Author's Note:

Okay, let's see...

First off, trying to marathon a relatively old anime called "Dragon Drive". So far it's decent, though it does have an odd, sometimes jarring, blend of traditional animation and dated CGI (the CGI isn't too bad/distracting, and is reserved only for the large dragons, but it does look kinda stiff at times). The dragons, however, I must praise design-wise. The designs for the dragons run the whole gamut of cute, weird, silly, cool, unique, interesting, and standard.

Secondly, still searching for a paying job, and my heel still has me half-limping. It feels better now, but it did yesterday too in the morning, then got REALLY painful in the afternoon to the point that I could barely walk at all, so we'll see if it gets back to hurting this afternoon too.

Thirdly, back to the topic of anime - three words: Dragon. Ball. Super.

Five more words - Airs. July. Fifth. In. Japan.

This year, a new series set after the new movies will begin!

AWESOME!

Also, it has, unlike GT, the original creator of Dragon Ball (and Z), Akira Toriyama, working on the plot and stuff! Huzzah!

Well, that's it for me.

Read and review!

-RGGodzilla, out!

Chapter Twenty-Six:

No Rain, No Gain

Morning (10:11 A.M.), Paz Beach

"Grr!" glaring at the rocky forest where Team Rainy Days had taken shelter, Diabolus growled, "Damn cowards," he glanced back to his two remaining Magmars. One looked like he could barely keep up, while the other looked battered, but still in relatively good shape. He glanced over to the entrance to the Armistice Chamber, "That little bastard went in there. He's our real target, so let's just get him!"

"B-B-But sir!" the weaker Magmar gasped, "What if the cave is one way?"

"What do you mean?" the Magmortar glared at him.

He gulped, but continued, "If there's only one way in or out, those three could follow us in and corner us, or they could cause a rock slide and block off the entrance, then what'll we do?"

Diabolus gritted his teeth, but privately acknowledged that he had a good point, "Fine! Then you stand guard at the cave's entrance while we go after them!"

"W-What?!" the Magmar's eyes widened.

"You heard me!" his leader growled, "Stay at the entrance and keep watch. If that peacemaker tries to come out, gas him! If he retreats into the cave, follow him until you 'corner' him and gas him then!" he pushed the weakened Magmar to the cave while grabbing the more fit Magmar by the arm, "Meanwhile, we'll go find them in those rocks and destroy them! Afterward, whether he tries to come out or not, we'll go in that chamber and kill that bastard!"

"R-Right!" his nervous Magmars nodded with fright.

Behind a large, thick rock near the edge of the water...

"Shoot!" Lloyd bit his lip at what he heard, his voice a whisper to his allies, "I don't think we'll be getting any help from the other dignitary now, they would've come for us by now if they could..."

"I know..." Stream looked down, "We could try to get to them by rushing out and attacking that weak Magmar, but then they could follow us inside and corner us. That Magmortar doesn't seem to have been hurt all that much from our attacks... while their fires and poison gases have left us rather weak now..." she noted rather glumly.

"Me... especially..." Romsca wheezed, cringing at her Burn, "I don't think... I can keep... heh... heh... going..."

The Ducklett swallowed nervously, "H-Hold on, Romsca, I'm sure I have a Rawst B-Berry or two in my bag, l-let's heal that Burn," she opened the bag and ducked her head inside, searching around for the right berry.

Keeping his eyes open for Diabolus and his Magmar, Lloyd sighed. Great, we're outside of Stream's Water Sport, so their Fire-Attacks will be back to full power, and we can't use another Water Sport because it will give away our position. But even then, it doesn't matter, because the moment they find us, we're done for. We can rest all we want, but there's no way we can take them on again... No! He shook his head. Be brave, Lloyd, be brave. You have to be brave here, there's no other way to survive! But even so, we're at a disadvantage no matter what. He looked up to the sun shining in the sky. And it doesn't look like Team Rainy Days will be getting any more help from the rain... Ugh, why'd I give them that name! I was just joking! Uhh... where's the rain when you need it?

The Mudkip glanced back to his allies, Stream finally pulling a Rawst Berry from her bag for Romsca, who cringed again at her Burn, "Hey, Romsca, your ability is Dry Skin, right, so Water-type attacks will heal you? Want me to fire a Water Gun to help out?"

Taking the Rawst Berry from Stream's beak, the tired Helioptile weakly nodded, "Y-Yes... heh... I could use... the energy..."

"Okay," he nodded back, opening his mouth to fire the Water Gun, "Let's hope this gets you strong enough to fight o-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!" he cried out in sudden shock, he and his allies jumping in fright as the rock behind them shattered into hard debris that pelted them to the floor!

"GWUH! GUH!" caught under the rubble, Lloyd gasped and spluttered on the water he had prepared to fire.

"Hrr!" Stream grunted in pain, covered in debris, "W-What h-happened? ROMSCA!" her eyes widened at her friend, a foot away with her Rawst Berry crushed under a rock, the sight of which made her cringe harder under her Burn, "NO!"

"Oh, YESSSS!" their eyes turned upward, widening at the sight of the Magmortar raising his fist from the shattered rock he had destroyed with his Rock Smash, "I knew I would find you! All I had to do was listen closely, separating the sounds of the beach from your whispers and cringes, from there-" he licked his thick lips, "-sneaking up on you to deal a surprising blow was easy," he pointed the end of his arm at them, "Now, let's finish what we started, and BURN YOU ALL ALIVE!" a fire ball formed in his arm.

"!" they gasped, struggling to remove themselves from the rubble in time to escape, which they failed to do, breaking out just as the fire ball shot from his arm!

"NO!" seeking to protect her weak friend, Stream spread her wings quickly, shielding Romsca from the fire ball as it hit them and exploded, throwing them back across the sand so that they landed between the rocks and the water, "Grr, R-Romsca, are y-you... alright?" she removed herself from the Helioptile, who she had landed on.

"A-Aye..." the injured Helioptile gasped in pain, "...As much... as I was before... at least..."

"Ugh..." Lloyd grunted, weakly struggling to his paws.

"Heheheh, got them," Diabolus sneered down at them, walking forward while firing another Flame Burst into the sky, alerting his Magmar to come to him, "Hahaha, prepare to burn!"