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Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 1 2010, 12:52 AM

Morning soon came to the lone camper. The sun pierced through the wooded covering, the Hoothoot and Noctowl taking refugee in their nests for the next night to come, just as the camper await the morning light. With new sounds of the forest surrounded the young man, his body rose slowly, placing his glasses on his forehead to rub his eyes before placing them back in front of his eyes. A yawn followed afterwords, as he looked around. "Almost reminds me of home..." he said, having a slight feeling of homesickness, as his mind flashed him back to his childhood of living in the woods himself.

With not much out, packing his things was a simple task. "A new day has arose, and with every step is another into the unknown," he told himself as he stretched. "But first, I think some introductions are in order." Reaching for his belt, he grasped the four filled Pokeballs and tossed them into the air. In a burst of four different white lights, multiple figures formed before fading, before his team was all out. "Good morning, team!" he said, each one calling out in return. "Duskull, you alright?" he asked, placing his hand on the Requiem Pokemon's head so he could hear her respond, "I'm fine, don't worry!" He smild to her before showing her to his team, "Now Duskull here is going to be apart of our family. Duskull, this here is Croagunk, Seel, and Growlithe, who you met before. Everyone, this is Duskull. Together, I know you will all be great!"

He watched them gather around, talking to the new Duskull, who seemed weird-ed out by the huge attention. Douken, however, just smiled, knowing they would have some good times together. Some of it even reminded him of some of the other trainers he met, like Jaima from the castle they took part in. They all seem so independent... each one unique in their own way. And yet, I just call them by whatever they are... He knew some trainers would give names to their Pokemon, even his own parents. However, he was just bad at choosing names. Something may come up eventually, was his last thought, shrugging it off before he called out, "Alright, guys. Our destination is not far from here. All we have to go is climb that mountain," he said, pointing at it. "Easier said than done, however. I trust you will all be of some assistance?" They all cried out cheerfully in support.

"Duskull, Croagunk, how about you two stay outside with me? Seel, I know I love you, but you will have trouble moving, and Growlithe, you need to learn to stay still." The Seel was sad, but acknowledged the problem. Growlithe, however, was too busy looking at a Rattata, ready to chase it. "Growlithe..." Rubbing the puppy's collar caught his attention which had him look back with his tongue lolling out happily. "See what I mean?"

With all that set out, Douken returned the two Pokemon back into their portable "homes" and continued on. With the poison frog by his side and the haunting figure on his head, they soon reached the base of the mountain. He looked at his grounded friend, wondering what he thought about his place, knowing what occurred here as well. He could only figure he was still aggravated with that Ursurang that got him. Croagunk only looked back up, his cheeks puffed up as he slowly croaked. it was his way to say he was alright. Smiling, Douken looked back up and began their accent.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 1 2010, 11:03 AM

Pan finished her latest entry of her blog in the comforts of the pokemon center of Under Hill. Even though the building resembled a small cave (stalactites and stalagmites included), it still had the modern conveniences of its above ground cousins. She took another quick glance at the e-mail sent by her professor.



Pan knew the item he referred to was the Ho-Oh feather from the events at Castle Vonmoto. She figured the item would be far safer in the hands of the museum than in her crammed backpack. It would also be kept secret, as recommended by Mr. Vonmoto. This would certainly explain the cryptic nature of the professor’s letter; he took the matter seriously. Much as she would love to whip it out for storytelling with her fellow travelers, Pan knew this was for the best.

Still, Pan couldn’t help but wonder who those construction workers were. It was looking more and more likely that they were raiders out to pillage the ancient temple. She was certainly glad that they didn’t get away…

For the moment though, she had more important concerns to deal with. Her pokemon were interacting with each other in the other room, getting to know their new teammate Lima. Unfortunately, it had gotten off on a bad start. The cleffa looked at Chi-Chi and, thinking that the blue stripes on the pachirisu was cotton candy, waitied for the right moment for Chi-Chi to lower her guard. What followed was Chi-Chi’s screeching as Lima attempted to suck off the colored fur. At the side, Turnip seemed to be laughing at the spectacle, while Fenrir was trying to break the two up without hurting them.

Pan quickly intervened, returning the cleffa back to her pokeball. She then grabbed Chi-Chi, examining her fur to make sure she was all right. Other than being a bit wet with saliva, the pachirisu was all right. The ivysaur was still chuckling, though he stopped as Pan gave him a dirty look.

“How about we get moving?” she asked her team. Everyone obliged and started walking out of the pokemon center, with Pan wondering what to do about her cleffa’s cravings.


Turnip led the way through the thick brush, using his vines to cut a path towards the mountain. Pan walked close behind the ivysaur, with Chi-Chi safe in her vest. It had been a long trek through the forest, but they would soon end up at the base of Mt. Carello. Pan smiled as they came to the end of the forest and at their desitination.

The mountain was ridiculously high; it seemed to puncture the clouds above. Arasam wasn’t quite within sight; there would seem to be a bit of climbing to do before they reached that city. Closer ahead though, a trail carved through the mountain would likely lead to easier access. Still, from this side of the mountain, Pan would still have to do a good deal of climbing.

However, it seemed that someone was already attempting to reach the mountain. His spiky dirty blond hair was immediately recognizable as from one of the guests from Castle Vonmoto. Before he got too far into his ascent, Pan called out to him.

“Need a partner?” she shouted. It was a simple question, but the point was to get Doukan’s attention.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 1 2010, 11:40 AM

Hearing a familiar voice, Douken turned back to the familiar voice, calling out, "Glad to see you are going well, Pan and Turnip." Yes, he easily recognized the girl from the castle, seeing how near the end of it, he fell on her twice, once after a long slide on snow, and the other was him slipping trying to get up, having the Ivysaur shove him off. Sure, they met before everything in the castle started, like him nearly sitting on the same Pokemon, but the former was in his head more.

Heading away from the mountain, Duskull floated there, hovering before looking at his Croagunk, asking, "So, he knows her?"

Croagunk shrugged it off, replying, "Eh, they met before some time back. Don't worry, she won't bite..."

After the small hellos, Douken asked her, "So, I take it you are headed for Arasam as well? That can be the only thing someone would be headed in this direction..."

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 1 2010, 07:22 PM

“Not exactly,” Pan replied. “I’m here to look at a cave somewhere near Arasam. I have to take pictures.” She patted the camera on her neck, ready at a moment’s notice.

“Though, I wouldn’t mind visiting the city afterwards,” Pan said as she looked up. To get to the trail above, they would have to climb up a few stories. She had only climbed upon rock walls back in Celadon a few times. There appeared to be plenty of grooves and rocks to grasp, so this looked like an easy climb.

“How about we catch up when we get to that trail up there?” Pan asked, referring to the climb ahead. Turnip started the climb by ingraining his vines into the rock surface. This provided enough support for the ivysaur to crawl up the wall, swinging his vines upward one by one as he kept moving. After putting her camera and necklace within her backpack, Pan followed, using the more traditional method of grasping rocks while her legs pushed her upward.

Things were going well; Pan was moving at a quick and steady pace. It seemed far easier than any rock wall she ever climbed upon. If things kept up, they could get up to Arasam in no time! She was even confident enough to play a game with Douken.

“Hey, I’ll race you to the top- Woah!”

The optimism quickly disappeared when Pan’s foot pushed upon a particularly loose rock. Her hands grasped upon two other rocks to keep her from falling. As she tried to regain her footing, the rocks she was grasping onto started to budge. Turnip looked down to see his human in trouble and acted quickly. He used one of his vines to wrap around Pan’s torso just as the rocks gave way.

“Crud!” she shouted, grabbing Turnip’s vine just as she started to fall. She watched as the rocks smashed into the ground below. Those could have easily been her bones.

With Turnip with only one vine on the wall, he could no longer continue going upward. His face was scrunched up under the pressure to keep Pan (and himself) from plummeting. Pan tried to regain a good footing on the mountain, but the rocks were still quite loose. Worse, every time she tried put more strain on the ivysaur.

“Already in trouble. This has to be some kind of record,” Pan said humorously. Her face showed that she was a bit nervous about the situation as she looked for a good place to climb.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 1 2010, 07:54 PM

Douken wasn't going as fast as Pan was. Unlike her, he never climbed any rock walls (plenty of trees, but no mountains), so the thought of slipping and falling make him a little anxious, checking places to grip were fine before placing his whole weight upon it. Croagunk didn't have a lot to worry about. He seemed strong enough to jab his hand into the mountain's side just enough for a comfortable grip, and later to use to stand in. Duskull already beat everyone, just having to float to the top, humming a small tune.

