!”

“Queen!? Me?!” Darryn shrieked, planting his hands on his hips. “Look, Meiko, I-”

“Guys? Seriously?” Jaima muttered, folding his arms with exasperation. Tuesday mimicked him pretty accurately, her short form a mirror image of her adoptive brother. Darryn sucked air between his teeth and pouted at Meiko while she stuck her tongue back at him.

“And the results are in!!!” Gillian announced within the auditorium, the crowd going wild with the upcoming results. The Judges sat straight-backed and ready to give their score to the camera that zoomed in on them.

The lens homed in on the tanned face of Mr Contesta, getting his placard in full view as they began to announce the possible winners.

“I must say it was a treat to see so many different styles of Appeal today. We have never had so much variety or professionalism in one stadium in one day and for that I am truly thankful! When it came down to the scoring, however, we found that only one Co-ordinator managed to score well enough to earn a Ribbon Battle today. Here are that Co-ordinator’s scores:

From myself, a solid 9!”

The audience whooped and cheered even as the camera came to Mr Sukizo.

“Tonight’s displays were truly remarkable! And for our winner, I give, 10 points!”

Nurse Joy’s turn…

“Although we had some excellent entries, we could not score some as well as others because they were performing outside of their selected category. Even so, we did find that this person was simply outstanding. And for that, I awarded 9 points!”

The crowd went wild once more, banners waving, sirens screaming. Darryn’s heart sank. There was no way he’d have scored as high as that – a girl with a Delcatty had performed so much better than they had.

“I guess it’s my turn now?” Troy flipped his hair at the camera and a whole bunch of girls behind him started screaming with rabid ferocity. “Then I’ll have to announce that this person only deserved 7 points. Far too much showboating and dazzle for a round that I prefer to be delicate and subtle.”

The crowd behind him turned their screams of attraction in boos of despair, mocking the man sat at the front of the arena. He turned around in his seat and smiled lusciously back at the wall of women and flashed his teeth, quelling them once more to silence.

“Oh, Troy! You’re so mean!” Gillian played along with the act, rubbing her head with thought. “Well, if you didn’t score this person as high as the others then I assume it was a close Contest?”

“Very close!” Troy confirmed, leaning forward in his chair. “And our finalist only just scraped through with a round 35. They should count themselves lucky. But, I have no regret in announcing that the Co-ordinator joining me on the stage for a battle for the Metalliclaw Ribbon is…”

A drum roll echoed through the arena, silence miraculously slamming down around the audience like a cage. Bated breath was held for seconds… minutes… hours… it seemed to go on to long. Then, just as the crowd became restless…

“Darryn Kellor!”

Darryn heard his name, turned his face to the ground and was promptly sick all over his (and Meiko’s) shoes.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Aug 23 2009, 04:01 PM

Meiko had waited with baited breath, much like the rest of the crowd, much like her friends. much like Darryn himself. Unlike Darryn, she had expected him to win. But, then, she had expected his 'not-boyfriend' to give him a higher score.

She hadn't expected him to blow chow all over her feet!

"Kami-sama, DARRYN," she screeched, frozen in utter horror. Jaima leapt into action, grabbing a nearby towel used by performers to mob sweat from their head and handing it to Darryn while Meiko made her way out of the muck. She wrinkled her nose. "Are you OK?"

"Mmrph," he responded, rather eloquently, she thought, but she found herself backing away quickly.

Too quickly. She felt her foot give, and she toppled backwards, screaming the whole way down.

She felt like she wanted to cry. There was vomit on her back and legs, and she was afraid to reach back and feel if she got any in her hair. Jaima was standing over her, reaching down, but she made no move to take it.

"I don't want to get your hand dirty," she whimpered.

Jaima smiled a bit. "I've had worse on my hands, Mei-chan. C'mon, we'll get you cleaned up."

She took it, letting him lead her to the restrooms like a little girl. Half of her, oddly, was still worried about the person who'd gotten her into this (literal) mess. Was Darryn going to be OK for the next round? The other half resented the fact that she was covered in his breakfast.

He stopped in front of the nearest girl's room and smiled kindly at her. There she was, disheveled, covered is puke, and probably redfaced from fighting off her tears, and he was just looking at her as if he'd never seen a cuter girl. She tried to smile back, but had to dash into the bathroom. The smell was horrid!

* * * * *

Jaima leaned against the wall. He hadn't been sure, but some of the mess on the ground might have splashed on Tuesday's riolu. Meiko, however, had gotten the worst of it, so it was Meiko who he was taking care of.

He had no idea what to think of the girl, lately. He loved having her around again. In a way, it was like old times, like before he'd grown up. In other ways, it was nothing like it. It was better.

She was cute. No. She was cute. Her smile was cute. Her laugh was cute. The way she teased Darryn? CUTE! Why a cute girl like Meiko Omura wanted to have anything to do with him had been a constant source of puzzlement since she arrived. He still hadn't come up with an answer.

Someone cleared their throat, and Jaima looked up to see Joy looking at him, concern written all over her face. "Is... Is Miss Omura all right?"

Jaima smiled, a little embarrassed for his friend. "Yeah, she's... well, I don't know. She's getting cleaned up now. I think she's kind of upset..."

Joy nodded vigourously. "Yes, it stands to reason. When I saw you leading her away, and then someone told me a girl slipped in some... mess... I put two and two together. I've brought some shampoo... It's from the girl's dressing room, but it will do for now."

Jaima smiled again, genuinely. "Thanks." Then he had an idea. "Hey, could you give it to her? I'd go in there, but..." he smiled sheepishly. "I don't think she'd appreciate it much."

Joy hesitated, then bowed, once. "I will. Wait here."

Jaima pulled his shirt off, revealing the tank top he was wearing underneath the silk gi top. "Give her this, too. She doesn't have a change of clothes here, and I wanted to wait until she was feeling better to ask if she wanted me to send Mercury."

Joy was a little flushed when she took the shirt, and Jaima, too, flushed. He didn't usually take off his shirt in front of girls, let alone his ex-girlfriend.

Joy walked into the restroom to hear sobbing at one of the sinks. She stepped around the wall and saw Meiko leaning against the sink, crying softly. She almost stepped back, but her very instinct was to help people. "Um... Miss Omura?"

Meiko's eyes snapped up, and she stood straighter. "Great," she muttered, wiping her eyes with a paper towel.

"Jaima asked me to give you this..." Joy held up the bottle and bit her lip. "And this."

If Meiko was angry, it didn't get through her surprise. She blinked at the shirt, then blushed. "I see you got his shirt off..." She seemed ashamed to have said it, even though she still had a hardness in her eyes.

Joy actually smiled a bit. "I... There were times... when I wanted to." Meiko looked at her again through the mirror. "I mean, when we were in Lenoilia. Lenoilia's a lonely town, and he... helped. But he wouldn't, and I wasn't so... er... crass as to ask more than once." Joy sighed. "For you, to help you, it didn't take a second thought." She looked pointedly at Meiko, and Meiko looked away, sighing.

"Jaima told me what happened. Between you, I mean. I just... I'm sorry I said that."

Joy nodded. "I might have, too, if our situations were reversed." Joy held up the bottle. "May I help you with your hair?"

Meiko smiled a bit. "He got my hair, too, huh?"

"Just the end."

Meiko sighed and nodded, her eyes still rimmed in red. "I had to klutz out, right in front of Jaima. I think I splashed Tuesday's riolu, too..."

Joy chuckled. "Yes. But who did he take care of?" She helped Meiko wet her hair, pulling a chair over. The girl's shirt and skirt were hanging over a stall's wall, and Joy couldn't help notice that she was very fit. "He's like that. He takes care of people."

"Yeah," Meiko said, wistfully. "He skipped his trainer's journey when his father died to take care of his sisters."

Joy was silent, wetting Meiko's hair. "I didn't know that... it... it never really came up. So many people have extended their journies here since they opened the lands to it, I..."

Meiko's voice was echoing in the sink, but it sounded kindly. "He wouldn't talk about it. Sometimes I think he thinks it makes him weak."

"It doesn't."

"No. It makes him pretty strong."

Lather rose in the sink, in Meiko's hair, when Joy spoke next. "When I met him, he'd saved a mudkip from dying in the canal. Lenoilia is badly polluted. The poor thing was sick. And he was enraged to hear that I'd seen her before with another trainer. It was all very..." She was blushing. "It was attractive to a nurse."

"So... and I can't believe I'm asking, but... why did you let him go?"

Joy sighed. "He's an adventurer. He has to go places and help. And I prefer to stay and help where I am."

"Yeah, that would put a damper on things..." Meiko seemed to be cheering, but whether it was from getting clean of sick or that Joy was looking to be less of a threat, Joy couldn't tell. She didn't really care much.

"Good luck with him." Joy smiled, genuinely. "He's a good person. And I think, if you don't mind my saying so, you are, too."

Meiko flushed. "Thanks. Um... sorry for... yeah." She slipped the shirt on and hugged Joy. "Thanks. For helping me."

"You're welcome, Miss Om-"

"Call me Meiko."

Joy looked at her, smiled, and nodded. "You're welcome, Meiko."

Joy stepped out, and Meiko looked at her reflection in the mirror. Despite the mess, she was starting to get a warm feeling inside. She began gathering her clothes, wrapping them a bunch of paper towels until she could find a bag.

There was a commotion on the other side of the door. She heard Darryn's voice. "Ohmigawd, Jaima, I have to tell Meiko I'm sorry!"

"Darryn," Jaima said, exasperated, "you can't go in there, it's the ladies room!'

"YOU can't go in there, Jaima," Darryn declared haughtily. "I'm immune!"

Meiko laughed and stepped out as the door opened. "Apology accepted, Darryn. Are you OK?"

Darryn looked her up and down, then looked behind her and smirked. "You might want to see if he's OK."

Meko turned and looked, and had to grin. Jaima was practically staring at her, a blush creeping up his cheeks. She decided right then: This was her favorite shirt.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 24 2009, 02:51 AM

Oh, poor Darryn.

That was Tuesday's first thought. She sympathized with anyone who was sick in public, as it was a horrifyingly embarrassing occurrence that she prayed never to suffer through again. Just witnessing it happening to someone else was bad enough.

Zorro, however, did not share her sympathies for Darryn.

"Riiioluuuuu..." Zorro moaned in agony, throwing his head back in exaggerated misery.

Tuesday looked at him in concern. "What?" she asked, looking him up and down in search of the fatal wound that must be causing him such pain. Zorro pointed to his left foot deftly with a paw and gazed plaintively at her, whimpering pathetically.

Tuesday closed her eyes and shook her head softly. "Zorro... it's not the end of the world."

"Riiiiiii!" he yelled loudly, throwing his paws toward the ground in a tantrum. Tuesday sighed. "Hush, Zorro. You're about as demanding as a princess." She heard him huff, as she knelt down and dug through her pack, searching for a clean towel that she always had with her.

Regrettably, finding anything within her notebook-strewn bag was a lesson in futility.

As Tuesday dug through her bag, Tempest sauntered merrily over to where Zorro was still throwing a fit, more to gain attention than because of any serious displeasure. Though, having upchuck on one's fur was hardly an experience one would care to repeat.

"I would tell you that you smell, mutt," Tempest said, circling around Zorro and watching him out of the corner of her eye, "but that's hardly anything new."

Zorro halted abruptly in his tantrum and gazed thoughtfully at the smirking pikachu. "Tell me, Rata," he said, a smile growing on his lips, "do you spend long time sniffing my fur?"

Tempest bared her teeth and hissed at him. "I stand corrected. You smell much better now than you did before." she snapped.

"Make improvement on you, Rata," Zorro said, grinning, and flicked his paw at her, flinging discarded puke her way. Tempest hissed loudly and leapt away. Zorro laughed. "Is improvement, Rata. You smell better."

"Shut UP!" Tempest snarled and leapt at him, knocking him to the ground with a tackle attack. The two rolled over the floor, sliding through the sludge on the ground and coating themselves further in vomit.

Tuesday looked up at the sounds of the two pokemon, Tempest crying out angrily and Zorro laughing. She gaped at the two of them, both creatures of speed, attacking and dodging each other equally; Tempest in rage and Zorro with amusement gleaming in his eyes.

"Tempest!" Tuesday cried. "Zorro! Stop!"

"I would prefer not to!" Tempest cried, despite Tuesday inability to understand her, and quick attacked Zorro.

He dodged nimbly to the side, cartwheeling out of the way and landing back on his feet, where he spun and grinned at her. "You cute when angry, Rata," he informed her kindly.

"I... I am NOT!" Tempest cried.

Zorro stopped, blinked at her, and then shrugged. "If you no think you cute, Rata... that your choice."

"I am going to kill you!" Tempest snarled, electricity curling around her body as she launched herself at Zorro in the prohibited volt tackle attack.

Unfortunately, and much to her ire, she never reached Zorro, as a red beam called her back into her pokeball and forbid her from touching the riolu.

Tuesday held the pokeball to her face, staring at it. "You," she spoke slowly to the pikachu inside, "are filthy. Expect a bath when Darryn's match is through."

Zorro, who was snickering, went quiet when Tuesday turned to him. "You threw a fit about a bit on your paw, and now you're filthy and happier than Ahab with a brand new boat." Zorro grinned at her and Tuesday sighed. "Come here."

It didn't take her long to wipe the filth off of his fur, but it was a tedious and disgusting job that she blamed entirely on Zorro, brushing off Darryn's apologies about being the cause of such a hassle, though he seemed far more concerned about what Meiko would think. Tuesday just smiled. The two of them did act like siblings.

"You still smell, Zorro, but I doubt I could keep you in your pokeball," she admitted. "Just don't go sitting on anyone with a weak stomach." Zorro grinned at her. Tuesday sighed and looked up at Meiko came out of the ladies' room and spoke to Darryn briefly.

"Attention!" a voice called over the intercom. "The final round of today's contest is about to begin. Would Darryn Kellor please report to the battle arena? I repeat, Darryn Kellor, to the battle arena, please."

"Time go get our seats," Meiko suggested, smiling. "And you need to go win your match, Darryn."

The boy swallowed nervously, but Tuesday touched his arm briefly. "You'll be brilliant, Darryn," she assured him. "Good luck!"

"Rio!" Zorro agreed. He winked and then bounded off after Tuesday.

Darryn separating from them, they were halfway to the bleachers when Tuesday realized that she didn't have her pack with her. "Fool of a-" She growled at herself. "Stupidity." She turned around.

"Where are you going, Tuesy?" Jaima asked.

"I left my pack by the bathrooms," Tuesday said.

Jaima smiled. "I'll get it," he suggested, knowing he was less likely to get pushed around in the crowd of people heading back toward the bleachers. "Why don't you and Meiko go and get some good seats?"

"You sure?" Tuesday asked. Jaima nodded. "Okay, then." With a final uncertain glance, Tuesday followed Meiko back to the bleachers, where they managed to grab some seats in the front, with a perfect view of the battlefield from the side.

Tuesday nearly toppled off of her seat in surprise when Zorro leapt out of nowhere to land on the railing in front of her, dressed in...

"Zorro... where did you get that cheerleading outfit?"

This... was going to be interesting.

Posted by: Living Arrow Aug 24 2009, 01:09 PM

"Attention! The final round of today's contest is about to begin. Would Darryn Kellor please report to the battle arena? I repeat, Darryn Kellor, to the battle arena, please."

Bile, more puke, and a whole lot of Beautifly rose in Darryn’s throat. He fought that bubble of nausea with all he had to keep from exploding on little Tuesday’s face and tottered backwards towards the stage. Jaima pushed a towel at him to wipe his mouth.

"Time go get our seats!" Meiko announced, leading the way back to the audience stands. She grinned at Darryn and he knew it was genuine – her eyes were wrinkled and it didn’t begin to fade, even for a second. "And you need to go win your match, Darryn."

Darryn swallowed the nausea, hoping in vain that his nerves would go with it and braced himself to walk back to the stage.

"You'll be brilliant, Darryn," Tuesday piped from his side, laying her had briefly on his arm. "Good luck!"

Jaima grinned and gave Darryn a faithful nod, pushing his wire-framed spectacles up his nose. Darryn nodded back. It was finally time to start catching up to Jaima! True, it was on a different sort of battle field, but a Ribbon’s worth was exactly the same as a Badge in Furoh. One led to the Grand Festival, the other to the Champion’s League – both were recognised as the biggest Pokemon tournaments on the continent and both meant an achievement was at stake. An achievement that Darryn was going to strive for, no matter what!

“Aaaand, WELCOME BACK!” Gillian Meridian shrieked her greeting into the camera, the audience roaring back to life as the Ribbon Stage was raised in the center of the auditorium. It was prdominantly made of slate, some perfectly cuboid pillars of stone spaced randomly across the field. Awe hit the audience as it came fully into view, a grey palate upon which the Pokemon for the battle would paint their masterpieces during battle.

“Before the break we saw Darryn Kellor claw his way to victory in the Appeal Round with a score of 35, that’s right – 35!” The crowd let rip once more. “Now, let’s welcome him back along with our Arasam Hall Leader, TROY!”

Screams and shouts rumbled the entire Hall as Darryn walked up to the Challenger’s dais and stood straight-backed at the rail. Across the expanse of charcoal grey, Troy emerged, looking even more perfect than normal. He wore a style of battle costume that looked like motorcycle leathers or something that the PokeRangers would wear. It was predominantly black with red and white streaks on the chest and shoulders with gold stitching at every seam. His black hair was quaffed to perfection, those eyes a dazzling blue visible from the opposite side of the field.

“While our battlers prepare, let’s take a look at our studio audience! We’ve got a bunch of Contest fans here today, but have we ever seen this?!” Gillian waved her hand at the tv screen where the scoreboard would be shown. An image flashed up of a Riolu in a cheerleading outfit, sat on a little blonde girl’s lap, waving his pompoms around merrily. He caught sight of himself on the big screen and leapt to life, doing a little routine for the onlookers. A Vulpix sporting several bandages sat next to the girl bowed her head with embarrassment. The crowd immediately burst into laughter and Darryn had to snicker, waving at his friends from his platform.

“Welcome to my Hall, Challenger!” Troy called across the field, snatching Darryn’s attention and winking mischievously. “I would like to wish you luck for the battle.”

Darryn’s gutsy nature took over, seeing Troy act so cocky like that, and he stepped to the rail, leaned on it with one elbow and blew him a kiss.

“Right back at ya, sweetheart!”

“Ooooh! This looks like we could have a great battle on our hands, folks!” Gillian wailed at the top of her lungs, moving to the side of the arena so the cameras could move in closer to examine the Co-ordinator and Leader as they readied themselves. “With our scoreboard up and our three Judges ready, let battle commence!”

“With pleasure!” Troy twirled his arms and Pokeballs appeared in his fists. “Mawwie and The Don, time to face the music!”

An explosion of confetti and smoke seals flooded the spot where they fell and, as they fell, the forms of a Mawile and Donphan could be seen underneath. As the glitz and sparkle of the seals fell further, the crowd could see that not all the shine was thanks to the seals. A Pokemon had emerged with particularly rare colouring that almost made it appear shiny.

“And will you look at that! Troy has selected The Don for this battle!” Gillian announced, getting up close to a camera. “This Donphan is also known as the Golden Fist of the Arasam Hall. We haven’t seen his use for some time now as Troy saves him for particularly talented Co-ordinators so this must really say something about our latest challenger!”

Darryn grit his teeth.

*Oh my God, that Donphan looks powerful. And it’s a ground type… Romeo and Zulu aren’t able to take on ground types with any sort of confidence so I’ll have to rely on their ability to work together to win this one… That said, a Contest battle was unlike a Gym battle – points matter in the time limit just as much as knock-outs do…*

“Now it’s time for Romeo and Zulu! The stage is yours!”

Letter seals that spelled out the names of the ball capsule’s residents, jumped out into the air as the Pokemon were released, Romeo stepping out of a flash of lightning seals and Zulu rising from the fiery passion of flame seals. They squared off against their opponents quickly, making Darryn breathe a little easier.

*These two are strong battlers… I just hope they can hold out long enough!*

“And with 5 minutes on our clock, may the Ribbon Battle begin!!!” Gillian wailed and the crowd roared right along with her.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Aug 25 2009, 12:05 AM

Jaima backtracked, mentally wincing as the announcer began her spiel. He was going to miss the first part of the match if he didn't hurry.

There was the hallway he had led Meiko down, already mopped to remove the trail her shoes left. Likely the bathroom was as well, but he wouldn't have to worry about that. As he expected, Tuesday's bag was right where she left it when she'd followed Darryn when he came to apologize to Meiko.

He bent to pick up the bag, when a voice behind him growled out, "You!"

Jaima straightened and spun. Before him stood a man wearing predominately red and black. His hair hung limp, as if it had lost all life. Jaima recognized him as the trainer of the charmander who had enthralled Tuesday with his appeal. Jaima smiled. "Hey, my sister really liked your appeal."

"'My sister really liked your appeal'," the man said in a nasally, mocking voice. "I had this contest bagged before you and your little friend showed up!"

Jaima raised a brow. "What are you talking about."

"You. And your stupid advanced lucario and that little show that you put on! And your friend, with his stupid singing and his stupid open shirt!" He seemed to be working himself up into a frenzy. Jaima scowled a bit.

"Look, pal, why don't you calm down a bit and tell me what this is all about-"

The man released his charmander, who mimicked his stance: Aggressive, one foot forward, back arched.

"Once you're out of the picture, I can start getting my fans back. Starting with the hottie in the silk shirt!"

Jaima was prepared to push past this person and get back to his seat, but something in his condescending attitude, or perhaps something else, caused him to get very, coldly angry.

The man saw Jaima's glasses flash in the overhead light as he pulled a blue and white pokeball from his belt. With the press of a button, a blue domed kirlia appeared.

"Mercury? Sic 'im."

* * * * *

When he got back to his seat, Meiko gave him a funny look. "What happened to you? You missed Darryn's introduction! It was so good!"

Jaima looked at her, then smiled softly. "I got held up." He reached out and took her hand, watching the fight. Meiko stared and smiled, biting her lower lip.

"Oh," she said, leaning toward him, whispering in his ear. "Remind me to tell Darryn, but we have to do something after this... maybe before we leave... Tuesday's birthday is soon..!"

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 25 2009, 12:52 AM

Tuesday was so excited to see Darryn's match against Troy that she couldn't hardly sit still! She was practically bouncing in the seat, grinning. She had called out Dante and Tempest, as well, so that they could watch the match. The pikachu was currently sitting on her head, with Dante sitting on the bench next to her, his tail drooping downward so as not to burn anyone. He looked equally enthused, no doubt still remembering the appeal of the charmander that he and Tuesday had watched with such awe.

Lady, Darryn's vulpix, was bandaged up and sitting next to Tuesday on the bench, looking slightly put-out about not battling, but watching her trainer intently. Zorro was sitting in Tuesday's lap, eagerly awaiting the match to start. His strange cheerleader uniform, a duo of colors that should never be paired with the blue and black of a riolu's fur, came complete with a pair of pompoms that the riolu was waving around with a big grin on his face.

“While our battlers prepare," the announcer spoke through the microphone, voice echoing throughout the building, "let’s take a look at our studio audience! We’ve got a bunch of Contest fans here today, but have we ever seen this?!”

The woman waved her hand at a large television screen, the blank scoreboard being replaced by a very familiar image.

Tuesday saw an image of herself shown largely on the television screen, though the attention was obviously focused on Zorro. The riolu in the television screen glanced up just as Zorro did and saw himself. Immediately, Zorro's eyes lit up and he leapt from Tuesday's lap to land gracefully on the empty bench in front of her. He then began to leap and twist and dance around, waving his pompoms wildly.

Tuesday blushed crimson but was grinning as the crowd burst into laughter, Lady bowing her head in embarrassment at being associated with such a foolish pokemon. On top of Tuesday'd head, Tempest rolled her eyes in exasperation, but didn't do anything to stop the riolu's antics.

Tuesay saw Darryn waving and waved back with violent excitement, her shy nature fading in the rush of new information and awesome experiences. She blinked in surprise when Dante sauntered over and set her bag down beside her, and she turned slightly to see that Jaima was finally back.

And holding hands with Meiko.

Tuesday turned back around quickly, facing the arena, as she grinned widely and tried to hide a giggle. She thought Meiko might do something rash, like tickle her, if Tuesday started singing "Jaima and Meiko, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Though Tuesday was hard-pressed not to.

She didn't have to spend much more time restraining herself, however, as the introductions of both coordinators and pokemon began, and the match commenced!

