[PKMN FULL] Trainers EXTRAS

Aquacorde · Dec 20, 2019

TRAINERS

pokémon journey rp
rated T
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< click for CANON IC >
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Here goes stuff that for one reason or another doesn't fit into the main IC.

CANON index:
(like side char adventures, back stories..)

- nothing so far

AU index:
(like char practice, AU, crossovers..)

- nothing so far

Aquacorde · Jan 4, 2020

character practice from our answer-ic channel :) slightly edited for clarity/streamlining

If you were a Pokémon, what would you be?

Ralph: "I'd be a chill Toxtricity. Have you seen them? They're kinda cute. Haha I'm joking, obviously. They look like edgy trash. But their power is anything but trashy. Fits me. Although obviously I don't look like trash. Whatever. You got an opinion on that? Didn't think so."
Casey: "I'd be a Wailmer!" *half to himself* "Toxtricity... yeah, seems about right."
Ralph: *locks Casey's head under her arm somehow with a grin, don't ask how since he's So Tall*
Casey: "Noooooooo I did nothing why is this my fate!" *drops to the floor and rolls*
Ralph: "Bow to the Queen of Pewter, peasants." *one foot atop of the casey*

rika: idt ralph actually has this self-confidence lol
anna: casey's not quite that dramatic either lmao
rika: Gotta be careful to not get carried away. Altho obv it's just playjoke with casey xD
Hahaha
Practice it is!

anna: im imagining we're on like, a dating show set. like with a bunch of chairs in a line
~~is this going on pokétube~~
anna: ...the only dating shows ive seen are parodies tho so idk

Noel: "Contestant Ralph, are you ready to meet your three bachelor/bachelorettes?!"
Ralph: "What even the bleeep"
juno: dating? show?
jordan: *slides in*
Casey: Good timing; you're it. *high fives Jordan & joins the audience*

Casey: *commandeers a swivel chair and pulls up a random question generator* "Okay! First question- what are two things you should know how to do, but don't?"
Bruno: *Walking*
Casey: *gestures a "go on" at Bruno*
Bruno: *Walking*
Casey: *stage whisper* "Bruno, answer the question!"
Bruno: *keeps walking but now the other way*
Debbie: *appears out of nowhere and drags him back to Casey*
Casey: "DEBBIE! Good timing!"
Debbie: "BUOY KID!"
Bruno: "Good now I don't have to answer anything"
Casey: "It's Casey. We'll get there. Nice to see you though!"

Casey: *clears throat* "How about this: What would you rate a ten out of ten?"
Debbie: "Bullying Bruno. 100% recommended. Oh! And the breaded Clawitzer from ol' Garcia also 100% recommended. Oh! And the lemonade from the old lady in Vermilion! whispers Don't tell Bruno, but it's better than his canned lemonade."
Bruno: "I'm right here."
Casey: "And since you're right here, wanna give us some input?"
Bruno: "Why?"
Casey: "Because it's fun to get to know people?"
Bruno: "Deborah doesn't like my lemonade because she is tasteless and thinks it's too bitter"
Casey: *grimaces* "If she thinks lemonade is too bitter, I don't wanna know what she thinks is sweet."

Richard: Excuse me, but uh... Am I at the right place, or?
Casey: "If you wanna play get-to-know-you games then yeah, you are!"
Debbie: "All lemonade is bitter! I have to put sugar to the old lady's lemonade for it not to be that bitter."
Bruno: "It's already very sweet, you even put a lot of sugar on it, it's undrinkable"
Richard: "That sounds nice" *Sits in the corner*
Casey: *mildly horrified*
Casey: *sifts through some questions* Moving on from Debbie's questionable taste...
Richard: Even as a sugar lover, uh... How do I say this? That's a blasphemy, isn't it?
Casey: "Yeah, pretty much."
Debbie: "Hey, I'm not the one we have to bully here!"
Noel: "As for me, not being amazing and not being amazing-er. I know. The great Noel tries, but it just clings to her like blossoms... in a storm."
Richard: *Slowly claps with a confused face*
Bruno: *looks confused because he doesn't know what that was about*

Casey: "Anyway, uh- if you could guarantee one thing that would happen in your future, what would it be?"
Richard: "Uh... Who are you asking again? I'm a lot bit confused right now"
Casey: *gestures vaguely* "Whoever has an answer, I guess."
Debbie: "Bully Bruno"
Bruno: "... and not memorizing Casey's name"
Debbie: "Who's Case E?"
Casey: *grumbles halfheartedly*
Keith: "Hi folks~ What the hell are you guys doing here?"
Richard: "Saving Keith from being a public embarrassment, that's for sure."
Keith: "You should prioritize not dying as your first priority, Mate."
Richard: "Very funny hearing that from you, cheesehead..."
Keith: "WHO ARE YOU CALLING CHEESEHEAD!?"
Debbie: "HI CHEESE KID!"
Casey: *to himself* "...Yeah, I'm fine with Buoy Kid."

Casey: *to everyone* "Uh- next question- what is one thing you refuse to share, even with your best friend?"
Keith: "Cooking duties outside preparation phase."
Richard: "But it..."
Keith: *Interrupts* "Make something edible with more than 6 ingredients that won't cause a huge catastrophe, then I'll do exactly that.
Richard: *Silent*

Noel: "The adoring cheers and smiles of fans of course!"
Casey: "You're going to be a solo act forever, Noel?"
Richard: "Isn't that.... Sad?"
Noel: "Dont be silly. Luna is by my side!"
Casey: "Doesn't she get a share of the cheers and smiles, then?"
Richard: "Doesn't that mean you actually got the same share of cheers and smiles?"
Casey: *air-high-fives Richard*
Richard: *air-high-fives Casey back, happy that someone else other than Keith appreciate his opinion*
Noel: "Of course she does! We in the Yukino group always perform better as a team after all~"

Bruno: "That's easy. Lemonade"
Debbie: "Bruno"
Bruno: "What is that even supposed to mean?"
Keith: *shocked hearing Debbie's answer* "Could it be? Wow..."
Richard: "Uh Keith, what the hell that supposed to mean?"
Keith: "You're denser than molasses, obviously it's just going to fly over your head..."
Casey: "Debbie... Isn't Bruno your best friend?"
Debbie: "Oh, you're right"
Casey: "Did you forget...?"
Keith: "You're too pure to understand, Casey. In my opinion it's going to be a two season soap opera."
Richard: *Visibly confused*
Bruno and Debbie: *clueless*
Casey: "Huh. Well, uh."

Casey: "Let's start with Noel for this one: If you found a Pokémon that had never been discovered before, what would you do with it?"
Casey: *a moment later* "Pure??? Am I?"
Richard: "Sorry, Keith watches too much daytime television."
Keith: "What do you mean by that? This is exactly how it usually goes in those first three episodes."
Richard: "Shush, it's not our turn to talk."
Noel: "I'd probably would tell someone about it! It would be a majorly discovery after all!"

Casey: "Right! Okay, uh-" *points randomly, ends up pointing at bruno* "Bruno! Same question!"
Bruno: "Leave it be, unless it's easy to deal with."
Debbie: "BOOORING"
Casey: "Richard, your turn!"
Richard: "I think I'm going to raise it."
Keith: "And leaving all those fame and glory as a finder of a new species on the table? Really?"
Casey: "Well, what would you do then, Keith?"
Keith: "Well give it to a researcher, but before that photograph it and send it to the local newspaper. After all, stealing credits is something that could happen, so if I send the photograph to the local newspaper first I'm still going to be credited for finding that Pokemon."
Richard: "What if the newspaper credit someone else?"
Keith: "Uh... I haven't thought about what happen after that."
Casey: "Cross that bridge when you come to it. Okay, Debbie, your turn!"
Debbie: "Catch it, of course! Nothing better to add in my marvelous combination than marvelous unknown Pokémon"
Bruno: *sighs* "What if it's not something that would be considered marve- wait I forgot it was you"
Debbie: "What do you mean by that?"
Casey: *go-on gesture*
Bruno: *shrugs*
Debbie: *punches him lightly*

Casey: "Okay." *flips through questions* "Ah." *pulls out a notebook and a pen* "What's the best way to get the attention of someone you like? Uh, raise your hand if you wanna go first."
Noel: "Do everything I do. Easy question, thank you!"
Casey: *writes 'observe noel'* "Thanks. Anyone else?"
Bruno: *shakes head*
Debbie: "Why do you ask? Oh! Is there someone?"
Keith: *Whistling*
Casey: "What? No, this is for a friend."
Keith: "Booo, the spectators expected more."
Richard: "Shut up, Keith."
Keith: "But you actually also want to know, right? Especially since..."
Richard: "NO! NO! NO!" *Frantically try to shut Keith's mouth*
Casey: taps pen "There are no wrong answers! ...Well, maybe there are. Don't give me bad suggestions."
Richard: "I don't really know the answer to that..."
Keith: "That explains everything."
Richard: *Glaring at Keith* "And what do you mean by that?"
Keith: "Nothing... Well personally some compliment here and there doesn't hurt to attract people."
Casey: *writes 'compliments'* "...Debbie? Any ideas?"
Debbie: *shrugs* "Not today, my dear buoy."
Keith: *Trying hard to hide his laughter*
Casey: "Wh- okay." *tears out page and starts to fold it*

Casey: "If you could use any Pokémon move, what would it be?"
Keith: "Oh, me, me" *Raises hand*
Bruno: "Rest"
Debbie: "Wake up slap!"
Casey: "Yikes. Keith?"
Keith: "Obviously Teleport, it can be a great business venture. Also can save someone's life in a pinch if you know what I mean. *Looks toward Richard*
Richard: "Keith..." Cracks his knuckles
Casey: "No idea what incident you're referring to but we can catch up later!" *finishes making his paper airplane* "Ralph? Richard?"
Ralph: "FLY would be pretty neat."
Richard: "Right now? Close Combat." *Coming closer towards Keith*
Keith: *Gulps* "Oh no, no, no, no..." Running away from the venue.
Richard: "Get over here!" *Running after Keith*
Casey: "Hope they sort that out..." *takes aim with his airplane; flies it toward Jordan*
Jordan: *only loud enough for Casey to hear* "Attract, obviously." (He has a feeling it won't be that private for long)
Casey: *giggles* "I'm only here to help~"

Aquacorde · Jan 14, 2020

Casey Holt
"Hash In A Flash"

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Casey starts his day with a jog. It's only fifteen minutes, more of a warmup than anything, but he's recently found that it's a nice way to start the day. Breakfast is peanut butter on toast and some fruit, same as always. He tidies up the apartment before he leaves for the day. He's usually not back until sundown, and he knows he won't want to clean at that point.

There's a travelling show in town today. Casey watches the first performance from the audience and some of the second from the wings. Most of that time is spent as a runner, though. It's fun! But he doesn't want to stick around for the evening show. Even a seven o'clock call time will run way past his usual bedtime. So he wanders off, doing some casual window-shopping on his winding path home.

Oh!

He's been living on sandwiches for too long.

That's the first thought that runs through his head when he sees the cookbook. Subsequent thoughts include: it's February, and a bit cold, and eating hot food in the winter is just way nicer than deli cuts every day. Sure, he can get and frequently has gotten meals at restaurants, but eating at restaurants all the time just seems weird, especially since he's on his own a lot. Most places aren't even open when he wants to eat breakfast, either. It's just impractical to continue on in this way. A cookbook can solve all of these problems!

What matters most is that when he pages through, he finds something he wants to make. And so, an hour later, he's back home with a bag of groceries, cookbook balancing precariously on top.

He hefts the grocery bag onto the counter and flips the cookbook to his chosen recipe. Baked fish with a mushroom sauce and some vegetables should be easy enough. He already knows how to steam vegetables. Well, he knows how to microwave a bowl of frozen vegetables. Which is good enough. He starts there before moving onto the unfamiliar parts.

Put the fish in an oven-safe dish. Some clattering in a cupboard procures what might be a bread pan. It'll do.

Brush with melted butter. He doesn't know what it means to brush something with butter. It's probably not to do with a toothbrush. He microwaves some butter and rubs it into the fish. That's probably the same-ish.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Casey slides the pan into the oven. Right. Onto the next part.

Heat butter in a saucepan over medium-low and add mushrooms. He has to do this twice. Burnt butter smells pretty bad. Apparently, using the correct temperature matters a lot. He makes a note of this.

When mushrooms are tender, add onions. He stirs them in. There seem to be rather a lot, but that's fine. Onions are nice.

Add flour, stirring until well blended. It's not blending very well, and he's getting bored with stirring. Casey shrugs and moves on.

Gradually stir in broth and milk. "Gradually" is not a word that describes what he actually does. It's probably fine.

Add seasonings. Well… he definitely forgot to buy any of those. He makes do with what's in the kitchen already. He has about half and finds similar enough things to replace the rest.

Cook until sauce is thickened, stirring constantly. He cooks it until the fish is ready, anyway, because he's not gonna be able to stir while he takes care of that. He removes it from the heat before addressing the beeping timer.

Casey pulls the fish out and pokes it with a fork. It looks… fine. He messily scrapes it out of the pan and drops it unceremoniously onto a plate. The sauce gets dumped a little too hastily on top, as do the now rather cold vegetables. It's not beautiful presentation by any means, but he can work on that once he figures out the important parts of cooking.

He takes his food to the little kitchen table and tries a bite. It's okay. It doesn't taste quite right- probably because of the rather experimental seasonings- and the texture's weird. The sauce is definitely lumpy, he notes when he bites into a chunk of flour. But it's food, and he made it! The recipe says it serves four, so he eats about half of it and puts the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.

-

He wakes up in a cold sweat at three in the morning. The next hour or so is spent with his head in the toilet.

He's glad nobody's home to hear him cry.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Casey does not start his day with a jog. In fact, he starts it by throwing away yesterday's leftovers, which prompts another twenty-ish minutes of nausea. Plain toast replaces his usual breakfast. He does manage to throw on his uniform and drag himself to school, though his coach takes one look at his face and tells him to sit out the "fitness" portion of his Fitness and Nutrition class. That's the first signal to his friends that something's not right. The second is that he's oddly quiet; talking's his favorite pastime, really, and to be keeping his head down during a lesson? Unheard of. The third strike is lunchtime, which he spends morosely pushing plain rice around his plate.

"What's wrong with you?"

Casey lifts his head to meet Erica's sharp gaze, and she grimaces. "You look like shit."

"Language!" Kionte gasps. Erica flips him off while he studies Casey. "Mm, she's right, though. What'd you do?"

Casey mumbles something he knows is unintelligible. Erica gives him a Look.

"Gave m'self food poisoning."

Erica loses it laughing despite Casey's hollow glare. Kionte's face does interesting things as he wrestles down a smile and affects a more concerned expression. "Care to elaborate?"

"Wanted to learn to cook, made somethin', threw it up." Ever more responsible than his younger friends, Kionte swiftly yanks Casey's plate away as the boy suddenly decides to rest his face on the table.

Erica sobers up enough to ask what he tried to make. As soon as Casey says "fish" (and gags a bit) she's shaking her head. "Of all the things to start cooking with…"

"What'd you start with, then?" He knows Erica helps at her aunt's restaurant, so he's genuinely curious. Even though it comes out slightly accusatory. And muffled.

"Aunt Carol had me make grilled cheese," she answers promptly. "It's got three ingredients, you probably won't burn yourself, and you can't do a bad enough job to make yourself sick."

This seems perfectly logical. He should've asked Erica before just kinda… going for it.

Planning is not his strong suit.

"Wish my aunt would teach me how to cook." Casey hasn't met any of his aunts. They exist, though. And can probably cook. He assumes most adults can cook at least a little bit.

"I mean… Carol can probably teach you," Kionte says thoughtfully. The other two look at him quizzically. "Weren't you saying she needs help at the restaurant?"

Erica shakes her head. "She's not gonna let him cook. Not for customers. She doesn't even let me do that."

"Nah but, if he works there she could teach him how to make his own lunch at least."

"She might."

"Why don't you take him to work with you? You go tomorrow, right?"

