[PKMN FULL] Hoenn: Square One [IC]

WizardOfOdd · Apr 22, 2021

Arthur Weissmann
Location: Transit Station, Dewford Town
Pokemon at hand :

Wednesday, September 23rd

Chapter 3 - 6
Turning Point
Part 3

It was half an hour before mid-day, most of the people in the transit station were calmly waiting for the boat heading towards Petalburg to arrive.

Arthur was also among the people who waited for the boat. He had to say goodbye to her sister back at Slateport with heavy hearts as neither of them wanted to leave, but both of them knew it had to be done. After a lengthy hug, he left with a huge smile and cheerful mood… But it didn't even last before he reached Petalburg.

The culprit? An important video call from a certain someone he was close with.

The caller's brown hair was disheveled to a ridiculous extent as if a strong breeze had just passed through his hair, it was something that could've been laughed at. Yet the flat facial expression combined with the piercing glare the man exhibited behind his glasses silenced even the eloquent Arthur. That man that was staring daggers at him was Professor Kirk Hope, Arthur's foster father during his stay in Trainer School.

Since Arthur awkwardly said hello which was not reciprocated, it's been fifteen seconds of pure, agonizing silence for him. It hurts even more to him considering that Kirk was almost like a family to him.

Kirk sighed. "...Ingrid actually fainted because of you, you know?"

Arthur couldn't hide his somber expression as hung down his head in shame.

"I don't know if they said it to your face, but your dad… He was so worried that his co-workers sent him home… Elaine tried her best to not think about the worst-case scenario, yet she had to call me several times to calm herself… And let's not talk about how much of a trainwreck you turned Alice into… She was literally… Nevermind." Kirk threw out his hand upward as he visibly tried his best to hold back his emotions from overflowing.

"I'm sorry…"

"People make mistakes, I can understand that… But how? Just how? How can you drop that kind of sentence in front of Alice and then go off the grid while expecting everything will be alright? How?" The man shook his head in exasperation. "How can you think that we won't be worried?"

"We… Honestly, I was... expecting the worse… You know, I didn't… I couldn't..." Kirk tried his best to choke back his tears.

"Uncle, I was… I'm so sorry… I just didn't know that you all would…" Arthur desperately searched for words to say as his moist eyes show profound sadness at this realization.

"You know… Maybe I'm being too harsh on you… But please, promise me that you won't do that kind of thing anymore. We're not going to force you to continue this journey if you don't want to, don't shoulder everything on your own… We all love you Arthur, you know we do."

Before Arthur managed to say anything, Kirk opened his mouth first.

"Check the screen."

"Huh?" Arthur was confused at what Kirk said.

"You asked me a favor did you not?"

Arthur turned his eyes to the transfer machine he waited in front of.

Would you like to accept the Pokemon Transfer?

Yes / No

Arthur finally understood what was happening, he knew well why it was popping up. As soon as he pressed yes, data started to converge at a hollow on the machine before forming a Pokeball.

"If there's anything else I can do for you, don't hesitate to call me, okay? As long as I can do it, I'll do whatever you ask."

"That's a nice offer, Uncle… But I don't want to rely too much on you…" His answer elicited a head shake from Kirk, it prompted him to quickly clarify what he said. "I mean… I'm going to do this myself the best I can. But if things go south, I promise that I won't keep anyone in the dark again."

"Fine, I can accept that. Just remember that I'll always be here for you, alright. Take care, Arthur.

"Yeah, you too, uncle."

Arthur ended the call. It brought relief to him, and as he wiped the sweat from his forehead he couldn't help but sigh. Although even he knew well that there was nothing he could do about what had happened back then, all he could do now was try his best to be better.

He grabbed his Pokeball which swiftly returned to normal size as soon as it left the compartment of the machine.

He was taught by his grandfather from a young age that promise was something he shouldn't make if he was going to break them. Yet right at this moment, he was attempting to do the exact opposite.

Of course, the changing circumstances surrounding the promise were the reason why he contemplated on breaking the promise in the first place. But he was still unsure that he was making the right decision regarding this issue.

After all, the last incident proved that his decision-making ability was apparently not as good as he thought, and that's a generous way of describing it.

He still wasn't sure that what he would do was the best way to go, but even he knew at this point, there was no use in delaying the inevitable. As soon as he asked Elaine to relay his request to Kirk everything was set in stone.

And he threw his Pokeball up into the air, it opened up as sparks of energy coming out from it eventually formed into the shape of an avian Pokemon.

It ruffled its brown feather while its wide red eyes scanned around the place as it attempted to understand the situation it was in.

"Hey, Hunter. It's been a bit since we last met, huh Pal?"

The Pokemon looked at the man that was smiling warmly in front of him while tilting in confusion. It seemed like it couldn't comprehend why this black-haired stranger was able to know his name.

Arthur sighed as he realized this. "Of course you don't recognize me..." He roughly ruffled the hair that he carefully tidied that morning using hair spray. "Better?"

Hunter's eyes glittered as it flew towards Arthur for a hug. It finally realized who he was talking with all this time.

"Look Pal, I knew this was—"

Arthur was interrupted by his Pokemon who covered his mouth with his wing as if it was telling him that there were no words needed.

"Welcome home, Hunter."

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WizardOfOdd · Apr 22, 2021

Arthur Weissmann
Location: Petalburg Gym, Petalburg City
Pokemon at hand :

Wednesday, September 23rd

Chapter 3 - 7
Turning Point
Part 4

Arthur and Vincent's arrival in Petalburg City was a smooth one, after they booked their room at the Pokemon Center they were able to reach the gym as soon as they possibly can. The only issue they face? It was the fact that the acting gym leader didn't accept any challenge on Thursday which was when Arthur intended to battle him.

It left him with two choices, either took the gym challenge now or wait until Friday. It was not a hard decision for him, though, especially considering that Arthur knew well how much preparation he had to do if he wants to even stand a chance against the powerful trainer, which led to—

"Come on, Arthur! You can't beat the gym leader with that kind of lousy offense!"

"I'm sorry, dear teacher! But it's not my fault you and your Pokemon are overqualified to beat me!"

—A fight against Vincent at the Petalburg Gym. Both Hunter and Nero were struggling to hold their ground against Vincent's Pokemon. This time it wasn't Percy they were facing, it was a Kecleon that Vincent called Dexter.

Dexter was a tricky foe due to its capability for using Camouflage in order to hide his presence. The fact that the move enabled Dexter to blend the color of its body with the environment was so annoying for Arthur and his Pokemon to deal with.

Hunter and Nero had a hard time even when they both attacked him at the same time as the continuous barrage of Psybeam and Confusion failed to hit their mark.

"So, is this all you got?" Vincent taunted his protégé.

"Unfortunately, yes." Arthur hung his head, he had no hope of beating Vincent. Or so he tricked Vincent to think before revealing his ruse. "Swagger!"

Nero's face showed a taunting expression as red energy enveloped its body all according to Arthur's plan. He knew that he couldn't beat Vincent's Pokemon if he didn't resort to trickery, and for that to work, he had to make his Pokemon seem like they didn't have any method of attacking the invisible Kecleon. If he could stick to the plan, then beating Vincent is not out of the realm of possibility.

With this, he was one step closer to his goal.

"Interesting… You've done a great job keeping your trump card close to your chest, Arthur."

"Thanks, there is still a lot where that came from, though. Hunter! Nero!"

Both Pokemon used Psybeam and Confusion once more this time in a wide arc. It should've been enough to flush Dexter out, yet—

"Sucker Punch!"

—Arthur briefly saw a black-colored aura flared at one point of the battlefield until it dissipated by itself just after a few seconds had elapsed. Arthur didn't understand why Vincent bothered using it when he wasn't even trying to attack neither of his Pokemon, but Vincent's smirk at his confused expression sparked an idea about what might've happened.

"Don't tell me…"

"Oh, hell yeah…" Vincent continued to smirk.

Arthur groaned at his predicament. The fact that there was no noise or other signs that indicated Dexter getting hit by the attacks cemented his idea of what was happening on the field.

"Really… Protean?" He looked at Vincent with an exasperated look.

Vincent only clapped with a wide smile on his face, which told Arthur everything he needed to know.

Arthur came to a conclusion that Dexter's ability was indeed Protean, there was no doubt about it anymore. The fact that Dexter was able to change typing to Dark-type was a huge disadvantage for his Pokemon since both mainly attack using Psychic-type moves.

"You have more tricks up your sleeve, Houdini?" Vincent interrupted Arthur's train of thought.

"Tsk, be dazzled by this! Hypnosis!"

Both Nero and Hunter's eyes glowed blue as ring-shaped beams with the same color flew out from it. With this, Arthur was hoping to at least flush out Dexter so he could land a hit. But—

"Vincent… What's the meaning of this…"

As soon as the beam floated around the area we thought Dexter was there, Dexter was finally visible again, lying on the ground as his asleep state canceled Camouflage's effect.

"You know what to do." Vincent calmly scratched his head while waiting for Arthur's move.

Arthur shook his head. He was being tested, again… It was unpleasant to deal with even if he already knew that his teacher was trying to impart his knowledge in his own way. He sighed before steeling himself for the decisive attack. If he couldn't make Vincent stop underestimating him, then making him regret the choice to do so would have to suffice.

"Hunter! Nero! Beat him down!"

Hunter and Nero both spammed their most powerful physical move which was Peck and Payback respectively as they tried to brute force their way to victory. The barrage of attacks rained on Dexter, but it wasn't enough.

Dexter managed to wake up and while the two other Pokemon were in close proximity with it, huffed a powerful stream of purple liquid towards Nero and Hunter, a distraction that enabled him to make some separation between him and his opponents.

The liquid quickly evaporated into dark purple gas, poisoning both Nero and Hunter.

"Oh no…" Arthur looked in horror while covering his nose.

"Oh, yes! Dexter!" Vincent smiled widely as the window of opportunity had opened wide for him at that very moment.

Dexter nodded as he rushed towards the two with his hand engulfed in black-colored energy.

"Grr… Peck! Payback!"

Both of Arthur's Pokemon rushed towards Dexter as they landed their attack to cancel Dexter's attack.

"Counter!"

Dexter opened his mouth as his whip-like tongue swiftly swatted away his opposition without issue. However, the fact still stood that he was visibly injured by the barrage of attacks earlier.

Dexter's battered from all of those attacks. If few more after this lands then... Arthur's attempt at analyzing the best course of action was immediately interrupted as Dexter's body shined in white light, mending the wounds it got from both Hunter and Nero.

"I presume it's too late to refund my ticket?" Vincent chuckled.

This sight alone caused Arthur to groan once more and threw both of his arms to the air as he exclaimed, "I give up, nothing in my bag of tricks will be enough to put Dexter down."

"You know that's not the point of this exercise, my dear protégé." Vincent shrugged as he approached Arthur. "You did really well, Arthur." He patted Arthur on the back of his shoulder.

Arthur smiled widely at the compliment before he changed the subject as the adrenaline of the battle started to wear. "Ah, I'm famished!"

"Same. Wanna grab something to eat?"

"If you're treating me, sure."

"For that kind of performance? You gotta be kidding me, you owe me a refund for my time, good Sir." Teased Vincent.

"But you said that I did well!"

"Tralalala, I can't hear you," said Vincent while childishly closing his ears.

"Tsk, you—"

Both of them shared a good laugh with each other as they went out to search for a good restaurant to fill their stomach.

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QueenNothing · Apr 26, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Friday, September 25th
Morning
Petalburg City

While seeing Avril so distressed slightly threw off June's motivation, seeing her calmed down from Norman's help raises her spirits back to where they previously were. As much as she wished she was able to help, there wasn't anything June herself could say. That's a gym leader's job, and right now June needs to focus on her job as a challenger to remember her uncle's words to fuel her motivation.

June takes the spot where Avril had previously stood, bracing herself for her upcoming battle. She did her best to recollect her memories of Wednesday and took mental notes of the battle Avril just had. In the meantime, the blonde girl is sitting beside Norman, often just looking up towards him.

Wally sends two Pokémon out: Kecleon and Indeedee, although the latter looks much different than she remembers. A quick scan of it shows that female Indeedee are very different from the males, and not just in physical appearance. Their natural abilities are very different, and this Indeedee has a completely different moveset and strangely enough doesn't seem to have attacks that directly counter bug-types like Indy did. While June definitely notices that, she's more fixated on the species itself.

Sexual dimorphism… interesting! It's very similar to Burmy, although...

June's mind recites information about similar bug-types, although it doesn't last long as a "Hey, are you still there?" from Wally takes her out of it.

"Oh, um… right!" She can't let herself wander off right now, as much as she enjoys it. It's time to get serious.

Spoiler:

Just like last time, Einstein and Sting are sent out to battle. Norman starts the match, and the first thing June does is order Einstein to put up a Light Screen while Sting traps Leon in an Electroweb. Ally Switch is inevitable, but it's a good advantage to start out with.

"Deedee, Ally Switch!"

In the blink of an eye, the Indeedee appears trapped within the Electroweb while Leon is freed, just as June expected. She has Einstein use Confusion to lift Deedee into the air to harshly drop her onto the floor. Within the past two days, Einstein has gotten a better grasp of his psychic energy.

Leon doesn't attack. His eyes just glow pink as he stares at Sting, who does the same. June immediately recognizes it as Skill Swap. Even if he was unable to use the move against Avril, the Pokedex still picked up on it. Sting's type will change depending on what move hits him, which, while a nuisance, doesn't massively deter June's plans in any way.

"Sting, use Gust!" The Beautifly quickly flaps his wings, but June is surprised to see the air swept forward is filled with a thick powdery substance- Sting learned Silver Wind! - and notices Deedee taking more damage than anticipated. The battle seems to be going well already. Avril and Poppy both cheer at that, too.

Einstein releases Deedee from his psychic grasp, predicting another Ally Switch, which is exactly what happens. Leon is warped into the Electroweb. Deedee claps her hands for Helping Hand, invigorating Leon, who sinks into the ground.

There it is!

"Einstein, Reflect! Sting, use Silver Wind!"