"You alright?" Douken called out to Pan, who managed to drop a few feet before her Ivysaur managed to pull a miraculous save. Her dangling worried him, but he was in no position to help. Croagunk was higher as well, so he would of had to go down and help. "Duskull, we need your help! See if you can help Pan with her footing!"

Looking at the situation, the ghost hovered back down as fast as she could until she was under her feet to stand on for a bit. With body contact, she was able to communicate to her, "Please hurry up, I don't like the idea of being the floor..." All the time, Douken stood his ground to make sure she was alright.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 1 2010, 09:18 PM

“Pachi pachi!”

Chi-Chi looked around to see that they were pretty high up with no trees to grab onto. Her thoughts on this were quite simple: this was totally bad!

Pan looked down to see Douken’s new pokemon not only supporting her weight, but also using telepathy. Pan nodded at the duskull’s appearance; she was a little busy to show any surprise in her appearance. Pan looked around the wall; each protrusion appeared to be risky at best. Should she fail, Pan wasn’t sure the duskull could support the sudden movement.

Turnip had the same concern; he wasn’t about to trust another pokemon with Pan’s life. If only he had more vines…

The ivysaur concentrated very hard. Once again, Pan was in life-threatening trouble and it was up to him to get her out. This had always been the case even before they stepped foot on Furoh. Sure, she had more pokemon with her now, but Turnip always felt it was his ultimate duty to get her out of the real trouble. That time had come once again.

Several more vines started bursting from Turnip’s flower, allowing greater stability. The flower itself started to unfold from its closed state. The ivysaur began glowing, his body becoming even larger and wider. Pan and Chi-Chi stared upwards in awe as Turnip evolved into his ultimate form.

“VENUSAUR!”

Suddenly, the vine around Pan lifted her off the duskull with relative ease. Turnip placed his human behind his head. She sat with her legs dangling on each side of the venusaur’s neck, her back on the newly elongated flower stem. With Pan safe, Turnip started climbing up once more, with his vines acting like spider legs.

Pan was relieved when they finally reached the trail. She stepped off her pokemon and sat on the ground, leaning against Turnip.

“Good boy Tunip,” she said in thanks, patting the venusaur on the head. Turnip hoped she wouldn’t get into further trouble; he was all out of evolutions…

When Douken joined Pan at the trail, she was smiling as she massaged the great beast’s knees.

“Can we stick with the trail for the rest of the trip?” she half-joked, though Pan had no plans on any further rock climbs for the rest of the trip.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 1 2010, 09:42 PM

Douken also watched as the grass bulb Pokemon took upon the new form. With a larger flower on his back and stronger body, the newly evolved Venusaur helped her back up and to the top. "Let me guess, no help for me, huh?" Sighing, he continued on his own strength carefully, Duskull by his side and Croagunk keeping his lead.

---

It honestly felt like an hour's climb until Douken reached the road, flopping his tired body on the ground. AS she joked about no more climbing, he could only agree. "I don't think my arms could take that..." Sitting up, he looked over the cliff the small party climbed before searching through his bag for a water bottle. "Besides, I am sure we are on a commonly used trail, see?" He pointed at the warn-out road, completely different from the cliff's edge which seemed completely untraveled (But who would ever walk on the edge of a cliff?). "All we have to do is head up." he look a drink of the water before offering it over to his Croagunk, who took a quick drink as well.

Getting up, he took a hold of the Requiem Pokemon and began to brush her back off. "So then, which way?"

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 2 2010, 08:35 AM

“Well, the only way to go is up, so let’s try that.”

Pan stood up from the ground, brushing the dirt off her shorts as she looked ahead. The trail continued around the mountain, with no end in sight. There was still a fair bit of walking to do before they reached their goal. Pan started walking by Douken’s side, with Turnip bringing up the rear.

Curious of her partner’s new form, Chi-Chi left the confines of Pan’s vest and climbed onto the venusaur’s back. The expanded foliage and large flower brought warm memories of home to the pachirisu. She stayed on top of the flower, taking in the sweet scent emanating from Turnip’s flower. The venusaur seemed slightly annoyed by the new attention given, but not enough to pull the pachirisu off of him.

“So, what have you been up to since the castle?” she asked Douken, looking behind her to check on her pokemon. "I noticed you have a new member, and she can 'speak'. What's that like?" THough she had plenty of experience with telepathy back in Castle Vonmoto, she never had her own pokemon speak with her.

"Ooh, that reminds me."

Pan turned to the duskull and started scrunching up her face in an attempt to deliver her own psychic message, completely forgetting the consequences from the last time she attempted this.

<<THAAAANNNKKK YOOOOOOU!>>

After a fair bit of walking, the pair eventually met a fork in the road. The right half of the forked trail, the one commonly used by travelers, led into the mountain. The left path continued on a narrow path around the side of the mountain. It seemed to be the far more dangerous path: the path was just wide enough to allow a person to slowly scoot across, with nothing but the ground several stories below to stop their fall. Worse, there didn’t seem to be another tunnel waiting for them at the end; the path could lead to a dead end.

“Well, this is a predicament,” Pan commented. “There might be different pathways on the right, but there might be no paths on the left. Or the opposite.”

She looked over to Douken for his opinion.

“Flip a coin?”

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 2 2010, 11:01 AM

Duskull could only blink in confusion as Pan stared at her with the weird face. "Ummm, why is she looking at he like that?" She asked Douken, trying to back away from her, which resulted in part of her passing into him, sending a cold shock through his body, forcing him to stand straight with an uncomfortable look before she realized what happened and went forward again so he could catch his breathe.

"Be more careful, girl..." he told her, patting her head. "As for why, I have no idea." looking at her, he couldn't help but laugh. "Pan, why are you making a face like that? Did you hear her when she helped you?"

The Duskull moved over to Pan and placed herself on the human girl's head, just to tell her, "I met him last night. it seems that when i am touching him, he can understand me, can you?"

"Its just an idea, but i think her form of telepathy isn't that developed. She can understand us just fine, but for us to understand her, she must be in physical contact with someone. I am sure as she develops, her skills will strengthen more."

---

After a while more of hiking and conversation and random tidbits, they soon reached, the fork, one pathway being bigger than the other, a LOT bigger. This may be why the right trail was being used so much, since the left looked more like a death trap at this angle.

"What if the smaller path was made like this for a reason," he thought out loud, feeling the wall. "The wall is very smooth, nothing sticking out to force us into a dangerous situation unless we choose to lean forward." He turned to pan and said, "Turnip may be WAY too big for here, but this seems to be our best bet, especially if no one recent has been here before."

Duskull went to confirm the thought, floating ahead of the trail, seeing how the further down the small path, the wider it got out of site. With her telling him about it, Douken made his full decision. With turnip back in his Pokeball for his own safely, the two humans and three Pokemon slowly moved against the wall's edge, waiting for the fork to vanish from their sight. From there, the path widened slowly to a point where the could walk comfortably across.

After a couple minute's walk, the path widened more, coming to the face of a large cave entrance. "Seems like we're here," he said, heading into the dark cavern, "And they forgot to have any lights...." he sighed as he went to lean on a wall, but nearly leaned on a standing torch. "Hmmm..."

He removed his Growlithe's Pokeball from his belt and released him, the puppy looking around confused in the dark. "Growlithe, listen up," he said picking the pup up and holding him in the torch's direction. "Now then, I want you to send some of your embers in this direction." He was still confused, but went with it, having the head burst into flame, lighting the small section of the room, and showing more torches. "Think you can get them all?" The puppy merely barked and leaped out of his arm to get the others. With all torches lit, Douken couldn't help but look around and say, "It almost looks like a shrine...."

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 2 2010, 06:59 PM

“I’m trying to communicate with her,” Pan replied to Douken, her face remaining in its shriveled position. After the duskull spoke and Douken provided his explanation, Pan sort of understood what was going on. Telepathy was such a complicated art.

“Hey, I can hear her!” she replied with the duskull still on her head. Though it was a tricky ability, Pan found the idea of communicating clearly with pokemon quite interesting.

After they talked about nighttime excursions and underground adventures and stopped at the fork in the road, Pan nodded with Douken’s reasoning. If one was looking for a cave rarely seen, then one should choose the path less traveled.

