FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

While he was looking around she lowered her head to look at the lava, just enjoying the feel of the heat against her scales, when, of course, the doors opened at the front of the gym, and a boy, she guessed at about age 13? maybe 14 if he was lucky, strode through them. Her fins spread with interest, she looked for Poké Ball beside him, then snorted, more to herself than at him, when she found none. Did he think that he would have more of an advantage by not showing his hand? He looked full of himself and proud that he had gotten this far; Serena thought his navy blue hair looked ridiculous, especially when her keen eyes could see auburn roots.

Kyn returned with three new Poké Balls, one of which was a Great Ball. He went next to Serena and said, "I'm guessing that it's safe to say that this is the challenger, Serena?" Kyn looked at the new entry with much scrutiny. It was hard to judge someone's age simply by their looks, but his attitude might give it away as well. If he was older than 12, then that probably meant that he either had a bit more experience, or started later.

At the words of Kyn returning, she tilted her head downwards so that she was on equal speaking level with him. "It would seem so, the others don't seem to know him, and he's full of himself to the point that it nearly radiates off of him. I would hope--though it is probably too much to ask--that he will be able to get down to business and conduct himself with honor." She sniffed at the balls with interest. "Two dragonair and a Kingdra? Well, this at least should be good practice for them...If nothing else I can give them tips afterward...of course you'd have to translate probably, for the trainers who won't let them react on their own instincts." She looked him in the eyes. "What about you, are YOU going to be okay conforming to how these Poké Ball were trained?"

The boy had started on the trainers around the room, either talking to them or asking where Clair was, Serena wasn't sure from this distance.

"It will be easier than it seems. Being adaptable... is what separates a great Trainer from an average one. In situations where, any Pokémon can be turned into a winner, even sometimes despite type disadvantages. That's one of the cases with Tensa. Plenty of people thought they could overcome us easily by using Fire-type moves. It doesn't matter how strong your Fire is, if you can't hit him."

"Speaking of our lizard, where IS he? I haven't seen him since I left..." By the time she had looked around, the trainer had stepped up to the 'stage' as it were, within talking distance, and was gawking in disbelief at Serena, who just snorted at him and laid her head down, feigning disinterest. "Yo...you the one who's filling in for the Lady? Inn't nice of you, lettin' yurself get pushed 'round by a woman."

"Hm, I see, so you're obviously looking for a challenge. I hope you've got an excellent strategy or else you'll lose even faster than you can possibly imagine." Kyn said, folding his arms.

Serena failed at being inconspicuous, but then, she was a 5ft dragon, it was hard to not be the white elephant in the room being that big, but she did manage to take up as little room as possible when she hoisted herself up into a seated position, looking down at the boy with a slight glare and a snort.

"What's 'e goin' on 'bout? 'idn't lik' the crack about 'is owner eh?" The trainer cracked again, and Serena's earfins' membrane began to shrink back, but she managed to restrain herself, knowing someone THAT foolish wouldn't be able to understand her even if she did say something.

At Kyn's introduction, the trainer tipped his head to the side smugly. "Oi, ya think so? Guess 'e'll hav'ta foind out."

Kyn took one of the Great Balls, spun it around on his finger, held it out in front of him, and then pushed the button to release the Dragonair. "My first Pokémon is a Dragonair. Oh, and... Serena's a female, by the way. Not that it matters to you though," Kyn said, nodding his head over in her direction. He imagined that this trainer would have at least a few Ice-types as would be typical of someone trying to have a distinct advantage over this Gym, but would be thinking like an amateur if they believed that simply having an Ice-type or a Pokémon that could use Ice-type moves would really be a deciding factor.

An elderly man amongst the Trainers walked over to the group and then spoke in a slow, but clear voice. "I guess I'll be refereeing this match. This official match is between the challenger and a substitute who at this time will remain nameless. The challenger is allowed up to six Pokémon, with substitutions, and the opponent is not allowed any substitutions during the match." Kyn of course knew this, but it was official procedure to announce the rules, since not everyone read the rulebook when it came to things like this. Getting used to not substituting was not going to be a problem for him, seeing has how two of his Pokémon were Dragonair, and the third was a Kingdra, if the kid managed to piss him off, then Serena would utterly annihilate his remaining Pokémon. IF he even managed to get that far it'd be a surprise.

