[PKMN FULL] Hoenn: Square One [IC]

Eleanor · Jun 7, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 33
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Aromatherapy, Wish, Magical Leaf

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

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 24
Infiltrator
Night Slash, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 30
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Crunch, 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]

Is this growing up?

Saturday, September 26^th - night - Route 102

I'm too tired to dream about anything, but I can remember a few things. I can still picture in my mind some of those moments that were taken away from me, and I crave them, I miss them, I long for them. Why did it have to end this way?

Ever since Poppy started to hang around me more often and we started to play together, many eyes started to set on me. My family wanted me to become a trainer (which is why I'm here in Hoenn right now) and many other relatives and friends suggested things such as Pokémon breeder or Showcase performer. But those things never made it inside my mind! All I really wanted was to have some fun with Poppy. Like…

Show her around, taking her with me anywhere I'd go with my family and let her see the world beyond the Laverre countryside. Or play tag, set up flying courses, get excited anytime she'd learn a new move or skill. Even watch movies, read together, and try our best to talk with each other.

I treated her as a life companion but not as a Pokémon - in fact, I don't think I could call myself "Poppy's trainer" but only "Poppy's friend". But people wouldn't believe it! People wouldn't see the difference. Or maybe people wanted me to get certified and verified as "someone who is friends with Pokémon" but… what would I need that for? Friendship is something that cannot be measured.

Whose fault is it if I'm here though? My family? It could be: mom has always been keen on Pokémon battles, she's pretty good at it herself and she's good friends with Valerie, so it's no wonder that she'd push me to follow her footsteps. She is also quite proud, or at least looking for something to be proud of… and seeing her cute daughter get a nice trainer's license (after Luke had already decided that wasn't for him, no less) would definitely bring up her spirit.

But at the same time, that is a very understandable feeling. I obviously don't know what it's like to feel proud of your daughter, but I know what it's like to feel proud of Poppy's accomplishments. You want people to recognize them too and appreciate her effort, and you feel so happy when it happens.

My friends who suggested Hoenn? They probably overestimated me and my family's wealth, but I can't really blame them because yes, the Hoenn League turned out to be a bit more forgiving than Kalos's, at least with its requirements, and even despite all of the other problems I've encountered here, I know they meant well.

Venus and Angie? I had to catch them anyways, if I wanted to have any chance as a trainer! And they stayed true to themselves. What else could I have asked for? I don't have the heart to blame them for this situation, honestly. I think the same applies for Poppy herself and her desire to get stronger.

The only thing that I can blame is… fate, then. If I never met a wounded Poppy and took care of her, this wouldn't have happened. My life would've been different and definitely more tranquil, I'd still be at home and even if I would be just a little sadder for not having a Pokémon friend, I'd be able to make do and find more human friends instead.

Or I could blame myself for not being good enough, for being scared of battles, for not caring enough about trainers school or my future in general, for accepting that idea about going to Hoenn without second thoughts… the usual. But again, I'd rather not. I know now, I have proof - I can't go that far. I can't just be anything that others want me to be.

I was living just fine in Laverre, not worrying about all of these things. I was happy and carefree there. But as it turns out, getting back to that situation is a big strife… is this growing up?

QueenNothing · Jun 7, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Sunday, September 27th
Noon
Oldale-Littleroot Township

From the outside, the Birch Research Institute is a very homely building, not looking at all out of place from any nearby houses. It makes her feel a lot more at ease about asking the people who work here about nearby Pokemon. Feeling confident enough to do as Giorgia suggested, June makes her way over to the building and knocks on the door.

"Ah, you must be looking for Brendan! Right this way please!" A lanky research aid that had greeted June at the lab entrance leads her further down the building until they come to a man sitting hunched over in-front of a computer monitor.

"Brendan!" The research aid speaks up, causing the man hunched over to spin around in his desk chair to face the two. He's in the middle of slurping down noodles from an instant ramen package and for some very strange reason wears a propeller hat, despite how he looks like he's in his late twenties or early thirties. He waits to swallow his food before saying anything.

"Oh, do we have a visitor?" Brendan sets his Cup Noodles aside and slowly gets up from his chair to do some stretches. "In that case, hello there! I'm Brendan Birch, a Pokemon researcher. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Oh, um, hello!" June has heard of Professor Birch during her studies on bug Pokemon and their habitats, but she's pretty sure this isn't the Professor Birch. Everything about this man conjures up an image so vastly different from what she knows about Daniel Birch, namely his bizarre hat. It looks so jarring and unprofessional, and she can't help but stare. "My name is Junko Enomoto- but everyone calls me June. I'm a Pokemon Trainer, and I'm here because a family member suggested I train my Pokemon, but I was unsure where to start and- that's how I've ended up here."

"Is that all?" Brendan grins. "Of course I can help you with that!" June feels relieved about how willing Brendan is to stop his work for such a basic question. "There are a few spots where new trainers can spar with wild Pokemon. Wooloo and Lillipup wander around the town, and even make for good catches for trainers just starting out. To the east is Cottage Grove, where Geodude resides, and they're good for testing the endurance of your Pokemon. And up north is Route 103, and… well, I'm not sure if I can recommend that depending on how experienced you are. While it's safe for the most part, the Stantler that live there are known for using illusions on anything they feel is a threat, and then there's the Heracross population, which while rare, can be scary for new-"

June's heartbeat increases with excitement. "Did you just say Heracross?"

"Huh? Yeah, I was. Is… that something you want to hear more about?"

June furiously nods her head. Brendan laughs. "I take it you're a Heracross fan, aren't you?"

"I just absolutely adore Heracross! They're some of the strongest bug-type Pokemon known to man. They use their horns to toss their foes at an incredible distance, and the way they're able to do that is by planting their claws into the ground so that they maintain their balance. A Heracross' horn is thought to be the pride and joy of the species, and in many civilizations it's been sought after, which is actually how they are as uncommon as they are, and that's such a shame how such a wonderful Pokemon can be hunted like that! Fortunately it was outlawed decades ago, and I don't think I could be any more glad about that. In general, I just think that-"

"Oh my, when I asked you if you were a Heracross fan I didn't think you were that much of a fan!" Brendan interrupts. June blushes from embarrassment. "O-oh, um, sorry about that, I-"

"No no, it's okay!" Brendan reassures. "I love seeing this sort of enthusiasm in young trainers! In fact, I think this sort of energy is perfect for something I need help with. Could I ask a favor of you, June?"

"What might that be?"

"Since you'll most likely head over to Route 103 after this, I'd like to ask you to document what you observe of any Heracross you come across and format it into a report that's a minimum of 300 words. Of course, this won't just be out of the kindness of your own heart- once you email your report to me, you'll be rewarded with an item that will be useful for your journey. How does that sound?"

"That sounds splendid!!" June can hardly contain her excitement. She's absolutely overjoyed at the opportunity right in-front of her.

"Perfect!" Brendan grins as he twirls the propeller on his hat but stops once he sees June staring. "Sorry, this probably makes me look like a weirdo. I'll go ahead and take the hat off." He sets the hat on his desk and reaches for a red festive hat in its place. "It just doesn't feel right without wearing one of these, y'know? Anyways, when you're done, remember to report back to me. My email address is written on a whiteboard you should see on your way out. Good luck out there, June! Now if you'll excuse me, I should get back to doing my own research."

June waves goodbye as she exits the lab. Having to wear down a Heracross should be enough training as is, but actually catching one will significantly bolster the strength of her team. From there it should only be smooth sailing for June on her quest to show her aunt that there is good to come from Pokemon battles.

🐞 June's Party 🐞

39,492

Spoiler:

budube · Jun 7, 2021

Miranda Lockhart

Sunday, September 20th

Chapter 3: Part 1 - Counting Pokémon

14:00 to 18:30 - Route 104 South
"You mean it's not her tongue!?" I yell in shock. It's fucking intestines, not a tongue! I don't even know how I'm supposed to feel about that! "When we were fighting those Aron I thought she stuck her tongue out to give them the finger, but in reality she just coughed her innards out and shapped them like a middle finger as a symbol of total disrespect! Dude! This pokémon is awesome, tell me more…"

Between a lot of stuff I don't understand about Pyukumuku, and then Maritza helping me understand my pokémon moves a bit later, we end up in another Ranger Station. Things seem to be a little intense, though; there's Rangers running everywhere, from forest and to the town and bringing wild pokémon back to the station. The ones going to the forest are wearing masks, goggles and there's even some crazy enough to wear fucking astronaut suits --except they are not, Maritza ruined my fun by saying they are called hazmat suits, what a stupid name that is.

"Could this be…" The first thing Maritza does after saying that is make sure the sleeves of her shirt and gloves cover her completely, then she covers her mouth and nose with her handkerchief; regardless, she seems to be really happy for some reason and tries making her way into the forest until a Ranger stops her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but Petalburg Forest is off-limits for the time being," he says. He seems to be rather serious about it, which makes the possibility of sneaking there more fun, but why the fuck would I go to some ugly forest in the first place?

"Is it because of the Shroomish? I read a bit about it before coming here." Maritza asks, smiling at the Ranger, to which he nods.

"That's right! At this time of the year, the Shroomish hatching season starts. The forest starts getting full of spores, so it's dangerous for people and pokémon to go there until it's over."

"Interesting…" she giggles. She directs her eyes at one of the Rangers coming out of the forest. They are carrying a Wurmple in arms, and a Slakoth is also hanging from their back, followed by a short lizard-like pokémon I've never seen before that is also carrying a Wurmple. I get to see another Ranger writing something on a notepad when they Ranger from before and their pokémon place the Wurmple and Slakoth on a safe place. "So that's why you are taking those pokémon here. Being a Ranger sounds like fun."

"Correct!" The Ranger confirms giving her a thumbs up and turning around placing his hands on his waist to look at the wild pokémon. "Normally, wild pokémon exit the area when they feel the Shroomish start hatching, but various factors can have them staying in the forest; that's why we work during the first days of the hatching season to try and take those pokémon to safety."

"But there's more Rangers that come from the town!" I say this time, pointing randomly at the south. I think I actually pointed at a Ranger that was just leaving the station, though. I don't know, I don't care.

"Oh, them? Yes, we also have a team going to the town so the forest pokémon don't cause any trouble there," the Ranger answers. "It's a bit of a dangerous job, though, so normally we don't allow people to help us with that. We do allow getting help with the tallying, though!"

"Who said anything about-"

"We'd love to help!" Maritza interrupts suddenly. And she says we? What an asshole!

"That's nice. Will both of you help?" The Ranger asks, but before I can even give an answer, he keeps talking! What a piece of shit! Why ask something if he is not listening either way? "You can have a pokémon help you, but before you start we'll have to take their measurements for a special gift."

"Interesting. What kind of gift?"

"Custom-made goggles. Useful to work under difficult weather."

"Wait, weather? You mean like… hail and sandstorm?" The Ranger nods at my question and I instantly lose my shit! This is perfect! When I had my first battle in Slateport I could barely do shit because of the weather (and Sandslash, but we don't talk about that piece of shit). If these custom-made goggles help me with that, then I can totally wreck his ass next time I go to Slateport! "I'm helping too!"

"That's the spirit! Now I'd like to see what Pokémon you are going to use."

Maritza said the pokémon she chose to help her is an Inkay, she also called her Dazzler. I'm having Pyukumuku to help me count.

First we count the ones we find near the station. Dazzler being able to levitate slightly is especially useful to count the ones on trees, most of which were Slakoth, although there's a few Wurmple too. With the help of Pyukumuku's Helping Hand, Dazzler is able to float a bit higher too, so at least we got that part covered.

To avoid double counting pokémon, Maritza proposes to make them sleep, which would do nicely with these asshole Skwovet that just climb the trees to jump on my fucking head! It's difficult for Dazzler to take a good aim at them, and Pyukumuku can't really help much with that; most she can do is use Water Sport to distract them, but most times that move just startles them and causes them to get away even faster. We were able to put one of those to sleep after many tries, but fuck these pokémon, anyways! Other than that, the Hypnosis thing is completely unnecessary, the Wurmple and Teddiursa are just minding their own business, while the Slakoth are already asleep; there's also a few Nincada and Spinarak, that don't do anything either.

After counting the pokémon near the station, we start counting the ones the Rangers bring from the town and the forest, and that's when the job starts getting boring. Imagine working on counting pokémon and having to wait like five minutes just to add one fucking bug to the list. We're supposed to be doing this shit for four hours, I can't imagine how the Rangers that actually have this as their one job for a whole day might feel!

Maritza seems happy, though. She's constantly chatting with the other Rangers when they come back with a pokémon we haven't seen yet and she seems to be so invested both in the job and the stuff they talk to her about, while I don't even know what a hatching season is.

"You can rest for a bit if you'd like!" the Ranger from earlier says, holding a plastic tray with two sandwiches, water and pokémon food. "You must be hungry, you got here just around lunchtime and started working like it was nothing."

"Oh, so it's already been two hours," Maritza says after taking a look at the watch on her right wrist. "Time really went fast; didn't it, Miranda?"

I totally forgot I was hungry until this guy mentioned it, to be honest. But now I'm starving! How does my brain even work!? Why am I not hungry for hours until someone mentions food? It makes no sense.

I don't get to answer Maritza's question, but she probably figures out what I'm thinking, because she smiles at me and giggles before grabbing her food.

We take a seat in one of the wooden benches outside the Station together with our pokémon and I take this moment to take a clearer look on how Maritza acts. This girl is just too careful with everything; when we found the bench, she made sure to clean all the dust from it before sitting; before eating, she tied her hair like 3 times and now that she is eating, she is extra careful with wrapping her sandwich with a napkin and not touching the bread with her hands --she took her gloves off before eating. This gives me a rough idea of her manners and how her mind works: Maritza can't stand getting dirty, yet she still took off her gloves before eating; she is polite. She is very friendly too, I realized that a while back; she is so friendly that she becomes annoying, at least for me. By the way she's been acting since we got here, I think I start to understand why she is in this place.

Maybe I should apologize for what happened in Slateport? I don't think she really meant to bother me back then, and I don't know if I should have reacted that way. She is letting me stand in the way of her journey just to teach me how to read after all. I think it's the best thing I can-

"Is something wrong?" They way she asked that like Hey stop lookin at me, you asshole!! really gave me goosbumps. Damn, I must be looking like a freak right now! I should really be apologizing to her after this!

"U-uh… no! All good." Now she's staring at me and making me all flustered for this shit! It was obvious! She knows I was looking at her! I bet she thinks I'm a weirdo now! What the fuck should I even say to her so she stops looking at me like that!?

"Are you sure you're alright? You haven't eaten your food yet. You should eat, we still have more work to-"

"SHUT UPPPPP!" No, that's not it. Shit, I swear I didn't wan't to yell, it's just something of an habit right now. She must be thinking I'm the asshole right now though because she was only concerned about my food. "… I-I mean, I'm fine. D-don't worry about me."

I'll probably apologize later, I can't look at her after that. I think my brain is about to explode. Might just be that I'm hungry.

"Thank you both so much for your help! You did a pretty good job!" the Ranger says and starts giving us our goggles. "This one's for Inkay, and this one's for Pyukumuku."

"Thank you very much, sir," Maritza says, giving the goggles to Inkay. "It was fun doing this for today, wasn't it, Miranda?"

"Uh? Oh, yeah." I got distracted putting the goggles on Pyukumuku, I totally didn't hear what Maritza said. She's looking cool as fuck, though! Like, ready to kick some ass! I should write Fuck you Benji on these goggles when I go back to Slateport.

Maritza giggles. "She looks good. Dazzler seems to have trouble wearing them. Maybe it'll be easier for her when she evolves."

"She looks amazing! The brown frame and blue-ish lens look really good with her green and yellow; it's perfect! We are totally beating these gyms now!"

