Maru, Pikachu, and Terroge went through the halls until they exited them out into the arena once again. Maru wondered when he would be called up to fight, since he was anxious to at least see for himself what he'd be up against.
At the moment, the crowd was being entertained by a trio of men wearing black two-piece suits. Each one had a microphone in one hand and sunglasses, though the latter was different for each. Arranged in a triangle, the three danced and sang in perfect unison. The one in the center had an orange pompadour and a smirk, the one on his left wore a large red afro and a frown, and the on on his right wore a hat over his own afro, as well as a friendly smile. The first two were white, while the last one was African-American.
"""...So wheeeeeeen you hold on to...the past then you...will break down what little is left...""" they sang while dancing something so silly that Maru almost laughed. He noticed that there was instrumental accompaniment as well.
"Who are THOSE guys?" Terroge, mystified, asked nobody.
"Those guys?" Pikachu asked, looking up at him and smiling. "They're Agents J, Derek, and Morris. J's the orange-haired guy, Derek's the redhead, and Morris is the black guy." He looked back up at them. "They're awesome! While fighters take a break, the audience can listen to and watch their performance."
Maru raised an eyebrow. "Is it just me, or can I feel some sort of feeling of inspiration?" he asked.
Pikachu laughed. "That's what they do!" he said. "They're basically cheerleaders in black suits."
Maru raised his other eyebrow, shifting them. "Well, whatever works," he shrugged. He looked up when the song ended and politely applauded. "They work well together."
After the song ended, J held his mic and said, "Okaaaaay, Melee Arena!! How's about another match for your entertainment?" he asked, announcer-style.
"He's also a substitute announcer when the normal one gets tired," added the yellow pokémon to Maru, who nodded in understanding, while the crowd roared in response.
"Then let's check the screen to see who's next!" J continued, and the three turned to a huge tv screen mounted on a wall that Maru noticed when he'd walked in the first time. On it was displayed a grid, with profiles of many people inside the squares. Most were just plain "?" signifying the person couldn't come there yet. A selector box blipped around the people who were visible and then, at regular intervals, a profile of someone appeared at the bottom in one of four larger boxes. J called them off as they appeared. "...Yoshi!!...Peach!!...Snake!! and...UH-oh!!"
A siren went off somewhere, red lights flashing all over. "Warning!! New Challanger Approaching!!" blared a robotic voice over the PA system.
Agent J chuckled and smirked more. "Well, now, who's that gonna be?" he wondered aloud.
Maru suddenly felt his hand grow warm. He lifted it and gasped in joy as the SSB symbol was pulsing all the colors of the rainbow. "YES!!" he crowed, pumping his fist. "I'm up!"
"Wait, Maru!" Pikachu suddenly gasped. "Before you go, a tip: if a ball that looks like that symbol appears, WHAIL ON IT FOR YOUR LIFE!!"
Maru, who was already, somehow, starting to vanish, nodded. "Thank you," he barely said before disappearing.
As the battlefeild began to float up and glow, changing shape along with the also-glowing rest of the arena, Terroge looked at the spot Maru had previously occupied. He frowned. "What's going on?" he asked Pikachu.
"That's how the guys here grab their fighters when they're ready to fight," Pikachu answered. "They teleport them to the ring, which then floats up and transforms into a new stage, and the entire arena, even, reflects what the environment is like." The arena soon stopped glowing, as did the ring. In the place of the normal things was an environment much like a grassy town. People that looked sort of polygonal looked on in what was the "Background," or the side of the ring that faced the screen from before, behind a fence, and it appeared the fighters fought on a set of train tracks. "Each environment is based off of the home world of one of the fighters," Pikachu continued. "I forget whose THIS is, but this place is called Smashville for some reason."
Terroge gasped when he looked and saw the four fighters enter. Each entered in their own unique way, with Peach first, then Yoshi, then Snake. When Maru entered was when Terroge gasped. Maru appeared on stage right, falling down from somewhere. He began falling absolutely invisible, but materialized more as he fell moderately slowly. As he fell, one of the familiar green disks he'd encountered on his journeys marked his designated landing spot. As soon as he landed, Maru summoned his Keyblade, which was in its bronze Kingdom Key form. He did this by throwing his hand behind him to a side, turning in the direction he threw it(right). (He had fallen facing forwards to the audience.) He then stood facing stage left in his stance.
Agents J, Morris, and Derek all had jumped off the ring when it had begun rising, and were now nowhere to be seen. J's voice, however, counted down. "3!...2!...1!...GO!!" he boomed as the fighters got into place.
"GOOD LUCK, MARU!!" Terroge cried, cupping his enormous paws over his maw. His tail wagged a little, or what passes for wagging with a long, thick tail able to wrap around a well-lived oak tree almost twice.
Pikachu smiled and copied the big guy, then led him to a spot where they could get a much better view.
Meanwhile, Maru had begun to fight. He knew how to fight in the Melee: Guard, dodge, jump, double-jump(which he had heartilly missed being able to do normally without much drain; he double-jumped in the same fashion he had outside Notre Dame, thankfully without too much effort. Sadly, this meant that he also didn't go NEARLY as high as he did before being forced to Transform), aireal attacks different for directions, specials, and, of course, Smash attacks. He had been informed during his teleport, through a means much like telepathy though it wasn't quite the same, what kind of match it was: A 10-man Smash-fest with no time limit. 'We've each got ten tries to take each other out as fast as possible. Let's hope I'm not so unaccustomed to this form that I can't do anything very good...'
He first targeted the infamous Solid Snake, who, as he ran forwards to meet the Keyblader, had an analyzing look in his eyes. He dodged past Maru before he could slash at him and grabbed him from behind in a chokehold.
"NGH!" Maru grunted, struggling. 'Why you--!!' But he couldn't even attempt to blast him off of his body, since he had to abide by the rules. He was thrown backwards, going to the edge of the ring. He grabbed it in time and pulled himself up, in time to see Snake get up after burying something of some sort. Maru had a feeling it was a bomb, so he jumped over where it was while he went forwards again. He landed in front of Snake, who was currently contending with an energetic green dinosaur, and had an idea. "Sorry," he muttered as he grabbed Peach, then, since he couldn't do his favorite back throw, spun the princess around by her arm before launching her mercilessly at the two fighting. She slammed into Yoshi, who almost slammed into Snake except for the fact the clever man sidestepped in the nick of time. As Yoshi hit the ground behind the man in black, he made a baleful whine as he hit the hidden Claymore mine. 'Thought so!' Maru smirked, seeing Yoshi fly off.
