PKMN Skies: Paint, Peril and Pals

ConfusedKangaroo

"Start!"

Suddenly all of her fellow comrades were rushing by her.  Miri summoned motion into her little legs and ran.  She came to the first wall and hid.  This was too scary, but the Ledyba had to continue, to try and get at least a shot at another team member and hopefully a flag.  Gulping some more she got up and kept running.

Dr-InSean (First Cameo)

"START!"

Suddenly, Asuka rushed past all of her comrades.  A quick slash of her paintbrush sent another Raichu onto her back, a green mark on her vest.  Before Asuka could savor her kill victory, she noticed that the opposing Raichu was grinning at her.

"What's so..."  Asuka started to ask, until she found her answer...THAT RAICHU WAS HOLDING A PAINT GRENADE!

Asuka jumped back as far as she could and rolled the rest of the way to get as far away from the grenade as possible.

BLOOSH!

Asuka succeeded in evading the bomb, but she couldn't help but grin at how the explosion managed to cover the opposing Raichu from head-to-toe in yellow paint.  Better luck next time.

Asuka looked around for her next opponent, but found something else.

"Oh look, it's Miri.  Oh look, she's gonna get...OH NO!"

Asuka bolted towards the Ledyba with panic in her eyes.

ConfusedKangaroo (Honor Cameo 1)

Miri hadn’t really the foggiest notion of what was going on and was running willy-nilly through the open areas to the nearest walls, cowering there for a moment and going onwards, getting closer to the green team’s area.  This was all too scary, too real.  She had read about wars and battles in her books before, but those had always seemed far away and an inevitable victory for someone, often the heroes.  This was a free for all, an explosion of colour as red, blue, yellow and green paint zipped by her, turning the floor to a rainbow spectrum.  Miri really needed some magic right now.

It was only a whistling sort of sound that made her stop and look up.  She couldn’t clearly see the Pokémon looming above her, but the silhouette was enough.  She was about to get covered in paint for sure.  Nervously, she raised her own gun, but it shook badly…Miri remembered how to use a gun from the water wars, but this one had to be aimed and she didn’t know how.  This was it, first casualty of the…

Then something rushed towards her, and the world became a frantic flurry of events.

“Wh-What?!”

Dr-InSean (Honor Cameo 2)

No time to explain.  No time to think...Thankfully, thinking wasn't necessary here.

"TSUMAKSEMPUKYEN!"  Asuka blurted out as she spun in mid-air with her fists stretched out.

"I beg your par-AAHNOTTHEFACE!"  A dapper, blue-clad Staryu shrieked as Asuka's spinning paint brushes slathered him in green and sent him stumbling onto his back.

With the danger gone (or rather, gasping in terror at his tarnished clothes)</span>, Asuka casually turned to the Staryu's would-be prey with a smile.

"Hey, Miri.  How's it goin'?"

Before Miri could answer, the Staryu came up with his own reply.

"How DARE you!?  It'll take forever to get paint out of this!  Noah!"  The Staryu snapped his fingers, prompting a young Riolu to pop his head out of a nearby bush.  "Avenge my honor!"

Noah brought a scoped paintball gun up and opened fire.

"Woah!"  Asuka gasped as the paintballs whizzed by, but were getting closer to hitting their mark.

Without saying another word, Asuka threw Miri over her shoulder and ran away from the Blue soldiers.

ConfusedKangaroo

Without the faintest clue what was going on, Miri found herself being saved, then threatened, then randomly picked up and hoisted away.  Ok, keep calm, it might be a kindly yellow or something, and she only hoped it wasn't anything romantic...wait...

The jogging motion of whoever was underneath her helped Miri calm herself and think.  Who else randomly shouted Japanese sounding fighting moves?  Who else spoke like that?  Plus, she had seen the silhouette of what appeared to be a Raichu over her...

"A-ASUKA!!"

At least it was someone she knew saving her bug self, but wasn't Asuka on another team?  Miri just concentrated on breathing; perhaps Asuka would be able to explain once they stopped moving.

Dr-InSean (Cameo City 1)

Wow.  There were a lot of enemies around.  You never think about it when you're sitting at home, but battlefields are dangerous places.

"Hey, Mir," Asuka called back to her passenger as she brush-slashed a heavily-armored Deino's chest just before she could hurl a paint grenade at them.  "Can you shoot those guys or somethin'?  Until I find a place to--NEVERMINDFOUNDAPLACE!"

