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Old 04-10-2009, 12:38 AM   #101
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Originally Posted by Arc_Angel View Post
The Crypt

Music Box~ ~ The empty coffin made your heart fall into the pit of your stomach, the corpse couldn’t have crawled out of its own accord, could it? With Birdie trying to get your attention you draw your thoughts away from the impossible to find him standing in the shadows on the other side of the room. The corpse dressed in the clothes he was buried in gave a small smirk and you suddenly felt sick, goose bumps rising all over your skin. A dead man. A dead man standing before you watching you curiously. Your mind went into shock as it screamed ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ at you yet you knew that it wasn’t. This was Fredrick Charles you even yell it at him in terror as he bows his head slightly in acknowledgement his dead eyes looking at you in amusement. You stumble back pressing against the wall trying to get as far away from the cadaver as possible whilst muttering in fear, how was he still moving? Was he dead? He certainly looked it. Fredrick pushed off the wall he was leaning on walking with a little gait, his left leg had old bandages wrapped around it, he must have been injured when he was still alive. He walked towards you and you pray to whatever God was listening that he didn’t kill you all right there and then but this corpse seemed more interested in Louis. He approached the Aipom whom regarded him with a hint of recognition. Suddenly Fredrick burst forth laughing and picks up Louis spinning him around giving him and brief hug before holding him out at arms length.

“Louis, mon frere it has been too long.” He says looking overjoyed to see the monkey who seemed at ease in his presence.

“You travelled away such a long time ago, we all wondered where you could have possibly gotten to. There were no calls, no letters … though they wouldn’t have reached us down here. Still its good to see you again friend,“ he says placing Louis down the monkey looking perplexed.

“What is wrong Louis? You look like you don’t even remember me, how could you forget this handsome face?” Fredrick asks as Louis shuffles his feet.

“I ‘av forgotten a lot of thingz Fredrick. My mind feelz almost empty,” Louis says sighing as Fredrick looks pensive.

“Whatever did you do to forget about me? We were … no are the best of mates. Come on. You must remember the summer of 95, we left the Crypt and wrecked havoc on the Mansion, you spray painted funny faces everywhere and we were chased back by a group or irate Dusclops. That was a blast … do you not remember?”

Louis shakes his head no looking forlorn as Fredrick frowns.

“Whatever happened you’re back now, the gang will be surprised to see you. Lets go, I can’t wait to see their faces when they catch site of your furry butt,” he says laughing leading Louis away when he notices you still shaking against the wall Birdie looking interested at the walking dead man.

“Who’s the boy?” he asks and Louis looks back to you.

“Oh zee ‘uman. His bird ‘elped me out so I promised I’d give them a tour of zee cryptz, though itz not much good when you cannot remember their layout,” he sighed rubbing his head.

“Well then, if he and his penguin helped you then they’re good by my books. Hey kid, stop shaking already you’re rubbing the stone away,” he says laughing. “Come on, I’ll show you something better than any tour would,” he says beckoning you to follow. Walking through an archway with Louis following close behind Birdie starts to move to follow keen to see what Fredrick was going to lead you to but your feet would no follow suit. You were still in shock over the talking un-dead, and such a friendly one too. Birdie whines at your behaviour and pleads with you to stop being such a coward and come with. She walks off knowing that you’ll follow her at some point and as she disappears from sight leaving you alone surrounded by coffins … full of more dead people. How many more would pop up to say hi? Your legs suddenly feel loose again and you stumble after the party hoping to catch up to them before it was too late.

The group hadn’t gotten far and Fredrick was regaling Louis of stories from their past trying to draw some memory out but was not having much luck. Louis appeared to be enjoying hearing of his past however and urged the dead man to continue. Soon Fredrick turns into a small room that had no door leading away from it, just 4 walls comprising a square. You wonder what could possibly be in this room that was of interest and Fredrick catching your sceptical look grins walking over to the far wall. He places his hands on one of the stones and presses hard the stone moving inwards leaving an indent. He does this several times making an unusual pattern that seems to join on all 3 walls. Suddenly a piece of stone covers the exit and the walls rumble making the ground shake. You look about in awe as the walls begin to shift and open of their own accord, the stones moving in on themselves exposing what lay behind. It just looked like darkness but Fredrick seemed to know where he was going as he plunged head on into it Louis and Birdie following behind. You felt like the odd one out and walked into the darkness too feeling a strange dizziness overcome you as enter. Walking about you feel that your world is being thrown around and around and just as fall over you stumble forward into Birdie who squawks in shock looking as green as you. Fredrick and Louis were smiling at you looking unaffected. You could see some light up ahead; it appeared to be from below the ground line.

“Before we go any further you must be tested. Louis is trustworthy and though I do not doubt his judgement all must go through this who enter this place,” he says vaguely as you try to stop your vision from spinning.

“So what’s it to be boy, the test or shall we go back?” he asks bluntly, if you want to see this place you would have to go with Fredrick’s rules or you could let the coward in you win and head back up to the surface. If you did however you would lose your guide as Louis looked keen on staying with his old friend.
As Tim felt his mind quickly melt inside his skull, he had realized something very important, this whole visit had been filled with disasters. "From talking pokemon to living zombies, at this point there isn't anything worse that could happen right?" Tim thought as he his facial expression slowly transformed into a more calm, relaxed expression. Though Tim had witnessed some truly odd events, he could help but wonder why all these corpses were able to come to life. At this point, Fredrick turned to Tim and stated, “Before we go any further you must be tested. Louis is trustworthy and though I do not doubt his judgement all must go through this who enter this place.” Without even a thought, Tim confidently stated, "I'll take on any test you can throw at me, there's nothing worse that could happen here," Birdie's eyes lit up, filled with pride for her trainer. "So what's this test?" Tim asked.
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Old 04-10-2009, 10:47 AM   #102
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Originally Posted by Arc_Angel View Post
The Maze of Shrubbery

empoleon dynamite ~ This battle of emotions had just turned plain ugly now and you had seen more than enough. Ventress looked ready to annihilate her flowery foe whilst the Gloom looked like it just wanted to be left alone with its own pity and sorrow. Fearing another strike from the vicious vines that swathed this passageway and from Ventress’ with her impatience growing you yell in despair having reached the limit of your tolerance, startling both Pokemon. Ventress paused in her violent thoughts and turned to look at you with curiosity wondering what could have brought forth such an outburst. With new silence filling the air you take the opportunity to think on what to do next and decide that you needed another of your team to resolve this conflict. Sending out your little Shroomish Fungi looks around at the vine filled maze with interest but you quickly draw him to the task at hand. Fungi looks disapprovingly at the other grass Pokemon in his midst and Ventress pays him no heed not at all intimidated by his warnings. You ask Fungi to assist the Gloom who was crying on the ground absorbing bits of health back with its ingrain and the Shroomish is only happy to obey your orders, unlike Ventress. Pulling a Potion from your backpack and test it and see a spray of cool liquid leave its canister as Fungi approaches Gloom whispering comforting words.

Gloom looks up to you fearfully as you approach and Fungi is ready with his Spores should he need to use them but unbeknownst to you Ventress is standing behind you silently seething. This was her battle and you dared to stop it? She Recovered her energy and a slight amount of health as you ordered only because it was beneficial and observed your actions with disgust. This Gloom had initiated the attack and because of what? Because Ventress had appeased her violent tendencies on one of its kin. Ventress obviously felt no guilt towards the death she caused and as you spray the Potion on glooms skin she hisses in anger.

As you rub the healing spray across Gloom’s skin, the flower looking up with confusion you hear violent rustling from the bushes surrounding you. Stepping back in nervous anxiety you feel a vine whip out and lash across your hand holding the potion leaving a nasty red welt in its wake. Stumbling back you hold your hand and look around in horror wondering if the vines were finally going to take their frustrations out on you and take a defensive stance Fungi ready to protect you. Suddenly the vines rip forth of their bindings and unleash their fury upon the Gloom and you watch in horror as it screams in agony. Unable to act you see in a matter of moments that they have completed they’re attack leaving Gloom a bloody mess barely breathing. Ventress waddles up to you and you miss the satisfied look on her face at the state her opponent is in but Fungi does not and he growls at her in disgust. Level up for Ventress. You turn to your savage Lileep and notice that she looks stronger despite having not finished the battle and wonder how that occurred thankful for the break from your guilty thoughts. Ventress stares at Glooms body almost shining with pride for the state it was in and Fungi could barely hold back his anger, she should not be acting like this it was beyond hideous. A singular vine snakes out and you step back and watch as it wraps around Glooms body before dragging into the depths of the bushes and as it does so Ventress waddles off further down the path not at all fazed by what had occurred.

Left alone with memories of that horrific excuse of that battle and Fungi who was trying to console you, you begin to wish you had never chosen to come here. Though you had an idea of what horrors the Mansion and its ground might have had in store you didn’t want to believe it would have dragged you into them so soon. Lost in guilt and frustration you don’t notice Ventress slip around the corner but thankfully Fungi was on the ball today and pulled you out of your pity enough to alert you to her wandering off … again! Sighing you run off after even despite her actions she was still your Pokemon. Rounding the corner your thankful to see that she hasn’t gotten far in fact she’d stopped between two options the path splits off into looking pensive. As you approach she looks over to you as if asking for your opinion on which path to choose … that’s a first! Both paths look similar with nothing to separate one from the other and you wonder actually if it would have been a better idea to head back out of the maze altogether. As if sensing your thoughts a harsh wind comes from behind you and you turn to see the path disappearing, but wait … it almost looked like the vines and bushes were rushing forth towards you reaching out for you. The two paths ahead begin to rustle with activity the vines delicately waving back and forth as if enticing you forward and with the path behind you slowly swallowing everything in sight you’d better move fast or you’d end up the next victim of the maze.
Ushering toward the weary shrub with the upmost of caution, Wes tightened his clutch on the pale and lavender spray bottle, toggling the plastic trigger as it discharged a sample of the therapeutic vapour. In tow, the stubby little Shroomish bobbed beside the distressed Gloom. Wes presumed his presence would be somewhat reassuring for both of them amidst the daunting state of affairs. His reliability and cheerful disposition was a nice change of pace in contrast to the homicidal Ventress who the young trainer was beginning to doubt. An unthinkable unrelenting thought continued to pulse through Wes’ subconscious: should the primeval plant grow too unruly, he would have no alternative but to execute the plant, a job which would by no means be easy. Although the trainer had attempted to steer Ventress away from her unruly stance, the shrub had shown she was far darker than he’d anticipated. It was only a matter of time before she unleashed her wrath onto one of his motley others, and with the animosity to defeat a Gloom at her level proved she would find no difficulty in such a massacre. As Wes aimed the bottle inches away from one of Gloom’s foremost grazes, he warranted close attention to the rearward menace, not a single shuffle of the spiteful Lileep would go unnoticed.

Unbeknownst to his receptors however, Ventress’ eyes boiled a scarlet hue as she rubbed her tentacles feverishly. Despite her disobedient attitude toward Wes, her crooked view on the situation told her it was Gloom’s fault, and toxic shrub deserved to be disciplined for its actions. Now dealing with the ‘enemy’, Wes was no better than that pathetic little plant and deserved an equal penalty for his disgraceful conduct. Her frenzy merely heightened as Wes amply sterilized the gushing wounds with the chemical steam. The Gloom clenched as the blanket of medicine left her with a bitter sting; nonetheless she remained surprisingly submissive leaving Fungi with a gratified smirk. Ventress on the other hand used her own energy to recover, her coat switching to a glossy shimmer as the few wounds she withheld began to replenish. Hissing with a flood of antagonism, misunderstanding and envy, she twitched frantically with a spasm of pure disgust. Whether this behaviour was natural or some sort of amplification from the eerie auras echoing throughout the labyrinth was anyone’s guess. Facing the purple plant as Wes desperately treated the weary shrub, Fungii’s expression switched to one of shock himself. Nonetheless, the little Shroomish retained his timid nature, ignoring signs of a possible attack and allowing his low self-esteem to shy him back to his trainer’s side.

“We’re almost finished Gloom, stay close and we’ll help you back to your colony”, Wes uttered softly, contently downing the shrubs spotty red petals in the last few drops of the potion. Massaging the liquid into its smooth coat, Wes ears prickled to another uneasy rustle rearward of the trio. Glancing at one another, the adolescent and his stubby Shroomish both had a strong inkling to the source of the violent clamour. Startled to his feet, Wes yelped as a green belt whipped around his wrist with a piercing crack before recoiling into the tattered hedges. With the spray bottle making a hollowly rattle as it landed on the vine-riddled floor, Wes gritted in ache as his liana left a throbbing crimson streak across the trainer’s upper limb. Keeling backward as he latched onto his throbbing wrist, he gave Ventress a rather vacant look as his eyes persisted to welt. She replied with an equally vacant shrug, seamlessly befuddled by the sudden flash of ferocity herself. Suddenly bounding wayward, Fungii amply rolled sideways and ahead of Wes’ feet. His coy stance switched to a semi-confident show of guard to his partner, the rim of his round head glowing with yellow spores which he was prepared to promptly discharge. Although regaining some poise, Wes keeled over once more as the startling flurry of branches ripped across the narrow corridor once more. Grasping a hold of the defenceless shrub, the ripped at her tender limbs and lashed her bruised casing. Wes covered his mouth in complete awe-shock as they lashed open bloody scabs and hacked her with great animosity, the depressed plant blaring in agony. Fungii was blaring in panic, nestling behind Wes’ leg and whimpering in trauma. After a few unbearable moments of harsh beating, Wes was somewhat relieved to see the vines shoot back into their original bindings. Looking upon to bloody corpse of the wheezing Gloom, Wes felt a lump in his throat develop which only contributed to his phobia of the sea-green ambiance. Although quite surprised herself, the primeval shrub toddles ahead of the group and above the flower’s lifeless body. Much to Fungii’s disgust, her face overcame with a smug grin amidst the massacre of the innocent plant. Releasing a plucky growl, the stubby toadstool grew cross as she replied with nothing less than an unfazed snigger, she looked suspicious stronger for some reason. Size had once again become a downturn of the meagre mushroom...

Suddenly, Fungii released a second bark, much gruffer than the previous. Wes lowered his head in disbelief as the fungus flickered a luminous white. In what was a shocking metamorphosis, the white silhouette smoothed into a much rounder mushroom, the small nubs that jutted on his body dissipating. The two stubby lower limbs started to stretch and broaden, finally unveiling themselves from beneath Fungii’s spotty dress. Lileep was dazed that the Pokémon had outgrown her stature, watching intently as two stubby claws grew from either side of the blinding figure, a duo of knobs amply following on his broad and flattened cap. Finalising the drastic evolution, a thin tail stretched from his rear and above the toadstool’s head, sprouting at its tip. Shaking off the white glow, an impressive Breloom made itself known to the world by emitting a stern howl somewhat similar to an adolescent Velocaraptor. Wes gawked in amazement as the mushroom-reptilian began doling a fury of punches into thin air with his scarlet claws and club-like appendage, testing out his newfound combat abilities. Above all else, his cheery demeanour remained intact, revolving ahead of Wes and embraced him warmly. Whilst the duo was thrilled at Fungii’s newfound stature, Ventress found it ever more reason to be enraged.

“Look’s like you’ll be tougher than ever!” Wes cheered as he petted the toadstool who warmly rumbled in response, “But it’s important we move this Gloom to a safer place before it’s too lat-“In mid-sentence, the wallowing vines suddenly became animate again, one of the lianas coiling around the flower’s leg and heaving it into the cluttered hedge-plants. Wes’ quick moment of happiness was abruptly cut short for another season of panic. As soon as Gloom disappeared into the leafy abyss, the unfazed Ventress hastily waddled away from the blood-spattered vista much to Wes’ dismay. Was something going on which he didn’t know about? Wes sighed away from his thoughts and upped his pace to prevent any further harm to the innocent creatures of the overgrown maze. At least the change of pace was bringing them ever nearer to an outlet of the rotten backdrop. Fungii bounded ahead of Wes, taking advantage of his fresh appearance by bounding ahead with lengthy strides. The therepod howled to his master upon reaching another angle which Ventress had swiftly toddled from. Breathing heavily as he sprinted in tow, Wes found upon stopping they’d reached another crossroad. But as the kid panted for breath, he noticed Lileep waiting with baited breath for his opinion Oo; As with everything in the rotten maze, neither path seemed any less alluring than the other. He could take a random lunge, or alternatively use his head for once. He’d come from an affluent family, and his daddie’s manor contained a finely trimmed labyrinth which was slightly similar to this one. Reminiscing on the very few occasions he’d spent with his father, which he could surprisingly tally in one hand, he retained some repressed information from deep in his subconscious.

“To make sure you don’t go back on yourself in a labyrinth, you need to stick to the left side of the wall”, Wes announced. Lileep raised her eyebrow inquisitively, being the only other intelligent species in range. The trick did work, but certainly not in a place where openings and closings would alternate spontaneously. Nonetheless it would make the navigation process dramatically slower, but it was the only option they had. Gulping heavily, Wes steered left with the two shrubs closely behind.
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Old 04-10-2009, 12:11 PM   #103
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The Mirror Door

fishyfool ~ Lying on the cold hard floor with your life’s essence steadily trickling from you all you can think about is the pain Yakuza is suffering. With your blood slowly leaving you it was hard to think straight but you mind was focused solely on one thing, eliminated that wretched Snake. Yakuza was concerned for you ignoring his frozen wing and cawed wanting you to take care of your own wound first. Pushing his concern away you reach for another Pokeball and release its occupant, a very large Golem that roars and flexes her muscles. She looks to thank you for the freedom and her eyes widened as she spots your injured state and that of Yakuza. Your gaze is drawn to something in front of her and turning around she sees what she assumes to be the cause of your states and clenches her fists in anger. Yakuza’s pride feels knocked as he spots his help in the battle but as he moves his wings and feels the sharp pains running through it he realistically realises it was a good decision. Arbok hisses at the intruder to its battle and slithers back looking slightly anxious, your Golem after all was a lot larger than the bird it had just been annihilating. With Penance’s bulky form standing as a hefty protective wall before you, you feel calmer and more assured that you could swing this battle back in your favour hopefully with enough time to stabilise your bleeding wound and heal Yakuza.

Quickly uttering orders to your duo Yakuza begins to breathe deep summoning yet more fire energy in his mouth but in his pained state he’s far too slow and Arbok has already begun to glow Stockpiling energy for later rather wisely. Yakuza breathes out the molten hot bubbles as he finishes charging holding wing forward allowing the heat to melt off parts of the ice. Arbok slithers out of the way the unnaturally hot bubbles bursting on the mirror behind the snake heating the glass. Arbok sniggers and Swallows its energy healing a portion of its heath in the process. Yakuza is beginning to pant, the energy required to perform these high impact moves are taking its toll on him but regardless he flaps his wings, the left one now nearly entirely free from ice and manages to fly despite the pain and begins to glow with white energy. Arbok hisses and spits out a glob of Acid that flies towards Yakzua and still gathering energy he’s an open target. Luckily Penance has seen enough and leaps up taking the Acid on her own body the poisonous gloop hardly inflicting any pain and the ground shakes as she lands sending cracks through the remaining mirrors. Yakuza begins to fly upwards with what room there is Arbok keeps its eyes on him and misses the freight train that is Penances charging towards it and ramming it full force into the broken mirror behind it making it shriek in pain. Penance rolls out of the way in time for Yakuza to slam into Arbok with his Sky Attack forcing the mirrored snake into the wall in a huge dent. Arbok hisses weakly and swings its tail glowing with aquatic energy into Penance making her roar and stumble back the surprise attack really leaving her smarting. Arbok tries to slither away but Yakuza summons the hidden Pyschic powers deep within him once more holding the snake still but you can clearly see it’s taking a great effort and Yakuza is struggling loosing energy fast. Penance is quick to recover though and pulls her fist back and charging towards Arbok slams her Thunderpunch right into its face the electricity crackling over its mirror-like skin deep cracks appearing all over its body.

It appears that Arbok won’t take much more of a beating and Yakuza hasn’t much energy left to perform any strong attacks, he’ll be lucky if he can fly again so soon with the pain in his wing. Penance is full of energy and ready to crush the pathetic creature, all she needs is the order to.


With Yakuza's pride dented, and the bird's pain evident, Penance needd no explanation to keep her master and ally covered as she blocks the acidic assault the serpent launched after its energy to health conversion, while the Honchkrow's painful actions cost him his own vitality. Although also injured, Jamie watched, holding his sleeve tightly round the wounded leg to stem the blood as Yakuza took flight after some effort, and his heart sank a little upon seeing the state of pain his pokemon was in. Fortunately he had expected his pokemon to be hurt in battle and had a stock of some healing items, but withheld action to aid Yakuza until he was completely sure that he didn't become a chew toy once more. The very sound of Golem smashing Arbok into a wall before moving for Yakuza to barrel into it made him wince, and upon noticing the Aqua Tail, thanked a random deity that Golem were naturally physically defensive, in spite of the type advantage water possessed over the beast. As Yakuza slowly flit back, pain in every flap, Jamie nodded solemnly before looking over towards Penance.

"Yakuza, you've done well against this bugger, so just hold back for now and support Penance with a screech to disorient Arbok for Penance. Once she's moved away, confound the worm with a confuse ray and get away if it comes for you, pecking if it gets too close for comfort. Penance, before Yakuza screeches, get into a defense curl and proceed to rollout into Arbok before rolling back for that confuse ray to hit. Regardless of the success, finish him with earth power."

Two nods, one slower than the other, answered Jamie as he felt the bleeding ease slightly, and wondered deeply if his pokemon lost in the place were faring as well as he was.

'God, I just want the guys back here so we can exorcise this fiend together...'
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Old 04-11-2009, 10:10 PM   #104
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The Laboratory

lilbluecorsola ~ With Sam in a confused stupor you were thankful that Gumpy had finally woken, even if it was from errant attack of the ‘heroic’ Gengar. Both Golbats were now famished and it was making their attacks more erratic and frantic, urgency written all over their faces. Gumpy was fighting strong and his opponents had taken some nasty moves whilst he’d been napping, hopefully he could take them out and allow Abra-droid to finish its analysis. The Golbats have yet to notice that Gumpy had awoken and was the largest threat here, they were still focused on the Gengar that had given them the most grief. The Male Golbat having the most energy left Bit into Sam’s shoulder making him cry out in pain and claw at the offending creature managing to grasp him in his claws. He stares confused at the bat that was wiggling like crazy and sniffed it before grinning and Licking him again making the bat shriek in pain and Sam spits in disgust at the horrid taste, it had looked so nice in his hands but … eww!

Gumpy watching this with a slight amount of amusement sees your expectant gaze and breathes out several pink bubbles that float throughout the room towards the trio at the far end. The Female Golbat is unable to fly out of the way with her damaged wing and a bubble pops on her skin making her drowsy all of a sudden. The Male Golbat manages to avoid the pink bubbles but Sam giggles upon seeing the beautiful pink clouds and floats over hugging as many as he can get his hands on all of them popping on his skin making him yawn.

“Clouds make Sam sleepy,” he exclaims smiling at you and he looks so cute full of innocence in this state, but it was hardly helping you. Gumpy fills the room with a thick Smog that brings back a tickle to your throat but soon the your vision is completed obscured by the cloud. In the confined spaces it starts to spread towards you and you cough heavily the poison making you feel sick. Gumpy panics and tries to wave some of the cloud away but was having no luck.

“5 minutes remaining” you hear through the smog and it sounds though the gas hasn’t affected Abra-droid at least that was some good news. Even with reduced vision this cloud wasn’t affecting the Male Golbat who was wide awake and searching for his meal. Hearing your coughing he easily found you and you cry out in pain as its fangs find your arm and bite down sucking the blood their it’s eyes turning a red with the blood lust. Gumpy grabs the bat and tries to dislodge it from your arm but with renewed strength it wasn’t letting go. Backing off he gave you an apologetic look before powering up his Ice Beam the energy hitting your arm and the bat head on freezing the creature in place. You look horrified at the Golbat now sealed to your arm and with the weight drop to the ground shattering the ice with the impact. The Golbat crawls off badly injured from the attack and you shiver in pain the extreme cold having purged your system, you were lucky to not have gotten frost bite. Gumpy rubs your arm to warm it and looks like he’s about to cry for the extra pain he caused you, you’re just thankful to have the bat off you. With both bats incapacitated you hope that the timer will count down to 0 and you’ll have the cure for your disease.

