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Tyrs of Anguish
Topic Started: Jun 27 2012, 03:44 PM (3,028 Views)
shadowcat
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It took her a good few minutes to realise that she was shaking, but when she did, she forced herself to suck in a deep breath and hold it for a while before blowing it out. The strange rise and fall of her chest woke Tryce from his nap and he blinked up at her, amber eyes confused as they adjusted to the light.

"Hello again, little one," she said gently to her little Eevee. "I'm so sorry about all of that." He didn't seem to understand what she was talking about, but still the guilt flooded through her. He had been rejected by his mother and so hadn't had a real relationship with Sandie, but what about the other kits? What about Rocky? Had he loved her?

She swallowed the lump in her throat and slipped Tryce into her pocket again so that his head and forepaws rested on the hem, and she made her way over to the ledge to check on Rocky again.

Sandie had left just in time. The makeshift steps that the Eevee had been knocking into the rock with his Iron Tail had just about finished, and Kitty leaned over to help the kits up it one by one, and to take her pack from Rocky's mouth. They were all in the same place now and looking up to the next flat area on the mountain.

If only the kits had pokeballs...

Kitty took another deep breath to calm herself, and then nodded. She opened her mouth to tell the others what she was about to do, but then her heart nearly leapt out of her mouth instead when she noticed something.

All of the Eevees were sniffing hard at the ground, ears twitching, eyes set with confusion.

Rocky looked up at her, eyes wide, tail stiffened. The look in his eyes made her honestly sick to her stomach: pure betrayal, laced with anger, confusion. She swallowed again.

"I can explain," she said, which is always the worst thing to say in these situations. "Look, she turned up, she saved Tryce. But then, she left. She just left. I...couldn't stop her." She trailed off, hearing the words as they came out of her mouth and wondering if it was possible that he would believe them, ever.

His expression didn't falter, he stayed along the utterly appalled theme, mouth even falling open a little. It wasn't his intention, but he was revealing his layers of perfectly pointed white fangs to her. She started to shake again and Tryce mewled. Rocky barked at him, and, confused, the baby Eevee struggled out of her pocket, landing clumsily on the hard ground, and pottered back to his father. Rocky nudged him away from Kitty when he was close enough, and continued to look at her.

"We have to climb this mountain," Kitty said weakly. "For Tyr. Can we just talk about this later?"

Talk. Laughable. She would stammer her apologies to her oldest friend while he looked at her as though toxic sludge would be a more preferable companion.

She had upset her Eevee before, but never to this extent.

She had never banished the mother of his children before, and then hoped he simply wouldn't notice.

"She left, Rocky," she said, tears pricking the backs of her eyes again. "I'm telling you, she just walked away." It was true enough that she didn't feel as though she was lying, but she was certainly embellishing the truth to seem like the better person. "Please, I tried to stop her." Now came the lies. "I tried, but she left. I know I let her go, and I'm sorry. Please." Her eyes were actually shining. The closest she'd come to crying since the Incident. She'd thought that had made her dead inside.

She'd thought that was the worst thing anyone could ever have done, but could this be worse?

No, the Incident was still far, far worse than this could ever be. But it was still bad.

"I'm sorry, Rocky," she said again. "I have everyone's best interests at heart, please trust that." Now, there was a truth. She had just neglected to mention that in some cases her own best interests were just a hair more important.

The Eevee broke his gaze. Whether he was beginning to try to believe and forgive was to be seen later on. She'd have to wait.

She breathed again, and released Tyr on a whim along with Freya to make sure everyone stayed warm from her glow. The Torchic loved her. Clung to her like he needed her. That's what she wanted right now.

And so they made their way up the rock face, Kitty with an Eevee in each pocket, one on her shoulder, and Tyr holding another as he clung to her backpack. Rocky held another two, and the last had to ride clinging for dear life onto Kitty's head.

When they reached the next level of the outside of the mountain, she was panting a little. She set all of the babies down onto the ground again and returned Freya to re-release her on this level. There was a small cave opening in the rock face, one that she could clearly see the back of so there would be no more surprises, and so she set up temporary camp there for the night, rolling out her bedroll and using her bag as a pillow. The kits slept around Freya's flickering silver flames for warmth.

~Tier 1~

She woke up with a horrible pain in her neck. Sleeping fitfully on hard rock can do that to you.

It didn't help, either, to wake up to the sight of at least five Lairon staring angrily at her.

"Oh, crap," she muttered, pushing herself painfully to her feet. "Are we in your territory? I'm really sorry. We'll be leaving right now."

They either didn't understand, or they didn't care, because one of them bonked her on the shin with its hard metallic head and she, still drowsy and uncoordinated, fell back onto her behind. "Ow!"

There was a flash of beige, and before she could say anything, a tiny Eevee had bounced off the Lairon's iron hide and was out cold on the floor. "Tryce!" Kitty screamed, but Rocky was on it, rummaging through her bag for the right potions and berries. Kitty stood up again and wagged her finger at the now rather confused Lairon.

"That was not nice!" she said. "He's only a baby. What do you say?"

The Lairon looked at her, then the KO'd Eevee, then back to his friends, then back to her.

"Lair?"

Kitty sighed. "If I defeat one of you in a battle, can we pass?" That was how aggressive pokemon normally were. If you gained their respect you could do what you wanted, as long as you left their territory pretty quickly afterwards. She'd done her fair share of trespassing along the way.

"Lair."

His answer was unhelpful, but he wasn't attacking her, so she shrugged. She opened her mouth to call out Freya, perhaps the most obvious answer, but if she was incapacitated the kits would get cold. She rubbed her face as she realised the next best thing in this situation.