“Turnip, return.”

The venusaur growled unenthusiastically as he disappeared within the pokeball. Chi-Chi, having been on top of Turnip, quickly fell down, a little muffled about the turn of events. She quickly ran to Pan and crawled back into her vest. The woman then began the journey across the narrow passage.

With her back against the wall, Pan scooted behind Douken along the cliff edge. She looked down; they were quite far from the ground. Good thing she wasn’t afraid of heights.

When they finally arrived at the cave entrance, Pan watched as Douken and his growlithe worked to light the torches. She looked at Chi-Chi and gave a wink.

“Show them how it’s done, Chi-Chi.”

The pachirisu stuck her head out, her cheeks beaming with light. The flash attack lit the room in an instant, allowing its contents to be revealed. Chi-Chi stuck her tongue out at the growlithe, showing off as Pan had a look around.

The “shrine” was clearly abandoned for quite some time. The old wooden table was quite dusty, the two chairs still in place. Steel eating utensils were lying upon the table; did someone live here? In the back, there was a raised area, a stage that had areas that were burned, slashed, damaged by water, and otherwise worn out. The most impressive part of the room however was the painting.

Pan had expected simple drawings of stick figures. What she was staring at was nothing short of magnificent. It was a fresco of a man garbed in a toga, his ampharos by his side. He stared down upon the Carello highlands, where herds of tauros roamed the land. Up in the sky, the familiar rainbow phoenix Ho-oh blessed the land with a rainbow. It was a miracle that this work of art had lasted so long. Pan quickly took her camera out and took several pictures of the fresco.

“You see this Douken?” Pan said, smiling at the find. Aside from the near-death experience getting up to the cave, this was a fairly easy mission.

In fact, it was almost too easy…

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 2 2010, 09:43 PM

Gazing at the large images carved into the stone, he could not help but remember the warmth that came from the majestic bird who saved so many lives that day. His hand even withdrew into his packet to feel the feather brush upon his fingertips. Whenever he thought about that moment, the feather felt like it warmed up. "Its still amazing that Ho-oh saved us, huh?" he asked her. "I still wish i could thank him properly..."

However, as the two gazed at the mural, a third voice entered, "Oh wow, its beautiful!" It was a female's voice. "Darling, i want it!"

Douken turned around to notice two new figures joined the party. One was a dark brunnette whose hair fell down to her butt and wore a loli-gothica outfit. She was clinging closely to a punk-dressed man who had a pitch-black Mohawk.

"No worries babe," the other man replied, "Soon everything will be all yours!" He had a mischievous grin on his face as the woman squealed in joy. "And I think I see two volunteers who will help us get all the goods we need!"

"If you are referring to us, then forget it!" Douken spat back. "Like we will let you punks order us around!"

"Darling, they are not cooperating with us! Oh, what should we do?" whined the goth, acting childish in front of everyone.

"No worries, babe! All we have to do is convince them!" It was then they both pulled out a Pokeball and tossed them into the air, bursting out two Electrodes at the entrance. "Do it!" Both of them glowed in a bright light before blasting themselves, weakening the cave's entrance to cause a rock slide, closing the cave's mouth. The shock from the blast caused Douken to stumble before falling, hitting his head on the stage floor hard.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 3 2010, 09:24 AM

Pan was taken completely off guard as the two figures entered the room. Judging by there appearances, the couple didn’t seem like explorers. The subsequent events happened so fast; Pan was hardly able to process everything before she was thrown over by the explosions.

When she came to, Pan found herself lying next to Douken, having landed on her back. She could barely hear over the loud ringing within her ears. She looked over to Douken; was he all right? The lighting in the room had noticeably dimmed, likely because Chi-Chi was hiding in Pan’s vest. At least she seemed OK.

Suddenly, the young woman rose into the air. Pan wasn’t sure whether someone was forcing her up or if she was getting up by herself. She felt her belt slipping off, her pokemon with them.

“No…” she mumbled, trying to hold on to her team. Just then, she fell (or was pushed) back down next to Douken, very much disoriented.

“What…?” she asked the shadows in front of her eyes. Maybe they were people. She wasn’t sure of anything at the moment.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 3 2010, 10:52 AM

"Do we get to keep these darlings too?" muffled the woman's voice.

"No way, babe. If all they have are small fry like these two, then it would be useless!" Douken's vision started to clear up, the form of the couple searching through their bags and possessions while his Growlithe and Croagunk were tied up. "They don't even have anything good on hand. I mean, this kid's bag is just full of berries!"

From the looks of it, Duskull managed to pass through the walls to escape and Pan's Pachiritsu sound a good spot to hide to not be noticed, Douken thought has the punk man kicked his bag over, his berries rolling all over the floor. It was then he felt his lower body get lifted up before a tight rope took his ankles and being dropped back down and watched the same happen to Pan.

"Now listen up, kiddies. My babe loves good treasure, something that makes her feel like a queen! And if she ain't happy, I ain't happy, got it?! Now then, if you want your precious Pokemon back, you might as well do as we say!

"Now, if what you said is true about this place being a shrine, the people must have used some riches as tributes for some nonsense like rain and agriculture and whatnot. The shrine keepers must then be pulling the strings and keeping the treasure to themselves somewhere in here!" Taking one of the wooden chairs, he dropped himself into it and commanded, "Find it!"

The woman sighed, saying to herself, "I love it when my man gets like this..."

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 3 2010, 01:58 PM

Pan started to return to her normal self as the thieves began rummaging through their things. She was very glad that she turned in the old amber and evolution stones to the professor. This was only a minor victory: Mohawk and Goth (names given by Pan based on their appearances) had the rest of her pokemon in their possession. It appeared they wouldn’t be keeping them, though a small part in Pan wanted them to release Turnip so he can give the thieves a thrashing.

On top of that, her feet were tied up.

As she listened to Mohawk’s demands, Pan knew these weren’t exactly pros. The girl was clearly a spoiled brat who was never refused anything. The guy did whatever the girl did, likely thinking this would get him on her good side. More likely than not, as soon as Goth wants another man, Mohawk would find his butt on the street.

But enough of the soap opera talk. Pan was being told to find a secret treasure room connected to the “shrine”. She wasn’t even sure this was a shrine! As soon as Goth stopped swooning over Mohawk, Pan replied back, very irritated of the situation.

“First of all, we don’t know what this place is. We just got here. Second, I can’t look for something that may or may not exist if I can’t walk.”

Pan moved her feet around to show the restraints around them. Though the situation was rather obvious, Mohawk looked back to his girl for further instructions. She apparently wasn’t used to receiving orders, but with a look of frustration, Goth gave in and ordered Mohawk to cut the ropes on both of the captives.

Pan stood up and started looking around. She didn’t want to work for the couple, but they currently had all the cards in their favor. She started the investigation by tapping the walls with her fist. She was careful to avoid damaging the fresco (which had somehow survived the explosions).

“I don’t think there’s any hollow spaces, which means there aren’t hidden areas behind the walls.”

She turned to the couple to address them directly.

“How did you find this room. You weren’t following us, so you must have come from another part of the mountain.” It was a logical theory: the builders must have had another route to bring in supplies without braving the cliff edge. Perhaps that would lead to the supposed treasure room…

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 3 2010, 11:42 PM

"Why does it matter how we got here?" the goth whined. "My darling, Drake, here promised me that a lot of ancient people hold a lot of good treasure and would get me as much as I wanted! Soon, we shall live together, surrounded by all of the riches I could dream of!" The female squealed, and spun in a circle, the frilly black dress floating up as she did.

As she talked, however, Douken was looking at the fresco closely. There was something about it that told him there was something to do with that. His eyes scanned it closely until he saw what was bugging him: Ho-oh was not aligned with the rainbow. If his flight is arched by it, how come he looks like he is going up and not with the arch? Walking to the Ho-oh on the wall, he traced his fingers on the edges. "Hey Pan, I think I found something," he said, signaling to her to come. When she did, he pointed at it and said, "Doesn't that look a little off?"

Giving her time to examine it, he began to whisper, "It may be tricky, but i think we can use her greed against them, but we got to see if we have something to work with. By breaking them up, we can narrow the numbers..."

The man, Drake gazed at the two and spat at them, "What's going on there?!"

