Don't mind me, just off on a dander (Underground)

[revolvingscott]

OOC: Checked with Oak and we can gain levels battling here. Guess I'll update them here as we go along
Also, couldn't fit the whole 'Interior Warehouse' into my title. That being said, I personally think you're smart enough to figure out I meant the Interior Warehouse. NOW LET'S GET TO IT!

---

"How the hell did we end up here?" Victor exclaimed as Amelia and him arrived at the warehouse.

"Look... We're a bit lost. Maybe someone here could help us? There definitely sounds like people in there."

"And do you honestly trust people who spend their life hanging around in a Warehouse?" Victor spat at her as quietly as he could. He hadn't yet remembered that, as a Ghost, the people inside couldn't really do much to him. Still, Amelia found the terror on his face highly amusing.

"So are we going in?" she asked, trying to suppress the wide grin that was growing across her face.

"No we are no-!" Victor began before he was sucked into the beam of red light coming from the Poké Ball Amelia had subtly removed from her pocket. Out of the depths of the ball, Amelia could hear faintly, "I don't care... See if I care... Safer in here, anyway.

Amelia pocketed the ball and turned to the Warehouse's large, looming front door. How was she supposed to open this on her own? Still, she tried. Heaving the door open, Amelia managed to open it. However, in the process, she broke a heel. She broke a heel! She was seething with anger. She was so far away from the rest of civilisation that it would take days to find someone who could repair this!

Fishing into her bag, Amelia extracted another pair. They were only 6 inches high but they were more sturdy and would fair better against the rough floor of the warehouse. This had better be worth it!

Amelia put one heel forward and held her head up high. She couldn't really see anyone; though there may be some hiding in the shadows. She could definitely hear a pokémon moving around in the darkness, however. Amelia readied her battle stance. "Who's there?" she questioned the darkness, slightly apprehensive as to what would reply.

[The REAL Joey]

"Stupid bonehead! How the hell am I on guard duty today. I should be out and about! Ransacking houses, thieving people's valuables, getting ahold of rare Pokemon! Instead i'm stuck in this craphole of a place. Tch." A tall slender figure was standing on top of a raised platform on the inside of the interior. From this vantage point, he could oversee the entire warehouse floor and ensure nothing out of the ordinary was happening. The problem was, guard duty for this certain man was quite possibly one of the most boring tasks he could comprehend. The man only known as Dusty was one of the only people in Joey's gang who could boast skills besting that of even his leader. No burgarly job was too small or risky for him. He relished the excitement and challenge it presented. Mundane tasks such as watching the dust in the warehouse shift about was better suited to oafs like his friend Rocko.

"Can't believe he fell into one of the traps here. If that guy had his IQ any lower he'd TRIP over it." Which incidentally was partially somewhat true. The burly skinhead known as Rocko was patrolling the interior grounds on foot when he activated one of the gang's own traps. With a bleak sigh Dusty turned to his Pokemon he had sent out to keep him company. The gelantious Ditto was happily just flobbing up and down enjoying the ripples it's body was making. Dusty shrugged at how easily amused it was and turned his attention back to the interior warehouse floor.

Before he could start complaining about the situation again, his ears picked up the distant sound of heated conversation. Startled, he hid behind the side barrier of the raised platform and peeped his head around to see if someone was intruding into their base. "Please be a rare collector... Please be a rare collector...!" As the rusty door scraped open, he noticed a teenage girl was now within the confines of the warehouse. "Arrrgh, I bet she's you're typical girl and has a Cleffa on her something... Can't get peanuts with them." He was stopped from talking to himself at the echo of a snapped heel. He had to stop himself laughing and thought to himself. "What dame walks around in heels in a place like this?!" He shook his head and cautiously resumed his vigilance.

Unfortunately for Dusty and his Ditto, the rippling sounds the Ditto had been creating gave them away almost. They were still unlocated but their invaluable strategic advantage of being unknwoingly there was lost. He shot Ditto the dirtiest of looks and mumbled something vulgar under his breath. "Well, if she's trespassing we may as well see if she has any rarities on her..." He tapped his shades only to activate a special set of data that flowed down the right lens. He had stolen this experimental technology from some boffin way back. While it wasn't anywhere near a finished product it still had it's uses in letting Dusty see what Pokemon people were carrying. He browsed through the girl's party and his face lit up. She was loaded!

