The Princess's Expedition

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The only sound that echoed through the mountain was the sound of the wind, in the mountains, one could spot a blue shine. If one were to zoom in on the blue shine, they would spot a small reptilian creature with tiny arms and a large jaw. Across the big jawed pokemon's neck, lay a blue amulet, that signified her royal descent. The blue sapphire shined brightly as the tyrunt stared at her finally finished shelter.

It was rather rude, due to the tyrunt's inability to stack boulders easily, and consisted of using an already overhanging dent of a rock, and taking several days to move two boulders to the side of it so she could be enclosed in her area beneath the overhand. It was not quite the best for a princess such as her, but it would have to due. She had no servants after all, or subjects, knights, anything!

The tyrunt sighed and placed her belongings in the back of the tyrunt formed cave, which just barely fit even her, except the amulet. She always wore the amulet with her to places. It was all she had left of her home, all that she had really brought with her that was not consumable or for supplies. Victoria looked up to the top of the mountain she set up a shelter at the base of, its obsidian peak was jammed into the cloudy sky, as if stabbing into a piece of fluff. The sky could not be seen by the amount of clouds, and she could not care less about this area's gloomy look. She had claimed this area, and now it was time to begin her empire!

She began to grin at the thought, but the grin slowly faded as a question came to her mind.

How was she going to do that?
((Energy: 19, Victoria Lives here.))

Enzu watched patiently as the pokemon began to start fighting. This assured him that all the pokemon were not friends, and that also meant that Enzu would have to make a choice on which side he should ally with. After some thought Enzu decided to side with the two pokemon who already held control over the cave. That way he was allying with the larger group, he just hoped that the two of them would allow him to enter the cave. When the Charmander used its Smokescreen attack Enzu lost sight of what was happening at the cave's mouth, so he decided to wait a little longer before entering the squabble.

The male tyrunt howled as his tail end was caught in the blast of the Dragon Pulse. He glared into the thick screen of smoke, as if hoping to see a hint of the charmander. The impatient young heir pokemon gave a bellow as it grew frustrated, and heavy and quick footsteps cued that it was charging right into the thick smoke. The enemy seemed to lack brains to make room for its brawn as its jaws dripped with the purple liquid with high toxicity that was just waiting to pump itself into the charmander's veins and infect its body with some serious poisoning.

Meanwhile Victoria, the dripping wet and covered in mud tyrunt, glared at the pawniard as it did not seem to notice her. She watched the tyrunt dash towards the charmander, and was torn between helping her guest and eliminating a potential threat. The tyrunt looked back to the other tyrunt to see a screen of smoke suddenly appear and a blast of purple energy shoot from the screen at the tyrunt. Victoria stared for a moment, her jaw falling open slightly in awe of the powerful move, "I'm guessing...he'll be fine..." she spoke, blinking. Most of her reasoning was that the charmander seemed powerful enough to take care of the tyrunt, and the other half was fear of being mistaken as the other tyrunt and getting hit with that intimidating blast that she envied a bit.

The tyrunt shook her massive head and turned to focus on the pawniard that had not noticed her yet. She charged as quickly and quietly as she could, which was a bit difficult due to the slippery ground, as her breath became colder and a coat of ice surrounded her fangs. It was Ice Fang, a move passed down from generation to generation in her family!

It would have been exceedingly unwise for Ares to remain stationary for long enough after his attack had been fired so that he might get visual confirmation on whether it hit or not. Instead, as soon as his sphere of statically-charged dragon energy was launched towards this adversary, he would once more disappear into the thick cloud of smoke that plumed slowly out of the cave's entrance. His orange body moved fluidly through this artificially induced chaos, attempting to confound his opponent. Moments after his Dragon Pulse attack raced through the dense smoke - its sheer power slicing through it and causing it to part as it soared with little discrimination in the direction it had been fired in - an angry howl greeted the sound of a miniature explosion. The orange lizard, who had long since skirted back into the rolling grey, smoldering mists of his own concoction, allowed a prideful smile to creep along the edges of his lips. Silence was all he could do to celebrate his hit, and soon he was back to his concealed dance.

