Pokemon RP Edition: Hoenn Version

[Doctor Oak]

OOC: And the Fast-Track to Dewford continues:

BIC:

An hour later the group were out at sea on the moderately sized ferry. Raab didn't expect a huge ferry for such a non-descript stop, but this did exceed his expectations.

What set this ferry apart was the front deck, the largest area of the ship and set up as a small Pokemon Battle Field - deck chairs surrounding it for spectators. Raab was instantly drawn to it, the 4 hour journey to Dewford Island giving time for a small series of one-on-one battles among the passengers was not only too much to miss - but to much to pass up an opportunity for experience.

Raab and Torchic had headed straight over to the registration table to immediately put their names on the list - Katie and Gad just behind them but in the mess of the crowd Raab lost sight of them until emerging from the registration.

A battle between Ratticate and Butterfree had just come to a close and Raab's name was called by the referree - it was his turn.

"Yes!" Raab exclaimed to Torchic, leaping out of his seat and heading round to his trainer box marked on the deck with white paint.

"This is a one-on-one battle," The Referee began as Raab's opponent stepped into place in front of him. He looked like a crew-member, a traditional sailor's uniform and huge muscles combined with his cocky grin to give Raab the feeling that he wouldn't quite mind knocking the grin off his face.

"No Items are allowed, If a Pokemon or Trainer leaves the deck, the match is forfeited." Holding out two flags, the Ref looked to both trainers before dropping his arms. "Begin!"

"Alright kid, let's make this one quick - I've only got a fifteen minute break!" Yanking a Pokeball from his belt, the Sailor continued to grin as the Pokeball burst open in front of him releasing Machop in a burst of red light.

"A Machop eh?" Raab thought aloud, looking to Torchic. "Right buddy, this is JUST the experience we need for Brawley. Make me proud."

Torchic nodded sternly and jumped from his shoulder onto the deck - the Sailor merely laughed.

"I said make it quick, kid, not a walkover!" His huge frame shook as he chuckled meanly, causing Raab to frown.

"Forget him Torchic, I know you can do this - go! Use Peck attack!"

Torchic looked from it's trainer back to the Machop with a determined look, the Machop seemed as cocky as it's trainer - an advantage Torchic could exploit Raab hoped.

Dashing across the deck noisily, Torchic rammed towards it's foe at top speed before throwing itself up into the air, aiming beak first at Machop's head.

"Counter it!" Machop swiped it's hand up to Torchic, batting the fire-bird away like a mere fly and causing it to crash down to the deck.

"Torchic!" Raab exclaimed to further malicious chuckles of the sailor.

"Ok, Machop, let's get this over with - Cross Chop it."

Torchic looked up dazed from it's fall, Machop bearing down on it rapidly with it's arms crossed and blazing white with energy.

"Torchic! Quickly, use Ember to counter it!"

Still dazed, Torchic was left looking up to it's enemy puzzled as it attempted to rejoin the real world. "TORCHIC!" Raab yelled, unable to watch Torchic sit and do nothing as Machop leaped at Torchic in it's final lunge to attack.

The tiny bird snapped it's head up as it heard it's master's yells. Images of Raab stormed through it's mind with super-sonic speed, images of where it was, why it was on the ground... of what was about to hit it - Machop was now centimetres away and would hit it any second.

"TOOOOOORCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!" Slamming it's eyes shut and opening it's beak as wide as possible Torchic screamed as flames rushed through it's body and into the air above it. With more fierce intensity than it had ever thought possible to attack with, Torchic let rip an extreme Ember attack right into the oncoming Machop - causing the Pokemon to lose it's balance and it's attack.

Still, despite the attack being foiled, Machop's body was still hurtling down towards the screaming Torchic - with all the force of a body slam still behind it.

"Torchic, move!" Torchic's eyes suddenly snapped open, looking up to see the charred Machop falling right towards it through the flames. Finally relenting it's attack, Torchic pushed it's legs down and forced it's body backwards, causing the Pokemon to tumble and fall onto it's front before Raab.

Meanwhile, the Sailor was left watching helplessly as Machop onto the wooden deck in a singed, smoking heap.

"Machop is unable to battle!" The Ref called, holding up his flag and looking across to the Sailor, currently grumbling as he held out his Pokeball. "Torchic is th.... wha?" Looking across to Torchic and Raab, he was temporarily blinded by a huge burst of white light. "Torchic!?" Raab yelled, dashing forward with worry - his eyes shielded from the light.

It took him a few seconds to look into the light and see the shadow within it to realise what was happening.

As Raab remained on his knees, the light in front of him began to fade and he was left staring into the eyes of his old pal - the victor of the battle. It took the referee no time to finish his sentance.

"Combusken is the winner!"

"Torc...Combusken!" Raab exclaimed with a grin - a satisfied, happy and proud grin, unlike the Sailor's previous cocky one - as he put his arms around Combusken - who proceeded to do the same.

"I knew you could do it." Raab chuckled with a grin as Combusken happily helped him up and walked back to his seat.

"Guess you're a bit too big for my shoulder now huh?" Raab said with a slight twang of sadness - he'd miss that. When Combusken took a smaller seat next to Raiden however - Raab knew that it didn't mean a complete end to their current companionship.

OOC:

This post was brought to you today by the albums Genkii Ippai, Destiny Deoxys OST and the Pokemon BGM Collection. As well as healthy doses of Corn, Cheese and Ash Ketchum.

I told you i'd evolve Torchic before Dewford. ^^

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

While Raab was preoccupied with his battle, Gad took the time to lean against the deck railing and stare out into sea. The sea was silent that day, save for the occasional cry of one of the resident flocks of wingulls. Every once in a while, he could spot a Pelipper making a swoop-dive, and rising to the air with a fresh catch in its mouth sac. Far out in the distance he could see the jet of a water spout - evidence of a Wailmer or two inhabiting the waters between Petalburg and Dewford. He had heard of Sharpedoes around Dewford itself, but he did not see any of the bizzare, almost mechanical-looking creatures anywhere.
He grimaced, thinking about the shark-like, Water-type starter PokeMon of the Miato region. Jawsea, Sharclaw and Riptide - which, while with evolution acquired a two-legged stance and adapted more to life on land, still made a lot more sense to him.

He sighed, once again lost in thought, shutting off the sounds of the other trainers on board, listening to the music of the sea - the song of the waves, the sea-birds, the occasional bit of distant whalesong...

And then, a hiss interrupted his reverie. He turned his head to find his gaze locking into that of a Seviper. The black, scaly creature had scars all over its body, some looking like burns, others looking like the random slashes of claws. The large, hexagonal plate scales on its back gleamed gold, and the blood-red edge of its bladelike tail seemed to be as sharp as diamond.

"Hey, you." he heard a female voice which tore his eyes away from the creature. What he saw was a girl, older than he is, who was dressed almost matchingly to her Seviper. Her eyes were gold - and held a disturbing cold glow he only saw once before - and the fact she carried six PokeBalls with her suggested that she had quite a bit of experience behind her.

"Yes?" he inquired politely, masking his mild irritation.

"What are you staring at?" she asked. "I mean, over there."
Another cold flash in her eyes. The girl looked almost more snakelike than her PokeMon. Beautiful, but in a cold, calculated way. And something about her very presence made him feel uneasy.

"Just... the sea." he said.
"My Seviper seemed drawn to you for some reason." she said "Can't imagine why. Then again, he's been acting a little strange ever since someone tried to steal him using some energy net. He tried to shed his skin over way too many times, but it just didn't work..."

Gad's eyes widened "This was the Seviper attacked by the Rising Helix agents near Petalburg?"

"I never asked what their names were. My Milotic took care of them over easy." she said with a huff "Amateurs. I'm glad that's done and over with. Well, I think I'll leave you to your thoughts. Come, Seviper."

And with that, she spun on her heels and left, the black snake PokeMon in her wake.

Gad raised an eyebrow as he returned to watch the sea. The wierd people one could run into in places like this...

