FA+
Shop
1479
Views
Views
10
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Story / Pokemon
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50
File Size 66.5 kB
Report this content
More from GammaEradon
A little story Kae asked me to do involving her Team Meanies. A set-up to future works by her. Enjoy!
Category Story / Pokemon
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 66.5 kB
A/N: A story Kae asked me to do involving her favorite team of losers, Team Meanies! The story outline and concept is hers. Guest appearances by other PCA characters belong to their respective owners (see bottom).
&&&
MEETING TEAM MEANIES
&&&
Anthony Geist the gengar Leader of Team Meanies, seized his chance and swiftly moved into position. She couldn’t get away now. His victim groaned, seeing the hopelessness of trying to escape. It would all be over soon enough anyway.
“So, Meghan…” Anthony started as he sat down across from Meghan DeCinder, leader of Team Crossroads and her lunch companion, Neve Oscadreja of Team Krimson, in the cafeteria.
“No.” Meghan said softly but definitively not even bothering to look up from her lunch.
“Ya didn’t let me finish.”
“She don’t have to, chico.” Neve rolled her eyes as she let her chin rest in her palm. “Her team isn’t fighting yours anymore.”
“Why not? Ya scared?” He leered at Meghan.
“Yeah…we’re all scared of just how easy it was to beat your team’s cabejos in.” Meghan snorted. “Did I say that right? Cabejas?” She asked Neve. Neve nodded. “She’s been teaching me Spanish.” Meghan parenthetically explained to Anthony. “At any rate, our teams have faced each other four times Anthony; FOUR times. And in all that time your team has not shown even one TINY iota of improvement.”
“But—” He was cut off when Neve waved a delicately trimmed but sharp pink claw under his nose.
“And don’t get any funny ideas about challenging my team. I know the Juniors are all getting sick of beating the daylights out of you. So if you think you’ll have better luck with a younger team I’ll just tell you ahead of time, nice try. Don’t be wasting my team’s time either.”
Meghan nodded gratefully for her support. “Because I’m in a generous mood I’m going to give you a few free pointers.” She told him.
Anthony opened his rather large mouth to object when Neve smiled dangerously over the rims of her sunglasses. “And you’re going to shut your mouth and listen to them, comprende?” Anthony nodded numbly as he closed his mouth.
Meghan nodded. “Good. Now, YOU have to lose your over-confidence, Karen has to GET some confidence, and your serpent—and Stuart—have to give a damn about something other than themselves and start caring about their team. Now once you get your act together, feel free to look us up. Until then, I’m not going to waste my team’s precious time on yours. So tough luck Anthony. Find someone else…preferably someone who HASN’T kicked your butt half a dozen times.”
With that, Meghan and Neve picked up their trays and stood up. “And have a nice day.” Neve smiled sweetly as they took off, leaving Anthony alone.
“Latina women are SO hot blooded.” Anthony grumbled as he crossed his arms and sulked by himself. Still, Neve had given him a great idea. “Mebbe finding a younger team to face might not be such a bad idea…I mean, for practicin’ and stuff. ‘Cause the Meanies can totally handle upperclassmen, no prob’m. But…can’t hurt to have a dry run against some Sophomores. Freshman are TOO easy.”
Anthony looked around at the prospective Sophomore teams. “Hmmm…Team Krimson already said no...Team 16?” He looked over at the table where they were sitting and winced. The Nidorina girl was holding her twin brother in a headlock that looked painful just to watch! Then she raised a hand and waved at someone across the room. Anthony looked to see who she was waving at.
The only person Anthony saw was a chubby looking drowzee. Anthony winced. Weaver. He knew her…the Nocturnes shredded the Meanies a couple of months ago. BIG mistake.
Weaver looked at the floor in annoyance. “René, watch where you’re going.” She grumbled.
“Sorry.” A scrawny vulpix said as he scrambled up from the floor. “I uh, got distracted.” He waved feebly back to Nicole.
Anthony frowned as he thought. “René…he leads a Sophomore team, don’t he?” He asked himself as he scratched his head. “But there was something odd about him…what was it?” Anthony’s eyes widened as he remembered. “Oh yeah…” He grinned as he got up. He found his team’s next match. “Hey you! Wait a minute!” Anthony called as he got up.
&&&
“Hey girls!” René exclaimed as he barged into the gym where Team Turquoise was training, excitement flashing behind his glasses and drawing all attention to himself. “I’ve got big news!”
“What? Did you manage to color-coordinate your bras and panties so they matched for an entire week?” Sam asked with notable disinterest as she practiced Slash on a hapless training dummy.
“Yes, but that’s not it! It’s better than that!”
“Nicole asked you out?” Romano queried as she perched herself atop of Rahne’s back, much to the larger girl’s chagrin.
“Well…not better than THAT,” René admitted. “But still big news!”
“Just tell us already!” Sam rolled her eyes. “And quit dancing around like you need the little vulpix’ room. It’s infantile.”
“Be nice.” Rahne sighed.
“A junior team challenged us to a match! Juniors!” René exclaimed. “Finally! An older team thinks we’re good enough to face them!”
“That’s awesome!” Romano whooped as she leapt down from Rahne’s back.
“I guess we turned some heads with our fight against Team 16 last week.” Rahne mused.
“Uh-huh.” Sam raised a skeptical brow. “Um, do you happen to know WHAT team challenged us?”
“It was Team Meanies. Why?” René asked her.
