Willy
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Post by Willy on Jun 21, 2014 2:08:05 GMT -5
Tali looked around excitedly after the message from her bracelet clicked off. She was back in the tournament! She had a second chance to prove that she wasn't just another pretty face, but a force to be reckoned with. Sometimes, it was just SO HARD to be a gym leader when NO-ONE really thought you were a threat, you know?
Well I'll show them. Tali thought to herself, I'll show Vito too. NO-ONE is going to think I'm some delicate flower after this.
"YOU HEAR ME, DN2? I'M GONNA ROLL YOU OUT FLAT, AND LOOK GOOD DOING IT!" Tali yelled to affirm her resolve before realizing where she finally was: In the middle of nowhere. Nothing nearby. Nowhere to hide. And there was a good chance there were other competitors nearby somewhere. And she probably just gave herself away.
She quickly ducked down a bit and tried to blend in with some other flowers nearby. A meadow like this one was certainly no place for a rose, but maybe anyone looking wasn't familiar with botany in the least. She could only hope.
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Jun 21, 2014 2:51:26 GMT -5
Saucha the Ampharos wandered cautiously through the meadow, looking down at her bracelet occasionally to make sure it didn't randomly change on her. She wasn't quite sure what to make of suddenly being in this tournament. One minute, she was a prisoner of the Creator, being forced to supply bursts of electrical power to Arceus-knows-what and never seeing the light of day. The next, she was thrown into a tournament and given some semblance of free will, without so much of an explanation as to why. Did the Creator expect her to fight for her freedom? Did he want the other competitors to kill her? Were they prisoners as well? Was this some sort of rich snob's cruel sport?
Whatever the case, she couldn't afford to risk finding out what would happen if she got eliminated, at least not in the obvious way. Until she could find a better source of information, all she could do was wander the field and search for someone who could provide some insight... or at least a point buffer.
Suddenly, a voice resounded from the distance. Saucha stopped. This person didn't sound friendly, and if they were confident enough to loudly reveal their location to the world... they probably weren't a good first target, either. Having no place to immediately hide, she squinted in the general direction of the voice, trying to find the figure that shouted it. All she could see was an endless expanse of green with the occasional small cluster of various flowers.
Against her better judgement, she moved toward the source of the voice regardless. Perhaps it was her desperate need to see another Pokemon who wasn't a guard after such a long imprisonment. As she got closer, she noticed a pair of rather conspicuous-looking roses, one red and one blue. They were both connected to the same relatively large green plant-like structure.
Even more conspicuous was the bracelet wrapped around the stem of one of the roses.
After looking around to make sure nobody was going to jump out at her, she cleared her throat nervously. "Hello...?" she called, somewhat quietly, to the flowers. She kept her distance from them, to give herself enough time to react in case the plants turned hostile, but something in the back of her mind had already identified the plants as mostly harmless.
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Willy
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Post by Willy on Jun 21, 2014 23:23:08 GMT -5
Tali knew as soon as she heard the 'Hello' that she had been found out. Through the blades of grass she could see a large yellow shape. It was HUGE. Well... compared to Tali herself anyway. Tali suddenly found herself... less than confident, and thought that maybe picking her fights was a lot better choice than trying to take on the world right off the bat.
"S-Stay back! I've already... COMPLETELY covered this place in traps! Toxic Spikes even! Come any closer and you'll be BEGGING for mercy in minutes!" Tali tried her best to bluff. But she could already tell it wasn't going to be convincing. She considered her other options. Call for help? That was stupid. Who would help her when everyone was probably out hunting for an easy KO? Run? Maybe. What would Vito do? He wouldn't run. He would stay and fight.
Oh, but Vito was so strong. He could take down anyone. Tali herself, meanwhile, had been knocked out of the tournament as quickly as she could. At this point Tali may as well just lie down and accept the fact that the same thing was probably going to happen here. She could just CRY. She was so USELESS. Why did she have to AGREE to be a part of the DN2 league! She probably would have never even been ACCEPTED into any of these stupid TOURNAMENTS if it weren't for that.
I AM A BEAUTY QUEEN, NOT SOME HARDENED MUSCLE HEAD WHO NEEDS TO BEAT OTHERS TO A PULP TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEMSELVES. I AM CIVILIZED DAMN IT! WHO WAS I EVEN KIDDING WITH ALL OF THIS FIGHTING NONSENSE ANYHOW! Tali chastised herself in her head. She just couldn't BELIEVE she had thought she could do all this. It was absolutely SILLY of her.