[OOC: Dundundun... AZAMI! xD]

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: Whee... When the sister is away, the Katie will hijack her internet connection ;p

And I'm still at a loss for a reply, so let's wing it and hope it's not too cliché. Yay for not being able to sleep! XD

BIC:

"Raab? Raaaaab! Where did that guy disappear to?" Katie murmured as she peered through the crowd of people. Everyone was eager to sign up for the deck battles, except Gad it appeared. He'd calmly separated himself from the crowd to stand quietly at the the edge of the ship. "Gad will be Gad," the girl chuckled to herself, returning to searching for her purple-haired friend.

"Looking for someone?" a voice suddenly pipped up from behind.

"Nick's here!?" Katie's thoughts roared, and clenching her fists tightly she whirled around and snapped, "What the heck do you-" But what gazed back at her was a shocked teen-aged boy with long, spiky blonde hair. It was similar in ways to Raab except that his bangs hung forward off to either sides of his forehead.

"Uhh... Nice to meet you too?" he replied weakly.

"Oh god... I'm so sorry!" Katie yelped, quickly dropping her fists and feeling her face flush. "I-I... I thought you were someone else..."

He stared at her questionably, "The someone you were looking for before or a bad someone? 'Cause if that's how you treat your friends..." The girl didn't respond, slightly taken back by his comment. After a few moments boy's expression twitched and he burst out laughing. "I'm only kidding ya!"

"Uh... huh..." Katie muttered slowly, this time being the puzzled one. "And you are...?"

"Oh! Right," he stopped laughing and smiled brightly. "I'm Kenji. Nice to meet ya." He added with a chuckle, "I think."

"Heh... I'm Katie, and I guess I'm bad at first impressions," the girl answered, reaching out to shake Kenji's hand.

Before they could release each other's grasp a large man knocked into them, snarling, "Watch it!" before disappearing into the crowd. Both teens stared back at one another with the same thought on their minds.

"Wanna get out of this line up?" Kenji asked.

"Gladly."

They carefully made their way between people until almost tumbling out of the mass, both taking a deep breath before regaining their composure. Katie was the first to speak up.

"So, are you a trainer too?"

"Yep!" Kenji replied happily, lifting up his white and blue sweat shirt with a PokeBall design in the center to reveal a full belt of PokeBalls underneath. He released it and continued on, "I've been traveling for a several years now but only reached Hoenn a few months ago. Just seeing the sights really. My route's been a bit wonky, though. I've already been throughout the mid area of the region and am now swinging back to check out Dewford for the first time. I hear it's the perfect vacation spot for surfing and rock climbing..." He trailed off and suddenly laughed, "Sorry about that! Didn't mean to tell you my life story all in one go."

Katie laughed herself, "No problem at all! Ramblings a well-known friend of mine."

"Oh. Heh..." Kenji snickered. "Good to know. Anyways... What's your story?"

"Grew up in Johto, came here to finally start my Pokemon journey. At the moment I'm on my way with a couple of trainers to the second Gym in Dewford."

"Johto, eh? Cool!" Kenji exclaimed. "I've been there before. Not as long as I would've liked, though. Grew up in a large city in Kanto and took the League challenge, then spent a few years traveling around the Orre region. Odd place it was... Too much sand for my liking."

Katie blinked. "Just how old are you?"

"Me? Just turned 16 last month."

Her eyes went wide. "And you've done all that?!"

"Yep!" he laughed at her expression. "Mind you, I have been training Pokemon since the day I turned ten. Barely even stayed home for a week straight ever since."

"Still... wow. I wish I could say I had that many accomplishments under my belt," she murmured. First Gad, now this. Everyone seemed to be ahead of her when it came to training.

"I'm sure you've got just as many stories to tell as I do," Kenji smiled softly. "Traveling means nothing if you don't learn from it along the way, and something tells me you're no newbie."

"I guess you could say that..." Even if she had only stayed in the general area of her home most of her life the stories and memories Katie had could fill a book. Sometimes she wished there weren't so many so her mind could actually rest for a change. "I'm really looking forward to this upcoming Gym battle, though," she added. "I'm gonna give it my all to work with my Pokemon and bring home that badge. I know the guys will be doing the same and I wouldn't want to mess up in front of them."

"The guys?" Kenji asked.

Katie nodded. "The two other trainers I'm currently traveling with... One of which I forgot I was looking for," she grinned sheepishly.

"Heh... What does he look like? Maybe I can help," Kenji answered with a grin of his own.

"Purple hair. Spiky purple hair. Not too hard to miss," Katie chuckled.

"Hmm... Purple, eh?" Kenji leaned side to side to peer around the dock, his eyes widening as he pointed over Katie's shoulder and asked, "You mean the spiky purple haired guy who's Torchic just evolved?"

"What?!" Katie yelped, reeling around to find that the dock had cleared just enough for her to make out the center battle arena, not to mention the Combusken helping Raab to his feet. "Holy... Torchic evolved and I... missed it?! Worst timing ever!"

Kenji just laughed brightly, "Whoopsie! Guess I distracted you. Sorry about that!"

"Oh, no no. I didn't mean it like that..." Katie could feel her face flushing again as she turned back to face him.

"It's cool," Kenji chuckled again at her expression. "Why don't you go over and congratulate him? Bet you're itching to get a closer look at Combusken, too."

"Yeah..." Katie answered reluctantly. She really did want to check out Combusken. "It was great meeting you, though. I hope I'll see you again at some point. Maybe we'll cross paths again in Dewford."

"I hope so, too," Kenji replied. He added with a wink, "Especially since you turned out a lot less scary than I'd thought you would."

"Heh..." the girl laughed weakly, staring at the boy for a moment before finally saying, "Well then. Until we meet again!" With that she turned away and headed off toward where she'd seen Raab, briefly looking back over her shoulder to give Kenji a wave but finding him nowhere to be seen. "Huh..." she muttered to herself, but instead of dwelling on it she merely gave a shrug and continued on her way.

OOC: Gary, feel free to auto Katie's awe-ness of Combusken ^_~ After that either you or Stel can auto us off the boat.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Katie was greeted with great joy, and force, from the newly evolved Combusken as she headed up to Raab, currently moving away from the battle arena under cue of a 'rumbly tummy'.

Not knowing yet it's own strength, the ex-Torchic soon found itself ontop of Katie and no longer able to be as physical with either Katie or Raab any more.

The purple-haired trainer sensed Combusken's feelings over this - watching it's expression sadden as it picked itself up and helped Katie up too.

"It's ok, Combusken. You'll still be around with us just as before and we'll still go on our adventure together. Just as we planned."

Putting a reassuring hand on his Pokemon's shoulder he smiled down to Combusken and received as much of a smile back as it could manage.

"Right, drama over - let's catch up." Raab said, looking back up to Katie - who, despite being recently floored by a big chicken clearly seemed to have something else on her mind.

OOC: There, something. No more nagging. ^^

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

As Gad was completely and utterly immersed in the music of the sea, A sudden voice over the PA system sharply brought his attention back into this world. It was a soft female voice - clearly synthesized by a computer - in the same cheery, bubbly tone of a stewardess in an airplane with three engines on fire and the captain bleeding on the oh-so-important control panels, bleeding from a rather large bullet wound in his back, and an italian man in an Armani suit and a moustache tossing a coin up and down standing behind him with a grin, talking to a lackey thousands of miles away about "having made him an offer he couldn't refuse".

"Attention all passengers." it said "Dewford Island has been detected on our sensors, and a course has been set to dock. Please prepare yourselves for departure. Thank you."

And indeed, in the distance yet rapidly growing closer was the tropical paradise that was Dewford Island. Beautiful stretches of white sand shorelines and emerald-green palm trees glittered in the sunshine. Deeper into the shore he could see the small town that shared its name with the Island, and the small granite cliffs that were open to the ocean and its treacherous currents - a well known abode and training grounds of those who practiced the martial arts. As the shoreline grew closer and more detailed, he could notice a small harbour that was apparantly built to service the ferry. Another boat, of a similar kind to the Dewford ferry, but apparantly designed to sail longer distances, was just leaving as the Dewford Ferry approached the docks. "This," he thought "Is as good as a time to find Katie and Raab as any."

And with that, he turned away from the sea, and set his own proverbial course towards the improvised battle arena that was set up on board the ship. When he reached it, he was at first surprised to see no sign of Torchic. But then, he noticed the Combusken and chuckled. "I should have guessed." he said softly, as he finally approached his two friends and the newly-evolved Young Fowl PokeMon.

