[PKMN FULL] The Hoenn Diaries (M) (IC)

Lannia ended up almost running into a young human boy that was running for his life. It only took Lannia a quick glance to realize this boy was likely Hark, however she didn't have time to really make sure thanks to whatever was hidden in the darkness was still charging at them. Stepping between the boy and whatever was charging at them Lannia summoned forth a large amount of Psychic energy and used it to stop the monster dead in its tracks and sent it back a few feet.
There was a blood curling roar and some grunting as the creature recovered from the attack. The boy popped his head out from behind the Gardevoir to see what had been chasing him, but the darkness was still hiding its form. The boy reached down and grabbed the strange lamp that was still tied to his belt. He quickly removed the lamp from the belt and held the device high in the air. The lamp's tiny flame intensified and it lit up a much larger area. The light was intense and it stopped the creature that was starting another charge by blinding it, and revealing its true form.

The creature was a massive bulky monster standing on six elephant like feet and towered above both Lannia and Hark. It had to be at least 12 feet tall, but its massively fat layered stomach almost reached the ground despite this. Its head jutted forward and was low to the ground. It had five sets of tiny eyes that where squinting from the bright light. Its mouth was a massive flesh rending black beak that was four feet long and had several strips of half eaten rotten flesh hanging from it. However this wasn't its only mouth as it had several others (Lannia counted six others but there might have been more) that were just teeth filled gaping holes that were constantly drooling some foul smelling liquid.

Lannia and Hark could only stare at this goutiest thing for a second as its eyes quickly recovered and it started to charge them again. Lannia tossed it aside with her powers, but this was getting exhausting fast for her because of the creature's size. She deflected another attack before Hark said, "Just hold it still next time ok?" She glanced down at the boy who was holding the lamp in one hand and a sharp stone fragment from the floor in the other. She shook her head and tossed the creature back again but she was already panting for breath from exerting herself so much. She wasn't going to let Hark get himself killed. She came in here to help him, not to watch him die.
"Hold his head down before we both die," ordered the boy. However his determination convinced Lannia to listen. So the next time the creature charged Lannia grabbed its head with psychic energy and held it down as Hark charged up and stabbed it in an eye with his makeshift weapon. He continued to stab the creature until it overpowered Lannia and tossed Hark off and into the darkness. Lannia panicked and ran in the direction of Hark but the creature kicked her with one of its massive legs as it also lunged toward Hark. The kick sent her flying backward and she hit her head on the hard stone and blacked out for a second. When she woke she could hear some horrifying screams and could see a flickering of light. Standing up she limped over toward the screams as fast as she could where she found a wounded Hark holding the scrap metal that used to be his lamp, and next to him was a burnt corpse of a monster.

"We did it," said Hark with a smile as he stood up despite his many wounds.

"Hark that was amazing," said a sudden voice from the darkness. "If you hadn't destroyed Greed like that it would have consumed many more victims. With no weapons either that is impressive feat for sure! I dare say you are a true Hero!" Just then an attractive woman wearing a black dress appeared from the darkness holding a lamp in her right hand. She continued to praise Hark and beckoned him to come with her to her town so they could throw a feast in his honor. Lannia followed after them, but something was slowing her down, or speeding the other two up. She called out to Hark but his ears were too busy being filled with praise to take heed to her. She had felt like something with this woman was wrong and now she knew something was wrong. She had to warn Hark! She tried to push forward with all her strength and yell out but some dark force was holding her back. Soon Hark and the woman disappeared out of sight and Lannia was left there alone both hurt by Hark and fearing for him.

Hark and the woman reached a village that was centered around a vast meeting hall. There were shapes of people all around Hark but he couldn't really make anyone out as the woman led him to a feast in his honor. His chest was puffed out and he felt like the most powerful man in the world, until he took the first step into the hall. He instantly fell through the fake floor into a large metal object. The black metal around him was very hot and it burned his skin. Looking up confused he saw the woman smiling down at him.

"Greed is often so blunt due to his unquenchable hunger that he doesn't realize it's much easier to just lure your prey in with false praise. You will make a fine feast for me and my children tonight," said the woman as Hark started yelling for Lannia but she was nowhere to be seen. Just then several of those people that he saw carried up several large pails of boiling water. These people were some sort of twisted creatures with no eyes but massive hungering mouths and long talons for hands. In unison they poured the scourching water into the pot and all Hark could do was close his eyes and wait for the end that would not come.

"Pride cometh before a fall," said the familiar stranger that had put Hark into this nightmare. Opening his eyes Hark's memories and statue returned to him, but he was still in a dream. Instead of a pot he was in a bright room with nothing other than the stranger sitting on a bench beside him.
"What the… no wait why the **** did you do this to me?!" yelled Hark as he sat up.

"To hopefully help open your eyes quicker than I opened mine. After looking through your memories and mind it's almost frightening how similar we are. We both thought ourselves better than the rest, and sought nothing more than to serve ourselves. We have used our gifts to promote our pride and quench our greed for power," said the man with a normal tone. There was no smile on his face as he continued, "We were also both blessed with overly faithful and loyal companions, who we disregarded and only saw as another stepping stone to our own glory."

"What the **** are you talking about?" asked Hark. The man leaned forward and put his hand on Hark's forehead and shared with the boy some of his own memories.

"Skyna sacrificed herself to save me even though it was a fate I had brought upon myself and worse yet I never treated her with the respect or kindness she deserved. Don't do the same thing with Lannia," said the man with a deep sorrow in his voice he then changed the subject yet again, "Stop hating the world and blaming it for your failures Hark. You forsake Ranger in your own fear, and he died. You made a mistake that cost something else its life. You didn't pursue the Pokemon that took off with Ranger and you let go to stop the pain. It's not the world's fault for "pressuring" you to be a trainer… no you were weak. However you did try so you can't beat yourself up completely either."

The stranger then stood up and said, "Don't make the same mistakes as me…" The man then disappeared and Hark woke up. Gasping for breath and jumping to his feet Hark looked around but the man was gone. Looking down he saw that he had knocked Lannia down as he shot to his feet. Picking her up Hark muttered, "Sorry."

He then shook his head and started down the volcano pass, still somewhat in a daze. His mind was spinning and still trying to recover from the shock from the nightmare and figure out what to do with the advice and information. Lannia sat in his hands thinking about what she too had experienced in the dream.

Eric Mathis Chap. 2.1 Half way there.

Riolu- Fera: Quick attack, Endure, Force Palm.

Eric groaned in exhaustion as he pulled himself up the ledge and Fera barking encouragement as he climbed the ten foot ledge face; with her on his back. "Rou, Rou, ROU!" Fera barked as he was reaching the top of the ledge face. "Fera…. Please stop the cheers, I'm losing focus." Eric says as one of his hands slips on one of the last stones. "Rou." She nervously yelps as he regains his grip. This had pretty much been the scene the past day. After then had reached Lavaridge town, He had stopped to get some food supplies, potions, medical items, etc. Then they left to head up the pass; but they took the wrong path. The path they took was long and winding until they had to climb about five or six ten foot ledges.

"Hey… look Fera, a clearing" Eric said excitedly. "Maybe we finally made it to the right path" He thought. "Rou…" She said pointing to the crowd of people near a building and what looked to be a lift station.
"Hey…. Uhh.. Fera…. Maybe we shouldn't go over there in case someone recognizes me." He said nervously. "Rou…. Orru." She said pointing at the crowd walking that way. "Hey! Fera! Wait up!" He whispered hurriedly as he ran to join her.

As they approached the crowd nervousness wretched Eric, "what if someone recognizes me?" he said quietly. They approach the group quickly. Then seeing a girl with blue hair walk off in another direction. "Strange." He says walking up to a older man.

