Follow the Yellow Brick Road

[Zorrel]

ooc// I dunno, I just thought I saw that happen on the show at one point - it coulda be like Protect or somethin though x3

ic// "Use Counter again!" Lith shouted as Poochyena came back at the Riolu with a tougher looking tackle. Blaedyn tried to set up another Counter attack, but he couldn't brace himself in time - that Poochyena was fast. He was hit hard by his enemy's tackle, and was sent sliding backwards. He'd somewhat hoped the battle would be over soon; after all, he still hadn't been healed since his last one. Lithalia winced again when she saw his attack had failed. "It's alright, Blaedyn, you're still getting the hang of it," she assured him. "Now, this time try a Blaze Kick!" Right after he'd finished sliding back from the last hit, Blaedyn kicked up off the ground and rushed at his opponent as his back paw was engulfed in flames.

Lith then turned her gaze back at Ralts. A smirk came on her face again when she saw how well the young Pokemon seemed to be doing. "You both are doing awesome!" she shouted enthusiastically, and Alex followed by giving an ecouraging bark from the sidelines; they were both having a pretty fun time, despite the somewhat dangerous situation they were all in.

[Birdybot]

ooc// I don't watch the show, I just go by what's in the games. I think Blaedyn knows Detect, which is like Protect. I'm fairly sure that Counter moves last and deals double damage of whatever you were hit with.

ic// The Grunts looked a little more worried now. Lith was a tough trainer, but they could beat her, right? After all, they could do anything... or so they'd been told. Perhaps the training instructor wasn't always telling the truth when he said that they were awesome and would win anything. Well, regardless of what was the truth and what wasn't, right now, they had to win this Pokémon battle. Cries of "Poochyena, Howl and Tackle!" and "Zubat, Leech Life!"[/color] went out from the Grunts.

Poochyena was struck badly by the Blaze Kick. The puppy would have felt considerable pain if the attack hadn't been on fire, but, since it was, the Poochyena felt even more pain. A lot of damage had been dealt on that turn, so much so that one might call it a critical hit. Poochyena was weaker now, but still had a couple of moves left in her. She let out a long, wavering Howl, which boosted her Attack stat for the charging Tackle she used next. This Tackle was much slower than the others, because she wasn't properly recovered from the Blaze Kick.

Zubat, meanwhile, was just as weak. True, he hadn't had any critical hits, but each time Ralts used it's only offensive attack, it dealt a lot of damage thanks to the type advantage Pychic types had over it. Ralts used another Confusion at the same time Zubat used a Leech life. Zubat felt terrible pain from the attack, but then felt soothed as health returned to it through the Leech Life.[/size]

[Zorrel]

ooc// Oh, well, I never knew that about Counter then. You learn something new every day!!!!11

ic// Lithalia was just as determined as the grunts to win. What they were doing to those Pokemon was horrible, and she had to save Ralts' parents, no matter what. She noticed that both the enemy Zubat and Poochyena were getting a lot weaker; but she also saw that Blaedyn was getting weaker as well. Ralts looked alright, and she assured herself with a slight nod that it would be able to hold on fine for a while. Then, with a stern, unwavering look on her face, she focused hard on the battle, a determined shine in her deep blue eyes. "Dodge it, Blaedyn!" she shouted out. Blaedyn, after hearing his trainer's command, leapt to the right and out of the way of the charging Poochyena, just barely escaping the attack as she sped by. "Alright, now, use Quick Attack," she said, smiling.

Blaedyn, without skipping a beat, kicked off the ground and shot at the Poochyena with decent speed; while it wasn't as fast as it could have been due to the short distance, he still put in his all into his attack. ~I hope you're ready for the end, Poochyena!~ he bantered as he charged back at his oppenent.

Alexucard gave a bark in agreement at what Blaedyn had said, amused that the young Pokemon could still be so confident like that in the heat of battle. "Heh, you guys are so going down," he teased the two dressed in black.

[Birdybot]

The Grunts were now throuroughly annoyed and worried. They could see that Lith clearly had the upper hand now, and it was just a matter of time before she won the battle. They could still see a few shreds of hope, and they clung to these despite the fact that they were being taken away more and more on every turn. Well, as they were taught; never give up. They couldn't give up! They were Team Tsuasa!
"Dodge, then Tackle!" "Supersonic!"[/color]

Poochyena knew that she would have to dodge at the last moment, or Blaedyn would simply change course and hit her anyway; she had learned this from past experience. She waited as long as she possibly could, when the Riolu was practically touching her. He struck her tail, but other than that, she was still in the battle. The puppy would probably only need one more hit for Blaedyn to win the battle. She ignored this fact, and charged at him in a Tackle.