"Hi." he smiled "So, looks like you finally evolved, huh?" he chuckled at Combusken, giving it a little scratch upon its orange feather-crest. "Congratulations. And congratulations to you too, Raab." he grinned at the purple-haired trainer. "I'm pretty sure that Combusken would give Brawly a good run for his money."

Then he smiled very warmly at Katie, just because he could "I'd love to see what strategy are you going to crack against Brawly, too, Katie... But I think we're slowing down."

Indeed, the boat WAS slowing down. As it entered the shallower water that surrounded Dewford, the Ferry whirred and clicked as an Air pad, like that of a hovercraft, inflated around it, keeping it afloat yet capable of docking within the harbour. An array of complex-looking metal arms were extended from the side of the boat, and attached themselves to a similarily complex array of arms on the dock, locking them together. Then, a small bridge extended from the boat to the dock, allowing the passengers to disembark and make their steps to the island.

"Attention all passengers." came the PA's voice again, cheery as ever "We have just docked on Dewford Isle. Please make sure that all of your posessions are with you as you disembark. We hope your ferry ride has been pleasant. We hope to see you again."

"Impressive." Gad murmured appreciatively, as the trio began their descent down the docks and onto the shores of Dewford Island. "I think this docking array is fairly recent... I'm dying to find out more about this... But, that can wait for later... What are our plans now?"

 

[Doctor Oak]

"I say we head on a scenic route to the Pokemon Centre." Raab said, looking from behind Gad into the hazy skies of Dewford Island's skyline. Not too far in the distance was the Pokemon Centre, but in shadowing it was a 3 story building kitted out like an ancient Dojo.

"A route that takes us right past that Gym." Raab pointed past his companions as he stared out misty eyed at the beautiful gym - it was a lot more impressive than the tomb-like gym that was Roxanne's.

"I don't think I'm really up for a battle today - I'd rather take the chance to rest up and prepare..." Katie protested - mildly unsettled it would seem by Gad's reminder of strategy and obviously keen to go in fully prepared.

Raab's eyes first narrowed in confusion, then opened wide in realisation before turning back to Katie.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant." He turned back and nodded at the tall building. "A gym doesn't normally encompass more than one floor - the only ones that do tend to be the ones that have Trainer schools or, and as is the case with the Dewford Gym, an actual work-out gym for Trainers."

Looking to over to Gad, he attempted to see if both he and Katie had understood what he meant originally.

"I figure we could nip in and see how Brawly trains. See what he can do - how he does it and maybe," He turned back to Katie, "Maybe even do a small spot of training too."

Looking back down to Combusken, then around the boat as he watched everyone else disembarking, he turned around and began to head over to the gangway to get off.

"Can't really prepare any better than that..." He smiled down to Combusken - the Pokemon he fully believed would help him take down Brawly.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

OOC: What's with all the Autoing lately? It was okay in the Haloween special... as much as THAT was OK in general, but I'm not going to let autoing this blatant invade this RP. I'm going to have to ask you to edit this post and let Katie decide if she's that nervous or not that nervous about the upcoming battle for herself.

Honestly. X_X

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: *Nods* Keep what Stel said in mind. I'm also a bit confused to whether we got off the ship yet or not, but meh

BIC:

"A work-out area, eh? Yeah, let's check it out. Sounds like as good an idea as any," Katie replied, though her attention was soon stolen away by the shimmering sands of the beach. "Oh-hoh! Just look at this place, Raiden! It's better than I expected!" She grinned brightly as the Raichu appeared at her side. They both took a moment to gaze silently in awe up and down the shore, Katie finally exclaiming, "Alright. After our Gym Battles I'm coming back here and spending the day on the beach! Surfing looks like so much fun!" She paused to give a nervous chuckle, though, adding, "Guess I'd probably need to buy a swimsuit first..."

Turning her eyes to the towering Dewford Gym in the distance, the girl thought about the three Pokemon she'd have to choose from for her upcoming match. Tsunami and Twistado had been looking really good with their training earlier so if they kept that up for the battle things would hopefully turnout okay. As for Shroomish... "I'll just hope it doesn't come to that," she thought with a sigh.

"Well then, lead the way guys!" Katie said then, taking a quick scan of the beach one last time. She'd be back alright.

OOC: I want to suggest something now. If all three of us agree that we don't have any important events going on I think it's fair game to advance the days quicker than we have been (ie. when getting from location to location or simply passing the time). It's not like everyday has to be super eventful, and by fast-forwarding some stuff we might actually start make logical progress in this RP

So, comments? Curses?

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

OOC: I want to suggest something now. If all three of us agree that we don't have any important events going on I think it's fair game to advance the days quicker than we have been (ie. when getting from location to location or simply passing the time). It's not like everyday has to be super eventful, and by fast-forwarding some stuff we might actually start make logical progress in this RP

It would make the story move faster but be less... interesting. I have plot points planned from here to oburivion, but I sometimes need the filler. Which I generally absorb at. ;P

So... Yeah.

So"]

Avada Kedavra! (Kills a PN clone with a quick flick of a wand)

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: I'm not saying to rush things or make the RP less indepth, but we don't need to map out the days step by step either. That tends to be the sort of thing that kills RPs like this. Sometimes fast-forwarding the day is needed and worthwhile. It almost makes the story MORE interesting because there's less lagging.

IMO anyways...

 

[Doctor Oak]

Raab stood in awe before the beautifully ornamental building in front of him. At it's core was an ancient-oriental style 3 story building and surrounding it was a decorative wall that expanded out so far it must have easily given up acres of sandy land to the Gym alone.

As Raab led his friends into the compound, Combusken at his side, He heard a mumbling of noises around the corner and had instantly dashed around to see what the fuss was.

He'd guessed it had to have been Brawly, and he'd guessed right.

Standing on a battlefield marked out on the sand, Brawly and a young trainer kitted up in Karate duds stood facing eachother with Pokeballs in hand. Another dozen or so trainers in similar clothes surrounded the other side of the field to watch.

"Ok Ikira," Brawly called across to his opponent. "Win this match and you graduate." Ikira's face grew determined as these words. He'd been training here for almost two years now, he wasn't about to fail.

"Give it everything you've got!" Brawly threw his Pokeball into the centre of the battlefield and spat out Machop, who proceeded to flex his muscles to the crowd.

"Let's go for it, HITMONTOP!" Yelling as he threw his Pokeball into the stadium, his face was illuminated by the red light of Hitmontop bursting out of it's Pokeball in a loud cry of it's name before setting itself off into a spin as it landed onto the ground.

"Machop, Karate Chop attack!" Machop leaped into the air above the spinning Hitmontop and raised a glowing hand.

"Hitmontop, Spin Faster!" The Whirling Dervish of a Pokemon kicked a leg out and pushed itself around even quicker, becoming little more than a spinning blur as Machop came down towards it, glowing hand chopping through the air.

Ikira watched anxiously as Machop's attack connected, slowing down Hitmontop but in the process catching Machop's hand in a rapid kick and knocking the tiny-power Pokemon off, it's attack failed.

"Keep spinning, Rolling Kick!" As Machop was thrust onto the ground in front of it, Hitmontop picked up spinning speed again and began to lean in towards Machop.

"Low Kick, Machop!" Brawly called as Machop picked itself up only to find Hitmontop spinning wildly in it's face. Ducking to avoid the Rolling Kick, Machop slid down with it's foot outstretched and tackled Hitmontop as it thrust itself past the rotating threat.

"Hitmontop!" Ikira cried as he watched Hitmontop be thrown off the ground completely and lose it's spin before falling face first where Machop had been seconds before.

"Thunder Punch!" Machop leaped up behind Hitmontop and instantly began charging at it, fist outstretched and crackling with electricity as it prepared to finish the dazed Pokemon.

"Hitmontop!" Raab watched on, somehow feeling as if it was him watching his Combusken out there against Machop. In it's dazed state, Hitmontop would easily be knocked out by an attack like Thunder Punch. If Ikira didn't pull something off now, he would lose the battle.