Casey, still a bit queasy, zones out while his friends plan his Thursday.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Casey starts his day with a jog and his usual breakfast. It's a good thing he's naturally an early riser- he doesn't have to change a thing about his routine to meet Erica in front of Hash In A Flash at six in the morning. She introduces him to the cooks, Avery and Rhonda, then presents him to Carol without ceremony and starts in on her own duties with efficient speed. This is just how she approaches things in general, Casey knows, but it's fascinating to see how that translates to a much different environment.

Carol watches him watch Erica.

"You interested in her?"

Casey's attention snaps to the broad woman in front of him. "Yes?"

"She goes for people older than her."

Casey waves this off. "Yeah, I know, she's got this thing about Kionte that- oh. Oh, wait, that's what you meant? Nah, we're friends."

Carol grins. There's a bit of edge to it, and Casey sees where Erica gets it from. "How's about you sit at the counter today and see how the place works? You can tell me all about school and I can tell you all about the restaurant."

Casey chats with Carol for a good twenty minutes, paying close attention to everything she does to prep for opening and not very much attention to what he's saying. Erica unlocks the doors at exactly six-thirty and darts back behind the till before a horde of customers shove their way in. It's surprisingly busy, but Casey can always hear Erica above the din, both taking orders and ordering people around. She's incredibly at ease with this. No wonder she wants to take over some day.

Avery, Rhonda, and Carol are cooking, serving, and washing dishes until the door chimes one final time at ten-thirty. Four hours of constant work. Erica clicks the till shut and takes it to the cramped office to count while, to Casey's surprise, the adults keep on moving. Cleaning the place takes them about half an hour.

"Which means we have half an hour to eat, take an actual break, take stock of and go get any supplies, and prep for lunch hours," Carol tells him. She plates half of a large omelette for herself and places the other half in front of Casey. This is both unexpected and delightful. "Tuesdays and Thursdays are your free days that overlap with my need for help. You will be here from six to eleven. You will do prep work, cleaning, and serving. You're gonna have to learn on the job, so you better learn quick."

Casey nods while he eats. He picks things up fairly quickly; he'll probably be fine.

"You will cook your own lunch under my supervision. I will choose what you make. You will eat whatever you create unless it is unsafe or genuinely inedible."

Casey nods again, slightly more apprehensive. At least he won't get sick again, he supposes.

"Good!" Carol's seriousness turns to good humor in the blink of an eye. "Finish your food and scram; I gotta open again soon. Be here at six next Tuesday."

And just like that, he's employed.

QueenNothing · Jan 17, 2020

Bethany Miller's Solo Adventures
Adventure No. 1

Bethany Miller had recently arrived in Cerulean City; However despite this she had found herself at the end of Nugget Bridge in an attempt to navigate the city in hopes of finding a Pokemon Center. She managed to find her way to the Rescure Center by pure accident and adopted a special breed of Vulpix only found in the wild areas of the Alola region but after this she somehow went in circles. She was used to how bad her sense of direction was, so this wasn't a massive shock to her.

Seeing the sight of somewhere she had just been, she let out a groan. She paused for a minute, followed by her standing up straight "Nae reason tae mope aroond; Better make th' best it ay this." She walked over to the river the bridge was built over, being sure to maintain her straight stance and on arrival she searched her bag and pulled out a fishing rod.

"Nows mah time tae catch a water type" She said before casting her rod in the river. She was standing in place for awhile, keeping her patience as she knew how much of it she needed to fish; This wasn't her first time fishing afterall.

After an unknown amount of time, something bit which sent Bethany back to her usual loudmouth self "Ooh, looks loch ah got me somethin'!" With all her strength she reeled in the mystery Pokemon, and managed to pull it out of water revealing what it was.

"Feebas! Ohoho, come tae me lassie! Ahm gonna make ye a bonnie Milotic!" With great enthusiasm, she used her fishing rod to pull the Feebas onto land, leaving it to seemingly pathetically flop around. "Dae I ah need tae weaken it? Look at it, its bloody pathetic!" The Galarian trainer rummaged through her bag to find a pokeball, but when she grabbed it she noticed that her catch was trying to flop its way back to the river.

"Nae ye dornt!" She shouted as she tossed a pokeball at it. Before it shook even once, she let out a confident "Bob's yer uncle!" but her confidence was taken down a notch when immediately after the Feebas had broken out.

Well, seems ah need tae flin' anither!" Trying to hide her frustration with confidence she threw another, but before it even could land on Feebas, she jumped up and smacked the pokeball with her tail, hitting Bethany directly in her face.

"Yer a wee scunner!" She let out after her pokeball bounced off her face, leaving a red mark "But dornt think ahm givin' up just yet!" She tossed another pokeball and was only met with a pokeball to the gut, enough pain to cause her to shout in pain.

"CRIPES!" She yelled while holding her stomach in pain "Ye cheeky wee fish!" Bethany clearly had not learned her lesson, as she threw yet another pokeball and was met with a similar pain, this time in her left knee.

"Clearly ah underestimated ye." Bethany proclaimed as she was reaching for one of her pokemon "Ah dornt think either ay us will gie up without a barnie. 'Ulpix, yer up!"

As soon as Bethany's Vulpix made his entrance onto the battlefield, she commanded him to use Ice Shard. He complied, but as the shard approached the Feebas he jumped up and...ate it.

"Fockin' WHOT mate?" The Galarian trainer exclaimed not fully able to comprehend what she just witnessed. "In all mah fockin years of battlin' and researchin' Pokemon battles…" She had cut herself off by the sight of what she was about to see next. The wild Feebas was using scald to propel the ice shard it swallowed seconds earlier (somehow not melting it) back towards Vulpix.

"Cripes! Hurry 'Ulpix, endure!" Fortunately for her, her Vulpix used the move in time avoiding fainting, but was still hurt pretty hard from the attack. Bethany searched her bag for any healing items but noticed that she was out of Poke Balls. However, there was still one more chance she had of capturing the Feebas. She wanted to save this for a later occasion but desperate times were calling for desperate measures; She wasn't going to let this opportunity slip her up.

Groc · Jan 18, 2020

Vera Hill
Prologue
Viridian Town, November 6th, 2014

6 A.M.

Vera sat on the edge of her bed, looking out the window at the light dusting of snow on the ground. She breathed on the glass, fogging it up and drawing a smiley face with her finger. There was a soft knock at her door, and her father came in.

"Vera? Your mother and I are going out for a while."

Vera nodded, still looking outside. "Okay."

"Stay inside this time, okay? We don't want you getting sick again."

Vera sighed and said nothing, but she looked at her father and nodded.

"It'll be warm enough for you to go outside soon, Vera. Right now, we need you to look after your sister until we get back."

She pressed her mouth into a firm line, fighting off a frown, managing a neutral "Okay, Dad."

He smiled at her. "Thanks. We'll bring back lunch. Love you, honey." He closed the door again, and Vera sat there until she heard her parents leave. There was a softer knock on the door, and Vera frowned in annoyance as she went to open it.

Vanessa smiled at her big sister, pushing her way into the room. "Mommy and Daddy left. What do you want to do today, Veer?"

Vera scowled at the nickname, like she always did, but Vanessa didn't notice. "I'm going to play a game. You can watch me play if you don't climb on me. You have to sit still."

Vanessa nodded eagerly, almost losing her glasses. "Yep! Can we, um... can we play Torchic?"

"Mmmm..." Vera made a reluctant noise, thinking about it. She'd been stuck on a level of Torchic's Adventure for a while now, but was too stubborn to quit. She doubted Vanessa would let her focus, though...

"Pleeeease?" Vanessa begged, her lower lip quivering.

"Okay, fine. Get me my controller." Vera relented, turning on the TV and the Wii. She hated when Vanessa cried.

"Yay! Tor~chic! Tor~chic!" Vanessa spun in a happy circle, singing while Vera set up the game.

Torchic's Adventure was a platformer, with the goal being to reach the end of the level before the timer ran out. Torchic could jump on enemies like Rattata or Spearow to defeat them, and each level had three stages, with a boss battle at the end of stage three. Vera was pretty good at it, but was having trouble with the level Meteor Falls.

She sat on the edge of her bed while Vanessa sat on the floor, bouncing with excitement. The level started out easily enough, with slow moving Seedots and Surskits that would dash back and forth. Stage two introduced Swablu that were hard to hit because they were so quick, and flew in a weird up and down pattern. Vera found herself getting into "the zone", tuning out her sister as she rambled on about what she'd learned in school about these Pokemon.

When she got to stage three, Vera stopped before the boss fight. "This part's kinda scary. You want me to keep going?"

Vanessa gave an exaggerated nod, her eyes never leaving the screen. "I wanna see you win the level!"

Vera actually smiled, surprised at the confidence her sister had in her. She wiped her palms on her pants, already nervous, and moved Torchic into the boss area.

The music stopped as a low hiss came from the game. Suddenly, a Seviper leaped from the bushes, and the boss music started up. The Torchic avatar reacted in fear, a sentiment Vera shared, but Vanessa just got excited. Vera grit her teeth as she made Torchic jump and dodge, terrified by how huge the snake was in comparison.

Vanessa pointed at the screen. "Look, Veer! It's Aviper! Aviper is really big and really scary! He goes SSSSS!"

"Yep! He sure does!" Vera was mashing buttons furiously, and kept getting hit. "He's really intimidating!"

"Gabby at school called him a, a, a Danger Noodle! That's silly!"

"He's a danger noodle!" Vera agreed, panicking. "He's the most dangerous noodle!"

Seviper hit Torchic with his tail, reducing the Fire type's HP to zero. Vera exhaled in frustration, while Vanessa just smiled at her. "Again! That was funny!"

Vera scowled at her sister. "Do you wanna try this?" She mockingly offered her the controller.

Vanessa looked at the controller in surprise, then grinned as she grabbed it. "Yeah!"

"Yeah!" Vera mimicked, mocking Vanessa further. "See how hard it is. It'll be funny to watch you fail."

Vanessa didn't know how the controller worked, pressing buttons seemingly at random. She managed to move Torchic into the boss room, triggering the cutscene. Having only mastered walking in one direction, she proceeded to walk Torchic right into Seviper until it killed her.

Vera smirked, feeling confident in her superiority. "See? Not so easy. You need to press B to jump."

"B?" Vanessa pressed the button, making Torchic jump. She gasped in delight. "I did it! Jump! Jump!" She made Torchic jump some more, figuring out how to move and jump.

"Congratulations, you figured out the basics. Mom and Dad would be so proud." Vera rolled her eyes.

Vanessa moved Torchic back to the boss, wanting to show Seviper her moves. As expected, just jumping back and forth didn't defeat the boss.

"You have to jump on his head. That's how you win." Vera sat back on the bed, her fear lessened slightly when it wasn't her at the controller. But to her surprise, Vanessa was getting better at the game. She was taking Vera's snide comments at face value, and actually doing what Vera suggested. And she was doing well, maybe better than Vera.

"Okay, can I have my game back?" She nervously reached for the controller, but Vanessa just leaned forward, out of Vera's reach.

"No! It's still my turn! Watch me!"

Vera watched, and Torchic's random hops somehow dodged Seviper's tail, got away from his teeth, and carried the bird onto the snake's head, damaging him. Vera watched, dumbfounded, as Vanessa started doing better than her. Vanessa actually managed to defeat Seviper, leaving Vera fuming.

"I won! Did you see me, Veer?" Vanessa grinned in pure joy, turning to look at Vera. Vera glared at the TV, her left eye twitching slightly.

"Okay, pause the game. I'm going to make tea!" Vera angrily got up, and Vanessa started following her. "I wanna help!"

"No!" Vera snapped, pushing Vanessa back into a sitting position. "You're five, and if you burn yourself, Mom's going to be mad at me. Just sit there, or go read a book or something!" She went to the kitchen, leaving Vanessa in her bedroom.

"But we were playing..." Vanessa whispered, trying not to cry. She knew Veer didn't like it when she cried. So she sat and waited.

moon · Feb 19, 2020

Destiny?
🍀🍀🍀
Arian Chandler - Cerulean City - Day 3 - May 22^nd

Most trainers, including Ralph, had already left the Pokémon Center by the time Arian was finishing his breakfast. In fact, he didn't recognize any familiar face among those who were still there. He was, however, told that there were rogue Dragon Pokémon around the city.

Excuse me, what?

The boy tried to gather some information from the other trainers...
Apparently, many of the Pokémon belonging to the local gym had escaped and were now roaming the city, harming people or destroying things. They seemed confused, enraged, unable to control themselves. Some trainers successfully calmed them down, but others had their Pokémon hurt or worse, were hit themselves. Yet, the Police - all the cops were on duty, helping out the citizens and seizing the Dragon types - still needed additional help. These Pokémon had enough time to spread out over a very large area, after all. Plus, they were well trained. Strong.

All of this was a huge monkey wrench into Arian's plans for the day. He wanted to visit the gym, as Ralph suggested the day before, but also wanted to buy additional items and supplies before finally leaving Cerulean and heading towards Route 9. Staying in his lovely room in the Pokémon Center was an idea that enticed Arian for a moment, but he scrapped it in the end. If anything, it was better to leave the city as soon as possible…

No, Arian was about to become a trainer. He had to go through a lot to even get there, and was much closer to his objective than many, many other people in Cerulean. He needed to get out in the sun and lend a hand, if necessary, and no enraged juggernaut could have stopped him.

Everything near the Pokémon Center looked fine, somehow. That is, just like the day before, except with one or two more cops and Gym trainers patrolling the area together. Arian let out Squirtle, just in case, and headed towards the gym. It was on the edge of the city, and therefore quite far from the Center, but it made up for it by being very large, with a pretty garden and a forested area too!
Cerulean City was very big and cozy itself, with plenty of space for each building and large roads. Only further south, in the oldest part of the city, houses were more crammed together.

It was nearly halfway to the Gym that Arian's day took a wrong turn. Someone held onto the boy and made him fall, before running away and literally kicking Squirtle out of the way. The cold pavement met Arian's hands as a worried look met his eyes. "Help me get him!" an equally worried voice said, as a middle aged man stopped to lift him up. He was definitely too concerned with the other person to even ask the boy if he was alright.

And so began the chase.
The two had tracked down what looked like a young trainer wearing nothing but dark clothes and a dark mask. He or she was heading towards the city center, turning left and right through the - at the moment - regularly laid out roads of Cerulean City. Unfortunately the man… more precisely, the cop who was in charge of patrolling the area, was running out of breath. He eventually had to slow down his pace, leaving Arian in charge but having his grumpy Growlithe follow him. The pup Pokémon was trained to find its way back to its trainer anyways.

Now it all seemed so… real. Catching that person was a life or death matter for both the cop and him, whose Squirtle was hurt in such a barbaric way.

Arian believed in Destiny. In his mind, his life was already shaped by events that were out of his control, like his date and place of birth, his parents' personalities, his wealth. Not all was set in stone though: everyone was free to put Destiny to test, and ask for a different future. And this was what Arian did by joining Cape College and completing all the courses in due time, despite all the opposition. He was writing his future alongside Destiny, suggesting little changes and receiving either approval or harsh criticism: that's called willpower, and it's probably the most important thing in one's life.

This moment was one in which Destiny was testing Arian. Are you sure you're up for this?

♪ Dark Morning ♪

Something cold, pointy and slightly wet made contact with Arian as he turned one last corner. For the last minutes, more and more noises started to blend together in his ears: a metallic clanging, his own strained breath, people talking and running away, footsteps, Growlithe barking, painful Pokémon cries. Now it was all an indecipherable mess.

The boy fell yet again, but not on the ground. He fell over whatever he'd touched seconds before, noticing it was some kind of purple, segmented… creature. He was grabbed by two claws and lifted airborne by… that's what it was! A Drapion!

Now he had a better view of what was happening, at least. He was quite close to the City center: tall buildings, mostly made out of exposed red bricks, rose on the two sides of the small alleyway he'd just entered. It was quite narrow for Cerulean standards, and was actually a dead end. Trash cans and bags were lined up on one side, while on the other there were some small side entrances… maybe for things like shops and hotels.

