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 Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:56 am
By the time they stopped walking, Kasiya could already feel the difference of temperature and she felt quite relieved with every step she put between herself and the volcano. It wasn't that she didn't like Lavaridge; in fact it was the very opposite. The town was where three of her friends, two of them she'd consider best, were raised in, after all. She gazed out over the landscape, remembering when she'd hopped on Hiro's back and he'd jumped down the slope, safely carrying her to the bottom. She nodded as Keegan suggested she go off ahead. Normally, she probably would have objected and found some other hidden, ulterior motive to Keegan's wanting to split up, but not this time. As much as she liked traveling with Keegan, she too had to admit that it would be nice to have time apart.
"Yeah, that's a good idea, actually," she said, turning to him and smiling. "We've had a lot of fun these last few days and I suppose a bit of time away from each other wouldn't hurt, would it?" She placed her bag on the ground and opened the top, rummaging around a bit before she placed the egg securely inside, swaddling it with some of her clothes before she fastened it again. As excited as she was about her new Pokemon, the egg did get to be kinda heavy after a while and not to mention hot. "And besides, we'll probably see each other sometime this evening or tomorrow anyway." She stood up again and brushed off her hands before she put her arms around Keegan, maneuvering around the Vulpix that had been riding on his shoulder. "I know we're good and all, but what about Mike and Flannery?" she asked, concern apparent in both her voice and expression. "Do you think they'll be okay?"
=-=-=-=-=
Jaeshan was glad to see that all of his Pokemon seemed eager to get some training in, and before long he'd paired them off - Combusken with Shelgon, Beldum with Nidoking and Mightyena with Butterfree (the last pairing was mostly because Mightyena wouldn't have it any other way). Shelgon, Nidoking and Mightyena would be defending and evading while Combusken, Beldum and Butterfree would work on their attacks. First up, Jaeshan decided to work with Beldum, although it was a bit difficult getting Nidoking to understand why he wouldn't be the one attacking. Jaeshan chose that particular pairing mainly because Beldum would be immune to Nidoking's Poison Point ability, and the latter was also quite a bit stronger and would be able to withstand the hits Beldum would throw at him.
"We've got to work on your Take Down, Beldum," the blonde trainer said, pacing back and forth in front of his Pokemon, feeling very much like a varsity football coach or something like that. "Nidoking, you also need to work on your evasion. I think you take far too many hits during battle, and if you can learn to evade more, well then it'll end up hurting less in the long run." Nidoking gave a great, toothy grin but nodded. Rushing in headfirst was what he did best, but if Jae could help him learn to battle a little smarter, then he was willing to give it a try.
The little metallic Pokemon hovered in the air beside Jaeshan somewhat apprehensively, its red eye looking a little nervously towards Nidoking. It hadn't really occurred to Jaeshan that Nidoking would be quite intimidating to a younger Pokemon like Beldum, but after all he was trying to boost the Steel-type's confidence. "Give it a try, Beldum. Go after Nidoking with your Take Down. Nidoking, you should try to dodge Beldum's attack, and remember, do not retaliate. Got it?" Nidoking nodded as he dug his heels into the sand, preparing for the smaller Pokemon to try to attack him. Beldum did a few twirls in the air before its eye locked onto Nidoking and it zipped forward. A second or so before impact should have happened, Beldum closed its eye, and thus it didn't see when Nidoking sidestepped to the left, not until it had passed by its target completely. The same thing happened again, only this time with Nidoking going to the right. Jaeshan realized that when Beldum closed its eye it would lose track of its opponent, and somehow he had to get the Pokemon to not flinch before striking. This might be tougher than I thought... he sighed and took a deep breath. "Alright, again!"
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:03 pm
When Kasiya didn't try to take his head off for suggesting they split up a while, Keegan breathed a sigh of relief. No overreacting this time, which also meant that there would be no fighting. He chuckled to himself, realizing that since they'd first headed to Saffron together so Kasiya could battle with Nina, they'd gotten into a fight at least once a day. Twice yesterday, in fact, as he recalled how the first one had even come down to them having a Pokemon battle in the middle of Vermilion City. Funny thing was it was never just one of them at fault, either. Kassie had the amazing ability to blow the smallest misunderstandings out of proportion, and he had a similar ability to dig himself into these wonderfully deep holes from which there was no easy escape. 'One foot in your grave, and the other on a banana peel,' his mother would have said.
Helios gave an indignant snort as Kasiya suddenly invaded his territory, and deciding he wasn't sticking around for the sentimental mush that was certain to follow, he hopped down and took up residence beside Kasiya's backpack, now wearing an amused expression as occasionally the bag would shake a bit. While the fox knew it was good for his trainer to have friends other than just Pokemon it didn't mean he had to like it. Sure, the girl was nice enough (a little spastic, though he figured it had to be somehow endearing to Keegan in some way or other for him to put up with her) and he was glad she made Keegan happy, but at the same time he felt at least a little jealous.
"Yes, we are good," Keegan repeated, glad to accept the embrace. "And they will be good as well," he added, gesturing back towards town. "I wouldn't worry about them. They always somehow manage to fix things between them, regardless of what happens." He pulled the lovely girl close to him and kissed her forehead. Seems to work that way for us too though... he thought with another light chuckle. Their track record for mending their relationship after a fallout seemed to be pretty good thus far, and Keegan could only hope that it continued to work like that.
=====
Aska barely had time to recover before Gretchen was calling for another Tackle attack, and the Pidgeotto managed to speed away, letting out a sharp trill as the opposing Noctowl missed her, but only just. Aska's advantage in this battle would be her speed, but Miharu wasn't certain it would be enough to overcome the tough owl Pokemon. The Pidgeotto didn't seem to share in her trainer's worry, however, as she carefully watched her foe with a critical eye. She too knew she was much faster than the owl and she planned to use it to her advantage as much as possible. If anything, she could stay on the defensive for now and strike back if she was able to tire out the Noctowl without exhausting herself.
