[X] My Assistant

[Kamaitachi]

Tag continued to survey the battle from his position in the back. Alex Slasher had switched from his Staravia to...a pokemon that Tag had not seen before. It looked like a little flat trilobyte with feathers sticking out of the side. Normally, he would've flipped out his pokedex, but since it had decided it would show all pokemon data as static, it didn't seem possible at the time.

Alex had named it Aldo, which sparked in Tag's mind the pokemon name "Armaldo". However, he had heard that Armaldo were rather large, fearsome creatures. This thing looked like a little bug. Either way, he wasn't sure.

The most surprising thing, to Tag, was that the pokemon used Mud-Slap...and it connected. Tag had thought for sure that these Steel/psychic pokemon possessed the ability Levitate. Then it hit him: Some Bronzor possessed the ability Heat-Proof in lieu of that, meant that ground moves would work just fine. Alex's Bronzor fell, leaving nine guardians remaining.

Rose had opted to gang up on her Bronzor, but the Bronzor had other plans, sending another over to make it an even 2 on 2. The little black and red fox seemed to be doing fine, same with the fluffy-headed eagle. However, the fluffy ball that had used Leech Seed appeared to be on the verge of defeat. Before long, though, the combination of Rufflet and Zorua seemed to work, finally taking down their two opponents. That left seven.

Douken provided an excellent explanation for why his Magnemite didn't evolve, which made perfect sense to Tag. Pokemon evolution was still a fairly mysterious thing, but Douken seemed to have figured this particular situation out quite nicely. Finally, Rusty's Bronzor went down, clanking to the ground with a dull groan. Six left.

Jaima's end of the battle seemed to be going quite well. With two pokemon to deal with the two bronzor, Jaima seemed to be faring the best against his opponents. It wasn't long at all before Fang, Tsunami and Desertdancer claimed victory over the three bronzor plaguing them. Three to go!

Kaya was constantly switching between her Spearow and Psyduck, but finally opted for her Blitzle, who seemed to be doing the most damage to it. Her Bronzor was on the edge of firing off another powerful confusion attack at Kaya's pokemon, until a strong vine wrapped around it, slamming it into the ground. All the damage it had received from Kaya's pokemon, then Grondir's fierce attack, left the metal mirror pokemon defeated there. Kaya's end of the battle was complete, thanks to aid from Jaima. Two left!

Unfortunately, the two pokemon left were the ones haranguing Anita and her Mankey, Poof. Tag turned to Suzu, pointing at one of the Bronzor "Take it out. Give me another Silver Wind."

Tag watched as Suzu flashed through the calming battlefield to the Bronzor Anita had wound up facing. Just as the second Bronzor was about to unleash an attack on the back of Anita, it found itself floored from a powerful Silver Wind attack from above. Almost grumpily, it flipped itself around and fired off a confusion attack at Suzu, who reeled back, but shrugged off most of the damage. With what could only be described as her battle cry, she let fly with one more Silver Wind, slamming the Bronzor further into the ground, where it lay, defeated.

Poof, the Mankey, had to jump off of his target as Maya came hurtling through the air, slamming into her target with outstanding force. The Bronzor sailed through the air, slamming into the side of the temple.

"Suzu, Mach Punch!" Before Maya could launch another attack, Suzu flashed over, slamming two of her fists into the wall-bound Bronzor. As Suzu floated back, the metal pokemon slowly slide down the temple wall, before it fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Well team...well done." Tag nodded walking through the makeshift battlefield. He checked the ground tenderly, to make sure he wasn't about to set off any more traps.

Either way, after a moment, he'd gathered up the Bronzor with the help of Suzu and inserted them into the slots on the temple wall. The wall, in turn, suddenly glowed with the psychic energy from the Bronzor. It became alive with a series of flashing lines of light that sped along in various zig-zag patterns over the temple, before shooting down along the wall to the area where the trainers were. Before their very eyes, part of the wall detached itself in a perfect triangle, folding out towards them and making a ramped entrance.

"Well. There it is. Heal up if you can, then let's head in."

The inside of the temple was a sight indeed. On the floor they had entered, it appeared that everything was lit by big glowing electrical orbs, which cast an eerie blue light on everything. There seemed to be long platforms for them to walk on, but big, open space everywhere else, scattered about with several similar looking platforms that, for all intents and purposes, were floating in space. Looking upwards, the team could see the top of the temple, which most likely meant that the main bulk of it, and the area where Registeel lay dormant, was in the opposite direction: Downwards.

Tag surveyed the area, noting just how dangerous this temple was. There were platforms all over the place, with no discernible way to travel between them. He was prepared to send Suzu around, when he then noticed a chunk of the platform they were on slowly start to rise into the air, moving to join with another.

"Oh. Elevators." he blinked. "I guess...that's how we get around."

[Douken Sota]

Walking up to Maya, he rubbed her horn, telling her, "Good job, girl." It was almost like a thing he trained her for. If she got too rowdy, he would "bonk" her horn. When she's good, he would rub it. Part of him has been glad that she hasn't been bad since evolution. With her horn bigger (and quite possibly sharper), he wouldn't want to know how much he would hurt his hand.

"You rest up, alright?" Returning her to her ball, he placed it back on his belt before knight at the floating Magnet. "How about you, Rusty? Feeling good?" With a low mutter, he would tell he was shaken by the multitudes of faces. Interesting, Douken noted. In battle, it seems that Rusty ignores the surrounding area. Otherwise, it would of been shaken up all this time. "Well, you seem to be in good condition from that Confusion attack. Go ahead and rest up." Holding out another Pokeball, he let the red beam surround the ball of Magnets, but broke away as soon as it touched.

Now, Douken knew it was Rusty's Pokeball. It just seemed that it was prevented from leaving. Maybe the strong magnetic field is causing some sort of pseudo-Magnet Lock effect? If that was the case, Steel Type would have trouble resting up. Turning over to the crowd, he called out, "Just a fair warning, your Steel type Pokemon may not be able to return." He may not know who if it affected (if anyone besides him), but it was best to allow others to know.

With the crowd soon on the move (Rusty drifting behind Douken's head), they on arrived in a wide open space, many floating platforms around them. Clearly, they were supposed to get from Point A to B this way, but the sections seemed way too far apart to jump. Douken could try riding Sabre through here, but if the area had a pseudo-Magnet Lock, then a third of his team would be trapped outside and unable to rest. Best bet was to keep on foot with the others. Just stay on the platforms as they moved, and try not to fall off and die.

[Master Houndoom]

"Well," said the blonde boy, looking not only at the three his team had helped dispatch, but all ten of the bronzor who had attacked what had somehow been dubbed "Team Steel".

I'm not going to be much use to you, Trainer Jaima,

Jaima looked at his kirlia. Despite her words, she did not seem upset, but was concentrating on something Jaima couldn't see.

You're too hard on yourself, Mercury, Jaima projected, knowing that Mercury would hear him despite his lack of psychic ability. You're more important than just someone to fight with.

