Route 3 [Route 1]

Mako Vernon

I watched the ball shake for what felt like forever. I didn't know how this process went. It was my first time.

Click.

"Yeah! I caught Wurmple! For real this time!" I was so excited. I just caught my first Pokemon.

I released Wurmple and looked at Flame. The two Pokemon seemed to respect each other. It was a good thing. That meant I didn't have to worry about Flame trying to scorch Wurmple.

"You two seem like you'll be pretty good friends," I told the two Pokemon. I then noticed how worn out and tired they were. Wurmple was burned and I think Flame was still suffering from poison.

"We need to get you two to the Pokemon Center. We can do introductions afterwards," I spoke with a serious tone.

I returned both the Pokemon and hurried to the Pokemon center in Oldale Town. I wasn't even sure Littleroot had a Pokemon Center.

I greeted Nurse Joy and she told me that she had to take them to the back room. She said that it would take a little longer since they were both suffering from status ailments.

"How you doing Youngster?" An old man asked. I was trying to figure out if I knew him or not.

"Umm… Good I guess. I just caught my first Pokemon on my first try!" I guess I was doing pretty good.

"You're new and you caught a Pokemon on your first try? That's pretty impressive," the man remarked. "Do you think you'd mind doing an old man a favor?"

"Sure! My grandparents say I should respect all adults. Especially the elderly. That's why I always refer to adults as sir and madam," I spoke clearly and professionally.

"That's some good advice. It'll help you to stay out of trouble." It was nice to hear somebody acknowledge my manners.

"So, I'm wanting a pack of Poochyena for a little project I'm doing. But you see, I'm too old to go catch them myself. I need somebody like you. Young, with a knack for catching Pokemon!" He seemed to hold me in high regard. Despite meeting me a few minutes ago.

"So, will you help me? I'll provide you with pokeballs and everything. In return, if you complete this, I'll give you a rare stone from when I was younger. I got it from the Kanto region." I couldn't resist that offer.

"Sure! Just tell me when I start!" I was ready to go catch some Poochyena!

"Great! I knew a young man like yourself would help!" The man pulled six pokeballs out of his bag.

"Take these. I hope that you use them well. Before you go, I should show you this too." The man threw out a Poochyena of his own.

"You should put this into your Pokedex. It will let you know where you can find Poochyena anywhere in Hoenn." That was useful feature of the Pokedex. I didn't know that it could do that.

I pulled out my Pokedex and listened to it read Poochyena's data.

Poochyena, the Bite Pokemon. It has a very tenacious nature. It's acute sense of smell let's it chase a chosen prey and never lose track of it.

The Pokedex's monotonous voice rang out. It was rather annoying.

"Alright, thank you sir! I'll have them to you before you can say Fletchinder!" With that, I was out the door.

I pulled out my pokedex. I needed to figure out the best place to catch a Poochyena. I could go back to route 101, but if they were in the next routes I wouldn't need to. I was about to send out Flame when I noticed something. I left Flame and Wurmple! I ran back into the Pokecenter immediately.

As I was entering, Nurse Joy came out of the back room.

"Here you go Triqu! Your Pokemon are all good and healthy now!" Her sweet voice announced.

"Thank you ma'am!" I ran out the door without giving her a chance to respond. I think I saw the old man smirk.

Exiting the Pokecenter, I went around to the side. I thought I saw a shadow of something or someone. I guess I was wrong.

I then pulled my Pokedex back out. Releasing Flame and Wurmple afterwards. My Pokedex then started registering Wurmple's data for the first time.

Wurmple, the Worm Pokemon. It lives among the tall grass and forests. It repels attacks by raising up the poisonous spikes on it's rear.

"We got to learn how you use the spikes the hard way," I remarked. "We need to give you a name Wurmple. To make you different from the other Wurmple. How about… how about… Trim?" Wurmple squealed at that name. "Then… Sliqu! It can be spelled funny like my name!" Wurmple gave a cry of approval. I quickly checked my Pokedex to make sure Wurmple was a male. It was.

"Alrighty then! Triqu! With his Pokemon, Flame and Sliqu!" Sliqu bumped my leg and Flame jumped onto my shoulder as I said this.

"So, the Pokedex says that all of the surrounding routes have Poochyena. We can go back to route 101. That's boring though. We can go to route 103 but it's pretty wet and marshy. That's not good for you two. That leaves route 102!" I exclaimed.

We set off for route 102. Hoping to catch six Poochyena and maybe a Pokemon for myself.


I ran around town searching for the exit to route 102. I figured that I could find it easily without the Pokedex but I was wrong. I had to return Sliqu to his pokeball because he couldn't keep up with Flame and I.

I eventually found route 102. It was filled with Pokemon. Lillipup, Poochyena, Wingull. It was amazing!

If I wanted to capture the Poochyena fast, I was going to need a good plan. Here's what I came up with.

Wing it.

I always act well under pressure. Something about it helps me. When I'm in the heat of the moment, my heart is racing. I just love it!

I ran into the route excited. Ready to take on anything. I noticed a shadow over by a tree. I walked over to it. When I got there, the shadow was gone.

I decided to focus. I gave my word to the old man. I was going to catch six Poochyena. It wasn't going to be easy.

I looked over and saw an angry group of about 5 Poochyena. They all looked angry. I was enjoying my day too much to think anything of it. That was, until I looked down.

A little Pokemon with a spike on it's head was cuddling up against my leg. It looked rather scared. I decided to check my Pokedex.

Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. It uses the horns on its head to sense human emotions. It is said to appear in front of cheerful people.

Moves: Teleport, Double Team, Magical Leaf, Heal Pulse, Confusion, Lucky Chant

This Pokemon must of sensed that I was happy. Which I was. But, it still seemed scared and worked up. Something must have been bothering it. It then started whimpering and Flame started jumping up and down. The pack of Poochyena was approaching. They didn't look very friendly.

This time, I got a clearer look at them. There were seven. They all seemed to be mad about something. They all eyed Ralts. It was their prey. From what the Pokedex said, teleport couldn't even help Ralts. The Poochyena would sniff it down.

I sent out Sliqu to go with Flame.

"Get ready guys! You have a whole group of Pokemon to beat!" At my command, even Ralts was ready for a battle.

