[X] My Assistant

[LittleShadowPoke...]

The ground rumbled under the onslaught of the woolly behemoth, and much like before every death, Joey’s life flashed before his eyes. He was a toddler absentmindedly given a pacifier while a young man and woman fought. Ceramic shattered against the wall, and the hysterical woman was desperately dialing for police that never came. He was a young boy being forced to be the whipping boy for a crude and abusive shoddy hotel manager. He was a street urchin, crouching in a grimy alleyway behind a dumpster hiding from the world and escaping into the words of his notebook and written thoughts. He was a thief, stealing food when hunger diminished his moral statutes and stealing a hover-bike when desperation escalated. Briefly, he was a slightly less miserable daycare attendant playing with a newborn giggling Bulbasaur, and lastly...he was the cripple staring down a stampeding Mamoswine, and he had no idea who he had become.

He imagined the tusks tearing through him and Regice’s temple becoming his tomb. It dawned on him that this was the end. No more hunger. No more pain. No more cold. No more aching wants. No more grievous baggage of a haunting past. No more feeling of doom always hanging over his head to blot out any momentary happiness.

In a last ditch effort, Joey heaved the bulk of his pack and Seel away so as to be safe from the impact and the Seel used the momentum to roll out of danger. Joey felt an overwhelming force of warmth spread through his numb body and his aches started to melt away.

This is it, he told himself. This is what it feels like to die. He welcomed death with open arms, only for it to be snatched away again at the last second. Almost quicker than he could see, a knight on horseback rode a wave of flames over to the Mamoswine and intersected just before the tusks could pierce the crippled boy. He was close enough to see each individual coarse hair and every chip and ridge in both tusks, and a healthy glistening of the snout. The attack sent the Mamoswine off track and swerved into unexplainable falling icicles and subsequently fell, narrowly missing Joey in both attempts.

The young trainer felt the rush of air and scratch of hair as the Mamoswine went down near him, and the resulting quake gave him some air time from the ground, but was quickly slammed down by a wave of dirt and ice expelled by the mass of the prehistoric giant. Making sure that everything was functional, or at least as functional as it had been, he started hurriedly brushing dirt and ice chips off him and out of his hair as best he could with only his right hand, still protecting the singed left hand.

Jet had hurried over to him with his pack, a newfound look of admiration in his eyes for his trainer, which also awakened an unfamiliar emotion from within Joey. Gratefully taking the pack, he struggled to his feet and looked around. He was in some sort of amphitheatre pit, with the remaining group of trainers at the top of the stairs, and a beacon of light from outside signaled to him the true entrance to the temple and his heart dropped to his stomach at the realization to his stubborn stupidity.

Of course it had been a trap. He swiveled to gaze at the long, narrow ice slide from which he had fallen and knew some miracle had taken place for him to not have slipped off the side to his death. He remembered reading about plants and how poisonous berries didn’t have any thorns to protect them, for the poison itself did just that, but edible berries nearly always had thorns. There were no thorns to get through his entrance. Intimidation, sure, but it was just a ruse; one for which he had pitifully fallen.

Everyone had taken up a battle stance, and the charging Mamoswine had broken the herd mentality and caused a riotous stampede toward the group. Two Swinub branched off and headed for Joey, who was swiftly protected behind a determined looking Jet. To aid him, Claw the Pidgey was also sent out. Joey had them battle defensively, with Jet taking any ice hit for Claw who relied on wind attacks. Unusual of Joey, as he was exhausted, he kept primarily to the defense and couldn’t bring to mind any interesting combos and could barely react to the Swinub pair. Honestly, he just wanted to lie down and cry and sleep and never wake up, and his brain was fried for anything tactical at the moment. However, he held his own against the two Swinub.

He just hoped that Regice would be easy.

This post has been edited by LittleShadowPokemon: Sep 26 2011, 08:38 AM

[Master Houndoom]

"Shadow!"

