The OUTSKIRT Team

"Oh you had a trainer?" Hiroshi says curiously as he scratches at the crust of molten rock along his back.
A few flakes of the dark reddish brown stone fall off onto the ground as he scratches the hardened stone scales on his back and accidentally cracks one.
"I think Hideki used to have a trainer once..." The large Fire dragon grins sheepishly. "[color=#EE4000]It's kinda hard to tell with him. Was it nice having a trainer?[color]" The large Charizard has always been wild, part of one of the rare colonies of the fire types and all he had known about humans he had found out from playing with the children of the nearby human village. As to what it actually felt like to have a human at your side, helping you out and making you get stronger...Hiroshi didn't know what that was like, only that a lot of pokemon seemed to have formed close bonds with the people that trained them.

Hideki slowly blinds his light blue eyes as he thinks back. Humans were to him formless blobs of shadows, more often illusions than even the most wispy of Lesser Gods.
A gleam of the artificial bare lights gleams off the metal arm that rests across his lap, a heavy metallic limb roughly grafted onto his scarred shoulder.
He has indeed had a trainer but ignored him for the more real presence of his pokemon. As far as he is concerned his human trainer never really existed. Certainly he did not care if the man was alive or not.
He was...boring... Hideki signs to Hiroshi and rolls on his back, exposing the softer fur of his stomach.
Scratch my tummy. He asks the still-eating Charizard.

Crescent thought for a bit. "Well, it was a pain at first, but I got used to her. She'd take me around places and we'd fight other trainers, and after a while she even took me to a move tutor to teach me a new move." Crescent said, recalling the time that Erica took her to a move tutor to learn Foul Play. She smiled as the Samurott rolled over, signing something that must have meant scratch my tummy or something.

"The only decent thing that came out of humans is the wwhite science to defeat black magic." Regale says knowledgeably as he tries to open another can of Soda. His slippery scythes threaten to puncture the frail metal can as he tentatively holds it between his blades and manages to take a sip.
The thick doughy cakes rest solidly in his stomach as the self-proclaimed 'King' Regale leans back in his chair and takes another poffin, this time one a bright green.
"From the darkest depths of the oceans I have wwrestled free the secrets of the the most powwerful of wweapons."
Dramatically the Kabutops leans over and looks the Dark Type right in the eye.
"The secrets of Ahab's Rifle."
Regale laughs but his eyes gleam with a deadly seriousness.

[quote="Kaze"]

Rolling his lava orange eyes the large Charizard snaps another another bite of a poffin, chewing the thick cake and swallowing cheerfully as he leaves the table to walk over to the Water Type.
Folding his short arms he looks down at Hideki, the intimidating large figure of the Samurott looking curiously vulnerable and playful with his paws in the air and a faint grin lurking around the corners of his furry face.
With a soft sigh Hiroshi leans down and rubs his clawed fingers through the thick fur of Hideki's stomach. He can feel the thinness of bones underneath and the ribs of the rib cage. Hideki's fear of soul-sucking spirits that crawled through the mouth stopped him from eating as much as he should.
"Oh, you're just a big softy aren't you?" The Charizard says with a grin as Hideki rolls on his back and turns back to Crescent. "Move...tutor...?"

Hideki gleefully squirms on the floor at the pleasant sensation of Hiroshi's claws on his stomach makes his fin-like tail twitch and drum the floor.
It felt nice to have his stomach scratched when he was a Dewott, now he had evolved the sensation was even more pleasant.
His long grey whiskers twitch cheerfully as his one organic front paw slowly bats at the air. His light blue eyes close happily as Hiroshi's claws move through his thick blue fur.
His metallic arm has a near complete lack of feeling in it but it still twitches sporadically with his movements.
Left...Left... He signs one handed, directing Hiroshi's scratching towards the itching part of his stomach.

"They teach you moves that you wouldn't normally learn from TMs, HMs and Leveling up." Crescent said, thinking on how to explain what a move tutor was. Thinking of how Erica's Meganium learned a very powerful move from a move tutor, she tried to remember the three moves... Blast Burn, Frenzy Plant and Hydro Cannon? " An example would be like Blast Burn, You can't learn it via leveling up, you have to be taught by a move tutor." Crescent said, naming off an example to give Hiroshi an idea of what she meant.