As if it wasn't predictable enough, The trainer pulled a Poké Ball off his belt in the typical first slot configuration, and lobbed it up into the air, releasing the Cloyster within it. He rolled his eyes at the elderly man as he waited, did they _always_have to read off the rules? He could probably recite it by heart by now. Finally when he finished, he spoke. "Cloyster is my first, and probably the last you'll ever see. Lets start things off with putting a chill in the air. Blizzard, Cloyster."

"Very well... Dragonair, use Fire Blast!" Kyn ordered. Without hesitation, the Dragonair opened it's mouth, and fire could be seen forming in it's mouth. After releasing it, the fire formed into the Kanji for Big, '?' and made contact with the icy air, then quickly followed up with, "And now use Thunder!"

A thick layer of steam was in the room, and it wasn't very accurate, so the first few arcs of Lightning missed the Cloyster, but after it cleared enough for the Dragonair to see, it landed a precise hit.

"Brin'" Came the command from the boy, his eyes narrowed at this substitute that he still had no name for. The Cloyster had built up the water required for Brine when the Thunder hit. The Cloyster fell backwards, electrified water oozing from the center, and recalled it.

"Feh, weakling..." The next ball emerged, a Gorebyss popping free from the ball, and he caught it in his hand. "Confus'ay, Gorebyss."

After the Dragonair got hit by the confuse ray, it was up to luck to decide whether or not his orders would be able to be successfully comprehended. "Dragonair... Use Thunder on Gorebyss!" Kyn said, with two of his fingers crossed behind his back. Of course it was a psychological thing, but to his surprise, the Dragonair executed the attack, although, afterward was still visibly wobbling around slightly. It reminded him a little bit of Vertigo the Spinda.

The Gorebyss was paralyzed from the attack as it hit home, and it wobbled with the strain of keeping itself upright; still, it waited for another command. "Bounce." Geo commanded, his hand clenching the Poké Ball tighter. But of course, it would never get the chance, as it tried to curl it's tail up into the spring to get in the air, it seized up in pain, making it an all too easy target.

"Dragonair, try a Dragon Pulse." Once again he was relying on luck, which he hated doing, but it succeeded once more. Dragonair formed the teal-green Ball in it's mouth, letting it charge, and then fired it at the paralyzed Gorebyss.

The Gorebyss was recalled without a word from it's trainer, who had a grimace on his face, and the next Poké Ball to join the fray was a Sneasel. "Ice shard." This time the Poké Ball moved first, and with a quick bit of cold air scooped up the now docile salt water at his disposal, flash freezing a chunk and throwing it as hard as it could at the Dragonair.

Kyn attempted to have the Dragonair use the Fire-Blast again, but the confusion caught up with it, and it wasn't able to understand the command. The Sneasel's attack made contact with several vital points, causing an increased amount of damage. With much stumbling around the Dragonair finally fell down in defeat. Kyn sighed... "Dragonair... return...," and then held the Great Ball in front of him, recalling it.

"Fu'kin finally, a com'entent Poké Ball." He muttered, running his hand through his hair and waiting for the next Poké Ball, this guy only had three, after all, he couldn't really expect him to face off against the Salamence in the back...could he?

Serena flicked her tail back and forth as she watched from the shadows; letting her green eyes glow as her dislike for this trainer grew.

"At this rate, you might actually start to stand a chance." He said aloud, then added "If you have 12 Pokémon..." in a mutter low enough that the boy wouldn't hear it, but he knew that Serena would. "This next one's a classic." He sent out his second Dragonair, and then said, "Start out with a Hyper Beam, Dragonair."

"Beat up." Geo said as the next Poké Ball emerged, and the Sneasel began to run around the room effectively providing a diversion and causing the attack to miss. The rest of the Poké Ball emerged from their balls one by one to launch an attack from behind the Dragonair as it's attention was diverted.

