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Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 29 2012, 10:23 PM

Back in the Zone

It had been only a day since Taggarty Lee's Nightmare World ordeal, and he had already returned to the streets for more training. Taking on uppity trainers was something of a speciality to him, but today his training objectives were twofold: Get strong enough to beat Justin Smart's Hitmontop in fair combat, and get ready for a battle to earn the Stonebloom Badge.

He'd earned a bit of notoriety in Furoh as a trainer for the continental broadcasts of his gym battles, as well as his companionship with the now missing Raven Amaranth. The paparazzi had photographed them together during their time in Arasam, since she revealed herself to the world again, but she'd disappeared since.

Tag no longer felt the need to wander around searching for her, especially since he had no more leads. More importantly, he'd come to realize that he had other companions in Furoh, and didn't need to cling so heavily to someone who clearly didn't want to be found by anyone. He'd consciously made the effort to return to his vagrant ways and storm the final two gyms before making his way to Daioh.

He wanted the Champion's title, for once. He wanted the income as well, so as to build a trainer's school for himself. It was something of a pipe dream, but it was a better goal than finding a girl only to stand awkwardly around her.

But, of course, to do all this, he'd have to get stronger. Much stronger.

"Gothitelle! Psyshock! Samurott! Razor Shell!"

The newly arrived pokemon from Unova were a big problem for Tag. He'd faced quite a few since their appearance, and they always served to give him a hard time. In his vast experience, the former Dragon Trainer had squared off against probably every pokemon from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. (Excluding the 'legendary' pokemon, of course). With the arrival of a hundred or so more new pokemon, dozens of new techniques and abilities, Tag was a bit at a loss when facing them. Fortunately for him, several trainers now commanded these Unova-brand pokemon. One of the battles he'd engaged in today held two formidable looking foes that Tag had never seen before.

The Gothitelle raised her arms near her head, summoning a whole array of little motes in the air. Throwing her arms forward with a battlecry, the little psychic lights blasted forward, lashing towards Tag's Spinda, Kana.

The much smaller pokemon fell backwards from the assault, but hopped back up almost immediately thereafter. She smiled at her opponent cutely, placing a paw to her mouth as her ever-spiral eyes stared her down.

Meanwhile, the rather large looking...nautilus-otter-samurai pokemon lashed out with the shell he wore as a helmet. The blade looked vicious as it struck Tag's other pokemon, a Slowpoke named Tonbo, but the Slow Pokemon looked rather unfazed and retained his constantly dopey face.

Tag had given the first move to the opponent trainer, a tomboy looking girl wearing torn jean shorts, a tank top, and a white baseball cap. She was very attractive, but Tag paid that absolutely no heed (there were more important details to notice), and set about his counterattack immediately.

"Tonbo, disable Gothitelle. Kana, use Teeter Dance."

Kana bounced forward and immediately threw herself into a wild, flaily 'dance'. As she moved about, the eyes of the two enemy pokemon honed in on her, and the combination of her haphazard body spots, swirly eyes and erratic swirly dance moves imprinted on the brains of the two, and suddenly their eyes were spinning. Teeter Dance was a move that served to confuse all pokemon on the field, but Tag had calculated the abilities of his two pokemon into play as well: Both Tonbo and Kana possessed the "Own Tempo" ability, and were unable to be confused by any means. The enemy trainer's pokemon were now both confused, and Tag's remained perfectly sane.

Meanwhile, Tonbo glowed with a radiant blue aura for a moment before locking eyes with the already dizzy Gothitelle. Disable immediately locked off a section of her memory, disabling access to the Psyshock move she'd used last.

The enemy trainer clenched her fists in frustration: She'd hoped to sweep Taggarty Lee in a few rounds, but on his first move, he'd already proceeded to set her back on the defensive, despite no damage being done.

"Gothitelle, Future Sight. Samurott, Razor Shell on the Spinda!"

The Gothitelle nodded, looking through her muddled mind and drumming up the psychic energy for a future sight. Nothing visibly happened, but Tag knew from experience that she'd simply predicted an attack, that would now come to pass through precognition. It would come to pass because she willed it so. A terrifying ability indeed.

Meanwhile, the Samurott stumbled over himself, slamming his head into the ground. For all of his skill, Tag often relied heavily on luck as well, especially when using confusion gambits.

"Tonbo, use Amnesia. Kana, Psych Up on Tonbo!"

He had time for a little set up play now. His Slowpoke concentrated on what appeared to be...forgetting. Even with no discernible effects, Tag knew that Tonbo was clearing his mind into a Zen-like state, making special attacks less effective. Kana, meanwhile, used her Psych Up technique to copy the changes as well, clearing her mind in a way that would boost her own special defense as well.

"You a coward or what, you're not going to attack?" the girl taunted, pointing an accusing finger at Tag. Nothing came to Tag's face as he stared blankly back at her, giving her as little to read as possible. The combination of sharp eyes and multiple facial tattoos served their purpose, and the girl found herself a bit unnerved. Tag stood before her, back straight, hands in pockets, staring her down from across the field. "Uh...Gothitelle, Psyshock on the Spinda. Samurott, Razor Shell on Spinda!"

"Kana, Sucker Punch"

With speed surprising for a creature that stumbled over herself constantly, Kana launched forward, punching the Gothitelle in the face as she stumbled to remember how to perform Psyshock. With Tonbo's disable still in place, she hadn't been able to pull it off, and also got a solid dark type move in the face. As Kana fell away from her, the confusion-muddled Samurott's shell slash missed his intended target and slammed into his psychic teammate.

"Tonbo, Zen Headbutt."

As the Samurott reeled back in surprise from hitting his teammate, Tonbo slowly lifted himself off the ground using his own psychic energy, and threw himself into a flying headbutt, slamming heavily into the otter-thing. As Kana trotted back to Tag's side of the field triumphantly, Tonbo remained over on the girl's side, looking up at her with his adorable face.

"Uh...uh..."

"Breathe." Tag cut the girl's stammering off. "Clear your head and think how to handle this situation."

It sounded really condescending, due to his harsh tone of voice. However, this was his way of teaching. There was no time for fluff and praise when there was a problem to be faced. The girl drew a deep breath and suddenly pointed at the Slowpoke still situated happily on her side of the field.

"Samurott, Fury Cutter! Gothitelle! Faint Attack!"

Tag shook his head slowly. Fury Cutter was a deplorably weak attack unless it was used repeatedly, and Faint Attack lacked any power due to Gothitelle's lack of physical strength. She went for type advantage, true, but Tonbo had a pretty strong defense, and it would not do much damage.

"Tonbo, Slack off. Kana, Psycho Cut on Samurott!" Tonbo shrugged off the two attacks with his typical slowpoke indifference, then nestled happily onto the ground, appearing to take a little breather in the middle of the match. Ostensibly, he did nothing. In actuality, he was healing.

Meanwhile, Tag knew Kana to be short on offensive power, but still ordered a Psycho Cut. The Spinda's newly awakened move formed a psychic blade, which lanced through the air at the Samurott. It was a powerful move, even despite Kana's lack of offense. The creature slammed into the ground, just as a future sight came soaring out of the sky, landing on the resting Tonbo.

The attack was powerful, but Tonbo had upped his already impressive defenses earlier with Amnesia, and he seemed to also shrug this off.

"Gothitelle, use Flatter on Slowpoke! Samurott, Water Pulse on Spinda!"

Tag grinned. He watched as Gothitelle moved to flatter his Slowpoke to boost his special attack at the cost of his confusion...but as aforementioned, Tonbo's ability was Own Tempo.

The Slowpoke tilted his head at the Astral Body pokemon, not confused like she'd hoped, but blank as always. Meanwhile, the Water pulse struck Tag's Spinda, sending her spinning. It appeared that Samurott's Torrent ability had activated, because after just that blow, Kana was looking rather ragged.

"Kana! Tonbo! On the Samurott: Dizzy Punch! Zen Headbutt! " One of the few moves that gained the Same Type Attack Bonus, Kana toddled forward one more time and punched the Otter Pokemon square in the chest (Where she could reach), while Tonbo lanced forward glowing with his psychic aura, using himself as a body projectile. With a croak, the Samurott fell to the ground defeated.

"Gothitelle, Psybeam on Spinda!"

"Kana, Sucker Punch!" As the Astral Body pokemon started to charge up her power into a beam, Kana socked her a good one with her cute little paw once more. Before she could recover:

"Water Pulse!" A blast of water engulfed her and threw her to the ground. The gothitelle lay there, defeated from the powered up Water Pulse from the nearby Slowpoke. The girl recalled her two pokemon and frowned, running off to the pokemon center.

Tag stood, looking around at the makeshift crowd that had gathered around their battle. Slipping his hands out of his pockets, he knelt down to greet his two victorious pokemon. They still needed training, but he definitely enjoyed battling with them.

"Well done you two." Tag reached out, patting their heads as they smiled appreciatively up at him.

"Da." "Poke."

"Agreed." their trainer nodded, recalling them to their pokeballs to rest. He looked around once more at the crowd, and it appeared no one wanted to step forward at the moment. That was fine too, he figured. He was sure there'd be more trainers closer to the gym.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 29 2012, 11:39 PM

Three days earlier...

It was a typical, boring day for Jill Laurent. Though she had been raprimanded for missing a meeting a few days ago in Petropolis, her friends Erica and Matt vouched for her and she didn't lose her job over it. Though this was fortunate, it was an incredibly boring job. She was an accountant. It paid well, which was good, and it was more or less an honest living without the risk of being a professional pokemon battler.

"Hey, Jill," her boss, Rick, knocked on her cubicle wall to grab her attention.

She was running numbers on a spreadsheet as he walked in so she spun her chair to meet him. "Hey," she smiled. "What's up?"

"Was just wondering about the-"

"Ericson report?"

"Yeahp," Rick awkwardly said as he smiled. "You got that for me?"

"I gave it to Rachel," Jill said, referring to Rick's assistant.

"Right," Rick nodded. "Guess I should check with her before I ask you about it, huh?"

"Probably, yeah," she nodded in return. "Anything else?"

"Nope, that'll be it." He stood there for a second and then knocked twice on the same wall before walking off. Jill rolled her eyes and spun back around to face her computer before she was, yet again, interrupted, this time by her phone.

She picked it up and put it to her ear while still focusing most of her attention on the monitor in front of her. "Jill Laurent," she said somewhat absently.

"Hi, is this the Jill Laurent related to David Vaughn?"

It was an unfamiliar male voice, but it gave her pause. David was her ex-husband, father to her deceased child. "This is, uh," her eyes remained on her computer screen but her mind did not. "Yeah. That, uh, that's. Yeah, that's me. What, um?"

"Do you have a moment, Ms. Laurent?"

"I do."

"My name is Jeff Ingram, and I work with Miltank Farms Insurance. Mr. Vaughn has committed suicide. I'm very sorry to say it, ma'am. He does have you listed as his beneficiary to his-"

"David's," Jill began. "Hold on." She tried really hard to not let that damn tear roll out of her eye, but of course, the more she tried, the more it died and then both her eyes just started burning until she had no choice but to rub them, which had an undesired effect. "Why?"

"Um," Jeff said. "I don't know, ma'am. People do these things."

"You're with the insurance company?"

"Yes, ma'am,"

"When did he die?"

"It happened this morning."

"I, ah," she began, entirely unsure of how to react to this news. It was she, after all, who divorced him. He had been begging her to come back since she left. Asking why was dumb of her. She knew exactly why. David loved Jill and Ryan more than anything, and both of them left abuprtly. Suddenly, she felt a huge rush of guilt come over her.

"Are you there, Ms. Laurent?"

"Yes,"

"I'm sorry that I had to be the one to tell you. I assumed someone else already had."

"I don't really keep in touch with his family."

"Right. Well, I have the papers here. They need to be official so I can't fax them to you or do it over email. I can send them by mail, but if you're going to come to Kanto for the funeral anyway, it would be faster to just sign them when you get here."

"Well no one invited me to the funeral."

"I'm sure they're still making preparations, ma'am."

"Sure," Jill said. "Right. You're right. Yes. I'll do it. I'll come to Cerulean. That's where you're located, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jeff said. "I'll send you an email with all of our information. You just give me a call when you're in town and I'll meet up with you wherever is convenient with your check."


Today
With a newfound sense of freedom (financially speaking), Jill found herself having the desire to do things she couldn't normally do. She had the money to fall back on if doing those things failed, so why stay working as an accountant working for an incompetent asshole like Rick?

She didn't even bother with a two weeks notice: She bailed, immediately. She packed up some stuff and got Vinyl and Pele, her Belsprout and Ponyta respectively, and headed to the road. Challenging the Arasam gym wasn't a good place to start - That's where she lived. It required no traveling, which was, from what she could tell, half the fun of being a pokemon trainer.

So, she headed for the nearest non-Arasam Gym: Chloe, of Gigarte. And so, at age 28, Jill Laurent began her pokemon adventure. With her, she brought along fond memories of David and Ryan, both of whom she would never forget. But she wasn't going to let their deaths stop her from living the rest of her life as fully as possible.

Posted by: Big Bang Thundurus Jan 29 2012, 11:49 PM

Vernon Blazena wandered through the crowd, wondering what was going on. He carried Razor, who was still injured from the battle with Tag Lee, but Joy had told him that he was ok for travel now, just not battling. When he reached the front, he witnessed the last moments of battle in which he heard the names Tonbo and Kana which he immediately recognized as the names of Tag's Spinda and Slowpoke. "Tag?!" He called out, breaking through the wall of the crowd edge and saw him standing there, face as tatooed as ever. "Tag!" He ran up to him.

Unaware to Vernon, since leaving Aridana, the Mudkip Vernon had followed him all the way to Gigarte. It kept its distance both day and night, always unsure what to do. Now it stood at the edge of the crowd, in full of Tag.

When they approached Tag, the Fire Pig started growling at Tag, due to his last memory of him. "Shhh... He's not evil, Razor. We went over this already. How have you been, Tag?" Vernon quieted Razor after which a cry of, "Lu?" was heard. Then, Indiana Jones the Riolu popped his head up from over Vernon's shoulder and, upon seeing Tag, leapt to him and embraced him around the neck. "Rio! Lu! Lu!"

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 30 2012, 12:48 AM

A young voice called out to him. Tag looked around, confused. He wasn't exactly used to people calling out to him by name. He'd been around strangers for the most part in Gigarte, so a familiar voice sounding out caught him by surprise.

He heard a low growl and snapped his head in that direction, ready to defend himself. However, it was just Razor in the arms of...Vernon. Tag lowered his guard immediately, letting out a tiny breath of relief. Things had been so hectic in Gigarte, he hadn't really known too much peace since his arrival.

"Oh, Vernon. Razor. Hello." He blinked owlishly for a moment as he took a moment to fully recognize the boy and the fire pig. Before he had the chance to ask how Razor was, a small Riolu popped up behind Vernon. Using the child as a springboard, he vaulted over to Tag and latched on. Inwardly, Tag cooed at the adorable aura-puppy attached to him, and he scratched the little creature's back fondly. "Hello to you too, Indy."

Gently plucking the Riolu from around his neck, he cradled the baby fighting pokemon in his arms. It was only fitting that the pup liked Tag; he'd been present at the Pokemon's birth. He raised an eyebrow at the young boy, Vernon, who'd travelled from Aridana over to Gigarte, essentially in the footsteps Tag had taken.

