New Bark Town

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #1 December 17th, 2012, 11:10 AM

IC THREAD (-o-) OOC FOUND HERE A new pokémon game has been released, where players can reach every region and battle against each other in a virtual reality MMORPG called Monster Art Online. Using a helmet called the NerveGear, players lose control over their real bodies and trick their brains to believe that they have another body inside the game. 10 000 players managed to get a copy on the release date. However, shortly after they entered the game, it was discovered that it was impossible to log out. The creator of the game appeared as a giant Deoxys in the sky above each region and declared that they had to finish the game in order to return to the real world. To finish, they had to beat all the gym leaders and become the Champion of their region. They couldn't reach other regions. But there was a catch... If they whited out in the game, the NerveGear would kill them in the real world. As families and authorities realized this and the bodies of the players were moved to hospitals, the players inside the game had to decide what to do. Play it safe and hope for rescue... or take a chance?

At The Frontline

One week and a few days has passed. Most players are still lingering in New Bark or Cherrygrove, but some have reached Violet City. None has yet defeated Falkner, though. Some have already whited out; the number of players in Johto has gone down. You are in either of these cities or out in route 29, 30 or 31. Or maybe you have found the bug that lets you reach route 45/46.

A player called Melkor has summoned anyone who has experienced a glitch or want to help to a meeting at Sprout Tower in Violet. There, you will form a guild of pokémon trainers and together try to exploit glitches to win the game, while helping each other grow stronger.

Available professions: Alchemist (Cherrygrove City)

Available areas: New Bark Town, Route 29, Cherrygrove City, Route 30, Route 31, Violet City, Route 45/46 (low level version)

Johto map: http://pokemaster1010.wikispaces.com.../Johto_Map.png

Accepted Players

Spoiler:

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #2 December 18th, 2012, 12:44 PM

New Bark Town

The possibly smallest town in Johto. Players start here but have no home of their own. A great number of less serious players are still hiding here, trying to make the days go by without any danger. There is no pokémon center or pokémart, but there is the laboratory. There, you received your starter from professor Elm, a digital GM.

Elm now seems to be a bit bugged since he is experiencing the anxiety that professor Elm's character would over the situation of the players, but still trying to be serious and seek out the problem, like a GM should. He is however unable to find a solution to the three main problems - whiting out, logging out and the lockdown from other regions.

Special quest givers:

Professor Elm

! You've already received a pokémon and started your career as a pokémon trainer.

NOTE - you can almost always make up your own quests and quest givers on top of what I'm suggesting here in the info post, as long as it fits with the general theme of the area!

Route 29

A fairly short and uneventful route. A few species of pokémon live here and will jump at players if they step out into the tall grass or into the patches of forest that line the road at times. Goes from New Bark in the east to Cherrygrove in the west.

Special quest givers:

Young NPC trainers

Wanting practice battles. Like all NPC trainers, they pay you money if you win. And if you lose, you die. So.

Wild pokémon:

Cherrygrove City

One of the smaller cities of Johto but currently the most densely populated. Most of the players are staying here. Some are training against each others with strict rules of not using all pokémon, to eliminate the risk of whiting out.

Cherrygrove has both a pokémon center and a pokémart. At the pokémon center, players can heal their pokémon for free and rent a room with a bed for the night. Resting in a bed at night makes your pokémon grow a little bit quicker the next day. At the pokémart, stuff like potions, antidotes and pokéballs can be bought. To the east lies Route 29, to the north lies Route 30 and to the west lies a bay of the sea. Across the water, you can glimpse Route 32.

Profession trainers:
This is the first area where players can learn an in-game profession. Professions are useful for earning extra money if you don't want to battle all the time. Some professions are also downright necessary for evolving certain pokémon or acquiring certain items, but you don't have to learn all the professions yourself - try to make friends with people with different professions so that you can help each other!

Alchemist

There is a building called House of the Berry Brewers, where several alchemists work to teach trainers how to find the right berries and plants and how to make potions and medicine from them. (healing items, status ailment items, repels and vitamins)

Special quest givers:

Fisherman

gives you an Old Rod if you do him a favor. "A favor" means it's up to your creativity.

Mayor

gives you a PokéGear with a map, a radio (with headphones, yay!) and the possibility to contact important NPCs when you have their number, if you travel to Mr Pokémon on Route 30 and bring back an item that the oddball refused to send without personal escort. The item is (not surprising) a pokémon egg. Note: the mayor is a woman.

Wild pokémon:

Fishing in sea with Old Rod:

Route 30

Route 30 stretches north from Cherrygrove City to Route 31. Rain often comes down from the mountains in the east. The landscape has a lot of cliffs and hills with both pine and leafy forest. There are some rivers coming down from the mountains, forming tiny lakes and ponds. Lots of dense trees and tall grass makes for a good place to find wild pokémon.

In the middle of the route, the road divides. The western road is relatively open still, but the eastern road is rather densely vegetated. To reach Mr Pokémon's cottage, one needs to take the eastern road, though.

Special quest givers:

Mr Pokémon

If you did not speak with the mayor in Cherrygrove, Mr Pokémon will ask you to deliver a strange pokémon egg to her back in the city. The mayor will not give you any reward. If you return to Mr Pokémon afterwards, he will give you a Pokédex that he apparently had laying around. With the pokédex, you can easily keep track of what pokémon you have seen and captured, and read trivia and information about them and their abilities and habitats the the in-game menu wouldn't tell you. It can also sense if other pokédex holders are in the vicinity.

Wild pokémon:

Fishing in ponds/rivers with Old Rod:

Route 31

Starting where Route 30 ends and leading to Violet City in the west, this is a fairly short route. First, there is a rather steep road/climb from Route 30, leading to the entrance of Dark Cave. Inside, it is so horribly dark that you won't be able to go far before you get lost and have to turn back to the little light coming from the entrance.

The western part of the route will have you descend from the mountain-like landscape among flowery fields until you reach the next city. In these fields, some pokémon can be found.

There is currently a forest fire going on near the Dark Cave! You can include it in your posts in any way you'd like but you can't put it out completely.

Wild pokémon:

In the Dark Cave:

NOTE: you can't have done any of the quests before the start of the RP - except for New Bark Town and Route 29. If you want to start in Violet City (in case your character is likely to be at the front lines or something?) but still want a pokédex, you'll have to write about traveling back and doing the quest to get it.

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #3 December 22nd, 2012, 11:50 AM

NOTE: In your first post, include a summary of your week in Johto. It can be brief or fill up a post, as long as it explains why you start where you start.

Violet City

This is one of the older and more traditional style cities of Johto. It's slightly bigger than Cherrygrove, but there aren't at all as many players here yet. There is a pokémon center and a pokémart and the first pokémon Gym that you'll see in Johto.

There is the Trainer's Academy building, where players can train against each other supervisioned by NPC coaches. It has been discovered that within the walls of this building, whiting out doesn't do anything! As long as you don't try to leave the building without healing your pokémon first, at least. That detail was discovered when a girl did just that and evaporized just outside the door. News of this building has tempted even more careful players to travel north over the past couple of days since Violet was reached. Unfortunately for more advanced players, only non-evolved pokémon can be trained here.

Another landmark is the Sprout Tower, a tall, traditional japanese style tower that seems to tick back and forth because of its swaying central pillar. The tower is infested with ghosts and other pokémon that the monks call vermin. The monks themselves are quite relentless, challenging any trainer they see above the first floor.

Special quest givers:

Remember that quests can often be done together with a party member! The Headmaster's quest is a solo quest, but if you team up with someone in the Sprout Tower quest, you will only need to defeat 6 intruders in total but receive one TM each!

Academy Headmaster (SOLO)

If you win three battles in a row at the Academy, he will give you an Exp. Share. Funnily, if you lose three battles in a row, you will get the same reward! If you give it to a pokémon that is weak or unfit for battle, experience gained by the battling pokémon will be split and shared with this one. It means that your battling pokémon will grow slower (keep this in mind!) but that the weaker pokémon will grow faster.

Monks in Sprout Tower

On the first floor, you might hear about a recent ghost infestation that the monks are trying to drive out. Therefore, visitors are recommended to stay clear of the higher floors. If you go up, the flustered monks will be challenging you. If you defeat at least six wild pokémon in the tower, the Master Sage will reward you with a TM. You will choose OOC what TM it will be.

Wild pokémon:
In Sprout Tower:

___________________________________________________________

Violet City Gym: FALKNER // FLYING

Falkner inherited the gym from his father and is still a young man, but he is working hard to walk in his father's footsteps and become a respected leader. The apprentices training at the gym are friends with him. Like most NPCs in MAO, he acts much like a real human would. The gym is a wooden building and the main arena has a roof that can be opened, and it is always opened during gym battles.

The badge acquired if you win is the Zephyr Badge, which allows you to use the move Flash outside of battle, whenever you obtain that HM. Falkner also gives you a TM of your choice.

In Violet City's gym, you have to beat one gym apprentice (aka: annoying gym trainer) before you can face the leader. One of the challengers so far whited out already here, but most reached Falkner without trouble since the gym apprentices aren't very strong. Annoying thing to implement in the RP? Well, the gym leaders are the bosses! They're not meant to be quickly taken care of.

Leader's pokémon:

You may assign them any level, attacks and abilities you see fit.

___________________________________________________________

The next routes...

WEST - There are pokémon rangers who have sealed off this route because of disturbances in the pokémon wildlife which make the route dangerous for humans. You cannot pass by them for now.

SOUTH - Professor Elm's aide is stopping any trainers that received a pokémon from the professor in New Bark! She says that professor Elm is watching over them and knows that they are not strong enough to continue south unless they prove themselves by beating Falkner and earning the Zephyr badge. If you try to sneak by her, you'll find your body turning around on its own.

Leaf Storm · #4 December 23rd, 2012, 04:08 AM

Madalyn Martinez [Parker]
New Bark Town

The wind was a bit strong, but cool in New Bark Town. Not many players wandered around the town, some managed to move on. But for Parker, she decided to stay. Sitting on a wooden bench as players passed by, her black, multi-colored hair blew behind her, as the breeze was a bit strong. It felt like typical New Bark Town weather. Parker didn't “start” journey immediately like the others. Not because she's lazy, but she's nervous. She was already given a Pokemon, KC the Cyndaquil. She already got her PokeDex, Pokeballs, and a special potion from Professor Elm at the lab. So what was next? It was time for Parker to move on. But she doesn't want to. She is just too scared.

Too scared...to make mistakes.

She's scared that she'll be making mistakes in this virtual world. Mistakes that can kill her own body, her real life Madalyn Martinez body. Parker wondered whatever happened to that real life body of hers. Her father, the only man she loved, may have taken her to the hospital finally. At least he knew her spirit was in the game. The Pokemon felt real in the game, it was her dream come true to touch a Pokemon, and how they felt like. KC was furrier than what Parker had thought. His flames were real too, at least that's what she had seen...not felt.

The Cyndaquil, who was sitting next to Parker, rubbed his eyes with his little hands. His nose twitched as he smelled the wind blew toward him. He immediately got accustomed to Parker as Professor Elm gave him to her as a starter Pokemon, although Parker wanted a Chikorita or some other grass-type starter. It's typical Parker who always tend to make these similar mistakes.

Parker then got up from her bench, and grabbed KC with both arms wrapped all around him. “Are you ready to go, sweetie? I am. But I won't go if you are ready to go.”

KC nodded, not making a response verbally...but at least he showed a bit of a courtesy.

“You're just waiting for me to make the next move, are ye?” Parker said, finally starting to walk towards the entrance of Route 29. Other players in New Bark Town were also heading towards that route too. There was a lot to see on that route, more than just the wild Pokemon. It wasn't just exclusively Kanto and Johto Pokemon, but there were Pokemon from all over the world. Parker couldn't wait to get started, but she'll have to be very careful for the sake of her real life.

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #5 December 23rd, 2012, 08:34 AM

KRISSU
→ Route 29

Entering MAO had been wonderful. To open her eyes in a body that was everything she had ever dreamed of, and to be able to run wild with pokémon in a landscape more vibrant than the dull reality could offer, all together with Malcolm; the only friend who had ever cared as much about her as she had tried to care about them. Or at least that was how she saw it. The first day, they spent just getting used to their new shapes and getting to know their first pokémon on the uneventful Route 29. Then, the lockdown happened. A minor panic ensued among the trainers in New Bark town. Some set off immediately, not wanting to stay inside the game for longer than necessary. Some of those fell victims to simple child NPC trainers in the first route, due to impatience. Christina and Malcolm were among those who grouped together and went to Cherrygrove. The larger city had everything one would need for living a good life within the game. It seemed like Malcolm was content with that, while other players strove on towards the first gym that was supposedly in Violet City in the north.