Zubat, meanwhile, sent out waves of sound to Ralts in order to confuse it. Now, Ralts saw a perfect oppertunity here. Focusing it's mind on the attack rather than the attacker, with a slight flick in the right direction from a Confusion attack, the Supersonic whizzed back to Zubat. The Poison type bat became confused, dropping from the air to almost fall at random intervals. This would make things a lot easier for Ralts, too.[/size]

[Zorrel]

Lithalia could see the grunts starting to worry, and was comforted slightly by this fact; she just hoped that they couldn't see the worries that she had of her own. She stole a glance at Alex; he was sitting by her side, intensely watching the battle with fire in his eyes, silently cheering on Ralts and Blaedyn. Then she surveyed the battlefield herself, quickly determining her position in the battle. Ralts was still doing great, better than she'd expected, she guiltily thought. It had a lot of good tactics for one so young. She watched Blaedyn just miss the Poochyena by a hair, and saw her using another tackle. That Poochyena had just used Howl, and it would probably hurt a lot if she hit Blaedyn at full force. But then the young trainer smiled as she thought of a way to use that against her opponent. "Blaedyn, use Counter, now!" she yelled out, hoping he'd be able to pull it off.

Blaedyn skid after his opponent dodged his Quick Attack, and was a bit surprised; he hadn't expected her to be able to dodge when he was pretty much touching her. He saw Poochyena coming at him again, and she was at too close a range for him to dodge it. Then he heard Lithalia call out an attack, and he braced himself the second before Poochyena reached him. He got hit hard, and winced as the blow struck him, but luckily he'd been able to use Counter.

[Birdybot]

The Grunts were thinking up a strategy. They didn't see it, but this strategy had a number of flaws, and what they were trying to do would last so many turns their Pokémon would most likely have fainted or won by then- this fainting wouldn't take long, either. "Tackle!" "Leech Life!"[/color] they cried.

Poochyena yipped in joy, thinking herself to be pretty amazing for hitting Blaedyn nicely. She was on a roll, here! She would win, she knew she would! However, she hadn't been counting on Counter. The Riolu's blow to her was double what he had experienced, and the puppy Pokémon couldn't stand it. It was just so painful! She whined, stumbling. When it was over, she was panting; one more attack and she would faint.

The confused Zubat wasn't really paying much attention to the battle or his trainer. He was more interested in investigating falling and then not falling. He was so facinated by this, in fact, that he did not attack until Ralts had had a lot of warning, and stepped out the way. Ralts then used another Confusion, making Zubat cry out in pain before forgetting about it. He too only had one attack left.[/size]

[Zorrel]

Blaedyn was getting quite worn out himself; this Poochyena was pretty strong, and he still hadn't gotten healed from his battle with that Burmy. This caused him to be slower than normal, less reactive, and not as powerful, obviously. Lith noticed this fact, and she bit her lip slightly as a small wave of worry washed over her again. But then she quickly brushed it off; she believed in her Pokemon, and knew they'd all get through this somehow. She saw another Tackle coming from the Poochyena. Thinking fast, she called out to the Riolu on the battlefield. "Hang in there, Blaedyn! Try using Quick Attack on Poochyena, now!" Lith put her faith in Blaedyn, hoping his speed would back him up with enough force to hurt Poochyena more than Poochyena hurt him if they collided like she'd planned.

Blaedyn, although tired, slowly nodded at his trainer's orders. He kicked off the ground once again and ran toward his opponent in a Quick Attack. His speed, however, wasn't as fast as the last ones, and he was only going just a bit faster than Poochyena. He lowered his head and closed his eyes as the two sped towards each other, bracing himself for impact. In the meantime, Alexucard was distracted with watching the enemy's Zubat go up and down, up and down. He's such the team player.

[Birdybot]

The Grunts could not really see themselves winning any more. This worried them greatly, but they tried their best not to let that show. They did not want to get rid of the Pokémon they had spent hard work capturing, and were thinking of ways to prevent Lith from saving them while the battle went on. They almost forgot their usual cries of "Tackle!" and "Leech Life!" because of this. In fact, one of the reasons why they weren't doing so well could be because their orders did not have very much strategy to them. Just a single word didn't go very far in battling.

Poochyena saw Blaedyn moving in swiftly for a Quick Attack. She could take a guess as to the outcome of a collision between Tackle and Quick Attack; the slower attack, Tackle, would come off worse. She tried to speed up to reduce the pain she would feel, but there wasn't enough distance left to do this effectively. The collision came, and although this would hurt the Riolu, it was safe to say Poochyena definately came off worse. The puppy Pokémon crashed to the ground, fainted.