"Alright, Tyr, you're up."

She regretted it as soon as she'd said it. The Torchic could barely beat up a Hoppip, much less this stocky and annoyed-looking Lairon. He tried to hide his trembling as he stepped up to face his opponent, but the movement had to go somewhere, and soon the Lairon all around were scuffling their laughter at the nervously dancing Torchic their friend would soon pulverise.

"Don't listen to them, Tyr," Kitty said pointlessly, because she knew that he would. "Fire Spin, go."

The Lairon turned around in response and began to kick gloopy wet mud from nowhere, aiming right for Tyr's eyes.

"No!" Kitty yelled. If that worked, the chick pokemon would totally give up as soon as he realised he couldn't see properly. And, of course, it would really hurt. "Dodge it!" she just about screamed, and to her utter surprise, Tyr unglued himself from the spot and fluttered rapidly to the right, escaping the stream of goop.

"Yes," she breathed. "Go for the Fire Spin now." The Torchic unleashed an uncertain torrent of fire that danced around the Lairon, impeding his movement by a long way, making him not want to break through the wall of fire, however weedy it was.

"Now that you're safer, go for Sand Attack."

Tyr hopped up close to the Lairon, peering through the flames to see him gnashing his jaw at him. He squeaked and fluttered away again, then seemed to remember his command and quickly scrabbled dirt and dust into the Lairon's face, making it sneeze. It kicked mud onto the flames but to no real avail, and so just burst through them with a noticeable wince. Tyr panicked again and ran away. The Lairon and his buddies snickered, and he flashed in the light as he began to lumber after the Torchic.

"Oh, Tyr," Kitty mumbled, knowing that if the Lairon built up enough speed he would be like the Juggernaut, and any impact following that would just knock Tyr out cold. She had to slow him down or bring him to a complete halt.

"Fire Spin again," she called. The Torchic turned around and launched another, slightly more competent, Fire Spin at the Lairon, but the beast just burst through it again, flinching even more this time, though. "Ok, Focus Energy and then meet him with a Slash."

This was definitely a gamble for a pokemon like Tyr, but he obeyed her, glinting briefly as he focused, and then turning, eyes closed and claws glowing, to meet the Lairon's Take Down attack.

"Eyes open, Tyr!"

His eyes snapped open, just in time, because he thrust his claws outwards and the impact mixed with the momentum flipped the Lairon onto his back. Kitty and Tyr both stood there blinking in surprise as the Lairon struggled fruitlessly to flip back over again.

"Um," she said. Did she help it, or finish it off?

Before she could decide, though, another Lairon ran forwards, clearly thinking that this wasn't a satisfactory end to a battle. Tyr, before receiving any guidance, blasted an enormous torrent of fire right into its face, and the Steel type immediately keeled over. When he was done, the Torchic blinked a little, looking to Kitty in confusion.

"That was one of the rare displays of your genetic power," she explained to him. "That's the reason we're climbing this mountain, didn't I tell you? To find your tribe and try to make it so that you're always that strong." Tyr blinked some more, and looked around at the other Lairon. They didn't want to come near to him at all now, and that suited him just fine.

"Great job," Kitty said warmly, picking him up and giving him a small hug. The Torchic chirruped in delight at the compliment, and Kitty, with a nod of thank to the Lairon, continued her journey upwards.

"It looks like the easiest way would be in here for the moment," she said, referring to a small cave opening she hadn't noticed earlier that looked like it led inside the mountain, possibly to a more manmade path towards the top. "So everyone got all their limbs? Great, let's go."
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Kitty bent down to pick up a couple of the kits absent mindedly; she was just used to having some in her arms. She looked down at them for a while to identify which ones she had taken. She had to get used to differentiating between them more quickly. Lethe and Raksha? Yes.

She looked back up at Keith with a triumphant smile, which quickly fell when he continued to talk.

"Lilycove," she repeated. "You're from Lilycove? I...I grew up in Lilycove. I left when I was fifteen with a big group of my friends. There were eight of us, and we all absolutely loved pokemon." She smiled at the recollection, memories of laughter and funny failed training attempts filled her head before she could shake them out, because they always inevitably led to memories of Scott and how happy he'd made her.

And how she'd ruined his life.

She swallowed the suddenly enormous lump in her throat and tried to continue as if nothing was wrong. "Hello, sweetie," she said kindly to the Geodude.

But then more words, like a waterfall. What was happening to her? "He didn't encourage me to be a trainer, not really. I mean, I always loved battling. I love the mechanics behind it more than anything else, so I would help train him mostly. It was just as fun. Now I train because I'm lonely, because I missed all that science behind it." Because it was the only thing she had left of her old life?

Before she could really evaluate the psychology behind her entire life, a flock of Zubat exploded out of a corner on the tunnel ceiling and flew into their faces. Kitty yelped and ducked down to shield the kits in her arms, and Rocky leapt up to Iron Tail one of them far away when it got too close to the babies. She blew her hair out of her face and gasped. "Whoah!"

Some Zubat were still there, flying in front of them, clearly irritated that they had been awoken. Kitty turned to Keith and his Geodude. "You're strong against them. Why don't you defeat them quickly so we can pass?"
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Keith was calmer than he thought he would be, the adrenaline would come later, but right now he knew that he needed to be calm, or his new Geodude would never respect his commands.

"George, use Tackle on the closest Zubat, try to isolate it."

George seemed to nod at Keith and flew towards the nearest Zubat, attempting to Tackle it away from the group. His attack glanced off the left hand side of the Zubat, sending it spinning, but imparting little force onto the Pokemon itself.

