[X] My Assistant

[Douken Sota]

Douken let off a sigh when things settled up once more. Things were going crazy down here in this pyramid of a temple. To think, right now, there really was no way back unless the Magnemite cooperated and moved the plates back to the entrance. Forward was the best way forward.

Gazing about, he looked at what kind of carnage occurred. Reep seemed worried about the Ledian who took the blow for her, and a group of Pokemon were concerned about the unconscious girl. Talk about best luck ever. "Reep," Douken called out to her, patting her on the head. "You did well, but you have someone to thank." Holding out a Sitris Berry from his bag, she understood well what he meant. So, as Douken drifted to the out girl, Reep moved over to Tag.

While there, she rested her body on the older man's shoulder, initiating contact to allow her to communicate a quick message. "Please tell her thanks for me," she told him, her voice echoing into his mind as she held out the berry to him, meant for the Ledian when she wakes up. With her gift delivered, she drifted back to her trainer, who was examining the out body.

The Growlithe she had still seemed exhausted, and the Mankey was still steaming. The green Pokemon with the top hat... well, he had no idea what he was doing, or what he was in the first place. Still, she seemed out. "Well, i got one way to wake her up," Douken told the surrounding Pokemon. "Just sorry for this in advance. Reep, think you can give her an Astonishing shock?" With a nod from the ghost, she drifted low to the floor and straight through the body of the out girl. Hopefully, that woke her up. Otherwise, he would carry her through the next phase of chaos the temple.

Well, whatever happened, when everyone got their breath back and on their feet, and Douken's Pokemon back in there Pokeballs, the team went on through the tunnel. The walls were well-lit, considering what was going through was pure electricity or magnetism. That was nothing, however, to what appeared to them. How these two huge Pokemon came out of nowhere came out, he had no idea, but they had to deal with them still. Big issue though was how worn out everyone was getting by the constant threats. Taking on two big shields before becoming sandwiches was not a good idea. Both had to be knocked out, or else one would still change them into the other, and they would still have a Trainer Sandwich.

Douken, slightly irritated by these constant waves, ran for the rear one. "Everyone, stay warm, cause this may most likely block off our missing exit anyways." Tossing out a Ball, Maya came back within her spunk back, feeling fresh, even after the Golurk, thanks to the Rest. "No one gets in front of Maya as she turns the rear into a freezer. Sheer Cold!" It was a low accuracy move, but in return, highly effective (as in if it hits, instant knock out). In Douken's mind, the confined space would hopefully help out the accuracy as Maya blasted a massively cold wave down the tunnel, freezing the walls at the massively below temperatures. Unfortunately, with lack of knowledge of any "fossil" Pokemon, he had no knowledge of Bastiodon's ability.

[Captain Combuske...]

Alex hated the falling sensation of all sensations, so naturally, he felt really ill after they'd landed. For this reason, he barely noticed the reason for the group falling and the battle going on. His Pokemon were tied between wanting to attack, or staying to help Alex. In the end, they did neither, because Alex started throwing up, and the battle ended so quickly.

Alex had just finished emptying his bowels when Tag took the group into a tunnel. At least this wouldn't suddenly drop...

"Ugh... I really hate throwing up... so sorry you guys had to see that. Umm... so.... Where do we go now?"

That was when the Bastiodon started charging at them. Alex knew all about these guys... Rock and Steel types, Sturdy ability...

"DOUKEN, NO!" Alex screeched. "They have Sturdy ability. Sheer Cold will just do nothing to them, and It'll probably hurt our Pokemon instead!"

But his cries were too late. The Dewgong, Maya, let rip a hugely powerful Sheer Cold attack that froze the whole of the surrounding tunnel's walls. Suddenly the temperature dropped massively, and Alex started shivering. As a Summer child, he hated the cold. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Not exactly the best attire for cold.

"So much for me not being on Team Ice." he grumbled. "Blaze, use Ember! I want this ice melted! Swamps, Use Water Gun on that Bastiodon!"

His two Pokemon nodded. Blaze started using Ember, away from the group, warming the air inside the tunnel up again, and melting the walls slightly. And Swamps turned to face one of the Bastiodon. He spouted Water powerfully, injuring the Bastiodon enough to make it stop, and shake its head.

"Well, that should slow them down..." Alex said, with hope more than actual belief in his words.

[FirePower]

Flit made a face as Alex threw up not far from where they were. Kaya couldn't blame the spearow, it was pretty gross. She turned her attention to Manera as her blitzle came back. It wasn't hurt all that badly, so Kaya decided not to to give it a berry. Returning Flit, she followed the rest of Team Steel into the tunnel, genuinely impressed with the lighting system.

Kaya rolled her eyes and scowled as the two bastodion moved into place. "Things just keep getting better and better, don't they? Attilla, go!"

"Psy!" the psyduck said, ready to fight. She was about to order it, when she got an idea.

"manera are you still up for battling?" She asked Her blitzle. It nodded. She pointed at the one Alex and douken weren't already occupied with. "Great! Let's try something. Attila, soak it first. The Manera, you use shock wave." She might not have gone to school, but she was smart enough to know that metal conducted electricity and water did too. She was half-hoping that combining the two would be enough to send a powerful shock to at least slow the bastodion down, if not take them out altogether.

"Psy!" Attila said before launching a stream of water in the bastodion's face. It simply blinked, the water gun attack doing nothing to stop the large pokemon. It squired several more blasts of water at the shield pokemon with no effect.

