Lugubrious

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

If there are any issues with my last post, I'm all ears. I think I did a decent job of treating things realistically, however.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Frenzy Plant's Elite

Again, the Howling Djinn's Keep shook. This time, it came not as the reverberation of a powerful blow beating against its wall, but as an alarming jerk that affected everyone on or within the structure. Mercifully, the detonation of Trinity's explosive payload inside one of Jake's inert earthen arms had not been catastrophic. A couple magnitudes stronger, and such a blast would have removed one of what had become the tower's essential supports, sending the entire construct and everyone inside plummeting to the ground in a stone deathtrap. Neither Indigo, with the atmospheric power bestowed upon her by The Yawg, nor Sepia, with her control over earth, could have acted on time to prevent such a fate. It did, however, remind Indigo of the precariousness of her situation. Though it enabled her to act freely, allowing the tower to sit in one spot went contrary to the plan, and she needed to resume her position.

Three noteworthy obstacles stood in the way of sending the Keep skyward once more, however. Impossibly, Dragon Fang's Axeling managed to right himself and instantly lock the feet of himself and his allies to the floor during the minuscule amount of time it took Indigo to cannon her Stormfront into them. With the same blatantly unrealistic speed, Amy brought her two weapons together to suck up and channel out all of the electricity that came along with the buffeting wind, despite it being dispersed across nearly the entire room. Hyun could not help but to crease her brows. They're that fast? What kind of training does this guild undergo? For a split second, doubt crossed her mind.

Fortunately, reality ensued. Having feet stuck fast to the floor did not somehow immunize the three enemies' bodies from the effect of gale-force winds. When the wave of wind slammed into them, enough force coursed through their ankles and shins to break the bones of an ordinary person. When a tornado coursed through a forest, the trees that wouldn't bend would break; that was a raw fact. In addition, the handles of Ammy's scythes were not made of rubber, and since solid rock conducted electricity far worse than human flesh, the lightning injected by Indigo into her stormfront coursed through Ammy instead. Seeing, this, Indigo wished she'd used more charge. Even if Ammy had absorbed all the electricity into herself, there hadn't been enough in the first place to inflict serious damage to a powerful mage. Still, the sight gave her some solace. In their rush to try and counter my attack, they did not think their strategies through, and ended up harming themselves as much, if not more, than helping themselves. Good to know.

The resilience of the Dragon Fang mages, however, could not be underestimated. No doubt putting aside whatever pain afflicted them, they moved to attack, and first on the offense was Hunter. His viridian magic flowed through the stone floor, and beneath Hyun, Indigo, and Plum, planting spears of jade to sprout from the ground much like the Tectonic Blades and pierce his opponents from below. Yet, the soldiers of Frenzy Plant held to the time-honored principle of not splitting up. When the jade began to rise, Hyun was ready to defend her comrades. She waved her parrying dagger at the floor, sending a wave of distortion into the area immediately around her, and Hunter's attack was nullified. Not a single jade outcrop appeared. Frenzy Plant's champion swordswoman then found herself immediately beset by Jake, equipped with a halberd. ”A poleax,” Hyun remarked, deadpan, as he rushed forward. ”A defensive weapon, best used from a distance by infantry or guardsmen. The worse choice imaginable for a close-quarters duel.” She was only too happy to close the distance. When her flamberge locked with Gorma's Halberd just beneath the axehead, all that separated axeman from swordswoman was its shaft—barely any obstacle at all, and with no distance to work with, the hefty, unwieldy halberd simply couldn't be swung. Hyun's knife shot forward like a viper toward Jake's unarmored armpit. With magic nullified in the area surrounding Hyun preventing the requip of weapons, and Jake's terrible weapon choice, there could be no conceivable defense. This duel would be decided in one master stroke by a seasoned veteran of melee combat. ”Amateur,” Hyun murmured matter-of-factly as she drove the point home.

At the same time, Plum and Indigo faced Ammy and Hunter. Wordlessly, the double and the original changed positions, each choosing the foe most suited to herself. The batlike talons of Plum met Hunter's own jade-empowered claw, but she did not seek so much to block them as to grab them. In fact, Plum practically dove forward to clasp her talons around Hunter's Crush Claw before his swing could pick up enough speed to truly threaten her. The instant she made contact, magic power began to seep from the Jade Dragonslayer into herself. Plum held nothing back, greedily devouring his essence as fast as she could with no regard for the future, and in doing so she left herself vulnerable to some other avenue of attack.