The Zubat righted itself, shook it's head and started to make a high pitched noise. At first Keith thought it might be trying to communicate with the other two Zubat.

George's ears were hurting now, and he wasn't sure this master was going to do him any good.

"Supersonic!", Keith yelled, realisation dawning.

"Quick George, try a Rock Throw to disrupt it!" he commanded, hoping he wasn't too late.

With relief, George swooped to the floor of the cave, grabbing a hand full of stones and hurling them in the direction of the Zubat. It wasn't the most accurate throw, but a small rock clipped it on the wing, sending it spinning for a second time and stopping the Supersonic.

Well, thought George, at least that was slightly better.

The Zubat carried the momentum of the spin, and swooped towards George, fangs out and malice in its eye, clearly unamused at being pushed around by this upstart Geodude. It caught him on the arm, sinking it's fangs into the stony skin, and clinging on.

"Ok, George, it's using Leech Life." said Keith, settling into the rhythm of the battle.

George was panicking at the Zubat hanging of his arm. It'd never happened before, and he wasn't sure he liked it. He was feeling gradually weaker the longer it stayed there.

" Rock Polish to get rid of it, and then try another Rock Throw." said Keith.

George flew to the wall as quickly as he could, rubbing against it in the usual way he did a Rock Polish, with the key difference that this time the Zubat was scraped against the wall too. The Zubat released it's grip and flew away a short distance, looking distinctly healthier than when it had started the Leech Life.

George grabbed at another rock, this time taking careful aim at the Zubat and hurling the rock straight towards it. The rock caught the Zubat right in the body, sending it flying backwards. It hit the ground with a dull thud, but dragged itself upright and flapped back to height again, although it now looked like even hovering was an effort for it. It attempted to fly at George and Bite him, but was lethargic, and George easily managed to dodge the attack.

"Time to finish him George. Use Rock Polish to build up your speed, and then finish him off with a Tackle!" Keith commanded, calming down, but worried slightly about George's ability to carry out his commands. He knew he'd try, but that Leech Life seemed to have taken a lot out of him.

George defiantly wasn't going to stop now. He felt ill, and it was that Zubat's fault, so it was going down. He flew along next to the wall, first one way, then the other, polishing up his sides and cutting down the drag as he flew through the air. When George was satisfied, he turned his attention to the faltering Zubat, flying straight at it. The Zubat tried to dodge, but was too weak even for that. George struck it straight in the torso, making it fly backwards, until it hit the wall with a thud. The Zubat slid to the ground, where it lay still, unable to battle anymore.

"Well done George, that's one down," said Keith, "But it's not over yet. Try a Rock Throw at the other two"

George was pumped up, and turned to the other two Zubat, scooping up two rocks in the process, and hurling them at the remaining Zubat. One hit the Zubat on the left straight between the eyes, dazing it, and it flapped away down the tunnel. It had seen what had happened to it's friend, and it wasn't in the mood to get beaten up.

The Zubat on the right, however, was not giving up so easily. It flew out of the way of the rock coming it's way, and gained height rapidly.

Dammit, thought Keith, I'm not sure George can win so soon after his last battle.

But George wasn't giving up, already circling round to face this new Zubat, ready to show it who was boss.

"Alright then George, if you want to, let's do this!" said Keith, putting his worries to the back of his mind, reasoning that if George thought he could then he might as well let him.

Before Keith could give his first command, the Zubat swooped down towards George, trying to Bite him. The Zubat's fangs scraped down the side of George's face, gauging a line down his right cheek.

George reeled back, in pain and shocked by the speed of the Zubat's attack.

"George," yelled Keith, trying to regain his attention, "Rock Throw and then Defence Curl to negate it's next attack."

George snapped into action with at the sound of his masters voice, but had to resist the urge to Defence Curl straight away, but he did hurriedly grab the closest rock and throw it at the Zubat. Despite the careless nature of his attack, the rock did come close to the Zubat, and it had to quickly fly a foot to the left to dodge it.

The Zubat, buoyed by the success of it's last attack, swooped in for another Bite, but this time George was ready. He curled himself into a ball, leaving only his rock hard back exposed to the Zubat's fangs. The Zubat again tried to sink his teeth into George, but found only rock, and spun away screaming. It had broken a fang, and was bleeding quite heavily from the wound.

"Right, George, let's not change a winning formula." shouted Keith.

"Rock Throw, and follow it up with a Tackle!"

George was tired of this by now, he was tired of throwing, and was feeling distinctly weaker than he had done at the beginning of the encounter. He had half a mind to just stop, this new trainer wasn't great for him. But he had beaten off one with his help, and he doubted this Zubat would give him clear passage. But then the decision was made for him. The Zubat had turned it's attention to easier targets, namely the Eevee kits. As the Zubat began to dive towards them, George, motivated by anger, pain, and a protective instinct even he wasn't sure of, hurled a rock almost half his size with deadly accuracy and speed towards the Zubat.

The Zubat, at the last moment, diverted it's path to dodge the incoming rock. It was feeling quite pleased with itself, until it realised that it's dodge of that attack had left it vulnerable to the flying Tackle coming in from George. George caught the Zubat full in the side, sending it flying to the other side of the cave. It picked itself up, but was flying dead, and attacking again wouldn't be the best plan for the Zubat.

Keith was in shock. He'd never really thought about the reality of wild Pokemon. They weren't civilised, they didn't have rules or boundaries when it came to battling. Keith could feel the anger rising in his chest, but struggled to quell it. It was a wild animal, it didn't know any better, but that still didn't make it right. It was time to finish this Zubat, before anyone actually got hurt.