"Ralts is even helping! You two better win!" the Poochyena were done analyzing us. They attacked.

"Flame, use Flame charge! Take out as many as possible! Sliqu, use your string shot! Make sure not to hit Flame or Ralts! We need to slow these Pokemon down! Ralts, try using your Magical Leaf! It's a sure hit and we could use some of those!" Ralts stood tall. It remained at a fair distance but the Magical Leaf was doing some good damage.

The battle was going so fast that it was hard to keep up. I saw Sliqu had used string shot on a fair number of opponents. A Poochyena tried to help it's friend but just got it's teeth caught in the string. Flame was confusing everybody. He was just flying everywhere at an incredible speed. Ralts was on clean up duty. If a Poochyena was trying to get away or was trying to get up, Ralts would make sure they didn't.

After about 30 minutes of my Pokemon battling and me being amazed, it appeared we had won. Flame appeared to be worn out and Sliqu was pretty beat up. Most likely from taking bite and tackle attacks from the Poochyena. Ralts was gone though. I had no idea where it went.

"Ralts! Ralts!" I yelled with no reply. I was a little worried but I shrugged it off. I may have been giving off bad emotions due to being in the heat of the battle.

"Well, that's okay! We'll be okay without Ralts. Go pokeballs!" I threw six poke balls out and caught the six Poochyena with ease. They were too tired to fight against it.

"Yes! Now to get back to the Old Man!" I returned Sliqu and Flame. I then took off for the Pokemon Center.

It took a little longer than I expected to reach Oldale. I still made it there in under 20 minutes.

Entering the Pokemon Center, the old man gave me a big grin.

"Way to go! I received each and every one of them. I was surprised to obtain all of them at the same time," he said a bit quizzically.

"Yeah, we were attacked by a whole group. We still won though. Thanks to the help of Ralts," I said this with a lot of pride.

"You met a Ralts! They almost never appear in front of people. You should consider yourself lucky young man." I didn't know Ralts were that rare. "I still have to give you this." The man grabbed an odd looking stone out of his bag.

"This is a moon stone. Take good care of it. It is very valuable and makes some Pokemon evolve." He was repeating things my teachers taught me. Regardless, I kept my mouth shut.

"Cool, maybe I'll get to use it some day!" I tried to sound genuinely excited.

"Perhaps. I must be on my way now. Good luck on your journey young man." The man walked away.

"Thanks for everything!" The old man then put his arm up, signaling that he understood. It was a very eventful day.

I gave my Pokemon to Nurse Joy. She healed them and I stayed at the Poke Center for a night. Getting ready for another day. I still went to sleep, curious about what happened to Ralts.

Mia Fiore – The Hunt Begins (not really though)​

"Your Pokémon will take a few moments to recover. Please, have a seat." The cheery nurse smiled, taking Carter's Pokéball into her hand. "Thanks." Mia said before walking to one of the seats that lined the bright building. Reaching into her bag, Mia pulled out her map… or she would've, if she hadn't destroyed it earlier. "Why did I do that?" She moaned, still scavenging through the satchel for a spare. But then she remembered. The Pokédex! That has a map, right? Pulling out the black and white device, Mia got back to work on trying to turn the thing on. And this time, she made actual progress. Holding onto the centre button for a couple of seconds made the screen shoot into light. A logo appeared for a split second before fading to the main screen. Various buttons tempted Mia for a press, including one that said 'LOCATION.' Gently pressing her finger onto the screen brought a map of the Hoenn region up, much to her delight. "Finally, something actually useful." Just as she was finally starting to get into using the pokedex, she was interrupted. "Excuse me Ma'am, but do you mind if I have a seat."


An old, horribly balding man stood over her, expecting to sit next to her despite the Pokémon centre being practically empty. However, despite her better judgement, she allowed him to sit. "Fine… But don't try anything funny old man." Immediately, she got back to playing with her pokedex, zooming in on the area of Oldale town. They sat in silence for a brief moment, but the old man was intent on striking up a conversation with the young woman. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be a trainer would you?" Looking up at the geezer, Mia nodded. "How could you tell?" She asked, not really caring about his answer either way. "You have that demeanour about you. Confident, strong… And, well, you have one of those." He explained, pointing at the black and white device in her hands. "Anyway, that's beside the point. I have an offer for you." Turning to face the man, Mia wondered what his proposition would be. "Oh yeah? And what exactly is your proposition?" She said with a hint of scepticism in her voice. "Nothing too hard, I can assure you."


"You see, I'm an old, tired man who isn't really able to get out and capture Pokémon like I was once able to. And I need 6 Poochyena for this project I'm working on. I'll provide all of the Pokéballs, and there's a reward at the end as well." Reaching into his back pocket, the old man pulled out a small, ovular stone. "So, can you help an old man out and catch those Poochyena for me?" He asked, showcasing the prize in the palm of his hand. Mia didn't need much time to think about her answer. She didn't have time to be doing tedious, boring deeds for a simple stone. She needed to be out travelling and searching. "No." She bluntly answered, causing the man to sigh in disappointment. "Oh well. To be honest, you weren't exactly the type of trainer I was looking for anyway. No, I need someone capable and talented. Man, what was I thinking?"


Mia's eyes immediately jolted onto the old man's, glaring intensely. "I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to trick me into doing your stupid task with reverse psychology." Mia slammed her hand onto the table, causing the old man to lean back slightly. "Is it working?" The old man responded, with a tone of uncertainty in his voice. The intensity quickly faded from Mia's eyes as she muttered her answer. "Yes…" The man quickly placed the six Pokéballs onto the table, smirking while he did so. "You can come and get your reward once you're done, I'll still be here." Mia quickly stood up, placing the Pokéballs, and her Pokédex back into her satchel. She walked over to the bench, where Nurse Joy had been holding Carter's Pokéball. "Your Pokémon has been restored to full health." She smiled, noticing the tired expression on Mia's face. "You know, we have bed available for travellers right? Would you like me to reserve one for you?"

"No, I think I'll press on. Thanks though." She said, exiting the building shortly after.