Two voices had sounded in concert, almost in perfect harmony, even though the pokémon each were commanding had moved a split second before they had even noticed the danger. Meiko cast a look at Darryn, three quarters amused and a quarter annoyed. He wasn't looking at her, however, sending November into the fray. Ah well. He couldn't be blamed for sending the strongest pokémon he knew out first.

Shadow, for his part, raced along the floor, but soon was skidding, his arms pin wheeling. Meiko's eyes widened as he hit the mamoswine on the right dead on in the face. Rather than be stunned, he grabbed the icy tusks and flipped to the creature's back, where it tried to buck him off.

Meiko reached to her belt and pulled off her oldest pokéball. "Chompwater!" The feraligatr materialized dashing, all four legs working to move her in a sprint to where the mamoswine were fighting a pitched battle. "Take the one on the left! Make sure it doesn't get to the boy!"

With a roar Chompwater struck the left mamoswine, rising and swinging her tail to hit it over the head. The mamoswine gave a roar of its own, and Chompwater locked with it, wrestling arms against icy tusks.

With a jerk, the mamoswine stepped back and reared, raising its tusks and, by extension, Chompwater, who seemed surprised to be off the ground. With a jerk, its feet hit the ground and it swung its tusks up and out, tossing Chompwater to the ground.

Chompwater rose, dusting her shoulders off, her dorsal scales fluttering in her agitation, red along her back and one orange one on her head.

Wait a second..!

"TOOOOOOOOOOR!" With a scream like a tiny barbarian, Blazeclaw the torchic opened his beak and sent a wave of flame at the mamoswine, causing it to step back and trumpet in pain.

"Blazeclaw, what are you doing out?!" Meiko shouted, horrified that she didn't know that her pokémon had even been out, let alone that such a tiny little one was fighting.

"Chic! Chicachicachicichic!" The little torchic hopped up and down on Chompwater's head, then, spying the mamoswine again preparing to attack, gave it a mean eyed glare.

"Shadow! Kuantaa!" Meiko shook herself. She had given the command to use the Counter attack in Japanese, subconsciously. Shadow, however, had been trained to know his attack moves in both English and Japanese, and when the mamoswine he'd been fighting had struck him, he'd struck back just as fiercely.

Darryn seemed to be concentrating on Shadow's foe, and seemed to have things in hand for now. Meiko made a snap decision. "Shadow, get Joey out of there!" He knelt and picked the boy up, rising slowly. "Don't fall!"

Shadow shot her an annoyed look, but, sure enough, began to slip. A purple aura stabilized him

Now we'we even fo' you not tewwing, whispered a voice that only Shadow could hear. Over Meiko's shoulder was Nightwish, stabilizing the lucario telekinetically.

We're still going to talk, little lady, Shadow shot right back, leaping clear of the mamoswine that had, once again, tossed Chompwater. The mamoswine charged, but was knocked aside by the feraligatr, who shoulder checked it. The mamoswine screamed as the torchic on top of Chompwater's head sent another ball of fire into it's flank.

You wiww tawk. I wiww sit quietwy and mock you in my head, came the sneering voice of Nightwish. Shadow rolled his eyes.

The mamoswine was beginning to buckle under the combined physical attacks from Chompwater and the fire from Blazeclaw. Its eyes began to glow, and suddenly rocks lifted, surrounded by deep purple energy, and hurtled toward the pair. With a surprised "Chic!", Blazeclaw ducked behind the bright red scale on the feraligatrs head. The rocks impacted with Chompwater, sending her back one step, then another, then yet another. Until finally they stopped.

Chompwater gave a deep growling snort and shook her head, clearing it. She opened her mouth wide and sent a jet of water gushing forth, striking the mamoswine. While it wasn't as effective as if the mamoswine had not had an ice typing, it was also more effective that it would have been had the mammoth not also been a ground type.

