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 Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 12:21 pm
Mahnaz watched the sea making calm waves as she thought about her choice; either travel to Sinnoh and see her older brother once again, or stay in Kanto and travel on her own journey and maybe travel when she was stronger. Maipe looked at his boss and twisted his head.
"Growl," he said, saying "I know this is hard on you and I'm sorry, but I don't know what to do."
"I don't know what to do, Markus," she stated with despair. "I wanna see Mirrikh, but I'm not strong enough yet. Maipe is still a baby." She sighed as the choices kept flooding in her head.
Seeing Mirrikh would be so great and would give me strength on my journey. But, here I know about things and the land, so I wouldn't have to learn anything new. I miss him, but this is my home. She scoffed as she started pacing.
"I'm sorry Miss Mahnaz, but I have to tell Russ soon how many are coming," Markus said impatiently. His Grovyle nodded in agreement. "I need to know."
"I...I want to...start my own life and I can't do that following my older brother. If you...see Mi-Russell, tell him I'll see him soon enough and that I'll miss him." The boy nodded and sighed as he walked to the port.
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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 12:37 pm
"Mm," Train murmured in agreement with Maz, reaching out to pat Pikachu on the head. She recalled Raticate and Growlithe into their PokéBalls, then picked up Pikachu and gave him a little hug. She set him back down on the table and he blinked and looked up at her as she pulled out a third PokéBall. Mount Moon can be pretty dangerous, and we've had a couple of bad experiences in there, so I'm going to put you in your PokéBall, okay?" Train explained to her Pokémon, who let out a little cry of protest. "Please, Pikachu? You're going to have to get used to it eventually, so…" She looked pleadingly at her Pokémon, who let out a grumble and stared at the table. Train pressed the button on the ball and watched as the Mouse Pokémon disappeared in the beam of red light. She felt a little bad, but what she'd said was true, and she also wanted to start letting other Pokémon walk around with her. She supposed she could have multiple Pokémon out with her at once, but it would just be easier only having one out at a time. At least for now, anyway.
Train's eyes shifted to each Pokémon as Carlos explained who and what they were, and she found the Swablu being her favourite of his. It was kind of cute and pretty, and she wondered if maybe she'd ever want one. She had no idea when the next time she'd be in Hoenn was, though.
She looked at Maz's Banette again and decided that she definitely wanted one of those at some point. It looked really cool, and she didn't have Ghost-type yet. Unfortunately, it was another Hoenn Pokémon, so she didn't know when she'd be able to try and catch one.
The teenager finally stood up and smiled at the other two, nodding as Carlos also said that they should be off. "Oh," She spoke up suddenly. "Do you guys mind if I feed my other Pokémon once we get outside? She's a bit shy, so I didn't want to scare her by releasing her where a bunch of other people and Pokémon were." She felt kind of like a jerk to ask them to wait again, but she would rather make them wait a few extra minutes than make her Pokémon starve just so they could get going a little quicker.
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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 2:09 pm
"Can I, um, see my Pokemon?" M.A. asked abruptly, her eyes spearheading the tray of Pokeballs lying on the counter.
"Oh, of course!" Saebum grinned, the former malice in his voice entirely erased, as if it had never been there. It made him all warm and fuzzy inside to see how much his little sister had bonded with her Pokemon. She was obviously fretting over them, and they had quite conspicuously fretted over her the last day or so. In fact, Daemyn had to be confined to his Pokeball with a strap, as he wouldn't even let anyone touch the girl to treat her. But anyways, Saebum figured this must be a sign that M.A. was growing up right as rain, even better than some cold people who would never open their hearts up to remain in their self-serving, suspicious little cocoons, never to have that special connection with their own Pokemon. And this meant he and his father had done a good job of raising his dear little sister up, despite all the minor mishaps like their burning down the kitchen the first time they tried to make toaster strudels and their not knowing what to do when M.A. received the rite of passage into womanhood. Well, without another woman in the household, you can kinda see where the panic would come from. M.A. had thought she was dying at the time.
But I digress too far into the older brother's psyche. "Hold on, though," Saebum said, holding the tray inches away from her range of movement. "I want to show you something." M.A., lifting a half-interested, half-irritated brow, nodded. "Sure. But not in here," she said, frowning. She swung her legs over the bed and forced herself to stand; with silent effort, she made herself perfectly erect and stiffened the trembling in her knees. "Look, I'm fine. I can go outside. This place feels too stuffy," she said, crinkling her nose. It wasn't quite that, though. The hospital division of the PokeCenter just seemed too odorless, too clean, too unnaturally immaculate. For the most part, the other patients of the ward were travelers who had gotten hurt, and so were miserably waiting to heal up all by themselves.
Saebum conceded this point -- he wasn't a fan of hospitals, either, and in fact feared them somewhat -- and so led M.A. outside. In the lobby, Connor, the fellow who had brought M.A. down from the mountain, jumped up to his feet when he saw Saebum escort his sister out. He trotted up to them with a broad grin. "Mary-Anne! You're alr--"
His voice tapered off when he saw M.A.'s appearance up close. "Uh... Um. I'm glad you're alright!" he finished, his large smile faltering somewhat.
