Trainer Katrina stepped up the edge of the water arena, standing as tall as her five feet (plus a little more) allowed. She was confident, she was calm, she was... tapped lightly on the shoulder.

Noin Mortman stood behind her with a clip board. She took the sharpened pencil from behind her ear and pointed to a name on her list. “Missingno is missing.”

Ah, well then. “I suppose he forfeits.” At Katrina's waist, her pokeball wiggled his consensus. Ms. Mortman nodded once and tucked her pencil back where it belonged over her right ear and marched back to the front of the house to inform the lizard boy that he got a free pass to the second round.

Katrina turned back to the arena in front of her. A mountain / slide floaty, a floating trampoline, and ~20,000 gallons of chlorinated water stood between her and her opponent. Saphirus. Older. Scruffier. A mystery. She had only ever seen him in action on Christmas Eve, and even then hadn't really had a chance to see what he could do. He signed up to battle with a Magikarp. In the games, that would have been no problem. In real life, she wasn't going to underestimate anyone, not even a Magikarp.

In real life, anything could happen.

DocProfessor Oak stepped up to the side of the pool, raised an orange flag, and snapped it downward dramatically. Begin!

“I choose you, Vulpix!” Katrina tossed (in the most epically gentle way she possibly could) her pokéball into the center of the large trampoline. Before it even touched down, the little red and white ball opened with a bright flash of light and and a shower of stars.

Bring it on, Mr. Saphirus.

Plastic pokéball: five dollars on Ebay.
Pink Fairy Armadillo form: a tightly curled fit.
A true Pokémon-from-ball experience: well worth being thrown through the air.

The ball broke open on impact, and Calley tumbled out under guise of the illusionary lights show, shifting to his proper battle form.

From the light emerged a black silhouette. It bounced lightly on the trampoline, tucking up into a rolling pinwheel of tails before landing on four large paws its body would eventually grow into. Light and silhouette faded, giving way to soft red-brown fur and a line of six tails that marched down its spine. The fox kit braced its legs on the trampoline, and gave a mighty battle yip towards the opposing team.

MOHAWK was ready to battle!

(sorry for the late post )

Saph stood staring as his young opponent prepared, and sent out her pokemon. He blinked a few times as a for real six tailed fox appeared from a tiny little ball like from the show. ".... Holy crap, really? Where the heck did you get that?! Wait! That's glue, right? You glued them other tails on! That's freakin animal crue-" He paused in mid sentence after realizing that what he was gonna do might be just a little bit worse. The older mutant scratched the back of his head and stared at the fox and her owner for a moment before " Eh... Never mind... Oh! I gotta get mine, right?" He smiled widely, and then sprinted off to the side.

He disappeared for a moment... Two, depending on how you defined a moment, and then he came back in slowly, lugging a large, sloshing and kicking tub of water with a fishing pole hanging off of the side of it, the thick line still leading inside. It was painted grey on the top, and red on the bottom; it was his pokeball. He looked up with a labored grin as he struggled with the heavy weight, and then plopped it down yard away, taking a little break on the way. "hoo... hah.... one sec there... gotta... get my breath... thing's pretty heavy...alright, here we go." He picked the tub up once again, and stumbled the rest of the way.

With a loud thump he slammed the tub down, and smiled devilishly. "You picked a fight with the wrong trainer, kid! I choose you, MAGIKARP!" He grabbed the fishing pole, and then kicked open the lid of the tub, giving another kick to make the tub fall into the pool while making a cheesey sound effect. "PHSHEWWWN!"

A huge, angry carp rocketed into the water, and caught a big burst of chlorine into its gills. This made it even angrier; Saph was unaware that being in chlorinated water wasn't good for fish, and it tended to irritate them quite a bit when they first got into it, afterward only having a good thirty minutes of healthiness. Luckily, he wouldn't need thirty minutes.

Saph was nearly jerked off of his feet when the carp started pulling away from him, struggling against the hook embedded in its mouth. He had spent days trying to catch a fish this big, and he'd had to wrestle against this one for hours, so he knew it was filled with moxy; he liked a carp with moxy! "Yeaaaah! bright it on, blondie, Ima make your little fox hurt like there ain't no tomorrow~! Eh... once I find out how..." That last part was under his breath.

Saph hadn't taken into account that he didn't know how to get his very buff looking carp to do anything he wanted it to do until now... hmm... it was splashing around a lot, though, and he didn't want to look stupid. "Eh... Magikarp, Splash around or something! Yeah! Way to go Magikarp, you follow my commands so well... Uh... So our opponent should, like, forfeit for their own safety!" he struggled with the carp in the water a little more, pulling it in with off of his strength when it got too far away from him in the pool. He supposed he was lucky his end was the shallow one, cause he couldn't swim, and this carp was more than strong enough to yank him in if he was caught off guard.

