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| The event is almost over...did you have fun? :D |
| Yes, lots 8D |
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49% |
[ 30 ] |
| Kinda... |
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22% |
[ 14 ] |
| No, it phailed >( |
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11% |
[ 7 ] |
| ...I JUST GOT HERE, I WOULDN'T KNOW *LATE* D: |
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16% |
[ 10 ] |
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| Total Votes : 61 |
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 Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:21 pm
 I kept following the light, hoping to find a way out…but instead….
It was warm. A nice, happy feeling. The kind of feeling you get when you wake up from a nightmare and run into your mother’s arms, and she croons over you, humming softly, taking all the bad away. You felt safe, completely safe.
That’s the feeling this light had. I felt a soft tingling and…I….felt better. Everything felt better. I wasn’t tired, sleepy, my muscles didn’t ache, and…
I looked down at my hand and took off the bandanna, gasping in surprise, “I-it healed!”
That was crazy. This was crazy! Was it the crystals?
I reached over and touched one.
No.
Stone-cold. That couldn’t be the source of it….I eyed the glowing. Maybe that was it.
I stood, and walked down the tunnel. It was bright enough to see now, but I still kept my hand on the rock wall. I could feel…something. Vibrations. What was it?
As I got closer, I could hear the soft c***k-c***k of mining gear and machinery. It was systematic, and quick. Someone was trying to dig something out, and fast. The closer I got, the louder the mining noise became, and soon I didn’t even need to place my hand on the wall to feel it.
I peeked around the corner….this tunnel lead to a bigger room as well. Light poured from the room…that…soft pink glow. It was wonderful. It eased my fears away….and it felt good to not hyperventilate on the count of being alone.
Then again, I wasn’t. Upon closer inspection, the room was teeming with Rockets, digging at a furious pace. I laughed under my breath, wishing I had found this sooner. So much for ‘eeny, meeny, miny, mo’!
I crept closer, trying to be as quiet as I could. Not that it would matter—I could have shouted and they probably wouldn’t have heard me over the ruckus. What the heck where they after..? A few fossils? No fossils could be worth that much, could they?
No, that wasn’t it.
Whatever they wanted was out of my line of vision, and I’d have to get into the room to see it.
But how? Especially without them noticing?
Or….wait. That was it! I smiled, whispering, “If you want to hide a tree, put it in a forest.”
I knew there were some trainers in their caravan working for the Rockets, which was proven with Kai. No doubt there were more. The risky part would be if these guys knew what the trainers looked like….
I’d have to assume they didn’t.
I stood up, and prepared myself…which wasn’t hard to do. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I felt confident, absolutely confident, thanks to the strange warmth.
I took a deep breath, and stepped forward.
“Hey, how’s the mining going?” I shouted over the noise. It stopped almost immediately, and the Rockets turned to look at me, dumbfounded.
One of them shook it off, “Hey, what are you doing here?! No trainers are allowed in here! I guess I’m going to have to teach you—“
“Don’t worry about it—I’m with you guys,” I cut him off, grinning, “Remember? You had spies in the wagon.”
The grunt shut his mouth, thought for a second, then nodded. They did put some spies in there…undercover. If one of them had gotten caught, another would have radioed in, so the idea that she was lying wasn’t probable.
“Alright, where are the others? Trainers I mean.”
“The other Rocket trainers are keeping them busy,” I lied, “I’m not a noticeable person, so I slipped off into a side tunnel to check your….” I sneered to add emphasis, like they did on those TV dramas my mom watched, “progress.”
I eyed the grunt down, imitating the ‘guy-in-charge’ from the film. Authority was key, wasn’t it?
Now, to act out the part where I tell them how badly they are doing....
I let my eye travel from the grunt to their ‘project’—and couldn’t help but gasp. I-it w-was….i-i-i-t! It!
My mind couldn’t form the words. It was….it. From the stories, from the long nights In bed with hot cocoa, from when I was lonely. From the stories. From picture books, curled up tightly in it's crystal shell, as if in a deep sleep. It was—
”Mew,” the rocket grunt interjected, “Pretty impressive, hu? We’ve been working forever on trying to get it out. Luckily, we don’t get tired much because of its effect.”
He gestured towards the pink glowing light.
So that was it. My hands curled into fists and I held back the urge to punch the grunt. Instead, I forced my face into a smile, “Good work so far, but you’re going to have to pick up the pace. We need this for—“
”I know, I know! I’ve been told plenty of times, I don’t need you to remind me!” he turned around to yell at another grunt, “Don’t damage that! It’s precious cargo!”
Cargo? I thought, That’s all? Just cargo?!
I tried to keep myself calm, but my patience was wearing thin. It was alive, it had feelings! Didn’t they see that?! Or did they just not care? Like those Electrodes!
I bit hard on my lip, and it started bleeding. The grunt gave me a weird look, but the bite healed quickly due to the Mew’s glow, so he just shrugged. One more time…
“So, you’re just treating it as cargo? Do you actually care if it gets hurt or not?” I said through gritted teeth.
He gave me another funny look, like my head had just turned into a Magikarp or something, “Are you alright in the head? Pokemon are tools! Team Rocket can’t afford this…wishy-washy feelings crap—we’re going to take over!”
I nodded like I understood, “You’re right, I don’t know what got into me.”
I looked around the room like I was surveying the dig. In reality, I was thinking over the situation. There weren’t too many grunts here. It was a small room, so even a little looked like a lot. There were tons of digging tools though. They might be useful.
I smile falsely at the grunt I had been talking too, “D’you think I could take a shovel and help out? I mean, you could use an extra hand right? Get the dirtywork done faster.”
The rocket seemed to think about It for a moment, then nodded, “Why not? I could use a break anyway—digging gets boring after a while. Here, use my shovel.”
“Thanks,” I said bluntly, looking over the shovel. Shoulder height…that was good.
I counted, “One step, two steps, three steps…..”
The rocket turned back around, about to ask why I was counting—
“GO! SHOVELMON! USE HEADBUTT!”
The shovel collided with his face at full-force and sent him reeling to slam against the wall. He coughed, then fell down unconscious. I had to be careful—Mew was working against me now. If I didn’t knock them out, then they’d just stand back up, their exhaustion depleted to nothing.
A few of the grunts had turned to look and see what all the noise was about, and were greeted with a few well through rocks to the face, putting them out cold as well.
“WAY TO GO, ROCKMON!” I screamed, adrenalin pumping.
They were all paying attention now—and they weren’t sure what to do. Rockets were cowards; not fighters.
”L-let’s get out of here!” one grunt shouted, turning to run. Another caught him by the scruff of his neck, “It’s just a KID, DEAL WITH HE---!!”
A metal pipe came out of nowhere and struck him squarely in his forehead. He groaned and face-planted into the dirt. I ran towards the other Rockets in a rage, swinging the shovel as hard as I could. Shoulder—knee—face—side—back! I didn’t care! I just wanted them gone! Gone, gone, gone, gone!
“GONE!” I screamed, dropping the shovel. The few Rockets left in the cavern were unconscious, some of them event starting to bleed—but the glow took care of that.
Tears streamed down my face, and I sobbed quietly to myself, hand still curled into fists. They were gone.
I felt the glow, and my rage dissipated. It calmed me down, and I wiped my tears away. I didn’t ever want to feel that hatred again. Never again…I walked slowly over to the Mew encased in crystal, and pressed my ear against it. It gave a low pulse….like a heartbeat.
Like my mother.
I felt at home….and now…it was free.
The tears came again, but they were small tears. Tears you cry from the comfort of another…from happiness.
“You’re safe now,” I whispered to the pulsing crystal, closing my eyes and petting it like one would a child, “You’re safe, and no one will hurt you again.” POKEBALL GO!!
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:36 pm
Renekai crept up among the rocks, Dreydonna at her side. The Sunny Day attacks had long since faded, but there was plenty of light to see by with all the glowing crystals around. As quietly as possible, Renekai approached the scene. The Rockets were doing something with a large crystal—was there a pokemon in there? Squinting, Renekai could just make it out. Was it... Could it possibly be...? Mew?! Catlike in appearance, it was pink with a long tail. It looked like it was asleep, but with the Rockets all around trying to get it out of the crystal, danger and destruction was sure to follow. “Oh… my… gosh…” Renekai whispered, completely stunned. Mew, from the legends! Mew, from all those bedtime stories! Mew wasn’t actually real, it was a myth! And yet… There it lay, in the grasps of Team Rocket. Renekai couldn’t allow that to happen! Team Rocket was bad enough, stealing pokemon and valuables for their wicked plans, but (if the legends were true) trying to take something that was so vital for the balance of the planet?! This was no petty thievery; this was serious enough to start a war. They had to be stopped in time, but how? Maybe I could ambush them? Renekai wondered. She at least needed to get closer, to find a way to stop them!
Renekai snuck around the corner of the entrance, climbing the sheer rock wall to get closer to the Rockets. Luckily, there were several cracks in which Renekai found hand and foot holds. Dreydonna floated quietly at Renekai’s side. The going was tough, and Renekai was not a great climber. At one heart-stopping moment, a chunk of the wall fell from where Renekai had been scrabbling for a better hold. It bounced down, the sound resounding like an exploding bomb in Renekai’s ears, before it finally clattered to a stop at the bottom of the cavern. To Renekai, the noise was deafening, especially as it echoed all over. The young trainer gulped silently, expecting to hear the Rocket’s voices sound the alarm. But no alarm came. Evidently the Rockets were so absorbed in their work that they did not hear the pebble, or else they did not care. Renekai exhaled, only to find that she had been holding her breath. She climbed the rest of the way up the wall until she reached a ledge, where she perched carefully. Renekai could now clearly see what the Rockets were doing, and it wasn’t good. They were trying to get the Mew out of the crystal using rather crude tools.
Renekai crept silently along the ledge, praying that it wouldn’t collapse under her weight. She wasn’t very heavy, but the ledge looked fragile. She moved very slowly, with Dreydonna floating at her side. Renekai needed to make a plan, and fast. What did Renekai have? She had Dreydonna, a Gastly, but the Rockets were sure to have pokemon as well. What did Renekai have that they didn’t? She thought hard for a moment before it occurred to her. I have the element of surprise. Renekai could see the Rockets, but, unless one looked directly up, they could not see her. There were no Rocket sentries looking out for trouble; they apparently believed that they were completely alone. Renekai would like it to stay that way, or at least until the proper time came. Renekai felt a vague plan coming to her, and she beckoned Dreydonna closer, so that she would hear. “’Donna, I want you to use Haze,” Renekai breathed into where she guessed the Gastly’s ‘ear’ was. “But not yet… Wait. First, you use Haze. They won’t be able to see for a moment, and they’ll probably start raising their voices. When that happens, I want you to make your biggest Confuse Ray that you’ve ever made. Do you understand?” Dreydonna nodded, looking a bit uneasy, but determined. “Good,” Renekai continued, “most of them will get confused, but some won’t. That’s when you dive in and get the ones that aren’t confused with Hypnosis. That’ll keep them quiet for a while… Then use Substitute to make lots of copies of yourself for the confused ones to go after. You have to do that all in about five seconds, before they have time to react. Think you can do it?”
Dreydonna bobbed up and down nervously, which Renekai took as a ‘yes’. “Good. Now, right after you use the Confusion Ray, I’m going to go down to the Mew, to break those tools they’re using. Team Rocket can’t succeed! Even more than they themselves know could be at stake. Alright, on my signal…” Renekai peered over the side of the ledge again, examining the goings-on of the Rockets. It looked like the Mew was almost out of the crystal… If they were going to go through with the plan, they had to do it soon.
The Rockets looked like they were about to use an explosive on the crystal! “Now!” Renekai whispered. Dreydonna’s gaseous mist around her body seemed to expand, spreading all around the cavern. Now the place was covered in the purple mist, making it almost impossible to see further than a foot in front of you. “Hey, what’s going on?!” demanded one Grunt. There was a sound of clanging and confusion, and mingled shouts of uncertainty and curses floated through the thick Haze. Renekai, knowing what was coming next, closed her eyes tightly. Even through her closed lids, Renekai saw the light of the biggest Confusion Ray she had ever been around. When she opened her eyes again, most of the Rockets were stumbling around, completely bewildered. Renekai jumped from the ledge and landed heavily right next to the boss, who had not been too badly affected by the attack. Unfortunately for Renekai, she had misjudged the height of the ledge and had done something awful with her left leg; she had landed awkwardly on it, and it had twisted the wrong way. Eyes watering in pain, Renekai looked defiantly at the lead Rocket as he stared in shock at the girl that fell from the ceiling. When the shock had passed, he smirked. “Fool!” the Rocket leader cried, hitting Renekai across the face. She fell to the floor, crying out in pain.
Dreydonna, hearing her trainer’s cry, was filled with a sudden and inexplicable rage. She proceeded with the planned Hypnosis attack, and all the remaining Rockets, besides the leader, fell asleep. Sacrificing some of her hit points, she used Substitute. Several fake Gastlies broke away from the real one, flying around and getting the confused Rockets to chase them. Dreydonna flew as fast as she could to Renekai’s aid, where the Rocket was advancing on her. He knows what's going on! I was too slow! the Ghost type thought in panic. Taking desperate action, Dreydonna Sludge Bombed the leader, causing him to swear frightfully and turn to fight her.
“Run, Dreydonna, run!” Renekai screamed, her mind clouded with pain and fright. “Leave me and go! Get away!” But Dreydonna wouldn’t leave! As she levitated, she seemed to swell in size. She was angry! “A little Gastly?” the Rocket scoffed. “A weakling; not worth my time. Get out of it!” The Rocket turned his back to little Dreydonna and aimed a savage kick at Renekai, just to prove that he was in control. The kick never got there, however, because Dreydonna had just launched herself at the back of the Rocket leader’s head. “AAARGH, GEROFFME!” The Rocket yelled, trying to pull Dreydonna off. His flailing fists only went through her, though, and he ended up hitting himself. Renekai dragged herself away, limping painfully. When she looked back, Renekai saw that the Rocket had somehow gotten Dreydonna off, and was now ordering a Houndoom to attack her.
This is just another match, Renekai thought to herself. As if in a dream, Renekai shouted, “Dreydonna! Use Lick!” Before the Houndoom could launch its attack—a Flamethrower—Dreydonna had swooped forward and licked the Houndoom full on its face. The pokemon was now paralyzed. As the Rocket swore, Renekai shouted even louder, “Good! Now use Perish Song!” The Rocket leader tried to get his Houndoom away from the ominous attack, but it could not move for paralysis. As the song reached its ears, the Rocket’s pokemon gave an involuntary shudder. The Houndoom was doomed.
Renekai reached inside her bag and used a healing potion on Dreydonna, to recover the hit point loss that had been used up on making the decoys. The Rocket was swearing incoherently now, unable to do anything but wait. “Didn’t it occur to you to bring more than one pokemon?” Renekai taunted, despite her leg. The Rockets hadn’t expected trouble, that was plain enough. With all his minions either asleep or confused, the Rocket leader was as good as finished. “Never mind,” he snapped, pushing passed the frightened Houndoom. The poor pokemon looked pleadingly at its owner, but the Rocket didn’t even spare a backwards glance, instead advancing on Renekai himself. Frightened, she stumbled back, almost falling. Dreydonna floated in front of her defenseless trainer, eyes seeming to glow. The Rocket leader stopped, a little startled. He was unsure if, strong though he was, he could take on a ghost pokemon. Finally giving up, he snarled, swore, and retreated hurriedly out of the cavern, leaving his underlings and his fainting pokemon behind.
“He probably went to call for backup!” Renekai gasped. “Hurry!” Renekai limped as quickly as possible towards the crystal-encased Mew. “We have to do something…” Renekai said worriedly. Where did the Mew belong? It certainly wasn’t in that cavern before the Rockets came! Renekai watched briefly the chaos behind her: sleeping rockets, a knocked out Houndoom, and confused humans stumbling around, giggling feebly and chasing a Gastly copy or two. “I don’t know, should we get the Mew out of here?” Renekai looked around, gasping as her leg gave a great twinge of pain. It didn’t seem to be broken; only badly sprained. “… What an eventful trip… Dreydonna, hurry and get the others! They’ll know what to do!” Renekai looked back at the crystal as Dreydonna bobbed away. There were several cracks made by the instruments the Rockets had used, and bright, pink light was shining though. Now that the thrill of danger and battle was gone, Renekai felt drained of all her energy. She felt the pain in her leg return with full force. "It's alright," Renekai murmured, more to herself than the pokemon in the crystal. "It's alright..."POKEBALL GO!!
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:01 pm
 And we're walking, and we're walking, and we're walking... jeez, what is it with all of this WALKING? Sunnie thought in her head as she lagged behind the group of trainers. Sure, the tunnel has mystically gotten brighter and more glowy, but that didn't change the fact that she had to keep on walking for all of eternity. She was tired, her feet hurt, and she didn't know when she could stop complaining. Ugh, I wish I could be out with Glace, sleeping in the sunlight... ahh, how nice... As she kept walking, though, she seemed to feel more... awake. Her exhaustion went away and she felt renewed and refreshed, as if she had instantly curled up and taken a nice long nap. “Huh, that's weird... how are you feeling, Folle?” she said to her pokemon. Folle nodded happily, agreeing with the trainer that they both felt great all of a sudden. “Well, at least we can keep going without having to collapse...”