"Oh man, oh man... Cubone, Gastly, Torchic... A SHINY RALTS and... Woohee, unless this scanner's duping me that looks to be an Absol..." He rubbed his hands greedily together and laughed. "Aha! Boss'll be pleased if I can grab at least one of these." He grabbed the Ditto off the desk and then ran along the upper platform. "Yo, dollface! Ain't you heard about what happens to those who trespass on private property? They forfeit their Pokemon!" He jumped off one of the railings and landed graciously on his own two feet. He dropped the Ditto on front of him and swung a large sack over his back. "'Fraid you're gonna have to hand something over."

Burglar Dusty wants to fight! Think quick!
He's more than envious of your rare collection!


His Ditto is ready to fight!

OOC: Sorry for any mistakes. Didn't have time to proof read as I need to head out for a bit.

[revolvingscott]

"OH SHI-!" Victor cried as he burst from his Poké Ball. "See what's happened? We're getting mugged. That's what's happened. MUGGED!" Victor added. He gave no pretense of trying to be quiet; he just wanted to get Amelia out of here before she got herself killed and, more importantly, him!

"Shh, Victor. Ssshhhh!" Amelia hissed. She couldn't believe how hysterical Victor was becoming. This man standing in front of them - however powerful his pokémon may be - was so thin it was almost laughable. If he tried to get into physical violence, she could easily fight him off. "Anyway. You think you can just demand my pokémon off me? Ha! she laughed at him. Who did he think he was?

"Look, Amelia, let's just give him a pokémon... Maybe Venus. She's an annoying *****. Yeah, we'll hand her over... Right?"

"Victor, he's not getting any pokémon. Instead, he's getting a pokémon battle. He shouldn't have even thought about intimidating me."

[/color]

With that, Amelia withdrew a Poké Ball from her bag and threw it at the man as hard as she could. It burst open into a small, tree-like pokémon. Alejandro was eager to battle!

"Right, Alejandro, use Confusion. Make him pay for thinking he can intimidate me!"[/blockquote][/size][/blockquote][/justify]

[The REAL Joey]

The bickering between the trainer and her Gastly roused Dusty's interest in her even further. "Wait, you're tellin' me you have a talkin' Pokemon?! That's even more valuable! I kinda likes the look of him in all honesty..." His lenses were calculating all sorts of data such as the Pokemon's moveset, strength and level. "Kids these days! When I was your age we were given a Weedle if we were lucky and that was that." With her entry into the foray, Dusty nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yeees! Lemme see that fantasmical shine! That's definitely a shiny. You can tell just from how good it looks." He swung his bag from over his shoulder and looked at how empty it was. "If you lose this one you can be sure i'm 'borrowing' that one for an indeterminate amount of time."

With the battle now well underway, Dusty looked to his Ditto and a crafty grin could be seen from behind his dust mask. "This Ditto you see before you ain't no normal Ditto. This one is my pride and joy. I dunno how but this thing doesn't know Transform..." He looked down to it and noticed it was concentrating thoroughly on the Ralts in front of them. "...But it seems to have an ability that lets it copy whatever is in front of it right off the bat!!" As he finished, his trusty Ditto had successfully transformed into a perfect copy of Amelia's Alejandro. Well, it would have been perfect had the dopey face of the Ditto transformed too. Instead it retained it's beady little eyes.

Noticing it had failed to perfectly copy the opponent, Dusty facepalmed wearily and sighed. "I give up, you always keep that goof off face about 'cha." As the girl ordered her move, Dusty was quick to fire off the same thing as well. "Ditto, ditto what she said!" The imposter jumped on the spot and focused its brain to cause a swirl of confusing images around Alejandro. The problem was, Alejandro had done the same thing at the exactly the same time meaning that both moves ended up being rather ineffective on one another as they half heartedly tried to enact the attack and at the same time use their psychic power to shrug off the opponent. Dusty took off his cap and scratched his head. "Wonder what else this thing knows...?" His lenses began analysing the Pokemon in front of it for an answer.

Battle

---

Ditto | Level 12 |
Health : 86%
Status : Normal
Hit by Confusion! It wasn't very effective...

Alejandro | Level 12 |
Health : 82%
Status : Normal
Hit by Confusion! It wasn't very effective...

---

OOC: Just so you know, Dream World Ditto has the ability Imposter which lets it transform into the opponent right off the bat. I thought using that would make it a little more interesting.

