Dawn of the Shadows (Drakonnas / Grey) [M]

[Drakonnas]

Joka glared at her as she asked him to help train her. She recoiled away, hurt by his reactions. She had wanted to get better so that she wouldn't be in as much danger, as well as so she would be capable of defending herself. She didn't want to have to make Joka keep saving her. It just wasn't fair. She had to do her best. And her best right now wasn't good enough. She didn't even know how to fight. All it was right now was instinct... "You think I'm weak... Not worth your time and effort..." She said, frowning a little bit. "You don't want to bother to take the time... I mean nothing to you. I mean, I don't expect that I would, but... We can't go on a long journey together without at least a little bit of trust..." She said, turning away a little bit.

As his sarcastic and acidic comment about the Oran berries, Zoey seriously considered leaving. She didn't need to put up with this abuse, she didn't need to put up with his attitude. If he wanted to go it alone, he could. She didn't need him. She could always find someone else. Or so she thought. Pokemon appeared to be really hesitant to trust these days, with the darkness spreading around. And she was small, helpless, and weak. But she had one ability that she was learning to control. Her illusion ability. No one else had that strength. No one else. That made her unique, and that made her able to hold her own against anyone, if she learned to control it...

Zoey ate two sitrus berries, and was feeling back to her normal self. "I can make a pouch." Zoey said, her voice more acidic than she had hoped it would be. "It's not that difficult to do. I'll do it myself if you don't believe me. Then we'll have an emergency supply." She said, angry and hurt. "If you don't want me around, I can leave, you know..." But where would she go? She had been abandoned and helpless one time, she could go back there again, and find some way to survive...

But at the next comment, Zoey wasn't sure what to think. Was he trying to help her? Or did he just want to see her get beaten up? She didn't know, and wasn't sure she wanted to. "Yeah, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to become stronger." She turned to go towards the forest, "So what if I fail? Yeah, I might fail, but you don't have to sound excited about that..." She said, frowning.

As he asked her to battle him, she looked shocked. "Alright..." She said, turning to face him. She concentrated, and cast an illusion over herself, she now appeared to be a large Blastoise. But that was an illusion. Blastoise was a much larger target than she was, and she would be much more difficult to hit... She used double team, and suddenly there were ten copies of the Blastoise, all surrounding Joka. But only one of them was real. All were illusions. How would he deal with this?

Zoey was, when prepared, great with defense. But her offense needed some work.

[Ashen]

Joka was really starting to dislike this Pokemon from all the assumptions she made and voiced.
You think I'm weak. You think I'm not worth your time. I'm nothing to you.
Her assumptions only added to Joka's rage. He watched her with an unwavering gaze.
She was right, though. He did think she was weak. She wasn't worth his time. She was nothing to him.
But Joka wasn't going to let her tell him what he thought.

Joka was prepared to release all of his stored power on Zoey, but he would definitely kill her. He had to go easy on her, just until she was a decent strength.
He let some of his anger fade, weakening his drive for victory. This wasn't a battle about winning. It was a battle to test the Pokemon's power. Zoey had potential. She just needed to learn how to use it.

He watched her every move, judging her. He would judge critically, perhaps a tad harshly, but the end results would be worth it.
He watched the small quadruped transform into a large tortoise. It was like a Ditto, copying everything about the real form of its desired transformation. Except, Joka knew better. Zorua may be able to disguise themselves, but they could not copy their illusion's moves. Joka had nothing to worry about. The Blastoise wouldn't hit him with a hydro pump; this Blastoise didn't know hydro pump.
They didn't copy their illusion's type, either, so Joka could use all the fire he wanted.
Zoey may have looked bigger and badder, but she was still the same wimpy Zorua she had been.

The Blastoise suddenly had multiple copies of itself, a double team. Joka was surprised at Zoey's choice of moves. She'd be harder to hit, now. It was a wise play, raising her evasiveness so it would be difficult to hurt her. Joka would need a strategy to take out the real Zoey.
But, he didn't need a very good one.
He could tell the girl wasn't used to double team. Her illusions were less than flawless; one even faltered completely. He'd be able to find the real one. They were all illusions, but only one illusion would be better than the rest.

Joka turned to face all of the Blastoise, thinking. Zorua, he realized, was a visual Pokemon. Without visual hints, she couldn't do much.
So, Joka closed his eyes, and he listened.
He could pinpoint the location where Zoey was standing, and once he had that his eyes opened once more. He locked his gaze on the real Blastoise and used a weak ember, seeing just how great her actual evasiveness was.