"George, he's done, finish him with a Tackle." Keith's voice wasn't a shout anymore, he was calmer, he knew what needed to be done, and he now knew that George was defiantly the right Pokemon for him.

George flew across the cave like a Pokemon possessed, despite being exhausted. He smashed into the torso of the Zubat, ramming it into the wall, and hitting again once it was there for good measure. The Zubat attempted to bite down on George and do a Leach Life, but George brushed it away, putting in another Tackle for good measure.

"George! Enough!" Keith shouted. George stopped and released the Zubat, allowing it to slide to the floor, and returned to Keith's side, exhausted, in pain, but satisfied at the victory and with a new confidence in Keith.

Keith offered his hand to Kitty, and even managed to crack a smile.

"Well, at least I'm not completely useless to you."
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Kitty watched the entire battle with quiet admiration; she had always love watching bonds grow between new trainers and their first Pokemon. You could immediately see what their battling styles were going to evolve into. Keith seemed to stick to what worked, battling with a natural rhythm and repetition. She realised that she was already figuring out ways to defeat him, if it should come to that.

When the Zubat started to go for the Eevees, she sucked in a breath of anger, but before she or Rocky could act, the Geodude came through and smacked it away.

"Definitely not useless," Kitty said with a half laugh, ignoring the hand he offered and stepping carefully over the rubble the battle had created to join him, and then continued to walk. This time she walked beside him, not in front.

"Um," she started, unsure, "where I'm going, it's really unsafe. Feel free to come, but I wanted you to know that. Make sure your Geodude will protect you if he has to," she said.
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Keith didn't need to think, not really. Danger? That was exactly why he was here! He wanted excitement. But he did take one thing Kitty said to heart.

"Don't worry about George, I think he and I are going to get on just fine," he said, fist bumping with his Geodude. Keith new enough about him now to know that he'd have to be right out before he stopped fighting, but one Pokemon wasn't going to be enough in the long run.

"But trying to catch a few more can't hurt. You said we were going up, right?" said Keith, grateful of the fact that Kitty was no longer leading him like a school child, "Plenty of time to catch some more before we get to the top."

Something he couldn't quite put his finger on made Keith keep digging at Kitty. Maybe she wanted to talk, maybe she didn't, but something about her spoke to Keith of someone troubled.

"You said you left with 8 friends?" started Keith, trying to watch Kitty's reaction, "Why are you here on your own?"

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

George flew along beside Keith, keeping a wary eye out for threats. He was starting to like his master, and thought he might as well try to keep him alive.
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"Absolutely, plenty of time," Kitty agreed brightly, thinking of all the pokemon they might find on their way up to the tribe. She found herself getting excited about what pokemon he would add to his party, which was strange.

His next question was a bit of a shock to her, and she felt herself paling at the thought of having to answer it. She missed them all so much, she hated having to think about them like this.

"Why am I alone?" she repeated, as if stalling her reply would make any of it less difficult. "Well, ok, we travelled together through Hoenn for a year or so. Scott became Champion, and he and his team got pretty famous because of that. That kind of created some tension in the group, because we...well I guess we didn't feel like we were equals any more. Then, um, well something really bad happened. It was my fault. So I left. I came here."

She stopped talking there, lips pinched together. Her mouth was dry, but she didn't want to move the kits in her arms to get to the water in her bag. Flashbacks were coming to her, so she shook her head as if to knock the memories away.

"Tell me about your life," she said, turning to him with a bright smile that usually convinced people she was genuinely fine.
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God, my story, Keith thought, not much to go on, but she shared, and so should I if I want her to trust me.

"Well, I stayed in Lilycove while my friends left. Parents wanted me to study to become a scientist, and I thought that's what I wanted to. I got a job at the the Lilycove Department store to tide me over when I left school. When I was still in the job a year later my priorities had changed. I'd seen hundreds of trainers, most younger than me, pass through the store. I needed to get out, and Aerei seemed as good a place as any to start."

Keith paused for breath, trying to play through Kitty's reactions in her mind. When asking about him she'd seemed fine, and yet when telling her own story she seemed troubled. The sudden stop, as if catching her mouth, the shake of the head, the change of subject question. Keith made up his mind to keep asking. Either she tell him to mind his own business, and that was fine, or she'd keep talking.

"I'd heard some of the trainers talking about this place, and I needed to get out of Hoenn. I packed my bags, took my money, left a note for my parents," Keith winced slightly at this, knowing it wasn't a lie, but that it wasn't quite the whole truth either, "and got on the plane. That's about it for my epic adventure thus far."

"What bad thing Kitty?" God he sounded like a therapist, but what else could he do. He tried to pass it off casually, but doubted it was fooling George, let alone Kitty.
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Kitty listened politely to his entire life story so far, but started to drift away when she realised it wasn't going to get interesting. For a moment while he was talking, she was back with her friends, laughing at Scott's Ninetales because he had finally figured out how to catch his own tails in his mouth, but was surprised when it hurt.

What bad thing, Kitty?

The question jerked her out of it, and she looked up at him, bewildered. She hadn't even mentioned its existence since she'd been in Aerei, and now she was close to spilling the worst thing she'd ever done to a complete stranger. She furrowed her brow and shook her head violently.

"I don't speak about it," she said firmly, but her voice wavered right at the end. It would release so much pressure if she admitted it to somebody. She needed forgiveness from her friends more than anything, but she had no idea where any of them were. Probably still in Hoenn, enjoying Scott's fame, drinking mojitos and flirting with frightened waitresses.