Very familiar with Shadow Sneak, Einstein projects his barrier before he can be hit while Sting continuously Silver Winds the stationary clapping Indeedee. The rubbery properties of Reflect, and while not completely negating the super-effective damage, kills Leon's momentum and reduces the impact by about a half. It doesn't take long for him to recoil however, as Leon lands on his feet still maintaining his posture, and shoots with a Shadow Ball at point-blank range. June, not expecting Leon to recover so quickly, flinches but stays in her headspace.

If he can take advantage of short-range, so can I!

"Einstein, Supersonic!" Mimicking Wally's strategy, Einstein's sound waves put Leon into a dizzy state.

"Leon needs to get out of there right away!" Wally says. "Ally Switch again!" Deedee warps behind Einstein while Leon hangs in the back, struggling to keep his balance. Deedee leans forward and puckers her lips for a Draining Kiss, but is completely halted by the barrier, although it does get stretched a little too thin for June's liking.

Good! While Leon is confused, Sting can use Electroweb and-

"Leon, Shadow Ball!"

"Eh!?"

Even though Leon is spinning around, he indiscriminately launches Shadow Balls from his mouth one after the other. Given his status condition, only two are able to hit Einstein, and even if they're weakened when passing through Light Screen, ghost-type attacks are still dangerous against psychic Pokémon. Sting does his best to dodge, aiming a Poison Sting whenever he can, but finds it difficult to land any with his target spinning around. A few are successful, but likewise Sting falls victim to a singular shadowy projectile, changing the color of the patterns on his wings to a dark purple. Avoiding such an unpredictable pattern isn't easy, especially when one of your Pokémon can't even move.

With Einstein taking hefty damage and Sting now a ghost-type, the odds weigh in Wally's favor. The apprentice gym leader calls out for another Ally Switch, Leon behind Einstein and Deedee in the back. Rather than have Leon attack from such a close range, he instead uses Shadow Sneak from Deedee's shadow to stand next to her. Deedee reaches over to peck Leon on the cheek- That's Draining Kiss! and within a half-second June calls for Sting to use Bug Bite. Leon winces as Deedee regains health and the Beautifly darts forward, planting his proboscis into Deedee's forehead. Avril briefly looks away and towards Norman, who still looks quite relaxed.

Deedee squirms while Sting digs into her forehead. The pain she feels is too great for her to retaliate, indicated by her agonized squeals. June even finds herself somewhat disturbed by the sight- I-it's natural, this happens often in the wilderness… however, in her discomfort she notices too late Leon is missing while Deedee manages to clap through Sting's assault. It shouldn't come as a surprise when Leon shows up behind Einstein, crashing forward with enough force to not only rip through Reflect, but also toppling the Dottler over, knocking him out. Yet somehow June gasps with utter shock upon seeing the carnage. Norman's "Dottler is unable to battle!" only rubs salt in the wound.

June's instinct is to cry out for the fainted ally, but she stops herself, remembering Tetsuo's words. She could have done better, but she won't let that crush her spirits. She examines her current situation, eyeing Sting and Deedee, and double-takes when an observation hits her.

Wait just a second, he's at a close range!

"Sting, Silver Wind!" His long mouth still injected deep into Deedee, Sting flaps his wings forward, blowing silver powder directly into her face, further irritating her. Of course, Leon emerges from under him, and while Sting tries releasing his proboscis, he's too slow in comparison to the Shadow Sneak which hurls him upwards. Super effective, but not strong enough to take him out.

It doesn't take long for Sting to regain his balance in the air and meanwhile Deedee collapses on her back. "Indeedee is unable to battle!" Hearing those words from Norman gives June a rush of catharsis as she returns Einstein to his Park Ball.

"I'm very proud of you Einstein! It's a shame to see you hurt, but I know we can do better to avoid this in the future." She grins while looking at the Pokeball. After putting it back in her purse, her eyes widen when noticing Sting flying just slightly faster.

"Silver Wind shed the excess scales on his wings!" June shouts with a whimsical smile. "Now that he isn't weighed down by them, his strength and speed should simultaneously be enhanced!!"

"It's good you know this sort of information, but remember, your Beautifly is still incredibly vulnerable to a single Shadow Ball."

Wally may be right, but June is confident he can easily evade the attacks with his newfound speed. She's also confident Sting can land enough attacks to take out Leon before he can. Working with her Pokémon has made her this much progress, and she won't fall here. She needs to win, and not just for her sake.

For the sake of Grandma, I'm going to pick up where she left off and show the beauty of bugs!

"Leon, go all out with Shadow Ball!" Similarly to when he was confused, the Kecleon hurls up a rapidfire of ghost-type attacks. Unlike then however, each orb has a clear trajectory. The boost in speed Silver Wind granted Sting allows him to more easily gracefully float past every incoming Shadow Ball, throwing a Poison Sting out in-between dodges. Leon side-steps the projectiles as well, and the two Pokémon engage in a back-and-forth of this, neither party showing any signs of stopping nor slowing down.

"Keep using Shadow Ball!"

The exchange of projectiles only seems to go by quicker. Wally and June sternly watch the events unfold in-front of them.

That is until both Pokémon are finally hit by the other's attack. Sting spirals out of control whereas Leon winces from the Poison Sting. June's PokeGear let's her know he's inflicted with a status effect. Now's my chance!

"Sting, use Air Cutter!" With Sting's wings, a sharp blade of wind is blown right at Leon.

"Dodge it with Shadow Sneak!" He sinks into the floor to completely evade the attack and in an instant jumps out from Sting's shadow to deliver a finishing blow.

But June is more than familiar with this strategy by this point. A simple Shadow Sneak isn't going to defeat her.

"Sting, Electroweb down below!"

Sting is able to swiftly fly high enough into the air to completely get away from Leon. When he's safe, Sting arcs his head downwards and plops the Electroweb right onto him. With no time to spare, June hastily calls out the next command.

"Air Cutter one last time!"

A sharp gust wind is whisked downward, which not only pushes Leon down from the force, but rips through the Electroweb, breaking it up into tiny sparks that flash before fading out.

"Kecleon is unable to battle! Junko Enomoto wins the battle!" June pants as she hears her victory called. Unlike against Brawly, this feels fulfilling. A victory that's well-deserved- especially now that she's adequately shown off the beauty of what bugs can do.

I suppose earning gym badges has its purpose.

"You did it June!" Avril exclaims from the side of the battlefield. "Great job…" She adds, blushing slightly.

Wally stares dumbfoundead at her. "Where did that come from!?"

"I… I'm not sure what you mean?"

"You were just… really in the heat of the moment. You were nothing like that yesterday, and if I knew today would be different, I'd have used both Indy and Deedee. I think you should try showing that side of you a little more."

"I think what my protégé is trying to get across is that under the right circumstances, you have an intense passion that sparks, and that you should find a way to consistently weaponize it in battle." Norman says while Wally nods along.

"N-Norman-sensei is right!" Wally suddenly speaks up. "That energy you had… I think that's a big par- I mean, uh, a core component to entering the Hoenn Hall of Fame!" A nervous but genuine grin forms across his face.

"Thank you!" June smiles a little less genuinely back, fixating on his words. She knows she wants to challenge more gyms to improve herself, but The Hall of Fame isn't something she's even entertained the idea of aiming for until now. She briefly flirts with the idea before storing it in the back of her head. She has other things she wants to shoot for, so she'll revisit that thought somewhere later down the road.

There's an "AHEM!" from Norman that causes his apprentice to nearly jump. "Oh, right! I don't want to forget your badge! And you too Avril… I must have forgotten in the midst of the chaos." Rather anticlimactically, Wally hands both June and Avril their second gym badge, the Balance Badge.

Norman offers the girls $5 000 each as reward, too. "Plus, you can also get a TM for a couple different Status moves we use." He explains.

"A status move, hmm?" June again buries her face into her PokeGear to see which Technical Machine is comparable with what Pokémon she has. Upon seeing that Einstein can learn Ally Switch, her mind is made-up. "Um- may I receive a TM of Ally Switch?"

"Sure thing! Now, what about you Avril?" Norman nods.

Avril, who tried to at least emulate the other girl by looking at her Holotch, rises up her head when she hears her name. "W-well, actually…" She tries to speak up, but even after a while she doesn't have a clear answer.

"You know, I think Ally Switch could be a useful move for you too! I'll go get a second TM of that move, if that's ok." The blonde girl doesn't seem to object, and so it only takes a few minutes before the small metal box is put into her hands.

As much as June appreciates the fact Einstein will finally be able to learn a new move, the Technical Machine and prize money are just a nice bonus when compared to the shiny badge she can nearly she her reflection in. She's incredibly eager to show her award to her uncle.

Einstein grew to level 29
Einstein learned Ally Switch through a TM!
Sting grew to level 27!
Sting forgot Mega Drain and learned Attract!

Groc · Apr 27, 2021

Edison Kintobor
Wednesday, September 23rd, midday
Petalburg City Pokémon Center

After their battles at the Gym, Ed and Sunny stop by the Pokémon Center for a free lunch, and it's recommended to them that they rent out some camping gear for the journey. Ed sees this as perfectly logical. However...

"₽500 per night? And you expect it to take how long?!" Sunny scowls at the man behind the counter, whose smile becomes somewhat strained.

"On average, it takes about two or three days to walk. The weather should hold out, but you never know what could happen out there. We really do recommend the tents."

"Yeah, I bet you do. That's how you make your money, isn't it?" Sunny steps away from the counter, digging through her wallet and checking her phone. She seems displeased with what she discovers.

"Everything alright, Sunny?"

She sighs as she puts her phone away. "Yeah. I'm good for it, but it's gonna cost a lot. Hey, what if we went halfsies on one tent? Would you be good with that?"

Ed puts his hand to his chin, looking at the camping gear. The tents are quite small, clearly designed to be portable more than anything. More of a glorified sleeping bag, only meant for a single occupant. If they shared one, it'd be quite cramped inside.

So instead, Ed approaches the counter himself. "We'll take two sets, please. For two nights, you said?"

The man nods, placing the goods on the counter. "Yes, sir. On average, and any discrepancies can be rectified on the other end." It sounds like a practiced spiel, but Ed appreciates the sentiment.

"Excellent. That'll be all for us, thank you." His total comes out to ₽2000, and he produces a card from his wallet, tucking the receipt inside as he accepts the gear. He turns back to Sunny, who looks stunned.

"Eddie... you have money? I've never seen you buy anything!"

He winces at her words, feigning offense. "Not any more, I'm afraid. This purchase has decimated my funds. But it's worth it."

"What?! Eddie, why? I said I was good for it, you didn't have to..." She frowns, suspicious of the smile on his face. "What's so funny?"

He can't help but chuckle. The look on her face is priceless! "I said it decimated my funds. 'Deci' as in ten? 2000 Poké is merely a tenth of my savings, Sunny."

She takes a moment to do the math. Ed can practically see the mathematical equations running around her head. "Wait... you have twenty thousand dollars?!"

Ed shrugs, offering Sunny her choice of tents. They're identical, but it's the gentlemanly thing to do. "Again, not anymore, but as I said, it's worth it. But if you still want to help, you can carry them both." He pushes both tents onto her, and she reflexively catches them. "After all, you're the stronger of us, right?"

She narrows her eyes in annoyance, but a faint smile creeps onto her face. "You're gonna pay for this, Eddie."

"I believe I already have." Ed returns the smile, heading for the door.

⛺⛺Later, on Route 102...⛺⛺

"Seriously? You're tired already?" Sunny crosses her arms, smirking in amusement as Ed leans against a tree.

"We've been walking nonstop for three hours! I think we can take ten minutes to rest our feet, don't you?"

She shrugs, jostling one of the tents she has strapped over each shoulder. "I'm fine. And I'm carrying both tents, remember?"

"I wasn't really going to make you carry them the whole way. I was going to take mine the first time we stopped. Knowing that, are you willing to take a short rest?"

Sunny immediately unslings one of the camping kits, tossing it at Ed. He steps forward to catch it, but fumbles it and staggers back into the tree.

Sunny settles her camping gear more comfortably on her back, scoffing as leaves flutter around Ed from his impact with the tree. "You okay? Didn't hit your head, did you?"

Before Ed can reply, some sort of nut or acorn falls from the tree, bouncing off his head. He steps away from the tree, looking up into the foliage. Perched on one of the lower branches is an acorn-shaped Pokémon, which hops over to another branch to kick another nut at Ed.

He swiftly retrieves his Pokédex, identifying the Pokémon as Seedot. "I think we angered it when we shook the tree. It must live up there. ...odd, how does it climb without hands? Just... tiny little legs..."

Seedot, apparently insulted by his comment, hops to another branch to kick another acorn. Ed swiftly steps behind the nearest cover (which happens to be Sunny) to avoid the attack. The height difference leaves his head out in the open, so Seedot kicks the acorn at his head. He dodges, but the attack almost hits Sunny, and she doesn't find the situation as funny anymore.

"Watch it! Flare, knock that punk down here!" She tosses a ball, and Flare immediately hits the tree with a Headbutt, shaking the branches and making Seedot lose its balance. It tumbles to the ground, bouncing on impact and landing on its feet.

Ed steps back, fixing his camping gear on his back. "It's just a misunderstanding, we could just walk away."

"Flare, Fire Fang!" Sunny instead opts for combat, because of course she does. Flare leaps forward, eager as ever, but the smaller Grass type steps aside, dodging effortlessly. Dark energy gathers around it as it jumps toward Flare.

"Sunny, watch out!" Ed shouts, but it's too late, and Seedot delivers Payback in the form of a swift kick to the back of Flare's head.

"'Watch out!' Yeah, real good advice, Eddie! Flare, try again!" Flare rubs the back of his head, comically large tears at the corner of his eyes, but manages to get a hold of Seedot and chomp down with a mouthful of flames. The Seedot's skin glows momentarily, and Flare spits it out, rubbing his jaw in pain.

"It used Harden. Probably too little too late, however. Victory is yours, Sunny."

"Hell yeah, it is! Flare, finish it off with Headbutt!" Flare charges in on all fours, walking on his knuckles like a gorilla, ducking his head and tackling Seedot into the base of the tree. Leaves and loose acorns rain down around it while Flare chitters happily, dancing from one foot to the other.

