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  "description": "Emil is a quiet man with a well kept secret; he has little to look forward to but even less to complain about as he works his life away and puts up with his obnoxious wealthy neighbor.\n\nThat is until a once-in-a-lifetime sequence of events threatens to upend everything he has, should he go for the catch.\n",
  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>Emil is a quiet man with a well kept secret; he has little to look forward to but even less to complain about as he works his life away and puts up with his obnoxious wealthy neighbor.<br /><br />That is until a once-in-a-lifetime sequence of events threatens to upend everything he has, should he go for the catch.<br /></span>",
  "writing": "[center][i]Forbidden Waters - 29[/i][/center]\n\n\n\n[i]F̵̡̨͔̤̼̭͎̥͖̭͔̮̪͈̳̰̼̯̠͓̱̜͆͑̂͗̐͌͗͐̀̐̊̓͘͠͠/̸̧͓̪͓̤̱̪͕̫̩̅̌̒͜*̶̧̡̦̬̲̺̘̱͔̱̱̌͂͆͋̽̉͑͗̈̉̌͆q̴̧̨̥̭͕̙̼͚͚͈̩͚͍̘̦̦̝̥̦͜͝ͅT̴̨̧̢̛̹̟͙̠̝͍͉̟̣̣̤̰̜͈̓̐̓(̴̨̢̜͔̣̖͈̮̲̖̺̫̹̝͕̦͖͎̥̻̪͓́+̷̺̯̲̫̞͔͕̤́͐͒̎͐̓̌̉̄́͆͌̈́̅̕̚3̷̧̨̢̨̡͙̲̻̭̫̩̯͍͉͇̭͙͍̲̟͈̪̪̎͊̑̈́̒̈̇̈́͑̏)̸̧̡̻͕͈̘̫̉̓͗̕i̸̢̨̲̘͓̳̝͍͙̬̺̯̍̓͒͐̃:̵̤̣͗͒̃̊̆͌́̀̇͐̆̾̋̽̌̒̕̕͝͝͝͠͝]̷̡̧̞̬̺͎̗͚̳̩̣̣̞̺̟̳̝̣̲̩̣̼͔͌̽͑̿͐̈́̽̓̌̑̓̕͜j̸̡̢̢̦̪̜̞̼͍̞̼͖̩̫̝̙̞̏j̸͈͖͈̺͋͂̓̈͂̔̆͌-̶̗͚̐̿̾̂̈̾̊̈́̎p̵̪͓̹̟̊͒̈́̃̊̎̑̒̀͋̆́̐̃̀̈́̅̚͝0̴̡͈̮̳̭͓̜̼̺̞̹͙̲͛̅̀̐̏̿̌̏̒̈́̂̎͑̔5̴̧̙̯̰̮̖̗̯̈́͂͂͂̒͒͑̔̀̂͂̐̐̔̄̈́͌̚̕̚͝͝5̵̧̧̢̛̬͉̘̰̻̯͈͈͉͎͖̹̜̥͖̼̼̟̜̖͐̅̑͋̌͂̆̅̆̈̈́̆̃̑̍̏̑̇̔͘̕͠,̴̢̛͙̌͛̀̓̎̒̈́̿́̍́̀̄̊̚̚f̷̢̨̦̠̬̥͚͎͎̘̬̖͍̪̙̦̭̑͌̔̍ͅ%̸̨̢̝̜̠̺̺̥̥͔̫͉͚̳̩̭͉̘͐q̶̡̛̫̱̤͇̗̘̘̘͓̰͓̱͖͙̫̲̥͉͓̘̘̓̇͐̽͗͆͗̎̊̑̏̀̈́̕͝!̶̢̡̥̖̰̱͈̩͎͍͈͓͍̺̞͇̰̹͔͉̣͍̗̎̏B̸̫̭̫͇̟̥̗̬̯̮̹̤̬͎̜͔̣̍̏̋̍̈́̅̍͗̿͆͂̓̒͐͒͘͝͝p̸̧̭͙̲͚̗̱̩̫͙̤͉̮̜̺͔͚̻͙̠̺̱͚̈́̈́̈́̃̋̽̃̀̑̓͋̎́͂͐̿̔̂̚͜͜͠͝͠͝Ģ̵̨̢͖̝̪̩̠͉̹̮͎̻̲̩̌̓͛̅͐̋͊̏̍͂̒̐̒͛͝ͅC̴̹̦̹̲̓̑͌͊́̃͐̒̃́̈́̀7̶̨̧̢̢̨̛̠̠̮̻͇͖̫̩̱̯̝͙͙̣̩͇͆̾̾̃̃̐̾̓̊̏͆̆͜ͅw̴̡̛̝̲̠̙͎̺͕̞͚̹̭̣̥̞̠̑̂̒̔͗̆̂̋̑̓̐̎̅̓͘͘ ̴̡̧͚̼̪̺̺͙̦̫̠̞̪̖̲̉̑͒́d̶̨̥͕̟̲̟̒̉̒̈́͋͆͋̋̕͝͝.̵̡̢̧̨̛̘̤̯͔̰̼̣̼͓̪͎̟̺͓̳̠͔̞̪͋̇̀́̏͊͗̏͗̃̓̓͒̿̕̕n̶̢̨͚̙̟͖̈́̈́͑̅̿͗͝Y̵̡̨̨̛̞͎̳̝̤̭̞̹͔̹̋̅̓͆̊̽͜͜͜x̵̢̛̛̳̝̠̘̹̱̞̞̳̗̬̤̩̹̱̪̥̫̍͐͆̏͌̑́̀̀̈́̄̿͠͝͠}̴̧̢͇̞̤̥͔͉̮̖̫̩̪̬́̓̓̿̀̈́̾̈́͐̓͜*̸̨̧̨͇̥͔̳͈͉̞̼̖̗̗̳͇̹̞̹͚̩̑̊̇̈̚͜(̷̰̥̝͕̗͙̏̆̾͛̄̔̑̈́̆͗͌̀͝Ḑ̶̲͖͉̜̼͓͍̺̯̜͓͚̪͎̜̻̦̤͛͌̅̽̃̈́́̏͆͊͌̑̕͘͝ṅ̵̨̰̼̩̙̳̰̝͉͙̪̺̜̱̦̐́̓͝#̸̨̣̫̖̠̗͍͎̱̬̝͍͓͉̌̒̾̓͂̐̆̓̿̍̽͆͒͛̕͝m̶̧̡̡̨̛̞̗̖͎̞̯̞̝̻̞̭͕͚̮̼̙̤̍̌͑̓̅̅͗̈́̽̀́̀̿́̂͒̀̄̽͘̚͜͝͠E̷̡̧̺̮̩̟̖͗͂̕͠m̷̤̫͓̀̈́̅̾̌̀͂͌̓̈̑̋͊̚a̷̢̧̢͉̖͖̤̹̬̖̥̫̭̟̬̞͉̞̭̒̒̒̈́ͅṳ̶̢̢̜͓̩̬͖͙̥̰͕̠͕̄̐̂̎́͊̄͠ͅŞ̷̧̡̣̗͙̟̜̙̮̪̦̙̓=̷̤͖̤̥̠̣͖̎͜i̶͇͚͓̭̳͎̦͍̪̻̺̗̞̜͙̭͓̥͓͌̈́̂́͊̕Q̷̨̢̛̣͇̬̭̻̫͖̙̙̟̭̠͚̰̺͎̝̰̣̠͖͙̇̐͋̏͝ͅk̵̹̠͍̖̤̯͕̝̈́̊͜͝Ā̷̛̖̱͉͊́͐͐͛̐͗̓̇̓̈́̑͛͘͘͝͠͝û̶̡̮͓̻̜͈̩̖̻̻͇͇͔̬̉̋̆̈̈̊̾̔̔̌̀̽̀͘͝͝͠8̴̤̜̭͛̏̊̉̆C̷̢̦͈̩̰̱͍̩̻̪̫̭̯̃̒̐̀̓̑̅̄̒̊̾̋̒͘͜͠ͅG̴̨̨̳̞͖̤̱̖̙̺̮̥͂̋͜͜U̷̡̻̼̠̼̠̺͓͕͎̲͚͚͌̓̃̉̄̈́͘͝͠͠͝ͅ=̴̧̡͎͎̠̥͎͉̬̺̬̠̣̟͕̟̘̩̼͙͔͓͂̓͐̽̾̌̾͆̀͊̀̈́̅͐̓̈͘̚ͅx̶̢̛̗͕͇̙̝͈̜̠̗͍͔̗̘͖̠̰̩̰͊̌̄̈̍̀͆̈̑͋̈́̅̃͜5̴̧̨̡͚͇͍̤͍̱̰̦͍̰̮̘̥̱͔̯͓̰̫̯̟̔̑̿̑̏̂̅̂͒ ̴̨̡̬̹̝̱̱̦͍̽̉̔̓̊̅͝͠(̸͓͖̙͔̯̖̫͇͚͔̩̩͔͓͆͋̍͌̃̈̿͂̂ͅC̷̢̧̨̯͕̲͕͙̞̗̠̜̯̫̟̤̩̹̝̘͎̣̔̂̊͌͗̓͑̉͛̎̂̓̃̿̾̉̈́̓̊͘͘͝͝͝*̷̧̢̞̲̬͎̼̳̳͈̠̙̥̾͆̋̃̇͑̈́͆̆̎̅̓̂̀̓͜͝?̵̲̱̰̰̭̬͉͍̝͔̞͇͍͚͇̗̤̺̦͊̂̓̈̆̒́̇̚Ņ̸̧̯̤̤̘̘̗̬̝̠̩̱̲͍͈̱͝0̵̻͉̝̋̊̂̀̅͒͋̽̊̄̽̍̂̊̈́̏̀͠͠͠͝Ṟ̸̢̛̠̅̐͒̾́̓̐̈́͑͂̒́̈̇̽͋̚̚̕6̷̢͙̲̞̦̈͗͑̄̆̀̈͛̍̅́̔͋̑̑̈́̚̚̚͘͝͝͠d̷̛̖̭̪̻̖̻̀̇͋̎̆̈́̊̿̓̀̎̀̚i̴̢̛̪̝̯͈̞̩̣̮̖̞̼̳̮͎̖͂̂́̿͊̈͑̂͆͐́͛̑̔̇̃̕͘ŗ̴̡̰͙͍͖̗͈̩̣̮̟͔̘̪̞͕͎̜̳̮͍̍͌͗̀̔̔̂̽̈̊͊̿d̶̨͉͙̺̪͈̮̳̓̍̊̈́͐͋̈́̎͆͒̅̑͂̎̐̑̌̚͝ẋ̶̢̧̠͇͙̖̳̝̘̘͎̩̆̔͆́̿́͆̈́́̃̔͂͒͒̇͐̕͝v̶̨̡̛̻̭͉̰̘̪͉̻̳̖̼̘̩̯̣̮̩͎̪̳̱̯̇͊̿̒̃͐̒̋̾͗͊̌̈́͐͂̀̉̀̚̕̚̕q̴̢̢̨̛̘̖͓̤̩̯̫̞̠̜̣̫͖͓̲̟̐̓͑̏̆́̅̆̅̊͐͛͑͑͘ͅŸ̷̢̑̓̒̎̆̈̕q̴̨̡͍̻͖̳̖̬͈̣͚̹̦͖̟̤̩̹̘̗͇͔̄͊̂̿̉̏̍̈́͑̉̅͠P̸̨̛̲͉̹͐̋͋̎̑̾͛̔̈́̈̆̈́͋̋̽͆͗̆̆͆̇̐w̶̪̦̖͙̘͚̺̩̗͊̈̌̓́̾̄͗̎̃̔͊̈́͐͛͜ͅw̴̨̱̘̦̜͇͛̉̂̔͆̔̓̔͛͗͆̓̎͛̅͘͝͠b̵̛̯̫̥͕̤̜̥͎̽͆̑̃̔͒͊͒̈́̈́͑̿͑̅̕̕̚͜͠S̶̛̼͖̀̐͛̿̏̔̽͒̾̆̔̔͆̕̕͝͝#̷̳͚̺͕͓̹̙̗͚̼̼͇͔͎̜̼̱̫̳̰̇ͅ$̷̝̤̝͈̩͈̞̲̤͉̲̟͚̘̜̪̠̤̳͔͌̌̌̔̃̄̇̓̄̑͌̔̃̚͠C̴̛̼̦̘̩̗̫̯̯̹̲̲̟̲̥͓̖̜̎͒̍͌̒͋̎͛͒͗̆͗͘͜͝͝͝q̸̡̨̼̹̬̺̝͔̪̖͍̭̬̪͍̪̱̦̇̅͒͆͛͐͑̃̅̋͑̾͘͘̚͜ͅh̴̡̖͓̪̮̣͔͈͉̺̦͚̳͚͓̜̤̩̤̼̼̩̣͛̉̓̑̄̓̇͌̇̉̔̏̆̽̇̀̿͒̚͝͝*̸̣̺͍͓̏̿Ę̷̦̣̬͚̲̙̯͔̝͉͖̜̝͈̞̪̫̉̇̈́͘͜L̷̨͇̙̪̣̖̗̤̳̻͔̼̭̻͔͉͖̬̱͙̞͇̘̭̃̎̏͌͆ ̷̗̰͔̤̦̼̜̬̠͔̼͙̺̑̌͗̃̍̈̾͆̈́̋̽̇͂̽͆̋̑̿́̀̅͐̕͝#̵̘̟͎̬̟͍̼͇̱̹͔̱̖̬̥̠̻̯̩͚̣͙͚̹͆̐̅̀͌̐͗̽͒̀̔̿̈́̂̎́̆̇́̅͘͘ͅc̶͉̯͙̰͚̺͙̞̳̩̙͚͎͍͚̟̱̫͈̙̝͉̥̮̐͑̓̐̈͌͛̀̔͌́͗̿̒̍̾̃̈́͐̋̕͘͝h̸̞̳͍̰̃̾͋͐̀̀̿̊̀̾̿͌̑̎̕͝͝B̴̘̞̝͚̈́͋͊̂̽̐͐͠͠w̵̜̰̫̥̩͈̲̼͋̾̅̂̎́͛̓̉͐͋̈́́͋͒̈́̆̄̄̌͜f̶̣̬̣̘͇̹̺̫̖̘̼̱͚̥̬͓̟̱̤͖͈̒̾̀?̵̧͇̖̗̞̫̝̰̠͍̣͋͐̈́̾͆̂́̎̅̒̇̍̉̍̃̿̕̕̚͜͝Ķ̷̡̡̧̯̞̘̤̖̗̭̘́̓̌̈̓̂͂̂̅̎̀̈́̈́̕͝!̵̖̲̍̎̈́̃̉͌̀̆̂̅͆͒̑͐̇̎̚̕͝͝5̶͉̮͈̰̝̩̱͇͓̙͎̿͋̑̅̀̆͌̓̂̂̃͌̂̽͒̋͒̆̕͜͝G̵̨̱͍̩͓͍͚̒͆͐͐̓̉̅̃̒̒́͒̈́͋̿͠͝#̷̛̬͇̪̯̟͍̝̪͔̪̞̯̠̤̂́́̏͂̉͆͜͠͝N̸̯͉̩̟͓̮̟̬̮͑͛̆̍́̀̃̂͗̀̑͛͑͒̀̍͊̇̊̚̕̕͝͠]̴͍̻͙̿̍̓̈́̈͛͒̓̉̀̀͋̈͂̒̀̂̔͜6̷̧̛̖͔͇̗̲̹̙̇̀̏̿̊͐̓̈́͐̿̒͠͝i̴̼͂̀̈́̾́͆̎̔̇̈́́̈͑;̵̡̫̘̺͍̲̩̠͉̝̹̳̲̉̏̔̋̍̆̆̽͗́̀͑͑̔̏̍̐̅̄̿̍̚͜͜͝͝͠ͅ;̸̨̢͍̻͖̦̤̱̤͇̩̱̪̗̻̭̜͇͕̆̍̈̈́̕͜ͅŻ̴̩̪͓͐̾̌͛͐̀͆͋̚͝.̴̡͖̗̘͖̫͈̘͚̝̪̯̝͓͚̥̓͑͐̑̒̍́̒͗̕͠k̵̳͔̽͂̽͑̃̏́̂̕̕͝V̶̢͇͖̲̩̣̮͈̥͍̜̒͒͋̽́͗̃̀ͅ*̷̰̯̳̪̹͇̻̮͇͉̥̹̤̻̻͉͈̏p̵̢͓̪͉̹͚͇̰͖̜̒̏̌͝ẉ̵̛̺͓͕̙͈̺͕̼̜͉͔͕͗͆́̅̉̓̿̃̆̿̈̂̊̕͝m̶̠̮̠̝̱̠̦̬̼̫͊͗̾́̒́̈́̈́̓̚͝͝͝7̴͓̰̰̖̟̻͇͍̻͙͈̙̟̦̗͇̪̺̟͖̬̳̦̖̇̓̈̃̈̋̀͛̃̅͒̓͂&̵̡̢̡̛̪̗̦̖̜͍͍̭̦͒͒͊͌̓͘͘͠ͅB̵̨̡̨̦͉̯̞̞̜̪̗̳̟̩̠̭͓͔͖͙̱̄̉ͅ#̷̜̊ ̴͈̽̚W̸̲̩̠̓{̶̯̍ē̸̕ͅ3̸̑̾̓͜X̵̱̱̑̑̍-̶͖͑̅&̸̫̠͌͛̀͜n̶̳̜͊͒h̵͚̓́Ţ̸̖̯̽̽͝)̶̛̘͊͑c̷̫̈͌̉Ụ̷̗̋?̷̱̱͙̇͗V̶͙̘̯̓̓͆g̵̛͖̃͌5̷͎́͊̕ẘ̸̳̙-̸͇͎̭́X̵͇̊7̸̮̞͛̉ṷ̵̆̕͜1̸̠̹͘ͅ$̵̫̱̈́̿{̶̝̀̅G̵͙̬̑́͝(̴̼̍͊[̴̧̒S̶̠͕̭̐̄͆Ļ̸͎̞́ ̵̰̭̪̐͛F̸̘̬̏̇͋}̴̜͇̥͐b̴̙̺̣͗W̸͙͊c̴͆͜u̶̻̱̓͌̕&̵͈̩̬̈́̏̂w̸̡̳͌̓̈́b̷̝̈́̋̅͜ͅ?̴̋̄͜h̷̳̤̊̀U̷̼̰͂̒S̵̛̱̬̩̏͠w̶̮̩̗͌{̸̠̋̽̾,̴̗̅͊͝X̴̲̻͛͜5̴̢̖͓́,̵͖̀̃͛C̴͔̔̒A̵̡̪̎͛͐.̸̭̓͐E̷̹̝̖̐̕]̸͉̯̋G̶͙͇̚̚%̴̧̙̉̀̍M̷̠̾͝+̵̺̞͗̕;̶̯̲̅̎͝&̴̬̏̌ ̷̺̠̯͘_̴̗͔̝͂͊3̵̬̭͓̎̈̈́S̷̨͕̻̊̏̍M̴̙̙̹̿͋-̵̨̙͚͑w̵̓́͜]̷̛̪̹̞̀̊Ğ̵͕̖̄̀k̷̘̑̋̈́%̷̛͎̪̀T̸̝̻̲́̍͝-̸̰̂͐͐?̷̘͋̒%̴̧͖̈̂͘ͅ2̵̘̀͂F̷̦̙̄̋͝ͅ]̷̳̭̪͠w̶̧̳̔͘͠_̸͖̟̦̀́̒d̵̘̦̻̊S̴͍̩̐]̷͓͋̎̕c̶͇͚͝e̵̡̹͕̓$̵͙̩̂̌L̶̢͈̣̔̃͐q̷̛͎̝͠/̶̇ͅC̸̯̹̲̔ẃ̶͎͚̈́̈́ ̴̛̜̟̤̈V̴̞͓́͝j̵͖̮̒̀̽y̷̪͖͈̾̓H̵̜̓̽̈́ͅń̸̛̞̰͛p̸͖̥̰͌͌A̴̢̗̦͊͑ỳ̶͉̋͝,̶̭̿͊7̴̛̦̫͎̊̊3̴̩̟̫̇̐͗x̴̥̳̮́̋2̷̱̥͖͗̎̔z̷͕̲̿*̵͎̲̮͛̾͊!̵͚̓̇1̷̯̟̈́̋̍V̶̩̪̽͌q̷̢̰̳̇.̵̰̩̫̋͂̐H̴̨̾q̷͍͔̍[̷̡̫̱̊̿!̷̞̮̤̽̓_̴̨̚z̴͕̤̭̊̋͛]̸͎͎̱͊̆͠/̵̨̱̗̈͂L̷̻̿̿͒ḅ̵̆̌̽ ̵̻̪̳̋͘:̴̜̱͈͌̓̈=̶̛͍̦̅?̴͔̫̃̾͜͝m̶̧͔̀̊)̸̢̅̀[̶̧́͌*̶̼͇̮͗ǐ̴̜́͛Ş̶̝͛̓͗7̷͔̹̋f̴̤̻̄x̶̢͍̽̄*̸̧̗͔͝F̵̺̙̉̄̕!̷̫̫͐͛f̷͉̓7̵͈͔́P̸̛̯̊̿p̴̥̖͉̑͋͝:̸̺̓Ḏ̴̥͌̕A̵̗̽̀̋ͅk̸̢͕͎͌́͑M̴̼̒̕Ȳ̵̟̃h̵͈̽͒͝B̵͚̽̍,̴̝̺͂̈́ȩ̴̟̜̑͐͗J̴̷̙̲̩̉̑̕͠Ë̷̢̛̜́̕G̸̩͐͐X̶̮̉̒̀j̵̨̥̜̈́̋h̶͉̊͒̒͜0̵̱͇̎͆_̴͕͕̪͆̾̚?̷̮̈́͠ỵ̶̰͍̔̓Z̴̼̟̻̎.̷̫͇̯̒͒̓7̷̢̻̐Z̷͔͖͖͛͗͠X̶̱̩̯̃͌͝N̴̗̹̭͌͑{̷̧͎̔M̶̧̙͆̓̚B̴̠̼͛0̴͕̠̺͂̋;̴͔̝̄͆w̸̥̖̤̐̉͝8̷̬͂Ű̵̥̱=̷̻̱̌̀̒N̸̼͙̞̊̊̽p̷̮̞̣̊̀͂@̸̼̠̋q̸͙̮͍̾̕Ẋ̴̛̫͒@̷̙̅̌͝HBDq_@[nVm0}D]}N.:[Z*M{8&+w&a!u0S1QnZKA;BW)6eH5qm9x_4=.uBvXM/KCXG!QNMqw/j83L6,TS2+WW2tY{aBG]u07aCx?JqLc%#@wi!ng0fmenandbeyuou my fatheri, there on thoe sad heiaght, iacurse, bless, me now with youri fiierce tiearos, I priay. Do not go gentle inito that goaod niguht. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.[/i]\n\n\nKkkzzzzzzzzzbrrrrrr. Cough. Pzzzzzz.\n\n\nThe twisting cathedral jigsaw of Metagross’ mind finally came screaming back into focus, overwhelmed with an all-encompasing agony.\n\n\n[i]Audino of Bianca’s Belt…[/i]\n\n\nThen she felt that unbearable but all-too-familiar sensation of [b]humiliation [/b]as she watched herself being slowly carried to the arena’s edge and tossed into a defeated topsy-turvy heap. Sputtering, twitching, writhing, fallen from the ring, right into the doting ribbons of Richard’s unexpected pecha-pink plaything.\n\n\n[i]I underestimated you… and paid a hubris' price.[/i]\n\n\nKzzzCOUGH! \n\n\nA swirling cone of smoke from Metagross’s busted mouth painted Spinel’s face black as a kanto jynx.\n\nThe humbled hunk of memories and steel peered with disdain at Audino worriedly awaiting the return of her opponent’s vital signs at the arena’s edge, and then squinted with analysis as the warrior zipped into the fog of a warzone she’d helped to violently gnash into reality.\n\n\n[i]You’ve shown me that my path to mastery is longer than I had anticipated.[/i]\n\n\nSpinel coughed and gagged, dragging twin trails down his face removing the blackened dross from his eyes. “{Relax,}” he soothed, lifting her with a puffy-cheeked grunt as he sent her crashing down to her ass with limp lifeless limbs twisted around in all directions.\n\nRichard’s shoulders were rapidly clumping into stressy cancerous knots. “Smoke her out?” Richard asked Emil, hoping the idea made sense to the family savant.\n\n“[i][b]No[/b][/i][i].[/i]” Metagross projected onto their minds, voice rolling like a barrel of gravel as Spinel sprayed her down with potion concentrate. “Brzzzzzza[b]aa[/b][i][b]poreon.[/b][/i]”\n\nVaporeon wrapped her dewlap fins around her Emmi’s face to hide a loving peck on the cheek. She hopped from his shoulders, calm, regal, collected, absolutely white-hot with anger, and pawed her way toward the combat zone with glacier-cold murder in her eyes.\n\n“Hold on, let’s–” Rich started, then stopped as Metagross writhed with twisting metal sounds.\n\n“[b][i]NO! Let her go![/i][/b]” She insisted, forcing a pressure of serious intent right onto their streams of consciousness that was inappropriate for a psychic to do in the best of circumstances. “[b][i]She has the training to deal with that… thing,[/i][/b]” Metagross howled into their skulls, trying her best to track Audino’s movements, but like before finding she just didn’t have the skill.\n\nRich glanced at Em, who responded with a cool, closed-eyed nod.\n\n“It’s all in her documentation,” Emilio said, polishing his glasses to a crystal-clear finish.\n\nVaporeon, stopped, front paw raised mid step, flashing her ‘master’ a daring stare.\n\nRichard felt his skin chill, even as the random fires smoldering around the arena baked his face with smoke and heat. “A’ight, Princess. Knock ‘er dead.”\n\nHer subject having come to the correct conclusion, Vaporeon gave him a curt nod of approval and dove into the smog with a double-team leap; a sneaky loophole swap-in move that wasn’t technically illegal, but was bound to get the judges called for potential disqualification or point deduction… If your opponent wasn’t Lieutenant Colonel de Bell, that is.\n\nBianca just watched Vaporeon melt into the chaos with a buttery desk-apple smile, then peeked up at Incineroar’s intense strategizing pose on the jumbotron. “Some spicy loads of brass you boys are pack’n,” spoke the old blood-mopping ground-pounder she was inside.\n\nRichard heard the woman from the megaphone speakers all around, and cackled with a painfully visibly feigned confidence. “Ha! You have [u][b]NO[/b][/u][b] IDEA[/b] how hard we pack our pokemon back here!”\n\nEmil refused to allow Richard’s image enter his line of sight as his guts shuddered at the lurid, very correct, implications shouted aloud for the gods and everybody else to hear. Spinel, while blushing of course, just accepted his fate aboard the S.S. Stone, sinking or not.\n\n“LADIES AND GENTLEMON!” the announcer cried, mirroring the rotom-drone’s mouth lip-for-sync. “I sense a game of ratatta-meowth, this may take a while. Keep your eyes peeled; while our contestants edge closer and closer to blows, we thought we might educate you on the incredible techniques you’ve seen today.”\n\nEmilio’s mate slipped through the mire with a sneaky substitute double that vanished in a spray of water as the blur of Audino’s blitz sliced the thing in two, granting her the split-second she needed to roll out the military move she’d waited until now to let her trainer know about.\n\n“Triple Team is a time-honored secret of the armed forces of old, given only to ‘mon that are trained to put human killers in their place. Bianca, ever bucking expectations, is one of only THREE trainers known to have trained pokemon capable of taking it even [u]further[/u] beyond, on display for your enjoyment.”\n\nThe sapphire-skinned beauty zipped around the smoldering wreckage, stirring the smoke into a cauldron of anticipation as she felt the wind whipping her face raw, tail cracking the air in half with each and every turn and double-back. “{Think you’re the only one that’s got a top-secret card to play?}”\n\n“Don’t blink, folks. This rare treat, normally seen through academic text and grainy pre-dexnet film, is– wait… What’s [b]this[/b]?”\n\nVaporeon’s paws furrowed the shattered concrete and soil in a desperate play to keep herself moving, moving, moving, spotting a fading-pink blur catching up to her. “{You’ve got another thing coming…}” she muttered, following every flickering image-after-image that wobbled into her ever-changing field of view, digging deep into the annals of her memories… of the times spent in father’s ‘care’.\n\n“Oh. Oh! OH MY GOODNESS!” Rotom droned aloud, listing off in disbelief.\n\n\n[i]Come, Warrior, get what’s coming to you.[/i]\n\n\nVaporeon winced and held her breath as the technique, like decades spent away from the seat of a bike, came rushing back like the taste of home-baked bread caught by an aroma on the wind. She’d never done it that fast, nor that reckless, but she wasn’t about to let some washed-up grunt out do her. The enemy’s advance slowed as they danced in micro-measured time, bodies flashing around the arena like a double-row of Giftmas lights fallen to the floor as she pushed to break into that parallel dimension of speed so-few dared to tread.\n\nFinally, barely expecting it herself, she entered that dipping, shifting, leaping, dodging, ever-blending milkshake of light, and both fighters-by-life traded killer gazes on whiplashed backdrop soup of meaningless people, places, and things.\n\nAudino cut the youngster’s cheek with a cold-rolled thousand-yard stare and a sparking steel-knuckled crunch of the fist. She patiently waited for Vaporeon to finish fumbling with the ochre Double-Kick charge slipping in-and-out of control beneath her knees. She could wait, it’s not like the world was going nearly as fast as they were anyway, right?\n\nThen it finally dawned on Vaporeon’s arrogant mind, muscles screaming for mercy as those grueling starts-and-stops hit her joints like a crashing car and every stray pebble threatened to trip her dead; she was struggling to keep up with a pokemon [b]fifty-years her senior[/b].\n\nVaporeon met that old soldier-‘mon with a nod of honor and respect.\n\n\n[i]This is a worthy foe.[/i]\n\n\nThe announcer drone checked his sensors and there could be no denying it, Vaporeon had matched Audino’s velocity, mach-for-mach. “Make that FOUR! Richard’s Vaporeon is keeping up with Audino’s Quadruple-Team!  THIS!  IS!  [u]INCREDIBLE[/u]!”\n\nThe head honcho of Team Stone coughed, stumbling back with the freak-surprise. “What sort of Distortion!?”\n\nEmil smirked and popped a colorless pill, swallowing his sins with a bottle of triple-filtered water. “Just full of surprises, ain’t she?”\n\nRichard couldn’t see where Vaporeon or her opponent even [b]were[/b], like he was stuck trying to touch a black-bottled particle with his fingers. Bianca didn’t much care what was going on out there, because she trusted Audino with her life ten-times more than the boys’ pampered civilian minds could possibly understand. \n\nThe monsters’ bodies blended the smoke away, clearing the battlefield for both trainers to watch and be amazed as their partners moved and acted faster than anyone could possibly blink. There was no room for executive-order, no top-down hope of direction as the moment fell upon the anvil of their pokemon’s lifetimes-of-training and depths-of-experience.\n\nAnd few pokemon were better fit to test their mettle beneath the red-hot hammer of a commanderless scrap.\n\nIt was all a lie, of course. Vaporeon was making something [b]like[/b] a Quadruple-Team technique, yes, but she couldn’t hold it up for long as they both danced damn-near the speed-of-light, hunting for the perfect moment to stick the knife in.\n\nThe kind of endurance, willpower, and skill it must have taken for Audino to not only perform the move at [b]all[/b]… to keep it up for gods-know how long now… neutralize an enemy like a black-masked operator… and then snap right back into the maneuver without a single visible drop of sweat. It brought all of the things Father had put her and her siblings through into view with perfect clarity. \n\nThese were the sorts of people that could only be forged in the wretched fires of honest, Yveltal sanctified war. Work hardened through mass collateral suffering and death. Armed with fangs that could only be found with blood on your hands and your back against the wall. She was meant not only to match these creatures, but also stand atop the mound of their bodies she’d make. Fresh out of the box.\n\nA millisecond start-and-stop window let her catch a flashing picture of Opal poised beside her drunken dead-eyed trainer.\n\n\n[i]If a pokemon like [/i][b][i]me[/i][/b][i] couldn’t make Father’s cut[/i][i], what sort of monsters are hiding out there that weren't so lucky?[/i]\n\n\nIncineroar watched with absolute heart popping intensity. She could catch tiny glimpses of the fight, seeing her rival’s momentum starting to wane with each passing second. The event organizers were taking camera shots of everything [b]but [/b]the battle, in the absence of claw-on-flesh action, but this ludicrous-speed staring match was more horrifying to behold than anything she’d ever borne witness to.\n\n\n[i]After all of this training, all the…[/i]\n\n\nShe shuddered with clenched teeth.\n\n\n[b][i]…special[/i][/b][i] treatment I’ve been given. Would it have even mattered if Richard had thrown me out into Audino’s clutches instead?[/i]\n\n\nShe felt helpless, and that feeling made her sick. But then something her master said that morning quenched that growling flame of concern like a dumped tub of ice; a tiny nugget of something someone had said to somebody else, long before it found Opal’s ears.\n\n‘Doubt is the stairway to heaven.’\n\nIncineroar hadn’t noticed the wisdom laid down before her in the moment, said to absolutely zero fanfare in a haze of overexertion and psychoshared subconscious thoughts, but at least she’d finally turned around and picked it up when it mattered.\n\n\n[i]This is not defeat I see before me. This is the path to victory.[/i]\n\n\nWhile Richard was busy nursing a case of early-onset heart palpitations, Emil raised a curious brow as he watched Incineroar, for the first time ever, releasing the tension in her shoulders to let herself [b]relax[/b]. “Huh…”\n\nVaporeon bit her own jaw in relief as she saw Audino starting to falter too. Whipping around at the sound of Audino’s stumbled, shuffling, hyperspeed steps, she bucked with all of her might.\n\nAnd then her vision rattled to incomprehensible static at a sudden gods-forsaken NOISE!\n\nIt was one thing to hear it, even as close as she was to the battle zone, but it was an entirely different demon when focused and concentrated on you. Trapped listening to Station Pain, tuned to perfection for her own private listening torture, she realized her mistake way too late.\n\nThat stumble was a feint.\n\n\nSnap!\n\nCRACK!\n\n\nSomething bit into Vaporeon’s ankle and her body rolled, head snapping against the ground as her hind paw was caught in the dim-lit glow of a snare, formed from glowing energy strings. A conniving trap that turned her own speed and power onto herself, cloaked in the scattered wreckage of war, set by the bastard mind of a patch-wearing member of the Four-Oh-Fourth Medi-Grenadiers. \n\n“WHAT?!” Richard felt his sickness suddenly turn into an acute case of heart-attack. “[b]WHEN?![/b]”\n\nMetagross sighed beside them with a realization even she hadn’t made until her idiot trainer asked the question.\n\nEmil’s turbo charged oculi finally caught sight of the field of traps, where his lover laid [b]smack[/b]-dab center, like a corpse in a meadow full of funeral bell caps. “When Metagross was blasting the trees apart. She had all the time in the world.”\n\nVaporeon lifted her face in disbelief as Emil’s lips parted for him to scream for her to—\n\n“GET UP, HONEY!” Bianca hollered, hands cupped around her mouth to throw the order farther.  “BITE THE LINE AND [b]MOVE[/b]!”\n\nVaporeon’s photocopied visual field swirled to a stop on Bianca’s screaming face. Head tilted from the weight of humiliated concussion, she stumbled up in a frenetic tinnitus-fueled search for the enemy. [i]What is she saying? Why is she helping me? Whe—[/i]\n\n\nThe smell of ozone and feathery Audino fuzz brushed across her face, carried on a pecha-colored wind.\n\n[u][b]SMAAAASH!![/b][/u]\n\n\nWith a steel-fisted elbow locked in place, Audino flashed into view at a skarmory-squadron pace, planting every square ounce of her nitro-charged momentum down upon Vaporeon’s perfectly-treated spa-polished cheek.