"Hello sir, can you tell me how to get to the top of the mountain?" Eric says politely. "Yes, young man. Over that way there is a path that leads up the volcano. You'll have to use it since the lift is out." The old man says pointing towards the direction where the blue haired girl went.

"Well thank you sir." Eric says walking towards the path. "Well fera, lets get movin' shall we." he says enthusiastically heading up the entrance to the path.

Aya didn't really say much to the other two, although she did join in the conversation occasionally she just wasn't as much of a conversationalist as the other two, and it seemed pretty clear to her that Dava didn't like her much. She chose rather than speaking much, to focus on where they were going - having entered the caves thin confines the trio were walking in what was near total darkness towards a faint glow that they assumed would lead them back outside once more. The glow of the (supposed) exit and the occasional crackle of electricity from Prince were the only guiding lights available to the trainers.

Dava didn't like their cavetrip too much. It was hot and the air was moist in a strange way. She kept close to Prince and Akito's handsome body, just in case something would jump at them. She didn't even have focus enough to stay wary of Aya.

Noticing something however, Aya decided to speak up
"Have either of you realised the ground has just started to slope more? We're heading downwards so this cave should actually take us further down the mountain without us having to scale a cliff or anything. Good choice of direction so far Akito."

"Thanks." said Akito while on the contrary he was just felling embarassed.

Dava felt in front of her with her feet. The ground did indeed slope a bit on the hot stones.

"You're right! Ah, that's good at least. I don't like... darkness," she admitted in a weak-female voice.

Just as she said that, the glow in front of them expanded as they turned around a corner in the cave. And all of a sudden, the air wasn't as moist anymore. In front of them was a wide pool of lava, bigger than the hot springs system in Lavaridge. It bubbled occasionally but mostly floated silently in all its fiery redness. Here and there, it looked as if parts of the lava broke off and went up onto the cliffs.

Dava blinked when she noticed the weirdly behaving lava. But then she understood.

"Are those... pokémon?"

"I guess those are Slugma. I've battled some once. I believe very agressive Slugma hide in the lava and charge at whatever comes past them We need to stay careful around those things." mutterred Akito under his breath but just loudly enough for the others to hear him. He smiled. The previous day, before going to the Hot Springs he had memorized each and every pokemon's Entries in this exact area. That had paid off well.

Dava shuddered and moved closer to Akito, instinctively reaching for his arm to hold but hindered herself in the last second before contact. It would have been weird.

"It does make sense for them to be more agressive around humans, since they wouldn't come across us as much they could find it very intimidating to find us in their territory. I think if we go around the edge carefully though we should be okay." Aya hadn't heard of agressive slugma, in fact to the best of her knowledge they were usually rather passive. However, she wasn't going to risk being melted just because some information sounded odd.

"Ladon, come on out" Aya released the little green dragon-type from the confines of it's pokeball to which it cried out happily.

"Axew!" Ladon went to run ahead only to be grabbed by Aya.

"Careful now, we don't need you getting fried for no reason. You're out just in case they attack since you resist fire attacks, but don't go starting trouble. Akito you should get Vulcan out and Prince could be useful too, but he's out already. Shall we continue around then?"

"Yeah, Vulcan would be quite useful." said Akito sending out Vulcan. He himself was not sure about Vulcan. If he told Vulcan to use Magnitude on the Slugmas then there was a good chance that Vulcan would use Ember on them.

Vulcan came out of his Pokeball half asleep. He lay on the ground for a few seconds before his ears started moving. He stretched lazily and got up he looked at Akito and thought that his trainer had sent him out for some random battle. He then looked at Aya and Dava for an instant. Then probably thinking 'What in The World are These females doing here.'

He got into battle position and growled as savagely as he could. Only Akito's wordings, "Whoah, easy boy." calmed him down. Then he saw the lava and his first reaction was 'Hey go and jump in the lava.' He then stopped himself and decied that all these humans probably needed his protection.

Dava didn't know much about pokémon battling, but she did know a bit about pokémon themselves. She had groomed the Mareep Princess for contests, after all.

"Actually, I think Prince should take a rest for now," she said and returned him to his pokéball before he could object or try to avoid the beam from the ball. "From what I recall, Geodude - I mean Duke! - will do better in an environment like this!"

The Geodude - I mean Duke - came out and blinked blankly at its trainer, who grinned proudly at actually knowing something useful for once. Then Dava turned to Aya and nodded. "Ready now!" It was hot and uncomfortable in the cave, but somehow Dava was starting to feel thrilled, in a positive way. Strange.

"Okay, stick together. Nobody want's to get burnt by bugs made of lava right?" Akito tried to sound cheerful while saying those words. They then began moving around the lava, far enough from the Slugma.

Aya followed suit behind Akito, staying close to the edge of the room and heading for the exit on the other side. She felt somewhat foolish forgetting about Dava's Geodude (which was evidently named Duke), but she put that out of her mind focusing on the positives. Both Vulcan and Duke could potentially posess attacks super-effective against the large group of slugma and as she had already said, Ladon resisted fire attacks.

Despite feeling reassured by the pressence of their pokemon, Aya still let out an inaudible sigh of relief upon reaching the end of the cavern though (inaudible because her pride would not let her make such a noise loud enough to be heard). The group, their pokemon by their sides, moved through the passage at the end of the slugma cavern - only to arrive in another, slightly larger cavern. This cavern also contained a small pool of magma, however it was off to the left of the cave. What really got Aya's attention was the presence of a young woman .

Akito narrowed his eyes a bit. it was a bit difficult to see. Then he could make out a slender figure wearing blue jeans and a black shirt. There was a Camerupt beside her. It constantly shot out flames from it's nose. Dava raised an eyebrow; the woman in front of them reminded her of her rough sister Dani somehow. Akito finally realized who it was. "Whoah, that's Flannery." he said with a look of awe.

"Definitely..."
I'm standing only a few feet a way from the most skilled trainer to come out of Lavaridge in decades. It was at that moment, that the red-haired young woman turned to look at the three trainers watching her.

"Well hello, you three. It's pleasant to see someone for a change!" she exclaimed, seeming quite excitable and happy, a wide grin plastered on her features.

Hark was quiet as he carried Lannia into the volcano. His mind was still consumed around the events that were caused by the powerful psychic as he started down the side of the mountain. The ledge was small and it made for a dangerous climb down. Seeing a nearby cave entrance Lannia pointed to it. The heights and tiny ledge was scaring her and she wanted to take a different route than risk falling. As they started to pass it Lannia became more insistent and was able to snap Hark out of his thoughts. Looking at the cave Hark looked back at Lannia and said, "There will likely be many hostile Pokemon in there… you prefer taking that risk over this ledge?"

Lannia nodded and Hark entered the cave deciding to listen to her as it didn't matter much to him as long as they got down. Hark moved slowly and he carefully scanned the cave walls and ceiling for movement. Suddenly Hark stopped as he heard some squeaking noise coming from the roof. He looked the direction of the noise, but couldn't see their source. He continued to move but was trying to be quiet. However the supersonic hearing of the Zubats could easily hear the sneaking human and Ralts. Suddenly a small swarm of disturbed Zubats started flying in every which direction around the two. Lannia moved in closer to Hark as they swarmed around for a few seconds then flew deeper into the cave, leaving the two unharmed for now.

Sighing a little Hark muttered, "I remember my dad complaining about those things… how they constantly attack you in caves." He then started forward with Lannia close behind him. Stumbling around for a bit, Hark shook his head then pulled out his Pokedex and turned it on. Finding a bright screen he started using it like a flash light. "Considering all the junk I brought I can't believe I forgot a flashlight," he muttered as he glanced down at the silent Lannia. She didn't seem talkative and it made Hark wonder if the darkness of the cave reminded her of the dream.

