Thanks for responding so promptly, guys!

I'm feeling very motivated because I want to write a big long post today– they've been getting increasingly shorter.

Part VII~

"Hn?"
Claire stirred and opened her eyes, shutting them quickly at the assult of light that barraged them. Why was her head pounding like it was? Why did it feel like her tailbone was broken? And oh, geez, why was she so sore, all over?

Claire wanted to get up, but she hurt too much. It was nice and comfortable lying down, after all. She might just stay there for a while . . . 

"Busken!"

Claire choked and sat up much too fast, her eyes shooting open. Something had just shoved into her stomach! She retched and coughed, keeping her head bent to avoid the brunt of the light, and heard a female voice chatising: "Combusken, please! She's in critical condition!"
So it was a Combusken that had poked her. Claire groaned and summoned up enough energy to look up at the bird face that was staring at her in worry. 

"You can lay back down now," said the same voice, and the speaker bent down so they saw eye to eye. The violent pink hair identified her as Nurse Joy, but she was a Pokemon doctor, so what–? "The Pokemon center collapsed," she explained. "Combusken here found you and got you out of the rubble. You have a major concussion, among other damage."

"Well, a bunch of rocks fell on me," Claire sighed. "What else would you expect?"

Normally she didn't talk– at all– to strangers. But there wasn't a person alive who couldn't talk to Nurse Joy. She and Officer Jenny were famous for being clones, but possibly the sweetest people alive. Every Nurse Joy was exactly the same; if you meet one, you've as good as met them all. And if you're a Pokemon trainer, you've talked to quite a few.

"You just take it easy," said Nurse Joy lightly. "There are a lot of people here who need help. But someone should be here soon to take care of you. Oh, and also, I hope you don't mind, but this Combusken refuses to come out of the ambulance. It won't listen to its trainer. I think it wants to stay with you."

"That's fine, I guess," Claire replied, "just, please, don't poke me again."

The Combusken chimed its name in agreeance and settled down. Happy that she could lay down again, Claire pushed her body back and allowed her eyes to close, welcoming the bliss that was darkness.

~~~~

"Hey, Glaceon."

The return of her Pokemon made St.Owl look up from where she had been sitting, gazing into the water. Wordlessly, the ice type settled in next to her, and St. sighed as she mindlessly stroked its fur. "No offense, but I wish Espurr was here. You're excellent company, but . . . it really knows how to comfort people."

Glaceon nuzzled St.Owl's knee. "Glace."

"Well, I don't know what I'm worried about, really. I think it's really all Vaporeon. And that Gyrados. You know, Vaporeon's really . . . violent. Unnaturally violent. It's unnerving. But at the same time, I'm worried about it. I don't want it to get into trouble, and I just sent it into the lion's den."

There was silence for a moment.

"No. Well, that's sort of what's bothering me, Glaceon. But really, I'm more worried about what Elena said. That Vaporeon and I are alike. We aren't that alike, are we? I don't want to be like Vaporeon. It's a bit . . . unpleasant.

"But I can't stop thinking about the similarities between us, Glaceon. And there are too many for me to be comfortable with. I– well, I'm just a bit over my head, I guess. All I wanted was a picnic and Charles Dickens. Look what I ended up with."

And then–

An explosion of noise and water, leaving St.Owl and Glaceon drenched. For a moment, she couldn't believe her eyes. 

Vaporeon was at the head of the wave, holding a single piece of metal in its mouth, the rest of a submarine following obediently behind it.

~~~

Gyrados moved.

It was Danie who noticed it first, and Danie who acted; she called her Pokemon back to her. At first, Abigail thought she was seeing double, as there were two Danies, standing side by side; but then the first shifted back into its Zorua form, and stood ready, snarling at Gyrados.

Gyrados?

Abigail looked up and saw that the Pokemon was no longer stationary. In fact, it was writhing, moving its snakelike body rhythmically. It was almost eerie: she shuddered.

"Espurr," whispered the Pokemon into her ear. Its voice, usually carefree, was urgent. "Espurr espurr es. ESPURR!"

Abigail jumped as it shouted, and found soon why it had: a bolt of light made contact right where she had been standing.

"What–" she whispered.