"Climb behind it and get the rest of it wet," Kaya said, doing her best not to go into a rage. "I want that thing soaked." Attila nodded and climbed behind the bastodion. It knew better to mess with Kaya when she was angry. It doused the large pokemon. First where it's shield head connected with it's body, then down it's back, then it's tail. After that it climbed back over and soaked the ground at the bastodion's feet. Afterward it ran back to Kaya, thoroughly tired. Signaled by a nod from it's trainer, Manera made it's move. It started running down the hallway towards the wet bastodion, it's mane glowing with yellow electricity. It skidded to a halt and a ring of electricity burst from the ground at it's feet, epanding towards the bastodion.

I'll go ahead and leave the outcome of this up to Tag, since I'm not sure how it would work out.

This post has been edited by FirePower: Aug 21 2011, 07:37 AM

[Asterna]

Rose watched the Magnezone's flashy defeat with no small amount of awe, particularly the Sand Tomb-turned-glass part. Well, that's something you don't see every day, she thought to herself, eyeing the unconscious Magnezone as the group passed by it. She took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh, mentally preparing herself -- given how things had gone so far, she doubted that this reprieve would last long.

And of course, it did not, as their next enemy showed up only a short while later. Rose made a face as the massive masked creatures appeared at both ends of the hallway and slowly began moving forward, threatening Team Steel with imminent death by crushing. She'd never seen this Pokemon before, either; Rose mentally cursed her unfamiliarity with many Pokemon outside of the Unova region. Well, they were part Steel-type -- she knew that much. According to Alex, who unfortunately shouted his warning a bit too late, they also had the Sturdy ability and were called Bastiodon.

Shivering a little in the sudden cold, Rose called out anxiously to her Cottonee, who was still out of her ball. "Alaia, you alright?" she asked. Alaia shrunk from the now iced-over walls and huddled closer to Rose for warmth, but she still gave a determined affirmative. "If you say so," Rose said with a small frown. The ice couldn't be good for her Grass-type, but since she was so determined to stay out... "Well, okay. Stun Spore on that one!" she ordered, pointing to the Bastiodon Kaya was attacking. "That should slow it down a bit more..."

The Bastiodon let out a low moan as the yellow powder hit and the paralysis set in, making the already slow behemoth move even slower. Rose nodded approvingly -- this would at least buy them more time. Now, she couldn't knock them out or push them back, so she might as well try to siphon off some of its health and help out Kaya. "Mega Drain on the same one!" she called.

[FlyingMew]

Anita had woken, startled by the sudden feeling of being invaded by an other-wordly being. Looking around, her she'd seen everyone heading down into a tunnel. Shaking herself to be rid of the feeling she had awoken with, Anita promptly followed, still dazed and a little confused as to how she had gotten here. Poof seemed more disgruntled than usual, and Fluffy was still tired, so Anita returned them to their pokeballs. Looking for Excalibur, she noticed him dragging her backpack as he attempted to follow her.

Anita stopped and turned around, walked over to her Snivy. Kneeling down next to him, she stuffed the clothing bundle that was partially hanging out back into the big pocket of her backpack. She pulled the backpack up onto her shoulders and helped Excalibur up on top. Turning, she noticed a dark wall two large creepy-looking eyes at the other end of the tunnel. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkk!!!!" she screamed. Anita grabbed Excalibur and held him out in front of her like a shield. The ensuing battle was not going to be an easy one, she realized. Excalibur wasn't a fighter, Nyan-nyan was unconscious, Fluffy was too tired and Poof... was Poof. And angry to boot. Anita figured she'd best let these other trainers do what they could. She was still a novice after all, and wouldn't be much help.

Hearing a familiar voice, Anita turned and saw Douken tell his Dewgong to use Sheer Cold. As the beautiful white Pokemon exploded from her ball, Anita realized that this meant ice. She immediately pulled Excalibur in closer, hoping that he wasn't going to fall prey to the resulting drop in temperature. Reaching down into her pocket, she grabbed Fluffy's ball out and released him. "Fluffy, do me a favor an use Ember." The Growlithe barked happily and began spitting out fire onto the ground around his trainer's feet.

[Master Houndoom]

Trainer Jaima... The voice in his mind, usually calm or bright, now showed a rarely displayed element of fear. Jaima could scarcely blame her: two large bipedal pokémon he had only ever seen in books had shown up and circled them.

He thought he understood their tactic. They were massive, and had huge steel plates for faces. Likely, those plates could take a lot of damage. If they got on opposite sides of each other, whoever was between them when they took it in mind to charge would be smashed like a sakura mochi between two plates.

Trainer Jaima... However, they were with a group of good battlers. Likely, they would be just fine. Except for the fact that Mercury had her misgivings, Jaima would have just sat back and let the action happen, allowing his own pokémon to rest for a while.

"What is it, Mercury?"

These pokémon are very old... and very strong because of it. I don't think we're going to have an easy time of things!

Jaima shook his head. Of course not. Since when was life easy? "Grondir, I want you to try to trip up the one to my left," he said, trying to formulate a plan. "No attacks, just slow him down. Don't let them get across from one another! Mercury... can you reason with them?"

They're both very single minded. I might be able to suggest, but their minds are hard to get through! She looked at Jaima, seeing the determination in his eyes, and bit her lip... what passed for a kirlia lip, at any rate. I'll try...

"Good enough. Desertdancer, Ember, Fang... be ready. Tsunami, you too. We may need your strength..." We may, Jaima thought, need all of their strength...

[Kamaitachi]

Tag visibly started when Reep touched him on the shoulder. First of all, a ghost was touching him, which was an eerie sensation on its own. Secondly, the ghost was speaking to him. In his brain.