"Give 'em your Sand-Attack," Miharu said next, unsure if a Noctowl could not be put to sleep or had such keen vision that attempts to lower its accuracy would fail. A screeching Aska flew low to the ground, using her wings and tail feathers to kick up a blast of stinging sand. The Noctowl, who had dive-bombed her with what looked like a Take Down attempt, stopped in mid-flight as it found itself with a faceful of sand. It made very annoyed-sounding hoots and shook its head back and forth, and Miharu sighed. It seemed this Noctowl was an Insomniac after all.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:47 am
Kasiya nodded and rested her head against Keegan then. He was right! Somehow she knew that Mike and Flannery would work through it and worrying about them really wouldn't help that much. She sighed and closed her eyes. When she got to Mauville, she planned to send Fang back to Professor Oak's again and have him send her Rosemary in return. She hadn't spent much time with the Bayleef lately and she wanted to get a little bit of training in with the Grass-type before the festival. Plus, she figured that Rosemary would like to see Levi again too.
"I guess we'd better get going then," she said, pulling back and smiling up at Keegan. She plucked Fang's Pokeball from her belt and released the bat, who erupted from the sphere in a shower of green and gold sparkles. He flew his traditional three circles around the two trainers before coming to land on the ground nearby, surveying the situation. "We're going to fly back to Mauville," she told the Crobat. "My bike should be ready by now." Fang nodded and began to stretch his four wings, preparing to carry his trainer to wherever she needed to go. "I guess I'll see you guys later," she said, bending down to say goodbye to Helios. "You take care of yourself, Helios! And don't let Keegan get into trouble while I'm gone, all right?" She stroked the fox's soft fur a bit before standing up and hugging the redhead again. "I'll stick around the Mauville area until you guys catch up, okay?" She kissed him goodbye before carefully picking up her bag and walking over to Fang. "Alright buddy! Let's get a move on!" Fang stretched out his wings in order to let the girl climb onto his back, and soon the two were airborne, flying towards the city of Mauville once again.
=-=-=-=-=
While Beldum continued to work on its accuracy with Nidoking, meanwhile Combusken and Shelgon were sparing with each other. Shelgon had started off by using her special Dragon Dance technique, using the speed boost it granted to make her more difficult for Combusken to attack. The Young Fowl Pokemon had retaliated with a series of powerful kicks although Shelgon had managed to block most of them and avoid the others. Shelgon was a lot more experienced than Combusken was, so this indeed had been a good match up. Shelgon was still primarily on the defensive, and she closed her eyes and summoned up a shimmering, green barrier to Protect her even as Combusken reared back and let loose a powerful blast of flames. Combusken let out an angry growl as yet another one of her attacks was deflected and she charged forward, lashing out with her sharp claws. Shelgon grit her teeth and bared the hit, her thick shell doing its job to protect her from Combusken's wild Scratch attacks. Then, the dragon opened her mouth and sent out a volley of small fireballs at Combusken, who had been too busy with her reckless attack in order to see it coming. Shelgon had made the Ember attack weaker than normal, and it was hardly damaging to the Fire-type, but the fact that she'd left herself open to be hit caused Combusken to grow even angrier.
Jaeshan watched the two from nearby as Beldum took a short rest (even though it still had yet to make contact with Nidoking), arms crossed. He loved how Combusken was so passionate about battle, but it was easy to see that she lost her temper far too quickly and experienced Pokemon would have an easy time taking advantage of that. "Combusken, take five!" he shouted, watching as another Flamethrower crashed harmlessly onto Shelgon's protective green barrier. Sulkily, the dual Fire/Fighting-type threw herself down onto the sand, breathing heavily. Jaeshan sighed and shook his head. Combusken really needed to learn to calm down during battle.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:01 am
Keegan watched Kasiya and Fang until they vanished from sight, then he set up his bike and mounted it. A part of him still worried that the Crobat would lose focus, but he tried not to think about it. He recalled Helios, knowing the trip would be easier without him having to balance the Vulpix on his shoulder, but he did release Artemis. Having an extra pair of eyes scouting out ahead for him wouldn't be a bad thing at all. He took a deep breath before beginning the fairly steep climb down - he'd done this so many times by now it should be a cakewalk, but he always couldn't help but feel a tad nervous about it beforehand. Using a foot to push off he was away, practically flying down the slope. There were numerable ledges and jumps leading down, but Keegan knew how to navigate them all relatively safely. Not only that but once the nervousness wore off, the steady downhill decline was actually quite exhilarating.
Before long Keegan was laughing and cheering as he made it closer and closer to level ground, enjoying every second of the descent. That is, until, he spotted an out-of-place Numel sitting directly in his path. Eyes wide, the redhead had to veer off course in order to avoid hitting the thing, and everything went downhill (no pun intended) from there. The front tire of the Acro Bike rammed abruptly into a large rock, sending its rider tumbling down the remainder of the slope, pretty much screaming the entire time. Unable to stop his momentum Keegan then found himself temporarily airborne, and only at the last second did he spot the small blue and yellow creature below him. The terrified Pokemon let out a cry and tried to get out of the way, but there wasn't enough time. Keegan somehow managed to avoid crushing the tiny, screeching Pokemon beneath him completely, and within a second of landing Keegan found himself being zapped into oblivion by the Pokemon he'd landed on. To add insult (and possibly a little more injury) to injury, no sooner had the electricity died down when the unmanned bike decided it was a good time to land on top of Keegan, putting the proverbial cherry right where it needed to be. Groaning from a mixture of pain and humiliation, the redhead then let out a string of curses into the dirt which he'd just face-planted. And then, if that spectacle wasn't possibly enough, Keegan heard a voice, so sugary it made his teeth hurt, calling out to him. Or rather, yelling at him.
