What A Reef!

There wasn't anything quite like a gorgeous, wonderful day beneath the rippling waters of the ocean. As a water-type, Tom felt quite at home in his natural element, and was enjoying his time off from rigid exploration and assisting others within the guild. The waves above him, shimmering and glistening like stars in the sky, refracted the light from the heavens and presented them proudly to the world beneath the churning, frothing waters. Below, a bustling community sprawled out in a bouquet arrangement of undersea vegetation of various colors, stretching its limbs out as far as it could possibly reached. This location was bursting with life and variety, and the Coral Forest seemed to understand this honor that it had been blessed. It flourished, thrived, and was fruitful.

The Totodile, treading water at the surface some distance away from the explosion of diversity, had his head poking out into the chilled air of sunset. It was always a magical experience to watch the sun set at sea, and glorious to watch far off Wailords and their offspring breach and spew water from their blowholes. He would plunge into the depths once more, but for now he was quite content simply observing the world revolving around him.

The seeming tranquil scene continued on for a moment longer, until the sea life of the Coral Forest seem to flee as a sense of danger overwhelmed them. Not far off from the totodile, a beast weaved his way through the tranquil water. His powerful body forced its way through the current as if the currents moving against it were nothing. The red scales of the beast reflected the sunlight and almost blended with the red sunset, but the moving shape of the pokemon stood out like a sore thumb under water. This was a gyarados. Considered to be one of the kings of the seas.

This particular gyarados, unlike most, were not seeking for a fight, instead it seemed to be having a leisurely swim. Proteus, the gyarados, had been away from the water, traversing the land for quite a while, and had not been in the waters since he was a foolish little magikarp. The red sea monster continued along, in search of a friendly face, since most didn't seem to take a liking to his coloring nor his large body and furious nature of his species. It was not long before he spotted the totodile, relaxing towards the surface. A faint hope filled Proteus, as he neared the totodile, hoping it wont become afraid and flee on sight of him, similar to most pokemon.

Aloof and ignorant to the fact that life was swiftly retreating beneath the swirling waters of the ocean, Tom continued to observe and enjoy the sight of the Wailords and Wailmers breaching. Their silhouettes, intensified by the glorious sunset that occurred in the Western horizon, stretched out as their massive bodies breached. The solemn, sad songs they sung seemed to echo and resonate with the churning waves, and he was simply too entrenched with the spectacle to rip himself from it. Of course, he would become quite puzzled as he heard them communicate in long, drawn out sounds and witnessed the pod vacate the premises, and would right himself upon the surface as he pivoted about upon the spot.

Where had they gone?

Something stirred beneath the waters, and Tom's attention was drawn downwards, his skull and neck slowly tipping downwards as he came to notice the splintered, but very real image of two ferocious eyes peering towards him. He doubted what he had seen at first, and thus allowed his head to duck under the water, and all too quickly recoil as he recognized the behemoth size of a red Gyarados. The Totodile was usually quite a brave, stouthearted individual, but he was not foolish: as far as he could tell, the Pokemon incarnation of Jaws had just appeared beneath him. He yelped, prolonging the sound as he frantically began thrashing about in an attempt to get away, fear lagging his progression and making him quite slow.

The gyarados loomed behind the slow paced totodile, the massive jaws of the red beast just behind him. It would be reasonable to assume that Proteus was about to make a move and devour the totodile whole, but instead of lashing out and swallowing the small crocodile pokemon, he spoke, "Uh hi there...you don't need to be afraid of me, i'm not here to eat you or anything."

He had made his way around the totodile so his eye was beside the totodile, although giving a fair distance as he tried not to frighten the small pokemon. He was a bit disheartened to see the pokemon become overwhelmed with fear, but at least this pokemon was slow enough for him to be able to get a word or to into. He had tried speaking with various other pokemon, all either fled, became too afraid to respond, or retreated into whatever shell or home they had. The gyarados kind of missed the days when he was a magikarp and nobody was afraid of him, but back then his intelligence was limited, giving him a love-hate relationship with the event of his evolution.

Just as in any horror movie, the Totodile would waste a golden second to investigate the scene occurring behind him. The waters had parted and the sea serpent's terrifying cranium slithered forth from the water's protection: jaws open and gaping and eyes appearing hostile and savage to a petrified crocodile. He gulped, surrendering himself to the idea that maybe he tasted too much like sewage to be truly worth the effort of ingesting him, and allowed his hands and arms to cradle his snout and skull like a babe. His eyes closed, and he became quite convinced that the end had just knocked on his door.

