The NUVEMA Team

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Nuvema Town || Noon | 7

The Ditto-made-Nidoking rams into Jacques, driving him into the burning building and causing it to partially collapse. He stomps back out, unfazed by the flames due to his thick armor and gave a bellow of half-excited fury. Slamming into Unique, he grapples with his doppelganger, but Saphalom’s psychic energies make it difficult for him to fight. After shoving the Nidoking aside, Jacques resists his psychic forces, approaching gradually. The ghost stops his telekinetic force, preparing himself for an attack that he knew would come. After coming within leaping distance, the Nidoking roars. “So ya want to test me, eh? Fine! TEST THIS!”

Jacques launches into a massive leap, bridging the gap between him and Saphalom. The Dusclops had prepared for the attack, reaching out with his large, limbless hands to hold back the vicious Nidoking. The dusclops cushions the blow with his psychically boosted hands, and it becomes a stalemate of strength between the two of them. From the palms of the Dusclops radiates the beginning of a heavy Psychic blast, as his eye narrows in a ghostly sneer. He idly speaks as he holds back the brute, taking the opportunity to offer a private telepathic message to the Nidoking. The Dusclops is uncaring of whether the lizard pays attention to it or not, but hopes for the former.

”You impress me, Nidoking. At light’s death I may return to meet you, to find conflict or truce.”

The others had prepared their own attacks, as he could absentmindedly catch from the background noise.

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Nuvema Town/Noon

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Nuvema Town || Late Morning | 8

Sapahlom stands strong as the Nidoking clashes with him. As they struggle, Jacques begins to taunt him. “Ain’t ya learned by na ya ghastly bastard! All your psychic does is knock me daahhhnn. Ya can’t st--“ A Shadow Ball is launched from beside the Dusclops, striking the Nidoking. Perfect; the distraction worked. It’s a shame the Nidoking did not hear out my telepathy, though. The Nidoking shouts out in rage, stumbling backwards from the pain. Sapahlom looks over to see that Woe had blasted Jacques with the move, despite being sickened by the earlier Venoshock. Jacques roars out at him. “You’re tougher than I’ve given ya credit for, Woe! But I’ll kill ya loike aw the bloomin’--“ Cut off again by another attack, Jacques roars in frustration from Panthera’s swift Aerial Ace-boosted charge. She had flanked him during the distraction and brought her sharp claws down the back of the Nidoking. As Jacques tries to threaten her, Buck jumps in and blasts an Ice Beam straight into the Nidoking’s gut, stunning him. Sapahlom steps at a distance from the enemy, to give himself time to react to any further attacks.

The attacks had taken away what calmness the Nidoking had left, and he bellows to them all. “That’s it! Ya aw wanna attack me from behind, eh?! Well, lesse ow ya aw attack, when I’m this PISSED OFF!!!”

Saphalom stands ready as the Nidoking goes into a brief bout of concentration. His massive armored tail begins to glow lightly, which slowly fortifies with an iron-like glisten. Bringing his vicious stare to the Dusclops, Jacques shouts out. “COME AT ME NA!” Jacques bridges the gap him and Saphalom within only a few seconds, surprising the ghost.

The strike comes fast and hard. The Nidoking’s tail swings towards him, but the ghost blocks the attack. There is an enormous amount of power in the strike, and the angle was excellently performed. It slips out from above Saphalom’s block and slams into his [barrel-shaped] chest. His eye blinks shut from the force. The powerful strike sends Saphalom rushing back, making him slide back many feet. He only comes to a halt after he is clear from the battle, after he regained sense from the blow and dug his hands into the ground to ground himself to a halt. The strength of that attack was amazing, and while it did not cause the ghost true pain it did daze him. It takes a second for the ghost to regain composure and reopen his eye. It glows as lividly as it did before, and he gives another chuckle. There was no pain, but the impact left a pleasant numbness. Raising his hands back up to his sides and staring at the Nidoking, he assesses the state of the battle. Woe has fled from the fight, lobbing one more Shadow Ball before heading towards the building the group had been in just before the battle started.

Saphalom wondered where the ghost was going, but decided to dismiss his curiosity. Instead he returns his attention to Jacques, starting his retaliation. A dark shadow crawls out from under the Dusclops’s feet and rushes on the ground towards the Nidoking. The Shadow Sneak move lurches up out of the ground upon getting close, prepared to strike down the Nidoking.