Watching the battle, both Ikira and Raab seemed to spot that Hitmontop was staggerdly beginning to get up as Machop sped towards it. The sand Machop was kicking up as it ran was throwing a thick cloud up into the air behind it and instantly both trainers eyes lit up.

"Hitmontop, Sandstorm!" Hitmontop looked behind it to hear it's trainer only to see Machop charging at it and looked back in surprise for another second before cottoning on to what it's trainer had instructed.

Throwing itself back onto it's head, Hitmontop began spinning rapidly again, kicking up stand around it as it dug it's round head in. As Machop finally reached Hitmontop it was confronted with a twister of sand around it's opponent and was thrust backwards as it attempted to strike against it.

"Hitmontop, finish it! Rapid Spin!" The twister began to grow even more fierce as Hitmontop rotated faster and faster before the Pokemon and sand-cyclone stormed across the battlefield towards Machop.

"Machop, dive out of the way!" Brawly cried, hoping to put his tried-and-tested surfing methods into action to save the battle. As Machop lunged off to the side, however, the cyclone simply followed - sucking in more and more sand as it grew.

"Rolling Kick!" Ikira yelled, fist clenched as Hitmontop smashed the storm into Machop, throwing it back and dazing it before leaping through the cyclone in a shower of sand and dust and hurling itself at Machop, bashing it's face with a large succession of spinning kicks.

As the storm died down behind it, Hitmontop slowed down in it's attack and eventually came to a stop - jumping onto it's feet to inspect the damage.

Brawly was left on the sidelines watching Machop stare stunned at Hitmontop before flinching and finally falling to the ground and being sucked back up into it's Pokeball in a flash of red.

Both Ikira and Hitmontop let out a victory cheer, with Raab smiling to himself quietly further back.

"Congratulations, Ikira." Brawly said happily with a hand outstretched to shake his opponent's hand. "Not only have you defeated me and won the match - but you have now graduated to a Fighting Pokemon Black Belt with Hitmontop."

Behind him two other Black Belts came with two long cases and handed them to Hitmontop and Ikira. In the background, the other students cheered and clapped for their comrade.

"Hopefully we'll battle again some day." Brawly bowed to Ikira before walking off, leaving him and Hitmontop to celebrate with the other students.

As he headed off into the building though, Brawly noticed Raab and his companions standing nearby - watching. The first thing he noticed, though, was the Combusken by Raab's side.

"Hey Dudes." He turned from walking into the Gym and headed over to the group, an eternal grin on his face.

OOC: ^^ I'm sure someone else can handle the introductions.

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: Craaappy post. But meh ^^ If you guys actually did want to battle right away feel free to correct Katie and do so. As of now the topic is pretty open to do whatever we want.

BIC:

"Heya!" Katie replied, staring up at the spiky, grayish-blue haired man. "Are you the Dewford Gym Leader?"

"Got that right. I'm Brawly!" the man stood proud with a bright grin. "By the looks of things all three of you dudes Pokemon Trainers, am I right?"

"That'd be correct. I'm Katie, and these are Raab and Gad," she motioned to each respectively and turned back to Brawly. "We're all here for a Gym battle, but after a day of traveling we were wondering if we could put the battles off for a bit and take a look around your gym first."

"Sounds awesome to me. My Fighting Dojo is one of the best in all of Hoenn! We'd never turn potential challengers away," his eyes gleamed proudly again. "Just relax, take your time. The gym definitely has lots of different facilites to check out, and if you need anything I'm sure one of my students will gladly help ya. As for me, I'm grabbing my board n' hitting the waves. After that last match they're just the thing I need to unwind. Feel free to join me if you like!"

He then paused to shift his gaze to Combusken, grinning at the Pokemon for a few moments before looking up to Raab. "That's one nice looking Combusken. Can't wait to see it in action. Anyways, the waves are callin' my name. Laterz!" At that the man turned to leave the group to their business.

"Well, he's sure a bright guy. Guess that means we've got the roam of this place," Katie said as she watched Brawly go. Turning her eyes back to the others she added, "I guess I'll just wander around, scope the place out a bit. I'll meet back up with you guys later, eh? Call me if anything changes!" She looked down to Raiden, who stared back up at her, and with a nod the two waved goodbye to the others and headed deeper into the Gym.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

OOC: Short, but I have to get teh RP moving again, now, don't I?

BIC:

While Brawly and Katie were talking, the PokeDex in Gad's pocket suddenly made a small sound - an indication of a downloaded update. He wondered what that meant, but figured out he'll take the time to look at what changed later.

He noticed Katie beginning to leave, heading deeper into the gym. A thought suddenly occured to him.

"Hey, wait a second!" Gad suddenly called out to her. Then, he smiled "I'd love to see that place myself... Y'see, I don't really have a PokeMon on me that has a good edge against a fighting-type... Maybe I'll get to see some interesting strategies against them if I'll join your little... tour. If that's okay with you, that is..."

 

[Doctor Oak]

Raab smiled from Brawley's remark and petted Combusken on the head. It felt odd now that Combusken was at arm-height but somehow, it still felt right as well. At that, Raab paused for a second to think of what Combusken would be like as a Blaziken. The petting would surely end then, even more to that - if Blaziken were to walk around with them it'd be more or less like having a 4th human member of their team.

The odd feeling lingering from that thought left Raab a bit dazed as Katie said she was heading off - only when Gad began calling after her did Raab snap back to reality and looked back to Combusken.

"Maybe we should take a look around too? Maybe we'll find some training we can do while we're here?" Combusken replied with a cheery cry and a nod as Raab looked back up to Katie and called after her too.

"Hey, count me in too!"

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: I had no idea how to map out this place, so I winged it. If anyone disagrees with my descriptions, deal with it

BIC:

"Alrighty then," Katie grinned as Raab and Combusken skidded to a stop by Gad. "Guess we're going it as a group after all. Lessee what this place has to offer, eh?"

The first floor of the dojo, their current location, was a large, open space lined with wooden pillars and smooth, wood flooring. In the middle of the room was a flight of stairs leading up to the next level, while beyond them the trio and Pokemon could make out a group of ten or so karate-garbed people practicing fighting stances.

"Hmm… I wonder what the higher floors look like?" Katie said, leading the way towards the stairs. Climbing up a few steps, she paused momentarily to glance between the steps at the dojo students, grinning slightly at the stern, emotionless expressions on their faces as their leader called out instructions. "I was never that disciplined when Clair tried to teach me… Maybe that's one of the reasons why she refused to take me on as her apprentice," the girl thought with a chuckle, continuing on to the next floor.

"Huh… Interesting," the Blackthorne trainer paused at the top of the stairs as the others joined her. They'd emerged in area much narrower than before with multiple rooms lining the hallway on both sides. The design was very traditional Japanese, with thin, almost cloth-like walls and what appeared to be sliding doors. A quick look up and down the hall showed that the walkway split off in either directions, giving Katie the feeling that the perimeter of the floor was open for people to walk around.

"Heh… Well, now this begs the question: what's inside each of these rooms?" the girl smirked, stepping back to give her friends more space. Nothing was marked, and all of the doors were currently shut, so it was impossible to say what was going on inside. Teaching lessons perhaps?

"Hmm… do you think we should try one, Raiden?" Katie asked as she and the Raichu began to walk down the hallway. As they passed by some doors she could hear muffled voices coming from the other side, along with a few inhuman cries that must have belonged to Pokemon. "Heh. Wouldn't want to walk in on a battle…" Katie murmured as they continued on, only to have a room at the far end of the pathway catch her eye. The lights were off inside, the darkness seeming so thick that it was seeping through the walls.

"Raaai?" Raichu squeaked curiously, breaking away from Katie to bound up to the darkened door and press his ear against it. He listened for a few moments while his trainer caught up, hoping around to give an inquisitive, "Rai rai!"

"You heard something in there?" Katie asked skeptically, looking to the darkened room then back to her friend. "Shall we check it out?"

"Chu!"

"This is a licensed gym, so unless there's some evil conspiracy a foot - which wouldn't be too farfetched considering our luck - then it should be perfectly safe, eh?" Katie said with a nervous laugh and grabbed for a narrow slit in the door frame. With a deep breath she slid the door wide open.

