Nemrut's Collection of One-Shots, First Chapters and Ideas

[Nemrut]

Summary: Green and her new starter Squirtle are starting their pokemon journey and they have nine months to qualify for the Indigo Plateau Conference and then win it. To do so, they need to build a team and win all eight badges first. Red and Blue have the same goal and plan, which is going to make things all the more difficult.

Enjoy!
xxx

It was almost surreal, to hold my first pokeball in my hand. What made it especially weird was that I knew for a fact that there was a creature inside that was over 10kg, but the pokeball was still lighter than an apple, something I was told would still be true even if the pokemon inside weighed tens of tons.

It was an incredible thing and something that I hoped I would never stop appreciating.

Unfortunately, my fellow two starting trainers seemed less inclined to behold the marvel of technology in our hands, as apparently, Blue had already challenged Red to a match.

On one hand, staying and watching their first, official battle would offer some insight into their battle strategies and the personalities and aptitudes of their pokemon, but since we had all been born in Pallet Town and had more or less grown up together, took classes together and had many mock battles, it wouldn't be information that I didn't already possess.

Sure, none of us had ever gone all out but that wouldn't be the case here anyway, with each of them wielding one, mostly untrained pokemon that they were using the first time.

No, a head-start without either one of them bugging or following me was infinitely more valuable, especially since I had a plan that I had managed to conceal from both of them.

"Well, good luck to you two," I said, before turning to Professor Oak, "thank you, Professor. Squirtle and I will be in contact." I patted the pocket in my shorts which was housing my new Pokedex.

Red and Blue left the room while the Professor gave me a warm smile. "Of course, I am expecting greatness from all three of you, although I am surprised you do not want to battle now."

"Those two hotheads were aching for a fight with each other, so no matter who I faced afterward, that pokemon would be tired and I'd rather face them when they are fresh."

While Red wasn't what I would call a graceful loser, he at least had the dignity to not make as many excuses as Blue. Besides, I wanted to crush them at their best, only that would be satisfying. Taking out an exhausted enemy was a valid strategy and something to exploit for sure, but this was not the time or place for something like that.

Oak chuckled, "Well, good luck on your journey, young lady. I'm expecting great things from all three of you."

"You're right to do so," I said, grinning, before giving him a wave and walking out the door of his office and then the laboratory building itself not twenty seconds later. I passed by Red and Blue, who had started their duel like ten meters away from the entrance, with Blue's Charmander fighting Red's Bulbasaur. I couldn't tell much with only a glance, but the Charmander seemed to have an advantage, which wasn't surprising, given the type advantage itself but knowing Red, that was hardly a defining factor. Not to mention that with our pokemon being so inexperienced, none of them would have the attacks to meaningfully exploit the type advantages beyond one basic attack. Then again, they weren't durable or experienced enough to deal with said damage, so it all worked out in that regard.

Putting them out of my mind, I pulled my collapsible bike out of my backpack, enlarged it, mounted it, and cycled away, rather happy that they had been too occupied with their duel to notice me. Their actual duel wouldn't take too long, but afterward, they would want to have their pokemon healed before setting out. Not doing so would be risky, and while both were risk-takers as well, this was an unnecessary one that didn't really offer them anything worth doing so. That meant I would have at least an hour or two before they would follow me.

Now, the direction I was going was hardly a secret. There were only two paths for anyone starting from Pallet Town. You either go north, following Route 1 to Viridian City or you go south, heading out to sea, following Route 21 to Cinnebar Island and the cluster of tiny islands a bit to the east of it.

Well, technically speaking, if you owned some kind of boat or sea vessel or a pokemon you could ride, you didn't have to follow Route 21, and you could try to make it to Fuchsia City, Vermillion City, and Celadon City, since they all were port cities in different positions around the same body of water, but that wasn't really feasible for any of us at this moment.

And while they could just book a passage on one of the ferries that traveled Route 21, the variety of pokemon was actually a lot more limited in that region, not to mention that once one left Cinnebar Island, the pokemon and waters became a lot more dangerous. It was not something to be braved without a few strong pokemon or under the protection of those who made it their life to travel those waters.

So, since we weren't insane, Route 1 was the only real option. Well, kinda. I would be following Route 1 for a while, until I would leave the path halfway before arriving at Viridian City, to head to the Xanadu Nursery, the place where I would hopefully be able to get an Eevee. Professor Oak had allowed us to participate in pokemon courses in his laboratory, but after a while, first Blue and later on Red had stopped showing up. Blue, because he felt like the course was a huge waste of time, teaching nothing he didn't already know or couldn't learn faster by himself, and Red because he wanted to use his time differently.

Both hadn't been wrong, in a lot of ways, the course had been a bit of a waste of time. The guy teaching it hadn't been particularly interesting and the information he had been trying to convey had been rather basic and something we all had learned before, but I had kept going, mainly because the course didn't take that long and I wouldn't have been able to use my time that much better without it, not to mention that I very well might have been able to learn something that I hadn't known before.

And while that hadn't happened, I still had been lucky, as when the course was about to end, the teacher had handed out flyers about the Xanadu Nursery and their Eevee Adaption Program, and how one could apply for it.

That had made all the boring lessons and hours wasted worth it. Eevee was rare, valuable, and rather strong. You wouldn't find many wandering the wilds and buying them cost a fortune, a fortune I didn't have. People rarely traded them and those who did wanted equally rare pokemon for them, something I couldn't exactly blame them for.

That left winning them in competitions or adopting them by applying for the license, a license which took around a year to acquire. It wasn't exactly hard, since one only needed to prove one had the skills, knowledge, and patience, so one had to write a few essays on taking care of Eevees and its various evolutionary paths. That hadn't been particularly difficult. The hard aspect was that since there weren't that many Eevees out there, the license tests were designed to be as tedious and long-lasting as possible. The officials wanted to avoid some clever profiteers from breezing through the tests, adopting an Eevee, selling it for a lot of money, and then going through the process again or making a friend do it.

The way the tests and essays were all spaced out, one would need to devote a significant amount of time and effort into it, something that very few people had the patience to go through, not to mention that this didn't guarantee and Eevee at the end. It merely offered the option to meet a few Eevee in the nearest location that was looking after them and if one of them wanted to go with you, you could take them. If all of them disliked you, well, you were shit out of luck.

It was a rather clever system since that also screened out those who only saw Eevee as a means for profit since Eevees were rather good at sensing and feeling the emotions of others.

So, while those two were busy, if I made good time, I would be able to reach the part of the path that would lead me to the Xanadu Nursery.

It wouldn't make that big of a difference if they followed me there, I suppose. It was a mixture of a gigantic greenhouse and a pokemon sanctuary, so there were other pokemon there, and most of them didn't require a license or anything of the sort, although a lot of fire and poison pokemon did.

But we all had qualifications for most pokemon, since passing those tests was what was required to be able to start the trainer journey.

It was just that most people wanted to catch their first few pokemon, but I had always wanted an Eevee, so stumbling on one of the few ways of getting one this early into my trainer journey was a very happy boon. And if that gave me a bit of an advantage over the other two who had stopped coming and thus never got the flyer, well, that's hardly my fault, is it?

With that, I left Pallet Town and entered Route 1 with a smile on my face. The path itself was relatively secure. Pallet Town and Viridian City had a long history of travel, being the mainland city connection Pallet had. As such, Rangers were doing an excellent job of keeping the more dangerous pokemon at bay, who had long since been accustomed to staying away from the main road itself and remained away in the forests and more wild sections. Not to mention, that the area didn't have the biggest diversity of pokemon and many of them were not particularly aggressive.

Of those, one should avoid angering Spearow flocks, which was just common sense and usually easy to do. More dangerous in terms of unintentionally provoking one was the smaller pokemon one could step on by mistake. Raticates were common and they tended to try and take a bit out of anything that scared or angered them, which was most things they saw. There was also the occasional Oddish, who just loved spraying poison on people, and they could be very easily missed in the grass, especially since some liked to burrow a bit into the ground.