“No reason.” Sam smiled to keep from groaning. She was the only member of the team who actually paid attention to the team stats and reputations of the PCA. She knew all about Team Meanies.
But she really didn’t want to rain on her comrades’ parade. After all, being challenged by an older team—even the Meanies—was no small feat for a team with an all around lackluster performance. “Wonder why they challenged us though.” Sam mused to herself. She shrugged. “Not my job though. ’Tis not to wonder why, tis to do and kick butt.” She smirked. “Hey, I’m a freakin’ philosopher! Cool!”
&&&
“You did WHAT?” Stella Sinclair the gardevoir shouted at him. “You want me to waste my time against SOPHOMORES? Why do want me slumming among underclassmen?” The gardevoir hissed as she looked up from doing her nails.
“Maybe because everyone in our grade has beaten us so many times that no one wants to waste THEIR time on US? Just a guess.” Stuart Shedskin shrugged nonchalantly. The shaggy looking ekans didn’t seem to care about his team crappy standing…or anything else for that matter.
“Team Crossroads wiped the floor with us last week.” Anthony groaned. “And I don’t think any WANTS me ta get the Nocturnes again…that snarky zubat punk falls outta his seat laughing whenever we walk past.”
“I didn’t join this pissant team to be a joke!” Stella fumed. “”
“Look I know what our problem is…” Anthony started as he covered his over-sized red eyes.
“That we suck?” Stuart asked blandly.
“We just ain’t got enough confidence in ourselves!” Anthony glared at him in what was supposed to be an intimidating manner. Of course, since Stuart’s eyes were covered by his long hair and his state of permanent apathy, it didn’t do much. “So I figure we just gotta wipe the floor against some punk team and then BAM!” He pounded his fist into his palm for emphasis. “The Meanies will be on their way to the top o’ the heap!”
“Garbage heap, maybe.” Stella rolled her eyes as she continued to do her nails.
“I think it’s a good idea.” Karen Shiitake the medicham said hesitantly in defense of her leader.
“You WOULD.” Stella snorted. “All you do is sniff around Anthony’s rear like a un-housebroken growlithe. Of course you’d agree with any idiot scheme he comes up with!” Karen flushed and looked down.
“Hey, these Turqs ain’t exactly the Krimsons or the 16ers.” Anthony pointed out, taking the pressure off Karen. “We can handle them, no problem. Their leader wears ladies underwear for crying out loud! And he’s a DUDE!”
“Say wha?” Stella blinked. “Did you just say that he—?”
“Is a he.” Anthony nodded. “Yep.”
“Finally.” Stella snorted as she continued preening. “There’s a team leader out there even more of a pathetic loser than you.” Anthony didn’t seem to hear here, he was too wrapped up in his own hyping-up act.
“YEAH! We’re gonna do it this time Meanies! After this match everyone’s gonna be quaking in their shoes as we walk by!”
“Yeah.” Karen tried to sound excited but instead sounded kind of tepid. She elbowed Stuart in the side, for tepid would’ve been a step up for him. He just made some kind of non-committed response and took a drag on his cigarette. Stella just ignored their antics with the air of one trying not to notice the antics of mankeys in a zoo.
&&&
René took a deep breath as he prepared for the fight. “The rest of you gals ready?” He asked his teammates.
“I’m good to go.” Sam cracked her knuckles.
“I’m ready.” Rahne said calmly.
“Totally prepped!” Romano chirped. “Let’s go kick some Meanie butt!”
“Let’s keep this professional.” René rolled his eyes as he led them into the gym. “I mean, I’m sure they’re treating this fight as a serious academic…”
“BWWWAAAAH!” Anthony leapt out in front of them just as they opened the door. “Scared yet ya li’l girls? Wan’ me to call yer daddy’s?”
“Never mind.” René said flatly without even batting an eye. Even the normally flighty vulpix wasn’t intimidated in the least.
Vice-Principal Perjan arrived less than a minute after the Turqs. “Ah good, you’re all here. Students please take your positions up on your assigned sides of the ring and—” Perjan blinked behind his thick glasses. “What are you two ladies doing here?”
“We’re cheerleading!” Mitzi Fiera shook her pom-poms for emphasis. “I’m teaching her how, right Floritt?”
“Right!” Floritt Baez chirped as she grabbed started jumping around and doing cartwheels, and shaking her tail at Perjan and the two teams. “We daspirit, yes we do! We got daspirit, ‘ow ‘bout you?”
“Quite.” Perjan coughed as he gingerly moved Floritt’s tail away from his face, where it hovered just a few inches away. “Well, let us begin! The match is between Team Turquoise and Team Meanie…”
“MEAN-IES!” Anthony stamped his foot. “TEAM MEANIES! Plural!”
“Team Meanie, ladies and gentlemon!” Perjan said as if there was an audience beyond the two ‘cheerleaders’ who were already off in their own world. “Round One! Reynard Vulpes versus…Karen Shiitake! Please take your positions!”
“Good luck René.” Rahne patted his back. Murmured wishes of good luck and fortune were likewise echoed by Romano and Sam. René nodded gratefully to his teammates as he stepped into the ring.
The medicham girl Karen stepped into the ring with more trepidation than even René was in the habit of displaying. After quickly looking to Anthony to steady herself, she got herself into a defensive position and waited for Perjan to start the battle.
She didn’t have to wait long.
“Ready and….FIGHT!” Perjan announced.