He then had to contend with Snake as he came forward and tried going hand-to-hand with him. Maru defended, then dodged behind him, using Reversal. After grabbing him, Maru gave him a quick beat using the pommel of his Keyblade before tossing him up and, to mix things up and confuse the stealth master, launched an Ember at him, firing from his palm like he does for normal psychic attacks. His eyes glowed a little as he did this. Snake flew a bit, but not far. He got up and saw Maru holding his Keyblade inside a small energy ball that he began to charge. 'Thank goodness these guys are letting me keep this move,' he thought as he charged up his Shadow Ball's human-form-incarnation of Shadow Ball Lock. He had to postpone it and use Reversal around Snake as he approached, since he had to stay on his toes.
The battle waged on in Smashville for a time, with the fighters switching to each other as they met each other. Finally, Maru had a chance to unleash his attack at Snake, which sent him flying. Confident he'd gotten him, and sensing an attack from the rear, Maru turned and, well, paled, as he realized he'd chucked his Keyblade as well. But in the nick of time, he blocked the hard veggie Peach chucked as the weapon reappeared in his hands.
Behind him, however, Snake had just barely grabbed onto the edge of the stage. He got up slowly, careful not to be heard or seen, then instantly hid in his cardboard box, which he somehow produced. Within its confines, while the other three fought each other, he used his Codec. (NOTE: I'm just putting this in because I want to add a bit of stuff in, mm-kay? So nobody complain how this can't happen in the actual game(to our current knowledge at the time of writing this, aka Oct.2007))
He decided to call Otakon. When he got him, Snake asked, "Otakon, who's this purple-haired guy with the big key?"
"That's the newcomer, Snake," Otakon replied over the frequency. "His registered name is Maru, and that's how he goes by. Interestingly enough, the data I've hacked from the registration desk's FighterDex tells me that he's undergone gene splicing or at least gene therapy."
Snake raised an eyebrow. "Really? He looks a lot different from a gene soldier, though. What's with that huge key?"
"That's something called the Keyblade. There's actually a few people who are allowed to use them, but only a couple have been previously seen using them. I guess he's a newly-chosen one, and a special one, too, with that form he's using. It's said to be the true form of the Keyblade, which only very special people can see. Not much else is known about him, except that he may be psychic. He looks pretty serious, so be careful."
"Don't worry," Snake assured him. "He looks like he'd be fun to fight a bit more, actually. You don't really get many smart ones like that." He terminated the link, then, while Maru's back was turned and his body only inches from the box, quickly stood up, throwing off the box, and tried another strangle hold.
Maru was smarter than this, though, and quickly Reversalled, grabbed him, and spun-threw him back. As Snake flew off-stage and was KO'ed, Maru smirked in knowing his throws were still pretty good. He later cursed on the recovery platform at his foolishness in keeping his back to the enemy.
The battle waged and waged, until eventually, when everyone had lost at least 3 of their stock, a Smash Ball appeared. As soon as it did, the crowd cheered and yelled, cheering for their side to get the Smash Ball first. As they heard them, the four fighters began to scramble for the floating thing. Maru growled. 'I can feel intense power coming from this thing!!' he thought. 'I've GOT to get it!! I think I have a feeling what it does!' He then looked around and had an idea, sort of like a Reaction Command, but more normal. He jumped on top of the head of Yoshi, then sprang up and jumped on top of Peach, then sprung to Snake, whose head he also springged off of. The latter two had jumped up into the air, and so Maru Meteor Smashed them down to the stage as he made his way up. Now, with much height, the Keyblader had time to hit at the ball as he got near it. He somehow was able to rapidly hit it enough so that in one try before landing, he got it.
As he fell, he felt the power of the Smash Ball diffuse into his being. He glowed white as he landed, and the arena dimmed into a dark red light around him. The crowd basically held their breath as they wondered what the newcomer would do with the power. Maru grinned and gave a quick glance over his shoulder as he landed on the edge of the ring, looking to where he knew Elliot was. Then, facing forward, he stood with his feet apart and yelled, "DRIVE!!"
Instantly, from the stands came a wash of light, and Figment squeaked as he fell through thin air to the bench while his fellow draconic friend had disappeared in order to assist Maru. As Elliot's power fused with Maru, people gasped and pointed. In a moment, Maru, who'd been floating slightly off the ground, landed and grabbed his left hand out to grab New Home. He'd become Mewtwo again, and he was actually grinning about it. He made the "Bring it" gesture by jerking his head back, then got into pose.
Snake, Yoshi, and Peach all gasped, and then realization passed across the Mushroom Kingdom denizens. Nothing was said, however, since Mewtwo was already beginning his barrage. He felt nearly invulnrable, like he couldn't be struck back, as he barrelled forwards and began attacking. He swung and swung and swung, launching a few kicks here and there. When he once grabbed Yoshi, he made him go bye-bye with a Gunshot Kick. He often used both Keyblades in unison, but mostly did rapid, strong attacks with each one individually. He managed to eliminate all three of them easilly, though all were pretty low in percentage, and even knocked down Snake a second time before the Smash Ball wore off. When it did, Mewtwo found himself Maru again, and Elliot reappeared where he was...on top of Figment, sadly, which resulted in an embaressing moment for the little guy.
After he was done with the Final Smash, Maru reverted back to his normal fighting style with a single weapon. The battle wore on and on, but Maru, having gotten a few free KO's with his Final Smash, had the upper hand. One that ended up pitting him and Snake in one final fight against each other. Maru had Sacrificially Meteor Smashed the previous remaining fighter, Yoshi, while Snake had just fallen below the point of salvation. Both returned to the stage with one stock remaining at the same time.
Maru smirked and twirled his Keyblade. "Ready for this?" he asked.
Snake just got into his stance. "I was born for the battlefield," he said back.
Maru raised his eyebrow. "That makes two of us," he said before they began their exchange of blows. First was a dash by Maru, shifting into a dodge to the rear to strike from behind. He was kicked in the face, sent flying back a little from its force, then grabbed and slammed to the ground by Snake's down throw.
Snake then backed off and readied a grenade. Maru saw this and braced himself mentally, preparing for it. Maru then began charging his own attack, Shadow Ball Lock. He had to cancel it and dodge backwards when the grenade came his way. He avoided it in time, then saw Snake come at him. The two breifly exchanged a few blows before Snake sent Maru flying off, then a Nikita after him. Maru righted himself, coming back towards the stage, and dodged the missile skillfully. He grabbed the edge and pulled himself up, attacking at the same time with a swing of his legs in a sidesweeping maneuver. He got Snake and then gave a strong, Smashing slash with his Keyblade. After the stealth expert was in the air, this time, Maru continued charging his attack.