Douken, looking back, responding, "I think we found something interesting here. I'm just talking with her to verify." Placing his fingers around the golden bird, he twisted his wrist, thinking that aligning the flight path would do something.

Sure enough, something did, as a nearby wall began to move backwards.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 4 2010, 08:46 PM

Even when Pan was doing what the thieves wanted, they were still unreasonable. Goth could only think about all the treasures she would grab on sight, not even giving Pan so much as a clue as to other passages to the room. Other passages could lead to other rooms, one of which could be the fabled treasure room.

Just as Pan was about to make that argument, Douken called her over. She looked over the misaligned Ho-oh and came to the same conclusion: this was no coincidence. While she looked at it, Douken explained a plan to separate the couple. She wasn’t so sure how well that would turn out.

“Yeah, but wouldn’t that mean we would have to split up to?” Pan whispered back. Separating the couple might make them weaker, but it could also make them more paranoid, more likely to act recklessly against their hostages.

As Mohawk asked them what was going on, Douken turned the Ho-oh figure to its aligned position. The figure was actually a switch that resulted in the fresco being pushed into the wall. This revealed two pathways: one led to another hallway, while the other had a staircase going down. Both led deeper into the mountain, the darkness keeping the paths hidden.

It looked like Douken would get his chance to use his plan. Though Pan wasn’t sure how it would work out, they had no other plans.

“Two paths. One could lead to the treasure room, or both lead to different treasure rooms.” She hoped thinking aloud would convince the couple to split up to get to whatever treasure there was as fast as possible.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 4 2010, 09:17 PM

"Then we will just have to check both!" Drake called out. "We will check each path and collect what treasure there is, got it?!"

"Hold on," Douken spoke up, "If we split up, then we can search things twice as fast."

"And what made you leader, huh?! Last I checked, you were my hostage, so I'm the one calling the shots!"

"But the longer it takes to search, the longer lil' missy here will have to wait for her treasure..."

"C'mon, darling. I want some more things to add to my collection!"

Drake stared at them, irritated before spatting at them saying, "Fine, be that way. Kym, stay with the boy, make sure he does nothing tricky. Should that ghost come back, I can trust you can take care of it. You, girly, with me."

Douken hid a smile when he was paired with the other woman, part of him glad to do so, just to make everything a lot easier for him. Should her lust and greed be the strings to the puppet, he may find a way to act as me puppeteer. Drake held all the captive Pokemon, so he was holding onto everyone they were able to grab.

"Alright, let's get going to my new riches," the goth, Kym, cheered on as she had Douken take the hallway, leaving Pan and Drake with the stairs.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 5 2010, 10:14 AM

Pan led the way down the stairs, maostly so Drake could keep an eye on her. She walked slowly due to the dim lighting; it was very easy to make a wrong step and fall. Normally, she wouldn’t hesitate to ask Chi-Chi to use her flash attack, but she wanted to keep the pachirisu hidden from Drake. When the moment was right, Chi-Chi could be Pan’s only hope for regaining her pokemon back.

“You know, it would be nice to have some light here. I won’t be able to see any clues about the treasure room. One of my pokemon will be able to help.” Pan was hoping she could trick Drake into giving her team back. Unlikely, but it was worth a shot.

From what little she could see, the stairway had smooth walls, as if constructed rather than naturally created. The stone stairs also appeared to be carved from the mountain. For all she knew, they could be entering a basement, an ancient tomb…or a trap.

A similar setting greeted Douken and Kym: a small hallway carved from the mountain. For the moment, the two were traveling on a relatively straight path. With Douken leading the way, Kym walked behind him.

“Are we there yet?” she complained. “It’s too dark. I can’t see anything!”

Kym then grabbed a pokeball from her purse. She released a cat-like pokemon, a delcatty. The pokemon mewed loudly as she awaited orders from her master.

“Kitty, Flash. Now!”

The delcatty started to glow, light emanating from its entire body. Soon, the darkness retreated as light surrounded the group. It revealed that they had reached the end of the hallway and into a cave. There were a couple of tunnels, both unexplored for ages. One was straight ahead, while the other was towards the ceiling, spewing cold water from the mountain peaks outside. This water fell down as a waterfall, gathering into a decent sized pond. It was like this pond went deep, hiding another tunnel for the water to escape.

“OK, which way’s the gold?” she turned to Douken.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 5 2010, 12:23 PM

"Sorry, but I have no map," he told her. "We have to trust our instincts when it comes to looking around here." He was pretty sure she would whine about the bad news. If she likes quick riches, then maybe I can try to play with her strings now...

"But why go after treasure that may not be there? I mean, your boyfriend doesn't seem to know what he's doing. I mean, I bet he wouldn't last five minutes going after some of the most exotic things at my home. I mean, Amazonian treasure is not only rare and valuable, but also so stylish." Looking at her, he moved his hand to his chin, saying, "Yes, their jewelry will make you look like a native queen," he turned back around, adding, "but unfortunately, only Amazons can get the best treasure. You try to steal from them, and you got the whole woods against you..."

---

"Yeah, right," he said, holding up both of the belts. "I know if I hand over my bargaining chips, you will just attack me and go help your friend. Don't think so..." Taking a Pokeball from his belt, he chucked it out, revealing that he had a Charmeleon. "Hey, Razz, she wants some light, so give her some." Not knowing how to give it to her, he merely fired off a couple Embers in her direction, before receiving a kick to his side. "No, you stupid lizard! From your tail! Just want in front of her and give her light from your tail!" Razz gave a small spat of fire to the side, annoyed, before he walked forward in front of Pan, doing the best he could to give light. However, all it showed for now was a twist in the staircase, nothing else.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 5 2010, 01:18 PM

Kym’s eyes sparkled as Douken told of the vast riches of the Amazonian kingdom. Not only that, but this boy was willing to adorn her with the finest Fidona had to offer. Her excited smile revealed her delight in Douken’s supposed offer; she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. But first, there was still some business to take care of.

“Ooh ooh! We have to make a trip real soon,” she replied excitedly. “But surely such a man who knows how to get ‘the best treasure’ knows where the treasure is hiding in this cave,” Kym’s greed was evident. She wasn’t going to abandon the riches in this cave just yet. Besides, Kym wanted to travel to Fidona in style, and she was willing to go to any lengths necessary.

Her hands grasped Douken’s right arm as she whispered “Lead the way.” Her lips nearly touched his ear, her idea of flirting. It was a common tactic in Kym’s arsenal: tempt men with the prospect of some sort of relationship to get them to do her bidding.

“Hey, watch it!” Pan shouted, rushing to the side to avoid the embers. She allowed the charmeleon to pass in front, but she shook her head at his trainer. The hostage situation was doing nothing for her mood.

As they kept walking down the staircase, the temperature started to rise. It was quite unusual for Pan: the last she visited the mountain, it was snowing. Now, sweat was dripping from her brow. She didn’t like the idea of what could be waiting for her at the bottom, especially without her pokemon at her side. She thought about Douken’s strategy of breaking the couple up. Maybe she should give it a shot…

“So, what’s it like being a servant?” she asked Drake in a matter-of-factly manner. “Hope it pays well.”

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 5 2010, 01:44 PM

Douken chuckled as she began to flirt with him. Thought so, she loves treasure more than any man. The bigger the riches, the more she will love them, just so she gets what she wants. It was like she was getting ready to cut Drake's strings as she got ready to make Douken the new puppet. Like he would let that occur...

"Now first off, I must tell you my home is Fidona, and my mother is an Amazon herself. It is thanks to her that I can communicate to a tribe and trade with them without much worry. I know nothing of the mainland here, including this mountain, so even if I can get some of the best treasure, it means naught if I don't know where I am.

"And secondly, how can I trust someone who stole my team members from me? I mean, they are like family. I even raised two of them when they first hatched. I couldn't bear the thought of giving such valuable treasures to someone who took my family away. No one can replace them." He wasn't going to let her play with his strings that easily.

---

"What the hell you talking about," Drake spat at her. "Why the hell id you call me a servant?!" Even his Charmeleon looked at the two, confused. "What are you getting at?"

It could be lucky for Pan that the heat was not doing wonders for Drake, especially his thinking. He was already sweating like crazy, because to him, it felt 15 degrees hotter than it really was, seeing how his skin was sensitive to temperature changes. Most of his thoughts was to finishing this up so he could get out and cool down.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 5 2010, 02:54 PM

“What?” Kym replied to Douken. “Just use your special Amazon powers and talk to the mountain.” Evidently, she believed Amazon meant person with special treasure-hunting powers. “Then, you know, you do some ancient dance and I- er, we get the gold!”