Alongside Squirrel's pokeball, I also had 5 empty ones, all of them the basic model, unfortunately, but replacing them with higher quality versions was a long-term project. And while I would hate to waste even one of the basic ones on something like a Raticate or Spearow, an Oddish would be a solid choice.

There were also some bug pokemon living in the trees, like Spinarak or Ledyba, and of course, pokemon migrated all the time, so from all I had read, you could always encounter something unusual that wasn't really native to the region.

This general safety made Pallet Town a bit subpar in terms of the pokemon catching experiences
It also made the region a bit subpar for those aiming for the top in pokemon trainer and coordinator circles, since there wasn't a lot of particularly unique pokemon. Mt. Hideaway was the one hot spot, but only for high-level trainers as that region was forbidden for anyone who was either not a Ranger, an ACE, or someone with at least six badges or its equivalent in qualifications. Mt. Hideaway was the home of particularly big specimens of Onix, which made traversing those mountains particularly dangerous, as any of the numerous, gigantic Onix could cause an avalanche of rocks or attack directly.

There were other pokemon, that one could naturally find in mountains and caves, and since they had to share a space with those Onix, they also tended to be a bit stronger, but it was mainly the place to go for those few who had the inclination and aptitude to go for the big rock serpents.

Mt. Hideaway was also said to be the training grounds of choice for Elite Four-member Bruno, who would go there for weeks at a time, training his pokemon and body. It made for good speculation on what exactly it was he was doing on message boards, and definitely something to consider, but for now, that place was unfortunately off-limits for me. An Onix was a cool choice, but even if I had been secure in myself that I could avoid the rangers patrolling and make it in there, I didn't think one low-level pokemon or two would cut it. Sure, I could be lucky, but that was less of a calculated gamble and more just a fool's way of lying to herself.

I didn't intend to throw away my trainer career right at the beginning, chasing a pokemon I wasn't particularly keen on. No, I had a different path in mind. One that would ensure that I would make it to the top, conquering the League, rather than a cautionary tale for other young trainers.

I had been tempted, of course, you couldn't feel that strongly if you hadn't at least considered doing that stupid thing, but while a strong Onix would be really, really cool, there was a reason that not many people were using one in the higher echelons of poke-battling.

The well-trodden path allowed me to cover quite a bit of ground. I was tempted to stop and have Squirtle fight a few of the Pidgey and Raticates I was seeing on the sides but I wanted to have a real conversation with him first. Occasionally I would brush my right hand against my belt where the pokeball was resting. It still felt a bit surreal, almost two hours in.

That said, with the sun being so high, I had started to get a bit sweaty and tired, and I should probably take a break and hydrate. It would also be the perfect opportunity to let Squirtle out for the first time as his trainer. I had planned this initial leg of my journey rather well, so I knew where I was going to stop and take a break.

A few minutes later, I arrived at the point I had in mind, right next to the first and smaller of the many lakes in the region, right below the shade of a big tree, where I could lean my bike and have enough space to sit without being bothered by the sun. Sitting down, I took off my hat and wiped the sweat from my brow, and then pulled out one of my three water bottles. After taking a few refreshing gulps, I leaned back against the tree, closing my eyes and enjoying the slight breeze. I had them closed for nearly a minute before I decided that was enough rest, and it was finally time to meet Squirtle again.

I grabbed the pokeball he was in, enlarged it with a click, and by clicking the button on its front, the ball opened and out of the white energy beam, Squirtle took shape in front of me, his large, purple eyes looking at me, before breaking into a wide smile, with his round head bobbing happily as it squeaked at me.

I knelt down and enveloped Squirtle in a hug, which he happily returned. "I'm so happy that we are finally a team, buddy."

Since we all grew up in Pallet Town, practically in the lab, where the starters were assigned to the pokemon trainers beginning their journey there, and the fact that Blue was the grandson of Professor Oak, we had a few advantages that many other starting trainers didn't have and one of them was premature access to our starters. It hadn't been for a long time, mind you, but starter pokemon received a bit of training until they were deemed ready to be entrusted to a novice trainer as their first official pokemon with which they were expected to battle and catch wild pokemon.

Since the three of us had talked things over and had found out that all of us had been interested in different starters, it had been uncomplicated to get acquainted prematurely with our chosen starters.
I know that Charmander is supposed to be the smartest choice, as its final evolution tended to be the biggest and most versatile powerhouse of the three, but there wasn't really a bad choice to pick there. They all had different strengths and weaknesses which had to be leveraged correctly during battles, and I was more than happy with Squirtle.

"We're on our way to the Xanadu Nursery, and I'm just taking a bit of a break. We're not exactly hurting for time, but I do want to get there as soon as possible, but we will stay here for an hour or so. How about you take a bit of a swim?"

He would get more options to do so on the route I had planned, but water pokemon wanted as much swimming time as possible.

He squeaked in agreement and dove into the lake. I pulled out my Pokedex and scanned him. With roughly 60 cm in height, he was a bit taller than regular Squirtles and weighed a bit more too, which was always an advantage but Professor Oak was famous for handing out excellent starters, so I was sure that the starters of the others were equally well-bred. It had the ability Torrent, making his water attacks stronger once he was close to passing out, and the hidden ability Rain Dish, which actually made him constantly recover his health when it rained, albeit slowly and not that much. Enough to give him an edge in extended battles and keep him in the fight for longer, but not to mean that he was invincible during rain or anything.

Those two abilities had excellent synergy with each other and honestly, it was what I would expect from a man with the resources and know-how of Professor Oak, to provide us with such an excellent specimen.

The attacks he knew were Tackle, Tail Whip, Aqua Gun, and Withdraw. It should be able to learn Bubbles, Rapid Spin and Bite soon enough, at least that, and practicing those would be the priority for now. I also took out my small journal and a pen and started writing down the attacks.

I wasn't planning on challenging gyms right away, the way I knew Red and Blue were wanting to do. I know Squirtle is a good choice to challenge Brock early on, what with the type advantage but I wasn't in a hurry to do so. Going to Pewter City right now would mean crossing the Viridian Forest and going to Viridian at all, and I didn't want to do either of these things. For one, there wasn't really a pokemon I was interested in, in that region. Sure, there are a few decent ones, strong ones, even. Scythers were occasionally traveling through, but they were very rare.

But it felt a bit cheap to rush through with a type advantage. We had roughly nine months if we wanted to participate in the Indigo Plateau Conference, and the way I was seeing it, I could tackle Brock just as well when I was on the last leg of my journey rather than being my first target.

To me, it was more important to build a strong team first. No one was guaranteed any particular pokemon they wanted, so one had to travel and hope for the best and it would maximize my chances since I knew which pokemon I wanted and I had researched where I had to go to have the best odds of catching one.

So, first Eevee, and then we would see.

I closed the journal, with one finger sticking between the pages where I had last been writing to not lose the spot, and I watched Squirtle swimming for a few minutes. The little guy was enjoying himself, chasing the occasional Goldeen and Magikarp. While I had little interest in Goldeen, a Magikarp was actually an interesting prospect, since once evolved, Gyrados was a powerhouse. Very hard to control but if you managed to earn the respect and obedience of a Gyrados, that was the sign of a great trainer.

It was also a huge gamble because Magikarps themselves were very, very lackluster as far as pokemon went. They could barely learn any attacks, they needed to be in the water at all times and couldn't be used on land at all, and even in the water, they were among the slowest water pokemon. The few attacks they could learn were Splash which did nothing but allow it to jump out of the water, sometimes very high, which looked cool but had limited applications, Tackle, which was the most basic attack, and Flail, which, while better, also wasn't super great.

It was a slow, water-bound pokemon with no real water attacks, that was only good in close combat, which it was also rather terrible at.

So, trainers had to go through a lot of trouble, training a pokemon that was really bad at battling until it evolved into a Gyrados that was terrific at battling but might not listen to you and in worst cases, attacked you or people around you.