They stayed in Cherrygrove for five days. Christina realized that Malcolm only wanted to protect her by pretending that he was ok with staying behind and not really playing the game. She did not want to upset him, so she played along. When a NPC trainer asked for a battle on the outskirts of the city at the end of the fifth day, Christina therefore declined. Surprisingly, Malcolm took up the offer instead. She often wondered why he did it. Perhaps because he was genuinely bored with laying low, perhaps because he wanted to impress her.

He would never impress her again, or do anything. He drifted away with the wind to become part of the game on a deeper level... Or perhaps he was just simply gone now. Or maybe he woke up in the real world. Nevertheless, Christina was still here and Malcolm was not. She was alone. The shock made her distrustful. She decided to start to think of herself as Krissu rather than her old name. She needed to change and become stronger. It had taken the death of her friend for her to realize how real this was. Surreal in a way, but it was her new reality. Johto. And the only way to get out of here and not make Malcolm's death futile, was to make herself strong and finish the game. She would never give up.

Route 29 was beautiful in the morning. The trees and the blue sky with its calm clouds did not look like any 3D rendering Krissu had ever seen before. They were as real as her brain could imagine them, and she had quite the vivid imagination. The road wriggled through the grassy landscape all the way to New Bark in the east. But she would not go that far today. She came to find recruits for her troop.

Krissu's hair fluttered behind her in the morning wind, apart from the two loose braids that were too heavy and hung down in front of her shoulders. Her face was expressionless. In her arms sat a purple little pokémon, wearing a smile that contrasted with that of his trainer's. Krissu had quickly learned that Litwick's flame did not hurt her. She guessed what the pokédex info she remembered from outside of MAO didn't really apply here; that Litwick supposedly sucked the energy out of her soul. Or perhaps he could do that, but let her be since she was his trainer. His skin felt rubbery and cold against hers, even though he was a fire type. She guessed he was more of a ghost than a fireball. Ghosts were generally associated with cold air, weren't they?

The grass to their right rustled and Krissu reacted immediately. "Litwick, Ember," she said. The little pokémon jumped down onto the ground and lit up its purple flame a bit more. It then shot orange embers at the moving grass. Normally, it would probably be enough to just step out into the grass, and wild pokémon would jump at Krissu by themselves. At least in this route with low leveled, common pokémon. But Krissu felt rebellious at the moment, and no one was looking anyways.

The embers burned through the tall grass and hit the pokémon hiding there. It squeaked but didn't run. Instead it ran at Litwick and Tackled it, making the ghost fall backwards. Krissu easily recognized this pokémon without a pokédex. Rattata. Probably the most common pokémon alive. It was purple, much like Litwick was. And it looked feisty.

"Heh. You'll do fine," Krissu said. "Litwick, Smog."

Litwick's flame blew out a purple cloud that tried to envelop Rattata, hurting it's lungs. But the rat was too quick and set off with a Quick Attack, making the Smog miss its target. Litwick was hit... but the attack did nothing. Rattata jumped straight through the body of the candle pokémon. That seemed to surprise the pokémon. Krissu noted that even MAO's wild pokémon seemed to have thoughts and emotions. At least it was a well programmed game. But still evil.

"Fire Spin."

Litwick's flame now turned orange as it blew out a small tornado of fire that encircled the rat, locking it in place and burning it.

"Night Shade," Krissu said without thinking. Litwick followed orders and stretched its morning shadow out to attack and frighten the rat. The Fire Spin dissolved as the new attack came in, but when the shadow touched Rattata, all the rat did was to stare at it with an angry look. It was not hurt.

"Oh, right! Normal type moves do not affect ghost pokémon, but ghost attacks do not affect normal pokémon either..." How stupid would she have to be to forget that? Apparently pretty preoccupied with thoughts, at least. The next second, Rattata jumped forward and attacked with Bite. Litwick screamed and Krissu watched its health bar go down below half. Her digital heart stopped for a moment. No. She would not be reckless enough to lose against something as simple as this. No.

"Ember!" she shouted. Litwick was in pain but managed to blow out embers into Rattata's face. The lower leveled pokémon had had too much. It was on the verge of fainting. Krissu wasn't sure if wild pokémon fainting in this game would mean that she couldn't capture them, just like in the old games. To be sure, she withdrew Litwick to its pokéball to rest now, and pulled out an empty pokéball from the blue bag before Rattata fell over completely. She threw it towards the pokémon and it was as if the ball was drawn to it. It touched down on the purple rat, opened up and sucked it in with a red light. It only twitched once before the red and white ball came to a stop on the ground. Rattata was caught.

Krissu fell to her knees and let out a breath she didn't know that she had been holding. So close... it only took so little to bring a player down in this unforgiving game. That was why she needed Rattata too. And even more pokémon. To secure herself. There was no room for errors, no forgiveness if you were reckless. She picked up the pokéball and put it in the same pocket as Litwick's ball. It was time to get a move on; she had lingered behind the front lines for too long. She began walking back to Cherrygrove City.

Claire* · #6 December 23rd, 2012, 01:20 PM

Solomon

The lush, green grass swayed in the gentle breeze, perfectly replicated like its real world counterpart. One had to appreciate the attention to detail the developers put into getting the most infinitesimal thing right. Sights, sounds, even the smells of a world that previously existed only on a screen. Yet, here it was, real as life. Route 29, the real beginning for all trainers in the Johto region. Granted, New Bark town was were everybody received their starter Pokemon from the ever increasingly eccentric professor Elm. But Route 29, this was where the first foot steps to adventure happened. Where people encountered their first wild Pokemon and NPC trainers alike.

Solomon’s eyes fluttered open, his right hand playing idly with the grass under his palm. He had taken a free moment to catch a little nap on the soft grass adjacent to the frequently traveled path. Staring up at the sun, its presence dominated the heavens, brighter than anything else in the day sky. It wasn’t that the other celestial bodies weren’t there, they were simply outshone by the sun’s proximity and radiance. Shielding his eyes, he wondered if the developers took the time to render each of the night stars individually, or did they take the easy way out and just go with a flat matte? Probably the matte, if he had to guess. Humans typically took the easiest way out, the path of least resistance. If you promised to give somebody one hundred dollars today, or one hundred and ten dollars in a year, most would probably opt for the immediate reward rather than the long distance one. That was what was wrong with people, no foresight. No appreciation for getting the small things ‘just’ right.

Leaning up with a groan, he ran his hand through his now slightly tussled hair. Fiddling with it for what seemed like forever, he struggled to get it just right, smooth but flipped up just at the tips. Umbra, his loyal Sneasel, was nearby frolicking through the route, diving in and out of bushes with reckless abandon. She was a naive little thing, seemingly imbued with a childlike curiosity. The two of them together had an almost yin and yang appearance. Noticing that her trainer had awaken, she stopped in her tracks and perked her ears as she had a tendency to do. She hesitated before leaping into the next bush, just in case he had orders for her. With a dismissive wave of his hand, he gave her permission to continue on her way. Not wasting a moment, she dove in head first and startled a flock of Pidgey that had taken refuge there. With a frightened squawk, they flew from their former hideaway and took to the sky. One of the more bold ones turned to face their intruder. A perfect opportunity for Umbra to get some easy experience, considering the type advantage she enjoyed.

“Umbra,” Solomon cupped his hands and called out to his Pokemon, his accent and tone left unaltered by his character selection choices. “Come to me!” Umbra responded instantaneously, skipping back to his position with a cheery disposition. The enemy Pidgey circled above, its small body leaving an almost unrecognizable shadow on the ground below. It swooped down with rapidly increasing speed, its wings tucked neatly to its body. Just as it was about to reach its point of no return, it extended its wings and began to beat them with great ferocity, the plumage kicking up a veil of dust in the process. Solomon’s glasses kept out a majority of the granules from his eyes, but he still had to use the sleeve of his coat for further protection. Umbra, meanwhile, her keen eye ability saved her from the accuracy lowering attack and seemed to be doing just fine.

“Useless bird. Umbra, quick attack.” The little Sneasel began to glow with faint traces of light, her body tensed and hesitated for but a second before taking off like a shot. It was hard to follow her as she sped across the landscape and closed the gap between the Pidgey and herself. Just as she came underneath her target, she lunged into the air, her momentum carrying her the rest of the way and smashing into it. The Pidgey went reeling, its body tumbling through the air before reorienting itself. Before giving his target a chance to recover, Solomon barked out another oder, “Umbra, Icy Wind now.” A frigid gale kicked up in the area, its origination coming from non other than little Umbra herself. Solomon had judged the Pidgey and found it lacking. His team had no spots for the weak and useless. The icy wind gusted into the opposing Pokemon, it had no time to react and took the full brunt of its blow. By itself, Icy Wind was not an overwhelmingly powerful attack. However, since Sneasel itself was part ice type, it received a handy little boost to all ice type moves, otherwise known as STAB or Same-Type Attack Bonus. That and the flying type’s obvious weakness to anything ice related, carried with it almost certain death on a Pidgey this low a level.

The Pidgey came crashing down, a little coo escaping its beak before turning a bright red and shattering into thousands of little data shards. Umbra jumped up and down excitedly, a radiant little smile splashing across her face. She came jogging back to Solomon, a great deal of pride in her complexion as she looked up to him. “Nice job,” he mumbled under his breath, reaching down to pat her on the head. “A little sloppy on that quick attack though, we need to make sure to tidy that up a bit.” Umbra didn’t mind the constructive criticism, she simply nodded her head, jumped on his shoulders and held on as he finally rose to his feet. He hadn’t left his seated position the whole time during the battle, he saw no reason to do so. “Alright, time to go. I think we’ve probably wasted enough time catching up on rest.”

“That was fricking sweet, dude!” A nearby voice called out suddenly. Solomon found the tone to be highly abrasive, pitched and prepubescent. Some kid came jogging up to him, his face flushed as if he had been running for miles. The avatar looked to be like it belonged to a twelve year old, which based on the his speech sample, was most likely the case. It was always hard to tell however. An avatar that looked like a beautiful young woman, could very well belong to a pedophile living in some shack an entire world away. When creating Solomon, Gavin had been very careful to retain a great deal of his appearance. Probably one of the few to do so in this game. When he beat somebody, when he was finally the one to be recognized in a position of power, he wanted everyone to know his face, not some avatar’s. He looked down at the “boy” with disdain, his eyes peering out under the rim of his glasses. “Dude, where did you learn to do that? I swear, my friend and me never seem to have battles go that well.” The boy gestured to the Corsola by his side. Why on Earth would he choose such a pathetic Pokemon as his starter?

“First of all, don’t refer to me as ‘dude’.” He spoke to the boy mildly, but with unrestrained loathing evident in his voice. “Second, ‘fricking’ is just an alteration of another word entirely. I suggest that if you are going to allude to the word, just use the bloody thing.” Solomon crossed his arms and shifted slightly as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. “It should also be ‘My friend and I’, never ‘my friend and -me-’. I mean really, where did you learn the English language? Lastly, I don’t need you to inform me of how exemplary my battle went. I am well aware.”

“Uh...ok...” The boy stammered uncomfortably before taking a few steps back and carelessly tripping over a nearby stone. “I, I think I’ll just be going then.” He jumped to his feet and ran from the awkward man he had so quickly praised.

Solomon simply shrugged and watched the boy run back in the direction from which he came. Probably hiding out in New Bark town with the rest of the cowards and inept trainers. “Okay, Umbra, off to Cherrygrove then.” He reached up and scratched his Pokemon behind her perky little ear. She gave a slight grumble of acknowledgement and playfully pulled off his glasses before putting them on her own head. “You know, that used to really piss me off when people stole them in the real world. But here, I can see just fine without them.” He reached up and retrieved his stolen spectacles. “Anyway, they don’t quite fit you.” Umbra snickered and let him retrieve his item, before jumping back down to the ground and tugging his pants in the direction they needed to go.

Solomon gave her a little playful swat, as playful as he ever was of course. From what little time he had spent with Umbra, she had already become the best friend he had ever had. A grand total of a week had past since he received her and they started their journey together. Of course, this journey took an unexpected turn once the lock in was announced. It didn’t much bother him as it did the others. Obviously their real bodies would be moved to a hospital, and if you died in real life you didn’t get any second chances either. So what difference did it make? That first week went by like a blur, he had trained Umbra extensively on this route for a long time. He hadn’t longed for the outside world, or wept like many others did. This place was real enough, and in his opinion, better than the alternative. Once he had become confident enough in Umbra’s and his ability, he had visited route 30 very briefly, but had heard about the quests being offered that he needed to do in Cherrygrove. That was really why he was here, a bit of a rest before the long push ahead.

