[X] My Assistant

[Troy Bolton]

“Corporal Inspector Braun- 8370 dot 53.”

“Junior Petty Officer Eva Marie- 2190 dot 79.”

“Senior Director Grothusen- 10000 dot oh 7.”

It was a cold and cheerless evening. The fog seemed to hover over the street, hanging onto the buildings, the streetlamps—the entire city—in a damp, icy grip. If one were to stand still, passers-by would emerge briefly from the gloom, only to disappear from view after taking just a few steps. On one of these steps, a man clutching his hat tight presses a call-in button.

When all of a person was converted to numbers and digits, it was only one small step to press ‘Delete.’

A timid knock on the finest mahogany wood door.

“Yes?”

He’s been broken with one icicle word, but the man at the laptop doesn’t know until he regretfully moves his sunken eyes from his personal universe to the shaking joke of a man.

“It’s Officer Bonner, M-Mr. Tomaski.”

6703 dot 32.

“Get to the point. Time is money, and you’re wasting both right now.”

The ice seems to have taken over this man’s senses, as one frozen eye pierces the messenger.

“He requires you to manage a new firm for him.”

A high snort. The ice miser has already returned to his laptop.

“I refuse.”

The sharp click of cold steel, leeching the cold from the man. Just the man, now.

Just plain old Seymour.

“Officer Bonner said there is no room for argument.”

“P-please, d-don’t hurt meeee.”

A role reversal.

The coward at the laptop.

And the miser with the gun.

“Hmmph. You’ll find your instructions within this envelope.” The soft sound of paper gliding across wood. Something sparks in Seymour’s eye.

“You seem to know so much about me. What is your name?”

“Elite Thompson.”

And he’s gone.

Seymour picks up the pieces of himself, strewn across the office.

“Elite Thompson- 0 dot 0.”

Enter.

The word spoken, and the same typed, begins and end. Ouroburos.


`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

The drawn out scream of paper ripping.

"The Poor District, the Fish & Center Warehouse."

"I hate fish."

He collapses.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

He is awoken by four pairs of eyes and gaping maw.

Shmendrick.

He drags himself to his feet. Bits and pieces fall from him, like leaves in fall.

He pulls a frozen Poffin from the stainless refrigerator.

The microwave cringes as it slams shut.

1 minute and 32 seconds later, it screams.

The plate is lowered to the ground, and hastily consumed. The Wynaut waddles over to its owner, tail eyes full of concern. The Bright Pokemon licks the accountant right across the face, and the Durin berry overwhelms the senses.

'Bonner."

Oy vey.

He passes out again.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

Temimesdik Birger

Naive Citizen

The Slums: Fish And Center Warehouse

The warehouse was disgusting. Plastic-wrapped boxes stacked upon long forgotten lifts, leaving only a few naked flickering bulbs.

Tomaski is flanked by two Magma grunts, but he shoos them away.

"This is your only chance to back out. Want to? No. Alright, sign here."

[Master Houndoom]

Hinata had the unfortunate ability to remember. It wasn't just her ability to remember, it was her curse that she remembered everything, and her damnation that she couldn't control when she remembered things.

She could hear them, in her ears as well as her mind, her mother, eager to see and teach the soon to hatch childling, the trainer eager to see the cute ralts, and one presence that simply glowed with pride, base and so powerful it nearly drowned out everything else.

She would be loved. Wanted. Happy. If only she was out of that shell.

So she pushed. With her mind and her body, she pushed, hard, against the hard shell. There was a crack, then a crunch, and then, as love and eagerness and pride mounted from without, she pushed with all her tiny might, and the rest of the shell exploded.

She saw, first, a blonde cascade of hair, a tiny, pale face, a splash of freckles across a dainty nose. She opened her mind to this bright presence.

Joy looped upon joy, turning to bright, shining terror as neither mind could stop the psychic loop that was created. The hatchlings world exploded to white.

* * * * *

The ralts twitched in Jay's arms, and he sighed. She was dreaming again, and from the feel of things, from the way she shuddered from one side to the other, they were the bad dreams that plagued her. He automatically stroked her head, his lips curling in disgust as his fingers touched the black grease that she'd spread across her scalp. The redhead looked down at a small, black and white canid walking next to him.

"First thing I'm doin' when I make some cash is buy her some real make up so she don't spread crap on her head any more." The small houndour lifted her muzzzle and spread her jaws, letting her pink tongue loll out. The nub of a tail at her hindquarters vibrated in the closest she should come to a wag.

Jay smirked, the knelt down to pet the happy houndour. "Yeah, you're right, Videl. If I wanted the easy, grease free life, I shoulda stayed at home instead of coming here to be a hero."

As he rose, he came face to face with a poster proclaiming a tournament. He slowly grinned. Maybe it was time to hone hiis personal skills. He knew his team was already the best.

* * * * *

There was sensation first. Deep sadness, Deep Grief, Comfort, and... calm. The calm was not natural, and it frightened her more than the rest. Physically, she felt warm, safe. But the world was white, and nothing could penetrate that bright fog.