It would take a lot of time and effort and it wasn't guaranteed I could do it in time for the Conference, but if I did, it would be one hell of a heavy hitter. I felt the smile on my face widen. It wasn't without merit. I hadn't really considered a Magikarp before, mostly brushing it off as a dud pokemon, but with Squirtle I had the optimal partner for training it, being a fellow water pokemon who would also benefit from training with it and was able to do so underwater.

I opened my map, checking the route I had planned. After this, there was a small lake close to the Xanadu Nursery, and afterward, I had planned to go to Hop Hop Hop Town, and while I originally had wanted to take the road for as long as possible, it was equally possible, if a bit slower since I would be walking a lot instead of riding the bike, to follow the coast and use that as an opportunity to train Magikarp. I could keep following the coast for a long while, or at least travel in such a way that I could always head back every few days, to keep a regular training schedule going.

It was very feasible, and while not a guaranteed success, that was a gamble worth taking. This time, I was focusing on the Magikarp my Squirtle was playing with. Not all pokemon were equal, and not any member of any species would do. Ideally, it would be a motivated and intelligent specimen, who would put in the effort and be able to think on their feet. Or fins, in this case. So, while Squirtle was chasing a few around, splashing and squealing in joy, there was one Magikarp among the five that were playing with him that stood out to me. I pointed my Pokedex at it, and it revealed to me, that it was roughly average in size, with nearly 1 meter in height, a tiny bit shorter than usual, and weighing close to ten kg. It was also a she and seemed to be in good health otherwise.

But there was no sense in being hasty, so I leaned back and was content to watch the pokemon continue playing for another half an hour, swimming around. And one by one, the other pokemon left, until it was only Squirtle and Magikarp, who were still at it. By now, they were playing some sort of tag, and Squirtle seemed to be winning most of the time, something that seemed to frustrate the Magikarp.

I put the journal down, grabbed some pokefood, and walked to the edge of the lake stopping at the edge. For a second, I considered getting in, but I decided against it. I still wanted to reach the big lake today.

"Hey guys," I started, drawing the attention of both of them, with my Squirtle squeaking in response. "I saw you two having fun, and I bet you guys are pretty hungry by now, aren't you?" I pulled out the container with pokefood that I had brought with me, poured one small pile right on the earth, in front of Squirtle and then I sprinkled a roughly equal amount into the water, which Magikarp immediately started eating. "Seeing you two get along so well makes me hate the idea to pull the two of you apart. So, what do you say, Magikarp, do you want to join us? Let me warn you, though, while it will be fun and you will see exciting new places, there will also be a lot of hard work and training in your future and when we get you to evolve, a lot of hard battles. And evolving will be your personal number one priority in my team. Are you in?"

Magikarp stopped eating for a second and jumped out of the water, with a lot of excitement, somersaulting over me and landing on my other side, on the green grass, and started flopping while yelling its own name with each flop.

"That's the biggest yes anyone has ever given me," I said, pulling out an empty pokeball and throwing it at her. It sailed through the air, hitting the fish pokemon while it had just flopped upwards and it dissolved into red energy and was consequently pulled into the ball. It landed on the ground with a soft, almost inaudible thumb, twitched three times, and stood still.

I pumped my fist in excitement. "Yes!" It was perhaps a bit too much excitement since Magikarp had been pretty psyched to join us, but still, it was my first self-captured pokemon and I didn't have to browbeat it into joining.

I immediately released her into the lake again and poured some more pokefood over her head and watched her happily continue eating. "Welcome to the team, Magikarp. I can't promise that you will see combat any time soon, but you will definitely train and work harder than you ever have before, so enjoy this meal."

I looked at Squirtle, who had finished eating, and gave him a nod. "As to you, how are you feeling about some training, now that you had your fun for a bit? Still have some energy left?"

Squirtle punched the air and gave me an energetic cry. "That's good to hear." I checked the watch on my Pokedex and saw that it was close to 4. I still had several hours of sunlight, but I honestly didn't want to travel after 19 o'clock. "Then we are going to do an hour of training and that still leaves me enough time to get to the camping spot I had in mind."

I pointed at the tree that was roughly five meters away from us. "Okay, buddy, gimme your best Water Gun."

Immediately, a torrent of water left his mouth and hit the tree. I watched him for ten seconds blasting the tree with water before the volume of water lessened and it ultimately fizzled out. "Not bad. Now dash to the tree, touch it and dash back. Three times please."

He bolted, and I watched him do so. Squirtle weren't necessarily the fastest pokemon out there, but their speed could surprise you if you weren't prepared for it. A Squirtle would never be a long-distance runner, nor would he ever be a speedster but I still wanted the option to blitz pokemon who weren't expecting him to do so to be on the table. But that was only the secondary aim of this.

The main goal was to exhaust him. He needed stamina. Squirtle had good stamina from the beginning, but I needed him to have as much as possible.

When he finished his three dashes, I could see him slightly panting. "Well done, and now Water Gun again, aim at the same tree."

It took half a second of hesitation before Squirtle took a deep breath and fired his Water Gun again. He also hit the tree, but this time the water beam was less forceful but still acceptable. He only could hold it for eight seconds though. Still, it was more than expected, especially since the little guy had tuckered himself out by playing around in the lake with the Magikarp and Goldeen.

"And three dashes again." He didn't complain and instead bolted forwards on all fours.

After repeating it two more times he was lying on the ground, panting. I had opened my journal and was recording his times. By the last dash, his speed had dropped considerably and his Water Gun had barely hit the tree and the beam had lasted for maybe three seconds before it petered off.

All in all, it was a good showing but there was a lot of room to improve. By the time we reached our first gym, I needed Squirtle to be able to dash around the battlefield and fire off his Water Gun at full force.

Putting away the journal, I bend down and picked Squirtle up, carrying him to the lake, and promptly dropped him into the water. The cold lake revived him and he let out a satisfying squeal before floating contently on his back, with his face above the surface.

"That was a good start. Your Water Gun will be your primary mode of attack for quite some time, and while this blitz I want you to learn will not necessarily last into your Blastoise evolution, it will be part of your arsenal in your current form and as Wartortle. While you have the means to fight at any range, there is value in being able to choose the range for yourself, rather than letting our opponents determine it for us. If your long-rage options prove ineffective, you will need to get close to use your close-range attacks, and for that, you will need to dash towards them."

I gave him a smile, which he returned. "But good work, rest for five minutes, then give me three sets of the dash and Water Gun again. For now, we need to build up your muscles and stamina."

He nodded and closed his eyes to enjoy the rest of his break. Satisfied, I turned to my second pokemon and was pleased to see that Magikarp had watched us with interest. "You will be doing something similar, for now, at least. Until you evolve, or until we can buy the TM for Hydro Pump, which won't be any time soon, I'm afraid, you will only have close combat options. So, if you have listened, the same thing applies to you, but even more so since you lack any and all mid-and long-range options. You will have to swim really fast at your opponent and then hit him with that momentum because odds are that they will be able to hit harder than you and take more damage than you. Your only option is to be faster and hit harder than they can expect and make them pay for underestimating you. Later on, when you are training with Squirtle, I will also need you to be able to take damage and work through the pain or dodge ranged attacks."

At least Magikarp looked enthusiastic if her nod was anything to go by, but I wasn't sure how much of what I had said she understood. But pokemon were smarter than one would think, so I had always pretty much just shared my thoughts with them. I did so with my parents' pokemon and I did so with the pokemon I interacted with at Professor Oak's lab, and it had worked out so far.

"Okay, I need you to swim as fast as you can, for as long as you can, and then I need you to swim for even longer and faster after that. Follow the shore of the lake until you are back here. Go!"

And with that, Magikarp started swimming. I watched her swim pretty fast for twenty seconds before she started to slowly lose more and more speed. When she finally made it back to her starting position, having circled the small lake in two minutes, she was not even at half the speed that she had started out at.