Saebum, not noticing the young man's hesitation, gave a reciprocating grin. "I can't tell you enough, but thank you so much for helping my sister get back to the hospital. You know, M.A., he somehow managed to get Tora to stop rampaging -- yeah, she was rampaging at the sight of you, nearly crushed you and Connor here no doubt -- and herded her down here, no easy feat I'm sure." Saebum, typically overtly overprotective of his sister in the presence of any eligible bachelor, was genuinely thankful to this guy for essentially saving her life, regardless of his motive.
"Yeah, um, it was no problem," Connor answered uneasily, unable to look at M.A. straight in the face. Saebum started noticing his awkward manner now, and looked almost somewhat confused as to why this unusually helpful fellow now seemed like he wanted to do nothing else but to jet. And jet he did. "I, um, just wanted to see if you were alright and all, and uh, I'm glad you are, M.A.," he said, giving her a quick glance but almost cringing when he did. "But uh, my cousin's got um, a wedding this afternoon, so uh, I gotta go, maybe run into you some other time?" he said.
"Yeah," she answered, a tiny little word. But he was already gone.
M.A. grabbed her stuff violently from Saebum's hands and went to the restroom. Her brother protested, followed her to the door, but obviously not into the women's washroom.
She could see why Connor had run off. She looked somewhat frightful. The bruises, cuts, and burns congregated on her body to form a frightful mix, warping her skin -- particularly her arms, legs, and face -- into funky splotches of color and random swollen lumps. Her face almost seemed asymmetrical in shape, and when she unwound the bandage that wrapped around her head from the left side of her forehead to the right side of her head below her ear, she saw that there was a nasty looking gash there. And her hair... Her long, lustrous hair had been half singed off.
Well, she supposed there was something poetic in this. The outside matches the insides matches the atmosphere, M.A. thought. Hadn't she felt her heart shrivel into something black and despicable and pitiful when Connor had averted his eyes painfully from her? Hadn't she seen -- or heard -- his uneasy, hurtful dishonesty, his self-minded hopes shattering on the floor while he tried to cover the collision up with a half-hearted smile? For some reason, in this half-oriented state of mind, she could see through people so easily; could see Saebum's naive, slightly -- dare she say it? -- high-handed good-naturedness (of course she still loved him, he was her dear brother, but he couldn't not be human), could see that Connor had hoped to save the fairly pretty girl, had hoped to be the knight showered in kisses, but had only salvaged a warty goblin.
"M.A.," Saebum called, pleadingly from the outside. "I didn't want you to see this so soon; they haven't cleaned your cuts up too much, yet. But all of it will heal. The gash on your face, even, will go away if you keep it out of the sun and put this ointment Nurse Joy has on every day."
M.A. didn't respond, simply staring at the nasty, blackened thing in front of her. Even her eyes didn't escape unscathed from this situation. Typically a steel blue, they looked even more harsher. She realized they were indifferent.
She ruffled through her bag for a moment, gingerly put clothes back on. These were Mary-Anne's clothes, she thought to herself. The last time she had these clothes on, she didn't feel this... What was it? It wasn't malice, she didn't think. Not indifference. Just... resignation? She had loved people, only saw their lovely, two-dimensional kindness. God, she must've been crazy not to see all the black selfishness and wickedness. But whatever. Last of all, she pulled out some scissors, tied her hair up in a pony tail, and chopped off the singed parts, letting it fall to investigate her work. Average. Not salon-good, but she wasn't going to impress anyone with this face anyways. She set a cool smile on her face. Surprisingly it held fairly well on her splotchy face, though that stranger in the mirror seemed to emit some sort of icy skepticism that made M.A., on this side of the glass, almost feel a distant chill on her spine. With that, she rejoined her brother to see whatever the hell it was he wanted to show her.
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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 2:52 pm
When M.A. came out smiling, Saebum figured things were okay. He wasn't a mind reader, naturally; he couldn't see the slight shift in her point of view. "You'll be fine. I still think you're gorgeous," he said, giving her a little squeeze as they walked out. M.A. felt somewhat revolted by that comment, but once again, out of default, simply smiled. Or sneered.
They made it outside uneventfully, though Saebum made sure to toss a sun hat on M.A.'s head so that the scab would heal normally without scarring. Compared to the emptiness of the hospital, Jubilife was, well, full of life. So many people. That man over there, arm in arm with wife who held their kid's hand -- too bad he was grinning wolfishly, almost hungrily at his phone, and surely not at some business message. Teens horsing around -- we'd see that as harmless play -- but M.A. still felt Milton's rough hold on her arm, felt the soreness of her shoulder, and felt something hard in her throat. There was too much movement out here. She grasped her brother's arm tightly. "What is it?" he asked, lightly alarmed. She looked pale before digging her face into his upper arm. "Mm mnn peeeppoll," she muttered.