While Victoria was confronting an unexpected visitor that had appeared outside the present battlefield, Ares was busy attempting to maintain a constant level of smoke inside the hut. It was a simple law of diffusion that was being followed as the rolling, licking plumes of smoke attempted to find their way out of their confined location. With one available exit that allowed a large quantity to vacate the premises, those outside would naturally begin to have the ability to see a copious amount of smoke begin to puff forth from the single entryway. Compensation was necessary should he wish to continue to maintain this type of battle - one of attacks and disappearance - and soon he found himself streaming forth smoke once more from his slitted, narrow nostrils in great quantities. Another Smokescreen attack was launched continuously, a steady stream of smog pumping out of his nose. He would pause occasionally to allow himself to catch his breath and assess where his opponent might be.

Once a good level of smoke was once more in play within the rock heap's hollow body, the Charmander would once more locate his Tyrunt opponent. It had apparently charged into the thick of the smoldering and living smoke in order to search for its quarry, and its thick, heavy footsteps had given Ares the ability to identify where it was lurking. He would once more launch a Dragon Pulse attack, attempting to hit it squarely and hopefully discourage it from persisting. Not that Ares would protest if it continued with its assault: he was all for prolonged battles that eventually tore an opponent's mind and body into disarray.

Enzu watched as the cave began to fill with more and more smoke. He was starting to question how the pokemon inside were even able to see each other for a battle, when all of the sudden Enzu saw another Tyrunt come running from the edge of the fog. This one had what seemed to be a sapphire on its back, which indicated to Enzu that it was the one who was originally in the cave.

As the Tyrunt got closer, Enzu saw that there was a large amount of mist coming from the small dinosaur's mouth, indicating that it was about to use some form of Ice-Attack. Enzu still wanted to try and remain on the good side of the two pokemon in the cave, so he figured that avoiding a battle with one of them was the best way to go about that.

Enzu quickly stood up and hopped back a few rocks so that there was more distance between him and the on coming Tyrunt. Enzu then held his blades up high to indicate that he did not intend on fighting, and he hoped that the Tyrunt would see it that way.

Victoria's charge came to a halt as the pawniard backed away a few jumps and seemed to hold up its arms as if he did not wish to fight. The tyrunt blinked in confusion and stared at the pawniard suspiciously, she looked back to the ever filling cave of smoke and began to grow a bit worried for her guest she had barely just met but seemed to be friendly. She looked back to the pawniard and growled, "Are you with the idiot tyrunt or no and if not do you wish to fight?" She had decided to be more straight forward with her questioning and ask the more important questions first, take care of the pest, and then ask the lesser questions later.

Meanwhile, the male tyrunt was taking his dear sweet time looking for the charmander, trying to find a hint or something by squinting through the mist and not using his ears. The lesson of using eyes in a smokescreen being a bad idea was soon taught to the male tyrunt as a blast of purple energy struck it head on and pushed it back out into the now pouring rain. The tyrunt slid in the mud like Victoria had and was now coated in it with a few scars from rocks its skin had scraped against.

The tyrunt struggled to pick itself up, but eventually succeeded. It gave an enraged bellow in the direction of the charmander, but seemed to be wary of charging back in again.

The sound of sizzling energy flittered through the air in the rock heap as a Dragon Pulse sphere once again sliced through the smoldering smoke like a warm knife through butter. It charged headlong towards in its designated direction and tore through the heated, clouded air until it made contact with something solid. A minute explosive sound boomed forth from pure Dragon-type energy colliding with hardened flesh, and momentarily it appeared that this battle might be at its conclusion. Such a blast to the head would knock even the most rugged and hardened of creatures to their knees.

This Tyrunt was a whole other monster.

A stoic, emotionless gaze pierced forth from the dissipating fog as he assessed the situation and watched his quarry be forcibly removed from the locale. His claws had been raised in a precautionary manner in case he might have to slash and hack at his adversary as a more persuasive movement. As his observations pointed towards the need for further violence, smoke slowly began to pour from his nostrils once more. Though the battle might not occur again within the shelter, it was best to set up the battlefield in one's favor in case it should.

There was something that Ares was beginning to like about this slippery business of attacking and retreating. Though, undoubtedly, his clan's code of honor would call him cowardly or cheap in resorting to such unsavory tactics and maneuvers, this opponent had proven himself to be incredibly strong. It had survived two super-effective Dragon Pulse attacks thus far, and had even managed to clamber back to its feet - arduously. The Charmander was in no hurry to complete this battle and even quite enjoyed the musing over whether or not this Tyrunt might languish and be left in an unfavorable position. Its roar was indicative to its present location, along with the sloshing and skidding of its heavy, stocky body in the mud. This Tyrunt was like a disobedient animal that could not be taught through normal means.

