The Vassa Region

[Broadway]

Carol held Chant firmly in her arms as she headed towards the Gym. She didn't hurry, couldn't have anyway, not with just about everything in the city drawing her eye. It was so bright it had to look like a sunny day here even in the middle of a rainstorm. Or at least, she'd always liked how yellow raincoats looked in the grey of heavy rain, and with the whole city like that..? Awesome.

"Teddi!" Chant called out, and waved both her arms at a passing woman, or rather, Carol realized, at the Pichu riding her shoulder. The woman looked very pretty and well-dressed, with fancy hair like Mom sometimes had done when she and Dad were going out.

"Pichuuu!" it replied, and the woman smiled at Carol too. Carol grinned back, relieved that Chant wasn't bothering either of them.

"Heading for the gym?"

"Yeah!" Carol hugged Chant a little tighter, swinging her back and forth a little.

"Good luck," the woman said, looking a little mysterious, and Carol bit her lip to keep from asking anything.

"Thank you," Carol made sure to duck a little as she said it, wanting to be polite.

It wasn't too far ahead now, and Carol hoisted Chant to hold her with one arm only, reaching the other down to touch the extra pokeball on her belt. Her Ekans was in there, and she hadn't had the chance to see him fight much more after his first battle with Chant. Not for real, at least—the two of them had scuffled and wrestled a bunch of times since then, on the way to Citrine, and this morning too, on a park lawn not far from the Pokemon Center. She still liked how he had so much energy for it, a lot like Chant.

She wished she could keep them both out all the time, but Chant was a handful on her own, and didn't seem to like being in her pokeball at all, while the Ekans—in this way he was totally different from Chant—was generally calm and easygoing when he wasn't battling.

"Ted!! Teddiursa!!" Chant wriggled in Carol's one-armed grip and slipped free, and Carol swallowed a curse-word.

"Chaaant!" she called, as Chant darted off down a side road, and Carol, of course, had to follow.

Chant wasn't trying to outrun her, Carol realized, she kept stopping to look behind her before running off again. She just wasn't letting herself be caught. "Ted!!" she urged, and Carol grumbled and started walking slower on purpose, now that she knew Chant wouldn't actually run away.

"You are so grounded!" she told her, and definitely felt a pang of understanding for each time Mom had said that to Carol herself.

Chant hopped backwards while Carol caught up, keeping out of reach as Carol glowered down at her.

"We have somewhere to be," Carol growled, "remember?"

Then the smell hit her.

Probably what Chant had smelled all the way from the other street.

Pie.

She stopped in her tracks, and took a breath of the air.

Sweet... was that a pecha berry pie? Not like Dad's, it smelled a little less sweet, and the crust was different, she would bet money on that, too, there wasn't the same baked-flour scent she was used to, more sugary than Dad's.

But it was still delicious-smelling. And it was coming from the bakery at the end of the street. Carol could just make out bread loaves in the window.

"Okay..." she eyed Chant. "Okay, well, I guess this was a good reason."

Chant bounded over to her and hugged one of Carol's legs. "Ted." Her voice was smug.

"You can't come inside there, though," Carol pointed down at her firmly. Chant wrinkled her little nose, and scuffed at the ground, but nodded heavily, probably just as aware as Carol that a hungry, slightly-disobedient Teddiursa in a bakery was a bad idea.

*

"Ekaannsssssss," the Ekans hissed appreciatively, and nosed hopefully at the paper plate again. He was sitting (were you supposed to call it sitting with the pokemon had no legs? Carol didn't know) neatly on one of the terrace chairs in the front of the bakery, sharing the spot with Chant.

"Sorry, all gone," Carol said, and the Ekans flicked his tongue out at the scattered sugar that remained on the plate, then curled around on himelf and rested his head on his looped coils, closing his eyes. Carol could see the slight bulge through his skin of the pie he'd swallowed in a mere two bites.

Chant, too, was yawning after the snack. They'd each had a pecha tart, and Carol had had a qualot tart, the mixed-up flavor a favourite of hers.

"Oh fine, have a nap," she said quietly, as Chant climbed into the circle of the Ekans' coils and curled into it like a nest. Carol propped her chin on her hand for a moment, staring at them while they slept. ""Bowen," she said suddenly. "Yeah." The Ekans raised his head and blinked at her. Chant, for her part remained asleep. Carol reached out and touched the snake's nose with one finger. "You," she said. "Bowen. It's a kind of knot, except it isn't. I mean, it doesn't tie up things, it's only for design," she said, tracing the looping shape on the tabletop. "Dad says knots like that are heroic, or heraldic, something like that. And you're kinda ropey, except you don't get tied in knots by anyone, you just coil up nice."

The Ekans flicked out his tongue again, tickling her hand, and she laughed. "I guess it's okay, then," she said, and Bowen tickled her palm again, then resettled his head.

Pokemon naptime, huh. At least this was a busy corner, she thought, and pulled out her pokedex, ready to record any new information about whatever pokemon happened to pass nearby. She thought she might get quite a few electric entries, that was for sure.

*

Neither of them had seemed inclined to walk when they'd woken up, not even Chant, so Carol recalled them both to their pokeballs, and headed off towards the gym again. Like before, she kept her going at a reasonable pace, not wanting to arrive there and have to battle with groggy pokemon. She knew that when Chant's ball started twitching, the food coma would have worn off.

She dawdled a little, looking in a few shop windows, and stopping to admire someone's garden, which was fully of tall, healthy sunflowers and vibrant tigerlilies, as per the city theme, and then Carol found herself arrived at the Gym, and she felt a shiver run over her whole body. A real gym. What was inside—who was inside?! Would she measure up at all?

Time to find—

"DON'T TELL ME THAT, MOM, I HATE YOU!!" The howling, whiny screech carried all the way across the street, from a bench where a kid was sitting, his feet too short to even touch the ground. "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME COME BACK IF I WANT TO STAY HERE!!"

Carol winced and tried not to stare, but it was hard not to. The kid was screaming into an expensive-looking phone, wearing expensive brand-name shoes, and radiated spoiled entitlement.

"GET OVER HERE AND TELL THE LEADER TO LET ME WIN!!" he screeched, and Carol blinked. "MY POKEMON ARE THE BEST! NO ONE COULD EVER BEAT THEM UNLESS THEY CHEATED!!"

"SHUT UP!!" Carol bellowed at him, and the kid jerked in surprise and almost dropped his phone. He turned his red-faced glare on her, and she glared right back. She caught a faintly appreciative look from a woman who'd been passing by, and a saw another couple of kids laughing behind their hands.

"Who are you?" the kid asked, looking at her like she was something gross he'd stepped in.

"I'm a trainer, and I'm going to the Gym," she shot back.

"You look stupid and poor," he said, contempt in his voice and on his face, and Carol felt herself flush, suddenly aware in a way she usually wasn't of how her comfortable and very loved clothes were old hand-me-downs. "You couldn't win. Your pokemon are stupid too. Mine are the best, and that leader knocked them out in one hit!"

Carol looked both ways for vehicles, then stalked straight across the street to him. "If you think the leader cheated, then obviously strength doesn't even matter," she said, and crossed her arms, leaning over him where he sat on the bench. She was pleased to see him lean back, apprehension breaking up the snideness on his face.

"That doesn't matter—your pokemon are still worthless." He slid off the bench—goodness, he was short, how had he ever yelled so loudly?—and laughed at her. "I'll even show you." He grabbed a pokeball from his waist and held it up in front of her face. "Battle, stupid poor trainer."

"Fine," Carol spat. "I'll battle you, little gym-loser brat."

The kid fumed at that, and Carol backed away, satisfied, and took both her pokeballs from her belt.

At this rate, she thought, sparing a glance a little farther up the street to where she had originally wanted to go, she was never going to get into that Gym.

The kid released his first. "Beat her pokemon! Go!" A Machop appear, its grey-blue skin standing out against the brightness of the town, and it shifted its feet like a boxer, and clapped its hands together. "Chop!!" it declared.

"Go Chant!" Carol bit out, and released Chant, who took one look at Carol's expression and then fixed on the Machop. "Leer," she said, and tried to think. That Machop was a fighting-type. That wasn't good for Chant, but Carol wasn't going to just pull her out after sending her in. "Stay close and don't let it get any windup," she snapped, and Chant's expression set into a fierce snarl, and she ran towards it.

"Focus Energy," the kid commanded the Machop, and it braced itself and put its palms together, seeming to concentrate. But Chant was circling it, little teeth bared, and it didn't look much like it was focusing, darting sidelong glances as Carol stared at it like she was going to attach at any second. "Focus!!" the kid screeched, and the Machop's next quick glance was to its trainer, still distracted.

"Scratch," Carol told Chant, and knew what was next.

Chant charged and flung herself on the Machop gripping with arm and legs and blunt teeth while she drew back one arm, claws spread wide.

"Low Kick!" The kid bellowed, shocked as the pair wrestled over and over, "Karate Chop!! Do something, you stupid thing!"

"Scratch and back off a sec!" Carol said, and Chant dealt another Scratch on the next rollover, then let herself get flung back by the Machop's powerful arms. "Leer!!" Carol told her quickly, and Chant went into her circling-stalking mode again. The Machop stared back, then Leered itself, and Carol saw Chant's ears flick back in reaction.

"Why did you Leer? What's wrong with you?!" The kid was fairly turning purple back there, stomping one foot.

Carol was relieved she'd had this long for Chant to work on it. Time for a switch. "Come back, Chant, you've softened it up," Carol told her, and Chant snapped intimidatingly at the Machop one last time before red light surrounded her. "Bowen! Show me your stuff! Wrap it up!"

Bowen uncoiled as smooth as water flowing downhill, and slithered straight for the Machop, which turned its Leer on him. Bowen swung a little wide at that look, but then surged forward, and dove to send himself across the Machop's body to wind himself across its chest. And he tightened.

"Machop," it said, slightly strangled, and shot an annoyed glance at its trainer.

"Karate Chop!" the kid screeched yet again, and after a gasp when the Wrap loosened for a second, the Machop slammed the edge of its hand against Bowen's coils.

"Poison Sting," Carol said calmly, as Bowen weathered the hard strike with barely a twitch. Tough guy, Carol thought with a little smile. "Get it good," she urged him, and Bowen did, clamping his jaws around the wrist of the hand that had struck him. No poison effect this time, not that she could see, but the Machop was breathing hard, or trying to, through Bowen's tight Wrap. Bowen tightened himself again, and the Machop coughed.

"Kick it!! No! Karate Chop!" the kid shouted, but the Machop ignored him, and closed its eyes, as if trying to find focus again, with that kid yelling at it and an Ekans squeezing the breath right out of him.

"Sting it again," Carol told Bowen, making her voice just talking-loud, not shouting, even though she enjoyed that part of battles as much as anything else. This time she was showing up this horrible brat, and she was gonna do it without shouting. (That first shout from across the street totally did not count. Nope.)

Bowen bore down again on the Machop's wrist, and tightened his coils at the same time.

The Machop made a strangled sound and sat down, hanging its head. Bowen dropped its wrist and released it from the Wrap, sliding off and slithering away back towards Carol before drawing himself up and staring at the other trainer. His tongue flickered out once, and that, along with his narrowed eyes, made him look downright derisive.

To the Machop, though, he ducked his head once, almost politely, and the Machop raised its unchewed hand briefly in response, before the kid recalled it. "Kannsssssssssss," Bowen hissed.

"Not so stupid," she said quietly, just to herself, even though she wanted to go over there and stuff the words down that brat's throat. And then push him into a big puddle of sticky mud to ruin his fancy shoes.

"CHEATER," the kid yelled at her. She just crossed her arms and stared, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from saying anything that involved nasty swear words.

"What, do you want to stop? You can't run away from a trainer battle," she said instead, doing her best to fake calmness.

"You won't win," the kid shouted, "that Machop was dumb. This Larvitar is way better!" There was a second flash of red light and and a diminutive little green pokemon appeared.

"You're a horrible trainer," Carol snapped, unable to keep that in after the kid had just bashed his very own pokemon. "No wonder your pokemon don't obey."

"Shut up!" the kid hissed. "Larvitar, Sandstorm!!"

Carol felt the wind in the immediate area pick up, and the space between her and the other trainer was raked suddenly with a wash of whipping sand. Bowen twitched under the impact, and she could see it was hurting him. Not too much, but then she realized, like Wrap, the Sandstorm was going to last a while.

"Bowen, come back! You were amazing!" She told him, and switched him out, sending Chant in again. She ducked at first under the swirling wind and sand, but then realized there was a pokemon in front of her.

"Rock Slide," the kid shouted, but the Larvitar didn't listen this time, instead bounding forward on its short legs to dart in and land a Bite on Chant's shoulder.

"Scratch!" Carol called in reaction, and Chant wrapped both arms around the Larvitar and pulled it down, landing on her back with it on top. She planted both her feet against its belly and raked them down, using both sets of claws together. "Wow! Awesome!" Carol cheered.

The Larvitar thrashed and struggled, and the Sandstorm whipped harshly over the two of them. It seemed unaffected, but Chant didn't like it at all. She let go and tumbled of, scrubbing at her face with both paws. The Larvitar bounced back to its feet. "LaaaaaarviTAR!" it said to Chant.

"Teddi!" Chant's protest was a high-pitched whiny growl, like she was complaining about the sand—and she probably was. She rolled into her front and pushed herself up, eyes pinched tightly closed, ears pricked forward, and arms outstretched. Carol's own eyes widened. Did Chant really think she could fight blind?! Well... if she could just grab on again... maybe?

"Chant, wait! Wait!!" she said, and Chant went still. "Wait till I say!" Oh, good girl, Carol wanted to add, amazed that Chant trusted her that much, but she kept quiet, not wanting to distract her.

The Larvitar was the one circling now, and the kid was standing, fists clenched, and just glaring. The Larvitar, unlike the Machop, didn't seem to care about him one way or the other, battling like it was wild, and like any corresponding between the kid's commands and its battle moves were just coincidence. No trust there. It watched Chant, who was still as a statue in the blowing sand, only her ears moving to follow the sound of its movements, sounds Carol couldn't even hear over the swirling breeze. It moved around until it was off to Chant's side, then it stomped one foot on the ground, digging it in to pull up a rock, then another an another, and it spun to send them all sliding towards Chant.

Wait... now!! "Go forward!" Carol called, and Chant ducked and flung herself into a forward somersault rolling just barely past the outer edge of the horizontal avalanche. "Now wait!" Carol told her, and she stood up and stayed, her heard turning this way, then that, to find the sound of the Larvitar again. The Larvitar hopped on its little feet, looking eager, then dashed forward, and Carol didn't need to say a thing, Chant's head whipped around and she turned to catch the Larvitar as she was bowled over and bitten. "Don't let go. Don't let go," Carol repeated to her. "Scratch! And Scratch, and keep doing it!" she urged Chant, and Chant clung like she was Bowen, almost Wrapped around the Larvitar herself. Both arms, and she didn't bite down this time, instead only moving her head to get in the way of the Larvitar's next Bites. At the angle she had latched on, it was having a hard time reaching anything to Bite at all.

Carol thought the Larvitar was definitely a sturdy little thing, but it had a short neck and tiny arms. Chant wasn't very much bigger, but she had it beat at holding on. And she dragged both feet against its belly, scraping at rock-like armour, until the Larvitar stopped fighting her.

The Sandstorm faded away, the whippy breeze quieting and the lifted dust and sand falling back to the sidewalk, street, and house lawn. Chant let go, and the Larvitar rolled away from her, flopping onto its belly in resignation. Carol let out a huge breath. That had been really, really close.

"Open your eyes," Carol said, and Chant did so, without getting up, near worn out herself, her little chest rising and falling quickly. Carol went to her and lifted her up. "That was great," she said simply, and hugged Chant tight. Who cared if they had to go back to the Pokemon Center now. Both Chant and Bowen had had a great battle. When she let go of Chant enough to look at her again, Chant just smiled, and stuck a paw in her mouth to suck on contentedly.

"You suck!" the kid was saying. "I hate you!! All you do is lose!!" he was stomping over to the Larvitar, who was watching him with an even stare. The kid stuck out the pokeball, glaring all the while, and recalled it. Then the pokeball twitched in his hand, and red flashed again, the Larvitar reappearing, a distinct frown on its face. "Get in there!" the kid told it angrily, his breath hitching. He red-faced and now tear streaked.

"If you think they'll ever fight for you if you treat them like that, you're gonna be angry for a very long time," Carol said over her shoulder.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY!!" the kid bellowed with a sob on the end, and threw the Larvitar's pokeball down to the pavement. He turned and ran off, shoving in between a couple of people who'd stood around to watch the battle.

As she stood, Carol realized there was more than just a couple of people, there was almost a crowd. Some kids and some grown-ups too, and a few pokemon here and there, a couple of Pichu, a Mareep...