"...no one's fault," lilted a sweet voice, and she recognized her mother's mental voice behind it. From there came a measure of the grief and a portion of the sadness, but no where near the totallity of it. "She did as all our kind do, opened her mind to the first thing she saw. Trainer Amber did the same in her joy. Neither was prepared, and I couldn't break the connection in time."

There was sobbing. Deep, wracking, yet quiet sobs. From here came the majority of the grief and sadness, and a mental litany, like a river stopped and swirling, becoming more and more clogged.

i'msorryi'msorryi'msorryi'msorryi'msorryi'msorry

The hatchling reached out and caressed the grief and sadness, trying, trying to hard, to express her forgiveness. Was she happy about things? No. But she knew this being, so sorry and hurting so badly, did not intend to cause problems.

The sobs lessened, and the grief and sadness receded. Slowly, but surely. From her mother came a sense of breaking relief.

"What's wrong," came a male voice, the calm that was a wall, a mask, breaking into worry and a need for action.

"The hatchling forgives my trainer, that is all." The male muttered something about never being able to handle tears.

"What now," said the male, his calm slipping back into place with practiced ease.

"I don't know-"

"She needs to get strong." The new voice had the sobbing one's psychic undercurrent, and her voice sounded like she had a bad cold. "I need to make up for this. I made her blind, I--"

The male interrupted. "Amber, ya know mom and pop aren't going to go for that."

Yes, thought the mental voice, and despaired, but the physical voice was strong. Determined. "I know. Jay... Jay, I want you to do it. If anyone can make someone strong--"

Mother's pride nearly overwhelmed her, and she swooned. The girl trainer's voice sounded more confident. "Verthande agrees."

There was silence, and anxiety, and the calm wavered but did not break. "Ain't gonna be easy."

More silence, and then, relief. "Yeah. I'll do it."

Then she was lifted, and held, and there was a sense of appraisal. "Her eyes are white," he said in wonder, and an iimage flashed in his mind, of a dark haired trainer with white eyes.

Name me after her, she cried mentally, seeing at once his impressions of debilitating shyness slowly transforming to strength. He didn't nod physically, or at least she didn't feel his head move, but he did acknowledge her mental touch.

"Her name's Hinata."

* * * * *

"Whattaya MEAN, it's for pokémon?! Your little poster didn't show any pokémon!" He was angry, and she woke to it, and scowled toward where he was looking. She'd learned to see through his eyes, and the pasty faced man dismissed two larger men in red before continuing. "This is your only chance to back out. Want to? No? Good. sign here." He hadn't given Trainer Jay time to answer, and her trainer was angrier still.

We'll win, she assured him.

'Course you'll win. You're the best there is at what it is you do. But I wanted to work on my skills. Jay snatched the pen from the man's hand.

"'Course I don't want to back out. I just hope you're one of my opponents." He signed his name, scowling at the place where the Magma guards had retreated. Stay aware, Hin. If Magma's here, we might get some info.

This post has been edited by Jaima: Mar 27 2009, 12:07 PM

[Troy Bolton]

OOC: For the convienience of the reader, I have implemented [acronym]. Hold your mouse over any words with an asterisk (*)* over it, and help will appear so as to help one understand Yiddish. Any time you see an asterisk, hold your mouse to better understand!

IC:

Seymour snorted. This was the fifth client he had explained to today, and none had been dense enough to not figure out that it was a Pokemon fight club, not a human one. The latter was found enough in the streets.

"Would you kill a butcher because he sells you meat? Would you scorn the baseball player for hitting home runs? Shmegege. * Would you-" he licked his lips, saliva fueling his metaphor, "would you hate the student if he does his work?"

Of course you wouldn't. *

"Kister-haboger*, don't shoot the messenger. I'll be your manager, so we may as well become, ah, acquainted. I am Seymour Tomaski. Here is my business card."

The card is passed, and Seymour patiently waited for a period of grace for the ruffian to reverently place the laminated badge in his wallet, and in turn get his own card out.

None of which happened.

"Right. Here are your papers. You'll need them to get in. The decided venue is unknown to me, but it's sealed in this envelope. Don't! Tell it to me, I don't know and I don't want to. I'll be escorted there day of. If you win, you move on. If you don't-" he winced, attempting sympathy but only managing to look as if a fly had gone on a suicide run to his eye- "well, let's hope you win."

"And I am not battling. Why risk my neck when I can manage you doing the same thing? Are you dumb?*"

[Dmitri Shostakov...]

Blank was surrounded. The men were everywhere. They had seen him battle, and now they wanted him to join some fighting ring. One man came forward. He was holding a gun.

"Join, or I'll shoot."

Blank stared back at him, undisturbed. "Why should I?" he asked.

"You're good. We want to make some money. Nothing wrong with a little bet, is there?"

Blank stared at him. He was not only going to make him join this stupid sport, but bet on it too? This was ridiculous.