[Drakonnas]

Zoey noted that he hesitated a bit, she smiled, that was what she was going for here. She needed a good defense, then maybe she could figure out how to attack. Zoey sighed, and jumped foreword, each of the Blastoises making different movements. She wondered if he could sense her approach. She knew her illusions weren't the best, or the most solid, but for pete's sake, this was the second time she had ever used the ability...

He was actually able to target her with not too much trouble, though he did seem to have to work a minute. He attacked her with an ember, which hit the Blastoise, but missed her, due to the illusion of the Blastoise being bigger than she was. She needed to be more careful. Zoey suddenly sped up, trying to use an Aerial Ace, she hoped the super speed would be enough to let the attack hit, it was almost certain to. But how much defense would Joka have? He was sure to be able to destroy her if he was so inclined. Still, she didn't hold back. Giving it her all, she attacked.

"I'm not holding back!" She thought as she attacked. She wondered how she would fare against him, and how he would test her. She knew he would be testing her, there was no way she could actually beat him. Would he start out easy, and gradually get tougher until she fell? How would he go about this?

Instinctively, she knew that she knew a few different attacks. Faint Attack and Aerial Ace, which were both almost certain to hit. She knew Incinerate, a very weak fire attack, Fury Swipes, a normal attack that hit many times, Double Team, and U-turn, a move that would let her attack, and get away quickly. But did she know anything else? She wasn't sure...

[Ashen]

Zoey's strength and tact surprised Joka in a pleasant way. He had underestimated her.
As the Blastoise illusion faded on impact, Joka's eyes locked onto the Zorua's. She was coming for him at a swift speed, an aerial ace that she was executing very well. Joka thought of a way to avoid the oncoming Zorua and in a split second he made his decision. Suddenly his claws started attacking the ground, moving a mile a minute to dig a passageway just under the earth.
Zoey wouldn't be able to attack him from underground unless she followed him into his tunnel. But she wouldn't do that; his fiery tail swayed as he worked away, surely prepared to burn any attacker from behind.

After he had burrowed a safe distance, Joka stopped to listen. He tried to pinpoint Zoey's location once more and attack her from underneath, to see how she would dodge him. After a few seconds, he found her. He dug up, trying to hit Zoey right in her stomach. His accuracy was flawless, but he was not going full force. It was the weakest dig he had ever preformed, perfect for the little Zorua.
He wondered how tough he should go on her. How badly he could destroy her, just so she knew who the alpha male was. Just so she knew her true power, or lack thereof.

Joka liked knowing about his opponents.
He had spent a lot of time reading about different types of Pokemon, different abilities, different matchups. Unfortunately, he wasn't remembering much about Zorua.
Joka didn't know all of their attacks. He didn't know if he had a type disadvantage to any of her moves. He was analyzing the match, taking the strategic route instead of the offensive.
And as he watched her move, trying her best, he realized he could up his offense. He could give the girl a challenge.
Who didn't love a challenge?

[Drakonnas]

Zoey saw him digging quickly, she couldn't follow him down there... So, she stopped, trying to figure out where he would be hiding down there. She heard him coming up towards her, and tried to jump up out of the way. He still hit her, but the impact was lessened by the fact that she jumped. She feigned injury, and fell to the ground, seeming hurt. She lay there for a few seconds, wondering what he would do. And then she loosed a Faint Attack, taking the enemy by surprise, and launching herself at Joka.

She didn't know if he would be able to avoid this one too, both Aerial Ace and Faint Attack were pretty much guaranteed to hit. She knew he might try digging again, but if he did, she was ready for him. She had a few things she could attempt, and several other things she could try. But she knew he was going to fight her without visual cues, so her illusions would not be as much help as they could be.

She was hoping he wasn't toying with her, that he wasn't trying to simply crush her to kill her confidence. She hoped he was genuinely trying to help her. But for all she knew, he could simply be trying to destroy her confidence so she would leave him alone... But she was going to give him a run for his money if she could.

[Ashen]

Joka wasn't surprised that his attack had landed on his target. She had jumped though, weakening his already weak attack.
She rolled over, seeming to be in pain. Was she really bummed out from that? No, that was impossible.
There was no way Zoey could have been done for from his dig. He hadn't put strength in it, and it hadn't hit her full force because of her dodge. She was faking. She had to be.
The illusion Pokemon.
She was planning her next attack.

Though Joka did see the faint attack coming, he didn't move out of the way. It wouldn't have been easy anyway; Zoey was coming right for him at a swift pace. He knew it wouldn't hurt too much, so there was no real point in trying.
Zoey's attack landed right on Joka. It wasn't strong, but that's what they would work on.
They would have to work on a lot if they were going to go all the way to the World Tree and meet Mew.

