RD: Tales of the Abyss Ch. 1

Random Doom: Tales of the Abyss, Ch. 1

It was a humid, scorching summer day on the RD ranch when it all started. Jenna had let her pokemon out their balls to cool off and run around for a while, but even so the ranch's inhabitants were at the mercy of the heat. Rupert, Vincent and Ross were basking in the shade of the old oak near the swing, practically drowning in their own sweat. Saria, Cotton, Napoleon and the others had set up an enormous swimming pool in an attempt to rehydrate themselves, but to no avail. Even Veruka, who normally enjoyed this type of weather had to periodically release her excess body heat in the form of a heat wave attack. This resulted in the evaporation of every drop water in the pool, leaving the swimmers to do the feebas-flop on the bottom of the pool. "Nice going, Hothead." Napoleon growled at the infernape. He reared his head back, preparing for a water gun shot, but all that came out was a dry, rasping noise followed by Napoleon practically coughing up a lung. Jenna had watched the sequence of events from afar, and suddenly had an idea.
"Everyone, pack your sunscreen and towels, we're hitting the beach!"
Upon hearing this, everyone practically trampled each other trying to get to the shoreline, leaving Jenna in a cloud of cartoon-style dust.
"Hey, wait for me!" She shouted after her pokemon.
Vincent was the first one to spot the calm, blue waters of the beach that stretched out into the open sea.
"There it is, I see it!"
Vincent made a mad dash for the water, with Napoleon in hot pursuit.They made it at the same time and dove headlong into the briny surf.
"Aaaaah…I never thought I'd be this happy to go swimming before."
Napoleon heard his comment and a devilish grin spread across his face.
"Hey Vincent, how a battle? One-on-one, First one to faint loses."
Vincent liked this idea, as it proposed a way to pass the time and a chance to impress Veruka by beating Napoleon.
"Your funeral Weasel boy. Bring it on!" Vincent mocked.
His taunt worked and driven by his gargantuan ego, Napoleon charged the lucario head on with an aqua jet. Vincent dodged to the side and kicked Napoleon in the gut. He let out a satisfying "oof!" and Vincent knew he had caught him good. But apparently not good enough. Napoleon grabbed his opponent's leg and hurled him up out of the water and into the air, jumping up after him with an ice punch at the ready. Vincent blocked it, but the impact of the blow sent him flying towards the sandy shore. He hit hard and bounced along the ground before skidding to a halt and leapt back to his feet.
Meanwhile, The others watched from afar. Rupert and Ross were cheering on Vincent, while Cotton shrieked like a crazed fangirl for her boyfriend.
Veruka and Saria simply stood and observed.
"I wonder who will win," Saria said inquisitively. " I mean I know Vincent's been training really hard lately, but does he really have it in him to beat Napoleon?"
Veruka didn't answer. She just stood and watched, examining every detail in both fighter's movements, trying to predict who would make the first mistake.
As luck would have it, Vincent made the first error. He charged towards Napoleon(who was still in the water), gaining speed for a quick attack. He was no more than a few feet from the shoreline when his opponent let loose with a hyro pump. It hit Vincent square in the chest and knocked him back against the overlooking cliff. He fell to his knees as Napoleon prepared for the finishing blow. The floatzel rushed towards him  with an aqua jet. Vincent was faster however, moving to the side just in time to make Napoleon ram his head against the stony cliffside. His body scrunched up like an accordion for a second from the impact, then  fell to the ground. He simply laid there, groaning in pain. Rupert and Ross let loose a series of cat-calls and whistles in excitement.
"Yeah, Alright Vincent! That's how it's done!"
Vincent gazed down at his victim with a cocky look of victory on his face.
Veruka immediately recognized this mistake, but didn't want to interrupt the battle. So instead she simply said to Saria "It's a trap. He's setting Vincent up."
Saria just stared back at her with a look of confusion on her face.
"What are you talking about? Napoleon is out cold! I mean look at-"
before she could even finish her sentence, Napoleon's arm shot up and grabbed Vincent by his neck, grinning ear to ear.
"Fooled you!!"
A torrent of pressurized water erupted from Napoleon's mouth, sending Vncent skyrocketing into the air. When he came down, he left a small crater in the sand. A blue, furry arm weakly lifted itself from the hole and pulled Vincent up and out. He got to his feet, and proceeded to fall flat on his face, completely unconcious. Napoleon let out howl of victory, and proceeded to flex his massive biceps in a show of strength. Cotton came rushing up and threw her arms around him.
"Congratulations." She said rather coyly. "Now here's your prize." Napoleon pulled her in close as she kissed him on the lips and pushed him to the ground. Veruka strode down to the battlefield and helped up her now concious friend, who popped up with suprising enthusiasm.
"Veruka did you see me out there? I almost just beat Napoleon!" He said excitedly.
"Yeah, ALMOST Vincent" She said rather dryly. " But in the end you still lost. That's not something to be proud of."
Vincent's expression changed to melancholy at her words.
"But I came close, right? I mean, if he hadn't gotten that lucky shot in-"
His excuse only seemed to anger her as she bit back "Lucky?! It was a trap, and you fell right into it! Luck had nothing to do with it Vincent. Tell you what, once you manage to actually BEAT someone, then come brag to me. But until then, stick to the training courses where you belong." And with that she trotted off, leaving her words to stick in her friend's heart like a knife.
Deep down, she felt bad about what she had said to him. He had battled his heart out for her, and she treated it like garbage.
She sighed to herself. "It's for his own good. It will make him that much stronger."
Vincent, still feeling down about before, simply sat in the sand, wollowing in his defeat.
"Veruka….why does everything I do for you always end in failure?"
Suddenly, an unfamilar voice chimed in from behind him.
"Well, I thought it was a great battle."

End of Chapter one