"Someone's coming!" Danie shouted. "Someone's here!"

~~~~

Vaporeon alighted on the beach, the submarine settling next to it.

Pushing her wonder aside, St.Owl hurried to the machine, looking it over, brushing sand and seaweed off its exterior. It was very plainly decorated, save for one thing: A gigantic, dark circle, almost perfect in make, with a huge, silvery capital L emblazoned in the center. It was obviously some sort of symbol, but not one she'd ever seen before.

She couldn't spend long to dwell on it, however. For at that moment, the top of the submarine burst open, and someone clambered out, casting a shadow onto her.

"Who–" the form began to bellow, but it stopped suddenly. "Ah. I know who you are."

St.Owl's heart raced.

"You're one of the seven. The one who–" he paused suddenly– "never mind. What are you doing here?"

"Hunting you down," St.Owl replied, with a lot more force than she thought she'd be able to muster. "Your Gyrados smashed the Pokemon center to bits for no reason."

"Oh, there was a reason," the man replied, "which you will find out in time. But, my dear, it isn't safe for you here. You're not supposed to be here. Do you have friends with you?"

St.Owl didn't respond.

"I'll take that as a yes," said the man, almost regretfully. "That's upsetting. Your friends are in grave danger."

"So . . . are you helping me?"

"For now, yes. In any case, I am your only hope, and you can't afford to throw me away. However, later you may think differently . . . "

"You're infuriating. Stop talking in riddles and just answer the question. If my friends are in danger, I need to help them."

"Thank you for confirming my theory, for one," the man said, smiling, "for another, yes, I will help you, in any way I can."

"Thank you. There's no time to waste. C'mon."

They set off at a run down the beach.

~~~

"COMBUSKEN!"

Jenny wasn't really sure if Danie was panicking or just frustrated; she was a bit red in the face, her fists clenched, but waves of rage seemed to be emanating from her.  "COMBUSKEN!" Danie shrieked again. "WE NEED YOU!"
A bird face peeped out of a nearby ambulance and shook its head. Danie gritted her teeth. "If you could ignore that 'noble spirit' of yours for once and just get over here and help me fight, that would be nice . . . "

"It's okay," said Jenny brightly. "Hazel and Elena and I are good battlers. Plus, you've still got your other two Pokemon."

"Zorua rarely battles," Danie confessed, "and Kirlia I use sometimes, especially for double battles, but Combusken's the star and it's stuck watching over a random sleeping girl in an ambulance!"

"To be honest," said Elena, walking up to them, "I really think we should be more worried about those people. They did just attack us with a beam of energy."

Jenny looked where Elena was directing, and saw the silhouettes of about ten people, flanked by Pokemon, rapidly approaching. Her heart was pounding, and she sent out Jigglypuff and Psyduck– for comfort or defense she wasn't sure. 

The figures began to take form, and the group was able to see them more clearly. Most of the people were flanked by Houndoom, but there were exceptions, such as a Noctowl flying above them, or a Misdreavous. All, however, were either Dark or Ghost Pokemon.

The people themselves were almost impossible to see. Their uniforms were almost entirely silver, emitting a soft glow, their mouths covered by scarves. Their hair was tied back with bandanas. Once they were a few inches away from the five, they stopped, and simply stared.

"We need that Gyrados," said one finally. He seemed to be in charge, as his uniform was not plain like the others: it had a dark L emblazoned on it, similar to the one depicted on all their bandanas. "Move aside."

Jenny looked up at the Gyrados, very tempted to say yes. But something was happening. It had stopped its swaying and was instead cowering, moving itself away from the newcomers.

"No," she said firmly, much to the surprise of her companions.

"It just destroyed a Pokemon center," said the man, "and it belongs to us."

"I don't believe you. If it belonged to you, why would it be running away?"

Her companions turned to look at seemed to notice the same phenomenon.

"Well then," said the man. "You leave me no choice."

Jenny's heart jumped.

"Attack!"

______

I have discovered the magic of not writing everything at one time! It's miraculous! I can't believe how quick this was!

I really enjoyed writing this part, and I finally have a real, solid plot in mind! Yay! Expect lots of action in the coming part (which I'm going to start right now, this was a great place to leave off but  I'm feeling the suspense too).