Katrina wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't a real live carp. Even if she had guessed that's what Magikarp would be, she never in a million years would have guessed that they could grow that big. It was the size of a surfboard for heaven's sake!

She narrowed her eyes back to their normal, not-popping-out-with-shock mode. It didn't matter how impressively large his fish was, she and Mohawk were still going to win.

"Mohawk, use ember!" She pointed dramatically towards the water. A jet of fire hit the water and steam rose up to cloud the battle field. Katrina had known they would be at the water arena as of yesterday. She had specially requested spaghetti for dinner last night. She had spent a good chunk of the evening watching pots boil.

Bubbles rose up out of the water around where the Magikarp was swimming. Lots of bubbles. Herr fish would be feeling a little warm right about now.

((ooc: Intro post above edited slightly to put in details of how the pokéball trick worked.))

Magikarp was big. Massive. Clearly on the verge of evolving: from its twisting, wrathful struggles, it was clear that the thing was half Garados already. It was at least four times the weight of the fox kit, and three times as big. The kit braced its legs, its tail-hawk standing proud and its head held high as water droplets rained down.

Splash had no effect.

>> "Mohawk, use ember!"

The kit cracked its jaws open. Past sharp white teeth came a surge of red-yellow flame.
According to legend, it took a hundred years to grow each of a fox’s tails. According to cookbooks, it only took a few minutes to poach a fish.

"Hah! That a boy, Magikarp, Show them what a real splash attack looks like!" Saph grinned as he tried to keep his footing, yanking back on the stick once more as the huge carp thrashed about on his heavy line. He looked at Blondie's momentary wide-eyedness with an equally wide smile. "That's right! Fear my gigantic fish! Hah hah hah!" He cackled madly as he struggled against the large fish. There was no way he could lose.

"Mohawk, use ember!" "Wait-wha-?" BWOOOOSHHH! His jaw dropped to the floor as freaking FLAMES erupted from the glue-tailed foxes mouth. "$^@#$!^^&$@$@$@^^@@#$ing KIDDING ME!" He pointed out at the thing, holding the rod with one hand for a moment as his mouth spouted out profanity like a sprinkler on a hot summer day. Magikarp wasn't a happy camper. First off, he was swimming about in his river when out of nowhere some idiot snagged him and threw him in a glorified bucket, and then he was thrown in a chlorinated pool, and boiled! This fish was pissed!

Both of Saph's hands returned to his rod as the fish thrashed about in the water, and then nearly pulled him off his feet. He leaned back with all of his might, and ended up falling back onto his bottom, his legs splayed out to the sides. The fish then game one hard pull, dragging him forward until he was stopped by the hand rails that you were supposed to grasp when coming in an out of the shallow end, unfortunately finding the structure right between his legs. He jerked to a stop with a loud, "EEE!" and wowed himself by not letting go of his fishing pole. The grown man knew that his struggle wasn't over yet, though. He had to save Magikarp so's to win that crown!

Saph tried to ignore the sinking pain that came with his recent injury as he used his elbows to push himself back, and then propped both legs against the rail, pushing and pulling the Magikarp out of the boiling zone with the line attached it's mouth. Saph slowly climbed to his feet, looking down to his fish in the steamy water... He couldn't tell if it was hurt, but it certainly seemed to have a lot of fight left in it. He was lucky this pool was rather large, or he would have been finished for sure. Magikarp started thrashing around once more, and Saph grinned. "Way to be, Magikarp! Now hit them with a splash attack!"

The magikarp was so big, his trainer was having difficulty controlling it. That meant it's level was probably too high for his inexperience. And that meant he was probably a high enough level to evolve at any second. She wondered if Mohawk had come to the same conclusion she had. Katrina felt for the pendant that hung down from her neck, hidden beneath a layer of shirt so only the cord was visible. Hopefully they could save that little bit of epic for a later round.

The 'karp splashed and thrashed, nearly pulled his trainer into the pool and... Katrina winced, that looked like it had hurt.

They weren't working as a team at all, because that was either a real fish or a very spiteful fish shifter. Still, if they kept their heads about them and didn't underestimate, they could probably take him down.

“Mohawk,” she cried out, “use quick attack to tire them out!” More like to catch the magikarp's attention, rile him up, and tire out his trainer. That fishing pole might be sturdy enough for a 50 or 60 pound fish, but the man holding it... probably not so much. Maybe they could even get him to fall into the water.