As she was walking, however, loud clangs and clatters began echoing through the tunnels. Soon they were coupled with yelling – angry yelling. One thing went through Sunnie's head immediately – Rockets. They were up to no good, and they had to do something, and do it fast. Unfortunately for Sunnie, running was not her forte, but she was hit with an idea. She turned to her tall, sturdy girafarig. “Now Folle, I know we've basically just met and all, but well, you're going to have to do something for me...” she said calmly to her shy pokemon as she hopped up on her back, ready to ride her. She was shaky and scared to death, but Sunnie knew that she could do it. “Alright Folle... now get ready... and GIDDYUP! GO GO GO!!!”
 At the sudden loud noise, Folle reared up on her hind legs and bolted forward in fear – ripping through the crowd of trainers and heading for the bright-red glowing light in the distance. “SLOW DOWN, FOLLE! AAHHHHHHH!!” Sunnie screamed as she clung desperately onto the speeding pokemon's neck, eyes squeezed shut in fear. I should've been a bit more nicer about it... should've seen how shy she was... poor girl, I spooked her so bad... if we live I'm getting her some poffins... ohgod ohgod so fast... Thoughts raced through Sunnie's mind almost as fast as Folle as she kept on speeding through the tunnel.
And as soon as it began, there was an abrupt stop. The wind ripping against Sunnie's face ceased, which meant that Folle had finally calmed down. But why so suddenly? Not even a little time to slow down, even? The trainer peeked one eye open, and instantly sat up at the sight before her.
Was it true? Was it really true? The trainer couldn't believe what lay in front of her eyes. Dead-center in a tremendously large red crystal towering above her and her Pokemon, a small pink creature was curled up in a ball and floating. Mew... Mew?! Sunnie thought in disbelief. No, there's no way... I always watched stories of Mew on TV... and people who claimed to see it... but I always figured they were full of it... there's no Mew... that's... there's no such...
Her amazement was cut short, though – two Rocket Grunts walked over to her and started shouting. “Heyyou! Kid!! We have business to do, and we're not gonna put up with a meddlin' kid!” one said. The other, a larger buffer grunt, merely started cracking his knuckles and chuckling, eyeing Sunnie and Folle from top to bottom.
Sunnie gulped. “Oh yeah?! W-well, I'm not alone – there's PLENTY more trainers where I came from! Just you wait!!” she stuttered out, trying (and failing) to sound intimidating.
As the drills clanged against the huge crystal and more and more rockets began yelling at the duo, the mine started shaking. Huge chunks of rock began falling around the group, and in a completely unfortunate cliché way, the tunnel where the rest of the trainers were walking became blocked by an avalanche of boulders and dirt. Sunnie turned around and gulped. I just had to say it... I just had to... She turned back to the two grunts – now with a large threatening group behind them, and smiled as she was blushing and sweating like a Glaceon in the desert. “Umm... soooo... nice weather we're having?” she said with an incredibly nervous giggle.
The Rockets ceased their drilling and began slowly closing in on Sunnie, giving her ample time to have a total freakout before beating the living pulp out of her. “Ohdamn... um... um... FOLLE! FOLLE HELP MEE!!” Sunnie said, shouting in her girafarig's ear as if that would make her act faster. It didn't – it made her rear up, knocking Sunnie off of her back and onto the cave floor, and quickly gallop away to the other side of the cavern. “Folle...? FOLLE YOU...! I CAN'T BELIEVE...!!” she screamed at her cowardly pokemon, too upset to finish her words.
“CATCH THAT POKEMON! We can use it to break Mew free and then sell it for some cash!!” a rocket grunt said as he and half of the group ran in Folle's direction. The rest of them continued closing in on Sunnie, backing her against a wall as they came within a frightening distance of the petrified trainer. Tears streaked down her red cheeks as she started panicking more and more. Save me... Save me... Someone save me... Please... she replayed over and over in her head, thinking that someone, somewhere could hear it. Her call went unanswered – an ugly-looking rocket grunt grabbed hold of her by her hair and punched her squarely in the jaw, knocking her down to the floor. The rest of the rockets started kicking her harshly in the ribs as she rolled about on the ground, desperately trying to curl up to defend herself. Someone... someone... Folle... Glace... Kris.... ...mew.... anybody.... she thought hazily as her consciousness slowly began to seep away.
Folle, much like Sunnie, was huddled up in the far end of the cave, shivering and shaking as the threatening-looking Rockets came closer and closer. She watched them as they grabbed anything nearby – from neats and pokeballs to pick-axes and handheld drills – and walked slowly towards her, thinking that they can sneak up on her. N-no... I didn't do anything... Why are they being mean towards me... And my friend... These... These humans... These wicked humans... terrorizing my friend... As the panic set in, something quickly washed over Folle's mind. She didn't feel like crying in a corner anymore...
A loud crash made Sunnie's eyes snap open – as well as made the rockets stop beating her up. She slowly raised her head and looked up to see a wave of rocket grunts being thrown through the air with tremendous force. As they hit the ground, their equipment was next to fly as Folle picked up all of the giant drills around the crystal with a powerful Psychic attack, and flung them into the mine's ceiling – breaking a hole right through it. After the drills, the fallen group of Rockets were next to fly. As if attached to the drills by an imaginary string, they followed their same path out through the hole in the ceiling, screaming and crying for mercy. No mercy... for you... you MONSTERS... thought Folle with intense burning rage. Their screams slowly faded away as they disappeared into the clear blue sky.
Sunnie stared at her pokemon in disbelief. Woah... and I thought she was a coward... She remembered how she caught her in the first place, how she picked up a trailer with her psychic powers and flung it onto a wagon, injuring many of her fellow trainers. Then she turned her head and saw a distracted group of rockets, and decided to jump to the opportunity. She wiped the blood from her face and quickly got up from the ground – her sides were in tremendous pain, but she had more to worry about than that. She had to save her Pokemon and stop those rockets!
As she stood up, she smacked the rocket who punched her in the back of the head, knocking him down. “That's what you GET for hitting a GIRL!!” she screeched in his ear. Before the other rockets could turn around and grab her, she picked up a handheld drill from the ground, turned it on, and waved it in front of the rockets. They backed up as she started getting closer and closer to them, flailing her weapon wildly in the air. “Don't come near me! I'll drill you! I'll drill your FACE, I SWEAR IT!!” Naturally she could never do something as gruesome as that, but the Rockets didn't know – for all they knew, she could be Zubat-s**t crazy.
As the Rockets worried about the girl with the drill before them, they paid no attention to the rampaging Folle – she tore through the crowd and Double Kicked them one-by-one into boulders and walls. As rockets jumped on top of her and tried to beat her into submission, she merely let out a Psychic wave to send them into the air. A rocket snuck behind her with a pickaxe, but her back tail Crunched onto his arm and swung him around and around until it got bored and threw him away like a used chewtoy. Sunnie watched in awe as the once incredibly shy and reserved girafarig defeated the grunts with a newfound power. Not wanting to get caught up in her rage, she ran behind a boulder to take shelter from Folle's attacks and the bodies flying through the air. She tucked into a ball and covered her ears to avoid hearing the screams. Don't do anything too bad, Folle... she thought, hoping the pokemon could hear her thoughts.
After what seemed like an eternity, Sunnie looked out from behind her boulder and saw Folle, standing very still, as piles of rockets moaned and cried for help around her. She looked around at the battleground below her in horror, realizing what she had done. I hurt them... I did... I hurt them... I didn't mean to... but they were being mean... I didn't want to cause anything... I really didn't... As she started crying, her back tail decided to take care of the mess in front of her – it released numerous Shadow Balls, encasing the grunts in them, and sent them flying out through the ceiling hole.
Sunnie ran over towards her troubled Pokemon and gave her a big hug around the neck. “It's okay, Folle, it's okay... You did great... You saved me! And you saved mew!” As she said that, the mine started to rumble. As Sunnie looked towards the sky, the hole in the ceiling became bigger and bigger as it crumbled away, unable to support itself, sending rocks and boulders raining upon her and Folle. Oh great... she began to think as a chunk of ceiling hit her squarely on the head. Her vision turned to darkness as she fell faster and faster towards the ground...
A warm, gooey tongue licking her face gently finally made her open her eyes. Sunnie looked up into Folle's eyes, which were filled with worry and unconditional love for her injured trainer. “..oww... unnh... eww, don't like my face...” she managed to say as she held her head, trying to ignore the throbbing pain. As she sat up, she felt a cool breeze kiss against her face, and realized that she was sitting on what was now basically a crater filled with rubble. But how was she not under it...? Then it hit her. Mew? Mew?! She began to turn her head frantically around, searching for the legendary pokemon, but didn't see a single red crystal anywhere.
As she stood up slowly, using Folle as her crutch, she saw the center of the cave – a massive pile of shattered, red crystals were laying on the ground below a small, floating Pokemon... Mew. Sunnie looked into it's eyes and smiled. “Mew... you protected us from getting crushed in the rubble, didn't you?” The pokemon smiled back at her, as if answering her question. “I'll take that as a yes,” she said with a giggle. She looked towards the once-entrance to the heart of the mines and saw the boulders on top beginning to rustle. “I guess the other trainers are going to get in here soon...” A crazy thought went through her head as she looked down at her belt. “W-what do I tell them? Well, I know one thing I can tell them...” She took off a spare ball that she always saves just in case, and smiled back at the mew. “I helped you and you helped me – I think we'd make a great team... much better than Kris and Paix, haha!” She threw her pokeball gently at the pokemon. Wait until I tell her what I got! she thought as the ball made a gentle arc through the air.POKEBALL, GO GO GO!
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Somewhere, not too far from the mines, in a large tree, were many rocket grunts dangling helplessly in the branches. It was like Christmas in August, except for pretty ornaments and carols, there were injured criminals and obscenities being screamed constantly.
“AAAAHHHH!! That TWIRP!!” one screamed. “I swear, if I ever find her, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, OOOOH I'M GONNA-”
At that loud scream, the smaller trees below began to rustle and buzz with activity – a swarm of Beedrill, angry from having been woken up from their nap, flew towards the grunts with a vicious lust for vengeance in their eyes.
“AWWWWW s**t!!!”
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:24 pm
Arin rushed into the large chamber behind a few other trainers, and took a few moments to take it all in. It was huge! For some reason, as she entered the room she felt all her aches and pains melt away, her anxiety lifted, and her mind cleared. Everything seemed so surreal all the sudden, not to mention the crystal in the center of the room that all the rockets seemed to be attacking.. Wait. Was that what she thought it was?
Arin couldn't move for a few moments, Hush still in her arms. She was debating silently with herself over if she was really seeing the legendary pokemon itself, or if it was just a trick of the light. But why else would the rockets be attacking it? Just then, something snapped inside of her. They were attacking Mew. No doubt to use its powers for their wrong causes.
Suddenly, the calming effects that the room had on her had vanished. Arin clenched her fists and had to shut her eyes tightly to stop the tears from coming. There was no way she was going to let back and watch this happen.
"HEY SCUMBAGS, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!"
Arin screeched, her voice coming out weakly and hoarse. Spotting a small shovel laying nearby, Arin quickly dove for it and held it ready like a bat. Just in time, too, because one of the grunts was on his way over towards her. Arin swung her shovel just in time to make contact with the head of the pickaxe he was swinging towards her. She winced when the metal to metal contact made her weapon vibrate harshly, the sharp point of the pick denting the surface of the shovel. Not wasting any time, she turned the shovel in her hands and smacked the grunt on the side of the head, grinning as he fell to the ground. Pushing him with a foot to make sure he was knocked out, Arin saw a trickle of blood running from his temple.
Feeling a pang of guilt, Arin shook her head to rid it of the thoughts. Now was not the time to be feeling guilty. She looked around her to see the other trainers starting scuffles with the rockets, and noticed they were using their pokemon. Turning to Hush, she thought seriously for a moment before deciding what to do. She didn't want her pokemon to be hurt at all, but her help was really necessary. Having no real alternative, Arin knelt down to talk to her companion.
"Hush, I need your help. I want you to attack the bad people from a distance okay? I can't risk you getting hurt.." Arin paused, watching her pokemon for any sign of understanding. When the small cubone nodded knowingly, Arin smiled and hugged her. "Don't hurt them too badly- they just need to be knocked out, okay?"
Standing back up, Arin watched as her pokemon readied its bone club. Flinging it towards a grunt that was still hacking away at the crystal, the bone connected with the back of his head and made him groan before slumping over onto the floor. Grinning, Arin nodded firmly before noticing another rocket coming her way. About half of them were fighting with the trainers, the others still trying to break through the crystal.
Readying herself, Arin swung the dented shovel to meet with the rockets own shovel. Stepping back, she swung from the side only to be thrown back again by the rockets shovel. Great, the one that decides to pick a fight with her actually knows how to swordfight-er, shovelfight. Go figure. Grimacing as her previously injured ankle hit the hard wall, she used that foot to push her off with her shovel held sideways. Using the handle as a lever, she rammed her shovel against the other and used all her strength to send the rocket toppling over onto his back.
One last swing and she knocked him out cold. Wiggling her ankle experimentally, she was pleased to find it un-injured for the most part. Getting ready to run forward and surprise one of the rockets attempting to crack the crystal, Arin stopped dead in her tracks when she heard her pokemon cry out.
"Cubone!" Hush screeched, flailing as she tried to escape the grasp of a particularly large rocket. The mans pointed face was contorted with a wicked smile, one of his massive hands restraining the pokemon while the other wrapped around its neck. Without a second thought, Arin ran forward and swung her shovel at the man. Unfortunately, he was able to move out of the way and took Hush by the neck, throwing her forcefully at Arin.
The impact of the poor pokemon to Arins stomach knocked the wind out of her. Gasping for breath, Arin found herself doubled over on the floor of the cavern, her eyes wide with pain. She could feel the prickle of un shed tears at the corners of her eyes, forcing her to squeeze them shut again. Not here, not now. Forcing herself to look up, Arin realized she had dropped her shovel just as she saw a rather large pickax swinging down to meet her face.
Screaming, she flung her arms over her face, only to not feel any pain. All she heard was a dull 'thunk' as the pickax hit something else. Opening her eyes, she saw Hush standing in front of her. The small cubone was using her club to hold back the weapon, though it appeared she wasn't fast enough- the sharp end of the pick had chipped off a peice of Hush's bone helmet around her eye, digging into the skin around it and causing blood to pool in the eye socket of the helmet before dripping over the edge.
The pokemon had a pained expression on its face as she pushed forward with her club, desperately trying to protect her trainer. For the first few moments, Arin was in too much shock to move, her eyes wide and tears welling up in the corners. Screaming, Arin grabbed the end of the pickax and wrenched it from the hands of the rocket, much to his dismay. He stepped back, looking for something else to grab when the heavy bone Hush always carried around bonked him hard on the side of his head, causing him to stumble until he tripped over his weapon. Falling, he smacked the other side of his head on a rock and was out cold.
Breathing heavily, Arin grabbed hush in her arms and used her shirt to wipe away some of the blood, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was smiling though, just happy to have her pokemon alive. The fact that she would risk her life for her trainer made Arins heart ache. She should have been keeping better eye on her pokemon. After holding her cubone for a few more moments, she muttered something and returned her to her pokeball, clutching it to her chest as she stepped forward.
There were currently no more rockets attempting to break through the hard crystal. In fact, most of them were either detained, knocked out, or had run away. The other trainers were still beating up on a few, or caring for their injured pokemon. Either way, nobody else had gone to inspect the crystal. The figure of Mew inside the crystal was even more evident close up, though the cracks in the surface made it hard to make out from some angles. Reaching out with a sore hand Arin placed her palm over one of the cracks. The whole surface was warm, heating up at the cracks and fractures in the stone. The whole thing seemed to be gently glowing.
"Mew.." She said, softly, clenching her hand. All these trainers had been able to stop the rockets from breaking through the hard encasing and capturing the legend. She had been able to help. Feeling a sudden swelling in her chest, Arin once again felt herself crying. This time she smiled and wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. She had been a part of something very important.
Without really thinking, Arin placed her hand back on the crystal and started to speak. "Mew, I hope you realize how much all these people care about you, despite not knowing you." She paused to swallow the lump in her throat caused by the tears. "I hope that if you are able, you will come out from this shell and be on your way to wherever it is you really belong."
POKEBALL GO!!
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Interesting Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:32 pm
The second the group of trainers began to enter the ending stretch to the large, cavern-like area was much like the first moments of any epic battle scene. Protagonists walk in, the last few feet before the mouth of the tunnel bathed in rose-colored light, in warmth and radiance, our proud heroes not knowing what is to come. Suddenly the aches and pains of their epic journey have vanished, replaced by a calm knowing that spread through them like a gentle wave. Suddenly they hadn’t been riding in wagons for six straight days, attacked by randomly angered pokemon. Suddenly all their worries dissipated, the feeling replaced only by contentment.
And then it was gone.