Ares would teach it in a more appropriate way that even the thickest of beasts would understand.

Another Dragon Pulse would race out of the cave towards the struggling brute, attempting to strike it once more quite squarely while it attempted to rise to its feet. Though the battle had been instigated by this unsavory intruder, it would be ended by Ares.

Enzu was glad that the charging Tyrunt came to a stop once he had hopped back and held up his blades. Even though he used to be a dojo owner, he knew that there was usually a better option then fighting. His father and grandfather had always taught him to get as much information about a situation as possible before resorting to battle. And his grandfather's favorite saying was "The brain is the strongest muscle, so make sure to use it the most."

When Victoria seemed to challenge Enzu to a fight he shook his head and said, "I am not an ally of that other Tyrunt," he said, "And I do not wish to fight. Only to find shelter from this rain, and I would be very grateful if you would allow me to temporarily take refuge in your cave." Enzu was shocked that this Tyrunt in front of him was almost completely ignoring the battle of her ally. Even though it seemed like the Charmander was easily able to hold its own against the second Tyrunt.

"I do not wish to fight" was all the tyrunt needed to hear before she turned to go back to helping the guest. She looked back to see the tyrunt fleeing from the dragon pulse just in time and just barely missing the tyrunt. She began to charge towards the tyrunt herself.

She avoided the blast from her ally by stopping before it ended and charging forward with fully ready fang of ice. She tackle into the male, pinning him down with her large feet and taking a bite into his back. The tyrunt howled in pain and began to panic as ice began to overcome him and begin to freeze him, the male flung the female off and into the mud once more before getting up again himself and giving an enraged roar.

The male turned and grabbed the female tyrunt once more and flung the annoying pest away from him and back into the shelter, hoping to hit the charmander. Victoria unleashed a screech as she was sent flying through the air once more, and was heading straight towards Ares except slightly off to the side, if left alone she would only partially strike Ares unless he moved.

The male tyrunt began to glow a light brown as some rocks nearby were lifted by the brown tendrils that emitted from the tyrunt's brown light. The rocks were beginning to be flung towards the Charmander and the shelter, as the tyrunt bellowed in absolute rage.

The sound of surging energy whizzing through the air and into the nothingness of the rainstorm greeted the Charmander's ears as he gazed on from behind his smoke veil towards the scene going on outside. A far off boom and cracking of rocks faintly echoed in a distant location, indicating that the Dragon Pulse sphere had collided and exploded with a far off rock wall. As Ares remained ignorant of his hostess acquiring a new ally, his mind grew closer and closer to the desired nirvana that could be achieved from long brawls. He greeted the fact that his attack had just barely missed with silence, and allowed it to blossom and linger as the smoke continued to pour forth from the rock heap. It was inevitable that such a layer upon layer of thick, grey smoke would eventually diffuse across the concentration gradient and be swept casually outside as if a cooking accident had occurred. His orange body slowly appeared as the smoke clouds licked against the supporting boulders of the entryway, revealing that his flame had grown exponentially.

Rain continued to pepper anything outside with extreme prejudice as it appeared to increase. The loose, soft soil that had originally consisted of a fine powder began to mix and coagulate into thick, slippery globs of mud. Though some sections were more quicksand like - in that they would grab at toes and legs and cause a creature to sink slightly should pressure be applied to its surface - than slick, a combination of the two appeared to have welled up in front of the rock heap. It was therefore quite impressive that the Tyrunt had managed to maintain its footing in the silt and toss the Charmander's partner towards him rather than simply slipping like an oaf or moving cumbersomely like a gigantic ooze monster. Perhaps this was the reason why Ares hung back in the rock hut: he was not inclined upon meleeing his opponent if he was merely destined to get caught up in the horrendous battle conditions that were welling up outside.

The lizard had, by this time, connected his flame and mind together in order to complete two-thirds of the triangular connection required to battle at one's fullest potential. It was an long-practiced training exercise used in his clan to help young Charmanders focus on fighting and moving fluidly. Elders and experienced adults could generate this link within moments of either inflicting or receiving damage; youngsters like Ares generally required build up time. As the Tyrunt tossed Victoria at him, he would not be caught unaware. He would smartly sidestep out of the way and behind a wall that separated him from the outside, allowing her to careen past him. While it was quite unfortunate that he would not provide cushioning for his hostess, he was not inclined upon being squashed by a bipedal, squat lizard.

