[X] My Assistant

[Kamaitachi]

"While there is a six Pokemon limit, co-ordinators are encouraged to meet and train many different types of Pokemon. With combinations being such a stable of modern co-ordinator combat and appeal, it's become more and more vital to bring as much variety to your line-up as possible."

Francesco Rojas read intently, scratching in notes in his notepad as he went. Looking up, he watched as his four pokemon milled about, enjoying their time out of their pokeballs. Valentine, newly evolved into a Monferno, jumped about the treetops, chattering wildly with happy 'whoops' as Oberon, Cesc's Sneasel, chased after him with reckless abandon. The two agile Pokemon flashed through the trees in some madcap game of tag where only they knew all the rules.

"Fire. Fighting. Ice. Dark." Cesc pointed at the duo happily playing in the foliage. "Bug. Flying." He looked over to Bardolph, his wicked looking Scyther, who had contented himself with sharpening his scythe-blades on the flat of a rock. The praying mantis would evolve into a steel type eventually, and hadn't quite picked up on the idea of an appeal yet. The warrior-bug clearly only wanted to fight opponents, but had warmed up to the idea of using combinations with partners...which seemed at least a step in the right direction.

"Normal." Cesc looked to his side, where Tybalt, his Zangoose, sat dutifully next to him, watching the other pokemon in Cesc's entourage wearily.

"So...I have fewer than half the total types of Pokemon right now, and four Pokemon total." Cesc's heterochromic eyes met Tybalt's ever-serious ones, and the co-ordinator let out a smile.

"Alright then Tybalt. Today's mission: Let's catch a Pokemon!" Standing, he whistled sharply, summoning the remaining three Pokemon to his side.

"Okay! Let's find a really cool Pokemon to add to our team today. It'll be a good warm-up for the contest this afternoon."

He thought briefly about trekking over to the cave where all of the elemental stones were. Certainly there were plenty of cool Pokemon over on that side of the mountain, but it didn't seem right capturing Pokemon he'd helped as an ally just days before. It really felt like a betrayal of trust more than anything.

Recalling his Pokemon to their pokeball-homes, he figured he'd have a few hours to find and catch a new team-member. The past few days had been spent training and prepping outfits; there wasn't much more he could do there, not on the day of the event. A 'hunt' seemed like a reasonable distraction.

"Okay...let's see, in this habitat..." He started to think through the list of remaining types, then shrugged. "I'll just wander and see what I find."

As he stood up on the rock that had formerly been his seat, he straightened out his outfit, dusting himself down gently. He'd worn a thin white undershirt with a v-neck (to show off his collarbones, of course?), a pair of comfortable fitting blue jean-shorts, a pair of low-top red sneakers. He'd braided his hair earlier, noting that the tip of the braid was now down past his waist. A series of leather bands were around his right wrist, while another was around the bicep on his left arm. A matching choker was around his neck.

"You know..." Cesc said aloud to no one, "This skater-chic isn't half bad." He had dressed down for the day, since he'd wanted to save up all of his 'sexiness' for the performance later. He would hopefully be facing Troy of Arasam, after all, he needed to be on point both fashion wise AND battle wise if he was going to make any sort of impression.

But more on that later. The co-ordinator felt an adventurous grin settle on his face. It was time to wander around the mountainside.

[Tarbasilisk]

Julie sighed and closed her eyes as she lounged in the hot springs of Arasam. To her pleasure, she was alone. Her bag, along with the two luxury balls that housed her glameow and furfrou, sat within arms reach on her left. Neither of her pokemon had seemed too enthusiastic about coming to the springs - her furfrou, Princess, was wary of the humidity's effect on her stylish coat, and her glameow, Fifi simply hated water.

So Julie enjoyed her solitude.

Well she did, until she heard a low rumbling, like a stampede.

A throng of miners, sweating, dirty, and shouting, were making a bee-line for the springs. Half a dozen drilbur ran alongside them, their long claws still streaked with mud. Julie was suddenly faced with a matter of grave urgency. Wasting no time, Julie lurched out of the water, dried off in record time, and left with her bag just before the miners ran, splashing into the water. One of the drilbur bumped into her, leaving a dirty smudge on the edge of her dress.

Julie was livid. She glared at the pokemon with enough ferocity to turn milk sour. With a squeak, it chased after it's trainers and dove into the hot springs.

That's it, Julie thought, wiping her dress, I hate Arasam.

All in all, the mining city hadn't had much to offer to a girl like Julie.

Earlier that day, Julie had visited the contest hall in the hopes of registering for a contest (so that she could then promptly leave with her ribbon, never to return again). To her utter disappointment, she couldn't enter without a third pokemon. Julie wasn't sure how to fix this problem. Sure, she could technically set off into the mountains, but given her current fashionable attire it would be a recipe for disaster. After moment's pause, she decided to try the shops. Perhaps there would be some sort of pet shop? A pokemon that was already pre-trained would be much more manageable than some feral thing, anyway.

Julie's black shoes clicked along the slate paving stones. The market district was quite busy. Stalls lined the streets, mostly selling food and tacky jewelry. Julie noticed that most shops sold practical outfits and tools for mining. Her nose crinkled in distaste. Not only were they ugly clothes, but many of them seemed to be pre-owned and ragged. There was a shop for lava cakes, a shop for precious stones, a shop for basic trainer supplies, and, finally, down a side street, a shop for pets.

Barlaam's Pet Shop

Julie opened the door, and a bell tinkled overhead. The interior of the shop was quite dark and very smelly. Cages and fish tanks lined the walls. She looked at each of them in turn. One fish tank held a trio of finneon, who might have been beautiful had they not been living in such filthy water for so long. Their scales were dull, and some were even missing in certain patches. The next tank held an eelektrik who gaped at Julie with a circular mouth lined with sharp teeth that made her shudder. The next fish tank had a feebas that actually seemed to be in decent shape - but in her ignorance Julie assumed it was just another sick and ugly fish.

Julie crossed on the other side of the room, near the cages. Someone coughed, and Julie spun around to look in the corner of a room. A squat man, almost buried behind piles of old newspapers stacked on a desk in front of him, peered at her with narrowed eyes.

"Can I help you?" He croaked. The way he looked at Julie was not at all friendly.

"Um, no, no... I'm just looking." Julie said hurriedly. Giving the after cages a quick glance - rattata, pichu, espurr, and zigzagoon all stared at her glumly - she walked briskly out of the shop.

There wasn't anything worth having in there anyway. Julie told herself. She inhaled sharply, breathing in the fresh air. Even in the middle of the city, the air quality was surprisingly good. She supposed that was one benefit of living in the mountains. That cheered her up, a little. Knowing damn well that she had no choice but to catch a wild pokemon to enter the contest, Julie steeled her nerves.

"Fifi, come on out." Julie declared, releasing her glameow. The cat pokemon's fur was well groomed and had a healthy sheen. Julie instantly felt a rush of pride. Fifi meowed happily, and pressed her head into Julie's outstretched hand for scratches. "I'm going to need you to help me find something new to wear." Julie said gravely. Fifi blinked at her, understanding the gravity of the situation well enough, and jumped up onto Julie's shoulder.

The ensuing shopping experience was exhausting. By the time Julie was done, she had visited nearly all of the clothing shops in Arasam, and even then she wasn't really satisfied with the results. Her new outfit consisted of a plain grey t-shirt, pale blue windbreak, sandy colored shorts, and a pair of white tennis shoes. It was a perfectly sensible outfit for hiking, but the transition from her trendy dress to plain civilian wear was upsetting. She decided to keep her expensive jewelry on to at least cling to some dignity.

With a dozen plain pokeballs, plus her old dress now carefully folded away in her bag, Julie began walking along a hiking trail along the edge of town.

