"What are you doing?" TharzZzDunN inquired, as he entered via the skylight. "First of all, I don't have a skylight, you ass. Secondly, I'll tell you while you're repairing my ceiling." A-kun answered. "So, what _are_ you doing?" TharzZzy reintegrated. A-kun ignored the misplaced word, as it was TharzZzy's custom and not a mistake, and answered while typing slowly at the keyboard, "Writing on Crimson League Finale." "You're still on that?" TharzZzy asked. "I didn't like the first one." A-kun responded. "Bah, you never like any of them. How many have you made now?" TharzZzy asked. "At least thirty-five. I lost count after that weird 'processor exhuasted from constant saving' error I got a week ago." A-kun said, staring at the screen. He leaned in close, and pointed at a word, "Is that misspelled?" TharzZzy glanced, "I don't know how you can't misspell the letter 'I'..." "No, the ENTIRE word." A-kun corrected him. "Oh. No, it's correct." TharzZzy responded. A-kun continued to slowly tick away at the series finale. "You know, the main reason you don't like bringing a story to conclusion is because you don't like to admit that the story is actually done." TharzZzy told him, "That's why the only things you can complete are comedies, because they don't so much as end as they simply trail off." A-kun muttered an agreement. It was likely the main reason he was taking so long. In the early days of Crimson League, a lot of it just FLOWED, because he was at a new start playing with a world that had few restrictions. "And now, I come to the actual finale." A-kun stated. In November of 2004, I decided that I was not happy with the way I had dropped Crimson League. Many of you have likely asked yourselves why I didn't simply go back and fixed Crimson League. The answer is "Because I've put too much time and effort into the first time around." Ever since I began Crimson League, it has taken longer to write than most of my works (and actually got further). Given that it has taken me over two years to get to this point, I fear I will never be able to restart it, because I would have to throw literally everything I have out the window. And though I am more than happy to do that to a few series, I am actually happy with many of Crimson League's earlier chapters. Sitting down and finding the best point to restart from would likely cause my brain to shut down as it splinters off into infinity. Note that, yes, I will be assuming you have privy to my thoughts. This was expected to be Chapter 59 or so. ====================================================================== Crimson League Final Chapter - This Is How The Story Ends Final Revision ====================================================================== Ben gazed out over the barren ground that the hovercraft Longinus was speeding over, at the Tower of Athena, wondering, as the entire league had, where the red ash that once choked the western edge had gone. From what his sister, Kakurine, had told him, Athena had once planned to make it out of the bodies of those tamers stupid enough to defy her, but the decomposition rate, even when petrified, was too great. Plus Athena didn't want to be reminded of anything involving men, even if it was a macabre manner. So much had happened in the last four months and a half months. The Limbec Pirates had launched a giant ship called the Gesselschaft, which had demonstrated the terrifying amount of power it's main cannons were capable of by destroying the town of Sex entirely. All that remained of the city was a massive scorched crater. When he'd heard that the Langoud was being dispatched to fight the Gesselschaft, he thought it was a suicide mission for his friends. The Langoud was over three hundred years old and the Gesselschaft was using the latest technology. But he'd been unable to get aboard the Langoud in time to warn Wyna. The two massive vessels had fired at each other over several times, but each had a barrier, the Gesselschaft's was technological while the Langoud's was magical, preventing the other from scoring a decisive blow for two whole hours, before each captain decided to switch from a mixed defense and offense to pure offense. While neither vessel survived, most of the Langoud's personnel were able to get off the sinking ship thanks to the large number of water pokegirls loyal to the Langoud. All of the people Ben knew, at least, had made it out all right, save for Sodina, who'd been kidnapped during the chaos by some green-haired woman. The Gesselschaft's personnel... Ben had only found out about that aspect afterwards, from Kakurine, but roughly three-quarters of the crew had died from the Langoud's blast, or the susequent fires and explosions. While the entire League was still reeling from the shock of the world's largest and most powerful battleship sinking, Athena had decided to pick a fight of her own. Up until her unsolicited attack on Vale, which sent the city into the ocean, he'd never even heard of her. To find out that she'd secretly been terrorizing leagues since the war of Sukebe was startling. Behind their hovercraft were seventeen more, all filled with tamers, pokegirls, various members of the Hunter's Guild, and even a few mages. Seeing as the tower's attack and the Langoud's sinking had thrown much of the league into a state of chaotic panic, most of the Hunter's Guild and the mages of Vale were spread out, doing their level best to keep order, as well as keep an eye out for any other surprises Athena might toss out during the main attack. But, ultimately, he was bothered by the presense of his father, Vincent Valentine. He didn't hate his father, but seeing the man alive when Ben had believed him dead for twelve years, was shocking to say the least. Ben felt self-conscious around his father, mostly because he worried about what his father thought of him. They hadn't said much to each other since the revelation of his continued existance. Ben glanced over at his father. His father was wearing a torn black business suit with a heavily tattered red cloak ontop of it. Golden metal armor covered his right arm, giving it the appearance of a claw. A red hairband keep his father's long black hair out of his face, revealing his red eyes, and ultimately made him look more menacing. At his side, in a holster connected to his belt, was a Heavy Elemental Pistol, a gun developed by the League miltary.(1) Ben wanted to talk to his father about his mother, hoping that he had some idea if she might have survived as well, but for some reason, his instincts told him that his father didn't want to talk about it. He gazed at the tower, trying to focus his thoughts on the approaching battle. No sooner had he let a deep breath than he gasped in surprise as two massive figures appeared to the left and right of Athena's Tower. Anyone who'd bothered to study even a little bit of the history of the world knew about the Legendary Pokegirls. And few were so infamous in the Crimson League that Scylla, Kary and Titania. Athena had apparently managed to resurrect Kary and Titania, and from the gathering storm on the other side, it wasn't hard to figure out that Scylla had likely been brought back as well. "Figures." Vincent murmurred, his eyes focused on the two visible Legendaries. Ben wondered what kind of power someone needed to have to pull three long dead Legendaries back from almost total non-existance, but decided to ask his father a more pertinent question, "What do you think they'll do?" "We're the best, so we go in. Everyone else will likely try and stop those three." Vincent answered coolly. Ben gazed out at the powerful legendaries and made a difficult, but necessary decision. He pulled out Pirotess' pokeball and opened it, "Pirotess, I need you to join everyone else in fighting those Legendaries." "You know that you're risking a lot by doing this, right?" Vincent asked. "I doubt Athena will let Kary use her Explosion technique again with her so close. And as dangerous at Titania and Scylla might be, they can't kill everyone within a one mile radius instantly." Ben responded, before sighing, "Besides, if Athena can bring them back from the dead, we're already on a suicide mission. At least out here, they stand a chance." Vincent smiled inwardly. Between the two fates in front of them, his son was willing to go headfirst into the more dangerous one while sending his friends towards the less dangerous one. The three Legendaries had been out of action for the last three hundred years. Both humans and pokegirls had advanced far beyond what those three were used to seeing. Even without the Langoud to kill Scylla and Titania, chances were slim that any of the Legendary pokegirls were going to survive. Ben wasn't the only one thinking the same thing onboard the Longinus. Reimi, Yuka, Junpei and Lina had the same ideas, sending their pokegirls to join the other hovercrafts which were now bearing towards the trifecta from hell. Meanwhile, the Longinus itself sped towards the front gate of the tower without slowing. Ben and Vincent headed below deck and prepared for the rough ride ahead as the Longinus changed to ramming speed. Titania looked around herself, wondering what had changed since her mind had gone dark. She recalled being shot at by some tiny speck on the horizon, but nothing after that. Whatever it had been, it had apparently knocked her into unfamiliar territory. Her sister Legendary, Scylla, was in the water nearby, but more importantly, Kary was nearby. Titania's face became a mask of hatred. Her anger at Hy-Bra was still unqwelled, and she had yet to find that multi-headed bitch to deliver payback, so her best alternative was to satisfy her hatred using Kary, whom she also had a vendetta with, as the punching bag. Unbeknownst to Titania, the approaching hovercrafts were filled with surprised tamers and pokegirls as the stone titaness raced over to her sister, Kary, and punched the naga-esque Legendary across the face. Not one of them had expected a fight to break out between the two giant Legendary pokegirls. Even more shocking was when Scylla joined in, firing a massive Hydro Pump at the enlarged Kary, who retaliated by unleashing two Fire Blasts. Titania blocked the fire blast sent her way, while Scylla raised a water barrier to extinguish the flames. With the trinity of legendary pokegirls duking it out, the hovercrafts slowed to a stop, as Kary became a Sword Dance, nicking at Titania's stony hide while deflecting more of Scylla's Tidal Wave technique than anyone would have thought possible. After all, even a man with half a brain knew that one should never got involved in a cat fight or a giant fight, and ESPECIALLY not a _giant_ cat fight. The Longinus smashed through the massive wooden