Zubat grinned as he was told to use a Leech Life. Grinning was a funny face. He tried pulling lots of funny faces before trying to bend his Leech Life so it looped him before hitting Ralts. As a result, he narrowly dodged it as it nearly struck him. Ralts chose that moment to launch it's hopefully final attack. Of course, this was another Confusion. Zubat howled in pain, falling out of the sky, defeated. The Grunts exchanged glances. "Er, now what?" they asked each other.

Poochyena was defeated! Blaedyn gained two levels!

[Zorrel]

Blaedyn felt a hard blow when the Poochyena crashed into him full force. As his opponent fell to the ground, he wanted to do the same; his whole body felt weak and his head was ringing from that last attack. He almost started to fall as well, but this Riolu was determined to stay awake. Blaedyn took a deep breath, and gave out a low uff as he rested on one knee, with a tired, yet victorious sparkle in his eyes and a small grin playing on the corners of his mouth.

Lithalia gave a huge sigh of relief when the grunts' Pokemon fainted. She hadn't been that happy that they'd won since...well, since they caught that Burmy. But this was more important, she'd decided. She admitted to herself that that last move was a little reckless, but hey, it worked. After all, Lith had nothing but faith in her Pokemon, and knew her Blaedyn would pull through. She did feel bad for hurting the enemy's Pokemon, though; it wasn't their fault their trainers were bad. Then, putting a serious expression on her face, she ran over to Ralts' parents' cage and tried fiddling with the lock. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here soon," she said to them with a reassuring nod. After a few short moments of no success, however, she stood up, tried to look as fierce as her young appearance would allow her to, and shouted, "Release these Pokemon at once!"

Alex, who stood in an equally fierce stand beside her, growled menacingly. "Unless you want another beating, of course," he added. Wanting to join in, Blaedyn walked up in front of his teammates in a defensive stance. He growled as well, while trying not to let his tiredness show through.

[Birdybot]

The Grunts smiled menacingly, looks on their faces making it clear as to what it was they were going to say. "Er, let me think- no." Paul sneered. J, however, didn't look quite as confident, especially when Alex added that little threat on the end. Perhaps it would be best to just leave the Pokémon and not say a word of this to anyone back at the base. Or maybe they could negociate a little. "I know. If, when we come back in an hour and a half, you're still here, we can make you leave."[/color] he said, clenching his fists for evidence. They left, the Happiny daemon in J's arms and the Mightyena padding alongside Paul.[/size]

[Zorrel]

The trio's fierce faces tilted almost simultaneously in confusion at Paul and J's words. "What's that even supposed to mean?" Lithalia muttered as the two baddies slowly disappeared further down the route.

Alexucard was equally as puzzled. "I'm not sure. But, what exactly are we going to do now?" he asked, looking up to his partner.

Lith wasn't sure what to do either. She gave a small shrug before sliding down against the cage, and let out a low sigh as she sat down. Then she looked up at the sky. The sun wasn't as bright as it was earlier; it was getting late. After a few not-so-short moments of contemplation, the young girl spoke up. "Well, one thing we definitely can't do is just sit here and do nothing." Then Lithalia turned around to face the two Pokemon who were locked behind the bars of the cage. "We'll get you out of there as fast as we can," she told them, the glow of determination returning to her eyes. She grasped the lock again, and tried fiddling with it once more. No luck. "Alright, let's try something else," she said, a hint of frustration in her voice. "You two, hold on tight, okay?" she told the Gardevoir and Gallade inside the cage. "Now, Blaedyn, try using a Blaze Kick on the door!"

Although he was still a bit worn out, the Riolu nodded. After stepping back a few feet first, he started running toward the cage as his backleg startd flaming. Blaedyn rushed toward the metal bars and kicked it as hard as his current strength would allow him. That side of the cage rattled and glowed red for a moment, but then returned to normal. Still, no luck. ~Sorry, Lith, I can't break it,~ Blaedyn muttered, while bowing his head and looking sincerely broken hearted that he couldn't help.