"Nicely done! Not that it stood a chance." Sunny returns Flare to his ball, leaving Seedot behind. "Come on, let's keep going." She starts walking again, but Ed doesn't immediately follow.

"I thought we were going to stop for a minute? ...Sunny, wait up!" He hurries after her, falling into step at her side.

QueenNothing · Apr 27, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Friday, September 25th
Noon
Petalburg City

"Hey, would ya look at that!" Looking up from his Atari Lynx, Tetsuo gives a wide grin at his beaming niece holding her newly acquired badge. After her battle with Wally, June and Avril had agreed to journey through Route 102 together. June needed to stop by her uncle's house to check in with Tetsuo before taking off. "That badge is proof of your growth as a trainer!"

"Thank you!" June blushes. "I really couldn't have gotten to this point without you."

"Just passin' down advice from one trainer to another." Tetsuo sets his game device on the desk, fully dedicating his attention to June. "Now then, ya gonna leave for Oldale soon?"

"... You mean Littledale, correct?"

"Err, yeah that. I'm not used to callin' it that." Tetsuo briefly sighs. "Hear that got a gym not that long ago. Ya gonna challenge 'em?"

June didn't have any knowledge of the Littledale gym. She simply planned on trekking there because it was the closest town that didn't have any obstructions. "I'm not opposed to that at all." Usually she finds herself saying these sorts of things to speed up the conversation, so it feels good to answer genuinely when asked about a gym challenge.

"Great! And since yer headed there, while you're at it I thought I'd let ya in on somethin'. You'll never believe who I just found lives in Old- Littledale now: apparently your Aunt Akira has been livin' there since mom passed!"

June's eyes widen in disbelief. She hadn't heard any information about her aunt since her grandma's funeral. "Are you certain?"

Tetsuo nods. "It's nice she lives so close. I'd visit her but…" His face grows pale as he abruptly shivers. "I, uhh, don't think she'll have much nice to say to me."

"I'll definitely have to visit in your place then. But I have to ask, what is she doing in Littledale?"

"According to her Facebook status- which she barely updates- she runs a farm now or somethin'. That's the most Akira thing she could do." Tetsuo chuckles. "Apparently she's married now too! Woulda been nice to get an invite to that, but whatever… who do ya think it is? Ya think she got hitched with, errr uhh, what was her boyfriend's name again?"

"Gino."

Tetsuo snaps his fingers. "Yeah yeah, that guy!"

"Either way, I'll be congratulating her when I arrive!"

"That guy always seemed kinda spineless, but if Akira is happy I'm happy." Tetsuo kicks his feet up and rests them on his desk. "I'm guessin' yer gonna some camping gear to get through 102?"

June nods. "I didn't bring my own, so I wanted to ask if I could borrow any you have stored."

"You don't even need to ask that!" A harty laugh is unleashed from his chest. "I'll go get it for ya in just a sec.

While she watches her uncle stretch his limbs before rising from his seat, June's anticipation for what's to come looks more and more exciting. Not only will she have an opportunity for growth against the next gym leader and will she get to visit a family member she hasn't seen in quite some time, hiking through Route 102 with Avril sounds like a pleasant way to travel. June happens to be a very experienced camper, and her uncle has enough camping equipment to support multiple people if Avril comes ill-prepared. With both those in place, nothing seems like it could possibly go wrong.

🐞 June's Party 🐞

[PokeCommunity.com] Hoenn: Square One [IC]

39,492

Spoiler:

Aquacorde · Apr 28, 2021

Marie Rachelle Mocinno

AGE: 17 ⟡ PRONOUNS: she/her ⟡ HOME REGION: Johto
DATE: Wednesday, September 23 ⟡ TIME: Afternoon
LOCATION: Petalburg City

Chapter 3 #05 - Persist

Wally, after a brief overview of Marie's team and current concerns, leads her to what looks like a baby playground with a shallow, bubbling fountain at its edge. "The gym isn't the best for training an Alolan Exeggutor. They can only stand fully in the main field. And you seem to have a handle on your Stunfisk, even if he's a troublemaker. So I think… let's try working with your Slowpoke."

Marie obliges. Pokie materialises on a soft foam triangle, which he gradually slides backwards down through no effort of his own.

Marie sighs. "He's cute," she reminds herself out loud. He's cute, and I picked him, and now I have to figure out what I'm doing with him.

"I'll leave the socialization and bonding to you," Wally says, crouching down to examine the pink creature. Pokie yawns as Wally pats him. "Those aspects of Pokémon training are always very personal. I could… I could probably give you advice? If you wanted? But I think, from what you said, you need to know more… um. Basics." The green-haired man winces at the word, darting eyes worried he's offended her. It does sting, every time she's reminded that she doesn't know enough, but Marie gives an uncomfortable half-shrug. He's not wrong, and he's taking time to help her, and she shouldn't get whiny about it while he's doing that. Even though she wants to.

Pokie's expression slowly morphs into something approaching joy. Wally clears his throat. "A- anyway, Slowpoke. They're, um, slow. As you've noticed. They take a while to process things and are very forgetful. You're going to have to be very sure and deliberate with your commands- ah, as in, you can't change your mind or tell him to do multiple things in a row, okay? Because he's going to get confused, or focus only on one- and there's no guarantee which one he'll choose. Of course, that's true for all Pokémon, but Slowpoke have a much slower turnaround on compensating for poor commands and that puts them in a vulnerable position in battle."

Marie nods along, not wanting to break the man's stride. Confidence comes in waves for him, apparently, rather like June. Lecturing on his chosen field certainly seems to help.

"This also means that you'll have to anticipate your opponent. Preemptive aiming is only the tip of the iceberg- you'll need to have a general idea of an opposing Pokémons strengths and weaknesses, their trainer's probable strategies, the techniques they're capable of and which of those they're likely to have on hand-"

Marie fails to suppress a rather dramatic groan. Wally stumbles over his next words and gives her a wide-eyed, nervous stare.

"I don't even know any moves," she grumbles. It's not Wally's fault, it really isn't- she chose not to go to a trainers' school, she chose not to study before coming out here, she chose to catch a Slowpoke. It's all her own doing, or her own undoing.

But that doesn't mean she's not going to complain about it.

Wally presses his lips together and furrows his brow for a moment as he pokes at Pokie's toes. He looks very young and it's all very cute.

My brain is a mess.

Less messy is Wally's response, once he has taken time to gather his thoughts and worked through a few false starts.

"Um, do you know what your PokéDex does?" Marie wiggles her hand in a "sort-of" gesture. "It can scan Pokémon and tell you what they are, of course, but that's not all it can do. Otherwise it would be practically useless to experienced trainers, right?" Pokie's brow furrows and he gives Wally's hand a shove. Wally nods and pulls away. "The 'dex shows you approximate power levels of anything you scan and lists all the moves the species learns naturally, with the ones it probably learned recently at the top of the list. It's still imprecise, but works well on wild Pokémon."

Pokie plods toward the fountain, apparently done with Wally for the moment. It's not very far, but he's not very quick. "What use is that when I'm going to be battling trainers all the time?"

"You never know when you'll find yourself in… a bad situation." A fleeting shadow of old memory passes across Wally's face and his right hand brushes against his left forearm. "You need to know what wild Pokémon can do. It would have- it will help. Trust me."

"But!" His gentle positivity returns as quickly as he stands. "Most trainers- especially around your level- are still working with natural movesets. So the 'dex works for you."

"What about, like, gym leaders? Gym leaders are way above my level." Pokie reaches the edge of the fountain and falls headfirst into the water. Marie's heart lurches before she remembers he's aquatic.

"The 'dex lists all the moves a Pokémon species can be taught, but it's a long list and a wild guess doesn't do much good. But there's no rule against having it out during a match- well, not in standard, and tournaments have varying rules- sorry, uh, well, Pokémon can only use six different techniques, right? You see it with your own Pokémon when you look them up- they're right at the top, because your 'dex syncs to the PokéBalls and knows what they can do. It does the same with others, but it has to scan to take in data because they're not synced- once your 'dex sees a Pokémon use a technique, it highlights the move and puts it at the top of the list for that specific 'mon. It's not always a hundred percent accurate, but it's way better than what we had!" Wally laughs. "Brendan and May and I- we just had rote memorization and a prayer. We'd have had a hard time if we went out there knowing nothing."

Marie visibly flinches at that. She came out here knowing nothing.

"Oh- did I say something wrong? I'm sorry!" Wally's hasty correction and pleading blue-gray eyes override Marie's uncomfortable desertion of eye contact.

"I, um. I don't know anything."

"Yeah, I can tell," Wally says, but Marie's instant bristling at the words themselves is soothed by his actual tone- good-humored and compassionate. She gives him a half-hearted glare anyway. "Er, I'm trying to tell you it's okay? The 'dex is a perfect travel encyclopedia now and you can use it just like you can use a textbook. Well, not just like it, but- it's information, it's lots of information, and you can learn on the go. So it's okay that you don't know anything! You just gotta start learning! The more you reference, the more it starts to stick in your brain, right? You already know your team's moves. It'll start to be like that with other stuff, too. It just takes… time and effort."

Marie hums, kneeling next to the fountain and dragging her hand through the water. "So I've been told."

They sit in silence for a moment. Pokie paddles over to engulf Marie's hand in his mouth, like he'd done to Edison. She prods his tongue until he lets go. "My friend told me some of this stuff. And my dad told me I had to work. I thought… I thought this would be easier?"

"Easier how?" Wally drags two foam squares over and offers her one, taking his own seat on the other. Marie obliges.

"Well… you learn the type chart, you get out there, and you go get some Pokémon, and you tell them what to do and they do it, and you win battles. I didn't think you had to know all this… other stuff."

"Other stuff, such as… knowing what moves do, and having a strategy of how to use them, and realizing your opponents also have these things in mind?" Wally deadpans, and it's the least professional she's seen him.

"Well, when you put it that way-!" Marie huffs.

Wally grins, a hint of weirdly familiar mischief peeking out. He may be the top gym trainer here, but I guess he's just a guy. "It's an attitude a lot of non-trainers have. Most of them don't go so far as to get up and actually do it, though."

"Does that make me rash, stupid, or brave?" Marie grumbles, letting her fingers trail along Pokie's back as he floats past.

"Maybe all of the above," Wally teases, but cuts off Marie's retort by holding up a delicate hand. "Not everyone has a smooth start. I knew a lot of facts and theories and had a lot of great ideas when I got started, but I also... made some poor choices, to say the least. If I had a kid, I wouldn't let them do what I did. But that's a little hypocritical, isn't it, because I don't think I would change a single part of my life."

Marie has no idea what he's talking about. Maybe it shows on her face, because Wally flushes slightly.

"I mean, uh. Everyone has their struggles? Everyone has to live with the choices they make. You have some work to do, and it's harder to do on the fly like this, but you have resources. And I think you have the ability and drive to power through this struggle."

Wally tugs at the cuffs of his shirt. "Uh, is that inspirational enough? Too inspirational? I can tone it down, but I really believe-"

Marie's laugh cuts him off. "No, it's good. Sounds like gym leader stuff, you know?"

Wally beams. "Oh- that's good. That's ideal."

Spoiler: Team

Spoiler: Inventory

Spoiler: Contacts

Eleanor · May 3, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000
(+ 5 000 from the Gym Reward;
- 1 000 for 2 Potions)

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 31
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Lucky Chant, Wish, Magical Leaf

🌼 Hydrangea (Shellos) -♀- lv. 27
Storm Drain
Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Recover, Rain Dance, Mud Sport, Hidden Power (?)

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 22
Infiltrator
Swagger, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 25
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Feint Attack, Sucker Punch, Iron Defense, Taunt, Baton Pass

AVRIL'S INVENTORY:
🌼 2 Empty Pokéballs
🌼 2 Potions
🌼 Eviolite
🌼 Silk Scarf
🌼 TM for Ally Switch

🌼 Holotch (phone version)
🌼 Fanclub Membership card - valid until October 17^th
🌼 Various clothes and commodities

AVRIL'S CONTACTS:
Jordie, Shuna, Natsuko, June, Marcella, Hikaru

AVRIL'S BADGES AND RIBBONS:
🥊 ➕

🎀• 1

🌼 Character art made with [SPAN="color:rgb(40,180,40);"]https://picrew.me/image_maker/94097[/SPAN]

The ~~Dillinger~~ Escape Plan

Friday, September 25^th - about 10 a.m. - Petalburg Pokémon Center

Her body lies still on the bed and her mind wanders.

Oldale-Littleroot is not a boat trip away this time. Avril has to walk there, and that will take way more than just a couple of hours. No Pokémon centers in between, either: just some patches of farmland, ponds, and sparse buildings. Once she arrives, she will be greeted by a new town to explore, a Gym, and probably more amenities that she still doesn't know about.

That's good though. Until then, Avril has at the least two days to wind down and rest her mind. No rush. And oh, what a lovely prospect! Two days of calmly strolling onto Route 102 with June besides her, taking care of her Pokémon and dealing with all the issues that may arise. And processing Norman's stern but uplifting advice, which she received after Venus seized that darn badge and put it in her sweaty palms.

One last detail, too. Kimberly is staying in Petalburg, most likely. It's definitely time to leave her in the past.

Still not fully recovered from the battle against Wally, but excited enough to continue her journey, the girl finally stands up again. She gets into a better outfit for the task, meticulously packing everything else up inside her bag and trying to create some more free space for the food and equipment she's going to need… it's not that much anyway.

With an enthusiastic Poppy coming out from under her berry print bandana, Avril waves goodbye to her Petalburg City room and heads straight towards the Market area, getting two Potions to heal her Pokémon if the need arises. She's already planned to rely mostly on her own teammates' moves like Wish or Recover to heal them, but having some more remedies doesn't hurt.

The next stop is the Cafè downstairs, looking for some food to carry along for this journey. Pokémon treats, a few sandwiches, water, fresh fruit - all going either into the small nooks and crannies of the girl's rolling backpack, or into her cloth bag, which acts as a valuable tool to distribute all those travel items.

After that, all she needs to do is move over to the Equipmemt counter and rent some equipment of her own, just in case, like June sugges-

"No I'm not battling."

A Zigzagoon quickly skittles through the hall, approaching the Kalosian girl and twitching its nose, much like Lillipup often do.