The growl from Razor had been disconcerting, however. Unless Tag recalled incorrectly, Vernon had challenged Tag to a match and lost horribly. Even while instructing Suzu to hold back, her Mach Punch had wound up severely hurting the Tepig.

"I see Razor's doing better." Tag nodded to the Fire Pig, who unlike Indiana Jones, held an evident distaste for the tattooed trainer. "What brings you to Gigarte?"

Posted by: Big Bang Thundurus Jan 31 2012, 12:34 AM

"I just really wanted to actually start my Pokemon adventure and I've decided to challenge the Gigarte gym, just kind of call on the luck for which I get my nickname. Maybe train a bit. Speaking if which, do you want to battle? I want to see what I can learn from battling you this time. How about two each in a double battle?" Vernon waited for reply, Razor squirming violently in his arms, wanting to Tackle Tag in the face an break his nose, too.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 31 2012, 06:46 PM

Tag slowly sized Vernon up and down once again. The last time they'd battle, Razor had wound up seriously injured, despite Suzu's gentle touch. Nevertheless, it seemed that Vernon was interested in learning more about battling, which was always a good sign. Yet, Razor the Tepig seemed to glare at Tag angrily, as if blaming him for the bodily injury. Tag seemed a bit annoyed at that, considering that Vernon was the one who challenged Tag to a battle on a whim. However, Tag had no pokemon that would be any sort of decent match for the kid.

"Uh..."

He ran through the mental checklist. Suzu, Bachi, Tobi, Tonbo, Kana, Uchi. All of his pokemon on hand (and back in Johto), were probably far too powerful for Vernon and his team to handle. It would've been unfair, and there probably wasn't much for Vernon to learn except not to take on people with a staggering gap in ability.

"Last time we battled, Razor wound up very, very injured." Tag blinked, still holding Indiana Jones in his arms. "I'm sorry, but I think my pokemon might be a bit out of your league right now." Concern flashed across his eyes as he looked over at the Tepig again. "Especially if you're going to challenge the gym. You've got...Croagunk, Zorua and Indiana Jones, right? You'll need all three in order to compete."

The tattooed man looked down at Indy in his arms, while the Riolu stared happily back up at him. Was Vernon really intending to send a baby pokemon into a sanctioned gym match against Gym Leaders who didn't hold back? When facing both Vega and Otis, the two had thrown everything they had at him, and Tag had won each battle only very narrowly. Otis had even gone so far as to send a Charizard at him (and that was only after Tag had faced a formidable Dodrio and Darmanitan combo).

Continuing what was now turning into a lecture, Tag folded his arms: "You can't win a gym match on luck alone." Unfortunately, luck was what had contributed to a vast majority of Tag's victories in Furoh. He'd switched his playbook around since his Dragon Training days, and relied heavily on gambles and surprising combinations, rather then the brute power of his pokemon. "There has to be some level of preparation. What's your strategy going into this match?"

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Feb 1 2012, 12:41 AM

Jill couldn't help but overhear Vernon's and Tag's conversation. She thought it convenient that, on her arrival to Gigarte, there was a powerful trainer accepting challenges. She didn't consider challenging him, of course, but she did enjoy watching pokemon battles, and she enjoyed seeing strategies that others employed. She wasn't a particularly powerful trainer herself, but she was smart and tactical minded, which goes a long way.

She thought it was strange, though, that he didn't take up the kid on his offer. Obviously, this man would win. He even knew he would win, and that was the exact reason he turned it down. But then, the kid said something about the Gigarte gym.

Jill had done some research. Chloe preferred Rock and Grass types, which was a poor matchup against Jill's Grass and Fire types. Still, this guy seemed like he knew a little more than her about pokemon battles, so any other strategic information would be helpful. Though, rather than stand to the side and eavesdrop, she decided to introduce herself like one of those "normal" human beings.

"Hi," she said approaching both of them, her hand held out to Tag first. "Sorry to interrupt, but I overheard you talking about Chloe, right? I was planning on challenging her myself."

After shaking hands with Tag she turned and offered the same to Vernon, just a kid. Of course, she knew he was a kid before she approached, so she had mentally prepared herself for shaking his hand. It did make her uncomfortable, being around kids in any type of scenario, but she figured she'd have to get used to it, being on a pokemon adventure now.

"I'm Jill, by the way."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Feb 2 2012, 02:50 AM

"Pleased to meet you Jill." Tag sized up the newcomer as she shook his hand. From what he could tell, she looked a little older than him, and had smooth hands. The latter indicated, if anything, that she was either new to adventuring, or went about it in a pampered way. He didn't see anything to confirm the latter, so he made the quick assumption that she was, in fact, a newbie.

"I'm Tag. You're welcome to join us, so we can all take the gym challenge together."

That was how normal people spoke, right?

He thought briefly about how he'd met all of the people in Furoh so far. He met Justin, Nate and Malcolm by helping them when they were in need (and was rightfully angry when it turned out that they were performing a misdeed). He'd met Raven and Cameron while fighting the Black Market to save contraband pokemon. He'd met Darryn Kellor and Pandora Gibbs when he nearly ate the latter's Cleffa. Then he met the rest of Team Steel (Alex Slasher, Douken Sota, Jaima Kuonji, Kaya Rovera, and Rose Fiore), while trying to save the world. Vernon had run up and challenged him to a battle.

This was probably the most normal introduction he'd ever encountered in Furoh, mostly because it involved talking and not much else. He wasn't sure if he liked it.

When it came to socializing, Tag's skills were exceptionally poor. When it came to socializing with women? Tag was nothing more than a great big lummox.

"So...since...this is a strategy meeting now," Tag wasn't quite sure how else to put it. "May I ask what pokemon you two are planning on using?"

Posted by: Big Bang Thundurus Feb 8 2012, 09:27 PM

((I just laugh when I read your last post, Kamai and Tag thinks about how he met people and gets to Vernon. Every single time.))

"Well... Indy is still just a baby and Razor's not allowed to battle for another few days... So Zora, Ray and I'm going to try and catch another one," Vernon replied, Razor starting to stop squirming in his arms, settling for just violently glaring at Tag. "What about you, Tag? I'm guessing you're going to use Suzu? And you too, Jill. What do you have? By the way, I'm Vernon." He offers his hand.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Feb 9 2012, 09:19 PM

This Tag fellow seemed very proper, which Jill considered unfortunate. Clearly, he had some level of pokemon skill and his exterior appearance gave off a somewhat laid back vibe, but here he didn't seem even remotely interested in her acquaintance. People often did speak to her formally as she tended to dress that way, but today she was simply wearing jeans and a T-shirt. And a cowboy hat. Surely no one thought she was here on a business meeting.

Tag asked what pokemon she and the boy had, and he answered, though his answer was in the form of nicknames, which were of no use to her. They apparently knew each other, though, so maybe they meant something to Tag. When he offered Jill his hand, she took it and nodded politely. "Very nice to meet you, Vernon. I have two pokemon, a Ponyta and a Bellsprout, called Pele and Vinyl respectively. I was thinking that Vinyl would be effective against Chloe's Rock types and Pele could handle her Grass types."

These two seemed very different and she thought it was strange that they were so familiar. For starters, the age difference was particularly noticeable, but Vernon just reeked of excitement and enthusiasm, whereas Tag did not. Where did Jill fit into this group, she wondered, but shrugged it off.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Feb 9 2012, 10:58 PM

Tag looked a bit concerned at Vernon's statement. Using a freshly caught pokemon in a gym battle was inviting disaster, especially if Chloe was anything like Vega or Otis. True, Tag had used Kyoko the day after he caught her, and it worked out fine. But it could've gone completely wrong. Tag was a veteran trainer with a rather exceptional grasp of battles. Vernon was not, and he had no idea about Jill. They weren't exactly teammates in the upcoming match, and there was even a chance that if Tag didn't go first, he could get a firsthand glimpse of Chloe's battle-style before he went up.

"I'm thinking Suzu, Tobi and Bachi." True, it was the same line-up that he had used against Otis, but it was an excellent gym-battle team, especially considering Rock and Grass types. "Oh, they're my Ledian, Vulpix and Nidoking, respectively" he added, for Jill's sake.

"That sounds like a good team, but..." Tag looked over to her "I've only been in two gym battles in Furoh, but each time I was asked to register three pokemon." It was nice to see, though, that Jill was already conscientious of the type match-up. "So...gym match aside, what brings you to Gigarte, Jill?"

The poor guy really was trying to force some pleasant chit-chat, which he really was horrible at. However, between meeting a new person, which wasn't exactly his forte, and dealing with a Tepig brimming with murderous intent, also not his forte, he had to do something.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Feb 17 2012, 02:01 AM

She paused for a moment when Tag asked her intentions. Of course, he was just being friendly, but she tended not to assume the best of people. She caught herself, though, and realized that he was just being awkward. "I, um," she began. "Basically just decided I didn't want to work in an office the rest of my life. So here I am, looking to live a dream I had since I was little."

She then thought a little on Tag mentioning that gyms usually required three registered pokemon. She didn't feel like having one less than normal, a handicap on no one but herself, would cause too many issues, but perhaps finding another pokemon wouldn't hurt terribly. More than likely, it would help her chances. "Anyway, you know of any places around the city where a girl might get herself a decent pokemon then? If I need three, I'll get a third."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Feb 21 2012, 09:40 PM

Jill explained her intentions, as requested, and Tag couldn't help but feel a small note of admiration for the two people he was standing alongside. They had just started their pokemon journeys, in the same way he had over a decade before.

He wasn't quite sure how to respond to her statement, though, without sounding condescending.

"In all honesty, I don't know where to catch pokemon here." Tag shrugged. It was his second trip down into the depths of Gigarte, and he'd caught one pokemon here...from a circus. "You guys might have better luck back up above ground."

About to make the suggestion to head back topside, Tag suddenly found his attention occupied at a high volume of screams emanating from nearby.

Looking to Jill, then Vernon, he nodded wordlessly at them before taking off in the direction of the cacophony. From his time adventuring around the world, he figured that the two of them would follow him, because that's just how people did things. He wouldn't blame either of them for not following, of course, but silently, he hoped he'd have their help in case something was afoot.

Mostly, he dreaded running into the three Team Deception members he'd met just yesterday. Seeing not only their powerful pokemon, but one members' incredible amounts of cunning and smarts made him both worry that it wasn't a battle he wanted to run headlong in to. At his side, both Kana and Tonbo were probably worn from the battle earlier, which left him with four fully rested pokemon at his command.

He arrived in an area commonly known as Tiagiate Square, which he identified as an area he'd searched for Raven in. It wasn't too far from the Circus wherein he'd run into Justin and some loudmouthed kid wannabe rockstar named Seiccan. He'd also met the aforementioned Tonbo there, and he wasn't about to show his face in the circus after the commotion he'd caused before.

To his surprise, Tiagiate square seemed...overrun with pokemon. They seemed to be running amok, and coming from the direction of the circus. A slow smile spread across his face, simply because he hoped it was the handiwork of a certain Justin Smart.

The smile quickly faded as he noticed that the pokemon were panicking, and essentially attacking everything in sight, relying on their baser instincts to flee and attack anything that moved near them. They had to be subdued, and they had to be taken to the proper authorities. As smart as pokemon were, Tag doubted that a panicking creature would figure out that they were deep underground in a city that offered little to no escape.

"Bachi, Uchi, let's go!"

The two pokemon appeared on the field, Bachi roaring in delight at the sight of what appeared to be a grand melee before him, and Uchi calmly standing there, eying the situation carefully.

"Well, if you wanted to catch a pokemon, this looks like a good chance." Tag crossed his arms, watching as the pokemon moved about willy nilly. There was no point in chasing them around and further agitating them; he'd hold them off here.

Posted by: Big Bang Thundurus Feb 22 2012, 06:36 PM

((Ok! Ready to post now!))

Vernon dashed after Tag, hollering to Jill, "Folllow the man! He knows what he's doing!" Then Vernon saw the scene. "Go! Zora!" Out popped his Zorua, disguised as a Tepig for a moment. "What going on?!" Vernon called to Tag. "Hey!" Vernon was tackled by a Meditite. "Zora! Get this off of me! Scratch!"

Zora charged and leapt, bringing down a claw. She knocked the Meditate Pokemon clean off, who immediately retaliated with Confusion. However, Zora shrugged it off with ease. The Meditite, stunned and confused, just started biding. "Pursuit!" Vernon relayed to Zora upon getting up. She tackled the Meditite with all she had and knocked it flying, yet it didn't faint. "Scratch!" Zora brought the claw down again, but it still didn't faint. Then it retaliated, knocking Zora flying and crashing into Vernon whilst the Illusion faded. When Vernon looked up, he saw the swirls in the eyes of Zora.

"Return! Go! Ray Mk III! Astonish!" There was a flash of red and then a flash of white, in which cackles were heard before the Toxic Mouth Pokemon charged, slapping the Meditite, fainting it from its own low HP. "Shoot... I'm going to need another Pokemon in this fight..."

Suddenly, a cry of, "Pawniard!" was heard by Vernon, who whirled around. There stood a small, humanoid Pokemon with a body of blades. "Pawni! Ard! Ard!" It shouted at him. "Ray Mk! Mud Slap" A jetison of mud, dirt, sand and grime shot towards the Sharp Blade Pokemon. It took it, getting pushed back a few steps. It then launched itself forward and slashed at the Croagunk, striking it across the head. "Astonish!" Ray's eyes went insane. He then slapped the Pawniard across the face, knocking it over. It was about to strike, but flinched instead. Vernon tossed a Pokeball at it, bouncing off its head before pulling it in. It wobbled once, then again and one more time. Then a soft Ping! was heard. Vernon picked up the ball and just murmured, "Ulrich."

Meanwhile, when Vernon was knocked over, Razor wriggled free of his arms and ran over and attempted to bite Tag's ankle in his mischievious hate.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Feb 26 2012, 02:35 AM

In Jill's line of work, hearing terrified screams typically meant running in the opposite direction. But, apparently, when one is a pokemon trainer, one loses all sense of...Sense. Both Tag and Vernon ran in the direction of what appeared to be madness, with what could only be described as enthusiasm.

"I don't, uh-" She began, but her preamble to protest remained unheard as both Tag and Vernon had already gone. Then, she shrugged. She was a pokemon trainer, now, after all, an occupation typically inhabited by preteens with inherent hero complexes. She lacked one of those, but figured she may as well play the game.

She found herself side by side with Tag as he suggested she catch one a third pokemon in the panic. She could tell that these were, in fact, wild pokemon, and angry ones at that. Most of them were out of their natural habitats, meaning they were brought here against their wills. What Tag said made so much sense, perhaps more than he knew. At some point, something would have been done to stop the mayhem, but getting all these pokemon back to their natural habitats was far too much of a hassle for any bureaucratic government to handle. The plain, sad truth was, they'd probably be put down if not tamed. Luckily, there was a quick, easy way to tame a wild pokemon, which leads us back to Tag's suggestion.

"Yeah," she said, plainly.

She looked over to see that the boy, Vernon, had already thrust himself into the fray, and so she figured she'd do the same. Before even selecting a target, she summoned the stronger of her two pokemon, Pele, her childhood Ponyta. She began to whinny in the commotion. "Hey, girl," Jill said, soothingly, rubbing the back of Pele's neck. "Hey hey hey, it's alright. These pokemon are scared and they're mad, but we're gonna try to calm some of them down, alright? The best way we know how."

