My Only Sunshine... (JJRP2)

The land was devastated, nothing but dirt and crack in the grounds. This used to be a fertile forest, but it had long since been devastated. This was the place The Champion had used her strange power to fight The Principal, everyone here knew that. There were two people standing side by side, with three on the other. While it was not meant to be the battle field, it had some how become the battle field between the Two Sinners and the Three students of Jupiter.

It was a pokemon hijacking attempt, the Sinners were attempting to steal the student Shara's tropius. Katie and Lily were here to stop them, there were others, but they had already retrieved those, this was the last pokemon they needed to defend. Katie glared at the boy with the tyrannitar, her tyrantrum looming in full size behind her as it growled in anger.

Her war hammer was held in her hand, resting slightly on her shoulder. They were at a standstill. The tropius had been returned to Shara, but she did not plan on letting these two off so easily, especially since one of them was her brother.

"Ready?" she asked Lily with a confident smirk.

--

Jesse huffed in annoyance, his massive sword laying seemingly uselessly on the ground with his hands on the hilt. He glanced to Christopher, it wouldn't be good for them if they returned empty handed, quite the opposite actually. The Champion would not be too happy, and the students that lack pokemon would be disappointed. Running was not exactly an option for Jesse, being too slow even if he was not in his Mega Form. He would have to get rid of his weapon to move remotely fast, but that would leave him defenseless. Christopher would be able to get away, especially if Jesse stayed to hold them off.

Though it would be even worse if they were to lose a Sinner instead of just returning with nothing. It would be devastating if they were to lose two sinners though. This was quite a pickle for the sinners, and the grin on his sister's face told him that she was not prepared to show mercy.

He huffed, picking up his sword and stabbing it into the ground. One hand clenched the handle while the other was placed on top of the ball-point end. There was a harsh wind that surrounded him as he did so, summoning a sandstorm as a sphere of light encircled him. When the light shattered like glass, Jesse's sword was even larger, there was a set of armor coating him, and the sandstorm grew harsher. The tyrannitar on his shoulder appeared to be ever so slightly bigger, and looked different.

Mega-Evolution.

He was prepared to fight to the death if need be, for there was no other option for him.

With her white hair flowing slightly in the breeze, Lily nodded, her Serperior next to her in full size. She looked at the two Sinners, her gray eyes focused on the space between the two, looking at both teens at once. She gripped the hilt slightly tighter than before. She couldn't lose against them, not when an innocent student and her Pokemon were in trouble. It was either her life, or theirs.

Although these feelings were strong, they were hidden under the dull husk known as Lily's skin. Almost no one could tell what she was thinking, and it was even harder for those with psychic abilities to accurately read her mind when her weapon was drawn. She didn't dare look back at the student she was protecting. There would be some noise if something happened. She didn't blink, either. She would give no openings or any signs of a lowered guard.

When their Tropius was away, Shara felt empty, unable to react, but the small plant dinosaur was returned to her, so grateful that the human couldn't find the words. They held him in the palm of their hands cupped together, just staring at him, lost from the world for a while.
"Are you okay?" Shara whispered soothingly to the Tropius they held, checking for anything in particular that might affect him negatively. They didn't want it to even cross their mind that the well-bonded companion of theirs could be hurt enough to be troubled. It brought tears to the bright, oddly colored eyes that hovered above the grass-flying type. He looked up, relieved to see Shara's face again and hopped up the arm that was holding him and onto the shoulder he sat on since the two first met.

Shara quickly became aware of reality once again, the wind suddenly buffeting them as they became aware of the atmosphere and terrain, like suddenly being hit with a large stone called reality and waking up to it from an ageless dream. Perched on Shara's shoulder, the Tropius, who the trainer often called Tropi, gazed out at what was occurring ahead. Lily and her Serperier were prepared for battle in such a ready fashion, Shara couldn't even begin to compete. The shy student hadn't expected the school to be like this at all, and now they found themself on a battlefield, heart racing with fear and anticipation, anxiety attacking with the worry of being attacked, or worse, Tropi getting harmed. Whatever could be done to protect the Pokemon that stayed by their side in a safe manner, Shara would do.