"I said I'm not battling now."

The Zigzagoon happens to be the Galarian kind. Of course, the connection is just asking to be made.

"Je ne vais pas te combattre!"

Zigzagoon doesn't act hostile, but a bit rowdy it is regardless. It tries to get on its hind legs and get taller, while intently staring at Avril's bandana.

"Kimberly? I'm not…"

Ok, where is she? In another hall of the building maybe? Sitting right outside the door with that smug grin of hers? In any case, this Zigzagoon is not a good sign.

Avril still reaches for the counter, trying not to step on the small Pokémon quickly circling around her… or have it collide with her rolling bag, either. One of her ears barely feels a worried boy's voice saying things like "c'mere" as she tries to explain to the attendant what she's there for - getting a small tent of course - before something cold and wet makes her leg move sideways, almost instinctively.

"Stop it!"

The Zigzagoon is knocked back a fair bit by the girl's defense kick and its annoyed barks quickly give way to that male voice. "Oh I… I'm sorry if my Pokémon caused you trouble, miss… I only caught it yesterday…" The boy nervously laughs. "I am Robin, nice to meet you!"

Avril barely hears the boy's name though. In fact, she barely remembers how he looks. After staring at him, dumbfounded, for just a couple of seconds, she runs out of the Pokémon Center without looking back, pulling her bag along. "I am not doing this again."

Embyr · May 3, 2021

Name: Kira Wolf || Day: Wendsday, September 23 || Time: Afternoon
Location: Petalburg City

Family Reunion

"Damn it, I should have called tomorrow." Kira muttered under her breath as she walked down the streets of Petalburg, thumbing across the map of the city bored as she went. I only got a couple hours left before the Gym closes, I'm gonna miss my chance today if this takes too long…"

With an annoyed sigh Kira glanced between her Holotch and the street. It seemed to be a lower income area of the city, many of the buildings clearly showing their weatherworn age. Searching for an address was rather annoying as many of the homes either didn't seem to have numbers, or they wore out into faded white squares a long time ago. "Geez, where the hell is dad sending me anyway?"

After several minutes of walking she finally arrived at her destination. A small duplex, a bit newer looking than the rest of the buildings in the area. With a heavy breath Kira mustered the courage to step forward and knock on side B's door.

After a moment a young, tanned woman, slightly taller than Kira with dark brown hair answered the door. Folding her arms across her chest she gave Kira a curious look. "What's up?" the woman asked nonchalantly.

"Y- Yeah, I was told to stop by here." Kira explained with a bit of a stutter, not sure what to say. "You should have gotten a call from da… Phillip Wolf saying I was gonna stop by."

"Right, he did mention something like that earlier didn't he? Hey Arron, the door is for you!" the women called out behind her.

"Wait… Aaron?" Kira wondered out loud as she tried to get a view past the woman at the door. From another room emerged a young man, a bit taller than the both of them, with mahogany red hair and a collared shirt.

Kira's eyes shot wide open as she saw Aaron "No way!". Pushing past the woman at the door, she charged at him and tightly hugged him around the neck."Aaron!" she exclaimed, happily hanging from his shoulders like a heavy apron.

Aaron stumbled back a bit as Kira tackled him. "Kira? No way… I almost didn't recognize you!" He remarked, returning Kira's hug.

"Wait why?" Kira began, giving Aaron a confused look. "Oh! The hair! Yeah, got it cut short pretty much first thing when I finally got away from mom." she quickly explained, giving it a small flip. "What about you though? This has to be one of the last places I expected to see you!"

"Not the only thing but it certainly helped, it suits you though!" Aaron replied, letting Kira drop to the floor. "As for being here, To put it as simply as possible I left for college not too long after you were sent away. We both joined the field research program and when it was time to start our internships we chose Hoenn so Marie here could be close to family." He explained, walking over to the woman still near the door.

Kira looked between the two of them as Aaron wrapped his arm around her shoulder, smiling. "Wait, so that means you two are?"

Smiling, the woman held out her hand towards Kira. "My name is Marie, I'm your brother's fiancé."

Kira gave a shocked look at the word fiancé, quickly yet shakilly accepting Marie's handshake. "C-Congratulations! Sorry, I didn't know… ya know when you answered the door…" Kira barely stammered out, still processing the information.

"It's fine, It's fine!" Marie assured before turning to Aaron. "Though I would have appreciated a bit of a warning before you had family over."

"So would have I" Kira and Aaron both said in unison. As both of them gave a surprised look after hearing the other, they stared at each other quietly in disbelief. Eventually, Kira broke the silence. "Dad didn't tell you either!?"

"No! He just said it was some friend!" Aaron replied with an annoyed sigh. "Kira, I promise I'm happy to see you, but I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure, whats up?" Kira asked

"I need you to keep that we're living together a secret from Mom and Dad. I told them about the proposal and… Well you know how mom gets." Aaron explained in a rather sheepish tone.

"Do I ever…" Kira remarked, rolling her eyes. "You think that's why dad didn't tell either of us? He expects me to tell him what's going on?

"Possibly, but I think this is just one of his surprises. As I said, Marie's family is close so he really doesn't have a reason to think we're living together."

"Right, Well I won't say anything. Don't really have any intention of being a rat."

"Alright, good…" Aaron said with a relieved sigh before turning to Marie. "You mind if she stays the night while she's in town?"

"Sure, I don't mind. The couch isn't the comfiest thing in the world though." She said with a shrug.

"Can't be much worse than the center, thank you very much." Kira said with a small bow. "I plan to be in town for a couple of days, or however long it takes me to get the camping supplies."

"Right, well if you'd like to come out to the field with us tomorrow I can get you set up. Dad wired me some money earlier so I've got you covered."

"Right! Sounds like a plan!"

Spoiler:

budube · May 3, 2021

Jordie "Jo" Hughes

Monday, September 21st

Chapter 2: Part 4 - The Playground

00:25 am to 00:30 am - S.S. Cactus
Jordie catches up with Hui after catching Maroon. The tour is almost over by then, so it isn't too much until they have to go back to the boat.

"I overheard something interesting while you were looking for pokémon… for you, at least." Hui says while the rest of the passengers get in. "Are you familiar with Mega Evolution?"

Jordie locks their eyes on him for a moment. It's something they heard about while they were still in trainer school, and they have seen it live at least once during the Pokémon World Tournament. For what they understand, it's a temporary evolution; it lasts around the same time of a single battle, but they can't say they ever experienced it.

"Just a bit," they finally answer. "I know it's a temporary stone evolution, but that's about it."

"That's basically it. Although, contrary to normal stone evolutions, these don't trigger from direct contact with the mega stone only, you need a key stone for it. key stones are colorful stones that act like, well, a key that triggers mega evolution," Hui says. "To get to the point, there's a cave here in Dewford called Granite Cave. Apparently, a very loud couple was seen exploring the place and they say they found those key stones deep in the cave. I don't know, maybe you'd want to explore the place for yourself and find out."

"That's…" Disappointing. Jordie expected to battle the gym leader tomorrow morning and then head to Petalburg before evening, but it seems the wait will have to be a bit longer. However, it's not necessary to mention once again that Jordie sees every trainer as a potential rival. It's highly probable that another contender for the title of Champion already found a key stone of their own, which means they are already being left behind, and that can't happen. Jordie is really grateful to Hui for telling them that, but it's still frustrating having to rearrange their schedule for one single thing. Plus don't forget Hui's brother is a trainer too, and he'll probably appear in Granite Cave tomorrow as well. Jordie has to be ready. "Amazing. Thank you."

06:00 am to 06:30 am - Dewford Town
Jordie didn't sleep last night. Instead, they remained awake reading various articles regarding Mega Evolution, just to be more informed about what they are going to get into, after all, the amount of knowledge they have about Mega Evolution is but a really summarized understanding of the concept.

The first bit of information is about Mega Evolution itself. What they gathered about that is no different than what they already knew: It's a temporary stone evolution. There's something else though, that Hui didn't mention either, and is that in order to trigger Mega Evolution, a strong bond between the trainer and the pokémon is necessary.

Secondly it's on mega stones and key stones. The pokémon must be holding the mega stone during battle while the trainer holds the key stone on specialized items (rings, bracelets, pendants, it doesn't matter). Before Mega Evolution, the key stone reacts to a signal sent by the mega stone; that reaction is what causes Mega Evolution. There's about 47 discovered mega stones, sadly there's none for Reuniclus.

Finally, the most important thing: Mega Evolution rules during official battles. To summarize: Any known pokémon can mega evolve during battle, but a trainer must only evolve one for balance sake. This last part was added due to cases of trainers being able to mega evolve more than one pokémon; something rare, since Mega Evolution is supposedly physically taxing. Definitely an interesting talent that is not worth the trouble.

That's more than enough information for Jordie to have a good idea of what they are going to deal with, but there's something else they gotta do first.

A quick scroll through the Hoenn Ranger Database takes them to the pokémon available for catching in Dewford Town. Jordie reckons it would be wise to pick at least one of these before heading to Granite Cave. To be honest, they don't do well in the dark, so a little extra help isn't a bad idea.

First of all there's Pyukumuku, decent pokémon but doesn't do good offensively. That is not something bad, but Jordie prefers having versatility on their team, so unless nothing else looks promising for them, they'll consider.

Secondly is Clobbopus. Not a species Jordie knows too much about. They already encountered one of those before, but things didn't turn out well… for the pokémon. They haven't changed their mind about it, probably won't.

Then there's Wimpod. According to a certain trainer magazine they read on the ferry, Wimpod is in one of the first ranks of weakest existing pokémon. It's not only frail, but also a natural coward. It's unbelievably high speed makes it hard to catch because it flees as soon as it senses the slightest danger coming at it. It really is a pokémon not worth the trouble of catching… unless you plan on evolving it, and there's the funny thing: That same magazine had another column. It was specialized in Pokémon Tops directed at trainers with specific strategies and coincidentally, in the number Jordie read, said top was about Trick Room. Wimpod's evolution was on that top. What makes this pokémon attractive is the move First Impression. Strong and fast bug-type move, capable of launching a surprise attack… once. It may not sound like much, but it's really good to give an opening to Trick Room setters while Trick Room is disabled in a double battle, and with Gabby's main weakness being dark-type pokémon, there's nothing better than it.

Jordie has to make preparations to catch this Wimpod. Of course, they will use the scan feature from the Hoenn Ranger Database, but that doesn't even guarantee a battle. They have to find an approach in which that Wimpod doesn't escape.

Jordie made some estimations already; with the scanner they will find a Wimpod in less than 30 minutes, and from that point onwards it'll take a bit more than two hours (yet no more than three) to find their keystone. If those calculations are correct, then Jordie can most definitely battle Brawly today if they skip their workout. It's not like Jordie to skip their routine two days in a row, but for this, they will make an exception, Granite Cave will most likely be a workout anyways and they want to stay in Dewford as little as possible, so the sooner they can find a Wimpod the better.

The scanner takes Jordie to a playground a few minutes away from the Pokémon Center. The playground structures stand over a piece of sandy terrain and they are big, also made mostly out of wood. Of course, it's still pretty early, so the playground is empty, except for a few Clobbopus that seem to have claimed the place for their own. Not that Jordie has paid any attention to them, it's not like they have a reason to do so.

The scanner hasn't told Jordie where the pokémon is hiding yet. In the least favorable of cases, the pokémon is hiding under the structures, which would make it difficult, yet still possible to take out. However, they know they are close to its hiding spot, which is enough to set their plan in motion.

If the main problem is the pokémon's capability to flee, then taking care of its speed is enough to ensure it's caught. As soon as Jordie nods, Gabby makes sure to put her Trick Room to work. Jordie then takes Maroon outside their pokéball and instructs them to coil around the playground's tube slide and one of the supports of the main structure.

All of this is done while the scanner still shows the pokémon being nearby. With that done, the pokémon can be found easily by following the signal with no danger of it escaping. While Neon is the most suited for this part of the job, Jordie believes that too many pokémon could play against their strategy, so they decide to do it themselves instead.

"Found it!" Jordie exclaims after walking around the playground for a few seconds. It was, as they thought before, under the very structure. They close the scanner and kneel before a pair of antennae sticking out of the sand, holding a small bag of pokémon food on one hand. "Gabby, Maroon, are you ready? This shouldn't be too hard."

Using their free hand, they start slowly digging the pokémon out until it comes out to look at them. At first, the pokémon looks scared, but as soon as it sees the food on Jordie's hand it starts following them. The trainer drops small bits of the food while walking backwards, ensuring the pokémon follows them, ultimately taking it from under the playground.

Believing it had gained enough confidence with them, Jordie kneels once again, but the pokémon backs off, so Jordie keeps dropping the food.

It doesn't look like Jordie will have any luck just waiting for the Wimpod to come with them all of a sudden, so they got to start their plan as soon as possible. While the pokémon is distracted, Jordie signals Gabby to use a Psybeam from where she has been waiting from. The attack lands directly against the wild Wimpod, who takes its time to react properly and struggles to move from its spot. Just as it comes back to its senses, it starts digging to escape, but a pair of Maroon's tentacles wrap around it before it can even try to escape.

"Good job, Maroon! Gabby, let's try a weaker attack. Hidden Power!"

The Solosis glows with a pale green energy around her bubble while she charges a small beam which is blasted directly at the Wimpod, almost hitting Maroon's tentacles holding it.

Jordie grabs one of their pokéballs and throws it at the already weak enough Wimpod, but before it hits its target, they hear the sound of something hitting the playground structure and a cloud of dust rises from the spot the Wimpod is at. Jordie feels something getting past them at full speed and gets to see the red seaweed going after them, but being stopped by its own reach. It all happens so quickly, that the trainer is completely confused about what it is. For a moment there, Jordie thinks the Wimpod escaped; however, the moment they hear the clicking sound of their dusk ball going shut, they sigh in relief.

Once the dust dissipates, Jordie goes to pick up their dusk ball, PokéDex in hand. They realize the Clobbopus had stopped playing and are now looking at them from above. What they don't realize is the preoccupied expression in Gabby's eyes.

