Post by WARendfeld on Oct 24, 2012 9:41:41 GMT -6
Dark Horizon
“Let’s finish this, Noctowl! Extrasensory!”
“Poliwrath, Ice Punch!”
The attack wasn’t enough, the Tadpole Pokémon getting beaten down at last by his opponent and dropping unconscious.
“Poliwrath is unable to battle! The match goes to the challenger!”
“Alright!” Jake Logan let out a celebratory whoop as his Noctowl fluttered down in front of him, his sixth badge now in hand.
-
“Six badges at last! Man, this is great!” As he walked back to the Pokémon Center to get his team looked after, the young man beamed with pride and examined his new badge.
“Careful, or you’ll end up losing that thing.” Alex could understand her new friend’s enthusiasm, having indulged in it a few times herself, but she tended to keep her celebrating low-key and tuck the badge away safely at her first convenience. “Anyway, what are you planning on doing now?”
“Well, I’ve got a few ideas.” Jake tucked the badge away in one pocket of his jacket. “Right now, though, I think I’m gonna take a tour through the Whirl Islands, do some training, keep occupied until the Safari Zone’s open again. I mean, no reason for them to not appoint a temporary warden, right? What about you?”
“As tempting as it sounds, I’m not crazy about spending time on the Whirl Islands. I’ve got places to go and Gyms to beat, and the sooner I set off for Ecruteak, the sooner I get there.” The two reached the Pokémon Center, and Alex paused to add, “That said, you getting some training in wouldn’t be a bad thing, and if we ever cross paths again and you want a rematch, I wouldn’t say no.”
Jake grinned and declared, “You’re on! Good luck!”
The two parted, Jake entering the Pokémon Center and Alex making her way back to the harbor for the ferry to Olivine City. As she went, however, Alex almost regretted leaving the major reason behind her hasty departure, namely wanting to leave Cianwood before Team Rocket had a chance of returning and tracking her down again, but between Jake being able to figure that out for himself and the chance, however slight, of them identifying her as having ShadowWarrior specifically instead of a random Murkrow, the reasons for her departure were obvious.
She sighed, and Alex wondered when the day would come that she didn’t have to be paranoid about something, and hoped said day wouldn’t be her last.
-
“Failures! Incompetents! Imbeciles!” The short, sedentary man opposite Vaughn and Brawn angrily yelled at them with such ferocity that they could feel the spittle reach their faces and, were it not for the round-rimmed glasses he wore, they feared his eyeballs would pop from their sockets. “When I returned to this organization, I expected a degree of competency among my subordinates, and yet you retreat from a mission after meeting only slight resistance?!”
Brawn was quick to protest. “Hey, we didn’t have a damn bit of support…!”
“I didn’t ask for excuses, you overly-large, knuckle-dragging ape!”
Vaughn’s characteristic smirk had faded slightly, but he tried his best to put up a brave front as he spoke. “Boss, let’s look at the positive here. I mean, yeah, sure, we failed the mission objective, but it’s not like we lost anything either, and we got away, didn’t we?”
Their boss silently fumed, but seemed to accept that logic. “Fine, but I will not tolerate failures of this sort in the future.”
“Yeah well, if we run into those two twerps again, we’ll just beat ‘em within an inch of their lives before we even try for a Pokémon battle. Not like that blonde boy’d put up a fight, and no way that tall chick would be a problem.”
Vaughn’s smirk returned as he noted, “Still, it would be a shame to muss up a woman with a physique such as hers. Tall she might be, but she had rather bountiful breasts, and long…”
“Spare me the details of your…!” Their boss paused as he considered their description. “Wait. This tall, buxom woman. I assume she had long hair?” At his subordinates’ nod, he queried further, “Was she carrying a pair of swords, wearing gauntlets on her arms?” Further nods, and they found themselves with one more question. “What Pokémon did she field?”
Surprised, Vaughn answered, “A Metang. It had a strange nickname too, ‘Gross-puh-lee-nah’ or something. Why?”
