And so it begins. (open)

[Slate Aspen]

Stretching his arms over his head momentarily and yawning as he did so, Slate lowered his arms and crossed them on his chest, clad in his usual dark, nondescript clothing. Despite the heat given off by the surrounding hardpan and lack of humidity, Slate was enjoying himself. Besides, all he was doing at the moment was resting in the shade of a large rock formation, smoothed out by decades, possibly centuries, of sudden rain, wind, sand, dust and heat. The area he was lying in was in the shade, and from the cool feel of the rock likely was protected from the sun for most of the day - then again, the heat never really bothered Slate given that he was born in the tropical Hoenn region. It didn't really matter, anyways - as long as the companions he'd travelled with for all of those years were comfortable, so was he.

Shifting slightly, Slate glanced down from the rock ledge he was resting on to see what appeared to be an oversized blue metallic boulder with a smaller, rounded white object on top of it and what appeared to be an oversized beetle next to it. Having disliked the sun due to the heat his (for lack of a better word) metallic body absorbed, Metagross had elected to stay in the shade, his four massive legs drawn in close to his body. Heracross and Shelgon, sharing the same opinion, had grouped together with Metagross, and the three pokemon were now seemingly transfixed as they watched Scyther and Sceptile going through their usual routine out in the sunlight, the mantis and reptilian like pokemon instead revelling in the sun and heat as they traded blows at a speed nearly impossible to follow with the human eye - Slate was only able to keep up with their movements out of sheer experience. Glancing over to make sure that she hadn't wandered off and gotten lost again, Slate saw Pupitar further in the shade, asleep unlike the others. Stretching again, Slate closed his eyes. They'd remain here a bit longer since they had nothing better to do at the moment, and begin moving again within an hour or two.

[ALYSSA AKIYAMA]

Alyssa felt the heat of the day against her back, yet the wind hitting her face and streamlining her body cooled her off significantly. It almost made her feel as though she needed a jacket. Curling her fingers in the coarse, rather short fur of her pokemon, she leaned forward, lowering her head behind the fluffy, cream-colored fur of Arcanine, upon whos back she was perched as the pokemon ran across the sand of the Sira Desert. Being out here, though hot, was nothing she couldnt handle. Having been born in the practically tropical Hoenn region, the dry, arid heat of the desert was almost soothing. She glanced down at her belt, looking at the pokeballs on it. With her, she had her Arcanine, Swampert, Cannon, Lucario, and Daybreak. She had an extra space, waiting for a pokeball to accommodate it. She sighed slightly as Arcanine continued to run, his pawsteps becoming more and more audible as the sand turned to stone.

No luck so far... Alyssa thought, almost in despair. She had come out to the desert in search of pokemon, to expand her collection and make new friends. There hadnt even been a single sighting. Sure, there had been hints, like ruts in the side of stones that indicated a passing Steelix, but no actual pokemon. Looking up again, over Arcanine's head, Alyssa saw the massive stone upon which they were running coming to an end. Great... she thought, biting her lip slightly, glancing around. "Arcanine, slow down..." she said easily, feeling the muscles of the pokemon beneath her relaxing as their pace lessened. Giving a small tug on its fur with her left hand, she guided him towards the steep edge where he stopped, peering over it with his trainer.

"Hmm..." she thought aloud, leaning over to look at her pokemon. "What do you think, Arcanine?" she asked him. A deep bark escaped Arcanine, and he shook his head in response to her voice. Smiling a bit, she looked down and wrapped her arms further around his neck, curling her fingers in his fur. "Alright, boy, you can jump down now." The old, weathered, rock upon which they were standing wasnt all too tall, the jump wouldnt be hard at all on trainer or pokemon. She felt him back away from the edge before he gave a small jump over it. To lessen the force that would have met them at the ground, were they to have fallen all the way, Arcanine jumped from various, small jut-outs in the rock face to another before he reached the ground, driving up a cloud of sand and dust when his paws met the ground. He shook his massive head and began trotting away as Alyssa sneezed multiple times, ridding her lungs of some of the dust that had gotten in.