You can hear the soft sound of snores coming from the middle of the smog and assume that both Golbat and Sam have fallen asleep due to the Yawn and sit down waiting for Abra-droid to finish its analysis.

“Analysis complete! Compiling results.” the droid announces and you smile for the first time, you felt a thrill of hope. The vents in the room have started to draw away the smog thankfully, you weren’t sure how much more abuse your body could take when you spot a lumbering form approaching you. Sam was still awake and he was making his way over to you! He sees you shivering as Gumpy tries to warm your injured arm.

“Is Jess cold? I’ll help my beautiful,” he says grinning holding up an arm that ignites with flame. In that moment it felt like time stood still. You scream no but he was still too confused to listen and your eyes widen in absolute horror as his Fire Punch ignites the remaining Smog causing a massive explosion that fills the room blowing out the small window pane of glass and throwing you into the wall with Gumpy following. Sam shrieked as his body was set alight and he hurtled through the wall only to land next to you unconscious smoke rising from his body and soon after you pass out.

Waking up you feel a cold spray of water from the labs sprinklers cooling down your skin. Holding up your arms you see a long burn up the right one and the fang marks on the left with a mild burn on the left hand. That appeared to be the only damage you took apart from the bruised spine and head from the force of the explosion. Gumpy was lying over your legs his back covered in a large burn that he took protecting you; he was unconscious but breathing normally thankfully. Sam lay next to you most of his body marred with blackened marks his arm which had started the inferno useless as its burnt right down to the ghostly bones with little tendrils of purple flesh remaining, the sight makes your stomach churn. You had been thrown right through to the main lab and the doctors room looked obliterated. You feel tears run down your eyes as you push Gumpy off you enough to drag yourself into the ruins. Both Golbats had been incinerated; their charred remains huddled together in a picture of morbid love. Looking up to where Abra-droid had been you choke back the tears as you see it in pieces, its head in the far corner of the room, its right half of its body opposite and the rest remained in place.

What are you going to do now? Perhaps there is a chance you could salvage something from the remains but the manual went up in flames with the rest of the room.
For the moment, none were paying attention to her or Gumpy’s awakening. The bats circled Sam, still miffed by his previous harassment. The male descended, sinking his teeth into Sam’s gaseous shoulder, causing a cry of pain. The ghost grappled his assailant, and seized the struggling Golbat in a firm hold. As Sam stared at the squirming creature, he curiously sniffed the quarry, a grin lighting onto his face as he stuck out his tongue and sampled the poor beast once more like it was a tempting piece of candy. Only the candy wasn’t sweet, apparently, as Sam immediately spat in revulsion, releasing his prey to fly horrified to the ceiling.

Gumpy observed the show with bemusement, though his trainer was too frazzled and frustrated at this point to appreciate the humor of the situation. She wearily nudged the Swalot to remind him, and he looked at her and nodded. His mouth stretched far open wide, mildly releasing a yawn in the shape of several spongy orbs, like pink bubblegum. They strayed to the far end of the room where Sam and the bats unsuspectingly hovered, enclosing drowsily on the three targets. Both Golbat soon realized the terror of dreams and tried to escape, but the female’s injured wing weighed her down, leaving her skin exposed to the gentle tap of a soft narcotic cloud. The male carefully weaved a way through the mist of sleep, breaking free into the realm of consciousness. Meanwhile, Sam giggled as he spread his reach towards the shining spheres, hypnotic jewels, like sparkling Christmas tree ornaments. Gathering somnolence in his hands, embracing sleep, he gradually became.

“Clouds make Sam sleepy,” he murmured, voice fading, smiling quietly at Jessica. For a moment, his face was purely sweet and innocent, almost charming. …Not that it helped matters.

She coughed. Her throat felt irritated, and she realized Gumpy was proceeding with her request to envelop the room in a thick cage of fog, also poisonous. Jessica suddenly panicked, realizing her mistake. She had forgotten how confined the current space was, and the tendency of a gas to satiate its container to capacity. Backing against the wall, she motioned for Gumpy to discontinue the atmospheric pollution between worsening coughs. The Swalot immediately understood, swallowing the accumulation in his throat as he hurriedly tried to waft the cloud away from his trainer. Alas, his efforts were to no avail.

“5 minutes remaining.”

She heard through the screen. She squinted, eyes tearing from the acrid sting. Despite her efforts to avoid breathing, the noxious fumes were seeping deep into her throat, forcing her to choke. The male Golbat heeded her hacking and swooped eagerly through the black haze, his fangs viciously penetrating the skin of her arm. She screamed in shock and pain as she flailed her punctured limb frantically, watching in horror as the unrelenting parasite’s eyes swelled red with indulgence, swimming in her own vital blood. Gumpy caught the flapping monster and desperately tried to extricate him, but the harder he insisted the fiercer the Golbat held fast, repossessing vitality and strength from his victim with each passing second.

With no other options left it seemed, Gumpy backed away and glanced apologetically at his trainer. Before she could understand, he abruptly launched a frozen beam at her wrist, encasing both it and the adjoining vampire in a carapace of ice. Gasping at the sudden heaviness and cold (not to mention the horrifying image of a bloodsucker soldered to her skin), she allowed the appendage to plummet freely to the floor, smashing the ice into infinite pieces against the stone. Upon release, the Golbat woke in an instant daze, shivering and shaking its head before crawling feebly away, as Jess lay back and shuddered from both the chill and the horror. Gumpy shuffled ruefully towards the girl, gently massaging her limb to try to restore warmth and maneuverability. She sighed, quietly resting her uninjured hand on his head to tell him that it was fine, he had made the right decision.

“Analysis complete! Compiling results.”

The Abra-droid suddenly and opportunely announced, prompting a faint smile from her at last. With the room still at last, she could hear the soft whir of an automatic ventilator somewhere towards the ceiling, operating quietly to aerate the environment and remove contaminants, designed to prevent the underground atmosphere from growing muggy and stale. As she breathed easier, hope slowly began to well up within her heart. Perhaps everything could turn out all right after all…

A shape moved, parting silently through the half-raised curtain of miasma. It was Sam. He detected her shivering, and his eyes, as if unhinged from his expression, slid down off his face almost to the floor, dangling at the image of Gumpy squatted beside her, still trying to warm her frozen arm. A strange, unfocused smile curled onto the ghoul’s visage.

“Sam?”

The smile widened.

“Is Jess cold? I’ll help my beautiful.”

His arm lifted, and the time seemed to grind abruptly to a halt. Thoughts, perception, motion, space, continuance, reality – everything in abeyance. All that existed for her was his hand, a mere faded shadow suspended in the air, hovering threateningly before her anchored eyes. It was like staring at a photograph, a held pose for a snapshot. There wasn’t enough light to expose the image, to freeze this single moment forever…

“SAM, NO…”

It was too late. There was an intense burst of artifical light, blinding her, followed by flame. She screamed, unable to hear herself over the sound of the explosion, the blowing out of glass and her mind. Her body flung against the wall, followed by painful cracking as she felt a heavy weight thrust forcibly into her abdomen, squeezing the air from her ribs. Collapsed, lying on the floor, numb with pain, she could no longer think or feel. The world was made of grief and darkness, descriptions fading, consumed by shadows.

Without remorse, blackness overtook her vision.



She woke some time later to a calm shower, cool, light raindrops falling from the ceiling, soothing her skin. She blinked, staring in silence up at the sprinklers, which had kicked on sometime during her absence of thought to quench the blaze. For a while, she couldn’t remember what this place was called, or why she was here, or why her body was in so much pain.

Gradually, the memory seeped back into her brain, through fragments and images slowly pieced together. This was the Lab, and she was here to find a cure for the illness that she contracted in Vestige Town. There were bats and blood, and then an explosion…

As she grew more aware of the source of her affliction, she lifted her arms, slowly, examining her injuries. On her right, a long burn mark stretched across the limb; on the left lay two puncture wounds and a minor burn on the back of her hand. Aside from that, her head and back ached tremendously. Hopefully she didn’t have a concussion, she thought grimly as she agonizingly tried to sit up.

There was a weight spread across her legs, which turned out to be Gumpy’s bruised and battered form. As soon as she saw him, she had to desperately choke back tears. There was a huge burn completely covering the skin on his back; he must have received it while trying to protect her. She reached forward, scared to touch him. A terrified moment of waiting and silence: at last she calmed slightly when she noticed his regular breathing, breathing easy in turn and cautiously withdrawing her hand.

She turned her head: Sam was lying next to her, his shadowy form blackened further by scorches all along his arm, the unknowing fount of all this destruction. It was charred and blistered all the way down to its skeletal frame, wraithlike tendrils of purple flesh barely clinging to the bone. She covered her mouth and closed her eyes, suppressing the terrible urge to vomit.

Gazing around, she realized that the blast must have been powerful enough to propel her entire body straight out of the room and into the center of the main lab. The door to the alcove was missing, obliterated into splinters and an empty frame.

Tears ran down her cheeks; they stung with misery as they seeped into the gashes and cuts on her skin. Wiping them away, she strained heavily to persuade the Swalot’s cataleptic weight off her legs, but her arms were practically too weak to move. Stopping, she reconsidered. Moving her hand, she gently extracted her Pokéballs from his grip. The removal was made slightly easier by his lifeless clutch, though even in his sleep the adhesive residue on his skin held tirelessly fast to its property. Finally she managed to wrest the six devices from his grasp. Tapping one, she silently recalled him, whispering a heartfelt apology to his absence before she pocketed the sphere.

She half-dragged herself towards the room, peering sadly through the asymmetrical doorframe at the destruction that lay within. Everything was in ruin; furniture thrown against the wall, broken cabinets and shelves dangling from their studs. The floor was riddled with glass, making the thought of crossing treacherous. Using the frame as leverage, she staggered to her feet, her supports wobbling like jelly as she slowly stepped into the room.

In the center of the stone floor, amidst the ornamental shards of glass, lay the charred remains of the two Golbat, their blended silhouettes left behind only vague imprints, shadows. The glass circled the unified couple like scattered rice and flower petals, romantic blessings. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, ‘til death do us part…

Tears in her eyes, she gazed expectedly towards the spot where the Abra-droid had been. Miraculously, half of the machine had somehow managed to survive the explosion; the rest was in pieces, its head was completely blown off, lying in a corner of the room, its right half opposite.

She swayed on her feet, and everything went completely dark. It was like a split-second blackout, a sudden and total loss of feeling. Dear God, this can’t be happening. I didn’t mean to cause this. I never meant to hurt anyone. I didn’t mean… To kill…

She sank against the wall, her body shaking uncontrollably. All of a sudden, she began to laugh.

“Hah… Aha ha ha! Aha ha ha ha!”

This is insane. It can’t be real. This must be a dream. This…

“Ah ha ha… Ha…”

This is…

She broke, into sobs.

She stayed there, crying, for how long. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe, everything was falling apart. Her hopes, her dreams, her efforts. …What was the point? Every time she tried, she always ended up hurting someone else. Maybe she would simply be better off dead.

Then just do the world a favor and get it over with.

She lifted her head from her knees. Her hair, already drenched from the sprinklers, was plastered to her swollen face by her tears. Her eyes rested on the shards of glass lying on the ground, evidence of a window, an escape. She never knew it existed before.

She remembered a film she saw once. In it, there was a woman in an insane asylum. At one point, her husband was trying to break down the door to stop her from killing herself. She was holding a piece of glass, from a mirror. She was holding it like it was a treasure, like it was her child…

Jessica couldn’t remember past that. She knew the woman used the glass to commit suicide, but already she cringed at the thought of stabbing it somewhere into her skin (oh god, maybe it was her neck), or slicing her vein carefully and bleeding out slowly from within. She wasn’t strong enough to remember something like that.

What she remembered now, most of all, was how she had held the glass. Caressing it, soothing it, smiling down at the reflection so affectionate and understanding as if it were a dear friend. “Cradling” something precious – Jessica first understood what that word meant when she witnessed that scene.

What am I doing here, really? I wondered. What exactly am I trying to accomplish? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t fucking know…

You can’t give up. Yes I can. No, you can’t. I don’t care anymore. Yes, you do. No. Yes. Stop. Do. Do not. Don’t…

Who are you talking to?

Are you my light, or my shadow? My future or my past?

It doesn’t matter. I’m you. Listen to me.

But…

What was the promise?

Which one? There were many. How do I choose which one to follow?

You promised them, didn’t you?

…

If you die here, what will happen to them? Who will take care of them?

My friends…

You are their trainer. I love them like no other. That cannot be replaced.

If for nothing else, then I will at least live for them.

Don’t forget, you owe it to that person as well to keep trying.

So get the fuck up off the floor already and try again.

She stood, slowly, unsteadily, supported by the wall rather than her will. Her breathing was still shallow. She bit her lip, and determinedly pushed away, teetering aimlessly towards the desk. Grabbing onto the table as a brace, she breathed deeply once more, composing herself. She noticed a bright object by her foot, its image blurred by the leftover tears in her eyes. Lifting her glasses and wiping her sleeve across her face, she bent down and stared at the object, watching its lines sharpen into focus.

It was a keychain. The item it attached to was blue and white, a pattern she recognized. She smiled sadly, picking it up, cradling the Corsola in the palm of her hand. Rising, she wandered around the side of the desk and found most of her belongings strewn over the floor, though amazingly almost everything was still intact. The desk must have luckily shielded her possessions from the explosion. Even her backpack was safe, though covered in debris and tiny bits of glass.

She took off her sweatshirt and used it to carefully brush off all the fragments. Then, kneeling down, she spent some time gathering all the effects that she could locate together. She sorted them carefully into piles and packed them away in exacting order. Finally, when everything was stored away, she reluctantly turned her eyes away, gazing halfheartedly around the room. There was nothing else she could do to waste time, to take her mind off the situation. Now she had to firmly decide what her next step should be.

A thought occurred to her, and she unzipped her bag again, hunting through. She found what she was searching for much more promptly this time thanks to her recent organization. While unfortunately she didn’t think to purchase a Full Restore, she did possess one Full Heal. Standing, she carried it back into the main lab. Kneeling beside Sam, she silently administered the medicine to his BURNt arm. Drawing back, she grimaced; visibly, the remedy didn’t seem to cause any noticeable difference. She could only hope that it would reduce some of the pain when Sam eventually woke up.

She sighed, wondering if she should be angry at him. In the end, she was far more pissed at herself. They had both contributed by their monumentally stupid mistakes, but at least he had the license to plead insanity, if it ever came to trial. She could not afford such an excuse, nor did she care to vindicate herself.

Returning to the shattered room, she stared with defeat at the vast destruction, and suddenly she longed to lose herself amidst the chaos. Shaking her head, she crossed over the glass towards the remains of the robot, pausing when she reached the remains of her foes. Biting her lip, she muttered, “I’m sorry”, and hastily moved on.

As Jessica approached the robot, she wasn’t sure what she expected to find. But then, she had never been precisely confident of what she was searching for, even after all this time, all the years of simply wondering and dreaming, never any conclusions. Maybe it didn’t matter. As long as she found something to prove the world to herself, then she was satisfied.
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Old 04-15-2009, 07:25 AM   #105
Pearl's Perap
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Originally Posted by Arc_Angel View Post
The Playground

Pearl’s Perap ~ You felt sick to your stomach at the vile games this Alakazam was playing. Witnessing your beloved Shane’s tortuous death was one thing but now you were left with the ravenous hoards of Mightyena who felt and looked very real. It all broke down in a matter of seconds as the beasts charged at you mouths salivating at the smell of your flesh and you only just escape the first two. Your mind was screaming that this couldn’t be real, another vision like the last but as one sunk its dirty fangs into your calf and white hot pain rushed through your body your mind began to falter in that decision. Lying on the ground where they knocked you in their frenzy you pant from adrenaline and fear unable to move. As your body begins to acknowledge the pain further and your mind is pulled from its shocked state you try dragging yourself away from the hoard who were snapping at one another caught in the blood lust. One Mightyena even rips the throat out of another the spray of blood shooting into the night sky a few blood drops raining down on you as they feast on their kin.

Your mind felt safe with the knowledge that this was a vision and nothing more, it wasn’t real even if it felt so. This thought dulled the shock and allowed you to think clearly for a moment. Maybe if you closed your eyes and convinced your body to stop imagining the pain it would all be over. Running forward now totally blind you pray that this vision would stop but you hear the howls cut through the air and the sound of frantic paws pounding the ground. Tears ran down your cheeks as you panicked again and you felt a heavy weight suddenly hit your back throwing you to the ground. Struggling under the heavy lump on top of you and daring to open your eyes fear you hold back a scream as you see a Mightyena pinning you to the ground. Its hot fetid breath was right by your face as it licked a trickle of blood that ran from a gash on your head that must have occurred when you fell. Roaring it pulls its head back ready to rip your throat out and you brace for the inevitable when the mangy dog is knocked off you bay another. Crawling away before rushing to your feet you try to limp away when a Mightyena leaps in front of you and jumps at you slashing your right side with its claws ripping open the skin drawing rivers of blood. Gasping in agony you stumble forward clasping at your side feeling your head spin and cry out as a force knocks your other side throwing you back down to the ground causing you to break your ankle from the angel of impact. Screaming in pain you breathe in hasty gasps feeling your vision swim, your little body couldn’t take much more of this. Pleading mentally for Alakazam to return and stop this you feel immensely sick and promptly vomit on the ground. Covered in blood, dirt, vomit and tears you go into shock and no longer feel the teeth sinking into your legs, arms, back … neck. You can see their yellow eyes but soon they begin to fade away into darkness and soon a pair of turquoise ones replace them filled with compassion.

’Hold on little one, this nightmare will be over soon. You just need to hold on …’ its voice begins to fade and you sigh one last breath.

’Wake up slave’ a voice yells in your mind and you wince, where had that pleasant voice gone. What voice was this … was it Alakazam? Opening your eyes you find yourself lying on the cold hard floor before in that room again. Swathed in shadows sat on the large ornate chair like a throne the woman stared at your shivering form with disinterest, her silver eyes thankfully hidden. Alakazam like a royal subject stood by her side sneering down at you. Picking yourself up off the ground you look for injuries only to find yourself in near perfect condition, had it been a vision after all?

“That was no vision,” her cold voice spoke out making you wince, had she read your mind?

“This was only a light punishment for your disobedience, persist and you will experience much worse,” she said and you wonder what could be worse than that?

“So you do not forget child, a reminder of what your rebel behaviour brings to you,” she says and you wince loosing stability in your leg and pull up your jeans to see a scar from the first bite you took, it looked ragged and poorly healing.

“Now you must continue your work,” she finishes leaning back in her chair as Alakazam teleports behind you and warps you back to the warehouse before disappearing again. The children all look o your dishevelled state with pity and fear and wonder what you would do next. Amy hugged her arms to her chest as tears came to her eyes, she was the one who brought you here after all whilst Shawn shook his head his eyes asking if you were alright. It seems that you’ll have to work other wise endure another punishment, and after the last one it seemed far from wise for your health and sanity.
After undergoing the most traumatic of visions, courtesy of the sinister Alakazam, Zak couldn't help but dread what was to potentially come in the playground and its surrounding areas. With the Mightyena disappearing and a set of turquoise eyes, accompanied by a comforting voice appearing, he felt much more at ease, whether they were fake dark pokémon or not, they were still completely terrifying. Not moving, a voice jerked Zak out of his state of thought, it sounded like the Alakazam from before and he was right. Awakening on the floor of the room he was in previously, his heart sunk deep into his stomach once more. Gathering himself together and standing up, he noticed that the majority of the injuries sustained in the field had completely vanished, it was only a bad vision.

"That was no vision." the woman's chilling voice came from behind him, as if she was reading his mind as he thought these matters over and over. After explaining that the Mightyena attack and Shane the Shuppet being completely torn apart were merely 'light punishment' for his action, Zak gasped. If that was what this woman classed as light punishment, he dreaded to think what would happen if he was to step out of line again. As the boy watches the woman, her searing eyes look to his leg where the initial pokémon bite still seems to be located, healing badly. "Now you must continue your work" the woman finishes, relaxing into her regal chair before the psychic pokémon steps in once more, grabbing at Zak and teleporting him back to the work sheds.

After being left to continue with his work, the other children greeted him in their own ways. He knew now that he would at least need to attempt to work, otherwise he would inevitably suffer even more than before. Throughout the whole time, there was a lone thought in the back of his mind "Where's Shane?". Having witnessed his tiny ghost companion tossed around and mutilated by the sinister beasts from before, he wanted to make sure he was alright, even seeing his egg would re-assure him of that. "Amy, before I get back to work, can you answer me something?" he spoke lightly, not wanting to seem even more brash, "Do you know where our pokémon and eggs go? I need to check up on Shane, if possible, that evil woman made me have a vision of us both getting torn apart by rabid Mightyena." The boy finished, swallowing hard, the vision was still ripe in his mind, re-looping like a broken record.

"I need to know that he is alright, then I will work, but only because I don't want to endure that sort of thing again..." a tear trickled down the boy's face, worried about the only pokémon he had with him...
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Old 06-10-2009, 02:30 PM   #106
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Misdreavus Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you, And you still won't hear me ~

Eternal apologies for the enormous delay in these updates but they are finally here. I can only hope I shall not produce such a large wait for the next lot. I do hope they are worth it and you want to continue your adventures. Enjoy ^-^

The Laboratory

lilbluecorsola ~ A flash of light, an explosion of colour and fire, searing pain. There was a scream was it yours, was it the bats, had it come from Sam? You could not be sure but the light did not last long as its twin in darkness engulfed you driving you into oblivion where nothing would touch you. As your senses returned you wished that they hadn’t as your nerves fired up sending shooting pains across your burnt arms. It was nothing though as you observed the injuries to the two Pokemon fighting for you, Gumpy had shielded you from the brunt of the damage and that meant he took a lot of the blast across his back, his purple flesh an angry red. It looked so sore and you daren’t touch him for fear of bringing along a wave of agony by the simple gesture but as you observed his rhythmic breathing you sighed in relief, he was alive at any rate. Returning him his capture device hoping that being inside would lessen any pain ready for when you could heal him you looked over your shoulder to see Sam laid on the ground as still as Gumpy had been. Your stomach lurched violently as you saw the state of his arm, the burnt was beyond extensive and seemed to have eaten almost down to the ethereal bone the flesh barely hanging on. Moving away the repulsion threatening to tear at your insides you see with horror that the explosion had destroy the small room and thrown you into the main lab. Shuffling along grimacing with pain your eyes tear up at the destroyed remains of the Abra-droid scattered in pieces throughout, some even looked lost amongst the masses of rubble. The Golbat’s life had been extinguished, their flesh burnt to a rips, what remained melted together in a morbid portrait of love and affection.

Overwhelmed with so many emotions you sank against the wall feeling guilt, such hopelessness and despair gripping your very being. A soaking wet symbol of darkness and sorrow in a building that relished such emotions, had you not been so withdrawn into your own mind you would have felt its aura shift. The very walls almost smiled with the dripping of water from the sprinklers, a scorched maniacal grin burnt forever in place. Your mind was so a flow with dark bitter thoughts you toyed with a piece of shattered glass contemplating ending your life and misery that came with it all together. Why not? To add death to such a desolate place, you would not be missed and the Mansion would welcome another soul but something stopped your hand. A promise, could you really break such a binding pact, made of mere words but of the heart? And what of your Pokemon? Who would look after them once you had gone? Would anyone know they were here, new toys for this depraved house? Pushing down those negative thoughts as deep down into the recesses of your mind you staggered back over to Sam and your backpack that had been laid next to him finding a Corsola keychain, the piece reminding you of your precious Haruki, you had to live on to be with him. Grasping it tightly you sorted through your inventory first finding the simple motions enough to distract you as you thought through your next course of action. Staring at Sam’s unconscious form you stared rooting through your bag once more wishing you had stocked up properly before the trip here but found what you were looking for anyway pulling the Full Heal out and kneeling next to his form. Spraying the full bottle over his arm you watched with despair that nothing appeared to be happening, the damage must be too much for the topical medicine to repair.

