[X] My Assistant

[Toogee]

This is a Team Rock only thread. Only the following characters are in this thread:

Team Rock
Pandora “Pan” Gibbs- 2gamers- Kanto- 18 - Female
Party: Venusaur, Claydol, Pachirisu, Arcanine, Cleffa, Golett

Tyson Ealdwine- Tekno- Johto- 18 - Male
Party: Bayleef, Hippopotas, Tyrogue, Elekid, Absol

Kenz Issone- Pokefan209- Johto- 12 - Female
Party: Pidgey, Metapod, Archen, Tropius

Justin Smart- Yzarc Drowsnam- Furoh- 19 - Male
Party: Hitmontop, Sudowoodo, Ninjask, Pinsir, Octillery, Shedinja

Twila Reanne- SaphireShadows- Sinnoh- 18 - Female
Party: Ralts, Nidoran F, Makuhita, Vulpix, Egg (Snivy)

Finnley Oakley- Angels Fall First- Hoenn- 17 - Male
Party: Tepig, Torchic, Cottonee, Skitty

Elizabeth “Liz” Nadira Shir- Dragonwish2- Sinnoh- 12 - Female
Party: Taillow, Riolu, Growlithe, Oshawott, Zorua

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Kenz, Finn
Location: Outside Gigas Temple, into the rainforest.

As Twila quickly fell asleep upon the venusaur, Pan couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. The young woman shouldn’t have been with them in the first place, but if this was the only way she could get rest, then so be it. Turnip could keep a good eye on her, along with all her human companions. Pan patted her venusaur on the head as thanks for acting as a gurney. She then turned to her teammates addressing her.

The first was one of the younger girls, who introduced herself as Kenz. Pan couldn’t figure out why she was acting so nervous. Perhaps it had to do with her shredded clothing; the poor girl was practically naked! Pan understood why Kenz left so quickly to change, handing her bag of potions to a rather flustered young man. He introduced himself as Finn.

“And it’s a pleasure having a bunch of new faces around,” Pan replied, taking one of the potions he offered. “So, I guess you know Twila? I saw that look on your face.” Pan smirked at Finn. She could tell they were more than mere acquaintances.

As soon as Kenz returned with a new outfit, the team was on their way to the Rock Temple. Pan waved goodbye to the others in Gigas Temple, shouting wishes of good luck to all (and to her friends in particular). The dirt trail leading to the forest split into a four-pronged fork. One trail led back to the tunnel, while the other three led to the temples. The group was able to see the jetting spire on top of the Rock Temple (it looked like a stalagmite), so they were able to choose the far right path without hesitation.

Turnip led the way, using his vines to cut down brush and debris blocking the trail. Chi-Chi left Pan’s vest to sit upon Turnip’s flower. It provided a great watchtower for the pachirisu; she could enjoy the lush scenery as well as watch for danger ahead. While there was nothing hostile around at the moment, there were plenty of lush plants to look at. Bright reds and a few blues made up some of the blossoms around the group. A yanma zoomed out of the canopy, harmlessly passing over the group. A light mist fell over Pan and the others. She looked for the origin, revealing a pod of lapras lying upon the beach of the nearby lake. Such a sight would be nearly impossible to see above ground with humans around, but here, the lapras were not nearly as shy. They were swaying in the artificial sunlight, likely performing a rain dance. It would certainly explain why such a lush forest could exist without clouds to bring rain.

If things weren’t so dire, Pan would have loved to stick around and study the place for a while. For now though, she made do with taking pictures of the wildlife and forest, including the sunbathing lapras.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Justin kind of stood back as everyone introduced themselves to Pan. He silently objected to the notion of little kids traveling with them, but they seemed to be acquainted to the two teens, so it wasn't so terrible. Pan insisted that one girl, who introduced herself as Twila, rest on Turnip as they went to the temple. At first, the idea didn't sit well with Justin. She shouldn't be coming along in her condition. On the other hand, having another non-12 year old in the mix would only serve to make things suck a little less.

Once everyone introduced themselves (and Justin tried to remember everyone's names, he really did, but at the same time, he knew that he'd have to confirm any time he wanted to address someone) he stepped forward so he was side by side with Pan yet again. "I'm Justin," he said with his arms still crossed. "Good to meet everyone. If we're gonna do this thing, we should get moving."

So they walked towards the temple. As Pan was engulfed in the scenery, Justin walked in the front of the group at a brisk pace to speed things up. Turnip, with Twila in tow, was right in front of him, cutting through the dense jungle as they moved. Once they cleared through some of the thicker part of the jungle, they were able to walk fairly normally. Justin found himself walking side by side with Turnip as he continued to clear vines here and there.

At one point, Justin looked to his right at Turnip. Once there was eye contact, he nodded an approving yet subtle nod to the pokemon.

[Dragonwish2]

Liz watched Kenz go change and rubbed her head. She had slightly spaced out after the golett attack, retaining only a few things to even short term memory. Still, her amnesia was wearing off. Perhaps having Kenz around prevented her from entirely forgetting things, or maybe it was just good luck. Either way, she was grateful to her friend. Liz briefly remembered clearly the duffel bag she carried and it's contents. She looked down under her arm and unzipped it partly, a green and pink head popping out. "Rall!" It cried, staring up at her without eyes. Liz reached for her belt and pulled out a pokeball, touching the button as if to return it, but nothing happened. She stared at the ball, confused, until the ralts touched it with the red front point on it's head.

She remembered past captures then; her first pokemon Serena, then her growlithe in an alleyway, and Oreo on the beach. She remembered her throwing the ball and watching it shake three times and click. signaling a succesful capture. Liz gently tapped the ball to the ralt's head and watched it disappear in a flash of red light. She felt the ball shake in her palm, once, twice... and click! She let out a breath of relief, noticing she had held her breath. Liz had caught a ralts.

What was she supposed to do next? Liz thought and the ralts popped out of it's ball, staring up at her. She thought, and a name popped into her head. "Guinivere... or Guini, for short." Her new ralts said nothing, but a content feel seemed to pulse from her. Liz smiled and rubbed her spiked head gently.