Serena snorted at this tactic and actually did put her head over Kyn's shoulder as if to get a better look, issuing a slight growl at the dirty tactic. Oh she would enjoy kicking his ass at the end of this. "How is that not illegal?" She covered the words with the typical dragony snort, not really expecting to be answered, since he was working. She was, however, caught off guard when he issued the next command.

"Ice shard Sneasel."

"Hmph, Use DragonBreath on Sneasel then." The blast of heated air, was quick to connect with the Sneasel, though at the same time, the newly formed Ice-shards came back just as quickly not giving enough time to dodge, causing the super-effective move to hit.

"Get in close and use poison jab." He obviously didn't care that to get in close, the Sneasel had to take the hit from the Dragonbreath, but still the tactic was sure to work, as the poison coated claws attempted to connect with the body of the Dragonair, still it would mean that he would be a sitting duck for the next move, even if he tried to get away.

Kyn didn't say anything but thought in his head, 'This is why I don't announce my moves, but whatever, I have to do it this time.' He then waited until the Sneasel was close enough that he judged the Dragonair would be able to do his next tactic. "Dragonair, wrap your tail around it and then use Hyper Beam!"

The Sneasel's leg caught, there was nothing that he could do, he didn't even have enough time to call for another ice shard, all he could do was wait for the Dragonair to release the Poké Ball so that he could recall it. An Ambipom stood in it's place moments later, ready to fight as it stood on it's tails. "Ice Punch." came the command, perhaps a little colder than before. Of course, being an Ambipom, it didn't have just one hand to hit with, still as it ran towards the Dragonair, the twin tails divided the force of the ice punch between them, so even if one of them missed, the other wouldn't.

After taking such a spread of attacks, the last one being Ice Shard, this current Ice Punch was enough to finish the Dragonair off. "You did your best Dragonair. Rest now..." he said, and then recalled it. "That's two you've managed to defeat. I'd say that your Pokémon are fairly decent." He said, in a neutral, professional tone. Deep inside though, he was beginning to wonder how long it would be before this Trainer lost his cool with his Pokémon. It wasn't his job to antagonize the opponent, but of course, he'd known some Gym Leaders that had, deliberately to teach their opponents about focus in battle. "Let's see how you handle this, Kingdra," he said, sending it out. "Dragon Pulse."

"Ice punch, again." He had virtually ignored Kyn, it was very clear from the tone that he didn't even care if his Poké Ball spent the last of it's life force, but it managed to only slide back as it was impacted with the blue sphere, so that it would still be able to use the ice punch as it's trainer wanted.

Kyn was beginning to get annoyed with the way this Trainer was conducting himself, as evident by himself folding his arms. He actually felt sorry for the guy's Pokémon and his lack of concern for them, but this was a Gym Battle, and he could not afford to go easy. "Use Dragon Pulse once more." Kyn said, barely able to hold in the rising anger in his voice. The gained resistance against Ice-Type moves is what really began to turn the tide of the battle, allowing the Kingdra to take the hit, but not nearly be as affected by it as it would have been had it been pure Dragon.

The Ambipom was hit full force with the dragon pulse, and slid backwards on it's back before getting back up on it's feet, determination burned in its eyes. "Wait for it." was the command this time, and then when the Kingdra made it's next move, he growled out. "Use Role play!"

Serena burned behind them, not physically, but mentally she was thinking about how she would be ripping HIM to shreds, not the Poké Ball, for even treating someone like that. Then the realization hit her, they weren't anywhere near equal to this boy, they weren't even tools to be used, they were twigs to be broken in his eyes. The membrane between the spikes that made up her earfins receded back further, leaving her with the traditional Salamence look.

"Well that was useless. Kingdra finish it off with a Dragon Pulse." The Kindra opened its mouth and didn't charge the blast fully this time, having a good feeling that the Ambipom was already close to fainting, allowing him the opportunity to fire it faster.