This post has been edited by Tarbasilisk: Jul 3 2014, 08:52 PM

[Aura Dynasty]

What was it exactly that had gotten her here at Arasam? This was the only question Jill Cortoma's mind was troubled by. Everything around her could be the reason why; a contest, which was a must-do for those that didn't know what to do as aspiring trainers. Wrong. Or perhaps the famous hotsprings... yes, we're talking about the one where the detachment of loud, dusty mineworkers went off to. Wrong again. Just passing through on their way to an unknown destination, a set goal driving you there from the very depths of your mind? Almost.

Her destination was Mt. Carrelo, the only thing that could help her get her thoughts more clear and less troubled. The past struggling of mind with her inner self, kindly introducing itself as Genesis and taking control of her body, had given her more than just holes in her memory. The things she'd tried to hide, tried to forget so badly were forced back upon her and her body eventually succumbed under the weight of this mental burden. After the events during the Grand Invitational, she was brought to a hospital for recovery and visited a psychiatrist to learn to cope with it, however she was written off as being traumatised and given the advice to travel to Arasam's healing hotsprings.

She refused at first, this wasn't something to joke about, there was really something possessing her!

The doctors congratulated her on her acting skills. Weren't there audtions for a new horror movie?

Not really what she had been expecting as a reaction, but due to Genesis not being active anymore since that event, Jill herself started doubting whether she hadn't just imagined. During her recovery, the local Wi-fi had become her source of intellect and she decided to search for those 'famous healing springs' in Arasam, to stumble upon something way more interesting instead, A mountain. Mt Carrelo. Somehow, the need to go there started to rise, as well as the thought that she might be able to clear her mind there as well, since it resembled home so greatly.

So that's how she wound up going to Arasam after being released from the hospital. The only thing reminding her of Genesis was the scar running over her arm and the burnt mark on her side, somehow attracted during the explosions she couldn't remember. Lost in thoughts, she only realised the shop assistent was calling out for her as he nearly shoved the map of Mt. Carrelo into her face. Surprised by it, Jill just accepted the map and paid the man, who reminded her of the other goods she'd purchased on the counter. She sighed and thanked him, taking the bag with goods along as she walked outside the shop. On the horizon Mt. Carrelo towered above busy Arasam, and Jill gazed up at the mountain's peak. This serene piece of nature would grant her peace, as well as some new additions to her newly acquired sketchbook.

This post has been edited by Aura Dynasty: Sep 29 2014, 03:02 AM

[SacredHeart]

(I meant to post AGES ago! F*ck my memory also sorry if this post is rubbish I'm bad but wish to get better)
Arden walked around they city lost,her three Pokemon in Toe the black haired cutie has finally settled Into the new region,Aria flying behind her trainer keeping a watchful eye on Rhythm and Baritone for her trainer as the young female was getting used to her schizophrenic medications.

As they passed a patch of grass Arden looked at Aria and the Murkrow cawed lightly landing on her trainers shoulder
Pecking her softly as her wing fluffed

"Baritone time to get to work." She said as baritone gave her a smug grin and sat down,it was going to be another battle to get him to behave,she wasn't gonna have any of it. She then turned to Rhythm who popped up and smiled,running into the grass.

"Rhythm not ye..." She said as the time she said that the young penguin Pokemon had entered the grass
"Okay get out of there." Arden said hearing a voice and shot her head up to look about,Aria looks confused as she cooed to calm her trainer down.

"I think it's time for the meds." She said grabbing the bottle and read the sticker infront of it "Take 3 times a day,morning afternoon and night." He said to herself as she opened the bottle an took 2 one from each bottle and then,swallowed the pills.

Baritone wandered into the grass to fake Rhythm being attacked by a wild Pokemon,Attacking her and giggled,causing the Blue Pokemon to begin to get angry,and bit Baritones nose.

Aria poked her trainer and waited orders if need be,as the squabble got worse.

"Baritone! Rhythm! Stop it at once!" She said,pulling the Snivy away from the Piplup.

"What am I gonna do with you two!? Ugh,why do you test me like this!?" She scoffed

Baritone huffed arrogantly as Arden set him down and picks up the now sobbing Rhythm.

[Tarbasilisk]

Fifi the glameow was still perched on Julie's shoulder. The cat pokemon was quite intrigued by the sights and smells of the forest. Julie had hiked quite a ways through part of the dense highland rainforest surrounding Arasam. She was now quite close to the base of the mountain, where the trees began to thin. Nonetheless, the air was still filled with the melodious cries of flying type pokemon and the disconcerting drone of bug types. Spurred on by the latter noises, Julie was anxious to get to higher ground.

As the terrain became ever steeper, Julie's breath became more ragged. Fifi's weight, normally not a great load to bear, soon became intolerable. Not wanting to get Fifi's fur dirtied by walking, Julie recalled her pokemon.

After trudging up the side of one more slope, Julie checked the ground for anything gross she might accidentally sit on before gingerly lowering herself on top of a flattish rock on the side of the trail. She felt sweaty and foolish. Grimacing, she looked at her clothes, which were covered in dirt. What possible chance did she have of finding any pokemon worth entering in a contest here?

Looking in front of her, Julie was a little chagrined to see that she had not yet ascended high enough to peer over the treetops yet. Looking upwards and behind her, looked at the impossibly large form of Mount Carello in the gaps between trees. She spotted caves bored into the cliff-sides, and fancied she saw a cloud of bat pokemon exit one of them. Julie had neither the strength nor desire to climb higher, however, and didn't want to even consider spelunking.

Looking at the path with trepidation, Julie realized that it continued upwards, instead of around the mountain as she had hoped. Not willing to continue onward until she was good and ready, Julie opted to wait around for a while to catch her breath.

And time passed.

Left alone with her thoughts, she soon felt markedly less sweaty, but distinctly more uncomfortable. Of all things it was loneliness, and not the rocky perch she was seated on that made her want to move on. Normally, Julie could always have someone to be with and talk to, be it family members, shop attendants, servants, or even the general rabble of a city. Here in the woods, the echoing sounds of pokemon cries and dripping water made her feel almost fearful. She was about to call out both of her pokemon in desperation for company when her ears detected the rustling and snapping of foliage.

Keeping perfectly still, Julie looked for the source of the noise, and was delighted to see a human, rather than a frightening creature, step onto the path. Julie sprang up, composed herself, and decided to go and introduce herself to them immediately.

"Hello there!" She called.

[Aura Dynasty]

The large mountainside towered above the young trainer as she peered at the cave several hundred feet above her. Hell, there would probably be a more accessible way to reach the cave there, but she was here for some excitement; it was her sense for adventure that inclined her on climbing up the steep mountain instead of going off in search for the path. Bravado, unhealthy or even suicidal thoughts; there were many terms for these kinds of behavior.

Jill didn't really care. Although she might have thought about taking a rope or two if she'd known this was such rough terrain and steepness, she was certain of her capabilities as a semi-experienced mountaineer. This would not form a problem for her. With a quick swing of her arm she took the bagback she'd bought for this occurence of her back and put her satchel in it, together with all other things she was likely to lose when starting her climb. She took out a pair of leather, fingerless darkbrown gloves and put them on, then threw the backpack unto her back once again and tightened the strings. Doing the same thing with her belt, containing her pokéballs, and shoes, she was ready to go on a hike.

Walking around for a bit in search for the safest way to climb up, a ledge at the west side of the cavern caught her interest and she decided to go up there. Several extending rocks gave her a decent grip and Jill clambered up the mountainside with little to no effort, deciding to take a small rest halfway. Sitting on a larger-than-average ledge, the view from up there was amazing, even though she had still a decent climb up ahead. On a certain moment Jill even thought she saw someone looking up from down below, but she wasn't sure about it.

