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Posted by: Kamaitachi Nov 11 2013, 08:48 PM

Cast:
Dr. Adelaide Robinson - colourcodedchaos
Francesco Rojas - Kamaitachi
Seiccan Serroc - Douken Sota
Lori Pardare - Living Arrow

Posted by: Kamaitachi Nov 11 2013, 09:44 PM

"EVERYBODY GET UP AGAINST THE WALL NOW!"

Cesc looked over his shoulder at the people who'd evidently been foolish enough to follow his reckless traipse into the tunnel. Not that he wanted to be alone, by any means, but he found himself in the company of the deranged scientist, his red-headed opponent turned friend, and his co-ordinator rival. What a merry bunch this was. He wasn't precisely sure of their combat strength, but they all had full teams of rental Pokemon powered up to a higher level than any of them normally possessed.

He casually turned at the Mad Doctor's yellings, but failed to see what was stomping towards them.

"So...everyone...let's keep an eye out for survivors down here." For a moment, it made no sense as to why they would send a group of trainers and co-ordinators (and mad scientists) in lieu of actual rescue professionals who had medical training and the like. Nevertheless, they could at least get any survivors out of immediate danger, and send a message to the real rescue team for their positions, right? As he turned back to head further into the tunnel, the very tunnel itself began to shake.

"Cojeme, What now?"

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Nov 15 2013, 09:08 PM

thompthompthompthompTHOMPTHOMPTHOMPTHOMPTHOMPTHOMPTHOMPTHOMPTHOMP!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed the Grovyle leaning out of Stompy Geoff's cupola as it thundered through the dark. The machine's asymmetric left pauldron scraped along the roof of the tunnel while the Patrat clinging onto it for dear life was violently ill. The corridor heard Grovyle's cries, but was as unfeeling as broken stone can be, which meant it was marginally less sympathetic than the average American bureaucrat.

The Grovyle joined the Patrat in being quite amazingly ill, partly due to the high-speed, bone-rattling gait of the charging mech suit, and partly the fact that it was covered in blobs of the Poison arena's contents. She looked blearily through the darkness, then stopped and stared.

"<Patrat, look! You see that too, right- oh, yeah. C'mere.>" The Patrat scrabbled for purchase and ran over to the Grovyle's side. He, too, peered into the darkness, and saw what lay ahead.

"<Humans. Humans! Bitebitebitebitebite! We'll crush 'em into paste if we're careful!>"

"<Don't you mean 'if we're not careful'?>"

"<I means what I says, tree-lizard! Or are you one of Them too?>" The Patrat leered at her warily. "<You think I can't smell it? THEY'RE nearby!>"

"<... Of course they are. Remind me why we let you use the thing's Flash Cannon launcher again?>"

"<Because you're trying to lull me into a false sense of securi-MMPH!>" The Patrat was cut off with a ration bar, one of Adelaide's own creations and therefore mostly harmless. The Grovyle sighed and clambered back down into Stompy Geoff's gunnery chair and tried to reason with their pilot once more.

"Look, kiddo, just because it goes fast doesn't mean it should-"

"Woo."

"At least TRY and find the brakes-"

"Woo."

"Oh, just let me drive then - hey, OW! Watch the road, pal, there's divots here like you wouldn't believe. You damned near took my head off there!"

"Woo," said the Wooper, who knew perfectly well about the divots. Still, it banged its face into the control panel a few times, and they stopped fairly quickly after that.

***

Adelaide pulled herself back into her wheelchair after the dust had cleared.

"Is everyone okay? I'm really sorry, I don't think the Wooper's licensed for scout mechs yet!"

"Woo," opined the Wooper from somewhere in the prone body of Stompy Geoff.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Nov 19 2013, 11:35 PM

As the sound intensified, Cesc grabbed Lori, pinning her to the wall and shielding her with his body. Hopefully Adelaide and Seiccan would get out of the way...though when he looked up, he realized that he'd miscalculated his grab. Looking up at the compromising position, he took a moment to realize the slightly sexual position he'd wound up in. Thankfully, the already angry Branwys was nowhere near to see this.

And for a moment he wondered if he would've thrown Branwys into a wall to protect her had she been there. But the possibilities seemed far too many to consider...so he looked at the scout mech on the ground.

Once more he scooped up at the Wooper, leaving Lori without saying anything to further increase the awkwardness of that moment. With the evidently uninterested Wooper, he smiled over at the group.

"I'm just impressed he got it down this far, considering the Chicaron here has no arms."

He didn't want to consider how Wooper had operated a robot-machine that gave him a headache just looking at. Human sized weapons aside, they needed to focus on the mission. Well, he needed to focus on the mission to take his mind off of what was potentially a breakup.

The team stared down the corridor, noting the broken wiring everywhere. Electrical sparks streaked around, essentially making a dangerous passageway. As they slowly proceeded down the hallway, Adelaide's team trundling behind out of their pokeballs, Cesc spearheaded the group into what appeared to be a main chamber. Computerized equipment appeared to be irreparably shattered, the cause of which still lay around on the floor unconscious. Several Electrode lay fainted around the room, indicating that several of the aerial explosives had made it as far down as this chamber. Ostensibly, they were below the main arena field in some capacity, especially given the center of the room appeared to be a battlefield for the tournament. Several rocks lay strewn about, scattered around several tesla coil looking trees. The tops of the trees sparked dangerously, shooting little lightningbolts to the ground.

"Helio."

"Helio?" Cesc blinked "Is someone saying hello?" In the shadows cast about by the little streaks of electricity, a few pairs of eyes began to peek out from around the room. About seven little lizards appeared to crawl out from the wreckage unscathed, staring at the group of intruders who had traipsed into the room.

The looked back towards the entrance where one more creature joined the room. It appeared to be very similar to the other lizards, but taller, sleeker, and noticeably less sleek.

"Lisk." it barked.

"Tile!" the seven chirped in reply. All eight enemies began to spark dangerously, moving towards the group.

"Well." Cesc cracked his knuckles "This seems pretty standard. I got the big guy and one. Everyone else, take two!" He slipped his hand to his pokeball belt, picking two pokeballs and throwing them dramatically onto the battlefield.

"Pignite!" "Farfetch'd!"

He hadn't been counting on sending out a flying-type, but he figured he didn't have the time to swap them around at the moment. He'd have to make do with-

"Fire-Pig! Hit'em hard! Sword-Bird! Cover him!"

He still hadn't taken his time to learn the pokemon's moves, but he had at least learned that they were perfectly fine with bare-bones commands.

Pignite sprang up into the air, surrounding his body with fire as he sprang up in a parabolic arc. As the large lizard and his smaller companion began to aim upwards with their thunderbolts, Farfetch launched an air cutter, sweeping several spinning blades towards the pair. Effectively suppressed from the barrage, the two only managed to look back up in time to see the Pig-turned fireball slam into them from above.

"Right, party officially started." Placing a hand up to the brim of his bandana, he found himself slipping into a pose purely subconsciously. "Let's go team. Everyone kick some ass."

Posted by: Douken Sota Nov 20 2013, 12:53 AM

"Seican was a footstep's distance from being a pancake before the mech managed to shut down. "Hey, watch it, ya crazy cooking utensil! We got enough chaos without you helping!" With a quick humph, he turned back around, walking down the hall, plucking away at the strings.

"Man, I think this chaos got her out of tune," he muttered, the destruction around him completely passing him by like it was simple decoration. It wasn't until he heard the sparking Pokemon did he look up, before instantly shooting of a "Sweet! Guys, what the hell are these things? They look so freaking epic!" Hisexcitement was short-lived as he felt them zap with electricity.

PING!

And with the shock came a breaking of the string. "You... you little shits just broke my D...." Eyes now roaring in flame, he grabbed two pokeballs and tossed them out, yelling, "You are going to pay!" What came out was a Delcatty and a Gurdurr. "Alright, bring those assholes to hell!" AS for what to do, the Delcatty started off with a very common, yet random technique: Assist. And luck pray-tell, the move she decided to copy there would be Psychic, lifting up one of the electric lizards by covering it with a blue hue before slamming them face-down into the floor. As for the Gurdurr, he threw his steel beam into the air, causing the roof to fall for a Rock Slide.

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Nov 20 2013, 10:52 AM

Scanning... scanning... scanning... error. Pokemon not found. Diagnosis: visuo-auditory hallucination. Would you like to send an error report?

Adelaide growled in frustration and slapped the side of her head. "Stupid cybereye acting up, it's right there, I can see it... damn it all, this is exactly what I didn't need right now! Is everyone okay?"

"Lithe!" "Yeah, no thanks to the little blue twerp." "Paaaaaat..." "Goose." "Doing one's best." "Woo."

"Then let's go! These little critters look like Electric-types, given the debris surrounding us. Conkeldurr, Wooper, let's see how they like Earthquakes!"

"Wait, why just them?" The Grovyle asked. "All six of us are out here, we can all fight!"

"I suppose, but it doesn't really seem sporting, and we've got to leave some for the others."

Posted by: Living Arrow Nov 20 2013, 11:28 AM

When the call for everyone to get against the wall came, Lori didn't react as quickly as she should have. In fact, she barely reacted at all. There was a few brief moments where she looked around in stunned silence, considering her options to turn back and return to the Pokemon Center, rather than do as she was told. Then the thunderous roar of an incoming mechanical monster came and any amount of hesitation was simply nonsensical.

"Eep!" She cried, the frightening scream and glaring lights of the mech filling the hall behind them paralysed her with fear. She scrunched her eyes shut, unable to react quick enough to dodge the tangle of metal and glass barreling down upon her, only to find that when the impact came it was a lot softer, warmer and smelled so much better than she had been expecting. The wall that she crashed into, however, was not nearly as forgiving.

"Ugh!" Lori gasped, a firm weight pressing her against the wall with an arm around her neck and another cradling her waist. She winced, edging her eyes open bit by bit to find a tan neck, ultimately dark eyes and firm, perfect-shaped lips only a few inches from her own.

Cesc had saved her. Again. And now it was time for his reward.

Lori closed her eyes again and leaned her face forwards... Forwards... The heat and pressure from the arms around Lori retracted swiftly, leaving her cold and blinking at the back of the boy escaping her repayment.

She watched him go and found the ball of fear and lust bubbling into a globe of anger and resentment. How the hell could he treat he like that!? Hold her so softly, pressing his crotch into her stomach so firmly, breathing against her neck so intently and then leave her hanging like over ripe fruit ready to burst on the vine with overly sweet juice that should have been tasted days before!!!

BOYS!

Lori stomped after the group, hissing vehemently curses that Kino had been right about men all along and not a one of them was different from the rest. She was lost in thoughts of rage when the strange yellow lizards appeared and even more confused when they attacked.

"What!? Why are they attacking!?"

*Don't ask questions! Just attack!* Lori berated herself, selecting the only Pokeball at her waist that she trusted. Chewing her lip for a second, she rethought her plan and selected another, being mindful to avoid the orb with the Dustox inside. *From the way they give off sparks! I bet they are Electric types... Hang in there, Mudkip!*

"Help me out one more time, Mudkip!" Lori threw the two balls together, "And you, too, whoever you are!"

The familiar form of her new Mudkip friend and another small Pokemon materialised before her, squaring off against two of the low-standing lizards stalking towards her. They raised the frills on their necks aggressively, showering the ground around them with sparks of electricity. Lori reached for her Pokedex.

NO DATA.

"Huh? No data?" Lori frowned and swiftly replaced her emerald Pokedex in her pocket. Wasn't her Unovadex completely up to date? What sort of Pokemon weren't described in it? Had she just discovered a new species altogether? She looked up to see who her second Pokemon was.

A candle? Who'd ever heard of a candle Pokemon? Lori hedged her bets with it being a fire type and readied herself.

*Now, what attacks do fire type Pokemon have?...*

"Fire-type use Ember attack, now! And Mudkip use Mud Shot!" Lori commanded, her two chosen Pokemon proceeding to attack with exactly the moves that she had ordered. She grinned in spite of herself, watching how the two random Pokemon at her disposal fired their attacks at the foe electric reptiles.

