The New League

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Koroc - Wow, rich lady much, I also love the "old lady down the street" thing, awesome post.

Congratulations, Kenny successfully traded tony for a Drifloon.
Congratulations, Kenny won TM42: Facade
 
"Finally! About time we reached Celecstic Town!" Sara shouted as they entered the old town. The girl had just gotten out of the tunnel and, after fighting quite a few Pokemon, had now reached her next destination. The two Pokemon who here out with her right now, Destiny and Flare, also sighed in relief for finally getting out of there. The trainer grinned at her two newest Pokemon before walking into the town.

Of course, as soon as she set foot in the town, she knew that something was up. In a good way. If it wasn't the brightly covered banners or the music it was the fact that the town was very crowded. Now, Sara herself had only been to the town once during her whole time living in Sinnoh, but that one time let her know that the town was usually very empty with only a few retirees and a Pokecenter.

But now, it seemed like most every sort of person in Sinnoh was here and enjoying the festivity that was suddenly happening. Not that Sara minded. In fact, she maybe is able to find a good trainer who will take Yansa in this crowd. Or even find some stalls and refill on her supplies, she really needed to…Also, as Sara continued to walk through the town, she noticed that a lot of contests will be happening soon. She made a mental note to check them out latter but, first of all, she needed to heal her Pokemon.

Luckily, the Pokecenter had not moved since the last time she came there. Once there, Sara returned Flare and Destiny to their Pokeball and, along with the others, placed the balls on the tray and gave them to the Nurse Joy. When the nurse place her Pokemon into the slightly dated healing machine, Sara walked over to the notice board and looked at what was on it.

Confirming what she new before, there was indeed a festival in Celecstic Town. There was a ferries wheel that seemed fun, but when Sara noticed all the fine print she got a very uneasy feeling about the ride. She continued to look across the board and saw that there was a Trainer's Square. But when she read that there was to be no battling, she couldn't help but to sigh in slightly disappointment. This would had been a perfect time to raise Flare's level, but she figured it couldn't be helped. Besides, there were a whole bunch of people who would probably like a well trained Staravia.

Lastly, she looked over at the Contests that were going on. The Beauty Contest seemed interesting, but she didn't have a comb or any other kind of grooming equipment. Sara then looked at the Talent Show, but she had no idea what her Pokemon could do for it. Nor did she think that any of her Pokemon could do well in the Fitness Contest. Not to mention that she had no idea if any of them would do well in the Costume Contest.

So that just left the Pokemon Race and, indeed, expect for the fact that it didn't say the Pokemon couldn't hit each other, Sara though that it would be the best option. That made her think about who she should have race in this. Lee was out right away, mostly because she doubted he could use Teleport and she just didn't feel right if she did use it. She considered Yansa…but then went against it. If today was the day she was going to trade the bird, there was no way she was going to trade her with a victory. Destiny could also fly, but she doubted how fast she was. Of course, Angela also seemed pretty fast, but she just didn't know how fast.

That left Flare…and Sara was a bit afraid of the young Vulpix getting too hurt in the Race. Of course, as the trainer read on, she realized that the Race did prohibit Attack attacks, so she shouldn't be too bad off. But still…it made Sara uncomfortable thinking about it.

"Still, I think she might be the best chance in that Race," Sara muttered out loud, then heard Nurse Joy call her name and walked over to her.

"Looking at the fair's activities?" The nurse asked as she handed Sara her Pokemon back.

"Yeah," the girl answered. "I was thinking about joining that Race with my Vulpix."

"Really?" The Nurse asked, looking at the wall clock. "Well, you better hurry. The Contest is about to end in just a little bit."

"What!?" Sara yelled, then quickly stuffed her balls into her pack and sprinted out of the center, leaving a very stunned Joy behind her.

It wasn't really that far to the race track, nor that hard to find. Soon enough, Sara was standing by a circular, dirt race track panting quite a bit. She looked over and saw that to a bit to her right was a booth with an overweight man behind it. He started to shout, "One last spot! That's right! One last spot until the last race of the Celecstic Fair ends! Who wants to join this!?"

"I do!!" Sara shouted as she sprinted to the booth. The man behind it blinked as the trainer suddenly came out of no where and all but ran into the booth. He couldn't help but smirk.

"Well, if your Pokemon are as fast as you are, this will make for quite an interesting race," the man said. "So, what's your name and what Pokemon are you offering to join the race?"

"My name is Sara Goodman," Sara answered. "And I want to offer up my Vulpix, Flare."

"A Vulpix, huh?" The man said, then wrote the names down on a piece of paper. "Right, just come right through here and join the others at the starting line."

"Thank you!" Sara said, then quickly ran over to where the man had pointed.

As she neared the starting line, Sara slowed down and looked at her competition, taking out her Pokedex so that she would know all of the Pokemon. There was a Ledyba, a Stunky, a Spearow, a Doduo and a Voltorb. The trainer couldn't help but to frown, realizing that most of the Pokemon gathered are faster then Flare, especially that Voltorb. She wondered briefly if she should change her choice, but soon realized that she couldn't because she had told the man what Pokemon she was using. She doubted that she could change now.

"Guess I just gotta hope that Flare can handle herself well in there," Sara muttered to herself before taking the white Apri ball out. "Flare, come out!"

She threw the ball up and, in a flash of light, the young Vulpix appeared and opened her eyes. She looked around and then tilted her head at Sara, seeming confused as to what she was doing there. Sara bent down to her Pokemon's level.

"Okay Flare, I offered you up to a Pokemon Race," she explained. "Most of the Pokemon are faster then you, but the rules didn't say anything not attacking the other Pokemon expect with Attack attacks. Maybe you could use that to your advantage. Then again, the others will probably take advantage of that too. So keep a look out!"

"Vul!" Flare said with a confident nod, then seemed to frown as she thought over what her trainer said and looked at the other Pokemon.

"Good, then lets get going," Sara said as she stood up and jogged with her Pokemon over to the starting line. Once the fox was put in her position, Sara went to the side with the other trainers and waited tensely for the race to start.

Soon the man appeared and held up a gun. "Right, this here is the last race of the day. Pokemon have to reach the finish line before the others. No Pokemon attacks are allowed but," and here he grinned slightly, "that is not to say that things can't get rough. So, on your mark…get set…GO!!"

The man shot the blank in the gun and all of the Pokemon blotted off, their trainers and others watching cheering them on. Flare stuck with the pack for a little bit, but was soon losing ground to her faster competitors. The Vulpix grunted but didn't try to run faster. Indeed, she seemed to want to lost more ground. This would had brought confusion to any that were watching her, especially Sara, but it soon became clear what she was doing.

The Spearow seemed looked to glare at the Doduo, who was right beside it, and then flew at the double headed bird. The Spearow then started to try to scratch the Doduo, making the other Flying type peck back in defense. Flare smirked at this, since the two were starting to slow down as a result of their fighting. The fox suddenly got a burst of speed and, when she neared the two warring birds, jumped onto the Doduo. From there, she jumped onto the Spearow and kicked off of it to jump way ahead of the other Pokemon, also knocking the Spearow to the ground. The Vulpix then landed right on the Stunky and used that as another kick off to race ahead, knocking the skunk further behind her.

Now it was only the Voltorb that was ahead of her. But going pass it wasn't going to be easy for Flare. It was very fast and they were nearing the finish line.

Suddenly, there was a low screech behind Flare and she turned her head to see the Doduo, Stunky, and Spearrow chasing after her, murder in their eyes. The fox grinned when she saw this and once against purposefully slowed down. The three other Pokemon also grinned when they saw this and sped up. They soon neared the Vulpix but before they could get their revenge, she slow down enough so that she went right inbetween the Doduo's legs, causing the others to miss her.

The three seemed to like this more, knowing that they were now ahead of the fox. But then Flare grabbed the Stunky by the scruff of it's neck and jumped onto the back of the Doduo with it. She then threw the Stunky at the Spearow, making both crash onto the ground and start fighting with one another. One of the Doduo's head turned to glare at Flare and tried to peck at her. The fox jumped onto that head before hopping onto the other. The head moved back on it's long neck before shooting forward again, launching Flare into the air.

Everyone held their breath as the fox flew in the air…before she landed on top of the Voltorb and started to run on it. Both started to near the finish line. The Voltorb, knowing that something was on it, rolled to the left and the right, trying to knock Flare off. Flare grinned once more and, only a few feet from the finish line, kicked off of the Ball Pokemon, knocking it to the side.

The fox gracefully landed on the finish line, looking towards her trainer with a grin. Everyone cheered loudly at Flare's victory and Sara quickly ran over to her Pokemon. She picked the Vulpix up and spun her around before hugging her close.

"Yeah! Nice going there Flare! You did great!" Sara shouted.

"Vulpix!" Flare called out happily, nuzzling against her trainer.

"Well, well, I have to say; I have not seen a race like that in all my years of doing this," the man said as he walked over to Sara and her Vulpix. "And might I say, you more then deserve this TM!"

"Thank you sir," Sara said with a grin as she took the TM.

"I hope you come back next year," the man said with a chuckle. "You and your Vulpix there. The crowd will be huge!"

"I'll see what I can do," Sara said with a smile, then walked away from the track, stilling holding onto Flare.

From there, the trainer took the time to look around, seeing what else there was. She knew of the Trainer's square but didn't feel like going there just yet (though she would soon enough). Instead, she went over to the stalls and looked around. She passed the Apri ball and Mail stalls, figuring that her Pokeballs where enough and what use was Mail to her? However, she stopped by the MooMoo Stall and looked at what was sold there.

"Hey, um, what does MooMoo milk do?" Sara asked, setting down Flare and picking up a bottle.

"Well, partner, it heals yer Pokemon, that's what it does," the young girl said with a smile. "Yessiry, heal them up all nice like, see? Even more then Potions! Selling them for a good price too."

"You don't say," Sara said, thinking for a bit. "Alright then, I'll take five."

"Thank ya kindly ma'am," the young girl said as she handed Sara the MooMoo milk and Sara handed her the money. "So, anything else you might want?"

"No, I think that's good for now," Sara said with a smile and walked away. The girl then looked up at the sky and decided then that maybe it would be a good time to head towards the Trainer's Square.

Both the trainer and the Vulpix soon reached their designation, though Sara returned Flare to her ball when they neared it. She wasn't going to trade the fox and there was no way she wanted to tempt anyone. The girl then took out Yansa's Pokeball and looked around, seeing who might be a good trainer for the bird. There were many candidates, but when ever she moved towards that boy or girl, she found herself stopping and walking away, muttering some excuses as to why not to talk to that person.

Somebody was watching Sara as she did all of this. When the girl gave a defeated sigh and flopped onto the bench, the person grinned and walked over to Sara. "Hello there miss, I see you're having trouble with something and I was wondering if I could help?"

Sara looked up to see a fairly tall, but young, boy standing in front of her. He had short, but slightly spiky brown hair, green eyes and a blue shirt. He also wore blue shorts and black shoes. After taking his appearance in, Sara said, "Yeah, I kind of do have a problem. You see, I have this Pokemon I want to trade because she just doesn't work in my team any more…but I have no idea who to trade her to. I'm not even looking for a rare Pokemon or anything like that in return. I just want to give her to a good trainer."

"You don't say…" the boy said, grinning even more. "So, what kind of Pokemon are you trying to trade?"

"A Staravia named Yansa," Sara answered.

The boy whistled. "That's not a bad Pokemon you got there. Not rare exactly, but still not a bad Pokemon. Why do you want to trade her?" He asked.

"She just doesn't work on my team any more," Sara said with a sigh, then blinked and looked up at the boy. "Hey, you seem nice, would you mind if I trade with you?"

Now the boy's grin turned wolfish. "Oh no, I don't mind at all. In fact, I think I have the perfect Pokemon for you," he said, then seemed to consider it more. "Yep…I'm more then sure that this Pokemon would work perfectly with you."

"Really?" Sara asked, perking up despite herself. "Cool, so do you want to do this right now or do you have to get this Pokemon?"

"No, we can do it here," the boy said with a grin as he pulled out a blue (which really seemed to be his color) Apri ball.

"Great!" Sara said, handing the boy the Pokeball that held Yansa as she took the Apri ball that held her newest Pokemon. "Thanks a lot!"

"Hey, just trying to help a fellow trainer out!" the boy said, then spun on his heels. "Anyways, I need to get going to somewhere, bye!" He then ran off, not looking back once.

Sara blinked, surprised and confused by the boy's actions. But she soon pushed it out of her head as she looked down at the blue Apri ball and smirked to herself.

"I think I'll head to the Pokemon Center," the girl said as she got up and walked back to the red roofed building, "then I can see just what kind of Pokemon this is."

Soon enough, she entered the Pokemon Center, paid for a room and walked over to it. Once inside, Sara took the blue Apri ball out and threw it up in the air. "Alright Pokemon! Show me who you are!"

The ball opened up and a bright flash of light came out, shooting at the ground. When the light finally took the form of the new Pokemon, Sara gasped and stepped back in fear. She stared at the new Pokemon, not believing her eyes or her stupidity, for a long while. Then, she let out a frustrated cry and kicked the door to her room.

Sure, she had been telling the truth when she had told the boy that she wasn't looking for a rare Pokemon, but that didn't mean that she didn't want a half decent Pokemon in exchange. Heck, just a Pokemon she could battle with would had been just fine, you know! Any, and I mean, any Pokemon would had been better then the Pokemon flopping about on Sara's floor right now that the 'nice' boy had so kindly given her.

A Magikarp.
 
Charzeon - Awesome Post! They always did say that foxes were smart, hm?

Congratulations, Sara won TM34 Shock Wave!
Sara successfully traded Yansa for a Magikarp!
Sara bought some MooMoo Milk.
 
Bryce carefully crossed the bridge. He was almost completely across the bridge was he heard someone yelling.

"Hey, mister!" The loud voice startled him, causing him to lose his balance. "Hey, mister, I need help!"

It was that girl again. Bryce thought he'd gotten rid of her. "What is it now, little girl?"

"I'm not little!" the little girl replied, annoyed at being marked as a little girl. "I'm 12 years old and I have my own Pokémon."

"Whatever, what do you want now? I already battled you. My Pokémon need rest." Bryce was rapidly growing tired of the girl's company.

"Well, there's this contest in the next town. It's fun. There's a fair and everything. But, I need someone to help me get there. Those boys over there are mean to me. They won't let me through unless I can beat one of them."

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

"I need you to beat them."

"What? Beat them. What makes you think I can do that? Like I said, my Pokémon need rest. I can't afford another battle right now. And besides, why should I help you? What's in it for me?"

"I'll be your friiieeeeeeend." Bryce turned around and started to cross the bridge again. "Pretty please, with sugar on top!" The girl had crossed the bridge to the point where Bryce was. He wondered how she got that far across so quickly.

"No, just go home." At this point, Bryce was extremely annoyed.

"Fine, you don't have to help me, but I 'm not leaving." The girl followed Bryce as he walked to the end of the bridge, and finally reached the other side. Bryce could see the little girl. Her constant amazement at every little site she saw was starting to annoy Bryce. Finally, he turned around.

"If I help you, will you just leave me alone?"

"Sure."

"Fine. I'll get you past the boys. But after that, you leave. Deal?"

"Okay. Thanks a lot. I happen to have these." She handed him a couple of awakenings. "Sorry I put you through so much." Bryce gave the awakenings to Mankey and Shinx. When they woke up, they looked confused. They were even more confused at the reason the girl was staring down at them. Bryce noticed this and decided to clear things up since the Pokémon had been dead to the world, so to speak.

"Oh, don't worry about her. I creamed her and now I have to help her get to the next city. She's gonna be our friend." He said the last part in a mocking voice.

"Hey, you're lucky to have a friend like me," the girl yelled annoyed.

"Whatever," he said. He recalled Shinx and continued to walk toward the entrance to the next city. He and the girl came upon a cave. They started to enter the cave. There were two boys guarding the entrance.

"Hey, you!" said the boy. "You can't enter unless you pay me." He looked over at the girl. "Oh, it's the boyfriend to the rescue!" He and the other boy started to grin.

"First of all, she's not my girlfriend. Second, I'm not paying you anything. Who are you to try and boss everyone around?"

The boy felt as if he was being defied. "You don't talk to me like that. I'll show you your place, kid. I challenge you to a battle. If you lose, you and your girlfriend have to turn around and go back to the city and never come back again."

"That's fine by us," blurted the little girl. "He'll wipe the ground with you."

"Hey, don't get the angrier than they alr…" Bryce tried to whisper to the girl to be quiet but was cut off by her blurting.

"In fact, I bet that he can beat you both of you by himself.

"OH YEAH!?" The boy had grown really angry. He walked up to the girl. Where's my say in this matter? Bryce thought. "Your boyfriend against me and my friend. The other boy stepped up and unstrapped a lone Pokeball from his belt.

"First you'll battle me, and then you'll battle my partner." He threw out his Pokeball. Bryce watched as a flash of light released an Aron. Bryce had just the right Pokémon to use.

"Mankey, could you take care of the Aron for me?" Mankey stepped forward, ready to battle. "Since you challenged me, I'll take the liberty of going first. Mankey, use Low Kick!" Mankey ran up to Aron and kick it off of its feet. Aron fell on its back but recovered quickly.

"Aron, use Headbutt!" the boy commanded. The Aron charged and slammed its skull at Bryce's Mankey. Mankey fell back.

"Too bad, you're gonna lose," Bryce boasted. "Use Seismic Toss, now!" Mankey grabbed the Aron, jumped into the air, and threw the Aron down."

"Hey, you're battling too harsh!"