After half an hour, Jill resumed the rest of the ascend, which took a lot more out of her than she'd expected; the amount of ledges were fairly scattered and most of the time she couldn't reach them, forcing her to use rather risky groves where her grip was minimal. Exhausted after the rougher part of the ascend, Jill dropped herself flat unto the ground after reaching the western ledge of the cavern. The blonde girl sighed relieved and looked up at the clear, blue sky. Several clouds dotted the deep blue, and she found herself being taken off guard by it. She sat back up and overlooked the large forest that extended beneath her. Breathless by the view, she moved a bit to sit in a cross-legged position and took out her sketchbook, eternalizing the sight of this little wonder of nature with swift movements of her pencil.

Several moments and a detailed black 'n white etch later, Jill looked up from her sketchbook, nodding in contentment as she put the pencil behind her ear. "Not bad for a first try!" The young artist muttered to herself as she gazed upon the drawing before putting it back into her backpack. She stood up and dusted herself off, turning back towards the cave she was meant to explore, peeking into the darkness. Something shrieked inside, and as she went closer a large patch of grey appeared out of the darkness, pushing her backwards. A flock of bat-like pokémon had taken flight from the cave and smashed into her, making Jill try her best to keep her balance. Her foot got caught behind a few rocks, making her trip and fall backwards.

As she fell, her arms mowed into the air to keep balance, hitting several of the bat pokémon and even managing to get her backpack loose. One of the strings snapped, and together with the flock of bats it disappeared over the ledge. Jill watched as her favorite bag disappeared into the deep while she could do nothing to stop it.

"Damn it!" she exclaimed angrily as she tried to get up. Something sat upon her chest, not particularly heavy, but it wasn't something that'd been there a moment ago. Her eyes met with the yellow marbles of a little purple bat, who adorably held unto her chest, snuggling its face into it. Her anger faded like snow before the sun, and she couldn't help but pat the little thing. Remembering she had her pokédex in her pocket, for once she had decided not to put it in her bag, a lucky idea. Jill pointed the pokédex on the little cutie, and the robotical voice started speaking.

"Noibat, the sound wave pokémon. Noibat live in pitch black caves and often live in large flocks. Their enormous ears can emit ultrasonic waves of over 200,000 hertz."

This post has been edited by Aura Dynasty: Aug 18 2014, 01:53 PM

[Kamaitachi]

Cesc's stroll through the foresty-mountainy path was proving fairly fruitless in finding Pokemon. This was mostly due in part to the fact that Cesc had been singing, and rather loudly, as he walked around. The co-ordinator barely paid attention to his surroundings as he continued to meander hither and yon throughout the mountainside, singing whatever song popped into his mind at the time.

"Dejaré mi tierra por ti
dejaré mis campos y me iré
lejos de aquí.
Cruzaré llorando el jardín
y con tus recuerdos partiré
lejos de aquí.
De día viviré
pensando en tus sonrisas;
de noche las estrellas me acompañarán.
Serás como una luz
que alumbre mi camino;
me voy pero te juro que mañana volveré.

Al partir
un beso y una flor,
un "te quiero", una caricia y un "adiós".
Es ligero equipaje
para tan largo viaje;
las penas pesan en el corazón.
Más allá
del mar habrá un lugar
donde el sol cada mañana brille más.
Forjarán-"

"Hello there!"

Cesc wheeled suddenly as he stepped out from between some trees, hopping down onto the trail. Before him, a younger woman with curly brown hair stood in his path. Unless Cesc missed his guess, she was precisely the same height as him, and had a fairly decent fashion sense about her too.

"Oh, hello!" He blushed a bit, realizing that he'd been caught singing. He'd let his guard down, and now he'd unwittingly stumbled into some other person's sights. "How're you, Princess?" Cesc's rogue-like grin immediately flashed into view. He recognized her bearing and style of clothing as someone who came from affluence and privilege; it only stood to sense. As a member of a gang in his youth, those were the sort of people he used to pick-pocket.

"What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

So he hadn't found a pokemon yet, but he'd potentially stumbled across someone quite interesting. By the looks of it, his Pokemon Search was about to get a touch more interesting.

"The name's Francesco Rojas. Please, call me Cesc." He approached with his usual jaunty step before extending his hand outwards, palm up to accept her hand.

[Tarbasilisk]

Although Julie was caught off-guard by his bold introduction, she was able to compose herself quickly, and returned Cesc's smile with one of her own. She accepted his hand graciously, and let out a quick laugh.

"Princess is my furfrou's name." She said, meeting his gaze. "I'm Julie Hildebrand."

Although Cesc's face was all smiles, something about his expression made Julie feel instinctively cautious. She made a slight adjustment with her hand to cover the flap of her bag.

After a critical glance, however, Julie mentally waved away her suspicions and decided to trust him. Julie's clothes were far plainer than normal, after all. She firmly believed herself to blend in perfectly with the regular plebeians who visited the mountain. (Well, except for the expensive jewelry and the trendy purse. But never mind that.) Besides, his apparent familiarity with the forest piqued her curiosity. Perhaps this man could have some information for her.

"I'm looking for a new pokemon, actually. Have you seen anything interesting lately?"

[Kamaitachi]

"Julie! A pleasure to meet you." For a second, Cesc looked like he was about to lean in and kiss her hand in his typical suave fashion, but instead he paused, and his eyes met hers. He instantly let go of her hand and asked: "What on earth is a Furfrou?"

Really, asking what a Furfrou was more of a self-distraction. Here he was being his usual flirty self, but somewhere, a woman he loved was probably in a horribly depressive mood far away. It didn't seem right, considering how fresh their break-up was. He wasn't even sure if he actually loved her or not. The point was, she had gotten to him. His carefree attitude that served as a self defense had been shaken somewhat, and here he was, relying on old habits to get him through his emotional wreckage.

He could pretty much figure out what a Furfrou was. If it had a name, it meant it was most likely a pokemon. A female one, with a name like Princess. And such a hoity-toity name indicated that he'd been correct; Julie Hildebrand was a highborn sort of woman.

While he liked class and luxury as much as the next person, and his childhood dreams had been filled mostly with owning a lavish castle bought with stolen money, it didn't fit him anymore. This wasn't exactly the sort of person he'd choose to associate with if he had been given the choice.

And while he did have a choice, he figured the company would be more enjoyable than wandering the forest alone, singing songs to keep his mind occupied.

"What a coincidence, Julie." Cesc's lopsided grin returned as he looked towards the direction from which he'd come traipsing, "I happen to be looking for a new Pokemon as well. I haven't seen anything yet, though. The only interesting thing I've seen so far is you!"

He laughed at his own joke, placing his hands on his hips and leaning his weight to one side.

"Would you care to join me? We can look for new Pokemon together."

[Tarbasilisk]

Julie stared at him in astonishment.

"You don't know what a furfrou is?"

Cesc's gap in knowledge was incredible to her. Back in Kalos, nearly everyone she knew had one. Regardless, Julie was secretly quite pleased. She was happy to indulge Cesc's curiosity.

"I'll show you then." Julie declared.

She reached into her bag and took a few moments to rummage through it before pulling out a black and red luxury ball. After a flash of light, her furfrou materialized. The poodle pokemon, whose head fur was trimmed to resemble a fashionable hat, cast an imperious eye on Cesc and sniffed the air a few times. Seemingly unimpressed, she turned away and refused to even look at him. Even though Julie had traveled a significant distance to get to Arasam, Princess's trim was still as pristine as it was when she had last her groomed in Lumiose City.

"Gorgeous, isn't she?" Julie said, smiling at Princess.