“All right.” René snorted, exhaling whisps of smoke through his nostrils. “Here we go!” He darted to the right and used Flamethrower. Karen jumped to the left to avoid it. She was so full of nervous energy that leapt too far and unbalanced herself. When René fired Flamethrower again, she couldn’t avoid it in time.
She ended up knocked on her rear. Stella offered some nasty remarks to her teammates on the side which were just loud enough for Karen to hear. “Come on Karen, get up and at ‘im!” Anthony bellowed from the sidelines. “Show him what th’ Meanies are made of!”
Stung, Karen got back to her feet and wanted to attack but…it was so against her grain that she ended up frozen for a critical second. René was feeling emboldened and unused to having a clear advantage against anyone before, went on the offensive and used Fire Spin. Karen hastily used Protect.
Karen dug in and readied her defensive posture as went all out. “Come on, Karen! Knock him on his tails!” Anthony urged her from the sides. “Attack! Attack! ATTACK!” Karen winced as she used Endure as another Flamethrower buffered her. She tried to pull off an attack, she really did. But no sooner had she dropped out of her defensive posture did one last big blast of flame knock her down for the count.
“Oww…” Karen sniffed as she held her burned arm and repressed her tears. Perjan had apparently seen enough for he said announced:
“Karen Shittake is unable to battle! The winner of this round is Reynard Vulpes!” Scattered applause and cheers broke out from the Turqs’ side and René just grinned kinda stupidly.
It wasn’t like he never won before…he won about as often as he lost but it was usually always by the skin of his teeth. He’d never dominated a fight from beginning to end before. The smile was wiped from his face when he saw Karen cradling her arm and tears quietly trickled down her cheeks; not in pain René judged but from shame. “I’m sorry—” René started as he held out his hand to Karen. She didn’t even look at it; she just withdrew to her own side.
“I’m sorry Anthony.” Karen hiccupped apologetically as she looked down. “I tried…”
“You FAILED. How is that a surprise?” Stella snorted.
“Ease off her Stella, she tried her best.” Anthony said but soon found his attention drawn back to the ring.
Perjan stepped back into the center of the ring and nodded to both sides. “The first match was well fought, but the win goes to Team Turquoise. The next match is…Rahne LaPries versus Stuart Shedskin!”
“Here I go.” Rahne smiled a tad awkwardly as she stepped into the ring. Stuart slithered on in on the opposite side. His whole body language—if one could describe a snake as having a ‘body’ in the conventional sense—radiated his extreme disinterest.
Rahne’s dislike of battling came from her caring about people. Stuart’s dislike of battling came from his lack of caring about ANYthing. But when push came to shove Rahne wasn’t prepared to let her team down.
Stuart went through the motions of trying to battle but he clearly didn’t care about what he was doing, regardless of how much Anthony ranted and raved from the sidelines. He might have been attempting to Bind Rahne when he made a move towards her but Rahne took a step to the side and planted one of her large feet down on Stuart’s tail. Hard.
“GYAAK!” Stuart yelped, suddenly animate for the first time during the match. Rahne grabbed him around the middle and lifted him over her head and tossed him to the edge of the ring. A well placed Water Canon finished it all.
René blinked as Stuart was propelled out of the ring and against the wall, his wet hair effectively covering his face. “Is it just me or is this kinda…easy? We’ve already achieved a draw at the least.”
“Yeah.” Sam covered her eyes. “You gals ARE doing better but against this team it really doesn’t matter. It’s like stealing pokecubes from a baby.”
Sam’s remarks were underscored when Romano took the field against Stella. The gardevoir girl who had thus far spent the entire time alternatively preening herself and mocking Karen as a “titless pink thing” for her earlier loss was now being thoroughly beaten far worse than Karen was…and faring far worse than she had too.
“Get out of my hair you skanky bat-thing!” Stella screeched as Romano flew around her head, dive-bombing her and using Slash.
“Aww, whatsa matter?” Romano asked with a pout. “Not so tough when you’re NOT picking on a teammate? Oh, and by the way; your accessories are SO tacky!”
“WHA—?” Stella stopped short and started to screech at Romano as she flew away…until the smiling gligax performed an Immelman Turn and ended up bearing back down on Stella from behind and shoved her.
“OOOOF!” Stella wheezed as she went head over heels, ending with her face planted firmly in the mat and her feet sticking up in the air like a pair of trees. Then her skirt fell down.
“Ooops.” Romano blinked. Off on the sidelines Mitzi and Floritt struck up a cheer.
“We see London! We see France! We see—!” Perjan coughed and sputtered as he averted his gaze upwards. Anthony had a strange look on his face as if torn between complaining about the third loss—which confirmed that his team had already lost this battle—on the one hand, and admiring the view of his girlfriend on the other.
“Yes, well, this round goes to Ms. Gligax and Team Turquoise!” Perjan hastily announced. “The next and final round will be Ibtisam al-Scycura versus Anthony Geist!”
“Well that’s it.” René said as Sam grinned and hopped into the ring. “This is all tied up. Even if Sam loses—which I think could only happen if the ceiling crashed on her head—we’ve won.”
“I don’t really feel like celebrating all that much though.” Rahne sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck. “And not for the usual reasons.”