A wave of fondness surged through the link he shared with Mercury. No, Trainer Jaima, it's only that with most of our opponents being steel types, I'll be less effective in battle. She looked around and sighed. The Guardians of this place wouldn't listen to me, either. I am tracking Shadow, though. Everyone's fine. Trainer Meiko seems to have embarrassed herself, but Shadow is being to discreet to let me see what it was. At this, she sounded exasperated, but Jaima simply smiled.

"It's OK, Mercury," he said, rubbing her crest softly with the palm of his hand. "Just make sure we're all safe when this is over. If anything, We can teleport out if things get too rough, OK?"

Mercury looked at her trainer and nodded, fondness again shining through her eyes and through their link.

As they moved inside, they found the elevators. the sandshrew began to tremble.

<Are you all right, Desertdancer?>

Desertdancer looked up at the kirlia floating before him. <Oh, I'll be fine, my dear, just fine. It's only that I'm not overly fond of heights, you see. Many of my type are, admittedly, but I seem to have more of a problem than most.>

Mercury's brow furrowed. <I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do to help?>

<I don't suppose you could somehow keep me distracted?>

Mercury smiled. <I'm not sure. I don't know much about ground types. The only one I've known before you was a baby diglett I used to play with before Trainer Jaima found me... and I only saw his head.>

Oh, my dear, diglett are rather fascinating creatures. It's been said that no one knows what might be under the ground where their head disappears, but, of course, many digging species know. It's just that it's so hard to put into words...

Desertdancer continued speaking, extolling the wonders of the diglett species, until the elevator hit the top of its run. With a surprised blink, he coughed. Why, thank you, my dear. That worked out quite nicely..!"

[Asterna]

Rose punched the air victoriously as her Pokemon both knocked out their respective Bronzors. "Yeah! Great job, guys!" she cheered, grinning as she jogged up to them. She gave them both congratulatory pats on the head, looking them over. They both seemed to be in fairly good condition -- Wyatt had taken damage, but not enough to warrant using one of her limited healing items on him. Nodding to herself, she recalled them both with a quick word of thanks. "Take a nice rest -- you earned it," she told their Pokeballs before clipping them back onto her belt.

Now then... She pulled out Alaia's Pokeball to summon her briefly. The injured Cottonee peered up at her with a quiet, questioning noise. "Hey, 'Laia. Sorry for calling you out again, but I need to heal you," Rose explained as she pulled out her remaining Potion, spraying Alaia with it. The medicine worked its magic as usual, and the Cottonee was soon back in fighting condition, if still not at full health. With a small smile, Rose recalled Alaia once again. Now that she'd used up her last Potion, she was down to a few berries to heal her Pokemon with. Hopefully, she wouldn't run out of them before they were done. Not for the first time, she cursed herself for not buying enough medical supplies. Then again, it's not like I expected this to happen... With a mental shrug, she decided to just accept the situation as it was -- though she did make a note to herself to buy more potions as soon as possible.

She watched curiously as Tag inserted the Bronzors into the slit in the wall, blinking as the light show started up and the temple wall opened up to reveal the interior. She looked around appreciatively as they entered. Dang, this place is cool, she thought as she peered at one of the orbs of electricity. She was almost tempted to poke it, but she had no idea what would happen then, so she turned away with some reluctance to follow the rest of the group.

She stared at the platforms when they came to them. Part of her wondered how they were floating like that -- but more importantly, how were they going to get across? That question was soon answered as the platforms began to move.

She peered dubiously at them, then looked down further down. This proved to be a bad idea, as she saw exactly how deep down the temple went. Determinedly ignoring grisly images of falling to her death, she kept her head facing upwards and away from the drop as she stepped onto the first moving platform, following Jaima and his Pokemon. "This is kind of like a video game, huh?" she commented, trying to keep her mood light.

[Captain Combuske...]

~Alex

The next Bronzor came up, but before it could, it was knocked out by one of the other trainers' Pokemon. Alex sighed a massive sigh of relief. He looked around, and saw that the battle had ended.

Tag congratulated their little victory and instructed that they heal up as soon as possible. Alex nodded. he used a quick potion on Stryk. Aldo hadn't got hurt too badly. He then followed Tag, Douken and the rest of his team into the Steel Temple itself. Once again Alex admired the intricacy of the temple. Truly the makers of this place had spent many painstaking hours making this temple.

But the weirdest thing was the elevators. They were a feat of engineering in the extreme.
"Right, once I become the Champion of Furoh, I'm gonna make one of these temples or somethin'." said Alex. He'd been truly astounded at how awesome this all was and was inspired to make something like it.

Then, to his left, a girl, who Alex remembered vaguely as being named Rose, mentioned about the similarity to a video game. Alex chuckled before responding to her.
"True, true." he said. "But it's real life. And we don't have any extra lives."
He didn't mean to say that, it just sort of slipped out, but it made everyone aware once more of the dangers they faced here. It was a rough place, able to throw anything at them. And as Alex stepped on to the first elevator along with everyone else, he felt slightly nervous as they slowly descended into the depths of the Registeel temple.

[FlyingMew]

Anita, dazed, was unaware of what was going on around her. It seemed as though Anita was hypnotized, and she was staring glassy-eyed into space. Poof, sensing his trainer's utter lack of responsiveness gathered himself up off the ground where he had landed after the sudden "rescue" of him and his trainer. Furious at being interrupted, the Mankey let out a rather rude sound in the direction of the other trainers. Standing up, he turned and walked over to Anita.

~Poof~ The young Mankey was furious. No one had even asked him if he needed help, which he didn't. They just assumed that he couldn't handle himself in a fight. So what if he had no idea what to do against the floating plates? Anita had understood what he wanted. Those round orb thingys looked valuable! And Poof wanted one. Since he couldn't seem to get one off, though, he realized they must have been attached. Talk about stupid.

Poof walked up to Anita and stopped in front of her. Waiting for her response, he stood there at her feet, head hung in anger. Poof stood there for a moment, breathing deeply to calm himself down.~"Why isn't she saying anything?"~ Poof suddenly wondered. He looked up at Anita's face, and noticed the blank stare. ~"What the...? Great. She's just staring. Well, she hasn't exactly slept in about a week. Maybe she's finally gonked out? Yeah, that's it."~ Poof's anger dissipated as he reassured himself.

Poof reached up and grasped Anita's hand. He began pulling until Anita took a rather unsteady step forwards. Poof looked down at her feet in uncertainty. Should he really be leading her when she was like this? Poof turned and looked around at the other trainers and Pokemon. He noticed them moving towards what looked like some kind of elevators. Shrugging to himself, he began to lead Anita after the group. As he led her, he began looking for some one to help wake his trainer up. Spotting the young man from earlier (Douken his name was?),he began leading Anita towards him.