Blank asked, "What do I get from it?"

"You'll get out of the poor side of town."

Blank laughed. He said, "I can get out on my own, thank you. I'm no thug-going-nowhere like you."

The man was getting angry. "I'm about to blow you to kingdom come. We'll just take your Pokemon and enter them ourselves once you're out of the way. You are lucky we asked first."

Blank sighed. He was not getting out of this at the moment. He reluctantly agreed to join. The thugs shoved him in a small, dark room. They gave him some food, and told him they would be back when it was time for battling.

To keep him company, Blank brought out his Sableye. "You can probably see, can't you?" he asked. The Sableye nodded in agreement. The two stared at each other, panning what to do next.

[Master Houndoom]

Jay sneered at the man's attempt at a wince, and shook his head as he outlined the "risks" of losing the tournament. It wasn't about winning or losing, it was about showing whoever wanted to pay attention that he wasn't here to swell Magma's ranks. If he got some wins in the mean time, so much the better.

Hinata looked up at him with blank eyes. Admit it. You're freaked out because of those Magmas, aren't you?

Jay rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not."

Hinata fairly glared at him. HELL-OOO. 'The Feelings Pokémon'?"

OK, yes, I am, but they don't need to know that! Besides, I'm just doing this to get you some proper coloring so you'll quit spreading grease and crap all over your head.

Hinata would have answered, but started giggling instead. Jay turned around and saw Videl scampering happily toward them, wagging her stubby tail. A puddle of some kind of yellowish liquid flowed slowly from under the table where the oily "manager" sat. Jay stifled a smile and held out the card that was given to him. "Here, Videl. Something to burn."

"Houn!" The happy houndour yapped, letting loose an ember as the card left Jay's fingertips. Jay looked back to make sure it was seen, if not by the "manager", then by his guards, then turned and left.

[Shiny Ninetales]

A few days ago in a small café…

“Hey Billy, I heard there are suppose to be some of those stupid Rebels in this area, we should go knock some sense in those idiots,” Bob chortled to his Magma Captain as they strutted into a café and looked around in the small room.

Billy took a few seconds of glancing around before he made his reply to his subordinate, “Yeah, I agree… I wonder if there are any of those Rebels here… because this rat’s hole seem to be a perfect place for them.”

“Yep, I agree, Captain! Let’s see if we could find any of those rats!”

“Shut up… you are annoying,” muttered a small girl that sat next to the entrance and all of the people in the café simply stared at the daring young girl, her name is Maeko for your information. The two men simply turned to look at her and they did one simple thing, laughed.

“Oy oy! Aren’t you a bit too young to be out and about, child? So what are we annoying you? Did my words hurt your little tiny mind?” Bob jeered at Maeko and continued to laugh with his subordinate.

“Alto… Shadow Sneak now,” Maeko simply said as something white crept next to Bob and struck him in the groin. Bob did not know what hit him as he fell to the ground in pain and let out a small grunt as Maeko stepped on his head. As Maeko attacked Bob, Billy had sent his Gastly out to battle Maeko’s little Ralts.

“Oh! That’s not nice you little brat! Kids like you should stay in their homes and study! Gastly Lick attack NOW!” Billy simply yelled as the Gastly floated towards Alto.

“Stupid… Shadow Sneak again Alto,” Maeko simply ordered Alto which immediately struck the Gastly from behind in a shadowly blur and knocked it out.

“Ah! What the… how is that possible?” Billy exclaimed as his Gastly floated towards the ground harmlessly and he then returned it back to its Pokéball. Angered that a little girl had beaten his Pokémon, Billy decided that he would give no more mercy and sent out his Growlithe. With using one move each, the Growlithe knocked out Rin and Alto with ease and Maeko simply sat next to her fainted.

“No… this can’t be happening…” Maeko muttered as she cradled Rin in her arms and turned to look at Billy. It was then when Bob woke up and simply glared at Maeko. Then everything went black for the little girl.

That was a day ago though…

When Maeko woke up the next day she found herself in some odd, cold room with Rin sleeping next to her quietly. She instantly knew that they were in a lot of trouble and there was nothing she could do, the door seemed to be locked quite tightly. With nothing much to do, Maeko checked if she still had her belongings with her and found everything was there, to the little girl’s relief.

Then someone knocked on and opened the door. She soon recognized the voice to be one of her captors, Billy.

“Oy! Come out here! We need to prepare you for something and if you aren’t dressed up a bit everyone would think you’re too young to do it,” Billy smiled as he saw Maeko cringed in fear.

“W-wait… what are you getting me to do?” Maeko simply replied as Billy dragged her away.

A few short moments later and a costume change...

“Why… is this happening to me?” Maeko muttered as she walked into a ring with a man across from her that was waiting to battle her. As she stood there she heard the various whisperings of people asking why an elementary student was battling in this underground arena.

"Dammit… I told you the moustache does nothing."

