Arcanum IC

[moon]

@ §acred†Beo!

Don't worry, you are allowed to make that short posts once in a while, as long as it doesn't become your standard post length ;) I'm posting the new chapter now, so you should make another post in Januvale instead of editing into your last post, if that was what you were planning to do. To make sure I see the edit :3

Dane was given a Panpour! (male lvl 11)


--

Chapter Two: Route 11

Setting: Route 11 is a place where bee farms are abundant. Combee is the most common pokémon in this area but most of them belong to a farmer so capturing them could prove risky. The landscape is lush and thick with small houses and gardens strewn here and there between Januvale Town and Feborough Town in the north. It's easy to understand why most heavy transports to Januvale go by boat rather than with pokémon carriages through this route.

There are lots of other bugs too, since Electrike are employed by the farmers to scare away birds who might hunt them otherwise. You can probably find some wild Electrike as well as many daring bugs who steal honey or live near the ponds. Some water pokémon also live near the many ponds that the villagers maintain.

Kids living in this area often collect, raise and battle bug pokémon for fun and when travelers with pokémon come through, the kids are eager to challenge them before anyone else does. There could also be other travelers on the road.


Story: As you finally step out onto Route 3 and turn your back to Januvale, someone is watching you go without you or your pokémon noticing. Joresh stands behind a tree at the edge of the town and watches you with narrowing eyes.

"Just... keep watch," he says to someone next to him, who nods and silently as the shadow sets off after you. You won't notice. Not yet.

Joresh sighs and turns back to the village where he has been living for so long. "Good luck," he prays.


Mission: When you have prepared to leave Januvale, the only real way to go is north through Route 11. You are free to catch pokémon, battle trainers of your own creation or make up adventures involving bee farmers or anything really. Pokéballs and potions can be bought at the small market in Januvale, but not advanced medicines. Stop posting when you feel that you want to reach the slightly larger and noisier town Feborough.

You shouldn't include the "story"-part in your own posts this time.

Your pokémon will earn experience from using their powers vividly and interestingly.
Battles naturally give more experience than other things, but still.

Pokémon available for capture: (Levels 9-10)
Their evolutions and prevolutions can be seen but are generally more rare and you won't manage to capture them.

Ledian
- Tackle
- Supersonic
- Comet Punch

Yanma
- Tackle
- Foresight
- Quick Attack

Mothim (male)
- Tackle
- Protect

Masquerain
- Ominous Wind
- Bubble
- Quick Attack

Lotad
- Astonish
- Growl
- Absorb
- Nature Power

Marill
- Tackle
- Defense Curl
- Tail Whip
- Water Gun

Electrike
- Tackle
- Thunder Wave
- Leer

Combee
- Sweet Scent
- Gust​

You must post at least once on route 11.

You may interact with the other players, but only via joint posting (a post that you create together, most often via PM forth and back).

You can't reach Feborough Town just yet, but you may go forth and back to Januvale if you wish.

​

 

[§acred†Beo!]

"No" his mother simply uttered while continuing to wash the dishes.

"But mom you do not understand! I have to do this, it's my destiny.. I'm sure of it!" Dane retorted back quickly, trying to stand up to his mother for once in his life.

"I will not allow it. You're destiny is to become a scholar, and become a successful scientist Dane" She snapped back. Dane hated that, he didn't want to be a scientist. He couldn't stand the idea of being stuck in some student lab or office somewhere, no he wanted to travel, explore, find new things, live.

"I'm sorry. That's your dream mother" he said with his head down... It hurt him a bit, because he knew that she wanted this for him, and he didn't want to disappoint her, especially since his father was gone.

"What do you mean my dream? I thought you wanted it to?" she questioned him. Realizing for the first time that maybe her son had other ambitions.

"My dream is something bigger, I know I'm smart and I thank you for pushing me to be so... but I can't keep reading history books, and looking at pictures of the world and not want to see them in person... I know dad... I know he wouldn't want me to either.. So I'm begging you, no I'm asking you as your son please let me do this"

"I never knew you felt like that... You are a brilliant kid Dane, you are your fathers child that's for sure... Have I ever told you what he did for a living?" his mother said starting to tear up a bit.

"No, I always just thought he was a trader, I never really knew exactly what that pertained to though" Dane said wondering for the first time in a while what it really meant.

"He was technically, I met your father when he visited Januevale years ago... he was an adventure, exploring Arcanum for rare and historical items... The moment our eyes met we fell in love, and he never this place... he just traded and sold all of the items he collected over the years" she said even more teary eyed, as Dane now realized that his spark for adventuring was in his genes.

"Mom I never knew that... I'm so sorry... I promise i'll be careful, and i'll be back you can count on it. Just let me go and see if that spark goes away" Dane said giving his mom a hug she desperately needed at the moment. After a few moments she backed away and rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"Fine i'll let you go son... Under one condition" she replied.

"Oh yeah? Whats that?" he asked.

"If you can beat me in a pokemon battle" she said laughing grabbing a pokeball from her shirt pocket.

"What in the world?!! Since when do you have a pokemon?!" Dane questioned seriously confused now.

"Well, who do you think helped me around the house while you were busy wondering off and doing homework... he doesn't have much battle experience but nether does your pokemon I'm guessing... So show me what you've got son" She said tossing a pokeball out revealing a shiny Mr. Mime.

"Woah a Mr. Mime? Mom that's really a sweet looking pokemon! However mine's better" Dane yelled back tossing out Vaporeons pokeball.

"Oh a Vaporeon, not to bad son... Mr. Mime use confusion!" she ordered as Mr. Mime raised both hands to chest level pointing them palms out straight at Vaporeon.

"Vaporeon, counter that with sand-attack!" Dane roared excitement flaring in his eyes as Vaporeon began kicking sand into the eyes of the Mr.Mime causing it to lose it's concentration.

"Mr. Mime regain your composure quickly!" Danes mother shouted.

"Now is your chance Vaporeon use quick attack!" he ordered as Vaporeon darted towards the Mr.Mime who was still wiping sand from it's eyes.

"Quick use wide guard to defend yourself Mr.Mime" she yelled quickly starting to lose her composure as Vaporeon closed in on the Mr.Mime raising it's claws ready to strike.

"What!?" Dane shouted looking as Vaporeon was thrown backwards as Mr.Mime had created a barrier in front of it, that slowly faded after the attack.

"It's all in choice of moves son... Any pokemon can be strong depending on how the trainer utilizes it's skills, always remember that" she tells her son as the two pokemon now stand there glaring at each other.

"Ok fine, I think I got it... but try and stop this move, Vaporeon giga impact!" Dane says with a huge grin on his face as Vaporeon begins to glow and quickly darts once again for Mr.Mime.

"Oh, thats a powerful move... is it strong enough though to withstand it's own power?" She replies.

"What do you mean?" Dane questions with a puzzled look on her face.

"Mr.Mime use copycat!" Danes mother shouts as Dane realizes that the two pokemon are about to have a head on collision.

"Vaporeon brace yourself!" he yells as the two pokemon collide head first into each other causing a blast of light to fill the room, both pokemon flying to the opposite wall and falling to the ground. As the light fades Dane and his mother look on to see both pokemon wearily standing on there feet.

"That's the spirit Mr.Mime use confusion" She orders as Mr.Mime goes to raise it's hands once again, Dane realizes that Vaporeon is in no shape to continue battling.

"Por..." letting out an exhausted roar.

"Vaporeon re..." Dane says about to return his injured pokemon to it's pokeball when all of a sudden Mr.Mime falls to one knee, then face first to the ground falling unconscious.

"Well i'll be..." his mother says softly, realizing she must keep her promise to let her only son go on some crazy journey across Arcanum.

"WE DID IT VAPOREON!!! WE CAN GO ON OUR JOURNEY!!!" Dane shouts probably loud enough for all of Janueville to hear him. He pats his pokemon on the back and returns it to it's ball, allowing her to get some rest. He then walks over and hugs his mother once again. "Thanks mom... I won't let you down, i'll come home safely promise" he says letting go of the hug.

"Fine, but please leave in the morning... I'll pack your bag for you." she replies softly.

"Okay sounds good... i'll be back, I need to go do something before I go to sleep" Dane says racing out the door.

"He better believe I am packing his books" she says to herself watching her son race down to the shore... She knew exactly where he was going, and he wouldn't be back tonight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He'd been to this spot a million times since his dad passed away, but it was always the same feeling, the feeling that he was right there next to him. However this time he sat there with his Vaporeon and Panpour as they all look out to the ocean to see the reflection of the moon waving gently over it.

"I'm going to be like you dad... I never knew you were an adventurer... I will make you proud, and don't worry about mom, me and her fought about it... Literally" Dane said laughing clutching onto the ring around his neck, and then looking down at his two new pokemon he finally realized why they gave him a safe feeling...

"Your both pokemon of the water" he said as they looked up at him.

"That's why I feel safe with you guys, because whenever I look out at the ocean from this spot I feel my dad... you to are water pokemon, I somehow get that same feeling with you guys around" Dane said rubbing both of them on the head.

"Vap!" Vaporeon purred loudly.

"Pour!" Panpour shouted happily.

"I'm a bit tired, I think i'll close my eyes for minute then will head home... I just wanted to say good... bye" Dane says as he rests his head on the sand taking one last look out to the ocean as his eyelids slowly close over the view. His two pokemon curl up around him and close there eyes as well.

"I miss you dad" he says with his last breath and with that falls asleep at that spot for what may be the last time in awhile.

 

[moon]

@ §acred†Beo!

Aww, it might have been because I for some reason listened to THIS while reading your post, or maybe it was just the post itself, but I found that beautiful.

Vaporeon grew to lvl 11!

 

[Mr. Mammoth]

Soul walked slowly with Cecilia and Bolt by his side, the Panpour had been quiet for some time but now decided to speak up.

"Panpour, pan?"(Umm, Mr. Soul? Who is this friend of yours?) she asked her trainer.

"Hm?" Soul reacted as if he had just woken up from a daydream. And truth is, he had. Or rather, he was thinking, about how he had just become a Pokémon trainer... He knew that he had an immense responsibility resting on his shoulders, he to help Reshiram and he needed to find the legendary quickly! Taking on a task this great might seem burdensome to some, but Soul was actually pretty excited, he needed some change in his life. He couldn't just be in the outskirts of Januvale forever, even if that seemed rather nice. Although he wasn't sure how to break this to Squee... He was not too sure how the Mankey would react to this, he was rather childish and stubborn at times but you never really knew. He was unpredictable, heh, just like Soul.
"Oh it's a friend I met some years ago." Soul said plainly, "He is really fun to be around, but he can be a handful sometimes." he proceeded to laugh a little bit.

"Jol, jol!?"(Hey, where are we!?) Bolt asked in a quite impatient tone as they reached the outskirts of Januvale. Soul just laughed,

"This is my home of course!" he spread out his arms as if to show how grand and royal this place was.

"WHAAAT?" Bolt and Cecilia said in unision, both their eyes were big and they were clearly astonished. Soul giggled a bit,

"Yes, my home. What else do you expect from a person dubbed 'Wildboy'?" he said gleefully.

Just then, a few Pokémon peeked their heads out slowly and carefully, hostility shining in their eyes. They had always been on their guard against everything since the hunters showed up, but when they recognized the human standing a bit away as Soul, their gaze softened and happy smiles spread across their lips. They ran up to him shouting: "Soul, Soul!" and giggling, they greeted Bolt and Cecilia with warm handshakes of smiles as the party were led deeper into the outskirts.

"MANKEY!!!"(SOUL!!!)

A familiar voice reached Soul's ears, seconds later a Mankey had thrown itself at Soul's neck and latched on hard in some form of hug.

"Squee... You're killing me!" Soul laughed and choked at the same time. The Mankey jumped down,

"But I was just worried about you!" he said innocently, "You were gone for so long to fetch that bread!"

"About that..." Soul said nervously, but he was cut off by Squee,

"Who are they?" he pointed curiously at Cecilia and Bolt, one he recognized as Panpour, but the other one was completely new to him.

"These are Bolt and Cecilia!" Soul introduced his new team-mates to Squee and the others, "Say hi." he whispered under his breath.

"Uumm... Uh-" Cecilia blushed, she was so used to being with Joresh or any of his other monkeys and not around this many Pokémon at the same time. She had developed a severe case of shyness, and Soul actually wondered if he should've named her "Shy" instead...

Bolt just gave off a shrug as if he didn't give two jacks about these Pokémon welcoming him, gotta keep the tough guy image up y'know.

The day eventally became evening, the Pokémon asked Soul how he met Cecilia and Bolt. The young boy happily told everyone about what had happened, leaving out the part where he became a Pokémon trainer, he just couldn't bring himself to tell Squee about his departure. Sigh, this was going to come back and bite him in the butt soon...

The evening eventually became night, and after a big feast to celebrate Soul's new friends, everyone began preparing for sleep. Soul jumped up in his tree, he liked it. It was a very old and tall tree, rich with green leaves even in the winter, some people even called it the "Miracle Tree". It's foiliage was said to have healing effects similar to the ones of Pansages, Soul wasn't too sure about this though, but the leaves DID make a great bed for him and his Pokémon friends.

"Hey Soul," Squee said. The young boy looked down on the Mankey who had squirmed himself into Soul's arms making the leaves around them rustle a little, "What will we do tomorrow?" he asked. Soul fell silent, even now, he couldn't bring himself to tell Squee.