As usual, nitpick! And start watching the shows. They're brilliant. (did I ever tell you I finished all of XY? I'm watching Indigo League and Advanced now 😀 )

Peace, love, and frogs!

I lied. I didn't start working on it right away. But I'm working on it now, and that's what counts, right?!

Part VIII

Danie was really starting to hate her Combusken.

The attackers had split up into groups of two– there were ten of them and five girls– and she had the luck of being pitted against that Misdreavus. With a Kirlia! If Combusken was there, it would at least have a chance. But Psychic attacks didn't affect Dark types at all (as she was facing a Houndoom as well), and ghost-type moves were very powerful against Psychic types. Zorua would have to do the brunt of the work . . . but it would be pitted against another Dark type, which wasn't very helpful either.

Her opponents apparently knew that, because they had confident smirks on their faces. "Kirlia," she said, "whatever you do, don't go after that Houndoom. Really pay attention to your evasion, okay? Both of these are really strong against you, so you'll have to work on your attacks, and use grass-type moves as much as possible."

The three locked eyes, and all called out a move at once . . . 

~~~

"Sabeleye, go!"
It was just Jenny's luck to be pitted against the head guy. Perhaps it was because she had taken the role of "leader"; she really should have known better. However, she was in luck; her Jigglypuff would be strong against the Dark and Ghost-type Pokemon, and Bulbasaur wouldn't be in danger of any weaknesses. With that in mind, she sent them out, and stood ready. She didn't want to see this would be a piece of cake, but . . . it would be a piece of cake.

~~~

Kirlia was getting tired.

Too much dodging, not enough attacking– it was having trouble. And that was bad news because of the disadvantage it was at already, and every time it was hit, it lost a ton of damage. Danie was thinking of sparing it and recalling it early, but the look in its eyes insisted otherwise: like its master, it was not going to be called out of the battlefield until it was all over. 

Danie, however, had been making a dreadful error. She was setting Zorua against Misdreavus mostly, because of the type advantage, but that left Houndoom wide open and ready to attack Kirlia. While the Misdreavous was about to pass out, Houndoom had lost practically no damage at all, and was attacking the Psychic type with no fear.

Finally, Kirlia moved too late, and fell to its knees; it was all over. Danie called it back, apprehension engulfing her. Two against one just wasn't fair.

~~~~~

Bulbasaur was being left out. 

Jigglypuff was hogging the stage with its fairy-type moves. Not only was it trashing Sabeleye, it couldn't be affected by Dark-type moves. The best Bulbasaur had done was used its Vine Whip to immobilize Jigglypuff's next victim.

It was not fair!

Bulbasaur was fed up and it was going to show it. 

As Jigglypuff attacked Sabeleye, Bulbasaur wheeled towards Houndoom. Its trainer looked taken aback and didn't have enough time to say something before Bulbasaur was using Takedown on the foe.

Houndoom went sprawling. Jenny said something– Bulbasaur wasn't sure what. It was too busy observing the silver light that was surrounding it, feeling its bulb spread open wide, growing and changing . . . 

When all was done, Ivysaur stood tall and roared with the fierceness of a pride of lions.

~~~~

"This is not good."
The man halted near the fray. "It's too late."

"What d'you mean, too late?" St.Owl said nervously.

"It's already gone wrong," he sighed. "This is far worse than I thought. We must stop this at once."

"Thanks for stating the obvious," St.Owl sighed.

They ran forward a few more feet, but suddenly had to stop.

There were two people in front of them.
"Stay back," said one. "That Gyrados is ours!"

~~~

Combusken was watching the battle.

It was still in the ambulance, of course. It would not leave the girl unprotected. But it felt that it desparately needed to– Danie was losing, terribly. Combusken cringed when Kirlia passed out. 

Finally, it could bear it no longer.

When Zorua was knocked back by Houndoom, Combusken charged out with a full-fledged Flame Charge and headbutted the foe, hard. Flame Charge was a pretty powerful attack, as they go, and Houndoom had lost a lot of damage. No complicated weakness or resistance with good old Fire Types!

As Combusken surveyed the battlefield with confidence, it barely noticed the glow around its body, or how it was heightening. There was no bigger deal than protecting its own mistresss, it had decided. And it wouldn't celebrate until the battle was over.