And a Growlithe, which barked sharply, and darted over to pick up the discarded pokeball, and then trot right up to a policeman. There had been a policeman here?! Carol felt nervous, even though she was sure she hadn't done anything. This wasn't like the time she'd climbed Mrs Louver's roof to collect the moss growing on her eaves and then the local beat cop had come to tell her she was tresspassing. "Thank you, Rolf," the officer reached down to take it, and gave the Growlithe a scratch behind the ears. "Larvitar, please return?" he asked, sounding a little formal but also authoritative, and this time the Larvitar let itself be recalled, and it remained inside the ball.

"Sir, uh... are you really gonna give that back to that kid?" Carol asked.

"Well, for now it will be in the custody of the Citrine Pokemon Center. The League has trainer standards, you know, and the city has pokemon caretaker standards as well. If they are not upheld, pokemon may be confiscated. I'm afraid I can't give you specific details about this one, however."

"Oh... that's okay, I guess," she said. She hoped that kid lost both his pokemon, and that they were released, or given to a real trainer, not a stupid brat.

"Nor about the fine that will be mailed to his parents for destruction of property," the policeman mused, and Carol looked around, seeing for the first time what, in her head, had just been a battle ring. The Sandstorm had sandblasted some paint off the nearby bench, as well as a nearby scooter, and there were large holes in the lawn of the house next to the gym where the Larvitar's Rock Slide had pulled stones up through the ground.

"Um... sir, I... I mean, I was part—"

"Battles within city limits are discouraged, but hardly illegal," the officer said, raising a hand to quiet her rising worry. "It's the damage to the area that keeps most people from doing it." Then he winked at her. "And I didn't seen either of yours tear up the lawn or blast the red off that scooter."

"Well, that's true," she said. She fidgeted a little, and didn't mention that she only hadn't done it because neither Bowen nor Chant knew any moves that would do anything like the Sandstorm. From the amusement in the officer's eyes, he probably knew that, and trusted that she would think of that next time. Not that Carol had ever planned to battle out on the street. That just... wasn't done. But that kid.. ugh!

"Best get back to the Center, kiddo," the officer urged her, and she nodded, holding her tongue against being called "kiddo". She was thirteen!

"Okay," she said, and ducked at him politely, since her arms were full of Chant, who was now drowsing against her shoulder. "Thanks!" She backed up a few steps, then turned and maneuvered through the last few people that were still standing around. She returned a couple of smiles, and got a thumbs-up that made her stand up straight—she had, after all, shut up that horrible kid—and headed back the way she had come.

"Try and make it all the way to the Gym, next time," the policeman called after her.

"Yes sir!!"

 

[Eliminator Jr.]

It hadn't taken long to reach the southern outskirts of the small town. This was because Professor Elm's laboratory was in the same direction as the wild from Tyron's house, so no backtracking was required. Checking his watch, the time read 8.25am. He liked to make note of things like this. He could figure out how long he had been gone for, how long he had been training for, and then try and beat that time the next time he went out. He had travelled this route only a while ago, when he navigated his way from Carnelian City, and he had made it through just fine. He had managed to keep his wits about him easily, however he figured that other areas of wilderness across the Vassa Region would be far more dangerous than the ones he had adventured through only weeks beforehand, so he would have to make good use of the Pokémon now on his side. He had done a lot of exercises so far, however many he had put aside until later in the day, after he had given himself the chance to train his new companion a bit. He would not shove it aside, though. His training defined who he was. Because he had made it his everything, if he lost it he would be left with nothing. Tyron couldn't imagine the day when his training came to an end, or when he was finally satisfied with his capabilities as a human being. Frankly, it had never occurred to him that one day he might not need or want to train anymore. He dreaded the day when his body began ageing, where he found he couldn't complete the tasks he could once do; where he became weak but could do nothing about it.

He pulled the Poké Ball that the professor gave him earlier out from his pocket and pressed the center button, causing the ball to open and emit a red fog, which swiftly took the shape of a small, round bird and changing colours until the Pokémon solidified. The tame Natu stood silently, looking at Tyron and accepting him as his new owner. Not making a sound, it took a quick glance at its surroundings to make sure it was not in danger and had a route of escape should a threat appear. Tyron looked down at the Natu. It thought like he did. He was almost relieved that his Pokémon was mature and observant. It would have taken time that he didn't have in order to train the bird into being cool and collected. The work was done for him. He couldn't help but wonder how difficult the journey ahead would be, not in terms of battling but in terms of training. How exactly would he be able to train the bird psychically if all he knew were physical exercises and routines? He assumed that battling was the key to success, so he vowed to stick to that method of training until a better alternative came along (if it ever did). The two were alike and yet different. He would get to know his Pokémon over the coming months and alas for the rest of their living lives, however he would try his best not to show any weakness to the bird. Should he let on that trouble affected him also, his command could be questioned and he could lose respect. Loyalty, wisdom and power were the three main things that he wanted from all his Pokémon. Master those and he would eventually master the art of battling.

"Your will not have a special name," he said to the bird, his voice deep from lack of use. The eyes of the Pokémon remained on Tyron, attentive and interested. "I will refer to you as Natu, and in time Xatu. Respond to that name." The bird hopped into the air and flapped its wings to land on the ground softly. Because its wings were not fully developed yet, the bird could not fly, instead it could only jump into the air and flap its wings on the way down, similar to how a chicken would after being dropped from a height. It appeared to be the bird's way of nodding, or at least acknowledging, Tyron, seeing as its head was its body. Tyron began walking without another word and Natu followed him obediently in silence. Tyron didn't turn around to see if his partner was trailing behind him or not. The day was calm and not even a breeze tickled his skin, so he used this to his advantage. He could hear the tiny footsteps of Natu behind him. More importantly, he could hear if any wild Pokémon were around. It took about four minutes of silently walking through the route along a path (that wasn't so much a pathway as it was grass that had been squashed down repetitively by passers-by) before the silence was broken. Right of where the two were standing, there was a cliche rustle in the bushes, which could only mean one thing - a battle with a wild Pokémon. It was just a matter of luring the Pokémon out. Tyron dropped his bag to the ground and let out a small grunt. It was a heavy pack and along with the faked cry of pain could easily be mistaken for a traveller falling over. A vulnerable traveller would certainly seem appealing to a wild Rattata or Poochyena. If the Pokémon didn't emerge from the bushes then he could safely assume it was something else that occupied the route.

Just as Tyron had predicted, a purple rat emerged from the tall grass onto the road, in a rush to get some food from the traveller's supplies before any other Pokémon found out about it. When it noticed the traveller was still standing up and that it had walked directly into a trap, it froze on the spot. Perched on its two hind legs, the Rattata's eyes darted around to notice the nearby bird. Its scent wasn't familiar, so he could only assume that it wasn't found in these areas. A foreigner. The risk of getting a decent meal now probably outweighed the reward, but the smell of the food in the trainer's pack was so strong to its keen senses and it couldn't help but go for it. The Rattata tentatively took a step forward as if testing the ground, waiting to see what this trainer and his Pokémon would do. Tyron noticed this and realised his first battle would soon be underway. The Rattata took another step forward. He had to get Natu to stop the rodent without interfering himself. He muttered "leer" before pulling out his Pokédex from his pocket. He figured that being a relatively young Pokémon, Natu wouldn't know any psychic type moves yet, and so leer was the only thing he could really command his Pokémon to do with full confidence that it could be done. The tactic worked, and the Rattata froze on the spot for a few moments, staring guiltily back at the bird as if it was a child who had just been caught in the act of stealing a chocolate from the kitchen cupboard. Tyron flipped open the cover of the device. He was in a rush, so he didn't bother pulling out the stylus and instead pressed on the touch screen with his index finger, pulling up a statistics page for his Pokémon, Natu. It was much like he had imagined. At this point in time the only moves his Natu knew how to do were Peck and Leer. He'd have to make do.

"Natu, peck," he commanded. The bird Pokémon hopped into the air and began gliding down towards the wild Pokémon - that was the fastest way of movement - but before it reached its target the rodent began whipping its tail back and forth on the ground in a threatening manner, similar to how Tauros always kicked one of their back feet before charging. It had done the trick, throwing the Natu off course and into the bushes. Tyron made a mental note to train his new Pokémon to be immune to being psyched out by the opposing Pokémon. It put him to a huge disadvantage if his Pokémon were vulnerable to scare tactics such as a tail whip or a growl. Meanwhile, the Rattata took this as the perfect opportunity to make a dash for the food, still lying inside the pack on the ground. Tyron decided not to interfere. If Natu couldn't save the food then it would have to live with the shame over its head for a while, and perhaps he could use that to toughen it up a bit. At the same time, if Natu could stop the intruder, he knew he would have a reliable companion. As the rat began to dig into the bag in search of food, Natu hopped out of the bushes and scanned the path for the Rattata. It was belly-deep into the bag, only its hind legs and tail sticking out. This was the perfect opportunity to win a battle. "Peck its legs," Tyron called, and his Pokémon charged. Natu was expecting the whip of the tail but this time it didn't come - the wild creature was too preoccupied with finding food - so it was an easy shot. In an instant Natu had bobbed up and down, pecking both hind feet of the Rattata, which fell limp almost instantly. Using its front legs, the rodent emerged from the bag and attempted to scurry off into the wild. Because it had not even attempted to defend itself from the peck attacks, it was injured. The Rattata was defeated. Natu stood ready for another command but Tyron waved the rat away. It had learned its lesson. It had been defeated in battle. He had programmed himself not to be happy, as it could give him a false sense of safety, but even after all these years a smile almost broke through his stone face.

It took another couple of hours of walking in silence before in the distance Tyron saw something different from more grass and the occasional tree. Standing alone was a log cabin. He recognised it from when he had travelled the route before alone, however he hadn't gone inside. He didn't need to this time either, it was a waste of time that could be used training. Sleeping in luxury was being weak, and he couldn't let Natu get used to it now. He checked the time on his watch. It read 11.53am. It would have been silly to sleep now anyway. Just resting there would have been a no-brainer for a regular trainer, but Tyron liked the challenge of constantly being at risk of attack. Of course, he didn't rest, but if he had have wanted to there wouldn't have been much chance involved anyway. The route was empty aside from the Rattata he had seen earlier and birds which moved from tree to tree just as he got close enough to battle them. He walked on ahead, skipping the cabin and moving closer towards Citrine City.

 

[Underoos]

Broadway: Well that was good, though I did intend for him to seem a little stronger than that =3 But the pie thing XD That was great. You did manage to get the spoiled kid's...well, spoildness down XD
Congratulations, Carol nicknamed Ekans Bowen! Bowen grew to level 9! Chant grew to level 12! (See what I mean about an uber-boost? XD)

Eliminator Jr.: It's a bit late but I dun mind 'cuz it was a good post =D
Congratulations, Natu grew to level 7!

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

(Is it too late to join now? And by your standards, how long would a paragraph be?)

Name: Prince Eric III ( his last name kept secret for my character's personal reasons, unless he truly trusts you as a good person. Check his history)
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Appearance: His 4-inch long strawberry blonde hair is often spiked up high, and his deep sapphire eyes seemingly can stare into a person's soul. His skintone is a bit pale, but with a slight tan to it. His build is about average, and he weighs about 151 pounds, and is almost exactly 6 feet tall. He also has various scars scattered across his entire body (his history will tell you more about how he ended up getting them.).

He normally wears a pair of black goggles on his head, to help hide his regal identity, and because he thinks they look cool on him. He also sports gold fingerless gloves, to help hide his two most recent scars. For clothing, he normally wears a dark green T-shirt with a series of strange red tribal-looking markings and patterns on it. He also wears blue jeans, and those seem to be slightly tattered, but it's not much. His sneakers are white, with silver-colored laces.

Personality: Eric normally is a bit paranoid around new people, but if you really are a good person, he can tell it right away. He has a good sense of humor, but a bad temper, and can be emotional if his past catches up to him. He is normally laid back and relaxed, but can be a bit hyperactive. However, he also is very brave, and is willing to protect himself and everyone he cares about, even if it gets him killed. He also stands up for his beliefs until the very end, and is very intelligent for his age.

If you harmed him in the past, he'll hold a grudge on you until he dies. And if you save his life, he'll do anything he can to repay you, from something simple, to acting like your loyal servant. His recent past significantly changed his personality, but he still has his good senses of humor, justice and respect. He will also persist at his goals until they are achieved, or it is impossible to do so.

History: He was a prince in his home region (which cannot be named due to his enemies possibly being able to hunt him down and kill him) but radicals who wanted a revolution killed the entire royal family there, but he escaped by the skin of his teeth. However, about that, he had assistance from a beautiful girl he had never seen before, and never saw again. He assumed she was killed after she helped him stow away on an outgoing ship. This was where he saved his first Pokemon, an Aron, from a brutal and insane Trainer. This involved stealing the Steel/Rock-type Pokemon, though.

A month later, he arrived in the Vassa region, sneaking off the ship just like he got on it. He has been wandering from place to place in this region, not only seeking refuge and a place to call home, but also true love. He had never had any girl love him more than a friend, but this is because all of the girls his parents wanted him to like were snobbish princesses whom he didn't really like.

He got his numerous scars from various events, including one time when extremist groups attacked his home and could have mercilessly killed him. However, all of them have healed significantly by now. And he's only been in the Vassa region for a few months.
Starter: Aron

 

[Underoos]

Read the first page and first post, please ^^;

 

[sandeon]

I slurped up another noodle, both Pokémon in their balls waiting to hit the gym. As I looked around I noticed that it oddly reminded me of fall, because there were a lot of yellows and oranges. "Yeah! That's what I said!" I looked over at the phone booths, there was a young boy wearing a red ball cap with shaggy blonde hair and a blue t-shirt with slightly baggy pants. On the other line was another boy his age and he wore glasses and a black shirt with short black hair. "I'm goanna train and show everyone I meet that I'm a great trainer and my Pokémon are the best!" he said ambitiously "Ok you do that." The other boy said. "Humph." He said as the screen went black and he crossed his arms and looked my way. I got up and headed for the door. "Wait!" I heard him call when I left the center. I didn't take ten steps before the kid jumped out the door and yelled "Hey wait up! I want to battle!" <Pushy are we?> I thought almost annoyed by that statement alone. "Come on, you seriously can't be chickening out!" <Ok, that's it!> "Your on, where will we do this?" I asked. "Why not here?" he asked cockily. "Ok, let's go, Ace!"

"Hah! A poocheana! What luck! Go Medi!" He threw his pokeball and a little blue and white Pokémon appeared. Its head reminded me of an onion and it also looked like it was wearing a diaper. I pulled out my pokedex "Medetite, the Meditite Pokémon, It always trains deep in mountains. It levitates when it heightens its spiritual power through meditation." <It's a fighting Pokémon too, crap he's got the advantage, better get in the first hit!> "Ace! Tackle!" I said as Ace quickly slammed into Meditite. It wasn't too effective but it did good damage. Medi flew back a little, and was off balance and fell to the ground. "Medi use your force palm!" Meditite was getting up when I noticed that that attack was super effective on Ace! "Ace! Don't let him hit you!" Meditite had run up to Ace and was about to use force palm, "Tackle head on Ace!" Ace jumped and Meditite's hand had a perfect grip on Ace's snout, then the Meditite shoved Ace backward. "Pooche!" he shouted and landed by my feet, but he was back up in no time, "You ok Ace?" "Ana!" he quickly replied like everything was fine, but I knew that'd taken a whole lot from him. "Ok, circle around Meditite!" Ace snickered and started to run around the Meditite.

"Yeah?" The boy asked "You think that'll do anything?" I smiled. "Whenever you're ready." I said. "What?" The boy mumbled. "Pooche!" Ace called and smashed into Meditite. "Med!" "Medi! Force palm!" the Pokémon jutted for Ace but Axe was running too fast for him to get a good shot. "Ok! Medi use force palm where he's going to be!" He lunged "Ace stop!" Ace stopped right beside the Meditite. <Talk about luck!> "Tackle! Then run around again!" he hit head on and proceeded to run around again. "AHHH! Medi! Just chase it and use force palm!" Meditite chased Ace for a while till it charged an attack. "ACE! DUCK!" he laid down and Meditite ran over Ace doing a small amount, if any, damage. Meditite looked around not knowing what had happened. "Ace hit him with all you've got! Tackle!" Meditite didn't have time to turn around and was hit in the back badly. "Tite!" It yelled as it fell face first knocked out.

"Come on, get up Medi!" the boy yelled. "You'll get it now." He said as his plead didn't help. "Medi return! Go Fear!" He threw his pokeball and a white and black dog appeared. It had a moon thing sticking out of its head, but was just was normal everywhere else. I took out my pokedex "Absol: the disaster Pokémon, It senses coming disasters and appears before people only to warn them of impending danger." <Hmm useful, but will it battle?> "Fear! Use Bite!" Absol rushed towards Ace. "Doge, and use tackle!" he narrowly dodged and proceeded to use tackle, it hit. "Ab?" Absol seemed to take a little fraction of the move but Ace was too tired to do much. "Ha! Fear just use scratch and put it out of its misery!" Absol swiped Ace and he fell, knocked out. "Good Job Ace!" I said as he returned. "Whatcha goanna do now huh? Bet that was your best Pokémon! I was smart an…" "Shut up already! That wasn't my best any way, here she comes! Shade let's give this guy a run for his money!" Shade appeared ready for battle and serious, then I noticed he was using leer right off the bat. Absol looked a little intimidated and leered back. "Use hypnosis." I whispered so only Shade could only hear. Absol fell asleep. "Fear? What's wrong?" the boy asked not knowing that it was asleep. "Shade use Lick!" Shade floated up to Absol and started to bash her tongue into Absol, it woke up.