He had it just in time to block an attack. After that, the two exchanged blows again. A while later, which involved a bit of throwing, both fighters were tired, high on with an amazing 150 each minimal! Maru was the most battered, but he wasn't going to give up in the slightest. He knew Snake was the same way. Snake and Maru stared each other down until both dashed forward, doged to the rears of each other, then charged again. They met in dash attacks, clashing away from each other, and Maru then tried a good hit. He got hit with a punch, but managed to avoid the next ones and counter with a few Keyblade swipes. Then, Maru got hit so that he was sent for the floating platform on the left end of the stage. He was hit in a way that he was righted still as he flew, but his back was to the platform. It was in midstrike that he remembered that Snake had been avoiding that platform for a while...'SHIT!' As soon as he was sent off, Maru launched his Shadow Ball Lock in a last-ditch effort. It flew off in a huge plume of fire as Maru's body hit the hidden Claymore Snake had planted. Maru sped to the right of the stage and finally, with an anguished cry, to the boundaries.
"GAME!!"
The stage landed, changing the arena back to normal. And the four fighters were seen on the pedestals, one appearing after another.
"In fourth: PEACH!!" J announced over the PA. Peach sighed and waved a bit, smiling despite her losing.
"In third: YOSHI!!" The green dinosaur made no noise, but waved to the crowd like Peach.
"And now...Who shall it be?"
Pikachu, Terroge, Figment, and Elliot all leaned in their chairs, holding their breath.
Finally, at the same time, Snake and Maru appeared on their pedestals.
"IN SECOND IS SNAKE, AND THIS GAME'S WINNER IS THE NEWCOMER, MARU!!" J shouted enthusiastically. As the crowd erupted in applause, Maru, a little dumbfounded, looked slowly to his left at Snake, who looked at him with a similar expression. Then both smirked and nodded to each other. Maru then faced forward and twirled his Keyblade around himself.
"No matter what happens to me, I'll always be able to fight," he said resolutely as he tossed his Keyblade up after twirling it around himself. He caught it with telekinesis, snapping it around him as he spun once to a familiar cross-armed, back-to-audience pose, floating the weapon a little in front. The others on the pedestals clapped for his victory respectfully. As Maru did his "victory dance," the victory theme for Pokémon worlders played in the background as everyone finally discovered from whence he came.
"It appears as if Maru and Snake had a bit of a close shave with each other," J commented. "After being launched, Maru released his attack, which hit Snake right on the nose, and the two flew back at the exact time. Maru won by a hair, since he had a higher percentage then Snake--but not too much. He won just barely by the fact that Snake was just closer to the right edge than he was. So, if this were judged by me, I'd say they tied, but that's the way things go!"
The crowd roared even more, and Maru smiled at Snake. The four combatants came down and shook hands with each other. Maru and Snake shook each others' first. "That was very well-fought, Snake," Maru complimented.
Snake nodded. "Not bad yourself," he replied, a respectful smirk on his face.
Then the others shook hands, or paws in Yoshi's case, and they moved off the field as the next match started up. When they went, Peach decided to run after Maru for a second. "Excuse me, Mr. Maru?" she asked in her light voice.
Maru looked over his shoulder at Peach, then stopped. "Yes, Princess Toadstool?" he responded.
Peach stopped by him. "You...You're not really who you look like, are you?" she asked. "You've been here before, haven't you?"
Maru smirked and nodded. 'More observant than I thought at first.' "Wondering when somebody'd ask," he said. "Yeah, it's who you think it is, but I can't do much about my current state. It's a long story. Just...don't go blabbing about it, I'd prefer," he added, sweatdropping. He still habitually wished to remain secret.
Peach nodded, then bowed. "It was nice fighting you again!" she said before leaving.
Maru smirked, then started off again. He decided to watch the next fight, and so went to the stands. When he got there, people clapped for him and congratulated him, or grumbled that he just barely won by a technicality, or whatnot. He was practically glomped after he found where Pikachu and Terroge were sitting, since the big black dragon leaped over to congratulate him with a mighty hug. "MRF!! T-Terroge!! Please!!" he laughed as he was squished to the creature's body. "Not in PUBLIC, at least!!" Terroge stopped, letting him down, and appologized, bowing his head, but Maru laughed and ruffled his black hair. "Don't worry, it's okay," he told him, and Terroge smiled again.
Pikachu grinned and pumped his tiny fists. "Mewtwo! That was AWESOME!!" he complimented him. "Looks like you've adapted to your human form pretty darn well!"
Maru smirked, sitting down beside Pikachu. Terroge sat on the rodent's other side. "It's still taking a while to really settle in, but I'm close," he said. "It helps that I was originally humanoid to begin with. And thanks," he added.
Pikachu smiled and nodded. "Anytime!" He sighed and looked forward as the next fight began, a 5-minute Melee between the heavyweights, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and newcomer King Dedede, at the new Metroid-world stage Norfair. The air grew considerably warmer, and Maru frowned at the thought of how hot he'd get with his cloak on. Pikachu looked a little concerned as he watched. "This stage reminds me," he said. "Samus, who generally comes pretty much on time and stays for a while, just came, had one fight, then left again, saying she had some important business to attend to. She looked different, too, when she came and left--her suit was slimmer."
Maru raised an eyebrow. "I wonder what's happened since I've been gone," he muttered. "Did she look different fighting?"
Pikachu tilted his head left to right. "Kinda-sorta, not really," he answered. "She was given a more familiar-looking suit, but a little different this time with some extra green lights on places. She only had one fight because she just wanted to at least leave her fighter trophy so that everyone would get their hot-chick-in-cold-metal-armor fix." Maru chuckled at that, and Pikachu smiled a bit, but his face fell as he went on. "Not only that, but I guess I should tell you something..." He looked forward at the match as he spoke. "You know how last year, you really didn't have to worry about arriving yourself?"
Maru nodded. "Yeah, actually," he said. "I was getting worried a while after getting the invite that they'd forgotten, or that I'd have to come myself. It even got to the point where it slipped my mind."
Pikachu nodded. "When I got mine, I kinda felt the same way, and had forgotten about it, too," he recollected. "I sure was lucky to end up here after that one night at your home city...and that's what I think is the problem, Mewtwo."
Maru raised his eyebrows, and Terroge felt that "Uh-oh" feeling. "You mean..."
Pikachu nodded. "The tournament hasn't officially started, because, at least I'm pretty sure, of the Heartless," he said.