As the group reached the mouth of the tunnel, they found themselves in a large, room-like cavern. Rockets arranged in no particular order dotted the scene, many surrounding a rather large red crystal – the obvious light source for the area. For a moment everything was still, the air crackling with the tension of surprise and horror from both parties. Drills and pokemon alike stopped what they were doing, their owners stunned into inactivity. It was clear the Rockets had not been expecting them -- their faces, quite riddled with confusion, made that quite evident – but whether it was because they had expected them to give up or had assumed the landslide had put them out of commission, it wasn’t likely they were going to be admitting it anytime soon. Silently the two groups stared each other down, each a bit shocked, both on edge from the anxiety and the stakes at risk.
Mew. The pokemon ancient legends, said to be rivaled in power only be Arceus himself. Any trainer would kill to have even a single chance at the innocent-looking pokemon.
But Liam wasn’t a trainer.
A single ping of cracking crystal jerked everyone back to reality, all hell breaking loose. Grunts from both trainers and Rockets alike echoed in the cavern, sounds of pokemon being released from their pokeballs and yelled commands from the trainers dominating the area, enough to overwhelm anyone’s senses. As chaos ensued, the healer fell remarkably quiet for one in such a dire situation, his pale blue eyes narrowing, clearly unamused.
So. This was Team Rocket’s plan. Why was he not surprised? He was going to have a heart attack and die from not surprise. Of course they were going to enslave the most powerful pokemon ever known to man. Of course they were going to try to corrupt it, torture it, and use its power to try to take over the known pokemon world and all its inhabitants. That just tended to be Team Rocket’s scheme. What really struck him as funny was not what they were doing, although that seemed to bring up a soft, spiteful chuckle from Liam. No, what was really funny was that they thought… Ridley thought… that he was just going to let them do it.
Like hell he was.
The first thing that came to Liam was not actually a thought, but an action, and quite a thoughtless one, he would have added, had anyone asked him. Reaching down into one of the pouches at his waist, the healer pulled out six miniature safari balls, clicking one of the spheres' button, the green ball expanding in his hand. Silently he wound up, bringing his arm far behind him before literally chucking the ball as hard as he could at the nearest rocket, putting his entire weight into the throw. The enlarged sphere soared, and a few seconds later a sharp cry echoed in its wake. Bingo.
(Pokeball, GO!)
The Rocket he had assaulted turned to give him a furious, incredulous look, as if no one would ever dare threaten a rocket. Ah. One of those type. Unfortunately for the poor soul, Liam was at the point of not giving a rattata’s behind. Tossing another safari ball in his palm, the healer brought his arm back again, pelting the poor rocket with everything he had, followed closely by a second one.
By this time he was pretty pissed. He was more than pretty pissed, he was furious, although why, he didn’t know. Perhaps all the times he had almost died on this trip had shot his nerves to hell. That could certainly throw someone headfirst into a pseudo-psychotic rage. But whether it was his lack of sleep or his pride needing revenge or just the fact that Liam had really wanted to bash someone’s face in the entire last half of the trip, in retrospect, it didn’t really matter. All that could be said was, suddenly, Liam was a very angry healer. If he had his way, someone was going to find out just how painful his right hook could be.
But first, he was going to have some fun practicing his aim.
Liam took a step forward, bringing back his arm.
“This is for the shuppet you tried to control.”
Again, a green ball flew through the air and the rocket gave a cry, grabbing his arm in pain.
“This is for those electrodes you left to die in the rubble.”
A second cry, slightly louder than the first, permeated the surrounding area, quickly becoming lost in the chaos outside their vendetta.
“And this is for SHOOTING ME IN THE BACK WITH A @*#&ING DART!”
Liam did not relax as the sound of his last safari ball connecting with the rocket's skull reached him, the impact promptly knocking the rocket out. It was only after a few moments of panting and death glares at the fainted rocket that the healer started to feel woozy.
LIAM IS OUT OF SAFARI BALLS!
Blinking twice, the healer lifted a hand to his head, wiping the sweat off his brow before promptly collapsing on the floor of the cave.
LIAM WHITED OUT!
((BROWNIE POINTS IF YOU CAN LOCATE THE DISNEY QUOTE! xD ))
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:36 pm
A warm glow enveloped the tunnels, bathing everyone in a wondrous glow. Kris felt excitement growing in the pit of her stomach and she grinned nervously. Even so, she couldn’t help the nerves that seeped into that excitement. This was too much to pass up; Kris couldn’t let her nerves get to her! She jogged a bit to reach the head of the group, urging Paix to follow behind her. Her hands were trembling slightly, and Kris knew it wasn't just due to nerves. She clasped her hands together tightly, not noticing as her nails dug angry crescent-shaped marks into her skin until Paix nudged her with a murmur.
She stared at him for a second, confused, until she noticed that his gaze was focused on her hands. She unclasped them slowly, wincing as she felt the angry marks making themselves known on her skin. The trembling was still there, but it wasn't as noticeable. "Thanks, Paix. Anymore and I would have broke my skin! Haha...ha..."
She flexed her hands experimentally, making sure that she hadn’t in fact broken the skin. “Ouch…I guess I did.” She winced as she fingered the angry mark, wiping the blood away with a tissue she had fished out of her satchel. She sighed. Now that that pain had made itself known, she began to notice the pain in her other limbs. Her legs ached, her feet were killing her, and her sides were starting to cramp up.
“I guess I need more exercise.” She sighed, slumping forward to try to alleviate some of the pain from her sides. “How are you holding up, Paix?” Paix crowed softly, nudging Kris with his head. Keep going. You can do it. He seemed to be telling her. Kris nodded and sniffed, pulling herself up straight. “You’re right, Paix! We can do this.”
She continued forward with renewed vigor, trying to steel herself for anything she could encounter. She felt a gentle wave wash over her and she sighed contentedly. The wave's slow soothing ebb washed her aches away and she stared down at her hands with a smile. The cuts began to disappear slowly; a pink glow washed at the nicks lazily, retreating when there was naught but smooth skin left. She turned her head towards Paix, watching as the glow enveloped his entire body. As it washed over him, Paix seemed to glow of his own right, a small rainbow trail trailing behind him as they continued. He crowed softly, shaking his wings out. She felt at peace, but there was a small part deep down that couldn’t help but be weary. What if this wasn’t a good thing?
Their pleasure was interrupted by a loud clanking sound, followed quickly by a few crashes. Kris stopped, bumping into Paix. She strained her ears, trying to discern where the metallic noises were coming from. Her attentiveness was met with the sound of angry curses from deep in the tunnel. Kris could only think of one thing.
Rockets.
She took off, tearing down the tunnel towards the sound. As she neared what she guessed to be the end of the tunnel the glow increased, and a sense of playfulness washed over her. She giggled and shook her head, trying to rid herself of the urge. There were Rockets down there! She didn’t have time to play! Kris slowed to a stop as the clanging sound resumed, echoing off the walls and surrounding her. Kris grimaced and continued forward cautiously. She gasped as the cave opened up to reveal the rocket grunts drilling and hammering away at a large crystal. Kris yelped and fell back into Paix as she stared at the crystal in disbelief.
It was Mew! Kris sputtered, not even trying to hide herself from the Rockets. She slapped herself, wondering if this was all some kind of wonderful dream. She winced as she massaged her cheek. That hurt!
Okay…So this wasn’t a dream! She stared up at Mew, blinking a bit. She still had to make sure. Mew…Mew wasn’t even supposed to be real! It was a legend-the most powerful of them all! This whole trip suddenly seemed like a wonderful dream, but it was all real!
Kris suddenly remembered the Rockets and she let a sudden anger wash over her. She grit her teeth and looked around, spotting a stray pole lying on the ground. She gripped it tightly, standing up and thanking whatever had stopped those Rockets from noticing her. They were trying to hurt Mew! Kris couldn’t let that happen.
With a cry she darted out, catching the first Rocket off guard with a hit to the head. He fell to the ground, dazed. “Paix! Go protect Mew at all costs!” She swung the pole at another Rocket as she shouted out orders to Paix, catching his legs and sending him sprawling to the ground with a pained groan. Kris grinned, whirling around with the pole as she guided Paix to use Extrasensory on a few of the Rockets nearing Mew, drills in their hands. She swiped at a few more with the pole, sending them sprawling to the ground, clutching where the pole had hit them. They were out of the game for now, but Kris couldn't take any chances. “Paix, I want you to use Gust! Send these Rockets into the wall!”
Paix nodded. “Hooooo!” He cried out, thrusting his wings back and forth. The shock of wind threw the downed grunts into the wall, where they lay prone with a groan. Kris cheered. Paix sent more of the Rockets flying with another Gust attack, crowing as they fell unconscious. He wouldn’t let them hurt Mew!
“Awesome, buddy! Now let’s keep going!” Kris rolled to the ground just in time to avoid what would have been a well-placed kick to her head. She gasped, rolling back up, the pole held behind her. “That was too close-AGH.” Two arms wrapped themselves around her shoulders, squeezing until she dropped the pole.
“Nice try, goilie! But dat’s not good enough!” The Rocket’s voice cackled into her ear and she shivered, trying to break loose. One of the grunts in front of her grinned as he cracked his knuckles. Another let loose a kick into her midsection, letting out a burst of triumphant laughter as she doubled over, gasping for breath. She growled as one of them slapped her. “Come on, goilie! No time fo’ nappin’, now!”
Kris’s head shot up and she glared at the Rockets. She was still trying to suck precious breath into her lungs; she sucked in one giant breath and tried to call for Paix. What came out at first was a weak groan, but she mustered all her strength to scream out “PAIX!”
Paix snapped to attention, staring down at Kris. He felt a surge of anger well up inside of him, along with that familiar burst of psychic energy. He let it build up inside of him, feeling it get stronger and stronger until it burst out of him with a brilliant light. “HOOOOOOOOOOO!” Paix let loose a loud cry as the wave hit the grunts, sending them into the walls as it swept through the room.
It passed through Kris harmlessly; floating her down to the ground as the rocket holding her was whipped away. Kris sighed in relief as she held her stomach. Her breath was finally coming back, but the ache in her stomach was growing. “Thanks, buddy!” Kris smiled, stumbling up to meet her pokemon as he flew down to meet her.
“We’re not done yet, Paix! There are still a few Rockets standing.” Kris stepped back, weary. “Use Gust, Paix!” Paix nodded and let loose another Gust, sending those Rockets to the wall. Kris cheered. She was so busy congratulating Paix that she didn’t notice the lone Rocket sneaking up behind her until it was too late. He swung the pole Kris had been using at her legs, sending her to the floor with a crash.
She groaned, holding her leg as she stared up at the Rocket. He grinned down at her. “Well, goilie-” Paix cut him off abruptly, slamming into him with a Steel Wing. He crowed as that final Rocket fell. Kris braced herself against the wall as she pulled herself up, grinning. “Awesome, bud! Thanks! What do you say we group them together with a Gust?”
“Hoooooh!” Paix let out one last Gust, sending all the Rockets flying into each other, creating one large groaning heap. Kris turned to Mew, smiling shyly. “At least you’re safe now, Mew.” She nodded towards Paix and he helped her towards Mew. Kris reached back, taking out the safari ball that she knew was still safe after all this time.
“If you join us, I promise you’ll have fun! And maybe we can show you what you’ve missed in this world. I know we could make a great team!” She held up the ball to the beautiful pokemon, smiling again. “What do you say, Mew?”
This was beyond Kris's wildest dreams. She couldn't have imagined this happening in a million years! Even if Mew didn't accept her offer, this had been an amazing journey!
POKEBALL GO!!
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:58 pm
After stepping out of the cavern with red crystals, Piney couldn’t believe what she saw. Not only were there more of the gems, but there was a whole bunch of Rockets littered around the room, and most of them were huddled around the giant crystal in the middle. She squinted her eyes, trying to make out whatever was in there, but she couldn’t recognize it for her life. It looked like some kind of pink furry cat with a long tail. Unless that was a mutated Skitty, she guessed that she was looking at a whole new species of Pokemon altogether.
But she wasn’t a scientist. She was a police officer. She had to take care of these Rockets first. Even though they outnumbered her gazillion to one…
Pulling out her radio, she hid behind some stalagmites and pressed the button. Hopefully the police aboveground didn’t leave yet.
“Zatao police department. Come in.”
She paused for a moment, expecting for a voice to reply back. But there was no answer apart from static.
“Zatao police department. Can you hear me?”
Piney scowled at the silent radio. This piece of junk never worked when she needed it to be! In a fit of anger, she threw the device to the floor, and it shattered into pieces with a loud crash.
Well, there was absolutely no hope for reinforcements now.
“Huh? What was that?”
She dared to peek out her hiding place to see what was going on. She shouldn’t have destroyed her radio. Now the Rockets were alerted to her presence, and this trip has been for nothing!
“I don’t know. Someone go check it out already.”
Footsteps snapped Piney out of her self-pitying and she scurried away to a more secluded part of the area. A man wearing a black outfit with the unmistakable ‘R’ wandered over to where she was last, and where the broken bits were now.
“Nope, there’s no one here.” He announced back to his peers. “Though, what’s with all this crap? It looked like someone dropped something important-HRK!”
The officer ran over and kicked his feet under him before he could finish his sentence. Even though the grunt had surely seen her now, it was better for him to know she was here than having everyone else sharing the same knowledge.
But the man was tougher than Piney expected. He got up in a jiffy and despite all of her efforts, grabbed both of her arms and twisted them in a way so she was completely paralyzed from the pain.
“Did you really think that cheap trick was going to work? I should’ve-ARGH!”
He was interrupted yet a second time as some purple light flashed from behind and struck him in the head. As he slumped down to the ground, Piney rubbed her arm vigorously and glared at the darkness where the attack had come from.
“Daybreak. I told you to stay in the other place, didn’t I?” She said as a violet feline slipped out of the shadows and sat down in from of her. Neither of them spoke for a while, but it was clear that the Espeon refused to follow her plans, mainly because she was worried that her human would get into trouble. Or worse.
“Alright then. Fine.” Piney sighed and stared at the unconscious Rocket. She was going to have to hide that body before the others find it. With help from Daybreak, the man was dragged to a small corner of the cave, where there was no crystals illuminating the area.
“Ok. Now what?” She asked her Pokemon. The reason why she had to stay behind in the first place was to prevent anyone from sneaking up on Piney and ambushing her, and to get any help from the other trainers if they came by. Plus, she was afraid that if they did get captured, she would become part of the Rocket’s experiments, although she didn’t tell her about that fear.
But since that has been aborted, she would have to find a way to work Daybreak into everything.
“What? You want me too…” She pointed to the grunt and stared at the Espeon in slight disbelief.
“Are you serious?” Daybreak nodded and with a single glance, managed to tell Piney what she was thinking.
“If you say so. But if this doesn’t work, I’m blaming you.” She began stripping off the clothes of the man, grimacing once he was reduced to his underwear. Piney then took off her own garments, and within moments, threw her clothes onto his face as she was now wearing Rocket apparel.
Glancing at herself, she heard her Pokemon snickering at the disguise. “Be quiet. I know that everything is too big, but there’s no way I could ask for a smaller size.”
There was also no way Piney could fail at this either. If she couldn’t drive the Rockets out, she and Daybreak would probably never see the sun again.
Her heart was racing as she reentered the room again. It looked like the Rockets had made their way further into the crystal, and nearer to the Pokemon inside it. She hesitated, not wanting to get any closer as she needed to be, but Daybreak nudged her legs, and the officer found courage to walk over to the grunts.
Pretending to admire the handiwork of the criminals, she hovered around some important looking people and tried to listen into their conversation.
“… How long until the crystal is weak enough to extract it?”
“Shouldn’t be more than an hour. Provided that nothing goes wrong.”
“Excellent. Without those meddling trainers around, that Mew and the world will be in our grasp!”
Piney couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment. Mew? Like that… legendary being that supposedly holds the DNA of every single Pokemon? She thought that was a myth! Yet, here it was, in the crystal in front of her, inches away from the Rocket’s drill.
Inches? She couldn’t have wasted that much time, did she? If the Mew came under their possession…. Piney wouldn’t live with herself. She had seen what they did to their Pokemon, like the Electrodes. Not only would the pink kitten be tortured and forced to do their dirty work like a slave, everyone would suffer that same fate if it was truly that powerful…
She was overwhelmed by the horrible possibilities. Her muscles couldn’t move at all, from the fear of making the wrong move. Everything seemed a thousand times worse now that she realized that the world as she know it rested on her shoulders.
But then Daybreak reminded her of what needed to be done. Batting her head against her trainer’s arms, Piney regained her senses and walked over to the controls, pretending that she was doing her job like everyone else.
How the heck was she supposed to stop the drill though? She knew nothing about machines! If she tried, she might blow it up, and the Mew would surely be hurt by the explosion! She didn’t want to put the poor thing through more pain!
Resting herself against the panel of buttons and shiny things, Piney tried to think of a plan when another Rocket came over.
“Who are you and what are you doing?” He asked. Judging from his tone, it didn’t sound like he was just casually checking up on things. He had a suspicion. And so she was screwed.