"Hey… thanks for helping in that dream, I wish I could say I didn't need your help. However it was pride that got me… and she only did it after separating me from you. I will not leave you like that again since it appears I need more help than I think I do," said Hark. Even though it was a dream he hated that he had been so easily defeated. He wanted to think he could have gotten through the situation alone, but he doubted that would have worked. No, he needed a reality check otherwise the next situation might not be a nightmare, but the real thing.

Lannia thought about Hark said, but she wasn't going to just accept an apology like that and go on her way. He had shown how little he valued her to the point she couldn't deny the glaring truth. That man had reached into her mind as well, and had opened her eyes to the truth. However he had also given her something to think about. She just had to decide what she wanted to do but it's hard to make such life changing decisions in a short time. Her train of thought was interrupted by a high pitched squeal.

A disturbed and rather grumpy Zubat swooped down and bit Lannia's head causing her to yell out in pain. She pushed it away with her psychic powers but it just started flying around madly and taking little bites that sucked a little blood from Lannia each time. Hark tried to swat it but failed, and Lannia couldn't grasp it while it was flying around randomly. Quickly changing her attack method she gathered up energy and waited. When the Zubat bit her for a 7th time she quickly sent all that energy toward the area where she felt pain. The Zubat was fast but not fast enough. The burst of psychic energy blasted the blind pokemon sending it into the cave wall with great force. Before it could recover Hark said, "Lannia pull those rocks on top of it." The Ralts quickly grabbed a few loose rocks and shifted them from their position so they rolled down on the Zubat before it could take back off. One rock hit it right on the head and knocked it out.

Hark didn't get a chance to celebrate as the sounds of more leathery wings beginning to take flight filled the air. "I think we made them angry," said Hark as the first ones began to attack them. He scooped up the wounded Ralts and began to run. A swarm of Zubats chased after them, biting Hark every chance they got. As Hark ran he realized the tempature was rising and soon he found a path that was slightly lit by something. Gasping for breath and sweating Hark stopped running as he realized the Zubats were gone. Moving forward slowly he soon found himself looking down into the belly of the dormant volcano. Setting down the Ralts he quickly pulled out a potion and healed her with it. "Well there seems to be another cave entrance down there on the side," muttered Hark looking down and to his left. Before he started forward again he sat down to take a quick breath. Lannia walked around and took in her surroundings, she didn't like this heat and wanted to press on, but Hark looked like he needed to rest so she didn't push him to keep moving for now.

Carl Bizarro
Chapter 2.2
The Hike Down​

Carl shuddered as he took his first steps down Mt. Chimney. He wasn't a big fan of heights, and seeing the road before him turned his legs to jelly. And it certainly wasn't one of those situations in which one could say 'Don't look down' to oneself. He had to look down if he didn't want to end up as 'Carl on the Rocks'. Felicity had less problems with the surroundings, and stopped to see her partner shaking in one spot. She hiked back up to him and grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's get going!" she said, and Carl only gulped down in response. "Listen I know it looks a lot scarier than you thought, but I'm sticking around, alright?" When her partner nodded, Felicity slowly began to hike down, followed by a hesitant, frightened Carl.

"See? It's not that bad!"

"I s-suppose. But you're stronger than me."

Felicity thought about that, and he was right. Then she had an idea. Perhaps catching a Pokémon would make Carl more confident to climb down the volcano! And judging by the terrain, strong, tough Pokémon were likely to be living around, so it would be a plus for him. "Say, Charlie..." he said, "What do you say we start the second part of your training right now?" Carl was confused by her words. "Second part? Training? Whatever do you mean?" he replied.

"Well, climbing up Jagged Pass was a part of training session!" she said, "Didn't you get stronger? I thought I saw you more confident when we met at the top!"

It didn't take long for Carl to see that she had a point. Although he didn't climb up Jagged Pass all by himself, he and his Weedle had gotten stronger. He smiled upon the realization, and grew excited about what the next part of it. He didn't have to say anything for Felicity to see that he was eager to know what that second part of his training would be about. "Well, since you obviously want to know... your next, um, assignment is quite simple." she said with a smirk, "You have to catch a Pokémon!"

"What? Isn't that a huge step?"

"Maybe. But if you do it, it will be way easier for you to hold your own in battles, or rough places like this one!"

Felicity, once again, had a point.

After trying to rest for three minutes Hark gave up. He pulled a small water bottle from his backpack and took a drink before saying, "Lannia, here." The Ralts looked back at Hark from the ledge she was looking over. Seeing the water bottle she rushed over and grabbed it. She drank all the water she could and was finally stopped when she realized she had drunk all of it. She felt suddenly ashamed and handed back the bottle with her head hanging low.

"I'm such an idiot for not being better prepared… I have one more bottle left. We need to get out of this heat before we sweat out what little water we do have," said Hark as he started toward the cave corridor he had see earlier. Hark quickly found the path he was taking to be very difficult. At one point Lannia almost fell and he had to recall the Ralts to save her from falling to her doom. Despite this, Hark was able to make it to the chosen exit from the volcano's belly.

Hark walked down the corridor several feet to get away from the heat before stopping to rest again. Releasing Lannia from her ball, Hark leaned against the cavern wall gasping for breath. The heat was lower the further they got from the core of the volcano, but the darker it got as well. "So we have a choice of darkness or heat. Sadly I think darkness is the safer option as the heat was getting worse and we simply do not have the water to continue dealing with it." Pulling out his Pokedex he used the screen to light the way as they weaved down the closing in cavern walls. Thankfully they didn't run into any Zubats, but the cave was getting smaller and soon Hark was forced to crawl on his hands and knees through this path. As Hark slowly pressed forward he suddenly heard something scream, "NOS PASS!"

Hark used his Pokedex to light further ahead on the path in front of him just in time to see a rather large rock coming toward him. Hark had little time to do anything but curl his face into his chest to protect it as the rock smashed into his head with a powerful force, dazing him.

Seeing Hark get pounded by a rock Lannia darted between his legs and arms just as he collapsed to the floor. Seeing another rock incoming she summoned up some of her mental powers and tried to force the rock backward, but only succeeded in slowing it a little bit. She took the hit this time and the blunt force knocked her back and knocked the wind right out of her. Looking up she could see a Nosepass being lit up by the Pokedex screen that was luckily still pointing in its direction.
Lannia knew she couldn't pick the rock type up with her mental powers so she started conjuring up a group of rose petals (her personal version of Magical Leaf she summons flower petals instead of leaves), The Nosepass was already preparing to throw another rock, and Lannia's attack was not ready when it threw the rock at Hark. However it just glanced his metal arm this time.

Lannia was about to unleash her attack when Hark muttered in a dazed voice, "I think… it's trying to hit the light.. or something." He then shifted the position of the Pokedex to the right and the Nosepass' focus moved to follow it. "I'll hold its… eyes… you…" painfully said Hark, but Lannia suddenly grabbed the device with her abilities. She began to move it toward the Nosepass in little patterns to make it hard to hit. The closer the light got the more frantic the Nosepass got as it tried to destroy the light source. While the rock type was distracted, Lannia was summoning more and more petals. The Nosepass finally hit the Pokedex causing the screen to crack and the light go out, but Lannia then unleashed her own attack. A massive flood of magical petals filled the small passage way, and engulfed the Nosepass. The grass type attack hit the Nosepass hard and sent it reeling in pain. However it was not out of the fight yet.

