[Best Veteran March/May 2011] A new professor in town - Kanto Adventure PG13

[Zeph.]

Vs. Sandshrew II

The Sandshrews had their heads lowered. Some hissing as they crawled up to Gella and Kliff. He looked to the sky once more. If the sun was bright enough, then hopefully,

"Vine Whip!"

With a surprising burst of speed, Gella swooped one large fine across the whole group of Sandshrew, smacking them to the side and sending them tumbling away,

"Absorb on the stragglers!"

Hopping from one rock to the next at an unbelievable rate, Gella fired the beam at any approaching Sandshrew, knocking them back to the ground.

Kliff grinned. Chlorophyll had worked. Now Gella had the element of speed to her advantage.

One sneaky shrew crept up behind the grass type and wrestled her to the floor, scratcing away in a desperate attempt to uphold its honour.

"Vine Whip again Gella!" Kliff ordered,

"Tang!" Gella wrapped a vine around the Sandshrew and held it up,

"Gela!" with a swift toss, it threw the Sandshrew back to the main cluster - in which it landed with a thud.

The colony were now looking tired and worn out. However they still stood their ground in an attempt to protect themselves. Kliff noted that they purposely stood right in front of the nest.

He sighed. it wasn't fair on them - they were minding their own business before he showed up and decided to get physical. There wasn't any need for constant fighting,

"Come back a second Gella," Kliff said as he retrieved the Tangela. He had an idea,

"Zabe, use Astonish," tossing the other pokeball to the ground, Zabe emerged and gave the group a huge fright with a shrill noise. In unison, the Sandshrew all scampered back into their rocky homes - babies included.

"Thanks buddy," Kliff said to Zabe as he held up his pokeball, only to see Zabe get knocked to the ground. One Sandshrew remained, standing above the imp.

"If it's a battle you want then fine - you asked for it," Kliff said to the ground pokemon, "But, how can you hit Zabe? Scratch is a norm-"

Sandshrew bared its purple claws,

"Poison Sting," Kliff cracked a smile, "Careful Zabe, you might get poisoned. Okay, use Night Shade!"

"Sableye!" Zabe jumped to its feet and fired the black bolts of energy in a single movement, however Sandshrew pulled off a jump of its own, going over the attack and landing to the side. It scurried in and lashed out with its puple claws again,

"Use Scratch as a counter!" Upon impact, Zabe swiped its claws to meet Sandshrew's, before throwing the rodent off to the side with them,

"Fury Swipes!" Zabe proceeded with a mad flurry of slashes on the fallen Sandshrew, as if to hack into its tough, scaley hide. Instinctively, Sandshrew rolled up into a ball to nullify the damage and bounced a few feet away to safety. It uncoiled and frantically used its feet to throw up a barrage of sand a Zabe. The ghost, however, grinned as the tiny grains bounced off his crystal eyes harmlessley.

"Astonish!" Kliff called over. Zabe improvised, and span, keeping the flying sand in motion around him. In the blink of an eye, he was up in Sandshrew's face with a shrill screech, forcefully throwing the sand back at it. The shrew was thrown back with the force, and Zabe stood there brushing himself off in a boastful way.

Kliff nodded - he was impressed. A wierd sand phantom concoction. Thank god for Keen Eye...

Sandshrew shook itself of the dust and growled, leaping at Zabe and slashing him across the chest with Poison Sting. Zabe was thrown to the side, standing on one knee and growling back at the rodent.

"Night Shade!"

Zabe's eyes cracked with energy as the bolts appeared. Sandshrew scurried out of its way. Kliff tutted,

"Fury Swipes!"

This time, Sandshrew used Defense Curl again and rolled iteslf up. Zabe's slashes simply nudged the coiled shrew side to side.

Kliff was growing tired of this, Sandshrew had responses to near everything. Time to mix things up,

"Back up Zabe! Night Shade!" The Sableye hopped back and procceeded to hit the ball with the ghost attack. It did fixed damage, so Sandshrew felt all the pain. The shrew rolled about and twitched uncomfortably before finally uncoiling and jumping up to avoid the attack,

"Perfect! Switch to Scratch!" Kliff ordered. Zabe ceased Night Shade and jumped into the air, appearing right next to Sandshrew, before delivering a harsh downward slash, sending the pangolin slamming onto the ground. Zabe landed and continued smiling, while the opposing Sandshrew struggled to its feet,

"S-sand... shrew!" Its claws began to glow purple,

"Sable..." Zabe chuckled as his own claws glowed too,

Kliff grinned, "Okay, go for Fury Swipes I guess!"

The two pokemon simulaneously took off, meeting each other face to face before the attacks played out. With a hash swipe, Zabe struck Sandshrew across the face. In response, Sandshrew's poison sting smacked Zabe hard in the gut, sending shivvers down his whole body. Determined, Zabe slashed the shrew with the other arm, before delivering an uppercut, sending Sandshrew in the air... then back down to the earth.

Kliff pondered before throwing an empty pokeball at the fallen Sandshrew. Looking at Zabe, he saw that he was clutching his gut and was looking pretty sick. Poisoned - not good.

The ball bounced off of Sandshrew and absorbed it, bouncing as it landed...

(OOC: Why did this post seem so long to me? Ah well, it's been a long day :P)

 

[pokemonmastertriplex]

can i join please or what

 

[slls81]

@Zeph - Nice post. As I've said many times before, there's nothing wrong with long posts xD

Congratulations Kliff caught a Level 9 Sandshrew

@pokemonmastertriplex - If you want to sign up, post an SU form in the OOC thread. The SU forms can be found in the first post of this thread

 

[moon]

[OOC: Long, weird, first post then?]

A warm breeze swept through the campsite as Keira threw another branch onto the tiny campfire. Lucky for them, this night wasn't at all chilly.

Keira glanced at her companions, gathered on the other side of the fire. Geodude gasped and stretched his bulky arms out, almost hitting Wingull's beak. She jumped backwards to avoid the stone arm, but tripped over Slakoth's motionless body and fell. Slakoth was already asleep.

Mareep cuddled up against Keira's leg, and lay down beside the log she was sitting on. A couple of sparks flew from her fur due to the static electricity she often produced without noticing.

Keira couldn't help smiling. Who could have thought she'd be sitting here like this, only some weeks ago?

A noise from the bushes behind them made her startle. She turned around, nervous, patting Mareep to wake it up.

"So, here we are, finally," a voice came floating toward her.

Keira's eyebrows flew upwards. "I know that voice! Butler?"

A man stepped out from the bushes, into the campfire light. He was tall and slim, wearing a dark suit, with black hair and a thick, curly moustache that looked like it received way too much love and care from it's owner. His eyes were small and narrow, and his pale lips were curling into a cunning grin.

"Little lady," he said, bowing down. "It sure was not easy to find you."

Keira was stunned by surprise. "What… what are you doing out here? Is father here too?" The last words, she said with a sting of worry.

"No," the man replied. "I have come to retrieve you, little lady."

"Do what?"

"Little lady should not be running around alone in distant lands, when her family is home, worrying for her safety and sanity."

For each sentence, the butler took one step forward. Keira noticed this.

"Mother said it was ok," she countered. "Mother gave me permission, and father didn't say anything against it."

"He wanted to please the mistress, of course. But they would both rather want you at home, in Kanto, than here in Hoenn."

He was only a couple of meters away from the girl now.

"I… don't believe you, Butler," Keira said. "I…"

"Now, now, good girls do not argue with grown ups. Let us go back to Slateport and take a boat to the mainland, little lady."

Keira sighed. She couldn't go against Butler, if father had given him orders. She just couldn't…

Something poked her leg. She looked down and found Mareep, barking at her. The other pokémon had stayed behind the fire, unsure of how to handle the situation, but now they came forward to the girl. They took place beside her, facing the man. Except for Slakoth, who was still asleep.

Keira realized she didn't want to leave all this. And for the first time in her life, she spoke up.

"No!" she said.

"Pardon me, little lady?"

"No, I don't want to go home. I'm… I'm not a little kid. And I've… I've got pokémon. I've got my own pokémon, see?"

She gestured at the three creatures beside her, and Butler frowned. "Is that what you call those things? Those are just like mere animals. Not powerful, and certainly not beautiful. Now, come home and we will…"

"No!" said Keira again, unused to the good feeling the power of the word brought. "I've done a lot of things with these pokémon. We've accomplished things!"

Butler frowned even more, and his moustache wiggled as if it were annoyed.

"It was because… because I got a letter from my uncle."

Butler's eyes widened and he gasped. "How dare you…!"

"He sent a letter to me. I was lucky to be the one meeting the mail guy that morning, or else you would have confiscated it, am I right? I went to Hoenn to find him. I didn't know how to get here at first, but I talked… to the other kids and I met a professor in town, you know, professor Maple."

"Your parents have made it very clear that they did not approve of your meeting with professor Maple. They were very disappointed when they found out…"

"But all the other kids got a pokémon there. So I went there, and she gave me one as well."

Keira patted Mareep, who stared at Butler.

"And when we got to Hoenn, I called home, you know that. And they said it was fine. And every time I've beaten a gym, I've called home, and they've always said it was fine!"

"Your father did never think it was 'fine', not any of this. He sent me to find you and to bring you home. You are to come back with me now, and you can call and tell your mother that you changed your mind about this running away idea. Or else."

"I can, but I won't," said Keira, who had made up her mind. "I'm going to find uncle. Or else what?"

Butler shaked his head and sighed. "You feel pretty self-confident with those creatures at your side, indeed, little lady. But I simply have to make you come with me, then."

And Butler did something Keira had a hard time believing. He took a pokéball out of his pocket.

"You… have a pokémon?" Keira gasped.

"Master and mistress Sodar allow me to keep some pokémon, for the safety of us all. These are nothing like your pathetic companions."

Keira was taken aback. But Mareep poked her leg and barked again, and Keira felt a jolt of some kind of power surging through her. She could do this. She could stand up against her old Butler. She had beaten gyms. She wasn't a little kid anymore. Of course, the surge of power could be an involuntary electric jolt from Mareep, but it worked the same still.

"Alright… Try and make me," she said, still a bit unsure, but strangely pepped up.

Butler raised his hand, holding the pokéball, and let his pokémon out.

It came out of the ball as a light, materialized and grew larger and larger, until a Persian stood before them. It looked just as cunning as Butler, and its whiskers were strangely alike its trainer's moustache, only not black.

"A lion?" Keira said, fumbling for her pokédex.

"Naïve little lady," Butler said. "Persian, stun them with Thunder Wave."

Keira and Wingull each gave out a shriek, and Keira huddled back in fear. But when she looked up, she saw that Wingull had thrown herself forward instead, and took the attack to stop it from harming its trainer.

"Wingull!" Keira exclaimed.

"Well I see you've managed to make them loyal, at least," Butler said and walked up to the paralyzed seagull on the ground.

He put his foot on top of the bird's head. "Now, stop playing around, little lady."

Persian sneered at Keira's other pokémon. One of them sneered back. Suddenly, Mareep took a leap forward and Thundershocked Persian.

"Mareep! Don't act on your own again!" Keira shouted in vain.

The lightning bolt didn't seem to hurt Persian much, but it did surprise Butler well enough to make him take a step backwards, away from Wingull.

"Geodude," Keira said, trying hard to focus. "Grab Wingull!"

The rock boulder pokémon obliged and shoot forward into the air, landing next to the bird and picked it up. Butler swore and tried to kick them, but his leg was stopped by the one of Geodude's hands that didn't carry Wingull. The man was forced into some kind of one legged jumping dance, until Geodude let him go with a twist and made him fall over.

Keira had already learned that when it came to pokémon, no matter if it were a battle or not, keeping your concentration on several things at the same time was crucial. But this time, she had forgotten.

Mareep suddenly squealed, and made Keira divert his attention from Butler. Persian had caught it in a Take Down attack, and was now crushing it to the ground, looking ready to bite.

"No!" Keira shouted, feeling helpless.

She wasn't a real trainer. She wasn't prepared for this. She had won three gym badges, but it had to have been mostly by luck. And there had been lots of rules to make sure nobody got hurt too much. When it came to real life, she wasn't strong at all. She couldn't even protect her friends, her pokémon…

Butler got up again, seething with humiliation. His vivid moustache nearly vibrated.