"Harsh, if the Pokémon can't take it, then it shouldn't be battling! Besides, you challenged me, remember?" The trainer gritted his teeth.

"Aron, use Metal Claw!" Aron's claws started to glow white. It ran up to Mankey and slashed him. Mankey fell back and cried out in pain. "Just like you said, if your Pokémon can't take it, then it shouldn't be battling." The trainer had a grin on his face, but the grin was quickly wiped away when he saw that Bryce was grinning too.

"Yeah, I did say that, didn't I?" He waited for a moment. Then issued his command. "Mankey, use Focus Energy and then use Revenge!" Mankey's body was surrounded by a red aura. Then it attacked the Aron, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks. Then, Mankey landed one final blow, knocking the Steel Pokémon backwards. Aron had been knocked unconscious. The trainer recalled his Aron.

"You got lucky. You won't be so lucky against my friend." He walked back to where he was.

"I told you that you would get whipped. You didn't stand a chance!" The girl's boasting was sure to start up some trouble. The next boy stepped forward.

"I'm coming at you with two Pokémon!" He threw out one of the Pokeballs that were strapped to his belt. It was a Zubat. "This time, I'm attacking first. Zubat, use Leech Life." Zubat bit Shinx and sucked some of her blood. The attack seemed to make Zubat stronger. "Now, Zubat, use Astonish!" Zubat made a screeching noise that caused everyone to cover their ears. The attack knocked Shinx off of her guard.

"Shinx, pull it together and use Charge!" Shinx started to collect electricity in her fur again.

"Hey, remember what happened in our battle? I hope you know what you're doing." Bryce ignored the girl. He had checked his Pokedex and confirmed that Shinx knew another electric type move. "Alright Shinx, use Spark!" Shinx's body became surrounded by blue electricity as she charged at the Zubat, knocking it to the ground.

"Zubat, get back in the air and use leech life!" Zubat tried to fly back up and attack, but it couldn't. Zubat had been paralyzed.

"Shinx, finish it off. Use Charge and then Spark again!" Shinx charged up its fur and used Spark on the Zubat again, knocking it unconscious.

"Argh! You'll pay for this! How dare you come here and try to make a fool out of me! I'll beat you with my last Pokémon. He sent out a Meditite. "Meditite, use Confusion." Meditite attacked before Bryce could switch Pokémon. The attack hit Shinx. She began to run around in circles. Bryce knew the attack had confused her. He recalled Shinx. Then, he sent out Ponyta.

"Ponyta, use Flame Wheel." The flame that made up Ponyta's mane intensified, cloaking Ponyta's entire body in flames. Ponyta began to charge at the Pokémon.

"Ha, you think you're so good huh. Well, take this! Bide attack, now!" Meditite started to glow white. It took the hit from Ponyta's Flame Wheel."

Bryce gritted his teeth. He knew what Bide did, and he had managed to hit the Pokémon while it was using Bide. He had to think quickly. "Ponyta, when he hits you, I want you to use Morning Sun!" Ponyta nodded.

"That won't do any good!" the trainer said. Meditite released the energy that it had stored within its body. The attack made contact with Ponyta, nearly knocking her unconscious. Ponyta's body started to glow. Then, yellow rays of light were emitted from her body. She got back up with her health fully restored.

"What in the" the trainer was cut off when Ponyta use Flame Wheel again on the Meditite. It didn't get up.

"Now Ponyta, make sure it's fainted with another Flame Wheel!" The attack hit the Meditite, knocking it unconscious.

"How did you win? I had you for sure. I know I did. Here, take this and leave with your girlfriend."

"For the last time, she's not my, never mind." He took the reward and he and the girl entered the cave.

Inside the cave, it was dark and moist. There were lots more Pokémon than there were outside. Bryce rejoiced when he saw a light that marked the end of the passage. He had finally made it to the entrance. The girl ran ahead of him.

"Thanks! You and I make a great team!" she said. What kind of team? Bryce thought. The kind where I do all the work and you watch. He walked up to her.

"So, I'm free from you now, right?"

"I guess so…" The girl looked sad. She walked away. Bryce shrugged. He didn't have time to babysit. He had to get to the next gym battle. He walked up to the Pokémon Center there. On his way, he saw that there were booths, and lots of carnival rides. There were some contests going on too. It was pretty crowded for a small town. He squeezed through the crowd and entered the Pokémon Center.
 
Once the ball had stopped moving, Selene had found herself smirking. She had caught the shiny rock, and there was no way she was giving him up. Jake's arms were crossed and he was frowning silently, though Selene couldn't tell why. She tucked the Aron's Pokeball away, deciding that she'd nickname him later. She then recalled her rather happy looking puppy and turned to Jake. His features brightened, though Selene was wondering if he was just doing that so she wouldn't inquire.

"Celestic Town?"

Selene nodded, and they took off.

From what she had gathered from Sahib before she had left, Celestic Town would be a nice peaceful little town with not much to do. So, obviously, Selene planned on getting her Pokemon healed and just leaving. She had better things to do than just wait around after all, didn't she? However, when they emerged from the tunnel this was obviously not the case. There was a happy feeling about, and it seemed a great deal of commotion was going on in the center of town. From the high point they were at and even through the fog, Selene could tell there was some sort of fair happening. She grinned. She hadn't been to a fair since she was a baby which, of course, she couldn't remember.

"Jake, look at that," Selene squealed. She was growing excited as she smelled the foods.

Jake nodded vaguely. "Let's go heal our Pokemon real quick, and then we can go have some fun."

Selene glanced at him, and had a brief moment where she wondered what his definition of 'fun' was. Then she followed him to the Pokemon Center.

After their Pokemon had been healed, Jake seemed to brighten up considerably. He practically dragged Selene to the fair at a quick pace. Selene thought that he seemed like a little kid. Jake's greenish gold eyes were bright with excitement, and a giant grin was plastered on his face. Though Selene did wonder if Jake was bipolar, she shook her head and just let him pull her along anyway. She was excited too, but for her she wasn't the type of person who really showed it very well.

"We have got to go on the Ferris Wheel first," Jake said quickly. Selene could barely make out what he was saying, but when she heard "ferris wheel" she immediately paled. "Then we can go get some food and stuff."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Selene said, digging her heels into the ground. "I am in no way going near that evil monster," Selene declared, looking towards the rather tall thing. She could hear the damned thing creaking from where she was standing, for Pete's sake! "It looks like it's about to fall over!" Selene whined. Jake began dragging her again. Obviously this was easy for him, because Selene wasn't exactly difficult to drag along. "Jake!"

"What?" He didn't stop his path to the Ferris Wheel.

Selene glared at him silently. In all truth, she was a bit afraid of heights. It wasn't something major, but still. She also had never been really fond of Ferris Wheels, especially after her mom had told her of her own fears. So as she trailed after Jake (who was still dragging her along), Selene felt herself silently going green. She had a bad feeling. This Ferris Wheel was practically half broken down anyway. It wasn't shiny and new, of course not. Selene swallowed heavily and almost audibly. Jake was paying no heed to her as he dragged her up to the platform and stuck her on the inside. He declared that he wanted the outside.

Selene couldn't help the awful queasy feeling that was growing in her stomach. She swallowed heavily as it went up a bit. She could hear the friggin' thing groan! Selene scooted closer to Jake and was practically clinging to his arm in less than a minute. Jake was still grinning. Selene sort of wondered if he was just grinning because of the fact that she was freaking out. Soon the Ferris Wheel began to move again. The seat they were in kept swinging back and forth, and Selene really didn't like that. She swallowed heavily and snapped her eyes shut tight. Suddenly it stopped. Selene relaxed. The ride was over! She opened her eyes and then felt like she was going to be sick. They were at the very top. Jake glanced at her and started to snicker.

"It's not funny! I hate these things," Selene grumbled. She glared off into the distance, refusing to look down and get queasy again. Jake peered at her from underneath his longish bangs.

"Aw, come on," he said. Jake poked her playfully. "It's not that bad. This thing might look old and rickety, but it runs just great! So stop being a baby and enjoy yourself. I mean seriously, look at the view." With that, Jake pointed off in the distance.

Selene glanced around. She had to admit, it was pretty. The fog enhanced the town. Though it was very thin and only just came from the mountains and pass, Selene could still note the beauty. She saw the mountain in the distance, and sighed. This wasn't so bad. She still refused to stop clinging to Jake's arm though, because she had a very adamant fear that the Ferris Wheel was going to suddenly break down with them on it. Selene gulped but tried to hide her fear.

The rest of the morning and to the early afternoon was spent with them going around and looking at the vendors. They also got some food and such, but other than that it was all. Selene was planning to enter one of the Pokemon contests, but she couldn't decide which. Jake had said that he was going to go enter Nidoking in one of them, so Selene suggested that they meet up at the Pokemon Center. Jake had agreed, and then he had went off to his contest. Selene slurped on her drink as she pondered what contest she was going to enter. She then pushed up from the picnic table she had been sitting at and walked off to the contest. She had figured it out. Seeing as it was near two, she was going to enter Kenai in a race. She grinned. He'd be good at that.

The first thing Selene saw was the large fenced perimeter of a grass patch. Selene picked up something at an information desk, and saw the course that her Pokemon would have to run. It was straight, then a sharp u-turn straight back. It didn't seem to be too difficult, other than the fact that it was very long. Selene grabbed Kenai's Pokeball and registered him in. Upon releasing him, she began to look at the other Pokemon that Kenai would be up against.

There was a horse with fire on it standing a Pokemon down. Selene recognized it as a Ponyta, the preevolution of a Rapidash. It was a fast Pokemon. Selene looked at the next. It was a Sneasel. Selene frowned. She remembered hearing that Sneasel were rather tricky, so she decided to leave that as a mental note for later. Then there was Kenai, of course. Finally there was a Grovyle It looked rather uncaring, but Selene knew that Treecko were pretty fast.

"In the first lane, we have Danice with her Pokemon Ponyta!" the judge suddenly announced. People began to cheer happily. "In the second lane we have Erik with his Sneasel!" Once more, the judge paused for the cheering. "In our third lane is Selene and her Growlithe!" People cheered once more, and Selene felt herself smile in spite of the attention. "Finally we have Treecko in lane four with its trainer Andy!" The judge paused, cleared his throat, and then continued, "Now...no foul play is encouraged. The race will begin when the gunshot sounds."

Selene smirked a bit. It wasn't encouraged, no. That didn't mean it was like illegal though.

Kenai wagged his tail furiously as the people cheered. He was excited. Selene was entrusting him to win this race and, possibly, a nice prize for her! He growled at the Treecko who continued to stare at him. The Treecko snorted and looked away. Kenai huffed and stared down the long lane. He was focusing so hard he almost jumped when his master crouched next to him and whispered in his ear. He could attack if he had to. Kenai barked happily and his tail wagged harder. Maybe, just maybe, if he won this for her she would use that fancy fire stone on him and make him stronger! Oh, how Kenai wanted to grow stronger. He wanted to beat that boy with the green eyes and the friendly face. He smelled funny. Kenai didn't like him.

Kenai wasn't focused, so when the gunshot sounded he gave a started cry and ended up basically charging after the others. They hadn't gotten too far by the time Kenai had caught up, so Kenai figured he had some time to think about beating that over friendly boy while he was running. What was that guy's name again? It was some weird human talk. Kenai snorted, and nearly tripped when that evil Treecko suddenly shot a funky attack in his direction. Kenai snarled and unleashed a plume of fire. Treecko had to pause to dodge, and that caused it to lose precious time on his race.

It was time to focus. Kenai saw that the Sneasel was trailing just a little ways behind him, almost three feet in front of the Treecko. Kenai wasn't too worried about either of them; it was the Ponyta that was concerning him. The horse was crazy! It just kept pushing itself faster, so each time Kenai sped up it would pull ahead by just enough to beat him. Kenai was panting now. They turned the u-turn, and luckily for Kenai his claws made the turn easier. The Ponyta scrambled, but managed to charge in after Kenai. Sneasel and Treecko trailed after, desperately trying to catch up while attacking each other at the same time.

Kenai saw his master at the end. She was pumping her fist and calling his name. Kenai barked happily and charged forward. He refused to be beaten by some overgrown pony. Kenai glanced at the Ponyta. He knew it would be close, so Kenai decided to let it lose. He growled and suddenly burst into flames, his speed increasing as he unleashed the flame wheel. People parted as Kenai leaped past the finish line and skidded to a halt. His body slowly burnt out of the flames. Kenai whipped his head back to look at Selene, and found her to be grinning. Kenai wagged his tail furiously. Now he was a good boy.
 
Rockman0 - Great post, I liked the way you played the two guys, it was hilarious.

Congratulations, Mankey grew to lv. 19!
Congratulations, Shinx grew to lv. 16!
Shinx wants to evolve, will you let her?
Congratulations, Ponyta grew to lv. 17!


and I forgot Fen xD

Fen - Haha, I loved creeping into Kenai's head, that was an awesome post.

Congratulations, Selene won TM 23: Iron Tail!
 
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The Pokemon Center was practically empty. No one was there, save for Nurse Joy and a couple of trainers whose Pokemon had been hurt during the race. He walked up to Nurse Joy.

"Could you heal my Pokemon for me?" He asked putting the Pokeballs on the counter. He knew the answer would be yes. He didn't know why he bothered asking.

"Sure, just give me a few seconds." She went to the back. When she came back, she handed him his Pokemon back. "So, are you here for the fair? It's a good way to 'chillax'. Isn't that what everyone says these days?"

That must be where everyone was, Bryce thought. "I guess I'll check it out." He thanked the nurse and headed out of the Pokemon Center.

Bryce had never seen so many people crowded in one place before. There were even more people than in Eterna City. There really was something going on. An old creaky Ferris Wheel was slowly moving in a circle. Not many people got on it though. Maybe they were kind of suspicious of the Ferris Wheel's ability to hold them. He released his Pokemon to give them a break from being cramped in their Pokeballs.

He saw stalls everywhere. There were people selling all sorts of good. One stall was selling Apri Balls. The man constantly badgered him to buy something so Bryce finally gave in.

"Hey, young man. That's a mighty fine Pokemon you've got there. How would you like to have more Pokemon?"

"Excuse me?" Bryce was wondering what the man was talking about.

"I mean, buy an Apri Ball. They have a better chance of capturing certain Pokemon that those fancy little Pokeballs things that were just invented."

"Sorry, but I don't need another Pokemon or another Apri Ball, thank you. I've already got a full party." Of course, Bryce was lying, but he was trying to get the man to leave him alone. Besides, five Pokemon could be considered a full party, right?

"Hey, I'll even throw in the decorations." He showed Bryce a glittering Apri Ball.

"I already know that it comes like that. You can' fool me."

"But, come on. Don't be a sourpuss. Just buy it so I can feed my children tonight. OK?" The man looked at Bryce with a long, sad face.

"Fine, whatever. Just give me the thing." What was it with people bothering him all of the time? He left the money with the man and walked away to the next booth.

"Hey young man, why don't you write a letter to your family."

"No."

"Hey young man, care for a massage for one of your Pokemon?"

"No."

"Hey, how about you—" a girl about his age was about to ask, but was cut off by Bryce's answer.

"No." Bryce was getting fed up. Fairs were annoying. At least this part was. He walked to where there was a stage. He watched as a Pikachu dressed as an old lady won the contest. The Pokemon looked amazing. It obviously should have been an actor.

Then, there were the races. Five Pokemon competed to see who would win a TM. The rules were simple. Make it to the finish line first. Whoever wins gets a TM. The same went for all of the Contests. Bryce scouted the area. There were many contests. There was a costume contest. There was a Pokemon race, a beauty contest, a fitness contest and a talent show. He decided he would enter Ponyta in the Pokemon race.

He headed to the stage for the racing contest but was stopped dead in his tracks. He had just passed the talent show stage, when he saw a Quagsire sitting at a piano. The young woman at the stage announced the Pokemon.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special treat for all of you. We have in our presence, none other than Mozart the Quagsire!" No one seemed to know who Mozart the Quagsire was, so it's safe to say that Bryce didn't have a clue what was going on. Like everyone else, he didn't expect much as Quagsire are usually very dim-witted. Everyone waited as the Quagsire looked confused at the piano keys. Then, in a few moments, everyone's jaws had dropped.

Quagsire had begun his entry with a performance of "Flight of the Bumblebee." Then, it went on to play "The Nutcracker." The crowd watched in awe as the Pokemon played classic after classic, mastering more musical scores than many humans had ever heard in a lifetime. Finally, the contest was over and nonetheless, the Quagsire was crowned victorious. The audience clapped. Some guy started to talk to his trainer about a possible contract as the first Pokemon musician ever. Bryce didn't stay for the rest. He had to get to his contest.

The Pokemon race was just starting. There was a Turtwig, a Chimchar, an Eevee, a Zigzagoon, and of course, Bryce's Ponyta.

"All right, Ponyta, you can do this." Ponyta walked up to the finish line where everyone else was. A judge counted down to the started of the race. 3… 2… 1… Bang! A gunshot signaled the start of the race. Ponyta sped off, almost leaving all of the Pokemon behind. Chimchar was right behind Ponyta. Zigzagoon was closing in on the Chimchar. The poor little Turtwig had lost its balance, causing it to be out of the race fairly early.

The Zigzagoon used Extremespeed and sped past both Chimchar and Ponyta. Ponyta grew frustrated as Chimchar as began to pass her. She used Flame Wheel. Her entire body became cloaked in flames as she left the Chimchar behind, leaving a trail of flames behind that slowed the Pokemon down. Then, she neared Zigzagoon. Zigzagoon attempted to bite her, but missed and was only met with a tackle from Ponyta that knocked it off of the course. No one saw this because it took place on the other end of the track. Finally, Ponyta came in first.

