The Vassa Region

[Broadway]

"Okay, okay, now you try!" Carol hung down by her knees from a sturdy branch and craned her neck so she could look at the Teddiursa upside down. The little bear was sucking her paw again, and studied the tree for a few seconds. Then she went to the trunk and latched on, her sturdy little claws digging into the bark. Carol pulled herself upright so she didn't get dizzy, and sat on the branch while the Teddiursa climbed up. Unlike Carol, she didn't need handholds or anything, she just planted her feet on the trunk, and grabbed on with her claws, and hitched herself up easily.

"Teddi!" she announced, when she'd reached the first fork in the main branches, raising both arms over her head in a move Carol had done herself just a few seconds ago upon reaching her own branch.

"Yeah!!" Carol did it again, and laughed. She looked around at the tall, swaying grasses that spread out all around. There were a few rare trees like this one, and some fuzzier looking spots where shrubs and bushes made thickets in the grass, but mostly it was just a giant, overgrown meadow. "And, uh, hey, look," Carol leaned pointed. "There's the trail!"

She grinned a little nervously. She hadn't been scared or anything, not really, but they were so far into the grass that the strip of trail became invisible in the sea of swaying strands. But from this vantage point, it was easy to spot, and Carol made sure to pick out another tree that was on the other side of it. If she just kept heading for that, even when she got down, she'd know she was in the right direction.

"Too bad about that Rattata," she told the Teddiursa sympathetically, who tilted her head to one side and then the other, kind of like a shrug, but she still looked a little disgruntled at the mention of it. She'd bolted off into the grass after the fast-moving purple streak and Carol had been forced to charge after both of them. But the Rattata had eluded the Teddiursa, and then the road had eluded them both. "Anyway, I guess we should get back to the road..." she sighed. It wasn't too hard to tromp around the meadowy parts, but she kind of did want to stay not lost. "But wait, stay there, okay?" Carol clambered back down to the lowest branch, then swung down to hang by her hands, and let herself drop to the ground again. She dug around in her backpack and pulled out her tablet computer. "I save up for this thing, and I'm gonna use it." She flipped it on, and tapped at the touchscreen until she turned on the camera. She held the tablet up towards the Teddiursa, who leaned forward curiously. "That's a good one," Carol remarked, when the still photo appeared on the screen. "You're not even blurry." She turned it around and held the screen up it to the Teddiursa.

"Ted?" she asked, leaning farther, and then just turned around and came down again to come over and see it properly. She poked at the screen, without quite touching it, thank goodness. "Teddi?" she asked again.

"That's you," Carol said. "Gonna send it to Mom and everyone, since they didn't get to meet you." She sat down below the tree and opened a blank email, putting everyone in the To field. She was about to attach the picture when she saw the filename. TPC0007. "That's... bleh," Carol muttered. "Hey, do you want a name?" She looked over at the Teddiursa. "I don't really want to call you Teddiursa all the time. I mean, you're special, you're not just any one."

The Teddiursa tilted her head back and forth again. Maybe she didn't understand. Carol didn't really know if she could, but still.... "See, look," she showed her the screen again, minimizing the email program to bring up the pictures folder where the first pictures she'd taken while trying out the function still were. There was one of everyone in her family together. "That's Mom, and Dad," she pointed at them, "and that's Lowry, and that's Andy. Different names. Want one?"

"Teddi!" she said, throwing her paws up in the cheering motion again, before starting to suck on one of them, and smile.

"Well okay then," Carol said. "How do you feel about... hm," she hesitated a bit, because it was kind of silly, but... "Chant?"

The Teddiursa tilted her head again, but only to one side, like she was thinking about it. Carol elaborated. "Well, it's because my name is Carol, and that's a kind of song. And a chant is sort related... but it's more something you just say, I guess, it's shorter... like how you talk, really. And people chant when they watch battles and sports, too." She raised her fists and made a few punching motions. "Go, team, go!"

"Ted, ted, ted!" the Teddiursa replied, swiping her paws out at some invisible enemy.

"Yeah! Just like that. So... Chant?" she asked, and the Teddiursa—Chant—looked at her and smiled. Carol nodded, and brought up the email program again, changing the filename before she attached it, and dashed off a few words. "Meet Chant!" said the subject.

The tablet was safely stowed, and they were heading back to the road, Carol keeping her eyes fixed firmly on that distant tree so she didn't veer anymore (and carrying Chant in her arms, to keep Chant from causing her to veer again), when frenzied barking from off to one side startled her.

"Ted!!" exclaimed Chant, enthusiastically, and struggled against Carol's grip. Not for long, though, because the yapping got louder and a Poochyena darted out in front of them.

"Whoa, yes, okay, go!! Watch the claws!" Carol almost dropped Chant, in Chant's eagerness to get down. Teddiursa claws didn't retract like some pokemon's did.

The Poochyena was looking slightly taken aback at Chant's gung-ho attitude, but it charge forward gamely, going headlong for a good Tackle. "Show me how you can Scratch, Chant!" Carol told her.

She didn't quite expect what happened next. Instead of meeting to exchange blows and separating again, like she'd seen in the battles people in town sometimes had, or from the Battle Frontier or Stadium broadcasts. Chant caught the Poochyena and.. held on. A ball of reddish-brown and black-and-grey fur rolled over and over for long seconds.

"Chant!!" Carol cried in dismay, but then they separated, the Poochyena looking bedraggled and angry, and Chant looking bedraggled and challenging, as if daring it to try again. "Uh, uh, Leer!" Carol told her, and Chant obliged, coming forward slow and steady, and from this angle, Carol couldn't see her expression, but it seemed to work on the Poochyena. The little dog backed up a few steps before growling and charging again. "Scratch again, Chant," Carol said, almost needlessly, she was sure, as Chant once again didn't even try to dodge, just met the Poochyena with one arm out, swiping claws and then latching on again.

"Ted! Teddi!" Chant's muffled voice emerged from the scrambling ball of fighting pokemon, sounding distinctly like teasing taunts. The Poochyena struggled free, legs wobbling, and Chant stood up to her full, diminutive height, and ran for it, arm ready for another scratch. And it was the last one. The blow made the Poochyena stagger and lie down, breathing hard, and Chant stood next to it, turning back to face Carol, and she raised both arms, grinning hugely.

Carol was wide-eyed. This pokemon really did love battles, didn't she? "Go team!" Carol raised her own arms belatedly, and laughed as she spoke. Maybe they were really a team now. Chant nodded firmly and ran to her, lifting her arms this time in a clear "carry me" gesture. "Well, I certainly will, you deserve it," Carol lifted her again, noting the Poochyena slinking away into the grass in the corner of her eye.

In Carol's arms, Chant's warm furry body relaxed, and she snuggled against Carol, yawning tiredly. On reflection, given the vigor with which she'd wrestled that Poochyena, Carol wasn't surprised. Chant was a fighter, but she was just starting out, same as Carol.

"Take a breather," Carol murmured, and kept an ear out for any more barking as she kept on towards the trail.

 

[Underoos]

Broadway: Teddiursa is quite the little fighter =3
Carol nicknamed Teddiursa Chant! Chant grew to level 8!

 

[Jake♫]

(OOC: Pfft, 1/50? Says the kid that wouldn't let me catch a Scyther in an old RP. I had to try three times for god's sake >.<)

Chuck took a few seconds to take the scenery in, and then it occurred to him that he had his map of the Vassa Region that could show him the route. He swiftly pulled it out of his pocket, and saw that is was easily the biggest route in all of the Vassa Region.

Seriously? The supposed beginning route being the longest, and perhaps the most challenging?

It didn't take long for Chuck to realize that there was a quick shift to the west, where there was a rest point for weary trainers to take a break from the wild Pokemon, and perhaps even other trainers. Chuck decided to set course towards the rest house, while keeping to the main path.

It's way too early to be adventurous, let's just play it safe for right now.


Chuck saw the beaten dirt road directly ahead, and so he set off upon it. He reached to the belt of his worn jeans and saw Gible's Pokeball sitting there. Chuck pondered if he really wanted to take Gible out of his ball: He knew that his emotions might kick in at any time, even with the amount of bottling he was doing. At the same time, he really wanted to be on good terms with Gible, as it was his first companion. After ten minutes he found his answer, with a bright white flash of light. Gible was quickly in front of him.

Chuck looked at Gible, and Gible looked back at Chuck. They continued to look at each other: It turned into a staring contest. Two minutes later, Chuck blinked, and started laughing, which hadn't happened in a long time. Gible picked up on the positive vibe, and started to giggle a little as well.

"Gible! Gib gib gib!" The little dragon laughed.

"Haha, good one Gible," Chuck replied. "By the way, we never really did formally meet. I'm Chuck, and I'm your trainer."

Gible stared down Chuck for a few seconds, but he quickly grinned: A sign of approval from the little Pokemon.