"You still have to train her, you know?"

"O-oh? Shut up, of course I know that!" I answer back. What's her fucking problem with making me flustered with her questions!? "I know! Why don't we do that right now? Let's have a battle!"

"Us? I'm flattered with how you think I would be of any help," she answers with a confused look on her face. "I haven't had an actual battle yet, I don't think I can be of any help."

We stay silent after that, just standing at the entrance of the Station until Maritza breaks the silence by saying she's going inside to ask for something, asking me to wait for her here. She gives no explanation, just that.

She takes her time to come back, and it is while I'm waiting for her that some stupid pokémon jumps over me from a tree and makes me fall on my face. I can barely see what the pokémon is with all the grass on my eyes, but it looks like a bigger Skwovet, those assholes. I'm able to see Pyukumuku shaking her fist at it and something shiny on the wild pokémon's hands while the piece of shit laughs at me… shiny like my Rainbow Stone.

- Miranda got a pair of Safety Goggles!
- Pyukumuku grew to level 14!
- Miranda lost her Key Stone!

Current Party:

Inventory

Spoiler:

Miranda's icon done with: https://picrew.me/image_maker/338224

Caesar · Jun 7, 2021

Team & inventory:

Spoiler:

Saturday, September 19th @ 1400 - Dewford Town

Clint stumbled upon a bulletin board inside the Pokemon center, and decided to take a look. "HELP WANTED" grabbed Clint's attention right away. Clint skimmed through the ads looking for cash-needy youngsters to perform various tasks, a version of a temp program if you will. One ad in particular seemed do-able enough for Clint. Strong and able-bodied youngster needed to move some appliances, $2000 pay for the work, meet Ernest Simmons at the east end of town, blue house with a fridge and stove sitting out front, shouldn't miss it. Clint took the notice off of the board, and left the center.

Clint left the center, and started heading towards the east end of the town. Clint made his way through town, noticing that all the buildings were built on stands, something he had never seen before. He would have to ask why that was the case. Eventually, Clint found the house he was looking for, brand new fridge and stove still sitting the way they were shipped. Clint inspected the appliances, even giving them a little shake to determine their weights. Felt heavy, but not impossible. Clint has after all lifted a lot of heavy things growing up on the farm, but this time he was getting paid in cash, not just for "room and board" like his father used to say. A short, round old man using a cane opened the front door of the blue house, and called out,

"Young man, are you from the Pokemon center?"
"Yes I am sir, here to help you with your appliances," Clint replied back at the man,
"My name's Clint, pleased to meet you sir."
"Pleased to meet you Clint, grab the first one and I'll show you where to go," the old man instructed.

Clint grabbed the fridge, heavier of the two items, wrapping his arms around it as far as he could, and picked it up a few inches off the ground. He awkwardly waddled with the fridge over to the bottom of the stairs, and placed the fridge back down. I'm not getting this up the stairs, Clint thought to himself.

After that, he came up with an idea. Clint slowly brought the fridge down onto the stairs, so the fridge was lined up with the angle of the stairs. Getting into a very low stance at the base of the fridge, Clint pushed the fridge up, stopping one stair at a time on his way up. After a few minutes of grunting and pushing, Clint finally struggled the fridge up to the top of the stairs. He stood the fridge back up, and maneuvered the fridge into the house. Ernest was standing there waiting.

" Into the kitchen here, first doorway to the left," Ernest directed, walking into the kitchen.

Clint moved the fridge into the kitchen, and put it in place where Ernest asked. He then took the old fridge out, brought the new stove in, and brought the old stove back out. Clint was tired after this, as none of these appliances were light. Ernest slowly moved over to Clint, and stuck his hand out for a shake, and Clint shook his hand.

" Thanks for the help kid, I'll have the company that delivered the new ones to come and pick up the old ones, for some reason they wouldn't install them for me, must have been the stairs ha ha," Ernest said, handing out the money for the work. Clint took the money, and replied,

" Your welcome sir, you have yourself a good day."

Clint left the house with heavier pockets, and it was now time to get some cafeteria food and turn in for the night. Clint had to be up early tomorrow, as he was going to have to train hard to be ready for Brawly.

- +$2,000 added to Clint's cash on hand!

Caesar · Jun 10, 2021

Team & inventory:

Spoiler:

Sunday, September 20th – 0700 @ Dewford Town

Clint woke up in his Pokemon center room, and got himself dressed right away, and went down to the cafeteria for some breakfast. Clint had some preparing to do for the gym challenge, had to ensure Charmeleon was ready for the big time, maybe even add another member to his team, the more the merrier after all.

Clint sat in line at the cafeteria, waiting for his chance to pick out his food. A simple bacon and eggs breakfast, now that was going to hit the spot. He got his tray, poured himself a coffee out of the carafe sitting by the cafeteria lineup, and found a seat. Clint sat alone, preferring to eat in silence. He couldn't help but eavesdrop on two young boys having a conversation at the table next to him. They were having a conversation about the west island, and how the Rangers would let trainers attempt to catch rare Pokemon out there.

Sounds like a good place to start, Clint thought to himself. He finished his breakfast, and left the cafeteria, scoring some extra snacks from the cafeteria on his way out. Clint walked over to the store in the Pokecenter, and purchased some additional supplies for his trip. Two pokeballs and two potions would do the trick. With everything all in order, Clint left the Pokecenter, ready to explore the west island.
- $5,000 removed from Clint's cash in hand
- 2x pokeballs added to inventory
- 2x potions added to inventory

Sunday, September 20th – 0900 @ West Wilds

Clint could hear lots of Pokemon activity from the edge of the wilds, where the ranger station was located. His eavesdropping at breakfast time let him know he needed permission from the Rangers to access the area. Luckily for him, one of the Rangers was walking towards Clint. The ranger had a green shirt and cargo shorts on, with a ball cap on backwards. He had also had two Pokeballs clipped onto his belt.

"Morning sir, name's Dan. How can I help you," Dan introduced himself.

"Good morning Dan, name's Clint. I'd like to access the wilds here," Clint explained.

"We can make that work for you Clint, come inside for a second, we'll get you set up and, on your way," Dan replied.

The two went back inside the building, and Dan showed Clint the map of the island, as well as the rules. Pretty simple stuff really, no disturbing the flora or the fauna, only one capture allowed, no overnight stays and so on. Dan loaded information about the area's Pokemon to Clint's PokeNav, and set him on his way. Clint stepped outside and headed towards the forest, letting Charmeleon out of his Pokeball.

"Watch where you point that tail of yours bud, don't want you setting the forest on fire," Clint instructed. Charmeleon nodded his head, and the two pressed on. Clint could hear Pokemon off in the distance, and saw tracks on the ground, but couldn't get a visual on any Pokemon yet. patience, Clint thought to himself, they have to get used to your presence first. They continued to navigate through the forest, eyes and ears peeled.

Sunday, September 20th, @ 1400 – West Wilds

It had been a few uneventful hours of scanning the woodland for Pokemon, but Clint finally had a good lead. He found very fresh scratch marks all the way up a tree. Clint rubbed the scratch marks, trying to determine the depth or them, as well as the freshness. Based on the depth of the scratches, as well as the distance between scratches, whatever climbed this tree was in a hurry. Now, who was in such a hurry, Clint pondered. He was new to Hoenn, and wasn't quite up to date on the ecosystem here. He remembered that the Ranger had uploaded data for him on the Pokemon in the area. He pulled the PokeNav, but couldn't remember for the life of him how to access the info. Clint stood there scrolling through the menu, unable to find his information.

Clint hadn't put himself in the greatest position. Head down focused on his PokeNav when something came down from the tree and hit Clint, knocking him down and knocking his hat off his head. Then his hat was scooped up by a light blue Pokemon, who then climbed back up into the tree, wearing Clint's hat.

"What in tarnation," Clint said, brushing himself off while getting back up. He pulled up his PokeNav, which he had found the reports on Treecko moments before being struck down.

"The PokeNav says Treecko's are supposed to be green. Why is this one light blue. Whatever, this thing is f***ing useless anyways."

Clint tossed the PokeNav into a nearby bush, he was going to do this the old-fashioned way. The Treecko stood on a branch on the tree Clint had just been inspecting. Charmeleon stood on the ground below staring the Treecko down.

"Charmeleon, start out with a Dragon Breath," Clint began. Charmeleon conjured up a swirling gust near his mouth, and blew it into the tree, knocking Treecko out of the tree. Treecko managed to land gracefully, but lost the hat in the procedure. Clint felt tempted to go and grab his hat, but inserting himself in the middle of this battle was probably not the best idea.

"Charmeleon, use Ember," Clint called out his next move. Charmeleon brewed up a quick burst of flames and forced it over to Treecko. Treecko managed to avoid this move, almost like it had seen it coming. Treecko then kicked up a bunch of leaves, hitting Charmeleon with a good amount of them. Charmeleon didn't seem to disturbed by that move, grass type moves weren't much of an issue for Charmeleon anyways.

"Charmeleon, try another Ember." Charmeleon once again prepared an ember and blasted it at Treecko, this time getting a clean hit on Treecko. Clearly Treecko was not a fan of that move, as it was knocked back, and took a few seconds to get back up. Treecko just turned around and ran away and up a nearby tree, hiding itself in the leaves up top. Clint and Charmeleon walked forward to the tree, Clint picking up his cowboy hat and placing it back on his head, where it belonged. He walked up to the tree that Treecko had taken refuge in, this time standing a few feet back.

"C'mon out already," Clint yelled. No response, not immediately at least. A few moments passed, then Treecko emerged from its hiding spot, climbing down to a lower branch where it could be seen, then took off, jumping from tree to tree in a rather impressive display.

"Let's go Charmeleon, we can keep up," Clint said, waving his hand at Charmeleon to follow him. Charmeleon sighed, but followed Clint anyways as the two had their eyes on the Treecko climbing from tree to tree. Clint was managing to keep up for a little while, but he was too focused on Treecko and not focused enough on where he was going, and tripped over a big root that was sticking out of the ground. At this moment, Treecko jumped down from the branch it was on and stood in front of Clint, almost mocking him. Charmeleon, who was a few seconds behind caught up and stood beside Clint. Clint managed to get up for the second time, and stared down the Treecko.

"Let's hit 'em with another Ember," Clint made his move. Charmeleon fired another ember at Treecko, knocking the gecko Pokemon down again. It was even slower to get up than the last one. This Treecko had to be a worn down now, battling plus running through the forest. Clint was wearing down as well, especially since he himself had been taken down twice. Treecko mustered up the energy for another move, running towards Charmeleon and kicking him. Before Charmeleon could even react Treecko came in with another kick, knocking Charmeleon back. Charmeleon got up rather quickly, and kept his eyes on Treecko. But Clint wasn't letting Treecko escape again. He pulled out an empty Pokeball from his holster, and threw it at Treecko, encapsulating the Pokemon in the ball. The pokeball dropped on the forest floor, the center button glowing a bright white.

One shake, two shakes, three shakes and four! The light went out and the Pokeball made a clicking sound. That meant Clint had caught Treecko! His first capture of the journey, but certainly not his last. Clint went over to the Pokeball, and picked it up and clipped it back onto his holster. Clint also noticed a shiny looking green rock right beside the Pokeball. Clint felt compelled to pick the rock up, so he put it in his backpack. He then returned Charmeleon to his Pokeball. Better to let Charmeleon rest inside the Pokeball on the trip back.

Clint finally took a moment to look around, and notice the sun was going to set soon. He had to get moving. He searched his pockets for his PokeNav, since he wanted to check the time, but could not find it. S***, Clint thought, forgot I had "left" the PokeNav where the battle begun, so he ran back to the spot, and with a little luck found his PokeNav. It was eighteen-o-clock, definitely time to get back.

Sunday, September 20th, @ 2100 – West Wilds

Clint finally made his way out of the woods and back to the Ranger station, where Dan and another Ranger were outside talking amongst each other.

"We were just about to start looking for you kid," Dan called out,

"Did you least enjoy yourself?"

"I sure did, thanks a lot gentlemen" Clint replied. He wasn't going to tell the Rangers about the oddly coloured Treecko he ran now had in his party. Clint shook the Rangers hands, and made his way back into town. It was time to take his two Pokemon to the center to heal up, and for Clint to get some rest. He had more training to do tomorrow.

- Charmeleon grew from Lv.16 to Lv.18!
- Lv.15 Female Treecko (Shiny) has been captured! Ability: Overgrow Moves: Leaf-age|Detect|Quick Attack|Double Kick(Egg Move)
- 1 Pokeball removed from Clint's Inventory

budube · Jun 10, 2021

Jordie "Jo" Hughes

Monday, September 21st

Chapter 2: Part 7 - Dr. Frankenpass

11:00 am to 12:00 pm - Granite Cave
"Tired already?" Jordie asks, having their whole team stop after seeing the kid has been left behind. "I guess we can slow down a bit."

Jordie sits down, leaning their back against the cave's walls. Taking a better look at their whole team, everyone seems to be getting tired of walking around, except for Bane and Gabby, but she's already used to this. The trainer is just bored though, not even a single pokémon has attacked them since they got here except for Bane; they pretty much could have left the kid alone one hour into the cave and they would've been just fine.

They take a look at their X-Transceiver. They've been here for almost four hours. There's a bit of signal right now, enough to as well make a decent enough call to the Ranger Station, but they won't do that, of course --they haven't gotten their keystone yet.

The kid finally catches up, and Jordie has them sitting next to them, handing over a water bottle. "Here, you must be really tired. Don't drink too much, though." There's actually enough water and food for everyone, of course, it's the thing they stocked up the most on, they were going into a cave and with Gabby, Neon and Maroon, water is a must have. "Here, all of you, get hydrated as well. A snackbar for Bane boy and baby Boo too? Yeah, I thought so." They chuckle once the recently caught Aron comes running at them, but it's not too funny when he jumps on their legs to get his food which causes Jordie to wince and put him down. He's heavy.

"Um... Bane boy, why don't you go see if there's something coming up ahead? You can go with Gabby or Maroon if you need help." The Iron Armor pokémon barks and gladly rushes out of the scene. Gabby looks at the floating anchor who extends its seaweed to shrug, in the end, both decide to go behind him. Jordie sighs and stretches their arms before resting their back on the walls again. "Well, that's that."

"Boo!"

"Oh? What is it, baby Boo? Is your arm alright?" Boo doesn't seem to pay attention to Jordie, he's actually just handing over the snackbar to the kid. Jordie laughs. "That's pokémon food, baby Boo. They can't eat that."

"Boo…?" He asks, leaning his head sideways and walking closer to the kid.

"Would you look at that? It seems he likes you," Jordie says while chuckling. It's true they must be hungry though, so Jordie looks into their bag once more while the kid happily pats the Clobbopus. "Here, take. This one is not for pokémon."

"U-uh… thanks…"

"Nah, don't worry. It's the least I could do after putting this into all this trouble, y'see?" Although they were the one that followed me! "You don't talk much, do you?"

The kid looks at them, with their hands shaking, holding the snackbar Jordie gave them and shrugs. No, they don't. Good.

"This cave is big, don't you think? Bigger than I thought, actually. I wonder how many pokémon are here sigh, yet still there's no keystone for me. A shame."

"Um… w-what is so important about those stones?"

"Oh? So you talk! Well, I'm glad you asked." Jordie takes their badge case from their bag and shows it to the kid. "See this? Pretty cool, right? It's Slateport's badge!"

"You're a trainer!? That's so cool!" Jordie… thought that was obvious, but well the kid got really excited all of a sudden, at least they got a fan now.

"Heh, heh. Yeah, I'm a trainer. Bet you'll start hearing about me soon," they say looking at the kid with a prideful gleam in their eyes. "But yeah, the stones are useful for battling, y'see? And I heard I would find one here."