This post has been edited by PedoTonberry: Apr 2 2009, 12:44 AM

[Master Houndoom]

Jay sighed, finally letting Hinata and Videl out of their pokéballs. He had rented a room for the week, but his money was running low. He *thought* He'd find some Aqua operatives here. After all, anyone from Sinnoh and Hoenn knew that Aqua and Magma hated each other, (the only ones hated more than each other were Galaxy, and they didn't seem to be around. Besides, they sucked worse than Magma...), but he hadn't found any at all. He thought he might get someone's attention by fighting, showing that he had some skill, but that wasn't panning out, either.

So he had a place to stay for the week, but after that...

Did you at least get some food for yourself this time? Hinata "glared" up at him with her blind eyes, crossing her arms. The grease she had painted on her head had been scoured away by the recall beam, and Jay was secretly relieved. Videl wagged her stumpy tail, but when Hinata "spoke", she tilted her head and managed to look serious for once.

"Yes, Hina, I got myself some food, and you guys some food. We're going into a tournament, of course I have to keep us well fed."

You didn't have to recall me. I'm going to look so plain at the tournament... Her mental voice sounded forlorn, but Jaima simply rolled his eyes, sat on the bed, and pulled Hinata to stand on his lap. From the bag he'd deposited on the bed he pulled a small bottle of black body paint.

Oh Arceus I love you so much right now, Hinata gushed eagerly, blushing but not taking her focus from the bottle.

"Hold still, goofnut," Jay chuckled, applying the paint over the green helmet like crest. Once he was done, he concentrated on Hinata, openin ghis mind as Verthande had taught him.

You forgot the horn!

"No, hun. I didn't forget it. You look cooler with the horn visible. Dangerous." Jaima pulled out a roast tauros sandwich and threw Videl a flank of spoink. Hinata received a filet of magikarp with a snort of disdain.

Carnivores. I could never eat something that was as smart as me.

"Hina, you're eating Magikarp. You ASKED for Magikarp." Jay shook his head. "You're just mad 'cause I'm right about the horn."

Magikarp are STUPID, and they evolve into something that's CRANKY and stupid. The less of them there are, the better. She nibbled on her filet, then sighed. But you are right about the horn.

Jay laughed, then looked at Videl, who looked as happy as ever. "OK, guys." He opened up the envelope.

We're GIRLS, thanks.

"Muddy field in the east. Ready?"

'Course we are. Aren't we, Videl? Who's the cute little beast? Who is? YOU are!

Videl squirmed and danced around Hinata happily. Jay rolled his eyes.

"We're gonna get creamed."

[Dmitri Shostakov...]

Blank was resorting to drastic measures. He felt as though he was slowly going insane. He started calling his Sableye by his mother's name, to the Sableye's great concern. Finally, The door was opened, letting in blinding light.

Blank suddenly snapped back to reality. He stood straight up, looking at the guard. The guard grabbed him and forcefully led him along a long hallway. At the end was a door with some commotion on the other side.

When the door was opened, Blank was exposed to many cheering thugs and other people who were betting on the fight. One filthy old man said, "You better win, boy. I spent me life's savings on ye."

Blank and his Sableye were led up into the ring to face their first opponent. A muscular man with a Tyrogue stood on the opposite side of the ring. An announcer's voice blared out, "Round One! Begin!"

Before they could even say a few words to each other, the match had already begun. The Tyrogue jumped at Sabre, but the Sableye jumped out of the way. Blank told Sabre to let the Tyrogue tire himself out before he struck. The two Pokemon weaved back and forth across the ring, their trainers doing different things. The man with the Tyrogue was shouting angrily at the Pokemon. Blank was watching carefully, calmly guiding Sabre along.

The fight did not end quickly. The two Pokemon had barely done anything to each other before a bell rang. Blank leaned against the corner of the ring, watching his opponent yell. Sabre was eager for round two. The bell rang again, and the two Pokemon went back at it. Blank and Sabre continued to wait for the right moment to strike, while the Tyrogue kept hitting and missing. Blank smiled. The right moment was approaching...

[Shiny Ninetales]

I wish people would just... SHUT UP... Maeko thought to herself as she stood on her side of the arena and it felt like everyone jeered at her because of what she was wearing. Of course she herself knew how silly it was and quickly took off the custom. After slamming the trench coat, mustache, and hat into the ground, Maeko turned to look at the man she was fighting. The first thing she noticed about the man was that he was large, muscular, and ugly and sadly the Graveler that stood next to him looked prettier than him.

"Oh... dear... I have to beat him for food?" Maeko muttered to herself as she remembered that Bob told her she only could get food if she won the battle; this must be revenge for ordering Alto to strike him in the groin. As the man ordered his Graveler forward, Maeko made a quick decision to send out Virus since it was the only Pokémon she had that stood a chance against the stone behemoth.

"Go Virus!" Maeko simply said as she raised arm and out came Virus from her Pokétch, ready to fight.