Drapion fully turned around, taking a look at what he'd fished up with its tail, before focusing its attention on what was in front of him in the first place. Its trainer, none other than the masked… girl, apparently, was leaning on one wall, leaving space for Drapion to attack… an enraged Dragon Pokémon!

That Dragon was very big and very menacing, but looked to be already very weakened. Perhaps poisoned, as well. It surely had to be the result of a good team work between the girl and other masked people. It looked unlike any other Dragon Pokémon Arian had ever seen, and definitely wasn't from Kanto: the grey and yellow colors, the scales covering its body, the red details… she really had no clue what its name was. It stood beside a couple of torn trash bags and pieces of bricks.

The masked girl was very quiet, and visibly tired from all the running. Actually, she seemed annoyed, as she pulled out some kind of weird Pokéball. A black one, of course. It looked a little like a Chic Ball - the one that "raises friendship", they say. Oh the irony...

Calm down. What can I do now…?

There was a narrow, dead end in Cerulean. At the end, a tired Kommo-o from the gym. In the middle, a masked girl with a wannabe Chic Ball. At the beginning, an arrogant Drapion lifting an entire teenager in its tail - plus a small Growlithe hiding from the Poison type's sight.

Nothing. Nothing. I'm stuck. I'm the spectator. I'm nothing.

Another striking sound echoed through the alleyway, visibly hurting any nearby Pokémon. The Dragon had attempted one last attack. The Poison type answered with a Poison Jab, probably the finishing blow. It was time to throw the Dark Pokéball… but it was also time for Growlithe to do something. It was so eager to save the day, and knew it was all up to him.

It climbed onto Drapion with two quick jumps and used Fire Fang on its tail, freeing Arian. The boy landed right behind the Dark type and quickly pulled out the first Pokéball he could find. With fire in her eyes, came out… Pineco. You again… let's do this.

The masked girl finally took aim with her Pokéball and let herself be heard for the first time. "Look what I'm gonna do!" she smirked, in between heavy breaths. Drapion lunged once again at Arian with its tail, as he was holding Pineco.

The Bug type was quick to react and used Protect, blocking the attack and allowing her trainer to keep standing. Growlithe, in the meantime, attempted an Ember attack on the dark Pokéball itself, following Arian's command. Yes, that meant burning the masked girl's hand to a crisp too, but in all honesty she deserved that and more.
The flames stopped halfway, however. Drapion took the attack with relative ease, using one of its other claws, then knocked the Fire type away. Basically… not only was it strong, it was also great at multitasking!

Now it was Pineco's turn to attempt... something. By using Tackle, she jumped closer to the Dragon, almost flying over Drapion's body. The Poison type grabbed her anyways - after all, it was instructed not to let anyone or anything get past it - and this is when the Bug type started to glow. Both she and Arian were desperate at this point - and it was probably with the force of despair that Pineco was able to land a good hit on her opponent, before fainting.

After fighting valiantly against Kommo-o and Growlithe, Drapion had flinched. It could still fight, but in its eyes one could see a feeling of defeat. It wasn't all in vain! Or was it?

Behind the Poison type, there was nothing else. Nothing but the masked girl and a Pokéball on the ground. A Pokémon belonging to someone else was now inside it. "I'm done here. Don't ever look for me." the trainer told Arian sternly, as she let out a Honchkrow (the teen was sure of its name this time!). "Haze and fly..." she muttered, returning Drapion to its Pokéball before disappearing.

Once the smoke dissolved, Arian and Growlithe peeked out of the alleyway into the main route, only to see a couple of worried passersby and an unidentifiable Flying Pokémon in the sky… with someone riding it, of course. Following the pup Pokémon's directions, the trainer slowly and clumsily made his way to where he fell on the ground the first time.

"Thanks Growlithe. At least we gave it a try."

moon · Feb 19, 2020

Raphael

Route 9, Wednesday May 22nd, evening

It had just gotten dark, when Raphael finally stumbled into another sign of human life on Route 9 again. A campfire could be seen up ahead, and Raphael hurried the rest of the way over the rocky terrain to find a small open area. A man was sitting by the fire, his back towards him. What he saw next, when he turned his head to the right, startled him to no ends though.

Right next to Raphael as he had stepped out into the clearing, another human stood. A boy, same height as he. Same eye color. Same hair color. Same eyes, same hair. Same clothes.

"What?!" he gasped and literally jumped backwards in shock. "What the muk!"

That made the man by the fire stand up and turn around. With his face away from the fire, Raphael hadn't been able to see what he looked like, even if he had been looking. He looked from one boy to another for a moment, one of them smiling silently, the other with rising panic in his face. Then he laughed.

"Oh, Zorua, that's quite unnecessary," he said simply.

Other Raphael then giggled, before his image seemed to flicker and glimmer. And suddenly, where he had been standing was only a small fox-like, dark pokémon with a wicked grin displayed.

"Zorua... Oh," Real Raphael said and tried to breathe normally. "Man. That's some scare tactics."

The man shrugged, as the little Zorua ran back up to him. "Sorry for that. He's a trickster and can't refuse opportunities to play pranks."

"Sure, I understand," Raphael said, feeling slightly better and straightening himself up. "Um."

He wasn't sure how to ask for permission to sit by his fire, but he didn't have to, because the man gestured towards it before he could say anything more. "Are you alright?" he also asked.

"Not really," Raphael found himself admitting as he moved forward and took a seat on a rock near the fire. It crackled at him and gave off a pleasant warmth in the chilly night.

The man sat down on the opposite side, Zorua crawling close to the fire and watching stray embers with glee. Raphael could see the man now, and was a bit surprised to notice that he looked much like himself. Dark skin, dreadlocks in hair, but his eyes were a hazel color and he most definitely had not colored his dreads purple, nor did he seem to have any piercings. He also now noticed a gigantic backpack leaning against a nearby log, complete with extra equipment dangling off of it.

"What happened?" the man asked with a concerned look.

Raphael glanced up at him. He was asking him to tell him about his recent events, and let him come sit by his fire out of the blue just like that, without even introducing himself. He didn't get any immediately bad vibes from watching him, but he was still going to be suspicious. Trying to do it subtly, he reached to his belt and clutched Edgy's pokéball in his hand.

Not subtly enough though, as the man noticed.

"Ah, okay. I wasn't gonna attack you. Clearly. You can sit by my fire or you can leave, whatever suits you," he said and threw his hands into the air. Zorua also remained calm and cheerful, it seemed. None of them looked ready for battle really.

Raphael released his grip on the pokéball slightly. "My friend got attacked by a stranger," he said. "In Cerulean. How do I know you're not with them?"

"Are you this suspicious of every person you meet on the road?" the man asked with a raised eyebrow. "It's gonna be a really hard pokémon journey for you if you do it like that."

"Don't act like you know me," Raphael quipped.

"Jeez." The man rolled his eyes. "How about this," he started while reaching for a ball of his own. Raphael almost let his Beedrill out at that, but he merely returned Zorua to his ball, and didn't bring out any other pokémon. "I'll tell you what I'm doing here first, and then you can talk to me about why you're 'not really alright' if you want. Or I can shut up, I don't mind," he added with tired eyes.

A small sting of guilt crept up from Raphael's gut now. Had he just disappointed a second kind person that day?

"Sorry," he muttered. "Go on."

"Alright. I'm Joseph. I'm a pokémon trainer. The farm near Cerulean where I work has had trouble with wild pokémon stealing their food lately. Since I'm their licensed trainer, I said I'd get out to Route 9 and track the thieves down and see if I can get them to stop. So here we are."

Raphael nodded. "Okay. Sounds believable."

"Thank you," Joseph grunted. "So, silence now then?"

The boy sighed. "Nah. I'm Raphael. I'm on a journey to become a licensed trainer. But you figured that out already."

"Are you from Safari Academy or Cape College? Or some other smaller thing?"

"Cape."

"Nice. I didn't realize that my mission would time exactly with Cape trainers going through this route. Brings back nice memories!" Joseph leaned back towards the log behind him and smiled towards the sky. A few stars had started to peek out, and the horizon had turned a mellow purple color with the dark blue advancing from above.

"You were a Cape trainer?" Raphael asked, curiosity piqued.

"Yeah. I was part of Palm Junior's first batch."

"Junior?"

"You've learned some of the school's history, right?"

"Uh. Yeah, Palm started the school."

"Palm did, but not your Palm. His grandmother was the one who first ran a small training resort up there. But when Palm Junior took over, he made it a big grand thing, and started trying to find young potential trainers from all over the region. I'm not from Cerulean or anywhere near here originally. Yet, I chose to go up here. And I haven't regretted it."

Raphael nodded slowly. He hadn't really paid attention when the College history was taught. Didn't seem important. But interesting, now that he did learn about it.

"So, silence or?"

"Oh. No," The boy said and cleared his throat. "On my way through this route I..." He didn't really want to tell this stranger the story of him and Ari's dragon adventure. Better skip it. "I ran into some wild pokémon. One was a Rattata, and the other one a Lycanroc."

Joseph raised an eyebrow at that. "You met a wild Lycanroc? They usually stay away from humans."

"Yeah, not this one. He was hella hungry and kept attacking us until this little Rattata with green eyes gave him her Oran berry-"

"Hold up!" Joseph said and sat up straight. "You know Greeneyes?"

"Uh?" Raphael produced.

"The Rattata! It's pretty unique. Comes around to our farm sometimes to play with the farm animals. I don't think the other Rattata like this one much. And it seems to be a pretty odd pokémon, a bit too unafraid for its own good, I'd say. I bet it tried to take on the Lycanroc on its own."

"Sure did," Raphael replied, surprised by what he heard.

"Well. I hope it didn't get hurt."

"Um. She did, actually," Raphael began and fumbled while he took out the newly caught Rattata's pokéball. "And I wanted to find a safe place to stop at so I could give her some medicine-"

"Hold up," Joseph said again and now leaned in. "You caught Greeneyes?"

"Yeah?" Raphael said with a shrug. "She wanted me to. I had to battle her first though. So I guess I was the one who hurt her, not really the Lycanroc."

Joseph shook his head, but laughed, and Raphael actually felt like his laugh was genuine and kind. "Well to be honest, I think she'll do better with you than she was with the other Rattata."

"Maybe," the young trainer said, and brought the rat out. She appeared near the fire in front of them, and was standing up but looking quite dazed. "Hey," Raphael said and reached out to pet her on the head. "Sorry about Edgy's last move there. He is a bit rash at times.

Rattata didn't look upset about it though. She smiled up towards her new trainer. Joseph watched quietly while Raphael took out a Potion and tended to his small partner until the pokémon seemed to be feeling much better. Meanwhile, Raphael was thinking about what he had heard and seen.

"Lycanroc was so hungry that it was willing to attack us just for a berry," he said slowly, staring into the fire while petting Rattata in his lap absent-mindedly. "You think Lycanroc is your farm thief?"

Joseph furrowed his brow, considering it. "That actually might be very likely."

"So will you go search for it? What will you do if you find it?"

"I'll make sure they stop."

Raphael frowned now. "How, politely asking them to?"

Joseph smiled. "I'm a trainer, boy. I'll capture the thief, of course."

Aquacorde · Feb 19, 2020

She has seen quite a few trainers on and near the main path, but they aren't what Kayla is looking for. Kayla is looking for Pokémon. She is currently about thirty feet up a tree and has found several Caterpie. Kayla is here because she thinks this tree can offer her a clear view of the surrounding area. The Caterpie are here for their own reasons. Neither party is currently interested in the other.

Charmander's complaining filters up through the branches.

"Yeah, I hear ya! Just a sec!"

Kayla glances at her Pokémon as she steps from branch to branch. Charmander is idly hitting small plants with a stick. The two are getting along fairly well, Kayla thinks, sliding down a few feet before catching the next branch. Charmander has been happy to match Kayla's brisk pace while criss-crossing the road in search of interesting things. They've stepped on about five Oddish so far, but they're getting better at finding them deliberately as the afternoon goes on. It's an easy victory when the Oddish don't run away- so easy it probably hardly counts as training. Charmander's energy needs some sort of outlet, so Kayla figures they may as well test battle strategies while there's not much at stake.

Charmander's already wandering by the time Kayla swings herself out of the tree. "Go on and take a left. I think something's out that way," she says, slinging her backpack on and scooping up the walking stick.

Charmander's nearly hidden by the underbrush, so Kayla hurries to catch up. It wouldn't be great to lose track of her only Pokémon. Especially in a wild Pokémon habitat. Obviously. But the ground here is sloping steeply downhill, and Kayla's keeping her eyes on Charmander rather than her footing, and she's falling forward with a cut-off yelp and tumbling into a thicket. She hears Charmander cry off to her right but her vision is obscured by angry feathered wings. She swipes at her attacker and manages to slap the bird out of the way- it's a Pidgey, squawking even more angrily now. It dives to peck at her only to be shot out of the air by a well-placed Ember.

The Pidgey shrieks.

The grove comes to life.

Wings and feathers are everywhere, circling and diving, whipping up blinding sands and cutting winds. Kayla instinctively flings out her right arm to shield her face, still holding on to the walking stick. She feels it hit a few birds, but that doesn't seem to help her- in fact, the attackers seem to double down. She flips herself over and crawls. She can't look up- the Pidgey are still diving for her face, raking talons across her neck- but she can hear Charmander fighting and if she gets to Charmander she can- they can- do something. She doesn't know what, not yet, but by the time she gets there maybe-

Kayla gets there, and there's relief. The Pidgey are no longer tearing at her from above. She can look up now and sees Charmander, backed up against a large tree trunk, defending a radius that Kayla's crawled into. The flock is hanging back, hovering around them. A Pidgey dives, straight into an Ember. Another copies and is also knocked back. A third tries to sneak in from the other side of the tree but Charmander clocks it just in time. Kayla clenches her jaw- another hit. Charmander can't keep this up- another hit- she's losing time- another hit- Ember's getting less accurate- another hit. Kayla slides the walking stick into the sling across her back. Another hit. If the flock works together- another hit- it's over- almost a miss. Gotta go right now!

She kicks off from a four-point start and flings Charmander over her shoulder without missing a step. Charmander sinks little claws into her jacket and goes right back into slinging Embers, the clever guy. Her tail flame flares uncomfortably close to Kayla's face with each shot. Kayla's never been a sprinter, but she's also never had quite this much adrenaline rushing through her. She doesn't know where she's going. She can't stop to figure it out. She thinks her shirt's on fire.

Something slams into her right shoulder, clearly aiming for Charmander, and sends her flying. Kayla pulls Charmander against her chest and curls around him as they hit the ground and skid several yards, finally rolling to a halt. Kayla is flat on her back, limbs splayed, heart hammering, panting heavily, Charmander collapsed against her side. Ever so slowly, her breathing starts coming back under control. She pats Charmander vaguely as she glances around without moving. The area's clear of trees. There's no foliage obscuring her vision. The ground under her is packed and level.

Somehow, they've made it back to the relative safety of the road.

---

Being tackled by four pounds of bird doesn't feel nice at all. Neither does breaking the fall for two hundred pounds of human and eighteen pounds of Charmander. It is not a great day for Kayla's shoulder. The bruises are going to be wild tomorrow.

She rolls over and shoves herself upright in one fluid motion. Charmander grumbles and also rights himself. Kayla bounces in place. Her beanie- gone. Shoulder- painful but working. Neck- ah, those scratches are deep. Shirt- singed? She abruptly shucks her backpack and wriggles out of her jacket. Yeah, her shirt is for sure a v-neck now, but more important- her jacket's fine! Maybe a little scuffed, but wow! The thing's tough! And probably padded her fall a decent amount, too. What a great buy, honestly, she's real thrilled with herself. There's a little blood on the collar, though. Better take care of that.

"Hey, Charmander, can you get my water bottle?" Kayla pauses, halfway out of her long-sleeved shirt. "Oh, yeah, you doin' alright? Prob'ly should've asked earlier."