Poof managed to get Anita onto the elevator platform with little issue. Getting off, on the other hand, seemed like it was gonna be an issue. The platform began ascending into the temple, Poof looked around. It seemed as though things were going to get rougher from here on out, considering their first actual battle. <Things just couldn't get ANY worse, now could they?> Poof thought to himself. Little did he know, Anita would have told him NEVER to ask that question of any situation. And things were about to get a lot worse.

This post has been edited by FlyingMew: Aug 7 2011, 02:00 PM

[Kamaitachi]

The elevators turned out to be not so straightforward after all. There weren't just elevators, but moving platforms that moved horizontally as well. Team Steel slowly, but surely made its way around the room, in all three dimensions, as if they were traversing a giant, invisible labyrinth.

Tag found himself getting a little frustrated, as his analytical mind was short circuiting; he couldn't find any rhyme or reason to the movements of the platforms. They seemed to be almost completely haphazard. Their only rule was that once they moved in their desired direction, they did not change course until they looked with another platform. If this was a program or an AI of some sort, it was very well algorhythmed. However, Tag wasn't quite sure how the ancient furites had programmed anything at all really.

The group stuck together, moving as a single unit, until they reach what appeared to be a central platform. To Tag, it was the signal that the team had reached something of a checkpoint. Hopefully, it meant that they were at least half-way through the veritable maze. On the other hand, it could just have as easily meant that they had to start over at square one.

Team Steel unconsciously spread themselves out on the platform; they'd been cramming in the entire time, so as to make sure they could all travel about. Now that they had some room, they most surely intended to take it.

"Well, hopefully this thing just lowers us to the next level, so we can continue." Tag shrugged. "I'm no expert on this sort of thing." He didn't mind at all that he'd just admitted his inexperience on the matter. The unfortunate part was, as soon as he finished speaking, seams appeared on the platform upon which they stood.

Before long, they separated outwards in nine separate pieces, leaving only the center square remaining. At the end of their trajectories, each of the moving platforms connected once again with a larger segment, providing the trainers room to move again, especially now that they were split.

Tag looked around, trying not to panic, then finally decided to get a good luck at the platform above him. He noticed right at the center, embedded in the thick metal, was a shape that was quite familiar.

"Magnemite!" He called out to the separated team "Magnemite are moving these platforms!"

As if on cue, the largest platform yet seemed to rise up from the ground, reconnecting everyone's platforms in a fairly spectacular way, creating a sort of flat, segmented field made of the same polished steel. The centermost fragment once again lifted, revealing an angry looking Magnezone.

It roared its metallic sounding cry, apparently alerting the temple. What appeared to be about two Magnetons and a swarm of perhaps a dozen Magnemite appeared on the field. Eleven total enemies scouted about, seeing the human intruders spread out across the platform and quickly dove in to attack, the Magnezone and Magneton remaining at the center, as if acting as a nucleus to coordinate the defense, rendering themselves, at the moment, a non-threat offensively.

Tag looked around worriedly; the most effective attacks would most likely be ground attacks, but they were suspended above the ground, and moves like Bulldoze or Earthquake could bring the whole thing tumbling down.

"Take 'em out!" Tag roared across the battle field, his hand flashing to his belt. He still wasn't keen on bringing Tobi onto the field just yet, seeing as he probably needed his 'firepower' (HA!). The flashes of light from the dual pokeballs metamorphosed into two recognizable shapes. Kyoko, Tag's Bellossom, and Zuki, Tag's Poochyena.

"Kyoko, Magical Leaf!" Kyoko bowed once, sounding out her name before spinning deftly in place, sending glowing leaves from her skirt flying out every-which way, homing in on the four Magnemite that had selected to attack Tag. Each of them reeled back for a moment as a few leaves slammed into them, halting their advance momentarily. "Zuki, Assurance!" The dark type puppy sprung up, his paws glowing with a shadow energy. He twisted his body, slamming his front, then hind paws onto one magnemite, leaving a small burst of the dark power on the Magnemite's exterior, before using it as a springboard to the next, where he repeated. After bouncing off all four, he adroitly landed next to Kyoko just in front of Tag, awaiting a counter-attack.

Sure enough, the four facing Tag fired off what appeared to be tandem Thundershock attacks.

"Zuki, behind Kyoko."

Kyoko stood firm. The Bellossom had not only a naturally high special defense and defense, she also resisted electrical attacks. The simultaneous shocks appeared to do fairly minimal damage to the flower pokemon. Instead of hurt, she looked a little peeved that her pretty leaf skirt seemed a bit ruffled. Zuki poked his canine head out from behind her, blinking owlishly at the magnet creatures in front of him.

"Alright kids!" Tag yelled "They don't appear to be that strong! Give'em hell!"

I'll let you pick how many pokemon you end up facing. Since Tag is engaging Four, that leaves eight to be split amongst you.

[Douken Sota]

Had to in order for Rusty to evolve.

"Hey! We aren't kids!" Douken yelled out, watching two Magnemite come at Douken and Rusty. "We are survivalists! We are full of talent! We are trainers willing to do what it takes to live! Rusty! Lock On!" With a small morale speech out of the way (most likely being called a kid, he felt like Tag was looking down at the group), he gave the command to his own magnetic partner. Firing off a small red beam, an image looking like cross hairs appeared on the further back Magnet Pokemon. Not like it seemed to mind as the duo launched a pair of Sonic Booms. Both sides could easily reduce their damage, so it seemed smart to open up with a move that is believed to have a set amount of damage to them, if thought in a numerical sense.

"Alright! Line up and use Rollout!" With the central body spinning between the magnets, Rusty placed itself in front of the first Magnemite, plowing through it to reach the one it had locked into, keeping this rhythem with several sweeps. Still, it wasn't like much damage was dealt out, and every time, the opposing magnets tried to stop Rusty with their electric attacks.

"There has to be a way..." Douken muttered, biting his thumb. He had to take care of these two Magnemite, but his one was not a match. Unless... "Rusty! Wait for them both to use Thunder shock, and intercept with your on!"

It wasn't soon that the blasts were attempted, and rusty launched in its own. With the three electrical beams holding together, he could hear his Pokegear crackle again, screeching louder and louder and the three Magnemite were being forced together as the trio all began to glow brightly!

"Magneton!" With the light faded, and his Pokegear fried altogether, Douken's plan on eliminating the troublesome foes worked, but at what cost. What was once was three minds was now one. Question was, "Who is in control?" If it was a success, then he would have a stronger ally. If it failed, he had a stronger foe. Douken's hope was that since the Magnemite were adapted to the magnetic energy here, they would be base level, but Rusty, being freshly introduced, was supercharged from the energy.

"Rusty... Is that you Rusty?" With the evolved Magnet Pokemon turning about and gazed into Douken's eyes, the metal Pokemon's reflection showing off of the lenses of his glasses. There stared for a moment as Douken prayed in his mind before the Magneton tilted forward. Rusty nodded to him. "Alright!" Looknig at the center, he could tell the other Magneton were not going to let them pass to help the others, let alone that Magnezone. However, Tag did let Douken on a juicy secret.