For the millionth time that night, somebody poked Keira's leg. She almost didn't dare looking down, but did it and saw Slakoth. He had woken up. As if that would…

"Wait a minute," Keira said, mostly to himself. "Slakoth, it's your turn!"

Slakoth clicked his tongue hungrily.

"Aha… hungry, as usual... Well, look at Persian over there," Keira tried. "Knock it out cold, and night snack is served!"

Slakoth's eyes seem to widen. He turned to face the Persian, who cast him an unsure glance, while struggling to keep Mareep still below him.

"Oh, little master," came Butler's voice. "A jungle layabout like that wouldn't even put a scratch on…"

The next moment, Mareep was free, and Persian was on the ground. Slakoth was on top of it, punching the feline with Scratch after Scratch. Persian didn't even have time to charge up a new Thunder Wave, before it seemed to meow its acceptance of defeat, with some real nasty scars on its cheeks. And its whiskers were all curled up and pointed in different directions. Slakoth sure knew how to find its enemy's weak spot. Either that, or he had a lot of luck.

When Slakoth saw his work as done, he got off the cat and wiggled back to his trainer. He clicked with his tongue again.

"Food's in the outer pocket of my backpack…" Keira said, always astonished by what the jungle pokémon could do at the rare occasions it was awake, and Slakoth wobbled away.

"But… but…" Butler stuttered.

"I'm not going home with you," Keira said, determined after the recent events. "I… can do well on my own. I really can. Because, I'm not alone."

She looked at her Pokémon, who seemed to be recovering. A little sense of proudness couldn't help but swell up inside her.

"Before you get all mushy with your new family of beasts," said Butler disdainfully, "let me leave."

The older man send Persian back into its pokéball and turned around to leave the place. "But rest assured, you have not seen the end of this!" he shouted back. "Your father gave me an order, and I will comply! Sooner or later."

And he was gone in the dark.

Keira stared back for a while, as if she thought Butler was coming back, but eventually, she noticed how tired she was. And that Slakoth had eaten tomorrow's breakfast. They were lucky Slakoth only wanted to have a meal like this once a week or so.

[OOC: It might seem like Kiro isn't much of a trainer. Truth is, he isn't XD But he has a very good hand with pokémon, as they're the first real friends he's had, so they're willing to do a lot for him... also, I didn't really get the stolen pokémon story, but I hope it's ok if Kiro's past is like this. Kay, got it. XD ]

 

[slls81]

@Red's Hawt Chibi Peppers - Nice opening post, a really good way to introduce the different personalities of all of Kiro's pokemon. Having his past like that is fine, I wouldn't want to limit your RPing so I have no problem with that.

What exactly is it that you don't understand about the stolen pokemon storyline? It's quite a central storyline to the region, so it would be useful if you understood it lol. If you have any specific questions about it, put them in the OOC thread and I'll try to answer them :)

 

[moon]

Keira - Route 111, daytime

Keira was walking down the sandy road, thinking about what happened last night. So father had sent Butler to take her home? Why would he do that? Probably because he had suspected, or maybe even found out, that Keira's runaway had had to do with his brother. Keira wished she knew why. But she knew father would never tell her. So she simply had to find her uncle.

But since she came to Hoenn, with that as a goal, a lot had happened. She had met people and timid as she was, it didn't always end well. But she had gotten dragged into professor Maple's quest. To beat all the gym leaders in Hoenn and fight in the Pokémon League. Now, that was really something, compared to the kind of life she had lead before! She had a new goal, even though she wasn't really sure of how she would manage it.

Something stirred, in the woods on the side of the road, and caught Keira's attention. Mareep, who was walking beside her, also pointed her ears.

"Aww, gurl," said a voice from behind a tree. "You saw me?"

"I'm sorry!" Keira said quickly. "I didn't mean to… um, see you."

A little boy leaped forward, fencing an invisible enemy with a wooden stick. He was even shorter than Keira, but probably a good bit younger as well.

"You didn't mean it, but you saw me! So now I demand a pokémon battle!"

Keira raised her eyebrows and met Mareep's eyes. "Um… Battle? With you?" she said, turning back to the boy.

He was just about to answer, when another, female, voice came from further down the road. "Billy! Where have you gone?"

"Dang!" Billy exclaimed and leaped up into the tree.

Keira was a bit confused, partly from wondering how the little boy could get up into the canopy so quick. But she was also a bit scared by the fact that an unknown person was heading their way. Panicking, she sent Mareep into the pokéball and climbed up the tree trunk herself.

"No, go away!" the little boy said when he saw that Keira followed him.

"But…"

"Sschhh!"

"Billy?" the female voice said again, much closer.

They both watched as a middle-aged woman, resembling a bowling ball for some reason, ran past the tree, continuing to call out the boy's name. After a while, they couldn't hear her anymore.

"Phew! That was close," the boy said. "You almost made her find me!"

"I did?"

"Yeah! You should feel ashamed!"

With those words, the little boy jumped down from the tree, as if it was only one meter up. But it was higher up than that, which Keira painfully discovered as she tried jumping down in the same agile way.

"I still want… no, demand a pokémon battle!" the boy shouted.

Keira got up and brushed some dirt off his blue jacket. "I guess… Alright, we'll battle, but do you even have a pokémon?"

"I have the best pokémon! Cuz I am a ninja!" the boy said loudly, endlessly proud.

Keira's eyebrows shifted. "You look like the common camper boy to me…"

"Don't let your ugly eyes fool you!"

"My… are my eyes ugly?"

"Send out your pokémon, and I'll beat it down, I'll kill it!"

Somewhat hesitant, Keira sent out Mareep. Billy's eyes glimmered, as he saw the fluffy pokémon materialize before him.

"Wow!" he said, for a moment lost in childish fascination. "I've never seen that one before…" Then he seemed to regain focus.

"Ninja pokémon, go!" he shouted, and pointed his finger at Mareep.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then, something shot up from the ground, straight at Mareep. The sheep pokémon instinctively turned its fluffy fur towards the attacker, who clearly was pretty small since the tackle was softened by Mareep's fluffyness. A second later, they saw an Oddish stand between them.

"Oh, I've seen those before," Keira said, letting up a weak smile.

"Oddish, Absorb!" Billy ordered.

Oddish began to glow in a greenish way, and jumped straight at Mareep again. She easily dodged the tackle, but was still slightly touched by Oddish's body. That was enough for the Absorb attack to work its ways.

Suddenly Mareep crumbled in pain, as life was sucked out of it. As Keira saw her friend hurt, she got an urge to quit the battle just to let her go from the pain. But at the same time, a weird feeling kicked up inside of her, as it sometimes did when she was fighting. Her battle state began.

"Mareep, Thundershock!"

As the Absorb weared off and Oddish settled down at some distance from the fluffy pokémon, she put a determined look on her round face and started firing up the attack.

Billy looked a bit nervous when the Thundershock struck Oddish head on. Oddish wiggled for a bit, but didn't fall over or even squeak.

Keira knew the electric attack probably wouldn't damage the grass pokémon much, but it distracted it for a while. So that Mareep could…

"Tackle Oddish, now!"

Growling slightly, Mareep lounged forward and Tackled Oddish, who bounced away on the ground.

"Oddish, Absorb again!" Billy shouted.

"Mareep, Tackle again!" Keira countered quickly.

This time Oddish didn't have time to load up the Absorb attack, before a big ball of sparkling fluffyness hit the little ball of grass that was Oddish again, crushing it to the ground. The way Mareep had performed the second Tackle, it looked more like a Take Down attack.

Oddish squealed, pinched to the ground, but managed to kick Mareep in the face with its tiny feet, and get her off. Sometimes it was too bad Mareep was a lightweight.

Oddish was now glowing in green, ready for its Absorb attack. It took an astonishingly high leap, reaching Mareep and planting another Absorb on it. Mareep was in pain again.

"And now, finish it off with Acid!" Billy said happily.

"Not so fast," Keira said, a bit more darkly than was normal for her. "Mareep, Thunder Wave!"

Mareep's fur bristled even more and shocked Oddish into a paralysis before the Acid spraying from Oddish could hit the electric pokémon.

"Oddish! I mean… ninja pokémon!" Billy screamed in terror.

"Uh, it's only a paralysis. It'll wear off," Keira said reassuringly. Her battle state seemed to be wearing off as well. " I thought you were used to battling trainers?"

"No, I've never dared to," Billy said, clearly wanting to rush forward to his pokémon. "But you looked so weak, so I dared trying."

Keira flinched. "You mean I look that weak?" she said.

"I just said so, missy, didn't I?" Billy said, pouting.

Keira didn't know what to say. She still looked weak. That was what she had heard back in Pallet town, from the kids who had their own pokémon. But now she wasn't in Pallet anymore. She was free, she had her own pokémon and she could do what she wanted! Or could she?

"Yeah, just like that, Oddish!" Billy shouted and made Keira snap out of it. Oddish was using Sweet Scent to lure the sheepish (lol) Mareep closer.

"Oh no, you don't," Keira said. "I'm here and I'm now and I can do anything I want!" she exclaimed.

Billy didn't look too impressed by his words. Mareep, however, diverted its gaze from Oddish to her trainer.

"Show that plant what a Thundershock looks like!" Keira shouted, and Mareep nodded and shocked Oddish again.

That, plus the paralysis, was apparently too much for the little grass type this day. It wiggled from side to side for a moment, then fell forward, face buried in the dirt.

"No!" Billy yelped and rushed forward to help it up.

Keira suddenly felt a bit mean. This wasn't an experienced trainer. She had just battled a camper boy with a level 9 Oddish or so. Was she getting out of shape? Had she ever been in shape?

"Oh well," Billy suddenly said and got up, Oddish in his arms. "I'd better go, my mom will kill me if I don't. Bye!" And he was gone, as quick as he had appeared.

"Do you think I'm weak?" Keira asked Mareep quietly.

Mareep barked and poked Keira's leg with its nose, before she glanced up on her, her big black eyes smiling.

"Well anyway," Keira said. "Let's… let's rest you up from those Absorbs. I think we have some training to do." She gazed thoughtfully down the road. "I'm... I'm not a kid anymore. I'm not gonna win my gym battles by chance. If Slakoth hadn't woken up when Wingull fainted against Roxanne, and you hadn't been lucky to paralyse all of Brawly's pokémon, and Geodude would…"

Mareep gave her an electric shock. She jumped and looked dumbstruckly down at the sheep. But she got the point. They just needed some training. Maybe more psychological training than physical.

***

 

[slls81]

@Red's Hawt Chibi Peppers - Nice first battle :) Good characterisation of Ninja Billy, he was pretty much exactly like I imagined the Ninja boys in the games.

Congratulations Mareep grew to Level 15 and is now ready to evolve into Flaaffy!

 

[Zeph.]

Vs. Swellow

The ball eventually stopped rolling in the sand. Kliff walked over and retrieved his latest capture.

"What nickname suits you?" he said to himself. He paused for a second,

"Pan. Yea, I like that one." Pocketing the ball, he turned his attention to the poisoned Sableye. Rummaging through his bag, he cursed,

"Uh-oh. Um... I don't have any Antidotes..." Kliff said apoligetically to Zabe. The imp gave him a stern look, still clutching his gut.

"Stay in here for now," he said recalling him to his pokeball, "I'll get you somewhere soon."

Kliff continued towards the next route. Walking away from the desert, the amount of sand began to decrease, the landscape becoming more rocky and, to an extent, green again. Making haste due to Zabe's poison, Kliff almost missed the young boy who approached him,

"Hey! Can I battle you?" he asked, seeming excited about something,

Now that he thought about it, it would be good to have an old fashioned trainer battle,

"Why not?" he replied to the boy, "What are the rules?"

"Awesome! Let's have a one on one - I just wanna test out this pokemon!" The boy raised a pokeball, "I'm Graham by the way,"

"Well Graham," Kliff said as he tossed his latest pokemon in the air, "I'm gonna test this guy out too!" After saying so, Pan appeared from his pokeball.

Kliff grabbed a potion from his bag, "Here, have this." He sprayed the shrew, who immidiately looked much more energised for battle.

"Go, Swellow!" Graham exclaimed as he too threw out a pokeball. A large, navy blue bird burst out infront of Kliff and Pan, swooping and diving from side to side,


Swellow: the Swallow pokemon. This Pokémon dives at a steep angle as soon as it spots its prey. The hapless prey is tightly grasped by Swellow's clawed feet, preventing escape.

