[X] My Assistant

[Fei Fei]

Adrian Kovaks was on his was to the office of his superior officer Second Elite Price. He wasn't entirely sure just why his presence was being requested, considering Second Elite Price's inherent dislike for him (which was mutual, Adrian was not ashamed to say), but in any case, it didn't matter much to him. He was confident in his abilities, despite being a mere Recruit, and was not susceptible to the pre-mission nerves that many of his peers often succumbed to. So, because of that, he simply opened the door to Price's office without preamble or hesitation, and stood officially and calmly as the door closed behind him.

"You wished to see me, sir?" he asked, a bit flatly.

Price turned in his chair to regard Adrian with barely concealed hostility. The man could be openly hateful when he was off-duty, but at least had the common sense to act professional when it was required.

"I'll cut to the chase, Recruit." Adrian mentally smirked. Addressing him as 'Kovaks' would have been perfectly reasonable, but the man enjoyed reminding Adrian of his low rank. "An item of some negligible importance has been stolen from the district 3 warehouse. We suspect it was by Rebel groups. We'd send in a higher ranking officer to retrieve it, but frankly none of them can be bothered, and everyone else is busy. Normally, a Recruit wouldn't be sent in alone, but seeing as it's a one man job, Officer Mylen seems to think you'll be up to the job." The way he said the last part clearly showed that he heavily disputed that sentiment. "You'll be transported as far as the Poor district limits, but you'll have to get to Montague Point on your own."

Adrian nodded. "What exactly is it that I'll be retrieving, sir?"

Price grunted. "Some disk thing. The science department says it's important. Beat me why they don't just make another," he grumbled, and then waved a hand as he went back to reading some papers in front of him, signaling that Adrian could go.

Adrian saluted, turning on his heel as he left the room.

This post has been edited by Fei Fei: Aug 5 2009, 07:44 PM

[PinkiePie]

Vincent sat in his room quietly. Victor was away on another mission, leaving the room to himself. His pokemon played in the corner with some trinkets Vincent had. His mind went back to his first mission, fighting off that Vespiquen and her angry swarm. How he and Victor had worked so well together. He wondered if he'd ever find someone like that again.

His thoughts were abruptly cut short when his walkie-talkie buzzed.

::Lance! Lance, where are you?!::

Vincent hit the receiver button.
"This is Grunt Vincent Lance, what's up-"

::I've been calling for you for ten minutes, boy!::

"Sorry."

::I've got orders from Command for you. I'm only saying this once, so listen. You are to obtain and return with a Dubious Disk from inside a small Rebel hiding spot at Montague Point. It's remote, well hidden, and not very well guarded. The disk used to belong to the Magmas, so, even if it's not the end of the world, it would benefit me and my paycheck greatly if you don't fail. Don't tell anyone what you're doing up there. Now get going, I don't have all day.::

"Wait-"

But the line was already dead. Vincent shook his head, weary. These random orders from the higher ups were getting annoying. He packed his waterproof backpack and returned his pokemon to their balls. Slipping on his gloves and donning his new bandanna, he stepped out into the sunlight and made ready for Montague point.

This post has been edited by Vincent Lance: Aug 5 2009, 07:01 PM

[Fei Fei]

It was no hassle at all to prepare for the coming trip. Price's rudimentary orders had left many a detail unaddressed, but Adrian was more than intelligent enough to fill in the blanks on his own.

Seeing as it was an undercover mission, going in with his Magma uniform would be out of the question. Going home to change, then, was the obvious first-stop.

Adrian's home was located in the mid-section of the Wealthy district. His foster parents lived in a large home and had respectable jobs and, of course, were major supporters of Team Magma's efforts (though they had no direct links to them besides Adrian himself). They'd always been very good to him, and for that, Adrian was grateful. He'd never known what happened to his real parents, but he assumed they were dead, whoever they were.

When he walked in the front door, his mother poked her head around the doorway to the kitchen and smiled. "Hello, honey. What did they call you in for, hm? Anything important?" She disappeared from view as she went back to whatever she was doing, and he started up the stairs to his room.