The great beast shook, the water falling off as drops of ice. Nightwish floated forward, causing Meiko to blink, startled. With a wave of purple energy, the psychic attack rocketed toward the mamoswine, striking it between the eyes. Meiko could see its eyes develop a swirly pattern and cheered. "Good job, Nightwish!"

Of couwse it's a good job, siwwy wittwe giw. She did not broadcast this to Meiko, opting instead for the cute giggles and high, squeaky voice she'd used ever since she'd allowed herself to be caught, but Shadow heard it (she had, after all, made sure... these pokémon of Meiko's boyfriend were so much fun to tweak!), and narrowed his eyes at her as he set Joey down.

"All right! Let's finish it!" Meiko cried, into the heat of the battle. "Chompwater, Headbutt!" The feraligatr dropped to all fours and lunged forward, slamming the mamoswine with her massive head.

"Blazeclaw, Firespin!" Blazeclaw gave an excited "chicatorchic!" and leapt from Chompwater's head, spinning in the air and enveloping himself with fire. He spun like a top on the one leg he stood on around the mamoswine, causing it to panic and rear.

"Shadow! Hi Jump Kick!" Shadow dashed forward, but slipped on the ice just as he pushed off for his jump, with a surprised yelp, he soared over the mamoswine's head and crashed down on the other side.

Meiko's hands flew to her mouth, wide eyed, as she watched Shadow stand. She did not see Nightwish holding her sides and flopping onto her back in mid air, the psychic line that only she and Shadow of Meiko's makeshift team pealing with her mental laughter. Shadow stood and limped up to Meiko, casting an annoyed glance at Nightwish and stood before her.

"Oh, Shadow, I'm so sorry!"

It's all right, Sensei Meiko. It's hard to see where to put my foot in the... DARK.

The psychic laughter stopped abruptly.

Care to try again?

"O-ok... Force Palm!" she cried, pointing at the mamoswine.

Shadow charged, and, though he slipped again, he let himself drop to his knees and slide, delivering the force palm to the gut of the large pokémon. With a whumph, the mamoswine tottered, and then, finally, fell.

Chompwater let Shadow catch up, then walked to Meiko, allowing the lucario to steady himself on her massive arm.

"Are you sure you don't want to get back in the ball, Shadow?"

[Living Arrow]

We're on our way home, guys - time has gotten the better of our group and so we're finding ourselves at an abrupt ending for Team Ice. I hope you enjoyed RPing with other people as much as I did and encourage you to join the original thread to finish the "Summer" RP.

~LA

"O-o-OKAY!" Lyla grabbed a Pokeball and aimed at at the incoming Piloswine and Swinub. She chewed her lip for a moment and turned it towards a smaller Swinub before nodding to herself and tossing her selection into battle. "I choose you, Anzu!" In a small flash, the Magby popped out of the ball and lowered his beak at the ice types that charged towards the team of trainers.

"Everyone knows Fire attacks, like, totally have the advantage against Ice-type Pokemon!" Lyla reminded herself and punched a fist into her other hand. "So let's try an Ember attack, Anzu!"

"Maaaaag..." Anzu drew in a long and deep breath, his chest puffing out like a balloon as his internal fire sac swelled and burned intensely to set up the attack.

"Nub nub nub!" Ice Shards slammed Anzu repeatedly in the stomach and face before he had opportunity to let the Ember go, resulting in him spitting it way off target. The harmless embers fell to the ground much to the amusement of the Swinub attacking the baby Pokemon.

"Come on, Anzu! Like, don't let them get the better of you!" Lyla's cheeks flushed from the embarrassment her Pokemon was bringing her - all the other trainers seemed to be far better at commanding their Pokemon than she was. If only she hadn't flunked battling 1-0-1 at the Pokemon Academy... "Give them your best Smog attack!"

"Maaaag..." Once more, Anzu drew in a deep breath but this time released it much faster - a cloud of poisonous gases pouring out at the Swinub opposing him. The pig Pokemon countered rapidly with an Icy Wind that caught up the Smog and sent it right back at Anzu!