"And the winner is Ponyta, entered by Bryce Johnson!" The crowd roared with excitement. Bryce jumped up and down. He could not believe he'd actually won. Well, he knew Ponyta was pretty fast but he'd never seen himself winning. "I present this TM as a reward, which can especially be used in 'Cool' contests." The crowd continued to cheer. Bryce claimed his prize and left the stage. He approached the trainer's square.

"Hey, do you want to trade?" It was the girl from earlier. Not the little girl, but the girl that was around his age.

"Huh?"

"Do you want to make a trade? My Murkrow for your Shinx. I think Shinx are so cute. I'd spoil it if you let me have it."

"Murkrow for Shinx? That is a good deal." It was a good deal. He bent down to Shinx. She looked at him confused. "How would you like a new trainer that would spoil you to death?"

"Shinx?" Bryce could tell by her face that she didn't want to go. Bryce knew this was going to be hard so he recalled the Pokemon.

"Here, you can have it."

"Great!" The girl frantically looked around for the Murkrow. "Oh! Here it is!" She handed him the Pokeball. Bryce handed her the Pokeball that contained Shinx. Almost instantly, Shinx popped out of the Pokeball.

"Shinx!" She was pretty upset. It was a good thing she didn't know Discharge because she was pretty ready to let all of her electricity loose.

"Hey, don't you wanna go with the trainer? She'll treat you great!" Bryce really wanted that Murkrow.

"Shinx!" The Shinx was trying to explain itself when it started to glow. No one knew what was going on. Then, when the light faded, a Luxio stood where Shinx once was.

"Luxio!" the Pokemon said in a voice deeper than before.

"Hey, look! You get a Luxio!"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeekk!" The girl screamed. "I don't want that thing! It's repulsive!"

"Lux?" the Pokemon said. Bryce felt the same way. It wasn't that repulsive

"I WANTED A SHINX! THAT THINGS NOT A SHINX! GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" The girl ran off, taking her Murkrow with her. "THE DEAL IS OFF!" She yelled.

"That went well," Bryce said, being sarcastic. He wanted that Murkrow, but Luxio would have to do. "Well, welcome back, Shinx, I mean, Luxio."

"Luxio!" the Pokemon said. She was glad she didn't have to go with that girl. Something about her didn't seem right.

Bryce and his Pokemon headed to a booth that was selling both human and Pokemon food.

"What'll it be today?" The man said.

"Um, 5 orders of Pokemon food, and one hamburger and French fries."

"Coming up." The food was served rather quickly.

When they had finished eating, they headed to a booth where a lady was offering massages. Bryce paid her the money to massage Ponyta. It was a little treat since she'd won the race. The lady charged him extra because Ponyta burned her.

"Come again!" The lady said. Not really, she thought.

It was starting to get dark. Bryce decided to head back to the Pokemon Center to sleep overnight.

"I'm sorry, hon, but we don't have any rooms left." Nurse Joy looked tired from working so hard. "We ran out of rooms because of the fair. We're totally booked. You're welcome to sleep in the lobby." Bryce looked at the lobby where the empty couches were. They didn't look very comfortable. I guess they're better than sleeping outside, Bryce thought. Nurse Joy handed him some blankets and he walked off to the couch. He and his Pokemon were just getting comfortable when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, fancy meeting you here." It was that girl. No, not the girl he tried trading with, but the girl he'd met earlier.

"Why are you here?" I thought I'd gotten rid of you, Bryce thought.

"Guess what?"

"What?" Bryce was kind of sleepy. You could tell it in his voice.

"I'm going to the next town, so I figured I'd tag along."

"Good grief!" First, there was having to sleep on a couch, and now this.

"Yep, we'll make a great team, you and me. We'll be unstoppable." By this time, Bryce had fallen asleep.

"Bryce? Bryyyyce?"

That night, Bryce dreamed of the events that passed. Except, the little girl wasn't there. It was such a great dream.
 
Rockman0 - Bonuspoints for mentioning Chillax! xD Also, Bryce is terrible in dealing with pushy merchants.


Bryce bought a Special Apri Ball!
Congratulations, Bryce won TM31: Brick Break!


Chapter Eleven.
Route 210
Free Post
Number of Posts: 2-3


Route 210 is a very diverse route. At first there's the mountain pass, full of bridge grafted out stairs to make the pass passable. The waterfalls cause the pass to be foggy some 75% of the time, but it is simply breathtaking when it is clear. The bridges vary in quality, though none is bad enough to break down, one or two might just creek and sway ominously, and there is one small one with a sign advising crossers not to allow two people on the bridge at once. Beneath your feet will run a wild mountain stream that is impossible for fishing, and only really crossable should you have a very strong and steady water , and even then it would be nauseating and very cold, with several beautiful yet dangerous waterfalls. There aren't a lot of Pokémon on this part because there aren't many that can live in the conditions, apart from the occasional water or sky Pokémon. But it is an exciting place for battles, and even famous for air-battles that take place in the open air over the water.

Then there is the second part, which is a much more even, foresty road toward Solaceon town. The road has a clear path carved in grassy landscape, but is surrounded by trees as the natural tree-line gets reached. It is pretty much straight downhill toward the flatlands of Solaceon, and you might experience a headache from the altitude difference. This road has many more Pokémon species to be caught, but hurry down to Solaceon! There's a word that something exciting is happening there!

Wild Pokémon:

Northern Part:

Bibarel

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 15-19
Type: Normal/Water
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Defense Curl, Rollout, Water Gun, Headbutt
Rarity: Common


Meditite

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 15-19
Type: Fighting/Psychic
Moves: Bide, Meditate, Confusion, Detect, Hidden Power, Mind Reader
Rarity: Uncommon


Noctowl

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 20
Type: Normal/ Flying
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Foresight, Hypnosis, Peck, Reflect, Sky Attack
Rarity: Rare


Skarmory

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 17-18
Type: Steel/Flying
Moves: Leer, Peck, Sand Attack, Swift, Agility, Fury Attack
Rarity: Very Rare


Southern Part:


Nuzleaf

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 15-19
Type: Grass/Dark
Moves: Razor Leaf, Pound, Harden, Growth, Nature Power, Fake Out
Rarity: Uncommon


Bonsly

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 15-19
Type: Rock
Moves: Fake Tears, Copycat, Flail, Low Kick, Rock Throw, (Mimic: lv. 17)
Rarity: Uncommon


Mime Jr.

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 15-19
Type: Psychic
Moves: Tickle, Barrier, Confusion, Copycat, Meditate, Encore, Double Slap (Mimic: lv. 18)
Rarity: Uncommon


Ledian

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 15-19
Type: Bug/Flying
Moves: Tackle, Supersonic, Comet Punch, Light Screen, Reflect, Safeguard, Mach Punch
Rarity: Rare


Tauros

[PokeCommunity.com] The New League

Level: 20
Type: Normal
Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Rage, Horn Attack, Scary Face, Pursuit, Rest
Rarity: Very Rare


Mrs. Norse's House

Wilma Norse's house is located just where the mountainous pass ends and the slope downward begins. It's a little wooden cottage, and she offers you a meal and a bed for the night, because, as she reasons, you must be tired after such a long climb.
Wilma is a kind woman, about mid-forties, living alone in the cottage after her husband died away. She is, however, a certified Move Tutor, and she is willing to teach one of your Pokémon a move in exchange for an item. She's not picky, she will accept almost anything, but the more powerful the move, the more she will want in return.(Will be explained in the OOC)

Wilma is certified to teach these moves:

Twister – Dragon – "The user whips up a vicious twister to tear at the foe. It may also make the foe flinch, it does double damage for foes in the aerial stage."
*Air Cutter – Flying – "The user launches razorlike wind to slash the foe. It has a high critical-hit ratio. It hits both opponents in a double battle."
*Icy Wind – Ice – "The user attacks with a gust of chilled air. It also lowers the target's Speed stat. It hits both opponents in a double battle."
*Ominous Wind – Ghost – "The user creates a gust of repulsive wind. It may also raise all the user's stats at once."
*Water Pulse – Water – "The user attacks the foe with a pulsing blast of water. It may also confuse the foe."
**Signal Beam – Bug – "The user attacks with a sinister beam of light. It may also confuse the target."
**Thunder Punch – Thunder – "The foe is punched with an electrified fist. It may leave the target with paralysis."
**Zen Headbutt – Psychic – "The user focuses its willpower to its head andrams the foe. It may also make the target flinch."
**Energy Ball – Grass – "The user draws power from nature and fires it at the foe. It may also lower the target's Sp. Def."

For * moves you will have to part with something of little value.
For ** moves you will have to part with something of medium value.
Twister is free.

Café Cabin

The Café Cabin is a brand new café being run by a family from Solaceon.Some of you might recognize the girl from the MooMoo Milk stand in Celestic Town, she works as a waitress there, for it's her family's business. You might want to rest there and, if you didn't stay the night at Wilma Norse's house, then there is a room above the shop for you.
Annie McKecknie, for that is the girl's name, guesses you are a trainer. She tells you that there's a small ranch just before Solaceon Town where there is a man who is in need of some help from a trainer. She's very vague about it, but tells you that it would be a good idea to go.

At the ranch you will find an older professor, who has been studying Pokémon reproduction for all his life. He has proof that Pokémon are born from eggs, but there is no one who will listen to him. He has a few eggs from his observations, and he wants you to bring one to a fellow scientist in Pastoria City because that scientist is much more famous than he is, and can get the word out. He does instruct you not to show anyone the eggs, because no one knows about them yet, so hush hush!

Eggs:

Bryce receives *bulbagarden.net image removed* --> ?

Selene receives *bulbagarden.net image removed* --> ?

Kenny receives *bulbagarden.net image removed* --> ?

Mackie receives *bulbagarden.net image removed* --> ?

Sara receives *bulbagarden.net image removed* --> ?

Shaun receives *bulbagarden.net image removed* --> ?


Boxing Ranch:

Somewhere during the route, you will be approached by a man who works for the Sinnoh Pokemon League. He explains to you that the League has been working on a way for trainers to be able to switch Pokemon even though they have 6 of them already. And they have come to the decision to have a huge ranch in the middle of Solaceon set up for the Pokemon that will be temporarily places there so that the trainers can own more than 6 of them. He will give you a little whistle and tells you that if you blow on the whistle then one of the nearest League birds will come down to you to take a message your take your Pokemon with a note with your name attached and your trainer code. If you give them a Pokeball then they will take that to the ranch where they will take care of it. If you want to get a Pokemon then send them a note with which Pokemon you want and they will be sent to you, which may take a few hours.

The delivery birds are either Pidgey, Spearow, Taillow, Starly or Swablu.
 
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((OOC: Belated Celestic post!! I tried to post this earlier today but the site has been down almost all day for me, grrr.))

They were nearing the middle of town—Mackie had spotted the hoop of the Ferris wheel rising, and Danny had given him a wide grin and said "it's the Fair!" Mackie could hardly believe he'd forgotten what time of year it was. He'd never been up here himself but it seemed half of Solaceon—or at least the farming community part—headed up here to sell their wares. The McKecknies sold their milk, the Hammonds sold flour and bread, and the Keelers, Mackie's family, sold their berries and some associate products (Aunt Laura's jams, for one). Uncle Red usually didn't come up here himself, but sent up their stuff with the Coopers, who Mackie didn't know hardly at all. That was too bad, but at least he'd be able to get himself a jar of jam from home!

Danny was chatting airily about the Fair and all the excitement it meant, and how Ally loved that her birthday was almost at the same time, and Mackie was half-listening lost in thought about home, when someone coming towards him caught his eye.

"Wow!" he elbowed Danny at the unexpected sight. "Look!" There was Nurse Joy! Or... maybe not, but one of the Joys, for sure. She wasn't in uniform and she looked pretty young, and it was kind of weird to see, actually.

"Hey!" Danny grinned at him, then waved. "Ally!!" He gave Mackie another glance. "How'd you know it was her?"

"Uh," Mackie said, in a little bit of shock, and then he suddenly realized just why Danny had seemed familiar, back when he'd first seen him. He could never have guessed it on his own, but now that he knew, there was some definite family resemblance. "I didn't. You're a Joy!" he exclaimed in belated amazement, and then made himself stop blinking.

Danny rolled his eyes a bit and coloured up in his face. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Most of us are girls. But I'm not. And she's my twin sister, even."

"Wow," Mackie said again. "That's just plain amazing. But no wonder you know pokemon so well." Mackie hadn't met many people who'd known what Bonnie was, but Danny had.

"Oh, well," Danny shrugged modestly, and Mackie looked once again between him and his rapidly-approaching sister. Ally Joy was the spitting image of the Nurse Joy all pokemon trainers knew, except young. Danny was hardly feminine-looking, but the colour of his hair, the shape of his smile... Boy, that was really something.

"Danny!" Ally called out as she ran the last few steps to join them. "Who's your friend?"

"Mackie," Danny said, "meet Ally, Ally, this is Mackie, he's a trainer from Solaceon, coming by way of Eterna. He met the Pokemon Professor!"

Ally's face got that same expression of wowed envy that Danny's had when he'd looked at the pokedex. "Pleased t'meet ya," Mackie ducked his head and touched his hat. Bonnie wasn't perched there just now, she was up above, having a glide, and he pointed at her next. "That's my pretty girl Bonnie, up there. Rest are away in here, now, though." He patted his bag.

"Yeah, he's got five," Danny shook his head a bit. "And they're all in great shape—you should see the Stantler, too, it's really something."

"Well, I dunno what you were up to all morning in the tunnel, but Mom's kinda mad. Did you forget it was your turn to clean the bathroom this week?" Ally gave him a pointed look. "Training Marbles and Zigzag is important but not if she grounds you so you can't train them at all," she said, and Danny grimaced, and sighed heavily.

"Yeah. Right," he huffed, and gave Mackie an apologetic look. "Well, Ally, you wanna show him the Center? I'll just... run home, I guess." He seemed reluctant, but eventually headed off, with another sigh. "I'll look for you at the fair, later!" he called back over his shoulder, and Mackie waved and nodded.

"I can make my own way, Miss Ally," Mackie said, not wanting her to be stuck with him for no reason. Not that he minded, at all. She was a Joy! It was like meeting a television celebrity!

"I don't mind," she said cheerfully. "I was going there anyway. I'm Aunt Missy's assistant three days of the week. Not today, but I left some of my pokemon nursing homework there yesterday."

"Ah, gotcha," Mackie replied. She was sure chatty, pretty much like her brother. They reached a corner and turned after she pointed out the next street.

"So, do you really have a Stantler? It was nice for you to show it to Danny, he loves those. He loves Marbles a lot, too, but I his favourites are all the ones with hooves, like Stantler and Ponyta and Girafarig," She rattled on, "I like the pink ones best, and I know it's totally predictable, a girl liking pink and stuff, but I just do! Oh!" she exclaimed. "I should introduce you!!" she pulled a pokeball from her bag and pressed the button. A round, pink little pokemon with a funny little pony-tail looking thing and short arms and legs. "This is Cookie, she's my partner."

"Happiny!" she said, just as cheerfully as Ally.

"Hey there tiny! Or, I should say, miss Cookie," he greeted her, and she bounced on her feet and smiled back, before taking a surprising jump into Ally's arms. Those little legs were strong! "She looks kinda like... a Chansey?" Mackie said. She was even carrying a little white stone, like an egg.

"Yeah!" Ally nodded, looking down at the Happiny with a smile. "When she's feeling good enough, she'll change into one. She doesn't know me that well yet. Aunt Missy gave her to me a bit early for my birthday... that's tomorrow," Ally added.

"Happy birthday," Mackie said, smiling, partly to himself, since he knew she'd be getting one fine surprise. But wait—"Danny's your twin brother? So it's his birthday too."

"Yep," she nodded. "Still not so sure what to get him, though. I've been needing to study so much these days to keep up my grades, I didn't have much time to look. Danny's a year behind me at the nursing stuff 'cause he got really sick last year with a kidney infection and missed like six months—he's fine now, but he also has all the free time. Wait till next year, brother dear," she muttered, and Mackie laughed, then fell silent, a little pensive. Maybe...

"Don't suppose you'd be willing to part with that Stantler," Ally sighed, and Mackie looked over at her in surprise. She'd said that in the way people said things they knew the obvious answer. What was the word... rhetorical. She was sure he'd say no, and it was true that it was a safe assumption for lots of people and their pokemon. But the Stantler...

Danny had really liked her, when she'd been out, earlier. Mackie'd thought he was a good guy already, but knowing he was a Joy was like... the best possible kind of person to hand over a pokemon to, as good as a Gym Leader.

"Actually..." Mackie trailed off, and Ally whipped around to stare.

"Really?! Really??! REALLY?!?!" she squealed and bounced on her feet like her Happiny had a minute ago.

"Well, see," Mackie scratched at the corner of his jaw, "I caught her in a catching tournament, and I know she's a good fighter, and has a real good nature, too, she's sweet but fights hard. I just... she and me just... I'm not the one supposed to train her," he finished. "And your brother..."

"Oh, he'd be so perfect for her," Ally said immediately, "I promise he would. He loves his pokemon."

"I saw that," Mackie nodded, feeling a pang for that silly little Swinub. He couldn't ask for a trade, if Danny so loved his pokemon. But he wouldn't have a better chance to find the Stantler a good home than this. "I did." He opened his bag and found the special ball Stantler was in. "Here she is. I really think she'd have a better fit with your brother than with me." he held the ball out, and Ally took it carefully, handling just like Danny had handled the Cleffa's ball, and Mackie had a funny warm feeling at having helped get each of 'em their pokemon on their birthday.