"Well… that's… different…" Katie murmured blankly as she stared inside, light from the hallway flooding in to illuminate a small enclosed space and shadow an opening in the middle which appeared to be the beginning to a … maze? "Huh," Katie smirked, "Well… this is a ninja gym. I guess we shouldn't be too surprised… And you said you heard someone in here?"

"Rai!" Raiden nodded, taking a step over the threshold into the room and looking around. "Raai…?"

"What is it?" Katie replied as she stepped in after him.

Without warning the door slid shut behind them and the room went pitch black. Not even the light from outside penetrated the darkness.

"Hey! What gives?!" Katie yelped staring frantically through the darkness. She quickly whirled around and searched blindly for the slot in the door frame, anything to grab onto, but there wasn't one. "No way to open the door from this side… We're locked in…" the girl growled softly. A mixture of fear and anger was rising up inside her, but before she could say another word a voice boomed throughout the room.

"Do not fear what you can not see, for our eyes can be deceiving. Brave student, focus on your other senses to navigate through the Maze of Darkness and reach the reward awaiting you at the end!"

"Bah. Fat chance. I'm not even a student here!" Katie snapped into the blackness.

"Raiiiichu!" Raiden cried equally perturbed.

"Do not make foolish claims," the bodiless voice boomed again. "Face the maze with bravery and honor!"

"Yeah… sure… I'll face your maze..." the girl began with a grunt, "... but on my own terms. Raiden, use-!"

"AND NO CHEATING!"

"Bah! Fine! I get the picture!" Katie retorted, heaving a sigh and mumbling, "No Flash or any other light emitting techniques then… Guess that means flash lights are out of the question too, eh? Let's just get this over with, Raiden…"

"Chu…" her companion grumbled softly in return.

Turning herself back around to face what she hoped was the entrance to the maze, Katie held out her arms in front of her and slowly stepped forward until touching the opposite walls. Feeling her way down them, it wasn't long before she found the opening to the puzzle. "Well, in we go! Stick close to me, bud," she said into the darkness, and making her way forward once more until hitting another wall, then turning right and feeling her way down the first pathway. This was going to be a long exercise…

OOC: Maybe this post had a purpose, maybe it didn't... That's for me to know and you to ignore ^^

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Gad found himself grinning when he saw what the update was about. Who would have guessed that THIS mystery has finally been solved. It was definitely a useful piece of information, one that would help him in the next battle. He folded the GPDS PokeDex back into its satchel, when he heard a door seal off. Careful examination revealed that the person he's been following vanished into one of the many rooms within the floor.

"Great." he mused sarcastically "Well, I suppose I could try a room of my own..."

He opened one door at random and stepped through. The door closed behind him silently.

He found himself standing, to his great surprise, within a brightly illuminated room. Intricate, blue runic patterns swirled from a circle in the center of the floor, climbing up on the walls. and ending in a similar circle at the top. There was an air of sealed energy in the room - something was definitely strange.

He walked into the circle.

The lights dimmed, save for the light within the circle, glowing so bright he had to close his eyes, and the runic patterns that started giving off a blue glow. "I welcome ye." said a voice.

Gad opened his eyes, and noticed another person in the circle, standing in front of him. The man - or was it a woman? Was clad in a fusion of a priest's robes and armor. She held a Naginata in one hand, runes carved upon its blade, glowing in the same blue light.

"I... thank you." Gad said "What is this place?"

"This is the arena of inner strength." the armored figure said "Here, the true battles take place in one's mind... Choose your champion. There, your minds shall be made as one, as long as ye are within the confines of the circle. Then, I shall choose a champion of my own, and our minds shall be made as one. Then, we shall battle - and our inner strength alone shall declare the result..."

Gad's eyes widened as suddenly, a Naginata dropped into his own hands. The runes flashed, and suddenly, he /knew/. He knew how to wield the strange polearm relatively well. And he knew that it was going to react to whatever PokeMon he would choose.

What did the armored being mean by 'minds made as one'?

 

[Doctor Oak]

Raab had lingered a floor below while his companions travelled upstairs thanks to Combusken's insistance on trying out with the Karate students now that it had evolved into a fighting machine.

Watching from the sidelines he couldn't help but smile with pride watching the Pokemon he had become so close to having the time of it's life stomping up and down the room in various stances, much to the amusement of the otherwise completely human troupe of martial artists.

Turning to check the stairs up in front of him, Raab realised he'd been left behind and headed over to check where Katie and Gad had gotten to. Climbing up the stairs, he came across the same hallway full of doors but no sign of his friends.

"Well... great... " He muttered to himself as he wandered out from the staircase and into the hall itself, eyeing up every identical door on either side of the room as he approached the middle.

Sighing, he turned back only to see Combusken smiling at him from in front of the staircase.

"Hey," Raab smiled back. "Done playing Jackie Chan?" Combusken replied happily and wandered over to Raab, eyeing up the doors around it just as he had - also realising that Katie, Gad and Raiden had all vanished, presumably into one of the doors.

"I guess we may as well try one of these doors ourselves." Raab looked around him, unsure of which to take - they all looked identical to him. "How about this one?" He looked to Combusken and pointed over to the middle door on the left side of the room, a completely random choice but he felt he may as well start somewhere.

Combusken nodded, pulled one of the Karate stances it had just learned and dashed off to the door with Raab, who twisted the door knob, pushed the door open and headed into the dark room.

He and Combusken looked around, the darkness not giving a single detail about the room away. "Hmmm..." Raab pondered, only to have his heart jump out his throat by the door mysteriously slamming shut behind him. "Whaa?" He yelped as he turned and grabbed the knob, trying desperately to pull it open and finding it locked.

Suddenly the the lights began to snap on, one by one across the large room, illuminating what seemed to be a cave. A cave within the building - the walls were all made out of rock, there were puddles of water with a constant dripping into them and the air even smelt and tasted like a cave. Despite the fact that this should have been a simple small room, the cave was massive, expansive and seemed like it was at least a couple of hundred metres across.

"Uhh... I think something is definitely fishy with these rooms, Combusken..." Both looked around, the lights slammed into the roof of the cave above them illuminating them only partly and casting theirs and parts of the rock formations shadows all around them.

Suddenly there came a roar from deep within the cave, one that echoed and bounced off the walls and straight into the hearts of Raab and Combusken, now clinging onto eachother and looking around frantically.

Footsteps then began to follow the roar, at first slow and plodding but soon getting faster and faster and closer and closer.

"It's coming for us, Combusken!" Raab cried, back against the door - the only thing in the cave/room not made out of rock and cringed as a massive shadow was cast against the wall directly in front of him. Whatever was coming to get them was here.

"Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaez!" The low echoing roar came once again, louder than ever as the creature bolted around the corner and directly into view of Raab and Combusken, the shadows casted over it keeping it in half-darkness even with the lights shining overhead.

It roared again and suddenly was illuminated completely as it's wrists burst into flames and it leant it's body in towards it's enemies with another roar.

Combusken and Raab clung onto eachother even more as Raab stuttered in both fear and amazement.

"I don't believe it.... It's.... it's..."

"COMBUSKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!" His partner roared back at their foe, leaping forward in front of Raab with it's arms outstretched and fire burning in it's eyes.

"....It's a Blaziken..."

Blaziken roared again, this time specifically at Combusken and with a specific menacing tone to it. Combusken pulled one of the Katate stances it had learned earlier again and yelled back. Blaziken roared once more then tore through the cave, one arm outstretched and engulfing it in flames...

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: Hah hah... This ended up longer than I thought XD

BIC: The darkness of the maze seemed endless to Katie as she struggled forward. "It feels like we've been in here for hours... Just how big could this room possibly be? It looked so small from the outside!" she grumbled.

Raiden gave dreary "Chu..." in response. The girl couldn't see him but she could sense him nearby, not to mention hear the pitter-patter of his padded feet a short distance away.

"Whatever the prize at the end is... I don't even give a damn anymore. I just want to get the bloody hell out of here!"

"Rai?!" Raiden cried then, the sound of his feet disappearing into the blackness. Katie halted, too.

"Huh? What is it?"