There were pokemon all around, but finding a target Pele could take was important. It wouldn't do any good to send her in against a Water type, but she didn't want to call her back just for a type disadvantage. Instead, she'd seek out a fight where she knew she had the advantage.

She felt a chill fill the air and noticed, not too far away, a teddy bear type pokemon spewing its cold breath in every direction around it with no particular target in sight. Indeed, it was spinning around angrily, shouting, jumping, sneezing and using its precious PP just to throw some sort of tantrum. This was not the kind of pokemon Jill was looking to capture, but she had to start somewhere. This one would simply be knocked out.

"See that Cubchoo, Pele?" She calmly nodded her head towards it.

"Nyta!" Pele began scratching the ground with her right front hoof.

"Flame Charge."

She charged towards the icy teddy bear, the fire covering her back intensifying and eventually engulfing her as she ran. She left a blazing trail behind her, which served to enhance her speed. By the time she collided with the Cubchoo, she had gained so much momentum that it was knocked all the way into the adjacent building. It wasn't out, but it was hurt. Pain was not, however, Jill's goal. "Don't let up! Flame Charge, again!"

As Pele ran for another attack, the Cubchoo honed in on its target. Like most Ice types, it had access to at least one Water attack: Brine. The attack was not used to its full potential, as its executioner style effect deals increased damage to wounded targets, which Pele was not. It was, however, effective against her Fire type and still had some power behind it. It was enough to hurt her, which meant if it was allowed to get another attack off, it would do a whole lot more damage and likely knock her out.

Unfortunately for the Cubchoo, it would not get another attack off. Pele was already a fast pokemon, but Flame Charge boosted her speed so much that he didn't get the chance to even prepare another Brine before getting kicked with a fiery hoof again. This one knocked it over and out.

And with that, the chill left the air, but, in its place, an intense heat. She didn't notice before because of the Cubchoo's Icy Wind making it colder, but there was a reason for the heat, and it was there the whole time: Everything was very bright. She looked up at the artificial lighting and noticed it was being intensified somehow. Maybe, she thought, this had something to do with it.

"Tag," she sought him out, "Did you notice the lighting?"

Posted by: Kamaitachi Feb 27 2012, 01:35 AM

Tag had heard Vernon ask him about the mess happening around them, but before he could even muster a reply, Vernon entered battle with a Meditite.

As the boy fell away from him, Razor sprang free and made a mad dash towards Tag, who seemed oblivious to the Tepig's advance. Bachi, however, stomped down heavily on the ground in front of Razor, stopping him in his tracks. Breathing heavily through his nostrils, he glared angrily down at the little creature.

Tag raised an eyebrow questioningly, then figured he had more interesting things to do in the situation than deal with an irritable Tepig.

"Uchi, Stealth Rock."

Noting the layout of Tiagiate Square, Tag pointed to main entrance from which the wild pokemon entered. He had little doubt in his mind that this swarm of pokemon had all come from the Circus. The thought swelled his heart with pride for someone he now considered an ally. Promises kept were nice, and Tag found that he readily enjoyed the sensation.

Vernon's quick battle ended with the Meditite unconscious and a strange metal-blade-man captured. Jill, commanding a very pretty Ponyta, managed to take out a Cubchoo with little to no effort. Tag had not expected the Ponyta to be that strong, but Jill pointed out that the lighting seemed off.

"It does seem a bit brighter." He looked around, nodding in assent. "If I had to wager a guess, I'd say Sunny Day."

That made sense, Ponyta's Flame Charge attack had been boosted, and combined with the STAB and type advantage, Cubchoo had stood little chance.

Another wave of pokemon charged through the entrance, some simply fleeing while others attacked anything they came across. The Stealth Rock barrier worked wonders weakening the pokemon as they came through. Tag watched as a team of two Shinx and a Luxio burst through, cringing as the rocks dug into their hides. Seeing Tag, they began to spark and flash threateningly, charging towards him.

"Bachi, Earth Power. Uchi, Rock Slide!"

Bachi reared back, facing the three oncoming enemies. Their full body Spark attacks barely faced the Poison Pin King. They fell back, a bit dazed, and watched as the Nidoking slammed his arm into the ground. The earth underneath them, in turn, slammed upwards in a jutting pillar, throwing the trio skywards. With little ability to dodg,e Uchi's Rock slide slammed hard into them, throwing them painfully to the ground.

They recovered quickly, though, and retaliated with equal swiftness. Bachi found himself struck by two leers from the Shinx. He felt his defenses crumbling somewhat as the cute little kitten stared him down. The larger, more powerful Luxio burst forward in what was more than likely a Quick Attack, which dealt a surprising amount of damage.

"Bachi, use Counter." Lunging forward, Bachi caught the Luxio on the retreat, knocking it out with a hit that redoubled all of Quick Attack's damage back onto the offender. Luxio fell and did not rise. This seemed to agitate the two smaller Shinx, who immediately bounded towards Bachi, trying to bite him.

"Uchi, Rock Throw." As the Shinx duo retreated after their successful hits, Bachi found that he couldn't quite move forward, and that because of the leers, his defenses weren't up to snuff. Then it hit Tag, Shinx's normal ability: Intimidate. Even the little kitties and their larger Luxio friend probably all possessed intimidate, which essentially negated the Nidoking's power in general. He was fighting at half his capacity or lower, and it showed. Counter had been a lucky call, and Tag wasn't sure if he could keep making those.

As the Shinx struggled to regain their footing, a large rock flew towards them, flinging them backwards. Tag sighed as the Shinx pair slumped to the ground, wishing that he'd thought to catch one of them, rather than simply brutalizing them.

Posted by: Big Bang Thundurus Mar 2 2012, 11:28 PM

"Ok! Ulrich!" The Sharp Blade Pokemon reappeared before him and bowed, at perfect attention like a veteran soldier on his his final, vital mission. "Ray! Take a break. Huh? Hey! Razor! Where are you?! Come here! Ray, come back out!" The Pokemon came out and stared at Vernon, a nunplussed look on his face. "Guys! Razor ran off! Split up and meet back here! Indy!" The pup's head popped up from behind his shoulder. "You're staying with me!" With that, they split off into the crowd, hoping for any sign of the Fire Pig.

At another place, but the same time, Razor waas flung into the air by Bachi's defensive stomp and flew straight over Vernon's head as he passed, who wouldn't of noticed if it weren't for Razor's terrified squealing. "Huh? Talk about when pigs fly... Razor!" Vernon gasped and reached out desperately for Razor, but he just barely slipped through hs sweaty fingers and landed on the back of a raging Staraptor, going by unnoticed.

Vernon plowed through Pokemon after Pokemon to the Staraptor. "Ray Mk! Ulrich!" They rushed through the stampede more easily and swiftly from their size. They reached him and immediately, he ordered, "Attack that Staraptor! Be careful of Razor, though!" But, before they could make their advance, the Staraptor saw them and swooped low in a full powered Steel Wing, Razor hanging on for dear life. It knocked them both unconscious and went straight for Vernon, then. He recalled Ulriich, Ray Mk III and Indiana Jones moments before the collision, no hope of evasion in sight. The balls strapped to his belt, it hit him and knocked Razor's Pokeball free wghich then landed at Tag's feet. In the process, the Staraptor snipped the belt in one place and carried it off as a victory prize, flying above the ruckus to flaunt it to all. As he was hit, Vernon heard the sound of several ribs breaking along with one forearm. Then, he blacked out.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Mar 5 2012, 01:54 AM

"Sunny Day," Jill nodded at Tag's hypothesis. It made sense, but more importantly, it made sense on her team. She had Vinyl, a Bellsprout with Photosynthesis, making it incredibly agile in the sun, as well as Pele, a Ponyta, whose Fire Attacks and Morning Sun were boosted.

"Pele," she said to her Ponyta. "You're stronger than normal. You feel it, right?" She neighed in response. "Yeah. It's because it's so bright out and so your Fire attacks are amplified. How'd you like us to have this advantage all the time?" Another neigh. "Do you think you can find the source of it?"

Pele whinnied and began trotting in one direction as Jill followed. Of course, there were wild pokemon all around, but there were other trainers trying to diffuse the situation as well as Tag and Vernon, so they were able to move quietly in the surrounding chaos. Eventually, they felt the heat intensify and Pele's mane flared up for a moment. They saw an open cage and on the other side of it were a Vulpix and a Growlithe rolling around playfully.

Well, it looked playful. The truth was, they were fighting, but they were both young and without proper guidance, this is what came out. "Do you know which one used Sunny Day?" Jill, herself, couldn't tell, but she knew Pele would be able to feel the heat pulsating from one of them. She neighed in the affirmative (Jill knew what it sounded like) and Jill nodded. "Good. Knock out the other one. Use Stomp."

She intervened in the adorable little struggle with her (relatively) large hoof. She whinnied and when she came down, both the Growlithe and Ponyta backed away to avoid the stomp. Immediately, they both turned their attention to the stronger aggressor and teamed up. The fox and the hound both leaped towards the horse, who quickly turned around and bucked backwards, allowing the full force of her hooves to hit the Growlithe and simply taking the hit from the Vulpix, signifying that it was Vulpix who had used Sunny Day.

She turned back around and stomped down in the direction of the Vulpix, but intentionally missed, simply forcing it to jump back. During this time, however, Growlithe charged forward and bit down, hard, onto Pele's leg. She whinnied and whimpered and bucked, but the dog refused to let go. During the wildness, Vulpix jumped to join the fray, but was quickly kicked aside. It hit the ground and slid a little bit, but it was still moving. Clearly, it had been injured, which was unfortunate, but even more unfortunately, Pele was being hurt too. Trying to not hurt an opponent was clearly very difficult, especially when being assaulted by two.

Jill called out Vinyl, her Bellsprout. "Vinyl, use-" She didn't get a chance to finish her command as the light from the artificial sun condensed and charged into the plant pokemon like a beam. "Is this-" She began, thinking (hoping) it was the infamous Solar Beam. The light around Vinyl grew so intense, Jill had to squint and then look away altogether. When she turned back, she saw that he had evolved into a Weepinbell, apparently brought on by the sun. "Good," she smiled. "Use Sleep Powder on the Growlithe,"

He didn't hesitate and was clearly eager to try out his attacks with his new, more powerful body. He spewed forth his spores, which were inaccurate and imprecise. They hit both Pele and Growlithe, but it was worth it, because he stopped biting her and it allowed Jill to call her back. Then, she walked over to the Vulpix, whimpering on the ground. It looked up at her, its eyes wide in its confusion. "Welcome aboard," Jill said, dropping an empty pokeball onto the Vulpix. It absorbed her and wiggled as pokeballs tend to do. Ultimately, however, the Vulpix was too weak to put up much of a fight.

She noticed that the brightness hadn't died down, and figured it would eventually. Sunny Day doesn't last forever, after all. "We better get back to the main fight," she said to Vinyl. "Come on."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 7 2012, 02:52 AM

As Jill wandered off to find the potential source of the Sunny Day user, Tag swept his eyes over the battlefield again. He saw a few more pokemon running about, being engaged by various trainers who had sprang into the defense of Tiagiate Square. Many of them had captured the panicking pokemon, but a few, like the Luxio and the two Shinx were fainted on the ground.

Tag turned his attention and noted that lone little Mareep appeared to have engaged two rather large Machoke. They swung their arms dangerously around at the little sheep, trying to flatten it with sheer power. Tag noted the surprising agility displayed by the electric pokemon as it dodged the attacks. Mareep, he knew, were rather slow pokemon, and didn't quite move with that sort of grace.

Since everyone else appeared to be catching pokemon, Tag figured that it wouldn't hurt to add an electric-type pokemon to his team. Well, that, and the Mareep was just...adorable.

Bachi's defenses were rather low, due to the last fight, and Uchi was weak against the powerful fighting techniques, so Tag recalled them both. In one neat sweep of his hand, he clipped their pokeballs back into the belt while producing the pokeballs for Suzu and Tobi.

The Five-Star Pokemon and the Six-Tailed Fox appeared on the field, immediately taking in the sights of the battles raging on around them.

"Those Machokes are your targets. Suzu, Acrobatics. Tobi, Flamethrower!" Tag's orders were a bit more offensive than usual. As a battler, he enjoyed employing strategies and combinations rather than simply using brute force. However, time was of the essence: He had to save the Mareep if he wanted to be able to catch it. That meant eliminating the Machokes first, then weakening the Mareep.

Scared by the appearance of the two new pokemon, Mareep immediately fired off a Thundershock and Suzu. However, being mid-Acrobatics, she made a poor target, and just continued on to land a slamming hit on one of the Machoke. Tobi's Sunny Day-Boosted-Flamethrower, meanwhile, wrapped around the other Machoke, shoving it backwards a bit.

As Tag moved closer to the battle, he noted that the Mareep had probably used a move like Agility, which was, admittedly, pretty cool.

"Suzu, hold them off with Silver Wind!" The two Machoke swung wildly at the buzzing Suzu, but their attacks were largely ineffective: Swatting a flying pokemon was not amongst the strengths of fighting types.

"Tobi, Hypnosis on the Mareep."

Confused at changing targets, but nevertheless obeying the orders, Tobi turned and stared his new opponent right in the eye. His own chestnut eyes glowed a bright blue, locking deep into the brain of the Mareep. Blinking, its eyes suddenly drooped, then it slowly sank to the floor and began to snore gently.

Tag walked over and tapped it with a pokeball, sucking the little creature in. Evidently, the fight with the Machoke had gone on for awhile, that the Mareep made virtually no effort to escape the pokeball, even in her sleep.

Meanwhile, the Machoke duo slowly backed off, realizing that Tobi and Suzu were potentially difficult enemies. As they turned, they found themselves face to face with a Gothitelle.

"Gothitelle, Psyshock!"

Tag recognized the voice as the girl he'd fought earlier. One Machoke fell to the ground, defeated, while the other disappeared in a red flash. A ping was heard, and Tag watched as the girl appeared to claim her new capture. With a haughty smirk, she turned and ran off to find more opponents, with her Gothitelle floating behind her.

Tag found the smirk rather annoying, probably because he read: "I caught a Machoke, and you caught a Mareep. Blah Blah Blah. Nyah Nyah Nyah." Honestly, he wasn't that great at summing up what other people said. The Vox Populi in his head was rather stupid sounding, after all.

As he turned to look for Vernon and Jill, he watched the former get knocked out cold by a Staraptor...with Razor on his back.

Tag had not noticed that Bachi's stomping had flung Razor into the air. Once again, even though the intent of his pokemon was not to injure the Tepig, the fire pig wound up hurt anyways.

Grunting annoyedly as Tag ran over to the scene, he checked to see if Vernon was, at least, alive. For someone nicknamed "Luck Truck", the kid was incredibly unlucky. Last time, he'd fainted in the middle of a fight due to a PTSD flashback, and this time, he'd been knocked unconscious by a Staraptor.

Tag looked up, realizing that it was now his duty to rescue Razor. He also hadn't noticed that Razor's pokeball had landed at his feet earlier, so really, his only plan was to take down the Staraptor.

"Suzu, Agility. Catch up to that Staraptor and grab Razor. Tobi, Psych Up with Suzu. Be ready to use Flamethrower once Razor's clear!"