Ally put the ball away, then launched herself forward and flung her arms around Mackie in a tight hug. "Thank you!!" she said. He returned it a little awkwardly, patting her back, not sure how proper it was for him to be hugging a young lady like her, even if it was just innocent.

"You're welcome."

*

Ally had accompanied him the rest of the way to the Center, fairly floating on air, and Mackie hoped she'd be able to keep the secret until tomorrow, at least. She introduced him to Nurse Joy, the official one, better known to Ally as Aunt Missy, but then had to depart, her homework in hand and still to be completed. She'd still been staring at Mackie with elation, though, and had pulled out the Stantler's ball to show her aunt.

"And you, young man, should get out to the fair grounds! This is the last day, you know," Nurse Joy (who was Aunt Missy) told him, after he'd returned from checking into his little room, showering, and crashing for a brief nap.

"Thanks ma'am!" Mackie said sincerely as he retrieved his pokemon. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to see a Nurse Joy the same again. Before now they'd always kind been like the same person in his head, but they weren't. "Danny told me all kinds of stuff, can't wait to check it out."

Finding his way was no trouble, not when he had the ferris wheel to navigate by, and it wasn't too long before he was in among stalls and streamers and balloons and bright colours left and right, from the decorations to the people to the pokemon, all of it mixed up in a great mess of noise.

One of the first stalls to catch his eye was one where a fellow was sitting to one side stenciling something on stationary, while a few people were writing out what looked like letters on variously-decorated sheets of paper. A mail stall! There were even roosts with Pidgeys sitting on them, some asleep, some awake, and some empty ones where, Mackie guessed, the Pidgeys were off on deliveries.

Mackie got in line to discover the guy doing the stenciling was the one running the place, and better yet, would decorate the paper for a little bit extra.

"Can you do a couple sheets with Sunflora on 'em?" Mackie asked, and the guy nodded smartly. "Sure can, sure can. You can see I've got some backlog, though. If you come on back in an hour, yours will be ready and waiting."

That was fine with Mackie. "Don't toss 'em if I'm a little late, though," he said, "there's loads to do!"

"No worries," the man said, "I'll be here until we close."

*

"MACKIE!!!" the shout down the aisle made him turn around so fast he almost tripped over a little kid carrying cotton candy. He did a bit of a dance to avoid toppling over, then looked for the source of the shout. Who..?

"Annie?!" he said in surprise, seeing her grinning face leaning out from a stall whose placard said "McKecknie MILK – Good for everyone!!"

He wove through the crowd and finally got to her stall, though had to wait while some poor fellow tried in vain to haggle her down. He paid full price, at last, and then Annie turned her sunny grin on him again. "What on earth are you doin' here, Mackie?"

"Didn't hear, huh," he said, and lifted his city bag to show her what was inside. "I'm a trainer now! Been gone some weeks now already..." it felt like longer. So much had happened. "Got badges and all that, too, y'know."

"Oh you," she swatted at his arm. "You got airs is what you got," she giggled. "No, no, show me!" she ordered, and he dug the badges out too, and she examined them with a great show of suspicion, even pretending to bite one to test its solidity.

"Gimme that," he swiped it back and buffed it on the front of his overalls. "Gotta give the proper respect to a League trainer."

She stuck out her tongue at him, and then they both had to settle down as another customer approached.

He spent a little time getting some news from home, and also brought out Bonnie to show her, and was gratified by Annie's oohs and aahs. Maybe not as much as Bonnie herself was, though, preening madly and smugly throughout.

He left her with a promise to find her after hours to help her pack things up. Time to see about those contests he kept overhearing people talk about.


*

Mackie tucked Luster's apri-ball away with a slightly embarrassed sigh, and gave the first-place winner, an elderly fellow with an amazingly fast Wingull, a last congratulatory wave. Luster had come in second by barely one body-length, which Mackie thought was eminently respectable compared to that crazy-fast Wingull, but Luster was in a good sulk now, not at all happy with losing, never mind the second-place ribbon. The race had been something else to see—this one had all been flying-types, and aside the winner and Luster, there'd been a Spearow, a Zubat (Mackie had privately wanted that one to not win, no matter what), and a Mothim, which was one of the handsomest bug-types Mackie had ever seen, aside a Yanma. There were new entries in the pokedex for them all, now, and Mackie had been mildly disappointed to find out the next scheduled race didn't have anymore flyers.

But!

Up next was just what Danny had suggested to Mackie before. The Tyrogue was going to enter the fitness contest! Mackie wasn't sure how much of a long shot this one was, but, like Luster, the Tyrogue loved to show off, and so Mackie thought he'd enjoy it. Hopefully this wouldn't end up in another sulk, but the Tyrogue's sulks only came from lack of response to his showing off, not so much competing. Mackie would just be sure to shower him with "good job's!" no matter what. 'Cause he'd sure be trying his hardest, anyway, Mackie knew that.

He went to the setup area and sent out the Tyrogue, who glanced around until he saw Mackie, then gave a grinning flex of his arms. "That's the stuff," Mackie nodded, and grinned. "Lemme look at you, huh?" The Tyrogue climbed up onto the table and struck a proud, hands-on-hips pose, staring regally off into the distance, and Mackie stifled a laugh as he gave him a careful looking-over. "You gonna show the judges just how great you are, you know that?"

The Tyrogue nodded firmly. "Tyyy," he said, and dropped into a fighting stance. He danced on his feet a bit, then managed to trip and stumble, to Mackie's complete non-surprise.

"Up we go," Mackie caught him before he fell, and straightened him up, and didn't let any trepidation show at all. He really didn't care if the Tyrogue fell on his face in front of the judges, as long as he got to show off and enjoy it. Surely the judges wouldn't let on any negativity while they were judging, after all.

He heard a whistle-signal, which meant he only had another minute or so to get ready before the judges started their tour of the row of tables. Mackie wasn't sure what else he needed to do, but then he had a thought. "This isn't the costume contest, but this ain't even a costume," he said, "this is just so you know I am right here with ya, okay?" he pulled his spare bandanna from his city bag, this one was a sky-blue shade with a pattern of white lines. He folded in in half to make a triangle, and then tied it around the Tyrogue's neck, just like Mackie wore himself.

"Ty!!" the Tyrogue exclaimed, pleased, looking down and pulling out one of the ends to see it.

"I gotta show you in a mirror later," Mackie agreed. "But looks good on ya, I promise."

"Tyrogue!"

"Do your best!" Mackie cheered him one last time, before the whistle for the judging sounded, and Mackie had to move off to stand back from the table, just like all the other folks who'd entered their pokemon. He tried very much to ignore the fact that behind the barrier not a couple feet behind where he stood were fair-goers who'd come to watch.

For the first time, Mackie looked at the competition. They all did look in great shape, he had to admit, though the Starly on the end of the row looked real fidgety and nervous.

There were two judges. One was Nurse Joy—no, wait, not the one Mackie had met before, not Ally's aunt, but one who was older, with grey in her hair, even. Maybe she was retired from the Pokemon Center. But Mackie was glad it wasn't the one he'd met, that would've made the contest weird. The other judge was a young man in a white coat, like a scientist. He reminded Mackie of the people who'd been in Professor Rowan's lab.

They came down the row. The first stop was the nervous Starly. Nurse Joy greeted eat and reached out to touch it. It let itself be handled, but didn't look very happy about it, and as she stroked its head gently, it just shifted on its feet, and didn't relax. The man with the white coat took notes on a clipboard. Nurse Joy made an attempt to extend the Starly's wing, and at that it started a flap, shedding a few feathers in its agitation, and squawking incoherently. She let it be and it settled down. They moved on. The crowd seemed to murmur a little.

The second pokemon was a Rattata. It was the opposite of the Starly, mellow as anything, and it stretched luxuriously while Nurse Joy examined it. Mackie knew he wasn't a judge, but he didn't think the Rattata was gonna do much better than the Starly. It was calm, but it wasn't the lean, whippy, quick kind of Rattata Mackie knew lived in the wild. It was, well,a little fat. It looked lazy. As judges finished with it, it curled up and went to sleep.

The next pokemon was the one right before Mackie's Tyrogue, and it was a Meowth. It was sitting up straight, not nervous-looking or lazy, and its fur was bright and shiny and brushed, but then Mackie saw Nurse Joy shake her head slightly, and her hand made a describing motion around the Meowth's head, circling its whiskers, that were trimmed down. Oh. Trimmed whiskers. Mackie had heard that Meowth and Persian and other cat pokemon needed whiskers, they were like feelers on a bug. He didn't know if trimming them would hurt, but maybe it did make 'em less fit?

Then it was the Tyrogue's turn. Mackie shifted from one foot to another and bit the inside of his cheek as the judges turned their attention to Mackie's little show-off. The Tyrogue had sat down cross-legged while waiting, and looked up at the judges with a curious expression. Mackie could hear Nurse Joy's voice, low and gentle, as she spoke to him, and he stood up and did the hands-on-hips pose, chin up and looking confident. Nurse Joy touched his arm, and he didn't really react, just glanced down, curious again. He raised the arm without being asked. "Tyrogue!" Mackie heard him declare as he show off his wiry musculature. He was a skinny little thing, even though he was strong. Then the Tyrogue did the battle stance pose again, and tried the footwork again... and he tripped, fell forward... and he rolled in a somersault into a handstand. Mackie heard a laugh a bit of clapping from the crowd behind him, and he tried not to smile too hard.

Mackie was floored. On his feet he tripped half the time, but upside down like that, he was looking steady as a tree trunk. The Tyrogue then handwalked himself back to the right center of the table, and lifted one hand away, standing on only one arm, the rest of his limbs out and steady. Then he tilted himself down and sat again, arms crossed and looking happy. He looked straight between the judges at Mackie, and then beamed at seeing Mackie's surprise.

Nurse Joy said something, too low for Mackie to understand, and then the judges moved to the last contestant, a tiny little golden-shiny pokemon with red-and-white bits like rope on top. Danny had mentioned those—Chingling, right. Mackie had no idea at all whether it looked good or not. It certainly seemed energetic and friendly, bobbing in the air towards Nurse Joy when she held out a hand. It rested there gently while she examined it, and then floated unhurriedly away when she was done.

And that was that. Mackie exchanged nervous good luck glances with the trainer of the Chingling to his right, and the trainer of the Meowth to his left, and then they all just waited. It seemed like ages, but Mackie knew it couldn't be too long. The whistle rang out, and then there was a brief whine of mic feedback before a young man's voice was heard, and Mackie spotted him—it was the guy in the white coat. "We have a winner, ladies and gentleman! Third place goes to Edward's Meowth—great health, very calm. Fine work. Second place is Georgina's Chingling—wonderful temperament, and very good health. Our first place winner in this contest is... Mackie's Tyrogue! Energetic, enthusiastic, and excellently fit even for a fighting type. A great example of a pokemon comfortable with its trainer and kept busy doing what it loves!"

Mackie bounded forward and grabbed the Tyrogue in a hug, and got hugged right back, those wiry arms grabbing him with amazing strength that Mackie knew was only a fraction of the Tyrogue's real power. "So you can handstand, huh?!" he said to him. "That's your best one yet!!"

"Tyrogue," the Tyrogue agreed.

"And you're the upside-down guy, huh. I know your name. How 'bout Turvy, like topsy-turvy, 'cause you are!" whether he was handstanding or tumbling off a rock—it still applied.

"Ty!!" the Tyrogue nodded, and Mackie nodded back.

"And you keep your bandanna, too," he said. Turvy grinned.

"Sir? Sir?" Someone was talking to him, and Mackie hadn't heard a thing. He looked over apologetically.

"Sorry! Sorry bout that! Got carried away, some..." he said.

"Oh, understandable." It was the young man in the lab coat. "But we don't want you to forget your prize. First place is a TM, and here you go."

"Thank you!" Mackie tucked it into his city bag for now. It was getting dark now... the lights were on in the fair, but Mackie knew he had to see the rest before it closed. Oh! He had to get back to the mail booth!! "Bye now!" He ducked politely at the man, then boosted Turvy onto his shoulders, and headed back to get his Sunflora stationary.

*

When Mackie woke up, he realized he was still in the clothes he'd worn yesterday, and grimaced.

After the contest, he'd written the letters he'd wanted to send back home, and they'd been carried off by the Pidgeys promptly, but after that, he'd had to ride the ferris wheel, of course, and he'd gotten everyone out to ride with him. Well, Luster and Bonnie had more like flown around in the vicinity. Stel and Turvy had both just stared around at the city lights, with Turvy, unexpectedly, being the one to cling to Mackie, and Stel perfectly at ease. But then, a flyer would be used to heights. Turvy, not so much.

After that, he'd bought a couple of snacks, stopped by juuuust as the Apri Ball Stand had been starting to close and managed to buy a yellow apri-ball and a "special" one—made for catching during bright daylight, said the young guy selling them.

After that, he'd rushed over to Annie's stall, and gotten to work helping her and her dad with the packing up of their stall, the leftover wares, empty bottles, and the crates all of it went it, as well. He'd gotten a bottle of milk and a couple of berry pies as payment, and that had been supper. Then he'd staggered back here and fallen asleep. He remembered sitting down on the bed, too, having just kicked off his sandals. He'd just intended to lie down for a minute, too.

But now it was sunny-bright daylight—he'd slept in well past dawn, too, for shame, and he needed to shower, eat, and then take everyone out for some air, exercise, and a little training. His stomach growled at him and he pushed himself up on his elbows. He'd slept face-down, and the straps of his overalls had left marks on his shoulders, too.

He had slept well, though. He usually did after a long day. And his leg felt just fine. He stretched once, then got up properly.

*

He was dozing in the morning sun while Turvy played the "launch Stel like a paper airplane" game. Stel held his arms and legs out stiff, and Turvy held him up with both arms, ran, then threw Stel as hard as he could to see if he'd glide all the way to that tree or that lamp post, or whatever.

Mackie had bought some wonderfully sugary donuts for breakfast, and was now quite full, thanks. Bonnie was working on one herself, pecking delicately at the honey-glazed one she'd chosen. Luster was copying Mackie, and just sunning herself.

"He's there! Mackie! Mackie, hey! Mackie!" A girl's voice, not Annie's, too high, too young... He sat fully upright on the park grass and blinked. It was Danny and Ally. Both were grinning fit to burst.

"Hey guys," he greeted, rubbing one eye with his fist, and then covering a yawn. "And happy birthday, right?" he winked. Ally made a squee-ing noise, and then Mackie saw the pink little shape in her arms. It wasn't Cookie, either, the Happiny was following along on foot beside her, this time. The Cleffa looked perfectly contented, too, and Mackie was glad of that. He was pretty sure it would get a lot of love from Ally.

Danny just shook his head, looking speechless. Mackie raised his eyebrows and smiled, and Danny waved his hands around for a second before dropping them and shrugging. "Thanks, man. I never, I mean, I didn't—thanks."

"I know you'll give her the best training. Better than I could. She wasn't meant for me," Mackie nodded firmly. "I was lucky to meet you and find the right person so she didn't have to wait too long. Did you name her?" he asked, curious.

Danny shook his head. "I have to think of the perfect one," he said, and Mackie chuckled in understanding.

"This guy is Pretzel," Ally said. "I never have to think too much."

"S'cause you just love eating, fatso," Danny laughed at her, and she smacked him, which made him laugh harder.

"I hate you," she told him. "Now," she stared at Danny significantly and tilted her head just as significantly at Mackie.

"Oh, yes. Yeah." Danny scuffed one shoe on the ground, and looked at Mackie hesitantly, kind of how he'd looked when asking him for help the day before. "I don't know if you want this, but I had to offer... Even if the Stantler is a gift, and she's wonderful... this is only if you want it, of course, and I'm not trying to even the score or anything..."

Mackie had no idea what he was talking about, and Ally was staring at him in exasperation. "Just say it, you idiot!"

Danny shut his mouth at that, gave his sister a quelling glare, and then dug into his bag to pull out an apri-ball, the decoration a design of brown with darker brown striping. Mackie knew that one, he'd seen it before. Danny held it out to him. "You really seemed to like her, and... I mean, she and Marbles hate each other, so it's hard to have them together. And you just, you just gave me the most beautiful pokemon—"

"Are you sure?" Mackie interrupted him, trying to make certain that Danny wasn't doing this out of obligation. Because if he really did want to trade...

"Yes," Danny said firmly, and with some relief, it seemed to Mackie.

"Then I most definitely will take her," Mackie said, and Danny let out a breath, and smiled. Mackie reached for the apri-ball and took it, feeling the ridges of the paint job under the glazing. Homemade, on a plain apri-ball, just like he liked best. "Thank you," he said, and Danny looked down and shrugged.

"It's like you said. You want 'em to be with someone you know will be good."

Mackie prided himself on taking good care of his pokemon, and had been very, very relieved to have met Danny and thus find the opportunity that the Stantler had needed, to be with a good and caring trainer.

But it was sure something to have someone say that about him.
 
Broadway - Great post, I liked all the detail and the tidbit with Annie.

Congratulations, Mackie won TM26: Earthquake!
Mackie successfully traded his Stantler for a Swinub!
 
Mackie didn't like the fog much—he thought it looked neat, but it made tiny drops of water bead up on his hair and his clothes, and just made everything damp. There had been a good breeze right when he'd set out, and he'd had a glimpse of the whole wide mountain pass before the wind had still and the fog had settle back in. It had filled up the lower areas first, and that too had looked amazing, but now it just blanketed everywhere, making it seem like the world itself just faded away after thirty feet in any direction.