"Recently caught… W-what…? No. That didn't happen." Jordie quickly drops their PokéDex and picks up their dusk ball to look inside of it, reproducing on their mind what had happened just now, and…

"Boo!" The pokémon screams with excitement as the green sparks from its new dusk ball float upwards. The Clobbopus from the playground start cheering for their friend together with Maroon while Gabby goes to her trainer's side.

"Argh, you…!" Jordie yells. "You are the same Clobbopus from…!"

"Boo!" the shiny Clobbopus turns around and runs to hug its new trainer swinging its arms.

"Maroon, what are you cheering for? You were supposed to hold onto that Wimpod!" Maroon stops clapping and holds their tentacles up trying to tell Jordie something like 'Hey, it's not my fault!' "Don't tell me this guy attacked it to activate its ability? When did that happen!? Was it because of Trick Room that I didn't realize…? Shit. My own strategy played against me! This is all my fault!"

Gabby grew to level 24!
Gabby forgot Charm and learned Reflect!

Jordie accidentaly caught a Clobbopus!

Male - Lvl. 10 - Limber - Leer / Rock Smash / Feint / Bind

Jordie's Party:

Inventory:

Spoiler:

budube · May 5, 2021

Miranda Lockhart

Saturday, September 19th

Chapter 2: Part 4 - Cave Tours

15:30 to 17:00 - Granite Cave
This whole thing about asshole trainers took me back to the time I met Mankey. He wasn't abandoned by one (not that I'm aware at least), but he was a stray pokémon when we met.

This happened when I was like seven years old (before I even considered becoming a trainer), so I can't remember the whole details. I do remember Mankey used to steal food from the hotel's kitchen and at times look for it in the trash.

Of course I knew about some violent stray pokémon living behind the place my dad worked at, but I didn't care about it until I overheard staff talking about kicking it out and decided to look for myself for curiosity's sake… or that's what I thought then.

I went behind the hotel one morning and when I got there, the asshole jumped at me out of nowhere and bit my arm so I ran away. I remember I cried when that happened, not because it hurt, but because I was surprised. I didn't know that piece of shit had fangs that sharp. I still have the mark from that time.

Dad found out that I tried to see that pokémon and of course he didn't say anything about it, Mankey wouldn't be with me if that had been the case. He told me that if I wanted to "save" him I should approach him in a different way, and that's when he gave me an apple. He's been with me since.

What is strange about this is that I never thought I ever wanted to save Mankey from anything. I always thought about him as another pyritean more who just happened to live in the worst part of the region. However, after I talked to Nora about the people from Pyrite, I realized that I hate them and want to grow as a trainer somewhere else. Maybe when I found out Mankey could be kicked out, I felt a similar kind of anger... Or I'm probably getting confused over stupid shit, because as I said, this happened seven years ago.

Regardless, I don't think I would've taken this decision if I didn't have Mankey; he's not just some random pokémon I managed to catch, after all. We've been together for half of my life.

Nora gave me some interesting information: There's a cave here, in which I can get evolutionary stones (you know, like the ones used for Vulpix or Exeggcute) if I go through some tour given by Pokémon Rangers. She said it would be a good opportunity for a trainer like me.

I decided to take a look at this tour, because with Maritza being in who-the-fuck-knows-where, I don't have anything else to do for what's left of the day and I'm leaving tomorrow. Even if I end up not using what I get, I can trade it for something interesting or sell it for a good price; these things aren't really common after all.

I try following Nora's advice about keeping my pokémon inside their pokéballs, and as I thought, it's not possible. The only one with no trouble with that is Sandygast, the other two are a whole different thing, and while I don't mind if Pyukumuku stays on my shoulder as long as she doesn't feel the need to punch someone, Mankey acts like a fucking five year old! He is constantly stopping on his track to look directly at some shitty lamp hanging from the wall.

It happens with every light and with TV screens, actually. I remember when they said The Under would be reopened and we sneaked there to see what was going on, and he ran off to the lamps the workers were using then and they kicked us out. It didn't matter then because the project had just started and there was nowhere to get lost at, but this is a whole ass cave! It's a completely different story!

Walking here is completely uncomfortable, too. Not only is the path a bit too narrow for me, but there's this bald asshole with sunglasses a few feet away from me, walking really slow while talking to himself. And yes, I said he is wearing sunglasses INSIDE A GODDAMN CAVE! WHY WOULD YOU GO TO A CAVE TOUR WITH SUNGLASSES JUST TO TALK TO YOURSELF!? IT'S NOT LIKE PEOPLE WON'T BE DISTRACTED BY WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WON'T TRIP AND FUCK YOURSELF UP BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE SHIT OF WHERE YOU ARE WALKING THROUGH, EITHER! THE LAMPS DON'T ILLUMINATE THE ENTIRE CAVE, JUST ENOUGH FOR PEOPLE WITHOUT SUNGLASSES TO WALK COMFORTABLY!

Whatever, fuck this guy. Fuck this tour too while you're at it, it's boring as shit.

Can't I just take my stone and leave? I don't even know if I'm going to use that thing to begin with.

Do you know what would be great? If they just sold the stones outside the cave as souvenirs or some shit. Sure, I would be wasting the money I just started making, but it's better than wasting my time with this fucking piece of shit instead!

"Thank you all for coming to our Granite Cave tour for today!" the Ranger in charge finally says once we reach a dead end, taking off his bag. "Hope you found it interesting. Now, in this bag I keep evolutionary stones and eviolites. As a souvenir from joining us today each of you will be allowed to pick one of these. I'll start delivering them from the ones closer to me."

You mean they were inside his bag the whole time? I could've just had Mankey steal one of them and leave! I just wasted my time for no reason!

Anyways, I picked a sun stone. I just thought it was the coolest one. Imagine showering your pokémon with the power of the sun to unleash its true power like Superman! It sounds awesome.

For our way back to the first floor of the cave I decided to stay behind everyone. It's way more quiet and nice here because there's no one talking to themselves and I have no trouble with delaying everyone else when Mankey stops to look at some lamp.

It's all going perfectly fine until the ground starts shaking. It's not a strong earthquake, but it's a long lasting one.

Once the ground starts shaking, my mind firstly thinks about Mankey. He is afraid of earthquakes, even the weakest ones, and he goes crazy whenever there's one. Almost immediately after the earthquake happens, I feel him scratching my right arm. I drop my bat to hold my arm while cursing at him for that and when I pick it up again, I see Pyukumuku has jumped off my shoulder and she's looking at one of the gates that go deeper into the cave and that's when I realize Mankey is gone.

"Don't worry, everyone. The cave isn't falling apart. Earthquakes like these are normal, they are often caused by pokémon fighting each other," the Ranger says with everyone about to shit their pants because that won't calm down anyone. What the fuck? "... these caves are commonly dug by the very pokémon living here, so it's…"

I don't listen to whatever he said afterwards, because I go to look for Mankey. It doesn't seem like anyone realized I left either, because I would have a Ranger following behind me if that was the case.

I let Sandygast outside his pokéball and then make my way inside the cave. Mankey shouldn't have gone too far, so finding him can't be too hard. I use the flashlight on my P★DA to illuminate the path (that useless piece of scrap should work for something at the very least), if anything, Mankey would come running here once he notices it… I just realized how dangerous that can be. I don't think I'm ready to face whatever comes at me here, Nora also told me the wild pokémon on these floors can be, well, wild, but I'm not leaving this place without Mankey.

Current Party:

Inventory

Spoiler:

Eleanor · May 11, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 31
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Lucky Chant, Wish, Magical Leaf

🌼 Hydrangea (Shellos) -♀- lv. 27
Storm Drain
Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Recover, Rain Dance, Mud Sport, Hidden Power (?)

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 22
Infiltrator
Swagger, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 25
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Feint Attack, Sucker Punch, Iron Defense, Taunt, Baton Pass

AVRIL'S INVENTORY:
🌼 2 Empty Pokéballs
🌼 2 Potions
🌼 Eviolite
🌼 Silk Scarf
🌼 TM for Ally Switch

🌼 Holotch (phone version)
🌼 Fanclub Membership card - valid until October 17^th
🌼 Various clothes and commodities

AVRIL'S CONTACTS:
Jordie, Shuna, Natsuko, June, Marcella, Hikaru

AVRIL'S BADGES AND RIBBONS:
🥊 ➕

🎀• 1

🌼 Character art made with [SPAN="color:rgb(40,180,40);"]https://picrew.me/image_maker/94097[/SPAN]

Lunchtime thoughts

Friday, September 25^th - about 12 p.m. - Route 102, west

I don't really like how Avril is acting right now. She's seen better days… and I can tell even by how she walks unsteadily down this path. The backpack, which she's now wearing on her shoulders, might be the one to blame for this, but I suspect there's more to this uncomfortable ride.

But Avril has received her badge! Her second badge! I fought to the best of my abilities and, even if I was overpowered in the end, I still think I pulled off a Wish to help out whoever came out next. I wonder who that was? I owe her… or him, if it was Wispy!

Speaking of which, it's time for lunch finally, and my girl still has pulled up a banquet even in such a difficult situation! Fresh berry slices of all kinds, some nice Pokémon food for the others, and a nice baguette filled with many different veggies. Avril's munching on it very slowly, with that sad face and red cheeks (more than usual at least), but hey, it's good food! That's something to be happy about, right?

Aw, I love this foooooooood!

I'm getting annoyed now, big girl. My patience is vast and my tenacity is proverbial, but my ego is just as worthy of mention. Ever since you promised me that you would help me find that stone, I've been doing what you told me, fighting tooth and nail for you to the best of my already grandiose abilities. I've endured the scorching sunlight and the dreadful surprise of being suddenly far away from home, in a place I'd never seen before and, more importantly, I've endured the relentless attacks of those two Pokémon. I beat them both for you anyways, knowing that my path has been hopelessly drawn, but…

Avril? I think that's your name, Avril. Well, why do you act like this now? Did you catch me by mistake? Do you not see my struggles, or are you outright fooling me, thinking I'd be just a puppet? I have to give you this - the food you've given me was not as bad as I expected, even if nothing can replace some fresh Aron: but the more we travel together, the more this feels like a bribe. I'm an expert in bribery, so you won't be fooling me this way.

Actually, though… the little girl flying over my head. How'd you call her? Poppy? She's much better than you. I felt her warm presence falling on me and reinvigorating my spirit, back when I was fighting. She's a warrior… and still. What does she see in you? Why is she always by your side, Avril? Who's being shackled by who?

Those of my kind play mind games all the time. We're solitary for a reason. And when we're not alone, these thoughts always find a way to get to us. I'm keeping my eyes on you all, and my mouths too.

The beach was a bad place for me because even if food was great, addicting almost, there were no rules. Fighting over it was common practice and I'd lose way too often. Shellos may look cute and innocent, and people might come towards us as if we're not a big deal, but I'm the first to admit that's a misguided belief.

And yet… sometimes I miss that place. I feel spoiled with Avril, because she's always ready to give me all the food I want without really putting up much of a fight… and yet, those battles, that bickering for food, it makes me feel as if I won it, I earned it. Would I be a stronger Shellos if I stayed there on the beach and kept fighting for survival? Probably…

But I wouldn't be this happy. I think. Weeeeeeell, whatever, all that matters is that I'm getting some amazing food.

Wispy (because Wisteria is too long) looks happy and carefree as usual, floating around like me. He doesn't look like someone who's just been to a Gym battle, I don't think… which is one more reason to tell him everything when I can! Angie is just munching on her own food as usual, without a care in the world. Just like my girl, but without any hint of sadness.

AAAAAA I can jump and spin on these… uh what are they? They look like weird railings but they're all wonky and up in the air! But who cares… yayyyyyyyyyy!

Venus is looking at me though. Even if I fly around the place, she seems to keep an eye on me at all times. She has that usual pout that's like… half way between funny and actually scary, haha! I start from her then, and ask her if she was indeed the second Pokémon Avril used - she grinds her teeth, but nods affirmatively.

Of course it was me, Poppy. I don't think the others could've pulled it off - certainly not the flying squishy thing, but maybe not even the grounded squishy thing. That was a hard battle, truly. But I'm happy to do it if it means getting that stone back. Ever since I touched it, even if it was for just a second, I felt something weird. Well I surely felt weak, I felt prey of some unexpected feeling or obsession, but I felt good too, knowing that the stone was nearby. Was…

Avril has tried to teach me just one important thing in these situations: look around at the other Pokémon and see how hungry they look. And I do that nearly every time now, before asking for more food. What do I see though? Just Poppy and Venus having a chat or something, standing close to each other, and then… of course, Wisteria just flying around the place playfully. He never stops uh?

But that doesn't matter- what matters is that looks good enough for me to ask for more food. I crawl up towards my trainer with pleading eyes, and…

What do you mean with "We have a long way to go?"

You're not even telling me "Wait for the other Pokémon or such", you're outright telling me that you didn't bring enough food? That's never really happened… plus, you look unusually upset by this. I may not be the most courteous Pokémon there is but hey, you should be glad I'm not jumping on you and robbing you of your own food, right? Please, just… a bit more stuff. Just a few berries will be fine. I'm a hungry Shellos and I want to grow up strong and healthy. For you of course.

Angie, Angie… not again. I'll have to stop you right there. Avril is not in a good mood right now and apparently, we have two more days to go before we can find another Pokémon Center with all the food you want- I was out here this whole time, hiding in Avril's hair, I know what's up. And if you don't stop… oh, this time I'm actually warning you.

"Hey Angie, please back off. She's not doing too well."

Flying is so fun- wait, what is happening? Are we playing a new game? I'm coming in too!

Ohoho, this sounds familiar. You may be right, Poppy, but I can't go down without a fight, can I? Just a quick, mockup battle. You fight for Avril, I fight for my stomach. Come at me! My Hidden Power is read-

You love to see it, Pokémon children squabbling for nothing. Meanwhile I'm just here looking for a shady spot, where my eyes can rest. Doesn't help that I have to move a couple steps every time, with the sunlight filtering from the tree leaves. I have some heavy thinking to take care of and I'd rather not be dist- Oh.

Hi lovely Pokémon fri-

I was about to get my Fairy Wind ready, but it fired off into the nothing. Oh well… it's all Avril's fault, who quickly called in all of the other Pokémon and stood up before packing everything up again. I hear her sigh, and mumbling to herself - she does seem concerned about how much food we still have at our disposal, but also about how we're going to sleep tonight. As I jump over her head, she's checking her holotch, going quickly through the Contact list before starting to walk again.

