{Sulteron}Exploring, Anyone?{Arley}

[~/Birdybot\~]

((Me and Alpha have already arranged for our charries to meet, so please don't post unless you rae Alpha))

Four delicate paws lightly struck the ground. The mint green fur on them rippled in the light breeze as the cat shook tufts of fur out of it's eyes for the same reason. The shint Espeon's tail swayed to and fro, and the Pokemon hesitated before entering the somehow light cave.

As the red jewel caught the light in the rising sun, it became apparent that the Espeon was not alone. She gave a gentle call, and a Buizel who had stopped to pick at a pretty stone looked up and walked slowly over to her side. At her other stood a golden Charlmeleon. The threesome, well, the shinies at least, knew they would be very much targeted by trainers. After all, who could resist two rare and evolved shiny Pokemon?

~Where are we even going, Sulteron?~ The Charmeleon asked the Espeon. She replied, ~I don't know. I just want to explore a little, I guess, Fairo.~ she told him. Buizel wasn't paying attention. Fairo the Charmeleon and Sulteron the Espeon looked at each other, before Fairo spoke again. ~Could you be your normal self? If a trainer comes, they'll try to catch us!~ he grunted.

Sulteron laughed. ~I don't think there is any humans on this island at all, let alone trainers. Quit your worrying, it'll all be OK.~ she said. Buizel nodded, finally speaking. ~Besides, I much prefer it when you're like this. Less... freaky.~ he shivered. Fairo looked at him, then leapt in a playful scuffle. From the shouts, it seemed Buizel, who was losing the play-fight, was called Mizu. Sulteron though about joining them, but descided against it and watched with a smile, tail flicking idley.

[;AL P H A]

<sub>{I STILL don't see why you decided it would be a good idea to swim here.}
Absol appeared very dejected. And wet. He seemed to think it would have been a much better idea to hire some sort of boat, and had repeatedly announced that Arley should have caught a water pokemon. Arley said that walking would have been boring, and besides, as he was currently in his Riolu form, it's not like he would have looked anything other than absolutely ridiculous throwing a pokeball.
{To be honest, I've just realised something.} Absol's voice took on a gloating tone. {You know how you said you were grafted with the genes of a female Riolu?} Arley seemed slightly worried. {I don't think I like how this is going.} Absol gave a mocking laugh. {Well, if that's the case, that means... when you're like this, you're a gii-iiirl!}
Arley's mouth was open for a few seconds. {No! That's... come on, that's just ridiculous.} Absol giggled. {Hah. I bet you haven't even checked yet.} Arley glared at the Absol, before discreetly moving behind a couple of rocks and out of sight.

Several minutes later, he emerged again, a faintly disgusted look on his face. {Eugh... you know, you're right. I'll never feel comfortable in this form again.} Absol moved forwards meaningly. {Well, come on, then... let's see it.} He laughed, and Arley blanched. {You're disgusting.}

Murkrow shuffled his wings. {Hey, I think there's someone else here. Shall we go say 'hi'?} A strange grin crept over Absol's maw. {Arley could charm them with his feminine looks.} Arley rolled her eyes. {God, sometimes, you are so immature.}</sub>

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron heard the jeerings of Pokemon over what seemed to be a female. She sighed, looking at the two presently holding what had progressed into a wrestling match. Boys; they were all the same. Padding up the path, she walked along to greet the newcomer. Fairo and Mizu, realising what was happening, scrambled along the rocks in attempt to get back with their trainer. Sulteron looked at the rare Pokemon before her. What looked like a Riolu with a little red fur, a pink Absol and pink Murkrow. Interesting.

~Hello. My name's Sulteron. This is Fairo and Mizu.~ Sulteron introduced, unsure of what to think of the new bunch. Fairo was eyeing the Murkrow. ~Sulteron, please make a note to evolve me quickly so I can fly.~ he said as his eyes followed the movement of the wings. Mizu elbowed him. ~What about me? I haven't even evolved once yet!~

~That's because you only evolve once! Everything evolves later if they only evolve once.~ Fairo nodded, waving at his shining gold scales. Mizu's eyes narrowed, and a soft growl escaped his tight lips. He launched himself at Fairo again.