"It's nothing too difficult, mother," he replied, a small smile ghosting his face. She really was a good mother. "They just need to me to retrieve something from Montague Point. I shouldn't be away for very long." He got an affirming 'mm-hm' in response, and walked the rest of the way up the stairs.

He was greeted by a very enthusiastic bark as he opened the door to his room, and Anubis bounded over to him as Bastet lazily picked her head up. She'd been sleeping by the window, her cream-colored fur glistening in the sun as she stretched, happy to see her master home. Anubis obviously hadn't been as lethargic as her, and greeted Adrian promptly.

"Well, good morning to you, Bastet. I certainly hope I'm not interrupting your nap. I'm afraid we've got to go now." Bastet nodded, and Anubis barked again in excitement. The poochyena was a bit more gung-ho about missions than the meowth, who preferred that the three of them stay out of harms way as often as possible (if it was up to her, she'd like if Adrian quite Magma, but such things were not her to decide).

Adrian smiled as they went to sit by the door, and quickly pulled on a new outfit; a neat pair of black jeans and a casual stripped man-tailored shirt. Not necessarily travel-wear by any means, but it was how he liked to dress. A product of a rich upbringing, no doubt.

After only another moment or two of preparation, Adrian had Bastet and Anubis return to their pokeballs, and he was on his way to meet his transportation.

[PinkiePie]

Vincent walked throughout the complex of the Aqua's, making mental note of where everything was on his way to the docks. He passed the mess hall, and decided to stop and grab a meal. He got some food, sat down, and ate. The food wasn't spectacular, but it sufficed. He was in the middle of his meal when the mailman came in and dropped a letter on his food.Looking up at the man, he grimaced an evil frown at him. The mailman shuddered, and walked away briskly, forgetting to deliver the rest of the mail and going straight out the door. Vincent opened the letter.

"Dear Vincent,
I miss you dearly. You need to write home more often, even though you must hate your dad by now. I'm not condoning what he did, it wasn't fair. But you can't just leave and forget me. I need you, Vincent.
Love, Lanette."

Vincent stored the letter in his pocket. He was engaged to marry her, but was still far to young to actually marry. He didn't know what he was thinking when he left home, leaving her alone. It hadn't dawned on him until then how much he had lost when he disappeared.

His thoughts were again penetrated by the outside world when the alarm buzzed on his walkie-talkie.

::LANCE, I SWEAR IF YOU AREN'T GONE IN TEN MINUTES-::

Vincent turned off his radio, only to still hear the message blared over the buzz of the mess hall. The Elite was actually yelling into the walkie-talkie in plain view of Vincent. He stood up and left the mess hall. When he arrived at the Docks, Vincent prepared a boat and got his equipment. Then he started off for Montague Point once again.

On the trip there, he thought of Lanette. He knew it wasn't healthy to think of the family now, but he needed to keep her alive, if only in memory, until he returned to confront his father. He imagined her right there with him, leaning over the side of the boat, letting her hand glide across the coarse wake in the water. Her long, wavy dark hair blew in the wind of the cold air, like a wisp of bronze against the rushing green backdrop of the forest.

Suddenly his bandanna flew off. Vincent had only just stopped the boat to retrieve it, when he spotted someone behind the tree it had landed next to. He walked over to the figure after getting out of the boat, and waved.

"Hey, uh....that's mine. I kinda need it."

"Family isn't good enough, so you join Team Aqua."

Vincent froze. Before him was his wife-to-be, Lanette. Her clothes were slightly wrinkled, but her beauty was unparalleled by anything int he forest. Vincent took her hand, sobbing quietly.

"I'm s-sorry...."

"You should be."

Vincent looked up, and she was gone. He looked around, but she was no longer there. He wondered where she had gone, or if she had every really been there. He wiped away his tears and picked up the bandanna in shame. He stuffed it in his pockets and resumed his trip, leaving the forest behind.