~~~

"Team Solar."

"What?"

Well, now that St.Owl looked at them, it was a fitting name. The two from "Team Solar" wore all yellow, giving off a golden sheen. Scarves covering their faces were of the same color. On the middle of their uniforms was a gigantic, red-orange S.

Waitaminute.

Solar . . . and the man had a silver L . . . 

"You're part of a team too,"  said St.Owl. "Team . . . Team Lunar. Solar and Lunar."

"Very clever," said the man, "but this is not the time."

"Your grunts are already there," said the second Team Solar person. "But there are five little girls trashing them. Pathetic. And while they're occupied, I think we'll just snatch this for ourselves."

"I don't think you will," he replied. "Go, Spiritomb!"

St.Owl flinched backwards as the Pokemon was released. Spiritomb was almost legendary, the monster in horror stories, the one that sneaks into everyone's nightmares. 

"You go," said the man from Team Lunar. "I'll make short work of these idiots. Help your friends– put that Vaporeon to good use."
St.Owl found herself nodding and running off towards the battlefield. Halfway there, the man caught up with her.

"This will be incredibly easy," he promised. "If you see anyone in trouble, help them out, but it won't take me long to scare the grunts away."
"But aren't you on their side?" asked St.Owl, recognizing the L on their clothes. "Why would you scare them away?"

"I'm more than on their side," he replied. "Long story. Just go."
He turned towards the rubble of the Pokemon Center and the Gyrados; St.Owl went to her friends. She looked around for a moment, not noticing much, when–

"Espurr Espurr!"

It was calling her. St.Owl turned her sights towards her Pokemon to find Abigail, in trouble. She was facing two Houndoom and loosing incredibly. It wasn't her fault– she was a performer, not a battler– but she needed help, fast.

St.Owl unleashed Vaporeon.

______

I wanted to go a bit further, but I think that would be extending the post out too far . . . 

What is this? Team Lunar and Team Solar? Blaziken and Ivysaur? A strange man neither friend nor foe? What will happen next? Find out in the next part of The Pokemon Solo Write!

(oh, by the way, I'm sorry I didn't narrate everyone's battles. If I cycled through five different ones, it would become pretty tedious– no offense. I decided to focus on the ones where something big and major happens. To those of you who weren't mentioned, you'll get your turn, never fear.)

Au revoir! I'll do my best to have another post up tomorrow! 

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Top! I love the way this is going St. Owl.

I'm so sorry for not updating earlier, guys! There's this evil thing called homework that threw itself into my path.

Part IX

It is time, finally, to take a look inside our mysterious stranger's head.

As our heroines will soon learn, his name (or what he claims as such) is Artemus. He is in his thirties. He does not wear the uniform of the Team Lunar grunts, but rather a darker suit, accompanied by a silver tie. At the moment, he is running towards his Gyrados, plowing through anything that may stand in his way.

The story will now proceed.

Artemus cleared the last piece of rubble and approached his Gyrados carefully. When nervous or feeling threatened, the Pokemon would sometimes grow agressive, and attack without thinking. But it merely glanced at its trainer, no trace of anger in its eyes, and bent down to nuzzle him. Artemus rubbed his Gyrados in its favorite spot, right between its fins, and told it: "The girls are in trouble. Will you help them clear out the grunts?"

It roared affirmation and started towards the pack of battlers, where, Artemus noticed, the Vaporeon was present.

That Vaporeon . . . well, they'd never met, but it certainly had his respect.

Gyrados plowed its way into the fray and swung its tail around, sweeping the grunts off their feet. With a few snapping jaws, it cleared the Pokemon. By that time, Artemus had caught up, and returned Gyrados to its Pokeball before returning to the children.

"Listen," he said, "there's no time for questions. I've just saved your life, and I need a favor. Get into my car and we'll talk it over."
The six looked at each other. Never, no matter what they've done for you, get into a stranger's car. Simple logic. Never.

"Okay, fair enough," Artemus continued. "Firstly, we'll need your friend in the ambulance. Secondly, I'll tell you why, quickly . . . you've been chosen, in a way, for a certain mission. This mission is of the utmost importance. The thing I'm going to tell you about could save the world."