Posted by: Living Arrow Aug 26 2009, 12:34 PM

When all four Pokemon came onto the battlefield, Darryn’s attention was completely taken away from the glitz and glare of his surroundings. The audience faded into a dull hum, their cries and cheers now a mere drone against the barrier that he had unknowingly placed around himself when the battle had started. The rapture of battle had claimed him and only one thing rested in his mind.

*Win win win win win!!!*

“I’ll let you take the first move, Dazzler.” Troy held his arms out in offering. “The first move could make or break you in a battle like this.”

Darryn snorted. “Or, it’ll just break you! Romeo use Swift attack on both your opponents! Zulu, follow it in with a Headbutt for the Donphan!”

A brilliant flash of yellow across the dark field announced Darryn’s Jolteon sprinting to the center of the arena at top speed, springing high to touch the top of one of the slate columns before spinning straight upwards like a golden corkscrew, firing star-shaped rays in swirling arcs towards his foes.

“Mawwie, swing your jaws in a big circle! Don, go into Rollout!” Troy commanded confidently, his Pokemon rushing into action.

Darryn inwardly grinned. Whatever Troy had planned, it wouldn’t work. Zulu was on his way in and…

“ZULU! MOVE IT!” Darryn yelled at the Cranidos down on the field who was looking around in wonderment at his surroundings. He had never seen so many lights and or people in one place and, naturally, it was confusing the poor fossil Pokemon. Darryn cursed.

“Doh?” Zulu dumbly looked around, completely perplexed as to where he was, despite being informed less than half an hour before...

Across the field, Mawwie swung her jaws into a wide lasso-type movement over her head, capturing the Swift stars in a mini cyclone that made them spin and spiral around her head like a little Halo. The light from the stars illuminated her body, showing off the gleam of her coat and the lustre of the skin on her jaws.

“Now, Bite them!” Troy called, his Mawile opening her jaws to catch all of the stars and chomp down on them hard. They shattered instantly, pouring between her teeth like glorious golden dust. A harsh “ddddrrrriiing!” announced the lost of points from Darryn’s side of the scoreboard.

Meanwhile, The Don had thrown himself into a full-bodied Rollout that wove its course around the slate pillars of the Hall’s field, a trail of golden Swift rays hurtling along in his wake. The stars slowly closed in as the Donphan raced around the arena, sharply turning a corner around a pillar at the last moment. The Swift rays, unable to change direction so quickly, moved in a large arc in the attempt to turn and ended up pelting into Zulu’s chin where he cried sorrowfully with the multiple unexpected impacts. Unhindered, The Don surged at the center of the field, smashing upwards through a slate pillar and hitting home on its target – Romeo.

“Damn it!” Darryn swore, gripping to the rail and watching his Contest points click away on the digital display.

“I hope that isn’t the best you’ve got, sweet cheeks.” Troy teased from his podium, taking the time to straighten his fringe and buff his nails.

“If you think that’s all I’ve got, then you’re wrong!” Darryn came back with the half-assed retort. After such a spectacular counterattack, he was losing confidence by the millisecond. Zulu, still wailing, was finally beginning to move around the field (albeit slowly) in search of his opponents. Romeo, already recovered from his injury, was atop another slate pillar, his eyes focused on the Mawile and Donphan over the tops of the other stone columns.

“Don, back in with the Rollout! Mawwie, let’s blast them with a Flash Cannon!” Troy ordered his next move while Darryn tried to come up with a plan.

“Maa!” Mawwie swung her jaws around her body, holding them as a human would a shotgun and prized the teeth apart to fire off a dazzling silver bolt of concentrated energy directly at Zulu who was gaped at it with awe. The Don, also focusing on the immobile Cranidos, came hurtling around the arena, directly for Darryn’s Pokemon.

“Zulu, just stand there and use Focus Energy! Romeo, get in close and use Protect!”

True to his speedy nature, Romeo bolted across the stone pillars in rapid bounds that were difficult for any spectator to see – a ball of lightning that disappeared and reappeared seemingly at will – and landed at Zulu’s feet. An emerald green bubble immediately sprang up around them just as the attacks came flying in. The Flash Cannon struck the shield hard, pausing only briefly before it was deflected right into the path of the incoming Donphan. Although The Don was not directly hit, the steel attack did manage to blast the ground out from under him, catapulting him high into the air above Darryn’s Pokemon. Points ticked away on Troy’s side…

“Craniii!” Blue energies coursed up through Zulu’s body to collate in his cranium where he stood proud, grinning that he had managed to execute the attack. Unfortunately for him, a Donphan was falling towards him. “Crani?”

“Teon!” Romeo shot away from the impact zone using his Quick Attack but Zulu wasn’t quick enough. The full 270 lbs of Donphan crashed down into him, sending up a cloud of debris that obscured them from view.

“Zulu!” Darryn cried desperately, hanging over the rail to try and see what had happened.

“Keep you eye on the game!” Troy laughed even as Mawwie came flying in from above, her jaws primed to Bite Romeo. The Jolteon’s ears twitched at the sound of his attacking fooe and his feeet acted accordingly. The massive pair of jaws swung on a tight arc but were expertly dodged time and again as the Mawile poured on the offensive, swinging and thrusting with her gaping maw and needle teeth.

“Keep dodging, Romeo!” Darryn urged his Pokemon but could see what the steel type was doing – she was backing Romeo up towards a slate pillar that would block any chance of dodging. The Jolteon ducked, slid and leapt over each attack with timed ease but, sure enough, his hind quarters hit cold stone. With a frightened “Jol!?” a huge pair of jaws descended upon him…

“Jol!”
”Maa!”

Darryn squeezed his eyes shut.

“CRANI!” A glowing white arm punched Mawwie straight in the face, her body flung away like a ragdoll before her jaws could come within two inches of Romeo’s neck. Her tan and grey body hurtled through the air before crashing through a slate pillar with a scream. More points counted down for Troy and the Leader grimaced in response.

“And would you look at that! It seems Darryn’s Cranidos was able to dodge The Don before it hit and so could find the timing to attack Mawwie and defend his team mate! Excellent teamwork from the Kellor side of the field! Now, let’s see how Troy responds!”

Darryn gulped and chanced a look at the clock. Three minutes remained.

*Come on, guys! We can do this!*

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 27 2009, 02:58 PM

"Sí! Go Zulu! Is your birthday! Fiesta like is your birthday!"

Zorro stood on the edge of the audience area, altering his cheering style. They were all watching Darryn and Troy's contest battle closely, and Zulu had just managed to dodge The Don's airbourne attack, and arrived in time to keep the mawile off of Romeo.

Zorro had been paying attention to the ripples around Tuesday, like hermano mayor told him to, and so he noticed his hermana's worry when Zulu simply stood there, looking around dumbly.

But not his hermana was grinning, and all was well.

Of course, part of her grinning (and the entire reason for her befuddled expression) might have been due to his new "cheering" style.

Dante, who had stopped watching the battle entirely to stare at Zorro in bewilderment, had long-since facepalmed at his antics.

Zorro didn't remember where he had first seen the style, but he remembered that he had never once lost love of it. Locking wasn't his forte, but when it came to Popping, he had more fun than a persian with a pidgey by the tail.

Tempest was still glaring at him, of course; angry at him for throwing his pompoms at her face. He thought he was pretty talented, to tell the truth. After all, how many cheerleaders did you know who could jump in the air and pull off their skirt before they hit ground again? Granted, as a riolu he had an advantage; he was so inexplicably awesome that gravity itself bowed before the brilliance of his being.

Popping was a lot more fun with music, of course, and that was one disadvantage, but he wasn't deterred. He moved his body quickly, relaxing his body and then tightening his muscles abruptly, quite possibly looking like he was having an entertaining seizure, but he thought it was amusing. It would be a lot more fun with music, true, but Zorro was content for the moment with just his ball cap. Yet another accessory that he could see his hermana was wondering the origin of.

"Eh! Rata, dance con me, sí?" He flashed Tempest what he thought must have been a tantalizing grin, as he popped his way over to her. He could see the vein showing in her head as she stood with her arms crossed, glaring, looking for all the world like she wished there weren't any witnesses about. Truthfully, he should have expected it, but he was basing his observations on the idea that he was irresistible, and so it came as a shock when Tempest kicked him soundly in the rear, knocking him off of the stands.

He looked up to see Tuesday leaning over the bar, looking at him in concern. He was aware, of course, of having some people paying attention to him, so he quickly rose to his feet and did and did a series of quick dance moves, popping like a funkstar.

He heard the click of an activated pokeball and sighed. "Another one bites the dust," he said, just before the red beam hit him and he was recalled soundly.

Standing on the railing of the audience seating, Tempest glared at the pokeball containing Zorro and growled softly. He was so... so... annoying!

"Stupid mutt," she growled.

There was the click and flash of a pokeball, and Zorro appeared beside her. "Tell me, Rata," he said, flashing her a grin. "You miss me, sí?"

"Gah!" Tempest slammed her tail down on his head as hard as she could and stalked off.

Zorro swept a paw across the top of his head suavely, before pulling his pirate hat out of who-knows-where and plopping it on his cranium. He grinned at the world at large, stretched, and nodded. "Sí. She like me."

Posted by: Living Arrow Aug 27 2009, 03:42 PM

“Don, use Earth Power! Help Mawwie Out!” Troy cried, his Donphan letting out a long wail as it threw its strength into the ground, erupting a slate column from its place rooted in the stage towards the flying Mawile. She got the movement and adjusted herself in the air, her feet connecting with the floating stone.

“Wha?” Darryn gasped, watching with awe as Mawwie used the flying slate platform as a springboard to jump right back at Romeo and Zulu.

“Flash Cannon!”

Mawwie swung her jaws to the forefront and gripped them like a true cannon in her small hands as they opened wide and spat a crackling silver beam of energy.

“Charge Beam!”

Romeo leapt to meet her, screaming his electrical attack back at his opponent with a thunderous furore. The thinner, yellow laser cut up through the fat beam emitted by the Mawile’s jaws, dispersing the shine into dazzling sub-rays that sparkled around Romeo’s spiked body like a mantle of glittering stars.

DRRRRRING! Points shot down on Troy’s side of the board, clearing Darryn’s opponent past the halfway mark. Darryn grinned and snatched a glance at his own side. A considerable amount of points was between them now – it was coming to the wire. Darryn was moments from winning and all it would take was a couple more effective combinations.

“Don’t get comfortable, Dazza!” Troy called from the other side of the field – a manic grin had spread on his face. “Points aren’t the only way to win this battle and you would do well to remember that I have these!” Darryn’s eyes widened as Troy unzipped the front of his leathers and pulled them apart to show off what was inside. Yes, the immaculate torso and gleaming sweat that ran around his cherryesque nipples and down his washboard abs was indeed impressive, but that wasn’t what Troy wanted Darryn to see. Not one. Not two. Not eight. Not sixteen. But twenty badges glittered along the inside of the Leader’s vestment.

“Four leagues and Leadership of the Arasam Gym for one year. I can battle in more than one style and that gives me every advantage! Don! Earth Power on the Cranidos!”

*More than one style?!... That means… He doesn’t care about the points anymore! He’s going for the knock-out!!!*

“Zulu! Hammer Arm on the Mawile!” Darryn cried in defence.

The Cranidos took off at a sprint, lowering his head into the charge as he bolstered one arm up with energy to deliver the crushing blow that would end the steel type’s movements. His focused was so driven that he didn’t realise the ground cracking along his path before it exploded upwards in a shower of razor-edged rain that climbed from the earth.

“CRANIII!” The fossil Pokemon wailed as it was hurled from its feet to crash harmlessly to the floor, next to the Mawile’s feet.

“Zulu! Get out of there!” Darryn hollered in vain as the Mawile turned its organic cannon on the rock type at her feet. “Romeo! Stop her!” Darryn’s Jolteon leapt into a flat-out sprint, a white trail blazing behind him as he Quick Attacked across the stadium. Those jaws opened wide and a silvery blast erupted forth.

EH-AAAAAH! The knock-out tone played harshly as large crosses appeared on the screens in front of each of the Judges.

“Cranidos is unable to battle!” Gillian announced, the crowd roaring with support for Troy.

“Zulu, return!” Darryn held up the Luxury Ball and quickly shoved it to his belt, trying to keep absolutely focused on Romeo and the rest of the match. “Romeo! Keep away from the Donphan, use Double Team!”

“Don! Rollout! Mawwie use Flash Cannon!”

“Joltee!” Romeo burst in all different directions at once, a spinning and shining Donphan rolling right through one of the copies was now standing. Blasts of silvery energy failed to hit their target as more and more copies of Romeo filled the arena, some leaping atop the slate spires to form a loose circle around Mawwie.

“Get them all!” Troy commanded, not waiting to form a proper combination.

“Romeo, time for Lightning Grove!” Darryn announced. His Jolteon leapt into action immediately, eight copies springing from lofty pillars of stone to scatter in the air around the Mawile on the ground. All eight opened their mouths and a stabbing needle of electricity shot down - a forest of Charge Beam slamming home into their target.

“MAAAA!” Mawwie’s scream split the air as she shook violently with the impact, forced to her knees and finally she fell completely.

“Mawwie, return! Don, use Earth Power on the Jolteon!”

“Romeo, no!” Darryn cried but it was too late. His Pokemon had focused so much on one target and used such an energy-demanding move that he was left completely open to any counter attack – including a super effective, powerful hit.

The Don screamed his attack, an eruption of the stage plummeling his target from below, making the Jolteon flip backwards through the air before landing harshly on his back. Spittle flew up from Romeo’s mouth as he struck terra firma, the wind knocking right out of him.

“Romeo, you’ve got to get up! We just need one more combo!” Darryn pleaded his partner, glancing again at the scoreboard to see Troy’s points wwwere holding on by a sliver while a third of Darryn’s remained intact.

“Finish it, now Don! Rollout!” Troy’s Donphan lauched itself back into a shiny spinning ball and rocketed across the arena, pieces of rubble from the battle flung out of the way as he roared towards the finishing blow.

“ROMEO!”

The Jolteon’s ears pricked up as the Donphan came surging in metre by metre until he was right on top of the fallen canine. Romeo’s eyes flashed once and a green bubble swelled from his chest, creating the Protect barrier just in time. The Don struck the shield with full power but was forced to rebound, giving Romeo time to try and stand…

“And that’s it, folks! Our Contest Battle is over!”

Darryn gasped with shock, searching around for what had brought Gillian to such a conclusion. Both Romeo and The Don were standing… Both Troy and Darryn had points left on the score board… The time was up! That was it?! Darryn won by a technical default?!

“I did it!!!” Darryn punched the air, spinning on the spot and letting out a ‘whoop!’ of triumph. Romeo was suddenly right there with him, prancing and dancing around his trainer’s feet, his tongue lolling out happily and his fur falling flat as the latent static electricity in him from the battle faded.

The stadium around them exploded with screams and applause but all Darryn could hear was the blood in his temples thumping its own beat of victory that he drank in greedily. He had done it. He had finally made his first achievement since becoming a Pokemon Trainer. He had done it all on his own and it felt so good.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 27 2009, 08:43 PM

"YAY!"

Tuesday was pretty sure that none of her companions, save Tempest and Dante, had ever heard her be so loud, but she was very excited. She had completely forgotten about the time limit in the midst of all the action, and having the battle abruptly ended had befuddled her. After all, Romeo's using Protect just in time was awesome, but the battle was just beginning!

But there were only five minutes on the clock, and those five minutes were up. The battle seemed to have been much shorter, in the same time that it seemed a great deal more time should have passed. A lot had occurred during the battle. Zorro still seemed slightly downtrodden about Zulu's getting knocked out. Tempest looked rather smug, however. Tuesday wondered if the two had some sort of bet going about who would remain standing at the end of it. To be entirely truthful, Tuesday hadn't known what to expect. She had never seen Zulu battle before, as she had been busy delegating the electric pokemon during the battle on Mount Carello. From what she had seen, the cranidos was very strong. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be the brightest crayon in the box.

Tuesday stood up when Meiko smiled at her as she walked passed. Jaima stopped beside Tuesday and smiled at her. "We're going to go congratulate Darryn before the ribbon ceremony," he explained. "I think we might be able to stand backstage and watch while they present Darryn with his prize."

"Great!" Tuesday chirped. She stood up, recalling Dante and the still-dancing Zorro into their pokeballs. Tempest, pleased at this development, leapt onto her shoulder, and Tuesday followed Jaima and Meiko out of the audience seating area.

Darryn had a huge grin on his face when they met up with him and was practically glowing in triumph. Tuesday grinned up at him, offering her congratulations in a "I knew you could do it! You were awesome!", complete with a happy little skip. She then ducked down to pet Romeo, as Jaima and Meiko offered their own congratulations.

They didn't have a lot of time to spend with Darryn, however, as only moments later, he was called back out. Jaima, Meiko, and Tuesday stood backstage, watching him through a window as he walked up to where Troy was standing in the center of the arena.

"Darryn Kellor," Troy began, his voice amplified by the microphone clipped to his ear, "it is with great pleasure that I present you this contest ribbon, for winning today's pokemon contest." He flashed a sultry grin. "And looking fine while you did it."

Tuesday snickered quietly, earning her glances from both Meiko and Jaima, while Tempest just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

Meiko giggled suddenly, catching onto the same thought process as Tuesday, only she was the one who mentioned it to Jaima. "How badly do you think Darryn is blushing right now?"

Darryn accepted his ribbon from Troy, and he was indeed blushing at the comment. The audience cheered loudly, and Jaima, Meiko, and Tuesday also applauded loudly, Darryn grinned as he walked back toward them with his ribbon.

"Hey, guys," he said, when they'd quieted down with some laughter, "I'm going to stay and talk to Troy for a bit. You can go on ahead to the pokemon center and I'll catch up."

"Yeah," Meiko said, winking, "let's leave Darryn some time with his boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Darryn said, but Meiko just laughed as she headed off. Tuesday grinned at Darryn and waved, before trotting after Jaima, following Meiko.

They made their way out of the pokemon centre, avoiding the crowd of exiting people only because they hadn't been on the stands after the ribbon ceremony. Tuesday had just remembered that Brone said there was a gift for her at the pokemon centre, when they were stopped by a police officer.

"Officer Jenny?" Meiko asked, as she stood the closest. "Can we help you with something?"

The officer narrowed her eyes. "Mister Kuonji?" she demanded.

Jaima stepped forward, surprised. "Yes, that's me."

"I have words for you, Mister Kuonji," Officer Jenny said in an aggravated tone, "and I didn't say them before because it wasn't the proper time or place, but your actions were ludicrous and something needs to be done." She pulled a pair of handcuffs off of her belt. "So I'm taking you in for questioning."

"Excuse me, what?!" Meiko demanded loudly, taking an aggressive step forward.

Jaima, however, remained calm. "On what charges, Officer?" he asked.

"Deception and neglect of a pokemon medical official," Officer Jenny prattled off as though she had recited it with an equally pissed off attitude.

"Can I get that in English, please?" Jaima asked calmly.

"You screwed around with my friend!" Jenny snapped angrily.

"He didn't screw around with anyone!" Meiko snarled.

"Are you kidding me?!" Jaima asked, ignoring the implications in favor of their ludicrousity. "You can't take me in for that!"

"The hell I can't!" she declared. "Jenny stopped me before, but now she's on leave. So I'm taking you in!"

"No one is touching Trainer Jaima!"

Tuesday twitched at the voice. It had been some time since she she'd heard Mercury speak, and the sound of the kirlia's defiant voice echoing in her mind was both welcoming and a surprise.

Tuesday watched as Shadow and Mercury both moved around Jaima and then swung in front of him, separating she, Meiko, and Jaima from Officer Jenny.

Shadow made a sound of agreement, and the two of them glared in defiance at the officer. Sitting on Tuesday's shoulder now, Tempest's cheeks sparked dangerously.

"Oh, come on, JenJen, must you?"

Tuesday looked to her right in surprise and caught sight of a boy standing there. He was taller than her (but who wasn't), but looked to be of a close age. He had fire-red hair that lay flopped upon his head like a slumbering flareon. He was gazing at Jenny with his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face.

Jenny bristled like a persian facing a poochyena with a spray bottle. "It's Officer Jenny, you little-"

"Oh, you've made Officer, then? I thought you were still a patrolgirl."

""Shut. Up."

He raised a hand and waggled a finger at her. "Tsk tsk, JenJen. Where's your professional conduct?"

Jenny balled her hands into fists and glared at him. "Reilly Coons! You pathetic, simpering little-"

She was interrupted by the boy's - his name was Reilly? - laughter. He shook his head, hair flopping every which-way. "So now we're using our rank for personal uses? You better be careful or someone will complain to your supervisor."

"I'm taking him in," Jenny growled, hands balled into fists at her sides. It was kind of funny, how someone at least four years younger than her could make her act so childish. Of course, she was acting immature to begin with...

Reilly walked over to the three of them, ignoring the protesting Jenny. "I may have to apologize for her, seeing as she's incapable of doing it herself."

"I have nothing to apologize for!"

"I'm Reilly Coons," he introduced himself, holding out a hand for Jaima, and then Meiko, to shake. Tuesday reached out to shake his hand, as well, but he ruffled her hair instead. "Heya, squirt."

Tuesday's eyes narrowed slightly and she resisted the urge to stomp her foot. "Squirt?!" she demanded, pushing his hand away. "I'm twelve!"

He stepped back and looked at her critically. "You don't look twelve," he said, and then smirked. "Maybe six."

Jaima glanced over at Meiko and raised an eyebrow, but the two of them remained silent to see how things would play out. Tuesday certainly wasn't being as silent lately as when they had both first met her.

Tempest let out a low, angry "chuuuuuu..." at this, electricity sparking at her cheeks as her fur stood on end.

Reilly smirked doubly. "Cute rat. What'd you do - feed her rawst berries to get her face to look like that?"

Tuesday hands balled into fists at that and she stepped forward angrily. "There is nothing wrong with Tempest!" she said loudly. "You take that back!"

He laughed. "Not if I mean it," he said, grinning. "She looks like she's got a temper on her. I wonder if it'd be any use to her."

"She can fight, if that's what you mean," Tuesday said, her anger fading slightly at the thought of a battle. She was still pondering over the idea of whether forcing pokemon to battle was barbaric or not, but from the way Tempest was shaking on her shoulder, it seemed like the pikachu was more than willing for a fight. And Tuesday wanted to prove to this boy that Tempest was not a weakling, and nor was she.

"Is that a challenge?" she asked, in what she hoped was a confident tone.

Reilly smirked. "Is that an acceptance?"

Tuesday chewed her lip for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah," she said, "it is."

He grinned. "Good then, some entertainment. So when I win, I want a picture of that pikachu. I'll send it off to a friend of mine, so she can see why you should never feed a pokemon rawst berries."

Tuesday clenched her fists at the insult to one of her best friends. "And when I win, I want you to apologize."

"Apologize?" He laughed. "For speaking the truth?"

Tuesday drew a deep breath. "Sometimes silence is better," she said softly.

Behind her, she heard Jaima say quietly, "In this case, I think Silence is always better."

Tuesday grinned, catching the hidden meaning in that statement. It gave her the confidence to begin the battle, and the knowledge to know that Jaima would stand with her as she battled.

"Four pokemon, then?" she asked, turning her eyes to Tempest.

"Four sounds good," Reilly commented, fingering his pokeballs. "I suggest two at a time. You won't be much of an opponent, but we can try to stretch this out a bit."

"PIKA!" Tempest snarled, bristling.

"Start planning that apology, Reilly," Tuesday suggesting, glaring in annoyance, "you have a lot to cover."

He chuckled. "We'll see." He tossed his pokeballs in the air. "Let's go!"

Posted by: Master Houndoom Aug 28 2009, 01:43 PM

Jaima began reflecting on his time in Arasam. It was full of ups and downs. He had been questioned for a long time by the police (That was a down). But they had made it to their deatination (That was an up (one must take ups where they can be found)). He'd had to speak with Joy (That was a down). But she was very nice about it (That was an up). He was still worried about this odd Team Deception (This would be a Down). But Grondir had evolved (That was an up)! Tuesday and Mercury had both been out of sorts (Down). He managed to win the Emberwing badge (Up)! Tuesday had run off (Down). But he'd gotten to finally talk to her about why she was upset (Up). Meiko was mad at him for a while (Down). She wasn't anymore (So. Very. Up.). Darryn had puked on Meiko's shoes. And she had fallen in it (If it had been anyone else, hilarious. But it was her. Down). He had still managed to win the Metalliclaw Ribbon (Up!)