Frou. Princess barked, looking at Julie meaningfully. Julie, who understood that Princess would rather be in her pokeball than in the woods, obligingly recalled her. Julie then addressed Cesc's question.

"I'd love to join you. After all, I need someone to protect me from all the bugs." She laughed.

Although Julie passed it off as a joke, in truth she really did doubt her own ability to fight off an attacking wild pokemon. The humid forest made her more nervous than she cared to admit.

"Where to, then?"

[Kamaitachi]

Cesc did not miss the notes of incredulity in Julie's voice. He hadn't seen all that many types of Pokemon back at his time in the Orre Region, as Wild Pokemon weren't exactly commonplace there. His time in Furoh had introduced him to a full gamut of Pokemon, and he'd learned more about various species from his "The Coordinator In You" book...but Furfrou.

Sure enough, Julie indulged him, and drew forth a pokeball, confirming Cesc's notion that Furfrou was a Pokemon.

After the brief, customary flash of light, Cesc watched as the poodle pokemon appeared, hair trimmed into something that looked like a hat. He grinned and waved at the fancy creature, though one eye lingered over the luxury ball Julie held.

"That she is!" Cesc replied heartily, even as the poodle dismissed him disdainfully.

"I suppose Princess there isn't exactly the combat type, is she." the roguish Cesc shrugged, "I'll bet she prefers to leave that sort of thing to us peasants, right?" He winked cheerily, scanning the forest as Julie asked where they'd be going.

"You know...any direction is as good as any. Let's keep our eyes peeled for some new friends, shall we?"

* * *

Cesc chatted animatedly as he walked, his jaunty step undeterred by the fact that he had Julie now following by his side as they meandered around the mountainside. He indicated his clothing to the young woman, proudly boasting some of his aunt and uncle's accomplishments in the tailoring field. He spoke about how he had entered a contest to show off his family's wares, and how he was going to enter the upcoming Arasam Contest.

"Troy, the Hall Leader, uses mostly Ground and Steel types. I don't really have any Pokemon that could do that well against them. Ideally, I'd have to win by points, but I heard that he's really flashy, and knows how to knock off your points, whereas I'm more of a 'make-it-look-really-cool-and-elegant' kind of co-ordinator, so I'm curious to see how our styles clash..."

He ceased both talking and walking, holding his hand out to stop Julie from progressing further. Ahead, he saw what appeared to be a pair of buzzing wings bearing down on some small creature crying out in pain.

Without consulting Julie, he drew a pokeball, summoning his Monferno to the field.

"Valentine, let's help out. Fake Out!"

The fiery monkey appeared on the field, wearing a surprisingly swashbuckling outfit. He wore a mask over his eyes, and a wide brimmed cap with a feather. He wore a cape that spread out in a v, carefully avoiding the area where his tail-fire burned. Around his waist appeared to be an ornate looking belt, with a little rapier attached to the side. The Musketeer Monferno struck a dashing pose, facing down the pair of offending Beedrill. With a nod, Valentine jumped forward, slapping his own hand close to one of the Beedrill, startling the creature. As the other turned to look, it found itself blasted backwards by...what appeared to be a little Ralts.

"Hola, little friend! We're here to help!"

The Ralts seemed quite surprised at his newfound cavalry, and nodded as he lifted himself up from his huddled position, facing down the Beedrill he had sent sprawling.

The first Beedrill recovered from Monferno's Fake out, flashing towards Monferno with its wicked spikes pointed forward. The speed surprised both Cesc and his recently evolved partner; they had been counting on their own speed to have stepped up quite a bit. Evidently, he still needed more training to get used to this newfound body.

"Ember!"

Rearing back and summoning fire into his mouth, Valentine snapped his head forward, letting out a wide shotgun-blast array of little fireballs. As the Beedrill moved to clear a path, Cesc watched as the little fire flowers suddenly took on a pinkish aura, and...curved. The stream of embers split into two, spiraling towards both Beedrill and hitting them hard...a combo.

"Ralts! Are you reading my mind?" Cesc grinned "Well done!"

The little creature, whose own pink aura matched those of the curving fireballs, smiled and waved happily over at Cesc. However, the distraction kept him just off guard enough; the little psychic-type failed to dodge an incoming Pin Missile, and was slammed backwards into an extended tree root.

"Monferno, keep them off him! Acrobatics!"

WIth one mighty leap, the swashbuckling Monferno cleared one deadly wasp, slamming into the other and using it as a springboard to deliver another blow to the first. They both staggered back in the air, still evidently quite in the fight.

Cesc looked to Julie, flashing a grin.

"See? Protecting you from the big bugs." He signaled with a thumbs up, then turned back to the battle. He watched as the two beedrill opted to ignore his Monferno, targeting the already weaker Ralts. It made sense; if they could get one out of the way, they could both concentrate on the same target.

He looked to the Ralts, who seemed to nod back at him, surprising the coordinator once more. As the Beedrill launched, the Ralts threw himself into a quick Double Team attack, forming multiple copies of his tiny frame along the tree. Confused, the bees slammed into one another, jabbing their poisoned needles into the bark before floating backwards, confused.

"Keep them there! Fire Spin!" As the Ralts cleared, shifting over to where Valentine stood, the Monferno unleashed a thin stream of flame that drew a circle around them before bursting upwards in a tornado of fire.

Granted a momentary respite, Cesc looked to his Pokemon and his temporary partner, noting that the Ralts looked rather haggard. From the looks of it, he had taken a beating prior to their arrival, and was drooping from fatigue...or...

He watched as the little creature slumped to the ground, panting heavier and shuddering. Rushing over to the Pokemon's side, he dropped down to his knees and began shuffling through his shoulder bag for an antidote. Nearby, the Fire Spin died down, and the two seared Beedrill looked positively furious.

"Valentine, keep them away with Flamethrower."

The two Beedrill buzzed angrily towards them, weaving in and out and expertly dodging the stream of flame coming at them. They passed dangerously close, inches away from Cesc's exposed back as he threw himself over the Ralts. Valentine, however, was not so lucky, and tumbled backwards, hitting the ground hard.

Meanwhile, the coordinator straightened back up, hastily digging through his back, only to realize that he hadn't stocked up on healing items like a good trainer. A mortified look crossed his face as he looked down at the weakened Pokemon at his knees. Snapping his head over towards the Rich Girl, he called out to her:

"Miss Julie! Spare an antidote?"

[Tarbasilisk]

Julie was happy to let Cesc talk about about himself as they winded between the trees. She nodded, asked questions, and made appropriate sounds of encouragement when necessary. She wasn't particularly interested in divulging too much about herself, as a little doubt still lingered about her companion's trustworthiness. Nonetheless, she enjoyed his company.

As the conversation turned to Cesc's aunt and uncle's clothing business, Julie closely examined the outfit Cesc was sporting. True, the get-up wasn't exactly her style, the fabrics seemed to be of surprisingly high quality. She wondered if she'd entered his family's shop during her somewhat frenzied shopping spree earlier that day without realizing it. She asked Cesc to give her directions there after their trip through the woods concluded.

When Cesc began to talk about contests, Julie listened even more attentively. After all, her goal in setting out to Furoh was to win those very events.

"Troy, the Hall Leader, uses mostly Ground and Steel types. I don't really have any Pokemon that could do that well against them. Ideally, I'd have to win by points, but I heard that he's really flashy, and knows how to knock off your points, whereas I'm more of a 'make-it-look-really-cool-and-elegant' kind of co-ordinator, so I'm curious to see how our styles clash..."