~Guys! For Arceus' sake, stop it! Um... think of... this Absol! He never evolves!~ Sulteron cried, but all it did was make the Pokemon stop for a moment to look at the Disaster Pokemon. Sulteron rolled her eyes, then looked back to Arley. ~Typical Fire and Water types. Urgh. Do those two fight much?~ Sulteron asked the female boy.

[;AL P H A]

<sup>Arley blinked.
{Um, well, I-I... no, but I haven't had the Murkrow for very long. Um, first pokemon from this re- wait a second. I'm still in my pokemon form. Uh, gimme a sec here...}

Pressing his palms together, Arley's form started to morph. He grew, and became more like a larger version of himself, 'bald' patches' along his face and chest but still more than enough fur for modesty. Pulling on a few clothes that were in his backpack, he stood up; well, now he was obviously a he, more from the tone of voice than anything else; and held out his hand. {I'm Arley. Sorry about these two; in my life, I have two little embarrasing problems. One of them is called Absol. The other one is called Murkrow.}
{HEY!} came an indignant voice from behind him. Arley ignored him.
{Oh, and if you're wondering what's with the boy-girl thing, then trust me, I have no idea either. Mix-up with the DNA swatches, probably. Your guess is as good as mine.}
For a moment, he moved back, looking the Espeon up and down, and something - maybe his Aura - told him this pokemon was different.
{You're... you're a morph as well. Someone got to you too, huhn?} he murmured. {Do you know how it was done? Smooth grafting? I hear some people have real trouble with their cells, and it's really painfull.} His expression seemed sad. Absol moved forwards, trying to supress a giggle.
{You're not normally this talkative. I know! You faaaaancy her!} Arley started.
{What the hell? No, I do not! Come here, you...!}
He launched himself at the Absol, and they went down. Murkrow watched them from his vantage point of a rocky outcrop.
{You know, maybe you're right.} he commented. {Boys are all the same. Except for me-yaaaah! Alright, you asked for it-}
A pink paw was thrown wide and plucked at the Murkrow's tail feathers, and without a moment's hesitation, it dived into the fray. Boys, huh?</sup>

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron was a little surprised. Arley was a boy? OK, NOW she had seen it all. She nodded to the boy, then stood on her hind legs and her form streched and became more human as she became her normal, Pokemorph self. "Actually, noone got me. My parents were an Eevee and Leafeon 'morph." she smiled, slightly concerned about the strange Absol. She couldn't see how this... boy... well, he was a boy at the moment... could love her, being a girl himself. Oh, she was confused.

Fairo grinned at the fight, hopping from one foot to the other. He looked back at Sulteron; she rolled her eyes as she realised the Charmeleon wanted to join the scuffle. Shaking her head, Fairo took to shouting from the sidelines. Whenever Sulteron was not looking directly at him, he added a little smoke or Ember to the fight. The girl and Buizel watched the fight play out, hoping the boys would come to their senses. Mizu had also thought about joining in, but he wasn't about to fight alongside Fairo.

[;AL P H A]

<sup>{Okay! Okay, boys, break it up.}

The more feminine voice was clear, and sounded surprisingly loud as the small red-pink Chikorita came into view. Big voice; small Chikorita. She gave a sheepish grin as she glanced sideways at Sulteron.
{Boys, hmm? You know how they are. Just... give me a second-}
With a triumphant chirp, she pulled Absol and Arley apart, pinning them effectively down. Murkrow flew up to his perch and pretended to have been preening her wing.
{Now, now, boys, what are we fighting about?
{Absol said I fancy this random girl!}
{Oh, come on, you sooooo do!}
Chikorita shook her head. {Arley, you should know that Absol doesn't mean it, he's only doing it to wind you up. Absol, quit winding Arley up.}
{I wasn't-}
{But-}
{And that's final.}
{...yes, Chikorita.}

Releasing her strangle-hold on the boys, they got to their feet, still glowering at one another.
{I'm sorry, have these two been bothering you? They're only joking around, don't take things they say seriously.