Wandering back to the source of the explosion not at all careful of where you trod the shattered glass crunching under your shoes you knew you didn’t really blame Sam, this had been his idea after all and he had not been in his right mind. His mind had stayed on you and heart was in the right if he had one. Looking at the remains of the Abra-droid you sighed wondering if anything remained that would be of use.

“Smells like… BBQ,” a voice whispered and you almost didn’t catch it but turned to see Sam leaning against what used to be the door frame staring at his burnt arm in an almost detached fashion. You noted that some tendrils of his ghostly flesh had formed over the bone in lighter scar tissue; the Full Heal had a little effect after all. His red eyes flicked up to you and you could see repressed pain there before they darkened making you feel nervous.

“Death does not fit everyone Jess, such thoughts I heard, it doesn’t suit you,” he grunted out almost annoyed his perfect image of your being. He floated up to you and he appeared to struggle with the task, one so easy for him under any other circumstance.

“My beautiful Jess, I promised I would help you, I would cure you. I cannot if you die first. Wounds heal … some into really pretty pictures painted on bodies in blood and fire …” he trailed off enamoured by his arm again before he remembered his speech. “Yes wounds heal and pain remains but pain is not always a bad thing, mine will forever remind me of my mistake and I will learn that … that fire and smog are bad together but make a pretty explosion. We must move on,” he finishes almost sounding wise in that sentence, in amongst usual pieces of Sam that could help but shine through. He looks to the Abra-droid smiling.

“All may not be lost my Jess, the cure may be still in sight,” he says excitedly floating off to examine the bot closer up. He played with the remaining lower half pulling pieces apart and fiddling with the wiring. A few shocks sparked off and he shook his arms hissing in pain but as lights shone along the lines of its body and a whirring of activity joined them he grinned and floated off stopping a moment to stare at the remains on the bats before turning to you.

“I need something to write with, before the power goes!” he exclaims and the urgency in his voice you hobble back to the main lab searching through drawers before you found a blank note pad with a pencil conveniently stored next to it. Grabbing it you handed it to Sam who stared deep into the machine and began to scribble on the paper. Whatever he had found it gave you a tingle of hope. He cursed though as the remains suddenly died all remaining power drained.

“It had completed the cure but switched off before I could write it all down.” He said and you frowned but at his big smile you felt a little one of your own replace it.

“I got 4 of the 6 ingredients to make the cure though that might be enough, there may be other ways to power the droid back up later to discover the other 2.” He beams feeling pride at having come through for you. He hands the note pad to you and you frown at the gibberish written there, was that even English, what language was that? He noted your puzzled expression and hovered over you cradling his injured arm close to his body.

“What’s wrong Jess, can’t you read? I thought you had read that manual but perhaps I imagined that. I thought all humans could read.” He shook his head amazed by your lack of reading ability as you stare at him with mild annoyance. He gently took the notepad from you and smiled a condescending look upon his face.

“I shall read it to you my pretty, the first ingredient is a Fog Lily, the nectar from it to be precise, I think I remember seeing some in the Statue Garden once, but that was a long time ago I don’t know if there’ll be any still there. The second is Poisonous Marsh Mire, that stuff is around the Waterfront, I’m sure there is some polluted gunk on those rivers. Errm third is Swalodka, made with juices of real Swalots, mmm” he rubs his belly a little drool falling down his cheek, “Good stuff, there’s bound to be some stored perhaps in the bar and lastly is a … hmm” he stops looking down at what he had written. “Weird, I wrote blood preserved in time and beauty, I don’t know what that could be,” he pouts.

“Where do you want to go first Jess?” he asks expectantly all ready to follow you wherever you may go.




The Mirror Door

fishyfool ~ Mirror Arbok was significantly weakened, now was the time to strike to rid yourself of this roadblock on your way to assist your missing team-mates. You desired nothing more than extreme pain for the snake for all it had done to you and your Pokemon, you would leave this battle unscathed and to ensure Arbok was left in a similar manner floated through your mind. Yakuza was flagging with all the high energy moves he had executed in order to tackle the snake and with the wounded wing was struggling to stay aloft choosing to land next to you protectively fawning over your injured state no longer bothered by Penance’s presence in his battle. Choosing to keep Yakuza out of immediate danger was wise and giving him an order in the battle kept his pride intact and the dark bird let loose an ear piercing Screech that had you covering your own sensitive lobes even Penance seemed perturbed by the noise as she placed her claws into her ears and curls up defensively blocking some of the noise. Rolling Out she slammed into the snake cracking even more of its now fragile skin before rolling away and uncurling waiting for Yakuza to attack. With enough birth to attack Yakuza fires off a Confuse Ray that hits Arbok head on, but wait, the beam reflects of its skin and Penance receives a flashback a dazed look appearing in her eyes. Well now you had two confused Pokemon on your hands!

Yakuza looks concerned as Penance stumbles around and takes matters into his own claws running as best he could toward Arbok and Pecking it right in the eye making it hiss in pain and spray a wave of Acid almost defensively hitting Yakuza right in the face. He screeches in pain and stumbles back falling over tries to rid the searing liquid from his eyes. Penance charges for what she believes to be Arbok but hits the wall instead smashing more glass to pieces but the impact seemed to clear her head a little. Arbok was Biting at thin air allowing Penance freedom to attack, and attack she did focusing her Earth Power into the ground sending shockwaves that knocked you back on your arse. The thick floor boards began to splinter and rise up smashing into Arbok along with piles of glass strewn from the various attacks. The snake falls to the ground hissing in pain but no longer confused. It gave you a sour glare before an awful noise erupted from its mouth, it sounded almost like a Perish Song but Arboks didn’t know how to use that move, did they? Suddenly ripples formed on the remaining glass panels and what appeared to be melted glass slid forth rising up to surround you. You look about in sheer horror as their skin forms and at least 5 more mirror Arboks were hissing at you ready to strike. The original Arbok had a glint in its eye, it chalked out laughter as you realised your plight, there was no way you could take on that many of them not in the state you were all in. Penance was by your side in a moment but Yakuza was injured unable to see properly to move and your eyes fall to him as the Arbok’s follow your gaze grinning maliciously. One rushes forward and Crunches down on Yakuza’a already injured wing making him cry in agony tears in his eyes. Despite the danger you rush to his aid only to get slammed back by a thick tail. Penance roars and charged forward and receives 5 Aqua Tail’s for her efforts the combines attacks knocking her for six. The Arboks continue their assault on your Pokemon and you wonder how long before they killed you all. As if hearing your question 2 approach you teeth bared and glistening with venom. As they move to strike a weird beam of light surrounds you and the snakes hit a barrier sliding back down almost comically. All the Arboks look about the room for the intrusion as a bright pink light filled the room causing shrieks of pain from the snakes as they look about in fear and start attacking one another in confusion. The ceiling begins to tremble and you look up in horror as the glass and beams tear falling on top of the six Arbok crushing them instantly several pieces bouncing off your barrier which quickly fizzles out.

Picking yourself up slowly you hobble over to Penance and Yakuza who are both injured from Arbok and friends’ attacks but alive it was then you turn to see the rubble pinning the glass snakes to the floor which looks unsteady and as you tread near it collapses the snakes falling down the next level as you fall back in surprise. You see a flash of silver in your peripheral vision and look to see the silver pass around a corner and out of sight, its safe to assume that whatever that was it had helped you out and now you had to get moving, but to where to? There was the hole that the Arboks fell through but they could still be alive under there then again there was that flash of movement in the corridor up ahead, maybe that was worth checking out. Whatever the choice the demon was now much further ahead of you than you’d like.




The Bathing Rooms

psychopath ~ As you all sat about the table a little wary from the recent battle Pan seemed to be the only still abundant in energy his perky Politoad not following suit as she usually would resting on the floor next to him. He asks you to give your story not having gotten all the information he would have liked from the Captain but he was a man of few words and considering what you had spoken to him about and his reaction to it you understood why his crew were left in the dark. Maria rolls her eyes at his over exuberant nature and chides him for his forwardness, it was innocent enough but you were all tired. With a quick look to the chef to see him still preparing the meal your stomach growled for you happily obliged the teenager, hoping that him and his companion may look upon your tale with a different perspective. Pan leaned forward across the table eyes wide as he listened to you talk totally engrossed obviously not aware of the lands you spoke of and looked to interrupt you at every sentence with another question but Maria’s stern glare made him hold his tongue. You left out a good chunk of information concerning where you came from before arriving in these seas and Maria narrowed her eyes suspiciously but not intruding any further to question you. Pan seemed to mirror your sorrow as you spoke of your Pachirisu, your heart tearing as you remembered her battered form laying beside you her little paws reaching out before you were dragged underneath the dark waters. Suppressing a shudder you finish your story hoping they would be sympathetic to you, you could use all the allies in this new … old world as possible.

“A giant Octillery?” Maria questioned sharing a look with Pan whom was biting his lip nervously both thinking the same thing. “That sounds almost like … the Kraken,” she whispered so as to not alarm the chef or Pan but he was rubbing his arms nervously just from the thought. “Not many are taken by the Kraken and survive, you are lucky no wonder the Captain was quick to have you aboard, he must see something special in you,” she says thoughtfully.

“You were foolish to take on that monster with a Pokemon, it’s no wonder it lost and it took you,” Pan chimed in chastising you and you felt a shocked look form on your face. He was telling you off? The boy who nearly lost you your first battle in this world with his equally hot-headed Politoed? It must be serious! His face softened and he lay a comforting hand on your shoulder.

“But if it had attacked you I can understand defending yourself, I know what its like to lose a Pokemon, it’s horrible, you can never forget that day. When I was little I had a pet Growlithe, I took him on a boat journey with my grandpa and we were caught in a storm; he was swept of the boat and into the sea. I never saw him again. I gave up hope that he survived a long time ago, I mean fire and water don’t mix well anyway.” He said sniffing a little as Maria rubbed his back having heard this story before.

“Can you be so sure that your Pachirisu survived your encounter with … erm that water Pokemon?” she asked coyly as the chef exited the kitchen with 3 plates in arms placing them down before you and inhaling the aroma you smiled, damn you were hungry! Smoked fish sat next to fresh rice and a slice of bread already swathed with butter. You had almost forgotten Maria’s question as you picked up an old fashioned piece of cutlery to eat.

“I don’t want to dash your hopes but I fear that you must also move on from your loss Tyson, nothing survives the Kraken,” she said sombrely before partaking in her own meal. Left with your thoughts and a deep concern that your new found friends may not assist you on your quest you finish your meal. The three of you leave the dinning area behind Maria thanking the chef for working late the man gruffly snorting before you were led back to your quarters.

“Your Pokemon are all healed and on your table, night Tyson,” she said as Pan nodded Bellamy clapping happily before bouncing off. Walking inside you saw your remaining Pokeballs sat exactly where she said and took the time to check on the creature within to assess their health with your own eyes. Sitting down on your bed a wave of exhaustion washed over you as the events of the day began to catch up to you. Yawning it was not long after your head touched the pillow that you fell into a deep sleep, your mind full of dreams, not all good.

Your woken by the sound of knocking on your cabin door and blearily opening your eyes you pulls some clothes on before stumbling over to open it.

“Morning Tyson, you not up yet?” Pan said cheerfully all thoughts of yesterday’s conversation forgotten as he walks into your room. “We have our duties to attend to come lets get ….” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence as “LAND HO” sounds out. His eyes light up as he grabs your arm and drags you out of the room and up several stairs to the deck. Letting go leaving you to rub your sore wrist he leans over the edge of the boat smiling at what was up ahead.Catching up to him you wonder what all the commotion was about only to see land up ahead. It appeared to be a small port lining the coast line with a small village behind it. Only one other boat was moored there and it appeared that this ship would soon follow.

“I totally forgot that we would be stopping at Triad-Acura soon,” Pan said still grinning, as you thought over the name of the port, it was certainly not something you had heard of.

“Pan, Master Tyson I require your attention,” the Captain calls out interrupting your thoughts and like a spring loaded gun Pan swivelled round flashing a salute.

“We need to load up on our stores, we’re growing low on several foods and supplies. Maria will supply you with a list and the required monies if you would please go into the village and procure them as soon as we dock.” Pan nods his head eager to explore the town and as if senses his train of thought frowns. “And swiftly Pan, I expect you back within 2 hours, no gallivanting off. Master Tyson would you accompany him and keep a watchful eye? The Captain seems to trust you enough to allow you off the ship even knowing your desire to escape and search for your lost Pokemon, perhaps he thought you would follow orders in order to keep Pan safe. Either way would you accept his request?




The Crypt

Music Box~ ~ You didn’t have much time to recover from your dizzying trip falling unsteadily onto your knees as you passed through the darkness to hard new ground. Birdie seemed to be less effected or at least hid it well as she stared down at you helping you to your feet as Louis and Fredrick looked upon you with amusement as if thinking the same thing. Looking behind you all you can see is a stone wall, there didn’t appear to be a way back the darkness was gone again, perhaps the zombie controlled it. This journey had not quite been what you had expected, talking Aipom’s … talking French Aipoms and the undead walking amongst you, what did you expect from the Mansion and its grounds? It brought new meaning to the words weird and frightening. Picking yourself up you see light up ahead and feel a little excitement amongst the fear, whatever the zombie wanted to show you it appeared to be very close now. Walking over to them you feel his cold dead hand on your shoulder and fight to repress that shudder of disgust as he looks upon you issuing you a test before you may pass further. You had come this far, to not proceed with this macabre tour would be madness and you confidently stared Frederick in the eye telling him to bring on any challenge he sees fit Birdie beaming with pride at your boldness. Frederick smiles a gappy smile standing back as Louis stood by his side a little confusion etched on his face, obviously he could not remember the test but he seemed as intrigued as you.

“This is designed to test your worthiness to enter upon our world, to weed out those of short-sightedness and remove those who seek to do harm to our people. If you pass you may continue on and I’ll show you the glories these caverns hold, if you fail you shall be ejected from the crypt and never allowed to return to this catacomb again do you understand?” he says seriously as you mutely nod wondering what kind of test he could possibly have in store for you. He stepped to the side to reveal a small pedestal with 3 clear circular stones set upon the front.

“The test consists of three parts, you must pass them all, failing even one would bring upon your expulsion, now place your hand upon the top of the pedestal and your tests will begin,” he instructs and you walk up to the old stone piece nervousness written in your body language.

“Do not look zo worried ‘uman, you will pazz I am sure of itz,” Louis encourages as you pass him and you wonder how he could be so sure. Stopping a moment and taking a deep breath you place you palm upon the pedestal and gasp as your head suddenly becomes light and you fall to the ground. Wincing as a headache plagues your mind you look about ready to give Frederick a piece of your mind if he was messing with you when you notice that you’re not in the caverns anymore, actually you appear to be outside. Standing up you find yourself alone and still within the grounds of the Mansion, great! You wonder what this test involved, finding you way back perhaps and decide that standing here was not helping you. Walking away you move through the tall grasses when you begin to hear noises and moving towards them you find two children, two zombie children arguing in the grass. You hesitate approaching them as their argument became more violent and they started to pounce on each other tearing bits of flesh from their bodies in their scrap. Edging closer you could make out their argument.

“Give it back to me thief,” one screams pulling the other’s hair.
“It wasn’t yours in the first place,” the other retorts throwing a punch into the zombie child’s abdomen
“Is too,”
“Is not”
“Is too”
“Is not”
“I’ll make you extra dead if you don’t give me back my toy” one yells crying as the other cries as his hair is almost completely torn off.

It was hard to see what they were arguing over but they were doing some serious damage to each other. ‘How was this a test?’You wondered when a voice emanated from the pedestal.

”What will you do here? What actions if any will you take; your answer must be honest. Speak out your response and act accordingly following your answer” it said in a monotone. It went silent waiting for you to decide an action, or lack of action as possible. You had time to think but this ‘answer’ was very important, fail this test and it was the end of the road.



The Playground

Pearl’s Perap ~ That horror was not something you wished to endure again. A light punishment? You had witnessed Shane torn apart his little body savagely shredded by the brutal Mightyena before they gave you the same treatment. With an order to work you and fully aware of the consequences if you didn’t you picked up a piece of metal and began to clean it with the old rag whilst the other children looked upon you with mixtures of sorrow, pity and chiding before continuing with their own labor. Your thoughts were still on your Pokemon as you worked and you saw Amy brushing off a piece of stone carefully still looking upset. You address her and she looks up startled before her gaze meets yours and her eyes drop guiltily remembering that she was the reason you were brought here. You ask her if she knew where the Pokemon and eggs were taken to whilst you all worked and she shook her head.

“I have never seen where they’re taken, all I know is magic takes them away from us and magic returns them when we get breaks and once the day is done. None of us know how she does it.” You recall your vision shuddering as the images pass through your mind again and Amy hold back a sob her guilt rising to new levels but pushes it back.

“You’re not the first to try and escape here Zak,” Shane whispers as some kids start hushing your trio not wanting to be punished for dawdling with their work. “I know Amy tried and well as I and we both punished, you learn to follow her rules in the end or you suffer, and it gets worse the more you try,” he says looking somber, Amy coughing to cover her emotions who furiously rubs the tears from her eyes before picking up her work again.

“They-they’re always alright when she returns them, they’re safe even after the punishments but you shouldn’t push it too far,” Amy begs placing her piece into a discarding pile and picking up another. Satisfied for the moment that Shane is alright with Amy’s word you continue your work sorting through metal placing the symbolled pieces together delicately. It felt like hours had passed without a break when a delicate chiming sounded, bells situated throughout the warehouse were ringing and the children looked to each other with big smiles.

“It’s the end of the working day, we get to play a little more with out Pokemon before we go to bed, they take them away from us then too,” Shawn explained and you nodded just thankful to be able to check up on Shanes condition. Joing the ever growing line of children eager to leave their work behind and join their Pokemon you march slowly out of the doors and soon stand by the entrance. You seem Amy ahead of you hold her arms out and a bright light shone there before the tiny teddy was in her arms once more receiving a tight hug from her trainer. Moving forward you follow the same motions and hold you arms out and soon, a flash of light later a purple egg was deposited in your grip. Moving on to allow Shawn to greet his returned Spearow you hold Shane’s egg out observing it for any damages finding it intact, it wiggled a few times signifying that the Pokemon inside was safe and well. Sighing in relief you observe as the children take to the playground with their Pokemon and eggs in tow already setting up teams for another game of basket ball and the girls playing on the springy animals, Amy once again left to one side sat upon a bench clutching her Teddi to her like a lifeline. The sky was lit deep amber as the sun was setting and happy in the knowledge that Shane was safe you proceeded to join in, if only to forget about the day.

Time moves swiftly and soon another bell chimed the children collecting their Pokemon and forming a line Shawn beckoning for you to follow and proceed out of the playground and along Warehouses to a small building surrounded by yet more fences, tall and imposing giving the place a whole prison feel. This building was more like a large boarding house in design and the front door was open awaiting you all to enter. As you passed through the door you half expected Shane to be robbed from your arms but he remained and you were thankful, perhaps this Mistress showed a little compassion after all. The children ran off into a large room with two long tables and set atop them were hot meals and a glass of water for each of you, a health looking selection of meats, vegetable and rices. There were a few bowls of Pokemon food on the floor just enough to keep them alive as if it had been an after thought but those Pokemon rushed off to eat their fill the children all taking their seats. A space had been saved for you next to Amy who ate her meal quietly and you too soon ate feeling hunger gnaw at your smaller body. Time continuing to move faster than you’d have thought brought night along and the children left the dinning room heading for separate rooms preparing for bed. Shawn waves you over to an empty … well box would be a good description before saying good night and heading for his own. There was just enough room for the small bed and bedside table. no other furniture in place, there must be a communal bathroom, no one would be cruel enough to leave all these children without one. Clean pyjamas were left for you to change into and a spare set of clothes matching the ones you wore sat beneath those. With nothing left to do you got changed for bed your mind still brimming with thoughts of escape but the day had worn you out and soon you fell asleep.

You woke to the sound of soft sobbing, it was still night you guessed by your tired state but with no windows in your box of a room it was hard to tell. Peering out of your room you could see a girl sat outside her room hugging her knees to her body her Teddiursa stood next to her trying to comfort her. Amy cried softly staring straight ahead not noticing your gaze upon her. Something was troubling the young girl and it appeared to be deeper than it would first seem, but now you were both awake, perhaps you could help her or would her part in your capture here affect your decision?


The Maze of Shrubbery

empoleon dynamite ~ It felt like the maze was conspiring against you, every move you made it had a counter for and as you held hope that the Gloom Ventress had savagely attacked would be saved it robbed you of that too. Like a scene from a horror movie flickering before your eyes the Gloom was slashed to pieces before being dragged into the depths of the maze probably never to be seen again. Ventress oh so proud of her work and waddled on brash and arrogantly working her way down the path and around the corner. Fungi was disgusted with her behaviour and was more than ready at your command to stop the wayward Lileep from causing any more damage but you merely followed after her not wanting to lose her. Sighing he ran to catch up with you nearly barrelling into you and the naughty Venus in his rush as the plant had waited for you to choose a path. Indeed there were two straight ahead and you took a moment to ponder the decision relishing the chance to actually make one when the path behind you started to close, and quite violently at that. It seemed the maze was not impressed with your speed and a harsh wind was gushing forth blasting at your trio making you all wince. Turning back to the choices you decide to follow an old rule taught to you when you were young and that was to stick to the left. Pointing out the path to your Pokemon who nod and moves towards it, but the maze was not on your side again. The path behind you quickened up its pace and in a matter of seconds had closed the energy reaching the vines surrounding you causing a few to rip free. You all dive for the left path and you sigh as Ventress and yourself make it but where was Fungi? You hear his cries as the vines ensnare him and toss him into the right path carelessly. As you try to reach him the entrance to your path closes and all you can do is scream with frustration.

You could hear him calling out to you and try to climb the shrubbery only to feel them move and lose purchase falling and scratching your arms from the thorns on the ground. Ventress looks down at you with mild amusement before walking off down the path leaving you to gawk at her backside as it wiggled off. What was her problem? Why couldn’t she just sit still and listen to you, why did she have to do her own thing all the time? Did she not care that Fungi was separated from you? It certainly seemed unlikely. Fungi calls out to you to say he was alright but you couldn’t climb to check that and assumed he was having the same problems. The shrubbery was too thick for the recall beam of his Pokeball to work, it appeared that he was stranded. Ventress passed around the corner and you are left with a dilemma, soon you could lose both of your Pokemon again and wonder whether to follow after her. The bushes around you rustle and you dart away in fear, it was almost if they understood your train of thought. Not wanting to stay any longer you can only hope Fungi would be alright and that you’d meet up with him later. Running through the maze you find that Ventress is no longer in sight and there were two paths to choose from. Sighing with desperation you study each one carefully hoping to find a sign of her when the left one rustles the vines waving before returning to their positions, okay now this maze was growing even weirder but it made sense, Ventress might be sticking to your rule of Left had turns and following the path you see her up ahead. Running up to meet her you go to scold her but find her not listening, that was nothing new but she seemed to almost be in a trance of some kind and continues to waddle on. Silently following her you are left with your thoughts as you take even more turns a few left a few right, all hopes to retracing your tracks to meet up with Fungi gone as you resign yourself to be lost following a mad little plant.