"Finally! You're back to normal Fear. Use scratch, this Gastly shouldn't be too hard of an opponent, this guy's all talk!" He yelled. The Absol jumped at Shade and fell through; its landing was unprepared so it fell on its face doing significant damage to itself. "Wow! And you say I'm all talk! Use lick!" A barrage of tongue hit Absol. It froze. "Fear! Bite!" Absol stood there paralyzed. "Hypnosis! Then Lick!" Absol fell over asleep and Shade darted up to it and smashed it around with her tongue. The Absol didn't wake up. "Man Shade when are you goanna learn some more moves, watching your tongue and seeing the other Pokémon all wet with slobber is really kind of annoying." Shade snickered.

"Come on! Fear wake up!" the kid yelled. The Absol was pretty much out. The kid started to cry. Then I felt bad. "Shade," I whispered to her, "Use a couple more licks then the next time Absol attacks play dead." Shade seemed kind of disappointed then got what I had meant and smiled. Then Absol woke up, "Fear! Use all you got in a bite attack!" Absol ran up an sunk its fangs deep into Shade and Shade fell to the ground 'Knocked out'. "Aww man! I guess you win!" the kids face lit up instantly, "Yes! Alright!" he yelled in excitement. The Absol ran up to him, he squatted down and petted his Pokémon. "Good job girl!" I walked up to him, "Nice Pokémon you got there!" "Thanks!" he said. His whole attitude had changed from earlier. <Must have been a temper tantrum.> I thought. "Well looks like I owe you some money," I said remembering that it was common courtesy to pay the victor.

I looked in my wallet, it was empty. "Oh that's ok." He said when he noticed I was out of money. "By the way I'm Trevor, and if we ever meet again I'm looking forward to another match!" he said as he raced into the pokecenter. I was curious of what he was going to do next so I followed him in. "So what are you going to do next?" I asked. "Challenge the Gym leader, duh!" he said as if it was a no brainer. "Ok have fun with that" I said as we got our Pokémon healed.

Trevor had left the center a half an hour ago; I stayed to let him get his battle done. I got up and threw away the napkin I had from some milk and cookies that the nurse was so nice to give me. "Well off to the Gym." I said as I set off for the gym.

 

[Underoos]

Sandeon: Good post. Get ready for the gym battle! Tehe. And I'm so sorry, I forgot your Pokemon's nicknames! Ack! XD
Congratulations, Ace grew to level 9! Shade grew to level 12!

 

[Eliminator Jr.]

Tyron dodged puddles of water with large steps as he continued walking through the route. It had rained heavily yesterday and so some of the water was still on the ground, yet to be evaporated. There wasn't as much a set path in this area of the route as there was just tall grass. Stepping on tall grass would make noise and alert any wild Pokémon that he was coming. It meant that there would be less battles, but it also meant that any wild Pokémon game enough to take a trainer on was bound to be strong. Natu was still in perfect health, having only flown into the cushiony tall grass during the last battle, so he assumed that his partner would be alright for another battle. He knew Ekans were bound to be around here and he didn't want one taking a cheap shot from the tall grass at his Pokémon, so Natu sat perched on his right shoulder as he walked through the grass. If any Pokémon came bursting out of the unknown Natu would have the advantage over them. The bird had remained silent the whole trip, and so had Tyron. It seemed that neither of them spoke unless spoken to. Either way, it wasn't like Natu could do anything more than just chirp in agreement at the moment. It was still very weak and vulnerable to attacks. He would have to be very careful with it for the time being. Sooner than later, he heard a territorial growl from up ahead. He guessed that the wild Pokémon was a Poochyena and within about twenty seconds of walking his guess was proven correct. Out from ahead jumped a grey and black dog, salivating at the mouth and letting out a deep growl which read as "go away, this is my land".

Tyron had encountered numerous Poochyena on his way towards Amber Town and they were all coward Pokémon. They would bark at him from afar and growl menacingly as he grew closer but when he got within kicking distance of one of them they would wimper and run off in a hurry. Unfortunately for him, Natu wasn't six feet tall and so a scare tactic probably wouldn't work here. "Natu, leer," he said in almost a whisper. From up high on Tyron's shoulder, Natu was invincible, the Poochyena couldn't reach it. The leer attack had a minor effect on the dog however it had certainly worked to some degree. The growling grew a little softer. Tyron pulled out his Pokédex from his pocket and simultaneously commanded Natu to perform a glide peck. The bird jumped forwards and flapped its wings furiously to remain in the air for the duration of the time it took to reach the Poochyena. When it was about a meter away, however, the dog pulled an unexpected move out and tackled into the air. Naturally weighing more, the wild Pokémon forced Natu backwards with the move, and although it had received some damage from the beak of the Natu, it was clearly the victor in that clash. While Natu used its wings to push itself back up, the Poochyena began charging. Tyron resisted the urge to call out "dodge!" to his partner. If his partner was intelligent it wouldn't need a command to figure out that dodging would be a better choice than being hit by an attack. Surely enough, Natu hopped into the air and flapped its wings, successfully evading the attack. The Poochyena began to slow down, disoriented and not expecting to miss its target.

Tyron flipped open the cover of the Pokédex. Originally he wanted to find the moves of the Poochyena but something had caught his eye. The device was still on his Pokémon's page, and according to the words on the screen Natu now knew how to perform a Night Shade attack. It was getting stronger already. The battle was suddenly a whole lot simpler. Although ghost type moves were regularly not very effective to dark type Pokémon such as Poochyena, Tyron happened to know that Night Shade did a set amount of damage to Pokémon depending on how strong they were and so the type disadvantage was irrelevant. What was more important was that he helped Natu hop up into the nearby tree so it could attack from afar. The Poochyena, being attacked by a ghost move, wouldn't be aware that anything was going on at all, but strangely begin to feel weaker and weaker as time moved on. According to the Pokédex the only move the wild dog knew was tackle, so the strategy was perfect. While the Poochyena turned around to begin another tackle attack, Tyron snapped his fingers and Natu began hopping towards him. The Poochyena began running in for a tackle but noticing the bird getting closer to the giant human he backed off a little and began growling again. When Tyron walked off towards the nearby tree to place Natu as high as he could reach, the Poochyena began barking again. It was a chasing Pokémon, it was in its DNA, so it couldn't help running to the trunk of the tree and barking up at the Natu as if it would somehow do something.

"Night Shade." Tyron kept a straight face, these victories through strategy and not brute force could be omens that he was to become an amazing trainer, but he ignored those thoughts. It was his second battle, no time to get pig-headed. He had battled a rat not even focused on the battle and a stupid dog. Things would get tougher when he had to face other trainers or even intelligent wild Pokémon. It was all good practice, either way. The move worked. Tyron didn't even see the move, or even the Natu send it, but the Poochyena, who was jumping high up the trunk of the tree and then falling back down was now only standing with its front legs against the tree barking at the tame Pokémon above it. "Night Shade until it falls," he said. The Natu chirped in acknowledgement and then sent out more waves of otherworldly energy, draining the Poochyena slowly but surely. Within a minute the Poochyena had fallen to the ground unconscious, no longer able to support its own weight. The Natu hopped down from the tree and back onto the shoulder of its owner, whistling with excitement. Tyron considered whether to get it to quieten down or let it celebrate. If he made the bird quiet and he would be crushing any point of obtaining victory in the first place and distancing himself from his Pokémon. Meanwhile, letting it celebrate could let it grow too full of itself and not cautious enough in battle. He decided to let it continue chirping. If Natu did grow too relaxed in battle it would eventually lose, which would in turn make it cautious again. The chirping altered his mood a bit, and although Tyron wouldn't admit it to himself this display of affection had motivated him just a little bit more.

About an hour and a half later he could see the buildings of Citrine City far in the distance. He made a rough estimation that it would take another hour to reach the city providing he didn't battle again along the way. It was soon after that thought that finally another Pokémon appeared ahead of the two. A small yellow and black Pokémon walking around by itself in search of food. An Elekid. He remembered at that point that when passing through Citrine City earlier he discovered that it was home to an electric type Pokémon Gym, which meant that Natu would be severely disadvantaged. In that case, he decided, it was time to catch another Pokémon. He reached into his bag and pulled out one of his empty Poké Balls (he kept in mind that he would have to use them sparingly, he only had infinite left). He whipped out his Pokédex as well to analyse the Pokémon before the battle which was sure to ensue. According to the device the wild Pokémon knew no electric moves. Things just seemed to be working out his way today. The battle wouldn't be at much of a disadvantage after all. The Peck attack wouldn't be as effective, so he would have to wear the opponent down with Night Shade, but aside from that there was no problem. The Elekid's Quick Attack could be a problem though, he thought. There were no trees around but he had no doubt that the wild Pokémon could climb a tree and would have no hesitation to attack him if Natu sat on his shoulder during the battle. He'd have to be clever. He'd also need a little bit of luck. He couldn't attack the Elekid himself - if he intended to catch the Pokémon he would have to gain its trust. Attacking the Pokémon himself was a surefire way of obtaining a Pokémon that wouldn't respect him and disobey him. He had to keep Natu away from where he was standing, remain distant from the battle.

"Natu, leer." He spoke. From afar, the bird Pokémon shot a unnerving gaze at the enemy Pokémon. When the Elekid noticed the Pokémon, it ran closer until it was about ten meters away and then returned the stare. The Elekid was using leer as well, and instead of a battle the two Pokémon were having a staring contest. Now it was just the waiting game. Natu was good and didn't let its concentration wander once, however the Elekid was equally attentive and met the glare with its own. About two minutes into the staring Tyron spoke another command. "Keep leer going, but try a Night Shade simultaneously," he muttered. Loud enough for Natu to hear but so that the Elekid couldn't overhear him. There was no difference in the movements of the two Pokémon - Night Shade worked invisibly - so he couldn't tell from looking whether the attack was even working or not. Eventually the Elekid disappeared an a blur and reappeared in front of Natu, delivering an unexpected blow which sent the sphere-shaped bird flying backwards in the air. That was the Quick Attack that he had to watch out for. The Night Shade must have worked and the Elekid caught it while it was happening. So it was weaker now than what it would have been but the opportunity to wear it down without actually being damaged was out of the question. The Natu stood back up from where it had been knocked back to.

"Natu, Night Shade it. No leer this time. If you even think it's about to move, start pecking the air in front of you." It was a lengthy command, and Tyron had found himself speaking more than he ever usually would. Eventually in trainer battles when using Natu, he would be able to communicate with it through the bird reading his thoughts, meaning that the opposing trainer wouldn't be able to plan ahead. It would be an unrivalled advantage, unless he was battling a Pokémon that could also read his thoughts. For now he would have to use his voice. Natu stood perfectly still and concentrated on another Night Shade attack, and the Elekid stood leering at it again until it realised what was happening and disappeared in a blur. Natu, following commands, pecked into thin air and eventually came in collision with the electric Pokémon, countering the wild Pokémon's attacks. Of course, it wouldn't have been too effective considering the type disadvantage, but it was better than standing around and doing nothing. The bird Pokémon went flying backwards again, and Tyron had to change his position in order to see the battle properly. Natu stood up dizzily, wobbling from side to side. It was injured badly. Meanwhile, the Elekid was breathing slightly heavier than it had been before. He could tell who was winning this battle.

"One last Night Shade, Natu," he called out. The Natu obediently drained more energy out from the electric Pokémon, who was this time expecting it and sent a final leer at the Natu before delivering the final blow. Disappearing once more, the Elekid went rocketing towards Natu. This time, Tyron blocked the attack, however not with his body. The Poké Ball he had thrown had opened in mid-air and sucked the Elekid inside it with a tremendous amount of force, stopping it in mid-attack. The Poké Ball fell to the ground and began wobbling back and forth, Tyron hoping desperately that the Pokémon would be caught. Natu would be okay this way.

 

[{Swan}]

Jane was not a very happy camper right now. For one, remember the snake that she caught? Yeah, it wouldn't stay in its Pokéball and was seriously pissing Jane off. But there was nothing she could do. She had seriously spent the whole way toward Citrine City recalling Ekans in her Poké Ball, which she stayed in for about a minute before she popped out again.


Now she was slithering next to Jane, who had given up the fight. Pyro was walking on the other side, growling toward Ekans every now and then to show that, really, he wasn't at all okay with the snake. At all. Basically it was a very long and silent walk. Jane was refusing to acknowledge Ekans' presence, Ekans was happily slithering away and Pyro was keeping in his dislike for the snake. Weren't they all a jolly bunch.


Upon entering Citrine City, Jane noticed one thing above all. It was very…. Yellowy. And Orangy too. There were banners everywhere, and she felt like she was walking on the bloody yellow brick road! They didn't have such nonsense in Hoenn! The electric symbols did show that the Gym leader was indeed an Electric type, just like Dean had guessed it would be. Smart man. Though Jane would never admit that to his face. Never.


"Okay Ekans, if you don't go into your Ball now and stay in your Ball, I will do God knows what to you! I swear to God, you're not going to like it!" Ekans watched her for a second, before returning into the Ball that she had escaped from so often. She had heard tons of threats today, but Jane's voice showed that maybe, just maybe, she really wasn't kidding this time.


"Hey, was that Ekans green?!" Came a curious remark from behind her. Jane nodded in response, sending the guy who asked a questioning look. Wasn't it normal for Ekans' to be green. The Pokédex image had been purple, but there were more Pokémon who had different colours sometimes. Like Shellos, and Wormadam. They came in different colours, so why not the Ekans?


"Wow! I've never seen a green one before!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Can I see it?!"


"No." The answer was firm. She had just gotten Ekans in her Pokéball, and she wasn't getting her out anytime soon! But, as if on cue, the Ekans appeared again, hissing happily to her admirer.


"Wooooow, its beautiful. Such a difference between the normal purple one…" The guy was admiring Ekans from all sides and she was basking in the glory of it all. Every once in a while her little tongue flitted out, or she'd rattle her tail and the guy would gasp or smile. She was loving the attention.


Which gave Jane an idea. "Wanna buy her?" She asked, catching the guy off-guard. He nearly fell over himself.


"No, no, I can't possibly! I have a wife who is entirely afraid of snakes, but I would have if I could. But why don't you want to keep her? She seems very physically fit, and the colouring is simply stunning! I wouldn't part a few meters from her if she were mine."


"Well, opinions differ, and I don't like her at all!" Jane exclaimed. "But too bad, if you know anyone, just tell them to go to the Center, I'll even trade it for a Bidoof if I could!" With that Jane turned around and marched to the Center, obviously mad that her brilliant plan didn't work. The guy's wife could just get used to Ekans! Who cared anyway?! "They could even turn you into a purse and I wouldn't care!" Jane hissed under her breath, but Ekans just continued oblivious, slithering and rubbing her head against Jane's leg in love for her.


Jane opened the Center's door furiously, ringing a little bell that was attached to it. Nurse Joy looked up, startled by Jane's sudden appearance. "How may I help you?" She asked, puzzled by Jane's angry expression.


"Heal my Pokémon, please," She said in a kinder tone. The Nurse had done nothing wrong after all. Jane quickly called Ekans back again, and this time she stayed, and handed her to the Nurse along with Pyro.

While waiting for the Nurse to be done with her Pokémon, Jane couldn't help but overhear a conversation. "Are you out of your mind?!" Pause. "No, no I'm notgoing to f*****g train some more you crazy woman, why the hell would I?! Do you have any idea how much I invested in these stupid things?!" Pause. Jane couldn't believe the boy had actually used the f-word. "No, of course you don't know how much I invested, maybe I should invest in a brain for you next time. Just get me some new ones." A longer pause this time as the person on the other end of the phone answered. "No, I don't want to just train these some more, they are worthless! When are you going to understand?! Worthless." Jane was seriously about to punch this kid in the face. "Do you really need me to spell it out for you?! Worth-Less. Repeat after me, w-o-r-t-h-l-e-s-s. As in, they have no worth, and should be put down is what they should!" another pause. "Of course they should be put down, the Gym Leader took them out in one hit. EVEN THE ROCK ONE!F**k, mother, can't you just get me some new ones, release these somewhere. Get me a Sandslash or something, or a Steelix, they should be good. No, we can't just give these back to the trainer. MOTHER! NO! F**k," he swore again, and this time Jane stepped in.


"Okay, you have three counts to hang up before I bust your face," she growled, and the boy regarded her coldly through squinted eyes.


"Mother, I will call you back, you had better have something for me by then." He didn't even wait for a reply and hung up. "Mind your own business, stupid ****, you have absolutely no right to interrupt a conversation like that."