It didn’t take them long to reach Cherrygrove, Solomon hadn’t been resting too far outside the city in case he needed to make a stop at the Pokemon center. It seems his cautiousness was not needed however. Umbra was far stronger than any Pokemon on the route and he hadn’t been pestered by an NPC the whole time he was there. Sure, he could have gotten a room in the center. But, why waste money and be surrounded by annoying people just for a nap? It was only for an hour or two anyway. The city was just too damn crowded, it was like a herd of cows behind the cattle gate. His past few times he had been in Cherrygrove, he made a quick retreat just to escape the crowds. However, there was a quest waiting for him this time and for that, he had to go see the mayor.

Very little time was needed to spy the mayor out from the crowd. It was kind of hard to miss the gathering masses surrounding the NPC. Manners would normally dictate that you wait your turn in line and watch your life melt away with every agonizing second that passes. Solomon wasn’t very big on manners. After the person who was busily occupying the mayor’s time was done, he rudely made his way to the front and triggered a conversation with her, much to the chagrin of everybody else who had been waiting.

“Hello there, young man!” The mayor called out to him in a cheery tone. Her respectably aged visage had a smile plastered across it, as she looked him up and down. “Say, would you be able to do me a favor?”

“Oh, lord. Where is the dialogue skip function?” He muttered under his breath, rubbing his forehead. “Sure, just please continue.”

“Thank you! I really do appreciate it.” The NPC continued, completely oblivious to his snarky demeanor. I have a friend, Mr. Pokemon out on Route 30 as a matter of fact. He informed me of an item that is in need of an escort to reach me. Would you be a dear and fetch it for me? I’m sure I would be able to give you something for your troubles.”

“Fine, accepted.”

“Thank you, dear. I’ll just wait here for your return.” The mayor bowed and flashed another smile before initiating a similar, perhaps even identical conversation with the next person. It was hard to tell how much variety the NPCs had built into their dialogue.

Solomon quickly glided his way through the crowd, his Sneasel following closely behind and having much better success at avoiding contact with the other player characters. It was a small town and didn’t take them long to reach Route 30. “Alright, looks like we need to take the eastern path here.” Solomon looked to his Pokemon once again. “Ready, Umbra?”

“Snease, sneasel!” She jumped up and down and gave him a mock salute.

“Ok then, let’s go.”

jasonwolf · #7 December 23rd, 2012, 10:26 PM

Jercio Shade (Jason)
New Bark Town

“How could something like this go wrong? Well a lot of ways really, but that’s not my point, this was supposed to be my get away, my chance to be someplace where I wanted to actually be.” Jercio ranted as he paced along the entrance to route twenty nine.

He was a culmination of all different emotions. He was pissed at the developer for making the entire game hardcore mode, depressed because he knew he was trapped here as some fake person in a fake world, but all at the same time he was excited. Deadly or not this was the world of pokemon. For a lifelong player like him it was amazing. Like a dream, but it also was a nightmare. Jercio had a constant haunting feeling. His real self a teenage boy named Jason was plugged into a machine which made his mind pretty much one with this virtual world. If so, would his mind and thoughts still be in the game if he died? Jercio didn’t want to find out.

For days he had tried to put off his anxiety by enjoying and exploring New Bark Town, but by now he knew it inside and out. No matter how real it felt it wasn’t going to sate him. Jercio knew sooner or later he needed to play the game. It was what he came here to do, and he swore he’d do it even if it killed him. Jercio found it ironic really. He wanted to play the game not to get out, but he had a slight bit of hope that if he did beat it he might get the hardcore mode removed at least for himself. It seemed like a fair prize.

Jercio’s starter, Yohi the Tyrogue, was sitting to the side waiting for his master to make up his mind. For nothing but ones and zeros the Tyrogue seemed so alive to Jercio. He forced himself to accept as much of this as real as a way to help keep sane. Even though Yohi was part of the game too he did his fair share of keeping Jercio’s mental faculties running as normal. The Tyrogue was a great companion to Jercio, and kept him from getting lonely. As secluded as he was in reality Jercio really needed someone to help him now.

With the chances of rescue minimal, A wealth of pokemon knowledge, and no more patience Jercio stopped pacing, looked at his pokemon, and said;

“Yohi, I think its time to prove fifteen years of pokemon games is a legitimate education.”

Yohi looked up at his master very confused, but followed along as Jercio began to walk out onto the root. Jercio scanned the horizon and nodded. No matter what this game had in store he was ready for it. Then he remembered;

“****, the first gym leader is a flying type user.”

Jercio ran back into New Bark Town, and Yohi followed behind chuckling a little bit. If only he knew. If Jercio got beaten then Yohi would probably get erased too. Ignoring that terrible thought Jercio began to pace again, and Yohi sighed going back his seat on the ground.

“We gotta think of something. Flying is weak to rock, ice, and electric, but strong against bug, grass, and fighting. They’re immune to ground types…. They resist what they are strong against too… electric, rock, and steel resist them though. First place you found an electric type was after Violet city. We might not be able to get there. We can check that one cave for a rock or ground type…” Jercio went on and on.

Yohi finally grew tired of his trainer’s talking and very lightly kicked him the shin. Jercio jumped about in pain holding back a couple of choice words. Though Yohi felt he had kicked lightly because of how strong he was to Jercio it felt like a normal person had done it almost as hard as possible. When his master finally stopped jumping around Yohi shouted up at him. Obviously Jercio didn’t understand the words, but along with that Yohi kept pointing off down the route and hitting his fist down in his palm. Like it or not Jercio knew he’d have to move on. He did have time before facing Falkner. With some luck and training it would be possible to win. Jercio just had to make the effort.

“Fine Yohi. We’ll go, we’ll fight, and we’ll win. Oh yeah and… er menu” Jercio said remembering that he was going to set something.

He turned off the language censor, turned on a HUD which would fade if not used for a period of time, and checked Yohi’s stats one last time. Jercio never was one to focus on Ev’s and natures, but now he was going to focus a lot more on raising his pokemon. Content with the changes Jercio and Yohi went on down the route. Whoever did the art for the game was a genius for sure. The place would easily pass off for the real thing. The trees were lush, and each leaf could be seen. Jercio could pick out each blade of grass too. It was kind of scary seeing how much detail had been put into this. How long did the makers work on this game? It couldn’t have been too long since it ran with some of the latest hard and software. It was all a bit overwhelming so Jercio pushed the thoughts from his mind and went back to trying to accept it all as real. By looks alone that wasn’t hard.

Compared to the games the route felt six times as long. Good thing Jercio was designed to be able to carry on through this adventure. Jason did not want this to devolve into the sims, so Jercio was designed with longevity in mind. Not to mention in real life Jason was known for his long hikes and beach walks. It felt a lot like one of those nice late summer walks, but with pokemon instead of mosquitoes. The only bad part was it felt way too quiet. Jercio had been evasive around the trainers, but did want to find some pokemon though he wasn’t sure of that either.

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #8 December 23rd, 2012, 10:33 PM

---- for you, Caravan

KRISSU
→ Cherrygrove City

Cherrygrove looked like it always did in MAO. Cheerful and friendly, with all its NPCs wearing sleezy smiles. Krissu went past the marketplace and heard a character call out to bypassers about their homemade, cheap medicines. She halted her walk for a moment. It was a player, likely an Alchemist, who had set up a marketstand of their own. Many had accepted the only in-game profession available in Cherrygrove and learned to become Alchemists. It was a good thing for the players who wanted to stride onwards, too, since Alchemists usually sold their items cheaper than the Pokémart did. Krissu bought 1 antidote and a couple of potions from the thankful player. She wasn't rich since she had hardly battled other trainers yet and hadn't become an Alchemist herself, but she figured she'd need at least some backup if she was going to set out north from the safety of the city.

It was still rather early in the day when Krissu went to the shore in Cherrygrove to have the lunch she had also bought at the market earlier. Cooking was something also implemented in the game, but not as a profession per se; if you wanted skills in cooking in MAO, you'd simply have to practice. It reminded her of how it worked in World of Warcraft; anyone could take up cooking and get better at it, without treating it as one of their main professions. She hadn't been practicing cooking either, though, instead buying food every day. Avatars got hungry, to keep the game realistic. Her money was running low because of this. Another reason for her to start taking her mission as a trainer more seriously now. As if she didn't have enough reason already.

She let Litwick and Rattata out. The former happily stole some of Krissu's lunch, while the latter sat down and blinked at the girl until she slowly gave the rat a piece of food. It silently ate it up. Rattata seemed to have accepted easily that it was now Krissu's pokémon. Just like in the old games and kind of in contrary to the anime, it only took the successful capture of a pokémon into a pokéball to make it loyal. Or perhaps it was just this particular Rattata being submissive. Krissu would not know until she had captured even more pokémon.

"Will you be my fighter?" she asked her pokémon, absent-mindedly. Litwick gave her a curious smile but Rattata looked up with hesitation and found Krissu's eyes facing his. He didn't really reply. But Krissu knew that even though many did not bother with catching Rattatas, in favor for more exotic species or pokémon with better elemental powers, he could become a fierce fighter if he learned good crushing moves and evolved. She'd make it so.

"Ahoy there, lass!" a voice suddenly came, making Krissu lift her head. A man was walking towards her on the cliffs. His skin was tanned leathery by the sun and his head was bald. He was dressed in an armless top and shorts and sandals, holding a fishing pole in his hands. Krissu knew who he was even before he had said anything more. She had spent enough time in Cherrygrove, all these past days, to know what quests existed here even if she had not dared to take up any of her own as long as Malcolm had advised her to lay low. Malcolm...

"Would you mind doing me a favor, perhaps?" the man said, coming closer. Krissu stood up and her pokémon finished eating, watching the fisherman curiously. The fisherman's favor. A well known quest here by now, to get the simplest rod in the game. Hm, she might as well.

"What should I do?" she simply asked, still feeling too down to be polite to NPCs.

"Simple thing. I lost my favorite rod down in the water by some cliffs and the water's too wild for me to dive down and get it back for myself. I'm getting old, you see. If you'd help me with fetching my rod, I'd give you one of my old ones. Not the shiniest stuff, but it can sure catch some pokémon of the sea!"

Krissu nodded, accepting the quest. She recalled Litwick and Rattata into their pokéballs; neither of them would be very able to join her if she was going underwater. The fisherman led her to the cliffs in question and Krissu took her bag, coat and shoes off. As she leaned out over the water, her reflection looked back at her. Behind her dark silhouette, a graying sky was ominously luminescent, making it difficult to see past the surface down at the bottom below. A sudden feeling made her shiver.

Christina was never a good swimmer! Diving, that was something she did only because the teacher told her in class. She had been one of the least athletic girls in school, and not really comfortable with being underwater. Not to mention opening your eyes there would hurt. But now she was Krissu, designed to be a breathtaking fighter. Well, not really... but at least designed to have the possibility to be that way. In this game, she could overstep boundaries and overcome her fears. Maybe... if she dared trying in the first place.

The fisherman had walked away for a bit and was now interacting with another player, it seemed. He didn't seem to give every player the same task to fulfill. Was it random or was it meant to suit the player?

The pink haired girl shook her head and pulled the black, short dress over her head as well. She didn't care if anyone saw her here, and there was nobody nearby anyways. She took a deep breath and jumped in.

The water was cold against her skin. So real... She almost got a shock as she submerged, but managed to keep her breath. Opening her eyes, found that it didn't hurt as much as she thought. Pain, at least, wasn't as real inside MAO as in the real world. Some comfort.

---
The metal rod was gleaming just about one meter below her. Krissu steeled herself and kicked with her feet to swim down. She took great effort not to look out towards the dark sea; the slope down was steep and filled with rocks that became invisible in the blackness only a few meters further out. So creepy. Her hand closed around the rod and she gathered power with her legs and kicked off from the bottom, back towards the surface. That was when something snared around her ankle, stopping her ascent.

She let out a bubble of air in surprise and unwillingly looked back. A red, glowing gem and a pair of narrow eyes looked at her and a tentacle wriggled itself around her leg. Panic. She managed to kick the creature with her other foot, in the face. It let go and she waved her arms and the rod, finally reaching the surface with a gasp for air. As quickly as she could, she climbed the cliffs again, freezing slightly in the cold sea breeze. She calmed herself down, realizing that it must have been a pokémon and not a monster that wanted to kill her down there. The breeze dried her only slightly and she soon had to put on her dry clothes again to make herself warmer. She hoped the game would not let her be wet for long.
---

The fisherman was easy to find again and when he got his prized favorite rod back, he gave her the one he had been carrying in return. A much less shiny one. Still, Krissu knew it could come in handy, from playing the old games. She didn't say anything in reply to his generic words, she just nodded and left him on the shore. But she didn't walk back to Cherrygrove's center just yet...

Below the water near those cliffs, a red light was still pulsating. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it must have been a Tentacool. Or perhaps a Tentacruel, but in that case she was rather lucky that a simple kick could serve as her getaway. In any case, she intended to capture it.