He'd pulled on a sweater after a while, and his boots too. Better to keep dry and just get through this foggy spot faster. Besides... he grinned. He was going HOME!! It was only a stop on his League journey, but even so, he couldn't wait to see everyone again, the baby had probably grown loads, even in the time he'd been gone. He missed them harder now, when he was nearly there, than he had at all so far. But it was also anticipation. They'd get to meet his team.

Most of Mackie's team were away from the chill now, snug inside their balls, but Bonnie was out and making a rather effective head-warming cap, hunkering down so good that her fluffy wings even covered his ears. Ziggy was also out, unconcerned by the cool, damp air, and besides, Mackie wanted some time to get to know her.

Danny had said his goodbye to his former pokemon, and Mackie had promised to raise her good and strong, and to write Danny to say how she was doing. Having a traded pokemon felt a bit odd to Mackie—maybe it was just because it was still new to him, but it felt like he was connected to Danny now. Of course, he'd liked Danny anyway, so maybe it was just that he'd made a friend. But who else would he ever have been able to trade with?

"Hey there little Ziggy," Mackie called. Ziggy was off doing her signature twisty-turny scurry at the edge of the path.

"Swii!" she replied, and headed straight for him as he walked, and watched her approach. She butted him in the ankle, then was off again, nosing around, nibbling at bits of dried grass or the occasional rock. Mackie smiled. She had energy to burn, for sure, but he was glad she came when he called her.

"We're gonna go to my home," he told her, and Bonnie too. "You'll see, it's real nice. The house is big, it's old and kinda falling-down in some parts, we always gotta be fixing something, but it's good and roomy. Everyone can sleep out of their balls if they wanna, long as you don't mess up anything, Aunt Laura will be after you, and Philip too. They're particular bout cleaning." Bonnie murmured a pleased sound.

"Swaaa," she encouraged. For her part, Ziggy didn't seem to be paying much attention, but then again she was sticking nearer than before, so maybe she was listening too.

"And the barn's a sight, not so tall but real long. It ain't a proper pokemon barn, not like the Mckecknie's for their Tauros and specially the Miltank, but it stores everything, like you wouldn't guess. Tractor and hitch-trailers, buckets and baskets and barrels—Uncle Red makes some wine and things, too, y'know, from the berries. And the jars of preserves and jams for the market go in their own section."

"Swi! Swi!" Ziggy exclaimed, and Mackie laughed.

"Oh, you just know that's for eatin', don't you?" he told her, and she wiggled and looked up at him happily. "No, I got nothing for now, you ate up all the breakfast already! Gotta wait for more." She huffed a little, not particularly minding, and moved off again towards a promising bush with some dried pecha berries on it.

*

Mackie neared the far end the bridge with a little sigh of relief. This wasn't as bad as the one before with the sign saying no more than one at a time, but it was longer, and it swayed, and the water below was crazy rapids and he'd rather just be looking at those from the proper ground, was all. The middle of the bridge had been the worst, with the fog all but hiding both ends, like he was just hanging over a raging river.

"Hey you!!" A voice came from up ahead, and he squinted. There was a guy there, arms crossed, blocking the end of the bridge.

"Huh?" Mackie said, "Sir, yer blockin' off the end there. Mind movin' over so I can get off?"

"You came from Celestic, huh, kid?"

"Uh-huh," Mackie said, and finally stopped a few feet back from the guy. He was heavyset, and had his legs apart enough that there was no way Mackie could get around him without practically climbing over him.

"So gimme some money, and you can pass through," the man said, looking smug.

"What?!" Mackie stared at the guy. "No!"

"That's the toll. I like gold nuggets too, if you got anything like that," he said, kind of like an afterthought.

"I'm not paying nothin'. This is a public route, and you got no right to be asking for tolls or whatnot. Get outta my way!"

"Or what, stringbean? You gonna get past me yourself?" The man pulled out a pokeball. "You think you can stand up to this?!" He pressed the button and stepped back. The flash of red light outlined something pretty big, and Mackie stared as it resolved into a... a what? Krabby? No... bigger. Kingler!

It snapped its claws threateningly at Mackie, and he took a few steps back, not at all eager to repeat anything like his ordeal with the Diglett scratch. He turned his glare past the Kingler towards its owner. Then he opened his bag and rummaged around. He heard the man laughing a little, like he though Mackie was actually getting money, or something.

"Ziggy!" he said, and she appeared, a tiny brown fuzzy thing in front of that great big snappy crab.

The man cursed. "Damn trainers," he spat. "But that doesn't look like much. Killer, crush that thing!! Vicegrip!"

"Ziggy, uh... Powder Snow!" Mackie knew a water attack would be too much for her, but he'd suspected this stupid mugger would rather use a tough-looking one instead. And it did look horrible—the Kingler snapped one huge claw out and clamped down on Ziggy.

"Swiiinub!" she squealed at the pinch of that enormous claw, but she struggled against it hard, and as she did, Mackie felt the air chill around him. The fog coalesced into snow and it whipped over the Kingler. It dropped her and scuttled back, hardly damaged, but certainly surprised. Ziggy shot forward off the slatted floor of the bridge and onto the ground and Mackie followed, but had to stop short of the ground as the Kingler lunged again, the claw reaching, wide open.

"Watch out! Try a Tackle!" Mackie said, clutching at one of the rope railings. Dammit, he was so close to getting off!

Ziggy dodged the claw easily, though Mackie imagined the fog probably helped, and she darted up to the Kingler and rammed herself into its underside. It was hard there, armoured like everywhere else. "Nub..." she grunted, falling back and shaking her head as if dazed.

"C'mon back to me," Mackie said, and recalled her. "Luster! Go and take out that thing! Quick Attack and Silver Wind!"

Luster's buzzing wings were loud in the foggy air. "Yaaaanma!" she cried, and zoomed in. Mackie dug his fingers into the thick ropes that made up the railing and watched. The Silver Wind was a special, and should go right through that armour, right..?

Luster whipped down and nailed the Kingler with a Quick Attack, and the thug switched tactics, the Kingler sending out a Bubblebeam rather than trying to catch her with its claws. She was buffeted a little, but swooped around, and launched the silvery rain down on the Kingler. It hit, and it hit hard, and the Kingler's legs went out from under it.

The thug recalled it. Mackie waited, but he didn't send out another, only glared, and stayed right where he was, off to the side, and so Mackie walked off the bridge, Luster coming to hover by his shoulder. Mackie walked past the thug, not even looking at him now, not giving him the satisfaction, after a stupid stunt like that. He would take the description to Officer Jenny when he got home.

The thug didn't say anything more either, and Mackie left him behind, the fog swallowing him up again like he hadn't even been there.

*

Some time later, Mackie heard... what was that?! It sounded like a sword fight, but overhead. The fog covered up anything he might see, but he squinted up anyway, trying to turn himself to face the source of the sound. He thought he saw shapes moving above, fast and dark, smudges in the fog and then, with the next metallic clash—sparks!

He dug out his pokedex, and opened it, hoping he was close enough, and that it could get a read on them. At first nothing, and then the fog swirled and he saw a silvery glint. Too fast for him, but the pokedex had caught it; Skarmory. Steel/flying. "Whoa," Mackie said, looking up again at the dimly-seen shapes. Steel that could fly... he'd been amazed enough at Stel's dual type, but this one was even stranger.

He stood and listened for a while, until the clashing squabble suddenly ended, and he moved on.

*

The fog was dimming, maybe, but it was also getting dark, and Mackie was glad to spot lit windows of a house up ahead. The rocky path had just turned into a grassy one, and below, to the south Mackie could see the faint lights of Solaceon. "Look down there, pretty girl," he said, and Bonnie whistled. "That's where we're gonna go! Tomorrow, though," he nodded slightly. He wasn't really in a hurry.

There was a sign on the path, before he reached the house, and he could just barely make it out in the dark. "Certified Move Tutor – Trainers Welcome!"

"Yeah, 'swhat I thought," Mackie smiled. He'd heard of Mrs Norse before, she had a standing delivery from the General Store and some of the farms, too, since she lived way out here on the route. Aunt Laura sent her a jam basket once a year, too—she was related to Mr Norse, somehow, third cousin something-or-other, but she'd known him and liked him and his wife.

Mackie knocked on the door, brushing off the front of his overalls just because, and adjusted his bag on his back.

The door opened and light poured out onto the front walk that led up to the little house, and there was a woman a bit shorter than Mackie silhouetted in the doorway. "Well hello there! A trainer, I should think? Not too many out here, especially not at this time of night."

"Yes ma'am. Mackenzie Keeler, ma'am," he introduced himself, and stepped inside when she moved back and gestured him in. Inside he could see her properly, and she was a bit younger than he'd thought, knowing her husband was gone—that was sad. But she looked good and healthy, and close to Aunt Laura's age, really.

"Keeler? Is that so? Any relation to Laura and Red?"

"Yes ma'am, I'm their nephew, but really they raised me since I was little."

She looked at him again. "Mackenzie? Mackie! Of course! Laura sent me a picture of you boys some time ago, but your hair was shorter then, and you weren't so tall."

Mackie managed not to make a face at that—he hadn't grown since he was thirteen, and sure enough she pointed out the frame on the wall, a family photo of Aunt Laura and Uncle Red, and Philip and Caden and Mackie from about ten years ago.

She had him take off his boots and unload his bag while she bent down to give Ziggy a pat on the head and complimented Bonnie on the state of her wings.

"By all means stay the night—I hope you didn't plan on keeping on through the dark?"

"No ma'am," Mackie shook his head, and accepted an oatmeal cookie off the plate she offered.

"Swiii!" Ziggy demanded, though fell silent at a quelling stare from Mrs Norse.

"You may if you ask politely," she said sternly, and Ziggy sidle up to Mrs Norse's ankles and leaned against them.

"Swi?" she asked, a little chirp instead of a squeal.

"Of course," Mrs Norse said, and leaned down to give her a cookie of her own.

"Swinub, swinub..." Ziggy chanted happily, and then her mouth was too full for any more.

"You can let the others out in my spare room if they like sleeping out of their balls," she told him. "And the window opens if your girl wants to go flying."

Mackie thanked her—and knew that he'd have to make up a few nice things to add to Aunt Laura's basket from now on.

A little while later, after a good warm meal and some reminiscent conversation, Mackie decided to ask what he'd been curious about since he stepped inside.

"Ma'am, sign outside said you're a move tutor? For pokemon? You can really do that?"

"Yes indeed," she nodded. "I haven't trained any since my dear husband's last one passed away, just couldn't bring myself to, but I studied too long and hard not to help other trainers when they come by. I can teach Twister to that Swablu of yours. That's a dragon-type move, you know."

"Dragon? And she can learn that?" Mackie looked over to where Bonnie was snoozing, perched on the back of a big plush chair.

"Well, she will evolve into Altaria if you train her well enough, my dear. Altaria is a dragon-type. It would be a fine move for her to learn."

"I would love for her to learn that," Mackie almost gasped. Bonnie was a flying-type now, and he loved that... but... but a dragon-type! That was astonishing.

"I know you'll be heading on tomorrow, but I'll have time to teach one more pokemon something, too," she told him. "Though in that case I'd ask that you leave behind some healing supplies or suchlike. I tend to run out when trainers stay with me who have hurt pokemon."

"Sure, yeah. I mean, yes, ma'am. I'm game for that. Do you have anything for Ziggy? She's my newest and she's got a ways to go to catch up to the rest. A good move would help loads."

"I can teach her Icy Wind," Mrs Norse said. "That's a handy one—it can hit two pokemon, if you're in a double battle."

Mackie looked at Ziggy, who was lying upside down on the chair Bonnie was perched on. Turvy was curled next to her—Mackie had let him out during dinner. "Yes, please. I can leave you a whole bunch of Paralyz Heals, if that would help?"

"Indeed it will, dear." She nodded, and he smiled eagerly at the prospect of such helpful new moves. Then he yawned hugely, hurriedly trying to stifle it with both hands. She laughed, and made a shooing motion at him. "But we'll do that in the morning, hm? Run along to that room I showed you, and take them along too. Sleep well, now!" she gathered up the remaining plates on the table, dessert plates that she'd served slices of pie on. He stood up from the table with another yawn.

"G'night, ma'am," he said, and she shooed him again, so he gathered Bonnie and Ziggy up, and nudged Turvy until he climbed up to cling to Mackie's back. Time for a good rest. There'd be new moves to practice tomorrow.
 
Broasway -Awesome post, Killer is quite appropriate, no?

Congratulations, Ziggy grew to lv 12 Icy Wind!
Congratulations, Luster grew to lv. 22 and learned Supersonic!
Luster can learn no more moves, will you delete one?
Congrats, Bonnie learned Twister!
MAckie gave his Paralyz Heals away.
 
Route 211/Ch.9

It was with a bitter and cold sneer that Shaun Tess looked down the next path that would lead him, yet again, into a stupid rocky area with weak pokemon. With an almost dull glance, Shaun glanced at his only two pokemon: Meowth, his starter, and Gastly, the only pokemon worthy of being captured and added to his team.

While most trainers had at least six pokemon by now (after all he had two badges), Shaun had yet to see any pokemon that had truly interested him. Gastly had been a neccessity when he hit the second badge. Meowth may have gotten lucky on the first gym, what with all those Fake Out's and Potions, but the second gym was much harder than the first with a gym leader with a head as hard as his steel type pokemon. For the first time, Shaun had lost, but had returned shortly with a fiesty little Gastly.

"Gaas!" the ball of gas laughed at it floated just a bit higher out of the hissing Meowth below it. Claws grazed at the ghost pokemon, and whatever tips managed to hit simply went right throught the gas like substance, causing, once more, another fit of giggles.

Shaun's gaze moved to the crouched white cat, taking in its appearence. It had come a long way, or at least since he had first recieved the bratty pokemon. The first time Meowth had been sent to battle, after the first command, the feline had given him a look that pretty much said 'Are you kidding me?' and then lifting a leg to clean himself. Needless to say the spoiled feline had been kicked around not only by its opponent (a rather annoyed Murkrow belonging to a trainer), but Shaun as well (much to the opposing trainer's horror) until he had finally started to listen.

Still, there were moments when Meowth's snooty attitude came back. So long as he actually got the job done...

"Tyy..." came the murmered voice of, what Shaun assumed, was his next punching bag. Eyes snapping to the rustling bushes directly in front of him a ways off, Shaun let a dangerous smile make its way onto his face. A fighting type, huh? It might be perfect for his team. The Tyrouge instantly spotted Shaun and his two pokemon. Eyes narrowed dangerously and the young fighting type got into a fighting position, ready to defend itself from whatever Shaun threw at it.
[PokeCommunity.com] The New League


"Meowth!" Shaun barked at his pokemon. The once playful cat instantly stood at end, fur rising and teeth bared into a hiss as it leapt away from its toy (Gastly) and stood ready for commands. "Fake Out!" Shaun ordered immediately.

"Meow!" the white feline snarled, already beginning to run on its hind legs. It was well used to Shaun's method of training, and he almost always started with a nice Fake Out. After all, what better way to get ahead in a battle than make your opponent flinch and use that opportunity to cause some extra damage?

"Tyro!" the fighting type roared, charging forward with just as much vigor, if not more because of his fighting spirit that all fighting type pokemon possessed. With a cocky grin, the spiky mohawked pokemon leapt forward, exactly at the same time as his opponent. With a loud yell, the two met each other in mid air, palms open.

As soon as the two pokemon met, Shaun let out an enraged hiss. The two pokemon fell to the ground, bodies shaking so much that they couldn't even move, though he could tell that the Tyrogue was making more of an effort to ignore the affects when both had met with Fake Out. Now the two pokemon had to wait a moment, but no longer would Shaun recieve an upper hand with a cheap trick like Fake Out. Oh well.

"Meowth, shake it off and use Screech," Shaun ordered, eyes trained soley on the battle, making sure to take in all, as well as the surroundings. He was young, and still inexperienced in using absolutely everything to his advantage in battle, but the only way to learn was to be aware of that and study as much as he could. "What are you waiting for!" he barked. "Now!"

"Eow," Meowth moaned, shaking his head so that his ears flipped about. Instead of opening his mouth like a good little pokemon and using the ordered move, Meowth sent a vicious glare towards his trainer. "Meo--Mewo!" Meowth yowled, interrupted in his anger towards his trainer. Yelling at him like that while he was still shaking off the flinch! But in his anger, Meowth had ignored his opponent, thus recieving a rather nice Tackle in the face from an extremely hard headed fighting type. Just great.

Shaun scowled as his pokemon was litterally bouncing across the ground thanks to the force of that Tackle. If the damn cat had been paying attention, he would have recieved minimal damage from that attack. "Screech, now." He didn't need to scream or bark the command now. His voice was deadly enough.

Meowth flicked one ear back in annoyance but did as he was told this time. Mouth wide, and dodging just as a vicious Tackle was once more thrown his way, Meowth let loose. An impossibly high pitched sound was released from the very back of his throat. It was almost as if a second pair of lungs had been opened, allowing the normal type to release a hiss so loud and high pitched that it actually caused pain to hear.

Even Shaun grimaced at the sound, but at least he wasn't a pokemon, whose hearing was far superior than that of a humans, so he was spared from the real terror that a Screech could do. But the same could not be said for the young fighting type.

"Troor! Tyyr!" Tyrogue screamed in pain. Muscled hands clamped down on the sides of his head in a desperate attempt to rid himself of the painful noise. It did nothing, sadly, but this was what Shaun was waiting for: Tyrogue to open up his defence.