((OOC-- I think it would be an interesting idea, Unovafan; maybe the evolution could be symbolic of Woe becoming braver and more determined to help his friends?))

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Nuvema Town/Noon

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Nuvema Town || Noon | 9

As Saphalom stands there and recovers from the rest of the knockback, he watches the Nidoking agilely dodge the Shadow Sneak he had launched at him. It was an awkward avoidance, but his foe managed to get by only with a slight injury to his right leg. The brute takes another opportunity to try and insult him. “Attackin’ me while I’m distracted? Well I guess that’s as ‘onorable as a Ghost type can get, eh? What’s more, a five on wahn battle is a lil’ unfair doaan’t ya fink.” Saphalom stands there silently, taking in the taunting without a single trace of irritation. His eye unwaveringly stares back, “Can’t blame ya though, me newly evolved form could make short work of any of ya on a wann on wahn battle!” That would certainly prove true against most of the group, but with Saphalom’s full power it would probably end in a stalemate between him and Jacques. The both of them are powerful, and they would be wasting time with such a squabble.

Panthera was still barraging one attack after another at Jacques from behind him. But she is countered when Jacques takes notice of her performing an Aerial Ace, and turns around to impale her with one of the poisonous horns on his head. He was about to retaliate with another lunging Shadow Sneak, but then a spike of ghostly energy radiated far behind him, seizing his attention. As the power diminished and concentrated, he turns to see a large flamethrower blast straight through the roof of the house it was contained in. A heavily damaged but otherwise still-strong Chandelure floats out and moves around to flank Jacques from behind.

“Jacques, this is your last and final warning;” the ghost says. There is no sense of true fear within his voice, only the sheer confidence of bravery. “Stop this fighting now, no one needs to die from this. If you do not comply, then I will be forced to absorb your soul. Please....surrender....”

The bravado of the newly evolved Chandelure interests the Dusclops. It is intriguing to him to see just how much confidence he has obtained from something as simple as evolution. And the passion he has to defend his friends like that amazes Saphalom even further. How is it that people can still be so caring of each other, even during this Epidemic?

Saphalom stands his ground, knowing that with everyone fighting at once one of his attacks would be bound to hit an unintended target. Whatever was going to happen between the newly evolved fighter and Jacques was bound to be something big.

((Lol I don't really know what's happening at the moment so I just focused on the main thing. ^^;))

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Nuvema Town/Noon

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Nuvema Town || Noon | 10

Saphalom was expecting carnage, but was surprised at the Nidoking’s strong common sense. In fact, he completely turned around the Chandelure’s threat with a loud laugh. He then spoke back to Woe, warning of how toxic his very soul would be if Woe tried to burn it. There was no doubt on Saphalom’s part that Jacques’s soul may not be poisonous, but it certainly would not be good to absorb--it was far too dark with aggression.

Then, Buck stepped up near Woe and supported the ghost’s threat for Jacques to leave. He exclaimed his shock at the idea of the Nidoking having his soul devoured, but also warned Jacques as well. The Nidoking then spoke to Buck, taunting him for the injured state of Panthera and Unique. As he stomped his way back to the cover of the surrounding forest, he gave a few more words from over his shoulder. He admitted to retreating, and gave his reasons. But before he completely entered the forested land, he warned them importantly. “Noa ya can aw attack me, prolly take me daahhhn but I kna that wahn of ya would die tryin’. I suggest ya aw stay back an recuperate. You’ll ‘ave a better chance of not dyin’.”

As Jacques departed, Woe turned around and concernedly spoke to the group. “Where is Panthera and Unique? Are the rest of you alright?”

