Tears Don't Fall [Xylx] TRIGGER WARNING - DEATH

[jian]

There's almost nobody around in Solaceon. It's like they've completely abandoned the town and left it up to the ranchers to continue using the lands to produce food and keep their pokemon fed. It almost looks like theres more pokemon than people in this town.

The little girl thinks it's safe to let her pokemon out. There's only four of them, after all. She places the pokeballs on the ground in front of her, expanded to full size and they pop open instantly, the pokemon within taking shape in front of her. "Just...enjoy the day guys..." she tells them, pulling her knees up to rest her chin on them. The Armaldo stands beside her and she takes its claw in her hand, as though the pokemon is her mother.

Her pokemon move a ways off, seemingly playing with each other.

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[Deleted]

Indeed, barely a human wandered in Solaceon Town. They were all off somewhere doing who knows what. Probably unexciting farmer work…most likely involving aliens. You don’t get that story though; you get to see a creepy man in a mask harass a girl.

Indeed, among the very few humans that were out and about Xelx stood high and proud, just as always. Xelx loved it when towns cleared out liked this…it meant no witnesses. Next to him sat his fateful Fearow Reaper, who was rather bored due to the lack of recent battle related exploits. Ah, but that was exactly what Xelx was seeking. Surely at least one trainer was in this hick town and when Xelx found them…he shall unleash the whooping of a life time upon their unsuspecting behind!

Oh look Xelx was right, as he walked around one of the houses he spotted a girl release several pokemon, most of which went in random directions. If Xelx was capable of moving his mouth muscles anywhere besides up and down for talking, he would surely have a smile on his face. Xelx waved and moved forward, Reaper taking the signal to follow behind his master. Xelx soon approached the girl and in his naturally raspy voice he asked, “You seem to be a capable trainer. I challenge you to a battle of skill. Do you accept?” This gonna be good…

[jian]

The pokemon instantly grow wary of the man that approaches their midst with a pokemon of their own. They don’t move, though. If they are needed, they will wait for word from their owner or the Armaldo that stands by her. Jian curls up slightly towards her pokemon, hiding behind it like it’s an adult.

”I uh...” she swallows, realizing she’s lost the confidence she had only months ago. ”...I’m not...much of a trainer...” she murmurs quietly, glancing at her Armaldo. ”...but I guess...I can sort of battle...”

She scratches her head, ”Okay. Scuttle, come here!” The Kabutops a short distance off comes forward eagerly, crossing its hooked scythes of claws in a battle-ready stance.

I may not be a trainer, but at least I know what my pokemon can do!

[Deleted]

Xelx was pleased by the girl’s answer. Finally, he would be able to exercise the part of his mind that actually mattered to him. What a foolish being, he thought to himself, to even dare accepting a challenge made by Xelx! Yes, Xelx shall enjoy this battle greatly…

He looked to his opponent as it shuffled forward. Kabutops, rock and water, if it had any rock moves Reaper wouldn’t last long. He couldn’t risk losing Reaper early in a fight, no matter how ready he was to get into the fray. Xelx pulled out a pokeball, much to the distaste to the fearow next to him, and released his Bronzong, Googles.

The bell shaped pokemon swayed too and fro, facing his master. Xelx pointed to the Kabutops behind him, and Googles was quick to turn. Googles observed its opponent carefully, searching it up and down with its rapidly moving red eyes. When it felt satisfied by its observing, Googles stretched its arms forward and began to prepare something. The space between its metal arms began to glow, and a silver orb soon formed. Then without warning, Googles lached its arms backward and the Gyro Ball zoomed toward its target. Xelx chuckled lowly, while Reaper looked away, green with envy.

[jian]

Jian's Kabutops crouches, ready for whatever the opponent hands it. The blue steel type launches a Gyro Ball at her pokemon. It charges head-on towards the attack, completely reckless and excited to fight. It trips and stumbls when the steel-type attack slammed into its stomach, the pure energy packs a whollop against its rocky hide.

"K-Kabutops!" the child stammers, "Aqua J-Jet!"

The Kabutops catches itself against the ground with its long scythes, and scrabbles against the ground to regain its footing and continue its charge towards the Bronzong. The pokemon leaps into the air, its body cloaking with swirling, raging water as it streamlined mid air straight for the Bronzong.