She came to an abrupt halt, and Rocky and several other Eevees stumbled into her legs. Blocking their path was an enormous Steelix, filling up the entirety of the small cavern they had wandered into. It craned its body to position its enormous head right in front of them, shining mouth twisted into a grin. "Get back," Kitty said loudly, wrapping her arms more tightly around the kits. Rocky ushered the rest of them back, and without thinking, she released Freya, her enormous oddly coloured Rapidash, who snorted smoke and swished her fiery tail.
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"It's all your's" Keith replied to Kitty's order to retreat. He wasn't going to argue (although George might). The Steelix was the most impressive Pokemon he'd even seen, or at least it was until Kitty sent out her Rapidash.

Keith was awed by the size, but also by the colour of the Rapidash. He'd heard that through breading you could get alterations in colour and pattern, but he'd never seen anything quite this drastic. Black, with silvery flames as opposed to the usual red ones. Keith doubted that was just down to breading.

As he took a step backwards he made a quick grab for Georges arm. Not this time mate, he thought to himself.

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

George, deflated that he'd been pulled away from the battle, stuck to Keith's side, keeping a wary eye on the Steelix in case it tried anything against his master.
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Kitty put her hands on her hips and stared into the Steelix's eyes. "You gonna move?" she asked it, confident as she could be with her powerful Fire type standing just in front of her. The Steelix emitted a low rumbling from somewhere in the back of its throat, but its trademark metallic grin stayed put. "So you want to battle?" she asked it. In response it reared up to its full - enormous - height and snapped its jaws a couple of times.

"Fine." She'd defeat it. She stepped back, but not too much that she couldn't see into the cavern properly any more. Freya moved inside the cavern, and the Steelix reacted immediately by bringing a tail crashing into the ground just inches away from the fire horse. "Agility," Kitty ordered as the tail lifted and the Smack Down reduced the ground to rubble. Freya zipped away and it missed her again. "Ok, and now Fire Spin."

Without slowing, the Rapidash released a stream of silvery flame and galloped circles around the enormous metallic snake. The flames twisted and interlocked, creating a fiery prison that the Steelix angrily snapped its jaws at, but for the moment it was trapped.

A high-pitched noise echoed through the tunnels and Kitty clamped her hands over her ears. "It's just a Screech," she noted, "try to ignore it." But Freya was wincing at the noise, head bowed.

The opponent took this chance to shake itself off. Part of its steel armour fell to the ground with heavy thuds, and Kitty wrinkled her nose. She'd never seen an Autotomize attack but she'd always imagined it would gross her out to watch a pokemon shed its armour like that. With its newfound speed, the Steelix opened its mouth and whipped its tail, and the cavern was suddenly filled with sand that lifted into the ground slowly, and then began to whirl around more and more.

Freya whinnied in fright at the sandstorm as it became more violent, and swished her tail hard to try to deflect some of the particles, to no avail.

"Flamethrower," Kitty had to shout to be heard over the whooshing of sand in the air. The Rapidash released a torrent of brilliant silver flame from her mouth, just as the Steelix erupted out of its fiery confines and shot at her with newfound speed, having shed most of its hide. Freya had to abandon her attack to avoid the falling rocks that were being jostled by the thrashing pokemon. Kitty watched with curiosity as the sand that had been fried by the Flamethrower glittered and fell to the ground. She scratched her chin in thought, and then nodded.

The Steelix launched itself at her with its entire body, jaws still set in the same unsettling grin. Kitty's heart leapt. Freya was exhausted from the Sandstorm, and after that Screech some sort of full-bodied Slam was sure to finish her off. She found herself not wanting to look bad in front of her new companion, as well as not wanting to let Freya get knocked out in a battle she should have easily won.

"Inferno!" she yelled. Just in time, the horse erupted into flames, a roaring noise filling the cavern. Kitty blinked over to Keith. "Crap," she managed to say. "Move!" She leapt away from the entrance, just as flames licked at the entrance, filling up the entire cavern. The heat made sweat prick at her skin as she shielded her face and her Eevees.

When the flames died down, Kitty dared to look into the cavern again. The Steelix lay on the floor, wrapped around itself, very much knocked out. The floor was shining, tiny beads of glass skittered around, and Freya stood, head bowed, body rising and falling from the exertion. She looked up, saw Kitty looking at her, and snorted, pawing a trench in the glass on the ground, and then moved back to her place by the kits to keep them warm.
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Keith was impressed and enthralled by battle. He was so immersed that Kitty's shouted only just registered in time, and Keith threw himself to the ground only just in time.

Kitty's fighting style was impressive. All power, all offence, all the time.

Thank god I don't have to face her , thought Keith.

It was at this point he realized he was on fire. Well, not himself per say, but the right arm of his jacket was becoming quite the camp fire. He took off the jacket and stamped out the fire, before turning to Kitty with a wry smile

"A little warning next time would be nice" he said jovially.

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

I could take it, thought George, looking at the Rapidash.

Yes, it's big, but it doesn't look that pow....

At this point he took shelter behind a rock to avoid the wall of flame.

On the other hand, maybe being friends was the best plan for now
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Kitty turned to him and watched him stamp out the fire, then her face slowly twisted into a smile. When you spent so little time around other human beings it was easy to forget to show your emotion externally sometimes.

The kits in her arms were squirming now so she let them down as she continued to walk, picking her way carefully through the glass. She made a big show in front of Rocky of checking that the glass was smooth and rounded and not shards, so the kits would be fine walking on it, and he sternly whapped Styx over the head for trying to taste them as they walked.