Maru was taken a little aback, but recovered precisely one second later. "Well, that makes sense," he said, crossing his arms. "I mean, what with the worlds being in danger all the time now, and the space between them infected so badly with those damned beasts' ships, I suppose it's hard to send someone to get us." Behind him, Terroge frowned a little.
Pikachu nodded. "That's why they thought to, this year, for some reason, include a sort of 'Plan B,' which I don't know about much."
At this point, Navi flew out. "I think you mean the Navi-G that we had," she squeaked.
Maru, Terroge, and Pikachu looked at her in surprise. "Since when could YOU understand Pokémon?" Maru asked her.
"Since I got what little magical powers I have," she replied. "One of them is the ability to understand and make others understand any language. It's quite useful, but not much when you're dealing with big bad monsters who want nothing more than to kill you."
Pikachu tilted his head, but then shrugged. "Well, anyway, I guess you're right," he said. After a second, he tilted his head again and asked, "What's a Navi-G?"
Navi explained, "It's a Gummi piece that is used to open up pathways to new worlds. I dunno too much about it, but it's useful. I bet they included it in the letter as a last resort."
Pikachu nodded. "Well, that's the Plan B I was talking about," he said. "Apparantly, I hear that this Heartless ordeal has happened twice before. One incident involving them happened in a world close to this one, I think, so they must have decided to do things like this." He shrugged. "But I'm just worried that this whole fiasco might prevent Ash from coming...or at least that things might get worse in general...you know what I mean?" he asked, looking up with watery eyes. Maru nodded understandingly.
Things were silent for a bit, then Maru asked, after looking about for a while, "Why are there so many people here? Are they from this world, or...what?"
Pikachu shrugged. "I dunno," he said.
"Well, actually, most of them aren't, really," said a voice from behind them. The group turned and saw what appeared to be the Elite Beat Agents from before, but after a second, they saw they were completely different. For one, all three were teenage-height; and for two, they all looked different. The one in the middle, a tannish-skinned boy of average height and light weight with short messy brown hair and dark blue, wire-framed, soft oval sunglasses, as well as a lanyard with a set of house keys on it, smirked and crossed his arms. "It turns out this world's a lot like Traverse Town and Radient Garden in that it's a place that people who survive Heartless invasions end up," he said, his voice telling that he was the one who spoke after Pikachu did.
Maru raised his eyebrows as he looked them up and down. "Are you Agents?" he asked.
They nodded. "Yep, that we are," said the first one. He pointed to himself. "I'm BA-5 Agent Lock, lead."
"BA-6 Agent Meyers, right backup," said a Caucasian short-haired blonde who was a little taller than Lock, and who wore frame-less perfectly circular sunglasses reminiscent of the 70's or so. He was ever so slightly chubby, but was very close to average weight.
"BA-6 Agent Hunter, left backup," introduced the black, normal-height boy wearing a huge afro, a single gold hoop in his left ear, and a pair of those tacky, yellow-rimmed star-shaped shades that you see, probably mostly at a dollar store. He appeared just very slightly muscular.
All three posed, taking out mics. Lock held his and stood with it almost to his mouth while he pointed at Maru, while the other two lunged with theirs in hand while holding their free arm far behind them so that they resembled arrows. "And we are known as EBA's TWDT, Trans-World Division Team!!" they announced proudly. (Their mics were left off and were just for show, apparantly.) "...Okay, that's what we'd like to be known as, anyway..." Lock confessed, chuckling. They got up and put them away as the three pokémon sweat-dropped in front of them.
Maru sighed. 'In a world of many worlds, one must expect all...' He shook his head. "Well, what were you saying about this world being a hub for those whose worlds have been lost to the Heartless?" he asked.
"Well," said Hunter, crossing his arms, "apparantly, this world contains people almost randomly dropped off from many worlds, but seemingly mostly from worlds that many fighters here represent."
"For example," Meyers said, "there's a current debate as to whether a person on the Evening City Ouendan, Kai Do--er, sorry, Doumeki Kai (I forgot they use last names first), should fight. He is strong and imposing, and very interesting indeed, but nobody's ever seen him fight. The debate concerns others who have not been seen to fight when they still are allowed in, such as Captain Falcon when he first came. In fact, he doesn't fight in any way, and instead cheers people on to do things. But since he's been suggested, we, since we're from the same world, are here."
Lock raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe a better one would be that since there's people from the Pokémon world here fighting, and I've heard that another one is actually going to be here soon, a great deal of people from that world have ended up here." He pointed at Pikachu. "And anyone who loses their worlds and are tournament regulars like you would fall here," he added. "It's very odd, indeed. But that's the way things go in this world of worlds," he shrugged.
Maru nodded, arms crossed, as he absorbed this information. "Are people given homes here?" he asked.
Lock nodded, smiling. "Yeah, there's a ton of rooms for people to be in here," he said. "They're a lot like the fighters' rooms, but not as well-equipped; they don't all have the add-ons of their rooms, like hidden fridges and stuff. They have basically all that a good hotel room has--bathroom, bed, tv--though there's not much on here, but anyone who happens to have any DVD's or other movies with them are in luck--and, of course, a Nintendo Wii in every single room. Food is served beneath the arena and is also found in the fridge. There's not much to do here, though, except watch fights and other performances. Though," he added, looking a little worried, "since the whole Heartless thing kicked up, they've been unable to begin the actual tournament, so there's not many fighters arriving, and far less staying around. Some of the regulars have even just popped in and out, like Samus Aran and Captain Falcon."
"Although for those two, I suppose it's because they're currently on a bounty," Maru chuckled. "I suppose time in others' worlds doesn't stand still like it normally does, at least until the tournament actually begins?"
Lock shook his head. "Nope," he confirmed. "Though, nobody's really worried about that, since most of the worlds have disappeared anyway." He said that part quietly, face falling a little. 'He must have lost his world, too,' Maru thought.
"There's more than just standard fights that they do here," piped up Meyers, seeking to change the subject. "They have free-for-all matches that let participants from other worlds fight without restrictions--except that nobody can kill anyone--and test their strength." (Maru's ears perked up at this.)
"Yeah," Hunter said, holding a finger up. "They also have the traditional target tests, though not many since there aren't a lot of people around willing to try them out, oddly." (Maru wondered on that one.)
Lock smiled again. "And, since there are so many of them here, the Pokémon-worlders can participate in pokémon battles!!" he added. (Maru's and Terroge's eyes lit right up at this!)
Maru and Terroge grinned to each other. "What more perfect a way to try out battling with your newly-found ability to communicate properly?" Maru asked, and Terroge chuckled excitedly. Maru looked back at the Agents. "When's the next one--" he began.