Yet another seemingly nice moment that she interrupted very quickly. I would've been perfectly fine with a practice battle with Angie, and if she wanted to go there I was ready to give her what she wanted. But… who knows what's going through my girl's head now… well usually, I can figure it out, but not now.

WizardOfOdd · May 11, 2021

Sophie
Location: Fanclub Beach House, Dewford Town
Pokemon at hand :

Friday, September 25th

Chapter 3 - 8
A Test Of Will
Part 1

"Grrr! Grrrr!"

That voice woke me up from my slumber.

As I slowly opened my eyes, I was greeted by a weird sensation accompanied by a weird voice. It was almost like… Something was tugging at my clothes…

I quickly rubbed my eyes while turning my head towards what I thought was the source of the force. Apparently, it was not my clothes that were being tugged, it was the blanket I wrapped around my body that was being tugged. And for the voice itself? I quickly realized the familiar voice came from below me. It came from Stolz who was biting one end of the blanket.

"Stop it, you're going to ruin the blanket…" I weakly voiced my complaint at Stolz who was desperately trying to drag me out from the bed.

I gently patted Stolz to calm him down, but it didn't work, Stolz kept urging me to hurry. So I walked half-heartedly to the bathroom.

Inside, I couldn't help but stare at the mirror while washing my face. I could barely smile, to be honest… It was not a day I was looking forward to, or more like I just… Semi-optimistic? 40% optimistic, 60% pessimistic? Ah well, anyway, I was afraid that I would only embarrass myself if I fought Brawly now… But, I just…

"Why do you have to be so enthusiastic…" I softly mumbled while peeking on Stolz who appeared to do some sort of movement, it's almost like he was fighting an opponent… But of course, he was only there alone, well Aurora was also there, but she seemed to be content with continuing her beauty sleep.

Resigned to my fate, I prepared myself as soon as possible. I even had to skip breakfast all thanks to him... And all I got for that was the gym door still tightly shut. And of course, it would be tightly shut because it was still very early in the morning. I mean who in their right mind would challenge the gym at the break of dawn!?

"See, I told you it's not open yet! Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

Stolz sulked, it wanted to battle as soon as possible. And at that point, I was trying my best to hold back the urge to pull my hair in frustration. I took deep breaths while mumbling about how anger wouldn't solve this to pacify my own anger.

"Good morning, anything I can help you with, dude?"

Wait, is there another trainer challenging the gym this early?

I looked left and right but only managed to find the source of the voice. All I saw was an old surfer dude? I wasn't even sure about it, but the surfboard he carried and his clothes seemed to validate my guess. But surely he wasn't talking to some plants or some person that's not even—

The man chuckled. "Where are you looking at, of course, I'm talking to you, dude."

Ah, of course. I absolutely thought that he was talking to me, who was the only person. I-I didn't think that he was talking to someone else, nope, haha… Ehem, anyway, to hide my embarrassment I asked about the gym.

"Oh no, no… It's nothing much. But if I may be allowed to ask… When does the gym open?"

"Why should I forbid you to ask a question." The man chuckled once more. "About your question, the answer is whenever the Gym Leader is available. But I think he isn't in the building yet at this time."

"Oh, I see…"

"Want to have a quick battle with me?"

"U-Uh, excuse me?"

The out of left field question caught me off-guard. However, I already knew the answer I was going to give to the man. And it was obviously a no.

Nothing personal, but considering I doubted that I and my Pokemon could beat Brawly with full energy, what would be the result if my Pokemon had an energy-draining battle beforehand? That would lead to a disaster, right?

And so I tried my best to swiftly arrange a polite sentence to turn his kind offer down. But of course, the reality wasn't as kind to me… Again.

Stolz started to jump several times in excitement, which caused me to grimace in horror.

"Ahaha, I guess this little guy right here can't wait to have a battle. Also, don't worry, I'll try and help you to prepare for the gym battle. You can heal your Pokemon after this and then battle him afterward, that sounds good?"

Seeing my expression was being read so easily, at that point I didn't have much leverage to refuse his offer. And without Callie here, I guessed that perhaps this stranger could help me however small it was.

"Well if I'm not bothering you, I'd be happy to." I bowed politely at him.

"Haha, it's great to hear. Let's get right into it then.

The man actually managed to find a referee that agreed to help us pretty quickly, but there was something strange about the surfer man. For some reason, he had the key to the gym? Perhaps he was the caretaker of the gym, and if so, no wonder he offered me the chance to learn. Maybe he already watched so much of Brawly's fight that he understood the best way to help trainers understand what they should do when they fight Brawly. But again, that was just my theory.

I could only hope that this could be a good learning experience for both me and my Pokemon. Because otherwise? No, I shouldn't think negatively. I'm sure everything would be fine... Hopefully.

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WizardOfOdd · May 12, 2021

Arthur Weissmann
Location: Petalburg Forest Outskirts
Pokemon at hand :

Thursday, September 24th

Chapter 3 - 8
Turning Point
Part 5

"Okay, so… Two Zigzagoons here…"

I mumbled while jotting down the details of the area I was scouring on a wooden clipboard on my left hand. It was early morning, the time where a calming breeze would soothe your soul as you walked outside. Yet, all I felt at the time was annoyance thanks to the floating yellow substance that was polluting the air.

This was a natural thing to happen though, after all, at the time I walked around the outskirts, it was currently Shroomish's breeding season.

Walking around the outskirts of Petalburg Forest wasn't something I was planning on doing in the first place. to be honest, I didn't know what to do other than doing the daily grind as always thanks to the gym not accepting any challengers for the day. If it wasn't for the Ranger who stepped in the Pokemon Center earlier this morning, I wouldn't even consider stepping a single foot in this area. With Hunter joining the party yesterday, It just didn't feel right for me to scour the area for another member to add towards the party so soon.

Yet I couldn't help but have my ears perking up as soon as the Ranger told him that I could see the amenities of the Ranger station with my own eyes. It was quite a tempting offer, considering I've only seen the cutting-edge technology they employed through TV shows. I couldn't pass the rare opportunity to do so.

Obviously, at the time, I didn't have any idea about the abundance of spore clouds in the area and so with a gleeful tone in my voice, I asked Vincent on whether he wanted to join me.

To my surprise, Vincent let out a chuckle, and as he smiled widely. "Do I need to buy a pram too? I'm not being paid enough to act as a babysitter, you know?" He later clarified that this was a joke and he had some errands to run while he was in the city,

I couldn't help but think that perhaps he was forcing himself to free some time for my sake. Perhaps I shouldn't have accepted his offer, if this was actually the case. Either way, that was something I needed to talk to him about as soon as possible.

Just as I was trying to wrap my thoughts about Vincent, I realized that Hunter was flying towards me.

"Hoot~" Hunter cooed at me as he perched on the branch nearby. It seemed that he found more Pokemon for me to check out.

"Great job, Pal." I tenderly rubbed the head of Hunter. Hunter seemed to enjoy what I did, or so I thought according to the expression it showed when I did so. Well, anyway, I'm happy if he did so I really hope he was indeed happy.

We were able to finish the survey at a fast pace. Before noon, I managed to have my assignment ready to be turned in.

As I arrived at the Rangers' Station once more, I couldn't help but admire the aesthetic choice inside the building, as the rustic lumber furniture inside was mixed with high-tech machines that were located mostly on the left side of the first floor. It was a cool sight, especially with how advanced some of these gizmos are. The local government must've spent a lot of their budget on these.

While waiting for one of the Rangers who was checking on my job, another one was kind enough to give me a tour of the facility. And yeah, I spent 90% of the time on where the complicated-looking machineries are located much to the chagrin of the guy who was very eager to show me the rest of the base. But hey I couldn't help it, the boring sight he saw every day might be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me so I hope he didn't mind too much.

But apparently, not even these machines were unable to locate Pokemon around the forest accurately without creating any negative effects, which was the reason why they requested trainers to help. It cleared up a lot of my confusion regarding why I had the option to lend them a hand in the first place.

I certainly hoped a good enough gadget could be found soon though, as much as I didn't like the rubbish air quality around me, those Rangers must've had a tough time patrolling the area especially since they spent much more time than me. Then again, when you think more carefully about it, they should've had a much better time considering one; They were highly trained individuals, and two; They were actually paid quite handsomely to do so.

Not to say I wasn't getting paid, though. I got awarded Safety Goggles for my troubles. Only one, and yes I did try to ask whether I could keep both goggles they lent me. Unfortunately, the lady who checked on my job only smiled widely at me which obviously meant a big no, not that I expected they would give two of them but I knew well that trying wouldn't hurt, so yeah.

As I walked away from the Rangers' Station bathed with a hot embrace of the sun's rays, I couldn't help but sigh as soon as I thought about the next day.

I just couldn't erase the looming dread I had in my head about the man I need to beat tomorrow.

Everyone had their own idols. They were the very personification of the ideals they chased towards, the fuels of many to truly manifest their different desires.

For me, I had many of these so-called idols. The abundance of posters hanging on my wall was proof of it. It displayed many trainers that had inspired me to chase my dream as a professional trainer.

Wally was one of them.

Perhaps if Wally didn't succeed as a professional trainer, then he wouldn't be standing here as a Pokemon Trainer. The fact that the Hall of Famer managed to overcome his sickness was like a ray of hope for people like me that even with that kind of handicap you could succeed. The fact that a finish line exists, was enough for hopefuls like me to try and risk it in the professional scene.

Of course, it was so easy to dream, yet so hard to attain. Reality was cruel, so many people forgot the fact that despite his weak constitution, Wally was a genius, otherwise, how could he make the Hall of Fame at such a young age? Compared to me, the difference was akin to earth and sky. With me almost sputtered out to utter irrelevancy as I lost battle after battle, it was pretty clear by then that my talent level was probably… Let's say, non-existent.

So what's my chance of beating him? Hmm… I'd say 0%. Oh well, I'd be more generous and give me an extra 0.01% of doing so. A slim chance… Nah, more like a miracle.

Yet, with that in mind, my heart just couldn't accept it. To be fair, the concept of miracle was something that existed in real life, but still, there existed a reason why it was called a miracle.

Whatevs, I might not have the talent that neither Alice nor Wally had, but if I had to fight tooth and nail to make my dream a reality, then consequences be damned.

And so I stayed in my room while waiting for Vincent, locking the door as I opened my virtual notes to scrap whatever knowledge I could attain in my hopeless gambit to beat Wally.

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WizardOfOdd · May 12, 2021

Arthur Weissmann
Location: Empty Field, Petalburg City
Pokemon at hand :

Thursday, September 24th

Chapter 3 - 9
Turning Point
Part 6

"Battle Finish! Perfect."

The older man in front of me spun with enthusiasm before striking a thumbs-up pose. It was something you would see from a victory pose in a beat-up video game.

"Sheesh… You don't understand the concept of holding back don't you?"

I shook my head while putting both Hunter and Muchorin back inside their respective Pokeballs.

It was the fifth straight loss I had against Vincent. Both of my Pokemon were unable to overcome Dexter and his stalling tactics. This was actually even worse of a situation if you also consider the fact that Dexter beat both Hunter and Muchorin just moments after he squashed both Kaplan and Nero in a handicap battle before this one.

"Hey, I'm not dumb, okay? Just slightly crazy, but that's all."

"Slightly? What an understatement."

"I'd like to say that I'm still sane enough… Maybe." Vincent chuckled before he took a sip from the silver flask he held in his right arm.

Losing sucked, but I knew that theoretical approach isn't going to be enough for me to close the gap with those that were far more gifted than me. So plainly locking myself inside my room and doing a literature review from noon to dusk was not an option I was keen on doing at the time.

To add to my consideration, Vincent told me to train my reflex and decision-making skills, and there was no better option than training it hands-on which he was very happy to help me hands-on. An offer which I was very happy to oblige.

"Hey, remember what I've told you, okay? That'll come in handy for the future."

I nodded my head at Vincent's remark. He was referring to the explanation he gave an hour ago before we started our practical training.

Most of it was about the types of battling tactics. There are a lot of tactics that trainers can use in order to defeat their opponent, and the most skilled among trainers can change their tactic on the fly without having any issue as soon as they see any visible red flags on the field.

Some of them include the shutdown tactics, which involve the trainer doing maneuvers that limits the option of opposing Pokemon from the very start of the battle.

The stonewall tactics, which involve the trainer opting to let their opponent tank harmful moves from their opponent to gain understanding about what their opponent had inside their sleeves before striking back.

And there were also the reactive tactics, where a trainer reacted accordingly against every single move their opponent made.

But obviously, these were just Vincent's way to distill down existing theories so I could understand them better. Speaking of theories, I couldn't help but recall the ridiculously complex book I've read about how trainers should base their decision-making. It was a nightmare of a book to read, and even a bigger nightmare to memorize. Then again I was 6 when I tried to analyze the content of the book, so perhaps that might have played a big role.

But even with a watered-down explanation of it, applying this knowledge to the battles moving forward is easier said than done. In my head, I already knew how to approach this which was with a slow and steady mindset, but I don't know… It felt like I was going to screw this up sooner or later. And with the fact that this was just the tip of the iceberg about battling… Yeah, me screwing up sounds about right at this point.

"Well, we still have some time until dinner… So, take it easy, aight? You can call me if you need anything else, and with that, I'll see you soon, young lad."

Vincent waved his hand as he walked away.

"Wait, Vincent!"

"Yep?"

Vincent turned his body back towards me.

Apparently, I just couldn't let the issue that had plagued me the entire day be. Even with hesitation in my heart, I just had to say it out loud, after all, it wasn't me that was going to deal with the inconvenience from the issue going forward, it was Vincent and I'm not willing to jeopardize whatever he was doing just for a hopeless project like me.

"About today… Uh, when you say you had something to do—"

"Oh, that? Non, non, non, monsieur. Privacy is privacy, I know that you would be interested in the personal life of a highly important person like me, but—"

"And that's where I'm concerned!" I raised my voice as I cut him off.

The statement caused Vincent's eyes to widen.