“On the whole, I agree with you.” Romano nodded. “Still, I did enjoy taking down that nasty bitch a few pegs. And when Sam wins—” she didn’t doubt her teammates ability to thrash just about anyone she got in the ring with, especially after seeing what the rest of Team Meanies was like. “We’ll have won all FOUR rounds…Wow. When was the last time we went four for four?” She asked.
“Against that freshman team. You know; the one that turned out to have food poisoning?” René reminded her.
“Oh yeah. They still lasted longer than these guys though.”
“True.”
Sam folded her arms across her chest as Anthony hauled his purple rear into the ring. He snorted and stamped and basically threatened all the way through Perjan’s call to start the round. So much so that Perjan felt obliged to repeat it incase anyone didn’t hear him.
“Come on, make a move already.” Sam complained aloud. “I ain’t got all day!”
“Oh yeah? Well yer gonna wake up next week!” Anthony said, pumped up by his own bravado. “Shadow ball!” He called as he hurled the attack at Sam. She just inclined her head slightly to the left and it went sailing past her.
“What was that supposed to do?” She asked him in a bored, pitying voice.
“Um, surprise you?” Anthony blinked, surprised at the ease in which she avoided it.
“Oh of course, because screaming out what you were about to do had me TOTALLY blindsided.” Sam rolled her eyes, the words dripping in sarcasm that no one could ignore.
That got Anthony mad. With a bellowing roar he charged up to her, fists flailing. Sam avoided or blocked nearly all of them with no real difficulty. He was just so wrapped up in himself that he forgot even the most basic elements of defense or blocking.
In a mood of generosity, Sam didn’t take any advantage of the (numerous) openings Anthony left open for her in his blind attack. She merely contented herself with blocking, hoping he would wisen up and make this a more interesting battle.
Sam loved fighting and cherished opponents who could make her sweat a bit. Here, she was practically bending over backwards to give Anthony a chance to make this more interesting and more fair (for him). But he didn’t. Even when Sam opened HERSELF up for an easy attack, Anthony blew it; missing several choice opportunities.
Even more frustrating was the never ending stream of self-congratulating babble and smack talk Anthony seemed to delight in. Sam tried to ignore it, but it was just so damn ANNOYING. “Yea, you feel tis?! This is why no one can stop da Meanies! Do you see what yer get?” Anthony asked himself more than Sam as he continued striking away. “Do you see what you get when you mess with th’ WARRIOR?!”
“Oh. My. God.” Sam growled as she shoved him away. “Do you EVER stop talking?! This isn’t a comic book where you can talk your way through a fight. Maybe Supermon could, but Anthony,” Sam growled as she made a fist, her admittedly small patience spent. “You’re NO Supermon!” Then Sam lashed out.
Even René who was used to seeing Sam in action, who knew Sam longer than anyone present, and never even took his eyes off the fight for a second never actually SAW the blow. One instant Anthony was still wailing and punching away at Sam and the next he was staggering back with a black eye and a bloody lip.
Sam’s claw-like fingers caught the light as the moved. She Slashed away at him again and again, her arms a blur as she moved. Then within half a minute, Anthony was lying groaning on the ground.
This round…and this whole battle…was over. And even though no one knew it at the time, so was Team Meanies.
&&&
“And the winner is…Team Turquoise!” Vice-Principal Perjan announced as if it were there was any question on THAT score. “Well fought ladies and gentlemon.” He stretched the truth so far it was in danger of snapping back like a rubber band. “Good to see you all putting your studies to good use. If you’ll excuse me,” Perjan said as he took his leave. Floritt and Mitzi also departed, chatting amiably.
The Turqs shifted uncomfortably; normally this was where they’d go over and congratulate their opponents on how well they did but frankly, they had no idea how to say it without sounding patronizing or flat-out lying.
René took a deep breath and took a step forward. “Look, I just wanted to say—”
“You got lucky.” Anthony stamped his foot then winced as that only made the pounding headache he had worse. “Yeah…if it weren’t for a lucky break you’d—”
“WHAT?!” Stella shrieked, saying what everyone was thinking. “I always knew you were full of it, but even I didn’t think you were THIS big a fool! You led us against Sophomores! SOPHOMORES! And we LOST! Some leader you are! You can’t even beat a team so pathetic whose leader wears PANTIES and a BRA!”
“Don’t listen to her.” Romano whispered to René as Stella continued to rant at Anthony, accusing him of everything from purposely humiliating her in public to being lousy in bed. “Yours are nicer anyway.”
“—pathetic! You, your snake, and your titless pink thing got beat by a lackluster, mediocre team!” Stella sneered at Anthony. “You’ve shown as much ‘leadership’ as a beached magikarp! Forget this! I’m not going to degrade myself by letting by seen with you outside the arena.”
“What’re you saying?” Anthony cried out. Stella smiled cruelly.
“I’m saying we’re through Anthony. I’d say it was fun while it lasted, but really, it wasn’t. Your wallet made better company than you. Prepare to be your own best friend for a LONG time Geist, unless perhaps Miss Titless works up the gets to lick your—”
“Okay, I did NOT hit that girl hard enough.” Romano growled.
“We should probably go.” Rahne said as she put her hands on René’s shoulders and led him away. “We shouldn’t be here for this.”
René tossed one last look over his shoulder as he saw Stella dumping Anthony and the medicham girl, Karen, looking on so forlornly…he wished he could help. But how?