Jane blinked once, twice. Did he, did he really, just call her- "Look here you little ****!" She snapped at him, losing her patience at a very rapid speed. "That was not a freaking conversation, you were terrorizing your mother. MOTHER. The woman who gave you a life! Talk about ungrateful, you should be locked up for that behavior!" People were starting to stare in the Pokémon Center, those who hadn't already been looking at the boy during his "conversation".


"Excuse me? I believe that I can determine how to talk to my own mother myself, thank you. I do not need an insolent stranger to tell me what to do. But if you are so eager to fight it out with me, how about a battle. No doubt you are one of those bleeding heart pussies who go all about "loving" their Pokémon. I bet I can take you in my sleep." Okay, this little **** was going down.


"Bring it on!" Jane half-growling at the boy, only feeling a little bad that she had only previously threatened to turn her Ekans into a purse.


"Okay, if you are going to battle, take it outside," Nurse Joy cautioned before handing Jane her Pokémon. "Honestly, I am rooting for you," she whispered as she did so, before returning to her counter. Both Jane and the brat went outside, positioning themselves opposite each other in a wide yellow-paved road.


I really do hope I don't have to use Ekans. Jane thought just before releasing Pyro, who was all game. The little **** sent out a Squirtle all triumphantly, thought the squirte seemed really afraid of him. Don't blame ya, was Jane's thought. "Okay Pyro, you're at a natural disadvantage here, so let's see your crazy energy do the work here. I want you to be all over the field and tackle whenever you can, but let's boost you with a Howl first."


Pyro did as asked and released a pierce howl, boosting his own courage while discouraging Squirtle, who didn't at all look that mentally stable. But it was the unstable ones that were the worst, you never knew when they would snap. "Squirtle, water gun, and don't mess it up."


Squirtle started firing short bursts of water at Pyro, but his energy was backing up his movement and he zipped in and out of Squirtle's firing zone. Before the turtle knew what had hit it, Pyro was throwing all of his weight at the Pokémon, causing it to skid quite a ways away. The brat spazzed. "Is that what you call don't mess it up?! Okay, if the thing is going to be everywhere at once, let us follow his lead. Use Bubble to cover the whole field, see him dodge those.


Squirtle opened his mouth and turned slowly, releasing bubble after bubble. The bubbles slowly crossed over the field and floated in place when they didn't have enough movement to carry them anymore. Pyro was trying to get around them, but they were transparent and almost invisible. He kept touching one of the landmines, which burst hated water on his skin and he yelped every time. He didn't even get close to Squirtle anymore.


"Good, he has slowed down now, you can hit him with Water Gun now." Squirtle did exactly as told. Every time that Pyro got hit by a bubble, he yelped and slowed in pain, and it was one of those moments that a very harmful spurt of water hit his skin. He cried out in pain, it was heartbreaking for Jane to hear. Even after the shock Pyro whimpered for a while, but Squirtle didn't fire another one, he was pitying Pyro a little.


"Okay Pyro, new plan. Stay back, do not get hit by water, but don't move around too much. Try using ember, even though it won't hurt too much." Jane was desperate now, they couldn't close in, but fire attacks would do barely anything. Houndour stationed himself not too far away from Squirtle, well within range for an Ember. He shot small flames at Squirtle, who took them, but not very badly.


"Do you really think that that is going to take down my prized, professionally trained Pokémon? Didn't think so. Squirtle, use bubble again, but high concentration." At that very moment an almost visible light bulb pinged above Jane's head.


"Pyro, jumped around and get some embers in there, but aim at the source of the bubble!" Pyro did, jumping to avoid the trail of bubbles. He then fired a lot of short burst of flame at Squirtle, which lodged into the water, carrying enough heat to evaporate the little bubbles. Steam was coming all around Squirtle, and the heat was harmful to Squirtle. Envision an always wet Pokémon suddenly drying out entirely. Not a pretty sight at all. The Squirtle screamed, it's skin was drying from all of the steam and heat that it brought. In the end it retreated inside its shell, unmoving except for the slight tremble.


"You useless thing! Get out! Get out! I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT AND FIGHT!" When that didn't do anything, the brat gave up and recalled the poor turtle. He next summoned a big chunk of rock and arms. Geodude as Jane recognized it. "Geodude, please don't let me down," he said it in such a tone that it was clear to not be a request. "Use magnitude, squash it like the bug it is."


There was nothing that Pyro could have done, within seconds over a dozen buildings came from Geodude's direction and all enveloped Pyro. He cried out in pain just before it struck, and no movement after it had. Pyro was down for the count, it would all come down on Ekans. "Pyro, rest little one. Ekans, please, please, please do this for me!" The green snake came out, and the kid raised an eyebrow at its appearance, but said nothing.


"Geodude, use magnitude." This time when Geodude used the move, not as many builders came around, and Ekans snaked her body around them as they struck. Very useful. But one of them, a small one, did hit its mark, and Ekans hissed angrily as it struck her tail. Or body, whichever it was.


"Ekans, use Poison Sting and try to poison him, okay?" Ekans hissed in approval and quickly slithered forward, quicker than Jane had anticipated she would. When she was in proper range she shot a continuous stream of little poisonous stingers at Geodude. They hit the stone Pokémon, and most of them bounced right off, but a few stuck in the crevices that were its body, and they were obviously hurting him. Was that a flinch of poison that Jane just saw? She really, really hoped so.


"Geodude, Rock Polish and then tackle," the ever cold voice of a little **** rang out from the opposite side. Geodude concentrated for a second as a strange sensation went around him and Jane swore that he evened out a little. It also detached the stingers, but Jane hoped that the damage had already been done. Next Geodude sort of lunged at Ekans with incredible speed, the snake never saw him coming. He swung a big fist at her and punched her right in the head, making her flip back a few times painfully.


A very angry hiss came from the falled Snake as she got back up. Very angry hiss. "Ekans, use that rage and wrap yourself around Geodude!" She could do it, Jane was convinced. Ekans slithered up to Geodude very quickly, swinging her tail up and swinging that around several times, having a firm grip on the living stone. She squeezed as hard as she could, and Jane could swear she heard something crack Geodude flinched, either from the wrap or the poison or both, but he did. Ekans was just squeezing harder and harder.


"Magnitude," the boy ordered, and there was a look of fear on Geodude's face. Within a second he let tons, more than the attack on Pyro, of rocks fall upon himself and Ekans. They were both buried under tons of rock, and Jane watched anxiously what would happen. Then, a movement. A very hurt Ekans slithered from in between the rocks, slippery as she was. And she hissed brightly at Jane. It was over, Jane had won.


"**** **** ****!!" The boy swore, three times in a row.


"That's it, I win." Jane proclaimed, and she was feeling rather bold. "Respect your mother, don't drink, don't have sex and don't do drugs." And then she turned around toward the Center again to get the creatures healed. She was ready for the Gym.

 

[Underoos]

Eliminator Jr.: Great post! Nice description. Lurved the battle =3 I think Tyron's coming along quite nicely.
Congratulations, Tyron caught a level 5 Male Elekid!

Luigi-a: I have to admit, I'm starting to feel sorry I made the kid a brat. You guys are being mean to him XD Can't say I blame you though. And poor Ekans. Did we catch Jane on a bad day or what? X3
Congratulations, Ekans grew to level 8! Pyro grew to level 12!

(Pokemon info and moves learned will, as always, be posted in the OOC thread =) )

Chapter 3: Citrine City Part 2​

Alright! No more obstacles (though it might be a good idea to heal your Pokemon again), so it's time to do this. The first gym is littered with the electric symbols. You walk up yellow brick path to the gym, and push open the doors. Inside it's completely dark. As soon as you announce yourself, a bright light shoots on immediately. Standing opposite of you is...

Gym Battle:

VS Volkner

He will announce that it is a two VS two battle. It does not matter to him if it is single or double, that choice is yours.

Pikachu
Gender: Male
Level: 13
Moves: Quick Attack, Thundershock, Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave

Shinx
Gender: Male
Level: 14
Moves: Spark, Bite, Charge, Tackle

For winning, you'll receive the Beacon Badge, AND a special prize because Volkner is awesome.

Luigi-a:

Swablu
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Nature: Timid
Moves: Sing, Astonish, Peck, Growl Dragon Rush*

Broadway:

Horsea
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Nature: Jolly
Moves: Bubble, Smokescreen, Leer, Aurora Beam*

Umbreon*:

Cubone
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Nature: Bold
Moves: Bone Club, Tail Whip, Growl, Skull Bash*

Sandeon:

Mankey
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Nature: Rash
Moves: Fury Swipes, Low Kick, Focus Energy, Scratch, Revenge*

Daydreambeliever:

Riolu
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Nature: Quirky
Moves: Quick Attack, Endure, Counter, Foresight, Blaze Kick*

Eliminator Jr.:

Sneasel
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Nature: Sassy
Moves: Screech, Quick Attack, Taunt, Scratch, Crush Claw*

*(Cannot Use Yet)

You may or may not chose to keep these Pokemon.

 

[daydreambeliever]

It was dark when Nevada walked into Citrine City, but that didn't stop the city showing off its beauty. Citrine City is known for it's bright lights, vibrant decorations and most importantly, it's Electric type Gym, and even with the pitch black sky overhead, Nevada could see evidence of all these things. There were lights along all the streets and pathways and big, flashing signs that advertised shops and businesses. It was enough to even make Lulu awake from her slumber.

'Would you have a look at this place?' exclaimed Nevada, walking around in a circle, trying to take in the city's sights.

'Poli', agreed Lulu, who was at awe with the place as well. Suddenly, something started to beep loudly.

'Oh, my alarm,' yelled Nevada. She placed Lulu on the ground and swiftly swang her backpack off her shoulder and delved inside, pulling out her Pokedex. 'I programmed it to tell me when it was 12 o'clock.' Sure enough, the time on the display read '12:00am'. 'Wow! It is getting late. Better find a Pokemon Center to spend the night.'

'Poli Poli,' yawned Lulu, wanting to get some sleep.

--

'Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center. We restore your tired Pokemon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokemon?'

'Yes please.' Nevada pulled out two Pokeballs and handed them to Nurse Joy.

'Anything else dear?' asked Nurse Joy, who had dark bags underneath her eyes. Nevada figured she must have been working all day and night.

'Actually, there is. I was wondering if I could stay the night?'

'Um, let me check.' With that, Nurse Joy disappeared out back. Nevada looked around the Pokemon Center. The interior colour was yellow, with large orange lighting bolts randomly scattered on the wallpaper, and the lights were so bright in here that it seemed as night time would never come. Not wonder the poor Nurse Joy looked tired. There were many trainers in here, yet not so much as at Route 301 rest stop. Instead of raised voices and the sound of hurried feet, Citrne City's Pokemon Center was a lot quieter. There was two men sitting next to each other, discussing a book both of them had read, a young girl asleep in an armchair and one boy on the phone.

'Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokemon to full health.' Nevada turned around to see the Nurse joy standing behind the desk with two Pokeballs in her hands.

'Thank you very much,' replied Nevada, smiling broadly.

'I also checked if we had a room available and I'm sorry to say we don't.' Nevada's smile turned into a frown. 'But, we do have a spare bed. You will just have to bunk with some other trainers.' She thought about this and decided she was too tired to pass up the deal, and she might even make some new friends.

'That would be wonderful, Nurse Joy.' Suddenly, a loud voice echoed through the Pokemon Center. This shocked Nevada and she accidentally dropped the Pokeballs on the ground. Both capsules opened and a bright light flashed before Nevada's eyes, slowly materialising into two Pokemon, Lulu and her newly caught Mareep.

'I know! How could I lose? Me, of all people? With my awesome Pokemon? It can't be done. IT CAN'T BE DONE!' The boy was now yelling at the top of his lungs into the phone and must be scaring who ever was on the other end.

'What is with him?' Nevada asked under her breath.

'He cheated! The gym leader must have cheated! There is no way. NO WAY I CAN LOSE!' The boy's face was now turning a shade of purple. It is when Nurse Joy intervened where the boy looked like his head was about to blow off and steam was going to come out of his ears.

'I'm sorry, but would you mind not yelling in the Pokemon Center? This is a friendly and kind place for all…'

'I CAN YELL IF I WANT! I CAN SCREAM IF I WANT! AND I AM NO LOSER!'

'I can tell, but still…'

'You don't get it! No one gets it!' And with that, the boy slammed the phone down and stormed past Nurse Joy and stood right in front of Nevada, his face almost on hers. 'I challenge you to a battle! NOW! I will show you that I am no loser!' Close up, Nevada could tell this boy would normally have kind yet determined blue eyes, but with this anger pulsating through him, his eyes were cold and harsh.

'Um, I don't know. You see, I'm really tired,' and quite frankly, you scare me, Nevada thought to herself.

'Chicken! Chicken!' The boy started to make chicken noises and circle Nevada. This boy is asking for a fight.

'Fine! Let's just get this over and done with,' Nevada exclaimed, less than enthusiastically. She looked down at her Pokemon, who had been standing next to her the whole time and both looked pumped and ready. Why couldn't she feel the same as her Pokemon?

'You are going down girlie.' The boy threw a Pokeball into the air in front of him and after a blinding flash of light, appeared a yellow Pokemon with a lighting bolt shaped tail.

'Is that…?'

'The fastest and strongest Pikachu in the world? Why yes, it is.' This boy was way too cocky for his own good, thought Nevada as she pulled out her Pokedex.

'Pikachu, the Mouse Pokemon. It can generate electric attacks from the electric pouches located in both of its cheeks.'

'Electric type, yeah? Going up against a water type?'

'This is why you will never win! My Pokemon are so much better than yours.'

'Don't start celebrating just yet! Mareep, it is your time to shine.' On command, Mareep jumped in front of Nevada, electricity sparking from its fur. 'You ready boy?'

'Oh, I was ready years ago. Pikachu, use Thunder Wave!'

'Hold on! Hold on!' Nurse Joy was walking towards the battle, shaking her head. 'If you are going to do this, it must be done outside. Not in my Pokemon Center. Not in here. Got it?' Both nodded, exchanged looks of hate at each other and then walked outside, their Pokemon following behind. They found a quiet field just outside of town and decided that this was the perfect place to stage a battle, only problem was there was hardly any light.

'A battle in darkness?' snickered the boy. 'Brilliant. This should be fun.' Nevada checked her Pokedex for the time. 1 am? No wonder she could feel her eyes closing.

'Can we get this over with? I have a bed I wish to sleep in some point,' said Nevada. Her tiredness was changing into grumpiness very fast.

'Pikachu, use Thunder Wave!' A surge of electricity surrounded the foe's Pikachu and was quickly released on Mareep, who instead of getting hurt, absorbed the electricity into its coat. 'What? What happened?'

'Mareep is an Electric type also. And see that coat of hers? That absorbs and stores electricity. Electric attacks will hardly do any damage.' This made the boy's face turn back to that shade of purple.

'Pikachu, use Tail Whip.' The foe's Pikachu quickly moved around Mareep. 'That lowers its Defence.'

'And this lowers your ego! Mareep, use Tackle!' Mareep sprinted towards Pikachu, knocking it backwards.

'Pikachu!' The boy ran over to his Pokemon who was laying flat on the floor. 'C'mon, get up!' Like Moses to the red sea, Pikachu jumped back onto its feet, sparks shooting from its cheeks.

'Mareep, use Tackle again!'

'Dodge it and use Thundershock!' Mareep ran head on to Pikachu, who swiftly dodged and used a force of electricity that stopped Mareep in its tracks.

'Mareep, are you okay?' Mareep seemed to have taken some damage but determined as ever, found its feet and prepared itself for the rest of the fight.

'Pikachu, Thundeshock! Pikachu again started to store its energy and Mareep looked curiously at Nevada.

'Mareeep?'

'Stay still, Mareep. Until I tell you what to do, stay still.'

'Mareeeep!' Trusting in its trainer, Mareep stayed still and right on target for Pikachu's Thundershock.

'Now, Mareep! Dodge and use Tackle, as hard as you can!' Nevada's Pokemon dodged the lighting attack and slammed heavily into the foe's Pokemon. Pikachu seemed dazed by the blind sided attack and Nevada used this to her advantage. 'Use Tackle again!'

'Pikachu,' yelled the boy, but it was too late. His Pokemon was knocked out on the ground.

'Mareep! You did it!' Nevada ran over to her Pokemon, but to her amazement, Mareep was also knocked out. The boy laughed evilly at the sight of Mareep, as Nevada sent it back into its Pokeball.

'Now we only have one more Pokemon each! It is a tie from here, only I will come out the winner.' What a little brat, Nevada thought to herself. 'Come on out Diglett!' The boy pulled out a Pokeball from her pants and threw it into the night sky. What appeared next was a small brown oval shaped Pokemon, sticking out of the ground.

'What type is that?' muttered Nevada, talking to herself.