It took a bit more weedling, but finally most of the girls were convinced, and the others succumbed to peer pressure. The six, plus Claire (who was brought on a stretcher and lain in the back of the car, in the fourth row of seats) got into his van under the conditions that all the doors were unlocked and the windows open. Artemus wasn't in a position to refuse: St.Owl's Vaporeon nagged at the back of his mind.

Once they were all comfortably inside, Artemus explained in more detail what they were planning to do.

"You," he said, "are going to break into a bank."

There was silence for a moment, then a uproar of protests. Mouse tried to open the door.

"I'm sorry," Artemus continued. "That was blunt. This bank is run by Team Solar and Team Lunar, and they're always at odds. However, both groups have noticed that there's a third party creeping their way through. Each of the triplets are up to no good– you need to find a way to get into each one of their bases, destroy them, and expose the bank."

"That's complicated and vague," Claire pointed out from the back of the van, raising her head a bit.
"How do we know you're not just a con man?"

Artemus shrugged. "You don't," he replied. "All I can tell you is that I promise you will be protected at all costs. I only want the best for you."
"And who are you to decide?" Danie demanded.

Artemus raised his eyebrows. "I know your future."

_____ 

Oooooh! What a cliffhanger! Ehehehe.

I actually have cut this a bit shorter than I was planning. This was supposed to be a pretty long-winded solo write, but I decided that I'd never finish it if it was. The bank scenes were the only ones I had clear in my head besides the end, so that's what I'm going with.

Sorry for the short post, by the way! I wanted to write something to let you guys know I'm here with you, and to move the plot along. But tomorrow's Friday, and the next day's Saturday, which means endless time to write, write, write!

Part X!

An outbreak of questions had, of course, pummeled Artemus once he threw out his fateful statement, but he refused to answer any of them, even when Elena tried for a joke and asked if she would eat an enchilada soon. Instead, he allowed the car to become silent, and speech only started up again when the van pulled up in front of the bank.

At first, no one could believe their eyes. This place couldn't have possibly been a bank– and surely it wasn't in New York City, of all places! It was too beautiful, too extravegant, too out of place. It was at least seven stories high, and wide, and probably made out of pure gold. There were pillars running up it and patterns carved into the metal; they weren't sure where it should have come from, but certainly not here.

Artemus paid no attention to the splendour. "Looks like a Team Solar base, doesn't it?" he asked. "I'm surprised the Lunars even came close. Then again, it's impossible to get into their thick heads sometimes."

The seven were awoken from their reverie and followed him inside the building as he unlocked the large double doors with a golden key.

The entrance hall was magnificent. A gigantic glass chandelier looked too heavy for the cieling, which was painted with a beautiful mural. On the left side of the chamber was a bunch of computers, ATMs and PCs mostly; on the other were people and Pokemon, waiting for someone to come up and ask them for help. There was an abundance of Sabeleye and Klefki, St.Owl noticed.

Artemus marched by with a purpose. He certainly wasn't drawing much attention, dressed smartly, looking as if he belonged; but Claire could barely hobble, many of the girls were injured in some way from their battles, and none were dressed properly for a place as formal as this. Therefore, the ragtag team attracted some eyes, but seeing that they were with Artemus stopped any confrontations. Evidently, he had power.

He pulled out another key once they reached the end of the hall and unlocked a much smaller door with it; he had to duck to get through, although, considering he towered over the seven, they were able to enter without much trouble. 

The room they entered was much different from the hall they'd just left. It was claustrophobic and dark, a tunnel of sorts.

"What are we doing down here?" Danie demanded.

"The bank is a strange sort of place," replied Artemus, starting to move downwards. "These tunnels are generally for the Sableye. The bank is famous for its top-notch security because the Pokemon are so protective of the accounts and the gold in them; but this tunnel isn't guarded, because no one but the Pokemon can fit. Or so they thought," he added, sticking his foot into midair. "Team Lunar and Team Solar– separately, of course– made the tunnels larger. Most of the guardian Sabeleye and the occasional Klefki have been secured, so there's pretty much a free reign in the actual vaults. Luckily, they're not taking the bank for the money."