As he went on about regaining his pokemon, she suddenly put on a sympathetic face. Kym grabbed his hand and enclsed it in both of hers.

“It wasn’t my idea, it was Drake’s,” she began. “He insisted on taking your pokemon. He’s had all these…mood swings. One minute, he’s nice; the next, he’s cruel. I think he drinks too.”

Fake tears started to stream down her face. It was almost a reflex at this point. Kym looked down, waiting for Douken to comfort her. By shifting blame on Drake, she played the part of the (somewhat) innocent victim. All she wanted was love…and the fortunes of ancient civilizations.

“Tell you what,” she continued, stopping her tears. “Not only will I get you your family back, you can have that other girl’s pokemon too. We’ll get rid of both of them and you’ll have a bigger family! Then it will just be you and me.”

Her hands ran across Douken’s back as she hugged him. To her, the deal was irresistible. Douken seemed to love pokemon about as much as Kym loved treasure. If she had a golden necklace of rubies and sapphires, she’d treat it like her own grandmother!

“Wait,” Pan replied, looking back at Drake. “I know you kept calling her babe a lot, but I thought that was a joke. You don’t seriously believe…that she likes you?”

At that point, Pan had stopped walking, appearing shocked that Drake was so naïve. Of course, she suspected that from the beginning; the shock was just an act to egg Drake on.

“Surely you’ve seen it by now. She has you trained and doing all sorts of tricks for her. May I ask what you’re getting in return?”

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 5 2010, 08:53 PM

He hugged her back with a sympathetic face on him, acting like she meant so much. "Very well. I will need some time, but i shall use my mystic Amazonian powers to shout out the cave. With it, i will be able to find it easily. However, I will need to meditate, so I will need quietness to focus." When he was released from the hug, he began to slip off his overshirt and let it slide to the floor, then his undershirt, leaving him bare chested and the markings on his shoulders exposed.

"It may be harder, still, to focus. I am just too worried about my son and daughter that I raised for so long. I do hope they are doing well..." With that said, he took a seat on the cave floor, tapping the ground in a beat with a hum.

The tapping was nothing more than a hoax, knowing she knew nothing about the Amazonian ways by the way she acted. Instead, it was acting more like a beacon to hone Duskull to him, who was watching the whole thing. Gliding through the floor, she went to him front the floor, the wisp on her head touching his foot. Please tell me you can hear my thoughts...

"Don't worry, I can," she responded. "What is it you need?

Find Pan and the other man. If you saw everything, then you would of seen which way they went. If you can, see if you can get Growlithe and Croagunk free, as well as any Pokeballs off the belts and get them to Pan, even Seel. I trust you can do that?

"Leave everything to me," she replied before she parted ways and went for the main room to to to Pan's direction.

---

"Are you kidding me? I am getting..." he paused to think about it, which was hard thanks to the heat. Sure, he got her love, but what she got cost fortunes. Anything else was either prison times, or being ditched for her to count her riches. He growled a bit before pointing at her, "Why does it matter?! If the woman isn't happy, then no one is! And if you haven't realized it yet, she isn't happy because she hasn't found anything to satisfy her tastes!"

In anger, he grabbed the closest Pokeball he could (which happened to be Pivot's) and held it out. "Now, why don't you shut it, or I shall sick my Pokemon on you!"

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 5 2010, 10:54 PM

Kym watched Douken in utter amazement. She had never seen anything so spiritual. The tapping of his foot, the humming of what she assumed were ancient hymns. It was all so magical. She honestly believed that one of the tunnels would spew out vast riches at the boy’s command. As soon as the ceremony was over and she had gathered all the treasures, Kym was going to convert to whatever the Amazons were doing. After she dumped Drake of course.

She kept still and silent, waiting for the magic moment to occur. Her delcatty sat next to her, awaiting further orders.

Pan noticed that Drake grabbed one of the pokeballs on her belt. Things were looking up: all she had to do was get him angry enough to release her baltoy and the tables would be turned.

“Yeah, well what has she done to make you happy? I’m going to guess it’s not enough to be sweating it out in this cave. Now maybe you should put that pokeball down before you do something you’ll regret.”

At this, Pan stepped forward in a threatening manner, as if daring him to release the pokemon.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 5 2010, 11:12 PM

Duskull glided through the halls, hoping nothing bad has happened to anyone as she went from the cave entrance to the "shrine room" and down the other hall.

"You conniving little... Get her, Ursurang!" As he tossed the Pokeball into the air, the word, Ursurang rang in Croagunk's ear, images flashed in front of his eyes, bringing back that horrible memory which haunted him.

"CROAAAAAAA" Croagunk was squirming rapidly as the anger in him built, fighting the ropes that binding him, soon to snap from the shere thought of revenge and watched the ball burst open, revealing the clay doll...

"What the?! Where did this Baltoy come from?!" Drake was completely confused. He thought he had on hand his Pokeball, but instead, he had one of theirs and released it! Not thinking from the heat, he chuckled, pointing at her and said, "Make one more move, and this Baltoy here will strike you down!" If he only knew its moves....

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 6 2010, 09:06 AM

Unlike Drake, Pan was used to the extreme elements. It came with her job. So when the baltoy emerged from the pokeball, she had to think fast before Drake released another pokemon, possibly his own. The next move could turn the tables on the thieves and get them out of the mountain.

“Pivot, confusion!”

The baltoy obeyed its human, levitating to her side and using the psychic attack. The confusion attack was aimed directly at Drake’s head in an attempt to addle his mind long enough for Pan to react. Assuming the attack hit its mark, the thief would be pushed to the ground, possibly dropping Pan’s and Douken’s pokemon. It would be prime opportunity for Pan to grab the belongings and head back up the staircase to reunite with Douken.

She had to be act quickly and carefully. There was still a charmeleon to watch out for.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 6 2010, 10:18 AM

"GYAH!" Drake cried out, the psychic waves affecting his mind as she stumbled around, as if drunk, making it easy for her to grab both belts, as well as Croagunk breaking the Growlithe's bindings and run away with her. "R-Razz... u-use... Water Gun..." Drake mumbled out, which only led to a smack to the face by his flaming tail. This did snap him back, but it was too late, seeing how the woman was able to get both the belts as well as the frog and puppy. "NO ONE WILL GET AWAY FROM HERE! Let's get them, Razz!" With that, the chase was on.

On the way down, Duskull hovered quickly, soon to see Pan running upwards with all their Pokemon back with her. She glided over one her shoulder and rested, asking, "Are you alright?" After the response, she would explain Douken's situation.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 6 2010, 05:38 PM

Pan didn’t even bother to look back as she grabbed the belts. Pivot and Douken’s pokemon followed close by. Still, Drake and Razz were gaining on them, likely very angry at Pan’s manipulation of the human. It was a relief that Douken’s duskull appeared on the scene; Pan could use all the help she could get.

“Yeah, for the moment,” Pan replied looking back to see the shadows of their pursuers rapidly approaching. She would still have to get used to the cool touch of the ghost pokemon, but it certainly wasn’t now.

“Have you seen Douken?” As the woman waited for an answer, she made it to the top of the staircase. Pan hoped that Douken wasn’t in any more trouble. There was no time to waste: she headed straight down the other pathway.

“Douken!” Pan called, hoping he wasn’t too far into the mountain.

Pan’s voice echoed through the chamber. Kym was getting angry: that stupid girl was going to ruin the ceremony! And where was Drake? She knew she couldn’t count on him!

“You keep doing your thing,” she whispered to Douken. “I’ll take care of the girl.”

Kym quickly stood up and headed for the hall, her delcatty close behind. No one was going to get between her and her future fortunes.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 6 2010, 08:24 PM

"Its alright, Kym," he said, opening his eyes and starting to get up. "I have just finished..." He grinned as he saw Pan approach, alongside her was Croagunk, Growlithe, Duskull, and most likely her Baltoy. "Allow me to take care of her for you, dear," He got up and brushed off his pants, not wasting time to put his shirt back on. "You can stop right there. Just hand over the Pokemon, and no harm will be done to you," ending it with a wink, as if signaling her to play along.