"Battle 3 Start!" the announcer screamed before he rang the bell and the ugly man ordered his Graveler to simply tackle head on against Virus. Maeko, using her Pokétch, sent a message to Virus to jump over its large opponent and use Conversion attack. With a bright flash of light, Virus transformed its typing to the Psychic type and unleashed a powerful beam of psychic power. The Psybeam struck Graveler in the back and sent the rock Pokémon tumbling forward to Maeko's joy. That was before it used Rock Polished and raised his speed much higher for Virus to handle.

"Virus watch out!" Maeko yelled as large rocks was thrown at Virus, but the attacks was too quick for Virus to avoid and to Maeko's horror the Virus was sent spinning out of control. Before Maeko could order Virus to stabilize itself, the Graveler rushed to tackle Virus into the hard ground of the arena.

"No..." Maeko cried as the announcer declared Virus unable to battle and she had to return it back into its pokéball. With the battle lost, Maeko was simply taken from the arena and back into the room she was to be held in...

This post has been edited by PedoTonberry: Apr 3 2009, 05:17 PM

[Dmitri Shostakov...]

Blank watched as the Tyrogue finally got a hit. Actually, Sabre was faking it. The Tyrogue had punched, and it did not affect the Sableye at all. However, Sabre had thrown himself to the ground as if the punch had hurt him. The Tyrogue, not very bright, stood over Sabre in victory. His trainer shouted, "Finish him off, Tyrogue!"

The Tyrogue threw himself at Sabre with a Body Slam. Sabre stopped faking injury, and moved out of the way. The Tyrogue slammed against the ground with all the energy he had. He lay on the ground, face down. Blank shouted, "Sabre! Finish this with Scratch!"

The Sableye descended upon the injured Tyrogue with a flurry of scratches. Sabre had his opponent pinned against the ground, and unable to counter his merciless scratching. The Tyrogue moaned until the thug that was Blank's opponent was forced to give in. The announcer said, "Tyrogue is unable to battle! Sableye is the winner!"

Blank said, "Good job, Sabre," with absolutely no excitement. Sabre did not seem to mind his trainer's lack of emphasis. Blank was not overly amused because the match-up was obviously unfair. That Tyrogue did not know a single move that could have hurt a Ghost-type. The thug also screamed, "No! This is unfair!" as he was dragged away.

Only one man was needed to guide Blank back to his "room". Blank cooperated, and the man gave him some food. Wiki cakes for the Pokemon, and soup for him. The hot soup tasted good to the tired trainer. His guard said in a stern voice, "Your next match is in six hours." He tried to close the door. Blank grabbed it. His strength was returning. The soup was better than they had intended it to be.

The man brought out a Gloom. Blank knew what was going to happen next, but he tried to escape anyway. Punching the guard in the face, he and his Pokemon went running down the hall. Through bloody coughs, the guard was able to spit out, "Gloom, you know what to do." Blank and his Pokemon did not take five steps before the Gloom sprayed the Sleep Powder over them.

Blank fell to the floor. His Pokemon had immediately fallen asleep, but he was able to stay awake for a few moments as the guard dragged him to his room. The guard said, "Lucky you. You'll wake up just in time for the next round. Trust me, it won't be nearly as easy." Blank heard the door slam, and then the world went black.

This post has been edited by Blue Giratina: Apr 4 2009, 11:08 AM

[Troy Bolton]

"Oy! Magma!" The accountant snapped his fingers, and one of the two guards came hurrying out, spilling coffee all over himself. Seymour felt no compunction, nor did he feel any toward "J." It takes an unreliable man to only refer to himself as a letter, that's what Rabbi always said.

"Go tail that man. I don't like what he's up to."

"But sir, I'm not supposed to le-" An icy glare.

"Did I say you have a choice? Hurry up and I might say something nice about you to Officer Bonner."

"Can I just change my shirt?"

"It's not going to make a difference, sloppy. You'll blend in better."*

The grunt rushed out, obviously afraid of the accountant's hair, or stare, or stylin' flair.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`

Obvious Magma Hangout

"Challengers: Maeno- Level 7 Porygon, called Virus. Jimmy Joe Jackson Peterson Poobah- Level 20 Graveler, called Jimmy Joe Jack.

"Do you see what I'm getting at, gentlemen?"

Seymour pounded a pale fist against the plastic-vomit table. It bent under his nerdy pressure, but sprung up due to its very design.

"Clearly, the matches are not fair. There's no doubt who is going to win. Why even have this?"

The Magma officers looked at him.

"What?"

One of them, a curly redhead, responded.

"It's just, Tomaski, that you sound like you think you have a say in this. You don't. There are plenty of other accountants in Nover-"

He was stopped.

By a coarse rat-tat of laughter.

"There are no other accountants in Noverus, you shmuck! They all left this limbo-land. I'm all you've got. And I say we need fairness."

Another spoke now, a raven haired short woman.

"Tomaski, it appears to me that you are caring for the involved. Is this a little compassion for these citizens?"

"No."

Firm. Too firm.