At this statement, Julie became hopelessly confused. She didn't know anything at all about these so-called 'hall leaders'. Was Cesc implying that there was battling involved? A feeling snuck upon her that was analogous to forgetting that an important project was due that day in school. She didn't know the first thing about battling. Frankly, the entire process seemed brutish and uncivilized. If battling was indeed involved in contests, she doubted her pokemon were up to snuff. While Julie didn't want to seem ignorant in front of Cesc, she absolutely had to ask him for more details about contests.

No sooner had this thought crossed her mind when Cesc signaled for her to stop. At the sight of the beedrill - and more specifically, at the sight of their enormous stingers - Julie's eyes became as round as saucers. She backpedaled a few steps, raising her bag like a shield.

"Oh Arceus, no way."

To Julie's shock, Cesc was quite happy to charge into battle. Julie stood still while her eyes tracked the beedrill's every movement. Her legs were tensed like springs to run in case they decided to target her instead. She watched Cesc's energetic monferno test his own speed against that of the beedrill, leaping high into the air and spitting globs of flame. Julie felt grateful that it was someone else battling rather than her.

It soon became clear - to Julie's relief - that she was at little risk of being a target in the fight between the pokemon. The two beedrill seemed far more concerned with Cesc's (adorably dressed) monferno and the little ralts. From her vantage point at the edge of the clearing, Julie was left to wonder what exactly had prompted the beedrill to attack the ralts so viciously in the first place. Upon looking at the beedrill and the ralts more closely she concluded with a judgemental snort that beedrill - as a species - must be evil by nature. Could anything with such alien eyes and weirdly segmented limbs be anything but a bloodthirsty abomination? Probably not!

Julie was snapped out of her musings by the apparent change in the tide of battle. She gasped as Cesc attempted to shield the ralts using his own body while his monferno was rammed to the ground. She took a quick step forward, as if to rush in and help, but was stopped by Cesc's sharp request for an antidote.

Julie's hands started shaking with the sudden burden of responsibility. She knew without looking that she didn't have a single healing item in her bag. Looking around helplessly, Julie hoped an idea would occur to her.

...As luck would have it, Julie could recognize the distinctive foliage of a pecha bush a short distance away in the forest.

"I'll be right back!" Julie yelled.

However, as luck would not have it, calling the plant a bush would be a mislabeling. Back in Kalos, Julie's family manor was situated in a lovely part of the countryside, and berry farms were not uncommon. There, however, the bushes were kept trimmed to a manageable size, and the fruit was easily picked at arm's reach. Here in the wild forests of Mt. Carello, the berry bushes were unchecked by human hands and grew to the size of trees. Although Julie was fairly tall, she found that the sweet pink fruit was out of reach, even when she tried to jump up and snag it with her fingertips.

Thinking quickly, Julie reached into her bag and called out her furfrou once more.

"Princess! Tackle this tree!" She demanded.

Princess, who had struck a fittingly regal pose upon being sent out, now opened her mouth and looked at Julie with a plain expression of bewilderment.

"It's important, I need you to shake some fruit down!"

The furfrou paused to look at Julie's face for any signs of trickery, before huffing resignedly. She halfheartedly launched herself at the tree, the branches of which started to quiver promisingly. However, none of the fruit fell. Whimpering a little, Princess drooped her head as if hurt from the impact and used her baby-doll eyes on Julie so that she would be recalled again. Julie, however, was feeling more than a little strained about the entire situation, and pushed her feelings of sympathy aside.

"That was terrible. Try again." She said, coldly.

The furfrou dragged out her disarmingly cute attack for as long as possible until she was begrudgingly forced turn away and tackle the tree again. This time she gave a little bit more effort, and, sure enough, a ripe fruit was shaken from the stem binding it to the tree.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing that fell from the tangle of branches. Princess, who was trotting back to Julie, was stopped mid-step by a plummeting yellow cocoon. Another, not far from Julie's feet, bounced to the ground, and swiveled its white pupil to look the girl dead in the eye. She could only watch in wide eyed horror as the kakuna was enveloped in a piercingly bright light that only grew bigger and brighter. Stingers, wings, and legs...

The newly evolved beedrill took flight and began to hover in place. Princess dropped to a crouch, a surprisingly fearsome growl rising in her throat. With a bark, she leaped into the air and tackled the beedrill nearest to her, knocking it back. The bee faltered in its flight, as if stunned. With this accomplished, the furfrou darted under the second beedrill to stand in front of Julie. A peculiar look was in the poodle pokemon's eye as turned her head to look at her owner.

Julie didn't catch on quick enough. The bee pokemon in front of her suddenly charged forward, stingers jabbing furiously. Princess instinctively braced herself and allowed her fur to absorb most of the damage.

"Don't just stand there, tackle it!" Julie cried, her voice rising in fear.

That was all the furfrou needed to hear. Leaping again, she buffeted the beedrill backwards with her body. Unfortunately, the other beedrill that Princess had stunned had now recovered, and darted forward to protect its relative. Feeling outmatched, Julie strained to remember furfrou's moves.

"Try, uh, sand attack?" She ventured, nervously.

Frou. Princess barked in the affirmative.

The poodle pokemon turned around and kicked dirt behind her in a graceful arc. The move landed squarely in the beedrill duo's faces. Blinded, they simultaneously launched a new barrage of fury attacks, but were unable to make contact with anything but the air and each other. They struggled to clear the dirt from their eyes, shaking their heads and rubbing at their faces with the sides of their stingers hopelessly. Julie decided it was best to take advantage of the situation while it lasted. She scooped the pecha berry from the ground and legged it back to the clearing, with Princess following closely behind her.

Spotting her human companion, Julie triumphantly waved the posion cure berry high in the air.

"Cesc, look what I found!"

Unfortunately, the beedrill had cleared their vision faster than expected. A noisy buzzing heralded the arrival of the two newly evolved youngsters, which burst from the treeline behind her. Julie's smile was wiped from her face.

[Kamaitachi]

"What!?" Cesc gasped as Julie promptly turned and ran. She had claimed that she'd be right back, but in Cesc's mind, the chances that she had simply fled were quite high.

"Valentine, protect us with Fire Spin!"

Huddling close to the Ralts and his trainer, Valentine let out a spew of fire that wrapped up around them almost like a shield. Hopefully, it would buy them some time, either to allow Julie to return (which seemed implausible), or for Cesc to think up an appropriate counter-attack. While it hadn't been a perfect defense, the Beedrill were at least kept at bay momentarily, but Cesc couldn't make out where they were with all the whirling fire around them.

His downed companion, however, wiggled in Cesc's arms, pushing weakly out of them and standing in front of the trainer.

"Hey there, little friend, relax a second." the co-ordinator reached out absently, still trying to figure out a way out of this situation. He snapped his attention downwards as the little Ralts let out something that sounded like a battle-cry, thrusting both of his tiny arms forward. A blue aura whipped up around him, shooting into the fire and...grabbed it from the vortex. Cesc watched as the flames parted around the spiraling blue aura, for a moment catching sight of both Beedrill on the other side of the wall. The flames and psychic energy wrapped into something like a drill, piercing out from the fire spin and bursting between the two enemies.

"Whoa." Cesc blinked, reaching out and picking up the Ralts again as it started to droop. "Good work there, buddy, now let's-" The sound of his name took his attention once more as he saw Julie returning, holding the distinctive, beautiful shape of a pecha berry in her hand.

"Toss it here!" he barked as his Monferno stood to face the two still hovering Beedrill. However, much to his dismay, two more appeared following after Julie. She'd gotten something to cure Ralts' poison, but had inadvertently tracked more enemies to them.

Swallowing, Cesc reached down to his belt, plucking all three remaining pokeballs.

This is no time to play fair. Steeling his resolve, he threw out all three, summoning the rest of his team to the field to help his beleaguered Valentine.