Asuka started running up the side of a tree, but immediately kicked off of it and jumped away when she saw a Smeargle with a sniper sitting in its branches.  Asuka didn't notice that he seemed more scared to see her than vice versa.

Headed to a bush, but there was a raving lunatic Dedenne.  She was small, but her onslaught of obscenities was scary enough to deter Asuka.

Ran to a barrel, but a masked Shinx suddenly popped out and nearly unloaded two guns' worth of blue paint on them.

Tried hiding in a fox hole, but a blue-haired Gengar jumped out, screaming something about triggering her "Trap Card," but Asuka didn't stick around long enough to clarify it.

Actually...That Gengar was wearing Yellow.  May have been nice to leave Miri with her teammate.

Actually-ACTUALLY, that Gengar seemed to be calling out to Miri and seemed to be mad that Asuka was running away with her...Well, can't stop now.

"Some days, you just can't get rid of a bug."  Asuka muttered to herself.   "Sorry, Mir. If you see anywhere tuh hide, lemme know!"

ConfusedKangaroo

It was still a bit of a blur, but at least she was with Asuka.  She could trust her.  Still, no matter how hard Asuka tried, no hiding place could be found. Miri even saw Amiya from her own team briefly, calling out to her.  That would take some explaining later…

Then she spotted it.  An area currently free from paint, and no one seemed to be hiding there.  Well, who would want to?  It was a wall with two barrels either side.  It was cramped and didn’t allow a lot of vision.  It was free from danger though, and that’s what they needed.  Miri pointed frantically.

“Over to your r-right!  That wall with the b-barrels there!”

Miri clutched her gun tighter, still not sure if she could actually fire a useful shot if need be.

Dr-InSean

"Oh, sweet!"  Asuka smiled when she saw the tiny...tiny safe haven.

She created a slew of Double Team clones of her and Miri and ran them off in different directions, just in case anyone was following them.  The clones would disappear after a certain distance, but it should be more than enough time for the real Asuka and Miri to duck and cover.

"Phew!"  Asuka exhaled as she finally put Miri down.  "That was a workout, heh heh...Saaaaaay...You have any friends who weigh as much as you?  Maybe I can make this a regular thing...Then again, I guess I could just carry some bags instead of you..."

Asuka sat down with her back against the wall.  Despite all the danger they were just in, she seemed relaxed, even casual.

Even in this state, though, her ears were perked up and twitching along with the sounds of battle all around them.

ConfusedKangaroo

Miri sighed with relief when she was put down, although…

“Ummm…yeah…I-I’d use bags…”  Then she added, “Thanks…”

She didn’t like the idea of walking around casually and having Asuka randomly pick her up.  Also, was she really that heavy?  She should really cut down on the desserts.

Miri watched as Asuka’s ears twitched with the battle sounds around them.  It almost felt like this was the last stand; the moment when the heroes, knowing they were about to die, took a moment of reflection.  So, she picked up the strands of such feelings.

“A-Asuka?  I know we are in d-different teams, but…wh-what is the trick to aiming?  It was m-much easier to do with a water g-gun and I can’t seem to f-focus.”

Dr-InSean (Guns Cameo)

Without warning, Asuka put a hand over Miri's mouth and pressed both of their backs up against the wall as much as she could.  She kept her other hand ready to strike and looked at the upper lip of their wall.

...

"Oh, wait, they're walking away.  False alarm."  Asuka said as she nonchalantly removed her hand from Miri's mouth.

Asuka brought her legs in and hugged her knees.  It was so...cozy here.  Surrounded by danger, but protected by this little wall.  The hiding spot was so small that even the slightest mistake could give them away, but it was stable enough that it could keep them safe if they didn't do anything stupid.  Getting to spend this kind of time with a friend like Miri made the battlefield feel like a sleepover.  Miri must be having fun too!

"Really?  You need my help?  I'm surprised you didn't read a book tuh know everything about paintball and guns."  Asuka said, under the impression that reading was some kind of magic power.

Asuka's ears twitched some more.  She straightened out her legs.

"I’m no gun expert, but I can tell ya everything martial arts and Cortes told me about shootin'."  Asuka reached for Miri's gun.

She moved the firearm around in her hands, examining its many features and facets and...other f-related things.