Suddenly an eerie voice echoed throughout the maze, "Katiiieeee…." The girl's blood ran cold. She became ridged, gazing around wildly to see nothing but blackness and more blackness. "Kaaaaaatiiieeeeeeee…"

"Alright, dammit! Who's there! How do you know my name!?" she cried, stumbling through the darkness until colliding hard with something warm and furry.

"Raiaii!" Raiden squeaked angrily in response.

"Hey! Don't give me that! You're not the one with the disembodied voice calling your bloody name!" Katie snapped as she jerked back. It wasn't like a person didn't have multiple reasons to be worried when a strange voice started calling out to them specifically in a pitch black, enclosed space.

But then, an oddly familiar laugh made all the anger wash away. "Hah-HAH! I knew I recognized that growling! Got yeah, didn‘t I?"

"Wait…Wha?" Katie stuttered in bewilderment. That voice… It was obviously not Gad or Raab, and she was 100% sure it wasn't Nick or any of the other scumbags who'd been messing with them, but she still couldn't quite put her finger on it. "Alright… Who exactly are you?"

"You'll see for yourself once we reach the light," the voice replied again, becoming closer with every word. Katie could now hear the footsteps approaching. "Just, please call your Raichu off. I'd rather not get roasted in a place like this." The footsteps stopped, and the girl could now feel the warmth of another human beside her. "Do you trust me?"

"Would 'no' be a fair answer?"

The male chuckled. "Just hold your arm out in front of you, k? Less chance of me accidentally grabbing something else then."

"O… kay…" Katie murmured and reluctantly obeyed. The warmth and pressure of another's hand soon touched the girl's arm, sliding down it until finding her own hand. She then felt the individual grasp her wrist tightly, giving a sudden tug forward. "H-hey!" Katie yelped, stumbling into the darkness again.

"Chu?!" she heard Raiden squeak protectively.

"Down, Raiden!" Katie quickly retorted. Regardless of if she knew who this guy was or not, her gut feeling told her he meant no harm. There was just something about that voice…

"Just trust me, alright? I'm good at stuff like this. I'll have us out of here in no time flat. Then," the enigma chuckled again, "you'll be kicking yourself for forgetting me so soon."

"That's debatable," Katie grunted as she was pulled a long, calling then to her Pokemon companion, "Keep up, Raiden, ‘cause there's no way in heck that I'm coming back in here to find you."

***​

Light filtered through an open doorway as Katie and her mysterious guide rounded the final bend of the maze, the boy's spiky blonde hair and clothing becoming all-too clear. The girl stopped dead in her tracks and yelped wide-eyed, "Kenji?! It was YOU all this time?!"

The boy released her arm to step away and whirl around, a silly grin plastered on his face. "Heh. Yeah. Long time no see! … Except that we only met a couple of hours ago. Good memory you‘ve got there."

"So I've been told…" Katie felt her face flushing. She really did want to kick herself for not figuring it out sooner.

"Any~ways, they said there's a prize at the end of this, right? If so, lemme at it!" He turned away once more and took a few more steps forward to give Katie more room. Only then did she notice another figure, a brown-haired man garbed in white karate robes and a red headband, standing against the wall a short distance away from them, not to mention Raiden standing next to her.

"Hey! When'd you get there?" she asked the Pokemon, who simply rolled his eyes in return.

"I congratulate you both for making it through the maze," the man began to speak. "The bravery and determination you have shown here should act as a reminder in the future, when merely seeing is not enough. Trust your instincts. Let your heart be your guide in times of darkness."

"Cool! Don't worry. We will!" Kenji exclaimed brightly. Katie on the other hand was too worn out from everything to do anything but stare blankly.

"To commemorate your achievement I give you these special Blackbelts," he took them out of a pouch on his belt and held them up for both trainers to see. "Endowed with the power of great warriors from the past, these belts will channel the energy of your Pokemon to increase their Fighting spirit. Wear them with pride!"

"You mean they only work for the Pokemon?" Kenji frowned. "Well, that sucks. I wish they had stuff for humans like that, too."

The man's eyebrow twitched slightly at the comment but he kept his expression blank, holding out the two belts towards Katie and Kenji. Each stepped forward to retrieve the gift, both gazing down at the belts with expressions as if to say, "Is that really it?"

"Well… Thanks," Katie finally said. The man unexpectedly bowed in reply, to which Katie couldn't help but return the gesture. "Guess that's that." She eyed Raiden and Kenji before stepping towards the exit and out into the bright light of the dojo back hallway. The two males were close behind.

"Well, that was a laugh and a half," Kenji piped up then, Katie turning to see his usual grin again. His eyes sawn brightly with excitement. "I'm still feeling buzzed, and I know exactly how to work it off. I didn't think we'd be meeting again this early, but it seems fate brought us together. Heh." The girl stared questionably back at him, not quite sure what he was getting at. "What I'm trying to say is… You and me. Let's have a Pokemon battle!"

Katie's face lit up at that. Looking down to Raiden, who squeaked happily with encouragement, the girl nodded and grinned, "Yeah. That sounds like a grand ol' time. You're on!"

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

OOC: Agh! Many apologies for not replying yet. I've just been so damn busy lately, and inspiration has been... slim, at best. Also, I realized that I have no farkin' idea how to write Naginata battles, and have been doing a little bit of research when I had the time. >_>

BIC:

A flash of white light...

His eyes opened. He saw, and yet he didn't see. He felt yet he didn't feel. Memories swept through his mind - memories of life as PokeMon and Human alike, all fading to the point of uncertainty. The Naginata he held in his hand had a long wooden handle and its blade seemed to take on a look that was slightly more organic, a soft green glow encircling its blade. He surveyed himself - his clothing has vanished - along with any traits of his human form with the exception of the anthropomorphic structure. his skin was scaly and forest-green, with a pale blue underside. Three long, sharp blue leaves extended from each of his wrists. two long leaves were affixed to the bottom of his spine, and one long leaf crest emerged from his forehead and trailed back. Everything felt slightly different.

He and Yuurin have fused somehow. Their minds made as one. He was more aware of the environment around him. Or at least, he would have been if the environment haven't been a black space and a featureless white floor covered in mist.

Something didn't feel right.

Suddenly a form emerged from the shadows. It was very female. And it had an aura of flames around it.

She emerged into the arena, with the elegance of a proud warrior woman. Her skin was burning orange from the navel up, fading in a flamelike pattern into gold down her body almost to her feet - which were also orange, and taloned. She seemed to have two metal anklets on her legs and one metal collar on her neck. Orange spikes jutted from her spine, and a flame-tipped tail illuminated her menacingly. Her arms were covered in scaly plates, like a pangolin's, all the way to her palms, tipped with sharp claws. And her face - her hair was brilliant gold, twin plumes of flame rising from the back of her head, her eyes pronounced by prominent ridges, and where a human would have had a mouth and a nose, she had a muzzle that resembled a fusion between a duck's bill and an anteater's mouth - a mouth designed for spitting jets of fire like a hose. Every single danger sense of his tingled about this female. His mind recognized her fusion as a Magmar - which worried him greatly. Her naginata, its blade slightly serrated as if it was shaped like a flame, burned in deep crimson.

"An interesting choice, but a foolish one." she said in a voice soft and deadly.

"We shall have to see about that." he narrowed his golden eyes.

The flaming aura around the Magmar-morph condensed into a samurai armor of black basalt, while his skin seemed to sprout new leaf arrays that condensed and dried into a samurai armor of solid bark and leaf. Helmets covered their faces.

The battle was about to begin.

"Commence!"

He instinctively raised his Naginata into a defensive position as she lashed out with an attack. The naginata handles crossed for a second, each movement leaving a trail of light behind it. They circled each other for a while, and then, another pass.

She moved like a firestorm, her moves cleaving through his defenses with relative ease. With each hit that his blade took, it seemed to have lost a bit of its energy while her naginata's glow intensified. He dodged the slashes, using his speed as a weapon. He fanned out his leaf blades, using them to catch stray moves while he slashed a wide-angle arc at his opponent. She blocked it with ease and delivered a powerful counterblow which he just barely deflected - at the cost of a single shoulderplate, which was knocked off the field, leaving his right shoulder exposed.