Lith gave a sigh while crouching down next to Blaedyn and smiling to him. "It's not your fault, Blaedyn; you tried your best, and you've helped plenty already. Here, this might make you feel better." She reached into her backpack and pulled out a white bottle - a Potion. And she was right; the young Riolu felt the strength returning to his small body as the Potion did its job. After rubbing the last of the Potion onto Blaedyn's skin, Lithalia stood up. "We are not giving up! If we can't get this thing open, we'll just have to find someone who can." She grabbed the handle on the end of the cage and started pulling. Unfortunately, she wasn't that strong, so with each heave it merely inched slightly forward. "We'll save your parents so you can be a happy family again, Ralts, no matter what," Lith said to Ralts with another reassuring smile. Alex and Blaedyn took her lead right away and started pushing from the other end. While this helped it move along, it was still going pretty slow. But the determined party pushed on nevertheless, seeking help from someone to open to cage before Team Tsuasa got back; unfortunately, the only way to go was in the direction that Paul and J had gone about half an hour before.

ooc// very late tl;dr post

[Birdybot]

Ralts tensed as Blaedyn rushed forwards to use a Blaze Kick, afraid that he might harm its parents. It still managed to frown when they were unscathed- but not free. It nodded glumbly to Lith's comment, starting to think. It was a Psychic type! It could think well, apparently! Shuffling forward, it took a better look, gazing sadly at its parents for a moment before looking back to Lith. ~The lock... attack the lock on the door, not any random part. A Pokémon could slash through the bolt if it was weakened.~[/color] Ralts informed its new friends.

That was all very well, but for that, Lith would need to find a Pokémon which had powerful claws. If she was very quiet and ultra-observant, she would be able to just make out signs of three Pokémon. A faint cheering Oddish. A Zigzagoon's nose sniffing curiously from a bush. It seemed as if none of the Pokémon around her would be able to help- then she had a stroke of luck. A cream cat walked smoothly, sitting down a few steps outside a bush to wash her paw. A Meowth, the scratch cat Pokémon. That would be perfect.[/size]

[Zorrel]

When she heard Ralts' comment, Lithalia stopped mid-pull. She stood there for a moment before turning quickly around to face the young psychic type. "Yeah, I guess that could be a good idea...hehe...," she giggled, her face blushing an ever slight shade of pink. Alexucard merely rolled his eyes teasingly again, wondering why that girl always took the hard way. "Alright then," Lith started again, "how are we gonna break it?" She just watched as Ralts replied by telepathically scanning the area around them.

Then she noticed that Ralts had found something. Lith followed her gaze to a light colored feline Pokemon sitting just a few feet away. A Meowth! That's perfect, she thought. Excited that they may have finally found the way to getting Ralts' parents free, she ran over to the bush and crouched down in front of the Meowth who was grooming itself. "Hey!" she greeted with a friendly smile. Then her face set back into determination as she asked as politely as she could, "Could you please help us break that lock over there with your claws, Meowth?" She pointed at the cage while still intently looking at the cat Pokemon, waiting for a reply.

[Birdybot]

Meowth frowned as a human came over, starting to shrink away. Then the human began talking. A lock? The cat caught sight of the cage, eyes widening in shock. Oh, that looked terrible! Meowth needed to help- but the human. It really didn't like humans, let alone working with them. Mostly, it fought against them. So why should it change that now? But, oh... the cage looked so terrible, the poor Ralts loosing its parents, the parents loosing their Ralts. Hesitantly, it nodded.

Meowth scampered over to the cage, before stopping in front of the lock to warm up its muscles. That done, it took a swipe. Nothing happened. Meowth snarled, trying again. Still nothing, also the cage rattled. Ralts took a look. ~Maybe if the lock was weakened by fire? Blaedyn, you know that Fire type move, Blaze Kick, don't you?~[/color] it suggested. If Blaedyn weakened the lock with Blaze Kick, then Meowth slashed it, it might just work.[/size]

[Zorrel]

Lithalia gave a sigh of relief that came with a huge smile across her face when the Meowth nodded and started walking toward the cage. "Thank you!" she exclaimed while she followed the cat Pokemon. Blaedyn moved back away from the cage to let Meowth work its magic. Alex got up to go sit by Lith, and watched. Meowth scratched, but with no luck. Lith, Alex, and Blaedyn let out a collective sigh of discouragement when the lock to the cage still held strong after the Meowth's second attack.

Then Ralts came up with Plan B; if only Lithalia was that smart. When Ralts suggested first using Blaze Kick on the lock, the young trainer next to it perked up as an optimistic grin replaced the sulken frown on her face. "That's another great idea, Ralts! We totally have it right this time for sure," she excitedly declared. "Okay, Blaedyn, go for it!"

With everyone staring at the little Riolu, Blaedyn got a little nervous; he didn't want to let everyone down. ~Alright, Lith, I'll try,~ he muttered, trying to become more self confident. He didn't want to rattle the cage so hard again - that seemed to only make matters worse - so instead of backing up to get a running start, he went and stood next to the cage. He lifted up his back leg as it caught fire, and gave a swift, but powerful kick on the lock. Right afterwards, he jumped back and said with an encouraging tone, ~Your turn, Meowth!~