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Mar 14 2012, 11:43 PM

Jill made her way back to Tag, who seemed to be occupied in a mission other than knocking out wild pokemon. He was focused on a Staraptor, which had seemingly grabbed another pokemon, a Tepig. For Tag to be so focused on it meant it had some significance. Granted, Tepig was a somewhat rare pokemon.

She wanted to get in good with this guy, though, since it appeared he was somewhat of an expert on this whole pokemon thing. "I think I can help," she greeted Tag with a nod. On her way back to the main part of the battle, she did a quick scan of her newly captured Vulpix (who she had yet to name), and learned a few things, notably that she (it was a she) had the attack Fire Spin.

She summoned the Vulpix and pointed up to the Staraptor, with a Tepig on its back and a Ledian on its tail. "Use Fire Spin on the bird," she said to her new partner. The beauty of Fire Spin was that it was a relatively weak attack, so it would do little damage to the Tepig, which already resisted the Fire elemental attack, but it would ensnare the Staraptor and keep it from flying away.

Vulpix looked over to Tobi, who was trying to speed himself up in the same way Suzu had, then she looked up at Jill, then to Staraptor. She huffed and puffed and blew a thin stream of flame towards her target.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 15 2012, 11:53 PM

"Appreciated" Tag nodded, giving her a glance in his periphery. Even if Jill lacked experience in pokemon battles, she more than made up for it with quick thinking and confidence.

Her fire spin plot worked beautifully, as the Staraptor found itself trapped in a spiraling column of flame. Tag's head shifted back slightly, taking in the beautiful display with a hint of admiration on his face. It appeared that Jill had caught a powerful partner.

"Suzu!" He bellowed up to his Ledian "Go for it!"

Throwing caution to the winds, Tag's loyal Ledian dove headlong into the column, then promptly burst out the other side, clearly not showing the hesitance that the Staraptor had displayed. Within a moment, she burst out from the other side of the column, holding Razor gingerly in her four arms, as if cradling a baby. It appeared that the ever motherly Suzu had remembered the Fire Pig's bruised baby back ribs, and that she had excersized extreme caution in handling him, despite the injury to her own self.

As she made her way back to her trainer, Tag snapped his fingers at Tobi "Hop into the Fire Spin. Use Flamethrower."

Tobi, who had spent his time proudly puffing out his chest and parading his tails for the female Vulpix, immediately snapped to attention. Before following through on Tag's command, he turned and winked at the fellow vulpine before running forward. Jumping headlong into the flames, he briefly glowed in a fierce light as his Flash Fire ability took over. Within moments, a Sunny-Day + Flash Fire boosted Flamethrower burst upwards in something that looked like rocket propulsion. When the flame cleared, the Staraptor lay on the ground, utterly defeated.

Suzu floated back to the ground, gently depositing Razor next to the unconscious Vernon, where she and Tag now stood guard. There weren't many pokemon left in Tiagiate Square now, just a handful that were already engaged with the remaining few trainers. Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy and their oddly congruent kin were now arriving on the scene. Tag waved a Nurse over to Vernon's position, backing away so the lady could work.

"This is why I can't have kids." Tag sighed to Jill, "Taking care of people isn't exactly my strong suit."

For a moment, he looked over at her, then immediately returned his gaze to the ground, blushing slightly. He felt rather lucky that the blush was hidden by his tattoos, and he found himself rather embarassed at revealing something relatively personal to a relative stranger. Noting the empty pokeball on the ground, he reached down to pick it up, inspecting it before pocketing it.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Mar 16 2012, 01:14 AM

Jill watched with her arms crossed as Tag's Ledian charged the Staraptor, regardless of its inherent disadvantage. Such trust was dangerous, but could be strong when placed correctly. Tag apparently knew exactly what his pokemon were capable of, enough to know that his Ledian could go through the Fire Spin and engage directly onto a bird, while focusing on protecting a Tepig, and come out the other side still moving. This was the kind of intuitive knowledge that one couldn't learn just by watching a few battles or reading up on theory. This would take time, and she envied Tag for having enough to learn it.

Then, his Vulpix, aka Tobi, jumped into Jills' Fire Spin and absorbed the flames, then made what was probably the most devastating attack she'd ever seen. She looked to her own Vulpix to see her reaction to the display, and she was apparently very impressed. The fox looked up to Jill and then over to the Staraptor, then to Tobi, who was rightfully proud of what he'd accomplished with the help of his potentially new friend's Drought and Fire Spin.

After taking care of Vernon for a moment, Tag made a funny comment about how he couldn't have kids, and then acted as though he regretted it. The way he got embarrassed made her wonder if there was any possible way he could have known about her past. But, of course there wasn't, unless he took a moment during the battle to do some research.

"Vernon isn't your kid," Jill said. Maybe Tag's awkwardness stemmed from his need to take care of the kid and his inability to do so. "It wasn't your responsibility. Don't be too hard on yourself. You know, even the best parents can't always-" She stopped herself and looked away in the same manner Tag had just done. "So looks like the battle is wrapping up. I've got a third now, so I think I can take on Chloe."

There was also the matter of naming Vulpix, but she wanted to get to know her a little better before doing that.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 16 2012, 11:30 PM

A paramedic team of Chansey swarmed on to the scene, surrounding Vernon. With a sense of urgency, coupled with their innate gentleness and care, they moved Vernon and Razor to stretchers before exiting the scene. Tag sadly watched as Vernon disappeared off to the hospital, but at least he'd receive some good treatment there. He found himself wondering if Vernon's nickname had been an ironic one, or whether he, Taggarty Lee, simply annulled other people's luck. It wasn't exactly something he could quantify or measure, so he simply cast the latter thought aside. Nevertheless, he still couldn't help but feeling that he'd failed Vernon once again.

As Jill attempted some form of comfort, he noted that she trailed off. Eying her from his periphery, he watched her mirror his own gesture. She was probably correct in her advice, but what piqued his interest was her sudden embarrassment in turn. Not knowing anything about her, he had no idea as to the nature of her behaviour.

Before responding, he took a moment to size up their pokemon. Tobi seemed in fine form, standing regally and vainly before his fellow Vulpix while still radiating from his Flash Fire. Suzu seemed a bit woozy as she gazed in the direction of Vernon's exit. Having passed through the Fire Spin to briefly engage a Staraptor, she definitely did not appear to be in top form. As Tag drew the pokeball, Suzu turned to face him with a protesting look, as if sensing his action. But, before she could voice her complaint, the red beam enveloped her, drawing her back into her pokeball.

Bachi, another of his planned battlers, had not gone through the battle unscathed either, while Tobi and Uchi had expended some of their energy in turn. Kana and Tonbo, too, had seen battle not too long earlier, meaning that his entire team was somewhat worn out. Jill, likewise, had probably fought with her entire team of three.

"May I suggest that we make a stop at the Pokemon Center first?" Tag suggested "Facing a gym leader without your companions at full strength is a little silly."

Without really waiting for a response, he turned to heed his own advice, heading in the direction of the Pokemon Center in stony silence.

* * *

An awkward trip to the Pokemon Center later, Tag and Jill both stood before the door to the Gigarte Gym. The tattoed man turned to his current companion, asking: "Would you like to go first, or shall I?"

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Mar 17 2012, 03:44 PM

Jill recalled her Vulpix and agreed with Tag that they should get healed. Vulpix, after all, did take a few hits from the Growlithe and from her own Ponyta, Pele. So, they headed to the pokemon center in silence. The two had so little in common, and it was so obvious that neither even really tried to start a conversation. Tag's life was and had always been pokemon. Jill's had been work. Maybe not always, Jill couldn't really read Tag that well, but it was clear that pokemon was a huge priority in his life, and it simply had never been for her - Pele and Vinyl were pets, not family, certainly not friends. She cared for them, of course, but none of them trusted Jill like Tobi and Suzu clearly trusted Tag.

Still, everyone had to start somewhere, and she was sure Tag recognized that. They healed their pokemon and then made their way to the gym. Whatever had happened with the wild pokemon had been solved with the help of the many heroic pokemon trainers and everyone went about their lives.

Tag's question was a good one. Going first would allow Jill to make her own mistakes and learn from them much more effectively. Then, she could see how a pro would react to similar situations. However, it also meant she was more likely to lose. Going second would allow her to see a pro in action against a gym leader (also, presumably, pro) and get some useful knowledge which she could use in her own fight and have a much higher chance of winning. So, ultimately, she had to decide if she wanted to win more, or she wanted to learn more effectively.

"I'll go second," she nodded to her companion. "Good luck."

Posted by: Toogee Mar 19 2012, 06:26 AM

The Gigarte Gym appeared quite different from the others around Furoh. The most notable difference was the fact that it wasn’t in its own separate building. It was part of a two building complex owned by Davenport Florists, a floral arrangement company. A plastic sign stuck in the ground had big letters that read “Gigarte Gym” to guide confused trainers inside. Once inside, the first thing Tag and Jill would see was a reception desk with an old woman who looked happy to see the two. She resembled the typical grandmother, with graying brawn hair styled in a honeycomb. Behind her, however was a much more impressive sight.

In the middle of the room was a giant zen garden, a perfect square measuring 100 feet per side. The ground was covered in pea-sized pebbles that were smooth to the touch, as if they came from the bottom of a river. Giant bonsai trees and ornamental grasses dotted the landscape, creating an exquisitely trimmed forest. Boulders and benches were arranged in a particular order according to the resident feng shui staff. To round out the look, various statues lined the edges of the garden, all made by local budding artists. There was a man with a rake arranging certain areas of sand to appear like waves on a beach. The one exception was the middle area, kept purposely clear for the upcoming matches. The Stonebloom Emblem appeared in the center of the arena, the same as that upon the badge. It was partially shaded by the overhead branches of the bonsai trees, a welcome addition considering the building was open air. Audience seating was on a second story balcony overlooking the garden. This consisted of the tables and chairs belonging to the small coffee shop there.

Before Tag and Jill could step on the grounds, however, they had to talk to the receptionist.

“Ooh, another young couple,” the lady squeaked. “I do love this time of year! Our special event arrangers are right down the hall and are more than prepared to handle your big day. I do love weddings…”

After an explanation from the “couple”, the receptionist quickly corrected herself.

“Oh…my mistake. You guys aren’t our typical…nevermind. I’ll just need those Trainer IDs and I’ll set up those matches in a moment. In the meantime, cookies?”

It would seem the grandmother was more used to dealing with children than people like Tag and Jill. More evidence of this would be the bulletin board with polaroids of successful challengers upon it. Still, the happy face chocolate chip cookies were a delectable distraction while they waited for Chloe to arrive.
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“Jeannette, I need a rush on the Brooks order. If those lilies aren’t in Barley by sunrise tomorrow, we’ll miss the anniversary party.”

Chloe Davenport was in the middle of the rush period. Spring brought weddings, birthdays, and the like, all of which required flowers for gifts or table arrangements. Even as CEO, she took care of much of the invoicing, inventory, and even approved arrangements prior to delivery. It wasn’t that she couldn’t get others to do these tasks. Chloe desired perfection: if she wanted things done right, she would have to do them herself. Today had gone quite well; she was expecting to be back home at a decent hour. Maybe she’d catch up with all those popular TV shows…

“Miss Davenport,” the buzzer rang, “you have two challengers waiting in the arboretum.”

Damn…

She had petitioned the League to allow her to close the gym during her busy season, but they denied her request. This was the last thing she needed when ten orders still needed to be out by the end of the day. It’s not like she didn’t enjoy pokemon battles. It would just be nice if people would set up appointments rather than waltz in for a battle on the spot.

“Send me their info. I’ll be down there in a moment.” With that, she sighed and grabbed her pokemon belt.
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The clapping of shoes indicated that Chloe had arrived in the gym. She did not waste time in preparing: the gym leader slipped off her high heels and hung her forest green jacket upon a tree branch. This showed off her sleeveless black dress, the only accessory on it being her belt of pokeballs. The gym leader took a deep breath to take in the scenery. There was a reason she made the arena into a giant zen garden: it helped calm her mind of her business related duties prior to battle. With that, she addressed the two challengers.

“I am Chloe Davenport, Gigarte’s gym leader. Who shall go first?”

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 19 2012, 01:59 PM

Arasam and Petropolis had been rather 'to-the-point' in their gyms, mostly because their buildings had been dedicated to the gyms. Gigarte Gym had opted to stun first time admissions with sheer aesthetic pleasure.

Upon entering, Tag stood, dumbfounded, for a moment as he took in the visual symphony. Everything around them seemed perfectly ordered, but entirely natural. Some philosophical part of his brain conjured up the idea of the natural and unnatural in perfect harmoney, but he didn't quite have the actual words to describe that, save using that phrase, so he kept it to himself.

All in all, the effect was relaxing to the point of paralysis. Tag felt his battle-lust, which had been rising in anticipation of the gym match, quickly fading, replaced by a warm serenity. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to regain his adrenaline, but found that even the aromas were perfectly balanced in the air to induce him back into that serenity.

He noted, surprisingly, that even if his pre-battle jitters disappeared, his mind still functioned at its usual pace, or perhaps even faster. Relaxing his entire body had caused his brain to brighten up, rather than focusing on the various aches and pains he'd acquired from travelling and tattooing.

His peace came crashing swiftly to the ground to die in a horrible din of embarassment as the old lady referred to them as a couple.

"Oh...uh...no. Trainers. Gym Challenge. Sorry." Tag found himself at a loss for words. He stammered about awkwardly, as he did, and looked to Jill almost embarassedly. "Not that I don't like you, but...uh...we just met. Couldn't afford a wedding." He then opted to shut up, in an attempt to catch himself before further miring himself in the realm of embarassment. This was not a great start to a gym challenge by any means.

"Oh you just said cookies." A familiar, hungry light returned to Tag's eyes as the old grandma set down the happy face cookies. They were both adorable and delicious, which was the exact combination to a near-perfect bliss with the hardened former Dragon Trainer. He waited for Jill to take one. Whether she did so or not, he grabbed a handful and immediately tore into them. Despite his almost ever-calm appearance, food was something that brought out the howling voracity within Tag. He never knew when the next time he would eat was, so as if he would starve if he didn't eat these cookies, he devoured them.

As he chomped away, he noted the bulletin board of successful challengers, not recognizing many of their faces until...

"Jaima Kuonji", Tag voiced aloud. He remembered the teen from his trip into the Steel Temple. Jaima had been an excellent battler, from what he recalled, and this only confirmed his suspicion that he'd have to face the boy again some day. With that, his old battle instincts soared up, only to plummet back down into the serenity from before, which made him rather uneasy.

* * *

When Chloe finally arrived, Tag noted the simplicity of her attire, which somehow only elevated her elegance.

"I will." Tag stepped into the challenger's box. "Taggarty Lee from Blackthorn City." Having noted Chloe's quick and officious manner, Tag didn't wait for her to unveil her choice of Pokemon for the match. Usually, in his experience, the Gym Leaders would reveal their team first, and the trainer had the option of reacting. However, Tag had set his mind on a team, and summoned them to the field.

"Suzu, Tonbo, Bachi!"

Keeping with his theme, Suzu and Bachi had fought in both gym battles before. Kyoko, Tobi and now Tonbo had been placed into the rotation.