Charmander makes a noise roughly equivalent to a shrug and tosses the bottle up to Kayla, who flips her shirt inside-out and wets it near the hem. She figures it's ruined anyway, may as well use it to blot the blood out of her jacket.

"Y'know," she muses as she inspects her handiwork, "that coulda gone much worse for us."

Charmander cocks his head and mimes scratching his own neck.

"Oh, I should get to doin' something about that, huh? Don't want more blood on my jacket." She adds water to her shirt and dabs at her neck. "This ain't- ah, man- even a problem. Does sting though, man. We're real lucky there wasn't a Pidgeotto with them out there. Or a Pidgeot. Wouldn'ta got out with just scratches in that case."

She shakes out the shirt. It's unfortunate that teal doesn't hide blood. Or soot. Oh well. She knots the sleeves around the top of the walking stick. She's learned several times over not to leave wet clothes in a bag. "You think we should stay on the road a while? Prob'ly could use some peace after all that. But if we do that, I don't think we'll see any more- Pokémon!"

---

Kayla regains her usual cheer quickly as the trio make their way to the rescue center. Debbie's chatter is easy enough to respond to, and she's goofing off with her again in no time. Bruno mostly stays out of the conversation, but offers the occasional dry remark to the delight of the other two. Their time at the rescue center is enjoyable, even if neither Bruno nor Kayla come away with a Pokémon. Neither is quite in the right state to be thinking about taking on a teammate- Kayla due to her entire day thus far, Bruno due to Debbie terrorizing him with the few Rattata staying there. Debbie does attempt to adopt a Grimer on Bruno's behalf, but the staff take one look at his face and shut that idea down.

The afternoon sun is still blazing when they leave. Bruno chimes in to Debbie and Kayla's inane chatter to ask if anyone knows a place to eat.

"We saw so many while we were walking! Weren't you paying attention?" Kayla chides.

"Ha! I bet Bruno had his nose in the map the whole time!"

Kayla's affirmative giggle is cut off by Bruno's sigh. "I'm not taking a map out around either of you ever again."

"Well yeah, there's no point anymore! I know where everything is now!" Kayla spins around in place, arms wide open. "Where d'you wanna go? I'll take you!"

"Anywhere… not so expensive is fine." Kayla suddenly remembers that Bruno's supposed to be paying.

Debbie counters with, "I want to go to the most expensive place you know!"

Neither of those are preferences that Kayla's really going to cater to. "I want… noodles!" she declares, and starts leading them east into the city.

They get there with only three (quickly corrected) wrong turns. Debbie hassles her for it, but Kayla returns that Debbie has far less idea where she's going than Kayla does. The place she's chosen isn't expensive, but it isn't dirt cheap either. Kayla pays for her own food. She does, however, join Debbie in persuading Bruno to pay for her meal as a prize for winning.

---

She's planned and therefore dressed for a morning riverside jog, but it turns into an impromptu beach visit as soon as Buneary finds the little stairs down to the shore. Since she's spent more time on Kayla's shoulder than actually jogging, Kayla is happy to indulge her desire for some kind of activity. Even if it means both braving the springtime chill of the water and suffering through Charmander's theatrics. He's acting as if he's not scrabbling around back where the sand meets grass, perfectly happy and safe from Kayla and Buneary's splashing. Kayla's learning that Charmander's just like that. It may be a trait they share, that tendency toward the dramatic, but is Kayla going to admit that to anyone? No.

They meander west when Buneary gets bored. Kayla's carrying her socks and running shoes and so keeps to the grassy boulevards bordering main streets, which eventually drop them into a public park. Kayla remembers cutting across it with Bruno yesterday during their search for Debbie. It's mostly grass and trees with a few stone paths winding through. There are a few sculptures and picnic tables scattered around. Kayla doesn't know if the little playground is meant for children or Pokémon, but since it's empty she lets Charmander and Buneary have run of it. They're clearly thrilled.

She's put her shoes back on and is focusing more on her Pokémon than her absentminded lunges when someone appears in front of her. Kayla's instinctive attempt to back away is foiled by a lunge's demand for careful balance and she awkwardly topples sideways into the grass.

---

They don't seem to want to continue on that track, which is quite the departure from their usual over-sharing, so Kayla doesn't press. The two sit shoulder-to-shoulder and chat about more trivial things. Kayla finds out about Sorley's journey through Johto and shares stories of growing up in Pewter in return. A decent number of people wander over to check out Sorley's table. They're… maybe not the best salesperson, but they're talkative and likeable, so people buy small items and willingly accept business cards. Kayla watches Buneary push Charmander off the climbing structures several times and scrambles to intervene when Charmander starts throwing Embers in retaliation. They get lectured by a parent for endangering children and get kicked off the playground anyway. Buneary pretends to have nothing to do with it even as Kayla lectures her. Sorley giggles in the background throughout it all.

---

Jordan reaches behind a cluster of boulders and drags out a reluctant seventy-pound pile of blue vines. Sitting himself down on one of the lower rocks, Jordan spins her around to face him. "Time for a haircut! Wanna help, Kay?" He holds up two of her longer vines and wiggles them in his friend's direction.

"Uh?" Kayla rolls onto her stomach and props herself on her elbows. "You're cutting-? Nope. No way."

"Aw, come on, why not? Jeez, Tangles, look at this mess. No wonder you were tripping so much on the way up..." Jordan tugs on a few overgrown sections and grimaces to himself. Tangela notices and shoots him a dirty look.

"She doesn't look happy about it, and I'm not gonna get close to somethin' that can tie me up and leave me to die." That lack of filter really isn't doing her any favors today.

Tangela and her trainer exchange a puzzled glance. Jordan shrugs. "Well, suit yourself, but-" he then makes a point of pulling out one of the longer vines, and snips off the section cleanly. "It doesn't actually hurt her or anything, she just hates sitting still for long." He casually tosses the cut tendril in Kayla's direction. Kayla yelps and scrambles sideways.

"It's- it's not really- can she still control that?"

Jordan snips off a few other sections and nods with a straight face. "Little known fact, Tangela are also part Ghost-type. These are her phantom limbs."

"Fuck you," Kayla says sullenly. Jordan bursts out laughing. Kayla sidles back over to the offcut and prods it with the toe of her boot. It doesn't move any more than she causes it to.

Jordan manhandles the reluctant Tangela as he rotates her left and right, cutting off any extra bits that are long enough to fall straight and touch the ground. Kayla continues to eye them suspiciously, but inches toward them whenever Tangela is turned away.

"There we go… all done! See, that wasn't so bad, right?" Jordan directs his question at both the now-perfectly-round Pokemon, who shakes her feet in both directions, and the somewhat-less-skittish Kayla, who shakes her head as if to clear it.

"She hasn't tied me up yet, so yeah. Fine. It's fine." Kayla braves the last few feet, finally making it within arm's reach of her friend. Not that he started out very far away. "Don't let her do it."

Jordan motions for Tangela to go play with the other Pokemon and puts his free arm around Kayla's shoulder. He is still holding some plant cuttings, which dangle near Kayla's arm. "Not interested in bondage, are we?"

Kayla splutters at him and realizes she can't think of a retaliation. Instead, she snatches the cuttings and throws them off the plateau. Silence reigns for a moment as they watch the vines bounce sadly down the mountain.

Jordan peers down. "Welp. Plenty more where that came from. So, what's next?" He plops himself down and dangles his feet off the edge. Kayla joins him, utterly defeated for the moment.

---

After a few minutes Kayla lay down, planting her elbows firmly into the rocky ground to support her hands. The pot shook slightly, just barely above Pepper's tail. Kayla's face being practically in the dirt was apparently not enough to stop her from running her mouth. Jordan only tuned in for the tail end of it.

"I think my wrists are going numb. It's probably that nerve in my elbows, right? The one that goes all the way through… oh, the ulnar nerve. Yeah. It's not nice. Jordan, this is getting really hard…"

Jordan giggled to himself, but decided not to elaborate when he saw Kayla's mildly scandalized expression. He stopped and cleared his throat. "Here, want me to help? You take a break."

"Yeah, lemme-" Kayla told the dirt. It took some creative maneuvering to shimmy herself back into a seated position without removing the pot from the flame, but she managed it eventually. "Alright, here."

Jordan clumsily reached around Kayla to grab the pot's handle. The pot was heavier than he had anticipated, and… he ended up dropping it directly onto Pepper's tail, which flared up in pain and surprise. The three vanished in a cloud of steam and smoke as the stench of burnt rice wafted across the campsite.

Making her way down the road, Vera noticed a makeshift campsite just off the beaten path. Now, normally she'd avoid such a place, especially when she hadn't been invited, but the cry of pain, the cloud of steam, and the smell of burnt food bothered her a little. She made her way over to the campsite, stopping a few feet away from the spectacle with her hands on her hips. "What's all this, then? And what are you doing to that poor Charmander?"

The scorched pot was on its side, with one of the culprits desperately trying to salvage bits of "clean" rice that had spilled into the dirt. His partner in crime was more concerned about apologizing to and comforting her Pokémon than the inevitable cleanup. She cuddled Charmander to her chest as she glanced toward Vera.

"Uh, hi Vera. We're tryna cook dinner! But I can't hold the pot up long enough."

Vera was dumbfounded at the explanation. "Hold the pot up… You're going to burn yourself, you fool. And your sleeve is on fire." Something about these two seemed familiar. Vera got the strangest feeling she'd ignored them before. The girl set the Charmander down with deliberation before frantically throwing herself on the ground to roll in the dirt.

The boy stood up and turned to face Vera. His face turned pink when he saw her, and as soon as he found his words, he immediately threw his friend under the bus. "Y-yeah, Kayla. I told her this was a stupid idea…"

Kayla, slightly charred but no longer on fire, pointed an accusing finger at her friend. "Ah?! And having a Grass-type hold a can over a flame was what, Jordan?"

"Shh! Shut up!" Jordan whispered back hoarsely, giving Kayla a shove. "Work with me here."

"What- this? This again? Ugh, fine." Kayla hissed before turning the volume up to address Vera. "Yes, this was entirely my idea and my fault, Jordan is the ever-present voice of reason in my life, I would have fallen off a cliff and died three hours ago were it not for his selfless intervention, this happens to me on a daily basis and Jordan is a saint to manage me."

Ignoring the heavy sarcasm in her voice, Jordan flashed a smile at Vera, but his blushing did not go away.

Vera sighed, at a loss for how hopeless these two were. "Clearly you need someone with experience in this area, or at least common sense. Do you even have a fire, or have you been making Charmander do all the work?"

"We lost our matches." Kayla offered from the ground. "But Pepper doesn't mind! He's got lots of energy to burn. ...Haha, burn. Anyway, we were doin' okay 'til… I dropped it."

Their story made sense, but not much. Noticing some tents and a couple others nearby, Vera surmised that an impromptu campground was being set up. Seeing an opportunity, she decided to make the most of it. "Fine, I'll help you. But you'll do as I say and I get a share of the food, understood?"

"Sure! What do we do first?"

Vera put a hand to her chin, thinking back to her childhood when her Dad took her camping in their backyard. "First we'll need a proper fire pit. If Charmander here doesn't mind being the flame…" she bent to pet Pepper's head, indulging in a slight amount of baby talk, "And being so helpful in making dinner. We need rocks. About three or four should do, enough to rest the pot on. So you don't have to hold it. Roughly the same size, so it sits level, and big enough to fit the fire under."

Pepper preened under the attention. Kayla, even before Vera finished her instructions, made for the stream. "There's rocks over here! C'mon, Jordan, help me!"

"Right! Don't worry, Vera, we are on it. I'll uh, go with her in case she needs help carrying those back." Jordan bolted after Kayla. They hovered near the stream together, a mimed search for appropriately-sized rocks covering their hurried whispers.

"Right, how are you tryna to impress her and what d'you need from me?" Kayla asked, toeing a decent-looking rock out of place and gesturing at it inquisitively.

"Yeah, that one and maybe these two should be good. Okay, now pretend to struggle." Jordan whispered back.

Kayla let her fingers slip along the edges of the rock as she raised her voice. "This is a good one! Oh, man, this rock is super heavy! Jordan, can you get this one?" A muttered "can you get this one?" earned him a glare.

"Which, this?" Jordan's response was equally over-exaggerated. "Yeah, that's not a problem. I got it." They repeated the charade with the other rocks, and soon enough a nice ring of stones sat firmly in front of Vera and Pepper.

Vera watched them from a distance, already getting exasperated by their tomfoolery. But, she couldn't help but smile at how readily they followed her ord- er, instructions. She looked to the spilled rice, noticing how that was all there was in the pot. "So, we have rice. A wonderful base for a meal, but a little lacking on its own. What else do you have?" Her own bag was mainly trail food, not really meal material.

"Ah! Well, we did do a bit of… cooking before you got here." Jordan said brightly. Although he was fairly proud of what they managed to do with the materials they had earlier, after her initial reaction, he had a feeling she wasn't going to be quite so impressed. He and Kayla brought out the leaky cans they prepared earlier, and set them in front of a horrified Vera. "See, we got some tomatoes, and beans…"

"No. Just… no." Vera scowled at the cans. "Is that the best you have? Why are they leaking? What are they leaking? Never mind, I don't want to know." She let out a frustrated breath, composing herself. "Look, these hills are full of edible things. Nuts, berries, wild herbs, I don't expect you to find fish or anything, but… Just go forage something, I'll make this into a pilaf." She set the pot on the rocks, scratching Pepper's head as he got into position.

"Oh, and look for mushrooms, if you can. Get some protein in this meal. Just make sure they aren't poisonous, please. Actually, make very sure they aren't poison. Better safe than sorry…" She focused on the pot, coaxing Pepper to heat the water.

"Don't worry! Jordan knows basically everything about plants."

"Yeah, leave it to me! No one is dying from mushroom poisoning on my watch." Jordan lowered his voice as he turned to Kayla. "You know mushrooms are fungi, right?"

"Let me be colloquial, garden boy," Kayla muttered as the two made their way back out to the road.

---

The commotion drew Jordan out of his tent, now wearing curry-free pants and followed by two Skiddo wearing flower crowns. "Okay, just put Spirit to bed, he's sleeping like a log now. Thanks for taking care of him earlier, by the way." Jordan beamed at Gwen.

"Ah, at least one of your women appreciated your gift," Kayla teased before cooing at the Skiddo trotting to her. "What a handsome accessory, Parsley, you look so good!" Parsley stuck a tongue in her armpit. "Ew, no, don't do that."

Jordan rolled his eyes. "Yes, ha-ha. Let's take a picture later and send it to Vera to show her what she missed out on," He appraised the crown on his own Skiddo's head. "Gotta admire the craftsmanship, though, who knew Tangles was so handy with her vines." Kayla made a disgusted noise, possibly because of the bad joke but more likely because of the tongue in her face. Jordan cleared his throat, and tried to change the subject. "Anyway, what's this about the masked dudes?"

"More people ran into them, apparently." Bruno answered.

Kayla nodded, gently pushing Parsley's face away from her own. "That's five of us now. There must've been a lot of 'em."

---

After the morning's… incident, Vera found her way to the gift shop. She scanned the shelves for anything she deemed useful, growing steadily more disappointed as she did. Ceramic mugs, t-shirts, decorative tapestries? While those were admittedly cool, she doubted anything would actually help in the cave. Maybe one of those blankets, but they were so expensive. How did tourists afford these?

She vaguely took note as the bell on the door jingled and a conversation made its way into the dusty shop, but she recognized the voices almost instantly.

"-not going to buy any clothes until we get to Saffron-"

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

Vera ducked behind a nearby postcard stand. It was those two from the camp! Kayla and Jordan! She peered out from behind the stand to be sure, hiding again as the door shut behind them.

"The quality of material is vastly inferior. And itchy."

"Not really in a position to be so picky, but whatever."

Kayla's unnecessarily heavy sigh tinged with concession preceded a short sneezing fit. "Hey, am I allergic to dust?"

Jordan sounded mildly annoyed. "How would I know… hey, wait a minute..."