"Good effort, Magikarp. Relax for five minutes and then give me another lap at full speed. I need you to do that three more times."

She gave a tired nod, and while I wasn't sure she could do it, I needed her to at least try and see if her motivation was strong enough to power through exhaustion and pain.

Tomorrow, in the big lake, I would be joining her with the laps. Right now, I still needed to cover too much ground to exhaust myself by swimming, but I also didn't want to be lazily sitting around while my pokemon were giving it their all, so I pulled out my journal again and began to make more notes, writing down everything my pokemon were doing.

Weeks from now, I wanted to be able to read them the numbers they had now and how far they'd have come then.

I felt my heart pounding faster, as I was finally feeling like a genuine pokemon trainer.

 

[Nemrut]

It had taken me the rest of the daylight of yesterday to reach the biggest lake in the region, where I had camped the night. It was a popular spot for families who wanted to enjoy the lake, swim, barbeque and wander while it was also popular for trainers because it housed most of the regional water pokemon while also being safe enough that families were comfortable bringing their children.

There were also a lot of already prepared spots for camping, so it wasn't too much of a hassle to set up there, you just had to leave the place as you found it once you were done, which was fair enough.

Now, after having slept and then fed my team and myself, I had once again continued my journey to the Xanadu Nursery, and we arrived at around nine in the morning. The Xanadu Nursery consists of several main parts, but the most eye-catching part was no doubt the huge glass dome that stretched dozens of meters into the sky, and I knew covered a radius of 500 meters. It was basically a huge greenhouse, offering a wide selection of vegetation, plants, and trees that were not necessarily native to Kanto, and with that, it housed a lot of pokemon.

Since it was a Nursery, one couldn't just waltz in and capture pokemon, though. The primary function of the Xanadu Nursery still remained to be the nursery part in its name, and it was the home of a lot of young pokemon who could not handle life on the outside alone. Of course, plenty of pokemon, who had grown up here, decided to stay here, which is why there is also a surprising amount of mature and evolved pokemon, who act as protectors alongside the Rangers who are stationed here and who patrol the area.

Once I reached the parameter, I was greeted by a bored-looking guard who was sitting in a chair, with a Growlithe dozing next to him on the ground. After presenting my credentials with the Pokedex, he winked me through, instructing me to actually go to the glass dome. Upon arriving at the entrance I was directed to, I was surprised to actually see a lady with long, straight purple hair going down to her hips, who was reading the tablet she was holding intently. There was no mistaking it, this was actually Florinda Showers, the owner of the Xanadu Nursery. Famous for her numerous pokemon of the Oddish line, and her dedication to and protection of pokemon. It was especially impressive if you knew that she was in her 30s and had become a very respected figure in the pokemon world in a relatively short time. The Xanadu Nursery had been founded when I was five or so, just a bit over ten years ago.

Hearing my footsteps, she looked up and her intense expression changed to a warm smile. She folded her tablet and stepped towards me, extending her empty right hand. "Hi, you must be Green, it's so nice to meet you."

I shook her hand firmly, responding with a smile of my own. "Miss Showers, thank you so much for your time."

"Oh, don't be so formal. We're not big on that around these parts, isn't that right Gus?" she said that part louder, while looking over her shoulder, up a tree. I looked up, only to see a man with graying hair, sitting on the branch of the tree, and he was doing something with what seemed to be an electronic device attached to the tree itself.

"Very disrespectful, one could say," he growled, although given Miss Showers laugh, it was probably not meant too seriously.

"Well, come with me." She opened the door we were standing in front of and motioned for me to go in first, so I did. Once we were inside, she closed the door behind her. "So, currently, there is a family of seven Eevees in the Nursery. The mother and father are off-limits, of course, but you will meet all five of the children and if one decides to go with you, you're free to take them with you."

"The parents are also Eevees?" I asked, actually surprised. I would have expected them to be evolved.

She nodded, "Eevees are one of the pokemon species that benefit from the bond with humans the most, as they evolve very rarely on their own. Most of their evolutions require exposure to elemental stones, and while it is of course possible for an Eevee to stumble upon them in the wild, it is harder to do so nowadays, as humans are generally collecting those as much as they can. Not to mention water stones and fire stones are generally found in locations where Eevee are loathe to go before they are evolved, so thunder stones which are created by big thunderstorms if the conditions are right, are the most common of those, but even they are relatively rare." She shook her head, "There is still a lot to learn about pokemon in general and about Eevee in particular. This is why part of this whole system is that you will have to periodically write us reports about your Eevee and tell us everything, no matter how insignificant it may be. We need as much data and as many different experiences as possible."

I had known that this would be part of the bargain, so it was easy to agree. "I will, but I cannot say I'll bring any new insights."

She shrugged, "even confirmation of what we already know is huge. I'm not a researcher by profession, but I'm rather involved in the process and will of course make sure the academic community will have access to your reports. Don't worry too much about grammar or structure, by the way, but it should of course still be readable.

She met my eyes and had a slight smile on her face.

"In a few years, after you have battled with your Eevee for a while, and you have been a good caretaker and trainer, you may be approached to take in a second Eevee if you have not done so by yourself already."

"Oh, that's cool. Will I come back here then?"

She grinned, "It will be one of a different gender from a different place, so your Eevee can reproduce. There are still too few Eevee out there, and we want responsible trainers to help bring the population levels back up." Miss Showers scowled, "This is a slow process, Green. Eevee have been hunted to almost extinction levels a few years ago, and while this method will take decades to restore the Eevee population where it can subsist on its own without requiring our protection, it's the method that still allows the Eevee as much freedom as possible."

By doing it this way, the trainer benefited as well, which made their participation more likely.

Thinking about it, it was a slow method but still one that would work.

"Once the trainer has a few Eevees, most trainers will probably sell or gift them to friends, which will, over a long enough time frame, sustainably increase their numbers while still protecting them."

Miss Showers nodded. "It was tried with having trainers bring their Eevees, or whatever they evolved into, to places where they were keeping their Eevees and not many trainers did so. We'll see how successful this initiative is, and it's just one of many, but thousands of people, in four regions, are collaborating to ensure that the Eevee line is protected and able to flourish again."

She then stopped, to whirl around, and gave me a sharp smile. "That is, of course, only really applicable to you, once you pass the last test." My heart started pumping as she said that and I felt my blood flow faster, giving me goosebumps as I started to grin. "Essays and research are all fine, but you want to become a pokemon trainer, and there is really only one way to determine if one is a good pokemon trainer. You may have only started your journey yesterday, but I'm sure you already know what that is."

I plucked the pokeball my Squirtle was in from my belt and enlarged it. "You know, there was something about the whole process that had been rubbing me the wrong way and I'm so glad this is happening."

Where we had stopped, it was a small grass clearing, surrounded by a few trees and bushes, where a few Oddish and Gloom were watching us.

Miss Showers threw a pokeball and the white energy leaving the ball, coalesced into the form of a Meowth. Cream-colored fur, four long whiskers, and a tail with a brown tip, it looked like a rather healthy specimen.

It was odd, pun not intended, since I expected an Oddish or Gloom or even a Vileplume or Bellossom from her, but I guess it wouldn't really prove anything if she rolled a beginner with her best pokemon.

I burrowed in the pockets of my shorts until I found a packet of gum. I offered Miss Showers one, which she declined and I put one in my mouth. Immediately, the sweetness of the gum filled my mouth and I began chewing. I then released Squirtle, and he was immediately sizing the enemy up.

When I had fed him this morning, I had been happy to see that he seemed to have recovered from yesterday's training session. Just one session was too soon to improve his physical abilities, but I hoped he would be able to implement the strategic elements into this fight.

Meowth was a close-combat fighter, and usually not a very strong one. Squirtle could attack at range and even if Meowth came close, using its superior speed, Squirtle could use his shell to block the worst of the attacks. On paper, it seemed I had the advantage. If Miss Showers had used an Oddish, that would not be the case.