This post has been edited by Vincent Lance: Aug 6 2009, 11:23 AM

[Fei Fei]

The open jeep jumped up and down on the less than perfect roads of the Poor district, and as Adrian leaned his elbow against the window he thought he might be sick. Though the wind pelted at his face and tousled his hair he kept his head half out the window. The feeling of the wind kept him from being nauseous. He was sure that Bastet would be happy she was in her pokeball, or else she'd be retching in the back seat (Anubis, on the other hand, probably would have liked to poke his head out the window).

The Recruit next to him seemed to be having a much better time of it. He didn't seem to notice the jostling of the car as he drove, and kept up a very enthusiastic (onesided) conversation. His name was Dan, Adrian knew, and he was a very friendly cadet. The kind of young guy who messed up a lot, but never too seriously, and he seemed to have grown enamored with Adrian.

He was the very picture of the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young recruit who thought he was doing right by the world because of his job. Adrian found that he was an energizing presence, to say the least.

"-and then, Price said to me that I was an idiot, but that since nothing bad had really happened, and that nothing was actually taken from the storehouse, that I wouldn't be suspended, and that I could go back to guard duty," he carried on, managing to sound angry and light at the same time. Adrian smiled a bit. Price, it would seem, got on everyone's nerves.

After some more time of this idle chatter, Adrian making sure to comment here and there in all the right places, the Jeep slowed as it reached the limits of the city.

"Alright, Adrian. This is as far as I take you." He looked over as Adrian opened the door, slning his bag back over his shoulder. "Good luck out there," he said a bit nervously, and Adrian smiled in response.

"Don't worry. I don't intend for anything to go wrong."

Dan's smiled grew at that. "Well, if you think you can do it, I believe in you. I mean, you are a genius and all!" He leaned towards the passenger window and gave a friendly salute before sitting back in his seat as he restarted the car. With one last wave, he turned it around and was gone.

Adrian watched him leave for a moment before turning around as well, heading out into the forest surrounding the Point.

[PinkiePie]

Vincent slowly pulled the boat up to the beach. He stepped out and parked it somewhere safe. As he walked closer and closer to the point, he thought more and more about the last time he had been here, when a Vespiquen had attacked him along with her entire hive of Combee. Each tree he passed along the way reminded him of another scar somewhere on his body that he had received here. Finally he made it to the lake, and he stopped to rest his legs. It was quite a scene, with the sun coming down on the water, causing it to sparkle in the morning light. The Combee, obviously aware of his presence but unmotivated to do anything about it, buzzed around the lake bed in search of honey.

Everywhere he looked, he saw something familiar. The lake, where he had gathered Water Stones for hours while Victor sunbathed. The rocks on the beach, where Vincent had punctured his shoulder in the fight with the hive. The trees, where, somewhere behind them, Victor had captured a baby Kangaskhan after vincent had found out the mother was gone. The whole scene was nostalgic, yet at the same time, frightening.

Vincent stood, stretching his arms as wide as they could go. He walked along the beach until he saw a small outcropping of what appeared to be fake trees. He made his way carefully over to them, avoiding the Combee buzzing around. When he reached them, he sprung. The fake tree fell over, and cried loudly.

"Sudo!"

Vincent jumped. It was a Sudowoodo.

"Oh. My bad."

He smiled uneasily. The Sudowoodo tackled him hard in the gut, causing him to stumble over. Then it huffed and walked away. Vincent lay on the beach, gasping for air.

"That wasn't it...."

[Fei Fei]

The forest was fairly easy to navigate, and it wasn't so much an issue of him getting lost so much as Adrian wasn't entirely sure where he had to go. He'd never had a reason to venture into the forest, or even to look up the general area on a map, and he was regretting that at the moment. After a while of wandering around in the same general area and getting absolutely nowhere, he was about to take another step when what appeared to be a tree came running across the path nigh on three inches in front of him. He blinked, watching the Sudowoodo run deeper into the forest.

I wonder what made him run off like that. There's very little that can harm a Sudowoodo's tough skin and make it run off like that. Upon his scan of the area, he noticed a figure lying on the sand near a boat.

There was the faint sound of rustling grass before a face invaded Vincent's vision.

"Are you quite alright?" he asked gently, offering a hand and a faint smile. He was glad now that he'd decided to change into civilian clothes. It would have been inconvenient to have run into another civilian while in his Magma uniform.

