[Best Rookie March 2011] Begin, Again (Kanto Journey RP)

Whatever is left I would like to reserve, though I would like Oshawott

Please post things like that in the OOC thread, Fumiaka.

And you are put in queue for Oshawott, but there are 2 people in front of you :3

Also, the next route is planned and will be up as soon as Doctor Who and Tonko have posted at least once in Pallet.

Axella rolled over, still half-asleep. She yawned and sleepily looked at the clock which said… 11:14. Of course today was the first day she'd overslept in, what, five years? She jumped out of bed, infinitely pissed at herself, and quickly changed into the clothes she'd laid out for herself, brushed her hair and put it up in a pony. Of course she'd been worrying all the previous night, not that she would admit to worrying if asked, so she hadn't slept a wink. Except in the morning of course. But nothing to be done about that now.


She grabbed the letter she'd gotten from the schoolboard, it said that she would be expected at 11:45, which was barely half an hour away but she'd be fin she knew. She made her bed and made sure she left her room in pristine condition, checked and second-checked her bag on everything, made some last minute decisions to include the notebook and pen and exclude the binoculars and off she went.


There was no one really to say goodbye to, Axel wasn't the most sociable person around and she hadn't made much friends. Sure she was respected by mostly her fellow sporters but there was no one she could say a teary farewell to and she was just fine without it.


As the school was part of the laboratory, or perhaps the laboratory was part of the school, it only took her a few minutes of speed-walking (Not that Axella was in any way capable of slow-walking anyway) to get to the large doors that automatically opened to reveal a kind face at the other side.


"Isabella Claire am I right? You're just in time, my name is Professor Cedar" the Professor said with a kind smile. Axel noted how she was rather pretty in her own way, but she also looked a bit… out there. Still the Professors huge smile prompted a small smile from herself as well, albeit small.


"Please, it's Axel," she said and the Professor quickly apologized. "It's quite alright though, so what's left?"


"Oh, right, over here please," the Professor coached her over to a table with but two Pokéballs left. "I apologize, the order of who got to pick first was randomized I assure you. There is Oshawott and Snivy left," when she said the creature's name she pointed at the respective Pokéball.


Axel grunted, certainly not her favourite Pokémon. She was no fan of the grass type as often they proved quite weak, but she profoundly disliked Oshawott so there really was little choice to be made. "I'll take the Snivy then," she said with a sigh.


"Oh don't worry about it," the Professor said as she handed Axel her Pokémon. "I've seen it often enough, trainers who aren't all too happy with their starter always grow to love it anyway." She turned around and handed Axel a Pokédex as well. "This, as you should no doubt already know, is a Pokédex, it is registered on your name and has a programmed trainer's license."


Axella nodded, she knew this for it had been on the exam but she didn't say anything about it and just put it away in her bag. Next came five empty Pokéball. "You should undoubtedly know exactly what these do as well, there's little explaining, now," Cedar checked something off of a clip-boardand started to suggest Axel'd leave when Axel noticed something.


"What an odd thing to place such a statue in your lab," she noted. "And quite prominent too, you must give much importance to the birds."


"Ah," Cedar said as she turned to look at the statue, admiration in her eyes. "Yes, the legend of the birds. I've searched for them in my own time you know? Back when I could."


"Did you ever find them?" Axel wanted to know, finding herself interested even if she shouldn't be.


"No, I think it wasn't meant for me." There was a tone of sadness in her voice. "However, with a new batch of trainers comes new opportunities," she looked at Axel with promising eyes and Axel found that she just couldn't say no to her.


"Of course I'll look for them when I can," she found herself promising.

"That would make me very happy. And when you see them please do tell me all about them!" She said excitedly. "However, do not attempt to catch them! Creatures of such magnificence should not be tamed," she said sternly and Axel nodded understanding. "Oh, look now I almost forgot!"


She retrieved a pearly white badge case from her drawer and handed it to Axel. "Sometimes I'd swear I'd forget my head if it weren't attached," she laughed merrily. "Place your badges in here, you wouldn't want to lose something you fought so hard for, and it makes it easier for the League to check your badges when you get there. And yes I do believe that you will, you have a fight in your eyes Axella."


Axel accepted the case with a thank you. "It was a pleasure to meet you Professor," she said quite earnestly. Axel was not a people person but this lady was just so… lovable. "And I'll call you if ever I see something, I promise."


Cedar nodded. "Now go! The world is waiting for you!" She didn't have to tell Axel twice. With her new treasures in her bag she was finally, and really finally, ready to go on her journey, prove her mother wrong once and for all and perhaps gain some fame or recognition in the process.


She half-ran out of the laboratory and towards the first route.. "Hm, protocol says to meet your Pokémon partner as soon as possible," she mused, looking at the ball in her hand. She pressed the button and released a moody-looking Snivy of odd colours.


She squatted to its level, looking at it curiously. "Ah, they did say the Professor had studied discolouring," she muttered and the Snivy stared at her headstrong, then turned its back on her, wlaking toward the route.


"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Axel demanded, quickly getting up to follow. "I'm your trainer, you listen to me, that's the deal," she snapped but the Snivy just stared at her challengingly. "Sheesh did they not raise you over there?" Axel demanded. "If you don't behave I'll keep you locked in your ball I swear." Snivy just responded with sticking its tongue out to her.


"Oh that's it!" She immediately called it back into its ball and sighed. "I wonder if Cedar has a return policy…"

@ Doctor Who - Good interpretation of Cedar's legendary-bird-thing! I like Axel's personality.

Axel got Snivy (female, lv 5) from professor Cedar!
Axel got a pokédex and five pokéballs!
Axel got a white gym badge case!

Chapter 1: Something to Write Home About


Astrid heard the noise outside the door of her room—the place was really buzzing today. The days when graduates got their starters seemed to make everyone excited. She smiled to herself as she answered Ninny and Ben's last email. Ben could write his own, his spelling was much better these days, and sometimes he did, but they wrote her together, more often than not. She only had time for a short note, though. She'd spent a little too long reading, and her appointment at the Lab was getting close.

Yes, it's today. It feels a lot like the day before a big exam, but also like the day before I left to come here—tomorrow I'm going to be somewhere else. I'll write you back again later today. I will send a picture too, of course!

She sent the mail, and got up to gather her things for the last time. Most of the stuff was gonna get sent back home now. She'd been preparing, like the other graduates, for the travel ahead of her, getting exercise and figuring out how to pack her bag properly. She'd looked that up and found the optimum way to get as much as possible into her outdoor backpack... and then she'd tried to put it on last night, and discovered it was well past her weight limit. Oops.

One of her instructors had passed by on an evening check and kindly reminded her she only needed supplies to reach the next town, not to get all the way around the region. She'd spent a few hours redoing it once, and twice, and the third time she'd decided it was the best fit between her strength and the stuff she'd chosen to bring. She'd really wanted to bring those extra books... but the tablet PC would have to do. Hopefully the reception out along the routes was as good as the data plan for her connection had promised.

There was nothing quite like an actual book though. Astrid slide her tablet into its pocket, and hefted the bag up. It was a good comfortable one with fat straps. It made her looks skinnier than normal, someone had called her "scare-murkrow", but the workouts here meant she COULD carry it, thanks.