Accompanied by Goulash and Cosby, his newly-found companion for this adventure, Briv journeyed onwards into the unknown, which is a poetic way of saying that he walked for twenty minutes before arriving to the next town. That was easy, he thought to himself with mild surprise, if all of the routes are this short, then this coming-of-age thing is going to be a cakewalk. The trainer inspected his new-found surroundings for a moment, barely taking notice of the girl who had marched out of the pokémon center with a bags under her eyes and a fire type pokémon rearing to go.

Barely.

"Okay, I've appreciated the beauty of nature enough." he said hastily, and Goulash nodded in agreement. Careful not to make eye contact, Briv made his way into the city's pokémon center, passing through the sliding doors back first, never taking his eyes off of the potential arsonist. "Hey, uh," he started without turning around, "I think you may have a problem. See, there's this girl heading to the fore-" before he could finish, Goulash patted the side of his head from his spot on top of it, getting the teenager to turn around. Doing so, Briv was greeted with the sight of Cosby sniffing a bald old man's fingers, the poor fool smiling naively. "COSBY, NO!" He shouted, but it was too late. The little furry pokémon's jaws closed on the old man's hand, causing him to scream in pain and retract his arm, the Zigzagoon unfortunately going with it. Briv had to admit, the little thing's jaws were really strong, as he tried to grab the critter currently attached to the old man's flailing arm.

After a few minutes of panic, Briv sat opposite the old man at a table, having bought him a drink at the pokémart as an apology for his pokémon's behaviour. "I'm sorry, I've only just started," he said embarrassed, "And I've just caught him. I'll make sure to train him better." he shot the zigzagoon a disapproving look, but Cosby simply stared back, its expression unreadable.

"Just started, eh?" The old man chuckled, sipping his soda (Briv couldn't afford to lose any more money after that thief of a taxi driver got away with so much), "Well, how would you like to become a little more experienced, hmm?" he asked, coyly.

"I wouldn't, really." Briv replied flatly, raising a brow. "I'm not all that passionate about this training business. I was forced into it."

"Oh, but surely, you could lend a hand to an old man with his research?" He continued, his smile broader and yet more nervous at the same time.

"I'd love to, but I'm kind of on a schedule." Briv tried to refuse again, scooting closer to the edge of the table so he could make a quick getaway should the need arise.

"Come on, it's only six poochyena!" The old man insisted.

"What do you need six poochyena for?" Briv asked, incredulous.

"I suppose you're not as good as all those other trainers, then..." The old man scoffed, leaning back with his arms crossed and looking away, seemingly disappointed. Briv wasn't falling for it, though.

"... Do I look five? I'm not falling for that! And wait a minute, 'other trainers'? How many poochyena do you have in your possession now, exactly?" He inquired, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"I, uh... That's none of your concern!" The old man blurted out, now very nervous; Briv was having none of it however.

By which he meant he was going to get his Treecko as soon as it healed and leave the pokécenter as quickly as possible, leaving this whole mess of a criminal scam behind.

Unfortunately for him, as soon as he stepped out of the sliding doors, he was distracted by his rather joyous surprise of finding the forest around the town not completely ablaze by a shiny object in between Cosby's teeth. Reaching down to grab it, he turned it over in his hands a couple of times, Goulash inspecting it as closely as he was whilst The Zigzagoon went off somewhere nearby to sniff about. The small furry pokémon had somehow found a keychain, and given how it was shiny and new and well-maintained and had a tag attached it with the old man's face and his name printed on it in huge bold letters, Briv used his amazing powers of deduction to conclude that the normal-type was actually the old man in disguise.

Realizing how stupid that was after a moment, he revised his findings to this time conclude that Cosby was a rather gifted pickpocket, intentional or not. Briv sighed, now realizing that he'd have to go back in and find the man to give him his keys back, in what could possibly the most awkward encounter he's ever had since he found his brother's secret stash.

So, begrudgingly, he made his way back inside.

Mia Fiore – Monster Hunter Extraordinaire​

"Oh that stupid old man." Mia grunted, storming out the gate to route 103. She had been persuaded into catching 6 Poochyena by a stranger, with the promise of a reward. But what was that reward? A measly rock. The old man was only able to succeed in 'persuading' her by riling her up. "Why did I let him sit next to me? He's an old man! Trying to sit next to a young girl! He could've been a pervert!" Mia had no idea if any of her allegations held any truth, but it felt nice to be able to vent. To the fishermen she walked past, however, the girl was a raging lunatic. Walking beside her was Carter, who did not want to get in Mia's way. So he stuck to her side, making sure to keep up.


Eventually, she came to a secluded patch of grass on the route. "Let's just get this over with." She said, hoping for 6 Poochyena to pop out of thin air and beg to be caught. Unfortunately, this did not happen. In fact, nothing much happened. Fish splashed in the water and trees swayed with the wind. The entire area was rather… serene. Sitting down, Mia continued to wait for something to pop out of a bush or tree (or the water). As the minutes began to drag on, Mia began to feel tired. Very tired. She finally felt the full impact of her drowsiness and slowly drifted off to sleep. Making sure not to disturb her, the Cyndaquil climbed onto her stomach and also slept.


Her dreams were mostly very mediocre and boring, just like her current situation. In one of them, Mia was literally just walking around her room, looking at things. And in another, she slept. Maybe the dream Mia was having more interesting dreams. However, her naptime came to an abrupt end when something soft and wet began rubbing her forehead. "Carter… If you don't stop and let me go back to sleep… I will…" Nodding off as she mumbled, the mysterious feeling had stopped, much to her relief. But this was the end of Mia's adventures in dreamland. Something sharp dug into her ponytail before tugging on it. At first, it was very light and almost impossible to feel. That changed in an instant. A fierce pull on her hair made her wince in pain, confused and injured.


Her eyes shot open, only slightly more refreshed than she had been earlier. Without so much as looking at what was biting onto her hair, Mia smacked it hard and fast. She continued to do so until the Pokémon relented, dropping her hair and running away with a soft whimper. Brimming with drowsy anger, Mia stumbled to her feet, knocking Carter flat onto the floor in the process. "I… AM NOT AMUSED, YOU COWARD!" She shouted, hoping to goad whatever was pulling her hair back into the open. Reaching into her satchel, Mia pulled out her Pokédex and turned it on. She quickly pointed it in every single direction, waiting for a Pokémon to pop out on it. Eventually, the Pokédex reacts to a nearby bush, displaying the picture of a small, gray hyena. As luck would have it, the Pokémon that attacked her was a Poochyena.