She had to clamber over part of the knocked out Steelix, heart thumping. If it woke up and threw her off she would get badly hurt, but she was fine. Freya crunched loudly across the glittering floor after her, and they managed to get the kits over the enormous metallic creature one by one. She turned to Keith when they reached the tunnel that led on. It forked left and right.

"Which way?" she asked him, holding back as though she wanted him to take the lead this time.
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Keith had a little trouble traversing the fallen Steelix. Agile wasn't a word he'd associate with himself if he was honest. At least George didn't struggle, he just flew.

"Right" said Keith, confidently enough, even though his decision was based on a whole lot of nothing. He strode off down the right hand fork.

"So, where'd you get the Rapidash from?" asked Keith.

"Was it bred that way, or did you just find it in the wild? It's pretty cool if it's one you captured."

Pretty cool? thought Keith, When was the last time I used the word cool? What am I, 12?
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Kitty followed, happy to have someone else in charge for once. When it was just her and her pokemon, she was the one in charge without question, and when she met other people she found herself acting authoritatively out of instinct and self preservation. It was nice to follow for a moment.

She smiled at his question, especially the way he'd worded it. He spoke a lot like her friends had. Maybe that was why she felt comfortable with him.

"Actually, it's kind of a weird story," she said with a smile, wondering if he would actually want to hear the whole thing. Oh well. She would tell it anyway. She hadn't had anyone else to tell any of her stories to, and it sometimes made her sad. She'd been through some amazing things.

"So, there's this really evil team, right? Umbra. They experiment on pokemon a lot. And they hate me. Like, a lot, and I don't know why. They stole Rocky. Um, my Eevee." She gestured. He ignored her. "I stayed with this nice old lady for a week or so, knowing he'd be able to escape. He's really strong." She grinned, fully aware that she was bragging. "So, yeah, he made it back to me in a week or so. And Freya was with him, as a Ponyta. I guess he'd rescued her from the experimentation labs, or maybe she helped him escape."

It was one of those moments where she desperately wished she could speak to pokemon. She shot another look to Rocky, but he was helping Raksha up after she stumbled over a rock. If only she could know what had happened then. He'd been through so much in the relatively short time they'd been here.

"So I asked Freya if she wanted to join us, and she seemed not to want to be alone, so she came with us. Then the kits were born and they loved her like a second mother." She felt her throat immediately seize up at the thought of Sandie, who she had thoughtfully left out of the entire story, but she disguised this with a strange sudden cough, and breathed again. "Um, yeah. So she stayed. She evolved a couple of weeks ago, actually."

She thought for a moment of something to ask him in return, but had nothing, so she just smiled dumbly at him as they walked.
Edited by shadowcat, Jul 7 2012, 01:05 PM.
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Keith listened politely to Kitty's story. It seemed incredible, and yet, the fervor and certainty with which she said it made him believe her.

He was about to ask her about Rocky, and his brilliant escape, when the passageway opened into an enormous cavern. At the ground level, where they were, the reason for the formation was clear. An underground stream, more of a river really, was running though the center of the cavern. Around it's banks, scores of Marill, Poliwag and other water type Pokemon were playing, fighting and just generally living.

The cavern seemed to have many different caves and passageways emanating from it. There was an upwards slope on the groups left, leading up to the passageways above.

Keith marveled at the diversity and volume of Pokemon in the area. This was what he'd come for. This was more exciting than any office job ever could have been.

"Should we go up? Or explore this level more?" Keith asked Kitty. She was the one who had somewhere to go after all.
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Kitty looked around and was struck by the effortless beauty of the cavern. She absolutely loved these places that looked as though hardly any people had passed through here before.

She looked towards the ramp and then at the pool again. The little water pokemon looked so happy, and didn't seem to mind too much that they were there. One or two were eyeing them carefully, as if waiting to see whether they were there to disturb their happy little home. Kitty gestured to a flat rock next to the water.

"Let's sit down for a while. I have to give everyone food, and I'm super thirsty."

She walked over and sat, rummaging through her bag for berries and other things to eat that she'd picked up along the way. The kits were off formula for the most part, although occasionally they whined for it, but she lay berries on the floor now and Rocky divided them between his children. Tryce took his in his mouth and then leapt up to sit next to his trainer. She stroked him with a big smile. She knew she shouldn't have favourites, but...
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Keith watched as Kitty fed and petted her Pokemon. She was clearly devoted to them. Keith fished some food out of his pack and offered it to George, who grabbed it and ate quickly.

The group stayed seated for a while, and Keith found himself transfixed by the Eevee kits, as they ate and played. They each had they're own personality. George settled himself next to Keith, keeping a wary eye on the other Pokemon. He'd been wild for all his life, and associating with different Pokemon wasn't natural to him, but he was slowly becoming more comfortable around them. He was surprised when one of the Eevee kits tried to attack him. George dodged the attack easily, but the miniature Eevee wasn't giving up, jumping up at George. Eventually the Eevee got bored and wondered back to the others, allowing George to relax, and Keith to stop laughing.

Just as Keith was about to suggest they move along, he heard a commotion coming from behind a boulder. Curious, he went to take a peek around the corner, and saw a Machop fighting with an Azurill, although it wasn't much of a fight. The Azurill was getting pummeled, it's size and weakness to fighting type attacks (Keith remembered from his Pokemon encyclopedia) left it helpless in the face of such an onslaught.

It's just a Pokemon, thought Keith, they're wild, and this stuff happens. I shouldn't get involved.

But the Azurill shouldn't have been alone. Keith had heard of baby Pokemon being sent away from the group by their parents. It was part of the process to make them autonomous beings. But this wasn't right. This Azurill was too small, too young, and not ready for anything like this.