Then came the most pleasant and welcome surprise he had ever head: the ferocious beast with a countenance that might make grown men cry had no intention of devouring him. Though his constricting upper appendages did not relinquish their secure caress of his beloved head, a single eye facing the Gyarados would slide open hesitantly. His voice - a mere hollow shell of its former shell - sounded out in disbelief and unmatchable surprise, "W-What?"

The large eye blinked as the small creature seemed to question him in utter disbelief. Proteus 's body hung in the water low below him, his fins moving about the water as he kept himself afloat as he spoke to the totodile, "I'm not going to eat you or anything, nor am I going to attack you for the sake of a fight like most gyarados do...i'm not like that."

He was a bit desperate for contact with another intelligent pokemon, the last contact having been quite a while ago with buizel that too had been afraid of him, and before that it was with Serenne the milotic and Revira the Omanyte. The gyarados wondered what the two were up to now, the omanyte was probably off discovering the world and trying to help others make life better while the mioltic was probably off searching dungeons or training so she could go into dungeons alone in search of those strange instruments she seemed to be so fascinated with.

Upon hearing confirmation of what he had originally perceived to be a trick of his ears, Tom would allow his protective cradling of his facial feature to slacken entirely. His hands and arms would droop into the water as his body pivoted, the sound of sloshing liquid welcoming the relaxed environment. This ferocious beast had no desire to devour him as a snack, and that was just enough to make today one of the greatest ever. His snout would directed itself up towards the snake behemoth as he analyzed his facial features. Though quite intimidating, this Gyarados, as far as the Totodile could see, had intelligence that swirled behind his narrowed pupils and glistening eyes. It was perhaps a yearning or a longing that had brought the colossus to him that day, and, perhaps still motivated by the desire to not incur the creature's wrath, was willing to oblige.

"Oh!" he would half exclaim, half sighed, "What a relief! If you're coming as a friend, then I'd gladly reciprocate! My name's Tom; what's yours?"

The gyarados's fading hope was rekindled as the totodile seemed to relax a bit more and give him the title he went by. The gyarados smiled and responded, "I'm Proteus, sorry about the scare, its not something I can help with though since my species has quite the infamous reputation. I haven't been in these waters for quite a while since i've been exploring around on the land. I missed the water and its so much easier to move here so I decided to come back for a bit."

The gyarados's fins flapped in the water, the sea life below still cowering in fear and just waiting for the moment they thought would come. In their eyes, they thought the beast was luring the totodile into a false sense of security. He was going to befriend them, and then just when the little croc thought he was safe, the gyarados would smash the totodile with its massive tail and eat him whole. It seemed that few had the courage to go up and warn the pokemon of the danger that just might be about to occur...

Kat carried out 1 launched of one Coral Forest :

"Nice to meet you, Proteus!" Tom would jovially cry, extending forth a hand before promptly retracting it, "I would shake your fin or something, but I don't think that is physically possible..." His voice would trail as the Gyarados promptly talked to him about how hard it was to be him. Knowing what the crocodile knew about being a big, bad evolution - and having seen the effects it could have upon a good Pokemon firsthand - he could understand the treatment that everyone would give him. Gyaradoses would be peaceful, bumbling Magikarps one moment and ferocious, dangerous predators the next.

Then something Proteus said absolutely fascinated him. With the Gyarados's explanation concluded, Tom would pipe in with an inquiry, "Exploring on land? I didn't know your kind could go on la-"

He was cut off by a prompt pull on his tail from beneath the water's surface. A trail of bubbles would be indicative of his lack of preparedness, and he struggled violently to break free from the grasp that some creature had upon his being: his limbs would flail, his head would thrash, and his tail would wiggle. Eventually, Tom was able to break free, and he would dart up a ways so that he might analyze his assailant. It was a Skrelp of all things!

"What's the big idea?!" he would angrily exclaim.

[Energy: 44 - 10 = 33 - 2 = 31 Energy Remaining]

The skrelp looked as if it were about to speak, but looked to the gyarados with an obvious look of loathing and caution. Its fins flapped aggressively and spoke, "Go away. You're scaring everyone, and if you're going to eat the totodile you may as well just do it now instead of toying with it like this."
The skerlp viewed himself as a brave and daring hero, ordering the gyarados to leave or else...or else...well it did not quite think about what would happen if the gyarados refused to leave.

Proteus blinked, a confused look on his face as the skrelp spoke, which was rare coming from a wild pokemon from his experience, and spoke about him toying with the totodile. His head submerged as he moved closer to hear the Skrelp out and speak to it himself, "Toying? How am I toying with Tom?"

The skrelp huffed and spoke, "Well you're obviously trying to lower his guard so its easier to eat him! So you're little plan failed and you may as well just keep on moving to look for stupider prey!"