With a last look around the room, making sure she hadn't left anything trailing that needed to get packed away, she nodded, and headed out the door, closing it behind her without a backward glance.

A few people waved at her as she left the residence, looking friendlier than usual, some of them looking envious, especially the older ones. But people seemed in a pretty good mood, and she was too hurried to be reading, right now, and waved back. Some of them laughed in surprise, and she shrugged. She knew they all found her pretty... distant, or something. She was just busy. But her floor, and this residence, was a pretty good one. She'd liked living here.

Across the grounds was the laboratory, and as soon as it came in sight, she stopped noticing anything else, and just went straight for it, feeling herself grin harder with each step closer.

When she got inside, she paused to stare around her, and one of Professor Cedar's aides had to touch her arm to get her attention and wave her farther in. "It's amazing in here!!" she said to him, turning in a circle as she went forward, and almost slamming into another one of the aides. "Oops," she apologized.

"Watch the merchandise," came Professor Cedar's voice from a bit farther in, and Astrid came to attention. She ducked around the aide she'd almost hit, and trotted the rest of the way a good deal more care.

"Sorry, Professor," she apologized again, somewhat more properly. "Um. I'm here now," she added unnecessarily.

"And there's something I'm sure you want, too," Cedar answered, amused. Astrid nodded, but her attention was drawn away like a magnet to the golden statue against the wall.

"Yes... why's that there? Are you studying them too?" The statue was a very well-made representation of the legendary birds. It was bright and polished and obviously important, being here right by her workspace.

Cedar followed Astrid's gaze to the statue. "Studying them... well, the best I can, while I do my main work here." The Professor smiled, and looked like the was remembering something. "They're my... secret passion? Well, not that secret. But I've wanted to find them ever since I found out about them. I spent a lot of time on the trail of one of them, but it didn't turn out to be the right track." She sighed, but didn't look unhappy, really. She looked back at Astrid. "If you should ever happen to discover anything about them, rumours, stories, anything, I'd love to hear about it. I've always dreamed about them. The time to chase them myself has passed, but there is always the next generation."

"Definitely, Professor." Astrid studied the birds. There were some legends that everyone knew, but Astrid had read about how legends changed depending on where you lived, sometimes. "Who wouldn't want to know more about them?!" Zapdos... Articuno... Moltres. Elemental forces of nature!

"Haha, well, we all have out favourite areas of study," Cedar answered. Astrid shrugged.

"I like to know anything about anything."

"As long as you remember to see what's in front of you, too," the Professor pointed at the aide she'd almost hit, and Astrid bit her lip.

"Yes ma'am."

"Now, back to the matter at hand," Cedar said. "I have some things for you, don't I?"

Astrid refocused again, pushing all the things she'd ever heard about the legendary birds to the back of her mind. "I hope so, Professor," she said, feeling herself start to grin again as the Professor presented her with a pokeball.

"You didn't specify a choice, so it is my pleasure to give you this Squirtle." She held it out, and Astrid took the pokeball with both hands, studying it, even though it was the same shiny red as any standard pokeball. Somehow this one seemed quite a bit shinier and redder. Well, it was hers, after all. "Please remember, this Squirtle is rare, even for its species. It's differently coloured, shiny, like you kids say, and so I would very like you to observe its behaviour, noting anything you may find interesting that relates to its colouring. It could be strength—or personality—or maybe that's all a myth. Pokemon genetics are mysterious." Astrid nodded. Shinies were terribly rare among humans—never mind wild. Finding enough to know if there were differences had to be hard.

"And these as well--" Cedar handed her five empty pokeballs, which she stowed away immediately, "And this Pokedex." Astrid took the device with very nearly as much joy as her starter. She listened to Cedar's instructions, and opened it to poke around and study the interface at the same time.

"I love this thing," she declared, when the Professor was done her tutorial. Cedar laughed.

"From what I've seen from you, I thought you might. Now, one last item," she handed Astrid a flat case. It had a palm tree decal over a blue ocean-y background. "This is a case for gym badges." Astrid took it, and regarded it warily. Battling—now there was going to be her real test out there. "I hope you can fill it up," the Professor smiled at her.

"I'm gonna," Astrid said, nodding firmly. The hard stuff was what made people really learn anyway.

"That's the spirit," Cedar said. "Now, get along. I have other graduates coming in, and I don't want everyone pulling out their new partners in my lab, after all. Go meet yours, why don't you?"

Astrid still had the Squirtle's pokeball held tight in one hand. "Yes ma'am," she smiled again, and left. She absently heard the aides saying goodbye, but she was engrossed in the pokeball.

She found a quiet spot, up towards where she'd be headed soon enough, the route towards Viridian, and hit the button. Red light flashed out, and settled around the turtle shape. When it faded, There was a bright blue Squirtle eyeing her. Unlike the normal example of its species, its shell was a bright green. "Well, that's beautiful," Astrid declared, delighted, and crouched down to get to eye level with her new companion. "Not like brown is bad," she clarified, as the Squirtle blinked at her. "But green is really just... striking. Yeah." That was kind of a weird way to describe how something looked, but then rare colour combinations did kind of... hit you, didn't they? "I'm Astrid," she said.

"Squirrrr."

She wasn't about to recall the pokemon instantly, or at all, really, unless she had to, and she wasn't in a rush anymore, so she set her bag aside, and took out her tablet. The Squirtle watched her, came a little closer when she sat down, and she showed it the screen. "I talk to some of my friends who are far away with this," she said. "And, watch!" She opened the camera application and leaned back to take a picture. "Look, it's you!"

The Squirtle seemed very pleased, and reached out one arm. Astrid resisted the urge to yank the tablet away. She didn't want to start off looking like she didn't trust her very own starter! There was nothing to worry about. The Squirtle just patted the screen carefully, glancing at her like it was making sure this was okay. Then it opened it mouth in a wide grin. "Yeah!" she agreed. "And look, this is where we're going."

She showed her new friend the map. First for what was right up ahead, then her hometown, and then the whole region. The scattering of dots, the islands along the southern coastline made her think of that bright green shell.

"Archie. That's your nickname!"

"Squirr?" came the querying reply.

"'Cause you look like an island on the map, with that awesome shell. But "Island" is kind of a dumb name. So, Archie—short for Archipelago. That's like a bunch of islands."

"Squirtle!"

"Guess that's okay, then?"

Archie leaned over her tablet and gently patted the screen again, over the island spots. Yeah, looked like a good choice.

@ Ace - It's not too long at all ;) Only, you didn't add the part about the legendary birds so I shouldn't allow you the badge case... but I will, just for this once~ Shigeru seems eager!

Shigeru got an Oshawott (male, lv 5) from professor Cedar!
Shigeru got a pokédex and five pokéballs!
Shigeru got a red gym badge case!


@ Tonko - I was listening to Astrid's tune while reading :3 Well written post; you're portraying Cedar well and I could really see before my eyes how adorable Squirtle was. I guess from the nickname that you want it to be male? :p

Astrid got a Squirtle (male, lv 5) from professor Cedar!
Astrid got a pokédex and five pokéballs!
Astrid got a palm decorated ocean blue gym badge case!

I will get the next area up tonight, I hope.