Keith could feel the anger rising in his chest again, and struggled to suppress it. He couldn't get this protective of weak Pokemon. He couldn't protect everything, he'd tried and failed once already, and he couldn't start with that again. But....

Ah to hell with it, thought Keith

"George!", he yelled, and George appeared at his side in an instant.

"Rock Throw at that Machop. Teach it a lesson"

George grabbed a nearby rock, throwing it at the Machop. He was getting better, his throws were much more accurate, and the Machop wasn't paying attention as it was. The rock soured through the air, and hit the Machop in the side of the head.

Bullseye, thought Keith, but his confidence was short lived. The Machop, far from going down as Keith had expected he would, mearly shook his head and turned his attention to George.

Before George or Keith could react, the Machop hit George with a Low Kick, and followed up the attack immediately with a crashing Karate Chop. George was sent crashing to the ground, smacking heavily on the hard floor, and looking clearly shaken from the attacks.

Right then, thought Keith, rock attacks are no good, and it seems George can't take a fighting attack very well. Keith began to worry. What if his protectiveness was going to do more harm than good here. But no time for that, just concentrate on the battle and give George all the help he can get. Rock is no good, so maybe it was time to try something new.

"George, Tackle, and then try a Magnitude!" Keith shouted. He knew George could do Magnitude, he had used one against the Tauros. But it hadn't been very effective. Keith just had to hope for better this time.

George flew headlong at the Machop. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened, but he knew damn well that he didn't want it to happen again, so he put everything he could into the Tackle. The contact was good, the Machop's attacks having left him too off balance to dodge it sufficiently. The Machop flew backwards, landing on it's bottom a meter from where it had been standing, but it was on it's feet almost immediately. But George wasn't watching this, he was trying to concentrate on the Magnitude. He knew how, but hadn't quite got the power yet. The ground began to shake, and the Machop did fall over again, but Keith new it was a 4 at best, and George was going to need more than that.

The Machop got to it's feet again, looking a little wobbly, but no where near out of this. He came again with the Low Kick, but this time George was able to fly up out of the way of the attack. Unfortunately, this led him straight into the oncoming Karate Chop, and this time George went hurtling across the cavern, eventually coming to rest against the far wall. He was down. Keith could see him fighting to keep himself alert, but he was passing out and there was nothing Keith could do. The Machop headed for him, clearly intent on finishing the job. As he raised his right hand, Keith could barely watch. He's been too stupid to know when George couldn't win.

But before the hand could drop, the Azurill was in the way. It was waving it's tail, and the Machop stopped and stared, transfixed at the Tail Whip, and momentarily losing interest in his other opponent. Keith new this was his only chance. Rock didn't work, and George was going out in a matter of seconds, whether the Machop hit him again or not. There was only one thing for it.

"George, Magnitude again, put everything you've got into it"

George could feel consciousness drifting away, he'd been knocked out before. But the master had given an order, and he was going to try all he could. The ground began to shake, gently at first, but this time with growing power. The Azurill stopped it's Tail Whip and scurried away from George. The floor began to shake more violently, and the Machop was thrown to the ground, and tossed around like a rag doll. It was a Magnitude 8, at the very least, and Keith couldn't help but feel some pride for George. But as he glanced at his companion, George's eyes finally closed, and he lay still. Keith knew he was out for the count.

The ground settled down almost immediatly, and Keith held his breath to see if the Machop would get up. The Machop was trying, you had to give it that. It raised itself up onto both arms, but, just a Keith was about to call Kitty for help, it collapsed and lay still. George had done it! With a little help of course. Keith looked around, and saw the Azurill peering at him from behind a rock.

"It's ok," he said, in a comforting voice, "I won't hurt you."

The Azurill tentatively came out from behind the rock and walked over the George, prodding him with it's tail.

"He can't play now, he needs to rest." said Keith, returning George to his ball.

Have a break mate, he thought to himself, you deserve it.

He walked back towards Kitty, shaking slightly, and was surprised to find the Azurill walking with him. He got out a Pokeball, but the Azurill shyed away at the sight of it.

"Ok little one. You can come with us if you want, but you're going to have to listen to me." said Keith. The Azurill looked reluctant, but kept following him none the less.

"Right," said Keith addressing Kitty, "shall we get going?"
Edited by Hodor, Jul 6 2012, 03:15 PM.
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Kitty instinctively opened her mouth to call for one of her pokemon to assist in fighting the Machop. Although she had much respect for the natural orders of pokemon in areas that contained no humans, she had always hated to see an unfair fight between wild pokemon and would usually jump at the chance to defend the weaker ones. Elliot had always been the one to chastise her for it, and after a while Saxen had joined in, but Scott and Kitty had always done it. She smiled slightly at the memory, and decided just to let George take care of it himself.

She watched the battle with a slightly tilted head, one hand restraining a squirming Tryce from joining the battle, the other tapping her forefinger against her chin to the rhythm of the battle. Keith definitely had a natural rhythm in his commands, like the pulling back and crashing of the tide. She would be able to utilise this if she had to defeat him. Although it was undeniably a strong and reliable tactic, there were gaps in the method.

She shook herself out of this when the battle was over, and felt her face spread into a smile as she watched the little Azurill and the Geodude interact.

"What a cutie!" she announced when Keith rejoined her, getting to her feet. Tryce twisted himself into a tiny ball of sulk, having missed out on all of the action, shooting minuscule glares over his tail. Kitty reached over to present a berry to the Azurill but it scurried backwards instead, blinking at her from behind a pebble. She laughed softly and stood straight again.