Now, on the field, Suzu buzzed about in the air, while Tonbo, off to her right, lay on the field, his dopey face looking around him slowly. Tag watched closely as Suzu gently alighted on the ground, a smile appearing on her face as she took a deep breath. Tonbo, too, seemed affected by the beautiful scenery, and his wide-eyed smile appeared more tranquil than usual. Clearly his pokemon enjoyed this environment as well, which lead him to wonder if they'd hold back for fear of damaging it.

Next to him, Bachi bristled with excitement. Upon evolving into Nidoking, the creature's formerly clueless personality had evolved into a battle hunger, assuming that every moment was a fight.

"Relax, Bachi." Tag placed a hand on the large poison pin's arm, gingerly avoiding the spikes. "It's just like last time; I'm saving the strongest for you."

This seemed to placate the Nidoking, who crossed his arms and leaned to one side, watching his comrades eagerly.

"Miss Davenport, we're ready!" Tag nodded, crossing his arms in a move mimicking Bachi's. He had no doubt in his mind that Jill was watching closely from the audience seating. Keen eyed and sharp minded, he was sure that she'd pick up on as much as she could before entering her battle. A small, nagging part in the back of his brain hoped that she would be impressed by it. The rest of his brain? Well, it seemed rather confused at the mere notion.

Posted by: Toogee Mar 21 2012, 10:46 PM

After Tag revealed his pokemon team, Chloe took the time to examine his choices. It was quite risky to start a battle with a bug-flying type, not to mention backing her up with a water type. Her uncle had once taught her not to get too comfortable with type matching. Those that purposely used those weak to rock and grass types were ones to look out for.

With that, Chloe nodded to Tag and walked to her own position. As she walked, one of the statues in the room came to life, rolling across the pebble field towards the arena. Her hand brushed along his rocky surface as they passed each other. The statue in question stopped within the arena, revealing a graveller. As the rock pokemon took position, Chloe tossed another pokeball beside her first: revealing a rather odd pokemon. The cradily looked like a cross between a weed and one of those flailing inflatable guys one would see in front of a business. The fossil pokemon bobbled her head around with a crazed smile across her face. The gym leader took position behind the pair just as a third pokemon slithered onto the scene. The animated vine brushed all ten feet of its length against his master’s calves. With a regal appearance that demanded everyone’s attention, the serperior rose up to witness the battle beside Chloe, looking like a sinister emperor beside his queen.

“You’re halfway through your journey, Mr. Lee.” Chloe told Tag. “And yet, you choose pokemon with such disadvantages. Time will tell if your gamble pays off. As I am the defender, I will go first.” Unlike some other gym leaders, she was not willing to give up an advantage in the name of good sportsmanship. Chloe took in one final deep breath to take in the last of the calm within the garden. She then took out a pair of sunglasses out of her pocket and slipped them on in preparation for her move.

“Cradily, Sandstorm! Graveller, Rock Throw on that ledyba!”

The crazy bobblehead plant starting swinging her head around, rustling up sand around her. Soon enough, the sand grew stronger, eventually enveloping the entire arena within the sand storm. In addition to her pokemon being protected from the biting winds, the graveller had additional protection in the form of a Sand Veil. This rendered the rock pokemon nearly invisible amidst the winds.

It also made the flying rock emerging from the sandstorm a little bit of a surprise. The large projectile flew towards Suzu in Chloe’s attempt to draw first blood.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 22 2012, 04:13 PM

Tag watched Chloe with his analytic mind fully engaged. She moved with a calm and confidence carried only by gym leaders; they hadn't gotten their positions by chance.

The appearance of Graveler didn't much surprise him, as it was a fairly standard rock type. He'd fought scores of them when he'd first started out in Johto, but that was back in the day with the aid of dragons.

Cradily was a pokemon Tag had only heard about. He knew its grass/rock combo meant that he wouldn't be able to take advantage of too many type-bonuses.

Lastly, a pokemon he'd never even heard of appeared on the field. The regal serpent coiled up near Chloe, taking the perch opposite Bachi. The King Poison Pin Pokemon beside him bristled once more in anticipation, sensing the strength across the field from him.

Chloe's commands sounded across the field, setting the immediate tone for the battle. Cradily took the role of support, adding the incredibly advantageous Sandstorm to the field and immediately tipping the scales in her favour. Graveler, with his Sand Veil ability, easily disappeared amidst the whipping sand.

Tag, meanwhile, slipped on the Go-Goggles, the present from the currently hospitalized Vernon. A pang of guilt suddenly struck him, realizing that he'd opted to go off on his schedule, rather than checking up on the kid.

Tag's pokemon didn't seem too phased by the sand, despite the fact that he knew they were. Suzu's sunglasses-like lenses helped her immensely, so that her eyes weren't stung by the blinding sand. Meanwhile, Tag wasn't sure if Tonbo felt anything at all, and the water pokemon appeared to be asleep on the field.

Without waiting to see if the Rock Throw connected, Tag issued his commands in turn:

"Tonbo, Confusion on the Rock Throw. Suzu! Encore on Cradily!"

Without bothering to spot the rock, Tonbo neatly grabbed it in the air with his enigmatic psychic powers. A blue aura wrapped around both him and the projectile as it burst through the sandstorm, stopping moments before slamming into his partner. Tag fervently hoped that Tonbo would be able to throw it back, but the strain of simply catching it caused the rock to drop to the floor with a heavy thud.

Meanwhile, Suzu broke into a round of applause, employing what was easily Tag's favourite move. The effects of encore would hopefully lock the Cradily into focusing on the sandstorm, rather than launching a new move in the next round.

Posted by: Toogee Mar 24 2012, 09:20 PM

The match was off to a heated start, as Tag took advantage of the cradily’s sandstorm and encored it. Few trainers would actually strategize like that; Chloe was far too used to cutting those trainers down quickly. This one had some skill however, as evidenced by the two badges he already carried. However, she felt her particular lineup would be able to handle the match well.

However, even with her cradily on repeat, the gym leader still had options. It was quite a surprise that a pokemon named Slowpoke would be able to deflect a rock as soon as it became visible through the sandstorm. It was still a close call, so what would happen when five projectiles were introduced?

“Graveller, Rock Blast on the ledyba!”

The rock pokemon spun his arms like pinwheels, digging his hands into the pebbles. When his large hands emerged, they were wielding large boulders. The rocks were thrown into the air in quick succession, the graveller adjusting his aim to keep track of the bug’s movements.

Meanwhile, the cradily continued to spin her head around to launch an unnecessary sandstorm. Chloe took solace knowing that it still benefitted her pokemon, at least for the moment.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 24 2012, 09:38 PM

Tag figured that his first defensive strategy would clearly not work a second time, especially since Chloe adapted hers. Hearing the command for Rock Blast, Tag immediately sprang into action:

"Suzu, Agility!"

Without voicing a confirmation, and perhaps sensing the urgency in Tag's voice, the Ledian launched into her technique. Agility was a move that sped her up considerably, which was probably Tag's way of telling her to dodge like crazy. While speeding through the Sandstorm, she felt the sands stinging harder than before, if only because she was moving faster into the distracting particles. She felt something whizz by her and stopped, assuming that she was safe. However, a second projectile, hot on the trail of the other, caught her full force and completely by surprise. She toppled from the air, vaguely aware that two more projectiles had passed overhead. Her own erratic flight, aimed at getting her back upright, had unwittingly saved her from the third and fourth rocks. Unfortunately, as she regained her balance, the fifth and final rock caught her directly in her 'stomach'.

Landing on the ground with a thud, she shakily rose back to her feet, opting not to spread her delicate and already damaged wings into the sand storm again. She would once she heard Tag's command, but until then, she'd save her strength.

Tag saw the whole ordeal in bits and pieces through the swirling sand. He took a moment while surveying the field to close the front of his duster, offering his stinging body a little more protection. Suzu had not taken back to the air, which more than meant that she was hurt badly. He couldn't find any indication that Swarm had activated, meaning that she hadn't suffered critical damage...but another attack from that nearly invisible Graveler could easily level her, even this early in the game. His gambit had been risky, but it was about to pay off.

"Tonbo, Disable on the Cradily!" Upon hearing the command, Tonbo's eyes slowly opened, revealing a sparkling blue light. The same light appeared in the Cradily's eyes, announcing that Sandstorm had been shut off in her mind. Combined with Suzu's Encore, Tonbo had now trapped the Fossil Root into using the desperation move Struggle. Cradily, not exactly a mobile pokemon, would be forced to use Struggle, alone and in a Sandstorm.

Posted by: Toogee Mar 27 2012, 10:41 PM

Chloe was secretly flabbergasted that Tag had pulled off an Encore-Disable combo. Was that even a legal move? Regardless, the cradily was stuck in a self-destructive assault, performing a pretty desperate crawl towards the slowpoke. The fossil pokemon bashed her head towards Tonbo and/or the ground, certainly resulting in significant damage to herself. Normally, a switch out would cure her ails, but Chloe decided against it. Switching would put her serperior out early, leaving him weakened to the sandstorm. It was not something she wanted when facing a poison type. For now, she opted to wait out the encore and hope for the best?

The gym leader hid her frustration, brushed the sand out of her short blond hair, and focused on the other half of the teams. While Tonbo would hopefully be distracted by the struggling cradily, Chloe took the opportunity to go after the ledyba, hopefully finish her once and for all.

“Graveler, keep the ledyba on the ground. Smack Down!”

The rock pokemon grabbed a baseball-sized stone from beneath the pebble surface. He quickly wound up his pitch and tossed the stone straight for the ledyba’s back (specifically her wings).

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 27 2012, 11:03 PM

With his visibility marred by the barrage of sands from all sides, Tag had once again focused his ears on Chloe's commands. His heart sank at the sound of yet another Rock attack on his beloved Suzu, as it surely spelled the end for her. Unless...

"Suzu! Baton Pass!"

Two simultaneous flashes of light erupted on the field, revealing Suzu standing calmly at Tag's side. She appeared visibly shaken from the effects of the Sandstorm and the onslaught of rocks from Graveler's Rock Blast, but she still stood.

Meanwhile, the Smack Down baseball impacted with a dull thud on the stomach of Bachi, who had appeared on the field in Suzu's stead, complete with her Agility boost from earlier. He seemed a bit confused as to appearing magically in the middle of the field, but at least, due to his ground typing, the Sandstorm didn't affect him in the same way. Still, Tag didn't feel right issuing a command to him immediately, as he needed to get his bearings. This proved particularly true as Bachi stared questioningly at the Smack Down rock at his feet, curious as to why it had been thrown at him.

"Tonbo! Use Yawn on the Cradily!"

Tonbo, in Tag's opinion, was easily the cutest pokemon in the entire universe. Even in the already heated battle, surrounded by the serenity provided by the Zen Garden, Tag took a moment to simply watch the cuteness of his pokemon. Tonbo's big, dopey Slowpoke mouth opened wide, and his whole body shook for a moment as he unleashed a very vocal yawn. Now, hopefully, once encore subsided, the Cradily would just fall asleep. Tag seemed perfectly content to keep her staggered and out of the fight. He needed the Sandstorm to disappear for Tonbo's attacks to take full flight; right now the sand would disrupt too much of Tonbo's water attacks, and the Graveler was already nigh impossible to hit.

The main problem with this battle was that...he hadn't yet inflicted any real damage to either of his opponents. But, now an Agility-Boosted Bachi was on the field, and he was ready to wreak some havoc. He had the added benefit of Suzu to save for Chloe's Serperior, and her bug/flying typing would only serve as a great boon in that match too.

Posted by: Toogee Mar 31 2012, 09:06 AM

Chloe gave an inward sigh as her victory against the ledyba was snatched away. Her calmness was breaking under the strain of the battle. The gym leader was not entirely there. Her mind went to the shipment of arrangements that had to be made by tonight. She could be finished at a decent hour if it weren’t for these challengers coming at such an inopportune time. Chloe considered just forfeiting the match just to get back to work. Of course, that wouldn’t work: there was another challenger waiting in the wings. The struggling cradily was now about to be afflicted with sleep, just as the encore attack was about to pass. Honestly, the gym leader wanted Tag to deliver the knock out just to get it over with. Whatever was driving Tag’s spirit, Chloe had lost some time ago.

Her serperior was almost mimicking his master, taking more interest in an errant caterpie than the battle. The graveler on the field took notice of Chloe’s apathy. Though her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, her sagging shoulders and relaxed position revealed her weariness. The gym leader needed someone to light a fire under her and get her back in the game. She needed a game changer, something the graveler was prepared to do. Determined to help his master, the graveler began to glow. His bumpy exterior turned into cracked stone, shape converted to some more globe-like, and his long back arms were lost. The rock pokemon had evolved into a golem, crying out his name to let the opponent on the other side of the sandstorm know it.

Chloe was shaken from her business dealings, looking upon the battlefield. It was true that she had been training the rock type for some time, but his evolution still caught her off guard. Her graveler- er golem still held on hope that they could pull through. The least she could do was see the battle through. She quickly thought up a plan to take advantage of this lucrative opportunity.

“Cradily, focus on the nidoking. Golem, Steamroller!”

Cradily wobbled towards the nidoking in an attempt to use its struggle against him. Regardless of the results, this was only to be a distraction, something to block the nidoking’s path to his ally. Shortly after, the cradily rested her head upon the ground, fast asleep. With only half her HP left, it was a welcome respite.

Meanwhile, the golem tucked his limbs and head inside his body and rolled through the sandstorm. With his newfound move, the rock pokemon attempted to roll over the dopey pokemon and crush him under the golem’s weight.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 31 2012, 07:42 PM

Despite Tag's blazing battle spirit, he had maintained his professional veneer. With his back straight and eyes alert, he'd carefully monitored the battle through his Go-Goggles. Now that Bachi had appeared on the field, with a speed boost, and with the Cradily falling asleep, it was now his time to sweep the field.

The Cradily swung her massive head, hitting Bachi squarely in the stomach before succumbing to the sleep. The former Dragon Trainer's mind raced with the new possibilities on the field, quickly analyzing as his eyes darted back and forth between the barely visible Graveler and the sleeping Cradily.

Then, as Tag's eyes settled on the Graveler, he watched the creature evolve before his very eyes into the fearsome Golem. Golem had been a pokemon he'd faced many times in his past, and it had always been a problem for him. Now, coupled with the move "Steamroller" that he'd never heard of, he needed to think of something fast. Using Water Gun or Water Pulse would prove ineffective, of course. The sandstorm combined with what was presumably the rotational power of a Steamrolling attack (which implied rolling), would wind up with Tonbo very hurt.

With Cradily asleep for now, it seemed a good time to focus on the new threat. Cradily had moved to intercept Bachi, but the Nidoking had a trick up his sleeve that would help Tonbo despite the oncoming attack.

"Bachi! Earth Power!" Bachi drew back an arm, glowing green with terrakinetic energy, then slammed it hard into the ground. In Golem's path, a column of earthen energy blasted upwards like a volcano, angled to collide with him.

"Tonbo! Water Pulse!"

The idea had been to at least slow down the Golem somewhat, with two quick, consecutive, super-effective attacks. However, with the Golem difficult to see, Tag wasn't sure if the attacks actually had even connected, let alone actually affected the trajectory.

He watched as Tonbo rose and immediately flopped to one side, laying there with his Dopey smile...and let out a horrid gasp as the Golem rolled right over him.