Indigo gave Ammy a haughty smile as she attacked with waves of purple energy. ”I'll give you a shot.” she purred, her words oozing condescension. With very little ceremony she turned around, allowing the waves of dark magic to hit her back. Her atmospheric aura dampened the spell a little, but it still caused her to see stars. Reaper Magic, she had to admit, was virulent. She could even feel a numbing effect spreading through her upper body, some of her energy slipping away. "Ahh...ahh..." Still, Frenzy Plant's most excellent magician would not be deterred. She hadn't taken the attack for sport, but instead to concentrate on her own spell. ”Dead Air.” The air inside the tower was already flowing, but now it really began to move. A wall of fog appeared in the doorway, as well as a horizontal barrier overhead, and the remainder of the air condensed into spheres around the heads of Indigo, Plum, and Hyun. The entire bottom half of the tower had been turned into a vacuum in which only Frenzy Plant's soldiers were permitted to breath. Indigo's warning to her enemies that the atmosphere itself within a certain radius 'belonged to her' was not, after all, an empty threat.

She knew that the current situation could not last for anyone. Her foes could not breath, but she and her allies had their own clocks ticking. The concentrated bubbles of air around their heads put a good deal of pressure on them, causing headache and murkiness of thought. She was confident, however, that Dragon Fang's representatives would fall or flee first. Plus, the bubbles themselves would repel physical attack, like bouncy cushions. Even though she knew that the Dragon Fang wizards couldn't hear with no air to carry sound, the Librarian smirked and said, ”You were fools to challenge us in our realm. It is time to pay the penalty.”

Meanwhile, the situation on the tower's top was less under control. All eyes were on Damian as he soared up, up, up, past the range of the sentry towers. Not a single soldier doubted what was to come, but while the Blade of Phoenix Wing gave them substantial time to prepare, there wasn't a whole lot they could do. The cacophony of weather below in the Keep drowned out any potential audio cues as to what Damian had in store. Based on previous observation, though Zander imagined he might know what his foe would be up to. To the best of his knowledge, Damian did chiefly three things: attack with real swords, use swords to move around, and create magical swords to attack. His act of abandoning the sky-surfing Striker Blade and then putting himself in a nonsensical position for a melee attack made for little ambiguity in Zander's mind. ”Here he comes. ETA: ten seconds” The Ruby Knight pointed at Dmitri as he strode to the edge of the tower. ”It's time to go to Phase Two. Do it now.” As he spoke, Vert -still wielding Wolfenstein- howled again, returning a little magic power to everyone present.

"Yes sir." Dmitri, still breathing heavily, crouched as fast as he could. His face was grim as he placed both hands on the black stone of the Howling Djinn's Keep. Instantly, all of his trap arms receded—that spell had been wasted. Their magic circles did not, however, fade away. Instead, they grew brighter before adhering to the stones to which they were bound, searing their designs on the surfaces of the stones. ”Hekatonkheires' Cairn.”

The spell was done, and he stood to sprint for the side of the tower. He threw himself over the edge, followed quickly by Owen, Zander, Scarlet, Vert, and Aqua. An instant later, Damian made contact, and the surface of the tower exploded into a geyser of swordblades. A matching font of steel even emerged from the tower's bottom.

Then the tower itself exploded. Every stone fused by Dmitri's power in the upper half of the Howling Djinn's Keep joined together in a chain detonation. A concussive shockwave spread from the explosion that rattled the city itself, though the shockwave itself did no more than that. No 'protective mechanism' nor magic sword could shrug off the maelstrom of pure destructive force at the epicenter of the detonation—and hopefully, no Blade of Phoenix Wing could, either. As he fell, Zander fretted that the explosion might hurt Damian more than intended. No...an S-class warrior of Phoenix Wing could not be killed, or even brought near death, by something like that given his armor and resistance. He imagined, hair whipping in the wind, that others might accuse Frenzy Plant of going overboard. Nonense! Nobody could possibly find fault in this course of action, unless they're biased against us. If we hadn't gotten out of there, that blade geyser could have spitted all of us like pigs. The hands that grabbed the tower could have crushed it and pulverized everyone inside if it had been weaker, or the hands stronger. Every guild is throwing around a lot of power...that's the nature of the Games.