"Be ready to keep the Meowth at range, buddy," I told him and he nodded.

"Okay, this is a one vs one match between Green from Pallet Town and Florinda from the Xanadu Nursery," Miss Showers said, "show me what you got, Green!" and with that, she pointed at Squirtle and yelled "Meowth, use Fake Out!"

At the same time, I also gave orders to my Squirtle. "Water Gun, don't let it come close!"

The water torrent left Squirtle's mouth, which the Meowth avoided by jumping to the side. It did so again with the next Water Gun but the third blast actually hit it and the pressure of the water hitting it right in the head pushed it a few centimeters backward before it managed to get away. Three full-powered blasts in succession were quite taxing, however, and Squirtle was breathing harder already while Meowth looked a bit dizzy. It shook its head, collecting itself, and dashed forwards on all fours, before leaping towards Squirtle, its paws glowing ominously with white light.

Fake Out didn't hit that hard but it was dangerous because it could make the pokemon on the receiving end flinch and leave it open to whatever next attack was coming afterward. It went without saying, that that was rarely good.

Squirtle tried to fire off another shot, but unfortunately missed the jumping Meowth as it moved its head right in time, and it landed right in front of Squirtle and clapped its glowing paws together right in front of Squirtle's face as it just had stopped its water attack. A shockwave of air hit Squirtle and I felt him flinch, taking a step back.

"Withdraw!" I ordered him, while Meowth was making its claws glow to what I assumed would be a Scratch attack. Flinch made a pokemon unable to bend their limbs or do most things, however, retreating back to his shell was something that was still possible since it was the most instinctive action a Squirtle could do. That had been my hope, anyway, but it seemed that the Flinch was stronger than expected and it was the first time Squirtle had been hit by it. As such, he was unable to do anything as the Meowth landed a few hits with its claws raking over his face and stomach.

He squeaked in pain, as red lines appeared on his face as the skin was torn. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be too deep and the shock of the pain had disrupted the flinch. "Water Gun again!" I yelled because the Meowth was still close and winding down from its Scratch attack. Even its considerable reflexes were not able to dodge the point-blank Water Gun and the torrent of water pushed the Meowth a few meters back. When the water stopped Meowth was dripping wet and it was slightly wonky on its feed.

Oddly enough, I could hear the blood rushing through my body and I was tensing up, but not in a bad way. The chewing was also helping to stay grounded.

This was fun!

"Use Tail Whip," I ordered Squirtle and he obeyed, waging his tail. It was one of the more esoteric abilities, despite most pokemon learning them very early and scientists were not one hundred percent sure why it did what it did, but somehow, this attack was able to lower the defensive capabilities of enemy pokemon temporarily. Whether it was because it was psychological or some sort of weird energy thing, no one knew, but it was a recorded fact.

I could see the Meowth wince as it was affected by the move, and now it seemed anxious. I looked at Miss Showers and she was not quite worried but seemed to be thinking about her next move. It was clear by now that I had an advantage. After being hit twice and having its defenses lowered, one more hit would put Meowth out of the match for good. While both pokemon were tired, Meowth was the one who would need to move more in order to close the distance between them.

That said, I also didn't believe that spamming even more Water Guns would be productive at this point. Sure, one more hit would be great, but I didn't have the feeling that the Meowth would be unable to dodge at this point, and it would be dangerous to have Squirtle waste his stamina. I also shouldn't wait too long, because every second they weren't fighting, Miss Showers' Meowth benefited from the rest more.

While I didn't like it, I still didn't want Squirtle to come into scratching range again.

"Shoot several small Water Guns, not more than one second per blast."

Squirtle obeyed and started firing what were essentially water bullets from its mouth. By now, they weren't particularly fast or strong, but it was enough to keep the Meowth on its tows and most importantly, kept it from further recovering from the damage. It was still able to dodge them and with each dodged bullet, Meowth was able to come a bit closer.

"Be patient, Meowth, that Squirtle is going to run out of energy soon. Be ready to dash."

It is unfortunate that we were still so early in our training because I did want Squirtle to be able to fake being out of energy in order to tempt the enemy into attacking early, thinking Squirtle would be weak at this point only to be hit with full force at close range. We weren't there yet, so the weaker attacks were just weaker.

There was something I could do about this though.

"Soak the grass between yourself and the Meowth." Squirtle aimed his water on the ground and quickly covered the whole ground.

Miss Showers raised an eyebrow. "Meowth won't slip just that."

"In which case, it shouldn't be a problem for you, right?" I said in response, meeting her gaze to which she just smiled wryly, shaking her head. I wonder if she could tell how fast my heart was pounding in my chest right now. I blew a small bubble with my gum and immediately popped it to continue chewing.

"You're confident, I'll give you that. We'll see if it's warranted."

She was right though; the wet grass wouldn't be enough to do anything to the Meowth at this point. Meowth was too good on its feet, especially with its claws, to simply slip and fall. Nor did Squirtle know any ice moves yet to take advantage of it in a different way.

However, the wet grass was not for Meowth. Who had now started to dash towards Squirtle, and I could see in the tense way it was holding itself, that it was ready to jump to avoid a Water Gun. With more training, I also would want Squirtle to shoot a short Water Gun to make the enemy commit to a jump and then fire off another blast immediately after to hit the enemy in the air. That would take a lot of practice and wasn't something I could communicate to Squirtle right now.

That was fine, though, because the next part of my plan would not depend too much on Water Gun. I felt a wide grin forming on my lips. "Blitz forward, Squirtle and be ready to use Withdraw on my command." So far, Squirtle had been standing on two legs, but now he went down on all fours and started running towards Meowth. That took both of them by surprise and before miss Showers could react, I yelled "Now!"

After gaining speed with his dash and then retreating back into his shell, he was now gliding towards Meowth on the wet grass at a speed neither Meowth nor its trainer were expecting, and Meowth did not dodge in time, as the shell slammed into him just as he was trying to jump to the side. The Meowth howled in pain and flew for a bit before landing on the ground with a soft thud, not moving.

"Well, I'll be damned," Miss Showers said, letting out a low whistle. "I did not see that coming." With that, she returned the Meowth to its pokeball. "You did good, little guy, have some rest."

She walked toward me, with a bright smile on her face. "Well, I'm more than convinced that you will take good care of her. I'll be honest, at the beginning I wasn't sure if it was just good tactics to use Water Gun over and over again or just a lack of creativity but I'm impressed. That was one hell of a move for such a new trainer."

"Thank you," I told her, quite happy at hearing her compliments. I knelt down and patted Squirtle on the head. "That was amazing, buddy. Our first win. You were so good but there is still a lot of training we have to do. This fight has shown us where we needed to improve as fast as possible."

He nodded, letting out a happy squeak. I gave him a bit of pokefood which he immediately gobbled down and I returned him back into his ball. Our first victory and it felt amazing. My heart was still pounding, and this couldn't compare to the training matches I had with the pokemon the professor had lent to us.

This was my pokemon against someone else. We needed to get better, in order to have more options and with that, a lot more fun in battles.

"You are good with your Squirtle. Really makes me look forward to what you will accomplish with an Eevee." She ran a hand through her hair. "Well, we've put this off enough. Oh, wait, this first." She pulled out a poke-com, and pressed a few buttons before pointing it at me. My own device started beeping and when I checked it, I saw that she had transferred 500 pokedollars to my account. "While it was a test, it was still an official battle between trainers. Don't worry, I wouldn't have made you pay, since you are still a newbie, but this early on, every pokedollar helps."

"Thank you," I said, and I was grateful. It could have pricked my pride but honestly, I was just happy for the money. My parents weren't particularly wealthy, and while I had tried to save up as much as possible, I would still need to do odd jobs on my travels or just never lose.

We then walked a bit deeper into what was basically the sanctuary until we finally arrived next to a small, artificial pond, and right there in the shadow of the tree beside it, was the small family of Eevees.