It was like a dance of death.

Parry, parry, wide-angle-slash, block, twist, thrust. His moves always seemed to be a little incomplete in comparison to hers, but they did their damage. Cleaving through the basalt of a shoulderplate, his naginata burst into green fire to counter his opponent's crimson glow. A slight miscalculation - resulting in a painful slash to the side of his arm. He pulled back, observing the cut. It wasn't deep, it didn't bleed - but it burned. It literally did - the Naginata's blade felt like liquid fire on his skin for a moment, and continued burning afterwards.

When the second slash came to give him the exact sort of injury on his other arm, the burns were already evident. He felt them sapping his strength. Narrowing his eyes, he channeled energy into the blade and went into a series of spins and slashes that eventually managed to hit their target. The female's shoulder has been marked with an obvious cut - it bled lightly, but the bleeding was less apparant as the stream of green orbs that seemed to flow from the cut to his blade, flowing through his body and replentishing his energy a bit.

Another slash, another block. The battle was drawing out, pieces of armor flying off both and vanishing. Both sustained more injuries. But the burns were taking their toll, and he was tiring. He felt himself losing concentration, vaguely slipping away, a single moment of fuzziness was all it took.

With a powerful twist, she slashed powerfully across his abdomen, the blade burning red, leaving a long gash that started at his shoulder and ended just a bit above his hip. He screamed, falling to the ground, still clutching his Naginata tightly, his body seemingly consumed by green flame.

"I believe that this battle is mine." she said mockingly "Your minds are obviously not strong or disciplined enough to face me. How pathetic!"

... His eyes opened wide, burning in ancient fury.

"This battle... is not over yet!" he uttered slowly. Then suddenly, he changed.

From his heart came a different fire - a deep greenish-blue - that flowed across, burning through the green fire of the grass type, assimilating it into itself. The Naginata's glow changed, drawing that color into its very core. More leafy crests emerged along his body - two on his head, one on his tail - which grew longer and more reptillian, still tipped with leaves. The three leaf blades became full-blown wings of leaves, fanning out. Markings appeared on his skin. He rose, supporting himself against his naginata, narrowing his eyes, and raising the naginata in an attack position.

The Magmar morph grinned to herself "Ahh, this is where things get /interesting/."

She lunged forward, her entire body surrounded by a projectile of flame, naginata blade directed straight for his neck. He raised the Naginata for a block, knocking the blade off course and launched a swift kick to the magmar-morph's stomach, he dropped one hand's grip on the Naginata and leapt up, gliding with his leaves spread out, naginata blade pointed down. The Magmar spun her naginata above her head in an attempt to knock the weapon out of his hands, but he used the downward momentum to swing off the spinning vortex of red light that formed, somersaulting and landing gracefully a safe distance away. The two foes circled each other - both tired, but driven by some kind of sullen internal energy - determined to defeat their foe before they go down themselves. The blows became faster and faster, and more complicated. Red and Turquoise clashed against each other, none quite overpowering the other. A few more cuts and scratches. The balance had to be broken.

"Give it your best shot." she taunted, blocking another arc slash "Although it wouldn't matter anymore after this!"

And saying that, fire bathed her naginata and she twirled it rapidly, a cyclone of fire forming around the blade and expanding in his direction. He narrowed his eyes, leaping up into the swirling current of hot air formed by the cyclone. Turquoise fire bathed his form, rising up a column of hot air, faster than the flames below him...

And he cast his naginata powerfully into the center. The burning blade shattered through the eye of the storm, and a terrifying scream could be heard.

The naginata has powerfully pierced through the fusion's heart, impaling her to the ground. She looked to him through nearly dead eyes as he landed.

"That power... What is it? How could grass overpower fire? That is the true power of your spirits, Gad and Yuurin - now, be separated once more!"

And a flash of white light again...

~*~

Gad opened his eyes hurriedly, surveying the scene again. Sure enough, he was human again - unharmed, clothed in his usual clothing. Yuurin rested by his side, front claws on the ground, breathing heavily - just the forest green grovyle he was.

And he saw the girl he was battling - her armor-robe's hood has been knocked off her head, revealing her long, golden hair, and a soft featured yet battle-hardened face with a long scar running along her cheek. She had a few tears running down her face - clearly the effort exerted her much. She then turned her eyes to Gad and Yuurin and smiled, the Magmar mimicing her motions, as much as a Magmar could.

"A fine battle, Gad." she said softly "You and Yuurin have proven your inner strength - far beyond my anticipations. You two will go far. I can feel it. I fear I have very little reward for you beyond that. But... I would like you to have this."

She reached into a pocket and produced what looked like a small golden teardrop-shaped pin, with a small round emerald embedded in its center. It seemed to have connection points to two more like it.

"There are two more challenges that await those who have bested me - my sisters of bronze and silver hair await those who have defeated me. Few have accomplished the feat of defeating all three of us and recieving all three pieces of the Vortex Medal. And those who have... Well, ye shall find out should you seek us out."

The trainers both stood up and returned their PokeMon. And then, they bowed to each other in the traditional manner of martial artists. It just felt right at that moment.

"And one more thing." she said to him as he was about to step through the door that was once again visible. "Your spirit is bound to face tests greater than the one you've already faced. Beware of who you open your heart to, warrior of the forest's heart."

And with that warning, she vanished into the light.

~*~

He stepped out, his mind slightly fuzzy as it attempted to properly digest all that it has just been through. He rubbed his temples for a few seconds, fighting off the mild headache. The warrior's cryptic warning echoed through his head. He heard voices in the distance - it sounded like a male voice challenged someone to a PokeMon battle. Then he heard two sounds that he couldn't mistake for anything. A Raichu's squeak, and a voice that couldn't have been anyone but Katie.

"I wonder what did SHE go through." Gad thought "And who she's battling. And where's Raab."

He shrugged, and began walking in the direction of the voices.

OOC: WHEW! There, done. ^_^

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Epilogue: Part 1

An Undisclosed Island, Somewhere amidst the outlying islands of Miato...

Three stones, glittering in three different colors, beset in three different metal pieces that formed one. The Vortex Medal glimmered softly in the light of the setting sun, cast upon the pedestal within the ancient shrine.

By its side, glimmered a green crystal amulet, a single frond of a Pseudopterida Luminfolii sapling embedded within it.

He sighed as he set the perfectly black PokéBall upon the pedestal, the faint psychic emanations from within it leaving his mind. No longer would the thing within it torment his mind.

The Black Salamence. Deities, what a terrible joke. And it was, of course, all on him.

He remembered what it was like when he first felt its mental call, ebbing into his dreams. A deeper shadow amidst the shadows. He remembered what led him to investigate about Project Rising Helix, what changed his life from side to side in the course of one single journey.

"One hell of a journey indeed." He mused, remembering his last words to his friends before the final battle.

~*~​

After their victory at Dewford Gym, the dreams became more and more common. An encounter with a pod of Lugia brought another attack attempt by Rising Helix — an agent called Link, equipped with a sinister Gengar named Youma — reported as involved in the Devon Co. Incident was behind it. However, through an intense battle with the pod's bull, Link's control over his Gengar has been severed, and the boosted creature went haywire. With Gad's help, the Gengar was defeated. It was then that Link retired from the project and provided some valuable information regarding the project's purpose.

Project Rising Helix wasn't initially meant to be what it was now. It was originally meant to help PokéMon by gaining more knowledge of their DNA. The project began with several scientists and a great dream. However, a noble goal cannot survive without funding. That was where the project fell.

The funding came from a mysterious, wealthy benefactor who agreed to support the project fully — given something was made for him. Something really powerful, with the means to control it. It was with this benefactor's interference that new people were brought into the project — shady people who provided the hidden arm that wields the dagger. The black-ops of the project, so to speak. Some of the scientists left, fearing the direction the project has taken. Other became more fascinated with the power they could gain. Some continue their work blissfully unaware of the darker direction the project has taken.

He didn't know exactly what was happening on deeper levels, but he promised he would look into it. He then vanished, saying that they would meet again. They never have.

