Nin's Requiem (Story Arc 1) - Intro - The Gym

[Nishrocks]

Nero stepped through the doors of Shellau Gym.

"Hello? Is anyone he- aargh!"

Nero fell face first into the cold water. Drenched, he stepped out, and waddled onto dry land.
He couldn't see anything, just the shapes of trainers and pokemon.

"I'm here to challenge the Gym Leader Lillian, for a double battle. Two pokemon each. No switches, and no items, except hold items."

Ninurta was still shaken after his outburst in the Training Arena.

<Are you sure this is a good idea?>

Nero looked at him reassuringly.
You'll be fine.

...I hope...

[PBK]

"You know," a voice said, "It's probably a good idea to get into your swimming suit before jumping into the water."

A teen with a girl-next-door sort of beauty stepped out from the fog. She held out her hand to shake. "My name is Lillian; I'm the gym leader over here. So, I heard you are here to challenge me?" She had a pokeball in one hand, a cell phone in the other. Noise was coming out of the device- seemed as though Nero had interrupted some sort of conversation.

[Nishrocks]

Ehehe... Humour...

"Well," said Nero, "As the famous Black Eyed Pikachus goes, let's get it started!"

Nero put a hand on his belt. Two pokeballs.
One for Nin and One for Tem

"Okay! Here we go!"

Nin stepped out. Quivering.

"What's wrong?"

<I cannot risk hurting Tempeste...>

"You'll be fine."

Nero seemed to be saying that an awful lot.

[PBK]

"About that," the gym leader said, sounding a bit evasive, "You see, I uh, well..." She stared up at the ceiling. "I should really have that fixed," she said to herself. Then, realizing that Nero was still there, she was forced to find words for herself. "Uhm," she said, "I can't, uh, actually battle right now." There. She had said it. And now, all she could do was hope that Nero wasn't one of those psychotic trainers who would follow her home and insist that they fight.

[Nishrocks]

Nero sighed...

"Why not?" he said, gloomily, "It's a real shame..."

He walked to the door, still soaked to the skin.

"That is... unless you're chicken"

[PBK]

The gym leader fumed. Who did this kid think he was, coming in here, calling here chicken? "Fine," the girl said, "But if you want to battle me now, it'll have to be sudden death." Truth was, Lillian only had one pokemon with her at the moment. She was just about to go home when this kid showed up, insisting that they battle. Well, if he wanted to play tough, she could too. Up the stakes. "That's one pokemon each."

[Nishrocks]

Nero smiled wickedly, his ploy having worked.

"Fine by me..."

Tems was his strongest pokemon.
Plus she could fly.
Was she ready?

Only one way to find out!

"Tems! come on out!"

[PBK]

Lillian sighed, wondering for the last time why she had sent her pokemon away early. But she knew why- fancy party at her parents' house, one which- she checked her watch- started in twenty-four minutes. Since she couldn't be there to help set up, she figured the least she could do was send a few pokemon to help. Now, all she had left with her was Misty.

A red laser from a pokeball released the Marill into the middle of the gym. The round, blue mouse pokemon bobbed up and down in the water, waiting for her foe to attack.

The ref stood on one side of the gym, green and red flags to either side. "This will be a one on one, sudden death match," he said mechanically. "Begin now!" The man raised his green flag, and at that moment, Mary dove under water, invisible beneath the haze.

[Nishrocks]

OOC: Mary? I think you mean Misty.

"Tempeste! Sing attack!"

Swablu couldn't attack underwater, but if she attempted to use sing, she could drown the Marrill, forcing Lillian to recall it, or force her to send it to land.

Lillian looked like she had to go somewhere, she was even checking her watch.
She wanted a quick match, and so did Nero.

Nero didn't have time to waste, not if he wanted to track down the dragonite trainer.
He pulled his Dratini Medallion out of his shirt.

Whoops! It fell into the pool.
Not again.

"I'm wet anyway, so what the heck"

Nero dove into the water, paddling down to his medallion. He heard the dulcet tones of Tems, echoing through the water. He couldn't see the Marrill, or even his own feet, only the glint of his gold medallion shone through the water.

He grasped it, and came up, gasping for air.

He looked around to examine the results of his attack.

[PBK]

Unfortunately for Nero, the Marill, who was underwater, couldn't hear the singing and thus, did not fall asleep. It was a cheap trick, but from where Misty was underwater, she shot a water gun attack towards Tem.

Lillian was only half-focussed on the battle. In the mean time, she was checking her watch, factoring in the time it might take to finish this match, checking to see if she had time to stop in at the supermarket to pick up some plastic silverware before the party started.

[Nishrocks]

"Tems, dodge, no, Dodge! Go LEFT! YOUR OTHER LEFT!"

It was a close shave, but Tems was hit by the water gun on her wing, sending her spiralling out of control. She fell rapidly towards the water.

SWISH!