[revolvingscott]

OOC: Oh God... Does it change for each time you switch pokémon?

---

"And now the nasty man's going to try and take me to somewhere and sell me to someone who'll probably end up abusing me and making me cry. Are you happy now, huh? I'M GOING TO CRY!"

Amelia stared at Victor absolutely dumbfounded. "That is ludicrous. Even if we lose, I'll have Alejandro teleport us away if he tries to take my pokémon. Come on, get a grip. If you weren't a floating ball of gas, I'd slap you right now."

[/b]

Victor floated there, huffing. He avoided looking at Amelia at all costs. How dare she embarrass him in front of his soon-to-be master?

"Hey, sexy ghosty?"[/b]

"What?

"There's something else, too... I kinda need you to battle right now..."[/b] Victor had had enough. He quickly flew off towards the exit as fast as he could go. He was not about to battle his new owner! "If you do it and he realises how crap you are at battling, I'm sure he'd leave you alone."[/b] Victor stopped. Her words did make sense. Plus, he couldn't be kidnapped as he was a ball of gas. Slowly, he came to the realisation that it would probably be for the best if he battled.

"Okay..."[/b]

"Good! Now, Lick it." Amelia couldn't help but smile as she saw Victor's reaction. He had always hated that move and he hated it even more now.

"WHAT? LICK THAT? It's barely solid! It'd be weird and slimy. Plus, it hangs out in this place! It'd be filthy! No way! No way!"

"Do it," Amelia commanded. Her forceful tone made Victor think twice about disobeying. Reluctantly, he floated across to the Ditto, his tongue outstretched, praying he didn't have gaga reflex.[/blockquote][/size][/blockquote][/justify]

[The REAL Joey]

OOC: Thankfully not, that would make it entirely broken. Seeing as it has transformed into an exact copy (albeit HP) of the first Pokemon it bumped into it means it has the exact ability too therefore losing Imposter. In this circumstance it's now stuck with Synchronise. If you swap it out and back in it'll then transform as it gets reset.

Also, I looked into the experience and it seems like this is what you'd get. The levelling up topic in How to Play says any Pokemon switched out gains just 1 level whereas the Pokemon who knocked out another gains experience as normal judging from the level difference. If this is off and I missed something just let me know, ok?

BIC:

As the heated argument continued between the trainer and her ghost type Pokemon; Dusty could not help but look down to his Ditto and shrug. "They're a real comedy act, huh?" The Ditto-Ralts put its little hand on its chin and tilted its head to the side as the ghostly Pokemon dashed off away following the abrupt end of their conversation with one another. Eventually the Gastly returned and took the Ralts' place. With the action of switching in the Gastly for the Ralts, Dusty laughed and pointed to the new Pokemon to the fray. "Aw yeah, easy pickin's. Ditto! Let's confuse this ethereal wreck." Holding its hands to its top heavy head, the Ralts imposter began exercising its newly developed psychic powers. Where the Gastly floated, the very fabric around it seemed to be swirling around at an alarming rate.

For some odd reason, the trippy effects around the Gastly seemed to be reacting more rapidly than before. Victor was left slightly flustered from the psychic assault but was still floating in there. After being killed once it's more than understandable it will take a little something more to kill you the second time. With a new round upon them, the two trainers were staring in a Mexican standoff. Gastly were renowned for being extremely agile Pokemon but one more attack would be all that was needed to exorcise the phantom for good. With Amelia commanding Victor to lickk the Ralts imposter, Dusty stuttered but responded fairly quickly with his attack. "No! Confusion! Come on, why can't you be faster?" Despite the desperate pleading, Victor was simply too fast. The apparition disappeared, leaving Dusty and Ditto unsure where it was going to strike from. Covertly, it had appeared to the side of Ditto and gave it a ghoulish lick that sent Ditto into a frenzy. As it was disguised as a Psychic Pokemon it had also picked up all their weaknesses. Not to mention the lucky critical Victor inflicted didn't help Ditto's side of things either.

There was nothing it could do. Succumbing to defeat, Dusty looked at the female trainer with complete and utter shock. "You... How... What... Where... When... WHAAAAAA?!" He was now thoroughly sweating bullets. He had expected a bonehead like Rocko to have goofed off when defending the interior but for him to mess up like this? Not good. He scooped up the remains of Ditto, slinging it in his bag and then made a lightning fast exit to one of the factory doors at the other end of the warehouse. Amelia and Victor were now on their own.