"Those water guns were pretty easy, weren't they?  Well, I think that's because water's easy tuh move; it likes tuh move.  Bruce "Hitmon" Lee said that water is flexible and always moves; it never gets rigid and stuck in one shape.  Water guns don't have tuh work hard tuh shoot because water's so flexible.  These paintballs, though, are a little tougher, so the guns have tuh work harder.  Cortes says most guns have tuh make lil' explosions tuh make their bullets move.  Paintball guns don't make explosions, but they still have tuh push their ammo pretty hard tuh shoot anything.  Unfortunately, if the gun has tuh work harder to shoot, you have tuh work harder to hold it.  I think that’s where you’re havin’ trouble."

Asuka pressed the stock of the gun into her shoulder, grasped the handle tightly and gripped the neck with her other hand.  She closed one eye and looked down the barrel with her other eye, down at the sight built onto the gun.

"You wanna keep the butt of the gun in your shoulder and grab the neck good an' tight.  That'll keep it from jumpin' outta your hands an' help keep it straight enough tuh shoot.  You got one of these sights on your gun too; that’s good.  Look at that and you'll see what your gun sees.  As long as you aim at that, you should be good…Next part's tricky, though."

Asuka took her hand off the handle and showed it to Miri.  Strange...little fingers just...stretched out from her nub-like hand.  Four fingers.  Wiggling about in freakish defiance of natural, Arceus-fearing Raichu anatomy.  Asuka, bless her heart, didn't find anything strange about it.

"I always thought ya just pulled triggers and bullets came out.  Turns out, pullin' the trigger wrong can actually mess up your shot.  Cortes says ya don't pull the trigger; ya squeeze it."

Asuka started bending and unbending her...index...finger...thing.  It almost looked like she was going to tell Miri about RedruM.

"He says you should squeeze the trigger like you're gonna click a button on a pen...but use your finger instead of your thumb, heh heh.  Ya wanna make sure ya squeeze the trigger straight, don't risk pushin' it to the left or anything...I know, it sounds weird.  I never thought stuff like that could happen, but it really does.  You'll see what I mean when you shoot your gun more often."

Asuka handed the gun back to Miri.

"Heh heh heh…This isn’t really my big specialty, but I hope some of that helped."

ConfusedKangaroo

Miri said sheepishly in reply to Asuka's first comment about books.  "I didn't h-have any..."

Despite having a bookshop, it wasn't a full grown library.  There were gaps.  Asuka didn't seem to mind, launching into a long lecture on guns.  Well, not lecture.  Despite all the speaking, Miri found it easy to follow and felt she understood.  When Asuka handed the gun back to her, she hefted the gun across her left shoulder, held onto the neck tightly and sighted down the end, just over the rim of the barrel they were behind.

"L-Like this?"  She asked enquiringly.

BAM!

Just like that, a single shot of paint worked its way out of the gun, over the barrel to the battlefield where a successful splat and scream could be heard.  Oh crumbs...Miri turned to Asuka with a startled look before mouthing a 'sorry'.

Dr-InSean

Asuka's mouth almost ripped her head in two as it spread out in a huge smile.

"DUUUUUUDE!"  Asuka shouted excitedly.

Asuka got to her feet and was about to jump for joy, but she realized half-way through that they were supposed to be hiding.  She stopped at an awkward squat, her face looking like she just stepped on glass and her body looking like she forgot to use the bathroom.  After taking a second to remember how to control her body, she kneeled down and settled for a small round of clapping.

"That was awesome!"  Asuka returned to her indoor voice.  "I think you're a natural for paintball! I jus' hope your weirdly-loud gun and my screamin' didn't tell anybody we're here."

ConfusedKangaroo

Well, maybe she wasn’t as bad as she thought she was.  Maybe her problem was with confidence.  Maybe she could be an asset to the yellow team.

Nervously, she peered over the top of the barrel, hoping no one had noticed.  Unfortunately, several Pokémon were turned towards their position, mostly dressed in red and blue.  A shot of blue was flying through the sky.

“INCOMING!”

Without thinking, Miri grabbed Asuka’s hand and brought her up, running out the hiding place, just as the blue colour hit, she ran around the hiding place, pretty sure that soon they would have an angry mob on their tails (even though she didn’t have one).

Dr-InSean (Water-Bending Cameo)

Asuka's eyes widened as Miri led the way.  She spotted trouble first and took initiative in getting to safety.  Impressive.  Most impressive.

Although...Miri's running speed seemed slightly less impressive.  But she was in charge right now, so that's cool.  Whatever she wants to do.