Ares would maintain his refuge as the Tyrunt charged up its attack, remaining stationary behind his protective wall as his mind raced for ideas. Obviously his opponent would know that the Charmander was within the rock heap, but his exact location would be difficult to pinpoint once he had taken shelter behind the wall. The sound of rocks hammering into the rock heap was enough to encourage him to act, which occurred when he once more exhaled copious amounts of smoldering smoke in a Smokescreen attack. This would hopefully allow him to have the ability to move to a more favorable position once it had been expelled from his nostrils - perhaps Victoria might use this as a good time to charge.

Enzu watched as Victoria was thrown into the cave by the other Tyrunt. Enzu figured that the two of them would be able to handle the Tyrunt, but he also thought that it would be better for him to help in the battle. That way he could be in their good graces.

Enzu then took his ready stance to launch two Psycho Cuts. He began to focus his mind on building up energy within his blades just as his father and grand father had taught him. Enzu calmed his mind as the blades began to grow into their crescent shape. Finally once the blades were to their full sides he launched one blade with a large twist of his upper body. As Enzu twisted, he then pivoted on one foot so that he completed a full spiral in his current place. Then as he came around the end of the spiral, he launched the second Psycho Cut in the same direction as the other. The two blades then flew towards the Tyrunt in front of the cave. Luckily it hadn't noticed Enzu because it was too distracted by the other two pokemon that it picked its fight with, so the Tyrunt did not even move out of the way of the oncoming blades.

The unsuspecting tyrunt was bombarded with psycho cuts, the cuts ran deeply into the tyrunt's skin, and caused it to howl in pain once more as the cuts slammed into its jaw. The tyrunt screamed, and began to flee, losing all hope now that it was against three and not just two anymore. The tyrunt slipped several times as it attempted to flee, only succeeding after getting to a rockier area of the land and using the friction of the rocks to run.

Meanwhile, the mud covered tyrunt was trying to get up in her own shelter again. She had been slammed against the back wall, but luckily not hard enough to upset it and cause the whole shelter to come tumbling down on top of both the charmander and Victoria.

She struggled up on her own, a bit dizzy from hitting her head on the rock and trying to keep her balance in standing in one spot. She blinked a few times and shook her head, accidentally flinging some mud around the place from when she slid in it earlier despite some of it being washed off by the rain. The world finally stopped shaking for the tyrunt, and she looked to the charmander with a bit of an amazed look, "You're really strong..." she spoke, since she had done almost nothing to the other tyrunt other than get tossed around a lot. She seemed to have forgotten all about the enemy tyrunt.

As the smoke finally stopped pumping forth from Ares's nose and the sound of stones beating against the protective rock heap subsided, his head would move toward the opening in order to investigate what his opponent was doing. Though the thick smog had created a decent, concealing barrier between himself and the Tyrunt, the Charmander's experienced eyes could make out the shapes of those battling on the outside - not to mention that the veil was thinner nearest the entrance. For the first time during this hostile encounter, his emotionless face would contort into an observant frown as his eyes analyzed the situation before him. It appeared that their adversary was now being lacerated by a Pawniard. Considering the fact that he was still ignorant to the fact that Enzu was on their side - and he was not one to take risks - he would allow the Steel-type to participate in driving the hostile foe from their front door before taking him out. At least that should suffice: the winner of the brawl would be rewarded quite excellently with Ares's fire.

The noise that the Tyrunt produced was quite horrific and straining to the lizard's ears. Though he had experienced many a battle and had downed several superior foes, they had never actually vocalized their pain and terror in this mannerism. Sure, they might yelp or whine, but nothing quite as grotesque as this. A placid look would wash the determination and analytical frown that had originally taken up residence upon his face, and it appeared that Ares's eyes had widened slightly. He admittedly had not expected such hysterics or a reaction.

The rain continued to pelt the ground fervently, causing the mud and silt to roll into a moist, tacky combination. Anything with weight would sink a couple of inches into the loosened and dense soil and dirty their feet - it was possibly enough to make even the most lenient and lackadaisical of mothers cringe if such feet were to cross the thresholds of their homes. Smoke continued to wisp about as the Charmander dashed towards his hostess, lowering himself so that he might determine her condition.

Living.

Breathing.

Okay, we're good here.