Soon Ventress makes her way to a clearing the sky obscured with vines that snake overhead tangled together like some kind of morbid marquee only a few specs of the blanket of black that made up the night were visible. Up ahead were more vines, it seemed the ground was covered in them, thankfully they were still for the moment but at the far end you could see something obscured by yet more vines. Approaching it with Ventress in tow you could see that it was a shrine of some sort made of old stone the vines leaving only portions exposed. Ventress circled in enraptured by its form, it was wide at the base with layers built upon that and reached high into the marquee and as you looked over it further you saw writing in a language unfamiliar to you above two sets of holes one smaller than the other. Ventress put two of her tendrils in one set and giggled as she danced around in that position before looking to you, was it really wise to go sticking your hands inside a shrine but it had done nothing to Ventress so it seemed safe.
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Old 06-10-2009, 04:33 PM   #107
psychopath
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Eternal apologies for the enormous delay in these updates but they are finally here. I can only hope I shall not produce such a large wait for the next lot. I do hope they are worth it and you want to continue your adventures. Enjoy ^-^

The Bathing Rooms

psychopath ~ As you all sat about the table a little wary from the recent battle Pan seemed to be the only still abundant in energy his perky Politoad not following suit as she usually would resting on the floor next to him. He asks you to give your story not having gotten all the information he would have liked from the Captain but he was a man of few words and considering what you had spoken to him about and his reaction to it you understood why his crew were left in the dark. Maria rolls her eyes at his over exuberant nature and chides him for his forwardness, it was innocent enough but you were all tired. With a quick look to the chef to see him still preparing the meal your stomach growled for you happily obliged the teenager, hoping that him and his companion may look upon your tale with a different perspective. Pan leaned forward across the table eyes wide as he listened to you talk totally engrossed obviously not aware of the lands you spoke of and looked to interrupt you at every sentence with another question but Maria’s stern glare made him hold his tongue. You left out a good chunk of information concerning where you came from before arriving in these seas and Maria narrowed her eyes suspiciously but not intruding any further to question you. Pan seemed to mirror your sorrow as you spoke of your Pachirisu, your heart tearing as you remembered her battered form laying beside you her little paws reaching out before you were dragged underneath the dark waters. Suppressing a shudder you finish your story hoping they would be sympathetic to you, you could use all the allies in this new … old world as possible.

“A giant Octillery?” Maria questioned sharing a look with Pan whom was biting his lip nervously both thinking the same thing. “That sounds almost like … the Kraken,” she whispered so as to not alarm the chef or Pan but he was rubbing his arms nervously just from the thought. “Not many are taken by the Kraken and survive, you are lucky no wonder the Captain was quick to have you aboard, he must see something special in you,” she says thoughtfully.

“You were foolish to take on that monster with a Pokemon, it’s no wonder it lost and it took you,” Pan chimed in chastising you and you felt a shocked look form on your face. He was telling you off? The boy who nearly lost you your first battle in this world with his equally hot-headed Politoed? It must be serious! His face softened and he lay a comforting hand on your shoulder.

“But if it had attacked you I can understand defending yourself, I know what its like to lose a Pokemon, it’s horrible, you can never forget that day. When I was little I had a pet Growlithe, I took him on a boat journey with my grandpa and we were caught in a storm; he was swept of the boat and into the sea. I never saw him again. I gave up hope that he survived a long time ago, I mean fire and water don’t mix well anyway.” He said sniffing a little as Maria rubbed his back having heard this story before.

“Can you be so sure that your Pachirisu survived your encounter with … erm that water Pokemon?” she asked coyly as the chef exited the kitchen with 3 plates in arms placing them down before you and inhaling the aroma you smiled, damn you were hungry! Smoked fish sat next to fresh rice and a slice of bread already swathed with butter. You had almost forgotten Maria’s question as you picked up an old fashioned piece of cutlery to eat.

“I don’t want to dash your hopes but I fear that you must also move on from your loss Tyson, nothing survives the Kraken,” she said sombrely before partaking in her own meal. Left with your thoughts and a deep concern that your new found friends may not assist you on your quest you finish your meal. The three of you leave the dinning area behind Maria thanking the chef for working late the man gruffly snorting before you were led back to your quarters.

“Your Pokemon are all healed and on your table, night Tyson,” she said as Pan nodded Bellamy clapping happily before bouncing off. Walking inside you saw your remaining Pokeballs sat exactly where she said and took the time to check on the creature within to assess their health with your own eyes. Sitting down on your bed a wave of exhaustion washed over you as the events of the day began to catch up to you. Yawning it was not long after your head touched the pillow that you fell into a deep sleep, your mind full of dreams, not all good.

Your woken by the sound of knocking on your cabin door and blearily opening your eyes you pulls some clothes on before stumbling over to open it.

“Morning Tyson, you not up yet?” Pan said cheerfully all thoughts of yesterday’s conversation forgotten as he walks into your room. “We have our duties to attend to come lets get ….” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence as “LAND HO” sounds out. His eyes light up as he grabs your arm and drags you out of the room and up several stairs to the deck. Letting go leaving you to rub your sore wrist he leans over the edge of the boat smiling at what was up ahead.Catching up to him you wonder what all the commotion was about only to see land up ahead. It appeared to be a small port lining the coast line with a small village behind it. Only one other boat was moored there and it appeared that this ship would soon follow.

“I totally forgot that we would be stopping at Triad-Acura soon,” Pan said still grinning, as you thought over the name of the port, it was certainly not something you had heard of.

“Pan, Master Tyson I require your attention,” the Captain calls out interrupting your thoughts and like a spring loaded gun Pan swivelled round flashing a salute.

“We need to load up on our stores, we’re growing low on several foods and supplies. Maria will supply you with a list and the required monies if you would please go into the village and procure them as soon as we dock.” Pan nods his head eager to explore the town and as if senses his train of thought frowns. “And swiftly Pan, I expect you back within 2 hours, no gallivanting off. Master Tyson would you accompany him and keep a watchful eye? The Captain seems to trust you enough to allow you off the ship even knowing your desire to escape and search for your lost Pokemon, perhaps he thought you would follow orders in order to keep Pan safe. Either way would you accept his request?
Holy crap Arc, you rock!!! I loved this update to death and hope this reply gives it justice.

“You were foolish to take on that monster with a Pokemon, it’s no wonder it lost and it took you.”

How was it that Pan, PAN, was the one telling him this?! Pan had gotten them into a fight with three pokemon that could have obliterated the ship's hull in a matter of seconds! Now he was the one telling Tyson off? This kid had the knowledge to know what was dangerous yet he pissed off the Wailmer like that!? Tyson really held himself back from standing up and roundhouse kicking Pan right in the face!

“But if it had attacked you I can understand defending yourself, I know what its like to lose a Pokemon, it’s horrible, you can never forget that day. When I was little I had a pet Growlithe.....” He listened to Pan's story, he'd lived through a similar situation... he'd cut him some slack. He knew Thunderfuzz was alive, he could feel it in his heart, besides he was in the past, if need be he'd return to the future to stop himself from entering the building and being taken away. He'd need to go to the future anyway.

“Can you be so sure that your Pachirisu survived your encounter with … erm that water Pokemon?” trying to hide the subject from the chef Maria didn't even get a response, Tyson just began eating his food like there was no tomorrow (which there obviously was), he hadn't eaten in who-knows-how-long and this made him feel so much better, he devoured his fish, to the point there was absolutely no meat on the bones. He then proceeded to cut his bread with his knife and ford and mix it with the rice, in less than a minute it was all gone, he looked up at Maria and got back into the conversation.

“I don’t want to dash your hopes but I fear that you must also move on from your loss Tyson, nothing survives the Kraken,” Sounds like they didn't want to help, which was great, if they didn't follow him around he could accomplish what he needed to do with a lot less interference than would be expected with those two. As the three walked out he gave his thanks to the chef along with Maria. He headed to his quarters, told that his pokeballs wouldd be in place he looked at them; prepared to take extra care if nessesary. He overlooked Freeze and Valor the most, since they'd been in a fight, but was glad when he saw they were in near-perfect condition. He talked to each of his pokemon and explained the situation to all of them quickly, so they wouldn't worry or freak out. Keeping cover was his most nessesary thing at the moment and he planned to stay in cognito for now, he went to sleep. For the time being he was holding up well.

He was in the pool filled with the putrid water, Thunderfuzz fighting her best, then, he was pulled in, he looked at Thunderfuzz as huis screams of pain and fear filled the room...

Then he was Thunderfuzz.

He saw his face going down the pool of water, then, pain, horrible horrible pain. His insides burned and he saw his paws' flesh melt away, as everything around him was ingulfed in flames his screams filled the room, and he saw something, but he couldn't tell what it was...

...
and he wouldn't as he was awakened by loud knocking at the door. He rolled out of bed, hitting the floor hard and waking out of his drowziness in a flash, he pulled on some clothes and trudged to the door opening it top find Pan on the other side. Before he could be ordered around for the day he heard someone yell "LAND HO!"

He looked at the small port in the horizon and tryed to make out the details and realised there was a boat there, they obviously were going to dock there.
“I totally forgot that we would be stopping at Triad-Acura soon,” He looked at Pan's grin, he looked happy. Triad Acura, it sounded like a strange name, but there was still a possibilty hed been there, after all, 300 years was enough time for the name to change. He could possibly find some information, there, but it didn't look like he'd need to stay there, probably a good place to go to though, it seemed like he could get some information there, or at least he hoped.

“Pan, Master Tyson I require your attention,” He turned to see the captain, and like any Pan saluted, there was no need to disrespect a captain of the ship he would live in for god-knows-how-long. Hed figured help. He looked at the man and waited for his orders...

“We need to load up on our stores, we’re growing low on several foods and supplies. Maria will supply you with a list and the required monies if you would please go into the village and procure them as soon as we dock. And swiftly Pan, I expect you back within 2 hours, no gallivanting off. Master Tyson would you accompany him and keep a watchful eye?" Pan seemed to be bummed about having to work, but with the right help he'd be able to get some time there.

"Of course captain, I will help," and if I have time I will get some information if possible. And it will be possible. He listened to whatever the captain said. "If you excuse me, I think we should be getting the list soon, so we can get all prepared and be off as soon as we can." He saluted the captain and pulled on Pan's arm and dragged him along to find Maria, and began talking to Pan as soon as he was out of the captain's earshot "Look Pan, I can tell you really want to explore the island, and thats cool, but we only have two hours, so I have an idea, that way we can get the job done and get some time to explore the island, but we'll need to work fast and we have help." he pulled out three pokeballs out of his belt and showed them to Pan, to see if the idea took hold in his head. "See, I have a Metang, a Flygon and a Ponyta, we could have them, along with any pokemon you may have, carry the boxes of food back here, understand? We could get everything done in less than an hour!"

He pressed open the pokeball and Psychic ball in his hands, and released his Prized blue dragon and Metallic monster of awesome. He let Pan look at them, before speaking again, "See, they can carry lots, and Palladium here is a Psychic Type, he can carry things with his mind as well. Digga' here, well she's fast. Horacio on the other hand an carry things too, but you know, were on a boat, so a pokemon on fire isn't really a good idea. Come on Pan, what do you say?"
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Old 06-20-2009, 07:40 PM   #108
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Eternal apologies for the enormous delay in these updates but they are finally here. I can only hope I shall not produce such a large wait for the next lot. I do hope they are worth it and you want to continue your adventures. Enjoy ^-^

The Playground

Pearl’s Perap ~ That horror was not something you wished to endure again. A light punishment? You had witnessed Shane torn apart his little body savagely shredded by the brutal Mightyena before they gave you the same treatment. With an order to work you and fully aware of the consequences if you didn’t you picked up a piece of metal and began to clean it with the old rag whilst the other children looked upon you with mixtures of sorrow, pity and chiding before continuing with their own labor. Your thoughts were still on your Pokemon as you worked and you saw Amy brushing off a piece of stone carefully still looking upset. You address her and she looks up startled before her gaze meets yours and her eyes drop guiltily remembering that she was the reason you were brought here. You ask her if she knew where the Pokemon and eggs were taken to whilst you all worked and she shook her head.

“I have never seen where they’re taken, all I know is magic takes them away from us and magic returns them when we get breaks and once the day is done. None of us know how she does it.” You recall your vision shuddering as the images pass through your mind again and Amy hold back a sob her guilt rising to new levels but pushes it back.

“You’re not the first to try and escape here Zak,” Shane whispers as some kids start hushing your trio not wanting to be punished for dawdling with their work. “I know Amy tried and well as I and we both punished, you learn to follow her rules in the end or you suffer, and it gets worse the more you try,” he says looking somber, Amy coughing to cover her emotions who furiously rubs the tears from her eyes before picking up her work again.

“They-they’re always alright when she returns them, they’re safe even after the punishments but you shouldn’t push it too far,” Amy begs placing her piece into a discarding pile and picking up another. Satisfied for the moment that Shane is alright with Amy’s word you continue your work sorting through metal placing the symbolled pieces together delicately. It felt like hours had passed without a break when a delicate chiming sounded, bells situated throughout the warehouse were ringing and the children looked to each other with big smiles.

“It’s the end of the working day, we get to play a little more with out Pokemon before we go to bed, they take them away from us then too,” Shawn explained and you nodded just thankful to be able to check up on Shanes condition. Joing the ever growing line of children eager to leave their work behind and join their Pokemon you march slowly out of the doors and soon stand by the entrance. You seem Amy ahead of you hold her arms out and a bright light shone there before the tiny teddy was in her arms once more receiving a tight hug from her trainer. Moving forward you follow the same motions and hold you arms out and soon, a flash of light later a purple egg was deposited in your grip. Moving on to allow Shawn to greet his returned Spearow you hold Shane’s egg out observing it for any damages finding it intact, it wiggled a few times signifying that the Pokemon inside was safe and well. Sighing in relief you observe as the children take to the playground with their Pokemon and eggs in tow already setting up teams for another game of basket ball and the girls playing on the springy animals, Amy once again left to one side sat upon a bench clutching her Teddi to her like a lifeline. The sky was lit deep amber as the sun was setting and happy in the knowledge that Shane was safe you proceeded to join in, if only to forget about the day.

Time moves swiftly and soon another bell chimed the children collecting their Pokemon and forming a line Shawn beckoning for you to follow and proceed out of the playground and along Warehouses to a small building surrounded by yet more fences, tall and imposing giving the place a whole prison feel. This building was more like a large boarding house in design and the front door was open awaiting you all to enter. As you passed through the door you half expected Shane to be robbed from your arms but he remained and you were thankful, perhaps this Mistress showed a little compassion after all. The children ran off into a large room with two long tables and set atop them were hot meals and a glass of water for each of you, a health looking selection of meats, vegetable and rices. There were a few bowls of Pokemon food on the floor just enough to keep them alive as if it had been an after thought but those Pokemon rushed off to eat their fill the children all taking their seats. A space had been saved for you next to Amy who ate her meal quietly and you too soon ate feeling hunger gnaw at your smaller body. Time continuing to move faster than you’d have thought brought night along and the children left the dinning room heading for separate rooms preparing for bed. Shawn waves you over to an empty … well box would be a good description before saying good night and heading for his own. There was just enough room for the small bed and bedside table. no other furniture in place, there must be a communal bathroom, no one would be cruel enough to leave all these children without one. Clean pyjamas were left for you to change into and a spare set of clothes matching the ones you wore sat beneath those. With nothing left to do you got changed for bed your mind still brimming with thoughts of escape but the day had worn you out and soon you fell asleep.

You woke to the sound of soft sobbing, it was still night you guessed by your tired state but with no windows in your box of a room it was hard to tell. Peering out of your room you could see a girl sat outside her room hugging her knees to her body her Teddiursa stood next to her trying to comfort her. Amy cried softly staring straight ahead not noticing your gaze upon her. Something was troubling the young girl and it appeared to be deeper than it would first seem, but now you were both awake, perhaps you could help her or would her part in your capture here affect your decision?
[As I said multiple times, I don't mind waiting, whenever. Your updates are always truly wonderful ^_^]

Conforming to exactly what he was meant to be doing, scrubbing at some form of ancient stone with a brush to remove any excess dirt, Zak thought long and hard about what had recently gone on. He was certainly going to be scarred by the Alakazam's horrendous Mightyena vision, it had been a horrific ordeal to endure. Glancing across, the boy noticed the girl who had brought him to this place, Amy, looking rather upset. Addressing her, the girl looked up as quick as a flash, a look of guilt bathing her whole face. Questioning the girl about the location of the pokémon and eggs, she begins, not knowing much on the topic, just that it was something to do with the powers of the woman who had previously tortured him with her prized pokémon. Joining in with the conversation, Shane begins. As expected, the boy had not been the only child to attempt an escape, which disheartened him further. Hearing that Amy had attempted to caught his attention to most. Was this why she had brought him here? To try and gain herself some respect with the sinister lady?

BRRRRRRRING!

A bell rang through the warehouse, what it signalled, the boy soon found out. It was the end of the working day, where the children were allowed to meet up with their respective pokémon or eggs for another portion of time prior to going to bed. Hopping into a newly formed queue at the main doors, the one he had originally come through, Zak was eager to get out into the fresh air for a while, seeking comfort from the only companion he had, even if he was still only a small purple egg. Ahead of him, he could see the children at the door recieving their pokémon or eggs in a flash of light, this whole place was just odd and so different to any other place the boy had strolled into at any point in his life. As he too reached the door like the others, the flash came once more, depositing the Shuppet egg into his arms. Relieved to finally have Shane in his possession, if only for a short space of time, the boy hugged it close before examining every inch of its exterior. Free from harm it seemed, much like the other children had mentioned to him before.

"Thank Heavens..." Zak whispered under his breath, smiling down at the oval within his now tiny hands. As he spoke, the egg wriggled from side to side slightly, signifying that the Shuppet was most certainly alive and well, maybe even able to hear him and recognize his words. Knowing Shane was perfectly fine, the boy took a moment to survey the rest of the children. As expected, Amy was sat alone once more aside from her Teddiursa. The other children were milling around with their partners, playing on the park and assembling teams for another game of basketball. Noticing the impending setting of the sun and knowing the safety of his ghostly companion, the boy decided to join in with the rest of the children. It wasn't long before the same bell sound appeared once more, this time echoing bedtime. Similar to when the children had exited the place of work, they began to queue once more, Shawn beckoning for Zak to follow with the Shuppet egg. Not wanting to put a foot out of line for the moment, he joined the end of the queue.

Walking out of the playground, the group of children walked towards a seperate building than the one that they had been cleaning artifacts in. Walking through the compound, they came to a small building, obviously where they stayed at night. Entering through the already open doors, expecting the egg to vanish from his clutches once more, Zak was shocked to see it still in his arms upon entering. Still following the group, the other children speed up into what looked to be the place where meals were held. Upon the large tables were meals and a drink for each of the children and small bowls with tiny amounts of food on the floor for their pokémon. Watching the other children and the pokémon filtering into the room and beginning to tuck into their meals, Zak gazed around, looking for somewhere to sit with his egg. It appeared as if the only space remaining was next to Amy. Not his first choice of person to sit with, the boy wandered over slowly, clutching the egg to his chest. Quickly tucking into the mere morsels of food laid out on his plate, Zak felt hunger pangs for the first time in a while.

After a short while, time seeming to speed up more and more, the children filed out of the room once more. Not wanting to get left behind, Zak quickly followed the children into a corridor leading off into seperate rooms. Shawn pointed the boy to his room, within which a bed and a small bedside table stood, no room for anything more. Atop the bed sat a fresh pair of pajamas and clothes identical to those he was already wearing. Not knowing what else there was to do, he placed the egg on the bed tenderly and changed into his bed clothes. Now changed, the boy slid along the bed before clambering in, exhausted from the day's events, nothing would keep him awake, not even the thoughts that plagued his mind. Drifting off, the Shuppet egg wiggled next to him slightly, a sort of 'good night' from his spectral friend.

---

Half awake, Zak was not sure if he was imagining what he heard. It appeared as though somebody or something was outside in the corridor, sobbing softly. As he lay there, it became apparent that this was not his mind playing tricks on him or his dream continuing, there was actually someone out there. Quick to get out of the bed, he almost forgot that he was in possession of Shane's egg for the night. Scrambling around on top of the bed, he soon found the egg in the corner nearest to the wall, nestled and now apparently awake. Grabbing the oval, he proceeded to the door and entered the corridor once more. Peering around, his suspicions were confirmed. Amy was curled up next to her door, her Teddiursa stood at her side attempting to comfort her in one way or another. As her face met his, the young trainer could tell in an instant that something much deeper was plaguing the girl and now could be the exact time to pinpoint what that was.

"Hey...Amy." the boy began, still rather groggy from the short sleep he had managed to get, "I know this may seem strange to you, but I am willing to put the past behind me. You brought me here, but this doesn't bother me, you clearly regret it. Either that or there is something much more on your mind constantly?" Approaching her side, he smiled at the Teddiursa, showing he meant no harm to either. "I want you to tell me what is wrong, Amy. You can't bottle it up in a place like this, you will go completely insane. I'm here to listen to you, if you wish to talk. Whether or not you talk is completely your choice, but I think I may be able to help." Holding out Shane's egg, the boy attempted to smile, "We're in this together, we need to attempt to be a core team if we are ever going to...escape." Despite prior events, the boy still planned to escape, he just believed they would need to do it as a well thought out group...
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Old 07-03-2009, 07:31 PM   #109
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Eternal apologies for the enormous delay in these updates but they are finally here. I can only hope I shall not produce such a large wait for the next lot. I do hope they are worth it and you want to continue your adventures. Enjoy ^-^

The Crypt

Music Box~ ~ You didn’t have much time to recover from your dizzying trip falling unsteadily onto your knees as you passed through the darkness to hard new ground. Birdie seemed to be less effected or at least hid it well as she stared down at you helping you to your feet as Louis and Fredrick looked upon you with amusement as if thinking the same thing. Looking behind you all you can see is a stone wall, there didn’t appear to be a way back the darkness was gone again, perhaps the zombie controlled it. This journey had not quite been what you had expected, talking Aipom’s … talking French Aipoms and the undead walking amongst you, what did you expect from the Mansion and its grounds? It brought new meaning to the words weird and frightening. Picking yourself up you see light up ahead and feel a little excitement amongst the fear, whatever the zombie wanted to show you it appeared to be very close now. Walking over to them you feel his cold dead hand on your shoulder and fight to repress that shudder of disgust as he looks upon you issuing you a test before you may pass further. You had come this far, to not proceed with this macabre tour would be madness and you confidently stared Frederick in the eye telling him to bring on any challenge he sees fit Birdie beaming with pride at your boldness. Frederick smiles a gappy smile standing back as Louis stood by his side a little confusion etched on his face, obviously he could not remember the test but he seemed as intrigued as you.

“This is designed to test your worthiness to enter upon our world, to weed out those of short-sightedness and remove those who seek to do harm to our people. If you pass you may continue on and I’ll show you the glories these caverns hold, if you fail you shall be ejected from the crypt and never allowed to return to this catacomb again do you understand?” he says seriously as you mutely nod wondering what kind of test he could possibly have in store for you. He stepped to the side to reveal a small pedestal with 3 clear circular stones set upon the front.

“The test consists of three parts, you must pass them all, failing even one would bring upon your expulsion, now place your hand upon the top of the pedestal and your tests will begin,” he instructs and you walk up to the old stone piece nervousness written in your body language.

“Do not look zo worried ‘uman, you will pazz I am sure of itz,” Louis encourages as you pass him and you wonder how he could be so sure. Stopping a moment and taking a deep breath you place you palm upon the pedestal and gasp as your head suddenly becomes light and you fall to the ground. Wincing as a headache plagues your mind you look about ready to give Frederick a piece of your mind if he was messing with you when you notice that you’re not in the caverns anymore, actually you appear to be outside. Standing up you find yourself alone and still within the grounds of the Mansion, great! You wonder what this test involved, finding you way back perhaps and decide that standing here was not helping you. Walking away you move through the tall grasses when you begin to hear noises and moving towards them you find two children, two zombie children arguing in the grass. You hesitate approaching them as their argument became more violent and they started to pounce on each other tearing bits of flesh from their bodies in their scrap. Edging closer you could make out their argument.

“Give it back to me thief,” one screams pulling the other’s hair.
“It wasn’t yours in the first place,” the other retorts throwing a punch into the zombie child’s abdomen
“Is too,”
“Is not”
“Is too”
“Is not”
“I’ll make you extra dead if you don’t give me back my toy” one yells crying as the other cries as his hair is almost completely torn off.

It was hard to see what they were arguing over but they were doing some serious damage to each other. ‘How was this a test?’You wondered when a voice emanated from the pedestal.