Currently, the field just felt like a staredown, and despite being behind the two more authoritarian figures for protection, the weaker student felt intimidated by the enemy side. Swallowing the fear that rested in an uncomfortable lump in the back of the throat, Shara forgot about the tear-shed memories that caused the lump in the first place, leaving their current train of thought as easily as the lump did. With the fear gone, Shara stepped next to the others, looking to them as if to say, "I want to help, too," in the shy silence of their purple eyes. Shara was intent on being a helper from afar, the healer and possibly the capture of an enemy prisoner wit the hypnotic powers of the arrow's healing fruits. Whatever they could do to help that wasn't out of their comfort range, Shara would do.

Their heartrate increased as a Sandstorm suddenly brewed, a huge sword appearing in the hands of the enemy side. A shocking change that Shara barely noticed occurred in one of the enemy's Pokemon, the sword scaring the weaker trainer even more. Could this be the special ability the Sinners had that the teachers explained? The description matched perfectly, and the effects even more so; Shara's heart sunk and eyes widened as they felt a sudden impression that doom awaited them all, and instantly at that. Could they even match this power? Shara supposed every event, and every action mattered, so trying their best... Shara would do.

Christopher had merely be standing in his Level Ward stance, looking at the foes and waiting, at least on the surface. His mind was racing, trying to identify what tactics would be of best use here. Having previously belonged to the same school as his opponents, he knew somewhat about the main duo, two elites. Though he had never studied them actually in combat, he had a general idea of what to expect due to their weapons.

Seeing that his fellow Sinner, Jesse, leaded off with his Mega Evolution Christopher smirked slightly... They did have that advantage, the ability to become more powerful then their foes, and if he guided them properly, to outmanuvere them. For the moment however, Christopher didn't follow suit, intending to use his Mega Evolution when he truly needed it rather than wasting it.

Christopher made an odd hand motion towards Jesse, trying to relay the instruction that they should use the sand storm to fall back and conceal themselves. His thought process behind this was twofold, only one of them would be able to effectively manoeuvre in the storm, and though at first glance that'd be true for the Sinner's, that was far from accurate. The other reason however, was that it gave them a strategic advantage, not only were they most likely more used to the storm, they had a better means to use it to their advantage, be it for escape or flanking... Or even isolating amps termpinating a single foe.

Beginning to focus on the solid ground beneath his feet, Christopher faded back into the raging storm, using the stable earth to guide his steps amongst the whirling chaos. Hopefully Jesse understood what Christopher was planning.

A sandstorm brewed, the winds whipping at the bare legs of Katie, maybe she should have worn pants...Either way, she tightened her grip around the hammer and lifted it off the ground. She sifted forward quickly to attack her brother, "Just don't get in my WAY!" she shouted in response to the girl with the tropius, her voice level rising just before her her hammer impacted the sturdy and broad blade of Jesse's sword as it rose to defend him.

She rushed out of the way of the blade, back to her Tyrantrum in a hit-and-run tactic as she heard the sword whistle just inches from her back. There was the sound of crunching stone as the sword dug into the dirt before Jesse pulled it out and seemed to disappear a bit into the sandstorm. Her eyes were assaulted by the storm, it was difficult to see, and Jesse had gotten out of her sight. Her Tyrantrum gave a bellow, able to see in the sandstorm, and charged towards Chris, an ex-Juniper student. The tyrantrum roared as he neared the student, prepared to sink his teeth into the traitor.

--

Jesse blocked an attack from his sister, before giving a swing and backing away. He had no problems seeing in the sandstorm, it was likely that the tyrantrum was able to see as well, though he was not quite sure about his sister. He heard a roar, the tyrantrum was attacking something. The heavy hitter prepared his sword, but backed away. He needed to figure out whether Christopher wanted to withdraw or beat them down. If Christopher started making a break for it, Jesse was likely going to go a different direction. He would likely be followed since he was slower, so he could at least lead them away from Christopher if need be.