Mia slowly laughed, taking small steps towards the bush. Her drowsy mind decided that attacking it with Carter was a terrible idea, and that she should, instead, jump onto it. Because, that would make it so much easier to catch. Bad idea. Absolutely horrible idea. Knowingly jumping into a bush with a wild Pokémon in it is a bad idea. Knowingly jumping into a bush with a wild Pokémon in it, without first checking just how many, is a baaaad idea. Because as she leapt onto the leafy shrub she noticed not one, but FIVE tails sticking out of it. Unfortunately for Mia, it was too late to stop herself from colliding with the pack of puppies.


A slew of whimpers and shouts exploded out of the bush. Mia had landed directly on top of the Poochyena pack. But, being the civilised Pokémon that they were, the Poochyena put this transgression behind them and begun a new friendship with the trainer. This friendship begun with them viciously attacking her, biting onto her hands and feet. Pain shot through her body as she stood up, now wide awake. Once she had gotten out of the bush, Mia had noticed that she was completely, and utterly, surrounded. This was a horrible situation to be in. 5 Poochyena with unknown experience in battling, versus 1 Cyndaquil, who's most intense battle was against a pair of cocoons. She tried to think of ways to even the odds as the Pokémon began to charge.


"I have 11 Pokéballs. If I catch one of these things, I should be able to even this out a bit." She thought, pulling out one of the Old Man's Pokéballs. "Carter, use Double Kick on any of the Poochyena!" She commanded, preparing to throw her ball the moment the first hit connects. Carter, who was currently being swarmed by three of the Poochyena, swiftly reacted to his trainer's orders. He kicked behind himself with his hind legs, knocking one of the Poochyena back towards Mia. As the hyena slid towards Mia, she launched the ball at it. The Pokémon was sucked into the Pokéball and… Was caught! Mia pumped her fist into the air, having caught the Poochyena.


She reached down to pick it up, but as she did so, the Pokéball… "IT DISAPPEARED!" Filled with disbelief, Mia quickly scanned the battlefield for the ball. "WHY DID IT DISSAPEAR?" The old man had decided to leave out one, tiny detail. When caught, the Poochyena would be sent immediately to him, leaving Mia with absolutely no way to even the odds. She was now left with a 4v1.

Triqu walked put of the Pokemon Center, ready to take on the world. He was in his usual good mood, nothing to really worry about.

After reaching route 102, Triqu settled by a tree. He released Flame and Sliqu to enjoy a quick meal. Sliqu sucked sap out of the tree and Flame managed to climb to the top to eat some berries. That was, until, Thump!

Flame fell out of he tree and landed on Triqu's head. The monkey quickly jumped up whimpering as an apology to Triqu.

"It's okay little guy, you didn't mean t-" just then Triqu was interrupted by an incredibly loud scream coming from route 103.

"Sliqu, Flame, return. We need to help whoever that is!" Triqu took off at a dead sprint towards the sound. As soon as he arrived, Ralts popped up. Ralts nudged Triqu's leg with a friendly smile.

"Hey Ralts, I think I need your help," Triqu said. Sensing the negativity, Ralts teleported away.

So much for that. Triqu thought.

The ear piercing screaming resumed. Triqu knew he was close due to the sheer volume. He spotted a pack of Poochyena and understood why the scream was so loud. A girl was being attacked by the pokemon. One was on her and she had a little flaming mouse who was fighting bravely. They were clearly outnumbered.

"Flame! Sliqu! We need to help!" Triqu shouted while throwing his two pokeballs. They ran over to the scene of the battle. Flame went to help the mouse fight off three, Sliqu was trying to stop the one chasing the girl.

"Flame! Keep using flame charge! Just like last time!" The chimchar was then engulfed in a bright flame that went zooming around the field, confusing the Poochyena.

"Sliqu! Use string shot and slow that one down!" Sliqu then shot out a thin line of sticky silk. The poochyena was wrapped by the thread but simply bit it off. It then charged at Sliqu using tackle. Sliqu was thrown several yards back. Meanwhile, Flame and the other pokemon were struggling. The two on three , match up wasn't looking too good. Triqu quickly learned that this pack was much more dangerous than he last one.

(OOC: This is a bit of a jp from Dansparce and I.)

Mia Fiore – The Enemy of My Enemy is My Enemy?​

Mia was in a slight pickle at the moment. She had just caught one of the 5 Poochyena attacking her, which means her "hunt" is 1/6th of the way completed. Unfortunately, she was still facing a horde of aggressive puppies. And while this sounds less than threatening to any bystander, the reality was that Mia was royally screwed. Worse still, the Poochyena only seemed to be getting more aggressive with each of Carter's attacks. The embers that were supposed to ward off the dogs only made them close in faster. Mia's mind worked overtime trying to figure out a way to even the odds, but it almost seemed impossible. One hyena began snapping at her heels, while the others focused their tackles onto the tiny fire-type.


However, her luck was about to change for the better… or worse. An athletic boy, wearing what Mia could only assume was his little league uniform, began sprinting straight at her. Alongside him seemed to be two Pokémon, one of which she could immediately notice was a Wurmple. The other, a small, orange monkey was completely foreign to her. Suddenly, the monkey burst into a ferocious flame and sped up, heading straight towards Carter. The Wurmple, on the other hand, seemed to be heading towards her. The fire monkey dashed around the three Poochyena attacking Carter, seemingly disorientating the puppies.


Once the Wurmple arrived at the battlefield, it fired off a silky substance, the same silky substance that dominated her earlier battle against the cocoons. Luckily, it wasn't actually aimed at her, instead focusing on the small puppy in front of her. "Carter, be… Be careful. Stay back and use ember for now." She commanded, with an edge of uncertainty in her voice.Mia wasn't too sure how to feel about this development. On one hand, having some assistance was most definitely an advantage, and should allow her to finish the fight without much hassle. On the other, she had absolutely no idea who this guy was, or what his motives were. Was he some wannabe hero, trying to save the princess from an evil pack of monsters? Or was he an opportunistic felon, who's only reason for helping her, was because it'd be easy to steal the Poochyena, and possibly Carter, when they're weakened?


