Pokemon: The Ultimates (RPG Thread)

[Zincspider]

After a couple people walked in, and started eating, Steven decided to take a tour… and in the process didn’t notice Del hiding in the slightest… so the leader was probably only smarts, no powers of his own… then again, he was the champion at one point so he had to be powerful. What a mystery.

Del stuck his foot out, and resumed his place in the normal plane of existence, and proceeded to follow the rest of the squad as slowly as he could. He still didn’t want to be noticed. Hopefully someone would see him. But his feet, aided by the absence of shoes, made no noise while walking.

*Hey, Binky Boy, can I get in the body?* Gama inquired, a layer of fake sweetness coating his voice like honey. Too bad the change of his usual tone didn’t cancel his insult. Del ignored him, and continued to watch Steven explain what was stolen. The Adamant Orb. A great treasure, something that should have never left its original home to be put in a museum in the first place. It was definitely a tragedy of epic proportions. He felt a pang of guilt about not being able to do anything about it. Gama didn’t share the same sympathy. Del could almost hear him snoring inside the far reaches of his head.

But not too long after the explanation of the orb, what happened to Eve, and Nova complaining about the bucket he had to wear, Gama’s interest was peaked again. He heard something about creating his own costume.

*DEL! LET’S GO DO THAT NOW!*

*What? Why? I have perfectly good armor for my style already. Leather is fine.*

*For you maybe, but I need something more substantial… and less white. I’m thinking a dark purple.*

*No*

*Yes*

*No*

*No*

*Yes*

*Then it’s agreed! Time for change my timid friend!*

*But… But… whatever, just a little change though. I have final say.*

After a short session, Del was in a new outfit.

In all reality, it wasn’t too different from his old costume…. from what you could see. He was wearing the same old white leather jacket (the exact same. New leather would have to be worn in. he just fetched his old flexible one) with black trim, and the emblem of a black sun on the back. But his undershirt had become skin-tight, and instead of black sleeve, they were now a dark purple. Also new was a chain-mail cloak (which after much argument with Gama, the rings themselves were purple… the same dark purple as the rest of his outfit). It was perfectly flexible, and protected Del’s back even more than before. It was hidden under his coat though, so you couldn’t see it except for a swath of black clothe that stretch across his chest holding the mail to his back.

Almost everything was the exact same, other than his old boots being replaced by a new black pair with white buckles. He wasn’t going to give up his own style for Gama.

-

Now that costume customization was complete, Del walked to the arena right behind Steven. Surprisingly, the mail cloak didn’t make much noise. It seemed his jacket was holding the rings in place, not allowing them to jingle. But he didn’t have too much time to dwell on it. Steven had just decided that the Ultimates were going to display their own power in front of him and the other members.

No one seemed to want to go first. That Oya girl looked around trying to find the first person to go, and even an Espeon bit Sven before anyone else decided to go up. Steven made a joke about the Espeon being the first contender to break the silence, but no one bought it.

*Oh, Damnit, just go Del* Gama goaded, bored out of his…. Well, Del’s… mind. Del nodded.

“Steven, I would like to go first,” Del volunteered. He didn’t just do it to break the silence either. Maybe he could impress Vicki in the process… not likely, but he had to try. Steven nodded and stepped aside.

Del walked out into the middle of the arena, and turned to face the others. He felt like he had stage fright almost. He had never just shown off what he could do in front of an audience… but then a realization reached him. Most of his power was in the fact that he saw time almost slow down when in danger. If there was no danger, he would just be moving around with a summoned weapon.

*Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud* Del muttered, shivering in his new boots. He hadn’t thought this out, not he looks like a fool, and, and, and… wait.
Del took a quick look around at the crowd in front of him. They all had shadows…. Knowing what he had to do, Del fell the pull of Gama. He let him take over the body.

“It’s about time!” Gama spat out, aloud, getting him strange looks from everyone. He just shrugged them off, and turned around. He had a show planned. He threw his jacket out behind him with a flick of his hands, lifted his arms in the air, and shouted, “Iron Ball!”. In a flash, a huge white ball made of solid metal appeared in Gama’s hands. Using all of his strength, before the Ball fell, he tossed it up in the air a couple inches.

“Now time for the real show…” he muttered throwing off his jacket. The white leather article flew to the ground, and the purple mail cloak fell out. Then flicking his wrists, Gama sent his own shadow in the air and caught the ball. A grin sneaked across his face as he began the manipulate the shadow into throwing the ball around as if it were a child’s toy. And if that weren’t enough, he continued to control his shadow with one hand, and called a long sword to the other. Proceeding from there, he began to juggle the ball, and savagely attack the air in front of him with precise strokes, and stabs. He was no squire with the blade. Even though he would have done better with both hands on the blade, he didn’t falter once in his performance.

When he decided he had done enough, he made on last flick of the wrist, tossing the ball out into the arena, and sending his shadow back into place.

Then he twisted around to the crowd again, and thew his sword at the ground near his feet. Then, much to the dismay of Del, Gama looked Vicki straight in the eyes, and winked at her behind his sunglasses.

“So, anything else you guys want to see?”

 

[Tundra_Wolfmane]

Leks, blinking, listened on as Steven ignored the twin's question and continued on. And then he walked into another room, gesturing for them to follow him.

'Guess that answers their question,' he thought, remembering Redd do the same thing to him, as he followed the group from behind.

As soon as they entered the new room - the war room, Steven called it - most of the others started sitting down. Leks, on the other hand, stayed unseated, preferring not stand so close to the other heroes-to-be. His outward appearance showed him listening to the conversation, but in the back of his mind, he was wondering and worried if he was being too anti-social. He suddenly felt warmth on one of his forearms and looked down at the source. He was met with Sadira's warm, understanding eyes. He nodded and smiled lightly.