Anger filled the Rock type's mind and it picked up a large rock and threw it at the small emotion Pokemon, hitting her hard. Lannia was losing this fight, but suddenly she felt a strange wet mist cover her and restoring her strength. "Stop standing there… that's silly… try not getting hit… you can beat that ugly. Just stop thinking of it as a fair fight…. No rules…. Just win it," said Hark, who was using his invention's HUD to see the general location of his Pokemon and the Nosepass. However he was mostly blind and still dazed. Lannia nodded and started to dart back and forth.

The Nosepass was suddenly having a hard time hitting the unusually fast Ralts and decided it was time to get up close and personal. He suddenly began to charge at Lannia, and she had a sudden idea. She stopped moving close to a wall and started focusing her mental power. Right as the Nosepass was about to slam her into the cave wall the Ralts suddenly dove to the ground while focusing her psychic energy toward her feet. The Nosepass glanced Lannia's little white toes and suddenly with the help of the Ralts gained a massive amount of momentum. The result was that the Nosepass slammed into the hard rock with the combined force of its own momentum and the "push" that Lannia gave it. The Nosepass bounced off the hard rock and onto its back where it lay motionless.

Lannia's plan had worked! She smiled as Hark muttered, "you're fast..." He then started to crawl forward slowly before running into the wall himself. He muttered something to himself as he tried to figure out which way to go. Lannia walked up to him and took his real hand and started to pull him in a direction. She was using her Psychic powers to "feel" her way down the corridor.

Hark followed his Ralt's lead trying to act normal, but his world was still spinning and his mind was cloudy from the blow. He could also feel blood leaking from the wound on his head. He didn't want to alert Lannia, and he wanted to get out of the darkness before he tended to it so he did his best to act normal as he was led by Lannia. However Lannia was worried as she had noticed his less coordinated movements and the fact his speech was so strange. She was moving as fast as she could drag Hark in what she hoped was the right direction…

Aya, Akito and Dava vs Flannery!

Dava, Aya and Akito stood on the rocky floor in the big cave under Mt Chimney, pools of lava around them with Slugma creeping about and just ahead of them on some large rocks in the middle of it all: the former gym leader of Lavaridge Town, and one of her pokémon. Camerupt.

"Flannery!" Dava burst out with a relieved smile at last. "We're so glad to see you here! We only wanted to go down from the mountain without waiting forever for the cable car, but this cave only seems to lead deeper and deeper in under the mountain..."

The elite four member stepped down from the cliffs, coming closer to them, with a raised eyebrow. "You were heading through these caverns to get to Mauville?"

"Yes, exactly!"

"But the way you are going, you will end up north. Near the northern edge of the Desert."

The trainers looked at each other. Neither of them had really known which way the tunnel would lead; it had been a chance. Finding Flannery certainly was a streak of luck, then.

Flannery laughed and reached for a pokéball. Sending the Camerupt - who had been staring blankly at the three trainers - back into its pokéball, she finally walked up to the trio with a look that was growing increasinly mischievous.

Dava recognized it; that was how Dani looked now and then when she wanted to play a joke or use Dava in some way. And the reason Dava knew what that looked like was that she knew that she herself looked the exact same as her twin sister when she felt the same. Only, she actually went through with her deeds, as opposed to how Dani was too just and fair to play it dirty.

"I could help you out, of course," Flannery said, smiling deviously. "I know these tunnels well, and the Slugma are all my friends and wouldn't attack us. But... I'm actually down here to train, and I'm not really done yet. So if you want my help to get out, you need to help me train first. Battle me!"

Dava was surprised. Flannery was a member of the elite four! There was no way they were ready to battle her now. At least not she. She had hardly learned how to manuever a pokémon in a dirty battle as opposed to the sweet, careful showbattles of pokémon contests. Maybe Akito and Aya were more experienced though?

Aya couldn't help but notice her eyes widen at the challenge. Sure, she was confident in her abilities despite it being early days in her journey but she wasn't sure that even the three of them together could defeat Flannery. Any degree of success against such a skilled trainer though... would be such a huge boost at such an early point in my travels... and I can't exactly pass up a challenge like this.

"What are the conditions?" Aya asked cautiously, fighting back her excitement so she could keep a clear head. Flannery smiled, a vigorous air about her, before responding to the less experienced trainer.

"You each use one pokemon at the same time against one of mine"

Aya couldn't help but grin back slightly, she didn't think they could win but she would certainly try. "Fine by me, ready Ladon?"

"Axew!"

"What about you guys?"

Fight Flannery? Aw, come on! was the first thought that came in Akito's mind. Here was a Elite Four member and he was nothing but a novice trainer. He wasn't sure about Dava and Aya. But at the end of it they were not experienced trainers. Flannery on the other hand was an Elite Four member. He then thought. It would be an excellent opportunity to battle Flannery and improve his battling skills. It would help him later on when he challenged the Elite Four. Then he contemplated what pokemon he would send. Hercules would be weak against fire types, so he said "I'm in it. I'll be using Vulcan."

Vulcan poked his head out through Akito's head before realising that Akito had asked him to battle. He then came out and rubbed his leg on the ground threatening Flannery. "How sweet. I remember my Camerupt when he was a Numel." Flannery laughed. Vulcan then growled as he threatened to fry Flannery.

"What's your pokemon Dava?" questioned a very worried Akito. He didn't show any worry on his face but his limbs felt stiff.

"Aah... I'll..." Dava stuttered. She felt somewhat weak after seeing Aya accepting the challenge head on. Usually, Dava was the one to never back down. But this was kind of an unusual situation. She swallowed and put on a brave face. "Duke will do well," she said.

Her Geodude blinked and turned around to face Flannery, hovering closely above his trainer's head.

Flannery looked over the trio of beginners, the familiar sense of anticipation that came with every battle making her feel like leaping on the spot. Adrenaline coursed through her veins - sure it would probably be easy but the thrill of a battle was always the same... even if she would prefer it to be longer.

"Alright the, I'll use this guy then." Flannery tossed a pokeball int the air and in a flash of near-blinding white light a figure emerged. Far taller then any of the trainer is the room, sharp claws and red, yellow and cream coloured fur. A Blaziken, and it looked raring to go... albeit disappointed with its competition.

"Let's get right into this!" Flannery called, unaibale to fully hide her excitement "Blaze Kick on the geodude!"

Aya watched in awe as the tall bird-like pokemon leap for Duke from where it stood, preparing to slam one of its powerful legs (now engulfed in flames) into the small rock type. Dava gasped, not fully ready for the battle to start so abruptly. She had honestly thought that the stronger trainer would have let them have the first move. But apparently that wasn't Flannery's style.

As the mighty fire pokémon got closer though, the miliseconds passing, Aya snapped back from her watching, ready for the battle to come.

"Dual Chop!" she ordered, Ladon leaping to Duke's aid knocking the Blaziken to the side - where it landed on its feet - with apair of glowing blue chops from his tiny arms.

Dava turned to stare unappreciatively at Aya while Flannery raised an eyebrow. "You're actually going to work as a team? I'm impressed. Blaziken, use Mirror Move and give the little dragon a taste of its own medicine."

Not good... a super-effective attack like Dual Chop will easily take Ladon out

" Vulcan use Tackle." ordered Akito. The tiny fire type charged at Flannery's Blaziken. It managed to prevent Blaziken from attacking Ladon but the Blaziken was obviously unfazed.

Training with Slugma might be fun...... but there's always such an awesome feeling battling other people thought Flannery. Her heart was pounding fiercely while she debated what move she had to choose. "Blaziken, use Quick Attack on the Numel."

Before any of the other pokemon could block the attack Blaziken moved as fast as lightning and smashed Vulcan back. Akito grimaced. Vulcan was probably fine but that would have taken a large chunk of Vulcan's hitpoints.

Aya watched as in a flash of speed the Blaziken sent Vulcan reeling.
What can I do? I can't use Dual Chop unless it is distracted enough and Leer and Scratch will do even less damage...