”What will you do here? What actions if any will you take; your answer must be honest. Speak out your response and act accordingly following your answer” it said in a monotone. It went silent waiting for you to decide an action, or lack of action as possible. You had time to think but this ‘answer’ was very important, fail this test and it was the end of the road..
(Don't apologize, your updates never cease to amaze me! ^.^)

With the first test beginning, Tim appears to be back at the mansion grounds. The adolecent trainer was a bit confused on what exactly he was supposed to do here, "Hm, I guess it doesn't help to just stand here, maybe if I walk around a bit, I'll figure this out." Tim said to himself as he began to walk through the tall grass. Sure enough, Tim began to hear small noises of a struggle off in the distance. "Maybe that's where my test it!" Tim thought as he began to speed through the grass. The noises began to grow louder, he was slowly beginning to make out what was going on. "An agrument?" Tim wondered as he continued. After a few moments of travelling through the grass, Tim came to the conclusion that he was right as he arrived at the scene. Two young zombies were bickering over a toy, the fight began to get physical as they both claimed the toy to belong to them. "What will you do here? What actions if any will you take; your answer must be honest. Speak out your response and act accordingly following your answer." boomed a voice. Now knowing what the situation was Tim thought carefully and came to a conclusion. "What I'll do is remove the toy from both of them, then I'll find something else to do, maybe a game of Tag would help..." Tim said as he hoped his decision was good enough.
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Old 07-10-2009, 10:47 AM   #110
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The Laboratory

lilbluecorsola ~ A flash of light, an explosion of colour and fire, searing pain. There was a scream was it yours, was it the bats, had it come from Sam? You could not be sure but the light did not last long as its twin in darkness engulfed you driving you into oblivion where nothing would touch you. As your senses returned you wished that they hadn’t as your nerves fired up sending shooting pains across your burnt arms. It was nothing though as you observed the injuries to the two Pokemon fighting for you, Gumpy had shielded you from the brunt of the damage and that meant he took a lot of the blast across his back, his purple flesh an angry red. It looked so sore and you daren’t touch him for fear of bringing along a wave of agony by the simple gesture but as you observed his rhythmic breathing you sighed in relief, he was alive at any rate. Returning him his capture device hoping that being inside would lessen any pain ready for when you could heal him you looked over your shoulder to see Sam laid on the ground as still as Gumpy had been. Your stomach lurched violently as you saw the state of his arm, the burnt was beyond extensive and seemed to have eaten almost down to the ethereal bone the flesh barely hanging on. Moving away the repulsion threatening to tear at your insides you see with horror that the explosion had destroy the small room and thrown you into the main lab. Shuffling along grimacing with pain your eyes tear up at the destroyed remains of the Abra-droid scattered in pieces throughout, some even looked lost amongst the masses of rubble. The Golbat’s life had been extinguished, their flesh burnt to a rips, what remained melted together in a morbid portrait of love and affection.

Overwhelmed with so many emotions you sank against the wall feeling guilt, such hopelessness and despair gripping your very being. A soaking wet symbol of darkness and sorrow in a building that relished such emotions, had you not been so withdrawn into your own mind you would have felt its aura shift. The very walls almost smiled with the dripping of water from the sprinklers, a scorched maniacal grin burnt forever in place. Your mind was so a flow with dark bitter thoughts you toyed with a piece of shattered glass contemplating ending your life and misery that came with it all together. Why not? To add death to such a desolate place, you would not be missed and the Mansion would welcome another soul but something stopped your hand. A promise, could you really break such a binding pact, made of mere words but of the heart? And what of your Pokemon? Who would look after them once you had gone? Would anyone know they were here, new toys for this depraved house? Pushing down those negative thoughts as deep down into the recesses of your mind you staggered back over to Sam and your backpack that had been laid next to him finding a Corsola keychain, the piece reminding you of your precious Haruki, you had to live on to be with him. Grasping it tightly you sorted through your inventory first finding the simple motions enough to distract you as you thought through your next course of action. Staring at Sam’s unconscious form you stared rooting through your bag once more wishing you had stocked up properly before the trip here but found what you were looking for anyway pulling the Full Heal out and kneeling next to his form. Spraying the full bottle over his arm you watched with despair that nothing appeared to be happening, the damage must be too much for the topical medicine to repair.

Wandering back to the source of the explosion not at all careful of where you trod the shattered glass crunching under your shoes you knew you didn’t really blame Sam, this had been his idea after all and he had not been in his right mind. His mind had stayed on you and heart was in the right if he had one. Looking at the remains of the Abra-droid you sighed wondering if anything remained that would be of use.

“Smells like… BBQ,” a voice whispered and you almost didn’t catch it but turned to see Sam leaning against what used to be the door frame staring at his burnt arm in an almost detached fashion. You noted that some tendrils of his ghostly flesh had formed over the bone in lighter scar tissue; the Full Heal had a little effect after all. His red eyes flicked up to you and you could see repressed pain there before they darkened making you feel nervous.

“Death does not fit everyone Jess, such thoughts I heard, it doesn’t suit you,” he grunted out almost annoyed his perfect image of your being. He floated up to you and he appeared to struggle with the task, one so easy for him under any other circumstance.

“My beautiful Jess, I promised I would help you, I would cure you. I cannot if you die first. Wounds heal … some into really pretty pictures painted on bodies in blood and fire …” he trailed off enamoured by his arm again before he remembered his speech. “Yes wounds heal and pain remains but pain is not always a bad thing, mine will forever remind me of my mistake and I will learn that … that fire and smog are bad together but make a pretty explosion. We must move on,” he finishes almost sounding wise in that sentence, in amongst usual pieces of Sam that could help but shine through. He looks to the Abra-droid smiling.

“All may not be lost my Jess, the cure may be still in sight,” he says excitedly floating off to examine the bot closer up. He played with the remaining lower half pulling pieces apart and fiddling with the wiring. A few shocks sparked off and he shook his arms hissing in pain but as lights shone along the lines of its body and a whirring of activity joined them he grinned and floated off stopping a moment to stare at the remains on the bats before turning to you.

“I need something to write with, before the power goes!” he exclaims and the urgency in his voice you hobble back to the main lab searching through drawers before you found a blank note pad with a pencil conveniently stored next to it. Grabbing it you handed it to Sam who stared deep into the machine and began to scribble on the paper. Whatever he had found it gave you a tingle of hope. He cursed though as the remains suddenly died all remaining power drained.

“It had completed the cure but switched off before I could write it all down.” He said and you frowned but at his big smile you felt a little one of your own replace it.

“I got 4 of the 6 ingredients to make the cure though that might be enough, there may be other ways to power the droid back up later to discover the other 2.” He beams feeling pride at having come through for you. He hands the note pad to you and you frown at the gibberish written there, was that even English, what language was that? He noted your puzzled expression and hovered over you cradling his injured arm close to his body.

“What’s wrong Jess, can’t you read? I thought you had read that manual but perhaps I imagined that. I thought all humans could read.” He shook his head amazed by your lack of reading ability as you stare at him with mild annoyance. He gently took the notepad from you and smiled a condescending look upon his face.

“I shall read it to you my pretty, the first ingredient is a Fog Lily, the nectar from it to be precise, I think I remember seeing some in the Statue Garden once, but that was a long time ago I don’t know if there’ll be any still there. The second is Poisonous Marsh Mire, that stuff is around the Waterfront, I’m sure there is some polluted gunk on those rivers. Errm third is Swalodka, made with juices of real Swalots, mmm” he rubs his belly a little drool falling down his cheek, “Good stuff, there’s bound to be some stored perhaps in the bar and lastly is a … hmm” he stops looking down at what he had written. “Weird, I wrote blood preserved in time and beauty, I don’t know what that could be,” he pouts.

“Where do you want to go first Jess?” he asks expectantly all ready to follow you wherever you may go.
“Smells like… BBQ.”

Great. Now her voices were talking about food. Ha ha ha! …Shut up, you idiot. Now’s not the time.

She turned. Sam was leaning against the remains of the door frame. His burnt arm dangled listlessly by his side. He stared at it detachedly, as if he accepted that it wasn’t a part of him, just some vaguely eye-catching ornament on display. A mildly fascinating design, but still hardly worth his appraisal. Her eyes noticed that some tendrils of ghostly flesh had formed over the bone in lighter scar tissue. Do ghosts feel pain, I wonder?

She lifted her head. Her eyes met with his. Those bloody half-moons flickered with suppressed pain, then deepened slowly. A penumbral eclipse. She felt cold.

“Death does not fit everyone, Jess, such thoughts I heard, it doesn’t suit you,” he grunted. Almost humorously, he seemed frustrated to discover the blackness of her soul. He had expected his angel to be perfect, her heart to be as pure as her superficial façade. And yet, she was already dead. Or so she felt.

Ah, so he could hear me. It’s too late. I buried myself a long time ago. The first one’s gone, I drove the final nail into the coffin. Though the second’s still trying to put up a good fight.

He floated gently to her, sighing and weaving like a slightly deflated balloon.

“My beautiful Jess, I promised I would help you, I would cure you. I cannot if you die first. Wounds heal… Some into really pretty pictures painted on bodies in blood and fire…”

Briefly, he admired the arm again. My, such an attractive piece.

“Yes, wounds heal and pain remains, but pain is not always a bad thing, mine will forever remind me of my mistake and I will learn that… That fire and smog are bad together but make a pretty explosion. We must move on.”

Between those frivolous words, there seemed to be something. It was weakly expressed, perhaps, but a sincere effort nonetheless, especially considering the one it was coming from. She sighed. These final remains of her fading faith… I will surrender them to those words.

Sam smiled, and looked to the shattered robot. A twinkle lit up his eye. The eclipse had passed.

“All may not be lost, my Jess, the cure may be still in sight.” He glided towards the Abra-droid. Jessica’s dull eyes abstractly followed the ghost’s shadow, gazing hopefully but without expectation. Sam uncovered the lower half, and set to work pulling loose pieces apart, fiddling with the exposed wiring. There was a spark, followed by a shocked hiss as Sam hastily pulled away and shook his arm. The sound was joined by a quiet hum as the robot gleamed slowly to life. Sam grinned and withdrew. He paused a moment, suddenly entranced by the bat-shaped pattern of ashes on the floor. He shook his head, remembering the time and circumstances.

“I need something to write with, before the power goes!” he exclaimed, the urgency in his tone finally startling Jess into action. She glanced about the room’s shambles – nothing remained. Turning, she hobbled as quickly as she could over the debris, back to the main lab, where she frantically pulled drawers in search of writing implements. Valuable seconds ticked. Finally she located a blank notepad and pencil conveniently stored beside it. She snatched the pair and hastily delivered it to Sam, a glimmer of hope rising in her as she watched him scribble furiously. As swiftly as it had emerged, her hope sank as the machine abruptly went dead again, its brief power drained. Sam cursed.

“It had completed the cure but switched off before I could write it all down,” he muttered. Jessica sighed, but surprisingly Sam smiled wide. Tentatively, she tried the same.

“I got four of the six ingredients to make the cure though that might be enough, there may be other ways to power the droid back up later to discover the other two.” He beamed and handed the notepad back to her. As Jessica excitedly scanned the scrawl on the paper, her mouth gradually flipped upside-down. Was this even English? What was it? Some other language? She was aware of Sam’s sardonic gaze watching her frustrated expression.

“What’s wrong, Jess, can’t you read? I thought you had read that manual but perhaps I imagined that. I thought all humans could read.” He shook his head, amazed by her illiteracy. She glared at him with infuriation, but allowed him to gently take the notepad from her hands and smile smugly as he turned it around with his one good hand.

“I shall read it to you, my pretty; the first ingredient is a Fog Lily, the nectar from it to be precise. I think I remember seeing some in the Statue Garden once, but that was a long time ago. I don’t know if there’ll be any still there. The second is Poisonous Marsh Mire. That stuff is around the Waterfront, I’m sure there is some polluted gunk on those rivers. Errm third is Swalodka, made with juices of real Swalots, mmm…” Jessica’s hand immediately flew and clenched Gumpy’s Pokéball fiercely, eyeing Sam with suspicion as he rubbed his belly and drooled.

“Good stuff, there’s bound to be some stored perhaps in the bar,” he continued, and she relaxed her grip slightly. “And lastly is a… Hmm.” He paused, peering closer at what he had written, and Jess craned her neck a little forward to try and see. Hopefully it wasn’t another animal component.

“Weird, I wrote blood preserved in time and beauty, I don’t know what that could be,” he concluded, looking put off. Jessica shrugged, having no idea either.

“Where do you want to go first, Jess?” he asked, looking up expectantly. From his eager expression she could tell he was ready to follow her to wherever she chose to steer. She sighed inwardly, knowing he was her only guide and undoubtedly a valuable asset to her search. She didn’t care for his sarcastic remarks, but he was obviously trying his best to help her and she owed him quite a lot already. So she managed a smile and responded to Sam politely.

“I guess the logical thing to do is start within the mansion. We’ll go to the bar first. I don’t know where it is, so I’ll have to rely on your directions. Please lead the way.” She didn’t relish the idea of depending on Sam (or anyone else for that matter) more than she had to, or the thought of drinking alcoholic beverages made from Pokémon fluids (let alone the same species as one of her own teammates), but this was a dire situation. If she wanted to recover her health as quickly as possible – nay, to survive – she’d have to stem her aversion and learn to put up with it. Life is always full of demanding circumstances. Better get used to it.
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Old 07-21-2009, 03:24 PM   #111
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The Maze of Shrubbery

empoleon dynamite ~ This battle of emotions had just turned plain ugly now and you had seen more than enough. Ventress looked ready to annihilate her flowery foe whilst the Gloom looked like it just wanted to be left alone with its own pity and sorrow. Fearing another strike from the vicious vines that swathed this passageway and from Ventress’ with her impatience growing you yell in despair having reached the limit of your tolerance, startling both Pokemon. Ventress paused in her violent thoughts and turned to look at you with curiosity wondering what could have brought forth such an outburst. With new silence filling the air you take the opportunity to think on what to do next and decide that you needed another of your team to resolve this conflict. Sending out your little Shroomish Fungi looks around at the vine filled maze with interest but you quickly draw him to the task at hand. Fungi looks disapprovingly at the other grass Pokemon in his midst and Ventress pays him no heed not at all intimidated by his warnings. You ask Fungi to assist the Gloom who was crying on the ground absorbing bits of health back with its ingrain and the Shroomish is only happy to obey your orders, unlike Ventress. Pulling a Potion from your backpack and test it and see a spray of cool liquid leave its canister as Fungi approaches Gloom whispering comforting words.

Gloom looks up to you fearfully as you approach and Fungi is ready with his Spores should he need to use them but unbeknownst to you Ventress is standing behind you silently seething. This was her battle and you dared to stop it? She Recovered her energy and a slight amount of health as you ordered only because it was beneficial and observed your actions with disgust. This Gloom had initiated the attack and because of what? Because Ventress had appeased her violent tendencies on one of its kin. Ventress obviously felt no guilt towards the death she caused and as you spray the Potion on glooms skin she hisses in anger.

As you rub the healing spray across Gloom’s skin, the flower looking up with confusion you hear violent rustling from the bushes surrounding you. Stepping back in nervous anxiety you feel a vine whip out and lash across your hand holding the potion leaving a nasty red welt in its wake. Stumbling back you hold your hand and look around in horror wondering if the vines were finally going to take their frustrations out on you and take a defensive stance Fungi ready to protect you. Suddenly the vines rip forth of their bindings and unleash their fury upon the Gloom and you watch in horror as it screams in agony. Unable to act you see in a matter of moments that they have completed they’re attack leaving Gloom a bloody mess barely breathing. Ventress waddles up to you and you miss the satisfied look on her face at the state her opponent is in but Fungi does not and he growls at her in disgust. Level up for Ventress. You turn to your savage Lileep and notice that she looks stronger despite having not finished the battle and wonder how that occurred thankful for the break from your guilty thoughts. Ventress stares at Glooms body almost shining with pride for the state it was in and Fungi could barely hold back his anger, she should not be acting like this it was beyond hideous. A singular vine snakes out and you step back and watch as it wraps around Glooms body before dragging into the depths of the bushes and as it does so Ventress waddles off further down the path not at all fazed by what had occurred.

Left alone with memories of that horrific excuse of that battle and Fungi who was trying to console you, you begin to wish you had never chosen to come here. Though you had an idea of what horrors the Mansion and its ground might have had in store you didn’t want to believe it would have dragged you into them so soon. Lost in guilt and frustration you don’t notice Ventress slip around the corner but thankfully Fungi was on the ball today and pulled you out of your pity enough to alert you to her wandering off … again! Sighing you run off after even despite her actions she was still your Pokemon. Rounding the corner your thankful to see that she hasn’t gotten far in fact she’d stopped between two options the path splits off into looking pensive. As you approach she looks over to you as if asking for your opinion on which path to choose … that’s a first! Both paths look similar with nothing to separate one from the other and you wonder actually if it would have been a better idea to head back out of the maze altogether. As if sensing your thoughts a harsh wind comes from behind you and you turn to see the path disappearing, but wait … it almost looked like the vines and bushes were rushing forth towards you reaching out for you. The two paths ahead begin to rustle with activity the vines delicately waving back and forth as if enticing you forward and with the path behind you slowly swallowing everything in sight you’d better move fast or you’d end up the next victim of the maze.
Wes spun in all directions, ever more paranoid something would jump out or the walls would swallow them whole. Even with a newfound evolution, Breloom would be hard-pressed to hone its fighting skills as it tested its brand spanking claws which seemed to spring out beyond his control. Wes felt shivers climb up his spine at the slightest sound of wind whistling past, the towering labyrinth evoking a midnight vibe despite the fact they where fairly settled in the hours of daylight. The clouds above would beg to differ however, but Wes expected the quant hamlet of Vestige always had an overcast facade; it was nestled in the highlands of Fizzy after all. Wes’ mind began to sidetrack from the idea of Ventress savaging a defenceless plum of a Pokémon, perhaps it was better off in the hands of the maze rather than in Ventress’ savage clutches. They continued walking with a distinct silence watching over them, only the bleak clouds laying witness to their chilling trek. Suddenly! Ventress upped her pace, waddling forward at a fair rate of knots despite her stubby legs. Wes wouldn’t lose track of his partner, even though Fungi held onto an emotion of distrust, coiling his newly found fists in the event her unruly outbursts would cause more harm to innocent locals. Wes grinded to a halt with Ventress eying another crossroad. Her yellow pupils glistened amidst her black face, Wes making a quick judgement before steering left. The outback moaned. Wes swiftly checked his back only to find the path they’d came from shut behind them furiously as the thorny vines ensnarled together leaving no sign of a previous gap. The rustles where unsettling, was the maze angry with them!? A large lump formed in the kids throat, a vine snaking past his ankles causing him to spring back in panic. As the hedge attacked in frenzy Wes tugged free with all his might before the thorny vines could seize him, managing to barely break loose with less than a few grazes. Hastily counting his party, Wes noticed a missing operative in his mitts...

“FUNGI!!” Wes screamed, the bushes ahead rustling wildly as the mushroom was swallowed, Fungi aimlessly flailing its new limbs to no avail. He was fresh in his new form, at a loss to control his fighting skills and easily snatched by the shrubbery’s rotted clutches. Wes thumped against the wall, yelping for help knowing full well nobody could hear him. Eyes welling with tears for a comrade he may never see again, the teen tried his best to make grip against the hedge, clambering up its sides until it gave way in a malicious reprisal. Dropped to the floor like a ragdoll, Wes released a second scream of frustration as tears trickled down his face and blood seeped from his scraped knees. His nose had gone runny as his bottom lip blubbered, struck down to a new low with the maze’s entity no doubt euphoric with such disheartened sensations. Ventress sniggered at the pathetic trainer and his outburst of emotion, not at all uptight about the danger they where in. She suddenly wriggled away from the downed kid, far too preoccupied to snort at Wes’ failure. Wes heard the faint steps of the primeval fossil steadily dim as she rustled against the hedges. What the fuck was up with her!? Wes had no time to wallow in pity, not about to lose another team member even if she had shown no signs of ever being tame. He weakly upped to his feet, his bruised limbs throbbing with twinge as he wiped away the tears from his face and blew his nose on his sleeve. Messy hair, teary face, red nose, clothes torn and muddy and a chock stock of blood-spattered gashes to boot! What had become of him? Damn this maze was good at haunting.

“Fufufu, gaii!” a voice barked from the distance. Wes beamed in delight as a flicker of hope lit his heart with joy, his precious mushroom was sound but perhaps not safe. Wes span around in light of the cry, looking for cry only to find the wall of shrubbery far too thick to waft through. He soon ruffled free a Leaf Ball he’d not so recently tossed, aiming at the wall of vinery only to see its scarlet beam ricochet off of its edge. His efforts where futile, Fungi would have to hold up alone for a while whilst Wes searched for his other team mate. In any other case a third teammate would be ideal – Wes brushed passed this thought however giving the current track record. He yelled a nippy goodbye to the chirpy Fungi and set his tracks for the ancient shrub making a break for it down the ruffled trail. Wes franticly sped down the walkway faster than his weak legs would carry him, with no sign of Ventress perhaps he should have wrestled free Fungi. With this chain of thought the walls wobbled and vines wriggled in frenzy, bad idea. Using the path he’d been following Wes sighed in desperation as it snaked into two once more, each direction far more animate stunning the kid with an unpleasant tingly sensation. It was fifty-fifty, unless the plant had kept to his tedious rule he vaguely learned by heart. Crazy. Ventress wouldn’t ever listen to him, if anything she’d purposely steer the opposite direction. He knew he had to go left though, not a sure hunch but better than taking the risk. Left it was. Wes franticly scuttled down the next hurdle, beating away at the feverish walls either angle in case they decide to steal him away too. His eyes suddenly lit up, the hourglass figured shrub anchored at the end of the dull pathway, her tribal markings as distinctive as ever.

“Ven- Stop moving or else we’ll never make it out alive!” Wes croaked, managing to find his voice albeit ignored. The boy’s serious grimace uncrumpled into a blank look of confusion. She was completely spaced out, setting tracks for the opposite direction and not even giving Wes the time of day. What was wrong with her now? She continued to waddle on as her master considered the maze may have some sort of telepathic way of communication with other plant life. Something he’d be completely oblivious. With no time to test this theory he straggled in tow of the waddling Lileep, neatly meandering across the tight bends and swift corners, all the while thoughts of Fungi echoing through his mind much to his torture. He’d keep on the Jurassic Pokémon’s tracks, even if it went against all his best judgements. She was a tough cookie, but Wes knew she had some wit about her. Not long passed and they came to another standstill, this time something far more distinguishable than the routine vista jutting out in a clearing Wes couldn’t have imagined finding. His jaw dropped upon stemming into a makeshift marquee created by the ominous growth patterns of the rotted vinery. The area was chock full of coiling thorns and thick vines, carpeting the floor making the damp clay-ridden earth less than visible in its wake. On the flip side, they remained as settled as... well... ordinary plantlife. Wes only hoped this would remain the same as he tiptoed across the vast circle of shrubbery, stepping over the dark green thickets showing a distinct distrust for them. On the flip side, Ventress was in her element, immersed in dull and dingy flora as her bulbous head magnetised toward a stack of vines which Wes was hard-pressed to make out. The two closed the distance, Wes noticing a moss-covered stone which seemed to emanate with power – A shrine of some sort. Far too unkempt to read any manuscript or even make out its full shape, Wes took a step back and squinted whilst Ventress jumped to the chance to interact with the odd tunic. Her tentacled headdress wriggled loose and two of the orange tendrils made their way to what appeared to be fist-sized punctures clustered up the shrines’ base. Her appendages squiggled into the holes with an odd sensation suddenly overpowering the plant, her eyes lit up as she danced in a trippy ecstasy. What the hell was going on!? Wes ushered closer partially dragged by an ambition to save his fungus companion and partially piqued with curiosity. Down in the dumps, perhaps he envied Ventress’ newfound happiness, even if it was only false pleasure. One thing was sure, another set of holes beside the fossil were cooing his name, and he had to try it. With every effort to pretend it was all nothing but a mind trick, Wes needed to know what the hell was happening. Fuelled by ambition to save his partner, Wes outstretched his hands which quivered in fear as Goosebumps sprouted up his arms. His bare skin stroked against the cold rocky surface of the hole’s rim, they where in place and there was no going back...
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Old 08-31-2009, 02:10 PM   #112
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Eternal apologies for the enormous delay in these updates but they are finally here. I can only hope I shall not produce such a large wait for the next lot. I do hope they are worth it and you want to continue your adventures. Enjoy ^-^


The Mirror Door

fishyfool ~ Mirror Arbok was significantly weakened, now was the time to strike to rid yourself of this roadblock on your way to assist your missing team-mates. You desired nothing more than extreme pain for the snake for all it had done to you and your Pokemon, you would leave this battle unscathed and to ensure Arbok was left in a similar manner floated through your mind. Yakuza was flagging with all the high energy moves he had executed in order to tackle the snake and with the wounded wing was struggling to stay aloft choosing to land next to you protectively fawning over your injured state no longer bothered by Penance’s presence in his battle. Choosing to keep Yakuza out of immediate danger was wise and giving him an order in the battle kept his pride intact and the dark bird let loose an ear piercing Screech that had you covering your own sensitive lobes even Penance seemed perturbed by the noise as she placed her claws into her ears and curls up defensively blocking some of the noise. Rolling Out she slammed into the snake cracking even more of its now fragile skin before rolling away and uncurling waiting for Yakuza to attack. With enough birth to attack Yakuza fires off a Confuse Ray that hits Arbok head on, but wait, the beam reflects of its skin and Penance receives a flashback a dazed look appearing in her eyes. Well now you had two confused Pokemon on your hands!