"I don't know..." he said, "Guess it'll be... A surprise..." Soul felt horrible keeping secrets from Squee. The Mankey was like a smaller brother to him and he couldn't afford to leave him behind. But on the other hand, the journey ahed would surely be dangerous and Soul couldn't afford Squee getting badly damaged either, he would NEVER forgive himself if he let that happen...
"Squee...?" Soul said and looked down on the Mankey, he was sleeping, as well as Cecilia and Bolt. Although they slept in their Pokéballs for some, to Soul, unknown reason. "I'll be..." he began, tears started to develop in his eyes, He thought about how he wouldn't be able to see the Mankey he regarded as brother for a long time. The journey was going to be dangerous, maybe Soul wouldn't even survive?
"Going away for a while..." the tears started flowing at a rapid speed, Squee could of course not hear Soul, he was too deep into his dreams for that. Soul had to restrain himself the best he could, not to cry hysterically like a small child, but even as he let out a small sound every now and then, no one woke up.

***

"Soul where are you going?" Squee asked the same question to Soul every morning and he always got the same answer. Except for today.

"Squee... I'll be going away for a while..." Soul said, "Will you promise not to follow me? You must stay at home! Do you understand?"

"What?" Squee said, "Quit it with the jokes Soul, they aren't funny!"

"I'm not joking. I will be away, now promise. PROMISE. That you will stay at home, out of trouble?" Soul asked.

"What!? But why can't I go with you?!" Squee shouted.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to you..." was Soul's reply.

"It won't! I'm super strong! I've been trainig for a long time!" Squee said and walked up to Soul with a stubborn look on his face.

"Squee, you must understand... You can't come with us, you're too precious to me!" Soul looked at the Mankey and put his right hand on it's head.

"NO!" the Mankey shouted and slapped away Soul's hand with his own, "I can do this, I'm not a kid anymore!"

"Squee, you can't leave and that is final." Soul's voice was a little bit too strict for his own taste actually.

"I'm going with you Soul! You're my big brother!"

"And that is why you must stay at home." Soul's words almost started to abandon him, he was feeling terrible for forcing Squee to stay at home, but he had to. It was for the Mankey's own good.

"Why Soul?! You're just like those humans you despise so much! They force their Pokémon to do things they don't want to!" Squee's voice was filled with anger as he looked at Soul, waiting for his reaction.

Soul completely stopped. What did Squee say? Him, just like humans?
"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO THOSE SCUMS!!!??" Soul yelled in Squee's face, he was angry now, for once in his life he had completely snapped and yelled at the Mankey. Squee's eyes started to tear up, he turned around and started runnig away from Soul. Soul then realized his mistake, but a second too late, Squee had already displaced himself quite the distance from Soul.
"Squee!" Soul yelled and ran after the Mankey, "SQUEE!" tears started flowing down his cheeks. No, this couldn't happen, Squee was running away, placing himself in danger somewhere. And only because Soul failed to persuade him to stay at home.

"SQUUEEE!!!"

Soul tripped and fell over root, losing sight of the Mankey.

"No… No, no, no, no, NOOO!!!" Soul punched the ground as tears flowed rapidly from his cheeks. He had lost Squee to the world, he would never be able to see him again, never… A loud howl escaped Soul's mouth, and then another one, eventually the young boy could be found sitting on the ground. Crying hysterically like a baby. All the other Pokémon who had watched the scene couldn't believe their eyes, they slowly approached the crying Soul and patted him gently in an effort to calm him. But to no avail, Soul sat and cried for at least several hours.

***

Soul walked, slowly, out of Januvale. He had to fulfill his duty of helping Reshiram, but in the back of his head, a plan for finding and making up with Squee formed. As he left, a group of Pokémon from the outskirts came to take farewell of him, each with a berry clutched in their hands. Soul laughed, it was a sad, lifeless laugh and he agreed to take the berries. He gently stuffed them into the pockets of his cape, careful not to squish them. He then turned around, he could've sworn that there was a rustling just now… Oh well, he let out Bolt and Cecilia from their Pokéballs, they were happily unaware of what had happened between Soul and Squee.

"Mr. Soul? Have you been crying?" Cecilia asked as she noticed Soul's eye that was almost completely red from the tears he had shed. The young boy didn't answer, they would get to know eventually…

A gentle breeze from Route 11 greeted Soul and his Pokémon. The young boy took a deep breath and smelled the seemingly better air of the outdoor area. He strolled along looking at the scenery and taking more deep breaths of the wonderful smell that surrounded Route 11. Suddenly, without noticing, Soul bumped into someone,

"Hey, watch where you're going will ya'?"

 

[The warden]

Upon arriving back home, Kitaru was greeted by his mother.

"Hi dear, your father not back with you?" She asked noting that he was alone.

"No he went to finish shopping." Kitaru replied and went on tell his mother about the battle and finished with his father's message. Part way through his sister came into the hall, way where Kitaru was explaining his day, with a few of her friends.

"You did well, to beat another trainer after just one day with your Pokémon." His mother said after he had finished his story.

"Yeah my brother is a Pokémon master! Your brother isn't!" Kitaru's little sister started bragging to her friends.

"Yuzuna, Kitaru isn't a Pokémon master yet... and Setsuko's brother is still in nappies so I hardly think it's fair..." Kitaru's mother tried to explain as she gently nudged past her to get into the kitchen, Yuzuna followed her and their discussion went on.

Kitaru headed up to his room and place the bags he had brought back with him on the floor. Then he released Azura on the floor next to him and Mischief on the bed so that he could take a look at him. Kneeling down next his futon he inspected the unconscious Pokémon he had a few scrapes and bruises but nothing major. Firstly Kitaru began to root around in one of his draws until he finds a tub of smelling salts. He opens the tub and immediately a waft of the stench enters one nostril. It's a smell he knows well having been knocked out in a fair few fights before now. Then taking the tub in one hand he holds it under Mischief's nose. He only had to wait a second before the Pokémon took a fact of it in and then...

"PANSAGE!" Mischief yelled as he came round and tried to sit up.

"Stay down, I brought you round with this but your still weak." Kitaru said shaking the tub at which point Mischief scowled, he was not pleased at the manner he had been woken up.

"Pan sage pan." Mischief said laying back down while pretending to be gravely ill.

"Yes I suppose I can find you some food." Kitaru said as he left the room. He popped his head back round the door a moment. "You aren't half Snorlax are you?"

Kitaru returned to his room with a bowl of tinned fruit. It was all the fruit they had left in the house and as far as Kitaru knew Mischief only ate fruit. Was it normal for Grass Pokémon to be strictly vegan it seemed fitting somehow. He had drained the juices into a cup that he held in his other hand. It had been a guess of his that thing would get messy if he didn't. When Kitaru had entered the room he gave Mischief the bowl and the monkey like Pokémon immediately started to scoff the fruit. He place the cup down for Mischief to drink from after he had finished eating.

Once the Pokémon had finished eating and drinking Kitaru tended to his wounds and to those of Azura. He sprayed each one with a potion. Then when he had finished he set about packing his gear into a rucksack. This including packing the stuff his father had bought him took him most of the afternoon. Finally he had the chance for a few simple luxuries that he would miss on his journey. He watched TV and took a shower, before getting ready for his meal.

The meal in honour of Kitaru's victory earlier that day was held at just about the only restaurant in Januvale. Kitaru and his parents had already decide that he would leave the next day and so the meal was also a sort of send off for him. They ate and talked and celebrated late into the night. While Kitaru was enjoying his meal he put the worries of leaving and the pressure of knowing that it was his task to save the region to the back of his mind. Besides there was nothing he could do to help right now.

The next morning was a day of mixed feelings. Kitaru was happy and his family were happy for him but as he left home they all felt a little sad that he was going. Before e left his father had given him four empty Pokéballs they were quite old, his father told him that they were left over from his days as a trainer. Kitaru's mother gave him some money and reminded him to call home when he reached Feborough Town. He promised that he would and then set out along the road that would lead him out of town.

As he passed the sign saying he was on Route 11 he was walking through a small wood. High in the canopy of the trees he could see the silhouettes of flying bug Pokémon. It was still quite early in the morning and the grass either side of the path was coated in a fresh morning dew. Some where nearby he could hear the splashing of a small river and the cries of Pokémon. But other wise the forest was quiet, it was tranquil. He could hear Azura and his own foot steps and the rustling of the wind in near by bushes. And so without another though he set off on his journey and left behind the town that had been his home for so many years.

***

The particular section of Route 11 Kitaru was walking long was a well worn path that ran along side a narrow brook. The water flowed back down towards Januvale foaming as it wound its way around rocks. To Kitaru's left was wood land scattered with bright coloured flowers and over the stream to his right was a small open meadow. Azura was walking several steps in front of Kitaru, she seemed to be enjoying the fresh air and the scenery. Kitaru took a look out over the meadow, stopping in his tracks for a second. Then he approached the edge of the brook and in a single leap jumped over it. He landed on the other side and had to steady himself to avoid falling back into the water behind him.

"Eon." Azura called questioningly from the other side of the stream. She had stopped in her tracks and was giving him a puzzled look.

"I'm taking a short cut." Kitaru said, Azura thought for a second and then bounded across the brook much more gracefully that Kitaru had. Together they set off again this time across the meadow. Once again Azura was in the lead.

A fair way into the meadow Kitaru heard a buzzing sound. Looking around he noticed an area of grass was moving and crept towards it. Azura noticed his intention and started to prowl towards the spot, she looked rather like a cat that was sneaking up on its prey. As they approached a Combee flew out of the grass straight up in the air to about four foot of the ground. It noticed Kitaru and Azura who startled it and flew away.

"Combeeeeeee!" It buzzed as it fled Kitaru and Azura. "Combeeee!"

"Quick after it." Kitaru yelled standing up and chasing the Combee. He chased it beyond the meadow and over a small stone fall, where he stopped to catch his breath. The meadow was some what waterlogged in places making it marshy and difficult to run across. Azura followed him easily and even waited for him before they continued their pursuit. Nearby were some houses but Kitaru paid little attention to them as he chased the Pokémon. The Combee landed on a box and went inside. Before Kitaru had gone much further he realised that the box was a bee hive. He might be desperate to get more Pokémon but Kitaru was in no way a thief. He turned to trudge off but was stopped by a voice behind him.

"After my Combee are you?" An old bee farmer was yelling. He was stood in the door step of one of the houses that Kitaru had passed earlier.

"No! I didn't..." Kitaru tried to explain.

"I'll teach you a lesson! Get him boys!" The bee farmer yelled, ignoring Kitaru's protests. The bee farmer stepped aside and three Electrike stepped forwards from inside the house.

"Ah!" Kitaru gave out a slight panicked scream and started to run.

"Elec." The Electrike started to growl. "Trike! Trike!" They barked as they chased Kitaru. Kitaru headed towards the nearest wall to the field he was in, he hoped that if he could get over it the Electrike wouldn't be able to follow him. Sprinting he reached the wall in less than ten seconds, he was getting tired and his chest hurt as he gasped for breath but he didn't stop. Azura easily managed the same distance in just slightly more time than Kitaru. Kitaru vaulted the four foot wall without checking what was over the other side first and Azura followed. Luckily the ground on the other side was not much lower and they landed in a pile of leaves. They were in a small wood, with dead leaves all over the ground. Kitaru pushed himself to his feet as soon as he could and Azura just shook the leaves off. They set off running again, Kitaru checking to see if the Electrike had stopped following them. Two of them were still chasing them but the other one ad either given up or been unable to leap over the wall. With just two of them and no farmer, Kitaru and Azura could have a chance in a fight but it definitely wouldn't be a fair one.

"Azura! Split up! Get ready to attack!" Kitaru yelled, peeling off to his right. Azura changed direction in an instant and started to go left. As he ran Kitaru looked for anything he could use. In just a few steps he spotted a stick and came to a stop. It was a good thing that he had found one as he couldn't run much further. He grabbed it and jogged back towards the Electrike. He stopped when they were getting close, giving himself just enough time to prepare himself for their attack.

One of the Electrike didn't even make it to Kitaru. It dived at him but was knocked out of the air but a Quick Attack from Azura. The sneak attack took it by surprise and gave Azura the upper hand in her fight against it. As the other Electrike approached Kitaru, it did so with caution, it didn't want to be caught off guard like it's friend. The Pokémon Leered at Kitaru it was trying to scare him.

"Trike! Trike!" It barked. Then rushed in to knock Kitaru off his feet with a Tackle. As the Pokémon approached Kitaru swung the branch in his hand knocking the Pokémon aside. He didn't feel like he did when he normally got into fights. Normally he was just angry and yes he was angry at the moment but he also felt a little pity for the Electrike. He thought that he heard it whimper as he had hit it. The Electrike got up and shook its self off.

"Elec!" It growled at him. This time Kitaru made the first move. He held the stick low to the ground and swung it at the Pokémon. The Electrike avoided the attack and tried to counter Kitaru. It dashed past the stick before Kitaru had chance to react and zapped him with a jolt of electricity.

"Ahhh!" Kitaru yelped as he felt the electricity run through his body, was that a Thunder Wave.