*Crk-crk-crk-crk-clack!*

Well... that was a down.

Mercury's eyes flashed, and Shadow spun, but Jaima shook his head. Both glared at the Jenny behind him, who seemed smug. "You're coming with me."

"I'd like to watch the match," Jaima said calmly.

Jenny sneered. "I'd like for my friend not to have been hurt. Life sucks."

Meiko stomped over to them, speaking in low tones so as not to call attention from Tuesday's first match. "You are being rediculous," she hissed at Jenny. Jenny glared at her.

"If you'd like to come in, I can think up something for you. Obstruction of justice, perhaps!"

"That only works," snarled Meiko, "if Justice is being served! How about assaulting an officer?!"

Jaima sighed. "Meiko, please don't get yourself into trouble over me."

Meiko seemingly ignored him. "Did Joy put you up to this?!"

Jenny snorted a laugh. "Joy is too nice for her own good. She wasn't even upset at the last guy who did this!"

Jaima stiffened slightly, and Meiko's eyes narrowed. WIthout a word to Jaima, because it would have alerted Jenny, she spun and dashed back toward the building. Hopefully, Joy was still there. Hopefully Jenny was telling the truth, and Joy wasn't a part of this. Hopefully, Jaima could stall long enough for the two of them to get back...

As Meiko left, Jenny pulled against Jaima's arm. She was surprised when, instead of moving, he stayed still and she was neraly yanked off her feet. She scowled at the blonde boy.

"You're resisting arrest."

Jaima didn't look at her. "I told you, I'd like to see this match."

"And I told you you're coming with me!"

Again, Jaima didn't look at her, but seemed half smiling. "Maybe you should call for backup. I'm sure they'd understand, Patrolgirl..."

Jenny snarled, fists clenching and unclenching. "Fine," she said, finally. "Afterwards, I'm taking you in!"

* * * * *

"Joy!"

The nurse turned, surprised to see Meiko running up to her. The redhaired girl stopped next to her, panting slightly, and Joy gave her a moment to catch her breath. She was only slightly surprised to see that Meiko was stll wearing Jaima's shirt.

"Joy, there's an officer Jenny trying to arrest Jaima." Joy's face paled, and she squinted, her face wrinkling. "A young one. She's giving him a fake charge..."

Joy sighed. "I'm sorry, Meiko, I didn't ask her to do this. I was upset after I came to Arasam."

Meiko nodded, but her voice was filled with urgency. "I believe you. Please, help me fix this..?"

Joy looked at her, then nodded, walking back the way the other girl had come. "Of course. If she'll listen. Jenny is... head strong."

"So am I," Meiko said, dangerously. Or it would have been, if she'd managed to catch her breath.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 28 2009, 03:05 PM

"Start planning that apology, Reilly," Tuesday suggested, glaring in annoyance, "you have a lot to cover."

He chuckled. "We'll see." He tossed his pokeballs in the air. "Let's go!"

The first of Reilly's pokeballs opened with the sound of chimes dancing in the wind. Soft green light flashed, blinding Tuesday from seeing the pokemon that appeared.

"Listen up, Tiny, and I'll introduce you to your execution squad. First up on the team of your destroyer's is Princess Buttercup!"

The green light faded to reveal a green dog-like creature with yellow streaks on her head. Her pink tongue was lolling out of her mouth as she leapt from paw to paw, yipping happily, tal wagging with fervor. The red collar around her neck jingled and chimed as she moved.

Tuesday couldn't help but smile at the creature. She loved canine pokemon, and what a cute puppy. She had to remind herself that this was a battle. She'd gawk later. And then she'd sketch.

The second pokeball opened with a deep groaning sound that took only a minute for Tuesday to recognize. It was the sound that the Ents had made on Lord of the Rings, though, of course, the book had been much more informative than the movie. Still, she'd never forget the sound; it was unmistakeable.

Leaves burst into the air when the pokeball opened - crispy autumn leaves of multiple colors - and swirled around in the air, obscuring Tuesday's view.

"And allow me to introduce to you your second executioner! Welcome to the battle, Treebeard!"

Tuesday stared as the leaves began to disperse, expecting to see a massive tree before her, reminiscient of the great Ent in the book.

She was sorely disappointed.

"It's... tiny," she muttered.

"About the same size as you, actually," Reilly commented.

"I am not that small!" Tuesday yelled. "But I know just who to use against that little guy."

When it came to plants of any kind, there was one pokemon that Tuesday relied upon most of all. No matter what he came up against, he could always get the job done.

"All right, Tempest, you're on the dog. And for your... plant, Reilly, I'd like you to meet Dante, traverser of the nine circles of Hell!"

Reilly gave her a funny look. "What?" he asked.

Tuesday rolled her eyes. "Nevermind," she muttered, and tossed the pokeball.

Next to Reilly's animated pokemon entrances, the sound of Dante's pokeball phwishing open didn't seem all that grand. But the red light flashed and released the charmeleon, and that was all that mattered.

Dante leapt from foot to foot, dancing on the spot excitedly. Tempest leapt down from Tuesday's shoulder to crouch next to the charmeleon, ready to fight.

Jaima looked at the two of them, then looked at Meiko and shrugged. Raising a hand, he brought it down sharply as he had seen many referees do, and stated loudly, "Begin!"

That was all that was needed.

Tempest flew forward with obvious intent, her focus on the green dog pokemon. Dante, on the other hand, hung back, dancing lightly, awaiting orders.

For a moment, Tuesday entertained the thought of seriously getting a pokedex. She didn't know what sorts of moves her opponents would have, but now wasn't the time for wishes. It was time for action, as Tempest no doubt agreed.

"Pest, use thundershock!" she called, and heard the pikachu answer with an affirmative cry, leaping into the air and releasing an electric attack from her cheeks.

Reilly chuckled. "Buttercup, use tackle."

The dog barked soundly and leapt forward. The thundershock hit her, but didn't seem to have any effect other than to spark along her body.

Tuesday's mouth dropped open. "Wha?"

Then the dog slammed into Tempest, throwing the pikachu back with an angry cry. Tempest rolled end over end, before catching her bearings and getting back on her feet.

Reilly laughed. "You should know what you're up against before you send your pokemon to their doom," he commented snidely, "not that you ever had much of a chance to begin with." He grinned. "Princess Buttercup is an electrike, since you're obviously unaware - an electric type pokemon. Electric attacks won't have much effect on her. Better luck next time, Smallstuff."

"Stop calling me names!" Tuesday snapped. "Tempest, use quick attack. Dante, you're on the tree." The boy could be cocky all he wanted about Tempest facing his electrike, and he was right - electric attacks wouldn't have as much of an effect on another electric pokemon. However, he was out of luck when it came to his other pokemon. Dante decimated plant pokemon, and there wasn't any hope for them. "Ember, Dante!"

Dante ran forward, claws hanging at his sides as he dashed quickly across the way, head bent down. He drew a deep breath as he ran and then jumped when he reached Treebeard, raising his head and spitting out a burst of flames.

Tuesday laughed. "Gotcha!" she said.

Reilly smirked. "Really, now?"

Dante landed with a growl and a hiss, leaning to the side and grinning as the flames dissipated. To their complete surprise, the creature just blinked at them. "Bon?" it asked, as though it had expected something much more elaborate. "Bonbon ly!"

Reilly laughed outright. "You should really consider going back to school and starting your pokemon journey when you grow up!" he said. "Treebeard is a bonsly - a rock-type pokemon. Your fire attacks won't be that effective." He smirked. "You're making this real easy on me, Tiny. Don't you have anything worth my time?"

Tuesday clenched her fists in outward defiance, but Reilly's words made her wonder. Maybe this was a mistake. She hadn't ever seen either of the pokemon that he was using, and had thus been unprepared. She was putting her pokemon in danger because of her ignorance.

Jaima cleared his throat and Tuesday turned to look at him. His hands were behind his back and Officer Jenny was standing close to him, but he seemed calm. "Not all pokemon are limited by type, are they, Tuesy?"

No, Tuesday thought, they're not, but...

A pokeball on Tuesday's belt abruptly burst open, and Zorro appeared in a flash of red light. He stood next to Tuesday, gazing at the occurring battle, and grinned. He looked at Tuesday, grinned, saluted, and pulled his ballcap out of nowhere. Then, to Tuesday's complete embarrassment, he began that strange dance style that he had been doing at the contest battle, after the regular cheerleading became boring.

Tuesday stared at him for a long time, watching him dance and grin, and she couldn't help but smile. He never let anything get him down, did he? Well, she ought to take something from this, then. Zorro was standing at her side, cheering on his comrades (even if oddly) and having faith in them. The least she could do was the same.

Not all pokemon are limited by type.

Tuesday gasped suddenly. Of course!

She turned back to the battle, grinning. "Dante, use Dragon Rage!"

Dante danced from foot to foot in a circle. When he had moved in an entire circle, he threw his head up, and blue fire erupted in a twister around his body. With a snarl, he brought his head down in the same moment that he took an aggressive step forward, and the blue flames exploding forward.

The bonsly cried out in surprise, just before the flames struck and surrounded him.

Reilly snapped his teeth together, obviously not having expected that, nor liking it. "Treebeard, use low kick!" he cried, when the flames dissipated.

"Jump, Dante!" Tuesday cried.

Dante kicked off the ground, but slapped and dragged his tail against the ground, throwing up dirt. When the bonsly dashed forward with his low kick, he slid right into the dirt and it got into the creature's eyes, causing him to cry out.

Dante grinned then, a toothy smile that Tuesday didn't see often, but which always meant he had something up his proverbial sleeve.

What are you planning, Dante? she wondered.

Crouched on his hind legs, the charmeleon drew back his right arm, claws splayed. "Char," he hissed, and his claws began to glow white and seemed to lengthen.

"What is that?!" Tuesday asked.

"Meeeeeeeeeleon!" Dante clawed, and slashed his claws forward, slicing into the bonsly. Treebeard cried out as the white claws struck him, and was thrown backward with the force of the attack.

He hopped to his feet moments later, but the attack had obviously done a number on him.

Tuesday was gaping. "Dante! Since when do you know Metal Claw?" Dante turned and flashed her a triumphant grin, proud of himself, before dashing after the bonsly.

"Sounds good to me," she said. "Metal Claw again, Dante!" She turned to Tempest, finding she and the electrike circling each other like stalking luxrays. "Tempest, quick attack!"

"Chu!"

"Quick attack away, Buttercup!"

The electrike dodged expertly, then came up behind Tempest and slammed her in the back with a tackle. The pikachu landed, spinning to hiss at the canine, and quick attacked forward, this time connecting.

This is tedious, Tuesday thought. Electric attacks aren't that effective, so we've been reduced to physical attacks. I don't have a ground-type pokemon, so there's no pokemon I can call out who would have an advantage over his. But at this rate, Tempest is just going to tire herself out, and if I need her later...

Tuesday thought about the possible pokemon she could call out. Zorro was right there, dancing beside her, and the types of pokemon that he was weak to weren't out on the field, if Reilly had any flying or psychic types. But Zorro wouldn't have an advantage over the electrike, either, and she might need him later. He was fast, of course, but... she didn't know what other pokemon she would be up against.

That left one option.

"Tempest!" she called. "Get back here and take a break."

"Chu!" Tempest cried in defiance, obviously feeling like she was being replaced.

"Pest!" Tuesday said, "Tag Team!"

Tempest glanced back at her and took a moment to consider the implications. The idea of a tag team battle, however, didn't seem nearly as bad as her being replaced, so she dashed back to Tuesday and leapt up onto her shoulder. Tuesday raised the pokeball in her hand up to Tempest, and the pikachu slapped a paw against the ball.

Tossing the pokeball in the air, it burst open. Tuesday wished she had some fancy opening for her pokemon, because she was certain Wraith, who already looked brilliant upon entering, with his beautiful cream coat contrasted by his black mane and tail, would appear amazing with a musical entourage.

Still, it caused her to smile when she heard Reilly gasp at the sight of the black-flamed ponyta, rearing as he whinnied loudly, kicking out his forelegs and tossing his head.

"You're positively brilliant, Wraith," Tuesday whispered, still in awe at the beautifully-dark pokemon. Wraith whinnied, ears swivelling to hear Tuesday.

Beside her, Zorro leapt into the air with a happy cry, pleased to see Wraith again. The ball cap disappeared and was quickly replaced with his cheerleading outfit. Zorro pulled a pair of pompoms out of seemingly nowhere, and began to dance and wave them around wildly, cheering.

Wraith let out a sound much like a snicker, and Tuesday smiled. "All right, Wraith, you're on the electrike. Ember!"

Half-rearing with a whinny, Wraith leapt forward, firing off an ember attack at the electric dog. The puppy dodged with a quick attack at Reilly's command, and came back with a tackle attack.

Wraith staggered as the attack caught her in the side. Snorting angrily, she turned and fired off another ember attack, and dodged the electrike's incoming quick attack, before kicking the dog harshly when she bucked.

Tuesday turned to see Dante use Metal Claw again on the bonsly, and the rock-type pokemon that looked like a grass-type staggered as he got shakily to his feet. This looked almost to be done.

"Treebeard, use rollout!" Reilly called, sounding worried.

Rollout? Tuesday chewed her lip. "Dante, dragon rage!"

"Meeeeeeeeee!" Dante cried, throwing his arms wide as though begging for a hug. He made a sound like laughter, and Tuesday had no doubt that he knew exactly what his cry sounded like to them. Arms still spread wide, he danced in a circle again, firing off a blue twister of flames at the bonsly, causing the creature to cry out.

When the flames dissipated, the bonsly staggered for a moment, before fainting in defeat.

Reilly stepped forward quickly and scooped the bonsly up into his arms, moving back to where he had been standing originally. He "hmphed" at Tuesday, rubbing his pokemon's back and muttering something too low for her to hear to it, before recalling the pokemon. Looking slightly put-out but unwilling to admit her success, he grabbed another pokeball. "I guess it's time to up the stakes," he said. "It's time to wash away the competition! Let's go, Boromir!"

He tossed out the pokeball and it exploded open with the sounds of a horn. The Horn of Gondor, to be precise. Tuesday gaped. Did this kid name all of his pokemon off of books, too? She'd have to ask him, once he wasn't an enemy anymore.

That meant, of course, after the battle.

The flashing likes, like multiple explosions or tiny fireworks, vanished, revealing an orange and cream colored pokemon that stood on two legs. Tuesday stared at it. It was positively adorable!

"Boromir!" Reilly cried. "Water Gun!"

Posted by: Living Arrow Aug 29 2009, 05:29 PM

The Ribbon Award Ceremony was a whirlwind of lights, cameras, microphones and shouting onlookers in Darryn’s mind – a insane cacophony that he…. absolutely… ADORED!!! Troy stood there, smiling at him with that gorgeous grin of pearly whites while presenting him with the Metalliclaw Ribbon of Arasam. Darryn stared down at it in awe – the wickedly hooked golden claw pin framed by red ribbons with white stars. It seemed to be the ultimate testament to Troy – a flashy ribbon gripping the cruel claw that represented his harsher side of battling from his days as a trainer. It was magnificent.

Darryn’s friends collated around him, all giving their heart-felt congratulations and he accepted them all graciously, glad that he had people behind him and supporting his latest venture. He let them begin the walk back to the Pokemon Center alone and instead went to find Troy to thank him for the opportunity for the Ribbon. Troy, however had other plans.

“Now, let’s get out of here and make nice after our first falling out.” Troy said under his breath as the cameras went over to Gillian Meridian to close the show. He winked suggestively and ran his tongue over his teeth.

“Falling out?” Darryn frowned. “But we-”

“You knocked out my two favourite Pokemon, bitch. We totally need to make up!” Troy insisted, his hand insisting that Darryn follow him as it gripped his belt tightly.

Darryn gulped.

Anyone casually passing the men’s bathroom after the closing ceremonies would have noticed that the janitors had proclaimed it out of order and the door locked accordingly. Now, anyone passing that same door with their wits about them would have been able to hear the sounds coming from inside. Sounds that would make toes curl and hair stand to attention… Not that anything else should be standing to attention…
The door clicked unlocked and the door opened slowly, a beautifully handsome face scanning the surroundings with shining icy eyes. Troy ducked back inside quickly.

“Is anyone there?” Darryn asked, still panting slightly as he pulled up his jeans and straightened his hair. Troy sauntered over and said nothing, merely fixing Darryn with a paralysing stare of seduction before pulling his body close once more and forcing his mouth against Darryn’s.
Darryn closed his eyes and accepted the warm embrace, enjoying the feel of Troy’s hot wet mouth against his and moaning painfully as Troy pulled away and handed Darryn his shirt. Troy, somehow, had managed to get all of his own attire back on in record timing and Darryn was about to find out why.

“Go meet your adoring fans!” Troy announced, dragging a shirtless Darryn to the door and pushing him outside to a pack of screaming girls.

Darryn’s face reddened in an instant, his shirt donned faster than Romeo getting to his breakfast, trying anything to maintain even one piece of dignity that he had left. His new fans squeezed in around him, thrusting autograph books in his face and holding cameras aloft, begging for a photo with their new favourite Co-ordinator.



By the time Darryn managed to free himself from a set of screaming pre-teens who were convinced they were going to marry him, the redness in his cheeks had faded and all he was left with was thoughts of abusing Troy the next time he saw him. Abusing him in the fun way and the not fun way…

He got outside to find, much to his surprise, Tuesday mid-battle with some red-headed little trainer with an Electrike and a Buizel. Neither seemed very impressive. Darryn came up alongside Jaima and folded his arms.

“So, what did I miss?” He asked.

Jaima looked him up and down quickly. “Well, while you were clearly redressing yourself after your boyfriend had finished with you, Tuesday managed to get herself into a Tag Battle with this kid… You were quite quick… I hope Troy isn’t a disapp-”

“Thank you, Jaima!” Darryn stopped, that blush of embarrassment returning instantly. “But I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Jaima pointed at the label on his shirt… he was wearing it inside out… Darryn gave in.

“Not disappointing at all, actually.” He stuck his tongue out at him playfully and they turned their full attention back on the match.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Aug 29 2009, 06:12 PM

Jaima's eyes actually rolled, but he had to grin. It was nice to see Darryn more comfortable with himself. At least one of the two of them should be.

Darryn had been stressed out before, but was now the picture of relaxation. Jaima thought it probably had a lot to do with the person Meiko insisted was Darryn's boyfriend, but also thought it had a little bit to do with the fact that he had excelled in an arena and piossibly even found where his talent lie. And that was always a good thing.

He could feel the glare of Jenny on his shoulder, but kept his attention on the battle. This Reilly boy was good (... wait, did he just say 'this reilly boy'? He was turning into his father!). Tuesday was showing herself admirably adaptive and had already knocked out the young man's (ok, stop now, you're just doing that on purpose!) bonsley, but the appearance of a water type caused her to tense up. Jaima had a brief, queasy feeling that it had nothing to do with the fact that both of her types on the field were fire types.

Jaima squirmed against the cuffs. They were starting to chafe.

* * * * *

Meiko and Joy walked, quickly, to where the battle was taking place, and Meiko could have sworn she heard a huff of, "I should have known," before the nurse moved to pass her. She came up next to Jenny and asked, very calmly, "What are you doing, Jennifer?"

Jenny's head whipped around, and she actually blinked before forcing her face to set. "He can't just get away with it."

"With what, Jennifer?"

Meiko took a look at the battle. Tuesday was sweating, and there was an electric type and a cute(!) water type on the field opposing her magnificent ponyta and her charmeleon. Bad situation, but at least Dante hadn't evolved yet, or she'd be facing a double type disadvantage. Tuesday's hands whipped to her belt, but a raised voice to the side distracted her from the battle.

"You're too forgiving, Joy! He's just like the last one! Just like Jamie!"

Jamie? Really?

Joy sighed. "Jamie was cruel and wanted me to sleep with him. He left when he couldn't. Jaima left to go and find his cyndaquil. It's too different things."

Jenny's voice roughened. "And why didn't he contact you? When you mailed him, why didn't he at least mail back and say 'nah'?"

"Because he was involved in the Team Deception attack on the mountain, and, evidently, a small matter that hurt him badly before that." Joy looked at Jenny evenly. "We've spoken, and I believe him... and," she blushed, "I'm already seeing someone else."

Jenny gaped at her. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

Joy actually smiled, albeit sheepishly. "Because..."

Jenny seemed to catch something that Meiko couldn't. "No! I hate when you do that, Joy! We've known each other a week!"

"But his friend is so nice!"

Meiko rolled her eyes and turned back to the battle, sidling between Darryn and Jaima. Jaima leaned over. "Man, I thought it was going to get ugly there for a moment. I've never seen Joy get that angry..."

Meiko scowled, looked at Darryn, then burst out laughing. She leaned to the co-ordinator and whispered, "Not your boyfriend, huh?"

"Shut up!"

"Can I have your autograph, you're my favorite co-ordinator," she giggled.

Jenny cleared her throat. "Mr... Kuonji. I'm sorry for..." She sighed. "Just let me get my cuffs..."

Jaima held them out to her, smiling a bit. "Thank you, Mercury," he said, seemign to enjoy Jenny's stunned look. Jenny snatched them from his hand and snarled. "I'm still watching you, and you're little Team Rogue!"

Jaima gaped. As did Meiko. "You were the one who called us that first," she called to Jenny's retreating back.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 30 2009, 11:20 AM

The water gun attack was aimed at Dante, but the attack missed when a fierce beam of red light consumed Dante, sucking him back into his pokeball at the same time that Wraith disappeared into hers. Tuesday stood with a pokeball in either hand, face pale. She knew that she was being ridiculous – a water gun attack wasn’t going to kill either Dante or Wraith, unless the otter pokemon aimed directly at the flame on Dante’s tail, and even then…

Old habits died hard, however, and water still frightened Tuesday, along with the chance of Dante specifically losing his tail flame. There had been too many close calls…

“Are you surrendering, then?”

Tuesday looked up at the voice, spotting Reilly directly across from her. He looked a bit confused, but mostly amused, a grin spread across his face.

Tuesday shook her head, but knew that showing him that she was afraid was something that she would never live down. “No,” she stated firmly. “I have someone else who will handle your water pokemon a bit better. That’s all.”

“Is it?” Reilly asked snidely.

“Shut up,” Tuesday muttered. “Tempest?”

“Chu,” the pikachu replied, bouncing out to the field.

“Didn’t we see this dance already?”

“Shut up!” Tuesday snapped. She turned to Zorro. “You up for it, Zorro?”

“Riiiiiiiiiiiiii!” Zorro cried happily and nearly leapt out of his cheerleading outfit. He bounded excitedly into the field and slid to a stop, grinning.

“Finally,” Reilly muttered, making Tuesday grit her teeth. Normally she was calm enough during a battle. What was it about this kid?

“Pest, you’re on the water pokemon-“

“He’s called a buizel,” Reilly informed her. “God, don’t you know anything?”

“I’m not from here,” Tuesday muttered.

“Neither is he.” He rolled his eyes. “Stupid kids.”

Tuesday snapped her teeth together. “Tempest, Thundershock! Zorro, use Force Palm!”

Tempest leapt forward with an angry cry and charged the buizel, leaping into the air and firing off a thundershock attack. The buizel dodged swiftly and came back with a water gun attack on command, which struck the still airbourne Tempest, but didn’t do much but toss her backward.

She landed on her feet and rushed the otter pokemon, electricity curling around her body as she sped seemingly into a quick attack. Her fur stood on end, and when she struck the buizel, it was with a physical and elemental attack. The buizel was flung back with a cry, and Tempest rolled backward as well, shaking her head dizzily as she stood.

“Tempest!” Tuesday yelled. “Stop using that move!”

“Chu,” Tempest muttered, and quick attacked the rising buizel.

Meanwhile, Zorro was dancing and dodging the attacks from the electrike, having a good ol’ time making the dog pokemon dizzy running circles around her.

“Quick attack, Zorro!”

Zorro, who had leapt over the electrike’s head to land behind her, rushed forward and slammed into the pokemon, bowling the canine paws over head. The electrike yelped loudly, but got to her feet.

Zorro stuck out his tongue and danced on the spot.

“Buttercup, use Swift!”

“Ri?” Zorro yelped loudly when the golden stars struck him despite his attempt to dodge. He hit the ground and rolled to his feet, shaking his head out and looking flustered and embarrassed. His eyes narrowed. Oh, and angry.

“Force Palm, Zorro!” Tuesday said, and the riolu threw his hand forward, blasting the electrike off of her feet.