"M.A., you're going to have to speak up," he said gently, leading her to a bench.
M.A.'s face burned with shame. She hated this weakness, but couldn't fight it. It was overwhelming. "I'm scared," she spat, angrily, but could not tear her face from her brother's sleeve. "I'm ******** scared, and I don't know why. Everything's just moving too fast."
The curse word sounded odd in her mouth, almost copperish, but she liked it. It was grungy, sharp, and it kinda almost released the malaise settling like a rock in her stomach. Saebum wasn't so much worried about that. "Here, wait. Let me move my arm a bit," he said, gingerly moving to get to his own bag. M.A. heard him ruffle around a bit, heard a familiar clicking sound, an electronic wheezing. He flapped whatever it was around for a second before sticking it under M.A.'s nose. "Here, look at this thing slowly. This is what's around us, in one shot."
It was a polaroid picture. M.A. stared at its content. The man and his wife were still there, but they weren't alive to her. The man was smiling at his wife here, and if she had only known this content, she'd assume he was any typical father. But his mind was in another place, unfortunately. She didn't have to care, though; this was just a photograph. And the kids were still horseplaying, but they were frozen, nice and far away so that she could observe distantly, dispassionately, as they defied gravity, not falling yet. They were far away.
"Here, why don't you take a picture of me?" Saebum grinned, flashing his pearly whites.
"No!" M.A. shouted, and then coughed, embarrassed. Something about it scared her, to capture a moment in Saebum's face. Perhaps it was a fear that she would photograph one expression, only to find the real thing holding a face contrary, a face hypocritical to what she thought he was. She'd rather love him without that kind of doubt flashing through her. "I mean... not now."
"That camera was meant for you," Saebum said, deciding not to miss a beat. "So you can keep it. It's digital, but if you got the film for it, you can swap modes and have it be a polaroid. Nifty, huh? But that's not the surprise I have for you."
M.A. looked at him, calm curiosity evident in her bruised face.
"Why don't you take a look?" he asked, releasing all of her Pokemon, one by one. First there was Daemyn, who nudged her gently, worriedly with his muzzle; she smiled to release him from his concern. Then Tora, who bashfully stood at a distance, afraid to come closer and break her master until she waved hher to come in slowly. Diego physically looked somewhat of a mess, though his mental state, considering he had just lost his best friend and master, seemed as good as you could hope it to be; he was sad, pensive, but not crushed. And that would probably because of Ulani, who was no longer a petite little Swablu, but a gorgeous Altaria, who crooned happily to see M.A. awake.
"You're beautiful, Ulani," M.A. breathed, taking in the Humming Pokemon's new visage. Goodness gracious, what outrageous beauty. And therein, the simple sincerity man lacked. In fact, all her Pokemon had this in their expressions, even Diego who was half broken. She smiled, genuinely now.
"Isn't she?" Saebum grinned, taking in the view. Didn't see too many Altaria too often, if in the wild they tended to fly high and out of sight in the mountains, just singing their beautiful song. "Should hear the voice on that one, too. Simply awing." M.A. was half listening. She had taken about ten pictures of her Pokemon while he was speaking, they were just so guileless, so endearing. When she stopped, she looked at the pictures. Why, the sky was so blue, her Pokemon unique in their own ways and adorable in their own fashions, the foliage of the park in front of her so vivid. She looked up at the sky, at the foliage. Yep. She had caught them both in her hands, somehow. It was almost invigorating. And most of all, with that and Daemyn sulking at her feet, having worried himself to death, with Ulani's gorgeous singing reverberating through the city streets, with Tora's meek nudges, with Diego awe-struck at Ulani's voice, eyes lighting up only when she sang, M.A. realized that she was glad to be here. Having seen the ugly, the beautiful seemed so much more so. And although it was an ugly sentiment, she really wanted to horde it all, all the pretty things, for herself.
Well, she took a deep breath, tasting the sweet air, though it was probably a bit smoggy from the city. So what if people were nasty, so what if she was? She was stealing time. She could have died, but had not; Milton could have lived, but did not. It seemed almost a game, though with little reason or rhyme. Life was both beautiful and nasty. Nature and city, wildness and civilization. Utterly capricious. Why wouldn't she be the same? So she laughed, suddenly, taking Saebum by surprise. She had been trembling a moment before, and now she was laughing, a strange, tinny sound. This girl had such a ridiculous recovery rate, Saebum thought to himself, shaking his head with a little smile. What went through in her name, he wouldn't ever understand, that sister of his.