The path had not been deterred, and Tonbo lay there. Tag's heart skipped several beats as he noticed that his Slow, Dopey friend actually had pain registered on his face. By flopping to one side in such a way, Tonbo had effectively missed the center of Golem's massive body and avoided critical damage. But still, the attack had stung, leaving a second of Tag's pokemon now on the verge of defeat. His offensive defense had, presumably, failed, and giving Chloe the undeniable advantage going into the next round of combat.

Tag took a slow, deep breath, his hands sinking into his pockets as he glared at the battlefield, racking his brain for any possible remaining strategies.

Posted by: Toogee Mar 31 2012, 09:24 PM

The sandstorm had lasted just long enough to protect the golem from the first attack that was directed upon it: Earth Power. It wasn’t quite a direct hit, barely grazing the rock pokemon. There was still the matter of the water gun, but that too was being taken care of. Rather than striking the golem, the stream of water was redirected towards the cradily, acting as a Storm Drain. Even though she was still asleep, the cradily was quietly building up power when or if it would strike again. After spending most of the battle effectively shut down, the fossil was finally showing her worth once more.

With the sands finally subsided, the golem had lost his Sand Veil, making him vulnerable to more attacks. It appeared Tag was ready to move to a more offensive strategy; he would be directing his full force upon the golem. Chloe had to move fast to make the most of the timely evolution.

“Rewind!”

The golem was rolling backwards, retracing his path back to the slowpoke. This time, the steamroller attack would strike from behind. Predictable, but effective.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Mar 31 2012, 10:04 PM

Something similar had happened in Tag's battle against Seiccan Serroc: Seiccan's Maractus (aptly named "Mara") had done precisely the same thing to Tonbo's Water Gun.

Unsurprisingly, Chloe had designed her team to cover its inherent weaknesses. Storm Drain had been the perfect ability for the situation, and now Tag was paying dearly for it.

Knowing full well that Tonbo couldn't risk even a glancing Steamroller, he had to act quickly.

"Tonbo! Zen Headbutt Cradily! Bachi! Poison Jab Cradily!"

"Poke" Tag heard his Slowpoke reply. His brow furrowed with concern, especially since Tonbo's mouth hadn't moved.

Lifting himself off of the ground with his psychic energy, Tonbo telekinetically flung himself towards the Cradily, safely out of the way of Golem's return Steamroller. He impacted fairly violently with the sleeping pokemon. As he flopped to the side of it, still looking around as if in a daze, Bachi reared back, both arms glowing a vicious purple before pounding them into the dozing Cradily.

Tag did not find striking a sleeping opponent particularly honourable. However, he needed something to turn the scales of battle back in his favour, and that meant utilizing his advantages.

Posted by: Toogee Apr 1 2012, 10:17 PM

Now that her opponents had cought wind of her ability, Cradily was being beaten down in her sleep. She would not last the assault. Even so, Chloe did not want to give them a victory so easily. Her golem changed course to head towards the group, heading right behind them. The gym leader waited until he was in range before issuing the command.

“Golem, Bulldoze!”

The rock pokemon obliged, gaining speed as he barreled right into the three pokemon. With the force of a high-speed collision, the attack had the possible effect of bringing down the speed of other pokemon (or negating an ability boost). Though he came from behind the nidoking and slowpoke for some sort of advantage, he also hit the cradily head on. This proved to be the final blow for the fossil pokemon, its head flopping to the ground in defeat. The cradily was reabsorbed back into her pokeball and into Chloe’s hand. She still had the first knockout, even if it was her own pokemon.

“Get in there,” she told her serperior. With that simple command, the large grass snake slithered forward, ready to unleash his deadly arsenal.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Apr 2 2012, 01:15 AM

"Poke!"

Tag heard the voice once again, clearly in his head as if Tonbo were right next to him. He was rather confused by the sudden hyper-awareness of his pokemon's cries.

Chloe's Golem charged directly into the fray, ruthlessly hitting all three of the present pokemon. Tag mentally cursed himself for taking his pokemon's attentions off of the Golem. He'd succeeded in getting the annoying Cradily off the field, and breathed a note of relaxation, knowing that Tonbo's Water attacks would now be in full effect.

Except that Tonbo appeared unconscious.

A quick confirmation proved that Tag's Slowpoke was indeed defeated. Almost forlornly, he drew the pokeball out and summoned Tonbo back to his home.

"Suzu, you're back."

Once again, Chloe held a clear advantage on the field. Tag pointed Suzu to a spot behind Nidoking, keeping the bulkier pokemon in front to guard from Golem's devastating rock attacks. This time, however, Tag would be starting off the combat, wherein earlier he'd been reacting.

"Suzu, Reflect! Bachi! Earth Power Golem!"

Suzu spread her arms out wide, allowing all four to glow with a psychic energy. Within moments, the light expanded to form two barriers in front of her and her partner, Bachi, giving them a gentle buffer against physical attacks.

Bachi once again drew back his arm, punching the ground and unleashing the dormant terrakinetic energy. Once again a powerful burst of energy exploded from the ground, aiming to envelop the GOlem with its concussive force. Tag held disadvantage at the moment, but that didn't mean he would simply stop fighting and give up. Now that Chloe's spirit had sprung back into the game, it meant that he had to up his own, or sit back and let Golem and Serperior have their way with his comrades.

Posted by: Toogee Apr 4 2012, 06:24 AM

Chloe watched as Tag ordered a change in positions for his pokemon in order to better protect the ledyba. The bug was providing support in the form of barriers. This would make the battle last far longer than she would have liked. The gym leader would counter with her own change n positions.

“Golem, strafe around, target the ledyba. Serperior, stay in front, go all in on the nidoking.”

The golem performed a side roll around his opponents, not even bothering to tuck in his limbs. The rock pokemon proceeded to toss another smack down attack towards the ledyba to keep her grounded and distracted. Meanwhile, serperior stood tall as he summoned a mighty storm. He had been kept as a snivy for far longer than most others. Chloe had a purpose for this: to gain access to more powerful attacks at an earlier level. Of course evolutions came shortly after. The regal pokemon was quite eager to test his new strength against such powerful adversaries.

Leaves from the trees around them began rustling, releasing their leaves for the assault. The leaves then started blowing around in a violent windstorm that surrounded the nidoking, almost as if he was caught in a storm of swords. Rather it was Leaf Storm, perhaps the most powerful grass type move any of Chloe’s pokemon possessed. Such a move would certainly drain most pokemon, but this didn’t seem to phase serperior. On the Contrary, the grass snake only appeared stronger with using the attack.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Apr 4 2012, 10:01 PM

Chloe's pokemon moved under very generic pretenses. While Tag had grown accustomed to trainers who communicated in code, this was something new all together. He'd faced trainers who issued commands in foreign languages, used code words, and even non-verbal communications. The latter he'd discovered while in the company of Raven Amaranth, who used forms of music and percussion in order to guide her pokemon.

The novelty of the situation was that Chloe simply gave her pokemon generic commands now, letting them fill in the blanks, thus making the moves very unpredictable. Up until now, Tag had been able to issue his own counter-measures within moments of Chloe's own orders. But she changed the pattern on him, making it instantly harder for him to react to the new situations.

His hesitance showed as the Leaf Storm wrecked havoc across Bachi's frame and the smack down attack grounded Suzu once more. His two pokemon looked worn out and tired, and were facing two reasonably healthy pokemon.

Leaf Storm, a move that usually required a lot of stamina to use, did not seem to phase the Serperior in the least. In fact, it appeared that Serperior had gotten stronger, which meant trouble. Tag surmised it had to be due in part to Serperior's ability, which he knew nothing about.

But, on his side of the field, a tell-tale sign appeared. A soft green aura began to radiate from Suzu's worn body, indicating that her own special ability, Swarm, had finally activated. This meant two things to Tag: 1.) Suzu was on the verge of defeat. 2.)Suzu would now receive a boost to her Bug Type attacks.

He had been hoping to use Acrobatics, easily the most powerful move in her arsenal power wise. Golem's Smack Down attack had kept her grounded, disallowing her access to the move.

Finally taking a moment to lift the Go-Goggles from his eyes, Tag called out his next command confidently:

"Target the snake! Suzu, Silver Wind! Bachi! Poison Jab!"

Moving shakily forward on the ground, Suzu opened her wings, buzzing them at a rapid pace. Within moments a powerful blast of wind shot forward, speckled with glimmering silver motes. The spores from Suzu's carapace had given the technique a name, and with Suzu's Swarm boost, it seemed like a particularly deadly attack at this time. Bachi charged in its wake, his arm seeping with a potent venom as he lunged forward, hoping to turn the scales with a quick, but powerful offense.

Posted by: Toogee Apr 8 2012, 08:09 AM

Super-effective attacks were coming in at Serperior from two fronts. While both attacks were pretty bad, poison was a decent threat. Status ailments could make or break a victory. As such, Chloe focused her efforts on the nidoking.

“Golem, Tackle! Hold him back!”

The rock type obliged, colliding head on with Bachi. The venomous arm plunged into his rocky surface. Rather than move away however, the golem grabbed the nidoking’s arm, keeping the poison pumping into his body. Sure, poison would be ineffective, but attaining the status ailment would be inevitable.

This also meant that the grass snake only had to deal with one super-effective attack. The silver spores beat upon the serperior’s form, causing the pokemon to shrink close to the ground to avoid getting blown over. The grass type hissed angrily, patches of his skin sanded by the attack. Chloe was well aware of the power of the attacks and issued the next move accordingly.

“Serperior, Giga Drain on the nidoking.”

A green aura started transferring from Bachi to the Serperior, draining the life-force from the foe. Aided by the boost from the Leaf Storm attack, those patches of damaged skin started to heal over. The serperior raised itself away from the ground, having recovered from the attack. He still wasn’t happy with the ledyba and vowed to turn the tables soon enough.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Apr 8 2012, 04:28 PM

The round of combat had taken a turn in favour of Tag's team. The damage from Silver Wind had been healed, but Chloe had been forced onto the defensive for the first time this match. The margin for victory creeped ever so slightly in his direction, and the definitely needed that impetus to continue his counter-attack.

The Serperior and Golem had annoyed Bachi greatly, and his tail flicked angrily back and forth as he waited for a command, still held tight by the Golem's arms. With the Golem in check, Suzu was left free, and without the Smack Downs keeping her grounded, she rose into the air.

A note of concern crossed Tag's eyes as he watched the unsteady ascent of his Ledian friend. She wasn't long for the battle, so luckily Chloe had focused her efforts on his more offensive minded partner. The Reflect technique she'd set up earlier was set to fade, and he needed to get some steady hits in now, lest the chance for victory faded forever.

"Bachi, Double kick!" Using Earth Power at such close range would prove hazardous to the user, meaning Tag had to rely on Bachi's martial skills. The King of Poison Pin Pokemon sprang off the ground, still attached to the Golem, and thrust both of his legs forward at the creature's rocky carapace, hopefully landing a solid pair of super effective hits. Double Kick wasn't the strongest of Bachi's moves, but using Counter against a Tackle seemed silly.

"Suzu! Silver Wind!" With her Swarm ability still active, the Five-Star Pokemon honed in on the Serperior and launched another wave of spore-laden wind. The stinging attack lanced towards the regal snake once more. Tag needed Chloe on the defensive until Golem was out, and hopefully he could focus the two on one against her final pokemon. Yet, the fatigue that plagued his team was beginning to rear its ugly head. Chloe's fully charged Serperior was more than likely more than a match for both of his remaining fighters.

Posted by: Toogee Apr 12 2012, 09:42 PM

Chloe watched Tag continued his offensive. Her golem was about out: poison combined with super-effective hits had taken their toll. Ledian’s bug attacks would quickly whittle her serperior down unless something was done quickly.

“Golem, Rock Blast on the Ledian!”

The golem was launched off the nidoking, managing to land with a shaky stance upon the gravel. With one last defiant roar, the rock pokemon tore off chunks of its rocky shell and threw them at the ledian as it was launching its silver wind assault. The golem only managed to do this three times before finally toppled over, fainted from the battles. Still, Chloe didn’t pause as she called back the golem and quickly directed her other pokemon.

“Serperior, Giga Drain on the Nidoking!”

The grass snake continued to drain whatever health was left within the poison pin pokemon. This also lessened the sting of the Silver Wind. In effect, it was as if the ledyba was attacking the nidoking, with the serperior taking only a fraction of the damage.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Apr 12 2012, 10:26 PM

The battle had quickly turned into a war of attrition. All four pokemon on both sides of the field were launching potent attacks at their enemies, leaving no side untouched.

As Suzu's Silver Wind died down, Tag watched her glow with a surprising radiance. The silver spores that had whipped back at her had come to rest on her carapace, giving her a brilliant sheen. The new shimmer indicated that Silver Wind's secondary effect had taken place, giving Suzu a new boost in all of her combat parameters.

Ready to make use of this, Tag jumped ahead of the situation, plotting out a few moves in advance to sweep the field. This in turn blocked out both his mental reaction to Golem's Rock Blast attack. Both Ledian and Trainer gasped in surprise as the first rock slammed into the former. The two subsequent blows floored unfortunate Suzu, and left her laying unconscious on the floor.

"Suzu, return." Tag almost growled, clutching the pokeball to his chest for a slow moment before returning it almost reverently to his poke-belt.

Golem's attack had effectively been a suicide one, leaving the Rock Monster unconscious in turn, succumbing to Bachi's potent poison.

Bachi, in turn, now rested on the brink of defeat in turn, having weathered several hits even from his early entrance. Tag knew that defeat was just around the corner, especially since Chloe's Serperior stood as strong, if not stronger, than from when he'd entered the arena.

Tag's hand flew up in the air.

"I concede!" He called across the field. The admission of defeat countered strongly with the evident willpower still etched on Tag's face. Despite his words, he still wanted to fight, but underneath his fighting spirit, his concern for Bachi shone brightly. There was absolutely no need to have his pokemon receive further harm from a now unavoidable loss. Tag's luck had run out, finally.

Bachi's head snapped over his shoudler in a disbelieving glare at his trainer. There was no surprise that the Nidoking wished to continue fighting despite the odds, and he seemed furious at Tag's decision to end the match early. Before further protest could be made, Tag called Bachi back to his side.

Begrudgingly, the poison monster trundled back to his master's side, spitefully avoiding his trainer's intense gaze.

"You'll have another chance. We'll be better prepared next time." Tag's attempt to assuage his pokemon fell on bitter ears, and Bachi evidently refused to accept Tag's tactical wisdom on the matter. With a sigh, the tattooed man returned his most powerful pokemon to his pokeball.

"Thank you for the excellent match." Tag gave a short, curt bow. "I look forward to the rematch, Miss Davenport."

With that, he turned and left the arena area, heading up to the stands. His pokemon were wounded, but out of respect, he'd at least stay to watch Jill's match, as she had for him. At least in the stasis of their pokeballs, no further ills could befall them for the time being. As he passed Jill, he gave her a nod:

"Good luck."

Posted by: Toogee Apr 15 2012, 08:59 AM

Just as the match came down to a one-on-one fight, Tag had decided to concede. Chloe was somewhat disappointed: she would have preferred to finish the match and win by her own strength. Nonetheless, Chloe called back her serperior, who was looking back at the nidoking with a smug smile. Before the grass snake could taunt his opponent further, he was reabsorbed into his pokeball. The gym leader walked across the stage and returned his bow with her own. Granted, she was more used to handshakes, but to each their own.