"I evolved it from a Taillow this morning!" Graham said proudly, "But I've not had a chance to use it yet."

Kliff smiled - Graham reminded him of himself when he was young. He took pride in his achievements, and he liked the fact that he was social about his pokemon, and how he was willing to test them.

"After you Graham," Kliff motioned with his hand to let his opponent go first,

"Okay Swellow! Use Quick Attack!" In an instant, Swellow flew in like a dart to Pan, followed by a long white streak,

"Swelooooww!!" the bird cawed,

"Pan, Defense Curl!" Kliff ordered. Pan nodded and rolled up into a ball just before impact. Swellow smaked into the shrew, who was sent tumbling backwards - but relitavely unharmed.

"Use the chance! Focus Energy!" Swellow swooped back a few feet and closed its eyes. An orange aura began to surround it, before the bird threw its wings open, ceasing the move.

Kliff would have to be cautious now, "Pan! Roll in with a Scratch attack!"

"Shrew!" Pan grunted as he rolled forwards before uncoiling and leaping into the air, delivering a scratch across Swellow's chest. The bird fell back a few feet before regaining a steady flight motion.

"Use Wing Attack while it's still in the air!" Graham called over. Swellow lowered its head and tackled Pan in mid air, swiping it with its wing,

"Great! Again!"

Swellow u-turned and smacked Pan again with its wing. Kliff gritted his teeth,

"Now send it downward!" Swellow flew above the falling Sandshrew, about to slam it to the ground. Kliff reacted defensively,

"Defense Curl!" Pan rolled up just as Swellow struck it. He hit the earth, however his ball form made him bounce straight back up. He smacked Swellow in the chin, causing both pokemon to fly upwards again,

"Now use Poison Sting!" Kliff shouted up. Pan uncolied and delivered a slash with its purple claws, sending Swellow careering off to the side. Pan landed with a small thud, while Swellow regained itself in midair,

"Your Swellow's not too shabby Graham!" Kliff called over to the boy,

"Thanks! Your Sandshrew's putting up a good fight too!" He faced his swellow again, "Quick Attack!"

Swellow shot in for Pan, hitting him straight in the gut with its beak. Kliff winced, guessing it was a critical hit, as the shrew fell on its back, gasping for breath.

"Pan! Get up!" Kliff shouted over to the Sandshrew, as Graham prepared his next move,

"Finish it Swellow! Use Wing Attack!" Graham yelled, sounding more excited now. Swellow flapped its wings once before swooping in,

"Use Sand-Attack Pan!" Kliff commanded. Pan spun on the groung, kicking up a cloud of sand in the proccess. Swellow flew into the cloud, however no sounds could be head from Pan. The sand soon settled, revealing Swellow - now with Pan on its back.

"Good one!" Kliff cheered, "Now use Poison Sting!"

"Sandshrew!" Pan called in reply as it proceeded to slash Swellow on the back, again and again, with its poison inducing claws. Swellow was flailing around frantically in midair, growing weaker with each Poison Sting. Eventually, it managed to shake Pan off, however it was now sweating and looking exhausted. Kliff noticed the purple mark on its back - it was poisoned.

He grinned, however this grin soon dissappeared as Swellow's whole body gave off a red aura. The bird's muscles hardened and tensed, ad its wings began to beat harder.

"Sweeloooooww!!"

"Don't tell me," Kliff moaned, "Guts?"

Graham nodded, "Another reason why Swellow is awesome! Use Wing Attack!"

Swellow dive bombed straight for Pan, who stood there slightly intimidated by the now buffer looking bird.

Kliff had to go with Defense Curl. The defense boost might just keep Pan in the game,

"Defense Curl!"

Pan once more rolled up into a ball. The result wasn't quite as expected, but it did the job. Swellow, having aimed for Pan's head, barely missed the ball that was the shrew by inches. The momentum was too great, and the bird crashed into the nearby rockface. It fell to the floor unconcious.

"Awww!" Graham moaned as he retrieved Swellow.

"Good one Pan!" Kliff congratulated his newest team member before returning him to his pokeball, "Greta battle Graham!" he called over to the boy, "That's a good pokemon you've got there! Swellow made that an intense battle!"

Graham smiled, "Yeah... thanks!"

The two trainers parted ways. Kliff looked to the sky and noticed how dark it had gotten. He glanced at his watch: 10.20pm. Better find a place to set up camp soon.

Stopping at a nicely sheltered patch of grass, Kliff set his bag down and searched the surroundings. Luckily, there were a few dry bushes around, they would make ideal firewood. He reached down to one to snap off a branch, however retracted his arm when he painfully discovered thorns.

"Help us out here Gella," Kliff said as he released the Tangela. She extended two vines, and with a tug, ripped two bushed clean out of the ground.

Kliff stared at the holes in the ground, "... I guess that works."

Having snapped the bushes a little with his feet, and securing them to the ground with rocks and such, Kliff lit the fire with his lighter. Soon, there was a steady fire flickering. Kliff released the rest of his pokemon as he sat down on his sleeping bag. Gella began to inspet Pan, while Tok was already sleeping, trying to regain some energy after the skirmish earlier. Zabe was still in pain though, looking much weaker now.

Kliff felt a nudge, and looked to see one of Gella's vines holding a pink berry.

"A Pecha Berry," he said taking the item, "where did you find this?" Not waiting for any kind of response, Kliff walked over to Zabe and handed him the berry. The imp wearily took it from his hands and bit into it. Just like that, Zabe sat up and finished the rest of the berry, cured of his poison. Kliff patted his head and sat back down on his bed for the night.

Wheras Gella and Tok warmed to Pan rather quickly, Zabe was giving him the evil eye. Likewise, Pan looked at Zabe with certain caution. Kliff sighed - they'd get over it eventually.

(OOC: And with that, I'm done with Route 111 :D)

 

[slls81]

@Zeph - Nice battle post. Glad to see Pan settle into battling with Kliff so easily.

Congratulations Sandshrew (Pan) grew to Level 11

Next Route:
Route 112

Number of Posts: 2-3

Description: A short path that runs to the base of Mt Chimney. Cable Cars run from the bottom of the mountain, and offer a free lift to the top.

What can you do in a Route?

Generally the main two things you can do on a route are capturing pokémon and battling trainers. You can do many other things, you know free will and all that... Anyways, you cannot meet any of the other RPers, and everyone have fun.

Wild Pokemon
Commonly seen pokémon in this area
Zigzagoon

Level: 9-12
Gender: Male or Female
Type: Normal
Ability: Pick Up or Gluttony
Attacks: Tackle, Growl, Tail Whip, Headbutt
Nature: Random


Uncommonly seen pokémon in this area

Numel

Level: 7-10
Gender: Male or Female
Type: Fire
Ability: Oblivious or Simple
Attacks: Growl, Tackle, Ember
Nature: Random


Marill

Level: 7-10
Gender: Male or Female
Type: Water
Ability: Thick Fat or Huge Power
Attacks: Tackle, Defence Curl, Tail Whip, Water Gun (Level 10)
Nature: Random



Note - the title specifying the rarity of a pokémon refers to how hard a pokémon is to catch. i.e. a much better post is required to catch an uncommon pokémon than to catch a common pokémon.
How I level the pokémon you're catching will depend on how good your post is. When you're trying to catch a pokémon, you cannot decide if you catch it. When trying to catch a pokémon you have to finish your post off when you throw the pokéball and wait for my response telling you if the capture was successful or not. You cannot continue until you know that it was caught. In battles, I will level up your pokémon depending on the quality of your battle post.

 

[DigitalRemnants]

Route 111

It's quiet.

Poochyena almost trips in her gait as the full weight of realization crashes upon her senses and her mind takes the stimuli to provide a reasonable conclusion that is thus: It is quiet. It is peaceful. It is tranquil. Those three thoughts, synonyms, almost bowl her carefully crafted trot from under her, but, somehow, she keeps her habits, great discipline holding her façade together. In fact, the dark-type wrestles with a sudden urge to cheer, barely restraining, fearful for the delicacy of such an unusual situation, like the moment may burst without warning if she make motions to celebrate. Instead, her crimson gaze shifts to Socha, her trainer, who's subtly shifting her head to an invisible soundtrack blasting from her ear buds, traveling through her ear canal, and, most importantly, stalks for the tall-tale sign of her jaw shifting, warning of Socha's shrill voice about to break such rarely preyed upon harmony.

Like watching a time bomb and sweating about detonation, Poochyena intensely stares at her owner, counting her blessings. For one, the current route they travel is wonderful, very easy on the eyes, patches of meadow scattered about in unpredictable, jagged patterns and they could easily follow a path that demands wild encounters or avoids them. Socha walks along the latter, occasionally spinning a dance move in her spot, apparently enjoying a funky moment from trainership. They—the whole party: Abra, Geodude, Seedot, and Poochyena, tailing Socha—do, simultaneously, cast curious glances skyward when they see a dark stretch of shadows ahead of them, smiling excitedly as they listen to the soothing music of gears shifting against one another, squeaky wheels turning. Along with that, the day's rather nice, sun lifted in the center of a cloudless cerulean, a gentle uplifting breeze moderating the temperature.

The dark-type can appreciate moments like this, vague resemblances to her own home, her new company now somewhat bearable. She imagines, almost assumes, that the other members in her party could also relate, casting wayward gazes to each of them. Seedot, the newest recruit, lags, sending anxious glances left and right, obviously very far away from home, staying some distance from the primary trio he partners with. Socha leads the other two, still in her own little environment, hardly paying attention to the scene surrounding her, Abra lazily draped from her neck, arms autonomously wrapped around the thin structure, fast asleep. To Socha's left is a floating chunk of rock with a terribly bumpy sculpt, caressing the back of his head with a pair of large stone fingers, Geodude, indulging in the atmosphere, while to her right is Poochyena herself and domesticity doesn't appear to be quite so harrowing and inconvenient… It even has some sort of appeal…

Immediately shattered as Socha, enraptured by her soundless sound, made a leap forward, detracting from her previous stern gait, jaw unhinging. Poochyena tried to contain a miserable sigh as her trainer started singing—correction, shrieking—for all of Hoenn to appreciate, groans multiplied as she heard numerous bikes skid above in the cycling overpass… Then again, these few redeeming eras were short and disproportionate to the many utter embarrassments Poochyena endured. She cast questioning stare to Geodude, Abra, and Seedot, looking for some sign of aggravating behavior, hoping to eventually organize a coup de tat. However, Geodude looked bored, utterly at ease with Socha's obnoxious singing, (if it could be classified as such,) Abra was still (miraculously) asleep, even snoring lightly, and Seedot seemed infatuated with the girl… Which was a thought she didn't care to pursue.

None-too-subtly, Poochyena sighed in frustration, fairly convinced she was in the depths of hell and was paying for bullying young infant pups back in the day. And also weighing the consequences of "accidentally" murdering her insufferable trainer, who couldn't sing on-pitch to save her life! Instead, her contempt manifested another way.

"Wow! Hold your horses!" Socha cried as she bunched her ear bud cords together, shielding them from her fist and bringing the whole mess to her left side, glaring at Pooka, the Poochyena. "Where are you aiming your chompers, mister?!" That only egged on a more hostile reaction, apparently offended ("Because I'm a girl, you retard!" Poochyena barked, her words lost in translation.) Leaping upwards with full intentions to chew on whatever piece of Socha the human would offer her. A tad bit frightened, but mostly offended, the hazel-haired girl lifted a brow over her sunglasses, currently shielding her incredulous viridian orbs, suddenly bowing into what was suppose to be understanding.

"Ooooh!" She drew her syllable, gesturing in the air in displays of complete mutual agreement. "I get it. I get it." Poochyena, suspicious, barred her teeth and growled once more. "It's obvious. A no-brainer." Maybe Socha did understand… "You don't like Broadway, do you, mister?" The sound of a Poochyena's skull being rammed into rocks repeatedly was very distracting for the cyclist above. On the other hand, undeterred, Socha pulled at her MP3, browsing through her song selection, musing, "Well, I have an extensive collections of songs that might interest you.

"Would Beyonce suit your taste?" Poochyena was, at this point, almost to tears.