Vera slowly moved away from the postcards, looking for a way out. What are those two doing here? She thought to herself, panicking slightly. I thought they were camping! And why does this shop have to be only one room?

"It is Vera! Hi Vera! … hey, why are you pressed against that shelf?" Jordan spotted her first, and started making his way over to her. Kayla waved vaguely, navigating the clutter to inspect a rack of shirts.

Now that she had been spotted, the only thing Vera could do was try to save face. Or bolt for the door, but she'd call that "plan B". She pretended to look at the shelf in front of her, grabbing the first thing she could.

"Oh, hello Jordan. I was just getting a better look at these… snow globes?" She was baffled by their very presence, putting it back. "I don't think they're for me. In fact, I haven't found anything that fits me in here, so I should just go." She backed away, almost tripping over a decorative rock.

Kayla started giggling from across the store. "Didja see these shirts, though? They're pretty good."

Vera scowled at Kayla, taking her giggle personally. "Yes, of course you would like those."

"Yeah! They're cute!" Kayla flipped through the selection. "Well, some of them. You don't think so?"

"Well… I…" At a temporary loss for words, she cautiously approached Kayla. She didn't seem angry at her. She actually seemed more interested in the shirts. "Some of them aren't bad, I guess…"

In truth, most were rather ugly. And many had absolutely awful puns on them. They were the most kitschy tourist fare she'd ever seen. "They're just… not my style. Do you really like this one?" She pointed at the shirt in Kayla's hands.

Kayla grinned and murmured, "Nah, not this one. It's going in Jordan's backpack soon as I get a chance." Returning to a normal volume- though a rather dramatic tone- she continued: "Jordan says I need more shirts and who am I to argue with his wisdom, really?"

Vera actually snorted, covering her mouth to restrain her laughter. It was such a childish joke, it could only be Kayla and Jordan, still up to their usual tricks. Suddenly, she felt silly for ever being concerned. Kayla wasn't mad at her, or she'd forgiven her. Now she regretted hiding from them.

"They're reasonably priced, unlike the shirt you ruined, and… of decent quality, for the cost," Jordan looked through the clothing racks as well, holding up an ugly brown shirt to measure it against Kayla's chest. Kayla sighed.

"If I have to buy only 'decent' quality clothes, they're at least going to be fun." She inspected what Jordan was holding and read: "'We lost Grandma in Rock Tunnel'?"

---

"Wait, wait, put that down for a second," Kayla demanded, pulling out her phone. "And get up, both of you. We're gonna get a nice picture together before you get grease all over that shirt." She shouldered Jordan, urging him out of the booth. The boy gave a frustrated sigh and opened his mouth to respond, but changed his mind. He wiped his face and fingers on a napkin before standing up. "Fine, let's get this over with."

"C'mon, Vera, real quick! And take off that jacket so we get the shirt in."

"Wait, photo?" For some reason, Vera hesitated. She wanted to refuse, like Jordan had, but they both looked so hopeful. "I… guess, fine…" She slipped out of her jacket, feeling oddly exposed. "Uh… where should I stand?"

"Here, go in the middle, 'cause I'm taller but Jordan fluffs his hair up for another inch, so if you're in the middle it's more symmetrical," Kayla said, positioning herself on Vera's left. "Jordan, squish in. And smile!"

Vera had several objections to being in the middle, but before she could voice any of them, Jordan rushed in, and Kayla lifted the camera. Despite how awkward and nervous she felt, she instinctively smiled. (She looked sad in photos if she didn't smile.) Kayla tapped the button three or four times in quick succession and brought it back down for a quick review. "Oh, this one's great!" she said, grin just as wide as it had been for the camera. "We're so cute."

Kayla turned the phone to Vera and Jordan. The whole situation made Vera blush as she looked at the picture. "Yeah, it's…" It was actually one of the better pictures of her she'd seen. It looked genuine, an actual snapshot of a moment, not some fabrication. "...nice."

Jordan looked really pleased with the picture as well. "For the record, I do not fluff up my hair to be taller… but yes, this is very cute."

Twin chimes from either side of the table sounded as the three slid back into their seats. Vera checked her phone and saw Kayla had sent the picture to her. One corner of her mouth tugged up in a half smile as she looked at it.

Eleanor · Mar 23, 2020

Yeah I tried :p
This is more of an attempt at writing in a different style than usual, and getting more into this side character!

September 15th, 2013

Dear diary,

as you know, I've always been a bit shy. I wanna be a good friend when I meet new people, I wanna have fun with them. But it's hard, because of what my parents keep telling me and because of things that happened to me in the past. You already know, right? Like, don't let people take advantage of you, don't let them endanger you, etc.
This morning it was just the same. "Be good and be wary" I repeated, but it's difficult! Sorry if I mess up. You know I try my best.
So here's how it went!

So this morning I got to the doorstep and saw it was open. But I hesitated before going in, trying to make sure it was the right room. Then I went in and looked at all those new faces, and realized I'm the only blonde! Not kidding. Anyways I was looking around to find a spot when a girl comes up to me before anyone else. And she said: "Hello, I'm Arianne! Nice to meet you."

So kind of her, right? So I went and sat right next to her, like she wanted. I introduced myself and said hello to her friends too, but I mostly talked to Arianne - or Ari, for short.
First, you should know that her hair is as black as mine is blonde (super contrast!), and it was made into two cute ponytails. Second, this Arianne girl was wearing nothing but a heart pendant, a pink summer dress, and white sandals. I looked around and saw that her friends were also wearing dresses, flowery clothes, tops… and I was like "how's that allowed?"
But when I left school I realized why. Now that I'm here I need to get used to the heat.

When the teacher came in I had to introduce myself to everyone. Sounds easy because you just need to say "Hi I'm Serenity and I'm from Kalos", right? But… there were all those eyes on me… it wasn't easy, believe me. At least Ari was cheering me up from her seat.
And at least everything was normal again after that, with the usual beginning lessons you do on the first day of a new school year. More people came to talk to me of course, but I mostly stayed with Arianne.

She especially wants to know more about Kalos, about my hobbies, yadda yadda. I've told her about skiing, or playing the piano, but she still doesn't know about you. We made a pact, right? Only the worthy know! But still, I've always tried to remember that thing about being wary, so I haven't opened up much. This makes me sad that I need to always focus on this, even when Ari is so kind to me, but I feel like it has to be done. Tomorrow I'll let you know how it goes too, and we'll find out who this Arianne girl really is one day. Trust me!

- Your Serenity ♥

moon · Apr 1, 2020

Chapter 5: Lavender Town, part 1
May 23rd (Thursday) - May 24th (Friday)

Spoiler:

Lavender Town is a place of contrast. As you enter it, you will notice that most residential buildings look to be a century old if not more, yet they have odd details that definitely have to have been put there within the last few years. Solar panels on old rustique roofs, digital streetsigns above worn down cobblestone roads, and people in quite traditional Kantonian clothing walking around with electronic headgears and holographic smartphones.

It used to be a very small town, and it was essentially said that the only people who ever moved to Lavender, came there to - bluntly put - die. This was crude, but not entirely wrong, considering the vast Pokémon Graveyard that lies at the eastern edge of the town. The Graveyard has been expanded again and again and now covers a few acres of land, with the oldest graves being unmarked and reportedly very haunted... Some of Lavender's inhabitants claim that the Graveyard's tradition must continue and be protected at all cost, else the spirits will be upset. And not only that - outside of the eastern edge of the graveyard, where the lower northeastern stretches of the Rock Tunnel mountain range reaches down, there are tales of strange tunnels and buildings, very similar to the remnants of the old civilization found deeper in Rock Tunnel. However, these ruins seem to not always appear. Almost as if they were mirages, or stuck between two worlds...

The contrast, then, is the recent influx of younger inhabitants, mainly engineers and machinists from Saffron and Pallet looking for work and opportunities. When the old Power Plant to the northwest was reawakened by a young prodigy inventor, Lavender Town suddenly became a town capable of producing astounding amounts of electricity to power industry. Very soon, big companies from Saffron, including Silph Co, built new factories there, and the road between Lavender and Saffron became heavily trafficked by industrial transports instead of the calm route for aspiring trainers to capture wild pokémon and train on, that it used to be. Naturally, a lot of people find this annoying. But many also welcome the easy quick way to get to the huge city of Saffron via communal vehicle transport. No pokémon are allowed to roam these roads or be used for transportation, for safety reasons.

But the clash between old and new doesn't end there. Back in the day, there used to be a Ghost Type gym in Lavender, situated in a big tower that used to be simply referred to as the Pokémon Tower. It's been retired for a couple of decades now, so when the inventor had started to get Lavender's budding industry going and done his best to implement his experiments and inventions into the lives of the common Lavender-inhabitant, he found himself a new goal - to become the new gym leader of Lavender and put the town back on the pokémon map as well as the economical map. He started an Electric Type gym. However, the granddaughter of the Pokémon Tower's last gym leader disagreed with the new direction her hometown had taken, and challenged him in defiance. She is currently running an unofficial Dark Type gym based in the refurnished Pokémon Tower, and there is essentially a gang war going on between her loyalists and the official gym's followers.

As if this wasn't enough, there are frequent rumors, mainly among the Dark gym's loyalists and in corners of Saffron City, about questionable ways in which the inventor managed to accomplish this much in only a couple of years. Some theories, officially declined as conspiracy theories, suggest that he never actually got the Power Plant working properly, and that there instead is an immense force generating all this power, and that the inventor somehow just trapped it... In less than humane ways.

What is true?
What is best for Lavender?
Maybe you can help decide.

WHAT TO FIND HERE
- Two pokémon centers where you can always heal your pokémon for free and use the computer at. You can also borrow a room for the night here. One is situated close to the Electric gym in the western part of town. The other is situated on the eastern edge, just nearby the Pokémon Tower and the Graveyard.

- Quite skeptical townfolks as well as overly friendly ones, from all age ranges. Most seem to half-secretly hate one of the gyms and love the other. Some are more open about it...

- ... and thus you can find what can only be described as thugs, fighting an underground street war in the town. It's not uncommon to have to walk carefully in the nighttime to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between the clashing factions.

- A Pokémon Tower in the east. It has many floors, most which are unused. The first floors make up the unofficial Dark Type gym.

- An Electric Type gym in the west.

- A road leading up to the northwestern Power Plant. You'll get stopped by many security guards with threathening pokémon before you can get close, however.

- All kinds of odd electric or digital inventions and solutions that look haphazardly slammed onto otherwise very traditional looking buildings and streets. Must be jarring for a first time visitor.

- Wild pokémon! More below.

EVENTS

PICK COLORS: Nighttime between Thursday (23rd) and Friday (24th) / MANDATORY
- For some reason, you're up a bit late. You stumble into a gang fight. You're forced to pick a side! Dark Gym Loyalists, or Electric Gym Followers?

- Reward? You become one of them, and get a special emblem (looking like the respective type symbol) to either wear proudly or hide and only show when you need to prove your allegiance.

- Alternative 1? Run away. They'll ignore you but remember you, and it might not be pretty for you next time they see you... Either of the gangs.

- Alternative 2? Fight both gangs. You'll lose. They'll rob you of one of your key items (like TMs or evolution stones), but you'll be able to go to the gym leaders and complain in the morning and get something for the trouble.

GRAVE ERROR: Any day / OPTIONAL
- If you visit the Dark Type Gym in the Pokémon Tower, a trainer there will ask you to traverse the Graveyard nearby and capture a wild ghost pokémon for them, a very specific one: Rotom!
Problem? It seems to live in the mirage ruins... But the trainer offers you a frankly ridiculous sum of money if you pull this off.
Problem 2? There are rumors of a legendary dark or ghost type living there as well... It could be a dangerous mission.
Problem 3? Only 1 person will be able to do this and get the reward! Or, split it, of course, but then I will let you know when your character won't be able to buy more lavish things later on.

- Reward? A shitload of money - essentially, your character will be able to buy any item I say is for sale for the rest of the RP. Unless you split the reward between several trainers.

- Alternative? You keep the Rotom. There's only 1. Careful though, the legendary pokémon might notice that it's favorite little pet is gone from the mirage ruins and come after you at some point during the journey..........!

POWER CHORE: Any day / OPTIONAL
- If you visit the Electric Type Gym in the Pokémon Tower, a trainer there will ask you to sneak into the Power Plant with them as they suspect something is not right and that their leader has not been entirely truthful. It's probably a very very bad idea if you've earned the Electric Follower emblem already... As you'll be branded a traitor if you're found out.

- Reward? I'll open up the Power Plant mini-chapter for you...!

- Alternative? You tell the inventor gym leader about his follower's suspicions and earn the leader's trust. Probably the traitor will get punished. You can do this route regardless of if you have the Electric emblem or not.

POKÉMON AT THE GRAVEYARD
Hover for movesets. All are approximately Lv 12-14.

POKÉMON AT THE HILLS WEST OF ELECTRIC GYM / SOUTH OF POWER PLANT
Hover for movesets. All are approximately Lv 12-14.

LAVENDER TOWN OFFICIAL GYM: Electric Type

The gym looks very extravagant from the outside, with shiny neon lights, solar panels and cables coming to and from it not even being dug down. It is a several story building that keeps its lights on all day and all night like a shining beacon of the future for all of the town to see - it can even be seen all the way from the Pokémon Tower. Inside are very modern corridors and open areas, with some living quarters, some workshops where the inventor stores his experiments and machine junk, and several hyper modern arenas for gym battles!

The leader's name is Beaumont and he is only just 18 a few months ago, yet he managed to change Lavender Town so completely before that. His personality is upbeat, somewhat scatterbrained and distracted, but always cheerful and almost nonchalant at times.

His most trusted partner is a Heliolisk, but he has several more pokémon he uses for gym battles. In battle, you are allowed to use all of your pokémon while he uses 3. No items are allowed, but switching in and out is allowed freely.

Regardless of if you win or lose, Beaumont will report back to professor Palm afterwards with his review of you!

The gym is situated inside the renovated lower floors of the old Pokémon Tower. The tower is very intimidating from the outside, tall and made of stone with pokémon gargoyles decorating it here and there and few windows. Inside, it is dark and maybe not extremely well ventilated. But there are some living quarters, offices, restrooms and on the bottom floor an arena for "gym battles" which is quite plain but will do the trick. At least there are lights to turn on.

The leader's name is Jarmie and she is only 16 years old. But very angry and determined to get Lavender back to its roots and prove herself a better gym leader than the obnoxious electric boy. She carries herself with style and arrogance, but is very intelligent, which her loyalists know and admire. She also isn't at all cruel, mostly just bitter at how things have turned out.

Her most trusted partner is a Weavile, but she has several more pokémon she uses for gym battles. In battle, you are only allowed to use 2 pokémon, and so is she. No switching out is allowed, so choose your pokémon well. Luckily, Jarmie reveals to you in what order she will use what pokémon, beforehand. Tidbit: Jarmie likes to play music during her battles. She often lets the challenger pick, unless it turns out she hates your taste.

Regardless of if you win or lose, Jarmie will report back to professor Palm afterwards with her review of you! Even though... it doesn't count... Since she's not an official gym leader. She'll call him up anyways and since he's a complete doormat, he'll listen.

Eleanor · Apr 1, 2020

Butterfly effect
🍀🍀🍀
Arianne and Aberdeen
Rock Tunnel - Day 4 - May 23^rd

Joint post with Skywalker

♫ - Pokémon Diamond Soundtrack - Route 210 (Night)
And so the trio crawled into the darkness. Archaeologist Niels, of course, lead the way and climbed down a series of outcropping boulders into the side tunnel, before helping out the two younger trainers in their descent. Deen squeezed in ahead of Ari, but he didn't reach out to steady her or anything. Perhaps he was just eager.

In that spot, the rocks were almost creating a staircase… a steep, slippery, crooked staircase, that luckily soon ended and lead into a relatively flat and muddy cave floor. Not more than a meter away, the water flowed away from the pond into a swift creek - but by now, it was hard to see where it was if not with the help of a flashlight… or, in case of Arianne, Lulu. The girl, in fact, called out her mushroom Pokémon as soon as she felt stable enough to do so, and she happily lit up the area with Flash as she perched on her trainer's arms.