Behind Tuesday, her trio of friends stood watching. Tuesday heard Jaima say something about her doing a good job and she smiled. She heard Darryn mutter something, and then the sound of a mechanical voice speaking as he used his pokedex.

”Riolu, the emanation pokemon. It has the peculiar power of being able to see emotions such as joy and rage in the form of waves. Known attacks include Quick Attack, Foresight, Endure, Counter, Force Palm, Feint, Reversal, Bullet Punch, and Vacuum Wave.”

Tuesday blinked. She had never heard of some of those attacks before, but…

“Zorro, use Bullet Punch!”

“Olu ri!” he cried, leaping forward. His paws moved quickly, causing the electrike to yelp and try to escape, but she couldn’t.

“Buttercup, quick attack away!”

“Reversal, Zorro!”

Zorro moved quickly, twisting and thrusting both paws out together, hitting the electrike in the chest.

The dog pokemon flew back with a yelp, landing on the ground a rolling to a stop, unconscious.

Reilly growled as he recalled his fainted Buttercup. “This isn’t over, yet,” he said.

Tuesday grinned. “Good. I’m not done having fun, yet.”

Posted by: Master Houndoom Aug 30 2009, 09:21 PM

Jaima's brow raised. Tuesday's double recall, while unexpected, was understandable. She'd told him flat out she feared water, and it made sense that she would fear it even more when it came to her fire types. Sending in Tempest was, of course, the best possible move, and he'd been eager to see how Zorro would do taking commands. Up until now, the riolu had only fought freestyle.

And danced. That riolu was dynamite!

Shadow, too, seemed eager, but not to watch Zorro. He wasn't so much bouncing as he was swaying, and watching Tuesday as if to see what she would do. His eyes were half lidded, unfocused, but Jaima didn't really worry much about that. As a riolu, he had often seemed not to be watching but still dodging blows during their training. Whatever senses he must have were probably enhanced since his evolution.

Mercury floated at his shoulder, and when he looked at her, she smiled at him. He couldn't help but smil back. He'd been worried, so worried, since Carello, but now she seemed all right. He reached out mentally, like a blind man in an empty room, and she met him half way, taking in his pride and relief that she was all right.

Grondir sat on his feet. Not at, on, but Jaima wasn't compaining. He had a feeling that it was Grondir's weight more than Jenny's lack of strength that kept him in one place, and he was happy for it. True, it was a bit of rebellion, and it was probably a bad thing to encourage, but his pokemon had been subtle and passive, despite looking liek they'd been about to attack. Officially, he should be stern with them, but he was secretly pleased.

Meiko pressed against his side, and Jaima fought a blush. He looked down at her just as she looked up. She was in his silk shirt, her arms bent over her chest, and her shoulders were hunched. Jaima hadn't sent Mercury to her room as he'd planned, mainly because Meiko hadn't asked, but also, secretly, because he enjoyed the sight of her in his shirt, and it covered her well enough, the hem of it going almost to her knees. A guilty pleasure, but she hadn't complained. He put an arm around her and pulled her closer, and when she blinked in confusion (happy confusion, he hoped he was seeing) he smiled a bit, feeling heat in his face. "You looked cold."

Meiko flushed and smiled, then nodded, turning her attention back to the battle. "Thank you."

Jaima swallowed thickly, well aware that he was snuggling a girl with his ex-girlfriend (and the friend of the ex-girlfriend who would love to see him tossed out a closed window onto sharp, pointy spikes for hurting her friend) within feet of him. He couldn't bring himself to look at Joy, both for fear that she'd be upset, and that it would look as if he were being smug. So he turned his mind to other matters.

"Tuesday's doing a really good job. Much better than I did in my first battle..."

Meiko looked up at him, then back at the match. Darryn tutted.

"She shouldn't let Tempest use a move like Volt Tackle," he muttered, "unless it's going to get her the win. It's too risky."

Jaima opened his mouth, but it was Meiko that answered. "Something tells me, Ribbonboy, that Tempest doesn't give Tuesday a choice in the matter."

The two carried their conversation too low for Tuesday to hear, and Darryn raised his pokedex, pointing it at the riolu. It seemed almost too loud when it listed off the riolu's moves, but it still peaked Jaima's interest.

"I really need to get a pokedex," he said. "Luck isn't going to win me any more badges." He looked at Darryn. "Zorro's pretty well trained. I've never heard of Vacuum Wave or Bullet Punch. Can you check Shadow for me?"

Darryn nodded absently, but made no move, intent on the battle. Finally, Shadow, smirking in good humor, stepped in front of Darryn's pokedex, which automatically took a reading.

Lucario, the Aura Pokemon. By sensing the aura of its opponents, Lucario can read their thoughts and movements. Known attacks include Force Palm, Detect, Foresight, Metal Claw, Quick Attack, Counter, Hi Jump Kick, Mind Reader, Bone Rush, and Dark Pulse.

Jaima blinked, but Shadow only nodded and stepped away.

Joy leaned in to look at Shadow. "Is that the riolu you had in Lenoilia? I had wondered, but now I'm certain: one of his parents was a medicham." She nodded. "It explains his serenity. Most riolu are... well," she giggled, "not as bad as Miss Berdison's, but fiesty nonetheless."

Jaima smiled at her, then turned back to the match. Reilly was either a tactical genius, or a little twerp, he wasn't sure, but he could tell one thing; he could get Tuesday riled up like Jaima'd never seen her before.

"Guys," whispered Meiko, just loud enough to be heard by the two boys she stood between. "Tuesday's birthday is soon... any ideas?"

"I have one," Jaima said. "It's not much, but I think she'll like it."

Meiko nodded. "I have to do some shopping tomorrow. Can we get a cake..?"

"We'll sort it out before we leave. And if it embarrasses her, that's what she gets," Jaima said, flashing a toothy grin, "for not telling us."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Aug 31 2009, 08:17 PM

Reilly growled as he recalled his fainted Buttercup. “This isn’t over, yet,” he said.

Tuesday grinned. “Good. I’m not done having fun, yet.”

Reilly tossed his fourth pokeball into the air. “Come on out and let’s get ‘em, Lestat!”

Tuesday blinked. “You named your pokemon after a vampire?”

The pokeball opened to the single simple of an organ playing a deep, eerie note, and a thin, grey fog rolled out across the ground. With a pokemon named after the sadistic vampire from Anne Rice’s novels, Tuesday was expecting something massively powerful, like a Salamance or a Tyrannitar.

Not… a doduo.

“Dodo,” the bird’s one head said.

“Duo,” said the other.

Tuesday blinked. “Well, that was anti-climactic.” True, the bird was an odd coloring, no doubt caused by a similar gene defect to the one that Wraith had, but that didn’t change the fact that she had been expecting something far more… impressive.

“Don’t count us out based on looks, Tiny,” Reilly said with a grin. “Let’s go, Lestat. Use Peck on that riolu!”

“Aw, crap, flying type moves,” Tuesday said, resisting the urge to smack herself in the head. How could she have forgotten that for even a moment? “Zorro, dodge it and use Force Palm!”

“Ri riiiii!” Zorro cried, leaping backward, hitting his paws against the ground, and then leaping and flipping over the doduo. He threw his right paw downward and struck the two-headed bird with a Force Palm that knocked Lestat off his feet. Zorro twisted gracefully and landed on his feet, facing the bird as he rose again to his feet, both heads looking unhappy.

“He is fast,” Reilly commented, “but Lestat wasn’t named so just because I like the character. Lestat, be a Brave Bird for me, would you?”

Brave Bird? Tuesday wondered.

With a cry, the doduo rushed forward, his body being surrounded by flames. His speed seemed into increase as he ran straight at Zorro, and then the flames vanished to reveal the doduo surrounded by a fierce blue light.

“Dodge it, Zorro!” Tuesday said.

“Too slow,” Reilly sang, just before Lestat crushed his body into the riolu, sending Zorro flying with a pained cry.

The riolu landed on the ground and rolled to a stop. Tuesday bit her lip when he didn’t get up, but then Zorro groaned and began to push himself to his feet, looking displeased.

Tuesday sighed with relief. “We’re not through, yet, Reilly,” she said confidently.

“Not yet,” Reilly said snidely. “Lestat, Brave Bird again!”

“Tempest!” Tuesday cried. “Thundershock on the doduo! Protect Zorro!”

Protect the mutt? Tempest asked with disgust. “Lovely.”

With a sigh, she shocked the buizel once more for good measure, before leaving him to recover and rushing over to the bird pokemon flying across the ground at Zorro. Tempest leapt into the air and released electricity from the sacs in her cheeks, causing the doduo to shriek as electricity coursed through his body. He flew off course in his attempt to escape, and Tempest landed defensively in front of Zorro.

Zorro grinned. “Should you no be behind me?” he asked.

Tempest turned and gave him a confused look. “I’m protecting you, stupid.”

“Sí, but if you behind me, can look at mi butt while save it.”

Tempest’s eyes narrowed. “And why would I want to look at your ass?”

Zorro grinned. “Because I sexy and you like it.” He yelped as he dodged the thundershock sent in his direction, and then ducked under a quick attack. “You no attack me! We allies!”

“Allies!” Tempest snarled, chasing after him with electricity sparking at her cheeks. “Not friends! Now come back here so I can hit you!”

“No! I no stupid!” Zorro yelled.

“That’s a matter of opinion!”

“Tempest! Stop it!”

The concern and even fear that they could hear in Tuesday’s voice in that small proclamation caused Tempest to stop, but not soon enough to see the danger looming their way.

Lestat the doduo flew in with blue light consuming him, racing right past the startled pikachu and slamming into Zorro, sending the riolu flying.

“Lestat! Fury attack!” Reilly cried.

With a cry, the doduo raced forward and leapt into the air, pecking repeatedly at Zorro with his sharp beak. Zorro cried out as he was struck, unable to dodge with the doduo’s claws wrapped around his arms. He hit the ground and rolled, staggering to his feet weakly.

Tempest, panting, raced forward, electricity sparking at her cheeks and curling around her body as she fell into the attack that Tuesday had long since forbidden her from using. Tuesday’s attention was so focused on Zorro, however, faced up against a pokemon with a severe type advantage, that she didn’t even yell at Tempest for initiating the attack.

Not that she got to go through with it, anyway.

Tempest leapt into the air, aimed at the doduo. There was a tornado of water, however, and a cry of “BUI!,” and a cream and orange soaked blur flew into her, knocking her off of her course and sending her and her attacker rolling.

The buizel pushed itself to its feet, electricity sparking around it as it moved slowly, flinching. Tempest leapt to her paws and turned in time to see the doduo send Zorro crashing to the ground with a well-aimed peck attack.

The riolu made no smartass comment or cocky retort, and didn’t even try to get up.

The doduo snapped its beak sharply and turned away from the riolu as though it was a creature of no consequence.

There was the familiar click and fwish of a pokeball recalling a pokemon, and Tempest saw, out of the corner of her eye, Tuesday holding Zorro’s pokeball close.

Her eyes narrowed. If Zorro hadn’t been so arrogant-

No. She was supposed to protect him. Flying pokemon were to Zorro what she was to water pokemon. Stronger, faster, better. She was supposed to protect him. Allies.

The doduo had made her a failure in that.

Tempest’s eyes narrowed and she ignored the sound of another pokeball opening and releasing a new ally, as she turned her attention to the doduo. The bird took an abrupt step back at her glare.

“You’re going to pay for that, featherbrain.”

Posted by: Master Houndoom Aug 31 2009, 09:48 PM

Joy nibbled her thumbnail. It was a nasty habit that her mother and sisters had all suggested at one time or another that she try to stop, but nothing worked. Besides, her eldest sister Joy bounced her leg when she was nervous, and her second eldest sister Joy snorted when she laughed. So what was one little quirk?

She had no real reason to be nervous. She and Jaima, who stood to her right, had resolved any issues between them. Nevermind that he was standing right here in black pants and a tank top, with the girl who'd supposedly replaced her.

No. She should be ashamed of herself for thinking that. Jaima was a good person, but there was never really any hope of the relationship lasting, He had been distraught when he'd turned his eye to her, and like any good Joy, she had been what he needed at the time. He'd never admit it, and that's part of what made him such a good person, but he had, with her permission, used her.

The secret was, the one thing that most people didn't quite understand, was that she had used him as well, and, if she didn't know better, that he had let her do it.

But that was silly, to think that. Not many had what it took to be the comfort of a Joy on purpose. Maybe Father. Maybe.

And Reilly, when he wasn't hiding behind his bravado and proving to people that not all of the children of the Nurse Family were caregivers, would have been too, if he wasn't related. So Joy, to whom he was closest, would have to look out for him.

What were sisters for?

* * * * *

What... was the little twerp doing here?! Jenny had been so excited when she'd heard Joy was coming from Sunyshore city to help her sisters, cousins, and aunts. Just like Jenny herself had! But then she'd been stationed in Lenoilia, which was no place for a sweet, innocent prson like Joy! She'd had to work hard, and wheedle, and even throw a tantrum or two before Aunt Jennifer would talk to the head Joy and get her transferred.

She had no idea that her little bratty brother would be following along!

Jenny sighed. Maybe her sisters/cousins/aunts were right. Maybe she should pay more attention. She'd been wrong about this Jaima person (though, still, the way that OTHER girl was hanging off of him RIGHT in front of Joy set Jenny's teeth on edge), she'd been wrong about who caused the trouble on Mt. Carello, and she hadn't seen Reilly coming. Was se losing her touch?

She watched the little girl (who couldn't be more than 6) battle Reilly evenly, even a little ahead. Maybe Team Rogue wasn't such a bad set of folks after all...

* * * * *

Jaima winced as Zorro fell. He remembered watching his own pokemon fall. It didn't get easier, but watching them get up after a bit made it more bearable, at least.

Darryn had tutted again when Tempest had used Volt Tackle, but Jaima thought at that point it wasn't a bad tactic. He didn't like double edge type moves, either, but he never faulted other trainers for using them.

Ah well, Darryn was Darryn, and he cared for Tuesday in much the same way he cared for Jaima and Mindy and even Meiko now. He had his ways, and that was fine.

Meiko pulled away a bit, blinking at the doduo, eyes narrowed. She looked back and grinned. "This is a really good battle, Jaima," she whispered. "I didn't know she had it in her!"

"Yeah, evidently this kid knows how to get it out. She's pissed off."

Meiko blinked and looked at Tuesday, who was looking at Zorro's pokeball unconsciously. "You think?"

"Watch."

As they watched, Tuesday's eyes snapped across the battlefield, and her free hand whipped back, pulling her most worn and oldest pokeball to the front. If she had been anyone else, there would have been a scream of rage through clenched teeth. But there was only a cold, quivering voice.

"Dante."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Sep 1 2009, 12:55 PM

Tuesday, as a general rule, did not get angry very often. There were a number of reasons for this. For one, Anika got angry a lot, and when Anika got angry, things tended to break or people got hurt. Equally so, Brone didn’t react well to high emotions, being so psychically tuned to the world. True, he wasn’t as perceptible to emotions as some other psychics, whose base power resided in emotional input, but he was still affected, especially by high levels of anger. Tuesday hadn’t so much learned to control her emotions as she simply didn’t get angry; it didn’t seem worth the time.

Except, right now, she was angry.

Tempest was supposed to protect Zorro, but for whatever reason, he had made her angry and she started attacking him, and then the doduo had gotten a free shot (a couple free shots), and Zorro was unconscious. Tuesday wasn’t mad at Tempest – disappointed in her, sure, and she had even frightened her a little, but none of Tempest’s attacks had struck Zorro and none had been particularly dangerous to him – she was pretty much pissed off at Reilly.

He kept calling her names and being extremely rude, and now his doduo had managed to knock out one of her best friends. He was about to be taught a lesson.

Tuesday reached back and grabbed her first pokeball, the one she knew by the feel of warmth coming from inside of it, by the texture of the old and worn ball itself, and by the smudge mark that never fading from when she dropped it once in oil.

Tuesday raised the ball quietly, muttering only a single word.

“Dante.”

The ball burst open and, in a red light, a charmeleon rushed out. Tuesday had always wondered if pokemon could tell what was going on from inside of their pokeballs. She thought that Dante might have just confirmed that for her, as he didn’t even wait for a command, rushing forward at the doduo.

“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeleon!” he cried, raising a paw, his claws glowing white and lengthening. The doduo squawked and tried to dodge, as Dante brought his arm down in a Metal Claw attack, tearing some feathers loose from the grounded bird.

Tempest, who he had rushed right past, came leaping through the air, electricity sparking at her cheeks in a thundershock attack.

Once again, however, she was halted by an attack from the side.

A water gun attack whipped through the air, striking both Tempest and Dante. Tempest was bowled over, but Dante, caught in the side, made a sound of surprise and then spun, turning his tail away from the attack and ducking his head down until the water eventually stopped coming.

“Tempest, you’re on the buizel,” Tuesday said. “Let Dante handle the doduo.”

Tempest made a face, clearly not liking this plan. However, she had known Dante for as long as she had known Tuesday, and he wasn’t about to let the doduo go free.

With a sharp, angry “chu!”, she turned and raced at the buizel.

“Having your fire-type on the field at the same time as a water-type is stupidity at its finest,” Reilly called from across the way.

Tuesday made a face of annoyance at him. “The same can be said about having a water-type on the field at the same time as an electric-type. Tempest, use thunderwave!”

“Piika!” Tempest cried in agreement, electricity sparking and hitting the buizel despite his attempts to dodge.

“Boromir, quick attack!” Reilly called.

“Tempest, Lightning Tornado!”

“That’s not a move!” Reilly snapped, looking at her like she was stupid.

Tuesday grinned. “Isn’t it?”

Tempest ran straight at the buizel, who was trying to attack but had been slowed by paralysis.

Only a foot from him, she leapt into the air and twisted her body. Her fur stood on end from the electricity coursing through her body, and they could see the buizel convulse as Tempest hit him with her tail, attacking him both physically and elementally.

“Quick attack, Pest!”

“Sonic Boom!”

The buizel was faster, throwing Tempest back with the force of his attack. Tempest twisted through the air, trying to regain her equilibrium, but still hit the ground on her side.

“Boromir, aqua jet on the charmeleon!”

“Dante, smokescreen! Tempest, thundershock!”

The buizel had already surrounded itseld in a tornado of water when the smoke started billowing from Dante’s mouth, so he didn’t have time to dodge the aqua jet attack. Tempest, limping from her harsh fall, managed to use thundershock only after the buizel had slammed into Dante.

The otter pokemon dodged, the attack shooting past him and striking the doduo. The bird squawked, weak to the attack, and faltered slightly before regaining his footing.

“Dante,” Tuesday murmured, and recalled her fainted pokemon. She held his and Zorro’s pokeballs in her left hand, as she grabbed the archaic ball that contained Wraith. Swallowing, knowing that Wraith hadn’t had much time to practice battling and had already been out earlier in this battle, she hoped that she might be able to handle the doduo while Tempest took care of the buizel. It shouldn’t be too hard.

“Wraith,” Tuesday called, tossing out the pokeball, “ember attack on the doduo. Tempest, quick attack the buizel!”

Still favoring her left foreleg, Tempest dashed in as quickly as she was able, leaping at the buizel. The pokemon moved to dodge, but Tempest still managed to clip his side, spinning him.

“Boromir, ignore the rat! Water gun on the ponyta!”

Wraith was racing quickly around the doduo, firing ember attacks constantly as the bird tried to turn fast enough to keep up. The doduo’s feathers were singed and burnt in places, and the bird looked both exhausted and dizzy.

“Wraith, rear up!” Tuesday yelled.

Wraith spared but a moment to look confused, and then stopped abruptly, rearing with a whinny, her black-flaming mane whipping downward at the momentum of her movements.

The buizel’s water gun attack missed Wraith by an inch at most, flying under her kicking forelegs and striking the doduo head-on, throwing the bird backward into a pile of dirt, where it lay unconscious.

Reilly recalled the doduo and looked ready to throw a fit.

“Boromir, behind you! Fury Swipes!”

The buizel spun quickly at the command, raising his paws and slashing down repeatedly with both of them, catching the leaping Tempest in the face and throwing her back roughly.

“Now, water gun on the ponyta! Take her down!”

Boromir spun again, water jetting out of his mouth. Wraith bucked as she tried to bolt, but wasn’t fast enough. The water gun caught her in the side and caused her to stagger, unbalanced.

“Aqua Jet!”

“Thundershock, Pest!”

Tempest, however, angry and bearing claw marks on her face, gave up on thundershock and let electricity curl around her body, causing her fur to stand on end. She bolted at the buizel and slammed into him roughly, her physical attack knocking him off balance and her electrical attack sending waves of lightning coursing through his body.

Tempest was knocked backward by the recoil of her own attack. She landed on her paws, staggered, and collapsed.

“Tempest!” Tuesday cried.

“Boromir, finish it! Aqua Jet!”

Obediently, the buizel blasted off at the ponyta, hitting her hard in the side with his water-powered attack. Wraith whinnied loudly as she was knocked off of her feet, and collapsed to the side.

The buizel rolled to his feet and stumbled, but regained his balance. He looked back at Wraith as the ponyta tried to rise, but nodded in agreement when she collapsed back to the ground.

Reilly grinned as Tuesday recalled her final pokemon.

“No surprise there,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, “I win.”

Boromir mimicked his stance, nodding sharply. “Bui!”

Posted by: Living Arrow Sep 1 2009, 05:42 PM

Tuesday's battle roared on in Darryn's eyes like a private picture show that he had been invited to as a VIP guest. Ringside seats gave him the best view of the battlefield upon which his new friend fought so diligently but diligence didn't win battles. Strategy, practice and a bit more knowledge would have been the ultimate keys to winning a battle like the one she had entered but it seemed the unfortunately for Tuesday, this Reilly kid had more experience.

“No surprise there -I win.” The kid announced primely.

"Greeeat. Loads of feel-good kudos to the kid with a dead Growlithe on his head. Who cut your hair, Stevie Wonder?" Darryn snorted, irritated by the brat's attitude. Tuesday wasn't paying them too much attention - she was more focused on rubbing Wraith's Pokeball in her hand methodically and glaring at the other child angrily. Jaima moved closer to her to comfort her with Meiko not far behind. "You only just won anyway, so can the attitude."

"Who asked you, ladyboy?" Reilly snapped quickly.

"Your Dad when I was spanking his-"

"Mister Kellor!" Joy protested, stopping his comeback before it went too far. Jenny also frowned at him and he blushed, embarrassed that he had begun to stoop to the child's level.

"Darryn!" Meiko stopped him again.

"What?! I was just saying he needs a lesson in manners!" Darryn protested.

"Like you need a lesson in being a man." Reilly snorted back, folding his arms defensively.

"Being and doing are just fine with me, boy. If I were you. I'd shut my pie hole before you find out how much this Skitty can scratch."

"Oh yeah, well-"

"Oh stop it, both of you." Jaima cut the pair off. He spared Darryn a 'seriously? fitting with a kid?' roll of the eyes which Meiko mimicked almost perfectly behind him. Darryn sent a 'sorry' flick of his own back to Jaima and a 'Oooo, backing up your man?!' raise of the eyebrows to Meiko. This was in turn followed by 'shut up or I kill you' and returned with 'nail. head. just give me a hammer.'.

Tuesday clearly had something to get off her chest with Reilly after that so Darryn gave the boy a final glare before leading the way back to the Pokemon Center with Lady hobbling at his side.

<I could kill him, you know?> She sent quietly, but all Darryn could do was laugh while they made arrangements for their Pokemon to be healed by Joy.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Sep 1 2009, 11:28 PM

Jaima shook his head when it was over. For Tuesday to be mad, while it wasn't exactly expected, it came as no surprise. To lose one's first battle was hard, and Jaima knew that from experience. It didn't help that the boy, Reilly, wasn't exactly a gracious winner.

But he was having serious flashbacks of Johto hearing Darryn sniping at the boy. At first it was amusing, hearing Darryn take the lad to task. Jaima moved to Tuesday, kneeling next to her.

"You did great, Tuesy," he said softly, but she simply glared at Reilly. Jaima smiled a bit, seeing Meiko kneel on the other side.

"You really did! I can't believe that was your first battle!"

"It wasn't," Tuesday said, softly. Jaima chuckled.

"The mountain... That wasn't what I'd call a battle. That was scary, and no fun at all. But this... admit it... you enjoyed it. I mean, past... er..."

"What Jaima is trying to say," Meiko intoned with a teasing grin, "is that this was a good start, and you learned a lot!" Meiko took Tuesday's hand, pulling it away from Wriath's ball. It was enough to catch her attention. "I lost my first match."