Christina had learned how to fish from her father when she was younger. Living near the sea in Scotland made it natural to spend some time fishing, anyways, and her father quite enjoyed it. In her teenage years, she had not been coming with him as often though. Still, she hoped that it would be simpler in MAO than in real life... and she was right. She didn't even have to think; just making a flicking motion with the Old Rod threw out the line and made it land about 4 meters out in the water. Content, Krissu smiled smugly. Then she remembered that if she got something on the hook, she'd have to battle it. At least it was so in the old games. She reached for her bag with one hand and retrieved Rattata's pokéball. He was quite low leveled still, but pokémon found with Old Rod were never really high leveled either. And Litwick wasn't really a good choice, seeing as he was fire type.

She didn't get anything for several minutes. Maybe she had just found a really bad place. But then, something was tugging the line! Rattata growled in its ratty way and Krissu pulled on the rod, throwing the pokémon up into the air... a Tentacool. It landed on a rock beside her and fluttered around stupidly. No... it wasn't what she wnted.

"Eh... no. I know you might become a less pathetic pokémon with some training," Krissu told it. "But right now, I'm looking for determined pokémon. Pokémon that can understand me. I don't think you can." As if it had listened and understood, the pokémon jumped back into the ocean, only leaving Rattata slighly less dry than before. If Krissu hadn't been her new, determined self still, she would have laughed.

Come on... ankle grabber, where are you? Krissu was losing patience, but put up with getting two more silly looking Tentacol on her hook. Rattata got to beat them both with a few turns of his Bite attack. Interesting thing here was that instead of just fainting and somehow lay still (something that never was visible or resolved in the old games), wild pokémon's bodies dissolved into a shower of red pieces of data when they were defeated. Like flying crystals. It was just like killing monsters in any video game, but Krissu couldn't help feeling like she took real lives away when she did this. Throwing opportunities away. If she had captured that pokémon instead of killing it, would it have grown into a beautiful friend of hers some day? A valuable companion on the battlefield? No, she could not be thinking in those terms. She just had to survive and beat the game. These pokémon were not real. Not like she was, and Malcolm.

Finally, the pokémon she pulled out was a different Tentacool. Judging by the recognizing look in its eyes when it met her gaze in the air, this most certainly was the one that had grabbed her ankle before. Just the one she wanted to face.

"Rattata, Quick Attack!" she called out when the water pokémon was still in the air and had let go of the hook. Rattata jumped at blinding speed and tackled the jellyfish to land on a cliff instead of back in the water. It got up and stared at the rat, before starting to vibrate strangely. Krissu realized that it was some kind of sonic attack when she saw Rattata becoming confused.

"Dammit," she muttered. Not wanting to risk Rattata hurting itself and maybe fainting, losing any shared experience, she recalled it to its pokéball and threw out Litwick instead. She hoped that Tentacool would not have any water attacks yet, if it was low leveled enough.

"Litwick, Night Shade!" she ordered and her pokémon's shadow extended quickly towards Tentacool, where it rose up and dealt a slamming blow that also scared it. But not enough. The water type countered with throwing its vines towards Litwick, trying to... "Normal type moves like Constrict still don't work on ghosts," Krissu jeered. Choosing a ghost as a starter was proving more useful than she had planned; she had actually just chosen it because it was cute and small.

"Retort with Confuse Ray!" Litwick sent a swirling ray towards its opponent, who became instantly confused and slipped on the wet rocks. Dangerously close to falling back into the ocean... "Fire Spin!"

The fire attack wouldn't hurt it much since Tentacool practically consisted of water. But it might keep it still. Unfortunately, whether it was speed alone or the mechanics of the game, Tentacool's attack came first. A tentacle was thrown out and this time hit Litwick right on. It was glowing in purple. Litwick squeaked and fell backwards, while a purple dot appeared near its floating health bar; it had been poisoned! Krissu knew that this wasn't a critical situation now. She did have Rattata in case Litwick fainted. But still, her pulse rose. She wanted to finish this now.

"Come on, just one more attack. Use Night Shade again," she begged her starter, who obeyed. Naturally. It was bound to obey. Tentacool had managed to free itself from the Fire Spin and was readying another futile attempt at Constricting the ghost, it seemed. But Litwick's shadow crept up before that, and slapped Tentacool with its ghostly force again. This made Tentacool's health bar sink, and sink...

The pokéball touched down on the blue skin just before the health dropped down below zero. Apparently that might be the trick. The pokémon was sucked in and the ball dropped onto the cliff, rocking a few times back and forth until it finally came to a stop. Her second capture attempt was also her second successful attempt. Thank god... or maybe thank the maker of MAO? Krissu picked up the ball, gathered her other stuff and picked up the poisoned Litwick.

"Thank you," she said softly to him. She wasn't sure why. He was just a figure in a game, but she could have sworn that he smiled when she carried him back to the Pokémon Center under the gray sky. No need to use her antidote now; it might save her life later.

Skymin · #9 December 24th, 2012, 12:10 PM

<<BiRDiE>> // Cherrygrove City
Do you know what's scarier than being attacked? Scarier than dying? It's the knowing. To know that it's imminent. Of course, we all die; this is a fact we all must accept at one point in our life. But to know that it's lying around a very close corner? That in any second, you could be pulled away from your consciousness and into some unknown abyss? It's scary as hell. So scary, in fact, that Birdie was frozen solid on the very edge of Cherrygrove City, literally a step away from what he thought was imminent death.

He had seen what he thought was death maybe twice now. Reckless trainers thinking they can take this unknown with no strategy other than 'go'. It was a little stupid, but Birdie admired their courage. But courage can only get so far before you need luck and wits.

"Good morning!" Birdie almost fell over when a voice shouted rather joyfully from behind. He spun around and came face to face with one of the NPCs, though Birdie had already spoken to this one yesterday. Regardless that they were a lifeless bit of programming, Birdie replied politely.

"Good morning, ma'am," he bowed his head at the NPC, who mimicked the movement and moved on to whatever they were programmed to do. They were so realistic; it was so hard to believe that this was just a game. This all was just a game.

There was a flutter of wings and a low croon from Birdie's right. Yeah, Todo wasn't real either. But Birdie could pat him, give him a scratch and talk to him and he would respond. It was every Pokémon fan's dream to have a real life Pokémon but Birdie was still too dazy from the lockdown to realise that his real-life counterpart would have been dreaming of this kind of adventure since she was ten.

"M-maybe not today," Birdie hung his head and turned around, heading back into Cherrygrove. Todo seemed a little disappointed, sighing at his master, but didn't complain. There wasn't much to do in Cherrygrove but shop and Birdie's funds were slowly but surely depleting. He had to do something soon to get money otherwise he would die of hunger or something. He could go outside the route but he wasn't ready for that yet. It was a wonder he had made it this far; he had quickly made it through Route 29 and was in Cherrygrove when the announcement came over the sky. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go train but Birdie felt very scared and very alone and that player count had rapidly decreased over time.

"Excuse me!" another voice yelled out to Birdie and he looked up from his feet, seeing someone walking over towards him. Another player, actually. A male avatar and a little older than Birdie was, but younger than Sophie. "Do ya' have a minute?"

"Sure," Birdie nodded. He had a more than a minute.

"Hey, well, I just accepted a quest from those Alchemists," he gestured to a house from the direction he came. 'House of the Berry Brewers', it said. Birdie had read it a few times, "and I kinda need a hand with collecting some berries and stuff. Would ya' be able to help me?"

"Yeah, no problem," Birdie gave a nod. Company would be nice, especially after a week of nothing but one sided conversations with Todo.

"Cool! Ya' better go accept the quest ya'self so ya' can get something from it too, ya'know?" the player led Birdie back to the house. Birdie had already been into the house once, just to look around and talk to people. He must have missed the quest though. Did quests come available at certain times of the day? They quickly accepted the quest for Birdie (basically to collect a certain amount of berries) and left.

"The name is Vinns500 by the way, but I guess ya' can call me Vinny," Vinny introduced himself, though it was hardly necessary. Birdie could just check in his menu screen.

"Birdie," Birdie replied, hands in his pockets, "and Todo." His Zubat squeaked from his trainer's shoulder.

"Cool, nice to meet ya', Birdie," Vinny outstretched a hand and Birdie took it, shaking it. It wasn't something that Sophie would do often. Was shaking hands a guy thing? "Let's go get some berries! I think there's a patch in the next route over." Birdie swallowed.

"The next route?" his voice shook a little. Why wasn't there some berries by the ocean or somthing.

"Yeah, it's no problems. I've been back and forth a few times. C'mon bird-boy," Vinny yanked at Birdie's arm and dragged him into the next route. He swallowed again, holding his breath as they stepped (well, as Birdie was dragged) over the imaginary line between the routes.

Well, maybe he wouldn't die just yet. He had someone with him this time.

Sovereign. · #10 December 26th, 2012, 12:56 AM

Mickie
>>> ROUTE 30

Specks of sunlight filtered through the dense brush of the forest as it bathed the luscious greens in a golden warmth. The fresh dew of morning slid deftly off the tall spines of grass and soaked the well trodden path of Route 30. It was a quiet day, save for the squishing sound of boots as their owner walked along with a lighthearted gait. At a glance, she looked to be another young trainer out for a battle. However, this one was different. She had a purpose. One particular purpose that involved an Egg and the promise of an older woman's appreciative smile. Mickie had left the comfort of Cherrygrove City just before dawn. Her mission was crucial. Well, only as crucial as she made it out to be, really. The mission was just something to do to get her back on her feet. Anyone could go fetch an Egg, but she accepted with no hesitation. This quest was something to do. A process to kick start her journey. Before, she was moping around the town. Playing it safe. It was Bishop who nudged her towards getting out there and take charge of her fate. Literally.

Mickie's first week in Johto was one of absolute awe and excitement, followed quickly by panic and fear. She was just at the end of Route 29 when the Lockdown happened. They were trapped. All of them. In a virtual world where reality was around every corner, inside every Pokéball, where your demise could be found. You die in the game and you body outside of it shuts down too. To say there was hysteria was only the half of it. She was practically stampeded by other players as they rushed into Cherrygrove to find sanctuary. She too went a little crazy as she bundled her new Houndour in her arms and huddled in a small corner in the Pokémon Center. It wasn't until the hype died down a little that she actually moved from her cozy little spot. By then, it was four days later.

Bishop, as she named the Houndour, was restless. He needed constant stimulation and he just couldn't take the waiting any longer. So, with a rather ungraceful running start, he slammed his trainer through the open doors of the Center and out into the (virtual) daylight. That push was all she needed. Mickie was back on her feet and decided to look on the bright side of this unusual predicament. This was a challenge. She was going to become the Champion and return home to her real body. As she was enlightened by this realization, a woman came up to her, the Mayor of Cherrygrove, and asked if she would deliver an Egg to her out on Route 30. Unable to refuse that kind face, she set off to find Mr. Pokémon.

That was exactly how Mickie found herself here trekking through the wet growth of the forest.

Bishop padded happily beside her. She had found that her friend was a rather curious little fellow. He would sniff every colorful bush and explore each mysterious hole in the ground. He even stared at a perfectly normal rock for ten minutes before Mickie put herself together enough to stop laughing at the faces he was making. The Houndour kept pace with her long strides as she rushed to find this Egg.

"I wish it wasn't so wet," Mickie said with a scrunched up nose. The bottom half of her skirt was soaked to the point of being a different color entirely. Though she walked on the dirt path the grass was just too thick and hung over the sides of the walkway. She would never encounter a problem like this in one of her other games. Heck, it wouldn't ever be her walking if it was anything else. She didn't mind much though. A little water never hurt. Mickie spared a glance down at her Pokémon. He was the average looking Houndour with jet black fur with a brown underbelly and muzzle. She particularly fancied the silver armor-like pieces that clung to his forehead and back, along with the ringlets on his paws made out of the same material. He wasn't as well kempt as most though. He had a habit of running through the mud. Still, he felt a little like family to her, despite how little she knew about him.

"I wonder what moves you know already."

In her other games, she never really played with a Houndour on her team. Sure she knew a little about his stats and his evolution process, but when it came to moves she was at a small disadvantage. Might as well use deduction to figure it out.

"Most fire types start out with Ember for their first type-advantage move, especially in the first few generations. You are also a dark type so the lowest level move I can come up with is Bite." She stopped walking and knelt down. "Maybe you could show me a few?"

She scratched behind his ear and smiled encouragingly. Bishop gave off a few barks in acknowledgement and backed away from his trainer. A deep grumbling sound came from his throat, and Mickie leaped toward the left as a stream of flames erupted from the Pokémon's mouth. "Guess I was right on that one," the girl laughed as she brushed herself off.