Battle

---

Ditto | Level 12 |
Health : 0%
Status : KO'd
ACTUAL PHYSICAL CONTACT!

Victor | Level 12 |
Health : 40%
Status : Normal
Cannot kill what you did not create!

---

Victory!

---

Your Gastly fought courageously and has levelled up!
It went up by 3 levels and is now Level 15!
Victor can now learn the move Night Shade.
Delete a move for Night Shade?

Your Ralts fought courageously and has levelled up!
It went up by 1 level and is now Level 13!

---

With nothing obstructing her path, Amelia and her Pokemon were now free to venture elsewhere around the rest of the darkened interior. Although faint, there was the hint of Pokemon cries echoing out of the shadows. Of course, that wasn't the only option available to her, the warehouse seemed to have a fair number of doors leading to elsewhere in the infrastructure as Dusty had just so generously shown in his cowardly exit.

[revolvingscott]

Amelia and Victor stood there in a perplexed silence. Had that actually just happened? Had Victor's tongue actually just caused a thief to flee? Eventually, Victor broke the silence with a cough.

"Well I'm powerful," he said with a smug grin.

"Sshh you, we don't want to attract any more people... especially if they have pokémon that could take your tongue on," Amelia replied with a whisper. "Well, that door there seems to have some light inside it, maybe we could find our way out?" The darkness that engulfed the Interior Warehouse made it impossible for Amelia to find the door she'd used to enter since the battle had confused her. She made her way towards the door with Victor proudly floating along behind her.

"If I had legs, I'd be strutting quite spectacularly right now," he said to himself under his breath.

I'll update my profile now. ***** YEAH, NIGHT SHADE!

[revolvingscott]

Amelia's insistence on silence for Victor seemed completely useless considering the klack-klack-klack noise of her heels as she marched across the Interior Warehouse. Klack-klack-klack. She was making her way to a sliver of light that gave away the fact that there was a door there. Reaching it, she heaved and heaved, attempting to open it but it wouldn't budge.

"Okay, Dionysus, open this door please!" she declared as she dropped her Cubone's Poké Ball. With a loud, soaring note on his electric guitar, Dionysus materialised at Amelia's feet. Since he was mainly bone, he had the strength in him to wrench the door open - or at least so Amelia hoped. He propped his little guitar up against the wall and flexed his biceps.

"Bone!" he growled as he grabbed the side of the door (he was too little to reach the handle) and pulled. "Boooooonnnneeeeee!" he cried as he strained against the metal. He pulled and pulled but couldn't seem to get the door to open!

Victor decided that that was the moment to just walk through the door, taunting Amelia and Dionysus. Of course, he forgot that Dionysus was super-effective against him so, when he poked his head through the door again, to grin at them, he was met with a solid whack from Dionysus' guitar. Since he based it off a ground type move, it was powerful against Victor.

"Hey! What was that for?" Victor cried in alarm but neither Dionysus nor Amelia gave him any notice, the door had just slid slightly. It was a sliding door! "Well I bet you both feel like idiots," came Victor's voice from behind the door.

Amelia and Dionysus pushed the door open before Victor had got far enough away from the door that he felt safe.

"You'd better run!" Amelia shouted as she chased after Victor with Dionysus running right behind her. Victor flew through the door at the end of the corridor they were running down. Dionysus grunted with anger as Amelia pulled the door open and ran in. She ran face-first into a fat, leather-clad stomach. Dionysus groaned as he collided with a large, booted foot. "Ehhh... Hi?" Amelia nervously said to Eightball as Victor grinned at her from over his shoulder.

[The REAL Joey]

The towering figure looked down at what had just so clumsily walked into him. Eightball was never particularly the most cheerful of Joey's gang and was more often than not, quite acerbic in tone, preferring to keep himself to himself and away from the loud personalities of the others. His passion was and had always been that of motorbikes. When he saw his first one as a child, his heart was stolen by the beauty and elegance of the design before him. Riding one felt as if he had become on with the wind. It was a liberating feeling. Because of this he decided to follow a livelihood of being a mechanic. The chance to work and fix bikes was like a dream for him and what with the stress and strain Joey's gang put on their bikes it meant that he was never without a bike to fix. As he stood before Amelia, signs of his love for tinkering with motorbikes were apparent. He had a pair of goggles over his eyes and a blow torch in his other hand. It seemed he had been welding something.