\n\nEmil gasped with his arms coiled around his stomach as Vaporeon’s head turned a full 180° and she sailed through the air. Leg snapping free from the force, spinning like a rifled shell, the air whistled as his lover came to a gut-punching stop, shattering an upturned slab of cement with her face.\n\n“[b]WHAT[/b] A [b]STRIKE[/b]!” the announcer shouted through the drone with genuine unscripted shock. “I felt that in my [b]boots[/b], guys!”\n\nThe colosseum roared like a tsunami looming on the shore as Audino scraped her claws to a twenty-foot stop. Nursing a wrist full of shattered bones, she waited to see if Richard’s eeveelution would take the hint and stay down for the count.\n\nVaporeon woke to the same nightmare she’d slumbered off from, legs writhing with involuntary clamborning claws as her mouth spasmed with electric force. “Vaaa…” she moaned from a drooping lop-sided jaw and heaved her body into a wobbling punch-drunken gait.\n\nEveryone on Richard’s side of the battle lines watched with stress-clenched fists. Except Spinel, who held back the urge to puke, back arched at the sight as his overactive mind imagined what such a thing could possibly be like to experience first-hand.\n\nAudino hid the rising tempo of her breath, her face steady as an armored hull. Despite the steely facade, her body cried in agony, gasping for the last dwindling fumes of energy in the tank. “{Your jaw is dislocated, you have a concussion, your right articular fin is broken.}”\n\nVaporeon brushed a paw up across her face, finding the spines around her ear had snapped like a fist full of number-two pencils “{Whhheh…}” she gurgled, dribbling lines of bloody spots as her throat rattled in a delirious undignified rage. “{Whhhatofit?!}”\n\nAudino wrapped a healthy paw around her ruined wrist and her face was lit from below by the shadowy campfire glow of a healing technique. “{Yeild,}” she requested in her usual honey-shuckle tone as the bones of her hand crackled back together again. “{Please.}”\n\n“{Ghhhet [b]bent[/b]!}” Vaporeon leapt, hoping to rush the old medic down and maul her into the dirt, but discovered that the energy of her speed-enhancing technique had slipped away with her consciousness and never returned.\n\nThe Queen of Castle Stone kissed the dirt again as Audino slipped aside, whipped her knuckles ‘round, and sent Vaporeon’s royal lips crashing right back to the ground beside her.\n\nJittering as the muscles of her neck churned into a clump of sailor’s knots, she snapped back with a hiss, sprinkling a bloody red line between them with eyes that dared the other side to cross.\n\nAudino hopped around the tips of her toes, raising her dukes with a swipe of the nose, shoulders rolling for another take-all game of assholes-and-elbows.\n\nVaporeon couldn’t hear the jeering of the crowd, the gibbering static warbling off Audino’s ears, nor the desperate shouting of her mate behind the brass-temple bell ringing of her skull. The discordant riot in her head turned into a strange raucous sort of silence that let her see something she hadn’t noticed until she’d felt it twice for herself. That was [b]not[/b] a Thunder Punch.\n\nMind whipped into a screaming battlezone zen, she recognized the soldier’s attack for what it really was, reminded by the millions of drills she’d done at Machamp’s wizened meat-head feet. It was a Counter, distorted up with some electrical paralysis-inducing energy. A filthy trencher’s trick; one she hoped the old girl would be nice enough to teach her later when the tournament was over with.\n\nVaporeon feigned a massive hydropump gout, pulling it back at the last possible second as she spat a mouth full of blood instead. Having cloaked the psychic technique in a shell of water-force, she managed to kick off a hasty-but-successful Agility as Audino stepped aside.\n\nAudino leapt into a chin-busting jab just as the injured warrior’s image rippled and flickered around. The exact moment she sensed her Thunder Counter failing to bite into enemy flesh, and the harmless flecks of coagulated phlegm striking her face, decades of experience turned her body with complete autonomy, to meet Vaporeon at the precise angle-of-attack her instincts said she’d be.\n\nThe two traded blows, lethal striking claws blunted by trained defensive paws, again-and-again, crackling in rows of barely-visible swipes. Like popcorn in a stainless pan, the arena echoed with impacts that left grown men reeling and children cupping their ears from the noise. Vaporeon’s gargantuan reserves of might let a few attacks blast past the healer’s defenses. Audino’s experience and anatomical skill exploited every tiny nerve-biting opening they could, leaving the enemy’s muscles shrieking with disproportionate waves of surprise.\n\nThe school children that had piled around Fenny’s warm, foxfire body leapt to the railings as their teacher’s pet fought for glory. Valorie finally managed to grab her mate for a long-overdue snuggle in the stands. François, Mr. Gyarados on film, winced and looked away, unable to watch as two beautiful souls tore each other to ribbons for nothing but the blood-thirsty whims of society. \n\n“Vaporeon!” Richard screamed, finally catching the moment where his battle instincts could shine as the scuffle wandered meters from Team Stone’s trainer box, spackling the trainer zone in freshly-let blood. “SURF!”\n\nThe brutality-furnace boiling Vaporeon’s mind defied the idiot’s request, but still allowed her Beloved’s terrified screaming voice inside.\n\n“{[b][u]Smother![/u][/b] Oh, Gods, do it. PLEASE!}” Emil cried out in monster-speech, catching the attention of the jumbotron as it recorded, for a live, global, studio audience just how skilled and strange Team Stone’s shadowy co-trainer actually was.\n\n\n\nBack at Apogee HQ, as Father allowed his body to accumulate its metabolically optimized eight-point-two hours of sleep in the bunk below, Indoles’ head turned with a chicanery smirk watching the game on pay-per-view. “{Oh?}” he chittered with a pair of fiddling claws, translating the man’s expressions of agony for what they really were. “{Oh, reeeallly.}”\n\n\n\nVaporeon’s battle-addled mind didn’t wait a millisecond more. [i]Ok, my love,[/i] she thought, and Audino’s tempo hitched as the eeveelution’s tail unpredictably flexed around for a skorupi-tailed strike.\n\n“Audi—Hhhg!” Audino gagged as the fins of Vaporeon’s tail melted down to form a glistening hydroponic spike that pried her teeth apart, flushed her nostrils with an acrid burning swill that rushed down her throat, punching her lungs in a boiling blast of oceanic brine.\n\nVaporeon drew on everything her body and the Mystic-Water gem around her neck could spare. Her tail, her hips, then everything from the waist down turned into a wriggling lasso that wrapped Audino’s shoulders tight, clamping the enemy’s arms into a rib-crushing vice.\n\nAs Emilio’s purpose for living clamped the enemy’s respiratory tract with a vice of liquid flesh, her still-solid front-half clasped around Audino’s legs, and she pinched her eyes shut to wait the horrible storm out. \n\nRichard’s face went totally white as he watched Audino fall to the ground nearby, garbling, puking endless screaming pails of water to try and bail her own body out. “W-what the fuck!?”\n\nEmil’s knuckles were white instead as he wondered exactly when his molars might break from all the stress grinding he was doing. “Yeah. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to bust this nasty thing out. Sorry, man.”\n\nBinaca, busy settling Dewott’s nerves as he pointed from behind her legs with concern, lifted her face with a cheery battle-numb smile. “Take ‘er with you, baby.”\n\nVaporeon squeaked as Audino’s hind-paws slipped from her grasp and wrapped around her neck. Heels clicked into place, and her eyes shocked wide as her own esophagus was squeezed between Audino’s thighs with a force she couldn't fight without letting go too.\n\nThere’s an entry in the Vaporeon pokedex lines that says they can just ‘turn into water’. While technically correct, outside of an actual body of good ol’ H2O, such a thing required gratuitous reserves of energy to even attempt. In the wild, Vaporeon would do such things in the rain, at the surface of a lake, or bobbing up and down at sea. [b]She [/b]was trying to stay half-liquid in a bone-dry bakery of war, wrestling with a foe that had more will to live than any other thing had right in an ugly throttling-match.\n\nIn practice, that horrible thing she and Emil had devised in secret, [b]Smother[/b], was a baffling feat that required leviathan levels of self-control. In mastering the technique, he had let her use it on him a hundred times or more, knowing that when the lights went out his precious gem would flick the switch back on and wake him up again. Anything to keep her safe in the worst kind of colosseum bind. \n\nFor the first time in her life, as Vaporeon tried and failed to suck life-giving air through a toe-sphinctered throat, she felt that whether she lived or died waited on the toss of a two-sided-die.\n\n“Oh my Gods, they… FOR YOU ANTIQUATED LISTENERS AT HOME, VAPOREON HAS TURNED HER BOTTOM HALF LIQUID AND IS TRYING TO [b]DROWN AUDINO OUT[/b]. AUDINO HAS THE EEVEELUTION’S NECK IN A CHOKING HOLD TOO. OH MY [b]BLESSED LORDS[/b]!” The first-year announcer fought hyperventilation as his seniors worked to calm his nerves behind the scenes.\n\nThe audience held their breaths, contestants crossed their fingers, and the League Censors seriously considered blurring this part of the bronze-package high-definition video release. Both contestants however, unable to look one another in the eyes, stared into each others’ souls, twisting, tightening, wringing themselves dry for every Yveltal’d spark of hate they could muster.\n\nSpinel hid his tear soaked face and Richard stood aghast as Incineroar’s lips tightened around anger-sharpened fangs.\n\n[i]Pull through, you stubborn [/i][i][b]BITCH[/b][/i][i]![/i] Incineroar thought, wishing for once that she could slam the order straight on to her rival’s mind as she watched her master’s wisdom proving true yet again; ‘physical technique was key’.\n\n[i]Do your part, and I promise I will do mine.[/i]\n\nThat tiny distorted piece of eternity passed like a cystine kidney stone. They twitched, their eyes fluttered shut, and their bodies went slack. Vaporeon’s battered head rolled away as her opponent’s ankle-lock snapped free. Audino’s mouth was yanked forward, guts spilling liquified enemy meat as the Vaporeon’s body returned to its natural form.\n\nBoth contestants laid there, in a lifeless, breathless, eighty-thousand-person silence. \n\nThen, just as the rotom drone started counting down the consciousness clock, Vaporeon dragged her sorry ass back out of the darkness.\n\n“Vaporeon is back up!” The announcer returned after a bit of ‘mid performance coaching’ and a slap of the back. “Audino is down!”\n\nVaporeon looked around like a hatchling, shell-shocked with survival, and gave her mate a dopey love-me smile. “{I… I did it.}”\n\nEmil finally breathed again, reeling as he finally got a taste of what could happen for real outside the pampered league-battle context. “{Thank you,}” he said with tiny tears escaping his eyes.\n\nVaporeon’s head tipped with a head still filling back to the brim with reality. “{I… did good?}” she asked with a slurring, busted mouth.\n\nThe drone crackled and beeped. “Five… four…”\n\nEmmi nodded, happy to see her body wreathed in pulsing aquamarine light. “{Yeah, love, you did.} You need to switch out?”\n\nShe spat and popped her contorted jaw back into place with the help of a little Aqua Ring first-aid. “Nu-uh.”\n\nSpinel had been yanked out of distortion and straight to Enamorous’ realm, silently gushing at the couple’s wedding-eyed connection.\n\n“Three…”\n\n\n\nThousands of miles away, from the lablight glow of a Dexpad screen, Indoles watched with a predatory sway of the tail as he recorded Emilio’s pokespeech words, enhanced for a live global audience. “How very, veeery inteeeresting~”\n\n\n\n“Two…”\n\nBianca gave a loving empathetic moan of concern as she scrounged up Audino’s work-worn love ball. “Thanks, pumkin.”\n\n“One… Audino is unable to continue!”\n\nShe recalled the old girl and gave the pokeball a kiss, pressed against her heart. “Ya held yer ground, harder than ever before...”\n\nRichard forced his bones to stop that incessant rattling as his head turned to Em. “Any other bits of nightmare-fuel I should know about?”\n\nEmilio said nothing, simply gesturing to Bianca who stood with a finger on her lip, eyes rolled up searching that insane unsorted library of strategies squiggling around her attention-deficient brain. \n\n“Contestant Bianca, release your next battler,” the rotom drone demanded.\n\nShe glanced over at Stoutland, slumped half-asleep beside her. “You ready to rumble again, bub?”\n\n“Stou?” he borked like a taiko drum as one milky iris peeked past a half-lidded eye. “Stout-land.”\n\nBianca nodded. “Been a while, wonder if I’ll hear those rusty old joints creaking out there.”\n\n“Touuuu!” The elderly pooch scoffed as he lurched up on colossal double-size paws, six-ornery-feet from forehead-to-claw.\n\nBianca planted a big wet kiss upon his nephilim cheek. “Have fuUuUunnn!” she sang, cheering him away with a fingertip wave as his steps rattled the stones beneath her feet.\n\nSlowly, like a granite rampart wall being built on the horizon, Stoutland lumbered himself a quarter-way into the ring. Huffing crabby grunts in Vaporeon’s general direction, armed with a grouchy grandpa stare, he marched like a steamroller on parade.\n\nVaporeon crouched for the inevitable pounce, ready to put the mangy barracks-dog down.\n\nAnd then he sat.\n\nThe audience waited for anything exciting to happen as Vaporeon circled the mutt like a sailor lost at sea. She looked for an obvious best time to strike, but found that his stance, his bulk, and the confidence in the way he watched her rounding the ring kept her violence at bay. \n\nWhen the front-seaters finally started coughing from boredom, she crept toward his flank, head atilt.  “{Hellooo, we’re in a fight!}”\n\n“{Mm?}” Even that single tiny syllable thumped the air like a beating drum.\n\nVaporeon coughed and rolled her eyes with a sigh. “{Aaahhh… You ok, old-timer?}”\n\n“{Come again?}” he thrummed, neck and head tracking his opponent’s movements with microsecond precision.\n\n“{I [b][u]said[/u][/b][b],[/b] are you [b]ALRIGHT[/b]!}” she shouted, starting to feel like Emil did speaking with the dreaded centenarian thrifty-mart cashiers back home.\n\nStoutland exhaled like the brakes of an inner-city bus.“{I heard ya, young’un,}” he woofed, his whisper hitting her like a full-throated shout.\n\nWhile two generations tried to bridge the social divide, Richard started to notice the distinct [b]lack [/b]of guidance from Bianca as the battle entered its brutal second half. It was disparate, bipolar, palpable in how the disorganized spazzy grandma they’d seen all this time was suddenly replaced by some cold, collected, calculating commander issuing pin-point radio commands that felt like ambushes in the dark.\n\nThe announcer scratched his head, watching from the best binocular spot he could find. “Aaahhh, Richard’s Vaporeon is trying a… Taunt, I think?”\n\n“Hurt somebody!” shouted an impatient primo-seat freak.\n\n“You sure about this, lady?!” Richard howled, surprised to find it was just a bit too loud for the lack of cheering sounds. “That ‘mon looks like a tired bump on a log.”\n\nBianca smiled with eyes flying at half-mast. “He’s got your moxie, kid; bet your biddy’s nets.”\n\nRichard’s pampered anchor-mon grumbled with furrowed brows. “{Well, get on with it, pappy!}”\n\nStoutland’s one good eyelid lifted like an armored-vehicle hatch. “{You first.}”\n\nVaporeon’s stomach turned as she caught a glimpse of his other eye opening up, calloused with Intimidating sinuous scars.\n\nRichard blinked. \"Get outta here with this senior citizen sh—-\"\n\n“[b][u]LANGUAGE![/u][/b]” The shouting of the crowd washed Richie’s mouth out with soap.\n\nRichard cleared his throat with a bashful beet-red face. “Whatever. SURF!” he shouted with fist-pumped pride. “Flush that turd, gurl!”\n\n“My pleasure~” Vaporeon sang with an arrogant sneer, wowing the audience with her silky human speech as she charged what she hoped to be the biggest tidal wave of that century. But then that ‘prudent side’ snatched her own metaphorical ear back.\n\n\n[i]I already paid for underestimating the last fogie. I won’t make that mistake twice.[/i]\n\n\nAnd that was good, because she’d failed to notice Stoutland’s still, silent, invisibly-executed fortifying techniques, slowly empowering his body as the spoiled twerp gave him so much lip.\n\nIncineroar, on the other hand, had not. “{THE BASTARDS’ BUILDING STEAM!}” she screamed with smoldering teeth. “{HIT HIM [u][b]NOW[/b][/u]!}”\n\nVaporeon normally wouldn’t dare sully her reputation taking tactical advice from an upstart spark. But… broken clocks and all that. “Later, feraligatr.”\n\nHer body swirled into an out-of-nowhere gout of crystal-clear energy-forged water. The spout turned into a towering showering column, as if someone had popped a cork at the bottom of the ocean on the other side of the world.\n\nStoutland stayed sitting down with a cast-iron frown, shrouded in the shadow of a wave coming at him like a sprinting castle wall.\n\nIt put Primarina’s Surf to shame, setting flood warnings off all around the blocks surrounding Lumiose’s world-renowned Granite Crown Arena. Emergency pumps roared to life, claxons sang the universal hazard song to those stuck standing in the danger zone, and the colosseum clacked with mechanisms opening the thirsty gullets of a dozen steel-cap hatches. Whichever inner-city neighborhood was about to receive the scraps of Vaporeon’s wrath, they were sure to be blessed with squeaky clean streets!\n\nThe crowd roared back to life like a bed of hungry coals given a bucketfull of plywood chips to consume as the ground of both trainers squares lifted like a block pushed out of place to keep the benches safe.\n\nGoggles, swim-caps, and a snorkel or two decorated the splash zone as the League’s biggest, craziest fans buckled themselves down to their seats with conveniently-placed complementary restraints and buckets for watery autographs.\n\nThe stubborn ol’ dog stood unflinching, firm as a bed-rocked bastion cliff at sea as the torrent swept and swallowed him whole.\n\nHorace Slate, hiding behind the wrought-iron archway gate, slammed his hands against the bars with a kingler’s grip and a wild child’s smile. Like an Alolan lad’s first hurricane storm, he stood at Giratina's gates, daring the world to wash his soul away. “Lez go!”\n\nOpal giggled with claw covered lips, happy as a micleberry candy seeing her Acey so alive again.\n\nBoth teams, raised above the rapids by a well-implemented safety measure, stumbled into huddled heaps to keep from falling in.\n\nRichie cackled at his own pokemon’s crazy display of force. “Holy canoleys!” he gasped on his hands and knees, wiping ocean-spray from his face. “We tripped the flood-lifts, jeez!”\n\nOverwhelmed with excitement, Bianca snapped back to her jovial, boot-stomping, party-popping self. Serperior, suspiciously bereft of flu-like symptoms, showered the flashing flood beneath in leafy confetti. Audino, freshly doused in valuable full-heal spray, sat with Musharna in her lap, smiling with exhausted eyes. Chandelure puked multicolored rockstar flames into the air. Dewott and Incineroar stared each other back, with intensity to match. Mienshao, well… she was busy getting wet somewhere else.