“Until next time,” Chloe replied as Tag walked to the audience area. She then walked quickly to her jacket and pulled out a smartphone. There was still business to be had after all. She flipped through schedules and contacted her assistant.

“Jeannette, please tell me the Brooks order is out. …Good. Get the other orders ready for tomorrow. And bring me my other belt. I think I have another challenger.”

As she said this, she picked through her collection of pokemon via her phone had a new set of three sent to her office. The next battle would soon begin.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Apr 16 2012, 10:00 AM

Jill tried so hard not to blink as she watched Tag and Chloe battle with a level of fierceness she'd never seen. They did more than simply battle and issue commands every turn - There was a level of strategy she'd never really considered. Like chess, it seemed as though both trainers were thinking multiple turns ahead. She wanted to utilize these tactics, but her pokemon were still fairly low leveled and her own skill level and knowledge of the system was lackluster. Still, she was smart, and quick to learn.

Losing this battle wouldn't be the worst thing ever - After all, even Tag lost - But winning would really be a feat. And so, it made sense to play a risky battle. She had access to a fair few status inflicting attacks, so she figured she'd try them out.

She nodded to Tag as he and Chloe made their way to the audience area, but she didn't say anything. She needed to focus on the upcoming battle, even though Chloe clearly had thoughts elsewhere. Though she buried her face in her phone, Jill extended her arm. "I'm Jill Laurent," she said. "I'm no expert at battling, but I hope I can at least hold your attention for the entire fight."

Posted by: Toogee Apr 21 2012, 01:17 PM

As Chloe finished arranging her team, she looked up to notice that her next challenger was ready with hand outreached. The gym leader took her eyes off her phone and shook the challenger’s hand. Chloe had to do a double take upon hearing the name Jill Laurent. That name…it sounded so familiar. She racked her brain for a few moments just as her assistant Jeannette came running down the hall with another belt of pokeballs. As the two switched belts, Chloe recalled an email she had sent early that morning. It had all their tax information within it. Though the company worked with a particularly large firm, she recalled the specific accountant that would be handling the case. Or at least was, as said accountant was staring Chloe right in the face.

“Aren’t you our accountant?” Chloe asked Jill. She hoped she was wrong: the cowboy hat and boots were not at all reassuring that the company’s money was in good hands…

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Apr 22 2012, 08:32 PM

It took Jill a moment to figure out what Chloe was talking about. She only knew the gym leader by the name "Chloe" and she only knew the account by "Davenport" so it didn't quite click at first. Then she remembered there was one very large flower shop account. It stood out because, unlike what Jill assumed flower shops were like, this one was freakin huge. Apparently, this gym was that very same flower shop and it all solidified in her mind when she remember "Chloe Davenport" from the papers.

"Oh," she responded, taking a step back. "You'll, uh, you'll probably get a call about that in the near future. I'm not an accountant anymore. As you can see, I'm a pokemon battler." Perhaps she should have said something along the lines of, "I can assure you your account has been placed in extremely capable hands, as all certified accountants at our firm are top of the line!" But frankly, she didn't care about Chloe's account anymore.

"So," she continued. "I have my three pokemon all picked out, and I think I'm ready, assuming you are."

Posted by: Toogee Apr 28 2012, 12:04 PM

In silence, Chloe wondered why someone who was making a pretty good living as an accountant would give it up to go back to being a child. Indeed, there wasn’t much money in being a pokemon trainer; most trainers Chloe knew were competing for scholarships, funded by research grants, or simply had rich parents. Whatever the reason, the fact of the matter was that Jill was here and awaiting her match. The gym leader would kindly deliver. But first, she had to check the status of her account.

Jeannette approached Chloe with a fresh set of pokeballs, trading them for the battle-weary set from Tag’s match. After Chloe whispered about the status of the account, the assistant immediately took out her phone she headed outside towards the pokemon center. With that, the gym leader turned back to her challenger, pokeballs in hand.

“Everyone out!”

With that, two pokemon emerged in front of Chloe. One was a big cotton ball with leaves for arms: a cottonee. The other pokemon was a cute little hermit crab pokemon, a dwebble. Waiting in the wings beside Chloe was a fierce-looking larvitar, who snarled at the opposition.

“This is your first gym match, yes? You may make the first move.” After the match with Tag, Chloe was somewhat more confident in handling Jill’s team, whatever they consisted of.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Apr 28 2012, 05:51 PM

Jill simply nodded once Chloe's pokemon had appeared. She had no advantage in knowing Chloe's team - Hers was already picked as well, and it was going to be Pele, Vinyl and Vulpix regardless. So, she summoned all three of them. They all looked prepared for battle. Jill was no expert battler, but she was fierce in many ways, and her pokemon picked up on that. Though Vulpix was new to the team, she was clearly somewhat competitive on her own. Jill was confident.

Upon Vulpix entering, the entire stadium began radiating with heat. Her Drought ability caused an automatic (and permanent) Sunny Day effect, which could only be negated by another weather effect. Sunny Day was extremely effective for Jill's entire team, and of this she was aware. It was possible, though, that Chloe was prepared for this.

Regardless, the advantage Jill did have was in picking which two pokemon were going to be fighting the Dwebble and the Cottonee. Jill chose Vinyl and Pele - She'd have Pele's power with Vinyl's speed (boosted by Chlorophyll) while also having the Drought support from Vulpix without actually being in the front lines.

"Okay," Jill nodded, her heart racing just a little bit faster. She needed to think - She wasn't an expert on pokemon types, but Dwebble looked like a bug type, which was weak to fire, and Cottonee was obviously Grass. Of course, Chloe's theme was Rock and Grass, so Bug alone didn't make sense. Dwebble was also a Rock type, evident by the gigantic freakin' rock on its back. None of her pokemons' attacks would be able to easily take down Dwebble as effectively as Pele could probably take down Cottonee.

"Vinyl, use Sleep Powder on Dwebble. Pele, use Flame Charge on Cottonee." Though she probably wouldn't get as much time for strategy in her subsequent attacks, Chloe did actively give her the first move, so she took advantage of it. Pele would be able to do significant damage to Cottonee, boosted by her effectiveness against grass, on top of the Sunny Day boost, and it would increase her own speed to make her a bigger threat in the future. Vinyl's Sleep Powder (if it hit) would take care of what Jill perceived as the biggest threat to her pokemon on Chloe's team without having to take it down over the course of multiple turns.

It was a temporary solution, but she was less worried about Larvitar, whose sole Rock typing she could actually take advantage of.

Posted by: Toogee Apr 29 2012, 09:02 AM

The battle started with fire and status moves, two attacks that were expected among Jill’s types. Fire attacks were quite devastating to grass types, but the cottonee had the defense to take a few hits. The cotton ball’s main tactic however lied in his ability. Being quite the Prankster, the cottonee was quite speedy when it came to non-damaging attacks. Chloe took advantage of this with a variety of annoying moves. Fresh off being the victim of such moves from Tag’s team, she was ready to turn the tables.

“Cottonee, Taunt the weepinbell!”

The cotton ball used his leaf in a finger wagging motion, egging the weepinbell to approach. This was quite a gamble for Chloe’s team. True, the grass type’s ability gave it priority over sleep powder, saving Dwebble from being disabled for the battle. On the other hand, a powered up flame charge collided straight into the cottonee, covering its body with singes. The cotton ball remained conscious, but it likely couldn’t take much more from the blazing pony.

Fortunately, Dwebble was ready for support.

“Dwebble, Sand Attack on the ponyta.”

The rock inn pokemon dug its claw deep into the sea of pebbles to find the appropriate material. Soon enough, the dwebble quickly swiped forward, sending a concentrated stream of sand towards the ponyta’s face. Such a simple attack could make or break the match.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Apr 29 2012, 11:37 AM

Vinyl's attack was made ineffective by the Cottonee. Evidently, it was faster than even Weepinbell, meaning it probably had the ability Chlorophyll as well. (This was Jill's logic, and it was sound yet incorrect.) Taunt forced Weepinbell to only use attack moves, which were not his forte. The Dwebble then used its turn to weaken Pele with Sand Attack, an accuracy reducing move. It was the less scary of the two attacks Chloe made, and so Jill's attention naturally turned to the Cottonee, whose taunt was particularly dangerous.

"Vinyl, use Weather Ball on Cottonee," If it had to attack, it might as well, and Weather Ball, given the Sunny Day, would be a powerful Fire attack, super effective against the Cottonee. Jill didn't have her hopes up though, as she suspected it had a lot up its sleeve.

"Pele, switch with Vulpix," Pele returned to her side unquestioningly as she knew battle was not currently in her best interest, given the sand all in her eyes. Vulpix jumped out, ready to go in her stead. This was the entirety of Jill's turn, but she was still very nervous because of Cottonee. The problem with that pokemon was not that it was strong, or fast. It was that it put the flow of battle in Chloe's hands.

Posted by: Toogee Apr 29 2012, 10:14 PM

Chloe watched as Jill switched up tactics. The gym leader was expecting a Wrap or Vine Whip, something the cottonee could outlast. Turns out the challenger had Weather Ball, a fire attack under these conditions. It looked like the cotton ball was not going to get a chance to set up. Still, there were still a few tricks up their sleeves. One happened to present itself as the vulpix entered the field.

“Quick, Worry Seed on the vulpix!”

A tiny seed shot out from the cottonee, landing right upon the fox’s head. The replacement of abilities caused the clouds to return. With Sunny Day no longer in effect, the impending weather ball was switched to a normal attack. Though it hit square on, the cottonee was not reduced to ashes.

It was time for the dwebble to provide some actual fire power.

“Dwebble, Rock Blast on that vulpix!”

The little hermit crab began grabbing the large pebbles that covered the ground, firing them off in quick succession towards the fire type. In total, five were fired, but who knew how many would meet their mark.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Apr 30 2012, 09:08 PM

She had to think fast. Rocks were being hurled at Vulpix, but they didn't look too huge, and Dwebble seemed more like a defensive powerhouse than an attacking force. She'd be able to survive a few, even given their super effectiveness. Switching her out to Pele wouldn't do much help anyway, as her Fire type was weak to Rock as well. Evasion wasn't an option, and so she went with her other:

"Vulpix, use Flame Burst on Cottonee!"

She had to think about the next move, though. With Sunny Day unfortunately down, Vinyl was no longer at such a severe advantage. Well, he was still faster than Dwebble, she figured, so basically, he couldn't use Weather Ball. Flame Burst would likely take care of Cottonee, however. "Vinyl, use Vine Whip on Dwebble." It wouldn't do massive damage, but it would be at least neutral. This, along with Vulpix's Flame Burst, which was so explosive, it would likely also hit Dwebble, would begin to chip away at the threat, while Cottonee, who seemed to be on its last legs (or whatever), would likely faint from the Flame Burst, unless Jill severely miscalculated some level advantage.

Posted by: Toogee May 5 2012, 06:25 PM

It appeared Cottonee was done for the match. He did not have enough HP to make a substitute; all the fire attacks never gave him a chance to set up. Still, the cotton ball would go out with one last parting gift.

“Cottonee, Poisonpowder on the vulpix!”

The cottonee shook rapidly, releasing a cloud of purple powder just before the fireball was released. The fire burst struck the cotton ball dead on, embers hitting the dwebble. Though the rock inn pokemon managed to survive another day, the cottonee was flipped on his back, finally taken down. The weepinbell smacked the dwebble further with vine whips, somewhat less effective than the fire due to his higher defense. Still, he would need the backup from the third pokemon in Chloe’s arsenal.

Before Chloe could call back the grass type, the larvitar was already on the field. He kicked the cottonee aside and stood ready to go on the assault.

“Easy, Larvitar,” Chloe said calmly as she summoned her cottonee back. Though a look of malice stayed fixed upon his face, the larvitar nodded in accordance. Having already suffered the first knockout, Chloe’s team would have to work extra hard to play catch up.

“Dwebble, Rock Blast! Larvitar, Sandstorm!”

The hermit crab kept up the assault upon the vulpix, launching larger stones towards the fox. Meanwhile, the larvitar raised his arms to summon the sands beneath the pebble surface. Like the golem before him, the rock type promptly disappeared as the sand curtain emerged over the arena once more. Chloe donned her sunglasses once more and watched the battle rage on.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam May 5 2012, 06:46 PM

There was a hint of success, as the Cottonee had finally fallen. But the arrival of Larvitar wasn't particularly exciting to Jill. More importantly, and as expected, Chloe had Dwebble continue its rocky assault on Vulpix. Not only was Sunny Day beneficial to her, but Sandstorm was detrimental. She had to reinvoke it in order to have a chance, and she knew this from the start.

So, as soon as the Flame Burst made contact, she prepared Vulpix's pokeball. Once the rocks were blasted towards her, Jill called her back, and Pele the Ponyta jumped into the fray, taking the rocks in Vulpix's place, unquestioningly. She was hit by three, and they hurt quite a bit given her fire type, but it was worth it.

"Vinyl, Sleep Powder on-"

Larvitar was clearly the more offensive pokemon, so putting it to sleep instead had the most logic. It would have been her decision too, if she didn't notice that behind the flying chunks of rock and sand in the area (due to its own Sandstorm) it became harder for her to see him. This was likely on purpose, and Sleep Powder was already a fairly inaccurate ability. "Dwebble!"

It wasn't the most fortunate scenario for her. Yes, she did still have all three of her pokemon, but she already noticed some errors she made. For starters, she would have to use two turns to reactivate Sunny Day (One to recall Vulpix, and one to send her back out) while Larvitar only had to use it once. That wasn't too appealing, but in the very least she could force Larvitar to waste a turn reactivating Sandstorm. Also, relying on an inaccurate move like Sleep Powder wasn't necessarily her first choice.

Posted by: Toogee May 7 2012, 09:37 PM

Chloe watched Jill’s tactics: specifically, her constant switching of pokemon. The challenger was wasting valuable turns as a result, giving Chloe an opening. It also allowed her to predict what would happen next. Before that however, there was a sleep powder attack to deal with. The hermit crab retreated deeper into the sandstorm, allowing the pollen to dissipate within the winds. Now was the time to make the next set of moves.

“Dwebble, Stealth Rock! Larvitar, Rock Slide!”

The dwebble struck the ground, activating a set of sharp rocks on Jill’s side of the arena, giving her constant switching tactics an added consequence. On top of that, Larvitar unleashed a strong physical attack on both the ponyta and weepinbell. The rock skin pokemon raised his hands in the air. Suddenly, the pebbled surface under their feet rose into the air like a massive tidal wave. It rose out of the sandstorm, only crash right back down to earth upon Jill’s pokemon.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam May 13 2012, 09:36 AM

Stealth Rock. That meant no more switching. Really, though, she only needed one more switch, bringing in Vulpix. However, her weakness to Rock meant it would do significant damage. It meant Pele had to stay in until she fainted, though, which wasn't a tactic of which Jill was particularly proud.

On top of this, Larvitar finally got off a decent offensive attack, and it was a big one. Pele had a weakness to Rock type attacks, and Vinyl took neutral damage. Still, Dwebble had already taken some damage, and it took neutral damage from both Pele and Vinyl.

"Pele, Flame Wheel on Dwebble. Vinyl, Vine Whip on the same target."

Fortunately, aside from the Rock Slide and the minimal Sandstorm damage, neither Vinyl nor Pele had taken any hits. Vulpix took the majority of the offensive attacks, meaning Pele and Vinyl had at least another turn of Larvitar's Rock Slide. Well, Vinyl did. But she'd take it.

