[X] My Assistant

[Umbrae Calamitas]

Jaima had turned away from him when the ominous roaring sounded, but Reilly continued to stare at the back of the boy's head, his lips parted slightly. He couldn't have heard right, no.

"Reilly's a fantastic battler, from what I've seen."

Reilly felt his cheeks heat slightly of their own accord at such a compliment. He had seen Jaima battle, though none of the lot were aware of Reilly's observation at the time, and he knew that the blonde was an incredible battler, and by instinct alone. He would never admit it - he swore he wouldn't - but he knew that the boy was far better than he could ever hope to be.

And here he was complimenting him?!

Reilly had expected Jaima to act just like the pretty boy. Kids like that always traveled in packs so that they could better spread their insults. He had anticipated a snide remark or a sneer, but not a compliment. Not from him.

It made Reilly feel good, but it also confused him, and while he was happy, he didn't understand.

He wasn't given much time to think about it, however, as there was a grinding sound from above them, and then he heard a roar that seemed to grow closer.

In an instant, a vacant pokeball was in his hand and maximized. As something came flying out of the hole that he hadn't noticed before in the stone ceiling and crashed into Jaima, knocking the boy roughly to the floor, he tossed the pokeball, his aim spot on.

The pokeball hit something curly and blonde and bounced uselessly off, clattering to the ground at his feet. He moved forward to pick up the pokeball, and that's when he heard that familiar, annoying voice.

"Jaima! You make a wonderful cushion, do you know that?"

He glanced up quickly and saw that... that GIRL, sitting there on top of Jaima, staring down at him in both amusement and surprise. His nose crinkled and he sneered suddenly. "Oh, thank god it didn't work," he said with a loud and intrusive voice, being certain to catch the annoying girl's attention. "I didn't want one of you, anyway."

It seemed to take the girl a moment to gather herself, and Reilly made sure that he smirked visibly at her, as he returned the vacant pokeball to his belt and supported Morgan with two hands again.

"You hit me a pokeball?!" the runt screeched. "You... you're a... I don't even know what you are!"

"He's a butthead!"

Morgan, he whined, confident enough that she would be able to catch his thoughts, being so close to him.

"Yeah! You're a butthead!" Tuesday agreed, deciding to figure out what pokemon she was hearing telepathically later.

See what you started? He was certain that he heard a soft, telepathic giggle. "Would you people stop calling me a butthead?!" he demanded. ReiRei was bad enough. "My name is-" A blur had fallen through the hole in the ceiling after Tuesday, though their argument, however minor and short, had masked the sound. He saw the pokemon now, and only had one thought on his mind, which he promptly vocalized. "Shit."

"No, that's what you are!" Tuesday snapped back, but Reilly ignored her, staring at the large, angry bear pokemon in fear. Reilly hadn't slept with a teddy bear since that teddiursa had bitten him when he was seven. The bigger ones were even more frightening to look at.

The ursaring did not look happy at all.

"You know," the runt was saying, her voice disturbingly casual, "this... really kind of puts a damper on things."

Reilly grabbed a pokeball on his belt at the same time that the runt did, and two pokemon sprang out of a red beam of light.

Indiana landed sharply on the ground and crouched low, his paws coming up in a defensive position that mimicked the base stance of the martial arts kung fu form of Tai Shing Pek Kwar.

The blue and black riolu flipped out of his beam of red light and landed next to the monferno. He gave the monkey pokemon a conspiratorial wink, and fell into a stance of his own.

Though by the looks of the pokemon before them, Reilly had a pretty good idea that their odds were against them.

[Douken Sota]

Douken blinked as a girl fell from the higher floor and simply watched on with their amusing argument. Man, this day keeps getting more and more interesting. This includes the fact that an Ursurang followed from above, and he wasn't two happy about it. Seeing a Riolu and Monferno ready to go into combat, he figured it would of been interesting to throw in a third fighter.

Snatching a Pokeball of his belt he tossed it up, and i a flash of light, a Croagunk stood on the other side of the Monferno. His cheeks puffed for a second before he took more of a boxing stance. "So, three on one? Sounds like fun..." Croagunk commented to the other two Pokemon.

"So, you two got a plan to taking this guy down?" he asked.



((MOD NOTE: This storyline is continued in this thread))

[Dragava]

The homely feeling from Sweet Scent was gone, and there was only one thing to do while the Ursaring was distracted. Lizzie quickly recalled Riolu then started running at Tuesday's command. She paid no attention to where she was going, she just ran as fast as she could for as long as she could. After taking a few turns, Lizzie found a dead end. There was a door there, but Lizzie's trembling hand could not open it in time. She turned around, expecting to see the Ursaring closing in on her and Tuesday trying to fend it off. Instead, she saw nothing. She was alone.

Lizzie's first reaction was relief. There was no big, dangerous, angry pokemon nearby. Her second reaction was panic, she was not with the more experienced Tuesday and had absolutely no idea what to do.

It seemed that Riolu had sensed the absence of motion, and popped out of her pokeball. That was a relief, Lizzie thought, at least I am not completely alone anymore. It took a quick look around for Riolu to realize that they were in a safe spot.

"Alright, so what do we do now?" Riolu pointed to the door behind Lizzie, the one she was too afraid to open. "Of course! Going back the way we came is too dangerous," Lizzie replied. That thing might still be there. As for Tuesday, I think she can fend for herself. If she needs to, she can send all of her pokemon out to battleat the same time. Lizzie took a few more seconds to gather her thoughts before opening the door.

