HALP I'M A LOST TOURIST (totally freaking open)

[~0o*Mew*o0~]

Tori glanced at Madison as she complimented her in return causing her to blush.

"Oh....yeah....th..thank you!"

Tori chuckled at the grim reality at why she was so "challenging". To be honest, one of the reasons she had come to Orre was so she could escape being "Tori the adaptibility master". That's another reason she had started to raise a new team. She certainly hoped that this, Madison girl, would not find out that she was a former gym leader and now a frontier brain.

Tori's thoughts preoccupied her as Drake's wall of scorching flame hit the Manectric, Ko'ing it. She congradulated her beautiful wyvreon with a well deserved poffin. She stood back in time to witness Madison whip out another pokeball and hurtle it into the air.

Tori was awed by the large rock type and couldn't help but wonder how she could beat such a large behemoth. As the large Rock pokemon fired a rock blast, Tori knew that Drake was finished. She watched as the first rock hit Drake, sending him back a little bit, and then the second one, which sent him flying backwards into a tree. Tori knew he was unable to battle and reached for Drake's pokeball.

"Drake that was fabulous. Thank you so much."

Tori growled under her breath as she stared at the very large beast. She knew that her zephyeon had almost no energy left, but she decided that she would give her a shot anyway.

With a flick of her wrist Tori tossed Sam's pokeball into the air sending out a barrage of hearts along with the aerial pokemon itself.

"SAM SEE IF YOU CAN PULL OFF A BLIZZARD!"

Sam nodded as she zoomed around in the air and gathered her strength for a strong blizzard attack. As she fired her attack, Sam grimaced as her poison status sapped her of her strength causing her to faint on the spot.

Tori frowned knowing that she had anticipated this from the moment Sam became poisoned. Tori walked over to her darling zephyeon and stroked it as she recalled her pokemon.

"Should've seen that one coming. However, I'm not done yet..."

Tori glared at the Rhydon as she called out her next pokemon. The pokeball was forest green with two red dots on either side. Tori tossed the pokeball, revealing a smaller sized Leafeon. The Leafon mewed tauntingly as it took it's stance.

"Meet Thorn."

[maskerade]

"Great job Avalanche! That's the way to do it!"

The Rhydon puffed his massive chest out with an immense sense of pride, as Drake's tamer recalled him into his pokeball.

"Don!"

Madison just shot Tori a smug, challenging look. One that asked the other tamer what on earth she planned to do now, without saying the actual words. Part of her insisted it was wise to keep up her guard, and that it always was, but Madison found it hard not to become a little overconfident. Especially not after how easily her massive beast had taken down that aggressive little dragon.

Her confidence didn't waver in the least when Sam was called out. Instead, Madison stood there and waited for Tori and her pokemon to attack. Flying type wasn't the best choice to use against a monster like Rhydon, so why on earth should she be worried at all?

The type matchup was atrocious. Madison took it to mean that her opponent didn't have much to choose from in the way of types anymore, and that this was a complete shot in the dark.

Until Tori commanded the blizzard attack.

Now..That move would do a fair amount of damage, if it hit Avalanche. She was willing to bet more than half her money the Rhydon would be able to cling on, even if only a little, but the ice-move was dangerous. What would she do if it froze him?

Luckily, fate seemed to rule in her favor. The Zephyeon succumbed to the poison from earlier, before the attack could be launched. Madison wanted to give a great big sigh of relief, but didn't want Tori to know that, for a moment, she'd actually been fairly concerned. She kept it bottled inside, and instead grinned a bit.

"I'll have to remember to thank Viper, for that one."

She braced herself, as did her Rhydon, when Tori called out the next pokemon; a leafeon. This time, Madison frowned. She'd heard of this pokemon before, even seen one, way back in her childhood. One of her friends from the Kanto and Johto regions had one of these. A grass-type, as she recalled. Now she was the one with a bad type matchup.

"Avalanche, body slam!"

They had to at least try, didn't they? Maybe they'd get lucky, unless the Leafeon was too fast.

Avalanche snorted, and charged at the smaller creature, lunging in an attempt to crush the smaller creature.

Madison watched, with a forcibly blank expression. If Avalanche lost, it would sting, but so be it. She still had her trump card with her.

[~0o*Mew*o0~]

Tori realized that Madison's confidence had sky rocketed, which gave Tori all the more reason to try hard. Tori, however, didn't seem at all threatened when the giant lumbering pokemon charged at her lovely grass eeveelution. She paused as the giant rock type drew nearer and nearer, but didn't command her pokemon.

Finally once the pokemon was about a foot away, Tori lifted her head and smirked.