He turned his attention to Owen, who'd sent sparks out from his rapier to the ground below. From the street, giant rapier blades shot up, rising around the falling soldiers like a bamboo forest. Each soldier grabbed onto one of the blades to slid down, just as a fireman might slide down a pole in the station. When they got to the ground safely, the giant poles disappeared, and Zander became aware of something else. Dmitri did no rise from where he tumbled. He looked sick, exhausted, even like he was suffering. There could be no question: the brawler was all out of magic power, and physically unable to continue. ”Easy, soldier. Take your rest. We will fight on in your stead.” Furthermore, Scarlet was bleeding badly from a huge wound on her back. Having lagged at the back of the group, she'd been only a few inches away from being bisected by one of Damian's blades. She, too had collapsed, and was weeping. ”Aqua, please help her.” The knowledge that she was one of Indigo's doubles did not dull his worry at all. His heart hurt terribly to see the grievous injury. He looked around, hoping that nobody would come for the Frenzy Plant soldiers just now, and that Indigo's team would quickly abandon the Howling Djinn's Keep as well to reunite with the ground team. ”We should have communicated better...it was our M.O. to stay together, but we have separated ourselves.” So saying, Zander grasped his ruby arming sword in a reverse grip by the blade just below the hilt, and he drew his great claymore from his back onto his shoulder for use.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Abillioncats She's adorable. "Boop!"

@harinezumikouken

Mhm, thirty-year-old adorable.

She's not really my style, but I'll probably end up playing her more than Ana. Less precision and more ruining fun makes Lugubrious a happy player.

The Three Realms War [A DMC, Bayonetta and Darksiders RP]

Mad World

@zarkun@lazo@kapuchu

A fusillade of rocks proved very effective against even a gigantic condensed mass of the otherworldly insects. Each slung boulder tore a hole through the aberrant amalgam’s body, and from beneath, plumes of incinerating flame roasted the lowest part of the swarm to a fine crisp. This presented an immediate problem: without the support of its ‘legs’ to keep the rest of its form up, the rest of the bugs were forced to loosen their cohesion in order to fly for themselves. To onlookers, this manifested as both a slight swell in size and a definite, all-encompassing kind of stagger. By continuing his assault, the hellhound prevented the swarm from reconsolidating itself in order to attack, forcing it to instead continuously maintain its form. A few tendrils lashed out, and another compacted clump of bugs sailed from its mouth in an attempt to bulldoze Fenn, but he found himself remarkably unmolested as he skirted the platform’s perimeter, though the intensity of the situation did not die off. Indeed, as Souta, Lily, and Wrath could attest as their own foes beleaguered them, the battle was at its climax!

Or rather—anticlimax. A sound like a wave crashing upon a rocky shore filled the Hanging Jungle, and instantly every single swarm construct dissolved. Their constituents zipped in bright, flowing streams of yellowish-green back toward the behemoth called Ourakekem. Souta, completely out of breath, doubled over and heaved a sigh of relief. The groups guide, Uhelei, who’d been fighting alongside Souta due to comparable size and less of a risk for collateral damage, outright collapsed. Every inch of his armor had been gnawed, and more than a few severe dents further marred its surface, making him look oddly wraithlike. His heartlight pounded, and he did not seem inclined to translate for the eldritch observer; though he did not need to. To all, it was clear that the test was over.

Once the swarms were nothing more but pits of light resting in the cracks of Ourakekem’s body, it spoke again. This time, Uhelei shouted its words so that his allies could hear. “Your strength is not wanting. You are to be the instrument of this sky’s liberation. Come with me to Wit’s End, where we will find your seal, and my eternal foe.” While repeating this, the technoorganic tribesman’s tone grew incredulous. One could easily pick up on his shocked disbelief. “Surely not…?”

With all eyes on its massive form, Ourakekem began to descend. Like a miniature planet it floated downward, then forward slightly, so that it hovered directly beneath the suspended array of platforms on which the Agents resided. Seeing no other option, Souta nevertheless looked to Panoptos for direction, who nodded. ”Hey, might as well. Why slog on through more jungle and another couple stalactites when we could fly straight there? Plus, we all know there’d be some kind of fight or another when we got there, anyway. Better to have an ancient god-monster on our side, huh?” The watcher wasted no time in descending. With a helpless shrug, Souta affixed a Trawler hook to the side of his platform, and then jumped over the edge. His elongating weapon brought him safely to the cranium of Ourakekem waiting below, and before he reeled it in, Uhelei slid down the chain like a fire pole to join him.

The moment all were on board, the psychic behemoth began to move. It quickly picked up speed, leaving a trail of pale green energies behind as it accelerated. Barely had it gone a hundred meters before the chunks of rock held in the air began to rain down. A couple landed on Ourakekem to break, slid off, or get stuck there, but the stony shower wasn’t any serious hazard and the creature certainly didn’t seem bothered. Very soon, the Agents were traveling beneath the Hanging Jungle, and once free from the vast tangle, the feeling of isolation grew strong indeed. Like floating in a colorful void, or swimming in the open ocean, there was nothing but sky, sky, and more sky. Clouds of orange, yellow, red, and green hues could be spotted in clumps, some of them surrounding the inverted peaks of the largest stalactites above.