Two parents, and their small litter of kids. I could tell that two of the little ones were girls, based on the flower-shaped, cream-colored pattern on its tail, the same color as its little mane. The rest of their fur was brown, albeit their shades were a bit different from each other. Walking on all fours, and jumping around their parents, they certainly seemed like a rambunctious and energetic crowd.

"There they are," Miss Showers said, "I already talked things over with them, so all you have to do is slowly walk up there, kneel down and extend your hand, with your palm up."

I listened, feeling the cool grass touching my knees, and I was now kneeling a bit more than a meter away from the family, with my hand out. The parents were watching me, judging me.

"Hi guys," I said, "it's great to meet you and I'm hoping one of you will want to come with me."

Of the five kids, two of them hid behind their parents, while three tentatively approached me and started to sniff my hand. After a few seconds, one turned around, returning to his family.

This left two, one male and one female, judging by their tails, with them being almost the exact shade of brown, with the girl being a bit darker than the boy.

"We will travel a lot, but I'm going to be a trainer who will have a lot of battles. My goal is to be the best and my pokemon should have a similar ambition. I'm going to warn you guys now, that there will be a lot of hard training in the future. I will run you ragged and I will give it my all right beside you. There will also be difficult battles against monsters ahead of us until we snatch the crown of champions from their beaten bodies. So, decide if you want to excel alongside me, or if you'd rather remain in this cozy and safe life."

It wasn't the most welcoming pitch, but I didn't want to mislead anyone. Besides, I wanted a motivated partner who was all in, not someone who I had tricked and who went along half-heartedly.

I could tell both were thinking about it until the boy Eevee shook his head and walked off. The girl Eevee, though, I could see a sharp, fanged grin on her face, one I soon matched.

"Welcome aboard, then. I hope you are ready. The training from hell will begin the second we are leaving the Nursery."

She yipped and jumped on my shoulder, licking my face. I laughed and ran my hand through her fur, scratching her tenderly. Her fur was so soft and warm.

"Aww," I heard Miss Showers say and also heard a click, and when I turned around, I saw that she had taken a picture. "I always love scenes like this. Here, let me send it to you."

Well, that was unexpected. But now I had an Eevee.

 

[Nemrut]

So, this is actually really old. At least eight years old. It was this weird mega crossover idea, where a bunch of characters from various anime and I think games were shuffled into two teams, and two people on each team were randomly picked and had to fight to the death, which was very cheap because everyone kept reviving.

I honestly don't remember the exact setup I had planned back then. It was a bit based on the Angel Beats afterlife with the reviving part, but I guess in hindsight it became a bit MOBA-like. So, I have long forgotten the details of the setting, and I can't really find my old notes, nor can I find the complete teams. Only this finished first chapter, which is mostly a fight scene.

I do have to say, that I am still fond of the character interactions in this. So, while this will never be continued, maybe people will enjoy this first chapter as a weird one-shot.

Have fun
xxxxx

"I'm so screwed," sighed the girl on the left, who was, judging her appearance, between fifteen and sixteen, as she clogged the safety of her Close Quarter Battle Receiver, an M16 assault rifle, back, staring at her two opponents facing her in a distance that she knew was nothing to either one of them. She didn't deign the amused giggles of her ally next to her worthy of her attention and tried to blend them out.

"Don't worry, pet. You amuse me so much, I will look for your safety in this battle. You have to continue to impress me, naturally but I have the utmost confidence in you that you will."

The cheerful expression of the petite girl with the long, flowing black hair softened, as she brushed a bit of Yuri's violet hair out of her face, making her flinch and slap the hand away. "Oh, how I wish I could implant a bit of demon flesh inside you and make you so much stronger, but we are so short on demons here…"

The violet-haired girl threw a harsh glare at her companion as her words trailed off at the end. "Geez, I am so sad that didn't work out."

"So am I," replied Riful of the West, one of the strongest beings of her realm, ignoring the biting sarcasm with a sad smile on her face. "Imagine all the fun we could have together, the feasts we could have held."

Knowing what those feasts entailed, primarily human guts, the leader of the Not-Dead-Yet Battlefront, the SSS, threw the Awakened Being a look of disgust, before focusing her attention again on the threat on the other side of the stadium.

"Of all the psychopathic morons I could have been stuck with…" she muttered under her breath, drawing another giggle from Riful. Psychotic moron or not, the black-haired young girl, although much, much older than her youthful looks would suggest, was an unspeakably powerful one. Past battles had shown that the enemies she faced now (Yuri still wasn't sure whether or not Riful was among them) outclassed her. However, as much as Riful creeped her out, she was more than strong enough to take on both of them. No doubt, this was going to be a tough fight, one in which Yuri knew that she was going to drag her own team down. Nevertheless, it wasn't an unwinnable fight and if Yuri had experience in anything, it was matching a far superior being in combat.

Sure, she had died more than once doing that, more than a dozen times, actually, but she had held her own. And that counted. That counted big time!

Yuri's shoulders slumped as she realized that could actually put "got regularly defeated and killed by stronger creatures and humans" on her resume.

Banishing those thoughts, she realized that those two had left their spot and casually strolled towards the middle of the arena. With another deep sigh, she nodded at Riful.

"Let's go and meet them. Stick to the plan and remember to let me do all the talking."

Riful rewarded Yuri with another cheerful smile and saluted mockingly. Knowing this was the closest the former Claymore was ever going to come to listen to her, Yuri accepted it wordlessly.

Earlier matches had started immediately after the doors had opened and access to the arena was granted. Some had vanished from sight, and others had immediately launched some kind of attack, but over time, and after countless battles, things had changed; now, they would first meet in the middle and exchange a few words. It had started when some people on both sides knew each other and wanted to talk and from there on, it evolved, coming to the point that even people who had no clue who the others were going up and talked first before they tried to kill each other.

It wasn't all politeness and niceties, of course, through those talks, information was gained and revealed and one had to be careful to not give the others an opening that they could exploit in a fight. The main motivation had been curiosity and boredom, though.

"Ladies, so wonderful to see you," greeted the tall, black-haired man with the mustache, wearing a blue military uniform and sporting four swords with odd handles on his elaborate belt, smiling as if he was actually enjoying this. The sick bastard probably was. But the most notable thing about him was the eye patch that covered his left eye.

"Heya, Cyclops," greeted Yuri back, very well aware that underneath that eye patch was an extremely dangerous eye, something that proved that he wasn't fully human. She wasn't too clear on what it did but knew that it was close enough to the Sharingan, something that one of her teammates, as well as someone on their side, had, granting them superior sight and allowing them to react faster and see attacks and their patterns in a way that few people could.

Of course, it had other annoying abilities as well, and Yuri was sure that this eye granted more than just better sight.

King Bradley, also called Wrath, laughed. "I see you are in good spirits, always good to see that in someone so young."

"Why wouldn't we? I believe we have good reason to feel that way."

Yuri wasn't very experienced at this pre-battle banter thing, the enemy she faced most of her life had been Angel, who had expressed little to no emotions and she hadn't been the kind of person whom you could bring off-balance with trash talk. But a few of her teammates had insisted on doing so and even some of their enemies had started, so, it now all but belonged among the formalities of these meetings. And while Yuri's trash talk was all kinds of bad, she did have an amazing poker face.

Bradley, knowing all this, took it with humor.

"Why wouldn't you indeed. It pleases me to see that you have not given up. Too many humans are weak and it delights me to see those that won't give up."

"Giving up now would mean spitting on the sacrifice the Not Dead Yet Battlefront had made before us and betraying the fight our group is fighting now. There is nothing in any world that would make me do that. You and your blue friend are going down." A smile filled with confidence she didn't feel found its way on her face. "Hard."

"You really have some fire, squirt," grinned Kisame, hefting his trusted sword Samehada, still covered in bandages, on his shoulders. "Your mouth is going to get you in trouble, one of these days."