"Humans can do that?" Regale asks puzzled. "Howw? They don't knoww howw to breathe fire."
Shaking his head is disbelief the Kabutops sighs and finishes off the last spicy poffin while the other two were otherwise occupied.
He leans back in his chair, folding his bladed arms behind his head and pats the grey armor plating that lies across his stomach in satisfaction.
He has eaten more than he usually would but who does he have to watch his figure for? Certainly not the land dweller scum!
The crowned Kabutops finds this line of conversation is starting to irritate him. Humans were weak pale imitations of Mankeys with about the same amount of sense. Sure they could be dangerous and deviously intelligent when you weren't expecting it but they were inferior beings, not even fit to serve let alone be treated as some form of equals.

"Huh that is weird." Hiroshi says. He has never actually seen the move Blast Burn in action but apparently his grandfather had known it and his dad had seen it.
Listening to Vorukan speak it was an impressive technique to be weilded by a powerful fire type, nothing he though a human would know anything about.
His long lawed fingers twitch. Going to select another one of the flat colorful cakes he notes to his irritation that there are no more of the yummy red ones left over.
Instead he selects one of the pink ones, the sugary confection dissolving on his tongue with a taste of Pecha Berries. The sweetness is almost sickly but he swallows down the sweet cake and licks his long tongue over his lips of remove the last few grains of sweet sugar.
If nothing else the sweet poffin would make great fuel for his flames.

Not finished. Hideki signs irritably, as he rolls back over onto his stomach, resting his large horned head on his neatly crossed paws as he examines the table.
He has eaten enough for the day and the strange bubbly drink had soothed his thirst even though it tickled his throat.
The hot sun was beating down outside, heating the sands to hot enough to fry an egg on. It would be some time before the glaring orb of the sun sunk low enough for the sands to cool, allowing them back out to scavenge for some source of food or water to add to their existing supplies. Apart from the occasional sandstorm, something the building had been reinforced to withstand, food and water were the main concerns out here. Very few undead roamed the desert compared to the more populous areas.

Looking towards Regale, Crescent sighed. "I'm not exactly sure how it works for Blast Burn, but Erica's Meganium learnt Frenzy Plant, which was the grass equivalent of Blast Burn. It was a very strange process... The human explained to the pokemon by writing words on a card on what they needed to do to learn the move." Taking a breath before continuing, Crescent stopped to let them make sense of her words. "And so once the pokemon has got the idea of the move they start to build on what they know. Like with Frenzy Plant, the tutor told My trainer's Meganium to think of it like using bullet seed on the ground. It's fairly difficult to explain if you haven't seen or been tutored yourself really..." Crescent said, looking back at the poffins, grabbing a sweet pink one and eating it.

"Wweird." The crowned Kabutops says, rolling his metallic golden eyes as he snaps up a bright green poffin then immediately makes a face at the bitter taste of the pastry.
The table is nearly clear of the slightly stale little cakes now, only a few of the bright colored confectioneries remaining and that only reminds Regale of the constantly lowering state of their supplies now there were four mouths eating...
The crowned Kabutops sighs. There was nothing to do but wait for the hottest part of the day to pass, then it would be safe to scavenge the sands once more, both in search of enemies to destroy and something to eat.
Regale's head turns to the egg, resting in hot sand to incubate it.
That was going to cause trouble...

"Interesting..." Hiroshi muses, scratching under his chin with his stubby clawed hand. Does this mean there might be a way for him to learn Blast Burn if there was a human left who could teach it to him?
It would be nice to have that extra power, even if the Flare Blitz his father taught him was very powerful in its own right.
Hiroshi snaps up a small sour cake and burps a small cloud of flame.
He flexes his wings and lays down on the ground beside Hideki.
""I'm going to take a little nap k?"
An afternoon sleep always helped him digest.

Hideki rolls over next to the Charizard, feeling more comfortable whenever he could feel the fire type's warm skin against his fur and slowly closes his blind blue eyes.
Sleeping now? He signs to the large God as Hiroshi yawns and a gust of hot sulfurous scented air rushed across Hideki's face.
The Water Type was used to the variety of burning smells the God of Flames and Stone extruded and didn't mind the stink but nevertheless his long whiskers twitch in irritation before the Samurott rolls over and snuggles up close to the Charizard's soft scaled belly.