Yet the laughter quickly died as the bushes to her side began shaking, and she knew exactly what that meant. With a loud clicking sound a wild Spinarak crawled out onto the path. Mickie will deny that she ever screamed in such a girly fashion. The flames must've attracted it here. Before either the Trainer or her Pokémon could react the Spinarak had shot a line of string at Bishop, entangling his feet and tripping the Houndour. He gave off a surprised yip that shook Mickie from her moment of terror.

The Spinarak began circling its prey, clicking furiously, and the Houndour wiggled its way out of the sticky strings. "Time to test out how well those tricks of yours work," she said uneasily. "Bishop, use Ember!"

With the same grumbling sound from earlier, fire shot from his mouth toward the Spinarak, but it was too quick. It used its String Shot attack on the ground nearby to slingshot itself to safety. It spun around like the speed of light and its long tentacles shot out towards Bishop. The tentacles wrapped around his small figure and began to squeeze, constricting the Pokémon. Mickie cried out in fright as Bishop's health bar dropped, but it only made a small dent in the green.

"Bite it!" Mickie called. Bishop growled and clamped hard with his teeth onto the tentacles. This time it was the Spinarak who wailed. Its bar too dropped a few good points.

"Now use, uh, Smog!" That's right. If her memory served her right, Houndour should know enough for that attack. Bishop discharged a plume of purple gas that enveloped the enemy, making it harder to breath. The Spinarak clicked in frustration and Mickie could make out its health bar depleting into the yellow area. Good. Now they had the upper hand in this battle. That is, if she was paying enough attention. Smog was a poison type move, and the enemy also shared that type. The Spinarak was quick to adjust itself to the new polluted air, and with another String Shot attack it pulled Bishop into the fray.

"Oh no."

Neither she or her Pokémon could see through the growing Smog. Mickie could only make out the faint glow of their health bars, with one rapidly depleting. Terrified growls could be heard as the Houndour was at a loss of what to do. Everywhere he turned the Spinarak would shoot out from the purple thickness and use Constrict. She knew she had to do something quick. It was either win or lose. No in between. Losing meant whiting out, so that was definitely not an option.

"First real battle and already you are screwing it up," Mickie scolded herself. "You know better than this! You're a professional!"

Taking another look at the battlefield an idea began to bloom. Of course. Why didn't she think of it before? Mickie cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted into the Smog. "Bishop, I need you walk toward my voice." A whimper came in response. It just about broke her heart. "I know you're scared, but trust me. When I say the word I need you to take a big leap towards me and use that attack you showed me earlier. Aim at the Smog, okay?" This time the reply came in a health bar inching toward the red.

"Just follow my voice."

And so he did. Bishop slowly backed up to where her voice soothed him softly. She dropped into her 'mother' voice as she would call it. Soon the faint glow grew brighter and the Houndour was almost to the edge of the Smog. If there was ever a time she wished she was right, it was now. Just a few more steps... "Now!" With a mighty push on his back paws Bishop jumped backwards through the air and gave off a bright stream of flames as his Ember attack took effect. The moment the fire hit the billowing gasses it light up like a Christmas tree. Just like in her good old chemistry class. The Spinarak gave off a wailing clicking sound as it was caught in the raging fire. It didn't take long for its health bar to hit its end, and soon it glowed in raw data before whiting out completely. Wiped from existence.

Mickie couldn't help but feel instantly guilty, but that didn't stop her from pumping her fist in the air in triumph. "We did it!" She scooped up Bishop in her arms and nuzzled his furry neck. The dog barked happily and licked her cheek. The trainer giggled as she swung both herself and the Pokémon in circles. She wasn't even going to dwell on the fact that she had almost lost him and her life. That came later. For now, she was just so dang happy that they won. "Our first victory," Mickie said as she fought off the dog's assault of his wet tongue. "Good job, boy."

She set him down lightly. He was panting from the exertion of the battle and it occurred to her that he might be hungry. Pokémon probably burn a lot of calories when they use their moves. Or did they? She had to constantly remind herself that this was just a game. It all feels so real. Nonetheless, she would feed him and have a bite for herself as well. Mickie brushed a few stray stands of hair from her face before digging into her bag, retrieving a half-eaten granola bar. She pulled the oats a part and have half of the meal to Bishop while nibbling on her own.

"Now to get back to what we are really doing out here," she sighed. There was still an egg to find.

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #11 December 26th, 2012, 09:01 PM

K R I S S U
→ Cherrygrove City
♦ Soundtrack

After healing her pokémon, Krissu barely turned around to face the entrance of the pokémon center again before she was jumped by two people. Two other players.

"Krissu!" one of them said, a short girl with her orange hair in a bun. "There you are! Me and Stern are going to the shore, want to come with us?" Her smile showed all of her teeth and made Krissu almost want to blink.

"Something tells me she's already been there, Tiasha," Stern said with a meaning look at Krissu's still moist clothes. He was a dark skinned man with bald head and small beard.

"I was," Krissu replied without smiling. She started to walk across the lobby and Stern and Tiasha gave each other a worried look and followed.

When the lockdown happened, Christina and Malcolm had not been alone. A lot of people had been in route 29 at that time and grouping together seemed like a wise thing to do. During their days in Cherrygrove, they became friends and did their best to make plans on how to get out of the game half the time and trying to pretend it wasn't a game at all the other half of the time. Tiasha and Stern had not known each other before MAO, but from what Krissu had been told, Stern had saved Tiasha's life on route 29 that day and she had sworn to one day do the same. So the two of them had stuck together ever since. Krissu could understand them. To have someone to rely on in this strange world... She did not have that anymore.

"I captured this," she said as they exited to the street and took out Tentacool's pokéball. The water type appeared on the ground and let out a bubbling sound, probably as a kind of greeting towards Tiasha and Stern. Tiasha seemed impressed while Stern muttered that he disliked poison types.

"Ok, then, let's go to find some berries on route 29!" Tiasha suggested instead. "Since I'm a berry brewer now, I'll automatically know which ones are the best!"

"It's called alchemist," Stern corrected her and earned an annoyed look.

Krissu watched them bickering, silently. She had been like that with Malcolm too, up until a few days ago. But never again, now. When Tiasha noticed Krissu's sad look, she waved Stern away and opened her mouth to give yet another suggestion.

"It's alright," Krissu stopped her. "I don't feel like doing anything, is all. I'll just train for a bit, maybe."

"Just train? That's not something the Krissu I know would say," Stern commented with a clever look. "She would call that 'reckless'."

The pink haired girl looked up, a tone of anger in her red eyes now. "I am not reckless. I'll train so that I won't white out when it matters. I'll... I will go to the academy in Violet."

Both Tiasha and Stern raised their eyebrows at that. "You'll go to Violet?" the girl burst out. "But that's dangerous!"

She had come up with that idea just now. It wasn't anything she had thought through properly. But she couldn't linger in Cherrygrove any longer. Too many bad memories here now. "Being alive is dangerous," she said and turned away. "Because you might die."

She walked away with her back against her friends, Tentacool following her with uneasy steps on his tentacles. They didn't call her back; she assumed that Stern had gripped Tiasha and prevented her from running after her. It was typical of them. They took care of each other. Krissu would take care of her pokémon now, instead.

At the market, she spent a portion of her last money on food for the journey north. She really needed to get into a profession or begin battling now. The latter would serve several purposes. She'd just have to find the courage to challenge someone.

As she neared the northern edge of Cherrygrove, the weather grew better and the sun was shining through the clouds. A good omen, maybe. Krissu did not notice much; her mind was swirling at the moment.

"Excuse me, young lady!" a voice to her left called out all of a sudden. Krissu turned with a dull look to find an elderly woman, stylishly dressed and with an important air about her. She was walking on the street towards the white coated girl. The mayor. Having been in Cherrygrove for several days, this was another thing that Krissu already knew. She just had never bothered approaching this NPC because she knew that the quest she would propose involved traveling onto route 30. But now... the situation was different, wasn't it?

"Mrs Mayor," Krissu said with a polite nod. This earned her a wide, motherly smile from the woman. Did NPCs have feelings?

"I couldn't help noticing that it seems like you are going north. Is this correct?"

"Yes. I'm going to route 30 now."

"Good. See, I have an acquaintance there who has been bothering me for a while now about an important find that he has made. But he won't send me the item in question. He insists that I should visit him in person to transport it safely."

Krissu nodded absentmindedly as she listened. From what was in the old Johto games, she thought she recognized part of this.

"His name is Mr Pokémon." Ah, there it was. The man in the cabin in the woods. "Now, I'm sure you understand that I'm both too old and too busy to trek the woods for something like that. But I was wondering if you, a young and fresh trainer, might do me the favor of bringing his item back here to me?"

A slight smile escaped Krissu's lips now. But only because she had decided on something. "No, thanks," she said. "I have no intention of coming back to Cherrygrove anytime soon. I'm sure some other trainer will help you, though."

The mayor seemed a bit disappointed, but bid goodbye to Krissu and went on her way. Krissu sighed. Going all the way to Mr. Pokémon and then back again? She would only do that if there was a really good reward for it. Pretending to herself that she was sure of what she was doing, she took her first steps out onto the infamous and long route 30.

Fuyu · #12 December 26th, 2012, 09:42 PM

Game Start...

The first thing she saw... was white.

To be precise, it was a white ceiling, but the fact that it was a color she was seeing and not nothing was noted in her mind. Again. Just as she had on the first day and as she would for many days after, the young girl, too youthful in appearance to be called a woman, let out a quiet whimper, covering her eyes with an arm. This wasn't right.

She didn't completely break down; she couldn't. It simply wasn't in her to do more than cry a little and let things wash over her. And yet... it had only been a week. It was okay to still be a little frightened, wasn't it?

Ange wasn't to know.

For someone who was told they would never see a thing, this was frightening. If only she could live her life with her eyes covered. However, no human walked around with their eyes closed. Not even the blind attempted that sort of fallacy all of the time. She certainly had not... before.

A noise, a knock rather, made itself heard over her thoughts. She didn't jump. Her ears were long-trained to react to the sound of silence or the hooves of a pony. So she put a smile on her face and called out. "Yes?" There was a small pause, long enough which a time for a green creature to float in front of her from wherever it had been resting. The blob looked at her, tilting itself in a quizzical manner. The redhead put a slender finger to her lips as she had once felt people do to her, reminding the little Pokemon not to make too much noise.

This world itself was very frightening yet she took things like Pokemon... as nothing. They belonged in this world... rather like she did. So she took them as they were. If they disappear... will I go away too... will I not be able to find Benjy if I do? Such questions were not beneath her... nor able to be properly understood. So until she could really get them, she simply didn't think about them anymore. See? Problem solved. Ange giggled faintly when she put a hand on the gel-like substance that encased her little partner. She almost regretted never playing these games before. On the other hand... it made the new wonders and... sights very cool.

She looked up toward the sound of the NPC nurse's voice. "Excuse me, but someone needs to clean this room so if you stay in it tonight it's clean."

"Oh," replied the girl. "Kay." Ange rose to her feet and went to wash. It was still very strange to look at herself like this... particularly at this point. Benjy must look at girls a lot... did he like those other friends cause they could do that too? Ange had never paid much attention to those sorts of things... but now, here, where that was possible, she wondered. She wondered if Benjy would look at her because she was like this. Or if being "this" made any difference at all. Is this what I even look like? She shook the water from her head as she quickly redressed, face wearing a smile as she put the comfy shoes back over her feet.

The week had been filling her mind with these questions, things that normal people probably thought every day.The idea of dying or not dying never occurred to her, having never really helped matters. In fact that whole issue was out of her mind at the moment. She went to clean up, fingers following the reflexive routine from childhood on. Her lights were still off, the better to mimic her old world, the world where she didn't use anything important.

Above her head Sia gurgled again, rather pointedly if she tried to figure it out. Ange giggled to herself, pulling her stuff together. "Time to go," she murmured to no one and her partner. Sia floated after her, manipulating his Pokeball to land on her bag.

Outside, the nurse was nowhere to be found. It wasn't a surprise. The program likely teleported the person there and then let it disappear. Or maybe the call itself was simply a program. She didn't know. Angel hadn't been much of a fan of computers, barely even of technology. Except radio and CD dramas. He had been a fan of those.

She wondered when her thoughts had become so past tense. "Am I... me anymore?" She then shrugged. Odd question that. Ange was Angel and Angel was Ange. Bit weird to ponder otherwise right? Ange trotted on with these thoughts. "Hungry, Sia?" The Solosis gurgled a no. "I'm not either. Too bad." She slowly, gingerly even, walked into the lobby of the Center. The second she reached it, many voices touched her ears and she wobbled, supporting herself with one arm. Sia let out a mental cry and Ange shook her head. So noisy... It was almost nauseating how loud and busy it was. Worse than the diner, it was.