Asuka groaned as she tried slashing at paintballs coming from their rear.  However, it was hard to get a good view of their backs, let alone a good swing in their defense, when one of her arms was tethered to Miri.

"Hey, Mir, what if we Banjo-Kazooie this?  Y'know, like, strap each other back-tuh-back so we can run an' watch our backs at the same time?"

Just as Asuka finished that suggestion, a literal wave of red paint started closing in on them.  Was one of these guys a water-bender or a wizard or something?  Was that cheating?

ConfusedKangaroo

Miri had no idea what Banjo-Kazooie was, and she almost didn’t hear from concentrating on running so much.  However, the idea certainly wasn’t a bad one…

Then a wave of pain seemed to come.  Miri instinctively flew up, still holding Asuka’s paw and somehow they missed it.  Gosh, Asuka was heavy!  She wasn’t the sturdiest of bugs after all.  However, she decided to try a parting shot.  She fired her gun at where it seemed to come from, and was rewarded with a yelp.  YES!

Unfortunately, focusing on hitting the enemy led them on a downward spiral and the next thing both knew was the wall in front of them.

BAM!

Both slipped down.  Ow!  Ok, flying wasn’t a good idea.  She muffled a response to Asuka.

“S-Sounds like a better idea…”

Dr-InSean

Oh, wow!  So much action!  Running, flying and shooting, oh my!

The danger was real!  The speed was incredible!  Miri was awesome!  It was like Jason Blazetham's Importer movies!  And then...AND THEEEEN...Wall.

Well, that was cool while it lasted.  A little embarrassing at the end, but still cool.  At least Miri took out that water guy.

After a long, painful slide down the wall, the duo found themselves in some bushes.  Would have been neat if they could hide in there, but even a bat could hear that the red and blue soldiers were still coming from them...Wait, not bat.  Whatever animal's famous for not hearing.

Asuka stood up and rotated her arms to loosen them up while she looked at the bush.  Ooh!

"Sweet!  This oughta do the trick!"  Asuka exclaimed as she grabbed a vine out of the bush.  "Mir, can I borrow your you for a minute?"

With no other warning, Asuka brought Miri to her feet, spun her around so that they were back-to-back and wrapped the vine around them like a belt.  A tight belt.

"Awesome!"  Asuka cheered, apparently not bothered by the belt...or her bizarre handiwork.  "With our powers combined, nothing can stop us!  Muahahahaha!"

ConfusedKangaroo

Just obeying orders, Miri found herself attached to Asuka by a vine.  Her friend clearly thought this was the best idea ever, while the Ledyba found herself doubting it.  They would have to go in the same direction which, let’s be fair, it was likely Asuka would do this, as she was more at home in this environment, and literally cover each other’s backs.  If they needed to split and couldn’t though…this would take some doing…

“I-If you say so…”  Miri replied unconvinced, before seeing the tell-tale signs of movement.  “L-Looks like they’re coming, b-bizzie!”

Miri lifted up her weapon and shot at something.  She didn’t hear a yelp so she must have missed.  Then she found herself suddenly facing the opposite direction as Asuka spun around and began laughing in the face of danger.  It was then that Miri spotted more foes.  Time to aim, lift the gun up and fire like crazy!

Dr-InSean (Cameo City 2)

YESSSS!  THIS IS IT!  Power!  Freedom!  Unity!

"You ready, Mir?  I'll take the front an' you watch our backs.  Ready!?  GOOOOOOO!"

With that, Asuka charged into the oncoming red and blue soldiers.  It wasn't quite as suicidal as one would think, given that the opposing soldiers had taken to fighting each other and not just chasing Miri and Asuka.  Of course, it was still running into a mass of gun-toting warriors with nothing more than melee weapons.

"MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"  Asuka laughed in the face of danger as she slashed at incoming paint bullets.

A slash from her brush caught a Tynamo just a second before she could pull the trigger on Asuka.

A strike of bristles sent a Reuniclus covered in padded armor flying back (more because of his squishy body than Asuka hitting him too hard).  He got back up to his feet and found that his armor protected him just as he planned.

A scary Gigalith tried smashing a paint grenade on the duo, but a counter uppercut sent her stumbling until she fell to one knee.

Before Asuka could celebrate any of her victories, a Rotom with...a minigun?  A Rotom with a minigun opened fire on her.

The Raichu jumped in the air to avoid the shots.