\n\nFor the inattentive, unfortunate, and the insane stuck in tidal-range, the world was washed away, replaced by a breathless dimension full of gemmy, waterboarding, bodythrashing currents. The lot of them gurgled with glee, hair swirling like anemone in a storm-shocked reef.\n\nHorace howled with delight as Vaporeon’s might crashed against his chest, clawing at the skin of his face as it worked to drag him back into the darkness. “Thaz what ah been look’n fah!”\n\nAs promised, the torrent shook the seats of a thousand screaming fans crashing against the rim of that Great Granite Bowl. Whipped into a burbling slurry of rubble mud and gargling mad-lad fans, the warzone quenched its thirst for carnage with a frothing disaster frappé.\n\nVeins flush with adrenaline rush, the front seaters hooted, hollered, and slapped each others’ backs as the drains sucked empty air behind the departing mudslide. The raised concrete platforms slid back into place with a body shaking thud. Horace hung triumphant from his clinging place with a ludicolo laugh, dripping with excitement as Opal wrung her sopping-wet ears dry beside him.\n\nVaporeon stood at the center of a blast-savaged woodland warzone wiped clean of blood, smoke, and enemy scum.\n\nOr so she thought.\n\n“No… way…” she heard her trainer’s flabbergasted words, delighted to find Richard could finally appreciate a proper display of her might.\n\nThen she opened her eyes, ready to savor the flavor of victory, only to find herself gnashing on a mouthful of copper-soaked tongue.\n\nThere, in the exact same place he’d settled down, Stoudland just [b]sat[/b]; fur soaked through and hanging from his hide in sloughy trickled matts, but otherwise entirely unfazed, spitting mouthfuls of Surf aside in a silly little fountain. Huffing as he stood again, he proceeded to shake himself dry, showering his side of that freshly-scuttled landfill in the scent of muddy wet dog.\n\n“{W—what?}” Vaporeon peeped, wondering if she’d slipped into some horrible concussion-fueled dream. “{How?}”\n\n“{Thanks.}” Stoutland’s burly mutant paws thundered toward her at a flower-garden trot. “{I needed a bath.}”\n\nVaporeon’s jaw quivered at the sight, teeth bared, fins folded back. Why was she doing that? What was wrong with her? [i]Stop, Vaporeon, you’re a [/i][i][b]warrior[/b][/i][i], dammit![/i] she scolded herself inside as her body backed itself away against her will. [i]Get a [/i][i][b]grip![/b][/i]\n\nShe wrestled at the helm of her mind, finally prying the wheel free from that sudden inexplicable fear quaking in her guts. Tapping the Mystic Water gem again, she scraped the thing clean of anything it could offer at a moment’s notice. “{GET BACK!}” she snapped and spread a jaw full of blinding lapis light for the first technique her harrowed mind thought to toss the monster’s way.\n\nHer frantic Hydro Pump blast smacked Stoutland square in the muzzle, but his pace didn’t hitch a bit as his face sheared the hypercharged waterbeam like a splitting wedge. Shaking his titanic snout around, he snorted his nose clean of schmutz. “{Why?}”\n\n“What. Is. Going. On,” Emil hissed through grinding bruxish teeth as Vaporeon cowered in the shadow of someone else. The answer was obvious of course, but his fawning adoration for the warrior queen of his nest blinded him to the truth.\n\nVaporeon’s body shrunk and slunk in retreat as her control was yanked away by that hollow chill tingling down her back. “{FUCK OFF!}” she spat, head low, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice as she wheezed a throat full of air-rippling sapphire power.\n\nThe clumsy Ice Beam strike went wide, freezing his leg into a misty block of flash-frozen air. Plodding on without a single skip in his step, he lifted his shoulder up and smashed it down against the ground to break his forelimb free. “{Ya groom yer hatchlings with that mouth?}”\n\nThat aspirational, mother-vee-to-be burned with anger at the slight, ready to put the mongrel down, but unable to will herself forward.\n\n“How is he still standing?” Emil quaked, lamenting that his wicked nootropic cocktail overclocked everything, good or bad, with an amplified 8K perspective. He drew the unused luxury ball that he carried every day through legal obligation, hands shaking as he argued with himself about pressing the forced command switch. \n\nRichard made the choice a hundred times easier by snatching the ball away from Em’s hyperfixated fit. “She’s lost her nerve.”\n\nAs Emilio gawked in disbelief, Richard raised the ball and pressed the button down. “Haze the field!”\n\nVaporeon’s unbroken fin lifted like an antenna catching a long awaited signal, then retracted back into a terrified state as she zipped around to keep her distance.\n\nStoutland walked his quarry down with a heady hur-hur-hur.  “{Where ya going, punk?}” he gruffed, crumbling chunks of concrete under-foot like sun-dried clods of dirt. “{Thought ya wanted a scrap.}”\n\nRichard paused with his brow-scrunching down in surprise. [i]What in the…[/i] “Haze! Use Haze!”\n\nVaporeon stopped again, closer this time, and peeked back at her ‘masters’ idiot face with disdain. “How [b]dare [/b]you,” she hissed, leering back only a moment more before she was forced to comply, sucking a chest full of icy energy.\n\nShe lobbed a flickering blob of slush-colored light at Stoutland’s feet, blasting the field in a murky ice-crystal mist that scrubbed the body clean of energy patterns, whether hindrance or help, user included.\n\nWhatever mix of reinforcing techniques he’d used was gone. But so too was the Agility keeping her body out of pouncing-range.\n\n“{Hmmm.}” Stoutland rumbled through the rimey deep. “{Bit nippy out.}”\n\n“What. How? She’s fought dozens of Intimidators before!” Emil groused, rubbing his temple as a migraine started setting in.\n\nRichard eyed the pokeball that failed to issue his command with suspicion. “Look at that thing, Em! He ain’t some bog-standard breeder-mill mutt. I didn’t even know a stoutland could get that huge.”\n\n“They can’t!” Bianca shouted from the colossal television screen overlooking the field.\n\nRichard coughed at that. “Guess you must have missed yer boi the last hundred years, ancestor! Makes me think he’s been juiced or something.”\n\nMiss B nodded. “More than any’mon you’ve ever seen, I bet.”\n\nEmil growled with his fists clenched at the obvious flagrant disqualification putting his mate through so much hassle. “You mean he’s been jacked up on chemical enhancement and you’re just admitting it?!”\n\nRotom, sensing an impending judges call, combee-lined it straight for the imminent prosecution. “Stoutland is one of the last surviving individuals bred to be chemically and hormonally conditioned for maximum endurance in wartime during the Ghetsis Revolutionary War. It has served him well in his duties as a guard’mon, literally a living breathing armored tank.”\n\nRichard laughed aloud, slapping his knee. “Then walk-off, granny! That’s a walk-of-shame if I ever—”\n\n“Stoutland is permitted to fight,” the drone stated as a matter of fact.\n\nA black box full of stones gasped. [b]“WHAT?!” “{WHAT?!}”[/b]\n\n“You agreed to the switch. Per regulations, [b]any [/b]pokemon may be offered up for substitution at any time. And, as I’m sure you know—”\n\nRichard ruffled his pristine head of jell-spiked hair, leaving his shades half hung from his nose. “—we’d get a half-hour to decide and ask questions, yeahyeahyeah YOU DOUBLE-DEALING HOOPA-RINGED HEX!”\n\nSerperior cackled from his hiding place behind Bainca’s service-blouse as she gave them both a winking finger gun. “All’s fair when there’s shells in the air, honey.”\n\nEmil groaned, clutching at his own skull not only at the dunderheaded mistake, but also falling for such an obvious ploy.\n\nThe puddle-pocked landscape froze into brittle surface sheets of ice that crackled like eggshells with every step, leaving both fighters totally exposed, and yet still impossible to predict as their images hid behind the pogonip mist.\n\nRich shoved the issue aside and moved on, smashing the pokeball with his thumb. “Double Kick,” he muttered, half to keep the cameras from giving away his play, half troubleshooting to sate the skepticism rattling around his brain.\n\n\n[i]Hmmm, am I gonna have to sit Em down for a chat later?[/i]\n\n[i]No way he’d skip the minimum pokeball stasis hours with a scary creature like her, he’s so careful with everything! Right?[/i]\n\n\n“No.” She growled as she felt the command gripping at her brain, refusing the static background noise as she wreathed her body in a volatile skin of brine, and lunged forth to Liquidate the lumbering crunching sound approaching to her left.\n\n[i]Just as I suspected.[/i] Richard grumbled as he let the switch go free, his suspicions confirmed. [i]Thing’s busted.[/i]\n\nEvening the odds and finally taking action was all Vaporeon needed, she was sure. She barreled forehead first, bursting into a comet of scorching clarified water as she leaned into the attack with everything she had, tapping that Mystic Water gem for the little it managed to replenish in the fleeting moments before she made her daring leap.\n\n\nPssssssssshhhhhhhhh— THUNK\n\n\n“{Hnf!}” Stoutland’s massive pummel-pads shifted back a microscopic bit as her skull careened into his chest.\n\nIt was a perfect bullseye strike, landed square and true, not a single ounce of power wasted. Despite her courage, effort, and execution, she crumpled against the bulwark beast and slid down his grizzled iron-sides like a shattered bottle of wine.\n\n“Grrrah,” Vaporeon grunted as she fell from his soggy mane. With an impossible feline flip, she stuck her paws down and curled into a snarling spin, lashing her tail around for a punishing rebou—\n\n\n[u][b]WOOF![/b][/u]\n\n\nHer spines hackled as every fiber of her body rattled awake, muscles wound tight as mooring lines as she reverberated inside a claymore cone of sound blasted from Stoutland’s throat.\n\nThe toothy drill-whistle shrill from Bianca’s end of the line cut the hesitation short, and Vaporeon barely registered the old soldier’s queue as the snarling furry-missile came crashing down upon her.\n\nEmilio’s throat choked on shuppet sheets as he watched the love of his life snatched up in Stoutland’s jaws. Richard snagged the back of the pokephile’s suspender straps as the guy reached out for the ring, nearly stumbling over the line.\n\n“Whoah, you ok, man?” Rich asked, setting his friend back up like a wobbling vase with a playful shoulder-smack. “C’mon, this ain’t your first mauling. Chill, she’s got this!” he said with a rock-solid reassuring glow in his face; belying his slowly succumbing to the dread of defeat flooding in, like a tanker sending all’s-well signals while swamping out at sea.\n\nSpinel huffed with puffy cheeks from the support bench square. [i]Gods, Richie. How can you not see the love burning in their eyes?[/i]\n\nIncineroar clamped her angry fangs shut, grinding with concern as she watched Stoutland flailing Vaporeon back and forth like a floppy puppy-dog toy.\n\n“GO, Stoutie, GO!” Bianca’s kids cheered for their beloved classroom pet from the observation box above. “GO, Stoutie, GO!”\n\nFenny’s ears draped across his cheeks in a confused dejected droop as Valorie kept him trapped in a smother-ey, lover-ey, ursaring hug. “{Mate of mine, the hatchlings share the cave with us but do not cheer for Friend Vaporeon and her Emmi as well.}”\n\nValorie chuckled, burying her intoxicated face in the smell of her frumpled boy’s bushy beautiful mane. “{Human stuff doesn’t work like that, Fenny-Ken~}” she cooed with that gushy romantic affectation that played off the cognate ‘monspeech word for a ‘pleasantly full belly’. “{Get their brains all mixed up by stupid human stuff, and forget their manners.}”\n\nVaporeon was lost in a whiplashed flurry of agony. She scraped and gouged at Stoutland’s eyes, bucking razor talonous hind-claws across his neck and jaw, gnashing at any tiny scrap of flesh she could possibly rip away.\n\n“WATER PULSE!” Richard shouted into Vaporeon’s haywire ball, praying that his outside-voice would be enough to work this time.\n\nCompliance finally came with an inconvenient delay, and Vappy pressed her power down to a tiny boiling ball inside, screaming with fury as she let the bubble out.\n\n“Grrfff!” Stoutland gagged, head thrashing around as his throat, nose, and mouth were flash-broiled open, then bent over coughing as his brand-new chewing toy scurried away.\n\nVaporeon tripped, stood, and fell again as she hobbled off to some form of safety. There was a moment that it seemed she might slump over and give in to her injuries, letting sleep take the pain away. Her breathing slowed, long, big, steady lungs full of life-giving air.\n\nThen she turned around, growling, hissing, spitting, blood oozing from the matching u-shaped wounds punched into both sides of her chest as she stamped her paws to the ground. “Eeeoooooonnn,” she shook with a killer’s rattle, fierce and feral and dire-deep.\n\n“Alraaaiiight, I knew you had it in ya! We need to set the pace!” Rich cheered himself on as he tried to ignore the schoolkids’ cries being echoed all around the crowd. “DIG!”\n\nHe knocked at the door but she refused to answer his call, muzzle wrinkled with dripping, frothing, blood-soaked fangs brought to bare.\n\nRichard groaned, stabbing the command-switch down like a kid gamer convinced that the moves work better the harder you smashed the button. “DIG! DIG! DIG!”\n\nRichard’s commands vanished into the ether, like a fistful of pebbles plopped into the sea.\n\nSpinel looked away from the concerned looks of his lover, over at Emilio, and spooked himself cold with the man’s blank terrified face.\n\nVaporeon stared her pursuer down, unable to register her trainer’s feckless piddling sounds, nor the soothing assurances of her mate.\n\n\nAnguish…\n\nDefiance…\n\nEmptiness…\n\n\nRed.\n\n\nLike a high voltage switch snapping back to life, the lavish complexity of Vaporeon’s soul was purged with a malice, so absolutely sanguine and pure that she may as well have been dead; an yvalthish sort of hatred, available only to those lost in the throes of a nightmare, where no competing thought, memory, or personality trait had any hope of stepping in to interrupt the carnage.\n\nStoutland squinted just a bit more than usual, humming with experience and consideration. “{Bianca!}” he borked across his shoulder, keeping his eyes locked on her movements as [b]he[/b] started edging back.\n\nHis comrade understood the noise, even though she never developed ‘The Ear’ like N or Cheren did. There’s a different term for what she was. Old Skool, like Red, Silver, and the late Professor Juniper, rest her blessėd soul. The kind of pokemon understanding that left people wondering if the person really could speak it, until somebody asked for a translation and left them shrugging with a blush. Sometimes you just understand your best friends, no matter the language. \n\nBianca searched her bag for a twisted pair of spectacles, and peered through them like a pirate’s glass. “Keep your distance, Stout. Hold her at a [u]careful[/u] leap.”\n\nStoutland could feel the enemy’s force in his guts, growing by the second with that energy some pokemon seemed to save for their final trip to the Distortion Realm. “{Been a while, death-bringer,}” he greeted the girl’s alien atavistic animus like an old nearly-forgotten enemy.\n\nRichard’s brow raised. There it was again, that sudden switch of cadence from the woman. “What is goin’ on? Em? What [b]is[/b] this?”\n\nEmilio’s face just couldn’t pull away from the horror gripping him forward as, for the second time, his lover’s soul vanished before his very eyes. “That’s… not in her documentation,” he replied, recognizing that mindless snapping face from the police rally all those months ago.\n\nVaporeon’s muscles flexed and tensed, bulging her skin into twisted ropey knots. Claws flipped out into knuckles full of switch-blade razors, punching holes in the jagged cement crumble like curds of whey. “Eeeoooooonnnnnn!” Her temper flared with facial fins spread wide, tail snapping the air with wicked cracks that pierced the eardrums as her fins smashed heaps of metal wreckage flat.\n\n\n\n‘Designation.’\n‘{E-435}’\n\n‘What are you?’\n‘{A weapon.}’\n\n‘What is your purpose?’\n‘{To protect and to serve.}’\n\n‘What comes first?’\n‘{Mission.}’\n\n‘What comes second?’\n‘{Preservation.}’\n\n‘What is the price of failure?’\n‘{Death.}’\n\n‘And who pays that price?’\n\n\n\n“{Not I,}” Vaporeon gasped, barely audible past the hissing of her throat as she skulked Stoutland back across the field.\n\nBianca’s cheeks twisted into a smile, wry and dry as a triple-filtered whisky. “What was that about augmentations, darlin’?”\n\n“Uh.” Richard’s heel twisted around, subconsciously edging himself closer to the line separating him from the comfort of his cushy pink boyfriend. “I didn’t—”\n\n“The Ghetsies had a point, y’know… always did.” She spoke with an even throat, never taking her eyes off the threat inching closer to her companion on the line. “I hope you’re nicer to that pretty little lady than the people responsible for coding the object lesson you’re about to receive.\"\n\nMiss Bianca de Bell, sweet as a slurpuff cone, whistled the air with a single specified tone. “[b]Scotch![/b]”\n\nStoutland’s eyes opened at the command, and his lumbering body snapped to attention with a surreal youthful energy. His shoulders squatted down, crushing the ground into a cloud of granola flake as his monstrous legs launched him into the air.\n\nVaporeon cracked with a hydrogen-fired leap that blasted the earth behind her into rocket-propelled clouds of shrapnel and dust. \n\nThe two mistakes of man-and-nature met head-to-head mid-air, smacking the senses out of everyone near enough to feel the supersonic blast. They fell to one side, tumbling into a stone-crushing roll of snarling, swiping, tearing, screaming streaks of blood. \n\nStoutland caught her front leg in the industrial strength grip of his jowls, paying no mind to Vaporeon’s razor-tipped digits slicing his face to ribbons as he bit down on one side with dispassionate visceral intent.\n\nVaporeon’s leg creaked and snapped from the strength, radius and ulna yielding with a crickling sound as they endured the giant’s jaws, but the pain only fueled her fire like a cup of gasoline. She sank her fangs deep into his neck, taking up as much vital flesh as she could possibly muster as her entire body lit like the filaments of an incandescent bulb.\n\n“WHAT IS THIS?!” the announcer cried as she rippled and smashed the audience’s eardrums with the sound of the ocean crushing sand on the shore. “No, seriously guys, what is that?”\n\nAn older sinnohan fellow with a yarn-braid beard snagged the microphone with a feedback squeak. “That’s a WAVE CRASH! T’aint seen it in ages, folks! Last time I laid eyes was in my Temple Tourney days before they kicked the League out.”\n\nStoutland's teeth nearly touched together as her leg started to give way, and the only thing Stoutland could feel was the cool rushing of water as her Wave Crashing claw came down. Fur blasted away, skin split, muscles pried apart with hydrojet force.\nd\nKnowing that holding the monster in his maw further would likely result in a live decapitation, and not wanting their precious students to have to sleep with that image on their minds, he lashed his face to throw her down, shattering a jagged pile of stone to powder. “Brbrbrbrbrb!” he flubbered around, shaking watery blood-soaked chunks of hide free from his throat.