"I want to be a trainer, b-but my mom says it's too dangerous."

"Well, you're too young right now, but once you reach my age you'll have to stop listening to them much, y'know? Parents get in your way," they say, taking a sip from their water bottle. "Even if they decide to let you become a trainer. The moment you tell them you'll leave they'll decide you're not ready yet and then they'll try to control your whole career."

The kid doesn't say anything, they just look at them while drinking their water as well.

"... Sorry, I forgot I was talking to a kid," Jordie adds, underwhelmed and embarrassed for saying that to the kid. "If you really want to become a trainer it would be good to start learning about pokémon while you're still young; I don't know if that's what you came to do here, but if you want to, I will have you meet my pokémon once we get out of this place. What d'you say?"

"Um… a-actually I came here to get a pokémon," the kid says. "M-maybe mom would let me keep it.

"Well, that was pretty dumb," Jordie bluntly answers and the kid pouts, lowering their head. So their parents don't know they are here, there might not be any Rangers around then, unless someone on the tour noticed we disappeared. "A trainer has to be smart too, y'see? I think the pokémon at the beach are far more docile than here. It's also easier to train pokémon you befriend instead of battle, y'know? That's something worth keeping in mind." That might've been a bit hypocritical to say with Neon present, since they did battle him before catching; same with baby Boo with the difference that he thought it was fun.

Just after that, Jordie starts hearing the noise of a pokémon running, together with the barking of their Aron. The kid gets startled at first, but Jordie puts their hand on their shoulder to calm them down and then helps them get up. "Seems like they found something," they say smiling at the kid.

With a lot of energy, Bane guides Jordie's team to another room, similar to the one they found the kid in at first, but with the difference that it's colder and has a lone Nosepass standing in the middle of it spinning, but Bane boy didn't bring them here to look at a spinning Nosepass, did he?

A single step into the room, and Jordie's X-Transceiver starts acting oddly. Its screen flashes repeatedly as the Nosepass spins. This has them taking a better look inside the room they are at. There's actually around ten or twelve Nosepass standing in a circle around the previous one, all of which seem to be spinning within a range.

Jordie knows a few things about these pokémon, one of those is that it works the same as a compass --its nose is always facing north. They are no scientist, but if a compass starts spinning like this, then there must be some magnetic anomaly or something in this room, and judging by the way their X-Transceiver is acting, it must be a huge one that could potentially destroy their device. It's probably better to stay outside of this room for now.

While they are outside, another pokémon appears out of the shadows from the other side of the room; it looks like a smaller Nosepass, except that it doesn't spin for some reason. As soon as Bane sees the smaller Nosepass floating to the central, spinning Nosepass, he starts barking.

"What's wrong, Bane boy? Did something happen?" Bane doesn't calm down and keeps barking at the floating Nosepass. Jordie takes a better look at it, and just as it places something on the top of the central Nosepass' head, they see it, exactly what they came from. But what use would a Nosepass have for a keystone? They don't remember it or its evolution being in the article about mega stones.

Jordie removes the X-Transceiver from their wrist and hands it over to the kid. "You stay here and keep on this thing. I'm checking what's going on with Gabby, okay?"

The trainer steps once again into the room. For the most part, it's the Nosepass spinning progressively faster until sparks start being shot by the group of rock-type pokémon, at the central one. The flash from said sparks go on for a minute, with the keystone floating above its head, and then it happens: The central Nosepass starts evolving.

As impressive as it is to see how twelve pokémon are able to generate enough power to evolve another one of their own species, Jordie is more worried about getting their stone. Of course, they can't interfere in whatever is happening because they will end up electrocuted, so they must limit themselves to see and hope the keystone remains intact after this.

Once again, coming from the shadows a shiny Nosepass enters the scene. This one is holding a white stone and a regular thunderstone above its head. It starts spinning gracefully upon entering the magnetic field formed by the other Nosepass and tosses the evolutionary stone at the evolving pokémon before spinning its way outside the scene. Next, the floating pokémon appears once again, except there's three of them now; together with them is the leader of the Nosepass group, a Probopass.

The leader has its Mini-Noses form a triangle around it and the four of them start shining a pink light that soon illuminates the whole room, forcing Jordie and Gabby to close their eyes. The light fades, and Jordie hears the sound of something heavy falling, together with the sound of something rolling towards them. The rolling thing is the keystone, small enough to be used in a ring or a necklace. The thing that fell is the fainted, recently evolved Probopass.

The leader Probopass orders the subordinates that survived its attack to take the unconscious ones to safety, and together with the shiny Nosepass it goes to see the results of their ritual, just to see nothing but a destroyed thunderstone before them. As an act of anger and desperation, the Mini-Noses rapidly circle around the Probopass and then forcefully hit the ground before the Probopass turns around.

Jordie takes this moment to flee the scene with their new keystone, but they didn't expect to be stopped by one of the Probopass Mini-Noses that apparently work like different pairs of eyes as well.

- Jordie got a Keystone!

Jordie's Party:

Inventory:

Spoiler:

budube · Jun 13, 2021

Jordie "Jo" Hughes

Monday, September 21st

Chapter 2: Part 8 - Battle for a Keystone

12:00 pm to 12:07 pm - Granite Cave
"Well, this is… unfortunate." Jordie says in a low voice, turning around with their keystone in hand. "But I'll be taking this, if you don't mind."

The other two Mini-Noses surround the trainer and the Mini-Nose that blocked their path slightly pushes the trainer forward to which they protest with a nervous chuckle. "Gabby girl, I could use a little bit of help here, y'know?"

Gabby snaps at her trainer's call and instantly charges psychic energy. Her bubble glows a blue light and the Solosis shoots a beam at the Mini-Nose floating behind Jordie, giving them a chance to get back to the rest of the team.

The leader Probopass retaliates by sending its Mini-Noses after them, catching Gabby before she exits the room and then causing a small explosion sending her back inside.

"Gabby, no!" Jordie runs back inside the room, this time with the rest of the team. Everyone makes it in except for Neon and the kid that stay behind. Boo tries to walk back to get the kid, but a shockwave coming from the golden Nosepass blocks the entrance with a stone door rising from the ground. "Damn! Kid, Neon!" Jordie yells at unison with their pokémon's scared 'Boo'.

The tantrum pokémon starts punching the door with desperation. Two hits from Boo's Rock Smash are enough to put a dent on it, but with a single and untrained arm, Boo might need to rest after a few punches. Maroon's anchor could help break it, but they are three pokémon versus… five (if Probopass does something without the Mini-Noses) and Jordie needs as much help as possible.

"Alright, we won't be able to get out of here unless we beat these guys! Gabby girl, do your thing! Maroon, Astonish at Probopass!" Gabby had already started accumulating her psychic energy before Jordie even gave the order. Training with the same strategy for years makes the activation of Trick Room pretty quick as ironic as it may sound. At first, it took her around twenty seconds to activate it, but now she's able to do it before her opponent makes their move. This gives them a slight edge on the battle; even if Probopass and Nosepass are slow pokémon, the Mini-Noses will move at a shorter speed and Gabby is able to escape them easily.

Before the leader Probopass can react and mobilize its Mini-Noses, it's hit with a quick jab from the phantom seaweed, making it lose its concentration.

"Bane boy, show me what you got!" Not having their X-Transceiver to look at their Aron's moves is problematic, for sure. Thankfully, the pokémon seems to be in the mood to battle, however, the only things he does are growl and breathe heavily. Maybe he is too scared to move? With the difference between his and the other pokémon's speed, Bane boy should only feel a slight boost if anything, so maybe it's something else, but there really is no time for that; they'll have to scold him once this is over.

The golden Nosepass starts shaking, materializing small stones out of thin air and directing them at Gabby. The cell pokémon blocks them with Reflect, and then the Nosepass makes the same move, this time directed at Maroon. They use their anchor as a shield, but some of the rocks still hit them.

Finally able to concentrate again, the Probopass calls the smaller units back. Gabby tries to stop the pokémon from making a move with Psyshock, but the Nosepass appears in front of her, shrouded in electricity and charges at her; right after that, Maroon attempts another Astonish, but this time they are sent back once the Mini-Noses start creating a Sandstorm by spinning at high speed like a fan.

"Sandstorm? Tsk! This can't be good, battling against Rock-types," Jordie grunts. They must change their strategy and remove any sort of advantage the two compass pokémon have right now. "Maroon, try putting down the Sandstorm with Gyro Ball! Gabby, use Recover! Protect Maroon with your screens!"

The Dhelmise sticks their anchor into the ground and starts spinning their helm at a similar speed to the Mini-Noses', blowing the rising sand away, with little results.

The golden Nosepass tries to approach the pokémon from one side with its electric attack, but Gabby knocks it back with a Psyshock before putting her barriers on that side.

One of the Mini-Noses leaves the group and starts to float towards Gabby. She shoots a Psyshock at it, and puts her screens on that side, but the floating unit keeps following her camouflaging on the sandstorm, which she doesn't realize until it gets her and explodes, sending Gabby flying outside the barriers to be caught by the Nosepass' Rock Throw.

"Gabby!" While Jordie knows this shouldn't be a hard blow for her, they still worry and have her using Recover before turning their glance towards their other pokémon.

Bane is still breathing heavily and roaring with anger. Weirdly enough, his eyes seem to be slightly reddish now and his armor is harder, so hard that he has left a few dents on the floor. "This would be a good moment to start doing something, y'know?" After telling him that, they hear a loud howl. Bane simply disappears from his spot, crashing against the golden Nosepass with a headbutt while it prepares its next electric attack.

"That's right, Bane boy!" Jordie screams with excitement and surprise, looking directly at their Aron. He has trouble maintaining his balance though. It's problematic, but it's only natural considering the speed he was going at. "We'll look into that later, but for now I need you to focus on the opponent before you. Try attacking with a steel type attack now, if you know any!" Bane barks in approval and pounces at the golden Nosepass that has started to rest on the spot. This time, he scratches it with his front claws, twice in a row, apparently knocking it out for good.

Jordie looks backwards and sees baby Boo is still there, punching the stone door with an occasional headbutt and getting progressively tired and weaker. They hear a loud bang from the other side that startles the Clobbopus and wrecks the door, leaving a small opening between it and the wall. It must be Neon. Boo cheers and starts punching the edge of the door, while Neon does the same from the other side with his electric attacks. Yeah, we can get out.

While the Mini-Noses spin, each time at higher speeds, they start charging energy, all while continuing raising the Sandstorm in the room. However, with the golden Nosepass out of the game, Gabby can approach them with little trouble. She aims a Psyshock at one, but it's easily deflected by the energy surrounding them. The Probopass notices Gabby's attack and glares at her. Suddenly, the Mini-Noses unleash three different types of energies at once in the form of a Tri-Attack; and while they have always been facing towards Maroon, the beam turns directly at the cell pokémon. Immediately after, the compass pokémon sends another Mini-Nose towards her, with the same intent of going after Gabby. After it explodes, the Probopass sends another one as the previous one returns, except that this one is directed at Maroon, interrupting their Gyro Ball.

"Dammit!" The Sandstorm keeps going strong, and Probopass keeps sending Magnet Bomb after Magnet Bomb, both against Gabby and Maroon. Gabby's screens don't last long, and the explosions give her barely enough time to use Recover successfully. Maroon has better luck with them, though, swinging their anchor to detonate the bombs as they come and also hitting the Probopass while they are at it.

While the Probopass sends its bombs, it starts glowing its eyes the same pinkish gleam as before, and once a last Magnet Bomb hits its target, it unleashes the same light, blinding Jordie and their pokémon for a few seconds. Once the light fades and Jordie sees the battlefield again, they see a defeated Gabby and a really weakened Maroon. Behind them, Boo has also fainted. The only pokémon that seems to have taken the hit without any trouble is Bane, who instantly leaps at the Probopass to attack with his claws, except that he has slowed down significantly and becomes easy to dodge.

Jordie holds their breath, returning Gabby and Boo to their Dusk Balls. For a moment they think about fighting with what they have, but it's just not possible. After thinking about it for a bit, they finally come up with a plan.

"You win," they say, after taking out the keystone and letting it fall on the ground, while they walk towards the exit.

The Probopass gets closer to the keystone, lifting it with its Mini-Noses. Jordie grins. I win.

"Maroon, Wrap!" The seaweed pokémon coils around their opponent, using their anchor to force it against the ground. It tries to defend itself by using the Mini-Noses as explosives again, dropping the keystone. Bane uses this moment to charge against the wild Probopass to repeatedly strike with his claws.

While their pokémon are at it, Jordie calls Neon back to his pokéball and sends him to the battlefield.

"Neon, let's finish this with Fissure!" The ground starts trembling as soon as Neon's blue pattern starts vibrating with intensity, causing it to crack and raise pointed stones with huge intensity. A cloud of dust blinds the team's sight for a little while, but once it dissipates, Jordie sees it was the final blow.

"You all did great," Jo says, looking at their pokémon and the defeated Probopass, panting and sweating, but smiling because of their victory. Bane walks to them, holding the keystone in his mouth and puts it in front of Jordie, looking at them with his eyes wide open as if expecting a treat. The trainer smiles and pats him. "Now let's get out of here before this thing wakes up."

Neon and baby Boo did a really good job wrecking that door, Jordie could walk outside the room with ease. When they exit what they called The Ritual Room, they see the kid sitting against the wall with teary eyes, although it seems they stopped crying a while ago.

"Are you alright?" Jordie asks. They open their hand and show him the keystone. "See this? This is what I came here for. Beautiful isn't it?"

The kid doesn't answer.

"We can leave the cave now, there's nothing else for me to do here," they say, in a really lame attempt to cheer them up. "Can I have my X-Transceiver back, by the way?"

The kid does as told, but doesn't even look at them.

Jordie stays quiet for a few seconds, thinking if they should say something before they break the silence again. "I-I'm going to call the Rangers back. It must be safer to go backl with them, y'see?"

"I already did."

"What?"

"I called an emergency number using your watch."

"Oh… I- I see… That was smart. You're thinking like a trainer now."

"I'm scared," the kid says all of a sudden. Actually, they were too for a bit. For a minute there, Jordie really thought they had lost the battle. They don't want to think what would've happened if that had been the case.

"... Don't worry," Maybe 'I'm sorry' would've been a more appropriate response. "... The Rangers will be here soon."

- Gabby grew to level 26!
- Neon grew to level 22! Neon forgot Mud Shot and learned Mud Bomb!
- Maroon grew to level 18! Maroon forgot Growth and learned Metal Sound!
- Boo grew to level 13!
- Bane grew to level 22! Bane Forgot Headbutt and learned Iron Head!

Jordie's Party:

Inventory:

Spoiler:

QueenNothing · Jun 15, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Sunday, September 27th
Afternoon
Route 103

Spoiler:

The loud chirping of the Ninjasks in the area is something that would excite her in any other situation, but now it just serves as a reminder that if she catches Heracross that she legally would be unable to catch Nincada. Not only that, but she's also missing out on an opportunity to catch Burmy as well- a Pokemon that's particularly fascinating because of its many forms.

On one hand, if she were to catch Nincada or Burmy, there's a chance she'd end up with Ninjask and Mothim, both bug and flying-types, and she already has Sting and Kit, if the latter evolves anyways. But on the other hand… Ninjask and Wormadam not only would be nice additions to her team, but they'd also give her new typings to help her out in battles. Maybe if she went for those instead of Heracross…

No! June tightens the grip she has on her bug net. She's specifically scanning for Heracross to strengthen her team, and she will focus on that. As unfortunate as it is, she'll have to pass on Nincada and Burmy- and breaking the rules is absolutely out of the question.