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Route 1 stretches from the small village of Pallet to the middle sized city of Viridian. The route is a winding trail through fields and farmlands and some bushy tree groves. There aren't really forests in the vicinity, but a lot of farmer's houses and gardens. Not many vehicles travel this road.


In this chapter you may do 2 out of three events:


1) Meet a youngster who is failing when pitting his/her newly gotten pokémon pet against a wild pokémon. If you battle the wild pokémon for the youngster, they will give you a Silk Scarf (raises power of Normal-type attacks when worn by a pokémon), and your pokémon will receive exp points. You may decide for yourself what pokémon the youngster has as well as what pokémon he/she is facing, from the list of catchable pokémon in this area. You may also catch it...


2) Meet a farmer who's crops or vehicle is pested by a wild pokémon. If you help the farmer battle the wild pokémon, they will give you a Silk Scarf, and your pokémon will receive exp points. You may decide for yourself what pokémon is pesting the farmer, from the list of catchable pokémon in this area. You may also catch it...


3) Meet a trainer who also graduated from the Cedar Laboratory today but wasn't picked as one of the lucky few who received a shiny starter, like you. This trainer will become your rival throughout the journey.
-- You may choose any of professor Cedar's starter species (Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Snivy, Oshawott, Tepig) to be your rival's choice, except for the species you picked as your own starter.


Posts: 2 posts minimum. But you are allowed to write more posts, making up another opponent (yearns exp=levels for participating pokémon), cathing another of the available pokémon or just spend some time developing your character and party pokémon. You may not choose to do all three events.

Meaning, if you really want 2 Silk Scarfs, you won't get a destined "Cedar rival" for some time.


Catchable pokémon:
Pidgey (Tackle, Sand Attack)
Hoppip(Splash, Synthesis)
Sentret(Scratch, Foresight, Defense Curl)
Hoothoot(Tackle, Growl, Foresight, Hypnosis)
Mareep(Tackle, Growl)
Poochyena(Tackle, Howl)
Taillow(Peck, Growl, Focus Energy)
Lillipup(Leer, Tackle, Odor Sleuth)
Starly(Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack)
Shinx(Tackle, Leer)

Levels 2-5. End your capturing post with the pokéball shaking. I will determine if the capture was success or not, as well as the gender and level of the pokémon, depending on post quality and creativity.


You may not interact with other players in this chapter!

Chapter 2, Day 1, Route 1

Rose and Tulip

They hadn't been walking for long when Rose noticed someone approaching from the Route 1 path. The boy, a bit younger than herself, seemed to be travelling out of town. He wore a backwards-facing cap and had a rather heavy-looking backpack slung over one shoulder. Rose didn't really pay him much attention at first, she was more interested in what Tulip was doing and keeping an eye on him. But she got the feeling he was staring at her and as she heard his approaching footsteps slow down, she turned to look at him.

She didn't like the look he was giving her. It wasn't a nasty look or anything, but his eyelids drooped under his heavy dark eyebrows in a rather careless way as he looked Rose up and down. She couldn't get over the feeling that he was judging her.

"That your bulbasaur?" He asked in a flat tone. His mouth was up-turned, and Rose wondered if there was something bothering him.

"Y-yes..." Rose was cautious, she couldn't deny that. Although she never liked to think of herself as cautious or one who put up barriers, she didn't really talk to strangers very often so it wasn't something she was used to.

"Well..." The boy cocked his head. "... you wanna battle?"

"Oh! Um..." Rose staggered, unsure how to respond. She'd never battled Tulip before. "I'm just a newbie, I'd be too easy for you." Was that a cowardly cop-out? Rose doubted herself so much, but part of her felt it was wise to ease Tulip into battling against wild pokemon first before trying to take on a trainer.

"I'll use my weakest pokemon. I just caught it. It should be easy for you. Wanna go?"

"Hm..." Rose thought about it for a few seconds as she watched her bulbasaur scamper around in the grass as he explored the sights and smells in the area. If Rose was going to be honest with herself, she was mostly worried about losing Tulip's trust. He was only a little used to Rose, but by no means did he fully trust her yet.

"No, I think it's too soon..."

"Noob" the boy snorted out the insult.

"E-excuse me?!" How rude! Rose's face was plastered with disbelief that he had just called her a noob.

"Only noobs turn down a pokemon battle. Noobie noobie..."

"Bab balbrrrr!" Tulip purred with a smile as he noticed the boy talking to Rose. Rose didn't think he really recognised what was going on though.

"See, your pokemon's not afraid. I feel sorry for it, having such a scaredy-cat for a trainer."

"Shut up, I only just got him, moron!" Rose yelled. She didn't usually yell. Going by the boy's amused expression, she noticed she must have scared herself a little with her own yelling. She quickly looked at Tulip, who was staring up at her with a slightly worried expression. Rose smiled to him to reassure him, and he smiled back nervously.

"It doesn't matter. It's a rule, I challenge you and you can't turn it down. If you do it means you're chicken and a crap trainer." The boy curled his nose in disgust. "I mean, what the heck is wrong with you? Nobody turns down a battle. Unless you've got no shame."

"I have shame!" Rose didn't really know what he was talking about, she was just starting to panic. Why? Rose was beyond questioning. She was just afraid of turning out to be a bad trainer and her fear was clouding her judgement. She didn't know if it was a rule or not that a trainer had to accept a challenge no matter what. She'd never heard of that rule, but just because she'd never heard about it didn't mean that it didn't exist. If this was a compulsory rule taught at the academy, how embarrassing would it be for her not to know!

Rose calmed herself down before taking some deep breaths. It wasn't often that she got so riled up so she had to take extra care not to let herself slip again.

"Okay. Fine. A friendly battle."

"Yeah yeah whatever, go, Chembers!"

Before Rose could blink the boy had practically thrown the pokeball right in her face. Bursting out in front of her was an orangey yellow scaily bipedal lizard-like creature with stubby hands, blunt clawed feet and a flaming tail. It waved its arms about and squealed before running around and making a scene. Rose flipped out her pokedex just for a moment. She was sure she had seen this pokemon before but couldn't remember what it was.

[Charmander, the Lizard Pokemon. The fire on the tip of its tail is a measure of its life. If healthy, its tail burns intensely.]

"Tulip!" Rose ran backwards to make space for the combatants. "Tulip!"

Tulip stopped frolicking obliviously and turned to face Rose. Rose shouted to him, "Battle time!"

Tulip noticed the charmander growling and making faces at him. Tulip looked worriedly at Rose for help. Rose puzzled in her mind how she was going to battle without knowing Tulip's moves. She was supposed to know what moves a bulbasaur has, but the sudden tension was giving her brain fog.

"Ah, that's it! Leech-"

"Growl at it, Chembers!" The boy yelled over Rose, pointing at Tulip.

The charmander barred its teeth and gave out a cute but slightly threatening growl. Tulip staggered back a couple of steps, clearly spooked by the sudden onset of the situation.

"Leech seed, Tulip!"

Despite Tulip's fear, he managed to force himself forward, sticking the open end of his bulb towards his growling opponent. He started spitting seeds from his bulb, all missing the charmander's dodging but the last one, which rooted itself on the back of its neck.

"That's nothing." The boy nodded to his charmander. "Set it alight."