"Maybe… I should turn on him. Make sure that he can't take these Pokémon from me." For whatever reason, Mia had a bad feeling about the trainer. But what if I'm wrong about this guy? Maybe he really is just trying to help." She silently debated. Mia wasn't too sure if she could trust this stranger. After all, he had yet to make any sort of contact with her; maybe his intentions really were sinister. "I could end up in a much worse situation if I try to start a fight with this guy. I guess I'll just wait and see what he does." For now, she had no real choice but to fight alongside the stranger.


"Carter, assist that… fire Pokémon with double kick." She commanded, keeping a close eye on her 'saviour'. Due to his reach not being the best, Carter found it rather difficult to consistently land double kicks on the Poochyena, who were mostly able to avoid his attack. However, he was able to land a few good hits.

"Hey girl! Run towards my Wurmple!" Triqu yelled. The girl hesitated for a moment before listening. She didn't seem to understand what triqu's plan was, but she listened regardless.

The girl ran towards Sliqu and the Poochyena followed. "Sliqu! Use your tackle attack!" Sliqu then ran at the poochyena with its head down. Poochyena was thrown back but stood up right away. It looked at Sliqu with an angry glare. Triqu had gained the pokemon's attention, as intended.

"Alright, now-" Triqu was interrupted by the Poochyena biting Sliqu. It squeezed its jaws around Sliqu's non-poisonous torso. Sliqu cried out in pain.

"No, Sliqu!" Triqu shouted out. He was really worried about his pokemon. The Poochyena just kept its jaw clamped down, not letting up a single bit. Right when Triqu thought it was over, something started happening. Sliqu started releasing silk out from its whole body. The new occurrence surprised the poochyena, causing it to back up. Sliqu finally finished, looking completely different. He was now round and white, with innocent red eyes.

"Silcoon, the Cocoon Pokemon. The evolved form of Wurmple," the pokedex rang out. "It drinks dew that collects on its silk and waits for evolution. Its hard cocoon repels attacks."

"Alright, Sliqu evolved!" Triqu cheered. "Now, use poison sting!" Sliqu grew small needles out of his shell that shot out towards Poochyena. The dog pokemon, clearly still confused about what happened, was hit directly. It howled out in pain before charging at Sliqu. Sliqu, scared of the pokemon, began rolling randomly.

"No, Sliqu! Use your string shot when it gets close!" The silcoon seemed to understand this command and stopped panicking. As told, the poochyena was about to make its mark before being wrapped in a long silky string. It struggled in this string more than the Wurmple string, unable to break it.

"Now, hit it with another tackle!" Sliqu hit the immobile pokemon with a powerful tackle, but the pokemon didn't faint. Triqu only thought of one more option. One that would give him and the other trainer the upper-hand in this battle.

"Go pokeball!" Triqu threw the red and white ball, enveloping Poochyena

(OOC: Jp from me and Dansparce)

Triqu's arrival hasn't really changed much for Mia. She's still being chased by a ravenous puppy, and Carter is still barely able to fight off the rest of them. Only now, a caterpillar was trying (and mostly failing) to slow down the Poochyena chasing her, and a fire monkey was zipping around the area. "Great..." She muttered to herself, still running as she waited to think of a solution. Surprisingly, the solution to her problem wouldn't be coming from her. The stranger (who still hasn't told her his name) commanded Mia to run towards his Wurmple. But before she could even question why that'd be a good idea, she found herself moving in that direction.


Luckily, listening to the boy's advice actually paid off. He commanded the Wurmple to tackle the puppy, knocking it onto its behind. Its anger quickly shifted to the Wurmple, who was chomped onto almost instantly. Mia would've helped, but Carter was facing more than enough issues at the moment. His stubby legs could only reach so far, and the Poochyena would take full advantage of that. They'd bait him into attacking, jump out of the way, then tackle the poor rodent. And that monkey, while kind of useful, was really not doing much to help stop them from attacking him.


She overheard the other trainer shouting something about "Silk" evolving, which makes absolutely no sense. How does silk evolve? She thought to herself, almost forgetting that she was in the middle of a battle. "Right. Carter, use ember when they dodge your double kicks." Immediately putting Mia's command into action, Carter began using his double kick more frequently. Any time the Poochyena jumped out of the way, he'd spit flames wherever he thought they'd land. This seemed to be a rather effective strategy, allowing Carter to injure them even if they avoided his first attack.


As she looked back at the other trainer, she noticed that he was now commanding a Silcoon. Only now did she realize that "Silk" was actually a nickname for the now evolved Wurmple. And its spelled fancy too. "That makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking..." Focusing back onto her battle, Mia noticed that the Poochyena were starting to look tired, with one of them resorting to panting. Unfortunately, Carter also shared their condition. Mia started to doubt that this trainer was doing ANYTHING of help to her. That fire monkey was still bouncing all over the place. He could at least order it to directly attack the poochyena. But no, bouncing around was apparently a much better idea.


Once more, she overheard the trainer shouting commands to "Silqu", who seemed to be only slightly more capable than before. "No, Sliqu! Use your string shot when it gets close!" At least he was stopping one of the Poochyena from attacking Carter. "Now, hit it with another tackle!" Mia was about to turn back to Carter's battle when the trainer spoke again. He said the most bone-chilling, blood-boiling statement she had ever heard. In fact, memories of this moment in later life have left the girl traumatized for several days. Triqu had just said the absolute worst thing ever.

"Go pokeball!" The boy had shouted as the hyena was enveloped in a shroud of red light. Mia watched as a tidal wave of emotions washed over her.

As Briv entered the pokécenter, he noticed that the old man was now gone. Great, he thought to himself, now I have to look for him. The teenager had to admit he wasn't exactly a fan of creepy, elderly gentlemen asking him to gather large numbers of furry animals in exchange for surprises, but he was even less of a fan for going to jail with theft charges. Wandering around the building, he noticed a number of things: firstly, it seemed a lot bigger on the inside than the outside; secondly, Nurse Joy didn't have any actual way of getting out of her station without jumping over her desk and thirdly, she, or anyone else for that matter, was actually in the center. Curious as to why, and doubly wary that it might lead to a horrible mental scar, the trainer-in-disciplina established that the best course of action was to do a quick reconnaissance of the place, report any possible cadavers found and be on his merry way. Returning to the entrance a few minutes later and satisfied not having found any dead bodies, he turned on his heels and began stepping outside, leaving the keys on the tabletop near the sofas. "Come on Goulash, Cosby." he said, patting the lizard on his head and checking his surroundings for his furry friend.