She continues to wander through the vast woods in any hopes that her PokeGear picks up some sort of signal for the Single Horn Pokemon while she has Sting nest on her straw hat she wore to keep the sun out of her eyes. Whenever she looks up from her device, she walks close to any trees with a thick trunk since that's where Heracross are more likely to rest, but she still receives no signal. This doesn't lower her spirits in the slightest as she continues through the woods.

After an unspecified amount of time, her PokeGear beeps once, then twice, then non-stop, letting June know that the Pokemon she desires to catch is very close… but when looking up from her phone, all she sees is a tree with a thick trunk. No Heracross in sight. Most trainers would question if the app works properly, but June knows her bugs well enough to know what's going on.

"If the HRD is correct, then there should be a Heracross nearby!" She says to herself. "Of course it must be hiding somewhere, and my best guess would be that it's in this tree somewhere. Fortunately for me, I have a method to lure it out!"

June looks around for a bit and stops on a nearby tree that's just slightly thinner than the one she thinks Heracross might be hiding around. She walks towards it and kneels to unpack her hiking pack, and spends little time searching for something before pulling out a jar and a brush.

"Oh, I've always wanted to use this method for actually catching Pokemon!" She quietly shrieks. "This should work without fail. Heracross adore honey!" Using the brush, she slathers some honey on the trunk of this tree and sprints behind a different tree where she peeks out from behind it. She can feel her patience paying off.

What feels like ten minutes pass, and June doesn't budge an inch, still firmly grasping her bug-catching net. Her plan is to wait for an unsuspecting Heracross to fly over and throw the net over its horn while in the middle of eating to keep it temporarily still so Sting can use a super-effective flying-type attack on it. As things are going now, there's nothing that really can foil her plans, and she's even more confident in it when she hears the buzzing of a pair of wings and a loud hissing sound that can only be one Pokemon.

She gets a good look at the Heracross as it attaches itself to the tree to start licking the honey. The end of it's horn is shaped like a bow, and she's immediately able to recognize it as a male. She's able to control herself and not fawn over the Pokemon right in-front of her. That's something she can do after he's cau-

RING RING RING RING!

The Heracross freezes in its place. June's eyes widen when her phone suddenly starts ringing. Why is it that someone has to call her now of all times? Who could it even be in the first place?

Incoming Call: Dad

June sighs under her breath. Of course… She knows if she ignores the call that he'll just call again, so she quickly answers to stop the loud ringing from her phone. She'll try getting this over with while whispering to not scare Heracross away.

"Hello…"

"JUUUUUUUUUUUNKOOOOO!!! IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE YOU LAST CALLED ME, PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE SAFE!!! PLEASE TELL ME YOU STILL LOVE YOUR DEAR OLD DAD?? I-I-I MISS YOU SO MUCH, JUUUUUUNKO!!!

June immediately has to pull her phone away from her ear to avoid hearing loss. Why did she expect anything different to happen?

"I still do love you Dad, now just happens to be a very bad time!"

"EEEEEHHHHHH!?!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS A REALLY BAD TIME!?!?!? OH, I[//b] GET IT, IT'S THAT AVRIL GIRL, ISN'T IT!! YOU MUST HAVE BEEN SPENDING SO MUCH TIME WITH HER THAT YOU'VE ALREADY FORGOTTEN YOUR DAD!! I can't believe it… I knew you were growing up fast, b-b-but I didn't… I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D ALREADY HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT MY OWN LITTLE GIRL IS ALREADY PUTTING ON THE ENOMOTO MOVES-"

"No, it's really not like that!" She says begrudgingly. "It's just that-"

June freezes when she hears a loud slashing sound from behind her. The tree trunk that she was relaxing her bodyweight against slowly dislodges before it completely slides off, leaving nothing but a stump in its place. Slowly, she turns her body around to see that her dad's weeping gave her position away as she faces the Heracross, who looks back at her with a cocky grin.

"Um- we can talk later. Goodbye dad."

Usually she'd be ecstatic, but June found herself intimidated by the way the Single Horn Pokemon stares into her eyes. Unsure of what to do, she pulls up her Pokedex app and shouts "S-Sting, use Air Cutter!"

Right as he's commanded, Sting hastily swoops off from June's hat and blows forward a sharp gust of wind. Rather than retaliating though, Heracross simply stands still as his eyes glow amber. Dirt clouds are kicked up from the wind, and when it settles, June is shocked to see Heracross still standing with his same smug aura despite how scratched up he is.

"B-but how!" June yelps, anxiously referring to the Pokedex for an answer, where she finds out Heracross just used the technique Endure, which allows him to survive any attack, no matter how strong. She figures it'd be a good idea to simply order another Air Cutter, but before she can even muster up the words, the Heracross jumps backwards onto a tree and springs forward from it, straightening his body out in a way that allows it to be engulfed in streaks of light before disappearing completely. It doesn't take him long at all to reappear behind Sting which follows a collision noise and Sting being knocked to the ground.

"Sting!!" She calls out, but he gives no response. Wincing, she's left no other choice but to return him to his ball. While this happens, Heracross flexes as if to taunt Sting's failure, but the Pokedex suggests this is more than a mere gesture- it's actually an ability that Heracross are rarely found with, Moxie, which makes the user stronger with every foe they've defeated! Encountering a wild Heracross with a rare ability is definitely more fun on paper than in-practice.

"Fighting-types are weak to psychic-types! Einstein, I need your help!"

As soon as Einstein materializes, Heracross only thinks to repeat his previous strategy. June, expecting this, calls out for a Reflect that her Pokemon projects before Heracross can hit. She anticipates that the barrier would bounce Heracross back and throw him off, which would leave him open for a Confusion to take him out. This is why it comes as a shock when, instead of being bounced back, Heracross' movements aren't halted by the barrier- instead he tears right through it with Aerial Ace, as the Pokedex calls it. Upon seeing the forcefield being destroyed in a single hit and Einstein being knocked back, June's jaw drops to the ground.

All she can do is stand still for a few seconds before noticing Einstein hasn't been knocked out yet- but she figures it's a good idea to have him retreat if Reflect isn't worthwhile in this situation. She's unsure how much Kit and Chip will be able to help though if Einstein and Kit weren't able to do much, but one thing she is sure of is that she just can't give up.

Sting grew to level 28!

QueenNothing · Jun 16, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Sunday, September 27th
Afternoon
Route 103

Spoiler:

"Kit, please help me!"

Right as her Surskit is sent out, she repeats the same routine that's been ingrained into her- Water Sport to create a puddle and use it to her advantage. As she circles Heracross a few times, he's bombarded with speedy bubbles from all directions, and if only one can land then Heracross wouldn't be nearly as much of a threat. It looks as though there's no way out for him, but a smirk across his face gives the impression he has some tricks up his sleeve.

Heracross thrusts an arm forward at an oncoming bubble to pop it, and does it again with his other arm to pop a different bubble. He repeats this, rapidly thrusting his palm against any of the projectiles headed this way.

"Kit, use Quick Attack!" While Heracross is distracted with the bubbles, Kit speeds across the pond to tackle him from behind. Heracross doesn't fall though- he turns around to smirk and show his eyes are again glowing amber, much to June's dismay. She flinches and calls for Kit to slide away and use Agility. Kit shoots a mix of slow and fast moving bubbles, but Heracross still continues to counter each and every one with Arm Thrust. Eventually realizing that Kit can only produce so many bubbles, June has Kit only use Agility to try to exhaust Heracross.

Heracross however, doesn't look intimidated in the slightest. He tries keeping up with where Kit, who is moving so fast she's hardly visible, is positioned and charges his body forward, being engulfed in blades of air, and…

SLASH

Heracross reappears from behind Kit, who collapses to the ground. June gasps while Heracross flexes again while his arms seem to grow bulkier. She struggles to think how he was able to strike Kit while she was moving at such a high speed and turns to the Pokedex for an answer.

The user confounds the target with speed, then slashes. This attack never misses.

June can't stop fixating on the latter half of the description. Heracross jumps up and down to exert his extra energy and swings his arms, raring to go. Einstein is still available, but he needs more time to rest before being able to battle again. That only leaves…

"Chip, please help!!"

When Chip is sent out, Heracross scoffs at the tiny Pokemon. Chip whimpers and kicks chunks of dirt into his eyes, causing Heracross to grunt.

It feels like a long shot, but if his eyes glow while using Endure, maybe that's the key!

"Chip, use Aqua Jet!" Chip's body is surrounded by water as his body darts forward and rams straight into Heracross. While he clearly didn't expect it because the sand was in his eyes, right as he's hit he opens them and shows they're glowing amber once again. Turning things in his favor, Heracross slashes at Chip with his arm that glows purple. June is able to call out for a Defense Curl in-time to mitigate the damage, so instead of being sent flying, Chip rolls back and is stopped when slamming into a tree, still conscious. As June would expect though, he comes scurrying over to his Pokeball, as Wimpod do. Before he can get close enough to return however, Heracross comes jolting forward with Aerial Ace, and Chip turns around, scuttles the other way, and even tries using Aqua Jet to escape! It's no use though- in the blink of an eye, Heracross appears from behind Chip, who is now fainted.

June's legs start to wobble, her heat pumps like a drum, and she watches with dread as the Heracross moves his continuously growing arms inward to flex. She knew full well just how strong Heracross were but despite that it somehow never occurred to her that facing one could be dangerous. This is an entirely different experience from battling a strong trainer such as Wally. Even though his Pokemon can output as much strength as a strong wild Pokemon, they have Wally to know their limits and when to hold back- something this Heracross seems completely devoid of. While a trainer's Pokemon will stop when their limits are met, this Heracross seems willing to die fighting.

Feeling desperate, she nearly resorts to something that rarely has failed her- instinctively, she reaches out for her pendant, but stops herself midway.

I can't seek Grandma's advice right now! She'd have nothing to say for this, she wouldn't even want me battling in the first place!!

When she grabs Einstein's Pokeball, she stares into the eyes of the menacing Heracross. The more she does so though, the more she starts feeling her heartbeat slow down and her breathing becomes more and more steady. She hardly notices, but something is overtaking her- and this isn't the first time this has happened. Eventually, her panicked thoughts fade away, as do all her other thoughts, and before she knows it, all she's focusing on is her battle with this Heracross.

"Go, Einstein!"

Einstein's shell is covered in scratches from his match with Heracross, but June isn't bothered. Even though she knows from experience that Reflect is useless right now and that Heracross can keep standing with Endure, she almost feels as though there's something about Einstein that's speaking out to her. It sounds silly, considering Einstein barely makes any noise, but in the moment she would swear that he's reaching out to her somehow, and it's telling her to let him battle.

Hoping to end the battle the same way it started, Heracross uses a tree trunk as a springboard to propel himself forward and uses Aerial Ace. During the split-second in between Aerial Ace activating and it hitting, something tells June to not use Reflect or Confusion but to just… do nothing. Having nothing to lose, she does just that as Heracross gets ready to take Einstein out with one last attack.

Once that split-second is up though, Heracross doesn't appear from behind Einstein while he's defeated. Instead, Heracross' momentum is completely halted and his horn is rammed into Einstein, causing Heracross to gasp in shock. There's a second of silence as both parties figure out what's going on, but that soon becomes clear as cracking sounds are heard coming from Einstein while cracks form where Heracross' horn had hit.

Spoiler:

The blue dots on Einstein start flashing white, as do his eyes, and the cracks on his front extent to his entire body. Heracross frantically jumps on his feet, freeing his horn from the spot he hit, leading to Einstein's entire shell to break in half, revealing an orb that glows white which lifts into the air. June stares at the orb in awe as it is raised up, and the lower half of it thins drastically. When the shape forms clearly, the white light that surrounds the orb doesn't fade away, rather it morphs into a ball of energy that's shot forward. Heracross crosses his arms and uses Endure, but he still skids back from the impact.

The thing that arose from Einstein's shell folds out a pair of wings outwards while levitating in the air, releasing a noise that June can only describe as an almost robotic-like hiss. "E-Einstein…" June stutters in disbelief, blinking rapidly. "You… you evolved! You finally evolved!! I… I don't believe it!!!"

Heracross grunts in frustration, but doesn't give up. He squats and jumps upwards to Aerial Ace into Einstein. Without any sort of command, Einstein projects a barrier that Heracross barely manages to make a dent in before being harshly bounced back and creating a small crater in the ground when landing.

Before Heracross can make another move, Einstein floats down to his level and successfully lands a Supersonic. Heracross, now inflicted, wobbles in-place and struggles to keep his balance. Einstein decides to take advantage of this state, and the spots on his new wing covers as well as his eyes glow pink, getting a grip on Heracross with Confusion. Psychic energy surrounds his body, and more and more weight is put on Heracross' body which plants him deeper into the crater he stands in.

June is too awestruck by the sight to say anything. This is the result of her work as a trainer, and to see it pay-off in such a way… it leaves her speechless. Eventually though, Einstein turns around to face June and gestures toward the Single Horn Pokemon.

"O-oh, right!" June reaches for one of her empty Net Ball, and takes a deep breath before tossing it at Heracross. It shakes once, then twice, then a third, fourth, and even fifth time until…

Click

June exhales loudly and can feel her muscles relax themselves. She picks up the Pokeball and says "I… we did it. Einstein, I'm… I'm so proud of you!" A single tear runs down her face which Einstein is quick to notice. He zooms over to her and nuzzles her face to the best of his ability. June giggles. "I knew that as a Dottler, you were physically unable to show affection like you did as a Blipbug, but I was starting to believe that you were growing cold… deep down I knew that couldn't be true, a-and I'm s-so…" She pauses to sniffle. "I just couldn't be happier that that isn't the case!" She extends one arm out to hug Einstein while holding the Net Ball in the other. The first thing she should do right now is head to the nearest Pokemon Center, but right now she just wants to enjoy this moment with the Pokemon she took on a journey with her as a celebration. She deserves it.

June caught a Heracross!
Einstein evolved into Orbeetle!
Einstein grew to level 30!
Kit grew to level 26!
Chip grew to level 23!

🐞 June's Party 🐞

38,492

Spoiler:

QueenNothing · Jun 18, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Sunday, September 27th
Afternoon
Oldale-Littleroot Township

"Oooohh, that's why you couldn't talk! Why didn't you just say you were battling a tough Pokemon!" June's dad chuckles from the other line. June sighs under her breath. "I gotta say, I'm blown away that you were able to catch a Heracross! That's badass!"

After healing her Pokemon at the Littledale Pokemon Center, June felt it would be polite to call her dad back now that she had some downtime. It actually has been a few days since the last time she called either of her parents, and given her dad's explosive outbursts, it's not hard to imagine why that might be the case. She believes him to have good intentions, she just wishes he had outlets for his emotions that weren't so… well, loud, to put it bluntly. "I'm just as surprised as you are, trust me… I even had a moment where I was struck with terror. I knew Heracross were strong, but the strength this Heracross exhibited was still beyond my understanding, and I only have two badges. It's only going to escalate from here…" She looks over to Einstein, who stays out of his Pokeball, similarly to how he did as a Blipbug, floating close to June at all times. "...but despite my challenges, I persevered. Not only did I catch the Heracross, but Einstein even evolved because of that!"

"Junko, I'm so proud of you!!!" He cheers. "You've only been in Hoenn for barely more than a week, and your starter Pokemon is already fully evolved and you've caught a badass Pokemon! And two badges? That means you beat Norman, didn't ya! That takes some serious skill!"

"Actually, Norman doesn't accept challengers anymore. A man named Wally Greene is taking over in his place."

"Wally Greene!?!" You fought Wally and won!?"

"...yes? Is there anything notable about that?"

"He's one of Hoenn's trop trainers! Looks like he's come a long way since I last battled him in the Hoenn league!" Her dad suddenly goes silent for a second, which June finds unusual. "Um, listen Junko, I… I should tell you something."