But she did get the message through. Questions ("No? You don't like… Beyonce?") morphed into grudging ("O-Okay… You can put those teeth away. Yes, they're nice and s-sparkly.") understanding ("Y-You don't like B-B-Beyonce? I-I don't either. L-Let's just p-put the MP3 a-away now.") and so Poochyena was reunited with her silence.

Which was dull, for Socha. With the absence of her earpieces, calmness filled the scene, even the bikers above rearranging themselves to their daily cycling, saved from the abrupt crash brought upon by horrible, off-key shouting, and Socha dreaded such silence. Her attempts to upset it were put to rest, on the heels of a moody grey-furred canine growling at her in fair warning, with a positively devilish tint in her crimson pupils declaring a willingness to carry out her threat should Socha refuse to cooperate and simply shut up. Wisely, the girl took the threat to heart, teeth clamped together in a nervous smile, walking by lanky strides. Restless, she fidgeted with her hair.

"Why am I trainer again?" She whispered, in absolute agony, waiting for some of that promised excitement found when she was a child...

It came in the form of a ferret slinking by, spiky fur sporting an odd zig-zag dye, alternating between coffee and toffee hues, large, adorable obsidian orbs gazing at its unexpected visitor. Slowly, Socha's face aged from boredom, in a fascinating transformation, lips turning upwards, both brows narrowing, a sense of adrenaline racing to her ears. The Zigzagoon gave a frightened squeak as Socha cackled like a villain, prompting a harsh roar from Poochyena, prompting sweat to coat the normal-type's coarse fur. As the unusual (evil) trainer quickly turned to Poochyena, mirth gone, replaced by a frown, and the canine, in turn, responded, all hellfire lighting in their eyes, the Zigzagoon tried to make a clean break from the gaggle of weird trespassers, disappearing into a nearby brush.

The normal-type assumed it was home free when the arguments faded into the nothingness... That's when his little nose collided into indigo fabric, a leg appearing out of nowhere, phasing into existence with the sparks left from a teleport. Frowning, shaking his frazzled nose, he stared at his sudden obstacle, his beady eyes traced upwards to meet an absolutely carnal grin, face attached to a female, who had an Abra looming around her neck. "That's a good boy," She cooed to her starter, who was out like a light, shrugging lightly. "Now," Shifting her gaze to her terrified victim opponent, something of a leer, her smile widened. "Hold your rolls, Mr. Poley. Where do you think you're going?"

The Zigzagoon whimpered piteously before Socha shouted, "Poochyena, Tackle!" and his nightmares were filled by bruises caused by battering contact with a grey-furred canine...

(Just an intro. No battle yet :P)

 

[moon]

Keira – route 112, daytime

"Ok, that's enough!" Keira said and raised her hand. Her back was clibberish from sweat underneath the white t-shirt and the scorching sun didn't make it any more pleasant.

Geodude came to a halt, letting go of Keira's other hand and settling down on the sandy ground. Mareep and Slakoth came running to them, panting too.

"You're… well done," Kiera complimented her companions. "I know this is tough, but we have to train a lot to become strong. It's… it's like when you want to learn to read or do maths." Her pokémon listened closely to her, having calmed down. "You have to read as much as you can and count as many things as you can. And since we want to learn to be better fighters, we have to fight as much as we can, and run a lot to get a lot of important exercise!"

She liked talking like this to her pokémon. They always listened, unless Slakoth had fallen asleep. She could already see his eyes twitching dangerously close to his usual dreamy landscape beneath the eyelids now. Pokémon were just great on the listening part though. It seemed like pokémon didn't dislike you unless they had a really good reason to. Unlike humans.

"Hoho, that's the spirit, miss trainer!" a booming voice came from behind, and made them all jump at least one meter up in the air.

Keira spun around and found herself facing a round belly, the size of at least two or three Slakoth. She raised her gaze and saw that the belly belonged to a large, black man with a beard wide enough to be the home of a whole little bird family.

"Sorry if I scared you, little miss, I just couldn't help see you train. And I must say I think you've got a great thing going here! Those are your pokémon?"

"Yeah…" Keira said shyly, looking down at Geodude and Mareep. "But where's… aha," she added and saw that Slakoth had fallen asleep on a cliff not far away.

The large man laughed. "Well, I'm sorry to scare you, I just can't help speaking to anyone I see in my travels. Keep on training now and you'll be the best in no time at all!"

And with those words, he rumbled away down the road.

Keira watched him go, thinking. She was his opposite in that she usually avoided anyone she saw in her travels out of towns. Hm… didn't she need a bit of psychological training?

She retreated her pokémon into their pokéballs, threw the unpacked things into her backpack and caught up with the hiker. When he noticed she was walking beside him, he boomed with laughter again. "Changed our mind, have we?" he said heartily.

"Yeah… where are you going, sir?" Keira asked.

"Look ahead, and you'll see it," he answered and pointed into the sky.

Keira looked up. In front of them was a great mountain. Some of its sides were covered in woods, but other sides looked completely barren. Its highest peak was broad, and smoke came from it.

"Is that… A volcano?" Kiera asked, slightly amazed.

"Haha! You mean you've been training here for a while without noticing the little friendly neighboring Mount Chimney?"

"Yes," Keira simply said. Then she turned her eyes to the hiker, thinking about her need to socialize. "I am Keira, sir," she said.

"Oho, nice to meet you, Keira. I'm Carlos! Your friend in the mountains, your voice in despair."

"Really?"

"Haha! If you ever need me be, little miss."

"Sir, are you going up there?" Keira said, pointing at the smoking peak.

"Yes, I am! But I guess I should have a little rest before I start trailing up this path. There's a cabin going up to the top, and I feel I can give my legs the treat of going up in that instead of pounding up the mountain side as I did when I was younger."

He sat down on a rock on the side of the road, and Keira timidly looked around. Carlos watched her, as he took a zip from his waterbottle. "I don't suppose you want a battle, though?" he suddenly said.

"A pokémon battle, sir?"

"Why, yes! You've been training, so I reckon you're a real trainer, no?"

"I… I am, sir."

"Then, I challenge you." Carlos the hiker got up and backed away to put some distance between them. "I think you should take a zip of water first too, though," he added. "This heat could take away the best of you if you're not careful."

Keira complied, by getting her own waterbottle and drinking eagerly from it. She hadn't noticed how thirsty she got from the training.

"Now," Carlos said when she was finished. "As the challenger, I naturally send out my pokémon first."

And so he did, putting a well muscled Geodude up between them. It was slightly rounder in shape than Keira's own Geodude, she noticed. She guessed it was older. She wasn't going to make this battle difficult though.

"Wingull!" she cried loudly.

The hiker looked around, at bit puzzled. "Your pokémon isn't in a pokéball?" he asked.

"No, sir," Keira said. "I sent it out to get some fresh air, because it used to live by the sea, and I think it needs to fly freely sometimes to be happy."

Carlos beamed at her. "Well, wasn't that the longest sentence you've spoken to me yet, and it was all about your pokémon!"

Keira felt a bit ashamed, but Carlos laughed again. "I like it! I want to see you and your friends battle me, with all your strength and heart! A two pokémon battle, I propose."

Keira nodded, and saw a white and blue dot soaring towards the battlefield, eventually landing in front of her. Wingull had a colorful berry in its mouth, and was looking proud. The trainer patted the bird and took the berry from her.

"Wingull," she said. "Remember your gym fight in Rustboro?"

Wingull glanced at Geodude as an answer. She remembered all the stone, alright.

"It's time to… to take revenge on the rock pokémon!" Keira said, and Wingull was pepped up by that and looked ready for battle.

"Ready?" Carlos said when Keira had backed away. "As the challenger, I choose my pokémon first… but I also make the first move. Geodude, Rock Throw!"

"Wingull, Growl!" Keira shouted quickly.

Geodude picked up two stones from the ground, almost as big as its own body, and raised its hands to throw them. The sea bird gave up a low but loud shriek that didn't really seem to frighten Geodude, but did make it wince the slightest, which made one of the stones miss Wingull, and the other to not be thrown as hard as it was meant. Wingull got hit by it, but did seem to still have every limb in shape as she got up in the air afterwards.

"Nice counter there!" Carlos complimented.

"Thanks," Keira said, and noticed herself smiling. It was fun to battle. Yes, it was. "Wingull, go with Water Gun!"

"Oho, I knew you'd do that!" Carlos said as the bird took a deep breath. "Geodude, Rock Polish! Evade!"

Geodude seemed to be quickly scratching its own body, and as the Water Gun beam hit it, it managed somehow to get away from the splash. It moved faster through the air than Keira had seen any Geodude do, and it was trying to get as high up as Wingull was, to reach it.

"Impressive, eh?" Carlos smiled widely.

"Very…" Keira said. "But it's not over. Use Supersonic!"

As Geodude came closer, Wingull fluttered higher and higher to keep the distance, wondering how high a ground pokémon could really levitate. But when its trainer's order came, she focused her inner self, and let out horrible soundwaves with her voice, too high pitched for human ears to hear. But not too high for most pokémon, Geodude included.

The rock pokémon stopped in mid-air, being hammered by the confusing sounds. Keira imagined how painful a well aimed Supersonic attack must be, but didn't stop to think anymore than that. "Water Gun again, now!"

Wingull stopped the sounds and looked down at the Geodude who was almost spinning around now. She breathed in.

"Nnn… argh!" Carlos said grumpily. "Geodude, Defense Curl!"

But he probably knew it wouldn't make any difference, even if Geodude had heard his order. The Water Gun hit it and pushed it back onto the ground, creating a muddy pool between the two trainers, with the soaked rock pokémon in the middle of it all.

Wingull cried proudly and soared down to Keira's level. "Great, Wingull!" Keira said, and before she could stop herself she was hugging the bird, while it was squeaking softly.

"Oh well," Carlos said and sent Geodude back into its pokéball. "Can't always go perfect. But you up for the next round, miss?"

"I am!" Keira said, not sure if she hade gone through this fight in her usual emotion-less battle state or if the training had actually paid off already and let her keep her emotions turned on during the battle. Perhaps a little bit of emotion was good in battles after all? She didn't want to see any of her friends faint anymore.