THE END...FOR NOW
&&&
Meghan DeCinder, Floritt Baez and Team Crossroads © Kompy
Neve Oscadreja, Mitzi Fiera, and Team Krimson © Carlito
Team 16 © Asuraludu
Team Meanies and Team Nocturne © KaeMantis
Perjan and PCA concept © EbonyLeopard
Team Turquoise © GammaEradon
&&&
MEETING TEAM MEANIES
&&&
Anthony Geist the gengar Leader of Team Meanies, seized his chance and swiftly moved into position. She couldn’t get away now. His victim groaned, seeing the hopelessness of trying to escape. It would all be over soon enough anyway.
“So, Meghan…” Anthony started as he sat down across from Meghan DeCinder, leader of Team Crossroads and her lunch companion, Neve Oscadreja of Team Krimson, in the cafeteria.
“No.” Meghan said softly but definitively not even bothering to look up from her lunch.
“Ya didn’t let me finish.”
“She don’t have to, chico.” Neve rolled her eyes as she let her chin rest in her palm. “Her team isn’t fighting yours anymore.”
“Why not? Ya scared?” He leered at Meghan.
“Yeah…we’re all scared of just how easy it was to beat your team’s cabejos in.” Meghan snorted. “Did I say that right? Cabejas?” She asked Neve. Neve nodded. “She’s been teaching me Spanish.” Meghan parenthetically explained to Anthony. “At any rate, our teams have faced each other four times Anthony; FOUR times. And in all that time your team has not shown even one TINY iota of improvement.”
“But—” He was cut off when Neve waved a delicately trimmed but sharp pink claw under his nose.
“And don’t get any funny ideas about challenging my team. I know the Juniors are all getting sick of beating the daylights out of you. So if you think you’ll have better luck with a younger team I’ll just tell you ahead of time, nice try. Don’t be wasting my team’s time either.”
Meghan nodded gratefully for her support. “Because I’m in a generous mood I’m going to give you a few free pointers.” She told him.
Anthony opened his rather large mouth to object when Neve smiled dangerously over the rims of her sunglasses. “And you’re going to shut your mouth and listen to them, comprende?” Anthony nodded numbly as he closed his mouth.
Meghan nodded. “Good. Now, YOU have to lose your over-confidence, Karen has to GET some confidence, and your serpent—and Stuart—have to give a damn about something other than themselves and start caring about their team. Now once you get your act together, feel free to look us up. Until then, I’m not going to waste my team’s precious time on yours. So tough luck Anthony. Find someone else…preferably someone who HASN’T kicked your butt half a dozen times.”
With that, Meghan and Neve picked up their trays and stood up. “And have a nice day.” Neve smiled sweetly as they took off, leaving Anthony alone.
“Latina women are SO hot blooded.” Anthony grumbled as he crossed his arms and sulked by himself. Still, Neve had given him a great idea. “Mebbe finding a younger team to face might not be such a bad idea…I mean, for practicin’ and stuff. ‘Cause the Meanies can totally handle upperclassmen, no prob’m. But…can’t hurt to have a dry run against some Sophomores. Freshman are TOO easy.”
Anthony looked around at the prospective Sophomore teams. “Hmmm…Team Krimson already said no...Team 16?” He looked over at the table where they were sitting and winced. The Nidorina girl was holding her twin brother in a headlock that looked painful just to watch! Then she raised a hand and waved at someone across the room. Anthony looked to see who she was waving at.
The only person Anthony saw was a chubby looking drowzee. Anthony winced. Weaver. He knew her…the Nocturnes shredded the Meanies a couple of months ago. BIG mistake.
Weaver looked at the floor in annoyance. “René, watch where you’re going.” She grumbled.
“Sorry.” A scrawny vulpix said as he scrambled up from the floor. “I uh, got distracted.” He waved feebly back to Nicole.
Anthony frowned as he thought. “René…he leads a Sophomore team, don’t he?” He asked himself as he scratched his head. “But there was something odd about him…what was it?” Anthony’s eyes widened as he remembered. “Oh yeah…” He grinned as he got up. He found his team’s next match. “Hey you! Wait a minute!” Anthony called as he got up.
&&&
“Hey girls!” René exclaimed as he barged into the gym where Team Turquoise was training, excitement flashing behind his glasses and drawing all attention to himself. “I’ve got big news!”
“What? Did you manage to color-coordinate your bras and panties so they matched for an entire week?” Sam asked with notable disinterest as she practiced Slash on a hapless training dummy.
“Yes, but that’s not it! It’s better than that!”
“Nicole asked you out?” Romano queried as she perched herself atop of Rahne’s back, much to the larger girl’s chagrin.
“Well…not better than THAT,” René admitted. “But still big news!”
“Just tell us already!” Sam rolled her eyes. “And quit dancing around like you need the little vulpix’ room. It’s infantile.”
“Be nice.” Rahne sighed.
“A junior team challenged us to a match! Juniors!” René exclaimed. “Finally! An older team thinks we’re good enough to face them!”
“That’s awesome!” Romano whooped as she leapt down from Rahne’s back.
“I guess we turned some heads with our fight against Team 16 last week.” Rahne mused.
“Uh-huh.” Sam raised a skeptical brow. “Um, do you happen to know WHAT team challenged us?”
“It was Team Meanies. Why?” René asked her.
“No reason.” Sam smiled to keep from groaning. She was the only member of the team who actually paid attention to the team stats and reputations of the PCA. She knew all about Team Meanies.