Chuck decided to pick up Gible and carry him with him for a while, for bonding purposes. Chuck internally promised himself it wouldn't become a habitual action, but who knows how long that promise will really last.

Chuck, with Gible on his shoulder, continued to walk down the beaten route. Chuck was aware to his surroundings: It was mostly grassy, a flat land, and an abundance of serenity. It was a perfect place for a little relaxation, which Chuck hadn't done in awhile either. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it too: A new friend, the open and peaceful air, why not? Chuck decided to lie down on the ground for a little with Gible and enjoy the day.

Five minutes later, that peace and relaxation ended. A little dark gray creature ran directly into Gible, who knocked into Chuck. Gible got up angrily, and started to taunt to little Pokemon. Chuck had never seen this Pokemon, so he decided to raise his Pokedex.

"Poocheyena, the Bite Pokemon. A Pokemon with a persistent nature, it chases its chosen prey until the prey becomes exhausted. It is of the Dark type, and currently knows Tackle."

Jeez, this Pokedex is good. Well, it isn't really something I intend to add to my team, but why not battle it for a little experience? Besides, Gible looks…angry at it to say the least, so I might as well channel it.

"Gible, get ready to battle that Poocheyena! All right, use a Tackle attack!" Chuck commanded.

Gible lowered his left shoulder down, and then quickly charged towards the Poocheyena. Gible made direct contact with the lower shoulder, which led to Poocheyena being pushed back into the tall grass. It was bad news: neither Chuck nor Gible had any idea where Poocheyena was anymore.

Chuck and Gible waited for a course of action. They both heard the grass rustling under Poocheyena's movements, but it was too think for them to see any movement within the grass. They waited around thirty seconds, then Poocheyena quickly Tackled Gible from the right side. Gible got knocked backwards into the grass, and Poocheyena was left in the open.

"Gible, use the same strategy that Poocheyena used, and Tackle it from any angle!"

Chuck thought he had the brightest idea out there. It was soon where that feeling was over, as Poocheyena hopped back into the grass itself.

Oh god…that thing is smart. I guess I'm going to have to wait it out here once more, and see who really lands a blow.

Chuck waited two minutes. It was then he could see rustling in the grass, and it sounded like the two Pokemon collided head on with each other's Tackle attacks. A few seconds later, the two Pokemon were in the air, and both Tackled each other for a mid-air attack. They collided, and the two of them landed in the open ground once more.

Chuck had a quick thought, and he hoped that he would have enough time to pull it off, and the necessary speed.

"Gible, follow me, and run as fast as you can!!!

Gible nodded, and quickly followed the order, following Chuck step by step. Poocheyena followed them too, and was gaining on Gible. But it was too late, Chuck got exactly what he wanted: A clearing in the grass, where the element of surprise from the grass was taken out of the battle.

"TACKLE GIBLE!"

Gible lowered both shoulders this time, and went in for a head on shot. Poocheyena planted its feet, preparing for the shot. But it wouldn't be enough: Gible charged, full strength, head on, at Poocheyena. The attack was strong enough to blow Poocheyena off of its feet and onto its back. It was KO'ed!

"Good job Gible. You just won your first battle."

Oddly enough, Chuck didn't appear to be too excited. He was happy that he won his battle, but it is what the battle reminded him of: Back at his private school in Goldenrod City, he watched a battle with a Poocheyena play quite similarly with a Hoothoot. It brought up his memories, which he suppressed for so long. He kept his sadness to himself, but it bent on the rest of his feelings.

Gible was quite tired out, so Chuck decided to put him back in his Pokeball. From that point, Chuck decided to keep walking on the path. Around an hour later, Chuck ran into more tall grass, just this time it was so tall that he couldn't even see over the top of it. According to his map, if he went through the grass, the rest house would be just ahead of him. He decided to walk through the grass, with his eyes on his feet, and more importantly the path, to get through it.

Chuck took the path slow and steady. He knew it was going to be difficult to navigate in the first place, and going fast and getting lost wouldn't help him much. It was dark inside the grass too, and it seemed almost to be dusk within it. Chuck was a little creeped out, so he summoned Gible once more, setting him in his arms. A companion in a simple situation such as that can really go a long way.

It was approximately an hour and a half later, where Chuck and Gible could finally see rays of light, and the sight of a log cabin, presumably the rest house, growing bigger and bigger. They continued to walk forward until they were completely out of the grass. They decided to stop for a few minutes at the sight of the log cabin to take a little rest.

Just before sitting down, however, a Poocheyena ran into Chuck's leg, stumbling a little bit. It appeared to be the same one they fought earlier, and it had followed them through the tall grass, all the way out of it. Chuck decided that if it was that dedicated to battle Gible, or even be caught, once more, why not battle.

Gible could tell the situation, he had the instincts. He hopped off of Chuck's shoulder, and within ten seconds, Poocheyena had already charged with a Tackle attack back towards Gible. Poocheyena was tired out though, and it didn't have the speed to be too powerful, or close in on target fast enough. Gible sidestepped out of the way, and Poocheyena fell on the ground under its own force. It lied on the ground, motionless, for about twenty seconds, where it mustered its strength to stand, and fell over.

Chuck could tell that Poocheyena would be a valuable partner just from the sheer willingness to battle, and if what he thought was true, the amount of loyalty he saw. He took out one of his Pokeballs from his pocket, and threw it at Poocheyena. A red beam of light engulfed it, and the ball sat on the ground shaking, with the cabin up in the distance.

 

[Underoos]

Umbreon*: Nicely done battle =3 And as for the Scyther thing, I wasn't the true GM, and we both know Royal was a bit harder when it came to captures. Humph XP XD
Congratulations, Chuck caught a level 4 male Poochyena!

Oh and a note (because the OOC thread hasn't been approved yet =3): The next chapter will be up tomorrow by 9:30 pm my time. Erm...right now it's like 4:30 so figure it out XD Anyway, don't worry if you don't get posted exactly before I put the chapter 'cuz I'm moving this at a fast pace (I want this to stay alive, so I've figured fast-pacing is good at first). Don't worry, I promise I'll slow things down after the 1st or 2nd gym leader.

 

[sandeon]

(hope its long egnough!)

I started to slow down. I sat under a tree and took my water bottle out of my bag, and started chugging. Gastly came over and hovered by me. I stopped drinking and looked up at Gastly, "So Gastly, you hungry?" I asked. "Gastly!" She responded excitedly. I pulled out the bag containing five more pokeblocks, it was only enough to last her the last meal. <I should have packed more> I thought to myself. "Here you go" I said as I fed them to her. I took out my pokedex and started to fiddle with it. "Gastly: There is a lot of potential for you and her to become best friends and she already likes you a lot." "Whoa! What was that?" I asked as I looked up at Gastly, "Is it true?" I asked. "Gast!" she said as she nodded. I got a huge smile on my face and picked up my bag. "Let's continue!" we started to walk. As we walked I continued to fiddle with the pokedex and got into a page that I assumed it was Gastly's profile on the device. I looked through it and it looked like this:

Gastly
Gender: Female
Level: 5
Nature: Brave
Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Spite
Status towards trainer: There is a lot of potential for you and her to become best friends and she already likes you a lot.

I remembered the last thing from a minute earlier and thought on that. <Why does she already like me? We've only known each other for a couple hours.> I wondered, <Oh and I haven't even gave her a name! I probably should> And I started to think up names. Then I decided to ask Gastly if she even wanted one. "Hey Gastly," I started as I got her attention "What do you think about a name, you want one? Or do you prefer just Gastly?" I asked and deep inside wished that she said yes, because if he didn't give her one then it could mean that they couldn't have a great personal bond to a certain depth, like when people give nice nicknames to their friends. Thankfully she nodded yes and I started to spout out names, "Shadow?" she shook her head no, "Cloud?" no, "Shade?" she thought on that before she nodded yes. "Ok, Shade it is!"

I smiled as we walked, and so did Shade. We came up to a fallen tree and I decided to go sit and take another drink, all the walking was making me thirsty. I sat and took a mouthful then offered some to Shade. She accepted and had some. Well maybe I shouldn't say some because she finished it off. I went to take a drink and got a drop. I started to laugh, so did Shade. "Hungry?" I asked. She nodded and I took out my sandwich. It was meant for lunch but it was probably about four and I'd forgotten about it. I handed half to Shade "Sorry, all out of Pokémon food." I said remembering that she'd polished all of it off earlier, and noted to pack a lot more next time, she had quite the stomach. Then we continued to walk. Soon we saw a patch of huge grass up ahead.

I was getting a little hungry, the half-sandwich didn't fill me up quite enough, as we approached the area of grass I noticed it was couple of inches above my head. I took out my map and it looked like the rest area was up ahead in the patch of grass, I also noted that this route was probably the largest in Vassa, and the rest stop was only almost half way through it. "I can't see much in this grass." I noted. Then I realized something, "Hey Shade, can you float up above the grass to see how far out we have to go?" "Gast." She replied as she floated up and came down again. "What'd you see?" "Gastly ga gas!" surprisingly somehow I kind of understood here enough to tell she saw the rest stop up ahead, but we were far from it. "Maybe someone has food there!" I said.