"Ma-mag, mag... by..." Anzu coughed hard, trapped by his own attack combined with the freezing wind that the Swinub had sent at him.

"Anzu, no!" Lyla wailed, holding up a hand to her face to block some of the Smog that had come her way. "I think you should, like, return." She raised his Pokeball once more and turned to Delainey beside her with her cheeks burning red with embarrassment. "I don't think I can, like, battle these things... Maybe you should try?"

***

*Shadow and November can sort that Mamoswine without me telling them what to do... But then there's Regice... She might not be speaking to me for whatever reason at the moment but I'll need Lady to make the most of my Empathy here... Here goes...*

"OK, Lady." Darryn clicked open the Heal Ball to release the crimson Vulpix to his side. "We're not going to get involved in the other battles here - our target is Regice, right?"

His precious Pokemon inclined her head sharply in agreement but her melodic thought-speak did not come with it. Darryn inwardly sighed. If he had done something to annoy her then he wished she would just say - it wasn't like her to be so quiet with him all of the time, even if she was in a huff. Whatever the case - the other trainers in Team Steel and Team Rock were counting on them. He made to head down the long stone steps when suddenly a shadow dropped from above.

"Nargh!" Darryn gasped as snow slumped onto his head and shoulders in a freezing drift that made him tense up all over like it had frozen him solid in an instant. "I hate snow..."

Lady's eyes turned upwards to where a Pidgey was fluttering by overhead. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and her tails swished like venomous snakes as she tracked the small bird's movement. She could crush him with any of her attacks - it would be easy. No-one would see her use Extrasensory to break one of those flimsy wings off...

"Lady?" Darryn's voice broke Lady's train of thought and her eyes flickered back to him quickly. With a pursing of her dainty lips, the Vulpix blew hot air from the depths of her chest and controlled its path with her psychic talent. In a few seconds the snow on Darryn's head and shoulders was gone - replaced by a faint aura of steam. "Thanks... Now let's go."

Down the icy steps, Darryn, Zulu and Lady hurried toward where the golem Pokemon Regice was stood unmoving. As he got closer, Darryn could feel the air grow colder as thought the Iceberg Pokemon was sucking the heat out of its surroundings. Ignoring it for the time being, Darryn reached the bottom of the steps and drew up, Lady stopping alongside him with Zulu the Rampardos waiting just behind. Regice still had not moved and there was no sign that it had even acknowledged the humans entering the Temple and the Pokemon battling all around it.

"OK, Lady." Darryn breathed, not surprised to see his breath blowing out in front of his face as a little puff of steam. "I'm going in."

The the dark space behind his eyes, Darryn reached towards where the core of Regice rested patiently before him and touched tentatively to the Pokemon's mind. No response. He touched again, working his Empathic probe around the Pokemon like a comforting blanket that offered peace and tranquility. Still nothing.

"Is it dead?" Darryn asked himself, frowning hard and using his second sight to appraise the Regice's Emotaglow. Nothing emanated from within the Pokemon - not even calm indifference. Then there was a relaxed pulse of pale blue. "It's asleep?"

This was proving to be a lot different from what Darryn had expected. There was no epic battle to be had with this sleeping Pokemon nor was there a battle of the mind to convince the creature to join the trainers and come with them to the main temple where the others were waiting. Instead... There was just a long walk back.
Battles were ending in the Temple - the resident Ice Swine family falling back under the pressure of the trainers' collective Pokemon - and soon enough attention was coming back to the legendary Pokemon in the center of the vaulted hall. Darryn scratched his head and look up and around at them. With a resigned shrug, he waited for them all to slowly make their way down to the bottom of the pit.

"Look's like Regice is asleep." He informed them with a sigh. "And waking it up might be too dangerous for us to deal with... So I guess we'll just have to drag it back to the others..."

There was a collective groan.