***

Meanwhile Azura and the other Electrike had been fighting. After Azura had tackled the Electrike with Quick Attack it rolled its self over to escape her. It turned to face her and Leered. Azura retaliated by with a Sand Attack. She jumped to one side and kicked dirt and leaves in the Electrike's face. It tried to Tackle her but she easily dodged the blind Pokémon's wild attack. She attacked with another Quick attack, before the Electrike was ready. The Electrike used Thunder Wave that Azura dodged with Detect but then attacked again with Tackle. It slammed into the side of her driving her back, it had anticipated her dodge of the first attack and so planned to hit her straight afterwards. As she threw the Electrike off she heard Kitaru yelp in pain and doubled her effort in fighting. He would have to hold on until she had finished here.

"Glaceon!" Azura charged the Electrike with a Quick Attack, she didn't care if she was hurt any more.

"Trike!" The Electrike barked as it Tackled her to the floor. Azura rolled out from under it and with a twist turned back round to attack it again.

"Glace-E-On!" She roared loudly and knocked the Electrike back with another Quick Attack. The Pokémon tumbled through the air and hit a tree. The Electrike got up and ran off, whimpering all the way.

***

Kitaru was on the floor he tried to move his legs but he couldn't. He still had the stick in his hand. What had happened. Then it came flooding back to him at the same moment the Electrike dived on his chest trying to bite at his face. His arms were still working and he forced the stick under the Electrike's chin to stop it biting him. Drawing from his experience in fights he went to roll over. He hoped to pin the Electrike down. But he couldn't manage it the Electrike had him pinned. Digging his right elbow into the Pokémon's side he tried again and this time managed to throw the Pokémon off and roll onto his belly. He pushed himself into a kneeling position one might push from his arms and leant on his stick for support. The Electrike attacked again trying to knock him down again with a Tackle. Still leaning on his stick he bashed the Pokémon away with his left arm, it hurt and he would get a bruise there but it worked. The Electrike tried to scare him with another Leer and then walked round behind him. He struggled to turn around with his paralysed legs and couldn't see where the Electrike had gone. He got ready to attack should it try to rush him but it didn't. Several seconds went by and then Azura approached him she had a few cuts and a large bruise on her side. She nuzzled her head under his arm and sat their. The Pokémon and trainer sat their waiting until Kitaru was able to walk again and then they continued on towards their destination. Neither made a sound as they were both too tired to.

***

Later in the day, after Kitaru had stopped for lunch, he came across a small pond. Azura looked at the water carefully for a few seconds, went over to the waters edge to quench her parched lips. While she carefully sipped at the water Kitaru stared at the pond. There was a slight rustle in the bush to his left and he turned to face the sound. A Marill had wandered out of the bush and spotted Kitaru it had frozen in place it seemed like it was unsure of what to do.

"Mischief! Go!" Kitaru released Mischief. "Help me catch this Pokémon." Mischief nodded.

"Marill!" The Marill went and curled its self into a ball.

"That's defence curl I think. Use Leer!" Mischief began to Leer at the Marill causing it to curl tighter into a ball.

"It's not working the Marill is to scared to come out. I won't be able to capture it unless I weaken it." Kitaru thought for a moment. "Attack it with Scratch!" Mischief ran forwards and raked his claws across the Marill. The Marill burst out of its ball shape and turned to face Mischief. It looked mad. It shot a torrent of water right in his face pushing him back. The Pansage was a little startled by the attack but not to hurt to Kitaru's relief. The Marill attacked again, Tackling Mischief to the ground.

"Use Vine Whip!" Kitaru ordered and Mischief got back to his feet and sent out vines to attack the Marill.

"Marill!" The Pokémon cried curling back into a ball for defence, the way it did that was really starting to annoy Kitaru.

"Right use Lick!" Kitaru ordered Mischief who obeyed by running up to the Marill and licking it. The Marill unrolled from its ball shape and lay on the ground stunned. At least now it was paralysed
Kitaru actually had a chance at capturing it.

"Use one last Vine Whip!" Mischief once more attacked the Marill with its vines.

"Pokéball! GO!" Kitaru cried as he threw a Pokéball at the Marill, a cry that could probably heard back in Januvale. In a flash of red light the Marill was gone and all that remained was a shuddering Pokéball.

It wobbled once...

It wobbled twice...

To be continued...

...or not as the case may be

...or not as the case may be

On it's third wobble the Pokéball burst open and the Marill escaped. It scampered a few steps and dived into the pond where Kitaru would be unable to get it.

"Noooooooo!" Kitaru yelled falling to his knees. "Ahhhhhhh!" He screamed just to let out some stress. That had been so close and the Marill had escaped. What a bad day I'm having Kitaru though to himself. He went over to pick the Pokéball up but it was damaged and couldn't be used any more.

Again he set off on his way. Hoping that next time he would be a little more lucky. He hadn't gotten far when he spotted a young boy in the road ahead. The boy also saw Kitaru and came running up.

"Are you a trainer?" The boy asked Kitaru.

"Yes." Kitaru replied.

"Well then I challenge you to a battle." The kid said.

"I accept." Kitaru said in reply.

To be continued... (For real this time)

 

[moon]

@ Mr. Mammoth

Heart-wrenching ;; if I could, I would have given Squee at least one level ;)


--
@ The warden

What an eventful start on Kitaru's journey! I love your descriptions.

Azura (Glaceon) grew to lvl 13!

Mischief (Pansage) grew to lvl 13 and learned Fury Swipes!

 

[Mr. Mammoth]

*Thud*

Soul landed on the ground almost squishing Bolt under him. The young boy got up, he gently rubbed his back, this had already happened yesterday, was he going to hit his back on the ground EVERY day now? Well he sure didn't hope so. He raised his head so that he could see who had bumped into him, with a murderous look in his eyes, Soul observed the person standing before him.

"Hey, are you okay?" the person said. He was a young man, probably around 23 years of age, his hair was dark-brown and spiky and he seemed to have something that would eventually become a beard on his chin. He was tall, or at least taller than Soul, due to his relatively young age, the man's face was still a bit round and had some childlike characteristics. But these were hardly noticeable. He wasn't Arcanian, that's for sure, he lacked the facial features for that. His accent also revealed that he wasn't from around these parts. As for clothing, it was also a clear sign that this human was an outsider. He wore a gray T-shirt with a skull-motive. However, the way the skull was depicted was unknown to Soul, it was sort of blocky and cartoony… The man's pants were beige, shock-full of pockets and knee-high, understandable since it was currently pretty warm in Arcanum. Although Soul was pretty confused on the pocket issue, why did this guy need SO many? Whatever…

Soul stared at the man for a long time, his eyes piercing through the skin and flesh that coated this human, as if to reach the core of his body… You could see that the man was getting nervous, sweat drops broke out in his forehead and he gently scratched the back of his head while giving off a slightly nervous laugh. Soul expression didn't change a bit, he was of course used to people looking and acting around him at him like he was some kind of demon.

"Uuum… I believe that you didn't answer my question." the man laughed.

"You don't need my name human." Soul said simply. The man however, didn't seem especially surprised by this statement. Or it wasn't that he didn't get too surprised by Soul's comment, it was more like he had heard weirder remarks in the past. He didn't seem to be that creeped out by the turquoise-haired boy's mask either… This caught Soul's interest to a certain extent, he brought himself to ask:

"Who are you?"

"Hah, you expect me to answer that question when you yourself didn't answer it when it came out of my mouth." the man laughed. Soul's eye darkened, was this human mocking him? If so, he had NO idea of how deep water he was in now…

"Fine." Soul said a bit unwillingly, "I'm Wildboy. The one of the Pokémon." his gaze was fixed upon the man, waiting slightly interested for his answer.

"One of the Pokémon? Let me guess, you can understand them right?" the man asked.

"What?" Soul flinched, how did he know about that? Where there others like Soul in the world? That WAS a possibility, but the young boy didn't seem to want to dwell on that matter for now. Probably because it made him less special…

"I take it by your reaction that you can." the man smiled, "Or am I wrong?" he continued in a slightly mocking tone.

"…" Soul grew quiet. This human was DEFINITELY mocking him, "You get one…" he whispered quietly. The man didn't seem to hear him though,

"Right?" he said.

"Yes." was Soul's answer. "How do YOU know that human?" he continued.

"Have your mother not taught you to not judge a book by it's cover?" the man said jokingly.

Soul's eye narrowed, "Mother…" he said. A moment later, he lunged forward towards the man, with his claw-like fingers ready to attack. It was as if a Pokémon would've attacked the man. HOW. DID. HE. DARE. TO. MENTION. SOUL'S. MOTHER. His loveable mother that no longer existed due to his father… Father… Soul's head filled to the brim with memories from the basement, the darkness, the hunger, the shadows… With a seemingly inhuman cry, the young boy swatted with his claw, he hit the man's cheek. Both of them jumped back,

"What the hell?!" the man shouted.

"Don't you DARE to name my mother. You will DIE." Soul's voice got seemingly deepend due to the anger and hate that was flowing through him right now. The young boy lunged forward again, but this time, the man was prepared. He swiftly dodged Soul's rage-filled attack and lightly punched the masked boy in the stomach. Soul crashed into the ground yet again, but he got up and charged towards the man again with a ear-piercing howl.

"Why are you attacking?!" the man shouted.

"Panpour!"(Mr. Soul, calm down please!) Cecilia shouted from the top of her trainers head,

"Jol, jol!"(Yeah, stop it dude!) Bolt agreed.

"You don't understand." Soul stopped, "None of you understand… NONE OF YOU!!!" he screamed, but the scream was rather filled with sadness than anger and shortly after, he started crying.

"H-Hey!" the man said, "Are you really okay?" he approached Soul carefully.

"DON'T TOUCH ME HUMAN!!!" Soul screeched at the man. His eye was wide-open and panicly darting around his environment. Cecilia patted his head,

"Pan, panpor…"(Mr. Soul, this man just wants to help you…) she said,

"Jol, jol!"(Yeah man, calm down!) Bolt agreed once again.

Soul looked at them both, "No, I don't need any help from this disgusting human!" he said and looked over to the man, "Stay away…" he hissed.

"No. You NEED help!" the man said, he looked genuinely worried for the well-being of this insane boy.

"NO, GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Soul screamed, tears running down his cheeks at a rapid speed. He threw a punch at the man who easily caught his arm and slightly bent it in the wrong direction, Soul howled in pain,

"Calm. Down!" the man said in a serious tone,

"Nrrgh, I challenge you to a battle human!" Soul shouted. Wait, where did that come from? Soul had NO intention of battling right now at all, so why did he propose a battle?

"Fine, if it'll calm ya' down." the man said. He let go of Soul's arm and took out a Pokéball from his own pocket, he let out the Pokémon that was inside. With a white beam of light an insect-like creature with pale eyes and a giant mushroom covering most of it's body appeared in front of the man's feet,
"Mushie, we have a battle!" he said with a hint of excitement in his voice, he looked over to Soul, "Which one will you choose then?"

Soul said nothing to the man, "Cecilia" he whispered to his Panpour sitting firmly on top of his head, she blushed quite heavily and turned away.

"Pan, pan!"(I can't do that! Look how strong that Pokémon seems!) she said to Soul.

"Come on now! I believe in you!" Soul's voice softened as he insisted that Cecilia should battle. The water-monkey sighed and jumped down from her trainer's head,

"Fine." she said, "But I'm only doing it because of you Mr. Soul!"

"I can live with that." he laughed. Soul then looked over to the man who just gave him a signal to begin the battle. "Fine, Cecilia use Lick!" he shouted. Cecilia nodded and opened her mouth, just like in the battle with Bolt, the tongue grew larger and longer until it easily wrapped around the mushroom-Pokémon. But it barely even seemed fazed by the attack,

"Is that all you got?" the man teased, he stopped for a moment, should he really have said that? This boy was pretty unpredictable, and could fly into a rage at any time, so was teasing him really the smartest? Eh, screw it…
"Mushie, Stun Spore." He said plainly. The insect-Pokémon started to rustle her body a bit, small, yellow particles scattered around her. They EASILY hit Cecilia and the monkey was soon paralyzed, ah dammit not again, first getting electro-shocked in the battle with Bolt and now this? Why did she agree to this?

"Cecilia get away!" Soul yelled, he knew that the man was going to pull something out of his sleeve, he just didn't know what… Cecilia staggered away, her body, especially her tongue, being extremely numb from the Stun Spores kind of impaired her walking abilities.

"Mushie, X-Scissors!" the man yelled. Mushie's claws started to glow in a lime-green aura, she held them like an "X" in front of her. Then, with surprising speed, she slashed Cecilia. The poor water-monkey flew across the small area where they were battling and crashed into a tree, she was completely knocked out.

"Cecilia!!!" Soul yelled and ran over to her, "A-Are you okay?" tears started to develop in his eyes, the water-monkey just shook her head.

"D-Don't cwy Mistew Souww…" she said, "I'm fine…" Soul returned her to the Pokéball and looked at Bolt,

"Ya got it!" he laughed cockily and walked up to Mushie, "Ey, yo. Imma wipe the floor with ya'!" he said.

"Oh? Seeing how your partner fared against me I doubt that you will do any better." She said plainly, her pale eyes looking into Bolt's. This creeped the Jolteon out quite a bit, those eyes, they were just… Dead…

"Bolt, no time to dawdle! Use Thunderbolt!" Soul yelled.