[PinkiePie]

Vincent opened his eyes and blinked back pain-wracked tears. He stood up, thankful his Aqua bandanna was in his pocket. This civilian would have flipped if he had put it back on.

"Uh....yeah, I'm fine. I was looking for....a lost possession of mine in the forest around here, and that crazy Sudowoodo attacked me randomly. Must've spooked it. My bad."

Vincent looked around. Nothing had changed since a minute ago, except a few less Combee in the area and the newcomer. Vincent rubbed his temple, feeling a slight bump forming on it. Groaning in pain, he sat back down in the sand and rubbed the bump. He looked up at the newcomer.

"So, what's your name, and what brings you out here?"

[Fei Fei]

Adrian took a seat on the ground next to the boy, wondering if he should perhaps suggest that he see to his head before introductions were made.

He settled on a small mix of both. With a smile he looked over at the wincing boy, and laughed gently at his pained look. "Well, it seems that similar circumstances have brought us here. In my case, it's slightly more complicated. My sister came out here last week, and only just realized that she'd forgotten a necklace of hers somewhere in the woods. Being the doting older brother I am, I foolishly volunteered to search for it. Stupid me, seems she didn't actually know where she'd lost it, so I'm stuck searching this entire place. IN any case, I hope your venture proves less hopeless than mine. I'm Adrian, by the way," he offered a hand in greeting. "Can I expect the same consideration?" He asked jokingly.

[PinkiePie]

Considering the plausibility of his story, Vincent sat motionless on the beach. His head hurt so bad, however, that he couldn't dwell on it long enough to give it serious thought. So he brushed it aside and introduced himself.

"My name's Vincent. Pleasure to meet you."

He looked around the lake bed, failing to see anything of remote interest. He couldn't see much on the other side of the lake, so he couldn't be sure the Disk wasn't hidden over there. All he knew for the moment were two things: that it was not here, and sitting on the beach thinking about it wasn't gonna help. But maybe this Adrian fellow can....

"Hey, I'll help you look for your sister's necklace. I can look for my thing while I'm helping."

Vincent stood up, trying not to make a fool of himself. He brushed off his pants and tried to look across the lake. Even standing, he still couldn't make out anything out of the ordinary on the other side. A closer look was required.

"I'm gonna look on that side of the lake. You can come too, if you like."

Vincent started walking along the shore of the lake, making sure not to anger the random Combee flying around the trees above him.

[Fei Fei]

Adrian nodded, getting up himself. There was no reason for him not to go with the boy- Vincent. Leaving abruptly would only look suspicious, and there was no real reason that he couldn't at least go along with him for the moment. He would be cautious, certainly, but an excess of it would be unnecessary. He trusted himself to be able to handle any situation.

"Thank you for the help. I think that two pairs of eyes might serve more useful than one. I'd have my monsters search for me, but I'm afraid I had a run-in with a hive of Combee earlier, and they're taking a well deserved rest." The way Vincent kept looking towards the Combee suggested at least a mild level of apprehension towards them, so incorporating them into his story would serve the double function of taking Bastet and Anubis believable out of the picture and making the story more human. The necklace idea had come to him on a whim, so the more it had to back it up the better.

He followed after Vincent, alternating between watching the boy walk and taking in the layout of the area. If there was going to be a Rebel base around here, it wouldn't be near here, where there was relatively little cover to hide out in. Most likely he'd find them farther off into the forest.

"So," he began after a few moments, "have you been to this area before? I suppose you must have been, if you've lost something here. What is it? Maybe I can help you look for it. It's the least I can do, if you're helping me." Silence typically wasn't the best of ideas when appearing normal, but neither was excessive chatter. He kept his inquiry to a normal minimum.

[PinkiePie]

Vincent froze in his tracks. Quickly he calculated the plausibility of several possible answers to give Adrian. Several things came to mind, but only one thing actually stuck out to him. So he decided to incorporate that into a believable tale that would fit his purpose, and was, ironically, partially true. He spun around slowly, frowning.