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Jun 22, 2014 2:47:02 GMT -5
Saucha flinched slightly at the loud, desperate reply from what was now obviously a Roselia. Upon her mentioning of toxic spikes, the Ampharos took a cursory look at the ground and saw nothing but grass. She was clearly very distressed, and Saucha had a good idea of why that might have been. Just like her, this Roselia had been forced into something she wasn't quite ready for. Saucha knew she could hold her own in a pinch, as she had more than a year of combat experience, but the grass-type seemed to be convinced she didn't have a chance. Saucha couldn't even consider taking a point from her.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you," Saucha calmly assured her. "My name's Saucha. It sounds like you and I are in the same boat here; I know I certainly didn't sign up for this... but I'm not in it for the 'glory and riches' or however they put it. I'm only concerned about survival. If you're worried about your own safety, and think you could use someone to travel with, for protection, then I wouldn't mind having you. There's safety in numbers, after all."
She didn't really consider the ramifications of agreeing to protect someone until after she had committed to doing it. She had had others rely on her for emotional support plenty of times, but never for physical protection. This tournament could very well be full of ruthless hawks, waiting to prey on any unsuspecting weaklings for their points just to get ahead. If anything happened to the Roselia under her watch... well, she didn't want to think about it.
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Willy
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Post by Willy on Jun 22, 2014 3:18:30 GMT -5
Tali listened to the Ampharos' suggestion. It sounded nice, having someone to team up with. Alone she probably faced all kinds of trouble, but with an Ampharos backing her up, she would have a lot more ability to pick her battles. It was definitely something to consider. But there was a bit of a problem.
"What reason do I have to really trust you? I mean, do you honestly expect me to believe some fully evolved beast that's four times my size HONESTLY wants to team up with lil' ol' me? How do I know you aren't going to just strike as soon as I let my guard down? As much as I have to gain from teaming up with you, I don't know that I have a good reason to trust you."
Tali held her defensive stance, not that you could see it with mostly just her roses sticking out through the tall grass, but she held it nonetheless. She wasn't going to let her guard down until she was sure there was no danger.
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Jun 23, 2014 21:57:29 GMT -5
Saucha sighed quietly. She couldn't blame the Roselia for not immediately trusting her, but that didn't make it any less exasperating. "Well, let's be honest here..." she refuted. "If I wanted to steal a point from you, I wouldn't have to earn your trust and then wait until your back was turned. I could have just attacked you on sight. You're lucky I'm the first Pokemon who found you, really. Anyone else would have jumped at the idea of earning an easy point... but me? I'm too soft to prey on the weak like that..."
As she said those words, memories surfaced of her old friends and trainer back in the first dimension. Her trainer was always overly eager to find battles and get experience for his team, but when he ordered Saucha to use a powerful move against an opponent she knew was far weaker than herself, she could never bring herself to do it. Her trainer would then accuse her of being too soft. That a real champion would not hold back for anyone or anything. Saucha loved her trainer, and used to beat herself up over not finding the will to obey him... but thankfully, her teammates were always there to tell her that their trainer was just being delusional as usual. They taught her that mercy and restraint were good things to have, and it didn't make her any less of a champ... if anything, it made her more of one.
Saucha would give anything to see her old friends again, even her trainer. She hoped that doing well in this tournament might help her find a way to get back home and see them again... and having someone on her side would make that task so much easier, physically and emotionally.
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Willy
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Post by Willy on Jun 23, 2014 22:43:00 GMT -5
"Oh please, you're probably just trying to make it so that you don't have to waste any extra effort taking me out. Conserving your energy." Tali was unconvinced, looking for an opportunity to get away from this Ampharos. Maybe Tali could distract her with a blast of petals before running away. That could work. She could easily leave a path of Spikes behind her as well to make it harder to follow her.
But to do that all at once? Ugh. She'd need to make sure Saucha left her an opening to do so. REALLY catch her off guard. Otherwise Tali would have a hard time outrunning her, even with the spikes. So she decided to wait, and watch carefully.