[Deleted]

The Bronzor was pleased at the success of its attack. The over confident Googles assumed the opponent would just give up there…but of course it didn’t. Instead it zoomed toward him with an Aqua Jet attack, something Googles did not expect. The surprised Bronzor could not get out of the way in time, and the attack hit right on.

Googles spun away, more dazed about being hit than the impact of the damage itself. The physical water attack did very little against Googles’ steel skin but the bell pokemon felt ashamed nonetheless. Xelx didn’t like it when his pokemon weren’t smart enough to get out of the way, and when Googles looked back at his master he could sense his bloodshot eyes staring into his soul from within that evil mask he wore. Of course, the kicker was ole Reaper, chuckling away as he watched Googles take a beating. Googles knew he couldn’t give that bird the satisfaction of seeing him fail. The bastard would never let it down.

Googles looked back to its opponent and decided to take a new approach. Its metal arms waved back and forth, as a strange force field formed around him before suddenly disappearing. The same happened to Reaper, though no one probably payed attention, nor would the fearow have use for the teamwide Safeguard. With the slightest bit of a defense up (at least to any sly status tricks the opponent may have pulled), Googles zoomed toward its opponent, attempting to ram into it for a Heavy Slam.

[jian]

The Kabutops lands after striking its opponent head-on. Clearly, the pokemon is pleased with itself for striking the opponent. It hardly matters to the Kabutops that the attack does very little damage. Instead of staying on-guard, the pokemon walks (almost prances, by the looks of it) around with its accomplishment. It has never battled before for real – all it has ever done is protect the little girl that owns it from wild pokemon.

It’s not the strongest, nor the brightest berry on the bush.

”Look out!” Jian calls to her pokemon when she sees the Bronzong beginning to move again. It ignores her. It obeys when it feels like it, seeing as the child has too little experience. Instead it looks in the sky and spreads its claws, as though flaunting to whatever in the sky that it had a victory.

Then it gets rammed straight-on by a Bronzong.

The Kabutops is sent flying through the air like a spiraling torpedo into the tree where it collides with a solid crack against the aged bark. ”Scuttle!” the girl cries out, immediately trying to squirm free of her Armaldo’s protective grip when the pokemon holds its arms out to the side, preventing her to move, and shaking her head.

She knows what the child does not yet. She saw the Kabutops’ neck bend awkwardly when it collided with the tree. The Rock-types strong hide prevents the break in its fossil-like skeleton from showing obviously, but the head-on impact with the tree was too much for the weak pokemon to this strong one.

Scuttle is dead.

”Uh…” Jian looks to her pokemon, who looks out at the remaining others, a Bronzong, Steelix, and an Aggron. ”Stonewall!” Jian calls to the Steelix. It crawls across the earth, leaving deep gouges in the grass. ”Scuttle is out! Your turn! Automize!” The Steelix obeys, lessening its own body weight to move faster across the ground, charging straight for the Bronzong, aiming to ram it straight with its head.

[[one down, one to steal, two to kill, proton to join. what order lol]]

[Deleted]

Googles spun in a few circles as he hit his target. He felt a tad dizzy; he must have hit the darn thing pretty hard. His spinning stopped him facing his master, who nodded at him approvingly. Googles looked behind him and was surprised to see his former opponent lying lifelessly against a tree. His first kill…how exciting! Oh his master must be so proud of him! He’ll probably get extra poke snacks today at dinner.

Xelx was indeed proud of his Bronzor, until now the pokemon has been showing a distinct form of wispiness. Now it was a true member of the team, a scoundrel like the best of them. There shall indeed be poke snacks. Reaper scowled beside his master, unsatisfied with Googles’ success. He’ll have his chance though soon, and show up that steel bastard.

Xelx laughed from behind his mask, exclaiming as the opponent sent forward her steelix, “You should end this now before I end up breaking you. What good is a toy that falls apart the first time you play with it?” The steelix was automized, which meant this was about to get ten times harder for Googles. Googles had looked at the approaching steelix with the slightest bit of fear. It was ten times bigger than he was, but surely he could contend with it. Googles charged forward with yet another Heavy Slam in an attempt to smash the steelix apart, however before he could even charge forward he was hit by the speedy steelix, and the impact from the fortress like pokemon caused Googles to fly backward, right past his master and down a hill.