He shook this off, attempting to smile at the Reaper pokemon, but failing. A pained grimace appeared on his face in lieu of the attempted grin, but he nevertheless managed to say:

"I'll do so. Thank you."

He neatly deposited the Sitrus berry into the backpack. Rather than summoning Suzu to the field to treat her with the berry, Tag opted to let her rest in her pokeball; he'd save the Sitrus berry as a treat for her, perhaps.

* * *

"Sheer Cold!"

Tag turned around in surprise when he heard the order for the One Hit KO technique. He was both surprised at the fact that a pokemon on Team Steel knew the move, and that it was being applied at such a brilliant time.

However, the Bastiodon seemed absolutely unfazed at the attempt, and continued to trundle slowly forward, scraping the sides of its head along the now cold steel walls. Tag clutched his duster to himself in an immediate attempt to ward off the now chilling temperatures. He'd obviously been wearing the duster the whole time. (More specifically, since he acquired one in "Par-Tay in Gigarte", which occurs chronologically before these events, he now has it.)

"Sturdy." Tag sighed with a sad realization that such moves would do them no good, considering the Bastiodon's innate ability.

He then surveyed Alex Slasher's attempt, utilizing Blaze and Swamps. He watched with great interest as Blaze's ember attack actually suceeded in melting part of the wall proper, instead of just the ice. That meant that this metal was both an electrical conductor of some sort, and had a fairly low melting point. He knew Flareon's flames could burn over 3000 degress Fahrenheit, for instance. An adolescent Combusken's probably did not reach that intensity of heat, but it was enough to melt part of the wall. Whatever compound metal that the walls were made from could be melted, which gave him an idea.

Kaya made a valiant attempt at slowing down the Bastiodon. Attila the Psyduck had managed to climb up the face of the Bastiodon, and squeeze through the small space between Bastiodon head/shield and the ceiling. This was all very comical to Tag, and he couldn't help but laugh, even in such a dire situation.

The creature managed to hop back over, and she had her Blitzle, Manera, fire off a Shock Wave.

Absolutely nothing happened. The Bastiodon seemed to blink once, then continue to move forward at its usual pace.

Rose and Alaia had been rising admirably to the challenge at hand. Tag found a great respect for such a bright young girl. He was convinced that with time, she'd blossom into a magnificent trainer. He was so moved, that he felt the need to tell her, since they were potentially dead if they failed.

"Rose." he said rather firmly, not quite sure how to voice such an awkward sentiment. "If we survive this, I'm sure you'll make a brilliant battler. So...let's survive this."

Alaia's stun spore was a magnificent way to slow down the encroaching pokemon, and Tag hoped that someone would do the same to the vanguard Bastiodon closing in on them from behind.

Anita proved to be the comic relief of the group. For an instant, Tag was convinced that she was about to use her small snake pokemon like a sword, which would've been excellent given its namesake. However, she opted to warm the area around herself with an ember from her growlithe. It wasn't a bad idea, since they needed the fire for Tag's plan to work.

Jaima Kuonji, who was thankfully one of the more talented battlers Tag had ever met, had conserved his team's energy, and had almost an entire team of six pokemon with which to tackle their latest threat.

Tag quickly moved into action, watching everyone else around him. Suzu, Kyoko, and Zuki were of no help in this situation. Bachi, Tobi and Orin were all he had left. The situation was as followed: Bastiodon A was in front of them, paralyzed, but still moving forward. Bastiodon 2 was behind them, still moving forward at regular intervals. Occasionally, one of them would glow with a quick sheen, most likely indicating their use of their Iron Defense technique, making physical attacks that much more worthless against them. They didn't have to attack, really, they just had to keep walking forward and defending, like a fossil phalanx.

Tag stepped up, summoning Orin and Tobi to the field. He had to slow down the two Bastiodon in order to buy them tiem, and he had something of a plan to try. Orin chirped worriedly as she appeared on the field. Evidently she seemed concerned that two rather large dinosaurs were bearing down on her from either direction. Either that, or it was her constantly concerned-looking face. Tobi, on the other hand, appeared almost at peace with the fact that he was about to be crushed into a pulp between two ugly pokemon.

"Orin, Spikes on the one in front!" The snow-hat pokemon obediently waddled forward and began to spin. With each rotation, she shot out a small wave of little spikes that appeared on the ground in front of the paralyzed Bastiodon. As it walked forward, it stepped on them, shattering them instantly, but it seemed hesitant to continue walking forward into something that hurt, especially while paralyzed.

"Tobi, Hypnosis on the Bastiodon behind us!" Tag had picked up on Douken's usage of their narrow space. Low accuracy moves didn't require as much aiming, and the Bastiodon would have a difficult time avoiding Tobi's debilitating technique.

The little fox nodded and immediately bounded off through the crowd of trainers before coming literally face to face with the encroaching Bastiodon. His eyes glowed blue. Then the Bastiodon's eyes glowed blue. Voila. The giant metal triceratops-looking creature stopped dead in its tracks, snoozing while standing.

"Okay, that should buy us some time on that end." Tag watched as Bastiodon A from earlier continued to move forward, albeit much more slowly. He ran through a mental list of commands, wondering if Tobi's Roar would actually be of any use. The Bastiodon would have a difficult time fleeing, as the backpedaling would most likely be as slow, if not slower, than their forward motion. Even if they did not the creatures unconscious, there would still be no way around them, and then they'd die of old age while the rest of the world was pelted by meteors. Right. There were still meteors hitting the earth above them.