"You know, I really appreciate what you offer me, really… I do. But, I just can't help but be worried about your schedule… I don't want you to force yourself to help me when you could barely cram your own needs… It's fine if you change your mind now, I… I'm not going to be mad." I spoke up my mind with a somber tone. I was honestly having a lot of fun traveling with Vincent, but if he'd rather be alone, then who am I to stop him?

Vincent smiled with a slight tint of sadness emanating from him. He walked slowly towards me before putting his hand over my head.

"When we first met, I didn't peg you as the worrywart type, you know?"

"Well… Sorry…"

"Nah, don't be, you didn't do anything wrong." He took a deep breath. "I'm glad that you care so much about me, but there's nothing to be alarmed about. I promise I'll tell you if something comes up, though, is that fine with you?"

Vincent's words gave me comfort, but I was only able to reply to him with a nod.

"Don't stay up too long, okay? You have a big day in front of you so… Have a nice rest, Arthur." He tapped my shoulders while wearing a big smile.

Not long after, both of us parted ways and I didn't waste any time to return to my room, especially considering there were not many spots of interest around the city, well… Not many because I was running with a tight budget.

But as I sat down on the wooden chair in my room, every other thought vanished from my mind, all except one...

If I couldn't beat Wally with how much help Vincent had given me, then perhaps it was time to rethink my decision to chase a career in Pokemon training.

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

Embyr · May 16, 2021

Name: Kira Wolf || Day: Wendsday, September 23 || Time: Late Night
Location: Petalburg City

Late night talk

Kira slowly stirred awake as she felt something gently prod at her shoulder. "Not now Nyx…" she grumbled, blindly batting at whatever it is.

"No, It's Marie. I'd like to talk to you." she said gently, continuing to prod Kira in the shoulder.

Kira gave a tired sigh, rolling over to face the vague silhouette of Marie in the still dark room. "Alright… What's up..."

"I wanna know, what made you decide to be a trainer?" she asked, continuing to prod at Kira's shoulder.

"Stop…" Kira complained, batting at her arm again. "I just found it really cool. The stoic trainer who'd confidently lead their team in battle against an equally capable opponent, it was exactly the kind of person I aspired to be. That and I just enjoy being around pokemon in general. We lived near our region's League so I used to sneak in all the time just to watch the battles. I got caught a few times but aside from getting chewed out I never actually got in trouble."

"Huh, I can't say I really expected that answer from Aaron's sister." Began Marie as she leaned back against the coffee table. "A few months ago I asked him if he wouldn't mind my mom's slakoth living with us for a couple weeks. Never have I seen him say no so fast."

"Yeah, He's been afraid of pokemon for as long as I can remember." Kira muttered, interrupting herself with a loud yawn. "According to Dad, when Aaron was young he tried making friends with a Nidoran in the nearby woods. It ended up stinging him. Apparently the poison left him in pretty bad shape for awhile."

"If he's afraid though, why did he go into research?"

"I'm not too sure but I think it's because he's still interested. I at least wasn't too surprised when I heard what he went to collage for." Kira explained "He's always been the Nerdiest of my family. Not only that, before I started just sneaking into the league stadium I had to bother Mom or one of my older brothers to take me. Mom was usually too busy and Nolan was a butt about it so Aaron was the one who took me the most. I always figured he was just trying to be nice to me but I guess he was a bit into it as well."

"Right…" Marie said, silent as she brainstormed. "Kira, I'd like to ask you a favor."

"Let me guess, you want me to help my brother get over his fear?" Kira asked with a flat tone.

"That's the gist of it yeah."

"I've tried, several times. It usually just ended up with me getting yelled at."

"It doesn't have to be anything big. Just a small prod in the right direction and I'd really appreciate it! I'll even defend you if he gets upset!" Marie pleaded "It's going to be really hard for him to find a job as a researcher with that fear, I worry for him!"

Kira strongly exhaled from her nose as she thought about it. "Alright, I'll think of something."

"Thank you so much!" Marie said excitedly, doing her best to hug Kira as she still laid on the couch.

"You're welcome... Can I go back to sleep now?" Kira said tiredly.

"Right, Good night!"

Spoiler:

Eleanor · May 16, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 31
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Lucky Chant, Wish, Magical Leaf

🌼 Hydrangea (Shellos) -♀- lv. 27
Storm Drain
Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Recover, Rain Dance, Mud Sport, Hidden Power (?)

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 22
Infiltrator
Swagger, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 25
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Feint Attack, Sucker Punch, Iron Defense, Taunt, Baton Pass

AVRIL'S INVENTORY:
🌼 2 Empty Pokéballs
🌼 2 Potions
🌼 Eviolite
🌼 Silk Scarf
🌼 TM for Ally Switch

🌼 Holotch (phone version)
🌼 Fanclub Membership card - valid until October 17^th
🌼 Various clothes and commodities

AVRIL'S CONTACTS:
Jordie, Shuna, Natsuko, June, Marcella, Hikaru

AVRIL'S BADGES AND RIBBONS:
🥊 ➕

🎀• 1

🌼 Character art made with [SPAN="color:rgb(40,180,40);"]https://picrew.me/image_maker/94097[/SPAN]

A place to sulk

Friday, September 25^th - about 9 p.m. - Route 102, west

It's getting dark, I haven't found anyone I know on the way here even if I followed the right path to Oldale-Littleroot, and my hopes are nearly dead entirely. The only place where I can see June, or Tsu, or even Marcella is on my Contact List inside of my Holotch. Too bad…

That's because I've decided that I'm absolutely not going back to Petalburg. In fact, I already came to that conclusion in the morning because going back there to get a tent was too much. It was a nice place and I spent some nice time with June but of course there were other things and people that made it literally hell. Kimberly, Wally, you tore me down more than you can ever imagine, so much so that I HURT AN INNOCENT ZIGZAGOON. I brought myself down to the level of those people I've always loathed, I'm no better than any of them, I'm a terrible person.

Surely, someone will understand me, right? Maybe June can forgive me…?

No. I'm too afraid. Maybe Layla, or maybe Luke and Vanessa. Maybe they would accept me because they've known me for so long, or because they don't really care about me that much. I'm not that important to them so they'll be more inclined to not care about my mistakes. That would also mean, maybe some stranger would actually help me for one night and then I'd never hear from them again and that's just fine. But NO I don't trust strangers anymore. I don't want to get involved, not like this.

I'm gonna sleep by myself and hide from the world. I'm going to do it because I'm tired of looking for alternatives and it's getting dark, I'm going to do it because I have to make do. I'll just find some sheltered area to crawl into and sulk.

Now, how is this done? I've been camping outside sometimes but it was always with friends or family, and I was actually prepared for everything unlike now. I had a tent at my disposal that I could use to keep out Pokémon and strangers alike, and while this place feels relatively safe the way it is, it's probably not enough.

I'm trying to find some tutorials or resources on the internet but of course, reach is basically non-existent here and it takes ages to load a single page. Given I should save battery for tomorrow, and that the first results seem to all be about nets and hammocks… this won't be of much use. I don't even wanna know if I can sleep comfortably, all I need is to lie somewhere and cry while I try to rest up my legs. Carrying all this stuff through this route has not been fun.

A good place will probably be down there in one of the dells, beside some bush or similar protection… maybe. It looks similar enough to where me and Hikaru were staying before the rangers found us. But they're not here to guard me and my stuff as I sleep and vice-versa, so this will be annoying. Maybe Poppy can help for a bit, but I don't really trust the rest of my Pokémon enough for this and I don't know them well enough. I'll need to find another solution…

Also known as the first one that comes to mind. Anything is better than nothing. And so I'll just use my raincoat's sleeves to tie my backpack's shoulder straps to my sleeping bag. Just a knot around my waist and even if it feels… not too comfortable, I'll just pray that it works. And now… now just let me go off… maybe it will help me sleep.

Eleanor · May 16, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 31
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Lucky Chant, Wish, Magical Leaf

🌼 Hydrangea (Shellos) -♀- lv. 27
Storm Drain
Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Recover, Rain Dance, Mud Sport, Hidden Power (?)

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 22
Infiltrator
Swagger, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 25
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Feint Attack, Sucker Punch, Iron Defense, Taunt, Baton Pass

AVRIL'S INVENTORY:
🌼 2 Empty Pokéballs
🌼 2 Potions
🌼 Eviolite
🌼 Silk Scarf
🌼 TM for Ally Switch

🌼 Holotch (phone version)
🌼 Fanclub Membership card - valid until October 17^th
🌼 Various clothes and commodities

AVRIL'S CONTACTS:
Jordie, Shuna, Natsuko, June, Marcella, Hikaru

AVRIL'S BADGES AND RIBBONS:
🥊 ➕

🎀• 1

🌼 Character art made with [SPAN="color:rgb(40,180,40);"]https://picrew.me/image_maker/94097[/SPAN]

A place to sulk, pt. 2

Saturday, September 26^th - from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. - Route 102

I feel terrible.

I have not slept well but I sure haven't been awake much. I'm a total mess of a girl, I've cried slowly but steadily for most of the night, I've struggled to even get back up on my feet and most importantly, even Poppy hasn't been able to cheer me up much. I know she's trying her best, but that doesn't mean much if I start to doubt her like this… why would she still be happy to stay with me after what happened? She saw everything, she knows everything. Is she that dumb then? She… she's probably like a child who will do anything her mother says and will always stick to her even if her mother is a maniac who hurts other children. One more reason to not give Poppy much importance.

Even then, I let her have breakfast with me. I have to at least show myself that I can care for her. It's a very quick meal of course - I have to start walking again to at least get some more of this route covered before I rest up again. My tired shoulders and aching back already make me crave for some solid Oldale pavement - oh, it would be so easy! - and my feet make me crave a ride of any kind, which is obviously not happening. But no, I'm here in the middle of the countryside, and all I have at my disposal is what I'm struggling so much to take along with me.

Food should be enough for one more lunch and maybe even a quick dinner, if I'm careful. I actually expected my stock to last a bit more, but I must've underestimated how much food I would've needed. Or maybe I've been too lenient with Angie. Part of me would like to search for some berries, just like in Dewford, just to make sure that I have enough food, but I don't feel safe leaving the main trail and exploring the rest of this area now. If anything, I've already been lucky enough to not have any wild Pokémon attack me on sight.

I've also been lucky enough to not have any wild humans attack me on sight. I haven't met anyone I already know, like June or Tsu - she might as well be a few hours ahead with how slow I'm going - but I've also been able to avoid anyone who would approach me. All I found was what looked like some hikers or farm workers here and there, at least in those areas where the trees became less dense and slowly gave way to ponds and grasslands. I have to say, this environment feels quite familiar, and reminds me of home… a bittersweet feeling because, even if I like it here, it's not the same thing as the real deal, Laverre City.

It's about 12 p.m. when I finally stop again, finding a nice place in the shade of the nearby trees to have some lunch. I try my best to count all the food cans and packages I have left, so that I will have enough for some dinner as well, and even though it doesn't look like a very substantial lunch, I still decide to let all my Pokémon come out. Somewhat of a difficult choice, but I have to try one more time - I have to bond with them, and I can't let a small ruckus like the one from yesterday's lunch stop me altogether.

Except that… having less food is a recipe for disaster, if the right ingredients are mixed in. Those being Hydrangea and Venus, of course. And when I call all of my Pokémon back into my Pokéballs, but realize that one of them hasn't worked at all, that's when I start to get chills down my spine. One of my Pokémon has already wandered off further away than the Pokéball can reach.

Aquacorde · May 16, 2021

Marie Rachelle Mocinno

AGE: 17 ⟡ PRONOUNS: she/her ⟡ HOME REGION: Johto
DATE: Thursday, September 24 ⟡ TIME: Evening
LOCATION: Lake Petalburg

Chapter 3 #06 - Practise

Wally introduces her to a few practical strategies, but is whisked away to "attend to his duties", as Leader Norman puts it. The old man invites Marie to stay and practise, but she declines- it feels weird to loiter, even if gyms are meant to be exactly for what she is doing. Maybe it's about her own aimlessness- she feels better walking through town, because at least that gives her brain the impression that she's doing something.

Unfortunately, she doesn't actually do anything but grab dinner at some restaurant. At least feeding Pokie half her fries probably counts as bonding.

Thursday is spent similarly uselessly. She doesn't want to leave town before challenging Norman, but he doesn't accept challengers on Thursdays anymore. Probably because he's old and has to rest more, or something. So she visits the Enomoto Conservatory, narrowly avoiding June and Avril as they leave the building. Marie peeks out from behind the shrubbery and watches them chatter away about nothing interesting, blushes dusting their cheeks and nervous giggles floating on the air. Interesting. Not interesting enough to interrupt, though, so she sticks with her plan of wandering the conservatory.

In her subsequent meandering, she finds Lake Petalburg is a nice place to spend the evening. Petalburg's city planners got this part down perfectly. The setting sun bathes the lake in a golden glow as families and friends pack up their picnics and head on home, leaving the park pretty much empty by the time the sun fully sets on the little beach she's dug her bare toes into. It's still warm, and Marie's day hasn't been very tiring, so she clicks four PokéBalls and shields her eyes from the bursts of light.

"Hi everybody," she says. Stunnie ignores her in favor of burrowing into the sand. Tuie flutters up to perch atop Cutie's heads and Marie feels weirdly upset about that. But Cutie himself stomps over and drops his butt into the sand next to Marie, leaning into her as much as his stiff lower body will allow. Marie smiles and leans into him in return. "Aw, hi, little guy."

Pokie takes a moment to realize there's water nearby but eventually plods over to submerge himself in the warm shallows, nostrils and eyes peeking out at the rest of Marie's little team.

"We're gonna try the gym tomorrow so we should… ugh, practise somehow." Marie crinkles her nose, but Stunnie pops out of his sand burrow. "What, you want- 'course you do, nevermind," she finishes, as the Stunfisk sends sparks jittering across the sand. He's the most eager to battle, and the most experienced besides Tuie. It's a no-brainer to choose him for a gym challenge. And really, his partner is obvious, if that's the only qualification.

But she remembers being curbstomped by Benji with that pair, not even a week ago. And remembers how well Cutie did against Brawly, even freshly evolved with new moves. So maybe it's not Tuie who will partner up with Stunnie this time.