'Ground, and I bet it can knock the socks of any Pokemon you chose to bring out.' The boy was really starting to annoy her now and she just wanted to defeat him quickly and get to bed. What to use against a Ground type Pokemon? She could remember that Grass and Ice were super effective against Ground types but she couldn't remember the last one. There was 3, she knew that much. That is when she heard it, his voice, Ben's voice, in her head.

'There are three types that do well against Ground. Grass, Ice and Water. Remember that Lauren, you never know when that is going to come in handy.'

Water! That was it! Nevada looked down at Lulu, who had been sitting next to her feet the whole match. Lulu is a water type! That is how she will defeat that brat once and for all.

'Lulu, it is up to you. You are Water and Diglett is Ground. You will win easy.' Lulu nodded and quickly jumped to her feet, determined to win.

'What is that?' cried the boy in between laughs. 'It looks like a bouncy ball!'

'THAT is Lulu and she is a Water type. You know, Water beats Ground, so I won't be laughing if I was you. I would be worried.' The smile quickly disappeared off the boy's face and he looked concerned. 'Can we get this started already?'

'Diglett, use Astonish!' Diglett sent out the attack, shocking Lulu backwards.

'Lulu, use Bubble!' Thousands of beautiful bubbles surrounded the foe's Diglett, and as soon as they swarmed around the Pokemon, they popped! 'Take that, huh? Not so cocky now.' The boy was in shock at how much damage his Diglett had taken in one hit. 'Now, one more time Lulu! Use…'

'Use Magnitude, Diglett!' Suddenly, the ground started to shake and Nevada and Lulu were having a hard time staying upright before both of them fell.

'What move was that,' Nevada yelled as she tried to stand up.

'That was Magnitude. Do little earthquakes scare you?'

'I'm really fed up with you. Lulu, use Bubbles!'

'Diglett, Magnitude!' The ground started to move again, yet this time more violently and Lulu fell over, meaning she could not get a clear shot. 'Your little pathetic Pokemon can't do anything while Diglett is using Magnitude! It can't even stay on its own two feet, you picked a terrible…'

'Lulu, Bubble!' Right on command, Lulu shot bubbles directly at Diglett who, by the end of the attack, was knocked up and unable to go on. 'You did it, Lulu! We won!'

--

'You are pretty good, you know,' said the boy as Nevada and him walked back into the Pokemon Center. There was no one in the Center except for Nurse Joy, who had her head down on the desk, most likely trying to catch up on some well needed sleep. 'I didn't think anyone could beat me, but I was wrong.'

'No worries kid,' Nevada added, acting like it was no big deal.

'Hey, even with all that, I still don't know your name.'

'Nevada, and you?'

'Jasper.'

'Nice to meet you, Jasper. You are a great trainer as well.' This made Jasper go red with embarrassment.

'Will I see you again some time?' To be honest, Nevada didn't know the answer to that. So didn't even know what she was going to do tomorrow.

'I have no clue. Sorry.' They approached the desk, to find Nurse Joy out cold, snoring away. 'They don't look so pretty when they are asleep,' Nevada commented.

'Yeah, I don't get the obsessions with Nurse Joy anyway. Who would want a girl with pink hair?' asked Jasper, seriously, yet Nevada couldn't help but laugh. 'Were you staying tonight?'

'Here, in the center. Yourself?'

'I'm here also. Hey, you know I have a spare bed in my room? Want to spend the night in there?'

'You know what, Jasper. That would be wonderful.'

---

OMG! Sorry this is so late! I have been doing alot lately and I have been lazy, I will admit. But I will (hopefully) have the next post up very soon.

 

[Eliminator Jr.]

The center button on the Poké Ball moved inwards, and a loud click let Tyron know that he had caught the wild Elekid. It was a good thing that he didn't have to get involved himself. He didn't have such a huge type disadvantage at the next gym anymore. He returned the exhausted looking Natu into its Poké Ball as they grew closer to the route end. The bird Pokémon was beyond tired and needed its rest. The new addition to his team was in better condition, so he kept its Poké Ball higher up in his pocket for quicker access in case any more wild Pokémon decided to show up along the way. The rest of his Route 301 adventure turned out to be quite dull, however. He had faced at least eleven or twelve encounters with Pokémon when he was going to Amber Town compared to three encounters this time. Maybe it was just a bad day for battling? Maybe the wild Pokémon saw the Natu on his shoulders or the outline of a Poké Ball in his pocket and found him more intimidating? Whatever the reason, the trip wasn't as tiring as he had expected it to be. Not that he ever conceded to being tired. It was just... a little less exciting as he had hoped. He had already fallen in love with being a trainer and battling Pokémon, but the battles were few and far apart. Maybe in later routes things would pick up? He could always battle other trainers in gyms - many people went to train their Pokémon at gyms. He made it one of his goals to train a little in the gym tonight before facing the gym leader, or at least battle another trainer first.

When he arrived in Citrine the familiar orangey-yellow bricks and buildings welcomed his eyes with a change from the look of grass and faraway trees, properly establishing that he was once again among civilisation. Conveniently, one of the town's Pokémon Centers was located right next to the eastern entrance of the town, meaning he wasn't wasting time looking around for a place to heal up his Pokémon. It was a busy city; there were people everywhere. A bunch of people stood outside the Pokémon Center talking busily. Maybe they were tourists or lived in the nearby houses. He couldn't think of any reason why people would be standing there. He made his way through the group, who instantly fell silent. Everybody was nervous and didn't want to say anything or make eye contact with him. Tyron didn't see these people as rude. They had every reason to judge him based on looks - most people who dressed the way that he did weren't very nice people. He wore those clothes because they were comfortable, but even more importantly it kept away small-talk. He didn't have to bother with people making awkward conversations that didn't lead anywhere with him as he stood in queues or sat on a bus. Some people would see this as a missed opportunity - countless times in history small talk had lead on to create great friendships and help people through life. Tyron didn't want any help, or any friends by that matter. He didn't need shortcuts and help to get through life - he would do things the hard way or he wouldn't feel any sense of achievement from them. He didn't trust anybody with his life except himself, and that included his Pokémon. Sure, they were far more loyal than humans ever could be, but they could switch sides whichever time they liked. When he thought about it, he realised eventually he would have to trust his Pokémon, in places where the wild Pokémon were stronger than he was. He put the thought out of his mind to concentrate on the nurse's desk ahead of him.

"Welcome to the Citrine East Pokémon Center." The nurse sitting behind the counter flashed one of her trademark smiles. It wasn't real, however. Tyron could see through her like glass; she was faking happiness. There were too many creases around her eyes and the ends of her eyebrows hadn't dipped noticeably. It was just her job. Underneath she was either bored or stressed. He didn't mention it. It wasn't really important, but things like this he just happened to pick up on automatically. The Pokémon Center was bright - all the lights were turned up full, even though there was still daylight outside. The white-tiled floor was impeccably clean and reflected the lights to create an increased blindness in all patrons. It was too clean. Luxury. Living so far away from it for so long, it even repulsed him somehow. Everything was so perfect. Where was the challenge? The nurse noticed the Poké Balls Tyron had pulled out of his pocket and added, "would you like me to heal your Pokémon for you?" Tyron nodded and waited patiently standing up. Meanwhile, from the other end of the foyer, he could hear a young child of maybe twelve on one of the public phones. He was yelling, and rather loudly. He was complaining about something. He tried to block out other noise of people talking and concentrate on the boy. He managed to pick out something about the gym leader doing something to his powerful Pokémon. So the gym leader was tough. Or this kid was full of himself. Either way, it wasn't any of his business, so he collected the pair of Poké Balls back from the nurse and began to walk out of the building. Other people waiting in seats, probably on Pokémon with broken bones or torn muscles that required more time being healed, all made sure not to look at him as he walked past. All except the child that had been on the phone only moments earlier, who looked directly at Tyron. He pretended not to notice the kid and walked through the automatic doors at the front of the Pokémon Center. Within seconds, the child burst out after him.

"I'm good! T-the gym leader just cheated!" he blurted out. The people gathered outside the Pokémon Center must have seen the child as he walked into the building earlier, presumably after being defeated by the town's gym leader. Tyron ignored the kid again and kept on walking. It didn't concern him. Until the boy began speaking, "I'll prove it! By battling that guy with the hood!" The spectators all turned their attention to the boy's opponent. "You just arrived here from Amber Town, right?" the boy asked. Tyron turned around to face his challenger at this point. He nodded. The boy snorted. "So you're one of the trainers that just began thanks to Professor Elm. This'll be a piece of cake!" He laughed to himself. None of their audience joined in, but the boy didn't seem to notice. "You can choose your Pokémon first." The kid said it as if he was giving Tyron the advantage, but really he was waiting for his opponent to pick a Pokémon so that he could send out a creature that had the advantage. It didn't bother the six-foot-tall silent beast, however, who pulled out a Poké Ball from his pocket. Natu was his first choice in battle. He gripped the Poké Ball in his hand and tossed it lightly ahead of him. Throw it like they did on TV and it would have landed on the other side of the Pokémon Center. Natu emerged from its cage and hopped into the air, flapping its small wings up and down in excitement and relief at being at full strength again. The boy laughed at Tyron's face without fear, pulling a Poké Ball off his belt and throwing it to the ground. Out emerged a Shinx, an electric type Pokémon. Just as Tyron had expected, the kid had the advantage. However, looking on the bright side of things, it would be good practice for battling the gym leader later on in the day, or the next morning.

Not missing an opportunity to begin first, Tyron spoke, "Natu, staring contest. Get up high." The idea of not actually specifying any moves would leave the boy trying to guess what was happening, meaning commands to the Shinx would be lacking any real strategy. He pulled out his Pokédex and accessed the page of the opposing Pokémon. Only one electric move, and that required physical contact in order to work. It looked like this portion of the battle would just be the waiting game. Natu hopped up onto its owners left hand and then off that onto his shoulder. Tyron was standing next to a street sign. The psychic Pokémon saw that as the perfect perch and sat on it. Tyron had already made sure that the post was wooden and that it wouldn't conduct electricity. The perch would have been useless if the street sign was metal. Natu knew what to do. Somehow Tyron just knew it. Perhaps that was just the beginning of Natu's telepathy with him. That affirmative feeling he had could have been sent off by Natu. The bird obviously wasn't powerful enough to send actual words yet, and that would probably take a while, but for now he could only hope that his Pokémon knew what it was doing. The boy's face scrunched up when he realised the Natu was completely out of reach now. All he could command was a measly leer attack. The Shinx complied reluctantly, and began staring up at the bird, who stared back just as intensely. Like Tyron had said, it was a staring contest. However, this kid probably knew nothing about the Night Shade attack, hell, Tyron didn't know it was possible, even after researching Xatu for long periods of time back where he used to live. Natu worked silently as its trainer watched on. For some reason he felt lazy by resorting to an unbeatable strategy, but if that meant he won, then it didn't really matter. The outcome was what mattered, not how he reached it.

The staring contest continued and the boy quickly grew agitated. "Come onnnn," the boy whined, "do something already!" His Pokémon continued to send a leer Natu's way, however without realising its power was being drained by the second. It wasn't until the Shinx's breathing grew noticeably heavy that the boy realised what was going on. "Night Shade!?" he cried. "That's not fair! You cheated! You're not allowed to do that!" The boy made up excuse after excuse until one of the spectators interrupted him. It was a man of perhaps seventy. He was noticeably old and had white hair, although he was of the age that he was still as sharp as he was thirty years beforehand.

"He is not cheating," the man said strongly. "It's a perfectly legitimate strategy. It may be boring, but if it means the battle is won then it is a sensible decision." The crowd murmured agreements, muffled voices and a few yeah!'s. It appeared that most of the audience was on Tyron's side in this fight. It felt strange having people support him. Most of the time he went unnoticed and never had he been involved in something that he even really could be supported in. It felt strange, but good. He blocked it out. He couldn't grow use to it. He would be distracted, he wouldn't be perfect.

"But, but I can't attack that stupid bird while it's sitting up on that street sign! It's unfair!" The boy spat out. At that point in time, the Shinx fell to the ground, exhausted. It couldn't fight anymore. Tyron held his hand out to signal the bird to stop taking the electric type's energy and Natu seemingly complied (it was impossible to tell for sure, but I mean come on, as if the Natu would keep going, like what would be the point of it?). The boy ran down to the Shinx and bent down on his knees to pat its head. "IT'S NOT FAIR!!" he screamed. This kid was just trouble waiting to happen.

"Looks like you should have taught your Pokémon a more diverse moveset," the same man responded, to which the kid responded "shut up" in between fits of screaming. The old Citrinian was obviously offended by the open lack of respect but a woman from the crowd, presumably his wife, put her hand on his shoulders and kept him from speaking any more of his mind. The kid finally went silent, taking the Shinx's ball from his belt and returning it.

"No way to play cheap this time, cheater," the boy said mockingly, "my next Pokémon is immune to Night Shade!" And with that, he threw his second Poké Ball and out emerged a Rattata, fangs bared. Of course, it was a normal type and so ghost-type moves wouldn't work on it. That was okay. Tyron wasn't relying on using the stare contest strategy for the entire battle, and this would give him a chance to see how his Elekid could do. He returned Natu into its Poké Ball. It wouldn't have been useful physically anyway after all the leers from the Shinx earlier on. He pulled out his other Poké Ball from his pocket and sent out the newly captured Pokémon. The Elekid stood, focused on its new opponent, a Rattata. The boy didn't seem scared of the Pokémon. He had no reason to be, it was relatively small and probably didn't pack much of a punch yet. Tyron would put that to the test right now. Natu was just about beaten by it in the wild, and this Rattata probably had a similar resistance to pain and damage as Natu did, however Natu was tired after that battle, which probably played a large role in Elekid's dominance. The kid acted first this time, ordering his Pokémon to perform a quick attack. As soon as Tyron heard the beginning of the first syllable, "qui_," he called out "dodge!" and the Elekid moved out of the way with a similar speed to the rat who had just attempted to attack it. The heat was on.

"Leer. Dodge if you have to." Tyron was setting up the opposing Rattata for an all out attack later on - get its defenses down now and then move in. He just had to hope that his Elekid could keep moving for as long as the purple rat could in order to dodge the attacks. Like the wild Rattata he had met earlier that day, this one stopped in its tracks after seeing the glare. It didn't take much of the boy's shouting to get it moving again, however. This process continued for a little while longer - Elekid dodging attacks and shooting off devilish glares, until finally one of the Rattata's attacks hit, sending the electric type backwards on its feet and onto the ground. The kid laughed obnoxiously and demanded another tackle move. His Pokémon obeyed, attacking the vulnerable Elekid repeatedly. The electric type soon rolled out of the way of one of the attacks and stood up, running further away to place distance between itself and the opponent. The Rattata, not expecting the sudden move, dived into the brick ground of the city. It got up dizzily, causing a fair bit of damage. "Quick Attack," Tyron ordered, and Elekid began dashing towards the Rattata in a blur. However at the last second the kid yelled out "BITE!" and all but seemed over. Tyron kept his face straight, but inside he was beginning to feel unsure whether he would win or whether he would be facing his first loss so early on in his journey. When the collision occurred, both sides took damage. But afterwards, the Rattata remained paused in the same position. Sparks flew across its fur. It had been paralyzed by the collision. Just his luck. The Elekid took the initiative and attacked the still Pokémon until it fell to the ground, unable to remain conscious.

"NO!" the kid moaned rather loudly. The group of eight or so onlookers cheered and clapped happily. Obviously this boy was a pain in the guts to everyone here. "My dad said these were great Pokémon when he gave them to me, but they stink!" The old man from earlier on shook his head in disappointment. "This doesn't count as a loss! You cheated and you know it!" The boy returned his fainted Pokémon and ran back inside the Pokémon Center to heal them. His first trainer battle was over and already Tyron could feel the difference between battling tame Pokémon in comparison to battling wild Pokémon. His first trainer fight was against a child. He kept his mind off thinking of how much harder it would be to defeat the gym leader of the town. He didn't want to think about that now. Not yet.

"Congratulations, boy!" the elderly man clapped the winner on the back and laughed. "That kid's a brat but he's beaten everyone he has battled besides Volkner and you." The man looked at him with great admiration. "I always wished I was a Pokémon trainer, so I could wipe the floor with him myself." The man chuckled. "That was a great battle. What was your name, son?"

"Tyron Oliver. I'm from the Kanto region." He tried to smile a bit to be polite but after so long without moving his face for expression he found it hard to shift his muscles, so instead he just kept a blank face. He held out his hand instead as a gesture of friendliness. The old man took it and shook it with a firm grip. Tyron returned the favour, however not strongly. He didn't want to crush the man's bones.

"My name is Bernard Whitegood," he said, "and this is my wife, Eleanor." He introduced his wife, who Tyron nodded to. "However, I'm afraid we must be going. My wife's favourite show begins on television in ten minutes. Simply can't miss it!" He laughed again and began to walk off, before turning around to face Tyron again. "If you're ever in Citrine again and need a place to stay, look me up in the directory and I'll gladly give you free accommodation for the night. Well done, again." Tyron waved and the man hurried off with his wife into the labyrinth of orange and golden buildings. He probably wouldn't end up taking the offer at all, but it was good to know that he knew at least somebody in the region aside from Professor Elm. He would sleep in the Pokémon Center tonight, after his battle with the gym leader, who he could only assume was this Volkner character. Tyron turned and walked towards the Pokémon Center entrance, wiping his feet before entering. He'd heal up his Pokémon, ask for directions and go out to face his first gym challenge.

