~ Meteor Mashed! ~
"Wow! This place is packed."
Braixen looked around the inside interior of Haxorus' dojo with wide eyes. The dojo was decorated in a traditional Japanese style with red and yellow carved ceilings and pillars. She thought it looked rather beautiful.
When her eyes finally wandered away from the ceiling and decor, she finally paid attention to the other Pokémon in the dojo... and swallowed nervously.
It was not an understatement to say that she and Breloom were the most out-of-place-looking Pokémon in the dojo. The others were all buffy and tough-looking. There were Machamp and Machoke and Hariyama and Hitmonlee and Hitmontop and Hitmonchan and Mienshao and Medicham. The least tough-looking of all the other Pokémon were probably a Meditite and a Mienfoo, and even so they somehow managed to still look powerful despite their small size.
And to make matters worse, Braixen was the only girl in the dojo.
Braixen tugged at Breloom's arm and hissed, "Are you sure about this?"
"'Course I'm sure," the Mushroom Pokémon replied, still bouncing ahead as if they owned the place. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Are you kidding me?" Braixen burst out. "Look at the other Pokémon. They mean business. They're totally gonna beat us, Breloom. And I don't want to be humiliated in front of all these guys!"
"Hah!" Breloom finally stopped just for the sake of snorting at her. "They ain't gonna beat us. Have some faith in your skills."
Braixen groaned. "Come on, let's be realistic here. Can you even punch with those short arms of yours?"
Her companion's face went red. "'Course I can," he said haughtily. "You're just like Lombre, ain't ya; always doubting my fighting skills and you'll see that you'll regret it sooner or later. Watch this."
And before Braixen could stop him, he had shot out one of his short arms in an impromptu punch, which stretched as soon as he did so. Braixen was at first quite surprised at the length it could grow into when he punched, but then her wonder turned into horror when she saw a huge Hariyama standing right at the spot Breloom was punching.
"Stop!" she cried out, but it was too late.
Breloom inadvertently punched the Hariyama's back. It wasn't that hard, actually, since Breloom wasn't really meaning to punch anyone. Nevertheless, the Hariyama turned around, his face a mask of rage, angry not because it had hurt, but rather because someone had dared punch him. The next moment, he was stomping over to Breloom and Braixen.
"We're toast," said Braixen.
You can say that again! In just the space of a few seconds, Lopunny suddenly has another pairing to keep an eye on besides Roselio x Storm. Looks like Breloom and Braixen have just gotten themselves into a rather uncomfortable fix. How are they going to get out of this one, Lopunny wonders? Hariyama certainly looks like he means business.
Nah, that's an understatement. Hariyama is business.
Quite a while had passed after Gremlin and Froslass stopped speaking, but even now, the silence persisted since none had said anything else. They were both trying - and failing - to think of what to say next.
By this time, Froslass had managed to push away thoughts of the lab, and was trying to think of another joke. She knew that she actually had quite a lot of science jokes, but for some unknown reason she found it unable to remember any of them.
Of course Froslass can't see her own face, so she didn't notice that the palest tinge of pink was still occupying her cheeks.
Meanwhile, Gremlin wasn't having any better luck. The only thing that ran about in his mind was that he needed to think of something fast before Froslass decided to crack another joke and himself having to fake another laugh. Maybe they could go somewhere and do something instead of just standing there? Unfortunately, the only thing he could think of was to go into Chandelure's tent and play Dance Inferno.
That was when Froslass finally broke the silence.
"The only thing I can think of is to go into Chandelure's tent and play Dance Inferno," the Ice-type said.
Gremlin looked up with a start. "H-hey! That was also what I was thinking!"
Froslass nodded. "Very well. Let us go on our way, then." She turned and began to make her way to Chandelure's tent with Gremlin quickly falling into step.
"Uh... Froslass?"
"Yes?"
"I couldn't have imagined that you liked to dance."
Froslass paused. "Why not?"
"Uhh, because, well, you're a really intellectual Pokémon. Lopunny even said you were a scientist, so I thought you didn't like to move much or anything like that."
"Oh, that." Froslass chuckled silently. "Please, just because I am a Pokémon of intellect does not mean I do not have fun or anything of the sort. I do like to dance and watch soccer matches."
"You watch soccer matches?" Gremlin asked. He found that rather surprising.
"Well, yes. Do you not?"
"Mm... Sometimes."
Froslass nodded. "And the other thing; you said you thought I did not like to move much. Well, it is hard to not like to move much when you have teammates like Roselio and Staraptor."
"Huh? Why?"
"Well, Staraptor is that kind of person who is rebelliously unstoppable whenever he gets excited," she said, "and that is, unfortunately, most of the time. As for our team leader Roselio, I am not even sure he has his brains in the right place. I would have loved to dissect his head for the sole purpose of seeing whether his brain is still firmly attached to his spinal cord." She was shaking her head as she said that.
Gremlin found himself laughing. Although Froslass had said it seriously with no intention whatsoever to joke, what she said was actually pretty funny.
