[PKMN FULL] Hoenn: Square One [IC]

Juno · Jun 22, 2021

3-7: Unruly

🏘️ Petalburg Ranger Station / Outdoors 🕙 Sept. 22nd, Night

"I can't believe you got that close!" The glow of the bonfire lit up the incredulous expression of a young, wide-eyed girl. "Where was their mom? Teddiursa cubs never stray too far, I thought."

She was one of a small posse of admirers Marcella had accumulated at this little bonfire. After taking a fair amount of time in the bathroom braiding her hair and freshening up, it was near impossible to tell she'd been chased through the trees by an Ursaring, and she spent the rest of her evening chatting and telling a slightly embellished tale of her time in the outskirts with a charming smile. Anything can be a good story if you know how to spin it, and she did.

"Mom was there! I think she sensed a good energy about me, though, so she didn't feel too threatened by my presence. You just gotta be calm and confident." Marcella sipped her drink thoughtfully, draining the cup of its contents. "Oh, sweetie, I think I need a refill. Just water this time, please."

She looked around at the other faces surrounding her as the girl eagerly sprang up to refill her cup. Gawky, outdoorsy teens who were all mostly younger than her—not her usual crowd, but it felt good to be at the center of attention again, regardless.

Bijou purred away contentedly next to her, having had a few too many smores. A cheat day—Marcella told herself—the Purrloin deserved it after what she'd put her through today. Opal, Midas and Pearly were out as well; it seemed like everyone at the gathering had their Pokémon out and about, so she didn't see any harm in letting them out to mingle. It was probably fine.

Most likely.

But just to be sure, she quickly scanned the site for them; Pearly was easy to spot—she and her heavy shell was exactly where Marcella left her, in the shallow end of a small pond the other Trainers' Water Pokémon were chilling at. The other two, though...

"What's up?" Just then, Parker hopped over the log she was on and sat down next to her, interrupting her thoughts.

"Not much, just admiring the view."

"Same." He threw in casually, with a cheeky smile tugging up the corner of his lips. "Can't even tell there was a nest in your hair earlier." Marcella smirked back, rolling her eyes. His eyes did not stay on her for long, though; he looked like he was searching for something, too, but lower to the ground.

"You see Taylor around, by the way? I sent— I asked her to bring me some more water like five minutes ago."

"Taylor... Oh, yeah, I passed her on my way out. Sammy can't find her wallet, so everyone's kinda spread out looking for it."

"Ah." She clicked her tongue disappointedly. Thirsty.

News of the lost wallet spread quickly, and most of her entourage had gotten up and scattered to search for it as well. Marcella relented, peeking behind her log and a few nearby boulders to look like she was also helping, but she wasn't overly invested in this new group activity; girl should have just taken better care of her belongings, honestly. She stood up to head inside and grab a drink for herself, but a familiar, white fluff was rolling towards her, bumping into the log she stood up from with an impact that startled the still-seated Parker and Bijou.

"Oh, there you are." Marcella commented on the Wooloo now prancing in circles around her. At the same time, a long tail lightly wrapped around her leg, and the soft, clinking noise of his collared tags announced Midas' arrival as well, as he padded up to her. "I'm glad they're having fun."

"Yeah, it's good to let 'em out and play with other Pokémon."

Reaching down to give Midas some chin scratches, she realized something and froze. Wait a minute, you don't have a collar. I never gave you a collar. "Oh, no, you did not..." she started, horrified, as it dawned on her what the clinking noise really was. The oblivious Meowth presented his find proudly. It was more of a cloth pouch than a "wallet", but that was unmistakeably not Marcella's, and she knew where it was from.

"Why have you done this to me?" She hissed, snatching up the pouch and glancing around, before continuing in a hushed tone. "I said I'd give you coins, come to me if you want to play! You're not an alley cat anymore, you don't have to—"

Her mortified expression was not returned when she whipped around to give Parker a 'what do I do?!' look, and he grinned back amusedly.

"Well, you can take the cat out of the alley, but you can't take— okay, calm down," He laughed at her humourless expression. "I think he just enjoys the sport. They do that, Meowth. Don't worry, people around here know that, they're not gonna blame you."

"I can't believe you guys. Come on, we are giving this back right now."

✿✿✿✿✿

Parker was right—no big fuss was made about the returned money, which helped soften the blow to her ego a little, but still did not fully dissipate the embarrassment Marcella felt from discovering the larceny. Short of keeping Midas in his Ball all the time, she was going to have to figure out some way to deal with this... compulsion of his.

"Oh, by the way, Thursday's my day off and I'm going to visit family in Littledale, do you want to come with?" Parker asked as they helped clean up after the bonfire.

Marcella wrinkled her nose. "What's in Littledale?" She asked a bit too quickly, before remembering she was charged with returning a certain little menace currently in her care to Littleroot. She was headed out that way eventually. Parker doesn't know that, of course, and it meant something else to him.