“Well…” The officer glanced down at Daybreak, who gave a hint of a nod in return. “I’m just making sure the Mew is safe, that’s all. The drill could really hurt it you know.”
“Do you think it matters? That thing can restore itself to perfect health without effort! The main reason why this stupid extraction is going so slow is to make sure we don’t get hurt once it comes out!”
Piney clenched her fist, restraining her urge to punch him in the face. He didn’t care about the Mew’s health at all! He was just as much as a scum like the other Rocket’s she faced over the years!
“You still haven’t answered my question either!”
She bit her lip as she slowly slid her body onto the control panel, pressing random buttons. “Oh, but I did answer your question. I’m here to keep the Mew from harm, especially from your greedy clutches.”
The Rocket at first glared at Piney, then as the alarms went off, his expression turned to that of horror.
“What did you-“ He turned his attention to the blaring lights and began to panic like the other Rockets. She smiled at the look of his face, but the room began filling up with the smell of gas and burnt stuff.
“Daybreak…”
As expected, there was a massive explosion that rocked everyone off their feet. Bodies and machine pieces flew everywhere, some of them colliding into rocks that also showered to the ground. The thunderous roar deafened the ears of Piney, and for a moment, she could see nothing but white.
When she awakened, she was glad to still be in one piece. Mostly because of the last-minute barrier that Daybreak had whipped up, to save themselves and the Mew from the explosion. She wriggled her arms and legs to make sure she could move, and then dared to lift her head to survey the destruction.
To her amazement, there were no piles of debris or unconscious Rockets anywhere. There weren’t even any burn marks or ashes. The room looked like no one had ever set foot in this cave; save for the gigantic crystal that still had a gaping hole where the drill was.
Well, at least the Mew was safe. Even if the Rockets had gotten away this time, they didn’t have a powerful Pokemon in their hands. Glancing at the pink feline, safely encased in the red gemstone, she got onto her feet and only took a step before tripping over something.
Piney laid still for a while, before she cautiously turned herself around to see what made her fall over.
And her eyes went wide with shock.
Daybreak, the Espeon that committed herself to create the strongest shield possible, was covered with deep gashes and blackened patches of fur. Her gem was spilt down the middle, and though her eyes were squeezed shut, some blood was dribbling over her eyelids.
“No… Nononono!”
She scuttled over to the still body, checking her heart to make sure it was still working.
But there was no sound. No beating or breathing.
“NO! It can’t be true!” Piney wailed as she sank her face into her purple pelt. Her mind was numb and couldn’t believe that her best friend was gone forever. It just wasn’t possible for her.
She sobbed loudly for what seemed like eternity. There was no response from the motionless Pokemon.
As her cries died down to whimpering moans, she raised her gaze to the Mew that was resting in the crystal. It looked so happy, yet in the face of this tragedy, how could it be? Piney wanted to go over to it and smash it to bits. It made her angry to see the legendary smile, when her faithful companion might never wake up again.
Instead of giving into her emotions, however, an idea struck her.
What did that Rocket say? It could heal itself a thousand times over without effort? If that Mew was conscious, could it possibly revive Daybreak?
But no... That would be like exploiting the Pokemon, like Team Rocket tried to do. Would it be alright still? It should be. Those guys wanted to use it to conquer the world. She just needed its powers to heal her Espeon. There was a difference. She wasn't doing it for herself.
The officer felt a little guilty though as she lifted the body from the ground and placing her in front of the crystal. Then she knelt down in before it in a bit of a prayer pose. Closing her eyes, Piney wondered whether to say it out loud or just think about it. She decided to do both.
“Mew, I know you’ve been through a lot. You were almost captured by the Rockets, and maybe you were even in pain when the drill tried to destroy your home.
"But the threat is over now. The bad guys are gone. But my friend might have sacrificed her life in saving you. So please. If you have a heart at all, heal her. I’m begging you. It's the least you can do, isn't it...?
“… And I can’t live my life without her.”
GO POKEBALL!((BTW, Daybreak isn't dead, just really really badly hurt. XD))
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:04 pm
 Kayla raced with the gang that was with her, Hea being first seeing as she was leading the way with her Flash attack to brighten the tunnel. Panting, Kayla tried to locate where the commotion was taking place but kept failing every single time! “Damnit!” Kayls cursed as she ran into another dead end. “This is why I do not give directions. I am horrible at them!”
Kayla turned around to back track but when she did she noticed that everyone that was supposed to be following her was gone. Eyes widening, she stopped dead in her tracks. “Where is everyone?” Kayla pondered at Hea, who gave her trainer worried eyes before replying. “Brriiiiing…” She had no clue either.
Sighing, Kayla rubbed the back of her neck in concern. She hoped that the others had managed to find their own way out without her help. She will have to apologies later for wanting to rush out so quickly but then again, this mine stuff was starting to wear on her real quickly.
“Let’s go, Hea! We will have to find a different route.” With that, they ran back the way they came and went to the area where they had heard all the turmoil.
After what felt like hours but must have been at least thirty minutes to an hour at the most, Kayla came across a lot of ruckus. Tilting her head in confusion, Kayla slowed down her jogging to listen. “What is that Hea? Do you hear it?”
It only took moments for Kayla to realize that it was the sound of machines of drills and explosions at the end of this tunnel or hopefully at the end of this tunnel. Was it their fellow wagon mates or was it Team Rocket? She feared the worse and ran towards the interruption of silence that inhabited the mines.
While they ran, the disruption got louder and louder along with earsplitting blast every few minutes. What was going on!?
Suddenly, Kayla could hear a lot of yelling and screams of orders being given and it was in that moment that Kayla knew who was making so much noise that it was practically shaking the whole cave! Team Rocket!
“Hea.” Kayla called as she stopped her jogging to look at Hea. “This is your first battle and I trust you to listen to me. If by some chance you think you cannot fight any longer, I want you to run and find help. “
Hea eyes widen at what Kayla was getting at. Kayla was basically telling her to leave her trainer there to defend herself. “Brriiing! Brriii-brrriiii-Brrriiiing!” Frantically, Hea shook her head in outright refusal at the thought of leaving Kayla there. This act of courage on Kayla’s part only brought Hea’s trust and respect for Kayla and was more determined than ever to stick with her to the end.
Kayla looked into the girafarig’s eyes to see if she truly meant to stick with Kayla to the very end, if need be but she saw no deception whatsoever. Kayla started to tear up. “T-thank you, Hea. That means the world to me to have you at my side.”
Sniffling, Kayla tried to toughen up in the matter of minutes before she goes and ruins whatever plans they have for those fossils.
“Alright, Hea. You ready to rumble?” Kayla turned her eyes at Hea with a smirk, who in returned smiled and nodded. “Brriii.” Kayla nodded. “Then let’s go!”
They ran towards the opening of where the commotion took place. When they arrived, Kayla could only stare in horror. The large group of people (of at least a 100) was all surrounded in the center of the cavern. A large part of them were lifting their hammers and cracking down on what they were focusing on, another section was using a jack hammer and drills while the other small part were putting explosions in it. Kayla had no idea what they want so badly. What is going on?!
Kayla must have said the last part out loud because it was when every single one of the Rockets turned to see who it was. They all glared at her when they realized it wasn’t one of their own. Kayla winced slightly at being found out but it also gave her a glance of what they were after. But wait. It can’t be. Kayla rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating but she still saw what was behind the Rockets. It was a Mew!
“Oh my god!” Kayla gasped but that was what broke the stone silence.
“Who is this girl?”
"What the hell is she doing here!? She wasn’t supposed to get through the barrier!”
“It must be one of those pesky kids that were at that campsite we attacked at!”
“She knows our plan! We have to get rid of her!”
“SILENCE!” A booming voice called out to end the outbreak of voices. It worked. All of the Rockets grunts hushed up and stepped aside as their leader, Kalohea, to be heard. “Well girl, I guess you found out our plans, did you?”
Kayla got over her shock and glared back at the Team Rocket leader. “What is going on here? You are planning to do something horrible to that poor mew aren’t you? Leave it alone!” Kayla balled her fist in anger.
Hea was also glaring at the lot of them along with the little head on her tail, making sure none of the Rockets had any scheming plans to jump them while their back is turned. But they were closing in. The exit they came in was now blocked. There was nowhere else to go.
“Well girl, you are correct. We plan to use this all powerful mew to capture all the other legendary pokemon and genetically alter them to become super pokemon.” The Rockets grunts all around the leader and Kayla were cheering and supporting their leader. “Once that is accomplished, we will take over the world and I will be king!”
“That’s sick! What’s with you guys and taking over the world? It’s not like it hasn’t been done over and over again in the past. You guys are so unoriginal!” Kayla mocked them as she tried to think of a way out and still help the mew from being some experiment for the Rocket’s own sick pleasures.
“Enough of this! Roscoe!” Kalohea yelled.
“Yes, sir!” A grunt, Kayla assumed to be Roscoe, went to stand next to their leader in attention.
“You are in charge of ‘taking care’ of our guest. I on the other hand will be busy with other things.” With that he turned around, only to find all of his minions were staring at the scene. “What the hell are you staring at? Get back to work, NOW!”
As if it broke the silence spell, everything went crazy! The grunts all charged at Kayla and Hea while the others were continued their work getting to mew faster.
“This is it, Hea! Use Confusion!” Kayla shouted.
Hea shouted a battle cry before sending sonic waves out towards a group of grunts who were racing towards them. It sent them running into each other while some started attacking themselves and their fellow rockets.
A group on each side of the two started to raise their fist as if to beat Kayla and Hea into a bloody pulp but Hea didn’t give them that option. She released a Thunder Wave at the stampede of Rockets from each side and paralyzing them but more kept coming.
Even Kayla helped a bit by picking up rocks that was at her feet and threw at the grunts that were trying to grab her. Punching and kicking a few that made the attempt. However, in the end, it was no use for Kayla because as she was kicking one of the grunts in the gut, doubled over in pain, Kayla felt a p***k of some kind on her back.
Kayla had a feeling she knew what it was but she had to see to make sure. And sure enough, it was a tranquilizer. Crap. Kayla thought as her mind started to muddle a bit. Kayla pulled it out as fast as she could, so that the drugs wouldn’t finish being empted into her system but it still did its job and did it well. Within a matter of moments, Kayla crumpled to the floor and passed out cold.
“Good work, men. Now let’s get this girl restrained and her pokemon as well. It would make a great addition to our team.”
They kicked Kayla onto her stomach and tied her hands behind her back and her feet together. One of the Rockets hoisted her up onto their shoulders and transported her to an area that was far away from their main reason they were here.
Hea was currently fighting off a few more Rockets with her Take Down when she saw Kayla slumped over a grunt’s shoulder. Her eyes dilated and she screamed bloody murder and released a huge Psychic attack that send a lot of the Rockets into the air. All of them panicked, screamed, and struggled as they were unable to get away before being slammed into the nearest wall.
Hea went into a rampage and used Frustration on all of the grunts that were coming at her. She reared up onto her hind legs and slammed her front hooves onto the victim that happened to be under her. The moment she had all four hooves onto the ground she did a Double Kick at any of the grunts that were right behind her, not caring whatsoever. Hea’s main goal was to get to Kayla and save the mew like her trainer wanted them to.
“What do I have you working for me for if you cannot control one stupid pokemon! Get it under control NOW!” Kalohea screamed furiously as more of his workers had to help their fellow grunts control the damage Hea was doing to their numbers.
Hea turned her head this way and that to find who said that and fixed her eyes on Kalohea before charging at him.
Kalohea eyes widen in horror as he wanted the girafarig run towards him. “Stop that beast this instant!” The grunts attempted to block the path Hea was going but they were mowed down by strong Reflect. All the grunts bounced out of the way or got tramped as they hit the barrier. Before long, all the grunts were after Hea and they too got ran over or blasted by her Psyhic attack. A few of the grunts manage to get on top of Hea but she bucked and kicked them off as if she was a Taruos.
By the time, Hea reached to the leader, Kalohea was terrified but tried to put on a brave face. “Well.” He tried to start but faltered. “Well, it seems that you managed to get through all my supposedly useful grunts but they will be disposed of after this is over but you are not useless are you?” He tried to sweeten Hea to spare his life or pain by proposition the girafarig. “How about you join Team Rocket? We could use a pokemon like you. Powerful, determined, willing to fight against all odds…we could make you powerful. Join me in my ambitions and we would rule the world. No one can stop us!” Kalohea offered his hand in offering. “What do you say, agree?”
Hea pretended to think about it, pretended that she was slightly interested but truthfully she could not bare the thought of someone who would willingly use and hurt others to gain something as meaningless as power.
Minutes passed and Kalohea was starting to get impatient but he didn’t say a word. Any of the grunts, if they were conscious, would see this as his eyes twitched slightly. However, he didn’t have to wait for much longer because Hea reared up again and let out an angry “Bbrrrrriiiing!” before using Stomp on his feet.
She had no intention to kill but wanted the evildoer gone.
Kalohea screamed in pain as he crumpled to the ground. It was that that woke up a few of the grunts and scrambled to help their leader as they made they escape but Kalohea didn’t leave quietly. Glaring at Hea in pain, he gritted out, “You will see me again, beast and I will make sure you and your stupid trainer pays for messing with my plans! Mark my words!” The Rocket grunts rushed him out of the cavern but Kalohea could still be heard as they left. “MARK MY WORDS!” The last of the grunts that were leaving threw a smoke bomb as they made their escape.
Coughing, Hea could not follow to stop them but it wasn’t like she would have tried. Her main concern now was Kayla who was still unconscious tied up, asleep. Hea nuzzled Kayla’s face, pushing the hair off her face. Hea sniffled all over Kayla to make sure there were no cuts, bruises or other injuries that she could see or sense. To Hea’s relief, Kayla was physically well but the drug induced sleep. It will be a couple of hours or maybe less before Kayla would wake up, seeing as she had managed to take out the dart before all of the drugs had been injected in.
Assured that Kayla was alright, Hea went up to Mew, who was still encased inside of the crystal. Sniffling cautiously, Hea checked to see if the mew was awake or injured but luckily for them, the rockets did not manage to reach to the center of the crystal formation. They made loads of dents and cracks but the crystals were still intact.
Hea whispered to the Mew, hoping that it can hear her. “Hi.” She tried, in a quiet and soft tone. “I hope you are okay in there. It was not I who attempted to disturbed your slumber but nasty humans who just wanted you for power but I am not like them nor is my human.” Hea paused to look at Kayla before continuing. “We want to help you but we got delayed by those nasty humans but they are gone now. I scared them away. Kayla, my human tried to help but she got hurt but not really hurt. She is sleeping now.”
Hea looked back at Mew, who was curled up in the crystal that surround it. “My trainer wants to help you grow stronger. Trust us to be your friend and not hurt you like those humans did. Kayla will treat you right like she treats me and we can become best of friends, I promise!” Hea said the last with conviction like it was a life or death thing.
That was when Kayla started to rouse from her induced slumber. It seems that the drugs that entered in her system was not the same as what she got last time and it wasn't as potent as before. Hea rushed to her trainer, letting out a worried “Brriiiing!” as Kayla groaned. “’kay. Hands….legs…tied….off.” Kayla could barely string a proper sentence as the drugs were still in her system.
Hea rushed to get them off, using her teeth. It took Hea awhile seeing as she did not have the proper teeth to chew through tough rope but she worked on it and after about 20 minutes, the ropes loosen and Kayla managed to gather enough strength to break free of the ropes and untie her legs too.
By that time, Kayla was more alert and aware what was going on, but she was thirsty as hell. “How is Mew?” She asked in a raspy voice.
Hea nodded and tossed her head towards the encased Mew who was undisturbed as far as Kayla could see. “That’s good. Come on, let’s see if we can help Mew out.”
GO POKEBALL!
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:07 pm
It couldn't be....no...there was no way, that pokemon trapped in that crystal was a Mew...There had to be some sort of mistake. Mew was just a myth...but then so were the other legendaries...and she was pretty sure she'd seen a suicune earlier. Swallowing she shook her head, as the drilling grew louder and the noises of the other trainers around her increased in volume as well. Team Rocket wanted the Mew. There was no doubt about that. And there was also no doubt about what she wanted to do to the rockets. A sharp, "Shuuu!" from her shuppet dragged her from her thinking to the increasingly dangerous situation at hand. There were more rockets here...much more than those that had been among the scientists which meant the others had been here all along.
They'd been there all along in the mines...just waiting for them to deliver their other members to them...Just like puppets on a string...
The last thought was enough to spur the girl into action and she jumped at the closest rocket, while Yuzuhira went to cause chaos among the others. The rocket fell but not without a shout and an attempt at pinning the girl. Snarling she drew back her arm landing the rocket a solid blow across one cheek. That dazed him enough for her to go at him again. This was what she had been waiting for ever since that drugging incident....ever since she'd found out team rocket was vaguely involved in this. Another blow, and the young man had given up his attempts at pushing her off and now he sought to protect his face and body from even more of a pounding.
Just as she was beginning to enjoy the beat down from hell she was giving the man something was lifting her clear off of him and she clawed and kicked, loosing a frustrated scream as she rounded on whatever was dragging her off the man. Another rocket. Growling as she launched herself at him, she found herself flailing in mid air. What? Looking around, she could have killed something...how dare they...?!
