Amarant looked over the adolescent boys in front of him. "And you guys will need some weapons, you can't expect me to do all the fighting."

Kankuro grinned. "Got it covered." He said motioning to the figures on his back.

"I'm a Pokemon trainer, not a fighter. I don't have any weapons." Brock said.

"We'd have to stop in Dali anyway." Amarant said beginning to wander away.

"So here are your options." Amarant said pulling a long, fabric wrapped bundle out of the bag of holding on his belt and laying it on one of the beds of the Dali hotel. After only a few miles, and thankfully no really strong monsters, they made it to the city of Dali. So Amarant decided to take the chance to get Brock some equipment.

Brock slowly unfurled the bundle to reveal an entire arsenal of weapons. "Where'd you get all these from?" He asked.

"They belong to my friends." Amarant answered.

Brock sighed. He had said numerous times that he wasn't a fighter and that he had no idea what he was doing. But Amarant was very insistent that he help in the fighting arena at least a little. So he figured he might as well give it a chance, all he really needed was a good weapon, right?

First in line was a beautifully crafted ivory staff. It looked too fragile for combat so Brock immediately put it back down. He then picked up a set of two daggers. They looked OK but h was looking for something with a little more damage potential. A heavy looking broad sword caught his attention but it was too clumsy and bulky for his liking so he put it back down. "What is this?" He asked picking up an odd oversized wooden net on a long stick.

"It's a racket," Amarant answered, "I think it's a magic booster, both Eiko and Garnet used it. It's not very good offensively though."

"That's all I need to know." Brock said putting it back down. He picked up an oversized metal fork that was next in line. But he immediately put it back down. "I don't think so." He commented as his hand just passed over the wooden flute that laid in the pile. All that was left was a copy of Amarant's own tiger claws and a long wooden handled javelin. He frowned.

"Something wrong?" Amarant asked.

"I don't know." Brock said picking up the javelin. "None of these feel right."

"It sounds like you're just making excuses."

Brock flicked the spear a couple times. "Do you mind if I break this?"

"Break it?"

Before he could actually answer, Brock pressed the metal end to the ground and broke it off at the base of the wooden shaft with his foot. "Much better." He said gripping it like a bow staff.

"You need some weapons too?" Amarant asked, turning to Kankuro.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I've got it covered." Kankuro said laying those wrapped figures on one of the open beds.

"Whatever." Amarant said crossing his arms. "You want to try that out?" He asked Brock.

"Yeah, sure" Brock said following the already leaving Amarant.

"I've never fought before so go easy on me." Brock said as Amarant took his seemingly practiced battle-ready posture. He had taken Brock to a field right outside the city to help him practice. But Brock had the feeling he was about to get his ass kicked.

"Going easy means your opponent is weak." Amarant said, smiling.

"Maybe I'm not weak, but I am inexperienced."

"Well, let's change that." Amarant said charging at him.

Brock brought up his staff to stop Amarant's tiger claws about an inch in front of his face.

"Fighting isn't just about defence." Amarant said swinging his claws around aiming for Brock's side.

Brock brought the end of his staff down to block it but thrust the other end forward to strike Amarant on the head causing him to stumble back.

Amarant smirked. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" He said as he flew at him again.

Brock dodged aside, tripping Amarant with his staff as he passed.

As he got up, Amarant got knocked back against something surprisingly hard. Brock's staff slipped across Amarant's chest, restraining his arms down and locking him back against Brock's body. "Nice tactic." Amarant said smiling, "But you forgot one thing."

"What's that?" Brock asked.

"Your weapon is made of wood."

Suddenly, Brock's staff broke causing him to stumble back. Amarant had somehow brought his claws up and sliced right through Brock's staff. He immediately turned around to make another attack. "Holy crap!" Brock yelled jumping back.

Amarant brought up his massive clawed hand to strike him.

But Brock brought up the stick in his left hand to parry him. "Yeah, but now you've given me an extra arm to do this." He then used the stick in his right hand to hit Amarant square on his knee.

Amarant roared in pain and buckled to the side. He then glared through the mop of red dreadlocks he had for hair at Brock the brought up his gargantuan left hand and backhanded him.

Brock flew a good six feet before skidding to a painful halt on his side.

Amarant quickly regained his balance and rushed at Brock.

Brock flipped onto his back, planting both his feet right into Amarant's stomach as he rushed him, flipping him over. A loud grunt excaped Amarant as he landed flat on his back. Brock tried to stand up, to scuttle away, but his legs collapsed from under him.

Amarant effortlessly stood up. He brought up his claws to make an attack on the prone Brock.

Brock brought up his arms to cover his head. But the blow he was expecting never fell, all he heard was the sickening sound of splintering wood.

At the last second, a tall, freaky-looking wooden figure slipped between Brock and Amarant, blocking his attack. It looked vaguely human but very different at the same time. Three eyes rather than two sat above a very wide mouth on a loosely screwed jaw. An extra set of arms sat below the normal set and each were broken into at least half a dozen parts by crude ball-and-socket joints. An ugly, brown, tattered cloak that matched the mop of brown hair on his head hung lazily over his shoulders. "What is this?!" Amarant yelled.

"You don't want to kill Brock, do you?" A voice off to the side asked.

They both looked over to the side to see Kankuro with one out stretched arm. A blue light extended from each of his fingertips for about a foot toward the obstructing dummy. Amarant pried his claws out of the puppet's chest and glared at Kankuro. "Whatever." He said marching off angrily.

Brock shakily stood up.

"Are you OK?" Kankuro asked, wandering over and checking his puppet.

"I'm fine, I think I just pulled something." Brock said.

Kankuro looked over at him. "I wasn't talking to you but that's good."

Brock face faulted. When he recovered, he looked over to see Kankuro whispering to the doll and inspecting its injury. "What is that thing?"

"Oh, this is Kurasu." Kankuro said, twitching his fingers and making those same blue light strings appear from his fingertips. As the strings activated, the dummy flared to life. And with each movement of Kankuro's fingers, Kurasu moved also. Kurasu turned to Brock and offered his hand for a shake.

"Umm, nice to meet you, Kurasu." Brock said, hesitantly shaking the marionette's hand.

Kurasu again turned toKankuro who began checking him over. "Oh, man, I'm going to have to replace his chest plate."

"So this is the weapon you were taking about?"

"Yeah, him and Kuraori." Kankuro said motioning vaguely to the remaining bandage wrapped figure on his back.

"That's weird. How does it work?"

"I control them with strings made of my chakra."

"So that's what those blue lights are?"

Kankuro nodded.

Brock bent down to pick up his sticks but was met with sharpmpain from his legs. "Oh, man, I'm going to be sore tomorrow."

"Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, I think I should go back to the hotel though."

"That's probably a good idea. I'll go with you." Kankuro said, throwing Kurasu over his shoulder.


So there you have it, chapter 2. Hopefully from here the chapters will start getting longer seeing as my semester has finally come to a close. Although I suppose I can count all the people out there who care on one hand... without using any fingers.