This is definitely a banquet hall, Lizzie thought as she looked around the spacious room. There was no other explanation for the large number of tables and chairs.

"This is good, Riolu, since this is a banquet hall the kitchens must be close by. There should be food there." Lizzie looked around the room. There were many doors, so finding her way to the kitchen was not going to be easy. One door, however, caught her eye. It looked like an emergency exit.

An exit, huh? It should be connected to the kitchens. They can be big fire hazards. That makes a lot of sense... "Alright Riolu, I think we should go through the emergency door. What about you?" Riolu shrugged. It did not know too much about mansions, emergency exits, and the like. Then again, neither did Lizzie, she was mostly guessing her way around the mansion.

The emergency door led to a platform. There were stairs heading both up and down.

"We can go up or down." Riolu looked up, then looked down. It shrugged again. "I guess this is the kind of responsibility a trainer needs." Lizzie sighed, then picked Riolu up, The kitchens could be downstairs, less stairs to travel across to reach safety. But what if they were upstairs? Lizzie paced around the platform a bit. Riolu, noticing her trainer's lack of confidence, tapped Lizzie on the head, then extended a paw pointing down. She had keener ears than Lizzie, allowing her to hear some voices below them. Riolu thought that company would be good for Lizzie.

"Okay, if that's what you want." Lizzie headed down the stairs. The air was moist. It felt like there was some water in the room, and Lizzie, feeling that she might regret her actions, did not get out of the exit like she originally planned. She needed water more than food, and maybe there was some sort of container she could boil it in. She started to imagine how a pipe could be used to boil water. Lizzie's steps became careless as her mind began to wander. They echoed a bit as Lizzie put more weight in her steps than she usually would.

This post has been edited by Dragava: Mar 5 2010, 11:42 PM

[Amissa]

Daniel was behind Malcolm when they came to the flooded corridor. He listened as Malcolm explained their predicament and reluctantly cast a look back up the stairs. He wasn't looking forward to backtracking or trudging through the slushy mess in the banquet hall, but if somebody had to do it, he figured that it might as well be him. That is until Malcolm sent out his Pidgey to do the job instead. Daniel sighed with relief from being spared that particular chore, but that still left the doors at the end of the corridor to open. Thankfully, Malcolm seemed to have that well in hand also. He sent out his magikarp to take care of the doors.

A far off whooshing sound signaled that Fishy had managed his task and soon he returned to his trainer, triumphant. "What a smart fish!" Daniel cheered. "I'm honestly a little jealous. Douken said that magikarp like yours eventually evolve into gyarados when they're well cared for. I totally want one!"

The group went down the steps into the now empty corridor. The water level was very low now and still decreasing. The rug that covered the floor was soggy and squished beneath everyone's feet. Overhead, evidence of the flood still lingered. Parts of the ceiling leaked and dripped. The corridor itself smelled like a fish tank. There was a momentary silence as everyone looked around, evaluating their new situation and deciding where to go next.

It was at this time that everyone heard the echo of footsteps coming down the stairs. "Do we have everyone in our group?" Daniel asked, looking towards the nidorino. The pokemon had walked at the back so he would know if everyone made it safely.

"Nido!" he replied, nodding his head in confirmation.

"Then this must be someone new." Daniel said before curiously walking over to the stairway. He looked up, seeing a girl approach with a blue and black pokemon. He couldn't identify the pokemon, but he remembered seeing one or two like it when the trainers first met. She seemed in a hurry and Daniel wondered whether it was prudent to take the stairs so carelessly. "Be careful," he warned her from the bottom, "Those steps are still slippery. You could fall if you're not cautious."

[Xal]

"Ah... yes, that's right, Magikarp." Malcolm smiled, finally finding out what pokémon Fishy was exactly. He was a little bit disappointed, Magikarps weren't well known for being particularly powerful or even remotely useful in any way whatsoever. On the other hand, Gyarados was a much more powerful pokémon and Fishy had already proven his worth. But even if Fishy hadn't proven he was useful it would make little difference, Malcolm wasn't collecting pokémon as weapons or tools, but as friends. A Gyarados would, however, be a good friend to have.

The sound of footsteps and running water indicated someone else had left the banquet hall and was walking down the stairs. The water soon stopped, and whoever it was had presumably closed the door or the water had just pushed it shut. A figure came through the darkness, smaller than Malcolm and Daniel and younger looking. Malcolm smiled as he realised who it was. She was Lizzie Verillo, the girl he'd briefly met on the SS Lynnette. The two of them had battled pokémon, which disappointingly resulting in a draw. Near to her was her Riolu, one of the pokémon she'd used in the battle.

"Lizzie! I wasn't expecting you to be here, are you all right?" Malcolm asked, the realisation that there were other people in danger suddenly sinking in for the first time. He'd always known there were other trainers in the castle and they would be in trouble, Jaima's departure to find his friends was more than enough evidence for that, but seeing a familiar face was what made it really sink in.

[Dragava]

After much thought, Lizzie gave up on the idea of a pipe pot. Finding a way to seal one of the ends seemed to be very difficult. It was not long after when she heard voices, two people had evidently noticed her. She recolonized one of them as Malcolm, she had a battle with him once. The other person, Lizzie did not know.

The person Lizzie did not know cautioned her, telling her that the stairs were slippery. Lizzie remembered almost falling a couple of times, but , since she was daydreaming, she was walking slowly enough to steady herself.

Malcolm, on the other hand, greeted Lizzie. She replied with an "I'm okay," but did not say anything else. She had the feeling that the party might reach the kitchens eventually so that she could stock up. Or maybe they had some food with them? That would be helpful.