When he turned back his attention to Steven, he was met with the image of an obscure diamond. He was suddenly transfixed by the stone. He felt like he had seen it before, even when he clearly didn't in the depths of his memories. He hadn't dared tell anyone, even Redd and Sadira, but he felt a similar feeling when he saw the orb in real life as well. He couldn't help but feel the power within him, the power of the Great Charizard, react to it. It was unnerving. He contemplated on this until he heard something along the line of getting new clothes or somewhat. He immediately stiffened. He was already uncomfortable with the shirt as it was!

After a while, with silent humiliation from Leks, the avatar came out wearing a uniform that he would rather had not worn in the first place. What surprised him more was that Sadira had a drive for designing, which was unusual for a being that didn't even wear clothes. He wondered if that, instead of him being the one to give it, was why she always wore the bandana around her neck.

He was still barefoot, which suited him fine. He wore a more complex form of his cargo pants. It was no longer plain and almost fit him snugly; it had been modified to look similar to the patterns of army pants, having various shades and tints of gray. The cloth had been enforced so that it could endure the same high temperature he could, as well as defend him slightly from other elements. It could also resist wear and tear a lot better. However, under the cloth of the shin part of the pants and part of the knee area is a specialized metal that would help him in attack power. What he didn't like most about the uniform was what Sadira made him wear for his upper body. Once again, he had to wear a tight fitting, sleeveless shirt version of the black shirt he wore before, though it was also made with enforced cloth. However, the back part of the shirt had a large hole, making him uncomfortable that he had to show it. Newer adornments on him were the armor-like shoulderpads on his shoulder. They had the same texture and features of Charizard scales, as well as the same traits that were imitated through the use of technology. Perhaps the greatest change were his gloves, which had been modified to have metal embedded on the knuckles and extended to reach a few inches from his elbow. A part of the palms were also removed to allow him to use one of his abilities without removing his gloves. They still had the same features as Charizard scales, though. Everything he wore was also modified to be able to absorb electricity, though only to an extent. It basically made for him to be able to use his powers at a limited but efficient rate.

He stayed silent, but his face said, 'I don't like this.' Sadira's face told him to deal with it. Redd's face told him was just grinning madly at him.

When all the changes were done to their outer appearances, they were then lead to the area that Redd had brought him to before. Apparently, Steven wanted them to show what they could do. He didn't have to look at Redd to know what he was thinking. He only had to feel his intense gaze, which was boring a hole into his head, trying to tell him to speak up, to know what he was thinking.

Switching to a mildly observative trance, he began to look at everyone. No one seemed eager to do anything, really, until the reserved Del suddenly volunteered himself. It was the first surprise among many. The next one was in the form of a suddenly drastically different Del, who suddenly gave Leks an impression of someone who was extremely arrogant. This was followed by a display of phenomenal capabilities, which he wouldn't have been surprised at if he were conscious during the Rhino-fight. Still, to see his abilities, which were quite amazing sights, was amazing.

“So, anything else you guys want to see?” the suddenly proud man said. The moment he said that, he felt an extremely strong push from behind him, causing him to stagger forward with a short "Gah".

He suddenly felt everyone's gazes on him, immediately making him uncomfortable and freezing him stiff. He felt more proddings on his body, and before he knew it, he was in the arena many meters away from Del.

"Don't look at the others. Just relax; think of this as training," he heard Redd's comforting but eager voice say from behind him. The Charmeleon then walked in front of him and positioned his body into a familiar fighting stance. He suddenly winked, though it was towards someone behind him. Leks assumed it was to Sadira; he didn't try to look. Instead, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out.

'Concentrate,' he thought mentally, and then opened his eyes. In his mind's eye, he was back in the valley, training with Redd.

"Show me what you got, Aleksi Ingrin!" Redd commanded.

The flame pokemon dashed towards him with claws raised and glowing. It was his most used attack: Metal Claw. Instead of dodging like a normal person would, he met the claws with his own gloved hands. However, Redd's momentum forced him slightly backwards and to throw the Charmeleon overhead. He spun around and spotted him breathing a torrent of fire towards him: Flamethrower. Leks narrowed his eyes and, using the abnormal strength he was given, jumped out of the way in a high summersault that gave him the momentum to do another jump towards a falling Redd.

He lashed out with a flying kick, but his opponent swatted him away with a hard, glowing tail before he could land the blow. The Charmeleon landed safely on his feet, while Leks landed in the ground with a loud boom and a dense cloud of smoke.

'Ugh. No matter how many times I get hit by it, Iron Tail still hurts," Leks thought, shaking his head. He stood up in a small pile of a rubble that you wouldn't think a Charmeleon could have made. But Redd had a lot of physical strength for a Charmeleon, and he knew that the pokemon didn't get that from the diety since Sadira herself didn't have it.

'I still can't beat him without using them, can I?' Leks thought, picking up a piece of the floor that broke off when he landed.

"Is that all you got, Leks? I thought we taught you better than that!" Redd remarked at the cloud of smoke, arms crossed.

The dust cloud cleared and revealed Lex holding a roughly-shaped, glowing object. The object was crackling with electricity. Redd grinned; Leks was finally using 'Touch of the Dragon.

'Must be because of all those gadget doohickies 'round here,' Redd noted as a reason for it to take form in electricity. He then began running and dodging as Leks threw the charged object at him, followed by more that the avatar kicked and threw towards him with his bare feet, enhanced by the Electric Touch. From previous experience, he knew they'd give him quite a shock if they hit, and no one liked it.

"You're aim has gotten worse, Leks!" Redd yelled as he dodged. He was also getting closer towards Leks. The man knew that he wasn't going anywhere near hitting him. He stopped using projectiles and suddenly removed his gloves. Redd grinned at him once more before dashing towards him with claws that glowed differently from before. The avatar recognized it as Dragon Claw.