"I lost my engagement ring. My beautiful bride-to-be would kill me if she knew I lost it. I was attacked by some Combee and they went off with it, thinking it was honey. It was a pretty gold ring, and I had been harvesting some honey from the trees in my own time. It must have looked and smelled like honey. So I'm searching the beach area trying to find it."

Vincent smiled again, looking at Adrian.

"The Combee probably remember me, so that's why I'm keeping a distance."

Vincent turned and walked over to the brush at the edge of the forest. He looked around for any sign of a base, or even a low-traffic path leading away from the lake.

"So, what does the necklace look like?"

[Fei Fei]

Adrian didn't miss the way the Vincent seemed to hesitate, and his eyes narrowed the slightest bit as he processed that tid-bit of information, but after a moment he let it slide. If anything was up with the other boy, then he'd be able to take care of it. The hesitation could mean anything, and Adrian knew that over-analyzing at the moment wasn't necessary.

Instead, he kept up with the conversation. "Well then, I'll try to stay clear of them, simply for association with you." He laughed, looking over at the menacingly adorable bugs buzzing around the edges of the clearing. "Still, if you're looking for your ring, then you might have to brave them sooner or later. Do you have any monsters with you? I'm sure that would be a huge help." He turned to look back at Vincent as he voiced his question.

He regarded the boy as they walked and as he waited for his answer. He didn't seem to be lying about being engaged, if the look on his face was anything to go by. He may not have known it, but he was the picture of love-struck boy. Maybe a bit confused about it, too, but still. It made him look like a good person, despite the fact that he seemed to be hiding something, whatever it was.

[PinkiePie]

Vincent continued searching the bushes near the water. By now he was a good ten yards from Adrian, and had to speak up a little for his voice to carry.

"Yeah, I do, but two of them are aquatic. And my Snorunt is too young to toddle around on his own yet....But Sneasel could help-"

Suddenly he tripped and fell into a bush. He groaned loudly in pain as he stood up again, rubbing his temple with a furious look on his face.

"Wow, what a great place to put a giant hunk of metal! I-"

He froze. He pulled back the bush a little and peered inside. He saw something glint off the sunlight, and Vincent assumed he had found Adrian's sister's necklace. He cupped his hands and yelled back to him.

"Hey! I think i found your sister's necklace!"

Then he turned back to the bush, reaching inside of it. He felt around, and finally his hand came into contact with the metal object. He tugged on it, and the bush flew into the air as a giant trapdoor opened underneath it. Vincent tumbled backward as the ground in front of him seemed to explode. He shook his head and regained his bearings, finally realizing this was the entrance to the hidden Rebel stash where the Dubious Disk was.

Vincent was overjoyed until he remembered he had just summoned Adrian, who by now no doubt had seen the door open. He turned to look at the other man with a surprised look on his face.

"Wow....didn't see that coming."

[Fei Fei]

When Vincent had called over saying that he thought he'd found the necklace, Adrian was a little surprised. What a coincidence, then, that someone had lost one in the area where his fictional one had 'disappeared'. It would make for a cover, at least. He started over to where Vincent was rummaging around in the bushes, and he was about to call over and offer his help in retrieving it when the other boy stumbled back out of the bushes, looking alarmed.

He stopped in his tracks, tensing a bit as he took in the situation. There was supposedly a rebel camp around here, and if something had happened and Vincent had been hurt in anyway, Adrian would be more that displeased. Harming a civilian was just the kind of thing a rebel would do, and Adrian wouldn't stand for it.

A moment later, though, he saw the metal slap rise from the ground, and saw how it concealed the dark entrance to some sort of underground facility. Not for a moment forgetting about Vincent and how this complicated matters, Adrian quickly walked over, helping Vincent to his feet as they both contemplated this anomaly.

He should tell Vincent to go away, send him off with some stupid excuse, like phoning for help or something, but he doubted that the other boy would fall for anything like that. He might be able to get both of them out of there, but that would be at the cost of the mission, and he didn't want to take that risk.

"Well, that's certainly interesting. I wonder what we do now." He'd let the other boy do the decision making. If he wanted to explore it (which he looked to be wanting to do, considering how he looked rather excited), then he could think of something to explain taking the disk.