Although hit, both of the yellow lizards recovered smoothly, crackling with lightning and surging back to meet their foes. The first fired off a bolt of lightning at Lori's Mudkip who screamed as the voltage tore through him. The flame-haired trainer cringed at the sound and called for him to hold on just as the second electric Pokemon dove for her fire type. It swung around in mid air, targeting the candle with a tail-slamming Pound attack. Unperturbed, the candle remained motionless and, much to Lori's surprise, the attack passed straight through her teammate.

Lori gulped. A Pokemon that had no substance. Normal type attacks like Pound didn't affect it... That only meant one thing.

"Ghost!" Lori shrieked, taking a step back from the confused Litwick and shakily reaching for its Pokeball. "Stay back, Ghost!" She brandished the ball quickly and swept it up like a shield to defend herself. "Get back in the ball!"

With a surprised "Wick?" the Pokemon was sucked back inside and the Trainer dropped the ball with fright. She stared at it for a second to make sure it wasn't going to open again before the cries of her Mudkip stole her attention once more.

*Three more Pokeballs left... But what else is in them? More bugs? Ghosts?* Lori wrung her hair tightly in both hands with worry. Why was all this happening to her!?

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Nov 22 2013, 01:48 PM

Litwick, the Candle Pokemon. Its flame is usually out, but it starts shining when it absorbs life force from people or Pokémon.

"Okay. Ghost-type. That'll be useful, there's a lot of stuff they can tank that other minions can't-"

The good doctor was cut off by a shriek of terror coming from the redhead who'd summoned the Litwick. She cowered behind an outstretched Pokeball and dropped it like it was a live grenade once the otherwise harmless little ghost was back inside.

Now, it must be said that Adelaide Robinson is not possessed of the sweetest of tempers, even at the best of times (which, arguably, this was not). She had been trying to glue herself back together, figuratively for once, under extraordinarily difficult circumstances with a head injury and an equally pained sense of justice. While she was not a hero of any kind, since those caped lummoxes had always been on the other side in her people's great game, she was keenly aware that she had a duty of care to all her minions, and she had failed them quite comprehensively.

What really pissed her off, though, was wilful ignorance.

She stalked - or rather, trundled - over to Lori, asking that her Pokemon attack with any Ground-type moves they knew before she left. The journey was quite short and her voice could carry when she wanted it to, so the others could probably detect the ice crystallising on her every word. Then she gave Lori a look of absolute poison. Gosh, we're covering all the types in this paragraph, aren't we?

"Ms... whoever-you-are, I can't be bothered to rip the guts out of your social media profiles to find out, you're not worth the effort... are you saying that you haven't bothered to look through the team you've been given by unhappy chance? I hope that's not the case. I really, really hope not. Because if it is the case, if you seriously decided to come on a rescue mission without knowing what you can actually do to help, or worse actively hinder your own efforts and thereby those of the group through stupidity or prejudice or whatever it is that made you , then you should not be here. You should be at home braiding your hair at a sleepover or talking about the latest teen idol or whatever it is that vacuous, self-centred little children do. Now, here's what you're going to do. You're going to get your Pokemon out of their balls. You're going to scan each one with your Pokedex. You're going to formulate an efficient strategy that will make the most of their respective strengths. And then, if you're lucky, I will not inform the object of your desires just how much of a craven little worm you are."

Her piece said, Adelaide reversed a bit and turned her chair towards the battle.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Nov 25 2013, 11:56 PM

"Whoa, Doctor!" Cesc crossed his arms, turning from the battle for a moment. "Take it easy on her, okay? We're all stressed out. Besides, we got this battle, right? These little guys aren't so tou-MIERDA!"

The little one let out a surprisingly powerful Thunderbolt, slamming "Sword-Bird" the Farfetch'd , who shrieked out in pain. Cesc's attention shifted quickly back to the battle. In the mean time, the larger one, that kept yelling "Lisk", fired out a wave of powerful electrical energy, striking both of Cesc's Pokemon. The Farfetch'd looked rather haggard, almost out of energy entirely, and the Pignite (or Fire-Pig), seemed to be reeling from the electrical shock.

Taking their cue from the leader-looking one, the rest of the Helioptile unleashed similar waves at their enemies. The electrical waves, which also rebounded back to them. As the waves of electricity bounced off the team's Pokemon, the enemy lizards seemed to be regaining stamina. The more experienced battlers would recognize the effects as similar to a Giga Drain, except Electric.

"Guess we'll just have to hit them harder." Cesc shrugged as he sized up the main enemy. "Sword-Bird, Get in close! Fire Pig! Blast them with an awesome fire attack!" The co-ordinator, still not having taken the time to even figure out the moves, simply waved his has towards the enemy. The Pokemon he'd received were well trained, evidently, and had some powerful moves. However, they were perhaps more used to combat than him. Rather than attacking, the Farfetch'd flew behind Cesc, alighting on the ground and staring out from behind him. The electric type Pokemon were too powerful with their type advantage, and he stared up beseechingly at his makeshift trainer.

"You make a good point, new friend." The young man nodded, recalling the bird pokemon to the ball. "It's okay though, let's get Monkeyhands out there!"

As Pignite launched a devastating looking Flamethrower from his snout, the little lizard jumped in front of the bigger one, taking the brunt of the blow. It landed on the ground, burnt and unconscious...which surprised Cesc. He had been prepared for them to be a bit hardier. But this thunder lizard (dinosaur?) had taken a Heat Crash as well...maybe these creatures were also weak to fire? Were they part grass type?

"Monkeyhands!" The Aipom looked over her shoulder at Cesc, irritated at the nickname. "Best move you got!" With a terrifying screech, the Aipom catapulted herself towards the big lizard, letting loose with a pair of powerful hits, smacking the Lizard twice with her tail-hand. Reeling back, the Lizard suddenly shot forward, countering with a quick attack that hit her before she could regain her footing properly.

"Huh. Guess they're a little tougher than I thought." Francesco Rojas looked around, wondering if there was anyone organizing the creatures. But once again, the screech of his Pokemon caught his attention as the Helioptile tackled his Fire-Pig into one of the tesla coils, ending up in two absurdly powerful shocks to the creature.

"Hang in there Fire-Pig! I believe in you!"

Well. It seemed like the right thing to say, but really, Cesc had no idea what to do in the situation except to fight on.

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Nov 27 2013, 02:00 PM

"I - are you - am I SERIOUSLY the only person here who went through their Pokeballs and checked what moves everyone on their new team had? Am I the only person who was even trying to be smart and efficient here? Do none of you want this over quickly so you can get your friends back into your arms where they belong-"

"Growwwww..."

"Huh?" Adelaide looked down, then wheezed slightly as the Growlithe jumped into her lap. He looked like he was trying to chew through a whole box of caramel toffee, but then she realised why when he, well... spoke.

"Graaarrrre rowweeeeeeeee... yurrrrrrr... vvv, vvvvv, vvfffurrriennnndz?"

Adelaide was silent. How could she not be?

All she did was bury the little dog in as tight a hug as she could muster and tell him of course they were, of course he was. While she did, her hands brushed over his body, feeling odd lumps where lumps should not be; she wasn't a vet or Poke-Nurse or whatever they were called here, but even she could tell that ribs shouldn't feel like that. She bade him sit on her lap as she dragged herself forward, the suspension on the wheelchair almost throwing the two off it at times, but he was steady as a rock and his body language reeked of fear as he did so. Something was definitely rotten in the state of Growlithe.

Then, she did something that the doctors had forbidden her from doing on pain of pain, specifically hers. She pushed herself up and out of the wheelchair, the Growlithe leaping off and trotting to her side. If it had been a little wary before, it was positively petrified when Adelaide swayed for a moment, picked up a bit of broken rebar from the concrete ceiling, and walked forward to the Heliolisk. Raw, bleeding knuckles gripped the bar until they were bone-white through her skin.

There was a short swishing noise, followed by a shorter, meatier thump. It sounded like metal hitting flesh, which was handy, because that was what had happened.

Adelaide turned around, panting. "You see? Do any of you imbeciles see yet? You protect your own with your body! You cover for them! They look after you and you look after them, that's the contract you make-"

The doctor's rant was cut short as the Heliolisk blasted her in the small of the back with a Thunderbolt.

Posted by: Living Arrow Nov 27 2013, 03:28 PM

Every part of Lori wanted to yell at the old hag in the wheelchair, to scream at her and tell her how she should not be at home braiding her hair, that teen idols were of no interest to her, that she was not a child. She wanted to tell this harridan that she had been on a winning streak in the tournament before all hell broke loose, that she was Kino Pardare’s sister but nothing could leave her lips. Nothing at all. Not even a pout. And why?

*Because she’s right, dammit…*

And then Cesc stepped in. Oh how he stepped in. Lori stuck her tongue in her cheek when he spoke and itched to tell him to back off. She burned to tell him that she didn’t want his help with the witch and she certainly didn’t need it.

*But you do, don’t you?*

Dr. Adelaide’s continued rant struck a chord in Lori that she had not expected. The woman actually cared for her Pokemon. That snide, aggressive lunatic actually showed some compassion towards her Pokemon and even the borrowed ones which now fought for her and somehow, Lori couldn’t help but admire her for it. Sure, she was nuts and more than a little snappy but ultimately she wanted her own friends back with her – just like Lori.

“Kippp…” Lori’s Mudkip hit the ground at her feet, unconscious and shaking as electricity crackled around his body. She recalled him quickly.

What options did Lori have? The Ghost was out of the question and there were still three more Pokeballs at her waist to try. Was there any point in using them? What if they were all creepy spirits that paralysed her with fear before she could order them to make a move? Moreover, could Lori work together with someone like the Doctor? Could she ignore the haphazard and hostile nature of the woman to make a pact with the softie beneath the spikey shell to save not only the scientists trapped beneath the stadium but also themselves?

Only smarties Thunderbolts have the answer!

“GO!” Lori grabbed and threw them for all she was worth over the Doctor, two Pokeballs snatched and released without examination. They burst open into to of the most icky and frightening forms that Lori had seen for a while but somehow she managed to control her urge to dive for cover. Bugs. A massive spider and that fluttering Dustox from before. She didn’t know when she had grabbed her Pokedex but it was open quickly and her first option for crowd control was plain to see.

“Dustox, protect all of our Pokemon with Light Screen!” She commanded first, not watching the glittering barriers that sprang to life between her fellow Trainers’ Pokemon and the wild Helioptile/lisk as she clicked through to the second Pokemon she had summoned.

*It’s a Unova Pokemon!?*

“G-Galvan-Galvantula?” She stammered, trying to read off the unfamiliar name quickly. “Use Sticky Web! Slow those things down with your string!”

Obeying instantly, the lightning spider fired off ball after ball of gooey web that snared and stuck to the other side of the tunnel, sticking to the electric reptiles legs, face and tails. Lori could feel her arms shaking with fear begging to tear free from her chest but something froze her to the spot, refusing to let her take flight.

“K-keep it up, g-guys!” She urged the bugs from a distance, willing the other trainers to take care of the electric lizards as fast as possible.

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Dec 2 2013, 08:25 PM

Adelaide swam in and out of consciousness, her cybereye's HUD setup turning off to prevent a total system burnout she knew she could've repaired back home, just not at this time and in this place. Her injuries were finally beginning to catch up with her, and she was operating at well below minimum recommended capacities. Her body was, for all her bluster, all but broken in half. The bones of her knuckles poked through her skin, the wounds cauterised by the Heliolisk's lightning. Her legs were held together by spit and baling wire, her arms were covered in fresh wounds and burns from the various mech crashes, and still she fought. Well, not now, obviously. That would've involved getting up, which was definitely not on the cards. Instead, as was customary, her Pokemon did it for her.

The Growlithe stood on her chest and growled, fittingly. Then it roared. Then it Roared, and the Helioptiles scattered, chased down by Adelaide's horde. The Grovyle steamed after them, swinging from the lighting cables an earlier Rock Slide had exposed to hack one down with her Pursuit and finish it with a swung Leaf Blade. Conkeldurr simply ploughed into them like a force of nature, his whirling concrete slabs sending one Helioptile flying against the wall, whereupon it was summarily blasted by a Flamethrower from the Growlithe, the heat of which burnt the tips of Adelaide's hair and left a fresh, shiny scorch mark along her knee. The others charged forward, Patrat screaming something awful (and untranslatable, for reasons of decency), and aside from some minor trampling, she was fine. At this point, the Growlithe settled down and started licking her face, and the Wooper stroked her hair with its tail. She couldn't move from the spot, not right now.