Feeling drowsy herself, Crescent grabbed one last bright pink sweet poffin before walking over to a small area where she curled up into a ball of sorts and closed her eyes. Unfortunately all she dreamed of was how she failed to save Erica and that she should kill herself. Needless to say, It wasn't a very nice sleep for her.

Regale's metallic golden eyes snap open and he inwardly berates himself.
They had just looked so sweet and peaceful slumped there on the floor together and he couldn't help but lie down for a rest too.
Curled up against the warmth of his Fire Type mercenaries tail he had lost track of time and dozed of in the comfortable warmth of the Charizard's scales. That shouldn't happen again, it was an affront to his royal pride.
Shaking his wedge shaped head disapprovingly he rises and folds his scythes in front of him. The egg in its bucket lies still in the sands.
Would the others notice if he ate it now?
Nah, it wouldn't be worth it.
"Wwake up." He orders, nudging the Charizard's orange scale flank with one foot. "Wwe can go outside now. There's some time until things get cold."

The rocky backed Charizard yawns widely, showing his large white fangs and lightly flutters his wings. The cool patch of deep blue fur that is Hideki stirs against the pale cream scales of his belly as the Charizard carefully strokes a clawed hand through the rough fur on the Water's type's back to wake him then clumsily lumbers to his thick muscled legs.
With a yawn that stinks of volcanic air the large dragon like pokemon scratches at his lava coated back.
"Time to get going then?" He asks as he yawns again. He has slept with his mouth open and now it tastes a bit funny. "About time we got going. Scavenging and all."
The large dragon drops to all fours and stretches from the blunt edge of his snout to the very tip of his flaming tail which twitches as he grins.

Hideki shakes his head, long whiskers twitching as he wakes up and temporarily mourns the comforting warmth of Hiroshi's belly.
His fanned tail waves slowly as he rises from his nap and stretches himself out in an imitation of his god of flames and stone before turning his large horned head towards the Lesser Gods.
Well, lets go then.
Without waiting for his god to be ready or any kind of order from the lesser god of water Hideki turns towards the exit from the human vehicle and stubbornly stumps out into the sand.
He can't see the brilliant blaze of orange and gold staining the deep blue horizon but he can feel the cooler air on his whiskers.
They will have some time to explore before the chill of the oncoming night forces them back into the engine for shelter.

Crescent stirs when she hears Regale's voice, followed by Hiroshi. Lifting her head the dark type blinked a few times before standing up and stretching much like a persian would. "So, what do you guys think we could find out there?" She asked, watching as Hideki walked out of the little shack and into the hot sands of the desert. Crescent followed after, glad that she sand wasn't as hot on her paws.

"Wwater, wwhat else?" The Kabutops stutters irritably, the words almost blending together. "This place is a shipwwreck, wwwithout supplies wwe're going to end up sleeping wwith the fishes."
Stretching too, his sharp bladed scythes gleaming in the electric light the Shellfish Pokemon throws one last disapproving look at the egg in its bucket of sand.
How long until whatever hatches out of it starts to be a problem?
"Supplies are limited here so wwe have to find an oasis or something to gather more food and wwater. Otherwwise wwe'll just run out."
Tilting his head so that his crown catches the light he sighs softly under his breath.
He has no idea whether such an oasis could be found in this desert...
With a long predatory stride Regale follows Hideki out into the sands.

Hiroshi shakes his head from side to side to clear it as he blinks his bleary eyes.
His wings flutter a little bit as he steps outside. The desert sunset is truly beautiful to behold, it filled the deep blue sky with a bright blaze of orange and cold and soft pink. He grinned at the sight and spread his wings fully in the cooling dry desert air.
Flight was still a new thing to him and he loved it.
"Come on Hideki, lets get an aerial view~!" He says cheerfully as he spreads his wings wide and beats them once, sending a spray of sand up around him as he lifts himself into the air and darts forwards.
His short clawed arms held outstretched he locks his claws under Hideki's chest in a kind of hug, hauling the Samurott up with him as he beats his wings powerfully and starts to climb.
"Ne right back!" He calls out and breaths out a small puff of flame as he turns his head towards the sky.