---

Behind Pan was drake, who soon caught up, seeing the three together. "Hey, babe, I thought I told you to keep your eyes on him! Remember, i told you I would of gotten you all the gold in here, but if you can't keep a simple brat like him down, then why bother giving it to you?!" Along his side, his Charmeleon took a stance, as if itching for a fight this whole time.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 6 2010, 09:48 PM

Upon entering the chamber, the first thought that came into Pan’s mind was: “Why is Douken half naked?” She looked upon the scene: a nice romantic waterfall, no one else around, and a delcatty in the middle of it all. Pan had no idea how the delcatty fit in, but the scenarios running through her mind were not painting a pretty picture. When Douken said he wanted to break the couple up, she didn’t think he meant outright infidelity! Did they do what she thought they did? Was the delcatty watching the whole time?

Pan recovered her dumbfounded look in time to address Douken’s wink. She was a bit confused as to what Douken was planning, but nonetheless tossed the belts into his hands (where have those hands been?). She tried to act disappointed as she directed Pivot to Douken’s side. Just then, Drake came into the room.

Needless to say, Kym was not pleased when Drake started disciplining her. Her cheeks started to puff out, as if pouting.

“Excuse me?! Dooks here has promised me all the treasure in Fidona just as soon as he gets the mountain to give me its gold. What have you brought me? Nothing, NOTHING!”

Kym started approaching Drake, looking like she was about to slap him.

“Now tell me, how did you lose all the pokemon and let the girl get away?”

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 6 2010, 10:13 PM

"Well, excuse me! If that twerp didn't act like a good girl and simply lead me down, I wouldn't be in this mess, now would I?! And here you are, going gaga for some four-eyed freak just because of treasure?! Was all that time with you for naught?! Were you just using me?!?!?!" Drake was also ready to hit her in the face when Douken's words echoed in the cave...

"Thank you, Pan," he said as he caught the belts. "Now I can stop this stupid charade!" He tossed Pan back her belt as his teammates went to his side. "I never promised you anything, Kimmy. Most likely, that's what you heard from your lust for treasure. I can't talk to the mountain, like you thought I did, and there is no way will you hold any Amazonian treasures, for most of it is all that's left of their clans!" With his Pokemon ready for battle, he smirked and said, "I think its time we get our revenge..."

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 7 2010, 07:58 AM

“What are you talking about?!” Kym replied hysterically. “You were supposed to go down there! That was the whole point! Maybe if you brought something back, I wouldn’t be looking for someone else who could actually find treasure!”

She was feeling quite justified in having Douken work with her…until Douken started speaking up. Kym was crushed to hear that the boy was tricking her the whole time. No gold would be spewing from the tunnels en masse. She would not be treated like a princess on Fidona. It was all a rouse to get their pokemon back. She wasn’t sure what to do, so she turned back to Drake with tears in her eyes.

“Drake, he tricked me!” Kym cried, her mood changing drastically. “He made me think that you didn’t care about me anymore. Take me back, please!”

She was about to lose everything; Kym had to leave this place with one partner or her quest for treasure would be over! As Douken and Pan prepared for a battle, Kym stood by Drake’s side to oppose them.

“Let’s show them that our love is stronger than their lies and tricks.” Her lips moved to Drake’s ears to convince him to join her in defeating their former hostages.

Pan’s baltoy waited in front of its human. The battle was about to begin.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 7 2010, 04:23 PM

"Hey, hold on there, Kym," he called at the Goth, dropping the "babe" talk. "You expect me to go back to you after what you did just now? Once we get rid of these two fools, we are going to have a little talk about all of this..."

Douken could only smirk seeing negative vibes between the once-close couple. That will break up their team work even more, he thought as he grabbed the last Pokeball from his belt and tossed it into the air. In a burst of white light, his Seel came out. "Seel, those two took your brother and you. You think they deserve to be let free?" Seel shook her head, wanting some payback as well. "There we have it. Might as well do this Double battle style. This way, we can take care of you both at the same time..."

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 8 2010, 10:42 PM

The chamber provided plenty of flat ground, with a small pool to provide support for water pokemon. The rock walls shielded the combatants from any distractions. It was a decent stage for a leisurely pokemon battle.

Unfortunately, Pan found herself in a not-so-leisurely match between two angry thieves. She wasn’t what would happen if the couple won, so Pan was determined not to find out. She turned to Douken for a brief strategy discussion.

“Looks like we have type advantage against that charmeleon,” she whispered. “Think we can gang up on it?”

Unfortunately, Kym had other plans.

“Delcatty, Fake Out!”

The cat pokemon leaped into action, charging the seel. Delcatty used both her paws to attempt to hit the seel on both sides of her head, temporarily disabling the target. The fake out was a quick hit, causing Seel to feel too dazed to strike back.

"Cmon, girl, shake it off!" Seel, however, felt too dizzy to move around, which left her wide open.

Seeing that she may be alone for the moment, Pan told her baltoy to begin the attack.

“Pivot, try Rock Tomb on that charmeleon!”

The baltoy began to spin rapidly into the ground, only half of its body visible. The arms started flinging large pieces of stone at the fire pokemon, both to damage, lower speed, and possibly stall a counterattack.

"Razz, hit them with Smoke Screen!" Drake called out, his Charmeleon spitting out a large cloud of smoke, surrounding the Baltoy, but not fast enough to get hot in the head with a few rocks. "Stupid lizard, don't let that little doll play you like that!"

"Just like you shouldn't let Kym there play with your head," Douken responded, keeping up with the mental battle. With a lot of heat between them, it was a good idea to do anything to break their teamwork.

Drake remained silent, though Kym was not happy with his performance on the trip. So far, all Drake had brought her were two brats and a pokemon battle. She wasn’t feeling great about her guy at the moment, though she didn’t need Douken to point out the one teeny tiny flaw in their relationship. At least she felt confident about how the battle was going so far.

“Delcatty, Sing your heart out!”

The pokemon stood straight as it sang a soothing lullaby, tempting the seel to doze off for a bit.

Meanwhile, Pan was trying to think of a way to get Pivot away from the smoke. It would certainly affect the accuracy of any other attacks. She had an idea, but she really wasn’t sure if it would work.

“Pivot, Dig!”

Suddenly, the rest of the baltoy disappeared into the ground. Like a drill, Pivot traveled through the rocky soil to the charmeleon. Pan was on pins and needles as she watched to see when the baltoy would emerge and whether it would hit its target.

"Razz, get in there with Metal Claw!" The Charmeleon charged at the cloud of smoke, swinging his sharpened nails at the smoke, brushing it away to show it wasn't there. "What?! Where did it go?"

Pan watched as the ground underneath Razz began to open up, revealing the drill-like head of the baltoy spinning straight for him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Seel, you awake?" Douken asked, looking at the relaxed seal. It seemed just fine as she nodded in response. "You know what to do!" Seel hopped on the rocky floor the best she could before going and ramming the Delcatty. With both female, it was going to be hard to trigger her Cute Charm. "Now, now, Kym. Don't go after me for not being able to play with my heartstrings..."

“No, it was you who played with my heart!” Kym replied. “Promising to give me the world like that. You’ll pay for your trickery!”

The delcatty was pushed over by the seel’s attack, but recovered quickly for the next attack.

“Now, Copycat!”

The pokemon obliged, rearing her head forward and charged as she performed her own headbutt on the seel.

Seel was hit hard by her own attack, but luckily, she didn't flinch from contact. "Alright, girl. Take a breather and head for the water." It was time she went to long range combat, which would so mean help speed herself up, so she hopped her way to the pool of water that the waterfall provided and dived in, her head to soon pop out. "Now use Icicle Spear!" She opened her mouth wide before a ball of frosty blue formed in front her. Then, almost like a machine gun, multiple spears of ice flew at the Delcatty.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Charmeleon was knocked into the air by the surprise attack from the Baltoy. "Hey, Kym, give me some assistance here, will ya!?" Drake yelled at her before he turned back and called out, "C'mon you stupid lizard, get up!" The Charmeleon struggled to get up, the tail flame waivering until it burst into a huge flame. "Alright, it seems like Blaze kicked in! Show them how you do it with your Ember!" Razz's mouth filled with fire before sending out large rounds of fireballs at the small Baltoy.