Their supervisor smiled, a dark chuckle escaping his lips. “Oh, this is delicious. Providence has smiled down upon us, gentlemen, and I find myself in the position to kill two birds with one stone, and you will have the magnificent honor of helping I, Jerald Megelle, to regain my redemption and my revenge.”
The two Rocket grunts looked at one another uneasily, but didn’t say a word about their boss’ declaration. It wasn’t their place to question, after all, and besides, it had stopped him from yelling at them.
-
The ferry underway with her aboard, Alex took a moment to relax, finding a seat and enjoying the peace and quiet of the sea. After making a small glance, she pulled two Poké Balls from her belt and sent out the two most prominent members of her team. “Guys, we need to talk.”
“<What about?>” Surtur sat down beside her and gave her a curious glance. “<We don’t have to engage in a rematch with Jasmine, do we? I’m prepared if we are, mind, but…>”
“No, no, it’s not that.” Alex turned to the Murkrow upon her knee and noted, “Maybe it’s just paranoia talking, but I think we need to discuss options. I don’t see the chances of us running into Team Rocket again as being particularly high, but if we do…”
“You don’t call me out, plain and simple. And if you do, I keep my beak shut.” ShadowWarrior looked at them both and noted, “Simple as that.”
“<Or you send him back to Hoenn and totally sidestep the problem.>”
“That’s another idea, but what are the chances that they’ll figure things out and go on the offensive back home? Team Rocket might not have a presence in Hoenn, but someone in their organization might consider it worth it to go after ShadowWarrior there. Cass can handle it, but I’d rather they focus their attention here on us than at home.” Alex sighed and noted, “Of course, I might be overthinking things.”
Surtur shrugged, not about to argue that point. “<Of course, if they did attack us, I expect you’d beat them off. You do have a track record for such things.>”
“True, but I’m not in a rush to test my luck.” She turned to ShadowWarrior and noted, “That said, if push comes to shove, I think we all know how it’ll go.”
“Assuming they’re smart enough to decide I’m not worth it, they’ll back off. If not…” The Murkrow hesitated before finishing, “Well, you do have a track record.”
Alex nodded sadly. “Yeah, I do.”
TBC!
“Let’s finish this, Noctowl! Extrasensory!”
“Poliwrath, Ice Punch!”
The attack wasn’t enough, the Tadpole Pokémon getting beaten down at last by his opponent and dropping unconscious.
“Poliwrath is unable to battle! The match goes to the challenger!”
“Alright!” Jake Logan let out a celebratory whoop as his Noctowl fluttered down in front of him, his sixth badge now in hand.
-
“Six badges at last! Man, this is great!” As he walked back to the Pokémon Center to get his team looked after, the young man beamed with pride and examined his new badge.
“Careful, or you’ll end up losing that thing.” Alex could understand her new friend’s enthusiasm, having indulged in it a few times herself, but she tended to keep her celebrating low-key and tuck the badge away safely at her first convenience. “Anyway, what are you planning on doing now?”
“Well, I’ve got a few ideas.” Jake tucked the badge away in one pocket of his jacket. “Right now, though, I think I’m gonna take a tour through the Whirl Islands, do some training, keep occupied until the Safari Zone’s open again. I mean, no reason for them to not appoint a temporary warden, right? What about you?”
“As tempting as it sounds, I’m not crazy about spending time on the Whirl Islands. I’ve got places to go and Gyms to beat, and the sooner I set off for Ecruteak, the sooner I get there.” The two reached the Pokémon Center, and Alex paused to add, “That said, you getting some training in wouldn’t be a bad thing, and if we ever cross paths again and you want a rematch, I wouldn’t say no.”
Jake grinned and declared, “You’re on! Good luck!”
The two parted, Jake entering the Pokémon Center and Alex making her way back to the harbor for the ferry to Olivine City. As she went, however, Alex almost regretted leaving the major reason behind her hasty departure, namely wanting to leave Cianwood before Team Rocket had a chance of returning and tracking her down again, but between Jake being able to figure that out for himself and the chance, however slight, of them identifying her as having ShadowWarrior specifically instead of a random Murkrow, the reasons for her departure were obvious.