"Hey you, get off of my Pokemon!"
=====
Having temporarily blinded the Noctowl, Miharu and Aska had a bit of time to rethink their strategy. For good measure, Aska kicked up another blast of sand at the owl before putting some distance between her and it. "Give 'em a Twister!" the green-haired girl shouted, still unsure of how they were going to overcome this challenge. Aska sent another tornado of sorts at the Noctowl, but this one was larger and picked up a lot more debris as it traveled along. The Noctowl let out a cry as it was buffeted by the stuff the Twister had picked up, and it sent an icy glare at Aska.
"Noctowl, Confusion!" Gretchen commanded, determination ringing in her voice. The owl's eyes began to glow, and suddenly the Pidgeotto found herself unable to move as the psychic energy wracked her body. It took effort but the Noctowl held on as long as it could before it let her go, the strain of the attack causing its chest to heave. Aska, on the other hand, didn't have much time to react and she fell to the ground, managing to cushion her fall somewhat by flapping her wings.
"Quick Attack!" Miharu shouted, having not known that a Noctowl could use psychic type attacks like that. Aska gave a cry before shooting forward, wings tucked in close to help her gain speed. She crashed into the owl's side for a fairly decent hit, but backed off quickly as it retaliated with a sharp Peck attack. Both girls made eye contact for a moment and then grinned. It seemed their birds were fairly evenly matched.
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Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:26 am
Mid-way through the flight, Kasiya inexplicably felt like something was wrong and she should not have left Keegan behind in Lavaridge. She shook the feeling away though, chalking it up to paranoia, and watched as Mauville unfolded down below them. "Land by the Pokemon Center, Fang," she told the Crobat, who nodded before beginning to descend. He yawned loudly, yearning to return to his Pokeball. Being a bat, daylight wasn't his favourite time of day although he was fairly used to the sunlight by now, and he didn't mind it when Kasiya asked him to do things. a few moments later, the Crobat touched down on the ground in Mauville. "Thank you, Fang!" Kasiya giggled, hugging her Pokemon gratefully. "You know, I'm very proud of you. You get to go back and have a nice rest at Professor Oak's." Fang stuck his tongue out at the girl but grinned. He was proud of himself too! Kasiya recalled him, hugging the Pokeball to her chest as she ran in to send him back to the Professor's. She was certain he'd found somewhere to chill out during the daytime hours, and probably went out hunting at night.
The Pokemon Center was actually quite empty, and Kasiya looked around almost curiously at the lack of people. The nurse, apparently not busy for once, was leaning against the front desk, looking bored. When Kasiya came in she perked up, smiling cheerily at the girl. "Hello! Do your Pokemon need healing?" she asked almost eagerly, eying Fang's Pokeball carefully.
Kasiya wanted to say no, as none of her Pokemon were in need of treatment at the moment, but the thought of letting the kind nurse down was enough to sway her. "Sure!" she said, shrugging and heading over to the desk, where she proceeded to place Ariel, Shocker, Fang, Ada and Levi's Pokeballs onto a tray which were promptly whisked away by the nurse for care. Kasiya stretched and yawned, wandering over to the PC to prepare for the transfer. It felt very strange to be alone in the Pokemon Center for once, save for the nurse. Her Pokemon, re-refreshed and ready to go were returned to her, and she kissed Fang's Pokeball before she set it in the transfer slot, waving goodbye to the third Pokemon she ever captured - if you could call it a capture, anyway. It seem Fang had chosen to come with her and willingly put himself into a Pokeball. Kasiya smiled at the memory, realizing that all her Pokemon had been met or captured in fairly different ways. When Rosemary's Pokeball appeared, she took it and placed it onto her belt. After logging out of the PC and thanking the nurse, she headed back outside, wondering where the best spot would be to go and get some training in as she made her way towards the bike repair shop, receipt for her bike in hand. "Rydell's Cycles," she read aloud, able to spot the shop from where she was. "Easier than I thought," she smiled.
=-=-=-=-=
With Combusken and Beldum resting side-by-side in the sand, Jaeshan had less to worry about as he now set his attentions on Mightyena and Butterfree. Nidoking and Shelgon were also resting, even though they'd had the easy part during that last round of training. After a moment or so of sitting there, Nidoking jumped up and ran towards the water, diving in headlong to go for a swim. At first Jaeshan was confused by the Poison/Ground-type's actions, but then he remembered that he'd taught him how to use Surf, which probably gave him some sort of edge in the water. Perhaps it would make Nidoking stronger? Jaeshan didn't know for certain but as long as Nidoking knew what he was doing.
Mightyena barked sharply at Butterfree, who quickly fired off a Psybeam in order to try and hit the Dark-type. Jaeshan caught this out of the corner of his eye, wondering why Butterfree would use such an ineffective attack, until he saw it clip Mightyena's shoulder harmlessly. The canine's attempted dodge didn't work out so well, but even if Butterfree's Psybeams did hit him, they wouldn't hurt him at all. I keep forgetting how clever Butterfree is, Jaeshan mused, quite impressed by the two 'elder' Pokemon in the party. Mightyena let out a snort after being hit and he gave a low growl, signaling for Butterfree to attack again. The butterfly nodded before releasing another Psybeam at the canine, who deftly dashed to the right, kicking up sand behind him with each step. This gave Mightyena an idea and he pivoted, using his hind legs to send up a wide-spread Sand-Attack at Butterfree. Butterfree was quick to retaliate though, flapping her wings at a high speed and using Whirlwind to blow away the offending sand. It looked like their training was stepping up into something more.