Dava felt disoriented. Akito and Aya were sending out attacks and Flannery's eyes gleamed as if she was really enjoying their imminent defeat. No. She hadn't started this journey to lose battles, at least not without trying. Duke glanced back at her and she nodded. Time to become better than her twin sister.

"Come on then!" Flannery shouted at them, smiling. Blaziken took an imposing fighting stance and swayed slowly towards the poor Vulcan.

"Duke, Magnitude!"

Duke didn't hesitate; a shudder of power went through his body before he smashed down into the ground with both his fists, transferring the built up power to the earth below them. The stone floor between Dava and Flannery started cracking up, and all the trainers and pokémon felt the ground shaking slightly, accompanied by a low rumble from the cave.

Dava almost fell over from the rumbling; she hadn't counted on it affecting anything around them. When she looked up, she saw that Blaziken was in the air. It had jumped up and avoided the attack, and was hovering almost gracefully as if defying gravity above their heads now. At least it felt that way to the onlooker, while in reality it was only there for a few seconds. Then came Flannery's next command.

"Blaze Kick on Geodude!"

The leg flared up. Dava's brain went into hyper mode. What could she do? What could hit it while it was in the... air...

"Rock Throw!" she called out. But Blaziken had jumped back up into the air already, maybe to avoid another Magnitude counter attack. If nothing else attacked it now when it was distracted by Duke, her rock pokémon would take serious damage. Type resistance didn't mean much when facing an opponent of such immense power.

If there was one thing you could say about Aya, it might be that she knew an opportunity when she saw one. "Dual Chop Ladon!"

The axew leapt into the air, tiny hands glowing a bright blue as he shot toward's Duke's aid. Ladon swung it's left arm first hitting the fearsome blaziken and causing it to lose it's balance in the air. With a crashing noise, the flaming foot of Flannery's pokemon slammed into the ground just before Duke, leaving an deep hole that is was now pulling it's leg from. Ladon then slammed the head of his larger opponent, disorienting him further as Ladon landed.

Dava didn't stare in a bad way towards Aya now. She suddenly felt like she realized what they were doing, what she was doing here. They weren't just showing off for a member of the Elite 4. They were cooperating. Aya wasn't mean when she made the Axew save Duke from getting crushed, as much as Dava would have liked to think so. She couldn't think so anymore. They were in this together.

"Now Jump up again, quickly!" Aya added, Ladon obeying without question.

One of you guys take the opportunity! Aya found herself hoping desperatly. Flannery merely looked amused.

"Flame Charge!" Flannery called. As a torrent of fire engulfed her blaziken cracks began to move from the hole it was now stuck in - and quickly.

"Hurry!" Aya yelled, not sure if she was talking to Dava or Akito.

If I don't act fast then Ladon's going to faint................. a thougt came into Akito's mind. Okay, Ladon's in mid air and that Blaziken's in the ground.

Dava reacted surprisingly fast too. The two trainers called out in choir:

"Vulcan use Magnitude!"

"Duke, Magnitude!"

The Numel's eyes glowed white. An aura surrounded him as he smashed the ground with his foot, right about when the Geodude's fists slammed into the ground once more. A miniature earthquake shook the battlefield and the Blaziken became distracted. So the fire around it disappeared but the Blaziken got out of the hole it was stuck in.

"Blaze Kick." Flannery called cooly.

An inferno of flame seemed to engulf the Blaziken's right leg. It was only a few seconds till that kick struck Vulcan and that would probably be Vulcan's last hit in the battle. There was no time to use Magnitude and Tackle and Growl would probably prove to be futile. Akito closed his eyes and hoped that Ladon would use Dual Chop and break Blaziken's leg bone or something.

"How did that not work!" Aya felt quite helpless as Flannery's blaziken launched itself back at Vulcan. She was forced to think quickly, but the only idea she had was going to take too long.

"Sorry, Vulcan will have to take the hit." she then turned to Dava. "Get Duke to throw Ladon at Blaziken. Duke's strong so this should work out okay."

"Throw him? Right at the enemy? He'll be engulfed!" Dava protested wildly.

Please listen to me Dava, just once, Aya begged desperately inside her head, opening her mouth to voice it, even though she knew they had no time to argue.

Seriously. Just then a crazy idea came into Akito's mind.

"This may sound absurd but Vulcan use Growl!" Vulcan stared at Akito for a second before letting out a cry that would have made an Exploud proud. The Blaziken distracted once again cupped it's hand over it's ears and stopped. Akito could make out that nobody could stand the noise but he had to do some things for his pokemom. While the Blaziken was distracted, Akito looked pleadingly at Dava. That Blaziken would soon come and smash Vulcan's face as Vulcan's growl had considerably weakened.

The look Akito shot Dava told her enough. There was no time for arguing. Only action.

"Duke, Tackle!" she began, then put a hand on her pokémon's head to make it look up at her. "On its legs."

Duke nodded and shot away the moment Blaziken started to regain focus. However, it was too late. The rock boulder pokémon crashed with all its force into Blaziken's right leg, making it fall over with a cry of pain. It didn't matter what level you were at - a low blow is low.

The trainers rejoiced. It seemed like they had triumphed at last, with Blaziken on the stone floor, moaning. But Flannery shook her head with a chuckle.

"Flame Charge, full power," she said camly.

It was as if a switch turned in Blaziken's eyes. Without even getting up from the ground, it started growling and you could see its fists shaking from gathering power. Duke, Ladon and Vulcan all staggered back in anticipation. But they stood no chance.

When the shockwave of flaming air came, the trainers were just outside its blast range. They felt the hot breeze touch them, but were left without burns. The pokémon standing closer didn't manage so well. When the humans looked up after having shielded themselves from the blast, they were met with a terrible sight. All three smaller pokémon lay motionless on the ground, signs of burns on their bodies. It had not mattered that all of them had an innate resistance to fire moves. Blaziken was too strong.

"Duke!" Dava called out desperately and ran up to her fallen pokémon. The ground was scorching hot beneath her feet, and so was the Geodude's body.

Akito bit his lip. That Blaziken was too strong. He then walked over to Vulcan's side and sat beside him. There were burns all across the tiny pokemon's body and a look of shameful defeat on his face. Akito stifled a laugh. It was a bit funny looking at a Numel with a look of injury on his face. He returned Vulcan back to his pokeball and then felt across his own forehead. He was sweating. But he had enjoyed every bit of the previous battle.

Aya looked on in a amazement at the strength of the Flame Charge, it had been so powerful that the blaziken had not even needed to make contact as was customary with the move. The cavern was scorched in places and the trio's pokemon lay motionless suffering from burns.

"Sorry about that... I might have gone a bit overboard" Flannery called from across the room, returning her blaziken but Aya only had eyes for Ladon at that moment. She ran to the little dragon's side and quickly proceded to spray him with a potion and a burn heal.

"You did a really good job out there, you were really brave too." she encouraged her companion before returning him to with the confines of his pokeball. Aya hadn't really been expecting to win, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed and - shocking herself - she found herself quite angry with Dava.

If maybe she had listened and done what I asked instead of ignoring me and going crazy with Akito we could have at least done better. It was simple, hurl Ladon at the blaziken whilst it was distracted with Vulcan and hit with a boosted Dual Chop... then the others could have used Maginitude on the downed blaziken and done some serious damage! Or maybe that is just me being sour and overestimating Duke and Ladon's capabilities? Gah! I don't know but this Dava woman has been giving me filthy looks the whole time and now this?!

Aya pulled herself together, despite the rage in her head, and stood up.