Xelx sighed with contempt as he peered at his fainted Bronzor. What a sad disappointment, his poke snack bonus shall have to be reduced. Xelx returned Googles to his pokeball and Reaper cackled with glee. He was sure his master would choose him next, after all who else would be able to contend with this new badass steelix’s speed? Xelx chose someone different though, with a flash of red a new pokemon emerged, Norris the aerodactyle. Reaper squawked with surprise before growling and hiding itself within its wings. Xelx snapped his fingers and Norris responded with a harsh teeth-grinding cackle. Norris was known as being the over confident, moustache-twirling psychopath of the team. Surely this mere steelix would be no match for his brains! With a snicker, Norris’ eyes began to glow, and from below him a massive bundle of rocks rose up and fused together, effectively creating Norris’ signature Ancient Power. With a roar from Norris, the mass of rocks was thrown at the steelix, hopefully landing another win for Xelx.

[jian]

Faster, now, the Steelix slithered forward over the earth with little hesitation, showing no fear as it aims to ram the pokemon with the rugged top of its steel head. The blue pokemon appears to ready itself for yet another move similar to the one that took out Scuttle. The Steelix appears to have nothing of it, though, as it barrels straight through the other pokemon, sending it flying. Steelix are at least two times the weight of Bronzong…right? Jian thinks, wanting to be sure of her answer, but finding her confidence at a loss. She used to know.

All that matters now is that one opponent’s pokemon had been taken care of, and its rolling backwards down the hill behind its trainer is proof enough of that.

The next pokemon sent out was an Aerodactly, a brand new threat and one that has an aerial advantage. It sees the pokemon moving and Jian knows there’s no way for her large pokemon to avoid such an attack. ”Stonewall, brace yourself!”

The Steelix curls up in response, tucking its head down towards the ground and away from the Aerodactyl as it allows itself to take the hit from the rock-type move against its spiked back. The pokemon shudders with the blow of the rocks, and it roars in pain but isn’t down yet. ”Stonewall, Stealth Rock!”

Too bad its trainer has no badges. Instead of raising pointed stones from the ground as directed, the pokemon takes the fight into its own hands. Or at least it’s figurative ones.

It rears up, its giant steel body swaying like a massive snake as its jaws alight with yellow, crackling electricity. It lunges for it’s comparatively tiny target, aiming to bite down with a Thunder Fang.

[Deleted]

Norris cackled into his wing, this battle was gonna be fun. Norris swayed back and forth in a taunting manner as the opponent's trainer put out an order for stealth rock. Norris used to have that move....but Xelx said it was useless and forced him to forget. Oh how he missed manipulating the earth into a trap for his foe, lots of sadistic fun to be had there.

The steelix must have been unaware of what a stealth rock is, as instead it launched at Norris with its teeth sparking. Norris screeched and flung itself high into the air to get out of the way. This guy was taking cheap shots. Oh well, Norris had cheap shots too.

Norris' mouth flared briefly with fire before he reared his head back and unleashed a blast of green fire known as Dragon Breath. He was rather high up so he didn't know if the attack would hit but if it did it might just tip the battle in his favor.

[jian]

The Steelix’s wide jaws clamp down on empty air as the Aerodactyl screeches away, the grating sound coming from its serrated jaws comparable to that of car tires on pavement just before it shot out of Neutral into Drive. The Steelix cranks back its head and lets out a frustrated growl, its rectangular teeth on the lower jaw slapping against the steel upper lip as it moved its mouth open and closed while it waits for its opponent to make a move. It lunges forward when it sees the opponent’s mouth open, teeth crackling with electricity yet again as it was ready to strike out with another Thunder Fang.

”Stonewall!” Jian cries, more fearful for her pokemon’s safety than exasperated with her pokemon’s lack of behavior. Its mouth is open and the other pokemon is obviously preparing an attack. Jian sees everything happen – Stonewall’s aggravation at being unable to hit his opponent the first time, and then not thinking twice about lunging again, even while an attack was being prepared. The Dragonbreath shoots straight into her Steelix’s mouth. The Steel Snake pokemon recoils and bellows with pain at having the curious gas thrust into its mouth. It instantly turns and drops its chin to the ground, rolling onto its side to bite at the earth, as though that will do something to ease the clear pain it was in.