A horrible feeling sunk deep into his gut when he realized that the pest wasn't sniffing around his feet as per usual, but was investigating a door that Briv had previously made a point to ignore. The door had a sign on it, of course, and said sign said "broom closet"; however, the difference between the perfectly clean door and raggedy old sign, not to mention the fact that closet had been mispelled as 'closset', made it abundantly clear that it was a ruse, and someone was trying to hide what was actually behind it. The adolescent had previously suspected it to be some sort of secret make-out room for the pokémart employees, or a liquor stash for Nurse Joy; but, as his zigzagoon pushed its way into it and he caught a glimpse of the dimly lit pokéballs inside, he came to the reasonable conclusion that it was where all the poochyena went, and most likely where the old man was.

With a sigh, he reluctantly started to go after his nuisance of a pokémon. He still had no idea where everyone else was, but they were either dead, on a collective smoke break or the center had simply closed up for the night; an odd occurrence, given how it was currently 3:00 PM.

"Onward to Adventure!"
Location: Little Root Town!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________


Subtle and quiet foot steps clomped among the sand, two pairs of feet walking side by side. A long, slender tail with a burning flame at it's tip could be seen swaying from side to side as an orange colored lizard like creature trudged along a sandy beach away from a decent sized boat. At it's side, a rather short pokemon trainer could be spotted, dressed in a short white and black accented dress, adorned with frills and bows. The wind picked up slightly, brushing alongside the pair, causing Charmander's flame to flicker slightly. Charmander came to a halt, reaching behind itself to cover the flame from the decent gust. "Char...Charmander..." The Charmander growled, trying it's best to cover the flame on it's tail. "Man...It sure is windy out here by the sea. I think the wind will calm down once we actually get in to Littleroot Town, Charmander." Dahlila smiled, looking over at her partner who seemed annoyed with the wind occurrence. The two pushed forward, entering a small forested area that led in to the depths of LittleRoot Town.

Once through the forest, Dahlila looked around at the small town area. "Huh...This is really small. Sort of reminds me of back home. This must be the starting town that that sailor told us about on the boat we took to get here." She talked in a rather quiet tone mostly to herself as her eyes scanned the area. Charmander looked around curiously, appearing to be listening to much of the surrounding noises. There were hints of people talking here and there, some inside of houses and some outside tending to flowers or crops growing near the small cabin like houses. Charmander unexpectedly darted forward, crying out excitedly at a small patch or flowers outside of a nearby house. "Char! Char!" Charmander exclaimed as it quickly dove in to the patch of flowers, hugging the flowers as delicately as it could while happily rolling it's body in the patch. "Wha- Charmander! Charmander come back!" Dahlila yelled, chasing after the pokemon, only to come to an abrupt halt just a foot from the pokemon. Charmander was excitedly rolling in the patch, it's tail flailing about, smacking into the flowers. Suddenly, Charmander's small torch set fire to one end of the patch. Dahlila stared at the pokemon, as it went from excited to horrified in a matter of seconds. Charmander quickly scrambled to it's feet, blowing on the patch that had now been set on fire. Dahlila winced, a small sweat drop dripping down the side of her head. "Charmander...you have to be careful next time..." She uttered in a sigh. Charmander was flailing it's arms and blowing it's breath at the flowers constantly, crying out in panic as it tried to calm the flames down. Dahlila quickly moved forward and started to stomp on the flames, carefully putting out what had started.

Sigh... Dahlila picked up her Charmander and held it in her arms. "You have to be more careful. You're lucky we didn't set that house on fire. Though, I'm not sure what i'm gona tell that household about their flower patch..." She took a deep breath and sighed once more. "I guess we should get going to Professor Birch's lab. He's probably expecting us." Dahlila turned away from the charred patch of flowers and started to venture further into the town. After passing a couple more houses, a large building with a blue pokeball printed just above the doorway became present. Charmander leaped out of Dahlila's arms, excitedly racing her to the door. Charmander pointed at the door, turning it's body to wait for Dahlila before entering. "Okay...here it goes. I'm not super great with socializing, but i'm going to try my best. Professor Birch should be a nice guy. I need to think positive. Just, be friendly." Dahlila nervously followed after Charmander, the door opening for the two of them and allowing them to wander in to the laboratory.

Quickly running past the pair as they entered was a boy with an excited look on his face. He left the building, clutching a pokeball in his hand as he ran. Dahlila blinked a few times, and looked down at Charmander who was stareing at her in slight confusion with the excitement that had radiated from the passing boy. Dahlila and Charmander shyly wandered further into the lab, only to see Professor Birch busily organizing his office space. "Uhm...Professor Birch?" Dahlila quietly called out to the bulky man who was scrambling around different parts of the area. "Oh! Oh Dahlila, hello!" Professor Birch quickly whirled around to greet her, waving at her excitedly. "It's so nice to see you! Oh my and you brought a pokemon with you." He kneeled down to Charmander's level, stareing at it from a distance. Charmander blinked, and then carefully huddled behind Dahlila's right leg, clutching her leg as Professor Birch stared. "Oh, Charmander is a little shy..." Dahlila chuckled quietly, realizing that some times Charmander was just as shy as she was. "Well, that's perfectly fine. I'm glad you both are here." Professor Birch smiled welcomingly. "I've got a couple of things for you both to take with you on your journey here in the Hoenn region." Professor Birch wandered around the room until he found a drawer, opening it to reveal several pokeballs and a pokedex. He handed the pokedex to Dahlila, and held a set of 5 pokeballs in his other hand.