"Me too," Jaima said, shrugging. He did share a secret, small smile with Meiko. "And my second, 'cause Grondir wouldn't hit something that was status affected.

Before Tuesday could react, Darryn's voice, which had been sparring back and forth with Reilly's, sounded. "You're Dad when I was- spanking his--"

"Oh, kami-sama," Meiko muttered, and Jaima closed his eyes.

"Mister Kellor!" Jaima felt the blood rush to his face in embarrassment, and Meiko made a noise that sounded like, "che..!"

Darryn was blushing, but still spoke against the protest. "Darryn," Meiko shouted him down. Darryn tried to explain himself again, but Jaima wasn't buying it. He smirked at Tuesday and whispered in her ear. "When these two are around, I don't miss the twins so much."

Jaima caught the words "being a man", and then "being and doing," and that was all he could take. He was incredibly embarrassed. "Oh, stop it, both of you," he sighed, amused, in some small part of himself, that it was the exact tone he'd use when the twins were being extra annoying. Jaima rolled his eyes at Darryn for letting a thirteen year old goad him like that, and he could see Darryn's apologetic look, and a kind of haughty bro raise directed behind him and to the left. Jaima smirked. Behind him, to the left, with her hand on his shoulder, was Meiko. The only person who could be apologetic to one person and snide to the other... that was Darryn Kellor all over.

"Come on, guys, let's get our pokemon healed."

Joy stepped forward. "Miss Berdison, I know you worry. I happen to have a spare Full Revive on me, if you'll accept it with my apologies."

Tuesday took it, thanking the nurse with a look of surprise in her eyes. She gave a short bow, and Meiko nudged Jaima, grinning and winking. Jaima grinned back.

They had almost made it to the Pokemon center when a voice made Jaima freeze. "Hey, Crapweavile!!"

He could feel every muscle in his body tense. He knew that voice. He sighed and turned around.

The boy with the charmander, who Tuesday had admired, was standing behind him. His fists were clenching and unclenching, but he nodded, smirking. "OK, I'll give you that fight. Your Kirlia? Pretty tough. Granted. But you fought against my appeals pokemon!"

Jaima sighed. "Look, um... whoever you are. I don't want any trouble."

"Well, it's found you, and now it wants a piece!"

Meiko stepped forward. "You're obviously drunk, why don't you just go sleep it off and leave us alone."

The boy looked Meiko up and down, smirking like she was a choice steak. "How about I beat up the Karate Kid and you and me go have a little fun--"

Meiko shrunk back a little, her eyes widening in anger, but Jaima's hand was on her shoulder. She twitched, and looked up at him, swallowing thickly. She swallowed again at the look on his face.

"Get out of here," Jaima said, addressing the boy but watching Meiko, "before Mercury spins your charmander like a beanie propeller.

Again.

"Oh, I'm not using Blaze again! I call Hubert the Humongous!" He staggered as he released the ball, and out popped a hippopotas, opening it's mouth wide in a sign of aggression.

Mercury floated forward, already picking up leaves, but theother boy releases another pokemon, a red and blue round fish with a mouthful of large fangs, and a star on it's underjaw. Mercury faltered; it's mind was a total blank to her, and, despite herself, she began to tremble.

Grondir laid a vine on her head, gently. <<Don't worry, Little One. I can handle the likes of him.>>

Jaima, evidently, felt the same way. "I can take anything you throw at me, pal." The other boy sneered.

"Well, this time," he said, curling his lip as six other boys and girls joined him, "I'm not alone."

Jaima crossed his arm, eyes narrowing. Like popcorn, the small sound 'paff's of pokemon behing released sounded around him, and Meiko's voice, a little strained, sounded back.

"Neither is he."

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Sep 18 2009, 02:21 AM

Tuesday felt somewhat nervous... okay, really nervous, when the six other people appeared, calling out at least two pokemon each. These weren't simple first-evolutionary pokemon they were being placed up against, and nor were they simply bug or grass types, which they could have easily handled. What stood before them were a variety of pokemon, sixteen in total. Jaima's friend, the boy that Tuesday had foolishly respected, had called out two pokemon, one she recognized as a dark-type that obviously frightened the otherwise un-daunted Mercury.

Tuesday, however, found her attention drawn to an older girl who stood smirking before her. The scent of alcohol rose from her flesh as though she had bathed in it, and Tuesday grimaced as she studied the girl's two pokemon. The first was one that she had seen in a book when looking up pokemon that Dante in particular would be strong against. Glalie, the evolved form of snorunt, would be weak to Dante because it was an ice-type pokemon. Ice, of course, was weak to fire, and so Dante had the advantage there.

Unfortunately, while Dante would also have a type advantage against the Piloswine, this wouldn't mean so much when the pokemon used a ground type attack, which was one of Dante's major weaknesses.

It could be worse, Tuesday thought. She could have a water-type.

"All right, then, happy thoughts," Tuesday muttered. She had healed Dante moments ago and the charmeleon, standing next to her, was more than ready. "Let's go, Dante. Let's get rid of the piloswine first."

"Leon!" Dante snapped, and dashed forward swiftly.

"Smokescreen, Dante!" Tuesday called, when the girl cried out for her glalie to attack. Dante released a thick black smog from his mouth, blackening their area of the field and hiding them from view. Tuesday tried to listen, but couldn't hear anything to tell her which pokemon were where above the sounds of battling around her. She would have to trust Dante to handle that on his own. Of course, she had no doubt he would be brilliant.

"Ember, Dante!"

A black of orange fire erupted out of the smoke and the piloswine reared back with a cry of pain and surprise, the attack catching him close in the face.

Ice... Tuesday thought, recalling the chapter on that particular type of pokemon. "Steel," she whispered. "Dante, use Metal Claw!"

"Damnit!" the girl snarled. "Glacier, use Take Dow-"

"Mach Punch!"

A screeching wail that was half-scream, half-laugh, and entirely half-something else, despite the mathematical impossibilities, sounded just before a brown, pale, and fiery blur leapt out of nowhere. With a clenched fist of red-hot power, the pokemon punched the piloswine in the face, sending the large pokemon careening backward with a cry.

With a flip that involved a ring of fire cast by its tail, the pokemon landed gracefully next to Dante. He cracked his tail like a whip, dusted his hands off, and then winked back at someone behind Tuesday in victory.

Blinking, she turned around to see the pain walking toward her.

"Thought you could use some help," he offered, shrugging nonchalantly even while his face was decorated with a grin.

Tuesday narrowed her eyes. "What's your monkey's name?"

"He's a monferno," Reilly supplied helpfully (too helpfully, Tuesday thought), "and his name is Indiana." He smiled at her as though she were a small and stupid child. "I'm sure you're just a little too young to know who he-"

"Indiana Jones, from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, and most recently, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Good choice for a name. It's a good book." She then turned back to the battle, amazingly three times as annoyed as she was when the battle started.

"It's a book?" Reilly asked, looking confused. The piloswine, however, angry, rushed toward Indiana and he was forced to get his mind back on the current situation. "Indy, Blaze Kick!"

With another loud screeching-laugh, the monferno leapt into the air and kicked the piloswine across the face with a blazing foot.

Tuesday blinked, having never seen that move before. "That's..." She bit her lip to shut herself up.

"What?" Reilly asked, grinning. He raised an eyebrow. "Impressed?"

Tuesday glared. "Your monferno needs to work on his landing!" she snapped. "Dante, Metal Claw!"

Behind her, Reilly stood flabbergasted, his mouth working. "His... His landing was perfect! We spent weeks working on perfecting it!"

"You could use more practice," Tuesday said in a sing-song voice, watching as Dante leapt into the air, firing off an ember attack before using Metal Claw as gravity pulled him back toward the earth.

Reilly huffed loudly. "I'll show you some practiced moves. Indy, double-Mach Punch!"

Screeching, the monferno leapt into the air, somersaulting until he was above the piloswine. He swung both fists downward swiftly, blazing red, and hit the piloswine on the top of the skull first with his right, then with his left fist.

The elephant-pig pokemon wailed as the monferno used his sore head as a springboard to flip backward and land next to Dante. He grinned at Tuesday... or Reilly, who was standing right next to her. The target didn't matter - it was annoying no matter what.

Tuesday turned to Reilly with a glare. "Your monferno's Indiana Jones impression could use work, too."

"What's wrong with his impression?!" Reilly wailed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"He pulls off more of a Han Solo look, in my opinion."

"Ha-Han Solo?!" Reilly traded looks between Indiana and Tuesday, looking insulted, hurt, and a little frightened. "Are-Are you mad?!"

"That depends on who you ask," Tuesday replied. "Dante, ember attack on the glalie!"

"Meleon!" Dante cried, leaping forward with a snarl.

Tuesday turned back to Reilly, who was staring at her in complete confusion. "Are you going to join in the battle, or are you standing there so Dante can teach you something?"

"Wha-" Reilly glared with a huff. "Fine! We'll show you how it's done! Indiana, let's give it all you got! Ember and Fury Swipes!"

Tuesday glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Try in a downward circular motion," she suggested.

Reilly looked at her, his lip curling in confusion. "What?"

"Ember and Fury Swipes," Tuesday said, "in a downward spiral, from above the glalie." She met Reilly's eyes. "Trust me."

He narrowed his eyes in confusion, but turned and gave the order to his monferno. The monkey-like pokemon leapt into the air, somersaulting until he was directly above the glalie, before plummeting face-first toward the ground. He turned his weight to one side and fell into a spin, firing off an ember attack and beginning to slash at the air with his claws as he neared the pokemon. The flames which had consumed him in his freefall caused the glalie to shriek, as Indiana slammed into him and slashed with his claws.

The monferno leapt clear as the glalie snapped at him with a bite attack, but he was faster than they had realized. "Crunch!" the girl commanded.

"Fire Circlet!" Tuesday snapped.

Twisting on one leg, the other lifted off the ground, Dante released an ember attack as he spun, catching the glalie in the face with an ember attack, before both smacking and burning him with his tail, giving Indiana time to leap away from the incoming attack.

Reilly stared at Tuesday in surprise. "That was..."

"Impressive?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He narrowed his eyes. "Flashy," he said disapprovingly. "Try to be a little less fancy. This isn't the dance floor."

Tuesday glared as he turned back to the battle. She snapped her teeth together. "See if I help you again," she muttered.

But the battle continued, with them fighting side-by-side.

Posted by: Living Arrow Sep 21 2009, 05:00 PM

Darryn shrank back a little as the group of drunken yobs circled his own small group and tried to think of his best plan of action. Unlike the others, Darryn had taken part in two pretty large battles already that day and, as a result, his Pokemon were all exhausted or unconscious back at the Pokemon Center… well… there was one Pokemon…

Darryn’s friends all took their battle positions, spreading out to meet the vicious onslaught of opponents that were rapidly released from their Pokeballs. He chewed the inside of his cheeks nervously as he sized up the forms that materialised in glamours of dazzling white light.

<Stand back, Prince Darryn!> Lady warned, leaping forward to face a rough looking boy around Darryn’s own age who was flicking ash from a cigarette with one hand and clutching a bottle in the other. His released Pokemon was an angry-looking Electabuzz and a nasty Beedrill. He clearly had something for black-and-yellow striped Pokemon.

“Lady, get back here right now!” Darryn chided her, noting how her knees were wobbling with the shear effort to stand firm for her master.

<I shall defend you with all I have!> She retorted, drawing up her tails to wave menacingly at her foes.

<I know you would… but you’re in no condition to battle… I’m sorry I have to do this…>

Lady looked back over her shoulder with wide eyes as the light of her Heal Ball enveloped her and sucked her back to the rose-coloured orb. Darryn held it fondly for a moment before reaching for the single Pokeball in his position with a Pokemon inside that was able to battle with any certainty.

*I know you’re tired from putting on that great performance… and you’re a little out of practice for battling… but now, India, it’s up to you! I know you can do it!*

“Go, India!” Darryn called, sending his single Pokemon into a one-vs-two battle. She span out of the ball with a pink ribbon accessory twirling behind her as she had practised for the Appeal.

“What’s that? A Butterfree with a pink tie? Pretty gay Pokemon! I ain’t getting my hands dirty over no queer bug.” The guy snorted and spat in the street heavily. Darryn’s skin writhed with not only disgust but also anger.

“India! Let’s go with Ominous Wind! Show him what you’re made of!”

Posted by: Master Houndoom Sep 22 2009, 12:56 AM

Meiko's lip curled in disgust as Jaima turned back to face the people accosting them. Jaima had looked... almost frightening when the boy had spoken, but when she figured out where Jaima's ire was focused, she was actually grateful. It meant something, right, that he was angry on her behalf and not at her?

Right..?

No, what had caused her fear in the first place was the look in the other boy's eye. The feral, almost hungry look. The look that said not only that he wanted her, but that he expected her to want him too. She'd seen that look before, and the memory was never going to be a pleasant one.

Jaima was handling him. She couldn't even hear what was being said, she just wanted to run, and it made her ashamed. And very, very angry.

So when the words, "I'm not alone," filtered through the blood rushing in her ears, Meiko rached to her belt with either arm and pulled two of her pokeballs from her belt. She released Desertdancer and Rockclaw, the two pokemon landing in front of her and brandishing claws or thumping it's thick tail. Her voice came rougher than she wanted, but she ignored it.

"Neither is he."

* * * * *

Joy did not like to battle. It felt wrong, somehow, that she cared for the cuts, scrapes, and burns of pokemon who battled, yet would willingly send her own pokemon out to get their own wounds. So she avoided it whenever possible.

This point seemed like it wasn't possible. At first, she was willing to leave the battling to those inclined to it. She did not miss Jenny gritting her teeth, itching to interfere, but similarly to Joy, Jenny felt it was unlawful to interfere in a challenge. Joy also did not miss Meiko flinching at the brute's look, nor Jaima's sudden cold anger toward the boy.

And she did not, could not, miss the six people that came from the shadows to try to harm her friends.

She sighed and released her delcatty, Peace, and her Chancy, Pride. Together, Peace, Pride, and Joy faced off against a rather large young man who was stepping forward, confused. A wingull floated near him.

"Look, Nurse, we don't want any trouble. Why don't you go back to the pokecenter, let us get this guy for our friend, huh?"

Joy did not like to fight. But that did not mean that she couldn't.

"I'm sorry, sir, but 'that guy' is my friend. Peace, please defend yourself against that Pelipper.

* * * * *

Jenny had been seething all night. First, the twepr shows up, then the tall, blonde han- the tall blonde ex boyfriend of her best friend makes a fool out of her, and then makes her actually respect him, and now some ruffians are causing trouble... and she's not on shift!

The girl across from her sneered, and Jenny's lip arched in response. This girl was a nuisance all over town. It shouldn't have surprised Jenny that Samira was involved. Next to her, sneering, was her... whatever he was, Kay, smirked next to her.

"What's up, Patrolgirl," Samira sneered. "Not going to arrest us?"

"I'm off duty," Jenny sneered. "Which means I can participate."

Two pokeballs popped at her waist, releasing her growlithe and her personal pokemon, a glameow. As they stretched and growled at the pair in front of them, Jenny smiirked.

"And since I've had a rough night, I'm actually looking forward to this!"

Samira smirked. "I'll take care of this, Kay. Get the brats!"

* * * * *

Jaima pointed. "Mercury, attack! Gondir," he said, knowing Mercury's dread for dark type pokemon. Grondir had stepped forward already and sent leaves of his own careening toward the toothy fish.

Jaima was vagueley aware of Meiko at his shoulder, turning to face a girl who'd confronted her. The boy across from him was smirking still, but Jaima could see him sweating.

And then the battle was on.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Sep 23 2009, 02:44 AM

Between a mix of Metal Claw, Ember, and Mach Punch attacks, the girl's glalie was brought crashing to the ground just like her piloswine. Reilly smirked as the girl recalled her pokemon, but the arrogance flickered out when he saw her grab a third pokemon off of her belt.

"It seems I underestimated the two of you. I didn't think I would need to bring out Crash, but it looks like he'll get the workout he deserves." She tossed the pokeball up and down in her hand, grinning. "I hope you brats are ready for this. Let's go, Crash!" She chucked the pokeball forward and it slammed into the ground, spitting out a burst of red light that faded to reveal her third pokemon.

"A lizard?!" Reilly laughed. "We can handle that! Indiana, Mach Punch!"

The monferno dashed forward, leaping into the arm and twisting, coming down on the croconaw with a blazing hand. The crocodile turned his head quickly, however, released a sharp and powerful water gun attack that threw the monferno backward through the air with a chattering squeal.

Indiana twisted in the air, trying to catch his bearings, his tail whipping around him and casting shadows of fire. The ground came at him too quickly and he landed too soon, a loud CRACK announces his re-acquaintance with terra firma.

"Indiana!" Reilly cried. The monferno, reacting swiftly to his trainer's distress, staggered to his feet. His right hand cradled his left arm, the wrist limp and broken in his grasp. He released a hissing sound of pain and annoyance. A firm, angry look on his face, Reilly spun to address his partner.

"Where the hell were-" He broke off abruptly, the anger vanishing from his face. He had expected to see her watching him passively, uncaring as to whether or not Indiana was hurt. What he saw, however, was the girl with her back pressed tightly against a tree, her eyes wide and focused intently upon the croconaw. Her charmeleon crouched in front of her defensively, hissing at the (was it smirking?) blue lizard pokemon.

"Hey, ki- Tuesday!" She didn't react to his call, and somehow that worried him even more. What was it about the croconaw that bothered her? She looked... absolutely terrified.

Come to think of it, she had acted a little odd when he had battled with Boromir, calling her pokemon back so swiftly. But it had been nothing like this.

Looking behind him to see Indiana making his way toward him, Reilly quickly hurried over to Tuesday and grabbed her arm.

She jerked away from him with a cry, bringing both hands up over her face, as though to protect herself. He took a step back and, in his peripheral vision, caught sight of a blue blur.

"Indiana, mach punch!" he snapped, turning to look at his monferno.

The monkey pokemon launched himself forward, slamming his fist into the face of the charging croconaw and sending it off course. The crocodile turned back with a hiss, and Indiana landed with a stumble, whimpering and cradling his broken left wrist.

Sensing weakness, the croconaw charged, but Dante was closer. Tuesday safe in the presence of Reilly, the charmeleon lunged. He moved right into the croconaw's path and, his claws lengthening, slashed down the creature's middle using metal claw, before releasing a burst of black smoke into the croconaw's face.

The crocodile staggered back, making a choking sound as he breathed in the smokescreen. Dante took the moment to rush to Indiana, leaning against the monkey pokemon supportively and inspecting his wrist. He snorted in displeasure, and nodded toward Tuesday and Reilly.

Indiana made a loud hissing noise in disagreement, but Dante shook his head. The meaning was clear: Indiana couldn't fight with his wrist broken. This was up to Dante.

He turned to the croconaw with a snarling-hiss, stretching his claws, and then lunged.

"Tuesday?" She blinked. "Tuesday, look at me." She glanced up to see Reilly standing in front of her, concern in his eyes. She frowned. "What is it?" he asked.

"You... used my name," she whispered.

He snorted. "Stupid, that's not the problem here. What's wrong with you?!"

"I..." She gasped, her eyes widening. "The croconaw - Dante!"

Reilly grabbed her before she could move or see the battle. "Tuesday." She met his eyes, reluctantly. "What are you afraid of?"

"He'll kill Dante," she whispered.

"No he won't," Reilly said, rolling her eyes at what he saw as her childishness. "He's not powerful enough to-"

"All it takes is aim," she whispered, "not power." She met his eyes, pleading. "I... he's fighting it... isn't he?"

Reilly stared at her for a long time, before suddenly moving to the side, revealing the battle.

Dante, the under-advantaged fire-type lizard was holding his own brilliantly against the croconaw, using metal claw and dragon rage mostly, and spending the rest of the time dodging water attacks and swipes of the croconaw's claws. A thin mist hung in the air, but Dante's tail was blazing blue with ire, and he fought back against the croconaw as though nothing in the world could stop him.

Perhaps nothing could.

The croconaw, finding an open moment, shot off a water gun into Dante's face, flinging the charmeleon back. The red lizard flew silently, but landed with a sharp thud.

Tuesday cried out in anguish, pushing past Reilly. She ignored the angry croconaw, focusing on Dante as the charmeleon pushed himself up, choking loudly. Dante coughed, water spilling out of his mouth, and he shook himself violently. His tail flared brilliantly, before abruptly dimming, as he staggered.

Tuesday caught him, helping him balance, and the charmeleon hissed at his opponent. He pushed against Tuesday lightly and she, surprised, released him.

He lunged at the croconaw and was joined halfway by Indiana, the monferno ignoring the injury of his paw. Neither of them waited for a comment, but joined together in attacking the arrogant crocodile.

"Are you okay?"

Tuesday looked up at nodded at Nurse Joy. "Yes," she replied softly, "I'm all right." She blinked when the nurse handed her a pokeball. "I almost forgot about it," Joy replied, "but it's the houndour you left with me last night." She smiled. "He's perfectly healed."

Tuesday smiled, gripping the ball. She had forgotten...

A cry to her right called her attention and she turned to see that Jaima's opponent had called out another pokemon. Grondir was busy with the dark-type already on the field, but a sneasel was racing toward Mercury, who, though she hadn't finished her other opponent, was frozen in place.

Tuesday took but a second to think, and two things popped into her mind. One was that her fiery charmeleon was completely loyal and had a partner to help him. The other was the name of her new houndour, and that it would be the perfect pokemon to sic on that sneasel.

Gripping the ball tightly, she held it to her lips. "I know you've never battled for me before, but I need your help now. Please." She pitched the pokeball out into the middle of the battlefield, and the houndour appeared in a burst of red light, racing forward toward the midst of Jaima's battle. "Take care of the sneasel, Ashleigh!"

Posted by: Master Houndoom Sep 24 2009, 12:50 AM

The emotions riding throughout this battle were almost as overwhelming as the emotions that followed the events after Shadow's kidnapping. In the part of her mind that Mercury allowed to idle to process such things, she believed that what she had to go through taught her something about handling emotional onslaught. Like working a muscle, it was getting stronger.

The person who started all of this was angry, and full of lust in amounts out of proportion to what she was used to feeling. Mercury had quite a bit of recent experience with lust. Jaima lusted after Meiko, though he was inexperienced with the feeling and fought such inappropriate thoughts. Darryn felt, alternately, high amounts of lust, high amounts of embarrassment, and not a little bit of frustration. If she was forced to admit it, she had her own share of lustful feelings of late. But she was not on trial here, was she?

The boy felt lust toward Meiko, to which Jaima responded as was proper, and the boy felt anger and embarrassment toward Jaima and Mercury herself. There was specific malice toward the young kirlia, and that was why he released the second pokémon, the dark type.

She was, for now, ignoring the dark type.

The boy facing Joy was embarrassed. He liked the nurse, thought she was a nice person, and did not want to fight her. But he was also loyal to his friend, no matter how misguided he thought he might be.

The girl facing Jenny was angry, livid, full of glee that she was getting a chance to, if Mercury understood the emotion well enough, put the patrolwoman in her place. They had obviously met before.

The boy who'd been with her (and there was considerable lust between them) was full of confidence. He didn't really care why all this fighting was going on. He was going to win. He strutted toward Reilly and Tuesday. A win was a win, right?

Meiko faced a girl who wanted, badly, to impress the cocky boy who'd started all this. If he respected her, maybe he'd sleep with her, and if he slept with her, she could keep him happy and he wouldn't sleep with other girls anymore... It would be OK if he did... as long as he was happy, it would be OK, because he only really loved her. Mercury had to shake her head as she sent another barrage of glowing leaves at the small hippopotas.

The girl who'd been fighting Tuesday and Reilly was not happy. The two little brats (her words, not Mercury's. She only thought one of them was a brat). had managed to defeat her two best pokémon, and she'd had to take out one she wasn't very fond of. But it had the desired effect. The little girl was terrified.

There was a boy facing Darryn, but he was incredulous, and the incredulity was interfering with any other emotions he might have been feeling. Such people, who could not temper surprise enough to let other emotions through usually did not have emotions worth thinking of.