"A', shit." the words were out of Geo's mouth before he could stop himself, and he recalled the Ambipom after it was confirmed unable to battle, sending out Snorlax. "Shock wave." Came the command, as soon as the Snorlax had formed, and it gathered static in one paw, and spread the energy in a wave before it.

"Kingdra, you can take that hit easily! Use Giga Impact" After the Shock wave hit, Kingdra first moved out of the lava and, then flew at an incredibly rapid pace at the Snorlax, surrounded by a white aura.

"Grab it and freeze it." The Snorlax did as he was told, taking the brunt of the force and pinning the Kingdra there to unleash an ice punch to it's face, letting the force of it knock it away.

"Good, now Solarbeam." The Snorlax began to take in the light from the surrounding lights and lava, making the area darker, if only just barely, as a sphere formed before it's mouth.

"An interesting way of going about that... but that is exactly what I needed. Quickly Kingdra, while it's charging, get close and use Aqua Tail!" Kyn of course would have shaken his head, but it was not the time for that. It moved closer to the Snorlax, and then when it was close enough, violently whipped it's normally curled tail all over the Snorlax's body, including its head.

The ball of light faded, the Snorlax fell backwards, and was recalled into the red light. Geo sighed, shaking his head as he held his last ball in his hand. "Cherrim..." Finally, a sign of remorse, perhaps this was the Poké Ball that he had been given when he started? The ball popped open in his hand, and the modest flower, hiding between petals, stepped out to face the mighty Kingdra. "Magical leaf." came the words, and the flower swirled on the spot, two large, leaves made of energy appearing, and swirling at the Kingdra.

"Hm, Kingdra, use Rain Dance, then Aqua Tail." Kyn ordered. The Kindra did take the Magical Leaf head on, with it not doing a lot of damage. It wouldn't be that much a problem individually, but if he keep using it, it would eventually add up, but his speed increase might be able to help with some aspect of dodging. Although he did not remember that Magical Leaf was unavoidable.

"Again." Came the order, and again the Cherrim danced, seeming Invigorated by the rain storm, and actually did manage to avoid the Aqua tail as it came. The Twin leaves acted like Homing missiles, and of course, found their mark yet again.

Serena watched the Cherrim dance, it seemed so...happy? How could a Poké Ball be happy under these conditions?

After the leaves hit their mark the second time, Kyn realized too late, that the attack was pretty much a Grass-type equivalent of Swift, and that this Cherry-thing was a Grass type, and thus using water type attacks on it would do little good. But it was already too late now, and he figured he might as well try to weaken it as much as possible. "Kingdra.... use Aqua Tail...!" He was going to attempt to lure him into a false sense of security, so that he would next be able to use a Fire-Blast, if his plan worked. He was hoping that the Trainer wasn't goiing to use Magical Leaf again.

Geo had seen an opening, and yes, the words he dreaded came again. "One more time." He knew that the Kingdra was going down, and even though the Aqua tail hit, it just made the Kingdra easier to hit. The Cherrim danced back after the attack, and Geo, so sure that it would faint, nearly leaped for joy, but held it until it was confirmed that the Kingdra was indeed knocked out.

"A'I knew ya wouldn't let m'down!" He picked up the Cherrim, and rubbed around the stem of the Pokémon's head.

Serena flicked her tongue out, scenting the air, and she brought it back up to Kyn's shoulder. "Well? Yes, or no?" Before he could answer, however, Geo had withdrawn all the fainted Poké Ball balls from his belt. "What's...he...doing?" She asked carefully, the voice in more of a rumbling churr, she was being careful to disguise anything that might have been construed as talking, with other vocal sounds.

"Kingdra, return." Kyn said firmly. It didn't even get the opportunity to faint, and went back in the ball still exhausted, but the judge had taken this to mean that he was withdrawing it due to it fainting. "Pissing me off is what he's doing...," he whispered to Serena.

"This battle is not yet over. You still have one Pokémon to face, and you will not win against her, no matter how hard you try." Kyn had an idea of what this Trainer might do with those Pokémon that had actually lost again him, as he had encountered several situations that were similar.