"What might that be?"

June's dad takes a deep breath. "It's been hard for me to see you grow up. Your mom has been telling me since you left for Hoenn that I need to accept that. I don't like admitting defeat, not one bit!... but hearing this has made it hard to realize that not only are you becoming a young woman, but a great Pokemon trainer as well. I've wrestled with a Heracross once so I know just how tough those fuckers are, and the fact that you caught one says a lot about your skill."

"N-no no, I'm really not as skilled as you might think!"

"That's bullshit!!!" June's dad cries. "There's no way the daughter of Junichi Enomoto would be anything but that! All it takes is some elbow grease and before ya know it, you'll compete to have your name engraved in the Hall of Fame!"

"Hall of Fame…" This is the second time somebody has brought up the Hall of Fame to June. From the name alone, it sounds like something incredibly difficult to get into, and she's not sure if she should even try. "I suppose I'll contemplate if I should try for that."

"Hell yeah!!!" Junichi roars. "Go up there and show them that your bugs kick ass!" He then clears his throat. "But um, I guess I should go, I have a club I need to supervise… just promise me one thing-"

"Of course I'll always love you, Dad." June smiles. "But well, since you mentioned it… it might be a little unnecessary to need to remind you frequently."

"Yeah. Right." She can hear her dad holding back tears. "I... need to go now, I can't miss my train. Goodbye Junko, and just remember that I'll always love you!"

"Don't worry dad- I love you too." She says before hanging up. Her dad brought up some interesting things that stay on her mind, particularly how much she's grown as a Pokemon Trainer. It's hard to believe, but just a week ago she knew absolutely nothing about Pokemon battles, and now she already has two badges and two fully evolved Pokemon! If she keeps this up any longer, maybe the Hall of Fame isn't such a long shot…

Maybe that's where she can show the beauty of bugs to everyone.

It's not something to dismiss so easily, but she's been off-task for long enough. Now it's time to focus on her report she told Brendan she'd write.

Heracross are a species of Pokemon that are rarely found in many areas around the world, but this report will focus on those found within certain trees along Trainer Route 103 of the Hoenn region that can be found during most times of the day. Because they're much larger than most other known bug-types, thin trees are an unsuitable home as they cannot support their weight, so taller and thicker trees are often where they rest.

Heracross love to feed off of tree sap, and they will fly through forests to seek it out. To take advantage of this, bug catchers have come up with a technique to lure them out by slathering sweet honey on trees, although there is much debate within bug catching communities if this is even useful. Some have argued the practice is too time consuming, citing anecdotes from individuals who claim it can take up to six hours for Pokemon to appear, while some even say the honey seems to lose its effectiveness after twenty-four hours. Those who oppose what is dubbed the "Honey Tree Technique" argue in favor of a different method, which is to use the blunt force of a Pokemon's attack to ram into trees, forcing wild Pokemon to fall out of them. This is known as the "Headbutt Technique", as that was the attack first used for this. The criticism often pointed out by detractors of the Headbutt Technique is that it's unreliable, but even more common than that is how unethical it's perceived to be.

The strength of the average Heracross is rivaled by very few bug-types, even rumored to be able to lift objects a hundred times its size with relative ease. Heracross are able to slice trees down, although the limit of this is unknown. With their legs, they can spring themselves into the air to use attacks such as Aerial Ace if flying isn't an option. Their strength is their pride and joy, however some Heracross take this to another level. Very few Heracross are born with the ability Moxie, an ability that boosts their confidence so much that after defeating a foe that their muscles grow. When encountering solo Heracross in the wild, they seem to want to engage in brawls for little reason other than the sake of it.

One of the techniques Heracross can learn is Endure, which allows them to survive incoming attacks regardless of how powerful it may be. One in particular used it at every possible opportunity to an extent that it might be considered unfair in a professional setting. Perhaps it didn't care for winning, but maybe was instead interested in the thrill it got from fighting?

🐞 June's Party 🐞

37,492

Spoiler:

budube · Jun 19, 2021

Jordie "Jo" Hughes

Monday, September 21st

Chapter 2: Part 9 - Troublemaker Dude

15:00 pm to 15:05 pm - Dewford Beach
"Bane boy, use Iron Head! Baby Boo, distance yourself!" Bane nods before pouncing at Maroon's anchor like I tell him, while Boo just stands and waits by my side. After the hit, I switch commands and Bane runs back to where I am, and baby Boo goes to land a Rock Smash.

The idea is to have both Bane boy and baby Boo used to Gabby girl's Trick Room to enhance their physical strength, resistance and coordination. Since both of them will need physical contact to fight, they have to react to the sudden change in acceleration properly. More intense training is needed for Bane though, since he is also using Curse, which makes him even slower. We've been training like this for a while at Dewford Beach after one of the Rangers that rescued us asked me to meet him here.

The exit to Granite Cave wasn't too far away from where I battled the Leader Probopass. Two Rangers came to rescue the kid and I and took us that way. One of them was a young brunette woman with an Altaria; she took the kid back to the town after a call she made as soon as we left the cave. The other one was a blonde man with a Noivern, he was the one that took me to the station after a few calls and having a not very nice chat with me, yet weirdly enough, when he saw the unconscious Probopass at the cave, he grinned and went "Woah, did you do that!?"

Of course, I got in trouble. Not only for separating myself from the rest of the group, that was the least problematic thing, y'see? I got in trouble mostly for taking a kid with me down the cave. However, once the kid confirmed they followed me, the Rangers were generous enough to just have me pay a double fine, one for walking past an off-limits zone and the other one for accidental child endangerment, to put it in some way.

It's better than going to jail, I guess, but it's still not fine, y'know? It wasn't even my fault, I didn't even want to take the kid with me, but I guess no one would believe that a Dhelmise forced me to take the kid with me, and that Dhelmise is mine as well. I'm just afraid of what could happen if this became public knowledge, honestly.

Problem is, I would run out of money with that second fine. That's what I'm here for, at the Ranger's suggestion. He said to meet him at the beach, near the surfing shop, around three. It gave me enough time to heal my pokémon and eat something.

"Good hit, Bane boy!" I say after seeing how his Iron Head manages to move Maroon's anchor a bit. "Maroon, use Iron Defense once more, please. Baby Boo, it's your turn."

"Boo!" he cheers before going at full speed against- and he falls. He lost his balance. He hasn't fully recovered yet. I did tell him to be careful because of that, though, he just has a lot of energy.

"Are you alright? That should be enough training for you, you must still be tired from earlier. How's your arm?"

"Boo!" he says, turning his body slightly, showing off his still growing tentacle. Even if it doesn't hurt him, he can't have an actual battle like that. Training him will be harder than I thought if his arms keep popping off like that.

"Hee hee, I see. It's still growing, huh?" I say with a smile and pat his head. "You stay here with me, alright? I'll train here with Bane, Gabby and Maroon."

"Boo! Boo!" he cheers before running to where Neon is, on the shore not too far away from where we are training.

"Okay, now that it's just him… Bane boy, come here." Bane comes running as soon as I call him, energetically hopping from one side to the other. He has just the same energy as Boo, and I can't help but laugh a bit at that. "How are you liking training under Trick Room so far? Are you feeling a bit dizzy?" He just barks in response, but continues moving frantically. I get it, that was a dumb question. "Great! We'll try something else now. Whenever I say 'Use Curse!', you'll use the same move you used back at the cave before crashing against that Nosepass, alright?" He barks once again. "Good. We'll be using Gabby's screens now. You'll do the exact same thing you've been doing so far, but this time you'll have to break her Reflect instead… Gabby, if you will."

Gabby sets a small screen in front of her and then moves out of the way. I call for Bane to use Curse once before having him use Metal Claw against that screen. After using Curse once, he has no trouble controlling his balance. He yips before hitting the screen with his right front paw and then heads back to where I am and instantly runs back to the screen. He repeats that action at least six times before Gabby's Reflect finally breaks and he comes back with a proud stance.

"Yes, that's good. How are you feeling? Problems with balance?" Bane barks happily in response, hopping side to side again. "I see, he can add a bit of extra speed. Gabby, put up a similar screen. Bane, use Curse once again and do the same as before."

Both pokémon do as they are told. When Bane starts running towards the screen, he has trouble with stopping to launch a direct attack at the screen and gets through it and attacks at the air instead. Upon realizing that, he jumps off the screen and hits it with his right paw.

"Stop! Enough, come back here." I take a deep breath when Bane comes to where I am, still jumping with a lot of energy. "Ok, first of all calm down a bit… Good. Now, if you miss an attack, you back off immediately before trying again from another angle. In a real battle, if you don't move, you're only letting the other pokémon attack you first, y'see? You have speed on your side, use it." Bane takes his time to process all that, but in the end he agrees. "Good. Let's try again."

"Training your pokémon?" the Ranger says in a really loud voice, walking to where I am with a megaphone in his hands.

"What did you have me come here for?"

"Hm? Well you need money to pay your fine, you're a trainer and I'm also a referee that likes big battles," That explains a few things, but I can't say I understand what I got myself into yet. How is that important? Referees belong in gyms and tournaments, not at the beach. And what even is that megaphone for? He's already loud enough, y'know?

He tells me that I should stop training my pokémon to not tire them out and has me waiting for a while, just looking at the waves. There's this guy surfing and for some reason everyone is looking at him, including the Ranger that I hear mutter something I don't understand as he smiles. It's hard to see what he looks like with my sunglasses on when his face is covered by sunglasses as well. It's not after he is done surfing that I'm able to see better that blueish and messy hair. Everything just starts making sense to me.

"That man is Brawly Marshall, Dewford Town's Gym Leader," the Ranger-referee confirms.

Everyone turns their glances at the Gym Leader as he walks towards us. People are making such a fuss that even Neon comes out of the sand to see what's up.

"W-woah! Who left this zappy dude here!?" he yells in surprise, jumping to one side after almost stepping on the Stunfisk, then turns back to the Ranger. "Heya there, dude! Surfin' much lately?"

"Nah, work's busy. You know, the usual thing," the Ranger answers, greeting the Gym Leader with a brofist. "This is Jordie Hughes, the trainer I talked to you about on the phone."

"Oh, so you're that troublemaker dude? Yeah, Reed told me. I'm Brawly." Troublemaker dude? That's a weird name to call someone. Brawly doesn't look as serious as Reed when it comes to mentioning this matter, though; he's actually smiling at the whole thing. "Teens be teens, I get it. Reed and I got in a lot of trouble for this kinda stuff before I got this position, ain't that right?" Brawly laughs, punching Reed's arm lightly, but the Ranger doesn't take that statement with much grace.

"It was mostly your fault."

Brawly chuckles, but then talks to me again... or at my pokémon, he's pointing at them. "Whatever, show me what you got."

"Oh, right." I proceed to show Brawly my pokémon. Suddenly, I start feeling a bit embarrassed about what happened with Neon when he was walking here. "This is my team right now. I'm sorry for my Stunfisk, by the way. If I had known-"

"No worries! I step on one of these zappy dudes at least once a month," he laughs it off with a grin. "With five pokémon we can have a 5-on-5 singles battle. Whatcha say, troublemaker dude?"

"Actually, it's four and a half." And I would appreciate it if you stopped calling me troublemaker dude, y'know? I pick up baby Boo that came to me to look at the person standing before me. "We're missing an arm, y'see?"

"Boo!" the Clobbopus cheers, waving his arm at Brawly.

"Hah! Good one! It'll grow back, though. Give it one or two days. I like Clobbopus, they are energetic little dudes. Bit dumb, but tougher than they look. I got a surfboard torn in half by one once," he affirms, greeting baby Boo with a brofist too, but the Clobbopus exaggerates by actually punching Brawly's fist. "But I guess you don't want it to fight in that state. Fair enough. I can't break my pokémon in half, though, so how about a 4-on-4 double battle, then?"

"I'm fine with that! Do I find you at the-"

"No, we are having the battle right now," he interrupts. "Choose your first two, dude!"

- Boo grew to level 14!
- Bane grew to level 24! Bane Forgot Rock Tomb and learned Rock Slide!

Jordie's Party:

Inventory:

Spoiler:

Eleanor · Jun 20, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 33
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Aromatherapy, Wish, Magical Leaf

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

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 24
Infiltrator
Night Slash, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 30
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Crunch, 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
🌼 5 Rare berries

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]

I'm not one of them

Sunday, September 27^th - noon - Littledale Pokémon Center

I take a seat in one corner of this Cafeteria, as I always do, and take a look at the small selection of "special berries" that the very kind people at the Cottage on Route 102 gave me as a parting gift. I know some of these, but others… oh, they definitely speak for themselves! No need to remark how rare they are. I wonder if I could be able to make them grow somewhere…

First, a Liechi Berry, one that is said to mostly grow on tropical islands but that seems very useful for battling Pokémon… to the point that some of my family members even tried to grow it in Kalos! Of course, it didn't work at all.

Second, a Rindo Berry. This pod looking thing that does grow in Kalos, but is still rather difficult to find and isn't even that nice for humans to eat. Wonder why that was in there? But I'll take it.

Third, an Occa Berry. Even the smell of it is spicy, and it's a pretty hard berry as well. It could probably crush the Liechi Berry easily if I put them away together in a box that's too small.

And finally, some berries I definitely know of. Sitrus and Lum. Basically my father's flagship products. Those are pretty expensive berries on their own, not because they're necessarily hard to grow but because of their demand and because of the quality controls. As good as they taste, I should probably preserve them for a bit.

I'd better focus on my actual lunch, and on the… other kinds of fruit that Poppy is already munching. She definitely is making up for my own lack of appetite… and enthusiasm.

I'm looking around, trying to catch the gaze of the other trainers in the room and examining their behavior or appearance. Compared to Slateport or even Dewford, the room is emptier, but the trainers look a bit more experienced - and if they did come from Route 102, I can definitely see why. Even without all the complications I ran into, that path is not a walk in the park. Pun not intended…

Then again, I'm not one of them, not anymore. I'm Avril and I'm a tourist, a part-time job seeker, a clumsy and whimsical girl still finding herself, but already checking off the list all of the things she doesn't want to do. There's a big line between them and me.

I'm here in the Oldale-Littleroot Pokémon Center just to recover some of my energies and make a good plan to leave. I know my family is not exactly supporting me, but this time I don't feel bad for it. I will make it with my own forces and show everyone that I really mean what I've said. I… have to say that I find it so disheartening how I happened to fall with the one thing everyone praised me for, though. The bond between me and my Pokémon… is something that has only worked once, with me and Poppy, and that was mostly random chance or destiny or whatever playing some tricks on me. I know now, because things have been way harder with every other Pokémon I caught.

But like… what's done is done. Can't go back. The die has been cast. I think…

Sure, I could still win some monetary rewards from things like Contests, and I will likely miss those $5 000 that Brawly and Wally gave me, but I don't think that's something I should really try to get into now. On another note, I've already looked at the odd jobs board and skimmed through some of the announcements. Apparently there's a few farmers from around this town that are asking for help, but I'm unsure if I want to do that today. I've also found one name that… throws me off slightly… maybe I shall wait. There's also an announcement about cleaning the local Contest Hall when people use it for practice sessions and stuff. But not today, it seems. A few more offers seem to come from a bunch of bars or restaurants in the Littleroot area, which is… the opposite of where I am right now, but it might be worth looking into.

Said area does have a little port and some murky water, from what some websites say. Nothing like Dewford or Slateport, but I suppose it's enough to have a few decent seaside spots. Other than those, there seems to be a Pokémon laboratory and really not much else - many of the cool places are in Oldale instead, which is further north from Littleroot. That includes the Pokémon Center where I'm staying, of course, plus the Contest Hall I heard of before and most local shops or farms.