Ever since they met, Lulu wanted for Arianne to at least appreciate Rock Tunnel, rather than only being scared of it. It was her home after all… and a good one at that, a peaceful shelter filled to the brim with water and plants. Plants that all Morelull and Shiinotic would help growing, in exchange for some of their nutrients. And, even though her trainer didn't seem to understand that, she was still staying inside the caves, exploring them with her and giving Lulu more time to try and change her mind.

The group slowly moved forward, with Niels as the lead and Arianne as the last in line. The cave exploration was surprisingly uneventful at first, with just a bunch of wild Pokémon roaming the area without bothering the trainers. The girl tried not to notice, but as she heard the cries of various Zubats and recalled what happened to her before, she started becoming more worried, and started to follow their movements more carefully.

The tunnel kept going and going deeper into the mountain, turn after turn, with various steeper sections along the way. Its section seemed to increase too, as the creek started to become bigger and receive water from other drainage basins. Lulu kept lighting up the cave all around her, highlighting the numerous boulders and vines half submerged in water and occasionally chirping. But some of the roots were also on the path, making it more insidious.

And of all people, Arianne was the one to trip on one of them. She fell to the ground with a yelp, nearly squishing Lulu in the process. "I... I can't move!" the girl exclaimed, feeling as if her ankle had abandoner her. And even after Lulu escaped her own trainer, Arianne couldn't get back up at all - meaning Deen and Niels had to stop moving forward and come to the rescue! Eric was called out almost immediately because of his Heal Pulse, as the group tried to either wash Arianne's ankle with the cold water from the creek, or find some better medical items to treat her.

But there was another problem: the root that Arianne had touched had just moved of a couple millimeters and now, due to the butterfly effect and the various Onix tunnels, the whole cave was more unstable. An earthquake happened in that moment and the tunnel collapsed entirely. Basically, they all died. I'm outta here folks <3

Arianne's ex-team:

Eric •

Mulan •

Alice •

Mizar •

Lulu

cmon rika we gotta change this ending! I'll just edit this post once our jp is ready hahaha 😍

Eleanor · Apr 15, 2020

This is just me trying to experiment with Courtney and her own first person - I just took an idea I already had for a little post about her and wrote this from it in a quite spontaneous way, or at least that was the objective! Whatever details I've added about Safari are not confirmed as IC canon, of course~

Courtney Nair

"Hey Safari Academy, I'm back!

You thought you'd won didn't you? Holding me back one year just when I so, so wanted to leave on my journey as trainer, smart move. But it's not over yet! I'm on my way to you yet another year, still on the deck of the same ship you oh so hated!"

Call me weird but shouting at no one but the sea still gets me. No one can really hear you and yet it feels like everyone in the world is there to listen. You can let out all of your struggles, issues, even insults… and there's no need to think them over and wallow in sadness. My dad will just think I'm using Teeter dance or something hahaha!

Speaking of issues, last year I wasn't so excited to come here and guess what happens? Yeah, held back one year. I wasn't the best student during my first year but I could still get decent grades and move on but… when I came back to Fuchsia to complete the second year something was a bit off, classes were more difficult and the other students didn't help either.

And so I returned to Cinnabar for the usual summer holidays with the worst case of long face syndrome ever. Was being a trainer really what I wanted to do, was I willing to go through all of those classes again, why didn't I do it right in the first place? And I was told, there's no clear yes or no but a scale of "surely", "maybe", "I wouldn't mind", "heck no". What.

Basically I'm not aware of how much my head is sturdy until I bash it against different walls. Great analogy Courtney. Knowing this, I kept thinking about my future but in a different perspective until I decided I was going to try it all again. And so here I am, travelling to Fuchsia for the third time in my life.

Oh, but this time, as I said, I'm ready to give it all - for real. I now know what giving it your all means and I'm sure I can make it happen. I even shout it as I wander around this deck, and even the Wingull answer back to me! That's some good encouragement!

I can't hide the fact that I'm still very excited for the beginning of my third year at the Academy, mostly because it feels like a fresh start all over again. I'll have different classmates for one, and even if I already know their faces a bit it's still going to make a difference. I was told that even my roommate is going to be a different girl.

What is still the same as last year then? Going to Fuchsia on this boat, having my father aboard (he helps to conduct this thing), having the same usual supplies in the same usual bags and black suitcase, lacking variety in my cosmetics. Not like I'll need them much as I'm... s-spicy hot by nature. Hah!

***

I can finally see Fuchsia clearly, there's the beach there and the Academy further behind and the forest and everything. Hehe, I spotted it right away this time! And this makes me think… I know, I see the light now, I just need to focus on what matters right now. Which is completing all these classes and become a proper trainer. And make my mom and dad proud, finally. They deserve it for the money they keep paying to this school, they deserve it for all they teach me, they deserve it for their love and support.

Do I already know how good of a Trainer I will need to be? Well no. Guess I'll just try to be better than any other trainer I find because I think that's how it works in tournaments anyways. And to do that I need to just realize just how strong they are don't I? Like without bringing them down with stupid excuses but getting above their level. Sounds all philosophical and Serenity-ish, whatever. All I know is there's no limit to how good you can be as a trainer. Even I, Courtney, will become a Gym Leader if I want to.

And now would you look at that, it's time to get off. So much time spent thinking and rambling at no one, but now it's time to meet some other people. I can finally get down from the ship as my father and the rest of the crew get ready to load some goodies for Cinnabar Island's shops. I can walk on Mainland Kanto once again, just like the years before, with all of my most important things following me wherever I go.

Finally I reach the Safari Academy, get settled in my new dorm room, and reach the class for the first lesson of this new school year. As confirmed it just feels so weird to be a- how do they call me again? Leftover? Baaah, that's not a good sounding name. But so far it's not causing many problems, not until the first break happens.

That is when this one tiny girl from the first year class comes up to me of all people. I can already predict what she's going to ask and I know it's nothing good.
"Was it you on the deck of that freight ship?"

Courtney's team:

Magby •

Shinx • ???

Groc · Apr 30, 2020

Bonnie, Sapphire, Iggy
Chapter 4 - Omake
Lavender Town Pokémon Center, May 23rd

After a long journey through Rock Tunnel, Vera went straight to bed, too tired to even think about what lay in store for tomorrow. Thanks to the wonders of modern science and medicine, her Pokémon were fully healed from the trials of the Tunnel, and had a few quiet moments to reflect on tomorrow's challenges.

"Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!" Iggy chases his own tail in a circle. "Isn't this exciting? Are you excited? 'Cuz I'm excited! I've never been so excited! Well, except for the time when Vera jumped off that ledge in front of me and I was like 'Hello friend!' But really, what could top that?"

Sapphire sits on a pillow nearby, watching Iggy with distaste. Bonnie kneels beside her, her head bowed and her club held across her lap. Sapphire lets out a haughty "Hmph!" as she grooms her ears.

"Honestly, Iggy, I don't see why you're getting excited. You probably won't even see the Gym, let alone fight the Leader."

Iggy stops his spinning, sitting down and panting excitedly. "Aww, you don't know that, Sapphy! I'll bet Vera needs my help with something in there! Like when I found Jordan back in the tunnel! Or when I led the way to Rock Village!"

"Oh-ho, darling..." Sapphire scoffs, halting her bath to fix Iggy with a pitying look. "You have literally never performed as requested or even expected. You're a chronic underachiever, and the fact that you're still so chipper and hopeful may just be your only redeeming quality."

Iggy tilts his head to the side with a smile. "I don't know what all those words mean, but it sounded like you just called me the best. I'll make double sure not to let Vera down!"

Bonnie tries not to laugh, her helmet obscuring her grin but making the snort she can't contain more audible. Sapphire rolls her eyes. "You shouldn't encourage him, Bonnie dear, he'll only get himself into trouble."

Bonnie sighs, removing her helmet and setting it beside her. "I think Iggy still has a few surprises for us. He just needs some time. He's stronger than you give him credit for."

"Oh, please, darling, it's an Electric-type Gym. You're clearly our ace in the hole."

Bonnie nods, conceding that point. "You're no slouch either, Sapphire. You might even be stronger than me."

"No no no, dear." Sapphire laughs, preening just a bit under the praise. "I am a sophisticated lady, not a warrior like yourself."

Iggy can't sit still any more, jumping and running around the other two. "Yeah! You two are gonna do great tomorrow! And I'll be cheering you on the whole time!" He nuzzles up against Bonnie, but before he can do the same to Sapphire, she unsheathes her claws with an audible *snikt*.

She stares at Iggy, her wide eyes and sunken irises giving her a crazed, dangerous look. "Fighting's not really my thing, darling, but I'll rip you to pieces if you touch one hair on my head. Are we clear?" She smiles sweetly, which doesn't make her look any less intimidating.

Iggy doesn't pick up on her threat, chuckling happily. "You're so funny, Sapphy!"

Bonnie shakes her head, smiling coyly at Sapphire. "A 'sophisticated lady', huh? There's more warrior in you than you think. I saw you fighting those Aron."

Sapphire glowers at Bonnie, her tail lashing in irritation. "Yes, I saw you during that fight as well." She puts her paw to her forehead dramatically, overacting the part of a damsel in distress. "Oh, Spirit! Come fight by my side against these overwhelming odds!"

Bonnie is taken aback, struggling to find words. "Wha- uh... w-we made a good team! A-and don't forget Pepper was there, too!"

Sapphire giggles into her paw, relishing the moment. "And afterwards, when you two were cuddling by the rocks? Did you 'make a good team' there, too? Oh-ho-ho, Bonnie, you're blushing!"

Bonnie puts her helmet back on to hide her face. "I'm not! Let's get some sleep! We have a big day tomorrow!" She lays down quickly, facing away from Sapphire.

Sapphire grins as she lies down and curls up. "Yes, of course. I am rather tired, I suppose."

"I'm not!" Iggy replies happily as he sits on his pillow. "Don't worry, girls! I'll stay up all night to make sure you stay safe and get all the rest you need!"

From the nearby bed, Vera rolls over, having been half woken up by the conversation. "Ha... Pokémon make cute little noises..." she mumbles, before falling back to sleep.

Ninetales · May 19, 2020

Amika Callisto

Cerulean City
Age: 14
Gender: Female

♡

Theme song:

Wish Upon A Star

"The sky sure is gorgeous out tonight." Amika commented, as she squinted through the slate grey telescope and observed the pearly white crescent moon.

"Yip! Yip! Ruff!" Her companion barked in agreement, wagging his tail as he gazed excitedly at the moon. Truthfully, Comet wasn't quite as enthralled with the sight of the moon as his trainer was, he was just gleeful to be in her presence.

The Rockruff hopped up and licked her face playfully, causing Amika to fall backwards onto the moonlit grass. She giggled as her pokemon pounced on her stomach before she sat upright and scooped him up.

She gingerly held him to the telescope, so that his large blue orbs could see through the lens. "See. This is a much better view!"

Comet began to lick the telescope's lens and Amika tugged him away before placing him on the ground. "Oh, Comet! That's so gross! What am I to do with you, pal? Hmm?" She rubbed his head, much to the rock-type's delight. He laid down, his back to the grassy terrain, and Amika gave him a thorough belly-rub.

Amika returned her attention to the sky sprawled out before her, the millions of stars twinkling in the night. From her current location, a grassy hill on the easternmost part of Cerulean, tucked away from the flashy lights of the city, she had a perfect view of the many dazzling constellations. It was a place that was considered sacred to her childhood friends, Coralie and Elliott, it was once their hangout spot that they frequented almost every day. Afternoons consisted of laying on the grass and rolling down the hill to see who could reach the bottom first - Coralie had always won. Nights were spent gazing intently at the vibrant sunset, observing the wispy clouds that coloured the horizon like splashes of pastel paint. Afterwards, they'd sit under the inky black sky, sometimes until the blood orange sun revealed itself once again.

Now, it was just her and Comet. While the Rockruff provided excellent companionship and was her trusted partner, she longed for her two best friends. Sure, she had made other friends, though those relationships weren't comparable in the slightest. They were far less intimate, less complex. The youngest Summers siblings were like no other.

Sometimes she brought her dad's old guitar, and hummed to a tune, her untrained fingers creating mediocre melodies. She liked to imagine that her songs would cascade through the hills and would reach the ears of her friends, no matter how far they travelled.

Sometimes she regretted not following their footsteps, not pursuing the adventurous life of a trainer. Yet, she felt uncomfortable spreading her wings. For the time being, Cerulean was her home, it was her safe haven. Her time would come. She didn't know when, didn't know where it would take her, but she knew that she would find her way.

The future was unpredictable, it was ever-changing like the wind, or that was what Amika had always believed. Coralie had a different approach, she sought to control her destiny, to pave her own path in life and to not wait around for others to do so for her. Elliott adhered to a similar philosophy. Amika admired her friend's sheer ambitiousness. Unlike her pink-haired bestie, Amika was the sit and wait type. She felt as if she observed the world change around her whilst she changed little in her own life. Constancy was something she deeply appreciated. Change felt threatening.

Thus, for now, she was content where she was. She devoted herself to her studies and spent her free time researching and admiring the constellations. Astronomy was her passion, there was something she liked about the idea of her existing as a tiny being amidst a gargantuan world. More than that, she found stars to be extraordinarily beautiful. They were like snowflakes, wherein no two stars were the same.

The most captivating thing, perhaps, was that all of life could witness the beauty of the night sky. Including Coralie and Elliott.

She knew that friendships were powerful. She was reassured to know that her friends were always under the same star-filled sky and that no matter where they managed to find themselves, their paths would cross once more, fate would reunite them at some point. It was simply the way of the universe.

Amika saw a flash of light streak across the sky. If she blinked, she would've missed it.

A shooting star.

Amika closed her eyes, her thick dark lashes tickling the orbit of her face as she did so.

Silently, she whispered a wish to herself, a gust of wind carrying it to the heavens above.

It was the way of the universe.

WizardOfOdd · May 31, 2020

Richard Wolstenholme
Richard's House, Saffron City, June 4^th (6 Years Before Main Story), Evening

Chapter 0 - 1
Warm Embrace in The Distant Past

"Liar!" Richard yelled loudly while trying to hold his tears.

"Richard! Please listen to me, sweetie!" Richard's mother desperately knocking on the door, worried about her only son.

"Open the door, Richard!" Said his father, while trying to calm down Richard's mother.

"Mom and Dad are both liars! I hate you both!"

"What should we do, Travis? He's not opening the door…"

"Don't worry, Anne. He's a good child, he'll listen to us… Richard, we just want to talk."

"Richard is not here, go away!"

"Silly child…" Travis chuckled before he continued his attempt to coax Richard. "Richard, you know both me and your mother have a sudden job to do, it's not what we wanted but you know that we can't leave our responsibility."

"But you've promised me… We're supposed to watch the World Championship together, you promised me since a month ago." Richard eventually broke into tears, much to the distress of his mother on the other side of the door.

"Geez, I've told you he'll be okay, Honey. How many times are you going to cry, we've done this so many times already." Said Travis, calming down his wife. "Richard, we're so sorry we couldn't watch the World Championship with you, but you know what? We think that both of us can take paid leave at the end of the week, so… If you want to, we can go vacationing together when we're done."

"Really? Can we go to the Battle Frontier, please?"

"Uh… I might need to take unpaid leave for that one… But, sure!"

"Yay!" Richard opened the door as swiftly as possible before he took a big hug of his father.

"Hey, you should also hug your mom, young man. She's almost become a sobby mess all thanks to you."

"Mom… I'm sorry." Richard hung his head, feeling sorry for his mother.

Anne shook her head. "Mmm… It's okay." She hugged her beloved child.

"Mom, It hurts…" Richard complained as her mother squeezed too hard in their hug.

"Ah, sorry sweetie…"

The mother and child shared a loving embrace, while Travis grinned widely on the sidelines. The family moment was interrupted however when they could hear noises coming from the stairs. The noise came from Celia, Richard's younger cousin. She rushed through the stairs towards the others.