Geo had been stopped with his hand about to let go of the ball with some of the fainted Pokémon, when he realized that he was still being watched. The Cherrim had known that this was coming, and yet still had closed its petals around itself so that it didn't have to watch.

It didn't take long for Serena to put two and two together, and this time her voice came out in a wordless roar as she stepped, unbidden into the ring, she didn't want to hurt the Cherrim, didn't want to see it thrown away like some piece of garbage, but she was mad, and this would make a point.

"Don't. You. DARE."

Her tail flicked behind her, but she waited for the possible command. She was so...ANGRY at him, they were his Pokémon, and they would have fought to the death for him...and he would have let them, she was sure.

"I am advising you to reconsider what you were about to do. You do still have a chance to surrender, and come back again later." Kyn said, remaining calm while Serena was beside him, with her emotions wide out in the open for all to see.

She had never been the best at concealing her emotions, but now she seemed to be breaking this world's laws. If she DIDN'T have the Intimidate ability, she sure as hell was doing a good imitation of having one, and if it was possible, even the trainer seemed affected, as he nearly fell back on his bum, hastily recalling Cherrim and putting the rest of the balls back on his belt.

"Feh..." She spit a bit of fire out over into the lava, and laid down on the spot. "Lucky little idiot, doesn't know how faithful they are to him, what they wouldn't give up for him." Her tail lashed, and even as the boy ran out of the gym, doing a good impression of a dog with a tail between it's legs, she started to calm down. "If he EVER steps in this gym again, I want to be here. If I can scare him straight, then I will...oh, and it covers the fact that Clair didn't bother to leave us any badges." she snorted.

"Ha! Oh that's one other thing I forgot to mention! Even if by some miracle he did manage to defeat you, I'd send him to the Elder that guards your Den, and he'd fail the test, so he wouldn't have been able to get the Badge anyway! Clair does it to everyone, so he's not special."

She snorted again, turning around and pulling Kyn to her side, the claws that could so easily rip and shred gently and carefully letting him lean against her flank. "You said you were tired...Sleep. I'll wake you should anyone else come...and Kyn?...I'm glad that you were the first Trainer I met, if the first one I had met was like him...well, I wanted to tear him apart -now-, I can't imagine what it would have been like if I didn't know they weren't all like that."

Clair, characteristically, had chosen this time to end her flight with Tenshi, using the night sky as the reason, and insisting that she was spending far too much time away from the gym, and when the Reshi landed, she put the headset back on his back and slid down. "Thank you Tenshi, that was quite the experience." As she spoke, she rolled down her gloves into their typical rolls, leaving the 'socks' for later.

"The next time you hear a sonic boom, then perhaps you will be reminded of me." Tenshi said, declining his neck and body so that she would have less to jump, if she hadn't already been used to higher places, extending her the courtesy if she would accept it, though not demanding it.

Kyn laid himself against Serena, intending to fall asleep. "I think I almost lost it. Your nose might have detected it, but there's a phrase we say here, 'You scared the pissed out of him' and it might be literal in this case. I think that anger was enough for both of us." He would quickly be able to fall asleep with the current warmth she was putting out, and when combined with her wing shielding him from further light it would be all to quickly, but he held on for just a bit longer to hear her response.

"Piss? Pfft. he's going to need a new pair of pants, but not for that reason, I DO hope he was wearing briefs, however, or that would have made a mess all the way to the center." She quieted her laughter down to a slight purrumble so that he could sleep, and had just laid her head down to rest when the doors opened again.

Instead of immediately awakening Kyn, she looked to see Clair, and tipped her nose under the wing, sure that the noise had likely startled him awake. "Just Clair, thank the creators." She murmured. Dealing with people like that, it was a wonder Clair didn't lose it, even if it was only occasionally.

"I'm sure that I will, at least, when I'm not battling, are you coming back inside or staying out here?" She had, as Serena had seen, opened the doors, and actually was holding them open as she waited for the big dragon's response.

Kyn stayed quiet, and waited for more news from Serena, but still with his eyes closed.