The charmander burst forward towards Tulip, throwing embers and stray flames from its tail at Tulip's body. The embers bored black ashy holes on his bulb and left painful red marks on his skin. Tulip yelped loudly before rolling himself on the grass, trying to cool the burns, to no avail.

"Hahaha. Unlucky. Burned already."

"Tulip!"

"Balba!"

Rose ran towards Tulip, before she was cut off from the boy trainer.

"Hey, stop! You can't interfere!"

He was kind of right. A pokemon battle is a pokemon battle. It'd be cheating if Rose helped Tulip directly. She didn't have any potions or burn heals either. Rose stood and looked round at the charmander who was standing ready for battle and looking very confident. Then she saw it. It winced, as though in pain. That leech seed must have taken a bit of his health and returned it to Tulip. It looked visibly tired from the plant on his neck draining the energy out of him, and she wondered if its toughness was all an act.

Tulip might just stand a chance.

"Tulip, go for a hard tackle, I know you can do it." Rose gave a quiet command, barely audible to the boy trainer but loud enough for Tulip to hear.

Tulip charged towards the charmander with surprising fury, enraged by the pain of the burn. He collided with the fire lizard, knocking it off-balance and onto its rear, close to snuffing out its tail flame. Rose could tell that Tulip had held back some of his power because of the stinging burns, but the boy trainer still seemed bothered by the attack.

"Grrr..." he hissed through clenched teeth. "Chembers, another ember attack!"

The charmander quickly re-energized and started throwing flames and embers at Tulip. They landed as before, causing Tulip to throw himself around wildly trying to shake off the glowing embers. Some ash and smoke from his bulb was thrown about also. He stopped suddenly, growling and whimpering, before shaking his head desperately. Rose looked on, seeing the intense pain that Tulip was experiencing was just too much for him to handle as a first-timer. She knew this had been a bad idea from the very beginning. He wasn't ready for this difficult a battle, especially at a type disadvantage.

"We forfeit!" Rose shouted, making herself heard loud and clear.

"You can't do that!"

"I can and I will!" Rose took the pokeball out of her pocket. "Come back, Tulip!"

Tulip almost willingly dematerialized and retreated into his spherical capsule, leaving nothing but scattered ash and burnt material where he had been standing.

"You suck!" The boy screamed angrily. He didn't even seem like he was joking, he seemed seriously upset. "You still have to pay up!"

Rose looked at the ground. That would be half her money. She hadn't even earned any yet.

"C'mon then, pay up!"

Should she lie about how much she had? It didn't seem justified that she had to pay half of her money to this boy, especially when he had been so rude.

"I only have $400" Rose tried.

"Then gimmie it!"

"I'm supposed to give you half of that." Rose scowled.

"Whatever just pay up!"

Rose hesitantly handed over the money to the boy. He smugly took it, sniffing it afterwards. "C'mon Chembers. Let's get out of here. This place is boring."

The fire lizard happily followed, leaving Rose emotionally drained and puzzled as to what she was going to do with Tulip out of action. She couldn't face going back to Cedar's lab. Perhaps, going to see her mother was the only option she had.

@ Beechlgz - Um, maybe I didn't specify this clearly enough. With starters, I meant of course the same starters as you got to choose from, as they are the only ones professor Cedar gives out. I'm planning for this RP to eventually span regions (big dreams, muwahaha) so the other starters will be saved for later regions...
Maybe it doesn't matter that much, and I hope I'm not sounding demanding or cranky, but would you be ok with changing Chembers into a Charmander or a Tepig? Please post in the OOC thread when you have done so ^^ (or post your refusal there...)

Still...

Tulip (Bulbasaur) grew to level 6!

Chapter 2 (part one): A Rival By Any Other Name

Astrid liked farmland. It was so wide-open it made her feel like anything could happen, but it was still nice and organized, with crops, berry orchards, grazing fields all separated by fences. It wasn't very hilly, so it wasn't hard to spot farm houses, barns, silos...

She'd pulled herself up to sit on a rough fence that enclosed a grazing meadow that reached from the roadside—if you could really call this a road—back to a distant lawn with a pond in it, in front of a cute little two-story farm house. That was the kind of place Ninny would start her stories from. A hero would come from some farm, back in feudal times or something, and go off on a big quest against... well, it depended on the story. Astrid lifted her tablet to take a picture of the house. She opened the email program and wrote to Ninny, Hey look! Here's where your next hero lives! It's totally pastoral!

Pastoral meant shepherds, normally, and this was all fenced in, not really like shepherd moving flocks around, but there WERE some domestic Mareep in this field, far at the other end, looking fluffy like little clouds. There was a Mightyena sitting nearby, identified as a working pokemon by the red bandanna around its neck. According to geography classes, Mightyena never appeared here wild, but there were a lot of Poochyena, Farmers kept them as guard pokemon.... and they have to battle to keep their flocks safe, after all. So if they evolved, well, it wasn't the farmer's fault. It's not like it really hurt anyone for farmers to take care of their livestock.

Realizing this was an opportunity, Astrid pulled out her Pokedex, wondering if it could get data from all the way over there. Yep. Neat! She read the entries, chewing on her thumb idly.

A noise from below her was Archie stretching his limbs and tail out. It was noon, just about. Hot, but not too bad, and the sun was beating down brightly. This had become heavenly to Archie, who had settled down to... to bask, that's what he was doing. Soaking in the sun like a champ. His green shell made her imagine he might get bigger from it, like a plant. "Will you get a tan?" she asked him, and he blinked up at her contentedly. "Not a sunburn, I hope!" She glanced into the sky, squinting. Maybe she ought to get a hat.

"Hey Astrid!!" came a voice from bit back on the path. Startled, Astrid turned around only just slowly enough to not tip right off the fence.

"Oh, it's you," she said, mildly irked. Well, there had been a lot of people graduating today. It figured that he was already coming up along the route too. At least she'd missed him around the Professor's lab.

It was Jayesh Agrawal, a guy who probably wasn't older than her, since he was still short, and had a sort of a baby-face and his voice cracked a lot. He had brown skin, floppy black hair and really dark brown eyes. She had at least six inches on him, which she thought was pretty funny, when he wasn't being really annoying. The guy had bothered her so much in the library for most of the past year, always coming to join her at the table and try to TALK to her that she'd had to start going at really weird hours to avoid him and read in peace. At least he hadn't lived in her residence building. He always hollered hellos at her across the grounds, too. She'd always looked up—her name, at least generally got her attention away from any book—but if it was him, she'd only rolled her eyes.

"Yeah!" he grinned at her, looking really thrilled, and she frowned at him. He'd better not think he was going to come along with her or anything. "Congratulations, by the way," he looked at Archie with some envy. She guessed that meant he hadn't gotten one of the shiny starters. She'd barely believed it herself—there'd only been six, after all.

"Well... thanks," she said grudgingly. "You too, I guess...?" she looked around, and couldn't see anything. He bounced on his toes and held up his pokeball. "Go, Kadru!" he pronounced, and his pokeball flashed red, and the energy resolved into a bright-eyed Snivy. "That's my girl," he said happily. The Snivy hopped forward once and dipped its nose in a bow, flashing its impressive tail-fan.