Yakuza looks concerned as Penance stumbles around and takes matters into his own claws running as best he could toward Arbok and Pecking it right in the eye making it hiss in pain and spray a wave of Acid almost defensively hitting Yakuza right in the face. He screeches in pain and stumbles back falling over tries to rid the searing liquid from his eyes. Penance charges for what she believes to be Arbok but hits the wall instead smashing more glass to pieces but the impact seemed to clear her head a little. Arbok was Biting at thin air allowing Penance freedom to attack, and attack she did focusing her Earth Power into the ground sending shockwaves that knocked you back on your arse. The thick floor boards began to splinter and rise up smashing into Arbok along with piles of glass strewn from the various attacks. The snake falls to the ground hissing in pain but no longer confused. It gave you a sour glare before an awful noise erupted from its mouth, it sounded almost like a Perish Song but Arboks didn’t know how to use that move, did they? Suddenly ripples formed on the remaining glass panels and what appeared to be melted glass slid forth rising up to surround you. You look about in sheer horror as their skin forms and at least 5 more mirror Arboks were hissing at you ready to strike. The original Arbok had a glint in its eye, it chalked out laughter as you realised your plight, there was no way you could take on that many of them not in the state you were all in. Penance was by your side in a moment but Yakuza was injured unable to see properly to move and your eyes fall to him as the Arbok’s follow your gaze grinning maliciously. One rushes forward and Crunches down on Yakuza’a already injured wing making him cry in agony tears in his eyes. Despite the danger you rush to his aid only to get slammed back by a thick tail. Penance roars and charged forward and receives 5 Aqua Tail’s for her efforts the combines attacks knocking her for six. The Arboks continue their assault on your Pokemon and you wonder how long before they killed you all. As if hearing your question 2 approach you teeth bared and glistening with venom. As they move to strike a weird beam of light surrounds you and the snakes hit a barrier sliding back down almost comically. All the Arboks look about the room for the intrusion as a bright pink light filled the room causing shrieks of pain from the snakes as they look about in fear and start attacking one another in confusion. The ceiling begins to tremble and you look up in horror as the glass and beams tear falling on top of the six Arbok crushing them instantly several pieces bouncing off your barrier which quickly fizzles out.

Picking yourself up slowly you hobble over to Penance and Yakuza who are both injured from Arbok and friends’ attacks but alive it was then you turn to see the rubble pinning the glass snakes to the floor which looks unsteady and as you tread near it collapses the snakes falling down the next level as you fall back in surprise. You see a flash of silver in your peripheral vision and look to see the silver pass around a corner and out of sight, its safe to assume that whatever that was it had helped you out and now you had to get moving, but to where to? There was the hole that the Arboks fell through but they could still be alive under there then again there was that flash of movement in the corridor up ahead, maybe that was worth checking out. Whatever the choice the demon was now much further ahead of you than you’d like.


I'd assume that the possible lack of updates would be you awaiting me to get a-replying, or something else, such as your own schedule. If it was indeed me holding everyone else back, then colossal apologies all round.

Anger burning in Jamie's mind, as well as the urgency to find his missing hal of his team, this being a rather debilitating side effect of the situation, the orders were given as he continued watching the battle. On the plus side, his leg seemed to show signs of not actually bleeding anymore, which was admittedly a slight bonus, yet the mirrored serpent was still at large and dangerous. As to the call, the injured Honchkrow let loose a screech fuelled by his pain, and in an act he should have noted beforehand, the close proximity of Yakuza to trainer caused him to clutch his already woozy head in pain while even Penance seemed irritated by the move, yet holding her head in action rolled her heavyweight body into the glassy Arbok, the snake's mirrored body cracking as Yakuza set about his own tactic of crippling the foe with a confuse ray, and as the bewitching light careened towards its body, Jamie realised too late what he was facng: A mirrored foe. Although his enemy was confused, the backlash light also messed with the Golem's mind as Jamie uttered a swift and small apology for the action.

Continuing the scene, and with his ally inconvenienced, Yakuza took matters into his own claws by pecking his foe square in the eye, the Arbok hissing while spraying acid into the crow's face. much to Jamie's distress, as the Honchkrow, after all, was his singular force alongside the Golem in this mirror world. A loud smash later, after barreling into a mirror, Penance unleashed her own fury by pumping energy into the ground, the seismic waves sending the hunched trainer flat onto his arse with a slight hiss before the ground itself erupted beneath the Arbok, the serpent being knocked from his state of confusion as it gave a rather sour glare at Jamie, who simply glared back in mirror fashion, the boy chuckling underneath his sullen expression, with the foe almost down and out, all that was needed was a last push and he can carry on searching for a way back, hopefully before the demon found his pokemon...

A dirge from the mouth of the fallen Arbok, as Penance and Yakuza looked at it preparing to finish it off, and as Jamie listened to it in fear, he remembered that the specied were incapable of using Perish Song, as he queried the action. His answer came in the terrible form of the glass melting from the mirrors before surrounding him and forming a quintet of Arbok, as he realised that this was the end: One mirror Arbok was enough for him, but six of the fiends was just overkill, to use a grave term. As the original snake gave a callous laugh, and as Penance hurried to his side, Jamie's gaze fell towards the injured Honchkrow, blinded and grounded as did the five snakes before one of them broke the wolf pack and crunched onto the bird's injured wing, the avian screeching in agony as the treatment was just too much for the trainer to handle as he rose in an almost-impossible manner to aid his bird, only for a hefty smack from another Arbok to send him flying, his safe leg landing first mercifully as he gasped from the assault, and as time itself seemed to warp to treacle-speed, he heard only the roar of the Golem as she charged in anger, then the roar of the Golem as she was struck in agony from a quintet of aqua tails, something that couldn't possibly let her get up easily as he realised that this was it for them, for him. As though on cue, two of the monsters turned to face him, teeth gleaming with hideous venom as he saw his face, eyes tinted red with tears and fear as they lunged for him to finish the life...

...before slamming into a mystical barrier of light, sliding down as though in an animated show, the impossibility causing the winded boy to gaze in sheer confusion as the Arbok gazed around, Penance and Yakuza down for the count as the room suddenly flared with a pink light, causing every single snake in the room to start striking each other in confusion as a dusty corner of Jamie's mind polished itself off away from the other conflictions in his brain to note that said light must be from a psychic assault, the barrier likely being a reflect move. The sudden rumbling from above as Jamie gasped in terror as the ceiling slowly started collapsing, beams seemingly from the heavens smiting the Arbok as they were crushed, Jamie's mood simply not in the mindset for taunting their misfortune as the dust cleared, leaving six serpents-a-squashed as the wall dissipated, which was opportune enough for Jamie to rise slowly from the ground. Limping over to his injured allies, both thankfully alive, a secondary rumble from beside him as he watched in fright as the floor holding said Arbok and rubble suddenly collapsed, the snakes falling with it, if still alive, likely not anymore. From the corner of his eye, however, came a flash of silver as he turned to look, the silver shifting round a corner and out of sight, almost certainly his saviour. Racking his brain, he considered the options as to the identity of the silver, but drew a relative blank considering the large number of pokemon capable of using psychic moves for offense and defense. His leg no longer bleeding, he stared down the hole, uncertain if any of the Arbok had survived before hobbling over to the two pokemon and hugging them, his eyes watering with relief over the ordeal.

"...that was close...seriously, you two need some rest..." he mumbled as he recalled both bird and boulder before considering his options for travel, which there really only was one: Follow the silver flash in the hopes of it being beneficial for him. As he placed both balls to his belt, the single ball remaining occupied containing his youngster, he resisted the urge to pull Wraith out of the capsule for travel, as the sight would have traumatised him as his mind considered the possibility of the mirror world, as a parallel to the real one, to have amongst its forces of evil, a glimmer of good will. Movement, however, was a must, for the demon was surely ahead of him now.
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Old 09-19-2009, 04:12 PM   #113
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The Laboratory

lilbluecorsola ~ Despair, fear, pain, annoyance, confusion, hope … you had felt so many emotions in such a short space of time that it drained you further; but the last, the last was an emotion that kept you strong. With what power the near-obliterated Abra-droid had left it had revealed some of its answers giving you that precious warming emotion. Sam had managed to write down 4 of the necessary 6 ingredients listing them off with unnecessary little sarcastic comments to draw a reaction from you, it working a treat bringing a smile to his pained face. He was aware of the locations of 3 of the unusual ingredients and leaves it to you to decide where to head first his eyes filled with his innocent excitement at having impressed you further and brining you from your deadly depression. Managing to meet his smile with one of your own which makes his pink eyes sparkle with jubilation you make the decision to remain in the Mansion and search out the bar for the Swalodka, shuddering at its name and the meaning Sam gave it. You hoped it wasn’t made of Swalots, you’re stomach lurched at the thought and a protective hand fell to Gumpy’s ball briefly. Sam nods noting you discomfort smirking but hiding it sharpish when you meet his gaze.

“The bar is in the Ballroom in the East Wing, its not far away and I’m feeling thirsty … a good choice beautiful.” Floating off to the entrance of the lab he waits expectantly to follow as you are once again taken aback by his ability to lose focus on the important; although what was important to Sam was not necessarily important to you. Keeping the smile on your face, if a little more forced now, you hobble across the debris happy to leave the memories of this place far behind and escalate the steep stairs to the West Wing corridor. Grimacing at the wave of dizziness that overtook you as you reached the top of the stair you brace yourself on the wall as Sam looks at you full of concern. Perhaps it was the disease slowly ravaging your body or the blow to the head you took but either way standing and was proving more difficult than it should have. Sam floats as close to you as possible as you reach the foyer and make your way towards the East Wing. Keeping one arm on the walls as you move you feel the nausea and dizziness subside to more comfortable levels and pass several intriguing doors in your passage before arriving at the grand double doors barring entrance to the Ballroom.


The Ballroom

Pulling the doors open the swing too in grandeur and you feel a flash of memory, like a princess entering a over-the-top party for the higher ups in society. A gust of wind accompanied the memory as dust was blown your way making you cough as Sam waved his good hand about in annoyance at the fine mist. When it was safe you dared to look in and gasped at the enormity of the room, even in its state of disrepair it had a look of old beauty. Walking inside along the dusty floor leaving small foot prints you notice the smooth polished wood under your feet to the creamy paint adorning the walls, peeling in a few places. The ceiling was high above the floor and 4 large glass chandeliers hung in a row and you would guess that when they were lit sparkling patterns would dance across the floor in time with the music. The windows at the far ends of the room were boarded over letting little light in, only the light from the corridor allowing you to view this spectacle.

“There’s the bar,” Sam interrupted your observations and vision by pointing off into the distance and peering to where his purple finger rested you could just about make out the edge of a long surface. “I hope they have some Cherrim Schnapps, that stuff is to die for,” he added licking his lips before floating off humming to himself. Rolling your eyes at his complete disregard for taste and his taste for the disgusting you follow slowly behind. As you approach the bar you begin to see shattered bottles on the floor their contents leaving stains on the wood. The bar itself was long and curved into a crescent shape the front made of polished wood with a pearlescent top. Bottles hung from the wall with old fashioned octaves attached to the end for measurements on spirits. There were no refrigerators like most modern bars but kegs sat in a row and even two of those had been drained, overall it was an old style bar but with a modern twist in appearance and it had you wondering. Suddenly you heard a grumbling come from a door behind the bar and defensively back off an inch as Sam tilts his head with curiosity.

“Who’s behind door number one?” he asks as a pink creature pushed the door open its hands full with a large keg. It grumbled angrily as it placed the keg under the bar surface looking up to catch sight of the two of you. The Clefairy’s eyes widen and it suddenly leaps onto the bar and clenches its fists.

“Back thieves, you’ll take no more of my liquour,” it spits out in a gruff voice and you notice an apron tied around its waist with a dirty rag hanging out of the pocket.

“I’ll take one shot of Cherrim Schnapps barkeep,” Sam asks sitting on a barstool holding his hand out and nodding his head trying to act cool before you. Both you and Clefairy share a look of disbelief at Sam’s actions, was he for real? The Clefairy looks down at you as you give it a nervous smile and its glare softened.

“You’re not thieves?” it asks and you shake your head to squash his doubts as Sam makes a similar motion. Clefairy climbs off the bar top and coughs before aligning several bottles on the back surface.

“Sorry but I’ve had a lot of my liquor stolen recently, it’s the same bloody Aipom that crawls in here, I swear I’ll kill him when I see him again” he begins to rant stopping when he notices your look of confusion.

“Well then, don’t get many paying patrons around here, especially ones so fresh and alive,” he says eyeing you up and you wonder if all the Pokemon residing here act like this. “Clive’s the name and I run this bar, got it back up to scratch from nothing and all,” he says proudly.

“Hey Clive … my drink?” Sam interjects and you shoot him a deathly glare causing him to shrink back slightly a sheepish grin on his face.

“I’m all out of Cherrim Schnapps, that Aipom took my last supplies,” he says as Sam overdramatically head butts the bar, “should you be drinking in such a state anyway,” he adds gruffly noticing both yours and Sam’s injuries. “My drink,” Sam mumbles into the surface beneath his face as you sigh. You ask Clive about the Swalodka you were searching for and he frowns deeper.

“I did have some yes, rare stuff too doesn’t come cheap,” he says eying you up as if assessing your monetary state, “I have only one bottle left but I’m not giving it up, I’ve lost too much of my stock already.” You feel you heart sink and tears prick your eyes, why must your hope be dashed so soon after it is acquired? Clive notices your state of distress and he softens looking a little guilty.

“Hey little lady, don’t cry,” he says offering you his dirty rag that you quickly turn down, “I’d love to help you out especially since you look so … well …,” he trails off unable to properly describe your bedraggled state, “but I’m not a charitable person and I’ve already lost money with these thefts. I’m sorry.”

Sam had come out of his moping to see you upset and rounds on the barkeep.

“Hey Clive, no one makes my Jess cry, now you hand over that bottle of Swalodka before I get spiritual on your ass, we need it to cure her disease,” he says shaking his fist grimacing at the pain his injured one gives him.

“Okay pal calm down or I’ll chuck you out. Well I suppose I could part with it for free … if you do something for me,” he says and you look up suddenly feeling brighter.

“I have the ingredients to make Parasrum and that stuff is rarer than Swalodka, tastier too but I’m missing one ingredient, if you would get it for me I’d give you the Swalodka.” Sam grins eager to agree but you wonder what the missing ingredient is.

“I’d need a Parasect to make it, I’ve not been able to go and get one myself and they’re tricky buggers, always hiding in tall grass. If you agree I can show you a quick root to the gardens, the Maze is the best bet they like the shrubbery there. Well, what do you say?”




The Mirror Door

fishyfool ~ With the action and your foes most very likely deceased you take a moment to take everything in. Slumped on the ground safely enough away from the edge of newly ripped crater in the ground you grant time to catch your breath. Yakuza slumps against you not wanting to show any more weakness but ironically too drained and injured to care. Penance was looking better even with the large cracks in her tough hide and she stared thoughtfully down at the rubble below. You leg was no longer bleeding, the tourniquet having done its job and you cast it aside feeling the throb of blood rushing back to your limb and the accompanying twinges of pain. Your thoughts turned to your saviour, a flash of silver was all you had to go on its identity and wracking your mind you struggle to place a Pokemon in the blank, assuming it was a Pokemon with such Psychic abilities. Hugging Yakuza to your chest you return him to his ball, Penance swiftly following hoping that a stay in the technologically advance home would aid their healing. It dawned on you that time was swiftly moving onwards and you were falling further behind the vile demon orchestrating this nightmare. Deciding to follow the silver creature you pick yourself up and hobble gingerly towards the corridor at the end of room with as much speed you could muster, you just had to close the space, your Pokemon were depending on you!

Using the smooth glass covered walls as a support you moved down the corridor hoping that the silver flash hadn’t gotten too far ahead of you. The pain in your leg began to ebb away allowing you to pick up he pace moving more swiftly. You had been walking through the winding corridor for a good 30 minutes, the paranoia eating away at your mind making you stop and stare at your reflections several times expecting it to flash an evil grin back at you. Just as you thought you would lose your mind you feel your arm slip off the wall and look up to find that you’d reached the end of the corridor and gawked in awe at the sight before you. The mirror ceiling expanded so high you couldn’t see its peak, this appeared to be more than a room; it looked more like a mirror city hidden within the Mansion itself. Sharp aesthetic looking buildings rose in the distance, spires of dark glass jutting into the air like jaws surrounded the edges of the city within a room that you could see the rest hidden in shadows. As your shocked awe began to die away you realised how difficult it would be to find the silver creature and pessimism gnawed at your soul.

With heavy steps you make your way towards the glass city keeping a sharp eye out for the silver creature but as you pass glittering mirror after glittering mirror you feel your heart sink further. Even if you caught a glimpse of the silver creature it may be nothing more than a flash of light reflected in the mirrors. It was like the demon was taunting you with the enormity of this task even when he wasn’t present. Making your way to the outskirts of the city you pass under a shattered arch being extra careful over the sharp glass and peer through the doorway of the first building you encounter. It’s a mystery of architecture that a building built from glass could stand so tall and strong but the walls were very thick and even with the few cracks in them from time it still looked hardy. Searching the building carefully still wary of walking in such a structure you pass up the stairs and find every floor empty, your reflection mocking you from every surface. Exiting quickly feeling more secure out in the open you turn to the next building and begin to search that a feeling that it was a pointless task entering your mind as you once again escalate mirror steps. You stop though as something other than you caught your eye. On the floor was a set of pine needles white in colour and a few green leaves. Picking them up you turn in them in your hand when you catch a flash of green outside through the window. Rushing downstairs slipping slightly on the smooth surface you look at the spot you saw that flash and see a small silhouette hiding behind the building opposite its black eyes staring into yours before it turns and runs away.

You may have not found the silver creature but you had encountered something just as interesting, could it be what you thought and would you let this one escape?




The Bathing Rooms

psychopath ~ Rested up after the enormity of yesterdays events you were ready for whatever came next, be it escape from this ship or another trial to task the mind, body and spirit. But today it seemed that the world was working in your favour as you were dragged at your bed at such an ungodly hour the sound of the words ‘Land Ho’ caught your attention immediately. Two beautiful words that could spell your ticket off this pirate vessel and following an excided Pan out of your room and onto the deck you watch the shore line come into view. Pan was bouncing by the edge of the ship Bellamy following suit like a pair of children at Christmas and you began to wonder how long they had been at sea for. The name of this saviour town escaped your memory, foreign and exotic, the world would have changed throughout the many years in the gap between times but you had not explored every piece of land the world held, there was a possibility this town still stood in your time. History aside you were called over by the Captain and with unnatural speed Pan rushed past you to stand to attention by his leader as you managed a sloppy salute that you couldn’t sure was an attempt at respect or rather pathetic. Either way Captain Frost didn’t seem to notice and gives to you both a task to gather supplies for the ship and you guess it must be a short visit here with a hint of depression. Quickly agreeing to help out, hoping the Captain nor Pan could sense the urgency and hope in your voice you salute him once more and drag Pan off to find Maria.

“It’s so exciting to pull up port again, it’s been a long while,” Pan says with his over exuberant grin matched by his Politoed, well that answered one of your questions, “Even if it is only to get supplies.” You nod absentmindedly at his words already working on a plan to get this task done and out of way as fast as possible so you could scour the town for answers. Explaining your idea to him you see him frown torn between a little exploration, something he had never been allowed to do and disobeying the Captain’s order, if indirectly.

“I don’t know Tyson, you heard the Captain, we have to report back as soon as we’re done and I don’t think he’ll be too pleased if we wander away from the market.” Panic rising in your chest at the thought of losing your chance you try to win Pan around with tempting words and fortunately it wasn’t too hard as Bellamy chipped her two cents in eager to stretch her legs a little.

“Okay then, but we better keep this to ourselves and not be longer than 2 hours, we can’t miss the departure time, “ he says with concern as your mind thinks over how that was exactly what you plan.

Walking down into the ship again you ask around to discover that Maria is in the store room cataloguing what inventory they had. Pan begins to blush in her presence and you roll you eyes as she notices you.

“So the Captain has asked you to purchase out stores for us?” she asks with a hint of concern in her voice.” I do hope you aren’t planning anything foolhardy boys?” she asks well aware of the conversation you had last night. You try your best to maintain a look of innocence along with Pan as she sighs. “Well here’s the list of food stores we need along with clean water, soaps, and fabrics we’ll need for the next journey,” and to stress the next point a stern look crosses her face. “There is enough money is this purse for the stores, do not go buying frivolous items because they take your fancy, I’m talking to you Pan,” she warns as he looks sheepish, obviously he had made that mistake before. “You’ll miss your meals for 3 days if you do” she adds as Pan grimaces at the memory.

“What about the rum, gun powder and weapons, where do we get them from?” Pan asks as Maria sighs “Every time I have to tell you, you are far to young for that task, it’s already been assigned to Noren so don’t ask again”. Turning you she addresses you with a calm voice. “Tyson, keep and eye out for Pan and, please just stick to the Market. Triad-Acura may look serene and peaceful but further into the town it is dangerous so don’t go wandering,” she asks almost pleading as you promise to stick to the task at hand. Thanking her for the items you rush out of the store room up onto the deck passing the Captain who gave you a bemused look, as you reach the temporary wooden steps leading off the ship. Setting foot on the hard dock you beam at being on solid land again as Pan stretches, breathing in the fresh smells, of bread, fish and flowers. Pan begins to make his way towards the market but notices you not with him. Turning around he suddenly spots a Metang hovering next to you and a odd blue Flygon stood towering over you.

“You sure like blue Pokemon,” Pan mutters in awe at your ‘awesome’ Pokemon. You explain that these two could help carry the stores giving you more time to explore afterwards as Pan nods mutely still admiring Flygon’s blue scales. Snapping out of his trance Pan grins and motions you to follow.

“Let’s hurry to the market then,” he adds before jogging off Bellamy bouncing along afterwards. You came to the fish market first full of vendors yelling as loud as possible to drown out their opposition to gain customers and consult your list, fish apparently wasn’t on it.

“We don’t need fish, that we catch on the ship easily enough,” Pan explains as you nod, it makes sense and saves money. Moving past the fish market chuckling over two vendors beginning a verbal disagreement over which of them the customer wanted fish from you weave your way further into the town reaching a small shop with materials and fabrics hanging from wooden slats in neutral colours the more exotic fabrics kept inside the shop.

“Okay first stop, lets get the fabrics listed hear, they’ll be used to replace the bed linen we have now, Harriet is great at sewing … and sharpshoot … odd combination,” he comments whilst purchasing some white and brown cotton material along with a small amount of Mareep wool all of which are handed to Digga who places it over her shoulders. Leaving the shop it doesn’t take you long to reach the main fruit, vegetable and meat market full of hustle and bustle and delicious aromas. Pan consults the list and decides to start at the top walking over to a vegetable vendor pointing to the healthy foods he wanted as you began to look around and your eye catches a shadowy looking road leading off deeper into the town. You remember Maria’s warning but still can’t help to think what may lie down there. You did want to explore but that path gave you the creeps. Turning away to see Pan paying for his purchases all of them in a brown paper bag that was handed to Palladium you notice a pair of unscrupulous looking men talking in low tones looking very shifty. They began to walk past you towards that road and you catch part of their conversation.