Still, he didn't want to pull Vincent into harm's way, especially if he'd just explained how his pokemon weren't even up for a battle with a few bug monsters.

This post has been edited by Fei Fei: Aug 10 2009, 09:07 PM

[PinkiePie]

Vincent looked over at his new companion, noting his worried expression. Obviously he wasn't completely sold on Vincent's charade, but he wasn't aware of his status as an Aqua. Vincent turned to look at the hole in the ground. Inside the bush was a set of hidden stairs leading into the ground. Whirring noises and the clanks of wrenches could be heard down in the abyss. He needed a reason to investigate further.

"Hey, you think your sister's necklace fell down there? Or maybe my ring? I'm gonna go down and look."

Vincent stepped back into what remained of the shrubbery that used to cover the trapdoor and descended into the unknown before Adrian could even say a word to him. Lower and lower down the staircase Vincent traveled, surprised by how much light there was down in the mysterious hiding hole. Upon reaching the bottom, Vincent took a gander around the small room and marveled at how much stuff fit into such a small area. Two men worked on a broken down truck, removing the red paint off of it and repairing the engine. They take notice of Vincent and spring up from their work to confront him.

"Hey, you!"

"How'd you get down here?"

Vincent was stunned. "Uh...."

One tried to reach for a weapon, but the other held him back.

"Wait....I got this. Go close the door."

"Sure."

One of the two men ran back to the stairs and began climbing. The first drew a pokeball and held it up for Vincent to see.

"Alright, boy, draw your pokemon. We battle."

Vincent shrugged. "I don't see what that would accomplish."

The man shook his head.

"If you win, I'll let you walk out of here. If you lose, you're the prisoner of the Rebels until our leader decides what to do with you. Deal?"

Vincent considered. Then he picked up a pokeball and threw it, releasing his Sneasel from it's pokeball. The Rebel mechanic snickered an evil laugh and threw his pokeball. A snarling Houndour roared ferociously at Sneasel, obviously angry and ready to battle. Vincent put his finger to his lip.

"Uh-oh...."

[Fei Fei]

Adrian was looking down into the entrance way, weighing the options of going in, when Vincent blurted out something about his necklace falling down there before he disappeared into the darkness.

Adrian started. "Hey!" he called out, reaching a hand a little too late to try and stop him. Crap. He's going to get himself hurt. He was about to go after Vincent, but before he could take his first step another figure looked out of the trap door.

He stood up straighter as the man came fully out, and he grabbed a pokeball from his belt.

The man chuckled. "Your little friend in there is going to lose. Badly. And so are you, kid. Don't worry, we'll think of something to do with you two soon."

Adrian cocked his head. "Well, I thank you for that warning and consideration, but I really don't think I'll be losing."

The other man frowned. "You'll be taking back those words," he growled out. "Go, Mankey!"

Adrian frowned a little, internally. Well, that's going to make this a little bit more difficult. A fighting type has the advantage over both Bastet and Anubis. Still, type advantage doesn't win every battle.

"Come on, Bastet. I think you can handle this, girl." Bastet came out of her pokeball, back raised in tension as she hissed at the primate pokemon. "Hit him fast and hard, girl, and don't let him get you. I don't know if you'll be able to take too many."

--

Down under the feet of the battlers in the clearing, the rebel with the houndour pointed forward, barking out an order to his monster. "Houndour! Take that sneasle down! Ember!" The fire-dog growled low in his throat, then lunged for the ice pokemon. Fortunately, the sneasle was quicker, and managed to jump out of the way.

"Damn. Houndour! Bite!" He yelled, gritting his teeth. Once again, the fire dog lunged, obeying his master with a ruthless ferocity.

This post has been edited by Fei Fei: Aug 11 2009, 07:47 PM

[PinkiePie]

Vincent watched as the fight went into slow motion. Houndour slowly started lunging at Sneasel in a brisk jump, readying his sharp teeth for the bite attack. Vincent called out to Sneasel.

"Sneasel, get it hooked, then use Leer!"