***

It took literally hours for Team Ice to arrange the ropes properly on Regice's body before the larger Pokemon of the group could get together and topple the Ice-Type and begin their climb out of the Temple. Thankfully there were some rather large Pokemon present that could lend their impressive strength to move the Poke-prism and so little by little Team Ice edged their way back to the main Temple.

Crossing the wide river around the Ice Temple was simple enough - Ice floats so all of the Team's Water Pokemon had no trouble towing their quarry across to the other side before the dragging could once again continue.

"They're here!" An unknown voice sounded through the leafy jungle surroundings as Team Ice approached the Temple of Regigigas and almost instantly, Darryn breathed a sigh of relief - their part of the missions was finally over... But what about the other teams?

Hi everyone. Thank you fr your participation. If you would like to put a post or two in here to finish off your character's journey before we get back into the main temple, please do. Otherwise, we are rejoining the main thread.

~LA

[Captain Combuske...]

The more Tom Hawk watched his Snorunt, the more uneasy he felt. It was an excellent battler, of course, who was bonding excellently with Arthur as the pair worked together to topple the fury beast, but there was something a little off about it. How mischievous is was? No, couldn't be that. Tom loved Pokemon with rich personalities, so his Snorunt's love of mischief was no issue.

Tom finally came across his problem. The Snorunt was really vicious. While an excellent battler, it didn't show many signs of remorse for the damage it caused no did it show mercy towards its foes. It would definitely leave an injured foe lying, if not make its injuries worse, and it used its full attacks with an extra added viciousness.

Tom abandoned these thoughts for a while to concentrate on Rai's battle against the Swinub. Quick attack would no longer work. He no longer had the element of surprise, and, to make matters worse, the Swinub, whose number had somehow returned to seven, were bunched together. Taking out even one would be difficult. But... Rai had no other attacking options. Using Growl all the time wouldn't knock out the Swinub, Tail Whip would just make them weaker and had to be focused on one... so Rai used quick attack again, but charged at full pace and used a large amount of force. It had the desired effect, scattering the Swinub and knocking the one who'd been hit fully out. But soon, the Pig/Mammoth hybrid Pokemon regrouped, forming a circle around Rai. No escaping now...

Rai started to panic, seeing he'd be knocked out pretty darn soon. He had to think of something... Quick attack would be totally useless now. It wouldn't do a thing. So Rai concentrated hard, and, to his surprise, a harsh bright sudden light erupted around him. The Swinub's eyes were tiny and they were blinded temporarily. Rai was surprised. He's unwittingly used Flash. he tried the attack again... but nothing happened. The Pikachu's shoulders sagged. He was still doomed to get knocked out. But then, he turned round to look at his tail... and saw it shining and flashing. Rai's eyes widened even more than the Flash. This was Iron tail. This was Grade A stuff. He swung his tail around, and, to his surprise, it thwacked the Swinub, instantly KOing five of the remaining six. Rai felt superior, and tried to get his tail Iron-like again. Once again, the attack failed. Clearly, these were one shot wonders and wouldn't appear again.

But now, the battle looked much more favourable for Rai. One Swinub. So, using his full speed, he charged at the Swinub. It soon also was knocked out.

Meanwhile, Snorunt and Arthur's attack was also drawing to a close. Snorunt had just blasted another Icy Wind, knocking the Piloswine backwards... straight onto Arthur's Metal Claw attack. This tactic has been repeated and repeated. The Pilosiwne was slightly dim and the repeated attack confused it. This final Metal Claw was the last straw. The Piloswine landed in a heap and Arthur and Snorunt had won.

Rai, seeing their victory, joined them as the pair raced back to Tom. Rai jumped into his arms, and Arthur nuzzled against his leg. Snorunt stood close, but kept its distance enough.

And then the fun began. Darryn announced that they had to move Regice using rope.s Though it would take them ages, Tom didn't mind. They'd completed their mission, or would do shortly.