"Thanks for battling with me guys" she said to Akito and Dava - trying to hide her animosity towards the latter "and thanks you for battling against us Flanenry! To think so early in our journeys we got to go head to head with one of the elite four!" she added.

Flannery grinned at her opponents
"You guys are welcome! The path behind me opens up onto a small plateau. From there you can head downwards to the right and no matter which path in that direction you take you will eventually get onto Route 112. You guys have a lot of potential I think, good luck with you on your journeys and I look forward to battling you again one day."

Dava was too bewildered to notice any feelings stemming from the other girl. She was still sitting down beside Duke and nodded while Aya and Flannery talked. That was a real battle.

Carl Bizarro
Chapter 2.3
The Fall​

After a few seconds of thinking about Felicity's idea, Carl Bizarro decided to go along with it. With a teacher as experienced as she was and a student with a mind like his, the process of learning how to catch a Pokémon was supposed to be a walk in the park. "Well, Carl," she said, "Shall we get started?" Carl replied with a nod, and Felicity motioned for him to move. Both of them continued their trek down Mt. Chimney, with their minds alert for any wild Pokémon that lived nearby. As they moved Carl could see a couple of Slugmas climbing up the volcano, some Machops training by shattering boulders, and even some Geodudes that were napping and could be easily mistaken for boulders or part of the rocky floor. However, none of them appealed to him, and he continued to look around restlessly for a Pokémon that would suit him.

The pair continued their trek down for some more minutes, and Carl still had not taken any interest to the Pokémon that passed his way. What was more, the road before them appeared to turn more treacherous the more they moved forward, and both of them were forced to slow their pace down for their safety. The boy, really not used to this type of terrain, was getting tired, and asked Felicity for a time-out. She agreed happily, and both looked for some sort of cave where they could set up camp for a while, as the terrain was clearly not made for camping. Carl quickly spotted a small cavern, and made his way there, but as soon as he entered a horde of Zubats screeched and flew right into his face, knocking him backwards and making him take a tumble down Mt. Chimney. Felicity gasped, and tried to rush over to where he was, but the ledges were making her go very slowly.

Carl was tumbling down and in a lot of pain. His arms were too sore to move and thus he was unable to call out Sting. When he stopped falling, he cried out in pain, unable to move. "FELICITY! HELP!" His best friend heard his faint screams, and she began to hike down faster. "I'm coming, Carl! Just a moment!" she shouted worriedly back at him. The huge amount of pain that the boy felt began to fade after a while, but so did his consciousness. The last thing he heard before passing out were some sinister giggles that were coming closer.

"Kehehehehe..."

After crawling around for several minutes Hark muttered, "Stop… let's take a break." They were in a slightly larger room than they had been crawling in most of the time. This allowed Hark enough room to sit up and rest. Lannia climbed up some rocks to tend to Hark's wound, but as she tried to touch the wound Hark pulled away. Lannia was confused and tried to communicate with Hark, but was only able to touch his mind with her powers. However she couldn't transmit any thoughts or words. "No, Lannia… stop it," said Hark with an angry voice. Lannia took a step back wondering what she had done wrong. "I hate this weakness! Why are humans so pathetic? Why does the rest of humanity feel fine with being so weak? Our weak bodies can't take a tenth the punishment that the smallest of your kind can take. Seeing you take more punishment and still you can press on with no trouble once I spray a chemical on you just makes me hate your kind for showing me how pathetic I am… I hate being so pathetic," stated Hark with anger filling his voice.

Lannia was a little shocked by his sudden confession. She understood his frustration as she struggled with being a weaker than normal Ralts, but the amount of hate it caused was startling to her. She wasn't sure how to react, but she wanted to do something. Crawling down the rocks she walked over to him then threw her arms around Hark's waist the best she could. Hark didn't respond to her touch physically, but she felt his emotions shift some. "I'll become better… even if it means sacrificing my humanity to do it," muttered Hark he then went back into a crawling position. "Let's go," Hark said to Lannia, who was confused by his last words. She started to lead him around again. It wasn't long before Lannia realized they were lost, but she continued to lead Hark around randomly for several hours.

Frustrated and disheartened Lannia just stopped and looked around in the darkness hopelessly. She was able to use her abilities to "see" enough to not run into anything but she couldn't tell where she was going. Feeling Hark getting uneasy, Lannia just randomly started down another path. A few minutes later she heard another Pokemon saying, "You're lost… if you want I can help you out." Lannia looked around with her abilities but couldn't figure out where the Pokemon was. "Just follow me," it said and Lannia finally figured out where it was so she could follow the Pokemon just as it began to walk away.

"Why are you helping us?" asked Lannia as she followed the unknown Pokemon. Just then Lannia's footing gave way and she fell into a hole where she landed on her back with a yelp of pain.

"Lannia where are you?" asked Hark's voice from above. However before Lannia could respond the other Pokemon was standing over her. It had almost dress like look to its legs much like her and was small in stature. Its head had two tuffs of hair and something massive thing growing out of its head.

"Because I'm hungry," said the other Pokemon as the thing opened to reveal a large jaw. Lannia's pulse quickened and she frantically summoned up some psychic energy to protect herself from the quickly closing in jaws. However just as the jaws began to close around her they suddenly stopped and the Pokemon started to laugh uncomfortably. "You should have seen the look on your face," it said as it withdrew the jaw trying to make its attack seem like a terrible prank. It then offered its little hand to Lannia to help her up. Lannia took the hand but the Pokemon suddenly let go suddenly causing Lannia to fall back down. "Got you again," said the Pokemon with a weak teasing smile.

Lannia stood up with Psychic energy fueled by anger surrounding her. The pokemon's smile faded and it stepped back as it said, "I was just joking with you… Don't take it seriously … I'm sorry."

Lannia responded, "I don't think you were joking… you were going to eat me but when I showed I was not going to be such easy prey you changed your mind and tried to play it off as a joke." She stepped toward the pokemon, and right before she blasted it with a powerful psychic blast she stopped. She could feel its emotions, and she realized what she assumed wasn't completely true.

The Pokemon was guarding itself with its jaw as it shook in fear and said quickly, "No, I couldn't do it… I couldn't eat you it was just wrong. I'm starving but I couldn't eat you. It didn't feel right. I gave you mercy please show me mercy in return."

Lannia knew the Pokemon was speaking the truth. It didn't stop because it feared the Psychic Pokemon, it stopped because it couldn't bring itself to kill Lannia like that. Lannia could feel the Pokemon's desperation and weakness. It was starving and it had tricked her to be its much needed meal, but it couldn't eat her. Despite starving almost to the point of death, it couldn't kill the Ralts. Pity filled Lannia's heart for the dying Pokemon and she said, "My master has food… I can get you a little now and if you help us out of here I can give you more."
The pokemon looked at the Ralts and hope filled its eyes as it nodded its head. The Pokemon then led Lannia back up to Hark who was trying to reach down the hole to get Lannia without much luck. Walking up to her master Lannia said a few words in her language to make him relax. With a little effort, Lannia got Hark to take off his pack so she could get out a few of his rations. Handing them to the Pokemon it quickly gobbled the food down then with a real smile offered to show them the way.

An hour later the three were standing in the mouth of the cave leading out into the fresh air. "Good job Lannia," said Hark as he let out a sigh of relief as he looked around. Lannia looked over their guide who she could clearly see now. It was an unhealthy skinny female Mawile that looked uncomfortable with being out in the light.

The Mawile looked to Lannia and said, "The rest of the food please… I don't like being out in the open like this."