Before long, the silent behemoth started to ascend once more. When the ceiling came into view, however, its landscape appeared markedly different. Outcrops of rock extended and twisted in bizarre, impossible formations, and dark clouds could be seen often. The bridges seen before reappeared, but curved and corkscrewed—they would have been troublesome to navigate on foot, indeed. Yet, when Ourakekem drifted closer –almost perilously close to the ceiling, in fact- shadowy shapes could be seen walking on a few of the bridges. Their positioning completely defied gravity; some were completely upside down, yet somehow they moved, gecko-like, unbothered by the propriety of direction.

Ourakekem drew ever closer, and as it did, a yellow light could be seen among the obscuring clouds and pillars ahead. Souta ran forward to position himself just above the behemoth’s eye, so he too could see exactly what lay ahead. Around them, the various roads were converging, headed in as roundabout a way as possible for the radiant glow. A feeling of anticipation swelled up in the smith, just as strong as the burgeoning atmospheric pressure that began to press upon him. He watched, as his companions no doubt did, as Ourakekem passed through a wall of murky fog and the light shown forth. Before them was Wit’s End—the Undersky’s most legendary spot, and the resting place of the brilliantly golden Third Seal of the Apocalypse.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Abel Fulgurate

So, they would be blasting off into the forest, after all. Abel nodded, as much in affirmation to himself as to Krysanthe's question. “Yep.” Her experimental step onto one of the mechanical springboards did not garner any immediate reaction, which aligned with what the guardian expected. Instead of working as pressure plates, these devices required an outside signal. While the terminal to begin the launching sequence was close by, its official sequence required some sort of administrative access, most likely for someone like Ozpin to use to begin the festivities that no doubt characterized the Emerald Forest initiation trial. There was, fortunately, a workaround.

After moving onto a platform directly to Krysanthe's right, he pointed out a little panel behind the main launching mechanism. With the tip of his boot, he flipped it open, and inside there was an invitingly large, red button. “Manual launcher. Just press, and it'll go. I think.” To demonstrate his point, he pressed the button down beneath his sole, then stepped back onto his platform before glancing at the huntress-to-be accompanying him. “Don't know how long it takes, so”

A hefty thwomp cut him off, and the next instant Abel was gone. A quick look up confirmed that the panel had sent him tumbling end over end into the sky, a look of casual surprise frozen on his face as he spun, rigid as a board, through the air. Once his brain caught up with what happened, he unfroze, and discovered himself worryingly high off the ground. Suddenly, his premeditated landing strategies were nowhere to be found. Eyes wide, he pivoted to look back at Krysanthe as best he could despite his crazily shifting perspective. “Uh!” he bellowed as he sailed away, mostly upside-down, “See you soon!”

With that said, he could not put off dealing with his precarious situation any longer. Thankfully, he had not yet quite reached the apex of his launch, so some time remained to plan. “Let's see,” he said aloud, though he might as well have not thanks to the roaring wind around his ears. “Spear, lightning, water. No recoil, no rope, no way to slow down. Heck.” An odd moment of tranquility surrounded him as his upward momentum ceased entirely—and then came the fall. Suddenly, that viridian sea of trees was coming closer. An idea struck him out of the blue, and instantly his aura flared to life. Electricity danced across his frame, especially around the Ampere, and knowing that there could be zero hesitation he brought his weapon around and tossed it in front of him. Spurred on by the force with which he'd thrown it, it descended faster than he, but barely had it gotten twenty feet before it came to a dead stop, suspended in place by his electromagnetic Surge. His breath held, Abel held out his hands as he fell, and when the Ampere passed in front of him he grabbed hold. Like a gymnast swinging on a horizontal bar his path curved back upward, exchanging his downward force for upward force and sending a not-insignificant amount of pain through his shoulders. As much as it hurt, the guardian knew that his aura prevented muscular damage, and besides: he'd found his landing strategy. Tugging on the strands of electricity that connected him to his weapon, he repositioned it in front of him and farther down, ready to go again.