"Alright kids, I have an idea." Tag turned to the group, signalling for them to listen. "If we knock them out, they'll still be in our way, so we need to find a way around them. The metal melts. The only way I see out of this is to melt the floor underneath the Bastiodon, that way when they get there, it'll make some space over their heads. Then we can climb over them, right? Anyone with a fire pokemon, focus on the ground in front of that fellow there-" he indicated Bastiodon A, who was barring their forward progress, but was in turn barred by the Spikes that Orin had set up. "and all other pokemon should be ready to continue to stall the other one" he indicated the sleeping Bastiodon 2. "If the melting-floor thing works, we can do that on our way back out with this fellow."

Tag wasn't quite sure if anything he'd just said many any real sense, so he attempted to show the Team Steel with his own pokemon.

"Tobi, Ember" He indicated the ground in front of the still-awake Bastiodon, and watched as Tobi's little flames began to make some leeway into the ground. This also produced the effect of the Bastiodon not wanting to move forward, due to the very hot fire and liquid metal in front of it.

That, and there were spikes.

However, Tobi's progress, with his own limited flame, was really quite slow. The vulpix did not yet have Flamethrower in his repertoire, which would've sped things up admirably. However, the combined forces of several fire pokemon would potentially do the trick.

In the mean-time, however, Bastiodon 2, behind them, slowly began to stir, almost ready to rise from its enemy-induced nap.

[Douken Sota]

"Doesn't that figure," Douken muttered as the one hit KO move had no effect at all. He thought at least with itss huge head, the ice would slow it down as he would of needed to plow through it, building the ice in front until it was too hard to move. So much fr that idea, especially since someone was trying to remove it with Ember. Well, a plus side was that they found out that the walls had a low melting point. With Tag's thinking, it could be worked to their advantage.

However, first off, they had to deal with the Bastiodon. Taking him a shield for a face and steel type, he had high defenses (getting higher) and could easy protect itself with, well, Protect. If the giant shield used it to block our plan, things would be devastating. "Maya, to the other Bastiodon." Turning her head about, she flopped her way past the collection f other Pokemon before she went and faced the forward dinosaur. "Its using Iron Defense, so use Encore!" Just as the Shield Pokemon's body glowed silver, indicating its third use to max defense, Maya gave it a sudden applause, cheering him on to use it some more. It was an amusing tactic, but it also blocked off any other technique for a while, and during that time, their plan would already be in action.

Next up was his part in the fire attacks, and he had one Pokemon in mind. "Rufus, come on out!" With the Pokeball opening up, the Puppy Pokemon emerged, barely recovered from that Magnitude from before. Seemed like he recovered in time. Pulling out a couple Sitris Berries, he let the pup munch his way back into better condition. And thus the energy rushed back, and the ADD pup was bouncing about, until Douken Caught him and ruffled his collar.

"Alright, Rufus, take a look over there," h said, pointing at the Bastiodon. "See how there's that gap on the underside of that face?" Rufus stared, but at what, Douken hoped was what he was pointing out. "Once you care clear of the Spiks, go ahead and use Flame Wheel through those horns and underbelly to the back of him, then begin firing a wave of Ember at the floor and his rear feet. Got it?" With a bark of a reply, Douken let go and said, "Get 'em, boy!"

With the plan in action, Rufus went for a straight charge, hopping past the spikes as his paws began to flame up, as well as a fire in his mouth. During the left couple feet, he curled right up into a ball and rolled his way underneath the dinosaur, creating a straight charred line in the center of the Bastiodon's walking path. Breaking away from the ball form, he went with his waves of Embers, just as planned.

[Asterna]

Meanwhile, Rose had had Alaia keep using Mega Drain on the paralyzed, but still slowly approaching Bastiodon. It wasn't doing much damage to it, but Alaia was getting healed a bit by using it continuously, and if she kept whittling down its health, it would eventually faint. Of course, it would still be in the way, but at least it would stop moving. They could figure out how to get around it when they weren't about to be crushed.

However, she was distracted from her task by Tag, as he called her name in a rather firm voice. Slightly startled and a bit confused -- Am I doing something wrong?, she wondered -- she turned to face him. Before she could voice her confusion, however, he spoke, telling her that she would make a brilliant trainer if they made it out alive. She blinked at him speechlessly in pure surprise for a moment before she recovered her sense. I-I am? she thought, before remembering that she should really say something to him in return. "O-oh, um. Thank you very much!" she managed. "And yeah -- we'll definitely make it out of here!" she added, flashing a bright smile at Tag before turning back to the Bastiodon. He's definitely not as scary as he looks, huh? she thought to herself.

Now feeling pumped and raring to go, Rose listened intently as Tag laid out his plan, nodding to indicate her understanding. It was a good, logical plan, and it was really their best choice at the moment. Unfortunately, Rose herself was bereft of a fire-type Pokemon to help melt through the floor. She called off Alaia, motioning to the other Bastiodon. "You heard what he said, so let's get ready."

They hurried over to the sleeping Bastiodon, dodging past trainers and Pokemon as they went. It was still sleeping, though somewhat restless, so Rose took the time to prepare herself. Ciar and Wyatt, with their physical attacks, would do practically nothing against the Bastiodon with its massive defense, but Alaia alone probably wouldn't be enough, so she called out Nina as well. The Panpour popped out of her ball with an excited cheer -- apparently, she'd been waiting to be let out so she could fight as well.