As we walked in the direction of the cabin I thought I saw the grass move up ahead. Then I noticed Shade was looking around. "You see something?" I asked. "Gast." She said and nodded. There was a Pokémon ahead and I was prepared to catch it. "Let's go." I said. Perhaps a little to loud, the Pokémon attacked Shade with a tackle but Shade is a ghost Pokémon, and I knew normal moves didn't work on them. The Pokémon went into the grass just far enough that I couldn't see it, luckily it was following the trail. "Shade go up and spot where it's at and when you find it use hypnosis!" "Gas!" she said as she hovered up to find it and started moving forward, I followed.

It had to have been an hour later, with intervals of me asking if she could still see it, when she finally hit it with hypnosis and sent it to sleep. "Good job! Now use lick!" Shade's tongue rolled out and hit the Pokémon, which woke it up. It was hurt but it started to run again. A few minutes later we broke out of the grass and where almost to the log cabin that Shade had spotted earlier. There was another trainer and his gible standing in the clearing but he didn't pay much attention to him. A few minutes passed and we were right in front of the cabin when the poocheana turned around and used a tackle, useless but the poocheana didn't seem to notice. "Finally!" I yelled, "Ok! Now, Shade, use lick!" once again Shade whipped out her tongue and smacked the poocheana across the face. Poocheana paused; witch seemed involuntary, and then proceeded with a tackle.

Of course it didn't work, but still the Pokémon didn't seem to notice. Then I remembered why it paused, the move lick causes paralysis! "Shade use lick!" it hit. The poocheana paused longer then used tackle. <I've got it!> I thought to myself <Ill have Shade use lick then immediately throw the pokeball!> "Shade lick!" the poocheana froze and I threw the pokeball. My mood changed when I noticed I missed. "Crap!" The poocheana gained mobility again and used tackle, and yet again it missed, but this time instead of hitting the ground to expect another lick attack it landed on me, and knocked me over. It jumped off me when we hit the ground and started to run circles around Shade and every once in a while used tackle. "It's on to us!" I said as my brilliant idea formed. <When the poocheana uses tackle Shade can use lick on the poocheana in mid air!>
As soon as my thought finished the poocheana leaped. "Quick! Use lick!" I shouted. Shades timing was remarkable, she hit it dead on. The poocheana fell and couldn't move due to paralysis, I stepped closer then threw the pokeball while taking another step, this time I hit it and poocheana was enveloped in a white light sucking it in to the pokeball.

While watching the pokeball wiggled around I thought what our new companion may be like. From its rapid attacks I thought it was tough and willing to do anything to accomplish its goals. And from the fact it was smart enough to realize that it had the disadvantage in the grass, because we could tell where it was, it ran out into the opening, that it was smart and strategic. I thought more on what it might be like till I remembered, the ball was still rolling on the ground and I didn't know if I caught it or not. So I waited.

(OOC: about the thing with the pokedex, someone else said Elm told them that it could tell you what your Pokémon thinks about you, so I ran with it. And if he does catch the poocheana, he's wrong about its personality. ^-^)

 

[Underoos]

Sandeon: Naw that was good =) One thing though. As far as the Pokemon liking you, it's just determined with your Pokedex as I stated up when I posted the first chappie =) Anyway that was good enough...toooo.......
Congratulations, Kitora caught a level 3 male Poochyena!

Oh, and about the information regarding nature...that will go in the OOC thread when it's up. New chapter will be up shortly.

Chapter 2: Route 301 Part 2
Number of Posts: 1
*You may or may not chose to stop at the Rest Area​

Once you've finally made your way out of the grasses, you will begin to see a log cabin. It's large and might remind some of you of a ski resort. The only difference is the giant red P in the center, just above the doors. If you chose to go there, you can stay for the night or just long enough to get your Pokemon healed. There is free food and free rooms for all travelers, so you're good either way. Nurse Joy will, however, ask to see your trainer's license. This is simply a new security motion against Pokemon thieves. Once you leave, you will head north. According to your map, this will take you directly to Citrine City.

The second half of Route 301 is much like the first half, only there are a few more trees. There are also very small ponds, but no water Pokemon inhabit or live around them. The route is a straight shot to Citrine, and there are no big patches of grass that will lead you astray. In other words, you should arrive in Citrine soon. I suppose the Pokemon can't be left out.

Ekans (Rare):

Gender: Male/Female
Level: 3-6
Nature: Varies
Moves: Wrap, Leer, Poison Sting*
*Level 4 And Above

Elekid (Very Rare):

Gender: Male/Female (Female Less Common)
Level: 4-6
Nature: Varies
Moves: Leer, Quick Attack

Once you've made it through this route, you will officially be in Citrine City. This is the city with the first gym, so you'd better be ready for a battle!

 

[Broadway]

Carol studied the map while she ate. Chant had been handed over to Nurse Joy when Carol had arrived, and as soon as she was done eating, they'd be off again. Citrine wasn't supposed to be too far now, so she'd get there before dark. Hopefully, anyway, but that's what flashlights were for. As long as it didn't rain, it would be a good walk.

The map looked new and mysterious to Carol now. She'd seen regional maps before, so it wasn't exactly unfamiliar, but this one had new details. Most of all, though, it was just knowing she'd be seeing plenty of it for real, so what that route really looked like, or what pokemon lived in those foothills there... she'd find out for herself.

"Citrine first," she touched the spot on the map.

*

"No, I don't think there's anything there," Carol crouched down to look into the pool that Chant had dashed over to stare at. "This one's pretty small anyway." She dipped her fingers in the water and swished them around a bit. "Pretty, though." The water was clean and clear and it was easy to see the sand and reeds below the surface.

"Teddi... ursa..." Chant said, sounding disappointed. Energy fully back after the rest stop, she'd been chasing shadows and moving to and fro while they walked, and Carol was pretty sure they'd be arriving at Citrine later rather than sooner.

"It's definitely quiet around here," Carol agreed. But all the long grass was behind them. Around the pond it was shorter, for the most part, though a few patches looked nicely overgrown, here and there. Just not really much to hide in.

"Urssaaaaaa!!" Chant called from behind Carol, and Carol had just enough time to turn before she realized Chant was charging headlong at the pond. She leaped up as high as she could, which wasn't very, with her little legs, and landed with a big splash that showered Carol and much of the vicinity with drops of water.

Carol rolled her eyes as she wiped her face on her sleeve. "I don't know if you're aware," she stuck her tongue out at Chant, "but Splash is just about the weakest attack there is."

Chant stood up in the water and let herself fall over again, making a much smaller splash that didn't dampen Carol any further. "Ted!" she said when she sat up, pointing one paw challengingly at Carol.

'Nope, sorry, even one as mighty as you can't make it work," Carol told her. Chant pouted a moment, patting the water's surface with her paws and watching the ripples. Carol sat back, willing to wait while she played.

Eventually, Chant waded out of the water, then bent to stand on all four paws. "Aw, come on—agh!" Carol skipped back as Chant shook herself nearly dry, water spraying in all directions. Carol sputtered and scrubbed at her face agan, and Chant looked very pleased with herself when she stood up. Carol pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. "One-hit KO," she declared, leaning back dramatically.

Chant laughed, and ran forward to swat lightly at Carol's legs.

"What? No, I'm already out, silly," Carol said, swatting right back, and finally grabbing Chant under the arms and holding her up to stare at her. "Now why did I ever think you knew how to battle?" she asked, mock-disappointedly.

Chant stuck her paw in her mouth contentedly, and kicked her feet a little.

"Ready to go again, now that you're finished your bath?"

Chant nodded, and kicked her feet harder.

Carol set her down, and Chant followed Carol as she led them back towards the path.

"Kannnnnnsssssssss." Carol heard the sibilant noise before she saw anything, but Chant yanked her paw from her mouth and turned to face it instantly, ears pricked forward and arms out while she waited.

Sliding slowly from one of the grassy spots, a long, purple body of an Ekans appeared, the yellow ring of colour around its neck bright against the rest of it. It lifted its head slightly as it moved towards them, flicking its tongue out to taste the air. There were glinting dots of water clinging to it, and Carol suspected she knew why it had come out of the grass.

Carol looked down at Chant to tell her to attack, but she was already moving. "Ursssaaaaaa!" she bellowed, her high-pitched voice much less daunting than her arms-out charging attack.

"Wait! Leer!" Carol called to her, wondering if Chant would even listen, or just go for the first hit instead.

Chant faltered in her run, not exactly a sharp response, but it was still reassuring to see. "Leer," Carol called again. "Weaken it up first, you'll hit it even harder!" That might help convince her.