The strangely-coloured Chikorita gave a light giggle. {I heard you introducing yourself. So, you're a trainer? Pardon me for changing the subject, but in your Espeon form... how do you get that lovely colour of fur? I had green fur once, but it never seemed clean! Do you, I don't know, shampoo it? It's simply gorgeous!}

While the Chikorita was swooning over Sulteron's fur, Absol and Arley were exchanging meaningful glances.
{What the hell are they talking about?
{Pfft, dunno. Girl stuff? Makeup? LOReAL?}
{Right, yeah. Girl stuff.}</sup>

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron grinned. "I don't know. I guess when I wash my hair, when I become a Pokemorph my fur's been washed. I used to use this shampoo, it was useless. Right now I have this stuff, you want a bottle?" she talked to the Chikorita, while Fairo and Mizu stepped away from the girly talk.

~Shampoo. Who washes their fur, feathers or scales? Their only going to get dirty again.~ Fairo said to Absol and Murkrow, his dull scales certainately in need of a wash. Then he looked at Mizu; the Buizel's lovely orange coat was spotless. ~You don't use any of that stuff, do you?~ he asked accusingly.

Mizu coughed in disgust. ~Me? Wash? No way! I'm a Water type, so I guess all the swimming and living in water makes my fur clean. Why would anyone want to smell like a fruit salad? In my opinion, fruit is something you eat, not smoosh in your fur.~[/color] a collective murmer of agreement ran through the huddle of boys.[/size]

[;AL P H A]

<sup>{Oh! Yes, please! I've always tried to get fur like yours... it's so soft, and... shiny!

Absol seemed a little disgusted.
{What? Never wash my fur? It's this lovely colour and all, and see how every shaft is covered in shiny, shiny stuff? Goodness, if I never washed it, do you know how dirty and horrible it would get? Yeuch!}
Arley raised an eyebrow. {Honestly, you're worse than narcissistic. You're totally self-absorbed, aren't you?}
{Hey, I'm not that bad. Anyway, if you had lovely, glossy, shiny fur like mine, I'm sure you'd wash it whenever you could.}
{Anyway... I think we need some sort of activity. I mean, rolling around and wrestling is all well and good, but how about a real battle? Come on, I'm sure Absol here is just itching to get into action.}

Absol stretched, and yawned. {You know, that might not be such a bad idea. How about it? Which of you is strongest - I'm level 16, if that helps.}</sup>

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron shrugged. "All my Pokemon are level sixteen. Well, except Denkou, my Electivire. I'll use... Fairo." she concluded. The Charmeleon looked up abruptly as his name was mentioned, then grinned at Absol in a friendly yet competative way. ~You're going down, um... shampoo... brain? Whatever. You're still- oh, forget about that. Let's just fight! Hyaa!~ he cried, unable to think of an insult but scoring deep contours in the ground with a single swipe of his sharp claws.

Sulteron smiled. Mizu wondered over to watch with Arley's other Pokemon, and she watched Fairo and Absol assemble for battle. After this, she thought, they should explore together... they could go the the historic tip of the island, where Lugia and a legendary she rather liked, Ho-oh, where said to rest every few years! She could go with Arley... after all, the boy didn't seem too bad. "Fairo, Smokescreen!" she cried.

Fairo inhaled sharply, the air mingling with other gases and the eternal fire in his belly to form smoke. It was not deadly, merely difficult to look through. The lizard breathed out projectively, sending endless tendrils of black smoke to cloud Absol's vision.