Leks held out his hands out in front of him and spread out his legs. 'I need more strength and more stability,' he thought, knowing what he had to do.

His eyes suddenly turned from hazel to blue. He gave out a yell as all of his limbs suddenly took on a scarlet glow and changed into the clawed hands and feet of a reptilian creature. Once more, he met the attack by grabbing hold of Redd's claws and throwing him up in the air, though high to the front instead of over head behind him this time. He relinquished his morph on his legs, and then his back took on the glow. From it grew the large wings of a Charizard, which he then used to rush towards the airborne Charmeleon.

Redd tried to use the same tactic with Iron Tail; Leks was ready for it. He grabbed the appendage right before it hit him. The force nearly made him let go; he couldn't have done it if he hadn't morphed his hands. That fact seemed to fuel the growing irritation and rage that was born from his morphing. It was something he was desperately trying to control lest he wanted to rip the Charmeleon a new tail. Instead, he threw him right down at the battlefield. Redd landed in his own pile of rubble and dust.

When the dust cleared, Redd was looking up at him with claws raised in surrender and a wide grin. He couldn't jump anywhere; he landed at the area where Leks was aiming his projectiles at. He was surrounded by electrically charged objects that he could accidentally step on, promptly shocking him.

Leks nodded, smiling slightly, before flying close and and picking the Charmeleon up from the pseudo-mine field. Redd had given up too easily. Leks knew it was only because this was an exhibition and not a real sparring match. The Charmeleon could take multiple shocks from his charged projectiles if he actually bothered to.

They landed a few ways from the field, closer to the audience that Leks had forgotten was present. He looked away and tried not to think about them and instead concentrated on repressing the aggressive emotions and morphing back his hands and back.

While doing so, he noticed that part of the shins of his pants and the metal underneath it got torn and broken. It was probably due to his transforming his feet. He just knew that Sadira would once again try to cure that with another uniform. He shook his head, gettings his mind off of it and looked at Steven, trying so hard not to notice the others' gaze on him.

"I...uh...am done," he said, glad that he hadn't stuttered nor growled.

 

[firewater]

From any person's view, up until the group had been called into the War Room, the food had been good, and everything seemed to go well as DM returned his team to their pokeballs. Intrigued at the mission, DM simply waits for some of the others to have their turn at the armor machine, and still unsure as to what his plans and goals within the mission would be, decided to wait a bit before he walked up to the machine. As it was, he hadn't put on a helmet or anything, which is why he probaly was hurt yesterday... but at any rate he banishes the thought from his mind.

Starting with his head, DM began with a seemingly transparent helmet, that directly melded with his head, and while his hair and everything had room to grow, this titanium alloy/plexiglass hybrid helmet was strong enough to, as he'd like to put it- to bounce bricks off of his head. While he could increase the thickness, he decided to leave the helmet alone at the moment, where it was on its lowest setting as only a centimeter thick. What made him laugh at the sight was that even with the helmet covering everything, it was so transparent, that he could tell that it was a easy way to keep his head covered, but with no strange actual helmet to be shown. Turning to the torso area, he simply implements a bulletproof longshirt that covered his ample torso, this he followed with some Chainmail of the same sort. and then another, thinner layer of the plexiglass/titanium alloy mix on top of that. Regardless, he simply slips on a blue, long sleeved, leather tunic overtop of it all, if only to make sure that the disquise looked realistic/the armor was hidden. Moving down to his pants, he simply does the same thing, with a Plexiglass cup, followed by bulletproof tights, followed by another set of chainmail pants, and finally more of the compound, which to his knowledge was appearing to be pretty cool at the same time. After this, he simply puts on some jeans, ones that appeared to have double the normal strength. He wrapped up the armor with some heavy boots, steel toed, and brown. Though it felt a bit cumbersome with so many layers of clothing, he was pleased to find that it didn't make him feel much warmer, at least at the time being. Noticing that at some point, he may end up needing the armor itself, without his clothes on top, he simply makes it all blue, with the gloves a dark black. The helmet remained invisible, but he lets that go, feeling its weight on his shoulders.

But regardless, he felt stiff in the armor, and felt that he needed to loosen it up some. So plucking a Pokeball from his belt, he removed Mach from his pokeball, the Breloom grinning as he was let out. They watched another exhibition or two, DM not wanting to be the first one, or the last to perform, as Mach enjoyed the sparring match between the one guy (DM really didn't know anybody yet) and his Charmeleon, and the sheer strength of the next, er continuing act with the juggling of swordsmanship and the tossing of a nicely sized object. Regardless, realising that it had been a few days since Mach had trained, DM pulls out some boxing gloves for himself, and as the other two finished he quickly steps out of the group of people, hoping that someone else would step up with him, or something as he calls out.

"I'd like to go next I suppose."

Feeling quite awkward, due to those strange events of power before him, DM places himself in a fighting stance, and calls out to Mach.

"Ok, well it's training as usual, but I've got some new armor, and I need to make sure that it's strong enough- so no holding back for once, full strength, you know the general rules. until one of us is knocked ove-"

at that moment, DM saw that Mach was, well rocketing towards him with a Mach Punch before he could react. Tossing the gloves aside, he quickly grabs the hammer, but not quick enough as the Breloom easily slams him in the stomach. Gasping for air, DM quickly doubles over, before he recovers quick enough to realize that the armor was solid, and that other than the breath being knocked out of him, he was feeling good. Taking the chance to jab at Breloom with his fists, he finds that the Breloom was too quick for him, easily dodging the swipes and simple jabs aimed at his head before a sudden motion found Mach with an amused grin at his trainer's attempts to hit him.. Grinning, he simply backs away before forming a Focus Punch, which DM simply grimaces before dodging it, however not escaping unscathed as the punch makes a small tremor in the earth, and sizeable holes and cracks in the ground. DM then swipes at him with a kick, and grins as the boot slams into Mach's head...