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Jun 24, 2014 1:50:25 GMT -5
Tali's reply was so completely out of the blue for Saucha that she could only stand there with a blank, unbelieving expression on her face. Never before had she encountered a Pokemon so unwilling to trust another soul. It was almost like the Roselia didn't want any help. She was tempted to just leave her there and find a better use for her own time, but that would go against every moral the Ampharos had. The Grass-type was clearly not equipped to survive on her own for very long in a tournament where literally the entire world was out to get you, and she wasn't about to abandon someone like that. But what could she do to earn her trust...?
She looked down to the ground in thought and caught the sight of something she hadn't gotten used to seeing yet. The tournament bracelet. Her starting 3 points stared back at her. The goal was to get to 10 points, but you wouldn't be eliminated unless you were knocked down to 0... it was a crazy thought, but could she willingly give up one of her points to someone else if she wanted?
She thought back to the announcement that the bracelet had given her when she first woke up, recalling that pressing the button again would make it list off a more detailed set of rules. She did so, causing a new recording to play. The recording spared no details about how points changed possession and what was illegal, but eventually it began to explain how to transfer points from one Pokemon to another without engaging in battle. Apparently, this was done by holding down the buttons on both sides of the device for 3 seconds, while pointing the arm at the recipient of the point. This only worked while the owner of the watch was conscious and performing the action themselves, which was good to hear.
"Did you hear that?" Saucha asked, maintaining a calm demeanor. "I can transfer one of my points to you. I'm going to do this, whether you want me to or not. After that, if you still don't want to trust me, I'm going to walk away and we never have to see each other again." She figured one point was easy enough to make up. At the very least, losing twice in a row was not likely considering all of Saucha's combat experience. She just hoped beyond hope that this would convince the Roselia to trust her.
Holding out her bracelet-bearing arm towards Tali, Saucha placed her hand on the device so that her fingers were resting over the two buttons. Taking a deep breath, she pressed them both at the same time. With each passing second, the watch beeped once as if to ask for confirmation, until finally, a series of higher-pitched beeps indicated that the transaction was finished. Saucha's bracelet now displayed the number 2, and glancing at Tali's, she saw that it indeed showed a 4.
"There, was that so hard?" Saucha said as though she were a doctor that had just given an immunization shot to a child. "Now, what do you say? Do you trust me?"
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Willy
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Post by Willy on Jun 25, 2014 20:43:17 GMT -5
As the Ampharos explained her plan to give her a point, Tali kept her stance. Suuuure, you're gonna give me a point. I know your game. You're going to let me think that and then pounce when you think I'm not ready. But I'm ready.
As soon as Saucha looked up to ask the question, Tali made her move. She fired off a blizzard of petals directly at the Ampharos, and then ran. As she did, she dropped Toxic Spikes behind her.
She got about 100 yards away before finally looking down at her watch to see a 4 instead of a 3. The Ampharos REALLY had just given her a point. She couldn't just... RUN from that kind of generosity. That was unbecoming of a lady. Tali stopped in her tracks, and turned to face the Ampharos. She really wasn't sure what to say.
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Jun 28, 2014 17:06:24 GMT -5
The only response Saucha received was a flurry of sharp petals in her face. "Ack!" she cried as she threw up her arms to defend against the grass-type attack. It was a somewhat painful attack; the Roselia was a bit stronger than she looked. Saucha hadn't expected such a sudden retaliation, but at the same time, she wasn't surprised, particularly when she looked up to see Tali high-tailing it out of there and leaving a trail of spikes. The Ampharos sighed. 'I would have let you just walk away...' she thought. 'Well, at least the point I gave her might help her survive longer...'
When Tali stopped, however, finally noticing the extra point, a sliver of hope returned to Saucha. The gesture did make a difference after all. Saucha could tell that she was legitimately confused by it, as she simply stood there speechlessly staring at her. "See," Saucha broke the silence, "I'm not making any attempt to chase you. That point is yours now. You can walk away now and maybe survive a little longer in the wild, or you could stay with me and I'll make sure nobody takes you for easy prey. And, if you want, I can teach you what I know about getting the upper hand in a battle. You have nothing to lose but the point I just gave you. Actually, even then..." She thought back to the additional rules that she had just heard. "I think one of the rules is that one Pokemon cannot exchange points between another Pokemon twice in a row, including when a point is willingly transferred like this. So even if I did attack you, I couldn't get my point back. So there would be no... well, no point." Saucha stood in one place, patiently waiting for Tali's answer. There was nothing else she could do to convince her to stay.
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