He repeated the maneuver several times, increasing the distance fallen between each 'bar swing' until the pain from altering his momentum became too much to handle. His shoulders and upper arms screamed, but he reached the treeline successfully, and far short of terminal velocity he landed in the upper boughs of a tree. Of course, his weight caused him to plow through those branches and fall until some thicker limbs could support him, but he felt it a successful landing nonetheless. After determining himself to be in acceptable condition, Abel turned his eyes to the sky, watching for Krysanthe's own descent.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Lugubrious Making sure you didn't miss this post in case it got buried and I didn't mention ^.^

@Eklispe

Thank you very much. I wasn't paying attention and missed that. You'll have my reply at about noon tomorrow, I think.

Pokemon: New World

<Snipped quote by Lugubrious>

I like Barnard, and while your battle with Olivie and Bernard was entertaining. I cannot approve of Bernard as an OFFICIAL character. If you look into the opening OOC post. I've placed a 50 CP price tag on creating a new "Expert" Trainer. He's obviously an "Expert trainer because of his final stage evolution Pokemon. You have not met this requirement yet. You only have 17 CP.

I'll allow you to include Bernard in your posts so long as he is tagging along with Olivie as a support character. But he will not be able to battle another official character or do any action that involves trainer points. I reserve the right to revoke this privilege if it upsets other users. I hope this doesn't upset you as I'm already bending the rules in your favor at the moment.

Thank you

@Balthazar007

Oh, oops. Well, I never did intend him as an official character. He was intended to be a recurring NPC, and I felt like spending the trainer points to instill him as a character existing in the New World would be worthwhile. I thought based on your comments in the PM meant that he was good as is, so I didn't think it necessary to check the rules. Whatever restrictions apply to a recurring NPC, I am happy to accept.

Pokemon: New World

The Calm Heart of Courage

Name: Bernard Sumner

Age: 19

Starting Location: Feyhollow Town

Rank: Expert

Organization: None

Occupation: Pokemon Research Assistant (Field Work)

Appearance: Standing at 5'11”, Bernard is a slender guy with wavy platinum blonde hair past his ears, murky brown eyes, darker eyebrows, and slight stubble. He most often wears a green button-up shirt with black cuffs, black track pants with a single vertical green stripe on each leg, a triangular gray backpack, and a wool beanie. Large, black-rimmed rectangular glasses also adorn his nose.

Biography: A largely friendless childhood spent chiefly in Central City with frequent trips to relatives in Feyhollow Town changed completely when he was introduced to Pokemon. At fourteen years of age, he gained his first Pokemon, and in one fateful summer he went on a journey with his older brother Julian. He caught many Pokemon, and starting with a Starly he solidified his naming theme: halves of duos from stories. Julian, amused, named his Pokemon after those duos other halves. Both brothers, afflicted by social anxiety in their own ways, found the idea of individuals seeking their other halves to be amusing. Bernard dreamed of finding someone to call his best friend and his other half on his journey -someone who liked Pokemon as much as he- but he did not. Instead, he returned to school the next year, outwardly very much the same but a very different person inside.

He continued to train his Pokemon, traveling when he could and becoming very involved in the Central City battling scene. In Pokemon gyms, salons, centers, and so forth, he continued to look for someone who understood him, but he soon found himself distracted. A girl he'd known most of his school years was undergoing a drastic change. He'd always envied her propensity for getting everyone to like her, but when she effectively made an outcast of herself, he suddenly understood her much better. With high school done with, he's continuing his Pokemon journey anew, and he can think of no better eventuality than to travel with Olivie Carreau.

Personality: Bashful and reserved almost to a fault, Bernard's is a presence few ever appreciate or grow accustomed to. A high self-awareness coupled with a below-average self esteem means that he's not one much for socializing, but he's intelligent and observant. In a way, his is a poetic, almost tragic soul. He does enjoy taking the roads less traveled and finding beauty in things that most wouldn't take the effort to—just as he hopes that someone might do for him. It's not difficult to tell he's totally fallen for Olivie, but he's so afraid of looking bad or strange in front of her that he can't spit it out. Still, it's alright that she just lets him hang around. Like most introverts, Bernard has a hidden side, and his is Pokemon. He truly cherishes their companionship, and battles get him hyped in a way that nothing else really can.

Pokemon Party:

Painkiller – a male Bisharp. Caught as a Pawniard, he proved himself time and time again, constantly improving his skills to become Bernard's number-one Pokemon. Despite his fearsome appearance, he acts lazily and without much spirit. Interacting with him gives the impression of a dull, uncaring individual, except when it comes to goofing around with his trainer or fellow Pokemon. This is, though, an act of obfuscating stupidity. Painkiller's true state is an extremely alert, paranoid, and serious warrior who fights with lethal precision and a complete lack of mercy. In fact, for this reason, Painkiller is seldom used in battle anymore; instead, Bernard has been cultivating his ability with the moves False Swipe and Thunder Wave in order to catch more Pokemon.