It briefly crosses Marie's mind that she could ask for a singles match. But somehow that seems boring to her- and anyway, she's supposed to be prepared to have her team work together in any configuration!

....singles is a configuration, she thinks. Maybe she should consider a singles match.

Maybe not for such high stakes, though.

Not that a badge is high stakes as such. Hoenn is highly lenient with their league challenge- fourteen gyms, and only half as many badges needed for entry? It sounds crazy in comparison to the very rigid Johto and Kanto circuits. Even the order of challenges is loose- there are guides out there about the traditional trainers' path versus the speedy path (Marie is doing neither; nobody starts in Littleroot these days but she's here for a true journey), rankings of gym leaders by difficulty (the one she read was ranked one through fifteen, with Brawly listed twice according to his methods and his actual skill level), discussions of ideal journeying (stay out of the east during the wet season, don't hike to Fortree or Lavaridge first)... there are so many ways to move through Hoenn and achieve entry to the league. It sounds so easy!

Then again… it never seemed like trainers challenging Olivine or Goldenrod had nearly as much trouble as trainers across Hoenn. She's been hearing murmurs across town- okay, mostly in the Pokémon Center, in fairness- that the Hoennian gym leaders are tough, that the reason the League allows so many gyms and so few badges is because each of these leaders provides a true challenge, tailored in favor of the leaders, that trainers are required to adapt to. The things she's read only back that up- even Merry of Littledale, generally viewed as one of the easiest to beat, makes sure that the rules and field favor them in as many ways possible. None of them make it easy. Well, maybe Brawly. But nobody else.

Wait, back up.

Tomorrow she will challenge disciplined and serious Norman the normal-type specialist, leader of Petalburg for the last twenty years. She will choose two-versus-two doubles, because maybe with some funky teamwork she can surprise him enough to get an edge. It's not incredibly likely, but it's better than having Stunnie and Cutie go in solo and have to rely entirely on their own abilities. Probably.

Honestly, she doesn't know.

But she does know that she should prepare; preparation had helped against Brawly and a lack of had been her downfall against Benji. And so-

"Cutie, you have to practise with Stunnie." Cutie leans his long neck down further, and Marie remembers she has to project. "You and Stunnie are going to practise! Do your, uh. Well, wait. PokéDex, that's what people keep telling me…"

She finds the durable little device in the bottom of her bag, along with… something else? Marie draws a rechargeable battery halfway out and stares at it before burying it again, along with flashes of training with Edison and Avril. Bonding, playing, fighting… "Ow!"

Marie shakes out her foot, glaring at Stunnie. "Give me a minute! I don't know what to do by myself!"

Stunnie contemplates this for a fraction of a second, and a jet of mud is being hurtled her way. Marie squeals and rolls behind Cutie, who seems unperturbed by the attack. "Stunnie-" Wait, he's listening, isn't he? He's training... "I'm gonna tell Cutie what to do, you figure yourself out!"

Stunnie flaps his fins and grins, an arcing bolt of lighting reaching up to Cutie's canopy as Marie scrambles away and Tuie has the good sense to teleport to Pokie's barely-breaching head. The PokéDex's little screen glows in Marie's hands. "Dragon Hammer!"

As she expected, this abrupt slam of Cutie's head into the beach was the Not-Mega Drain that he presented during the battle with Brawly, but it was far too slow and predictable for Stunnie to not dodge. How can we make that faster? Stunnie glows yellow, way more obvious in the dark than the light of day, while Cutie pulls back to standing, wobbling with the change. "Barrage!"

Giant seeds thud to the ground around Stunnie, one after another, and Cutie would have gotten at least one hit in had the Stunfisk not matched the last seed with a Charged Thundershock, exploding it into pieces in midair. Stunnie burrows under the sand- "Dragon Hammer!"- and is popped back out with the force of the blow, even though it doesn't make contact. The Mud Shot to Cutie's faces gives Stunnie ample opportunity to dash behind him, but Marie is a trainer, Marie is Cutie's eyes and ears and "Dragon Hammer behind you!" sends a whipping tail, the only unblinded head, crashing into Stunnie and sends him flying into the lake.

"Fore," Marie mumbles to herself, scanning the lake as Cutie shakes the mud off. It takes a moment, but Stunnie soon surfaces next to Pokie and Tuie, irritation written across his face. "Um-?!"

Quick Thundershocks spark across the beach, doing nothing but tickling Cutie's toes. "He's resistant to a lot of your moves 'cause he's a Dragon!" Marie finally realizes, and Stunnie seems to understand, gliding across the sand to deliver a slap filled with dark energy to Cutie's tail-head-thing. "Hey, what?!"

Stunnie's statistics replace Cutie's on the PokéDex screen. "Sucker Punch? And Discharge is- ow!"

Stunnie cackles madly at Marie's curses and Tuie's complaints. "Just because I say the name of a move doesn't mean you have to- ow, knock it off-"

Stunnie doesn't, apparently delighting in his new power, and Tuie makes the executive decision to teleport to Marie's bag and roll out the PokéBalls, tapping them in succession- Cutie disappears, then Stunnie, then herself- and Marie is left in the quiet dark with her wet Slowpoke.

Pokie lets out a yawn that has a tinge of complaint to it. "Did it take you this long to feel that shock?"

He stares at her. Marie stares back. He nods his head once.

"Alright," she sighs, and recalls him, too.

Spoiler: Team

Spoiler: Inventory

Spoiler: Contacts

Eleanor · May 18, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 32 ↑
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Lucky Chant, Wish, Magical Leaf

🌼 Hydrangea (Shellos) -♀- lv. 27
Storm Drain
Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Recover, Rain Dance, Mud Sport, Hidden Power (?)

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 22
Infiltrator
Swagger, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 26 ↑
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Feint Attack, Sucker Punch, Iron Defense, Taunt, Baton Pass

AVRIL'S INVENTORY:
🌼 2 Empty Pokéballs
🌼 2 Potions
🌼 Eviolite
🌼 Silk Scarf
🌼 TM for Ally Switch

🌼 Holotch (phone version)
🌼 Fanclub Membership card - valid until October 17^th
🌼 Various clothes and commodities

AVRIL'S CONTACTS:
Jordie, Shuna, Natsuko, June, Marcella, Hikaru

AVRIL'S BADGES AND RIBBONS:
🥊 ➕

🎀• 1

🌼 Character art made with [SPAN="color:rgb(40,180,40);"]https://picrew.me/image_maker/94097[/SPAN]

In for the kill, pt. 1

Saturday, September 26^th - almost 1 p.m. - Route 102

I press the button a couple more times, frantically, but it doesn't work. Venus is already too far for her Pokéball to recall her, and doesn't seem to regret her decision. I call out her name, take some steps around the place, then get Poppy and Wisteria to chase her down as I quickly pack all my stuff and try to follow my own Pokémon - we have to stay close to each other and not lose our way in this forest. The more I make my way into the wilderness, though, the harder it gets.

Uneven terrain, surfacing roots, bushes and dry twigs scratching me from every side. Shorts are comfy and easy to wear, I said. Oh, and not to mention how cold it can get once you really get deep into the woods. With my backpack on my shoulders contributing even more to slow me down, I probably have no hope of getting Venus back, unless she's the one who makes a mistake.

And yet here I am, running after her without knowing why. It's a hopeless endeavor, but I'd be happier knowing I gave it a try, I guess.

I try to follow the sparkling Fairy Wind from Poppy, or Wisteria's lights shining through. Anything else, such as the increasing amount of wild Pokémon looking at me or moving, rustling the leaves around me, is superfluous to me. And so, I lose track of time and space as I keep going.

🌳🌳🌳

This place is even harder to navigate than I thought. I get regularly blinded just by standing in the wrong spots, I have all these… plants hitting me and blocking my way, and I've actually tripped a few times. But I figured I'd try this out anyways - what does a girl have to go through for just a bit more food?

Oh, right, Poppy is on my tail too. And I bet Avril's going after Poppy as well. This is especially strange now because I would've preferred her to stay where she was! But no, she has to get herself in trouble trying to save the one Pokémon she caught by mistake. I don't think this is a big deal, I'm not doing anything crazy.

It also has to be said that Avril is slow and large compared to me. But you know who isn't? Yeah… she's already floating in circles around me because she's found me, she's discovered my position. And now she is ruining my chances to get my food.

She's truly bent on making my life harder! I really wanted to believe she'd know better but, if even hissing and grinding my teeth won't stop her, then I will do what I need to do. That's what she gets for defending Avril.

I start it off by taunting her, pleasantly noticing how this makes it a bit easier for her to follow me instead of trying to stop my exploration of the forest. Perfect. And with that done, all I have to do is dodge some more Fairy Wind or Magical Leaf attacks, which are… rather harmless to me to begin with. The sparkles fly past me and that feels weirdly exciting, blood-pumping almost, as I take this little rowdy critter with me around the forest… until I realize, I might be getting lost myself.

Caves are easy mode, because once you start recognizing each existing path and getting familiar with all of its nooks and crannies, you are set. But here there's no path, anything is walkable and explorable and it all looks the same. I'll think about that later, though - there's something else on my mind.

I turn to face Poppy, stopping briefly. And then, I go for the Sucker Punch. She gets hit but takes it well, stabilizing herself and floating higher as she… grins. Weird. A barrage of leaves comes after me, chasing me as I try to hide inside some bushes. And this is more annoying than anything, seeing as I can't reach Poppy in any way with my attacks - even a Fairy Wind upwards is useless. I have to make her come to me, and so another Taunt is in order.

I put on my face a mischievous grin before disappearing behind a large log and, of course, she comes flying. She floats past me, twirls in the air and launches more Magical leaves towards me, seemingly without caring about how little she's hurting me. Her enthusiasm really is something else, but… that kinda fighting is not my style. How is it that they say? I'm in it for the kill.

I reach another hiding spot, once again, sheltering myself from those ranged attacks. I wait in the shadow of yet another tree, I wait for Poppy to come after me again. She does. And so, one powerful blow of my own Fairy Wind, I can jump and catch her with my maw.

Everything is calm in the woods, just the way it should be. As for Poppy… well, I'm sure she's fine in there. That's where she belongs anyways.

Eleanor · May 18, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 32
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Lucky Chant, Wish, Magical Leaf

🌼 Hydrangea (Shellos) -♀- lv. 27
Storm Drain
Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Recover, Rain Dance, Mud Sport, Hidden Power (?)

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 22
Infiltrator
Swagger, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 27 ↑
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Feint Attack, Sucker Punch, Iron Defense, Taunt, Baton Pass

AVRIL'S INVENTORY:
🌼 2 Empty Pokéballs
🌼 2 Potions
🌼 Eviolite
🌼 Silk Scarf
🌼 TM for Ally Switch

🌼 Holotch (phone version)
🌼 Fanclub Membership card - valid until October 17^th
🌼 Various clothes and commodities

AVRIL'S CONTACTS:
Jordie, Shuna, Natsuko, June, Marcella, Hikaru

AVRIL'S BADGES AND RIBBONS:
🥊 ➕

🎀• 1

🌼 Character art made with [SPAN="color:rgb(40,180,40);"]https://picrew.me/image_maker/94097[/SPAN]

In for the kill, pt. 2

Saturday, September 26^th - almost 1 p.m. - Route 102

Inkay has just come back to me with a rather confused look. If anything, it just looks as he's trying to shrug with his little tentacles. I ask him the same question at least ten times, hoping to get a different answer, but Wisteria seems very certain: he's lost Venus and Poppy, and he can't find them anymore. The sparkling Fairy Wind is also gone!

Not before losing a few more years of my life, I decide to just do things the old way and look for traces of Venus's passage. Broken twigs, footprints, things like that. All details that I should really focus on while Inkay keeps flying around the area. Oh, of course I make sure to rattle my chime at any given chance, hoping that someone will hear it. For years and years Poppy has used that sound to find me, and I've used that sound to find my sanity. Sounds good enough.

But really, even if I try to think things through, I'm scared as hell. I feel so ashamed, so dumb, so useless, so lost. And yes, resignation is really starting to settle in. Sooner or later, I will have to pick up my compass (at least I think I have one somewhere) and start following it and nothing else. One direction, straight ahead until I reach the sea, the first road, the first settlement… that direction being east, which is where Oldale-Littleroot should be. Very fun. But while I'm here, might as well keep looking for Venus.

🌳🌳🌳

With Poppy in my maw and silence around me, some forest Pokémon start to come closer to me. I have never seen any of them, of course, but they look like food. Specifically, like Aron. Kind of…

I see some of these brown tiny things up on the trees, some of them even hanging from them like some kind of stalactite. But round and inviting. Others are on the ground, hiding in the bushes, seemingly unaware. This is what my best dreams look like, if only I was back in an actual cave. But this forest area will have to do. All that really matters to me is to feel that adrenaline rush again, the chills down my maw, my teeth tearing into something. I'm so ready for it, and Avril will not stop me now. As for Poppy… whatever.

I peek from around a tree, getting slowly closer to a group of three… ball Pokémon sitting on the ground. Of course I have my game face on, and since I'm quite sure these things have never seen one of my kind, it's going to be a piece of Aron to get them. And… and there goes my Taunt.

The group charges at me, some just running, some rolling. I Sucker Punch two of them and, with the right hit from my maw, send them flying. The third, I bash into the ground, where it stands still, shivering like a hatchling or something. Of course, it's not over just yet, with the other two… round rocks, I guess, charging at me again, this time actually hitting me for some damage. That's just how I like it.

I use Iron Shield to take those attacks for a bit, letting them blow off some steam on me, before knocking them back once again - likely for good - by swinging my closed maw around. That's when the third one emits a blinding white light, hurting me noticeably more than before… alright, this might be concerning. Not sure where this came from either. But… now I know who to go for.

I let Poppy go, finally, then grab the last Pokémon with my now fully functional mouth. It tries to run - possibly my Taunt didn't quite work on it - but I'm not letting it happen, and tighten my grip as I take it away with me. I leave it, most likely fainted, beside a bush, before checking that I'm not being followed… and then have at it. This is my kill.

[PKMN FULL] Hoenn: Square One [IC]

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