or he would have, had the Breloom not caught the foot, and flicked DM over his shoulder as easily as if he'd been an apple peel. Thoroughly irratated, DM grins before he catches himself from falling... barely. Grinning at the fighting type, he tosses a pokeball into the air before charging at the Breloom. Mach prepares himself for the charge, when he hears something like a bomb falling above him, and irratatedly stares at the back of a sleeping Snorlax. Quickly bracing himself, he catches the behemoth, and is frustrated to see his trainer charging him as he was still holding the Snorlax aloft. Sighing, he simply drops one hand from the Snorlax's back, and tosses him back into the air before promptly smacking his trainer with a jab to the face, knocking him down to the ground cleanly. Sporting a bloody nose, DM can only watch as Mach continues to toss Twist into the air, do a pushup, then catch the Snorlax without much difficulty. Wiping the blood from his face quickly, DM simply grins before he releases Dope, while giving orders to the three of them.

"have some practice until the next person goes up, I'm going to take a quick minute to fix my nose, just play catch with Twist until the next group gets up. Twist, if you're awake, simply try and Tackle them to make it a bit harder."

As the Slowking and Breloom continue to toss the Snorlax around like a ragdoll, the former using Psychic, and the latter, its brute strength, all DM can do is hold his nose, grinning that his shields seemed to work, but still somewhat in pain from the very quick sparring session... and grins as Twist had woken up, and had begun to start simply trying to body slam his friends, grinning at the fear in their faces as they would barely stop from being slammed into the ground. Ten minutes later, the Breloom and Snorlax were returned, with DM simply grinning at Dope before speaking.

"Well, just watch for now, I know you aren't tired at all, so can you give me a lift for a while so I can see things a bit better Dope."

and as DM had predicted, the Slowking easily held him aloft as he waited to see who would be next to present themselves...

 

[Kamotz]

"Well then," Steven said, thoroughly impressed by the efforts of his Ultimates. Even still, he was rather disappointed that they hadn't performed to that level when combating the Sinister Six the night before. With a sigh he realized that they were unused to situations with so much pressure. Most had only been involved in friendly competitions and battles. He couldn't reasonably expect them to work as professionals on their first mission. It'd take some time before they could function as well in the field as they could off it.

As Leks finished, Riley and his Lucario stepped forward. "Caesar and I will give it a go," the young man declared. He'd picked up a rather simple uniform, opting for flexibility and mobility over toughness and durability. While the uniform's fabric was much stronger than regular cloth, it was extremely flexible and allowed Riley a wide range of movement. It was mostly black, with two stripes of royal blue running down along his sides. He also had his Aura gloves, which helped him regulate his aura abilities. Riley wanted to add a little more flair to his suit, but decided to do that later.

Riley and Caesar did a few quick stretches and nodded to one another before walking to opposite sides of the field. When they were about twenty meters apart, they turned and faced one another. Then, with one last nod, they rushed each other. They sprinted across the ground. Caesar was undoubtedly the faster of the two, but Riley propelled himself by channeling his Aura into his legs to match Caesar's speed.

When they neared one another, Caesar leaped forward, engulfing his foot in flames. He lashed out with a Blaze Kick, but Riley sprung into the air and flipped completely over his Pokemon's head. Riley landed behind Caesar, spun, and delivered a kick of his own, empowered by Aura. Caesar blocked the attack by channeling his Aura up and into his arms. Waves of energy spilled out from between the two combatants, warping the air. Aura cracked in the wind as the two continued their little exhibition. They fought with the utmost skill, each blow was perfectly struck; each block was perfectly placed; each counter was perfectly executed. The bout was perfectly even. Caesar certainly had the greater variety of moves. He could delve into his deep movepool and attack with techniques like Dragon Pulse, Thunderpunch, and Flash Cannon, but Riley appeared to be the better fighter, and was more skilled in Aura manipulation.

Suddenly they both flipped backwards. They prepared themselves with a single breath, and then pooled their Aura between their hands. At some unknown, unseen signal, both Riley and Caesar unleashed a duet of Aura Sphere attacks that struck between them and exploded. Dust and smoke poured out into the air. When the smoke cleared, the two combatants stood relaxed, facing one another. Riley sent Caesar a thumbs-up and they walked back to the group.

"So, beautiful," Riley said to Vicki with all the suave confidence he could muster (which was quite a bit). "Whadya think of that? Caesar and I are a well oiled team. If you think you might want some help on your technique, I'd love to work with you."

"You think you've got a feel for my technique?" Vicki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh," said Riley with a flirty grin. "I would love to feel your technique."

Vicki rolled her eyes, but in the same instant called her armor into being. The red armor fit over the flexible under-armor she had designed from SHIELD's materials. The under armor was a plain grey and black color that allowed the crimson and scarlet of her true armor to "pop" more. She drew the two swords sheathed at her back.

She was gone in the blink of an eye, simply vanishing from sight in a blur of crimson. She was on the other side of the field in a flash, swords whirling. She flew across the training field, a hurricane of motion. "Romulus!" she called out. The Umbreon responded, understanding his trainer's command. He stepped forward and unleashed a Swift attack.

Vicki dodged it.

She spiraled up into the sky, a storm of motion and blades. Then, with a cry, she poured a scarlet energy into her weapons and struck. She slashed her blades into the ground. Earth and dust went flying. Her strike had ripped a large gash in the ground.

Vicki stood proudly, enjoying the wide-eyed, slack-jawed looks she was receiving. She mustered up all her bravado, poise, and sensuality as she sauntered back to the group and her armor flashed away.