Chant started approaching again, but this time slowly, and circling as she did, little teeth bared as she faced the Ekans. It snapped at her and she didn't so much as blink.

"Go Chant! Scratch!"

Then the Ekans lunged again and this time it connected, latching on to Chant's arm and then—just like before, Chant clamped on with her own mouth and one arm, while the other raked at its smooth, scaly hide. The Ekans thrashed and Chant was growling low in her throat. When they broke apart, though, Chant was smiling, eyes glinting as she watched the Ekans, and it looked just as intent. "Scratch again—" Carol had time to start, then the Ekans darted forward. No teeth this time, but looped once around Chant, as she swiveled in an attempt to follow its front end. The Ekans had her around the chest, and its head came down from behind one of her shoulders to hiss in her face.

"Ted..." Chant growled at it and lurched her head forward to bite its nose, pinning its mouth shut as she scratched at it again. The Ekans yanked its head back and forth, to no avail.

"Leer while it's pinned, Chant!" Carol urged. That bite wasn't doing any damage that she could see, but it was a great distraction, even as the Ekans tightened its coil around her, squeezing hard, but briefly. Chant snarled around the Ekans nose she was biting and stared it down again, then shook her own head for good measure, jerking the Ekans' head along for the ride.

"Ek-k-k," the Ekans sputtered, and released her then, snaking away to gain some distance before whipping around to coil itself tightly and raise its head. "Ssssssss," it hissed at Chant, the part of it that was upright showed definite signs of tiring, but you wouldn't know it by its attitude.

Chant darted forward so she was only just out of reach, and lunged repeatedly, without a word from Carol, swiping at the air around the Ekans as it snapped at her.

Carol gave it a few seconds to see if Chant would land a blow to finish it off, but she didn't. Then Carol blinked at the Ekans snapped at and caught Chant's outstretched paw... and released it.

Chant clapped her paws together and then kept right on teasing the Ekans.

"I'm sorry—are you playing, now?!" Carol asked, hearing her voice pitch up high in confusion.

Chant jerked to a halt then, and turned to face Carol with a rather sheepish look. As she did, the Ekans took the chance to leap from its coil to loop around Chant again. They rolled over and over and fell away from each other, Chant sprawling out and panting happily, and the Ekans coiling limply around itself.

This had been a battle, at least it had started like one. Carol was sure. Hadn't it?

What was the difference between this Ekans and the Poochyena from before?

The Ekans had sure met Chant blow for blow, there was that. And it hadn't gotten all hesitant like under her onslaught, the way Poochyena had. Did Chant like battle so much she'd put off defeating an opponent just to keep fighting it?

"Well... if you like it that much," Carol said slowly, "why not?" She hadn't ever thought about wanting an Ekans on her team... and she hadn't ever thought about Chant's opinion on any of it.

Which, now that she did, seemed like a good a judge as any of what pokemon would be good to train. There were double battles out there. Her team had to like each other. And a spirited poisonous snake seemed like a perfectly great team member on its species merits alone.

Did the Ekans agree? Maybe it just liked to fight, but didn't care for humans. She wouldn't know until she tried...

The pokeball expanded in her hand, and she pressed the button to open it, and threw it.

It snapped shut, the Ekans disappearing in a red glow, and Chant sat up to stare at it as it shook.

 

[Underoos]

Broadway: Bath time for Chant X3 Cute.
Congratulations, Carol caught a level 5 Ekans!

 

[Lucciola]

I know this role play has started and that the person with the Totadile avatar asked to have Aron but not to be mean but I'd like to apply for that because it seems they haven't replied, so if I'm allowed in do you mind if I take the remaining pokemon Aron cause this seems like it could be an interesting rp.

Name: Lucciola Extant
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Appearance: Lucciola isn't like your average teenage boy because he stands at 6'1'' in height and also has a broad shouldered build which isn't common amongst most teenagers, and his manner of dress is fairly casual yet different consisting of three quarter gold denim shorts, light blue T-shirt with a Griffin like print, short sleeve black and cream jacket. He also has a silver Celtic half moon sleep in one ear along with considerable scars on various parts of his body such as the large stitched slash on the inner of his right arm, the chunk of flesh and long scratch marks on the outer of his left arm and bite of one tooth on the top of his inner leg but Lucciola also has scars that are rarely seen like the five stitches that reconstructed his left tear duct and the fifteen stitches that are under his hair.

Though despite these scars Lucciola's hair is as normal as anyone else's consisting of medium length hair the just reaches above his shoulders that is dark blond in colour while mostly straight in formation, his complexion is fairly average with a slight tinge of olive complexion due to his varying travels in the sun. He carries a medium hikers backpack with all the essential's and any other items he can't fit within his pockets, while the top of his shorts like many people carries the strip of material that allows pokeballs to be stuck upon there for safe keeping and instead of shoes Luccicola wears a pair of thongs (The Australian kind, not the American) that are wooden in appearance but are actually made of a hard cork substance.

Personality: Lucciola is a calm and collected person that often thinks and plans before he acts rather then acting irrationally though depending on the circumstance he may forgo this in light of protecting innocent people or pokemon, he is a fairly caring and honourable individual that puts others before himself without a second thought. He's not only a pokemon trainer but also a breeder and enjoys the exploratory life both of them permits and has no other reason then that to be a trainer/breeder though he doesn't mind a good battle, Lucciola won't push himself or his pokemon in less he's certain he can find a way to win or at least a way to survive because to him winning isn't everything as losing can have it's educational purposes.

Most of the time people think Lucciola doesn't show any emotion and if he does it's either forced or faked and they wouldn't be completely wrong because growing up with the crazy brother that he did he learned to hold in many emotions if only for his own safety and that of the pokemon around him and his family, though he can smile it often looks like it's not real but he also doesn't get sad and can't even cry but other then this he's a fairly open minded person and isn't bothered by almost anything in less it goes against his honour so his temper is something he has complete control over since he has such a long fuse. But when something happens that go against his code of honour like an innocent person being hurt or a pokemon being abused and or taken by force he can sometimes show how much he cares though he tries to fight logically and with planning but if things start getting worse he can get very annoyed if not lose his control.

History: Lucciola was born in the Hoenn region where he grow up with pokemon out in the wilderness with his family and started his training and breeding career early in life and traveled his own region when he was just nine years old, though he stayed in his region in till he was certain he'd either learned enough or achieved all that he could within that region after which he made his way to Johto. Though he wasn't the only child in his family to go off on a journey he hoped that he never ran into his older brother, because of the way he acts in general as well as towards his pokemon both of which are fairly horrirble and knows he'll likely go overboard if he ever sees him again.

Once in Johto he loved seeing all the pokemon that he hadn't seen in his own region and set out to learn as much as he could there and if he felt he was lucky or good enough try and achieve status as a trainer as well, so he stayed in Johto for another two years after which he headed to Kanto briefly and then Sinnoh not long after where he continued his efforts as a trainer and breeder. Though he never got any celebrity status he was certain he achieved what he felt was good enough and once he heard of the new region that had been discovered Lucciola felt this would be a good place to start his training and breeding once again, so leaving Sinnoh about mid way through his journey there Lucciola came to Vassa region about part way through it's development and did what he could to help out in any way he could.

Other Information: Also the scars on his body represent some of the pokemon he's helped and or saved along his travels such as the slash on his right arm was from a Houndour that had recently escaped an abusive trainer and was wary of humans, so when Lucciola tried to help it the Houndour slashed him on the arm but when the abusive trainer caught up to the pokemon Lucciola stood up and got up the trainer and showed him how a real trainer acts. The chunk and scratch on his left arm comes from the sting of a Beedrill though it would of went all the way through was it not for his own pokemon coming to his aid, the Beedrill had lost it's eggs and Lucciola was returning them only to be stung for his trouble.

The bite on his leg come from a Luxray that was protecting it's offspring during a flood in Sinnoh but Lucciola proved he was trying to help when the fierce wind knocked a tree branch towards the Shinx and Lucciola put himself in the way of it, as for the injuries to his head they come from a Mightyena that was being controlled by Team Aqua and was forced to attack him. Which resulted in him getting his tear duct destroyed and several scars on his head although after he'd recovered from the injuries he came back and tried to help the controlled pokemon, though this time he was ready for any retaliation that might happen from the pokemon or the Team Aqua themselves.

Starter: Aron

 

[Underoos]

While that is a very good SU, there really is no seventh spot. That is just noted to who the reservation would go to in the case that anyone drops out.

 

[Lucciola]

So does that mean I can't join in then?

 

[daydreambeliever]

'Now that is what I call teamwork,' said Nevada, after witnessing her first capture. Poliwag seemed a little tired but seemed very proud of her efforts. 'You were wonderful, Poliwag!' The small water Pokemon then jumped into her trainer's arms and flashed a cute smile.