ConfusedKangaroo

Miri found herself not only shooting backwards but being moved backwards as Asuka ran forwards, laughing insanely.  Miri wasn’t sure if she should be feeling exhilarated, scared out of her mind, sick or a combination of all three.  All three most likely.  She continued firing shots at various Pokémon, most of whom just went in a blur to her and only about a third were hit.

Suddenly Asuka jumped into the air, of course taking Miri with her.  Due to the unexpectedness of it all, Miri lost slight control of her gun.  It was still in her hands sure, but she’d somehow got it pointing upwards and kept firing.  A rain of yellow paint scattered the area, including herself and she was sure Asuka as well.  Oops.

Finally regaining control of her weapon, Miri pressed the trigger while aiming.  Nothing happened.  She tried again.  Nothing.  Oh no!  Miri checked her gauge before yelling behind her.

“Asuka!  S-Sorry about the paint, but now I-I have none!”  She sounded panicky, although whether that was from having no ammunition or the whole crazy situation, even Miri wasn’t so sure.

Dr-InSean

Miri's concerns weren't met with reassurance or even scolding; in fact, they weren't met with anything.  Not a single word escaped Asuka's mouth.

"Sorry, I'm dead right now."  The Raichu said nonchalantly, limp as a corpse.  "We're supposed to be dead for a few minutes after we get hit, right?"

A few seconds passed.  The ground was getting closer, but Asuka wasn't moving.

"You didn't shoot yourself, did ya?  It'd be kinda cool if you could fly us to safety right now."

ConfusedKangaroo

Miri hadn’t shot herself, and she couldn’t shoot herself with non-existent paint.  The ground was closing in fast but there was a problem.  A big problem. Miri’s wings were closed behind her back tightly and when she tried to open them, the protective casing just hit the vine tying them together.  She struggled, she tried, but it wasn’t any use.  Miri’s eyes widened in horror.

“I-I can’t!  My wings are stuck!  TH-THIS IS THE END BIZZIE!”

Miri couldn’t do anything else in her fear bar cover her eyes and mourn the loss of all the books she had never read.

Dr-InSean (Minigun Cameos)

Asuka's eyes shot open.

"Wait, what!?"

This wasn't the plan.  How did Banjo-Kazooie make it work all the time?  Didn't Miri keep her wings out before they tied the vine?  Should Asuka have played Banjo and Kazooie before making a plan about it?  These questions probably weren't going to help right now.  What's a question that would help right now?

How did she normally land from jumping so high?  Oh yeah!  She'd roll on the ground to soften the landing...Wait...Miri was on her back now.

Were there any soft things to land in?  Just a tree and some mud...Prolly not as soft as they look.

Argh!  If she only had that minigun she had when she teamed up with Hajime...Wait!  That Rotom still had a minigun!

"Don't worry, Mir!"  Asuka exclaimed happily.  "I got this!"

"HEY! ROTOM! WITH THE BIG GUN!  CAN YO--"

Before Asuka could finish her thought, the ghost's gun whirred and spat out a swarm of blue pellets.  Asuka didn't have time to guard her chest...so she got shot in the chest.  A lot.

"I-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-t-t-t-t-t-t's-s-s-s-s-s w-w-w-w-w-o-o-o-o-o-r-r-r-r-k-k-k-k-kiiiiiiiiiing!"  Asuka said, the constant impact of paint making her sound like she was talking into an electric fan.

As the Rotom continued to fire his gun, the free-falling friends slowed down more and more, until they reached the ground, safe as a feather and light as a piggy-bank.  Taking what had to be 100 shots hurt, but probably hurt less than face-planting on the ground.

"Ha ha!"  The Rotom approached the duo with a cheeky grin.  "I scared ya good, didn't...Girls?"

Without another word, the Rotom's eyes widened and he nervously floated away, heading back to the red-and-blue war still waging a little ways away.

"S-scared?"  Asuka groaned through clenched teeth.  "Di...Didn't he kn-know he was helping us?"

Asuka tried pushing herself back up to her feet but, there's a funny little secret about getting shot in the chest 100 times...Kinda makes it hard to breathe, let alone do anything else. Who knew, right?

Asuka plopped down to her face and laid on the ground.  Her back half was clean, her front half was completely blue and 100% of her was too tired to tell Miri to untie the vine connecting them.