"Okay. You want to fight?" Astrid hopped off the fence. That would be interesting, at least. Something to learn from. Beside her, Archie got up, with a huge yawn, and took a few steps forward, waving one arm at his imminent opponent. Kadru the Snivy bounced on her feet, much like her trainer.

"Oh... yes, well, it's traditional. We're both trainers, we have to!" Jayesh said, looking not at all serious enough about this, in her opinion. "Kadru, attack with tackle!"

"Archie, go! Uh..." She was at a momentary loss, trying to decide if the STAB of his water attack would balance out the lessened effectiveness of it hitting a grass-type.

Kadru launched herself forward with happy whistling hiss. Archie, looking over his shoulder, didn't recover enough to dodge her, and was struck, making him spin in a circle. "Squirtle!!"

"Sorry! Uh—no, Tail Whip!"

Able to get along with instructions, at last, Archie dodged another attack with more deftness—surprising, given his tank-like shape. He tipped himself backwards, rolling a backflip/somersault sort of motion that let him get enough momentum in his tail to lay Kadru out flat. "Tackle!" Astrid called out, abandoning any thoughts of Bubble for now, and then--"ack—dodge that!" she squeaked, as Kadru arched gracefully up back to her feet, and launched herself in a sideways tackle of her own. Astrid could hear Jayesh, cheering her on and giving commands.

Archie pulled his head into his shell and took the hit where it barely had an effect, then popped it out again, and used his legs and tail to do a tackle that looked more like a really bad body slam, he knocked Kadru over, landing on her hard. She shook him off.

They traded tail whips and leers, a few tackles missing and and a few meeting hard enough to knock them both apart again. Astrid watched the Snivy's quick eyes and quick feet. Hmm. The next time they'd smacked each other onto their backs, she said, "Okay—Bubble quick, then Tackle!!" she ordered. "Use the bubble to slow her down."

"Squirrr!!" Archie hopped backwards a bit, and sucked in a huge breath. He blew a huge, shimmery bubble, then licked his hands and... Astrid blinked. He pushed it. His wet hands didn't break the delicate surface, gently landing on it, and he launched himself, bubble in front, towards Kadru. The bubble, bulging weirdly from the motion, broke with a sharp POP right in Kadru's face. She was more startled by the sound than bothered by the snapping water membrane—until Archie barreled in like the tiny tank he was and smacked bodily into her.

Sprawling tail over nose, she skidded back a few feet. She rolled onto her belly, raised her head, and then snorted a bit, and rested it on the grass. Red light covered her, and she vanished. "Good work, Kadru," Jayesh told her, and stroked his hand comfortingly over the pokeball.

Archie turned to look at her and she grinned at him, walking over to offer her hand. He patted it with his. "I know, I messed you up a bit. I'll fix it for next time," she assured him. He didn't seem bothered, looking only proud for the moment.

"Good fight. Hey, so his name's Archie, huh? How come?" Jayesh walked over to her, pulling some coins from his pocket. He handed them to her, and she put them away after remembering they were her winner's prize.

"Because his shell is green, like an island," she answered shortly. Now that she'd won, shouldn't he go away, so she could just enjoy the scenery? Alone?

"Er..." Jayesh looked confused, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm going now," she told him. "Thanks for the battle. Go heal her, and stuff," she waved him off, and pulled her backpack on.

"Oh, okay... well, see you again!" he told her, smiling still. "I'll get even better, and I'll show you I can win, you'll see! I learned a lot with you in the library, after all, it was awesome!"

"Oh, argh," Astrid muttered to herself, turning away. "Right, well okay then. Bye." She picked up her feet, looking to make sure Archie's much shorter legs were able to keep up. He was fine, so far. She'd slow down when Jayesh was out of sight.

"See you soon!" Jayesh's cheerful voice followed her, giving her flashbacks to all those afternoons in the library when she'd been trying to read and he'd sat down and asked her all sorts of stupid questions, bugged her by looking at whatever was in her pile of books, and basically been really distracting.

She wondered what the point of that all had been. Why he'd always wanted to sit beside her, if all he was going to do was be annoying... well. She hoped he would have a good safe journey... AWAY from her. With any luck she would totally not see him again.

@ Tonko - Wonderful post! Just like I pictured Pallet's countryside ^^ And the Mightyena makes sense. Fun rival for Astrid xD and admirer?

Archie (Squirtle) grew to level 6!


And, actually, I'll just skip handling money at all >.< many other RPs have done fine without the extra dimension it will mean. But you players can of course keep track of it yourselves ^^

Chapter Two: Helping a Farmer

As Rowena and Amber walked along Route 1, they saw a noisy commotion up ahead. "What's going on?" She asked Amber. The Charmander replied with a shrug and they quickly hurried to the scene of the noise.

"Help!! Help me!!" Rowena saw that a farmer was shouting and yelling for help. She then saw what the problem was. A Poochyena was trying to bite and snap at the farmer's legs. She checked her Pokedex for its data.
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Poochyena
Bite Pokemon
A Pokémon with a persistent nature, it chases its chosen prey until the prey becomes exhausted.
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"Hey, you! Please help me! You're a Trainer right?" He pleaded her for help. Rowena decided that she needed to teach that Poochyena a lesson for being a nuisance.

Looking at Amber, "Amber, are you ready?" "Mander!"

"Okay then, let's go! Ember!" The Charmander released bolts of fire at the Poochyena. The Poochyena, seeing that it was now being attacked, became angry and started to Tackle Amber. Rowena then instructed Amber to use Scratch and the Poochyena was left to a very critical range of HP. As stubborn as it was, it didn't showed signs of giving up, instead it Tackled Amber again. The Charmander was slowly getting tired from this battle and Rowena commanded it to use Ember, hoping it would be the last move. The Poochyena was badly burned by the fierce sparks of fire and collapsed to the ground. It managed to get up and Rowena could see the terror on its face, and it limped a few steps before scurrying away into the shrubs like a Rattata.

"Good job, Amber! We taught that Poochyena one lesson he'll never forget!" She patted the Charmander and received a cheerful cry back. The farmer now in a better state rushed forward with immense gratitude and thanked her profusely. "Wait, I've a better idea. As a token of gratitude, I'm giving you this Silk Scarf which would be handy for Trainers like you." Rowena accepted the gift gracefully. The farmer then offered to heal Amber and because he insisted so much, she let him. After taking back Amber, Rowena bade farewell to the farmer.

Chapter 2: Rowena's First Official Trainer Battle
As Rowena walked on with Amber inside her PokeBall, a boy walked from the opposite direction towards her. Their eyes locked into a moment of contact and the boy walked to her. Rowena found the boy familiar and looked intently at him. He introduced himself as Seophilus and told Rowena that he recognized her from during his time in Professor Cedar's Laboratory. He told her that he switched schools to Professor Bill's at Cerulean Cape.

"Hey, I was thinking that since we have our Pokemon with us, why don't we battle? I can't wait to win my second battle with Ashinder! He's my Cyndaquil that Professor Bill gave to me!" Rowena accepted Seophilus' challenge. Well, we'll see about that. Not if Amber and I can help it.

Rowena sent Amber out as Seophilus' Ashinder materialized in front of him. She initiated the first attack, with Amber using Scratch. The Cyndaquil was then ordered to Tackle the Charmander. Amber suffered an adequate amount of damage and Rowena told it to Scratch Ashinder once more. The attack had a lucky critical hit on the Cyndaquil and Seophilus made it use Smokescreen.