While all this was going on, Mizu krept towards Arley's other two Pokemon, something red in his paws. He grinned as he showed the others. ~Sulteron's other Pokemon. She won't notice me release them with all this smoke, and I think they ought to get a bit of the action. I think they're both in love with each other but are too afraid to admit it- priceless!~[/color] he grinned, fumbling with the devices before finally managing to get four Pokemon to emerge. The first, a silver Espeon, Fiela, with a blue orb and pupiless red eyes, yawned and folded her wings over her body as she lay down. A Dratini of party themed colours, Zen, sat expectantly beside Chikorita. Minari, a Shiny Starravia fluttered his wings uncomfortably and hopped closer to the other bird; Murkrow. Lastly, Denkou, an Electivire, was silenced from the powerfull roar he had been about to make. Once things were explained to them, they giggled, and fell silent, watching the outcome while occasionally getting snippets of gossip about.[/size]

[;AL P H A]

Arley grinned. Now a battle? This was more like it.
{Okay, Absol. Let's fire things up. Iron Tail!}
{That was a really, really, REALLY bad joke.} Absol muttered as smoke swirled around him. For a moment, he disappeared; then, leaping in the air, his blade-like tail turned silver. Flipping over and over again, Absol looked quite impressive somersaulting through the air, his attack whistling as it moved. He was aiming for the head, seemingly.

Meanwhile, Chikorita, still clutching the bottle it had been given, shuffled over to the crowd of pokémon to watch and gossip conspiratorily.
{I thought Absol didn't mean it at first, but they are cute together, in a way, aren't they?}
{Personally, I think it's kind of disgusting.} Murkrow alighted next to Chikorita. {I mean, come on, two mutants? What would the children look like?
{Murkrow! Honestly.}

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron could see Absol must be a little disorientated in the smoke, at least, and so could see Fairo quivering at thin air. Perhaps the Charmeleon could also not see. Hm, she hadn't thought of that... oops. "Fairo, use Ember everywhere!" she cried, the Fire type feeling Absol's tail come down on his own as she did so. He wailed in pain, spraying sparks and small flames in random directions. His tail flame flared up high in self-defense.

Mizu and Minari laughed. Fiela rolled her eyes. ~Woah, like a Riopeon morph, or an Esplu 'morph.~[/color] Mizu nodded, trying to imagine something like it. ~Don't forget it would be a hermaphrodite!~ Minari put in, his pale brown plumage shaking with laughter.[/size]

[;AL P H A]

Absol growled as a few bits of flame landed on his fur. His back paws touched the ground, and several hairs on his belly sizzled and glowed before his forelegs landed as well. Snarling, the canine snapped at a few glowing ashes as they floated past his nose, only to wince again as more flames stung his flank. It didn't do much damage, but it hurt, and was a big distraction.
{Absol!} Arley's voice drifted over in the confusion. {Come on, we need to keep up the assault! Pull yourself together in there, and try a Zen Headbutt at point blank range!}
Absol paused to wipe stinging smoke out of his eyes - though it was already beginning to clear - and lowered his forehead. Small energy particles whizzed to the gem on his forehead, before spreading out in a net over his cranium. Specially bred to be able to control amounts of psychic energy, he allowed the particles to thicken into a glowing crash-helmet, then rammed his head forwards. Normally this attack relied on getting as much momentum as possible behind the hard psychic head, due to the fact that Absol still needed training before the psychic particles did much damage in themselves, but hey, you can't go wrong with headbutt-an-enemy-as-hard-as-possible. Besides, it wouldn't be likely to miss.

Murkrow chuckled at the brown Staravia's words. Chikorita huffed.