ConfusedKangaroo

What had happened next after Miri had covered her eyes was just a series of sounds and pain. Asuka screaming, then something about a Rotom, and then…Thank goodness she had goggles!  Whatever had hit them hit them in a barrage of paint, most of it going on their fronts.  They somehow landed gently on the floor with Asuka just…laying there. She wasn’t…!  Oh good, still breathing.

Miri’s first instinct was to get rid of the very thing that had caused all this.  Cleaning the paint from her goggles, which turned out to be blue, she dropped her gun and used all four hands to find the knot.  Last year she had read a book on camping, thinking it would be useful for exploring the floating islands, and it came into play now. It took a fair amount of time but she did it.

She jumped off Asuka’s back and shook herself like a Herdier.  No true amount of pain, that’s good.  She checked her pockets…books still safe and surprisingly not painted.  Satisfied that she was ok, she could now properly check Asuka, who still lay on the floor.  Miri bent down and spoke gently.

“I-I got the vine off, it’s o-over now…Can y-you get up?”

Dr-InSean

There were three big moments in Asuka's life that came to mind whenever she thought of the word "pain."  The worst of those moments was the night her surrogate family broke up.  The second moment was when Veilstone City Gym's Lucario smacked her across the room with a Bone Rush.  The third was when she fell down her orphanage's stairs when she tried throwing her first kick as a Pichu.

100 paintballs to the chest later, Asuka realized The Stairs would have to settle for fourth place.

Asuka tried to position herself to take most of the shots and most of the fall.  Normally, her heart felt light when trying to help her friends (even if she put them in danger in the first place)</span> but right now, she couldn't feel anything but a fire in her chest and boulders on her lungs.

"Guh...Guh."  Asuka gasped as she tried pushing herself to her feet.  Unable to make words, she gave Miri a thumbs-up.

Asuka slowly, painfully pushed herself to sit up straight...but immediately fell over when that felt worse than getting hit by a truck.  Again, Asuka flashed a thumbs-up.

"Juh...Jus gonNUH!"  Speaking was still difficult.  "...Jus gonna lay here...For a while..."

ConfusedKangaroo

Poor Asuka…She had committed a great act of heroism (or was it reckless stupidity? Eh, heroism sounds better) in taking most of the shots while they were tumbling through the air. It meant that Miri was still standing, while Asuka was clearly, well…alive but not feeling whole. They needed a medic or something…

Miri wasn’t going to just up sticks and leave though, she wasn’t that sort of bug.  Looks of concern and deep thinking flashed through her face from one moment to the next…There was really only one thing she could do.

She placed herself in a position where she could see most of the surroundings while being right next to Asuka and gripped her gun tightly.  Then she called out as loud as she could.

“I-I know this a battle, but this green team member is h-hurt real bad and I don’t think it’s f-fair after what she has done for m-me in aiding my battle technique that she get h-hurt anymore.  I’d be grateful if n-nobody shot at us for a while.  J-Just go and fight somewhere else, please? Or if there are any green m-members nearby, would you p-please take your wounded warrior back to y-your fort for TLC?  I’ll even give y-you a free hit on m-me if you would, b-bizzie.”

Dr-InSean

Asuka watched as Miri delivered her brave speech...Well, listened, because watching would require turning around and turning around would require pain and pain is bad.

Even without a visual, though, Asuka knew this was a strong moment for the bug.  Miri always seemed to have trouble raising her voice, sometimes not talking at all, even when Asuka was pretty sure she wanted to say something.  The Ledyba's sudden determination to help a friend was both awe-inspiring and heartwarming...Unfortunately, the help wasn't wanted.

"NoImgood!"  Asuka grunted as she rolled over and grabbed Miri's leg.  "Lessgo.  Imgood."

Then, things got worse. A green soldier seemed to answer the call. A familiar one.

"I salute you, Lady Miriam."  It was Gawain; Asuka didn't know he even signed up for paintball.  "Your courage to face war with peace and sacrifice yourself for a friend, a friend from an opposing army no less, art the stuff of legends."

"No thanks...Gawain...I'm good."  Asuka grunted through clenched teeth.  Speaking a little more easily now, but still laboring to do so.

The Raichu pushed herself to sit up, but still wasn't quite up to the task of...well, standing up.

"Don't break up the team, Mir.  I'm good...I swear I'm good.  Y'don't hafta...break up the team.  Ow..."

A tear welled in Asuka's eye...but there weren't any grunts, cringes or facial quirks to say the tear was from pain...Physical pain, anyway.