Lily squinted in the sandstorm, dust and dirt blowing back her silver hair. The girl had only one way for her to combat the weather. Get away from the center, where it would be the strongest. Maintaining a safe distance from the source of the storm, she could see a certain traitor moving through the storm. She saw Katie's Tyrantrum charging at him, and waited to see what would happen. She knew that she should only intervene if it were necessary.

"Are you OK?" She looked over at the student and Tropius she was protecting. Hey grey eyes surveyed her, looking for any marks or cuts visible. She had her sword at the ready in case there were any other students from Jupiter hiding. Serperior was circling the two, looking for any signs of other students laying in the darkness.

Trying to ignore the pain of the sharp sand crystals whipping against their face, Shara realized that they couldn't see anything before them, often squinting back in fear of sand blowing into their eyes. The fear-filled student shielded their eyes with one hand, cupping the other over the Tropius on their shoulder to protect him. If they focused beyond the sand, they could sort of see through it, seeing the seconds of time where the sand wasn't obstructing the view rather than when it was. Similar happens if one holds their hands up to their face, where you would think the person can't see, but a minor adjustment of focus could allow that person to sort off see "through" their hands. It was a fun eye trick to play when Shara was younger, but in what seemed to be a life-death situation, this was far more serious.

The student winced as the loud voice from Katie boomed harshly, at least from what Shara's ears could tell, in warning of her to stay back from her plan. The Elite didn't have to tell them twice, so Shara backed down as the others charged into battle. Thankfully, A far more sympathetic voice metaphorically reached out to her like a welcoming hand to save someone from drowning. The hurt and anxiety flowed out of Shara's worried heart and they looked to the Elite they trusted a little more, eyes still shielded. They nodded shyly, uttering over the wind, "Yes," and hesitated before continuing. Shara leaned forward a little, muscles tense as they brought together all their courage. "But I want to help. I don't want to be useless, so anything I can do, I'll try..."

They nodded a silent 'thanks' to the Serperior that circled them protectively, and took a deep breath, filling their lungs with a bit of stinging sand but also courage. Trying to suppress a cough or two, stifling without doing so, Shara focused on what was happening ahead. The battle had already commenced, in what seemed to be too soon a start, Shara mentally prepared themself for whatever might happen next. They looked to the Tropius on their shoulder with sparkling, worried eyes, but nodded without hesitance for what they would do. Thankfully, the grass and flying type got the message.

Tropius glowed a pale green emanation, disbanding as a husk might do when coming off a seed, and a glow in response to which summoned a grassy bow into Shara's positioned hands. They had practiced this several times before, so their confidence in ability of this had settled. As it was still glowing, Shara pulled back the arrow from the bow connected to the string, feeling the updraft blow their short blond hair into a messy fluff, and as the weapon came into full-color appearance, Shara released, feeling the power of the arrow shift away from them and shoot over to the ground. A plant sprouted up and around the arrow head, the shrub remaining plain but was still worth a shot at growing fruits. That's how Shara always wanted to start a battle, unwilling to hit or hurt anyone.

Now was the time to attempt something they had little practice for. Shara glanced at Tropi, however, who's look seemed to say "please don't". The last time Shara had attempted to fly, they lost control and fell and got very hurt. It clearly wasn't worth the risk, and so they weren't going to bother. Instead, they payed attention to the others in hopes to support them. In comparison, Shara was so weak, but that didn't mean they couldn't do anything to assist the others.

Sensing the advances of Katie and the momentary scrap between her and Jesse, he was already mentally planning out what to do. As he sensed great, heavy steps advancing towards him, the vibrations in the earth clued him in to exactly what he needed to know. He had worked out the Tyrantrum was advancing towards him despite how hard it was to see normally due to the sandstorm. "Ok ok... lure it in, lead it to the heavy hitter and pin it in, make it regret it's choice... We still have 'That' as a possible back up, worst case scenario.

When the Tyrantrum approached, Christopher switched towards Level Ward and made his move. With a swift movement he ducked around to the side and thrusted the spearhead forwards, aiming to strike the beast in it's leg to cause pain as it moved. He intended to use his smaller size to his advantage, force the beast to expend it's energy before the plan happened, less energy, easier to deal with.