[mazor edit to the end]
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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:04 pm
Eztli was led into Andrew's office, and was sat in a wooden straight-backed chair. Mixcoatl and Kai stood in the back, Mix slightly facing the wall and trembling, from fear and from rage. How could Kai possibly do this? His baby sister was either going to die or become a monster. He was horrified to find that he would rather her die then become like him. 'It would be less painful for Ez...' he tried to tell himself, but he knew his real reasoning was that he didn't want to feel guilty every day, seeing his sister blindly committing atrocities. 'Is that selfish of me?' he wondered. Andrew came through the door, looking completely unruffled. He didn't seem at all surprised to see Eztli there, which led Mix to believe this entire mission had been a sham to lure Eztli out. Then why go through all the trouble of loading weapons up, receiving the death bracelet, the hours of aimless wandering...Oh. They already knew Eztli was in Canalave, they just needed the weapons and death bracelet to keep the bait, Mixcoatl, in check. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Andrew sat behind his desk, looking like nothing more then a simple, overworked business manager. He finally looked straight at Eztli, not blinking, just studying. Eztli didn't squirm under his gaze, instead holding it steady. The man didn't scare her. The man finally nodded, unsmiling.
"Good. You were right, Kai. Nice new recruit. Now for the test...." Andrew reached below his desk for a manila folder. Eztli saw it was marked "Malinal, Mixcoatl". He scanned it quickly, and Eztli assumed he was checking out the cursory information they had on her. Andrew noted her attention. "Oh, you have one too, it is just incomplete. Your full dossier will be here at my desk by the time you complete the test. Now according to Kai, you own a Magby and a Cubone, correct?" Eztli nodded numbly. "Both of middling level, not too strong. You aren't trained enough to receive a Pokemon like Mixcoatl's Charizard just yet." He reached beneath his desk once more, bringing out an ebony box. Eztli noted the label, "New Recruits- Untrained, but show promise".
'Very specific, he must have OCD or something,' Eztli thought to herself, before she focused back on Andrew, who was popping the clasps on the box. It opened silently, revealing three Pokeballs within.
"Which one you choose will determine which field you enter and which test you will complete. However, you will not know what is in the Pokeball just yet. You will pick one at random. We want to make sure you are able to complete any mission we may have for you."
"Hold up," Eztli said. Andrew narrowed his eyes at her. "Who said I want to take this test? I was just dragged in here, and told take this test or die. Well, with those options and my track record, death wouldn't be too bad right about now."
"No!" Mixcoatl suddenly screamed. Eztli glanced back at him. "Eztli, you can't. You can't die. They won't make it easy. They'll...they'll torture you! And make me watch! Please, don't do that to me Eztli."
"Mix, mi hermano...Do you love me? Because I do not love you." Mix nodded, accepting but still feeling like a fiery branch from the kiln had stabbed his heart. "I understand. I wish I could love you Mix, but you showed me no love when we were little, and you show me no love now. You are being selfish, Mixcoatl. Let me die." Mixcoatl shook his head furiously.
"Ez, listen to me. You do not want to die. I can see it in your eyes. They have been dulled by pain and suffering, but I can still see that fiery spark of life hidden in there. Those eyes that Kai here," he jerked his thumb towards the big red-haired man, "said gave you away. Yes I am being selfish. But maybe I am being selfish on your behalf? I can be the sinner here, and you the saint. But don't be a martyr. Mom wouldn't want that. She gave her life to you, right? You know, she knew there would be complications with your birth because of her age. She could have had an abortion, saved her health or life, but she didn't. When she asked the doctors, they said you would be okay, so she kept you." Eztli kept a steady gaze on her brother, her expression not changing. Mix could not tell what she was thinking, but he hoped against hope she changed her mind. For the first time in a very long time, he prayed to the Higher Being. He bowed his head and brought his hands together. Eztli was startled by her brother's action. She had never seen Mix pray before. She turned back to Andrew, and plucked a Pokeball from the box.
"What is my test?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:08 pm
Themis snorted lightly at Keegan's comment, but true to his trainer's words, he didn't even bother lifting his head off the pillow. Several bolts of static rolled over the Manectric's lean and limber body and his legs twitched a bit as the Pokemon was soon sound asleep. Showoff, Keegan thought irritably, shooting a glare at the electric type as he slung a fluffy grey towel over his shoulder and headed for the showers. He wasn't sure why, but the Big Riddle Inn seemed to be a little empty of guests though he wondered if that might be due to Blaine's relatively non-existent 'people skills.' The redhead chuckled to himself at the thought. Blaine seemed like a nice enough guy, though he wouldn't want to get on his bad side. He also couldn't help but wonder if he'd come back here someday to challenge the man to a gym match. After all, he thought the Volcano Badge would look mighty fine alongside the Heat Badge from Lavaridge.