ConfusedKangaroo

Gawain?  He sounded like a knight of old. Did he come from that time or something?  If so...Miri's eyes lit up.  A real knight, playing paintball, HERE! Miri had to salute that.

Her nervousness still got the better of her though.  "I-I thank you for your kind w-words, good sir, b-bizzie."

She looked over at Asuka, and bent down.  She was trying to put a brave face on the pain, but it really wasn't working.  Miri gave her a gentle pat.

"I c-can't thank you enough for what you helped m-me do today, b-bizzie.  Hopefully I can use th-these skills in later events, although hopefully it won't b-be as c-crazy as this.  Farewell, L-Lady Asuka."

With that Miri ran off, back to her home fort. That was certainly fun. Fun, but eventful.

Dr-InSean

A pat, a thanks and...that was it.  Miri fluttered off, taking the team with her.  Asuka didn't have time to watch her leave her vision, because she closed her eyes immediately.

"Why?"  Asuka said to herself, followed shortly by sniffling.  "Why does every team have to END like this?"

Gawain turned to the little Raichu and knelt down.

"Pray thee, what do you mean?"  The knight asked, his tone as soft as his blades were sharp.

Asuka's eyes bolted open upon realizing she said that out loud.  She looked at Gawain for a second, but immediately turned her back to him.

"Uh...Nothin'.  I was jus'...It's nothin'."  She tried covering her tracks by wiping her eyes.

"I know not much of this world..."  Gawain responded, trying to see if he could throw a blade around someone's shoulder to comfort them without decapitating them.  He decided that was too complicated and settled for simply sitting next to Asuka.

"I know not much of this world, but I know saying goodbye can hurt more than a thousand blades."

Asuka stopped her wiping and looked up at Gawain, teary-eyed and confused.

"I seem to recall you briefly mentioning you were once part of a--how do you say--Battling Team?"  Gawain continued.  "I doth not know all the myriad details of your team, nor the forces that broke it up, but I’ve the feeling you hath no love for parting ways with your friends.  Am I correct?"

Asuka never liked talking about his subject, but she confirmed the question with a nod.

"I don't think I've told you my whole life's tale, but I too have felt pain like that before...The last time I ever saw my teacher, mentor and friend...was 1000 years ago."

Asuka's eyes widened...But then, she vaguely remembered a little thing about Gawain introducing himself as a knight from ye olde knight times...Those were probably a long time ago, now that she thinks of it.

"I never had the chance to fight by his side to defend our homeland.  I've no way of returning to my old kingdom and walking through its streets.  The pain haunts me from time to time...But I take solace in knowing that I carry, in me, my teacher’s skills, his teachings and philosophies.  At a moment's notice, I can recount my old kingdom's lineage and values and, when the situation calls for it, use those values to help the people of today."

Asuka's eyes dried.  Her brain stopped crying because it took all of her mental power just to keep up with Gawain's old timey speak.  In trying to figure out what Gawain was saying, her brain also forgot to tell her about most of the pain in her chest.

"I recall Lady Miri giving you thanks for teaching her something.  Something she hopes to use in the future?"

"Yeah. I, uh, taught her how tuh shoot a gun.  She's actually pretty good at it.  Prolly woulda been better if I wasn't so crazy, heh heh."

"Huzzah!"  Gawain cheered as he lightly patted Asuka on the back.  "You imparted knowledge unto her she'd ne'er seek on her own!  Knowledge she can use in the rest of this...strange war where no one dies...But there you have it!  You helped Lady Miri!  Even if you can't fight by her side anymore, she can make use of the skills you taught her and defend herself in the future!"

"...You mean...like how you’re teacher taught you stuff?"

"Precisely!”

Gawain quieted down and looked up at the sky.

“I find that saying goodbye is inevitable, no matter who you are.  For that reason, it's important that we make the best of our time with our friends and leave something good behind.  Something to help the world even when we can do so no longer.  Dost thou agree?"

Asuka rubbed the back of her head.  "Yeah, I think so.  I mean...my old Pokemon League team taught me tuh fight...and I taught Miri tuh shoot.  I don' like sayin' goodbye, but I'm happy we could all help each other...Plus, I know where Miri lives.  I guess could just see 'er whenever I want."

"That too is a good point."

"Awright...I think I'm better now.  Thanks, Gawain."

With that, Gawain helped Asuka to her feet and walked her back to their fort.  That was certainly painful.  Painful, but wonderful.