Odile – a female Froslass. During the course of Bernard's journey, he once happened upon a strange situation in a northern town. With the aid of a wild Froslass, a cunning young woman tricked a man from a wealthy family into believing her to be a long-lost, dear friend from his childhood, while the real friend was led astray. Bernard's intervention helped in sorting the situation out, and as punishment for the Froslass's interference he used Painkiller to capture her. Odile gives off the impression of a serene, cold beauty, but she is as devious as her past would lead one to believe. However, she is also selfless, and willing to prove herself again and again by sacrificing her own health for the team. To these ends, her favorite moves include Bide, Disable, Attract, Double Team, Draining Kiss, Confuse Ray, Fake Tears, Toxic, Hex, and Destiny Bond.

Gretel – a female Lopunny. Ever since she, as a Buneary, was separated from her best friend, a Bunnelby, by a trade, she's been gloomy and depressive. In fact, she prefers not interacting with other Pokemon or her trainer, and is tough to control in battle. Enough stress will eventually enrage her, bringing her into the fight, but at that point she seldom listens to commands. Despite this moodiness, she does have a definite affinity for the theatrical. She's easily drawn into drama, acting, and emotionally moving scenes, and if she's moved, she may very well abandon her predisposition to gloominess to act with renewed spirit.

Enkidu – a male Throh. Enkidu is a simple Pokemon: he enjoys good food, fine drink, good company, and uproarious battling. Quick to anger, but also quick to forgive, and even quicker with a laugh and smile, he's the epitome of the jolly giant. He also tends to see himself as a paragon of justice, though to him, justice is what he feels is right. Luckily, his gut is seldom wrong, and he manages to give off the image of a fun-loving hero. On his own, his flaws in the realm of battling prevent him from being extremely effective, but as half of a dynamic duo he truly shines.

Scylla – a female Tentacruel. Curiousness has defined Scylla from the first day she was captured as a Tentacool. She cannot resist learning new things, but that optimistic-sounding statement can take a nasty turn as one considers her lack of self-restraint. Discovering a new plant or watching a new Pokemon interests her just as much as seeing how much pain an opponent can take or how different Pokemon react to being poisoned. Be it her toxins or her tentacles, Scylla just can't keep them out of trouble, and it has come back to bite Bernard several times. His presence, though, is slowly reeling her in, and she's certainly curious enough about what kind of Pokemon she might become to give listening to him a shot.

Delilah – a female Staravia. As the first Pokemon Bernard ever caught, she is a very close friend of his, but she happened to have an extreme aversion to battling. At first, Bernard tried to work her through it, even managing to grow his little Starly into a Staravia, but after getting Painkiller, Scylla, and Gretel, he let her off the hook. Her greatest pleasure is soaring through the skies, and her flight is the chief reason why Bernard is so widely traveled.

Romeo – a male Mr. Mime. Despite being weak and more than a little eccentric, Samson is a genuinely nice and pleasant Pokemon, and Bernard has never regretted capturing him with Painkiller

Pokemon: New World

Are there any individuals or teams that might like to meet up with Olivie and Bernard, potentially to travel as one group?

Pokemon: New World

Some hours earlier...

Olivie, Benevolent Beauty Turned Boisterous Brute
versus
Bernard, Calm Heart of Courage

With the sun on the verge of going down and leaving the forest town in murky, eerie night, Bernard and Olivie chose a battlefield quickly. While the day had been a long one, the brunette's heart still pumped wildly for her first real Pokemon battle. But could she back up her indomitable bravado with fighting talent? The doubts tried their best to penetrate her. Conversely, Bernard looked more confident than Olivie had ever seen him before, though the showiness of his pre-scuffle posing had been replaced by a serious sort of serenity. His positive spirit was, it seemed, infectious, and his opponent's concerns about her Pokemons' ability washed away.

Olivie's first instinct to crack her knuckles menacingly proved less than effective, since she'd performed that gesture only a few moments before. Instead, she smacked her right fist into her left palm before announcing with gusto, ”Let's get this show on the road! Gespenst, you're up. Show me whatcha got.” Understandably, none of her Pokemon responded, but while her Bidoof and Karrablast just stood there, her Cacnea looked up, attentively waiting for confirmation. Halfway through donning her fighting gloves, Olivie stopped to point at the expectant grass-type. ”That's you! While I was waiting, I looked in the Pokedex. Turns out, you evolve into something wicked awesome, so you get a wicked awesome name. So get out there, and get ready to win, 'cause the sooner you evolve, the better!” A guttural noise reminiscent of a chuckle escaped her Cacnea as it ambled forward, its arms swung about like spiked clubs.