It wasn't difficult to find the showers, as there was a sign conveniently posted in the hallway pointing out the proper direction. Keegan thanked his lucky stars that it was empty inside and he dumped the few things he'd brought with him in a locker before drawing a small prescription bottle out of his pocket and studying it. Todd Summers, he read, using his thumb to cover up his father's first name, mostly out of shame. He knew he probably shouldn't have nicked his father's Oxycodone when he was at home last, but it wasn't like he was using it. It had been prescribed to him several months ago, after he'd fallen while working up on the roof of the egg hatchery. The redhead glanced at the label again, having not taken any thus far. The cramped helicopter ride, however, had made his ribs ache and even though he didn't think he'd sleep very much, he didn't want to lie there in pain all night. Take one or two tablets every six hours when required, he read, unscrewing the cap and tapping two tablets into his palm. He walked over to one of the sinks and turned on the water, cupping his hand to get a drink so he could down them, shivering a little. He looked up at the mirror, squinting at the reflection that was grinning back at him. "What are you smirking at?" he muttered.
He then didn't hesitate to strip down and practically jump into the shower, which he'd made hot as he could stand it. He sighed happily as the near-scalding water soaked him from head to toe. Hot showers were definitely one of his favourite things on the planet, as they always managed to calm him down and relax him, right from the moment the water touched his skin. He sighed again, leaning his head against the wall so he could stare down at the floor. He pretended that all his stress and anxiety and worries he'd been carrying with him were being washed away down the drain. After a good five minutes or so of solid deep breathing and relaxation, the boy dumped a generous amount of shampoo into his palm and began to wash his hair, wondering if it really looked as ridiculous as he often thought it did. For as long as he could remember, he hadn't liked that the shade was just so, well, red. He could recall that once, when he was younger and less well-adjusted to the Lavaridge heat, he'd shower once or twice a day to cool down if he could get away with it, and his mother had told him that if he wasn't careful his frequent showers would wash all the colour out of his hair. Needless to say, the young, and then-gullible boy went through several bottles of shampoo yet his hair colour hadn't changed in the slightest, save for drying out his scalp a little. He didn't speak to his mother for a whole week after that.
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thunderbolts_and_sunshine
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Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:55 pm
A rare curse word escaped Riza's lips as she stared at her two unconscious, and now fully-evolved Pokemon. Diemia was completely out of it, a few stray bits of static still sparking from her body, though Yula was awake. Very tired, but awake. "Wow," was all Riza managed to utter, quickly recalling the poor fainted lobster to her poke ball before running over to Yula's side, Akima in tow. The Gardevoir propped herself up to grin at Riza and Akima. "You sure taught Diemia a lesson," Riza giggled, wrapping her arms around the Pokemon and hugging her gently before returning Yula to her ball as well. She stood up, still quite in awe over the two sudden evolutions. She'd known that Yula could eventually become a Gardevoir, but she hadn't expected it so soon. Diemia's evolution, on the other hand, she hadn't been expecting at all, as the temperamental crab could be scary enough while not needing a bigger, scarier form.
Akima was still standing beside her, eyes wide with a mixture of awe and jealousy. The Sneasel wanted to be happy for her teammates, Yula especially, but at the same time she couldn't stop the envy that welled up inside of her. Yula and Diemia had both looked so powerful and determined after they had evolved, and though she was Riza's first Pokemon, she couldn't help but feel that she wouldn't be able to keep up with them now. The Sneasel tried not to pout, and instead looked back over at Plua, who'd landed nearby, intrigued by what was going on. Riza glanced down at the Sneasel, then over at Plua again, still smiling and unaware of Akima's gloomy thoughts. Even Eris and Faustus had temporarily stopped their training to witness their teammates evolutions, though it was safe to say Eris could care less. After all, the Quilava had already evolved once (unaware, of course, of Yula's prior evolution from Ralts to Kirlia), so she'd been there, and done that, and got the t-shirt! The Quilava gave a smug snort, sending puffs of smoke into the air from her pores.
"Let's keep at it," she said. "Eris, you keep working with your Extrasensory. Tap into your psychic power faster! Faustus, you keep up your Twister and Dragon Rage combo. You're doing great so far." Nodding, the two Pokemon raced off to continue practicing, while Riza looked back at her Sneasel and Fearow. The Beak Pokemon was watching her intently, though she couldn't decipher the look on the Pokemon's face. "You guys, too," the girl said, motioning with her arm. "I wanna see some quick moves out there. We've got a contest to win tonight, go, go go!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:51 am
"Yoohooooo~" a coquettish voice called, bidding Leon to turn his head her way. Not that this teal-haired woman really had to say anything to make most men turn their heads; generally speaking, her killer curves had most fellows swerving on their own accord. And sometimes, straight off a cliff, for the plunge down her shirt was certainly persilous. But she had seen Leon first, and my, was he a brooding, dark and tall handsome boy! "Roxanne's a bit busy right now, but won't you play with me?" she asked, batting her long, moist eyelashes at him. "She won't tolerate just anyone, you know. You'll have to beat lil' ol me," she said, grinning as she pulled out a Pokeball.
With a natural, graceful flourish, she tossed her Pokeball into the sky, producing a Geodude that spun around with a grunt before situating itself to glare at Leon. "Rock-types are just soooo hard," the woman said with a dreamy little sigh. "They're the best!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 11:01 am
Crush through his arm up to block the sandstorm from getting into his eyes. This wasn’t going to be easy. If he and Kali could out last the sandstorm they would be alright. “Kali! Harden. And keep your eyes out!”
