[X] My Assistant

[Ganymede]

Waker, although still hazy from his impromptu nap, clapped enthusiastically as Celia and Spencer completely flattened Charley and his stuck-up Luxio. Pora's eyes gleamed as she watched Celia's performance, and as soon as Spencer had returned she ran to the Piplup, knocking over Azzy in the process.


"Celia, that was amazing! she shouted, unable to hold still from the excitement. "I would've never thought of that!"


"Yeah, because you're not a water type," Azzy grumbled. He sulked back over to Waker and crawled into his lap, ready to watch the next battle.


And what a battle it was - even though Connie hadn't won, it seemed like Mary had learned a new move. Waker clapped as Connie sat back down, holding Mary in her arms. Waker gave her a smile, hoping she wasn't upset about the loss. Elysia sat down not a moment later, looking at Waker curiously. Oh, she must have figured out that I'm not shy, I just can't talk, he thought, smiling at her as well. Azzy grunted and wriggled in his arms, and Waker remembered that his battle was up next. Picking up Azzy, he was just about to get onstage when he heard Verity scream.


Spinning around, Waker watched in horror as Mondie's Zangoose attacked Verity and Candyfloss, Courage and Butchette jumping in the fend him off. Azzy let out a terrifying growl and tried to leap from Waker's hand, only to be caught and held back. Pora was already rushing to the girls, but the battle was already over. He was only half-listening as Verity, Spencer, and Elysia yelled at Mondie, the rest of his mind occupied with the upcoming battle. If it took both of Verity's Pokemon just to take down his Zangoose, then how can we beat his Seviper? He looked down at Azzy, who was glaring at Mondie. The barbs on his back had risen, the spines catching on Waker's shirt. He gently tugged on his Pokemon as he re-focused on the conversation.


"...got other things to worry about. You and Pythoness still have to battle Waker, and I warn you, he's very tough." Waker looked despairingly at Verity. To be honest, Waker was a horrible battler - his father had all but given up on him after the second training exercises they did, telling Waker to pray that he'd never encounter an aggressive wild Pokemon. Waker sighed, then looked up determinedly. Well...if I don't learn t battle now, I'll never win the Grand Festival.


"Will Waker Faland please come on stage?" Jillian watched as Waker slowly made his way onstage, setting Azzy down on the floor. Compared to the massive eight-foot-long snake, Azzy seemed like a harmless rabbit. Sensing the disadvantage, Azzy's ears shot straight up, every barb on his back rigid with tension. He lowered his head, making sure his horn was in full view. With an impressive snort, he pawed the ground, making a show of himself. Well, we'll at least get points for showing off, Waker thought. Mondie stood behind Pythoness, looking at Azzy with contempt. The Seviper swayed back and forth as if seasick, and waker wondered if it was disoriented from the Dig earlier.


"Pythoness! Use Wrap!" Mondie shouted, and the Seviper burst forward, aiming straight for Azzy. Jolted out of his reverie, Waker stomped hard on the ground and moved his foot back, scuffing the near-pristine surface of the stage. Azzy leaned down low and, at just the moment before the Seviper struck, jumped sideways, rolling safely to the side. Standing up again, he didn't wait for a command as he launched forward, his horn glowing white. He Pecked Pythoness in the side, sending her crashing into the curtain on the stage.


Good! Now, Double Kick while she can't move!" Waker slammed his foot down again twice, desperately wishing Azzy knew more than two moves. He knew that even if he had the upper hand now, Mondie's Pokemon would win due to better stamina and a better movepool. As Azzy kicked the Seviper, Waker smiled craftily. We'll just have to get creative, then...


The Seviper reared up, red eyes glowing. "Pythoness! We won't lose to him; use Poison Tail!" At her trainer's command, the Fang Snake Pokémon's tail began to glow a sickly purple. Waker smiled, noticing Mondie's mistake - Poison-types had little effect on each other, with only certain poisons being more effective than the others. He could tell that despite her looks and bravado, Pythoness was still young enough so that her poison wouldn't effect Azzy much.


...Or so he thought. Azzy tried to roll to the side again, but was still caught by the Seviper's tail as she swung it downward, connecting with Azzy's back legs with a sickening crunch. Waker let out a soundless yell as Azzy swayed a little, trying desperately to move. His legs had stopped working - her poison's not strong enough to seriously hurt him, but it's strong enough to Paralyze! Struggling forward on his front paws, Azzy's horn began glowing again. Waker slammed his hands together, silently begging for Azzy to stop. It's no good to use Peck again! Azzy, you can't fight like that! Biting his lip again, Waker shakily held up Azzy's Pokeball, his heart sinking. My first contest and I lose in the second round...huh?


Azzy's horn wasn't glowing white - it was glowing purple. Waker watched first in confusion, then in dawning delight, as Azzy summoned up the last of his energy and rammed Pythoness in the side with the newly-learned Poison Sting attack. The Seviper let out a cry and crashed to the ground, struggling to right herself. However, she quickly gave up and lay there, unmoving. Red with rage and humiliation, Mondie stepped in and withdrew his Pokemon.


Catching the delight in Waker's face, Mondie scoffed. "You think you won? Well, take a look at your Nidoran." With that, he made his way offstage, sitting far back in the corner. Waker ran tot he middle of the stage, where Azzy lay with his eyes closed, breathing rapidly. He opened one eye as Waker approached, a small smile flickering at the corners of his mouth. "Niii," he murmured, as Waker gently picked him up and walked back to the group, Pora crying and winding around Waker's legs. He sat down and numbly grabbed is bag, rooting through it for one of the antidotes he'd packed.


"W-well, that was a surprising battle!" Jillian stuttered, glancing from the brooding Mondie to Waker. "It seems as though this round was a draw! Neither Waker or Mondie will advance to the final Battle round." Waker smiled sadly and rubbed Azzy's head, Pora licking his face. Don't worry, we may not have won, but we didn't really lose, either.

This post has been edited by Mechanical Lullaby: Jul 16 2009, 10:46 PM

[Cube]

"Oh no! Azzy!" said Spencer, as Waker dug through his bag for an Antidote. The Nidoran did wonderfully, even learning a new move! (Which seemed to be a running theme today). Still, a double KO was a double KO...

"You guys did great." said Spencer, patting his friend on the back.

"Indeed." said Elysia, petting her Espeon. "With a bit of training, you could definitely try for the league challenge."

Vincent perked up at the mention of the word League, listening intently to the woman.


"Um... if you don't mind me asking, what do you know about Furoh's Pokemon League?" said Spencer, overcome with curiosity. "I come from Orre, so I don't really know much about Leagues in general. All I know is that you go around collecting badges before you can attend the League Challenge."

Elysia smiled before reaching into a small handbag to pull out a small rectangular case, delicately flipping it open to reveal a pair of brilliantly polished symbols. "These are all I have right now." said Elysia. "The Stonebloom and Emberwing badges." Spencer and his Pokemon were awestruck by the polished sigils. He had seen trainers with badges from Kanto and Hoenn visit the Ranch, but he had never seen anything as complex as these badges. Each of them was like a work of art.

"Furoh has four gyms, each with two types. Rock and Grass, Fire and Flying, Water and Fighting, Dark and Psychic. They're based off the types that the four founders of Furoh specialized in." Elysia put the badge case back in her hand bag. "Other than that, it's pretty much the same as the leagues in any other region. ...Well, except for the Orange Islands, but that's sort of the oddball league."

Jillian Merdian walked back on stage. "Alright everyone! This is it! The final! Now, in a normal contest, there's typically only one battle round against the Hall Leader. So Mr. Contesta wants both Coordinators to give this battle everything they've got! Pretend it's for a ribbon!" Jillian paused for a moment. "And make it quick too, I've got to be in Arasam by tomorrow for a real contest..."

"Well Spencer, I guess this is it." said Elysia, climbing to her feet.

"Yeah, I guess..." said Spencer.
"This girl has two badges! Two! That's like half the league! It's okay Spencer, calm down... You beat that Luxio, you can beat Espy...
"Wish me luck everyone..." he muttered, as he and Celia made their way to the stage.

The house lights dimmed, as a pair of twin spotlights shone on each of the trainers. Jillian's voice echoed through the loud speakers. "Ladies and Gentlemen! The final battle of this Practice Rank Contest is about to commence! Not-Hall Leader Elyisa versus Not-Hall Leader Spencer! Let the battle begin!"

Almost immediately, Elysia made her first move. "Espy! Confusion!"

The red gem on it's forehead began to glow, as a violet light surrounded Celia.

"Celia! Please use Aqua Ring!" shouted Spencer.

"Lup!" shouted Celia, as she surrounded herself with the same rapidly spinning veil of water as before. Only this time, there was no charging Luxio to block. From within the veil, there was a violent flash of purple before the Piplup cried out in pain. As the veil split into a series of rings, Spencer could see the Piplup was highly disoriented by the attack, struggling to keep it's balance. Still, she didn't seem too injured. As was to be expected, a delicate spout of water extended from each of the rings, gently caressing Celia. This seemed to soothe her a bit, but it did little to aid her balance.

"Celia! Please do that Bubble Gun thing you did earlier!" shouted Spencer.

The Piplup obliged, firing a torrent of bubbles into the rapidly spinning rings. But something was wrong... As the bubbles gained momentum, the rings failed to cross at a single point, instead swinging erratically around Celia, some even leaving the orbit of her body entirely. Utterly dazed, the Piplup tried to launch her attack, resulting in an explosion of bubbles, the blunt of which backfiring into Celia herself! Spencer dove to avoid the wild attack, with several of the sponsors ducking under their table for safety. Yet remarkably, Espy managed to avoid every single attack!

"Celia! You need to snap out of it!" shouted Spencer, trying to get the Piplup's attention. Shaking it's little head, the Piplup managed to focus the rings into a single point, before preparing to release another Bubble attack.

"Espy! Clear your thoughts and then get ready for another Confusion attack!"

The stage grew quiet, as the two pokemon charged their attacks. The Espeon clearing it's thoughts, and the Piplup building momentum with it's rings... Finally, just as each of them were ready to attack... there was darkness.

A Power outage. Confused, both pokemon let their attacks fade, Celia's aqua ring collapsing to the ground in a puddle of water.

"Remain calm everyone!" said Jillian, running on stage. "It's just a power outage, there's nothing to be worri-MMMF!" A hand clamped over her mouth as a figure dressed in black emerged from backstage, dragging her into the wings.

"Spencer! Look out!" shouted Elysia, as Spencer felt another hand attempt to clamp over his mouth. Grabbing the figure by the wrist, he struggled to escape his captors grip. Across the stage, Spencer could see Elysia trying to escape from a similar situation, as a fourth figure launched a net over the Pokemon on stage.

"Piplup!" shouted Celia, as she desperately tried to struggle her way out of the net, only entangling herself more.

"Pokemon Theives?! Here?!" Thought Spencer, as he struggled with his attacker.

"Waker! Connie! Verity! Do something!"

[Verity Lily]

Verity felt mixed emotions as she settled back into her seat. She was very proud of her pokemon - although she felt terrible for distracting Courage at the last moment. Still, she was aware that her presence had not really led to the smooth and professional functioning of the practice contest, and she was half-afraid that she would never be let into another contest hall, ever. And one thing was certain - after watching the morning's performances, Verity wanted to be a coordinator as much as she wanted to become a pokemon master.