Rounding the corner of the rock and sitting up slightly, the first sight that caught Alyssa's gaze was the sight of a Sceptile and Scyther engaged in what seemed to be a battle at near-blinding speed. Her eyes couldnt keep up nearly half the moves they dealt against each other, but she sat up straight, anyway, and put her hands on her hips, watching the sight before her. She bit her lip in slight thought. She had promised her pokemon that she would let them out at some point on the journey, but she had yet to do so, because she had strictly been traveling. I should do that...soon... Alyssa thought, glancing at the large rock casting shade on her and her fire-type pokemon. They would probably enjoy that...

[Slate Aspen]

Feeling the slight, subtle change in the atmosphere, Slate opened his eyes and stretched again. Sitting up simply by tightening his abdominals rather than using his hands, Slate glanced around to see what had caused the change. Sceptile and Scyther's routine had changed somewhat, with Sceptile's back now to Slate and his team mates below, with the canyon entrance to his left and Scyther's right now within their field of view, but obscured from Slate by a wall of rock. Glancing over again at Pupitar and seeing that she was still asleep, Slate drew his legs in and stoop up to his full height of 6' 2", rolling his shoulders to loosen them before moving to the ledge and dropping down.

Falling a good twenty feet and landing in a crouch before smoothly standing, Slate reflected on the fact that he likely wouldn't be able to keep up with any of his team out in the wilderness like this had he not trained himself along with them, and was once again grateful for his particular philosophical views. Metagross, feeling the slight gust from Slate's drop, extended his legs and stood to turn and face Slate, Shelgon electing to simply remain on top of Metagross in his current resting position - Heracross, as always, remained somewhat different, instead continuing to observe Scyther and Sceptile's duel.

Smoothly walking to clear the corner of the rock wall with Metagross following close behind, Slate saw a massive orange pokemon, an Archanine, along with one of the last people he expected to see out there in the middle of the Sira Desert. Left hand in his pocket and his usual apathetic expression on his face, Slate moved further out so that he was sure Alyssa would see him and raised his right hand in something akin to a halfhearted, lazy wave or acknowledgement, Metagross clearing the rock corner with Shelgon atop as Slate did so.

[ALYSSA AKIYAMA]

Out of the corner of her eye, Alyssa saw movement. Looking over, she saw none other than another Elite Four member, Slate. Her face brightened significantly as she recognized him, his half-hearted wave returned with a pleased, more enthusiastic one of her own. He was still a distance off beneath the large rock, and she gently urged Arcanine towards him. The pokemon moved warily beneath her, keeping his pawsteps controlled and steady. Ah, thats right...he doesnt know Slate... she thought, realizing why her loyal pokemon was behaving abnormally so suddenly. Stopping about ten feet away, an easily cleared distance, Arcanine crouched somewhat, a low growl resonating from his throat.

Frowning a bit Alyssa leaned to the side to look at her Arcanine slightly. "Cut it out, Arcanine...Slate's a friend. Be more polite." she told him sternly. A small, almost whimper-like sound of submission came from his throat and the pokemon stood straighter, turning its head to watch the Scyther and Sceptile move. Nodding a bit with a pleased smile, Alyssa looked back to Slate. "Hey, Slate!" she said happily. "Didnt expect to see you out here. How's it going?" she asked rather jovially. She opened her mouth to ask a question but never got to, for Arcanine's muscles tensed beneath her before he sat down with an audible whump, and sent his trainer sliding backwards off his back, landing in a rather disoriented heap on his fluffy tail.

Blinking with surprise, and unable to move for a moment, Alyssa quickly put together just what had happened in her mind. She blushed a bit. How embarrassing! "Arcanine!" she exclaimed, on her feet in an instant and brushing sand off her clothes. "What was that for?!" In response, the orange-and-black striped pokemon opened its jaws in a massive yawn before it leaned forward and stretched its paws out, resting its chin on its legs and closing its eyes some with a massive sigh. Sighing a bit herself as her mouth stretched in a smile, Alyssa walked forward and gently pet his head. "Well, dont worry about it...it's fine..."