The two towns, just looking from the map, still look distinct, and yet… they've almost merged, hence the "Littledale" name. That's what I'm guessing anyways - this sounds very similar to what's going on with Vaniville and Aquacorde, a fair bit closer to home. They might start calling them "Vancorde" or "Aquaville" soon enough… Ok, Aquaville sounds more like a fusion between Ambrette and Cyllage. If that will ever happen, with all those cliffs. And now I'm missing my home region even more.

These are all thoughts that I'd better process in my room though. And so, once again… I won't leave this Pokémon Center for a while. All in due time, I suppose… all in due time.

QueenNothing · Jun 20, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Sunday, September 27th
Afternoon
Oldale-Littleroot Township

"By golly, am I starving!" Akira wheezes, pulling out a chair from a small table. "What are we havin', darlin'?"

Giorgia waltzes into the dining room, carrying three plates with her. "For our main course I thought I'd prepare some Seaking meat we had since I know Junko likes it," She says as she hands June her plate with a smile, "and for the side, well I noticed we had quite a few leftover sweet potatoes that didn't sell, and I wasn't going to let them go to waste, so I roasted what was left!. And don't worry- we have plenty for seconds!"

"Looks delicious! I wouldn' expect anythin' less from such a good cook!" She hastily grabs a pair of chopsticks and starts aggressively scarfing down her food in-sync with Betsy, who sits across the table from her. Giorgia's wide grin indicates she finds it endearing, and even though she didn't pick up the habit herself, it's not out of the ordinary for June- her dad eats exactly the same way depending on his mood.

While visiting her aunts' home, a few things stick out to June. Most notably, it's the style of house- quite a contrast from Tetsuo's fairly large traditional house, her aunts' house is a smaller, more Western-styled house. It's unlike anything she's seen in Goldenrod or anywhere else in all of Johto or Hoenn, that being a two-story brick house with a gable roof and a wide porch with an arch, among other things. While eating, her eyes wander to a flower pattern plastered on the interior walls. It makes sense why the house might look this way, afterall Giorgia isn't from Ransei. She probably just wanted a slice of her home region.

"So Junko," Giorgia speaks up to break the silence, "Why don't you tell us what you've been up to today?"

June finishes chewing her food before responding. "Well, I met with Brendan Birch today in Littleroot, and he informed me of Heracross, which lives on Route 102. I had to rent a boat to cross the inlet, and after a bit of searching I eventually found a Heracross, although he was quite overpowering… but after my Pokemon and I put in our best efforts, I managed to successfully catch him and my Dottler, Einstein, evolved into an Orbeetle!"

"Wow! That sounds really exciting, doesn't it Akira?" Giorgia stares at her wife for a moment before she lowers her plate, eyes widened, and asks "What now?"

"Your niece just caught a new Pokemon!"

"Oh, errr… that's dandy, I suppose. Hope ya take good care of em Junko, I reckon ya would since ya take after ma so much… although who knows if ya are goin' to be a trainer-"

"Akira!" Giorgia hisses through her teeth. "Don't you think you should support your nieces decisions?"

Akira firmly places her plate and chopsticks on the table. "I'm sorry, I just don't think I can. Battlin' is just gettin' poor Pokemon roughed up for no good reason. Junko, I love ya, but I just can't accept that what ya do is right." She says firmly as she sits upright and crosses her arms.

"Akira-"

"Umm, if I may, I…" To the shock of Giorgia and Akira, Junes tries her absolute best to speak up. "I-I had a time where I felt the same way, but after battling Wally and my Heracross, I… I'm really sorry, it might not be my place to speak, but… wh-what I'm trying to say is that I strongly disagree with you… what me and my Pokemon have is a friendship unlike anything else. I imagine it must be similar to how you and Betsy feel..."

"That's different." Akira responds snappily. "I ain't sendin' Betsy out to ruthlessly flatten other Pokemon like flapjacks, she's helpin' me out on the field, doin' good work. She's my equal- she helps with chores, so I feed her, give her a roof over her head an' a warm place to sleep, tell her when she's done a good job, an' treat her like she's a part of the family. Same goes for all the other Pokemon we got for helpin' 'round the farm. But what would happen if I battled with her? I kept her in an itty bitty ball when she wasn't needed only to let her out to beat the tar outta other Pokemon? She'd be below me, an' I don't want that. She deserves better." Betsy blushes and rubs the back of her head. "I ain't sayin' there's anythin' wrong with wantin' to catch pretty bugs an' showin' em off, but once ya start battlin' 'em yer basically killin' em. I've seen how Junichi battles."

"I…" June tightens her fist and takes a deep breath. Just a week ago she wouldn't dare say anything like this to a family member, but… "Th-that's not true! Everything you've mentioned that you do for Betsy are all things that I've done for my Pokemon! I acknowledge that there are trainers who are cruel and neglectful towards their Pokemon, but I'm determined to not fall into that! I know Dad is far from perfect with his own Pokemon, and I know that even Grandma made that mistake, but no matter what it costs I will never-"

"Wait, hol' on, you what!?" June flinches. She might have gotten a little too brave with that last part. "You know about ma!? But… how? We all promised y'were never supposed to know that! Who told you!?"

"Um…" June's confidence completely vanishes. It seems she wasn't thinking clearly, and now she'll have to face the consequences. "W-w-well, when I was in Petalburg, T-T-Tetsuo showed me…"

"TETSUO!?!" Akira's booming voice barks as she jolts from her chair and slams her palms on the table. Everyone except Giorgia freezes as rage pierces through the eyes of the 6'7" muscular woman. "Ooo, I shoulda known!! That VARMIN'!!! Ma had one wish left, and that Ekans had to go against it! Unbe-LIEAVABLE!!! First he guts the heart out of her conservatory she spent her entire life buildin', and now THIS! If I ever see that rascal again, ohoho, why I just might-"

"AKIRA!"

The harsh tone of voice and menacing glare from her wife is enough to get Akira to snap out of it. She pauses, taking in the fearful expressions of her Machamp and her niece, likely filled with regret. She then faces the opposite direction and walks towards the exit.

"Where are you going??" Giorgia worriedly asks, stopping Akira in the doorframe.

"To get some fresh air."

"But… you haven't even finished your food yet!"

"I ain't hungry no more. Give it to Betsy- she's got two stomachs. She can eat it just fine." When the screen door from behind her is heard closing, Giorgia exhales loudly.

"Giorgia, I'm… I'm so sorry for this!" June feels this all could have been avoided if she just decided not to say anything.

"It's okay Junko, really! If anything I should be the one to apologize.… she can get so unreasonable. But I know she's sorry, and she'll be fine, I promise. She just needs some time."

Giorgia's comment doesn't feel that reassuring, but she'll have to trust her. All she can do is just wait it out- however long it might take for Akira to cool down.

🐞 June's Party 🐞

37,492

Spoiler:

Groc · Jun 20, 2021

Edison Kintobor
Friday, September 25th, afternoon
Littledale

After three days of hiking through the wilderness and sleeping in a rented tent, it's nice to be in town again. Not that Edison minds being outdoors, but it did get repetitive.

"Alright, we're here!" Sunny cheers, pulling up her map. "Let's go find that Gym and challenge the Leader!"

Speaking of repetitive... Ed gently pushes her Holotch down. "Absolutely not. I'm putting a moratorium on that right now."

"Mora what now?"

"Never mind. There's plenty to do in town before then. Don't you want a chance to rest, take in some sights, maybe get some information first?"

Sunny tilts her head in confusion. "Not really. Eddie, we're on a journey! Traveling around and challenging the Gyms is like the whole point, isn't it?"

"Not for me." Ed shakes his head, offering a slight smile. "The Gyms are only part of the journey. I'm actually enjoying the journey part of this journey, going around and seeing what this country has to offer. I know you like the fights, but can we at least get some food first? Something other than trail rations?"

"But... I wanted to see you fight..." Sunny pouts, looking off to where she thinks the Gym is.

"Plenty of time for that later. Let's go do something fun and touristy first! Well... after we drop off this camping gear and grab a quick lunch." Before she can protest, he quickly sets off for the Pokémon Center, Sunny falling into step beside him.

☆☆Later!☆☆

"Look, Eddie! It's the Gym!" Sunny excitedly points to the building in question, eagerly running down the road. Ed can only sigh as he watches her run off, dismayed by her single track mind. He follows after her, although he was excited to see the Research Institute in Littleroot.

He catches up to her quickly, mainly because her path is blocked by a dozen or so Wooloo outside of the Gym. A pair of Gym Trainers stand off to the side, watching the herd mill about the doors.

"Hello, what's all this, then?" Ed reaches out to one of the Wooloo, retracting his hand as it nips at him.

Sunny is more upset. "Hey, shepherd!" She yells at the Trainers. "Move the flock out of the way!"

The two Trainers don't look too pleased with her tone, and don't bother moving from their spot. "These ain't ours, Miss. You get used to wild Wooloo around these parts, although these are a bit more stubborn than most. We tried movin' 'em, but they didn't wanna. So we're just here to make sure they don't cause any damage."

Sunny scowls at the Wooloo, trying to push through the herd. They protest her getting close, pushing back against her and almost stepping on her feet until she quickly backs away, shaking her fist at them. "Curse you, sheep!"

Ed does his best not to laugh. Thank you, blocking sheep. "Come on, Sunny. Let's go check out Littleroot. Maybe they'll be gone when we come back."

"I have a better idea." Sunny grabs a Poké Ball, which makes the Gym Trainers take notice. "Clear a path, Sputter!" She sends out her Litwick, and the Wooloo start bleating a warning.

"Hey! Don't rile 'em up, girl!" One of the Trainers rushes over, but Sputter's flame ignites in response to Sunny's order.

"Hit 'em with a Flame Bur- hrk!"

Her order is interrupted by another Pokémon leaping from the center of the herd. A Skiddo, larger and more lanky than the Wooloo, charges past Sputter to Tackle Sunny, knocking the air out of her.

Ed winces as Sunny drops to her knees, stepping forward to assist. He stops as Skiddo turns to him, keeping his hands low and in sight. "Easy now, I'm not going to hurt you... Sunny, you okay?"

"I'm fine," She says as she stands. "He caught me off guard, that's all! You want a fight, I'll give you one!"

Sensing hostility, Skiddo bolts away from the Gym and out into the green fields of Trainers' Corridor. The Gym Trainer reaches Sunny, stopping just before he grabs her. "I said don't rile 'em up! They got just as much right to be here as you, and now they're gonna take even longer to calm down! Why don't you go for a walk and cool down yourself?"

Sunny glares at the man, but sighs, returning Sputter to her Ball. "Yeah, fine. Sounds good." She tucks her hands into her pockets as she sulks off. Ed quietly follows after her.

Once the Gym is out of sight, Sunny immediately doubles back. Ed grabs her shoulder, making her wince and shoot a glare his way. He immediately lets go, but stands his ground. "Sunny, what are you plotting?"

She smiles innocently at him in response. "Who says I'm plotting? I might be scheming."

"No, scheming looks different. I know that look, you're plotting. What are you going to do?"

She shrugs, a more natural smile on her face. "The Gym's closed on account of Wooloo. So I'm gonna go find that Skiddo. It looked tough, I want to fight it for real."

Ed sighs, glancing down the road toward Littleroot. He was really looking forward to seeing it, and getting to meet Professor Birch...

He's jolted from his thoughts by a "friendly" punch in the arm. He glares at Sunny, who raises her hands apologetically. "We both know that I didn't really wanna go to that Institute, right? That's more your speed. You go have your fun, and I'll go have mine. We'll meet up at the Center later?"

Ed slowly lets out a breath, thinking it over. He nods, offering Sunny his fist. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do?"

Sunny lightly raps her knuckles against his. "Where's the fun in that?"

He scoffs at that, turning his back on her and heading back down the road. He knows she'll be fine, and that she would have been bored anyway had she stuck with him, but it feels odd to go off on his own again.

He glances back, and sees Sunny still watching him. "Ha, you looked! I win." She turns away and heads off into the hills. Ed chuckles, feeling silly, but a little better. "Alright, Edison. Let's go see what kind of science they do in Littleroot."

budube · Jun 20, 2021

Miranda Lockhart

Sunday, September 20th

Chapter 3: Part 2 - Detective Greedent

18:30 - Route 104 South
Ever heard of Detective Greedent? It's basically a kid's show that's been around for many years now, about a Greedent that's a detective and his sidekick, Patrat Boy. Not Detective Patrat nor Patrat Cop, Patrat Boy, like some kind of superhero. Because a superhero aiding a detective with solving mysteries makes that much sense.

There's other characters aside from those two, all named after different pokémon, but the only one that doesn't suck ass is Cleffa Girl, that's all you have to know.

Other than that, I don't know much about Detective Greedent itself other than it has been running for so fucking long, has like a million movies, and most of them are parodies of other shows or movies of their time, but with Detective Greedent's cast.

There's actually this movie (the only one I watched, thankfully) that tried to parody The Ninja Torkoals, my favorite show. It had a group of four green Machoke that ate pizza and hid in the sewers, which is exactly what The Ninja Torkoals is about! But they looked like shit! Machoke isn't even green! It doesn't even have a shell! How the hell can The Ninja Machokes perform those awesome Torkoal moves, like hiding their heads inside their shells to dodge attacks if they don't have shells!? I bet the asshole that directed that movie was the same one that directed Torkoals 3, because it sucked as much ass as it did! That movie was so horrible that I took it personally. Since then, I have hated Detective Greedent with my life.

Speaking of The Ninja Torkoals, I just realized it's not spelled correctly. See, during my lessons with Maritza I learned we are not supposed to add an 's' on pokémon names when we talk about more than one, unlike objects, so the correct spelling would be The Ninja Torkoal, not The Ninja Torkoals. I have no idea why they named the show like that, but to be honest, The Ninja Torkoal doesn't have the same ring and awesomeness as The Ninja Torkoals does, so I don't care.

Back to Detective Greedent.

Why the fuck am I talking about this in the first place? It's very simple, actually: That asshole stole my Rainbow Stone! And I know it's just a normal Greedent and that thankfully Detective Greedent doesn't even exist, but you know what? I'd actually have it be Detective Greedent so I could homerun his ass to the top of Realgam Tower right now! FUCK YOU, DETECTIVE GREEDENT! I HATE YOU WITH MY ENTIRE SOUL!

Why the fuck did they name a pokémon that steals shit from other people Detective Greedent!? What were they thinking!? It's like having, I don't know, a Wimpod? And naming it something stupid like 'Juggernaut'!

Do you know what pisses me off the most!? It's that this piece of shit has been staring at me since I fell! Normally, if you are stealing something from someone else, you'll run away as soon as you have the chance, but this bastard is taunting me! Laughing at me while scratching his fat, shit-shapped beard!

Shit-shapped beard. Impressing. It's as if nature itself had taken this pokémon out of its ass.

Pyukumuku is just standing there doing jackshit. It's not until she hears me yelling a "Taunt!" muffled by having my face on the grass that she starts shaking her fist at that Greedent. I thought that asshole would toss the Rainbow Stone at her, but its reflex is to swing its tail at her and then start running away while Pyukumuku is stunned.

I take Mankey out of his pokéball to start chasing after the wild pokémon. It's not too fast, but this asshole hits hard for some reason.

Mankey leaps at Greedent, jumping on its head and taking the Rainbow Stone, but once he starts running back to where I am, Greedent pushes him back with its tail and steals it back, climbing up a nearby tree.

Asshole Greedent looks back at us from the branch it stands in, laughing its ass off and then starts spitting berry seeds at us.

"Pyukumuku, Bide!"

She uses her hand to bounce on top of Mankey's head, taking the Bullet Seed from Greedent for him while she starts glowing some red light and then… BOOM! Some fucking amazing beam comes out of her mouth, piercing straight through the tree!