This post has been edited by Dragonwish2: Jul 9 2011, 04:41 PM

[Angels Fall Firs...]

Their walk had begun and Finn walked silently the whole way through till they saw the pod of lapras. Smirking the trainer took a moment to admire the scenery of everything. Deep in the earth there managed to be a jungle with water too, so the Lapras and probably other water Pokemon could live. All this amazed Finn, just the thought of Pokemon living underground or in a hidden cavern somewhere, for years or even centuries.

Taking a deep breath he then moved up through the group, till he was near Turnip, the Pokemon who had been leading them all, along with the bulky man who introduced himself as Justin. His main concern was really Twila, he just wanted to make sure she was still okay.

"Good," he said under his breath as he neared the sleeping girl. A giggle slipped passed his lips as he nodded, looking to the ground.

[Pokefan209]

Kenz quickly changed behind some large rocks and ran ahead with her group. In hindsight, her spare outfit of a dark green t-shirt and tan capris was probably in case she got wet, not if a meteor storm attacked the PokeCon and they had to go and fight for the survival of the world by looking for the temple of Regirock. Kenz shrugged and caught up with Liz, who was, thankfully, regaining her memory and loosing the effects of her hard hit.

"So, uh, what's the plan?" Kenz asked Pan, who seemed to be in control of the situation. At least, Kenz hoped she was. If not, they were most likely going to wing it, which never ended well for a survival mission.

[SaphireShadows]

"Twila! Over here now!"

"Yes Aunt June," Twila mumbled, shuffling her feet over to the armchair in which her petite aunt sat. She sat in the too-large chair, stroking her Pichu tenderly. The red haired woman glared at her disdainfully.

"Go make some drinks for my guests, will you? There's a dear," June said, waving a hand in dismissal. Twila stood there for a moment, then went back into the kitchen. A few minutes later and she was back in the living room, handing out drinks to everyone. June snatched her glass away and wiped the place where Twila's hand had touched it, like her hands were tainted or something. The other women in the room thanked Twila as they took their glasses. She was just about to hand the last glass to a woman dressed in purple when June's Pichu leaped out of the chair and shocked Twila, causing her to spill the drink on the carpet.

"Now look what you've done!" June exclaimed. She smacked the younger woman on the back of the head so hard that she saw stars. "Clean it up!" Twila went to the kitchen and fetched the carpet cleaner and some paper towels. While she cleaned up the mess that was hardly her fault, June talked on.

"It's a shame your parents died when you were so young, they could've taught you at least to serve drinks without spilling them." The women in the room started to look around uncomfortably. Twila continued to silently wipe up the spill, tears blurrying her vision. "Not that you're really worth anything else. But you know that, don't you?" June said absently, sipping on her drink. When Twila was finally finished, she hurried back into the kitchen and made another drink. She brought it to the last woman who thanked her, an odd look in her eyes. Twila nodded and swiftly exited the room, making her way up to her bedroom.

She silently closed the door, then crawled onto her bed and started to cry. A creak from the door a few minutes later made her quickly look up to find June standing in the doorway with a smirk on her face. She shifted her attention to her long, pink fingernails and said, "You know, I wish that you weren't so damned clumsy. You could make a very good server if you could hand a drink over properly. At least then you'd contribute to something around here." Twila looked down at her bed sheets until her aunt had gone, then laid back down and continued to cry.

Twila's eyes opened to be greeted with a view of the Underground sky. She looked around from her laying position, noticing that a light mist had formed in the jungle. She couldn't figure out why, but an overwhelming sense of lonliness had settled over her. If she had remembered the dream that she had just had, it wouldn't have been a surprise.

A burning sensation from her side made her hiss in air. She sat up gently, then pulled her shirt up over her side and parted a few pieces of the once-blue shirt/bandage. The wound had stopped bleeding, thankfully, but the skin around it had started to turn red, indicating an infection.

"Shit," Twila sighed as she replaced the bandages and pulled her shirt down again. She had hoped that she would get lucky and walk away from this with nothing but a few scars, but that clearly was not the case. She looked around from her position on top of Turnip to see a pod of Lapras lying on a beach a ways behind the group. A few Archen were up in the trees, jumping from branch to branch, picking berries along the way. An Anorith trundled along beside the group, its real eyes blinking in the misty gloom before veering off into a denser part of the forest.

She shifted her vision from the scenes around her to the people walking along the path. An intimidating-looking man was walking alongside Turnip at a quick pace, looking determined. Twila quickly turned her gaze to someone else. Pan was behind Turnip, clicking away on her camera. Liz was walking behind Pan with a Ralts on one side of her (Twila smiled) and Kenz on the other, having changed into a new outfit. She said something, but Twila couldn't hear it, she was too far away. She looked to the other side of Turnip to find Finn walking beside them, looking at the ground.

The burning sensation in her side intensified, turning her attention back to her present situation. She didn't have much with her, certainly nothing that could help her with an infected wound. The only thing she could do was wait until this adventure was over and get to a hospital ASAP. A popping sound came from her bag, and suddenly Mai was sitting beside her, looking very concerned.

"I'm fine, Mai," Twila said, although it came out more like a grunt because of the pain coursing through her. She hoped they could convince Regirock to help quickly, and likewise all the others with Regice and Registeel. She was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have insisted on coming along.

[Toogee]

“The plan?” Pan replied to Kenz. “We’re going to go into the temple and see where Regirock is. Hopefully, it’ll come quietly. That’s all we can hope for until we see what’s inside.” Indeed, this was how most of Pan’s adventures went. She was always exploring the unknown. Truth be told, half the fun of her adventures was the unknown. Still, it seemed the younger girl was looking for more reassurance that Pan knew what she was doing. Hopefully, she would get that…when Pan figured out what she was doing.

It didn’t take long before their journey led them to a large boulder. A crevice within the boulder led into a dark abyss inside. Crevice was a somewhat inaccurate term: Turnip could walk through it with relative ease. Some might not have dared ventured inside, but judging from the carving of an ancient golem above the entrance, Team Rock did not have a choice in the matter. Through there was the only ticket back home.

“No turning back now guys,” Pan told the others. Without hesitation, she led the way inside.