"I may as well, being outside right now doesn't really appeal to me much right now. Perhaps we shall see what manner of adventures these two had while we were away."

Serena wrinkled her nose at the noise, sure, Kyn wouldn't be able to hear it from there, but she could hear murmurs, she turned her head to Heji, who likely had found her other side to curl up on, and decided against disturbing him either. It turned out that she didn't have to, the babble of excitement burned itself down as the two noted Kyn 'missing' and concern swept over Clair like a blanket.

"Is everything alright? Where's Kynexn?" Came the question, and the answer would follow. "Sleeping off a bad trainer who wanted to throw the Pokémon that didn't do so well against the ones Kyn borrowed from the trainers here, into the lava." She snorted, but her words were soft. "Let him sleep...if worse comes to worse I'll just pull him up to the lair to sleep, it wont be the first night he's spent with me."

Heji let out a quieted yawn, knowing that Kyn was currently in the process of sleeping and so he walked out, gave a quick wave to Clair with his paw, and then went back to Serena.

"So, I take it that he is the trainer who we saw running as fast as he could to the Pokémon Center. Now... did Kyn tell you about the Elder's Test?" Clair asked.

"He did, yes, kind of had to after our conversation as the trainer left, and yes, it more than likely was." She answered, careful to keep her voice low. "You'll probably have to let the other trainers know that they'll get their Pokémon back tomorrow, unless they're keen on coming through the barrier and trying to understand me as I match scent to trainer."

Clair tried to take in what Serena had said, but was hung up on the part about a barrier. "What... barrier is this of which you speak? Also, where is Tensa?"

"Sorry, word difference, opening to the den is a barrier to those below, so I labeled it as such...and I asked that before the trainer arrived, still don't know the answer...he wouldn't have gone AFTER the trainer, would he?" She muttered, looking down at Heji questioningly. She would have asked Kyn, but she doubted that he would appreciate it, the three of them could handle it, she was sure.

"It might have something to do with all this molten lava. No matter how strong he is, he is still a Grass-type. He seemed uneasy when he came here the first time around. We'll probably find him tommorow, and I highly doubt that he would."

"I wouldn't blame him if he did, to be honest...but I am ready for bed myself, I think...would you mind helping me shift him? The cave -should- be aired out by now..." She lifted a wing to let the lion under it, preparing to shift and pick them both up. She did nuzzle Clair, a slight scent mark.

"I...do not have a big enough nest for you, or I would invite you to come with us, Tenshi, but I'm sure that Clair would be more than willing to let you stay here for the night, if this area makes you feel as cozy as it does me."

"I will do my best. How are you going to carry him, and where do you need him shifted?"

"I believe I will stay here tonight. As a Dragon of Fire, I do believe that you are correct in that this Gym will provide me with a comfortable environment. However! I do not exactly have a scaled hide in the sense that most other Dragons do, and as such, I am not as inclined to singe my lovely feathers in lava." Tenshi stated.

"You're a fire dragon, White One, you're practically immune to lava in itself, I'm sure that it extends to your feathers." She said to him, simply, then with Heji's help, adjusted Kyn to cradle in one clawed arm, and extended the other to the lion himself, since it was his cave too. It felt odd to consider another place home, but at the same time; right, especially with the two of them together.

Once he had either accepted or declined, she pulled herself up onto her hind feet and strode out, taking off smoothly against the night air. She was confident that her scales and body heat would keep her human warm for the short flight in, but she would have to let Heji down first, she could walk on three legs, but not on two in her lair.

Serena gently carried Kyn to the nest, she had long since learned how fragile humans could be, Still, she curled almost protectively around him, as if he were a hatchling she was protecting from harm. She left room for Heji to curl up beside her as well, of course, she didn't bother trying to resume where they had left off, it would be rude, at least, in her mind's eye to do so, and even more so not to ask him if he would care to join, so she stifled the thoughts as they surfaced, and settled in for a nice nap.

Heji gave a large stretch, and then laid in between where Kyn was near Serena, so that he himself was in between both of them, and he too drifted off to sleep.