"Oberon, Tybalt, Ice Sword!" he pointed at the two Beedrill behind Julie, issuing the command for a combo attack. "Bardolph, Wing Attack. Valentine...Mach Punch!"

It was a bit difficult commanding all four Pokemon at once, let alone shifting them into their combinations, but Cesc was sure as hell going to try.

Tybalt, his Zangoose, reached back with a glowing metal claws to Oberon, whose Icy Wind wrapped up around them into the shape of a shimmering blade. With that, Tybalt charged forward, leaping between the two beedrill and slashing out to the sides, shattering the icy blades on his arms as he struck the two in passing. They reeled back, screeching in pain, and immediately descended on him, jabbing furiously with their poison barbs. But Cesc had figured Tybalt's Immunity ability would keep him safe from the poison for the time being. Meanwhile, Bardolph flashed forward towards one of the original Beedrill. As he readied his strike, another figure flashed past him, slamming home a powerful Mach Punch and staggering the Beedrill who had been preparing for the Wing Attack. As it staggered back in the air, Bardolph the Scyther's powerful wing attack caught it off-balanced, sending it flying upwards and into one of the trees. It lay there, tangled among the branches, slumped and defeated.

"Julie! Pecha!" he yelled out distractedly, trying to figure out his next counter-attack while holding his hand outstretched for the antidote berry.

[Aura Dynasty]

The little Noibat seemingly chuckled at the blond-haired girl and crawled up closer, taking hold of the pokédex in her hand. The tyke had quite some force for being one so small, as it pulled the red mini-computer straight out of her hands and looked at it with interested eyes. It pressed a button, and when the robotic voice repeated the explanation of the Noibat-entry, it fascinatingly looked at the picture of himself. The pokédex was turned upside down several times as the bat-type tried to figure out where the voice was coming from and why there was such a tiny comrade in there. Jill jolted forward as Noibat suddenly started bashing the pokédex unto the rock floor in order to get it to open, stripping the bat-pokémon from his toy; as a result tears welled its his eyes.

The young trainer was left heartbroken by its performance, unknowing Noibat actually did this quite often. With a lowered guard it snuck back unto her chest, hugging her. Like most people, when something inhumanly cute cries out for a hug, one cannot just ignore-- and thus Jill hugged it back. The small paws of the masterfully found their way into her pockets, and by the time Jill'd released it, Noibat was the proud owner of a minimized pokéball, frisked from her belt. He took flight, while she crawled back up and reached out for the Noibat.

"Don't even think about it, you-!" as her fingertips touched its feet a giggle escaped Noibat's tiny body, leaving Jill with a confident smile as she wrapped her hand further around its foot. Then, the wind wiped up. Her hair blew in her face, entirely tangled up, as she saw the little wings of the bat pokémon flap in rapid succession. A funny feeling ran through her body as the wind started pushing her back and eventually took the ground under her feet away. If there was a time to find oneself in utmost state of panic when dangling in the air near a well-fed deep end, this would be it.

Jill shook her head while looking the little pokémon, saying all sorts of things of which 'Please', 'I'll be nice', 'Put me down' and 'I don't want to die like this' were the most understandable ones when clearing the sentence of her yelps and shouts. Out of experience she wasn't the one who was fond of falling down considerable heights, as it not once but twice had given her something she'd rather not be reminded of.

Sadly enough for her, Noibat didn't really understand why and bashed his wings against each other, sending a blast of whirling wind her way. And off she went, through the air and over the edge-- or on the edge, to be exact. She toppled over as she skidded towards the ledge and held on close to the rocky side, arms struggling for something to hold on to. With speed now tripled, her frisking friend made a run for it, disappearing into the darkness of the cave and leaving Jill in a rather dire situation.

Fingers trying to grasp something , anything so she could pull herself back up, but nothing within reach. She didn’t dare look down; last time she did had worked out splendid as well, and the scars still tainted the young trainer; both physically and mentally. With her feet slowly tapping against the rock wall, she tried to feel for some footing but only felt a nothingness that made her more anxious. Next time she’d go for a stroll through the park.

Just hanging around doing nothing wouldn’t really cut it, nor would she be able to keep this up. Okay then, one glance. Nothing more. With no other choice left, the adolescent looked down and swallowed her fear. No nice views this time, only a vast sea of green, roughly estimated to start 200 meters below her. However, today seemed to be her lucky day, as there was a small extension about 15 meters to her left where she could drop herself unto. Fifteen meters, no problem right? Right. Off she went once again, her legs waving left and right as she cautiously moved her hands over the side. After ten minutes of sharp ledges, surprisingly edgy stones jabbing her hands and small scrapes, Jill dropped herself unto the extending rock and exhaled happily. Never had she been more relieved to have something solid to support her.

Jill took a moment to catch her breath and to get everything back together. That damned bat had stolen one of her pokéballs! Checking her belt, the empty spot she detected made her saddened when realizing that her most loyal comrade had been taken from her. She'd had to get her little buddy back no matter what, but first things first. She'd had to look for a way down and find her backpack before she could go back up to explore that cave in search for the rascal Noibat.

The plateau made a turn right here, and she could see a slope not too far from where she sat now- the probability of her reaching it was a mere jump away. The slope was rather steep, but it had no threatening edges and it went straight down towards the edges of the forest. This could actually be her safe descend! Well, depending on what you call ’safe’, of course.

“Alright then, since this seems the only way down that doesn’t need any equipment… off we go.” Jill said to herself as she stood up, hand taking hold of the cliff for balance. After some quick calculations, empathizing with the distance, speed, mass of the object and some other scientific bullshit she had actually never quite understood, she made a leap towards the slope, and landed unto it. The mushy sand underneath her feet gave away, and together with a mass of pebbles and debris, she slid down at a rapidly increasing speed.

- * - * - * - * -

The change from loose underground to solid matter came onto her at a rather hard, and she frenetically tried to get up, trying to run the last stretch before the change actually happened. Leaning over she trampled on, keeping her balance as she kept running forward into the forest. Dodging tree and bushes, unable to stop due to the fear of smashing her head unto the ground, Jill progressed deeper into the wilderness, mowing her arms around her to keep her balance. Her bent over running position gradually changed into a straightened running position, and with her balance rediscovered , Jill started slowing down. Sounds of battle and shouts of people resonated from close by, and although she was still going quite fast, the trainer decided to check it out. The scene unfolded as she got closer. Several pokémon scattered between the trees, of which rather many Beedrill, and a person bent over, tending to an injured pokémon. With only some thicket in the way, the blond girl made her way through it, her hand already going for the remaining poke ball on her belt.

It was then that the root decided to intervene. The tip of her foot got caught underneath the vastly-covered bottom layer of the bush she was barging through, and the speed she was moving at gave her an extra push into the -not necessarily- right direction.

It was thus that the blond trainer appeared out of nowhere, as elegantly as she always was when tripping, and passed the knelt down person whilst ramming an incoming Beedrill and taking it with her in her fall. Both smacked unto the ground a little further, Jill still ignorant of the giant insect she’d just taken along and the Beedrill struggling to get free. “Ouch… ugh, I’m sorry abou-“ Jill exclaimed as her eyes met those of Beedrill. “Shit!“ Instinctively she moved to get out of its reach, doing a backward roll and jumping up, hands raised in defence as the bug-type got back up.

This post has been edited by Aura Dynasty: Sep 29 2014, 03:04 AM

[Tarbasilisk]

Their rapid-fire wingbeats made a noisy buzzing sound. Julie whirled around in horror, backpedaling several paces until she was quite close to Cesc. The beedrill's eyes glinted like firey orbs as they burst into the clearing with alarming speed.