"Scratch, now!" he barked over the high pitched Screech.

Ears flicking at the sound of his trainer's voice, Meowth immediately let up on the horrible sound he had been creating. Claws unsheathing, a deadly look graced the small feline as it ran full speed at the unguarded fighting type. As usual when Meowth prepared to use his deadly claws, thoughts of his cousins, all the Skitty, Glameow and their evolutions flashed into his mind. Those weaklings gave cats a bad name, prancing around in contests and barely using their undeserved claws. Meowth could still remember the stories of when Persian was the greatest and most feared predator in the wild, for if an unsuspecting child or pokemon came into its territory, it wsa lunch. But time had taken its toll, especially when these new, flashy cats were found, and the fear of Persian became a forgotten memory.

And because of that, with his family's legacy on his mind, each time he used his precious claw, a fierce, justice type of anger was brought forth. As Meowth got closer and closer, if one could believe it, his claws almost looked like sparkling metal, and ten times harder.

"Meoowth!" Meowth roared, jumping high into the air. Paws out and claws at the ready, the jump forced speed into Meowth's momentum, and by the time Tyrogue had even looked up, it was too late. "Eooe!" With one final fierce hiss, Meowth's claws raked down the fighting type's front. It went from face all the way down to the middle of his body.

A loud scream echoed throughout the surrounding area as three large claw marks trailed down the fighting types body. Blood began to ooze from the wound, and claw marks, no matter how deep or shallow, always stinged with a fierce intensity, and this applied now more than ever. "Ty," Tyrogue panted, a pained expression making its way onto his face before an angry, almost mad glint stripped it away. "Tyogu!" Tyrogue screamed, throwing out his fist and punching a surprised Meowth right in the face.

Even Shaun winced at that. That punch was no pokemon move. It was simply a physical attack created out of pure anger. As Meowth hadn't had the brains to dodge on his own, he was now sliding across the rocky path and right into one of the remaining trees that had managed to get planted in such a rough area. The white cat was now looking extremely battered, but Tyrogue wasn't looking any better.

"Meoww," the feline hissed, a dangerous edge coming to his voice that Shaun rarely ever heard. With one loud angry yowl that almost resembled the Screech performed earler, Meowth struck, claws and teeth bright in light.

"Roge!" Tyrogue snarled, beating his chest like an enraged Primate before he too charged, head down in preparation of a Tackle that would hopfully knock out his hated opponent.

"Meowth, Feint Attack!" Shaun barked. "Don't rush in, you idiot!" The way he was hissing out his attacks almost made him sound like his own pokemon, but thank god there was no one around for anyone to tell him that. He was already pissed enough. Honestly, losing your cool like that in a battle. At least have some sort of plan.

Whatever rage Meowth had been feeling obviously wasn't strong enough to keep good suggestions at bay, because with a devious glint, Meowth slid to a halt, cocky grin in place.

Dangerous smile already on place, Tyrogue let out a loud yell, thinking that his opponent had given up and was simply awaiting his fate. With one last leap, Tyrogue aimed his head down towards his opponent. With this speed, this Tackle would definitely hurt. "Tooog!"

Off to the side, Gastly gave off a vicious laugh as it watched the young fighting type go right through Meowth. It's head did strike something else though, and that was good, solid, hard rock. As much as the ghost loved seeing other's pain, it loved seeing idiots hurt themselves even more, and boy was Tyrogue hurting.

"Ro..." Tyrogue shivered from pain, eyes becoming unfocused as he literally almost knocked himself out on the hard ground. Still, confusion made itself known as he had enough sense to realize something wasn't right. He had gone right through his opponent!

"Meoww," came a satisfied, and very dangerous sounding, purr from right behind the fighting type. The sound made him immediately go stiff, givng Meowth his opportunity. With a mighty snarl, dark energy lashed out at Tyrogue's back, sending the already badly beaten pokemon to the ground and Meowth jumping away and landing gracefully a fair distance away, just incase he was lashed out once more.

"Roo..."Tyrogue gritted his teeth, vainly trying to get back up. A Dark move... he should have known that deadly, and so very tricky, attack was used. While the dark didn't hurt him all too much, the effects of the Feint Attack (the illusion), gave way to far too much damage. Still, he still fought, but a cold voice nearly made him falter.

Shaun gazed at the fighting type, a disappointed scowl planted firmly on his face. He had thought he may have found another member for his team, but a fighting type that couldn't beat a normal type? He couldn't have that, especially when it was so easily fooled by the last attack. He jerked his head at the fallen pokemon.

"Finish it," he said coolly, already walking away from the scene. He didn't need to know that his pesky Meowth had already unsheathed his claws to take out the beaten pokemon.

The screams and Gastly's laughter was more than enough for him to know...
 
Wolfwhispers - Wow, he's gathered himself quite the band of psychopaths. I love it, that was awesome!

Congratulations, Meowth grew to lv. 25 and learns Taint!
Meoth can lear no more moves, will you delete one?
 
Sara muttered a few swears under her breath and kicked at the ground. As one could probably tell, the female trainer was still a little sore over giving away her Staravia for a Magikarp. Not that anyone could really blame her, it would suck for anyone that they got that useless Pokemon.

But that wasn't all that Sara was angry over. Sure, it was upsetting, but that just wasn't really it. Who she was truly mad at was herself. Herself for falling into that trap and just giving away the first Pokemon she ever caught with out really checking up on the guy who wanted her. She was angry that she hadn't even asked what Pokemon he was giving her! Sure, he probably would had lied, but then she should had forced him to show her! And, worse of all, there was nothing she could do about it! There was no way any Officer Jenny would take her case. It was just stupidity, pure stupidity that made take the trade. Plain and simple.

But soon, the anger did settle down, though it did not go completely away. Sara sighed and rubbed her head.

"Alright, there is no point in getting all angry about this," she said to herself. "The darn thing is yours, get use to it. Which reminds me…I should probably nickname it." She reaching into her pack and soon came up with the dreaded blue Apri ball. The girl frowned at it for a while before sighing and saying; "You know what, I'm just gonna call ya Merric. Don't know where it came from, but I guess a made up name for you is as good as any."

Sara put the ball away, then started to walk once more down the Route. Soon enough, the place started to fog up around Sara, making her sigh. But she really didn't mind. She could see well enough in front of her and she doubted if there was anything to worry about. As she continued to walk, she realized that the land was becoming less even and more rocky. She even started to hear a water fall not too far ahead of her.

Curious, Sara jogged over to where she heard the sound. Pretty soon, a water fall showed itself through the gloom of the fog. The girl couldn't help but to smile and started to jog faster, but had to stop suddenly when two very large beaver like Pokemon appeared suddenly in front of her. They looked a lot like Bidoofs, but much larger. One also seemed to have more fur around it's eyes then the other.

"Huh, wonder what those are," Sara said as she took out her Pokedex and, after taking a couple steps closer, aimed it at the two large Pokemon.

"Bibarel, the Beaver Pokemon. Bibarel is the evolve form of Bidoof. Bibarels build large dams that make sure nothing goes over it. The people who live near this dam are very grateful for it.

"Dams?" Sara muttered to herself and looked around her herself. Sure enough, there was a dam up to the right of her. "Guess they think I'm going to harm it or something like that."
The Bibarels glared at Sara and started to advance towards her. The girl sighed, knowing that there was no way she could avoid a fight, and took out a Poke ball and an Apri ball.

"Lee, Angela! Come out and deal with these two!" Sara shouted as she threw the balls up into the air. They then opened up, releasing Angela and Lee in their own respective flash of lights. Both the Ralts and the Shuppet looked at the two angry Bibarel and braced themselves for a fight.

"Alright, Lee, lets start things off with a Lucky Chant!" Sara ordered. "Angela, use a Screech attack!"

Both Pokemon nodded and Lee started to mutter something under his breath. Once he was done, Angela let out her screech that made both of the beavers flinch. The one Bibarel with more fur around it's face glared at Lee before shooting a bit a water at him from it's mouth. Of course the Ralts just grinned and teleported away from the attack, reappearing not too far from where he was. The other Bibarel tried to Tackle Angela, but just went right pass the ghost.

"Quick Angela, use a Payback on the Bibarel that just attacked you!" Sara shouted once more. "Lee, use Confusion on the other one!"

"Shuppet!" Angela said and rammed her horn into the large Normal type, causing it to cry out in pain.

Lee just nodded before concentrating on the other Bibarel and sent a psychic blast at it, causing it to cry out in pain and be knocked back a ways. Both beavers got back up and glared even more at their respective opponents. The one attacking Lee Curled up into a ball and then straightened back out. The other shoot some water at Angela, hitting the ghost and making her cry out.

"Another quick Payback Angela!" Sara shouted. "And Lee, Confusion on that Bibarel with more fur!"

Again both Pokemon nodded. Angela once again charged at the Bibarel, hitting it with her horn. The Beaver Pokemon cried out loudly in pain and was knocked back a bit. It grunted and tried to get back up, but Angela hit it with a Knock Off attack, making the Bibarel faint.

The other Bibarel cried out in alarm, then glared even more at the two Pokemon. It suddenly curled into a ball and rolled towards Lee. The Ralts was able to teleport away from the attack, but then it just started to roll towards Angela.

"Use Spite Angela!" Sara shouted at her starter.

Angela nodded, then glared at the Bibarel as a small imp seemingly made of shadows suddenly appeared in front of her. It was then launched at the Bibarel, moving right past it. Suddenly the Bibarel stumbled and tumbled across the ground a couple times before coming to a stop.

"Lee, quick, another Confusion! Angela, Payback!" Sara shouted.

Lee and Angela quickly followed through with their trainer's orders. Ralts sent another blast of energy at the beaver while Angela hit it with her horn. The Bibarel cried out as it was knocked back once more and rolled across the ground a bit. When it stopped, it seemed have been knocked out.

Sara sighed in relief and took the Poke and Apri balls out. "Nice going you two. Ya did a great job," the girl said as she returned her Pokemon. She then looked back once more at the river and along side up.

To her left, she suddenly became aware of a rock like bridge. Sara started to walk over to that, and soon saw that it was right next to a water fall. Curious about the natural occurrence, she very carefully climbed down the rocks to the little bit of land between the ledge and the water. With a grunt, she dropped to the ground and walked closer to the rushing water. An idea then came into the trainer's head and she reached into her pack to take out the blue Apriball.

"Might as well come out, Merric," Sara said as she pressed the button on the ball and aimed it near the water. The ball opened up and the Magikarp once again started to flop about. Sara sighed at the pathetic Pokemon, but walked over and gently picked him up. This made Merric flop about even more, making his trainer grunt.

"Oh would you relax!" Sara shouted, then sighed and tried to calm down herself. "Look, I'm not going to do anything to you! I just thought that, since we're stuck together, I'd show you some water and maybe get a better idea as to how you work."

"Karp?" Merric asked as he stopped struggling and turned to face his new trainer.

"That's better," Sara muttered, then sighed. "Well, anyways, lets get introductions done first; my name is Sara and I'm you're new trainer. I've decided to name you Merric and that's how I will refer to you from now on, you understand?"

"Karp?" Merric repeated.

"Maybe you don't understand me…" Sara said, looking at the rushing water again. "I would put you in that water…but the Pokedex said that you can't even swim in slow moving water! I really don't know how I'm going to train you…but I guess I gotta try."

"Karp..." Merric said seeming to understand where she was coming from.

Sara then smiled at the fish. "But don't worry about that. I'm sure it'll all work out…one way or another…" She sighed again, this time at herself. "No, it will work out. I can't just leave you to another trainer like that boy did. I'll make sure you're the best Magikarp this world has ever seen!"

"Magikarp!" Merric said happily, suddenly jumping at his trainer and nuzzling her.

"Hey! What's that for!?" Sara asked, laughing despite herself.

"Magikarp!" Was all the fish said, then suddenly froze and tried to look behind the girl. What he was made him cry out and once again start to violently flop in his new trainer's arms.

"What's the-" Sara started to say but Merric suddenly jumped out and flopped behind some rocks. Sara was about to run after the fish when a familiar voice shouted out behind her.

"You again!? I didn't think I would see you so soon," the voice said.

Sara turned around and her eyes widen at who she saw. There, standing before her, was Tony Erobos, the boy she had fought and beaten in a battle just before entering Eterna City. The boy grinned when he saw the girl's shocked face and, carefully, climbed down the rocks. He grunted as he jumped onto the ground and walked over to her.

"You know, I've been meaning to get back at ya for the way you beat me so badly back then," Tony said as he walked closer. "So, what do you say to another battle?"

"Any time," Sara said with a grunt, looking over to where Merric had disappeared to before looking back at the other trainer. "Conditions?"

"A five on five double battle," Tony said, then grinned even more. "That is, if you even have five Pokemon."

"I d…do," Sara said, frowning slightly. Sure, she did have five Pokemon. But sadly only three of them were really battle worthy right now. Angela, Lee and Destiny were just fine, but Flare still wasn't all that strong and only had one real attack (though the same could be said for Lee, that one attack worked well for him). As for Merric…even if she did know what he was doing or where exactly he was, what use would he be in this battle?

"Whatever, lets just start this! Come on out, Roger, Poizon!" Tony said as he pulled out two Apri balls and threw them up into the air. They both opened up and, in a flash of light, two Pokemon that looked like larger, meaner version of Poochyena and Nidoran. A quick scan of her Pokedex let the girl know that they were, indeed, the evolved forms as the before mentioned Pokemon; Mightyena and Nidorino. Any hope the girl had that maybe she could use Flare in this battle sank when she saw these two Pokemon. Obviously, they had been trained to a high enough level that it let them evolve. There was no way the fox could handle these Pokemon. Still, at least there was a couple Pokemon who could.

"Come out, Destiny and Lee!" Sara shouted as she threw the Poke and green Apriball up and the two Pokemon appeared in their respective flashes of light. Tony blinked when he saw the Togekiss.

"Where the heck did you get that thing!?" He asked, suddenly seeming angry.

"Catching Contest," Sara said with a grin. "Well, I caught it as a Togetic, but then I got a shiny stone and evolved it. So, we gonna start?"

Tony shook his head and glared at the girl as he said, "Roger, use Bite on that Ralts! Poizon, use Poison Sting on the Togekiss!"

"Lee, Teleport! Destiny, fight back with Magical Leaf!" Sara shouted back.

Roger growled at the Psychic type and then lunged at him. But before he could clamp his jaws onto Lee, the Ralts suddenly teleported away, making the Bite Pokemon stumble a bit. Poizon opened his mouth at Destiny and suddenly started to shoot some needles at her. The Togekiss summoned her leaves and sent them at the needles, knocking them away from her.

"Lee, quick, use a Confusion attack on Poizon!" Sara shouted. "Destiny, Magical Leaf on Roger!"

"Ralts!" Lee said with a nod, then cried out as he sent a blast of psychic energy at the Poison Pin Pokemon. The Nidorino let out a pained sound as he was knocked back. Destiny summoned her leaves again and sent them at Roger, making the dog yelp in pain.

"Roger, try to Bite the Togekiss!" Tony yelled. "Poizon, Peck that stupid Ralts!"

Both of the boy's Pokemon nodded before commencing his orders. Roger charged at Destiny and tried to Bite her, but she flew up into the air to avoid the attack. Poizon charged at Lee, hitting the Feeling Pokemon with his horn.

"Lee!" Sara called out, then just shook her head. "Lee, use Confusion again on Poizon. Destiny, Metronome!"

"Toge!" Destiny called out happily and started to move back and forth in the air. While she did this, Lee concentrated on his abilities before sending out another psychic blast at the Nidorino. But just before it would had hit Poizon, Roger jumped in front of him and took the attack, making it ineffective.

"Nice try girl," Tony said with a grin. "But I'm going to let that Ralts defeat any more of my Pokemon for long. Rog-"

"Kiss!" Destiny cried out as she suddenly stopped moving back and forth. The waters behind her trainer started to move strangely before a huge wave rose. The water then seemed to leap out of the stream and crash onto the Mightyena and the Nidorino, crashing them into the rocks. When the water went away, both Roger and Poizon were limp.

"Oh for the love of…" Tony grumbled as he took the two Apri balls and aimed them at his Pokemon. "What are the chances that that darn Togekiss would use Surf!" He then returned the two Pokemon to their balls and turned to Sara.

"You're gonna pay for that," he growled as he took out two more Apri balls. "Come out, Grim and Crusher!"

He threw the balls up and, in a flash of light, the Duskull appeared along with a new Pokemon that looked like a small bear. Sara quickly scanned that Pokemon and found that it was a Teddiursa. The girl quickly looked over the information on it, then put the dex away.

"Alright, Lee, get back here, I don't want you in this fight," Sara ordered her Ralts. Lee muttered a few things but teleported over to his trainer's side. The girl nodded, then started to reach into her pack for the Apri ball that held Angela.

"Magikarp!" Merric called out as he jumped over the rocks he had been hiding behind and landed near to Destiny.

Both trainers and their Pokemon stared at the flopping fish. Then Sara shouted, "Merric!? What are you doing!? Why have you decided now to fight!?"

"Did you just…" Tony started to say, then bent over as he began laughing. "Oh no…this can't…you're kidding me right!? You seriously have a Magikarp!? Why did you get a Magikarp!?"

"I didn't really have a choice in the matter," Sara growled. "I got him in a trade and-"

"A TRADE!?" Tony shouted, laughing even more. "What did you trade for that pathetic fish!?"

"…Yansa…" Sara muttered.