doors, but quickly slowed to a stop as the pilot noticed that there was a cement docking bay inside the doors. "I'd say she's expecting us." Junpei noted idly, climbing out of the hovercraft and stepping onto the dock. "Great, now we get to deal with someone who's had three hundred years to plan for visitors." Reimi commented, heavy sarcasm in her voice as she followed Junpei onto the dock. "Too bad sis couldn't give us some idea of what to expect." Ben joined in as he too disembarked. "Well, everyone got everything they need?" Yuka inquired, following Ben. "I don't think Vale would have let us leave if we weren't as prepared as we possibly could be." Lina Inverse answered. Vincent, Wyna, Meis, Muza, Terry and Andy Bogard, Ihrie, Rasha, Mike McGrull, Jean, Lunn, Theodore and Yamaken joined the group already waiting. "Yes, but we don't want to forget anything. Double-check everything before we set out. The last thing you want to do is find out you left something in the Longinus when you're in the middle of a fight." Vincent replied. "Aaaaand, we're boned." Meis declared. The group looked over at Meis, who'd moved towards the middle of the dock, and what he'd been commenting about. There were nine possible staircases up into the tower. "Chances are that Athena's changed the interior so that only one staircase can make it to the top, and the others likely lead to traps or ambushes." Theodore surmised. "And there's probably no way of knowing until we've fully committed ourselves to one of the stairs." Yamaken concluded. "So, guess we'll have to split up into groups of two." Vincent decided. Wyna and Meis ran up the first staircase on the left; Yamaken and Muza ran up the second from the left; Vincent and Ben headed up the third staircase; Mike and Lina ran up the fourth from the left; Lunn and Theodore got the middle; Junpei and Jean picked the fourth from the right; Terry and Andy got the third from the right; Ihrie and Rasha ran up the second from the right; and Reimi and Yuka chose the last staircase. The battle between the three Legendaries had already gotten quite nasty. Kary had been tossing out four different fire techniques a round and continued to nick away at Titania's stony body, but she received heavy blows from her larger stone sister, as well as painfully strong blasts of water. Both Titania and Kary seemed to be giving as good as they got, but Kary was taking extra damage from Scylla's attacks, making it obvious that she would be the first to fall, and that only seemed to drive Titania and Scylla to attack faster and harder. Three Water Gods joined Titania in beating on Kary, sending the smaller Kary to the ground, where the group relentlessly pounded on her until Titania finally raised a foot and crushed Kary's skull beneath it. The instant she was dead, however, Kary's body began to disintegrate into a red haze that rose up and began to engulf Titania. The massive stone woman began to cough and writhe as the haze continued to fill her lungs, until Kary's body had changed entirely into smoke and entered Titania. Then, panic began to fill the minds of all of the tamers and pokegirls who'd been watching the legendary battle, as Titania grew to a hundred feet in size and her stony hide took on a reddish hue. She turned towards Scylla and began stomping towards her watery sister, a murderous look in her eyes. "Okay, we are NOT letting them kill each other." Kazuya declared. With the terrible possibility of Titania getting even bigger firmly in mind, the tamers and pokegirls began their attack on the remaining two legendaries. Meis was impressed by Wyna's speed, despite her large signature hammer, made from one of the many anchors that the Langoud used. Sure, with his Spirit Blacksmithing, he'd lightened it a great deal, but it still had to weigh over two hundred pounds. However, his mind focused on his surroundings, which changed from a staircase to an expansive room. Gears and rusted metal pendulums filled the room, leaving only a single narrow path to the center of the room where a rectangular arena lay. Waiting at the nearest end was Sodina, who was waiting for Meis. "Meis! Thank heaven!" Sodina cried as she hugged Meis. "Did they hurt you?" Meis asked. "No. Meis, it's Schmidt. He wanted me to help him make an ultimate weapon." Sodina explained, motioning to the far end, where the aforementioned Spirit Blacksmith stood, wearing a heavy cloak, with several swords held in sheaths. Behind him were two women. The first woman had short black hair that she had let grow over her right eye. She wore a purple leotard with a black skirt and black sleeves attached. The second woman wore a black shirt and shorts, but carried a large metal club that looked like an engine part. "That's Jeala and Ratchet," Sodina explained, "his partners in crime." "What about that green-haired woman who kidnapped you?" Wyna asked. "That would be Chigusa. She's much higher up in the tower, if she's even here." Sodina explained. "Ah, Meis. I'd hoped it would be Ben who came here. I've got a lot of business to finish with him as well, but you, Jyabil's chosen heir, will do for now." Schmidt sneered. "What the hell is wrong with you, Schmidt? You're picking a fight just because Jyabil chose ME as his heir over YOU?" Meis asked, incredulous. "I was older, better and more qualified to be his heir and the leader!" Schmidt snarled, "Instead, you and Ben, each of you barely HALF my age, were chosen!" "Talk about pathetic. It wasn't their ages that made them better, Schmidt, it was their competence in what they did." Wyna huffed. "ENOUGH!" Schmidt snapped, drawing a sword that dripped with dripped with a malevolent purple aura, "Besides, I'm now the Dark Master!" Meis rolled his eyes. Schmidt was just as retarded as before. He wasn't even using darkness! Meis drew his own blade, which glowed with a silvery light. He'd been increasing his spirit blacksmithing skill ever since Ben had returned to inspire him, and his personal blade was now five times better than Schmidt's could ever be. Jeala drew a dagger, which brought Meis' attention to an important detail: Sodina was without her daggers. He slid her daggers out of his sleeve and handed them to her. Not surprisingly, it was Wyna who grew sick and tired of the standoff first. She charged at Schmidt, leapt into the air and brought her hammer down with tremendous force, knocking Jeala and Ratchet both off their feet. Schmidt, however, had anticipated Wyna's shockwave attack, and had used his sword to cut the wave away from him. Ratchet regained her feet first and swung at Wyna, forcing her away from Schmidt and Jeala, who circled around the two to attack Meis and Sodina respectively. "A pity that you weren't smart enough to join the right side, Sodina. I'm sure Athena would have loved another Megami on her team." Schmidt sneered as his blade sparked against Meis'. "Yeah, Kakurine? She bailed once she found out Athena was just puppeting her. Too bad YOU weren't smart enough to keep up with current events." Meis taunted as he shoulderslammed Schmidt away. Even without the magic inside their swords determining the outcome, Meis' sword had the advantage in weight and durability. And Meis had the advantage of skill, endurance AND strength. Sodina didn't understand why, but Jeala's eyes were full of hate. As the two knife-wielders slashed and blocked each other's strikes, it became more obvious that Jeala was too caught up in her anger to realize which way the fight was going. "You've improved a lot, Meis, but I doubt you're ready for my Arms of Shiva." Schmidt sneered as he suddenly grew five more arms. The arms drew all of the extra blades he had been carrying, and each dripped with the same poisonous aura of the first blade. "I was wondering why you'd be so stupid as to carry more swords than you could use." Meis commented, before raising his sword up, "SIREN!"(2) As a large female spirit, very reminiscent of Sodina draped only in white cloth with a golden harp in her hands, appeared above Meis, Schmidt's eyes widened. "Schmidt, Schmidt, Schmidt. You should know better than to bring a sword to a spirit fight." Meis commented. The spirit opened her mouth as she began to play. To Meis, Wyna and Sodina, it was a beautiful melody. To Schmidt, Ratchet and Jeala, it was pure agony made into noise. Schmidt's Arms of Shiva faded, dropping all of the swords he had drawn so that he could cover his ears. Jeala fell to her knees, covering her ears, while Ratchet tried to resist the irritation by howling. Siren's voice faded as she closed her mouth and vanished. Schmidt uncovered his ears, then looked up to see Meis was standing over him, a solemn look on his face. "So long, Schmidt." With one swift swing, Schmidt's head flew from his shoulders. His body collapsed, spraying blood onto the ground. "SCHMIDT!" Jeala cried, not paying attention to Sodina, who's blades entered her back. With a whimper, she fell to the ground as well. Ratchet wasn't stupid enough to get caught offguard by the deaths of her partners, but she wasn't strong enough to save herself from being knocked off the platform by Wyna's hammer. She screamed as she plunged headlong into the depths of the tower. With grim resolve, the trio headed up the tower. Yamaken and Muza slowed to a stop at the sight of the arena. Unlike Meis, they'd seen nothing that would cause them to go rushing in foolishly. Rather, they saw someone who made them approach much more slowly. After all, one didn't go rushing headlong into any place where one was expected. Muza held his sword at the ready, prepared for anything that might pop out at them. He was a tad disturbed that Yamaken didn't look like he was walking, but rather floating. However, as he caught sight of their intended opponents, Muza found himself ignoring his companion's movement to focus on the enemy. A red-haired woman wearing a beautiful violet kimono that was torn along the right arm was on the right side of the arena, the katana on her belt making it obvious that she was to be Muza's opponent. She had a scar that ran from an inch above where her right eye should have been to two inches below, and her kimono was loose, showing much of her breasts, but not her nipples. On the left side was a dark-haired girl wearing a blue cheongsam with white boots. She had thick spiked wristguards, with her hair tied up into twin buns. From the bewildered look in Yamaken's eyes, Muza got the impression that the gym leader knew the girl. "Chun... is that you?" Yamaken asked in a hoarse cry. The girl's only response was to lunge at him. Muza was about to move to help Yamaken, but the redhead flicked her katana's hilt, showing the blade and drawing Muza's attention. "I'm your opponent. Name's Baiken." the