A wary glance went Olivie's way. ”Er, you're not planning on punching my Pokemon, are you...?”

The girl paused just as she was tightening the final strap. ”Uh...” she stalled, her voice unconvincing. ”Nope. Wasn't gonna.”

”...Right. In that case, have at you!” He removed a Dive Ball from his backpack. In the fading light, its cheery blue looked purple. With a steady hand he tossed the ball, which opened with an aquamarine flash. When the light cleared, a many-tentacled creature floated in the air, its wide, white eyes fixated on Gespenst. Bernard nodded, full of resolve. ”This is Scylla, a friend of mine. She's always eager to study new people and Pokemon.” In response to her name, the Tentacruel dipped with its tentacles splayed like a dress in as close to a curtsy as a Pokemon could get. ”Alright, let's go!”

Begin!

”Water Pulse!”

Scylla's tentacles wound back in a spiral, water appearing from nowhere to rush both down and between them in a vortex. When she released, the spiral of water blasted forward, compressing into a drill of water that flew through the air to strike Gespenst head-on (26/30 EP).

The incoming blast of water, larger than the Pokemon it was aimed at, caused Olivie's heart to skip a beat even if her face remained determined. ”Don't wuss out! Block it!” Cackling, Gespenst threw his arms up, and from his limbs large spikes protruded. The water cannoned into him, but he held firm, the needles both dispersing and absorbing the liquid. When the spray died down, he didn't seem at all worse for wear (2/6 EP). The sight reinvigorated Olivie's spirit, annihilating her worries. In the end, her opponent's amazing attack hadn't done a single thing! ”Sweet! Now it's payback time. Grass Knot!” A profound sense of glee filled the air as Gespenst jammed his arms into the ground, sprouts of plant matter extending form his flesh into the earth (0/6 EP).

The grass beneath Scylla rustled ominously before bursting upward, forming into long, grasping tendrils that whipped her underside. Bernard remained quiet, and his Pokemon main no attempt to block. Despite that, the Tentacruel did not appear bothered. If anything, the attack appeared to have piqued her interest (18/20 HP). Olivie didn't know what to think as Bernard released a small sigh. ”Okay, let's end it. Acid Spray.” Zero hesitated belayed Scylla's action as she immediately began to thrash her tentacles. They bulged with poison, and when she rubbed them together, caustic acid leaked out in bubbles. It was the work of only a moment to burst all the bubbles at once as she lashed her tentacles forward, slinging streams of acid at her opponent (22/30 EP).

Olivie, feeling uneasy all of a sudden, opened her mouth to call a command, but she happened to glance at her Pokemon before a word got out of her mouth. Rather than standing ready to receive his master's order, he was collapsed onto his backside, looking somewhat shriveled and very tired. ”What the hell!?” Olivie yelled. ”You're exhausted already? Noo!” Powerless to interfere, she watched as the acid rained down on Gespenst. Despite his fatigue, he still flopped around like a lunatic when the pain of searing acid consumed him, but it was all over in a moment as he slipped into unconsciousness (0/4 HP). Bernard watched as she bared her teeth in anger whilst retrieving her Cacnea's Pokeball. He didn't hear what she angrily muttered as she returned her Pokemon, but he felt acutely that he'd upset her. Still, he could not help but admire her perseverance as she sent her Karrablast in next, for she must have known that hers was a futile battle at this point. Her voice as hard as her face, Olivie called, ”You better put all your effort into this! Attack now!” The bug took a deep breath, lowered her head, and began to charge. Her horn, aglow with green energy exploded into a larger, pointer shape just as it had done this morning. Bearing this new Megahorn, the Karrablast attacked with nothing held back (0/6 EP).

Rather sadly, Bernard repeated his earlier command. ”Do it. Water Pulse.” A moment later, another rotating drill of water flew to meet the Karrablast's charge head on, the speed of its spin and the force of its flow more than twice as great as before (12/30 EP).

Torrent and horn met in the very middle of the grassy lot, and water flew in every direction as the Karrablast forged forward. Her huge horn, enveloped in a swarm of green energy, carved through the cascade. Olivie felt proud that her little blue bug was not only withstanding the watery surge, but pushing back against it; at the same time, she was sure that it wouldn't last. Sure enough, the Megahorn began to fracture. The next moment, it was blown into chunks, and Scylla's torrent barreled forward to swamp Olivie's Karrablast completely. Olivie already had her Pokeball out by the time the water washed away to reveal the senseless bug lying on her back. ”...Dammit. Okay, Buck. You give it a shot.” Her Bidoof, visibly apprehensive, nevertheless plodded forward to stand on the moist grass in front of his trainer.