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Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:59 pm
Crenu sighed as he looked up at the starry night sky. He was bored to death and needed something to do. He was surprised that he had asked Mitsu for her number, he hadn't even asked Ky or M.A. for their numbers nor if they even had numbers to be reached at. He didn't care to think about it much more and decided that it was best to get some sleep. His body still ached and he couldn't let something like that keep him from battling tomorrow. Walking along the beach Crenu found a spot close to the shore. There were beach chairs and huge umbrellas sticking out of the sand. From above Crenu could only imagine that they looked like big flowers on the beach. Not far from this area was a shack that probably sold food and refreshments, but it appeared to be closed at the moment. Crenu decided to make the best of it and sleep there, lowering the umbrella and putting it at an angle to block the sandy wind that was blowing in from the west. He lay his coat over himself as the night was rather chilly and went off to sleep. He wasn't particularly picky about things like food or beds and was able to fall asleep rather quickly.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
----------------------------------------------------------------
As Jason walked along with Alex towards Veranturf Town he couldn't help but notice that Zeus was buzzing around a little more than usual. The magnets he had attacked to Zeuse's already existing ones seemed to be generating a small field of electricity that was probably what was making the usualy stoic Zeus act this way. He wondered if this was uncomfortable for the pokemon.
"-en I told her, 'Janice! You're taking advantage of our friendship!' Needless to say she was...hey Jason are you listening to me?" Alex looked at Jason with a rather angry expression as she realized he had his head in the clouds again. If his eyes hadn't been opened she'd have sworn he was sleeping. As her face grew red She looked up at Zeus who would usually jump in at this point and hit Jason with a Thunder Shock to bring him back, but instead he just buzzed around oblivious to Jason's rudeness. In an instant her anger went away as this was cause for concearn. "Hey, what's up with your Magnemite?"
Jason continued to look up at Zeus before he processed Alex's question. "Search me, that's what I'm tryin ta figure out. Little guy's been floatin around like that for a while now, not long after I put the magents on him."
"You don't think they might be hurting him do you?" She asked as they came to a stop to watch Zeus for any clues.
"I don't think so, he didn't protest when I put them on earlier and he was fine during our training. It wasn't untill after that that I noticed he was buzzing aroudn a little more than usual." Jason thought hard, this couldn't be that hard to figure out. He wanted to be a pokemon researcher like Professor Birch. If it was painful or uncomfortable, Zeus would have protest when he put them on in the first place. Zeus appeared to respond well to the power boost as a matter of fact, so whatever he was feeling now had to be something that appeared recently.
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:55 am
"Hate to say it, but I can't figure this one out." Some researcher he was, couldn't even figure out what was bothering his own pokemon. Jason couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, it just didn't make sense.
"Maybe he cna't handle it, maybe he's to weak." Alex said out of the blue as she watched Zeus hover around wildly. A quick glance at Jason told her that her remark was misunderstood so she quickly corrected herself. "I mean, not weak but...you know...not strong enough." He laughed uncomfortably, not sure if Jason understood what she meant.
Jason didn't even seem to notice her original comment, or at least it didn't seem to offend him as he continued to watch Zeus. "Hmm, you may have a point there....little guys probably not strong enough yet to hold in the extra juice those magnets are generating..." He watched Zeus for a moment more before his head fell back and he fell silent.
"Jason? Hey you ok?" Alex slowly got closer to see if somethign was wrong with Jason now. "You didn't like...die or anything right?"
"...ZZZzzzzzZZZZ"
"Don't fall asleep at a time like this!" Angry now Alex started to shake Jason violently to try and wake him up. Honestly, there had to be something wrong with this kid.
Jason slowly upened his eyes, finding that his head was bobbing back and forth rather quickly. As his vision focused, his eyes widened all of a sudden as he yelled out. "That's it! All the extra energy must be what's bothering him! All we gotta do it get rid of it and he'll be fine!"
His sudden outburst took Alex by surprise and caused her to jump back scared half to death. She would have been upset, but she knew now that staying mad at this guy was useless. He was to dense to realize it and she shouldn't expect anything more. She simply sighed, a little releived that he managed to figure things out. "Alright then, what do we do o wise one? Have another battle?"
"Why of course, what else? Your surskit is no match for us now. Zeus, it's battle time!" Jason grinned with exitement as Zeus hovered over to him, a little more calm now as he seemed to realize that he was going to expend the energy he was bulding up.
"Alright, but I'm not holding back this time. Surskit, let's show 'em how it's done!" A serious look came across her face as she threw out her pokeball, a slight grinn on her face as she got ready to battle. He Surskit came out of her pokeball looking as timid as ever, but gained a confident look as she noticed that it was battle time.
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:24 pm
As Flannery stormed off, Mike could only respond with some frustration of his own. "You know what? WHATEVER!" He yelled, throwing his hands up into the air. "I'll just let people help themselves from now on, let's see how that goes!" The boy let out a very anguished roar of anger and stomped away, slamming the fence behind him. "I'm going to go training, goodBYE!" He shouted back to Kasiya and Keegan, figuring they at least deserved a farewell.
Mike exited Lavaridge and made his way to the small connecting Route 112. He didn't feel like climbing Mt. Chimney today, he wanted to be in a more isolated place; just him and his Pokemon training to pass the day. The desert? No, he didn't have any Go Goggles. "Dammit." He groaned, he always wanted an excuse to go there. Seems he would have to settle for 112. Mike walked along the path, entering a little nook hidden behind a large rock formation that he always referred to as Mt. Chimney's 'roots'. It was always quiet here, the only things around were trees and grass. It was far off the path, so he knew the chances of anyone else being there would be pretty slim. Sure enough, the only other presence there was nature. He sat by on a nearby stump and let out a sigh. "I just don't get what people expect of me."