"You're a Trainer, right? The next closest Gym is there." He gave her a funny look. She shrugged. Yeah, yeah, that, too. "Speaking of, I guess you wouldn't have had time to challenge the Petalburg Gym yet, unless you went real early this morning. If you need more time, we can do next week instead."

"Tch. No, I can figure it out by Thursday." She gathered a few things from her time chatting with the others at the bonfire. "Normal-type, right? I got it."

"You sound confident about that." He remarked. "Been training hard?"

Shut up. "Uh huh. I'll see you on Thursday."

Party

Purrloin ♀ // Bijou
Level 24

Scratch
Fake Out
Sand Attack
Play Rough

Art

Clamperl ♀ // Pearly
Level 13

Clamp
Water Gun
Whirlpool
Iron Defense

Art

Wooloo ♀ // Opal
Level 20

Tackle
Copycat
Double Kick

Art

Meowth ♂ // Midas
Level 15

Pay Day
???
???

Dear Diary

CHAPTER 2: LIVE FOR FUN

2-1: M.I.A.
2-2: Footwear Filchers
2-3: Cut Off
2-4: Bijou Bootcamp
2-5: Beached
2-6: Pearly
2-7: Showtime - ft. Avril, June, Tsu, Robynn, Shuna
2-8: Natsuko vs. Marcella - ft. Tsu
2-9: The Three C's
2-10: In/Dependent
2-11: Connections - ft. Avril, Hikaru

CHAPTER 3: YOUR BRAIN GETS SMART

3-1: Fiancé
3-2: Promise
3-3: Roughing It
3-4: Feline Friends
3-5: For Tuna
3-6: The Bear and the Maiden Fair
3-7: Unruly

Inventory

₱31,000, more or less

Medium-sized leather suitcase of clothes
Rotom Phone (Sky Blue)
Fanclub Membership Card (Annual)
Luxury Balls x 3
Silk Scarf
Contest Pass
Safety Goggles (Bijou-sized)

Trainer Info

Badges

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

budube · Jun 22, 2021

Jordie "Jo" Hughes

Monday, September 21st

Chapter 2: Part 10 - vs. Brawly (Part 1)

15:05 pm to 15:08 pm - Dewford Beach
Had I known Reed would have me battle Brawly today, I wouldn't have tired Bane boy while I was waiting for him to come here, y'know? The battle against that Probopass had already tired my pokémon more than enough to decide not to battle him today, but now I feel I'm at a huge disadvantage. I can't turn back now that I'm here, though; not with all these spectators, and even worse with what Reed is about to say through that megaphone of his:

"Before we start this battle, I gotta tell all of you that this is not just an average rookie challenger!" Wait, what? What the fuck is he doing? As soon as he starts talking, the eyes of the whole crowd are directed at me, with the same confusion I have, but with some spark of excitement as well. "They got into… a little bit of trouble, before coming here." He glares at me when he says that, and the only thing I can think about from seeing his expression is: 'Don't you dare', but he smirks and goes back to talk to the crowd. Idiot. "They were attacked by a wild Probopass in Granite Cave, but they beat that pokémon on their own! I know because I saw that Probopass! With only one badge, this trainer was capable of doing such a thing, and now they are here to take Dewford's Badge! People of Dewford that like big battles the same way as I do, I want you to cheer for Jordie Hughes as well!"

How dramatic!

For a second I thought he was going to mention the kid, I'm relieved. My ears are not, though. He didn't need a megaphone for this, what's his problem?

A part of me likes this; after all, this is what I signed up for and now the crowd is not only cheering for Brawly, but for me too. But on the other hand, because everyone knows who I am now, I feel even more pressured. What happens if I lose? I'm not even prepared for this battle and this Ranger just dropped all this weight on me all of a sudden like nothing!

"Don't mind him, dude. This is just classic Reed for you," says the Gym Leader as if reading my thoughts. I bet I'm sweating and all red right now, that must've been how he knew. I'm really having trouble with staying collected. "For me, you're another little dude challenging me. Now, your two pokémon, if you please."

If I'm not mistaken, Brawly specializes in fighting types, so to turn the tide around a bit I sent out Gabby and Maroon first. He might be strong, but not even with that can a trainer get past the most basic thing, that being type effectiveness.

"Sending out the heavy guns first, huh? 'Kay, I'll follow! Go, Hariyama, Raichu!"

"The battlers send out their first pokémon! Challenger Jordie sends out Gabby the Solosis and Maroon the Dhelmise! Leader Brawly sends out Hariyama and Raichu! You can begin this battle!"

That Raichu doesn't look like any other I've seen before. Is it a regional variant? I wonder. However, regional or not, Raichu is still a really fast pokémon.