"Mushie, Dig." the man said. Without as much as a hint of what she was gonna do, except for the command but oh well, Mushie dug underground at a quick pace, after a matter of seconds, she was gone below the earth. Bolt looked around nervously, where was she? Man oh man… This was scary… Before either Soul or Bolt could react, the mushroom-Pokémon emerged from the ground in a full-body tackle that hit Bolt spot on and sent him flying a few meters. When the Jolteon landed, he had already passed out, Soul walked up to him and returned the Pokémon to it's Pokéball without as much as a word escaping his lips. The man walked over to him,
"That was a fun match." he smiled at his lie, the battle had gone by WAY too fast. Kids these days, not good at training, or was it just him who trained his Pokémon TOO much? Nah that couldn't be it… As he was about to shake Soul's hand, a sound was heard, it was a low sort of buzzing sound.

What the heck could it be-

 

[moon]

@ Mr. Mammoth

Ah, you're always making cliffhangers at the end! 8D You're doing a great job giving Soul a personality.

Cecilia (Panpour) grew to lvl 12!

Bolt (Jolteon) grew to lvl 11!

 

[{Swan}]

Yi Lanhua​

Januvale - Part 2​

"And then they were all clapping, applauding me, Maddy," Lanhua was sitting on her friend's overly fluffy couch with a nice cup of tea in hand. "I mean, of course they did, I'm great," Lanhua was met with an elbow from her friend. "No but really, you don't know how good that felt."


"And then, what happened then?" Maddy prompted.


"Well, then I went back to Joresh Ja's house to show him the Leafeon I'd caught. And can you believe it? The man tells me he didn't think I could do it! The nerve!" Lanhua was still annoyed by that. Why push her to do something he didn't think she could do in the first place. "Then he went on about the guardian Gods again. He was saying something like that Zekrom and Reshiram brought the Pokémon to Arcanum, which sounds like a load of bull if you ask me. And he mentioned this thing about raising the Pokémon you caught, so I guess I'm stuck to these two now."


"Oh, you kept the monkey?"


"Well yes, he offered me the choice here, and I wasn't going to, I mean Panpour really isn't very pretty at all, he looks kind of odd. But then the thing gave me these pleading eyes and I just couldn't say no." Lanhua sighed.


"Now go on, show me! The Pokémon from Arcanum always looks so pretty," Maddy said.


"Oh, that's right, Pokémon look different where you come from." Lanhua really couldn't imagine Pokémon having different colours. Not that she'd seen so many in her life, but still. The thought was strange. She grabbed the Pokéballs of her Pokémon, which she'd kept in her bag, and released them. Panpour immediately began to scan his surroundings eagerly, curious to where he was now. Leafeon kept his head up arrogantly, laying down immediately as if all this was below his rank. Lanhua didn't really mind his arrogance, which he had fully displayed back at Joresh' place, it somehow suited how beautiful he looked with his turquoise leaves that shone in the sun. She had such a weakspot for beauty, which is why Panpour really didn't cut it. But alas, both of them were hers now.


"He's adorable!" Maddy outed, looking at Panpour who was looking back at her. He cocked his head, trying to understand what Maddy was going on about. "Look at him Lanhua, I can't believe you didn't want him. What did you name them?"


"Name them?" Lanhua repeated.


"Oh don't tell me you haven't named them yet? It's bad practice not to name your team. I don't go around calling you "girl" either, am I?"Maddy scolded. "Or is this some kind of strange Arcanish practice I don't know about?"


Lanhua thought of the few other Pokémon she'd met, like the Sushi-vendor's Rattata which he called Xiao, or the designer's Ledyba she'd seen a few times while trying on clothes, which he called Gongxi. And a few others she couldn't remember, but had certainly referred to their Pokémon with a name. "You're right, I guess. What should I name them then?"


"Are you going to name them in Arcanian? Your names always sound so pretty."


Lanhua giggled. "If there's one thing we do better here than you foreigners it's naming. I mean who called their daughter Madison?" Maddy gave Lanhua a short shove, laughing too. "Hmm, but really, what to name you two."She thought for a moment before finding a suitable name for Panpour. "I'll call you Xinju, because you are one bright and energetic monkey." The Panpour seemed to like that name, as he clapped his hands together excitedly, making Maddy giggle again.


"It's so cute!" Maddy outed and held both hands toward Xinju. "High ten, can you do that? Can you give me a high ten?" she spoke in a high pitch and at first Panpour cocked his head again questioningly, but then he raised his hands and gently touched his palms to Maddy. "Yes, good monkey, can you do it again?" Maddy raised her hands again and this time Xinju didn't hesitate and put his palms against Maddy's again, though still gently. "Well, it's no high ten, but it's still adorable. Look Lanhua, I taught him a trick!"


Lanhua looked up from her thoughts to see Maddy trying out the high ten wih Xinju again, which was met with happy monkey-like laughter from the latter, and girls giggles from the former. Lanhua rolled her eyes and turned to her other Pokémon who was watching its companion rather disapprovingly. "You shall be Fei for your great elegance and shining leaves." The Leafeon just looked disinterested, keeping his chin high and continuing to look disdainful at Xinju and Maddy.


Maddy looked at Fei. "Can you give me a high ten as well?" she showed her hands palm up but Honye just stood up and turned his back to her before sitting down again.


"He's a bit moody," Lanhua said, apologizing for her Pokémon. "I don't think he was too thrilled at getting captured, but he'll be fine in the long run."


"So there will definitely be a long run? You're leaving Januvale?" Maddy sounded dejected, like she'd only just realized that the addition of the new Pokémon, exciting as it may be, meant that her friend was really going away.


"I suppose I am," Lanhua started. "But we'll keep in contact! I've still got my phone and I'll call you regularly."

"Oh, all right," Maddy looked away for a second before her face brightened up again. "At least I can help you on your way, dad has a lot of stuff still laying around from his trainer days."She jumped up before Lanhua could protest and hurried over to the hallway, into what Lanhua knew was the pantry. Lanhua quickly put down her cup of tea on the coffee table and followed her friend into the hallway, where the latter was crouching in said pantry. "He was always so stubborn on not throwing away his old stuff," Maddy said while digging around on the floor under a shelf containing big bags of rice. "I think he always kind of hoped I'd go on a journey, but I really don't think I'm journey material. However now it seems you are, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind- Ah!" she jumped up with a big wooden box in her hands.


"Maddy, I'm really not sure if you're supposed to give me this," Lanhua started.


"It's fine Lanhua," Maddy quickly cut her off. "You know dad likes you, and I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to see this stuff turning to dust in the old box." She lugged it to back to the living room (When Xinju was now pulling on Fei's tail and being met with angry snarls) and set it on the couch before sitting down herself. She opened the box, revealing several Pokéballs, two white tubes (one with a purple stripe and one with a green stipe, both had been used a fair bit) and a big A4 sized book of about a cm thick. Maddy pulled out the Pokéballs, there were 4 of them in total. "Well here you go, these are relatively new actually, I think I got those from mom three years ago when she thought I'd be a trainer and dad just put them in the box. Lanhua nodded, remembering that Christmas. Maddy's parents are divorced and her mother still lives on the mainland, it was an ugly divorce and her mother and father don't really speak anymore, so Maddy usually got useless gifts from her mother that she'd guessed Maddy would like.


"What exactly are those?" Lanhua pointed at the tubes after she'd put the Pokéballs away.


"I think the purple one's a potion and the green one's for burns, they're really old, back in the day they didn't use spray bottles yet, which is how old my dad is," Maddy said with a laugh. "Practically the stone age. Anyway they're salves to put on the hurt area, and I'm pretty sure dad said they wouldn't have an expiration date. They might not work as well as they used to, but they should help." Maddy handed them to Lanhua, who put them in the bag as well. "Last but not least, my dad's old Pokémon guidebook." She grabbed the paperback book, and shook it out making dust fly all around them. When Lanhua took it she noticed that the pages were smooth and shiny, kind of like magazine covers, but all the inside pages were like that as well. "It's made like that so it wouldn't get ruined by the environment, because trainers get in some very paper-ruining situations sometimes." Maddy pulled a face, indicating that she shuddered to think of these situations. "I've leafed in it a few times, it should tell you your Pokémon's movesets when you find them, as well as a Pokémon identification system in the back."


Lanhua flipped to the back where there were tons of pictures of Pokémon sorted by colour. "How many are there?"


"I don't know, lots." Maddy shrugged. "Remember we both flunked Pokémon class. You should check out Fei and Xinju's pages, see what you can learn about them."


"Thank you Maddy," Lanhua hugged her friend. "Seriously, thank you, I will definitely keep in contact. I have to go now, still have to break the happy news to my parents," this was paired with an eyeroll. "I'll miss you Maddy, and take care."


"I could say the same to you," Maddy replied, giving Lanhua one more hug. "And don't forget the high ten Xinju!"


​

 

[moon]

@ {Swan}

Good post, the high ten was adorable! ^^

Lanhua was given a Panpour! (male lvl 11)

--
@ EVERYONE - If you're worried about not having a good way of checking up your pokémon's attacks yet (like a pokédex normally does), you should be creative and have some way to learn what attacks your pokémon have for the time being. Like having other people tell you or something like Swan did in this post.

In the next town, you will be able to buy something that will help you understand the attacks and typings of pokémon in the future, so you only need to find a temporary solution for Januvale and Route 11 ;)

Also remember that trainers earn money by defeating others and letting them pay up a reasonable sum depending on how many pokémon were used and how evolved the pokémon were. Now, we won't keep track of money because that would be a too annoying element. But still, to make it believable :)

 

[Fuyu]

[B]"To be proud is to be foolish. To be humble is to be weak. To be true is to be strong."[/B]- Aaron Marx

The boat was nothing special, barring the obvious signs of abuse. Ethan noted that a curse was a rather extreme moniker to place on a creation of wood and metal. If it was cursed with anything, it was likely bad luck and weak sailors. Or weak-minded ones. Ethan frowned to himself as he walked closer. People were incredibly easy to persuade, he recalled. They heard what may have been the truth when it was incredibly likely that was not the case. It was an issue with the pursuit of answers and your determination to seek them.

Shrugging off the complexities of man -a puzzle for a later date-, Ethan wandered up to the ship. He almost made it aboard before a deep boom of a shout caught his ears. "Hey kid, what ah' you doon?"

Ethan paused and tilted his head in the imitation of a curious child. "Goin' explorin'," he replied in the passable voice of someone younger than his years.

"Well ya can't go explorin' in there kid!" snapped the man in a pale imitation of a sailor suit. "That place be for grown ups ya dig?"

"Mistuh Joresh as'ed me t'," Ethan told him, pointedly slurring his words. This would relax the man, if the explanation did not. He knew that. When people feel familiar toward another, their manner calms. Something he learned from watching his uncle. "Said I could play here."

"Oh he di' di' he?" the stringy man said suspiciously. "Fine kid I'll let ya in. But no breaking stuff ya hear? This a seaworthy craft still, Pokemon or no. We wan' it back in the deep blue."

"Yessir," Ethan told him in a voice that resembled obedience. He climbed aboard, his unnamed Pansear following with a wart expression.

"Ugly place of human making," grumbled the monkey. "It should burn."

"Later," Ethan told him absently, staring around silently at his surroundings. His fake ears twitched, listening for the minute sounds his ears could not catch. There was a rustling of fur against wood and a whish as paws hurriedly dashed away. Ethan glanced over as it did and Pansear shrieked in anger, sending fire its direction. Ethan was transfixed for a few moments, having caught the barest glimpse of fading blue swirls over a black fur backdrop.

It was an Umbreon, a sight Kumiho knew as well as his own ears. His eyes narrowed as a sudden burst of energy pressed on his brain. Psychic, a rare move for an Umbreon to know. A smile, cold as ice, crossed his face. Desire flickered underneath his gaze, almost consuming the pulses of his blood.

His family believed that those born with silver were destined to the Pokemon their heart chose. His uncle said he had an affinity to Umbreon. Well there was one right there and he wanted it. It felt undisputedly right and it held power, deep and dangerous. Like him, he realized, sensing it.

"Sear," he said quietly to his new Pokemon. The flame monkey stood to attention, making him smirk. "I want that Pokemon. You're going to help me get it."

"Do I get to burn anything?" grumbled the monkey, irked at the boy's cool disdain.

"Of course," he said quietly. "That's the plan."

...

God this sucked. Umbreon curled behind a crate, ears flat with annoyance. There were so many humans here! They had been running around since sunrise! Geez... He'd thought this would be a good place to chill. Now he was being hounded. This was not a good start to a new life. Stupid humans and their love of conquering everything.

.. Mom was right. He should have stayed in the tree cave.

Boy was it hot. Wait hang on spring wasn't this warm... Crap. Umbreon yelped and leapt to his paws. Were they trying to roast him alive? Oh man... The wood was getting hotter. Time to sniff these little buggers out... Mind crush style. He closed his eyes and concentrated before releasing a burst of pink energy. He smirked at the sound of a yelp. "Got you," he muttered gleefully.

"If only," commented a calm voice. "Sear Ember."

"Heh," cackled the voice of a monkey, one distant and excited. "Burn..." embers began to fly, striking the wood and beginning to smoke the air. Umbreon coughed and growled, twitching to listen for the quiet steps that had eluded him before. He didn't have to wait long before a red monkey showed itself. Sear smiled a bit. "I don't like following the orders of that freaky guy but.., he's letting me burn stuff. I can't say no." He let out a burst of embers.