A string of colorful curses was the only thing that told of her true anger...as if her growling and flailing wasn't enough. The rockets had found a psychic pokemon to control...and that was what was probably holding her mid air...no doubt against its will. Growling as she tried to lash out again, the man standing a few feet in front of her laughed, and she almost screamed in frustration again. Instead she ground her teeth, and settled for staring the man down and wishing him to the depths of the abyss....Wait...the abyss....Suddenly her scowl turned to a vicious grin and the man took several steps back stuttering. "Yuzu! SHADOW BALL!"
The rockets were looking around fearfully trying to figure out where the ghost pokemon was before the attack struck and Cassadaine merely gave a very, very dark grin. "I would show you where she is but...I don't think that's going to help you!" Cackling she watched as the were pressed back to back, trembling.
Yuzu never attacked when people expected it, that was the beauty of being a ghost~ Adding her own mad laughter to her trainer's the shuppet floated down from her position behind one of the crystals in the room, slowly lowering herself until she was close to one of the rockets. Cackling louder now, she lowered herself fully pulling a scary face on the man. A series of shouts and shrieks came from the men as they all tried to run and ended up dragging each other down.
Laughing wildly with the shuppet, Cassadaine shook her head out of her face. That should keep them occupied. "Alright Yuzu, knock that psychic pokemon out and get me down. We have to save Mew!"
"Shuu!" Flying off in the direction she'd seen the pokemon hiding, the shuppet gave another cackle as she passed a tangle of trainers and rockets. < Get them! Send them to the abyss! > she called to the pokemon that were around.
It was several moments before Cassadaine felt the hold of the pokemon's attack lessen, and she landed on her feet, instantly looking around. There was a rocket still hammering away viciously at Mew's crystal! "Yuzu!" she called sprinting over to the glowing crystal not waiting to see if her ghost pokemon was following. Her attention was focused on the rocket, the pick and the rapidly spreading cracks in the crystal.
"LEAVE MEW ALONE!"
"What/!" The rocket was staring at the girl and he sneered holding the pick as a weapon. "You little brats have no idea what this pokemon is capable of! A pokemon like this left untamed could destroy the whole world!"
Growling she stood her ground staring the man down. "I don't care! Mew should be able to have a say in whether or not it wants to be "tamed"! And like hell Team Rocket could tame a pokemon! They only thing the likes of you know is how to control pokemon!" By now Yuzuhira was floating near her trainer, feeding off the waves of anger and adding to the rolling angry dark mass with her own.
< You rockets are nothing but thieves! You stole us from our homes! You destroyed our kin that wouldn't obey you! > Yuzuhira was adding her own scorn and anger to the mix and if the trainer or pokemon had cared to look, they would have seen the cracks in Mew's prision growing bigger...and deeper.
The man sneered gesturing to Mew and then to the other pokemon within the cavern. "You just don't get it do you? Pokemon aren't human...they have no say in anything! They are our instruments and if you're too dumb to realize that well...that's too bad."
"You arrogant--!" Cassadaine didn't finish her curse as she lounged forward ready to rip the pick from the man's hands and beat him into submission with it.
That never happened because as soon as Cassadaine neared the man, a soft clicking sounded from behind him...before the sound of breaking glass and a mild explosion threw both Cassadaine and the rocket back several feet.
"What the---?" Reaching up to shield her eyes from the blinding flash of light, the girl gasped when the light began to fade and the source of it revealed itself. "Mew!"
The Rocket near her took that moment of distraction on her part to toss the pokeball he'd had hidden at the pink pokemon and all Cassadaine could do was watch in horror as it sailed through the air.
"Nooo!!!!" Too late the man had already thrown the ball at the pink pokemon. Though the ball never reached its destination as a blob of darkness knocked the pokeball away. Giving Yuzu a thumps up, she looked at the mew and almost smiled. It was free...A growl from next to her...well almost free. Looking at the rocket the girl kicked him away and bounced to her feet. "Yuzuhira will-o-wisp!"
The shuppet had been one step ahead of her trainer considering there was a rather large ball of flames building up before the ghost pokemon. With a cry she released it, straight at the rocket who'd begun fleeing down the tunnel. An explosion and a cry were all that signified that the rocket had been hit by the attack.
There was no time for her to look around to and see if there were anymore rockets around to cause trouble. The cavern was shaking and dust was starting to fall from the crumbling ceiling. Looking up toward the ceiling she saw Mew still hovering there. "Go on Mew! Get out of here! You're free!" she shouted trying to chase the Mew away as more of the ceiling crumbled. Why wasn't it leaving?!
Another large chunck of the ceiling fell and the girl was forced to dodge it, as trainers started heading toward tunnel. The ceiling was fast crumbling and she gave a cry as another piece of the ceiling collapsed near a group of trainers trying to get through the doorway. "Mew go on! Get out before you get killed!" Still nothing. Swallowing she cast one last look at the pokemon before she too was forced to flee the cavern. Had she really saved Mew or had she condemned it to death? She was pretty sure she'd never find out.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:41 pm
 Fin walked slowly down this new, strange tunnel, looking in awe upon the crystals that had so intrigued her. The ones further along the tunnel were so huge, so amazing. She paused in surprise as she realized that the tunnel where she now stood was entirely made up of crystal. She'd gotten far enough ahead of the rest of the group that the various Flashes didn't spoil the brilliant effect of the bright red glow surrounding her, enveloping her, warming her from the inside out.
Fin closed her eyes and leaned her head back, basking in the warmth emanating from the crystals. Her legs had ached from trekking endlessly through the mine tunnels. Her arms and back had ached from hauling boulders the night before. Her whole body had ached from a long week of sleeping on a hard floor and fighting off wild Pokémon and Rockets. But all that was gone now, all her aches and pains, gone, as if washed away by a gentle hand. She thought she could almost feel a... presence – there was no other word for it – reaching out to her. In the trainer's arms, Caddie cooed, almost purring, clearly experiencing the same relief from fatigue. The Delibird relaxed, leaning against Fin's chest. Trainer and Pokémon alike felt as if they would like nothing better than to stay like this forever...
Screeeeeech! Fin gasped, jolted out of her reverie, and Caddie gave an indignant squawk. The trainer thought she felt a shudder ripple through the presence she'd felt, and then it pulled away, as if frightened. She shivered, suddenly feeling cold and alone. Then she heard voices coming from further down the tunnel:
"Dammit!"
"No, no, try it over here!"
"You do it, if you're so smart!"
It had to be the Rockets. Fin rushed further down the glowing tunnel, sliding a little on the floor of slick crystal. She straightened herself and slowed a bit, more worried for Caddie's safety than her own, knowing she could take a fall herself, but that the Pokémon's light bird-bones would likely not hold up against being thrown to the floor. Still, they had to hurry, so she walked as quickly as she could while retaining firm footing.
Finally they came to the end of the tunnel. Despite their circumstances, Fin could not resist letting out a low whistle of appreciation at the incredible dome of crystal that the passageway opened into. The ceiling swept up, and the floor swept down, and at its center—
"Oh, holy—" Fin drew her breath in sharply, one hand flying to her mouth. The other remained securely around Caddie, who sat still and silent, staring without so much as a peep of amazement. What she saw was a legend among legends – Fin had barely given a thought to the fact that this might really exist, let alone that she would ever see it. But there it was. The gentle presence Fin had felt before came rushing back, stronger now, but different. Desperate.
Fin understood now what she had felt when the party of trainers had first entered the cave – the mystery, the reverence, the ceremony. This was indeed a sacred place, the site of pilgrimages in times long past, the home of an ancient mother goddess. The home of Mew.
It was all Fin could do not to sink to her knees at the sight of the legendary Pokémon imprisoned in the great crystal at the chamber's center, almost overwhelmed. So powerful, and yet so gentle. So ancient, and yet so youthful. So beautiful. Tears welled up in Fin's eyes, and she made no effort to wipe them away, letting them drip slowly down her cheeks. So beautiful, but – she looked so serene, sleeping within her crystal prison, but the trainer could sense so much pain in the presence she felt. So much pain!
SCREEEEECH! The hateful sound of the Rockets' drills seemed almost to cut through Fin's skull, and she flinched. Team Rocket – it was them, of course. It could only be them who would torment such a beautiful, amazing entity for their own selfish, and ultimately meaningless, ends. Her face contorted, almost physically pained by the thought of what the Rockets were doing. She wanted to scream, wanted to scream enough to make their heads burst for what they'd done, for what they were trying to do.
But she couldn't do that. Couldn't even if she wanted to. And even if she'd had the power to kill them all at a stroke, she didn't know that she'd be willing to. Once the first wave of anger passed, she knew that doing that would have made her as bad as the Rockets themselves. It wasn't something Mew would want done, even to save her. So there was only one thing Fin could do... She looked back down the crystal tunnel they'd come through. No, the other trainers were still too far back to help them. They'd have to do this themselves.
"All right, Caddie," she said quietly, placing the Delibird on the floor beside her. She suddenly felt so eerily calm that she almost frightened herself. "We may not be the best of battlers, but if there's anything we can take out, it's a bunch of Rockets." She scanned the chamber before them, studying the Rockets and their equipment. They were even using explosives on the crystal that held Mew. How dare they? That was their first target, then.
"Okay, here we go, girl!" She'd practically shouted it, and all the Rockets' heads turned toward her. But it was what she did next that made them scatter.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" With a shout somewhere between a war cry and a primal scream, and a look on her face that would make a fierce Amazon queen proud, Fin launched herself down the slope of the great crystal bowl that made up the chamber, Caddie following close behind. They slid on their hindquarters to the floor of the cavern, Fin knocking over like bowling pins a Rocket Grunt or two who hadn't quite made it out of the way.
The trainer leapt to her feet, clocking with her fist a Grunt who came forward to challenge her. Caddie slid a few more feet before scrambling up herself. "Caddie, Ice Beam!" Fin yelled, pointing at the explosives and drills surrounding Mew's crystal. She tripped up another reckless Grunt, and gave him a kick to the knee for good measure with a heavy leather boot.
"Del deli!" The Delibird's icy spray coated the explosives, putting out the lit fuses on several of them, and clogged up a drill or two. From the shouts of "Ow!" from the Rockets operating the equipment, it must have caused a few decent cases of frostbite, as well.
Fin smirked. But then she was knocked to the floor by an explosion – Caddie hadn't gotten quite everything. "Dammit!" Fin cursed, clambering back to her feet and rubbing the elbow she'd fallen on. "Caddie, again! Ice Beam!"
"Libird!" She got the remaining explosives, this time, but one of the drills had already been chipped free of ice. The Ice Beam plan wasn't quite going to get them where they wanted to be.
As she tried to run through a mental list of Caddie's moves, Fin had to fight off another three Grunts. She gave them a punch to the side, a knee to the groin, and a boot to the head, respectively. "Ouch!" The trainer had received a fist to the stomach, in return. She gasped and bent over, trying to catch her breath, her train of thought interrupted. "Do something!" she wheezed to the Pokémon, gesturing toward the drills.
With a more cheerful "Deli!" than was perhaps appropriate to the situation, Caddie launched a Toxic attack at the drills that had started working again. The spray of poison began eating away at the metal, and made the Rockets operating them leap back.
Fin chuckled weakly, finally standing up straight. "Good job. Forgot you knew that." She glanced up. The three Rockets who'd been working with the drills and explosives were advancing on them now. "Use Hail on those guys, Caddie!"
The Delibird sent a shower of ice like large marbles at the Rockets, clonking one on the head hard enough to knock him out, but only bruising the other two enough to make them more angry. "You're gonna pay for that!" one of them yelled, and came at Fin, swinging his fists.
Fin dodged away, but still got a blow to the arm for her efforts. "Ow!" She shook it out, then pointed to her attacker's feet. "Ice Beam!"
Caddie complied, and the Rocket's feet were frozen in place. "Hey!" he yelled, but Fin ignored him, turning away and toward the last Rocket.
"Caddie, Ice Beam again!"
But the Rocket acted first, snatching a chunk of crystal from the cavern floor and lobbing it at the Delibird, catching Caddie on the side of the head and making her tumble over backwards. The Pokémon wasn't seriously hurt, but for the moment she couldn't do much more than lie on the floor and rub woozily at her head with a short wing.
"No!" Fin shouted as Caddie was hit, tackling the Rocket to the floor and giving him a good sock to the jaw. "You don't touch my Caddie!" she nearly screamed.
The Rocket rubbed his chin. "Well, you were having it attack me." It was a reasonable argument, but Fin had no time for reason.
"Stay down," she muttered, standing up. The Rocket shrugged and stayed where he was, apparently not thinking it was worth the effort to challenge them anymore.
There, that was all of the Rockets, wasn't it? Fin started to sigh in relief, but stopped short as she realized that the leader of this Rocket pack, who had been the supposed head scientist, was nowhere to be seen. Where could he have—
"What's going on here!?!?" boomed a voice from somewhere beyond the great crystal. There he was. The head Rocket surveyed the damage to his equipment and his underlings, tapping one foot irritably on the floor, hands on his hips in what he obviously thought was an intimidating pose, ridiculous red-lined cape flowing out behind him. "You!" He pointed to Fin, who raised her eyebrows and planted her hands on her own hips.
"What about me, you Pokémon-exploiting b*****d?"
"You've ruined my plan! Now I'm going to have to start all over again!"
"And you really think I'm going to give you that chance? I can't believe you thought you'd get away with this in the first place! This is Mew we're talking about." She gestured to the Pokémon in the crystal. "Mew. The legendary Pokémon. This is a beautiful, unique, sacred creature. This is a god, and you wanted to capture her and use her to... to make money, or whatever it is you jerks do." She shook her head, the sorrow she'd felt before at the thought of Mew being so exploited returning. "I'm not going to let you do that."
"And what makes you think you have a choice in the matter?" the head Rocket asked, smirking.
Fin crossed her arms and glared at the man, with the faintest hint of a smile. "I'm just not going to let you get past me. What're you going to do about it?"
"This!" The Rocket whipped one of the dart-guns the Rockets had used on the trainers before from the folds of his cape and fired it at Fin.
"Caddie, Protect!" the trainer screamed, ducking instinctively. She wouldn't have been able to dodge, but the Delibird got the barrier up just in the nick of time. The dart bounced off.
"That won't last forever, you know," the man said haughtily, keeping the dart-gun pointed at her. "And when it comes down, I'll be ready."
Fin took the opportunity to catch her breath, and try to formulate a plan. They could try using Protect indefinitely, until she came up with something better... The barrier was fading already. "Protect!" the trainer yelled. But Caddie's attempt to put up a new barrier failed. Fin had forgotten that Protect rarely succeeded twice in a row, and now she was going to pay for her mistake. There was the gunshot, and then a sharp pain in her shoulder.
"Oh, sh—ha! Hahaha! Ha haha!" Fin was giggling madly, and she didn't know why. She laughed, she chuckled, she hooted. The dart – one of the laughter-inducing ones. How funny! She continued laughing, dropping to her knees and clutching her sides. "Oh, geeze, Caddie – ahaha – you couldn't do it! Ahahaha!" She looked up at the head Rocket, who was smirking down at her. "Oh, you got me, you got me. Aha!" She slapped the floor and snorted. "Ooohoohoo, and while wearing that stupid cape, even! Ahaha!" The trainer rolled onto her back and held her belly, continuing to chuckle while Caddie looked on, tilting her head confusedly.
"Did you just insult my cape?" the man exclaimed, outraged. "Oh, that is it! Take this, you feathered moron!" He aimed his dart-gun at the Delibird.
"You. Don't. Touch. My. Caddie." Suddenly, Fin was up, standing in front of her Pokémon. The gunshot sounded, but Caddie had already put up another Protect barrier around both of them. It faded soon, but the Rocket was still too surprised to react until after Fin had dashed over to where he was standing and knocked the gun from his hands. Scowling, he clenched a fist and swung at her face, but the girl easily caught and stopped his hand – he really was rather a wimpy sort of fellow, once you took away his toys.
"H-how did you recover from the dart so fast?" he gibbered, panicking.
Fin pulled both of his hands around behind his back, holding them in place. She paused, not really knowing the answer to the question. She shrugged. "Sheer willpower, I guess. On top of love." She turned to Caddie and grinned.
The Delibird smiled back, chirping a cheerful and triumphant "Deli!"
"Oh, that is so corny," the Rocket complained, rolling his eyes.
Fin laughed. "Yeah, but that's how it is. Caddie, could you bring that rope over here, please?" She gestured to a length of rope that had probably been used to tie bundles of explosives together. The Delibird waddled over to the rope and brought it back to her trainer, who tied the head Rocket's hands securely together. When she was satisfied that the knots were tight enough to hold him for a while, she scooped Caddie into her arms and ventured towards the reason they'd come here in the first place.
Fin felt the warm, healing presence surround her as she approached the crystal, realizing suddenly that this was the reason she'd recovered from the dart's effects so quickly. Remembering the dart, she plucked it from her shoulder and stowed it in her pouch with the one for a few days before, watching with wonder as the wound closed over. "Thank you," she murmured, reverently placing a hand on the crystal, looking with awe upon the tiny but elegant creature sleeping inside. In the gentle presence, Fin felt now a sense of joy, and she found herself weeping again, this time in happiness.POKEBALL GO!!