Sia let out a strange clang. Everyone abruptly shut up, making Ange turn pink. They were all looking at her.Somehow knowing they were staring at her was worse than thinking they were. She pouted at Sia, who gurgled his amusement. They quickly exited, Ange shaking her head in shame. "You didn't have to do that Sia..." Her Pokemon shrugged. It had worked on enemies on the way here.

People were passing around her, some players and others were not. It was confusing... but not as confusing as the city itself.

Ange giggled rather despondently. "I think I'm lost..."

"Read the signs," grumbled a gruff-looking man, glowering at her and her odd clothing.

Ange blinked slowly. "Well how would I do something like that?" None of the signs were in Braille right? Thy were in letters and numbers and visible odd things. She didn't know those. The man scoffed at her and lumbered away.

"Ah, excuse me lass!" She turned to hear the rushed footsteps of a young man. His freckled face was widened in a smile and instantly Ange shied back. How odd, how... just... odd! Expressions, what were they? Then Ange smiled back. She knew what it was. It had merely taken her a moment that was all. "Are you heading onto Route 30?"

Ange tilted her head. "Well... yes?" Was that the place up ahead? Was that the way she was supposed to go?

He chuckled at her. "Well you're going the wrong way aren't you? You were heading straight toward the ocean. Turn yourself right and head that way, okay lassie?"

"Oh..." She didn't really know her left from right either but Apple had and that usually meant turn toward where the sun came from. So Ange did just that and started walking. "Thank you!"

"My pleasure," the young man called before letting out a soft, warm whistle. "My pleasure indeed..." He laughed a little and walked away, back toward Route 29.

Meanwhile Ange was happily moving toward the destination. "I suppose I need more..." she thought aloud, watching Sia hover after her. She wouldn't be able to make it with just Sia, though that would be really, really nice. She didn't have much money too... she would probably have to train for that. How... did one train exactly though? Just hunt wild Pokemon? Well... that wasn't very nice now was it?

Sia let out a gurgling chime and Ange stopped walking, only to bump into an older taller girl. "Oh, hello" she greeted, smiling as she stepped back. "My mistake, I didn't notice you there. Thinking does that... a bit." It was strange, she found herself a lot more talkative now. Funny that.

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #13 December 26th, 2012, 10:01 PM

K R I S S U
→ Route 30

Krissu did not walk quickly. Some part of her still feared leaving the safety of the city she had gotten to know over the past week. Route 30 had been a scary thing to just talk about and avoid. But here she was, not even looking back at the buildings that would be barely visible between the trees now...

Something bumped into her from behind. Reflexes and a nervous mind made Krissu jump around and motion for Tentacool to go forward. The water type was still out of its pokéball. It hesitated before it really followed the order though. What had bumped into his trainer was a small, orange haired girl with bright aqua eyes and... pajamas?

"Oh, hello" the girl greeted, smiling as she stepped back. "My mistake, I didn't notice you there. Thinking does that... a bit."

Krissu blinked. "Yes... it does," she said and let down the hands she had been inadvertently raising in front of her out of surprise. Was this girl a NPC or a player? Sometimes it was hard to tell, but then Krissu remembered that she could enable the HUD interface and make markings appear in the air above the heads of players. She usually kept the HUD off, because that if anything would make all this feel unreal. And that might make her do reckless things.

A green pokémon floated in the air beside the little girl. Solosis, if Krissu remembered her pokémon lore correctly. Maybe it would be a nice thing to have a pokédex, because right now she could only check information about her own pokémon in the menu. She wondered where one could get a pokédex in this game.

"Is that your only pokémon?" she asked the other player. If it was, it was rather reckless of this trainer to venture north already.

Skymin · #14 December 26th, 2012, 10:41 PM

<<BiRDiE>> // Route 30
Route 30 was just as Sophie remembered it, but it didn't stop Birdie from being extremely nervous and a little jumpy at everything that moved. They hadn't gotten to the long grass but it was only a matter of time. Vinny was taking his time searching for these berries, but if Sophie's Pokémon knowledge was correct, there was a small house between Cherrygrove and Mr. Pokémon's House that had a Berry tree growing there. Birdie kept his mouth shut though because Vinny seemed to think he knew what he was doing.

"There's nothing here!" Vinny groaned after searching the entire edge of one side, not looking bothered to check the other. "Let's move on to the next part, alright?"

"The next part?" Birdie made a face. Through the grass was probably what Vinny meant but there was always a small chance he meant... backwards?

"Yeah, c'mon bird-boy," he grabbed Birdie's arm (again) and dragged him further into the route and towards the tall grass. As much as he really didn't want to, Birdie allowed himself to be dragged. Besides, Vinny said he had been back and forth between this Route and Cherrygrove before. They could rely on eachother, right? Vinny wouldn't just leave Birdie here, right? A small squeak from his shoulder said that Todo had his back too. Yeah... so maybe this wasn't so bad.

Birdie's first step into grass was...n't so bad. The second step was just okay as well. And the third, fourth and the fifth. But the sixth step sent Birdie face first into the grass, his foot catching on something solid. When he lifted his head and looked behind him, a small and angry green bug stared back at him. Todo (who had surprisingly latched on during the fall and wasn't hurt at all) left Birdie's shoulder to look at the bug dead on, squeaking angrily.

"Ya' right?" Vinny offered a hand to Birdie, which he graciously took to help himself up. "Look, a Caterpie!"

And indeed, it was a Caterpie. A rather angry looking one which didn't like being stepped on. Birdie started to apologise to it when it launched a mouthful of string at his face. Well, at least he knew it wasn't a very polite Caterpie.

"Just battle it, it's only small fry," Vinny said a little impatiently. Right, they had to go find those berries. But how were you supposed to battle?

"How?" Birdie managed to finally pull the string off his face, only to see Vinny with a really tired expression. Oh, right, battling had to be exactly like in the games right? He brought up his menu, looked at his current Pokémon and saw the moveset. So... Leech Life, Supersonic and Bite? That seemed easy enough to set up a small strategy. Confuse it then Bite. Simple, right? "Okay Todo, use Supersonic."

The Zubat let out a high pitched squeal at Caterpie and Birdie could see the actual sound waves, just like in the game! It was... a dream come true really. But as much as Birdie just wanted to look, he had to actually do this battle. The Caterpie looked quite dazed and instead of attacking, kind of spun around and fell onto the ground.

"See, not so hard?" Vinny gave a chuckle. He was right, of course. It was just like the game.

"Bite, Todo!" Todo flew forward and practically bit the Caterpie's face off. The Caterpie, still confused, launched a String Shot upwards, which somehow coiled around itself. It was like it was defeating itself for Todo. After another command to Bite from Birdie, Todo ended the battle, the Caterpie closing its 'eyes' and disappearing into a mass of pixels.

"See?" Vinny slapped Birdie's shoulder. "Not so hard, ain't it?"

"Yeah," Birdie nodded and smiled, letting Todo perch back on his shoulder. Not so bad. Maybe he would make it after all. Vinny gave Birdie one more pat on the shoulder and led the way, not having to drag him this time. The house wasn't that far off in the distance and Birdie pointed at it when it came into view. "What about there?"

"Of course!" Vinny clapped his hands together and pointed at Birdie. "How could I forget? Geez, ya' a genius, bird-boy."

The tree next to the house was very easy to spot and Vinny rushed for it, celebrating by throwing his hands in the air and making loud noises. Indeed, it was very easy to see that the berries they had been looking for were right here. Vinny quicky picked some, handed half to Birdie and basically skipped back in the other direction.

"Wait," Birdie said, looking behind him at the path that went behind the house and towards what he thought would be Violet City. "What about that way?"

"Mr. Pokémon lives that way. I've already done that quest so we can go that way if ya' like, I guess," Vincent shrugged. "But there's more wild Pokémon that way."

Birdie immediately rethought his original idea.

"Let's go back."

"Good idea, buddy!"

They didn't have to walk through the long grass to go back, jumping over one of those weird things (Birdie had no idea what to call them) and heading back in to Cherrygrove. The man who gave them the quest for the Berry Brewers graciously thanked them, giving them some usable, health-restoring berries and some money, as well as an offer.

"You seem quite skilled at fetching berries. Would you like to become an Alchemist yourself?" the man said, beaming brightly.

"Yes please!" Vinny said. Birdie nodded, also agreeing. What was an Alchemist anyway?

"Good! Here, take these other berries," the NPC handed them a few more berries to their already overflowing hands. "You can use them to create potions and healing items! I will give you the first recipe for a basic potion, but you have to figure out the rest for yourself!"

"Thanks!!" As soon as the NPC had finished talking, Vinny shoved his berries into his bag and left the building. Birdie did the same and followed him out.

"What now?" Birdie said, feeling a little better about everything that was going on. So, he was an Alchemist now. And he had beaten a Pokémon. Things seemed a little better.

"Well, I'm gonna head back to Route 29, do a bit of Pokémon catching before I head to Violet City. What about ya'?"

"I think I need to heal my Zubat."

"Well, cool!" Vinny slapped Birdie's shoulder and smiled brightly at him. "Thanks for ya' company, bird-boy. I'll be seeing ya' around, alright? Don't go and disappear on me!" And with a quick wave, Vinny had already jogged off towards the route behind them. Birdie smiled back, waving. Yeah, he felt way better about everything now. Maybe he had a fighting chance to survive.

"Hm?" a message popped up on his menu and Birdie opened it automatically.

>> Vinns500 has sent you a friend request! Do you accept? [Y/N]

>> [Y]

>> Vinns500 has been added to your friends list!

Fuyu · #15 December 26th, 2012, 10:55 PM

Player Interaction...

"Is that your other Pokemon?"

The girl who asked this was odd... rather detached as it were. Ange didn't mean in looks. No she didn't at all. They were in a game after all and looks didn't mean everything. Her hair was pink though, something she once would have missed. Also she was tall, rather tall. It made her have to crane her neck to see her eyes. Ah the eyes, that was it. The eyes had an odd sort of feel to them. She was real. Oh yes she was ground in something real and it was very, very strange.

She had a weird... squid-like creature. It was a tentacle monster. What were they called? The manual for the game was no use... but someone had to have said what it was. A Tenta...cool. Ah yes that was it. It was rather cute... but probably felt a lot like Sia.

"Oh yes," Ange replied without thinking to the question. "I would have caught one earlier but most of the Pokemon leave you alone at night you see. Or at least they did there." She held up a red and white ball from her bag. "There were a lot of these scattered around on the ground. Well, not a lot," Ange amended gently. "But a couple. It was strange, rather like someone dropped them." Sia gurgled at her, looking rather amused at his trainer's rambling. He was not telepathic, at least not that he was aware. And even if he was, it wasn't particularly interesting to project his thoughts. Ange had enough problems without voices in her head.

Ange then suddenly paused from her dazed musings. "Are you a player too? You're probably smarter than I am. Never touched a game before..." She stopped and fell silent, patiently looking off toward the grass. It was rustling a bit, rather persistently. "My that was startling. Noisy creatures." The words were fond, almost like she was remarking on that crazy, distant uncle instead of the normal creatures of the environment.

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #16 December 26th, 2012, 11:08 PM

K R I S S U
→ Route 30

Krissu looked more closely at this girl. She was rambling; Krissu didn't really understand what she was trying to say. But she only had one pokémon? She must have been hiding in Cherrygrove just like Krissu had up until today.

"Are you a player too?" the girl then said, seeming to calm down a bit. "You're probably smarter than I am. Never touched a game before..." She stopped and fell silent, patiently looking off toward the grass. It was rustling a bit, rather persistently. "My that was startling. Noisy creatures."

"Uh," Krissu began, rather unimpressively. "I'm a player, yes. My name is... Krissu. I think you should capture more pokémon as soon as you can, because with only one, you run the risk of easily, well you know. Whiting out. You should also carry some potions with you-"

She stopped herself. What was she doing? One minute ago and the whole previous day, she had been looming about and never wanted to chitchat or smile again because of Malcolm's demise. But here, this lost little girl made the old Christina bubble up and feel like she wanted to help out. Krissu wasn't sure of what she should do, but she knew that her head would hurt if she started thinking too much again.

Before she could say anything more though, the grass rustled again and a green little caterpillar emerged. It stared intently at the smaller girl. An alarm went off inside Krissu, automatically. Even though this pokémon was one of the weakest to exist in a game ever, a player who was not used to the games could still fail against it. Krissu did not want to see that happen in front of her eyes again.

"A Caterpie..." she mumbled. Tentacool felt her disposition and looked as if it was ready to poison anything that tried to harm its new trainer.

Fuyu · #17 December 26th, 2012, 11:41 PM

Dangerous Encounter...

Ooh my...