Hideki knows as soon as he feels the rush of air behind him that his God of Flames and Stone has something he wants to do, the small prickling sensation of the Fire Type's claws against his fur a strange comfort as the Charizard's short arms pull him in close to the warm scaled chest and a smile comes over the Samurrot's furry face.
It felt nice being this close to Hiroshi...
Then the dragon was lifting him up, up, up and there wasn't anything under his feet anymore as a wonderful feeling of lightness came over him.
A bubbly euphoria sparked in his heart as he paddled his paws in mid-air.
Higher! He signs cheerfully.

They must have absolute trust in each other to do that... Crescent thought, watching the two fly off. "Erica told me that if you dig deep enough in a desert it's possible to find water under the sand." Crescent said, eyeing the ground for anything suspicious. The dark type sighed as she looked back to the shelter, looking at the egg sitting in it's little sand nest. Was it really worth their time? The infected might have already passed it disease onto whatever's inside. I guess we'll wait and see.

"Wwell I'm not digging." Regale says in disgust, crossing his scythed arms.
Him, scrabbling in the dirt like some commoner?! Unthinkable.
Sulkily the gaunt crowned Kabutops kicks at the sand dunes.
How much of the dry sand would he have to shift through to find water and how would they collect it?
Still hopeful there might be some kind of oasis where they can gather the water from simply the Kabutops nevertheless tucks aside the information for later.
If his mercenary's recon is unsuccessful then the large Charizard is going to have to dig up the dunes in an attempt to draw water from them.

Hiroshi's long neck twists as he surveys the desert spreading out below him. A powerful flap of his large green-membraned wings sends him soaring higher into the air as he exhales another bright puff of fire.
The sunset flames bright orange and gold in his vision as its gleaming light illuminates the golden sands. Warm thermals from the sands formerly baked by the sands help lift him effortlessly into the air, even with the added weight of a Samurott to carry.
He circles in mind-air, still climbing higher and higher until he can gaze down on the massive flat expanse of the desert spread before him.
The sand dunes unroll across a massive area and, hovering high in the cloudless sky, there seems to be no break in them that might indicate an oasis but his keen gaze detects a small patch of greenery, growing against the odds in the desert below.
Cacti.
The squat bulging green plants were like large storage barrels of water!
"Bingo!"

The exciting rush of flight sweeps over Hideki once again as the ground beneath his feet disappears, leaving him suspended in nothingness at his god's side.
As they climb higher and higher into the sky the Samurott's breathing becomes more rapid to draw oxygen from the thinner air.
His paws twitch as they paddle through the air, some ancient instinct insisting that swimming will help keep him aloft.
He can feel the growing warmth on his thick fur as he turns his face towards the setting sun.
Hiroshi... He signs, happiness making him feel as light as a Drifloon but his contentment is too complete for him to want to continue through his signing.
He rests his head against the Charizard's warm chest, feeling the steady beat of the god's heart.
"Hiroshi, I love you." He says outloud.

Rolling her eyes at the Kabutops, Crescent smells the ground for any trace of water. It must be too far down to smell... She thought, clawing at the ground for a moment. Sighing, the dark type looked up at the skies, wondering when the other two would come back.

"Here they are." Regale says grumpily, kicking at a sand dune in a fit of childish pique.
He hated having to work, one of the unfortunate side effects of being raised as royalty.
Raising his metallic golden eyes to the sky line he sees the orange glow of the fire type descending, the blue speck of the Samurott still held underneath it.
Maybe from the sky they have seen a source of water that doesn't include so much effort?
A faint look of concern comes over the Kabutops's face as the Charizard appears to jolt in mid-air and come to a very shaky landing in front of him.
"Are you o.k?" He asks in concern, reaching a bladed arm out towards the Charizard's flank only to be stopped dead by the sudden venom in the Samurott's pale blue eyes.
With a flicker of movement the shell blade is now clutched tight in the Water Type's hand and Regale instinctively raises his own scythe-like blades to deflect a sudden blow.
"Wwhat is wwrong wwith you!" The Kabutops says in irritation as he beats back the blow.
"Couldn't find any wwater?"

The Charizard blanches, his fiery orange skin whitening as he hears Hideki's voice for the first time. It is harsh from disuse but also genuinely the Samurott's.
A prickling runs down the large dragon's spine as his shock at hearing Hideki speak becomes embarrassment at the water type's words.
Hideki...loved him?
His wings accidentally miss a flap and he tumbles downwards as he loses control of the end of his descent, clumsily managing to land in the soft sands.
"Hideki..." Hiroshi stutters, glad that the Samurott cannot see the bright red blush starting to color his cheeks.
Hideki loved him...
Hideki loved him...
The large rocky-backed lizard doesn't know what to say. Hideki has always been at his side as a Dewott and they had evolved together at nearly the same time. He had always been there, helping him get stronger but love? Hideki was his best friend!
Besides even fully evolved he was still young. How was he even supposed to...?