Behind him was a motorbike that had been taken apart and was in dire need of repair. Also amongst the dismantled parts was another humanoid figure but the problem was it had an extra set of arms unlike a normal person. The humanoid shape was in fact a Machamp who was helping its trainer unscrew and fix up the tattered bike. Eightball looked down at the girl and let out a small grunt. "Hmph, I don't know the likes of you." He pulled up his goggles with his free hand and his dark eyes focused intently on Amelia. "You know, we don't take kindly to intruders around here." His stern face curled into a sardonic grin. He chuckled with his deep voice and placed the blow torch on the side. "I should send out my Machamp right now and have you torn limb from limb." He paused for a moment, examining the trainer. She seemed to have an assortment of rare Pokemon under her command. This might just be the opportunity he had been looking for.

"Hell! I'm under strict orders to boot out any Tom, Dick or Harry that wades in here. You touch these bikes here and you'll be damned sure Machamp will sling yer hooks." The way he was talking almost seemed as if he was giving her a proposition and sure enough, he was. "But... I got an idea. How about, I keep quite about you bein' here if you do a favour for me. Scratch my back, I scratch yours?" He chuckled deeply again as he leaned against the wall. "Down the stairs opposite where my door is, there's a certain... Let's call him a fruitcake... Who keeps coming in here and fiddling about with my prized bikes. The damn looney doesn't seem to understand my threats. So... How about you go down there, tell 'em Eightball sent ya and give him a good beatin'?" He narrowed his eyes. "Deal? If you do, i'll keep quiet about you bein' here and might even let ya get to a special area..." He turned around and began grabbing some tools from the workshop. Under his breath he could barely be heard muttering. "...Sorts out Merton. I may not be able to deck him one personally but gang rules don't say I can get a lil' help on the matter. Heh, heh, heh." He turned around having grabbed his wrench. "What'cha dawdlin' for?" He then went over to continue his repair work.

OOC: Don't worry about creating a new topic, I really should have edited that rule in my warehouse threads. I'm thinking of changing it to just change the suffix and every time you make a new visit to the warehouse, make a new topic but no worries.

[revolvingscott]

Been unable to use my Wi-Fi for a couple of days and was working on some stuff last night. IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK!

---

Terrifying wasn't the word. Adrenaline was pumping through Amelia's system at hitherto-unknown speeds as she looked up into the man's eyes. Over Eightball's shoulder, Amelia could see Victor in silent stitches.

Then, as Amelia was attempting to come up with a solution to the problem, the man presented it to her. All she had to do was go downstairs and intimidate someone? That was easy, the man had just given her an excellent tutorial in how to intimidate someone. Shame she doesn't have a spare Machamp... What could she intimidate him with? Arzadon was quite intimidating... Would that work?

Amelia decided that Dionysus would probably be best at that what with his ability to beat the shit out of anyone with an electric guitar.

"Erm.. Well... erm... Of course, I'd be happy to oblige!" she replied, just happy to be escaping intact. "Okay, Victor, come on," she said to the Gastly as she picked up Dionysus and turned around, praying that the man didn't want anything else.

Down the stairs... Down the stairs... Where were the stairs? How was she supposed to find the stairs? Oh wait, there were the stairs. Now there was merely the door...

"Victor, there should be a door here; go through the wall and look for it," she commanded Victor.

Victor sniffed at Amelia and floated through the wall. He just wanted out of this place! On the other side of the wall, a camp man stood facing the opposite direction, dancing with some Voltorb... That was strange. Turning around, he spotted the door, went up to it and went through. Amelia stood a couple of feet down the hall, talking to Dionysus.

"He can't even speak English!" he shouted at her.

"... Is there a door there?" she asked, ignoring that last comment. She wasn't going to forget about him laughing at her as she almost died at the hands of Eightball's Machamp... That was definitely what happened... yeah.

Victor nodded before Amelia turned to inspect the wall. There wasn't anything to suggest there was a door there.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked Victor. He nodded again. "Dionysus, bash it in with your bone."