"Rusty, take control of this platform. Detach it and move it over to Tag's." At the moment, he seemed like he would need a hand at the four guards he had to deal with. And with the command acknowledged, Rusty connected himself onto the platform with its own magnets and commanded the platform to detach. Slowly, the platform moved out of place, a shakier ride that before, considering Rusty never driven a floating platform, and moved him into position behind tag and reconnected. Running up, Douken took a Pokeball from his ball and threw it above the tattooed man's head, releasing his reaper of a ghost.

With him catching up, Douken grinned and said, "You look like you could use a hand. Reep, Confuse Ray! Rusty, Tri-Attack!" As the Duskull launched a flurry of waves at the foe to confuse them, the Magneton decided to kick in its newly awakened power. Between each pair of magnets was an charge going through them, but instead of all one color, it was a trio; red, yellow, and blue representing Fire, Lightning, and Ice respectively. With the three charges combined, it was launched in a massive flurry. The combination attack let off an intense energy, also giving the option of Burning, Freezing, or Paralyzing in one attack.

"Hope I am not ruining your fun this way..."

[Captain Combuske...]

I'll be takin' care of two of dem Magnemightys, kay?

~Alex

The little platform journey was enjoyable enough, but it was quite uncomfortable for Alex, whose pokegear was broken, and, as a result, had to keep his Pokemon outside their Pokeballs. Stryk and Aldo found comfortable perches on Alex's shoulders, Cottonee in his arms, and Leo by his feet, but Blaze and Swamps just took up too much room, meaning the group felt a little squashed.

So naturally, Alex was relieved when the platform became bigger. He was less relieved, however, when the Magnemite attacked the group. Two of the odd magnetic creatures floated towards Alex. If an emotionless creature could look angry, then these certainly did.
"Obviously, we're disturbing their personal space." said Alex to the others.

Then, one of the two Magnemite attacked Blaze, using a light Thundershock attack on him. Alex's trusted chicken Pokemon looked very annoyed at this. Alex wanted to keep him back for later, but the look on Blaze's face showed that he was ready to fight, and that nothing would stop that from happening. But who else to send into the fray? Alex looked around. Swamps would be invaluable later, as would Leo, who, as an electric type, wouldn't be much use here anyway. Aldo had just battled and could do with a rest. Stryk had shown earlier to be useless against floating steel objects, so Alex decided to try Fluffee.

"Ok, Blaze, Fluffee, take out those Magnets!"

"Cotto!!!" cried Fluffee.
"KEN!" screeched Blaze. He was angry, Alex could tell.

"Right then, Cottonee, use your Stun Spore on that one on the right!" ordered Alex to his Pokemon, who had yet to be used in battle. Now was her time to shine.

Fluffee seemed to understand this and jumped into the attack, releasing a concentrated blast of paralysing spores at the Mangemite. Alex knew that Fluffee was a fats Pokemon, but this was just incredible. As soon as she'd heard the command, the Spores had come out. What could it be?

He turned to Tag and Douken, hoping for an answer.
"Um, guys? How come Fluffee's so fast? I'm not familiar yet with Unova Pokemon."

He let the answer come, but kept an eye on the battle. The Magnemite was now finding it very hard to move due to its paralysis. However, It still could attack, but wasn't able to move very easily.

Alex didn't need to tell Blaze to do. He just looked at his buddy and nodded his head at the Paralysed Magnemite. Blaze knew what to do. Blaze knew what attacks to use in what situations. Scratch and peck wouldn't be useful here, but his other moves would be super-effective.

I want to avoid contact, in case that static electricity paralyses me... so... he thought, before interrupting himself as he leant back slightly, opened his beak before leaning forwards again and letting rip a powerful ember attack that zoomed towards the Magnemite. Blaze's opponent had nowhere to go; his Paralysis limited movement, he was slow anyway, and the accuracy of the ember attack was so great that it hit the Magnemite full blast. It was forced backwards by the attack, and once the fire had faded, Alex saw it fall from the air. Its Magnetic and Electric abilities had been completely scrambled, and it couldn't hold itself up any longer. It fell into the darkness below.

"Well, I guess it's one more to go!" said Alex cheerfully. This battle was going well so far.

[FlyingMew]

~Poof~ After having led his trainer over moving platforms in her condition, Poof now had to deal with these pesky things? He'd clung to Anita's hand up until now, just hoping for her to wake up from her stupor. Now, however, he was going to have to deal with these Magnemites. And some Magnetons. And..... Was that a Magnezone? <Crap> he thought. <Just what I SPORKing need! An evolved Pokemon that has absolutely no idea what I'm about to do to it! Although... Some backup would be nice.> Poof looked up at the other Pokeballs on Anita's belt-loops. The Mankey seemed to grin a bit, as an idea formed in his head.

Poof Pulled Anita's arm until she dropped to her knees. The dazed look in Anita's eyes changed very little, except to imply that she felt her knees hit the metal platform. Once poof made sure that she was safely in a kneeling position, he grabbed Fluffy and Excalibur's balls. Holding them above his head, Poof pressed the buttons on the front of the pokeballs, releasing his fellows. The plan that poof had come up with involved them and maybe some of Anita's oran berries.

Excalibur popped out of his ball with an indignant screech. Obviously angry at being recalled during the best feast he'd yet eaten JUST because of some falling rocks wasn't his idea of a good time. He landed lightly on his feet, and whirled around to face Anita. He began chattering incessantly at the top of his lungs. Walking up to Anita, he reached up and rapped her smartly on the head with his cane. Anita didn't respond with her usual yelp of surprise, which caused the Snivy to immediately turn and yell at the Mankey. "If this is the state our trainer is going to be in EVERY time she is accompanied by you, I doubt I'll ever let you out of my sight." he said angrily to Poof.

Fluffy, on the other hand, landed on his feet, only to fall down onto his side, panting heavily. That earlier Magnitude had been a real doozy. He had started to recover, but it would take some time before he was up to "biting" strength again. As he lay there, Fluffy watched as Excalibur began arguing with Poof. <Well, doesn't that figure...> the Growlithe thought to himself. <I get knocked out and miss all the action.> Fluffy turned his eyes towards Anita, and saw the uncharacteristic blank stare. He frowned in concern, and began to try to get up. He rolled onto his belly and tucked his paws in underneath him. pushing with his legs, he tried to support his own weight. Unable to lift himself up, he flopped back down, shaking from the effort. Fluffy lay there for a moment, panting even more heavily than before.

Poof turned to face Excalibur as the accusations started to fly. "Now isn't the time, you pompous little leaf-hoarder!" he yelled back. "I'm sure you are well aware of Anita's current sleeping habits, as are the rest of us. Fluffy's hurt, Nyan-nyan is out cold, you're still covered in punch, and, in case you haven't noticed, there are Magnemites, Magnetons, and a really derpy-looking Magnezone attacking our group. Now stuff it, or I'll put Anita's dirty underwear in your mouth!" This retort came out rather suddenly, but it was effective enough to render Excalibur speechless (miraculously), so Poof decided to let it sit. He looked over at Fluffy struggling to stand. Assessing this as an attempt to reach Anita, he turned to Excalibur. "Why don't you help Fluffy get over to Anita? I'm gonna try to find those Oran berries in her bag."