The battlefield was shrouded in smoke and Rowena coughed from it. Amber couldn't see where her foe was and stumbled around. "Amber! Use Ember directly in front of you!" The Charmander blindly attacked with streaks of flame from its tail and one of them landed o the Cyndaquil.

"Lucky shot, but not next time! Seophilus commented. "Now Ashinder, Leer!" In the smoke, Amber saw the glittering eyes of Ashinder and she cowered for a moment. The smoke cleared a bit and Amber could attack again. This time she was told to use Scratch. Amber lunged at the enemy with unsheathed claws and raked the mouse on its front and back. Sustaining serious injury, the Cyndaquil cried out in pain before tripping onto the ground and remained there, motionless.

"Ashinder! NO!" Seophilus returned his Pokemon as did Rowena. "Nice battle. I didn't know you were good at battling. By the way, what's your name?" Rowena introduced herself.

"See ya around, Rowena!" Seophilus yelled before continuing to his destination. Rowena smiled back and continued forth in her journey. Two battles in a row and I came out victorious each time! Me and Amber are a great team! Rowena contemplated that thought with a smile as she strolled into the horizon.

Hm. I was going to make this RP not so free as many other RPs are, so it would be more like a game than a freeroaming posting bonanza. But I'm loosening up the rules a little now~ Added one rule to the Opening Post to clarify something:

Trainers you invent yourself can have any pokémon you want on their team (not just the catchable ones) as long as it makes decent sense. The exceptions are trainers I invent (like gym leaders or Team Members) and your rival's starter.

And you may write several events in the same post. BUT then the post will have to be longer than usual, OR really well written.



@ Diamond - Maybe try to flesh out the attacks in battle more. Describe what's happening! Don't just state that an attack was thrown. That's a good way to make a longer and more exciting post :)

Also, the "rival" you battled didn't meet the description in my last chapter post. So this will count as a random trainer battle.
So you have still to write about the rival event.

Rowena got a Silk Scarf (adds power to Normal type attacks when worn by a pokémon)!
Amber (Charmander) grew to level 6!

@ Ace - Good post. I like Shigeru's made up attacks xD And Kai's unintentional love for running into trees reminds me of Dawn's Piplup.

- Shigeru got a Silk Scarf! (powers up Normal type moves when worn by a pokémon)
- Kai (Oshawott) grew to level 6!
- Shigeru caught a Lillipup! (male, lv 4)

I'm using a dice to determine genders, just so you know~

Chapter Two: Old Rivalries Ignite!

As she walked, Rowena noticed someone yelling her name from behind. She turned around and saw that it was Scott. Ugh, what's he doing here? With a PokeBall! He has a starter too? I didn't he graduated too. Rowena disliked Scott very much. He sat behind her in class and always annoyed and disturbed her. He would sometimes disrupt lessons, much to Rowena's dislike, and play pranks on the people around him, including her.
"Hey! Rowena! I just wanted to say congratulations on your graduation. I see you also have a Pokemon too. Professor Cedar gave me an Oshawott. I bet it's better than yours. What do you have?" Utterly disgusted, Rowena let out Amber to show to Scott. "This is Amber."
"Hmm, it's Shiny. But who cares."Scott then released his Oshawott, "Dillon's the name!"
Rowena activated her Pokedex to read the information on this Water-type Pokemon.
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Oshawott
Sea Otter Pokemon
It fights using the swordshell on its belly. It stops an attack and slashes back without a moment's delay.
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Scott suggested, "Say, why don't we see whose Pokemon is better, ok?" Rowena didn't want to back down and so she said, "Fine."

They positioned themselves on the makeshift battlefield, which was actually just a section of the path. Scott attacked first with Dillon using Water Gun. "Amber, dodge!" Rowena yelled at the top of her voice as the Charmander dodged from the jet of water. "Now, use Ember!" Amber spun around and bright orange sparks flew out from its tail and pelted the Oshawott.

Once the battle was mid-way, babel of noise ensued as both sides cheered on and dished out commands. Dillon suddenly wagged its tail which distracted Amber and the Charmander let her guard down for a while. She snapped out of the trance she was in and rushed forward with her claws outwards. She jumped and raked the Oshawott with her two sharp claws.

Scott took this opportunity to let Oshawott fire a full spray of water. Amber was flung backwards from the impact of the Water Gun and her health was halved. As Oshawott was charging up to Amber, she fired multiple bolts of fire at the oncoming crocodile. The Oshawott was engulfed in the flames and part of its lower body was burned. As it was still recovering from its burn, Amber scurried forward and sliced the Totodile across its chest. The Oshawott countered with its own ramming attack, but it was terribly weakened by its burn. Amber then proceeded to fire sizzling red sparks at Dillon but the tiny crocodile swiftly leapt out of range and evaded the attack.

Just as Amber finished attacking, Dillon blasted a mouthful of water at Amber. Amber tried to avoid the attack but its tail and legs were hit by the water. Amber charged up to Dillon with claws out but at the last moment, Dillon swerved and Amber missed her target. Dillon then tried to strike at Amber from behind with his swordshell but the Charmander was quicker and she released a small flame from her tail and Dillon staggered back a few steps. Dillon's burn was gradually subsiding but it had taken a toll on the Oshawott.

Amber quickly shot out intensely charged golden-orange sparks at Dillon and the Water type Pokemon was sent sprawling to the ground from the explosion the sparks made. Once the dust settled, Scott, Rowena and Amber could see the unconscious Oshawott sprawled on the ground, its eyes a blank whirlpool of white.

"Looks like I won," Rowena remarked, her tone had a sense of pride in it but went unnoticeable by Scott.

"Looks like I need more training. Thanks for the battle, Rowena, I learned a lot." Scott then handed over the reward money and returned Dillon to its Ball. "See ya another time. By then, I'll be more stronger!"

"Let's see about that, shall we, Amber?" She said that only Amber could hear. Speaking louder to let Scott hear,she replied, "I'll trash you again!" He made a face at her and they went on their separate ways.

Chapter Two: First Pokemon Caught!

After the battle with Scott, Rowena was feeling quite excited for her third victory in a row. But she felt that she was incomplete. What am I missing? That's right! I haven't caught any wild Pokemon yet.

Speaking to Amber who was looking around and keeping pace with her Trainer, "Amber, do you think we should get a new teammate. It feels quite boring with just the two of us around. I mean, its not that I don't like, I adore you, but I feel that we need more action. What do you say, Amber?"

"Char! Charman!""Okay then, let's go catch a Pokemon, you cute little one!" Rowena giggled and patted Amber on the head. First, they had to find a patch of grass where wild Pokemon might be in. After finding one, Rowena commented, "Here, I think we would be able to find some Pokemon."

As they moved about in the tall grass, Rowena suddenly spotted a Pokemon shifting in the weeds. She moved closer to it, but her movements caught the attention of the Pokemon and its head swiftly perked up at the sound of her movements. Rowena could see what Pokemon it was-a Starly. She opened her Pokedex and her eyes scan through the clump of words on the device.
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Starly
Starling Pokemon
Because they are weak individually, they form groups. However, they bicker if the group grows too big.
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Rowena motioned Amber to come with her. Rowena cautiously made her way towards the black bird, hoping that it wouldn't run away. Craack!! Rowena accidentally stepped on a twig and broke it. The Starly looked at the direction of the sound and saw her. Instead of escaping however, it attacked, not at Rowena but at Amber.