Then it hit her! 'Lulu,' Nevada cried, as if it was the most obvious thing. 'Your name is Lulu!' And suddenly, Poliwag nodded like she had known it all along.

'Poli, poli,' cried Lulu. She seemed tired and sore.

'Okay, time to relax and celebrate! No more battling.' Nevada looked at the log cabin ahead of her. The wood was dark brown and it looked like it belonged in the snow, not in a green field. The cabin also had a red 'P' on the top of it, and Nevada knew straight away what that meant.

---

'Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center. We restore your tired Pokemon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokemon?' Nevada nodded and handed Lulu and her newly caught Mareep over to Nurse Joy, who smiled broadly and disappeared into the back rooms. Nevada decided not to stay the night, as she knew Citrine City was just around the corner. Instead, she sat down in the lounge and looked at all the other trainers. The place was packed, trainers from close and a far were chatting away, either waiting for their Pokemon to heal or to have a break for themselves. There was one boy who was talking extremely loud to his friend over at the table next to Nevada and a girl in the far right corner that looked like she had just been wrestling with a Dophan. Over by the telephone was a young boy with a bright yellow cap on, crying away to someone on the phone. Poor darling, Nevada thought, feeling sorry for him. He looked now older than her brother, Jim, and he would never be able to go on an adventure like this at his age. Not that Jim wasn't strong or passionate about Pokemon, he just didn't have the mental and emotional maturity and never did this boy, she figured. She surveyed the room, looking at all the different types of people when her eyes finally came to rest on a couple sitting on the couch. The male had his arms wrapped the female's body, who had an amazing smile on her face. She knew that smile all too well, and it bought back memories.

'I love you,' Ben proclaimed as he held Nevada in his arms. 'You know that, right?'

'I sure do, Benny Boo.' She moved upwards to kiss her love on the lips and felt a shiver run down her spine.

'I'm glad to hear, Ned Ned.'

Nevada was happiest at those times. At the times where she felt loved and got to be with the one guy that meant it all to her. Sadly, those days were over. Nevada could feel tears welling up in her eyes and forced herself to stop. It wasn't the time or the place.

---

'Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokemon to full health. Stay safe and I hope to see you again some time!' Nevada thanked Nurse Joy and started to walk away from the corner. 'Wait! I need to see your trainer license before you leave.'

'Okay, just give a second.' Nevada searched through her back pack until she found her wallet. 'Here you go!' She handed her license over to Nurse Joy, who studied it. It wasn't the best photo of her. Actually, to be honest, it was the worst photo Nevada had ever taken and she was embarrassed to show it in public.

'Thank you very much. Sorry I had to ask, but it is a new sercuity motion against theives. Be safe on your journey now.'

Nevada walked out of the Pokemon Center to see that the sun was setting. It was later than she thought but that didn't matter, she was determined to get to Citrine by night fall. She let Lulu out of her Pokeball as she hated walking alone, and Lulu didn't seem to mind at all. With her starter Pokemon in her arms, Nevada started to walk down the second part of Route 301 when out of the bushes emerged a purple snake-like Pokemon, showing it's fangs.

'Holy mother, what is that?!' yelled Nevada, jumping backwards. The wild Pokemon hissed at her and moved closer. 'Okay, Lulu! Be brave and use Bubble on that thing!' Lulu landed neatly on the ground and used her attack on the approaching monster. The bubbles missed their target and suddenly, the wild Pokemon was wrapped around Lulu. 'Lulu! Try to get out!' She tried but had no luck, the grip getting stronger instead. 'Okay, Lulu! Trust me and use Bubble into it's eyes!' Just as she was told, Lulu use her attack into her attacker's eyes, blinding it for a mere few seconds. This gave Lulu the chance to escape! 'Now, one last time! Give it all you've got!' When the bubbles cleared away, Nevada saw that the monster had fainted on the ground. 'Now, what are you?'

'Ekans, the Snake Pokemon. It sneaks through grass without making a sound and strikes unsuspecting prey from behind.'

Nevada put her Pokedex away safely in her back pack and pulled out a Pokeball, before she discovered that the Ekan had gone back into the bushes.

'Oh well, I didn't seem like a friendly Pokemon anyway.' Lulu was looking at her Trainer, most likely wondering why she was talking to herself. 'Oh, come here!' Nevada opened her arms and let Lulu jump into them. 'You did brilliant out there, Lulu! I'm so very proud. I was amazed at your power. You are growing stronger and stronger.' She looked at her Pokemon, to find Lulu asleep in her arms. Nevada chuckled under her breath and kissed Lulu softly on her head. 'Sleep tight.' And with that, Nevada walked past the sign that read 'Citrine City'.

 

[Kyuuketsuki]

Hey, are LSUs welcome? If so I reserve Aron.

 

[Underoos]

...Lucciola, yes that means you can't join. There. And Kyuuketsuki, PLEASE PLEASE freakin' PLEASE read through the thread before you post. PLEASE. I'm sorry if I sound snappy and meanish right now, but I'm sort of getting tired of multiple people VMing/posting and asking if they can join when someone is already in reserve and the spots are taken. Here, I'll fix the clarity right now. There. Giant letters on the first post ^^ Anyway...

Daydreambeliever: A bit short, but it was a good read ^^
Congratulations, Poliwag grew to level 7!

 

[Jake♫]

…And the Pokeball finally stopped shaking in front of Chuck and Gible. Chuck picked up the ball, and grasped it firmly in his hand. Gible was ecstatic about the capture, and was nearly jumping for joy in the air, but Chuck didn't even seem happy in the slightest. He should be: It was a large accomplishment for him, but he just wasn't feeling it.

It was mostly because the second he saw it stopped shaking, he felt so proud of himself. Then he thought about how he wished his parents could see him. Sadly, that just brought up all the feelings of anger and sadness from his past back up. Clearly, it was going to be a tough struggle to advance past his past.

Chuck took Gible's Pokeball off of his belt, and returned Gible. He continued up the hill to the rest house, as it was clear Gible was tired, and he knew for a fact Poocheyena was after being knocked out and trailing them for so long.

The rest house was a little awkward: It looked like it should have been placed in the mountains, as it looked more like a ski lodge than it really did a rest area. Although, the giant "P" on the front of it to signify it was a rest house did make it obvious, but still awkward nonetheless.

Jake entered the rest house, and saw a woman with a pink dress, white hat with a red cross, a white apron, big, red curly hair, and a bright smile upon her face sitting at the desk in the entrance hallway.

"Hello there! My name is Nurse Joy, and I'm the nurse at this Pokémon Center. It appears as you are a new trainer, as you are travelling on this route," Nurse Joy said with a pleasant smile in a soothing voice.

Chuck caught her vibes of joy (OOC: Lol pun), and couldn't help but smile as he talked to her. "Correct, I am a new trainer, I just got my Pokémon today from Professor Elm actually. I need my Pokémon healed. They both fought pretty hard."

Nurse Joy had a little bit of shock on her face. "They? You have already caught a Pokémon? Congratulations! Well, to heal them, I'll just need to see your trainer's license."

Chuck gulped. Professor Elm had never given him a trainer's license. He quickly turned red of embarrassment, and turned nervous and fearful that he would get rejected from one of the kindest people he has ever met.

Nurse Joy noticed his nervousness. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should have really been more specific. Your trainer's license is your Pokedex, which I can see sticking out of your pocket."

Chuck let out a large sigh of relief; although he was a little angry she never said that sooner. All that anger was for nothing. In retrospect, at least he was angry over something small and keeping his cool rather than something big and spazzing out.

Chuck showed her the Pokedex, and she took Chuck's Pokeballs to be healed. She explained that he may have a free room and any food he liked, but Chuck explained he was on his way to the next city.

Before long, Chuck realized he didn't even realize the name of the next city. He was too busy straightening out his route to the Pokémon Center to even consider his actual destination in the long run. He observed his map.

Citrine City. It appears to have the first Pokémon Gym as well. I see this should end up nicely.

In no time at all, Nurse Joy had Chuck's Pokémon healed, and she handed them over to him. She wished him good luck, and he was swiftly on his way out of the door, ready to journey to Citrine City, and the site of his first Pokémon Gym battle.

Chuck glanced back at his map once more, and turned in the direction that the city should be. Once he looked up, it was quite obvious that the route to the city was going to be way easier than the trip to the rest house: There was no overly long tall grass, and it was a straight shot to Citrine City. The skyline was apparent in front of him, and he knew it would take him around an hour or two tops to make it there, if there were no hitches on the road.

Chuck started to walk, and for once, it seemed that his past was actually not anywhere in his head. He actually was walking with a smile, as it was just a great feeling knowing he was on his own, knowing that he could rely on himself to survive. It was a good feeling, self-reliance, and Chuck wanted to embrace for a little while.