“Gosh Drake, it’s a stupid doll!” She was a bit angry that her beau interrupted her match between Douken, but welcomed the distraction from rapidly deteriorating match. The seel had retreated into the water, gaining home advantage within the pond. From there, she was free to fire off several icicle spears. Once, twice, three times the delcatty was hit. The pokemon stood on shaky knees; the ice attack hit her hard. If the delcatty went after the opponent in the pond, she’d be a sitting duck! Kym had to think of another plan…later. Rather than fight a losing match with the seel, she ordered the delcatty to focus on the baltoy.

“Delcatty, Assist Razz!”

Delcatty rushed to Drake’s match, approaching the baltoy opposite from the charmeleon. Suddenly, her eyes turned bright blue as she opened her mouth to unleash a massive blue fire. She acquired the charmeleon’s Dragon Rage, roaring loudly as she unleashed her fury upon Pivot. Pan tried to order a mud slap attack, but the combined power of the embers and dragon rage proved too much for the baltoy. Pivot stopped spinning and fell to the ground, absorbed in the red light of his pokeball.

Though Pan was facing two opponents, she still had four pokemon left. Chi-Chi was a bit small to handle both of them, Lima remained untested in battle, and she wanted to clear the field of fire types before letting Turnip out. That only left one choice.

“Let’s go Fenrir!” Pan shouted. Out came her growlithe, its orange fur and black stripes tinged with gray. She hoped his outside appearance would fool the thieves into taking him lightly. Pan knew better; Fenrir was still plenty tough.

“Finish off that charmeleon! Bite!”

The growlithe charged for Razz, attempting to sink his teeth into the Charmeleon’s right arm. The Puppy Pokemon charged at the lizard, tackling down as he sunk his teeth into Razz. This knocked him over as well as knocked him out. "Are you kidding me?!" he complained, returning him back.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Seel, Ice Shard!" Douken called out. With Delcatty distracted with the new foe, a chunk of ice flew in her direction.

Kym only had time to watch the ice shard fly from the pond, through the air, and into her delcatty. Though it shattered on impact, the force of the blow was enough to knock out the pokemon. The delcatty stumbled a bit before falling on its side, disappearing into its pokeball.

With his foe quickly apprehended, Fenrir rejoined Pan’s side as they waited for their opponents’ next move. She scratched the growlithe’s ear as a reward, causing him to thump his leg and drool. He quickly regained composure when she stopped; this was no time to be silly.

The battle wasn’t over yet…

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 11 2010, 11:34 AM

"Hey, don't forget I'm still here! Go, Ursurang!" he released out his giant bear Pokemon, which make Croagunk snapped a bit and scream out. However, Douken's focus was on the Fearow, which took out Seel in a single blow. "Seel, rest up." he said, returning her back to her ball, which gave Croagunk the perfect opportunity to take the field.

Kym had a devious smile as she watched the fainted seel return to its pokeball. Her revenge wasn’t over yet though. “Good work, Fearow,” she said to her bird pokemon.

"Pan, just to let you know, Croagunk faced one when we met... took a Hyper Beam at point blank range. I am sure he wants to take care of it, so if you want to know, I want Croagunk to deal the final blow, alright?"

“He can’t take that Ursaring alone!” Pan warned. She was all for boosting confidence, but this was a very risky move. “I’ll see what we can do, but if Croagunk gets in trouble, Fenrir is moving in.”

"I know he can't. All I ask is for the finishing move. Now, Croagunk, use Faint Attack!"

"Don't think so! Ursurang, show him your Faint Attack!" The frog and bear both charged at each other, colliding with huge force, Ursurang from his power and Croagunk with his determination. Sure, the Ursurang was powerful, but Croagunk's resistance to Dark attacks helped in surviving the blow.

As the two pokemon engaged each other in dual Faint Attacks, Pan ordered her growlithe to move to ursaring’s backside.

“Fenrir, Fire Fang!” The growlithe rushed in, clamping down hard on Ursaring’s rear. His fire-drenched fangs went through the bear pokemon’s tough fur and flesh, certainly a worthy distraction for the croagunk to take advantage of.

Kym, however, saw that Pan and Douken were still fighting, both looking to face Drake’s Ursaring. This would be the perfect opportunity to avenge her delcatty (as if knocking out the seel wasn’t enough). The croagunk would be the easier target by far, so she ordered her fearow accordingly.

"Do that again," Drake grinned. "Do it again! See if you can burn him! For when you do, you will just trigger his Guts, and I shall show you his true power! Ursurang, use Slash on that dog of hers!" With his claws glowing, the Hibernator Pokémon charged in with full fury and sharp claws.

The growlithe was hit hard by the attack, yelping loudly as it crashed to the floor. Fenrir panted from weariness; he hadn’t taken a hit like that in ages. Pan was relieved that he managed to get up, and even more so when Drake started giving her hints to defeating the ursaring.

“Thanks for the tip,” Pan replied, smiling back at Drake. “But you just triggered Fenrir’s own true power.” Pan made a point to check her pokemon’s levels every time she visited a pokemon center. The nurse would give her a receipt and she would and straight for a computer to check out the skills earned by her team. Fenrir had a particularly interesting move that she wanted to try out. It may have been a bit risky, but it would put the two on even footing. “Fenrir, Reversal!”

The growlithe gathered the rest of his strength and ran towards the ursaring. He jumped into the air, turning in a way so that his hind legs met the foe in a roundhouse kick. The move would put the two in equal condition: tired, hurt, and ready to call it a day.

“Now, Peck that frog!” Kym cried out.

The Fearow flew back into the air, attempting to aim a peck attack at the croagunk. It was hard to aim with the ursaring in the way; the two were fighting close together. The peck could easily hit either one of the opponents, but When Croagunk saw the bird aim at him, he backed off from the bear, as if he wanted to get hit as he braced himself ready. With the Fearow's beak striking the blocked chest, Croagunk's eyes flashed red. "You're in the way!" Croagunk told the Fearow, taking advantage of the close range situation as he sent a sharp blow to the Fearow using Revenge.

Just before the Ursaring could counter, Kym’s fearow spiraled right into him! The croagunk’s Revenge attack caused the bird pokemon to lose control of his flight, unintentionally flying into his teammate.

“Fearow! Get off that dumb bear and finish the fight! It’s a stupid fighting type for crying out loud!” Kym cried.

"Dumb bear?" he yelled at her. "Its your stupid bird that has been getting in the way! If the Croagunk didn't move back, you would of hit him!" Ursurang was feeling his trainer's anger to her and pointed it at the Fearow as he threw the bird off of him. "Ursurang, show that greedy little b**** who's running this thing! Hyper Beam!" With the intention on the feathered partner, he sent a huge blast of pure white energy, focused like a cannon, collapsing the bird.

Kym’s fearow took the brunt of the attack, pushing the bird pokemon into a cave wall. The force of the blow caused a section of the wall to collapse, revealing yet another pathway. This one had light shining from it, suggesting that it led outside.

Kym was too shocked by Drake’s words and actions to notice the new path. None of her boyfriends had ever called her out on her behavior. As a spoiled brat, it was something she wasn’t used to hearing. Coupled with the ursaring turning on her fearow, she knew she lost more than gold in this trip.

“You moron!” Kym yelled at Drake. “I’m on your side!”

Croagunk watched the attack, remember how it was for him, which caused him to snap and charged once more. Having to recharge, Croagunk took the opportunity to hit him with a second Revenge attack, right at the back of the bear's neck, causing it to collapse.

"No way!" Drake called as he returned his bear. "I'm out of here!" was his last words as he ditched Kym and began to ran off.

“Where you going?” Kym asked in a bitter sarcastic tone. “What about our long discussion?”

"Shouldn't we do something about it, Pan?" he asked her, part of him thinking about capturing them instead of letting them get away, even if there were no known exits.

Pan was glad that the two thieves were gone. Chi-Chi was pretty happy too; she popped her head out of Pan’s vest and waved at them good-bye. When Douken suggested going after them, Pan shook her head.

“I’ve had enough crime-fighting for one day,” she replied. “How about we let the police handle this?”

Just as she finished talking, Pan noticed Fenrir investigating the new opening. After several sniffs, the growlithe barked at the humans, beckoning them to follow the path.

“Come on, let’s see what Fenrir's found,” Pan said, leading the way.

Sighing, he let the two get away, before he watched Croagunk collapse on the floor. Douken could only smile. "Figures, in the end, all that held him on his feet was for the sake of beating his foe. I doubt he liked the idea of being with a partner, but he was able to defeat one none the less. It just means that he will work harder." He took Croagunk's Pokeball from his belt and returned him back to rest up.