From the outside, the Rock Temple didn’t seem terribly big. It was simply a boulder after all. Once inside however, the group came across a giant staircase that led to a subterranean chamber. The boulder simply marked the entrance; the real temple waited underneath.

With the help of Chi-Chi’s flash, the group was able to see just how grand in scale the temple was. The stairs they walked across were covered in shiny glass tiles. They glowed in multiple colors as the light from the pachirisu hit them. At the bottom of the ancient stairs was a vast rock wall that seemed infinitely tall. Carved into the wall were shelters containing pots and clay figures. It reminded Pan of the homes in Under Hill; both were formed in the same way. Of greater interest to Pan was the set of three holes carved into the bottom of the wall. Upon closer examination, there was a system of gear-like stone wheels within the structure; the entire wall was mechanical in nature. All they needed was a key to reveal its purpose. The researcher had a pretty good idea what that key was.

“Pivot,” Pan said as she summoned her claydol, “just like in Groudon’s Temple.” That was all she needed to say for the claydol to levitate into the hole. Its arms separated from its body, placing themselves into the smaller set of holes. As Pivot attempted a rapid spin however, the device wouldn’t budge. It appeared that a little more muscle was needed. It was time for Pan to summon her latest capture.

“Um…you!” Pan said as her golett appeared. “We need you to turn Pivot. Keep turning until you can’t anymore.” Being a mindless machine, the golett did not hesitate to listen to its new master. The little golem approached the claydol and started to slowly spin it around. The golett’s strength was enough to start the process of…whatever was about to happen.

Things were going well in Pan’s eyes. Unfortunately, her eyes were not directed at the golurk that stood guard in one of the top rooms. The automation pokemon bashed its arm into the wall, creating a very loud echo, followed by the sound of much scurrying. The golurk had apparently awoken a vast army of kabuto resting around the moist confines of the temple. The scarab-like pokemon were crawling out of the walls in droves. They were not particularly happy with the new arrivals.

“Guys, Pivot isn’t finished yet! I need you guys to help defend! Turnip, by my side.”

The venusaur (with Twila in tow) lumbered over behind the group, next to Pivot and the golett. His vines flailed towards one of the Kabuto, sending it crashing into the staircase. Meanwhile, Chi-Chi was once again bomb happy, tossing a seed bomb with maniacal laughter. Several kabuto were tossed upwards in an unconscious flight back to the ground.

Still, they kept coming in seemingly infinite droves…

[Dragonwish2]

Liz watched Kenz and Pan chat, then watched Pan pull out a claydol and golett, spinning in a hole. A golurk and tick-looking pokemon emerged from the very walls. There were mountains of the ticks, tiny blood suckers coming to attack the group. Liz rose from her rock seat and let Guini jump down, approaching the oncoming battle calmly. Liz took out her pokedex and scanned through it, finding her ralt's data quickly. The screen lit up as it's computer voice read the screen aloud,

"Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. The horns on its head provide a strong power that enables it to sense people's emotions.
Moves: Growl, Confusion, Double Team, Teleport.
Ability- Telepathy."

She looked through it again to find the tick's page, only seeing it long enough to learn they were called Kabuto. She scrambled to put it up and grabbed a pokeball at her belt. Liz clicked it open, memories becoming clearer as her zorua landed in front of her, next to her ralts.

“Guys, Pivot isn’t finished yet! I need you guys to help defend!” Pan yelled.

Liz glanced over her shoulder at Pan, then back to the ticks and rocks moving ever so quickly.

"I'm on it! Kelli, turn into a golurk. Guinivere, use double team!" Liz smiled as her fox pokemon transformed into a hulking giant copy of the golurk. Guini held up her arms and cried out, shaking as she did so. A wall of copies appeared on each side of her, all in the same pose.

"Good work! Kelli, brace yourself and use pursuit on the golurk! Guini, confusion to the kabuto!" The ralts went into action, each focusing. The air turned a slight violet before a few kabuto started spinning around, though most of the others just seemed to have a sudden migraine.

Kelli pushed through the water bugs and slammed into the other golurk, sending it spinning into the wall behind it. It simply regained it's balance and rose back to it's feet. Darkness and a purple glow began to envelop it's arm, and it swung a huge punch into Kelli's gut. Liz could only tell it was a ghost type, but the damage was done. She fell to the ground, landing on several kabuto before transforming back into her black and red original form.

Liz followed this as best she could. Kelli used the kabuto as stepping stones, jumping back to her trainer. Liz rubbed her head, then Guini's. "We're not done yet! Let's do this!"

[Rasu]

Tyson applied the last of his Potions on Hitmonlee (who had finally regained consciousness) before returning both him and Lícia while recalling Ceress back onto the field. It was reassuring to have something that could warn you of impending danger, especially in a primitive place like this, untouched by human hands for Arceus knows how long. Finishing up with his preparations he met the rest of the group outside and tagged along for the trip to the Rock Temple.

The trip itself wasn't too long. He focused more on the people he was partnered with rather than the surroundings. There was both the couple who pretty much planned out the whole thing back at the temple, another wounded girl on the back of a Venusaur with a green haired guy following along and Kenz and Liz. Wait, Kenz and Liz? They were here too? Tyson figured out that he'd spare the greetings for later and focus on the task at hand.

They eventually reached the temple and, inside, Pan began to work on the strange keyholes with her Claydol and Golett. Tyson turned his attention to Ceress who had began to growl significantly.

"What is it? Can you feel something?" the Absol nodded and looked to the upper floor. Another one of those "guardians"! This one, however, didn't take a direct battle approach and summoned an entire army of Kabutos who began to scurry along towards the humans. This wasn't good and Pan's announcement that her Claydol hadn't finished whatever the hell it was doing wasn't reassuring either.

"Ceress, charge up your Razor Wind. Keep those Kabutos far from the Claydol!" the Disaster Pokemon nodded before leaping to a more adequate spot and began to fire off blades of thin air. The attack was strong enough to knock the Kabutos out of the wall without disturbing the sturdy Claydol and completely avoiding the Ghost-type Gollet. With that crucial part somewhat protected he turned his eyes to the Kabutos that were directly after the humans and, consequentially, their Pokemon.