"There's just no point in this little betting ring if things aren't fair. Magma will lose money. And that means I'll lose money. And money is in my blood. I need it."

"Fine then. Go to this Maeno, and give her another chance. You are hereby assigned as their manager."

"I still have Blank and- Curse it, that's not what I-"

Darkness.

"And again with the blindfold!"

The Slums: Old Pokemon Center

"What did you mean the mustache did nothing?"

Seymour easily passed through to the holding cell. Just flash a few papers, a few more dollars, and gee, they're your best friend.

A small child knelt on the ground, blue hair jutting into angry shocks of ponytails.

"Ah, excuse me, Maeno? Could you get up, please?"

[Master Houndoom]

Jay ran his hands through his sweat soaked hair. It wasn't that he was losing, per se. In fact, it was ridiculously the other way around. So far, Videl was running circles around the hypno, which hadn't done a thing against her. Hinata, next to him, seemed agitated.

Just... just put him out of his misery, Trainer Jay...

"What're you talking about, hun?"

Jay felt a warmth grow in their communication, but didn't look over. The hypno. He doesn't know anything but straight up psychic ability. And Videl can't get hurt by psychic attacks. There's no sport to this. It's like they want you to win.

He considered it, then sighed. He'd half suspected this, anyway, but he didn't want to say anything. It was his first match, after all. "Videl," he called, stopping the pup in her tracks. She turned and looked at Jay, shrugging off another psychic attack even though her back was turned. Her tongue lolled out and her tail wagged. The other trainer, a woman with brown hair, a few years older than Jay, began to cry.

"Com'ere, baby." Videl trotted to Jay, looking quizzical, but with her tail still wagging. Jay knelt down, pitching his voice so no one else could hear. "Why don't you knock it out as quick as you can? We don't need this fight." Videl wagged her stub harder, glad to have commands from her trainer, who, up until this point, had been waiting to see what the other trainer would do.

"Good girl."

Thank you, Hinata mind-whispered.

"You were right, sweety. Better to get it over with."

Videl charged at the hypno and smogged it, then spit a tiny spark at the cloud of smog as it reached the psychic type. The smog went up in flames briefly, and the hypno staggered back. Videl wagged her tail, bouncing around, then gave a long, chilling howl. The pokémon scrambled away, putting itself in his master's pokémon, and refusing to come out.

Two magma grunts came and dragged her away. She screamed the unfairness, causing Jay to cringe.

When he looked at Hinata, she, too, was crying.

She's terrified. Jay centered himself as he was taught, and projected calm. Hinata relaxed a tiny bit, but was still subdued, even as she wiped under her eyes. She's very afraid of what those men will do to her, Trainer Jay. She added, with a small sniffle, So am I.

Jay was all too aware of his proximity to more magma grunts. Then we'd better figure out what's going on and if we can stop it. And we'd better attract the attention of someone who canif we can't.

The resolve set, Jay pushed past the guards.

"You got six hours," one ground out roughly, thrusting an envelope at Jay's chest. "There's the new arena."

"I want to see my manager," was all he said, sneering at the guards. They sneered back, but did not advance. However, they traded knowing looks when he turned to walk away.

[Shiny Ninetales]

Maeko was fairly comfortable sitting next to the makeshift bed that was made for her to sleep on and on the bed was the sleeping Virus. With her full attention on taking care of Virus, Maeko did not notice the door opening and the man behind her until the man spoke. It was rather frustrating to hear her name mispronounced but the politeness of his statement was helpful in keeping Maeko’s temper down.

“What do you need me for? I just lost your little match you set up for me to do… and I’m quite tired right now to do anything… not to mention hungry,” Maeko muttered as she got up from the floor and sat on the bed.

[Troy Bolton]

Seymour frowned. He wasn't good with people, much less kids.

"You're hungry? I can take care of that."

"Magma!" he barked. A straw haired recruit came bustling in. He shook a little when he gazed upon the tall, pale, jewfro'd accountant.

"Y-yes sir!"

"I'm not a sir. Get this child some food."

"Yyes si-, ah, Mr. Tomaski!"

He shuffled out. Into the blackness.

"And some matza for me!"

He turned to the boy- no, girl.

"Now, listen, Maeno." Kids needed to be spoken to simply. "The bad red people cheated you out of that battle, so I'm going to give you another chance. It'll be like this didn't even happen. I'll get one of those yellow diamonds for your Porygon. It'll be shipshape!'

"Mushnik aaand Son! Sounds great~ Three words with the ring of fate! So why-"

Seymour frantically punches his PokeGear.

So what. He likes a good musical every now and again.

"What what WHAT."

"Sir, your client, J wishes-"

"I'M NOT A SIR!"

"Mr. Tomaski, your client J wishes to speak with you."

"Set up a meeting at the first place, Fish and Center. Over."

He ended the transmission, making sure to set it to vibrate.

"Alright, listen now, Mr. Seymour's gotta go now. You be good, ok?"

He quietly shut the door behind him, not bothering to lock it.