“Did you see that big fish that landed here, how dare that ship show its face here again.”
“I know, you think Frost would learn when you mess with us you’d better stay clear,”
“He is a fool … but,” one man adds looking around as you try to look interested in the fresh meat before you. “It won’t be there too long, we’ve already got us one of their crew and his ‘replacement’ has a big surprise for them” he finished laughing sinisterly before the pair of them walk down the road.

Their conversation was unnerving to say the least, were they talking about your ship … well Captain Frost’s ship and what were they planning? Whatever it was it didn’t sound very good but did you really want to interfere when this was your chance to escape and continue your search for the Kraken and your way back home?




The Crypt

Music Box~ ~ The first test stood in the form of two very dead children arguing in front of you and as your answer lay in your actions or lack of you thought very carefully over them. Confusion was etched into your face as your brows wrinkled together, how were you supposed to help diffuse the situation, were you even supposed to? After careful though you announce your decision verbally hoping that the mysterious voice was still listening. A moment of silence followed as you realized that you’d have to follow up on your plans. Walking up to the pair that were too engrossed in their fight and from an outsiders perspective you appeared mad, two zombies fighting and you were approaching them without a weapon!! Insanity aside you pick up the now discarded toy and it was if a gunshot had gone through the air, the two children immediately stopped their brawl mid punch and clawing and turned to face you confusion and malice shining in their eyes. Gulping nervously you involuntarily take a step back as they growl at you for disturbing their ‘play time’ Thinking back to your plan you offer to play tag with them and they turn to one another before grinning wickedly.

“Okay then mister, we’re it, and when we catch you we’re going to rip my toy from your hands,” one said before charging towards you as you squeak in fright and run away as fast as your legs can carry you. Not looking back you don’t see the two kids laughing looking a little more carefree as they hunt you doggedly. Suddenly the pedestal comes back into view and you grab for it the world fading back to the inner walls of the crypt. Panting throughout knackered from run your adrenaline fading leaving the tired ache of your limbs to pound through you look at Fredrick, Louis and Birdie who look at you expectantly. You feel the bitter sting of disappointment and failure burn at your chest, there was no way that was the correct answer to that test. Louis and Frederick frown and Birdie shakes her head running her wings down her face, your expression giving you away. Suddenly the voice returns and you jump off the pedestal in fright.

“This was a test of wisdom and your choice was far from wise,” eliciting a grimace from you and Louis, “wisdom is more than having an understanding or knowledge; it is how you use them. But wisdom is rare in someone so young and you are already wiser for undertaking this test. You did show good intentions as well as a good decision to distract the subjects from their anger redirecting it to joy even at your own expense, and for this you pass the test.” Jaw wide open enough to catch flies you stare in shock at the pedestal as one of the circular stones lights up green. “When you are ready step up to the pedestal,” the voice finished as the green circle reminded you of your success.

“You were lucky zere ‘uman, I zink it likes you,” Louis says rolling his eyes as Birdie sighs in relief and gives you a look that says be more careful.

“Well done lad, it appeared a little close but Louis chooses his friend wisely.” Frederick chimes in giving you a gappy smile. With nothing left to do but undertake the next test you approach the pedestal taking a deep breath praying that you pass this one with a greater margin. The world melts away and once again you’re transported away and this time you emerge in thick forest the tall trees obscuring the sky but you were sure it was night, the silence of the forest unnerving you. Walking through the trees and undergrowth as quietly as possible so as not to disturb whatever may wander this land in the dark you think over what test awaits you. You don’t have to wonder for very long as you feel something grab your collar and drag you away. Holding in a scream of terror you try to look behind you but are soon unceremoniously dropped on your backside on the cold hard dirt. Rubbing your sore behind you look up to see a man dressed in battle gear from the early 19 hundreds carrying a rifle. His gaze is hard and bores into you as he narrows his eyes in distain.

“What do you think your doing out of uniform and out of regiment, we’re about to strike you can’t go wandering off like that boy,” Staring in utter confusion you are left speechless, what kind of test was this?

“Here,” the soldier says thrusting a small old fashioned pistol into your hands and pushing you towards a line of soldiers only just older than you. “You’ll be reprimanded for this properly when the mission is complete soldier. We move out and take out the enemy in T minus 5.” Looking through the bushes you could see a path leading up to a small village. Using a pair of binoculars the soldier next to you begrudgingly lends you, you can see a couple of men walking across a path talking animatedly, the one thing that strikes you more than anything is their state of being, they were clear dead as flesh hung from their bodies leaving rotting holes. They turn to kiss their wives as a group of zombie children play with one another carefree and unaware of what was being plotted in the nearby forest.

“2 minutes, everyone move into position.” Forced further forward and to your right you look down at the weapon in your hands, “soon these dirty heathens will be a stain in our country no more,” As one voice finished another more familiar voice returned.

“What will you do here? What actions will you take if any; your answer must be honest. Speak out your response and act accordingly.” This was as important as the last test and this time you were out to prove the first was not a fluke.



The Playground

Pearl’s Perap ~ After the unbelievable stresses of the day you were more than ready to rest your weary mind and body and although the bed was not the softest and the room not the most luxurious it was like heaven. The short amount of time you had to re-bond with Shane was precious and you would have loved to spend more with him but tucking him close to you and laying on the bed you feel your eyelids grow heavy. With him wiggling gently in your arms reminding you that he was alright you fell into a deep sleep. The sounds of crying filled your ears and felt your body twitch as you were drawn from your sleep by the sound of distress and anguish. Blinking back the sleep clogging your eyes you lay still and find that the sound doesn’t lessen or end and determine that you were fully awake and someone was crying. Swinging your legs over the bed you check to see if Shane was still with you finding the purple egg sitting safely by the wall. Padding outside your box of a room with Shane in arms you see Amy hugging her knees sobbing softly into the fabric of her pyjamas as her Teddiursa patted her arm trying her best to comfort her. Approaching slowly making a quick decision to discover the reasons for the young girls distress despite the negative emotions her presence immediately brings she stops her crying turning her head to face you.

Gently as possible you try to get Amy to open up and reveal those hidden secrets that were clearly dragging her down mentally and physically. Her Teddiursa watched you approach with wary eyes but sensing no hostility from you let you get close and ask your questions deep down wanting her trainer to vent. Amy’s eyes teared up and she gave a short sob as you mention the fact that she brought you here before trying to compose herself, her scared eyes full of confusion and doubt. She must have been hiding this for a long time as she seemed to keen to protect it and live in her misery with the anger and frustration of the other children. Relaxing her legs out she lets loose a little sigh staring at the floor before meeting your gaze with uncertainty.

“You really want to know?” she asks meekly as if it was something so horrible it could affect the way you perceived her. Nodding your head you allow her to continue.

“I have always wanted to tell the others but they’ve been so full of rage at what I’d done to them and their Pokemon that it was pointless to try. I was the first to be brought here but I wasn’t alone when I came. I was travelling with my brother; we had always travelled together since we started our journey. We came across the Mansion and the strange Playground, we had heard it contained such strange Pokemon and I wanted to explore it despite my brother’s warnings and bad vibes. We fell to the same spell that brought you here and soon we were young along with our Pokemon … and then she revealed herself to us.” She shuddered at that last line her eyes showing fear and something new, a little anger.

“She put us to work immediately and we were so rebellious even weaker as children, I had confidence in our Pokemon. We tried to escape and made it out past the gate but … but …” Amy suddenly breaks down again as her crying begins anew. Teddi hugs her arm and she pulls the bear close to her chest. “They … they came out of nowhere, and it got dark so fast. We were surrounded and he protected me. They attacked us, Luna and Solar went down so fast,” Teddi identified as Luna looked down at her feet in guilt and disappointment. “And then they struck us, I don’t know what they were but their eyes glowed pink, I felt my body torn apart and my mind assaulted with horrifying imagery. I didn’t what pain was real and after that I woke up in my bed with Luna next to me. I was covered in bandages that covered my scars but I couldn’t find Jack. He wasn’t in his room and neither was Solar, they had both gone. I searched the entire warehouse but only found her. She stood there staring at me and made me truly felt the child I now was. She told me that Jack and Solar were safe for now but that could all change in an instant. I heard his scream echo around the room and knew she meant what she said. She was so powerful and the Pokemon she had were so evil I didn’t dare not listen to her. She told me that I had to do everything she ordered or the only way I would see Jack again was as a corpse.”

Regret was written over her face as she withdrew into her memories of those early days. “I blame myself every day for what happened then. It was my fault we ended up here and somehow she knew that and could sense my guilt, I think that’s why she chose me out of us both. She put me to work but told me that I had to gather others like me to be brought here, t was part of her grand design and nothing would stop it. If I didn’t obey she would kill Jack and Solar and I couldn’t have that, I needed him so badly. So I obeyed, I would leave back to the Playground and lure unsuspecting adults to that adventure playground and watch as they were taken prisoner and made weak. You were the last one I brought here and every time I hoped t would be the last but every time I had to rob someone else of their freedom. I understand why they all hate me but I can’t stop, I need to do this for Jack, he would hate me too for being so weak and not resisting but I can’t let him die.” She finishes and looks at you and you sense that a great weight had lifted from her shoulders. Standing up letting Luna stay by her side she manages the tiniest of smiles.

“Thank you for listening to me, you don’t have to believe me, no-one else would but I feel better for telling someone. I think I can sleep better again.” She turns and wanders back into her room as Luna stops approaching you before wrapping her arms around your leg smiling whole heartedly. She was so thankful that you had helped her trainer she couldn’t help but to express it. She bounds back into the room after Amy leaving you cradling Shane. It was an awful thing to have to bear and guilt had been eating her up inside but hopefully you had helped her and now you understood a little more about the young girl even if you had more questions about this “grand design” the eerie woman had. Going back into your own room you lie back on your bed and manage to reach a light sleep of your own.

Morning came all too fast and you were up and dressed quickly as the bell tolled gathering Shane in your arms. Breakfast was amicable and Amy despite the odd glares thrown her way seemed more upbeat today as Luna waved to you. The bell tolled again and you were led towards the warehouses and Shane was robbed from your presence again and back to work you went. The shift seemed to be going smoothly despite your desire for escape, Amy’s tale had shaken you a little at what the woman was capable of and you had more reservations now. Suddenly the bell rang for recess and you smile at the thought of being with Shane again but as you were all filing out you notice that Amy was missing and after a quick search with your eyes you assume that she was already out. As you were about to pass outside Alakazam teleported in front of you scaring you enough to elicit a yelp and grabs you teleporting away. You find yourself back in that space that almost resembled a throne room with her sitting so regally in her chair, Alakazam stood loyally by her side.

“Amy knows why she’s here but I sense you are confused Zak,” she addresses you in her cold emotionless voice. “Since you are aware of Amy’s position here I want you to assist her in her next retrieval.” Amy looks guilty once again, opening up had put you in an awkward position, if you went along with her near demand you could possibly become an outcast like the young blonde but if you didn’t she could be on the receiving end of something rather nasty as her history had shown. Would you go against what you know is right and await the consequences keeping in mind what happened to you before or will you help out the young girl that had placed her trust in you?



The Maze of Shrubbery

empoleon dynamite ~ This maze had made many a man turn into a shell of his former self and you felt the same happening to you. You had only been within its thick and harsh walls for an hour at most but it knew how to cut deep into your flesh and heart and leave you feeling helpless and terrified. One of your trusted friends separated from you was the stab at the heart, especially since you had no way of finding him for now and it brought upon a nagging guilt, what if you had not chosen to venture here? Would it have made any difference? Was the Mansion and its ground out for you and your team regardless of where you travelled? Such thoughts fill your mind dragging your sour mood deeper into the vine-sheathed ground. There was one entity that seemed to be in her element, wandering the paths at ease almost in euphoria at a vine and thorn filled paradise, the maze to her was home. She had led you all the way to this open marquee, a moonlit sky almost hidden by thick green vines snaking across the air, were you a puppet in all this because it certainly felt so?

With no other choice but to follow her obediently, out of fear of losing another Pokemon even if the Lileep saw differently, you were now watching her writhe with ecstasy. Two of her vines were snugly placed in two circular holes in the worn and forgotten pedestal and though she appeared no different she was suddenly happier than you had ever seen her. What was that pedestal doing to her that made her feel like that? Wondering whether to save her from herself you approach the pedestal slowly but soon curiosity began to over power the concern. A deep longing to feel such emotions began to overwhelm you. You didn’t want to be in fear any longer, you wanted rid of the tiredness gripping your heart and body and though your mind began to protest to these unfamiliar longings your body moved of its own accord. Soon you found yourself kneeling before the pedestal almost in prayer as Ventress turned her eyes to you a light dancing within them as she nodded at you follow her lead, that was what you were good at after all. Stretching your arms out your hands quivering with fear as you felt your mind scream at you to stop in a last ditch effort, but you had to do this, Ventress was all you had now. Your hands slip inside the surprisingly smooth holes just past your wrists and you wait your breath hitched in the back of your throat wondering what would happen. You miss Ventress’ look of utter glee and victory as you match her motions and she turns her vines in the slots a click following as your hands turn outwards s your palms are facing towards one another in the pedestal.

You look to her in shock as you realise that she had some idea of the workings of this pedestal and begin to address her when you feel a sharp pain in both wrists. Yelping in surprise you try to pull out of the holes only to fins yourself stuck fast. Panic rising in your chest you pull frantically feeling the pain ebb away to a dull ache only for a burning sensation to replace it and travel up your arms and onto your chest. Ventress’ gaze becomes softer as she watches you struggle and cry in terror at the sensations filling your body. Hot tears pour from your eyes as the burning reaches a new high shooting down your legs and ricocheting back up to your head, it was like you were melting from the inside. Screams rip from your throat as the feeling of tightness on your head doubles … triples and you feel blood trickle from your ears. Suddenly the fire dies within you as a deep cold seeps in and you shake uncontrollably as shock sets in. Whatever this pedestal was doing, it was going to kill you if it continued. Ventress looked nervous for the first time and spoke to you in comforting words as your mind began to shut off. Your vision wavered and as you felt the stabbing pain in every limb decrease and numbness replace it. Through half-lidded eyes you notice your skin fall off your arms replaced with something new, something smoother and hairless. The marquee above you as if watching your suffering wriggled and arched from its roots dancing moving into a frantic dance around you leaving the moon to bathe your blood-stained, tear-soaked face. As everything fades to black and with only your hearing left the soothing voice of Ventress remains and you cling to it.

“Lileep … leep lil li li leep lil leep”
“Lileep … leep lil li li leep lil leep”
“Lileep … hold on, you must hold on”

It was dark and silent, had it always been like this? It was peaceful and you felt calm and relaxed, the previous events a distant memory. Your body felt heavy and light at the same time, as if you were floating. Has you died? Part of you didn’t care for this feeling of freedom was better than anything you had suffered in the last few hours. As your senses came back you heard a constant pitter patting a rhythmic drumming on your skin accompanying it. Soon you blinked open your eyes to see the night sky blanketed with a thick grey cloud, heavy droplets of water plummeting from the heavens to crash down upon you. The raindrops looked so vivid as they fell towards you, you could see a sparkle in each one. Suddenly a face moved to block the view and you got up close and personal with Ventress her bright yellow eyes scouring your form. You shrink back from the scrutiny your throat not yet found its voice and Ventress matches you inching closer a grin forming on her lips.

“I thought you’d never wake up … and that just wouldn’t do,” she says as you gawp at her. Her grin remains as she backs up and begins to circle you like a hunter observing their prey. You sit up and try to ignore her strange behaviour staring at your surroundings, where the pedestal once was vines now sat arching up into the air like a morbid monolith, the marquee no longer in place. Ventress stands before you once again as she notices your attention no longer upon her.

“It is a great improvement, you are more suited to this form,” she says cryptically as you stand to full height. Whatever that pedestal did you can now understand her language perfectly. Did it allow you to speak to Pokemon? Memories of that brief time of suffering flash through your mind and you shudder, perhaps that was the price to pay for such a gift …. But wait, why are you so small all of a sudden? Standing at full height you only just pip Ventress who grins coyly at the realisation on your face. Waddling forward finding your movement more limited than before you trip over a vine and fall face first into a puddle. Picking yourself up you feel the blood drain away from your now purple face as you catch sight of your reflection, a pair of familiar yellow eyes stare back at you in shock, that pedestal had turned you into a Lileep!!! Hyperventilating as you feel the need to wake up from this nightmare you feel a sharp slap on your back.

“There is no need for such pathetic behaviour, you have been granted a superior form you should be grateful.” Ventress chides sounding almost insulted, not really helping the situation, but when has she ever. Waddling off with a spring in her step you hadn’t noticed before she moves to the back of the now monolith of vines as you hesitantly follow her. Where there was once a thick wall there was now an opening, a new path that Ventress was already standing on waiting for you expectantly. Hearing a shuffle behind you see the previous path open up just large enough for you to fit through, it was as if the maze was testing your loyalty to Ventress. In your new state not yet fully aware of all your new senses and abilities would you stick with the female of your kind or venture off alone?
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Old 12-30-2009, 08:52 PM   #114
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The Mirror Door

fishyfool ~ With the action and your foes most very likely deceased you take a moment to take everything in. Slumped on the ground safely enough away from the edge of newly ripped crater in the ground you grant time to catch your breath. Yakuza slumps against you not wanting to show any more weakness but ironically too drained and injured to care. Penance was looking better even with the large cracks in her tough hide and she stared thoughtfully down at the rubble below. You leg was no longer bleeding, the tourniquet having done its job and you cast it aside feeling the throb of blood rushing back to your limb and the accompanying twinges of pain. Your thoughts turned to your saviour, a flash of silver was all you had to go on its identity and wracking your mind you struggle to place a Pokemon in the blank, assuming it was a Pokemon with such Psychic abilities. Hugging Yakuza to your chest you return him to his ball, Penance swiftly following hoping that a stay in the technologically advance home would aid their healing. It dawned on you that time was swiftly moving onwards and you were falling further behind the vile demon orchestrating this nightmare. Deciding to follow the silver creature you pick yourself up and hobble gingerly towards the corridor at the end of room with as much speed you could muster, you just had to close the space, your Pokemon were depending on you!

Using the smooth glass covered walls as a support you moved down the corridor hoping that the silver flash hadn’t gotten too far ahead of you. The pain in your leg began to ebb away allowing you to pick up he pace moving more swiftly. You had been walking through the winding corridor for a good 30 minutes, the paranoia eating away at your mind making you stop and stare at your reflections several times expecting it to flash an evil grin back at you. Just as you thought you would lose your mind you feel your arm slip off the wall and look up to find that you’d reached the end of the corridor and gawked in awe at the sight before you. The mirror ceiling expanded so high you couldn’t see its peak, this appeared to be more than a room; it looked more like a mirror city hidden within the Mansion itself. Sharp aesthetic looking buildings rose in the distance, spires of dark glass jutting into the air like jaws surrounded the edges of the city within a room that you could see the rest hidden in shadows. As your shocked awe began to die away you realised how difficult it would be to find the silver creature and pessimism gnawed at your soul.

With heavy steps you make your way towards the glass city keeping a sharp eye out for the silver creature but as you pass glittering mirror after glittering mirror you feel your heart sink further. Even if you caught a glimpse of the silver creature it may be nothing more than a flash of light reflected in the mirrors. It was like the demon was taunting you with the enormity of this task even when he wasn’t present. Making your way to the outskirts of the city you pass under a shattered arch being extra careful over the sharp glass and peer through the doorway of the first building you encounter. It’s a mystery of architecture that a building built from glass could stand so tall and strong but the walls were very thick and even with the few cracks in them from time it still looked hardy. Searching the building carefully still wary of walking in such a structure you pass up the stairs and find every floor empty, your reflection mocking you from every surface. Exiting quickly feeling more secure out in the open you turn to the next building and begin to search that a feeling that it was a pointless task entering your mind as you once again escalate mirror steps. You stop though as something other than you caught your eye. On the floor was a set of pine needles white in colour and a few green leaves. Picking them up you turn in them in your hand when you catch a flash of green outside through the window. Rushing downstairs slipping slightly on the smooth surface you look at the spot you saw that flash and see a small silhouette hiding behind the building opposite its black eyes staring into yours before it turns and runs away.

You may have not found the silver creature but you had encountered something just as interesting, could it be what you thought and would you let this one escape?



In the midst of a painful leg and a mysterious saviour, Jamie realised he was in the predicament if another threat came along, what with the fact he only possessed a Mudkip as an able battler condemning him if a glassy Bronzor came around. Fortunately, such events never occurred to him, mercifully, and after a while the pain in his leg seemed to dissipate, allowing him to walk more freely without the occasional hiss. Following the glass wall, he glanced at the mirrors, fully expecting his bedraggled and battered face to contort into a demonic grin and cackle, cringing at the ideas, his mind already messed up with the whole inner demon thought.

And then his arm left the wall.

Stumbling slightly, Jamie regained himself with a small curse word before his jaw hung at the impossible sight before him, what seemed to be a massive gothic cathedral cityscape formed of glass before his eyes, the entire city seeming to loom forever as a groan emerged from near him. Looking around, he realised that he was the source of the despairing sound, the idea that his silver saviour was somewhere in the city before him causing him a major kick in the proverbial groin at the difficulty of said task, and as he seemed to sag slightly, he could almost hear the voice of the fiend that placed him in here, as though mocking his every action. Passing over a shattered arch, noting the ground below akin to that of a proper shin shredder if he tripped, he made his way carefully to one of the buildings on the outskirts, deciding that if he had to seach the city for anyone he might as well start in the first thing he saw. A few moments of searching, however, yielded little results as Jamie's face seemed to sulk at him from every perceivable angle, the reflective surface almost mocking him as he fully expected the ground to give way underneath his weight and to fall into an abyss of nothingness. Heading outside, he gave a slight sigh before entering another building, finding it to be as empty, his weary form speckled with the odd glimmer of green and white...

'...green and white? I don't wear stuff like that...' he thought as he moved for a closer look, picking the objects up as his eyes gazed at the pine needles and leaves as though they were sacred objects, mystical in appearance and yet oddly familiar, just as a flash of green from the window diverted his attention completely from the foliage as he stormed down the stairs once more, his trainers skidding slightly as he gave a small yelp in fear of faceplanting, catching himself to notice the silhouette before him, black eyes staring at him as though in slight fear before the figure ran. Before he realised it, Jamie found himself making a sudden rush towards the vector of the being, his mind in overload as he pieced together a possibility, his eyes widening as his stomach took a sudden lurch: Was this what the demon meant by destroying him and his pokemon, sending them into a world where their paranoia was their enemy? Regardless of the situation, Jamie reached towards an empty ball on his belt, one he knew very well as he hurried towards the building he saw the figure, his heart beating and the sting of his bitten leg striking at small intervals, his mouth forming words his ears heard only several seconds later, their tone both concerned and relieved.

"Arctacea! I...Is that you!? Wait!"
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Old 01-02-2010, 05:38 PM   #115
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The Maze of Shrubbery

empoleon dynamite ~ This maze had made many a man turn into a shell of his former self and you felt the same happening to you. You had only been within its thick and harsh walls for an hour at most but it knew how to cut deep into your flesh and heart and leave you feeling helpless and terrified. One of your trusted friends separated from you was the stab at the heart, especially since you had no way of finding him for now and it brought upon a nagging guilt, what if you had not chosen to venture here? Would it have made any difference? Was the Mansion and its ground out for you and your team regardless of where you travelled? Such thoughts fill your mind dragging your sour mood deeper into the vine-sheathed ground. There was one entity that seemed to be in her element, wandering the paths at ease almost in euphoria at a vine and thorn filled paradise, the maze to her was home. She had led you all the way to this open marquee, a moonlit sky almost hidden by thick green vines snaking across the air, were you a puppet in all this because it certainly felt so?