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:47 pm
Life was just one big videogame with many concepts merging or overlapping.
At least that’s what it felt like to Fluo. The first six days were but a simulation of the Oregon trail complete with daily huntings for buffalo (swarms), wagon trouble (arson attempts resulting in a hot pink mode of transportation for one team), random attacks of Dysentery (in the form of Nightshade or Confuse Ray), theft (those snarky Team Rocket grunts!), and random fruit harvesting (thank you Nine for your wonderful berry garden). In keeping with the tradition of the game, the caravan moved at a grueling pace. Some were able to adapt more than others. Sleep deprivation was wearing everyone thin. In the cramp mining tunnels, Fluo’s sanity was slowly slipping to give way to delirium. Never one to do well in claustrophobic situations, Fluo was on the verge of hyperventilating. It was the seventh day, and her caravan "rafted down the great Columbia River" by jumping over barricades as helicopters split up the group. And as soon as she walked into the mines, the “game mechanics” of the trip transformed into a fantasy RPG.
Her group entered the entrance as if they were stepping into a new world. With the dark mines and strange glowing red crystals, it might as well have been. Within a few minutes of adapting to the dimmer surroundings, the two head leaders of what was left of the expedition had instructed all trainers to seal away all pokes except for one. All the trainers had their survival gear and were told to explore the mines. Their mission?
Defeat Team Rocket. (They were this level's evil Boss-type.)
Winding through the enigmatic labyrinth of the mines, Fluo and her Alphaville continued for what seemed like an eternity. The echoes of the mines periodically informed them that their peers had encountered Grunts and were fighting the "good fight." There weren't any berries to be found to give them more hit points, or any MYSTICAL armor that would aid them in their quest. Her claustrophobia was kicking in, and to delay the onslaught she pretended she was Cloud from Final Fantasy or some other hot protagonist she saw in those imageboards under "cute male" and the fate of Zatao rested on her sweaty shoulders. Her trusty "sidekick" was beside her in the form of an ethereal black form complete with the austere glare. Alphaville was the sexy, cool silent type that all the girls pined for. Silently they crept forward, a permanent streak of sweat marking her shirt with a skunk-like design between her shoulder blades. Her trademark ponytail was slicked back. Wandering aimlessly for the better part of an hour they found the source of all the loud drilling, the floor of the entrance was lined with granulated scarlet crystals. The reverberations of the mechanical attack announced that the duo was close to the first boss. Bending down to make sure her shoelaces were tied, she glanced back at Alphaville. They mentally assessed themselves and in a silly ritual idiosyncratic to the trainer and pokemon, they mimicked putting on two black stripes on each cheek as if they were about to enter the heart of Congo to defeat the rebels. There was a stone statue in front of the closed off entrance. Like any evil lair, it was obviously the key to opening their destined room. In every game the protagonist had to perform a series of rituals or punch in the correct passcode to go through the door. Looking at the miniature David statue she turned it left four times then right once.
A mechanic click was heard, and the male statue's organ extended forward revealing a hidden compartment.
Your Party has received an item! , boomed the imaginary Narrator in Fluo's imagination. It was all part of the Fantasy RPG she pretended to be in. It was the key! Jamming it into the lock, it soundly slid in place and turned some levers forcing the door to open. They commenced through the opening.
Team Rocket formed a barricade. Any one would be hard to fight by himself
Alphaville and Fluo found themselves in a cavernous anteroom chamber with Rocket grunts on each side drilling at an oddly large crystal in the center. She tried to peer closer but the guards at the entrance were encroaching in the duo's personal area. All she could see was a long furry umbilical cord like tail encased in red crystalline structures. Her mental alarm went off. It was the item Team Rocket was over, therefore it must be important. Logical deductions compelled her to capture the red crystal structure before it fell into Team Rocket's "ambiguously nefarious" grasps.
She knew from many RPGs that the only way to get the "baddies" to see reason was through the iron fist of VIOLENCE. There were four guard types forming the barricade. Quick on her feet, she ran in place pretending a montage was going on while she was mentally prepping herself to take on the goons. She had watched lots of Bruce Lee movies, she knew some moves. Arching her body back, she delivered a roundhouse kick. Her foot connected with only the air, but instead of landing on her flat a**, she fell on her intended target: THE ROCKET GUARDS. Kicking her foot free from the pile she scooted back. Alphaville beat her to the punch. Looking up she saw her Darkrai disarming the nearby Rocket Grumps. Although it was a dark type, and weak against Fighting types, Alphaville seemed to be holding his own weight. She briefly wondered why he wasn't use mass Hypnosis or Dark Void on the offensive team while she scrambled under tables to avoid the Rocket grunts after her.
Alphaville grinned maniacally as he continued the conflagration under the senses. He physically disabled the distasteful humans in front of him in a very artful manner. This pokemon just suffered a week in Spartan conditions that were completely beneath the legendary. In short, Alphaville had a lot of pent-up stress! Revving his imaginary motorcycle like a wannabe GhostRider he took a moment to gather his thoughts as he prepared for Focus Punch! This particular thug was not delicately built like the Darkrai and clearly only understood the language of brute force. Adrenaline was coursing through his chemical makeup as he dived towards his opponent, side dodging an attack then coming up from the ground in an upper-cut move Ryu from Street Fighter would approve of. One by one he disabled the grunts with various moves. Despite his trainer's floppish ways, he knew she did not condone the physically detaining (read: killing) of any living being. Extending his spindly limbs he called out for the side walls of the mine. He called upon the Rock Tomb TM to immobilize the guards. 99% of the Team Rocket had been defeated. Stepping back and fluffing his red collar, he looked back at Fluo. She was almost at the centered, large crystal.
Fluo was finally able to see the object in the red prison. She didn't need her Pokedex to figure out which pokemon it was. Swiping wispy strands from her face she rubbed her eyes comically. She was always fond of stories as a kid, especially mythologies. The vibrantly bloody crystal did not hide the pink form, its tail or the triangular ears. Calling on her childhood memories, she knew immediately it was a Mew. She wasn't an expert on legendaries but her Darkrai and Shaymin would get chatty whenever she made boysenberry scones and talk of the "good ol' days." Reaching out to touch the crystal, a hand knocked her digits away.
An Event has Occurred!
Another underling stood in front of her. Like all the other protagonists of RPGs facing, she had twisted childhood memories-ones that would come to haunt her at inopportune moments or moments before her impending doom. With her life flashing before her eyes she remembered watching the awful Sandra Bullock movie: Miss Congeniality. Grimacing she physically shook her head to clear herself of unpleasant thoughts until she remembered important. Addressing the grunt she said, "In moments like these I like to SING." Giving his puzzled look no nevermind, she ran up to him.
"SOLAR PLEXUS!" a punch in his chest!
"INSTEP!" she whaled on his large feet (bet his banana his crying right now)
"NOSE!" his busted nasal system soiled her hands. Finally...
"GROIN!" with his hands protecting his face, she had the perfect opportunity to roast his spring eggs seven ways to Sunday.
The grunt quickly toppled over.
It's time to fight the BOSS!
Fluo needed Alphaville. They were a tandem team, and he was her magical sidekick/familiar. He was on the other side of the room, and would not reach her in time. The general called in its Muk and ordered it to use the move Poison Gas. Again, her life flashed before her eyes. She remembered a Shaman from her childhood giving her an important amulet with cryptic instructions, "You will know when to use this item. You may only use it once." Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the "holy item." It was fancily encased in a silver compartment with swirly tendrils revolving around the slender object. It looked like a glorified PEZ dispenser meet Top Cow's Witchblade. Pressing on the Dragonite's head of the dispenser, she aimed it at the Rocket General’ face. Simultaneously, fearing for Fluo's life, Alphaville sent out a strong pulse towards the general.
The Rocket General didn't stand a chance. Timbeerrrr was what the Greek chorus would have yelled had they existed, and followed fluo around. Like any RPG, the final boss was defeated in an epic way. In her mind she saw fireworks. Rushing towards the large crystal, she placed a soiled hand against its cool façade. Surely the cacophonous victory cackle she gave would be heard by the rest of the caravan. Alphaville and Fluo stood guardin the Mew waiting for the others in case any Rockets were called for backup.
YOU FOUND THE TREASURE! GAME OVER And so the RPG scenario was coming to an end, and Fluo reverted to realistic settings. She was in a dingy mining room with Rocket Grunts lined everywhere. But there was a Mew. She suspected this was the Treasure of the expedition, and so they waited.
POKEBALL GO!
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:01 pm
Lenne quietly passed by the group she had started this journey with, hoping they wouldn't notice her as her footsteps left small imprints on the dirty ground below. They were preoccupied with capturing and watching that extremely large and solid rock-Pokémon that Team Rocket had been mining. Carefully, she was now walking toward an enormously bright red light that had just appeared, down the tunnel next to the one she had originally been standing in watching the action from before with the large rock Pokémon. "Obviously it must be coming from one of those gleaming red crystals." Lenne thought to herself silently as Piper took the lead. They had nothing to do with the group anymore, so Lenne decided to take her own excursion down the tunnel before anyone else. Piper was trembling slightly, looking apprehensive and slightly angry, her fur was now standing on end and seemed as though she was going to attack someone... or something. But as they walked closer and closer to the glow, Piper seemed to calm as well as Lenne. The sweat that had been trickling down her forehead was now cleared away and she felt comfortably warm, not chilled and sweaty as she was before traveling down the mine.
Lenne looked ahead for some sign of what was going on or at least to why there was such a bright glow emitting from the crystals now. She had absolutely no idea until she found herself in a rather cavernous area of the mine, covered from top to bottom in red crystals. The room was rather muggy, a feeling of dampness and warmth could be found within it. To Lenne's amazement and Piper's senses, as they walked into the room, a gigantic part of the mine before them was filled with one extremely large and glowing red crystal. The crystal towered over Lenne and her small Pachirisu and left them in shadows as they stared upon it. It sparkled and shined as the light from the other crystals in the mine reflected off of it, creating a mesmerizing effect. Then, boggling their senses once more, Lenne noticed something located in the center of the crystal, perhaps it was a Pokémon?
"No... It can't be, can it? Mew?!" Lenne barely managed to drip these words out of her mouth she was so stunned at the sight. Her eyes were bulging and she actually let her tote bag fall off her shoulder and smash into the ground, nylon blending with dust and gravel as her belongings spilled out of it and caused dust to rise into the air making Lenne cough slightly as it did so. Piper seemed as amazed as well, but had somehow sensed the Pokémon before, and knew it to be true.
Mew was a direly sought after Pokémon, the Pokémon of myths and legends! No way could it exist, and yet, there it was before Lenne, offering itself to her, or at least offering itself in her presence. Just as the realization of Mew being bound before her hit her, Lenne noticed the area she had walked into was also filled with tons Rockets, aiming to capture the Mew. It seemed as though the Rockets were trying to extract the beloved legend from her crystal home, and no doubt would use her to their advantage and evil schemes. Though Lenne had now pronounced her a Rocket member officially as well, she did not agree with many of their methods for capture and would not stand for them to remove Mew from her crystal palace by force.
It seemed as though Team Rocket was using drilling equipment to steal Mew away from her crystals and the mine. "So that's what they were after all along..." Lenne mumbled to herself and Piper. Piper had started to spark at her cheeks again and was ready to attack the Rockets. "What's that?" Lenne asked herself as she looked towards the crystallized Mew once more. "Explosives?! You've got to be kidding me! You're going to blow up the whole mine you idiots!" Lenne was now bellowing throughout the mine, her forehead sweating again as beads dripped down to her brows.
It seemed Lenne's yelling had attracted the attention of the Rockets now, the sounds of their drills began to slow and eventually stop and Lenne stood there, paralyzed with fifty pairs of eyes on her at once. "You heard me! You better stop it! How dare you try and steal Mew! If it cared about you it'd come out for you! You're all worthless you are. I might be a Rocket myself but I'm not this dense!" Lenne couldn't help but scream more at the Rockets, but as she did so she noticed the unsteadiness of the mine. It seemed as though the rocks were shifting ever-so slightly, and at any moment could cave in.
One of the larger Rocket members stepped forward to face Lenne; he had a very round face and figure, with many wrinkles and an overall appearance of a fat gorilla. "Excuse me, LITTLE girl, but who do you think you are telling us how to work? You claim you're a Rocket, yet I don't see you drilling." He smirked, then gave a small huffy laugh as the other Rockets followed suit.
Piper was not happy with the fat Rocket trying to degrade Lenne, and used what looked like a Grass Knot attack on him. Out of no-where ten vines sprung up from the mine floor and weaved their long winding stems around the Rockets hefty legs, then pulled back, causing him to fall face-first onto the dirty mine floor and roll over, howling in pain as debris filled his pudgy eyes. At first, the Rockets laughed at the appearance of the small squirrel-like Pokémon, but after that attack on one of their largest members, they seemed to think otherwise. A few members ran forth to help the large-Rocket stand up once more; he was now covered in dust and grim on his whole front side, pieces of rock were even stuck in his balding head.
Lenne, unable to help herself, burst out laughing as the large man became a graveler right before her eyes. Even Piper seemed to find a slight amount of humor in this because her cheeks had stopped sparking for a moment and she called out. "PaacccchiiiI!" Her call bounced off the walls of the mine blending with Lenne's laughter making a rather tantalizing sound.
"Ergh! You'll pay for that!" It seemed as though the large man was rather upset at his fall, especially by such a small Pokémon and her feminine trainer. He dusted himself off poorly as he was helped up, for even after swiping his hands up and down vigorously for a few seconds, it seemed as though not a speck of dust had been removed from his black attire. His head also still contained some pebbles, though most had fallen out as he stood. "Attack them you guys! We can leave Mew for a moment! They won't take long!"
Coming to realize that this large man must have been an executive, Lenne realized the error of her ways. "Agh, attack us, all of you?! Seems a little one-sided to me, but me and Piper WILL beat you down!" Lenne was once again bellowing through the mine and a few weak stalactites fell from the mine-roof above. Because Lenne and Piper were both small in size, or weight, they easily avoided the dropping formations, but Lenne's bag and the large Rocket wasn't so lucky. The bag was pummeled upon by quite a few larger rocks, which caused Lenne to squeal, while the fat man got hit in the head once more by some smaller falling rubble. He quivered as they hit him and screamed trying to get out of the way but to no avail. After screaming once again, a larger rock fell and hit him straight in the head as he tried to move, knocking him out cold and sending dust flying everywhere.
Many people coughed and covered their mouths during this time, but it was an even better time to attack, Lenne thought. She called out to Piper to use a Shockwave attack on as many people as she could while Lenne ran forth and attempted to attack as well. Though she may look small and frail muscle-wise, she packed quite a punch in her kicks, and ran up to the closest Rockets, doing all she could to subdue them.
Piper, on the offensive, was sending out pulse after pulse, sparking erupting from her faintly yellow cheeks. The dust was finally fading away to where the Rockets could see and breathe properly again, but already they were losing numbers. Piper's attacks were rendering many of the Rockets in paralysis, which was perfect for Lenne to knock them out completely by giving them a kick or two to the head. Sure, Lenne hated fighting dirty, but to beat a Rocket, sometimes you have to stoop to their level, plus she was outnumbered anyways.
Just as things were starting to turn in Lenne and Piper's favor however, the Rockets caught on and began to drill again, as well as released a few Pokémon to fight them. "Agh! Piper, we have to stop them! I'll try and distract the Pokémon, go protect Mew then attack the drill! Your electricity should be able to short circuit it I think!"
Piper, because she was so very small, easily outmaneuvered the many Rockets and houndours that tried to catch her and weaved in an out steadily losing breathe until she reached Mew's crystal. Once she was before the Mew, Piper defended using Light Screen and created a shining light barrier around Mew's crystal, protecting her from the drill's harmful path. She then ascended up the side of the drill to the top of it, her white and blue fur reflected against the shiny metal that made up the conjunction attacking the Mew. Piper darted up the side like a bolt of lightning, streaking through the sky, and attacked the Rocket controlling the drill with a thunderbolt attack, then used the same attack against the drill. Her cheeks were now glowing with energy erupting from inside her. She then sent out, with as much energy as she could muster, an extremely large and powerful thunderbolt attack, which did its job. The attack rendered the drill completely useless, thwarting Team Rocket’s plans.
While Piper was defending Mew and attacking the drill, Lenne was running back and forth throughout the area of the mine they were in, being chased by three houndour and several Grunts. She attempted to throw rocks at the dogs and Rockets chasing her, and hit a few doing some minor damage, but they still kept coming.
After securing the drill and Mew, Piper rushed over to Lenne and sent out another thunderbolt attack at the offense. She had finally stopped them in their tracks, paralyzed from the electricity. Panting for breath, barely able to breathe after all the chasing and running, Lenne thanked Piper with an extremely large hug.
“We did it…” She called out, barely audible from her lack of breathe. “Hope you’re alright Mew. Let’s call the others to get these guys out of here, who cares if they don’t like us…”
Lenne then turned away with Piper following close behind her, both out of breath and weak from the events that had just happened.POKEBALL GO!!