Posted by: Toogee May 13 2012, 08:12 PM

Chloe watched as Jill focused her pokemon not on the larvitar but on the dwebble. True, her larvitar was a difficult target within the sandstorm, but he still posed the most pressing threat. Nonetheless, the gym leader had a plan.

“Dwebble, protect!”

The hermit crab used his massive shell to block both flaming pony and vegetarian whiplash. The larvitar did not need to be told twice to continue with the rock slide. Yet another wave of rocks rained down upon the opponents’ side of the field. Though Chloe wasn’t comfortable with such a predictive pattern of attack, she could not argue that it was effective.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam May 20 2012, 10:27 AM

While Vinyl was not the smartest leaf on the tree (unless it was on a regular tree with non-metaphoric leaves), Pele wasn't stupid. When Dwebble closed itself off to attacks, she immediately spun around and changed her sight to Larvitar. Though it was somewhat difficult to see him in the sandstorm, the unpredictability in her move, coupled with her decision to use a different attack entirely, made it actually kind of easy.

She used Growl, a typically weak move, but using a Fire attack against him went against her nature. It wasn't a tactical decision, it was a natural response. Here was an offensively powerful pokemon to whom she did very little damage, all she really could do was growl at it. She was bigger, faster and actually stronger. Aside from type advantage, she was the more powerful pokemon, so intimidation made some sense to her.

Needless to say, Jill was pleased with the outcome of that round of attacks. Pele's split second decision to disobey her trainer not only allowed her to actually accomplish something rather than throwing all of her attacks against an invulnerable target, but it also saved her from the Rock Slide. Vinyl was still hit by it, but it didn't hurt too incredibly bad. More importantly, things were about to get a lot better for him.

"So proud of you, girl," Jill said to Pele, holding out her pokeball. Because she evaded the second Rock Slide, coming in on the Stealth Rocks wouldn't be enough to do her in. In her place, Vulpix came out. Though the stealth rocks were there, assaulting her as soon as she was made present, her ability, Drought, set in. She was immediately knocked out, but with the sandstorm subsided, Larvitar was now made very clear.

"Vinyl, put Larvitar to sleep!"

Then, she sent out her final pokemon, Pele. Though the stealth rocks assaulted her, she remained in tact. No longer was she being pelted by the sandstorm, and she could see her opponents so clearly. The sun rained down upon her, intensifying the flames on her back and tail. She was ready.

Posted by: Toogee May 23 2012, 07:52 PM

Chloe was rather shocked that Jill ordered another switch, knocking out her vulpix and damaging her ponyta. She wouldn’t show it behind her sunglasses, however. Her switch in did manage to end the sandstorm, which removed the cloak around the larvitar. As a result, the weepinbell’s sleep powder attack hit its mark, causing the rock type to curl up in a ball for a nap. The gym leader could tell where the most damaging attacks were going to come from and acted accordingly.

“Dwebble, Bug Bite on the weepinbell!”

The little hermit crab rushed the plant to deliver a good attack to add on top of the rock slide damage attacks. She hoped diverting attention would allow the larvitar a peaceful sleep until he awoke.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam May 28 2012, 02:28 AM

That was enough. With that Bug Bite, on top of two Rock Slides and the constant sandstorm, Vinyl slowly wobbled and finally fell to the floor. She miscalculated, figured he could take another hit before using Synthesis and healing himself. This meant it was down to Pele, and being against two rock types didn't bode particularly well for her. She was in the sun, however, and Larvitar was asleep.

She decided that his slumber wasn't enough to make him a non-issue. He had Sandstorm, and he'd probably be awake in a minute or so. Still, first things first:

"Pele, use Morning Sun!"

The intense heat in the arena honed in on Pele as she focused for a moment. She had taken a bit of punishment over the course of the battle. The constant barrage of sandstorm, a Rock Slide and a Rock Blast, but she held out just long enough to heal herself completely, thanks to Vulpix's sacrifice. Though it was 1v2, Jill's confidence was high.

Posted by: Toogee May 28 2012, 06:33 PM

Chloe’s confidence was high. Her dwebble knocked out the only major threat to her team; only the ponyta remained. Granted, that ponyta was under a sunny day, performing a healing move to undo all their work. With two rock types however, it wouldn’t take long to bring the fire pony back down.

On top of that, the morning glow was beginning to cause the larvitar to stir. It wouldn’t be long before her second would be ready to go. For now, she had dwebble to work with.

“Dwebble, Rock Blast!”

Continuing with the STAB attacks, the hermit crab blasted another barrage of boulders towards the ponyta.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jun 3 2012, 01:15 PM

"Flame Wheel on Dwebble!"

Until Larvitar woke up, Pele had the advantage. Dwebble was not a weak pokemon, but he'd taken some hits, and Pele was in her element, massively increasing her offensive power and allowing her to fully heal at a moment's notice. She hoped against all hope that Larvitar would stay asleep for a little bit longer. Of course, given her luck of this battle, it was entirely likely that Chloe would just kick her own pokemon awake, at least in Jill's mind.

At this point, the game was to defeat Dwebble before the other one woke up. It was possible, she figured. Though Dwebble's Defense was high, it had taken some hits and its HP left much to be desired for a defensive pokemon. More importantly, Ponyta's offensive was deceptively high, giving her plenty of offensive power to penetrate its shell.

She charged it, fire erupting all around her body. Rocks flew at her as she did so, but her focus allowed her to collide without hesitation. Four of the rocks hit, and they probably hurt, but she kept moving, preparing for collision.

Posted by: Toogee Jun 3 2012, 02:03 PM

Dwebble’s attack failed to stop the charging ponyta from hitting her mark. Like a truck against a wandering turtle, the wheel of fire tore through the hermit crab. The dwebble was tossed around from the impact, landing in a heap on the opposite end of the home team’s side. Seeing that the pokemon made no effort to get back up, it was safe to say that he was knocked out. Chloe summoned the Dweble back into his pokeball without regret. He fought long and well.

Luckily, the larvitar woke just in time to take Dwebble’s place. He might of woken up in a better mood had it not been such a short nap, the sun blazing and all. Now, Chloe had a cranky larvitar on her side to finish the battle off. There was no point in changing tactics, especially with the ponyta already taken significant rock damage.

“Rock Slide!”

This time the rocks were coming from under the ponyta’s hooves, jetting up into the air before crashing down upon the opponent once more.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jun 3 2012, 04:01 PM

"Pele, use-"

She had to think. Rocks were pummeling her beloved Ponyta, though admittedly from a weakened Larvitar (Pele had used Growl earlier in the match) but it wouldn't allow her to stall for too long. "Growl."

Now that it was back to a one on one fight, Dwebble being out of the picture, Pele actually had a chance. It wasn't huge, as Larvitar had a type advantage, but she had the weather advantage. That being said, using Growl a second time cut the pokemon's attack power in half, effectively nullifying the advantage of Rock Slide. Pele's speed allowed her to intimidate Larvitar just enough to cause slight hesitation.

She was hit by rocks immediately after, and they hurt, but her speed allowed her to take the hits without flinching - a notable advantage against such an attack. Getting hit by these plus Dwebble's Rock Blast (which had a lot more power) left her in pain, but not debilitated by any means. "Now, Morning Sun!"

Larvitar had the type advantage, but Pele had the weather advantage. Larvitar could change that at any moment, though, so she needed to take advantage of it quickly before it went away. However, both Jill and Pele had been facing Chloe long enough to know she had a trick or two up her sleeves.

Posted by: Toogee Jun 10 2012, 08:33 PM

It seemed the match was turning into a battle of attrition. With plenty of deadlines to meet, this was not what Chloe had in mind. Attacking would get her nowhere if the pony kept completely healing herself. The key was to get rid of the weather and turn it to the gym leader’s advantage. Luckily, the larvitar had just the move.

“Sandstorm!” Chloe donned on her sunglasses once again as the sands kicked up in a twister around the arena. Not only did this block off the sun, it also activated the larvitar’s Sand Veil, camouflaging the rock skin pokemon in a sea of sand.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jun 23 2012, 03:59 PM

Jill sighed. The sand was blasting all over the place, making it hard for her to see well enough to even make a decent call. She was hoping Chloe would have Larvitar make a few other moves before getting rid of the sunlight. Not only could Pele no longer heal herself, but her Fire attacks lost a lot of power, she was taking extra damage every turn, and her accuracy was shot to hell.

Ultimately, though, Jill wasn't going to give up. Larvitar's attack was weakened to the point of crippling, and Pele's offensive power was still strong. And maybe, if things went right, "Flame Wheel!" would inflict a burn on Larvitar. She hated relying on it, especially given the lack of accuracy, but it seemed it was her only shot.

Posted by: Toogee Jun 30 2012, 07:45 PM

Within the sandstorm, the larvitar was able to stay camoflauged from his opponent. When the flame wheel came barreling towards, the rock pokemon simply stepped aside, taking advantage of the increased evasion given by the weather. Still, it wasn’t enough with his cruddy attack. Chloe had to improvise.

“Screech!”

The larvitar obliged with an ear-piercing scream reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. One would never have thought such a hideous sound- oh wait, this was larvitar we’re talking about. The sound was enough to even make the gym leader flinch. It was likely no picnic for the ponyta: being deaf and blind would make it easier to strike a significant blow.

Another flame wheel zoomed throught the sands, but this time, the attack hit the larvitar’s side. The pokemon was knocked over, but fortunately, no burns. Angry at getting hit, the rock pokemon unleashed his fury upon the ground, triggering another rock slide. Once again the ground spewed the pebble surface into the air and upon the ponyta.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jun 30 2012, 08:12 PM

Jill watched the rocks fall onto Pele, though it was difficult through the veil of sand covering the arena. She could see well enough to watch her friend topple over in the middle of her charge. In the end, she did everything she could, and it wasn't good enough. She needed to improve, plain and simple.

So, Jill held out Pele's pokeball and called her back, subtly turning her head to try and get a glimpse of Tag's reaction without actually making eye contact. That was her last pokemon, and so the battle was over. As the sandstorm died down, she swallowed what remained of her pride and approached the gym leader.

Ultimately, she was mad. Chloe used tactics which were incredibly difficult to counter and Jill naturally got frustrated. But what was she gonna do? Cuss out the gym leader? Probably get banned from league play altogether? No, she had to play nice, just like in the corporate world.

"Well fought, Chloe," she said, begrudgingly. "Expect more from me next time."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jul 1 2012, 12:27 AM

Tag had watched the battle from the stands, arms crossed and fairly impassive. Chloe was no slouch, by any means, but both he and Jill had met her on the battlefield with solid tactics, good skill, and the tenacity to win. After a brief montage of flashbacks to his previous gym battles in Furoh, Tag remembered that luck had been on his side against both Vega and Otis. His match against Chloe proved that Lady Luck had left him for this round.

As he watched the match, he noted how similar his battle and Jill's were. Unlike in his last matches, where there had been a clear moment where the tides had shifted, this gym leader constantly let it teeter back and forth, making it difficult to find one's momentum. Combined with the serene surroundings, almost designed to repel one's adrenaline, Tag figured that he'd have to re-approach Chloe with a different approach. The problem was figuring out what that approach was.

Running through the roster in his head, he had no idea of a good line-up with which to tackle her Grass/Rock combo, which had to be one of the most defensible combinations there was. Vega's Dark and Psychic both had weakness to bug types. Otis' Fire and Flying could be met with Rock. Maxy Z's Water and Fighting could be met with Electric, Psychic, Grass and Flying types without too much of a coverage overlap. However, approaching Chloe with, say, a Fire type meant advantage over her Grass, but weakness to her Rock. The reverse was true for Water Types, as was the case with Tonbo. Suzu's bug/flying typing had been perfect against Serperior, but Suzu had fallen to Golem...

As Tag racked through the type lists, he figured that Bachi's Poison/Ground typing had been effective, and perhaps he needed to add a fighting type to his rotation? Or perhaps he'd play it like he played with Otis, and meet her head on with her own type preferences. Immediately in his head, he began plotting combinations for Kyoko and Uchi, but a nagging thought in the back of his brain said something stupid:

Dragon.

The former Dragon Trainer found himself awash for a brief moment with a dark melancholy, flavoured heavily with guilt and grief. It passed quickly, as the memories tended to nowadays, but the aftertaste still lingered in the corners of his mind.

He snapped back to the match from his bleak reverie, only to find that Jill's Pele had fallen to Larvitar. That Sandstorm had been the biggest problem the entire match, which meant either he had to find a better way to neutralize it (other than playing weather ping-pong), or...utilize it. An advantage for an opponent could be made into an advantage for one's self: such was an ironclad law of battle.

Rising as Jill recalled Pele, he watched as Jill turned her head to glance up at him. He knew that sidelong glance very well; he'd caught his former companion Raven Amaranth chancing it often. Tag wasn't exactly sure what look to pass down to her, and any time he thought too hard about what face to make, it came out as an awkward grimace. With that in mind, he opted to keep his face impassive.

Heading down from the stands, he met up with Jill as she exited the arena.

"Hey there." He nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets as they prepared the trek back to the pokemon center. "For a first official battle, with a pokemon you just caught earlier today, I'd say you did pretty damn good."

Posted by: Toogee Jul 1 2012, 10:11 PM

With the ponyta finally taken down, Chloe took in her greatly weakened larvitar back into his own pokeball. He was a tough one, but even that battle took a great deal out of the pokemon. An assistant rushed over to the gym leader, passing an order form to Chloe. She immediately traded her pokeballs for the form, the assistant rushing off to the pokemon center to heal the trio.

“You have potential, I’ll give you that,” Chloe replied to Jill. “I’d love to chat, but these flowers aren’t going to deliver themselves. Good luck to both of you.”

With that, the gym leader grabbed her shoes, hung her jacket upon her forearm, and ran back to the office barefoot. She had just got on her phone when she disappeared into the halls of Davenport Florists.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jul 4 2012, 08:18 PM

Jill just stayed silent as Tag and then Chloe told her about how she had potential. "Yeah," she sighed. Potential wasn't good enough. It wasn't what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that she sucked, then at least it wouldn't sound so patronizing.

"Well, whatever," she shrugged, pretending like it wasn't a big deal. She looked to Tag. "What do trainers usually do after a big loss? I want to train, but what's the best way to do that? I really don't wanna be one of those bug catchers just sitting in the middle of a field of tall grass waiting for wild pokemon or trainers to walk by for training.

"But first," another thought crossed her mind. "I'm thirsty. Are you thirsty?"

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jul 4 2012, 10:25 PM

It was Tag's turn to shrug...so he did.

"I'm not sure what most trainers do. Figure they just find someone weak looking and stomp them to make themselves feel better." He cast a sidelong glance at her. Dealing with a loss seemed like a good way to define Jill as a trainer. "I usually just find a secluded place and train on my own. Find a nice rock that can take a good beating without whining at you, then just wail away."

Then Jill suggested something wonderful. He couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed a drink. He didn't do it at all in his dragon taming days, being a no-nonsense, serious and professional trainer. But he was older now, and it seemed like the perfect way to unwind after a loss. Now hopefully, she and he were on the same page about this particular kind of thirst.

"I don't know the area too well, but I'm sure after we rest up our pokemon and check in on Vernon, we can find somewhere to toss back a few."