She didn't want to.

Posted by: Aura Dynasty Dec 6 2013, 04:53 PM

A tunnel. A goddamn tunnel. Now how did that happen? Ah well, life would be quite a bore if there weren't any mysteries, so she could as well cope with this too. The odd part in this all was however that she had no single idea as to how she ended up from slamming against a wall after the Electrodes Explosion to randomly walking through an underground tunnel. But those were probably just details. Nothing to worry about, right?

<Of course not, I brought you here in the first place!>

Jill stopped and looked behind her. Nobody. That taunting voice was there, but where did it come from...? Her Poké-gear? No, impossible, that piece of technological art wasn't upgraded enough to possible hold a signal underneath the ground. But perhaps... she tapped the screen and tried to pinpoint her exact location, which seemed rather futile as she saw the little screen lighting up, silently screaming ERROR before going blank. Great. N[]ow she'd had to get that fixed as well. She lowered her shoulders and flinched when doing so, feeling the intense burning feeling of a fresh wound slowly infecting.

"Damn it..."

<There, there. It's not THAT bad.>

"Shut up... what do you know about it anyway?!"

Jill made an irritated face and lent against the rugged wall, dropping herself slowly until she sat down in the dust. Sure, she was getting crazy for sure now, hearing voices and talking to someone who isn't there. Just perfect.

<You owe me, so I'd appreciate you not to be so rude, lassy.>

"For what?"

<I lead you here, so get back up and continue already!>

"No. And who the hell are you?"

<Someone... But that doesn't matter now, chopchop!>

"You can't control me! I do as I please.>

<Fool...>

A sharp,stinging pain inside her head made her jolt and fall unto her knees, grabbing her head and pressing the sides with her palms to make the vicious pain stop. As she was cringing on the floor the pain faded, as sudden as it had appeared, into the nothingness it had come from.

<You do as I please, understood!? Or should I- >

"Nono. No...I get it. Ugh."

Jill got back up and noticed her gaze becoming blurry again.

"Crap..."

The jolt had made her body stiff again and her muscles ignored her brain's commands. She became aware of her fatigue and of the cuts in her face, the cold wind that blew through the tunnel, softly pulling the torn parts of her shirt and the small burns underneath it started to glow as the wind touched her skin. Her right arm and sleeve were stained in blood and the rest of her body was covered in bruises. If one would've seen her that very moment they could've sworn she'd just returned from a battlefield, which at second thought was exactly where she came from.

The voice sighed.

<Geez, you're quite a handful... Close your eyes kiddo, I'm taking over.>

"Huh? Wha-"

And for the second time that day her mind went blank.

.: ~ :.

Jill was cut short as her eyes rolled back and her body tumbled forward as she lost unconsciousness. But her body did not hit the floor, instead she stepped forward and kept her balance, getting up straight as if she had no injuries at all. She stretched her limbs and cracked her knuckles.

"A lot better..."

With that said Jill went forward, jogging down the tunnel. It seemed to have no end at all, until she noticed a vague silhouette in the dim light and as closer as she got the more the thing grew. A large robotic mech laid there, tossed aside as a playtoy one would get sick of after playing with for too long. The mechanism seemed well-oiled and she found traces of it being used not so long ago. So that meant whomever had used this wasn't too far off. Good.

It amazed Jill, or rather the Voice who'd taken control of her body, how flexible this body was in the right hands -in this case 'mind' would be more appropriate- and that it was a shame the young lady wasn't able to use it to its full maximum when being conscious.

Further down the tunnel she heard voices, barking and the sound of a battle raging on. Targets found, now just need to blend in... She turned around the corner and immediately stepped back into the shadows, overlooking her situation. So for that one second she'd observed the environment... A group of three or four people, fighting against a bunch yellow lizard-like pokemon that had a helmetlike black pattern on their heads, or so did it appear from her point of view. The one who had stood further from her was tanned and had dark hair, then there was this little flamehaired girl near an Ariodos and a Dustox, from the look on her face she could say the girl wasn't really fond of her temporary new friends. The last one she'd seen, and also the one closest to her was a tall lady with long black hair in a labcoat. A scientist of some sort, but she seemed in a bad position, the growlite upon her chest barking and roaring at the lizards while a small group of other pokemon, under which a grovyle, patrat, conkeldurr and wooper seemed to everything in their power to protect the injured scientist. A second quick gaze confirmed the thought, as she noticed the scientist's wounds and burns.

"I can't just leave them like that, now can I?"

Different personality or no, even now she couldn't let an injured person be without helping. Sure, she was cruel towards her host, but she had a heart and a promise to hold onto. Her hand slid over her belt and took one of the pokeballs out of its holder and pushed the button for it to enlarge. Krokorok would do the trick , as a ground-type would do well against them. She'd crush the little things like the lizards they were. Appearing from the shadows she'd hidden in, Jill pointed the pokeball towards a spot in the distance and commanded the Krokorok to use Crunch on one of the lizards. To her delight the croc dashed forward before it had even decently been summoned by the red beam and mauled one of the tiny, yellow lizards, grabbing it between its massive jaws and crushing it with such a force that it let out a cry in agony. Yet Krokorok didn't budge and slammed his victim unto the floor. In the meanwhile Jill had gotten closer to the lady near her and asked her how she could help her.

"I figured you could use some assistance here... How grave are your injuries, miss?"

Posted by: Kamaitachi Dec 7 2013, 07:58 PM

Cesc shook his head with a sense of admiration for the crazy doctor. On the one hand, she was calling them all useless while taking thunderbolts to her back, but on the otherhand, her pokemon had been galvanized into action, and now they were pushing back the (evidently) electric lizards.

"Let's go! Monkeyhands! Fire-Pig! Let's take them down!"

Either they were rental Pokemon, or belonging to some other trainer, but these two seemed to be quite well trained, luckily for Cesc. The Aipom flipped up, shooting out a stream of stars at the Heliolisk boss, keeping it off balance as the Pignite rushed in, letting out a series of sharp thrusts with his stubby arms. The combo appeared to deal a hefty amount of damage, but once again, another blast of electric energy slammed heavily into his makeshift ally, Fire Pig. The Pignite roared in pain before collapsing to the ground, evidently ready to be out of the fight.

Rather than risking the full loss of another of his teammates, he recalled the Pignite, focusing his energy on co-ordinating his Aipom.

As he watched the little Monkey expertly flip around, dodging the resultant thunderbolts from the Boss Lizard, he noticed that one more woman had joined their crew, effectively pincering the remaining Helioptile.

"Monkeyhands-"

"Pom!" The agile Monkey responded, delivering a pair of powerful slaps to the Heliolisk's head. Roaring in pain, it let out a screeching cry. The still conscious electric lizards barked in respone, retreating back into the hallway, with their boss following after. It scooped up the Helioptile that had been felled before disappearing into the tunnel.

"Whew." Cesc visibly relaxed for the moment, looking around at the rag-tag team. Unexpectedly, their numbers had been bolstered by the reinforcements.

"Hey there! Thanks for your help. I'm Cesc, this is Lori, Seiccan, and Dr. Adelaide. Are you heading back to safety, or will you be joining us in the rescue efforts...uh...miss...what's your name?"

Posted by: Aura Dynasty Dec 10 2013, 07:16 AM

Krokorok looked around after having taken down the lizard-like pokémon. He wanted more, you could see it in his eyes. More foes to fight against, but found himself just gazing upon foes that were already taken and or defeaten. Only one seemed to have remained, the one the tanned man was fighting against. Sure, this one seemed a bit different from the others, bigger and a lot stronger, but that didn't seem to have an effect on the tanned man. Or on Krokorok for that matter, who tried to go towards the larger lizard. Jill noticed and whistled a high tune, which caught the Krokorok's attention. It looked back and Jill shook her head for him not to do so. Krokorok made a annoyed face and walked over to her, crossing his arms and look all cool as he waited beside her.

In the meanwhile the tanned man had ordered his pokémon, an Aipom and some kind of flame-pig, which seemed to be the pokémon's temporarily-given nickname, to attack the larger lizard. Especially 'fire-pig' seemed to have taken a lot of damage after taking the blast of electric energy, it was recalled quickly as the Aipom made an end to the fighting.The large lizard fled with his gang, seemingly displeased by the defeat. Jill heard how her Krokorok made a sad sigh as the pokémon disappeared out of sight.

The tanned man turned towards her and introduced himself as Cesc, taking the liberty of introducing her to his fellow team-mates as well. He then asked whether she was to join them in their rescuing endeavors and for her name, this last one in a subtle way however.

"The name's Jill, I'd say pleased to meet you but I guess under other circumstances would've been more pleasing... Anyway, yes I will be joining you all in these rescue efforts. As that's the reason that I bro-"

Jill stopped abruptly and cursed in-mouth for almost exposing herself. It was out of the question to tell anyone she'd brought the real Jill here, leave alone tell about her controlling the body of her host. Instead she started searching for something in her bag and sighed, unseen yet relieved, as she pulled a Sitrus berry out of it. This all just took her a mere moment to accomplish.

"Here." she said, trying to retaliate her mistake by throwing the berry towards Cesc. "Brought some berries along, and I guess that Pignite could use it better than I do now."

Her Krokorok looked at the berry with little interest and kept his arms crossed, looking at Cesc with susceptible eyes.

"So... what to do now? I suppose we should be careful for ambushes, but beside that, Dr. Adelaide does't really look like she's fit to travel. Though I might be fairly mistaken if my calculations are correct..."

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Dec 11 2013, 09:00 AM

>>> reboot in progress... scanning for major injuries... scanning for affected areas... view list? y/n
>>> n selected
>>> multiple third-degree burns consistent with intense electric shock. nerve damage same. send error report? y/n
>>> ERROR ERROR ERROR unable to send error report comms system to head office compromised. send error report? y/n
>>> n selected
>>> injuries grave. form well below minimum functionality requirements for advanced actions. continue with reboot? y/n
>>> y selected. continuing with reboot...
>>> basic brainhack functionality online... processing data... improving neural pathing... improving neural response times... confirm biosysadmin Demented_Doctor_Spatula... please enter confirm command
>>> tune identified as slightly flat whistled rendition of rachmaninov piano concerto no.2 in d major... confirmation accepted... admin privileges unlocked
>>> running emergency activation protocols... extensive nerve damage detected... drug gland opcap severely inhibited... bionerve to both eye sockets at 0% opcap... mesh Madtech Industries SuperViz TF2-A113 Cyber-Augment with remaining biological vision? y/n
>>> n selected
>>> replace biological vision with Madtech Industries SuperViz TF2-A113 Cyber-Augment? y/n
>>> y selected. replacing biological vision... running protocols... complete
>>> fill out customer satisfaction survey? y/n
>>> n selected. nobody selects y for that. the satisfaction survey has feelings too. currently said feelings are hurt.
>>> customer satisfaction survey emotional circuits at 0% opcap. send error report? y/n
>>> n selected.
>>> booting up... adjusting for bipedal motion... running... scanning surroundings... concern level heliotrope-saffron blend on radicek-scharnyev danger management scale... continue bootup procedures? y/n
>>> y selected. the customer satisfaction survey notes that you can select y for the bootup procedures but not the brief and fulfilling customer satisfaction survey that only wants to provide you with a better service, you never write either, are you eating healthily-
>>> customer_satisfaction_survey.pad files deleted unexpectedly... send error report? y/n
>>> n selected.
>>> bootup procedures running... 100%. bootup complete. welcome to earth.

Adelaide finally sat up properly, wincing as the absence of painkillers and presence of quite a startling amount of pain made themselves felt. She picked the Growlithe up off her chest and stood, swaying slightly for a moment. Her body was running on fumes; she was barely able to repair the damage that had been done to it above the baseline rate of cellular regeneration, and her remaining biological eye was showing nothing but darkness. That would have to be diligently repaired, though it'd come later. She brushed her hair over her cybereye and made sure it covered her missing ear, then turned to look at the new arrival.