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:30 pm
 "Gas gas gass~!" A silver gastly bobbed through the air joyfully, his gaseous form twinkling with reflected light from the crystals. A few minutes earlier, Donut had been sent to scout ahead of the humans. There had been so much unexpected danger on this journey that Lamen had begun to take precautions. He didn't mind, of course- it was kind of like spywork! He was even singing his own variation of Mission Impossible.
Unfortunately, spywork was not usually described as hollering loudly all the while wandering straight into your enemy in plain sight- which is... pretty much what happened.
"Gas gas gaa-" -BUMP. The ghost BOUNCED like a pastry off the face of a young man- no older than his teens, surely- dressed in a black uniform, a bold red R on his generic cap and shirt. Shutting up, the pokemon just stared at the boy with completely wide eyes, as said boy stared back with equal shock and surprise on his face.
The moment Donut blinked, the patrolling Rocket exclaimed with ebullition, his mouth wide in a gaping grin- "You... must be a RAARE POKEMON!"
(Don’t look at me, he acted a lot more innocent than he was supposed to be.)
That’s when the pokemon said something that could only be interpreted as: <…Fudge.>
--
The steps of the the exhausted travelers echoed quietly throughout the tunnels, a sense of tension filling the air. Lamen had been following the group, completely spent from having dug all night- she dragged herself along in back, gazing calmly at the cave walls and the dreamlike crystals which adorned them. They were beautiful… while the other trainers slowly disappeared from sight, she gently dislodged a tiny piece to keep as a souvenir. She clenched her first around it, and for unknown reasons, it suddenly felt very warm in her hands- a tingling sensation coursed through her, bringing her sore and numb muscles back to life. As a matter of fact, she now felt genuinely refreshed, which hadn’t happened since strange events had begun to take place around the crew. It couldn’t be natural…
A generous gift from some psychic pokemon…? Lamen thought, intrigued. She didn't have time to make another observation, for all of a sudden, voices were heard shouting up towards her- one of them her own pokemon.
"GasgasGAAS!" Donut sped into view in a state of panic and zipped behind his trainer, hiding from the clumsy Rocket who had been chasing him through the labyrinth of tunnels. A pity nobody was there to see it, because it would have made for fine entertainment.
-"Wait! Wait for meeee, rare pokemooonnnn! I want youuuu!" The boy shouted after him, bursting out of a side-tunnel with a black pokeball in his hand- but he froze at the most frightening apparition he'd ever seen. Standing before him was a some kind of ghost, pale-faced (it was all the work of the glowing mineral light, really), with long gray hair, enveloped by silver mist... (oh right, and Donut too.) He screamed.
-"AAAAHHHH!"
Okay, it was time to act- now or never. Lifting her extremely heavy backpack over her shoulder as fast as she could, Lamen swung the entire thing in a wide, smooth arch and WHAMMED it against the Rocket's incredulous head. With the full force of the hit, he was propelled against the wall of the cave and KO'd as he slammed against the crystals.
Lamen stared at what had been done, Donut floating up to take a peek behind her shoulder. That gaining muscle mass by digging idea was no joke. Blinking at her bag in amazement, she went over to check if the boy had been injured, and nodded with satisfaction as she observed that he was only going to get a couple of huge bruised bumps on his head.
"Sorry, kid. That's Lairon Brand Backpacks for you." She apologized, adding a new slogan to the list of those she had seen from the commercials:
Lairon Brand! To toss off a Seismic Toss!
Lairon Brand! To knock out the Rollout!
Lairon Brand! To punt a Rocket Grunt!
It wasn't as fancy as she would have liked it to be, but there were more pressing things to think about- first, if a rocket grunt was here, then that meant they had caught up. Second, if he had come from the direction in which she had sent Donut, they were ahead... where the other trainers had gone.
BOOM.
The loud noises of a fight started down the way, and the gray haired girl had no time to formulate a plan if she was going to help the others. Picking up the shard of crystal she had dropped and stuffing it into her pocket, she ran ahead, leaving her bag behind, letting the calm vigilance needed of such situations settle in.
The trainer burst into the chamber filled with red light, and was immediately greeted by the sight of another Rocket grunt. This time, he took the initiative.
--"Weezing! Sludge Bomb the intruders!" His voice was harsh and full of violence.
"Donut- Hypnosis, now." Lamen commanded, stepping aside in a split-second to avoid the Weezing's attack, which exploded on the wall behind her in a toxic mound.
The gastly said, releasing his own attack- hypnotizing waves traversed a short distance before him, but only worked on the enemy pokemon. The weezing's eyes closed as it dropped onto the ground, trapped in deep slumber. The darkly clad man before him, however, was still wide awake and grinning as he took out his gun.
--"You think I didn't take precautions against such moves? Fool!"
"Donut, use Dark Pulse." Her voice was cold and quick.
Realizing the danger, the gastly swiftly drifted before Lamen, just as the Rocket pulled the trigger.
-BLAM.-
Everything appeared to be still as the bullet floated a few inches in front of the ghost type's face, its path halted in the center of a vertical pool of dark waves- they pulsed once and faded, letting the bullet drop with a metallic clink.
There was no time to think of what had happened, as now, several of the Rocket grunts were standing around Lamen, air aflame with hate- but around the trainer, there was almost an aura of frost.
They launched their pokemon's attacks against her and Donut one after the other, and she, with intense focus on the situation, defended herself and her companion's life with all of the intelligence and precision she could find.
Commands were called simultaneously, adrenaline coursed through each of the combatant's veins, weapons dropped out of hands, humans and pokemon alike fought, and the battle was long. Soon Lamen was dodging arms and kicks with the almost boundless energy the crystals had granted her, never pausing to take a breath as she spoke commands to the ghost which fought by her side. Sweat beaded her forehead- and she could see that Donut was getting tired. He needed health if this was to continue.
"-Donut. Dream Eater!"
"Gass!" As her pokemon made way towards the sleeping Weezing to initiate the attack, the trainer had to prevent the remaining two rockets who were after her from reaching him. She slipped past the first's grabbing arms, but as she was fleeing the second managed to kick her hard in the back of the legs- she collapsed backwards, but used the opportunity to grab one of the Rocket's legs and pull it down with her. She had no weapon? Now she did.
--"Gah!" The man yelped, surprised as he was tripped- right onto the other Rocket member. The fall onto the solid rock ground was hard and uncushioned, unlike Lamen's. Taking advantage of her opponents being down, she stood up- only to see that her gastly was back by her side, extending a giant tongue to deliver two swift Licks to each of his opponents. One of them fainted at the disgusting ghost slobber that dripped all over her face, but the other was merely paralyzed. Good enough.
Grabbing the collar of the man's shirt, Lamen demanded, voice still emotionless: "Tell me what Team Rocket is planning here, and how I can stop it."
His eyes were wide in fear as he answered with a trembling voice.
--"Please don't hurt me! It's not me, it's the higher ups, I'm just following orders-"
"GAS. GASTLYY!"
At her pokemon's alarmed cries, the gray-haired girl looked up... and right besides her was a red crystal... in which the legendary pokemon, Mew floated.
Both she and Donut could do nothing but watch Mew in awe, realization dawning upon them. Hidden underground... all this time, we were looking for you.
POKEBALL GO!!
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 6:42 pm
Reddish light slowly flooded the tunnel as the glowing crystals became larger and more numerous as they went along, allowing the short trainer to see better and better the farther he walked. That was always nice, he figured; he didn't want to trip or stub his toes on things like Alastair had. It didn't matter, though, Zuki suddenly realized. He felt much better than he had in days, a lot better, for some inexplicable reason. He wasn't tired or anything, he wasn't even that scared anymore, despite the vicious drilling noise that now filled the cavern. He felt... calm, warm, ...at peace. He wasn't even worried about the continuous pounding and drilling noises.
Ryou, however, was more suspicious. He felt the calming, comforting wave wash over him and it seemed reassuring in a way, and he let his mind wander freely, although he stayed more alert than his trainer. This feels rather... nice. I haven't felt this revitalized since we went to that hotel once, and I snuck into the hot tub and got cake crumbs in it. I wonder what's causing it... Maybe the same thing that's making these crystals glow... Speaking thinking of which, the umbreon thought it strange that they'd seen more and more of the crystals. They were even walking on the things now, and the glowing crystals felt warm on his paws. He couldn't help but stop to wiggle his toes. His eyes glowed blue as he lazily sent dark energy ahead of them, and it crawled in invisible tendrils towards the innards of the cave.
His heart nearly stopped.
He froze where he stood, blind eyes wide and the fur along his spine standing on edge. All the calm, warm feelings evaporated in an instant when he felt the immense amount of psychic energy pulsating from one tiny little bundle of floating fur. He didn't have to see it or smell it to know what it was, he didn't need to even be anywhere near it. But still... it couldn't be.. could it? He refused to believe it until he could see it for himself, through Kazuki's eyes or otherwise. But... Team Rocket was there too, weren't they? Yes, the drilling noises were coming from that direction too, and he sensed the presence of many humans in that room. Oh. Oh crap.
He forced his tense, rigid body into motion, snapping at his short human's ankles with urgency, sending the confused trainer stumbling to avoid being bitten or stepping on the petite pokemon. "Ryou! What--?" He began to ask, when the dark-type's ears pinned back and he hissed loudly. Whether the source of the psychic energy was the legendary creature he thought it was or something else, the more important matter was that Team Rocket had only ill intentions for it.
"Breon!!" He cried to his trainer, his senses on high alert and his mind in absolute chaos as millions of thoughts raced like rapidash through his brain, hurtling the pokemon into a mild, self-induced state of confusion. He forced himself to ignore the pounding in his head as he turned to the bowels of the cave and hissed loudly, before he bolted towards it as fast as his thin legs could carry him.
"What in the world..?" Zuki muttered, even more confused now at his pokemon's strange behavior, and all traces of the calm and warmth he had felt and accepted before were gone, had vanished. There were only a few reasons for his eldest pokemon to act in such a way, and all those possibilities were terrible things to think about. Worry and paranoia plagued him as the trainer dashed after the lithe creature, a thousand horrible situations running through his head. Whatever Team Rocket had planned, it had invoked the wrath of the tiny scarred pokemon.
His heartbeat quickened with every stride, and the dark-type's eyes continued to glow blue as he focused in on the aura of the psychic-type. He pushed himself to the limit, panting as ran as fast as possible towards the source of the psychic waves. Upon reaching the end of the tunnel and, consequently, the large dome of rock and glowing crystal that made up the heart of the cave, once again he felt his heart almost stop. The dark aura took the shape of the psychic-pokemon, and he cursed inwardly as he found his previous thoughts to be correct.
Kazuki finally arrived, breathless and weary, where Ryou had stopped. He stared down at the dark-type, intending to question him on his outrageous and worrying behavior, when he noticed the insane amount of Rockets running about. They were shouting, yelling, cursing, ordering, drilling, and just causing an awful racket. He froze at the sight, going slightly pale as his mind shrieked at him to turn and run from them, but he couldn't move his legs in the slightest, not even to literally save his life. In his fear-induced paralysis, the mortified trainer allowed his pale blue eyes to study what they were doing. Drilling at a massive red crystal in the middle of the room, the Rockets were too busy to notice the newcomer and his pokemon, so they hurried about their business, busily chipping away at the glowing crystal. Kazuki blinked, momentarily forgetting his fear and replacing it with curiosity. Why in the world would they drill through such a massive crystal? Certainly they could go around it. Oh, but... He squinted, trying to make out a blurry shape behind the crystal. No, it was... inside the crystal. But what? Something.. oh dear. Not just any something. A pokemon. And not just any pokemon, it was Mew.
Mew, the legendary pokemon; known by all, seen by few. Said to be the beginning of all pokemon, and a force to be reckoned with in such a small fuzzy body. He'd heard stories and seen pictures of it, but obviously the short trainer had never actually seen one. All he could do was stare in wonder and awe at the curled up bundle of pink fur, unable to bring himself to move or look at anything else, his mind a total blank.
Ryou, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He knew it was Mew, a pokemon only seen by a select few and hardly ever in its true form. Mew, if not the most powerful, it was one of the most, and it hid itself from humans for a reason.
Team Rocket did not want the fossils, no; that was a ploy to lure the trainers on the wrong track, and perhaps they had resurrected fossils to slow down the group of humans. No, they wanted Mew, that was for certain, but for what purpose? Clearly for evil, for terrible things. It would be like Inhinx all over again, only with many more ruthless, controlling humans and one abused pokemon, and the effects would be on a much larger, more destructive scale. The thought of something similar to Inhinx happening made his blood boil. But to use Mew for this? Mew, who stood for all that was innocent and pure? Surely they could not control such a creature as Mew, but all possibilities aside they intended to harm the psychic-type, use it for all their ill purposes and misdeeds, and would stop at nothing.
...unless someone made them stop.
The dark-type lowered his head and bared his tiny fangs, his ears pinned to his skull. His back arched and the fur along his spine stood on end while his tail whipped quickly back and forth. Claws extended as his eyes continued to glow an eerie dark blue, and all the rings along his body faded from yellow to blue. How dare they. How dare they. The thought that Team Rocket could and would harm such a legendary pokemon as Mew infuriated the umbreon, made him want to shred them to teeny tiny itty bitty bite-sized pieces. A growl started deep in his throat, growing in volume and ferocity until it ended in a loud, threatening snarl. They would not harm mew, they would not even so much as attempt to control it, and there would not be a second Inhinx. Not if he had anything to do about it.
With another snarl, he flooded the floor of the cavern with a thick, dark blue aura. It swiftly crawled up the legs of some of the now panicking grunts, surrounding them in the harmless dark energy. That is, until Ryou levitated them and slammed them as hard as possible against any wall that was farthest from them. From that wall, he sent all of them hurtling through the air and into the opposite wall, before bringing them back and forcing them all to collide in mid-air. The aura suddenly dissipated around them, and they crash-landed into the ground, collapsing into an unconscious heap. The dark-type let out another snarl as he charged through the dissolving dark energy rolling lazily along the cavern floor, and launched himself onto one of the Rocket grunts that had been operating one of the drills.
"Ack!" He cried in surprise and alarm; he hadn't bothered to look at the commotion, he was just doing his job, and his job was to use the drill until they could get to Mew, and not to stop for anything! The scarred umbreon had other ideas for the grunt, however, and clawed up the flailing human's back, intending to bite his face. Before he could, though, something blunt, hard, and incredibly painful collided with his right side, flinging him away with a sharp cry from his target and onto the floor.
The blue-eyed trainer had snapped back to reality at the first of Ryou's snarls, but pure confusion and indecision kept him frozen, and he found himself unable to move, speak, or really do anything but blink and stand there, mouth open and eyes wide as dinner plates. He could hardly believe it. They were in front of possibly 20 members of Team Rocket, who intended to capture and control Mew. They--
"Bre!"
Everything flooded back to him, hitting him like an epic brick to the face when the umbreon's cry reached his ears. Ryou was going to protect Mew at all costs, he realized, and was fully prepared to do it alone if he had to.
But he wasn't alone.
"Ryou, confuse ray!" Kazuki shouted, suddenly finding his voice. He didn't know how or why, but his pokemon's actions had invoked a strange feeling in the trainer. This was bigger than himself, bigger than Ryou, bigger than the wagon train and everything they had been through thus far. Team Rocket was going to capture mew and use it to their advantage, and Zuki knew that his blind pokemon associated that with Inhinx. He had to stop them no matter what, but not for himself, for mew, for Ryou, for Con, and for all the pokemon that had suffered at Inhinx, for all the pokemon that had suffered since they started this ridiculous plan, and he could not, would not let his timid nature or fears stop him.
"Bre!" The dark-type replied with renewed strength, immensely grateful to hear his trainer's voice, and swiftly complied. Kazuki covered his eyes as a blinding ray of light filled the cave, confusing over half the Rocket grunts. The now-disoriented grunts blinked and, in their confusion, began to wander about and cause even more problems, but not for the short trainer and his dark-type. Several Rockets that had been using drills turned and started using them on the ground, random smaller crystals, and even tried to use them on other Rockets.
"Keep that thing away from me!!"
"ACK!!"
"OWWW!"
"Joe, what are you doing?! It's me, Alan!"
"What are you talking about, Joe?! I'm Alan!"
"Wait, stop--"
"What are you--?"
"ARGH!!!"
Kazuki grabbed the nearest heavy object -- a large red crystal -- and turned towards the Rocket nearest him. He must have been suffering from the Ryou-induced confusion, because he dashed right over and waved to the short trainer. "Hey, hey you! Have you seen Trish anywhere? I can't find her! There are a lot of weird people here too," he said, pointing to the other Rockets, unaware of the fact he had the same exact outfit on, "wearing some kind of superhero clothes or something. Trish!" He called suddenly, waving to a large rock behind Kazuki. "Trish, where have you--?" He couldn't finish his sentence, as the moment he turned away from him, the short trainer had raised the crystal above his head, when--
WHACK.