"To see someone her age act like this is simply incredible. I see a lot of Fullmetal in her. But just as he did, she has a lot to learn about this world too, no matter how valiant and proud she is." His amused smile never left his face. "Nerves of steel, indeed."

Knowing that they were only humoring her attitude, Yuri decided to cut back on the false bravado.

"I would ask if your mothers never taught you any manners but I know for a fact that Bradley never knew his mother, seeing he was raised by a creepy government and a freak-show family and to be honest, I don't know what your mother was, Kisame, but I doubt sea monsters are that big on manners."

Yuri knew she should take her own advice sometimes.

Bradley turned to his "blue friend", "See, Fullmetal, right there. The same righteous indignation. The same expression. I never wanted to praise and kill someone that much before as I do with those two."

Yuri was about to respond with another, not-so-clever quip but the man on the left let out a loud belly laugh. Bradley continued.

"You'll have to forgive us, little lady. Old soldiers are hardly the most gracious bunch." He paused for a second. "Well, I guess that is the best way to describe that lot. I see Greed and his little friends have not stopped their petty grudge."

"Not even close." And if Yuri had anything to say about it, they never would. They were much more useful with their hatred focused on the enemy side.

"Ah well, I will just have to teach him that lesson once more, it seems it is one he needs regular reminders off."

The insults didn't even annoy them and to be honest, Yuri hadn't really expected anything better. Those two were very difficult to rile up, right up there with Angel. Still, it had been worth a try.

"Well, as much as I am enjoying this little chat, I would like to skip to the part where I get to shave the skin of your bodies," said Kisame, his grin widening, revealing his sharp teeth, giving every bit the impression of a shark.

"I would rather torture them as well," admitted Riful, a disturbing smile on her youthful face, her hair beginning to ripple slowly, as if it were alive. "I've found that torture and maiming can lead to the most beautiful friendships and I do love to make new friends."

Yuri felt the coldness down her back as she gulped, desperately trying to control her face and not reveal her fear. She knew that even if she died, she would simply revive the next day, heck, she had lived with that for years now, but still, locked in combat with those three extremely dangerous individuals just was too terrifying for her, even if the worst of them was on her side.

Still, even if she knew she couldn't completely conceal her fear, she knew she had to keep up appearances. She would rather die (literally) than let them see any kind of fear in her. Thankfully, the attention of both men was on Riful now, who met the calculating gaze of Bradley and the equally disturbing grin of Kisame with a coy smile, looking almost eager to start, as if she would love nothing more than just to start torturing them right now.

"You are one messed up little thing, aren't you?" chuckled Kisame. "Have to say, you are my kind of gal, even if you are kind of scrawny."

"You say the nicest things," Riful said with a brilliant smile. "But I don't want to give the wrong impression, I already have a man. He is kind of dumb and useless at times, but what can you do, he grows on you after a while."

"The best ones are always taken." shrugged Kisame, his expression not changing one bit.

"If it makes you feel better, you would make a magnificent demon, if only it weren't for your unfortunate situation. And if we had demon flesh, of course, but I already explained to dear Yuri that we don't have any here. And using my flesh to make third-rate Claymores would just be insulting."

"Pity that, but I have to say, I kind of like myself now. And from what I have seen of you, eating guts and all, from those you killed, that's something I wouldn't like doing."

"We all have our flaws," said Riful in a consoling tone.

"Right you are."

"Just die¸ all of you," muttered Yuri under her breath before raising her voice. "I think we can call that a draw in creepiness." interrupted Yuri the "flirting", "I never would have thought that I would say this, but can just get to the fight? If I hear more from either one of those two morons, I am going to shoot myself."

"I am inclined to agree," nodded Bradley, his face showing his distaste. "Very well, it will be a pleasure to cut you all down."

"Riful, let's go," meeting Bradley's eye for one last time, Yuri turned, hearing the Abyssal One following her. Once she was sure they were out of earshot, she whispered.

"Be ready to engage battle formation 'Clocktower Rampage'."

She had prepared a few strategies and formations beforehand, depending on who was on which team, and seeing that they were all random, none of those could be overly specific but with trial and error, she had developed a few combinations and the names for them got the same reaction from her new teammates as from her old ones. Some people just couldn't appreciate good names.

Two of her teammates had gotten a good chuckle out of the name though.

Riful took it with stride.

"Seems like an appropriate choice," she murmured. "But I do so detest it when someone stands on me, my dear."

"Well, suck it up," snapped Yuri, "it's either that or I engage that bastard Bradley on even ground and that would be a quick fight."

During the conversation, she was checking her equipment. Her gun was resting at her side, as were the two knives concealed on her back. The rifle in her hand was ready to shoot the second her finger pressed the trigger and she had enough ammo for both ballistic weapons to last her through the fight as long as she used them smartly. And, of course, there was the comforting weight of her hand grenades on her belt.

"Such a temper," scolded Riful, but the infuriating smile never left her lips, watching as Yuri thoroughly checked the weapons she carried. "I will make an exception for you, pet. I always do. We are such good friends, after all."

"Less talking, more transforming," Yuri put her hands around Riful's waist, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"So bold," Yuri shot her an annoyed glare, her blush deepening when she saw the teasing smirk. Then Riful's skin changed, as did her hair. It became metallic, her yellow eyes changed to a glowing red and her petite form was replaced with a vaguely humanoid shape. Countless metallic threads formed a huge dome underneath her, causing them to shoot twenty meters into the air, making it resemble an eldritch ball grown.

Yuri let go of the transformed Riful and steadied her stance with a determined look on her face, looking down on Kisame, who had grasped his huge weapon with one hand and was lifting it effortlessly as Yuri would a toothpick, and Bradley, who had ditched his eye patch, revealing his mutated eye and was holding two of his swords.

The difference between those two lethal fighters couldn't be more different. Kisame's expression was a manic grin while Bradley's was stern and focused.

Despite herself, she started to smile. "Operation, start!"

Yuri began shooting. The violet-haired girl knew from Ran Fan that the world where they came from didn't have any advanced weaponry as she had. Sure, they had guns and rifles, even machine guns, but there was a huge difference between the assault rifles that were used in WW2 and the ones that were used in the new millennium.

So, while she knew that Bradley's eye and inhuman speed and Kisame's ridiculous speed allowed them both to dodge bullets, she also knew that it was not easy to do so with the bullets of her M16.

Yet, they still did. Bradley darted forwards, sprinting to the left, while Kisame made an impressive leap to the right. Riful, with a delighted grin, attacked with her hair, metallic threads, each sharp and strong enough to cut through stone effortlessly, shot forward, doing their best effort to impale the blue-skinned man.

Knowing that Riful was going to concentrate mainly on Kisame, Yuki was content to keep Bradley occupied. He lacked ranged weapons unless he started throwing his swords and it would be hard for him to climb up Riful's body without alerting her, not to mention that it seemed like a colossally stupid idea to fight on the body of the enemy that she could control to one hundred percent.

It seemed like a good plan in theory but Yuri knew Bradley to be resourceful and brave enough to find a way to attack her here and end her. Her only hope was that she could have him work for it long enough that Riful managed to finish her opponent and would help her kill Bradley.

And who knows, maybe she was lucky enough to hit him? Previous battles showed that he was as tough as a normal human being, albeit one that was at the peak of physical strength. A few bullets would put him almost certainly out of the fight, especially against an Abyssal One.

Yuki snorted, as she fired another volley of bullets which were expertly dodged by Bradley. As if she would have that kind of luck. She even saw Bradley deflect a few bullets with his swords and that was all kinds of impressive. And scary!

Darting between the sections of Riful's threads that had burrowed themselves into the ground, supporting her massive frame, Bradley occasionally tried to slice through the appendages. While his sword was able to cut through the material, it fixed itself immediately, and even while cut, it seemed it wasn't harmed at all.

Meanwhile, she saw how Kisame was deflecting Riful's attack with his oversized sword, shredding and cutting through the threads while expectedly avoiding getting hit, weaving through the attacks that he couldn't block with his sword. A quick glance at Riful however, told Yuki that the psychotic demon-girl wasn't taking this all that seriously either.