The Starly took flight and rammed into Amber. Amber then countered it with a flurry of scratches by the side of the Starly. The Starly shrilled loudly and Amber was startled for a moment. Amber then released orange-blue flames from her mouth which burned into the feathery hide of the wild Starly. The Starly cried out in pain and let out that same high-pitched noise it made earlier on. Amber winced as it tried to shut its ears from the cry. The Charmander then lunged forward and strike the black bird on its right wing. The Starly struck back fiercely with a strong ram at Amber.

Observing the status of the wild Starly, Rowena calculated that this was the best time to use a PokeBall. Crossing her fingers and wishing herself all the best, she unlocked a PokeBall and lobbed it at the small starling. The wild Starly was enveloped in a cloak of red energy and was sucked into the ball. The capsule fell to the ground and remained there for the next few moments, vibrating and its button, glowing multiple times.

@ Diamond - Great! And good post length.

- Amber grew to level 7!
- Rowena caught a Starly! (female, level 3)

Chapter 2 (part two)

"Shhhh," Astrid put a finger over her lips and looked at Archie.

"Sssssss," he replied, and put his hand over his mouth.

"Yeah," she nodded, and looked back along the long fence. She and Archie were right up against it, with a good convenient twiggy bush between them and their quarry. It was evening now, and the sun was low, making the places where light still touched the ground look dark gold. Up ahead, near a small bunch of trees, there was a group of Hoppip bouncing in some of that end-of-day sunlight.

"They do enjoy gentle breezes," Astrid repeated one of the sentences the Pokedex had provided about the airy-looking grass-type. "Looks like it," she smiled, and tried to peek her tablet around the edge of the bush. The camera in it was probably not going to get a very good picture, in this light, but she had to try. She touched the button a few times, hoping to catch at least one clear frame. "Huh, not bad," she decided, scrolling through the results. Three of them were just blurry messes, but two were decent. Not epic photography, like National Pokegraphic, or anything, but at least it was clear. "Take a look," she showed the best one to Archie, who studied it solemnly before nodding in approval.

Astrid chuckled to herself, and wondered if she should send a note to the Professor. In some really academic style, too... "Shiny pokemon appear amenable to artistic pursuits."

Maybe she should see if she could buy a real camera, in Viridian. It seemed like she couldn't help wanted to take pictures along the way.

"Sparkle, go!!" A high-pitched voice came from the other side of the fence, followed by two sets of running feet.

A yowling Shinx bounded over the fence. The group of Hoppip scattered, bounding off, a couple going straight up to ride the breeze, the rest disappearing back among the little stand of trees.

"Grrrr!" The high-pitched voice's frustration was loud, in the evening air, and Astrid watched a young girl trainer haul herself over the fence right on the other side of her hiding spot. Astrid stood up, and the girl stumbled back a step in surprise. "Ack!"

Astrid snorted.

The Shinx trotted back to the trainer. "Good boy," the girl said, and bent down to ruffle him between the ears, then looked warily at Astrid. "Uh... you were going to try capturing one, weren't you? I'm sorry."

Slightly less annoyed, Astrid decided there wasn't much point in being rude since the girl really did look sorry. "No, I was just watching them. They're cute but they're kind of... fragile looking."

"Oh, but they're SO pretty..." the girl protested, "I don't care if they're fragile—I'm a trainer, I'll just train mine to be super fast so nothing hits it. Besides, I have Sparkle here to be tough." The Shinx looked smug.

"Huh," Astrid said. That was... not efficient, she supposed, but if you really liked the species of pokemon you trained, it probably made a better relationship. "Well, I don't know if you'll catch one by charging at them like that. They look shy."

"I'll find a brave one," the girl declared. Astrid had to smile a bit. This girl was really focused. Astrid wasn't even sure she had a favourite kind of pokemon. Almost all the students at the Academy had some kind of favourite, either a specific pokemon, or a preferred type, or something. Astrid had usually thought their reasons for it were stupid, how a pokemon was shaped, or because it was this colour or that colour.

Battling well meant you know how to use your pokemon, but if you didn't pick the best and could still battle well... that was sort of better, wasn't it?

While Astrid and the other trainer had talked, Archie and Sparkle had met each other. Archie didn't look particularly concerned by the nearness of an electric-type, but Astrid was starting to realize Archie was a pretty relaxed fellow most of the time.

"So... battle?" Astrid asked. The other girl nodded, and opened her mouth, presumably to agree to it, when an almighty racket burst from the trees and a Poochyena shot out towards them.

Whatever the girl had been about to say got transformed into "Sparkle! Go, Tackle!" before Astrid could say anything, and the Shinx leaped forward in a black-and-blue streak.

He hit the Poochyena running, and the muffled THUMP of two furry pokemon striking each other thudded through the air. They didn't separate at first, Sparkle's paws clinging to the Poochyena's stocky body while the other's stubby jaws tried to latch one in a bite.

"Get distance and hit him again with tackle!" the girl commanded, and Sparkle let go and skidded away. His next run was swift, but it missed and Sparkle skidding past as the Poochyena bounded out of the way and then, with a howl, ran for Sparkle again.

It hit the Shinx sideways, ramming him backward with a lucky very harsh blow. The girl cried out in dismay.

"Let me switch in," Astrid said, and the girl looked at her in surprise. No time to waste though, and she recalled Sparkle. "Archie, go," Astrid pointed, and Archie slapped his hands together and went. "Bubble!" she ordered. No worries about type resistance now. "Then tail whip and then... uh, tackle!" Would he remember that order? She watched.

Archie blew his bubble while the Poochyena was still reorienting to the sudden loss of its first opponent. The bubble struck him on the side. Not a critical landing, but enough to make the Poochyena swerve.

Speed wasn't Archie's strong point, never would be, Astrid was sure of that, but the young Squirtle seemed to be getting used to trying to get the faster opponents to do most of the running. The Poochyena bounded away from the bubble, and Archie followed the agitated path until he was able to turn and land a broadside smack of his tail.

"Tackle now!" Astrid reminded him, then grimaced for forgetting that she'd wanted to see if he'd remember. Next time. Archie prepared for a tackle, moving into the turn he'd used for the tail whip and getting more momentum. The Poochyena scrambled away with a bark, trying to pick a good angle of attack. It jump forward, and Archie turned straight into its path.

The Poochyena bounced off Archie's armoured front like a tennis ball off a brick wall, and shook itself. It ducked down, ears flat backward and took a few stiff steps back.

"Okay, Archie," Astrid said, and Archie didn't come over, but sat down, clearly no longer in battle mode, but still calmly regarding the wild Poochyena as it beat a retreat back towards the woods. When it was gone, Astrid went to him to take a look. Wild pokemon were, well, somewhat wilder than trainer pokemon, it looked like. He seemed tired, but relatively okay. She held out a hand and got a Squirtle Five. That was getting to be a tradition. "You're a strong one," she told him with a grin. Archie smiled.