"Can I come with you?" Lizzie asked. She was not usually assertive, but there was the feeling of "safety in numbers". She would need all the help she could get to survive. There was also the support. Malcolm and the other person's pokemon can help overcome obstacles that Lizzie and her party are not able to do. She stepped into the damp corridor and looked around.

This post has been edited by Dragava: Mar 13 2010, 02:43 PM

[Amissa]

"Of course you can come!" Daniel blurted out, assuming that Malcolm would be fine with this. "We're just trying to find the basement. We heard that there would be food and drinks and blankets and no flooded or snowed in corridors there. But I guess we're sort of lost. Man, Jaima's psychic type did sorta freak me out with her crazy awesome brain powers but she was a huge help."

"We're not lost." the blonde chef from the group of kitchen staff assured him, "We work here after all. We know the way, and if we just keep heading in this direction we should eventually find the basement stairs. I don't think we're too far off now."

"Really? Well that's good at least." Daniel ran his hands through his hair. It was wet from water dripping on it and his legs were still wet and cold from wading through the slush in the banquet hall. He put his hood up in an effort to keep his head dry and looked back at the girl who had just joined them and gave her a weary smile. "My name's Daniel, by the way. It's nice to meet you, though the circumstances could be better."

[Xal]

As everyone was getting introduced they were still making their way forwards, eventually reaching another set of double doors. The water had all drained off elsewhere by this point and the only evidence there had been any at all was from their dripping clothes. As Malcolm turned the handle and pushed the door open he was greeted by yet another familiar sight, but this time it wasn't a person. It was the room they'd been in earlier, the Hall of Legendaries. There wasn't a lot recognisable about it though, if it weren't for the robotic pokémon throughout the room Malcolm would never have guessed it was the same place. Barriers had been thrown over, parts of the wall had fallen down and small bits of rubble were dropping from the ceiling. Most of the pokémon were intact but many were in ruins. Arceus' body still stood proud in the centre of the room but his head was lying near one of the entrances.

Malcolm stepped into the room followed by Pichu and Pidgey. It seemed strange to walk around the room again after it had been destroyed, it was almost like a ghost of its former self. The pokémon had been thrown into strange positions, and the Articuno that had tipped and was staring right in his face with its beak wide open was a far cry from the peaceful ice sculpture they'd seen earlier. Some that had been lucky enough to not be destroyed were in horribly contorted positions, and the dim lights just added to the disturbing feel of it. Malcolm walked past the area for Mew and Mewtwo, which activated the speaker. This hadn't fared too well either, and as it struggled to say 'Mew' over and over again in a deep crackly voice it sounded like an almost like demonic laughing. Mewtwo's eyes were illuminated purple, and in the darkness Malcolm couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as the shadowy figure stared into his soul.

His blood ran cold as a loud screech suddenly filled the room, making the hairs on his neck stand on end. Malcolm looked upwards to see what it was. It was just a piece of metal grinding against the wall, eventually collapsing to the ground and kicking dust into the air. Malcolm shook off his discomfort, he was being silly. There was nothing to be afraid of (besides the reasonably large threat caused by the avalanche, obviously). It was just that the dark room filled with powerful pokémon, many of them mutilated, seemed to give off a creepy vibe. He smiled to himself at his silliness and turned back to the Mew figure.

"Something's wrong..." Malcolm muttered, just loud enough for everyone to hear him. Mew was still there with its innocent expression and posture, but a completely different one. Before he looked away it was curled in a ball and had its eyes tightly shut, but now it was outstretched as if it was flying. If it hadn't changed it would look perfectly fine, except for the narrow eye which was staring straight at Malcolm.
And where was Mewtwo? The powerful psychic had just disappeared, Malcolm hadn't noticed whilst he was busy trying to figure Mew out but now the large pokémon's disappearance worried him even more. Mew's change in figure could be perfectly natural, they were automatons after all, but that wouldn't explain how a large mechanical monster could just up and leave.

He was almost too spooked to look behind him, but when he did he saw even more confusion. Everything was perfectly fine and ordinary at first glance, but not when compared to how it was a moment ago. Half the pokémon had moved, standing in different places in different postures. Articuno's wings were now spread wide with its head pointing high into the sky, and the thought that a moment ago it had been right in his face made a chill run down his spine.

"What's going..." Malcolm was about to start, but was interrupted by Mew. The small robot was giggling manically and flying through the room, before coming to a stop floating in front of Malcolm, Pidgey and Pichu. It tilted its head and giggled again, looking down at the two small pokémon. Neither of them were scared, Pidgey had too much (misplaced) confidence and Pichu thought of everything as a game. Mew floated down to the small electric type and held out its hand. Pichu took it and the pair of them were lifted into the air.

"Pichu!" Malcolm shouted. "Come down!"

She didn't seem to have much choice in it though and even if she did she seemed to be enjoying her flight far too much. Malcolm had no idea what was going on, but the situation was filling him with stress to no end.

[Dragava]

Malcolm led the party into a room full of... Legendary pokemon models? Or, at least that was what Lizzie thought after looking at the body of the Arceus, the supposed creator of the world. She looked around, expecting to see Diagla or Palkia. She had heard stories and seen pictures, but looking at the model of the pokemon would be something else. After a short look around, Lizzie shuddered. Many of the figures were broken, like the Arceus, and it gave the room a foreboding feeling.