Now that her Pokemon were out, Rose mentally debated over her next course of action. She could try getting some free shots in now, but that might wake it up, and she ought to let it sleep as long as possible so that the others would have more time to melt through the floor. "Okay, guys," she said, calling her Pokemon's attention. "When it wakes up, start bombarding it with attacks -- Mega Drain and Water Gun. We want to stall it as long as we need to," she told them. After a moment's thought -- Tag's Vulpix was occupied, so it probably wouldn't be able to put the Bastiodon to sleep again -- Rose added, "Alaia, paralyze it before you start attacking." Course of action decided on, Alaia and Nina readied themselves, waiting for the already stirring Bastiodon to wake up.

[Captain Combuske...]

Alex watched, impressed. Tag, despite with seeming withdrawal and dislike for the role, was an excellent leader for the group. He lead by example, with his Pokemon being incredibly clever in their attacks.

Blaze had sort of managed to warm the place up, and Alex was proud. But he was more proud that Blaze had inspired Tag's latest strategy, which seemed very well thought out. And it might just work, too.

"Ok, Blaze, you heard him. Full Ember ahead!" shouted Alex. Blaze nodded, took one leap using his powerful legs, and landed among Tobi, Tag's Vulpix, and Rufus, Douken's Growlithe. He nodded silently to them in respect and began using his Ember attack at the ground, like the others.

Meanwhile, the second Bastiodon was getting worryingly close to waking up. Tag had instructed for the other Pokemon to keep him back.

"Well," he said to all of his Pokemon, at his side, not including Blaze "Let's get ready to RUMBLE! Leo, I want you using Spark. Swamps, join him, using Water Gun. Stryk, follow Aldo. Aldo, you need to use Mud Slap. Stryk, I want you watching closely. Try and copy it it! You're GOING to learn Mud Slap! You can do it gal! Fluffee, I want you by my side. I need to keep one of you back.

"Marsh!" cried Swamps joyfully. He then proceeded to do a weird dance.

Odd Creature. thought Alex.

"Lux!" barked Leo in response. He too looked really cheerful, and just happy to be involved in the battle.

"Star!""Rith!" said Stryk and Aldo in unison, agreeing to Alex's commands.

Meanwhile, Fluffee jumped into Alex's arms. She looked very concerned for the safety of the other Pokemon. He was obviously quite scared of the large, Bulky Bastiodon.
"Cotto..." she said, very quietly.

"It's Ok, Fluffee." said Alex to his cute little Cotton Ball Pokemon. He was obviously going to have to work with this one to get her less scared.

Alex watched all the Pokemon and trainers working together here. It was truly astounding to see this level of co-operation. Clearly such disasters caused people to trust eachother quickly and to work eachother well. Alex barely knew Tag, but right now, he trusted the guy. He didn't know Douken very well either, but was equally trusting of the trainer. It was really rather interesting.

[FirePower]

Kaya shrugged as the Water Gun/Shock Wave Combination she'd been hoping to pull off turned out to be utterly useless. 'Well, you win some, you lose some I guess.' Rose, meanwhile, managed to paralyze it, at the very least shortening the time until the were all slowly and painfully killed by crushing. Tag, though, thought up of a plan to get them all out. Apparently the walls had a low melting point, and as such could easily be moved. The people with fire-types were to melt the floor at the feet of the paralyzed bastodion, allowing them to move forward. The one keeping them from going back was promptly put to sleep, and everyone else was to bombard it with attacks once it woke, hopefully slowing it down.

Kaya repositioned herself on her crutch, trying to think how she'd be useful. She had absolutely no fire types, let alone ones that were still capable of battle. For the most part her battle-ready pokemon used special attacks and she didn't want them to be walked over by the shield-like pokemon. That left Flit out entirley. Otherwise she had Attila and Manera, though they weren't by far the strongest pokemon in the group.

"All right! Attila, hold it back with water gun when it wakes up, but make you keep some room between the two of you. Manera, the same goes for you, but use shock wave. Flit, stay here. I don't want you getting trampled by that thing. I don't want you guys getting trampled by that thing." Attila nodded enthusiastically, and Manera followed suit, though without the malicious smile the her psycuk companion was wearing. Flit on the other hand, protested loudly.

"Now don't be like that, Flit," Kaya said. "Like I said, I don't want you getting trampled." The spearow was still cross, but it had stopped protesting. It settled on Kaya's shoulder in a disgruntled manner and prepared to watched the battle unfold. Manera and Atilla got ready to fight the bastodion.

[Master Houndoom]

"Ember, you heard the man," Jaima said. "Lava Plume on the floor under that bastiodon on his command."

Ember looked up at Jaima, blinking, and he scratched her head gently. "It'll be all right. It's a good plan." He turned to his other pokemon. "Tsunami, I need you yo be ready in case the one behind us wakes up soon. If he does, pelt him with Mud Shot. Desertdancer, ground's too hard to dig. Sand Tomb. Keep him as much in place as you can."

Desertdancer's face contorted into what looked much like a grimace, but he made no move to counter. <Once again, relegated to trapping and becoming a barrier.>

Don't be like that, please. If Jaima could, he'd have you fight much more openly.

<Oh?> The sandshrew seemed ashamed of his complaints, but Mercury's mental voice was gentle.

He mentioned the ground. He wants to use you to battle. It's just not possible right at the moment.

Desertdancer sighed softly. <You're right, of course, my dear. It's simply very frustrating to know you can be a help and have circumstances become a barrier to you at every turn.>

Believe me, my friend, I know the feeling.

Desertdancer chuckled. <You are providing the service of being a boon companion to your trainer, and of keeping tabs on the one with which his heart lies. There's more use to that than you might believe.