Looking back up to Slate, she felt her smile turn a bit more childish, like it did whenever she talked to somebody. "Anyway...what are you doing out here? I didnt expect to see anyone out here, for the matter..." she stated, watching the Scyther and Sceptile move before a blue figure from around the side of the rock caught Alyssa's attention. I should let them out, too... she thought, glancing at her belt. Before she gave Slate the chance to respond, she breezed on, a slightly concerned expression crossing her face as she held two of the pokeballs, now enlarged to their normal size, in both of her hands.

"You dont mind, do you?" she asked, hoping he didnt. "I made a point to tell them..." she raised the pokeballs slightly and nodded towards her belt "...that I'd let them out at some point, but Ive done nothing but get here since I left..." she stated. As it was with most things, the content of her pokemon was a first priority.

[Slate Aspen]

As Alyssa waved back Slate lowered his right arm and returned the hand to its customary place in his pocket to mirror his left side. Metagross, having fully cleared the rock wall and standing directly behind Slate less than three feet behind the trainer, turned to face the new arrivals. As Arcanine growled slightly at Slate Metagross took on a slightly more threatening posture himself, lowering the front end of his body to slant slightly from the back and giving Arcanine a glare that, despite the lack of a truely expressable face, still managed to convey exactly what would happen if Slate were to be attacked. Slate, feeling the movement, glanced back and pulled his right hand out of the pocket to place it on the gray "eyebrow" above Metagross's right eye. Breaking off his glare, Metagross nontheless remained directly behind Slate. Shelgon, however, appeared to notice none of this as he fixed a blank gaze on Alyssa.

"Pretty well. haven't gotten any word at all of anyone promising from the Gym Leaders, so I thought I'd take a tour around the region. To be frank I kind of accepted the position without ever travellling all that extensively since arriving, and it's a good opportunity to develop my team a bit." Slate said calmly, his expression remaining the same when Alyssa was thrown off of Arcanine's back.

"And no, I don't mind. Just make sure they don't wake Pupitar up - she's sleeping up on the ledge around the corner."

[ALYSSA AKIYAMA]

Alyssa nodded a bit while she listened to Slate's reasoning as to why he was out here. She nodded a bit sympathetically. She could understand that. Luckily enough, she had been offered the position after making her way once through the region, but she, too, had never actually explored everything it had to offer. Her eyes lit up a bit as he said he didnt mind. "Alright, thanks!" she said, cheerfully, turning to the side and opening the two pokeballs in her hand, her Swampert and Lucario appearing once the white light creating their previous silhouettes faded. She quickly replaced the two with the remaining two on her belt, opening those pokeballs as well, revealing Daybreak and Cannon, an Espeon and Metagross of her own, respectively.

They all blinked and looked around, their eyes traveling in various directions as whatever they saw caught their interest. Swampert's eyes traveled, after much glancing about, to the Sceptile and Scyther battling, while Lucario simply looked around before crossing his legs beneath him and placing his forepaws on his knees. Alyssa recognized the stance he took, it was one of meditation to hone his mind. Glancing at Cannon, she saw it turn slightly and take a few steps forward in the direction of Slate's Metagross, as though sizing it up to compare. She rolled her eyes slightly. Be nice... she thought.

Looking down when she heard the swish of her pants, her gaze met Espeon's deep violet eyes peering up at her, the forked tail quivering as she listened to the surroundings, her large ears picking up everything there was to hear. Espee... she purred. Smiling, Alyssa crouched to stroke her gently. Looking up at her other pokemon she spoke. "Alright..." she had their attention at once, for they all gave indication of having heard her. "Have some fun, but dont wake Slate's Pupitar. Ill have something for you all to eat in a short while..." she said.

They all acknowledged her and stayed in the same position, save for Swampert, who crept to the edge of the shade to get a better view of the duel between the Scyther and Sceptile, seemingly itching to join. Looking back at Slate, Alyssa smiled. "Yeah, I know what you mean...it seems not that many people are progressing through gyms. Its a bit unfortunate, really...I want to see as many trainers as possible and how they've bonded with their pokemon..." Glancing around, she felt as though she were being watched, and her eyes were drawn to Slate's Shelgon's deep, yellow, unblinking gaze. Tilting her head slightly to the side, Alyssa stared curiously back, waiting a bit before taking pokeblocks and berries from her bag to offer to all the pokemon around.