"Here I have a pokedex for you, brand new, ready to use specifically in this region. This should be your very first pokedex, considering I see you've only got one pokemon with you and it looks like this is your first time as a trainer." Dahlila nodded at Professor Birch's words, confirming what he had said. She reached forward and carefully took the pokedex, examining it before putting it in a small pocket on the side of her dress skirt. "And here we have 5 pokeballs, all empty and able to be used to capture pokemon in this region. There are a few pokemon on the upcoming route just outside this town. You should be able to find some interesting pokemon there that might be able to help you on your journey." Professor birch handed Dahlila the pokeballs, and stepped away. "Don't let me hold you back. If you need anything, go to a nearby pokemon center and you should be able to find a way to contact me. Or, if transportation allows, come back and visit me here at the lab. You better get going!" He waved to Dahlila and then turned away to do some further organizing. Dahlila smiled, and looked down at her pokemon who stayed hidden behind her leg. "Alright, Charmander. It's time for us to get going. We're registered for the Pokemon league officially!" She smiled and the two walked out of the laboratory.

Once outside, Dahlila accidentally bumped into the boy that had come out of the laboratory earlier. She winced and stepped away after having smacked into the back of him. "Oh my goodness, i'm so sorry..." She scratched her head in embarrassment, and her Charmander mimicked her. "Charmander, charrrr." Charmander abruptly spoke shortly after Dahlila. Dahlila finally noticed who she had bumped into, and pointed at him shyly. "Hey...you're the guy from earlier. You just came from Professor Birch's lab, too." She blinked and then realized pointing wasn't really nice of her to be doing. She put her hands back down at her sides and looked over at Charmander. She figured it might be nice to try and make a friend right off the bat. She wasn't great with words, but she thought she was capable of making a small introduction. "I'm sorry about running into you. My name is Dahlila, and this is my partner, Charmander." She motioned her arm towards Charmander, and Charmander bowed it's head a bit in greeting.

Important: Trainer Encounter! Natsume Hana.

One.. Two... Mia had begun thinking about the various bludgeoning tools she held in her bag. her hair brush, the bag itself, her toothbrush, the pokedex... She only wished that she had something larger or heavier to beat the boy with IF he catches the Pokemon. Three... Maybe if the heavens smiled upon him, the Pokemon would break free, and Mia wouldn't have to resort to slow and painful violence. Or maybe she might try killing him as quickly as possible. Either way, it all depended on whether or not the Poochyena would be caught...


"CLICK!"


Her stomach dropped and her blood boiled. Visibly shaking out of anger, Mia Fiore was going to kill the trainer. But how could she do it? Only now did it occur to her that the trainer was taller and presumably stronger than her. And he also outnumbered her greatly. And then there was also all of the other Poochyena, which she still intended on catching. She glared at the boy as her mind thought of a way to take him out. And then, the perfect idea came to her. I'll obscure his view with smokescreen... then take out his Pokemon, one by one. She pointed a finger at Carter, gesturing him to come to her. Upon his arrival, Mia began whispering her commands to the Cyndaquil. And, as soon as she was finished, he was off.


Positioning himself about half a meter away from the Silcoon, Carter began to release a black cloud into the air. As smoke quickly billowed through the grassy route, Mia began to shout hysterics. "I WILL NOT LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS, YOU FIENDISH... FIEND." She managed to take in one last look of the battlefield before everything plunged into smoke. Her mind quickly wondered what the trainer was thinking. He'd probably be drowning in fear and fright, realizing the grave mistake he had made. Messing with Mia Fiore would be the last thing he ever did!


A bright, red and orange flash occurred in the center of the smoke cloud. Presumably, this was Carter preparing to annihilate the trainers Silcoon. The ember was quickly fired, damaging the Silcoon greatly. However, she heard the trainer shout a command a long the lines of "Hit whatever is attacking you with a poison sting!" Small, purple needles were fired out of Silqu's body. And, due to all of the smoke, it was impossible for the small mouse to dodge them.


Mia's attention towards the trainer battle was briefly interrupted when she felt something biting at the back of her heels. One of the Poochyena had managed to sneak up behind her! She flailed her leg backwards as a reaction, striking the hyena square on the nose. It whimpered backwards before starting to charge at her. However, it was stopped by a second strike to the nose, this time from Mia launching a Pokeball at an unbelievably high (slow) speed. The Poochyena disappeared in a bright flash of light. And after three shakes, the ball vanished.


A loud battle cry diverted Mia's attention back to the battle. The battle cry seemed to come from a large ball of flame, which was tearing straight through the smoke. A Chimchar burst out of the flames, shouting as it slashed furiously at Carter. "Carter, counter its attack with your double kick!" She commanded whilst trying to think of a strategy.

"Onward to Adventure!"
Location: Little Root Town!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________


Dahlia took a couple steps back from the trainer she'd run in to, noticing his face growing a deep shade of red. She almost apologized again, before she realized he was really just getting over embarrassment of almost having fallen forward on to his face. She figured apologizing might only embarrass him and progress the situation more, so she kept her mouth shut for the time being as he regained feeling of his surroundings. When he spoke to her, addressing the fact she'd come out right behind him from the lab, she nodded. "I did come from there too, yes." She let a small smile spread across her lips. She felt relieved when he reassured her that having run in to him was okay. "I'm glad you're okay with it...I mean, i'm sorry it happened, and i didn't mean to...I...That sounded kind of weird...I'm sorry." She winced at her words getting jumbled as she spoke. "I apologize too much. I'm sorr-..." She quieted herself, and almost chuckled at her attempt at apologizing again. When Natsume extended his hand to her in introduction, and offered her a handshake, she looked down at his hand and blinked at it. Her hand clenched into a nervous fist, and there was a short amount of time that passed before she extended her hand forward shyly and shook his hand in return. "It's nice to meet you too, Natsume. I'm sure Charmander feels the same." She smiled and glanced down at her partner who uttered it's cry out in agreement.

Charmander quickly grabbed on to the back of Dahlila's leg in a shy fashion as Natsume tossed a pokeball in to the air. Freeing in a beam of light, came a Fennekin, a small little orange and yellow fox like pokemon. Dahlila's eyes widened, and Charmander's eyes followed. She quickly searched around the pockets of her dress as Natsume introduced Aldren, the fennekin that had come in to view. Dahlila stuffed her hand into the right pocket of her dress, pulling out a pokedex that Professor Birch had previously given her. She scrambled to open it as the Fennekin caught sight of Charmander, and began to prance it's way over to her partner with an excited attitude. Nearly dropping the pokedex to the ground, Dahlila was forced to crouch in attempt to stop the pokedex from falling. While in her crouched position, she pointed the pokedex lens towards the Fennekin as it wandered nearby to her to investigate the Charmander at her side.