Scylla used Poison Jab! (8/30 EP)
Buck fainted!” (0/4 HP)

Moments later, the battle was over. Bernard visibly flinched at Olivie's expression of pure rage, and he didn't dare speak up as she retrieved her Pokemon and stomped off in the direction of the Pokemon Center. She disappeared inside, and the boy finally released his held breath. ”Yeesh...maybe that wasn't such a great idea. I don't have any unevolved Pokemon with me, though. I hate to make her so mad...maybe she won't travel with me, after all.” Scylla gurgled sympathetically, and Bernard patted her before returning her to her pokeball. At that moment, Painkiller pushed himself away from the tree that he'd been leaning against to watch. When his master glanced his way, Painkiller shook his head and pointed a metal arm toward the Pokemon Center. Bernard frowned. ”You think I should go and talk to her? I was gonna just give her some space to cool off.” He put a hand to his chin. ”Now that I think about it...that's probably the introvert in me talking. Trying to apologize for the curb-stomp would be the right thing to do.”

When he entered the Pokemon center, he found Olivie with her arms crossed, her hair tossed irately, and her foot tapping as she stood by the main desk. He approached, suppressing a nervous laugh. ”Uh...sorry about that. All of my Pokemon are pretty strong, I guess. I could find a P.C. and get some of my newer ones, if you like.”

Olivie stared at him for a minute, then inhaled sharply to reply. ”Look, dweeb: I'm not someone who can't handle losin'. Win some, lose some, that's the game. Better losing to you than some asshat, anyway. If you really want to make it up to me, why don't you pay for my room tonight? Gettin' late, after all.”

”Oh.” Bernard scratched the back of his head. ”I guess. Heh, and here I thought in bets the winner gets something from the loser.”

Deadpan, Olivie brought up her arm. ”You're right.”

Before Bernard could protest, the ticked-off brunette socked him in the stomach. He wheezed, almost doubled over, but tried to compose himself. ”Aaaaaah...fair...point,” he gasped, readjusting his glasses. ”Feel...better?”

Olivie nodded, smiling. ”Mhm. If we're gonna be travein' together, lemme tell you two things: first, my buddies are gonna get strong enough to knock yours outta the park. Second, don't just stand there and give in when you're being punched. If you do, that makes you a loser. Punch back.”

”But you're a girl?”

Crossing her arms beneath her bust, Olivie replied, ”What, did my chestbeefers give it away? I'm not some mall-and-makeup sissy, but even if I was, you shouldn't put up with abuse. There's no use for double standards, Barnie. If someone's hittin' you, you gotta hit back. No room for pushovers in the real world!”

In all his life, Bernard couldn't fathom a weirder conversation than this. Plus, the girl's mention of her 'chestbeefers' suddenly made it painfully hard to keep looking her in the eyes. Fortunately, remembering something she'd said a moment ago distracted him. ”Wait, you're good with us traveling together?”

Olivie laughed. ”Yeah, I just figured it out. Nobody I know who went on a journey went alone. I thought I'd be the super cool, independent type and do it alone, but your Pokemon are so much stronger than mine, it's crazy. Makes me mad at myself, not you. For thinkin' I had it all figured out. So you're stickin' with me, Barnie, until I can kick your ass in in a Pokemon battle. Yeah?”

To Bernard, the world seemed like it was spinning out of control. Usually, he wanted to think about his choices a lot, but here was what might be the most important choice in his life staring him in the face. He thought about his job, his relatives in Feyhollow, his family in Central City, and so forth, but more than that he thought about the bizarre, one-of-a-kind girl in front of him. In reality, it wasn't a difficult choice at all. ”Yes! H-hell yes!...I suppose. Thank you! And while you improve yourself as a trainer, I'll try and improve as an adult. 'No room for pushovers'...I understand.”

After nodding, Olivie turned to her right. The nurse on duty was leaning forward on the counter, elbows on the wood and hands on her chin, watching the pair with a joyful expression, like someone witnessing a loving couple. Olivie reddened ever so slightly. ”What the hell are you lookin' at? Where's my Pokemon?” Blanching, the nurse scurried away. The brunette turned back to Bernard. ”So about that room.”

”...What!?!”

@Balthazar007