In a large patch in front of the trampoline, the last boiling bubbles festered on the surface, and the last wisps of steam dissipated. Yet still, the water roiled and surged. If Garakarp’s HP bar was red, it was only with rage. The little fox kit stood defiant before the King of Carp.

>> “Mohawk, use quick attack to tire them out!”

“Vul!” The fox yipped, springing forwards—!

No, to the left—!

No, to the right—!

No, into the air! His tail tips brushed the water, taunting the carp with six lures! His paws nimbly danced over the trampoline, like fingers tapping at a fish tank!

He could nearly feel the carp’s hatred. If the skittering Quick Attacking kit had drawn its wrathful attentions, no doubt the man would be hard-pressed to keep up with all this back and forth and up and down and SPRING!

The fox jumped off the trampoline, landing triumphantly on the inflatable water slide. Its rough paws found familiar purchase on the thick vinyl. ...The vinyl which was so much slicker than it had been, when they’d practiced this. Suddenly the kit was scrabbling, sliding, tumbling towards the water. It yelped piteously the moment before it fell in, six tails and all.

Splash was SUPER EFFECTIVE!

Magikarp was pissed, so much so that it could count as a status ailment! What was the worst thing to do to an angry fish? Taunt it! Saphirus's Masofish had just come to realize, as best as a fish could, that it was being attacked by something. As the creature's tails brushed the water, the carp jerked about angrily trying to get a bite of the lures that jutted about the water's surface.

Saph felt the effect of this jerking(mind out of the gutter!) in full, finding himself stumbling to the left and right just a little as the fox antagonized the fish. Just when Saph felt like he was about to fall in, something incredible happened!

Did splash attack really just actually do something?! Some disgruntled pokemon nerd had to be twittering angrily about this by now. "Wow! good job MagikaAAh!" The fish realized it's foe had fallen into it's domain, and didn't waste a second darting towards it with more zeal than it had before. Saph was lurched clear off of his feet, landing in the water with a loud SPLASH! as Magikarp moved to ram the fox. Magikarp uses tackle! His trainer used splash attack!

Saph's eyes were wide as the water rushed about him; he had managed to keep his grip on the fishing pole, and the mighty carp was now dragging him through the water like his weight was only a mere hindrance. Crap! He had to get his feet on the ground so he could use all of that force he'd gathered to jump out of the water before he drowned!

Oh geez. Mohawk was not supposed to fall in the watter. Yes, they had practiced swimming, in the case of an emergency. Katrina had hoped not to have to use it.

“Mohawk, SWIM!” She didn't care that vulpi weren't supposed to be able to learn that attack. This one had practiced and he had better not drown.

The floating island obscured her view. There was a lot of splashing.

“SWIM,” she yelled again as she ran around the corner of the pool to get a better view. She was just in time to see Magikarp's trainer get pulled into the water. That made it everyone but her that was currently in the pool. If she didn't see her vulpix swimming to safety within the next thirty seconds, though, she might have to jump in too, in order to save him.

“'Hawk? Hawk!” Where was he? She couldn't tell in all the turbulence of the waters.

A jet of water burst upwards, a fountain with a six tailed fox in the center and a giant 'karp right below him. It was either the most epic surfing ever or her pokemon was in a bit of trouble.

((ooc: Tell me if anything needs modding, Saph. )

It was.

The most epic surfing.

Ever.

The vulpix panicked as its paws hit water; when its body and head followed, it was all the Pokémon could do to remember to hold its breath. Hold it. Hold—

CLAMP

Either his tails had just found the pool filtration system, or magikarp had just used bite attack. The kit’s paws scrambled and scrabbled and scraped, clubbing at the vicious beast that was dragging him to and fro. To make matters worse, one of his paws tangled in the fishing line; he jerked to the right, trying to free himself; the fish bucked and jerked, swimming to the right. He jerked left, trying to doggy paddle himself free; the fish... swam... to the left.

The fox kit’s eyes and nose burned from the chlorine. His short fur moved in chaotic waves in the agitated water. Yet in his Pokémind, a certain clarity dawned. The kit opened his jaws, and snapped them shut over the fishing line. He pulled up.

Up, the carp went, in a surge of water and scales and dragged drowning trainers. Up, they broke through the water’s surface, in a wave befitting such a beast. Again the kit jerked. Ahead: to the pool’s edge, and to Katrina.

Mohawk aimed to end lay victory at his trainer’s feet. Literally.

((*cracks knuckles for post number 300*))

The epic had yet to arrive.