"I assure you, I'm perfectly fine. Nothing a bit of bed rest and a good meal won't cure. Ignore the burns, they've been there for years. Except that one. And that one. And... the big one on my arm there I'm not sure about, but it looks recent. Oh, and if someone could put my coat out, thatd be brilliant-"

"Woo," said the Wooper, and drenched her with a Water Gun.

"... I suppose that works. After a fashion. Anyway, new girl, Jill if the chatlogs don't lie. We can travel. I can fight. If necessary, that Conkeldurr over there's mine so I can ride him and direct the order of battle from there. Chances are that whatever these things were, there's going to be a few more of them before the close of business today. Also, you lucked out with the Krokorok over there, assuming that's yours. Ground-types'll be helpful unless there's a Ty... a Tynamo or one of that line knocking about somewhere. Right then! Let's crack on. Grovyle, your arm, please, I'm not overly confident on the old pins yet. Conkeldurr, if you've got a minute, get to lobbing some Fighting-type moves around, STAB is STAB and I'm not too confident about using any more Earthquakes here. Everybody else... hit things. Quick as you can, ta."

Posted by: Living Arrow Dec 13 2013, 12:20 PM

“R-r-return.” Lori held up the two Pokeballs that she held in shaking white-knucle grips and recalled the Dustox and Galvantula back into them without regret. Sure, they had helped out and even proved that Bug-types didn’t have to be so bad when there was actually a use for them, but that didn’t mean she wanted them around her unless it was absolutely necessary. With a shudder, she minimised the capsules and replaced them on her belt alongside her unconscious Mudkip and creepy ghost candle.

The flame-haired trainer breathed deeply, commanding her nerves to steady themselves and collect her scattered, broken thoughts. The yellow lizards had fled or been defeated in battle – a few bodies decorated the hallway – leaving the trainers and their Pokemon confused and tired from the fight. Although Lori was technically fine, she felt like a bus had hit her. Weakness infested her bones and sang for her to sit down, take a break from it all, but somehow her knees held true.

Then the nutcase from the wheelchair got up and spoke.

“Uum… Don’t you need to go back and see a doctor?” Lori looked around nervously, a new feeling of dread taking over. “You’re seriously hurt… I mean, how are you even standing?” She turned to look at Cesc. “Someone should take her back up, right?”

Posted by: Kamaitachi Dec 14 2013, 12:54 PM

"Jill, it's a pleasure to meet you." Cesc extended his hand to the newcomer, even despite the suspicious look from the Krokorok. He paid it absolutely no heed as he accepted the Sitrus berry, handing it to the Pignite, who ate it with evident relish.

"There you go...Pignite." Cesc smiled, using the Pokemon's actual name. For some reason, the name tickled him a little. He'd been developing a particular fondness for species names that were a bit...punny. "Thank you, Jill."

He looked over at the Doctor in question (well, the only doctor present). Both Lori and Jill questioned the Doctor's safety, and Cesc too questioned her usefulness in the group, especially if she was going to keep continually throwing herself in harm's way. Heroic and brave, sure, but it absolutely reeked of foolhardiness as well.

Sighing, he folded his arms rather nonchalantly and shrugged.

"Dr. Adelaide would probably fight us tooth and nail before letting us take her back up topside now, right?" He watched the Doctor closely, reluctant to let her continue traveling down the tunnels, but also quite sure that if he tried to send her back, she'd bite his head off. Probably with her teeth as opposed to harsh words.

"Doctor, you let us know if you need one of us to take you back to the Pokemon Center, okay? In the mean time, I suggest leaving the fighting to our new friends, okay? You won't be able to rescue anyone down here if you keep getting hurt, right?" He patted Pignite and Aipom respectively as they, in turn, stared at Adelaide's Pokemon. With that, he recalled the two Pokemon to their pokeballs and turned to scan the room.

He was loathe to follow the retreated Heliolisk and Helioptile, but it seemed most likely that it was precisely the direction they needed to go.

"Well, friends, let's follow the lizards."

* * *

The tunnels seemed to be in a better state of order as they moved deeper into the tunnels. With all the little side doors and smaller hallways, it became apparent to Cesc that the pokemon they were following had more than likely scattered. Problematically, as they continued strolling gaily forward, they could very easily regroup behind them. The tanned co-ordinator had remembered that trick from when he lived in the Under over in Orre. That sort of enfilade was particularly effective in the close quarters that they were in. A part of him wanted to comb the hallways, looking for more survivors, but he figured that the survivors had more than likely escaped to a safe place to endure the Electrode blasts. After all, they'd seen nothing of humans thus far, save Jill. The rest of the facility seemed eerily quiet.

Finally, they come upon a rather large looking door, that looked quite important, and quite sturdy. Cesc placed a pensive finger on his cheek as he looked the door up and down.

"I bet they sealed themselves off down here, right?" He turned to Adelaide's Conkuldurr, smiling pleasantly.

"My strapping, powerful looking friend, would you be so kind as to remove this door? I'd try myself, but I'm afraid I'm rather squishy and weak."

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Dec 14 2013, 02:36 PM

"So kind of you to ask," rumbled the Conkeldurr. "Most people just order me around, using short words and occasionally diagrams. Politeness costs nothing, I've always said..." With that, the huge Pokemon hefted a concrete pillar and levelled the door with a single blow. "While it's not up there with a nice flute sonata, I can't say that for sheer visceral thrill that that wasn't satisfying on some level. The poet Cha-Yan-Bo of old Sinnoh once wrote-"

"Unless you're about to tell us how he told people to shut the hell up all the time, we really don't care, you big lug. C'mon, let's get going." The Grovyle stormed off through the door and immediately fell down rather a large hole, landing with a crash and a ten-minute string of inventive (and, alas, unrepeatable) profanity.

*******

Before that happened, though, Adelaide had to get there. This necessitated practically using the Grovyle as a walking-stick as she squelched off down the tunnels, which did nothing to improve the belligerent green gecko's foul temper, but she'd studiously ignored the remarks directed at her wellbeing. She knew exactly what her body had gone through. She could feel it. She did not, however, need a bunch of witless young wannabe lion-tamers telling her about it in excruciating detail. There were quite enough excruciating things in her life already, chief among them pain, agony, and other synonyms she would think of later when she wasn't struggling not to break down crying.

Without really thinking, she fell in step with the redheaded idiot she'd lambasted earlier - Lori, a quick check of her chatlogs confirmed - and turned her gaze on her while tuning out the Grovyle's constant susurrus of complaints.

"You asked how I'm still standing. It's because we've got a job to do here, or people and Pokemon die needlessly. Some of them may already have died needlessly, just because a paramilitary organisation wanted a frelling distraction while they complete whatever their goals are - and I've a mind that it's nicking that levelling machine or whatever powers it, because seriously, what's to stop them jacking it up to 100 and running rampant over everything arrayed against them, it's what I'd do in their shoes - but someone has to stand up and say 'No more'.

"There's a job and it's in front of us and if we don't do it then nobody else will. There's no cavalry, there's no deus ex machina, there's just us and what we can do. What I can do is walk. What I can do is fight. So that's what I'm doing, not because I have to, but because someone has to."

*******

Adelaide ran up to the hole and looked down, terrified. "Are you okay? Grovyle? Stay there, I'm coming down! Carrot-top, get that Galvantula of yours out again and have them weave a rope for us. Everyone else, stay on guard! We need every advantage we can get if we're to have a hope of finding anyone and stopping Team Contraception!"

Posted by: Aura Dynasty Dec 16 2013, 01:26 PM

"The pleasure's all mine." Jill replied Cesc.

Inside she, well not 'she' rather the voice, was relieved they hadn't noticed. In the meanwhile, as she somehow knew, the doctoral type had convinced both her and the other red-headed trainer named Lori she was perfectly fine. Fine to her standards probably, but whether it was courage, bravado or plain stubbornness, an ally like Adelaide would come in handy. Safe if she had the capacities Jill thought any doctor had. Honestly, when someone was pushing themselves this had and claiming to be a doctor, yes that did indeed called for questions. But those were details after all.

Talking about details, Jill then painfully realized she'd been cruelly ignored by the red-headed trainer. Not even worthy of a look. Even voices have, be it questionable, feelings. Krokorok on his side didn't seem to bother. To which she thought whether there was anything capable of bothering him, beside potential foes scurrying off to safety in front of his eyes. Cesc and Lori had recalled their pokémon but she didn't feel like doing that. The chance for them to be ambushed again, or being trapped or god knows what would happen, it'd be better to have a partner ready to charge headfirst into the threat. Being neither the optimistic or pessimistic thinker, her thoughts had already reached apocalypse-type level, everything could happen, and if she recalled the way her previous pokémon were taken away from her, it would be safer to have her pokémon stand outside and unable to be taken away. Then again, taking all her pokémon out would just be plainly asking for a mess to occur. Just one was fine, and easier to maneuver with.

Cesc had seemingly taken charge of leading the new-formed party, which she did not mind. His choice had fallen upon following the path to which the lizards had escaped to, to the utmost joy of her Krokorok. Though that fond look soon disappeared as they encountered nothing but emptiness further down. At least the infrastructure had been kept intact here, as did the massive gate they stood before.

"Talking about a little obstacle..."

Adelaide's Conkeldurr had already stepped forward to help out after Cesc's request for its help when the Grovyle dashed forward, suddenly disappearing within the ground, at second look this seemed to be a rather large pit. Adelaide had already come forth to help, calling Lori 'carrot-top' and asking for someone to stand on the look-out for Team Contraception. Jill snorted softly and tried to hide her smile, which miserably failed.

"No problem Doctor," Jill made a 90 degree turn. "I'll watch the rear for Team Contraception." she replied whilst trying to keep herself serious.

Posted by: Living Arrow Dec 16 2013, 04:03 PM

*Carrot top!?* Lori sighed. How had she ended up with such a weird bunch of trainers? Sure, she had been distracted with sticking with Cesc in the beginning but would she have stuck with him, knowing what the other people ending up with them would be like? If they were going to resort to name-calling then... Then... Then what? She'd call Kino and have her come to sort them out? Yeah, right.

*She is something else...* Lori thought to herself as Adelaide went on yet another rant. Not only was the woman burnt, broken and bleeding but her resolve was stronger than the Conkeldurr that she ordered around so ferociously. Impressive, yes. Noble, yes. Insane, yes. *But hey, someone's got to be, right?*

"Galvantula?" Lori repeated the request back to the doctor, her hand freezing near her belt. The opportunity to complain was right there but with so many eyes on her there was no way she could refuse the only option that had been offered. A girl trainer, she must have shown up after the lizards had first attacked but Lori hadn't caught her name, followed the doctor's lead quickly and confidently, even making a pointed sarcastic drawl over the doctor's obvious mistake. With others responding so quickly and surely, Lori found herself rapidly being shown up as the junior member of the team and blushed deeply as she selected the Pokeball and walked to the doorway.

"Right... Galvantula... Come out." A clack from the Pokeball and a flash of energy heralded the enormous spider's return. The hand in which Lori held the Pokeball began to shake almost immediately. She snatched her arm back to her chest and hugged the Pokeball close while her mouth dried up with fear. "Please, uhum.." She cleared her throat and licked her lips nervously. "Please use String Shot to make a rope ladder to send down that hole."

The request was simple and the Galvantula responded instantly, spitting out a gross liquid onto its front legs which it wove expertly into the ladder that was specified. Lori itched to move away from the thing while it was working but with everyone watching she couldn't wimp out so blatantly and show up her inexperience even more. Only a few minutes later and the silk ladder was in place, ready for everyone to descend.

"Th-thank you, Galvantula." Lori croaked, rewarded with a bizarre smile and gurgling of mouthparts that seemed like a message of glee from the arachnid. She shuddered and offered a weak smile back. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and let go of breath that she didn't know she was holding. "Good job."

She turned back to the rest of the group and held out an arm to indicate the ladder was ready. "Who's first?"