"Why do I feel like there's something you're not telling us?" Elena called.

"Maybe because I wasn't finished speaking? Once we get out of this tunnel, you'll find floors and floors of different things. The bank isn't only a bank– that's just a facade. In fact, it's known for surrendering its lower levels to any baddies that are strong enough to get down there. They're almost constantly a war zone, which is what they'll be like right now– not only are Team Lunar and Team Solar battling for possession, but the unknown third party is, too. When you're down there, you'll find things you'd never expect to see in a bank. I've heard there's a volcano room somewhere, even, although I'm not sure; I left others to all the exploring."

Finally, he kicked the tunnel long enough so light illuminated it, and the eight climbed out.

"So here's the deal," Artemus said, brushing himself off and turning around. "We need to split up into three groups. One to go after Team Solar, one to go after Team Lunar, and one to go after the unknown party."

"Does Team Solar have certain types that they use, like Team Lunar?" asked Danie.

"Yes," replied Artemus. "Team Solar uses Grass and Fairy types."

"Hey, cool! Blaziken should trash them! I'm going with Team Solar."

"Unknown party," said St., doing quick comparisons in her head.

"Team Lunar," Jenny said instantly.

"Unknown party, I think," said Elena, grinning at St.Owl.

"Team Lunar," Claire decided.

"I guess I'll go with the unknown party," Abigail said hesitantly.

"That leaves me with Team Solar," said Hazel.

"Great," said Artemus. "Meanwhile, I need to do . . . something else. You'll find out eventually. It'll help, I promise.

"Okay. Unknown Party people, you're just going to have to wander. If you see anyone not in silver or gold, confront them. Team Lunar, you're going to have to go to the left. Their territory is past that door. Team Solar's to the right, the other door."

They all nodded, although some looked upset that Artemus was abandoning them. "Good luck, girls; see you on the other side."
They dispersed.

____

Ta-da!

Okay, so, unfortunately a lot of you won't be catching all the Pokemon you wanted, so I'm sorry about that. But you will get to be awesome superheroines!

I apologize for all the filler, but it was important filler, right? And it leads up to very exciting things in part XI.

New post up by . . . Wednesday!

top!!!!!

Part XI

Artemus strolled out of the bulding, acting as though he'd merely taken out a bit of cash from his account. He surely looked the part; even that battle with the unexpected Carbink hadn't left any dirt on his clothes.

"This better be worth it," he remarked, bending over into the open window of the limousine that had been waiting for him.

"Don't worry," said the figure inside. "Omny is with them."

Artemus grimaced. "That's what I was worried about."

He opened the door and stepped inside the limo. Silently, it drove away.

~~~

Abigail stared straight up.

"Looks like a dead end," remarked St.Owl unneccesarily, following Abi's eyes. As they met what the latter had been looking at, she breathed an "oh" and continued, "How are we going to get up there?"

The dead end, or so it seemed, had one of the Sabeleye tunnels at the very top right. Unfortunately, the wall was completely smooth, and impossible to climb.

"My Rowlet can't carry us all the way up there," Abigail groaned. "It couldn't even take us halfway."

"Espurr could use Psychic," St.Owl offered. "But it wouldn't be able to get entirely up there either."

Espurr fluffed up in indignation but, after a sharp tap on the nose, acknowledged it. 

"Then Rowlet can fly us as far as it can," said Elena, "and Espurr will take over once it can't."
They followed that strategy and eventually, after a lot of struggle, made it to the top, where they struggled through the cramped tunnel and into the open air.

"Are you serious?" St.Owl groaned.

A man in the middle of a gigantic pool sat on an island, arms and legs crossed. They couldn't see what he was wearing, but by the lack of scarf and bandana, they decided he was one of the unknown party.

"Well?" he said. "Come out here and get me."
~~~

Danie opened the right-hand door and peeked inside. She withdrew her head quickly as light struck her eyes almost painfully, and looked again, a little slower.

The room was wide and bright. A few Team Solar grunts milled around, the light reflecting off their gold uniforms, which didn't help matters. Obviously, they had settled in.