Sneasel seemed to nod in agreement, knowing this strategy Vincent had in mind, since he had used it before. The Houndour bit down on Sneasel's arm, trying to do some damage. Sneasel on brought it's arm level with it's eyes, staring down into Houndour's like a statue. Houndour freaked, releasing its grip on Sneasel, essentially lowering his grip.

"Sneasel, Scratch!"

Sneasel lashed out at Houndour with sharp claws, scoring a direct hit on it's snout. It reeled back, yelping loudly as it withdrew. But it bounced back and tackled Sneasel as soon as it recharged from its strike. Sneasel was launched off its feet and flew into a wall in the already cramped room. It slumped to the floor and lay still for a minute.

"Uh-oh...."

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

The other engineer pointed a finger at the Meowth.

"Alright, Mankey, Low Kick!"

Mankey shrieked as it flew into the air, aiming a kick right for Bastet's legs.

[Fei Fei]

The Rebel cursed under his breath. "Damnit, Houndour! Get up!" The dog struggled to it's feet. Evidently it wasn't all that used to being thrown around. Maybe it was new to battle, or maybe it was just used to taking it's foes down in one move, but either way, it was a good sign for Vincent and sneasle.

After a moment of regaining his footing, the hell hound lowered it's head menacingly again, though it was still obviously shaken from the Leer move. The man seemed to notice his monster's plight, and tensed. "Come on, Houndour. We can't lose this battle. Get another ember attack in!"

Rather then lunging as it had done before, the houndour stayed put and released the fire attack, trying to stay as far from the frightening sneasle as possible.

---

Bastet was nothing if not quick on her feet. She hated fighting, and so did her master, so she found that being quick and trying to take your opponents down quickly was a strategy most suited for her. She mused, for a moment, that brother Anubis used to be much like the mankey she was fighting. He was easily angered, defensive, and lunged without thought. of course, meowths had a much higher level thinking process than poochyeena, but there was hope for the dog. With time and patience, he'd learned to become patient, and thus, strong. The three of them were a good team. Intelligence, grace, and strength.

Oops. No time for musing, it seemed. The mankey had stumbled after she'd dodged, but had gotten up quickly enough. It;s master barked out another hasty order, and her master calmly told her to dodge again. She knew that he also expected her to use her discretion when attacking. Look for an opening, and take advantage of it.

And there was said opening. Adrian saw it too, and he suggested (master didn't order she and Anubis. Because they were a team, he suggested to them a course of action, and they took it if it was advisable, which it always was) that she use screech.

She landed with a soft thud on her four paws after dodging the mankey, and let the high pitched sound emit from her throat. The mankey quickly covered his ears, and Bastet leaped forward to land a quick bite attack on it. Little damage was done, because of the type disadvantage, but the mankey was still in pain from the noise, so he took the hit a little harder than normal.

[PinkiePie]

Completely thrown by the Screech attack the Mankey sat trying to stop the ringing in its ears. But through the ringing and the loud beating of its eardrums he could feel Bastet biting down on his arm. The pain was almost unbearable, but Mankey had a surprisingly high pain tolerance. Its master called for new orders, and through crashing pulses it barely heard "Shake it off!"

It got an idea. Mankey lifted its arm up high, taking Bastet off the ground with it, and slammed it into the cement floor as hard as it could, hoping to crush the Meowth under the force of its mighty arm.

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

Sneasel was tired, that was obvious. After two bouts and no progress, Vincent had almost given up. Sneasel was caught in the Ember attaack, unable to dodge. It was thrown backward into the wall, where it slumped to the floor once again and lay there, badly burned. The Houndour's trainer jumped in delight.

"What now, kid? I've got you against the wall!"

Houndour roared ferociously again, and charged Sneasel while it lay on the ground. Vincent looked at Sneasel, who saw him through pain-induced tears, and nodded wearily. It stood up slowly as Houndour ran toward it. And as soon as it lunged forward, Sneasel stepped to the side. Houndour plowed into the wall headlong, yelping in pain as the blow sunk in. Then Sneasel sliced down onto Houndour's head as it lay stunned on the floor, where it lay in pain until its master gave it new orders.