The only question was, which pokemon? It couldn't be denied that her new igglybuff was awfully cute... While she waited for Waker and Mondie to begin their competition, Verity surreptiously pulled out her pokedex, hoping Elysia wouldn't see her and be scornful, and pointed it at Candyfloss.

"Igglybuff. Level one, gender female, nature impish. Igglybuff has a soft and plushy body that feels very much like a marshmallow. From this body wafts a gently sweet fragrance that soothes and calms the emotions of its foes."

So that's what you do, Verity thought. And impish... I could have guessed that for myself. She opened her new book on coordinating, and looking up impish natures, hoping they were cute. Impish... sour berries... TOUGH? She peered suspiciously at the ball of cute pink that had fallen back asleep on her lap. That couldn't be right, surely.

She forgot all about it for a moment in the excitement of Waker's match. Secretly, she longed to be on the stage, too - this must be why her mother loved matches so much.

"You two were fantastic!" she told Waker as he came back. She couldn't get up to hug him because of her sleepy burden, but she beamed and held out a hand. "That thing is really scary! Azzy was so brave and clever. It looks like all our pokemon are learning a lot from this contest."

When Elysia pulled out the badges, Verity repressed her kneejerk "show-off" reaction. After all, she was going to get badges too... and they were so pretty. Still, she didn't quite like the attention Elysia was getting.

"Good luck!" she wished Spencer, very sincerely hoping her friend would... well, not put Elysia in her place, but just show that he was fantastic and win for the group of friends, that was all. "I know Celia can do it." Courage, revived by her drink of lemonade, chirped agreement, and Butchette gave an emphatic "Chop!", a paw slicing sharply down showing just what Celia should do to the Espeon.

When the darkness fell, Verity was confused. She didn't quite like the dark... but she was surrounded by friends and pokemon. She climbed cautiously to her feet and stepped tentatively forward, trying to adjust her eyes to the gloom and work out what was going on stage.

"Waker! Connie! Verity! Do something!"

"Oh no! Does anyone have any light?" Verity gasped, as Butchette leapt up protectively in front of her.

This post has been edited by Lindley: Jul 20 2009, 03:17 AM

[ROMANA]

Connie felt like her heart was in her mouth as she watched the brave little poison pin pokemon battling the enormous scary snake. She felt almost as proud of Azzy as if he was her own pokemon when, despite his poisoning, he managed to jab back at the snake. A double KO wasn't a win but Azzy had done incredibly well, in her opinion. "Well done, Waker," said Connie, as he carried Azzy back and they all clustered around to look after Azzy.

Spencer and Elysia were to battle each other in place of a battle against a Hall Leader. This surprised Connie, she had assumed that Mr Refson would be taking on the winner of the first two rounds. She looked around. Where was Mr Refson, anyway? She was too caught up in the excitement of watching Spencer's battle to spare it more than a moment's thought, but it did seem odd.

Things didn't seem to be going so well for Spencer in this battle: Espy's Conusion attack was making it very difficult for poor Celia to control her water attacks. And then the lights went out. Connie was first confused and surprised, rather than alarmed. She was reassured by Jillian Meridian's "Remain calm everyone! It's just a power outage," but then she seemed to get cut off mid-sentence.

"Waker! Connie! Verity! Do something!" yelled Spencer.

Something was going very, very wrong up on the stage.

"Oh no! Does anyone have any light?" Verity asked. Connie could tell she was scared, even though she jumped straight up to help.

"Yes," agreed Connie, jumping up. She was scared too, but they had their pokemon and the sponsors and Mr Refson and the other trainer were here, too. They wouldn't be on their own. "I know, Mary, Charge attack!"

Mary, feeling much better after her trainer's careful administering of Fresh Water, jumped up and did her best to summon all of her electrical energy. She glowed and gave the little group enough light to see... not very much, really, but at least they weren't going to trip over something right in front of them.

"Charley, can Lord Sparkster help? Or does anyone's pokemon know Flash?" asked Connie, as she clambered up onto the stage.

"Are you kidding?" asked Charley. "Lord Sparkster, Charge and then let's get the hell out of here. In the other direction, away from whatever's happening up there!"

Elysia, struggling against her captor managed to pull another pokeball from her pocket. She threw it. A Roselia emerged onto the darkened stage. "MmmmmMMmmf!" said Elysia. The pokemon seemed to get the idea. The stage was suddenly lit by harsh, bright light. Connie's eyes hed been adjusting to the darkness. The sudden flash of light blinded her and she stumbled into someone on the stage.

"Chop!" said Butchette, grumpily. It sounded very much like Connie was being told to mind where she put her feet.

The Roselia fired a haze of yellowish powder at the man Elysia was struggling with.

"Mary, try to use Thundershock on that man attacking Spencer," asked Connie. "Vincent, we need to break that net," she said timidly, hoping Spencer's pokemon would listen to her. "Nils, your slicing attack with leaves might help, too."

Connie released the rest of her pokemon. "Carmilla, sweet scent, lets make it as difficult as possible for them to escape. Victoria, Fury Cutter, you have a go at the net, too."

[Verity Lily]

Verity closed her eyes, sunbursts of red and yellow flaring under her eyelids as the Roselia's flash lit the stage. She covered her eyes with her hand and eased them open, carefully lowering her fingers from her slitted eyes as her vision adjusted to the sudden harsh light. She took in the scene in front of her in horror. Spencer! And Celia! And - well, maybe Elysia wasn't her favourite person, but she didn't want anything to happen to her!

"Mary, try to use Thundershock on that man attacking Spencer. Vincent, we need to break that net. Nils, your slicing attack with leaves might help, too. Carmilla, sweet scent, lets make it as difficult as possible for them to escape. Victoria, Fury Cutter, you have a go at the net, too."

Verity's heart throbbed with admiration. Connie seemed to be taking charge of the situation already. She was so brave and clever. Verity resisted the urge to turn Butchette on Charley. She was amazed at Connie's courage in turning a pokemon on a human, but she wasn't quite ready enough to break her training in never doing so to give it a go herself. Still... it was a pity.

Jillian had vanished. Verity was terrified for Spoencer's sake, but Connie was already helping, and there was Waker, and Spencer's pokemon, and Mondie... She came to a swift, if scared, decision.

"Courage - no, no, sweetie, please don't sit on my head, I need you to listen carefully. I want you to scout around quickly and find out what's happening. I think Mr. Refson might be in trouble. Now, I know you're very very brave, but I want you to keep out of trouble - just find out what's going on and come back for help, okay?"

"Starly!" Courage gave a nod which managed to indicate both efficiency and intrepidity, took to the air and flew off, little wings beating hard.

"Right." Verity's tummy felt very wobbly, and so did her knees, but she set her jaw, placed the sleeping igglybuff carefully on the floor, and extended a hand to her Machop. "There's a damsel in distress needing our help, Butchette. Let's go find and rescue Jillian."

"Maa!" Butchette obviously approved of such a proper amazonian mission. She gripped Verity's hand firmly.

Verity took a step towards backstage, then hesitated, and flung her spare arm briefly around Connie, kissing her cheek as if she might never see her best friend again. Then the same hand took and gripped Waker's hand hard, before she set out as firmly as she could.

To her horror, she head a sleepy "Iggly!" and a scampering noise behind her, but it was too late to turn back.

This post has been edited by Lindley: Jul 20 2009, 04:31 AM

[Ganymede]

Azzy slowly came to as Waker applied the antidote. When he finally came to his senses, he looked a little disgusted to be in the place Pora usually occupied - Waker's arms. Pora took no notice of Azzy's disgruntled sniff and hugged him tightly, "Ni!"-ing for all she was worth. Waker gently tapped Pora and she reluctantly let go, crawling up to Waker's shoulder to watch Spencer's next match.


Waker leaned forward as Espy and Celia charged their attacks, careful not to accidentally crush Azzy. Just as the two Pokemon onstage were about to unleash their super-charged attacks - C'mon, Celia! - , the entire building plunged into darkness. Waker froze mid-cheer, his arm halfway in the air. He lowered it as he heard frightened murmurs and the familiar noise of high heels slapping the stage. "It's just a power outage, there's nothing to be worri-MMMF!"


In the darkness, Waker could hear muffled bootsteps and the tell-tale swish of something flying through the air. Pora let out a plaintive wail, her claws digging into Waker's shoulder. Standing up, Waker carefully balanced the injured Azzy in his arms as he blindly searched the room, hoping Spencer and the girls were okay. A sudden flash of light burned through his eyes, He snapped them shut and threw up his arm, pain lancing through his head. It's okay, it's okay, it'll go away in a second, it's okay! He heard someone shouting a command just before a sweet, calming smell filled the room. Gagging, Waker pulled his hand away from his eyes and backed up, almost running into Verity and Butchette. Verity quickly grabbed and squeezed his hand before moving back stage. Blinking the last of the Flash out of his eyes, Waker noticed something small and pink in the middle of the chaos.


Oh no, it's Candyfloss, he thought, pushing past a fleeing sponsor. Pora clung tightly to his shoulder; Azzy was growling in his arms. As Waker neared the Balloon Pokemon, Pora and Azzy both suddenly sat up straight, large ears quivering, looking up with narrowed eyes. Turning towards the shadowed beams across the ceiling, Waker's heart froze.


There were three figures in the rafters - as Waker watched, the Absol glared at him and vanished into the darkness. Another figure, a gigantic, bright green insect with scythes for hands, looked at him briefly with dead, empty eyes. Waker took a step back from the Igglybuff, fear beginning to take hold. That's not a normal Pokemon, t-that's not a norma... With a harsh cry, the insect unfurled a set of wings and dive-bombed Waker, scythe-like claws just barely missing Waker's head. Pora cried loudly as the insect flew off towards the commotion onstage. Oh no, the girls! Spencer! Waker had already begun to run when a rattling noise stopped him in his tracks.


Slithering towards Candyfloss was a snake, purple with a gold mark and underside. The segmented sections of its tail knocked together, rattling softly as it approached the Igglybuff. Pora gave a protective growl and jumped off Waker's shoulder, making a beeline right for the Ekans, leaping over Candyfloss. The snake reared up, fangs bared.


What...what the heck is going on!?

[Verity Lily]

Candyfloss was toddling happily after the nice trainer who gave her milk and the cuddly machop, when a rattling sound caught her attention. A new pokemon to make friends with! She was having a good first day of her life outside her egg.

<<Hello,>> she said to the ekans. <<Do you have candy? I haven't had candy for ages and ages.>> She opened her ruby eyes very wide.

She was distracted when that nice Pora jumped right over her head and the ekans hissed and reared up in a decidedly unfriendly manner. That wasn't nice at all... Bewildered and scared, Candyfloss decided to make herself as unthreatening as possible and turned on the Charm as hard as she could, trying to creep around Pora and convince the Ekans to make friends with them.

Above, Courage circled high, catching sight of the Absol. That thing had been with the scary pokemon... But the schoolkid in Barley had managed to set it to flight, and she was a starly, too. Forgetting all about the injunction to be careful and just get help, Courage quick-attacked it without warning. As the Absol turned in rage, she rose up in the air to prepare to strike at it with her wings., hoping to knock it down from its perch.