"Something's wrong..." Lizzie heard Malcolm mutter. Lizzie took another look around the room. Everything had changed slightly. Not only that, it seemed that there was something missing. Lizzie could not figure out what it was, however.

Malcolm started with a "What's going," but Lizzie did not hear him finish the sentence. She took her eyes off a large, blue bird pokemon to gaze at him.

"RIO!" Riolu pointed to the Mew. It held its hand to the pichu. It took Mew's hand and the both of them were whizzing through the air.

"Is that a robot? Or is it real?" Lizzie said, mostly to herself. Regardless of weather the mew was mechanical or not, she was sure that Riolu could grab Pichu with a well-aimed Quick Attack. She was not too sure if Malcolm would like that, however. She decided to stand by and see what is happening, and offer help if she felt that she was needed or if she was asked.

This post has been edited by Dragava: Mar 18 2010, 09:22 PM

[Amissa]

Daniel followed the others into the darkened room. The emergency lights kept flickering on and off as though they were shorting out. He recognized the figures. They had seemed to magestic and captivating the first time he saw them, but now they looked downright sinister. The chill that he felt in the room unsettled him. The kitchen staff followed the trainers, filing inside and looking around curiously. The nidorino, again, brought up the rear looking a bit disgruntled. He pawed the floor and lowered his horn menacingly, preparing for a battle but Daniel couldn't see what he was challenging.

Of all the pokemon mimics, Groudon seemed to have taken the most damage. It was little more than a pile of red rubble. Taking a closer look, Daniel noticed that the rubble moved slightly in the rhythm of something breathing and alive. He moved closer despite himself. He was getting the intense urge to leave and suggest that they try to find another way to the basement. His curiosity got the better of him, however, and he was soon digging through that pile of metal and plastic and wire that had once taken the imposing form of Groudon. Soon his hand brushed something tough and smooth. It had the feel of vegetation and wild jungle smell. Daniel almost leaped into the air when he felt it move and then the head of a grovyle poked out. The pokemon looked terrified, but she still appeared lively. Daniel noticed that she was holding fast to a certain colored tag. Daniel was about to call out to Malcolm to tell him, but he heard the other boy cry out first.

"Pichu!" Malcolm shouted. "Come down!"

"Pichu?" Daniel breathed, but then he could see Pichu up above him, flying hand and hand with the mew robot. "No way..." But it was real. It was happening. And Daniel began to suspect that there would be more trouble soon to come. "You weren't trapped when the avalanche hit, were you?" Daniel asked the grovyle. She shook her head, confirming Daniel's supicions. "You weren't trapped under that rubble. You were hiding in it!"

A sound like a crash of thunder shook the room just then and Daniel and Grovyle clung on to one another in shared terror for a moment. A light flashed on, illuminating one pokemon model from below. His eyes were drawn to it and he noted that this one seemed perfectly intact. He couldn't identify it, but he knew it was from Johto from seeing it earlier. It's eyes glowed red and it appeared to sink into a crouch like a beast on the prowl.

"Raikou!" A voice from the speaker said, once again sounding bizarre and distorted, not at all like a human voice. "Embodies the speed of lightning!" Then the model, which had now been identified as Raikou, began to approach the group of terrified humans and pokemon. Cleverly, it circled them and positioned itself to block the doorway that they had come in through. The terrified staff crowded closer to the center of the room.

"Oh balls!" Daniel exclaimed, backing up closer to the other two pokemon trainers with Grovyle clinging onto his hoodie as though he were some human tree. Her tag swung now from a cord loosely tied around her neck. Even given the circumstances, she wasn't willing to give it up easily, it appeared.

[Xal]

Malcolm heard Daniel shout and took his eyes of Pichu and the Mew robot for a split second. The group of people were looking towards another robot which was blocking one of the exits, backing away from it towards the middle of the room. Malcolm didn't have time to worry about that though, Pichu was all that mattered right now. The pair of them were flying higher and higher into the air. The hall was already massive and parts of the ceiling had collapsed, and they were soon so far from Malcolm they were little more than a pink and yellow blur.

"Pidgey?" He crouched down, whispering to the pokémon stood by his side. He cooed quietly in response to show he was listening.

"Do you think you can fly up there and grab Pichu?" He asked. He wanted to avoid battling but the other robot didn't seem too friendly. Whatever they were doing it couldn't be good, and he'd rather not have Pichu flying round the room with one of them. Even so, whatever was making these robots suddenly so active could probably do massive damage to the group and their pokémon. It would be for the best if they could try to escape without having to battle anyone (or anything).

"Not just yet, though. When I say so. But if you see something I don't and you think there's any real danger, go straight ahead."

Pidgey looked up at him and tilted his head. He wasn't sure if the small bird completely understood, but he still trusted Pidgey to intervene if he had to even without Malcolm's orders.


Mew and Pichu suddenly stopped in the air when Malcolm said that. The robot glared at him, its large eyes growing red. With a scream Pichu fell from Mew's grip and hurtled towards the floor, and from the sickening height Mew was floating at a fall could easily be disastrous, if not fatal.

"Pichu!" Malcolm roared, sprinting forward and jumping over debris. It was no use though. She was just too far away and falling too fast for him to even stand a chance at catching her. That wasn't going to stop him though. He forced himself forward as fast as he could go, and for a moment it looked as if he might make it. Unfortunately, with all the grace of a Snorlax bouncing down a mountain he tripped on a robotic limb and fell flat on his face.

For what felt like an hour he just lay there, awaiting the sickening thud of Pichu slamming into the cold hard floor. Pichu had been Malcolm's companion for years, he couldn't lose her now and especially not because of some glorified toy. It just wasn't fair but there was nothing he could do.