[Slate Aspen]

"No problem. I'd be a bit if a hypocrite if I said no, and Pupitar's the only one I can see actually starting something. As long as they don't wake her up it'll be fine, and I'll just step in if she does wake up." Slate said, once again replacing his right hand in the respective pocket once Metagross had calmed down. Finally tired of simply sitting still, Shelgon stood up on his relatively stubby legs and hopped down from atop Metagross, slowly and calmly trundling over the stand next to Slate as Alyssa released her pokemon. As Alyssa's Metagross moved up to his own, Slate's did little more than give it a neutral, sideways stare, not bothering to turn to fully face the other pokemon. While it may have appeared to be rudeness or arrogance to most other trainers, Slate merely ignored it - he'd known Metagross long enough to know that it merely meant he wasn't interested in fighting or conversing, and after a few moments of staring he turned and began moving back towards his place in the shade next to Heracross, who had seemingly remained completely oblivious to the new arrivals.

Slate himself turned to watch Sceptile and Scyther's duel - while he'd seen it countless times before it never seemed to get old, and was still impressive despite the fact that he had long since forbidden them from using techniques in their duels lest they risk injury away from a Pokemon Center. Hearing Alyssa's comment regarding his earlier statement, Slate casually shrugged, not looking away from the two green pokemon.

"In all fairness, this is a pretty out of the way region. Hoenn and Sinnoh have been populated by people and have had established leagues since the dawn of recorded history, and Kanto and Johto have a single league for two regions. Once you consider that, it's not at all unusual that a remote area like this would get few challengers in comparison." Slate said. As he finished speaking the duel began to subtly tip in Sceptile's favor, the mantis like pokemon's blows, parries and footwork beginning to become slightly more frenzied while the grass pokemon's form remained pristine and crisp, taking full advantage of the increased sloppiness of Scyther's form and forcing him into a gradual, downward spiral.

[maemi]

A Wild pokemon has appeared!

Makuhita
Male, level 15
Attacks: Tackle, Focus Energy, Sand Attack and Arm Thrust


Sandshrew
Female, level 9
Attacks: Scratch, Defense Curl, Sand Attack and Poison Sting

It was so hot out and the Makuhita didn't like it. He just wanted to find some shade and sit down for a bit. Maybe take a relaxing nap before going to torment some other pokemon for a while. As you see this Makuhita is somewhat of a jerk and a bully around these parts. He acts all tough, but really he just wants friends. He had a friend ones but he was caught by a trainer and taken away from him. Ever since then he has been taking out his lonely frustration on everyone around him.

Climbing down the rocks he found some shade and was very glad, but something caught his eye it was a sleeping pokemon - Pupitar. He was very curious about her as he had never seen a Pupitar before and so he walked towards the pokemon. He didn't care that she was a sleep he wanted to touch her. So getting close to the point of almost standing on her he reached out his left arm and moved his hand to touch the sleeping pokemon. Inches away he stopped and looked over towards the two fighting pokemon. Oh how that looked like fun. So without warning nor without really caring that she was a sleep he attacked using arm thrust. Needless to say he wanted a fight and was going to get it even if he had to beat the poor Pupitar to get it.

He hadn't see the trainers nor the other pokemon. If he had maybe he would have picked a fight with one of them. Oh well there was nothing he could do about it now. "MAKUHITA!" He yelled while he attacked. It was his way of saying that this was his home and as such he could do as he wanted. That being said he did just that.

Now it wasn't like the Makuhita was a lone out bothering the trainers and their pokemon. No a little Sandshrew was also out only she hadn't been bothering anyone. No instead she had been out looking for water and just happened to see the bully of the block. She was scared of him, but she figured he would lead her to water sooner or later. So she had silently followed him. Realizing that a fight was about to happen, or possibly was about to happen she ran away from the area that the two was in. Running down the wall of rocks she trip and tumbled for about six feet landing with a thud. Getting up slowly she looked around to see a bunch of other pokemon around her and scared as she was just one little Sandshrew she curled herself up defensively using defense curl to protect herself. She probably should have hid, but she didn't.