Greedent falls together with a bunch of tree branches, and the Rainbow Stone rolls away from it, Mankey goes get it. The wild pokémon gets up, puffing angrily while it cleans itself, removing the branches from its beard, but then something else falls on it.

When I run to see what had happened, I see a defeated Greedent with a clueless Slakoth on top of it. What a beautiful sight to behold.

"Miranda?" I hear from behind. It's Maritza, she's finally here but with one of those Rangers in astronaut suits by her side. "What happened? Is that Slakoth yours?"

"Wha-?" Just as I open my mouth, I start feeling my right leg a bit heavy. When I look down I see the Slakoth that fell over Greedent dozing off while holding itself on my leg and I can't help but laugh at it. "Uh… Yeah. It is now."

Miranda caught a Slakoth!

Male - Lvl. 15 - Truant - Hammer Arm, Yawn, Feint Attack, Encore, Slack Off, Scratch

- Miranda got a pair of Safety Goggles!
- Pyukumuku grew to level 15!
- Mankey grew to level 20!
- Miranda got her Key Stone back!

Current Party:

Inventory

Spoiler:

Miranda's icon done with: https://picrew.me/image_maker/338224

Eleanor · Jun 21, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $20 000

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 33
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Aromatherapy, Wish, Magical Leaf

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

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 24
Infiltrator
Night Slash, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 30
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Crunch, Sucker Punch, Iron Defense, Taunt, Baton Pass

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

🌼 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/338886[/SPAN]

Ebb and Flow!

Sunday, September 27^th - about 4 p.m. - Littleroot Coastline

It went from just sitting on my bed and staring at my Holotch, to laying down on the bed with the eyes on the ceiling, to outright sleeping and dreaming about Kalos. How could I not, after all that happened?

After that, though, I feel like I have to set things in motion. I go back to the odd jobs board wearing one of my dresses, already having made up my mind about not visiting any of the farms today, and get my eyes fixed on one promising offer coming from a Littleroot restaurant.

It definitely looks enticing: while not easy and not close by, it does have a good payoff, and is mostly for late afternoon and dinner time. Sounds nice to have the rest of the day still free for anything else, doesn't it?

Hoping to have made a good decision, I start the long walk towards the… other town. It takes me longer than I would like to admit, also because my body is still not in it's best shape, but the journey is made easier and more pleasant by this large parkway surrounded in greenery… again, something that reminds me of home. I appear to say it for every new town I visit but hey, I like it here. I really do!

I shudder when I see the gym on one side of the road though. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not a Pokémon trainer anymore in order to get past it, but I eventually calm down and continue my walk. For a good while still…

The address that the offer points to is actually very close to the sea. I can feel the sound of the waves as I get closer, and I'm actually quite surprised to notice I'm on top of some cliffs overlooking the sea. I think I can even see Dewford in the distance, and the shipwreck where I caught Wisteria… it's suddenly a very bittersweet feeling, to know I may have to go back there and free my own Pokémon.

Eventually though I reach my destination, a… rather unremarkable building that opens up onto a rather large patio for outdoor consumption, with many large beach umbrellas keeping just as many wooden tables under their shade. Honestly, this really looks like a quantity over quality approach.

When I get inside, a middle aged woman greets me from behind the counter, and soon understands why I'm here. She quickly takes me behind the counter as well, introducing herself as Enya, a misunderstood genius in her field, and thanks me for accepting her offer with sparkly eyes. I already start to have flashbacks of Glalie man, but I try to calm down and listen to her - I'm in a position where every bit of money matters.

"So… 'Ebb and Flow' would appreciate one more waitress during the evening shifts, as high season hasn't ended yet but one of our other workers is… uhm, busy these days. I hope you know what your job will be like?"

"Uh, I t-think so…" I mutter, as Enya grins. "Oh, great! Now if you'll excuse me…"

Enya shows me the way to a side room, where a couple different uniforms for waiters and (mostly) waitresses are stored. "We have a dress code to follow, if we want to make this place truly stand out!" She announces with her eyes sparkling, as I have to pick one of said uniforms for myself. It's not too different from my dress, save for all the frills and decorations, all things that take me a while to wear.

It's the last part of the so-called uniform that totally throws me off though. "Hey, didn't you know about this? Didn't you see the other staff? This is a famous cafe and restaurant for a good reason!" Enya raises her voice, probably unaccustomed to complaints or flinching from her employees. But all I can do is stare at the choice of items I'm presented with.

"I-I got here just today, I'm from… Kalos… and no I didn't see t-them?" I try to speak up again, as one of said staff comes into the room as well.

"Someone actually answered uh?" The new waitress shrugs. Enya nods happily as I still try to make sense of what's happening. "She can help for a few days… right blondie?"

"Oh wow…" the other girl replies before I can. Then she turns towards me. "You're in for a ride here… literally!"

"I… c-can see that…" I facepalm internally. "I'd j-just like some help getting up though…"

Caesar · Jun 21, 2021

Team & inventory:

Spoiler:

Monday, September 21st @ 0830 – Dewford Town

Clint sat on his bed, rubbing his sore left shoulder and neck, a result of his travels yesterday. Still worth it, Clint thought to himself. He had found himself someone very interesting, his new friend Treecko. Clint still had to figure out why his Treecko was different than the rest. Or the "rest" as according to what the Pokedex told him about Treeckos, as the one he caught yesterday was the first one he had ever come across. Maybe it was time to call his father about it, as his father knew quite a bit about Pokemon, and could probably make sense of this. Clint threw on his hat, and made his way outside.

Clint sat outside on a bench out front of the Pokemon center, facing the sea. Dewford was very calm, even on a Monday morning, which Clint found somewhat endearing. He pulled out his PokeNav, and went to his contacts. After a little bit of scrolling, he found his father's number, and gave it a call.

"Hello Father, how are you," Clint started the convo off.

"We're surviving over here son, how are things in Hoenn? How's Darryl and Sharon holding up," the rough voice of Clint's father, Jeremiah Shaw Sr. came through over the phone.

"They're doing well, I myself am in Dewford Town, getting some practice in before taking on the Gym Leader here," Clint replied,

"I am calling with a particular question in mind however."

"All you have to do is ask my boy," Jeremiah replied.

"I caught a Pokemon here, Treecko and the one I caught is differently coloured than the Pokedex says they're supposed to be, have you heard of anything like that," Clint asked.

"I can't speak to the particular species you have, but I have heard of this topic before. It's called 'shiny' in the Pokemon community, and it is very rare," Jeremiah began,

"I attempted to selectively breed for the condition in the past, with no sustained success. You make sure you hold on to that Treecko of yours, you've managed to find for free what some people will spend millions to try and find. There was a researcher from Hoenn now that I think about it, Birch I believe his name was who took an interest in my ranch when I attempted to breed shinies, you should show him your new friend, I believe Mr. Birch lives in Littleroot, runs a lab out there."

The conversation went on for a few minutes after that, mostly Jeremiah talking about what Clint was missing out on at the ranch, which was mostly the extra work Clint used to do. They had to hire a couple laborers at the ranch because of it, and this was somehow Clint's fault. They ended the call, and Clint sat still on the bench. At least he had a little more direction now, he had to find this Birch fellow in Littleroot. First he had to finish business in Dewford, and that meant it was time to get some training in today.

Monday, September 21st @ 1000 – Dewford Beach

Clint stood on the beach, a fair distance away from any other people. He needed to find out the capabilities of his new friend. He let Treecko out of her Pokeball, and Clint crouched down in front of her. The scan with his PokeNav gave Clint a moveset for Treecko, but he still wrote it down on a piece of paper just in case. Clint sat in front of the Pokemon, paper in hand. Clint read through the list, trying to pick what to see first.

"C'mon Treecko, let's see Leaf-age!" Clint didn't have a target in mind, and that might have been part of the problem as Treecko ignored the command.

"Alright, how about Double-Kick." Again, Treecko ignored Clint's direction once again, the Pokemon looking at her trainer dumbfounded.

Treecko then ignored Clint and went to playing around in the sand. Clint his hands on his hips, and shook his head at the Pokemon. Clearly he needed to work on their dynamic, they weren't going to win many battles operating like this. Clint's Treecko found an abandoned beach ball, and was kicking it around. Clint was not impressed at this point. He threw up his hands in disbelief, to which Treecko responded by punting the beach ball directly at Clint, hitting him square in the chest. Clint caught the beach ball, and thought up a plan.

"So this is how it's gonna be, well so be it, Detect this," Clint shouted, cocking his shoulder back and throwing the beach ball back at Treecko, who managed to avoid being hit by the ball. Well that went alright, let's try something else now, Clint thought to himself.

"Hit that ball with a Quick Attack," Clint said. All of the sudden, Treecko was moving like the wind, and slammed into the beach ball hard, and both Clint and Treecko watched as the beach ball went flying over the water, landing quite a few feet out to sea.

"That's more like it," Clint exclaimed, looking over at Treecko,

"Now let's find some real action against someone who will fight back."

Aquacorde · Jun 21, 2021

Marie Rachelle Mocinno & Avril Reese

AGE: 17 ⟡ PRONOUNS: she/her ⟡ HOME REGION: Johto
DATE: Sunday September 27 ⟡ TIME: Evening
LOCATION: Littledale

Chapter 4 #02 - Order-Less

Marie stumbles into Littledale, sweaty and tired and just about done with journeying. Straight to the Pokémon Center she drags herself, somehow managing to return her gear, start a laundry cycle, and scrub herself down in the shower before collapsing face-first onto her rented bed.

A three-hour nap doesn't entirely wash away the pain of the last two and a half days, but it helps.

She folds her laundry, and makes a list.

Littledale doesn't have much for options, but she does manage to get ahold of the important things. Camping things, things she's never had to think about before- but things she's realized very quickly are necessary when travel is a matter of days as opposed to hours. Soap and a washcloth- no shampoo, her hair can take a few days fully under a bandana. A super compact towel. A little stove, which the employee she purchases it from forces her to learn to use on the spot. It's probably a good thing. A pot with a lid, a set of dishes, pair of chopsticks and a spoon. An external battery housing for the thing Edison gave her.

Thank god it all fits in her backpack, because she's…

She's out of money.

Marie sits out on the patio of a café, the only one out there to enjoy the salty sea breeze wafting up over the cliffs. The waitress will be by soon to take her order. She folds and unfolds her last $2000 bill and stares blankly at the menu.

Now what?

Her phone rings. She ignores it, still lost in thought, but the recorded Natu trills eventually prompt Pokie to crawl up to her lap and nose at the phone on the table, somehow both answering and activating speakerphone. "Oof, what- yes, okay. Hello?"

"I left you some voicemails," her dad says through the speaker, tone mild as usual. But Marie knows what he truly means- I was worried. You sound fine, why didn't you pick up?

"Sorry, yes. My phone died on Route 102. I'm in… Littleroot? Littledale? It's full of farms, mostly."

"You didn't have an external battery?"

"I have one now," Marie huffs. "And a lot of sore muscles. And no money. And-" And why is she crying, now? "And this is hard! Walking is hard, Pokémon are hard, camping is hard! I hate it!"

"You're allowed to come home, you know." Her dad's gentle voice is only somewhat drowned out by her own sniffling.

"I don't have the money-!"

"I would pay for that. That's not a problem."

"But I, I can't go home. I've got four Pokémon and they should be battling, and I can't go back and just go work, and I can't go back with only one badge, the easy badge, and I don't want Mom to say anything, and-"

"Organize your thoughts," Alton says, which is what he says when he means Relax. Take a breath. Marie does, closing her eyes, still sniffling.

"I don't want to go home yet."

"Okay."

"But I'm really bad at this."

Alton hums, not agreeing or disagreeing but evaluating. "Are you better than you were when you left?"

"I-" Marie's instinct is to say no, it's been a week, and almost everything has gone wrong, and she just keeps finding more things she's bad at.

But that's not the question.

"Yes."

"Do you want to keep getting better?"

"Yes. But it's hard! And I hate it!"

"But you want to. You don't hate this, Marie. You're just frustrated."

Marie growls at the phone. Her dad's always right, him and all his logical, thoughtful points, and she can't even be mad about it because he's always been this way, and she knew it would be like this as soon as Pokie answered the phone for her.

Maybe that's why she hadn't called him back yet.

"Maybe I just want to wallow sometimes," she grumbles.

"That is fine, but don't wallow too long. You have things to do."

"I know." She does. She really does.

"Did you give that gift to your friend?"

"No, we don't have an easy way to meet up. Hopefully soon."

Something clatters on the patio floor and Marie glances up sharply, blanching as she makes eye contact with the perpetrator in a frilly outfit and roller skates.

"Um, dad, I have to go, the waitress is here, bye, love you, yes I'll call more-"

She frantically mashes "end call" and scrubs the tears from her puffy eyes. "Why- were you listening?" she hisses, but chokes on her own words. Of all the people to watch her cry!

Said waitress happens to be Avril, who looks at Marie with an awkward expression and stays silent for a bit. "Uhm… welcome to Ebb and Flow, where- I've already forgotten the next part. How can I help you?" She tries to collect herself. "I w-was busy enough getting here, I haven't skated in a long time and this is what they want me to d-do here…"

Marie drums her fingers on the wooden table, scrutinizing her… associate. "Why don't you sit down for a moment."

"Alright, that sounds…" Avril nearly stumbles, but eventually gets it right. "Sounds good yes." She takes some breaths, but still looks at Marie with a serious expression on her face. To match that, Poppy doesn't wave or chirp excitedly, but only bows her tiny head at the customer.

"Now. I need to know what you know, so I can tell you very specifically what never to repeat to anyone else." Marie's tone is serious, because she is. She's not going to let Avril gossip all her problems to the world, and especially not to June. She'd lose all leverage over the girl! And since she's apparently already lost the cool and collected façade in front of Avril, she'll have to be… serious.

Gross.

"What I… know? Like… you knocked out Poppy without a care that one time? Or acted weird in Dewford with June? And like if we could move past all that maybe…" Avril mutters as she trembles slightly.

"No, what? What you know about the conversation with my father that you interrupted- and what do you mean, weird, have you never seen flirting before?" Avril opens her mouth to say something but Marie holds up a hand. "No, not the point. What did you just hear, right now, today, while I was crying at this weird skating restaurant?" Okay, putting it like that definitely does make Marie's actions the weird ones right now, but- this is important. Avril shouldn't have heard. And June can't find out that she's not smooth.

"About that… you know… I guess I heard some things, not too clearly, but like…" Avril frantically gestures as she speaks. "But like, we must be on the same boat here! Definitely…" She pauses, looking at Marie intensely. "And yet I think you said you still wanted to continue the journey and all and… oh and if you have to wallow, I understand, I'm here if you need it. As I said, we're on the same boat…"

As if I would wallow with you, Marie's brain says, and her tongue almost follows before she bites it. Ow. "What boat would that be, then?" Maybe if she goes the relatable route, Avril will keep this conversation private. Maybe.

"Uh… struggling. Calling parents while crying. Sulking and feeling like things are not getting better…" The blonde girl sighs. "Except unlike you, I seriously… am considering going back home. That's why I'm working here, and even if I'm struggling again, I have to just do it."

"I am not sulking," Marie sulks, but reroutes quickly. "Wait, you're giving up? Like, entirely? Forever?"

"Well… I'm just better off being a Pokémon friend, not a Pokémon trainer, I guess." Avril explains. Despite her claims, it looks like it's Poppy who's actually sulking the most, which is exactly what Marie expected. "I tried being a trainer and it didn't work out!"

"Haven't you only been at it like, as long as I have?"

"I t-think so? But what can I do about it? I'll just try to enjoy Hoenn as a tourist for now. And I don't know, maybe I'll find out more about myself!"