"Gabby girl, take your time. This might be a long battle, so gather enough energy to make it last, alright?"

"Make last what, troublemaker dude? You can't expect to win if you have your pokémon wait too long, you know? Raichu, Electric Terrain! Hariyama Bulk Up!"

Raichu's cheeks send out sparks of electricity and then it unleashes a set electromagnetic waves that have the battlefield covered in an electric field.

What does Electric Terrain do again?

Going back to my lessons at Nimbasa's Trainer School, electric terrain boosts the power of Electric Type moves and prevents pokémon from sleeping. Moves like Camouflage are affected by this too. It also exaggeratedly boosts the power of the move Rising Voltage and activates the ability Surge Surfer, so far only known to be used by Alolan-

That's it.

"Gabby, forget what you said, do your thing."

"Your thing? Dude, you should give your pokémon more explicit commands when battling a Gym Leader. Something like: Hey, Raichu, use Teleport behind Gabby!"

"She knows what it means, don't worry. Maroon, Metal Sound!"

Raichu appears behind Gabby just as it was told, but before it charges its attack, Maroon interrupts it by rubbing their helm on their anchor, making a undescriptible annoying sound that interrupts all the opposing pokémon on the field and Gabby uses this free time left to set up her Trick Room.

"Hey, that's unfair, speed is my strategy," Brawly jokes, forcing a frown. He's not taking this seriously, is he? "Raichu, dude, Teleport back here! Hariyama, Bulk Up again!"

"Gabby, Hidden Power at Raichu! Maroon, Astonish at Hariyama!"

Gabby is the first one to deliver her blow with a direct hit against Raichu, taking advantage of the pokémon's extremely slow reaction speed caused by its own ability, sending it hovering backwards trying to not lose its balance on its surf-board like tail.

Maroon attempts an attack on Hariyama by shooting their anchor at it, but the Fighting-type pokémon is quick to block it, grabbing it with both arms and then pulling the Dhelmise towards it. I frown once I see a gleam on Hariyama's eyes and have Gabby shoot a Psyshock that is taken by the teleporting Raichu instead, giving Hariyama an opportunity to land a Force Palm on the seaweed pokémon's helm.

"Surprised? You didn't think I would bring a Fighting-type against a Ghost-type without a plan, did you?"

"Not really. Foresight is a basic move that many pokémon learn early. You learn about it on your first days at Trainer School, y'see?"

"Bit arrogant, are you, troublemaker dude?" Brawly says with skepticism. How was that arrogant? I'm not wrong, y'know? It is a really basic move, I just can't have Brawly know I fell for that one.

I shrug. "I'm just saying what I learned when I was studying, not saying it wasn't clever. I can use basic attacks too, y'know? Like Wrap."

Once I say that, Maroon flings their helm at Hariyama, coiling around the pokémon, using their anchor to get up. "Now have it fly with Gyro Ball!"

I suppose a pokémon capable of carrying an anchor with it for its whole life could do something like that. I read about it just after I caught Maroon yesterday; Dhelmise hunt for Wailord on their own, and Hariyama are ants compared to them; that Hariyama should fly a few feet at the very least.

"Raichu stop them with Electroweb!"

"Too slow! Gabby, Hidden Power at Raichu!"

With Trick Room up, that Raichu is just helpless. Gabby gets to shoot two consecutive Hidden Power that sent it flying back to where Brawly is and it wasn't a third one only because of the attack's range.

Maroon shoots Hariyama upwards at least four feet, just like I thought they would. When it falls, it raises a cloud of sand before getting up quickly, shaking its head and trying to maintain its balance to which it ultimately succeeds.

"Not enough, I see."

"This is just warm up, troublemaker dude," Brawly grins. And I'm the arrogant one? Jeez.

Next thing that happens is Raichu teleporting behind Hariyama and attacking it with a light thundershock that at first has Hariyama falling on its knees, before it can take the damage properly.

"You're lucky," Brawly says. " Hariyama's ability isn't Guts."

"Guts…" Before I can think about what that means, Hariyama appears in front of Maroon, this time smashing them with both hands. "Shit. Gabby, Reflect!"

Before Gabby can fill her command, Hariyama charges at her, attacking with a Force Palm that sends her to where Raichu is. Hariyama is just faster.

Guts, I remember now. It boosts the physical attack of pokémon when they are affected by status conditions.

Hariyama is faster because it became slower.

Hariyama is paralyzed.

I have to tire it down.

Raichu approaches Gabby from behind, but it's still too slow for her, so she's able to counterattack with another Hidden Power.

"Gabby, Reflect!"

Gabby manages to put her screen just so Hariyama could land its attack on it, and then another Force Palm on the screen before Maroon starts pulling it back with Wrap. Hariyama uses Bulk Up so it can free from the seaweed using its big body before turning around and going for Maroon instead.