\n\nVaporeon turned with her half-broken arm hanging like a tire-rolled hock of meat on a hook. There was no royalty, no life in her eyes, no signs of distress or pain, only the cold recognition that Stoutland still displayed signs of life.\n\nThen she twitched, and her body glowed like a billow-blasted coal.\n\n“Hnf!” Stoutland grunted with surprise as she appeared beneath him in a flash so fast even[b] he[/b] couldn’t keep track.\n\nVaporeon danced around his claws in bullet-time, sensing and reacting to every fleck of rubble, disturbed wisp of air, every tiny hair of his paws that barely managed to brush against her cheek as she slashed massive gushing wounds in his legs. Sensed… but never [b]felt[/b].\n\nBAM! BAM! BAM! His paws smashed jagged pawsey prints into the ground, swatting at the battle-blue monster like a hatchling cutieflie always managing to vanish just in the knick of time. “{Hold! STILL!}”\n\nThe thing piloting Vaporeon’s meat and bones cared not for displays of honor or glory, only [b]results[/b], and the ‘fucker-snuffed’ box wasn’t checked yet. She stopped, crouched, and leapt with her three good legs, keeping her mangled limb back with a chill that seemed like she did so out of mere professional courtesy.\n\nHer body rocket-launched into his chest with every physical ounce of force her supercharged bioweapon flesh could spare.\n\n“C-HAAAhhh!” Stoutland flipped around from the impact and crash-landed on his ass, wondering how long it had been since he’d had the wind knocked from his lungs. [i]Ah, Route-Three Kennel-Boot, that’s right. Damn, it really has been a long time.[/i]\n\nBut, like the sun sets west, the mindless fighting drone came at him like an artillery round, and he knew exactly where to bite down.\n\nStoutland rolled aside, waiting for the death-soldier’s inevitable bounce and rebound, and snagged the meat of her tail in his mouth.\n\n\nSCRUNCH!\n\n\nThe children topside cowered behind the railing, watching with horror as all of the ghoulish rumors spoken about their beloved Stoutie were proven true, right before their wide-awake eyes. Several of them scrambled back to the warmth of Fenny’s fluff, and the feral tod gave an approving nod, despite his lover’s protests at having to share her prize again.\n\n\nWhip!\n\nWHOP!\n\nWHACK!\n\n\nVaporeon blasted, clawed, and scraped at anything her meat touched as the enemy smacked her ass against the grain with all the leverage her tail could provide. The first few impacts left her with nothing to show but a few errant hydropump blasts that gouged muddy ditches in the ground around them and a couple of broken ribs stabbing at her lungs.\n\nThen she entered a dead-bodied calm, softened her muscles, closed her eyes, and curled into a boiling semi-liquid ball.\n\nFwoooBOOM!\n\nStoutland’s skull smacked against the ground from the force, fur smoldering from a superheated hyperpressured blast of steam. \n\nVaporeon reconstituted and rolled away, hissing in multiple ways as she came to a misty claw-scraping stop, then whipped around again and charged, painting a crimson trail toward Stoudland’s faltering rise.\n\nEmil gagged in horror as his lover’s gaze passed him over like just-another harmless clump of background noise, barreling toward the enemy on a three-legged sprint. No fear, no expression, no desire to protect or preserve her own life as long as the target still breathed and bled hot. \n\nThe image settled into his stomach like a poison that couldn’t be purged, even as his head turned to fill the conveniently provided brown paper bags he never thought he’d need.\n\nRichard was locked in place, unable to believe the madness on display. Two pokemon tearing each other to bloody strips of rag without a single speck of care for their own wellbeing. Every day he’d seen brutal hits and nasty toothy holds, but never before had he witnessed a pokemon pry themselves free from one so hard that strips of still-bleeding meat peeled away from the bone.\n\nBianca had had enough, and was sure the boys had seen enough too. “Launch her out!”\n\nThen she whistled her boot-camp tune to catch the attention of Team Stone from the jumbotron screen. “Recall that girl quick when she falls out-of-bounds, boys. She won’t hesitate to run her butt right back in there and disqualify you!”\n\nRichard stumbled and coughed. “Wha?!”\n\n“Ain’t my first time fighting a brainwashed killer, honey.”\n\nStoutland, patiently sitting in a mixed pool of blood, waited for that tell-tale smell of anger and fear the death-soldiers always made. The moment it stung his nose and tongue., He barely dodged the snapping jaws of his opponent as he rolled backward and shoved his hind paws against her battle ravaged tuckus.\n\nVaporeon hissed with surprise; just the sound he was waiting to hear. The deathies always made the same noise when you managed to catch them off guard, no matter the maker. He kept his roll going, doubled around into a coiled front-hand-stand, and launched that screaming eevee into the air with all the power his tired old body could offer, sending her careening down…\n\n…straight for the Stone Family trenches.\n\nRichard’s chest tightened as the berserking beauty whistled straight for them. “WAIT! AAAHHH!”\n\n“RING OUT!” The announcer declared with a shout as Vaporeon struck ground and tumbled to a stop.\n\nWith an eerie ghost-type steadiness, her stuck-and-bloody corpse clambered back up onto its three remaining paws. \n\nEmil shoved Richard over, yanking the pokeball from his grasp, and pointed it towards her with a jittery shaking aim, like an injured soldier drawing on an enemy breaching the hold. “Return!”\n\nHe pulled the trigger as Vaporeon inspected the zone, again and again and again. “Return! Return! RETURN!”\n\n“{What a day…}” Stoutland grumbled with a gurgling rumble, and slumped onto his side, into a puddle filled with his own blood. \n\n“Medi-Fi…” Bianca recalled her baby, knowing he would succumb to blood loss if she left him out there any longer. Then she noticed that Vaporeon was still walking free. “Boys? BOYS! RECALL HER!”\n\nVaporeon’s ball made that empty weapon sound as the vacant windows in her skull turned onto Emil.\n\nRichard’s throat tightened around itself as he fumbled around his pocket for something he’d always kept just in-case for Rhydon. A triple-strength sedative jet hypo. He leapt and nearly fell from the trainer’s square as he was knocked away by a blind whip of the tail.\n\nBianca’s teeth clenched as she reached into her bag, and started running from the ring, only to be caught by the loving claws of her own pokemon stopping a proper disqualification. “She’s out for blood and doesn’t care where it comes from!  CALL!  HER!  BACK!”\n\nVaporeon’s head turned away, having deemed their threat level insignificant, and crouched to—\n\nEmil leapt onto her back and the crowd gibbered up into a startled panic. “Don’t, no!” He held her snarling, furious transformation against his chest, wincing as she sliced his work shirt, his undergarments, and the tender flesh underneath. “Gah!”\n\n“On! Onnn!”  she bucked him in the stomach and legs, scraping bloody rungs in his thighs, knocking the wind from his guts, clipping his ear with a snap as her mate pulled them both away from the tournament-ending edge.\n\nBut Emil refused to let go, tapping into his pathetic excuse for a pokephile battery just to keep her struggling in his arms. “{Va[i]y[/i]poreon[i]uh[/i]!} he screamed her true name loud and best he could, face smeared red against the ravaged skin of her cheek. “{It’s me! Emmi!}”\n\nEveryone gasped as the tender caress of his palm against her face was snatched in her jaws and bitten with a stomach-turning crunch. The same hand from so long ago, in the exact same place.\n\nEmilio bit at his suspender straps, screaming into his own love-clenched jaws.\n\n“{No! Nononono, no! WHY?!}” Spinel cried in horror as her love for Emmi was nowhere to be seen. “{Vaporeon! STOP!}”\n\n“Sss…” Emil’s eyes watered with the pain, but still he refused to let his lover go. “S-sé que no quieres esto,” he quivered in his habitually hidden native tongue, too shaken to form the words in pokespeech. “Y-you could kill me right now if you wanted.”\n\nVaporeon’s bucking and kicking waned, ever so slightly, as her lover’s terrified blood rushed across her tongue.\n\n“But I know you won’t…” Emilio held the pokemon mangling his hand, curled around her as they bled together on the ground, and didn’t even grunt as her head smacked against his nose, popping the lenses free from the designer glasses she’d paw-selected, just for him. \n\nThe longest ten seconds anyone had ever seen passed as even the league announcers knew better than to run their mouths.\n\n“Eee… eee…” she gasped for air, slower now as the raking motion of her claws slowed to a shivering stop. “Veeeee,” she squeaked as that empty redness left and the clarity of life filled her eyes again, only to find her lover burning himself on the proverbial stovetop to pull her free from the fire.\n\n“{There you are.}” Emil nuzzled his face into her dewlap fins, hiding a sneaky, loving peck-of-the-neck as he finally let his desperate struggling hold wane.\n\n“{Uurm… Urrrmi?}” She loosened her blood soaked maw, horrified to feel all of the many precious little bones she’d broken.\n\n“{Slow, breathe, just relax, honey.}” Emilio cooed, wanting to pick her up but afraid he might upset the rest of her injuries doing so.\n\nHot runny tears cried down her jowls and into his injured palm as she realized everything she’d done. “{I’m sorry…}”\n\nNeither of them noticed as the team hosed them down with premium-grade healing sprays. “{I love you.}”\n\nHis tiny whispered words slapped her silent, and all she could do was roll into a compliant little ball as her body stitched itself together and her lover permanently stitched himself to her heart. If she had any lingering doubts left about choosing him as her mate, they were gone for good now.\n\nBianca’s throat finally let her chest go as she saw the fires quenched across the field. “Oh thank goodness.”\n\nFrançois was left a broken man, weeping in the stands, unprepared to have his heart devastated with such a show of devotion.\n\n“What an unbelievable display of trust, ladies and gentlemen!” the league organizers yelled, finally reminded of their tournament responsibilities. “Ten seconds left! Release your pokemon!” \n\nSpinel tossed four empty healing-spray canisters aside, happy to see his friends safe and in two single mostly-coherent pieces, relieved to hear the whistling calls of medical joys coming to patch Emil up.\n\nRichard looked over the line and gave a lover’s ‘miss-you-babe’ face, wishing more than ever before that the little guy’s place was there with him in the trainer’s square instead of tending to the wounded on the bench. “I’m lucky to have you, ba—uddy.”\n\nEven after all the traumatic exposure, and despite the dopey near-slip of the tongue, Spinel just couldn’t help but melt at the words, knowing Richie simply wasn’t capable of telling a lie. He blew his man a kiss with his ribbons swept into a heart-shaped loop, comfortable knowing that absolutely no reasonable person would suspect him of anything more than being exactly what he looked like on the tin.\n\nBianca fired a finger towards the enemy with a stern smiling face. “Alright, Chandelure! Let’s—”\n\nDewott grumbled, tugging at her dress as he pointed to incineroar, dancing in place with a scowl.\n\n“Patience, sugar-lum,” she said, picking him up to plant a kiss on his adorable, wrinkled, button nose. “Give ‘er all you’ve got, Chandie!”\n\nChandelure gave Bianca a cheery, four-flame salute, smiling from their spooky, flickering, cast-iron, jack-o-lantern face as they entered the scene of devastation.\n\n“Well, Cinny…” Richard said to his final ‘mon, clipping a titanium chain around the fiery, furry, flaming belt around her waist, then hung a jade scroll tube with intricate golden filigree from a solid steel hoop. “Here’s to hoping all that hush-hush bunny time wasn't for nothin, gurl.”\n\nIncineroar huffed, doing everything in her power to hide the pressure she felt inside. “{I know what I’m do–}”\n\nRich clapped his big temperamental girl on the shoulder and wrapped his arms around her chest for a quick but unmistakably affectionate hug. “It’s all up to you now.”\n\nShe scoffed herself into a sooty blushing storm and shoved him away, grumbling as the chucklehead waved her off with two thumbs up and his saccharine side-piece whistled her a good luck something-or-other she was too embarrassed to hear.\n\nEveryone else on their side was either recalled, battered silent, or shaken with humiliation. It made for a chillingly tepid cheer, even if their hearts did sit in the right places. Not even the simple nod of approval from Vaporeon shivering in Emilio’s chest soothed the itching of her nerves. Incineroar returned the gesture, and sauntered over that contested enemy line.\n\n\n[i]Two for you…[/i]\n\n\nThen she found her master in the crowd again. Opal was still there, taking time away from all the things she could have wanted to do otherwise, just to watch some ungrateful stranger she’d agreed to teach over the last few days. It made no sense at all, but the realization that someone was there, not expecting conquest or glory… but just needing to see Incineroar at her absolute best, no matter how good that effort happened to be… It settled the chittering coals in her chest, stoking her soul into a steady silver smithy’s rhythm.\n\nFollowing the years of advice she’d received in only the last couple of nights, fought the urge to bunch her muscles up and clench her fists. Spine tight, shoulders loose, knees prepped to spring, breathing smooth as the honeybutter spread they made to go with all those hundreds of loaves of bread the day before. She was ready, whether or not she wanted to be.\n\nChandelure floated with a subtle, unassuming flash of fire, stoking the spirits of a group of lower-class children cheering from the stands.\n\nDewott mentally armed himself like an artillery shell, patiently waiting his turn, but primed for action at a moment’s notice,\n\n\n[i]Two for me.[/i]\n\n\n\n",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'><div class='align_center'><em>Forbidden Waters - 29</em></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>F̵̡̨͔̤̼̭͎̥͖̭͔̮̪͈̳̰̼̯̠͓̱̜͆͑̂͗̐͌͗͐̀̐̊̓͘͠͠/̸̧͓̪͓̤̱̪͕̫̩̅̌̒͜*̶̧̡̦̬̲̺̘̱͔̱̱̌͂͆͋̽̉͑͗̈̉̌͆q̴̧̨̥̭͕̙̼͚͚͈̩͚͍̘̦̦̝̥̦͜͝ͅT̴̨̧̢̛̹̟͙̠̝͍͉̟̣̣̤̰̜͈̓̐̓(̴̨̢̜͔̣̖͈̮̲̖̺̫̹̝͕̦͖͎̥̻̪͓́+̷̺̯̲̫̞͔͕̤́͐͒̎͐̓̌̉̄́͆͌̈́̅̕̚3̷̧̨̢̨̡͙̲̻̭̫̩̯͍͉͇̭͙͍̲̟͈̪̪̎͊̑̈́̒̈̇̈́͑̏)̸̧̡̻͕͈̘̫̉̓͗̕i̸̢̨̲̘͓̳̝͍͙̬̺̯̍̓͒͐̃:̵̤̣͗͒̃̊̆͌́̀̇͐̆̾̋̽̌̒̕̕͝͝͝͠͝]̷̡̧̞̬̺͎̗͚̳̩̣̣̞̺̟̳̝̣̲̩̣̼͔͌̽͑̿͐̈́̽̓̌̑̓̕͜j̸̡̢̢̦̪̜̞̼͍̞̼͖̩̫̝̙̞̏j̸͈͖͈̺͋͂̓̈͂̔̆͌-̶̗͚̐̿̾̂̈̾̊̈́̎p̵̪͓̹̟̊͒̈́̃̊̎̑̒̀͋̆́̐̃̀̈́̅̚͝0̴̡͈̮̳̭͓̜̼̺̞̹͙̲͛̅̀̐̏̿̌̏̒̈́̂̎͑̔5̴̧̙̯̰̮̖̗̯̈́͂͂͂̒͒͑̔̀̂͂̐̐̔̄̈́͌̚̕̚͝͝5̵̧̧̢̛̬͉̘̰̻̯͈͈͉͎͖̹̜̥͖̼̼̟̜̖͐̅̑͋̌͂̆̅̆̈̈́̆̃̑̍̏̑̇̔͘̕͠,̴̢̛͙̌͛̀̓̎̒̈́̿́̍́̀̄̊̚̚f̷̢̨̦̠̬̥͚͎͎̘̬̖͍̪̙̦̭̑͌̔̍ͅ%̸̨̢̝̜̠̺̺̥̥͔̫͉͚̳̩̭͉̘͐q̶̡̛̫̱̤͇̗̘̘̘͓̰͓̱͖͙̫̲̥͉͓̘̘̓̇͐̽͗͆͗̎̊̑̏̀̈́̕͝!̶̢̡̥̖̰̱͈̩͎͍͈͓͍̺̞͇̰̹͔͉̣͍̗̎̏B̸̫̭̫͇̟̥̗̬̯̮̹̤̬͎̜͔̣̍̏̋̍̈́̅̍͗̿͆͂̓̒͐͒͘͝͝p̸̧̭͙̲͚̗̱̩̫͙̤͉̮̜̺͔͚̻͙̠̺̱͚̈́̈́̈́̃̋̽̃̀̑̓͋̎́͂͐̿̔̂̚͜͜͠͝͠͝Ģ̵̨̢͖̝̪̩̠͉̹̮͎̻̲̩̌̓͛̅͐̋͊̏̍͂̒̐̒͛͝ͅC̴̹̦̹̲̓̑͌͊́̃͐̒̃́̈́̀7̶̨̧̢̢̨̛̠̠̮̻͇͖̫̩̱̯̝͙͙̣̩͇͆̾̾̃̃̐̾̓̊̏͆̆͜ͅw̴̡̛̝̲̠̙͎̺͕̞͚̹̭̣̥̞̠̑̂̒̔͗̆̂̋̑̓̐̎̅̓͘͘ ̴̡̧͚̼̪̺̺͙̦̫̠̞̪̖̲̉̑͒́d̶̨̥͕̟̲̟̒̉̒̈́͋͆͋̋̕͝͝.̵̡̢̧̨̛̘̤̯͔̰̼̣̼͓̪͎̟̺͓̳̠͔̞̪͋̇̀́̏͊͗̏͗̃̓̓͒̿̕̕n̶̢̨͚̙̟͖̈́̈́͑̅̿͗͝Y̵̡̨̨̛̞͎̳̝̤̭̞̹͔̹̋̅̓͆̊̽͜͜͜x̵̢̛̛̳̝̠̘̹̱̞̞̳̗̬̤̩̹̱̪̥̫̍͐͆̏͌̑́̀̀̈́̄̿͠͝͠}̴̧̢͇̞̤̥͔͉̮̖̫̩̪̬́̓̓̿̀̈́̾̈́͐̓͜*̸̨̧̨͇̥͔̳͈͉̞̼̖̗̗̳͇̹̞̹͚̩̑̊̇̈̚͜(̷̰̥̝͕̗͙̏̆̾͛̄̔̑̈́̆͗͌̀͝Ḑ̶̲͖͉̜̼͓͍̺̯̜͓͚̪͎̜̻̦̤͛͌̅̽̃̈́́̏͆͊͌̑̕͘͝ṅ̵̨̰̼̩̙̳̰̝͉͙̪̺̜̱̦̐́̓͝#̸̨̣̫̖̠̗͍͎̱̬̝͍͓͉̌̒̾̓͂̐̆̓̿̍̽͆͒͛̕͝m̶̧̡̡̨̛̞̗̖͎̞̯̞̝̻̞̭͕͚̮̼̙̤̍̌͑̓̅̅͗̈́̽̀́̀̿́̂͒̀̄̽͘̚͜͝͠E̷̡̧̺̮̩̟̖͗͂̕͠m̷̤̫͓̀̈́̅̾̌̀͂͌̓̈̑̋͊̚a̷̢̧̢͉̖͖̤̹̬̖̥̫̭̟̬̞͉̞̭̒̒̒̈́ͅṳ̶̢̢̜͓̩̬͖͙̥̰͕̠͕̄̐̂̎́͊̄͠ͅŞ̷̧̡̣̗͙̟̜̙̮̪̦̙̓=̷̤͖̤̥̠̣͖̎͜i̶͇͚͓̭̳͎̦͍̪̻̺̗̞̜͙̭͓̥͓͌̈́̂́͊̕Q̷̨̢̛̣͇̬̭̻̫͖̙̙̟̭̠͚̰̺͎̝̰̣̠͖͙̇̐͋̏͝ͅk̵̹̠͍̖̤̯͕̝̈́̊͜͝Ā̷̛̖̱͉͊́͐͐͛̐͗̓̇̓̈́̑͛͘͘͝͠͝û̶̡̮͓̻̜͈̩̖̻̻͇͇͔̬̉̋̆̈̈̊̾̔̔̌̀̽̀͘͝͝͠8̴̤̜̭͛̏̊̉̆C̷̢̦͈̩̰̱͍̩̻̪̫̭̯̃̒̐̀̓̑̅̄̒̊̾̋̒͘͜͠ͅG̴̨̨̳̞͖̤̱̖̙̺̮̥͂̋͜͜U̷̡̻̼̠̼̠̺͓͕͎̲͚͚͌̓̃̉̄̈́͘͝͠͠͝ͅ=̴̧̡͎͎̠̥͎͉̬̺̬̠̣̟͕̟̘̩̼͙͔͓͂̓͐̽̾̌̾͆̀͊̀̈́̅͐̓̈͘̚ͅx̶̢̛̗͕͇̙̝͈̜̠̗͍͔̗̘͖̠̰̩̰͊̌̄̈̍̀͆̈̑͋̈́̅̃͜5̴̧̨̡͚͇͍̤͍̱̰̦͍̰̮̘̥̱͔̯͓̰̫̯̟̔̑̿̑̏̂̅̂͒ ̴̨̡̬̹̝̱̱̦͍̽̉̔̓̊̅͝͠(̸͓͖̙͔̯̖̫͇͚͔̩̩͔͓͆͋̍͌̃̈̿͂̂ͅC̷̢̧̨̯͕̲͕͙̞̗̠̜̯̫̟̤̩̹̝̘͎̣̔̂̊͌͗̓͑̉͛̎̂̓̃̿̾̉̈́̓̊͘͘͝͝͝*̷̧̢̞̲̬͎̼̳̳͈̠̙̥̾͆̋̃̇͑̈́͆̆̎̅̓̂̀̓͜͝?̵̲̱̰̰̭̬͉͍̝͔̞͇͍͚͇̗̤̺̦͊̂̓̈̆̒́̇̚Ņ̸̧̯̤̤̘̘̗̬̝̠̩̱̲͍͈̱͝0̵̻͉̝̋̊̂̀̅͒͋̽̊̄̽̍̂̊̈́̏̀͠͠͠͝Ṟ̸̢̛̠̅̐͒̾́̓̐̈́͑͂̒́̈̇̽͋̚̚̕6̷̢͙̲̞̦̈͗͑̄̆̀̈͛̍̅́̔͋̑̑̈́̚̚̚͘͝͝͠d̷̛̖̭̪̻̖̻̀̇͋̎̆̈́̊̿̓̀̎̀̚i̴̢̛̪̝̯͈̞̩̣̮̖̞̼̳̮͎̖͂̂́̿͊̈͑̂͆͐́͛̑̔̇̃̕͘ŗ̴̡̰͙͍͖̗͈̩̣̮̟͔̘̪̞͕͎̜̳̮͍̍͌͗̀̔̔̂̽̈̊͊̿d̶̨͉͙̺̪͈̮̳̓̍̊̈́͐͋̈́̎͆͒̅̑͂̎̐̑̌̚͝ẋ̶̢̧̠͇͙̖̳̝̘̘͎̩̆̔͆́̿́͆̈́́̃̔͂͒͒̇͐̕͝v̶̨̡̛̻̭͉̰̘̪͉̻̳̖̼̘̩̯̣̮̩͎̪̳̱̯̇͊̿̒̃͐̒̋̾͗͊̌̈́͐͂̀̉̀̚̕̚̕q̴̢̢̨̛̘̖͓̤̩̯̫̞̠̜̣̫͖͓̲̟̐̓͑̏̆́̅̆̅̊͐͛͑͑͘ͅŸ̷̢̑̓̒̎̆̈̕q̴̨̡͍̻͖̳̖̬͈̣͚̹̦͖̟̤̩̹̘̗͇͔̄͊̂̿̉̏̍̈́͑̉̅͠P̸̨̛̲͉̹͐̋͋̎̑̾͛̔̈́̈̆̈́͋̋̽͆͗̆̆͆̇̐w̶̪̦̖͙̘͚̺̩̗͊̈̌̓́̾̄͗̎̃̔͊̈́͐͛͜ͅw̴̨̱̘̦̜͇͛̉̂̔͆̔̓̔͛͗͆̓̎͛̅͘͝͠b̵̛̯̫̥͕̤̜̥͎̽͆̑̃̔͒͊͒̈́̈́͑̿͑̅̕̕̚͜͠S̶̛̼͖̀̐͛̿̏̔̽͒̾̆̔̔͆̕̕͝͝#̷̳͚̺͕͓̹̙̗͚̼̼͇͔͎̜̼̱̫̳̰̇ͅ$̷̝̤̝͈̩͈̞̲̤͉̲̟͚̘̜̪̠̤̳͔͌̌̌̔̃̄̇̓̄̑͌̔̃̚͠C̴̛̼̦̘̩̗̫̯̯̹̲̲̟̲̥͓̖̜̎͒̍͌̒͋̎͛͒͗̆͗͘͜͝͝͝q̸̡̨̼̹̬̺̝͔̪̖͍̭̬̪͍̪̱̦̇̅͒͆͛͐͑̃̅̋͑̾͘͘̚͜ͅh̴̡̖͓̪̮̣͔͈͉̺̦͚̳͚͓̜̤̩̤̼̼̩̣͛̉̓̑̄̓̇͌̇̉̔̏̆̽̇̀̿͒̚͝͝*̸̣̺͍͓̏̿Ę̷̦̣̬͚̲̙̯͔̝͉͖̜̝͈̞̪̫̉̇̈́͘͜L̷̨͇̙̪̣̖̗̤̳̻͔̼̭̻͔͉͖̬̱͙̞͇̘̭̃̎̏͌͆ ̷̗̰͔̤̦̼̜̬̠͔̼͙̺̑̌͗̃̍̈̾͆̈́̋̽̇͂̽͆̋̑̿́̀̅͐̕͝#̵̘̟͎̬̟͍̼͇̱̹͔̱̖̬̥̠̻̯̩͚̣͙͚̹͆̐̅̀͌̐͗̽͒̀̔̿̈́̂̎́̆̇́̅͘͘ͅc̶͉̯͙̰͚̺͙̞̳̩̙͚͎͍͚̟̱̫͈̙̝͉̥̮̐͑̓̐̈͌͛̀̔͌́͗̿̒̍̾̃̈́͐̋̕͘͝h̸̞̳͍̰̃̾͋͐̀̀̿̊̀̾̿͌̑̎̕͝͝B̴̘̞̝͚̈́͋͊̂̽̐͐͠͠w̵̜̰̫̥̩͈̲̼͋̾̅̂̎́͛̓̉͐͋̈́́͋͒̈́̆̄̄̌͜f̶̣̬̣̘͇̹̺̫̖̘̼̱͚̥̬͓̟̱̤͖͈̒̾̀?̵̧͇̖̗̞̫̝̰̠͍̣͋͐̈́̾͆̂́̎̅̒̇̍̉̍̃̿̕̕̚͜͝Ķ̷̡̡̧̯̞̘̤̖̗̭̘́̓̌̈̓̂͂̂̅̎̀̈́̈́̕͝!̵̖̲̍̎̈́̃̉͌̀̆̂̅͆͒̑͐̇̎̚̕͝͝5̶͉̮͈̰̝̩̱͇͓̙͎̿͋̑̅̀̆͌̓̂̂̃͌̂̽͒̋͒̆̕͜͝G̵̨̱͍̩͓͍͚̒͆͐͐̓̉̅̃̒̒́͒̈́͋̿͠͝#̷̛̬͇̪̯̟͍̝̪͔̪̞̯̠̤̂́́̏͂̉͆͜͠͝N̸̯͉̩̟͓̮̟̬̮͑͛̆̍́̀̃̂͗̀̑͛͑͒̀̍͊̇̊̚̕̕͝͠]̴͍̻͙̿̍̓̈́̈͛͒̓̉̀̀͋̈͂̒̀̂̔͜6̷̧̛̖͔͇̗̲̹̙̇̀̏̿̊͐̓̈́͐̿̒͠͝i̴̼͂̀̈́̾́͆̎̔̇̈́́̈͑;̵̡̫̘̺͍̲̩̠͉̝̹̳̲̉̏̔̋̍̆̆̽͗́̀͑͑̔̏̍̐̅̄̿̍̚͜͜͝͝͠ͅ;̸̨̢͍̻͖̦̤̱̤͇̩̱̪̗̻̭̜͇͕̆̍̈̈́̕͜ͅŻ̴̩̪͓͐̾̌͛͐̀͆͋̚͝.̴̡͖̗̘͖̫͈̘͚̝̪̯̝͓͚̥̓͑͐̑̒̍́̒͗̕͠k̵̳͔̽͂̽͑̃̏́̂̕̕͝V̶̢͇͖̲̩̣̮͈̥͍̜̒͒͋̽́͗̃̀ͅ*̷̰̯̳̪̹͇̻̮͇͉̥̹̤̻̻͉͈̏p̵̢͓̪͉̹͚͇̰͖̜̒̏̌͝ẉ̵̛̺͓͕̙͈̺͕̼̜͉͔͕͗͆́̅̉̓̿̃̆̿̈̂̊̕͝m̶̠̮̠̝̱̠̦̬̼̫͊͗̾́̒́̈́̈́̓̚͝͝͝7̴͓̰̰̖̟̻͇͍̻͙͈̙̟̦̗͇̪̺̟͖̬̳̦̖̇̓̈̃̈̋̀͛̃̅͒̓͂&amp;̵̡̢̡̛̪̗̦̖̜͍͍̭̦͒͒͊͌̓͘͘͠ͅB̵̨̡̨̦͉̯̞̞̜̪̗̳̟̩̠̭͓͔͖͙̱̄̉ͅ#̷̜̊ ̴͈̽̚W̸̲̩̠̓{̶̯̍ē̸̕ͅ3̸̑̾̓͜X̵̱̱̑̑̍-̶͖͑̅&amp;̸̫̠͌͛̀͜n̶̳̜͊͒h̵͚̓́Ţ̸̖̯̽̽͝)̶̛̘͊͑c̷̫̈͌̉Ụ̷̗̋?̷̱̱͙̇͗V̶͙̘̯̓̓͆g̵̛͖̃͌5̷͎́͊̕ẘ̸̳̙-̸͇͎̭́X̵͇̊7̸̮̞͛̉ṷ̵̆̕͜1̸̠̹͘ͅ$̵̫̱̈́̿{̶̝̀̅G̵͙̬̑́͝(̴̼̍͊[̴̧̒S̶̠͕̭̐̄͆Ļ̸͎̞́ ̵̰̭̪̐͛F̸̘̬̏̇͋}̴̜͇̥͐b̴̙̺̣͗W̸͙͊c̴͆͜u̶̻̱̓͌̕&amp;̵͈̩̬̈́̏̂w̸̡̳͌̓̈́b̷̝̈́̋̅͜ͅ?̴̋̄͜h̷̳̤̊̀U̷̼̰͂̒S̵̛̱̬̩̏͠w̶̮̩̗͌{̸̠̋̽̾,̴̗̅͊͝X̴̲̻͛͜5̴̢̖͓́,̵͖̀̃͛C̴͔̔̒A̵̡̪̎͛͐.̸̭̓͐E̷̹̝̖̐̕]̸͉̯̋G̶͙͇̚̚%̴̧̙̉̀̍M̷̠̾͝+̵̺̞͗̕;̶̯̲̅̎͝&amp;̴̬̏̌ ̷̺̠̯͘_̴̗͔̝͂͊3̵̬̭͓̎̈̈́S̷̨͕̻̊̏̍M̴̙̙̹̿͋-̵̨̙͚͑w̵̓́͜]̷̛̪̹̞̀̊Ğ̵͕̖̄̀k̷̘̑̋̈́%̷̛͎̪̀T̸̝̻̲́̍͝-̸̰̂͐͐?̷̘͋̒%̴̧͖̈̂͘ͅ2̵̘̀͂F̷̦̙̄̋͝ͅ]̷̳̭̪͠w̶̧̳̔͘͠_̸͖̟̦̀́̒d̵̘̦̻̊S̴͍̩̐]̷͓͋̎̕c̶͇͚͝e̵̡̹͕̓$̵͙̩̂̌L̶̢͈̣̔̃͐q̷̛͎̝͠/̶̇ͅC̸̯̹̲̔ẃ̶͎͚̈́̈́ ̴̛̜̟̤̈V̴̞͓́͝j̵͖̮̒̀̽y̷̪͖͈̾̓H̵̜̓̽̈́ͅń̸̛̞̰͛p̸͖̥̰͌͌A̴̢̗̦͊͑ỳ̶͉̋͝,̶̭̿͊7̴̛̦̫͎̊̊3̴̩̟̫̇̐͗x̴̥̳̮́̋2̷̱̥͖͗̎̔z̷͕̲̿*̵͎̲̮͛̾͊!̵͚̓̇1̷̯̟̈́̋̍V̶̩̪̽͌q̷̢̰̳̇.̵̰̩̫̋͂̐H̴̨̾q̷͍͔̍[̷̡̫̱̊̿!̷̞̮̤̽̓_̴̨̚z̴͕̤̭̊̋͛]̸͎͎̱͊̆͠/̵̨̱̗̈͂L̷̻̿̿͒ḅ̵̆̌̽ ̵̻̪̳̋͘:̴̜̱͈͌̓̈=̶̛͍̦̅?̴͔̫̃̾͜͝m̶̧͔̀̊)̸̢̅̀[̶̧́͌*̶̼͇̮͗ǐ̴̜́͛Ş̶̝͛̓͗7̷͔̹̋f̴̤̻̄x̶̢͍̽̄*̸̧̗͔͝F̵̺̙̉̄̕!̷̫̫͐͛f̷͉̓7̵͈͔́P̸̛̯̊̿p̴̥̖͉̑͋͝:̸̺̓Ḏ̴̥͌̕A̵̗̽̀̋ͅk̸̢͕͎͌́͑M̴̼̒̕Ȳ̵̟̃h̵͈̽͒͝B̵͚̽̍,̴̝̺͂̈́ȩ̴̟̜̑͐͗J̴̷̙̲̩̉̑̕͠Ë̷̢̛̜́̕G̸̩͐͐X̶̮̉̒̀j̵̨̥̜̈́̋h̶͉̊͒̒͜0̵̱͇̎͆_̴͕͕̪͆̾̚?̷̮̈́͠ỵ̶̰͍̔̓Z̴̼̟̻̎.̷̫͇̯̒͒̓7̷̢̻̐Z̷͔͖͖͛͗͠X̶̱̩̯̃͌͝N̴̗̹̭͌͑{̷̧͎̔M̶̧̙͆̓̚B̴̠̼͛0̴͕̠̺͂̋;̴͔̝̄͆w̸̥̖̤̐̉͝8̷̬͂Ű̵̥̱=̷̻̱̌̀̒N̸̼͙̞̊̊̽p̷̮̞̣̊̀͂@̸̼̠̋q̸͙̮͍̾̕Ẋ̴̛̫͒@̷̙̅̌͝HBDq_@[nVm0}D]}N.:[Z*M{8&amp;+w&amp;a!u0S1QnZKA;BW)6eH5qm9x_4=.uBvXM/KCXG!QNMqw/j83L6,TS2+WW2tY{aBG]u07aCx?JqLc%#@wi!ng0fmenandbeyuou my fatheri, there on thoe sad heiaght, iacurse, bless, me now with youri fiierce tiearos, I priay. Do not go gentle inito that goaod niguht. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.</em><br /><br /><br />Kkkzzzzzzzzzbrrrrrr. Cough. Pzzzzzz.<br /><br /><br />The twisting cathedral jigsaw of Metagross&rsquo; mind finally came screaming back into focus, overwhelmed with an all-encompasing agony.<br /><br /><br /><em>Audino of Bianca&rsquo;s Belt&hellip;</em><br /><br /><br />Then she felt that unbearable but all-too-familiar sensation of <strong>humiliation </strong>as she watched herself being slowly carried to the arena&rsquo;s edge and tossed into a defeated topsy-turvy heap. Sputtering, twitching, writhing, fallen from the ring, right into the doting ribbons of Richard&rsquo;s unexpected pecha-pink plaything.