Joka had had enough of this battle. He knew Zoey's power now. He knew her strength, her defense, accuracy, her evasiveness. He had a nice idea of her power, and now knew what to push her towards.
Now it was time to serve her on a silver platter.
Joka smiled. His eyes locked on Zoey, who looked relieved to have landed an attack.
He wouldn't kill her, but he would defeat her. He'd bruise her up pretty bad, and test her endurance.
Joka would win. But then, that was expected.

Joka closed his eyes, keeping Zoey's location in his mind. He didn't need to see. He knew exactly where she was.
He prepped an ember from his throat and it grew in size. The flame blazed until Joka unleashed it, a fire blast, on Zoey. His accuracy was flawless, his execution was perfect. Joka's chest puffed out a little and his smile grew. "You did well," he said to the scorched Zoey. No doubt she would be in pain. He walked past her, as if ignorant to this fact. "You might want to get a hold of the Miltank in town. Her milk will heal you. As for those burns, Rawst berries are best for that." He shrugged his shoulders. "Not that I would know. I don't really get burned." He kept an eye on her, watching. He had needed to defeat her, of course.
But, Joka thought, perhaps he had gone a little overboard in his finale.

[Drakonnas]

Zoey landed the Faint Attack, but she could tell it hadn't really done a whole lot of damage, she was waiting for his next attack, ready. But this time, she had another plan up her sleeve. This time, without using the illusion, she attempted another double team, creating more copies of herself, switching places with one of her illusions, the fire blast slammed into the illusion, missing her completely. He thought he had hit her, the illusion was much better this time, because of one reason, and one reason alone. She had set up a substitute to take the hit for her. When she knew she was fighting, she could be pretty tricky. But her offense wasn't the best thing ever. And she needed to work on that.

She prepared another attack, jumped, and silently sailed through the air, directly at Joka. She didn't give up, no matter what happened. There was no giving up. She had never been a quitter, and would not start today. Though, most of her tricks and resources had already been used up... She had a feeling that the same trick wouldn't work on Joka twice... He'd probably be more careful, wondering what she'd do, and waiting for it, before attacking again.

Still, she did her best. Because that was the only way she could improve. She put everything she had into this last attack. As the substitute faded, she struck out at Joka with an Aerial Ace, hoping this would do something. Maybe she would impress him. Maybe not. SHe didn't know for sure. But she did know she was putting everything she had behind this attack. Maybe it would connect, and startle Joka with the power. Maybe he'd simply shrug it off like he did with her other attacks, and counter attack. But she wasn't going down yet, not just yet...

[Ashen]

Zoey wasn't done for yet.
Joka didn't realize this until after he had been struck, after the Zorua had caught him off guard. He was taken completely by surprise. Like any Pokemon caught off-guard, he attacked in defense, full-force.
Joka cloaked himself in flames and lashed at his foe, a flare blitz. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and therefore managed to hurt himself with his own flames.
A few moments later, Joka firmly back on his feet, he looked to see who or what he had hit. The Charmeleon's expression dropped as he realized it wasn't a rabid infected Pokemon, but the Zorua he thought he had hit spot-on moments before.

How had he failed?
He knew exactly where Zoey had been. He listened for her, concentrated on her location. He was sure he had scorched her.
Unless...
She couldn't have formed a substitute, could she?
Joka flexed his claws, mad. He didn't like being tricked, especially not by a little rat that he could murder with a single focused breath.

Flare Blitz was one of the strongest fire-type attacks. Joka hadn't anticipated using it against his pupil, and therefore didn't try to weaken it.
Now, Zoey would really hurt.
"I dismissed you," he hissed. "You do not attack me like that. Not after I dismissed you." The reptile was steaming, his anger tinting his voice. He was showing his anger because it was easier than showing his worry.
Joka was worried. He was trying to train Zoey, not kill her. He hadn't meant to hit her so hard. Such a small, weak Pokemon couldn't take such a hit.
He started pacing, wondering what he could do. Where was the nearest hospital? It had to have been a few miles away, not an easy distance to tackle with an injured Pokemon. He could ask his dad to fly Zoey to the hos-
No.
No, he could not.

Joka walked over to the Pokemon. "Zo?" he called, gently prodding her with a long claw. "Hey, Zo, talk to me, huh? Zoey, come on."

[Drakonnas]

Zoey's attack worked, for the most part. She had tricked him, he hadn't been expecting this turn of events. What she didn't expect was for him to be scared, and attack her with full force. She was not prepared for the attack that hit her. The flare blitz hit her like a truck, and she flew backwards, hit a tree, and almost lost consciousness. She was in too much pain to move. She couldn't think, her vision was blurry, and she couldn't hear anything. She lay there for who knows how long, unable to move. She hurt like hell.