"Yes, let's go," she said. "Ready, my lovelies?" The Eevees 'vee'd their approval and scampered to her heels, Rocky trailing protectively behind them. "Lead the way," she said politely, gesturing towards the ramp to Keith.
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All right, so approvals, right?
Approved capture of Geodude.
Approved finding of Moon Stone.
1 BP to Tyr, Minos, and Freya.
3 BP to George.

I can't wait to see Tyr reach his potential.
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Keith led the way up the inclined walkway. As they ascended the surface of the path began to degrade, and the path narrowed so the group could only walk single file, hugging the wall of the cavern. Keith turned around to Kitty.

"So, why are we climbing this mountain? Not that I'm complaining, but I don't think there's a gym up top."

The Azurill was following them, trying to hide whenever they looked around, but not quite understanding that peaking from behind a rock wasn't very effective hiding. Keith had seen it try to pick up and hide behind a stone smaller than itself at least once.
Edited by Hodor, Jul 7 2012, 11:06 AM.
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((Hold onto your llamas, this is gonna get weird.))

Ahead of them in the darkness of the caves came the slow, steady breathing of something large and hostile. Beside it twinkled the eyes of a calculating mind. With the sweep of a cloak, the figure was gone; its pet lumbering behind.

Kitty squinted. She was sure she'd seen somebody move in the shadows up ahead, but nothing was there now, so she could have been mistaken. She chose to ignore it. Ignore it and it will go away.

"No, no Gym up here," she replied pleasantly, noting silently that Rocky's ears were twitching in confusion - could he sense other people as well? "There's a tribe of Blaziken somewhere near to the top. Tyr came from there. They're supposed to be really, really strong but Tyr's power hasn't been realised and I wonder if meeting his family could help him. He should really have evolved by now."

She shrugged, but the casual motion was cut short by her surprise as a man burst into view from a tunnel to the left, just in front of them at the top of the ramp. His head whipped wildly left and right and when he caught sight of the two of them, he started in shock.

"You're with them, aren't you?" he said, tripping over his words in his hurry to say them. Before Kitty could articulate her confusion, the man had released his pokemon of choice. Loudred. It stamped its feet and hollered, and Kitty took a second to curse her luck before nodding to Rocky to step in. Freya was playing with the kits. Rocky would take out this ridiculous pokemon the quickest so that it didn't have the chance to bring down the tunnel systems with its hyper voice.

"Loudred, knock them out so I can question them," the man said, sweat glistening on his forehead. Kitty could have pointed out the lack of necessity in this, but she chose instead to humour him. She'd knock him out and he would feel silly. Her mouth twitched as she waited for his first command.

"Upro-" he began, and Kitty shook her head.

"Hell, no," she interjected. "Quick Attack. We'll have none of that." Rocky tensed his muscles briefly and then sprang forwards, blurring almost into translucency as he shot towards the enemy. The Loudred opened its mouth to begin to scream down the caves, but the Eeevee smacked into its centre of gravity and they both went tumbling backwards to hit the wall. Rocky leapt off of him and bared his teeth, and the Loudred pushed itself to its feet.

"You'll kill us all, are you crazy?" Kitty addressed the panicking man. "You'll cause a cave-in if you make that thing shout."

He shook his head dismissively, but changed his tactic nonetheless. "Supersonic," he ordered. The attack was still sound-based, but much quieter.

"Dammit," she said under her breath, and then, "Toxic, straight in the mouth."

As the Loudred opened its gaping mouth to emit the painfully irritating noises, the Eevee spurted toxic ooze straight into the back of its throat, making it retch instead. The Eevee shook himself hard, always hating the way that attack tasted.

"Good, you're much faster. Sand Attack and Quick Attack away now." Kitty drummed her fingers on her hip as she watched, making sure her timing was perfect. It was all about timing.

The Eevee scrabbled sand into the opponent's eyes just as the Big Voice pokemon swung with meaty fists at him, hoping to Pound him into a pulp, but Rocky zipped away before the attack could connect, and watched as it whined and scrubbed at its now painful eyes.

Without an order from its master, the Loudred began to complain loudly, stamping its feet. Hyper Voice. Its trainer moved to stop it, but the attack was going now. Kitty could feel the ground shaking beneath her feet. In the distance, rocks skittered down the cave's walls. It really was going to cause a cave in. This system was too delicate.

"Stop it!" she called, but the trainer couldn't calm his pokemon. "Rocky, Iron Tail."

The Eevee shot forwards to cease the awful noises, tail glowing. He span on his heel, dust flying into the air, and slammed the Loudred hard across the arm. The opponent resisted, tail against forearm, and they struggled like that momentarily until Rocky pivoted to gain an advantage and knocked the Loudred backwards. At that, the Eevee span again the other way and knocked the pokemon out with a metallic tail to the head.

"Thank Arceus nothing went-" Kitty began. Behind them, rocks began to fall. An actual, real cave in. She couldn't remember the last time this had happened. Oh yeah, the last time she had had a pokemon battle in a confined space in a cave. "Move, again," she warned Keith, and ushered the kits away from the falling rocks on the pathway behind them.

The man squinted at them from tending to his Loudred, confused. "You're not...actually in Umbra, are you?" he asked sheepishly. Kitty rolled her eyes as rocks crashed down. "No, we're not. Move it!" The kits squealed in fright, but Rocky and Freya and Kitty together managed to get them out of harm's way. It seemed the falling rocks were constrained to that small area behind them, perhaps as if somebody had placed these loose rocks as some sort of trap. But who? And to what end?
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