Sorry to post so often... home sick still and couldn't resist a teensy post.

This post has been edited by Lindley: Jul 23 2009, 07:13 AM

[Cube]

Vincent and Nils were utterly horrified at the events occurring on stage. Back home in Orre some of the older Pokemon on the ranch had told stories of men and woman who stole Pokemon away from their trainers, though the younger Pokemon often dismissed them as crazy stories told by aging Pokemon. Still... there was one Pokemon on the ranch - an old Feraligatr - that claimed to be a victim of one of these men...

---
<<I remember it quite clearly...>>, he would say, as the younger Pokemon gathered around him. Vincent, Celia, and Nils - who couldn't have been more than a few weeks old at the time - were among them.
<<It was late at night, and the boy had just finished feeding me. I was only a Croconaw at the time, young and vulnerable... All of the sudden, there was a loud crash. The boy ran out of his building back there to investigate, taking myself, a Quilava, and a Bayleef with him.>>

<<Then what happened?>> asked a young Squirtle, who hung onto the elder Pokemon's every word.

<<There were three strange men... one of whom had a bizarre device on their arm. They each sent out a Pokemon... I can't remember what they were called... but something about them shook me to the very core... You, Charmander. Are you aware of the legend of the Alpha?>>

<<First of all, my name is Vincent.>> said the Charmander, taking the Feraligatr's question in stride. <<And yes, I am aware of the whole Legend of The Alpha. Some Pokemon was born from an egg and then made the universe and all of that.>>

<<Very good...>> Said the Feraligatr. <<Then I'm sure you know, when The Alpha created the universe, he also created the three spirits of the lake. Do you know who those are?>>

Vincent rolled his eyes. 'Just like a water type to keep picking on the Charmander...'. <<When Uxie flew, it carried the gifts of Knowledge and Reason. When Azelf flew, it carried the gifts of Will and Determination. And when Mespirit flew, it carried the gifts of Emotion and Compassion. You've told us that story a million times, and yet you haven't explained what it has to do with these strange Pokemon!>>

<<Very good, Vincent.>> said the Feraligatr. <<All Pokemon are born with the gifts carried by these three spirits... But these Pokemon I encountered that night...>> The Feraligatr's tone turned grave. <<They lacked the power of reason and knowledge, the gifts of emotion and compassion, and even their own free will... A Pokemon, as you call yourselves now, is not forced to obey his trainer. A Pokemon chooses to obey, out of affection, or respect. But these Pokemon... they had no choice but to obey... they were like machines... >>

Several of the younger Pokemon cowered in fear as the elder Pokemon spoke. <<We all fought bravely that night... but these strange Pokemon were too strong, and our commander too inexperienced. Finally, one of the men threw a Pokeball at my companions, snatching them from me one by one... Until I too was captured...>>

<<But... You already had a Pokeball. Spencer and Stacy make sure every Pokemon at the Ranch has one.>> said the Squirtle.

<<Indeed I did, and yet through some vile product of Human technology, I was captured yet again, and sent to a strange lab in the desert... They placed me into a strange machine and...>>

The Feraligatr's voice grew strained. <<All I remember after that was pain... violence... anger... It was as if I was trapped inside a cloud, unable to find my way out... Until finally a strange white haired boy captured me again, and returned me to this village... Most of the other Pokemon at the ranch had been sent home, but the boy and the girl were still here, and they helped to take care of me... and slowly, bit by bit, the cloud began to lift... Until finally, I was taken to the old shrine in the woods, where the Forest's Guardian resides... I heard a beautiful voice whisper in my ear, reminding me of who I was, and what it meant to be a Pokemon... And the cloud was lifted... And I became what you see before you today.>>

Several of the other Pokemon gasped in awe at the Feraligatr's story, but Vincent wasn't impressed. <<Sorry old man.>> said Vincent. <<But that story was so farfetched, you need to start carrying a leek around.>>

Several of the other Pokemon giggled, but the Feraligatr just lumbered over to the disrespectful young Charmander. <<You may laugh now... but someday, when your life is on the line, you'll come to believe me...>>
--------

"Mary, try to use Thundershock on that man attacking Spencer. Vincent, we need to break that net. Nils, your slicing attack with leaves might help, too. Carmilla, sweet scent, lets make it as difficult as possible for them to escape. Victoria, Fury Cutter, you have a go at the net, too."

Vincent barely registered Connie's words, until Nils shook him out of his trance.

<<Vincent! Why are you just standing there? We need to do something!>> shouted the Treecko, pointing frantically toward the stage.

<<Uh.. Right! Nils, you take care of those weird guys with Mary, I'll work on the net!>>

<<Roger!>> said the Treecko, as he scurried on all fours to the Sponsor's Table, where Mr. Contesta and the others cowered in fear. There was a man pinning Spencer's arms to his back. Nils didn't really understand the concepts of a circuit or anything, but he had played around enough with the Pichu at the ranch to know what when one person is shocked, so is everyone else they're touching.

<<Mary! I'll distract that guy, then you hit them with Thundershock!>> shouted Nils, as he focused on the man's barely visible eyes. Pretending that the man's head was a Watmel Berry, he flung a single Magical Leaf in his direction, striking him directly in the eyes. The man screamed and clung to his face, giving Spencer just enough time to escape, and leaving him wide open for a charged Thunderbolt. Nils repeated the routine on the other man before leaping onto the stage.

-----

Spencer gasped in horror as a single Magical leaf whizzed past his head, striking his captor in the eyes. Immediately taking the opportunity to escape, he dove for the net holding Celia and Espy captive, only to be joined by Elysia a few seconds later. Nils, Vincent, and Roselia soon joined them on stage.

"Your Treecko just saved our lives Spencer!" said Elysia, relieved to be free of the strange man's grasp.

"Great Job Nils!" said Spencer. "If we get out of this, you'll get all the sweets you want!"

"LUP!" shouted Celia, which roughly translates to "GET ME OUT OF THIS NET!", in Pokemon.

Vincent immediately started the job, encasing his claws in metal before slicing wildly at the net. The strands of the net slowly but surely began to fray under the assault, though they were nowhere near the breaking point. Nils tried to help by firing a Magical Leaf at the net, but it simply bounced off, not even making a dent.

<<Ugh... Why won't this net break!?!>> shouted Vincent. <<It's like it's made of metal!>>

<<That's because it is made of metal.>> said Espy. <<A steel based alloy to be precise.>>

<<Huh?>> said Vincent, who had never heard of an alloy before in his life.

<<...Hang on.>> said Espy, before closing her eyes.

A strange voice filled Spencer's mind. 'Steel... Net... Heat...'

"What was that?" said Spencer, looking around for the source of the voice.

'Espeon... moron...'

"Espy! When did you learn to do that?" said Elysia, obviously hearing the same things Spencer was.

'Heat... net... cool... break...'

"Heat net cool break?" Spencer scratched his head. "...Wait. I think I remember one of the trainers at the village mentioning this. Something about metal getting brittle when it's heated and cooled. Um... Vincent! Use Ember on the net! Away from Celia and Espy please."

"Char!" said Vincent, as he fired ember after ember at a portion of the net, causing it to glow bright orange.

"Good!" said Spencer. "Now Celia, use bubble on the net to cool it down!"

"Lup!" said Celia, as she fired a torrent of bubbles, toward the hot portion of the net, releasing a cloud of steam. What was left was a stiff black piece of net, still steaming.

"Great!" said Spencer. "Okay, now Vincent, metal claw your way though!"

"Charmander!" shouted Vincent, as he began chipping away at the net. The work seemed to go much faster now, though it still felt painfully slow to Spencer.

"Alright, now we just need to get you two out of..."

"Scy..."

"Huh?" said Spencer, turning his head to see a strange insect like Pokemon standing on the stage. Spencer instinctively stepped back, pulling Elysia with him. Vincent stopped chipping away at the net to growl at the creature.

"Vincent, no. Don't stop hitting that net until Celia and Espy are free!"

"Char..."

"Just do it!" shouted Spencer, as he gestured for Nils to come stand in front of him.

"Spencer, are you crazy?!" said Elysia. "That's a Scyther! A Bug type? Both of our Pokemon are grass types!"

"Look at it..." said Spencer, pointing at the slowly approaching Bug Type. "First of all, Scyther almost never knows any Bug type moves. And second, look at the size of it. It can't be more than a few weeks old."

"Spencer, there's something wrong with it!"

The Scyther slowly raised one of it's long, gleaming scythes, before lunging toward Elysia's Roselia in a reckless tackle. The Flower Pokemon screamed in pain.

"Rosie!" shouted Elysia, as the Grass type fell to the ground.

"What the hell?! What move was that?!" said Spencer, as he whipped out his PDA. Meanwhile, the Scyther made another lunge toward Nils, who deftly avoided the attack before striking back with a lighting fast blow.

Spencer's PDA scanned the Scyther for a moment, before finally displaying a result:

UNKNOWN MOVE

"What the..." said Spencer, as he prodded at his PDA. "How can it be using an unknown move!? This thing's database is updated every day! What the hell is it doing!?"

Meanwhile, Nils danced around the stage, deftly trying to avoid the Scyther's attacks. Clearly frustrated, the Scyther inhaled deeply, before releasing a noxious purple fog that covered the stage, blending with the already released Sweet Scent in a noxious bouquet. Spencer and Elysia instinctively covered their mouths and noses.

"What the hell is that thing doing?!" shouted Elysia.

UNKNOWN MOVE

"I don't know!" said Spencer, stuffing the PDA back into his pocket. "Uh... Nils! Keep dodging the Scyther's attacks!"

But the Treecko had gotten the full blast of the strange fog in it's face. His eyes watered as he struggled to avoid the Scyther's attacks, only to be slammed with hit after hit. Finally, unable to withstand anymore, the Treekco collapsed onto the stage, leaving Elysia and Spencer alone with the advancing insect.

"How the hell did it manage to do that?!" said Spencer, utterly terrified.

'Empty...'

"Huh? What is it Espy?" said Elysia.

'Bug... Empty... No Heart... Shadow...'

"What is she trying to say?!" screamed Elysia, as the Scyther readied another attack.

But Spencer already knew... The realization creeping over him, chilling him to his very soul... He could only say one thing: "Shadow..."

Screaming in rage, the Scyther prepared one final blow for the pair of trainers on stage, rushing recklessly toward the pair. Elysia clung to Spencer in terror as the insect approached, but Spencer was too stunned to say a word.

The Scyther raised it's scythes, aiming for Spencer's neck... But just as it was about to connect...

CLANG

The sound of metal on metal rang through the Contest Hall, as Vincent tried desperately to hold back the Scyther's attack, each of his claws gleaming with metal. They struggled for a few tense moments, the Scyther even trying to breath it's noxious fog into Vincent's face. But the Charmander had it's own tricks, spitting an ember square in the Scyther's chest. The Scyther screamed in pain for a moment, before finally collapsing in a heap.

"Spencer! Your Charmander just saved your life!" shouted Elysia. "Whatever that Scyther was doing, it must have had some sort of recoil..."

But Spencer was too stunned to speak. He barely even registered the fact that Celia and Espy had escaped from the net, and that the piplup was clinging to his leg.