Continuing down the road, the cityscape grew clearer and bigger, and was just plain pretty. Chuck admired the Vassa Region, as it still had a natural beauty, due to the fact that it was still new. He took a few moments to just sit in the bright green grass, and enjoy the beauty. He saw a few scarce ponds, but no Pokemon were living in them or rather close to them. But, the water and its reflection made Route 301 have even more of that natural beauty.

Chuck got up from his spot, and continued down the road. It wasn't long before Chuck saw rustling in the grass, and Chuck decided to take a little look. A purple snake and a yellow…thing were sitting there, just chatting with each other. They both perked up the second they saw Chuck, and they were angry. He interrupted their little relaxation and talking time, and they wanted a little payback, and it seemed they were ready to fight. Chuck decided to use Pokedex to find out what he was up against.


"Ekans, the Snake Pokemon. It sneaks through grass without making a sound and strikes unsuspecting prey from behind. It currently knows Wrap, Poison Sting, and Leer."


"Elekid, the Electric Pokemon. It generates electricity by whirling its arms. However, it can't store the energy it makes. It currently knows Quick Attack and Leer."

An Electric and a Poison type. Should be a interesting match-up for me here.

Chuck took both of his Pokeballs off of his belt, and threw them into the air. Gible and Poocheyena appeared in front of him, out of a brilliant white light. Both looked at each other, a little stare down, but quickly came to terms with the situation at hand. Ekans and Elekid had the same look in their eyes, and they quickly chose to take the first move.

Ekans fired off a barrage of purple needles at both Gible and Poocheyena, while Elekid gave the two of them a dirty look. They were using Poison Sting and Leer. Leer was lowering their defenses, increasing the damage that Ekans' Poison Sting would do. For two wild Pokemon, they both had proper strategy.

Chuck quickly ordered Gible and Poocheyena to dodge the Poison Sting. Although the needles came at a high velocity, both Gible and Poocheyena managed to escape the blow, even if it was just by a hair.

Chuck thought to himself of a strategy that just might work to hit. And then it hit him. "Alright, Gible and Poocheyena! Both of you use a Tackle attack, and do it in a zig-zag pattern!" Both Gible and Poocheyena constantly crossed paths, until both approached Ekans and Elekid. Elekid had the upper hand, however. It used a Quick Attack for dodging purposes, and made a clean escape. Ekans, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. Since Elekid dodged, Ekans ended up being hit by both attacks.

Ekans winced in pain, and it was angry, at Poocheyena, Gible, but mostly Elekid: It was supposedly its teammate, and Ekans felt like it was betrayed. Ekans slithered at Elekid faster than any snake before it, and used a Wrap attack on it. It was squeezing Elekid so hard that they had seemed to forget about Gible and Poocheyena for a second.

For a second there, I was going to catch one of them. Now…umm…not so much…

Chuck ordered both Gible and Poocheyena to use Tackle, but this time the theatrics weren't necessary in the slightest. Both just charged head on, and it was just like hitting a sitting duck. Both Ekans and Elekid went flying back, and both landed on the ground, still in the Wrap. Ekans regained its good judgement, and the two of them stood back up, shaken, and weakened.

This time, Ekans and Elekid were being ferocious. Elekid charged with a powerful Quick Attack, and Ekans slitered forward with a Wrap attack. Chuck had forgotten that Elekid had used Leer earlier, so he didn't even have Gible or Poocheyena dodge. He thought that the two of them were weakened enough that the attack wouldn't really do much. Surprisingly, Elekid rammed right into Poocheyena, who got knocked into Gible, and were both tangled up by Ekans.

Chuck was flustered, and he had no idea what to do. Then it came to him, and it was something that Chuck hadn't even thought of: Gible's feet were still on the ground, and because Ekans had both Gible and Poocheyena in the Wrap, there was space for them to move around a little, but certainly not directly escape. He had Gible use a Sand Attack: Gible kicked sand straight up into Ekans' eyes, and it winced in the burning pain. It released Poocheyena and Gible, and the two of them retreated to safety.

Chuck ordered one final double Tackle attack, and both Poocheyena and Gible charged head on once more. This time, they pulled a book out of Elekid's page: They both hit Elekid before it could escape, and rammed it into Ekans. The sheer collision with Elekid caused Ekans to take just as much damage as the direct attack. After Gible and Poocheyena back up, it was clear that Eleked and Ekans were knocked out on the ground. It was a good training session, and Chuck was happy to have it.

"Good job guys, you successfully won a true battle there. Gible, you did before, but then again, you didn't truly end it, seeing as this little guy got up and tailed us for an hour!"

Poocheyena gave Chuck a happy look, knowing that the little bit of sarcasm in his voice was truly a good thing. Chuck then took out their Pokeballs, and returned them. Chuck noticed that the battle took way longer than he thought, but then again, he actually did travel further than he thought too: Only about another fifteen minutes of walking, and he would be entering Citrine City.

Chuck ran all the way to the entrance of Citrine City, taking it more like a fifty yard dash, even though it was more of a half a mile run. Chuck stood at the gate, took a deep breath, and walked into the city.

 

[Underoos]

Umbreon*: Tehe, punny X3
Congratulations, Gible and Poochyena both grew to level 8!

 

[{Swan}]

An hour later Jane was sitting on a bench outside of the resting spot in the middle of the Route, dangling her legs that just about not reach the ground and humming. Pyro was running around the bench, stopping every once in a while to sniff something and then proceed to bark at it, apparently it was high off of victory.

Pyro, I don't think that those flowers are going to attack me anytime soon," Jane murmured before rolling her eyes. That dog was so strange. A ways away she heard the rhythmic tapping of Doduo-feet hitting the ground as they ran around wildly. There was some rustling a little farther back, and she head laughing coming from the house itself. Life, everywhere.


After a while of observation, Jane lowered herself on the bench and laid down to look at the clouds. There was one that looked just like a Steelix… But maybe that was just her imagination and obsession with Steelix' clouding her eyes. And there was one looking like a messed up Magicarp.


Pyro happily skipped toward her and laid down at the side of the bench, panting a bit from running so much, still having the hyperactive look in her eyes, "Hey bud," Jane said gently and Pyro barked once in response before setting his head down and closing it in the sun. Jane leaned over and scratched his ear affectionately and Pyro's leg responded and started twitching.


Jane sat up and took her small sketchbook from her bag with a pencil. She started sketching the Houndour, who looked so happy in the sun, eyes half-closed, though continuously drooping. She sketched the rough lines before proceeding to outline the real lines more thickly, and then proceeded to use thin lines to pencil the absolute details, such as little creases in his skin and the point where his ears connected to his head.


Then she heard a rustle from close-by. She quickly looked up to find a Doduo pecking at the ground, looking for something to eat and entirely oblivious to their existence. Pyro tensed visibly and was about to jump up to defend his master.


"Shhh," Jane hushed Houndour, who looked at her curiously from the corner of his eye. "Please, Pyro, hold completely still. Don't move a musle." The Doduo heard the noise and looked at her for a brief moment, in which Jane held perfectly still.


At the same time there was a fierce dilemma going on in Pyro's head. Firstly there was his master's command, which was not to move. But his instinct wanted to jump up and bark at the bird, keeping his master safe as a good dog should. But he was faithful to his master. After all, she had given him a name. And Pyro quite liked his name, even though he had no idea what it meant.


And the master was nice to him, she had scratched his ear just a moment before. And he had only remembered a certain blonde guy at the white house that had scratched his ear like that, but that was already getting blurry. He remembered lying in the sun just like that, with the other strange creatures around him. He had been tired from running around barking, and this blonde guy had reached out and scratched his ear and neck. Boy that felt great!


But the white house had never felt like home. It was too… white. And clean. And there were people with white coats everywhere and beeping machines and there was NEVER any silence. Always the loud hum of scary things with lights. And people that kicked him away when he tried to lick their hand, or had shooed him when he looked at them and wagged his tail.


But now he had an actual master, and she was nice to him and scratched his head. Oh the scratching felt so damned good! Pyro would do anything for the female that scratched his head and was nice to him and let him lick her hand and would scratch him when he wagged his tail and looked at her in such a way that she'd smile and maybe even rubbed his belly. Yes, he was quite satisfied with his master.


So Pyro was as still as he could be, watching the Doduo intensely to make sure that his master wouldn't get hurt.

In the mean time Jane had very slowly flipped the page of her sketchbook while the Doduo was pecking at the ground with both heads, trying to look for scrap food and maybe a worm if they were lucky. She sketched the outline, shielding the rapid movement of the pencil with the sketchbook, hiding it from view, and waiting patiently for the bird to be in the right position again.


One of the two heads had found a worm and was chomping it down fast, causing the other head to look at it jealously, even though they inhabited the same body. Jane figured it was because only one head could actually taste the worm. The other head busily went along with digging in the ground while the one head looked around lazily, satisfied with its catch. This was how Jane sketched the heads.