"Here we go then!" the hiker said and tossed forward another pokéball, which opened up…

~~~(OOC: part 2 of battle comes later!)

 

[Zeph.]

Vs. Numel

Kliff shook the dust off of his sleeping bag that morning and stuffed it into his bag. Clipping his belt of pokeballs on and glancing at the pile of ashes that was the campfire once more, he took off.

There was more grass in the area now. Quite tall too. Kliff wondered what kinds of new pokemon he'd never encountered inhabited this area.

He could hear a sort of mumbling to his left. Looking, he saw the grass shuffle slightly, and could make out a yellow and green bump. The mysterious subject began moving towards the open. Plodding at a leasurly pace, it finally revealed itself. It wasn't what Kliff expected - a small yellow quadroped.


Numel: the numb pokemon. Numel stores magma of almost 2,200 degrees F within its body. If it gets wet, the magma cools and hardens. In that event, the Pokémon's body grows heavy and its movements become sluggish.

"So you're a fire type," Kliff said pocketing his pokedex, "I would like a fire type now that you mention it. 2,200 degrees F?"

"Nuum?" Numel looked inquisitivley at Kliff. The two were locked in a momentary stare, before Kliff took a step forward. Numel, sensing danger, began to heat up. A red-orange glow appeared at the hole on its back, with some tiny spurts of magma and flame spurting out from within. It opened its mouth and shot a small flurry of flames at Kliff's feet. Kliff quickly stepped back, letting the Ember attack hit the ground.

He knew it was just a warning - but this pokemon intrigued Kliff. And he remembered the Flamethrower TM he bought back in Mauville. If he could give this Numel that attack...

Kliff reached for Pan's pokeball. Tossing it, the Sandshrew materialised and landed between the two. Numel sensed a battle and lowered its head, growling deeply.

"Start things off with Scratch!" Kliff ordered. Pan darted in and leapt for Numel. The camel's growl got harsher, and Pan slowed down the closer he got. Unsure of what to do, he half-heartedly struch Numel with a weak Scratch. The camel shook its head and then took off, charging into Pan with a full body Tackle. The shrew was knocked to the floor, and Numel stood over it. Its back began to heat up and spurt - signifying that it was charging an Ember attack,

"Pan! Defense Curl!" Pan shuffled on the floor as he coiled into the tough ball. Numel was thrown slightly off balance as a result, and its attack struck the ground, barely missing Pan.

"Poison Sting!" The shrew uncoiled and delivered a Poison Sting uppercut, slashing Numel from under its chin. The camel cried out in pain, before opening its mouth and shooting flames at Pan. The embers enveloped the Sandshrew, pushing him back as he tried to shield his face,

"Saaand..."

"Defense Curl! Shield yourself!" Kliff called over. Pan coiled up tightly, protecting himself from the fire. Numel ceased with the flames and charged in, tackling Pan again. The ball rolled back, out of the flames, and came to rest as it bumped into a large pile of boulders. Pan popped back into a fighting stance. Both pokemon weren't giving up anytime soon.

Numel grunted and ran in for another Tackle,

"Meet the attack with Scratch!" Kliff shouted over to Pan. The shrew ran in with haste and drew back a clawed hand. As Numel thrust its head forward, Pan met it with a swipe of his claws, causing both pokemon to retract in pain. Numel opened its mouth,

"Jump!" Pan leapt in the air, not giving Numel enough time to aim. Embers shot out of its mouth towards the foliage,

"Scratch again!" As Pan fell, he thrust his arms forward and struck Numel on the back with a cross-slash. The camel wailed as it turned to face Pan. It fired more bursts of flames as soon as the Sandshrew was in its sights. Automatically, Pan used Defense Curl in order to roll into its protective ball. The embers passed by him and pushed him back into more tall grass.

Kliff wiped his brow. He had suddenly got warmer. Upon inspecting the surroundings, he felt his jaw drop as he saw fire burning the grass and bushes and so on. The embers that Pan dodged were causing quite a large area of flames.

Pan, also feeling the heat, was forced to uncoil himself. Looking around, all he could see was red and orange flames, clinging to and attacking the wiry, charcoal black plantlife. He was stuck in the middle of the raging inferno, struggling to keep his eyes open and shielding his face from the heat.

Kliff couldn't see Pan. He was lost in the burning foliage,

"Pan! Sand-Attack!! You need to escape!" Kliff yelled, hoping the shrew would hear. There was a pause, before a large, thick stream of sand could be seen coming from the centre of the inferno. The blanket of sand attacked the flames, ultimately smuthering them. Pan began to rotate, letting the sand cover and extinguish more of the flames. Kliff sighed in relief as the flames died down to a few minor tickles on already withered plants. What's more, Numels was half buried in a big pile of sand. Pan had kicked it up at such a rate that the camel was pretty much stuck. Pan hopped out from the charcoal cover, coughing and slightly covered in ashes. Numel opened its mouth for another attack,

"Quick! Scratch!" Kliff commanded. Pan ran in for Numel and span, using the momentum to bring his whole arm around and slash Numel across the side. The force sent Numel flying out of the sand, landing with a thud on the ground. Kliff wasted no time in throwing an empty pokeball at the fallen fire type. Numel was enveloped by the red light, and the ball fell to the ground with a bounce.

Kliff wiped his brow once more, "Let's see if I can make another capture..."

(OOC: Wrote this while watching the World Cup xD Surprisingly relaxing ^^)

 

[I Laugh at your Misfortune!]

Splat. Warren froze. Not now. He had enough crap going on right now with Guy, Ethan, Eric and now the police as well. So, no. That trickling feeling on his head, that chuckling Wingull overhead? He was imagining them. Life could simply not be that cruel. Splat. That was it. Once was bad enough, but twice? TWICE? Narrowing his eyes as some unspeakable foul white liquid ran along his nose, Warren looked up at the smirking seagull. Time for some training.

"Useless!" He dropped a Pokéball and the bonsai tree emerged as Warren slowly began to paw white muck out of his hair.

"See that bird?" Useless shrugged...somehow. Warren grinned.

"Well, he keeps crapping in my hair. He needs to be taught a lesson." Useless shrugged again, then lay down for a snooze.

"What." Staring at the snoring rock and the circling bird, Warren snapped. Holding out a befouled hand, he gave a twisted grin as the white ooze slipped through his fingers and landed on Useless's face. Splat. Slowly, the tree sat up, Warren quickly withdrawing his hand.

"Oh, did he get you too?" Useless looked at the bird, then at Warren. Then, it sighed, as if to say: "Oh, fine, I've got nothing better to do." Warren sneered.

"Let's go! Oi, Wingull!" He turned his face towards the cawing seagull. "We're, like, challenging you to a battle and stuff. Also, you suck." The Wingull dropped towards them, settling on a rock some distance away. Warren grinned.

"Alright, Useless. Rollout!" The Bonsly jumped, span, and shot off along the ground towards the Wingull. Crying out in a mixture of shock and fear, it took off, but Useless leapt and clipped its wing tip with its green crown. The seagull began a downwards spiral, but levelled off just before the ground, then spun around to face the Bonsly with water gargling in its throat. Warren grinned.

"Copycat!" As Wingull released a jet of water from its mouth, the Bonsly responded in kind. The two jets collided and burst into a spray of droplets that fell over the area like rain. Wingull cawed angrily, but wheeled upwards, frustrated by its failure. Warren grinned.

"Good work. Now blast it again!" Useless leant back and began to fire off a barrage of watery missiles, causing Wingull to duck and dive. Grinning, Warren stepped up behind Bonsly as one of its shots clipped Wingull's feet and the bird crumpled to the ground, looking up angrily.

"Finish it with Rollout!" The tiny tree shot forwards and the seagull reared back, flapping its wings weakly as it desperately tried to climb back into the air. But its injured wings failed it. Before it could gain any height, Bonsly crashed into it at full pelt, sending it bouncing backwards along the ground, to collapse in a heap in the dust. Warren smiled.

"Hey!" His grin slipped.

"What the hell are you doing?" Warren spun around. Well, that was a surprise.

"Danny?" The younger trainer looked up at him in surprise, registering the white muck in Warren's hair.

"Oh, sorry about that…Klaus has a bit of a mischievous streak." Warren paused.

"That thing is yours? And you called it Klaus?" Danny shrugged.

"Why not?" Warren stared at him. Danny shrugged again.

"You didn't have to go all out against him." Warren snorted.

"It was hardly all out. Useless had never even fought before." Danny smirked as he held out a Pokéball, returning the gull.

"And you're criticising my nicknames. Besides, he had his trainer. Klaus didn't. It's not a fair fight."

"Fair, shmair. I'd beat you any day and you know it." Danny grinned.

"Well we'll just see, won't we! One more fight, right now! I could take out that rock!" Warren rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Just stop being so enthusiastic." Ignoring him, Danny threw a Pokéball and it burst open with a flash of white light, which quickly formed into a huge brown and green dinosaur with a long neck and four huge leaves sprouting from its back. It bent down to squint at Useless, causing a small yellow fruit to fall from its chin. Danny caught it and offered it to Warren, who looked frankly disgusted. Danny shrugged and began to peel it slowly.

"So, what do you think of Tropius, then?" Warren frowned.

"It's weird."

"Hey, don't be mean."

"But…it's growing fruit."

"So? It's just like any other grass type. Have you never even seen an Oddish?"

"I don't eat Oddishes, though."

"You never eat salad?" Warren paused.

"Look, can we just get back to the battle?" Danny shrugged again, biting into the fruit.

"Whatever. Tropius, Razor Leaf it!" Immediately, the giant dinosaur leapt back, swiping its ferns at the Bonsly and sending a flurry of sharp foliage flying at the bonsai.

"Copycat!" Screwing up its face it concentration, Bonsly glowed faintly as a flurry of leaves flew out of god-knows-where to collide with the opposing attack. The leaves fell to the ground and Warren and Useless looked up to see Danny smirking at them. The sauropod was gone. Warren's eyes flicked from side to side, but there was no sign. What the hell?

"You like Tropius's ace in the hole, then?" Warren frowned.

"What, it goes invisible?" Danny sniggered.

"No….not quite. Tropius, Slam!" He looked up and Warren followed his gaze to see a brown blob, increasing in size at a worrying rate. No way. No goddamn way. With a loud crash, the huge dinosaur crashed into Bonsly and the tree disappeared from view, only having time to let out a quickly-muffled shriek. Warren winced as Tropius leapt off, flapping its ferns – or were they wings? – and Useless slowly sat up, eyes unfocused and head waving from side to side. Warren swore.

"Come on, just concentrate! If you don't, he's only gonna hit you again! Now get rolling!" Shaking its head, Useless stepped forwards, jumped and rolled forwards at top speed. Tropius snickered. What could that tiny thing do? Well, as it turned out, quite a lot. Sticking out a foot, Useless sprung into the air, crashing into the dinosaur's chin. It reeled back, then almost collapsed as the disproportionately heavy Bonsly rolled down its neck and crushed its fern wings. Wincing and flapping feebly, the dinosaur stumbled back as the tree landed, feet first, in front of it. Useless looked back at Warren triumphantly. He sighed as Tropius instantly took at advantage and booted Useless in the head. It staggered up, looking dazed and angry. Well, at least angry was better than KO'ed.

"Let's wrap it up, Tropius," Danny called, "Use Gust!" Warren grinned. Perfect. Useless glanced back, waiting for a command.

"Just hold on, and hunker down." Ignoring this strange order, Tropius leapt into the air and began to flap its wings as the Bonsly planted its feet against a small, flat rock. Suddenly, the dinosaur began to flap with all its might and a powerful wind flew down from its wings to batter at the tree's tiny body. Instantly, its feet began to slip. Warren frowned.

"Just use your head!" Useless grinned, then, taking this order a bit too literally, smacked at the dirt with its club head, driving one of the prongs about halfway in. Slowly, it began to steady itself, even as Tropius flapped with all its might. Eventually, the sauropod began to tire and, allowing the wind to die down, it slowed its flapping and started to drop.

"Now! Copycat!" Giggling, Bonsly jumped forwards, then opened its mouth as wide as it would go, before releasing a massive hurricane from within. Unprepared and caught in midair, Tropius could only brace itself for impact as it was sent bouncing backwards along the ground and narrowly avoided clubbing Danny in the head with a huge foot. The younger trainer ducked instinctively, looking up to see his Pokémon struggling to its feet. Useless grinned. It knew this battle was as good as won.

"Finish him!" Warren yelled in an overly dramatic voice and the Bonsly sped forwards, jumping into another rollout attack before making a leap, crashing into the base of the sauropod's neck. Too tired to dodge, it stumbled back, wheezing, then crashed to the ground, eyes closed and panting heavily. Danny looked over at Useless, who now was chewing on a daisy it had found in the middle of the battlefield. Then he looked back at Tropius. Then he looked at Useless again.

"That makes….no sense whatsoever." Warren grinned.

"Well, I can't help being awesome." Danny snorted.

"Like you did anything. That Bonsly is just weird." Warren frowned.

"Hey! He's not called Bonsly!" Grinning, he stepped forwards and looked down at the rocky bonsai tree chewing on flowers. "His name….is Useless."

 