"NOW DODGE THORN AND GET BEHIND IT!"

The grass type gave a little smirk of it's own as it's incredible speed allowed it to move freely and she easily avoided the Rydon's attack. Soon the grass type eeveelution was behind the lumbering pokemon and jumped into the air.

"Now use leaf blade Thorn!"

The Leafeon mewed happily as she turned her leaf on her head into a sharp grass blade, which she hoped would strike her very large opponent.

Tori watched silently as Thorn began to pull off her attack and prayed that it would be enough to take down the giant. Tori couldn't lose another pokemon....or could she? She knew she still had her ace up her sleeve, but it had been such a long time since she had been forced to use her trump that she had nearly put the the thought out of her mind. She knew that her trump probably could've easily taken out the Rydon that had given Sam and Drake such a hard time, but she knew that her Leafeon could do just as well.

With a smirk, Tori turned attention back towards Madison.

"I hope you don't think you have me cornered."

[maskerade]

"Hnn, fast little thing."

Even though she had anticipated the Leafeon being quick, Madison had to say, she hadn't thought it would have been quite as fast as it was. She pursed her lips both in annoyance and thought, as she watched the battle play out. Avalanche was slow and lumbering, in comparison to the light, agile pokemon. Nothing good to see, since the Leafeon had quite the advantage here.

"Avalanche, look out!"

A feat easier said than done, really. Her large pokemon didn't have many defensive moves, and his thick hide meant little against a grass type. All he could do was brace himself, and even that wasn't a solid plan. Not against this type of pokemon, anyway.

She didn't answer Tori's challenging remark at first, too busy watching the battle to see how her Rhydon would fare. The large ground and rock type attempted to brace himself, but all in vain. Madison could see how effective the move had been, the second it struck. The Rhydon's face contorted in pain, and he let out a roar in agony. The leaf blade easily sliced through his thick armor, like it was nothing, because of the type matchup.

"Ugh. Return."

She wouldn't wait for this one to faint. He wouldn't stand a chance against the leafeon, and she had to admit it. But, now Tori had two pokemon left...and she only had one.

Good thing it was her trump card.

"..Well, I hope you don't think I'm going to go out in anything less than a blaze."

Madison smirked, as she withdrew her last pokeball.

"Let me introduce you to my number one, Inferno!"

She released him a moment later, grateful that it was a grass type her powerful Blaziken would be facing first.

"Inferno, blast burn!"

The blaziken nodded and charged forward, as his entire body became engulfed in flame. He leapt up into the air, and landed on one leg, pushing into the ground with his hands. All of the fire around his body dispersed, into the hole he had just made, and only a few seconds later flames began erupting from the ground; heading toward the small grass pokemon.

[~0o*Mew*o0~]

Tori smiled as the her tiny Leafeon brought down the mighty beast causing her displeased opponent to recall her pokemon. Tori gave her leafeon an exhuberant cheer as she patted it on it's back, after all pokemon did respond postively to praise. The leafeon gave a chipper bark as she regained her place on the battle field, obviously still ready to go. Tori frowned slightly knowing that her pokemon had already been in a battle earlier and the effects from battling Madison's Rhydon was still enough to cause the pokemon to tire. However, Tori didn't have time to explain to her pokemon, before Madison had sent out her pokemon.

Again Tori awed at how strong and sleek the blaziken looked, but her awe was short lived as it fired an powerful blast burn at her poor leafeon. It was like watching a horror film in slow motion. She tried to tell Thorn to dodge, but it was too late. She watched the scorching flames erupt all around her darling pokemon.


"LEEEEAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIEFFFFFFFIEEEEEE"

The sound pierced through Tori causing her to grimace and immediatley rush to her pokemon's side. Obviously her pokemon had fainted and Tori knew that she had lost a very important person to her team.

"Wonderful Thorn! You did excellent and I wouldn't have expected you to have taken down a pokemon at least 20 leavels ahead of you. You did great."

Tori recalled Thorn into the friend ball and placed it back on her belt. Normally one would have thought that this would be the end for the gym leader, but it was evident from the gym leader's eyes that this was far from being over.

"Very good Madison, no you've done excellent! Not many of the people I've battled have ever forced me into this position. Your Blaziken is fabulous, but just as you have brought out your trump card, so now shall I bring out mine."

Tori smiled as she jerked a tiny pokeball, which hung on her choker, off and tossed it into the air. As the light settled a strong Flareon stood.

"Lance it's your turn...it's been awhile since you've battled. Lance use Quick attack and test it out."

The Flareon nodded it's head and dashed towards the Blaziken. It wasn't as fast as Thorn had but it was still very fast.