“Sor,” Kalikea hunkered down its rocky hide crackling as it thickened increasing the coral pokémon’s defense. The sandstorm raged around her, but she watched the energetic geodude keenly.
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 11:12 am
Calistra didn’t bother to dodge around the screech. She beat her wings furiously raising a cacophonous buzz that droned out the shrill scream. Then the beedrill shot forward at the sneasel, pumping out its stingers one after another in a fury attack.
Venerax was impressed by his beedrill’s counter of the screech. She was just as aggressive as when he caught her after the chase through the woods. “I think she really was itching for a fight.”
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 11:26 am
Through trial and error -- for indeed, the two meant largely the same thing when Jun was involved -- the fabulous Asian fellow came to learn that most of Olsen's attacks were either a bit weak or ineffective against Grass types. Otherwise, he battled quite similarly to Posh (reasonable, since they were both of the same constituent), save for he didn't have her Poison affinities. And he had the ability to salvage from energy from the earth through Ingrain, which Jun thought was pretty cool, though it was a tricky matter to get his vines extricated from the dirt.
In short, he more or less got the hang of this battling business. It wasn't too hard, but you had to stay sharp, look for openings, for advantages. If you played smart, you wouldn't cause split ends, or broken nails. Yeah, he could do this kinda thing, Jun supposed. Battling need not be barbaric! It could be an art form, he decided.
After Olsen's turn, Jun and Roy decided to head up to the PokeCenter to heal their Pokemon to full strength, something that Jun had never actually needed to do before -- back at the Veilstone Gym, they had their own healer thing. Roy had found it highly amusing that Jun was so new to these things despite having Pokemon who really could battle if they wanted to.
"... yeah, that Jynx of yours is a natural, she's -- what's that word? Elegant, all her moves seem so effortless. She'll be great against Gardenia."
"Demi's simply /amazing/ like that, she picks up anything so quickly," Jun commented as they waited for their Pokemon.
"Oh, and your Roselia, too. She doesn't have the type advantage, but she's vicious! Speaking of her... I have an old acquaintance who is an flower enthusiast in town here, in Floaroma, that specializes in raising, grooming and training Flower-type Pokemon, like your Roselia here and others like Bellossom and Cherrim. She's a bit of a recluse, but if you'd like, I could talk to her and she's sure to have something new she could teach her."
Jun glanced over at Roy's expression, having caught something a little strange, like an eager sort of appeasement. He was no fool, you know. "You're doing quite a bit for a perfect stranger," he commented slowly, lowering a brow. "There's a catch, isn't there?"
Roy blushed and turned away slightly, having been caught. "Well, it wasn't like I had planned to ask anything of you from the beginning," he said. "That spare Pokedex really was a spare, and I wasn't really in a rush to get to where I need to go next, so I didn't see a problem in helping you out some. But um, you see..." he trailed off, embarrassed at what he was about to say.
"Do you think, just for tomorrow evening, you could umm... pretend to be my boyfriend? If that's not offensive," Roy added quickly, tripping over his words.
When Jun was too astonished to respond, he continued. "I'm actually the heir of the company that mass produces PokeNavs. The Pokdex I gave you isn't a spare, it's actually a new version of the Pokedex-Nav two-in-one. My name isn't Roy, it's Devon Stone. Well, I say heir, but I handle most of the business now, since my father's about to retire. My parents are a bit old school, though; they're convinced that I won't run the company efficiently if I have to worry about domestic matters, and so they want me to get married right away and keep thrusting upon me these financially prudent girls," he said, spitting out the last part somewhat resentfully. "I'd rather marry for love then business. So the idea came to me while we were standing here that I could bring home, well, a boyfriend, and possibly shock them and have them be done with this whole arranged marriage business. I already told them I'm bringing my current love interest to the family party tomorrow, but I don't really have --"
"I'll do it," Jun interrupted calmly.
"You will?" Devon asked, somewhat shocked. He had been very concerned that Jun would be offended, didn't know if sexuality would be a touchy subject.
"You're a nice guy," Jun said, shrugging. In his mind, the conniving Jun figured it'd be beneficial to have this connection with the head of the Pokenav company; connections were what got people places. Especially since Jun had made an enemy out of /him/.... "I don't remind repaying the favor at the least. And we've some time to spare before we really need to get to work for Posh's fashion show, I was planning on traveling around a bit anyways."
"Y-yeah, okay," Devon said, nodding. Then, flushing with embarrassment again, he added in a small voice, "It's not like I'm homophobic, far from it really, but um, I'm definitely, y'know, straight, so..."
Jun laughed, a very light tinge of derision hiding within the cascade of amusement. "I know, I know," he said, holding his hands up reassuringly. "Rest easy, I /definitely/ don't make passes at straight guys."
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:29 pm
You might've asked yourself in the past hours what Jett Forrest had been up to.