"Wow..." Ange murmured. "Cute... isn't it Sia?" Sia let out a squeal at her, glowering with black eyes. She giggled. "Sorry Sia... so... we fight right?" Sia squealed again and Ange nodded slowly. "Hmm... okay.... then fight... with..."She opened up her menu and glanced at the caterpillar. It was glaring at her. Odd. Had she frightened it by knowing where it was? "Screech." Sia let out a high-pitched wail, making Caterpie flinch in pain. It had hurt a bit but generally had caused little in terms of damage.

Ange however was not so lucky. The noise burst into her ears, bringing an unbearable agony that ran from her ears into her head. She clapped her hands over her ears, whimpering for a moment. What kind of attack was that? It hurt her more than it hurt anyone else! "Ow..." She would never, ever use that move again. Never any moves like that. There had to be more of them. No more.

Stop! she thought. Stop! Stop please! To her surprise, Sia obeyed, floating over to her in concern. Her ears were ringing but her eyes did catch something, the leaping form of the Caterpie. "Look out." Sia was smacked to the ground. "R-Rollout?" The Pokemon began to spin, spinning and spinning faster until he was a green blur. Caterpie stared at this quizzically before rushing forward. Sia however crashed into it practically knocking it over. The Pokemon tried to turn mid-spin and failed, ending up twirling into a dizzy circle on the ground.

Ange frowned. "Oh... this could be a problem... what do you think?" She looked at Krissu as she said this, earnestly quizzical over the ringing in her ears.

Meanwhile, the Caterpie tentatively swung a string to land onto the top of the Solosis' body. It continued to thread and spun itself around and around, up the cell.

Claire* · #18 December 27th, 2012, 05:08 AM

Solomon

Ripples formed on the surface of the water as the Magikarp went to work playfully nibbling the air above it. Umbra leaned over the edge of the minuscule lake, her mouth agape as she stared in wonderment at the little fish. It was odd for Solomon, the whole world seemed new again when watching Umbra react to it. Every little thing garnered a reaction, no matter how small it may seem to him. She wasn’t unlike a baby in that way, often dashing off without his notice, only to come back with some new “discovery” of hers. He humored her of course, often pretending to have interest in whatever it was that second. It didn’t much bother him, sometimes the little treasures she brought back had some use. The occasional berry or what have you.

Umbra reached out with one of her tiny, two clawed hands towards the Magikarp. The fish didn’t seem to pay her the slightest bit of attention as she extended herself precariously over the water. Solomon knew exactly how this was going to end; a wet Sneasel. He didn’t intervene, you learn by the consequences of your actions. One quick swipe of her palm and Solomon’s prediction came true. With an unceremonious splash, she fell head first into the water. The Magikarp that once held her rapt attention, scooted safely away as she doggy paddled just to stay afloat. Umbra let out a devious and cheery laugh as she climbed her way back up the embankment. She was soaked, the water cascading off her body and further drenching the marshy ground below.

“Happy now?” Solomon asked her with a self-knowing smirk on his face. Umbra only looked up and beamed him a radiant little smile before nodding. “I’m afraid we would need a fishing pole to have any hopes of catching such a Pokemon. You aren’t exactly the greatest swimmer.” Umbra took to resenting that comment and seemed to give off an indignant little pout. “Anyway, we really need to keep going. It shouldn’t be much farther now. You’ll dry while we walk.”

The dense trees and luscious grass provided nice cover for the wild Pokemon of this route. So far, they had only encountered a Caterpie and a few Weedles. All things considered, he was pretty fortunate not to have Umbra be poisoned yet. In the portable games, their dreaded poison sting never failed to inflict his Pokemon with its insidious toxin. Hopefully they would find this Mr. Pokemon and his cottage soon enough. The route was massive in comparison to its former incarnation. What used to take seconds to traverse, now took a much greater portion of time.

“Snea, Sneasel!” Umbra shouted, her lithe figure jumping up and down excitedly, faint remnants of water still flying off her body. She pointed at something in the distance, it was hard to see exactly what she was trying to tell him. It seemed like a tree, no different than any of the others in the area. He was just about to tell her to calm down and move on before he spotted what she was so excited about. A little Hoothoot lay nestled on a branch within the safe confines of the tree’s reach. Its eyes were closed, only the black rings around them were visible as it snored the day away. Another perfect chance to get some more experience, just like the Pidgey on route 29.

“Ok, Umbra. Let’s keep this short and sweet, we have a quest to finish after all.” Solomon and Umbra approached the tree, stopping but a few meters away. “Let’s take it by surprise,” he leaned down and whispered into Umbra’s ear. “Faint attack, now.” Umbra seemed to disappear into darkness, almost as if she began to melt into the scenery that surrounded them. She appeared right near the Hoothoot, and hit it squarely between the eyes. The bird fell from its perch, hitting the ground below it with a sickening thud. Faint attack wasn’t an overly powerful attack, that was for sure. But its strength came through its accuracy. It never failed to make an impression. This battle would be over before you know it.

Hoothoot jumped to its feet, large red eyes glaring at its assailant and her human. “Okay Umbra, let’s finish this. Icy Wind.” The same gale from route 29 gathered itself, even Solomon felt the chill as his digital skin reacted with goosebumps. Umbra sent the wind rushing toward her opponent, only for the Hoothoot to go flying and dodge the attack with surprising agility. “Huh... Seems the little bird has some fight in him. Umbra, again.” Another wind built, only for the same result to happen. The Hoothoot simply dodged and circled Umbra, almost as if he was taunting her. It swooped in quickly, its beak glowing as it crashed into the Sneasel and began to peck like mad. Umbra tried in vain to wave off the pecking ball of feathers, her health falling little by little. “Come on, shake it off,” Solomon called out to her, trying to shake some sense into his Pokemon. “Quick attack.” Umbra launched at her attacker, connecting but not knocking it out. It only seemed to further infuriate the owl as it hovered above her and began to inhale deeply, its body seemed to swell with air. It opened its beak and Solomon doubled over as he covered his ears. An eardrum shattering cacophony was let loose, nailing Umbra and sending her to her knees.

Solomon recognized the attack, Uproar. Once started, this Hoothoot wouldn’t be able to stop itself for a little bit. He had to do something. At this stage in the game, Uproar could be incredibly powerful, even knocking out Umbra and causing him to white out. Not a horrible consequence in a normal game, but here, it was game over...forever. He reached into his bag and pulled out a pokeball. Before this fight started, he had no intention of catching this Hoothoot. Due to necessity, it looks like he would need to however. “Umbra, faint attack.” It took a second for Umbra to recover from the attack, but she responded dutifully as she was trained to do. Again the attack connected, but the Hoothoot remained living. The second wave of sound had to be coming soon. Umbra probably wouldn’t survive such a strong attack a second time, not at her current level at least. He threw the pokeball with all his might, the little ball growing as it sailed through the air and made contact with the owl. Hoothoot disappeared into a beam of light, only to make the pokeball shake ferociously in its attempt to escape. Solomon hoped he had weakened it enough, or they could be in serious trouble. Finally, the shaking stopped. The little menace was caught, securely locked away.

“You okay, Umbra?” She simply nodded her head and walked over to grab the now full pokeball. Handing it to her owner, she sat down with a sigh and rested while Solomon looked on with curiosity. “Good fight, little bird. I guess you’re part of the team for now,” he grumbled, his voice directed at the pokeball. “You’re either very scrappy or very lucky. Maybe both.” He stuck the pokeball next to Umbra’s inside his coat, clipping it securely in place. “I guess we’ll find out.”

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #19 December 27th, 2012, 12:02 PM

K R I S S U
→ Route 30

The little girl had no idea how to battle at all. It was as if she had never even played one of the old, traditional pokémon games. Didn't she say that earlier, actually? Krissu watched, keeping herself from taking action, as the battle unfolded and the Caterpie eventually used its String Shot to bind Solosis inside a cocoon. Here, Krissu had had enough. She would not let the little girl white out.

"Tentacool, Constrict!" she said. Tentacool seemed to shrug and then sent out its vines, letting them twist around Caterpie's tail, surprising it and dragging it away from the psychic pokémon.

"Supersonic!" Krissu then said, and Tentacool sent out soundwaves that made the worm at the end of its tentacles somewhat dizzy. "Hey, are you watching?" the pink haired trainer asked the orange haired one. "The trick with attacks like these, like Screech, seems to be to place yourself directly behind the attacking pokémon. That way the soundwaves won't reach you in the same way as if you are in front of or beside it."

Tentacool dropped the now agitated and confused Caterpie on the ground, a couple of meters away from the struggling Solosis.

"It's hopefully confused for a little while now... give it another chance," Krissu said, looking at Ange with stern, red eyes. She couldn't just beat it for her; the little trainer had to learn how to survive in this world without relying on others too much. Right?

Fuyu · #20 December 27th, 2012, 10:43 PM

A Dangerous Encounter...

Krissu was helping her. How odd, she seemed quite unhappy. Angel would have thought she would have already given up on battle. The girl looked between her and the battle. She seemed terribly disappointed in Ange. Why though? It wasn't to do with her. Perhaps Krissu was just kind. Yes, that would be right. Sia was struggling in the cocoon, eyes covered by the white string. Don't most rely on their eyes? How would Sia then fight with his eyes covered?

How did one even fight?

Ah... That must be where she came in then.

She grinned at Krissu, a rather childish expression by nature. "Thank you... it's rather odd to me. My eyes say you don't care... but my ears say you're quite scared. Very conflicting messages..." She walked slowly to stand behind the struggling Caterpie. It was trying to squirm at at, glaring in the complete opposite direction. She closed her eyes, listening to both Pokemon struggle. "Sia," she called. For some reason, she felt quite at peace with this moment. "Rollout. Follow my voice."

I was raised following others, following their sounds, their hands. Maybe someone will follow me.

Sia must have heard, having stopped wiggling. He hesitated and Ange called again. "Rollout over here!" Wouldn't he hit her? "Sia. Please." Sia began to spin, gaining more and more speed around the string cocoon. He pushed himself toward her, setting off at a roll toward where her voice had been. Ange quickly ran off as soon as Sia smacked into the caterpillar, moving to stand on the opposite side. "Over here."

He obeyed again as the Caterpie rose, ready to Tackle the little bug. The two knocked into each other, leaving both horribly dazed. Ange giggled a little then frowned pensively. She pulled a tiny ball from her bag. "Maybe it's time to use this...?" She did know how to use a Pokeball of course. That NPC Elm had shown her that much. She enlarged it and threw, rather like a baseball. It pulled the Caterpie inside in a beam of light.

Ange didn't watch this, going to help her dizzy Solosis. She began to tug off the string. "You're really strong." No one could be sure if she was talking to Sia or Krissu, least of all Ange herself.

machomuu · #21 December 28th, 2012, 04:37 AM

Fel - ???

All was black, yet everything that had been before no longer existed. The posters were gone, as was Kion's cooling fan and the aroma of recently baked apple pie. Now, there was no apple pie, there was no ceiling fan, and there was no Kion Fenela; there was only darkness.

The sound eventually returned to the new player's ears, as did his senses of smell, taste, and touch. As for sight, it was oddly absent from his repertoire. This player's name was Fel, and he had just entered Monster Art Online for the first time. He was unsure as to what ailed him. He moved his head, and everything seemed to work fine. He tried to move his hands, as well as his feet...but oddly, they wouldn't respond as he wanted them to. It seemed that they were bound by something. He panicked for a moment, but was staunched when he felt a strange fascination on the back of his head. After a few moments, something fell from his face, a cloth or a bandage, and he was able to see. His vision was blurred, however; he wasn't used to the irregular brightness of the room.

Fel looked to his left and he noticed that there was someone else sitting in a chair, as he was, also in the same situation as he was. To his right, there were two others, also in the same condition. He wasn't sure of exactly what was going on, where he was, or why he started there. He had little time to consider what was going on, as a rather large man clad in a tuxedo of a black and white color scheme took to the front. He looked rather large- or bulky, rather, like someone who could break a boulder with his bare hands. Still, his mustache and greased hair made him seem pleasant and cool, yet still intimidating, like a stereotypical Super Spy from an 60s or 70s movie.

The man snapped his fingers and the brightness of the lights dimmed to a tolerable level. He put his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat, then taking a formal position and returning his hands to his back. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Do not worry and do not panic, you are not in danger and you will not be harmed. You are safe here." The man's abstinence from using contractions made him seem more mechanical and less trustworthy to Fel. "You all have been brought here because in you we see potential."

Before the man could continue, a female in one of the neighboring chairs, around the age of fifteen or so, broke in with a desperate voice filled with anxiety. "I-is this Team Rocket? Are you forcing us to do your dirty work?"

At this, the man laughed a transparent laugh and responded, "Nonsense. Since the disappearance of Giovanni, that foolhardy organization has struggled to stay afloat. No, we take pride in what we do; being compared to those low-life criminals is an insult."

Another of the captives cried out, "Then why are we tied to these chairs? Are we being punished?"