Tems skimmed the water, barely saving herself. She knew if she got wet, she would lose the ability to fly. At least until she dried herself out.

"Come on, you can do it, like we practiced," said Nero, recalling the visit to the Training Arena.
"Those swoops you did, remember? The Disk Dodge Technique?"

Tempeste chirped in recognition at her trainer, treading water below her.

"Well then, show me what you've got! Disk Dodge technique, PECK! If you swoop fast enough, you'll break free of the water with enough momentum to dry off your wings,"

<Right!>

Without a moment's hesitation, Tems swooped into the water, emerging in a parabolic curve, he wings still fairly dry.

And again,
And again,
And again.

Repeatedly, Tems swooped in with Peck, hoping to strike the Marill.

[/center]

[PBK]

Misty, who had come up to the surface to breathe, was hit by the swooping pecks repeatedly. She cried out in pain and began releasing water gun attacks at random.

Lillian was replying to a text message on her cell phone, explaining to her parents why she would be late for dinner, telling them that she was sorry, telling them to start the party without her, mentioning that- dang. Water gun attacks and cell phones don't mix. And poor Lillian was soaked. At least that got her attention.

"Focus!" the gym leader cried, all the while trying to figure out how to explain to her cell phone company why water damage should be included on her waranty.

[Nishrocks]

Nero saw his oppurtunity, and struck!

"Tempeste! Astonish, followed by Fury Attack!"

Used to dodging by now, Tems easily evaded the eclectic water gun attacks.

She swooped down, with an astonish attack, and then swooped back up, unable to see if it had hit. Then, she thundered down with numerous strikes from a Fury Attack.

[/center]

[PBK]

However, Marill had taken her trainer's advice on this last one. The little pokemon had dove down to the bottom of the pool where it was unreachable by a creature bound by flight. The little mouse waited for the opportune time to attack.

"What am I going to do?" Lillian asked, though the question had nothing to do with the battle, nor was it directed at Nero.

[Nishrocks]

Lillian was biding her time.
Well, two could play at that game.

"Tems! Just stay there, wait it out! It needs to come up for air! In the meantime, build up momentum for Fury Attack!"
Swablu began to swoop, systematically, almost daring the Marill to come up

Lillian was distracted. She was in a hurry, and she was clearly late to wherever she needed to go.
Nero could take advantage of this.

"Y'know, you could always surrender, and end this battle now, then you'd be able to get rid of me, or y'know, train with your friends, or maybe...Go off to a big soiree" he called over the pool, placing particular emphasis on soiree.

His first ploy had worked.
Would his second?

[/center]

[PBK]

Lillian gave Nero a funny look. Who did he think he was- coming in there and using fancy words like soiree to taunt her? She didn't even know what that meant, and spent the better part of the next ten seconds trying to figure out if it was even a word.

"Honestly," she said, "As much as I'd love to have this over with now, it's my duty to accept all challenges and carry them out until a pokemon is unable to battle."

There was still no sign of Misty. The pokemon was still far under water. A few seconds later, some bubbles came up to the surface, signalling that, if nothing else, the Marill was still in existance.

[Nishrocks]

Nero couldn't stall any longer.

"Tempeste! Dive in! If you gain enough momentum, then you'll be able to swoop back out, like a seagull!"

Using the bubbles as reference, Tems swooped into the water at an alarming speed.

She hit the water, and then all was silent.
Now Nero could only hope she would come back out.

...

Five, agonising minutes later, she did. But had she hit the Marril? She fluffed over to a platform and dried off her wings. She couldn't fly for quite some while now. Only bounce.

[PBK]

Tempeste had been unreasonably lucky. She had hit the Marill full force, and the poor thing who had been holding its breath this whole time got the wind knocked out of her. Already weak, Misty fainted and floated to the surface of the water.

Tem gained 3 levels!

"Well, I guess you win," Lillian said, more than a little happy that this whole thing was over. Her cell phone rang, but she refrained from picking up. "Congrats." She walked over and handed him his badge as well as a few items and some cash. Then, her cell phone rang again.

[Nishrocks]

[YAY for modding our butts off!]

Nero stood, triumphant. He returned Tems to her pokeball. For once, she didn't seem to mind. Tired and weary as she was, she was glad to get a little rest.

Clio padded behind him.

<YAY! We've won! We can go to see my pack again!>

Nero smiled.
"Yes, yes we can"

Of course, no sooner had Nero taken his items, when.

<WATCH OUT MASTER!>

Nin released a huge Secretpower attack, knocking Nero and Cliodna out of the gym. He quickly followed suit.

<Are you okay master? I didn't mean to hurt you master! Master, I->

Nero stood up.
"I'm not Master. Get that? And secondly, stop apologising. You lost control and that's ok. It happens. We're gonna need to watch you, but it'll be fine, in the meantime, I'll go heal you all up, and then we can go back down Route Two..."

And so he did.

[/center]