Then suddenly, the other head whipped up, causing Pyro to twitch slightly, it had a particularly thick and long worm in its mouth. The other head snapped around to look at it, and in one swift motion it stole the worm from the other's mouth and swallowed it. The deprived head looked at the stealing head for a few seconds, as if it needed time to believe that it's body-buddy had actually done that. Then it started pecking the other head rapidly, causing the head to cry out in pain.


The second head headbutted the first head, who recoiled with a dizzy look in its eyes before returning the headbutt. The now very dizzy Doduo was stumbling around clumsily getting too close to Jane for Pyro's comfort. He jumped up and barked loudly and both heads turned to him. For one seconds all three heads were staring at one another, then the Doduo whipped around and ran, though Jane saw one head peck the other one quickly before getting out of her sight.


"Well that was interesting," She commented and Pyro let out a low growl as if to say 'That's right," and barked softly when Jane rubbed his head. He dropped to the ground, exposing his belly, and Jane laughed while rubbing it, watching the leg twitch when she found his spot. In the end she settled herself on the bench again, finding the clean air and warm sun to be an incredible combination. Before she could catch herself her eyes were drooping and she was asleep…

*

She woke up feeling something heavy on her lap. Pyro, I'm not petting you again, needy one, she thought, still groggy in her sleep. She felt Pyro lick her arm but brushed it away. He could wait a bit, right now she was still asleep.


Gradually more weight was put on her lap, but very concentrating. Did Pyro have a longer neck than she remembered? She moved her hand to pet Pyro's smooth head, trying to find his ears to scratch, but she didn't feel them. Then Pyro barked… right by her ear. But Pyro wasn't right by her ear, he was in her lap. Being petted… On his very smooth head…


She sat up faster than she saw possible seeing two yellow eyes look up at her unblinkingly from a very green body. A small slitted tongue flitted in and out of te creatures mouth and it looked at her expectantly. She froze, watching the thing while her brain was going 'OMG,OMG,OMG,OMG' and so forth.


The snake, oblivious to Jane's terror, snuggled itself more deeply one her lap, completely curled up , resting its head on Jane's leg, and blinked slowly, as if dozing off. It's slits dilated a little and it curled tighter around itself. It was completely at home while Jane was practically hyperventilating.


Okay, Jane, you can do this. Stop breathing, you're giving yourself an oxygen overload. God I need a bag… Right now… light headed, light headed, ow, ow, ow. She sucked in her breath and let it go as soon as she was out of oxygen. Now, just gently pick up the big snake, and throw it away!


She carefully and slowly slid her one hand underneath the cold scaly body, and as soon as she did that the snake rushed forward and wrapped itself around her arms. Pyro growled, Jane whimpered, deadly afraid. The snake lifted its head to right in front of Jane's and slid its forked tongue in and out. Then it licked Jane, who recoiled, while it hissed happily.


"Ehm… eeehm… eeeeehm… hi?" The snake slid further up her arm, if possible, and hissed happily again. At that moment Pyro decided to come forward, growling, and the snake quickly snapped at it, hissing angrily and baring his fangs at him, which slowly slid down from their sockets. Pyro continued to growl while the Snake slowly slithered away from Jane.


Jane released a breath that she had been holding for a long time. The snake dangled from the bench a little before letting its big body fall down and lifting its head way high, right at Pyro's own level. It hissed more menacingly now, while Pyro was growling. What was this? A testosterone contest? Was the thing even a male?


Jane whipped out her Pokédex, still shaky, to find out what the hell the thing was anyway.


Ekans, the Snake Pokémon, It always hides in grass. When first born, it has no poison, so its bite is painful, but harmless.
It can freely detach its jaw to swallow large prey whole."

"Well that sounds encouraging," muttered Jane. The only weird thing was that the picture on her screen was purple, with a yellow strip around the neck. When she looked at this Ekans, there was the yellow strip… just not the purple. Instead it was a grassy green. And, in fact, still having a staring competition with Pyro.


"Pyro, snap out of it and use howl!" Pyro shook his head at his master's command and launched a high, piercing howl after which he tensed his muscles, ready for a fight. Morale-booster? Check.


"Pyro, use ember and fry this mother- eehm, getting carried away!" Jane quickly stopped that sentence. She was black, but not that black. Pyro quickly opened his mouth, full of his confidence-boost, and shot some real fire at the snake. But Jane had misjudged the thing, it slithered away faster than she thought it would, with the strange S-movements.


The Ekans suddenly curled in on itself, keeping its head high to watch over everything, or more specifically, Pyro. The dog was, in turn, eying it distrusting, twitching in place, unable to actually sit still. The in one smooth movement, Ekans jumped –yes, jumped- into the air like a freaking spring, landing sprawled over the Houndour and quickly started the job of wrapping around him.


At first it wasn't wrapped very tight at all, but then Pyro started objecting, he tried to wriggle his way out of there and with every movement Ekans tightened his grip. It was like a very cruel dance, the snake specifically waited for Pyro to protest before it punished him by wrapping tighter around his body.


Pyro was panting now, breathing heavily through his constricted rib-cage while Ekans hissed into his ear, daring him to move. It was looking really bad, and all Jane could do was watch, she had no clue what could be done.


Think! Come on Jane, thinkg! You know what to do, you can do this. There has to be a way for Pyro to get some fire in there! But there really wasn't. Ekans had him so that if he turned around, it would just wrap itself tighter around it. A checkmate. Then Jane had an idea. An illegal idea, cheating too, but it was an idea nevertheless.


She took up a rock and threw it with all of her force at the Ekans… Too bad her aim wasn't that good, and it was ways off. The Ekans looked at her curiously, before hissing a happy-hiss and waving it's rattling end as if waving hello. What was wrong with this thing?!


Jane took up another rock and threw it again, this time taking more time aiming, and creeping a little closer. At that distance she hit the Ekans right under the chin, and it catapulted its head backwards with the movement. "PYRO, NOW!"


Pyro whipped his head around a fired a load of fire straight at Ekans' head, and he couldn't miss at such a range. The snake loosened his grip even more. "Pyro, I want you to hit it against the tree until it lets go!" Now that the snake wasn't entrapping Pyro anymore, being stunned about the happenings for a second, Pyro was free to move.


He run toward a tree and knocked himself against it sideways, squishing the snake between the actual tree and him. Ekans cried out in a not-so-happy-hiss. It tried biting Pyro, enclosing its mouth over Pyro's neck dangerously, byt the dog simply threw himself at the tree again. Another cry, the hold was loosening. One last time and the snake fell from the back of Houndour and onto the ground, slithering away as quick as it could.


Pyro didn't know how fast he could jump away, and stood a ways away from the snake, panting like he hadn't been able to do with a freaking snake latched onto his back.

"Great job, bud, that snake has nothing on us!" Jane said encouragingly, right before whelping louder than she would want to admit in future times. She felt a slithering against her legs and saw that the Ekans had silently slithered toward her and was now rubbing against her leg… affectionately! You could almost hear a purr.


"Pyro, this is your chance! I want you to hit it, full one, while it's busy doing god know what!" Pyro cocked his head, unsure of what to do. His master, the one who scratched him behind the ear when he licked her hand and when he looked at her in such a way that made her smile she would sometimes rub her bell. That one, was asking him to burn her! It didn't make sense in the small puppy-brain of his!


"Just do it!" Jane hissed, as she hesitantly reached down to run the snake's head, who was enraptured in the sign of affection and almost closed its eyes. Then, Pyro unleashed all that he had stored in terms of fire, and Jane did one of those cool jump/leaps away from the danger like they did in movies, except they always landed a lot softer than it looked in those movies.


The impact of the whole thing sent Ekans sprawling against the bench, and the snake fell down, not fully unconscious, but unable to move either way. Jane was cradling her arm, which had taken the impact of the ground, while she was trying to kick out a little flame on her pants. Great, her jeans were ruined by some stupid snake on the first day of departure.


"Great job Pyro," she rubbed the dog's head before retrieving a Poké Ball. "What the hell, you are coloured strangely, and someone might want to trade for a rare Pokémon or something." She muttered to herself, as if trying to justify her action before throwing the Pokéball. It twitched once, twice, three times, four times, five times?

 

[Underoos]

Luigi-a: Going for a shiny one, hrm?
WELL YOU DID(N'T) CATCH IT! Or did you...?

Spoiler:

Congratulations, Jane caught a level 4, female, impish Shiny Ekans! (Well aren't you just special?)