The tyrantrum was struck with the long weapon, however the wound was unable to go very deep due to his thick rough skin. The Tyrantrum's head twisted swiftly as it attempted to snap at the weapon, trying to rip it out of the absol user's hands and maybe crush the weapon while it was at it.

Katie attempted to get to different angles and attack her brother from there, however her brother's lack of movement and perfect sight allowed him to follow her movements and bring the sword to block the Hammer from smashing into his body. She gritted her teeth, and the hammer grew spikes on the hitting ends of it. She was unafraid of hurting her brother, but one thing she did notice however, was that she was completely alone against him. She saw that Jawz had gone after the absol user, while Lily and Shara...backed the hell away.

"What the hell are you doing!?" She screamed, glaring at their blurry shapes. Her moment of rage and distraction allowed an opportunity for Jesse however.

Jesse hurled his sword at his sister, slamming it into her flat-sided and sending her flying in the direction of the group that had backed away from the fight. He watched his sister land just short of them only to get back up and shoot them a glare before running back into the fray so that Jawz was not alone.

There was distrust in the team? He figured that the elite four would know to rely on their team members, but it seemed that they had some kind of issue. Who cared, this was an advantage. He advanced, the sandstorm moving with him slightly as he moved to meet Katie half way for the fight.

"Hello!" A cheerful voice sounded from just behind Lily and Shara. Kimbark had a grin on his face, a lunar symbol above his head as he leaned on his scythe. He seemed completely relaxed, staring at the two with a smile. However he didn't seem to have an ounce of hostility behind him. He merely stood there, waiting for their response and watching the fight between Katie and two sinners unfold before him.

As soon as Lily saw Jawz get struck, she moved to rush over and take care of the traitor. Just before she ran forward, she heard yell of anger from Katie. She looked over at her fellow Elite Four, ready to apologize, and saw the other Sinner attack her as well. She blamed herself for running to check on Shara, but remembered her reasoning. For a noble cause, she may just have to speak her mind about it later, if there even is a later.

Her silver hair blew back as she made to run once more to Christopher, but stopped by another voice. A voice she knew all too well. "Kimbark." She turned around to see another Sinner. "I knew there were going to be more. But I never expected it to be you." If she remembered correctly, his Wonder Guard meant that only those with weapons that could use Super Effective effects could harm him. His Pokemon was a Shedninja, which meant that she could not harm him no matter what. Although, there was one person here who could, but it would be too risky. But if nothing was done, then they would all lose.

"Shara, Tropius is part Flying, correct? If so, do you have any way to combat Bugs? I cannot harm him in any way, it's just his ability. But you may be able to." Lily didn't dare take her eyes off of Kimbark, for their Own safety. "Rose, go help Jawz for now. I'll be there as soon as I can." The Serperior, whom had stopped circling around the two, nodded and slithered away to fight.

Shara shyed their eyes away from the battle, not wanting to watch it in terror of the suspense and what might happen in it. Just watching it was too intense, much like watching others on scary rides with a so-called "thrill", when really the fear factor is what causes such. It was hard for Shara to watch the battle without even being in it yet, but somehow they're managing to suggest they should help. It might not end well for them, whether they win or not.

Suddenly, some friendly-sounding being spoke from behind Shara and the one with whom they were conversing. This startled the timid student to the point of making them jump and whip around. Getting a good look at him before jumping to conclusions, and was truthfully unable to determine which side he was on. He looked friendly enough, but the symbol on his forehead seemed so sinister it suggested otherwise. Uncertain of how to respond, Shara took cover behind Lily.

The way Lily responded to him made it no easier for Shara to decipher, but after listening for a while, it was highly suggested that he was on the enemy side. Shara felt a little guilty not having known this, for they should've remembered never seeing such a character in Juniper, but what made it all the more worse was that this was a Sinner. Shara just never expected one to be this Lax, which was somehow even more intimidating.