"Bring it!" Umbreon leapt forward fast, able to dodge. But it hurt. The wood was slightly hot due to the ember that had burned above it. Umbreon snarled. "The heck are ya doin'?"

"Getting you," replied the monkey. "You're a freak but the freaky dude holding my ball wants you. You'll be pals." he scowled. "Well, ya won't if I burn ya!" Sear grinned. "yahoo!" he released bursts of Ember which were dispelled by a blast of Psychic.

"I ain't going with no weirdo," the Dark-type hissed.

"Well," shrugged Sear. "That or burn. I bet you know what I want." Pansear leapt forward and began to scratch him. Umbreon dodged and struck with a fast movement, Quick Attack. Sear leered and Umbreon flinched as a Scratch slashed his face. Where was the human with him, giving him orders? He saw him at last, an odd human with features like his own. The eyes were calm and eerie, gaze unable to be avoided. Why wasn't the human saying anything? Oh no wait... He was. It was just quiet that was all, hard to be heard.

"Scratch," came Ethan's quiet command and Sear obeyed gleefully as he leapt toward the opponent. Umbreon dodged back and forth, padding backwards toward the wall. Oh crap... Of course this had been the human's plan. Of course. He growled irritably as the wood grew cooler but there was still fire burning around the Pansear. Umbreon glanced all around, searching for an exit. Ah, the window! He leaped up to the sill with a Quick Attack and blasted it apart with a Psychic. He grinned and leapt out the window...

Only to discover he was still over water. And he couldn't swim. Crap.

Ethan smirked a little. "Gotcha." He enlarged the Pokeball he'd been given and it engulfed Umbreon in a white light and pulled him inside. Ethan went to the window and climbed out to leap after the shaking orb. With a splash, he landed and caught it, shaking himself free of the water. They were in a shallow section luckily. Sear stood on the sill and glowered. He was not goin' down there, no way no how. Ethan held out his other Pokeball and returned him. Walking out onto the beach, he examined the Pokeball he had used on Umbreon. It was still shaking in his hands. "Behave yourself," Ethan commented dispassionately. "You're out of the water now." it continued to shake until Kumiho almost dropped it.

Then it stopped and sat still.

Ethan smiled slightly. That was fascinating. So the head-on approach didn't always have to work in a battle. Hm... not bad for his first try. However, it was unrefined unlike his mother's had been. It had also been too widespread. Though for Sear that was likely the best option... hmm... he would have to think on it later. He released the Umbreon. "Hullo Blackie," he greeted, wiping his shoes free of wet sand as the white light turned into the creature that had fascinated him.

The fox creature stared at him with red sclera and black eyes. "What are you, nuts?" He asked. "Why should I go with you? You just tried to kill me!"

"Defeat equals friendship," Ethan commented, guessing at words. He liked the spark in the creature... and the comments. Interesting.

"You don't know what friendship is," muttered the fox but sighed. "I do not have any choice in this. Besides, I ain't dead,that boat's probably a crisp, and well... you've already caught me haven't you?" He sighed. "Fine... I'll join you I guess. Where to you weirdo human?"

"Ethan," corrected Kumiho with a small smile. "We are off to prove a man wrong."

...

"Indeed... you are ready. I must admit I didn't think you would complete my task this fast, if at all. But it only proves that the guardian gods didn't make a mistake."

These were the man's first words when Ethan reappeared in front of his house. Ethan shrugged and glanced at Blackie. The Umbreon looked confused but let it go.

"This Umbreon you captured at the docks is yours to keep," Joresh continued. "You are the human who captured it and thus the human that shall take care of it. All according to the old legends about Reshiram and Zekrom..."

Ethan almost interrupted but thought better of it and listened.

"Did you know that they are believed to once have brought all other pokémon to Arcanum, because only humans lived here back then? It's said that the pokémon were gifts to the humans, to allow Reshiram and Zekrom live here since they had no other place in the world where they were welcome. But it's also said that if the humans were to name pokémon as their property, they were obliged to always take care of it and do what was best for the pokémon to help it grow stronger. All pokémon want to grow stronger at some point and level. It's in their deepest nature. That is why Arcanum's pokémon trainers exist."

Joresh finished by giving Ethan an intense stare, which even he fought against squirming under. "You are now a pokémon trainer. This obligation falls upon you."

Kumiho said nothing except for a simple nod, turning the words over and over in his head. He wondered and wondered but the time for pondering was best suited in a home. Gesturing to Blackie, he turned to go.

"Wait a moment young trickster." Ethan paused, smiling slightly. That was a new name. "Are you going to leave my young monkey here to laze about?"

"I suppose not," Ethan acknowledged, taking the other ball. He idly noted he wasn't using his typical speech pattern. IT wasn't too concerning. It was mostly used to inspire a reaction from others anyway. "Thank you sir. Good bye."

(Gah I wanted another part in here but... no. I think I need a few working brain cells for that.)

 

[Miss Doronjo]

~ Lynn Colthearts Mission 2~

The Colthearts training room was about more spacious and tidy than their own living room. The floor and walls were made out of the same sturdy wooden material as their whole house, which it was also decorated with plants, and different pictures of Lynn's descendants. Normally in the Colthearts training room, Lynn would come in and focus her 'chi', or in other words, the spirit that was held inside her. This chi would help her relax, and thus, help her to become luckier, or at least that is what the Colthearts believed. However, there was no time to be training -- it was time for a battle.

Lynn and her two pokemon, Flareon and Pansage, stood on the right end of the hall, about ready for a battle. On the other end stood her grandmother and her grandfather, with their two pokemon, Misdreavus and Duskull. Lynn's mother, as well as Lynn's sister Ringo, keeled on one side of the hall, only to observe. The four pokemon stared each other down.

"Pan! Pansage!" (I hope you're ready!) Pansage announced.

"Flareon!" (I hope you two are ready to BUUUUUURN!) Flareon added.

"Misdreavus..." (...You two don't stand...)

"Dus...Skull...." (...A ghost of a chance...)

"Well Lynn," her grandmother said. "Let us get this battle underway, yeah?"

"Hehe, back in my day, they call me the POKEMON TUMBLER!" Lynn's grandfather said proudly.

"...Only because you used tumble and trip whenever you saw a pokemon..." Lynn's grandmother mumbled.

"Mother, are you sure about this?" Ringo asked her mother.

"If your grandmother think this is necessary... then yes," her mother replied with a firm tone.

Ugh, the spirits are NOT going to like this... Lynn thought. I sense 4 years of bad luck in a near future... EEK! FOUR YEARS OF TURNING INTO A SILICON PHESBIANT!

"Spirits... guide us to victory..." Lynn's grandmother softly prayed.

CURSES! I WAS GOING TO ASK THEM FOR VICTORY! Lynn thoughtfully hissed. Great... that's one advantage they are going to have over me... what if the goddess of victory shines upon them... ugh. Next stop: silicon phesbiant ville.

"You'll have the first move Lynn," her grandmother then said. "Let's begin."

Well, spirits or no spirits, I'm going to have to try to win! Lynn thought,as she announced her first attack. "Pansage, Vine Whip on Misdrevus! Flareon, Flamethrower on Duskull!"

The two pokemon she had performed their respective attacks, as Pansage released his vines to hit Misdrevus. Flareon, meanwhile, released its trademarked flamethrower right towards the floating Duskull.

"Misdrevus, use Will-O-Wisp!" Lynn's grandmother ordered.

"Duskull, Shadow Ball!" Lynn's grandfather ordered afterword.

The two ghost pokemon obeyed their respective orders, as Misdrevus first used Will-o-wisp to counter Pansage's Vine Whip. It released small blue flames in which these flames engulfed Pansages Vine Whip. Pansage then quickly retracted the vine, as it was then screaming while running and rolling around in circles, trying to put out the fire it was caught on. So, the fire was put out, and Pansage sighed of relief as Misdrevus chuckled sadistically. Meanwhile, Flareon's Flamethrower was countered by Duskull's Shadow Ball, cancelling out the attack, and leaving the room in smoke from the stalemate.

"Um...okay...uh... Flareon, try a Quick Attack on Misdrevus!" Lynn then suggested, as Flareon nodded, and started to run. Then, it jumped, using its Quick Attack to try and hit Misdrevus as fast as possible without no hope for a counter-attack. However, their plan could only end in failure as Flareon was then surprised as Misdrevus didn't budge an inch -- Flareon's attack went right through it. Fortunately, Flareon landed on the ground just a few feet away from it.

"Flare! Eon, Flareon?!" (W-WHAT?! THE ATTACK WENT RIGHT THOUGH AS IF MISDREVUS WAS SOME SORT OF... OF GHOST!) Flareon cried surprised through the ordeal, however, even Pansage knew that their opponents were ghost pokemon as he rolled his eyes.

"It's a dark shame that you do not know that Normal type attacks do not effect ghost pokemon," Lynn's grandmother stated. "Pokemon is not just about battling, it's also about knowledge!"

SHOOT! I forgot about that from the book: The Adventures of Chuck and Gastly! Lynn thoughtfully regretted. And there I was, wondering what curse Gastly was going to put on Chuck next... turn him into a pair of glasses, or make him have acne?"

"Let's continue!" Lynn's Grandfather announced. "Duskull, perform your Confuse Ray attack!" Duskull's eyes then lit up, as Flareon was caught in its trance. Then, it was engulfed by a sinister beam right from Duskull, which caused it to be confused. It started to wobble left and right, quick attacking the nearby wall.

"C-Confusion?!" Lynn said, as she could nothing but watch. "Oh god,I hope this doesn't make Flareon act like a duck..."

"Flare-Flare-Flare-FLAREON!" (I'M A BURNING DUCK-I'M A BURNING DUCK-I'M A BURNING DUCK-HEAR ME QUACK!)

"Sage..." (I say, its an improvement...) Pansage sighed.

Lynn's Grandfather felt pride, as he then, all of a sudden, Lynn's Grandfather was gripping onto his belly. "Ooorgh! WAARGH, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" he cried.

"What's wrong?" Lynn's grandmother asked.

"Orgh... twargh... too... much... TESTOSTERONE! CAN'T BREATHE!" he replied, only to be awarded by a slap from Lynn's grandmother.

"Ringo, don't ever grow up to be like your grandfather," Lynn's mother warned.

"I won't..." Ringo pleaded.

"Let's just finish this," Lynn's grandmother announced, preparing Misdreavus for another attack. "Misdrevus, Shadow Ball on Flareon!" Misdreavus preceded, preparing a ball of pure dark matter for it to strike the confused Flareon. Pansage watched with a concerned face.

"Pansage!" (Flareon!) Pansage called out, as he, without thinking, ran and leaped towards Flareon, only to be in the full front of Misdreavus' Shadow Ball attack. Pansage was hit on its back as he fell on top of Flareon.

"Mfhafre Mfeonf..." (Ghosff daf afwaree...)

Pansage slowly recovered. "Sage?" (What did you say?) Pansage asked Flareon while he was on top of him.

"Flareon!" (I said, get off of me!) Flareon repeated, as Pansage quickly rose up from him, so that they were both on their feet. Flareon stared blankly at Pansage.

"Flare... Eon," (You... saved me?) Flareon asked.

"Pan! Pansage," (Of course! After all... we're a team,) Pansage explained with an open smile.

"Eon..." (Pansage...)

"Pan, Pansage!" (You can thank me after we win this battle!)

"Flareon!" (Right!) Flareon agreed, as Pansage and Flareon both glanced at Lynn, with more determined faces.

"Flareon... Pansage..." Lynn said. "I understand. In the name of karma, let us continue!"

"Lynn..." Lynn's mother said, surprised that Lynn had taken on a whole new resolve; a face that was determined to do virtually anything.

"Flareon, use Flamethrower on Misdreavus!" Lynn confidently ordered.

"Misdreavus, counter with Shadow Ball!" Lynn's grandmother responded.

"Pansage, Vine Whip!" Lynn then called.

Misdreavus released its signature Ball from the shadows, as that attack was soon to be interrupted by Pansage's Vine Whip, which knocked the Shadow Ball away to the nearby wall. Misdreavus was surprised as before it knew it, it was struck by Flareon's flamethrower, followed up with a sly slap on the side by Pansage's Vine Whip. Misdrevus collapsed on the floor, and fainted.

"Ugh, no..." Lynn's grandmother scuffed as she turned to her husband. "DO SOMETHING!"

"Oh... Ah... Duskull! DO SOMETHING!" her grandfather ordered.

"Dus...kull..." (Ooooh... look at me...! I'm a ghost...! Scary...!)

Pansage and Flareon exchanged glances before performing their final attacks: A flamethrower from Flareon, and a Lick attack from Pansage, causing the Duskull to faint quickly as well. Thus, Lynn has won the match.

"Pansage! Flareon! You two were amazing!" Lynn complimented, as Pansage and Flareon exchanged glances once more, except with a warm, celebratory smile.

"As I thought..." Lynn's grandmother smiled as her Misdreavus slowly recovered. "You have grown strong indeed, Lynn."

"Absolutely," her grandfather added. "I haven't had a whoopin' like that since the great all-you-can-eat-pancake party of 59', ehehe!"