He turned to the young man and said, "Heavens, no. You are all being recruited, but not to an organization like Team Rocket. No, we have good intentions for the region of Johto. However, we cannot inform you as to what those intentions are at the moment, nor will we force you to help us in our goal." The man scanned over the new players in front of him. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Martis. I will be the one giving you your orders. Ta-ta." The man waved as everything went dark again.

It was quite an abrupt exit, and a heck of an opening quest. Well, that's what Fel thought, anyway, but when he came to he already had his Blitzle. Even more strange, he woke up on Route 29. He started asking around and found out that it had already been three days since the game was released and that, normally, a player starts out in New Bark Town. If that wasn't enough, he learned that he was stuck in the game, and that there was no way out. All of this had his brain on overload, as he didn't remember any of it. He decided to learn more about what was going on, and went back to New Bark Town to accept the opening quest from Professor Elm, but upon inquiring about the quest, Elm told Fel that he had already finished the quest. Fel was puzzled, as he didn't know anything about it. He was very, very lost and confused.

A day later, Fel noticed a strange item in his inventory. Well, it wasn't so much that the item itself was strange is its existence was. It was a letter, one with no sender. It was in a rather extravagant envelope, so Fel had a good idea who it was from. He opened the envelope, careful not to rip it, and started reading.

Quote:

Greetings Dear Recruit,

You may be wondering about all that has happened in the time before you came into our presence, and that is to be expected. Something seems to have put many people in a frenzy; we have been hearing something about people being "locked in this world" and being unable to get out. Aren't we all? (Pardon my breaking of character) Anyway, this letter is here to reassure you. You have lost any recent memory you may have had, but this is normal. Well, as normal as a situation such as this could possibly be.

I'm sure you want to know exactly who we are. Unfortunately, I cannot answer that at present. No, before I can do that you must present your resolve. Show us that you can make the commitment to us. Now, this may be difficult, as you have no knowledge of who we are or what we do? That is to be expected, we have not given you any reason to help us, and more, you have no reason to trust us. Therefore, we shall give you your first assignment. You are to rendezvous with the other recruits in Cherrygrove City by the shore four days from now. That is all.

Cordially,

Martis

A letter that explained everything, and at the same time, presented more questions. This did put an end to Fel's wild goose chase, but it raised a rather large question that he couldn't shake: was the organization Player Controlled, or was this all a quest? It seemed so...calculated, and yet, Martis seemed to know nothing of the many people that recently began to populate Jhoto as being players in a game. Or rather, he decided to jump around it to make it seem that way. He considered being trapped in MAO to be an analogy, joking as he was.

Still, Fel was interested nonetheless. He had no reason not to meet up with the others, and that's exactly what he decided to do. For the next couple of days, Fel decided to train Hama, his Blitzle, and learn more about the events of the first three days in detail. As he learned more and more of the first three days, he started to remember the events taking place from his own perspective, until finally, he was able to completely remember everything from the moment he put on the Nervegear device until now...except for one thing. He did not remember the moment where he was taken to the room and bound to the chair. He didn't remember being attacked, and he didn't remember what happen around the time that he was taken there. However, it wasn't very important.

On the seventh day, he decided to make for Cherrygrove and wait for the others. He didn't exactly know who or what to expect, but he decided to let his interest take control and he would find out when he got there.

Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers · #22 December 29th, 2012, 01:09 PM

K R I S S U
→ Route 30

Krissu let out a breath she had been holding. The little girl lived. And she got another pokémon, at last.

"Well done," she said and actually smiled a little. Because, why not? Sure, she wouldn't be truthfully happy for a long time, since Malcolm... but there was no need to be rude just because she wanted to be serious and strong. Because in MAO, people actually seemed to want to talk to her, in comparison to the real world where people just shrugged when they saw her and thought 'there goes that nerd'.

"What's your name, by the way? And are you headed to Violet City now?" she then asked. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to have a traveling companion... at least for a while. Stern and Tiasha and most of the others she had gotten to know in the beginning of the game probably wouldn't leave Cherrygrove for a while longer, if ever. But here this frail little girl who seemed to know virtually nothing about how to be strong in MAO chose to go north. She was interesting. If nothing else, she could need Krissu's protection. Yeah, that was as good a reason as any.

"If you are, we can travel together if you'd like," she therefore said, not looking straight at the girl when she said it, and losing the smile somewhat. She was still used to not being popular in the real world, so she believed that there was a chance that the girl would reject her. "I need someone to spar with if I'm going to get stronger. NPCs are good for making money off, but they can't stop after using only a few pokémon; with a human sparring partner, you can choose to only use one each of your pokémon and not risk whiting out. And maybe you'd need to get stronger too, so."

Retro Bug · #23 December 29th, 2012, 01:17 PM

Fara O'Shay
Cherrygove City

Her eyes blinked, it took her awhile to remember that she wasn’t actually in the real world. She loved the real world, not the person she was but just the reality of it. One day this would all end whether if that was through an overall win or she died. A band around her wrist was moved to her hair to keep in tied up and away from her face. The day would go smoothly, there were rumors of the Mayor having a special event. She wasn't sure if it was up her alley but anything that got her further in this game was a good enough reason to get out of bed. A purple creature was curled up next to her, Bandino, a virtual Pokemon. Fara was ecstatic that she had a partner through this perilous journey but she needed others to do her bidding because she couldn't allow herself to whiteout.

"Bandino, time to go," Fara nudged the blob next to her as she rose out of the rented bed. She was going to miss this PokeCenter but she couldn't dwell here.

She snatched up all of her items, which she kept in close proximity to the bed just incase there was a thief. In this game the only person a player should trust is their own self. Though, most were looking for companionship and wanted to form a bond and Fara had fully taken advantage of that. In fact, her latest victim rented a room next to hers. She left her room with Bandino in her arms with them strategically placed carefully around him to avoid his poison barbs. Her feet slowed down as she scurried passed the room of a redheaded boy who was faced down into his pillow. A breath escaped her mouth as she made her way down the PokeCenter stairs and then out the front door.

Fara swung her head around searching for anyone that could point her in the direction of the Mayor. Another player crossed her path and she trailed behind her for a bit just enough to gain the knowledge that she was an actual player and not a NPC. The girl had luscious hair that flowed down her back, perched on her shoulder was a Pidgey that seemed to be fast asleep. She quicken her pace to a point where Fara had to go into a trot in order to keep up with her.

"Excuse me, miss?" Fara croaked out, she hoped she sounded as innocent as possible. She learned to play dumb within her first few interactions with others.

"Y-yes?" The girl called back over her shoulder she didn't dare to turn to face Fara.

"I need help, can you take me to the mayor's house?" Fara yelled out, the girl stopped and lifted a finger to point to a house close to the water. "Why are you running?"

"There are rumors that The Slayer is in Cherrygove, I-I just need to go! You should too, he's dangerous!"

"HE? The Slayer is a girl! I mean, I've heard The Slayer is a girl!" Fara said with obvious frustration.

"Whatever!" With that the girl sprinted out of Fara's line of sight.

Fara cursed under her breath for this outspoken correction. It seemed the unfortunate side effect of her rumors were that it was easily changed to a male player. Perhaps that was a good thing, no one would suspect her of being The Slayer, which made it easier to manipulate and use others in the game. Her heels kicked up dust as she strolled toward the house that supposedly contained the Mayor. She rapidly knocked on the door and no answer came, Fara didn't like the sound of that. A shrill voice cried out something but Fara barely made out the words to she assumed it was either "Just a minute!" or "Come in!". A few seconds passed before Fara placed her hands on the door in order to open it when it swung open on its own.

"Ahh, a Trainer how I love when they visit," the shrill voice came back to Fara's ear. The Mayor was a frail woman in light, pink clothing. She wore a small hat that sat upon her gray hair, her smile seemed a little too inviting. "Are you heading toward Route 30?"

"I'm heading whatever you want me to," Fara smiled she needed to hurry this along there were already players who were at Faulkner's Gym and she needed to get there.

"Well, an earlier player refused my request but perhaps you might give me a chance? I need an item for an old friend, Mr Pokemon, and, well, I cannot go myself. Could you?" The lady's face fell as she mentioned how an earlier Trainer had refused her offer.

"Of course!" Fara beamed and waved to the old lady before she walked towards Route 30.

She hoped to avoid every player and be back to Cherrygove City before sun down. Bandino squirmed she was surprised that he hadn't made a noise during the entire adventure throughout that had just happened. He was quiet when he wasn't fighting and when he was he truly came alive. Fara patted his head to let him know she would let him battle soon. Route 30 was said to have two paths but which one did she need to take to get to Mr Pokemon's house? There wasn't anyone around that could give her advice but Fara was confident that she could easily pick the road with the information she had gathered before entering Cherrygrove City.

Fuyu · #24 December 29th, 2012, 07:54 PM

A Friend...

Ange, having cleaned off her Solosis, went to pick up her Pokeball and new partner. She looked quizzically up at Krissu, trying to register the place she needed to go to. Violet City... that was the next area right? What strange names these cities and towns were given. She returned Sia and with some thought, clipped both balls to her bag. They were both probably kind of tired...

Oh that's right. She should probably answer those questions... probably. She held out a small hand for Krissu to shake. "Thank you." Ange gave a smile of her own, quite without thinking. "My name is Ange now... and I am heading toward Violet." She looked away at Krissu's side glance. "To survive in this world you have to get stronger... I see..." She giggled, not amused exactly. "I'm quite surprised... I'm not gone then."

I probably should work harder to not be gone then. If I'm gone, what will happen to Benjy? A bubble of childish anger rose in her chest and her smile faded. Does he want me to find him? He had left this game at her house after all... and look what had come of it. She could white out... and then what? Nothing. Maybe she was still guilty of something. She quelled the odd sense of anger and nodded at Krissu. "I'd be happy to join you... unless I'd weigh you down."

Skymin · #25 December 29th, 2012, 10:34 PM

<<BiRDiE>> // Cherrygrove City
Birdie had been in and out of the Pokémon Centre a few times now, only because they were the only place in Cherrygrove which actually gave you a bed which was free. He had never actually been in there to heal his Pokémon. When Birdie stepped up to the counter to ask if he could get Todo healed (even though Todo was perfectly healthy, you could never be too careful), he couldn't help but chuckle. This was a real life (not exactly real life, but it sure felt like it) Pokémon Centre and the nurse was spitting image (well, as far as spitting could get to 2D sprites) of one of her in-game counterparts. He hadn't really noticed this before and it was... well, amusing.

After his little fumbling with his thoughts, he returned Todo to his PokéBall with a press of a button and handed it over. The process took only a few moments, much like the actual game, and Todo was handed back to him in top shape.

"We hope to see you again!"

"Thank-you."

So, what would he do now? He could go train, maybe, or do some more quests. With his new found confidence, Birdie kinda wanted to see Mr. Pokémon. In the original games, Mr. Pokémon took an egg from you and then very conveniently, Professor Oak showed up to give you a PokéDex. Though this game was very different, Birdie could imagine that if the man gave you a quest, it would be way better than fetching berries. Speaking of which...

Birdie quickly opened his menu to check his new stats on being a 'Berry Brewer' (he would probably call it an Alchemist from now on since Berry Brewer sounded quite embarrassing). Every current stat about it was on predictably on zero but there was another option to open up recipes. The one who had given him the quest said that he'd given him a recipe which wasn't a lie, as there was one recipe there for a... 'Potion'. Well, that would be handy.
>>To create a POTION, the following items are needed:
>>ORAN BERRY
>>WATER
>>(empty) BOTTLE
It seemed the better you got at alchemy, the better your potions became. That didn't sound unusual. Unfortunately, Birdie didn't have any water nor a bottle, but they didn't sound too hard to get. It was too bad that Birdie had not a great deal of money at the moment, otherwise a Potion on hand would be very useful.

One more thing he needed to do before moving on was to get a new Pokémon but that seemed like something he could do in the next route while heading to Mr. Pokémon's.

"Let's go, Todo," Birdie said, though it was hardly necessary as the Zubat seemed happy to follow his every command. To get to Mr. Pokémon's house, Vinny had said there were stronger Pokémon there. So, that meant... Birdie had to either get stronger to find a partner. Getting stronger was something that... he couldn't do alone. So, feeling a little out of character and nervous again, Birdie strode towards the next route, his eyes locked on the first person he saw in front of him.

"Excuse me," Birdie said as politely as he could. The person he had randomly picked had, from the back, long, curly black hair and a leather jacket. Presumably, a girl from the way she was standing and the length of her hair. "Excuse me, are you going to Mr. Pokémon's house?"

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New Bark Town

Route 29

Cherrygrove City

Route 30

Route 31

Violet City

Madalyn Martinez [Parker] New Bark Town

Fel - ???

Madalyn Martinez [Parker]
New Bark Town