"You're pretty good, Riley," Vicki whispered in his ear with a smirk. "But I doubt you could keep up with me." She then turned and winked at Del as they waited for the next volunteer. She glanced over the group. That Oya girl still had to volunteer, same with the Lorenzo twins, Conrad, and Sven. Vicki had seen what Oya was capable of the night before and was, and knew that Conrad was a fairly competent trainer, though she suspected his true strength was in his ingenuity. She was more curious about the Lorenzos and Sven. She hadn't seen what they could do during the previous battle.

"Impressive so far," said Steven, ignoring the playful banter between his Ultimates. He needed to let them stretch their muscles. It wasn't very often that superhumans could cut loose in such a way. Even skilled trainers could use an opportunity to display their abilities in the way they wished most. "So, Phoenix, you up for it?" Steven asked.

Phoenix gave a small nod and stepped forward. He felt their eyes on him, but blocked everything out. This was nothing new for him; he was used to the spotlight. Since he had joined SHIELD's superhuman task force, he'd been in the public eye. He wasn't a public icon, but enough people had seen him to feed the rumor mill and the tabloids. He knew his abilities, he knew his powers, and he knew how to use them. He took a single breath.

And he shot into the air!

Phoenix roared into the sky, flying up and up. The sound barrier faltered in front of him, and he plowed right through it. He ripped through the air, plummeting back down to the Triskelion. He smirked to himself and dropped over the loading docks.

Steven tapped his foot anxiously as he and the others waited for Phoenix to return. He wondered what could be taking the super-man so long. Phoenix said he was going for a quick fly-around. But Steven couldn't help but laugh when he saw Phoenix step into view. He held a tank over his head with one hand as he flew towards them.

"Showoff," Riley muttered sarcastically.

Steven just smirked. "Phoenix, please take the tank back to the hangar bay," he asked with a laugh. Phoenix just smirked and flew back to the docks. He returned a few moments later and settled down with the group once again.

"Who's next?" Steven asked.

 

[Morgie04086]

Oya sucked in her breath as she watched Del. For the second time since she met him, she noticed something strange about him. Only a moment ago he seemed quiet and seclusive. Where did that sudden burst of personality come from? It was a mystery that caught her attention and she was sad to see him end his performance. She was tempted to respond to his cocky question by saying something along the lines of “Sure, Creepo” but decided against it.

The next few demonstrations all bored Oya, except for Nova's. He probably only needed to stand there in order to entertain everyone but it was quite amazing to see him in action. When he flew off to take the tank back to the hangar Oya knew it was about time she stepped up to the plate.

“Alright, I'll give it a shot,” she announced, stepping forward. Her bare feet itched for a chance to move; she had been standing in one spot too long. Kiano sat down on the sidelines to watch her. He had no intention of joining in and he wasn't much of a battler anyway. He did his piece when he needed to so Oya mostly relied on herself.

Being on the spot was nerve-racking. She was more accustomed to training alone, like she used to with Blaziken or when she was on the run. Now, she forced herself to ignore her audience and assume a fighting stance. With closed eyes she took a deep breath and performed several backflips and mid-air twists, displaying her expert ability at maneuvering her body. After that she went on to do several various rolls and punches. This was only a warm-up for the next stage.

When she was confidently prepared, she pressed a release button on her wrist and whipped out her new staff. It seemed to leap straight out of her arm and she certainly made it appear that way. Then she proceeded to conjure fire from her hand and twirl the staff around, engulfing it in flames. The result was almost like a tunnel of fire pouring out in front of her. With expert timing she cut it off and dug the staff into the ground. In a single move she flung herself on top of it and perched there with one foot, perfectly balanced. She remained motionless for a brief dramatic moment and then did a a backflip laced with fire. In that one millisecond she managed to conceal herself and store the staff back in her wrist, making it seem as though it disappeared.

Now staff-less, she performed a few fire punches and blaze kicks to show a few more of her capabilities. When she grew tired of that she made her hair catch fire. It stayed that way for a moment or two and then she stopped it. Her hair remained perfectly normal. To finish off her demonstration she closed her eyes and attempted to engulf her entire body in flame. Beads of sweat collected on her face as she focused all of her energy towards the task. First her hands and feet became covered in flame... then her arms... then she was up to her knees in flame. Her temples were pulsing and a large furrow formed between her eye brows. She clenched her jaw and concentrated as hard as she could. Her hair was burning with intense fire now. Her body shook with the effort, and she could feel herself giving up. In an instant she released all the tension in her body and the flames died... she couldn't do it. After her entire demonstration she was unable to cover herself in fire. Her knees wobbled and she collapsed, breathing heavily. Her eyes flew open and she stared at the Ultimates.

“Why did I even try that?” she asked herself, ready to die from embarrassment. Kiano came running over to her side to see if she was alright. Awkwardly, she stood up and walked out of the spotlight, trying to melt back in with the crowd. Her performance had ended so abruptly she was afraid of the eyes all staring at her.

“Yeah, that's it,” she commented, somewhat loudly so that everyone could hear. She didn't really want to say anything else. ”Maybe they'll just think that was part of the performance...” she hoped, crossing her fingers.

 

[Polar Star]

(OoC: Sorry for the lack of activity... I've been without internet for a bit.)

Sven sighed and looked at his feline companion. It nodded and the two slowly climbed to their feet and made their way to the arena. Sven smiled. "Well, I suppose we shouldn't use up all of our time" He tossed aside his messenger bag, and Espeon levitated it out of the soon-to-be battle zone. The boy flourished his arm about his waist, grabbing three of his other Pokemon's containers from his belt and releasing them haste. Several flashes of light appeared and dissipated revealing his Pokemon: Flygon, Gyarados, and Mismagius. "Alright guys, gather 'round." The brown-haired boy and his Pokemon huddled together. He had been going over this in his head for a while now. The beasts gathered into pairs: Espeon vs. Mismagius, Flygon vs. Gyarados.