"That stupid bird!?" The boys continued to shout and laugh. "Oh my, you must be the stupidest trainer I have even seen!! Who would trade a half decent Pokemon like that bird you had, for that!?"

"Magikarp!" Merric shouted and started to flop about even more as if to show he wasn't that useless.

"Well, never mind," Tony as he finally calmed down from his laughing fit. "Lets just finish this! Grim, Shadow Sneak that stupid fish! Crusher, use Fury Swipes on the Togekiss!"

"Dusk," Grim said, then seemed to melt into the ground. A shadow could be seen racing towards Merric but, just before the ghost pop up to attack him, the Magikarp used a Splash attack to jump up into the air to avoid the attack. He landed a bit away from where he was originally and seemed to grin at the Duskull. Crusher started to rush towards Destiny, claws ready for slashing, but then the Togekiss shot her leaves at the Teddiursa and knocked it down.

"Nice going you two," Sara said with a grin. "Now, Destiny used Sweet Kiss on Grim! Merric, if you can, use Tackle on Crusher!"

Destiny nodded and Merric seemed to nod but was flopping too much to really see if he was or not. Still, Destiny flew at Grim and kissed him quickly. The ghost blushed as much as any ghost could blush and started to wobble in the air. Merric then launched himself with a splash at the Teddisursa and Tackled him, knocking him back again.

"Come on you two!" Tony shouted. "Don't you dare let those two do anything to ya! Especially not that Magikarp! Crusher, use Faint Attack on that Togekiss! Grim, tried to snap out of it will ya!?"

Grim didn't seem to hear his trainer and just continued to wobble back and forth. Crusher on the other hand, seemed to faint right on the spot. Curious, Destiny flew over to him to see what was wrong. That was what the Little Bear Pokemon wanted and got up quickly to slash at the Jubilee Pokemon, causing her to cry out in pain and fly back.

"Destiny, use Magical Leaf on Crusher!" Sara called out. "Merric, use Tackle on the same Pokemon!"

"Togekiss!" Destiny said with a nod before again summoning her leaves and launching them at the bear. Crusher cried out in pain, and then again when he was slammed by Merric. He was knocked down for a bit, but the Teddisursa slowly pushed himself up. But before he could fully stand, Merric once again slammed into him with another splashed powered Tackle attack. This seemed to knock out the bear for good.

"How the…" Tony started to say, but then just shook his head and returned the bear. "Never mind, lets just get on with this." He took out another Apri ball and threw it up into the air. "Selene! Show these Pokemon what we're made of!"

The ball opened up and, in a flash of light, a smallish, black Pokemon with long claws on her hands and feet. Sara frowned and scanned that Pokemon. She frowned more when she realized that, indeed, this was a Sneasel. Things seemed to get worse when the Duskull shook his head and glared at the two Pokemon, once again back to his senses.

"Right, now we can deal with this," Tony said with a grin. "Selene, use Quick Attack on the Togekiss. Grim, Night Shade that Magikarp!"

Both nodded and then launched themselves at their opponents. Selene moved in a blur and slammed herself into the Togekiss, knocking her back a bit. Grim launched a purple aura at Merric, causing the fish to flop around even more.

"Destiny, use Metronome again!" Sara called out. "Merric, Tackle Selene!"

Destiny nodded as she started to move back and forth once more. Merric used a Splash attack to get up into the air, then angled himself towards the Long Claw Pokemon and slammed into her with a Tackle. The Togekiss stopped her moving then, then looked at the Duskull with glowing eyes. Before anyone could guess at what was happening, a very powerful psychic blast shot out from herself. Grim cried out as he was slammed against the rock.

"Come on Grim!" Tony shouted. "Don't give up like that!!"

"Dusk…" Grim grunted as he slowly got back up.

"Great, now; Grim, use Shadow Sneak on the Magikarp again! Selene, Faint Attack the Togekiss again!"

"Destiny," Sara said, "use Magical Leaf on Grim! Merric, use Tackle on Selene!"

All of the Pokemon nodded as they heard their orders. Grim sank into the ground and raced towards Merric again. The Magikarp tried to Splash away, but this time Grim was too quick and came up below him, knocking the fish away. After that, Destiny used her Magical Leaf attack on Grim, slashing him with her leaves and making him faint. Selen then fainted herself, once again enticing Destiny to come over to her. The Togekiss did so but just before the Long Claw Pokemon could do what the Little Bear Pokemon did before, Merric came back down and slammed into her, knocking the Ice type back a bit.

"Well…that worked out well," Sara said with a slight grin.

"So you say," Tony grumbled as he returned Grim to his ball. "Okay Selene, it's all up to you! Use Quick Attack on the Togekiss!"

"Destiny, use Sweet Kiss on Selene!" Sara called out, "Merric, use yet another Tackle!"

"Sneasel!" Selene shouted as she raced towards Destiny in a blur of speed. She was able to slam herself into the Jubilee Pokemon, knocking her to the ground. Sara was worried for a bit, but the Togekiss slowly got back up and flew at Selene, kissing her lightly. The Sneasel blinked and suddenly sat down as she looked around herself. Merric then closed in and Tackled her once more.

"Come on Selene!" Tony shouted. "Get your head in the game!"

Selene looked over at her trainer and tilted her head. Sara couldn't help but to grin at that, which grew as she got an idea.

"Merric, you just keep Tackling that girl with everything you got in you!" The girl trainer called out.

"Magikarp!" Merric called out happily, then proceeded with what his trainer ordered. He slammed into Selene once with a Tackle attacks, making her seem even more confused, then continued to slam into her. This continued for some amount of time before, finally, Selene fainted form all the attacks she had suffered through.

"We won!" Sara called out, punching the air excitedly. Lee, Destiny, and Merric also cried out happily and did their own little celebration.

"Not again," Tony growled as he dug through his pocket. "And you even had a Magikarp this time…How the heck did I lose?" With out waiting for an answer, he threw the winning money and a couple Potions on the ground. He then returned Selene to her ball, spun on his heels and started to climb the rocks once more.
 
Celestic Town/Ch.10
"That was a complete waste of time," Shaun muttered angrily as he strode away from the rock path and into Celestic Town.

He had stayed in that ridiculous area for far too long, searching for a pokemon to add to his team. He only had two, and the third was nearing soon. If he didn't have another... it might become impossible to even challenge the leader. Throughout the whole mountain he had seen only annoying little Cleffa, singing away in perfect unison and looking as if they were the purest beings on the planet. It disgusted him. The only other time he had seen a strong looking pokemon had been a Meditite, but it kept using Detect to avoid all attacks before finally fleeing like a coward.

And now he was here, at this old fashioned looking town, where it was very obvious that a festival was taking place. Despite himself, Shaun felt a sort of excited eagerness. He wasn't completely emotionless, aside from anger; he could enjoy himself at times, especially when it seemed as if there were specific vendors and contests for pokemon and pokemon trainers.

"Gaaa," the ghost pokemon hissed in wonder, body occasionally flicking in and out of existence. An eager grin stretched eerily upon its face while gas like tentacles stretched out in a sort of longing before evaporating into the air.

"Don't even think about it," Shaun said coolly, knowing that look all too well. It was the one where Gastly just knew he could cause as much mischief as he wanted and not get caught. In an environment like this, it was possible. "Return," Shaun said, pointing his pokeball at the displeased pokemon.

"Meow," Meowth purred, a mocking smirk upon his face.

"Don't look so cocky," Shaun nearly spat. "The same could be done for you."

With an uncaring yawn, the feline simply lifted a leg and began cleaning.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Pokeballs! Fresh Apricon Pokeballs!"

"This is your last chance to sign up to win..."

"We got food! We got drinks!..."

It was very overwhelming, being in this sort of chaos, and Shaun was beginning to feel a bit on edge as he made his way across the different vendors. It wasn't until he stopped at one did he pause.

"What sort of herbs are these?" he asked the young lady that was very carefully cleaning a red mushroom.

She placed the mushroom next to some MooMoo Milk. "This one here is an Energy Root," she explained, pointing at a curved (and rather hideous) root. "And this one here is a Revival Herb," she said pointing at a plant that looked just as ugly.

That got Shaun's attention. He quickly checked his pockets, counting up his money carefully. This could be very useful. "I'll take a Revival Herb."

The young girl wrapped it carefully and, with a bright smile, bid him a good day. "Do come back again!"

"Where did that damn cat go?" Shaun growled as he turned around. Figures Meowth would be gone. Something shiny must have caught its attention.

"Eow!" Or maybe he was wrong. Meowth moaning and pointing, urging Shaun to come and look.

"A pokemon costume contest?" Shaun lifted a brow. "Didn't know you were into those." Meowth nodded quickly, eyeing all the sparkly buttons on the numerous costumes. "Go knock yourself out," Shaun stated before going over to a bench where he could sit back and enjoy watching his pokemon make a complete fool of himself.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sparkle! Sparkle! SPARKLE!

It was everywhere, taunting him all at once. So it came to no surprise that he was literally rolling around on ripped off buttons, gold hinges, silver markings... anything that gave off that beautiful sparkle.

"You do realize that the point is to get dressed up in those ripped up costumes, don't you?" came a slight drawl.

Meowth stopped his catorgasm and looked up, blinking at the sight of a beautiful sparkly emerald. He reached out, but was immediately slapped away by a dark purple claw. Looking up higher, Meowth was met with the sight of a Sableye.

The odd looking pokemon gave an eerie grin, sharp teeth glinting with a deadly light before he broke into a dark chuckle. "Not like I blame ya," he said, opening a claw and revealing a collection of all that was shiny, as well as a ring that belonged to a human.

"And aren't you supposed to get dressed up as well?" Meowth answered back, a bit agitated that he was being scolded for doing the same thing as this pokemon.

"Only for trainer pokemon," Sableye answered with a smirk. He turned his head, and, taking the hint, Meowth looked around. The other trained pokemon were giving them wary looks but, despite that, they still dressed into their garments.

"No fun," Meowth pouted.

"No fun," Sableye agreed, a rather seedy grin falling into place as he popped the gold ring into his mouth and bit down hard. Meowth could hear the hard crunch, and it nearly made his ears flatten in shock. "Winner gets shiny," Sableye said after he was finished with his meal.

Meowth pondered on that. "Why you not enter then?"

"Only for trained pokemon," Sableye repeated, that cocky grin back in place. For a moment, it looked as if the crystal eyes moved towards Meowth's head crest.

"Don't even think about it," Meowth hissed.

Sableye just chuckled. "See ya around," he said, giving a small wave before turning around and running off, leaving Meowth bedazzled. The gems on Sableye's back... they were all gold.

"Lucky jerk," Meowth muttered as he finally started looking for the appropriate costume that would win him a sparkly.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Shaun yawned as he gazed at the pokemon running across stage in costume. A Smoochum was dancing around in a Hawaiian outfit and blowing kisses to the crowd. A Scizor wore a suit and was acting out being a perfect gentlemen (which was creepy), and a Arbok was dressed in a Seviper costume. Oh yea, that was orignal.

"And now for out last contestant!" shouted the booming voice of the judge, causing all of the crowd to wince. "We have here a young Meowth in the form of a gang leader!"

Shaun couldn't help it. He snorted.

With a graceful and very cocky sprint, the Meowth had jumped across the stage and landed in front of the audience. He landed on his hind legs buts remained in a kneeling position, head down so that you couldn't see his face behind the large hat.

Meowth was wearing a blue suite with white stripes with a matching hat. It was an old school mafia outfit, and it even came with a matching, plastic machine gun, which was firmly planted in Meowth's right paw.

"Mewooo," Meowth growled, finally looking up into the crowd, eyes narrowed into a dark look. A sinister grin spread across his face as he gazed at one man. "Meow!" Meowth yowled, springing towards the man who let out a yelp. Before anyone could make heads or tails of what happened, Meowth was back on stage, a large cigar in his mouth.

Shaun shook his head at the display as he watched his pokemon smoke away on the stolen cigar.

"Meow," Meowth grunted, giving his best bad boy image as he played about with the machine gun. He aimed it at the man before lowering it. With a dark sneer, Meowth lifted his paw and gave off a 'shooting motion'.

The crowd was nonplussed at the move, even when Meowth gave a dark wink before placing the machine gun on his shoulder and strutting off, tail swinging back and forth in a cocky manner.

This time Shaun actually slapped his forehead because of the display. When he looked at his pokemon, the feline even had the nerve to smirk at him.

"Cocky cat," Shaun sighed as he awaited the judges announce the winners...



 
Charzeon - Looks like Sara showed him who's boss again, awesome post.

Congratulations, Lee grew to lv. 21 and learned Magical Leaf!
Lee wants to evolve, will you let him?
Congratulations, Destiny grew to lv. 20!
Congratulations, Angela grew to lv. 22
Congratulations, Merric grew to lv 20!
Merric wants to evolve, will you let him? If so he will learn Bite.


Wolfwhispers - Mafia? Fitting, haha. Great post.

Congratulations, Shaun won TM65: Shadow Claw.
Shuan bought a Revival Herb.
 
Selene awoke to silence. She stared at the ceiling, trying to will herself out of bed but obviously failing. Sighing, Selene pushed up from the comfortable bed in her room and stalked off to the shower. She spared a glance at the clock along the way, and found she would have to meet Jake in the main area of the Pokemon Center in an hour. Yawning and muttering about evil early mornings (though she had chosen to get up this really, so it was rather pointless) Selene dropped her clean clothes on the counter by the sink and then walked to the shower. She was going to get all relaxed and clean before she took another foot on her journey.

Selene was ready to go fifteen minutes before she had to meet Jake, so she began to invest in thinking about nicknames for Aron. Though she wanted to keep up her theme, she really wanted to call it Shiny Rock. Then again, that sounded a bit childish. Selene smiled slightly and then reached into her backpack. She pulled out her cell phone, pushed some buttons, and waited. It was only fair after all.

"You had better be dying," an angry voice growled in her ear.

"Nah, I just wanted to see what my most favorite brother ever was doing," Selene replied. There was a wide grin on her face, though he obviously couldn't see that.

Then the link went dead. Selene's eye twitched. She knew that he had hung up on her before she even took the phone away from her ear. Sahib was such a jerk. Huffing, Selene stuffed her phone into her pocket and stood up. It wasn't like she was going to call him again, because he would most likely not answer. Selene muttered about him and his mean-ness as she shouldered her bag and walked out of the room. Jake was sitting in a chair in the main area, apparently taking a little nap. Selene paused and looked at him instead of just going right on over and approaching.

His hair was neatly brushed and falling in his eyes. Selene noticed that he was breathing evenly, so it was obvious that he was asleep. Selene bit her lip. Truthfully she wanted him to tag along with her, but there was also something inside her that was telling her she needed to do stuff on her own. Selene hated decisions that involved other people, because often times it ended up with her somehow accidentally hurting them. Sighing, Selene knew what she had to do. She knew if she didn't pull out on her own, then she'd never learn how to be a true trainer. Heck, she had been with Jake on half of the journey. Muttering a sorry to his sleeping form, Selene quickly turned in her room key and dashed out of the Pokemon Center. Jake was not going to be a happy camper when he awoke.

"It's for the best," Selene muttered to herself for the hundredth time. She had practically sprinted away from Celestic Town, so there was no hope of Jake catching up to her. Now she was walking along the trail with her head down and a frown on her face. The sun beat down on her back from above. She had been going through at least half of the route without realizing her surroundings, even when she had gone up the rugged stairs and through all of the thick fog. She didn't even notice the beauty of the place, like she had when she first arrived in Celestic Town. It was pretty sad really, but Selene didn't care.

"AHA!"

Selene squeaked and fell over. Some freaky kid had just jumped out from the fog and into her face! She peered up at him. He was dressed like a ninja, for Pete's sake! "Uhm...what?"

"I have found an opponent!" the boy declared, producing an Apri Ball from his belt. "And now it is time for us to battle. I propose a single. Is four Pokemon acceptable for you?"

Selene blinked rapidly, trying to process what was happening. A boy. A challenge. Four on four. Single. Finally realizing what he wanted, Selene slowly got up from the ground. "Actually I propose a double. Take it or leave it, ninja boy."

"You play a hard game, fall down girl, but I accept! Double battle it is. Four on four, correct?" Selene nodded in affirmative. "Good! Go!" The boy tossed two Apri Balls, and Selene couldn't believe it.

Standing before her was a Marshtomp. Next to said Marshtomp was a Kadabra. Selene absolutely hated Kadabra. Why? Because her father was a psychotic master genius who knew how to make evil things happen with that Pokemon when Selene was being mischievous. And she always got caught, too! This was totally not Selene's day. She sighed and brought out Kenai and Tanana. She would be a good match up against that stupid old Kadabra. The ninja boy didn't look to stumped by Tanana though, instead he smirked. Selene paled slightly. She really didn't like the fact that he had just smirked.

"Kadabra, begin with Alpha Plan Delta."

"Alpha Plan what?!" Selene squeaked.

Kadabra suddenly latched onto Marshtomp seconds after the ninja had issued the attack. They then disappeared, and before Selene could blink they reappeared behind her Pokemon. Kadabra used some psychic attack (Selene guessed it was confusion) and then Marshtomp followed it up with a mud shot. Selene didn't like the fact that the confusion had hit Kenai dead on. For the puppy whined suddenly and shuddered, shaking his head violently. The mud shot, however, had missed. Why? Because Tanana makes ground moves miss with levitate. The ninja boy's eyes bugged out. He obviously had expected Tanana to go down for sure.

"Don't you know that some Gastly can use levitate?" Selene called to him. The boy clenched his teeth. "Alright Kenai, we may not have a weird strategic name for it...but use flame wheel on Kadabra! Tanana, you use curse on Marshtomp!"