Victor began to giggle at Amelia. Amelia giggled back. They giggled together. Dionysus wasn't pleased with all the giggling. Reaching up into his skull, he grabbed the bone he would traditionally carry around and bashed it against the door. A large dent appeared in the metal wall as a cry of 'WHAT THE *****?' came from inside. A moment later, Merton appeared in the doorway.

"Hi, I've been sent to 'deal with you'... Pokémon battle?"

[The REAL Joey]

Another day, another session of practice. The saying practice makes perfect was firmly ingrained in Merton's mind. If he could just etch in the movements of juggling into his muscle memory, surely that would be half of the battle. Once he had fully mastered it, he'd have to work out some other razzle dazzle tricks in order to keep his crowd entertained. Then it would be a simple matter of his Exeggutor using its psychic powers to unknowingly steal away trainer's Pokemon from right under their noses. After all, they would be so enraptured from his performance they would be none the wiser. The sight of a dancing coconut tree also had its wily charms in luring people into a false sense of security. Nevertheless, today he was practising his juggling. His burnt hand from constantly sneaking into the storehouse had recovered quite significantly, enough for him to perform. It was still a bit hard to move it perfectly but it was getting there. As he began another juggling rally, he began laughing to himself joyously. "Ohohohohoho, yes my beauties, yeeees~! We can do this! On and on and on we gooo~!" This was the first time he had gotten so far in a long time. If he were to fail now it would be soul destroying.

Unfortunately for him; he did falter. The loud crash that blasted from the other side of the room had him screaming like a little girl. He lobbed his Voltorb up in the air and began jumping up and down on the spot. "Ahhhhhhhhh WHAT WAS THAAAAAAAT!?!?!?!?" He eventually slipped up and landed on his rear end. The Voltorb also then came crashing down upon his head. One. Two. Three. Merton rubbed his sore head and sighed exasperatedly. "If that is Eightball revving motor engines in an attempt to scare me... I shall be sure to piss in his fuel tank!" He jumped up on the spot and grabbed his Voltorb into his hand. The fact it could only be Eightball gave him a false air of confidence about him. When he got to the door he was greeted with a far different sight. It was a teenage girl. He jumped back, covering half of his body with his cape. "Oh no, oh noooo! An intruder! We can't be doing with this!" Flinging his cape to the side and letting it flutter momentarily he began juggling. "Uno, dos, tres! Let me show you my vanishing act...!" He juggled them at a fairly quick pace, stumbling now and again with some of them. "Phooey... And by vanishing, I mean you!" He grabbed all of his Voltorb and lobbed one in front of him. "Have at thee!"

Magician Merton wants to fight!
Payback time for ruining his practice!


His Voltorb (Level 14) is ready to fight!

[revolvingscott]

This man was strange. Very strange. His cape twirled dramatically as he spun around to see what all the commotion was about. Amelia wasn't sure whether to laugh, shout back or run away. Holding back the laughter, she turned to where Victor ought to have been. Instead, it appeared he had disappeared. Doubling back while the man seemed to be juggling... again, Amelia found Victor in silent stitches behind the wall, tears streaming down his face. This was all too much; Amelia couldn't control it, she laughed too, doubled over in hysterics. Dionysus appeared to have taken the job of keeping watch. If the man came down to see where they had disappeared to, Dionysus would give them warning to compose themselves.

After twenty seconds of raucous laughter, the two seemed to be ready to return to the man. Wiping tears from their eyes, they composed themselves, stifling the last few giggles, and walked back into the room. Merton didn't appear to have noticed they were missing as he juggled and swished his cape from side to side.

"Okay, shall we battle?" Amelia said after the third swish. "Because my good friend Venus hasn't had a battle in quite a while... Come on out!" she threw a Poké Ball at Merton that bounced off one of the balls he was juggling and burst open, revealing a small, immaculately groomed Torchic.

"Chic?" she cheeped inquisitively, looking at Amelia.

"Heya, Venus, long time; no see," Amelia smiled, knowing how quick to anger her Torchic was. "And I want you to battle!" she declared, her voice trying to tell the pokémon that this was the best thing in the world. Venus merely looked at her questioningly. Then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning around, she was confronted with Merton juggling and swishing his cape. The little orange bird could do nothing but stare before bursting into histerics.

"Chic! Chic-chic!" she howled with laughter, pointing at the man.