redhead announced. [A Samurai.] Muza realized. Slicers, Ronin and Samurai all liked to introduce themselves, but he doubted Athena would spare any expense in finding competent opponents for each of the groups charging up her tower. Besides, only Samurai could draw his danger sense to her with so little movement. Muza grinned, despite the apparent danger. He was the best swordsman on the Langoud, but when there were few other sword-wielders onboard, it was too easy to gain that title. He'd been hoping to run into a real challenge for quite some time and she was now standing in front of him. "I'm Muza. And I accept your challenge." Muza responded. He swung his massive sword at her, but she already had her katana out and blocked his blade from cleaving her in two. "Not bad, I hardly saw you move." Muza commented. Meanwhile Yamaken was frantically dodging the dark-haired girl's attacks, analyzing each one. And the more he saw, the more he became convinced that it was, indeed, Chun trying to kill him. Most people would never be able to discern one attack from another, but every fighter had a unique rhythm to their moves, a unique feel to their attacks, and a unique pattern to their strikes. Yamaken had lived with Chun for most of his life, and he knew her inside and out. And everything about the pokegirl's movements screamed at Yamaken that she was indeed Chun, his Herolee. But the look in her eyes told him that she no longer remembered him. Her mind had been tampered with when she was resurrected. Athena had turned the love of his life into his mortal enemy. And somehow, Yamaken got the feeling that this wasn't the first time Athena had done so. If he could not remind her of what they'd shared by talking, which he admitted was one of his greatest weaknesses even before the accident that damaged his voice box, he'd have to do it through force. He and Chun had sparred hundreds of times, so much so that she would know his every strength and weakness, and vice versa. Almost all of their training sessions for two entire years before her death had gone the same way. If he was lucky, reusing that pattern again would remind her of him. He forced her back with Tree Fall kick, and waited for her to attack. As he predicted, she started out with a high kick, which he blocked. Low kick counter, she backflipped away. He pursued with a twin kick, she retaliated with a rising crescent kick. Yamaken gave an inward smile as their battle became like their sparring dance. But, he refused to get taken offguard. He watched her movements carefully, making absolutely certain that none of her actions were out of sync. Athena may try to take control of Chun's body to catch him offguard. However, as he fell backwards, and performed the final kick to her right foot, which sent her tumbling onto him, the light of realization came back to Chun's eyes and she gazed down at Yamaken as she had all those years ago. She kissed him passionately, tears rolling down both of their faces as they were finally reunited. Both Baiken and Muza paused to glance over at the two lovers, and Muza had to smile. He didn't know what relation they'd shared, but the two reminded him of Meis and Sodina. When Muza turned back to Baiken with the same smile on his face, she gave him a sour look, "I'm not going to break down and start kissing you." Muza had to admit he felt some disappointment that she wasn't going to give into the mood, but shrugged, "Eh." The two swordmasters continued their battle. Even though Muza's blade was, including the hilt, as tall as the 6'7" man, he was able to swing it continually with incredibly strength and speed. Baiken needed to strike the blade several times to slow it down before she was finally able to block it. She was impressed at Muza's strength and speed. They were so great that skill wasn't even largely necessary in their battle, but Muza's skill didn't show her any openings that she could afford to go for. She'd swear he had to have some sort of mixture between Cheetit and Minotaura blood, because there were few other combinations that would yield such a devastatingly effective combination. [He would likely make an excellent lover.] came a voice in the back of her mind. Her cursed libido was acting up again. Her master had been killed in a freak gasline accident a full month ago, and she hadn't been tamed since. She refused to be tamed until she found a master as worthy of her as her last master had been. She had no interest in Athena's quest, but Athena had promised that only worthy fighters would enter her tower, and that was something that had peaked Baiken's interest. Had she lived in the twentieth century, Baiken would swear she was starting to wear beer goggles, as Muza seemed to become more and more handsome as their battle went on. If only they were alone, Baiken would be more than willing to- Baiken's train of thought had distracted her so much that Muza was able to knock her sword out of her hand. Which was just as well, as his strikes had been making her arms feel like they were filled with pudding. "I yield." Baiken admitted. Vincent was actually glad to see someone he hated. It was a rare mixture of emotions, but the reason he was glad to see her was because he didn't want anyone but him to kill her for what she'd done. "Scarlet." Vincent said, glaring at the blonde Alaka-Wham as he drew his two Heavy Elemental Fusion Pistols. He'd stocked up on Dark shells just in case he met her, as well as plenty of Fire shells as well. He wanted her to burn for destroying their house and revealing Lucrecia's secret to the villagers of Sex. If it hadn't been for her, their lives never would have been ruined, his family never would have been scattered, and countless other problems and emotions would never have plagued him or his children. "Vincent." Scarlet replied, smiling at him and Ben as they entered the arena. From Ben's strangled and surprised sounds, it was evident that the brown-haired, blue-eyed, freckle-faced girl next to Scarlet was his son's recognition partner, Jennifer. Vincent might have been surprised if he hadn't been studying up on Scarlet's ruthless tactics. The right-hand bitch of Athena loved to make people who were in love suffer, and she especially enjoyed it if she could make them attack each other. He was certain that Jennifer was likely under Scarlet's mind-control, which meant that he had even more reason to kill Scarlet. "He's the one." Scarlet whispered into Jennifer's ear. The dull look in Jennifer's eyes changed and her face became a mask of hatred. She lunged at Ben, her right fist flaring with the same black aura that Ben used. Ben raised his own hand to block her's, trying to qwell her dark aura with his own. Scarlet laughed, watching the amusing scene between the two lovers, battling with the same cursed aura that would only lead to death. She calmly teleported out of the way of Vincent's shots, knowing exactly when he would fire, the alternate strategies he would try and even his final resort, the ultimate gun, Magun. She could calculate everything in her sleep, but she didn't want to sleep when she could sow misery, pain and despair. Ben was doing his utmost not to hurt Jennifer again, his heart being unable to bring him to even try and fight back. He'd lost her once to the inevitable and he was hoping against the horrible thought that he would lose her again. //How cute... your son is trying to awaken his lover's memory of him. Too bad it's a wasted effort, since Jennifer's mind and spirit has been specially prepared to block any attempts at soul-bonding.// Scarlet telepathically taunted Vincent, as she continued to dodge his shots. "Why not show him your best weapon?" Scarlet asked Jennifer. Ben's heart sank as Jennifer's aura switched to a dark grey. She was using the Shadow Aura, which would prevent him from bonding with her again until she'd given it up. "It's no use, Widow Slayer, she's convinced that _you_ were the one who died that day. Not only that, but that you're a look-a-like who happens to be the one responsible!" Scarlet explained, smiling. Ben snarled as his attention shifted to the floating blonde bitch, "You're the one who tricked Xenobia, Phacia and Royce into thinking that I was responsible for what happened in that warehouse, aren't you?!" "It's not easy tricking a sorceress into forgetting she can teleport or use her attacks, let alone two, and even harder timing a good lure to bait the eldest sister away long enough to for the plan to work. But proabably the easiest part was when it came time to convince those nice young men you'd been beating up for years that Phacia and Royce were easy prey. Which they were." Scarlet mused aloud, before chuckling, "And it was VERY easy to convince all three of them that your disappearance was a betrayl of their trust." Scarlet began laughing hard, "But the best part is that both you and Jennifer are doomed anyway! Even if you _do_ somehow get to the top and beat Athena, your bodies will begin their PAINFUL genetic breakdown in a matter of days! And there's nothing ANYONE can do!" Scarlet appeared behind Vincent, and was about to blast him with a powerful Psychic attack when she noticed his left gun was pointed down. That wasn't something she'd- The dark dome that engulfed that cut out her psychic abilities completely. She was completely helpless inside the dome. Jennifer collapsed onto Ben seconds later as Scarlet fell out of the dome, a gaping hole in where her left breast once was. As the dome vanished, Ben caught sight of his father holding a crushed heart in his gauntlet as Scarlet fell to her ass, gasping for air as she useless cluthed at her open wound. Scarlet was amidst her death throes when she saw both Vincent and Ben standing above her. "Go to hell, you psychotic bitch." Ben told her before they both backed away. Vincent fired all the barrels on both of his fusion pistols, the six fiery bullets combining into a hellacious inferno that caused Scarlet to let out one final scream of agony before death finally claimed her. "You okay?" Vincent asked. "Not really.... I'm going to stay here with Jennifer until she wakes up." Ben told his father. "You sure?" Vincent inquired, struggling to keep his calm. It was bad enough to find out his son was on the verge of death, but to have the news given to him by Scarlet of all people... then again, there was a good chance that she was lying. Scarlet's lies were almost as infamous as the Alaka-Wham herself was. But if she were telling the truth... "Take these." Ben said, handing Vincent two crystal-like shells, "Give 'em to Athena with my regards." Vincent frowned in confusion for the first time in a long while. He wondered where his son had gotten the strange bullets, but decided that it was best to keep questions for later. As Vincent raced up the stairs, Ben broke down and cried. It wasn't fair! He and Jennifer had finally found each other again after five years of painful separation and now, they had only days to live. Mike wasn't at all surprised when he and Lina entered the sprawling valley. It was an exact replica of the one he'd fought the former Rage Gym Leader on. Nor was he at all surprised that said gym leader, Chaos, was his opponent. The tall gangly bald-headed scythe-wielding freak was the sort who loved to fight in large open spaces far from prying eyes, where he could cheat to his heart's contest. He still had that freakish smile and that frail-looking body that always moved like it was made of soft rubber. His outfit was reminiscent to a music video Mike had seen of some rapper in the early 1990's, M.C. Jammer or something like that, only it was entirely red.