"Maroon, Iron Defense!"

Just like with Gabby, Maroon manages to block Hariyama's attack with their anchor just in time before it strikes. This time, Gabby attacks from behind with a Psyshock, using her psychic energy to hold Hariyama for a bit until it turns around once again to go for Gabby, but the Fighting-type just falls on its knees before doing so, paralysis kicking in. This is my chance.

"Maroon, Wrap and Mega Drain! Gabby, Psyshock!"

They both do as they are told, not without sending the helpless Raichu back once again with a Hidden Power from Gabby first. With Maroon draining Hariyama's health and Gabby hitting with a super effective move, eventually Hariyama falls in defeat. Hopefully that has Brawly take this battle seriously.

"Hariyama can't keep battling! Points for Challenger Jordie!" Reed announces and the crowd cheers before Brawly sends out his next pokémon.
- Gabby grew to level 28! Gabby forgot Reflect and Light Screen! Gabby learned Ally Switch and Endeavor!
- Maroon grew to level 21!
Jordie's Party:

Inventory:

Spoiler:

- 25 Dusk Balls
- 10 Potions
- X-transceiver
- ₽1500
- Eviolite
- Aggronite
- Keystone

Picrew made with: https://picrew.me/image_maker/296093

QueenNothing · Jun 23, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Monday, September 28th
Early Morning
Oldale-Littleroot Township

Setting an alarm on her phone for 5 A.M. might have been unnecessary when the squawking of a loud Dodrio is heard from outside the windows. Hearing both go off at the same time is far from an ideal way of waking up, June realizes. It doesn't help that she didn't get as much sleep as she was hoping either since what went down last night stressed her out so much that it took her two hours to even fall asleep.

This isn't enough to stop her from slowly crawling out from her aunts' couch that she had slept on though. While she stretches her arms, she stares through the windows and takes in the rising sun. She's never been up this early while in Hoenn, so seeing the sunrise shows a new side of the region to her. She wants to hurry though, so she doesn't spend too much time admiring it. Feeling ready to start the day, she grabs her change of clothes from her bag and heads over to the bathroom to change into them.

She figured an outfit that'd be right for the job is her sun print tank top and shorts that go down to her knees. Not wanting her hair to be a nuisance, she ties it into a ponytail and tops it with a sun hat. After tying the laces on her hiking boots, she heads out the door and spots Akira, Giorgia, and Betsy at a distance. She releases all of her Pokemon and sprints forward.

"Akira! Giorgia! Wait for me!" She yells while Einstein, Sting, and Heracross all fly after her. Chip scurries as well while Kit lags behind.

Akira, carrying a bucket with her, turns around and raises an eyebrow. "Junko? What are ya doin' up at the crack of dawn?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She says when she catches up, breathing heavily. "I decided that…" She pauses to pant. "...I'd help you with your tasks. I thought about what you said last night, about how you and Betsy are so close because of how you work together on equal standings. So to strengthen my bond with my Pokemon, I suspect it would be a good idea to try doing things the way you prefer."

"I appreciate the offer lil' Junko, but we don't need no more help-"

"We would love your help!" Giorgia enthusiastically cuts her wife off and snatches the bucket from her. "Betsy and I will take care of the crops. Akira will teach you how to milk a Miltank!"

"But I-" Akira sighs. "Fine. Come on then Junko, I'll show ya how it's done."

"Before we start, why don't we put your Pokemon to work?" Giorgia suggests. "Hm, let's see… from what I know of these Pokemon, I think Orbeetle, Surskit, and Wimpod will be able to help me out pretty well! Heracross is good for muscle, but we have our trusty Machamp for that, and besides, he'll come in handy for handling any of the rowdy Miltank that might give you trouble! As for Beautifly, well… I'm not really sure what it can do. What is your Beautifly like, Junko?"

"His name is Sting, and he's quite, um… rash, is how I'd say it. He often flies into battle without input from me, and it can be to his detriment at times, although I feel the worst is yet to come. It's not unordinary for Beautifly I suppose, because despite what most people might think from their appearance…"

"He sounds just perfect for any pests we might come across!"

"Oh… are you certain that'll work? He doesn't listen to me sometimes, so I can't guarantee he'd be particularly useful."

"I'm confident I can make it work. Come here, Sting!" Giorgia holds her arm out and within seconds of his name being called, Sting flies over and perches on her arm. June stares dumbfoundedly, and it takes Giorgia to ask for the names of the rest of her Pokemon to snap her out of it.

"I see, what nice names!"

"Certainly more clever than what Junichi names his Pokemon." Akira scoffs while ignoring the piercing glare of her wife. "But now that everythin' is settled already, I reckon we get workin' already! Now come on city gal- we're gonna show you what life is like in the countryside!"