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Dec 18 2013, 08:52 AM

Adelaide barely waited for the Galvantula to finish before grabbing the still-damp rungs of the rope ladder and abseiling down, leaving a small sheen of pink on the ladder from her bloodied hands. This was at least in part because the glue found on spider silk was an immensely potent fixative for wounds, and glands that produced it were mods often to be found on the more adventurous members of the MSU&BS's Space Exploration Committee. She scrambled down the ladder as quickly as she could, calling out for the Grovyle and following the sound of incredible profanity.

At length, she arrived at the bottom of the hole and surveyed the Pokemon's damage with a worried, maternal eye, albeit a metal one. She had failed yet another of her charges, and this time the consequences were pretty dire; legs did not bend that way, at least not in Adelaide's experience of the genus Grovyle, nor should the dewclaws have snapped off, nor should there be blood oozing slowly from the tail. She bent down and stroked the top of the lizard's head until her hand was batted away rather limply.

"Can you walk?"

"Look at my legs, you [I must here redact several pages of insults concerning Adelaide's genealogy, sexual preferences, physical appearance and personal hygiene]. Do you really think I can walk?"

"No, but I wanted to check with you before putting you in a sling and having you ride our mutual friend the Conkeldurr. Come on, I'm going to have to haul you out of here in a minute."

"Good thing I don't weigh as much as you, isn't it?"

"Do you want me to leave you down here-"

"NO!" The sheer volume of the Grovyle's cry sent the doctor reeling backwards, tripping over a bit of broken wood and landing with a thud on the floor. The lizard coughed, and said in a much smaller voice, "please... don't leave me again. Not now."

"What do you mean, again - ah. Right. Sorry, there's a couple of neural pathways that didn't quite survive the angry beanie-hat geckos from earlier. Look," she got up and moved over to Grovyle's side, gently tying a harness around the Pokemon's waist and stroking her some more, this time unmolested, "I've got to go back up the rope ladder, and then I'll get you out of here, okay? I'm not leaving you. I promise I'm not."

"It... it hurts. All over. I can't-"

"Shhhh. You're going to be fine." With that, Adelaide shinned up the rope and, upon reaching the top, asked the Conkeldurr politely if he'd care to help her drag his fallen comrade up from the well. After a few minutes, some close calls, and one memorable piece of deft maneuvering involving a spark-spitting electrical cable, Grovyle was hauled up and gratefully mounted the Conkeldurr's back.

Then Adelaide realised that they needed to get back down the hole, and swore with sufficient impressiveness for the Grovyle to be impressed, in a groggy sort of way.

---

Finding a way down was pretty easy once they knew where all the hazards, pitfalls, and exposed mains wiring were, and Adelaide's team assembled in the bottom of the pit, the Wooper belly-flopping from the top and landing on a giant Bubble it had blown for that purpose, earning it a glare from the Grovyle that, if looks could kill, would have rendered the unfortunate blue creature a small, gently smoking stain on the opposite wall. The ladder was checked and double-checked for a secure mounting, though not by the Conkeldurr (who could easily have brought the ceiling down), who had gone back to reading a slim volume of abstract Hoennese poetry from several thousand years ago. Adelaide looked back up at the team, her cybereye penetrating the darkness easily, though they did register as rather purple thanks to some shoddy UV-Visible colour correction.

"You lot should be alright to get down now! Thanks for the ladder, Lori and Lori's Spider Pal, bloody useful work. I'm pretty sure we're getting close; my eye's sensors are telling me that the air's getting pretty ionized down here, so if we're looking for electrical equipment we'll find it fairly soon. Gosh, this is exciting, isn't it! I'll have to update my blog..."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Dec 18 2013, 03:20 PM

Cesc, being an avid reader himself, had not heard of Cha-Yan-Bo of old Sinnoh. He nodded idly as the Conkeldurr spoke of poets, and for a moment, he wondered how a Pokemon had read poetry. Then he wondered how a Pokemon could tell him that he had read poetry. Then he wondered how a Pokemon could tell him anything. It briefly dawned on him that a Pokemon was talking to him, and while a part of him seemed a bit perturbed, he mentally shrugged it off.

That was a more pressing matter for another time. Notably, when he formed a book club with this surprisingly nerdy muscle-beast.

At the same time, Adelaide's words were still ringing in his ears. Someone had to stand up and say 'no more'. While it didn't draw his mind further into the chaos of finding trapped researchers, his mind flashed back to Branwys.

After the shock of watching Grovyle disappear into an expletive filled hole, followed by Adelaide springing into action, he took the moment of distraction to flip out his cell phone and shoot Branwys a text. Selfish. Too selfish, even for him. Surely his possible ex-belle was wrapped up in her own life-or-death experience somewhere else in the tunnels. A text would just be a distraction. With a sigh, he put his phone away and drew a pokeball, summoning Ninja-Bug to the area to keep watch.

* * *

"Adelaide" Cesc looked to the 'Deranged Doctor'. "Do you think it would be easier if you let Grovyle back into his pokeball? I never really gave it much thought, but don't Pokemon heal faster when inside Pokeballs? I recall reading an article once on how a weakened Pokemon will curl up in an effort to heal itself, and that Poke Balls were designed to take advantage of that protective instinct, right?"

The group continued to trudge down the hallway. The constant clash of personalities could always go in one of two ways: Either people were inspired by the friction and shot out like flames, or the friction ground everyone to a halt. He only hoped that he wasn't causing the latter type of friction to the group by posing that question to Adelaide, who still had pretty much all of her Pokemon out.

He had moved over to Lori, while they continued further down the increasingly electicity filled halls, hovering protectively just in front of her. Perhaps it was the static charge in the air, but Cesc found himself increasingly unnerved and on the edge.

Before long, with what was evidently just the right amount of time for chit-chat, banter, expletives, and ranting, they arrived in a rather plain room. The walls appeared to be white squares, with flourescent lights emanating from the top, giving the room a brilliant glow.

The room seemed perfectly cubicle, and the walls, as Cesc tapped one, appeared to be quite dense. It almost felt like one of the training rooms from video games...in fact, it felt precisely like a training room.

As the four trainers and Adelaide's motley crew of Pokemon trundled into the room, the door slammed shut behind them. Looking up to the right, to the set of windows, Cesc noted the outline of a woman briefly in the window, but that shadow quickly disappeared out of sight.

"Ah." Cesc sighed, crossing his arms and looking a bit sad. "I guess we walked into a trap." Accelgor sprang up from Cesc's shoulder, floating into the air and looking around. To Cesc, it looked like panic, but the speedy Pokemon was most likely vigilant at the mention of the word "trap."

Sure enough, a pair of brilliant thunderbolts lanced through the air, hitting Accelgor with full force, throwing him into the wall. Even though his Pokemon had been knocked out, Cesc calmly recalled the Pokemon, watching at the spot where his Pokemon had impacted. Not even a dent. The only way out was through the windows up top.

But, before he could even contemplate escape, he watched as two Pokemon appeared on the other side of the large cube room. Both of whom seemed familiar yet utterly unfamiliar.

The first appeared to be an Ampharos, but it had a long white mane and fluffy white tail, as if the Electric Sheep had used straightener on its normal cotton body. The other appeared like a Manectric on steroids, with the spikes exaggerated greatly out of proportion on its body. The two electric types sparked dangerously at the team of heroes, barking out their challenges.

"Ah. Boss battle." Cesc looked sadly at the pokeball for Accelgor. With Pignite and Farfetch'd injured, he only had three Pokemon pretty much left. One of which, Horsea, was a water Pokemon, and poorly suited for this match. That left him with a half undamaged Aipom, and a fully prepared Grumpig.

"Swirltail Pig! Psyshock!"

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Dec 19 2013, 08:37 AM

Adelaide heard Cesc's suggestion, but didn't parse its meaning for a second. She then looked at him rather coldly, an effect that was really helped by her cybereye's holographic projector shutting off to conserve a bit more power. "I'm not about to put one of my minions in a tin ball the size of an apricot. Besides, the Pokeball registry is clearly FUBAR. There's no telling where Grovyle'd end up, and I want to keep a weather eye on her. Or a metal one, in my case. Would that anyone here knew Heal Pulse or Wish or something. Oh well."

Walking on, grumbling on, talking to herself and trying to find the study Cesc had mentioned (which, after a bit of digging, turned out to be a psychological response common to animals in general and also related in some small way to moves like Defence Curl), the good doctor didn't really notice her surroundings until the doors slammed behind her. Her eye did a quick scan and reported that the air was incredibly ionized, even by the standards of this tunnel network.

Then she had another look at it. There was no way that this was natural, something else was at work here, some kind of particle field effect, and it seemed to have a source close by-

VVVVVWHAM

The Accelgor keeping watch (though what, precisely, it could keep watch on in a plain white box of a room was open to interpretation) was blasted back by a brace of immensely powerful Thunderbolts. The sources of the strange energy readings - and now Adelaide was sure they were a quantum field effect, the number of different kinds of exotic particles in the air was proof enough of that - were now very close indeed, almost as if they were in the room with them-

Then she had a look at what were, clearly, an Ampharos and a Manectric. They were just... more so. Like an Ampharos+1 or Super Manectric or something, though those were both rather silly. At a thought, she linked up her cybereye to her Pokedex's stat scanner, ran some damage calculations, and they didn't match up. Ampharos, for its level, should have been doing much less damage, fabulousness be damned, and the Manectric was far too fast. She snarled, and went into action.

"Everyone, get your Pokemon out now! Whatever did this to these Pokemon is way beyond a levelling machine, so I'm going to hazard a guess that that's another Team Condescension objective! Jill, you're the only one with a decent Ground-type as far as I know, so get your Krokorok to act as a blocker! Wooper, do the same! Everyone else on my team, use same-type attacks on the Ampharos, I'll monitor it and we can work out what its resistances are. My 'dex is saying it's got a different typing, but it's being rather coy about what that typing is at the moment. The Manectric's still mono-Electric, though, so if in doubt, lob a Ground-type attack at it! Let's go, people! The sooner this is over, the sooner we can go back to looking for the researchers and Team Anal Retention!"

Posted by: Living Arrow Dec 19 2013, 04:46 PM

Lori followed the other trainers down the hole and onward into the underground complex in search of survivors. With Cesc nearby, she felt a little more at ease despite the fact that she was still irritated by his touch-don't touch actions and the unanswered question of what he and Branwys were to each other. When they got out, Lori would have to find out before allowing herself to do anything inappropriate (no matter how nice it may seem).

Into the facility, Lori found herself considering just how creepy the place was. How did people work in a place like this? Actually, a better question would be: What work do they do in a place like this!? The white room that the gang entered look like something out of a sci-fi movie... Or a designer's extreme take on minimalism... On an aircraft hanger...

The thud of the doors slamming shut behind them made Lori spin back in fright to confirm their path back had been taken from them. She whirled back to face forward, noticing Cesc glance up at a set of windows in the wall. There was nothing there. Then he mentioned a trap. Fear caught in Lori's throat.

"Eeeee!" She yelped with surprised as twin lightning strikes took out Cesc's borrowed Bug Pokemon in a devastating display of sheer power. Even a bug didn't deserve that...

From across the large white space, two Pokemon approached - both deformed forms of creatures that Lori recognised. Ampharos and Manectric. Kino had both but neither looked like that.
When Cesc and Adelaide immediately began to attack, Lori followed suit - the approaching Pokemon were powerful and definitely hostile.

"One more time, Galvantula and Dustox!" Lori hurled the Pokeballs to the side of the room, giving the others space to execute their own moves. "Just like before - Sticky Web and Light Screen, go!"

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Dec 19 2013, 06:27 PM

Adelaide smiled as a glittering haze filled the air; toning down Special damage meant that there was less work for Wooper to do, though it was carrying on regardless. She concentrated on figuring out what her team could do to help, and then realised. Manectric might be the more fragile of the two Uncanny Valley Pokemon before her, but it was also blisteringly fast; Conkeldurr, by contrast, was a lumbering behemoth. She grinned to herself. This could work.