She sighed, and Alex wondered when the day would come that she didn’t have to be paranoid about something, and hoped said day wouldn’t be her last.
-
“Failures! Incompetents! Imbeciles!” The short, sedentary man opposite Vaughn and Brawn angrily yelled at them with such ferocity that they could feel the spittle reach their faces and, were it not for the round-rimmed glasses he wore, they feared his eyeballs would pop from their sockets. “When I returned to this organization, I expected a degree of competency among my subordinates, and yet you retreat from a mission after meeting only slight resistance?!”
Brawn was quick to protest. “Hey, we didn’t have a damn bit of support…!”
“I didn’t ask for excuses, you overly-large, knuckle-dragging ape!”
Vaughn’s characteristic smirk had faded slightly, but he tried his best to put up a brave front as he spoke. “Boss, let’s look at the positive here. I mean, yeah, sure, we failed the mission objective, but it’s not like we lost anything either, and we got away, didn’t we?”
Their boss silently fumed, but seemed to accept that logic. “Fine, but I will not tolerate failures of this sort in the future.”
“Yeah well, if we run into those two twerps again, we’ll just beat ‘em within an inch of their lives before we even try for a Pokémon battle. Not like that blonde boy’d put up a fight, and no way that tall chick would be a problem.”
Vaughn’s smirk returned as he noted, “Still, it would be a shame to muss up a woman with a physique such as hers. Tall she might be, but she had rather bountiful breasts, and long…”
“Spare me the details of your…!” Their boss paused as he considered their description. “Wait. This tall, buxom woman. I assume she had long hair?” At his subordinates’ nod, he queried further, “Was she carrying a pair of swords, wearing gauntlets on her arms?” Further nods, and they found themselves with one more question. “What Pokémon did she field?”
Surprised, Vaughn answered, “A Metang. It had a strange nickname too, ‘Gross-puh-lee-nah’ or something. Why?”
Their supervisor smiled, a dark chuckle escaping his lips. “Oh, this is delicious. Providence has smiled down upon us, gentlemen, and I find myself in the position to kill two birds with one stone, and you will have the magnificent honor of helping I, Jerald Megelle, to regain my redemption and my revenge.”
The two Rocket grunts looked at one another uneasily, but didn’t say a word about their boss’ declaration. It wasn’t their place to question, after all, and besides, it had stopped him from yelling at them.
-
The ferry underway with her aboard, Alex took a moment to relax, finding a seat and enjoying the peace and quiet of the sea. After making a small glance, she pulled two Poké Balls from her belt and sent out the two most prominent members of her team. “Guys, we need to talk.”
“<What about?>” Surtur sat down beside her and gave her a curious glance. “<We don’t have to engage in a rematch with Jasmine, do we? I’m prepared if we are, mind, but…>”
“No, no, it’s not that.” Alex turned to the Murkrow upon her knee and noted, “Maybe it’s just paranoia talking, but I think we need to discuss options. I don’t see the chances of us running into Team Rocket again as being particularly high, but if we do…”
“You don’t call me out, plain and simple. And if you do, I keep my beak shut.” ShadowWarrior looked at them both and noted, “Simple as that.”
“<Or you send him back to Hoenn and totally sidestep the problem.>”
“That’s another idea, but what are the chances that they’ll figure things out and go on the offensive back home? Team Rocket might not have a presence in Hoenn, but someone in their organization might consider it worth it to go after ShadowWarrior there. Cass can handle it, but I’d rather they focus their attention here on us than at home.” Alex sighed and noted, “Of course, I might be overthinking things.”
Surtur shrugged, not about to argue that point. “<Of course, if they did attack us, I expect you’d beat them off. You do have a track record for such things.>”
“True, but I’m not in a rush to test my luck.” She turned to ShadowWarrior and noted, “That said, if push comes to shove, I think we all know how it’ll go.”
“Assuming they’re smart enough to decide I’m not worth it, they’ll back off. If not…” The Murkrow hesitated before finishing, “Well, you do have a track record.”
Alex nodded sadly. “Yeah, I do.”
TBC!