 

[Underoos]

Daydreambeliever: No worries =) It was a good post =D
Congratulations, Poliwag is now Lulu (prolly 'cuz I didn't see that earlier ><;) and...Lulu grew to level 11! Mareep grew to level 7!

Eliminator Jr.: Glad to see you've caught up =) Great post!
Congratulations, Natu grew to level 11! Elekid grew to level 9!

Note: if you already checked the chapter when I first posted it, go double check. I forgot the special thingie at the end ><;

 

[daydreambeliever]

Why did you have to go?
Just when I needed you so.
Why did you have to leave me?
Even after all my pleas.
Why did I have to say goodbye?
Why are you high in the sky?

'What you writing there?' asked Jasper as he walked back into the room. It was early in the morning and Nevada had finally gotten some sleep, not enough to make her happy but enough to keep her going. It had been extremely late when Nevada got into a bed, and much to her enjoyment, she woke up not long afterwards.

'Nothing,' Nevada said quickly, shoving the piece of paper she had been writing on in her pocket. She looked up at Jasper and started to notice his features better in the daylight. Jasper was only a little bit taller than herself and had jet black hair, which at the moment was messy and wild. He was tanned and rather skinny and wore a blue top with white pants. Nevada guessed he was aged between 13-15.

'That is a lie and you know it,' Jasper said with a cheeky grin. He moved towards Nevada and tried to pull the paper out of her pocket, with no luck. 'Fine, if that is how you want to play it.'

'What happened to the angry and rather scary boy I battled last night?' asked Nevada, shocked by Jasper's actions. A few hours ago she was ready to rip his head off but now, she was actually enjoying his company. Jasper laughed and sat down next to Nevada on the bed.

'I can get rather... angry when I want.' He said it like it was nothing important and Nevada believed him. 'You see, when I went up against the Gym Leader, I lost so badly that I cracked it.' Jasper stood up and moved to the bed opposite Nevada. 'As a child, I was taught to win, and to win only. No losing, my father forbid it.' He started to move closer to her again until he was standing directly in front of her, their knees touching. 'And I lost! I was screaming at my father on the phone. It was last night when I lost to you that I realised that I don't need to win to be the best I can be.' He flashed another cheeky smile. 'So thank you for that.'

'Anytime.' Jasper moved away from Nevada and then opened a piece of paper in his hand. 'Rather deep stuff here.' That was her piece of paper! How did he get it out of her pocket?

'Give that back, Jasper!' Nevada jumped up off the bed and ran over to the boy, trying desperately to grab it out of his hands. He just laughed and moved his hand away, watching her struggle. Finally, he gave in and handed her the piece of paper.

'You are a poet and you didn't know it.' On a normal day, Nevada would have found that funny too but right now, she was annoyed. 'Oh cheer up, grumpy bums! No need to be mad.' Hypocritic, Nevada thought to herself.

--

'So will I see you again?' It was the first time on her journey when she had actually wanted to have stayed around for a little bit longer. She had made a new friend in Jasper and enjoyed having someone to take her minds off... other things.

'I hope so. Where you heading to now?'

'Where ever the wind takes me. To tell you the truth, I have no idea. Just going to follow the road.' That was exactly what she was doing! Great minds think alike.

'See you soon then! I'm off to get my ass whipped by a Gym Leader!' Jasper laughed at Nevada, who was being serious. There was no way she was going to beat an Electric type Gym Leader with a Water type and a Pokemon who only knows tackle!

'You will do fine, trust me.' Sorry, not much trust here buddy! Nevada waved goodbye to her new friend and set off in search of the Gym. She had already healed her Pokemon at the Pokemon Centre earlier and was happy to see that Nurse Joy had gotten some sleep. Then she saw it! The Citrine City's Gym, and like the rest of the city, it was littered with thousands of electric symbols in all shades of yellow, orange and red. There was a yellow brick road (Follow the yellow brick road! Follow the yellow brick road! Follow follow follow follow follow the yellow brick road!) that lead up to the doors that would bring her face to face with the Gym Leader. Nerves rushed through her body and she could feel her tummy turning. To calm her down, she let Lulu out of her Pokeball for some company. 'What do you think, Lulu?'

'Poliii,' exclaimed Lulu, her mouth wide open. Nevada picked Lulu off the ground and started to walk down the path. She pushed the doors opened and walked into darkness. She could feel Lulu move closer to her chest. Suddenly, a bright light hit Nevada and she could see a man standing in front of her. He had blonde hair and wore a blue jacket with dark pants.

'Welcome to my Gym. I am Volkner and I am the Citrine City Gym Leader. What is your name?' Nevada stayed silent as she looked the man up and down. He was good-looking, there was no doubt about it and the way he talked to her! He could charm the fleas of a dog! 'Are you alright?'

'Oh, yes, I'm fine,' stumbled Nevada, trying not to blush. 'I'm Nevada.' Volkner smiled.

'Follow me, Nevada.' He turned around and walked to a door and opened it, waiting for her to move. Once they were inside the door, Nevada could tell the battle was going to happen soon. Right in front of her was a battle arena, much like the ones she had seen on television. Volkner walked around to the other side. 'You ready?' No, she wanted to say. Not at all.

'Yes.' Stupid mouth.

'Let's get started then.' Volkner pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket and threw it into the air. A Pikachu appeared on the battle arena. 'This is my Pokemon, Pikachu. I trust you have seen one before.' Nevada nodded; she had fought against one last night. 'And what Pokemon will you be using?'

'Mareep, come on out!' Nevada's fluff-ball appeared on the battle arena, looking forward to another battle.

'An electric type, hey?' said Volkner, looking amused. 'Smart choice, none of my electric attacks will do much damage. But is your Pokemon strong?' No.

'You know it!' Shut up mouth! 'Mareep, use Tackle!' The yellow fluff ball did what it was told and ran head-on towards Pikachu. Volkner whispered something under his breath and suddenly, Pikachu moved out of the way. 'How did that...'

'Pikachu and I have been friends for years and we are so close we can nearly read each other's thoughts, in a manner of speaking. I told him to dodge and he dodged.' Nevada nodded; some bonds between trainer and Pokemon are so strong they nearly become in tune with each other. 'Like now, if I tell Pikachu to use Quick Attack...' Pikachu moved at lightning speed towards Mareep, who was sent flying backwards. '… He will use Quick Attack.' Volkner was good, Nevada had to admit and there was no doubt in her mind that he could beat her in a blink of an eye.

'Mareep, use Tackle again! Mareep charged and used its whole body to slam in Pikachu. 'Again!' Mareep backed up slightly and slammed in Pikachu again, causing some damage.

'Your Pokemon is fast! Not many can deal two rounds of Tackle in a row like that.' Volkner was indeed charming and Nevada was determined to do her best. It wasn't that she liked him or had a crush on him; he just talked the same way Ben used to talk. And now she was thinking about Ben again! Dammit! 'Now it is my turn. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!' A strong electric blast hit Mareep, making her cry in pain. When the attack stopped, Mareep was lying on the ground.

'Mareep!' Nevada yelled, worried about the condition of her Pokemon.

'Don't worry; she is still in the fight. But she is paralysed.' Sure enough, Mareep was having a difficult time getting back on its four feet. 'Also, its speed has reduced by 25% so I don't see Mareep making many more quick tackle moves any time soon.' Volkner knew his stuff.

'Mareep, Tackle!' This time the fluff-ball didn't move, she just stood there, her face showing she was in pain. Nevada looked at Volkner, who had a big grin on his face. He knew he was going to win, and win big.

'Pikachu, Thundershock!' A jolt of electricity hurled towards Mareep, who swiftly moved out of the way. 'How did that…'

'I did that same thing you did, Volkner. I whispered and Mareep heard me.' Volkner looked shocked but soon began laughing.

'You really are something, Nevada. So is your Mareep. But I'm afraid there is no way you can win. Pikachu, Thunderbolt!'

'Dodge and use Tackle!' Luckily, Mareep started to move and dodged the lightning bolt that was heading towards her and slammed in Pikachu. Nevada could see that Pikachu also was growing weaker and a few more hits would do the trick. 'Mareep, Tackle!'

'Thunderbolt!' Mareep tried to move but with no luck and the bolt of electricity came crashing down on her, knocking her out. Nevada praised her fluff-ball's efforts and sent her back into her Pokeball for a rest. 'You see, your Pokemon just wasn't strong enough.' Volkner was now starting to get on her nerves. 'What Pokemon will you use next?' She had no choice but to use Lulu.

'Lulu, let's do this!' Lulu jumped to it and was quickly on the battle arena, face-to-face with Volkner's Pikachu. The outlook of this match looked grim.

'Water, hey? Not the best match up there, Nevada.' She knew he was trying to get into her mind, and to be frank, it was working. She could not see how she could win from here. Lulu only knows Bubble and Water Sport. That got her thinking! Lulu must have levelled up with all the other battling we have done before this. Nevada dived into her backpack and pulled out her trusty Pokedex. 'What are you doing?' asked Volkner. Nevada blushed but continued pressing buttons until she had Lulu's move set in front of her.

Water Sport, Bubble, Hypnosis, Water Gun

2 new moves?! Why didn't she check this before? Mental head slap. Nevada quickly put her Pokedex back in her bag and nodded towards Volkner, signalling she was ready to go on.

'All right then. Pikachu, use Thundershock!' Pikachu concentrated hard and little sparks started to come out of its cheeks. Nevada knew if she didn't dodge this, it would be all over.

'Lulu, Dodge!' Lulu didn't move for a second, watching the huge lightning bolt heading towards her. Nevada was certain Lulu was gone for when she quickly moved out of the way. 'Lulu, use Hypnosis on Pikachu!' Nevada had never seen anything like it. Lulu closed her eyes and took a deep breath and suddenly, the sound of chimes and bells travelled through the gym, making Pikachu fall into a deep sleep. 'Wow…'

'Hypnosis! Excellent move, but what we you use after that?' Nevada didn't even know the answer to that question and she was meant to be the trainer in this battle.

'Umm… Lulu, use Water Gun!' Nevada's Poliwag opened her mouth and a jet of water shot out and hit Pikachu. This didn't have much effect on the Electric type Pokemon but still, it remained asleep, snoring away. 'Again! Water Gun!' The water hit Pikachu and this time, the impact did something and sent Pikachu flying high in the air, and then crashing back down again.

'Good work, Nevada! You have knocked out my Pokemon.' Even though he was smiling, Volkner did not seem all too happy as he sent his faint friend back into its Pokeball. 'Let's see how you go against my other Pokemon now. Come on out, Shinx.' Emerging out of its capsule was a small blue Pokemon on all fours. 'This is Shinx and he is, like Pikachu, an Electric Pokemon.' Nevada frowned. She knew that Shinx would have to be an Electric type but she could always pray. 'Shinx, Charge.' A glow of yellow light surrounded Shinx. 'My Pokemon is charging up to make its next attack more powerful!' Oh no! Nevada was right, there was no way she could win, but she could give it a fighting chance.

'Hypnosis.' The calming and relaxing music swept through the gym once more, resulting in Shinx sleeping on the floor. 'Lulu, Water Gun.' And hardly any effect, just greaaat. Shinx awoke from its slumber and barked at Nevada, showing it was not to be played a fool.

'Use Bite,' commanded Volkner. Shinx ran at Lulu and viciously clamped its mouth down, using its sharp teeth to send Lulu into pain.

'Polllliiiiiii!' Nevada hated hearing any one in pain, let alone her own Pokemon. She decided that that was it and this battle had to finish, either with her the victor or not.

'Lulu, Hypnosis, then use Bubble and Water Gun at the same time and circle around Shinx.' Just as she was told, the Water Pokemon sang a sweet lullaby that sent her foe into slumber. The next move however, Nevada wasn't sure it would even work or that it was even possible! She had just thrown together some moves in her mind and hoped they would work. Lulu started to circle around her sleeping foe and suddenly, out came a jet of water surrounded by bubbles. It actually worked! The water had caused the sleeping Shinx to awake and Nevada could see it was gearing up for an Electric attack. 'Lulu, move faster around Shinx. Same attack.' Lulu started to gain speed and dashed around her foe, drenching him in water.

'Shinx, use Thundershock!' Volkner's voice was no longer happy and carefree; it was now determined and angry. Shinx used all its power and sent out an electric shock which conducted through the water, making a beautiful display of sparkles. What wasn't beautiful was the considerable amount of damage Lulu took from the one attack. 'No, Shinx!' Nevada looked at Volkner who held a Pokeball in his hand, his face long and sad. That is when she realised she had won the gym battle! Shinx was out cold.

--

'I present you, Nevada, with the Beacon Badge.' Volkner handed her a tiny little symbol, one that resembled a lighthouse. This was her first gym badge and she had won it with the grimmest of chances.

'Why thank you!' Volkner smiled and pulled something else out of his pocket, a Pokeball.

'I have been meaning to give this to a challenger that proved three things; a natural talent, a fighting spirit and a love for Pokemon. I will be giving this to you.'

'Me?!' Nevada could not believe her ears. Not only had she just done something she would never have believed herself to do in a million years, she was now being given a Pokemon from a world famous Gym Leader.

'Yes. I would like you to meet your newest addition to your Pokemon team, Riolu.' Volkner threw the capsule into the air and the light materialised to show a small blue dog-like Pokemon. 'Riolu is a fighting type Pokemon and is very rare. He is quite the catch.' Nevada was taken by the Pokemon already, laughing as it stared at her, wondering who she was.

'Hi Riolu. I'm Nevada, I will be your new trainer.' Riolu tilted his head to the side and looked her up and down before smiling and showing his immediate fondness to her.

'Ri ri!'

'He is at Level 10 and has a wonderful move set, but I'm sure you will find that out later.' Volkner bent down to Riolu's height. 'What do you think buddy? You like her?' He nodded and started what Nevada could only describe as dancing. 'Oh yeah, he is the quirky type too. You never know what he is going to do next.'

'I love him. Thank you so much Volkner.' As if it was a long lost friend, Nevada ran up and hugged the Gym Leader, causing him to turn a peach colour.

'Any time my friend,' he said as they pulled away from the embrace. 'If you ever need me, you know where to find me.'

'I sure do. I better be off. See you Volkner. Thank you again.' He laughed.

'Don't thank me just yet.' And with that, Nevada and her new Pokemon walked out of Citrine City Gym with their first badge, a new friendship and restored faith.

 

[Eliminator Jr.]

His revisit to the Pokémon Center was uneventful. The kid he had defeated had disappeared, most likely out one of the back doors leading to the center accommodation, too humiliated to face Tyron again. The crowd outside the Pokémon Center had dispersed when he moved inside. He was alone again. The brunette sitting behind the counter smiled one of her fake smiles again and took his Poké Balls from him. She had said, "back so soon?" but he just nodded, not wishing to participate in idle chit chat. The nurse didn't seem to notice Tyron's unsocial demeanour. She was too busy using the healing machine beside her. It didn't matter. He would get his Pokémon back and go to face Volkner, the electric-type gym leader. He considered his strategies. Being against a gym leader, he wouldn't be able to use the stare contest tactic effectively. The opposing Pokémon would most likely both know long-range moves as well as physical ones. He would have to figure out other ways of battling effectively. That battle with the kid might have spawned some new moves in his Pokémon. Once he left the Pokémon Center he'd find out what those moves were so that he could use them to his advantage. The nurse handed him back his Poké Balls and wished him a nice day. He nodded again to acknowledge her, then walked over to a basket filled with tourism brochures of Citrine, which would no doubt contain a map somewhere within them. He located the gym and walked through the automatic doors and back outside.

According to his watch, it was four in the afternoon and although the sun had began to cool the temperature outside was still fairly warm. He decided that after facing the gym he would go out and eat dinner, re-fill his supplies for the next route and complete his training for the day (which on a usual day he would have done during the morning). Afterwards he would return to the Pokémon Center and rest for the night. Right now it was time to investigate the changes in his Pokémon. He released both Elekid and Natu. This was the first time they had seen each other since the battle back on Route 301. Both were cautiously checking whether they're allegiances were really aligned now. After about twenty seconds they had both seemed to accept that they would have to fight on the same team and held no hostilities towards each other. Tyron watched. If only humans could forget their differences so easily - the world would be a far better place. Pulling out his Pokédex, he scanned Elekid first, who according to the device had learned the move Thundershock. He was familiar with the mechanics of the move - it was a long-range attack. Perfect for preventing somebody from using a sit-and-wait tactic on him. He tested the move out by commanding the electric type to use it. It worked. Electricity ran along the ground, bouncing along the bricks until it hit a park chair in the distance. He commanded the attack into the air and it worked as well. Satisfied, he turned to his newly captured Pokémon.