"Thank you!" said the girl from behind her, and Astrid looked over to see her sitting down, her tired Shinx resting in her lap, and getting a good petting.

"Sure," Astrid said, and the girl smiled at her. "Is he okay?"

"He's... well, I don't think I want him to battle again until he gets to a pokemon center first, but he's not totally out. We had a long day, though. I think I'll camp out on the trail and get going again tomorrow."

"I'm gonna keep going," Astrid said, then wondered why the girl looked disappointed. "At least you know where you can find a Hoppip now." The girl brightened at that.

They walked back to the main path together, and Astrid showed her the pictures she'd managed to take before being interrupted. "Those are amazing!" the girl exclaimed, starry-eyed at seeing her favourite pokemon, it seemed. "You HAVE to send me them. Please???"

"Er... sure," Astrid said, and the girl—now finally identified as Cara, which Astrid hadn't even thought about asking until now—gave her an email address to forward them to.

"I don't... uh... well, maybe this will be useful to you eventually," Cara said, rummaging in her bag and pulling out a shiny, soft looking white bandana. "It's a silk scarf. It's good for normal types. I don't know if you plan to use it, but I know exactly which pokemon I am gonna train, and I won't need it."

"I know what it is," Astrid said, taking it. "I haven't chosen my team so... thank you." She folded it up carefully. Normal types, huh?

She said goodnight to Cara, and left her starting a little fire to warm up some dinner. The sun was just at the horizon now, no more light on the ground, but the clouds were still putting on their extremely slow-motion fireworks. Still a good time to keep walking, maybe see a Hoothoot for her Pokedex.


((OOC: I am now unreasonably taken with the idea of a "National Pokegraphic" magazine. Damn. Would that not ROCK? Maybe Astrid's future, post-journey, will be in photography for that esteemed publication. I think she probably will end up getting a camera, lol.))

@ Tonko - Wonderful post. And I'm hoping she'll get a camera then ;)

- Astrid got a Silk Scarf! (raises Normal type attacks when worn by a pokémon)
- Archie (Squirtle) grew to level 7!

Chapter 1, Day 1, Route 1 (part 2)

Rose and Tulip

"He didn't really force me, but you know. He left me feeling like I didn't really have a choice..." Rose explained to her mother. "He said that a real trainer never turns down a challenge."

Rose's mother was treating some of the burns on Tulip's body with some burn heal cream. "It's a good thing pokemon heal quickly." She stopped what she was doing and turned round to Rose. "You'd better be more careful from now on. Don't jump into a battle you don't think you can handle, okay? At least for your poor bulbasaur. And don't let people manipulate you!"

"I know I shouldn't have turned the boy down, I knew it was too early." Rose continued.

"Well just be sure that you trust your intuition. If you think it's a bad idea, there's no harm in backing out, okay?"

Rose nodded with a smile. "Okay"



When Tulip was feeling better, he and Rose set off towards Route 1 for the second time. Thankfully she didn't live too far from the route entrance.

Tulip seemed as good as normal, surprising considering his injuries, as superficial as they were. Pokemon really did heal quickly with the right treatment. To Rose's relief, Tulip didn't seem to be holding it against her either. He bounded ahead of her, not in the slightest discouraged by his first loss. He occasionally stopped looked round to Rose and cried excitedly, as if to say "Hurry up!". Rose found it strange. Tulip seemed even more secure around Rose than before, even though he had lost under her command. It puzzled Rose to no end.

Passing the bunch of trees near the entrance of the route, Tulip and Rose found themselves on a wide and well established dirt path between two rows of manmade hedge. They were sandwiched between two open fields.

A shadow swooped over them. Rose looked around attentively at the sky, suspecting something airborne. It seemed to be like some kind of bird. Its wings were sharp and crescent shaped and it seemed to have a spiky, star-like appearance from a distance. It swooped and dived as if chasing something in the air. It made a sudden swoop in Rose's direction, ignoring her but still getting very close.

Rose whipped out her pokedex and pointed it in the direction of the bird.

[Taillow, the TinySwallow Pokemon. It has a gutsy spirit that makes it bravely take on tough foes. It flies in search of warm climates.]

Rose commented: "Well... this one isn't going to find a warm climate by flying in circles. I wonder what it's doing?"

"Bulllba saur" Tulip sighed with his mouth open in wonder, head moving to follow the taillow as it flew.

Rose wasn't sure what to do at first. It looked agile enough that it could avoid a lot of leech seeds, and it had a type advantage. At the same time though, she wanted to fill up her pokedex.

"How'd you feel about this, Tulip? You want to go for it?"

Tulip turned to face Rose, not really understanding what she had just said.

"Battle time?" Rose tried to be more straight-forward.

Tulip's eyes lit up. "Not discouraged at all" Rose thought.

"Okay, Tulip. Fire some leech seed at it while it's not looking!"

Tulip was obedient, and fired one leech seed at a time, each one carefully aimed. However, he seemed to fall short of hitting the taillow each time by just a few inches behind it. The taillow's flight path suddenly became more erratic before it swooped down and rocketed towards Tulip. It collided with itw wings flapping and its claws spread out, balancing itself to deliver a peck right in the middle of Tulip's forehead.

"Oh, shoot! Tackle, quick!" Rose shouted hastily.

Before Tulip had a chance to recoil from the headache-inducing flying attack, he pushed himself to ignore the pain and focus on the command. He leapt forward, using all of his weight in order to crash and tumble into the taillow. The taillow's light and fragile body skidded across the dirt path from being thrown back by the tackle.

"Good job, Tulip!"

Tulip growled quietly to himself. He had a visible red mark on his forehead from the peck attack. He readied himself to deliver another attack at Rose's command.

The taillow flapped onto its feet, making sure it was a safe distance from Tulip. It gave an exaggerated shiver, fluffing up its feathers. It then made a strange but cute bird-like growling noise. Rose and Tulip both just melted at the sight of the tiny, fluffy taillow and its shiny beady eyes and it's adorable noise.

That was until it flashed forward, causing us both to jump backwards a step. Tulip received another sharp beak to the forehead, this time it took him by surprise and he fell backwards, clutching his forehead and rolling on his side and whimpering. Rose could see small water globules forming at the corner of Tulip's eyes.

"Balb..." Tulip strained to get back onto his front on all fours. "Bah!" He gasped in relief at being the right way up. He eyed the tiny bird flying and mocking tunefully overhead with determination.

"Try again with leech seed. Try to aim for in front of the taillow" Rose suggested.

Tulip started popping out more leech seeds. With some careful aiming, he managed to get two seeds on the taillow. After the seeds had taken root, the taillow seemed a bit weighed down, and was flying around lower than normal.

"Now, let's give this a try." Rose stood with her open backpack by her feet, holding an empty pokeball.

She held the ball up, watching carefully to aim correctly the first time and not waste a perfectly good pokeball. When she thought she had her aim right, she threw the ball, hitting the bird (unintentionally, she was only trying to throw the ball near it). The ball clipped open and sucked the taillow in with a flash of light, before falling into a field over the hedge.

It was impossible to see if the ball was still shaking from the dirt path. Rose waited patiently to see if the taillow would reappear before trying to skip the hedge and get into the field.