But she really didn’t want to rain on her comrades’ parade. After all, being challenged by an older team—even the Meanies—was no small feat for a team with an all around lackluster performance. “Wonder why they challenged us though.” Sam mused to herself. She shrugged. “Not my job though. ’Tis not to wonder why, tis to do and kick butt.” She smirked. “Hey, I’m a freakin’ philosopher! Cool!”
&&&
“You did WHAT?” Stella Sinclair the gardevoir shouted at him. “You want me to waste my time against SOPHOMORES? Why do want me slumming among underclassmen?” The gardevoir hissed as she looked up from doing her nails.
“Maybe because everyone in our grade has beaten us so many times that no one wants to waste THEIR time on US? Just a guess.” Stuart Shedskin shrugged nonchalantly. The shaggy looking ekans didn’t seem to care about his team crappy standing…or anything else for that matter.
“Team Crossroads wiped the floor with us last week.” Anthony groaned. “And I don’t think any WANTS me ta get the Nocturnes again…that snarky zubat punk falls outta his seat laughing whenever we walk past.”
“I didn’t join this pissant team to be a joke!” Stella fumed. “”
“Look I know what our problem is…” Anthony started as he covered his over-sized red eyes.
“That we suck?” Stuart asked blandly.
“We just ain’t got enough confidence in ourselves!” Anthony glared at him in what was supposed to be an intimidating manner. Of course, since Stuart’s eyes were covered by his long hair and his state of permanent apathy, it didn’t do much. “So I figure we just gotta wipe the floor against some punk team and then BAM!” He pounded his fist into his palm for emphasis. “The Meanies will be on their way to the top o’ the heap!”
“Garbage heap, maybe.” Stella rolled her eyes as she continued to do her nails.
“I think it’s a good idea.” Karen Shiitake the medicham said hesitantly in defense of her leader.
“You WOULD.” Stella snorted. “All you do is sniff around Anthony’s rear like a un-housebroken growlithe. Of course you’d agree with any idiot scheme he comes up with!” Karen flushed and looked down.
“Hey, these Turqs ain’t exactly the Krimsons or the 16ers.” Anthony pointed out, taking the pressure off Karen. “We can handle them, no problem. Their leader wears ladies underwear for crying out loud! And he’s a DUDE!”
“Say wha?” Stella blinked. “Did you just say that he—?”
“Is a he.” Anthony nodded. “Yep.”
“Finally.” Stella snorted as she continued preening. “There’s a team leader out there even more of a pathetic loser than you.” Anthony didn’t seem to hear here, he was too wrapped up in his own hyping-up act.
“YEAH! We’re gonna do it this time Meanies! After this match everyone’s gonna be quaking in their shoes as we walk by!”
“Yeah.” Karen tried to sound excited but instead sounded kind of tepid. She elbowed Stuart in the side, for tepid would’ve been a step up for him. He just made some kind of non-committed response and took a drag on his cigarette. Stella just ignored their antics with the air of one trying not to notice the antics of mankeys in a zoo.
&&&
René took a deep breath as he prepared for the fight. “The rest of you gals ready?” He asked his teammates.
“I’m good to go.” Sam cracked her knuckles.
“I’m ready.” Rahne said calmly.
“Totally prepped!” Romano chirped. “Let’s go kick some Meanie butt!”
“Let’s keep this professional.” René rolled his eyes as he led them into the gym. “I mean, I’m sure they’re treating this fight as a serious academic…”
“BWWWAAAAH!” Anthony leapt out in front of them just as they opened the door. “Scared yet ya li’l girls? Wan’ me to call yer daddy’s?”
“Never mind.” René said flatly without even batting an eye. Even the normally flighty vulpix wasn’t intimidated in the least.
Vice-Principal Perjan arrived less than a minute after the Turqs. “Ah good, you’re all here. Students please take your positions up on your assigned sides of the ring and—” Perjan blinked behind his thick glasses. “What are you two ladies doing here?”
“We’re cheerleading!” Mitzi Fiera shook her pom-poms for emphasis. “I’m teaching her how, right Floritt?”
“Right!” Floritt Baez chirped as she grabbed started jumping around and doing cartwheels, and shaking her tail at Perjan and the two teams. “We daspirit, yes we do! We got daspirit, ‘ow ‘bout you?”
“Quite.” Perjan coughed as he gingerly moved Floritt’s tail away from his face, where it hovered just a few inches away. “Well, let us begin! The match is between Team Turquoise and Team Meanie…”
“MEAN-IES!” Anthony stamped his foot. “TEAM MEANIES! Plural!”
“Team Meanie, ladies and gentlemon!” Perjan said as if there was an audience beyond the two ‘cheerleaders’ who were already off in their own world. “Round One! Reynard Vulpes versus…Karen Shiitake! Please take your positions!”
“Good luck René.” Rahne patted his back. Murmured wishes of good luck and fortune were likewise echoed by Romano and Sam. René nodded gratefully to his teammates as he stepped into the ring.
The medicham girl Karen stepped into the ring with more trepidation than even René was in the habit of displaying. After quickly looking to Anthony to steady herself, she got herself into a defensive position and waited for Perjan to start the battle.
She didn’t have to wait long.
“Ready and….FIGHT!” Perjan announced.
“All right.” René snorted, exhaling whisps of smoke through his nostrils. “Here we go!” He darted to the right and used Flamethrower. Karen jumped to the left to avoid it. She was so full of nervous energy that leapt too far and unbalanced herself. When René fired Flamethrower again, she couldn’t avoid it in time.