What must be a dozen or so Miltank graze the wide-open field Akira keeps near her house, and they look like they've just woken up. Some of them wander the field on all-fours, and some lazily sit on their rear, not quite ready to start their day.

"I declare there ain't nothin' like startin' the day gettin' yer hands dirty!" Akira beams, heading over to a wandering Miltank with a rope in one hand and a stool in the other. The Miltank gleefully moos at her which causes Akira to chuckle. "Good mornin' to ya too, Bertha! Now let's get to th' milkin' station so people can enjoy your Moomoo Milk." She gently ties a rope around Miltank's snout and leads her to a stable near the end of the field.

"Here's how it's done, Junko," Akira says, leading Bertha over to a stool. "Before we get started, first thing ya wanna do is wash your hands, which we already have. Now that we've done 'at," She heaves a bucket of soapy water over with a wet rag inside. ",y'wanna wash these things off right here. These are called…"

Akira goes over everything June needs to know, and while it is interesting, she can't help but feel a little nauseous watching it all play out. "Um, excuse me, but don't most modern dairy farms use machines for milking? Would it be possible for us to just do that instead?"

"No can do, missie!" Akira shakes her head. "The joy of bein' a farmer is doin' it all with your bare hands! If I wanted to use some fancy doohickey, I'd have never left Petalburg!" Akira continues to squeeze milk from Bertha's udders, filling up a bucket with milk for about ten minutes or so, which is then handed to Heracross who reluctantly carries it over to a refrigerated vat.

"I think it's time ya do the process yourself now, Junko. Once ya get the hang of it, it's easy as pie! 'Sides, most of our Miltank are all nice and friendly, so gettin' em' in for milkin'-"

Heracross yawns loud enough to cut Akira off, who smirks at the Single Horn Pokemon. "Oh, I see how it is. Too easy for ya, eh?" Heracross nods his upper body and swings his arms back and forth. "Well we have just the thing for ya! Let's go back out to the field and see yer challenger!"

As they walk to the field, June wonders what her aunt could possibly be referring to. It's not long before they're led to one Miltank that sticks out from the rest, a large blue Miltank that sits in a patch of grass away from the other cattle, facing the opposite direction of the group approaching her. "This here is Big Blue, our most difficult Miltank! She's as stubborn as a Tauros- though I suppose th' two are related."

"But… I thought you were against Pokemon battling?"

"I am. But he ain't here to fight 'er for sport, yer just gonna have 'em bring 'er in. 'Course I ain't gonna be happy if ya get her seriously hurt, so don't go too rough, y'hear?"

"B-but I just caught him yesterday! I haven't even handled a Miltank myself and already you're entrusting me with such a difficult task!?"

"First time for everythin'." Akira chuckles, forcefully handing June a rope. "Y'can try gently approaching her and let her know yer there, but it ain't so easy with Big Blue."

June nervously gulps and tip-toes forward. Quietly as she can, she gets closer and closer, actually feeling for a second that she might not need to resort to using Heracross, but her hopes are quickly dashed when Big Blue turns her head around and gives June a menacing look.

"Uh oh! Looks like she's spotted ya! Good luck out there lil' Junko!"

Big Blue stands on two legs and faces the other way. A deep moo is heard under her breath, causing Heracross to shudder in discomfort, and suddenly rolls into a ball to charge forward. June shrieks and freezes in her place, shielding herself with her arms. The sound of impact is heard, and when she opens her eyes she sees Heracross standing in-front of Big Blue and stopping her from rolling forward any further, although it's not enough force to stop her from actually rolling- in-fact, Heracross' feet are dragging across the ground as he's being pushed back, even though the claws on his feet are dug into the dirt!

"There ya go!" Akira cheers. "Now go ahead an' give her a lil' push!"

"Umm, Heracross, I'll need you to push Miltank back a tiny bit… b-but not too rough!"

Heracross rolls his eyes and tries digging his claws even further into the ground, doing his absolute best to keep his position despite the building momentum he's fighting against. After concentrating enough strength in his feet to stand his ground, he uses Arm Thrust to push Big Blue onto her rear with a thud.

June gasps. "Heracross, I-I think that might have been a bit too much force!"

"That ain't nothin' for Blue! She don't give up so easily- look, she's already at it again!"

Before June can register what her aunt had just said, the large Miltank rams her head into Heracross. As he rebounds, Big Blue uses Rollout to roll over him and while she gains more momentum. June wants to call out to see if her Pokemon is alright but he gets back on his feet in a flash- just in time to react to the hefty normal-type wheeling his way. Having withstood the damage the first time, it takes less effort than before to grab Blue and shove her back while using more force than before. She's not just pushed back though, her momentum is actually reversed and she manages to roll into the stable against her will! Heracross flexes and there's a subtle growth in his muscles- a victory for him. June however, doesn't seem so confident to label what just happened as such.

"I-is Big Blue going to be okay??"