(3) Lina noticed that there was a blue-haired woman wearing a heavy maroon cloak and matching hat behind Chaos. With a slight gesture, the woman indicated to Lina that their battle was to take place in a separate area. Lina didn't like the idea of leaving Mike alone, but he could probably handle himself. The blue-haired girl led Lina into another massive room that Lina could swear had to take up an entire level all on it's own, and yet, it was on the same level as the expansive field that Mike and that bald-guy were going to fight in. It had to be dimension-distorting magic at work. "I've heard that you are a powerful sorceress in your own world, Lina Inverse." the blue-haired woman finally spoke up as she stood across the room. "You seem to know more about me than I do about you." Lina commented. "I am Lucia Grania." the blue-haired woman said, taking a deep bow, "it's a pleasure to meet you." Lina thought back to something her big sister told her, "There just three kinds of enemies who'll be polite to you before a fight. The first were raised to be polite, the second want a fair fight, and the last think they're better than you. And all of them are trouble." Her big sister had also taught her the subtle differences between polite and pompous. Lucia wasn't being pompous, she was being polite, and that worried Lina greatly. Mike and Chaos circled each other. Mike had knew most of Chaos' cheaper tricks, but it'd been quite a while since their last battle, meaning that Chaos could easily have gotten a few new cheap moves. The only current advantages Chaos had were his longer reach and his scythe, and the latter could be dealt with rather easily. Chaos dashed forward, spinning like the whirling dervishes of legend, but his spin was stopped rather handily by Mike's Meteoric Slam shattered Chaos' scythe and sent the bald man tumbling. "Oh, come on! You know better than to challenge me head on!" Mike taunted, "Or did you forget that my father, Gaia, schooled you regularly?" Chaos lost his smile, "I still have to repay him for what he did to me!" Chaos stood slowly, his head and arms drooping. He quickly raised his head and spat at where he thought Mike was. When he realized that Mike had anticipated his poison needle attack, he wondered where the Rage Gym Leader had gone, but only for a second, as Mike's double-foot stomp drove him back into the ground. Mike leapt away as Chaos somehow spun on the ground and flung dirt in a feeble attempt to blind Mike. "You know, it's already very apparent that I'm going to win." Mike announced, "I've spent these last few years ascending to greater heights, physically and spiritually, while you've squandered the time, trying feebly to create new cheap tactics that you think might give you a slight edge against me." "If you hadn't noticed, none of your attacks have hurt me in the least." Chaos said, grinning maniacally, "That's because Athena's given me the ultimate level of regeneration! You can beat me up for hours, and you'll never hurt me!" "Hurt you?" Mike inquired, before giving Chaos a smile so cold, that only the north wind could match it's chilling effect (4), "I'm not here to HURT you, Chaos. I warned you of that last time we met. I told you loud and clear that if I ever saw you again, I would kill you." Chaos snorted, "I doubt you have the power necessary!" "Oh, I do. In fact, Chaos, I created this technique especially for you, and thanks to the Widow Slayer, I know it's VERY effective. Consider it a farewell gift." Mike declared, raising his hand. Chaos began to flee as Mike started to create the massive ki sphere that would kill him, but all of the exits were missing and the area was too small to find cover. As Mike leapt up into the sky, Chaos heard Athena's voice whisper into his mind, "I hate turncoats, but I despise cowards more." Chaos' body was vaporized by the ensuing explosion caused by Mike's Planet Killer technique. Lina was thankful that Sylphiel could create a better protective barrier than Lina herself could, as Lucia's Plasma Rain spell would have torn through Lina's barriers. Meanwhile, most of Lina's shamanistic spells had failed to break Lucia's own barrier. Worse, Lucia was able to maintain her barrier AND cast spells, something that would take a VERY powerful sorcerer on her world at least ten years to learn.(5) She wanted to cast her Dragon Slave, but there wasn't a fountain of negative energy, like Shaburanigdo, in this world. Hell, most of her favorite spells worked on the principle that those same forces of evil would always be there. She'd never really realized how much her magic had been weakened by entering this world. If only Misao were still around, she might be able to provide some help. But, Lina had given Misao and Misa to Sasami Kawai months ago. Hell, even Luna could have provided some much-needed information. No, she had to think for herself again. The Dragon Slave worked by drawing up the power from Shaburanigdo and funneling it into a beam of pure destruction. Shaburanigdo was basically a fountain of negative energy. So, theoretically, she could still cast the Dragon Slave, she just needed time to gather the negative energy herself. "Naga, Amelia, Filia! Distract her!" Lina said, unleashing the rest of her pokegirls. It would cause a strain on Sylphiel to protect more people with her barrier, but hopefully, the strain wouldn't have to last long. "Darkness beyond twilight crimson beyond blood that flows..." Lina began to chant as she called out to the negative energy flowing in the world. There was definitely a lot of it, so she had to estimate what she needed and make sure she only brought that much. After all, channeling too much could burn out her magic or damage her mind forever and with nothing to limit how much she drained, like a Mazoku Lord, she had a lot more guess work to do than she did back on her homeworld. Amelia threw rocks at Lucia's barrier, while Naga fired Mystic Bolts and Filia used her Hyper Beam. All of the attacks sprayed off of Lucia's barrier like water off a sidewalk. "Buried in the flow of time. In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness." Lina chanted, as she frowned, wondering why there was suddenly a guiding entity helping her. It was like something associated with darkness had suddenly taken notice of her spell and started helping her in gathering the negative energy. "All the fools who stand in our way shall be destroyed... ...by the power you and I possess. DRAGON SLAVE!" Lina finished. Lucia screamed as her barrier shattered and she was engulfed by the dark crimson beam. When the smoke cleared, there was a massive hole in the far wall, ceiling and floor, where Lucia had been standing. "Holy..." Amelia murmurred. Naga and Filia just stared, completely unprepared for the power than the Dragon Slave had produced. Sylphiel was surprised as well, but was more relieved that she could lower the barrier. Lina recalled all four of her pokegirls. There would be time for explanations later. "I see you're done too." Mike noted as he stepped into the room. Lina nodded. A quick glance found the staircase heading upwards and the two continued on. The two veterans continued their trip up the stairs, when a question struck Lunn. He glanced back at the mage following him. "It didn't matter which staircase we took, did it?" Lunn inquired. "No. Athena's tower was specially designed to shift itself to her whims. We all could have run up the same staircase and still wound up separated. At least this way, Athena's attention is divided." Theodore answered. "It seems that she's going to challenge us with problems from our past." Lunn commented as they entered a steel-plated room. Across the room were two men. The first was a pale-skinned silvery-haired man wearing thick black armor. Theodore recognized him as Ghaleon, a traitor from Vale. The other man had dark blue hair tied back into a long ponytail with a dark cloth over his mouth. He had a dark tan and wore loose black pants. His body was muscular, but not so much that he might be confused for someone from Full Mass. Lunn knew him very well. After all, how could he forget his own son? "Vargas." Lunn declared. "Father." Vargas answered, glaring at his father with murder evident in his eyes. Lunn had cast his son out when Vargas had begun delving into the worst techniques of the Four Dragon arts, all of which had been sealed since the Sukebe War, and with good reason. None of them could be used without killing one's opponent, which was something that the Four Dragons school had disallowed since the war. Meanwhile, Ghaleon and Theodore simply glared at each other. They'd had very different ideas about what things should be legal before Ghaleon finally quit his position as an instructor and left Vale. Neither of them had anything to say to the other. "FIREBALL!" Theodore cast, flinging a flaming sphere past Ghaleon. Ghaleon shifted his magical barrier to protect his rear, as he quickly realized Theodore was likely going to detonate it behind him in hopes of throwing him off-guard. Then Theodore teleported the fireball back in front of Ghaleon, who could only stare at it in surprise, and exclaim, "Wait, wha-" The explosion sent the younger mage flying backwards. Lunn, on the other hand, was skillfully dodging Vargas' seeking fingers. Vargas was no doubt seeking to utilize the 'Killing Fingers', a technique that completely shut down the nervous system. The flaw in the technique, however, was that it wasn't meant to be used as a pursuing attack. Lunn gathered his ki to form a dome, "BLUE DRAGON WAVE!" Vargas was prepared for the ki strike and blocked it, but he wasn't prepared when Lunn dashed by him, catching the younger fighter with a clothesline... As Titania reached out to crush her little water-dwelling sister, Scylla, a mirror formed between