Lynn's mother rose from the floor she was kneeling on, having her eyes fixated to Lynn. Lynn and her were both silent, staring towards one another, until Lynn's mother gave her a warm smile. "Well done," her mother complimented softly. "Even though I'm your mother Lynn, it appears that I have been wrong about your strength... Your courage... And your wisdom... And I simply can not ignore that."

"Thank you mother," Lynn thanked, returning with a open smile. "Does this mean... I can go off on my own?"

"While I still think that leaving will be selfishness on your part," her mother replied. "Not letting you leave on your duty will be selfishness on mine. I'll take good care of your sister. You may go."

Lynn then bowed as it was part of her tradition to bow when properly thanking someone. She then had a quick glance at her sister Ringo, as she thought that Ringo was unsettled at first, but, she knew that Ringo will be okay as she had a small smile as well, and bowed as well, symbolizing a sign of respect.
​

*Next time: Lynn's going to try to catch a Marill while on a maniac coffee mode, RAWR*

 

[moon]

@ Fuyu

Good post, I liked the part where things BUUURNEED! But I'm not too approving of Ethan conversing with pokémon like if he was conversing with a human. Mr. Mammoth's character has a history of living with pokémon so I can allow it slightly there even if I still don't think it makes much sense... but please, people and pokémon cannot talk with each other like two humans can. This is not Digimon.

Ethan caught an Umbreon! (male lvl 10)

Ethan was given a Pansear! (male lvl 11)

--
@ Miss Doronjo

Haha I laughed out loud! Can't wait for that Marill catching :p

Flareon grew to lvl 11!

Pansage grew to lvl 12!

 

[{Swan}]

Yi Lanhua​

route 11 - Part 1​

The conversation with Lanhua's parents had gone shaky at best. Neither of them wanted Lanhua to go through with her journey, and neither of them understood that she wasn't so thrilled either, but that it was something she had to do. there had been shouting, accusing, some crying from Lanhua's mother and silence from her father. Overall, though, it had gone better than Lanhua had expected.

It was late in the afternoon when Lanhua finally entered the first route out of Januvale, and she was eager to reach the next city, just to get this one behind her. She was just too stubborn to spend another night here, which would mean having to go back to her parents' house. This was not going to happen.

And so Lanhua found herself traveling through Route 11, which, she had to admit, was gorgeous. The road was rather thin and swirling, it was barely thick enough to accommodate one Pokémon carriage, and there were lines in the dirt suggesting quite few had gone through. there was lush vegetation everywhere combined with lots of flowers and Combee flying to and fro everywhere. Combee weren't the only bugs there either, there were colourful wings to be spotted everywhere, most likely attracted by the abundance of flowers in the area. Small houses set here and there surrounding by big Combee-boxes for colonies which Lanhua knew belonged to honey farmers. She had a sweet spot for honey and in Januvale they always had the sweetest honey from Route 11.

Lanhua, contrary to most girls her age, had nothing against bugs. She actually found them rather beautiful, and it were bugs that produced her previous honey after all. She didn't release her Pokémon yet, for she wasn't entirely sure Fei wouldn't just run away and she didn't have the energy at the moment to constantly keep an eye on Xinju. The parents thing was still nagging at her, plus the dread that she wouldn't see her best friend in a long time. It wasn't long until something caught her attention and distracter her from these thoughts however.

A distant blue and black figure darted through the route, a broken-off part of a honeycomb in its hands. Behind it she could hear angry yelling. "Come back thief! I'll get you for that! I'll skin you alive!" coupled with furious barks.

Lanhua thought quickly before putting two fingers in her mouth and whistling loudly. It got the Pokémon's attention. She motioned quickly for it to follow as she dove into the bushes next to the path. When the bug had reached her, deciding that it had a better shot at momentarily trusting her than it had at escaping its pursuers, Lanhua grabbed it by its dark main body. She retreated behind a pair of tall bushes, holding the bug between her and the plant. Before long a farmer wearing a pair of jean dungaroos and straw hat paired with a barking dog Pokémon came by and stopped, scanning the environment. The dog was sniffing around, coming dangerously close to the bush. "Excuse me miss," the farmer said when he noticed Lanhua. "Have you seen a Mothim flying around here?"

"Oh," Lanhua said innocently. "Is that what I saw flying past with some honey? It flew over there," she waved in a farther more heavily vegetated area. "Going real fast!" The dog was now dangerously close to the bug, apparently a Mothim, sniffing the bushes right where it was, but luckily the farmer took her word for it and hurried through the bush, and Lanhua giggled as he struggled through the vegetation. When she was sure the farmer was properly gone she let the Mothim go, who seemed to be quite ruffled of being treated so harshly by a strangers.

"Why hello there Mothim," Lanhua greeted. "Looks like you were in a bit of a pickle there." The Mothim fluttered to a near tree and sat on a branch, nibbling its honey, the sight made Lanhua smile. "I guess we've one thing in common," she reached out and managed to snatch a droplet of honey before the Mothim snatched his catch away, offended by Lanhua trying to steal some of his stolen prize. "Just, don't go anywhere, alright" Lanhua said, holding out a hand as if willing Mothim to stay on the branch. She sat down on a fallen log and grabbed her trainer book from her bag.

The book listed the Pokémon alphabetically so it wasn't very hard to find Mothim, Lanhua was suddenly very glad that the farmer had spilled on what it was though, for she quickly found the big flaw in the colour-based Pokémon identifying system. They all had their foreign colour patterns. Lanhua found herself looking at a very orange version of the blue, black and sandy moth in front of her. "Apparently this honey craze is definitive for your species, Mothimg," Lanhua told the moth, who just continued eating, paying her no heed.

Lanhua briefly looked over the Mothim's info before deciding that she wanted him. He didn't seem particularly strong, she didn't want him for strategic reasons at all. And really, he wasn't even beautiful, like she wanted her Pokémon to be. (Though she had to admit that there was something strangely elegant and pretty about him, in the strange way of bugs) It was most probably that she had a weak spot for a creature that liked Honey as much as she did.

She released Fei, "Hello there, I need you to battle that Mothim over there," she'd told the Leafeon. "We need to gouge your abilities anyway." Lanhua felt a bit more confident in her battling, she'd read the few pages of the handbook that advised on battling and she actually knew Fei's moves now. Mothim, meanwhile, was still fully absorbed in licking up the last of his precious honey. "Why don't you take it by surprise with one of your aerial aces?"

Fei sent a cold look at its trainer. Really, he was far too good for this poor excuse of a trainer, but for some unfortunate events that had gotten him saddled with her. He sped forward, jumping from the tree's trunk to the Mothim still sitting on its branch and tackling him off it. Mothim seemed to be quite put-off by the whole dealings. First it got manhandled by a strange human, and then out of nothing it gets tackled from its branch, and by a flying-attack too!

Mothim flew up, assessing the situation, before he decided that he wasn't going to let the rude intrusion slide. It flew down in a tackle at Fei, who was just sitting and being idle, and hit her straight in the chest. Fei huffed, things just got real. "Fei, go after him with a tackle!"

Fei jumped after the retreating Mothim, but before he could reach him Fei smacked against an invisible wall. "Oh, shoot, that must be the protect!" Lanhua realized. "Try sand attack first then, see if that helps." Fei nodded and send a spray of sand from the road at the Mothim. The moth tried to pull another protect but the attack faltered and instead it got sand in its eyes. It was trying to furiously run the annoying particles from his eyes and subconsciously it flew lower to the ground, which was perfect for Lanhua and Fei.

"Fei, use another aerial ace, that seemed to work really well," Lanhua said. The Leafeon propelled itself with its powerful hind legs, taking three swift steps before using his momentum to jump upward and hit the flying bug. Fei, clever thing he was, also used his own pull of gravity to send pin Mothim downwards, resulting in the bug landing painfully on the ground, the Leafeon on top of him. The bug flapped his wings furiously getting away from Fei, and while the Leageon was still getting on his feet Mothim aimed a nasty tackle right in his face.

"Ouch," Lanhua muttered. "That looked like it hurt." Mothim was now flying rather low, it seemed as if he had removed the sand from his eyes, and just waited. Lanhua realized it probably had a protect ready for Fei, this was something she needed to get around. She also noticed that Mothim had troubles with the using protect twice in a row. So what if they sent out a 'fake' attack before the real attack? Oh! Look at her! She was strategizing!

"Fei, why don't you send him another sand attack?" Lanhua suggested. Fei did as told, spraying up more sand with his legs, but as predicted Mothim just put up another protect barrier and the sand sprayed uselessly against it. "Now before it can go up again, go with aerial ace!" Same as before, Fei took a few strides then jumped up again- another protect wall. "What, but how?!" Lanhua stomped her foot down in frustration. That wasn't part of the plan! Leafeon shook himself, jolted by the impact. "Do it again Fei, see if he can do his protecting gig three times in a row!" Fei shot her a look, saying he really did not want to do that again, but he did as told anyway. Using the tree behind him to jump a higher distance (As Mothim was flying higher now, aware that the protect would probably not keep him safe this time) Fei braced himself for another invisible wall, and aerial aced a very visible Mothim instead. Both flew through the air from impact, and both crashed into the earth a second later.

Fei immediately stood up, instinctively licking its paw where a few leaves were rather ruffled. The battle had done a number on him. Not as much as on Mothim though, the flying attacks had really worn him down, and he looked quite unsteady in the sky now. One wing was bent a bit oddly, and fluttered less than the other one. It looked a bit pathetic, struggling to stay aloft, and Lanhua knew not much could come from it now. It was time for the Pokéball throwing.

She grabbed one of Maddy's Pokéballs from her bag and clumsily threw it at Mothim. She was surprised it took, her aim was miles off but somehow the ball sensed the weakened Pokémon and was drawing to it. It fell to the ground, shaking back and forth, and Lanhua held her breath…

​

 

[moon]

@Swan - :D I had hoped someone would capture a Mothim~ Neat, descriptive post.

Lanhua captured a Mothim! (male lvl 10)

Fei (Leafeon) grew to lvl 11!

 

[The warden]

The kid that had challenged Kitaru was much younger than him and it was obvious from his appearance that he was a native Arcanian. Guessing the boy's age Kitaru would not have said any older than ten. They had agreed to use just one Pokemon each and they would fight to the last one standing. The woodland around them was littered with trees but there was plenty of space. It would provide an interesting battle ground Kitaru thought to himself.

"Go Azura!" Kitaru said releasing his Pokemon. She had managed well on this journey but had got a little tired in the last stretch and so took a nap in her Pokeball. Kitaru didn't blame her if he could of he would have taken a nap too, the day had been quite eventful so far.

"Do your best Snugz!" The kid yelled releasing his Pokemon. What kind of name is "Snugz" Kitaru thought but didn't say anything. The Pokemon that the kid had released appeared to just be a ball of leaves. Kitaru thought of asking if it was a joke but then the ball of leaves moved, making Kitaru jump. He examined it closely and the leaves parted revealing a blue face, beady yellow eyes and a the top of the Pokemon's head which was also blue. The Pokemon showed no signs of having arms or legs. "Do you like my Burmy?" The kid asked but didn't give Kitaru the chance to answer. "It took forever to find. They are really good at hiding because they keep themselves warm using leaves." The boy said sounding proud with himself.

"Yeah. Um... It's great!" Kitaru said he had never heard of Burmy before and didn't know if it was anything that really deserved praise. "Show me what it can do!" Kitaru yelled enthusiastically starting the battle.

"Snugz! Protect!" The kid yelled but nothing seamed to happen.

"If he isn't doing anything then get the first hit in. Azura! Quick Attack!" Azura darted forwards, dodging between the trees and went to attack Snugz. She got within inches of striking the Pokemon but bounced away. "What?!" Kitaru asked out loud partly in surprise. How had she not been able to hit the Burmy.

"So you haven't encounter Protect before. See if you can work out what it does? Snugz! Tackle!" The kid ordered. The small Pokemon ran forwards and dived at Azura striking her with it's body. How it did it Kitaru didn't know because it still seemed that the Pokemon didn't have any legs. Azura stood her ground as the Pokemon struck her, but she was hurt by the attack.

"Azura Sand Attack!" Kitaru shouted. Azura kicked up a cloud of dirt and leaves at the Burmy. When the leaves settled the Burmy was gone. "It's gone into hiding! Keep your guard up!" Kitaru warned Azura. Seconds later the Burmy dashed out of a pile of leaves and attempted to tackle Azura again. As the Burmy approached Azura turned her head to face the Pokemon and her eyes glazed over white for a second. Then she dived out of its way at the last possible second. "Great work! Now hit it with a Quick Attack!" Kitaru didn't expect the attack to hurt Snugz but he hoped that he could at least get some idea what was going on. Azura charged at the Burmy but just as she was about to hit it she stopped and bounced back. And in that instant Kitaru saw what he had been expecting. In the air between the two Pokemon there had been a flash of green energy. Protect created a shield to stop Azura's attacks. "Let's see how it fares against another Quick Attack!" Kitaru cried.

"Glaceon!" Azura yelled as she charged the Burmy again, this time knocking it down and hurting it.

"Their onto us! Snugz we need to end this now Tackle!" Snugz push himself to his feet, if it had any and charged again.