Makuhita
Target: Pupitar
Attack used: Arm Thrust

Sandshrew
Target: None
Attacks used: Defense curl

ooc: This is my first time doing this so please forgive me if I did something wrong.

[ALYSSA AKIYAMA]

Alyssa's gaze moved from the Shelgon's eyes to Cannon as it hopped off of the back of Slate's Metagross. After a brief moment of a...'ritualistic' sizing up of the other Metagross, it relaxed and wandered next to Lucario, lowering itself so that the bottom of its body rested upon the sand. Alyssa bit her lip slightly in thought. It wasnt as though they came across another Metagross too often, so the strange behavior must have been from simple curiosity. That was easy enough to detect, which was a rather welcome change from the normally unreadable expression in Cannon's eyes. Now, the red eyes, sort of close-set between the large, gray "X" in the middle of its face wandered slowly over everything he could see, simply observing.

Alyssa sighed silently and looked up at Slate as he spoke again "True as that may be, I would have rushed to challenge the Elite Four as soon as possible provided I had trained my team to a point where I knew there was no way possible that I could loose." she shrugged slightly "Although...I do miss Hoenn some. Ive been joking with myself a bit, saying that if we dont get a challenger within....oh, "x" amount of time, Ill go home and visit, but I never have." She laughed slightly before glancing at Lucario, whos sudden movement caught her attention. The locks of fur behind his head quivered and he raised his head, angling his pointed nose in the direction of the steep face of the rock that was sheltering them. Had he detected an unfamiliar aura? Or had he heard something?

Glancing down, she noticed that Daybreak was suddenly very still as well. She moved her forked tail to the side, and angled her ears toward the just-out of the rock behind which Alyssa assumed Slate's Pupitar slept. It must be a wild pokemon... Alyssa thought. Suddenly, she felt the brush of Daybreak's silken fur as her Espeon darted out of her hands, her violet eyes glowing blue. Standing sharply, Alyssa watched her pokemon as she used the side of the rock face and small footholds in the sides of the jut-out to climb it. At the top, she heard a sharp exclamation from her pokemon.

Espee, Espee!

The sound was threatening, and she noticed Espeon grow very tense. That often happened when she used her psychic abilities. Taking off at a small jog, Alyssa came around the rock face with a sliding halt, a small scene met before her. A Makuhita had its arms outstretched towards, clearly in a manner which indicated the want to fight, Slate's Pupitar, whos image was distorted and constantly changing. Looking up, she saw her pokemon's gaze focused intently on the Pupitar. She's protecting her... Alyssa realized. But...the Makuhita had clearly tried to attack Slate's Pupitar....had Daybreak managed to get a protective psychic barrier around the Pupitar in time?

[Slate Aspen]

Slate simply nodded once to reply to Alyssa, not really bothering to mention that there were plenty of shades of gray as well - he himself had fallen into that somewhate ambiguous category. He had collected every badge in the Johto region just less than two and a half years ago and was perfectly qualified to challenge the Indigo League, but he hadn't - truth be told, he'd only been gathering the badges so he could pass the Victory Road checkpoint and travel into Kanto. As he reflected on that Slate felt a slight chill go up the back of his spine, and not seeing anything immediately wrong but far too experienced to simply ignore the sensation, Slate scratched the back of his head in exasperation. As he turned around to walk back to where Pupitar and his bag was when he noticed that Alyssa's Lucario and Espeon had become agitated as well, and moved to clear the rock wall's corner.

Back on the ledge, Makuhita's attack struck Pupitar, only to ricochet off of the curvature of her steel hard, armor like shell. Eyes slowly opening and not moving even an inch, Pupitar's gaze slowly shifted over to the fighting type until her left eye was as far as it would go to the side and locked on Makuhita who was less than a foot away. Despite the lack of an actual facial expression of body language, that one eye alone was enough to radiate killing intent. Letting out a brief jet of condensed air to bounce herself up so that she was balanced on the bottom tip of her cacoon like body, she slowly rotated to face the smaller pokemon, both of her red eyes now locked onto the fighting type pokemon.