Jian pulls at the claw clamped firmly down over her chest, but her mother-figure of a pokemon doesn’t budge. She just watches her pokemon suffer.

[Deleted]

Norris' attack hit, and what a hit it was. It shall go down in the record books as the luckiest hit ever actually, as what are the odds of that Steelix deciding to open its mouth as the attack was about to impact? Glorious!

Norris smiled with glee as the fortress went down, and preformed several barrel holes in midair to display his satisfaction. His celebrations ended abruptly though as he heard a whistle from his master. Norris looked at Xelx with wide eyes, which only got wider as Xelx raised his right hand, his thumb turned downward. It shall be a shame to end the fun, but oh well, there shall be plenty of fun for later.

With a heavy sigh, that was only half disappointed, Norris turned to the steelix and chewed on air as his mouth began to spark. With another heave of his head, he let loose another blaze of Dragonbreath to hopefully seal the deal.

[jian]

The Steelix is too busy trying to calm the raging pain in its mouth to concentrate on anything potentially dangerous around it. Such a shame, too, because there was soething dangerous - an enemy pokemon that had just fired a second attack. The steel pokemon may have been big and bold, yes, but that didn't change the fact it was still weak, explaining why it so easily crumbled beneath two dragon-type attacks.

"Stonewall!" Jian yells, her voice closer to a scream this time. "No!" She sees her pokemon writhe on the ground, rolling this way and that as its body crackles with a strange green fire. It can't put the fire out, no, and instead simply burns. It bellows as its eyes are eventually scorched by the attack, only after the liquid in them boils. The fire creeps into what was already in the pokemon's mouth, only making the burning stronger.

Eventually, only after thrashing around on the ground does the pokemon still entirely, and slowly have its once-shiny silver hide turn black with burn.

"S-Stonewall..." She says, her voice quivering. She knows, now, that this pokemon is dead. She grips the claw of her protective pokemon. She looks to the side, realizing that Scuttle, too, must be dead. He's been too still for too long. She looks up again, her eyes to the masked man who had killed two of her pokemon. The Bronzong, the last pokemon she has besides the one protecting her, floats before the both of them. "Y-you killed my pokemon..." she whimpered, "Y-you're not supposed to kill pokemon...this is just a batte..."

Tears began to fall down her face as she buried the side of her face in the Armaldo's claw, waiting for the man to move again.

She can't run.

He will catch her.

She's slow and small.

He's big and fast.

She begins to feel as though she's in danger.

[Deleted]

Norris chuckled, his work here was done. The steelix crumpled under his second attack and lay on the ground burning. Xelx payed no attention to the blazing mass in front of him, seemingly more interested in his gloves. Reaper of course scowled, thinking that he could have totally taken down that steelix quicker.

Soon the girl spoke up, her voice trembling with obvious pain. Xelx looked to her with a sideways glance and let out a sandy chuckle. “From the beginning of time, whether it is with pokemon or humans, battles have been a way to show who was strong enough to live in this world. I believe they call this survival of the fittest, a trainer cannot avoid this.”

Xelx took out a pokeball and recalled Norris. He spoke once more, “I must say, you’re entertaining me quite a bit. So much so that I may just continue this battle…of course if the fear of a few dead pokemon scares you than feel free to run away.” Of course, if she did run Xelx planned to have Reaper chase her a few miles out of sport. Assholes need their kicks somehow.

[jian]

The child's breath catches in her throat when he speaks, fear filling her eyes with more than just the glaze it previously swept over them, and her fingers tighten around the arm of the Armaldo next to her and she looks between Plate, Shield, and Spine - the Aggron that lies in its pokeball on her belt. She swallows as hot tears begin to stream down her face out of fear and sadness for her lost pokemon.

If I run, I'll die. She's convinced of that. The man's voice and the pokemon he has with him scare the girl, causing her entire body to tremble as she leans against the Armaldo for support. She's too scared to run, and her breath begins to come out as sobs as she feels herself sinking to the ground. The two pokemon left look between each other, and the large, blue, Bronzong floats forward, its bell-sounding call resonating across the battlefield.

No longer is the little girl capable of issuing orders, now the pokemon fight to survive and protect their trainer.