Fortunately, Cesc was quick to react to the escalating situation. Julie scarcely knew what to think as she watched his faithful pokemon synergize their attacks with each other in such a remarkable way. On any other day, she might have seen the "ice sword' attack performed by his Zangoose and Sneasel as a distasteful sort of violence, but today Julie could only appreciate the finesse and precision with which Cesc's pokemon fought.

She was drawn away from the spectacle by Cesc's somewhat strained demand for the pecha berry.

"Right, right, sure." Julie almost shouted, jerkily turning away from the beedrill she had shamefully led into the clearing. She handed the berry to him and anxiously hovered nearby to see if the antidote would work. The last thing she wanted to do was try and retrieve another one.

Princess, meanwhile, was keeping a vigilant watch over the trainers, with a growl rolling in her throat all the while. Frankly, Princess' behavior struck Julie as more than a little shocking. However, she had no particular compulsion at all to recall her pokemon. It seemed to Julie that Princess was doing a fine job of keeping her safe...

...not to mention the fact that one of the beedrill that Julie had lured into the clearing had broken away from Cesc's pokemon and was gradually advancing on the two trainers. It paused, and tilted its head in a jarring, alien manner. It seemed to Julie that the beedrill was trying to analyze the threat that Princess posed. Her fingers clenched in anxiety. Suddenly, Cesc's other pokemon sent the one of the beedrill's parents noisily sailing into a tree. Its head snapped to the left to see what had happened, and the moment of opportunity did not go unnoticed by Princess. She bared her teeth and tensed her hind legs, preparing to spring...

The furfrou's explosive bark was mangled into a yelp of surprise as her concentration was suddenly broken by a stranger that burst from the treeline and boldly charged the other parent beedrill. (Or at least, so it appeared to the poodle pokemon, who had stumbled forward gracelessly instead of leaping.)

"Who are you?" Julie exclaimed, furrowing her brow incredulously. The blonde girl suddenly stopped making apologetic statements and seemed to become aware of the situation. She defensively rolled out of the way, hands raised.

The beedrill that had broken its concentration earlier now sought to capitalize on Princess's inattention as it darted forward with vengeful power. Princess yelped and whined as she was knocked backward. Her legs scrambled to push herself back up to a standing position. Once again, fortunately, her thick fur coat prevented the beedrill's stingers from afflicting her with poison.

Acting on impulse, Julie fiercely commanded Princess to tackle it. Princess obligingly bounded forward in loping strides, clearing the space between her trainer and the bee pokemon in a matter of seconds. One sailing jump later, the beedrill crashed to the ground. Julie chewed her lip, hoping the beedrill wouldn't get up. Relief flooded into her as she realized her assailant had been fortuitously knocked out. It seemed that Cesc's combinations had worn it down just enough to Princess to finish it off.

Her attention was now on the new girl. That beedrill looked awfully pissed off... Thankfully, it seemed that Cesc's (appallingly insectiod) pokemon would be handling it.

Edited to account for continuity errors. See discussion thread for helpful BEE DIAGRAM

This post has been edited by Tarbasilisk: Nov 27 2014, 04:13 PM

[Kamaitachi]

"Thanks!" Cesc flashed a distracted smile at Julie as he accepted the Pecha Berry, kneeling over the Ralts one more to feed it the antidote. In the mean time, his Pokemon were now commanderless for the time being, focusing on fending off the rapid fire onslaught of attacks coming from the remaining Beedrill.

As he felt the Ralts visibly relax in his arms, he turned his attention back to the battle. Unfortunately, the first thing he saw was a blur whooshing past his face, so he crouched back down around the Ralts protectively. As he reared back up, he recognized the face of the girl who had magically appeared, cannonballing herself into the remaining Beedrill close to him. Yet, for the life of him, he could not remember her name. As his mind began to wrack itself for the mystery moniker, his attention was sharply drawn back to the battle at hand. With a shrill shriek, Valentine landed on the ground next to Cesc, now clearly suffering from Poison himself from the venomous barbs of the enemy Beedrill.

"Return." Cesc commanded, pointing a pokeball at his companion. However, the beam of light bounced off, leaving the suffering Pokemon in plain sight. Incredulously, Cesc looked at the Pokeball, and noted that without any seals attached, he had no idea which pokeball was which at the moment, and in his haste to summon all of his Pokemon, he had quite possibly re-attached them to the wrong slots on his belt. Fumbling about, it took another futile attempt before he finally got the correct pokeball, snapping it to the correct spot on his belt for Valentine.

In the mean time, it appeared that Julie had downed a Beedrill with her Prissy Princess Poodle, which meant that there were only two remaining. Bardolph appeared to be holding his own against the one, dishing out super-effective Wing Attacks with his superior speed. On the other end, Tybalt seemed quite plagued by the flashing lances of his own Beedrill, which appeared to be moving faster than before.

"Oberon! Ice Shard on Tybalt! Tybalt! Swords Dance!"

Tybalt immediately began slashing about the air in a quick, frenetic dance to sharpen his claws. His dark weasel companion, in the mean time, sent out a flurry of razor sharp projectiles, which Tybalt proceeded to expertly deflect in all directions. The attack effectively looked something like an explosion of Ice Shards in all directions...an omnidirectional attack, which was hard to dodge due to the sheer radius it covered.

"That's it! Icicle Disaster!" Cesc cheered, pleased at himself for thinking up such a cool name for a new cool-looking combination.

Behind him, he heard Bardolph's cry of triumph. Turning back around to hear the full effect of his new combo, Cesc watched as the Beedrill that Jill had unceremoniously plowed into hit the ground with a dull thud. He, likewise, resolved that fighting a battle on two fronts was absurdly difficult. Luckily Beedrill were not usually very tough opponents. He made a mental note to never get pincered in like that ever again if he could help it.

In the mean-time, the agility-boosted Beedrill that remained figured out that Tybalt was not the most viable target for his offense. The Cat-Ferret had been stung several times, but showed yet no signs of the poison affliction. Thus, turning its attention to Oberon, the Sneasel, the wicked looking Beedrill launched a stream of poisonous purple darts. The Sneasel cried out in pain, reeling back, and now also took on the blanched look of being afflicted by poison. Cesc cursed under his breath, irritated that two of his Pokemon had now been poisoned.

But, Julie had found a Pecha berry nearby; surely they could find more once the battle had ended. As Cesc recalled his poisoned friend, he narrowed his gaze at the remaining enemy. Just one to go.

[Aura Dynasty]

The scene unfolded with in rather smooth succession. As to where the two trainers fighting the Beedrill had recovered from her unexpected entrance, both had once again turned their attention to their rightful opponents. Jill took better notice of her surroundings and now realized there were several Beedrill present, of which two were fighting against a Scyther, a Zangoose and a Sneasel. Their movements were that of trained performers, as they moved about with a graceful yet deadly precision Jill could only compare with that of a co-ordinator. It was then that she recognized the man who'd been tending to his companion with care-- there was only one man she knew that had such tanned skin and built. "Though a name might have been nice..." she thought to herself, as the only thing she could remember was Dr. Adelaide's 'Macho Latino-man' nickname. Jill couldn't help but smile as she got away from the center of the fighting. A foreign name... Cinquo Recto... Franky Fresco? This wasn't the time to space out like that, she'd remember it in a minute or two. Probably. Hopefully. Anyway. Her opponents. Right. At her left the girl had asked for her name, to which the blonde trainer turned to reply. About to, since she didn't get the chance to do so.

The girl who’d first noticed her had a classy appeal, not one who’d be seen as one to engage in battle, yet she commanded her poodle to charge at a nearby Beedrill with an eagerness the pokémon gladly replied to, taking the Beedrill down with a solid tackle. The bug-type tried to get back up, though didn't find the strength to do so and remained downed.