"Uncle! Auntie! Daddy is waiting!"

"Ah, it's time to go! Thanks, Celia." Celia nodded happily. "Take care, Champ. Play nice with Celia, okay?"

"Bye sweetie, we'll see you soon!"

Travis and Anne shared one last hug with their only son before leaving. When they left, Richard smiled while waving at his parents, full of joy and expectation that they would spend time together on the weekends, little did he know that the conversation would be the last one he'll ever had with his parents.

Dragon · Aug 5, 2020

The Series! Ep. 1

Noel: Welcome, welcome, welcome my star-lit friends to our first episode of the Star Guardian Talk!! I of course, the elegant servant of the gods who watches over the galaxy thanks to her precious eye of the heavens, Noel Yukino, am your host for this woooonderful event!

Luna: Don't forget me! The small, cute, Luminary of the Stars... Ultra-Girl Luna!!

Amethyst: And um... I-I am... I-Iron Heart of the World Amethyst. I-It's nice to have you all with us!

All: In case you missed anything, let us fill you in! *Ka-zing!*

Amethyst: Wh-why do we add that *Ka-zing!* at the end?

Luna: It's a word that rhymes with anything! Rolls off the tongue too!

Noel: Here's what happened! Noel and Luna encountered Amethyst!

Luna: But it's going to take some time before she levels up into a super powerful goddess of the east!

Amethyst: W-wait! Since when am I a-aiming that far?!

Noel: With all our new powers combined, we were able to defeat the evil green dragons that threatens the kingdom of Ebishire!

Amethyst: E-Ebi-what now?

Luna: Just be sure to collect your 15000 hit combo achievement award during that boss fight, Amethyst!

Amethyst: When did I d-do that?!

Noel: Now our heroines have reached the ever-so fabled lost city of Lavender! Will our main characters find the sacred lost treasure to defeat the evil masterminds of doom?

Luna: But wait! It was a trap!

Noel: Oh dear... that sacred fruit we've eaten warped our hearts to turn us evil... ah, sorry Amethyst, looks like it's all up to you...

Amethyst: D-Don't pass this on me!

Luna: Next time, on Star Guardian Noel! Twisted Heart: The Great Demoness of Calamity Awakens!!

Amethyst: Hooooh... why did it have to be scary....

QueenNothing · Sep 4, 2020

Bethany Miller's Solo Adventures
Adventure No. 2

After her departure from Gwen's campsite, Bethany made her way to Lavender Town. Unfortunately for her, on her way to the Pokemon Center she got lost, finding herself in an awfully foggy graveyard at midnight, packed with tombstones of those who have fallen and dead trees. Bethany wasn't afraid of much, but it was hard to deny she was in the wrong place I'm the wrong time.

"KAW! KAW!"

The abrupt noise caused her to flinch, and quickly swung her head to locate where the noise came from. To her relief all, she could see was a Murkrow resting in the bare trees.

"KAW! KAW!"

"It's jist a bludy Murkrow Bethany, naethin' tae be sc-" She choked on her own words when the view in-front of her was completely eclipsed by a Misdreavus, placing itself uncomfortably close in her face.

"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISDREEEAAAVUUUUUUUSSS…"

"WAAAAAAHHH, BLUDY HELL IT'S A FOCKIN DEMON IT'S GONNAE EAT MY BLUDY INTENSTINES WAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" In a state of shock, Bethany ran as fast as a Raikou in the opposite direction she was initially heading, leaving her completely lost yet again. When she was no long in sight of the Misdreavus, the Murkrow in the tree flew over to the ghost-type, and both impishly chuckled in unison.

When Bethany returned to her senses, she continued to aimlessly roamed the seemingly twisting path in the cemetery, completely oblivious to a figure that tailed her, it's small body cloaked in shadows, making it impossible to see- Except a glowing eye that studied the Galarian trainer.

Bethany's fears seemed to be at ease, but this was no longer the case when-

"oooooooooooooooooooohhhh….."

She rotated her body, attempting to find the source of the deep, pained moaning voice. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't human.

"Whose there?" Bethany whimpered, still trying her best to not show any fear.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH……"

The noise seemed to grow louder, and Bethany thought she noticed something sneaking behind the graves.

"Sh-sh-shaw yerself!" Holding her hands to her chest, the Galarian trainer was shaking in her boots. There was no use trying to hide her fear.

The figure approached her from behind without Bethany noticing. It levitated its way towards her, noticing just how terrified she was. Curious about what it was seeing, all it could do was try to call out to this stranger.

"ooooooonedge…"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Bethany, her heart racing, fell to the ground, looking over her shoulder to see what had been following her.

She was expecting something much more intimidating than what she actually saw though, a broadsword with a thin, long, blue arm attached to the end of it's hilt, using the arm to hold a sheath with a face-like pattern. The singular eye that studied her was placed on it's rain-guard. It was a Pokemon she recognized.

"Oh, yer jist a wee Honedge." Bethany heavily sighed with relief, standing back on her feet and grabbed a Pokeball. "Yer comin' wi' me." All the Honedge did was blink.

Bethany tossed her Pokeball, releasing a white light that formed into an Eevee. As soon as she noticed the opposing Pokemon, Eevee tilted her head to the side, perking her ears up. Honedge blinked in response.

"Ee'ee, Baby Doll Eyes!" Eevee, resetting the position of her head, pleaded, her eyes looking more bright than usual. The Honedge drew closer, letting out what sounded like some kind of sigh.

"Noo use Bite!" Eevee, at the command of her trainer, pounced forward, landing on Honedge, used it's rain-guard to rest her upper legs, and began playfully chewing on Honedge's pommel.

The Honedge, mildly annoyed by this, managed to shake Eevee off of it. Before Eevee could land, Honedge used it's green glowing blade to slash at her. From the recoil, Eevee landed sliding on her feet, but was able to shake off the damage.

"Use Yawn!" Eevee opened her jaw to let out a yawn, followed by Honedge making a sort-of yawning noise of it's own, it's eyelid drooping. Not too long after, Honedge passed out on the dirt, snoring (?) softly.

Seeing this opportunity, Bethany tossed a Pokeball at Honedge, which opened up to convert Honedge into a light. The Pokeball shook once and made a clicking sound. Bethany, surprised at how little of a struggle Honedge put up, kneeled to pick up the Pokeball.

"Jist ye bide until ye become an Aegislash. Ah'll be unstoppable 'en."

Now that she had caught a new Pokemon and returned her Eevee, Bethany still had one problem in her hands; She needed to find a way out of the cemetery.

QueenNothing · Sep 6, 2020

"Krookodile is unable to battle!" The voice of a referee declared.

"UNBELIEVABLE! IZUKA'S MAGNEZONE WAS ABLE TO TAKE OUT KROOKODILE, ALANIS' SIGNATURE POKEMON, AND SHE'S DOWN TO HER LAST POKEMON! WILL SHE BE ABLE TO TURN THINGS AROUND!"

At the request of her sister, Gwen was given access to the front row seats of Saffron Stadium, able to get a close view of the action. Currently, she was nervously biting her nails, sitting at the edge of her seat watching her sister, Jennifer had one remaining Pokemon while being surrounded by a large audience of people cheering.

Jennifer was in the middle of it all, five of her Pokemon were down. Even if she would be at a disadvantage against her opponent, she had no intention of letting the audience or her younger sister down.

"ShellShocker, I choose you!" Jennifer straightened her crooked glasses, tossing her final Pokeball with all her might onto the dirt stadium, the Pokeball opened to release white light, forming into a Blastoise.

"ALANIS CHOOSES HER BLASTOISE AGAINST IZUKA'S MAGNEZONE!! BUT SHE'S AT A MASSIVE DISADVANTAGE HERE, WILL SHE BE ABLE TO TURN THINGS AROUND!?"

Jennifer didn't seem offset in the slightest. "ShellShocker, Rapid Spin!" ShellShocker withdrew his head and limbs into his shell, spun around in a circle to gain momentum, and used that momentum to charge towards Magnezone. The Magnezone used Discharge, releasing electricity in every direction from it's magnets. ShellShocker, however, right before Discharge could hit, popped it's leg out of its shell to spring into the air, and from it's cannons to launch an Aura Sphere, a powerful attack that can never miss.

The Aura Sphere collided with the Magnezone's eye as Magnezone was zapped by Discharge. ShellShocker screamed in pain while Magnezone was knocked back, landing into the ground.

"Magnezone is unable to battle!"

"WOW, INCREDIBLE! THANKS TO BLASTOISE'S SUPERB DEFENSES, HE WAS ABLE TO SURVIVE THE ELECTRIC-TYPE ATTACK! WE'D EXPECT NO LESS FROM ALANIS! ALANIS ONCE AGAIN DEFENDS HER TITLE FROM IZUKA, WINNING HER FINAL SAFFRON WINTER CIRCUIT, BECAUSE NEXT SEASON SHE'LL BE ENTERING THE NATIONAL CIRCUIT!!!"

The audience roared, and Gwen hopped out of her seat and onto the battlefield to throw her arms around her sister.

"YES! YOU DID IT JENNY! YOU'RE STILL THE SAFFRON CHAMPION! THAT WAS SOOO COOL!"

Jennifer straightened her glasses again and ruffled Gwen's hair. "Thanks champ! I wouldn't have been able to win without the help of my Pokemon, and when you become a trainer you better do the same with your Pokemon! Or else I'll…"

Gwen giggled under her breath. "Yeah yeah, I know." She interrupted. "Or else you'll kick my ass."

The sisters laughed in unison, but the laughing was interrupted by ShellShocker stomping his way over, giving the two sisters a bear hug.

"Say, y'know I'm getting hungry and don't feel like making dinner tonight." Jennifer proposed. "Why don't we order some pizza?"

"When do you feel like cooking?" Gwen chuckled. "But I'm not complaining, when do I not want pizza?"

-------------------------------

Gwen and Jennifer were at their apartment, lounging on a futon while watching TV. Gwen's feet were resting on a coffee table, right next to five boxes of pepperoni pizza Jennifer was able to pay for with her prize money. Gwen just finished her second slice, reaching over to grab a third. Jennifer placed her paper plate down on the table, indicating she wasn't intending to grab any more slices.

Jennifer was somebody who tried to look professional, reflected in her usual attire of polos and dress pants. She always kept her hair in a pixie-cut, although that probably wasn't because she wanted to appear professional.

One thing that stood out about her was her square-frame glasses and how they could never seem to stay straight, somehow getting themselves in a crooked position. It looked a little goofy, but seemed to suit Jennifer. She straightened her glasses again, and examined her younger sister who was now on her fourth pizza slice.

"Um, hey champ?" Jennifer tried calling out to her sister, but she seemed a little distracted by what was airing on the TV. Jennifer tried calling out again.

"Champ, can I ask you something?" Stuffing the pizza crust into her mouth, Gwen glanced over to her sister.

"Mph mhes mphet?"

"Could you chew your food first?"

Gwen took a second to swallow her food. "Sorry, what is it?"

"I was wondering...Did you make any friends at Cape yet?"

Gwen bluntly shook her head. "I don't wanna make friends. I just wanna learn about Pokemon. If I wanted someone to talk to, that's what I have you for."

Jennifer sighed. "You're right, we'll always have each other, and I'm really glad we do...But I really think it's important for you to make friends your own age."

"I don't even know how to talk to other people. How am I supposed to make friends?" The long-haired girl took a bite from her fifth pizza slice.

"Listen Gwen, I know things were rough for you when you went to school in Unova, and that's probably why talking to people is hard but... You're surrounded by kids who want to become Pokemon trainers too! They're not like the kids at Unova, you have something in common with them." Jennifer couldn't help but worry about the amount of pizza her sister was eating. "Also please don't eat all the pizza, y'know Krox gets really mad when he doesn't have enough."

Gwen popped open a soda can. "I didn't go to Cape to make friends, I wanted to learn more about Pokemon so I could be like you." She paused to take a few gulps of her soda. "The only times I've talked to people is when weird boys ask me out, this one time I borrowed some bitch's book and whenever I see her she yells at me to give it back, and this other time I got beat up. Doesn't really seem worth it to me."

Jennifer exhaled from her nostrils. "Alright then, how about this; When you stop by Saffron on your graduation journey, I want you to have at least one friend you made between now and then. Don't do it for yourself, do it for my sake."

"Oh yeah, and what if I don't?" Gwen crossed her arms pouted with an ounce of playfulness in her voice.

Suddenly Jennifer's face grew very grim. "If you fail my request, I shall never forgive you…" There was a moment of silence that was broken by a burst of laughter from the sisters. Gwen laughed so hard she shed a few years and rolled off of the couch. This was enough to interrupt Jennifer's guffawing.

"Oh Arceus, are you okay champ???"

Gwen sat up and wiped a few leftover tears from laughing. "Yeah, I'm more than alright. But because you asked, I'll have at least one friend by the time I get here on my graduation journey. I'd hate it if you never forgave me."

"If you can even remember to." Jennifer giggled a little more before ruffling Gwen's hair. "Say champ, we got two weeks together! Whaddya wanna do before winter break is over?"

While still sitting down, Gwen was bouncing with excitement. "Ooh ooh ooh! I wanna see the new Detective Greedent movie while it's still in theaters!"

While grinning, Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Jeez, there's another Detective Greedent movie? How many movies are there, like, 50 or something?"

"NOT true!" Gwen retorted. "There's ONLY 45 movies!" She seemed to lack any sort of sarcasm in her voice.

"Aren't you a little old for Detective Greedent anyways?" Jennifer teased.

Gwen furrowed her eyebrows. "It's NOT for little kids! Every movie, except for the 5th, 12th, 27th, and 41st movies, are ALL cinematic masterpieces, and even the cartoon itself is a work of art too, if you would…"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She was cut out by her older sister laughing to the point of being unable to breath. "I'm just-" She stopped to laugh some more. "No, I'm just kidding. Of course we can see it, let's go tomorrow."

Hearing this, Gwen sprung up with excitement. "OH THANK YOU SO MUCH JENNY, I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS I DON'T KNOW IF I'LL BE ABLE TO SLEEP TONIGHT!"

The sigh of her younger sister in so much euphoria brought another grin to Jennifer's face. She got up so she could throw her arms around Gwen, to which she responded by returning a hug of her own.

"I love you Jenny." Gwen seemed to be nuzzling her older sister as she said this. Once again, Jennifer ruffled Gwen's hair.

"And I love you too, champ."

------------------------------

Two weeks had passed, and to Gwen they were some of the most enjoyable two weeks she had enjoyed at the time. Getting to watch movies together, talking about battling strategies, going out to eat, and just spending time together were things always Gwen looked forward to during every major school break. When her winter break ended, as usual the two sisters promised to frequently call each other.

However, a month after Gwen went back to school, she heard news about the National Spring Circuit that came as a major shock to her

Jennifer lost the preliminaries.

This felt completely unbelievable. The winner of that round must have cheated, Gwen thought. She tried calling her sister that night to inquire more information. However, the strangest thing happened.

She didn't pick up.

This was also very strange. Jennifer almost always picked up. Curious but worried, Gwen tried calling again, still to no avail. This repeated throughout the day, and carried over to the following days, eventually becoming routine.

Jennifer had stopped picking up her sister's calls.

QueenNothing · Sep 9, 2020

October 15th, 2016

Today was my younger brother's birthday, and like every year, I decided to take a trip to my hometown of Driftveil City to visit him on his special day.

I've been living in Saffron City for awhile now, so it's quite the plane ride to get from Kanto to Unova, as you can imagine. Going back to Unova always makes me really nostalgic, but visiting my parents usually bitters the experience.

It'd be nice if Sasha, my girlfriend, could come with me, but I am NOT willing to subject her to my parents, and neither of us are really willing to have to explain what we have between us. I'd at least like to have my Pokemon with me, but my parents wouldn't appreciate having them out.

At least I get to see my brother again. He's turning 13 this year, and I only really know because we're ten years apart. I've never really bothered to ask why there's such an age-gap between us.