Zoey couldn't hear Joka's words of anger. She hadn't heard him say they should stop the battle, she hadn't heard any of that in her concentration of their battle. As she lay there, in too much pain to even think straight, she saw Joka approach her, and prod her with a claw. But whatever he was saying was lost to her, she couldn't hear right, and she couldn't even respond to what Joka was saying.

The only thing she could concentrate on was how much pain she was in. She was saved by the little yellow and red ribbon around her neck, the focus band. She would have been killed by the attack had she not worn the focus band, but as it is, she was as close to death as it was possible to be. She tried to talk to him, she honestly did, but all that came out was a little moan. She focused on resisting the tempting sleep that was easing slowly up on her, she had to. She wouldn't succumb to that. Not now. She was too strong. Besides, she had to find out what had happened to her. She couldn't give up now.

[Ashen]

The Pokemon didn't answer him.
She had really been hurt. Joka thought of the pain she must have felt, but he shook his head, dismissing the idea. There was no use in thinking of that. He needed to do something.
He could always leave her here to die.
The idea crossed Joka's mind slowly. What kind of Pokemon would he be if he did that? What kind of heartless monster would that make him?
He wasn't going to do that. He wasn't going to leave Zoey to die. Not here, not ever.
He vowed it.

Once again Joka picked up the soft bundle of black. He started running, not entirely sure where he was going. He wished he had evolved sooner; being a Charizard would have given him the ability to fly to his location. Instead, he had to run, stumbling from his own pain from his flare blitz.
He kept running, not looking at anyone that raised an eyebrow at him. He couldn't stop; Zoey's breaths were too shallow. She didn't have time.
A Pokemon he had sworn to train and he had nearly killed her.
Joka couldn't believe himself. His grip tightened, until any tighter and his claws would penetrate her skin.

It seemed like he had been running for days.
The sun was starting to sink in the sky, which meant he had actually only been running for an hour or so. His legs hurt, and Zoey had grown so much heavier. He was about to collapse, but he couldn't stop. He'd never live it down if Zoey died.
Never.

Joka couldn't carry on.
He set Zoey down and collapsed next to her. He couldn't take it. He had failed.
He rested his snout on his arms. He didn't fail Zoey. Not as much as he failed himself.
And that's what Joka hated. He hated coming up short by his own standards. He wasn't a loser.
But here he was next to a Pokemon who couldn't even breathe thanks to him. And he couldn't even save her.
He was a total failure.

"Are you okay?"
Joka slowly lifted his head. His gentle eyes rested on the Pokemon in front of him. Shaking his thoughts clear, he stood up and looked at Zoey.
"What did you do to her?"
Joka looked back at the Rapidash. "She needs to get to the hospital. I can't take her."
The Pokemon seemed to consider something. Then, finally, she said, "I'll take you."
Joka didn't say thank you. He didn't care about manners. He just put Zoey on the Rapidash's back and settled himself behind Zoey. He kept her in place with shaking claws.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked the Rapidash who had already started running.
"Why not?" she replied and let out a whinny.

They arrived at the hospital in about another hour. Joka jumped off of the Rapidash and then gently took Zoey down. He didn't cast another glance at the Rapidash.
He found the strength to run inside the Pokemon Center and set Zoey on the counter. "Fix her," he snarled at the Chansey behind the counter.
Joka hadn't even noticed the Rapidash follow him inside. "Is she going to be okay?" she asked the Chansey.
The Charmeleon wanted the Rapidash to leave. He was appreciative of her help, but her job was done.
And he didn't want anyone here when the nurses said he had killed her.

Joka was sitting in the waiting area, keeping his crystal eyes on the door to the back. The door Zoey had disappeared behind. The Rapidash was standing next to him, keeping her eyes on the Charmeleon.
"Sir, you really don't look well-"
"Shut up," Joka barked. In a gentler tone, he said, "I'm fine."
"You look pretty beat up," the Rapidash said. "Why did you deny their help?"
He turned to her, his face emotionless. "Look," he said. "I really appreciate you getting us here. But we really don't need you anymore. I can handle this now. I am fine. I do not need to be treated. I. Am. Fine. You don't have to stay here."
"I know I don't," she replied. "But I'd like to see if the poor girl is okay."
"She's fine," Joka said, straining to keep his voice calm. "Go away."
"You're really rude," the Rapidash said, taking a few steps away.
"I'm rude?" Joka repeated. He motioned a sharp claw towards the door to the back of the Center. "And in a few minutes they're going to tell me I'm a murderer, too. Now." He looked at her, into her. "Do you really want to cross me?"