[maskerade]

"Excellent work, Inferno!"

The Blaziken pumped both clawed hands triumphantly, grateful for the praise. Madison knew she didn't really have to tell him he'd done a great job, but it felt a little awkward not doing so, when her opponent congratulated the pokemon that had fainted. Inferno knew he had done a good job, it was obvious, and it would have been cause for concern if he hadn't been able to handle a grass pokemon that was less than half his size.

Still, she didn't want to seem completely heartless here. She was a tough girl, and while she assumed her battle style reflected that, it didn't mean she wanted to be seen as too harsh. She'd been down that road before, and there were few things more annoying than self-righteous trainers preaching about how theirs was the best way to raise pokemon. Tori didn't seem to be too much like them, she'd ordered a few harsh attacks of her own, but you could never be too careful.

"Hmm..This will be an interesting finale."

The remark flew out of her mouth the second Tori's last pokemon made it onto the field. Yes...It sure would. Two powerful fire types pitted against one another, in a fight to determine which of them was the more powerful pokemon trainer. Fitting, really.

She grinned, amused by this. This was going to be fun as well. But, Tori had the chance to take advantage of the last move. Blaziken was still regathering his energy, the blast burn a little too much for him to attack again right away.

Hm, maybe she should have used flame thrower instead. Oh well, there was no way around it now.

[~0o*Mew*o0~]

As Lance landed his quick attack, Tori stood watching in silence. She wondered how this would all play out. with Lance's ability, Madison would be unable to use any fire attacks. Which left Blaziken at a disadvantage if not completely useless...she hoped. However, she had dealt with a blaziken before and she knew that the fighting-fire type bird pokemon was quite capable of pulling off other incredibley powerful moves, such as sky uppercut, high jump kick, and others. Tori had to think carefully before she did anything to rash, but first she had to see if the blaziken was faster than her flareon.

Just as Tori was about to call an attack, a small tourist walked by the battle field. At first he merely stood there and eyed the pokemon, but than his eyes widened and he began to frantically point at Tori.

"You! Your that....that frontier brain/coordinator from the Johto area! Your Tori the Adaptability Master!"


Tori grimaced with anger as the irratating tourist "blew her cover". She tried to think of a lie to get herself out of the mess she was in.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about."

The tourist shook his head slightly still amazingly enthusiastic about seeing the retired gym leader.

"No, I know it's you! They say that your taking a break and training a new team! I guess it's true!"

Tori glared at the tourist, obviously losing the cool and tough pose she had earlier.

"Please leave. I am having a battle and in the future perhaps it would be better to leave well enough alone. Maybe the "Adaptability Master" wanted a break. Thank you for your kind words though."

The tourist looked shaken aback and turned abruptly to leave. Tori stole a glance at Madison and tried to fix any damage that had been done.

"Please don't be angry...."

[maskerade]

Madison watched, with no concern at all, as Tori's Flareon rushed her Blaziken with a quick attack. Even when the move hit its mark, and her large pocket monster stumbled a little, the Hoenn native didn't seem too bothered by it.

That Inferno had reacted at all to the quick attack, meant that the smaller fire type packed quite a punch- and was probably fairly high in both level and skill. Inferno had endured rigorous training throughout the years, and that, combined with his fighting duality, made him tough enough to take moves like this from many pokemon without so much as breaking a sweat. Lance was a worthy adversary, that was for sure, but it didn't mean she had any reason to be worried about her Blaziken's performance. She chuckled arrogantly to herself, as Inferno righted himself again- able to strike again.

"Inferno! Use-"

Her voice trailed off, as she realized one of the people who had stopped to stare at them was about to speak. It seemed to low of a move to attack while Tori was distracted, so Madison waited. A little annoyed at the interruption, but curious what the other tourist wanted.

She soon regretted that curiosity. Her blue eyes widened in shock, before narrowing in frustration at what she'd heard. Coordinator? Tori was involved in...in that?! But she seemed so above it!

Madison snorted, feeling her frustration growing- but it wasn't just because of the coordinating. She thought it was the stupidest thing on the planet, but Tori was also an experienced battler- and a Frontier brain apparently- so that much, she could attempt to forgive.

But the deception?

"Adaptability Master? Frontier Brain?"

The young woman huffed.

" Oh, so I'm not 'worthy' enough to know who you are? Too low-brow for you, so you have to lie to me?"

She shook her head. Well, this was certainly a development.

"Well, if you're such a master at adaptability, I can't wait to see how you're going to worm your way out of this one. Inferno, Sky Uppercut!"

The Blaziken darted toward Lance, aiming a powerful punch at him with glowing talons.