Before I arrived by my folk's place, I made sure to stop by the nearest game store to pick up a copy of Project Pokemon 5 for the PS4. My brother is a big fan of these games.

Eventually, I made my way over to my parent's apartment. Upon entrance, the first thing I'd expect is my brother running up to me, hugging my legs because he was too short to reach my body.

... Except he wasn't downstairs right now. Maybe he finally grew too old for that? Who knows?

"Jennifer! It's so nice to see you again!" My mom, wearing a polka dot dress and graying, medium hair, opens her arms. Reluctantly, I return a hug.

When she releases, she examines my button-up shirt I had matched with jeans and suspenders. Quite the look, if I don't say so myself.

My mom seemed to think differently. "Y'know, you're gonna have a hard time finding a man dressed like that."

Yes mom. That's the point.

Before I could really roll my eyes, I noticed my dad, in all his graying glory, approach me, wearing a suit and tie indicating he got off work not too long ago.

"Jennifer, how are ya? I haven't seen ya in like a year! Give yer old man a hug!" Similarly to my mom, I hesitantly hugged my dad. I couldn't help but notice he reeked of cigarettes, more than usual for him.

When I slid out of my dad's grasp, I had to ask about the Copperajah in the room; Or rather the Copperajah missing from the room.

"Hey, uh, where's…"

Before I could finish my sentence, my parents concerningly looked each other in the eyes before darting them back at me.

"Well, he's upstairs right now saying some ridiculous things about himself." Dad disappointedly shook his head. "He's having a phase."

Mom sighed. "Jennifer, I really think you should talk him out of this…" She pleaded as she put her hand on my shoulder. What she was saying had me a little concerned about my brother, but probably not for the reason they were worried.

"Good idea!" I blurted out. "I'll go check on him right now!"

One hike upstairs and a march through the hall later, I noticed the room to my brother's door was shut, not abnormal, but still concerning. I thought it'd be a good idea to knock on the door.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

There was silence. Might as well try again.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

There was a bit of a delay, but I could hear some kind of moaning noise.

"Leave me alone…" Is what I was able to make out of it.

"Hey champ...It's me Jenny."

There were a few more seconds of silence, followed by a "You can come in…" sounding as sorrowful as before.

I opened the door, and what I saw wasn't very different from my memory. A bunch of posters for Pokemon tournaments and gyms, posters of Pokemon in general, trophies for video game tournaments, a few Detective Greedent posters, a TV with a few video game consoles stacked on it, and right across from me was a bed with what I could assume was my brother facing towards the wall, with his long, black hair obscuring half of his body. I could hear gentle sobbing coming from him.

I thought it'd be a good idea to try to console him, and I sat on his bed, facing the opposite direction he was.

"Hey champ, how's it going?"

No response. This wasn't exactly my specialty.

"What's going on with mom and dad?"

The sobbing paused for a bit. "You'll think it's stupid."

"What? How do ya know that?"

"Because mom and dad said it was stupid. I shouldn't tell anybody."

Maybe I should try backing off on this? There was another moment of complete silence.

Why don't I try changing the atmosphere?

"Hey champ, I heard you're turning 13 today! You're growing up to be a fine young man, aren't ya?"

The sobbing picked up again, seeming to shift to a higher gear. Did I say something?

"Champ, what's the matter?"

My brother continued to cry for a bit, eventually coming to a halt.

"I'm…" He paused to sniffle. "I'm not a young man!"

I raised an eyebrow. This could mean one of two things, but one of the options in my mind seemed unlikely.

"Champ, we all have to grow up someti-"

"No!" He raised his voice to interrupt me. "That's not what I meant! I don't want to be a boy!"

"So then, are you saying…"

My brot- I mean, my sister nodded her head. "Yes. I wish I was a girl. It's stupid, I know, but it's true."

Well shit. This kinda explained a lot.

My parents haven't been very keen on gay people, hence why I've never really come out to them. I certainly can't imagine they reacted very well to their daughter coming out as trans.

"It's not stupid, champ. In fact, I have friends who are just like ya." I said, trying my best to make her feel better.

The moment I said that, she bolted up and faced my direction, revealing she'd been hugging a large Quagsire plush.

"There are people like me?" I could see her eyes light up as if I just sparked something.

I nodded, smirking a little to appear confident. "Yep! I know people who were boys that became girls and people who used to be girls and are boys now. It's certainly not stupid."

Judging by how she remains in awe, I think I've done a good job. "So...I can be a girl?"

"Absolutely!" I aggressively nod my head to try to get my point across.

"Wow, that's...that's incredible!" Her eyes begin to water, but it seems her tears are caused by joy rather than sorrow.

Oh! I should probably ask her something to make conversation less awkward later.

"Also champ, do you have a new name you'd like to be called?"

Looking very determined, she nods at me. "Yes! Call me Gwen!"

I chuckled a bit before I playfully ruffled Gwen's hair. "That's a very fitting name for you, champ!" She laughs as well.

As I'm having fun in the moment bonding with my sister, I'm simultaneously realizing that Gwen isn't safe here. I need to get her out of here. But who would be able to take care of her?

I think that responsibility might just be mine.

----------------------------------

September 1st, 2017

It's been almost a year since I visited my sister in Unova and gained custody of her. As much as I don't regret doing so, having to take care of a teenager can be kind of a pain in the ass.

I've had to buy food for one extra person as opposed to just me and my Pokemon. If I'm ever low on money I'm at least able to buy cheap Pokemon food for my Pokemon, but it goes without saying that kind of stuff isn't fit for a teenager. In fact, it seems she eats a lot, more than me, and definitely not as cautious of her diet as I am. I've been able to teach her to cook at least. She used to leave behind these massive messes, but she quickly was able to learn to be attentive towards that.

What I was really worried about was her clothing situation. Obviously, her old clothes weren't going to cut it, and having to seasonally shop for so many new clothes flet it'd be a financial nightmare. Fortunately, she doesn't seem very picky about her clothes, I'll just take her clothes shopping at a thrift store and she'll pick out the trashiest outfits, but loves them despite that. It's cheaper for me, at least.

By far the most unique thing about having to raise a trans teenager was hormones. As soon as I took her into my custody, I asked my trans friends what I should do, and they all seemed to agree that I should get her to start taking puberty blockers. I was able to find a clinic that provided that, and she's been on that since then, not having started hormone replacement therapy just yet.

Unfortunately, in the process of all this, Sasha and I broke up. Right before I took Gwen in, Sasha had been contemplating an offer to train for two years under some old guy who wrestles dragons or something. When I told Sasha I was going to get custody of my sister, she said she couldn't handle raising a kid and saw this as a sign that she should pursue training. I certainly don't blame her, raising Gwen hasn't been easy.

Right now, Gwen is leading me through the streets of Saffron, taking me to a burger joint that I said I'd pay for to celebrate her acceptance into Cape College. She's slowly memorized her way around the city, taking me somewhere that recently opened I wasn't very familiar with.

I'll admit, as hard as it's been to have another human in your residence, I'll miss her when she attends Cape. Hopefully she'll make some friends there, she doesn't really know anyone in Kanto besides me and probably some shop clerks, but it almost feels like my own child is moving out, even if she'll be back for school breaks.

As Gwen calls my name out upon arrival at the burger place, I see the excitement in her eyes light up, reminding me of when she first came out to me. I'm reminded of how she's been in a better place since that day, and soon enough she'll be surrounded by kids her age, and work towards her journey as a Pokemon trainer she's been looking forward to so much.

QueenNothing · Dec 1, 2020

Bethany Miller's Solo Adventures
Adventure No. 3

As she walks through the hallway to the battlefield of the Lavender Town gym, Bethany can feel her nerves stomach aching. She battled a few gym leaders in Galar, but those always ended up miserably for her. The sole reason she was in Kanto in the first place was because she heard the gyms were supposed to be easier, but it was impossible not to worry, especially with her humiliating losses a few years back.

After a bit of walking that felt longer than it actually was, Bethany enters the battlefield. It was average for most gyms, but tiny by Galarian standards. There were seats for spectators that had a small audience, which while nothing compared to what she was used to, could still potentially leave from for more audience mockery.

"Welcome, Miss Miller!" The man standing at the other side of the field greets, sharing a friendly smile. "My name is Beaumont Tayloz, and I'm the official gym leader of Lavender Town!"

"Shut yer mouth!" Bethany shouts. "Ah jist need tae git these ower wi'."

"My, such a rude demeanor!" Beaumont chuckles. "We wouldn't want Palm to hear about that, now would we?"

Bethany groans, and sends Vulpix out onto the field. Her Pokemon had no real type advantage against Beaumont, with the exception of Feebas' Mud Shot, but that was a secret weapon she liked to save for last. Examining the monitor, she notices the gym leader has a Magnemite, likely what he'd send out against an ice and fairy type.

"Go, Emolga!" To the surprise of the Galarian trainer, Emolga instead is sent onto the battlefield.

Whit!? Bethany thinks to herself, glancing at Beaumont grinning widely. Something isn't right here.

She stands still, waiting for Beaumont to make a move. After a moment of silence, Beaumont's smile widens. "We can start at any minute Miss Miller! But it seems like I'll just have to make the first move. Emolga, how about giving that there Vulpix a nice Nuzzle!"

On-command, Emolga jumps into the air to glide towards Vulpix, even doing a few loops in the process. Bethany notices her cheeks emitting static.

That's Nuzzle. Cannae lit 'er gie close.

"'Ulpix, Ice Shard!" Vulpix forms a sharp, ice crystal from his mouth which he quickly launches toward Emolga. The attack is too fast to dodge, and Emolga falls downwards from the super effective damage. The flying squirrel Pokemon, however, flaps her "wings" to stay airborne. Vulpix manages to land another Ice Shard at the electric-type, to which she flaps her "wings" again to stay in the air, however Emolga's trajectory changes. Rather than zipping directly towards the fox Pokemon, Emolga starts circling him.

Bethany averts her eyes over to Beaumont as Emolga seems to be stalling, noticing the gym leader's smile has completely vanished, and in its place was a completely cold expression.

Ah kent it.

Regardless of how fake Beaumont might have been, she needed to prevent Emolga from getting close and paralyzing Vulpix.

"Emolga, Double Team!" Emolga, still circling the ice-type, increases her speed, and creates the illusion that five Emolga circle above Vulpix's head.

"Thundershock." Lighting was angled downwards towards Vulpix, and the speed of the flying squirrel Pokemon made it hard to tell which direction it shot from. As he was struck by the attack, Vulpix winced and slightly recoiled.

"Nuzzle." Beaumont sees the opportunity to capitalize on Vulpix flinching, and the Emolgas zips directly towards him as her cheeks emit sparks.

"Nae ye dornt! Dornt lit them use it!" All five Emolgas latch onto Vulpix, and all but one of them vanish, hugging the ice-types neck. The flying squirrel Pokemon rubs her face into Vulpix's fur, however was taken aback to notice no electricity was coming from her cheeks.

In a state of shock, Emolga looks up to see Vulpix staring at him, his eyes glowing blue. Nuzzle had been disabled before it was even able to activate.

"'Ulpix, Hypnosis!" While Emolga stares into Vulpix's eyes, the ice-types eyes glowed pink, causing Emolga to nod off, slipping onto the floor as she's unable to keep her grasp as she sleeps.

"Icy 'ind!" Vulpix opens his mouth again, his breath transforming into an incredibly cold breeze, which Emolga is encompassed within. Vulpix continuously exhales, until they are interrupted by the AI referee.

Emolga is unable to battle.

Bethany looks up, seeing Beaumont's grin returning as he sends Emolga back to her Pokeball. "That was impressive, Miss Miller! Not only do you understand type advantages, but you can deal with speedy airborne Pokemon!"

"Enaw rubbish. Gie on wi' it." The blonde trainer harshly beckons. Beaumont only shrugs and tosses another Pokeball, which releases a Magnemite.

Thaur it is. As expected, Bethany returns Vulpix to her Pokeball, and decides to test something out. What's released in Vulpix's place is quite baffling, and gets a chuckle from Beaumont.

"A Feebas? Miss Miller, I thought you knew your type advantages, and of all the water-type you could send out, a Feebas?" He chuckles a bit more before ordering his Pokemon to attack.

Magnemite launches small, iron balls that target Feebas.

Magnit Bomb? Oan a water type? It becomes very apparent her suspicion is right, but Bethany haa little time to ponder the thought with the attack about to hit Feebas.

"Splash! Loch we practiced!" Feebas slams her tail fin into the ground, shooting herself into the air right above a singular iron ball. While Feebas falls, she hits a ball with her fin again, only launching herself further into the air, and continues to use every ball as a launch pad, making her way to Magnemite's level.

Feebas is slightly above Magnemite, and spits a large ball of mud angled downwards at the steel-type. Magnemite recoils, trying to float back to its previous position, but Bethany sees this as an opening, and commands a Scald from Feebas.

"Light screen." Beaumont calls out, to which Magnemite places a barrier around himself, preparing for the already ineffective attack. To his surprise however, rather than the Feebas shooting a Scald head-on while midair, Feebas rotates one eighty degrees, and shoots scalding, pressurized water at the wall, the force of the attack launching Feebas' entire body directly into Magnemite.

The impact launches both Pokemon into the wall behind Magnemite, with the steel-type being stuck in the wall, Feebas managing to hold onto the opposing Pokemon with her scrawny flippers. While at point-blank range, Feebas hacks up a Mud Bomb onto Magnemite, and uses her tail-fin to bounce off the steel-type, safely onto the ground.

Magnemite is unable to battle.

Bethany notices Beaumont's smile slide back onto his face as he returns the steel-type Pokemon. "That's some Feebas of yours! Impressive how you've trained it to this skill level!"

The blonde girl chuckles in her head, but still isn't fooled by the gym leader's facade. A gym leader should have given her hell, the Galar leaders certainly did. She knew Kanto's gym challenge would be easier, but not by this wide of a margin.

Beaumont sends out his final Pokemon, a Heliolisk. Definitely more stern than the one she saw in Rock Tunnel, but she had little expectations for it.

Heliolisk raises her flap, her head glowing yellow, and unleashed electricity that directed it's way over to Feebas. Feebas uses Splash to jump out of the way of the attack, and when she lands she repeats her previous move except uses all her might to leap high into the air. She arcs toward Heliolisk, landing in-front of the electric-type, and hacks up a Mud Shot before falling to the floor again.

Heliolisk gets hit by the ground-type move, but just barely recoils. She turns around and slams her tail directly onto Feebas, and is able to repeat the attack a few more times while the fish Pokemon tries to recover. Feebas is then nearly buried into the dirt, and Heliolisk unleashes a Thundershock onto her opponent at point-blank range.

Feebas is unable to battle.

Bethany returns her Pokémon, looking directly at Beaumont.

"We're two against one now Miss Miller! Let's see if you can finish this with your next Pokémon!"

"Nae." She bluntly states. Beaumont looks at the challenger, confused, but still trying to maintain his smile. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nae, ah willnae. Ah forfeit. Ah saw what ye did, ye want easy oan me."

"What are you-"

"Dornt act loch ye dornt ken!" Bethany barks. "Magnit bomb oan a water-type? Emolga against 'ulpix, instead ay Magnimite? It was obvious!"

Beaumont gives no answer, not even a grin.

"Pathetic." Bethany scoffs, turning around to head out of the gym. "It takes nae effort tae win here- Bet even a certain chav can beat ye."

[PKMN FULL] Trainers EXTRAS

More options

Aquacorde

⟡ dig down, dig down ⟡

Aquacorde

⟡ dig down, dig down ⟡

Aquacorde

⟡ dig down, dig down ⟡

QueenNothing

Groc

moon

moon

Aquacorde

⟡ dig down, dig down ⟡

Eleanor

Princess Era 🎀

moon

Eleanor

Princess Era 🎀

Eleanor

Princess Era 🎀

Groc

Ninetales

WizardOfOdd

Kirbmeister

Dragon

lover of milotics

QueenNothing

QueenNothing

QueenNothing

QueenNothing