"Your name is Elekid. You will respond to this, and later on Electabuzz, and then Electivire." He spoke clearly and looked the Pokémon in the eye. It understood. Tyron picked up its Poké Ball and returned it. He moved the Pokédex along so it was now scanning Natu. It had learned a new move as well - Teleport. It was perfect. Because of Natu's small stature and undeveloped wings, it was unable to dodge attacks effectively - all it could do was hop upwards and hope the move missed. With this, the small bird could disappear and re-appear somewhere else, unknown to the opponent. Until Natu learned something more offensive than Peck, he decided he would command Natu to teleport to somewhere far away from the opponent and then use Night Shade until the opponent found it, and teleport again. It was similar to the staring contest move, however it was much more flexible. After commanding his Pokémon to use the move, he soon discovered that it took more energy as well. As opposed to staring, teleporting took a lot more out of the bird. Tyron knew that the bird hadn't properly developed its psychic powers yet, shown by only being able to send him a faint feeling of assertiveness in the previous battle, so teleporting took a massive amount of psychic effort. He'd have to use the technique sparingly throughout the gym battle. He began walking towards the building where he could truly test how good a trainer he was.

The building was fairly large, as he had expected. He noted the sign on the outside. The Pokémon Gym was relatively new, in fact it had probably only been opened shortly before the professor began the journeys of the six chosen trainers, but already it had a name printed on it. Nevada Wheeler. The gym leader had been beaten before. That was a reassuring sign. Considering it was the first gym meant to be challenged by trainers, Volkner was probably using pre-evolved Pokémon to be fair. However, that was no reason to underestimate him. The Pokémon had no doubt been trained well and slightest slip-up could mean losing the whole battle. Walking up to the door, it opened automatically. Most, if not all non-residential buildings had automatic sliding doors. It was a change from Saffron and Fuschia, where half the buildings had been built over fifty years beforehand and opening doors manually was second nature. The first thing Tyron noticed when the doors shut behind him was that the room was completely covered in darkness. He couldn't see a thing. He took a few tentative steps forward, testing the ground before shifting his weight onto the next foot. He bent down. The room was still in complete darkness, but from the tarmac he could feel below him he could only assume that he was atop a professional battling field. This must be the room where the gym battle took place. There was nobody around, however. He could hear little. He stopped breathing for a moment in order to listen to his surroundings. Faintly, far in the distance, he could hear the quiet breathing of something else. Maybe a person, maybe a Pokémon. Maybe it was Volkner. The lights didn't flicker on, however. He figured that maybe the person ahead of him was sleeping. Had he come at the wrong time? Turning around, he began to walk back towards the entrance of the gym, before he heard a voice from behind him.

"No, wait!" came an alarmed male voice from the same position as the breathing was before. The lights flickered on to reveal an orange surface, covered in certain areas with white lines marking where the battle was to be fought. It was bright, and with the sudden change Tyron shut his eyes in order to help them adjust them. A couple of seconds later he opened his eyelids and turned to face the voice. Standing on the other side of the battlefield, probably about thirty metres away was a man dressed in blue and with blonde hair. "I am Volkner, Gym Leader of the Official Citrine City Pokémon Gym." He smiled, and Tyron could just make out the expression on his face from the distance. Because the room was silent, they could hear each other speaking perfectly, even from a distance. "Nevermind that. Some dramatic entrance the media wanted to do. Turn the lights on when you spoke to reveal me standing here. Don't worry about it too much." Volkner explained. Tyron now realised what had happened. This battle was going to be televised at some point in the near future. Because he was one of the six chosen trainers, the media showed a special interest in his Pokémon journey. They must have planned the darkness and lights to make the show more entertaining to watch. Volkner was on his side, he didn't really see the point in having to do special things such as this to pretty up a Pokémon battle.

"We'll have to do that again," came a monotone sounding voice out of a speaker somewhere. Up in the top corners of the room were speakers for a PA system. Somebody was watching this. Volkner turned to one of the walls. One particular stretch of the wall was mirrored. Behind this must have been other people, orchestrating the encounter and filming from various cameras on the wall. Volkner was just as much a pawn in this television broadcast as Tyron was, however the gym leader knew what was going on.

"Eh," Volkner waved his hands in a careless motion, "you can just edit it out or something." He turned his attention to his challenger across the battlefield coolly. He was the one in control - without him the gym challenge wouldn't even be happening. Clearly the blonde-haired man chose to use that power. "Okay, we're using two Pokémon each. Single or double battle? Your choice."

"A double battle," Tyron replied. He would need practice in all styles of battling. This would only be his fourth battle, so it wouldn't really matter if he had more experience in single battles anyway. Volkner nodded and pulled two Poké Balls off his belt. He had a full belt of six, but chose only two. The other four were no doubt stronger Pokémon that he didn't use in these gym battles. He threw the two Poké Balls across the field from the same hand, and they landed next to each other. Two electric-type Pokémon emerged. Tyron took this time before he released his Pokémon to quickly store the data of these two Pokémon in his Pokédex. By the time he was done he had thrown his two Pokémon out on the field, and out came Natu and Elekid, who both glanced at each other, determined to win as a team, and then towards their opponents. Volkner's Pokémon looked back, prepared for battle. "Elekid, Quick Attack Pikachu. Natu, trick stare Shinx." Tyron decided that he would act first. Volkner hadn't moved in a few seconds so it was safe to assume the battle was ready to begin. Elekid disappeared in a frenzy to Volkner's Pikachu while Natu began sending a Night Shade attack to the four-legged creature opposite it.

"Pikachu, Thundershock." Volkner spoke quickly and the mouse Pokémon complied. Although the attack had a type disadvantage against the speeding Elekid, it had effectively stopped the Quick Attack, knocking the Pokémon onto its back. "Now while it's still, Thunderbolt. Shinx, charge up," Volkner ordered. He was quick witted and an experienced trainer. Already Tyron could see why somebody would want him to be a Gym Leader in this region. He put aside all fear and focused on the battle. He could win this. The Elekid attempted to roll out of the way but could not escape the inevitable, and was struck by a harmful bolt of lightning. Providing it could move out of the way of the next attack and get back into the game, the Thunderbolt would hopefully not be much of a problem due to the type-disadvantage. The Shinx did its best not to meet the gaze of the Natu in attempt to avoid being scared by a leer attack that it thought was coming. Of course, this wasn't the case; Natu was actually faking the leer and using Night Shade instead, and the fact that the opponent wasn't paying much attention made it so much easier to bluff. Volkner commanded again, "Pikachu, Quick Attack."

"Thundershock," Tyron replied without missing a beat and within a second he had used the same trick that Volkner had used only moments before, sending the Pikachu onto its back. "Quick Attack." He commanded directly afterward, and due to the surprise of being knocked back the mouse didn't think of using a Thundershock as a shield and felt the full force of the speedy tackle. Things were looking better. There were more opportunities to be taken. "Elekid, Quick Attack Shinx," he commanded. The Shinx had been storing up electrical energy to use on Natu. Surely Volkner wouldn't try to block the Elekid right now. He was too busy focusing on taking out the Natu in one swift sweep. Tyron's suspicions were right - the Shinx made no attempt to defend the move and was knocked onto its back. Natu continued to use Night Shade on the Shinx, however Volkner had other ideas.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt," he commanded. Instantly, Tyron realised he was in major trouble. Sure, he could dodge the Thunderbolt attack with Teleport, but Natu could only move psychically so many times before it fell unconscious. Unlike moves like Thundershock and Spark, Thunderbolt was a homing attack. Like regular lightning, it struck down anything taller than the ground around it, which was in most cases an opposing Pokémon. Pikachu could keep using this until Natu fainted. He would have to act quickly.

"Natu, Teleport," he commanded, and the bird disappeared from sight to be seen in the corner of the room, visibly tired, even from a distance. "Elekid, Thundershock on Pikachu." The move worked, and the opposing Pokémon turned its attention towards the Elekid, who sent a bone shivering leer towards the Pikachu. The Pikachu froze and attempted to send one back, but failed.

Volkner called out more instructions: "Pikachu, Thunderbolt Elekid. Shinx, spark the Natu, it's cornered and it looks too tired to teleport." The two Pokémon obeyed. The Shinx began running towards the Natu, but due to the distance it took a little while to reach the bird, who all throughout the distance was controlling waves of Night Shade around the electric feline. As it grew closer and closer towards Natu, its speed faltered and it began to slow down. The secret attack had worked and Volkner realised his mistake too late. The Shinx let out a final burst of electricity using all its energy, but Natu teleported away from the damage, rendering the final attack useless. The Shinx fell over, defeated. Meanwhile, Natu sat far away from the action between Pikachu and Elekid, only watching. It was too tired to do anything but sit and witness the ongoing battle towards the center of the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Elekid had dodged three thunderbolts from the Pikachu through use of its speed, before Tyron actually called out, "Quick Attack." The Pikachu, focusing on its fourth bolt of lightning, couldn't defend itself from the Elekid's move and fell over. "Again," he commanded, and the final blow had been dealt. The Pikachu fell unconscious, making Tyron the newest winner of the Beacon Badge. Tyron picked up his two Poké Balls and returned his Pokémon. Volkner did similar.

"Congratulations," the gym leader said. "I haven't seen somebody new battle like that in a long time. You were a step ahead of me the whole time!" He had a smile on his face and was clearly not ashamed of losing. It was good that they hadn't picked a sore loser to take the spot of gym leader. The man was well presented and seemed like a genuinely friendly guy. Volkner reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metallic object. A gym badge. "Well done, this is yours," he said with a smile, and handed the badge to the winner of the battle. Tyron noticed that it was a true smile. Volkner wasn't putting it on for the cameras. "And also," he mentioned, "I have something else for you. A Pokémon as my thanks for winning." He conjured up a Poké Ball from his pocket and passed it to Tyron. "It's a Sneasel. You'll do well with it, I hope. A gift from Professor Elm and myself."

"Thank you," Tyron said. He didn't try to smile but he shook hands with the gym leader to show his appreciation. He hadn't taken his hood off the entire time so it would have been a miracle if the camera could pick up on his facial expression anyway. He walked out of the gym without looking back. The time read 4.30pm. Just the right time for him to begin his training. He began walking back to the Pokémon Center, trying not to be proud of himself.

 

[Broadway]

Carol actually made it into the Gym this time. Chant and Bowen were both all healed up, and she was ready...

Then she came through the doors and there was nothing but darkness. "Uh..." Carol said, looking around, even though there was no point in the pitch black. "Hello? Gym Leader? I'm Carol and I've come to challenge you!" As she spoke she got a little more confident, and her voice went from hesitant to firm. "So why are you hiding in the dark?!"

She heard a laugh, and then the light came on, and she had to blink against the sudden change while her eyes adjusted again. "I'm Volkner," said the man standing across from her, his yellow hair matching Citrine's favourite type of pokemon. "Nice to see you finally got here, trainer," he told her, and Carol shuffled her feet a little.

"Oh, you know about that, huh?"

"It did happen right outside my gym," he pointed out, and added, "seems like you did well then—let's see about now." Carol nodded smartly and took both her pokeballs in hand. Volkner tapped his chin with a finger consideringly. "Care to double battle?"

Carol had never tried that before. "Yeah! Let's do it!" she raised both balls and pressed the buttons with a grin. "Chant and Bowen! Let's fight together!" Chant hopped up and down eagerly, clapping her paws together. Bowen slithered in a circle, then coiled up and hissed.

Volkner nodded, and sent out his pokemon one after the other. "Pikachu. Shinx. Team-up time," he said, and they stood side by side together, both in a ready position.

Carol fidgeted. So did Chant. Then Volkner nodded, and things started for real.

Volkner spoke so quietly Carol didn't even hear, but the Pikachu dashed forward almost too fast to see and nailed Chant in the chest. The Shinx braced its four paws and seemed to be concentrating. Sparks of electricity gathered around it. It was charging up!

"Chant! Fury Swipes!" Carol started. This was a new one, they hadn't practiced, but Chant was always raring to try stuff. "Bowen! Wrap that Shinx! Then Sting it!"

Chant had missed holding on to the Pikachu when it had tackled her—it was really fast, but she barreled towards it, not trying at all to hold on now, but whipping one paw at it, then the other, one, two, and then the third swipe landed and then the Pikachu finally dodged away. Bowen had coiled himself up tight around the Shinx, ignoring the little sparks of static from the gathering charge. "Sting!" Carol reminded him, and Bowen clamped his mouth around the Shinx's left foreleg, and Carol pumped her fist in elation when she saw it twitch with the effects of poisoning.

Another mutter from Volkner and the Pikachu was darting back to its partner. It halted and launched a little crackling wave at Bowen. Even wrapped up, the Shinx didn't get touched, but Bowen was the one to twitch this time, and Carol saw his coils stiffen up.

"Paralyzed!" Carol exclaimed, giving Volkner a glare. He gave her an amused, even look, because of course there was no unfairness here, but in Carol's opinion paralysis was cheap because battles were about fighting. Not about leaving one opponent flat-out asleep or all frozen up while beating on 'em. Poison was fine, they could still fight, but not the other stuff. She frowned. "Bite, Bowen! Bite!" He spasmed slightly and didn't do anything. "Keep trying!" She said, and to Chant she urged, "Catch that Pikachu next time! Don't let it go!"

But then Carol wasn't sure there was going to be a next time. The Pikachu was dashing around, keeping well out of Chant's reach, until it stopped again, just like it had when it had paralyzed Bowen. But this time the electricity it launched split the air so that Carol smelled ozone, and it was bright enough to leave an afterimage. It hit Chant and sent her flying head over tail. She got up, looking singed, wobbling a little, but not discouraged.

"That Teddiursa's a brave one," Volkner's voice carried across the field of battle, startling her, since he spoke so quietly to his pokemon.

"No, she's naughty as anything. But she loves to battle," Carol answered without looking at him, keeping her eyes on the pokemon. Watching four at once, even when Bowen was wrapped around the Shinx, was hard to do. She saw a movement from Bowen though, he tightened his Wrap around the Shinx, then hissed and clamped his jaws around his other leg, and not a precision bite like the Poison Sting, this was a real Bite, hard and sure. "Yes!" she cheered him on. "Do it again!" The Shinx shook itself, to no avail. Even paralyzed, Bowen's coils weren't going to be shaken loose. "Chant! Leer!" If Chant couldn't hold on to the Pikachu, she could make every hit stronger.

Chant's eyes fixed on the Pikachu, her singed fur making the Leer seem even more imposing, as she headed slowly but surely towards the Pikachu. It darted left then right, but Chant didn't speed up when it got farther, only kept coming steadily, changing direction when she had to so she was always facing that Pikachu.

Another Thunderbolt knocked her flying, and she came up panting this time. Carol opened her mouth to encourage her when a great flashing Spark was unleashed by the Shinx, and Carol watched Bowen unwind and twist through the air. He gathered himself up again, set to lunge, but then the spasm of paralysis took him again, and he hitched up. Carol gritted her teeth. Cheap!! The Shinx came to Bowen, though, pouncing to pin him with both front paws and Bite down, just behind his head.

"Chant! Forget the Pikachu! Get that Shinx!" Chant turned to her new target. This one didn't look as fast as that Pikachu, Carol thought. "Fury Swipes!" Chant charged. She hit the Shinx sideways on and grabbed it, yanking it off Bowen and clamping down with her teeth to hold it in place, giving it a shake before swiping at it, one, and two,and three, and then more, and Carol let out a breath as Chant managed five swipes before the Shinx wrenched itself free.

Bowen was still locked in a paralyzed spasm. "Teddi!!" Chant growled.

"Kannsssssss," Bowen hissed furiously.

The Shinx headed for Chant this time, and then it was a tumble of blue-black and brown fur, over and over. "Swipes again!!" Carol said, and she was sure the Shinx was getting in another bite. But then Chant's paw swept back and down, and she pushed the Shinx off her with her feet. It rolled away... and it stayed down. Poison and attacks had defeated it.

Then Carol flinched again from electricity splitting the air. The Thunderbolt nailed Chant again, straight on, and this time she didn't stand up after she was flung across the gym floor. She flopped over onto her belly and raised her head, glaring out at the Pikachu that Carol had ignored for too long, but she couldn't do anything more.

"Chant, come back," Carol said, recalling her and cradling the pokeball against her chest. Would Bowen be able to bring down that Pikachu himself?

Likewise, the Shinx vanished from the field, and still Carol ignored Volkner. It was too easy now to concentrate on that Pikachu, but still, Carol felt her palms were damp and nerves were making her inside shaky. They needed to work on double battles, for sure, she knew that now. She couldn't be a good trainer if she kept focusing on only one pokemon and letting the other do whatever.

"Wrap!" she said, and was so relieved to see Bowen streak forward and coil tightly around the Pikachu. It could run anywhere it wanted now, but Bowen was on it, as long as he could still move. "And then Bite!!"