The two pokemon smiled at each other, then prepared for the task of keeping their trainer, and his group, as safe as they could.

[Kamaitachi]

Tag watched as Tobi's ember flames slowly started to meld together. The little darts of flame were joining together into a more coherent stream forming...well...a flamethrower. Tag's heart swelled with pride as Tobi upped his game, blasting out the waves of concentrated heat at the ground in front of the Bastiodon. He peered into the flames to see if they had any real effect, and to his surprise, it did. The floor was melting, even at a slow pace.

Rufus, the growlithe, began launching his flames as well, adding to the already intense heat that Tobi's flames were producing. The growlithe was on the other side of the Bastiodon, due to a daring move from his trainer, Douken. The corner of Tag's eye caught the trainer egging his pokemon on. This was yet another serious contender on the trainer front. Taggarty Lee couldn't tell whether or not to be excited or anxious that there were so many talented trainers in his midst.

Alex Slasher, by far the most foolhardy of the group, still had some sense as a battler, and had a team of very eager pokemon at his side. If he ever matured a little bit, he too would prove an excellent battler. Of course, he needed a bit more of a solid head on his shoulders. Even now, though, Blaze, his Combusken, joined the ranks of Tobi and Rufus, adding his own fire to their display.

Tag turned to Jaima, giving the young lad a stern nod. As if on cue, his Quilava's brilliant Lava Plume technique joined the Flamethrower and embers.

"Anita! You too!" Tag called out to the girl who had contributed the least during their time in the Steel Temple. Fortunately, now was her moment to shine, and she took it. Her Growlithe, Fluffy, sprang out of her pokemon's ranks and stood proudly between Tobi, Blaze and Ember, adding his own Ember to their combined assault.

The combined fire easily melted down the floor in front of the Bastiodon. Tag raised his hand for a literal cease fire, and all the attacks stopped, revealing that a large area had been melted down.

"Orin, Icy Wind." The Snorunt waddled forward before firing off the intensely cold wave from her mouth. It washed over the pool of liquid metal, instantly cooling it at its lowered point, and proceeded to wash over the Bastiodon, who continued its trek forward.

As it stomped the spikes flat, it entered the area that had been lowered, providing, as Tag suspected, plenty of room to go over it.

"Tobi, Hypnosis!" Once again, the Vulpix's eyes glowed a bright blue, which lit up the Bastiodon's eyes to a similar colour. The creature closed its eyes and sank down, providing even more room for the team to clamber over its face and out the back.

"Let's go!" Tag moved forward at a brisk pace, picking up Tobi and Orin and bodily tossing them over the Bastiodon, then signalled for everyone else to continue forward. He'd, naturally go last.

* * *

At long last, the team entered a large chamber that seemed completely sparse. Along the walls were the brilliant lighting lines that had lit the previous tunnel, but this time they were spread out in beautiful criss-crossing patterns. The entire room was filled with that same, eerie, dim glow that the tunnel possessed.

Tag, the last the enter, gave a low whistle, indicating that he was, in fact, impressed with the architecture, despite how spartan it was.

A low whirr filled the room, and suddenly, the center of the floor opened up, revealing a perfectly circular hole. Electricity seemed to rush along the ground, following the patterns that had lit the floor, causing the entire room to suddenly glow brightly.

Slowly, painstakingly, something rose out of the ground, standing perfectly still on a rising platform. Team Steel watched as the Golem that they had been searching for appeared right before there, standing on a pedestal, but completely still and devoid of life.

Upon closer inspection, there appeared to be writing on the pedestal, but Tag, at least, had no knowledge of ancient Furite. At the very least, crudely, there was a large lightning bolt scribbled in, which indicated that they probably needed a jump start from some source of electricty.

"Okay guys, Electric pokemon this time." He was thinking, of course, of Douken's Rusty, Jaima's Fang, Kaya's Manera, and Alex's Leo. "Battery's not included, so we need to give it a jump start." Tag indicated the pedestal. "It's all yours, guys."

[Douken Sota]

As the floor below the Bastiodon fell, Douken quickly returned Maya back to her Pokeball and began his run forwards. As Tobi did her work, putting to rest the barrier that stood between then, Douken went and jumped above the shielding head back to where Rufus was. With the pup wagging his tail happily, Douken ruffled up the collar of the ADD dog, telling him, "Good boy. Nice job," before returning him back to rest.

And at long last, after three separate trials, they all arrived at the main room, where soon after arrival, arose the legend they sought: Registeel. Sure, he was nothing compared to Regigigas in terms of power, but legends stated that he formed the iron the land used, as well as being one of the three keys to reawaken Regiggias. Giving a respectful bow and small thank you, as the Amazons did to respect them, he went out and followed the next plan: lightning.

Pulling his Pokeball out, he threw out and released Rusty once more, who seemed to of been more dazed by the previous landing than anything else. "Alright, Rusty, time to give Registeel a nice jump start. Thunder wave!" With blue sparks flying between the magnetic ends, the Magneton fired forth a blue bolt, soon to engulf the Golem before them. Since there seemed to of been no over point of interest, why not use the direct approach?

[FirePower]

"Good job you two," Kaya told her two pokemon as Tag's snorunt cooled the melted floor. "But now we need to get out of here before we're trampled. Attila, return." The psyduck returned to it's pokeball, more out of tiredness than obedience. Kaya had decided to keep Flit out, since the spearow seemed comfortable.

