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The Master's Style (Lady Clemence)

Lady Clemence the Stalwart:

The elegant mistress of the defensive arts still has much to teach you. Last time you learned the very basics of her school. Though, you probably wonder how someone who has done nothing but master the art of defensive survived so many battles? Well you are going to find out.

Long ago, Lady Clemence's grandmother, the original master of the school, met a mystical Milotic in Lake Verity, whose scales seemed to reflect all light around it making it appear almost invisible. This beautiful creature took kindly to Elder Clemence and bestowed upon her two of her scales. One of the scales power became one with Elder Clemence and had given her a gift, an ability called "Aegis". This ability activates when the weilder is in a dire situation, the power of the "Aegis Milotic" is channeled to the weilder of Aegis as an aura surrounds them. This special aura reflects all light, just like the scales of the Milotic, to seemingly make the weilder look almost invisible. Further more the embrace of the aura cushions all blows dealt to the weilder should they still be spotted. As for the other scale? It was given to her granddaughter Lady Clemence, when Elder Clemence was on her death bed.

Ever since Lady Clemence's grandmother passed away and Aegis was passed on, Lady Clemence has tried to meet the Aegis Milotic herself, but has always ended in failure. Maybe it's because she already obtained a scale and possesses Aegis? Who knows, so now Lady Clemence uses her students to try and find the Milotic, so they may see it and tell her of their stories since she cannot see it. So your task for the intermediate course is to see the Aegis Milotic. Lady Clemence will give you the used up Milotic scale that her grandmother had given her, the scale seems to act as a right of passage at Lake Verity. Anyways, head to Sinnoh and go to Lake Verity. In the middle of the lake you will find a small island with a cave. Enter the cave, since you have one of the scales on your person the cave will reveal to you a new entry way that leads down underneath the lake. Journey down, your task begins here.

Inside you will have to navigate yourself through an elaborate maze, filled with many traps and Pokemon that will get in your way. But the Milotic at the end can feel the emotions in your heart, should you attack any of the Pokemon, it will not appear to you despite arriving at the end. So you must only defend and dodge any of the wild Pokemon's attacks. You will also be tested at points in the maze, your dodging and reflex abilities will be put to the test by traps, your defensive will shall be tested along with your stamina, and further more there are three puzzles somewhere inside the maze that will test your sincerity, courage, and faith. Once you get through the maze and arrive at the end you will be greeted by a beautiful underground lake, unlike anyone has ever seen. The lake gives off an elegant pink glow they say and an enormous geyser shoots up out of the middle of the lake. Should you have earned your right to see the Milotic after getting through the maze, the Aegis Milotic will appear before you and grant you permission to pluck a scale from its body.

Once you have received your scale the Milotic will provide you with a quick way out. Once out head back to Lady Clemence and show her your own scale as proof of meeting the Milotic along with giving hers back. She would also like to hear about your meetign with the Aegis Milotic. If you can do this, you will have passed the intermediate class and gained the passive skill Aegis, good luck.

Participants: Lykas

As Lykas approached the training rooms, he could hear the clashing of swords from one and a bit of soft music playing from another. He opted for the sword clashing room. Opening the door, he entered and looked around.

Everyone inside stopped for a moment to look at him. "Mistress! He's returned!" a young woman called, turning to the far side of the room. Lady Clemence emerged from the crowd with a smile plastered onto her face.

"It is good to see you, young Apphentice." she said as she bowed courteously. Lykas bowed low in response. "It is good to see you again as well, Master." he replied. "I heard you had a task for me?" he inquired as he straightened up.

"Yes, of couhse." Lady Clemence replied as she straightened up as well. "Class, take a shoht bheak and I vill hetuhn shohtly." she told them as she led Lykas out of the room and to a more private location.

"I only give this hequest to my most phomising pupils." Lady Clemence began as she pulled a bright red scale from a display case nearby. "You see this scale, yes?" she asked as she handed it to Lykas, who took it and nodded. "It belonged to a vehy special Milotic that my Ghandmotheh met yeahs ago." she explained. "I have neveh been able to see it myself, but I believe you just might." she told him with a confident grin. "Take that scale and go to Lake Vehity, find the Milotic and tell me of it's beauty." she requested.

"That's it?" Lykas asked as he examined the scale in his hands. "That doesn't sound very hard." he remarked as he placed the scale in his pocket to keep up with it.