Upon arrival on Slateport, Gad was surprised to encounter his former childhood friend and rival, Reid, along with his three traveling companions from Miato: Aidan, Mint and Cyan. A long overdue rematch with Reid later, he found out that his former beloved was in Hoenn — and what's more, working with Project Rising Helix.

~*~​

The first link in the chain that brought me here. He mumbled to himself, sighing.

~*~​

The days passed, bringing new challenges with them. Facing off against the three legendary ‘Vortex Sisters' and defeating them, Gad assembled the Vortex Medal, the power of which was said to lie dormant until awakened by extreme circumstances indeed, but what those were, the Vortex Sisters would not tell him. Mayhap they did not know.

Soon enough there was a departure — An'ya was the first of his team in Hoenn to leave. The attacks of her former pack on humans became fiercer and more frequent after her capture — as the new pack leader, an aged, powerful female driven to madness by her hatred of humans following the capture of her only surviving pup who has fallen behind, began leading her pack to war. Only after An'ya challenged her authority and - with Gad's help - was victorious, the attacks stopped. An'ya remained behind to continue her leadership of her pack, leaving him saddened, but moving on, as things that were of even more concern were transpiring.

The dreams were getting darker as well — he saw the agent who almost killed An'ya carrying a container around, a makeshift lava lamp, perhaps, crimson, bloodlike blobs floating within a sinister black ooze. The thing emanated malice — and it wasn't long enough before he — and his two traveling companions, Raab and Katie, found out why. The thing was Rising Helix's latest creation — a twisted fusion of several dittos injected into the body of one ditto and gestated in a special enzymatically-boosted container to form one malevolent creature capable of splitting itself and controlling multiple shapeshifting bodies. The creature split itself into three, and each of the three segments transformed into a twisted, dark form — things that only vaguely resembled a Treecko, a Torchic and a Mudkip, and quickly evolved-mutated into their third forms. Boosted or not, they were still copies generated by a modified ditto, and thus were nearly vanquished. However, when they fused back into a great beast which combined the powers of both and the weaknesses of none, something happened.

~*~​

His hand brushed softly against the only red-and-white PokéBall in his belt, a battered PokéBall by now, with an almost peeling leaf-shaped sticker. Who would have believed. He mused.

~*~​

For at that moment the Vortex Medal shone, and its pent up power was finally released, flowing and surrounding the three battling PokéMon — Raab's Combusken, Tsunami, Katie's Marshtomp, and Yuurin, his Grovyle. With the power of the Vortex Medal the weakened PokéMon regained their energy and evolved into their final forms.

Gad's synchronization with Yuurin, the presence of his amulet and Yuurin's latent dragon half finally bursting into life, however, brought upon an unpredictable feral evolution. Not a Sceptile, but a magnificent dragon of grass, a wyvern-like creature with wings of leaves, multiple leaf crests and eyes that burned with the ancient fire of the dragon-types while still bearing the gentleness of grass-types, finally in balance with both its halves. With all three PokéMon evolved, the tide of battle was turned and victory was at last achieved.

~*~​

But at what cost, he wondered, when he remembered the way the battle ended.

~*~​

As the ditto beast was defeated, its wielder sought to unleash his Aggron, when a female voice, with a deep commanding resound, told him not to.

Then she walked in, and he knew for a fact that there was no turning back. When he saw her with that thing on her head, and the creature that followed her obediently, red eyes shining with malice — as if it knew it was being artificially controlled. A black Shelgon. The Black Bagon of his dreams. The black Salamence.

She was no longer the person he knew.

~*~​

The second link, he shuddered.

~*~​

The Black Shelgon charged forward, and within a matter of minutes, all three PokéMon were nearly decimated. But right before the Black Shelgon would land a killing blow, its eyes crossed with Yuurin's — and then, something happened. Some kind of neural feedback. She retreated with the Black Shelgon in toe. But Gad knew this had to be significant.

The journey continued, mile by mile, and all that time, he's been slowly consumed by his emotions. Deeper revelations about the Black Salamence have brought him to the understanding that — yes, he would have to face it again. Yuurin and it were Light and Shadow — bound to fight until one is superior. He's been wondering about her — how someone so empathic could become so apathetic after a while that seemed so short. And his feelings for Katie, which have been building up steadily through their journey have also been on his mind quite often as well.

~*~​

That too was never meant to be. He thought, closing his eyes tightly, shaking the memories from his head, Another link in the chain…

~*~​

Their final confrontation was at the cloud-darkened sky of Sootopolis. On the ground, Raab and Katie faced multiple adversaries, while the two dragons waged war within the sky. She was riding the Black Salamence, her mind mechanically linked with its, while his synchronization with Yuurin — more powerful than ever before — provided the counter-effect. The Salamence accelerated, screaming, gaining more and more power minute by minute, until the neural feedback was too great for her to handle.

The contact was broken. The Salamence roared in triumph, casting its rider down into the water below and with another roar, it seemed to set fire to the world. And then, in a moment of greater synchronization than ever before, the two dragons, locked in combat, vanished to the rest of the world within a cloud of ambient energies.

He couldn't remember much of what happened then. The synchronization between Yuurin and himself at that point was so deep they were more of one being than two, but he remembered that it ended in victory. The final attack hit home, and the Salamence, defeated, fell from the sky. And he knew, at that moment, by some strange primal knowledge, that he had to catch it.

He didn't know what he felt when he landed on the ground and the synchronization fell apart. It was strange. Detached. And when he picked up the black-within-black PokéBall, he could almost feel the creature within roaring — not with rage, but with… gratitude.

He knew then that the creature must find rest.

Saying a brief goodbye to his traveling companions, he flew off — but the last thing he saw was her body as they extracted her from the water.

~*~​

The final link has snapped.

~*~​

He's been traveling in a daze between the islands for days now, finally finding this one. He made his way to the top of the mountain that adorned it, to the ancient, abandoned shrine that none have approached in years. And there, he left the PokéBall to its eternal rest, the Vortex Medal and his amulet by its side.

Freedom. He thought sadly, walking outside the shrine, onto the cliff edge.

He gazed at his belt. There were five PokéBalls still upon it. Yuurin's battered Red and White. Keirin's two greens — an eternal Basileaf, never evolving to the bitter end. Kaisui's twin blues, now in his third form, the mighty Oceanewt. Azure and Silver denoted Misora's ball, and lastly, his last acquisition, the White and Black of Solstice, his still-mysterious Absol. He sighed, once again noticing the lack of the Red and Gold PokéBall that belonged, once, to Naien. The Dracorona decided that her feelings for Kaji, Katie's Charizard, were too much to be given up on, and she asked his permission to leave his team, and go and seek him out. It was with heavy heart, but to Gad, Naien was free to stay or go as she willed, and the partnership was entirely two-sided.

Someone deserves a shot at love. He thought, shaking his head again. Might as well it be her…

The sun was slowly setting in the distance. He could see the entire island from up here. He could see the sunset casting its light upon the ocean and the crystal veins of the rivers. amidst the unusually verdant trees. He could see the waterfall that ran nearby, creating a panoramic rainbow on the cliff surface as it crashed into a lake at the base of the cliffs. The cliffs themselves had a faint refractive quality. He could see the local bird types — common species as well as a few species unique to the islands, flying off in multi-colored flocks from area to area. And the ancient, moss-covered stones of the shrine merged silently into the music of nature, adding their own, silent voice.

A soft breeze gently caressed his cheek, catching a tear or two.

Kirei. He uttered. I've almost forgotten that some things can get this beautiful.

A soft spark flickered in his eye. The same spark that has been gradually fading through the journey, the one that seemed to fade out completely… when was it? When he found out that she was beyond redemption? When he found out his feelings for the one he loved were once again one-sided? Another time? He couldn't remember. But the spark has been quenched so thoroughly and completely that his eyes seemed to lose their warmth and fade to some kind of a grayish-brown as time went by.

And now, it was flicking silently again. Small, but not forgotten.

As long as such beauty exists, maybe there is still hope.

He smiled a little…

… And he jumped, falling endlessly for one moment before being swept away by mighty wings of leaves. He didn't really care where he was flying now. As long as, in the end of the day, he was flying. And, his arms wrapped around the grass dragon's neck, the trainer known as Gad drifted into blissfully dreamless sleep, flying off into the great unknown.