Hell, it was probably like foreplay for them.

Letting the empty clip fall to the ground and replacing it with a full one, she growled at Riful. "Stop playing around and get him, you moron!"

Riful's ethereal form grinned mischievously at her, doubling the number of threads she assaulted Kisame with.

"So pushy, love," she mused. "Don't worry, you are still my favorite, I just like to play around."

Yuki was grinding her teeth as the next rounds that left her rifle went on a bit longer than she normally would have, wasting more than half of the bullets in such a way, that they never came even close to hitting the fast-moving homunculus.

Angry at herself for getting goaded by Riful and wasting precious ammunition and also angry at Riful for not letting up on her…whatever it was she did, even while locked in combat, she took a deep breath and focused her concentration once again on Bradley.

When she saw him already halfway up of Riful's body, she cursed herself for letting her attention slip to that degree. With a small cry, she threw herself to the side, while shooting in his direction.

Bradley's swords pierced the spot she had just occupied.

"Crap."

A small smile appeared on Bradley's face before he dashed forward once again, both swords ready. Guided by pure instinct developed by fighting Angel for a lifetime, Yuri jumped backward while letting the rifle burst shot after shot towards Bradley. Even a homunculus with supervision couldn't dodge the bullets of an assault rifle at nearly point-blank range, and Yuri saw with satisfaction a few drilling themselves in his left shoulder and arm, blood starting to ooze from his wounds.

They, however, did not slow him down in the slightest and it was only thanks to Riful opening a hole that allowed her to escape with her life. Bradley's last slash before she dropped down was fast enough to slice her rifle in half and make a scratch on her stomach, piercing her school uniform.

She really should find some kevlar or something. Her uniform, cute as it was, hardly offered sufficient protection for battles such as this one.

Yuri clung to one of the threads, while she watched how Bradley retreated for the time being, as Riful's body had started to assault him. Even injured as he was, he was still fast and skilled enough to avoid Riful's attacks, but it had to be said that Riful herself was not seriously focusing her efforts on Bradley.

A quick glance told Yuri that Kisame had discarded his black cloak with the silly red clouds and was whirling his big sword around so fast, it was a blur, shredding through Riful's body as if it was made out of cheap plastic.

Not all that concerned with that, Yuri turned her gaze back to Bradley, who had distanced himself, but who was still focused on her. A small smile found its way on her face, as she drew her gun and started to shoot. So far, everything was going according to her plan. She had injured Bradley. He didn't have the freaky healing her teammate possessed and as such, it would continue to slow him down throughout the fight. And while it didn't slow him nearly enough for her to hit him with a normal gun, Yuri was certain that it would be enough of a handicap against a titan such as Riful.

I love it when a plan comes together.

She had to bite down the gleeful laugh (which had been, on occasion, described as villainous, to her chagrin) that would have otherwise escaped her throat.

Now all she had to do was keep her attention on Bradley and keep him from blitzing her annoying teammate from behind.

Suddenly, Bradley hurled the sword in his right hand, and it flew toward her with pinpoint accuracy. Too shocked to react properly, Yuri only managed to twist her body slightly, ensuring that the sword that would have other wisely burrowed itself into her throat, it only pierced her right arm.

She hissed in pain, but she didn't let her eyes leave Bradley, who had already started to spring towards her. Now that she was not on Riful anymore, he had to feel confident enough to strike her down, especially since she was injured like this. Not that on top of Riful would be any safer now that Kisame and Riful were fighting seriously, throwing big, flashy attacks around. And standing next to Riful's body was a sure way of getting targeted by one of Kisame's attacks.

Her gun roared three times as she pressed the trigger. Bradley dodged the bullets with such ease that he made it look simple. Grunting with pain, she dropped her gun and drew one of her knives.

I really should stop gloating like that in the middle of the fight.

Bradley, once again wielding two swords, thrust the left one towards her face which she managed to parry with her knife, her face a mask of grim determination. When the second attack came, Yuri ducked under it, and rolled to the left, dropping an activated grenade where she had been not even a second ago with her other hand. From the momentum of her roll, she hurled herself forward and desperately tried to put as much space between her and the grenade as possible. Wrath would definitely be closer than her to the detonation. Bradley might be faster than her, but her body had blocked his sight of the grenade and he would have only seen it when she was already out of the way. A second is not much time to put between oneself and an explosive, especially if one was injured and in the middle of a move.

The loud explosion hit her with some force, her arm and back burning as a hot wave washed over her. Yuri cried out in pain, dropping her knife and stumbling to the ground.

With tremendous effort, Yuri managed to hoist her protesting body around and looked at the crater. Bradley had indeed managed to move but he had obviously been caught in the blast as well. He too had lost his weapons and while had been hit worse, he was already nearly standing up. Yuri, summoning all her strength, reached for her second grenade, brought it up to her mouth, pulled out the pin with her teeth, and hurled the grenade with her remaining strength towards Bradley. Close enough to hit him, but not close enough for him to kick it away.

Bradley, with an impossible display of willpower and speed, managed to escape this blast, picking up one of his swords while doing it and making his way toward her. That was it, Yuri knew. She had no more tricks, no more plans. She could hardly move, she didn't have the strength to compete with that freak in her condition. Her only hope was that either Bradley collapsed on his own or…

Right at that moment, three tendrils slammed into Bradley with the force of a freight train, skewering him and lifting him off his feet. He was brutally smashed to the ground and another fourth tendril pierced his face, killing him instantly.

Yuri let out the breath she had been holding and collapsed on the ground with relief, a big smile making its way on her face. She heard Riful shrinking and walking to her. The Abyssal One leaned over her, her own face an angelic smile if one ignored the redness around her mouth and all the blood on her body.

"This is why you took so long? You stopped to have a disgusting snack?"

"So harsh, my dear, I simply had to watch your resourceful little plan and his guts were just so tasty, I couldn't help myself. Don't be angry." She brushed Yuri's hair from her face. "So broken, so beautiful, my little bird," murmured Riful, her voice wistful. "I could make you so strong."

Yuri felt panic rising within her, feeling helpless.

Thankfully, and Yuri had never been so happy to see them, her fellow teammates hat entered the arena, no doubt to pick them up and stop Riful from doing whatever she wanted to do.

"Yeah, good job, now step away from her, bitch," drawled a voice, accompanied by the familiar click of a gun. "Or I am going to give you a new asshole."

Riful's smile didn't waver at first, in fact, it got wider when she saw Revy, who, in her opinion, would also benefit from merging with demon flesh but it dropped when she saw the other two figures accompanying Revy.

"Magnificent work," praised Arturia, her face stern and her brilliant green eyes meeting Riful's without fear. "Now rest, you have done your part for our battle, and take joy in your victory."

On her side, Diarmuid stepped next to Yuri and gently lifted her. "Well fought," He said with a smile, "It was an honor witnessing a strategist of your caliber at work."

Yuri snorted. "Yeah, this played out without a hitch."

Riful, not particularly interested in facing either one of the two Heroic Spirits, especially in her condition, smiled sadly at Yuri. "We shall play more later, without so many interruptions." With that, and another nod towards Saber she walked out, humming.

Revy's gun followed Riful's movements until she had left the stadium and only when she vanished out of sight, did she clog the safety back on and holstered her trusted gun.

"Let's get the hell out of Dodge," she grunted, lighting a smoke. "We need to get my little apprentice to someplace safer."

"Don't call me that, moron!" grumbled Yuri, ignoring Arturia's wry smile and Diarmuid's chuckle, before darkness overtook her. Yeah, she loved it when a plan came together.




xxxx


So yeah, the characters are from Claymore, Angel Beats, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Lagoon and Fate Zero. I wish I found my old notes because while I doubt it was ever going anywhere, to have characters interact and fight in a setting like this seems fun. And that's enough reason for it to exist, tbh.