<br /><br /><br /><em>I underestimated you&hellip; and paid a hubris&#039; price.</em><br /><br /><br />KzzzCOUGH! <br /><br /><br />A swirling cone of smoke from Metagross&rsquo;s busted mouth painted Spinel&rsquo;s face black as a kanto jynx.<br /><br />The humbled hunk of memories and steel peered with disdain at Audino worriedly awaiting the return of her opponent&rsquo;s vital signs at the arena&rsquo;s edge, and then squinted with analysis as the warrior zipped into the fog of a warzone she&rsquo;d helped to violently gnash into reality.<br /><br /><br /><em>You&rsquo;ve shown me that my path to mastery is longer than I had anticipated.</em><br /><br /><br />Spinel coughed and gagged, dragging twin trails down his face removing the blackened dross from his eyes. &ldquo;{Relax,}&rdquo; he soothed, lifting her with a puffy-cheeked grunt as he sent her crashing down to her ass with limp lifeless limbs twisted around in all directions.<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s shoulders were rapidly clumping into stressy cancerous knots. &ldquo;Smoke her out?&rdquo; Richard asked Emil, hoping the idea made sense to the family savant.<br /><br />&ldquo;<em><strong>No</strong></em><em>.</em>&rdquo; Metagross projected onto their minds, voice rolling like a barrel of gravel as Spinel sprayed her down with potion concentrate. &ldquo;Brzzzzzza<strong>aa</strong><em><strong>poreon.</strong></em>&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon wrapped her dewlap fins around her Emmi&rsquo;s face to hide a loving peck on the cheek. She hopped from his shoulders, calm, regal, collected, absolutely white-hot with anger, and pawed her way toward the combat zone with glacier-cold murder in her eyes.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hold on, let&rsquo;s&ndash;&rdquo; Rich started, then stopped as Metagross writhed with twisting metal sounds.<br /><br />&ldquo;<strong><em>NO! Let her go!</em></strong>&rdquo; She insisted, forcing a pressure of serious intent right onto their streams of consciousness that was inappropriate for a psychic to do in the best of circumstances. &ldquo;<strong><em>She has the training to deal with that&hellip; thing,</em></strong>&rdquo; Metagross howled into their skulls, trying her best to track Audino&rsquo;s movements, but like before finding she just didn&rsquo;t have the skill.<br /><br />Rich glanced at Em, who responded with a cool, closed-eyed nod.<br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all in her documentation,&rdquo; Emilio said, polishing his glasses to a crystal-clear finish.<br /><br />Vaporeon, stopped, front paw raised mid step, flashing her &lsquo;master&rsquo; a daring stare.<br /><br />Richard felt his skin chill, even as the random fires smoldering around the arena baked his face with smoke and heat. &ldquo;A&rsquo;ight, Princess. Knock &lsquo;er dead.&rdquo;<br /><br />Her subject having come to the correct conclusion, Vaporeon gave him a curt nod of approval and dove into the smog with a double-team leap; a sneaky loophole swap-in move that wasn&rsquo;t technically illegal, but was bound to get the judges called for potential disqualification or point deduction&hellip; If your opponent wasn&rsquo;t Lieutenant Colonel de Bell, that is.<br /><br />Bianca just watched Vaporeon melt into the chaos with a buttery desk-apple smile, then peeked up at Incineroar&rsquo;s intense strategizing pose on the jumbotron. &ldquo;Some spicy loads of brass you boys are pack&rsquo;n,&rdquo; spoke the old blood-mopping ground-pounder she was inside.<br /><br />Richard heard the woman from the megaphone speakers all around, and cackled with a painfully visibly feigned confidence. &ldquo;Ha! You have <span class='underline'><strong>NO</strong></span><strong> IDEA</strong> how hard we pack our pokemon back here!&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil refused to allow Richard&rsquo;s image enter his line of sight as his guts shuddered at the lurid, very correct, implications shouted aloud for the gods and everybody else to hear. Spinel, while blushing of course, just accepted his fate aboard the S.S. Stone, sinking or not.<br /><br />&ldquo;LADIES AND GENTLEMON!&rdquo; the announcer cried, mirroring the rotom-drone&rsquo;s mouth lip-for-sync. &ldquo;I sense a game of ratatta-meowth, this may take a while. Keep your eyes peeled; while our contestants edge closer and closer to blows, we thought we might educate you on the incredible techniques you&rsquo;ve seen today.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emilio&rsquo;s mate slipped through the mire with a sneaky substitute double that vanished in a spray of water as the blur of Audino&rsquo;s blitz sliced the thing in two, granting her the split-second she needed to roll out the military move she&rsquo;d waited until now to let her trainer know about.<br /><br />&ldquo;Triple Team is a time-honored secret of the armed forces of old, given only to &lsquo;mon that are trained to put human killers in their place. Bianca, ever bucking expectations, is one of only THREE trainers known to have trained pokemon capable of taking it even <span class='underline'>further</span> beyond, on display for your enjoyment.&rdquo;<br /><br />The sapphire-skinned beauty zipped around the smoldering wreckage, stirring the smoke into a cauldron of anticipation as she felt the wind whipping her face raw, tail cracking the air in half with each and every turn and double-back. &ldquo;{Think you&rsquo;re the only one that&rsquo;s got a top-secret card to play?}&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t blink, folks. This rare treat, normally seen through academic text and grainy pre-dexnet film, is&ndash; wait&hellip; What&rsquo;s <strong>this</strong>?&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s paws furrowed the shattered concrete and soil in a desperate play to keep herself moving, moving, moving, spotting a fading-pink blur catching up to her. &ldquo;{You&rsquo;ve got another thing coming&hellip;}&rdquo; she muttered, following every flickering image-after-image that wobbled into her ever-changing field of view, digging deep into the annals of her memories&hellip; of the times spent in father&rsquo;s &lsquo;care&rsquo;.<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh. Oh! OH MY GOODNESS!&rdquo; Rotom droned aloud, listing off in disbelief.<br /><br /><br /><em>Come, Warrior, get what&rsquo;s coming to you.</em><br /><br /><br />Vaporeon winced and held her breath as the technique, like decades spent away from the seat of a bike, came rushing back like the taste of home-baked bread caught by an aroma on the wind. She&rsquo;d never done it that fast, nor that reckless, but she wasn&rsquo;t about to let some washed-up grunt out do her. The enemy&rsquo;s advance slowed as they danced in micro-measured time, bodies flashing around the arena like a double-row of Giftmas lights fallen to the floor as she pushed to break into that parallel dimension of speed so-few dared to tread.<br /><br />Finally, barely expecting it herself, she entered that dipping, shifting, leaping, dodging, ever-blending milkshake of light, and both fighters-by-life traded killer gazes on whiplashed backdrop soup of meaningless people, places, and things.<br /><br />Audino cut the youngster&rsquo;s cheek with a cold-rolled thousand-yard stare and a sparking steel-knuckled crunch of the fist. She patiently waited for Vaporeon to finish fumbling with the ochre Double-Kick charge slipping in-and-out of control beneath her knees. She could wait, it&rsquo;s not like the world was going nearly as fast as they were anyway, right?<br /><br />Then it finally dawned on Vaporeon&rsquo;s arrogant mind, muscles screaming for mercy as those grueling starts-and-stops hit her joints like a crashing car and every stray pebble threatened to trip her dead; she was struggling to keep up with a pokemon <strong>fifty-years her senior</strong>.<br /><br />Vaporeon met that old soldier-&lsquo;mon with a nod of honor and respect.<br /><br /><br /><em>This is a worthy foe.</em><br /><br /><br />The announcer drone checked his sensors and there could be no denying it, Vaporeon had matched Audino&rsquo;s velocity, mach-for-mach. &ldquo;Make that FOUR! Richard&rsquo;s Vaporeon is keeping up with Audino&rsquo;s Quadruple-Team!&nbsp;&nbsp;THIS!&nbsp;&nbsp;IS!&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class='underline'>INCREDIBLE</span>!&rdquo;<br /><br />The head honcho of Team Stone coughed, stumbling back with the freak-surprise. &ldquo;What sort of Distortion!?&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil smirked and popped a colorless pill, swallowing his sins with a bottle of triple-filtered water. &ldquo;Just full of surprises, ain&rsquo;t she?&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard couldn&rsquo;t see where Vaporeon or her opponent even <strong>were</strong>, like he was stuck trying to touch a black-bottled particle with his fingers. Bianca didn&rsquo;t much care what was going on out there, because she trusted Audino with her life ten-times more than the boys&rsquo; pampered civilian minds could possibly understand. <br /><br />The monsters&rsquo; bodies blended the smoke away, clearing the battlefield for both trainers to watch and be amazed as their partners moved and acted faster than anyone could possibly blink. There was no room for executive-order, no top-down hope of direction as the moment fell upon the anvil of their pokemon&rsquo;s lifetimes-of-training and depths-of-experience.<br /><br />And few pokemon were better fit to test their mettle beneath the red-hot hammer of a commanderless scrap.<br /><br />It was all a lie, of course. Vaporeon was making something <strong>like</strong> a Quadruple-Team technique, yes, but she couldn&rsquo;t hold it up for long as they both danced damn-near the speed-of-light, hunting for the perfect moment to stick the knife in.<br /><br />The kind of endurance, willpower, and skill it must have taken for Audino to not only perform the move at <strong>all</strong>&hellip; to keep it up for gods-know how long now&hellip; neutralize an enemy like a black-masked operator&hellip; and then snap right back into the maneuver without a single visible drop of sweat. It brought all of the things Father had put her and her siblings through into view with perfect clarity. <br /><br />These were the sorts of people that could only be forged in the wretched fires of honest, Yveltal sanctified war. Work hardened through mass collateral suffering and death. Armed with fangs that could only be found with blood on your hands and your back against the wall. She was meant not only to match these creatures, but also stand atop the mound of their bodies she&rsquo;d make. Fresh out of the box.<br /><br />A millisecond start-and-stop window let her catch a flashing picture of Opal poised beside her drunken dead-eyed trainer.<br /><br /><br /><em>If a pokemon like </em><strong><em>me</em></strong><em> couldn&rsquo;t make Father&rsquo;s cut</em><em>, what sort of monsters are hiding out there that weren&#039;t so lucky?</em><br /><br /><br />Incineroar watched with absolute heart popping intensity. She could catch tiny glimpses of the fight, seeing her rival&rsquo;s momentum starting to wane with each passing second. The event organizers were taking camera shots of everything <strong>but </strong>the battle, in the absence of claw-on-flesh action, but this ludicrous-speed staring match was more horrifying to behold than anything she&rsquo;d ever borne witness to.<br /><br /><br /><em>After all of this training, all the&hellip;</em><br /><br /><br />She shuddered with clenched teeth.<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>&hellip;special</em></strong><em> treatment I&rsquo;ve been given. Would it have even mattered if Richard had thrown me out into Audino&rsquo;s clutches instead?</em><br /><br /><br />She felt helpless, and that feeling made her sick. But then something her master said that morning quenched that growling flame of concern like a dumped tub of ice; a tiny nugget of something someone had said to somebody else, long before it found Opal&rsquo;s ears.<br /><br />&lsquo;Doubt is the stairway to heaven.&rsquo;<br /><br />Incineroar hadn&rsquo;t noticed the wisdom laid down before her in the moment, said to absolutely zero fanfare in a haze of overexertion and psychoshared subconscious thoughts, but at least she&rsquo;d finally turned around and picked it up when it mattered.<br /><br /><br /><em>This is not defeat I see before me. This is the path to victory.</em><br /><br /><br />While Richard was busy nursing a case of early-onset heart palpitations, Emil raised a curious brow as he watched Incineroar, for the first time ever, releasing the tension in her shoulders to let herself <strong>relax</strong>. &ldquo;Huh&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon bit her own jaw in relief as she saw Audino starting to falter too. Whipping around at the sound of Audino&rsquo;s stumbled, shuffling, hyperspeed steps, she bucked with all of her might.<br /><br />And then her vision rattled to incomprehensible static at a sudden gods-forsaken NOISE!<br /><br />It was one thing to hear it, even as close as she was to the battle zone, but it was an entirely different demon when focused and concentrated on you. Trapped listening to Station Pain, tuned to perfection for her own private listening torture, she realized her mistake way too late.<br /><br />That stumble was a feint.<br /><br /><br />Snap!<br /><br />CRACK!<br /><br /><br />Something bit into Vaporeon&rsquo;s ankle and her body rolled, head snapping against the ground as her hind paw was caught in the dim-lit glow of a snare, formed from glowing energy strings. A conniving trap that turned her own speed and power onto herself, cloaked in the scattered wreckage of war, set by the bastard mind of a patch-wearing member of the Four-Oh-Fourth Medi-Grenadiers. <br /><br />&ldquo;WHAT?!&rdquo; Richard felt his sickness suddenly turn into an acute case of heart-attack. &ldquo;<strong>WHEN?!</strong>&rdquo;<br /><br />Metagross sighed beside them with a realization even she hadn&rsquo;t made until her idiot trainer asked the question.<br /><br />Emil&rsquo;s turbo charged oculi finally caught sight of the field of traps, where his lover laid <strong>smack</strong>-dab center, like a corpse in a meadow full of funeral bell caps. &ldquo;When Metagross was blasting the trees apart. She had all the time in the world.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon lifted her face in disbelief as Emil&rsquo;s lips parted for him to scream for her to&mdash;<br /><br />&ldquo;GET UP, HONEY!&rdquo; Bianca hollered, hands cupped around her mouth to throw the order farther.&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;BITE THE LINE AND <strong>MOVE</strong>!&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s photocopied visual field swirled to a stop on Bianca&rsquo;s screaming face. Head tilted from the weight of humiliated concussion, she stumbled up in a frenetic tinnitus-fueled search for the enemy. <em>What is she saying? Why is she helping me? Whe&mdash;</em><br /><br /><br />The smell of ozone and feathery Audino fuzz brushed across her face, carried on a pecha-colored wind.<br /><br /><span class='underline'><strong>SMAAAASH!!</strong></span><br /><br /><br />With a steel-fisted elbow locked in place, Audino flashed into view at a skarmory-squadron pace, planting every square ounce of her nitro-charged momentum down upon Vaporeon&rsquo;s perfectly-treated spa-polished cheek.<br /><br />Emil gasped with his arms coiled around his stomach as Vaporeon&rsquo;s head turned a full 180&deg; and she sailed through the air. Leg snapping free from the force, spinning like a rifled shell, the air whistled as his lover came to a gut-punching stop, shattering an upturned slab of cement with her face.<br /><br />&ldquo;<strong>WHAT</strong> A <strong>STRIKE</strong>!&rdquo; the announcer shouted through the drone with genuine unscripted shock. &ldquo;I felt that in my <strong>boots</strong>, guys!&rdquo;<br /><br />The colosseum roared like a tsunami looming on the shore as Audino scraped her claws to a twenty-foot stop. Nursing a wrist full of shattered bones, she waited to see if Richard&rsquo;s eeveelution would take the hint and stay down for the count.<br /><br />Vaporeon woke to the same nightmare she&rsquo;d slumbered off from, legs writhing with involuntary clamborning claws as her mouth spasmed with electric force. &ldquo;Vaaa&hellip;&rdquo; she moaned from a drooping lop-sided jaw and heaved her body into a wobbling punch-drunken gait.<br /><br />Everyone on Richard&rsquo;s side of the battle lines watched with stress-clenched fists. Except Spinel, who held back the urge to puke, back arched at the sight as his overactive mind imagined what such a thing could possibly be like to experience first-hand.<br /><br />Audino hid the rising tempo of her breath, her face steady as an armored hull. Despite the steely facade, her body cried in agony, gasping for the last dwindling fumes of energy in the tank. &ldquo;{Your jaw is dislocated, you have a concussion, your right articular fin is broken.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon brushed a paw up across her face, finding the spines around her ear had snapped like a fist full of number-two pencils &ldquo;{Whhheh&hellip;}&rdquo; she gurgled, dribbling lines of bloody spots as her throat rattled in a delirious undignified rage. &ldquo;{Whhhatofit?!}&rdquo;<br /><br />Audino wrapped a healthy paw around her ruined wrist and her face was lit from below by the shadowy campfire glow of a healing technique. &ldquo;{Yeild,}&rdquo; she requested in her usual honey-shuckle tone as the bones of her hand crackled back together again. &ldquo;{Please.}&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;{Ghhhet <strong>bent</strong>!}&rdquo; Vaporeon leapt, hoping to rush the old medic down and maul her into the dirt, but discovered that the energy of her speed-enhancing technique had slipped away with her consciousness and never returned.<br /><br />The Queen of Castle Stone kissed the dirt again as Audino slipped aside, whipped her knuckles &lsquo;round, and sent Vaporeon&rsquo;s royal lips crashing right back to the ground beside her.<br /><br />Jittering as the muscles of her neck churned into a clump of sailor&rsquo;s knots, she snapped back with a hiss, sprinkling a bloody red line between them with eyes that dared the other side to cross.<br /><br />Audino hopped around the tips of her toes, raising her dukes with a swipe of the nose, shoulders rolling for another take-all game of assholes-and-elbows.<br /><br />Vaporeon couldn&rsquo;t hear the jeering of the crowd, the gibbering static warbling off Audino&rsquo;s ears, nor the desperate shouting of her mate behind the brass-temple bell ringing of her skull. The discordant riot in her head turned into a strange raucous sort of silence that let her see something she hadn&rsquo;t noticed until she&rsquo;d felt it twice for herself. That was <strong>not</strong> a Thunder Punch.<br /><br />Mind whipped into a screaming battlezone zen, she recognized the soldier&rsquo;s attack for what it really was, reminded by the millions of drills she&rsquo;d done at Machamp&rsquo;s wizened meat-head feet. It was a Counter, distorted up with some electrical paralysis-inducing energy. A filthy trencher&rsquo;s trick; one she hoped the old girl would be nice enough to teach her later when the tournament was over with.