"Duskull, grab our bags, will ya? i think they are still in the main chamber." She nodded to the command and drifted back inwards, before he turned to his own Growlithe. "Now, you ADD pup, stay here and let Duskull where we are when she gets back, alright?" With a single bark, he acknowledged the order, but almost forgot as he watched a Geodude hop on by. "Growlithe!" That made him get back on focus to keeping an eye out as the humans went to see what Fenrir found. Picking up both shirts, he threw them over his shoulder and followed Pan to what her Growlithe wanted to show them.

"So, I take it this would be their treasure room, right?" he asked as he looked inside the cavern carved into the cave wall. Instead of gold, it was full of random objects. Wooden dolls, small arts, pottery. It was no where near the idea of valuable riches, but more like historical. "By the looks of it, these could of been offerings left by the people who lived here," he said, picking a doll up. Around the figure's neck was a black, worn out cloth.

"I think this here is a Reaper's Cloth," he told her. "The Amazons say that when someone passes by, but they feel their soul is not at rest, you tie a cloth like this to an item they hold most precious. There, a spirit would come to help guide the soul to his or her new home."

When he finished saying that, Duskull and Growlithe both appeared at the entrance, the Requiem Pokemon holding both of their bags. "Thanks," he told her, taking a Rawst Berry from his bag and handing it to her,so ate it happily before looking at the doll. "You like it?" he asked her, and got a nod in response.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 11 2010, 01:33 PM

Pan walked into the cavern, looking around at the various artifacts. There was a clay pot that had a diorama of the Furoh landscape painted along the side. Many of the wooden dolls depicted various pokemon, though none of them were of legendary status. Other items included various stone carvings of people and pokemon working and playing together. Naturally, she began to take pictures of the area, including close-ups of the more interesting items.

“Beautiful,” she said as she looked upon the fine craftsmanship of a carving depicting a young child dancing with a charmander. What could this place be? Pan hypothesized that it could be a burial site, likely for someone important. Why else would all these itmes be gathered in one place?

“Do you think someone’s buried around here?” she asked Douken as he examined one of the dolls.

She took a break from taking pictures to grab her bag from the duskull, replying with a soft “thanks”. Pan then returned Fenrir to his pokeball. There was no need for him to stand around after the exhausting battle. She put her focus back on the cavern when Douken started to explain the origins of the doll. Pan found this very interesting. What was an Amazonian doll doing way up here in Mt. Carello, much less in a shrine suspected to predate the Amazon arrival? Either the tradition was much older than the Amazons, or this place had other visitors. If the latter were true, then it’s possible that another entrance existed, along with a way out of the cave.

Sure enough, the origin of the light was revealed to be a skylight built on the opposite side of the items. It gave the effect of focusing light on the artifacts to make them more visible. It was possible that any recent visitors to this shrine must have come through the hole. With a little bit of teamwork, it may be their way out.

“Hey, are you sure you should be handling that?” Pan asked Douken. She wasn’t sure what exactly this place was, but if it were related to the dead, it may not be wise to start handling the objects.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 11 2010, 11:58 PM

He had doubts it was related to any Amazonian origins, unless they got the ideas from someone else, which he honestly doubted. It could of just been pure coincidence.

With a small laugh, he set the wooden doll down before Duskull phased through him, sending a huge cold spike through his spine, locking his body up. "Hmm, looks like my older brother, Neman. He's a Dusclops, you know. At least when I last saw him..." she told Douken before he fell over.

"Duskull... it hurts when you do that..." he muttered, Duskull merely blushing and rubbing the back of her head.

When the shock faded, Douken got back up. "I guess if some people say its safe, they can give it to me, right? 'Cause I think Duskull really likes it.

Anyways, I think we should find Arasam now, huh? Cause right now, a shower sounds good..." Douken told her, stretching. "I think a gym could wait a night, anyways..."

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 12 2010, 10:07 AM

As Douken fell over when the duskull went through him, Pan managed to catch him by the shoulders. She helped push him back up, listening to his inquiry.

“Sure, I guess it would count as a finder’s fee or something,” Pan answered. “We just need to be sure that you don’t anger a bunch of spirits and end up cursed.” She chuckled at the thought of various ghost pokemon chasing Douken all over. On the other hand, stranger things have happened…

Pan could not agree more about finding Arasam. Much as she loved exploring the unknown world, it would be nice to sleep indoors for a change. Her attention turned to the skylight. She could probably reach it if she sat on Douken’s shoulders. He looked strong enough to support her, or at least she hoped so.

“Come here Douken,” Pan said, “I need you to kneel here. I’m going to sit on your shoulders so I can see what’s up here.”

Once Douken kneeled in position, Pan followed, her thighs upon his shoulders. As he stood up, she watched to make sure she didn’t hit her head on the ceiling. With their combined height, Pan was able to see the surroundings, her hands grasping the edge of the hole for visibility. She could see people walking along a trail to and from yet another cave. This cave, however, served as a gatehouse. Carved into that makeshift gatehouse was a welcome sight to weary travelers:

The way the skylight was arranged, it was no wonder that no one found the room before. It was on a cliff above the trail. Even though it was only ten feet off the ground, it was still hidden behind some of the rock formation. What was visible was the human head poking out of the hole, so several people watched to see what was going on.

“It’s Arasam!” Pan shouted to Douken below. Immediately, she grabbed Turnip’s pokeball and released him onto the trail below. Visitors awed as the venusaur appeared, taking pictures of the uncommon pokemon.

“Turnip!” Pan called to get his attention. “We need some vines up here!”

The venusaur responded by shooting off two vines. One hooked onto the skylight so Pan could climb down. The other went through the hole (with the help of Pan guiding the vine downward) so Douken could climb out and reach the other vine to the ground below.

“Going up,” Pan warned Douken as she climbed onto the cliff. From there, she scooted downward to the trail amidst applause from the surrounding crowd. Chi-Chi cheered and waved at her fans while Pan watched to see how Douken would fair.

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 12 2010, 12:47 PM

When she asked for a boost up, Douken went to his knees and let her get on, carefully getting up. His main task was to stay steady, so that's what he did when she went to check out what was outside. He sighed in relief to hear the good news that they were right in front of Arasam.

When Pan got off his shoulders by the help of Turnip, Douken returned his last two Pokemon and climbed his way out. When out, he signaled to Pan he was alright before heading down the other vine back to Pan. His shirts resting on his shoulder, his belt on the other, and his backpack hanging off his back with one strap, he stretched and said, "Man, I can't wait to relax. But first, got to take care of my kids," he said with a chuckle, heading through the gate.

Posted by: 2gamers Jun 12 2010, 03:27 PM

After Pan and Douken landed, there was a brief moment of applause by onlookers before they went on with their business. Pan petted Turnip for a job well done. Unlike his other forms, the venusaur didn’t even budge when he helped the two humans down. He had gained new strength that would no doubt come in handy in future excursions. There was also the old expression that came to her mind: more to love.

Pan was also looking forward to a day of relaxation after several of her excursions. It had been quite a while since she had a proper bed to sleep in. She usually had to make do with the couches in the local pokemon centers in an attempt to save money for more important items. Not to mention that cities were just as much fun to explore as forests and mountains, though perhaps a bit less dangerous. She could only reply with a simple “Yeah…”

Pan liked how the Carello adventure ended. Sure, it would have been nice to not have to run into thieves, but she became somewhat reacquainted with Douken. She hoped the lack of danger would allow them to get to know each other a bit better. There was no time like the present to start getting to know him, and Pan still had one question in the back of her mind.

“Douken,” Pan started in a somewhat teasing manner, “what exactly were you doing with your shirt off…with Kym…alone?”

Posted by: Douken Sota Jun 12 2010, 05:24 PM

Douken let off a small chuckle, rubbing his head with the small applause, wondering why they were clapping in the first place. All they really did was pop out of a hole. Guess they didn't really expect us to come out here, I guess.

From what Douken could tell, she enjoyed looking at ancient things from the people that used to live here, and had a lot of energy with her as well. A couple days with her could be exciting.

Douken let off a small sigh when she asked her question and said, "Its a habit for me to remove my shirt before meditating. Besides, I thought showing these Amazon markings would convince her more..." It was then he realized she was thinking a little more perverted, making his face a bit red. "Hey, nothing happened between us, okay?!"

It seemed she also enjoyed embarrassing others, too...