To be honest, Jett asked himself what he was doing, too. So, you aren't alone.
"Uhhh," he said dully, swaying back and forth before his two Pokemon. He seemed to have no clue what to do with his team right now, but then an idea attacked him.
"AH. AH. GET IT OFF. GET IT OFF."
The idea was really a newspaper that the breeze had caught, now clinging to Jett's face.
"..." River looked at the ground, half-wishing for something exciting to happen. But then again, she'd have to battle Roxanne again, and if she lost, she would be just devastated.
"Okay," Jett gasped, freeing himself from the evil clutches of newsprint. "Let's try out our new moves! I bet both of you reached the goal levels!" He was right, for once. But Jett didn't know that. "River, try using Lucky Chant! Aerosmith, use Stun Spore!"
River had no idea what Lucky Chant was. Well, it did sound familiar, but it sounded ridiculous. Couldn't she have learned something like Psychic or Psybeam? She frowned, but began to chant something in the universal Poke-Language, before she did a little dance. A flurry of stars danced around her, before bursting into a golden sparkle.
"..." Jett resisted the urge to laugh. That looked really ridiculous, better for contests. But she seemed to have a good grasp on the move, and he was fine with that for now. Even if they probably would never use it. "Nice, nice. All right, Aerosmith! Your turn!"
"Fly." Aerosmith was ready to take on that Geodude and win. He flapped his multi-colored wings and imagined Paralyzing something. Well, in Aerosmith's mind, this attack would leave the target in a coma. Or crippled. That's what Paralyzed meant, right?
A fine yellow dust began to drift down, and as his wings flapped faster, it was made into a little whirlwind of sorts. Jett smiled, pleased that his Pokemon were learning quickly. "I wonder if anyone is taking on Roxanne right now... I bet. But aren't there trainers that I blatantly ignored last time?" He grinned at the thought, especially the possibility of gaining a level or two from a good battle.
"Let's go!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:43 pm
"I don't answer to anyone, especially you Ken. Don't push your luck." Crenu said plainly, takign another drag from his cigarette and blowing the smoke up at the ceiling. Crenu continued to look outside of the window, the morning sun starting to make the room bright. He remained silent for a moment before deciding to speak. "I burned it. While closing the wound on my arm with a hot piece of metal. Damn coat was cheap, burned right through it in seconds." With one last puff, Crenu finished his cigarette, putting it out on the windowsill and leaving it there. "I'm not sure what happened last night. Head was buzzing, I blanked out. Next thing I knew my hand was like this. I treated it, wrapped it, and went to sleep. That's is." "What?" Ken looked at the bandages aroudn his right hand, then his left arm. It was only now that he noticed the bleeding on his arm had indeed stopped, unfortunately it hadn't stopped by natural means. "What do you mean that's it? Why the hell did you cauterize the wound? God I can only imagine what your skin looked like under those bandages. You're hand's ruined now you know that? Don't think I didn't notice, lighting up right now was very painful wasn't it? And now I know why. What could have possessed you to do that? What do you mean you blanked out? Shiro, what's happening to you?" Crenu remained silent, he didn't know what to say or if he should even should say anything at all. The more he answered the more Ken was going to ask, but the quieter he stayed the more Ken would pester him. either way it was a lose lose situation, so Crenu decided to make the best of it. "You got a sewing kit on you right? I'm not gonna cauterize all of the little cuts on my hand, to much of a pain. We can talk while you help me stitch them up." Crenu finally took his gaze from the window over to Kenneth, and immediately could see the skeptical look on his face. "I'm gonna end up doing it on my own anyway, weather you help me or not." With that Crenu walked past Kenneth into the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the bath as he started unwrapping his bandaged hand, the blood practically pouring out. "...Damn." Kenneth had no choice, Crenu was hell bent on this and there was no way he could sit and watch this without helping him out. "A regular sewing needle isn't going to do it you know. It needs to be more hook shaped. Luckily I think I may have somethign like that. They've got to have some stuff here we can use too, because we need to clean this and keep it from bleeding while we work." Ken followed Crenu into the bathroom, searching through the medicine cabinet and finding a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Sitting down on the toilet and looking at Crenu he sighed, rummaging in his bag and pulling out a spool of thread and a needle. Ken did have a bent almost hook shaped needle he used for tougher fabrics, washing his hands thoroughly and dipping the needle in the rubbing alcohol as well as the thread. "Shiro, this is going to hurt. A lot. We have no anesthesia, nothing to numb it. Are you sure you don't want to go to a hospital?" Everything about this just seemed like a bad idea. It would have been easy to check in to an emergency room or at least tell Nurse Joy so she could help, but Crenu was set to do this here and now. But why? "No. No doctors, no hospitals. The contest is tonight, hospitals ask questions cost money and eat up time." Crenu wasted no time here, he turned on the water and let it run over his hand, the blood washing away quickly and as a sea of crimson spiraled down the drain his hand became visible once more, and all of the cuts running