"Elysia, take Espy and go help look for Jillian and Mr. Refson." He muttered. "I'll stay here..."

"Okay..." said Elysia, before reaching in her purse and tossing Spencer a Revive. "But be careful."

"I will..." said Spencer, carefully placing the Revive into Nils's mouth. The Treecko stirred back to life, still stunned by it's experience. Meanwhile, Elysia, Espy, and newly revived Rosie rushed back stage to aid in the search for Jillian.

Now alone on stage, Spencer's Pokemon gathered in a small cluster around their trainer, as Spencer edged closer to the unconscious Scyther on the stage.

<<What's wrong with Dad?>> said Celia, as she peeked out from behind Spencer. <<Is he... crying?>>

Tears streamed down Spencer's face as he dug through his back, pulling out a small bottle of a strange, golden liquid. Pouring it into his hands, he began to gently massage the unconscious Scyther, which seemed to relax at Spencer's touch. Spencer was in a trance like state, his mind overwhelmed with grief... As he tended to the Pokemon who just moments before tried to kill him (and if given the chance, would probably do so again), all he could say was a single phrase... repeated like a bizarre mantra...

"Please forgive me..."

---Agate Village, Orre...---

The ranch was empty... it has been for at least a month now, perhaps more... Spencer didn't really know... He was still stinging by the attacks of those strange men. Eagun had come to the ranch after the attack and told his parents that a group called Team Snagem was behind the attack. That they had some how reverse engineered the technology behind the Poke Ball with some sort of machine...

But it didn't matter how they were stolen... even if Team Snagem had used butterfly nets, the result would be the same. No one in their right mind would dare leave a Pokemon in Orre. In the weeks following the attack, Spencer watched as Pokemon after Pokemon was recalled from the ranch. The only customer left was this white haired kid. Spencer didn't really interact with him much... He had withdrawn himself from the ranch, spending all of his time on battle simulators at the time. It wasn't until Stacy asked him for help with a rogue Croconaw one day, that Spencer actually began to take notice.

When he walked out of the ranch house to help his sister, he was shocked to see that it wasn't just any Croconaw at the ranch... it was his Croconaw... or rather, the Croconaw that had been stolen. Except... it didn't seem like the same Croconaw...

Visually, it was identical. But emotionally it felt... cold. Like there wasn't anything inside...

"Stacy... what's wrong with Croconaw? It doesn't even remember me..."

"Eagun said that it's had it's heart sealed by these Cipher guys... Wes and Rui snagged it from one of their Admins."

The very thought of a Pokemon having it's heart sealed terrified Spencer... especially after seeing how that Croconaw acted... All it did was snap at people... it couldn't even shoot water any more...

But the worst thing of all - in Spencer's eyes - was the guilt... Though it's eyes showed no emotion, Spencer couldn't help but project his own feelings of guilt onto it... Every soulless "Naw..." seemed to be a condemnation...
"I lost my heart because of you. Why didn't you protect me? What kind of Pokemon Breeder are you?"

Spencer never left that Croconaw's side... He sat with it night and day, not even caring when it tried to snap at him with it's powerful jaws. He baked it it's favorite poffins, let it practice it's moves on the near by trees (because if it didn't have a chance to fight someone it would start chasing Uncle around the house). His heart leapt when it began showing signs of it's previous nature, only to fall once more when it still failed to remember him.

But what Spencer remembered most vividly was his nightly ritual of cologne massages...

He would wait until it had tired itself out from attacking one of the trees, so that it wouldn't try to bite him. Then he'd quietly carry it back to the barn, where all the scents were kept. It's favorite scent was made with crushed Cheri Berries, boiled in it's own oil on low temperature to bring out the spicy scent, then blended with a few drops of Essence of Gloom. The result was a sort of musky scent that Spencer's uncle would frequently splash on his face before going to Club Krabby. Still, it seemed to calm the Croconaw for some reason, so Spencer would always keep some on hand...

After preparing the cologne, Spencer would begin his nightly ritual of gently massaging the Croconaw. It was a treatment given to all the Pokemon at the ranch, to sooth tension and relax some of the older breeding Pokemon. Croconaw particularly enjoyed it prior to having it's heart shut, and would always insist that Spencer (as opposed to Stacy, or one of the ranch hands), massage it.

But the shadow of guilt had turned what was once a relaxing spa treatment into a ritual of guilt... One that lasted until the day Croconaw was taken to the shrine for purification. Spencer's tears mixing with the cologne, as he repeated a singe phrase ad nauseum:

"Please forgive me..."

The Feraligatr it evolved to became sort of a family pet to Spencer... though league rules forbade him from taking it with him to Furoh, and most of it's offspring were reserved for the Johto League.

Perhaps some day Spencer will obtain one of it's offspring, though since he already has Celia, that's unlikely.

This post has been edited by CubeB: Jul 27 2009, 04:37 PM

[ROMANA]

Nils went straight for the man holding Spencer and his precision leaf attack made the man let go. Mary trotted after him, an expression on her face that might have suggested imminent smelliness in a sheep but that apparently was the precursor to electrical attacks in Mareeps... well, in Mary, anyway.

"Maaaareeep!"

She was apparently getting the hang of firing electricity. Hardly any of the discharged power hit the sponsors at all. Luckily, Spencer had made a dive for the net and was safely out of the way.

"Oh, well done, Nils! Good girl, Mary," said Connie. Along with Spencer and Elysia, she turned her attention on the net holding Celia and Espy. Nothing seemed to be having much of an effect so far.

"What was that?" asked Spencer.

Connie looked confused. There was a fair amount of noise, what with the people attacking trainers and netting pokemon and things. She couldn't think what specific noise Spencer was referring to.

"What was what?" Although, maybe... "Mary, what are you up to?" she said, suspiciously. Her pokemon were clustered close to her. Mary looked innocent but that was not unusual.

Connie took a moment to take stock while Spencer used some arcane inspiritaion to break the net and was horrified to see Waker attempting to protect Candyfloss from a scary looking snake pokemon and then Spencer and Elysia's pokemon were attacked again by a bug pokemon with an odd expression. The pokemon the boys were facing looked unusual and were far more intent on attacking than pokemon usually seemed. And there was Candyfloss... and there wasn't Verity.

"VERITY," called Connie, "where are you?" She looked around wildly. She felt bad for leaving the boys to it but she was sure they would be ok and there were plenty of people in here still - Elysia would help them, anyway. And maybe Mondie. And where was Verity? "We're coming!" Connie and her pokemon rushed off in the direction of the green room, the nearest exit and most likely place Verity might have headed.

This messes up straight forward continuity a tad - Connie is present for the start of Spencer's battle with Scyther and Waker's with Ekans but she will have left before the end. I hope that's ok

[Verity Lily]

Heads held high, Verity and Butchette made their way into the darkness of the green room... the creepy darkness, Verity's mind filled in, but she repressed it. She was sure her mother, heading towards battle, had never allowed herself to feel afraid of the dark.

"Maa," Butchette said, softly and reassuringly. Verity looked down and gave her a wobbly smile, which froze when she heard... a sound. A muffled, distorted, horrible sound, like a voice twisted in pain or evil. Verity remembered the strange pokemon with the empty eyes, and her throat felt tight. What kind of tortured pokemon would make a noise like that?

"Machop!" BUtchette pointed, and Verity, trying hard to swallow, peered into the gloom. There was a hunched pool of shadow, swaying in some kind of mystic dance...

Verity's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness enough to distinguish the shape, and she could have cried with relief. Jillian Meridian was bound hand and foot, rocking from side to side in a vain attempt to free herself, a handkerchief stuffed in her mouth. The terrible sounds were the contest idol's attempts to attract attention.

Verity quickly checked the area for other occupants. Finding herself and Jillian alone, Verity ran forward.

"It's okay, don't be scared!" she said brightly and reassuringly, dropping on her knees beside the bound woman. Jillian began to make even more frantic noise, her eyes rolling wildly. "We're here to help you. We'll soon get you untied and back with the others! Everything is just fine now." She pulled the handkerchief from the woman's mouth.

"...you stupid little girl!" Jillian managed to hiss, her mouth free. Verity stared at her wide-eyed. That hadn't really been the reception she expected for her heroic rescue. "Don't make so much noise, they'll hear -"

Butchette growled, low and deep, as she had the night before. Verity turned her head just as the machop dropped into a fighting stance. A sinister figure brandished a pokeball in each hand as Jillian groaned loudly.

"Hey! You can't throw two, that's cheating!" Verity said indigantly, climbing to her feet. "I can't double battle with only one pokemon!"

"Can't someone grownup come rescue me? Charley, Mr Contesta - anyone?" Jillian wailed. Verity was beginning to regret having taken off her gag.

The man, still indistinct in the poor lighting but his teeth flashing white in amusement, tossed both balls at once. One flashed open to reveal a group of what looked like large, cracked pink eggs - exeggcute, Verity realised, wishing she had brought Courage with her after all. The other revealed a much louder cloud of light, which expanded to form into...

Verity took an involuntary step backbards. The tightness in her throat increased, and she thought for a moment that she was going to be sick. A large head with frightening horns, huge bulk behind, and three tails...

If there was one pokemon Verity feared more than miltanks, it was tauros. They were like miltanks, only bigger, scarier, and far meaner. There had only been one on Butterfree Farm, a monster named Percy with one broken horn, and her mother Bill had warned Verity to stay well away from it. It was bad-tempered, she had said; all tauros were violent and untrustworthy, and had a particular hatred of the colour red... and pink, which as the colour of Verity's messy nest of hair and most of her favourite clothes, was her dominant colour.

The pokemon's three tails began to lash into a fury, and Verity was horribly tempted to leave Jillian to her fate and flee. But she was an amazon, and...

Type advantage. Even in Verity's moment of terror, all her long hours of study came back to her aid. This was no worse than the Zangoose, if she only didn't panic. And these pokemon, at least, seemed normal, if somewhat malevolent. The beady eyes of the eggxecute and the nasty, mad eyes of the tauros at least showed a normal pokemon nastiness, not something empty and dreadful.

"Okay, Butchette," Verity said, with barely a tremble in her voice. "Let's do this! Focus energy first. And then karate chop"

"Chop," Butchette agreed firmly, and began to gather up her power.

"Scary face!" ordered the man, and the tauros lowered its horns and fixed its evil bovine stare on Buitchette, who winced, her movements seeming to slow.

"Now, karate chop!"

Butchette leapt forward and landed a harsh blow on the tauros. However, instead of avoiding it, the tauros stood there and took the attack, merely snorting with rage.

"Low kick!" Butchette obeyed, and the tauros bellowed with fury. Still the order did not come to attack.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Verity demanded. "The poor thing is getting beaten up!" Concern for the tauros almost outweighed her terror of it.

"You idiotic little brat!" Jillian choked out. "The more you hurt it, the stronger it's rage attack gets! Don't you know any draining attacks or anything"

Verity clasped her hands tight. Butchette didn't know drain punch, but there was another way out - to finish the battle quickly. "Then, Butchette - finish it! Go for the critical point!"

"Chop!" Butchette leap into the air and slammed her paw dow one more time, just as she had with Modie's zangoose. The tauros went down on one knee, shuddered - and then climbed up again. A red mist seemed to hang around it.