With no other choice but to follow her obediently, out of fear of losing another Pokemon even if the Lileep saw differently, you were now watching her writhe with ecstasy. Two of her vines were snugly placed in two circular holes in the worn and forgotten pedestal and though she appeared no different she was suddenly happier than you had ever seen her. What was that pedestal doing to her that made her feel like that? Wondering whether to save her from herself you approach the pedestal slowly but soon curiosity began to over power the concern. A deep longing to feel such emotions began to overwhelm you. You didn’t want to be in fear any longer, you wanted rid of the tiredness gripping your heart and body and though your mind began to protest to these unfamiliar longings your body moved of its own accord. Soon you found yourself kneeling before the pedestal almost in prayer as Ventress turned her eyes to you a light dancing within them as she nodded at you follow her lead, that was what you were good at after all. Stretching your arms out your hands quivering with fear as you felt your mind scream at you to stop in a last ditch effort, but you had to do this, Ventress was all you had now. Your hands slip inside the surprisingly smooth holes just past your wrists and you wait your breath hitched in the back of your throat wondering what would happen. You miss Ventress’ look of utter glee and victory as you match her motions and she turns her vines in the slots a click following as your hands turn outwards s your palms are facing towards one another in the pedestal.

You look to her in shock as you realise that she had some idea of the workings of this pedestal and begin to address her when you feel a sharp pain in both wrists. Yelping in surprise you try to pull out of the holes only to fins yourself stuck fast. Panic rising in your chest you pull frantically feeling the pain ebb away to a dull ache only for a burning sensation to replace it and travel up your arms and onto your chest. Ventress’ gaze becomes softer as she watches you struggle and cry in terror at the sensations filling your body. Hot tears pour from your eyes as the burning reaches a new high shooting down your legs and ricocheting back up to your head, it was like you were melting from the inside. Screams rip from your throat as the feeling of tightness on your head doubles … triples and you feel blood trickle from your ears. Suddenly the fire dies within you as a deep cold seeps in and you shake uncontrollably as shock sets in. Whatever this pedestal was doing, it was going to kill you if it continued. Ventress looked nervous for the first time and spoke to you in comforting words as your mind began to shut off. Your vision wavered and as you felt the stabbing pain in every limb decrease and numbness replace it. Through half-lidded eyes you notice your skin fall off your arms replaced with something new, something smoother and hairless. The marquee above you as if watching your suffering wriggled and arched from its roots dancing moving into a frantic dance around you leaving the moon to bathe your blood-stained, tear-soaked face. As everything fades to black and with only your hearing left the soothing voice of Ventress remains and you cling to it.

“Lileep … leep lil li li leep lil leep”
“Lileep … leep lil li li leep lil leep”
“Lileep … hold on, you must hold on”

It was dark and silent, had it always been like this? It was peaceful and you felt calm and relaxed, the previous events a distant memory. Your body felt heavy and light at the same time, as if you were floating. Has you died? Part of you didn’t care for this feeling of freedom was better than anything you had suffered in the last few hours. As your senses came back you heard a constant pitter patting a rhythmic drumming on your skin accompanying it. Soon you blinked open your eyes to see the night sky blanketed with a thick grey cloud, heavy droplets of water plummeting from the heavens to crash down upon you. The raindrops looked so vivid as they fell towards you, you could see a sparkle in each one. Suddenly a face moved to block the view and you got up close and personal with Ventress her bright yellow eyes scouring your form. You shrink back from the scrutiny your throat not yet found its voice and Ventress matches you inching closer a grin forming on her lips.

“I thought you’d never wake up … and that just wouldn’t do,” she says as you gawp at her. Her grin remains as she backs up and begins to circle you like a hunter observing their prey. You sit up and try to ignore her strange behaviour staring at your surroundings, where the pedestal once was vines now sat arching up into the air like a morbid monolith, the marquee no longer in place. Ventress stands before you once again as she notices your attention no longer upon her.

“It is a great improvement, you are more suited to this form,” she says cryptically as you stand to full height. Whatever that pedestal did you can now understand her language perfectly. Did it allow you to speak to Pokemon? Memories of that brief time of suffering flash through your mind and you shudder, perhaps that was the price to pay for such a gift …. But wait, why are you so small all of a sudden? Standing at full height you only just pip Ventress who grins coyly at the realisation on your face. Waddling forward finding your movement more limited than before you trip over a vine and fall face first into a puddle. Picking yourself up you feel the blood drain away from your now purple face as you catch sight of your reflection, a pair of familiar yellow eyes stare back at you in shock, that pedestal had turned you into a Lileep!!! Hyperventilating as you feel the need to wake up from this nightmare you feel a sharp slap on your back.

“There is no need for such pathetic behaviour, you have been granted a superior form you should be grateful.” Ventress chides sounding almost insulted, not really helping the situation, but when has she ever. Waddling off with a spring in her step you hadn’t noticed before she moves to the back of the now monolith of vines as you hesitantly follow her. Where there was once a thick wall there was now an opening, a new path that Ventress was already standing on waiting for you expectantly. Hearing a shuffle behind you see the previous path open up just large enough for you to fit through, it was as if the maze was testing your loyalty to Ventress. In your new state not yet fully aware of all your new senses and abilities would you stick with the female of your kind or venture off alone?
Wes’s lips trembled, whipped into a shell of his former self by the carroty tentacles of his own kin. Maybe this was a lapse in judgement; the maze had a mind of its own with some sort of vendetta against aspiring young trainers. Either way the boy was getting the impression Ventress’s apathetic nature was the root of their problems. He readjusted his poise, squatting slightly with the pedestal creeping just inches above his height. He outstretched one arm, then the other. To his better judgement the shaky fists pushed through the holes, the hairy moss tickling his pale arms. Everything was at stake, but Fungi needed their help. The boy’s face scrunched up, his neck twisting through instinct as though something was about to go wrong. Deeper and deeper, his fists waned past the cobwebs which felt too timeworn to be ridden with spiders. Finally reaching the end of each puncture, Wes loosened his fists with the tips of his fingers touching the roof of each hollow. He exhales a breath of relief, his pounding chest beginning to settle with the thought of springing a trap becoming less likely by the second. With his features uncrumpled, the boy slowly averted his gaze, curios to spot a glimpse of the wriggling crinoid. A sudden snap moved up his spine before he could move a muscle, his ears pricked to an unusual click. His eyes suddenly widen, a painful sensation pulsing from the tips of his grubby fingers down up to his elbows.

“Ahh!” the boy snaps, instinctively pulling away with enough force to rip his arms from their sockets, “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Resistance was futile; something had a hold of the boy’s hands and it wasn’t letting go any time soon. The pain coursed up Wes’s body, feeling a hot rush at the back of his head as the pain became too painful to bear. The boy had never fractured a wrist before, no less felt a pain this intense. The burning sting sank through his body all the way down to the tips of his toes. His whimpering reached a volume that would no doubt resonance across the length of the jumbled labyrinth. Tears trickled down his tightened face coloured a plum red, his tough guise torn apart by the harsh vines for the world to see. He couldn’t loose his hands! He wanted to pull away but it felt as though there wasn’t much to save at this point. He almost expected blood to start seeping from the rim of the punctures, the sharp pain in each wrist giving a strong impression of the butchery within the stone pedestal. His screams for help reached their summit, hastily dropping as all life drained away. His body fell like a ton of bricks; his head cracking on the hard concrete with his last vision of consciousness a thick red liquid bleeding from his ringing ears staining against the greyish pedestal. Whilst his spasms of resistance had waned, the pain had tripled in intensity. The boy’s bloody arms where being skinned by the unseen force, that much could be made out by the rushed of blood coursing out of his body causing his head to pound aggressively.

His heated limbs are finally doused by an unnatural numbness, the last slither of strength within coaxing him to open his eyes. Through blurred vision, he noticed his arms had been cleaved to the bone. The fact his senses had been blocked gave the impression it was all some awful nightmare. Nothing felt real at this point, and he was too weary to think otherwise. However the blur subsided somewhat from his half-lidded gaze, the thin branches where more rounded than any bone he’d ever seen. He could’ve been staring for ages at this point, unable to process a chain of thought in his damaged head. Wes dropped to his back again, lied upward with marquee gazing back down. It seemed to express amusement, although Wes was too deep in a trippy daze to tell what was real and what wasn’t. The full moon flickered shyly through the thin canopy of vines; it would seem several hours had slowly passed by in Wes’s semi-consciousness. The boy’s eyelids slowly close together, the greenish ambiance fading to black as the boy went under again. Suddenly! A soft rumble breaks the deadly silence. Memories of days events flood back into place, filling Wes with the motive to cling onto Ventress’s voice. It felt painful to stay alert, but his subconscious was sure to remind him of the dangers lurking overgrown mansion.

“Lileep … leep lil li li leep lil leep”
“Lileep … leep lil li li leep lil leep”
“Lileep … hold on, you must hold on”


The hours were rushing by faster than the weakened kid could keep up. There was a still silence in the air, a peacefull sensation settling in the vast cavities of the young boys mind. He was regaining his senses somewhat, conscious of his surroundings to a degree and able to think to himself. He couldn’t really remember much that’d happened, it all felt like it’d happened so long ago – he was living for the present. It was the strangest outer body experience, whilst he felt constraint to his material self; it felt as though he was being lifted. Was he passing onto another plane? At this point it didn’t seem that bad a thought, anything was better than the physical and mental trauma he was leaving behind. Suddenly a weak groan revealed this was all a mental illusion, a dream which quickly fazed back into reality as the low drumming of thunder marked a change in weather. Wet splashes patted against Wes’s smooth face, revitalising his senses enough to open his eyes. A heavy thick of black had downed on the night’s sky, blocking out the moon’s modest glow. Like a mighty force was wringing out a wet sponge, the dark cloud spilled away its contents with a heavy shower washing away at the tainted milieu. Wes gazed hypnotically at the dramatic rain drops, dropping like diamonds amidst the dim ambiance. Suddenly a bulbous cranium bent into view, blocking the rhythmic display above and snapping Wes out of his reverie. I set of innocent yellow eyes scoured up and down the motionless boy. Wes recoiled slightly, unaccustomed to this sort of behaviour from the usually aloof shrub. Wes tried to muster up some words to no avail. It was like he had forgotten how to communicate, reluctant to reflect on the harrowing torture he’d undergone. Ventress ignored Wes’s withdrawal and as her head bent forward less than inches from his. Her sallow pupils squinted enthusiastically.

“I thought you’d never wake up … and that just wouldn’t do,” she breathed softly, the tone in her voice sending shivers down Wes’s spine. Her head rears slowly, the sure signs of gusto still in place as though she had something to smile about. The Lileep waddles circles around the boy like a hunter to her prey, Wes trying to keep track of her for fear that she’d spring forward and harvest what scraps of the boy hadn’t already been maimed. The boy stretched upward in an attempt to stand. It was like what he’d imagined his first steps would’ve been like, shakily getting to his feet for a few seconds before wobbling back down. Brain damage was his best guess; he’d taken a hard hit. For now he’d sit, curious to see how the ghostly environment had changed. The forever changing thickets had crooked into a thick mass, the gazebo no longer intact and the pedestal nowhere to be seen. The drizzle had nurtured the dry, lifeless soil into a swampy state, he imagined these would be bad conditions to travel in. Ventress had noticed Wes had strayed from her view, her slender neck stretching forward with her beady eyes back in view.

“It is a great improvement, you are more suited to this form,” she says cryptically as Wes attempted to regain some balance. The boys eyes suddenly widened, it’d taken him a while to process, but he’d become fluent in the primeval Pokémon’s grating tongue! Had something within the unearthly pedestal tampered with his anatomy? With his mind faced with a cloud of confusion, he tried retracing his steps. Thoughts which his subliminal where trying their best to falter came into plain sight, the pain he’d suffered coming with some sort of change. He wondered if he could still speak human, any attempt to cough up a single word causing his raspy throat a great deal of pain. But that wasn’t all; he was barely the height of the rivalling Lileep. He rolled backward in sheer terror, half-wondering if the torture device had ripped off his legs. Ventress seemed to crack an unsettling grin in light of the boy’s uncertainties. He meanders past the vile creature, aimlessly waddling away from the fossil Pokémon which was proving to be very tricky. Paying no attention to the weaving underbrush of shrubbery, it wasn’t long before a jutted vine tangled against his stout form. He tumbles over, face first into a puddle with no arms to break his fall. Whilst embarrassed to even pick himself the boy tried wriggling whatever the lower part of his body was, managing to get it onto its base where it anchored firmly into the ground. He then followed by lifting his grazed head up with some support from his neck. Curiosity had built its summit, Wes now panting heavily as he faintly opened his eyes and instinctively gazed into the rippling puddle. His vivid reflection stared right back, a terrified look in its glowing pupils. Wes tried yelping in fear, his heart racing at this point as he splashed his reflection in denial. Feelings of upset and anger where rushing through his head, panting now louder than ever before, shivering wildly and hoping it none of it was real.

“There is no need for such pathetic behaviour, you have been granted a superior form you should be grateful.” She muffled, harshly whipping Wes on the back with no hesitation. The strict tone gave the impression she was offended, Wes imagined a Ventress with a mouth was much worse than a silent one with his emotions building by the second. Wes looked up in silence, almost hoping she’d bless him with at least a moment of empathy. The huntress brushes off his desperate expression, waddling off zealously in a new direction. Wes bends his neck almost all the way round, he followed Ventress’s movements all the way to a towering monolith. The creature reluctantly trailed in her direction, each step causing him to loose his breath explaining the species’ low speed. The thick wall rustles violently as it breaks into an opening, something which didn’t seem as unusual to the boy anymore. A new path had been formed, Ventress hustling into with Wes shuffling in tow. Suddenly, the sharp rustle of bushes parting and branches snapping sent him to a complete standstill. The maze was offering an alternate route, one without Ventress. Wes paused, knowing full well he could barely stand, no less fight, in his new figure. Ventress had caused him too much pain though, history was repeating itself and he wouldn’t fall for the same mistake yet again. Scarred by the memories of his torturous metamorphosis, he strayed from Lileep’s path.

Wes grumbled, attempting to lash one of his tentacles around Lileep’s torso. He had so much on his mind but it was so difficult to speak at the moment. His face crumples in deep concentration trying to tap into his newfound instincts “Y-you think I’d follow you!?” Wes rumbled, the words pouring out almost naturally, “I HATE you.” Wes felt hot tears of his bottled emotion rush outward, his disgust for the grass type more apparent now than ever before.

“I need to find Fungi! I need to find all my Pokémon and get the hell out of here!” Wes spat, letting his anger get the best of him, “And most of all, I need to get out of this disgusting body. It’s ugly and slow, just like you! No wonder your species is almost extinct!” Wes wanted to hurl a douse of Acid at the female, if only his new body would let him. He wanted to hurt the Pokémon so badly, even with the constraints of his new form. Regardless of how the bickering panned out, he’d be heading nowhere with Ventress. He was done playing games.
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Old 02-21-2010, 05:38 PM   #116
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Misdreavus Without the mask where will you hide, Can't find yourself lost in your lie~

The Mirror Door

fishyfool ~ The glass citadel was truly amazing, a beautiful architectural masterpiece that was purely deadly and dangerous, so it was wise to be cautious as you walked into it depths. Limping along you took in the smooth walls of the mirror buildings watching your reflection give you the same awed expression before you realise what you looking at. This reflection was harmless enough; it simply mirrored your current appearance but the other, the demon that used your form for its hideous purposes, it made your stomach churn. Spurring your damaged limbs into a greater haste you scour the buildings for the silver creature that had saved you earlier, a friend in this hellhole was worth finding. As you walked along the slippy surfaces of the glass glaring at each version of you that stared back you concentrated on spotting anything other than your reflection and soon enough you had found that something. On the second floor the was a splash of green and white on the floor, the colours instantly catching your attention and as you near you identify them as leaves and white pine needles. Grasping them lightly in your hands you feel the familiarity hit you as they rolled back and forth in your open palm. Suddenly a flash of green entered your peripheral vision and acting on instinct you rushed down slipping along the floors before stopping to stare at the silhouette hidden from the light.

You could only stare in shock at the creature peering at you from behind the glass building, the familiar black eyes locking with your own. You felt at the empty Pokeball by your waist, the ball that should be filled with the body and soul of your Snover and relieved tear sting at your eyes as you approach. The figure begins to turn to run away and you out his name, Arctacea and it stops turning to face you again. Regret shone back in his eyes as he stared at you before he ran off through the mirrored streets. You feel your heart pounding and the rush of blood fill your ears, he had recognised that name, it must be him, but how did he find his way here? As his figure begins to disappear you panic and begin to run after him your leg protesting at the increased pace and momentum placed upon it. It must be him, it must be you thought feeling elated, not wanting to let go of that thread of hope that you had found one of your own safe. It was understandable that he was afraid of you especially given your earlier actions, but that was all the demon, that wasn’t you and when you caught up to him you could explain everything.

With positive thoughts and blind faith driving you the pain felt lessened and your speed increased the smooth floor aiding you as you practically glided towards Arctacea. He winded in and around the buildings taking you further into the depths of the city. The buildings took on a more menacing tone, the glass a darker colour tarnished with smudges of an unknown origin painting wild pictures. The edges were sharper threatening to tear at your skin if dared to approach and even the floor began to grow uneven, it was like running across glass rocks and it slowed you down but also slowed down your Pokemon. He swung to the left behind a building and you dashed after him making the mistake of grabbing the walls edge to change direction cutting your palm in the process. Distracted you miss a step and fall on the floor sliding uncomfortably along the ground coming to a stop just before a very sharp spire of glass. Looking up you see your reflection in the spire before it morphed and the demon stared you back his eyes full of mirth and malice. It laughs at you twisting your mouth before returning to your normal reflection. Pantin in fear and anger resisting the urge to punch the glass reason keeping your fist by your side you look over your shoulder to see the form of Arctacea staring you down and your heart dropped into your stomach. His eyes were dead and cold yet full of hatred as they locked onto you. His body was rotten, his leaves dead and maggots crawled between the hollow spaces in his body. He smirked at you as you flash back to the first glimpse of this creature you saw, how could you have ever confused your Snover with this beast? Looking around for an escape route you feel your blood run cold as sharp glass jutted out from every corner with even more spires reaching from the ground marking out some horrific arena.

You hadn’t been chasing him, he had been luring you here; it was a trap! The Snover held his arms outstretched and cackled as if pointing out the desperate situation you were in. Dropping his arms along with is smirk he suddenly charged towards you ready to strike and more than likely end your existence, the day was getting worse and worse …



The Maze of Shrubbery

empoleon dynamite ~ This was not happening, this was not happening, THIS COULD NOT BE HAPPENING! Freaking out at the rippled reflection before you, you could barely take in the creature stared back at you. Gone were your young handsome features and in their place were a set of yellow eyes full of fear and horror. Your skin was purple, PURPLE! And your hair was a mess of tendrils that seemed to have a life of their own. You visibly shook and not in full control of your new body you felt your neck stretch as your oversized head tilted to one side, had this been under any other circumstances it would have been almost comical. Ventress was impressed by the turn of events, hell she had led you here she had instigated this whole thing, she knew this would happen to you. She waddled around you in a circle admiring your new abstract form, one that matched hers almost identically though her tendrils seemed longer somehow. She appeared annoyed at your continued distress and chided you like speaking to a naughty unappreciative child and this brought you out of your shock enough for you to glare at her. She waddled off towards the vine monolith protecting the very thing that brought this curse upon you with a bounce in her step and you start to follow feeling utterly useless as the suckers now serving as your feet slowly plodded forward your head wobbling unsteadily on your spindly neck and the anger welled up to exploding point. A helpless pawn in a game set about by your own Pokemon and the maze you had so foolishly chosen to enter you were sick and tired of this, why you? Why this torture, why had you chosen your Lileep for this journey, why did you have the disobedient piece of rock anyway?

A rustling sounds behind you and you swivel your head around your neck bending at an odd angle bringing forth a frustrated sigh from your lips as you spy the cause of the noise. The maze had opened up at the entrance to this space; it had provided an alternate route, one away from Ventress. She had made her choice and now you had to make yours, and this was unbelievably easy, you would play no more! She was still so close to you waiting for you to follow obediently and you resist the urge to whip a tentacle around her face your throat closing up as your rage spilt over. You tell her exactly how you felt, your hate seething out from every pore of your being as you cleansed yourself of her presence. She looked at you emotionless as desperation filled your voice at the mention of your team, they were too far away and it hurt deeper than this betrayal. Suddenly you turn your venom to her once more telling her exactly what you thought of her species, your species now wanting nothing more than to breathe fresh hot acid across her skin but unable to do so be it that you were ‘underlevelled’ or just not used to the foreign body but you quickly begin to regret those words spoke in anger. Her eyes narrowed so much they were reduced to slits as her body tensed and you felt an overwhelming sense of fear replace the anger as if it had never been there. With speed not known to her species as you had pointed out to her she rushed forth and wrapped her tentacles around your neck in the tightest Constrict you had ever felt. As a rock it shouldn’t have hurt but you were still weak and she was powered by rage so you choked and flailed in the air tears of pain running from your eyes.

“You ungrateful piece of filth,” she spits at you her own acid hitting your skin making it burn painfully. “A gift you have been given a chance to be something greater than human and you are too blind to accept it. You deserve nothing, you are nothing and I am everything, pity you can’t accept that,” he tones softens as she slackens the tendrils from your neck allowing precious oxygen into your grass body. “Yes … a pity indeed,” she finishes throwing you a good distance away to the hard ground before waddling off through the exit provided for her. She had left you alone, that was what you wanted wasn’t it? Picking yourself up you shake off the flood of emotions and pain engulfing your body and begin the slow journey towards the exit trying to focus your thoughts on finding your team. As you approach the exit you half expect it to close before you reach it, to really rub salt into the wound, but it remained as you passed through making you sigh in relief. You decide to focus on finding Fungi first and foremost; he could help you out and was a good match against Ventress if you needed the protection and if you could retrace your steps you could possibly find him.

You waddle on growing more and more frustrated with the slow pace you were travelling at and will speed into your sucker feet but knew it was pointless. Following the paths you feel yourself growing more and more confused, they all look the same and you couldn’t remember how you had gotten here, you had been following that vile creature after all. Pushing back tears of frustration and continue on hoping that if you just kept going things would eventually come good for you and you’d remember something.

You had been travelling for a good time now, your slow body not helping things but after two dead ends you were beginning to lose hope that you would ever find a way out or a way to your Pokemon. It was another game, the one the maze as designed for, driving its occupants mad as they became unbearably lost. Hanging your head low, partly because you felt depressed, and partly because your neck was tired of supporting your big head you dredge on. Rounding a corner you suddenly spot something that grabs your attention, there were a pair of Shroomish chattering to one another, completely unaware of your presence. Perhaps they had seen Fungi, it was certainly worth asking. As you approach you put your friendliest smile on your face but as they hear your footsteps they gasp and stare at you in fear. You try to convey that you were not going to harm them but they scamper back. You stop and wonder how to get them to trust you when you spot one of them glaring at you, the fear replaced by hate, a look you had mirrored early on when facing another Lileep. It suddenly leaps forward and Tackles you throwing you back. You gasp in shock and pain as Shroomish leaps off you. The other looks shocked but suddenly it runs over to you yellow Spores flying from its head as it Stuns you into a foetal position. The fear was now on your face as the pair of Shroomish glare down at you and you feel a tug at your being followed by pain as they begin to Absorb your strength. Why were they doing this? They had you mistaken, you weren’t the enemy but all you could do was lie about helplessly as pain wracked your body and regret filled your mind. They would finish you here and you would never see your Pokemon again.

As you began to lose all hope along with consciousness you felt one of the Shroomish ripped off you and heard its terrified pained squeaks fill the air. The other got off your body and attempted to run but this unseen force grabbed it and a sickening crack followed by a thud. You could hardly keep your eyes open when you felt a soft object pushed into your mouth its juice running down your chin. Swallowing hard you felt instantly better and opened your eyes fully seeing those familiar yellow ones stared back down at you. You didn’t know what to feel as Ventress looked at your prone and feeble form, she must have fed you the berry and stopped the Shroomish. Standing back up unsteadily you see one Shroomish with a hole through its skull and the other smoking dripping with acid.

“Have you finished being so weak?” she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. “Are you ready to accept your gift?” She was more powerful than you realised and she was right, you were weak, a pair of Shroomish nearly killed you and who knows what else was lurking in this maze eager to end your life. She had saved you and it would mean more games but what choice did you have?
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