Excalibur nodded and walked over to where Fluffy lay. Standing next to Fluffy, Excalibur's tail suddenly sprouted two vines. The vines wrapped around Fluffy's middle. Lifting Fluffy to his feet, Excalibur looked at the fire pokemon. Smiling, Excalibur quipped, "Fancy a walk with me?" Fluffy nodded tiredly in response, and began shuffling his paws in an attempt to walk. Excalibur began slowly walking towards Anita and Poof.

Meanwhile, Poof had climbed up onto Anita's backpack. He'd began unzipping the many pockets and sniffing. There seemed to be no scent from the berries in any of them. Poof frowned, worried that they were gone. Excalibur and Fluffy had reached him and Anita during this time, and Fluffy lay down with his head on their trainer's knee. Excalibur unwrapped his vines from the Growlithe's belly and climbed up to where Poof was. "They're in the inner pocket of the big center one, if you please." Excalibur said. Poof immediately dug his arm into the pocket that Excalibur mentioned, and emerged with the berry pouch. "Thanks." he said, hopping down. Excalibur hopped down after him.

Poof walked over and opened the berry pouch near Fluffy. He reached in and grabbed a few Oran berries. Holding them out to Fluffy, he said, "Eat. We're gonna need you." Fluffy raised his eyes to Poof and opened his mouth. Poof dropped the berries into the puppy's mouth and hoped for the best. Fluffy closed his mouth and began to chew. Swallowing, his tail began to wag slowly. "Ahhhhh..." he sighed. "Nothing like a little pick-me-up to get your tail waggin'. Although, I'm gonna need a breather, if ya don't mind." Nodding, Poof turned to Excalibur. "I need you to Stay with Anita while we try to clear these jerks outta the way." Excalibur nodded back, and stood next to Anita in a protective stance.

[Asterna]

One's enough for me -- for now, at any rate.

Their little trip over the platforms was somewhat nerve-wracking at first, but as Rose got used to the height, it actually became somewhat fun -- like a video game, as she'd said earlier. Of course, this was real life, and she couldn't respawn, like Alex had remarked earlier. Even so, Rose managed to enjoy herself a bit... until the larger platform split, that is. She gave a startled yelp, wobbling a little as her platfrom began to move, but thankfully managed to steady herself in time. She looked around wildly, about to ask what was going on, when Tag answered that question for her. The large platform rose up beneath them, connecting their miniature platforms again. Rose breathed a sigh of relief at that, only for her unease to return almost immediately as the Magnezone, Magnetons, and Magnemites appeared. There are an awful lot of surprises in this temple... Rose thought to herself as she readied herself for battle once more. A Magnemite soared up to her, sparking threateningly.

"Well, here we go again," Rose muttered to herself. Like everything else in this temple, they appeared to be Steel-types, and the magnets pointed to a dual Steel-Electric typing. That left Nina and Wyatt out of the question. Alaia resisted electric-type attacks, so... "Alaia, it's up to you!" Rose called as she summoned her Cottonee. Given that her previous strategy had worked well earlier, Rose went with her tried-and-true battle starter. "Stun Spore, then Leech Seed!" Alaia immediately burst into action, ready for battle once more.

Of course, the Magnemite wasn't going to just take it lying down, paralyzed though it might be. Just after Alaia had Leech Seeded it, the Magnet Pokemon shot a Thundershock her way. Alaia gave a startled cry as the small bolt of electricity struck, but wasn't heavily damaged. Still, better safe than sorry -- Rose wanted to keep her Pokemon from fainting, unless it was completely unavoidable. "Mega Drain!" she ordered. Steel resisted Grass, true, but it would still do some damage, and heal Alaia to boot. Along with the steady damage dealt by Leech Seed -- not to mention that that healed Alaia as well -- it was only a matter of time before the Magnemite fell.

Satisfied that her battle was going well, Rose briefly turned her attention to her teammates, though she still kept one eye on her own fight. Alex, who had a Cottonee of his own, caught her attention with his query. Having grown up in Unova with her own Cottonee, Rose felt obliged to answer. "I think it's because they're so light," she explained, pitching her voice a little loudly over the sounds of battle. "They're not weighed down at all, so it lets them move really fast."

[FirePower]

I'll take one

Manera snorted and stepped back in surprise as a vine grabbed the bronzor it had been battling and slammed it into the ground, knocking it out. The blitzle looked at Kaya expectantly, hoping the trainer knew what it was. She shrugged. The sudden attack had come completely as a surprise to her as well. A bit disappointed that neither of them had any idea where the strange vine had come from, Manera trotted back to it's trainer.

Kaya decided to give her blitzle a berry even though it hadn't taken a huge amount of damage. Manera would need it's energy if it were to stay out of a pokeball. Flit was likewise healed, though it required a few more berries than Manera. She decided to not heal Attila just ye, to save supplies. Ready, she hefted the bag over her shoulder and followed the group into the temple.

Once inside, Kaya's hear skipped a beat at the sight of just how high they were. Heights weren't normally that bad for the nomadic teenager. Manera, on the other hand, was on the verge of a panic attack. The blitzle hated heights, and being so high up really unnerved it. Kaya held up the blitzle's pokeball as a silent invitation to recall it, but the it shook it's head, determined to not go into the (cramped, in her mind) pokeball ever again.

Manera lurched as the mysterious narration voice in Kaya's head ran out of things to say the platform began to rise. Looking down at the ground far below it began to hyperventilate.

'Don't look down. Don't look down,' Manera thought, trying to will herself out being scared. She glanced downward, and began to freak out all over again.

"I'm looking doooowwwn!" the blitzle cried, about to faint. When the platform stopped Manera lost it's balance, stumbled over the edge, and would have fallen if Kaya hadn't caught it by a hind leg.

"That settles it. You need to return," Kaya said, grabbing Manera's pokeball and returning it with her free hand. She could feel it virbrating slightly in her hand as the pokemon inside protested, but it was for the greater good, angry zebra or not.

When the magnemite appeared Kaya decided ,after much mental arguing, to send Manera again. By the looks of themthey were electric types, which meant her only other conscious pokemon would be at a disadvantage. The blitzle came out, too relieved to be out to be worried about their altitude. A thundershock attack was promptly fire at it by by a nearby magnemite. Instead of taking damage, as Kaya suspected it would, but instead the blitzle's mane glowed with new energy. Then she remembered. Blitzle almost always had either lLightningrod or Motor Drive as an ability, empowering them if hit by an electric type move.