The man laughed. "Bullish has Anger Point, little girl! That critical attack means he can just finish you now. But just to be on the safe side... Mayonnaise - bullet seed! Bullish - rage!"

Hard seeds pelted at Butchette, who rolled away, slower than usual after the tauros' scary face. The tauros lowered its massive head, while Verity realised that, while Butchette could maybe take out Bullish, she had no chance of defeating both pokemon alone...

"VERITY,where are you? We're coming!"

"Connie!" shrieked Verity. "Help!"

[Cube]

<<Dad?! Dad?! Snap out of it!!>>. Vincent tugged on his trainer's scarf, desperately trying to get his attention.

"Please forgive me... please forgive me... please forgive me..." Spencer muttered, seeming almost as mindless as the Scyther was. It it wasn't for the tears streaming down his face, Vincent would have assumed that the strange condition that affected the Scyther had passed on to Spencer as well.

Frustrated, the Charmander uttered the closest thing in the Pokemon language to a swear word before turning to his siblings. Obviously, he couldn't leave Spencer alone with one of them. Celia was still tired from her matches, and Nils was probably too injured to hold his own against another one of those weird Pokemon. Connie and Verity had run backstage, and Waker was busy trying to fend off an Ekans. The poor Charmander was overwhelmed.

'What am I supposed to do? Bro and Sis are too weak to hold their own... At least that Espeon's trainer has gone to help back stage... and if I even leave Spencer alone for a second, he'll be toast if that bug wakes up! What am I supposed to do!?'

After a few moments, an idea dawned on him.

<<"Nils!">> he said. <<"Remember when you used that rectangle thing Dad always carries to call Kanto?">

<<"But Dad said never to do that again!">> said Nils, distraught by his trainer's strange behavior.

<<"This is an emergency!"> said Vincent. <<"We need someone who can help, or we're all toast!">

<<"Alright...>> said Nils, as he reached into Spencer's pocket, still stinging from the Scyther's attack.

Placing the device on the floor, the Treekco carefully pulled the stylus from the side, as he eyed the strange symbols on the screen. Tapping a button on the side, the PDA returned to it's home screen, where a few rows of symbols were arranged in a grid pattern. Nils only recognized a few, but he distinctly remembered which button was the symbol for "Phone".

A list of numbers was displayed on the bottom screen, as pictures were displayed on the top. The Treecko deftly navigated the list of numbers with the stylus, trying to match the picture on top with someone who could help. Most photos were of family members, or frequent ranch visitors. But there was one number near the bottom, highlighted in Red. It was shorter than the others. Only Three Symbols long. On the top screen, a trio of symbols was displayed. A Red cross Nils recognized from the Pokemon Centers Humans used, a small flame, and a strange badge like symbol he didn't recognize. Figuring that it was a good a number as any to call, Nils tapped the button with his stylus, before a small window on the bottom screen appeared, displaying a combination of buttons. The Treecko tapped each button in turn, before the image on the top screen was replaced with a life video feed. A woman on the top screen, answered in a comforting voice.

"911, What is your emergency?"

"TREECKO! TREE! TREECKO!"

"Oh my..." said the woman. "Um... let met patch you through to a translator."

The screen displayed static for a moment, before cutting to a video of what appeared to be a Slowpoke with a shell on it's head.

"911, what is your emergency?" said the Pokemon, in the human language.

"TREECKO! TREE! TREECKO! TREECKOTREECKO!" shouted Nils.

"Calm down sir. You say that there's been a disturbance at the Barley Contest Hall?" said the Slowking.

"TREECKO!" The frantic grass type, pantomimed as it told the story of what happened to the psychic type, who thankfully understood every word.

"I see, and you say that these men have strange Pokemon with them?"

"Tree."

"You're calling from a PDA, correct?" said the Slowking.

"Tree."

"Hm... pardon me for a moment." said the Slowking, as he turned away from the screen. "Jenny? Do the new PDAs have Aura reader functionality built in?"

"Yes. Professor Krane had it built in to all PDAs as a safety measure." said a woman from off screen. "But it's locked by default. It requires a code from Pokemon HQ to activate."

"Can we send it over the phone?" asked the Slowking.

"Well, I suppose so..."

"Good, patch it through to this Treecko on my line. I need to see something."

"Roger that." said the woman.

The PDA's screen turned to static for a moment, before returning to the phone call. On the bottom screen, a small image of a Lucario appeared in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

"Very good." said the Slowking. "Now, I need you to point the outer camera of your PDA at this Scyther you mentioned, then press the picture of the Lucario with your stylus. Can do you that?

"Tree!" said Nils, as he called his siblings to help. As Vincent and Celia steadied the camera in the air, Nils directed it toward the Scyther, being fortunate enough to catch the image of the Ekans in the frame as he tapped the button. Almost immediately, a strange image appeared on the bottom screen. It looked almost like a film negative, except various colors floated around each of the Pokemon in the frame. Everyone in the photo was covered in an aura of a varying color... That is, except the Scyther and Ekans. Their Auras were identical, and overwhelmingly powerful. The two pokemon almost seemed to be engulfed in violet flames that poured from every pore of their body. It looked a lot like the noxious fog the Scyther had released earlier, yet much more intense. The Slowking was also seeing this on screen, as he seemed to be terrified by the site...

"Dear Arceus..." he muttered, as he turned away from the screen. "Jenny, get Interpol here now!"

[Ganymede]

You guys post too fast. XD

All the sound around him began to fade out as the Ekans reared up, hissing. Waker wanted nothing more to do then run, run as far away from the Pokemon as possible - but Pora and Candyfloss were in danger. Hugging Azzy close, he took a step forward, hunching his shoulders. Maybe if he made himself look bigger...


A cry shattered the strange silence that had engulfed Waker, and a wave of noise crashed into him. Pora had launched herself at the Ekans, small but sharp teeth embedded in the Pokémon's body just below the head. Swinging itself violently, the Ekans hissed again before slamming itself into the ground, trapping Pora beneath. Gasping, Waker ran forward, tripping over Candyfloss and diving headfirst into the snake Pokemon.


Waker pushed away from the Pokemon, breathing heavily. The Ekans didn't seem to be moving - did I knock it out? - and, with a small groan, Pora crawled out from underneath it. Waker set Azzy down gently next to Candyfloss, the Nidoran reaching out a paw to Pora.


Waker pushed himself off the ground, listening carefully. He could vaguely hear the sounds of fighting from what he guessed was the green room, as well as murmured words and Nils' frantic cries. Swaying slightly, Waker waved both hands in the air, hoping to catch someone's attention. He really didn't want to leave the three Pokemon with the Ekans - there was something just not right about it, even if it was knocked out. With a pang of guilt he realised that he had no idea where the other Pokemon had gone - what if it was attacking the others?


As Waker stepped over the seemingly-unconscious Ekans, he felt something brush against his leg. Before even a second had passed, something had wrapped itself around his body, too strong to fight off. Gasping, Waker crashed back to the floor as the Ekans, eyes devoid of any emotion, continued to Wrap itself around him, squeezing the air out of the boy. Twisting uselessly in the Pokémon's grasp he kicked his leg against the floor, trying desperately to catch someone's attention.


Pora felt, rather than saw, Waker fall to the ground. Tensing, she growled deeply, looking around blindly. As soon as the vibrations from Waker's legs reached her, she lept into the air, landing on the Ekans. The Pokemon hissed at her as she bit it again, sinking her teeth as deep into the Pokémon's though skin as possible. With a cry the Ekans lifted it's head, swinging it around as it tried once again to send the Nidoran flying. Ignoring the soreness from her first failed assault, Pora held on grimly, hoping that the Ekans would leave Waker and focus on her instead.


Coughing, Waker managed to free his arm from the Wrap, pushing against the Ekans' body as hard he could. He heard Pora as she attacked again, the Ekans' body loosening in surprise. Waker pushed again, succeeding in freeing his other arm. Kicking his legs against the floor again, he finally managed to push the Pokemon off of him. Kneeling on the ground, he gulped down air, his throat raw.


Pora - Pora! Where are you?! Azzy! Waker stumbled to his feet, as the Ekans writhed on the floor, letting out a terrifying cry as it collapsed, truly knocked out this time. Pora, exhausted, crawled out from the thick coils, a dull glow fading from her claws - she had somehow finished off the Ekans with a Scratch attack. Panting, Waker smiled at her, hugging her close before hitting the release on both his Pokeballs. Twin flashes of blue and purple light swallowed the two Nidoran as Waker knelt beside Candyfloss, checking her for any injuries before picking her up.


Stumbling through the darkness, Waker somehow found his way back to the stage, where a surprising scene awaited him - Spencer was leaning over the Pokemon Waker had seen, massaging it with some strange, sweet-smelling substance. Feeling sluggish from the Ekans' attack, Waker collapsed beside the older boy, tugging at his sleeve lightly, noticing the tears for the first time.


What...why is he...? Waker felt horrible. First a random attack by strange Pokemon, now this...


This was the worst day of his life.

[Cube]

Spencer felt a tug on his shoulder as the younger boy collapsed by his side, pulling one of his hands free from the unconscious Scyther.

He was suddenly aware of the fact that he was not in a barn in Orre, crying over a Croconaw. Rather, he was back in Furoh, on a darkened stage, crying a pokemon who just moments before had tried to decapitate him. And an injured Waker had just collapsed by his side.

Frantically wiping the remaining cologne off on his jeans, he quickly turned his attention to his injured friend.

"Waker?! What happened? Where are Connie and Verity?" He looked around the stage, noticing Nils had his PDA in his paws. Grabbing it from the Treecko, he was shocked to see a Slowking on the other end.

"Oh, you must be that Treecko's trainer. Glad to see you've snapped out of it." said the regal Pokemon.

"Who are-"

The Slowking anticipated his question. "My trainer calls me Lord Percival the 4th. I'm the official Pokemon Dispatcher for the Port Barley Police Department. Your Pokemon had the sense to call 911 after you started muttering to yourself..."

Spencer glanced at his Pokemon, who seemed relieved now that Spencer had come back to his senses. "My Pokemon did that? Wow..."

"You've got a very intelligent bunch of Pokemon there." said Percival. "They even managed to operate the aura reader on your PDA..."

"My PDA has an Aura Reader?" said Spencer, unaware it even had that function.

"It's an undocumented feature." said the Slowking. "However, I'm very concerned with what your Pokemon saw. It appears that you're dealing with at least two shadow Pokemon. Have you seen their trainers anywhere?"

"Um... No." said Spencer, looking around the room at the pair of unconscious thugs near the wings. "They might belong to those guys who attacked us earlier, but I didn't see them get released from their Pokeballs... You don't think those Team Deception guys have anything to do with this, do you?"

"I'm a dispatcher, not a detective." said the Slowking. "However, since this is a matter of grave importance, Interpol agents are enroute to your location."

"Interpol? You mean the international police?" said Spencer. He had heard of the organization before, when one of their officers busted Team Galactic at Stark Mountain, but he had never seen one of their agents in person, not even after the Ranch was attacked.

"Indeed. Since the technology has crossed borders from Orre to Furoh, it is now a crime of national importance. The higher ups in Saffron wouldn't want Shadow Pokemon leaking into the other regions after all."