Kenai, forgetting the pain he had been in moments ago, sprang into action. He burst into flames and then charged towards Kadabra, who had obviously teleported itself and Marshtomp away. Kadabra stood at the ready, and then at the last second teleported away. Kenai, so used to Tanana's antics, was not about to be duped. He whipped around and shot a mouth full of fire directly behind him. Kadabra had just appeared, and was rather surprised to see the flames. It cried out as they slammed into his body. Selene had to duck because the force sent Kadabra propelling towards her. It ended up hitting some bushes instead, though Selene could only tell this from the sound. The fog was growing thicker, and it was making things difficult to see.

"Tanana?" Selene whispered. She wasn't even sure if her Pokemon's attack had worked. The Gastly soon appeared close to Selene, though she still couldn't tell if it had worked. "Did it...?" Tanana shook her head and then stared out at the field. Kenai was slowly backing up towards Selene, keeping a watch on all sides. Selene had to admit that this fog was making the battle rather creepy. She glanced to her sides, but found nothing there. "I thought you were going to battle me, not hide!" Selene shouted into the fog.

"Now! Beta Double Alpha!"

Selene clenched her teeth and looked around. Suddenly Kenai whined, pawing at his head. Kadabra was using confusion again! Selene looked around, and finally she saw it. Blue glowing eyes through the fog. She pointed, and Tanana floated away silently, using the fog to disappear. Selene, noticing Kenai was a bit better, called for him to use bite on Kadabra. Kenai charged off into the fog in the same direction Tanana had, so Selene could only hope that things worked out.

"Kadabra, hurry and teleport away before they get to you!" The ninja boy seemed to have other plans, however. Selene ground her together together as she wondered just how the boy had known that she was going for Kadabra.

There was a yelp, a cry, and then a thud. Selene really didn't know what had just happened, but she was a little bit afraid to find out. That was when the fog cleared silently, and she could make out figures barely. Marshtomp was standing proud, and Kenai was laying a few feet away soaked in mud. He whimpered as he stood, only just making it up. Selene's eyebrows pinched into a tight line as she glared at the water and ground type. She then found Gastly looking proud of herself. There was a sleeping Kadabra a few feet below where she was hovering. Selene smirked. Well, part of her little idea had worked at least.

"Kenai, use bite on Kadabra. Tanana you attack Marshtomp with curse," Selene called. That Marshtomp was really ticking her off.

Kenai attempted to run over to Kadabra, but that didn't really work because he was rather injured. Instead he hobbled, but when he arrive and clamped his jaws down, the effect was obvious. Kadabra shook violently in its apparent sleep. Marshtomp rushed forward to knock Kenai away and probably end his battle, but Gastly got there first. She intercepted Marshtomp and quickly used a successful curse attack. Though Selene found that, to her dismay, Tanana fainted seconds after, the damage had been done. Marshtomp had hesitated and was now twitching in pain. Selene used this moment to grab Aron's Pokeball.

She brought out the little guy, and Aron glanced around in a rather scared manner. He peered over at Kenai, and immediately scurried over to hide behind a rock. Selene smacked her forehead. This was SO not the time for her Shiny Rock to be hiding behind boulders. Marshtomp was just coming out of the curse, and then glanced over at its ninja trainer. He nodded, and then Marshtomp let out a stream of mud towards Kenai. Kenai managed to dodge just in the knick of time, making the attack hit Kadabra. The Pokemon twitched again and then went limp. Selene's eyes narrowed. Was it down? Aron peered from behind his rock.

"Alas! Kadabra, you put up a valiant effort. Return and make haste to your rest." The ninja tucked Kadabra's Apri Ball safely away and then grabbed another one. "I have to say you will not have an easy time with this one. I have had it since birth. Go Ariados!"

The spider appeared moments later, looking a bit evil and proud. Selene glanced at Kenai. He would be able to make quick work of the bug. That is, of course, if he could manage to stay in the battle. Selene then looked at Aron. He was hesitantly moving from behind the boulder and towards Kenai, almost as if he now realized that he was supposed to be working with the puppy. Selene looked over towards her opponents, and found that Marshtomp was wincing in pain again. It was panting, and looked to be close to Kenai's condition. Selene knew that Aron could easily be taken out in one hit by a water gun, so she figured (against her better judgement) that it would be best to finish off Marshtomp and use Aron to bide time with Ariados.

"Alright Aron attack Ariados and use..." Selene trailed off, having realized that she had no idea what it could use. Knowing that she had little time before the boy got impatient, she went out on a limb. "Headbutt?"

Luckily for them both, Aron knew that attack. He charged forward, and Marshtomp got in position to attack. Selene quickly pulled out her Pokedex and ordered Kenai to use a bite attack on Marshtomp. Kenai charged in to attack, but Marshtomp struck first. The water gun hit Kenai directly, but Kenai pushed on once more. Selene didn't want to watch for fear it would turn out like last time. Kenai managed to carry out the bite attack, but only just. He fell to the ground seconds later, Marshtomp collapsing on top of him because of the effects of the bite attack and the curse. Selene licked her parched lips as she recalled Kenai and grabbed Denahi's Pokeball.

"Well, it seems we are quite even, but that Aron is no match for my team. You had better hope your next Pokemon is a winner."

"My next Pokemon could kick all of your Pokemon's asses with his hands tied behind his back," Selene snapped back, quickly defending Denahi's pride. She huffed and tossed his Pokeball. The boy released his next one as well.

Selene stared at the fluffy cotton ball standing opposite of her Cranidos. She was in luck. It wasn't a water Pokemon like she had originally feared. No, it was an electric type. The ninja's face fell when he saw Denahi. Selene smirked. She figured he was probably expecting a water type to balance out her team, but nope. Selene wasn't (apparently, anyway) a water girl.

"I'm willing to bet you didn't expect that, did you?" Selene practically taunted. "Let's finish this fast boys. Denahi, head in with a quick take down on Flaaffy. Aron, you attack Ariados with...uh...headbutt, I suppose." Selene wasn't really sure she had done the right thing, and figured a bit too late that it probably would have benefited her better to have the opposite Pokemon attack the ones they were going to, but she shrugged it off. She had already given the command, and there was no turning back now.

"Ariados, use night shade on Aron! Flaaffy, you use an attack on Cranidos like...uhm...cotton spore?" The boy seemed he had no idea what the heck he should have Flaaffy do, considering it was almost completely useless.

Flaaffy unleashed the cotton spore attack just as Denahi began to charge. He arrived at Flaaffy first though, and slammed into the sheep. The cotton hit its mark, making Denahi groan and obviously slow significantly. Selene looked over and saw Aron wasn't fairing very well against the Ariados. Night shade had worked, and Aron didn't have much health to spare because he was so young. Selene then decided that, for the good of her Pokemon (unless she wanted Aron to faint of course) she would have to switch things up a bit. It was time for Denahi to go in with the big attacks on Ariados, and stop worrying about the Flaaffy. Aron could handle Flaaffy with no problem.

"New plan. Aron you use mud slap on Flaaffy. Denahi I want you to use take down on Ariados once, and then follow with stomp attacks until it's done."

"Ariados and Flaaffy, you guys watch your backs! Ariados, when that Cranidos gets close enough, attack with night shade and then move onto a leech life," the ninja kid ordered.

Aron suddenly began to throw mud at Flaaffy. The sheep attempted to duck, but it wasn't exactly fast so it didn't dodge much. Out of the five Aron launched at first, it only managed to miss two. Denahi was sluggishly running his way towards Ariados, intent on attack with a lot of force even though Selene figured that wouldn't happen because he was going so slow. When Denahi hit, the impact wasn't that great, but Selene looked on the bright side. That would mean that Denahi didn't get that much damage, which was obvious a very good thing. She glanced at Aron and saw that her little Pokemon was still being successful in attacking Flaaffy. Ariados seemed to be getting agitated though, so he turned towards Aron sharply and unleashed a night shade attack. Aron cried out and trembled as the attack ripped through him. Flaaffy peered around Ariados (for it had decided to hide) and snorted at Aron in a 'serves you right' notion.

That was when Denahi decided to do one of his fancy kicks. His foot slammed into Ariados' face, and the bug hissed sharply as it was propelled backwards. Aron then charged at Flaaffy, and slammed into it with a heavy head butt. Selene blinked as Flaaffy went down, and then she turned to Ariados. Down for the count as well.

The ninja boy frowned and recalled his Pokemon silently. He then glanced at Selene. She opened her mouth, but he held up a finger. "Before you ask, I am not going to tell you my name. I do not wish for people to know I am here, so therefore you shall not know me." Then he disappeared into the fog. Selene looked down at her Pokemon with a slightly creeped out expression on her face. Once again, she had met an abnormal person on her quest.
 
Fen - What a battle, awesome post!

Congratulations, Kenai grew to lv. 24!
congratulations, Tanana grew to lv. 20 and learnwed Confusion Ray!
Congratulations, Shiny Rock grew to lv. 16!
Congratulations, Denahi grew to lv. 25 and learned Assurance!
Denahi can't learn anymore moves, will you delete one?
 
Kenny woke up early in the morning refreshed and ready to get on with his journey. When Kenny's feet touched the ground Chewy's ear jumped straight up in the air and she turned her head to find out what the noise was. Noticing it was Kenny she got up and made her way to him and helped him pack his stuff. Kenny heard knocking at his room door. Upon opening the door Kenny saw it was Dustin.

"Hey Dustin." Kenny said trying to figure why Dustin is at the door so early.

"Hey Kenny. I was just wondering if you would like to battle right outside the town." Dustin said disappointed he lost to Kenny in the costume contest.

"Sure we will make it a double battle." Kenny said running back in the room to grab his bag and then heading out the door with Chewy on his head.

"Cool. I will meet you by the mountain pass." Dustin said walking off to the pokemon center exit.

Kenny walked up to the counter to turn in his key and headed out the door. Jerry caught up to Kenny started to tell Kenny something.

"Kenny I will not be going on with you." Jerry said calmly. "Do not be mad at me but I want to adventure on my own a little bit more."

"Okay Jerry no problem." Kenny said with an understanding tone. "We will meet up again soon I am not worried about that."

Jerry walked towards the mountain pass where Dustin was waiting for Kenny. Kenny called out his other two pokemon and smiled at them. Getting his pokemon ready for battle, Kenny finally left the now quiet and peaceful town. Kenny walked near a waterfall that was creating a fog around them and looked around for Dustin.

"Dustin where are you?" Kenny asked trying to find him.

"Okay get ready Kenny I have a couple tricks up my sleeves." Dustin said coming out of the thick fog.

"Let's do this." Kenny said pointing at Dustin ready to battle. "Willy and Sunny you two are up."

"Nice but let's see if they can beat my Marill and my Meditite." Dustin said calling out a blue round mouse pokemon with a white belly and a jagged black tail with a blue fuzzy ball at the end of it and a small onion headed pokemon that was sitting with its legs crossed.

"Willy use…..uuuuuuuuh?" Kenny said pausing because he never thought to look up any of the attacks it knew. SP Kenny pulled out his pokedex and looked it up really quickly. "Okay it knows Constrict, Minimize, Astonish, Gust, Focus Energy, and Hypnosis." Kenny whispered to himself ready to fight. "Okay use Gust Willy and Sunny use razor leaf." Willy's head began to blow up and then he released a high pressured spiraling ball of air at the Meditite while Sunny shot a few leaves to mix into the air ball.

"Marill use water gun and Meditite use Ice punch." Marill shot a pressurized water attack at the ball of air while Meditite punched the water attack with its ice punch turning it into a spear. The spear destroyed the ball of air and leaves and continued towards Willy.

"Willy use minimize and then hypnosis." Kenny yelled as Willy's body shrunk down avoiding the spear narrowly. Willy then used his little stringy arms and waved them from side to side in a calming motion. Both Marill and Meditite began to follow the dangling arms and falling asleep in the process. "Okay now Sunny use another razor leaf and Willy use gust." Kenny's pokemon tried their combination attack again hoping for success this time. The attack hit Marill hard knocking it to the side while Meditite woke up right before the attack hit it.
"Meditite use Shadow ball." Meditite sat there creating a purple glob in front of its body making get grow bigger and bigger until it fired it at Willy. The attack hit Willy knocking him down on top of Sunny. Marill was still fast asleep with no signs of waking up soon so Kenny took the opportunity to make the battle two on one.

"Okay Willy use gust and Sunny use another razor leaf." This time Willy blew air around Meditite lifting it into the air. Meditite was disoriented flying around in the tornado. Then razor leaf attack entered cutting up the helpless pokemon. "Now Willy use constrict and Sunny use tackle." Willy floats over to the pokemon on the ground and wrapped up its body lifting it into the air and then releasing it. Sunny ran as fast as she could (which is not very fast at all) to tackle the falling pokemon but tripped and fell in the process so Willy shot a ball of air at the pokemon making it smash into the ground. The pokemon struggled to get up and it succeeded.

Suddenly Marill's ears began to twitch and its eyes opened up. Dustin smiled yelled for it to use an icy wind attack. Marill shot a gust of cold crystallized wind at both of Kenny's pokemon.

"Willy use gust." Kenny yelled as Willy dodged the oncoming attack stopping in front of Grotle and began to spin around reflecting the ice attack back at their opponents. Meditite went down and could not find the strength to get back up.

"Okay Marill lets do this. Use Water gun." Marill shot high pressured water from its small body knocking Willy into Grotle soaking both pokemon. "Now quick use Icy wind." Marill released a crystallized breath at the wet pokemon practically freezing them. Sunny could not stand the cold as well as Willy could and she went down for the count. Willy stared the Marill in the face breathing hard. Marill then charged at Willy hoping to take it out with a body slam.

"Willy use constrict then use gust to finish it off." The drifbloon let the marill attempt to hit is and then wrapped it up squeezing as hard as he could then spun around face throwing it to the ground and then rapidly firing balls of air at Marill. Marill tried to get up but did not have the energy to get up. Dustin placed his hand on his forehead and then returned his fallen pokemon.

"I just can't beat you Kenny." Dustin said looking up a Kenny with a smirk.

"Well you came really close that time with that marill using icy wind on both my pokemon."

"I will find a really good pokemon and will beat you next time I promise."

"I will be ready to battle you when you do." Kenny said as he watched Dustin run back off to the previous town. Kenny knew that one day that Dustin was going to beat him since in the battles he won by luck and not just skill. Kenny then returned Willy to his ball and head into the foggy mountainous area.

Kenny walked closer to the waterfall and over head flew a big bird made of steel. Kenny quickly looked around to see where it went but the mist from the water made it impossible. The waterfall made it hard for Kenny to actually figure his way to where he was going.

Finally Kenny made it to a path that was free of fog and luscious trees due to them being close to the water. Making a run for the clearing Kenny realized that he hasn't even healed his pokemon from the last battle so what if something happens and they were too tired to help. Kenny paused for a moment looking around for a building or something where he could stay until his pokemon were rested and ready to go.

Kenny began to walk again and was very cautious of the grass and trees where he knew pokemon loved to hide. Kenny neared a slope and saw a house off to the side of it and he decided to check it out before he was attacked. The run to the house seemed to take forever since Kenny was still tired from running down the waterfall path. Kenny made it to the door and knocked on it to see if anyone was home.

"Hello there young man." An older woman opened the door happy to see company. "You must be tired. Come in come in."

"Thank you ma'am" Kenny said walking in sitting at the table.

"I bet you are hungry." The women said walking over a piping hot bowl of soup.

"Yes I am."

"Do you have any pokemon?"

"Yes I do I have a Pikcahu named Chewy, a Grotle named Sunny, and a Drifbloon named Willy." Kenny said calling out all of his pokemon. Chewy was full of energy running around while Sunny and Willy we tired and were hardly moving.

"What lovely pokemon but they could use a rest." The lady said walking over to Willy and Sunny placing food in front of them to eat. "Look at me getting ahead of myself. My name is Wilma Norse."

"Glad to meet you Ms. Norse. I am Kenneth Henderson."

"You mean the son of Jazmin Henderson the geologist that is said to be lost?"

"Yes I am her son. I still think she is out there so I am on my pokemon journey to find her."

"Well that's nice. Okay Kenny I can't let you look for you mom with out letting your pokemon learn a few new moves." Ms. Norse said walking to the back room grabbing a few pokeballs. "I will teach your Pikachu and your Grotle some new moves for a couple of items. Seems fair to you right?"

"Yes that sounds great." Kenny said smiling and quickly finishing the soup.

"First I will teach Pikachu Signal Beam. This move is a bug type move to help your team against psychic and dark types. Come out Ledian!" A giant ladybug with 4 arms and 2 legs came out of Ms. Norse's apriball. "Okay Ledian show pikachu how to do signal beam." Ledian began to gather energy in front of its body by putting its hands up front.

"Okay Chewy you try signal beam." Chewy took a deep breath and put her hands in front of her body and tried to gather energy.

"Good good. Now its time for the release." Ledian pulled its hands apart and it fired a beam straight at the center of the target.

"Okay Chewy release the attack." Chewy separated her hands but nothing happened. She was disappointed that the attack fizzled out on her.

"Don't worry Pikachu you did great for your first time." Ms Norse said "Okay Kenny you tend to the other two pokemon while I continue with Chewy and by the time you come back out she will have it down.

"Yes ma'am" Kenny said walking into the house to see how Sunny and Willy were doing. Both of them seemed to have gotten their strength back and ran over to Kenny to give him a hug.

(Will continue the rest of the training in the next post.)
 
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