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:22 pm
From somewhere high above where he'd fallen, Keegan could hear the screeching, laughter-like sounds of his Swellow flying overhead. Grunting, he managed to shove the bike off of him, trying to ignore his painfully throbbing everything, as well as the angry shouts from whoever's Pokemon it was he landed on. It had squirmed out from underneath him and was now shouting angrily at him, waving its arms and tail in an almost hysteric manner. Keegan could see now that it was a Minun, but its colouring seemed to be a little off. He pulled himself to his knees, muttering apologies, but it wasn't until he looked up and made eye contact with the angry girl who was now glaring at him as well that he realized just how much trouble he'd gotten himself into just now. Her normally cheerful demeanor was long gone, and somehow even her bubblegum pink pigtails seemed to be against him. "Sheena..." he murmured, shaking his head slowly. "What are you doing way out here?" It occurred to him that the night prior, she'd been asleep on the couch by the time he went up to bed, but by morning she'd been gone, left without a trace. "Where did you get to this morning?" He didn't really want to admit that he'd forgotten about her being there all together and risk making the situation worse, especially after he'd nearly crushed her Minun just now.
Her hard look softened after a moment or two and she shooed the small electric Pokemon away from Keegan. "I didn't feel like hanging around so your mom made me breakfast-to-go and me and my Pokemon headed out early. You and your little girlfriend weren't even up yet." She wore a playful smile but underneath it was a small hint of ruefulness. "I wanted to get some training in before we went to Slateport for the big party, and we had stopped for lunch. She looked up onto the ledge that Keegan had just came flying off, from which a humble Boris was peeking down at them, looking quite sorry. "I guess it's Boris' fault that you fell," she chuckled. "I told him not to go wandering off." Keegan could now see her other Pokemon around the area - her Chimecho, Windy was hovering hear the bubbly girl while Fluffy, her Delcatty had strolled right up to him and was looking at him sideways. A small Wingull swooped down from seemingly nowhere and landed on her trainer's head, staring apprehensively at Keegan. It was about now that Artemis chose to fly down from the sky and land on the ground near Keegan, still laughing.
=====
At this point both Aska and the Noctowl seemed to be getting into the battle, as soon both birds were airborne once again and looking ready to clash. Miharu called for an Aerial Ace while Gretchen called for a Take Down. The two fliers raced through the sky, eyes alert and focused. Aska screeched and lashed at the Noctowl with her claws; the Noctowl hooted loudly and smashed its wings into Aska. Grunting the two birds pulled away from each other, the last hits taking their tolls.
"Let's end this, Noctowl! Use Hypnosis!" Gretchen called. Letting out an eerie hooting sound, a peculiar glow flashed in the owl's eyes as it tried to make eye-contact with Aska.
Miharu didn't like the thought of her Pokemon being put to sleep, and neither did Aska, for that matter. Thinking quickly, the Pidgeotto whipped up another Twister, using it as a shield to block out the hypnotic waves coming from the Noctowl. Miharu clapped and cheered at the sight of the Twister, thankful for her Pokemon's cleverness. Out of all of her party so far, it seemed that Aska was best at thinking for herself during battle.
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 5:38 pm
As an afterthought to his complaining, Mike released Napalm from his Pokeball. The Magby stretched out for a moment before noticing his trainer's obviously stressed composure. He tugged on Mike's pant let, concerned.
The boy let out a weak smile and did his best to ruffle the little Pokemon's 'hair' in hopes to diffuse the situation. "It's nothing Napalm. Just girls being dumb." That simple answer seemed good enough for the Magby. Napalm let out a happy honk and hopped around, naive to the complexities of human life. Mike couldn't help but feel a little jealous. "You Pokemon have it made." he sighed. "You got all those cool abilities and you don't have to worry about dating. Life's so easy for you guys."
Napalm cocked his head to the side, the human concept of chivalry flying right over his bulbous head.
"Nevermind," Mike chuckled, standing up. Time for training. "Now let's find the nearest living creature and beat the piss out of it!" Both man and Pokemon let out a hearty grunt and pumped their fists into the air in readiness. Looking around, the duo hoped to spy anything they could battle. As luck would have it, a pair of Machop were sparring with each other in the clearing ahead. Mike and Napalm's grunt had apparently not aroused their interest, as they seemed quite into their little session.
Mike smirked a bit and pointed to the smaller one on the left, his Pokemon nodding with as much of a smile as he could bend his beak into.
"Chop!" The larger Machop on the right shot forward with a karate chop, his aim centered on his partner's left arm. The smaller (but not by much) Machop bent his knees and threw himself into a downed position to dodge the strike, the chop harmlessly slicing the air above his head. As he sprang up, the left Machop lifted his leg up for a flying side kick. Much to both of the Pokemon's surprise, the smaller 'chop was blasted back by a concussive blast of Psychic energy. The attack sent the left Machop tumbling harshly into the woods. Mike raised a hand to his ear, smiling at the eventual crashing noise and sound of snapping twigs. Napalm ran forward and jumped into the space just recently filled by the other Machop's sparring partner and struck his ready stance, right arm straight up and left arm out forward.
The remaining Machop looked at the smaller Magby with a mix of annoyance and confusion. Who did he think he was butting in on their match? He liked his tenacity, but still, rude! "Machop!" he cried, charging at Napalm, an open palm raised high.
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:12 pm
Napalm lifted his left leg up and leaned to the side, the vertical chop impacting the ground instead of his head. The Machop let out an angry cry as yet another of his karate chops hit nothing but air and dirt. As the Magby planted his foot down again he thrust his hands into the Fighting Pokemon's chest, letting loose another blast of Psychic energy. The kinetic energy traveled up his arms and exploded with a boom, sending the Machop back quite a ways. Being the athletic type, the Superpower Pokemon recovered with a graceful back handspring, then charged forward instantly. The immediate bull rush took Napalm by surprise and he was unable to react as the Machop used his long heavily muscled arms to grab the Magby and swing him around with little effort. The Fire Pokemon let out a shriek as he was let go into the dirt, tumbling across the dirt like a skipping rock on water.