"Magma!" he barked, and the returning Sandy-haired nearly dropped his Poke-King bag and pancakes.

"Get Maeno a revive. She fights again in an hour."

He took the pancakes, taking a huge bite out of one.

Nothing like Mamma used to make.

Fish and Center.

"Now, what is it you want, J? I'm a very busy man."

[Master Houndoom]

"Info. Nothing more, nothing less." Jay did his best to look non-chalant, with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, but he was, internally, seething, and he knew he was probably radiating it to anyone with an eye keen enough to see it.

"What's really going on here? You can tell me. It'll be our little secret. Hell, I might even help. I'm pretty handy with a lie or two."

He's not buying it.

Jay sighed, rubbign the bridge of his nose. "Fine, then, you don't want help, you don't need help. I get that. But I'd like something more of a challenge and less of a 'here's a punching bag for you.' But, then, I don't want to *be* the punching bag either. Why don't you just... set me up with a fight that I have an even chance of winning or losing? I mean, you get paid either way, right?"

Jay turned to leave, and then stopped. "Do you... um... use a special curler to get your hair to do that? I'm just wonderin'."

As they left, to the snickers of the braver guards, Hinata tapped his mind. Aren't you afraid he'll treat you like one of the other ones and put you in a one sided match?

"Nah, hun. Guys like that are all over the scripts mom and dad get. They're either revelling in what little power they have, or they're more concerned about money than anything else. Guys like that usually end up ignored, broken, or hiding in an outhouse until they're eaten by a rampagine charizard." He shrugged, grinning. "He may be a threat, but not to me."

Trainer Jay, this isn't one of your parents' movies, and it's not a comic book.

"I know, sugar. But I have to push buttons to see what works." He looked down at Hinata, and smiled, a little. "We'll be OK, hun."

I hope.

I HEARD THAT!

[Dmitri Shostakov...]

Blank awoke, groggy. His vision was still blurry, but he could move. He got up, and scrambled around in the dim light. Sabre and Weiss stood still, watching. The door opened, and the room was flooded with white light.

Blank shielded his eyes, which stung like crazy. He heard the guard's condescending voice, "Time for Round Two."

Blank was grabbed and dragged down the hallway, with the guard making it as uncomfortable as possible. He returned his Pokemon to their Poke Balls, so the guard could not harm them. He slowly opened his eyes, which were finally adjusting to the light. His captor had cotton balls in his mouth. If he were not wearing a Magma uniform, his clothes would have visible blood stains on them. His hat covered any hair he might have.

"You'll be using Wynaut this time."

Blank was thrown into the ring once again. His head was buzzing, and he did not hear the screaming betters or the announcer. He simply stared ahead, waiting for his opponent to come out. He stood up, knees shaking, and brought out Weiss.

Weiss wondered, "Wy-Wynaut?" as if he was not expecting to be used. Blank smiled at him and told him that he was indeed going to be used. He was just as good as Sabre in his own way.

The announcer, which Blank could now hear, shouted, "Here comes Lady Theresa!"

A woman wearing an elaborate black-and-white coat slinked into the arena. She looked like she was in this tournament by choice, not by force. If she can afford that coat, why doesn't she buy a ticket out of here? thought Blank. She was obviously from the rich district, so why did she enter this tournament?

Blank concluded that she was hired to win the tournament. That way, the tournament organizers would not have to deal with a poor person winning and moving away. Blank despised her, as she represented what he used to be.

Her hair looked oddly familiar. It looked like a Pokemon...

Blank realized what it was, and swore. His curse was drowned out by the roar of approval as Lady Theresa brought her Absol.

Weiss cowered. He too was aware that Wynaut vs. Absol was an incredibly unfair match-up. The fight began anyway.

[Shiny Ninetales]

Apparently there was one Magma bastard that had a human heart to treat a girl with some decency, though it was still quite annoying to hear her name mispronounced over and over again. Then again, Maeko did not really give a damn if they actually knew her name since it was better to have your enemy never learn your real name. As the man barked at his subordinate to get some food for her and then to get a revive for Virus, Maeko simply sat there and observed the man that was talking to her. She figured the man was the person running the whole battle arena thing she was currently in and decided to memorize the man’s facial features for a future reference of Magma bastards that were considered human.

Soon the man walked off to do whatever he intended to do, to meet someone that is named after a letter, and the subordinate handed her the food and revive soon after. Maeko quickly used the revive on Virus and in mere seconds the cyber Pokémon vitality returned; she was so glad to see her pal up and about. After reviving Virus, she released her whole party and shared her food with them. The small meal was meager rations for the three but it was enough to give them enough energy for a battle and an escape if needed.

“An hour until the battle… huh… well I’ll depend on you Rin. I hope we meet something much easier for us to fight,” Maeko told Rin and the Sneasel responded by nuzzling Maeko’s face.

[Master Houndoom]

Trainer Jay?