"Like I said, Blue is one tough cookie, so this is normal for us! It's a blessin' we have Betsy for that usually. Now c'mon, let's get some Moomoo milk." Akira strolls back to the stable, and June is about to do the same- or she would anyway, if something wasn't distracting her.

The flapping of a pair of wings is heard overhead that sounds as if it's getting closer by the second. June looks behind her and sees a Pokemon that's barely similar to a Pidgey or Taillow flying towards her. She needs to use the Pokedex to scan it, and finds out it's a Pokemon called Pidove.

It seems these are Pokemon that mainly live in cities alongside humans, so I'm uncertain why one would be in a rather remote part of a subtropical region. The name sounds familiar… oh wait, Brendan mentioned them in his email!

She eagerly holds her hands out for Pidove to drop a package off in which it does before flying away. Brendan mentioned it'd contain three Bug Gems, and she's not sure what those are supposed to be. She would have researched it after receiving her email, but well… a lot happened last night.

"Junko, c'mon! Big Blue is waitin' for ya!"

June sighs and places the small package in her pocket. Touching MIltank udders isn't how she wanted to spend her morning, and the fact that this is only the first milking she's going to have to do isn't much better, but she can endure it and it'll be over before she knows it.

Heracross grew to level 17!

🐞 June's Party 🐞

37,492

Spoiler:

budube · Jun 23, 2021

Jordie "Jo" Hughes

Monday, September 21st

Chapter 2: Part 11 - vs. Brawly (Part 2)

15:08 pm to 15:12 pm - Dewford Beach
"Heh, heh. As I expected," Brawly mutters giving me a big grin. While playing with the pokéball on his hands.

"What are you talking about? You are not taking this battle seriously at all!" I furiously yell, just waiting for him to send out his next pokémon already.

"Yo, chill down a bit, troublemaker dude! I'm taking this seriously now, promise!" Brawly snaps, holding the pokéball next to him. "Earlier I just wanted to know how much you knew about battling. Now I see no reason to hold back."

So it was all a test? Benji didn't do that. What's with this guy?

"Go, Machoke!" Another Fighting-type, as expected.

First thing that happens is Raichu Teleports behind the pokémon, going for another Nuzzle.

No, you won't! "Maroon, Wrap and Mega Drain! Gabby, Hidden Power!"

Maroon shoots their helm at Machoke's legs to drag it away from Raichu while draining its energy, and Gabby shoots another green energy ball towards Raichu before it even tries to Teleport.

Brawly chuckles. "Well, it was worth a shot… You're a fast learner, troublemaker dude, I like that. But I wouldn't be in this job still if I didn't have a plan. Machoke, Bullet Punch!"

Two Bullet Punches are used by Machoke. The first one is to free itself from Maroon's Wrap. Before the Dhelmise is able to catch it again it disappears once more to narrowly miss the second Bullet Punch on Raichu.

I almost immediately understand what Brawly is trying to do, so I have Gabby send the Electric-Type back first with another Hidden Power, but Machoke takes the hit instead. The only thing that comes out from that is Machoke being pushed towards Raichu, which is the exact thing that shouldn't have happened for it allowed Raichu to use Nuzzle safely.

Machoke falls down, but gets up almost instantly with a desafiating, smug look. This one has Guts, I can just feel it.

"That was a nice try," Brawly says, this time with a calmer voice. Is that Gym Leader Brawly who's talking to me now? "What happens now?"

I'm the one that grins and chuckles now. This will be fun. "Maroon, protect Gabby with Iron Defense! Gabby, Recover!" I have a plan, but for that, I have to take care of Raichu first.

As I thought, Brawly sends Machoke to attack Gabby with Bullet Punch, just so she can't regain health back. Maroon is quick to block the attack with their anchor, giving the Solosis enough time to use her move before Machoke reacts and attempts another blow at Gabby.

"Gabby, quick! Get out of there!" In an attempt to escape from Machoke's next attack, Gabby… teleports? I mean, no she doesn't teleport, she switches places with Maroon.

It's a quick safe, it allows Maroon to take the attack instead, receiving little damage because of Iron Defense. But I don't like it, because I don't know what exactly happened and not knowing my pokémon's moves puts me at a disadvantage, y'see?

"Raichu, Surf's up!" Without giving me time to react at all after Machoke's attacks, Raichu starts swinging in the air, slowly raising a huge wave out of nowhere.

"Gabby, go block it with Light Screen! Maroon, immobilize Machoke with Wrap!"

Maroon catches Machoke's leg before it can attack Gabby, having its paralysis affect it before it could go for a Bullet Punch that would let it break free from Wrap. However, Gabby is unable to use her Light Screen when the wave gets close to her and switches places with Maroon instead, forcing them to let Machoke free and having Raichu's Surf hit them.