At the bottom of the cliff, Metagross simply stopped short and stared as the Sandshrew tumbled down and curled up only a handful of feet away from his face, Heracross turning to watch as well. Scyther and Sceptile, unsure as to what had caused the sudden change in atmosphere, broke apart after their next blow and turned to face the ruckus, Scyther heaving slightly from his ragged breath but Sceptile appearing as energetic and collected as he had when they'd started.

[maemi]

A Wild pokemon has appeared!

Makuhita
Male, level 15
Attacks: Tackle, Focus Energy, Sand Attack and Arm Thrust


Sandshrew
Female, level 9
Attacks: Scratch, Defense Curl, Sand Attack and Poison Sting

Makuhita didn't care who he fought as long as he got to ruin someone's day. Coming across the sleeping Pupitar just seemed like the perfect time to pick a fight and annoy someone by ruining their nap. Of course Makuhita probably shouldn't have tried to pick on someone as big as Pupitar was compared to him. Oh well even as she got up and looked at him with those red eyes of hers he showed no fear. Well he tired not anyways if someone saw some they should keep that to themselves. Now despite the Espeon trying to protect the now awake Pupitar, Makuhita paid no mind to her. After all he seemed her attempt at shielding the other pokemon fail with his arm thrust sort of landing. Sure it just seemed to bounce off od her body and make his hands sore, but he had a plan. Using Focus Energy to make his hands all a glow he then took a step back to balance himself better. It was then that he tried a combination attack with Focus Energy and Arm Thrust. Pulling his arms back he let out another Arm thrust attack aiming for Pupitar. Even if it was useless and he just became tired from doing it. He would give up for he was way to stubborn to do that.

Which was very different then the scared Sandshrew down below she had never seen anything like Metagross before and as the pokemon just looked at her she uncurled herself. Looking around nervously she turned and started to kick up sand in a weak sand attack. Ones she stop kicking the sand she ran towards the stone wall. Trying to climb up it to get away she wasn't getting anyways as she just couldn't pull herself up.



Makuhita
Target: Pupitar
Attack used: Arm Thrust with aid from focus energy

Sandshrew
Target: Metagross
Attacks used: Sand attack

[ALYSSA AKIYAMA]

Alyssa simply stayed rooted to the spot as she looked between the offending Makuhita and Slate's Pupitar, which was now awake and facing the fighting-type pokemon. Though there was no easy way to read the expression on Pupitar's hidden face, Alyssa could tell simply from a glance to the side of her eyes that she wasnt happy. And I wouldnt be either... she thought. If somebody punched her, even if the weak punches simply bounced off her body, she would respond probably by kicking them in the face. After a moment, Alyssa looked up at Daybreak, reading her expression easily.

Though the blue glow that overtook the Espeon's deep violet eyes when she was using her psychic powers in any way mostly hid the light change within them, Alyssa could still tell that her friend was a bit distressed. Oh Daybreak... she thought a bit sympathetically. Though the Espeon was a brilliant battler, Alyssa knew the pokemon preferred for things to stay peaceable...but in a case like this that was out of the question. She saw the hardly visible barrier around Slate's Pupitar change a bit. It expanded slightly, becoming more encompassing rather than protective.

It took her a moment, but Alyssa soon realized what Daybreak was doing. Being an intelligent pokemon, and also having traveled with Alyssa enough to learn about other types of pokemon, Daybreak must have remembered that like its evolution, Tyranitar, a rampage could result in the destruction of the surrounding landscape quite easily. Alyssa was quite sure that the more expansive barrier around Pupitar had the purpose that, if Pupitar were to deal out any 'earth-shattering' attacks against the Makuhita, the expansive range of it would be minimized, by Daybreak using the Psychic power to take a good portion of the energy from Pupitar's attack and turn it against itself, effectively neutralizing what she could without harming either of the two pokemon.

Good thinking, Daybreak... Alyssa said, looking at her pokemon fondly. Though it may not be able to work for too long, it was still a defensive measure for the sake of the land. It was then that something caught her eye. Not the weak slap-up of sand towards Slate's Metagross' face, not the tiny Sandshrew trying to climb the side of the wall, but instead the slow but evenly paced movement of her Swampert, who approached the tiny mouse pokemon curiously. She knew her Swampert wouldnt hurt it at all unless she told him to, but instead he reached his large hands forward and picked it up, holding it at an arms length and looking at it. "Swam...pert?" Judging by his tone and relaxed demeanor, Alyssa had a fair guess that he was trying to convince the little Sandshrew that he meant it no harm.