"It is not easy, but it vill be foh youh benefit. If the Milotic shows itself to you, then it vill allow you to take one of it's scales, which grant it's owner a unique poweh called Aegis. It is a staple technique for a thue masteh of my school." she explained.

"I see." Lykas replied. "Then I'm on it. I'll be back before you know it." he told the master with a cocky grin. Nodding to Mykel, the two Teleported out in a flash.

"I hope he has leahned vell vhat I have taught him. He vill need it to suhvive." Lady Clemence said to herself as she returned to her other students to continue their lessons.

Lykas swam through the cold waters tot he island in the heart of the lake. He considered this to be part of his training. Further strengthening his will and his resolve to continue onward, he forged his way through and climbed onto the bank, dripping wet and freezing cold.

Walking into the dark cave, he looked around. He could have sworn he saw something move in the darkness around him, but the light was too dim to clearly see anything. "Let's see...the scale is suppose to act as a right of passage and reveal a new path to the depths of this cave...." he recalled, pulling said object from his bag.

As he flipped the scale over and examined it from different angles, the light from the cave's entrance caught it's surface and flared out in a display of rose colored beacons for a moment. One of the rays of pink light traced across the wall and struck a bright blue gem embedded there.

The tiny gem seemed to swirl purple for a moment as the pink light mixed with it's natural blue color. Lykas was startled by it, as it all happened in the blink of an eye. He could only jump slightly in reaction to the flash, causing the flashes to cease. Looking at the scale in his hand, he could see his own distorted reflection in it. "Hmm...that's all? Just some crazy light show?" he asked the scale.

As if in response, a grinding rumble filled the air for a moment as the cave's floor shook and trembled violently. "Whoa!" Lykas cried as he lost his balance and fell over onto his backside. Looking up at the walls, he started to complain, though the newly visible door left him at a loss for words.

He didn't have to wait long. Some strange trap had been triggered as walked through the hallways and geysers began blasting out of the walls at irregular intervals. "Oh, great." he sighed as he planted his face in his hand. "Ok, this'll be easy." he told himself as he let out a breath.

He watched the geysers for a few moments and noticed that no matter which ones were blowing, they left and very small gap between bursts. The geysers had very small spaces between them as they went off as well, three wide with two small spaces in each row. "Ok, let's put my old training to good use...." he said as he jumped between two of the geysers, ducking down into a backbend and twirling between two more in a tight barrel roll. Standing tall, he cartwheeled between two more as they blasted from the ceiling.

He winced as he felt several spots of boiling liquid splash onto his shirt. "AH!" he cried as the hot moisture burned his skin slightly. He stopped for a moment once he managed to pirouette through the final few geysers. As his body adjusted to the new, hot sensation, his shirt steamed slightly, the hot water contrasting the near freezing air.

"I can't let this stop me." he grunted as he started running deeper through the ancient corridor. He had a Milotic to locate, he only hoped that he could keep his resolve to do this all the way down, especially since the traps could only get deadlier from here on.

As Lykas passed the very end of the arrow field, he came into a large chamber. "Hm? What's this?" he asked himself as he walked towards the center of the room.

"Speak now thy name, intruder!" came a bellowing call from somewhere nearby.

"Uhm....What?" Lykas replied as he looked around.

"Speak now thy name, intruder! the voice repeated, as stoic and uncaring as the previous time.

"Uh, Lykas Fenrral." the boy replied, a bit hesitantly.

"You shall be tested here. Only those of great sincerity and truth of heart may pass the door that I have barred." the voice stated as a figure emerged from the darkness. "Prove the value of a heart of gold and only then shall the locks be released." the voice finished.

"Oh, God..." Lykas whispered as he saw the figure clearly for the first time. It was a Teddiursa. What it was doing here, one could only wonder. But it wasn't the Teddiursa itself that had caused Lykas' reaction, but rather what lay behind it. An Ursaring, battered and bloodied, puncture wounds covering it's body.

"Teddi...ursa...." The small teddy bear Pokemon whimpered as it looked between Lykas and the Ursaring.

Lykas could almost understand it. Momma...move....It was just, so sad. He could almost feel his heart breaking. He could feel for the small creature. He looked up to the ceiling and cried out. "Mykel!"

Outside, Mykel could feel Lykas' call for him. He stretched out his mind and found the boy's location, Teleporting to him immediately. "What's wrong, Lykas?" He asked as he looked up at his trainer upon arrival.