Tom's limbs treaded the water aggressively as he heard such a preposterous argument. Lower his guard? Ha! He was an excellent judge of character, and could tell the disposition of anyone he had just met by squarely looking at them in the eye. Of course, he would kindly request that no one bring up the fact that, after doing such a technique, he had cried like a wee child in the face of a seemingly ferociously Gyarados. This would tarnish his reputation of weeding bad Pokemon out from the good Pokemon, after all!

Perhaps, however, the only thing that really irked the spirited Totodile was the fact that he had been addressed as stupid. It was simply implied - through his generally flawed logic - that, by simply associating with the colossal sea-serpent, he was to be dubbed of inferior intelligence. In a gesture of haughty, arrogant rage, Tom propelled himself towards Proteus so that his hand might make friendly contact with the behemoth. If he had had arms long enough, he most certainly would have slithered it about one of the giant's segments.

"I'd say that you're stupid," he would huff, "for thinking that even the most terrible of giants cannot be the most gentle!"

The skrelp swallowed, the others would think that he was cowardly if he backed away and they wouldn't believe him if he went back and said the gyarados was nice, even he still didn't believe it. He was sure of one thing, that totodile just called him stupid, and he didn't quite like that very much. The skrelp gave a glare to the totodile, before a string of purple substance pushed its way through the water and towards the totodile in an Acid attack. The move was quickly followed by strange spikes flowing through the water that glowed purple and seemed poisonous to the touch. The spikes seemed like it was easy to maneuver around them, but they were too close and frequent for Proteus to intercept the fight without being touched by the poisonous spikes.

"If i'm so stupid then prove it," the skrelp seemed to be challenging the totodile. Proteus grew a bit frantic, how would he help? Flamethrower probably wouldn't work underwater, and Water Pulse might hit Tom and confuse him. He couldn't get close enough to bite the Skrelp, and that left one move he never wanted to use unless in an absolute emergency, Outrage. This didn't quite seem like it though, as Tom's life didn't seem to be in any serious danger. Who knows, Tom might be strong enough to take it on with ease, although the gyarados still wished he could help.

As a flurry of needles seemed to pierce the current's influence and ignore its pull, Tom did his best to not touch them. He would frantically swim downwards, his limbs flailing as if he were drowning, and maneuver out of their toxic reach. What this did, unfortunately, was put him directly into harm's way. An Acid attack soon bombarded his scaled flesh, gnawing eagerly at the hardened protrusions prior to being slowly washed away by the water. The Totodile righted himself, and found that this Skrelp - whom he had presumed to be a concerned citizen - might as well have been a vigilante. What was worse was the fact that the Acid seemed to be having some sort of effect on him: the world was turning different colors, slurring, sliding - had he gotten some in his mouth?

Tom was not immune to the idea that this was now a fight. Cowardice and being passive would not serve him well here, and thus he began to think about a slur of profane and provocative thoughts. Horrible things, terrible things: they simply instigated a Rage upon him. Glowing red and body fuming, he charged forward in an attempt to use Rage upon his aggressor.

The skrelp seemed to yelp upon seeing the ferocious totodile, and set up even more poisonous spikes in fear of the crocodile pokemon. The aim of the poisonous spikes, was off due to the fear as they spread more towards the left of the totodile instead of directly into his face. The skrelp was struck with the attack, and tried to get revenge on the harmful attack by spitting more acid at the blue reptile.

Proteus didn't quite know what to do, he didn't want to get poisoned, but he wanted to to help his acquaintance. He was pretty sure that he would be able to sweep aside the Skrelp if only it would leave the poisonous net it had set up to keep him at bay. Proteus eyed the skrelp, ready to give it a slap with his large powerful tail fin should it leave the safe zone.

With great speed and agility, the Totodile had managed to get through the apparent minefield of toxic spikes. It was quite eerie, in Tom's mind, how effectively a single poke from one of those petite thorns might poison and tear a creature apart from the inside; he envied venomous creatures for their potential to deal damage over time. Though his vision was somewhat blurred thanks to the peculiar effects of the Acid, he could feel his attack make contact with his aggressor. It was a method of catharsis for him, and he could feel his anger dissipate as his movements followed through. There was nothing quite like enacting upon one's fury, but often the consequences were quite extreme. His thoughts traveled to Cynthia and about how she evolved and released that internalized emotions, and he couldn't help but feel partially to blame.

In such close quarters, and with the effects of his Rage subsiding, the Totodile would attempt to crunch down upon the Skrelp's proboscis. Its effects would prove two-fold; not only would he prevent the hazardous spikes from being successfully spewed forth from his opponent's mouth, but he would also deal damage and prevent the expulsion of the seahorse's "breath". While not too clever and educated in the anatomy of fish, he knew one thing was for certain: things with holes were good to bite.