"Yes, I know," Amelia said, holding in her own laughter now. She could never watch someone laugh - especially at something funny - and not laugh with them but this was important. She had to do this or that scary man would come after her. She shuddered. "Now, once you've composed yourself, could you pleeaase use Ember attack on his Voltorb?"

[The REAL Joey]

Despite having taken a disapproving tone against young Amelia, the sight of her Pokemon, Venus the Torchic seemed to warm the cockles of his heart as he view the delightfully cute plumage of the Pokemon's feather coat. "OOOOOOOOH! WHAT A DE~LIGHT~FUL LITTLE BIRDIE!" He seemed to clasp his hands together and look at the Pokemon longingly. "Tweet, tweet, little one! Who's a pretty little bird?" For all of the intimidating Merton had tried to induce with his so called vanishing act he seemed as soft as a teddy bear after this small revelation. The Voltorb that was rolling around slowly on the floor seemed to get jealous and with a small spark being zapped a step before Merton, he jumped out of his almost and let out a frightened cry. "AIIIIYEEEEEE~ Oh! Voltorb! You silly goosie! You know I love you more than anything in the world~!" The Voltorb's usually raging face contorted to that of a content smile at the trainer's praise.

Letting out a highly theatrical cough, the dazzling magician focused back on Amelia. "Nevertheless! You cannot seduce me with ze sweet and fluffy cuties! I will simply... Or Voltorb... Will simply not have it!" With orders now being fired off in order to get the battle going, Merton interjected his own for Voltorb. "Voltie, time to lay waste m'dear~ Ram 'em down with Tackle! Ohohohoho!" The naturally agile ball seemed to whirr into action without any delay whatsoever. As it sped forward, it used its frictionless body to gain even greater momentum and slammed directly into the poor Torchic. As it made impact, even the heart strings of Merton could be seen being visibly strung. "Oh what a world~ What a world~ I feel so terrible for hurting such a dah~ling~!" Voltorb whizzed back with a quick retreat and wobbled as it looked angrily at the object of its master's affections.

Despite having its feathers ruffled, Venus wasn't going to be so easily shaken. With a heave of its chest, the little chicken Pokemon splattered out a small round of embers that soared through the air before landing messily all over the orb Pokemon. It skidded about as it dealt with the horribly burning coals but eventually it has the bright idea of spinning around at a extreme speed to cool off the embers and send the charred globs off in other directions. "Not too bad you little cutie~!" Praised Merton as he looked happily to the Torchic, only to receive a tackled in the shin from his own Pokemon. "Oh, now, now Voltie~!!"



Trainer Battle

---

Merton's Voltorb | Level 14 |
Health : 74% (29/39)
Status : Normal
INVADERS MUST DIE!

Venus | Level 12 |
Health : 75% (27/36)
Status : Normal
Melt you plastic ball

---

[revolvingscott]

Amelia jolted out of her daydream - it was as if she had been standing fixed in time and space for what felt like three years. She saw visions of desolate lands left unattended by all that slowly, over time, was rejuvenated as the very people who had abandoned the place. She watched as they breathed new life into the place and suddenly more and more people - new, unfamiliar faces - started sprouting as if from the ground. Smiling, they emerged and came together to form a new community with a mixture of the new and old that had the sole purpose of keeping the site she stood on alive.

With a sigh she saw plainly the present and what she had left behind: a very peculiar man, camper than any she had seen before, his snarling Voltorb that seemed to be controlling him somehow and her Torchic - Venus - preening herself as the man cooed over her.

"Wait a minute..." she said to herself, scratching her chin as an epiphany washed over her. With a snarl, she turned to the Gastly floating beside her, pulling faces at the Voltorb. "VICTOR I SWEAR TO *****ING GOD DID YOU USE HYPNOSIS ON ME AGAIN!"

With that, it all made sense, Victor was the reason for her absence of mind for so long! As her thoughts came together and made more and more sense, her face began to turn as red as a beetroot and Gastly shrunk away.

After disappearing completely, he spoke from about 3 feet behind her, "Lol."

If she wasn't angry before, she was furious now! But she also realised this battle had been going on for far too long so needed to at least attempt a resolution. Turning all her aggression from Victor to her opponent, she brought her attention back to Venus had somehow managed to acquire a compact mirror and was lovingly combing her feathers.

"Venus! Let's hurry this along - use Ember again!" she declared. If she was being honest, she just really wanted to get a move on and start exploring Johto again after her Gastly-induced nap.