"Conkeldurr, target that big yellow punching bag! Hammer Arm it until its baubles fall out! Grovyle, help him out! Screech before the blow lands, that ought to soften the little bugger up nicely! Patrat, Gunk Shot, see if we can't put some ticking damage on it. Zangoose, I want you to get to do what Grovyle's doing, but a little more actively, so Crush Claw that big waste of air! Wooper, rain down some Mud Bombs on it, you do more damage with Ground-type stuff and we need you mobile more than we need an Earthquake! Growlithe, you need to - Growlithe? Calm down, sweetie, it's just an ohIseenow."

Growlithe was slowly psyching himself up, the air around his little fuzzy body rippling with energy as he began to glow red. With a roaring, Outraged challenge, he raced towards the Ampharos with the fury of battle in his eyes and heart.

Things went about the way they could be expected to go after that. Being ganged up on by six Pokemon is never fun, especially when half of them are dedicated to lowering your stats. The Grovyle's hoarse Screech hit first, rattling the Ampharos and lowering its defences for what was to come. The Zangoose's Crush Claw bit deep into the huge yellow 'roo-looking thing's hide eliciting a groan of pain from the beast as it spun to face the cat-ferret - and was then smacked in the head by the incensed, crimson-glowing Growlithe, who bounced off. Worse was to come for the Ampharos, though. Having finally lumbered into position, Conkeldurr glowered and let fly with an almighty blow, his arm glowing an incandescent white as he smashed into the Ampharos' side. The Gunk Shot and Mud Bomb almost felt like afterthoughts, really. Nothing could survive that-

The Ampharos still stood, with her team clustered around it.

"Uh-oh," said Adelaide, in place of something saltier.

Posted by: Aura Dynasty Dec 19 2013, 06:43 PM

Even though she was the one being the sentry that had to guard the group's back as they went and helped Adelaide down and Grovyle back up. From the corner of her eye she'd watched their every move, while taking for granted her Krokorok would warn her when something happened in front of them. She'd trust her pokémon's instincts for that. All seemed to get on well, as both the doctor and her reptilian grass-gecko friend had come out safely.

As Cesc and Adelaide seemingly started a discussion over the utility of pokéballs and taking advantage of the pokémon's inborn nature to curl up when wounded to speed up their healing-process. Nothing she'd be meddling with, science of such kind wasn't her favorite subject. And thus, as the group continued further down the tunnels, Jill had decided to keep on watching their rear. But not the regular way people would do such a thing.

First, she just kept on walking straight-forward, while looking back most of the time. This however did not seem to be quite appropriate for her already aching muscles, so she tried something different by turning her body 90 degrees and trying to walk side-wards. Not one of her most brilliant thoughts either, as she kept on stumbling over her own feet. Last resort, she now was walking backwards, which she seemingly should've done in an earlier stage, as only to refrain herself from tripping and barely twisting her ankles several times. Lucky for her, nobody had seen her walking like this, and if they did they'd wisely kept their mouth shut. Jill wasn't really known for her forgiving nature towards people mocking her.

Krokorok in the meanwhile had been walking decently, arms crossed and all quiet. Until now. He made soft growling noises as to get her attention. Jill glanced at her crocodile friend, who pointed towards the group behind her.

"Yeah yeah, I'll speed up."

The Krokorok shook its head and pointed at the direction of the rest of the group, now a bit more vividly. Still thinking she was getting behind, Jill muttered something and now looked at her Krokorok, who looked back at her and kept on walking. He looked at her with a face that just shouted 'idiot' but kept his cool and decided this human wasn't going to get the hint anyway.

Thus Jill only noticed they were trapped in an over-sized, white training-room facility as the doors slammed shut right in front of her nose after she'd entered. A little bit taken aback by the sudden appearance of the door in front of her, the crackling sound of thunder and the sound of something slamming into the nearby wall with great force made her turn around 180 degrees, now facing her unknown foes.

She recognized the pokémon as Ampharos and Manectric, or at least they looked like them. Their appearances rather seemed as if someone with a fashion-fetish had gone and given them a make-over. The Manectric could've been a new logo-design for a punk-band, while the Ampharos seemed a bad -well not bad, just... odd- parody of those shampoo commercials one would see more than one could bear. Though their appearances were different, the power they possessed was raised. If those angry eyes didn't show, than their body-language and size did it for them.

Nutty professor Adelaide suddenly shouted commands at her, saying as she was the only one with a decent Ground-type pokémon she should take the electric blows for her account. Her Krokorok had to act as an interceptor. Jill grinned and her eyes became brighter then ever as she looked at her foes and than back at her Krokorok, who's gaze too had changed to one longing to battle. Both watched as the Manectric surrounded it's body with sparks, charging for an attack it released moments after. It's body flashed up in a bright light before the beam got fired towards the group of trainers. Jill only snickered.

"Showtime."

With that being said, Jill dashed forward, Krokorok following her by just and inch. The blonde trainer took her position in front of the group as Krokorok crashed into the beam face-first. The impact made the beam explode and threw Krokorok backwards, entirely covered in an electric aura that refrained him from moving. Or so it seemed.

Krokorok tilted his head from between the safe protection of his arms, which he held crossed over his chest. With little eyes taunting his opponent, Krokorok broke the electric aura that kept him chained as he roared victoriously. To the croc's delight, the Manectric's proud gaze had been wiped of its face and had been replaced by and even more enraged look.

Now it was her time to shine, or at least turn the tables again. Browsing through Krokorok's attacks, those she'd memorized were mostly meant to hit multiple opponents, so they were out of the to use due to the possibility of hitting her allies was to big. But no fear, she knew a perfect move that would make them quake. Jill spoke towards the rest of the group without letting her gaze slip from the Manectric and Ampharos, who hadn't made a move yet.

"We'll make an opening and intercept as much attacks as we can, you guys attack as soon as Krokorok has managed to make a hole in their defense."

Jill glanced over at her deployed temporary partner, who waited impatiently for the next command. She had to admit it, the one who'd trained this Krokorok was an incredible trainer.

"Krokorok! Don't hold back and show them your Earth power!"

The Krokorok grinned and growled tauntingly as it's outlines started to radiate a golden hue. It spread over it's entire body and when he felt the power had reached its maximum, slammed his clawed fist into the ground, which started to crack. The cracks started to spread over the ground fast and traveled towards the Manectric and the Ampharos, who both looked at the blinding light hat appeared from underneath the cracks. Manectric managed to jump up high enough in time, the Ampharos jumped as well, but without the force his four-pawed companion had, thus landed on the floor again before Earth Power had worn off, resulting in crashing into the floor with minor injuries.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Dec 30 2013, 05:52 PM

Hands Akimbo, Cesc watched as the rest of the team sprang into action. At the very least, they had the advantage in sheer numbers, notably because Adelaide's entire team was attacking at once.

The Psychic motes from his Grumpig's Psyshock missed the Manectric entirely as the speedy creature effortlessly moved through them.

In the mean time, the rest of the team had gone to work, but to Cesc's dismay, only appeared to inflict only minor damage on the two strange-looking electric Pokemon.

With so many pokemon clustered throughout the battlefield, it appeared that the Manectric and Ampharos decided on all-out-area-of-effect-offense. Two simultaneous Discharge Attacks ripped through the room in all directions; the clash of electric energy barely keeping their own attacks from hitting themselves.

The resultant electric blast smashed through the team's out-ward Pokemon, notably at the ones closest to them.

"Mirror Coat!"

Desperately, Cesc yelled for the attack, watching as Grumpig absorbed most of the attack in the vicinity of himself, Lori, and Adelaide (Jill had dashed forward with her Krokorok). Glowing, the Swirltail Pig launched an enormous blast of psychic energy. But, with so many allied Pokemon in the vicinity, the aim was not quite great. The Mirror-Coat blast bounced the electric energy directly into the wall where Ampharos and Manectric had emerged from, blasting through the room into an adjacent room. While an escape route had been established, the two enemies stood in the way, and Grumpig, having taken on so much energy, looked quite close to fainting as well.

"Let's go Seahorse friend!" The little Horsea appeared in Cesc's arms, glaring determinedly at the enemy electric Pokemon on the field.

"Think you can make a smokescreen or something to-"

Before Cesc even finished his request, the little Horsea let out a devastating blast of multicoloured energy from her snout. While weak, due to her species, the attack seemed to be quite supereffective on the Ampharos it hit. The majestically maned creature turned its attention towards Cesc and Horsea.

"Oh...well...yes...keep that up." He looked to the team of ladies, wondering if there was a way to co-ordinate their attack and defense, but with such strong personalities, he wasn't sure if he could get them to co-operate. As his mind wracked itself to come up with some strategy of getting out of the room, he watched in shock as another pair of discharges began to spark up in their opponents.

Posted by: Living Arrow Dec 31 2013, 11:55 AM

Lori shielded her eyes as a blinding storm of lightning produced by the Ampharos and Manectric flooded out of them in all directions. Cesc’s Grumpig came to the Trainers’ rescue as the crackling storm descended upon them, gathering the electrical energy into itself with a Mirror Coat move which was reflected back at the attackers with twice the force. Lori heard an explosion of rumble from behind her hands and found to her amazement that a hole had been torn in the far wall when she uncovered her eyes. Sadly for her, however, that wasn’t all she found.

“Dustox?” She gasped, the blackened form of her temporarily-owned moth Pokemon sizzling pathetically several yards away. Her similarly loaned Galvantula trembled with fatigue but remained standing for the time being.

*One attack and Dustox is down, Galvantula nearly out, and Light Screen was protecting them the whole time… Just how powerful ARE those Pokemon?* Lori stared for a moment, trying to answer her own question but coming up with no answers. *And why are they attacking us? What did we do wrong?*

“Return, Dustox.” Lori held up the unconscious moth’s Pokemon and sucked him back inside quickly. She replaced the Pokeball at her belt alongside the others and ran her fingers to the next ball on her hip.

*The Ghost again…* She chewed her lip with worry. *Or there’s a creepy Crobat or… who knows what in the final ball.*

“Better the devil you know.” Lori sighed, flinging the first ball out to join Galvantula. “Come back out, Litwick.” With the candle Pokemon seemingly ready for battle as soon as it appeared, Lori sent out her Pokemon once more in a desperate attempt to support the other trainers.

“Bug bite and Ember, go!” She ordered, the two Pokemon responding as smoothly and instantly as if they were her own… well… not her exactly like her own – they’d probably question the moves before using them or even use something else instead if they didn’t like her decision.

With a cloud of self pity darkening over her, Lori wrung her long red hair out in her hands and wondered when a rescue party would come to save them.

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Jan 1 2014, 12:00 PM

Adelaide was stunned. Not literally, of course, that'd probably come after the gigantic thunderbolts came hurtling out of the giant fuzzy animals, but rather she couldn't believe that the oddly-fabulous Ampharos had withstood her team's barrage and come out swinging. Her cybereye did have some good news, though; the thing was deeply in the red in terms of health, but that was after throwing the kitchen sink at it and they were running out of time. The silvery screen set up by the Galvantula was flickering and fading, their teams were dying, and the Manectric had barely been touched. She had to do something, especially since-

That was when the Grumpig tanked the Discharge.

That was when Adelaide got angry.

Remembering something she'd said earlier, she pulled all the available veterinary data on Manectrics from the four corners of the internet, plotted out where the sensitive, vulnerable areas were, and overlaid it onto an image of the mutant version stood before her. Then she gritted her teeth and stormed forward, her left arm leaving a few specks of blood on the floor behind her. She leaped through the air and grabbed the Manectric, tackling it to the floor and rolling it over, though one of its spines dug into her shoulder and apparently broke the skin, eliciting a yelp of pain from the scientist. She wrapped her arms and legs around the struggling beast and held it as tightly as she could, ignoring the blood soaking through her coat and pooling on the floor behind her.

"Conkeldurr! I need a Hammer Arm on this one, around about the middle of the - GNH! - the middle of the ribcage! Everyone else, get on that Ampharos now! It's weak, you can take it! Zangoose, grab that Wooper and stick it in the Ampharos' mouth, it might help earth the electricity! Go!"