Lannia once again pulled on Hark's backpack strap to get him to lower the bag. Lannia then went digging into the back pack, while Hark glanced at the Mawile, who was staring at him carefully. Lannia then found something else that made her think. Sighing, she closed her eyes and wondered if she was doing the right thing. She turned around and handed the Mawile an energy bar that the Mawile hungrily gobbled down and then handed her another object pretending it was food. Lannia was correct in assuming this Mawile had little exposure to humans as she took the Pokeball and started to take a bite out of it. The ball suddenly grew in size and popped open before the Mawile could realize it had been tricked. There was a flash of light and the sounds of Hark, who had been looking at something outside the cave when Lannia tricked the Mawile, saying, "what the ****?"

Lannia hoped she had made the right choice as the ball shook. The Mawile looked like it was barely surviving, and perhaps by capturing it with Harks would give her a better life. Yes, Hark was not the greatest of masters, but being his Pokemon had to be better than starving to death. Also having someone else around to help deal with Hark sometimes might be nice…

Carl Bizarro
Chapter 2.4
Blackout!​

Carl slowly regained consciousness. He was still in pain after the fall and his eyes were still closed. He weakly moved his arms to try to reach Sting's Pokéball, and sighed in relief when he felt the small, round object apparently intact. Whew... Thank Arceus for that... he thought. He attempted to move his legs, but to no avail, as a sharp wave of pain stopped him right there. "AGH! FELICITY! HELP!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, but no response was heard. He opened his eyes slowly, and to his surprise it was very dark and he could see nothing. "F-Felicity? Hello? Anyone?" he weakly asked and tried to sit up before another wave of pain pinned him to the rocky, uncomfortable ground. "Help... me..." he mumbled. This time, he could hear a response. Something was crawling in his direction quite quickly, and Carl gulped down, frightened. "Wh-Who's there?"

"Kehehe!"

Then, Carl heard a thump. Whatever was crawling towards him had either hopped off or fallen. Any way, it began to creep closer to the nerdy boy, who tried to move backwards instantly to no avail, as the pain he was in was too strong. "G-Go away!" he said, "P-Please, leave me alone!" He could see two bright diamond-like objects floating as if they were eyes that were staring at him. Those things look like something's eyes! he thought, gulping down, Wait a second... They ARE eyes! There was a Pokémon with gem-like eyes! What was his name? The eyes were getting even closer. That's it! It was Sa-

"SAAAABLEEEYEEE!" the creature cried and leaped over to Carl's side. A mischievous grin on his face, Carl was waiting for it to pull a nasty trick on him, however, it just stood there, staring and smiling at him in a very creepy way. "H-Hello, Sableye! I-I'm Carl... And I'm v-very badly hurt!" he said in a shaky voice. "C-Could you please h-help me out?" The Sableye said nothing, and scanned Carl's body with his eyes. Then, he giggled and grabbed the Pokéball that contained Sting. "W-Wait, that's mine! Give it back!" he said, but the Sableye snickered and began to make a run for it. With the little strength that he had left in his body, Carl managed to grab a rock and hurl it at the evil wild Pokémon, making it trip over and let go of the Pokéball it had stolen. The Pokéball opened upon impact, and Sting came out of it.

"Grrrr.... SASASABLEYE!" the wild Pokémon cursed, and leered at Sting. Well, I believe it's time for another battle! I can't see anything, because it's so dark, but I think I can see the shadows of both Sableye and Sting... he thought, Well, here goes...

"Sting, Electroweb!"

At the same time, the wild Sableye charged at Weedle with a Scratch attack. After being hit, the Ghost-type was covered by an electrified web, that made it cry out in pain and attempt to get it off with Fury Swipes. "Sting, Poison Sting!" he said, "Then, attack with Electroweb!" This appeared to be a quite heated battle for Carl Bizarro. I can do it... This time, I can win!

Lannia and Hark watched the pokeball shake twice then just stop. It sat there for several seconds completely still before locking. The Mawile didn't fight to escape like most wild Pokemon would, but instead she had just given into her fate. A split second later the HUD on Hark's sunglasses lit up with information on his new Pokemon. As an excited sounding female electronic voice in Hark's ear explained some trivial details about his new Pokemon, Hark stared at the ball then at Lannia. "Please tell me you didn't do that on purpose," moaned Hark as he looked at Lannia. The Ralts nervously nodded with a forced smile. "Great now my Pokemon is capturing Pokemon for me.... Lannia you are strange," said Hark shaking his head with a frown.

Suddenly the Pokedex asked Hark verbally, "Do you want to give your Mawile a name?" Harked sighed and picked up the Pokeball and pressed the button releasing a bewildered and slightly depressed looking Mawile. Staring at her for a few seconds a name materialized in his head and he pulled out the broken Pokedex and used the integrated keyboard to type in the Mawile's new name. Looking at the Pokemon he said, "Nara." The Mawile didn't give him much of a response as she was staring at her capturer, Lannia. A part of Hark wanted to release the Pokemon just so people didn't get the wrong idea, but she could prove useful. A second Pokemon did mean a little bit more protection, which couldn't hurt at this point as it was clear he was much weaker than he had initially estimated.
After being released Nara was silent for a few seconds as the reality of her new situation sunk in. Looking over at Lannia she asked in a lifeless voice, "Why did you enslave me?"

Lannia was shocked by this question but was still was able to formulate a response, "You're not enslaved… you're just Hark's Pokemon now, and I did it because then I… we could help take care of you and you wouldn't have to starve to death."

"That is what my mother called it… told us humans forced us into little prisons and made us slaves… that is why we lived deep in the volcano to stay away from humans. She said if we ever interacted with a human and their slaves we would either be beaten terribly for their amusement or worse: enslaved so we could be forced to beat up others," muttered the Mawile. She then looked up at Hark and said, "I may be starving but at least I'm not being beat up to the point of passing out every day… I'm not a good fighter… and I don't want to harm others, especially for his amusement."

The depression and defeat in the Mawile's voice made Lannia feel horrible for what she did. "I'm sorry… I just thought… I wanted to help," she muttered as he stared at the ground taking in the viewpoint of this once wild Pokemon. Lannia had grown up in captivity and had been fed the ideas of human/pokemon friendship all her life. Nara's view on the matter was so different, and it basically turned her world upside down. Looking up at Hark her mind processed the events of the last two days. Looking at the Mawile once again she muttered, "Hark is not a trainer… his goals do not include becoming a champion or anything like that. He is different. He wants us to help protect him… not to going to lead to a very good life for Nara. If it did then what Lannia did wasn't bad, and she shouldn't feel guilty anymore.

"Let's go… I don't like caves anymore," said Hark turning and quickly walking toward the brightly lit opening that was no less than 100 feet away. However just as the three were almost out of the cave, the air was filled with the sounds of flapping wings and the squeaking of Zubats. A second later four Zubats were circling over their heads preparing to attack. Hark responded to this event by saying, "You have GOT to joking. The exit is RIGHT THERE, stupid…" He continued by muttering some colorful words about Zubats under his breath. Lannia started to focus her powers as the Zubats circled around looking for an opening to attack from. Nara however took a different route and started running for a little crevice so she could hide from the Zubats.

Two of the Zubats swooped in on the Mawile, but she was able to slide into the small crevice with only her jaw showing. Lannia turned to help Nara, but when she did a Zubat swooped in to attack her from behind. However the Zubat didn't know Hark was a fighter as well, and it paid the price as it suddenly felt a metal fist to the face. Thanks to Hark's support Lannia was able to get to one of Nara's attackers and hit it with a powerful burst of psychic energy sending the Zubat cart wheeling into the cave wall.