The two girls made their way inside, not bothering to hide– the light made it impossible to do anything but stand out. Almost immediately, someone shouted "Hey!" and it soon became a chase, the girls throwing open doors and sprinting from room to room, more and more grunts accumulating on their heels. At that point they really had no idea what they were doing besides not getting murdered by the maniacs following them. Both knew they'd have to stand and fight at some point, and dreaded it.

Finally, the grunts overtook them, and the two were surrounded.

~~~

Jenny was worried about her teammate.

Claire was, of course, adamant: she was fine, she could battle, just hurry up and get me in there. But she definitely was not fine. An hour of rest did not cure a concussion; walking around on bruised bones did not help heal them. Claire was leaning very heavily on Jenny, and they were basically shuffling down the hall. If there was a long way to go before they hit the Team Lunar "boss," they were never going to get there. They would have to fight every grunt they met, because they couldn't run.

Claire had a solution.

"We knock out two grunts," she said. Once she was comfortable around Jenny (especially since without her, Claire would be dead meat), she spoke a lot more. "We have strong enough Pokemon. Once they're unconscious, we take their uniforms and blend in. That way, we won't have to do any battling, and I'm sure grunts get hurt all the time, so that shouldn't be a problem."

"What about our Pokemon?" None of them were a ghost or Dark type and would stand out like a sore thumb.

"Keep them in their Pokeballs."
They entered the room. It was dimly lit by silvery lights, giving the whole place an eerie glow. There were exactly two people in the room, conveniently, and the type advantages that Claire and Jenny had made short work of their Pokemon. A Vine Whip from Ivysaur knocked the grunts out, and soon Jenny and Claire were glimmering just as nicely as the room.

The two limped into the next room. They got a few looks, but mostly they were worried ones, and they went from room to room without trouble. 

Finally, they found a locked door, although it was strangely unguarded.

"This is the place," said Jenny firmly, and released Ivysaur to break the lock.

~~~

"I can handle this," said Elena calmly, pulling out a Pokeball. She tossed it into the water, and out came a beaver-ish creature, blue and a bit pudgy, who flipped in its environment a few times happily and chirped an "Osha!" to the girls on the shore.

"Okay, Oshy," said Elena, getting on her hands and knees. "See that man over there? Bring him over here."
The Oshawott saluted and swam off.

"Hold on a minute," said St. "Aren't Oshawott supposed to swim on their backs? This one's on its belly."

"I don't know," replied Elena. "I thought that, too, but then I caught Oshy. He's a recent addition to my team, so maybe that happens when they get trained . . . ?"

When Oshy was a few feet away from the island, the man there looking on amused, Elena shouted, "Use Ariel Ace!"
The man's expression turned from humored to surprised as the Ariel Ace was used on his back and he was thrust into the water. Oshy happily towed the man back to shore and deposited him in front of the girls.

"Well!" Elena grinned. "Not so cocky now, are we?"

~~~

"All right, Blaziken," Danie said, chucking the Pokeball onto the ground. Her Pokemon's name still sounded strange in her mouth, the absence of Combusken hammering on her tongue.

"Growlithe!" said Hazel, sending the Pokemon out.

The grunts suddenly started laughing, collectively.

" . . . What is it?" asked Danie.

"Did you really think we were going to fight you?" asked one. "That's ridiculous. You've got a Blaziken. Way too big of an advantage for us."
"What, so you're just . . . giving up?"
"Oh, no, not really," replied another. "I mean, if you want I'd battle you, but what's the point?"

"You're very different from the grunts we met at the Pokemon Center," remarked Mouse.

"Oh, them," sighed a third. "They're the elite. I'm surprised you met them. I didn't think you were that important."

"Well then," Danie demanded, "what happens now?"
They looked at each other and laughed again. "We escort you to the boss, of course!"
Suddenly the two, plus Pokemon, were being carried along by the masses and deposited in front of a locked door.

"Blaziken, Blaze Kick," ordered Danie.

The door swung open . . . 

____

Well, here I am telling myself everyone will get awesome battles with the grunts here, and look what happens. Don't worry, you'll get your battling in.

Riddler, would you like Oshy to evolve? It would be fitting. (by the way, I'm not implying that you nickname all your Pokemon. I'm thinking that Oshy pretty much forced you to give it a pet name.)

Next post by Saturday!

TOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!