"Now," answered Lock, pointing at the board. Everyone turned around and looked as it blinked, "Pokémon Battle Tournament starting in 5 minutes! Sign up closes in 1 minute!"
Maru and Terroge were off faster than anyone else could blink.
------
The tournament began, one of 16 trainers including Maru. Maru, of course, didn't want to lose the tournament, but he also knew that this was also a chance to see how different battling with Terroge would be now that the black pokémon was able to talk and act like a normal pokémon. 'I wonder how much of an edge I'll have with the ability to converse with my pokémon?'
Six battles later, it was Maru's turn. Taking over for J as announcer, Lock took the mic as he stepped onto the field(which, of course, had changed into Pokémon Stadium 2, with gimmicks turned off for the moment and the floating platforms no longer present). "Ladies and gents, this is the seventh bout in our tournament!" he shouted proudly. "Next up is a trainer from Hop Hop Hop Town, Danny!!" A youngster-looking boy with a blue cap waved as the crowd cheered for him. "He'll be going up against Brawl challenger Maru!" The crowd roared for Maru, who just crossed his arms and nodded, smirking. Lock faced Maru. "And how many pokémon have you got, Capey?" he asked.
Ignoring the name, Maru replied, "One, unless my Drive form--which is based off of a pokémon--is also allowed, so long as I can both remain in the form until either me or my opponent is knocked out and can go with my Keyblades." He noticed his voice was amplified, like the voices of the other trainers. This was so commands could be clearly heard.
Lock hmmed in thought, frowning. He whipped out what looked like a policeman's badge, talking into it like a communicator. After a few seconds, he nodded and placed it back in his jacket. "You'd have to go without the weapons, but otherwise you could use your Final Smash form as a second pokémon, the officials said," he explained.
Maru nodded. "That's fine by me," he said, then smirked. "I've been wanting some true hand-to-hand for a while, anyway."
Lock nodded and smirked. "Alright, then, this will be, as usual, an all-out battle, with a maximum of three pokémon per trainer, and no field gimmicks!" he announced. He stepped back and turned on a clip-on mic he had with, then brought out two flags of different colors like a normal judge. "Are both trainers ready?" Maru and Danny nodded. "Then 3! 2! 1! GO!"
"Go! Scyther!" Danny shouted, throwing a pokéball out which released the praying mantis-like pokémon. Scyther chopped the air with its bladed arms and let out a battlecry.
Maru smirked as he held up his black monster ball. "You prepared?" he asked it, then tossed it out. "Terroge! Come out, my friend!" The Light Ball burst with its characteristic ringlike flash of white light, and people gasped as Terroge was opened out onto the battlefield. He roared and punched the air with his two immensly long arms, then got into a stance: He stood with one foot to the opponent, gently swaying from side to side, drooping his arms down, clenching and unclenching his fists occasionally. His tail swished about, like a slow version of a ribbon dancer's ribbon making a snakelike path.
From all around the stadium, the sounds of pokédexes going off were heard. The chorus of various negative messages resounded throughout. But suddenly, Maru, who had expected this and had pushed himself to expand his awareness to lock onto all pokédexes, gasped. 'One of them is scanning Terroge!!' he realized. He then breifly decided to see who had it. When he did, he gasped. "P-"
"Scyther! Fury Swipes this thing, now!"
"SCY-SCY!!" ("GLADLY!")
Snapping his attention back, Maru ordered, "Terroge! Jump and use Stomp!" almost out of nowhere. 'Of all the people to be here now...! And with such technology! What fantastic luck!!' He looked down at his chest, seeing Navi peek out to watch. 'Navi won't have to worry about taking extensive notes on any Heartless Pokémon, now!'
Terroge, meanwhile, had jumped up and avoided Scyther's attack. "Sorry, Bug-type, but I'm gonna have to squash you!" he taunted to Scyther as he went up and started down with a large foot leading.
"Not if my trainer's got any sense!" Scyther spat back, standing still while awaiting orders.
"Scyther!! Stick your scythes up now!" Danny ordered almost right after Scyther was finished talking.
Grinning, Scyther brought them up. "Like so!"
Terroge and Maru sweatdropped as Scyther's blade arms stuck right into Terroge's foot, making the big pokémon roar and fly off, landing on his good foot and hopping in place while holding the other one. People all around laughed at this. "OWOWOWOWOW!!"
Maru smacked his forehead. 'Why didn't I think of that?!' he thought frustratedly. 'It was because of that man...dangit! Time to focus!' He clenched a fist. "Terroge, you've faced worse pain than this! Quit looking like a fool!" he shouted.
Terroge, blushing from the laughing, put his hurt foot down, wincing a little at the pain. "Sorry, Maru," he appologized.
"No, I'm sorry; I should have thought about a strategy like that, but I let my mind wander," Maru said back. He shook his head and pointed. "Well, let's retaliate with a good Mega Punch attack!" he ordered.
"Right!" Terroge charged forward, but started wincing at the pain. "Crud, this hurts!" he grumbled. He was going a little slower than Maru knew he could go.
"Scyther! Evade it and use Slash!" Danny ordered. (I HATE that move!)
'Crap, big baby's still got a tender foot,' Maru realized. 'I'll have to compensate somehow...it's a good thing he's got wings. If this has to become an aerial battle, then so be it!' After waiting until a good moment, right before contact, he ordered, "Spread your wings, Terroge!"
Scyther had gotten ready to evade, so when Terroge began gliding to him instead of running, he was ready for it. What he didn't compensate for, though, was Terroge's incredible reach. The punch was being charged as the Dragon-/Heartless-type came forth, and Scyther knew that his reach must be bigger than normal. However, he underestimated, and was struck. Danny gaped in horror at the immense blow that Terroge had inflicted.
Scyther was sent flying out of the ring, which actually now had a safety net around the base for these cases. Danny got to his senses and ordered, "Scyther, snap out of it and fly!" The pokémon heard him and righted himself, starting his wings up in a deep buzz.
"You know, you're not any pokémon I've ever heard of before," Scyther said, holding his abdomen. "What are you? What type?"
"Dragon and Heartless," replied Terroge casually, flying as well. "And before you freak out, I'm completely normal!! I'm not evil or anything, trust me on this! Maru made sure of that!" he added hastilly.
Maru sweatdropped. "Terroge, I know not many people here can understand you, but could you still please keep it down??" he asked nervously. 'I wonder if anyone's caught on that I can talk to pokémon yet...'