"I suppose so..." said Spencer. "Oh! Wait! What am I saying!" he exclaimed glanced at the younger boy beside him. "My friend is injured, and I don't know where several of my other friends are. Waker is the injured one, he's here with me. Connie, Verity and Elyisa are somewhere back stage."

Mr. Contesta's voice run out from the sponsors table. "Some of us over here have mild electrical burns!"

"That too..." said Spencer.

Spencer looked at his injured friend. "Just lie down, try not to move so much." he said, in the most comforting tone he could manage.

"Sir, I'd like you to please stay on the line as long as possible. We want to remain in constant contact."

"Alright..." said Spencer. "Though... I'm really worried about Connie and Verity..."

Spencer clutched at his wrist, surprised to feel something plastic on it. 'The PokeEtch! I still have it on!'
The young man scrolled through the apps, looking desperately for something that could help him.

"What are you doing sir?"

"Looking for something..." said Spencer, as a small read out of each of his Pokemon's statuses appeared. Their current health was monitored by a small bar underneath a stylized sprite of their species. Nils and Celia were each at 50%, but Vincent was at nearly 100.

'Nils and Celia are too weak to last very long in a fight... Vincent is my only source of light right now, I can't leave Waker, and sending one of my Pokemon to look for someone in this situation is just asking for a thief to grab them...'

"Did you find it yet?" asked Percival, as a cup of coffee was delivered to his desk.

Spencer glanced down at the newlyhatched Igglybuff, whom Waker had carried to the stage. Picking up the baby Pokemon, he absent mindedly stroked the tuft of fur atop it's head as he stared at the dimly lit screen of the PDA.

[ROMANA]

Um... I have apparently given Combee a move it shouldn't be able to learn. I thought I could give her Fury Cutter as an egg move but apparently Combee has no egg moves. It was in Connie's profile when it was accepted, though, so I'm going with it! Ooops!

Connie rushed backstage and took in the situation as quickly as she could. Jillian was on the floor, still tied up and trying to get as far away from... the scariest Tauros Connie had ever seen. The one Tauros on Butterfree Farm was bad-tempered and Connie had mostly avoided it, but it had never looked as angry as the one currently towering over Verity. Butchette was doing her best but there was another pokemon there, too, and it was shooting seeds at her!

"That's not fair!" Connie exclaimed. "We're here, Verity, we'll help you!"

Mary 'Mareeped' determinedly.

The other pokemon was... an Exeggcute. Connie wracked her brain. That was... grass and... psychic type. And probably much more powerful than any of her pokemon, if the Tauros was anything to judge by.

"Not you this time, Mary," said Connie, inspiration striking. "Victoria, it's your turn!" Bug attacks were effective against both grass and psychic types. The little Combee was Connie's best chance. "Victoria, Fury Cutter, slash at that Exeggcute with your wings and keep doing it, please" asked Connie, hopefully.

Connie's training of Victoria hadn't gone brilliantly so far. The little Combee was excellent at finding honey, making a nice, cooling breeze with her wings and making opponents easier to hit by distracting them with her Sweet Scent. She wasn't very good at learning anything else, though. Connie had set about trying to teach her Fury Cutter, an interesting bug move she'd learnt about from Verity. Combee didn't have any claws, so Connie had been teaching the top two bees to coordinate their flapping in a way that allowed Victoria to stay airborne while one wing slashed furiously at her opponent. Butchette had got very bored being a target for Victoria to practice on, as most of the time all that happened was that Victoria repeatedly plummeted to the ground in front of the Machop with a disappointed "Beeeeee" noise.

"Combeeee!" said Victoria, dodging the hail of seeds being shot at Butchette. Thankfully, the Exeggcute was quite a short pokemon and Victoria was able to adapt her plummetting to her advantage, swiping with a wing just before the point of collision and then wobbling back up into the air.

"Oh, well done, Victoria," said Connie, excitedly, almost forgetting the terrifying situation in the delight of a well executed attack. "Try that again, keep it up!"

"Exxxxxegggcute," said Mayonnaise, apparently annoyed by the hit on one of its eggs. "Exxxx."

"Mayonnaise, Hypnosis!" instructed the trainer.

The Exeggcute attempted to direct its hypnotic gazes at Victoria, to put her to sleep and forestall any further attacks. The Combee's flight was uneven, however, as the little bees had a lot to think about, co-ordinating flight and attacks and between the bobbing motion of their approach and the fact the the Exeggcute's eggs were all trying to fix the Combee with their individual gazes at the same time, meant that the attack missed and Victoria was able to drop out of the sky with another swipe of a wing. Fury Cutter had hit twice now and despite the difference in the two pokemon's levels, the fact that Victoria's attack was super effective against both of her opponent's types and was powering up with each hit meant that Mayonnaise was looking a little the worse for wear.

"Leech Seed the Machop, Mayonnaise," said the man, quickly.

"Victoria, once more should do it!" said Connie. "Keep trying!"

The little Combee dropped onto the Exeggcute once more, slashing furiously with a wing, just as the trail of seeds connected with Butchette. The Leech Seed was too late to save the Exeggcute, however, and Mayonnaise fainted.

"Well done, Victoria." Connie said, happy with her pokemon's progress, despite their situation. "Now, see if you can help Butchette - your Fury Cutter is going really well, have another go."

This was possibly a little over-enthusiastic. Tauroses were much taller than Exeggcutes.

This post has been edited by Master Houndoom: Jul 30 2009, 10:39 AM

Reason for edit: Mod Note: I'm going to let this pass, due to the fact that the profile was accepted with the move in, and the presentation that the move is very hard to do for the combee. However, an alternative is Bug Bite, which Victoria certainly could learn.

[Cube]

"How long until the police get here?" asked Spencer, his eyes struggling to penetrate the darkness. The Roselia's flash had long since faded, and the stage was shrouded in darkness once more. Vincent was doing a good job of providing illumination just by the virtue of his tail, but even that small amount of illumination did little to ease Spencer's tension.

"They'll be there in a few moments sir, just try to stay on the..."

There was a bright flash as a bolt of lightning illuminated the stage, colliding with Spencer's PDA in a shower of sparks, and burning holes through Spencer's jeans. Spencer rolled out of the way, clinging to Waker's arm as the source of the ThunderShock appeared. A Magnemite floated down from the ceiling, as black haired woman leapt down from the ceiling, landing on stage with an elegant somersault. (Spencer had seen the move before in a video about Pokemon Parkour in Saffron City, but he was so shaken by the death of his PDA and the sudden appearance of this strange woman that he didn't exactly have time to remember that.)

The woman sauntered down the stage, the flickering light of Vincent's tail revealing a cruel sneer on her face. She had a distinctly exotic look about her, that reminded Spencer of one of the Frontier Brains he had seen during a family vacation to the Battle Zone. Though little else about this woman reminded Spencer of the perky Arcade Star...
This woman was serious, from her cold gray eyes to her jet black bob cut. She even seemed to be wearing what looked vaguely like a uniform, though it was still far too dark for Spencer to tell if it had any logos.

Spencer could hear Vincent growl as the woman approached. Spencer instinctively pulled the other pokemon closer to his chest as he scooted closer to Waker.

"Excuse me..." said the woman. "But I'd like my Pokemon back, if you don't mind." The woman pointed to the unconscious Scyther and Ekans. "And while you're at it, I should probably take yours as well... They might make better Shadow Pokemon than those two weaklings over there..." The woman sighed. "I told the boss it would make more sense to train the Pokemon a bit first before sealing their hearts, but he just had to insist..."

"Char..." growled Vincent, trying to intimidate the woman. The fire type was fully aware of his type advantage against the Magnemite. One or two Embers was it would take...

"Oh, a fire type? How cute." said the woman. "Thunder wave."

The Magnet pokemon responded immediately, firing another bolt of electricity at the Charmander. The shock surged through his body, freezing nearly every skeletal muscle of his body in place.

"Vincent!" Spencer watched in horror as his pokemon was frozen in place. The Charmander feebly tried to move it's limbs, but it was no use. It was paralyzed.

"Now..." said the woman, holding out her hand. "Hand over the Pokemon, and no one else gets hurt. Understand?"

"You..." growled Spencer, seething in anger. "Who the hell are you? Who do you work for?!"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Who do you think I am? One of those freaks from Team Galactic? I don't go around telling people who I work for." The woman smirked. "But if you must know... My name is Maria. And your Pokemon belong to me now." The woman made a move to pick up the paralyzed Charmander, who was completely helpless to resist.

'No... Not again...'

"NOT AGAIN!" screamed Spencer, as he lunged for the woman, the other Pokemon leaping out of his lap in terror. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM! DON'T YOU DARE-"

Spencer's rage was cut short as a surge of electricity flowed through his body, causing him to scream out in pain. It felt as though every muscle in his body was cramping at the same time. He collapsed to the floor, frozen in mid lunge, as he desperately tried to move his fingers. From the floor, he could just barely see the woman lift Vincent off the ground once more.

"There." said Maria. "That wasn't so bad now was-"
The woman was interrupted by a sudden jet of bubbles to the face. As she threw up her hands to protect herself, Vincent fell to the floor, where Nils quickly grabbed his unmoving claws and dragged him behind Waker. The Magnemite responded by firing another Thundershock at Celia, who collapsed almost immediately.

"You little punks!" shouted the woman, as she and the Magnemite advanced toward Waker, Nils, and Candyfloss.

The Treecko responded by summoning a barrage of magical leaves to bombard the Magnemite. The Magnemite seemed unphased, many of the leaves simply bouncing off of it. Unfortunately, one of those leaves nicked Maria's face, leaving a bloody gash on her left cheek. She touched the wound in disbelief, looking at the drops of blood on her hands before clenching her fist in anger.

"Magnemite! Thundershock all of these twerps right now!"

The Magnemite crackled with electricity as it prepared it's next attack. Nils immediately leapt in front of Candyfloss, hoping to shield it from the blunt of the attack. But just as the pokemon was about to release it's attack, a bright claw made of white light burst from the darkness. From his place on the floor, Spencer could see that the light had somehow snatched up the Scyther, though he had no idea where it had come from. Another flash of light appeared, just out Spencer's view, though by this time he had inferred what was causing it.

After all, once you've had one of your Pokemon snagged, you don't easily forget it.

A voice rung out through the contest hall: "Attention! This is the international police! We have this place surrounded! Recall your Pokemon and come out with your hands up!"

"Oh dear..." said Maria. "Perhaps another time then. Magnemite, get us out of here."

The Magnemite glowed with a bright light, before a series of flashes illuminated the contest hall. From Spencer's vantage point on the floor, it seemed as though the woman was suddenly in 3 places at once. Still, once the light cleared, she and the other unconscious thugs were gone.

Spencer could hear the sound of footsteps behind him, as he heard the familiar voice of an Officer Jenny.

"Someone get me a medical transport! Luke, search the building for any more grunts, they can't have gone very far."

"Cario." said a voice, as a blue Pokemon leaped over Spencer's immobile body and ran back stage.

"Picasso! Heal Bell!"