"Don't bother defending! Attack with Quick Attack!" Kitaru ordered knowing that if he wanted to win this fight he would have to do it before Burmy got chance to stall again. Azura charged Snugz and the two Pokemon collided bouncing off each other. Both were injured in the collision. As Snugz landed it wobbled a little and then fell down as it was knocked out completely. Azura landed more gracefully but managed to stay on her feet. Yet she had bee weakened by the fight, Kitaru wondered if he had pusher her a little too hard but she seemed all right.

"Oh well..." The kid said as he returned Snugz to his ball. "You did really well."

"You too." Kitaru returned the kid's compliment with a smile. The battle had calmed Kitaru a little and he wasn't so annoyed at the way the day had gone so far. The boy paid Kitaru a little money it wasn't much but then Kitaru didn't mind and the two said their goodbyes.

***

It was getting late in under an hour it would be dark. He had yet to make it Feborough which he had hope he would be able to do before night fall. He should look for somewhere to set up camp before night fall.

He found a sheltered area that was large enough to put up his two man tent. It was on a small rise ad the trees provided cover from the wind and the rain. Kitaru released his Pokemon. He sent Mischief and Azura to look for fire wood and tinder, while he set the tent up. The tent was easy enough to assemble, it was small and light enough to carry around when packed up but it wasn't ever so big when assembled. By the time he had set the tent up his Pokemon had returned. Mischief was carrying a hand full of dead wood and Azura some dried leaves in here mouth. Kitaru used them to light a small fire before it got dark.

He had cooked dinner by the time the sun set, he had some tinned food heated on the fire. Azura had a tin of fish and Mischief had some fruit. When they were all full they lounged in the heat of the fire just enjoying the sounds of chirping from the nearby bug type Pokemon. Kitaru was almost ready to go to sleep when a humming come through the air, it was light like quickly flapping wings. Kitaru looked around but he couldn't see anything in the darkness. A bug Pokemon must have been drawn near by the light of the fire only Kitaru couldn't see it.

" Sage!" Mischief chirped in that he was ready to fight, to which Kitaru nodded. As his eyes searched for the source of the humming Kitaru wondered what bug Pokemon was approaching.

 

[moon]

@ The warden - Good, descriptive battle! I realize some of you might soon be done with Route 11, but some people are still in Januvale and I want to wait for everybody to reach Route 11 before I post Feborough. Unless it takes them several more days :p

Azura (Glaceon) grew to lvl 14!

 

[{Swan}]

Yi Lanhua​

Route 11 - Part 2​

"Yes!" Lanhua cheered as the ball came to a stop. "Look Fei, I just caught my first Pokémon! Oh I've got to tell Maddy. But first let's get you both healed up." She released the Mothim who then fluttered down to the ground. Lanhua retrieved the tube with the purple stripe and smeared a little bit on the damaged wing. Before her eyes the wing started to straighten out already and Mothim flapped his wings a few times to test it out. It seemed to work just fine again. Lanhua smeared a bit more of the potion on his main body and before she knew it Mothim was flying in the air again, flying loops and circles. She also smeared some potion on Fei's hurt leg and bruised side.

"I suppose you need a name now. I shall call you <b>Hongze</b>, because you're a great thief, you are," Lanhua giggled and Mothim looked at her like she was nuts. It flew up and settled on Lanhua's head. "As long as you don't mess up my hair," Lanhua grumbled, not entirely in agreement with this new development. She sat down on a nearby bench in a particularly flowery area in the sun.

Suddenly her stomach began to make angry sounds and Lanhua was reminded that the brunch of sushi had been the last she'd eaten. Good thing she'd had the sense to quickly buy some food and useful things. She got out the mini rice cooker (2 cup capacity, non-sticky pan, now also available in solar-battery travelling format!) that had been on sale and one of the many single-portion rice packets she'd gotten for it. Her mother would be disappointed if she saw it, disliking any modern appliance that made life easier. Then again, Lanhua wouldn't have known how to cook rice in a pot anyway, she was quite the terrible cook. And so she did as the instruction manual told her, emptied one of the packets into the cooker and added the right amount of water. Now, according to the manual, all she had to do was wait for it to *ping*.

"Oh, I completely forgot to get Pokémon food," she realized. "That's what you guys eat, right? Do you eat rice too?" At this Hongze sniffed the rice cooker suspiciously, and Fei just spread himself out on the grass, basking in the sun. "Do you even need food, Fei? Don't plants get energy from the sun or something?" Fei glanced at her and then closed his eyes again. Lanhua was simply not interesting enough. She released Xinju as well, feeling he should be including in the food-talk. The monkey looked around him, taking the whole route in with that curiosity of his. He then focused his attention on Hongze and waved enthusiastically. Hongze looked at him quizzically before uncertainly waving one of his wings back. Xinju delighted in this and clapped his hands brightly.

"Hello Xinju, we're discussing food, or the lack of food I have for you guys," Lanhua explained. "Have you ever had rice Xinju?" the monkey shook his head. "Well you're about to, I'm sure at least you'd like it. I mean monkeys eat that sort of thing, right? And if you don't like it," Lanhua dropped her voice to a whisper. "I always have some egg tarts." Xinju clapped his hands again, and than held out both of his, palm forward, in a high ten motion. He looked at Lanhua expectantly and she rolled her eyes, but placed her hands on his. "Yes, Xinju, high ten."

Lanhua was just about to check on her rice when she was quite rudely interrupted.

"YOU!"

Lanhua whirled around to see the farmer from before stomping towards her. His dungaroos were significantly dirtier and there were some branches and leaves in his hair. Lanhua couldn't help but giggle, which was not a very good idea. "You! You did this on purpose! You sent me the wrong way!" he accused.

"Yes I did," Lanhua admitted. "But look on the bright side, I caught the Mothim and it won't bother you anymore," she tried to reason with the farmer, but he was furious.

"I won't have it! That Pokémon is a pest!"

"And it will be out of your hair now!"

"I don't care, the only place I want that blasted moth is six feet under," the farmer spat. Lanhua gasped and Hongze sought safety behind her back.

"And you'll get no such thing," Lanhua said firmly.

"I have a bone to pick with you too, for misleading me like that. There is only one way to settle this," the farmer called this Electrike forward.

"A battle it is, Hongze, let's show him how tough you are," Lanhua said encouragingly. The Mothim was quite uncertain about the whole thing though, not entirely sure that Lanhua would lead him to a victory. But she was his new trainer, and she'd been nice enough so far…

"If I win," the farmer started. "I want money for compensation of the stolen honey."

"Well then if I win…" Lanhua looked the farmer up and down. He was rather fat and looked quite lazy, but he had a satchel swung over his shoulder that she recognized as belonging to someone who had been gathering honey. "I want all the honey you have in your satchel."

The farmer looked nervously at his satchel, revealing that there was quite a bit of honey in there, but he agreed. "Electrike use howl!" The Electrike let out a rather frightening howl, and looked rather more confident after it. "And now tackle!"

"Use protect Hongze," Lanhua commanded. Just as Electrike jumped up to hit the Mothim a disturbance could be seen in the air and the dog Pokémon smacked right into it. "Oh I love it when that's on my side!" Lanhua cheered. "Now Tackle him right back!" The moth swooped down and hit the Electrike just as it had plummeted down into the ground. This was going to be quite easy!

"Electrike, use quick attack," the farmer commanded calmly. "Don't underestimate us, we've fought these bests many times before!"

"Use protect again!" Lanhua told Hongze, but just as before the air shimmered but nothing happened and Electrike threw himself into the moth, successfully tackling it to the ground.

"You see now? Protect hardly ever works twice in a row," the farmer said arrogantly. "Now use thunder fang, Electrike, that ought to teach them a lesson, my Electrikes are from a special lineage, you see, bred to be stronger and better than others," he bribed.

"Hongze fly up, quick!" He tried, Hongze did, but he just wasn't quick enough to get away from Electrike's sparking haunches, and they bit him on the bottoms of his wings. He shuddered as the electricity went through his body.

"Those suckers are incredibly weak to electricity, one or two more should put it right down where it belongs, go at it Electrike!" the farmer cheered and the Electrike snapped at Hongze again.

"Hongze use protect again!" Electrike's jaws met with a familiar invisible wall, it snapped its jaws trying to find an opening but the protect was foolproof this time. "Now hit it with a tackle!" Just as the Electrike stopped its useless attack Hongze swooped in and hit it with a tackle again.

"Well this was all fun and games," the farmer said. "But let's speed things up a little, shall we? Electrike use thunder wave." A thin spark of electricity shot from the Electrike to the Mothim, spreading all over the moth's body and causing his wings to start twitching. Hongze fell from the air, his wings not being able to keep him aloft. "Now use thunder fang and finish the sucker." Paired with a vicious snarl Electrike bit Hongze's bad wing again, causing even more electricity to course through him.

Lanhua gasped, thinking for sure that Hongze was done for, but surprisingly it was still conscious and struggling. "Oh come on, doesn't that thing ever die?" the farmer said savagely. "A tackle should do it Electrike."

"Use protect Hongze!" Lanhua called. Electrike ran towards the Mothim, throwing its weight into a tackle and met… with an invisible wall. Struggling and twitching Hongze had been able to produce a wall after all. Electrike whined as it licked at its injured shoulder.

"Another tackle, full-force, it can't produce a protect twice in a row, go on," the farmer told his Electrike, who was apprehensive of hitting that wall again. It had had its own fair share of beating in this battle, but its owner was not the kindest of owners, so it did as it was told.

"Come on Hongze, I know you're strong enough to create another protect!" Lanhua called out desperately. "Just one more, you can do it!" Mothim twitches some more, but closed his eyes in concentration. It tried to gather all its power of protection, the one that always slipped so far away after one protect. Tried to grab the powers back before they were gone again. Meanwhile Electrike had moved back to really gain momentum with its final tackle and ran forward as fast as it could. It jumped forward, throwing his weight into this one tackle meeting nothing… and then a wall. It was just millimeters before it would have hjt Hongze, but the wall was there and Electrike was savagely thrown back. It rolled over the ground for a few meters and didn't get up again.

"We won," Lanhua whispered in disbelief. "We won! Hongze, we won!" She ran towards the moth and lifted him up in her arms. The farmer let out a string of curses worthy of a sailor. He recalled his Pokémon grumpily and was about to walk away. "Ahem, we had a deal," Lanhua reminded him, and he grumbled as he handed her half a dozen jars of honey. "Well Hongze, looks like we'll have all the honey you need for a while now.

* * *

Just a little later Lanhua was seating on the bench again with her Pokémon around her, enjoying their dinner. Lanhua was lucky that the rice cooker also kept the rice warm after it was done (and that it had a timer anyway, burnt rice was just plain nasty), she was now happily eating warm rice mixed with delicious honey.

Hongze was busy with his face fully in a whole jar of honey on his own, it was more honey than he'd ever stolen for himself before and it was like a feast for him. Fei had at first thought himself far too good for the meal but the sweet smell of honey had attracted him in the end and he was contently (if feeling a bit defeated by his own desire for the stuff) licking the lid of Hongze's pot who had kindly shared quite a bit of honey with him. Xinju was surprisingly hooked with the rice. He'd tried to use Lanhua's chop sticks but he'd failed miserably at them and just scooped the rice up with his hands. All in all, both trainer and Pokémon were completely content while the sun was setting over Route 11…


​

 

[Nakuzami]

[FONT=edca086fca6a8f6e08fbaa90#480900]

Melody Eumelia Wakana
Januvale Town
Flower Power
< Vanilla Blossom >​

♫

​

​

"Indeed . . . you are ready. I must admit I didn't think you would complete my task this fast, if at all. But it only proves that the guardian gods didn't make a mistake."


"Gee, thanks for the encouragement," I muttered. Rude rude rude rude rude! Seriously, Mr. Joresh Ja needed to learn himself some manners! Who was he to judge, anyways? I mean, besides the highest ranked trainer in Januvale. You know what? Disregard my last statement. STILL, he had no right to go about judging people, voicing his opinions like an immature Chatot.

"The pokémon you captured at the docks is yours to keep. You are the human who captured it and thus the human that shall take care of it. All according to the old legends about Reshiram and Zekrom . . ." I'm pretty sure it's called being a Pokémon Trainer, I thought, which is quite obvious. Nothing legendary about it, especially with Reshiram and Zekrom.

"Did you know that they are believed to once have brought all other pokémon to Arcanum, because only humans lived here back then? It's said that the pokémon were gifts to the humans, to allow Reshiram and Zekrom to live here since they had no other place in the world where they were welcome. But it's also said that if the humans were to name pokémon as their property, they were obliged to always take care of it and do what was best for the pokémon to help it grow stronger. All pokémon want to grow stronger at some point and level. It's in their deepest nature. That is why Arcanum's pokémon trainers exist."

Since when were Pokémon Trainers exclusive to Arcanum? Oh, that's right, never! I was in no mood to listen to this man. This very rude man.

Joresh fixed me with an intense, dark looking stare. "You are now a pokémon trainer. This obligation falls upon you."

"Lovely," I muttered. I glanced down at the Eevee in my lap and couldn't help but smile. She was adorable, and I'd gladly travel with her, but I didn't care for Joresh Ja telling me that I had to travel with her. Why, I might as well have sat down on my couch, gorged myself on junk food and never left that spot again, just so I could show him that he held no sway over me.