Sighing to herself, she glanced at Slate, figuring all she could do at least was wait for things to calm down a bit between the pokemon.

[Slate Aspen]

Pupitar, red irises narrow and compact body vibrating with barely contained rage, lost all control the moment the Makuhita's hands began glowing with the clear intent of launching another attack. Not bothering to dodge the next arm thrust, and likely not even noticing it to begin with, Pupitar seemed to jerk forward as she jetted straight at Makuhita with speed that seemed impossible for a rock type, the three topmost spikes on her body glowing white as she used Iron Head with the intention of smearing the impudent little fighting type against the rock wall she'd been leaning against - indeed, if the attack connected she'd end up carrying him into the wall with enough force to shatter the cliff above it, and it would happen even if she missed the other pokemon. She would likely be unharmed inside of her armored shell, but it'd be unlikely that the other pokemon would get off as easy, either hit by the powerful attack, the crumbling rock or both.

Down below, Metagross simply ignored the sand attack, not even blinking as it proved completely ineffective and simply glancing at Swampert as it moved forward to pick the other pokemon up. Sceptile, however, was able to see Pupitar's rage induced charge from his position away from the wall, and gave a brief vocalized command to Metagross. The Iron Leg pokemon, understanding full well the likely outcome given how many times he'd seen Pupitar fight before, made no effort to move, instead taking on a slight blue glow along his silhouette as he prepared to use Psychic should any of the debris fall their way.

Slate, rounding the corner to stand next to Alyssa and Espeon, simply stood with his hands now hanging loosely out of his pockets.

Ah hell. Who picked the fight this time?

[maemi]

A Wild pokemon has appeared!

Makuhita
Male, level 15
Attacks: Tackle, Focus Energy, Sand Attack and Arm Thrust


Sandshrew
Female, level 9
Attacks: Scratch, Defense Curl, Sand Attack and Poison Sting

There was no nice way of saying other then Makuhita screwed up and picked a fight with a pokemon that he shouldn't have. As the Espeon's shield attack things made him wonder what was going on he pushed it from his mind. Or rather he was pushed out of his mind. The Pupitar's attack landed without a hitch. Honestly he hadn't taken the pokemon seriously. He didn't think the rock with eyes was a threat to him. Oh boy was he ever wrong. Being pushed hard by the blow he was pushed with so much force into the rock wall that the rocks broke around him and feel. Needless to say it only took that one hit to knock him out and as the rocks fall so did he. He barely missed hitting the side of the wall as he fall at first. However he did hit it when he was almost to the bottom and that made him sort of bounce.

His path was clear. Well clear where he was heading to land. And as the Swampert offered its hand and said something to the Sandshrew she just looked up and froze. The fighting type was on a beeline to land right on her. Almost being like deer in head lights she stayed there looking up frozen in fear for a moment before she pretty much jumped to Swampert as she curled up using defense curl while she shook.

Makuhita
Target: Pupitar
Attack used: None

Sandshrew
Target: Swampert
Attacks used: Defense Curl

[Slate Aspen]

Pupitar, not finished with her opponent by a long shot and still seeing red, jetted herself over the ledge after him to follow along with the cloud of rock and dust. Whether or not he was done fighting didn't matter to her - she would beat him into submission until he gave in or acknowledged that he'd been in the wrong.

Metagross, already prepared thanks to Sceptile's warning, simply directed his unblinking red gaze upwards without any other movement. As he did so the leading rocks and debris simply appeared to change direction in midair just above the group to fall harmlessly to the sides. As he was moving the oncoming debris aside he unknowingly shunted Makuhita aside as well, the other pokemon blending in with the rocks in the split second Metagross glanced at him, although the Makuhita landed safely among one of the smaller piles of pebbles and sand. Pupitar, however, hadn't let him out of her sight for an instant, and let loose another burst of compressed air to follow after, landing only feet away and before taking a moment to regain her balance, eyes locked onto the other pokemon the entire time.