"Alright, Manera. Use quick attack!" Kaya ordered, experimenting. Depending on the blitzle's ability, it would either be faster or it's ranged moves would be stronger. The pokemon moved like a blur, ramming into the magnemite before it had time to react. It responded by ramming into the blitzle for a tackle attack.

"Alright, manera! Tail whip and then another quick attack!" Kaya said, smirking. Manera reared up, sounding a battlecry before charging at the magnemite.

[Master Houndoom]

If my count is correct, that leaves one for Jaima.

Jaima stepped forward as the little magnemite floated toward him. Sparks crossed between the magnets on its body, and the one eye seemed to indent at the top, giving it an angry look. Jaima looked down at Desertdancer, Meiko's sandshrew on loan to him. "What do you think, DD?"

The sandshrew looked up, then at the magnemite. <Well, my boy, I think perhaps this will not be as easy as you might think. The species has long been a native of every land yet encountered, and though my typing would suggest an easy victory, it would be imprudent to assume that is the case. They are magnificent creatures, as all those who evolve into trifoms must be, and have a variety of attacks other than electr->

<Desertdancer, sweety, I think he was speaking rhetorically...>

Desert dancer blinked up at Mercury, then at Jaima. He ducked his head, his cheeks beginning to burn. <Ah. Yes. He doesn't speak the pokemon language. Rather silly of me...>

Mercury smiled at him, and Jaima did, as well. "Good observations," Jaima called, and Desertdancer looked at Mercury in wonder. "Still, Meiko trained you up right. I'm going to give you the edge here. Open with Sand Tomb!"

Desertdancer began to spin, wildly at first, then so fast it seemed he was all one blob. The steel-electric type was soon touched by a growing mound of sand beneath it, which enveloped it, then covered it so that nothing but the large, unblinking eye showed. The was a pop, and the sand shifted, but nothing happened: electric attacks couldn't even get through the sand.

"Quil! Ava!"

"Shrew..."

Ember stepped up, hopping on her back feet, the front feet stationary, so that her rump moved up and down to one side. Desertdancer looked at her, then bowed, gracefully, gesturing her forward. With a wink, Ember pitched her back up, sending flames into the eye. There was a squeal, and then the eye disappeared. Desertdancer stopped the attack, and the sand fell away, the magnemite rolling out.

"Huh... guess this one was young, eh?"

[Kamaitachi]

"Hey! We aren't kids!" He heard Douken yell over the field. Tag let out an annoyed sigh. He had planned on retorting with something along the lines of 'I'm twice your age.', but that, for some reason, made him feel ancient. He hadn't called them kids to be a jerk, he called them kids because they were.

"Um, guys? How come Fluffee's so fast? I'm not yet familiar with Unova Pokemon." asked Alex Slasher, who was employing the second cute fluffball Tag had seen so far.

"I think it's because they're so light," the girl, Rose, responded. "They're not weighed down at all, so it lets them move really fast."

Tag, unfamiliar with the Prankster Ability, had no choice but to agree with Rose. However, he didn't particularly want to show his ignorance on the matter by saying something now, so he simply remained quiet; he would research it on his own later.

Meanwhile, Douken had latched up his Magnemite with two others, forming a Magneton. This made perfect sense as to why Rusty was ready to evolve earlier but didn't. Now, Douken had easily removed two of the guards by fusing with them. With that, he moved his platform over to Tag's, and joined in the fight with Tag's four magnemite.

"You look like you could use a hand." Tag rolled his eyes. He was absolutely sure that he never looked like he needed a hand. What was it with people? When one saw an intimidating person, the best course of action was to stay away. This kid seemed deadset on befriending him by being battle buddies. It was quite the opposite of what Tag intended, but he did have to admit that he rather enjoyed fighting alongside these talented trainers.

"Hope I am not ruining your fun this way..."

"Yeah, you're ruining my fun." Tag sighed "The help is still appreciated, though."

Now the four magnemite Tag and Douken faced were all Confused, and one of them had been burned.

"Kyoko, Leaf Blade! Zuki, Assurance!" Tag switched up his damage dealing combo. Zuki, as a poochyena, had little ability to damage the Steel Type Magnemites, but his Assurance's power doubled if the opponent had already suffered damage. Even despite the fact that Kyoko and Zuki didn't have advantage over their enemies, their efforts combined with Reep's and Rusty's were enough to take down their four, meaning that half of the offending Magnemite were now off of the field.

Alex had taken down one of his two, Rose was well on her way to defeating hers, Jaima had taken his down with a brilliant combo. This battle, like the Bronzor one, seemed quite easy. Either that, or the team was just that good.

And then, a sickening lurch passed over the large platform where the battle was taking place. Tag snapped his head over to the center, where the two Magneton and single Magnezone were centered. Tag surmised that the reason they didn't join the fight, was because they were the ones holding the platform up. The sickening lurch could only really mean one thing.

The Magnezone raised itself up into the air, ready to attack. This, however, meant that only the two Magneton were holding the platform up, and without the strength of the Magnezone, the inevitable happened.

The platform broke apart and plummeted, dropping every earthbound person in precisely that direction.

* * *

Tag, Kyoko and Zuki landed heavily on the ground on top of the platform upon which they'd been standing. They hadn't fallen too terribly far, but it was enough to have shaken them a bit. Potentially the first to get back on his feet, Tag surveyed the area, seeing nothing but metal walls, save for one opening behind him, which was probably the only and correct path.

The unfortunate fact of the matter remained, though. The Magneton who had attempted to hold the platform up seemed to be unconscious, but the main man Magnezone floated downwards, casting its eerie metallic eye over the down team.

With surprising accuracy, it turned to Tag and fired off several small metallic orbs from its body. Without much warning, they sped towards Kyoko and Zuki, homing in on them like little missiles, before exploding on contact, kicking up the traditional cloud of dust. It cleared to reveal an unconscious Zuki, and a nearly defeat Kyoko.

"Man, that's a powerful Magnet Bomb." Tag sighed. Looking around to see if the rest of the team had readied themselves to face this behemoth, Tag recalled his Poochyena. "Excellent work, my friend." He muttered to the ball before replacing it in his pack.

"Kyoko, Sunny Day." There were a few grass pokemon on the field, and Jaima was even sporting his Quilava, while Alex showed off his Combusken. They'd receive a definite boost from this move.

The light in the cavern grew intensely bright, as if a miniature sun had formed right above their heads. Tag knew that this move couldn't really benefit the Magnezone in any real way, but at least it would power up most of his teammates' pokemon.

In retaliation, however, the Magnezone let fly with another Magnet Bomb, focusing the entirety of it on Kyoko, who took the full brunt of the attack as expected. She lay on the ground, defeated, only to be recalled by her trainer. "Well done, pretty girl." He whispered again, before replacing the pokeball on his belt.

Tag drew another pokeball, summoning Bachi to the field, who bristled expectantly at the rather large Magnezone in front of him. Bachi, unsurprisingly, was wonderfully un-intimidated. He'd taken down a Charizard in his time, and this creature didn't seem all that much more powerful. Hopefully, these maneuvers had given everyone some time to recover and join in the fight.