"Smeargle!" said another voice, as the the sound of church bells seemed to ring out through the contest hall. Spencer felt his body relax, as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. Adjusting his glasses, he looked around the stage to make sure everyone was okay. Nils, Waker, and Candyfloss seemed fine, though poor Celia lay unconscious. The Scyther and Ekans were missing, presumably snagged by someone. Spencer was relieved to see that Vincent was able to move again. Still sore, Spencer tried to crawl over to his Pokemon, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Try not to move so much." said the Officer Jenny. "Just wait for the medical transport to get here."

The first thing Spencer noticed about this Officer Jenny was that she wasn't wearing the typical police uniform of her cousins. Rather, she was dressed in a brown trenchcoat and slacks, in a manner that almost reminded Spencer of Nils's favorite outfit. Indeed, the Treecko seemed to be slipping into Fanboy mode at this very moment, edging up closer to the officer.

Also interesting was the metal device attached to her arm, which Spencer had to assume was her Snag Machine. He had heard a story about the technology being modified for police use, though he hadn't seen a snag machine in person since that incident on the ranch.

Nearby, a Pokemon which Spencer didn't recognize stood near by, ringing it's paintbrush like tail like a bell. (Though Spencer had no idea how).

He briefly considered checking his PDA for information, only to remember that it was now a melted heap on the middle of the stage.

More officers in more traditional uniforms entered the Contest hall as the lights flickered back on, many of them rushing to the aid of the frightened sponsors. Two more officers escorted Charley and Mondie back to the main hall, both of them visibly upset.

"They took Lord Sparkster away!" cried Charley, on the verge of tears. "Those brutes just came and grabbed him!"

"Crusher... Pythoness..." sobbed Mondie. "They were my two rarest Pokemon, and now they're gone..."

Spencer couldn't help but feel a twinge of remorse for Charley and Mondie. Losing a Pokemon was tough, no matter who you were...

"Officer Jenny, do you think those two will be able to get their Pokemon back?" asked Spencer.

"Please don't call me Officer Jenny." said the Interpol Agent. "My official title is Agent Jennifer, of the International Police's Pokemon Crimes unit."

"Okay..." said Spencer, taken aback. Meanwhile, Nils seemed to have forgotten all about the Treecko from yesterday, as he seemed to have developed a crush on this beautiful human detective.

"To answer your question, we don't know. It's difficult to reunite stolen Pokemon with their owners when the Pokeball isn't stolen. But we'll do our best."

"Alright then..." said Spencer, looking toward the distraught trainers on the Contest Hall's floor.

Meanwhile, far above the stage, an Absol watched the scene below before vanishing into the shadows.

Teleport is a TM Move for Magnemite in R/B/Y.

I suppose it was banned, though Maria must have gotten a hold of it somehow.

This post has been edited by CubeB: Jul 30 2009, 02:58 PM

[Verity Lily]

The tauros crashed into Butchette, the horns lifting her up and tossing her. Verity crammed her fists into her mouth with agitation, but Butchette struck out with a leg as she fell, catching Bullish on the nose and causing another bellow as the tauros' hit points fell and its Rage rose. This didn't seem to be entirely positive.

We're here, Verity, we'll help you!"

Verity pulled herself together. With Connie beside her, she felt new strength rush into her - instead of being alone and outnumbered, her only support a woman who clearly would have preferred to be rescued by anyone else, she had her best friend behind her. Connie could do anything; with her beside her, so could Verity. And the exeggcute could no longer gang up on Butchette, who was gamely struggling to her feet and squaring up to fight again.

But... what on Furoh was she supposed to with a pokemon that gained strength from critical hits? Verity's entire strategy with Butchette was based on critical hits! Since Butchette had hatched as a newborn fighting type, Verity's invariable approach to battle with her had been focus energy to find critical points, then hit them over and over. It had always worked on the psyducks and mareeps and occaisonal unfortunate wurmples back home.

Verity twitched, longing to pull out her books and pokedex and look for a strategy. There was no time, she knew... but if only she had more information!

Bullish charged again, and Verity yelled: "Dodge!" Butchette, slowed by the Scary Face, struggled to obey, but at that moment Victoria dropped like a stone in the middle of her Fury Cutter... landing on the floor between them, looking quite put out. Bullish was too late to redirect her attack, and the surpised Comnbee was tossed straight into Butchette's arms.

"Chop!" Butchette remarked, surprised, and quite gently tossed the injured Combee into Connie's waiting arms.

The distraction had given Verity time to search her brain. It was very important - critically important, in fact - to knock Bullish out before she hit Butchette with an even stronger attack. Another critical hit might just manage it, but just to make sure...

"Butchette! Leer at the silly cow!" Butchett, looking comfused, turned to seek out Jillian, who squealed in outraged terror. "No, I mean the tauros!"

"Maa!" agreed Butchette, a little embarassed, and turned back to Bullish. Contorting her face in a terrible grimace, her eyes beginning to glow a malevolent red, Bucthette took a threatening step towards the tauros.

Bullish's mad little eyes fixed on the terrible expression of the machop, and its fury began to fade into anxious confusion. "Taur?"

"Chop!" Butchette hunched her shoulders and composed her features into a still more horrifying impression and she moved even closer. Verity was very impressed that her cute little pokemon could look so... horrific.

"Pull yourself together!" the tauros' trainer yelled, but Bullish's three tails lashed in distress and it explosed its flank.

"NOW! KARATE CHOP!"

Butchette sprang into action, bringing her paw down hard right on top of the tauros' small-brained head. It gave an alarmed "Taur!" and its eyes crossed as it slumped to the floor.

"Butchette! You're amazing!" Verity cheered.

"Wow..." said Jillian, apparently impressed despite herself.

"You interfering little brats!" snarled the strange trainer. He came forward, a hand lifted to slap both of the girls' faces simultaneously, and Buchette growled a warning.

At that very moment, the shutters on the window burst open, letting blinding sunlight into the room. As Verity's eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness scoring against them enough to take in details, she made out a tall, broad figure, the sun gleaming off tan skin and outlining soild muscles, and beside the figure the equally impressive shape of a huge machamp - more impressive, in fact, as it had four arms to on which to display heavy musculature.

The girls' opponent took in the avenging figures, dropped his hands, recalled his fainted pokemon, and ran for it. The greenroom door banged behind him, and the girls heard his pounding footsteps retreating towards the registration room.

"Mama!" Verity gasped, taking in the woman.

<<Mama!>> Butchette cried, taking in the machamp.

Bill looked around the room, taking in the wreckage, the injured machop (now being gathered up by Butch) and the combee nestled in Connie's arms. She looked spectulatively at the pretty (and suddenly blushing) woman tied up in the corner, and turned her thoughtful gaze to the door through which the thug had retreated. The stage door swung open, to reveal a Lucario wearing what looked like an Interpol badge. Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Hi, girls," she said, readjusting Fiddy in his carrier on her back. "I'm glad I caught you before you left Barley. Verity, I brought you a new hat. Don't lose this one."

[Ganymede]

Waker shook his head at Spencer's questions, reaching into his bag and withdrawing his slightly-crushed notebook. Wincing at the damage, he quickly retrieved the pen and wrote hastily, hand shaking.

i saw Candyfloss being attacked by an Ekans so i went to help
but it hurt Pora and attacked me!
i don't know where Connie and verity are
is someone coming to help?

Looking around, Waker shuffled over to Vincent - taking care not to move his upper body too much - and held up the notebook next to his tail for Spencer to read. He glanced back over his shoulder, a darker-than-usual area near the corner of the room signaling where the Ekans lay. He turned back to his notebook, about to write again, when a blinding flash illuminated the area in stark brightness. Waker felt Spencer grab his arm and was pulled to the side, gasping as his bag knocked into his heavily-bruised side. Owowowow...I really need to stop getting hurt...Spencer?!


Sitting up with difficulty, Waker's mouth dropped open as a woman sauntered over to the two, a cruel smirk visible in the rapidly fading light. Scooting closer to Spencer, Waker grabbed Candyfloss and held the Pokemon close. The woman's expression reminded him of a Gengar - she's...enjoying this? Waker listened in horror as the woman spoke, heart pounding in his chest. Taking our Pokemon? Stealing hearts? Are...are these Shadow Pokemon?!


Waker scrambled to his feet, one hand on Pora's Pokeball. I'm not going to let you take anybody's Pokemon! he thought, outraged. Taking a step forward, he gasped as pain lanced through him. Clutching his stomach, he heard Spencer screaming - "NOT AGAIN! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM! DON'T YOU DARE-" - and then high, cold laughter as Spencer screamed again, this time in pain.


Spencer? SPENCER! Waker dived to the floor next to the older boy, who had stopped moving completely. Looking up at the magnemite, Waker's fists clenched. The Ekans' attack on him had been unexpected but...commanding a Pokemon to attack someone? This woman was a monster. How are we going to beat her? he thought, shaking badly as he kneeled next to Spencer. None of our Pokemon can battle - they're all hurt...ugh! Just as Waker was about to just get up and punch the lady in the face, Celia and Nils jumped in the way - only to be knocked down again. The Magnemite prepared another Thundershock, and Waker closed his eyes tight.


Just as the Thundershock was about to hit, twin flashes of light seared through Waker's eyelids. Lifting his head, Waker gasped as the woman disappeared and light flooded the Hall, the sound of bells ringing in his ears. Sitting up, he watched, half in shock, as Spencer got up, no longer paralyzed. Suddenly the Hall was full of activity - people in uniforms rushing about with strange Pokemon, someone shouting orders. Shaking, Waker covered his ears with his hands, his mind trying to catch up with what had just happened.


"Hey? You alright?" Waker looked up, a man in a uniform looming over him. Spencer was talking to a woman in a trenchcoat, Nils fluttering around her like a Venomoth to a flame. Nodding, Waker stood up, wincing at his sore chest. He noticed Charley and Mondie nearby, both looking distraught, Pokemon nowhere to be seen. As the man and his Pokemon - a Growlithe - smiled and walked away, Waker realised that a few key people were missing.


Rushing over to Spencer, he tugged on the older boy's sleeve again, pointing and Candyfloss and mouthing Where are they?

I couldn't think of much else to do except just restate what happened from Waker's POV. *fails*

[ROMANA]

Bunnying with permission

Connie watched the end of Butchette's battle with her heart in her mouth. The man was so scary and his Tauros was awfully intimidating. Connie felt awful when she saw poor little Victoria fall in front of the Tauros. She knew that the Fury Cutter succeeding had been a mixture of pure luck and the fact that the Combee could easily start the attack above the Exeggcute while she hadn't had time to fly up above the Tauros. When Butchette caught Victoria and returned her to her trainer, Connie cuddled her and stroked her wings, promising that she'd get her healed as soon as she could.

The next few minutes seemed both to last forever and, at the same time, to be over in the blink of an eye. Before she knew where she was, Connie had gone from being in a darkened green room with an evil henchman to being in a room filled with light while Verity's mother distributed hats and a police Lucario untied Jillian Meridian. Who, conincidentally, hadn't shut up once it was clear that everything was over. As the Lucario helped her to her feet, she was ranting about "two-bit hick towns without proper facilities and where was her money, that's what she'd like to know and how was she supposed to get to her PROPER contest at this rate and no, she didn't have time to answer any questions actually, oh, unless it was the press..." The Lucario led her away, much to Connie's relief.

"Verity!" exclaimed Connie, "Spencer and Waker were fighting really scary pokemon," she said.