He would take a large step back as she stumbled to her feet, a stoic expression given as he attempted to give her as much space as possible. When she seemed to slither out of her mud-skin like a snake shedding its skin, damp soil would splatter his immaculate orange body. Her comment caused his lips to twitch upwards slightly, and a radiating sensation of pleasure emanated from within the deepest recesses of his body. He would have afforded her verbal appreciation for her compliment if he did not have one more "enemy" to dispose of. A reptilian gaze would slink towards the Pawniard as his tail's flame burned passionately. He was still in full attack mode, and would spew forth several fire-balls towards the stranger that he deemed a threat. He would attempt to use his Ember attack on Enzu, allowing his peppering attack to splinter and fragment in the air as it raced towards him.

Enzu watched as the Tyrunt was hit by his Psycho Cuts and ran off, he guessed that the Tyrunt didn't want to try and handle fighting three enemies at once. Enzu then turned to look back at the cave. When he did he saw the Charmander glancing over at him from the entrance. Enzu figured that since the battle was over he could start making his way over to the cave. But suddenly the Charmander started to launch fire at Enzu, most likely because the other Tyrunt had not gotten the chance to inform the Charmander that Enzu was not there to fight. However there was no stopping the oncoming fire balls. So Enzu jumped to the side to avoid them. He just narrowly made it to a large rock when the fire balls flew past him. Since they were flying through the rain they created steam as they flew. Enzu looked at the trail of steam that was quite literally right in front of his face, indicating that he had basically gotten lucky in avoiding the attack. Enzu then turned to face the cave and held up his blades once again to show that he was not an enemy. He then shouted out towards the Charmander, "Do not attack! I mean no harm!" Enzu hoped that the Charmander would believe him and avoid another, and unnecessary quarrel.

The tyrunt's eyes were stinging as the remnants of the smoke screen drifted out of her shelter, although she did not appreciate the smoke bringing burning eyes, she did thank it silently for keeping her guest safe. Victoria blinked and did not seem too worried when her guest began to attack the random Pawniard. The tyrunt spoke, "It's okay...I think...he said he did not want to fight..."
The tyrunt's amulet was dirty, but it the blue sapphire still shined as if it were clean. Although it did not reflect anything due to the pounding rain's relentless attack on the earth below and blocking the sun from reaching its rays to the ground. She picked up her amulet from her chest, as if checking if it were unharmed, before letting it drop and dangle from her neck once more.

A snarl-like growl vibrated Ares's vocal cords as he mercilessly stared on towards his newly designated target, his tail flaming on with the intensity and heat of a conflagration. The battle for him had not yet been completed, particularly since his hostess was seemingly down and out. Sheer ferocity and intimidation were tactics that the Charmander now relied upon considering his main opposition - the Tyrunt - had taken several hits and had only been downed by this Pawniard after he had done all the dirty work. A puff of smoke was pumped out of his nostrils, his eyes narrowing as he attempted to strike fear into the heart of this opposition. As his Ember attack peppered the ground, and each tiny fireball splintered off into a shower of self-consuming cinders, he would once again ready an attack. His mouth would open to reveal the entrance of his esophagus and a sphere-like light radiating within. It grew in intensity and light, and was indicative of a Dragon Pulse be prepared.

He cared not for whether such an attack would be super-effective or not. As far as Ares was concerned, it seemed to be the most effective in dealing with hostile personnel and would thus be resorted to in times where intimidation would be required. As the sphere seemed to roll forth out of his mouth and exponentially increased in diameter, his quarry would begin to seemingly plead. Innocence? Surrender? Ares knew not these words nor the meaning unless his adversary was face-deep in the dirt or retreating as fast as their legs could carry them. An enemy could not be trusted, not even if they pleaded for mercy. He had learned this lesson from the stories that the clan's elders had recited with ever changing details.

A beloved leader emerges in victorious in battle.

The two sides meet.

The hero is stabbed with ever changing weapons in his arm's socket, leaving him to bleed out and die.

The End.

Ares was earnest about not turning out like that foolish leader, an would continue charging his attack until the voice of his hostess was heard. He froze, and purposely fired his Dragon Pulse to the left of the Pawniard. A sharp, critical gaze would be directed at Victoria, his reptilian eyes laced with confusion and obedient curiosity. A slow, thick eyelid would swipe across the outer layer of his eyes and promptly force him to redirect his harshness in the other's direction. Not a threat...? He would flick his fiery tail, and would promptly disengage with a prolonged exhale through his mouth. Wispy white smoke would be produced, and a sudden sensation of serenity would embrace his senses. He wouldn't attack his hostess's guest - for as long as he remained as such.