"Shit!" Gabby looks back at me with a concerned look, the moment I yell. "Gabby, use that move again!"

She manages to do that just before the wave hits her, having Maroon take the hit a second time. Barely able to get up, Machoke uses Bullet Punch to propel itself upwards before Maroon can catch it again and dodge the wave.

Now Gabby is in front of the weakened Raichu. I order the two final Hidden Power and an immediate Trick Room, before it falls.

"Raichu can't keep battling! Challenger Jordie gets another point! Gym Leader Brawly has two pokémon left!"

I take this moment to look at Gabby's summary on my PokéDex, and it turns out she replaced both Reflect and Light Screen in the middle of the battle with Endeavor and Ally Switch respectively. It's good, but I can't experiment with new moves in the middle of a Gym Battle, y'know?

"Um… Referee! I'd like to shift a pokémon of mine, if it's no problem. Gabby learned a few new things in the heat of the battle, y'see?"

"Go ahead." Reed nods, before picking up his megaphone again. "Challenger Jordie withdraws Gabby the Solosis in exchange for… What pokémon is it?"

"Still thinking..." It's either Bane or Neon. I need something that moves, so Bane would be the best choice, but without Trick Room… and he trained not long ago. It's a difficult decision, but he is energetic. "Gabby for Bane the Aron."

Reed looks at me with a puzzled expression before picking his megaphone again. He must be wondering what I'm thinking, and to be honest I am too. "Challenger Jordie withdraws Gabby the Solosis in exchange for Bane the Aron!"

The crowd goes quiet and so does Brawly. It just makes me doubt if I made the right decision here, but if Brawly sent out two Fighting-types against a Ghost and a Psychic-type, I can play the same game. Brawly sends out his last pokémon, Mantine.

Mantine opens with a strong wind coming from Brawly's side of the field, all this just so Machoke can at the very least match Bane's speed now that it's paralyzed.

Machoke slides, attempting a Low Kick kick at Bane, which he manages to block easily with Protect.

"Bane, back off, like I told you before!" Bane nods and barks before jumping to the right, managing to avoid Machoke's first strike of Dual Chop, but is too slow to dodge the second one that dazes him a bit, leaving him completely vulnerable for a Bullet Punch coming his way.

Meanwhile, Maroon is trying their best to get rid of Mantine's bubble barrier and at the same time bring it as close as possible to the ground with Wrap, healing with Mega Drain as well. This battle doesn't seem to get anywhere with both pokémon healing at the same time. Also, Mantine uses Tailwind to free itself from Maroon's grip with ease. This battle is not going anywhere.

"Machoke, Bullet Punch at Maroon! Mantine, Water Pulse at Bane!" Brawly says after realizing the same thing I did, most likely.

Both of Brawly's pokémon change targets. While Maroon tries to hold onto Mantine, Machoke punches just through Maroon's body, forcing them to let it go and use their anchor to maintain their position. Mantine charges a water ball using the bubbles from its Aqua Ring and directs it towards Bane, but he blocks it with Protect.

"Mantine, Surf's up!"

Mantine starts floating in a similar way as Raichu before, but the wave coming to our pokémon is bigger and faster to grow.

"Maroon, hold onto Machoke's legs!"

The Dhelmise tosses their helm at the Fighting-type pokémon just before it attempts to propel its way above Mantine's Surf. Upon being brought down by Maroon, and having trouble getting up because of its paralysis, it tries to take the seaweed pokémon with it, by aiming its Bullet Punch at the wave's base and sliding on the sand at full speed.

"Bane, jump on the anchor!" I yell. Bane gets to ride the anchor's crown before it's pulled by Machoke, adding some extra weight on the pokémon that has its paralysis act up once again. "Now, Protect, then Rock Slide!"

Bane manages to take Mantine's Surf by casting another green shield around him. Once the wave is long past him, he summons a barrage of rocks out of thin air that take Mantine down after getting through its bubble shield.

"Mantine, Machoke and Maroon the Dhelmise can't keep fighting! Gym Leader Brawly has run out of usable pokémon! Challenger Jordie wins the battle!"

The crowd starts whistling, clapping and yelling my name repeatedly. My heart starts beating fast and I feel like my mind is somewhere else, mesmerized by my victory, until I hear something similar to the sound of a coin being tossed and see Brawly's badge flying at me while he grins at me. I smile back.

"That was a great battle, Jordie dude!" he says, also handing me the prize money. "You really earned that badge, the ₽5000 and something else… uh, Reed, did you bring those TMs I asked you to?"

"Oh? Yeah, in my bag. Wait a bit." He goes to where his Noivern is and comes back with a TM case. He hands it over to Brawly, who takes one out of it.

"This is for beating me, it's the move Coaching. I know you'll be able to give it some good use."