But now the pressure was on the bow-wielding student, the situation a little hard for them to understand since their mind was still swirling from being put on the spot. Getting their act together as fast as possible, Shara remembered what Wonder Guard was, which made everything true that Lily said. And surely if the Sinner was acting in such a way, he had something up his sleeve, which wasn't good for them at all. Taking a deep breath, lungs trembling, the blonde concluded that the only way to win was to not hold back. Perhaps that could even catch the Sinner off guard, but any other way, strategy or not, there was no other way something could work. Without hesitation, at an unexpected and quick second, Shara channeled the air around them and lifted them high and quickly over Lily's head, Tropi not looking too happy or expectant, and the air lifting her was forced in a gust towards the enemy, the force of it blowing them back and landing on the ground, elbows digging into the earth trying to stop the momentum from the blow. Quickly, Shara leaped back onto their feet, alert and cautious not to be attacked back.

The burst of wind caused Kimbark to swing his scythe into the ground, allowing him to stay upright and not be blown downwards by the gust. However the attack did not actually damage him since it was just wind. He picked his scythe out of the ground once it was over and seemed to be a bit annoyed.

"Hey! Hey! Watch it! Here I am trying to be nice and you just jump to conclusions. I'm not here to fight you," he huffed, leaning on his scythe once again. He still seemed to remain completely calm despite the threat of the tropius user.

"They're the ones doing the fighting," he pointed to Jesse, Katie, Jawz, and Christopher, "I merely need to have a word with you two-or three depending on whether you count the serperior. You see, I think i've grown...a bit...tired I should say, of my current lifestyle. So step right up ladies," he gave a twirl of his scythe before striking a rather strange pose, "For this is your one and only opportunity to recruit the great, the amazing, the fabulous, Staiiiin Kimbarrrk!" he spoke, pointing his Scythe into the air.

"What do you two lucky ladies say about that?" he spoke with a friendly smile.

Doing his best to isolate his sensory ability on the airflow around the Tyrantrum so he could track it's movements, when he sensed it attempting to bite down, Christopher took a step back and the dodged around to the right. Attacking once again at the leg. aiming to deapen the previous wound, Christopher was trying to act like a violent Mosquito, duck around and just stab when one has the chance.

Naturally he could mega evolve if need be, but he wanted to save it if he could until it was truly neccessary, if his mind could carry him through this battle without it, without putting Deimos in danger, he'd do so.

Lily could only stand there in complete shock. She knew that Kimbark was insane, but this seemed a bit outrageous. She was silent for a few moments, thinking about his words. He way he presented them seemed like something he would actually say, and they sounded genuine enough. But she knew she couldn't trust the guy. Her silver hair danced in the wind as she decided on what to do. "If you really, truly want to change sides, then you have to prove it." Lily was still on guard, just in case Kimbark was tricking them. All the while, Rose had been slithering over to help Jawz with Christopher.

After Shara got up and shook off the blow they gave to themself, they ran back beside Lily and looked up to her, and back to the unscathed Kimbark. His suggestion to join Juniper seemed a little dangerous. After all, he wasn't asking sincerely and he seemed to be a little cocky about it, as if he knew he was tricking someone. Jupiter was most commonly the academy for the "rejects", for everyone who didn't make it into the academy for a reason. Surely the staff and headmaster rejected this person for a reason, so why should he be trusted more now than he was then?

Shara concluded that Lily's compromise would be best. He would be let in only if he could prove that he would fight for their side. But what if he planned this? What if he told his comrades beforehand to "lose" a battle with him to convince Juniper Academy to let him in? He could be a spy, or worse, plan to destroy the school from the inside out. The mere thought of this caused Shara to tug on Lily's sleeve, filled with anxiety. They looked up to her nervously, and thought Are you sure about this? but never opened their mouth to speak.

It only just occurred to Shara to check on the Tropius on their shoulder, which Strickland hadn't done since before they attempted the gust. He probably would've been disapproving to her, but it seemed now that feeling had already worn off on him since he was intently focused on Kimbark. It was obvious that he didn't trust him, and Tropi was often much smarter than Shara was. After all, he was right more often than his trainer. For now, though, Shara hid behind the Elite and waited it out.