She ended up knocked on her rear. Stella offered some nasty remarks to her teammates on the side which were just loud enough for Karen to hear. “Come on Karen, get up and at ‘im!” Anthony bellowed from the sidelines. “Show him what th’ Meanies are made of!”
Stung, Karen got back to her feet and wanted to attack but…it was so against her grain that she ended up frozen for a critical second. René was feeling emboldened and unused to having a clear advantage against anyone before, went on the offensive and used Fire Spin. Karen hastily used Protect.
Karen dug in and readied her defensive posture as went all out. “Come on, Karen! Knock him on his tails!” Anthony urged her from the sides. “Attack! Attack! ATTACK!” Karen winced as she used Endure as another Flamethrower buffered her. She tried to pull off an attack, she really did. But no sooner had she dropped out of her defensive posture did one last big blast of flame knock her down for the count.
“Oww…” Karen sniffed as she held her burned arm and repressed her tears. Perjan had apparently seen enough for he said announced:
“Karen Shittake is unable to battle! The winner of this round is Reynard Vulpes!” Scattered applause and cheers broke out from the Turqs’ side and René just grinned kinda stupidly.
It wasn’t like he never won before…he won about as often as he lost but it was usually always by the skin of his teeth. He’d never dominated a fight from beginning to end before. The smile was wiped from his face when he saw Karen cradling her arm and tears quietly trickled down her cheeks; not in pain René judged but from shame. “I’m sorry—” René started as he held out his hand to Karen. She didn’t even look at it; she just withdrew to her own side.
“I’m sorry Anthony.” Karen hiccupped apologetically as she looked down. “I tried…”
“You FAILED. How is that a surprise?” Stella snorted.
“Ease off her Stella, she tried her best.” Anthony said but soon found his attention drawn back to the ring.
Perjan stepped back into the center of the ring and nodded to both sides. “The first match was well fought, but the win goes to Team Turquoise. The next match is…Rahne LaPries versus Stuart Shedskin!”
“Here I go.” Rahne smiled a tad awkwardly as she stepped into the ring. Stuart slithered on in on the opposite side. His whole body language—if one could describe a snake as having a ‘body’ in the conventional sense—radiated his extreme disinterest.
Rahne’s dislike of battling came from her caring about people. Stuart’s dislike of battling came from his lack of caring about ANYthing. But when push came to shove Rahne wasn’t prepared to let her team down.
Stuart went through the motions of trying to battle but he clearly didn’t care about what he was doing, regardless of how much Anthony ranted and raved from the sidelines. He might have been attempting to Bind Rahne when he made a move towards her but Rahne took a step to the side and planted one of her large feet down on Stuart’s tail. Hard.
“GYAAK!” Stuart yelped, suddenly animate for the first time during the match. Rahne grabbed him around the middle and lifted him over her head and tossed him to the edge of the ring. A well placed Water Canon finished it all.
René blinked as Stuart was propelled out of the ring and against the wall, his wet hair effectively covering his face. “Is it just me or is this kinda…easy? We’ve already achieved a draw at the least.”
“Yeah.” Sam covered her eyes. “You gals ARE doing better but against this team it really doesn’t matter. It’s like stealing pokecubes from a baby.”
Sam’s remarks were underscored when Romano took the field against Stella. The gardevoir girl who had thus far spent the entire time alternatively preening herself and mocking Karen as a “titless pink thing” for her earlier loss was now being thoroughly beaten far worse than Karen was…and faring far worse than she had too.
“Get out of my hair you skanky bat-thing!” Stella screeched as Romano flew around her head, dive-bombing her and using Slash.
“Aww, whatsa matter?” Romano asked with a pout. “Not so tough when you’re NOT picking on a teammate? Oh, and by the way; your accessories are SO tacky!”
“WHA—?” Stella stopped short and started to screech at Romano as she flew away…until the smiling gligax performed an Immelman Turn and ended up bearing back down on Stella from behind and shoved her.
“OOOOF!” Stella wheezed as she went head over heels, ending with her face planted firmly in the mat and her feet sticking up in the air like a pair of trees. Then her skirt fell down.
“Ooops.” Romano blinked. Off on the sidelines Mitzi and Floritt struck up a cheer.
“We see London! We see France! We see—!” Perjan coughed and sputtered as he averted his gaze upwards. Anthony had a strange look on his face as if torn between complaining about the third loss—which confirmed that his team had already lost this battle—on the one hand, and admiring the view of his girlfriend on the other.
“Yes, well, this round goes to Ms. Gligax and Team Turquoise!” Perjan hastily announced. “The next and final round will be Ibtisam al-Scycura versus Anthony Geist!”
“Well that’s it.” René said as Sam grinned and hopped into the ring. “This is all tied up. Even if Sam loses—which I think could only happen if the ceiling crashed on her head—we’ve won.”
“I don’t really feel like celebrating all that much though.” Rahne sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck. “And not for the usual reasons.”
“On the whole, I agree with you.” Romano nodded. “Still, I did enjoy taking down that nasty bitch a few pegs. And when Sam wins—” she didn’t doubt her teammates ability to thrash just about anyone she got in the ring with, especially after seeing what the rest of Team Meanies was like. “We’ll have won all FOUR rounds…Wow. When was the last time we went four for four?” She asked.