"Oh, so you're the only sane head in the team," Gremlin laughed. "I understand."
"That's right." Froslass smiled. "You have to go out of your way to keep them from doing anything... err... Irrational. It reminds me of the first few weeks since we became a rescue team."
"Really?" Gremlin turned to her curiously. "What happened then?"
"Since we were only rookies, I suggested them to take up a rescue job that was not too challenging," Froslass explained. "But oh no, of course Staraptor and Roselio saw the need to accept an S-ranked job to catch an outlaw Metagross for some insignificantly foolish reason."
"Yikes!" The Sableye's eyes were wide. "An S-ranked outlaw Metagross?! That sounds scary!"
"I know, right." Froslass rolled her eyes. "As you can imagine, it did not go well. At all."
"Ooh. That must have sucked," Gremlin said. "So, your teammates are that much of a pain, aren't they?"
"Yes." However, Froslass was smiling a small smile. "Yes, they are obnoxious and immature and irrational, but I do love being around them a lot. They make things fun."
"Ah, I understand." Gremlin nodded. "Sure, it's much better when your teammates make you laugh. Laughter is important, you know."
Froslass nodded. Seriously.
Lopunny giggles as she watches their conversation unfold. Looks like it's not going to be that easy for Gremlin to get Froslass into a lighter mood, yeah? Well, at least they're trying, and they've finally agreed on something to do. (Anything's better than that silence, really.)
Lopunny grins to herself. She'd better get ready to meet the first Meteor Mash-up pairing who's about to play her own Dance Inferno! This will certainly be FUN.
All right, now let's get our focus on the Arcane Area for some lightning-strike-and-petal-blizzard frenzy! We'd left off when both our battlers discovered that the other was better than they thought. I wonder how things will turn out?
...
For a moment, no one moved.
Pikachu and Roselia stood opposite each other. Both of them were breathless.
Roselio looked bruised and battered, his red bowtie disheveled and red and blue petals were falling out of his roses. He was wondering how he could take the Pikachu down. Even with his Leech Seed and Toxic Spikes, Storm was tough. She would surely step up her guard knowing that he now had an advantage over her. Besides, Storm was an avid battler. When she was in a fix, she didn't give up – she'd only attack even fiercer than before.
Storm, although she looked less beat-up, knew that her health was steadily diminishing thanks to Roselio's annoyingly invisible seeds and spikes. She was wondering how she could take the Roselia down. He got Leech Seed health boosts every now and then, and he was elusive. He could dodge attacks with a series of intricate jumps and seemed to have many tricks up his roses.
I'll just charge with a 120 power Petal Dance, Roselio finally decided. I'll charge again and again and again and hope I defeat her before I get dizzy.
I'll just charge with one of my trusty Volt Tackles, Storm finally decided. No, not just one – I'll charge again and again and again and hope I defeat him despite the bad type matchup.
And with those similar strategies in mind, both started to run straight at the other with a battle whoop. Even when they saw that the other obviously had the same plan in mind, no one budged an inch – they only hoped that their own attack was stronger than the other's.
They came nearer and nearer and nearer so that Roselio could hear the static electricity crackling on Storm's fur and Storm could count how many blue petals and how many red ones...
And then a whole group of Lotad stacked on top of one another simply shot straight into their path.
Both Roselio and Storm gasped and screeched to a sudden stop, making them lose their balance and fall flat on the ground. Storm quickly lost her yellow glow as the electricity disappeared. Roselio's whirling petal blizzard died down.
The Lotad, meanwhile, jumped in surprise and shot off again, breaking their stacked-up formation so they could disappear among the wildflowers.
For a moment, no one spoke, not believing how close they'd come to attacking a random Pokémon.
Then Roselio blew a red petal off his forehead and stood up, trying to tidy his bowtie. "That was too close. I thought you said there weren't any Pokémon here!"
"There weren't," Storm insisted indignantly, standing up also and brushing blades of grass off her fur. "Those Lotad weren't here when we arrived. I think they came from somewhere else."
"Well, they certainly were in a frenzy."
Storm observed how the Lotad were now hiding among the wildflowers. They seemed desperate not to be seen. She frowned.
"I think they are in a frenzy..." She turned to Roselio. "Something's up."
Roselio laughed lightly. "Nothing's up! They're probably just playing catch and hide-and-seek or something."
Storm rolled her eyes. He really was hopeless. "Ohh right, hide-and-seek," she drawled. "Not. I'm telling you, something's wrong. They're afraid of something. My battle instincts are tingling—"
Storm was to be proven right, for no sooner had she said that, there came a shout from the direction the group of Lotad had come from.
"You! The electric mouse and the rosy one!"
Storm and Roselio whirled and saw a group of Pokémon hurry over. In the lead was a Krokorok, and he was flanked by a Magmar, Glalie, and Bellsprout. All were wearing menacing expressions on their faces. Even the Bellsprout.
Storm took an instant dislike to these Pokémon, but of course Roselio didn't. He still saw the need to greet them. In French.