[~0o*Mew*o0~]

Tori felt her stomach tie itself in knots as she heard the young woman huff in frustration. At first Tori felt low and vile. True, she had decieved the young woman, but at the same time she was only trying to hide from the other people who "idoilized" her. She figured that if it was only the title that attracted the people than perhaps she could hide her identity and all would be fine. However, frustration built in Tori's throat as she glanced at Madison.

"To low brow? I wouldn't have even tried to battle you if I thought you were low brow. I don't battle people who I feel have an unfair advantage. It's against my code. I hid my identity "madam" because I am so sick of everyone treating me as the frontier brain. As for whether or not you are worthy? I'm not entirely sure. Tell me now, Madison would you perhaps go around everywhere you went as the frontier brain? Would you be open to the massive amounts of people that swarm you daily, because they just want to be seen with someone popular? Tell me that you wouldn't want to take a break from it all."

As Madison had her Blaziken fire off a sky uppercut, Tori frowned narrowing her eyes on Lance.

"Lance evade quickly and use earthquake if you can."

Tori watched the Hoenn bird's incredible speed as it lunged with it's sky uppercut. Lance tried to move, but still got hit by the uppercut. However, Lance's speed was just enough to only take half of it's normal damage as he evaded and launched an earthquake.


Tori glanced over at Madison again with her icey blue eyes.

"I am sorry if I offended you by not telling you my status"

Part of her doubted that Madison would accept her apology. She seemed too tough and angry for that, but it was always good to try. If things got too bad she could always withdraw Lance and leave. She had had to do that once before, and she hoped she didn't have to do that again.

[maskerade]

Madison's expression did not appear to indicate any sense of understanding, not even when Tori had finished her initial little speech. The temperamental, headstrong trainer simply folded her arms across her chest, and cocked a brow, like she doubted something her opponent was saying.

"If it's so rough on you, then why'd you do it in the first place? That comes with the territory. And why not just retire and let somebody else take it on?"

She narrowed her eyes again, returning her mindset back to the fact they had a fight going on between their pokemon. And now, more than ever, she was determined to win.

"Besides, I thought you were great at adapting? Huh...Guess you're not, if being a star is too much for you to handle."

It was cruel and she knew it, but Madison couldn't say she cared that much. She knew there were valid points in the lecture Tori was giving her, but she was stubborn and immature- and wouldn't relent. Two could play the lecture game.

Madison's attention focused on the pokemon again, as the Flareon recovered from her Blaziken's attack, and countered with an earthquake.

"Dodge it, jump into the air!"

Blaziken had been struck partially by the fissure in the ground, but managed to leap and avoid the brunt of the blow. He landed several feet away from where he had been- and stared at his foe, awaiting his tamers next command.


Madison pursed her lips as Tori apologized to her.

"Well, if you're such a bigshot, it's only fair to let me know who I'm fighting. "

She looked away from the other girl, focusing on something unimportant in the background.

"If you really want to make this up, then I have a proposal. If I win, you tell me what I want to know. If you win, I'll take back what I said and even buy you lunch. How's that sound?"

She fully anticipated on winning. And once she did, she was going to make Tori spill all of her secrets. If she was fighting a frontier brain, then she wanted as much insider information as possible. Her offer had just been to get the girl to accept her terms- if she would, that was.

"Inferno, mega kick!"

While she was waiting for Tori's answer, Madison decided she might as well keep the battle going.

[~0o*Mew*o0~]

Tori took a deep breath trying to calm herself down before responding to Madisons questions and judgements. Her icey blue eyes were narrowed on the challenger and it was obvious that she was holding back words that might spark the fire even more. How she wanted to rant about her life to the trainer and explain to her that this "stardom" she spoke of so fondly was more pain than a privilage. However, Tori merely contiued with her icey cold glare, directing it at the ground before taking another breathe.

"I took the position because I wanted the ability to battle tough opponents and get stronger! I didn't want the fame or fortune, but it came. Battling to me is important, and at some point I do intend on retiring from Battle condo. However, at the moment I have no one that I've found worthy to take over for me, so I'm going to stay and take on as many challengers that come my way. As for my title? I AM known as the adaptability master for my battle skills and for the types of my pokemon. I am still human, as are the other frontier brains, and I wish to be treated as such. Just because our battle skills are advanced, doesn't mean we aren't just average human beings. I did apologize for not telling you who I was, but something tells me it goes beyond that something else about me really bugs you. So why don't you tell me?"


Tori clenched her hands into tight fists as she opened her eyes and returned her attention to her darling Flareon. Lance and successfully pulled off an earthquake which had managed to hit the Blaziken, but not fully. It wasn't surprising to see Inferno dodge the brunt of Lance's attack and retaliate with another attack.