Kaya decided on letting the others besides Tag, who seemed determined to go last, go before her as to not be an inconvenience to anyone due to her broken leg. She was glad she did, too. It was with no small amount of trouble she managed to clamber over the bastodion's head, helped by Flit's good intentions, though once again it succeeded only in ripping it's trainer's shirt. After she successfully scaled the pokemon's face she continued behind the rest of the group, except Tag, of course.

She was once again impressed by the intricate lighting system of the temple, and while she was no architecture fanatic she continued to be awed by the design of the temple, the complexity of the various contraptions, and how well thought-out the booby traps were. She jumped when the electricity began to surge along the floor, and Manera's mane glowed in unison. This surprised the blitzle just as much as Kaya, and it snorted in surprise.

Human, spearow and blitzle watched, mouths slightly open, as the registeel came out of the ground for a surprising turn of events. It seemed inactive though. It seemed like they would have to carry it back to the temple... or give it a quick wake-up call. It was as though Tag read her mind when he suggested they power up the steel golem with the group's combined electric attacks. Kaya's spirits lifted. For once she'd actually be of some help.

"Let's get this heck of a mech movin'! Manera, shock wave it with everything you've got!" Kaya said, getting excited. Manera, the excitement of the teenager carrying on to it, gave a triumphant cry and shot several powerful rings of electricity at the statue.

[Asterna]

Rose looked over from the Bastiodon she was standing guard by at Tag's shout of "Let's go!" With a nod, she returned her Pokemon -- Nina made a disappointed noise as she returned to her Pokeball, sad that she hadn't gotten to see more action -- and jogged over to the other Bastiodon, clambering over it with only some difficulty before jumping down safely to the other side. She gave a soft sigh of relief -- that was yet another ordeal dealt with -- and moved forward, trekking along with the rest of Team Steel to their next destination.

As they walked along the tunnels, Rose kept looking around, half-expecting another group of Pokemon to jump out and ambush them. When nothing of the sort happened after some time, she relaxed a little, turning her attention back to the road in front of her. Nothing's happened yet... so are we getting close to the end? she wondered. Of course, the next trial could just be farther away than the others, but Rose still felt her hopes -- and nervousness -- rising. On the one hand, the sooner they reached Registeel the sooner they could get out of this place. Beautiful as the ancient temple was, it was a tad too dangerous for Rose's liking. On the other hand, she was a bit nervous about encountering the legendary Pokemon. She wasn't sure if they would have to fight it or not, but if they did, it would surely be powerful. Well, whatever's coming, I'm ready for it, she thought determinedly.

Finally, they reached their destination: a large chamber, with architecture even more stunning than the rest of the temple. Beautiful as the crisscrossing patterns of lines of light were, though, they didn't keep her attention long. Rose watched, transfixed, as the steel golem rose slowly from the floor. When Registeel and its pedestal finally rose completely to the surface, Rose's hand twitched instinctively towards her Pokeballs, but she relaxed again when it remained motionless. She tentatively stepped forward a bit to look at the carvings on the pedestal; she didn't understand a word of the ancient Furite, but she at least got the point of the lightning bolt carved into the stone along with the archaic letters. With a small sigh, she stepped back; this was something she wouldn't be able to participate in, not having an electric-type Pokemon of her own. She stood out of the way and watched as the others pumped electricity into Registeel.

[Master Houndoom]

Jaima nodded, returning Ember and Desertdancer to the pokeballs (Desertdancer seemed a mite depressed... he'd have to make sure Meiko knew) and scrambling over the dozing bastiodon. Mercury awaited him on the other side, as he knew she would, having teleported past it once she'd known the way was relatively safe.

On the other side, he released his pokemon, allowing them once again to walk free. Fang took the place usually occupied by Shadow, slightly in front of the rest of the team. His eyes roamed the hallway ahead, narrowed slightly, as if daring trouble to come. Since he'd involved he seemed to have lost his swagger (the attitude, not the move), but gained a kind of more subtle regality. Jaima smirked. If he'd been a plant type, he'd have named the pokemon Vejita. But that was neither here nor there.

Grondir took his usual spot, in the rear of the pokemon fighting lines. His vine whip and mostly-projectile attacks made him more suited to the back, and if whoever might be trying to attack Jaima got through, his bulk and strength made him perfect as the last line of defense.

Ember took the left, her eyes watching almost as warily as Fang's, but using faster movements. She was sleeker, more streamlined than the luxray, and also had lived her life more timid, so was therefore used to being watchful.

Tsunami was in the middle, directly in the middle, being suited for both range and close quarters. To her left, where Fang usually was, was Desertdancer, the only indication that this was a formation that the team had come up with: he was, at times, faltering, unsure of his place in the group. It was, in fact, only the reassurances from Mercury that kept him from giving up and hiding.

Mercury was the only one who seemed not to match the ersatz formation, and that was because it mattered little where she was when an attack came. She could teleport entire city blocks to join the action if need be, and her psychic attacks didn't rely as much on position. She floated above Jaima's left shoulder.

The formation had been Shadow's idea, wholeheartedly supported by Fang, and discussed, to Mercury's great amusement, during training, secure in the knowledge that he couldn't hear them without help. It wasn't that they believed he would stop them, but Mercury herself had felt uncomfortable with telling him, knowing that he would be upset that they were protecting him from danger when he felt it was his job.

Fang had succinctly, even rudely, summed up the team's position on the matter. <He'll get over it.>

Finally they arrived in the great chamber, where the massive, legendary Registeel rose on its platform, lifeless, yet still impressive by sheer size.