But the thud never came, only a sound of a strong wind. Malcolm hesitantly looked upwards to the sky. Mew was still floating there glaring at everyone in the room with its red eyes. He looked over to where Pichu had fallen and could have cried with relief. There they were, Pichu and Pidgey, hovering only a few feet above the ground. Pidgey was clinging to Pichu's paws and straining to stay in the air. They slowly lowered to the floor in front of Malcolm as he climbed to his feet.

"We're going, now." He said to everyone in the room. "One door may be blocked but there's others. We'll kick the walls down if we have to."

Malcolm started towards some of the other doors, but robots were by them as well. They were large and seemed powerful, and although Malcolm didn't recognise them he was sure they could do some serious damage. He didn't think they could really kick the walls down though despite what he'd said, so it seemed as if they were stuck for the moment.

"Chu!" Pichu shouted, apparently disagreeing with his plan. She was climbing on top of the Zapdos robot, which had flown down near to them.

"No, not again!" Malcolm tried to grab her but the robot soared into the air and out of reach. It wasn't long before they were near to the Mew again, and as the Zapdos started to tilt it was clear it was going to pull the same stunt Mew did.

"Pidgey!" Malcolm ordered and the small bird knew exactly what he wanted. He started flapping his wings again to fly into the air, but something odd made him stop.



High above the chaos below Pichu was soaring through the air on the back of Zapdos. Soon enough they were near to the Mew robot which was just what she wanted. She wanted revenge on that pokémon, real or not. The Zapdos suddenly tried to throw her off but she didn't care about that. She ran up one of its wings and leapt into the air, hurtling towards the pink robot. The red lights in its eyes suddenly vanished and they returned to normal, and for a split second it looked almost worried. Pichu grabbed onto it and started pulling at the robotic limbs. The robot could fly but it was caught unprepared, and soon enough the pair of them were gliding towards the floor again as Mew tried to remain in the air.

"Chu!" She shouted again, filling the robot with the full strength of her electricity. For a moment after the attack a few sparks flew from it, and some kind of shadow gassy figure flew out of it and disappeared. The pair of them fell straight to the floor like rocks but they weren't that far up.

"What was that?" Malcolm asked to no one in particular. The robot seemed to have stopped working and Pichu was fine, but something had disappeared from it. Was that what was controlling it?

There was no time to worry about that though. Although the past minute or so had felt like days not a great deal of time had passed at all, and the robots at the doors were still moving inwards. With all the chaos he hadn't even noticed what the other trainers had done in that time.

[Dragava]

Lizzie had a feeling that someone or something was trying to keep the three trainers in the room when the Raikou (as identified by an eerie voice) blocked the door. She scanned the room, looking for another door.

"Pichu!" Malcolm's voice brought Lizzie's eyes to the falling Pichu. She started to tell her Riolu to grab it using Quick Attack, but Pidgey caught it before she started the command. Lizzie looked upwards at the Mew, noticing that its eyes were now glowing red. Lizzie did not like what was going on, but even though she was afraid, she said nothing.

It was a good thing Malcolm told everyone to leave. Unfortunately, with the positioning of the robots, that looked impossible. Maybe if she looked hard enough, one of the robots would give away some sort of clue? Lizzie watched as the Pichu cambered onto a yellow bird pokemon. After a bit of flying, it looked like it was going to drop Pichu.

"Riolu, get ready. Catch Pichu if it comes this way." Lizzie felt Riolu's body tense up. It put most of is wright on its front paws, preparing to push off into a jump. Fortunately, Pichu did not fall. It managed to jump onto the Mew, however. The Mew seemed surprised and started to descend. Pichu attempted to charge it with an electric attack...

What was that? Lizzie was sure she saw a gassy thing fly out of the robot. A clue! This was it! But, apart from the fact that they were not alone, nothing was proven. Maybe her Riolu would know?

"Riolu, do you know what that is?" Riolu jumped down from Lizzie's shoulders. After looking around for a bit, it shook its head.
"Do you think you can find out?" Riolu nodded. It scanned the area by the Mew using beams that seemed to come from its eyes.

"What's that move?" Lizzie mumbled. She took out her pokedex and, after some fiddling...

"Foresight. This move lets the user hit Ghost types with any move."

"Ghost... types?" Lizzie looked up from the pokedex to see an upset-looking Gastly in front of her face. "AHHH!Quick attack!, Riolu" Lizzie yelled in surprise. Lizzie did not expect the move to connect, but it did. That must have been Foresight working, she thought. The Gastly gave Riolu a nasty look, causing her to glow for a moment.

"Mean Look. The target will not be able to escape when this move is used," The pokedex explained.

"No escape? Then Quick Attack again!" Riolu hit the Gastly with a Quick Attack, causing it to faint. It must have been possessing the mew, Lizzie thought. Pichu's attack must have weakened it. There could still be more ghosts around, though...

"Okay, Riolu, looks like you're going to have to continue using Foresight." Riolu nodded. It started scanning the entire room with the beams that came out of its eyes. Any ghost the beam touched was instantly revealed.

Now what? Lizzie wondered. She looked at the others, expecting a suggestion or command.

[Amissa]

"Look Raikou," Daniel said trying to force some bravado even as he was backing away from the legendary electric type. "I know you're kind of ticked about this avalanche and all your buddies getting busted up. But look, I'm your friend. No one wants this to get all out of hand or anything." Daniel knew that the situation was already well out of hand. He stood closest to Raikou, backed up against the crowd of frightened people. On each side of him stood a pokemon, Nidorino and Grovyle. He considered calling out his own pokemon, but saw no need to subject them to the severe beat down that he and the others might be facing. Raikou did not appear to be listening to reason.