“Against that freshman team. You know; the one that turned out to have food poisoning?” René reminded her.
“Oh yeah. They still lasted longer than these guys though.”
“True.”
Sam folded her arms across her chest as Anthony hauled his purple rear into the ring. He snorted and stamped and basically threatened all the way through Perjan’s call to start the round. So much so that Perjan felt obliged to repeat it incase anyone didn’t hear him.
“Come on, make a move already.” Sam complained aloud. “I ain’t got all day!”
“Oh yeah? Well yer gonna wake up next week!” Anthony said, pumped up by his own bravado. “Shadow ball!” He called as he hurled the attack at Sam. She just inclined her head slightly to the left and it went sailing past her.
“What was that supposed to do?” She asked him in a bored, pitying voice.
“Um, surprise you?” Anthony blinked, surprised at the ease in which she avoided it.
“Oh of course, because screaming out what you were about to do had me TOTALLY blindsided.” Sam rolled her eyes, the words dripping in sarcasm that no one could ignore.
That got Anthony mad. With a bellowing roar he charged up to her, fists flailing. Sam avoided or blocked nearly all of them with no real difficulty. He was just so wrapped up in himself that he forgot even the most basic elements of defense or blocking.
In a mood of generosity, Sam didn’t take any advantage of the (numerous) openings Anthony left open for her in his blind attack. She merely contented herself with blocking, hoping he would wisen up and make this a more interesting battle.
Sam loved fighting and cherished opponents who could make her sweat a bit. Here, she was practically bending over backwards to give Anthony a chance to make this more interesting and more fair (for him). But he didn’t. Even when Sam opened HERSELF up for an easy attack, Anthony blew it; missing several choice opportunities.
Even more frustrating was the never ending stream of self-congratulating babble and smack talk Anthony seemed to delight in. Sam tried to ignore it, but it was just so damn ANNOYING. “Yea, you feel tis?! This is why no one can stop da Meanies! Do you see what yer get?” Anthony asked himself more than Sam as he continued striking away. “Do you see what you get when you mess with th’ WARRIOR?!”
“Oh. My. God.” Sam growled as she shoved him away. “Do you EVER stop talking?! This isn’t a comic book where you can talk your way through a fight. Maybe Supermon could, but Anthony,” Sam growled as she made a fist, her admittedly small patience spent. “You’re NO Supermon!” Then Sam lashed out.
Even René who was used to seeing Sam in action, who knew Sam longer than anyone present, and never even took his eyes off the fight for a second never actually SAW the blow. One instant Anthony was still wailing and punching away at Sam and the next he was staggering back with a black eye and a bloody lip.
Sam’s claw-like fingers caught the light as the moved. She Slashed away at him again and again, her arms a blur as she moved. Then within half a minute, Anthony was lying groaning on the ground.
This round…and this whole battle…was over. And even though no one knew it at the time, so was Team Meanies.
&&&
“And the winner is…Team Turquoise!” Vice-Principal Perjan announced as if it were there was any question on THAT score. “Well fought ladies and gentlemon.” He stretched the truth so far it was in danger of snapping back like a rubber band. “Good to see you all putting your studies to good use. If you’ll excuse me,” Perjan said as he took his leave. Floritt and Mitzi also departed, chatting amiably.
The Turqs shifted uncomfortably; normally this was where they’d go over and congratulate their opponents on how well they did but frankly, they had no idea how to say it without sounding patronizing or flat-out lying.
René took a deep breath and took a step forward. “Look, I just wanted to say—”
“You got lucky.” Anthony stamped his foot then winced as that only made the pounding headache he had worse. “Yeah…if it weren’t for a lucky break you’d—”
“WHAT?!” Stella shrieked, saying what everyone was thinking. “I always knew you were full of it, but even I didn’t think you were THIS big a fool! You led us against Sophomores! SOPHOMORES! And we LOST! Some leader you are! You can’t even beat a team so pathetic whose leader wears PANTIES and a BRA!”
“Don’t listen to her.” Romano whispered to René as Stella continued to rant at Anthony, accusing him of everything from purposely humiliating her in public to being lousy in bed. “Yours are nicer anyway.”
“—pathetic! You, your snake, and your titless pink thing got beat by a lackluster, mediocre team!” Stella sneered at Anthony. “You’ve shown as much ‘leadership’ as a beached magikarp! Forget this! I’m not going to degrade myself by letting by seen with you outside the arena.”
“What’re you saying?” Anthony cried out. Stella smiled cruelly.
“I’m saying we’re through Anthony. I’d say it was fun while it lasted, but really, it wasn’t. Your wallet made better company than you. Prepare to be your own best friend for a LONG time Geist, unless perhaps Miss Titless works up the gets to lick your—”
“Okay, I did NOT hit that girl hard enough.” Romano growled.
“We should probably go.” Rahne said as she put her hands on René’s shoulders and led him away. “We shouldn’t be here for this.”
René tossed one last look over his shoulder as he saw Stella dumping Anthony and the medicham girl, Karen, looking on so forlornly…he wished he could help. But how?
THE END...FOR NOW
&&&
Meghan DeCinder, Floritt Baez and Team Crossroads © Kompy
Neve Oscadreja, Mitzi Fiera, and Team Krimson © Carlito
Team 16 © Asuraludu
Team Meanies and Team Nocturne © KaeMantis
Perjan and PCA concept © EbonyLeopard
Team Turquoise © GammaEradon
Comments