"Lícia, come on out!" with a flash of white the Bayleef materialized on the floor, awaiting for further instructions. "Razor Leaf the Kabutos. No specific target, just keep them away from us." she did so, creating a multitude of razor sharp leaves from her main one. This wasn't the commanded attack, though. The leaves were engulfed in an ever-changing glow and would actually follow the target regardless of the aim. At the usage of the new move Tyson's Pokedex beeped and upgraded the Bayleef's moveset to include the newly acquired Magical Leaf.

"Any idea how much longer it's going to take? We can't hold them out forever!" Tyson turned to Pan. He didn't know what the hell that switch was going to do but he sure hoped that it would be worth it.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

When Twila woke up, Justin looked over at her as he was walking next to Turnip. "Morning," he said, continuing his brisk pace. "You alright?" She lifted her shirt to reveal red around her bandaged wound. Justin wasn't sure what it meant, but he knew it probably wasn't a good thing. "You probably shoulda stayed back," he shrugged, but then smiled charmingly. "Too late now. I'm Justin, by the way." He didn't bother shaking her hand since she had such elevation on top of the Venusaur, but just nodded his head.

He overheard Pan and, uh...One of the little ones. Kenz or Liz, he couldn't remember. Anyway, he overheard her and Pan discuss their plan, or, more specifically, lack thereof. Playing it by ear seemed like the way things usually went, though Justin did prefer to have a game plan. There wasn't any real game plan to be had here, though, given that they hadn't even seen the inside of the temple yet. You can't plan for the unknown.

Pan went over what everyone already knew, which probably did little to reassure the kid. Justin turned his head as they continued walking, smiled, and said, "No worries, kiddo," he said, winking. "Pan here's been through much crazier than this. We'll get through this no problem at all." As he said this, his eyes turned over to Pan and his smile remained. Somehow this miserable situation didn't seem so bad.

Then, he looked back forward, crossed his arms again, and sighed. Why did he feel so guilty?

They made it inside the temple and it was fairly magnificent, but he wondered how they were going to find what they needed to find and even get through the possibly booby trapped place. Pan started to investigate a key like hole and summoned Pivit, which evoked memories of the day he met her. That was when they discovered the Groudon temple as well as had their first encounter with the terrible, evil organization known as Team Deception. Another sigh.

As her new Golett spun Pivot around within the little hole, there was a crash and the sound of tiny legs against the temple floor. Justin's hand moved instinctively to Hitmontop's pokeball as the mass of Kabuto approached. He didn't bother waiting for anyone else to act, and quickly summoned the fighting type into battle.

Hitmontop had a fairly effective strategy for one on one combat. Fake Out and Mach Punch was quite effective in those situations. There seemed to be hundreds of these pokemon, though, and that just wouldn't work. He looked around and saw some of the others use their pokemon which mainly served to keep the Kabuto back. They needed some hard damage and Hitmontop could do that. "Alright, bud, let's do it. Triple Kick."

"Top." Hitmontop didn't waste any time spinning into the fray, his feet kicking wildly as he did so. One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three. Continuously, he knocked the attackers aside, doing severe damage to each one. Though Justin was entirely confident in Hitmontop's abilities to take care of himself, he figured it wouldn't hurt to use some other pokemon as well.

And he had some other pokemon. "Sudowoodo!" Sudowoodo popped out. "Sup Bro." He held out his fist to the pokemon, who made a ball with his branches and bumped Justin's fist. "Do what you can against those Kabuto. Protect Pivot. You remember Pivot, right?"

"Woodo"

"Tight."

Sudowoodo walked right up to Pivot and Golurk, then held out his branches, using Block, aiding the nearby Absol, Ceress, in keeping the Kabuto at bay. Any of them which got past the Razor Wind would be blocked by Sudowoodo.

"Shedinja," He summoned his newest pokemon. Well, that was perhaps debatable. It came from one of his oldest pokemon, Nincada, when she evolved, but Shedinja was clearly a different pokemon altogether. "Hey, uh," Seeing as it was genderless, he couldn't really think of a cool little nickname for it. "Shedinja...Sudowoodo and that Absol are over there keeping those Kabuto from getting that Baltoy." He looked at the pokemon, who didn't seem to be reacting at all. It just floated there. "Um, yeah. So Sudowoodo is blocking the ones who get through the wind, but I need you to do what you can to knock them out so he can keep his focus." It looked at him for a moment and slowly hovered over to Sudowoodo. "Use your Night Slash," he added. He didn't really trust this pokemon to make its own decisions. It seemed strange.

And then came the pokemon who always seemed to make him smile. Ninjask popped out and immediately began buzzing all around him. She slowed down for a second and rested on Justin's shoulder, not noticing that her sharp claws were digging into him. Though this was fairly common, he never did tell her it was painful. "Hey pretty girl," he said. The assassin pokemon was about to do just that. She had a knack for moving very quickly, and she didn't have the skills to do much against the masses of Kabuto. What she did have was the skills to have an effective one on one battle against the Golurk. Since she evolved, she was actually fairly competent in battle.

"Okay, here's the plan. See that Golurk up there?" Presently, there was another Golurk facing off against it, but it didn't seem to be doing super well. It looked very powerful, probably much moreso than Ninjask. Still, maybe with the help of the other Golurk, they could take it down. Then, the weaker Golurk fell into the swarm of Kabuto and turned into a tiny Zorua. "Oh, right," Justin chuckled. As the Zorua scampered back, hopping on the Kabuto as it did, Justin turned to Ninjas. "Swords Dance and Double Team."

As Ninjask buffed herself for battle, Justin turned to the girl who had the Zorua. Liz? Kenz? Gah, he couldn't remember. "Hey," he said simply. "Your Zorua did well. We still have to take down that Golurk, though. You think you could get it to get back in there? My Ninjask'll help out this time."

Then, he said to the entire group. "If anyone has any flying pokemon, we need to take down that Golurk."

Justin had two other pokemon, Octillery and Pinsir, but he first wanted to make sure things were going well before he flooded the field with his pokemon, which he wasn't sure he could keep track of.