from his knuckles to his wrist became very visible. Taking the alcohol from Ken Crenu poured it over his hand and the stinging began. The alcohol burned like hell and Crenu's hand became rigid. His muscles tightened as wave of pain washed over his arm, but at least it seemed to have slowed the bleeding a bit. "Alright Ken. You're up." Crenu held his hand out for Ken to start stitching, grabbign a towel and putting a bundled corner in his mouth to bite on. "...damn it Shiro, I'm not a doctor you know. Sewing up wounds and sewing up cloth is completely different." Ken took a deep breath, threading the needle with ease and grabbign Crenu's hand, placing it on his lap where he could control it better. He hesitated at first, not sure how to go about it, but finally decided to just plunge in. Starting with the biggest looking gash he simply did what had to be done and pierced Crenu's flesh. He could immediately feel Crenu jump a bit from the pain that he was sure was terrible, but he continued. "Stay still, or this will go bad." Coming through the skin a second time ken pulled the needle through, the thread following until he was satisfied with the length. He wasted no time in plunging in again, going at it like he was just sewing together an outfit, one that was twitching like mad. "Alright, start talking. Take this off your mind." Crenu severely underestimated how much this would hurt, considering how tender the areas around the cuts were. But he bit down on the towel and did his best to remain still. It was hard to speak with the towel in him mouth, but he spoke clear enough. "...You saw how much this bled. I got it last night, treated it, and it's still bleeding. Yesterday, the wound on my arm was still fresh and bleeding like the day I got it. I had to close it, just like I have to close these." He paused for a moment, the pain getting to intense as ken was nearing the center of the big gash, powering through it with sheer will before continuing. "Something's wrong. Ken...my body isn't healing itself anymore. At least not fast enough to keep from bleeding out anyway. I'm sick Ken..." Crenu decided to leave out the part about hallucinating, that wasn't relevant information. "I might be dying. Like pops."
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:51 pm
Mahnaz moved away from the dock as the boat left for Canalave City. She got on her bike and started pedaling away back towards Saffron and sighed. Did she make the wrong decision in staying here in Kanto and not Sinnoh? Was she ever going to see Mirrikh?
"Growlithe," Maipe said confidently, like "I know you chose right this time. We can do better here." She smiled at her partner and knew that no matter what, she had support.
"Then let's go to Cerulean and see what we can do there. Maybe we can get a new partner or something." She grimaced; Markus was nice and all, but he brought up some things that hurt her heart. "We'll find something to do. We'll train on the way up there and...maybe we'll actually get into a battle or something. And then we'll start killing the gym leaders."
I'm ranting again, aren't I? she thought. This sucks. There are so many choices. Maybe we don't have to fight. Maybe the Contests are the way to go. We'll see though. I'm not holding out much hope on that.
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 1:30 pm
If Ikouma was impressed by anything the Beedrill did, he definitely wasn't showing it. His expression was resolute as the Poison Bee Pokemon came at him again. He jumped back, dodging the first two strikes but then pretended to falter, his expression holding firm despite the stabbing pains he felt in his sides as the next two jabs hit their mark. Before the fifth could be launched, the Sneasel suddenly lunged at Callistra, aware of the long, sharp stinger just missing his shoulder by inches. His fist was clenched tightly, glowing with a frigid aura as he attempted to slam his powerful Ice Punch into her abdomen.
Karrigan raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Venerax. "It appears so. You're gonna have to let her battle more often, to let her work off all that excess energy," she said, glancing knowingly at her Shinx. Zaira had now perched on the end of Aegeus' nose, watching the battle from an amazing vantage point. She was quite impressed at the sight of the two Pokemon battling, and she wondered idly if the sour Sneasel would like her more if she was a stronger Pokemon and all around better battler.
=-=-=-=-=
Jake nodded, now looking at Pokemon with the Rock-type in the PokeDex. The thought of practicing against the gym's type specialty seemed like a very good idea indeed. Wow, there sure are a lot of Pokemon, he thought, pressing the button to go to the next page. Geodude, Graveler, Golem, Onix, Rhyhorn, Rhydon, a bunch of Pokemon that are apparently extinct... Sudowoodo? Shuckle? Nosepass? Jake couldn't help but chuckle when he saw the Nosepass, and Probopass, its evolution. "I wonder what Pokemon this Roark fellow will have," he wondered aloud as they walked, now heading through Route 203.
Turtwig scoffed a little, still happily plodding alongside his trainer. He didn't care what Pokemon this gym-leader-guy had, he'd beat them all! He also watched as the blue gator ran around like a crazy person, and Turtwig couldn't help but wonder what would cause a Pokemon to desperately seek attention like that. He sniffed at one of the "signatures" Black*Star had left in the ground, deciding against scuffing it out. Even though he didn't care too much what the Totodile thought of him, he didn't want to incite needless fights. After all, there was still a chance (at least in Turtwig's mind) that the two of them could be friends.
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