[moon]

Keira - still the battle on route 112

[OOC: Part 2! Hadn't got time to write it all yesterday, and the post would have been humongously big... I apologize if my posts are too long already. Speaking of which, weren't the posts in the beginning of this RP a lot shorter? :p]

Out of the hiker's pokéball came… a Sandshrew. The armadillo looked almost as muscular as the Geodude before it, and its eyes were gleaming at Wingull. The sea bird was hovering in the air. Keira decided to let Wingull fight some more.

"Your turn to begin, miss Keira," Carlos the hiker gently said.

Keira nodded. "Wingull, Water Gun!"

"Sandshrew, Rapid Spin!" Carlos countered immediately. Either he was pretty good at battling after all, or he'd learnt from Keira's quick counter when she used Growl earlier.

The seagull sprayed a shot of water downwards, but Sandshrew avoided it by shooting away in another direction, spinning very fast as a curled up ball. It bounced against a cliff and flew up straight towards Wingull. It hit her right on the beak, and she shrieked from pain.

"Wingull!" Keira shouted. "Try a Wing Attack!"

As Sandshrew got back onto the ground, Wingull flapped her wings angrily, and shot herself down towards the armadillo.

"Never a good idea to come close to my Sandshrew," Carlos boomed, smiling. "Defense Curl!"

Sandshrew curled up and not even the hard, spread wings of Wingull managed to put a scratch on it when she hit him. Wingull soared upwards again.

"Try to get close enough to hit it with a Water Gun," Keira called up to her.

"We've got one final weapon, miss," Carlos said. "Swift, Sandshrew!"

Sandshrew curled up and seemed to spin on the spot, shooting star shaped rays straight at Wingull. She tried to avoid them, but they followed her!

"Haha!" Carlos laughed. "They never miss!"

Wingull got struck, and at last it was too much for her. She fell to the ground.

"Oh…" Keira said, as she realized she had just let her friend faint again. She hated this feeling. She walked up to Wingull and patted the unconscious bird softly, before she called it back into its pokéball.

"There there, Keira," Carlos said. "You can't always be victorious. Then you'll never know how to act when you take a hit, right?"

Keira watched him. Sandshrew was beaming up at its trainer. It clearly respected him a lot.

"You… you're right, sir," she said. "And you have to train. To be ready. When it matters."

"Keira, it always matters," Carlos said, in a strangely deep way.

"I've got one pokémon left in this battle…" Keira said. She sent out Slakoth.

The sloth jerked and looked around. It had been asleep in the pokéball, of course.

"Slakoth, remember the training we did just now?"

Slakoth just turned his head to her and leaned his head a bit to the side, watching her. Then he yawned. Keira facepalmed, but accepted that as a 'maybe'. Then she straightened up, facing Carlos and Sandshrew. Slakoth followed her look and was finally facing Sandshrew too. And then he seemed to realize he was about to battle. He grunted.

"Haha!" Carlos let out, characteristically. "That's the spirit! You go first, madam."

"No… sir, you can go first," Keira said, a bit unsure but wanting to see if the training had paid off.

"As you wish. Swift, Sandshrew!"

And the star shaped rays emanated from the armadillo again, of course hitting Slakoth right on. Slakoth almost flinched, but shaked his head and rubbed the hurt spot on his pretty thick belly.

"Slakoth… Slack Off!" Keira ordered.

Slakoth gave up a loud snore and suddenly seemed to have fallen asleep on the spot, still standing up. Sandshrew would have raised its eyebrows questingly, if it had any.

Suddenly, Slakoths eyes opened up, and glimmered dangerously at Sandshrew.

"Erh… Sandshrew, Scratch it!" Carlos said.

The armadillo spurted forward, raising its claw to attack the sloth. Slakoth didn't react much, and got struck by the sharp claws. It only grunted a little again.

"Slakoth, Scratch back!" Keira shouted quickly, and Slakoth's big claws flew out and struck Sandshrew before it could jump backwards.

Sandshrew seemed eager to jump at Slakoth with Scratch again, so Keira got nervous. She had to make it use Defense Curl!

"You're asking for it!" Carlos roared challengingly. "Poison Sting!"

Keira gasped as she saw Sandshrew tense its arms, probably making poison flow out into the claws.

"Slakoth, Yawn!" she shouted.

Slakoth was right in the middle of a little yawn already. When it heard the order, it got a bit confused at first, but then simply widened its opened mouth and send out the biggest yawn imaginable. Keira had to look away to not get affected herself.

Sandshrew drew closer, claws up, but Keira could see it close its eyes for the littlest of moments and knew the attack had worked.

The Poison Sting struck Slakoth, as he wasn't the one to avoid an attack agilely. His face wrinkled in pain and Keira held her thumbs. He didn't fall over. He still stood up. if the poison had gotten into the wound, it hadn't begun working its ways yet, at least.

Sandshrew, on the other hand, seemed sluggerish.

"What are you doing?" Carlos shouted. He clearly hadn't noticed the sneaky Yawn attack.

"Slakoth, are you fine?" Keira asked. She got a grunt as an answer. "Alright, use…"

She had a hard time choosing the next attack. Slakoth had gotten some valuable moments to focus and regain energy, thanks to the Yawn attack, and if Sandshrew stayed as drowsy as it was, it could be worth healing Slakoth with another Slack Off. But if the armadillo straightened up now, she needed to use the other plan.

Luckily, Carlos made the choice for her.

"SANDSHREW!" he roared with a voice that could wake up legends for sure.

Sandshrew snapped out of it, looking confusedly around, until it spotted its trainer and its enemy again.

Keira let out a breath she had been holding in. "Slakoth! Scratch!" she ordered.

Slakoth didn't move fast, but it moved forward.

"Defense Curl!" Carlos said.

The exact thing Keira had been waiting for. "Abort the attack! Use Encore instead, Slakoth!"

Instead of hitting the Sandshrew with its claws, Slakoth halted just a little bit away and instead clapped his hands and grunted cheeringly. Sandshrew looked up and saw the other pokémon praise its performance. It almost seemed to break up into a smile. And then it did another Defense Curl.

"No! Sandshrew, no! You've got good enough defenses, go offensive! Scratch!" Carlos roared.

But Sanshrew lay still in its defensive curl.

"Now Slakoth, use Scratch, multiple times!" Keira said, cheered on as well, and Slakoth began pounding the ball with his big claws. He of course took pauses now and then, to slack off more or less, but scratched the ball in a somewhat steady rhythm.

"Oh well. You caught him in the worst possible position, for you," Carlos said to Keira.

She looked up, a bit puzzled. She had thought this was smart. This way they could attack Sandshrew but it couldn't attack them, since it was bedazzled by Slakoth's Encore.
Carlos saw that Keira didn't think like he did. "Sandshew's defense is way higher when its curled up. It's even hard to get at it with special attacks, and it's almost useless to try with physical attacks."

Keira stood quiet and looked him. Then she looked at the two pokémon. Sandshrew was starting to peek out of its protective encurlment. The Encore was about to wear off. Surprisingly, Carlos wasn't observant enough to take notice. Keira guessed that some people were more or less professional trainers, and some people were simply humans with pokémon. There were some basic differences between these, somehow.

Sandshrew suddenly got up and brushed away Slakoth's attacks, deeply ashamed and angry. Carlos broke up into a big smile. "Look at that! Use Scratch and get back on that fellow now, Sandshrew!"

But Keira had a feeling it was over. "Slakoth, one final Scratch!"

Slakoth complied, and the two pokémons' Scratch attacks clashed between them, but Sandshrew was the one who gave up and fell backwards. It didn't get up again.

"Oho?" Carlos said, not understanding.

"Sure Slakoth didn't Scratch Sandshrew very eagerly when it was curled up, and sure its defenses was higher than normal. But it still did damage, sir, and Sandshrew couldn't endure it forever," Keira said, almost surprised at her own knowledge. "Plus, Slakoth's attack stat is pretty high, I've noticed before."

"Well," Carlos said, dragging out his words. "Wasn't than the longest sentence you've said to me so far! And it was all about our pokémon! I like it. You're a good trainer, Keira."

He retreated Sandshrew into its pokéball. "I should be going," he said, glancing up at Mount Chimney.

"Yeah…" Keira said, not really knowing how to say goodbye. Slakoth had fallen asleep at her feet. She shaked her head, though she was proud of the not-so-lazy-as-you-might-think sloth, and took him back into his pokéball.

"Are you coming then, little miss trainer?" Carlos voice came from down the road.

Keira looked up, only thinking for about two seconds before she grabbed her backpack and ran after him. Making human friends maybe wasn't too bad. Maybe she'd... find one in her own age some day too.

 

[slls81]

First up I'd like to say sorry for my lack of activity. I'll be back to normal service from now though.

@DigitalRemnants - Nice introduction, can't wait to see where you go with this :)

@Red's Hawt Chibi Peppers - Nice start to the battle :)

Congratulations Wingull grew to Level 14

And a nice finish xD

Congratulations Slakoth grew to Level 14

@Zeph - Yep that's good enough for me :)

Congratulations Kliff caught a Level 8 Numel

@I Laugh At Your Misfortune - Warren isn't... he isn't growing to.... like Useless is he???

Congratulations Bonsly (Useless) grew to Level 5

 

[moon]

Keira – Route 112, afternoon

[OOC: There you are :3 *waves*]

"Phew, it gets a lot hotter in these parts than I remembered!" the Hiker Carlos panted, taking another long sip from his waterbottle.

After him on the sandy road came Keira, panting too, still not completely used to all the exercise she got from walking so far. Her pokémon were inside their pokéballs; even Wingull, since it had gotten too bright and warm for her as well up in the air.

As they walked on, the mountain in front of them grew larger and larger. Keira was amazed. The mysterious smoke from its top almost seemed to pour down over the other side of the mountain.

Their surroundings started to show a little more vegetation, though. Keira guessed it was because they were going further away from the desert she had spotted from a hill to the north of Mauville. Hoenn sure was a wondrous land.

Something stirred in front of them, and all of a sudden, their path was cut off by a pokémon. With an incredibly lazy look it steadily walked out from the bushes to the right of the road. It stopped to look at them, chewing on something green, and then turned its head again and walked into the bushes to the left of the road.

Keira dropped her jaw. "What… what was that?" she asked.

"Haha!" Carlos let out. "That was no less than a Numel. They're quite abundant in this area. People use them to help carry things through the desert or through the fiery paths beneath the volcano, since they're sturdy, quite numb and almost never have to drink."

Carlos began walking again, but Keira only took a few steps before she stopped and turned to the place where the pokémon had vanished into the bushes. "I want it," she said.

"You want a Numel, little missy?" the hiker said and turned around. "Haha! I don't know if that pokémon would fit you."

"I'm sorry sir, I'll be right back," Keira said, made a curtsy and jumped into the bushes.

The vegetation was denser than she had thought. Clearly, this side of the mountain was nowhere near barren. She tiptoed on between the branches, until she found the pokémon. It stood still about four metres ahead of her, chewing on a plant on the ground.

Tactics… Keira thought from nowhere. Tactics is an important thing for trainers. And she was a good trainer. She'd prove it!

Careful to make the least sound possible, she climbed a tree to the left of her. She wasn't too good at climbing, but this tree had branches in the exact right places, to step on. Finally, she was almost straight above Numel. The camel pokémon lift its head. Now or never.

"Geodude, Tackle!" she shouted and sent Geodude out of its pokéball, straight downwards. The rock shot out and hit Numel in its side before the numb pokémon could react. It grunted heavily as it was cast aside by the smack, against a tree trunk.

Keira remained in the treetop, looking down on the battlescene. Numel got up, and a gleam of anger was showing in its eyes when it looked at Geodude. A rumble from somewhere was heard. From the pokémon itself? And suddenly flaming bullets erupted from the Numel's mouth.

"Defense Curl!" Keira shouted from above, and Geodude shielded itself by folding its arms around its body. Keira then remembered that Defense Curl didn't help it's SpecialDefense stat, only the physical Defense stat, and swore for herself. But the Ember attack didn't do much harm. After all, Geodudes could live inside volcanoes.

"Now, Rock Throw!"

Geodude picked up rocks from the ground, there were plenty of varying sizes, and threw them with force at Numel. It got struck, but seemed to get even more angry than hurt. An Ember came towards Geodude again, but with little effect once again. Then Numel flung itself against Geodude, apparently not willing to give up the battle to the challenger. Geodude held against it with his strong arms.

That Numel had guts! It was apparently Fire type. Unless it had a secret weapon, this battle should have been over before it started. Keira shouldn't fail such an easy match up! She remembered she had a pokédex in her pocket. She didn't use it very often, but now she pulled it out and found Numel's page. It was Fire type, alright. But it was Ground type as well. Oh dear... what if it had Ground attacks? Rock was tough but couldn't stand against the might of Ground!

"Tackle it, Geodude!" Keira ordered quickly.