[SaphireShadows]

Twila stared nervously at the cave entrance. It wasn't that she was afraid of caves, she was afraid of what might be IN the cave. It had been centuries since anyone had set foot in this underground world, who knew what kind of Pokemon had made their home in there? The dark haired trainer put on a brave face as they ventured into the dark cave.

Twila looked around in wonder as Pan's Pachirisu lit up the cave with its Flash. It was beautiful: the people who had built it had been very meticulous with the design. The walked through the cave until a wall blocked them from going any further. Pan examined this wall and found something that apparently Twila hadn't seen.

“Pivot,” she said as she summoned a Claydoll, “just like in Groudon’s Temple.” Twila wasn't sure what was going on, but apparently the Claydoll did. It lifted itself into an indentation in the wall and began to turn itself. However, the wall must have been too heavy, for Pivot couldn't turn itself. Pan then summoned her Golette and commanded it to turn Pivot.

A crash from somewhere out of sight made Twila jump. She listened carefully for the telltale sounds of rocks falling, but was instead met with the sound of dozens of scurrying feet. She blinked in surprise as tons of Kabuto came out of apparently no where and began to attack the group. In an instant, the people around her had summoned their Pokemon, and were beginning to battle the small ancient Pokemon.

"All righty, Merle, Kimber, Fae, come on out!" Twila said as she threw three Pokeballs at the ground. The rest of her party appeared in a mass of red light, immediately ready for another fight. She scanned all of her Pokemon with her Pokedex, aware that they might have learned new moves since last she checked. "Okay, Merle," she started, "I need you to use Vital Throw and Arm Thrust on those Kabuto. When the others' Pokemon aren't near you, use Whirlwind." Merle nodded and went to work. "Kimber," the Nidorina looked to her trainer expectantly, "use Double Kick and Poison Sting. Same as Merle: when the others' Pokemon aren't near, use Supersonic to confuse the Kabuto. Fae," she looked to the blue-eyed Vulpix. The Kabuto, she knew, were Rock and Water type, two types that Fae was weak to. She didn't want her newest Pokemon to be hurt too badly by the oncoming Kabuto. "Use Hypnosis on any Kabuto that get too close to Pivot or Golette or Turnip, all right?" Fae nodded and took her position right by Turnip's side.

Twila turned to Mai, who was still staring at her concernedly.

Are...okay? a voice asked. Twila looked around, startled. Who had said that?

...you..okay? came the voice again. The voice was inside Twila's head. She nodded, realizing that it was Mai who was trying to communicate with her. The words were choppy, but they were clear enough to hear, and sounded very anxious.

"I'm...fine Mai," Twila grimaced at the pain from her side. She was beginning to break out in a sweat, something that was never good when you were badly injured. She held her hand to her forehead; she was warm, but not excessively so. At least not yet... "What I need you to do," Twila continued, "is to use Lucky Chant on that Golurk over there." She pointed to the Golurk that had just punched another Golurk, revealing it to be a black and red Pokemon that Twila couldn't identify. "Make sure it can't land critical hits on that Pokemon! Then you can use your Confusion on the Kabuto." Mai nodded, and gracefully jumped off of the Venusaur to land right beside Fae. Twila tried to keep her full attention on her four Pokemon, but it was becoming hotter and hotter in the room, something she was sure only she could feel. Her temperature was rising, no doubt from the infection that was building in her wounds.

The mental link between her and her Kirlia was filled with concern, and it took much persuading on Twila's end to keep Mai from coming right back to her side. Twila needed her to be focused on protecting against the Kabuto, not on worrying about her.

This post has been edited by SaphireShadows: Jul 14 2011, 02:08 AM

[Pokefan209]

Kenz watched carefully as they approached the temple. She had grown up with a tutor, and he had taught her a bit of some languages, including Furite. She had a natural knack for French, but that wasn't helping them in the present situation. She managed to find words such as "trapped" and "doomed" and "cataclysm." Very pleasent temple, for sure.

Kenz listened to Pan's plan of winging it, and shrugged and went along with it. Not much else she could do, now that they were in the temple with no knowledge of what was inside. She really wished her tutor, Mr. Mendez, had been there. He would have rattled all sorts of important facts off, like "Oh, this temple was made of Furonium. That means the ancient people living here had plentiful natural resourses." And then he would have wrapped Kenz in a bear hug and treated her like his own daughter, like he used to, when Kenz's parents were too busy for her.

Kenz was so lost in thought that she didn't even realize the golurk shouting bringing out mountains and mountains of Kabutos. The little crabs skittered around on the floor so loudly that Princess attempted to cover her ears with her wings, and she had grown up listening to these guys.

Kenz did some quick thinking. What was Kabuto again? Rock and Water, right? She hoped she was right. Okay, Flying Types are weak to Rock, but Grass was good against Rock and Water.

"Tropius, help us out!" she called out, sending out her best Pokemon against these little beetles. "Use...um..."

Tropius didn't know any grass type moves! This definatly wasn't good. All she knew was Gust, Leer, and Growth. Tropius seemed to realize this as well, and surprised her trainer.

She learned a new move.

She controlled the power of the earth under her and her wings of fern, and sent out several leaves from them. The leaves gradually picked up speed as they traveled through the air toward a group of Kabutos. The leaves hit them, and they immediatly scuttled back to their master, the Golurk.

"Good job, Tropius! Keep using Razor Leaf!" Kenz called. Princess had taken it apon herself to also help out by spitting out large rocks at the little Kabutos.

"Good job, you guys. Keep it up!"

[Toogee]

Slowly but surely, the golett was turning Pivot as if winding a toy. The sockets in which the claydol’s arms were inserted into were rotating around the central body in opposite directions. Each turn was causing a portion in the center of the wall to move inward, creating what would become a large staircase. Considering there was no other way forward, the team had to stall in order for the stairs to completely emerge.

That wasn’t going to be easy.

The group was doing well so far. Even the younger trainers were eagerly commanding their pokemon to fight off the horde of kabuto. Most everyone was able to recognize their typing and proceeded to let loose with grass, fighting, and other advantageous attacks. In fact, the attacks were driving the swarm back. This gave Pan a chance to see how everyone was doing.