{Honestly, you... boys! I don't know. You're all so disgusting.}

[~/Birdybot\~]

Fairo watched the Absol draw power to his head with interest and a blank expression. For some reason, or perhaps it was the particals zooming through him to Absol, his brain seemed to be temporarily numbed or something to that effect. ~Wow... it can use it's head...~ he murmered stupidly, eyeing the large blade projecting from it with a little fear. The Fire type just stood there, eyes half-closed as if relaxed, as Absol began to charge. Easy to dodge, or so the lizard thought. He flexed his muscles as he prepared to nimbling dart aside-

Wham. As the last of the stinging smoke cleared, Fairo was knocked to the ground by the red wolf's body. He blinked, shaking himself awake from under the formidably clawed paws. That wasn't very nice. The Charmeleon's eyes narrowed. Not waiting for Sulteron to give him an order, his claw at his side gleamed a glazed metallic colour. He slashed upwards with the Metal Claw attack.

Mizu and Minari stuck their tongues out at Chikorita. Fiela and Zen moved over to the Grass type, muttering in sympathy. Denkou gave a low rumbling roar. ~Shut up, you guys! This battle's interesting; I think Sulteron doesn't want to win because she might hurt Arley's feelings or something!~ he grinned. Sure enough, the Espeon 'morph looked a little guilty at this fight.

[;AL P H A]

Arley opened his mouth to speak, but Absol was already reacting. Flipping around, its tail began to glow silver again in a mimic of the Iron Tail attack seen earlier. There was a metallic-sounding clang as it locked with the Metal Claw. For a moment, the two seemed locked. Arley grinned.
{Absol, you've got the power advantage! Iron Tail is nearly twice as powerful as Metal Claw - so press the attack!}

Absol growled, and coiled his back, putting not only his strength but his weight behind his attack in an attempt to move it fowards and hit the opponent.

Murkrow almost gave a laugh at the Electrivire's words.
{You mean, she's not trying? Then she'll get steamrollered! I know Arley doesn't look it, but apparently he and Absol once travelled in a different region together, and he's quite the experienced battler - and Absol's no novice, either. I don't think his feelings will be hurt or anything; try telling your trainer that, because Arley's the type to just go flat out.} Chikorita sighed.
{Boys are just so insensetive.} she said. {I think it's a lovely sentiment that she's trying not to win so that she doesn't hurt his feelings, but he's a boy - if he loses, he'll still be happy. But she is going to lose if she keeps holding back.} The Chikorita frowned, and Murkrow got a sudden flash of inspiration.
{Hey, Espeon-girl! You holding back, or something? You're meant to be a pretty good trainer, so start acting like one! What, you scared or something?}

Chikorita sighed. These boys... really.

Arley blinked. Had Sulteron been holding back? That would explain why she hadn't seemed as offensive as he'd anticipated - as he'd hoped. He and Absol had been looking forward to a battle with someone their own level; something challenging, something they might even lose. He nodded in agreement with his pokémon.
{I agree. What fun is it for both of us if you hold back? I mean, come on, admit it. This is fun, right?}

He threw back his arms and grinned. {You wouldn't get him to admit it, but Absol's enjoying himself too.} Indeed, that did seem to be the case. Absol was straining hard, but he was definitely grinning.

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron blushed a deep shade of red. She supposed Fairo liked battling too... maybe she should start battling as hard as she had on the Gym Leader of Avura Town, Tena. Tactics would come in handy. Her mind began to slip into the state she normally went into during a battle; that of intense focus, thinking of new ways to attack or parry blows. Her eyes watched as Fairo and Absol's claw and tail locked, Absol pushing Fairo gradually down. If she were to use that to her advantage, that would be good; Absol seemed so intent on this task, he would not be ready for much else. She had been a trick been done in the playground, in a similar situation, but with people...

"Fairo, use Ember then let go!" she cried. A half-smile crept onto the lizard's golden face; he could see what she was doing. He grunted as he looked directly at Absol's temporarily metal tail, firering an array of white-hot embers at the place where it conncected to his claws, then leapt back. He knew that because Absol had been pushing so hard, he must have been partly relying on the Charlmeleon's weight; he too had seen baby Pokemon trick themselves like this. Try it for yourself. Or not.