[Douken Sota]

As the platform fell, Douken quickly took a hold of Rusty, who, at the best of his ability, tried to drift his away onto the floor. Reep, however, still floated where she was, having to move herself to be level with everyone. Got to be glad for Levitate. Still, Douken was a bit too heavy, and all Rusty was able to do was reduce the impact of his fall, knocking out the timid magnet Pokemon. "Sorry, buddy," he said, pulling out his Pokeball and returning him... which meant that the Pseudo Magnet Pull came from the Magnemite and Magneton from before.

As everyone attempted to recover from the landing, Douken took in the situation. The room was brightened up for Grass and Fire Pokemon by a powerful Sunny Day, everyone was trying to recuperate from the fall, and the Magnezone, at its high level and power, was completely full heath. Well, so was Reep, but he could still play off of a certain move.

Without much need to pull out reinforcements, he figured now was an awesome time to try out the move once more. "Reep! Target the Magnezone and use Pain Split!" Reep told Douken of this move she inherited when he first caught her, but due to her low strength back then, it used more energy than she received. Now, however, she was quite strong indeed, having a nice assortment of moves and strengths available on hand, and Pain Split was one secret move that would throw anyone off. With an aura being visibly exposed to the other people in the room, she launched it out and made it latch upon the floating Magnezone, soon to have his show up more in a bigger "flame" of an aura. Now that she knew what he was at, and her at maximum, all she had to do now was drain away at the steel and electric type until the size of his aura matched hers.

"Alright! When the flames are the same size, everyone go on the offensive!" After being drained to Reep's health, good chance that an assault from 5-6 trainers would finish off the powerhouse... hopefully... Pain Split was still a one-shot deal.

[FirePower]

Kaya quickly returned Manera as she felt the platforms lurch. "Well, that can't be good." She clutched the side of her platform as they all fell, eyes shut tight and biting the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming her head off. Flit came out of it's pokeball and tugged at Kaya's shirt, hoping to slow down it's trainers landing. All it ended up doing was tearing the shoulder out of Kaya already ratty shirt.

Kaya felt the wind being knocked out of her, along with a painful sting as the platform fell on her fingers, when she hit the bottom. Her teeth tore the flesh of her cheek and she tasted blood in her mouth. She felt her hands to make sure all the bones withing were intact. Luckily they were, though she bruised her fingers pretty badly.

'Of course. You can't go on a grand adventure without hurting yourself, can you?' she thought to herself, getting up. Flit landed on her shoulder, concerned. It cooed softly to ask if Kaya was okay.

"I'm fine," she told the spearow, picking herself up with a grunt. "at the moment there's more important things to worry about." She motioned her head towards the magnezone. She recalled Manera, who didn't seem to have liked the sudden returning.

"Would you rather have fallen with the rest of us?" Kaya told it. The blitzle looked up at where the group had been before, then realized they were on the ground. It shrugged, not telling Kaya off anymore but still grumpy. Kaya looked at the battle with the magnezone. Tag and Douken had already joined in the fight, Tag with a nidorino and Douken with a duskull. The duskull used a move Kaya had never seen before.

"Alright! When the flames are the same size, everyone go on the offensive!" Kaya heard Douken say. She nodded then turned to her blitzle.

"Alright Manera, you heard him. When the flames get to be the same size, use quick attack on the magnezone!" She ordered. Manera nodded, ready to attack.

[Asterna]

Rose let out a startled shriek as her platform dropped. Clamping her mouth shut to keep from screaming, she hastily reached out and grabbed Alaia, holding onto the Cottonee to make sure she didn't fly off somewhere. She thudded down onto the platform, landing painfully on her butt in the process. Hissing with pain, she let go of Alaia and slowly got to her feet, rubbing her sore bottom. "That was not the smoothest landing," she muttered under her breath, wincing.

At least she hadn't hit her tailbone -- it could have been worse, and, of course, there was a larger concern right in front of them. It's just one thing after another here, she thought to herself as she eyed the rather intimidating creature before them. She'd never seen this particular species before, but it was probably one of the evolved forms of the Magnemite she'd fought previously, so it should be of the same typing. That meant that Alaia was a safe bet to use against it.

This particular magnet Pokemon certainly looked quite a bit stronger than the little Magnemite she'd faced before, though, so it would definitely not be the easy fight that its pre-evolved form had been. This was soon proven as it rapidly took down Tag's Poochyena. Rose made a mental note to try to avoid being hit by that move as much as possible. While Tag and Douken made their moves, Rose tried to formulate a strategy. This was a group of strong trainers, so they should be able to take down the magnet Pokemon. Now, the problem was how.

Rose had been thinking about paralyzing it or trying a different status move -- her Pokemon certainly weren't as hard-hitting as Tag's burly Nidorino, for instance; her attacks would do less in terms of pure damage anyway, not to mention that her Pokemon's moves would not be very effective. She thought it might be best to help the others take it down in a less physical fashion. However, Douken called for a mass offensive attack after his Duskull used Pain Split.

Deferring to Douken's superior experience -- he probably knew what to do better than her -- Rose went with his plan. "Okay, Alaia. You heard him, so when that happens, use Mega Drain," she ordered, pointing (probably unnecessarily) to the Magnezone. The Cottonee made a noise to indicate her assent, readying herself as she watched the "flames" change size. Not very effective or not, Mega Drain was still Alaia's most powerful attack. It was unfortunate that she didn't know anything like Solarbeam, given the Sunny Day that Tag had set up -- but that was the best she could do in terms of damage.

[FlyingMew]

As the platform fell, Poof, Fluffy and Excalibur clutched Anita. Screaming was heard all around, as pokemon and trainers alike plummeted into the so-called abyss beneath them. The platform hit the ground, hard. Anita may have been hypnotized before, however, as Poof and the others landed on top of her, Anita's head struck the platform's edge, knocking her unconscious. Poof and Fluffy landed with their heads on her breasts which acted as air-bags upon impact, and soon after Excalibur landed on his belly on them. Anita's backpack fell next to them, still open and spewing out Anita's rather small bundle of clothing.

Excalibur raised his head and looked around. Noticing the falling bodies around him, he immediately looked up to make sure there weren't any falling towards him and his companions. Fortunately, the "sky" above them was clear of raining bodies, so Excalibur rolled off of the rather disgruntled duo he'd landed on. The Snivy landed gracefully on his feet and, using his cane, straightened his top-hat.

As Excalibur got off of him and Poof, Fluffy groaned as he managed to stand. Looking over at an angrier-than-usual Poof, he shivered. Poof was a Mankey. The stories that Fluffy had heard of Mankeys and Primapes tearing buildings to shreds came to mind, and Poof looked like he was about to tear something or someone into itty-bitty pieces. Fluffy turned and looked at Anita's face. Noticing that her eyes were closed, he stepped between her breasts and towards her face. Fluffy licked her cheeks for a few minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to wake her.