"I need your help treating this Ursaring." Lykas told the small Psychic type. "I ran through a trapped field of arrow launchers on my way here. I don't think this big girl was as lucky as I was at getting through." he explained.

"I'll try." Mykel replied as he levitated over to the large bear Pokemon. "I can't say this won't hurt more than getting hit with them, but I'm gonna try and take out any arrowheads still in you before I try to heal you." The Ralts tole the large bear.

"Ursa....ring..." the Ursaring replied with heavy breaths.

Mykel went to work, scanning the Pokemon's body as best he could with Psychic and carefully pulling out any arrowheads he could find.

Lykas stood back and watched, consoling the small Teddiursa as he held it close and rubbed it's head. It seemed to be working as the small teddy bear Pokemon hugged him tightly and cried for it's momma.

Mykel finished removing the last of the arrowheads he could find and placed his hands on Ursaring's chest. A soft glow began to cover them both as Recover took it's course.

Lykas and Teddiursa watched as Ursaring's wounds slowly healed themselves. As the last of them sealed up and finished healing, Ursaring groaned and slowly attempted to climb to it's feet.

"Hey, whoa!" Lykas cried as he ran over to it and let Teddiursa hop down. "Don't try to move just yet." he told the Ursaring as Teddiursa told her the same.

After a few minutes of heavy breathing, Ursaring finally managed to get up. She nodded her head to Lykas, bowing low a moment later. "I guess that's a 'thank you'..." Lykas remarked as Teddiursa ran over to a blank wall and smacked a paw against it, causing the stone to crumble and reveal a new pathway.

You have proven that your heart is true and your soul is sincere. Move onward and face the new challenges that await beyond. came the ominous voice from before.

Lykas heeded it's advice and ran ahead as quickly as possible while Mykel Teleported back outside to his bag.

As Lykas walked through the ancient stone corridors, he finally noticed the small purple gems glowing near the ceiling. The faint glow barely reached from one stone to the next and left shadowy spots between their range. "Neat." he remarked, not caring just how they worked as long as they didn't break on him.

As he walked, he could hear a faint rumbling sound, as if stone was grinding on stone. "That doesn't sound good." he told himself as he heard a crashing sound ahead, mixed in with the grinding stone sounds. As he breached the darkness and the source came into view, he swore inwardly. "Dang, they're determined to keep people out of here." He remarked as he watched the alternating logs and boulders swing back and forth, barely above a very thin looking pathway through the center of an empty room.

"Oi....I guess all those clichè traps you see in tv shows and movies about tomb raiders aren't as unoriginal as they look." he remarked as he watched the objects swinging back and forth in a pendulous motion.

"Gah!" Lykas cried as the stone ahead of him clipped his arm on it's fourth pass. He'd never felt so much pain all at once. He felt sure the bone was shattered. He held it at his side as the fifth pass went by and took his chance, running forward as fast as he could. He couldn't quite reach the end on foot and took the only course of action that came to mind. He dived for it, landing hard on his chest and skidding across the ground.

Turning his head to look, he found that he was just barely out of harms way, and quite sore. "Ugh..." he groaned as he dragged himself to more stable ground and rolled over, pulling himself up some odd form to sit up and examine his arm. He flexed and bent the injured appendage a few times, and finding that he could move it, not without some discomfort, he put aside the thoughts that it was broken for now. AS long as he could use it, he wouldn't worry about the damage for now.

As Lykas trekked through the narrowing corridor, he could hear the distant dripping once again and his turbulent mind slowly came to a halt, silencing itself. The frantic thoughts of the when's and where's and how's finally ceased and he was calm enough to listen for any trouble.

As he wandered beeper, he found that he was suddenly accosted by a small army of Pokemon. They all appeared to be water and rock types, a few ice types mingled in. "Sno runt sno sno snorunt!" a small Snorunt cried as it stepped forward.

"A challenge is it?" Lykas asked as he drew Windsong forth and held it in a loose but steady grip. "Shall we dance, then?" he asked as he offered a confident grin. Though his face showed confidence, his heart ached with fear that he wouldn't be able to escape this encounter without harming the Pokemon. He didn't want to hurt them, but he would if he must.

The Ice Shard flying his way gave him reason enough to retreat, thus moving forward. The Pokemon, having appeared from behind him, pushed him farther into the cavern as he did his best to deflect the incoming attacks.