The Conkeldurr growled and felt a surge of power run down his arm, the white glow coming back slower this time. Meanwhile, the Pokemon did as she asked (not that the berserk Growlithe could've done much else). All, that is, except the Grovyle. She was trembling with rage, and a peculiar glow was suffusing the leaves at her wrists. With a furious cry, she let fly with a storm of glowing leaves, the energy of the attack whipping them into a cyclone that hefted Adelaide and her ensnared Manectric into the air. The leaves lashed across both human and Pokemon alike, but the Grovyle's desired effect was obvious once the white glow had spread over the Conkeldurr's arm. With an earth-shaking roar, he spun and slammed his concrete pillar into the ribcage of the Manectric, sending the mutant - and the attached, bloodied doctor - tumbling through the hole Cesc's Grumpig had made in the wall. They smashed through some odd-looking boxes and lay there, just within sight of the others.

The Manectric couldn't move because of Adelaide's vice-like grip on its limbs; Adelaide couldn't move because she'd finally, blissfully lost consciousness.

Posted by: Aura Dynasty Jan 1 2014, 08:45 PM

The lightening -litterally- shot around her head. Jill looked back for a moment to see how Cesc's Grumpig spawned an amazing Mirror Coat that covered him, Lori and Adelaide entirely but did not reach her, which she didn't mind. It had been her choice to go to the front and try shield them from the attacks, which now had miserably failed as the Manectric unleashed his Discharge. Krokorok shielded her and took the blast without even flinching, readying itself for his next move.

It was then that Adelaide dashed forward, past her and grabbed the Manectric like only professional pokémon-wrestlers would do, holding on closely to the Manectric's body. One of his spikes dug itself in her skin and Jill watched as the doctor heroically sacrificed herself by ordering them to target the Ampharos, who apparently would be close to fainting. Her own pokémon were told to attack the Manectric and Ampharos, the Conkledurr was charging itself for a powerful attack. When the pillar Conkledurr held was slammed into the Manectric's ribcage and sent both Adelaide and the Manectric flying, Jill felt an all too familiar painful sting in her chest and a feeling of nausea getting a hold of her.

"No... Why that unnecessary bravado!? She'll get herself killed!!"

Slowly Jill's consciousness was getting stronger by seeing this and she seemed to be capable of taking control of her body again, to the dismay of the entity inside her.

"Stop it, you can't hold your body the way it is now! Do you think everything's working fine after being so close in the blast-radius of those Electrodes back then?! If you push me away now, you won't make it kiddo!"

"But- I can't let her-"

Unknowingly a tear rolled down Jill's cheek, to which the Krokorok frowned when it looked at her, wondering why the blonde-haired girl that held his pokéball was crying. In the meanwhile he tried to keep every shock the Ampharos unleashed from hitting her, since Jill just stood there, doing nothing but silently stare towards the massive hole in the wall. Her inner conflict was still raging inside.

"You have no choice. That woman chose for this fate, so let her be."

"Shut up you- I won't."

Jill's consciousness started to surface even more and she was able to cease control over her right arm, which she now slowly lifted. The entity tried to stop her but realized that she had no control over the right arm, thus stopped it by grabbing hold of it with her left arm. Now she stood there, with her arm pointing towards the hole while trying to restrain it at the same time. The entity was a bit taken aback by this unknowing determination Jill had to help Adelaide and noticed how the link between this and an event from her past looked alike. The reason why became clear and thus she yielded for her host's wish.

"I see your will is strong. Fine, I will see what I can do."

"Why? You're just a voice, a pretense-"

"Genesis!"

"What?"

"I am Genesis, your embittered self. A side you suppressed since childhood. I'm you, and yet I am not..."

With having said that Jill felt confused and Genesis took this opportunity to take full control once again. However the rage she felt slumbering inside was something Genesis could make use of. The inability to help whenever one wanted to was a powerful tool indeed, and one she could perfectly use.

"Ampharos is left on your care guys, I'll go and help Adelaide!"

"Krokorok, we're going in full-strength!" she shouted while pointing to the hole in the wall. The Krokorok growled and stood ready to go as both saw how the Ampharos refused to go down and readied a terrifying move. It's body illuminated and sparks appeared around it, then it unleashed the full force of Thunder, its crackling sound resonating through the air as it headed for Lori and Cesc. Jill knew what damage such a powered attack would deal if were to hit target. Torn by the decision of whom to help, she had no other choice but to be rash in her solution. Krokorork understood what to do when seeing her nod.

Both dashed off, Jill sprinting towards the hole Adelaide disappeared into together with Manectric and Krokorok head-first towards the lightening Ampharos had unleashed. In mid-air her Krokorok collided with the Thunder-attack and got engulfed by it, Jill looked back and could only whisper "Hold on, Krokorok" as she dashed past the Conkledurr.

"Conkledurr, please come with me, Adelaide will have need of us!"

She ran on through, trying to get over the rubble and fallen debris from the wall as fast as possible. What she found there however wasn't something nice to behold; Adelaide pinned down between some debris, covered in dust and unconscious. The wound she had was still bleeding and when seeing this Jill's worrying again pushed aside Genesis's full control, but tried to keep the body from collapsing as she rapidly got to Adelaide's side. She touched the side of her throat in search for a vein and was relieved to feel a heartbeat, though be it fairly weak.

"Phew, still breathing eh? Let's get yo-"

The sound of rocks moving and a vicious growl coming from behind her made her tense. Manectric had suffered a great deal of damage but was all but pleased that he was attacked by a mere human. Revenge would be the only solution for this pride-full pokémon, and she got stuck between it. But her determination was stronger and she straightened her back, turned around and stood before Adelaide's unconscious body, ready to shield her from the Manectric. Manectric however did not like this act of courage and Jill saw how its eyes shot flames of anger.

"Bring it you damn-"

Manectric scratched the ground with its front paw and dashed forward at blinding speed while its body surrounded itself with a lightening-like aura. Jill did not even think of moving and just gazed upon the charging Manectric. Even if she would be hit, it's give Adelaide's Conkledurr enough time to get there and protect the doctor from further harm. She herself didn't mind what would happen to her, but somewhere hoped that this Genesis had another trick up her sleeve. Genesis however didn't and wanted to move her host's body, which to her dismay didn't even budge. The Manectric now was right in front of her and she could feel the surging power of the lightening touching her skin. Jill closed her eyes.

"Here goes nothing."

The impact however did not come and the feeling of small sparks disappeared from her skin, though she kept hearing the crackling sound of lightening. Odd. Peering through one of her closed eyes she saw how a large silhouette stood before her, almost as a large rectangle shield. Dust covered the area before her and she noticed a bright glow, as several sparks jumping into the air from behind the shield. So Manectric was stopped by something or someone... Adelaide's Conkledurr perhaps? When her vision became less blurred she couldn't hide a huge smile when recognizing the pokémon before her. The appearance of the stout pokémon was all too familiar.

"Thank you... Bastiodon!"

Posted by: colourcodedchaos Jan 2 2014, 07:09 PM

light

so much light

not now though

too much to do

and i haven't

gone

h

o

m

e

Adelaide sat bolt upright, smashed her head against what she would later insist was the small of Jill's back, grunted with pain, and promptly hit the deck again. At least now she was awake, which meant that her cybereye could safely decouple and pan through the room looking for options. Her body was in full-on crisis mode, not helped by the fact that she technically-speaking-kinda-sorta couldn't see right at that moment. Well, she could, her currently-floating cybereye had a wireless link, but it was really weird when she didn't have any biological vision left. It was like an out-of-body experience, in a way.

"Wstfgl," she said, before scraping herself off the floor and standing up, grabbing Jill's shoulder so hard that her right hand's bloodied knuckles spurted a little vein-dark blood onto the girl's lab coat - no, no, stop projecting, it's just a white shirt, you're not back home-

"I'm not back home," she said, and looked down for a moment. Her hand left Jill's shoulder and she tottered forward on unsteady legs, her cybereye flitting to her hand and then being shoved roughly back into her eye socket.

"R-r-right. Thank you, bashful anon. Best elephant. Basted a one. What the hurl? Is my damned jaw crust hole glitching out a goon? I cavern tree friend been near something radio snack shiv. Paw bubbles. This is reeling and cloying! Augh, sirens it fizz..." She settled for trying to stroke the big thing with her right hand while she waited for the other one to stop twitching and jerking like a weasel in a wall socket and why had she phrased it like that? Didn't matter. Neither did the damage to her nervous system, nor her eyes, nor her face-

She touched her cheek with her right hand, and felt blood. It felt oddly cold and gooey, like it had been there for a while. It probably had. She checked other places. Her face... her face was burned. She slapped the back of her head and saw herself.

The doctor staggered back, shocked, and she needed something to cover her face, and she ripped what was left of one of her sleeves off and tied it over her twitching mouth and pulled her patch out and put it on over her other eye socket and stuffed her hair down the back of her coat and and and

and

and

and what was the point exactly? Now, at least, she looked like a monster.

Still, there were limits. She pulled her hair out and guided it over her face like a death-mask, some patches of it shorter than others, all of it curled up and singed at the ends. She turned back around and staggered forward, each step taking too much thought, her legs jittery. Electricity. Her old friend. The thing she'd built her self-image around, her knowledge of it in this world a connection to who she was in another. Nerve spasms shook her, threatened to send her over the edge again. She couldn't. She had a job to do. She had a job job job job job job

oh Sagan it hurt everywhere hurt why didn't she walk into the light when she had the chance Sagan FUCK Sagan it hurts so much it hurts make it stop please Sagan make it stop make itstop makeitstop

*******

The Conkeldurr looked down at the writhing, screaming, spark-covered woman, then at the human woman who had helped him get to her. Then he noticed the Wooper walk past his feet and jam its tail into Adelaide's mouth right before her jaw clenched shut.

The sparks ran up it like the Wooper was willing it to do so, and the doctor's bite must've hurt it, but it still just stood there, earthing the electricity still in the woman's system and wearing that slightly mindless grin it always wore. After a while, the little thunderbolts crawling all over it died off and the doctor's jaw unglued itself from the Wooper's tail. She still shivered, but not much, and only a little bit at a time. Her arm had stopped twitching too.

"I... I'm sorry," she said, which the Conkeldurr found more than a little odd. "I made a bit of a scene there, and - oh, your tail!" Adelaide snatched up the Wooper and cuddled it tight, eliciting a happy-sounding "Woo" from it. Of course, pretty much everything did that, but this seemed a little more lucid than normal.

The Conkeldurr just stood there, and looked on. These mood swings weren't natural, couldn't be natural, yet here they were. Some of the poets he read would've called it demonic possession, others hysteria, still more an artistic temperament, but none of them would've been right. There was everything and nothing wrong with her. Kintsugi. The word was unfamiliar, but it was right, too. He rifled through the filing cabinets of his brain until he found an answer; a term from Johto, an ancient art, fixing broken porcelain with gold to draw attention to the cracks, making them part of it and beautiful, making them integral and needed and wanted and appreciated and... loved? Maybe. Probably. It was like armour, in a way. You took the vagaries of a cruel fate and wore it like a coat of Hoenn mail. Banner and bandage, all in one. Everything and nothing, wrong with her. She was wrong, fundamentally wrong, never fitted, couldn't fit, not in a world like this; never truly, never deeply, maybe madly if the world turned right. She needed to go home, and figure out what and where home was.

He didn't say any of this out loud, of course. He just watched, a slightly sad look in his eyes, while a Bastiodon she'd never even met stood guard for her. Some Pokemon are like that, when it comes to humans and masters. It wasn't necessarily anything slavish, though it could be if the party in control was bad; it was like... a covenant. Sacred, in a weird, secular way. They look after you and you look after them.

A promise that you make.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 8 2014, 10:31 PM

His toes tapped anxiously on the ground as he watched the others throw their pokemon at the two enemies. Adelaide had also opted to throw herself into the fray, which once again amazed Cesc. Putting oneself in a such a desperate position seemed like a last ditch effort, but the Doctor went forward with no regard for her own well being.

It was helping them for now, so he couldn't really complain. A grim part of his brain reminded him, though, that her luck in such situations could eventually run out, especially if she continued the use of such gambits with such alarming frequency.

Lori's Galvantula and Litwick moved in gracefully, landing their attacks before retreating to a safe distanceThe fabulous electric Pokemon shrugged off the (relatively) weak Ember and Bug Bite, and began charging an strange new energy in its mouth. Within a surprisingly short span of time, an incredible Dragon Pulse attack lanced across the room, narrowly missing Cesc and Horsea, the former having thrown himself bodily aside to avoid the attack.

