This arena smelt musty, a welcome relief from the previous stench. It smelt like pokemon and fur, like a well battled-in arena should smell. Heron didn't seem to notice, she was squinting around for the leader. Bright lights shone down on them from strips near the ceiling. There were no windows, and the musty smell now reminded Mirus of cages at the zoo.
"Welcome. More challengers so soon?" asked a voice. Looking up, they saw a girl, not much older than them, standing in the opponent's trainer box. She had long, glossy black hair that hung past her elbows, and bright blue eyes. She smiled as she said her short speech, revealing two rows of white, even teeth. Mirus rather thought she looked too perfect.
"Yes. We're here for a badge," Heron said. She was fingering the three pokeballs on her belt as she spoke, as though she was itching to begin. Mirus could see this, so he said, "You go first if you want."
Heron smiled at him for thanks, and moved foward into her trainer box. "My name is Lydia, and you'll be fighting me for the Whisker badge," the leader said. "Just one pokemon each. Tyoke official rules say that you choose first."
She was so calm, so perfect. Mirus instently disliked her, though he had no idea why. Heron's fustration was more visible; he could see her fingers curling into fists. But instead of doing anything dramatic, they uncoiled and reached for a pokeball. Mirus could almost hear her thinking over her pokemon choice. Finally her vineslice appeared out of her chosen pokeball. Mirus was surprised. She had introduced herself to this pokemon already, but they had never battled. Was this a good idea?
Apparently so, for Lydia placed the pokeball she had in her hand back on a special stand in front of her, and selected another, taking her time. Finally she threw it, without saying anything, and an umbreon emerged.
While the pokemon eyed each other up, Mirus, interested, reached for his pokedex. Umbreons were Mirus's favourite eeveelution, he had no idea why, but he had never actually seen one in the flesh. The pokedex bleeped happily, having found the pokemon's data.
"Umbreon, number 267, dark. The moonlight pokemon. Rodent type.
"Umbreon are more active at night, but in the wild, prefer to travel alone. If an umbreon steps into the territory of another of the same gender, it will either back off or fight to have that territory for itself. When umbreons are resting or sleeping, their rings will shine a deep gold, like eyes, to keep any predators away."
"Vineslice, Vine whip!" Heron shouted.
"Umbreon.Faint attack."
Vineslice held her tail curled over her head, and lashed it about. Two whips spun out from it, aimed towards the umbreon, but the black in it faded, leaving only the yellow rings, which the vines went straight through.
Confused, Vineslice moved closer to the non-moving rings, but an umbreon figure slammed into her from behind, the rabbit reappearing as the illusion rings faded.
"Vineslice, Whiplash!" Heron said desperatly.
Vineslice seemed to snap back into the battle, her tail lashing wildly. But Lydia called an order for another Faint Attack, and the same destraction rings were left, Vineslice's tail passing right through.
This time, Heron was ready. "Stun Spore!" she shouted. "Everywhere!"
Vineslice turned, moving her tail around fast, sending out a stream of Stun Spore. Umbreon reappeared, stiffened to the spot, mucules twitching as it watched its opponent with those blood-red eyes.
"Now, Razor Leaf and Whiplash!"
Vineslice paused, possibly confused at this unusual command, before obeying. She slithered up to the immobile umbreon, and released Razor Leaves while doing so. They bit into its fur, while Vineslice moved closer to finish it off.
It was Mirus who noticed the umbreon's foreleg twicth as Vineslice approach, and it was not twitching due to paralysis. "Watch out!" he warned.
Sure enough, The umbreon sprang out of the way at the last second, and at an order of "Bite," it sunk its sharp teeth into Vinslice's back.
Heron was smiling, Mirus had no idea why. "Vineslice, just use another Whiplash and Razor Leaf it after," she said.
One strong flick of the snake's tail and Umbreon was hurtled into the air, with a gust of leaves to catch it. Before it even hit the ground, Mirus knew who had won.
Lydia called back her immobile pokemon, with no change of expression. She jerked her head sideways irritably, which did not fit her calm behavior, signalling for Heron to move off.
Smug and grinning, Heron recalled her Vineslice and moved to the bench where Mirus had sat himself. "I would say' good luck', but that's usually considered bad luck," she told him as he took his place in the trainer's box.
Mirus was shakinga bit, before quickly telling himself to calm down. Heron was a natural at battling, he was sure that in comparison to her, his skills would fade. Or what if he lost? Mirus bit the inside of his cheek so that nobody could see, and chose his pokemon, praying that he'd made the right desision.
Grim barked happily, pleased to have made an entrance. Lydria rasied an eyebrow, actually looking amused at this playful pokemon, and Mirus felt she was deliberatly going to choose one of her toughest.
"Sandslash," she said as an introduction. Mirus did not bother to reach for his pokedex, he'd encountered this pokemon a few times, and it always looked just as menecing, claws stretched out as if they wanted to rip something apart.
"Don't mess around. Use an Earthquake."
"Grim, Quick Attack."
Grim moved first, but before he could even reach his opponent, the sandslash leapt into the air, slamming its hind legs hard into the floor. Mirus could feel the floor shaking, which was probably nothing compared to what Grim was going through.
"Sandslash, Fury Swipes," Lydia said, as Grim shakily stood up and shook himself.
Mirus quickly noticed something. Sandslash was not that fast, being unable to run on all fours with those claws. In comparison, Grim was like an annoying fly- small and light- and he could use that to their advantidge.
"Grim, Quick Attack again. Get onto Sandslash's back."