Espeon lept towards the ghost, fangs bared. It dodged aside and shot off a swirling ball of shadows towards the lavender blur, grazing its leg. Espeon clenched his teeth. The cat eyes glew bright purple, and the ghost shot up into the air, slamming into the ceiling and being held there for a few seconds before Espeon opened its mouth, and yellow energy gathered for a moment before firing the Hyper Beam violently towards Mismagius. It slammed into her, and she spiraled downward and hit the floor before hesitantly floating back into position. Mismagius looked towards Espeon shyly and winked, attempting to attract the feline. Espeon fell for the ruse, and Mismagius hummed a few musical notes. Orbs of light shot out of the two Pokemon before swirling together into one giant orb and splitting in half, and their health was split evenly among them. Espeon snapped out of its infatuation and bared its fangs again. Mismagius appeared behind him and sucker punched him, causing him to slide across the field before he lept straight towards the ghost and bite her right in the face. Mismagius tried to shake the cat off, but was unsuccessful. Espeon wrestled the ghost to the ground and threw her with a quick motion of the head. Mismagius stared up blankly at the ceiling for a moment. She tried to get up but fell back down again, knocked out. "Great job, guys." Sven recalled his Mismagius and patted his best friend on his head as he licked his wounds.

Sven turned his attention towards his Flygon and Gyarados. Gyarados slithered around swiftly, performing a dragon dance. Flygon beat its wings violently and a sand began to form on the arena floor before a violent wind whipped the sand into the air as a sandstorm began to rage inside of the arena. Gyarados inhaled deeply before launching a massive frozen beam towards the green dragon. Flygon shot to the side just in time to escape harm's way, and shot towards the massive water snake, fist crackling with electricity. He slammed his fist into Gyarados' head, electrocuting him. Gyarados roared loudly before thrashing about, spewing dragonic fire unending. Flygon tried to escape the outrage, but was nailed as he was recovering from his thunderpunch. Flygon flew backwards and slammed into the wall. Gyarados followed in hot pursuit, wrapping the dragon while breathing dragonic fire before his rage subsided. Flygon slumped to the floor before feebily flying up to the rafters of the arena and roosted there while Gyarados calmed down. Gyarados glanced up at the recovering dragon, breathed an icy mist that covered the stadium. Large shards of ice pelted Flygon, knocking it off of its roost. The beast slammed into the ground violently and continued to be pelted by ice. "Fleh," it muttered before fainting. Sven rubbed both of the combatants' stomachs fondly and recalled the beasts. He turned to the crowd and, with a half-hearted bow, muttered. "So, whatcha think?"

 

[RaZoR LeAf]

Conrad trekked alongside the edge of the water as his silver Gyarados, Drake frolicked in the water, diving down beneath the surface and exploring the depths. As he watched her splashing around, she noticed his attention and swam over to him. Leaning in close Conrad ran a hand across her face, inciting a caring growl from the sea serpent. Conrad smiled, glad that he didn't need words to convey his apologies to Drake for not having included her in the battle, and his care for her. He let his arm fall and Drake went back to swimming around. Conrad started walking again, looking up at the building then at his watch.

"Oh crap, we've been down here a long time. Drake, time to g..whoa!"

---

Conrad could hear voices in the communal area.

"Ultimates, I hope you all slept well. Today's gonna be a busy day. We've set up a debriefing for you later so we can go over what happened last night. We'll also go over standard protocol for you to follow when in the field. Any questions?"

"Um yeah.." Conrad said, stepping through the door. Everyone turned to look at him and his untimely arrival. Then everyone glanced downwards at his utterly drenched trousers. "Does anyone have a towel? I had a slight.. coastline malfunction..."

Steve raised an eyebrow and smirked, before turning around and walking out the door, talking again. Everyone started to follow, and a towel flew out of no where to hit Conrad in the face. "Thanks." he mumbled and followed on, brushing at his soaking legs, in a vain attempt to dry them and still look respectable.

Conrad sat with the others in the War Room and listened carefully to Steven explain about the Adamant Orb. When he mentioned the name Devon, his ears perked and suddenly he was at complete attention, ignoring his still damp legs. Undercover? Conrad had worked for Devon in the past, there's no way he'd be able to go undercover there, but Steven knew this. Conrad had a funny feeling that Steven had built a plan around this very fact, knowing that Conrad's presence there would distract attention from the others.

"Before we send you undercover we'll need to get you some new gear. Follow me."

Being measured for a uniform, by a computer wasn't something Conrad every thought would be happening to him, but being able to personalise his own uniform was something not to be missed. Considering the bruises he was still carrying from his rough and tumble in the museum, Conrad opted for padded armour that would absorb most forces thrown against him, and limit any damage done to his body. Not only was this bullet proof and knife proof, it was lightweight and breathed well too. He wasn't worried about looking good, but apparently there was something special cooked up by Cyber that suited his needs. It wasn't perfected yet, but a lay or electronics beneath the material contained microscopic holographic projectors, which could be programmed with a few different designs. In other words, Conrad could have it change between different clothing at the touch of a button. On top of that, the clothing was shielded against external electromagnetic interference, and was also Rotom proof.

A communications device that was practically invisible to the naked eye sat just inside his ear, giving him access to radio frequencies, both SHIELD operated or otherwise. Tiny receivers and buttons in the palm of his finglerless-gloved hands meant he could operate the device by tapping certain fingers against his palm. It was also able to pick up transmission directly from his Porygon, Zetta, allowing the pokemon to communicate with him, even from within the confines of a pokeball.

After everyone was fitted, they followed Steven outside where he explained that they were to demonstrate their abilities. Del was the first volunteer, looking a little clumsy at first, but then his entire personality and stance changed, and he suddenly become much more in control, like a different person had taken over. His manipulation of shadows was impressive, on par even with a ghost pokemon. Maybe even better than one.