Marie stares at Avril. Pokie drags himself up onto the table fully, and Marie looks at Poppy again. "What about your Pokémon? Poppy and, Angela. Or whatever. They want to battle, don't they? And they should. That's what Pokémon do."

"I… don't know, I'm not the right person. All I really did is…" Avril's voice grows unsteady. "Uh… be a limit to them." She goes back to a lot of random gestures with her hands. It must be some kind of stress response, but it's very distracting and Marie wants it to stop.

"So, what, you're going to… give them away to someone who will allow them to fight?" Marie realizes what she's saying, and it's shocking. "You're going to give up Poppy?"

"Oh no, I can't do that to Poppy. I can only hope we can understand each other and that's… it, right?"

"Is it?" Marie wonders. She wonders what Tuie would do if they just went home. She probably wouldn't care if she didn't have to battle again. But Stunnie would never settle without regular battling, and Cutie's starting to enjoy it too. She glances down at Pokie. She barely even knows him yet. "So you'll just… make her farm berries with you for the rest of your life."

"We can still have fun… maybe like when I was a kid… look, I just miss those moments and I feel like I got it unnecessarily rough by coming here. I'll just… fix that mistake and…" Avril's hands now move towards her chime, which she rattles a few times.

"You can't go back in time," Marie says sharply. God, she would know. "You can't chase what you used to have. People are always changing, so even doing the same things you did before won't have the same results."

"That…" Avril keeps quiet, unsure of what to say next. "That is hard to hear but it's good advice, well… I just wish things could've gone more slowly, and I should've been more careful…"

"Well, slow down, then," Marie shrugs. "But if you stop here, then you won't learn anything else, will you?" It's a paraphrase of her father's earlier question, of course, but it's good advice. "I'm not stopping. What kind of person just gives up when things are hard? You'll never achieve anything that way."

Marie sniffs, and slips her $2000 and her phone into her pocket before hefting Pokie up into her arms. Fuck, I forgot he's heavy. Play it cool. "Go back to your little job. I'm going to be a great trainer, no matter how hard it is."

She marches away confidently, leaving Avril and Poppy alone at the patio table, thankfully not breaking stride until she rounds the corner of another building and can collapse immediately onto the ground.

"You're so heavy!" Marie complains. Pokie crawls up her torso and his weight slowly bowls her over as he nuzzles his head into her neck. "And cute, and cute, yes."

She sighs, laying in the grass with her Slowpoke atop her, and stares at the wispy clouds floating by.

Avril's giving up, huh?

How many others give up in the early stages of journeys? Marie doesn't know the statistics. Probably a good amount, right? Kids like her and Avril, who know jack shit and are barely competent travellers. And what do they do? Go on home, release all but one or two of their Pokémon, change over to a pet license and never speak of their journey again? It seems like a waste, to give up. To throw in the towel, just because things are a little hard. Everything's hard, when you're new at it. And it sucks, it really sucks shit, she knows. Of course she knows. But it also sucks shit to just stop trying and go back to farming berries day in and day out, with no experiences to recount and no new skills learned and nothing to show for your time.

Marie hugs Pokie. "We have to keep getting better," she murmurs into his smooth, slightly damp skin. "We aren't done."

Spoiler: Team

Spoiler: Inventory

Spoiler: Contacts

Eleanor · Jun 22, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $28 000 ↑

AVRIL'S TEAM:
🌼 Poppy (Flabebe) -♀- lv. 33
Flower Veil
Synthesis, Fairy Wind, Grassy Terrain, Aromatherapy, Wish, Magical Leaf

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

🌼 Wisteria (Inkay) -♂- lv. 24
Infiltrator
Night Slash, Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Pluck, Reflect, Psybeam

🌼 Venus (Mawile) -♀- lv. 30
Intimidate
Fairy Wind, Crunch, Sucker Punch, Iron Defense, Taunt, Baton Pass

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

🌼 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/338886[/SPAN]

We aren't done

Sunday, September 27^th - evening - Littleroot Coastline, "Ebb and Flow" Restaurant Cafè

"We aren't done!"

I get startled by the sudden remark. The other waitress sure is fast on those things, more than I could've ever expected! "Everything good, blondie?"

"Y-yes sir! Or ma'am, sorry." I mutter.

"I don't know, you were sitting there with that one girl for a while. And then she didn't even buy anything and just… up and left? But I was busy cleaning over there… so I couldn't come." The waitress scratches her chin. "Anyways, you'd better take this quiet time to practice your moves!"

"That's just a… trainer I know, nothing worrisome…" I try to explain, while the other girl is already trying to drag me around the patio. I'm doing my best, but my legs are still dangerously wobbly.

"You know you can always call me if you need help! And… oh, right, my name is Erin. Glad to meet you…"

"Avril. Nice to meet you as well."

I'm actually positive about this girl. She feels like… someone I could really use right now. She's being helpful and calm and… wait.

"You actually come at a great time because, well… first you seem to not be a lost cause on skates. But also, remember the waiter that was supposed to be busy? Edna is her name. Well, she fell on the job and got hurt. So Ellen and I could really use the help this week!"

Oh. That doesn't sound enticing at all! "I'm… just sorry for her… hope she gets better. Then again…"

"Yeah I know, it's risky and Enya is often looking for quick replacements and stuff... that's how she has amassed all that gear. But hey, I think it's worth it once you get the hang of it. It also pays well, it gives you some rep!"

"If you say so…"

"Yes! Enya just keeps our numbers low, gets us all what we need, and we play our part in her crazy dream. And that's good enough - in fact, I feel lucky to work here even if it can be hard sometimes."

I'm mostly trying not to faceplant as Erin speeds up with me in tow.

"You're getting the hang of it already!" She says. I think that's too optimistic.

"I mean, I did skate as a kid, but it's been a while. And I'm clumsy by nature." I stumble as if on cue, but I swear I didn't mean to do that.

"Usually people looking for jobs know about this place and avoid it. Those who don't know anything also leave after a few minutes, mostly because they have no experience with skating at all. But you had enough courage… or desperation, I guess, to wear a pair. And those people like you…"

"They stick around and are happy about it!" A different voice completes the sentence, and I understand it must be the other waitress, Ellen. Case in point, she's right there behind the two of us as I turn around. "I'm proof of it! Nice to meet you…"

"Avril."

"Avril! I'll remember it!"

🛼🛼🛼

That surprisingly serious conversation with Marie occupies my mind for most of the evening, when I have some down time at least. Most of the time I have to focus on not dying anyways, although the two expert waitresses are kind enough to take care of all the drinks and most of the food. That usually leaves me with arguably an even harder task - be the first staff that a client will see, welcome them to Ebb and Flow, take orders with a smile - but after two or three (rather inconsequential) falls, I can definitely see the reason behind this choice.

Then again, I also have Erin and Ellen's experience to process. I'm not sure where they were getting but it sounds… relatable enough. If anything, it just means that I've found a better career worth pursuing - skating waitress. My family will love it, yeah…!

Every trip from a table to the kitchen area is in fact becoming a bit easier. Not physically actually, that's getting worse if anything- my body is not ready for this and I'm sure I'll be all groggy tomorrow- but mentally. I get slowly more in tune with skating, and that is weight being lifted from my mind. And more space to think about something else. Like… how Poppy is enjoying this somehow. She can really make the best of every situation!

She greets customers with a smile, while sticking out just enough from this tiara thing I have to wear on my head. She chirps louder the faster I try to go, jumping from one side to the other of my head when I have to take turns. She sometimes takes off to land on Erin or Ellen's head, probably because unlike me, they've already mastered spins, quick stopping maneuvers, and whatnot. Oh, and they go like, double my speed. I can't help but wonder… maybe this is just how Poppy feels when she floats in the air, so free and so light!

When Ellen or Erin get some down time, they often approach me and try to keep my spirits up. They also give me more bits and pieces about how this job works though… all things that Enya didn't really mention at first. Like the duration of the shift… a very arbitrary "from about 5 to 9, plus the time to clean up or change yourself". That's at least good to know, because I'm very positive I'll be back here soon enough.

I will say, I like it here. Enya, not much, but the other waitresses are exactly the kind of person I needed to get me comfortable in this place. Luck has struck me today, even if it felt so weird at first.

🛼🛼🛼

With the excuses that "My room is all the way in Oldale" or that "I have to practice more", Ellen and Erin are able to convince the owner of Ebb and Flow to let all of us keep our skates even after the end of the shift. Sort of. Well you could also say we just got out of there before Enya could actually stop us, and I just played their game.

The two waitresses kept telling me that it was all good and that I did great for my first day, as we skated down that long parkway towards the Oldale part of the township. Another detail that sounds eerily familiar to me, although I suppose that there is a foundation of truth behind the two older girls' praise. Even… that, that stuff… it all started with happiness. It started with me showing promise. People didn't really expect anything from me and I didn't either. And that was great, honestly! If anything, I should really enjoy the moment the same way I used to do back then.

But when Erin and Ellen leave me and Poppy alone near the Pokémon Center and wave goodbye, I feel like the magic is fading already. I'm reminded that I'm hungry, sore, and that it's actually quite late for what I'm used to. I roll into the Pokémon Center lobby, get a pre-packaged sandwich for dinner (even though it's pushing towards 10 pm) and quickly disappear behind the door of my room. Monday comes in the blink of an eye.

Aquacorde · Jun 22, 2021

Marie Rachelle Mocinno

AGE: 17 ⟡ PRONOUNS: she/her ⟡ HOME REGION: Johto
DATE: Sunday September 27 ⟡ TIME: Evening
LOCATION: Littledale

Chapter 4 #03 - Little Requests

Maybe she shouldn't be laying on the ground in the middle of town, but by the time this thought really occurs to her she is being accosted by a small child towing a red wagon.

"Whacha doin'?" it says, prodding Pokie with its grimy hands. "What's this?"

"He's a Slowpoke," Marie sighs. The child nods seriously.

"Mr Brendan showed us one once. But it looked different. It was from far away an' it had yellow on it."

Marie groans. "Do Slowpoke have variants I have to learn about, too?" The child blinks at her. "You wouldn't know, nevermind."

"I do know!" it says, stomping a little shoe into the dirt. Marie coughs as she inhales the cloud. She should really sit up. "I know lots of things! Mr Brendan tells us!"

"Is Mr Brendan your teacher?" she asks, biting down the "do they even have a school in this hick town? that threatens to come out.

"Of course not. My teacher is Mr Daihachi. He's the very best teacher!"

"Then why's Mr Brendan telling you things?"

"'Cause Mr Brendan knows things Mr Daihachi doesn't. He knows Pokémon things! That's why he shows us Pokémon. But Mr Daihachi knows how to dress stylish, and read, and do math. I don't think Mr Brendan knows those things."

"Mr Brendan knows Pokémon, does he?" Maybe this guy is the gym leader, or something. Even if he can't read.

"That's what I said. Do your ears work?" This child is getting on her nerves. Marie grits her teeth and heaves Pokie off her chest, making the kid yelp. She takes her first full breath in a while, and feels better.

"Where can I find Mr Brendan?"

"Oh, I dunno. I see him at school. He says he has a... lab-or-a-story. He has a cool bike that he rides to school. I only have training wheels." The kid pats Pokie's jiggly belly in a somewhat rhythmic beat.

If the school is in Littledale, then the lab would be as well, if this Mr Brendan bikes over there. That just means she should ask around for a laborastory. Laboratory. God. Talking to children is a nightmare. But going to the lab means she has to walk, and that means she has to put Pokie away, and she… kind of… doesn't want to. It's nice to have the pink lump out and about with her.

Her eyes rove over the child's wagon. It's definitely big enough for Pokie, and probably comfortable enough if she takes the rocks out.

"Can I borrow your wagon?"

The child eyes her suspiciously. "Why."

"Do you know what Slowpoke are known for?"

"Bein' slow."

"Yes, good job!" Marie's bright smile only makes the child scrunch up its face. "Um. Pokie's so slow, so he can't walk with me. But he's so heavy, so I can't carry him. But he likes the fresh air." Probably. It's sometimes hard to tell what a Slowpoke likes. "So I think it's a good idea to put him in the wagon."

"But it's my wagon."

"Yes. I'll give it back later. Do you live close by?"

"This is my house," the child says. "You're in my yard."

"Oh." That's awkward. "Well, I'm only going to be in town for a few days, I think. Can I borrow the wagon while I'm here, and give it back when I leave?"

"You gotta give me something. 'Cause it's a trade."

"Um." What does she even have? Not money, that's for sure. "You like rocks, right?"

The child's eyes sparkle, even through the grime on its face. "Yes!"

Marie rifles through her backpack and pulls out a small geode she'd bought from the Granite Cave gift shop. "You can have this rock if I can use your wagon."

Its shine seems to dull upon contact with the child's filthy hands, but it seems no less pleased. "Deal!"

After dumping the rocks and shaking the dirt onto the grass, Marie is content to lay her beach towel in the bottom of the wagon and heft Pokie into it. He looks pleased enough. "Alright," she says, as the child runs off to show its new rock to… whoever it knows. "Let's find a laborastory. Fuck. Laboratory."

Some quick questions to passersby gets her going in the right direction- the lab is actually not too far from the restaurant, tucked away on the southwest corner of town. Marie knocks on the propped door out of courtesy, and a lab tech waves her over.

"Hi, um. I'm looking for… Mr Brendan?"

The lab tech cocks their head quizzically, both at her words and at the Slowpoke in a wagon. "Brendan Birch? The professor?"

"Are there any other Brendans?"

"I mean, yeah, there are a few in town, but I'll grab the one that's here."

Professor Brendan Birch turns out to be an easygoing man perhaps in his thirties, wearing a pink baseball cap that proclaims that he is "Blessed To Have Grandkids". That doesn't quite add up.

"Hey, I'm Mr Brendan," he says with a chuckle. "To the kids around here, anyway. I guess you've been talking to them?"

"Um, yeah. I'm Marie Rachelle Mocinno. A kid told me you knew about Pokémon. And that you didn't know how to read or do math, but I have to assume that is… inaccurate." The lack of style, though- the baseball cap tells her all she needs to know about that.

Brendan laughs fully. "Dammit, Daihachi! He really can convince those kids of anything." The words are said with no malice and in fact a certain amount of glee, and Marie suspects there is a game surrounding that. "Nah, I can read, I can do math. But I assume you want me for the Pokémon stuff. Are you worried about your guy in the wagon? Is that why he's in there?"

"Oh, um. No, he's just too slow to walk with and too heavy to carry. He's a Slowpoke." She doesn't know why she says that. Clearly Brendan knows.

"I can see that," he says, kindly. Marie cringes.

"I'm a trainer," and she braces herself for the next words, "but I'm not good and I don't know anything." It does sting less, every time. "But I want to be a good trainer, and get into the League Tournament, and- I mean, I'm probably not going to win, but top eight would be great, right?"

Brendan nods. "So what do you need to know?"

"Um. Everything?"

Brendan sighs, small smile on his face, but shakes his head. "I can't teach you everything."

"But you're a professor, right? Of Pokémon, no less!"

"My research focus is habitat and wild Pokémon behavior. I can guest-talk at schools just fine, but I can't personally teach you everything you'd learn in a trainer's school in- when would you want to move on? Three days? That's a big ask, don't you think?"

Marie feels foolish, and small. And that does tend to make her snappish. "Well. I'll just be going, then. Have a nice evening."

Brendan allows this, for a long moment, but a quiet "hey" makes Marie pause in trying to push Pokie's wagon back out of the door. "I don't mind teaching. I just need you to be specific, okay? Think about it, and come back tomorrow."

Marie sighs, and finally gets the wagon unstuck. "Okay."

It's not like she has anyone better to reach out to.

Spoiler: Team

Spoiler: Inventory

Spoiler: Contacts

[PKMN FULL] Hoenn: Square One [IC]

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