"Lance! Take the mega kick and then trip inferno! After that attack with another earthquake!"

Tori was focused on her pokemon's movements that she barely heard Madison at first, but she eventually turned towards the arrogant and childish trainer with the smile wiped off of her face.

"Fine. If you win I will tell you want you want. If I win, You will take back what you've said about me....and I'll still tell you a little of what you want."

[maskerade]

Madison sneered at Tori, though allowed her the chance to finish the little speech she had started. She almost wanted to laugh, for how much it reminded her of the tirades her older brother, Robert, would go on from time to time- but somehow, managed to at least hold herself back there.

"Oh, the slight woe is me act, probably," Madison finally spoke up bluntly. Hey, Tori had asked. Why would she lie about it? "I'm not too crazy about that whole coordinating thing either, a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. At least on that end, though, I can't deny the fact you're a good fighter..so I can attempt and forgive you there."

She shifted her weight a little, taking on a thoughtful, but still frustrated expression.

"I just fail to see why the deception is necessary..at least for your actually meaningful status. You should be proud of the title, I'd kill for it. Some of us spend years upon years battling, training, trying to get close to even having a shot at what you have...and we rarely even get the chance to be in the presence of someone who actually made it. And yet, here you are, spitting on your title...as if it's nothing but a chore, something to run away from. I look up to people like you...and you're basically spitting on what I dream to achieve, like it's nothing. That's what bothers me."

It was pretty much true. There was jealousy for the fact this other girl had achieved a status she could only dream of, matched with the disagreement over wasting her time with coordinating...and then disguising her status plus the self-righteous rant made Madison feel as if Tori didn't appreciate what she had gained, thought she would never be worthy of the title, and was insulting her dream all at the same time. Common sense dictated that Tori probably didn't mean anything by it, that she just didn't want to be idolized and remain humble, and the rant had been brought on only because she was being backed into a corner.

Still, that common sense did nothing for Madison. She'd already said what she had, and she wasn't about to take it back-unless she flat out lost. Besides, maybe what she'd said would make the fight more interesting. It was sure pumping her up to fight harder, anyway.

"You should have known your character before taking the job. Stop being so self-righteous, Tori! If it's too rough, stick to traveling battles to get stronger. There have to be at least twenty people willing and able to take your job. If you can't do it, somebody else will!"

She returned her attention back to the battle after that, growling to herself as the Flareon successfully tripped Inferno and pulled off the earthquake.

"Get up!"

It took him a few moments to shake off the effects of the attack, but the Blaziken rose. He was injured, but determined- as headstrong and stubborn as his trainer.

"Mega punch!"

As Inferno darted in for another attack, she caught Tori's words and locked eyes with her briefly.

"It's a deal. You win, I'll apologize. But if you want that apology, you're gonna have to do a hell of a job!"

[~0o*Mew*o0~]

Tori glowered at Madison still fighting back words that no respectable trainer should use. However, this did not change the fact that she was outraged at what she had to say. How could that ignorrant punk know what it was like? She couldn't! It was that simple, but something else stirred in Tori as Madison spoke. It was a bit of pity. She realized that she was probably being unreasonable in her anger.

"Oh Hell? I've been through Hell and back! How do you think I got this job? It's certainly not by sitting there and throwing a tempertantrum like your doing. As for being self-righteous, at least I have some humility." Tori spat.

the fire type eeveelution glanced at his trainer as she became outraged and gave a little bark to signal his trainer to calm down. Tori paused her childish rant and glanced back at her flareon in time to see Madison's Blaziken come at him with a mega punch. She shrugged it off as if it was child's play.

"Lance EVADE!"

The Flareon side-stepped as the Blaziken drew near and launched his mega-punch. Unfortunanatley the punch still managed to clip Lance's shoulder causing him to grimace, but remain standing firm.

Tori's face was now emtionless, a sight rarely seen when she battled. She was noted as being one of the most "human" frontier brains and having a sense of dignity all her own. She always smiled when she battled, and even would trash talk some of the trainers back, so the fact that she now stood emtionless meant that she was gone.

Lance lifted up his front right paw in pain. He had taken a good about of damage from the very powerful Hoenn starter, and it was obvious that this was going to slow him down.

"Lance use your superpower attack!"

Lance gave an incredibly surprised look at his upset mistress and then proceeded to do as she commanded. Tori had taught Lance that, in order to attack a pokemon of a higher speed, it was best to confuese your opponent before attacking. So Lance began to zig-zag quickly in front of the Blaziken before trying to land it's attack.