Next up was Leks, who displayed amazing use of the fire element. So far these were all amazing abilities, how on earth could a mere pokemon trainer make an impression when compared to this? DM was about to answer that question, as he sparred with his pokemon, fighting them as they would each other, with punches and kicks and oof.. did he just get his nose broken? As Riley and his Lucario went onto the field, Conrad threw his towel up to DM, who held it against his nose to stem the bleeding. Riley's battling, which would have been a lot more entertaining if he was still wearing love heart boxer shorts, was fast, frenzied and got even better when Vicki butted in and put him in his place. It took a bit of showing off from Phoenix to give everyone a chance to either catch a breather or plan their next move.

"Who's next?" Steven asked.


"I guess I'll give it a go.." Conrad said, stepping out onto the field. Between his finger he held two pokeballs, and tossing them into the air, out popped Rex, the fearsome Nidoking that had helped take down Rhino, and the beautiful, yet terrifying Drake, the silver scaled Gyarados. Though Drake was better suited for battling at sea, she was far from incapable on land, and could easily hold her own against Rex, though the latter would never accept it. Immediatly the two took up battle stances, with Rex smashing his tail against the floor and Drake, curled up ready to strike, like a serprent watching it's prey.

"Ok team, lets show them what we can do. Drake, alpha defence, Rex, Delta attack!"

Conread knew the others wouldn't know what these names meant, but he'd developed code names for attack and defence styles and the attacks to go with them a long time ago. He found it kept the other trainers guessing, and it greatly improved his pokemon's ability in a fight. Rex's speciality was breaking things. Buildings, tall towers, bones especially, and the Delta pattern was suited just for that. There was no careful planning or cautious footing, just a case of getting in close and doing as much damage as possible, without worrying about taking damage in return. Drake on the other hand was weaving in and out of Rex's movements, sliding her long body between hits, dodging most of them with ease. If this was in water, he'd be effortlessly dodging them all, but she'd learnt how to do it well enough on land.

"OK Drake, enough play, Dragon Rage! Rex, Poison Pin!"

Drake's Dragon Rage shot out and quickly enveloped Rex in a pillar of blue and silver flames. The Nidoking roared and suddenly the draconic flames were melted away as poisonous fumes and droplets of acid began to seep through. Rex wasn't visible enough in the flames, and Drake never saw him punching the ground. The magnitude of the shockwave rippled under the Gyarados, knocking her off balance. Leaping into the air, Rex aimed a fist at her, but before the attack could land, Conrad called her back into the pokeball and released Zetta the Porygon to take her place.

Rex's fist landed on the Porygon's head, and Zetta winced in pain. But it was all worth it, as the Porygon's digital body seemed to convulse and change colour and texture. Gone were the blue and pink panels, replaced with translucent purples with an eerie black smoke billowing around. Rex swung a tail around, but it passed straight through Zetta's newly converted ghost body.

"Zetta, show us what you've got!" Conrad shouted.

The Porygon nodded and shot a brilliant beam of ice directly at Rex's legs, freezing them in place. The Nidoking was taken off guard and toppled over, hitting the floor with a crunch and getting recalled straight away. Taking his place was Roswell, the Magnezone. Zetta's body filtered back to normal as Roswell started firing thin bolts of electricity at the Porygon. One struck the cyber pokemon and it vanished, a duplicate fading into the air. The real Zetta, hidden behind Roswell unleashed a powerful Tri Attack, sending a three sided blast of fire, ice and electrical energy, the went coursing through Roswell's body. The alien-esque pokemon shuddered for a moment, before it's body turned reflective, and sent the same attack, it's power doubled, straight back at Zetta, knocking the pokemon several feet away.

"Nice Mirror Coat," Conrad said, recalling Roswell and Zetta "and you did good too buddy."

He turned to look at Steven who just nodded, and then went back to stand with the others.

 

[Shadowfaith]

The twins followed Steven to a machine that could supposedly design suits to they’re needs. Keani doubted very much this machine could fix the problem she had on multiple occasions where her body turned into a ghost but her clothes failed. She was left in an embarrassing situation on more than one occasion where she was left either in her underwear or worse. She blushed slightly at the memory and cleared her throat as she stepped up to the machine and gave it a once over, turning her hand ghost like in order to shift it through the case and have a feeel around the mechanics. She withdrew her ghost like limb from its confines and turned towards Keahi with a look on wonderment. “This technology is far beyond anything I have ever seen before.” She muttered in awe, laying her palm flat against it.
“You’re the mechanic remember. You know I don’t find it interesting.” Keahi muttered , examining his finger nails to which Keani simply rolled her eyes and allowed the machine to take her measurements. The end results were simply wonderful, though she knew it would cover a physique she would rather not have covered, it left enough to the eye to satisfy her. “Nice…” She muttered, turning to her twin with a raised eyebrow. She grimaced as she found her twin was still fussing with his nails. She gave a sigh and turned back to the prints on screen.

Her chest is no longer covered by nothing more than a black bikini top but a slab of white metal which is moulded to fit her lithe chest and comes to a stop just before her belly button. Her bottoms are no longer the baggy blue jeans that often got in the way of her more complicated moves, but are now a pair of tight fitting black short shorts which are held up by multiple black and white studded belts which almost obscure the shorts from view. Her arms are covered by nothing more than white bandage and her right hand and forearm is home to a black, futuristic metallic glove which is designed to make her blows more effective. Her neck is also protected by nothing more than white bandage and ends with a white helmet with a pointed black visor. The feet are covered by clumpy black boots with silver clasps and though looked rather heavy are actually quite light, again made to improve her blows.

She loved it.