Mike watched as his Pokemon was tossed around with little amusement. "Come on Napalm, you won't let this meat head push you around will you?" Even without Psychic, the boy had every bit of confidence that Napalm could mop the floor with this Pokemon. "Let's show him how hot we like it."
Covered in dirt and a little dizzy, Napalm quickly rose to his feet and shook off the slight feeling of nausea that followed from being thrown around like a football. It was safe to assume that he toyed with the mental image of setting this Machop ablaze. It was all the sweeter when he was given the green light to do so. He might as well start of with something a little lighter than full power. Napalm took in a short breath and spewed a spiraling cone of flames on the ground in front of him. It impacted the ground and with a thunderous roar, expanded into a swirling maelstrom of scarlet fire that encircled both Pokemon. The Machop yelped in pain as the wall of fire rushed past him and held his arms up to protect his eyes. As he lowered his hands, the sudden atmosphere change from open fields to a more claustrophobic (and burning) area made the Fighting Pokemon a bit uneasy. Nevertheless, the Machop put on a brave face and charged once more, making Karate Chop attempt number three.
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:28 pm
It was late, very late. Nina was lying on her side, facing Raimundo in one of the beds in the Pokemon Center; he held her closely and they spoke quietly, so as not to wake a nearby Whitney. "It feels like we never get alone time," he said, letting out a bit of a chuckle. "I mean, I love having Whitney with us, but..." He paused for a moment, and Nina giggled a bit. "But what?" she asked, a curious expression on her face. There was something she was half-expecting him to say. "But... when she's with us, well... there's certain things I want to say to you but I can't. I kinda would feel goofy if anyone else heard me." She smiled. "Well, it's just you and I right now; Whitney's fast asleep. What's on your mind, baby?"
Another chuckle. "Nina, there's something I've been meaning to tell you. A promise. I don't know a lot of things, like how long we will last, but... mm. I promise that I'll treat you right." His eyes fell soft and the most beautiful smile in the world graced his lips. "I promise." Nina's mouth fell open a little bit, and she felt as if she would cry at that very moment. "Rai... I..." She choked back a sob, and she smiled a little. "I've got something to tell you as well. I know that life is fickle and everything changes, but I promise, I promise you, that I will always love you. You will always be in my heart for as long as I live."
This seemed to take Raimundo off-guard a little. His instant response was to shake his head a little and he replied, "Don't say that. Don't say that." Nina flinched a little. "But, I mean it. Raimundo, I really mean that." He was quiet for a moment. "...All right. I believe you." He smiled, and leaned over and kissed her.
Nina felt warm and safe for the very first time in her life. When the kiss ended, she pulled away ever so slightly and let out a quiet sigh. Her lips curled into a small smile, and she looked at Raimundo with a soft expression in her eyes. She loved this boy. She loved him with every part of her being. She was willing to give her everything to be with him-- it was because of him that things finally felt right to her. Her heart finally led her in the right direction. "I love you... I love you..."
"I love you..."
Nina's eyes snapped open and she flung up in bed, looking around the room quickly, and looked to the side of the bed. Raimundo wasn't there. "No, no, no!" she hollered. Her bottom lip quivered as if being ravaged by an earthquake, and she immediately broke out into fits of screaming and crying. It was just a dream. It was just another dream, a dream of a past instance when her life actually was right-- or so she thought. It was bad enough she lived through that experience once; why was her mind torturing her with it again as she slept? Raimundo broke her heart into innumerable pieces, and she knew for a fact that he didn't love her, but she still loved him. As twisted as it was, she still loved him, despite the pain and emotional abuse she was enduring.
It was astonishing how much of an effect love could have on a person. Her world felt naught but distorted. Time seemed to pass by with the speed of a Slowpoke running a marathon; it felt as if every day that passed by was a year. She had never been genuinely happy since the moments before Raimundo revealed his true intentions: he was simply using her for his own gain. She should hate him and she knew it, but she could not bring herself to. It was largely, if not entirely, because of Raimundo that she felt helpless and useless. How long would it take her to get over this boy? How long would she feel like this? It couldn't be forever, because she had to get Anna back! Anna was the one being on the earth that Nina loved and trusted and knew that those feelings were reciprocated with. But for the time being, all that she could do was scream and cry and do her best to survive the day.
"s**t! Nina!" a voice yelled from the hallway. Lance came running into the bedroom what felt like hours after Nina began to cry, but was really all of a few seconds after. He snatched her up into his arms and held her tightly as she cried on his shoulder.
Based on true events.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:17 am
Not fifteen minutes later Kasiya had her bike back, fully repaired and good as new. Not only that, but it had been completely repainted, and instead of the candy apple red it had been before, it was now a lovely shade of forest green, much like her trademark bandanna. After giving it a good test drive, she pedaled towards Route 118 (or was it 178? She'd somehow smudged her map in that spot and the number was fairly illegible, but it didn't matter that much), keeping her eyes open for signs of wild Pokemon or perhaps other trainers for her to battle. As luck would have it, though, it seemed as though a lot of people had already taken off to Slateport for the Beach Party tomorrow, and the only person Kasiya could see was a lone fisherman standing on the shoreline, his back to her. Kasiya didn't see any Pokemon by his side or Pokeballs visible anywhere so she decided to leave him alone. If he was a trainer, chances were good he'd probably challenge her on his own accord.