Danny raised an eyebrow. "You can talk to pokémon?" he asked wonderingly. Maru chuckled and replied that yes, he could. Danny gasped and got that amazed-little-kid look on his face. "WOW! How'd you learn? Could you teach me?" The crowd laughed a little at this.
Maru chuckled. "It's a natural talent, I didn't learn it, but let's get back into the battle, hm?" he asked.
Danny nodded. "Right, then!" He pointed. "Scyther! Use Fury Cutter, now!"
"YYAAAAHH!" cried Scyther as he charged forth, arms raised.
Maru grimaced at the speed. "Terroge! Sorry to say, but you're a lead balloon compared to him in the air! Guard it for now!" he commanded.
Terroge sweatdropped. "Gladly!" he replied, and held his arms up, crossing over himself as he was struck by the attack. "Nngh! You're not a weakling, yourself, Scyther!"
Scyther just kept going. It took Maru a second to realize that this was turning into some sort of combo. "Terroge, on your guard!!" he said suddenly, but too late.
"NOW, LIKE WE'VE PRACTICED!!" cried Danny, grinning.
Scyther disappeared, it seemed, and suddenly appeared above Terroge, scythes glowing silver. "Here's something I picked up recently!" he cried.
Terroge's pupils shrank as Scyther swung and let fly a shower of silvery energy bullets. "No way--!" he gasped.
Maru was equally shocked. "WHAT THE--!? Other pokémon can use attacks of that type?!" he asked, incredulous. "TERROGE!!"
But it was useless; Terroge was caught in the rain of energy bullets and couldn't react to the rear sneak attack by the rapid Scyther, who unleashed a powered-up X-Slash, sending the behemoth forwards a ways.
As Terroge fell forward, he and Maru said the same thing in voices of disbelief: "Sinister Sundown?!"
Maru shook his head and ordered, "Terroge!! Use--uh--Fire Punch?"
Terroge grunted as he landed on the field with a slam, then again as he turned, a bit weak, to his foe. "I'll try," he said strainedly, then, with a burst of determination, pushed himself up into the sky again. He flew top-speed to Scyther.
Danny grinned. "Looks like your pokémon's weak against that attack, Maru!" he said, crossing his arms. "So, Scyther!! Fury Swipes into that attack again after dodging!"
Scyther dodged Terroge's attack, which failed anyway, and then launched himself forwards at his side, beginning again on his slashfest.
Maru grimaced. "Oh, no, you don't!" he said. "Terroge!! Seismic Toss!! I doubt he's also got that ability, don't worry!"
Terroge growled and grabbed Scyther mercilessly. "You know, he said, starting to fly around in a loop, "that attack hurt a LOT!"
Scyther, squirming, grunted and retaliated, "Well, think of it as payback for the hit you gave me!"
"Yeah, but mine wasn't super-effective!!" Terroge finished his loops and soared at the ground. "And Maru's being nice, since this won't hurt a bit, will it?"
Scyther now gulped, looking at the quickly-approaching ground. "Urhmm..." he mumbled uneasilly.
"Well, let's SEE!!" Terroge said, throwing Scyther down and curving away before crashing himself. Scyther crashed into the ground, kicking up some dust. When it cleared, the green pokémon was struggling to get up.
"Th-That..." he grunted.
Danny looked scared. "SCYTHER!! Are you okay?!" he shouted.
Scyther grinned at his trainer. "...didn't hurt...a...biiiiit..." he finished, falling forward and spiral-eyeing.
Lock instantly held up his left flag. "Scyther is unable to battle! The round goes to Maru and Terroge!" The crowd cheered.
Danny looked a little concerned as he recalled Scyther. "Great job, Scyther! Take a VERY well-deserved rest!" When he was in his ball, Danny put Scyther on his belt and looked at Maru, frowning. "Awright, what kinda pokémon IS that?" he asked. "Is it even a pokémon?"
Maru sweat-dropped. "Errrr..." DING! He smirked. "I don't want to spoil the type for you," he stalled. "But I assure you, Terroge's a pokémon, just a very special type of pokémon." He looked up at the one in question. "Speaking of, how're you feeling, Terroge? Should we switch and give you a rest?"
Terroge, panting, grinned down at Maru. "I can...take it, Maru," he assured him. "I'm fine. Don't waste your energy when you could save it until later!" He landed and tested his formerly hurt foot. He grinned wider. "My foot's okay, now, too!"
Maru nodded. "Alright, if you insist," he said. He looked at Danny. "Well, send out the next one!"
Danny nodded, then thought. He grinned, looking at Terroge. "Either that thing's part Flying- or part Dragon- type, and I'm going to take advantage of that!" He pulled an Ultra Ball out. "Alright, then, freeze him in his tracks, Glalie!"
Terroge, since he was, indeed, part Dragon-type, sweatdropped and grimaced worriedly as the Ice-/Dark-type appeared. "Uuuh, okay, maybe--" he began, but Maru's crying of "YES!" behind him stopped him. With wild eyes, he turned to his trainer. "'YES'?! Are you stupid?! You know for a fact that thing can hurt me big time! I'm weak to Ice-type moves!!" he said incredulously.
Maru waggled a finger. "Have you forgotten your own type-trumping?" he asked.
Terroge tilted his head a bit. "Uuuh...Well, I know a lot, but I'm still a new pokémon to the world, so..." he trailed off.
Maru sighed. "Just don't worry and dodge any of the Ice attacks, and this'll be over in no time," he assured him.
Terroge nodded. "I trust you," he said, then got into stance.
"You guys ready yet?" asked Danny, tapping his foot. "Then let's start this off! Glalie, hit it with Ice Beam!"
"RIGHT!" Glalie shouted, charging the beam. He fired it at Terroge.
"Terroge, duck riiiiiiight..." Maru waited, then, right when it fired, said, "NOW!!" Terroge followed orders and ducked. The beam hit his long hair, though, and froze it halfway up.
Terroge blanched. "AAHG! My hair got freezer burn!" he wailed, then growled. "NOBODY touches my hair, y'oversized snowball!"
Glalie just laughed. "Aww, has pretty boy got a bad hair day?" he mocked.
Maru grinned. "Try a Rock Smash!" he ordered.
Terroge nodded and charged, using his crouched position to get a good boost. Paired with his immensity and impressive punching range, he was able to land a good, solid, fast Fighting-type powered right downwards hook onto Glalie.
However, Danny had shouted, "ENDURE!" right when Maru had finished his command, so Glalie--doubtless with not much HP remaining--was still floating. Danny grinned. "Now, Blizzard, while it's close!" he ordered.