“We need to wait for these stairs to descend,” she replied to Tyson. “I think we’re doing a pretty good job so far. They just need to stay back for a little while longer.”

As she weaved through the group, Pan passed behind Justin. Her hand slid across his back, lingering just a bit before she moved on. It was a wordless gesture to let him know that she was OK. Another meaning: she liked having her hands on him.

Pan’s attention then redirected to Kenz, who had a tropius in her arsenal. It was qite useful to have another large grass type on the battlefield, especially since Turnip was carrying an injured passenger. Putting both hands on the younger girl’s shoulders, Pan congratulated Kenz.

“Nice pokemon,” she said to Kenz with a smile. “I haven’t seen a tropius in forever.”

Just as everyone was getting used to the lull, the kabuto struck. Using their aqua jet attacks, practically every single one of the fossil pokemon launched themselves across the room. The surprisingly fast attacks were aimed at both pokemon and humans alike. Their intent was to bury the team in an overwhelming amount of numbers. Then they could begin to feast…

One of the kabuto jetted close to Pan, grazing her forehead with the attack. The force of the attack knocked the researcher on her back as she yelped in pain. In her stunned state, Pan was slow to stop the army of fossils coming to the first fallen trainer.

Another kabuto crashed into Turnip’s flower. While the attack didn’t affect the large grass type, the fossil pokemon was far more interested in the hitchhiker. The kabuto quickly creeped down the flower and onto Twila, its legs poking her body. She was easy prey: sick and wounded. The blood from her bandages was too much to resist for the kabuto. The giant red eyes gazed into Twila’s before redirecting to her wounds. An absorb attack would draw that fluid from the cuts to the kabuto’s mouth as it began to feed on her. Turnip was too busy to notice; he was trying to get the dozens of other kabuto off his legs.

Just as things were looking up for Team Rock, we find our heroes about to meet a grizzly end.

[Dragonwish2]

Liz was beginning to panic. The kabuto were in swarms now, and some came straight for herself! Liz let out the rest of her pokemon. "Guys, I'm desperate! Keep the kabuto away!" Ryan flew into battle, jumping off of Greg's shoulders and slamming a force palm onto a cluster of kabuto. Greg breathed a wall of flame, but the rock and water pokemon walked straight through it. Serena cawwed and dove, picking up a kabuto at a time and throwing it against the wall, sometimes aiming at the golurk. Oreo blasted a huge water gun, sending the kabuto floating back on top of the others. Kelli and Guini continued their already begun fight. The zorua turned into a copy of her riolu comrade, madder and more mischievous than ever.

She looked over her shoulder to Pan and Tyson, eavesdropping on portions of their conversation. Stairs? She gasped as a kabuto flew at Pan, knocking her backwards. A wounded girl on a pokemon Liz didn't recognize was honey to bees. Kabuto after kabuto climbed on top of her, eager to bite her. Liz shuddered. She was right; they were one trait from being a tick.

Liz turned around. "Change of plans! Help me keep the kabuto away from these two and their pokemon!" Her own pokemon turned around, staring at her. A kabuto bit Ryan, which reacted with him yelping and running to help Liz. The others followed. Liz ran to Pan and Twila, kicking and stepping on kabuto as she went. "Ryan, use force palm to push them away! Kelli, use your ability to copy the big green pokemon, then crush as many as you can and as fast as you can! Greg and Serena, grab them and fling them away after Kelli gets them. Guini, use double team, then use confusion to confuse the kabuto!"

Liz pulled Pan to her feet, then ran to Twila and the plant pokemon. She pried off the kabuto and swung them away to the best of her ability. She was slower than her pokemon, but it was all she could do in this predicament.

This was a major conundrum for the group.

[SaphireShadows]

Twila wasn't aware of the Kabuto coming towards her until they were on her. In a panic, she tried desperately to fend them off, but they just kept coming. They crawled over her, aiming particularly for her head and her side. Twila could feel about a half dozen pairs of beady eyes glaring at her at once. She kept picking up Kabuto and throwing them off of her, but they would always be replaced with one or two more. Then came the pain of about eight Kabuto sucking the life out of her all at once. She screamed as she felt blood and fluid being sucked out of her and into the Kabuto gathered on her.

A jolt of surprise flashed through Twila's head, followed by a tidal wave of pure red anger. In less than a second Mai was back on top of Turnip using her Confusion to blast four of the eight Kabuto completely across the room. Then another girl was there, Liz? She couldn't remember exactly, everything was becoming a little fuzzy.

Twila's fever had shot up a few degrees due to the sudden stress of the Kabuto attack. She laid on her uninjured side in a sort of fetal position as Mai and Liz took care of the blood sucking Pokemon. She was suddenly so weak...

Mai's consciousness cut through the cloud that had formed in Twila's mind. Panic emanated from the Kirlia as she knelt by her trainer; she could feel her consciousness fading in and out. She checked Twila's wounds and found that her side had started to bleed again, and the gash in her head had turned the makeshift bandage dark red. She was bleeding badly; five more minutes and she could bleed out.

Suddenly, all of Twila's Pokemon had gathered around Turnip, helping to keep the advancing swarm of Kabuto at a distance. They were bruised and battered, but were still fighting with all their might. All except for Mai, who was crying hysterically over her now-unconcious trainer.

The distraught Kirlia pressed her small hands against Twila's side, as if to keep more blood from flowing out. Something clicked in Mai's mind at that moment, and suddenly her hands were enveloped in a gold, pulsing light. Mai stared wide eyed as Twila's skin started to glow where she had touched it. She took her hands away and found that Twila's side had stopped bleeding. She gently moved the bandages away to find that the open wounds had, for the most part, closed, leaving silvery scars in their place. Mai quickly moved her hands up to her trainer's head. Once again, gold light pulsed out, creating a kind of halo around Twila's head. Mai removed the blood soaked bandage to find that the mysterious move had once again worked: the gash on her trainer's head was almost completely closed, leaving only the smallest scar under her thick black hair. The move that Mai had unwittingly used was Heal Pulse, and it couldn't have happened at a better time.