She continued on a little further, stopping only when her bike's tires began to sink into the sand and she found her way blocked by water. It wasn't a large body of water, as it seemed to be an outlet or inlet or something, and she could see land on the other side. As intrigued as she was though, she was not about to go gallivanting off on a random adventure to explore the other side of the inlet just to satisfy her curiosity. Well, at least not when she had somewhere to be tomorrow, anyway. Kasiya climbed off her bike and lied it down gently in the sand. This place would do well enough for training, as it wasn't too far from Mauville and she figured she'd have an easy few hours before Keegan would get there. She stretched her arms before snatching up all five of her Pokeballs and flinging them into the sand. One by one her Pokemon materialized, and they each took a moment to look around before they greeted each other. Levi and Rosemary spotted each other right away and the two paired up immediately, same with Ariel and Shocker. Ada was on her own for all of two seconds before she wandered over to Kasiya's side and looked up at her imploringly. Kasiya just giggled before plopping herself down in the sand and pulling the exceedingly heavy Larvitar onto her lap. She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to hold Ada like that - some day she just might choose to evolve or otherwise grow to be too big. Kasiya's eyes widened at the thought of a Larvitar the size of Hiro - could such a thing be possible? She decided to let her Pokemon socialize a little longer before she'd start their training, already going over what sort of training techniques she'd use in her mind. She couldn't help but be surprised that Rosemary had actually greeted the other Pokemon besides just Levi - it seemed she understood that her teammates could be friends as well.
=-=-=-=-=
As much as Flannery had initially wanted to throw herself into her daily training regime, she'd been far too distracted and instead let her Pokemon out so they could stretch and practice under their own direction while she sat up on her 'throne', overlooking everything. Torkoal, however, sensed Flannery's unease and chose to rest at her feet, the occasional puff of white smoke drifting up from its nostrils. The gym leader sighed, drawing her knees up to her chest and then proceeding to rest her chin on her knees. She sat like that for maybe half an hour, watching the other trainers work with their various Fire-types. She barely managed a half-smile when one of the trainer's Numel finally evolved into a Camerupt.
Shortly after that, Flannery left her celebrating underlings in the main portion of the gym with instructions to come get her IF and ONLY IF there was a challenger waiting for her. She slumped over on the small couch inside her office, but she found herself unable to get comfortable. After a bit of fidgeting she finally got herself settled for a nap, but only after she'd sent a timed-delivery email to Mike's PokeNav. It would be sent to him sometime in the evening, after he would have had significant chance to calm down. It was a simple message, but she was far too exhausted to write any more than just that.
You are reckless and crazy and you drive me nuts.
But despite all that I still love you. Just don't ever forget that, no matter what you do.
Yours,
Flannery
Once her message had been programmed to send sometime later that evening, she lied back on her couch, deciding then that she would be going to this Beach Party tomorrow, if for anything just to see the look on Mike's face when she showed up in her fabulously-new red-hot swimsuit.
=-=-=-=-=
Combusken and Shelgon both shifted a little closer as the training match between Mightyena and Butterfree seemingly began to heat up. It seemed the two were much more comfortable with an actual training battle rather than just a sparring match. Mightyena was somewhat stronger than Butterfree when it came to experience, but Jaeshan figured that Butterfree had the upper hand (err wing?) seeing as she could fly and had a plethora of strong, ranged attacks in her possession. Mightyena was ground-bound and didn't have much else to go on. Jaeshan sighed, thinking that maybe it was time to hit up the Pokemon Mart for a few TMs and maybe expand Mightyena's Repertoire a little. He had plenty of cash to spare, and even though he'd been saving for a bike maybe he'd be safer going with a few TMs for now.
Butterfree chattered excitedly as she flew above her teammate, flapping her wings quickly in order to loosen a golden powder that began to drift down towards Mightyena - Stun Spore. Snarling, the canine turned and began to dig fiercely, sending up a thick spray of sand. The spores attached themselves to the sand particles and fell to the ground harmlessly. Butterfree countered this with a swift Gust attack, but Mightyena managed to dodge it quite nimbly. He planted his four feet in the sand and howled loudly, a reddish glow covering his body. His fur bristled as he stared up at his teammate and friend, respect gleaming in his eyes. Jaeshan chuckled and shook his head, wondering if Mightyena would ever hold that sort of respect for anyone else in the 'pack.' By now, Nidoking had poked his head up out of the water and was watching the fight intently, wincing each time a wave crashed into his back. While he knew that Nidoking wanted to become stronger too, Jaeshan couldn't help but silently hope that Nidoking had the good sense to know when his body had taken enough of a beating for one night.
((WALL OF TEXT I CHOOSE YOU!))
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:07 pm
"Thanks a lot for scouting ahead," Keegan grumbled, recalling Artemis before she had a chance to argue with him. "And yeah, I think I will blame you for that fall," he added, gesturing up at the Numel above them. It did indeed look sorry but Keegan wasn't accepting any apologies at this time. "You shouldn't let your Pokemon wander around freely like that. Something could happen to it." Sheena had made a move to say something but Keegan silenced her by waving his hand at her. He bent down to check up on his bike, deciding right then and there that he'd throw the thing in the volcano if it was busted up again. Other than a few new scrapes in the paint and the addition of a new dent to the frame it was fine, but Keegan pretended to continue looking it over just so he could avoid making eye-contact with Sheena. He wasn't exactly in the mood to be 'nice' right now and besides that, Kasiya wasn't here to scold him for being a jerk and tumbling down like that had ruined his mood. He climbed back on the bike after making doubly sure he hadn't dropped anything. "I'm going now," he told her bluntly, after considering asking if she needed anything. Not that he really wanted her to be tagging along, but he didn't want anything bad to happen to her, either. It would be a lose-lose situation even if he did ask her where she was headed.