Geodude backed away, and Numel fell over its own forelegs in a slightly comical move, from the force of its own pushing. The rock pokémon then shot it's rock hard body at Numel again, this time hitting it straight in the head. The wild pokémon got both hurt and dizzy.

Keira realized this was the moment. It had been a while since she had last caught a pokémon. It was time. She threw an empty pokéball down at the Numel. The ball hit, and sucked the pokémon in. It wiggled from side to side…

Keira held her thumbs up on the tree branch.

[OOC: Slightly shorter than usual. But maybe that's for the best XD]

 

[slls81]

@Red's Hawt Chibi Peppers - I'm loving the enthusiasm you are showing so far :D

Congratulations Kiro caught a Level 7 Numel

 

[Underoos]

Damian was absolutely, unbearably tired. He had been woken up at the crack of dawn by two overly playful Zigzagoon, and had been on his feet since. Damian was silently killing the psycho Zigzagoon in his head, even though he did figure it was good that he had been woken up in such a manner. A yawn tore from Damian's lips and he quickly cracked his neck. He suddenly stopped in place and looked around, wondering not for the first time if he was heading in the correct direction. He had always been bad with directions. Shrugging the feeling off almost as quickly as it had come, Damian began his walk once more.

Truthfully Damian was getting bored and tired of all the walking that was ruining his shoes further and making them ache. Now, of course, the ache wasn't as bad as when he had first started out, but it still twinged a bit. Finally deciding that he'd enjoy a bit of company, Damian lightly tossed Growlithe's Pokeball. He watched silently as his fire type emerged in a burst of white, tail wagging and tongue lolling in his mouth. Damian grinned at the Pokemon that was his first.

"Good morning, buddy," Damian stated. Growlithe's tail wagged furiously and he barked. "It's a bit early, sorry if I'm not as enthusiastic," Damian said with a half grin. "Well, let's get going then."

Together both trainer and Pokemon walked a ways, until Damian heard some yips and sharp rustling coming from the trees. Damian's head snapped over, and his eyebrow rose as he watched two Zigzagoon rolling about and attacking each other. Only, Damian had a feeling they were just playing instead of actually fighting. Damian's eyes narrowed; he had an odd feeling that these were the same two Zigzagoon that had woken him from a blissful slumber. Damian grumbled things about "rude" and "annoying" under his breath, then began to walk away from the pair. Growlithe's head was cocked to the side curiously, but eventually he trotted after his partner.

"They have some nerve," Damian grumbled to Growlithe. Growlithe looked up at Damian, panting lightly. "Waking me up and then continuing their odd antics even after I tossed that rock at their heads." Growlithe simply blinked, and then continued looking forward. Damian sighed, remembering that Growlithe wasn't always one for carrying on a conversation. "I sort of miss having conversations," Damian muttered lowly. Growlithe didn't look up this time, so Damian figured he was in the clear.

It wasn't long after that when Damian came upon a hole in the ground. Damian's eyebrow rose curiously as he looked at Growlithe, and then bent over and began to dig up the hole. He sort of wondered if a Pokemon would be inside, but when he finished digging and was only rewarded with fruit Damian fell back on his butt. That was a pretty pointless waste of time, and now Damian just didn't feel like moving. He flopped down on his back and stared at Growlithe, who wagged his tail back lightly. Damian grunted and closed his eyes, one of the fruits he had dug up still firmly clasped in his left hand.

When Damian awoke, he was once again disturbed. Growlithe was snarling right behind his head, and there were little titters of growls bouncing right back at him. Damian sat up quickly, pressing his empty hand to his head at the sudden rush he experienced. Quickly glancing behind him, Damian frowned when he saw the same two Zigzagoon; only this time, they looked to be rather furious. Damian blinked slowly, wondering what had brought about their aggression, when he suddenly remembered the fruit that was in his hands. His mouth opened a bit wider, and his eyes widened. He had a bad feeling that he had just disturbed their little food stash, and now they were ready to pounce and make him pay the price.

"Alright," he said slowly, "if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get." Damian grabbed a Pokeball from his belt, and then tossed it. In a flash, Aron appeared at Growlithe's side. She shook her head lightly, and then eyed the Zigzagoon. "Growlithe, you start off with a leer attack. Follow with bite. Aron, you use headbutt on the other Zigzagoon." Damian slowly stood up, eyeing the battle carefully. He knew that the Zigzagoon were fast, but he knew that Growlithe was faster and Aron was tougher.

Growlithe went to action first, giving the Zigzagoon a death stare that made them both shiver. Aron moved in while they were distracted with Growlithe, but the Zigzagoon noticed and leaped backward. Growlithe cut off his leer attack and charged next, quickly slipping in behind one of the Zigzagoon and snapping his jaws down on the Pokemon's tail. Growlithe flung it around sharply, sending the Pokemon skidding across the ground. The other Zigzagoon snarled, and then charged at Growlithe with its head lowered. Growlithe leaped aside, narrowly missing the headbutt attack. Aron slammed into the still injured Zigzagoon with his head, knocking it down once more. Aron was about to continue the attack, when suddenly he was knocked into.

The other Zigzagoon was defending its friend, continuously knocking into Aron with a headbutt that wasn't really doing a whole lot. Aron was, however, losing the near ground to the other Zigzagoon.

"Growlithe, go in and attack the headbutting Zigzagoon with ember!" Damian shouted, glancing quickly from the injured Zigzagoon to the rather lively one.

Growlithe leaped in, shoving Aron back and taking the brunt of the next headbutt attack. Growlithe snarled and then a burst of flames swept over his tongue and engulfed the little Zigzagoon. The Pokemon screeched and skittered away from the fire, but the damage was still done. Damian ordered for Aron to use mud slap on the one Zigzagoon, considering the burned one was skittering up a tree and looked to be ready to hide. The Zigzagoon slowly pushed up from the ground and shook itself, eyeing Aron and Growlithe warily whilst keeping an eye open for its partner. Damian felt sort of bad, after all he had been the one to disrupt their things, but he pushed that aside and zoned in on the battle once more. The mud slap had somehow missed, and the Zigzagoon was (almost true to its name) running around Growlithe and Aron in a zigzagging pattern.

"Growlithe, use ember to stop its movement. Aron, you then go in with a mud slap," Damian ordered.

Growlithe had just opened his mouth to produce another ember, when suddenly there was a sharp yip from above. Moments later, the Zigzagoon that had skittered up the tree had landed on Growlithe's muzzle, impairing his ability to produce the fire. The second Zigzagoon took this opportunity to dive in and slam into Growlithe with a tackle, knocking all three over in a sprawling heap. Aron blinked a couple of times, and then once the tossed up nature had settled she began to look for the enemies. It wasn't long until she found them, hovering over Growlithe with bared teeth. Aron charged in, forgoing the mud slap for a harsh headbutt into one of their sides. The attack was so forceful that they kept going, resulting in the other Zigzagoon getting hit from the attack as well. Growlithe slowly got up, shaking his head, and looked about.

"Time to finish these two off," Damian stated bluntly. "Growlithe, you..." he trailed off, eyebrow arching as he saw the two Zigzagoon begin to whimper, tails drooped. Damian's hardened visage softened a bit, and he waited. The Zigzagoon, seeing no immediate threat from the odd human they had disturbed, scampered off through the woods. Damian scratched the back of his head. "Or maybe not," he stated. "Return, Aron," he whispered, pressing the button on Aron's Pokeball. She disappeared in a flash of red. Damian looked down at Growlithe, who stared up at him silently. "Time to go." With that, they began to walk again.

 

[§acred†Beo!]

Dean stood there on the outskirts of Mauville City. He was beginning to tire down mentally, his whole body ached, he had cuts and bruises on his arms and face. The dress clothes that he wore were once white but were now covered in mud and grass stains. On the inside of his white jacket were two gym badges. One was the stone badge from Roxanne in Rustboro City, the other the Knuckle Badge from Brawly in Dewford Town. It had so far been a successful journey, and at the same time Dean was beginning to change.

"This is ridiculous… I should just call dad and beg him to let me come home…" Dean thought to himself as a he began to reason out of it. He wouldn't admit it but he was beginning to enjoy living on his own. And with that last thought he headed into Mauville City and straight for the pokemon center.

"Well I'd say you've had quite the journey" A nurse said from behind the counter of the pokecenter.


"Really now?? What makes you say that" Dean snapped back, he could care less what this nurse thought he just wanted to rest.

"Oh I'm sorry for trying to be nice… Can I do something for you?" She asked trying not to get upset with the boy.

"No that's my bad; I'm just a little tired. Is there anyway I can get a bed for awhile, get my pokemon healed up and maybe get this dirty clothes washed?" Dean asked trying to put a smile on his face.

"Why of course honey, just give me your pokemon, and clothes" The Nurse said as she pointed to a changing room which Dean quickly scuttled off to. As he emerged from the room he was now wearing just a plain black t-shirt and a pair of shorts as well as nike shoes. He handed her the white dress clothes and shoes and then pulled three pokeballs from his bag and handed them over as well.

"Thanks…" Dean said as she exchanged a room key for all of his items. It took Dean a few moments to finally find his room but once he did he quickly plopped down on the cot and began to feel his eyes grow very heavy.

"You know these clothes are really comfortable…" Dean uttered to himself before dozing off.

"Dean Winchester your pokemon and clothes are finished please come pick them up at the counter thank you" a voice rang over a loud speaker in the room. Dean rolled over a couple of times before turning the light on. Slipping on his shoes and slinging his bag over his back he made his way back to the counter where he'd left his pokemon earlier.

"Ah there you are Dean you've been asleep for quite a few hours" The Nurse said smiling and handing his pokemon and clothes back over time him.

"Yeah… well like I said I was tired" Dean said putting a smirk but on his face and rudely grabbing his pokeballs and clothes from her. With that he tossed the white dress clothes into his bag along with his pokeballs and left the center. Suddenly Dean saw it, the Mauville City Gym, and hopefully the place he would earn his third gym badge.

"I hope I'm up to another one of these battles" Dean said but for some reason he knew he was, he had a sense of determination he hadn't felt since he was very little. And with that he grabs out his three pokeballs and released the pokemon inside.

"El!" Sparks Dean's Elekid shouted. Sparks was his starter pokemon he received from Professor Maple.

"Mer! Wail!" Wailmer moaned. Wailmer was the newest member of Dean's team which he caught on his way to face Brawley in Dewford.

"Ta! Ta!" Taillow screeched. Taillow was Dean's first successful capture; he caught him on the outskirts of Oldale town. As Dean's three pokemon now stood before him.

"Hey guys… All of you are healed up now so I just wanted to say I'm glad you guys are on this journey with me. Now it's time to win us another badge alright" Dean preached to his team as the all cheered in unison.

"Good to hear now return!" Dean ordered as he returned them all to there pokeballs and then made his way into the gym.

As Dean entered the gym he felt himself getting a bit more nervous then he was just moments earlier. It also didn't help that the lights in the gym were off and everything was dark around him.

"Alright Dean calm down, you can do this" he whispered to himself before hearing a faint laughing across the room. As soon as he stepped onto the the arena floor the lights on the ceiling lit up the whole gym and he saw the man who was laughing. The man was much older then Dean with a white beard and hair. He wore a brown jacket and a tanish pair of pants.

"So boy you're my next challenger eh?" The man shouted across the room with a grin on his face.

"The names Dean Winchester, and I'm not a boy!" Dean shouted back trying to act tough when really he was actually very frightened of the older man.

"Well Dean the names Wattson, listen I can see the fear in your eyes and if your not feeling up to this battle I'll let you walk away now without hurting your pokemon" Wattson said as the grin on his face grew bigger as if he wanted to laugh at Dean.

"…. No I'm not backing down not anymore; I'm strong enough to defeat you!" Dean shouted back at Wattson starting to get angry as he reached for his bag and pulled out Taillows pokeball. Wattson nodded to a side doorway as a man made his way to the side of the arena, he held a flag in each hand.

"Each trainer will be allowed to use two pokemon, the first to run out is the loser" The man shouted as Dean realized he was going to be the referre in the match.

"Well Wailmer will be no good without water, looks like I'm going to have to rely on Taillow and Sparks" Dean thought to himself as he tossed out Taillows pokeball.

"Low!" Taillow screeched flying around in the air before landing in front of Dean.

"Is that the best you can muster up? It won't do you much good against my electric pokemon!" Wattson laughed as he tossed out a pokeball.

"Torb! Voltorb!" The pokeball colored pokemon wailed through the gym.

"Oh boy, electric against a flying type, that's no good" he said taking a big gulp.