Poof was mad. Things just had to get worse. This was why he hated caves. They were dark, full of places you could fall down into, and full of pokemon who would like nothing better than to start fights with you. As he thought about these things, his breathing became shallower, quicker. Finally, the vein in his forehead stood out and he snorted. "Keeeeeeeeeeee!!!" he wailed angrily. Forgetting all about his brilliant plan, he jumped up onto his feet and began running around, berserk. He pulled his fur out, he rolled his eyes, he jumped up and down in a down-right fury! Then, he turned and ran directly at the Magnezone as the flames from the ghost pokemon began to even out.

This post has been edited by FlyingMew: Aug 15 2011, 02:35 AM

[Master Houndoom]

Jaima grit his teeth as the floor went out from under him. With a practiced hand, he recalled Grondir, Ember, and Desertdancer. Fang was already leaping from boulder to boulder, using the remnants of the elevator as stepping stones to find the safest way down. Tsunami shot water down as they fell, slowing her own fall slightly, and intending to soften the landing with mud, but the floor underneath the thick dirt was steel and too shallow to be of any good, and Tsunami regarded her with a sad look on her wide face as he recalled her, too.

He was just turning in mid air to try to get Mercury when he noticed. He shouldn't have had as much time as he did. As he thought about this, he saw Mercury floating next to him, her eyes glowing. Just as they reached the ground, she began to falter, but was only sweating a little when he was finally able to support his own weight.

I'll have to work on that, she said, her mental voice calm even while she panted slightly. I wanted to help everyone, but I could only lift you... She seemed slightly ashamed, but Jaima rubbed her crest.

"Don't ever say the word useless when speaking of yourself again, understand," he said, fondly, and Mercury blushed.

Fang trotted up, and that was when the magnezone made itself a threat. The trainers all got ready, and Douken called out his command (and there was no mistaking the tone, despite the politeness of the words). Jaima nodded.

"Ember, Desertdancer, I need flamethrower and sand tomb as soon as I give the word!"

[Kamaitachi]

Noting that Douken had enacted a Pain Split gambit, Tag summoned another pokemon to the field: Suzu. The Ledian appeared next to her long-time Nidorino friend, Bachi, and the two waited for the sign to go.

Before long, the two flames appeared to be equal in size, indicating that it was time for the offensive. Tag hoped that the Pain Split had at least halved the Magnezone's stamina, which meant that they had a good chance of coming out of the situation in good standings.

"Suzu, Mach Punch! Bachi! Double Kick!" His two most loyal pokemon sounded out their name-call battle cries, charging forward towards the larger pokemon. Suzu flashed into range before anyone else could muster an attack, slamming her fists into the Magnet's underbelly before immediately flashing off. Bachi's more trundling charge followed up as he jumped into the air, slamming his two hind feet into the enemy, teetering it off to the side.

Before the next set of attacks hit, though, the Magnezone, perturbed at being attacked so viciously, turned and fired off a thunderbolt attack! The fierce burst of electricity streaked towards Reep, the Duskull, as she had been the pokemon to inflict the most pain.

The beam never struck the Reaper pokemon, as Suzu bodily threw herself in its path. Tag watched, surprised, as his own pokemon took a powerful blow meant for someone else's pokemon, and his heart surged with both pride and worry as she took the hit. Suzu's maternal instincts for the other pokemon on Team Steel had obviously gone berserk, but perhaps she understood that Reep's tactical importance in this fight and potentially the next was greater than her own.

Tag ran over as she plummeted from the sky, catching her as he skidded to a halt. Slowly, she looked weakly up at him and smiled, even as her body twitched spasmodically in his arms from the electrical energy coursing through her body.

"Dammit, Suzu" Tag sighed "You're a big damn hero, you know that? And that's why I love you" He recalled her back into the pokeball, a bit irritated that the battle wasn't quite going the way he had hoped it would. Well...the floor falling out from under them really wasn't a predictable outcome by any means, but even still.

Manera the Blitzle bounced essentially harmlessly off of the much larger Magnezone. Meanwhile, Alaia, Rose's Cottonee, began sucking up some of the Magnezone's health with a power-boosted Mega Drain.

Perhaps the most amusing by far was Anita's Mankey. The awake-but-comatose-trainer's Mankey, Poof, had charged recklessly towards the Magnezone in something akin to a berserk rage (which Tag thought was more commonplace in its evolved form, Primeape). While Poof had the vigor and enthusiasm of some primal rage in his attacks, he lacked any sort of major physical strength. At best, the Mankey was able to make a scratch here and there on the Magnezone's ferrous body.

The Magnezone, easily peeved that the team had been landing such tremendous hits on its body, and began charging up. Just as it discharged its...well...Discharge attack, Desertdancer's Sand Tomb erupted up around it. As the lightning struck the sand, a curious phenomenon occured. The sand sprayed outwards from the attack, but due to the ferocity of the lightning, it had all turned to glass. In the middle of the room stood Magnezone, trapped in a beautiful display of glittering glass.

With a bit of a struggle, the enemy pokemon burst free, sending shards of glass tumbling every which way (this would potentially be a walking hazard later on), and proceeded to charge up another attack.

This attack never came, as Ember's Flamethrower swept over it, throwing it backwards through the air and into one of the cave walls, were it clunked heavily to the ground and lay unmoving.

Tag took a moment to reassess the situation, frowning as he looked around the room at the team.

"Let's keep moving." Tag nodded, pointing at the opening behind him. The steel structure behind him seemed like a tunnel, leading to what appeared to be another main room on the other side of it. "Let's find Registeel and get back to the rest of our friends, okay?" Tag nodded, hoping that his incredibly brief pep-talk worked.

* * *

The tunnel was not terribly long, probably about the fifty meters or so, but it was surprisingly rectagangular, with everything fairly flat. Along the ceiling of the tunnel, long lines ran along, in a fairly intricate pattern. Yet, mysteriously enough, these lines shone with enough light to illuminate the tunnel through which they walked. It was a rather interesting phenomenon, and perhaps had something to do with the constant flow of electricity and magnetism through the entire tunnel. Tag surmised that at any second, yet another trap would spring itself and the team would once again have to face imminent doom.

He had no idea that it would happen as soon as he finished his thought.

At both ends of the tunnel, something suddenly slid into place, effectively blocking off both exits. Both of the constructs were decidedly squareish, with a few protrusions around their edges. If anything, the design on them appeared to be like a side of dice, with six orbs and an underbite. It was a face that Tag had only a glancing familiarity with.

"Uh...I think those are Bastiodon." Tag blinked as he looked ahead and behind him. "And that means we're trapped."

His notion was absolutely spot on, as the two Bastiodon at either end of the tunnel slowly began to walk forward. The defensive pokemon were incredibly slow, but if they got the Team between them, poor Team Steel would end up as mush between the two shield-like heads of the Bastiodon!