While he was trying to talk down the beast, he could hear something happening above and behind him. He hoped that Malcolm had managed to get his Pichu back, but Daniel was too afraid to take his eyes away from Raikou to look. Then, from somewhere behind him, a beam of red light alighted on Raikou's body revealing what looked like a ball of dark gaseous matter. "What the heck is that?" Daniel muttered and fumbled for his pokedex. But the pokemon was infuriated and quickly retaliated.

"Raikooou!" The pokemon howled and suddenly there was a burst of electric energy. Bright yellow flashing bolts jolted towards the entire crowd. Everyone screamed, terrified, and expecting to be fried into a pile of smoking ash. The sensation, however, did not feel like being struck by lightning or even like sticking a fork into an electrical socket. Instead it felt like the fear itself had drained them all of life and energy. Daniel and some of the others collapsed to the ground. The trainer's pokedex fell open on the floor in front of him.

"Night-shade," the little computer explained to all who could hear. "The user makes the foe see a mirage. It inflicts damage matching the user's level."

I don't think any legendary electric pokemon is going to know night-shade. Why would it need it? No, this is definitely something else...

"Gastly, the ghost and poison type pokemon."

Like that for instance. Daniel staggered back onto his feet. Ghosts really gave him the creeps, but at least it was better than a bunch of legendary models suddenly coming to life. "Hercules, Geb, I need you two."

His pokemon appeared, bursting from their pokeballs as quickly as if they had been waiting anxiously for his call. Geb looked terrified but Hercules stepped forward. He'd known that these guys were trouble from the start! If Daniel had let him thrash these goons earlier, they wouldn't have a problem now would they? But the boy was still confused. He wasn't an experienced battler, least of all against ghost types. Thankfully, Lonnie's (or Lonnie's children's) pokemon stepped up. Nidorino led the attack and Daniel only watched as Hercules, Geb, and even the Grovyle rushed forward at the poor outnumbered gastly.

"Beat-up, a dark type move." The pokedex chipped in, still lying forgotten on the floor. Daniel would have found this move to be funny, like a back alley brawl if he still didn't feel like he'd been hit with a truck full of ass. I wonder if Lonnie will be angry at us for ruining the last of his pokemon models.

I'm assuming that because Riolu used foresight, my pokemon can hit it with normal and fighting type moves too.

Mod: That is an incorrect assumption: Foresight and Odor Sleuth type moves only work for the pokemon that used the move. It changes the user, not the target. However, Beat Up makes each attack a "typeless" attack, rendering all immunities void.

Reason for edit: Check Spoiler

[Xal]

Everyone else is moving on to the main thread now so I think we should wrap everything up here soon. Unless anyone has any objections I think we should only have a few more posts here each.

When some of the ghosts started to be revealed others quickly followed. Before long the room was filled with ghosts, most of them circling above but a few were nearer to the ground. The legendaries were still possessed and blocking the ways out, but they wouldn't be a problem. Malcolm didn't know if his pokémon could fight ghosts easily but Pichu had managed to overload the Mew robot and get the ghost out of it without a great deal of difficulty. Maybe it would be more complicated for bigger robots, but they were still just machines and could be broken.

Malcom and his pokémon craned their heads upward at the sound of screaming. The ghosts above them were flying downwards, shouting out and laughing.

"Come on you two, run." Malcolm said, backing away from the ghosts falling from the sky. Pidgey followed but Pichu seemed reluctant.

"Hurry up Pichu!" He commanded, but she still wasn't listening. Malcolm could only grimace at her stubbornness, he had no idea what she was going to do but there was no way she could beat all of those ghosts. Ignoring the fact that she was only a Pichu and using any attack that could harm the ghosts would also hurt herself, she wasn't particularly strong and saying she was outnumbered didn't do the situation justice. There must have been at least a dozen ghosts rocketing downwards, all heading towards the small yellow pokémon.

Pichu didn't seem to agree though, and with a cackle of joy that could only come from launching lightning at ghosts she started her attack. She just stood there, arms stretched into the air, laughing and firing bolts of electricity at the ghosts. When one was hit it disappeared and reappeared further up. They seemed to see it as some kind of game, which was just as well because Pichu looked as if she had the same idea of it. Her yellow glow from the electricity slowly started turning into a bright white light, and the attacks started to come in much quicker succession.

[Dragava]

The ghosts that Riolu's foresight revealed were floating around. They realized that they were revealed after a while, and started dive-bombing the party while yelling and laughing.

"Rio, They just want to scare us," Riolu said. She looked straight at the ghosts, putting on a brave face. Lizzie, who could not understand pokemon, had no idea what the ghosts were up to. She tried swatting them off, with limited effect. After she got backed into a wall, Pichu shot electricity at the ghosts. Lizzie watched for a while, observing the yellow bolts turn white. After a while she looked to the possessed machines...

Only they were not possessed anymore. Some stray bolts of lightning hit the robots blocking the doors, causing Gastly to emerge. The emerged Gastly joined the dangerous game of "dodge the electric bolts".