"Oh, okay then," was all Sheena said, looking at the ground somewhat sadly. "I was gonna ask if I could go with you to uh... wherever you were going. You know, just so I can get out of the boonies and back to a city?" She smiled cutely as her Pokemon gathered around her, and she pulled them back into their Pokeballs one by one. She knew Keegan well enough to know that the gruff front he was putting up now was only a ruse and she was confident she could change his attitude. "That is, if you wouldn't mind?"
Keegan groaned and hung his head. God dammit, I've gone soft, he thought, pushing the red hair from his eyes before he looked back up at the pink-haired girl. "Fine, you can go with me as far as Mauville. When we get to the city, you're on your own," he added, remembering she didn't have a bike. How wonderful - so much for getting to Mauville quickly.
Sheena refrained from cheering and jumping up and down and instead gave a small curtsey. "That's great," she said, watching him dismount the bike before folding it up for storage. "It'll be great to travel with you again, even if it is just for a little while! And thanks. I'll feel a lot safer knowing you'll be there to protect me!" Another groan escaped the redhead before the two began to traverse down the path that would inevitably lead them to Mauville City.
=====
Miharu watched with a smirk as Aska delivered one last Aerial Ace to the Noctowl and it faltered, falling from the sky as it was too weak to continue. Upon seeing her opponent fall, the Pidgeotto landed, her chest heaving from the effort of the battle. Miharu ran to her Pokemon and hugged her, congratulating her on a job well done. Gretchen, meanwhile, recalled her Noctowl and sighed, shaking her head at the much smaller girl. "Okay, wow. You beat me," she chuckled, placing the sphere in her pocket before withdrawing a small amount of money and handing it to Miharu. "This should get you a new bike," she nodded, stepping back.
"Thanks," Miharu murmured, looking at the notes in her hand somewhat sadly. "You know, maybe you should save up your own cash and buy your own bike."
"Heh, maybe," Gretchen smiled. "Anyway, sorry 'bout that. I don't even really know why I took your bike," she shrugged. "Kind of an impulse thing, I guess. But anyway, I'm outta here." She turned on a heel and began to walk down the route.
"Where are you going?" Miharu called after her, after returning Aska to her Pokeball for some rest.
"Olivine City," Gretchen shouted back. "Maybe try my hand at a gym battle or something. Who knows?" Miharu watched her walk away for a little while before she folded up her bike and headed back through the gatehouse and back into Ecruteak City. She knew that there was a gym in Olivine but something told her she was far from ready to fight there, but she couldn't help but look forward to the time when she'd go back this way towards the seaside city as she made her way to the Pokemon Center.
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:58 am
It took a little while for Kasiya to organize her Pokemon and her thoughts, but finally she had a good idea of how she was going to do this. For the most part, she wasn't worried about Ariel and Shocker getting any training in, but she knew her two most experienced Pokemon would probably be best for helping their younger comrades to gain some more experience. It also became quite apparent that Ada didn't have any interest in fighting at the moment at all, judging by how she'd lied down in the warm sand and was now sound asleep. Kasiya wasn't entirely sure but she had an idea that Ada had eaten some of the sand she'd dug out of the small hole she was now resting in.
At first, Kasiya had tried to pair up Rosemary with Shocker, but the young Bayleef wasn't happy with that match-up at all, content only after she was standing next to Ariel. Shocker and Levi didn't mind though, and it turned out it was a better pairing than initially planned - Shocker could attack Levi with electric attacks and they'd be ineffective. First up, however, would be Rosemary. Before they began, though, Kasiya took the Leftovers from Levi and gave it to Ariel, securely fastening the apple core charm around her neck so to help her stay healthy from Rosemary's attacks. Paired with her Wish ability, though, Kasiya really wasn't worried about her getting too hurt. Rosemary now stood opposite of the Vaporeon, a noticeable tremor in her legs and head leaf. "It's okay Rosemary," Kasiya called out to the Bayleef. "We're all friends here, and this is just training. Nothing else."
Rosemary nodded slowly before turning back to Ariel. Her trembling finally stopped but that didn't mean she wasn't still a bit nervous. "Start out with your Razor Leaf!" Gritting her teeth, Rosemary swung her leaf forward, shooting out three fairly large, sharp leaves at Ariel. Without waiting for an order from Kasiya, Ariel dashed to the side, avoiding two of the leaves completely, while the third left a long and thin, yet shallow cut on her left shoulder. The Vaporeon gave a cry, and her head-fin began to quiver as a small droplet of water materialized above her, then quickly grew into a ring that traveled down her body before being absorbed by her blue-tinged skin. The Leftovers she wore sparkled briefly, and paired with the watery ring Ariel had just summoned, the small cut she'd just received had vanished completely, leaving only a thin, faded scar.
=-=-=-=-=
Mightyena then lunged at Butterfree, jaws snapping viciously as he tried to take a chunk out of the butterfly. Being unable to fly, however, was a serious detriment to his cause however and Butterfree was able to flutter safely out of his reach. Butterfree, however, wasn't too interested in harming her teammate and instead of fighting back with an attack move, she spread her wings wide, somehow creating a bright flash of light that stunned the canine. Shaking his head violently, Mightyena staggered about, having been blinded by the light (and being a Dark-type, he didn't like such bright conditions to begin with).
Watching that duo spar spurred Combusken into wanting to fight again and she jumped up to her feet, jabbing at a still-resting Shelgon with her claws. The Dragon just stared at Combusken with sleepy eyes, unable to believe the little firebrand still wanted to fight. Sighing she got to her feet and eyed the fighter, waiting for Combusken to give it all she had. Combusken let out a deep growl and her body began to glow as her adrenalin surged - Focus Energy. She was ready to show that dragon that she was tougher than she looked! With another shriek, Combusken charged forward, rearing back her clawed 'hands' and preparing to strike.
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