<br /><br />Vaporeon feigned a massive hydropump gout, pulling it back at the last possible second as she spat a mouth full of blood instead. Having cloaked the psychic technique in a shell of water-force, she managed to kick off a hasty-but-successful Agility as Audino stepped aside.<br /><br />Audino leapt into a chin-busting jab just as the injured warrior&rsquo;s image rippled and flickered around. The exact moment she sensed her Thunder Counter failing to bite into enemy flesh, and the harmless flecks of coagulated phlegm striking her face, decades of experience turned her body with complete autonomy, to meet Vaporeon at the precise angle-of-attack her instincts said she&rsquo;d be.<br /><br />The two traded blows, lethal striking claws blunted by trained defensive paws, again-and-again, crackling in rows of barely-visible swipes. Like popcorn in a stainless pan, the arena echoed with impacts that left grown men reeling and children cupping their ears from the noise. Vaporeon&rsquo;s gargantuan reserves of might let a few attacks blast past the healer&rsquo;s defenses. Audino&rsquo;s experience and anatomical skill exploited every tiny nerve-biting opening they could, leaving the enemy&rsquo;s muscles shrieking with disproportionate waves of surprise.<br /><br />The school children that had piled around Fenny&rsquo;s warm, foxfire body leapt to the railings as their teacher&rsquo;s pet fought for glory. Valorie finally managed to grab her mate for a long-overdue snuggle in the stands. Fran&ccedil;ois, Mr. Gyarados on film, winced and looked away, unable to watch as two beautiful souls tore each other to ribbons for nothing but the blood-thirsty whims of society. <br /><br />&ldquo;Vaporeon!&rdquo; Richard screamed, finally catching the moment where his battle instincts could shine as the scuffle wandered meters from Team Stone&rsquo;s trainer box, spackling the trainer zone in freshly-let blood. &ldquo;SURF!&rdquo;<br /><br />The brutality-furnace boiling Vaporeon&rsquo;s mind defied the idiot&rsquo;s request, but still allowed her Beloved&rsquo;s terrified screaming voice inside.<br /><br />&ldquo;{<strong><span class='underline'>Smother!</span></strong> Oh, Gods, do it. PLEASE!}&rdquo; Emil cried out in monster-speech, catching the attention of the jumbotron as it recorded, for a live, global, studio audience just how skilled and strange Team Stone&rsquo;s shadowy co-trainer actually was.<br /><br /><br /><br />Back at Apogee HQ, as Father allowed his body to accumulate its metabolically optimized eight-point-two hours of sleep in the bunk below, Indoles&rsquo; head turned with a chicanery smirk watching the game on pay-per-view. &ldquo;{Oh?}&rdquo; he chittered with a pair of fiddling claws, translating the man&rsquo;s expressions of agony for what they really were. &ldquo;{Oh, reeeallly.}&rdquo;<br /><br /><br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s battle-addled mind didn&rsquo;t wait a millisecond more. <em>Ok, my love,</em> she thought, and Audino&rsquo;s tempo hitched as the eeveelution&rsquo;s tail unpredictably flexed around for a skorupi-tailed strike.<br /><br />&ldquo;Audi&mdash;Hhhg!&rdquo; Audino gagged as the fins of Vaporeon&rsquo;s tail melted down to form a glistening hydroponic spike that pried her teeth apart, flushed her nostrils with an acrid burning swill that rushed down her throat, punching her lungs in a boiling blast of oceanic brine.<br /><br />Vaporeon drew on everything her body and the Mystic-Water gem around her neck could spare. Her tail, her hips, then everything from the waist down turned into a wriggling lasso that wrapped Audino&rsquo;s shoulders tight, clamping the enemy&rsquo;s arms into a rib-crushing vice.<br /><br />As Emilio&rsquo;s purpose for living clamped the enemy&rsquo;s respiratory tract with a vice of liquid flesh, her still-solid front-half clasped around Audino&rsquo;s legs, and she pinched her eyes shut to wait the horrible storm out. <br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s face went totally white as he watched Audino fall to the ground nearby, garbling, puking endless screaming pails of water to try and bail her own body out. &ldquo;W-what the fuck!?&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil&rsquo;s knuckles were white instead as he wondered exactly when his molars might break from all the stress grinding he was doing. &ldquo;Yeah. I was hoping we wouldn&rsquo;t have to bust this nasty thing out. Sorry, man.&rdquo;<br /><br />Binaca, busy settling Dewott&rsquo;s nerves as he pointed from behind her legs with concern, lifted her face with a cheery battle-numb smile. &ldquo;Take &lsquo;er with you, baby.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon squeaked as Audino&rsquo;s hind-paws slipped from her grasp and wrapped around her neck. Heels clicked into place, and her eyes shocked wide as her own esophagus was squeezed between Audino&rsquo;s thighs with a force she couldn&#039;t fight without letting go too.<br /><br />There&rsquo;s an entry in the Vaporeon pokedex lines that says they can just &lsquo;turn into water&rsquo;. While technically correct, outside of an actual body of good ol&rsquo; H2O, such a thing required gratuitous reserves of energy to even attempt. In the wild, Vaporeon would do such things in the rain, at the surface of a lake, or bobbing up and down at sea. <strong>She </strong>was trying to stay half-liquid in a bone-dry bakery of war, wrestling with a foe that had more will to live than any other thing had right in an ugly throttling-match.<br /><br />In practice, that horrible thing she and Emil had devised in secret, <strong>Smother</strong>, was a baffling feat that required leviathan levels of self-control. In mastering the technique, he had let her use it on him a hundred times or more, knowing that when the lights went out his precious gem would flick the switch back on and wake him up again. Anything to keep her safe in the worst kind of colosseum bind. <br /><br />For the first time in her life, as Vaporeon tried and failed to suck life-giving air through a toe-sphinctered throat, she felt that whether she lived or died waited on the toss of a two-sided-die.<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh my Gods, they&hellip; FOR YOU ANTIQUATED LISTENERS AT HOME, VAPOREON HAS TURNED HER BOTTOM HALF LIQUID AND IS TRYING TO <strong>DROWN AUDINO OUT</strong>. AUDINO HAS THE EEVEELUTION&rsquo;S NECK IN A CHOKING HOLD TOO. OH MY <strong>BLESSED LORDS</strong>!&rdquo; The first-year announcer fought hyperventilation as his seniors worked to calm his nerves behind the scenes.<br /><br />The audience held their breaths, contestants crossed their fingers, and the League Censors seriously considered blurring this part of the bronze-package high-definition video release. Both contestants however, unable to look one another in the eyes, stared into each others&rsquo; souls, twisting, tightening, wringing themselves dry for every Yveltal&rsquo;d spark of hate they could muster.<br /><br />Spinel hid his tear soaked face and Richard stood aghast as Incineroar&rsquo;s lips tightened around anger-sharpened fangs.<br /><br /><em>Pull through, you stubborn </em><em><strong>BITCH</strong></em><em>!</em> Incineroar thought, wishing for once that she could slam the order straight on to her rival&rsquo;s mind as she watched her master&rsquo;s wisdom proving true yet again; &lsquo;physical technique was key&rsquo;.<br /><br /><em>Do your part, and I promise I will do mine.</em><br /><br />That tiny distorted piece of eternity passed like a cystine kidney stone. They twitched, their eyes fluttered shut, and their bodies went slack. Vaporeon&rsquo;s battered head rolled away as her opponent&rsquo;s ankle-lock snapped free. Audino&rsquo;s mouth was yanked forward, guts spilling liquified enemy meat as the Vaporeon&rsquo;s body returned to its natural form.<br /><br />Both contestants laid there, in a lifeless, breathless, eighty-thousand-person silence. <br /><br />Then, just as the rotom drone started counting down the consciousness clock, Vaporeon dragged her sorry ass back out of the darkness.<br /><br />&ldquo;Vaporeon is back up!&rdquo; The announcer returned after a bit of &lsquo;mid performance coaching&rsquo; and a slap of the back. &ldquo;Audino is down!&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon looked around like a hatchling, shell-shocked with survival, and gave her mate a dopey love-me smile. &ldquo;{I&hellip; I did it.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil finally breathed again, reeling as he finally got a taste of what could happen for real outside the pampered league-battle context. &ldquo;{Thank you,}&rdquo; he said with tiny tears escaping his eyes.<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s head tipped with a head still filling back to the brim with reality. &ldquo;{I&hellip; did good?}&rdquo; she asked with a slurring, busted mouth.<br /><br />The drone crackled and beeped. &ldquo;Five&hellip; four&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />Emmi nodded, happy to see her body wreathed in pulsing aquamarine light. &ldquo;{Yeah, love, you did.} You need to switch out?&rdquo;<br /><br />She spat and popped her contorted jaw back into place with the help of a little Aqua Ring first-aid. &ldquo;Nu-uh.&rdquo;<br /><br />Spinel had been yanked out of distortion and straight to Enamorous&rsquo; realm, silently gushing at the couple&rsquo;s wedding-eyed connection.<br /><br />&ldquo;Three&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br /><br /><br />Thousands of miles away, from the lablight glow of a Dexpad screen, Indoles watched with a predatory sway of the tail as he recorded Emilio&rsquo;s pokespeech words, enhanced for a live global audience. &ldquo;How very, veeery inteeeresting~&rdquo;<br /><br /><br /><br />&ldquo;Two&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />Bianca gave a loving empathetic moan of concern as she scrounged up Audino&rsquo;s work-worn love ball. &ldquo;Thanks, pumkin.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;One&hellip; Audino is unable to continue!&rdquo;<br /><br />She recalled the old girl and gave the pokeball a kiss, pressed against her heart. &ldquo;Ya held yer ground, harder than ever before...&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard forced his bones to stop that incessant rattling as his head turned to Em. &ldquo;Any other bits of nightmare-fuel I should know about?&rdquo;<br /><br />Emilio said nothing, simply gesturing to Bianca who stood with a finger on her lip, eyes rolled up searching that insane unsorted library of strategies squiggling around her attention-deficient brain. <br /><br />&ldquo;Contestant Bianca, release your next battler,&rdquo; the rotom drone demanded.<br /><br />She glanced over at Stoutland, slumped half-asleep beside her. &ldquo;You ready to rumble again, bub?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Stou?&rdquo; he borked like a taiko drum as one milky iris peeked past a half-lidded eye. &ldquo;Stout-land.&rdquo;<br /><br />Bianca nodded. &ldquo;Been a while, wonder if I&rsquo;ll hear those rusty old joints creaking out there.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Touuuu!&rdquo; The elderly pooch scoffed as he lurched up on colossal double-size paws, six-ornery-feet from forehead-to-claw.<br /><br />Bianca planted a big wet kiss upon his nephilim cheek. &ldquo;Have fuUuUunnn!&rdquo; she sang, cheering him away with a fingertip wave as his steps rattled the stones beneath her feet.<br /><br />Slowly, like a granite rampart wall being built on the horizon, Stoutland lumbered himself a quarter-way into the ring. Huffing crabby grunts in Vaporeon&rsquo;s general direction, armed with a grouchy grandpa stare, he marched like a steamroller on parade.<br /><br />Vaporeon crouched for the inevitable pounce, ready to put the mangy barracks-dog down.<br /><br />And then he sat.<br /><br />The audience waited for anything exciting to happen as Vaporeon circled the mutt like a sailor lost at sea. She looked for an obvious best time to strike, but found that his stance, his bulk, and the confidence in the way he watched her rounding the ring kept her violence at bay. <br /><br />When the front-seaters finally started coughing from boredom, she crept toward his flank, head atilt.&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;{Hellooo, we&rsquo;re in a fight!}&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;{Mm?}&rdquo; Even that single tiny syllable thumped the air like a beating drum.<br /><br />Vaporeon coughed and rolled her eyes with a sigh. &ldquo;{Aaahhh&hellip; You ok, old-timer?}&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;{Come again?}&rdquo; he thrummed, neck and head tracking his opponent&rsquo;s movements with microsecond precision.<br /><br />&ldquo;{I <strong><span class='underline'>said</span></strong><strong>,</strong> are you <strong>ALRIGHT</strong>!}&rdquo; she shouted, starting to feel like Emil did speaking with the dreaded centenarian thrifty-mart cashiers back home.<br /><br />Stoutland exhaled like the brakes of an inner-city bus.&ldquo;{I heard ya, young&rsquo;un,}&rdquo; he woofed, his whisper hitting her like a full-throated shout.<br /><br />While two generations tried to bridge the social divide, Richard started to notice the distinct <strong>lack </strong>of guidance from Bianca as the battle entered its brutal second half. It was disparate, bipolar, palpable in how the disorganized spazzy grandma they&rsquo;d seen all this time was suddenly replaced by some cold, collected, calculating commander issuing pin-point radio commands that felt like ambushes in the dark.<br /><br />The announcer scratched his head, watching from the best binocular spot he could find. &ldquo;Aaahhh, Richard&rsquo;s Vaporeon is trying a&hellip; Taunt, I think?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Hurt somebody!&rdquo; shouted an impatient primo-seat freak.<br /><br />&ldquo;You sure about this, lady?!&rdquo; Richard howled, surprised to find it was just a bit too loud for the lack of cheering sounds. &ldquo;That &lsquo;mon looks like a tired bump on a log.&rdquo;<br /><br />Bianca smiled with eyes flying at half-mast. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got your moxie, kid; bet your biddy&rsquo;s nets.&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s pampered anchor-mon grumbled with furrowed brows. &ldquo;{Well, get on with it, pappy!}&rdquo;<br /><br />Stoutland&rsquo;s one good eyelid lifted like an armored-vehicle hatch. &ldquo;{You first.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s stomach turned as she caught a glimpse of his other eye opening up, calloused with Intimidating sinuous scars.<br /><br />Richard blinked. &quot;Get outta here with this senior citizen sh&mdash;-&quot;<br /><br />&ldquo;<strong><span class='underline'>LANGUAGE!</span></strong>&rdquo; The shouting of the crowd washed Richie&rsquo;s mouth out with soap.<br /><br />Richard cleared his throat with a bashful beet-red face. &ldquo;Whatever. SURF!&rdquo; he shouted with fist-pumped pride. &ldquo;Flush that turd, gurl!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;My pleasure~&rdquo; Vaporeon sang with an arrogant sneer, wowing the audience with her silky human speech as she charged what she hoped to be the biggest tidal wave of that century. But then that &lsquo;prudent side&rsquo; snatched her own metaphorical ear back.<br /><br /><br /><em>I already paid for underestimating the last fogie. I won&rsquo;t make that mistake twice.</em><br /><br /><br />And that was good, because she&rsquo;d failed to notice Stoutland&rsquo;s still, silent, invisibly-executed fortifying techniques, slowly empowering his body as the spoiled twerp gave him so much lip.<br /><br />Incineroar, on the other hand, had not. &ldquo;{THE BASTARDS&rsquo; BUILDING STEAM!}&rdquo; she screamed with smoldering teeth. &ldquo;{HIT HIM <span class='underline'><strong>NOW</strong></span>!}&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon normally wouldn&rsquo;t dare sully her reputation taking tactical advice from an upstart spark. But&hellip; broken clocks and all that. &ldquo;Later, feraligatr.&rdquo;<br /><br />Her body swirled into an out-of-nowhere gout of crystal-clear energy-forged water. The spout turned into a towering showering column, as if someone had popped a cork at the bottom of the ocean on the other side of the world.<br /><br />Stoutland stayed sitting down with a cast-iron frown, shrouded in the shadow of a wave coming at him like a sprinting castle wall.<br /><br />It put Primarina&rsquo;s Surf to shame, setting flood warnings off all around the blocks surrounding Lumiose&rsquo;s world-renowned Granite Crown Arena. Emergency pumps roared to life, claxons sang the universal hazard song to those stuck standing in the danger zone, and the colosseum clacked with mechanisms opening the thirsty gullets of a dozen steel-cap hatches. Whichever inner-city neighborhood was about to receive the scraps of Vaporeon&rsquo;s wrath, they were sure to be blessed with squeaky clean streets!<br /><br />The crowd roared back to life like a bed of hungry coals given a bucketfull of plywood chips to consume as the ground of both trainers squares lifted like a block pushed out of place to keep the benches safe.<br /><br />Goggles, swim-caps, and a snorkel or two decorated the splash zone as the League&rsquo;s biggest, craziest fans buckled themselves down to their seats with conveniently-placed complementary restraints and buckets for watery autographs.<br /><br />The stubborn ol&rsquo; dog stood unflinching, firm as a bed-rocked bastion cliff at sea as the torrent swept and swallowed him whole.<br /><br />Horace Slate, hiding behind the wrought-iron archway gate, slammed his hands against the bars with a kingler&rsquo;s grip and a wild child&rsquo;s smile. Like an Alolan lad&rsquo;s first hurricane storm, he stood at Giratina&#039;s gates, daring the world to wash his soul away. &ldquo;Lez go!&rdquo;<br /><br />Opal giggled with claw covered lips, happy as a micleberry candy seeing her Acey so alive again.<br /><br />Both teams, raised above the rapids by a well-implemented safety measure, stumbled into huddled heaps to keep from falling in.<br /><br />Richie cackled at his own pokemon&rsquo;s crazy display of force. &ldquo;Holy canoleys!&rdquo; he gasped on his hands and knees, wiping ocean-spray from his face. &ldquo;We tripped the flood-lifts, jeez!&rdquo;<br /><br />Overwhelmed with excitement, Bianca snapped back to her jovial, boot-stomping, party-popping self. Serperior, suspiciously bereft of flu-like symptoms, showered the flashing flood beneath in leafy confetti. Audino, freshly doused in valuable full-heal spray, sat with Musharna in her lap, smiling with exhausted eyes. Chandelure puked multicolored rockstar flames into the air. Dewott and Incineroar stared each other back, with intensity to match. Mienshao, well&hellip; she was busy getting wet somewhere else.<br /><br />For the inattentive, unfortunate, and the insane stuck in tidal-range, the world was washed away, replaced by a breathless dimension full of gemmy, waterboarding, bodythrashing currents. The lot of them gurgled with glee, hair swirling like anemone in a storm-shocked reef.<br /><br />Horace howled with delight as Vaporeon&rsquo;s might crashed against his chest, clawing at the skin of his face as it worked to drag him back into the darkness. &ldquo;Thaz what ah been look&rsquo;n fah!