To Maru's and Terroge's horror, the ice-and-wind attack struck the mighty pokémon point-blank. "TERROGE!!" cried Maru as Terroge was encased in ice. Maru clenched his fists, looking and feeling horrified. "TERRROOOOOOOGE!!"
Terroge's ice prison soon broke, and Terroge, after swaying, said, "Sorry, Maru..." and slammed, face-first, onto the stage's floor, spiral-eyed.
Lock whipped up the other flag. "Terroge is unable to battle! The round goes to Danny and Glalie!"
Danny smirk-grinned. "Well, THAT powerhouse is down for the count," he said. "Now for the next one--YOU!" He pointed at Maru.
Maru wasn't listening. He'd run all the way over to Terroge. "Terroge!" he said, skidding and lifting up the great head. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Terroge, faint but still concious, gave a weak smile. "S-Sorry, Maru," he apologized again. "I was too weak..."
Maru smiled at him comfortingly and understandingly. "It's alright, my friend, you had a tough fight. You're extremely strong, easilly lethally when you want to be, and a very gifted pokémon when it comes to battling. And remember, you're still relatively low-leveled..."
Terroge, crying behind tiredly half-lidded eyes, chuckled, making a rumble in his chest that could be felt by everyone in ten feet of him. "Actually, Maru, this is the second stage of my evolution," he confessed.
Maru raised his eyebrows. "Really? Well, regardless, those were tough pokémon you fought. Danny is a good trainer, despite his age," he complimented, looking at him.
Danny smirked. "Thaaaaaaank YOU!" he said cockilly.
Maru shook his head. "Well, Terroge, we can continue this pep talk later, since we've got a battle to go through still, and these millions of people aren't going to sit there and wait patiently." He held up his Light Ball. "Time for some rest, Terroge. Return."
Terroge smiled and closed his eyes, ready for sleep, as the white beam hit him, then brought him in. Maru put the ball away in his belt, stood up, and scampered to his place on the field. "About time!" Danny complained. "Thought you were gonna do something weird with that thing for a second there!"
Maru decided not to comment on that. "Right, then, I choose myself in my Drive form as my next--and final--pokémon," he said. He looked about. "So, uh, how should I do this?" he wondered aloud. As if on cue, a Smash Ball appeared in front of him, glowing like always in a rainbow of colors. Maru laughed. "Ah," he said, causing some people to laugh, then reeled back and punched the sphere. It broke across him, filling him with power. He instantly knew what to do. "NOW!" Summoning the power, he crossed his arms in front of him. Then, slamming them apart, he cried, "DRIVE!!"
Again, Elliot's essence came towards him from the stands and combined with the shattered-globe effect of entering a Drive form. As the light faded, Mewtwo stood in his red form, sans Keyblades. He looked at himself, grinning. "OOoooh, this is going to be fun," he said, then thought for a moment as he heard his voice was still amplified. "Wait, am I going to have to announce every single move I make?" he asked, sweatdropping slightly as he looked at Lock.
Lock raised an eyebrow. "Good point," he said, and whipped out his badge again. He looked up after a second. "Danny, do you want him to act like he's commanding himself? It'll look really silly," he warned.
Danny opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, grinning mischeivously. "I think it's fair that he embarresses himself. He DID use a pokémon I'm sure nobody here's ever seen before," he reasoned.
Sweatdrops appeared on many of the people there, especially a now pale-faced Mewtwo. "Uuuuuh...Well, tough noogies, Maru," Lock said, laughing nervously as he looked at Mewtwo.
Mewtwo blinked, disbelieving this, then sighed. "Oh, well," he said, "I AM pretty strong in this form, so it is only fair." He nodded and got into stance, his normal stance he adopted when he participated in the Melee tournament(where he later said they modified his fighter's trophy to make it as absurdly imbalanced negatively as we all know and despise it to be. Well, at least Mewtwo fans despise that trophy to be weak...). "Bring it!" he said, making the motion.
"Alright! Glalie, let's use Glare first!" Danny commanded.
Glalie gave a harsh glare to Mewtwo. "Yeh!"
Mewtwo grimaced as the glare, by rule of the move, decreased his stat, despite being unintimidated by it. 'He knows I'm going to annilate Glalie, so he used him to weaken me slightly! Oh, well, I'll still kick his ass.' He shook it off and shouted, "Tackle!" As he did, he launched forth and slammed his body into Glalie, which was, as he thought, so weak that that move was enough to knock him out. "Ow," he muttered as he massaged the side that he'd hit with. "That guy's hard."
"Glalie is unable to battle! The round goes to Maru!" Lock announced, raising the appropriate flag.
Danny recalled Glalie. "Good job, Glalie! Take a rest!" he said. Then, he looked hard at Mewtwo. "Hmmmm..." He took out his pokédex. "And no, I don't think this is cheating," he said before Mewtwo or anyone else could protest. Thankfully, though, to Mewtwo's immense relief, the pokédex had no availible information on him except type and name. "So you're able to transform into a Mewtwo, huh? Psychic-type...this picture is a bit different, though, but oh, well! Shiny pokémon happen all the time!" He grinned and brought out his next ball, a Great Ball. "Come on out, Gengar!"
Mewtwo stepped back as the Ghost type appeared in front of him and made his battlecry. Mewtwo grimaced. 'I might have some trouble after all,' he thought. 'I think my type has changed to Fighting in this form...we'll see.' It then occured that he had still to name this form. 'I'll think about that later!' he thought, getting ready.
"Gengar, start things off with Hypnosis!" Danny ordered.
Gengar grinned and stared at Mewtwo in the eyes. "Sleeeeep," he said, waving his fingers.
Mewtwo grunted. "Fight...it...!" he grunted, fighting to break eye contact, which, after the move began, was difficult to do, surprisingly. However, he didn't feel very tired at all. He grinned when Gengar saw the attack was uneffective. "I guess I've got Vital Spirit," Mewtwo mumbled. 'More proof that I'm a Fighting-type now!' "Now for my move!!" He took a moment to assess the situation, as well as the moves he supposed he could use.
'Let's see...I'm up against a Poison-/Ghost-type, I'm probably a Fighting-type, I'm without my always-hitting Keyblades, and I doubt that I'm able to use many non-Normal- or -Fighting-type moves,' he thought. 'And those moves don't work on Ghost-types...wait!' He looked at his tail. 'Of course! I'm definitely able to unleash Iron Tail in this form!' Before charging, though, he thought, 'Wait...Hey, a fake-out sounds like it's in order, here...I'll play dumb.' He charged forwards. "Tail Whip, with a spin for power!" he ordered aloud.