Joresh Ja grabbed the pokéball that contained the Pansage and let out the monkey. He stared at it for a moment, which seemed rather odd, before he turned back to me. Basically he told me that he was a boring old coot and the wild child that was Pansage would find no joy in living with a dreadful old codger like Joresh Ja. I completely and totally agreed. Why would anyone want to live with this man? As it was, nobody did, so that only proved my point. Besides, the Pansage had proved himself to be pretty good at making music with leaves. I accepted the offer.

I stood up, causing the Eevee to jump off of my lap. "Well then, I'll be off. Jazz, Reed, come on." As I turned to walk away, Jazz cheered and followed with excitement, but Reed had a bit of a bewildered expression on his face. "What?" I asked. "Reed. As in something like a reed flute? Thought you might like it. I do, anyways." Reed stared at me for another moment, probably bouncing the name around in his head. After a moment, he smiled and followed Jazz and I out the door.

* * * * *​

"You . . . you can't be serious." My mother's face was pale, and I could tell that she was silently freaking out while she stirred the vegetable stew.

"I am," I stated simply.

My mother sighed. "Well then, I know when I am unable to change your mind. So be it." She turned and faced me, a soft smile displayed on her face. In her eyes I could see love, but sadness all the same. I knew she was thinking about my father. "Still, I want to see if you are ready." She wiped her hands with a rag, turned away and left the room.

I blinked a few times before I finally spoke. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" I ran out of the room and followed my mother.

"It means," she said as we entered the garden, "that you shall battle Flora and I."

"Excuse me?" I asked after a moment of stunned silence.

"Oh, you heard me." My mother smiled as Flora, her Cherrim, bounded out of the flower garden. Chidel perched himself on a branch not too far away, and I stood there and simply stared.

"You're kidding, right?" Not once in my life had I seen my mother or Flora battle, and the thought struck me as odd.

"Not at all. Flora, use Magical Leaf, if you would be so kind." Flora chirped with approval and shot a volley of glowing leaves at me. Let's just say I yelped and jumped back a few feet, narrowly avoiding the leaves of death. I quickly sent out Jazz and ordered her to use Scratch.

"What was that for?" I cried as Jazz ran at Flora.

"You can never tell what will happen on your journies. You must always be prepared, always ready to act." Great, now my mom was going all ancient wisdom nutjob on me. Perfect.

"Well then, relentless assualt!" I yelled with a smile on my face. Jazz paused mid-scratch and looked at me, confused. "Um, meaning just keep attacking; don't let the enemy counter." Jazz seemed to go "ooooh" and nod her understanding, although that could have just been my imagination. She turned back to Flora and scratched away like a little demon. Flora seemed unfazed, however. Then again, I couldn't really tell as long as she hid behind that little purple veil of hers.

"Dazzle us with a Petal Dance!" Flora leaped back a few feet, reared her head, or maybe her whole body, and then pushed forward with incredible force as petals from all of the flowers surrounding us swirled around her. The petals flew at Jazz with incredible speed, and before I could even command her to dodge she was airborne. Not airborne as in miraculously dodging the attack with incredible grace, but more like airborne as in flailing wildly and squeeling like a baby as leaves swirled around her.

A moment later Jazz fell back to earth, unconscious. "Not . . . possible," I gasped as I recalled the little Eevee. Leave it to boring old mom and the happy-go-lucky flower to crush you in battle with a single move. That was a real confidence booster.

"Out so soon?" My mother questioned, although she wore a smile on her face. I couldn't tell what was behind that smile. Amusement? Teasing? Disappointment? Happiness? Sorrow? Whatever the emotion, my mother was doing a good job of confusing me. Perhaps it was a little bit of everything?

"Don't count us out yet!" I yelled as I threw Reed's pokéball into the air. The little monkey appeared with a joyful screech. He seemed eager to battle, which was a good thing.

"Sunny Day," Flora released a beam of energy into the sky, and almost immediately the sun shone brighter. Her purple veil unfolded into an array of pink petals, an amused smile on her face.

"Lick!" I wasn't going to lie to myself; my only hope was to paralyze Flora and chip away at her health from there.

As Reed ran in towards Flora, his tongue extended, my mother yelled something. At first I couldn't tell what it was, because my mind was running through multiple battle scenarios, none of which ended well. It wasn't for another moment that I realized that she had commanded Flora to use Solarbeam.

A ball of white light formed all around Flora as she absorbed energy from the sun, and since it was burning abnormally brightly the energy gathered around her in what seemed like less than a second. As Reed realized what was happening, his face took on a scared look as he retracted his tongue. Well, his tongue might have been saved from harm, but sadly the rest of him was blasted into oblivion by a searing white beam of energy. It happened so suddenly, he didn't even have time to cry out in pain.

I walked over to the now unconscious monkey and recalled him to his sphere of imprisonment. That was a delightful way to put it. I stared at the pokéball with an odd look for a moment, then I placed it in my pocket and walked over to my mother. "Nice to know that Flora is a powerhouse," I muttered.

"Oh, my dear, it all comes with experience." She laughed.

"But I thought that you've, like, never left Januvale?"

"Well," she frowned, "I haven't, but just because you haven't travelled the world doesn't mean you cannot garner experience. Remember that. Anyways," she sighed, "I believe you're ready."

"Excuse me? But I lost!" I objected. Although, I don't see why I would object to that, now that I think about it.

"Oh honey, you have a lot to learn. It isn't all about victory and losses, there's much more to it than that." After that she simply smiled, and when I was sure that she wasn't going to tell me anymore, I just nodded.

"You'd best be off. But before you go, take this," my mother turned around, grabbed something, and then handed it to me. It was my pack, a white bag with the tao symbol on it (I know, figures, right?) and inside were a few potions, pokéballs, berries, and other things a Pokémon Trainer might need.

"Sadly I couldn't fit any camping supplies in there, but I'm sure you'll make do. You are your father's daughter, after all," she winked at me, and I managed an awkward smile. It kind of upset me when she mentioned him, compared me to him, because I had never met him. But at the same time it was oddly comforting, because it made me feel closer to him, in a sense. I know, odd, but whatever. Let's move on, shall we?

After we said our good-byes, I told Chidel to remain here with my mom, and then I departed.
​

[/FONT]

 

[§acred†Beo!]

The Marill Peril!

Dane hadn't stuck around long after picking up his bag and stuff from his house. His mother had made sure to pack extra clothes (and of course underwear) as well as his books. He left before she could awake, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Truth was he couldn't take another goodbye, it was hard enough the first time.

"Ahhh well here we are... the starting point of my adventure, then end of Januvale and the start of Route 11" Dane said excitedly taking his first steps away from the small town that he had spent his whole life. However Dane also had the strange sensation that he was being watched, and he did not like that.

The route really wouldn't have taken Dane that long to get through, however he was amazed by every thing he passed. Flowing water, plants, the sun beating down on him. This was something he had never felt before, the feeling of being able to travel freely and see the world, and there was so much to see.

"Hey get back here right now!!!" A voice yelled from a distance as Dane began looking around for the person that said that but was suddenly tripped up from underneath by a small turquoise creature.

"Mar..il?" the creature said looking around confused and dazed as it had just run into Danes legs.

"Owww... how what is the big... oh a wild Marill" Dane said with a giddy tone seeing this as a chance to catch his third water pokemon. He reached for Vaporeon's pokeball as the Marill sat there still shaking off the collision, he then tossed the pokeball out and Vaporeon appeared in a white flash.

"Porrr" the elegent water pokemon purred stretching itself out over the ground before seeing the Marill and getting into battle mode.

"Vaporeon use quick att..." Dane was shouting the order before being interrupted by the voice he heard from earlier.

"What in god blazes do you think you are doing!?!? That there is my Marill now move aside!" a strange boy wearing a black shirt, pants and head band shouted at Dane as a little green pokemon with a flower bulb on it's head stood next to it.

"What do you mean your pokemon? Isn't it wild?" Dane asked as he finally took a good look at the Marill and saw that it was really beat up, with cuts and bruises over it's body.

"No it's my pokemon and it's trying to run away from me. So I was having my bulbasaur teach it who it's master is... Now get out of my way, bulbasaur use vine whip again" The boy ordered in an arrogant tone as two vines sprouted from the bulb on it's back.

"Mar!" the Marill shouted sprinting behind Danes legs trying to hide from the attack, the vines then slashed across both his legs causing his pants to rip and cuts to form.

"Ahhhh... That's not right! How dare you treat your own pokemon like that. I'm sorry but I can not allow you to take him back with you" Dane shouted at the boy who was beginning to get frustrated.

"That's not how this works. That pokemon is MY property, and I will do whatever I please to do with him, whether or not I have to hurt you in the process" the boy yelled back at Dane as the two began to stare each other down.

"Marill come here" Dane said grabbing the marill and holding him in his arms. "Vaporeon looks like you're going to have to fight his bulbasaur... are you ready?"

"Por! Vap!" it growled staring down the other trainers bulbasaur who like it's trainer had a smug look on it's face.

"FINE! Be that way bulbasaur charge at that weak excuse for a Vaporeon and use tackle!" the boy roared in anger, his face turning red as his bulbasaur began charging at Vaporeon who sat there calmly.

"Just wait for your opening" Dane shouted as the bulbasaur closed in her.

"Now use tackle!" the trainer shouted as Bulbasaur kicked off it's hind legs leading with it's head.

"Side step left Vaporeon!" he ordered as Vaporeon stepped swiftly to the left just in time to dodge the attack causing the bulbasaur to hit head first into a tree.

"Arrrgh, get up now you stupid pokemon and use vine whip!" the boy angrily ordered his pokemon who got up off the ground quickly shaking off the collision with the tree. Two vines once again sprouted from it's bulb and before Dane could shout an order slashed directly into Vaporeon causing her to wince in pain.

"No Vaporeon! Are you alright?!?!" Dane shouted frantically looking to his pokemon who was struggling to get back to her feet.

"Va" it wearily growled at the bulbasaur getting back to all fours.

"Looks like that sorry excuse for a pokemon doesn't know when to quit" the boy said laughing at Dane, who was literally starting to get tired of this kids attitude. "Bulbasaur use another tackle attack while it's weak!"

"Vaporeon hold your ground till I say so!" Dane grinned knowing that he had to beat this kid, and he would do it with power, not speed.

"Bulb! Ba!" The grass type pokemon roared once again kicking off it's hind legs and closing in on Vaporeon.

"Now giga impact!!!" he hollered at the top of his lungs as Vaporeon quickly began to glow and kicked off with it's hind legs as well colliding head to head with the bulbasaur causing them to both fly back past there trainers.

"What was that?! That moves was... was... really... powerful! No way that weak pokemon knows such a strong move you are a cheater!" The boy said accusing Dane of cheating.

"Huh, not only does it know that move... It also has a much better defense then your bulbasaur" Dane laughed as the smoke cleared and Vaporeon was already back to it's feet while the bulbasaur was still trying to get up.

"Finish it now with quick attack Vaporeon" Dane sighed not really wanting to hurt the bulbasaur further, but he had to knock it out, or his trainer would keep making it battle and that wasn't fair.

"Bulbasaur you get up right his instance! Do not make me get out the whip again!" the boy shouted as it tried it's hardest to get up but it was to late. Vaporeon dashed past the bulbasaur knocking it back to its stomach and out for the count.

"Great job Vaporeon, now get some rest" Dane said congratulating his pokemon and returning it to it's pokeball.

"You wait till we get home bulbasaur!" the other boy shouted in anger returning it to it's ball and then staring at Dane with what could ultimately be describe as the death stare.

"Give me my pokemon now" the boy whispered in a calm tone.

"I'm sorry I can't do that, I will take it to the proper authorities to have it cared for" Dane answered back. As the boy began to laugh and grabbed a stick that was laying on the ground next to him.

"No you won't, that is mine, and I will take what belongs to me!" he shouted rushing at Dane with the stick cocked back ready to swing.

"Marill watch out" Dane yelled shielding Marill however the turqoise water pokemon had other ideas as it jumped out his arms and firing a stream of water into the boys stomach causing him to fly back into a nearby tree.

"Mar!!!" the pokemon growled angrily at the boy as it stood in front of Dane.

"Woah, that was a strong water gun" Dane whispered in awe of that display.

"Fine if that's what you really want. To be with some weak trainer and his other weak pokemon, then good for you, go be with him. See if I care" the boy shouted pulling a pokeball from his pocket setting it on the ground and smashing it with his stick. "Good riddance, but you better watch your back. I will meet you again, and next time I won't lose" and with that he took off running down the same path he came from.

"That kid has some real anger issues... I don't understand how anyone could be so cruel to pokemon... they are not meant to be tools of power and destruction, but to make bonds of friendship with" Dane said to himself as he felt a rubbing feeling against his leg.

"ill!" the marill growled softly as Dane looked down to see that the Marill was rubbing it's head against his leg and thanking him for saving him from his trainer.

"No problem buddy... hey I have an idea, how about you come with me on my adventure, you would really fit in well with us considering you are a water pokemon" Dane said as Marill nodded in agreement with a smile on it's face.

"Alright awesome, here goes nothing" Dane shouted tossing a spare pokeball out of his bag at the now wild marill.

As the ball struck the pokemon it absorbed it up in a white flash and began to roll back and forth. Dane stood there waiting for it to stop, hopping that it hadn't changed it's mind.

(OOC: It is not one of my best posts, but I've been real busy and it's the best I could do. Hope it's good enough for you Red!)