At her right the familiar's pokémon did not seem to fare as well as the girl's. They managed to take down one of their offenders by fusing their moves into an omni-directional attack, which made it even more clear that Francesco Rojas was a trained co-ordinator, but sadly didn't take into account that there was still someone trying to get out of the way. Lucky for Jill she moved swiftly on her feet. Seemed like those Martial Arts-classes she had started taking when recovering from the wound on her arm paid off after all. She jumped out of the icicle's reach, trying to pinpoint what she was going to to right now. The Sneasel had taken some of the poisonous stings and seemingly suffered from the poisonous effect it had, not too long after Cesc returned it to his pokéball, leaving the sole remaining Beedrill with three opponents left.

The choice to add her own remaining pokémon to the battle was unnecessary, three against one would surely end in a victory for the trainers, yet to just stand aside and watch as others did all the work wasn't her style. Her hand already moved towards her belt, but hovered above in hesitation. There was no way that her Chimchar would suddenly start listening to her commands, and god knows what he'd be up to this time... Then again, there was no time as the present to find out.

"Mind if I barge in-- Vex, it's the Beedrill you need to pummel!" Jill said as she threw her pokéball towards the Beedrill. Halfway through the ball opened and released the small fire chimp from it's capsule. Vex appeared as he always did; uncaring and incredibly irritated for his being. Though this time he didn't glare at his trainer, something Jill appreciated. But she knew better as to think they were friends now. Vex wouldn't allow her to command him that easily, thus the oddly-spoken introduction.

Vex assessed the situation and glared menacingly at the Beedrill as soon as it made eye-contact, pissing off the giant wasp-pokémon even more. But then again, that's the way he like his opponents to be. Blinded by rage. The small chimp took off, starting to gather fire in its mouth while small embers sparked every time his paws hit the ground. Nearly six feet away from his target Vex took a leap into the air, not caring for the Scyther that stood between him and his prey. He exhaled the flames at full power and started rotating while doing so, thus starting a fiery Flame Wheel in mid-air as he soared towards the Beedrill. Heartlessly Vex bunted into Cesc's Scyther, scorching the poor pokémon as he made its way over him to the next opponent, whom was hit head-on by the burning flames.

The Beedrill was pinned unto the floor as Vex kept grinding it into the ground, seemingly enjoying the antagonizing screams of the bug-type. Jill called out for Vex, demanding him to stop at once. But as the Chimchar was ignorant of her orders she had no other choice but to recall him, the red beam engulfing Vex before he disappeared back into the pokéball. Jill sighed deeply as she put away the pokéball, feeling rather sorry for the way the Beedrill had been dealt with. "Still no change... damnit."

The pokéball was put back in place and Jill turned to face the two other trainers. She bowed before them. "I apologize for you having to see my Chimchar's barbaric behavior... his obedience is still a big problem." She looked up at the female trainer and paused for a moment. "Oh, yes, I recall you having asked who I was, correct? My name is Jill Cortoma, aspiring archeologist and trainer."

This post has been edited by Aura Dynasty: Aug 16 2015, 05:42 PM

[Tarbasilisk]

With the sounds of fighting now subdued, Julie looked around with paranoia to see if any more bugs dared to leap out of the bushes. The coast apparently clear, she took a moment to take a deep breath and recall her furfrou back into her ball.

"My name is Jill Cortoma...."

So Jill tumbled down the hill, apparently. Julie thought, suppressing a snicker. She felt herself relaxing a little bit, and shifted her stance accordingly. Suddenly remembering her manners, she smiled politely.

"My name is Julie Hildebrand." She said. At Jill's mention of her chimchar's behavior, she glanced at Cesc's singed scyther. At the sight of that, Julie's mood darkened again. She folded her arms, frowning slightly. Julie struggled to remember why she had bothered to come into the forest to risk her own pokemon's good looks. Cesc's pokemon appeared to be in bad shape after the fight, and she considered herself lucky that Princess was relatively unhurt.

Oh, I need another pokemon, right. She thought, frowning. She looked at the little green-headed pokemon Cesc was tending to. At least he got what he wanted...

At this point, Julie's primary fixation wasn't on finding some spectacular fauna for the contest. She really just wanted to get away from this clearing, and quickly. Perhaps it was just Julie's mind playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn she heard more buzzing noises nearby. She felt her skin crawl, and folded her arms even tighter. She didn't want to wait around for a second longer.

"I can't handle this place anymore. You know what? We should get going." She took several long strides toward the edge of the clearing (away from the perceived buzzing) before turning around to look at the two trainers. She looked at each of them, and gestured impatiently at the woods.

"Any objections? No? Let's go." She turned around again, taking a few more decisive steps to make her point of leaving abundantly clear.

"Objection!" A voice called out.

Julie froze mid-step, and felt a rising anger about being stopped. Suddenly she realized - that wasn't Jill or Cesc's voice. It almost sounded like... her own? Or a mockery of her own, anyway. It appeared to have come from above.

"Hello?" Julie called out, scanning the treetops. She paused, waiting for a reply. No response. She decided to try again.

"Hello?" Again, nothing. Julie began to wonder if she'd imagined it, and began to feel a little foolish.

"Hello." A colorful shape dropped suddenly from above, landing on Julie's hat.

"AAGH!" Julie yelled, taken completely by surprise. The pokemon - it was a chatot - flew off her hat gracefully, with a series of mirthful squawks that almost sounded like laughter. It disappeared down the path that Julie had intended to follow.

Julie stood still, dumbfounded. She didn't even care that she had obviously been pranked. In her mind, she could only see that pokemon's gloriously vibrant feathers. Eyes wide, she turned back toward the duo in the clearing.

"That pokemon. I have to catch it."

[Kamaitachi]

As the battle began to wind down, leaving just one opponent standing...or rather flying. The mystery girl decided to step fully into the fray with a pokemon of her own, a Chimchar. While he stood there, trying to piece together her story from the fragmented bits of memory from the scattered interactions with her, he watched as her Chimchar callously blew through his Scyther on the way to the enemy beedrill.

"H-hey!" Cesc yelped in tandem with the scorched cries of his Pokemon. In one swift motion, he recalled Bardolph and Tybalt, reaching down to scoop up the Ralts into his arms.

"Jill Cortoma" the co-ordinator huffed slightly, finally recalling that they had spent a decent amount of time down in a tunnel, facing off against some strange Ampharos and Manectric.

"Cesc Rojas." He shrugged, introducing himself with a nod shortly after Julie. She hadn't been in total command of her Chimchar, evidently, which led to Bardolph's injury...but it didn't seem like such an unforgiveable act.

However, while at least three of his Pokemon required medical attention, Julie seemed deadset on catching the colourful bird Pokemon that had swooped down and briefly perched on her hat. While a part of him wanted to take his Pokemon and the wounded Ralts to a Pokemon Center, it seemed that Julie was deadset on catching the Pokemon. At least Jill still was battle ready, with at least her violent Chimchar, and Julie had her Princess...so...they wouldn't be too bad off for now.

And, well, if two pretty ladies needed him to stand around and be muscle, he didn't mind so terribly much. They'd likely encounter some more Pecha berries, to help with Oberon's poisoning, and with any luck, he'd find a Rawst Berry, though he had no idea if they grew along the mountainside; Herbology had not been a choice of study. Yet, he didn't mind having to learn a little on the fly.

"Well then, Julie. I'll follow you." Cesc clutched the resting Ralts in his arms gently, making sure his new little friend seemed somewhat comfortable. "Jill? You're welcome to tag along too."

[Aura Dynasty]

-Due to a technical error this post will be editted first thing in the morning with the right content.-

A belated Merry Christmas and an early Happy New Year to all!
~ Aura