Danny laughed. "Are you stupid? Peh, Gengar, don't worry, this won't hurt a bit," he said.
Gengar grinned. "Oh, please, THAT'S going to work?" he asked. Mewtwo skidded and used the momentum to start his spin, swinging his tail out. As it passed right through Gengar, the Ghost-type-imbued pokémon laughed, putting his hands on his hips. "Gee, that tickles!! EEE-HEHEHEE!!"
"I'll hit SOMEday!" Mewtwo said, grinning as he kept spinning around. Thankfully, being a talented fighter, he was very resiliant to dizziness and was the only one not to puke when, one day at Nightsky City's annual carnival, the Tilt-a-Whirl went haywhire and the cars began spinning wilder than the Gravitron ride. He made sure to increase his speed of spinning each rotation, so much so that, after stopping to charge it up, he was actually doing a piroulette, sort of. (He'd decided to announce "Rapid Spin!" before the spin so that he didn't look totally moveless without his weapons.) After a few rotations of this, he heard Danny say something.
"This little dance is getting boring," he said. "Gengar, grab him and--"
"IRON TAIL!!"
Instantly, Gengar started crying in agony as an iron-hard tail, spinning around and hitting him at a high RPM for a non-mechanical sustained-speed spin, clobbered him. With each hit, he was spun around a bit in the opposite direction, and as he kept getting hit and hit, he began to spin as fast as Mewtwo.
"OWOWOWWOWOWOWWOWW!!" Gengar cried as he went faster and faster.
Resisting a "Round she goes" joke, Mewtwo instead cried out the name for this combination he'd created: "Take this: METAL PIROULETTE!!" 'A sissy sort of title, but with how lethal it is, I doubt anyone will be laughing for long when they see it in action...' he mused later on.
Finally, after a few seconds where he had Gengar matching his own speed, Mewtwo abruptly stopped, shook his head to releive his minor dizziness, and then waited until Gengar stopped. Not surpisingly, Gengar spun, spun, spun, and fell down, spinning still, and thus rolling to the left (he was spinning clockwise, Mewtwo counter) a little before slowing and stopping, spiral-eyed. This didn't mean he was out, though, in this case.
"Gengar! Can you get up? Er...without throwing up?" Danny asked, a little worried. He glared at Mewtwo, who gave a smirk. "What kinda move was that?" he asked.
Mewtwo grinned. "You've heard of contest battles if you've got a Hoenn pokémon, I take it?" he asked. Danny nodded, glancing between the two pokémon. "Then you know what a combination is, right?"
Danny's jaw dropped. "Well, smack me with a magikarp, you're right," he admitted.
"That can be arranged," joked Lock, and many people laughed. Lock looked at Gengar, who was still down. "Well, sorry to say, but not only is that poor thing dizzer than a top, but those hits probably did Gengar in," he said. He raised the Mewtwo-side flag. "Gengar is unable to not just battle, but probably stand straight for a week!" he announced, causing more people to laugh. "I'd say the round goes to Maru as Mewtwo, and the match goes to Maru!!" After a second, he added, describing what happened then, "AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!" (As you can see, Lock was having a bit of fun as an announcer(he apparantly didn't get as much liberty as a narrator, apparantly).)
Danny cried in disbelief. "WHAAAAT?! Awww, MAAAAAAN!!" he cried, falling to his knees.
Mewtwo suddenly flashed, Elliot's essense flying out of him. He was Maru after the detransformation, but had now gotten used to it. He crossed his arms, smirking. "A battle's a battle," he said, "and it just so happens this one wasn't one you won."
Danny sighed and recalled Gengar. "Sorry about that quick loss, buddy," he said. "Take a rest." Afterwards, he smiled and stood up. "Yo, Maru," he said, going over and offering his hand, "good game."
Maru smiled and shook it. "Good game, indeed." The crowd cheered the good sportsmanship, and the two trainers left the field, going off on recovery platforms that the arena supplied for them.
"Now wasn't THAT exciting!" Lock said, bringing his handheld mic out again and turning off the lapel-mounted one. "Now, then, if all goes well, we might see a Brawler-vs-Brawler final match of Red versus Maru!" He waited for the crowd to cheer. "Now, then, are you ready for the next match?" He looked up at the board and raised his eyebrows. "Well, I'll be damned," he muttered as he saw the two there, then smiled and announced, "Would Kioshi and Travis report to the field!!"
As he sat waiting in the locker rooms that trainers were being held in before their matches--complete with small army of Nurse Joys--Maru sat back and sighed. After a while, he let out Terroge, fresh from the recovery machine. (Maru himself didn't need it, since he'd gone on to a duo of perfect rounds.) "Terroge, you did wonderful out there," he said, putting the Light Ball away. "And I have to say, you made quite an impression upon everyone!"
Terroge blushed and scratched the back of his neck. "Aw, thanks, Maru!" he said. "I tried my best, you know!"
Maru grinned. "I expected nothing less," he told him. "Are you aware that that's what I want every second of every battle--your best?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Terroge nodded. "Well, yeah," he said, like he was surprised he was asked that. "It's common sense to always do your best in anything--especially a battle!!" He grinned playfully. "At least, it is to me. I dunno about you."
Maru sensed he was being joked to, and grinned the same way. "Trust me, I have always tried my best in battle, and I'll never let myself do less!" he assured his friend. He ruffled the giant's hair friendilly. "Thanks for doing so great out there," he said.
Terroge responded, "No prob!" and gave Maru a great friendly lick, which left him chuckling.
"Excuse me? Mr. Maru?" came an old voice.
Many trainers, including Maru, turned to the sound and gasped. Maru smirked. "I actually wanted to talk with you," he said as the man in question came over. "You're the only one whose pokédex did something when aiming it at Terroge here."
The man smiled warmly and nodded. "Yes, and I have to say, I'm quite impressed with its type," he said, "and even moreso at the facts of its obvious friendliness, personality, and intelligence, and of you actually having captured and trained it."
Maru raised an eyebrow. "Yes, not many pokémon are like that, and those that are usually end up not being very nice," he said, turning in his bench (he'd been sitting with his back turned to the speaker) and placing a foot on it, resting an elbow on his knee. "So tell me, how did you manage to scan him like that?"
The man smiled and held up a pokédex. "With an add-on I recently placed on this," he said. He smirked and leaned forward so he could whisper in Maru's ear. "But the REAL surprise came when it scanned YOU," he whispered.
Maru raised his eyebrows, then chuckled. "I suppose I shouldn't have expected any less from the famous Professor Oak," he said.