Hideki lowers his gaze to the sands as they roughly land, feeling the gritty grains beneath his three organic paws. He had let his feelings get away from them again and even spoken but every word was true.
He loved his God of Flames and Stone who made everything o wonderful and he never wanted to let him go. If there was any god he wanted to let consume his soul then it would be Hiroshi.
Hiroshi, I love you. He signs as he lays still against the Charizard's warm flank.
Hiroshi, I love you.Hiroshi, I love you.Hiroshi, I love you.
He signs it over and over again, glad to finally let the words out of him. Back when Sanae was still here Hiroshi hadn't paid any attention to him but now that the little Growlithe was gone it had been just the two of them and it could be the two of them forever...
"Are you o.k?"
Hideki's eyes snap upwards as the lesser god reaches towards Hiroshi, touches his god and he draws his blade.
No-one would ever come between them again.

Crescent's eyes widened when the Fire Type Hiroshi landed, rather shakily. She took a small step back when the Samurott drew his blade against the Kabutops. "A-are y-you okay, H-Hiroshi?" Crescent stuttered out, keeping a fair distance from Hideki. The Samurott scared her, and she didn't want to get on the wrong side of those blades.

"Yeah wwell I don't like you either!" Regale snaps, shock jarring his wrists as he barely manages to block the blow.
His metallic golden eyes reveal his shock however at the Samurott's violent reaction to him approaching the Charizard.
Here he was worrying about the treachery of land-dweller scum and one of his own sea-dweller kinsman was the one to dare try and lay hands on royalty!
The Kabutops ignores the fact that Hideki's one blow nearly caused his scythes to crack and darts forwards.
His clawed feet dig deep into the sands and he becomes nothing more than a flicker of rapid black shadow as he lunges forwards with such a great speed it nearly renders him invisible, slamming his skinny body into the Samurott head first in an Aqua Jet attack.
His triangular head with its sharp edged crown smacks firmly into the water type's side as Regale glares down at the Samurott, the gleaming rock on his head giving him an air of majesty as it is surrounded by the setting sun.
The Aqua Jet, while barely a scratch to a fellow water type, nevertheless leaves a few speckles of blood dotting the Samurott's fur to Regale's satisfaction.
The extra force his crown has given the blow has forestalled the next attack with Hideki flinching.

"Hideki stop it now!" Hideki roars as imperiously as he can, the ferocity of his tone startling even himself.
He hadn't meant to be that harsh but he was startled...
The Charizard clumsily gets to his feet and winces. His rough landing had lead to him over-extending one of his wings and now the muscle was sore. He wouldn't be capable of getting back in the air until tomorrow at the earliest.
Crossing his clawed arms he takes a step forwards and rests his hand on Hideki's shoulder, bending his long neck close to the Samurott.
"Leave him alone now. He doesn't mean any harm." He hisses in the Water Type's ear as he straightens up and gives an embarrassed grin.
"He doesn't mean it my lord. He's just a bit on edge. Warrior reflexes you know."
He tries to keep the blush from his cheeks. Hideki always reacted poorly when he approached but before he had always thought it was to protect him from harm.
Without realizing it he had apparently acquired a clingy boyfriend.

Hideki blinks his light blue eyes, lowering the shell blade a fraction.
He could not disobey his god's request even if this speck of a lesser god didn't deserve any of his mercy.
The Samurott turns away, looking back towards Hideki.
Arching his back like a feline the Water Type rubs his back against the Charizard's stomach in a possessive gesture while the Fire Type shivers and looks very embarrassed.
I love Hiroshi. He signs proudly, tossing his sharp horned head.
It feels so good to be able to get those words out into the air and he knows Hiroshi must love him too because he has spoken and his soul wasn't ripped out through his mouth.
He feels the warmth of the charizard against his body as the large fire lizard leans down and scratches the fur along his back with a short clawed arm.
"I love you too k?" The Charizard says softly. "But no trying to cut up the Kabutops...or the absol for that matter."