 

[sandeon]

The pokeball stopped shaking. I held my breath, waiting to see if the Pokémon would burst from the ball, leaving the pokeball useless, and continue the senseless barrage of tackles. The button on the ball turned red and made an unexplainable sound. I kept staring; I'd never used a pokeball and didn't know that meant it was caught. Shade on the other hand, did, and she started laughing. "Wow…" I heard a voice and spun around. A guy with shaggy blonde hair, wearing a bright yellow hoodie with two brown stripes on the back and two Pikachu ears on the hood with regular jeans and a lip piercing, was standing on the porch. "That's pathetic." He continued. I was starting to get ticked, "Yeah? And who are you to be calling me pathetic!?!" "Me? That's none of your business. But if you must know, my name is Keaton. And as for why I'm calling you pathetic is because you don't even know when you've caught a Pokémon, as for your Gastly here, I'm guessing it does by the way its cracking up. Plus you don't know how dumb that Pokémon you just caught is"

"YEAH?!?! WELL IF YOUR SUTCH THE MODLE POKEMON TRAINER THEN LET'S SEE HOW YOU FAIR TO ME!!!!" "Ok, when?" "Right n…" my stomach growled "Right after an hour, here, be here." I walked past him and went inside. When I walked in I handed poocheana over to nurse joy, got some food and sat down. Shade found something to eat to. "So what do you think of the new addition?" "Gast gas gas ly." What I got out of that is she thought he was a dunce. "Ok, I think the opposite, but I guess we'll see soon." "Kitora? Your Pokémon is ready." Nurse Joy said. I walked over and grabbed the pokeball and released poocheana. He was happy wagging his tail happily. I checked my pokedex. "Poocheana: He was reluctant to join at first but then decided he likes you and is ready to be one of your Pokémon partners." It said in its pokedex voice. "You ready?" I asked, wondering if Shade was right by the way he was so jittery. We walked outside to see Keaton sitting in the grass waiting for me. The hour wasn't quite over yet. "Well it looks like we'll be starting early huh?" I asked. "You sure you want to go through with this?" he asked "I mean, I've been searching this forest for a week finding the two rarest Pokémon out here." "Yeah, as if I'm goanna pass up the chance to have my first battle!" "Ok, let's do it." He agreed.

"Poocheana! Take'em on!" poocheana ran about to the middle of the field between me and Keaton. Keaton threw a pokeball "Go Ekans!" in a flash of light a purple snake with a yellow ring around its neck appeared. I pulled out my pokedex "Ekans the snake Pokémon. It sneaks through the grass and strikes unsuspecting prey from behind." It said. "You go first" Keaton offered "seeing as its your first trainer battle." Well at least he wasn't a total scum bag. "Thanks, poocheana tackle!" "Ekans, leer!" Ekans starred and poocheana lost confidence, but he still got an amazing hit. Ekans was pushed backward a little. "Quick Ekans! Wrap." All of a sudden Ekans darted under poocheana and shot up to wrap around him, it squeezed. "POOCHEANA!" poocheana yelled as it was squeezed. It keep getting tighter and tighter. <What can we do? Think… think! Aha!> "Poocheana, use tackle on the ground mainly using your back!" poocheana didn't quite get what I said, and Keaton seemed amused. Shade rolled her eyes and I knew why. In the meantime poocheana kept losing its strength till it finally figured out what I meant and jumped landing on its back.

"Ekans!" Ekans yelled. The attack seemed to do quite more damage than a normal tackle, so they were at an about even status now with poocheana a little behind. And Keaton seemed less amused. "Poison Sting!" Keaton yelled. Ekans shot poison out its mouth and hit poocheana before he could get out of the way. "Poochy!" poocheana yelled as he fell. He staggered to rise again. <He's poisoned!> "Are you ok?" I shouted to him. He shook his head yes. "Then if that's the case then, tackle!" Poocheana lunged at Ekans and made a direct hit. "Ek!…ans" Ekans said as it fainted. "Ekans return." Keaton ordered. "Yes! Way to go, poochea…" I looked at him; he'd fainted from the poison. "Good job." I said as I returned him to his pokeball. I looked at Shade "Ready?" "Gast!" she said as she entered the field. "Now. Are you ready?" Keaton said cockily "Come on! Volt!" he finished as he threw the pokeball and a little yellow and black Pokémon appeared. It had a black ring around its body with a lightning bolt on it belly it also had black rings around its arms, and after his elbow the circumference of his arm nearly doubled. But the most noticeable feature was on his head like ears, except it was plug in prongs. I pulled out my pokedex, "Elekid: the electric Pokémon, Even in the most vicious storm, this Pokémon plays happily if thunder rumbles in the sky." "Wow. Ok this'll be quite the challenge Shade! Start off with Hypnosis!" Volt looked sleepy. "Now's not the time Volt!" Volt shot awake, "Use quick attack!" Volt jutted forward and up at Shade, and flew strait through her.

When Volt landed he looked surprised. "Huh? And you called me dumb." Keaton didn't seem fazed. "Leer!" Volt stared. "Sh…" before I finished Shade whipped volt with her log tongue repeatedly. "Volt use quick attack!" Keaton said panicked. Volt only managed to make it a couple steps, due to paralysis, and shade hit him three more times until volt was knocked back a couple feet and laid there. "Great job Shade!" "Come on back Volt" Keaton said while returning his Pokémon. He came up to me and we shook hands. "You're not too bad." He said. "Neither are you" I replied.

*** ***

I woke up in the pokecenter and went to grab poocheana from nurse joy. "Thank you for coming! And can I see your trainer ID?" She asked. "Sure." He handed it to her and she gave it back, "Thank you. Come again!" "Shade!" she floated up to me and we left the center. Keaton had left the night before to get a head start. And I was continuing to head towards Citrine. "Gas gast ly." "Ok I'll let him out. Poocheana come on out!" I threw the pokeball in the air and the little black and gray puppy appeared. "Pooch ana!" he said as he jumped on me excitedly. "Hi pooche- wait you need a name too! How about Ace?" He stared up and nodded his head. "Ok then Ace! Let's go to Citrine City!"
We were in a hyper mood so we ended up running, and made it there in an hour. "Where here guys" I said as we went inside to grab a bite to eat.

 

[Underoos]

Sandeon: Right...uhm so here we go then.
Mareep popped out and ran away. BUT.
Congratulations, Gastly grew to level 8! Poochyena grew to level 6!

Chapter 3: Citrine City Part 1
Number of Posts: 1​

Finally you've made it! Citrine City looks magnificent. In the Vassa Region, each town goes along with its gym theme. And if it has no gym leader, they just go with your average city. But Citrine City is full of yellows and oranges. Even the streets are paved with deep orange bricks! Some of the buildings also have like electric symbols painted on the side. This might be a big hint that the first gym leader specializes in electric types. Now you might wonder; which gym leader is it? Is it the famous Lt. Surge from Kanto? Or Wattson from Hoenn? Or maybe its Volkner from Sinnoh. As some of you shiver with anticipation, others might be a bit more hesitant. Will the Vassa Region hold true to its word? Or would the Pokemon actually be super higher leveled, and fry each and every one of yours without breaking a sweat? Well, it'll soon be time to find out.

It's probably a good idea to go to the Pokemon Center (AKA: it's mandatory, do it or die) and heal your Pokemon before you go to the gym. So when you walk in and get your Pokemon healed, all pumped for a battle, you notice this kid ranting about something or another to one of the telephones. He's practically screaming about how his ultra-super-awesome Pokemon got knocked down with a single hit from the gym leader's Pokemon! This might make you nervous, but you're still going for it anyway. Just as you get your Pokemon back from Nurse Joy and are about to leave, this kid turns and notices you. He shouts that he's going to prove it and then suddenly challenges you to a battle! Do you accept? (No dip you do, this is mandatory too XD)

Trainer Battle:

Luigi-a:

Squirtle
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Moves: Tackle, Water Gun, Bubble, Withdraw

Geodude
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Moves: Magnitude, Rock Polish, Tackle, Defense Curl

Broadway:

Machop
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Moves: Leer, Low Kick, Focus Energy, Karate Chop

Larvitar
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Moves: Bite, Rock Slide, Sandstorm, Leer

Umbreon*:

Snover
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Moves: Icy Wind, Razor Leaf, Powder Snow, Leer

Makuhita
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Moves: Arm Thrust, Vital Throw, Tackle, Sand Attack

Sandeon:

Absol
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Moves: Bite, Leer, Scratch, Taunt

Medetite
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Moves: Bide, Confusion, Detect, Force Palm

Daydreambeliever:

Pikachu
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Moves: Growl, Thundershock, Tail Whip, Thunder Wave

Diglett
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Moves: Magnitude, Astonish, Scratch, Growl

Eliminator Jr.:

Shinx
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Moves: Spark, Tackle, Leer, Charge

Rattata
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Bite

If you think some moves they use are very overpowering (i.e: Force Palm, Pite, etc.) then just have them use that move only it's weaker. What I'm doing is pairing you with someone to your Pokemon's weakness. So, for example, if Umbreon* brings out Gible then his opponent WILL use Snover at least until it faints or Gible faints or whatever. So basically just make sure your first Pokemon you use is up against its weakness. You will battle just outside the Pokemon Center in the middle of the street.