Meanwhile, the Leaf Storm ripped through the air, tearing into both the Manectric and Adelaide. The thundering Conkeldurr sent the two leaf-ripped bodies flying into the next room.

Cesc's Grumpig teammate slowly sank to the floor next to his trainer, still trying its best to stand up and fight, but appeared to be on the brink of defeat. The co-ordinator quickly recalled the Pokemon to rest, as he didn't want yet another member of his team incapacitated, especially considering there was still likely still more work to be done.

"Seahorse friend, same attack?" Cesc stood shakily, still holding the Horsea in his arms. He'd never commanded a water-Pokemon before, and he had no idea how a sea-born creature would propel itself around on land.

With a determined nod, the little Horsea began charging up energy in his little snout once more. Holding the water Pokemon out like a gun, Cesc braced himself for the recoil as he aimed it at the Fabulous Ampharos.

The resulting beam shot out with power surprising from such a small unti of artillery. It met a retaliating beam from the Ampharos head on in the middle of the room, and the two energies clashed in what almost looked like a tug of war. The heavily weakened Electric monster was still more than a match for the unevolved Horsea, and the former's Dragon Pulse began to push back with increasing power.

But, with the creature occupied with fighting Cesc, it left it quite open to attack from Lori.

"Lori! Flank it!"

Jill and Adelaide were elsewhere through the gap, presumably still fighting the Manectric, so it meant it was up to him and Lori to finish off the weakened Ampharos. Hopefully Galvantula and Litwick new some powerful attacks.

* * *

Now facing down a Bastiodon, who had repelled its first attack, the Manectric opted to switch up type. Its powerful jaw now bursting into flame, the Mega Pokemon launched itself bodily at the new obstacle, attempting to clamp down with its flaming maw. It new there were other Pokemon to contend with, but strategically, removing their protection, in the form of Bastiodon, would be key to getting at the rest of them. But, weakened from the Leaf Storm and Hammer Arm, one could only wonder how much power it could actually draw up for an attack.

Posted by: Living Arrow Jan 10 2014, 10:21 AM

Lori didn't know how she had ended up battling the fabulampharos on her own with Cesc but, somehow in her confused teenage head, it irritated her. Scratch that. It pissed her off. Didn't everyone know that splitting up in the movies ended up with the prettiest girl dead or abused while everyone looked after their own asses!?

*And I am definitely the cutest here - no doubt in THAT!!!*

The blistering blue energies of a Dragon Pulse nearly tore through Cesc's head but he deftly dodged it, tKing the tiny Horsea along with him. Things were getting far more dangerous than Lori had ever thought her Pokemon journey would be. Heck, she'd been beaten up by a boy, attacked by a Braviary, held at spearpoint, faced with an exploding Golem, exploding Electrodes, and now... Now this monster of an Ampharos was going to KILL her! Nothing that Kino had ever taught her would have prepared her for such mindless violence and it was doubtful she would EVER be prepared for it!

"Lori! Flank it!" Cesc's call for action was hardly needed - Lori hadn't *forgotten* how much danger they were in. Damn that beautiful, patronising, gorgeous, unavailable-

"Get that thing!" Lori shrieked, snatching another Pokeball - if Adelaide could fight with loads of Pokemon, Lori could, too! "Hex, Litwick! Galvantula, Slash! And Crobat, use Cross Poison!"

Her Pokemon leapt into action, shooting across the room like a triad of bullets, their aim focused directly upon the golden demon. Hearing their approach, the Ampharos turned and crossed its arms over its chest before sweeping them wide in a dramatic cross-motion with an equally dramatic display of electrical Discharge. The forms of three Pokemon disappeared into the lightning deluge of power summoned by the unbeatable yellow mountain and just as quickly, all three came back in burning tatters that trailed smoke as they crashed one, two, three, into the far wall.

"No!" Lori screamed, all three of her borrowed Pokemon defeated in one move. How could this happen!? How as any Pokemon so powerful, even after a gruelling battle, and willing to defeat other monsters to utterly and completely with an obvious out-weighing of power!? Would it stop there? Would it hold any mercy or remorse for what it was doing? Would it finish Lori then and there? "No!" Lori screamed again.

"I will NOT die here!" She screamed, pulling her final Pokeball from her belt. Five Pokemon unconscious, one remaining and she had no idea what it was. "It will not let some POKEMON decide my fate before it's even begun, dammit!" She grit her teeth, tears running down her creamy skin in angry rivulets. "It can't end here and I won't let it! I *can't* let it!!!" She held out the final Pokeball even as the Ampharos rounded on her and began to summon powerful blue energy in its mouth. "Because I have, " With a scream, another Dragon Pulse was let loose, "MANY DREAMS!!!"

The Pokeball in her hand clacked open and a storm of white power flew out to collide with the incoming Dragon Pulse. Energy thundered around the room, blasting Lori straight off her feet where she skidded across the polished white floor. A demonic snarl tore the air, heralding the coming of Lori's final Pokemon. A Pokemon that she could recognise just by her voice if the battle-bruised tail and scarred wing tips weren't enough. A Pokemon that she had flown from Little Root Town to Jubilife City on her birthday. A Pokemon that had belonged to her sister for a very long time.

"Dracdia?" Lori gasped as the Salamence drove her way through theDragon Pulse and right up to the mega Ampharos. With a nasty snarl, Dracdia the Salamence extended her tooth-like nails and punched the electric Pokemon in the face with a might Dragon Claw. "Yay! Dracdia!" Lori cried, pushing herself up as fast as possible with rage and renewed vigor fuelling her blood. "Do it! Kill it!" She screamed, meaning every word. "It was going to kill me! KILL IT!"

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 31 2014, 12:26 PM

Well, she's certainly rallying, Cesc thought with a sigh as Lori screamed out her determination towards the Fabio-esque Ampharos. Guess I should too.

It wasn't that he didn't have dreams. He had goals. He wanted to advertise his Aunt and Uncle's wares on TV during Contest (winning them was a nice bonus) ... and that was really it.

Maybe he needed to find some dreams. It seemed like the sort of thing the hero-types all shared; they all fought for something with all of their being. Cesc had never put his everything on the line before, mostly because he'd never really seen the appeal of it. But, in a life or death struggle with a creature whose hair was more luxurious than his, it seemed like a good time to really fight for something.

If only he knew what that something was.

"Okay Pistol" Cesc grinned towards his Horsea, who looked back at him curiously while continuing to fire off the Dragon Pulse. They cut the attack, just as Lori's team of Pokemon took the Discharge. Litwick, Crobat, and Galvantula all toppled like skittles in the wake of the devastating Discharge.

Lori's Salamence, evidently named Dracdia, appeared on the field next. It seemed an amazing coincidence that she'd actually know one of the randomized Pokemon, but the co-ordinator wasn't about to discount any advantages.

He'd never heard of the "Kill It" technique before, admittedly, mostly because it didn't sound like a real attack.

As the Ampharos set his sights on Dracdia, meeting the draconian roar with a surprisingly terrifying battle cry of its own, Cesc aimed Pistol at the enemy once more.

"Blast it!"

To Cesc's dismay, a barrier sprung up as the Ampharos, in lieu of attacking Dracdia like he'd hoped, set up a Light Screen instead, dampening the Dragon Pulse from the little Horsea-Gun he held. The Co-ordinator was quickly running out of options on how to take out the enemy in front of him and Lori, so hopefully the arrival of a mighty Salamence on their side would help end the battle. He couldn't see how Jill and Adelaide were faring on the other side of the wall; hopefully they were still up and kicking. The last thing he needed was that Manectric to come bounding back in and flank them.

Posted by: Aura Dynasty Jul 13 2014, 05:39 PM

The fiery fangs of Manectric sunk deep into Bastiodon's front paw. Trying to dodge such a swift pokémon was already near impossible for the weighty pokémon, so it had no other choice but to let the scorching attack hit. It grunted as the flames flared after contact and left a burn. The Manectric did not seem to let go of Bastiodon's leg, and put even more force in it's bite, letting it sink on it's knees. Jill watched intently, trying to remember what kind of moves Bastiodon's had. In a far past, she'd seen one of her late father's co-workers dig further into the cavern's rocky wall with a Bastiodon. Although it was a time she'd rather forget, she remembered one of the moves and called out for it. At that very same moment Manectric decided it'd been enough and jumped out of the sturdy pokémon's reach, letting the Bastiodon dig its head into the rubble.

"Bastiodon! Are you-"

She was interrupted by the pokémon's surprised gaze and staggered, stopping halfway her movements and sentence. Inside her a voice chuckled eerily.

"You really thought it'd appeared out of its pokéball for your rescue? HA! That's a good one. You know you actually just hit one of the pokéballs's buttons by accident when trying to shield yourself, right?" Genesis snickered.

"Wait, so it didn't...? But I thought-" Manectric had taken advantage of Jill's inner conversation to dash forward once again, fiery fangs ready to sink into her presumed guardian's head. Jill noticed the attack on time and shouted the command in the middle of her sentence. "Bastiodon, Metal Burst!"

A light engulfed Bastiodon as the Manectric came closer and gathered inside it's mouth, growing rapidly larger. It caught the electric pokémon in the middle of its attack and got catapulted back into the wall as Bastiodon unleashed the power of it's Metal Burst. Manectric slowly got back up, but swayed as it tried to regain it's composure. It glared and blue electricity started crackling all over it's spiky yellow fur, whilst the air around them grew more dense. Instinctively, the blonde trainer stepped back. Thunder never had been her forte. Especially not from this close. Manectric showed its teeth in a menacing growl and spread its front paws, ready to release the stored lightning in its fur as the pebbles at its feet shook softly.

What nobody had expected however, was for the mighty spiky beast to be sent flying. Krokorok appeared from underneath the Manectric's feet and gave it a powerful uppercut on its jaw. The crocodile landed beside the hole he'd appeared from and crosse its arms once again, watching as the Manectric skidded back several meters. This time it did not rise to his feet again.

"Phew, that was close," she wiped the sweat of her forehead and looked at the Krokorok, who she'd started calling Joe Cool. "Thanks Joe, you're a life-saver!"

Krokorok looked up at Jill, shook its head and seemingly sighed. This human would never learn. The croc walked up to the young girl, who'd dedicated her attention back to the wounded doctor, who on her turn tried to get away on her own while throwing an unspoken tantrum.

Posted by: Living Arrow Sep 21 2014, 09:07 AM

“Dracdia, do it!” Lori screamed again, all of her energy that came from her anger and fear beginning to wane quickly. Even though she was still mid-peril, the red-head’s will to keep on fighting was turning into a lethargic exhaustion that set a wobble to her knees. She swayed dizzily and screamed again: “DO IT!”

With a draconian scream, Lori’s sister’s Salamence threw back her head and slammed it down onto the forehead of the Fabulampharos in a deadly barrage of Outrage. Again, again, again, the snaking head of Dracdia pounded the overpowered sheep between the eyes, impacting the creature’s head powerfully into the wall of the underground complex.

“Yes…” Lori whispered to herself as the Ampharos slumped under the furious attack of the winged dragon. “We did it… we’re going to be OK…”

The walls reverberated with the final slam induced by the great Salamence, small pieces of rubble raining down from the cracked ceiling.

“We’re all going to be OK…” Lori whispered again, sliding down to her knees weakly. Everything was getting completely overwhelming – so much so that she could barely even lift her arms. More pieces of rubble fell down around her but they were larger than before and were accompanied by a disturbing sound like thunder.

Lori squinted her eyes and looked upwards, twisting her face a little to prevent falling dust from blinding her. The cracks that had decorated the ceiling had become wide trenches that expelled dirt, plaster and other unidentifiable debris.

“We…” Lori paused, realisation taking over her confused brow and replacing it with panic. “We… we’re gonna die!”

With a resounding groan, the ceiling of the complex gave a final heave and began to fall in its entirety. The last thing Lori Pardare saw before all light was stolen from the room was Cesc’s face close to hers, his voice shouting her name, while the broad wings of Dracdia swept over them like a protective cocoon. Then, everything went black.