&rdquo;<br /><br />As promised, the torrent shook the seats of a thousand screaming fans crashing against the rim of that Great Granite Bowl. Whipped into a burbling slurry of rubble mud and gargling mad-lad fans, the warzone quenched its thirst for carnage with a frothing disaster frapp&eacute;.<br /><br />Veins flush with adrenaline rush, the front seaters hooted, hollered, and slapped each others&rsquo; backs as the drains sucked empty air behind the departing mudslide. The raised concrete platforms slid back into place with a body shaking thud. Horace hung triumphant from his clinging place with a ludicolo laugh, dripping with excitement as Opal wrung her sopping-wet ears dry beside him.<br /><br />Vaporeon stood at the center of a blast-savaged woodland warzone wiped clean of blood, smoke, and enemy scum.<br /><br />Or so she thought.<br /><br />&ldquo;No&hellip; way&hellip;&rdquo; she heard her trainer&rsquo;s flabbergasted words, delighted to find Richard could finally appreciate a proper display of her might.<br /><br />Then she opened her eyes, ready to savor the flavor of victory, only to find herself gnashing on a mouthful of copper-soaked tongue.<br /><br />There, in the exact same place he&rsquo;d settled down, Stoudland just <strong>sat</strong>; fur soaked through and hanging from his hide in sloughy trickled matts, but otherwise entirely unfazed, spitting mouthfuls of Surf aside in a silly little fountain. Huffing as he stood again, he proceeded to shake himself dry, showering his side of that freshly-scuttled landfill in the scent of muddy wet dog.<br /><br />&ldquo;{W&mdash;what?}&rdquo; Vaporeon peeped, wondering if she&rsquo;d slipped into some horrible concussion-fueled dream. &ldquo;{How?}&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;{Thanks.}&rdquo; Stoutland&rsquo;s burly mutant paws thundered toward her at a flower-garden trot. &ldquo;{I needed a bath.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s jaw quivered at the sight, teeth bared, fins folded back. Why was she doing that? What was wrong with her? <em>Stop, Vaporeon, you&rsquo;re a </em><em><strong>warrior</strong></em><em>, dammit!</em> she scolded herself inside as her body backed itself away against her will. <em>Get a </em><em><strong>grip!</strong></em><br /><br />She wrestled at the helm of her mind, finally prying the wheel free from that sudden inexplicable fear quaking in her guts. Tapping the Mystic Water gem again, she scraped the thing clean of anything it could offer at a moment&rsquo;s notice. &ldquo;{GET BACK!}&rdquo; she snapped and spread a jaw full of blinding lapis light for the first technique her harrowed mind thought to toss the monster&rsquo;s way.<br /><br />Her frantic Hydro Pump blast smacked Stoutland square in the muzzle, but his pace didn&rsquo;t hitch a bit as his face sheared the hypercharged waterbeam like a splitting wedge. Shaking his titanic snout around, he snorted his nose clean of schmutz. &ldquo;{Why?}&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;What. Is. Going. On,&rdquo; Emil hissed through grinding bruxish teeth as Vaporeon cowered in the shadow of someone else. The answer was obvious of course, but his fawning adoration for the warrior queen of his nest blinded him to the truth.<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s body shrunk and slunk in retreat as her control was yanked away by that hollow chill tingling down her back. &ldquo;{FUCK OFF!}&rdquo; she spat, head low, ready to bolt at a moment&rsquo;s notice as she wheezed a throat full of air-rippling sapphire power.<br /><br />The clumsy Ice Beam strike went wide, freezing his leg into a misty block of flash-frozen air. Plodding on without a single skip in his step, he lifted his shoulder up and smashed it down against the ground to break his forelimb free. &ldquo;{Ya groom yer hatchlings with that mouth?}&rdquo;<br /><br />That aspirational, mother-vee-to-be burned with anger at the slight, ready to put the mongrel down, but unable to will herself forward.<br /><br />&ldquo;How is he still standing?&rdquo; Emil quaked, lamenting that his wicked nootropic cocktail overclocked everything, good or bad, with an amplified 8K perspective. He drew the unused luxury ball that he carried every day through legal obligation, hands shaking as he argued with himself about pressing the forced command switch. <br /><br />Richard made the choice a hundred times easier by snatching the ball away from Em&rsquo;s hyperfixated fit. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s lost her nerve.&rdquo;<br /><br />As Emilio gawked in disbelief, Richard raised the ball and pressed the button down. &ldquo;Haze the field!&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s unbroken fin lifted like an antenna catching a long awaited signal, then retracted back into a terrified state as she zipped around to keep her distance.<br /><br />Stoutland walked his quarry down with a heady hur-hur-hur.&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;{Where ya going, punk?}&rdquo; he gruffed, crumbling chunks of concrete under-foot like sun-dried clods of dirt. &ldquo;{Thought ya wanted a scrap.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard paused with his brow-scrunching down in surprise. <em>What in the&hellip;</em> &ldquo;Haze! Use Haze!&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon stopped again, closer this time, and peeked back at her &lsquo;masters&rsquo; idiot face with disdain. &ldquo;How <strong>dare </strong>you,&rdquo; she hissed, leering back only a moment more before she was forced to comply, sucking a chest full of icy energy.<br /><br />She lobbed a flickering blob of slush-colored light at Stoutland&rsquo;s feet, blasting the field in a murky ice-crystal mist that scrubbed the body clean of energy patterns, whether hindrance or help, user included.<br /><br />Whatever mix of reinforcing techniques he&rsquo;d used was gone. But so too was the Agility keeping her body out of pouncing-range.<br /><br />&ldquo;{Hmmm.}&rdquo; Stoutland rumbled through the rimey deep. &ldquo;{Bit nippy out.}&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;What. How? She&rsquo;s fought dozens of Intimidators before!&rdquo; Emil groused, rubbing his temple as a migraine started setting in.<br /><br />Richard eyed the pokeball that failed to issue his command with suspicion. &ldquo;Look at that thing, Em! He ain&rsquo;t some bog-standard breeder-mill mutt. I didn&rsquo;t even know a stoutland could get that huge.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;They can&rsquo;t!&rdquo; Bianca shouted from the colossal television screen overlooking the field.<br /><br />Richard coughed at that. &ldquo;Guess you must have missed yer boi the last hundred years, ancestor! Makes me think he&rsquo;s been juiced or something.&rdquo;<br /><br />Miss B nodded. &ldquo;More than any&rsquo;mon you&rsquo;ve ever seen, I bet.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil growled with his fists clenched at the obvious flagrant disqualification putting his mate through so much hassle. &ldquo;You mean he&rsquo;s been jacked up on chemical enhancement and you&rsquo;re just admitting it?!&rdquo;<br /><br />Rotom, sensing an impending judges call, combee-lined it straight for the imminent prosecution. &ldquo;Stoutland is one of the last surviving individuals bred to be chemically and hormonally conditioned for maximum endurance in wartime during the Ghetsis Revolutionary War. It has served him well in his duties as a guard&rsquo;mon, literally a living breathing armored tank.&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard laughed aloud, slapping his knee. &ldquo;Then walk-off, granny! That&rsquo;s a walk-of-shame if I ever&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Stoutland is permitted to fight,&rdquo; the drone stated as a matter of fact.<br /><br />A black box full of stones gasped. <strong>&ldquo;WHAT?!&rdquo; &ldquo;{WHAT?!}&rdquo;</strong><br /><br />&ldquo;You agreed to the switch. Per regulations, <strong>any </strong>pokemon may be offered up for substitution at any time. And, as I&rsquo;m sure you know&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard ruffled his pristine head of jell-spiked hair, leaving his shades half hung from his nose. &ldquo;&mdash;we&rsquo;d get a half-hour to decide and ask questions, yeahyeahyeah YOU DOUBLE-DEALING HOOPA-RINGED HEX!&rdquo;<br /><br />Serperior cackled from his hiding place behind Bainca&rsquo;s service-blouse as she gave them both a winking finger gun. &ldquo;All&rsquo;s fair when there&rsquo;s shells in the air, honey.&rdquo;<br /><br />Emil groaned, clutching at his own skull not only at the dunderheaded mistake, but also falling for such an obvious ploy.<br /><br />The puddle-pocked landscape froze into brittle surface sheets of ice that crackled like eggshells with every step, leaving both fighters totally exposed, and yet still impossible to predict as their images hid behind the pogonip mist.<br /><br />Rich shoved the issue aside and moved on, smashing the pokeball with his thumb. &ldquo;Double Kick,&rdquo; he muttered, half to keep the cameras from giving away his play, half troubleshooting to sate the skepticism rattling around his brain.<br /><br /><br /><em>Hmmm, am I gonna have to sit Em down for a chat later?</em><br /><br /><em>No way he&rsquo;d skip the minimum pokeball stasis hours with a scary creature like her, he&rsquo;s so careful with everything! Right?</em><br /><br /><br />&ldquo;No.&rdquo; She growled as she felt the command gripping at her brain, refusing the static background noise as she wreathed her body in a volatile skin of brine, and lunged forth to Liquidate the lumbering crunching sound approaching to her left.<br /><br /><em>Just as I suspected.</em> Richard grumbled as he let the switch go free, his suspicions confirmed. <em>Thing&rsquo;s busted.</em><br /><br />Evening the odds and finally taking action was all Vaporeon needed, she was sure. She barreled forehead first, bursting into a comet of scorching clarified water as she leaned into the attack with everything she had, tapping that Mystic Water gem for the little it managed to replenish in the fleeting moments before she made her daring leap.<br /><br /><br />Pssssssssshhhhhhhhh&mdash; THUNK<br /><br /><br />&ldquo;{Hnf!}&rdquo; Stoutland&rsquo;s massive pummel-pads shifted back a microscopic bit as her skull careened into his chest.<br /><br />It was a perfect bullseye strike, landed square and true, not a single ounce of power wasted. Despite her courage, effort, and execution, she crumpled against the bulwark beast and slid down his grizzled iron-sides like a shattered bottle of wine.<br /><br />&ldquo;Grrrah,&rdquo; Vaporeon grunted as she fell from his soggy mane. With an impossible feline flip, she stuck her paws down and curled into a snarling spin, lashing her tail around for a punishing rebou&mdash;<br /><br /><br /><span class='underline'><strong>WOOF!</strong></span><br /><br /><br />Her spines hackled as every fiber of her body rattled awake, muscles wound tight as mooring lines as she reverberated inside a claymore cone of sound blasted from Stoutland&rsquo;s throat.<br /><br />The toothy drill-whistle shrill from Bianca&rsquo;s end of the line cut the hesitation short, and Vaporeon barely registered the old soldier&rsquo;s queue as the snarling furry-missile came crashing down upon her.<br /><br />Emilio&rsquo;s throat choked on shuppet sheets as he watched the love of his life snatched up in Stoutland&rsquo;s jaws. Richard snagged the back of the pokephile&rsquo;s suspender straps as the guy reached out for the ring, nearly stumbling over the line.<br /><br />&ldquo;Whoah, you ok, man?&rdquo; Rich asked, setting his friend back up like a wobbling vase with a playful shoulder-smack. &ldquo;C&rsquo;mon, this ain&rsquo;t your first mauling. Chill, she&rsquo;s got this!&rdquo; he said with a rock-solid reassuring glow in his face; belying his slowly succumbing to the dread of defeat flooding in, like a tanker sending all&rsquo;s-well signals while swamping out at sea.<br /><br />Spinel huffed with puffy cheeks from the support bench square. <em>Gods, Richie. How can you not see the love burning in their eyes?</em><br /><br />Incineroar clamped her angry fangs shut, grinding with concern as she watched Stoutland flailing Vaporeon back and forth like a floppy puppy-dog toy.<br /><br />&ldquo;GO, Stoutie, GO!&rdquo; Bianca&rsquo;s kids cheered for their beloved classroom pet from the observation box above. &ldquo;GO, Stoutie, GO!&rdquo;<br /><br />Fenny&rsquo;s ears draped across his cheeks in a confused dejected droop as Valorie kept him trapped in a smother-ey, lover-ey, ursaring hug. &ldquo;{Mate of mine, the hatchlings share the cave with us but do not cheer for Friend Vaporeon and her Emmi as well.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Valorie chuckled, burying her intoxicated face in the smell of her frumpled boy&rsquo;s bushy beautiful mane. &ldquo;{Human stuff doesn&rsquo;t work like that, Fenny-Ken~}&rdquo; she cooed with that gushy romantic affectation that played off the cognate &lsquo;monspeech word for a &lsquo;pleasantly full belly&rsquo;. &ldquo;{Get their brains all mixed up by stupid human stuff, and forget their manners.}&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon was lost in a whiplashed flurry of agony. She scraped and gouged at Stoutland&rsquo;s eyes, bucking razor talonous hind-claws across his neck and jaw, gnashing at any tiny scrap of flesh she could possibly rip away.<br /><br />&ldquo;WATER PULSE!&rdquo; Richard shouted into Vaporeon&rsquo;s haywire ball, praying that his outside-voice would be enough to work this time.<br /><br />Compliance finally came with an inconvenient delay, and Vappy pressed her power down to a tiny boiling ball inside, screaming with fury as she let the bubble out.<br /><br />&ldquo;Grrfff!&rdquo; Stoutland gagged, head thrashing around as his throat, nose, and mouth were flash-broiled open, then bent over coughing as his brand-new chewing toy scurried away.<br /><br />Vaporeon tripped, stood, and fell again as she hobbled off to some form of safety. There was a moment that it seemed she might slump over and give in to her injuries, letting sleep take the pain away. Her breathing slowed, long, big, steady lungs full of life-giving air.<br /><br />Then she turned around, growling, hissing, spitting, blood oozing from the matching u-shaped wounds punched into both sides of her chest as she stamped her paws to the ground. &ldquo;Eeeoooooonnn,&rdquo; she shook with a killer&rsquo;s rattle, fierce and feral and dire-deep.<br /><br />&ldquo;Alraaaiiight, I knew you had it in ya! We need to set the pace!&rdquo; Rich cheered himself on as he tried to ignore the schoolkids&rsquo; cries being echoed all around the crowd. &ldquo;DIG!&rdquo;<br /><br />He knocked at the door but she refused to answer his call, muzzle wrinkled with dripping, frothing, blood-soaked fangs brought to bare.<br /><br />Richard groaned, stabbing the command-switch down like a kid gamer convinced that the moves work better the harder you smashed the button. &ldquo;DIG! DIG! DIG!&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s commands vanished into the ether, like a fistful of pebbles plopped into the sea.<br /><br />Spinel looked away from the concerned looks of his lover, over at Emilio, and spooked himself cold with the man&rsquo;s blank terrified face.<br /><br />Vaporeon stared her pursuer down, unable to register her trainer&rsquo;s feckless piddling sounds, nor the soothing assurances of her mate.<br /><br /><br />Anguish&hellip;<br /><br />Defiance&hellip;<br /><br />Emptiness&hellip;<br /><br /><br />Red.<br /><br /><br />Like a high voltage switch snapping back to life, the lavish complexity of Vaporeon&rsquo;s soul was purged with a malice, so absolutely sanguine and pure that she may as well have been dead; an yvalthish sort of hatred, available only to those lost in the throes of a nightmare, where no competing thought, memory, or personality trait had any hope of stepping in to interrupt the carnage.<br /><br />Stoutland squinted just a bit more than usual, humming with experience and consideration. &ldquo;{Bianca!}&rdquo; he borked across his shoulder, keeping his eyes locked on her movements as <strong>he</strong> started edging back.<br /><br />His comrade understood the noise, even though she never developed &lsquo;The Ear&rsquo; like N or Cheren did. There&rsquo;s a different term for what she was. Old Skool, like Red, Silver, and the late Professor Juniper, rest her blessėd soul. The kind of pokemon understanding that left people wondering if the person really could speak it, until somebody asked for a translation and left them shrugging with a blush. Sometimes you just understand your best friends, no matter the language. <br /><br />Bianca searched her bag for a twisted pair of spectacles, and peered through them like a pirate&rsquo;s glass. &ldquo;Keep your distance, Stout. Hold her at a <span class='underline'>careful</span> leap.&rdquo;<br /><br />Stoutland could feel the enemy&rsquo;s force in his guts, growing by the second with that energy some pokemon seemed to save for their final trip to the Distortion Realm. &ldquo;{Been a while, death-bringer,}&rdquo; he greeted the girl&rsquo;s alien atavistic animus like an old nearly-forgotten enemy.<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s brow raised. There it was again, that sudden switch of cadence from the woman. &ldquo;What is goin&rsquo; on? Em? What <strong>is</strong> this?&rdquo;<br /><br />Emilio&rsquo;s face just couldn&rsquo;t pull away from the horror gripping him forward as, for the second time, his lover&rsquo;s soul vanished before his very eyes. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s&hellip; not in her documentation,&rdquo; he replied, recognizing that mindless snapping face from the police rally all those months ago.<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s muscles flexed and tensed, bulging her skin into twisted ropey knots. Claws flipped out into knuckles full of switch-blade razors, punching holes in the jagged cement crumble like curds of whey. &ldquo;Eeeoooooonnnnnn!&rdquo; Her temper flared with facial fins spread wide, tail snapping the air with wicked cracks that pierced the eardrums as her fins smashed heaps of metal wreckage flat.<br /><br /><br /><br />&lsquo;Designation.&rsquo;<br />&lsquo;{E-435}&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;What are you?&rsquo;<br />&lsquo;{A weapon.}&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;What is your purpose?&rsquo;<br />&lsquo;{To protect and to serve.}&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;What comes first?&rsquo;<br />&lsquo;{Mission.}&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;What comes second?&rsquo;<br />&lsquo;{Preservation.}&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;What is the price of failure?&rsquo;<br />&lsquo;{Death.}&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;And who pays that price?&rsquo;<br /><br /><br /><br />&ldquo;{Not I,}&rdquo; Vaporeon gasped, barely audible past the hissing of her throat as she skulked Stoutland back across the field.<br /><br />Bianca&rsquo;s cheeks twisted into a smile, wry and dry as a triple-filtered whisky. &ldquo;What was that about augmentations, darlin&rsquo;?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Uh.&rdquo; Richard&rsquo;s heel twisted around, subconsciously edging himself closer to the line separating him from the comfort of his cushy pink boyfriend. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;The Ghetsies had a point, y&rsquo;know&hellip; always did.&rdquo; She spoke with an even throat, never taking her eyes off the threat inching closer to her companion on the line. &ldquo;I hope you&rsquo;re nicer to that pretty little lady than the people responsible for coding the object lesson you&rsquo;re about to receive.&quot;<br /><br />Miss Bianca de Bell, sweet as a slurpuff cone, whistled the air with a single specified tone. &ldquo;<strong>Scotch!</strong>&rdquo;<br /><br />Stoutland&rsquo;s eyes opened at the command, and his lumbering body snapped to attention with a surreal youthful energy. His shoulders squatted down, crushing the ground into a cloud of granola flake as his monstrous legs launched him into the air.<br /><br />Vaporeon cracked with a hydrogen-fired leap that blasted the earth behind her into rocket-propelled clouds of shrapnel and dust. <br /><br />The two mistakes of man-and-nature met head-to-head mid-air, smacking the senses out of everyone near enough to feel the supersonic blast. They fell to one side, tumbling into a stone-crushing roll of snarling, swiping, tearing, screaming streaks of blood. <br /><br />Stoutland caught her front leg in the industrial strength grip of his jowls, paying no mind to Vaporeon&rsquo;s razor-tipped digits slicing his face to ribbons as he bit down on one side with dispassionate visceral intent.<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s leg creaked and snapped from the strength, radius and ulna yielding with a crickling sound as they endured the giant&rsquo;s jaws, but the pain only fueled her fire like a cup of gasoline. She sank her fangs deep into his neck, taking up as much vital flesh as she could possibly muster as her entire body lit like the filaments of an incandescent bulb.<br /><br />&ldquo;WHAT IS THIS?!&rdquo; the announcer cried as she rippled and smashed the audience&rsquo;s eardrums with the sound of the ocean crushing sand on the shore. &ldquo;No, seriously guys, what is that?&rdquo;<br /><br />An older sinnohan fellow with a yarn-braid beard snagged the microphone with a feedback squeak. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a WAVE CRASH! T&rsquo;aint seen it in ages, folks! Last time I laid eyes was in my Temple Tourney days before they kicked the League out.&rdquo;<br /><br />Stoutland&#039;s teeth nearly touched together as her leg started to give way, and the only thing Stoutland could feel was the cool rushing of water as her Wave Crashing claw came down. Fur blasted away, skin split, muscles pried apart with hydrojet force.<br />d<br />Knowing that holding the monster in his maw further would likely result in a live decapitation, and not wanting their precious students to have to sleep with that image on their minds, he lashed his face to throw her down, shattering a jagged pile of stone to powder. &ldquo;Brbrbrbrbrb!&rdquo; he flubbered around, shaking watery blood-soaked chunks of hide free from his throat.<br /><br />Vaporeon turned with her half-broken arm hanging like a tire-rolled hock of meat on a hook. There was no royalty, no life in her eyes, no signs of distress or pain, only the cold recognition that Stoutland still displayed signs of life.<br /><br />Then she twitched, and her body glowed like a billow-blasted coal.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hnf!&rdquo; Stoutland grunted with surprise as she appeared beneath him in a flash so fast even<strong> he</strong> couldn&rsquo;t keep track.<br /><br />Vaporeon danced around his claws in bullet-time, sensing and reacting to every fleck of rubble, disturbed wisp of air, every tiny hair of his paws that barely managed to brush against her cheek as she slashed massive gushing wounds in his legs. Sensed&hellip; but never <strong>felt</strong>.<br /><br />BAM! BAM! BAM! His paws smashed jagged pawsey prints into the ground, swatting at the battle-blue monster like a hatchling cutieflie always managing to vanish just in the knick of time. &ldquo;{Hold! STILL!}&rdquo;<br /><br />The thing piloting Vaporeon&rsquo;s meat and bones cared not for displays of honor or glory, only <strong>results</strong>, and the &lsquo;fucker-snuffed&rsquo; box wasn&rsquo;t checked yet. She stopped, crouched, and leapt with her three good legs, keeping her mangled limb back with a chill that seemed like she did so out of mere professional courtesy.<br /><br />Her body rocket-launched into his chest with every physical ounce of force her supercharged bioweapon flesh could spare.<br /><br />&ldquo;C-HAAAhhh!&rdquo; Stoutland flipped around from the impact and crash-landed on his ass, wondering how long it had been since he&rsquo;d had the wind knocked from his lungs. <em>Ah, Route-Three Kennel-Boot, that&rsquo;s right. Damn, it really has been a long time.</em><br /><br />But, like the sun sets west, the mindless fighting drone came at him like an artillery round, and he knew exactly where to bite down.<br /><br />Stoutland rolled aside, waiting for the death-soldier&rsquo;s inevitable bounce and rebound, and snagged the meat of her tail in his mouth.<br /><br /><br />SCRUNCH!<br /><br /><br />The children topside cowered behind the railing, watching with horror as all of the ghoulish rumors spoken about their beloved Stoutie were proven true, right before their wide-awake eyes. Several of them scrambled back to the warmth of Fenny&rsquo;s fluff, and the feral tod gave an approving nod, despite his lover&rsquo;s protests at having to share her prize again.<br /><br /><br />Whip!<br /><br />WHOP!<br /><br />WHACK!<br /><br /><br />Vaporeon blasted, clawed, and scraped at anything her meat touched as the enemy smacked her ass against the grain with all the leverage her tail could provide. The first few impacts left her with nothing to show but a few errant hydropump blasts that gouged muddy ditches in the ground around them and a couple of broken ribs stabbing at her lungs.<br /><br />Then she entered a dead-bodied calm, softened her muscles, closed her eyes, and curled into a boiling semi-liquid ball.<br /><br />FwoooBOOM!<br /><br />Stoutland&rsquo;s skull smacked against the ground from the force, fur smoldering from a superheated hyperpressured blast of steam. <br /><br />Vaporeon reconstituted and rolled away, hissing in multiple ways as she came to a misty claw-scraping stop, then whipped around again and charged, painting a crimson trail toward Stoudland&rsquo;s faltering rise.<br /><br />Emil gagged in horror as his lover&rsquo;s gaze passed him over like just-another harmless clump of background noise, barreling toward the enemy on a three-legged sprint. No fear, no expression, no desire to protect or preserve her own life as long as the target still breathed and bled hot. <br /><br />The image settled into his stomach like a poison that couldn&rsquo;t be purged, even as his head turned to fill the conveniently provided brown paper bags he never thought he&rsquo;d need.<br /><br />Richard was locked in place, unable to believe the madness on display. Two pokemon tearing each other to bloody strips of rag without a single speck of care for their own wellbeing. Every day he&rsquo;d seen brutal hits and nasty toothy holds, but never before had he witnessed a pokemon pry themselves free from one so hard that strips of still-bleeding meat peeled away from the bone.<br /><br />Bianca had had enough, and was sure the boys had seen enough too. &ldquo;Launch her out!&rdquo;<br /><br />Then she whistled her boot-camp tune to catch the attention of Team Stone from the jumbotron screen. &ldquo;Recall that girl quick when she falls out-of-bounds, boys. She won&rsquo;t hesitate to run her butt right back in there and disqualify you!&rdquo;<br /><br />Richard stumbled and coughed. &ldquo;Wha?!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t my first time fighting a brainwashed killer, honey.&rdquo;<br /><br />Stoutland, patiently sitting in a mixed pool of blood, waited for that tell-tale smell of anger and fear the death-soldiers always made. The moment it stung his nose and tongue., He barely dodged the snapping jaws of his opponent as he rolled backward and shoved his hind paws against her battle ravaged tuckus.<br /><br />Vaporeon hissed with surprise; just the sound he was waiting to hear. The deathies always made the same noise when you managed to catch them off guard, no matter the maker. He kept his roll going, doubled around into a coiled front-hand-stand, and launched that screaming eevee into the air with all the power his tired old body could offer, sending her careening down&hellip;<br /><br />&hellip;straight for the Stone Family trenches.<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s chest tightened as the berserking beauty whistled straight for them. &ldquo;WAIT! AAAHHH!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;RING OUT!&rdquo; The announcer declared with a shout as Vaporeon struck ground and tumbled to a stop.<br /><br />With an eerie ghost-type steadiness, her stuck-and-bloody corpse clambered back up onto its three remaining paws. <br /><br />Emil shoved Richard over, yanking the pokeball from his grasp, and pointed it towards her with a jittery shaking aim, like an injured soldier drawing on an enemy breaching the hold. &ldquo;Return!&rdquo;<br /><br />He pulled the trigger as Vaporeon inspected the zone, again and again and again. &ldquo;Return! Return! RETURN!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;{What a day&hellip;}&rdquo; Stoutland grumbled with a gurgling rumble, and slumped onto his side, into a puddle filled with his own blood. <br /><br />&ldquo;Medi-Fi&hellip;&rdquo; Bianca recalled her baby, knowing he would succumb to blood loss if she left him out there any longer. Then she noticed that Vaporeon was still walking free. &ldquo;Boys? BOYS! RECALL HER!&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s ball made that empty weapon sound as the vacant windows in her skull turned onto Emil.<br /><br />Richard&rsquo;s throat tightened around itself as he fumbled around his pocket for something he&rsquo;d always kept just in-case for Rhydon. A triple-strength sedative jet hypo. He leapt and nearly fell from the trainer&rsquo;s square as he was knocked away by a blind whip of the tail.<br /><br />Bianca&rsquo;s teeth clenched as she reached into her bag, and started running from the ring, only to be caught by the loving claws of her own pokemon stopping a proper disqualification. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s out for blood and doesn&rsquo;t care where it comes from!&nbsp;&nbsp;CALL!&nbsp;&nbsp;HER!&nbsp;&nbsp;BACK!&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s head turned away, having deemed their threat level insignificant, and crouched to&mdash;<br /><br />Emil leapt onto her back and the crowd gibbered up into a startled panic. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t, no!&rdquo; He held her snarling, furious transformation against his chest, wincing as she sliced his work shirt, his undergarments, and the tender flesh underneath. &ldquo;Gah!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;On! Onnn!&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;she bucked him in the stomach and legs, scraping bloody rungs in his thighs, knocking the wind from his guts, clipping his ear with a snap as her mate pulled them both away from the tournament-ending edge.<br /><br />But Emil refused to let go, tapping into his pathetic excuse for a pokephile battery just to keep her struggling in his arms. &ldquo;{Va<em>y</em>poreon<em>uh</em>!} he screamed her true name loud and best he could, face smeared red against the ravaged skin of her cheek. &ldquo;{It&rsquo;s me! Emmi!}&rdquo;<br /><br />Everyone gasped as the tender caress of his palm against her face was snatched in her jaws and bitten with a stomach-turning crunch. The same hand from so long ago, in the exact same place.<br /><br />Emilio bit at his suspender straps, screaming into his own love-clenched jaws.<br /><br />&ldquo;{No! Nononono, no! WHY?!}&rdquo; Spinel cried in horror as her love for Emmi was nowhere to be seen. &ldquo;{Vaporeon! STOP!}&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Sss&hellip;&rdquo; Emil&rsquo;s eyes watered with the pain, but still he refused to let his lover go. &ldquo;S-s&eacute; que no quieres esto,&rdquo; he quivered in his habitually hidden native tongue, too shaken to form the words in pokespeech. &ldquo;Y-you could kill me right now if you wanted.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaporeon&rsquo;s bucking and kicking waned, ever so slightly, as her lover&rsquo;s terrified blood rushed across her tongue.<br /><br />&ldquo;But I know you won&rsquo;t&hellip;&rdquo; Emilio held the pokemon mangling his hand, curled around her as they bled together on the ground, and didn&rsquo;t even grunt as her head smacked against his nose, popping the lenses free from the designer glasses she&rsquo;d paw-selected, just for him. <br /><br />The longest ten seconds anyone had ever seen passed as even the league announcers knew better than to run their mouths.<br /><br />&ldquo;Eee&hellip; eee&hellip;&rdquo; she gasped for air, slower now as the raking motion of her claws slowed to a shivering stop. &ldquo;Veeeee,&rdquo; she squeaked as that empty redness left and the clarity of life filled her eyes again, only to find her lover burning himself on the proverbial stovetop to pull her free from the fire.<br /><br />&ldquo;{There you are.}&rdquo; Emil nuzzled his face into her dewlap fins, hiding a sneaky, loving peck-of-the-neck as he finally let his desperate struggling hold wane.<br /><br />&ldquo;{Uurm&hellip; Urrrmi?}&rdquo; She loosened her blood soaked maw, horrified to feel all of the many precious little bones she&rsquo;d broken.<br /><br />&ldquo;{Slow, breathe, just relax, honey.}&rdquo; Emilio cooed, wanting to pick her up but afraid he might upset the rest of her injuries doing so.<br /><br />Hot runny tears cried down her jowls and into his injured palm as she realized everything she&rsquo;d done. &ldquo;{I&rsquo;m sorry&hellip;}&rdquo;<br /><br />Neither of them noticed as the team hosed them down with premium-grade healing sprays. &ldquo;{I love you.}&rdquo;<br /><br />His tiny whispered words slapped her silent, and all she could do was roll into a compliant little ball as her body stitched itself together and her lover permanently stitched himself to her heart. If she had any lingering doubts left about choosing him as her mate, they were gone for good now.<br /><br />Bianca&rsquo;s throat finally let her chest go as she saw the fires quenched across the field. &ldquo;Oh thank goodness.&rdquo;<br /><br />Fran&ccedil;ois was left a broken man, weeping in the stands, unprepared to have his heart devastated with such a show of devotion.<br /><br />&ldquo;What an unbelievable display of trust, ladies and gentlemen!&rdquo; the league organizers yelled, finally reminded of their tournament responsibilities. &ldquo;Ten seconds left! Release your pokemon!&rdquo; <br /><br />Spinel tossed four empty healing-spray canisters aside, happy to see his friends safe and in two single mostly-coherent pieces, relieved to hear the whistling calls of medical joys coming to patch Emil up.<br /><br />Richard looked over the line and gave a lover&rsquo;s &lsquo;miss-you-babe&rsquo; face, wishing more than ever before that the little guy&rsquo;s place was there with him in the trainer&rsquo;s square instead of tending to the wounded on the bench. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m lucky to have you, ba&mdash;uddy.&rdquo;<br /><br />Even after all the traumatic exposure, and despite the dopey near-slip of the tongue, Spinel just couldn&rsquo;t help but melt at the words, knowing Richie simply wasn&rsquo;t capable of telling a lie. He blew his man a kiss with his ribbons swept into a heart-shaped loop, comfortable knowing that absolutely no reasonable person would suspect him of anything more than being exactly what he looked like on the tin.<br /><br />Bianca fired a finger towards the enemy with a stern smiling face. &ldquo;Alright, Chandelure! Let&rsquo;s&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />Dewott grumbled, tugging at her dress as he pointed to incineroar, dancing in place with a scowl.<br /><br />&ldquo;Patience, sugar-lum,&rdquo; she said, picking him up to plant a kiss on his adorable, wrinkled, button nose. &ldquo;Give &lsquo;er all you&rsquo;ve got, Chandie!&rdquo;<br /><br />Chandelure gave Bianca a cheery, four-flame salute, smiling from their spooky, flickering, cast-iron, jack-o-lantern face as they entered the scene of devastation.<br /><br />&ldquo;Well, Cinny&hellip;&rdquo; Richard said to his final &lsquo;mon, clipping a titanium chain around the fiery, furry, flaming belt around her waist, then hung a jade scroll tube with intricate golden filigree from a solid steel hoop. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s to hoping all that hush-hush bunny time wasn&#039;t for nothin, gurl.&rdquo;<br /><br />Incineroar huffed, doing everything in her power to hide the pressure she felt inside. &ldquo;{I know what I&rsquo;m do&ndash;}&rdquo;<br /><br />Rich clapped his big temperamental girl on the shoulder and wrapped his arms around her chest for a quick but unmistakably affectionate hug. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all up to you now.&rdquo;<br /><br />She scoffed herself into a sooty blushing storm and shoved him away, grumbling as the chucklehead waved her off with two thumbs up and his saccharine side-piece whistled her a good luck something-or-other she was too embarrassed to hear.<br /><br />Everyone else on their side was either recalled, battered silent, or shaken with humiliation. It made for a chillingly tepid cheer, even if their hearts did sit in the right places. Not even the simple nod of approval from Vaporeon shivering in Emilio&rsquo;s chest soothed the itching of her nerves. Incineroar returned the gesture, and sauntered over that contested enemy line.<br /><br /><br /><em>Two for you&hellip;</em><br /><br /><br />Then she found her master in the crowd again. Opal was still there, taking time away from all the things she could have wanted to do otherwise, just to watch some ungrateful stranger she&rsquo;d agreed to teach over the last few days. It made no sense at all, but the realization that someone was there, not expecting conquest or glory&hellip; but just needing to see Incineroar at her absolute best, no matter how good that effort happened to be&hellip; It settled the chittering coals in her chest, stoking her soul into a steady silver smithy&rsquo;s rhythm.<br /><br />Following the years of advice she&rsquo;d received in only the last couple of nights, fought the urge to bunch her muscles up and clench her fists. Spine tight, shoulders loose, knees prepped to spring, breathing smooth as the honeybutter spread they made to go with all those hundreds of loaves of bread the day before. She was ready, whether or not she wanted to be.<br /><br />Chandelure floated with a subtle, unassuming flash of fire, stoking the spirits of a group of lower-class children cheering from the stands.<br /><br />Dewott mentally armed himself like an artillery shell, patiently waiting his turn, but primed for action at a moment&rsquo;s notice,<br /><br /><br /><em>Two for me.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>",
  "pools_count": 1,
  "title": "Forbidden Waters - 29 (Remastered)",
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