"Fennekin, the fire type fox pokemon. Fennekin expels hot air that can reach nearly 400 degrees. Fennekin's favorite snacks are twigs." The pokedex voice spoke as it's radar scanned the Fennekin in order to process the information it had just mentioned. Although Dahlila was well aware of Fennekin, as it was a starter pokemon from her home region, she was excited to see it in person. "If I could have got my first pokemon from back home, Fennekin would have been my choice. It's so CUTE!" She exclaimed and launched herself forwarded, scooping Aldren up into her arms and smothering it lovingly. "Oh Aldren, you're absolutely PRECIOUS!" She smiled at the little fox and smothered it some more before releasing it back on to the ground.

Charmander shivered in a nervous fashion and tried to run away from the excited Fennekin. "Char! Char! Char!" Charmander yelled as it circled around Dahlila, closing it's eyes and batting it's arms as if trying to run faster. The Fennekin, Aldren, followed suit. Dahlila giggled and grabbed Charmander, holding it in her arms. "Charmander is a little shy, Aldren. I'm sorry. It's not that Charmander is afraid of you, it's just new to everything just like you are." Dahlila kneeled down with Charmander in her arms, smiling and running her hand comfortingly over the top of Aldren's head, petting it gently. Dahlila looked up at Natsume as he mentioned her being a fire-type fan. She stood back up, and smiled at him. "Well, Charmander is my first pokemon. He was actually a gift from a long time friend who...moved away..." Dahlila frowned a little. "Charmander here was given to me as an egg. When he hatched, we gained a couple levels through socializing and such. Now he's to where he should be as my starter pokemon. I didn't really have a choice in choosing my starter, Charmander just kind of fell to me not only as a gift but a newfound friend introduced by an old friend. I am thankful to have Charmander." Dahlila snuggled her Charmander in her arms. "Some day, Charmander will earn a nickname. Like your fennekin, Aldren. I want the nickname to be earned on my journey, and i want it to be special."

Charmander tilted it's head, stareing up at Dahlila in curiousity and wonder at what she was saying. "I guess in the end, it's not that i'm not a fire type supporter. Obviously, I have Charmander at my side. But, i've got a lot to learn about pokemon as they're still quite foreign to me." Dahlila set Charmander back down on the ground, and Charmander managed to smile widely at Aldren, deciding to push it's comfort zone and wave at Aldren in a friendly notion.

Important: Trainer Interaction! Natsume Hana.

(Finally i got inspiration.)


"What is it?" I ask.

"I need you to get a hurt Taillow. He is on Route 103." Nurse Joy said.

"Okie Dokie." I said. Turbo does his best on convincing Sweet to come. She agrees with Turbo. Handy climbs to my shoulder. We left the Pokemon Center.

We reach Route 103. I see the hurt Taillow. Then i see some guys with bags. I hide behind a tree.

"So we take this Taillow away and we already have a pokemon to get payment." Said one of them.

"Wedge just shut up!" Said the guy with no hat.

"Sorry Biggs. We got a job to do now and i'm excited." Said Wedge.

"Biggs! Wedge! Concentrate! This pokemon is our small payment. They became more rare lately. Now to work." Said the girl.

"Yes Marina." Biggs and Wedge said to the boss.

Marina looks to south. "We got an intruder!"

"Oh dang it!" I said.

"No witnesses must be found!" Wedge said.

"What next boss?" Biggs said.

"..." She was silent. "Finish with his life." She said and then she turned around. She started to leave the scene.

"So it's a battle?" Sweet, Handy and Turbo come in. "Want some? Get some!" I was referring to Taillow. If they it then they must pass by me.

"Zubat i need you!" Wedge said.

"Rattata!" Biggs said.

"Handy Foul Play! Turbo use Flame Burst! Sweet go for Frustration!" I said but only Handy and Turbo moved. Sweet kept on the same place. Turbo and Handy manage to deal some damage to Zubat and Rattata.

"Rattata Quick Attack!" Biggs said.

"Zubat Wing Attack!" Wedge said.

My pokemon manage to evade. This will be hard.

Update:

1...

2...

3...

"CLICK!"

Triqu now knew he had the upper hand in this battle. With his three pokemon and the other trainer's pokemon, they outnumbered the poochyena. It should all be uphill from here. Should.

"You fiendish.... Fiend!" was all that Triqu heard. He thought it was directed at somebody else. Presumably the poochyena, or some mysterious figure. That was, until Sliqu started to be attacked by fire attacks.

"Sliqu! Hit whatever is hitting you with poison sting!" Triqu yelled. The small, dart like needles starting shooting through the smoke. Then, out of nowhere, with no orders, Flame jumped out of the smoke, slashing through it furiously. He made it apparent that the small mouse pokemon was actually a Cyndaquil. The same pokemon that spit out the smokescreen and started attacking Sliqu. Now, Triqu was positive that he was the fiendish fiend.

"Flame, let Sliqu focus on him! Go hit those Poochyena with flame wheel!" Flame tried to react to the orders, but was interrupted with two kicks from the Cyndaquil.

"Make 'em feel it Carter!" the young girl cheered on. She was quickly cut off by her Cyndaquil, Carter, Triqu assumed, getting hit by a second poison sting from Silcoon. The little mouse went down tired, but not quite fainted.

The Poochyena had both surrounded Flame who was up on his feet, arms straight out, ready to move. Silcoon, not just slow, but also exhausted, couldn't reach Flame quick enough to offer any help. However, Flame wasn't too far from a tree...

"Flame, acrobatics into that tree! Quickly!" Flame gently jumped, seemingly floating into the tree. The Poochyena chased, barking up the tree angrily. Flame sat in a branch, awaiting further command.

"Flame, fire down an ember!" Flame then released his small fire attack, hitting the Poochyena. "Keep it coming!" Flame listened and kept attacking the Poochyena who didn't appear to back down. Eventually, all of the dogs were too tired to stand. Thinking of what to do, Triqu noticed that a Poochyena was missing. He then saw the female trainer holding a pokeball. Finally realizing what was going on, Triqu yelled at her.

"Hey, you! Hurry up and capture these already! Before they stand back up!"