The poochyena seemed to read Mirus's mind, and cleverly dodged the mouse's flailing arms, sprinting behind it. Sandslash turned, confused, but could not avoid the dog as he took a leap, landing on the pokemon's back and beginning to claw his way up the spines.
"Grim, Bite!" Mirus said. If they could keep this up...
Grim sank his teeth into his opponent's head, and the rodent let out a screech of fury, shaking its head from side to side in a vain attempt to get Grim off.
Lydia's thin mouth curled into a smile. "Sandslash, Rollout," she said.
before Mirus could shout anything, the sandslash dived forward, curling up, and started to roll around the arena. Mirus looked on as Grim was thrown from the bundle of spikes, and the Rollout turned to run over him.
"Jump out the way, Grim!" Mirus shouted, but wherever Grim ran to, the rolling ball was always behind him. Mirus tried desperatly to think, but before he could shout an order, the Sandslash finally caught up with the dog, throwing him high into the air.
Both pokemon were exusted, each keeping their eyes on the other, waiting for their trainers to shout a command. Mirus waited. If Lydia attacked first, he could probably counter-attack. So he kept silent, and if Sandslash did not move either, he could probably rest a bit. Better not relax too much, though, because Lydia could attack any--
"Sandslash, Slash."
The sandslash leapt up, claws slicing through the air.
"Grim, Quick Attack, and Growl!" Mirus shouted the first attacks that came into his head. Confident, he reminded himself.
Grim dodged the claws, and stationed himself a few feet away from his opponent, a low growl isuing from his throat. The sandslash gave a shiver, and Mirus knew the attack had worked.
"Keep that attack going, Grim," he told him, "until I say stop."
"Sandslash, you can win this one. Earthquake."
Grim's growl turned into a yelp as the sandslash jumped high in the air, but he trusted Mirus, and so kept going, keeping his eyes shut but the growl going.
The sandslash's hind legs hit the ground, but the force in it had weakened; Grim mamaged to keep his ground, with his attack still going. Mirus thought he sounded rather like a lawnmover.
"Great, Grim. Howl, and then Quick Attack one more time!"
The low growl suddenly split into a broken wailing sound, and Grim launched forward as his battle-cry ended. The tired sandslash had no time to dodge, and was hit full on by Grim's attack. Mirus thought it was rather a large attack for such a small pokemon, for the rodent flew back and lay there.
Lydia gave an auditable sigh and held out sandslash's pokeball, letting the red light take him back. She sighed again, and flicked back a lock of her perfect hair.
"Well done," she said, calm as ever. "Please step out of the door to your right; you will find your prizes there."
Heron didn't botehr to keep her voice down as they left, Mirus holding his tired pokemon in his arms. "She couldn't even bother to give them to us herself! Is that laziness or what? Mind you, I suppose it's so we don't get any dust on her perfect hands."
They turned right in the foul-smelling hall, and right by them were two cushions, one black, one blue. Since they matched their pokedex colours, Mirus moved towards the black one, wondering how they had known.
Grim wriggled in his arms and Mirus put him down, where he walked around a little. Mirus turned his attention to his cusion. On it was a badge with an eye and a raticate tail, jut like on the door. Mirus picked it up, and pinned it inside his jacket. Also there was something shaped like a CD, which he recognised as a TM, and a wad of noted. Heron gave a loud exclimation when she saw hers.
"Grim?" Mirus asked, looking around. The dog had vanished. "Where are you?"
"He might have been confused with all those smells," Heron grinned. "Don't worry, he can't have gone far."
Mirus walked to the end of the short corridor, where there was a split. There was a sign saying "Exit", pointing to the right. On the left side was a pair of double doors. Curious, Mirus tiptoed towards them and pushed them open, the smell of hospital stirring up again. To his surprise, Heron was beside him.
"Let's do some exploring," she whispered.
Music still softly playing from the speakers above, the two trainers carefully stepped through the doors, closing them quietly behind them.
"No matter what I do, you'll never notice, you'll never know..." sang the speakers happily. Heron put her hand over her mouth to stop herself giggling.
To their right was an open door. To his relief, Mirus saw a fluffy grey tail coming out of it, and sure enough, it was his pokemon, standing and looking unhappily around him. Mirus bent down and scooped him up, before actually noticing what was going on around them.
E/N: Dum dum dum! I love stopping at annoying times. Well, I hope they're annoying. That was the point. Oh, and I hate the smell of hospital. Well, I know its to stop infections and stuff, but it really smells... that does have a purpose by the way.
So...? Anything else to say to fill out this space? I randomly feel like saying that you ought ot have your imagination in overdrive when you read this (and the battles, if you do read the battles). You have to see a sandslash's clawed feet crashing into the ground... Er, I'm, blabbing again.
I've read the reviews (as you do), and I'm very happy for them. Thank you! The grand total of 22 (fanfare) Well, correct at time of typing (hint hint). Oh, I know what to say. The nicknames I've recieved so far from Deceptigirl and Keleri are absolutly brilliant, but I'll have to say that my favourite so far is Bark. Why? Because it fits, yet it's completely irrevilent, like Chili, Jazz and Grim. But keep them coming! A lot of time before the 'secret pokemon' makes an appearence...
Oh, and I made up the umbreon data, beacuse I couldn't be bothered to search for the official stuff on the internet :o) And that little part of song, ha ha. And as for the TM's being like CD's... well, that's in FRLG, isn't it? It's not here in Britain yet (cries), but hopefully it will be soon. Yay. Well, you know, the usual. REVIEW (please).