"Riolu, this is our chance. Lets push the Raikou away from the door." Riolu nodded and accompanied her trainer to the Raikou. Lizzie leaned on it, but it was too solid. Besides, she could only push at it from the back or front as the door was blocked by one of its sides. If only the Raikou was sitting instead of standing when the Gastly left it. Lizzie looked around. Maybe there was a door with an obstacle that was easier to remove? Lizzie's eyes came upon the Trainer who she did not know the name for yet. She did not notice the strong-looking Nidorino and Grovile or the Machop and Nicada when she was examining Raikou.

"Your pokemon?" Lizzie asked, looking at the pokemon. She had seen Nidorino and Machop on a card before, but had no clue the other pokemon were. She did not take he pokedex out, though. There would be time for that later, when nobody was watching.

[Amissa]

"The machop and the nincada are mine but the nidorino and the grovyle belong to our host's kids. They're a lot stronger than mine are." Daniel said as he watched the fight. More ghosts were joining the fray and his own pokemon couldn't keep up. Whenever Hercules or Geb would try to attack, they would end up moving right through the wily ghosts. The Nidorino took a lick attack to the face which only served to increase its anger.

"This isn't going to work. There's too many to fight!" He looked at the girl and then to the frightened kitchen staff cowering behind the trainers. "Quick! Which of these exits leads to the basement? We need to get out of here now!"

"T-th-this way!" The blonde chef yelled and ran toward one end of the room, making sure to give Pichu and her flashing bolts of electricity plenty of space. Daniel scooped up his pokedex and followed, beckoning for the others to follow as well. She led them to yet another emergency stairwell but before the trainers could get too close to it, something flew out of the air and landed before them.

"YOU'LL NEVER ESCAPE!" Came a booming voice over the speakers, "THERE IS NO ESCAPE!"

The purple form stood well over six feet tall and glared at all of the occupants of the room with its blazing eyes.

"Well," Daniel sighed. "At least now we know where Mewtwo went. Come on, everyone! This poser is all that stands between us and freedom so let's let him have it! Hercules, Geb, let the other pokemon handle the ghosts since you can't hit them. Focus on getting that fake mewtwo out of the way and getting everyone out of here safely!"

He turned to the female trainer, glancing at her Riolu. "Can he reveal the ghost inside? It might be easier to move the model if the ghost is no longer in it."

[Dragava]

The Machop and Nicada were no match for the ghosts. Neither was Riolu, come to think about it. The kitchen staff, Lizzie had not noticed them before, lead her to an emergency exit. There they were greeted by Mewtwo, a pokemon she recognized from a pokemon card.

"YOU'LL NEVER ESCAPE! THERE IS NO ESCAPE!" A voice boomed. Lizzie assumed that it might be the voice of whatever was inside Mewtwo. Lizzie glanced at the trainer. Maybe he could offer some assistance. What she did not expect was him asking if Riolu can reveal the ghost possessing Mewtwo.

"Actually, I think Riolu is a female," Lizzie replied, "Foresight, Riolu." Riolu used foresight. An outline of the ghost could be seen through the robot. The ghost was most likely too strong to leave the robot just because of a mere foresight.

"I guess we have to force it out. Charmander!" There was a flash of white light, causing Charmander to pop out. "Ember!" Lizzie commanded. Flamethrower would make Charmander more exhausted than it is already was and might even cause it to faint. Lizzie knew that Charmander needed a rest, but everyone's safety was a bigger concern at the moment.

"Aim for the joints," Lizzie commanded, noticing that the embers were bouncing off the robot's body. The robot was growing uncomfortably hot, Lizzie noticed. The pokemon would emerge soon.

"Gen... Gar" A purple ghost that was more solid than a Gastly emerged from the robot. It was wincing, it looked like the heat from the Ember had given it a burn.

"Thank you Charmander. Return!" Lizzie shot a read beam at Charmander, sending it back into the pokeball. "Bear with it a little more, I think we're almost there," Lizzie muttered to it. She did not find the words very reassuring as she had no idea where 'there' was.

"Okay, Riolu, Foresight!" The Gengar grumbled. It was defiantly more aggressive than the Gastly that Pichu shocked out of Mew. It swooped straight at Riolu, going for a hypnosis.

"Riolu!" It was too late. Riolu had fallen asleep. Lizzie recalled it too. Can't be too safe, Lizzie thought. Who knows what Gengar might do to Riolu when it cannot fight back? The pokemon gave Lizzie a nasty look, then screamed in pain. It looked like its burn was acting up. It looked at the nearest pokemon, which happened to be Nidorino, and cast hypnosis on it. It looked like it was preparing for another move when the burn acted up again.

[Xal]

Malcolm looked around the room at the chaos around them. The other trainers were involved with the Mewtwo robot who'd decided to make a reappearance. A Gengar appeared from it when Charmander attacked it, but then just started causing even more trouble than when it was in the robot. Malcolm looked back towards Pichu, who was still glowing white and launching thundershocks at the ghosts. It was strange, she'd never been attacking with such fury that the electricity around her had started to glow (but, bizarrely, the attacks themselves were still a normal yellow). He guessed it must have just been from all the strength she was putting into attacking all those ghosts, who were still just laughing and disappearing when they got hit. Malcolm was finding it difficult to stay composed, he couldn't stand the way they were just playing with Pichu. She didn't seem to mind do much though, she was still laughing. That was probably why she'd lasted so long without having to give up, if she didn't find this fun then she'd have stopped ages ago. Electric attacks hurt Pichus, but this amount of attacks shouldn't be possible for one no matter how funny she thought it was. Her misplaced innocence was sweet, and in this case turned out to be very useful, but it stopped her taking things seriously.
The glow around her started to dimmen and the small figure made its way into visibility.