Another Rocket grunt, surrounded in a blue glow, crashed into the one seeking someone named Trish, and both were knocked out cold. Kazuki blinked, slightly confused, and lowered the crystal he didn't have to use. He turned to study the situation, and noticed that a lot of the Rockets that hadn't been affected were busy trying to get their comrades to snap out of it. Some of the confused ones had started fighting each other, and a few of them were even knocked out. Several of the more sane Rockets were glaring daggers at the trainer and his pokemon, and had each sent out their strongest pokemon, as they were unable to send out more than one, for some strange reason.
"Who is he?!"
"It doesn't matter, get rid of him!"
"Dour...."
"Sneasel!"
A sneasel dashed straight towards Kazuki while several houndour surrounded the blinded umbreon, growling and snapping at him. The scarred pokemon bared his fangs, knowing full well these canines didn't play-snap like Con did. He snarled again, shooting out three powerful shadow balls that sent all three of the houndour sprawling.
Kazuki froze as he saw the sneasel, painful memories washing over him as he stared at its menacing claws and ruthless expression. No, he couldn't freeze up here, he couldn't succumb to his fears; if he did, then that was the end, the Rockets would win, and that was not going to happen. He swallowed his fears and forced himself into action, throwing his only means of protection at the pokemon in hopes of knocking it out or driving it off.
"Snea..." It growled lowly as it easily dodged the flying object, readying its claws and preparing to pounce. Instead, the crystal hit another one of the confused Rocket grunts, knocking him out.
With his foes down for a moment, the scarred umbreon focused on the other dark-type pokemon that was threatening his trainer. He growled, fangs bared, and leaped into the air above the sneasel and, as it jumped, his tail glowed white and he did a swift somersault, coming down and slamming his iron tail into the Rocket's pokemon, consequently sending it crashing into the ground. Ryou landed, tail still glowing white, and he swung around as the sneasel stumbled up onto its feet, allowing it to stand for a moment before landing a crushing blow into the other pokemon's side, sending it crashing straight into the now dented wall, unconscious.
By then, the houndour had recovered from the shadow balls and were circling the blind pokemon, snarling menacingly. His tail whipped back and forth as he growled back at them, then loosed a powerful flash at them, using confuse ray for the second time. The confused canines blinked and looked from Ryou to each other, and one leaned over and bit the second on the ear. It howled in pain before tackling the offending houndour, and they both proceeded to roll around the cavern floor and beat the snot out of each other. The last one started growling again, staring at Ryou -- or so the dark-type thought, until the dog jumped right past him and ran head-first into a large crystal, attempting to attack his glowing red reflection.
A deep, thunderous howl reverberated throughout the cave then, sending a chill down the short human's spine. He whipped around, trying to locate the source of the ominous call, when a paralyzing wave of dark energy washed over him, jagged lines of dark purple light crackling around him. Letting out a sharp, painful cry, Zuki dropped to his hands and knees, trembling all over from the force of the dark pulse. The large houndoom stepped out from behind a jagged rock and bared its sharp fangs, growling at the immobilized trainer, and opened his mouth, about to use a powerful crunch attack, when--
SSSHBAM!
A thick beam of amber light erupted from somewhere off to the side, landing squarely on the houndoom's shoulders. The force of the attack sent him hurtling backwards with a loud yelp, crashing into some Rocket grunts, all of them landing in an unconscious heap on the ground. The petite dark-type rushed over to Zuki, ears pitched forward tentatively in something that seemed remotely similar to something possibly related to worry. Almost. "Bre?"
"I'm fine," he gasped, a hand on his back as he turned and sat down, his voice breathless and slightly pained, although he tried to hide how much the attack had hurt. "Remember the contest Luna forced us into, Ryou?"
The dark-type just gave him a blank stare, ears flicking backwards. How could he forget that sorry excuse for a contest? He should have won, with how he--
Oh. Ooohhh. Clever boy.
A devious grin spread across the dark-type's muzzle and he turned to the Rockets, focusing in on each and every one of the remaining ones, confused or not. "Bree!" He cried as about fifteen to twenty tiny balls of dark blue energy surrounded him. They began to spin in place before all of them began swirling around him in an ellipse, all the while his eyes and rings glowing deep blue. Each ball of energy swelled to the size of a basketball while the confused grunts stared on in a daze. The more sane ones, at least the ones that hadn't been knocked out by their own defeated pokemon or by the confused grunts, began to panic and run around. With a sharp, angry cry the dark-type released the shadow balls, then swiftly covered himself in a rippling blue aura. The glowing dark blue balls became surrounded in a lighter blue aura, and instead of hurtling off in random directions, they all curved and headed towards the now panicking Rockets. All of them, confused or not, realized that giant floating balls equaled BAD, and ran past the drills and huddled near a far wall.
"Bree....." Ryou growled, head lowered and back arched as he concentrated, using the shadow balls to force the Rockets to stay where they were, and he allowed a blue glow to surround the drills. He carefully floated them over around the disgusting humans, and dropped each one in a circle around the group. He ignored the loud crashing sounds of man-made machinery being broken and battered, and forced the shadow balls to circle the busted machines and stop just a couple feet from the bits of useless technology and scumbag Rockets. He forced them all to spin in place before a small pinpoint of light formed in front of his forehead, which quickly swelled to the same size as the shadow balls, and surrounded it with a blue glow. He sent the blast hurtling towards the dark attack, but at the last minute it curved around into the spinning shadow balls, which forced it to continue swirling around the Rockets in an ominous circle of blue and golden light. He continued the hyper beam until the amber light swelled larger before he stopped it, then forced the shadow balls to contract inwards, causing the hyper beam to travel more swiftly around them. The instant the combined attacks touched the broken and battered remains of machinery, the short trainer grabbed the dark-type and pulled him behind a large, glowing crystal, that effectively shielded them from the massive explosion that followed as the hyper beam collided with the engines of each machine. It tore a large hole in the side of the cave, blasting the rest of Team Rocket through it and off somewhere that neither trainer nor pokemon could see. The blind umbreon pulled himself free of Kazuki's arms and slipped around the rock, surrounding the unconscious grunts and their pokemon that they had knocked out beforehand in a blue glow, and with that he flung them out through the gaping hole and towards the rest of their teammates before the smoke and dust had even cleared.
Once it did, the blue-eyed trainer stumbled out from behind the pulsating crystal and coughed, waving one hand in front of his face to wave away the dust. Immediately he looked for his blinded pokemon through the still disappearing dust particles, and spotted him standing, trembling, in front of the massive red crystal in the center of the room. His rings faded from a powerful blue to a feeble golden glow, but his eyes remained dark blue as he studied the psychic-type, which was still curled up and floating in the middle of the beautiful glowing crystal. Despite how drained he felt, how exhausted he was, he remained standing there in front of the crystal, staring at Mew. Unharmed. Mew was unharmed.
His trainer stumbled over, still feeling the effects of the houndoom's powerful dark pulse, and dropped to his knees behind the scarred umbreon. He scooped up the exhausted pokemon and looked him over for any obvious injuries. He'd gotten pretty beaten up because of the other pokemon, but he seemed to be suffering from exhaustion due to using attacks than sustaining them. It was an awful thing, but still better than the latter. "We did it," he murmured as his pale eyes flitted up to the unbelievable sight before them. He stood up rather shakily, still holding the scarred pokemon in his arms. He hesitantly reached out and touched the red crystal, looking it over. The Rockets had certainly done a number on it, but Mew was inside, just fine. "..we did it. Team Rocket won't hurt mew, because of us. Because of you," he added, looking down at the dark-type in his arms, though the pokemon continued to focus his unseeing eyes on the legendary creature, perhaps pretending not to hear all the sentimental crap his trainer was spouting. "I couldn't have done that by myself, Ryou. Thank you."
I couldn't have done it by myself, either, the blind pokemon thought to himself, relaxing a bit in his timid human's arms. They had done it, they had succeeded in forcing Team Rocket back. He would not allow disgusting humans like those to abuse such a pure pokemon, would not allow them to use it like he and Con had been used. It would have been much worse than Inhinx had they succeeded. They wouldn't come back, but if they did somehow, then hopefully the rest of the group would be there to help them. Neither of them would be able to go through that again so soon, the umbreon realized. Slowly, the glow in his eyes faded, leaving behind the usual lack of pigment, and he blinked once or twice before lowering his head, resting it on the trainer's arm. "Umbre," he murmured, his tone of voice tired but indifferent, and his ears slowly swiveled forward. They did it.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 6:46 pm
What was this place?
Arashi blinked, his odd eyes not used to the light after so long in the dark tunnels. He raised an arm instinctively to shield his face, and was surprised to find that the muscles didn’t complain and pull as they had these past two days. In fact, he felt fantastic; bewildered and scared maybe, but fantastic. Joyously, he stretched, marveling at his arms bathed in the odd pink light. Weird red hues danced across his skin and the rocky floor, even bathing Trist in the prismatic aura. He felt his heart lighten, and couldn’t help the sudden urge to laugh, and hugged Trist in his joy. The girafarig seemed equally effected, pressing Arashi’s shoulder with his chin, hugging him in turn. The warm and giddy feeling was overpowering, and he nearly forgot where he was or why, until a horrible ripping noise echoed down the lit tunnel. Breaking away from his poke’mon, he looked down it, confused at first.
The light of realization was nearly a painful thing, as he swore under his breath and started running for the end of the tunnel, Trist passing him by easily. They broke into a huge cavern where most of the tunnels seemed to lead, and Arashi had the odd sensation of walking into a geode. The ceiling and walls where growing these odd crystals, ranging from shades of a light and playful red to a nearly white pink. These must’ve been the source of the pink aura that filled the area.
However, he didn’t have time to marvel at this awe-inspiring place. Dead center of the crystal chamber stood a monolith made of what looked like a crimson glass and inside there was… was something. Curled up and sleeping it looked like, maybe a poke’mon? It was ethereal and beautiful, save for the horrible, jagged cracks that ran through the crystal, like wounds from the hammering of the drill. “s**t! The brats are here!”
Crap.
The Rockets that weren’t operating the drill started pulling out poke’balls, or yelling instructions to those already out of their ball. There were so many! For a moment, Arashi’s heart faltered, and he wondered why he’d come. There was no surviving this, how could they? He heard voices behind him, shouts of anger and dismay. Calls out to poke’mon and friends alike, preparing for what seemed like an epic showdown contained in a pink snow globe. He wasn’t alone.
“GIRA!”
A blur, and then Trist was charging off into battle himself, glancing over at Arashi expectantly. He shook his head and called out to his partner.
“Trist! Use headbutt!”
There was a snort as he complied, knocking the closest Rocket over before he had a chance to pull out his own poke’mon, or maybe a weapon. Arashi couldn’t be sure. He didn’t have long to think about it though, before he was rushed himself. He raised his arms to defend against the blow, ducking under instinctively as the man swung at him. He grimaced at the pain that shot through his limbs, but ignored it as he grappled with the man. “Little punk! What do you think you’re doing here?!”
The man growled low as he tried to get an advantage over Arashi, twisting his arms and thrusting, but the younger Arashi refused to let go. He didn’t even bother with an answer, instead he glanced to the side to see how Trist was doing, but couldn’t pick him out in the confusion. He hoped the girafarig was alright. Using his moment of distraction, his opponent tried to drag him forward quickly, so he could knock him over. He nearly cried out as his shoulders protested the movement, but he was more flexible than the man gave him credit for, and lunged forward, trying to use the momentum to hit the guy’s legs. The Rocket dodged, but not quite quick enough and Arashi’s kick glanced off the side of his knee, causing him to go down for a moment. “Argh! What makes you think you’re better than me! You’re nothing but some little pansy trainer that probably doesn’t even understand what kind of power poke’mon have! Do you have any idea at all?!”
He got back to both feet during his speech, and it dawned on Arashi that he felt fine too. It seemed that whatever wounds were afflicted weren’t staying. It reminded him of when Trist and he were coming from the tunnel…
The light! It was the light!
And then the drill sounded again, more shattering, and angry shouts. It was only for a few moments before they were stopped, but once again Arashi in his inexperience was paying attention to something else rather than his query.
“Oomph!”
He landed on the floor hard as he was tackled, the wind knocked out of him. He felt hands around his neck, and he struggled against the arms that held him, thrashing.
“If you kids ruin this for us, we’ll end you! End all of you! We’ll hunt you down and-“
His focus was coming in and out, not really hearing what was being said anymore. He vaguely wondered if the healing light could save you from the lack of oxygen. “-any idea what it’s worth?! What gives you the right-“What did give him the right? He really didn’t know all that much about poke’mon, or how much they were worth. He didn’t even know how to train them yet. His mind wandered as his struggling weakened, thinking on this and that as the lack of air made his thoughts fuzzy. He wondered if Trist would miss him when he was gone.
As if that thought had summoned him, there was a rush of movement and suddenly the weight was off of him. He gasped and wheezed as he looked up into soft blue eyes, a worried look across Trist’s face.
“Fa..rig?”
A warm tongue brushed his cheek as he caught his wind, looking over to see his attacker clutching his side, where he must’ve been headbutted. With his knobbed horns, the girafarig probably cracked some ribs. However, he seemed to be recovering, and frankly so was Arashi. The pounding in his head was subsiding as oxygen and health were returned to him.
Although this was a lucky stroke for him, it didn’t bode well for the fight overall. How would they beat a never ending battle? He reached up and held onto Trist as he rose, the poke’mon still poking and nuzzling him in places to make sure he was intact. The boy blushed, rather touched that Trist cared for him so much. At least he was doing something right. It was hard to believe that it had been only a few short days since he’d been under the influence of the confuse ray and had managed to-
THAT WAS IT.
His thought was derailed as the idea hit him upside the head. They couldn’t hurt them physically, but status effects probably didn’t count! After all, you could just be confused without being hurt!
“Trist! Change of plans buddy! Use confuse ray! Gogogogogo!”
He shook his head and pawed the ground, using it first on the now rising attacker, whom was still in bad shape but getting better; until he was hit with the ray, in any case. He started to look around, as if stymied to why he was even here, before wandering off to poke at a crystal that was sprouting from the rockside. Perfect!
Without having to say anything else, Arashi watched Trist take off, assaulting Rockets and their poke’mon alike with his confuse ray. It wasn’t long until he saw others catch on, and the tide began to turn. Yes, YES! He pumped his fist in the air, overjoyed. They were gonna win! But, win what? He looked up to the red crystal once more, those horrible cracks running nearly over the whole thing by now. He wondered how much longer it would hold, and if the thing sleeping inside was ok.
Without really meaning to, he found his feet were bringing him towards this structure, shuffling along as his hands nervously brushed over his dirty face and tried to brush back his hair. Absently, he thought he heard someone call out for rope. There had to be tons of it lying around the place. He came up to the pillar, and walked around it, having to dance around a bunch of Rockets that were tied up, some asleep, others confused; otherwise he would’ve stepped on them, too focused on the cracked stone.
What was in there anyway? Where did it come from, and why? He reached a patch that had fewer fissures, and could see better what looked like to be a sleeping ball of fur. Almost like a small meowth, but different. He put his hand up and touched the warm surface of the red crystal, in another world entirely. His mind was swimming, mouth open in wonder. “Any idea what it’s worth?”
The words echoed in his head as he stared. No… he really had no idea. But… did the Rockets know either? He broke his gaze to look around him, at the shattered fragments of crystal lying strewed across the floor, at the equipment and drill, his group and those tied. And poke’mon, poke’mon everywhere.
Some were in their owner’s arms, others were running around happily, glad the fight was over, their trainers laughing with them. Some just sat together, glad for this moment of quietness, enjoying the companionship they had made with their humans.
He felt Trist nudge his arm, and without thinking he rose his hand to scratch the girafarig’s ears, his heart swelling. He tilted his head to look at his friend, those blue eyes focused on him as well, and knew he was beyond lucky for what he had found in Trist. He ran his hand down along the poke’mon’s neck and back, beside the sharp spikes that rose there. Arashi even looked fondly at the tail, raising is hand to pat Mr. McBitey Face, but then thought better of it as the second head’s eyes focused on his hand and the mouth opened wide in a pointy toothed and expectant grin.
Yea, maybe he shouldn’t pet that. But still. He patted Trist’s shoulder, silently thanking him for everything before turning his odd eyes to the sleeper once more.
Maybe he didn’t know what it was worth. But he was positive the Rockets didn’t either. He’d only just begun to explore the depths of the bonds of friendship between poke’mon and humans, he was no sage teacher or aged trainer. But he did know that it wasn’t something you could take. Not even with so much force as explosives and drills. It was gifted to you in small bits, in little moments that made the days easier because you weren’t alone.
He slowly reached down along his leg until he felt his pocket edge, and blindly sought with his fingers until they glided over a smooth surface. He grasped the ball gingerly, and looked at it for a long moment. It was the poke’mon’s choice, wasn’t it? All he could do was ask, and maybe he would be given the chance. All he could offer was his best, his promise to see the sleeper as an equal. A friend, not a tool.
With a soft, half smile, he laid the ball down at the foot of the monolith, his offering of peace, and patted Trist again before turning away. If nothing else, he learned something today, and all was well; no one was hurt. What more could he ask for?
 POKEBALL GO!!
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