In contrast, each swirl of emotions around the people siding with Jaima were similar, the only differences being due to the differences in each person. Reilly and Tuesday were angry on Jaima's behalf, and annoyed with each other. There was another emotion, but more analysis would be required to figure out what it actually was. Joy was reluctant, but her loyalty to Jaima won out over her desire not to battle. Jenny was angry, at her opponent and Jaima, but her loyalty to Joy kept her in the battle. That and she really wanted to teach her opponent her a lesson. Meiko was angry. It was only her feelings for Jaima (and that needed no analysis) that spurred her beyond her mortification to battle. As usual, when such feelings were bypassed, they turned to anger. Darryn's loyalty to his friends made him battle, despite his misgivings about battling so soon after two competitions. Tuesday wanted to prove something to Reilly at first, and Reilly wanted to continue to prove his superiority. Those feelings changed when the croconaw appeared, and Mercury spared a gentle brush against her mind that she was sure wasn't felt.

Her analysis tapered off suddenly. There was an absence, like losing feeling on one side of her head. She turned and looked, seeing a little grey pokémon with sharp claws on it's hands. It grinned malevolently at her, stalking her.

She could not sense him. She couldn't tell his intentions. It was as if she had no powers.

She squeaked, releasing the hold her mind had on the hippopotas, the small part that had been running commentary on all she felt grinding to a halt. She was helpless. She was hopeless. She was doomed.

* * * * *

Grondir was true to his word. As Jaima called out his attacks, he executed them with precision and strength, keeping the fanged fish's attention firmly on himself. When the fish tried to dash to her for a bite attack, he would rein it in with a vine whip. Razor leaf kept it in check, driving it further away from her. The boy who controlled the ground type that Mercury faced and the water type that Grondir was handling seemed to get angrier and angrier, but Jaima's commands were as firm and controlled as Grondir had ever seen. So long as the dark type was not near the little psychic pokémon, everything was fine.

And then disaster struck. The boy sneered and released a sneasel, and sent it after Mercury. That would not have been too bad, except that Mercury made an odd noise, half between a scream and a squeak, and stopped fighting. Grondir's vines faltered as well. Never, since the day she was caught, had he ever seen the little psychic falter during a fight.

The hippopotas shook it's head and advanced on her, even as the carvhana started to flop toward Mercury. Grondir shot out a razor leaf at the fish and vine whipped the ground type away. Mercury needed protecting now more than ever.

* * * * *

Shadow watched, as he had not been commanded to battle, but hearing Mercury's screams caused his mind and his body two have two separate reactions. His mind filled with concern for her, and he tried to touch Mercury's mind, and he launched himself toward the sneasel, kicking it away from her.

Unlike a psychic type, Shadow could sense the aura around the dark type quite well. It was loathsome, but it was there, and visible, and trackable. That was how he felt the other dark aura, this one shot with orange as the other was with blue, and spun.

A houndour, much like the one that had attacked kohai Tuesday, was charging, toward Mercury. Shadow leapt, drawing back a fist and launching it forward as he landed, sending it to the jumping houndour.

He missed by a fraction, his paw passing under the dark pup, who sprang from it and launched himself behind Shadow. Shadow spun, prepared to make it pay for trying to hurt Mercury, and that was how he witnessed it.

The houndour intercepted the sneasel, which had almost been upon Mercury, and drove it to the ground, snarling at it with tongues of flame flickering around his teeth...

Posted by: Living Arrow Sep 24 2009, 04:43 PM

“Fry that sissy bug with a Thunderbolt, Electabuzz!” Darryn opponent seemed to lounge back even while standing, his blatant arrogance oozing from his pores like stink from a mire. Darryn curled his lip with distaste and more than a little anger.

“India, dodge it with Spore Shield!” The Co-ordinator ordered, willing his Pokemon to act swiftly. The Butterfree span and flew upwards, scattering her golden Stun Spore wide and reining it in with her psychic Confusion attack. The hastily-formed barrier intercepted the arc of lightning stabbing towards her and slowed it sufficiently for her to spiral out of the way and bank harshly in the air.

“What?! What kind of pussy move was that?!” The yob protested as India dive-bombed the Electabuzz.

“India, Confusion!” Darryn ignored the jibes from his foe and focused on the strategy that would put him into the battle properly. The Electabuzz was slammed by an invisible force, his shoulders crushed under the weight of India’s psychic power and sent straight to his knees.

“Beedrill, use Twinneedle now!” Came the opponent’s command, the great vesper swarming in from behind the Butterfree to stab cruelly at her wings. She screamed with pain as the attack struck home but managed to pull out of her dive and glide along at ground level at the last minute.
“Get it with a Thunderbolt, Electabuzz!” The goon ordered again, making full use of his 2-on-1 advantage.

*Just what I’ve been waiting for…*

A Quick Ball had been in Darryn’s had as soon as he had seen the opponents released in front of him. A Quick Ball that held a Pokemon with a very special Ability. A Pokemon that had been in a very tough battle less than an hour before but had managed to come out on top and secure his very first ribbon.

“Go, Romeo! Intercept that attack!” Darryn’s call was met with a snigger from the idiot facing him. The Jolteon burst from the ball with glee and straight into the Thunderbolt where the attack violently shook his body with its power.

“Using another Pokemon as a shield? How stupid are you?!” The yob laughed harshly, holding his stomach as he guffawed ludicrously.

“Shocking a Jolteon?” Darryn raised an eyebrow. “How stupid are you?”

“Huh?”

“Jolteon’s Ability is Volt Absorb. In short, it takes electricity to restore its own energy. You just gave my Pokemon a free healing session and evened the playing field with one move. Man, you’re bad at battling.” Darryn chided the other boy, waiting patiently as Romeo and India came into formation near to their trainer.

“What? That’s the sort of low-life move I’d expect from a lady-boy like you!”

“Oh, shut up and battle already.” Darryn rolled his eyes. “You have the face of a slapped nancy.”

“WHAT?!” The goon’s eyes widened considerably. “Beedrill, Poison Sting the dog! Electabuzz, Thunderpunch that bug!”

*Now for one of my latest combinations!* Darryn giggled inwardly, secretly glad that the fool had given him opportunity to show off his different skills.

“Ominous Beam!”

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Sep 27 2009, 11:55 PM

Tuesday sighed in relief when Shadow's attack missed. She wouldn't normally have been grateful for such a thing, but she certainly didn't want Ashleigh hurt, and nor did she wish for Mercury to be placed at the hands of a dark type's mercy. Thankfully, the houndour was capable of using Shadow's outstretched arm as a springboard, and he leapt over the lucario's head, crashing into the sneasel with a snarl, driving the weasel-esque pokemon into the dirt and cutting off its attack on Mercury.

Tuesday watched as flames licked against the sneasel's flesh, bursting forth from the houndour's mouth as he pinned the creature to the ground with his forelegs. The sneasel, however, writhed beneath his form and managed to slip free, rolling away from the flames and rising swiftly to her feet. She crouched low, hissing, claws at the ready. Then, without any warning, bolted forward.

She moved, faster than Tuesday had expected, darting with silently swiftness between the small area that separated them. She brought her claws raking down across the houndour's face, blood leaping from the cuts. The sneasel chittered, a laugh that caused shivers to run down Tuesday's spine.

"Ashleigh, use ember!" she said, ignoring the cold fear that danced up her arms in the form of goosebumps. The houndour darted forward, dashing in a zig-zag fashion and leaping at the sneasel, fire exploding from his mouth. The sneasel ducked and dashed forward, but the flames still caught her across the back. She hissed in pain, but slashed with both sets of claws in a fury swipes attack, catching Ashleigh across the face three times before the houndour managed to leap away.

Tuesday, watching the battle, felt a wave of dizziness pass over her and her eyelids fell as her body went abruptly lax, nearly causing her to topple over. She regained full consciousness barely a second later, snapping back into a tense position, her eyes opening wide with sudden shock. "Ashleigh, jump!"

Obeying without hesitating to wonder why, Ashleigh leapt into the air just as the sneasel's claws on her right hand lit up a white blue color and she punched forward with a move that Tuesday had never seen before.

"Ember!"

Ashleigh threw his head downward, crashing into the sneasel and releasing an ember attack into the weasel's face. The sneasel cried out in pain, and crashed to the ground, taking one too many attacks to keep standing. She was recalled swiftly, and her trainer narrowed a glare at Tuesday.

"You've joined a battle you can't possibly win, you little brat! We're far from through, yet!"

"A word of advice?" Tuesday suggested, meeting the eyes of the sneasel's trainer. "'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt."

Reilly, who had finished his battle with Dante's help against the croconaw, walked to her side and stared at her. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Tuesday blinked at him. "Abraham Lincoln said that."

Reilly rolled his eyes and then turned to the sneasel's trainer. "Shh! Let me tell you a little story about a man named Shh! Shh! Even before you start. That was a preemptive Shh. Just know I have a whole bag of Shh with your name on it." He raised an eyebrow at Tuesday. "That's how you tell someone to shut up."

Tuesday glared at him. "From a movie?"

"Yes."

"Movies suck."

"Do not."

"Books are better."

"Books suck."

The two glared daggers at each other as the trainer stared at them in complete confusion. Shaking his head, he sent his other two pokemon back into stark battle. This wasn't over, yet.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Sep 29 2009, 04:09 PM

Meiko backed up, bumping against someone. A look over her shoulder brought a glimpse of blonde hair, and she felt herself relax despite the battle. The girl she was facing was fierce, fighting as if she had something to prove.

"Sprinkles, water gun!" The girl's Azumarill sent a stream of water at Desertdancer, and Meiko swore under her breath. She was at a severe disadvantage concerning types in this battle, and from what she was hearing behind her, Jaima wasn't facing much better.

"Desertdancer, sand-attack!" She clenched her jaw and pointed at the other. "Rockclaw," She said, glancing down to make sure the corphish was where he was supposed to be, "knock down that swablu with bubble beam! Ramhorn, tackle the pachirisu!" Her commands were crisp, and all would have gone well except for one thing that she noticed when rockclaw went after the pachirisu instead of the swablu: the pachirisu was holding a berry.

"Ha!" The girl crowed. "Your pokémon don't listen very well, do they! Shimmer, use spark on that shrimp!" She giggled maliciously. "Mopsy, peck the big bug!" A nasty sneer crossed the girl's otherwise pretty face. "You were dumb to think that you could beat me!"

Jaima stepped back a bit, putting more pressure on Meiko's back, and leaned. "Mercury's in trouble, Mei-chan. I think we can solve each other's problems."

Meiko peeked over Jaima's shoulder, at the same time that Jaima peeked over hers. They circled, remaining back to back but presenting their sides to their opponents.

"OK," Meiko said, loud enough for Jaima to hear her, "follow my lead."

* * * * *

Little Mercury?

The voice was warm, calm, and steady. There was also a note of genuine concern. It called for her, penetrating, slowly, through the cold fog of fear.

Little Mercury, it's all right now. Grondir is keeping the sea demon at bay, and the ice-demon has been dealt with.

There are three, she heard herself whisper, embarrassed by the tremor in her mental voice. Shadow's voice was still calm, but there was a hint of chagrin and amusement in his own voice.

I thought the same, but the demon dog is owned by Kohai Tuesday and is no threat to us. It was he who saved you from the ice demon.

Mercury found herself blinking at that, the fog around her thinning with the news. He helped us..?

He helped you. I nearly struck him down, but fortune was on our side.

Mercury absorbed the information, the fog thinning more. Suddenly it receeded. She gasped. Grondir!

He is all right. Grondir is very powerful, and has held his own against both the sand beast and the sea demon. However, Sensei Jaima is joining forces with Sensei Meiko. You should be a part of this.

I'm so embarrassed, Mercury thought, pulling into herself. I've failed.

Shadow's presence followed her. You've only failed so long as you stop trying. Please, join up, Little Mercury. To confront your fears is to defeat them.

Mercury, slowly, allowed her mental presence to come forward again. OK, she said, still mortified at her fear, what's the plan..?

* * * * *

"Now!"

Meiko pointed to Jaima's opponent. "Ramhorn, go after that carvhana with brick break!

Jaima, similarly, pointed to the girl. "Grondir! Nature Power on the bird!"

"Rockclaw, bubble beam on the hippopotas!"

"Shadow, go after the carvhana as well with force palm!"

"Desertdancer, fury swipes on the pachirisu!"

Jaima paused, his brow furrowing, but before he could call Shadow back, a voice, sounding determined, sounded in his and Meiko's minds.

I've got it, Trainer Jaima!

Jaima nearly cheered. "Then use magical leaf!"

Taken by surprised by the sudden changes, the girl wailed as the boy, his fists clenched, snarled at her. "You should have been faster," he growled, reaching for one last pokéball.

It was not a good idea. The hippopotas was defeated, having been severely weakened by Grondir. Grondir's Nature Power turned into Tri-Attack, bringing the swablu close to fainting. Double teamed and damaged by Grondir, the carvhana had also fallen. The girl recalled her swablu, afraid to let it faint, and the azumarill, tired from attempting to dodge the magical leave attack, ran into the pachirisu and ended up not only shocked, but barraged by the attack anyway. The pachirisu was stunned from the sudden collision, though she had managed to dodge the fury swipes. Her counter attack had no effect on Desertdancer.

"Firedash! Come out and--"

"Bubblebeam!"

"Confusion!"

"Horn Attack!"

"Nature Power!"

The charmander stood no chance, and fainted quickly. His trainer stood there, mouth gaping, fists clenching and unclenching, before he finally looked up, his face contorting in rage. He took a step forward.

"Try it," Jaima said, calmly, raising a brow. The calm reaction seemed to startle the other boy, and Meiko's cross armed glare didn't help.

"You forgot his routine, didn't you," Meiko said dryly. The boy stepped back, and Jaima, rolling his eyes, motioned for his pokémon to rejoin him.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Oct 7 2009, 01:10 AM

The calm had begun to return to the area where they stood outside of the pokemon center. The drunker group of kids had been utterly defeated, and those that weren't whining pitifully were either sulking in silence or, in one case, puking into the bushes. Tuesday scanned the area, but all of the offending pokemon had been recalled. Darryn was moving towards them, having just finished his battle, and Jaima was checking over Mercury, Grondir, and Shadow with a cursory glance, the latter standing close to Mercury.

Sighing in relief at finally having some peace, Tuesday found Dante with her eyes, as the charmeleon danced over to her, a monferno following not far behind. Dante flashed her a grin and a thumbs-up, which gained a smile in return.

"Good to see things went well, Dante," she said, reaching down with her left hand. As was so often a habit that he had apparently not out-grown, Dante reached up and gripped her hand lightly with his claws, like a small child holding the hand of their mother as they cross the street. "That was some tough battling, Dante. I'm glad Nurse Joy had that Full Revive on her. I'm not sure I could have handled that with just Ashleigh." She blinked. "Speaking of which..."

Tuesday and Dante both turned, seeking out the houndour. They found him, in a position that Tuesday had least expected.

The dark canine had pinned Mercury to the ground and was licking her face profusely with a long, wet tongue.

Breaking their hand-hold, Tuesday moved quickly over to then, pretty sure that Mercury wasn't appreciating the attention being given to her. "Ashleigh!" she called.

The houndour stopped his unplanned bathing of the kirlia and raised his head. Upon seeing Tuesday, his stub of a tail started wagging bag and forth and he bolted over immediately. Tuesday grunted in surprise as he leapt up, his forepaws striking her in the chest as he tried desperately to cover her face in drooling kisses. He managed her neck and chin, which tickled and was mildly gross.

I need a bath. "Okay, okay," Tuesday said, pushing the houndour off. He dropped to the ground, tail still wagging, and Tuesday bent down to scratch his ears. She saw the skull-plate on his head and noticed that it was peeling terribly. She frowned, but recalled Ashleigh into his pokeball, deciding that she would take care of that at another time. Right now, they had a lot of fainted or injured pokemon, and the yard was full of a lot of drunken people, one hurling into the bushes.

Correction, two hurling into the bushes. Nice.

Biting her lip, Tuesday made her way over to where Jaima was standing and touched his elbow, gathering his attention. "Um, Jaima... do you think we could get 'Pest, Zorro, and Wraith healed now?" she asked, her voice too low of a whisper to be heard above the other talking. She didn't want to sound like a baby, but she really wanted her pokemon in top shape again, and she liked having Zorro around and conscious.

Besides, the wind was blowing toward them and fresh puke was not an appetizing odor.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Oct 10 2009, 02:45 AM

As Darryn finished his battle, a young man with spiky hair and squinty eyes came between the two factions. He looked around as all battling stopped, then pointed at Jaima, pulling out a microphone.

"Jaima Kuonji, I'm happy for you. I'ma let you finish... but Ash Ketchum had the BEST pokemon battle of ALL TIME!"

With that, he dropped the mic, held out his hands as if to say, "What?" and walked away.

Meiko blinked. "What the hell was that?"



LA: OMG I'm dying!!!
MH: Removed from the main topic, and set invisible. Didn't have the heart to delete it! And it's back, because Doc liked it so!

Posted by: Living Arrow Oct 12 2009, 04:41 PM

"Beedrill and Electabuzz, return." The goon facing Darryn muttered as his fallen Pokemon were called back to their balls with a flash. Darryn smirked shook his head with pity as the fool moved away to gather with his drunken friends who were not faring well with their own battles.

Romeo and India rejoined Darryn quickly, the Butterfree settling on the back of his head while the now spritely Jolteon patted at Darryn's waist with his forelegs in the attempt to stand erect. The trainer soothed him with a fond scratching of the ears but he real attention was focused elsewhere.

*She’s not keeping up with the others anymore…* Darryn lifted a finger over his head to let his Butterfree chew at it nervously. *Is it because I let her go to Sinnoh for so long?... No… That’s not it. She’s never really been as forthcoming with her battling as Bravo or Romeo. And She’s never had the stamina to get back on her feet again and again like Zulu. Am I doing the right thing by asking her to battle?*

“Darryn?” Meiko urged him to move over to where their friends were waiting along with Joy, Jenny and the brat. Darryn tore himself from his momentary lapse in concentration and held up his Pokeballs to recall India and Romeo before offering his defeated opponent a derisive snort and frown.

*India simply doesn’t have it in her to battle like the other Pokemon. In all of her battles, she’s never won a match cleanly on her own – she always needs support… She’s not alone though. November still hasn’t won a battle either. She gives it her all but the power simply isn’t there… Even so, their precision is only second to Lady’s and their beauty treatments have worked wonders…*

“What’s got you?” Meiko asked as she quickly checked over her Sandshrew who was more interested in sniffing Darryn’s shoes before recalling him and fussing over her sturdy Heracross, Ramhorn. “You look like someone’s hit you with a wet Goldeen.”

“I dunno,” Darryn admitted with a shrug, “I think I might be reading too much into it but I don’t think I can let my Butterfree stay with me if I’m just going to make her battle like that again.”

“Huh? But India fought really well, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she did, but she doesn’t enjoy it. Not in the same way she enjoyed dancing for the Appeals round in that Contest. And, I think I’m right when I say November isn’t suited for battling, either. Not like India though. November wants to battle but she spends too much time worrying over her looks to really put her true focus on her opponent.” Darryn shrugged and sighed. “I don’t know what to do with them if they are gonna be that way.”

Meiko snorted. “You don’t? It sounds like you’ve worked it out to me.”

“I have?”

“Uh, yeah? You’ve basically just summarised the characteristics of two Pokemon that are perfectly suited to Appeals performances. Why not only train them for those parts of Contests while your other Pokemon focus on the battling portion?” Meiko rolled her eyes. “I mean, seriously Darryn! You did all the work in your own head but missed wirting out the answer!”

“I suppose so!” Darryn half laughed, rubbing at the back of his head with embarrassment. “Then that means I have two categories of Pokemon. Appeals and Battles contestants. And now I know that, I can really pull together all of my skills for the next Contest… I guess that means it’s November’s turn to Appeal at the next Hall!”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Meiko stuck her tongue out playfully and recalled her Heracross, both of them joining Jaima and Tuesday who were cleaning up their own squad.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Oct 13 2009, 09:35 PM

Meiko shook her head, smiling at Darryn's back. As smart as he was, Darryn seemed to have problems seeing the logical ending so some things. She shook her head again, smiling fondly. Boys.

She looked up and saw Mercury struggling underneath a houndour. The kirlia's eyes were wide and terrified, however, Shadow's reaction was curious enough to keep Meiko from sending Ramhorn in to save the blue domes psychic: Shadow was kneeling next to the pair, grimacing and trying to remove the little pup without hurting him... her... it. Rather than attack either of them, the little pup simply struggled free and tackled Mercury again, bringing fresh squeals from Mercury and licks from the houndour. It was very odd, and incongruous with the abject terror on Mercury's face. Finally Shadow simply grabbed him by the nape of the neck and pulled him off. Shadow held firm and after a moment the houndour stopped struggling, hanging limp and whining plaintively at Mercury, who retreated as quickly as she could, looking at the dark type pokemon in fear that was neither endearing nor funny.

Meiko walked to Mercury, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping the drool off of her crest and face. The kirlia looked up at her with the most vulnerable and plaintive look Meiko had ever seen.

"You're frightened of them, aren't you?" Meiko's voice was gentle as she cleaned the kirlia. "Houndour, I mean."

It's... it's all dark types... I... I can't sense them. I can't feel where they are and what they want to do... The pokemon shuddered. It terrifies me. Meiko had never seen the kirlia so miserable. I'm so embarrassed.

Meiko nodded and gave a wipe on the crest with a small flourish. "I think you did remarkably well, Mercury, considering." She smiled, tilting the kirlia's chin up to look her in the face. "I know Jaima was proud of all three of you. That means," she said, when the kirlia looked dubious, "that he wasn't disappointed in you."

Mercury smiled a little bit, then tilted her head. So what is it that made you scared, she asked innocently.

Meiko bit her lip and looked into the kirlia's eyes, but said nothing and offered no mental access for Mercury to discover for herself, politely. Finally Mercury patted Meiko's knee and floated to Grondir, giving the ivysaur a hug.

She didn't need to look back to see that Meiko was bothered by the question.

* * * * *

Jenny watched as the girl she had been fighting scuttled backward, holding her arm. Every instinct in her body told her to chase Samira. She would be hard to track down again. Kay joined her, sending out empty threats, as usual, and both began to run away.

Order growled next to her, tense, but the growlithe wouldn't move unless Jenny gave the command. Next to him, Law looked on with an air of disdain, curling her tail around and around.

She knelt and stroked the fur of her two pokemon. "We'll get them some day."

* * * * *

Joy smiled as the group filed in, watching her cousins gape. She, too, would have gaped, seeing a large group of trainers bringing in their pokemon, and a Nurse among them. Even so, she didn't regret her decision to stand with Jaima and his friends. They were good people. She was also happy to see Jenny join in.

* * * * *

Jaima sighed. All of his pokemon were with the nurse, and Meiko was talking to him, but for some reason he kept getting distracted by her eyes. Meiko, when she noticed, blushed and smiled. "Jaima, you need to hear this."

"No, I... I know what you're saying. I just... can't believe I didn't pick on on it."

"What do you mean," Meiko asked, her brow furrowing.

"When I fought the gym in Gigarte, Chloe used a dark type. Mercury was terrified... I thought it was because she was so young. I mean, she'd barely hatched, and she was still a ralts... barely speaking words, let alone like now..." Jay sighed, leaning back.

Meiko patted his knee. "And I bet you never fought a dark type after that, right?" She smiled encouragingly, and Jaima smiled a bit, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"Nah, I guess not. Still..." He opened his mouth, then closed it. "Still, I guess she'll work through it, and I wouldn't want her fighting a dark type alone anyway."

Meiko beamed at him, then looked over her shoulder. Tuesday was pacing a bit, as if being aart from her pokemon for this long was making her nervous.

"Did you make your choice," she muttered, careful to keep her words unheard by prying ears.

Jaima nodded. "Yeah, it's on its way. Do we want to do this now, or tomorrow when we leave?"

"Let's wait," Meiko said, narrowing her eyes. "Give a chance for the adrenaline to wear off."

Jaima nodded, then smirked. "Give a chance for Darryn to bask in his win, too, huh?"

Meiko grinned back at him, but said nothing. Neither of them noticed Reilly passing behind them, looking thoughtful.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Oct 14 2009, 12:45 AM

Tuesday was antsy.

She had tried sitting down calmly and politely on one of the chairs, but she couldn't. Every time she managed, she'd feel like something was horribly wrong and she'd have to run to the counter to check with Nurse Joy to make sure her pokemon were all okay.

They were, of course. Nurse Joy was always patient with her, understanding, but Tuesday still felt bad about bugging her. Of course the nurse knew how to do her job. They were simply being thorough - nothing wrong with that.

Tuesday, however, chose not to relocate to a chair and instead opted to stand, which resulted in some minor pacing. Still, it was better than running across the lobby like a crazy person.