Twila slowly opened her eyes to find Mai staring at her happily. "Wha...?" she asked, sitting up slowly. She felt lightheaded, and rightly so. During the last few hours she had lost about a third of her blood. A flood of emotions surged through the weakened teen's mind. Joy, relief, pride; all were emanating from Mai.

Saved you! So glad...okay! Mai thought to Twila, hugging her around the neck.

"Thank you," Twila said, returning her Pokemon's hug. She didn't know how Mai had done it, but she had saved her from a certainly grizzly end.

"Vul! Vulpix!" came Fae's voice from the ground. The Kabuto were still shooting themselves every which way with their Aqua Jets which made the fire type very nervous.

"Have a rest Fae," Twila said as she recalled the Vulpix. She then slid off Turnip to the ground, her knees buckling slightly as she impacted. She reminded herself that she was still weak from bloodloss, then returned her attention to the situation at hand. "All right, Kimber, Supersonic. Merle, Sand Attack, then Whirlwind. Mai, Confusion. Now!" The three Pokemon sprang into action. Kimber went first and let loose sound wave after sound wave, sending the Kabuto reeling. Then came Merle with his sand-filled tornado, knocking the already confused fossils into the air. Finally, Mai sent them crashing into the wall with her Confusion attack. All in all, the combination of moves had sent about twenty Kabuto flying.

"Nothing like getting the blood sucked out of you to make you appreciate these things being extinct." she grinned at Pan and Liz, kicking a stray Kabuto at the same time. She had had about enough of these little blood suckers.

[Angels Fall Firs...]

Finn had sent out his team in hopes to do his part in the protection of Pan's Claydol, Pivot, like the others. Nihall had been taking on a wave of his own, as he used a combination of his kicks and Ember attack. Rue had teamed up with Kyla as they used a Sing/Flame Charge combo. And finally Bailey and Ercole had found use of their differences in types and formed a great move with their Bubblebeam and Leech Seed attacks.

"Great, guys!" Finn cheered as he tried his best in helping the rest of "Team Rock" defend. He kept at it for awhile, until things started to get ugly. The Kabutos were going after Twila, Turnip, and Pan now, which caused Finn to panic. She had fallen unconscious as the fossil Pokemon kept on their charging.

The trainer found himself rushing over to the girl as she awoken, "Nihall!" Finn called over, "Double Kick, now!" Finn stood by his friend smiling that she was semily-decent. "I'm glad you're okay. You had me worried for a second there, Twila."

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Almost in unison, as if before they weren't really trying, all the kabutos began zooming around the temple with water splashing in every direction. It was one of the most intense and terrifying things Justin had experienced. It didn't seem to matter that Hitmontop was so much stronger either. He was behind enemy lines, so to speak, spinning and kicking nonstop. When the attacks happened, it seemed like he took the brunt of it.

"Hitm- Agh!" He got hit by a stray Kabuto in the face. Then another one. They were everywhere. He tried to locate one of his pokemon to command them to join his side, but the swarm of Kabuto made it so close to impossible. Not to mention, they were all probably having just as much trouble as he was.

He was right. Ninjask, who was trying to fly overhead to fight the Golurk, was almost immediately knocked out once the Aqua Jets commenced. Without Justin to recall her into her pokeball, her poor, frail and unconscious body bounced around the flailing Kabutos like a graduation cap. Sudowoodo was still playing defensively, trying to make sure none of the attacks hit Pivot or Golett. He could only block so much before it began to wear down on him, and he began to feel the HP draining as well.

The only of Justin's pokemon who was unaffected by the onslaught was Shedinja, whose Wonder Guard protected it from water attacks. It simply continued hovering over Sudowoodo, trying to pick off individual Kabutos who got past him, but they were moving too quickly and Shedinja was burdened by far too much apathy towards the situation to be particularly effective.

This left Justin with very few options as the Kabutos began clawing at him. He grabbed one of his two remaining pokeballs, though he couldn't tell which. He hoped it was Octillery, since the other would mean...

"Pinnnn...."

"Pinsir," Justin said, not bothering to be upset, "Get these goddamn things off of me."

"Pinsir!"

Justin couldn't tell if it was being defiant or not, but as he pulled a Kabuto off of his face, he noticed that Pinsir was just standing there. "Don't make me get Hitmontop over here." After he said this, Pinsir looked into the crowd of Kabuto to see Hitmontop far too concerned with not dying to bother playing Alpha Male.

"Pinsir," it shrugged? Can Pinsirs shrug? I guess so.

He pulled out his final pokeball, Octillery. Like Shedinja, it was still relatively new to the team. "Octillery, I need your help!" He managed to say. "Do...Uh...Something!"

His pokemon responded favorably. Perhaps it acted in self defense. The Kabutos weren't just out for human blood, after all. But considering his first targets were the Kabuto clawing at Justin, it was likely it was trying to win his approval, unlike a certain asshole bug pokemon. It began using Bullet Seed, a grass type move which sent out multiple attacks at a time. It was the perfect attack for the massive amount of Water/Rock pokemon, each of whom were quickly defeated with a single shot of Bullet Seed (especially given Octillery's superior level).

Once Justin was free, he looked around. The first thing he did was call back Ninjas, who was flopping around off in the distance. "Sorry, girl," he sighed in self disappointment. He shouldn't have let her go out there alone. Then, he saw Pan being slowly pulled to her feet by one of the younger girls. He quickly ran over to her and saw her forehead bleeding. "Don't move," he said, looking more closely at it. "The cut's not too deep," he noted, "Are you okay? You should probably sit back-"

"PINSIR!!!" He heard. He looked back to see that Pinsir and Octillery, who were still holding the line where he stood started to get swarmed as well. Octillery was still firing off Bullet Seeds like nobody's business, but Pinsir seemed content letting everybody die. That was, at least, until one of the poor, misguided Kabutos attacked him. Pinsir did not react favorably to the situation. On the contrary, he reached down, picked up the Kabuto with his pincers and squeezed. It didn't take much power to knock the little guy out, but Pinsir didn't stop there. He kept going, using his shadow strength to actually kill the pokemon.