The remaining two decided that Lannia and Hark should be the ones they need to deal with since the Mawile was just cowering in a crack. Deciding to take down Lannia first, they swooped in from two directions forcing Lannia to only defend against one. Lannia hit one with a Psychic burst that sent it spiraling deep into the darkness of the cave, but the other bit into Lannia hard with its fangs. The Zubat began to bite into Lannia more opening a large gash on her shoulder. Before the screaming Lannia could defend herself, The Zubat became a shish-ka-bob on Hark's blade. Lannia was fighting and Hark started digging for a healing potion in his bag while the two remaining Zubats were recovering. "Lannia I'm out of potions… just hold on until I can take care of these pests," said Hark stepping over the wounded Ralts as the two wounded Zubats swooped down to finish off the Ralts. The closest Zubat got a boot to the head knocking it out, and the final one decided it was time to call it a day. With one last squeak it flew off into the darkness just as Lannia collapsed.

Picking up Lannia, Hark said, "Come on Nara we need to get out before more come." He then left the cave in a rush, and Nara quickly ran after him after crawling out of her hiding spot. Once outside the cave Hark set down Lannia carefully and fetched a spare shirt and a first aid kit. Moving Lannia to the shirt he pulled out the first aid kit and rubbed some disinfectant on the wound causing the Ralts to squeak in pain. "I know this hurts but it will keep the wound from becoming infected," said Hark. He then pulled out some bandages and put some pressure on Lannia's wounds. After getting her bleeding to stop, Hark wrapped the wound. Lannia had lost a good amount of blood for her size so she was rather weak. Satisfied with his first aid job Hark stood up and then picked up Lannia. "We need to get you to a PokeCenter," said Hark as he started to move in the direction he assumed was the correct one. Nara nervously followed right behind Hark wondering. This was the first time she had seen the world outside the caves of this mountain and to her it was frightening.

In an instant the entire area was covered in a whirling sandstorm as though a portal had opened up and spilled a desert across the surface of Mt. Chimney. Aya could hear the screams and shouts of Dava and Akito intermingled with her own as she hurried to find her way out of the Sandstorm - avoiding mawile after mawile that leapt at her from within the cloud of sand. Just.

Aya's foot hit something hard and she felt herself tip forward... and then there was nothing below her. She felt as though she fell in slow motion, flying through the air over the edge of a ledge before she hurtled down the steep decline behind it rolling and bouncing over jagged rocks and hard ground. Eventually though she came to a halt on another plateau.

Groaning and brushing sand from her eyes and clothes Aya took not of herself - she was battered and bruised but somehow she had managed to avoid serious injury. The worst damage was a cut on her arm that she cleaned with bottled water and then staunched easily with a bandage.
I must look terrible she laughed to herself as a chunk of rock fell from her hair.

Aya walked to the edge of the plateau walking a lap of it until she stood where she began. There was no hills, caves or paths. She had two option - wait for help or attempt to climb down a sheer drop to the next level of the mountain below her.
"If I stay around here I could end up fighting a bunch of feral mawile in this tiny amount of space with a sheer drop to fall down if I get Sandstormed again... and if I climb I could end up just as dead." Aya sighed carefully climbing over the edge and beginning her decent.

I knew that this wasn't going to be a simple journey, it's a well-known fact that trainers from Lavaridge get a harder beginning than most and I know that I chose the most difficult option - I could have waited for the cable car after all. But I guess I wasn't expecting my pride to have already taken such a beating. sure everything got off to a good start, beating Carl and catching Grizzly and all - but now look at me. I got trounced by Flannery even with two others helping me out, I've clearly made an enemy of sorts out of Dava somehow, I got attacked by a group of angry mawile, separated from Dava and Akito and now I'm dangling off the edge of a cliff, looking like hell and having conversations with myself. Good going Aya.

Carl Bizarro
Chapter 2.5
A Change of Plans​

The wild Sableye found itself once again covered by Sting's electrified web, but this time it did not attempt to break free of the web that slowed it down. Instead, it opted to use a typical move for ghosts, and use the power of the darkness surrounding them to attack the opponent. With a chuckle it used Night Shade. Its gem-like eyes glowed a bright, sinister red, and then fired two beams as dark as the surrounding with an evil red aura around them. Sting was pushed back a few steps, but the move was not enough to bring the small Bug-Type Pokémon down.

Carl's eyes, meanwhile, began to get used to the dark surroundings and he was able to see better. He was still unable to stand up, but he managed to slowly drag himself against a rocky wall to sit up. After watching the wild Sableye use Night Shade, and being aware of the move's extremely high accuracy, he knew he had to come up with something. He could see that the wild Pokémon was still covered by Electroweb, and that gave Sting a little advantage regarding speed! This is my chance to try to inflict Poison on it. Being slowed down AND poisoned will certainly give me an advantage! However, I'm not sure about the chances of Poison Sting poisoning the opponent, but I have no other choice but to try!

"Sting, Poison Sting!" he shouted, "Use it as many times as you can!"

Sting managed to sting the wild Sableye once, to Carl's dismay. Being so close to the opponent left Sting very vulnerable to any attack, and Sableye used Night Shade again, the dark beam hitting Carl's Weedle right in the face and sending him flying some feet away. Sting tried that again, and the same thing happened. To add to it, the wild Pokémon had no signs of being affected by Poison. Carl's strategy was failing, and he had to think of a backup plan, quick. Okay, trying to poison it is out of the question. I'll have to go with Electroweb again, and try to immobilize him with it...

"Sting, Electroweb!"

Sting immediately covered his foe with electrified silk from a distance, and watched as the electricity dealt damage to it. The gem-like eyes glowed red once again, and another Night Shade attack hit Carl's Weedle; and it appeared that one more Night Shade and he would be out for the count. Carl was worrying. He had to finish off the Sableye in that turn or he would be losing. Taking a look at the wild Pokémon, he could see that it was beginning to get tired, and that the Electrowebs and Poison Stings had taken more than half its fighting energy. On the other hand, he was pretty sure that none of Sting's moves would be able to finish it off in that turn, not even with a critical hit. The gears of his brain began to grind as he tried to come up with a plan C. Plan C... What could be a Plan C? Then it hit him. C? Wait a second...

With his injured arms, Carl Bizarro weakly reached for the bag that was lying hear him. He opened it and with his hands looked for a round object. Eureka! he said to himself, and pulled out the round object. In spite of the darkness, he could see that it was one of the Pokéballs that his travelling partner had once given him. He stared at the wild Sableye, who stuggled in the Electroweb. I can hardly move... but it doesn't look like that Sableye can dodge or break this, either... Here goes... He put the little energy he had left in hurling the Pokéball at Sting's opponent. Immediately after the round device left Carl's hand he screamed in pain, drawing the gem-eyed Pokémon's attention. It stared at the object in confusion until it hit it in the head. Then it was turned into a red light and sucked inside. Carl hoped for the clicking sound while he waited for the pain to go away. Please work... Please work...

Aya launched her hand out as fast as she could, feeling the the rock her other was holding on to crumbling and then breaking. Her hand, propelled by her fall, finding a handhold on the rocky cliff she was descending she quickly found positions for the rest of her limbs before hanging on the cliff face breathing heavily.
That is the second time this has happened... I have clearly lost my mind.

Aya continued moving down the cliff-face. Sweat rolling down her from the intense effort of not falling to her death and her clothes and body getting more and more torn up as she climbed, often grazing against a jagged protrusion or mistaking one for a safe handhold. It was only after a long time, the sun now setting above her that she finally reached solid ground once more. Aya looked in front of her, she had only another couple of meters left on the mountain and then she would be down onto the next route.

"Ladon, Grizzly it's dinenr time" in a flash the Axew and Teddiursa were before her, looking somewhat alarmed at their trainers appearance - she was still dirty, sweaty, bloddy and wearing rather torn up clothes.
"I'll explain whilst we eat, but it's nothing to worry about. We're much closer to Mauville now, how could I complain about anything?! I just hope that Dava and Akito are okay."