Not that you're entirely sane, Tib.

She looked back toward the counter where one Nurse Joy stood talking to a little boy. Glancing behind her, Tuesday saw another Nurse Joy (she was pretty sure it was the one that had battled with them) talking with Reilly. Actually, it almost looked like they were arguing, but Joy seemed more resigned than angry.

I wonder what that's about... Her thoughts were broken by the sudden arrival of a loud and obnoxious yawn. Ahhh... no. No yawning. She shook her head. I have to wait for Nurse Joy to finish taking care of everyone. Rubbing her eyes, she walked over to the wall and decided to try sitting in a chair again. It was, after all, more polite than standing or pacing in the middle of the lobby.

Within minutes and much to her waking-annoyance, she was asleep.

"Reilly-"

"I can handle it myself!" Reilly snapped at his sister.

Joy looked slightly taken aback, but then her eyes softened. "Reilly... don't take everything Father said to heart."

"It's not fair, Joy, and you'd know that, except that you like where you are. I want to be in your shoes, but the thing is, I'm not allowed to help pokemon."

"Anyone can help pokemon, Reilly."

"But I want to be a nurse," Reilly said firmly. "I want to be Nurse Reilly, and lead a pokemon center. But that's only for the girls in the family. No one cared to wonder what would happen if a boy was born in the Joy family. We don't have a purpose."

"Reilly-"

"Look, I can heal my own pokemon, contrary to the beliefs of my family." Reilly shoved past her with a scowl on his face, ignoring her sympathetic glance. "I'm not completely useless, you know," he muttered, before disappearing upstairs to find his room.

Joy sighed softly in defeat, though she couldn't really blame Reilly. He was the first boy born in their family in centuries. There really was no set place for him, but what he didn't realize was that he would be stronger than the rest of them because of that - because he had to find his own place in the world.

With a soft shake of the head and sad but hopeful smile, Joy turned at the sound of a soft ding! to retrieve young Miss Berdison's fully-healed pokemon. She would no doubt be less concerned with them back in her arms. Joy felt the same way about Reilly.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Oct 17 2009, 02:04 AM

Jaima sighed. It was a contented sigh. Darryn had made a showing that had surprised him and seemed to show him the path he should set himself on. Tuesday was happier than she'd been in a few days, and showing a lot more confidence, thanks in part to the strange, arrogant boy who brought out a side of Tuesday Jaima could only have guessed was there. Meiko...

Meiko. That was, more and more, all he needed to say. He was only just beginning to recognize that the girl in question brought out feelings that he hadn't had in... ever. Not even with Joy, who had been a wonderful companion after he'd lost Ember. The feelings she brought out, however, had been comforting, restful. Meiko was that as well sometimes, but Jaima felt...

He couldn't explain it. Sometimes, when she looked at him a certain way, or when he caught sight of her, his heart seemed to beat two times in the same beat. Other times, it was like drinking hot sake, which he'd done once at a new year's celebration. The feeling was similar, a warm sensation spreading from his stomach to his chest and through his whole body.

He just hoped the effects the next morning weren't the same as the sake. That would be bad.

Meiko glanced up from fussing at Precious, and smiled, a slow smile that accentuated the spreading redness in her cheeks. She bit her lip and glanced over his shoulder. The look on her face made him blink. It relaxed, her pleased smile turning to a fond one.

"Tue-chan is asleep in her chair, Jai-chan."

Jaima turned and looked, feeling his own face soften. There was Tuesday, slumped against the chair, arm stretched out over the armrest as if she'd tried to prop herself up and failed.

"We'd better take her to bed," Jaima said, hauling himself to his feet. Meiko rose as well.

"I'll see if her team is ready," she said, walking to the counter. Jaima crossed the room, gingerly lifting the girl, careful not to wake her. By the time he got her to his shoulder, Meiko had joined him with the tray holding Tuesday's pokemon. Together, they walked to the hallway where the rooms the four companions shared were found.

Meiko opened the door, and as she set the tray on the nightstand, Jaima lowered Tuesday to the bed. Meiko pulled the covers back before he'd gotten too far, and helped pull off her shoes. Jaima pushed hair out of her face, and Meiko gently lay the cover over her.

Meiko stepped back, and ended up standing close to Jaima, almost arm in arm. Together they looked down at the sleeping girl, who shifted a bit, then lay still. Smiling softly, they backed out of the room and gently closed the door.

Jaima smiled. "Thanks for helping me."

Meiko grinned. "No problem. I think I'll turn in. Big day."

Jaima agreed, and they stood together, looking at each other. Then Meiko blushed, giggling.

"Oh, right, that's my room, too!" She stepped back, opening the door quietly. After a moment's hesitation, she bid him good night and slipped in, closing the door behind her.

Jaima stood there, then, deciding she wouldn't come back out no matter how much he hoped, walked to his room and went to bed.

Not that he could sleep. And not that he minded that it was thoughts of her smiling face keeping him up.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Oct 18 2009, 01:41 AM

The tin tray sitting on the bedside table rattled with unexpected noise as one of the pokeballs resting on it shook lightly. The pokeball danced and rolled, until it hit the side of the tray and slipped over the edge, falling with a muffled thud onto the carpeted floor, where it flashed open and released its charge.

Ashleigh, the newly-caught houndour, shook out his fur as he gathered his footing. He raised his head, a long tongue rolling out of his mouth and slapping up across his nose, as he scanned the room. His pokeball was lying on the floor next to him, while the others were still silently sitting upon the tin tray. The bed behind him was occupied by the older girl who smelled like flowers, but it was the bed before him that was the one attracting him. She smelled like freshly-cut alfalfa and cinnamon, but it wasn't her scent that drew him to her.

She was kind. More kind than any human he had before encountered.

Years of living in a pack of houndour, scrounging for food and being bullied by his packmates had taught him not to trust those he was forced to be partnered with. This girl, however, was different. Despite the fact that he and Elise had attacked her, she had still gone out of her way and risked herself to protect him from harm by his superior. Though, who in that pack wasn't his superior? He was the omega - the lowest of the low. He was the only pup not born of Shalimn and Melitic, the alpha-male and alpha-female of the pack, and two of the three houndoom in the pack, now that Elise had evolved.

But he wasn't part of that pack anymore. He was the member of a team.

He sat down on his haunches, tilting his head to the side as he thought about this. It had crossed his mind before, of course, but he had never concentrated long enough on it for anything to truly sink in. He... he had a family now, and the girl seemed to like him. She was amused when he was licking the pretty blue doll, and she let him kiss her, too, licking her neck and chin with his long tongue. None of his packmates have ever wanted him to come near them. He was the omega, and not worth their time.

But this girl cared, and it was nice.

It was incredibly foggy, which was slightly disturbing, since she knew she was dreaming, and also knew that she didn't like fog.

That was usually the recipe for disaster.

"Sprinkle in a pinch of chaos and stir madly with a spork."

"Mi hermana." Tuesday twitched in surprise as Zorro came bounding out of the fog, dashing over to her and quickly making his way up onto her left shoulder. He crouched there, hugging her head. "Ya viene." He shivered. "Es malo."

Tuesday turned her head with some difficulty, glancing at the quivering Zorro. "What's bad, Zorro?" she asked, recalling the prefix mal from the word "malcontent," and "malnourished," and "malpractice."

"Es el mal, mi hermana. Debemos correr. Correr!"

He shook her lightly, tugging on her head, and Tuesday clenched her eyes shut, wincing. "Zorro, calm do-" she started, but stopped when she felt something to her right. She turned quickly, Zorro automatically forced to move with her, and faced the fog.

Within it, she could see the silhouette of some tall creature, and a pair of glowing red eyes. She took an involuntary step back, and heard a deep, cruel laugh. Sitting on her shoulder, Zorro whimpered softly.

"Ella se acerca."

Posted by: Living Arrow Oct 18 2009, 04:17 PM

“Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?” Troy asked softly, watching patiently as Darryn rolled the Net Ball around in his palm. The brunette chewed his lip in thought, his gaze completely focused on the Pokeball and the Pokemon inside it.

“Yeah, I think so.” Darryn whispered back, gripping the orb tighter in his fist. Within the blue-green and white sphere rested one of his very first Pokemon. When she had been captured, the young Caterpie had been infected with an invasive fungus that had dried out her carapace and made it difficult for her to move freely. He had spent so much time on the bug-type’s affliction with the help of a rude Nurse Joy in Gigarte and, soon enough, she had evolved.
As a Metapod, Darryn’s Pokemon had improved in battle ability and its health made a substantial development. With a tough body to boost its defences, Metapod had been able to take harder hits in battle and yet she still found it hard to defeat opponents. In fact, Metapod had found it difficult to defeat any opponents without help from other members of the team.
It was during a fierce battle in Lenoilia that Metapod had evolved into her final form. While trying to protect Darryn, the bug type had grow into her magnificent Butterfree stage and learned beautiful attacks to save her trainer. Not long after, Darryn had sent her away to watch over his friend Mindy in Floaroma Town. He had given her the nickname ‘India’ as a testament to her exotic appearance and battle style and had brought her back to take part in his first Contest only because she was his only option. That might be the harsh truth of the matter but in the end, India’s skills and attacks had pulled through to claim Darryn the Appeals Round victory that he had needed to move on.

“You think so?” Troy frowned, softly gripping Darryn’s elbow in his palm. Those striking eyes searched Darryn’s face with worry and reassurance. “You need to be absolutely sure of this. India is an impressive Pokemon to have on side and her talents are excellent considering the small amount of training you said she has.”

“Yeah, I know.” Darryn smiled fondly at Troy and placed the Net Ball into the transporter. “But keeping her with me to battle against any old trainer won’t make her happy. She needs to fly free in a meadow like the ones in Floaroma Town and enjoy the sun on her wings. I know she is an amazing Appealer but she doesn’t like battling like my other Pokemon do. Maybe I’ll bring her out for an Appeals round in the future but until then, Mindy needs her more than I do.”

“So you’re sticking with Contests, then?” Troy grinned, a fresh light sparkling in his eyes.

“Absolutely.” Darryn couldn’t help but grin broadly back. “Let’s just say I’ve found my calling in this Pokemon World.”

“I’m glad.” Troy ran his hand down Darryn’s arm to entwine his fingers around Darryn’s own. “You were amazing today,” he grinned suggestively, “and you weren’t bad on that stage, either.”

Darryn blushed furiously and darted a glance around the Pokemon Center but no-one was paying them any attention. He squeezed Troy’s fingers and reached out with his other hand to push the [SEND] button on the transporter console. There was a dull ‘beep’ as the transfer began and the screen flickered to a map of the area, zooming out far before homing in on and zooming to Aroma Town where Midy’s Uncle Soney was waiting for the Butterfree’s Pokeball to arrive.
A crackling beam reached down from the transporter, encapsulated the Net Ball and sucked it up in a flash of white that dazzled the watchers’ eyes.

Darryn puffed out a long sigh and turned to find Troy handing him a small package wrapped in blue paper with a silver ribbon.

“I know you’re moving on now but I want you to take this with you so you don’t forget Arasam.” Troy said tenderly. “It’s not much but when you hold it I hope you think of me just like I’ll be thinking of you.”

Darryn’s cheeks sky-rocketed in temperature and his mid blush became a full Cherubi-red burn.

“I- but I- But I haven’t got you anything!” Darryn protested, trying to shove the gift back but Troy wouldn’t allow it.

“Whatevs, sexybum! That’s for you and I won’t hear another word about it! Just promise me you’ll open it when you’re out of Arasam, ‘kay?”

“Erm… I guess… OK.” Darryn resigned himself to the situation and slid the parcel into his backpack. “Thanks, Troy.”

“You, Darryn Kellor, are very welcome.” Troy reached up to push a stray lock of hair tenderly back and over Darryn’s ear.

They stood there for some time just gazing into each other’s eyes and smiling, their fingers still locked together at their hips. The world seemed to stand still as Darryn drank in the smell of the man before him, savouring every scent that he could before they would have to part ways. He fell into the icy water of Troy’s eyes and lost all sense of self until his counterpart snapped him out of it.

“I suppose this is goodbye for now then?” Troy brought up his other arm to wrap around Darryn and pull their bodies together. Darryn felt the heat under Troy’s shirt instantly and almost as quickly felt his heart beating right next to his own. Oddly, Troy’s was hammering a lot faster than his own – a surprise coming from someone who was so confident.
“I better leave you to go to bed and make your way tomorrow. I’d stay for your last night in Arasam but I don’t think your companion would appreciate that very much, huh?” They both giggled and squeezed each other tighter.
They parted slightly to look into each others eyes once more and, in a silent scream of pleasure, Darryn received a passionate kiss that blinded the sun and deafened the stars with its calamity. Perfection lingered on Darryn’s lips long after Troy released him and remained even after he had left the Pokemon Center altogether.

“Goodbye.” Darryn whispered to the empty space that Troy left behind, hoping beyond his highest hopes that he would see the raven-haired beauty once again.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Oct 19 2009, 03:08 PM

Meiko's eyes fluttered open. It took a moment for the haze of sleep to pass, lingering longer because within it was the dream she had wanted to continue. Resigned, she slowly sat up and looked over at her roommate. The girl had tossed a bit, but didn't seem distressed. Even better, seeing Tuesday reminded her of the days events. A slow, mischievous smile spread across her lips.

She pulled back the covers and stepped out of the bed, her eyes scanning the floor automatically. They came to rest on the tiny houndour, who looked up at her curiously. She had a fondness for the species, and their evolution, based solely on the fact that it was one of the Pokerangers archtypes. She would even admit, under extreme duress, that she liked chancy for the same reason, even though she loathed pink. Having a happiny made that revelation much easier.

The houndour rose from his sitting position, but did not growl in warning or anything of the sort. He simply watched, warily, as Meiko stood and began the process of dressing. "You know," she whispered, confident that the little canid would be able to hear her, "you might want to be a little less enthusiastic with Mercury." The canid's head tilted again, and Meiko gave a soft giggle. "The one you were licking yesterday. You might want to take that slower." Something registered, because the pup wagged it's nub-tail briefly and sat again. Meiko smiled. "Think about it, OK?"

She opened the door as quietly as she could and padded down the hall to the next room, knocking briefly. To her surprise, the door opened, and Jaima appeared, clad in shorts and a tank top. Meiko had to blink before she could speak, and Jaima's smile of obvious pleasure derailed her thought process for another half second.

"Hey, Mei-chan," Jaima said, and she had to shake herself to answer.

"Jaima! I'm glad you're up!" She grinned and pulled him toward the lobby. "I need you to distract Tuesday while I get everything ready."

Jaima smiled. "Right. Distraction duty. I was going to see if she wanted to start training today." As he spoke, Shadow pulled the door open, then closed it, all without a sound. Mercury appeared with a small pop, yawning.

"Good idea, but don't get her too tired." Meiko grinned. "Give me your gift code and I'll make sure it gets here. Is Darryn awake?"

Jaima chuckled and touched some buttons on his pokegear, transferring the information to Meiko's. "I didn't bother him. He must have come in late, I didn't notice until I woke up." He blushed a bit and chuckled. "I was half worried I'd see Troy in there, too."

Meiko rolled her eyes. "Like you would have been able to sleep through that!"

Both sobered as they thought of the imagery Jaima might have woken to. Finally, he shuddered. "There is no bleach powerful enough to get that image out of my mind," he teased. Meiko gave him a light punch in the arm.

"Can you keep her out there until 10?" Jaima thought for a second, then looked at Shadow, who tilted his head and nodded. Jaima mirrored the nod, and Meiko beamed.

* * * * *

It had taken a bit longer to wake Tuesday than Jaima had anticipated, and he chuckled as she rubbed her eyes. The outside had grown bright, and it was a moderate day; Tuesday shivered a bit as she yawned, but Jaima resisted the urge to hustle her inside. The exercise would warm her well enough.

"OK, let's start out with some stretches, and then we're going to see how in shape you are." Tuesday's eyes widened, and Jaima grinned. "You must learn to walk before you can fly, Tuesday-san," he said with a grin. Lowering himself to the ground, he indicated for Tuesday to join him, then taught her some stretches, both leg and arm.

"Now, we're going to do some very basic exercises at first. Don't expect to learn punches and kicks right off the bat. You have to learn basic things, like balance and focus, and your body has to get used to the work." Tuesday nodded. She wasn't, by all appearances, afraid of some hard work.

As they stretched, Shadow watched, smiling. Sensei Jaima may not have Kohai Tuesday's innate abilities, but he did have some skills, especially as a teacher, and that made the lucario feel much better about his own place in the world.

* * * * *

By the time it was nearly ten o'clock, Meiko was a light frazzle. She had gotten the presents, but negotiating with the baker for a cake had taken longer than she'd expected, and the decorations had not deemed themselves worthy to hang without human intervention. At this point, her usual attitude that needing help was weak had made her forget that Darryn would likely have helped happily. Or at least he'd had helped. Even if he griped the whole time, she'd accept it, if she'd thought to ask.

She hadn't expected perfection, not really, but it had become important to her to show Tuesday that they cared enough to go to some effort. Meiko sat on the couch, covering her eyes. Her pokegear beeped, and Meiko's face paled.

"Yes," she said into the gear. Jaima's face appeared, a bit red and sweaty.

"Hey. We're going to be later than planned. We got a little further out on our run than I'd intended-"

"Jaima," Meiko cried, then blinked. Jaima had started to apologize. "Wait! That's fine. It's OK. I, um, I need more time, too." Jaima raised a brow, and Meiko found herself waving her other hand. "I'm fine. Just... give me another half an hour..."

Jaima nodded assent, evidently having little breath for anything more, and she signed off. She had just begun to rise when a voice sounded behind her.

"This will go much faster if you have help, yes, Miss Omura?" Meiko whipped around and saw Joy smiling at her, holding the banner that was to have gone across the entrance to the dining area.

Meiko beamed at the nurse. "Let me see if Darryn can help," she gushed, grinning. She just might get this done on time!

* * * * *

"Finally," Jaima said, walking slowly back to the back entrance of the pokecenter, "we're here. Go grab a shower, and I'll meet you downstairs for lunch. My treat."

Tuesday rolled her eyes. "Food is free at most pokecenters, Jai-chan." She blushed at trying out the familiar honorific for his name. For all she knew, it was reserved for couples that were romantically inclined. But Jaima merely grinned.

"Yes, but that's how I know I can afford it. Now, shower! You stink, miss!" He winked, hoping she wouldn't take his teasing badly, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're one to talk!"

Jaima watched her go up the back stairs, then trotted to the front of the building, flashing Meiko a quick thumbs up before heading to shower himself. He grinned. If Tuesy hadn't wanted them to celebrate a birthday, she shouldn't have mentioned it around Meiko!

Posted by: Living Arrow Oct 19 2009, 03:57 PM

Darryn crouched low to switch on the prepared track and rose slowly, clicking his thumbs in time to the beat and rolling his hips in time with the bass. His butt, shaped perfectly by the sweat-pants he was wearing slammed from side to side with the growing crescendo of music and the melody kicked in. He span around expertly on the spot and stuck out an arm to welcome his Ponyta into the dance.

"Let's go, November!" He delighted in seeing his equine fire-type prance along to the music, her dainty hooves striking the dirt with pin-point precision and kicking up tiny clouds of dust as she fell in alongside Darryn and they joined together in the dance. They stood face to face, Darryn direction his Pokemon into a fiery waltz, sweeping his arms wide to guide November into the swiling dance.

"Faster, faster! Pick it up!" Darryn urged his partner, her flames trailing out behind like crimson banners. "Now, use your body to call out a Fire Spin. Remember to take particular care in controlling the flames and work them around me in the way I showed you."

November's bright brown eyes flashed with excitement as she whinnied and poured more energy into her mane and tail, creating a spiralling wall of flame that danced around both herself and her trainer. The flames around Darryn deepened in colour, thinned out and became russet ribbons that clung to the Co-ordinator's arms and spread out behind him like a mystical cloak of fire.

"Excellent, November! Keep it up!" Darryn laughed, amazed that his Ponyta had executed such control in such a short amount of time that morning. "Keep it up like this and the next Ribbon will be ours, for sure!"

"Craaap!" Darryn shooed Lady out of his way as he whirled around the room, trying desperately to get ready before Tuesday got out of the shower. He had been practising with November for so long that he had completely forgotten to check the time and the surprise was fast approaching. He ran a comb through his already styled hair and stuff the parcel Troy had given him the night before back into his bag while removing a different package.

<The tiny female has finished cleansing herself.> Lady told Darryn calmly, sitting patiently by the door. <You have enough time so worry is not neccessary.>

"OK, Lady." Darryn said without looking up. "First of all, telling me that worry isn't neccessary doesn't help. And second, stop spying on people in the bathroom like that... It's creepy."

The Vulpix turned up her nose and blinked snootily.

<I did not need to watch - I can hear the rain device from here.> She corrected him smartly.

"Oh... well, alright then... How do I look?"

There was a long pause before Lady replied.

<Magnificent.>

"Great. Then let's get moving!" Darryn finished getting his things together and darted out of the room and down the corridor before Tuesday could leave the bathroom, Lady close on his heels.

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Oct 19 2009, 08:27 PM

"Tempest, you smell worse than me!"

"Chuuuuu..." the pikachu replied, her ears flattened against her skull as she hunkered down, glaring. If there was one thing the pikachu hated, it was getting a bath.

Tuesday squealed as water crashed into her face from the side, and she stuck her tongue out at Zorro. The riolu was sitting in the bathtub, splashing happily in the water, while Tuesday knelt on the thick rug outside of the tub, scrubbing Tempest with a soft brush.

"Zorro, I need to finish giving you two a bath before I can get a shower," she said, grinning.

"Riiiiiii!" Zorro exclaimed, and splashed water at her, clearly disagreeing. Tuesday giggled, but it was Tempest that splashed back, swinging her tail through the water and flinging droplets at his face. "Ri Ri Rii-" He spat out the bar of soap that Tempest had shoved into his mouth and let his tongue loll out in disgust. "Olu," he mumbled, and shook his head.

"He-ey!" Tuesday said, raising her hands and shielding her face as water came flying in her direction (and went flying in every direction). Tempest saw her opportunity and leapt out of the tub, racing across the floor and leaving a trail of soapy water behind.

Tuesday, however, was slightly faster. "Tempest," she sighed, as she grabbed the pikachu's pokeball and quickly recalled her. The pikachu went with a cry, sucked into the device. Tuesday shook her head. "I'll finish you in a minute."

Setting the pokeball down, she changed her position and grabbed the sank bar of soap off the bottom of the bathtub floor. "Come 'ere, stinky," she said, splashing water at Zorro. The riolu squealed excitedly and leapt through the water. Tuesday yelled and leaned back, but it was a futile attempt at escaping the wave. Water sloshed out of the tub and soaked her from the waist down, including her shoes.

"Well, that was dumb," she commented, looking down at her feet. She should have taken them off before she started trying to give Zorro and Tempest a bath. Crinkling her nose, she sat properly and pulled her shoes off, before tossing them in the corner and getting back on her knees. "Okay, Zorro. Let's make you smell decent, at least."

It took far longer bathing Zorro than it had ever taken Tuesday to bathe Tempest or wiping Dante down combined. By the time she had finally finished rinsing off and drying the happy riolu, and recalled him into his pokeball, even her hair was drenched, and hanging down around her face, sticking to her forehead.

She had then called Tempest out again, receiving an annoyed look from the waterlogged rodent. Tuesday smirked. "That's your own fault," she told Tempest, and then proceeded to bathe her from the beginning. She dried the pikachu off when she was finished, recalled her into her pokeball, and then flicked the nob to let the water out.

As the bathtub drained, Tuesday gathered up all of her items and padded down the carpeted hall in her bare feet. She left both the Occupied sign on the bathroom door, and a trail of water behind her, as she made her way to her room.

She placed her pokeballs in a pile on the bed and dumped her other items on the floor. Grabbing her soaked shoes, she was about to call out Dante, when one of the pokeballs burst open of its own accord and released - not Tempest, as she was expecting - a houndour.

"Ashleigh?" she asked.

The houndour yipped and danced in a stumbling jig from side to side, paw over paw and appearing almost ready to trip himself up. His stub of a tail was vibrating like it ran on a battery, and his tongue was lolling out of his mouth. Tuesday studied him for a moment, before sighing with a smile. "I'm already filthy," she said, and spread her arms. "Let's get this over with now, okay?"