"So were we!" said Verity, flushing and not wanting to look like less of an Amazon than she'd been, now that her mother was here. "That Tauros was..."

"No, not like that, these were evil - they were... I don't know," she couldn't quite figure out how to explain and convey the urgency. The girls really should go and look for their friends straight away. Preferably with Butch, thought Connie if possible. "There was something wrong with them." She returned all of her pokemon to their balls and gestured for Verity to do the same. "We need to make sure they're all right, Verity!"

She grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her towards the stage. "Will you come too, please, um... Verity's Mum..." Connie trailed off towards the end. It had been drummed into her that she could call the Amazon Bill now that they were more grown up but somehow she found it difficult to call the adults on the farm by their first names. She had been desperately trying to avoid calling her by any sort of name or title at all but she would feel better taking a proper grown up with them.

The girls burst onto the stage in a fit of Connie's panic. It took Connie a moment to identify the boys in the general confusion but as soon as she did she rushed over to them and flung her arms around each in turn.

"Waker, Spencer, you're all right! Aren't you?"

[Cube]

"I am tired of these two bit hick towns without proper facilities and crappy security! In a real Contest Hall the Hall Leader would have taken care of this in an instant! And why didn't we have a back up generator?! I have a contest to announce in Arasam tomorrow, and I've already missed my flight! Troy is going to be so angry..." Jillian marched out of the green room, accompanied by the Lucario. Several police officers gathered around her, asking her for information on what she had seen.

"No! I don't want to talk right now! I want a cup of coffee, a shower, and a change of clothes." shouted the announcer, weaving her way through the police officers.

"Wait! Let me through! I'm with the press!" a voice rung out from an emergency exit in the far corner of the room, a teal haired woman and her camera man struggled their way through to the crowd, dodging police officers as they ran.
"FNBS, Marian Tyler." said the woman, as she reached the surprise Jillian. "Can we get a statement from you on the recent attack by Team Deception?"

"First of all," said a very frazzled police officer, "we haven't confirmed Team Deception is even behind this. More importantly, this is a Crime Scene, and all members of the press-"

"Wait!" said Jillian. "If it's for the press... I might be able to make a statement..." She fluffed up her hair, before turning to the reporter. "Are we rolling?"

Just as the police officer was about to reject, another officer whispered something into his ear. Pulling a notepad out of his pocket, he began copying the woman's statements word for word. He'd get an official statement later.

Spencer scanned the crowd, struggling to find Connie and Verity.

'Where are they?' he thought, a sinking feeling filling his stomach. 'You don't think they...'

"Waker! Spencer! You're all right! Aren't you?"

"Connie! Verity!" shouted Spencer, as the girls rushed out from back stage, throwing their arms around each of them in turn. It was at this moment that Spencer realize that being subjected to an electric shock makes you very tender.

"Ow! Ow! Careful!" said Spencer, as he gently hugged the girls. "I'm alright. I'm just a bit sore, that's all. How are you two?"

At this point, Spencer noticed a pair of large muscular figures accompanying the girls. Spencer recognized one of them as a Machamp, thought it took him a few moments for him to realize that both of these individuals were female. It took him a few more minutes for him to realize that the human kind of looked like Verity as well. Needless to say, he was a bit surprised by their sudden appearance. (There was only one body builder in Agate, and even he was smaller then this woman).
"Oh... um... Hi." said Spencer, more than a little bit intimidated. "Nice to meet you. Um... I'm Spencer Thorn, and this is Waker Faland, and we're Connie and Verity's friends."

"Guys!" shouted Elysia, as she emerged from back stage. "I'm so glad you're okay!" She rushed over to the group and produced a small disk like device from her bag. "I ran into one of those grunts back stage, and they tried using this TM on their Pokemon. But after the lights turned back on he freaked out and dropped it."
She handed the device to Agent Jennifer. "It looked weird, so I thought I'd show it to the police."

The Agent gingerly took the disk from Elysia's hand, examining it closely before dropping it into a waiting evidence bag. "That's a bootleg TM. I don't know what move it has, but it's definitely not legal. I'll send it to the lab to investigate."

The woman gestured to the strange pokemon from earlier, which cheerfully trotted to her side, a large sketchpad in hand.

"This is Picasso, he's a Smeargle." said Jennifer. "He's also one of the best sketch artists we have. I'd like each of you to describe what you can remember about the grunts you've seen."

The Smeargle opened it's Sketchpad and held it's tail like a paintbrush.

"Oh... well... I didn't see very much..." said Spencer. "Just this one woman."

"Could you describe her please?" asked Jessica. "Anything will help."

"Well..." said Spencer. "She was about... a half a foot shorter than you, with short black hair... Kind of like Erika. You know Erika, from Celadon City? And she had this weird look on her face, almost like a... A Gengar! Except, way more sinster... She was wearing a black uniform, not very modest really... Bare Midriff, skirt. Kind of like those Team Rocket uniforms you see on TV. Oh! And she kind of looked like Daliah, or Brock or someone. You know, kind of tan and all. Oh, and she had a Magnemite."

The Smeargle flipped over it's sketchpad, revealing a surprisingly accurate (!) drawing.

"Whoa..." said Spencer, obviously surprised. "I didn't think I gave a very good description..."

"I forgot to mention Smeargle can learn almost any move?" said Jessica. "This one knows Mind Reader."

"Ah..." said Spencer, as the Smeargle turned it's attention toward the others.

A group of Blissey were tending to the Injured Pokemon, and Celia had already regained consciousness -much to Spencer's relief-.

"Ah, there you are." said another voice, as Mr. Refson made his way out of the crowd, Absol in hand. "I'm glad to see your okay. Those brutes nearly took away my Absol, but he managed to evade them." He scratched the Pokemon behind it's horn. "Are all of your Pokemon okay?"

Spencer glanced over at his Pokemon, thankful that Vincent was momentarily distracted. "Mondie and Charley lost their Pokemon... But I'm pretty sure everyone else is okay." He glanced over to the melted heap of plastic that was once his PDA. "The only causality on stage was my PDA, unfortunately..."

"Hm? Oh that's easily replaceable." said Mr. Refson. "I just feel so sorry for those two over there..." he gestured at the other coordinators. Charley was practically in tears. "Shiny Pokemon go for so much on the black market... Who knows where Lord Sparkster would end up?"

"Yeah..." Spencer couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. Mr. Refson was nice at all, but there was just something off about him...

"Mr. Refson!" a voice run out from the Sponsors table, as Mr. Contesta and a Bespectacled young man rushed to greet him. "I was so worried!" Mr. Contesta looked at each of the contestants in turn. "You were all so brave! Standing up to those brutes like that!"

"Ah... Waker, Spencer, Elysia, ...you two girls." Uta glanced at the Amazon woman with mild distaste. "This is Professor Willow. He's an expert on Pokemon Genetics. And you all know Mr. Contesta."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." said the scientist. "Professor Refson invited me to the contest to repay a favor I did for him. I've always enjoyed the Contest Circuit. Though if events like this happen every contest, I may have to reconsider..."

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Spencer, nearly leaping to his feet (only to realize that walking hurt.) "The Professor Willow? You're the one who isolated each of a Pokemon's Egg Groups right?" Spencer nearly hyperventilated. "I loved your article about Inherent Values in relation to Breeding. I used it when I bred Celia, Vincent, and Nils, though I don't really know how I did..."

The professor smiled. "Oh, a young fan! It's always good to meet a trainer whose interested in science. And I must say, I loved your Piplup's performance. Both before and after the attack. It's very well trained, though it's sheen is a bit off..."

Spencer's face went cold. "Her Sheen? Sir?"

"Her moves are very pretty, yes." said Professor Willow. "Though she leans a bit toward the tough side in her general appearance..."

After everything he went through, the last thing Spencer wanted was to be criticized by one of his idols.

"Well, I... uh... and I trained..." he stuttered.

"She would do wonderfully competitively though." said the Scientist. "But you really need a sheen checker for your Pokemon... don't the new Pokedexes have one?"

"Well... I... don't have a Sheen checker..."

"Well no wonder!" said the scientist, setting down his briefcase. Popping it open, he revealed row after row of Pokedexes and Pokegears, in every color imaginable.

"I'm actually here on a bit of business too. The Pokemon Research Society has just released a new Pokedex and Pokegear for new trainers in Johto." Willow removed a black and grey Pokedex and Pokegear from the suitcase and placed them into Spencer's stunned hands. "Here, since you don't have a PDA anymore. These two should cover everything."

"Um... Thank you...?" said Spencer, still utterly embarrassed. Had he really been raising his Pokemon wrong all of this time?

If it wasn't the worst day of Spencer's life before, it definitely was now...

[Ganymede]

Waker smiled in relief as Verity and Connie appeared and hugged him, despite his chest's protests at the sudden affection. As the girls turned their attention to Spencer, a shadow fell over Waker and he nervously looked up. A muscle-bound Machamp stood nearby, a woman with as much (if not more) muscle beside it. Waker could tell just from looking at her that she was Verity's mother. Waker felt at his bag, wanting to introduce himself - only to find his notebook gone.


After a brief moment of panic, he remembered that he'd dropped it during the Magnemite's attack. He spotted it near the now-singed backstage curtain, looking considerably more crushed than it had been just a short while ago. Biting his lip, Waker inched passed Spencer - who was talking to the trenchcoated woman and a Smeargle - towards his notebook. Just before he could lean down and scoop it up - something his sore body really didn't want to do - another person picked it up and held it out.


Oh, Elysia! Waker smiled at the girl, accepting his notebook gratefully. I hope her Pokemon are okay... Before he could thank her, however, she wandered off, Waker noticing the strange-looking disk she was carrying for the first time. Frowning, he drifted back over to the little group, just in time to see a bespectacled man hand Spencer a few new machines. Remembering the smouldered remains of his PDA, Waker winced sympathetically.


"Now, all that's left is what we're going to do with these Pokemon," the trenchcoat woman said. A weird, shining thing encased her arm - so that's a Snag Machine, Waker thought, absentmindedly flipping through the bent pages of his notebook. The woman held up two Pokeballs, shrunk down to a smaller size. Glancing around, Waker caught Mr Refson's face - there was something just a little...off in the way he looked at the Pokeballs. Waker slowly inched next to Verity, out of the man's line of sight.


"Normally, we would send them into the main HQ for purification," the lady - Agent Jennifer, judging by her badge - said. "But unfortunately, the last Shadow incident was so recent that there hasn't been enough time to finish building the machine. A few researchers have proposed we do this the old-fashioned way..." the agent sighed and shook her head. Another officer leaned over, murmuring something in her ear. Agent Jennifer nodded, turning away. "I'll be back in a second - please don't leave yet, alright?" Motioning at her Smeargle, she walked towards Charlie and Mondie, both of whom looked even more upset then they had a second ago. Sure, they had been rather mean to Waker and his friends, but still...losing your Pokemon was something he'd never wish on anyone.


Flipping open his notebook to a relatively un-crumpled page, Waker dug in his bag for a pencil, frowning at the tiny nub he had to work with. I need a new pen, he though, writing slowly now that the danger was gone.

What's going to happen to those shadow Pokemon and Mondie and Charlie's Pokemon? Can they get them back?

And what are we going to do now?