Its shell cracked and its red beady eyes closed, the extinct species fell to the floor, now just a little bit more extinct. Though it probably wasn't such a great idea considering the rarity of the species, Justin found himself somewhat content having Pinsir rampage through the creatures like Godzilla, killing them off just for being there. At least, for once, he and Pinsir were on the same side. Anyway, that's what he did. He didn't have a particular target or location. He just moved through the swarm of Kabuto, used his pincers and killed them. He killed a lot of them, and he didn't care.

[Toogee]

“I’ll rest when we’re out of this,” Pan replied to Justin as she struggled to maintain her footing. Her head was still addled from the blow; she had to use Liz for support. As she looked around, she saw everyone still fighting off the onslaught of kabuto. They were doing a good job keeping the fossils away from her golett and claydol. They were just about finished, and just in the nick of time. Justin’s pinsir was going on a rampage, killing everything in its path. If the bug didn’t stop soon, his allies could quickly become his targets.

“Justin, call back that Pinsir before he kills someone!” Just then, a large group of kabuto scattered across the floor as electricity discharged from underneath them. In their place was Chi-Chi, literally hiding under the enemy’s nose. She dashed away from the angry pinsir and hid within the confines of Pan’s vest.

CLICK

Pan looked to the stairs to see that they were complete; the click signified that they had locked into place. However, that wasn’t the best part. Out of one of the doorways poured a stream of letters. It moved in synchronization, as if one creature was crashing into the horde of kabuto. The fossils scattered back to where they emerged as the resident colony of unown unleashed their hidden powers upon the attackers. Even the golurk above retreated into the wall as the unown cleared the room. When everything calmed down, the unown separated, floating harmlessly across the room.

Team Rock would live to fight another day.

“Good work guys,” Pan told her pokemon, returning all but Chi-Chi back into their pokeballs. “OK, now I’ll rest.”

The researcher leaned against Liz as she brought herself down upon the ground. The weary Pan breathed a “thank you” to the girl as she put her back to the wall, welcoming the well-deserved rest period.

[Dragonwish2]

Liz pulled another bloodsucker off of Twila and threw it, screaming as a huge bug type pokemon with large pincers snapped it in two. She gasped, her face paling to a ghostly white. A touch and calm feeling woke her from her stupor. Liz looked down to see Pan clutching her, her grip weak and shaking. Liz took her hand with her other arm, helping her stay on her feet.

She waited there, the battle slowing around her. A reverberating click echoed in her mind, incredibly real. She looked up to see it had been real, and stairs had appeared like a magic get away from the walls. A wall of strange letters moved out of a doorway, a large block covered with the alphabet. Liz looked closer and realized they were seperate things. She pulled out her pokedex and it sprang to life, scanning the black and white mass in seconds.

"Unown, the Symbol Pokemon. When alone, nothing happens. However, if there are two or more, an odd power is said to emerge." The screen and voice paused, waiting for her command.

Liz turned it off and slid it into her pocket. She turned her eyes to the unown. A staggering wave of them now was there, triple the original wall. They each used a glowing attack on the kabuto and golurk, sending them all back into the wall the way they came.

“Good work guys,” Pan said, pulling out a pokeball and returning a pokemon. “OK, now I’ll rest.”

She slumped against Liz and slid to the floor. Liz kneeled down, glad to her a soft "thank you". She was conscious, but exhausted. As she kneeled an ache spread like a wildfire in her knees and ankles, and she gladly sat next to Pan.

"Oh my gosh, we're alive." Her pokemon formed a half circle around her, all resting now that the fight was over. Liz took out each of their pokeballs in turn.

"Thanks guys. You just saved our lives." They entered their pokeballs without resistance.

Liz sighed and closed her eyes.

[SaphireShadows]

Twila watched as the group's Pokemon battled the army of Kabuto. It seemed hopeless: there was a seemingly endless stream of Kabuto coming out of the walls. Her Pokemon were losing strength, especially Kimber. She was panting heavily as Kabuto after Kabuto launched themselves at her. A click from the wall behind them indicated that Pivot had finished its duty. A staircase had fully formed, letting loose a stream of stale air and dust. Along with the musty air came a vast quantity of Unknown. The alphabet Pokemon launched from the passageway and beat back the army of Pokemon, then remained to keep watch over the group. Twila silently thanked the little black Pokemon and sank to the floor in exhaustion.

"I'm glad you're okay. You had me worried for a second there, Twila." Twila looked up to see Finn smiling at her. She smiled back, her body still finding enough blood to push a light pink blush up to her cheeks. Mai was still hovering around her, keeping her telepathic channel wide open so she could monitor her trainer's health. She was not going to let her scare her like that again.

Then the rest of her Pokemon came up to her, forming a half circle. Merle came up and placed a gloved hand on her arm while Kimer sat near her, still breathing heavily.

"Mai," Twila said, "Do you think you could use that move that you used to heal me on Kimber?" Mai nodded and went over to the Nidorina. She placed her hands on her sides and concentrated, but nothing happened. Mai stared curiously at her hands and tried again. Still nothing.

Sorry...can't... Mai said, hanging her head.

"Hey, no problem," Twila said as she pulled her bag towards her. She pulled out a Potion and sprayed Kimber. She perked up a little, but not much. She wouldn't be doing any fighting in the immediate future. Twila returned her with little resistance. She then turned her attention back to Finn and his Pokemon.

She noticed that there were a few that she had not seen before: a Combusken and a Krabby. Mai, however, went straight to Rue and started to talk with him, probably about the battle that had just occured. Twila smiled as Merle joined them and started to speak animatedly, using his little arms to gesture enthusiastically in the air. The black haired teen scooted herself over a few feet to sit beside Pan and Liz against the wall.

"Oh my gosh, we're alive," Liz said as her Pokemon gathered around her.

"Yeah, for a second I was afraid we weren't going to make it..." Twila said, shivering as she thought back on the whole thing. In reality, the fight had only lasted about ten minutes, but it felt like it had been hours. She closed her eyes and sighed in relief. For the moment she was just thankful to be alive.