With an excited yelp, the houndour leapt forward and nearly knocked her over when he slammed both of his forepaws on her chest, his tongue sloppily rolling over her neck. Tuesday giggled, tilting her head back to keep the long, slimy tongue from catching her on the mouth.

"All right, Ashleigh, down." She let the houndour drop to the floor. "I need an actual bath now, but I have a favor." He cocked his head to the side, as Tuesday set her shoes on the floor in front of him. "Can you lay on these?"

The hot water of the shower rolling over her bare skin felt absolutely wonderful. Tuesday was no stranger to exercise, by any means, but she had never done the stretches like Jaima had shown her, or gone running unless she was running from someone. This was a whole new experience for her, and Jaima wasn't kidding when he said she smelled. Of course, it didn't help that she had tripped and taken a nosedive into the dirt. Graceful? No. Hilarious? Indubitably.

Tuesday ran her fingers through her hair, rinsing it out, before shutting off the water. With a contented sigh, she climbed out of the shower and began to get dressed in a fresh pair of clothes she had brought in with her.

By the time she was finished in the bathroom, Ashleigh had done a wonderful job drying her shoes, which were nice and warm when she slipped them on. When she was finished, she was dressed in a pair of baggy black cargo pants and a dark blue, thin, long-sleeved shirt.

With a grin, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, rather than letting it hang down as she usually did.

With a sigh, feeling much better, she grabbed her pokeballs and skipped out of the room. She checked Jaima and Darryn's room, but no one answered. She blinked in confusion, then thought about breakfast and figured everyone was probably downstairs getting some food.

Tossing her head from side to side, humming, she trotted down the stairs, turned the corner, and stopped dead.

Posted by: Master Houndoom Oct 20 2009, 12:44 AM

"SURPRISE!"

Grondir fired leaves straight into the air, which were then grabbed by an unseen wind. Lights of many colors danced around them as the leaves swept around Tuesday in a circle, careful not to touch her, before the flew out the door of the pokécenter. Mercury's eyes glowed the whole time, and her face was alight with joy and satisfaction.

Meiko had stood back, far enough to see everyone's reaction to the party, and Tuesday's especially. She almost clapped her hands in excitement. It had worked!

Except that rather than pleased, Tuesday looked stunned, shocked, and a little worried. The girl looked around, bewildered, until she spotted Meiko.

"M-meiko-san?"

Meiko stepped forward. "Iie, iie, Tue-chan. Ore wa Mei-chan!"

Tuesday blinked. "Um... who?" she said, scrunching up her face a bit. Meiko laughed, delighted.

"Come on in, imouto," Jaima said, gesturing.

"B-but..." Tuesday swallowed, looking around. There was Darryn, and Joy, and Jenny, and most of their pokémon. Shadow stood near Jaima, his eyes twinkling, and Mercury pirouetted around the room. Once again the kirlia was happy, and people around her could feel it and were happy as well. Grondir merely watched Tuesday, and Tsunami stuck with him, slightly nervous at the large gathering. Fang and Desertdancer were sitting near each other, and Ramhorn was watching from a corner, seeming to enjoy watching the people mingle. Precious was standing at Meiko's feet, clapping happily at all the noise, under Ember's watchful eye. Rockclaw was no where to be found.

Tuesday tried again. "But it's not my birthday yet!"

Meiko grinned, ruffling her hair. "I was pretty sure it wasn't, but you did say it was soon!" She winked down at Tuesday. "If I'd started asking questions, you'd have gotten suspicious!"

Tuesday had just begun to notice that Jaima and Meiko were drawing her into the room, but it was too late to dash away. Besides that, she was warming up to the idea, it seemed. She looked around at the decorations a smile growing wider on her face, then hugged Meiko impulsively. "Ari..." She stopped, blinking, and looked up at Jaima and Meiko expectantly.

"-gato," Meiko supplied, and Jaima accepted his hug.

"Presents first, or cake?"

Tuesday's mouth dropped. "There's presents? There's cake?!"

Jaima smirked at her. "That is standard birthday party protocol, isn't it? There'd be clowns, but," he dropped his voice in a conspiratorial tone, "Mr. Mimes freak Meiko out."

"HEY!"

"Worse than you and mankeys," Tuesday asked innocently, sending Meiko into gales of laughter and Jaima blushing. Mockingly shaking a fist at her, Jaima hissed, "I told you that in confidence!"

Darryn waved them over to where a moderately tall pile of presents waited, but the look on Tuesday's face made it seem as if it had been stacked to the height of an aggron. Se looked back at Jaima and Meiko, and both of them smiled at her.

"Go ahead, Tuesday," Jaima encouraged.

"It's your birthday!" Meiko called. The two looked at each other, then grinned.

"Go ahead! It's your birthday! Yeah Tuesday, it's your birthday! Open presents! On your birthday! Go ahead! It's your birthday!" The two danced around, and soon Nurse Joy and some of the pokémon had joined in. They all laughed, Jaima scratching the back of his head, when they wound down. Tuesday was staring, blushing, and everyone laughed when she turned to the presents, wide eyed as if she were mortified.

Jaima ended the semi-awkward moment by pulling one of the gifts from the top. "This one's from Joy." Joy bowed as Tuesday carefully unwrapped the gift. Meiko leaned over and stage-whispered to Jaima, "After you teach her martial arts and we teach her Japanese, let's teach her how to unwrap a gift, huh?"

"Hush," Jaima admonished fondly as Tuesday blushed.

The gift was a small key-chain, an electronic device like a tamagotchi, with a screen and two buttons. Joy smiled. "It has a single pokétch program in it. That one monitors your pokémon's health by communicating with your pokéballs!"

Tuesday gaped at the device, then turned shining eyes to Joy. "Thank you so much!" Joy nodded her welcome, and Jaima handed her another gift. "This is from me, but... well, it's kind of not finished yet." Instead of a wrapped gift, Jaima held out a wooden box which, when opened, had several blocks of what looked like clay. He pulled Mercury's ball from his bandoleer. "This is the stuff I use to customize my pokéballs. If you'd like, I'd like to do the same with yours."

Tuesday reached out and touched the putty, then looked up shyly. "I'd like that..." she swallowed, then said, softly, "Jai-chan."

Jaima smiled, and hugged Tuesday. Meiko pulled down a gift, wrapped in a kind of pyramid. "This is from me. Um... I... I didn't have a lot of time." She nervously handed the package to Tuesday, and didn't push when the girl took a long time unwrapping. The smile on Tuesday's face made Meiko blink.

"Books!" She held them up excitedly, grinning as if she'd won a prize. "This is great! A Japanese English dictionary, a phrase book, and," she gasped, "a book on mythology!" She opened it, but blinked, confronted with strange symbols where letters would normally be. Meiko hissed in frustration.

"They sent the Japanese text?!" She looked as if she were about to cry, but Tuesday was poring through it with abandon, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed. Meiko slowly cheered up.

"Um... um Tuesday," Jaima said. "There're more presents, Tuesday!"

Posted by: Living Arrow Oct 25 2009, 06:27 PM

*Aw, CRAP! Did I go too far with my gifts?! Know your limits, Daz!*

"I didn't have a great deal of time to find something on such short notice..." Officer Jenny of Arasam began, shifting uneasily under the gaze of the onlookers. So many personal and lovely gifts had been given already that her dull parcel seemed to pale in comparison even before it was opened. Tuesday, however, did not show any outward signs of disappointment and was still in a shocked and grinning state that looked like some sort of hysterical paralysis. "But, here it is!"

Tuesday gratefully accepted the small brown-paper package and tore the wrappings to shreds as she got into the spirit of the present-opening frenzy. The box that remained was equally as plain but its contents were wholely another story.

"Wha-" Tuesday began but Jenny was already leaning over her shoulder and pointing into the box.

"What we have here are an assortment of items that are sure to help any researcher or trainer on her journey!" Jenny beamed, explaining each item in turn. "First off, we've got a Zoom Lens. This is perfect for seeing far into the distance on your travels and if you get a Pokemon to wear it, it will increase their accuracy during battle! Then there's a Smoke Ball to help you blind an opponent and get away from danger. Third, I put in a handy Quick Claw for one of your Pokemon to land extra-fast hits! And last is my favourite - a Black Belt! It's sure to help in your training that you were doing earlier and I think your little Riolu might benefit from wearing it, too!"

Tuesday's jaw dropped.

Jaima blinked behind his glasses like a confused Hoothoot.

Darryn stared.

"You didn't have a great deal of time!?" Meiko gasped. "But that's... that's..."

"So COOL!" Tuesday grinned bounced on the spot. "Thank you so much, Officer!"

The Policewoman hugged Tuesday sweetly and when they parted, Tuesday turned finally to Darryn. He gulped.

*I'm normally so good at getting presents but what if I've done it wrong this time?! Oh frig!*

"And, um, these are from me." Darryn handed Tuesday a sparkly green bag. "There's a theme to it all so I hope you like them..."

Tuesday set down the bag and lifted out the first parcel within, unwrapping the green-and-gold paper with smart tears and pulled out the items inside. A http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/1/1c/Bag_Pok%C3%A9block_Case_Sprite.png and a http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/97/Bag_Berry_Pouch_Sprite.png greeted her.

"With those you can collect berries and make Pokeblock when you visit a Contest Hall. Feed Pokeblock to your Pokemon and it will improve their condition in so many different ways - remember to feed them the flavours they like though or it won't work out as well as it should..." Darryn advised.

Next came a larger pack, wrapped in silver and black. Darryn winced. This was the one he was scared Tuesday wouldn't like. It was too late to go back now but Darryn couldn't help but think it had all gone wrong! Tuesday began unwrapping the gift and, when she saw what was inside, she blushed profusely.
Meiko facepalmed and rolled her eyes at Darryn. Jaima blushed nearly as hard as Tuesday. Darryn inwardly groaned.
Inside was a black and silver https://ssl4.lon.gb.securedata.net/toygrotto.net/merchantmanager/images/uploads/83241%20warrior.JPG in the style of an ancient roman gladiator complete with a midnight cape that reached the waist. Tuesday's eyes were so wide that Darryn was scared she'd let them drop completely from her head so he hastened to explain:

"I'd like for you to enter into the next Contest alongside me like Jaima did!" He gasped quickly, hoping beyond hope that the dress wasn't completely out of her taste and inappropriate for her birthday. "I've seen your combinations that your Pokemon use and think it would be a waste for them not to be shown off to the public!"

Tuesday's red face looked up at Darryn, completely stunned.

"A-and!" Darryn grabbed for the smallest and final box in the bag. "You can also wear this!"

Tuesday looked at the package like it was a coiled Seviper for a moment.

*Damn! I went too far! Damn and hell!!!*

Tuesday slowly took the packet and opened it with care, apprehension marking her every move. Inside reseted a glittering blue crystal. Its very center seemed to swirl and eddy like the ocean, shifting between infinite shades of blue and green within a droplet-shaped stone. The girl's eyes, like saucers, were completely mesmerised for a few seconds while everyone watched, the http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/4/4e/Bag_Mystic_Water_Sprite.png pendant in her hands shining like a captured star..

"So?" Darryn tested uneasily... "What do you think?"

Posted by: Umbrae Calamitas Oct 25 2009, 11:14 PM

The cake was the icing on the... cake.

All right, so the cake was just another brilliant part of the day. For starters, it was yellow cake with vanilla icing, Tuesday's personal favorite. How they knew that was beyond her, but somehow, they had either figured it out or made one lucky guess. In the end, it didn't really matter.

Tuesday sat between Jaima and Darryn, with Meiko sitting across from Jaima, Jenny across from Darryn, and Joy across from her - Tuesday. The pokemon were scattered throughout this section of the lobby, which had apparently been closed off personally for use of her party. Tuesday, glancing over at her pile of unwrapped gifts, flushed in embarrassed pleasure. She had never expected that an offhand comment to Meiko could lead to this.

Tuesday licked some thickly-coated icing off of her fork, before cutting off another small bite of cake. Her thoughts wandered in the fashion of a free-floating balloon, her eyes traveling around the room. Zorro's face was covered in cake crumbs, and he was trying to touch his tongue to his nose and lick off a large glob of icing that had somehow managed to stick there.

Tempest, in an attempt to prove her superiority to the silly-hearted riolu, was eating her cake slowly and with what she must have assumed was sophistication. Once she realized, however, that sitting so close to Dante was melting her icing, she gave up her airs and shoved the charmeleon away, causing Dante to trip and stumble face-first into his plate of cake.

Zorro's snickers were the background music to Dante turning and glaring at Tempest, blinking his eyelids and dropping iced crumbs to the floor. The pikachu snorted and collapsed in laughter, and Tuesday, smiling softly, turned her attention elsewhere.

Wraith was out in the paddock, enjoying the sunshine, and Ashleigh was sitting nearer to Mercury than he was to his fellow team, licking icing off of his otherwise clean plate. He seemed to be trying to decide whether he would gain more initial happiness from tackling Mercury with another slobber-frenzy, or tackling her otherwise empty plate and cleaning it. He didn't seem to have yet come to a decision.

As Tuesday munched on her own portion of cake, she thought again about the surprise of the birthday, followed by the even greater surprise of receiving presents - a lot of presents.

Tuesday held the keychain poketch in her hand under the table, grasping it fondly. She hadn't been expecting any of this and, quite frankly, she was sure she wouldn't soon forget anything about today.

"Um... um Tuesday," Jaima said. "There're more presents, Tuesday!"

Tuesday flushed with embarrassment, despite the fact that no one else was currently aware of her thought processes. Jaima had actually needed to physically remove the books from her grasp, in order to get her to pay attention to the rest of her gifts. Meiko had been pleased, but stunned, but her reaction, but apparently she hadn't believed that Tuesday was actually that addicted to books. She wondered if the girl would ever doubt Jaima's emphasis again.

Officer Jenny's gifts were practical, but still unexpected. They came both from the point of view of someone in her field, as well as, as she had said, the field of a researcher. Obviously, the officer was very observant, or else Jaima had explained Tuesday's dream. She smiled, but then her smile faded into puzzlement.

"I'd like for you to enter into the next Contest alongside me like Jaima did!" Darryn gasped quickly. "I've seen your combinations that your Pokemon use and think it would be a waste for them not to be shown off to the public!"

Tuesday blinked, wide-eyed at the dress in the box, before pulling it out and holding it in front of her, to gain a better look. Jaima was the first to speak, turning his eyes in a suspicious glare toward Darryn. ""Okay, seriously, what're your intentions toward my little sister?"

Only once Darryn had guffawed and tried to speedily explain himself, stammering all the while, did Jaima wink, grinning. Tuesday had to admit, the boy could be wholly intimidating if he so chose, and she had actually thought his glare was a serious one.

"I... I think my dad might kill you, Darryn, if he saw me wearing this," Tuesday stammered, flushing profusely. The dress was nice, of course, but... well, it seemed like it was built for someone... older than Tuesday, or just... larger. Taller. Yeah, taller. She liked the style, of course - she had always been fond of the gladiator theme - but it seemed a tad... provocative for someone her age. Or even someone older.

"Sweety," Meiko said with an amused and patient smile, "you can wear something under it."

Tuesday blinked. "O-Oh! Well... okay, then!"

Meiko, however, turned to Darryn with a sly look on her face. "You know, Darryn, I bought nice clothes for Jaima because I liiiiiike him..."

Tuesday didn't know whether to be amused or embarrassed that this sent Darryn into another wild frenzy to explain himself.

Reaching up, Tuesday fingered the pendant about her neck. She hadn't known what to think about it, really. It was the most unexpected gift for her to have received, and she wondered, precisely, why Darryn had gotten it for her. Did it have a particular meaning, or did he just get it because it was pretty? Did he realize that she would never have a water pokemon, or didn't he realize, precisely, how far her fear stretched?

Of course... of everyone here, only Jaima was fully aware of how much she feared water pokemon. More than that, however, he was the only one who knew why.

Tuesday ran her fingers over the smooth pendant, her cake finished, but her mind still wandering.

"So?" Darryn tested, his voice uneasy. "What do you think?"

Tuesday sat, staring voicelessly down at the necklace in the box. It was rude not to say anything; she knew that. She should say something.

"It's beautiful, Darryn," she whispered softly. And it was - eerily beautiful. "I've never seen one of these before." And she hadn't - not outside of books.

"Do you know what it is?" Darryn asked, prepared to explain.

Tuesday nodded, cutting him off. Meiko, who had been prepared to help Darryn explain, if necessary, looked surprised as Tuesday muttered, "A Mystic Water pendant. It enhances water-type moves."

"Right," Darryn replied, sounding unsure. "Do you... like it?"

Tuesday glanced up at him and smiled softly. "Yes, Darryn. Thanks." She looked at everyone. "Thank you all."

Tuesday sighed. She didn't want to ask Darryn why he had gotten her the pendant as a gift. It was probably just because it went with the dress, but she didn't know. She wasn't ever much good at matching clothes. She just wore what was comfortable and left it at that. It didn't really matter, anyway. It was a nice gift - they were all nice gifts. It was a wonderful surprise and she couldn't have been more grateful. This was probably the best birthday she'd ever had, and really, it wasn't even her birthday yet.

Once everyone had finished their cake, Jaima and Meiko offered to clean up, if Tuesday would take her gifts up to her room. Forbidden to help clean, as the birthday-girl, she sighed and made her way upstairs, arms laden with unwrapped presents.

Dante beat her to the door and opened it for her, pressing down on the handle and stepping inside. Tuesday followed him and placed her presents on the bed, only to be surprised by finding a still-wrapped one there.

Frowning, she picked the small box up and found an envelope underneath. Dante, the only pokemon who hadn't been recalled into his pokeball, crouched on the floor in curiosity, as Tuesday sat on the bed and slowly opened the envelope.



Tuesday pursed her lips, but she wasn't sure whether to be flattered or annoyed, so she settled for a bit of both, as she unwrapped the gift.

As soon as the paper was completely off, however, and the contents of the package rolled into the palm of her hand, all annoyance and flattery faded to be replaced by total shock between both she and Dante.

Of all the presents Reilly could have given her for her birthday...

A Thunderstone?



"Miss Berdison?"

Tuesday turned in surprise, finding Nurse Joy standing behind her. Meiko had fallen asleep almost an hour before and Tuesday had taken the time to wander down to the lobby, her latest birthday gift clutched in her hand.

"N-Nurse Joy," she stammered, taking a startled step back.

"I'm afraid Reilly has left already, if that's who you're looking for," Nurse Joy admitted, nodding at the Thunderstone in Tuesday's hands. "He was anxious to get ahead to the next town."

"Oh." Tuesday rolled the stone between her hands. "I was hoping to... thank him," she admitted softly. "Um..."

Nurse Joy smiled softly. "I can send a message ahead to him, if you'd like?" she offered, calling Tuesday's attention again. "Or... I could tell you that he was heading to Petropolis next." She smiled. "Perhaps you'll run into him?"

Tuesday flushed, which caused Joy to smile, though she didn't know why. "Th-thank you, Nurse Joy."

"Of course," Joy said. "I am glad you came downstairs, for another reason, Miss Berdison. In the excitement of the day, I believe you forgot about a gift that was sent earlier."

Tuesday blinked in realization. "Oh!"

"Yes," Nurse Joy said, motioning toward the area to the far side of the lobby. "There's a phone call for you, if you'd care to take it, and an awaiting gift." She smiled softly, as Tuesday's face broke out into a grin. "Someone named Professor Oak...?"

Posted by: Master Houndoom Oct 26 2009, 02:16 PM

Jaima was very thoughtful by the time the party broke up. He had volunteered to help clean up at almost the same time Meiko did, which made a few people near them smile. Jaima would be the first to admit he was horrible at picking up on subtleties and hints, but recent events had caused him to re-analyze recent events. He was embarrassed to say he had no idea what to do with his slightly changed perspectives.

Tuesday's had become so engrossed in Meiko's gift that Jaima had had to intervene. He knew, somehow, that, left to her own devices, she'd have stayed where she was and read the books twice over (yes, even the dictionary) before remembering the other gifts and guests, and would have likely missed the cake. So he gently reached out and pulled the books from her hand, grinning all the while, nodding to the stack of unopened gifts. The girl flushed, but opened her gifts, with much more enthusiasm (at least to the outside observer), tearing into the paper and eagerly grasping at the items wrapped therein.

Jaima suspected that the sooner she finished unwrapping, the sooner she'd be able to get back to her books. But it probably didn't hurt that Jenny's gift had been wrapped in unseeming brown paper. They were wonderfully thoughtful gifts, and Jaima's opinion of the young Officer had risen significantly.

It was Darryn's gift that had, at once, given him pause. Not for the short looking dress, or the fancy looking pendant. It was Meiko's teasing remark.

"I bought nice clothes for Jaima because I liiiiike him..."

He'd looked up at Meiko then, but she'd given no indication that this should have been news to anyone. Was he an idiot, or had she been hiding it..? And how did he feel.

Don't be stupid, an inner voice snorted, sounding suspiciously like his sister Mariko. And he had to admit, he did know the answer.

Again, he refused to let it ruin the party. It was Tuesday's day, and he wasn't going to steal from it in any way, shape, or form. So he indulged in the welcome distraction of watching Mercury edge away from Tuesday's new houndour, squealing when he leapt toward her and lavished her plat with the attention he felt it deserved.

Are you OK, Mercury?

The kirlia flinched, pushing away from Shadow, to whom she had clung, and brushed off her skirt-like appendages. Of course I am, Trainer Jaima. Why do you ask?

Jaima didn't roll his eyes physically, but if he could have managed it mentally, he would have. Is Ashleigh a nuisance..?

A hint of guilt came through the mental communication, but Mercury's answer was staunch. I'll handle it, Trainer Jaima. I won't embarrass you.

Jaima's brows *did* raise at that point, but the look from Shadow to Mercury was more puzzling than what she said. Jaima had suspicions, especially since the battle, but nothing had been said and it had never been the time. Shadow looked at Jaima and nodded toward Mercury, indicating that he would make sure the Kirlia was safe. Jaima nodded and turned his attention back to the party.

Now Meiko was sweeping away the last of the crumbs on the floor, wiping up icing, and Jaima was setting up tables. He looked at her and she smiled lightly.

"Some party, huh," she said softly, pouring the dust bin into the trash can provided by Joy.

Jaima smiled. "You did good, Mei-chan."

Meiko seemed to glow, and bounced on the balls of her feet. "I can't believe she liked the books so much!" Her reaction to his praise, if it was to his praise, put another nail in the construction of his new perspective.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing this...

"I told you," he said, chuckling. "She likes to read."

"Can you believe Darryn's gift? I thought you were going to strangle him!"

Meiko's laugh was light, and Jaima leaned against the table. "Nah. Maybe if he wasn't so obviously into Troy, I might have been more nervous, but he means well."

"Still," Meiko said with a thoughtful frown, "It's kind of... mature... for a girl like Tuesday."

Jaima looked at her as she stared off, pensively. When she didn't speak for a long time, he coughed. "You're thinking of ways to make her look good in it, aren't you?"

Meiko looked as if she had been caught sneaking from the cookie jar, and was horrified at the fact. "Yes!"

Jaima laughed, then, and gestured out to the hall. "I think Darryn's eager to move on. He's got his eye on contest halls, I bet."

Meiko snorted. "He'd better! I can't believe he was still wondering if he needed to look further for his calling! Wasn't he amazing? He was amazing!"

Jaima smiled fondly, and neither spoke as they reached their rooms. "Um, Meiko," Jaima said as she reached for the handle to her and Tuesday's door.

"Yes," she asked, looking a bit confused. A look that grew more intense as his face grew warm.

"You... um... you like me, huh?" He kicked himself mentally, but Meiko's face rapidly flushed. She looked at the ground, and that, suddenly, seemed like a really good idea to Jaima as well.

Meiko cleared her throat, and Jaima looked up. "I never say things I don't mean, Jaima," she said with a shaky smile, then quickly opened the door. "I'll make sure Tuesday's packed," she called, overly cheerful, and pushed the door closed.

Jaima stared, blinking, then smiled. She was brave, she was fun, she was...

The girl for him.

* * * * *

"Please be careful," Joy said with a bow. Jaima and Meiko bowed in return, and after a moment, so did Tuesday.

Jenny had her arms crossed, kicking the ground. "I'm sorry," she finally blurted. "I was wrong about you." Jaima smiled a bit at her, and she flushed, scowling. "But keep your noses clean!"

Jaima rolled his eyes, then grinned, a slight wicked look coming on his face. "If we get into any trouble, you'll be the first to know."

The group turned and began their way out of the city, laughing when they heard Jenny's voice calling behind them when they were a good distance away.

"That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence!"