Tag gave his command, and Fang didn't even wait for Jaima's acknowledgement. <Let's get this done,> he said, bending at the forelegs and charging his body, letting the electricity from the muscles in his forelegs build up and course up his body. It was time to put his newest move to the test, he thought with a smirk, loosing the bolt of electricity from his tail.

[Captain Combuske...]

Alex kept his eyes Steadily on the Sleeping Bastiodon. Any minute it would wake up, and most likely crush Team Steel into tiny fragments. Alex couldn't help it, but these gruesome images stayed in his head as if they'd been burned into his mind.

Therefore, the flame haired boy was immensely relived when the Fire Pokemon had finished their work and the Snorunt had cooled the pit down, making the Bastiodon low enough to climb over. Blaze returned to Alex's side, and he smiled at his Pokemon.

"Dude, you were awesome." he said to his kick-boxing chicken, who answered with a "Comba!" of thanks.

Tag then indicated to everyone to go over. But Alex knew he had to find a way to get everyone over at once. He couldn't risk making lots of trips to get all of his Pokemon over. Not with the Bastiodon alive and probably not asleep for long. Alex mind worked like Klink at lightning speed, and he soon came up with a plan.

"Ok, guys. Right, this is what I want you all to do. Stryk, fly Aldo, and of course yourself, over. Leo, use those powerful muscles, you can climb over relatively quickly. Blaze, get Swamps helping you with this, but those Leg muscles of yours means you can jump over that Bastiodon with relative ease. I want you to do that, but carrying Swamps. Fluffee, I'll carry you over. Okay?"

The Pokemon all shouted their cry in unison in agreement, and all jumped to their task. Blaze and Swamps surprisingly were first over. The two knew exactly how to get eachother to do what they wanted, and did it expertly. With one leap, Swamps and Blaze clinging to eachother, Blaze jumped over.

Stryk was second. It was easy for her to carry the relatively light Aldo, who wasn't able to move quickly enough for Alex. Leo came after, climbing over the Bastiodon's head with ease and jumped of the end of its torso. Finally, Alex climbed over, with Fluffee jumped over in front when Alex needed both of his hands. Eventually though, they all made it over and walked along the pathway. Alex was half-expecting another threat to come his way. There was no actual structure to the group, but Swamps was at the back, Blaze and Leo at the side, Aldo and Fluffee on his shoulders, and Stryk flying overhead.

Eventually the group made it into the final room, and they saw Registeel in all its glory sitting there. There was huge Electrical current in the room, and Alex was surprised when his Pokegear suddenly lit up.
"Ooh, goody! The Electricity is just right in this room! My Pokegear works again! YAY!"

Then Tag indicated the statue of Registeel, which needed Electricity to work again. Alex looked at Leo.
"I don't even need to tell you what to do, do I?" he asked Leo, and the Luxio nodded cheerfully. He jumped happily towards the statue and used Spark repeatedly to try and give Registeel a Jumpstart.

[Kamaitachi]

Tag stood by Rose Fiore and Anita Lyfe, as this half of the team had no electric type pokemon on their teams.

"No pokemon on your Team are effective against Steel Types, yet you chose to join Team Steel anyways. That's commendable, you know." Tag crossed his arms as he looked over at Rose. "Be ready though, in case we need to fight one more time. You know the drill: Alaia, Stun Spore, Leech Seed."

Tag watched as his orders were carried out, still a bit surprised that people were willing to listen to him. He'd often spent his time in the company of his, for all intents and purposes, rival, Justin Smart, and the fiercely independant Raven Amaranth. Then again, he hadn't been surprised when some of the younger trainers, like Malcolm Smith, Eron Ingress and Seiccan Serroc had simply followed his orders (even if the latter hadn't seen through his paper thin disguise).

The Electric Pokemon of Team Steel rose to the challenge, pumping all the electricity they could muster into the pedestal. Rusty, Fang, Leo, and Manera's fantastic display of lightning energy coursed into the pedestal, and all along the crisscrossing lines of the temple room, causing the entire chamber to light up in its full glory.

Tag shielded his eyes for a moment, but did his best to keep his eyes on the Legendary Pokemon before them. Once the electrical assault died down, Tag watched as the beeping 'eyes' of the Golem suddenly sprang to life, reminiscent of a computer, or an R2 unit.

Slowly, it turned its entire torso left and right, surveying the scene. Then, it slowly lurched forward without moving its legs, painstakingly moving into a creaking bow.

"Good Morning, Registeel." Tag stepped forward amidst the group of Trainers and Pokemon alike, returning the bow. "I trust you slept well."

Tag's natural politeness took over. His proclivity for the formal seemed absolutely perfect in dealing with an ancient, sleeping pokemon. Registeel's eyes beeped back at him, in a flashing display that while haphazard, seemed somehow gentle.

"We humbly request your aid."

With another display, the Registeel opened its arms wide, a low drone emanating from its body, as if it were a large, hollow bell. The entire chamber ceiling suddenly opened up, revealing the bright, unnatural sky of the great underground chasm.

The entire room was an elevator, and with Registeel's power, it was slowly rising back up to the surface.

Team Steel found themselves back outside, right back at the entrance to the temple. It was from the Registeel chamber that the original Bronzor had emerged from, evidently, and they now floated from the wall, chiming happily at the presence of their Metal Lord.

With a slow wave of its hand, they returned to within the temple, the door slowly closing behind them.

Without bothering to move its legs, Registeel slowly began moving forward, back towards the Gigas Temple, where hopefully, the rest of the PokeCon Survivors were waiting for them.

"Well everyone." Tag swept his eyes over the team, giving them one brusque nod. "Excellent work. Let's get back."