them. A stream of purple lightning poured from the mirror and struck Titania, sending the Stone Titaness crashing back onto the beach. No sooner had she landed than she was beset by two hundred projectile attacks, ranging from flashy flames and ki blasts to whirlwinds and geysers. Hundreds of vines and branches shot up from the sandy beach to entangle the enlarged Legendary, while rock pokegirls flung stone at Titania in an effort to knock her out. Meanwhile, three of the other hovercrafts were doing their level best to stay above water as Scylla tried to strike them all down with massive hydro pumps. The Angel Wings, however, kept distracting her with wind attacks, while electric pokegirls on the deck of the hovercrafts sniped at her with Zap Rings, Satellites and Thunderbolts. Serenity began playing cards rapidly. While Titania's power was great, she was certain that the Dark Emperor God Card, if successfully summoned, would definitely beat her. Pirotess watched Serenity carefully to make sure that no sudden movements from the Legendary killed her. Kyoko Kirishima had to admit that it felt a bit lame that a card player was going to do any major damage to the Legendary Titania, but when the stone titaness was so much larger than she used to be, Kyoko was willing to set aside her doubts and truly hope that the attack worked, because she doubted much else would. Water pokegirls had brought forth Water Gods to pound the enormous stone Legendary, but from the improved Titania's apparent ignorance of the attacks, it was safe to assume that she was now too resistant to water for the attacks to have any substantial effect on her. Athena watched the mirrors with mild interest. Junpei and Jean were battling the two Dronza sisters, Saki and Kurumi; Terry and Andy Bogard were fighting an Iron Maiden and an Esper; Ihrie and Rasha were dueling Luna and Alex; and Reimi and Yuka were desperately holding off Saki and Chigusa. But none of those battles interested her. Her fight was with the man who was charging up the stairs with the fury of hell boiling inside of him: Vincent Valentine. To anyone who'd seen her recent actions, it would have seemed like Ben Valentine was the one Athena was focused on. Ben was a clever diversion, nothing more. She had no more animosity towards the boy than the average dark pokegirl held towards a random water pokegirl. No, Vincent was her true target. The real reason she'd tortured his son and turned his daughter in her apprentice was solely to dig away at Vincent. Her grudge against him was greater than her grudge against mankind. It was Vincent, in a previous life, who'd stolen Artemis away from Athena. One time was not enough for such a serious grudge. Even Athena would admit to that. But in the course of the sixteen times Artemis had reincarnated, Vincent always found her first. And there was no room in Artemis' heart for Athena when Vincent was there. She'd tried countless times, killing Artemis and placing her soul into several different bodies, including a clone of Artemis' original body. But it was all for naught. There just wasn't a place in Artemis' heart for anyone but Vincent. That was why Vincent had to suffer. That was why Vincent had to die. And with him, all of mankind would follow. Then, he was in her inner sanctum. She had no last ditch escape plan. One of them would die. Vincent dropped the two Heavy Elemental pistols. The golden armor on Vincent's right arm disintegrated, then reintegrated, forming a large golden tri-barrelled rifle. He drew his personal tri-barrelled rifle, Death Penalty, from his back to join Magun. Both were loaded with six special shells, the two that Ben had given him, and four more that had been given to him by a blonde man he'd met a few flights down. No words were exchanged. There were none needed. As Titania tore free of her bindings, the humans and pokegirls on the beach began scrambling away, lest Titania's massive hands crushed them like bugs. Even the tamers had taken out pick-axes and wailed on Titania's thick hide, but nothing had done any significant damage to the massive Legendary, no longer had the tenacity to fight the unrestrained titan. Scylla jerked one final time as several Thunder techniques struck her simultaneously. As she dissolved away into red mist, most of the tamers present let out colorful curses. The flying pokegirls tried their best to scatter the mist, but their efforts didn't seem to effect the mist. However, when Titania failed to increase in size, it came as some relief to the tired fighters, though some noted that her skin returned to it's original hue. An explosion from the top floor of the tower caught the attention of everyone near it and rightfully so. Not only did the humans and pokegirls nearby have to dodge the debris, but a brilliant ball of light shot from the top of the tower and entered Titania's body. Before anyone could let out a definitive sentence or an appropriate enough curse word, the Legendary's body began to change once more. She became more slender and feminine, grew long strands of silvery hair, and her skin became pure white. Her eyes were solid red and her face was blank like a formless mask. Her hair began to lengthen rapidly, catching tamers, pokegirls and the various hovercraft nearby, before hefting them into the air. However, her attention turned to a diminiutive figure still standing on the beach. Serenity looked up from her last draw, which had finally produced the Dark Emperor God Card, and her eyes widened. She'd been so focused on drawing the God Card, she hadn't noticed how vastly things had changed. A mouth formed on the white giant's mouth and a massive beam of light shot out at her. Serenity winced as the beam's strike was impossible to dodge. She waited a second before opening her eyes to see a black disk between her and the white giant, courtesy of Setsuna and Black Dragon. Serenity peaked around the disk to see that it had absorbed and redirected the beam to slice off all of the strands of hair that were holding up victims or vehicles. Most of the tamers and pokegirls either landed safely or fell in the water, where they began swimming to shore. Only a few landed wrong, and were cursing vehemently about their luck. "Aren't you going to summon Dark Emperor?" Setsuna chided Serenity as she ran towards the white giant. Black Dragon was pulsating with an energy that Setsuna hadn't felt before. There was no doubt in Setsuna's mind that this moment was the reason she'd been given the honor of drawing the black blade from the Chapel. //Raise me up.// Black Dragon commanded. Setsuna raised the black sword into the air and felt the sword melt out of her hands and begin to make a new form for itself. In front of the massive white giant appeared an equally large black european-style dragon. Before the white giant could react, the dragon slammed into her, sending her reeling into the ocean. She fired another massive bolt of light at Black Dragon's head, but the dragon's prehensile neck allowed it to avoid the attack easily before pouncing on the white giant and raking her with it's claws. The white giant struck Black Dragon's ribs with a powerful uppercut, sending the dragon toppling away from her, before she fired several massive beams into the dragon's side. A purple gauntlet struck the white giant across the face, sending her reeling once more into the ocean. Dark Emperor, also as huge as the white giant, grabbed the white giant by her right ankle and hauled her out of the water. She dangled in the air for a few seconds before Dark Emperor began slamming his fist into her back. She screamed and flailed, trying to strike the armored figure, but with little effect. She began to fire curving blasts that struck Dark Emperor in the chest, which prompted him to drop her into the ocean. She rose from the water and lunged at him, but both he and Black Dragon caught her and hauled her skyward. The trio flew high above the clouds, with the white giant letting loose wild beams, flailing as she struggled to free herself. Minutes passed as the humans and pokegirls on the ground listened to explosions, angry roars, the creak of metal and the occassional scream, before the trio fell from the sky in one massive tangle of bodies and struck the water. As the water settled, none of the bodies remained, as if they were one large hallucination. Serenity yelped as the Dark Emperor God Card burst into flames and disintegrated away to nothing. Kazuya Mishima was the first to speak up, "Okay, what the hell?" -------- Epilogue -------- Ihrie winced as she flexed her pale left arm. Regeneration was never fun, especially not when it was a favorite limb. At least she didn't have to do any paperwork for a while. No one had seen Vincent Valentine or his children after that day. The rumor was that either they had died sometime during the Athena Incident, as it was now being called, or they had decided to disappear. Ben's pokegirls were in Vale's custody, and were likely either in contact with Ben or placed there for their safety. Whether or not they mysteriously "died" or "ran away to an undisclosed location" would determine if Ben was still alive. Wyna was in negotiations with various contractors to build a new facility that could create a new Langoud. The new ship would lack the massive cannon, but Wyna figured it was best if she and her crew didn't have to worry about people trying to get that particular secret anyway. Sodina and Meis were still going at it like rabbits. Muza now had a Samurai named Baiken, while Yamaken had come out with an Amazonlee named Chun. Yuka Takeuchi, one of the girls Ben had traveled with, had lost her right leg against Chigusa, and for some reason, Ihrie had overheard her make the comment that pokegirl medicines no longer worked on her. Junpei and Jean were off traveling and training, though Jean now had two Dracasses with her, which was odd because Ihrie could have sworn that the martial artist had gone into the tower sans pokeballs. Lunn was busy retraining his son Vargas, while some wizard named Ghaleon was serving time in Vale's high security magic-proof prison. Mike McGrull went back to his gym, as did Yamaken, though Yamaken immediately went on vacation. Many tamers who'd shown up at the battle were furious that they'd been cursed to forget what happened during the Athena Incident everytime they tried to communicate any part of the story to anyone. All they could say was that they were there and "So much happened, I can't begin to tell you." There was a rumor floating around that four other people had exited the tower at separate intervals, but no one had been able to give out any information as to what any of the four looked like, which meant that it was a cold trail unless they got permission to use the Chrono-Cam, which took an assload of paperwork, unless one happened to have Miranda Jahana on speed dial. Ihrie didn't. "Hey, Ihrie, look what I found!" Rasha said, sneaking into Ihrie's room wearing a nurse's outfit. Rasha's hand locked the door. And life went on. ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Not everything I wanted to write, but I've decided that this was long enough in the making. I wanted to go into the last four fights, as well as finish the "Vargas and Ghaleon vs. Lunn and Theodore", but just as I did with the original series, I ran out of mind-juice. I need to get away from this series so I can start anew. ====================================================================== (1) - Ben had thought that normal guns were a thing of the past, but the Elemental Pistols were something else entirely. Though they sounded interesting, Ben knew he'd never bother with one. (2) - Yes, I know Siren isn't one of the summons Meis' gets. But honestly, that's the game's limitation, not mine. The list for Meis to summon goes like so: Aquoon, Fiednod, Flareniel, Raou, Golda, Odnis Organ, Sodine. (3) - Yes, Chaos' outfit reminds me greatly of M.C. Hammer's. (4) - The north wind, for those who live in warmer climates, is the one that can strip the heat off your bones, regardless of what you're wearing, and is often responsible for most cold temperature ailments (like hypothermia) and deaths in temperate to arctic regions. (5) - Lina can't yet do this. Casting a flight spell is an enchantment, and does not require her concentration to maintain. Barriers require constant concentration to keep from failing under an opponent's assault, while offensive spells require active concentration to activate. So casting an offense spell while flying is very different from maintaining one spell while activating another. ====================================================================== Other things you may have noticed: Athena's tower changed in appearance. The original borrowed from Final Fantasy 6's Tower of Kefka, only Athena twisted it into a monument of failure for men, signifying that men would never again regain their importance in the world once Athena was finished. I dropped this as it make Athena a little too sick and evil. Vincent Valentine and Lucrecia Valentine are both alive. In the revision, I decided to make Vincent the mysterious Tamer X, who was trying to gather pokegirls he thought were strong enough to help him beat Athena (who he had discovered was the reason his family was divided). Ironically, Athena was the one to send Ben and Vincent away by casting a Random Teleport spell on them, took Lucrecia and left a powerful phantasmal illusion where they had once been, so as to keep Kakurine under her control as she began the lengthy process of using Lucrecia to revive Athena. The former wound up in Team Rocket's hands. ====================================================================== Pokegirl Species Listed In Alphabetic Order: ALAKA-WHAM, the Psychic Powerhouse Pokegirl Type: Near Human Element: Psychic Frequency: Very Rare Diet: human style food Role: security, often with administrators or researchers. Often utilized as a "pet". Libido: controlled Strong Vs: Fighting, Poison, Psychic Weak Vs: Bug, Dark, Ghost Attacks: Teleport, Telepathy, Telekinesis, limited Precognition, Healing, Barrier, Psychic, Psywave Enhancements: High psi capabilities, increased intelligence, highly developed nervous system Evolves: None Evolves From: Ka-D-Bra (normal) Alaka-Wham requires some sort of psychic bond with a Tamer or owner, which makes this a very rare Pokegirl indeed. Her psi potential is great, but without the psychic bond of a Tamer finds that it is difficult to focus that gift. Though always viewed with some suspicion, it wasn't until Mao's Rebellion that active distrust was a factor in modern times. Due to the need for a psychic bond, it is usually a pet A-bra that makes the gradual evolution to this end stage as opposed to a member of a working Tamer's harem. Their basic IQ is about 500, but the smarter ones can be even higher. DRACASS Type: Very Near Human Metamorph Element: Human Form: Fighting Dragon Form: Dragon Frequency: Rare Diet: human food with a preference for meat Role: heavy artillery Libido: Low Strong Vs: Human Form: Bug, Dark, Ice, Normal, Rock, Steel Dragon Form: Dragon, Electric, Fire, Plant, Water Weak Vs: Human Form: Flying, Psychic Dragon Form: Ice Attacks: Human Form: Aura of Cute, Punch, Kick, Quick Attack Dragon Form: Slash, Roar, Tail Slap, Dragon Rage, Hyper Beam Enhancements: Human Form: Youthful, Enhanced Strength (x2), Enhanced Agility (x2) Dragon Form: Youthful, Enhanced Strength (x10), Armoured, Enhanced Senses (x8), Flight Evolves: Dronza (hatred of humanity) Evolves From: None Created near the end of Sukebe`s Revenge, the Dracasses were intended as heavy assault platforms to assist in the defense of Sukebe`s more important installations, while at the same time not being a heavy drain on increasingly limited resources. Unfortunately, by the time the Dracasses were sent out into the field, the war was almost over. In a desperate, last ditch attempt to save their creator, the small numbers of Dracasses already created attempted to breach the enemies line in their human forms and destroy their headquarters, hopefully buying enough time for their master to escape. The plan couldn`t have gone more wrong. The Dracasses were ambushed before they ever made it to the enemy HQ, and ninety percent of this pokegirl breed was wiped out. With this success in one hand, the attack on Sukebe`s lair went ahead of schedule, catching the mage/scientist unaware. The few Dracasses remaining fought as hard as any other pokegirls on the field, but weren`t enough to turn the tide of battle. Normally remaining in their human form, they are nearly indistinguishable from pure blood humans, save that physical aging stops somewhere in the teen years, usually immediately after puberty. While this lack of physical aging keeps a Dracass in her prime combat condition, it comes with a steep price, as no Dracass has ever been recorded as becoming a pokewomon, and thus never having had children outside of parthenogenesis. While considered to be Fighting-types, Dracasses are not very powerful when compared to other Fighting-type pokegirls. They are, generally speaking, not as fast, strong or durable as other Fighting-types. In their Dragon forms, Dracasses gain a foot in height, and grow a layer of armoured scales over their previously soft flesh. Wings sprout from the Dracass`s back, enabling her to fly, though she must be trained, preferably by a Flying-type, before she can fly effectively. In addition, the Dracass gains a long tail, three quarters as long as she is tall, tipped either with a solid bone bludgeon, or a spear like point. The Dracass can maintain this Draconic form for only a short time, usually measured in minutes when the pokegirl is still young, but increasing as she gets more experience. It is rare for a girl to Threshold to Dracass, although it is not completely unknown. A Threshold Dracass will likely be a danger to those around her however, as it takes some time before she will be skilled enough to control her Draconic half without losing control and destroying everything around her. Despite an inherent desire to help those weaker than her, a Dracass does have a bit of a problem with authority figures, especially Tamers. While she won`t go out of her way to refuse a Tamers orders, a Dracass is likely to take the easy way out, at least until her Tamer has proven that he actually cares for her in some way. This has caused Dracasses to be regarded as more trouble than they?e worth by many researchers and Tamers alike, but, once a Dracass`s respect has been earned, they are without a doubt, one of the most loyal pokegirls to have. DRONZA, the Dark Dracass Type: Very Near Human Metamorphic Element: Human Form: Poison Dragon Form: Dragon Frequency: Extremely Rare Diet: human food with a preference for meat Role: destroyer of humanity Libido: High Strong Vs: Human Form: Bug, Fighting, Plant, Poison Dragon Form: Dragon, Electric, Fire, Plant, Water Weak Vs: Human Form: Ground, Psychic, celestial pokegirls Dragon Form: Ice, celestial pokegirls Attacks: Human Form: Aura of Fear, Poison, Punch, Kick Dragon Form: Aura of Fear, Slash, Roar, Drain, Tail Slap, Dragon Rage, Hyper Beam Enhancements: Human Form: Youthful, Enhanced Strength (x2) Dragon Form: Youthful, Enhanced Strength (x12), Armoured, Enhanced Senses (x8), Flight Evolves: None Evolves From: Dracass (hatred of humanity) There is a dark side to the Dracass. During Mao`s Rebellion, most Dracasses sided with humanity, fighting against those who would kill their human masters. However, a few choose to side with Mao, and this cast a dark shadow over the entire Dracass breed. The Tamers who had Dracasses often mistreated them, and it wasn`t unknown for a Dracass to be killed by humans who feared her. The Dracasses were oppressed, like many pokegirls of the time, but still they fought for the humans. It was shortly after the battle of Pine Ridge that one Dracass finally snapped. Mistreated by her Tamer, scorned by the humans around her, beaten, insulted and nearly killed, she decided that Humans were not worth saving. A dark evolution took place, and she became a Dronza. Little is known about what actually happened, but authorities that later found the sight reported that no human or pokegirl still lived. Most had been slaughtered in a brutal and sadistic fashion. These reports were quickly buried by the Leagues, lest humans decide that all Dracasses were evil, and wipe the breed out. Dronza are, by their very essence, everything that a Dracass is not. Filled with hatred, anger and disgust, they strike out at any who so much as look at them the wrong way. Dronza see the Dracass`s failure of Sukebe to be the ultimate disgrace, and they see the Tamed and domesticated pokegirls to be little more than traitors. Proclaiming themselves as the true path of Pokegirls, they continue to hunt humans and their pokegirls in an attempt to wipe clean the smear of failure, and bring Sukebe to his rightful place as the leader of humanity. They don`t seem to care that everyone claims he`s dead. These pokegirls spend most of their time in Draconic form, loathing the thought that they may have anything in common with a human. In this form, their scales are either black, or a very dark grey, and their eyes glow a bright red, distinguishable even in a brightly lit area. They will take their human forms only if they need to interact with a human, usually when coercing a Taming out of him. Once a Dracass