Saph was most certainly below sea level, but was he down and out for the count? Never! The older mutant dripped with determination, so much so that he had to be careful, he'd heard there was a chemical in the pool that turned that stuff purple on contact(Kig Kig).

Under the water his left cheek flapped like those men in the g-force testing videos. The other side was perfectly still, and had an eye wide open; the force and rush of water that kept his left eye closed didn't affect his right side; all he had to deal with was the sting from the chemicals in the pool, which he was willing to deal with; he wanted victory, and victory he would have!

Saph ditched the concept of reeling the big fish in with his rod, and instead went hand over hand, up the rod's length, and then down the length of his thick line. He smiled as best as he could under the water, wondering how much longer he could hold his breath... Didn't matter, not at all... He... had... to.... win... Coming up the line his one eye, it's sight blurred by the water rushing past it, caught something else caught in the line.... It was red... the fox? ohhh, how he wanted to just punch the damned thing and get this over with, but no, he couldn't. He felt a jerk to the right, and lost one hand grip, but a quick jerk back to the left allowed him to get his hold again. He was running out of breath, he had to make it to Magikarp! Three solid hand over hands hand him closer to his pokepal, but a hard jerk on the line caused magikarp to rear up, and break the surface...

They were headed toward the edge of the pool, no! He would not let all of their hard work go unpaid! He had a crown to win! Saph reached his carp, and his head broke the water. He led out a ragged roar. "NO MORE SPLASHING!" He then used half of the force he had gathered from the water rushing past his whole right side, which had supplied a constant stream of kinetic energy, and pushed it straight down into the pool below him.

The wave Magikarp had created suddenly collapsed, and then it looked as if a mini depth charge went off in the pool -BWOOOOSH-. Saph emerged from the water, clenching Magikarp by the tail tightly with both hands. He looked down to his target, stuck on the line... pinned right where he wanted him... He looked crazed as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Magikarp, use EPIC FLAIL!" And then he swung the heavy fish right down at his enemy's head whilst they were both still in the air. "Kick his $#% sea bass!"

((Hope you liked it! Lemme know if it needs modding >.>))

The fish and the fox soared out of the water, and behind them, Saphirus clung Magikarp like the tail of a kite. He was not the most glorious tail attached to this kite by any means. It looked like they were all going to come down right at Katrina's feet and she scuttled backwards a few steps in preparation for their landing.

It never came.

Somehow Saphirus was able to completely take the wind out of their sails, or the water, whichever the case may be. They seemed to pause, hanging in midair for just a moment before the older man grasped his giant fish and tried to use to use it to smack her vulpix right out of the air.

That would never do.

“Vulpix, use Shadow Divide,” she called out, using the original Japanese name for the attack Double Team. It sounded so much cooler in the original. It looked cooler too. One vulpix, then two vulpi, then four, eight, sixteen! Each vulpix' shadow slipped away from it, ballooned up into a three dimensional shape, and sprouted fur all over its shadowy body with a fwoowf. They bounced off of the 'karp using his momentum to propel themselves to relative safety. They were all over the pool, on the edges, balanced on the rail, on the island, and on the slide. Try to hit us now, they seemed to taunt with all 576 dripping wet tails.

Katrina looked around for what had become of the real Vulpix while the shadows taunted their opponent.

EPIC FLAIL was SUPER EFFECTIVE. Not that their opponent would ever know. The little fox was nothing before the crushing weight of the level 19.999 carp; the jolt of impact went easily missed as the sixteen shadow clones sprang off in different directions, taunting man and fish from all sides.

The invisible seventeenth fox shook its head, once and again, clearing its view until only 1729—1153—577 tails remained in sight. Minus his own set, of course. Which—he noted, as it must be noted—did not look as scraggle-ratty like as his clones’. His own tails fairly dripped with dignity.

The fox crawled unseen to safety next to his trainer’s legs, and used Bide. Personally, visions of seventeen-wayed flamethrowers were dancing in his head.

((OOC: Just Spectating... came from the Pokemon Center))

Kai arrived on the scene, munching the last bits of his hot dog, just in time to see several figures jump straight up into the air from the water in the pool. Then one of them, a little fox creature with multiple tails growing across its back, exploded into many versions of itself.

Woah! Neat trick! he thought, wondering how the little girl by the side of the pool, obviously the fox’s trainer had managed to do that one. He might be able to make an impressive razor leaf attack, but multiplying his pokemon? Gosh that would take so much effort and control!

He stayed back so as to not interfere with the battle, and called out, “Go Team Vulpix!”