As long as he could still move. Carol didn't think it was worth it to hope for poisoning after getting lucky before—he'd have to do as much damage when he was able.

The Pikachu darted around, slamming itself against the floor in a weird version of its quick attack as it had to damage a pokemon that was wrapped around itself. Bowen didn't loosen his grip, and Carol saw him tighten his Wrap again, and then he landed his Bite, at the spot where the Pikachu's neck and shoulder met.

The Pikachu Quick-attacked against the gym floor once again, but it looked halfhearted. Bowen's next Wrap seemed to be the last straw.

It sat down hard, and then Bowen let it go, slithering back towards Carol as Volkner recalled it.

"Well, that was an interesting one," Volkner said. "You don't double battle much do you?"

"Uh, no, that was the first one," Carol said, and wrinkled her nose, feeling her face get red. She wished it hadn't been that obvious.

"Well, in that case," Volkner said, eyebrows rising a little, "that was a good start. You need to practice so you can follow all the pokemon on the field."

"Yeah. I mean, yes, sir," she nodded as she leaned down to gather Bowen up. He draped himself over her shoulders, and tickled her once under the chin with a tongue-flicker, and she tickle him back with her fingers under his own chin.

"And maybe bring some paralyze heals in with you, if you get so worked up over that status effect, huh?" he pointed out. "We all have the moves we hate to get used on us... but it's only going to be harder to handle if you can't fix it."

She nodded without saying anything that time.

"But hey now, why are you looking like that? You did beat a gym leader, you realize. A pretty famous one too, I might add," he said, a little pointedly, and that made Carol bite down on a sudden laugh. "You did good—I just want you to do better. Or it'll make me look bad, you realize." She did laugh then, and Volkner smiled at her. "So, trainer Carol, the Beacon Badge is yours," he held out the badge and she took it, and suddenly couldn't wait to get back to the Pokemon Center to heal Chant so Chant could see it too. "And," Volkner said, making Carol look up again, "for those who beat me, something to help your team grow, too." He held out a pokeball.

"What is it?" Carol asked curiously, taking it and bouncing it on her palm.

"It's a Horsea. A water-type. It has a move it still has to grown into, but you'll find it quite powerful."

"Oh," Carol said, then remembered to be polite. "Thank you!!" she said, though after seeing the display of electric power here, she felt a little disgruntled that he would give her a water-type. Wouldn't it make more sense for him to give out electric-types? That Pikachu had been really cool—she'd have been thrilled to get something like that.

But a pokemon from Volkner couldn't really be weak, or anything, right? She hoped not.

 

[Underoos]

Daydreambeliever: Great post =3 See, Poliwag and Mareep did it! ^^
Congratulations, Lulu grew to level 14! Mareep grew to level 10! Nevada received a level 10 Riolu and the Beacon Badge!

Eliminator Jr.: Very nice =) I love how you, just like daydream, portrayed Volkner.
Congratulations, Natu grew to level 14! Elekid grew to level 13! Tyron received a level 10 Sneasel and the Beacon Badge!

Broadway: Again, it made me giggle X3 Fun post.
Congratulations, Chant grew to level 15! Bowen grew to level 12! Carol received a level 10 Horsea and the Beacon Badge!

 

[sandeon]

I walked down the path that Nurse Joy had told me lead to the Gym. The path followed the same fall color scheme, the bricks where yellow. The color scheme was everywhere, from light posts to doorknobs. Both of my Pokémon where in their pokeballs so I could surprise the Gym Leader with my Pokémon's types. Not that it would matter. I'd thought over what types the Gym Leader might use and came to the obvious assumption that the Gyms type would be electric type Pokémon, because the whole city was practically yellow. I got to the Gym and the door handle was a lightning bolt shape. "Guess I was right." I said to myself and walked into the gym.

The room was completely dark. It stayed that way for me to just get started to get used to the darkness, and then a bright light flashed on. I rubbed my eyes; everything was too bright too fast. "Welcome, to the first Gym on your journey!" I looked up at someone who my dad watched on TV, Volkner. <Whoa! I used to watch him on TV and now I get to battle him!?!> "Are you ready?" he asked as he studied my face still shocked from the bright light. "Yes" I answered noticing the field outlined in yellow, me on one side him on the other. "It will be a two on two battle! Single or Double battle? The choice is yours." I thought, id had experience with single battles but double battles where something I hadn't done yet, and they sounded like fun. Choosing the choice of something new I answered "Double please!" "Ok, you're on! Go Pikachu! Shinx!" the two Pokémon appeared. I knew about the little dog and mouse Pokémon, they where the first evolutions, besides pichu, from Volkner's team of Raichu and Luxray. "Ace! Shade! Let's beat our first Gym!"

Shade and Ace looked at each other, wondering why I'd sent them out together then they looked at Pikachu and Shinx and got the fact that it was a double battle. "Shade hypnosis! Ace Tackle now!" Shinx fell asleep but Pikachu didn't fall for the trick. "Pikachu! Thundershock, on Gastly!" Pikachu shot bolts of lightning from its cheeks as Ace hit Shinx head on and woke him. "Shade get out of the way!"Shade dogged the lightning as Volkner ordered his next attack, "Shinx! Tackle on Poocheana!" Shinx smashed into Ace and he went flying back behind Shade, which gave me an idea, I just had to wait and hope Volkner did what I wanted him to do. "Shinx Charge! Pikachu Quick Attack on Poocheana!" <Just my luck!> I thought as I gave out orders.

"Ace jump onto Shade!" Ace jumped onto Shade and she didn't seem to like it. Pikachu's course reset to the new area of Ace and it jumped into the air toward Ace. "Great! Shade, Lick!" Shades face brightened as it smacked the small mouse Pokémon that continued to fly toward its teammate. Pikachu slammed into Shinx and broke its concentration. "Shinx, before you lose all that energy use spark on Gastly!" Shinx leaped out from underneath the paralyzed Pikachu, and headed toward Shade for a better hit. "Ace, use tackle on Shinx to protect Shade!" Ace lunged at Shinx from Shades head and hit just as Shinx released the jolt of electricity. "Ana!" "Inx!" they both yelled as they flew backwards. Ace quickly got back up, but Shinx struggled to get back on its feet. <The past attacks and that time when Pikachu slammed into him must've taken a whole lot out of him!> "Shade! Lick on Shinx!" Shade darted toward Shinx, but Pikachu had recovered, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt on Gastly!" Pikachu once again squeezed its cheeks and shot more electricity at Shade and hit head on. "Shade!" I yelled. "Ace finish Shinx off with the best tackle you've got!" Ace ran over to Shinx and before Shinx had time to move Ace smashed into Shinx sending him sprawling to Volkners feet Knocked out. "Good job Shinx! Return!" "Shade! Use lick!"

Shade smacked her tongue into the Pikachu, but Pikachu stood sturdy. "Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" "Lick!" They hit at the same time and both went sprawling back. The force had done most of the damage and they were both getting up. Pikachu made it back up. "Come on Shade you can do it!" Shade fell knocked out. "Good job Shade! We'll end this last bit quick! Ace Tackle!" "Pikachu Quick Attack!" They both ran for each other. <This will end up as another get up competition…> they flew back, again, and where on the ground. "Ace get up! Come on I know you can do it!" Pikachu yet again got up, barley. Ace struggled, but he was able to get up. "Ace let's get this done with a final Tackle!" Ace when as fast as he could into Pikachu. "Pikachu Dodge!" Pikachu was too late and was hit to the ground knocked out.

"Ace, Return! I yelled in a victorious manner. Volkner walked to the middle of the pokeball in the center of the field, I followed. "Congratulations! You've passed your first Gym." He said as he handed me the badge. "Thank you so much." I replied accepting the token of victory. I started to walk out when Volkner stopped me. "Wait I almost forgot, here I'd like to give you this as a little bonus prize." He threw a pokeball at me. I almost caught it but I was too late in reacting. I bent down to pick it up, kind of embarrassed. Volkner smirked, like he was trying to hold back from laughing. "Thanks." I said as I exited the Gym. I was finally out in fresh, not tense, air, hearing Volkner laugh hysterically behind me.



I just finished eating and was impatient to see what Pokémon he had given me. I rushed out the door and sat on the bench right outside, "Go!" The flash of light reveled one resembling a monkey. It started up at me and I took out my pokedex "Mankey: The pig monkey Pokémon, It lives in treetop colonies. If one becomes enraged, the whole colony rampages for no reason." "Ahh, well I hope I'm on your good side." I felt a tug on my bag. "Mankey! What are you doing!" she was digging in my bag. "Man ma key!" "You must be hungry!" I shuffled through my bag and found some Pokémon food. "Here you go" I said handing it the food. It hopped on my lap "Key!" it smiled and started on the food. "I have a feeling you'll get along with the other two just fine" I commented and we got up and headed into the Pokémon center for the night.

 

[Underoos]

Sandeon: Sorry, I completely forgot you posted ><; Curse finals and their powers. Anyway, it was a good post =3
Congratulations, Shade grew to level 15! Ace grew to level 13! Kitora received a level 10 Mankey and the Beacon Badge!

Chapter 4: Route 302
Number of Posts: 1-2​

Now that you've finally beaten the first gym, you might feel a bit more accomplished. You check your map and see that there's a straight shot from Route 302 (which is to the west of Citrine City) to Quarz Town. You know from the map that there isn't a gym in this town, but you figure you have to go there to get to the next one anyway. Whether you decide to stop or not is your choice, though it might be wise to drop in after a route full of Pokemon just to get your own healed. You then head out of Citrine City, leaving the bright yellows and oranges behind.

Electrike (Common)
Gender: Male/Female
Level: 10-14
Nature: Varies
Moves: Tackle, Leer, Thunder Wave, Howl

Oddish (Common)
Gender: Male/Female
Level: 10-14
Nature: Varies
Moves: Poisonpowder, Acid, Sweet Scent, Absorb

Igglybuff (Rare)
Gender: Male/Female (Male Less Common)
Level: 9-11
Nature: Varies
Moves: Charm, Pound, Defense Curl, Sing

Somewhere along the way (you can put it either in post one or two, depending on how many you want to do), you will encounter a man who is running along the path with a Vulpix in his arms. He'll most likely run into you because he's in such a hurry, and then quickly apologize. You might ask him what his problem is, or something of the like, and he'll look at you like you're crazy. The annual Pokemon Parade has come to Quarz Town (even though it's only the third year it has happened), and this year they are expecting many people to be there. The boy will then explain that there are many things to do, and a special guest has been promised. Maybe it's the secret gym leader of the 8th badge. As he runs away, you begin to think that maybe it might be worth your while to stay in Quarz Town longer than you first had anticipated.

 

[sandeon]

I got up to hear some commotion. "Hey bring that back! Stop thief!" I jolted up to see the door close and the culprit get away. I checked my belt to make sure all my Pokémon where there. <Huu! One of my Pokémon are missing!> I bolted out the doorway to see a girl yelling. "It took my exp. Share!" she looked up at me "Can you help me; it seems to be heading for the Pokemart?" "Yes" I replied "I've got a bone to pick with this guy too!" we ran for the pokemart. <I wonder what Pokémon this idiot stole?> "Hey!" a guy shouted in front of the pokemart. "It stole my watch!" "Where did it go?" I asked. "Inside." I burst into the building to see Mankey whipped out on the ground. "Mankey?" I asked it. I took back the items and gave them to the girl and returned Mankey to its ball. "I'm really sorry." She looked at me like she was disgusted. "Well you should be." I almost exploded; I'd had enough of this place. The girl left to have an officer come in. "Young man what do you think you're doing? Making your Pokémon steal, you should be ashamed!" she accused. "No no no! I didn't make Mankey do anything, I just woke up and she was gone." "Well let me see your ID and I'll let you off with a warning." She offered. I handed her my card. "Ok Kitora your good to go." And she left. I was about to leave too till I heard a voice behind me. "Oh you're Kitora?" "Yeah" I answered. "Well I've got a delivery for you" he reached into his bag and took out a pokedex looking thing and a note, "Hear you go, catch you later." And he left too. I read the note.

Dear Kitty,

That's what my mom calls me. I rolled my eyes.

I hope you are having a good time on your journey! I forgot to give you this before we left so I had it delivered to you, it's so we could keep in contact and it's also got tons of useful things on it. It's called a pokepod, you can message people and send pictures, videos, and do all sorts of cool things. Anyway send me something, id love to see a battle or your current Pokémon!

~Love
Mom.

I looked at the pokepod. It was touch screen. I pressed the message button, a picture of a heart with the name Mom by it appeared and I touched it too. The screen turned into a keypad and I wrote a quick little message.

Thanks for the cool new pokepod mom! Well I love you and I'll send some pictures of my Pokémon soon! So far I've caught a Gastly I named Shade, a Poocheana that I named Ace, and a Mankey witch I haven't named yet, and he's in trouble with me right now. Talk to you later bye.

I hit send and a little animation of a letter being sent appeared and then the words, "Message Sent" appeared and I walked out of the pokemart and onto Route 302 leaving the yellows and oranges behind.



I was deep in the route and the route was sort of blotches of forest here and there but nothing to deep. I kept walking and started to smell something sweet. I wondered what it was and then I remembered that there was a picture that looked like you'd find in a comic when something was hit and it said attack distinguisher and I took it out. I touched attack distinguisher and loading icon appeared followed by the words "Sweet Scent" I decided that I would follow it. Eventually I ended at a large clearing where a little blue Pokémon with grass on its head lay on the ground with a sea green and yellow Pokémon looming over it and celebrating victory. Then I didn't believe what I saw next, Elekid and Keaton where celebrating with it. I exploded, "What do you think you're doing to this poor little Pokémon!?!" the grass Pokémon looked so little and defenseless. "It was beating up the Electrike that I saved, if it weren't for me the oddish would've taken down the poor thing!" "Look at it! I'd say you guys beat it up! I thought you where different! People like you just tick me off! I bet you still think you're all that! Double teaming a poor little Pokémon like that! I'll teach you, how bout we battle!"

He seemed surprised. "Well I don't agree with what you're saying but I'll take you on, how about this, you use that oddish and a Pokémon of your choice and I'll use this Electrike and another Pokémon and we'll see who double teams who! That's if the Pokémon agree." He looked at the Electrike and it nodded yes, he threw me a potion and I used it on the oddish who agreed to the whole idea. "Ok two on two double battle! Let's begin! Come out, Volt!" he claimed. "Just remember, you brought it on yourself! Ace lets teach this guy a lesson!" I took out my pokepod and checked oddish's moves, Poisonpowder, Acid, Sweet Scent, Absorb. "Oddish! Poisonpowder now!" oddish shook its grass and threw out little purple spores they scattered on the Electrike, it seemed pissed at the dog Pokémon. The dog was having some of its energy slowly fading. "Electrike, Volt! Tackle, quick attack on oddish now!" <Picking on little Pokémon! Wow!> "Ace! Sand attack!" Ace threw sand at the opposing Pokémon and they were lost in a mini sandstorm where they hit each other and where flown out of the sandy area, Electrike landed close to Ace and Volt next to oddish, "Oddish, absorb on Volt and Ace bite Electrike!" Oddish started to glow and so did Volt, and oddish seemed to get stronger as Volt did the opposite but Volt ran up and kicked oddish toward Ace, but missed because Ace had gone in to attack the Electrike.

Ace's teeth sunk into the other dog Pokémon's body. "Trike!" "Oddish Absorb on Electrike!" "Volt! Hurry, Quick attack on poocheana to get him off Electrike!" Oddish glowed green and so did Electrike, but since his fangs where in Electrike he wasn't able to dodge the quick attack and was hit pretty bad. Electrike was in horrible condition and only got worse by absorb. Oddish was almost at perfect HP from Absorb and Ace and Volt where in good shape. And to top off Electrike position, it was poisoned; it would only last about one more minute. Keaton reached into his bag and took out an antidote and sprayed it on Electrike, which was a poor attempt at saving it, but it worked for the moment.

"Volt! Low kick on poocheana! Electrike, Howl then tackle on oddish!" Volt ran for Ace and Electrike was making all kinds of noise. "Ace counter with sand attack, tackle combo!" Ace flung sand at Volt and charged in for the tackle, they both shot out of the sand and stood up as Electrike darted for oddish. Right before contact was made oddish jumped into the air and shot acid at the Pokémon who fell to the ground defeated. Oddish landed on the ground. "Wow good job oddish!" "Odd!" Keaton looked mad, "Volt low kick on oddish!" "Oddish! Poisonpowder then acid!" oddish shook its grass releasing poison pollen and proceeded to spit acid. Volt was topped by the acid and was loosing energy to the poison. "Ace, Oddish! Finish it off! Absorb, Bite!" again oddish and Volt glowed green and Ace ran up and chomped on Volt and that was the end. "Volt return! Go pokeball!" <What?> the ball landed on Electrike and he was caught. "Catch that oddish and next time we meet Electrike will prove himself to that oddish and well show you!" he picked up the pokeball and ran off frustrated. "Hmmm, Oddish? You want to come with us?" Oddish sat there and thought as I waited for the answer.