“Your turn bro.” She yelled, bounding away towards the training area whilst her brother approached the weird little machine. Unlike his sister, Keahi simply stood there and watched the screen in front of him. Like his sisters design his was very flexible and light, but less skimpy. Unlike his sisters uniform the colours were reversed on his. The slab was black with a purple light as its centrepiece and unlike the short shorts his sister would be wearing, his was designed so that his legs were completely covered in white latex with a few more belts thrown around his waist and thighs. He wasn’t a big fan of latex, but it would certainly make his moves that little simpler to perform. He shrugged and followed his sisters tracks into the battle room where the last boy, Conard had finished his little demonstration. His sister was practically dancing on the spot, anxious to take her turn, the male smiled and shoved her into the circle before following calmly.

“Oooookay!” Keani yelled, stretching her limbs for the work out ahead. “Come on out Anima” She threw her loan Pokeball into the air and from it erupted a burst of light which soon took shape as a ghostly Pokemon known as Dusknoir. It hovered in mid air for a second before joining its owner with in the circle. Keahi willed his Pokeball from his belt with his mind and calmly released the beautiful Gardevoir from its depths. Though the twins weren’t exactly sure what they were going to try and pull off, they were confident enough in each other to believe they could pull something great off successfully. Finally after much reading of each others thoughts the twins took centre stage and faced each other. They’re Pokemon did the same just above they’re head and all at once they took a bow before taking on battle stances. After a few seconds Keani reared forward aiming a punch at her twins head which he caught with ease and twisted, allowing his sister to follow the path and performing an almost impossible looking twirl in midair. She planted her feet firmly on the ground and followed through by pulling at her twins are and throwing him over her shoulder in order to slam him into the ground, only her plan was foiled as her twins feet planted firmly on the ground as he used his sister arm as a support to keep his back from hitting the ground. Keani smirked as a pair of feet whizzed through the air aimed directly at her face, with sufficient enough time she ghosted her face, allowing the feet to pass through suddenly. The surprising factor was that this did not phase the male and he simply smiled in knowledge as he pulled his feet back and flipped onto his feet, his sisters grip on his hands forgotten.

Meanwhile the floating Pokemon had engaged in a battle of they’re own, performing move upon move which missed the other time and time again, though it seemed as if the pair were performing some sort of show. The mixture of purple and pink sparks that flew and circled could be called beautiful and all four competitors looked as if they were performing some sort of mesmerising dance. The twins flipped and twirled as if they were partners and in a ice skating competition and the Pokemon provided the lights and sparks to make the show come alive. All in all, this was more a test of the teams mind reading capabilities and they’re powers whilst working together and apart of a team. The four could not be beaten by each other and they aimed to prove that by reading each others thoughts they could do anything, even perform a show.

At the end of they’re demonstration, the four participates took a long bow and rejoined the group awaiting they’re orders.

 

[Zincspider]

Gama snorted at the preformances before him. *Trivial pokemon nonsense. You can count on anything that bleeds except yourself*.

*I don't know, I kind of like watching the pokemon. It shows that some of these people know how to train and work with these creatures. That could be useful if pokemon are ever used against us.*

*Yeah, well you also like staring at a nice peice of a... nevermind, I'm not going there. Just watch the performances* A couple times, Gama saw somthing worth a small amount of recognition. That Lekso-guy was going all out as if he were a pokemon himself and even went as far as to summon a ball of firey electricity to his hand. *Hmm, powerful. Quite a worthy ally...*

After that, Gama kind of dozed off, wondering if this chain-mail cloak would impair his movement when wearing his coat.... nah. But he was jutted back into life when a certain voice in his head started giving off a happy vibe. He focused at what he was looking at to see the Vic-somthing girl giving her demonstration. And Del was just staring from inside of his head like he was looking at the cutest puppy in the world. *I can't take this anymore. I'm done for now, I want back in my head*

*Well, it's really my...*

*I DON'T CARE!*

*Fine, I have a better veiw there anyway* Thought Del, assuming control of the body again. He adjusted just int time to see Vicki pass by and... wink at him. He felt himself blush, and was suddenly grateful for his glasses being low on his nose as to block his cheeks. He was so happy for a couple seconds that he almost didn't notice the Tank that landed in front of the group. Gama noticed it however.

*SWEET MOTHER OF BAD PUNS! WHAT IN FROND'S NAME WAS THAT!*

__After all demonstrations had been made__

Del looked around. No one else was stepping up. Not a one. It seemed like the whole group had exuasted their enthusiasm. But he hadn't even shown them that he could do somthing himself.

"Umm... Steven? Coud you do me a favor?" Dell inquired holding up his hand in an elementary fashion.

"If it is in my power, I beleive so. What do you need Delaware?" Del nodded at the answer, and held out his hand, and whispered 'Lead Shot'. Several white lead balls about the size of a grape appeared in his palm. GHe walked over to Steven and handed them to him.

"Could you please throw these at me?"

"Pardon?"

"When I say go, throw all of those at me as fast as you can. One at a time."

"If you say so"

Del nodded once more, and walked back into the arena. He found his coat on the sidelines, and pulled it back on. Gama never respected his property. Del turned back to the group, and stood completely stiff.

"Alright, GO!"

As soon as Steve threw the first shot, time slowed down. Del watched the small white ball slowly glide towards him as if the wind was pushing extrenmely hard against it. When the ball finally reached almost a fot in front of him, Del simply plucked it out of the air, and put it in his pocket. He proceeded to do this for the next nine balls, never moving from his beginning spot. After Steven threw them all, time returned to normal, and Del slowly walked back to Steven, and pulled out every single ball from his pockets, and put them in his had once again.
Del smiled, and returned to his spot in line once again. He knew that to any to these people, the ball would have seemed to have dissapeared when it reached about a foot in front of him, and better yet, he hadn't moved an inch. The missiles had simply seemed to dissapear into Dels pocket.

*Impressive. Now lets see if you can juggle flaming bowling pins!*

*Shut up Gama*