"Voltorb use spark!" Wattson ordered as Voltorb began shooting sparks of electricity at Taillow.

"Taillow dodge now and keep moving if you get hit it will do a lot of damage!" Dean yelled at Taillow who began flying between the spark attacks.

"Voltorb use charge!" Wattson shouted as Voltorb began glowing and charging up it's energy.

"That can't be good… uh, what to do…" Dean thought to himself drawing a blank as Taillow began staring at him and blankly flying through the air.

"HAHAH your already out of moves? My boy how can you be a trainer without any strategy? Guess will have to finish this, Voltorb use spark again!" Wattson cheered while giggling as Voltorb began shooting bigger sparks at Taillow.

"TA!!!" Taillow screeched in pain as he was struck directly by one of the sparks causing him to fall to the arena floor.

"Ah, Taillow…" Dean shouted, he knew it was his fault Taillow was down. He hesitated, couldn't come up with any strategy and now Taillow payed for it. Suddenly Taillow's eyes burst open and he made his way back onto his feet.

"Well I'll say your Taillow has some fight left in it, don't worry will finish that off quickly. Voltorb use charge!" Wattson ordered as a fierce look grew in his eye as he figured out a plan.


"Now's our chance Taillow charge at voltorb while he's charging up and use peck!! Dean shouted as Taillow flew straight into the air then darted down right at voltorb, with his wings fully extended.

"You fool that will only hurt both our pokemon!" Wattson roared in anger as Taillow collided into voltorb and the both of them rolled against the hard floor of the arena skidding into the wall.

"Taillow and Voltorb are unable to battle!" The ref shouts aloud holding both flags in the air.

"Well that was quite some strategy Dean but my final pokemon won't be as easy" Wattson says returning Voltorb to its ball.

"Yeah well nether will mine, good job Taillow now return!" Dean says returning Taillow and grabbing another ball from his bag. "Let's do this Sparks!!" Dean yells in excitement as he sends his starter pokemon from his ball out onto the arena.

"Elekid!" Sparks roared banging it's fists off of each other causing sparks to fly.

"Hmph an electric pokemon huh I must say I like your style, now go Magnemite!" Wattson ordered as a a grayish magnet looking pokemon appeared before Sparks and Dean.

"Sparks use quick attack!" Dean ordered as Sparks began darting all fours for Magnemite.

"Magnemite use metal sound!" Wattson orderd before covering his ears as his Magnemite began emitting an awful sound causing Sparks to stop in his tracks and cover his ears.

"Oh god that's horrible!" Dean yelped pressing his hands against his ears.

"Now's your chance Magnemite use sonic boom!" Wattson ordered again.

Magnemite shoot a wave of energy straight for Sparks who was still holding his ears, the attack him him directly causing him to fly backwards landing hard into the ground with a thud. Dean quickly removed his hands from his ears to find the screeching had stopped.

"Sparks get up! Use thunderpunch!" Dean shouted trying to come up with a plan.

Sparks sprung to his feet and then charged at Magnemite before thrusting his right arm at Magnemite but to Deans avail Magnemite just hovered below that attack.

"You'll have to do better then that Dean now Magnemite use sonic boom again!" Wattson said putting a grin on his face.

Magnemite once again shoot a wave of energy straight for Sparks. And suddenly Dean saw his window of opportunity.

"Sparks slide underneath the attack! Then charge in and use thunderpunch!" Dean hollered in amazement at the plan he just came up with.

Sparks slide under the wave of energy and jumped in front of Magnemite before cocking his right arm back again and thrusting it at magnemite.

"Silly boy electric attacks won't hurt Magnemite, plus he's to quick for that attack anyways!" Wattson laughed as Magnemite floated below the attack closely to the ground.

"That's what I was hoping for, Now Sparks quick attack!" Dean said as the grin on his face grew bigger.

Sparks landed on the ground before planting his feet swiftly into the arena floor and chucking his whole body into metal coat of Magnemite causing a loud thud as Magnemite hurdled into the wall behind him.

"Magnemite is unable to battle, Dean is the winner!" The ref shouted holding up the flag on Deans side signaling his victory. Dean ran over to Sparks who had his hands on his knees and was clearly exhausted.

"Great job buddy!" Dean cheered giving him a hug.

"Ele?" Sparks questioned as this was some of the first love he has shown him since receiving him from Professor Maple.

"Now you deserve a rest go ahead back in your ball" Dean said as he pressed the button on the front of Sparks pokeball and he was gone in a bright flash.

"Ahem, well I must say you grew up a little during that gym battle Dean" A defeated Wattson said with a smile on his face.

"Thanks Wattson, and I couldn't have done it if you didn't push me from the beginning of it" Dean said as the two shook hands.

"I confer upon you the Dynamo Badge, congratulations and good luck the rest of the way, and don't lose that intensity it will help you in the long run" Wattson said as Dean thanked him once again and headed for the door.

"Well I guess the next thing I should do is head to the next town, but I think first I'll stop at the pokemon center and heal Taillow and Sparks" And with that he exited the door back into Mauville City.

 

[Zeph.]

Numel vs. Numel

[Here's a joint post by myself and Red's Pelippers :D]

The ball clicked and Kliff clenched his fist in success. Pan scurried up to the ball and began sniffing it curiously, before picking it up and handing it to his trainer. Kliff tossed the ball up and down a few times and decided to let his newest capture out.

From the white light, the Numel appeared and shook its head. It stared blankly at Pan, and then at Kliff,

"Right then," he said, crouching down to Numel, "I'm Kliff, your trainer as of this point." Numel continued to stare.

"...Okay." Kliff said unsure of what this pokemon was feeling, "Like the rest of my team, you need a nickname..."

That would probably have to wait, however, as he saw someone approaching him, probably for another battle.

Keira had finally gotten bored of walking this endless path. At least the sun was going lower on the sky and the level of scorching heat was dropping.

"Look there, another fellow with pokémon, eh?" Carlos said and made her look up.

A guy was standing beside the road, with two pokémon next to him. A trainer! Keira did some quick thinking. Her pokémon was a bit tired, especially Wingull, but she never wanted to pass up the chance of getting some more training, right?

"Excuse me, sir," she said to Carlos and got off the road towards the guy before giving herself time to change her mind.

But what would she say then? She never challenged people just like that, she was usually the one to be challenged... She stopped only a couple of metres away from him, only then noticing one of his pokémon was a Numel.

"I've got one of those," she blurted out, and then realized how rude that must have sounded. She was raised to be polite!

"I'm sorry!" she said, embarrassed, before the guy could even open his mouth to answer. "I'm Keira!... You..." And then she realized she even recognized him. He was from Pallet Town, just like her. She was sure of it. Had he been one of those kids who got a pokémon from professor Oak while she didn't?

"Umm..." Kliff said, "It's no problem, really. I'm Kliff," he paused, "Don't I know you from somewhere...?"

"No!" Keira said quickly. "I mean, I don't think so."

She didn't want any of the kids from Pallet to recognize her, since she was working on becoming a different person now. Luckily, he didn't seem to.

"So, you say you have a Numel too?" Kliff asked, taking this rather mysterious girl's word for it.

"Yes! I just caught it..." Actually she hadn't even welcomed it to the team yet. She picked up its pokéball and let it out.

The numb pokémon materialized, looked up on Keira and then turned to stare at Kliff's Numel instead. It didn't seem to want to give its trainer much attention. "Oh boy..." she said, facepalming. "I have to train it."

Kliff's Numel stared back at Kiera's, "Looks like I have the same problem..."

He crouched down ever so slightly when he noticed something, "Is it just me... or is the hump on my Numel slightly bigger?" He opened his pokedex, where it displayed further information on Numel:


Male ---------- Female

"Right," he said in realisation, "My Numel's a female, and yours is a guy." Kliff was briefly disturbed at the thought of some slight Numel romance going on before their eyes,

"Wait a sec..." he said standing back up, "Why don't we test our Numel's out? Gives us a chance to train them like you say?"

Keira lightened up at the challenge. "Of course!" she said, and turned to Numel. "Show them how stubborn you were when you battled me before." Numel gave Keira a bland glance.

They took some steps back to make space for the battle. The hiker Carlos sat down on a rock behind Keira. "There's no entertainment like a good battle, hoho!" he boomed cheeringly.

Kliff, slightly confused about the large, burly mans presence, retrieved Pan into his pokeball and stood a good distance away from Kiera. The Numels, however, didn't move. Kliff whistled at his,

"Hey, you, here..." he said as Numel plodded her way infront of Kliff.

"I'll be a gentleman about this," he said to his opponent, motioning to the field with a hand, "after you."

Keira looked down on her own Numel. He was still staring straight at the female.

"Now, that's not right," Keira said. "We will fight that pokémon. Are you listening?"

Male Numel actually turned to look at Keira. Maybe he nodded, or maybe Keira simply wanted to believe he was nodding.

"Then... use Ember!" she commanded. Numel seemed to hesitate a bit. But then a rumble from it's insides was heard, and a stream of burning embers was shot from its mouth, heading straight for female Numel.

"Stand tough Numel! Your type should resist it somewhat," Kliff ordered. Numel stood firm and screwed her eyes closed. The embers struck her, eveloping her and licking off mockingly. That attack certainly looked a bit more impressive than his own Numel's - but then maybey that was just him,

"Run in for a direct attack! Tackle!" Numel opened her eyes,

"Nuummm!" it cried as she charged in as fast as she could for the opposing male.

"Growl, Numel!" Keira shouted, using her usual trick.

The male Numel stood stern and let off a growl that probably sounded intimidating for another Numel, but mostly sounded cute in the trainers' ears.

Kliff's Numel seemed to jump a little and loose some speed when hearing the growl. The following impact still made Keira's Numel grunt and roll around on the ground.

"Hit it with a Tackle of your own!" Keira commanded, completely lost in the battle by now.

Her Numel got up and kicked up some sand with his foot before galloping off towards its opponent at an unexpected speed. Kliff's Numel, not anticipating an attack of that pace, was smacked in the side just as she was regaining her footing from the jump. She rolled over a few times before regaining balance and glaring at her male counterpart,

"It's also faster than I thought..." Kliff mumbled quietly to himself, "Numel! Run in while using Ember!" Numel cocked her head back and built up heat before thrusting her neck forward, shooting out small bursts of fire. While doing so, she ran in towards Kiera's Numel, hoping to pull off some sort sort of Ember-Tackle combo.

"You say you just caught Numel?" Kliff asked Kiera, "I wouldn't have guessed! Are you a veteran at this sort of thing?"

"No... no!" Keira said, a bit surprised as well. "But when I caught it I noticed it's really stubborn."

The male Numel stared at the dashing inferno that was female Numel. Without waiting for Keira's order, it growled again and started to move forward in a countertackle.

Keira wanted to close her eyes, calculating a really hurtful impact.

Kliff blinked as the two camels crashed into eachother, flames spewing and flying outwards in the proccess. There was a cloud of smoke and kicked up dust which eventually cleared, to reveal Kliff's Numel panting on the ground, while Kiera's was still standing, grunting in victory.

Kliff had underestimated his opponent. That Numel wasn't only stronger, but it had the determination to just run in and counterattack.

"We'll leave it there, don't want them to get too injured," Kliff said as he retrieved Numel, "Well done Kiera! Looks like you won."

He stared again at Numel's pokeball - then he had an idea.

"Listen," he said walking over to her, "You wouldn't want to trade would you?" He held up his Numel's pokeball, "Like you say, your Numel seems to be a bit stubborn - I think this one will warm to you quite quickly. And, if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm really impressed by yours, it seemed to have a bit more experience."

"Well..." Keira looked at her Numel.

The male Numel was standing up straight. If it was in pain, it sure wasn't showing it, and it had a weird expression on its blunt face. Proudness? Or just plain cockyness over its victory? Keira couldn't help feeling a slight distaste for its attitude. That made up her mind.

"Alright. We'll trade," she said. "But I and the female Numel will train, and one day we will beat you and the male!" She stopped to think for a moment, and smiled a little. "Which means one day I'll make sure to beat you again, but with the other pokémon."

Kliff laughed, "Sounds good to me!"

Kiera retrieved her Numel too, and the two trainers swapped pokeballs. Kliff looked at his new Numel - the trade was complete.

"I'll be off then," Kliff said as he turned and walked away, waving, "I'll see you again for that rematch! And thanks for the Numel!"

Keira waved him off and saw him go. Carlos the Hiker got up. "Waha! That was indeed nice entertainment! Do you think you'll run into him again?"

"I'll make sure to, sir," Keira said and clenched the pokéball containing her new Numel.

[OOC: Can I hazard a guess and say this is the first trade between RPers? ^^']