has made the transition to Dronza, she loses all respect for the human race, and much of her respect for other pokegirl types, especially those who are members of a Tamer`s Harems. There is no reasoning with a Dronza, and they will, as likely as not, kill any human who crosses their path. Capturing a Dronza is almost impossible, and no Tamer has ever claimed to have been able to keep one in his Harem. However, many reports have been made of Dronza tricking Tamers into Taming them, or even forcing the act if they wish, to keep themselves from going Feral. In some cased, the Dronza even allows the unlucky Tamer to live. Tamers are advised, not, under any circumstances, to set a Dracass against a Dronza. This battle will be unstoppable, as the two breeds have a hatred for the other that defies all logical thought, and the two will fight until one is dead. Dronza are considered a threat by all Leagues, and a bounty of 10,000 credits has been set for the confirmed extermination of a Dronza. ESPER, the Magic Pokegirl Type: varies Element: Magic/varies Frequency: Very Rare (All Leagues) Diet: varies Role: varies Libido: varies Strong Vs: varies Weak Vs: varies Attacks: varies Enhancements: varies Evolves: None Evolves From: None Espers are, perhaps, the most chaotically arrayed pokegirl types ever. When they are born (in recorded history, only 1% of all Espers have ever resulted from Threshold), the Esper may gain any elemental affinity. Espers can only be identified by Pokedex scans. Otherwise, there is a strong possibility for them being confused for another pokegirl type. Most Espers left for a sub-dimension after the Sukebe War rather than live on Earth. Those that continue to live on Earth are very rare and are constantly being mistaken for other pokegirl types. No one knows why, but there is a belief that they may return to Earth should parity become a reality. GROWLIE, the Puppy Pokegirl Type: Semihuman Element: Fire Frequency: Uncommon (Crimson, Indigo) Diet: near human diet (omnivore, but mostly fish and nuts) Role: originally tracking and frontline, make excellent pets Libido: High Strong Vs: Bug, Fire, Ice, Plant, Steel Weak Vs: Ground, Rock, Water Attacks: Flamethrower, Ignite, Growl, Slash, Bite Enhancements: Increased strength and sense of smell, High endurance and loyalty Evolves: Growltit (Fire Stone) Evolves From: Goth (Sarcastic Goth sub-types only; Fire Stone) Growlies make good pets as they are loyal to a fault. Unless you don't leave very much, it's not recommended to have only a single Growlie as the family pet as they require lots of love and attention. Another pokegirl is recommended as the Growlies can then occupy themselves by 'playing' with the other pokegirls. They are very competitive with any and ALL amorous or lustful pokegirls. It's strongly suggested that you _not_ have any of the Domina-type Pokegirls, though. Growlies and Domina-types do NOT like each other. HEROLEE, the Kicking Heroic Pokegirl Type: Very Near Human Element: Fighting Frequency: Rare (Crimson League) Diet: human diet Role: champions Libido: Average to High Strong Vs: Dark, Ice, Normal, Rock, Steel Weak Vs: Flying, Psychic Attacks: Chi Blast, High Kick, Low Sweep, Hyper Kick, Rolling Kick, Jump Kick, Lightning Kick, Fire, Kick, IceBlade Kick Enhancements: Improved kick strength, jumping, and running speed Evolves: None Evolves From: Amazonlee (normal) Herolees are an impressive evolution of the Amazonlee. Like their counterparts, the Herochans, they develop a plethora of elemental based attacks. One thing that is quite intriguing about Herolees is the fact that they will often try and urge their tamers into using sexual positions that take advantage of the Herolees' incredible leg muscles. IRON MAIDEN, the Hard Pokegirl Type: Near Human Element: Steel Frequency: Very Rare (Crimson League) Diet: unknown Role: immovable guards Libido: very Low (Average during mating cycle) Strong Vs: Bug, Dark, Dragon, Flying, Ghost, Ice, Normal, Plant, Poison, Psychic, Rock, Steel Weak Vs: Electric, Fighting, Fire, Ground Attacks: Harden, Gaze, Rock, Throw, Mega Punch Enhancements: Nigh impenetrable skin, strength, endurance Evolves: None Evolves From: Brass (Heavy Metal) During the war, if something needed to be guarded by the perfect guard, one needed an Iron Maiden on the job. Iron Maidens are never distracted to the point that they forget there given task. Most take things very seriously. The Damsel only matches their level of invulnerability and they were, as it was proven, only mildly irritated or unsettled by even Plasma Cannons. Flamethrowers were the only effective weapon against them, but few were ever actually used Against Iron Maidens because of the previous rational thinking: A plasma cannon can do everything a flamethrower can, but faster. However Plasma Cannons cannot keep up the stream of Fire, necessary to do effective damage against Iron Maidens. Iron Maidens are not common for Tamers to take in for the simple fact that few can actually bring pleasure to an Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden have a very dense layer of skin which prevents both pleasure and dampens the Iron Maidens capacity for feeling anything via touch. However, there are those that can entice, excite and bring an Iron Maiden to orgasm, all of whom either have a Fire blood gift or have studied martial arts for years. What relegated Iron Maidens to their current jobs of security or law enforcement was the fact that Iron Maidens have almost no sex drive outside of their mating cycle, which only occurs for one month every five years after puberty, thus allowing them to remain undisturbed where other more randy Pokegirls need leave for Taming. There are no more than fifty Iron Maidens currently in the Crimson League. SAMURAI, the Sword-Avenger Pokegirl Type: Very Near Human Element: Fighting Frequency: Extremely Rare Diet: human style diet Role: veteran warriors Strong Vs: Bug, Dark, Ice, Rock, Normal, Steel Weak Vs: Flying, Psychic Libido: only manifests if the Samurai is alone with her Tamer Attacks: Slash, Double Slash, Cut, Sword Dance, Focus Energy Enhancements: Enhanced speed, stamina and strength. Tough skin. Can summon two weapons at the same time. Evolves: None Evolves From: Ronin (mechanism uncertain - may be unique) It is unknown why or how a Ronin evolves to a Samurai, even though researchers are still studying them with little to no results. A Samurai likes one thing, to fight. And their primal motivation is to protect their tamers, no matter how powerful the pokegirl in front of them is; they will fight to the death if it keeps their master safe. When they are alone with their tamer, that changes completely and their libido goes so high that it could actually rival a Vixxen. A Samurai can summon two weapons, the Katana, and a shorter version, a Kodachi sword. They can also use both at the same time. A Ronin will always respect a Samurai since she will consider the evolved pokegirl as the perfect sword fighter master. Their feral states are much like that of an Ingenue, in which they seem to be in a state of constant distraction. WAR ESPER, the Forgotten Poke-type Type: varies Element: Magic/varies Frequency: Extremely Rare - 1 (Crimson League) Diet: near human Role: replacements for males Libido: varies Strong Vs: varies Weak Vs: varies Attacks: varies Enhancements: varies Evolves: None Evolves From: None Supposedly created by the general Artemis at the behest of her lover, Athena, the War Esper was an attempt at creating a replacement for human males. However, this race wound up being a PERFECTLY equal mixture of male and female, hermaphrodite and genderless. As such, the idea was abandoned and those that were made were kept to see what use could be found of them. The War Espers were found to have the unique ability to become more powerful when they came into contact with friendly Pokegirls. The more intimate the War Espers became with others, the more powerful they were. It was the pure-breeds that became juggernauts of power. However, with the variable lifespan and genetic instability, nearly all of the War Espers died after one year. Those that survived managed to produce offspring, but of the species they mated with. It is believed that the power of the War Esper lay hidden in the generations and was spread about the world in the form of some of the more common Pokegirl types. It is uncertain, due to the Mutt Syndrome, exactly how many people may be descended of this race, but it has been speculated that the unpredictable nature of the bloodline has produced some of the more unique and powerful blood gifts. This is, of course, speculation. Only one War Esper is known to still be living, though its location is only known to trusted individuals that will never betray its trust. All that may remain those of a tiny strain that managed to remain throughout the ages. ====================================================================== Special Files: The Three Crimson League Legendaries Kary, The Volcano Mistress Legendary Pokegirl Type: Animorph, Near Human Element: Flame/Ground Frequency: Unique Diet: Carnivorous, Flames Role: Legendary Pokegirl Libido: None Strong Vs: Fire, Bug, Grass, Steel, Dark, Normal, Dragon, Magic, Rock, Electric, Poison Weak Vs: Fighting, Water, Flying, Ice, Ghost Attacks: Grow, Shrink, Meteor 27, Flame Floor, Star Fall, Thunder Tail, Fire Sword MK II, Fire Blast, Sword Dance, Spincut, Assault, Sentinel, Weapon Carnival, Carve, Cut, Parry, Deflect, Power Drive, Firewind, Flame Thrower, Rage, Flame Tower, Explosion Enhancements: Size change (up to 24 feet tall); heals from all explosions, heat and/or fire attacks; three attacks per round (all of which could be either physical or elemental); creates Flame Floor on any ground she's crossed over; all arms can operate independently. A 7'8" foot tall woman with a snake-like lower body, red skin, six arms and long blonde hair, who could grow to three times her normal size. This fiery Legendary pokegirl carried six scimitars (which she could make grow with her) and was dangerously adept at using them in conjunction with her fiery powers. She was so skillful, in fact, that she could deflect all the shrapnel from multiple fragmentary grenades. Shockingly, despite being one of the most poweful fire pokegirls, only the bottoms of her snake-like scales were hot on the outside, and not very hot at that (estimated was only 102 degrees farenheit, slightly warmer than the average human), meaning that martial artists who could get close enough, could attack her bare-handed without fear of being burned, though very few ever tried. She took triple damage from ice attacks and double damage from water; but healed from heat (rate of 1 extra HP per