"Bonjour!" he said with a smile. "May we help you?"
Storm felt like strangling him to keep him quiet, but she had a feeling Lopunny wouldn't like that. He really is hopeless, she thought.
Lopunny isn't a Psychic-type, but even she can already foresee where this will go.
Fact: Those who greet thugs get beaten up. Fact: Those who do it in a foreign language get even more beaten up cuz they'd think you were trying to show them that you're smarter than them. And in one graceful sweep, Roselio has succeeded in doing both. Now it would be interesting to see Roselio and Storm try to get out of the little mess they'd soon be in.
This will be fun.
If you're looking for more action, you're in luck. The next pairing up is Pairing 6: Nile x Cleffy, and last time we checked, they were about to get attacked by a horde of agitated Swoobat.
As the Swoobat got nearer and nearer, Cleffy screamed. She had to admit that screaming in fear wasn't the thing for normal rescue team Pokémon to do, but she just couldn't help it since the Swoobat had gotten angered really fast.
(And also because fortunately Treecko was nowhere to be seen. If he had been around, he would have definitely chastised her for "losing her cool".)
If anything, her scream only agitated the Swoobat even more. They screeched in high-pitched noises and let out erratic Psybeams.
Before she could even finish screaming, Nile had reappeared by her side and used Detect. Just like that, he blocked the incoming Psybeams. At the same time, Cleffy finally finished screaming, a red hue quickly overtaking her cheeks. At that moment it dawned on her that what she'd just done was certainly pathetic, and she felt even worse of herself than usual.
Blocked by Nile's Detect, the Swoobat's Psybeams bounced off into the air and on the high ceiling of the cave, creating eerie echoes.
Which agitated the Swoobat even more!
Flapping their leathery wings, they came at Cleffy again, firing up more Psybeams.
Nile blocked some more with Detect, but it was getting harder and harder to do that since Detect's accuracy drops if it was used in succession. Finally he decided to simply grab Cleffy's hand and cart her away.
"Come on! Run!" he exclaimed.
Cleffy was stupefied for a split second.
Run.
A word she'd heard so many times in the past.
That was when Cleffy Clefairy had had enough. She'd had enough of being the damsel in distress. She'd had enough of screaming and then running while her teammates covered for her. Breloom would punch enemies away with his DynamicPunch. Treecko would Leaf Blade all of them. Lombre would use Surf or SolarBeam. But she, Cleffy, would either run or hide.
Yep, she'd had enough.
"Mega PUNCH!" she suddenly shouted, firing up Mega Punch. Nile was surprised the Clefairy could use such a powerful move.
However, instead of punching the horde of angry Swoobat, she rammed her fist into the ground.
Nile was about to question her about that when suddenly the earth cracked and broke due to her overwhelmingly strong punch. It was so powerful that the crust broke and got unbalanced so that chunks of earth suddenly protruded out of the ground, getting nearer and nearer towards the group of Swoobat.
A final chunk of earth suddenly appeared right underneath the Swoobat, knocking them into the sky with squealing noises getting quieter and quieter in the distance. If they were Team Rocket, they would have shouted, "We're blasting off again!"
And after a while, it was all silent.
Nile broke it not too long after.
"Wow."
He turned to the Clefairy. "Wow, Cleffy. That was awesome! It was really smart of you to think of that!"
Cleffy blushed, quickly changing back into the shy old Cleffy Clefairy. "O-oh, it's n-nothing," she said quietly. "And I wasn't the one who thought of that – my teammate Treecko was the one who did. H-he's quite smart, isn't he? He thought that because I was t-too scared to actually get up close to the enemies and p-punch them, I should just punch the g-ground s-so it w-will do the send-them-flying job for me."
"Wow. Still, that's a really smart strategy."
They both froze when they heard squealing in the distance.
"Come on!" Nile went back down to business. "Let's get out of here before they come back with reinforcements."
Cleffy nodded, and they set off for the stairs leading down from the plateau they were standing on. However, in her haste, Cleffy almost missed the top step, and before she knew it, the next moment she was falling. Luckily, Nile caught her hand just in time...
...but the damage had been done.
Cleffy had seen that the plateau they were on was really high above ground, and just that small glimpse had sent her head spinning. She staggered backward, her head still spinning due to that sudden attack of vertigo. She fell onto her backside, clutching her head and blinking her eyes, now beginning to get dotted with dark spots, sorely regretting the fact that she'd always been afraid of heights.
The last thing she heard was Nile's voice asking with concern, "Hey Cleffy! Are you all right? What happened?!"
Cleffy Clefairy fainted.
Surviving the battle against the Swoobat horde only to faint because of a fear of heights. Lopunny has to admit that it's not the most heroic story ever, but she's more worried of what might happen after that. Pairing 6: Nile x Cleffy has been going marvelously well up to this point, but things are going downhill fast!
What can Nile do to keep the fainted Cleffy safe and keep away the horde of Swoobat?
Stay tuned on Wish Park FM!
...This will be fun, indeed.