"That's all right Pichu, you did a good job." Malcolm said, thinking she was starting to give up. He was trying to make out everything was fine but his voice was shaking.
"Just step towards me, towards the door, and we can run away." Malcolm looked towards the other trainers. "Get any sleeping pokémon in their balls, we'll need to carry Lonnie's pokémon though. Pichu, can you- Pichu?"

The small figure had become clearer, but wasn't quite as small as earlier. She was taller with a different shaped tail, ears, everything. Well, it explained why she wasn't finding it so difficult to keep her attacks up though, even if she'd be getting exhausted soon. Malcolm had never seen a pokémon evolve before, and he'd not been expecting it to happen here, especially not to one of his own. Then again, he hadn't been expecting to fight a load of ghosts possessing robots of legendary pokémon either. For a moment he was lost in awe and forgot about the situation around them. Pichu had always been like a baby, would she suddenly be grown up now? Would she still be the same Pichu he remembered? The cackling of the ghosts soon dragged him back to reality though, and he realised that this fretting of her coming of age would need to wait for a more suitable time.

"Pichu, Pika... whatever, try to attack that Gengar, the one using hypnosis on the other pokémon. Hopefully then we can escape."

"Pi Chu!" She shouted, sparing a few bolts of thundershock for the ghost flying near the abandoned Mewtwo.

[Amissa]

"Gyaaah!" Daniel flinched backwards when the Gengar was revealed. I hate ghosts! I hate ghosts! He just wanted to close his eyes and make this all disappear, but now was not the time. When Nidorino fell asleep, Daniel ran over and began patting it and shaking it to make it wake up.

"Hercules, push that Mewtwo aside! Get it out of the way!" Daniel cried, having no luck with the Nidorino. He kept trying. The last thing he wanted to do was carry a pokemon covered in poisonous barbs down some stairs.

The machop, hearing Daniel's order, rushed the Mewtwo robot. He tackled the dummy like an American style football player and dragged it clear of the doorway. The blonde cook ran over and held the doorway open so that the others could escape. Everyone began filing out of the room and down the emergency stairs. To freedom, they hoped, and to safety.

"Come on, Nidorino! I really don't want to lug you down that stairway with ghosts on our tail." Grovyle stood beside Daniel, eyeing him critically. Then, she suddenly slugged the Nidorino in its side. Immediately, the nidorino woke up, snorting and angry. "She did it," Daniel said pointing at Grovyle, who didn't seem to care. "Come on! It's time to go!"

Nidorino headed out the exit but Daniel went to go retrieve his pokemon. Hercules was pounding the mechanical mess out of the empty Mewtwo robot and Geb was cowering nearby. "Let's move guys, everyone's leaving." Geb obediantly scuttled over and climbed under Daniel's hoodie. Hercules, however, tried to argue until Daniel began pulling him by the shoulder from the robot. The trainer turned to see Grovyle standing before him, offering her tag. Behind her, Daniel could see Malcolm's Pichu, now a Pikachu, attacking Gengar. "Thanks, now go on." He watched the grass pokemon scurry down the stairs after all the others.

Daniel hesitated before going himself, staring at Pikachu in shock and awe. He was sorry that he missed watching her evolve. He reached the stairs and told the blonde to go on while he held the door open for the others. He and Hercules watched the epic battle between Gengar and the other pokemon. He wondered if it was possible for Pikachu to ever just run out of electricity. Even if she did, they had the door and they could make a break for it probably before Gengar could catch them, especially with that burn tha the girl's Charmander had inflicted.

[Xal]

I'm not sure if everyone's seen the discussion thread, but Castle Vonmoto's ending very soon and we need to get back to the others. This will be my last post in this thread, and then we carry on in the Castle Vonmoto thread.

"Come on Pikachu, you don't need to hold out for much longer now." Malcolm said, trying to encourage her. Everyone was leaving the room and heading downstairs, so Pikachu only needed to keep the Gengar occupied whilst they escaped. It was clearly hurt by the attack though, which left Malcolm wondering why it wasn't making more of an effort to attack Pikachu. It was trying, but it didn't really seem to bothered. The burn it was suffering from was probably putting it off, Malcolm decided.

"One last time now, give it all you've got!"

Pikachu used another thundershock attack, and this one seemed to hurt the Gengar more than the previous ones. It winced and move backwards, before floating off entirely. Malcolm guessed that he just didn't find the battle worthwhile anymore. It seemed to be trying to scare them instead of cause any serious harm, so if they were fighting back it was no surprise that it wasn't interested.

"Let's go whilst we've got some peace." Malcolm said, making his way out the door with everyone else. He hurriedly stepped down the stairs, taking time to ensure that everyone else (including Pikachu and Pidgey) was all right. At the bottom there was a door slightly open, and Malcolm couldn't help but feel curious about it. It would probably make more sense to carry on down the corridor, but there was something about the room that was pulling him in.

He cautiously pushed the door open, and was greeted by the sight of computers and large panels on the floor.

"Hey, come look at this." He said to anyone who might be interested. He made his way inside and started examining the equipment.

"Teleporter panels?" He whispered to himself, looking at the blinking lights and computer screens. There was a list of targets to choose from, the basement being one of them. He looked around the room for any signs of damage. Would it be safe? He didn't want to end up underneath the snow or inside a wall, but everything seemed to check out.

"We can use these to get out of here and evacuate to the basement." Malcolm shouted out into the corridor, adjusting the settings so that they'd take them there.

"That should be working fine now. We just need to get on the panels."