turn for every 10 degrees above 100 farenheit), flame (equal to 'damage' dealt), and even explosions caused by missiles or grenades (10 HP per explosion). She took no damage (and thankfully, didn't heal either) from plasma rifles or bullets. Kary's first appearance was not recorded, even though she burned seven entire cities to the ground within a month of that estimated time. Kary's diet was what truly made her terrifying than even Hy-Bra, as she often grew to her 24 foot size and ate humans while they were still alive, and sometimes even other pokegirls. This ultimately led to many failed attempts by both humans and pokegirls to kill her prior to the pyrhhic battle in 8 AS. It's suspected that she tended to move towards heavily populated zones for food, rather than for any particular mission. Kary even clashed against her fellow Legendaries, most notably Scylla and Titania, and it's believed that Kary came away as the victor each time, as Titania and Scylla were both seen moving far away from where Kary was. Many speculate how a fight between Hy-Bra and Kary might have gone, but alas, the battle was never meant to be, as the two were never in the same areas. It's even rumored that even Pokegirl Generals Artemis and Athena made an attempt to stop this violent self-centered legendary, but as both Kary and the two generals survived long past the date of this conflict was rumored to have taken place on, it's certain that, if the battle actually took place, it ended in failure for the two generals. Kary trusted only a few pokegirl types to be around her and was, in turn, trusted even less by those very pokegirls. It's believed that these pokegirls were the ones to supply the military with the vital information necessary to kill Kary. Kary left behind trails of flame and molten rock wherever she went, and continually healed because of it. Invulnerable to even missiles, the military had almost no choice but to make a concentrated physical attack, backed up by the Langoud; various water, ice and flying pokegirls; and even firetrucks and water-dispensing helicopters. The final battle was said to have taken over seven hours to wear Kary down enough that victory was almost at hand. Kary, perhaps not wanting to be slain by such tiny creatures or perhaps simply enraged enough, used Explosion, killing herself and everyone within a one mile radius. The result of the explosion left a massive crater, the edges of which can still be found, even underwater, and created tons upon tons of red ash that choked the western edge of the new continent Maycia (aka. the Crimson League). The battle was considered a pyrrhic victory at best. With her death, the war was considered largely over, despite the continued presence of various Legendaries (such as Atmuff, Moltits and Articunt). Titania, The Giant Stone Legendary Pokegirl Type: Not Very Near Human Element: Rock/Ground Frequency: Unique Diet: Rocks, Minerals Role: Legendary Pokegirl Libido: Unknown (presumed low) Strong Vs: Fire, Bug, Flying, Ice, Poison, Rock, Electric Weak Vs: Fighting, Ice, Grass, Water, Flying Attacks: Grow, Shrink, Rock Throw, Quake, Harden, Megawave, Shockspike, Rage Shock, No Sell, Chump Change, Stomp, Fissure, EarthQuake, Resonate, Tectonic Slam, Diamond Fist Enhancements: Can grow to huge size (30 feet tall), heals when she eats earth or minerals In her smaller form, she stood 8'9", had long dark hair, light grey skin, violet eyes and looked very much like a Marble pokegirl. In her larger form, she appeared much the same, but her body appeared more 'blockish', as if she were using boulders as makeshift armor. Believed to be the first rock or ground pokegirl, and the progenitor of many of the current Rock and Ground-type pokegirls, Titania was not a overly violent pokegirl. Though she did cause massive amounts of damage, very few deaths were attributed to her attacks. Titania's behaviour became less violent following Sukebe's death, and she often wandered with Marble pokegirls, exploring the land, and only fighting when attacked. Following her battle with her 'sister' Legendary, Hy-Bra, which left a scar that remained on her body until the day she died, Titania changed. Many believe that it was misplaced frustration towards her 'sister' or perhaps a side effect of the Omega Drain, but Titania became increasingly more violent following that battle. Unfortunately, she timed her last rampage poorly, destroying a port town near where Scylla had died, only hours after her water sister had been destroyed by the Langoud's cannon. The shot struck the enlarged pokegirl, tearing her apart and disintegrating most of her, and sending large chunks flying miles away, one of which landed in the town of Twin Peaks. Scylla, The Water Fiend Legendary Pokegirl Type: Metamorph Element: Water/Poison Frequency: Unique Diet: Fish, possibly humans Role: Legendary Pokegirl Libido: Average to High Strong Vs: Fire, Rock, Bug, Fighting, Poison Weak Vs: Electric, Grass, Psychic Attacks: Water Spear, Tidal Wave, Water Tower, Hydro Pump, Rain, Mirror Image, Whirlpool, Draining Rain, Water Golem, Water God, Poison, Poison Mist, Lust Dust, Slow Venom, Stop Sting, Vertigo Venom, Hot Sting, Paralyzation Poison, Wrap (could use on multiple targets at one time), Crushing Wrap Enhancements: Complete mastery of all water within one mile, mild regeneration when in contact with water, multiple limbs Scylla appeared as a 5'3" beautiful woman with glowing blue skin, long silvery hair, and had enchanting sea-blue eyes. She often took this form and spent much time underwater. However, when she went into combat, her lower body shifted into that of an octopus with twelve tentacles. Scylla would frequently enchant men on ships or on beaches with her beauty and have sex with them. It's said that those who failed to please her were dragged into the ocean to drown (and possible be eaten). Those who did please her were also dragged off, but one survivor said that Scylla brought him to an underwater cavern and had sex with him repeatedly, and this likely was the fate of Scylla's other lovers, though the survivor saw no sign of the others. He was the last lover that Scylla had, as he was captured just days before she was killed, and he was able to swim to freedom a day later. Though not one to work with other pokegirls, she didn't conflict with any pokegirls, save for Kary, who interupted Scylla during one of her seductions, and proceeded to eat Scylla's conquest right in front of her. The two battled fiercely, but it's believed that Scylla was the one to retreat from the fight, despite having a major advantage over her fiery sister. Scylla was the most annoying pokegirl to try and face, because she was able to control the ocean around her, shift torpedoes from their designated path, send depth charges back to the surface, and could knock bullets and shells out of the air with her Hydro Pump, or dive beneath the water to dodge when other attacks were attempted. Plus the fact that she could control the water within a mile of her made it virtually impossible for almost any ship to get range to effectively attack her, and the fact that she could sink or break said ships _and_ she didn't need to be in detectable range. She used this tactic often in the early days of the war to attack convoys. But as the war dragged on, she became more and more arrogant about her opponents, allowing herself to surface to mock the convoy's defenders. This ultimately led to her death. The Langoud's massive cannon was able to kill her, catching her when she was attacking a fleet openly. It burned her to death and evaporated all the water in a 135 foot radius. What remained of her body was fished out of the water and inspected, before the military disintegrated it, just in case she could regenerate from even death, a wise precaution seeing as Scylla was the very first Legendary pokegirl ever successfully killed. Since it's first display of power had been successful, the Langoud was sent to hunt down other Legendaries. Titania EX, The Fiery Giant Stone Legendary Pokegirl Type: Not Very Near Human Element: Rock/Ground/Fire Frequency: Unique Diet: ??? Role: Legendary Pokegirl Libido: Unknown Strong Vs: Fire, Bug, Grass, Steel, Dark, Normal, Dragon, Magic, Flying, Ice, Poison, Rock, Electric Weak Vs: Fighting, Ice, Water, Ghost Attacks: Unknown Enhancements: Can grow to Kaiju size (100 feet tall); heals when she eats earth or minerals; heals from all explosions, heat and/or fire attacks; three attacks per round (all of which could be either physical or elemental); creates Flame Floor on any ground she's crossed over Evolves: Super Titania (death of Scylla) Evolves From: Titania (killing Kary) Titania EX was the fusion of Kary and Titania after Titania killed Kary during the Athena Incident. Growing from 30 feet in height to 100 feet in height and gaining a reddish hue, she quickly tried to reach her other sister Legendary Scylla, which prompted all of the tamers available to attack her in hopes of stopping her. Titania's improved body made her even more durable than previously. Though the Langoud had sunk prior to her appearance, it's speculated that she would have been able to survive a blast from Langoud's main cannons. Super Titania, The Multi-Elemental Colossus Pokegirl Type: Not Very Near Human Element: Rock/Ground/Fire/Water Frequency: Unique Diet: ??? Role: Legendary Pokegirl Libido: Unknown Strong Vs: Fire, Bug, Grass, Steel, Dark, Normal, Dragon, Magic, Flying, Ice, Poison, Rock, Electric Weak Vs: Fighting, Ice, Water, Ghost, Psychic Attacks: Unknown Enhancements: Can grow to Kaiju size (100 feet tall); heals when she eats earth or minerals; heals from all explosions, heat and/or fire attacks; three attacks per round (all of which could be either physical or elemental); creates Flame Floor on any ground she's crossed over; complete mastery of all water within one mile; mild regeneration when in contact with water Evolves: Omega Athena (death of Athena) Evolves From: Titania EX (death of Scylla) Super Titania was no larger than her previous form, but gained her dead sister's powers. Super Titania's appearance changed to resemble that of her original form. However, Super Titania did not keep her form for long, as Athena died shortly thereafter and took over Super Titania's body. Omega Athena, Athena's Final Form Type: Near Human Type: Not Very Near Human Element: ??? Frequency: Unique Diet: ??? Role: Legendary Pokegirl Libido: Unknown Strong Vs: ??? Weak Vs: ??? Attacks: Hair Wrap, Unknown Enhancements: ??? Evolves: N/A Evolves From: Super Titania (death of Athena) Following Athena's death, a ball of light, assumed to be Athena's soul, merged with Super Titania, creating one final form from the massive Legendary Titania.