Jay smirked as he and his two pokemon walked down the street to where there next battle was taking place. Despite the sound of sweetness and innocent curiosity Hinata tried to effect, he could tell she was seething. And he knew why. He did'nt even blame her. However, rather than be cowed or annoyed, he borrowed her technique, inflecting his voice with kind curiosity of his own. "Yes, Hinata?"

You know I trust you, right?

"Yes," Jay answered, as if it were a silly question. And at face value, it was. She may be annoyed with him at times, but she never out and out said she would,'t follow him. "Like a daughter trusts her father, I dare say."

The first slip of her act happened then. don't push it, she growled mentally, then took the time to compose herself. May I ask, then, why Videl is fighting again while I'm stuck on the sidelines like the poor little blind ralts while Videl has to risk her neck again? as soon as it went through the process, a wave of regret hit Jay. I'm... I didn't mean that-

"You really think I think of you that way, Hina?" Jay's voice was quiet. He was no longer humoring her. Instead, his disappointment thrummed through the air as well as their link.

No! I just... I don't understand, Trainer Jay.

Jay stopped and knelt. "You've been doing a lot today, Hinata. You've been monitoring all the fights we've watched while waiting for this match. And you've found out who is afraid and who isn't. And almost invariably, someone who was afraid also lost. I need to know if I'm up against someone who is afraid, and, if you can figure it out, why. Videl can't do that. I need you near me, not in the field making sure you don't get smacked. OK?"

OK, she said, her mental voice subdued. They continued one, and she spoke up again. I'm sorry.

"Hina, I know you're sensitive about your blindness. But you're my ralts, and I trust you as much as you trust me."

I do! I trust you! I.. I just...

"Forgot." Jay reached down and stroked Hinata's head crest. "Try not to forget anymore, Hina."

k.

They arrived at their destination, an abandoned restaurant. As they entered, one of the grunts leaned in. "You're late."

Jay looked over his shoulder, sneering. "One of my pokémon needed to use the john."

A man stepped into a middle of a cleared area which used to be the restaurants dining room. He raised his hands and addressed the several people in a circle, surrounded by uturned wooden chairs and tables. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ROUND TWO OF THIS MAN'S BATTLE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! OVER HERE IS A MAN WHO HAS ONLY BEEN IDENTIFIED AS "J". HIS HOUNDOUR COMPLETELY HUMILIATED HIS OPPONENTS POWERFUL HYPNO! WHAT DOES THIS ROUND HAVE IN STORE FOR HIM?

"COMING NOW, FROM THE KITCHEN, WHICH EMBODIES THE COLDEST REACHES OF DEATH AS WELL AS THE HOTTEST HEAT OF HELL IS THIS MAN'S CHALLENGE! SHE IS TINY, BUT SHE IS FIERCE, WELCOME... WHO CARES?!?!"

Jay looked up and say his opponent and sighed. "Great, just great."

She's terrified, no matter how much she doesn't look it.

"OK, Videl. Take it slow. I need time to think."

This post has been edited by Jaima: Apr 6 2009, 11:19 PM

[Shiny Ninetales]

As the time of her next match drew near, Maeko twiddled her thumbs in her little cell and became restless with uneasy thoughts. She could not shake off the fact that she could be stuck in this place for the rest of her life if she kept losing in battles. The girl knew pretty well that she was not a strong battler and probably never will be because of her nerves getting the better end of her. By the time she was called out to battle, Maeko could not stop thinking about how she would be continually mistreated if she lost; she still could remember the angry look of Billy after he recovered from the groin strike from Alto.

Maeko winced from the bright spotlights as she entered the arena. The place was packed full of people and it did not help that there was a loud announcer blasting his commentary so he could yell over the already noisy crowd. It was absolutely disquisting for Maeko to just stand there and be beaten to a pulp for the enjoyment of lowlifes.

"R-Rin... go," Maeko muttered as her little Sneasal took a few steps to walk towards the arena. Rin took a long look back to look at her trainer and knew that she was not in any condition to fight.

"Rin... use Screech now," Maeko simply ordered and Rin took a deep breath before she let a loud, piercing call emit from her mouth.

[Master Houndoom]

Jay had to cover his ears against the screech, then, gritting his teeth, nodded to Videl, who was shaking her head to one side, as if something were caught in her ear. He called to her, in a low tone to try to counteract the high pitched squeak, "Show her how it's done! Howl, then Leer!"

Videl let loose with a howl that caused everyone in the room to step back, then eyed the Sneasel with contempt, one lip curling. As he did, he began to circle the edge of the ring, working his way toward the smaller, younger opponent.

Hinata, can you talk to her? Will she listen?

I can send her a message and see if she hears.

It would have to be good enough. Tell her to circle away from me, toward the back door. See if she listens.

Do you have a plan, Trainer Jay?

Jay smirked, calling for Videl to Leer again. No, but I will once we figure out if she's willing to hear.

Hinata rolled her eyes, but set her focus on the small girl across from them. Move toward the door. Circle away from the big red headed guy. Move toward the door...