Saphalom gave a simple answer, showing more consideration for those who may have taken worse injuries. “I am well.” He looked to the burning Pokémon Center building, sensing a soul still inside. As if on cue of his own thoughts, the Nidoking-mimic Unique came bursting from the flames and tried to charge after Jacques one final time. He did not worry too much about him attacking Jacques and provoking him, for he had already left into the thick of the town’s surrounding woods. Now, where was Panthera? She was the one who showed the most aggression in battle, and she may have sustained an unnoticed injury. He could not find her on his first browse over the town, leaving a tinge of worry to tarnish his impassive mood. The spark of concern bothered the ghost momentarily, as it brought up an old trouble he thought was settled and over. His neutral person showed none of his concern, but he was bothered inside. And why exactly am I worrying about these people? An even deeper question rattled his hollow mind, as he tried to rationalize through the strange dark vestiges of his broken memory--The same memories that were scattered by his old mishap with the Spiritomb at Celestial Tower. These people are far from weak, so I cannot kill them. They have innately accepted my presence, despite the dangerous times. He accidentally lost himself in thought as more questions piled up, and he could not help but lose his attentions of the others as he looked distantly to the raging flames of the collapsing Pokémon Center. There was a visible dimming to his eye, as he blanked into his pondering. Are they accepting me? Why should they?....

((OOC -- Oh goodness :U So sorry for the late and cruddy post.))

((Hope it's OK for Buck to do that, Silve. If not let me know and I'll edit.))

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Nuvema Town| Noon (12)

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Nuvema Town || Noon | 11

As he watched the others speak about helping with Panthera’s poisoning, an unnerving sensation crawled into his ghostly senses. The sheer energy of it made him flinch and shudder, as he stared immediately up into the sky towards the emanation. What he saw shocked him, as he noticed the swiftly diving corpse of a Charizard. The darkness in its soul was overpowering, and he stepped back in horror at its power. He was about to dodge it, when he noticed exactly where it was going. It aimed down upon the newly evolved Woe, releasing gusts of wind as it landed on top of the Chandelure. Its eyes were hollow holes, and its body was a scarred and dismembered mess. Yet it showed great power in every sinew--and it presented that quite well after a long roar of hatred. It took one of its massive feet and stomped down upon the cracked and inanimate body of its victim. It flew back up into the air, churning out a caustic fountain of lava. A roar finished the show of dominance, launching the fire upon the surrounding ground. Saphalom broke out of his horrified trance just soon enough to block the bubbling deluge headed for him, using a Psychic to harmlessly bounce it at a safe distance beside him. After he was safe, his eye fixated upon the crushed body of Woe.

Saphalom stared, truly horrified. It triggered a memory, one that he had only scant recollections of throughout the recent months. He recalled the fear, the terror at the beginning of the Epidemic. The Chandelure’s corpse reminded him of his fears, of what he had done. He was a coward. And now another innocent victim had been slaughtered by the Epidemic right in front of him. “No, NO!” His single eye exploded into a violent glare, as he clenched his hands in furious defiance.

However, an Undead had come from the forest nearby--a bloodthirsty Toxicroak doubtlessly attracted by the sounds of the carnage. It had aimed for Buck, but Saphalom intercepted it and dragged it under his maddened visage with a strong Psychic. He turned his livid-and-gold eye to stare at it with utter hatred, and even the Undead in all its insanity could not help but quail in fear. Saphalom muttered darkly to it, projecting the hatred of his loss into its frail mind. “Filthy little demonspawn.” The Toxicroak’s smirk turned into a frown and then to a croak of horror as Saphalom’s right hand began to close, causing the Psychic energy around the frog to compact itself. The sheer telekinetic pressure was so heavy that it caused the monster’s limbs to fold in as it was crushed into a cancerous and bloody heap. It did not even have time to make any more sound before it died. After he was sure it was dead, Saphalom hurled its compressed corpse so far into the woods that when it landed it made an audible slam as it broke against a tree. His rage subsided quickly after that, but his sorrow still remained.

His sanity had been forced back into his mind by the event, and he looked towards the corpse of Woe, the vicious glow in his eye dissipating. He simply stared at the corpse, but puts a hand to his head at a growing agony. Despite being a ghost, he could feel a hollow throbbing in his skull; it felt like true pain, pain that was tearing at his void-like mind. And still, though the situation still seem improper to him, he could not help but question his motives. Why do I care for these people? Why should I care so much about this Woe, this wannabe hero Chandelure? He recalled what he had thought just moments after he felt the guilt of Woe’s death.

Woe reminds Saphalom of himself, the coward that he was and still is. But why--no, what should I do? Do these people really need my help, the help of an insane Dusclops?

((OOC -- Nuuuuu ;A; Not Woe! Also, long post is long :U))

((I listened to this while writing this. Big mistake. :'( RIP Woe.))

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Nuvema Town/Noon (1)