I thank him and then turn to Reed, about to hand him over the money of my debt, but he forcefully turns me around, groaning with disapproval. "What are you doing? Don't turn your back on your fans like that! Enjoy this moment, I'll take you to the station later."

- Gabby grew to level 29!
- Maroon grew to level 23! Maroon replaced Mega Drain with Giga Drain
- Bane grew to level 25!

Jordie's Party:

Inventory:

Spoiler:

Picrew made with: https://picrew.me/image_maker/296093

budube · Jun 24, 2021

Jordie "Jo" Hughes

Tuesday, September 22nd

Chapter 2: Part 12 - In Search of Trainers

15:30 pm - Dewford's Ranger Station
"That'd be all," Reed says after counting the money a last time and handing over the rest to me. There's something that's been bugging me about him since I met him at Granite Cave. His partner only made a single call when they rescued the kid and I back then, but Reed made several of those, many of which were really long and friendly. "Jo…? You can leave."

I snap back to reality once he calls me back, blushing a bit. I really was staring at him this whole time thinking about that, didn't I? How embarrassing. "Oh…? Um, yeah right. Sorry. I'll go now, bye."

"This issue with the kid is confidential. Only Rangers have access to it, not even Brawly knows."

"I see… Well, I guess the kid can talk about it."

He grimaces at the possibility, but after reconsidering it, he looks back at me. "No, I don't think that'll happen."

I wait at the Station's door in case he wants to say something else to me, but after nothing from him I decide to leave.

"Hey!" he calls, just when I was leaving the Station. Talk about timing. "You're going to Petalburg now, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's where the closest gym is."

Reed nods. "Don't do anything dumb. Rangers are keeping an eye on you. It would be a shame if your career ended too early, I'm starting to become a fan too."

I laugh at his last statement. "I won't, don't worry about it."

10:57 am to 11:05 am - Ferry

Reed offered to take me to the docks on his Noivern the next morning. To be honest, I liked flying too much and he is fun to be around when he isn't working, not to accept.

"We are just in time. Seems like the ferry is getting here already," he says, looking at the boat that's reaching the docks. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm… perfectly fine!" I answer. "Still can't believe that I have two badges already, y'know?"

"Then start believing it!" He opens his bag and takes out a magazine named 'Talents of Hoenn' and gives it to me. "Maybe this will help you."

"What's this?"

"A magazine." I glare at him and shake my head, which makes him laugh. He really is as old as Brawly, oh my gosh. "About trainers… Well actually, it's about any kind of person that travels and works with pokémon, including coordinators and the like, but the main focus is trainers. I have a friend that writes for it. You might want to check her section, it's a small column called 'In Search of Trainers'; you might find a new rival there."

"Ooh, nice. I'll read it while I'm on the ferry. I can take it right?"

"Yeah, it's yours."

The ferry finally gets here. Before I say bye to Reed, I thank him for all he did yesterday.

"I didn't do anything, they would've come to see your battle anyways. It's a Gym Leader battle we're talking about."

"You gave them my name."

He shrugs. "I liked Troublemaker Dude, you know? It suits you well."

"Shut! That's a terrible nickname!" I laugh. Reed does too. "Anyways, thanks for everything. Goodbye."

"I'll keep rooting for you."

There's a few people on the ferry looking at me. I suppose many of them saw the battle with Brawly and will forget soon. However, there's this woman and her kid looking at me and going back to read their magazine quite a lot.

The magazine is the same one Reed gave me, so I decide to take a look, first looking up for the section he talked about: 'In Search of Trainers'

'After our short trip to Slateport, we are back at Dewford Town, where an apparent new talent had just beaten Gym Leader Brawly. This trainer's name goes by the name of Jordie Hughes and…'

The paragraph goes on. I turn my glance back to the mom and her kid with the same disbelief they must have right now, completely unable to hide my smile and my red face.

'I didn't do anything', he says. Reed, you dumb idiot, this is all thanks to you.

Inventory:

Spoiler:

Picrew made with: https://picrew.me/image_maker/296093

Groc · Jun 24, 2021

Natsuko Soyokaze
Saturday, September 26th, evening
Route 102

Route 102 was longer than Tsu had expected. Unable to afford a tent, she'd decided to just try sleeping on the ground last night, but found it too uncomfortable to sleep. Even with Cyrano standing guard over her, every little noise had woken her up. After more walking this morning, even Totodile wasn't in the mood to deal with wild Pokémon, so finding this ranch the Fan Club owned was a big relief for her.

She's already met the receptionist and been given a room, but she's not going to just spend all her time cooped up in her room! The ranch may not be large, but she can still look around and let her Pokémon out in the back yard.

Shiny finds a nice spot to lie down, no doubt tired from walking by Tsu's side the past couple of days. Totodile is similarly tired, but still has enough energy to look for snacks, stirring up a bit of trouble when he keeps bothering the other patrons. Cyrano, cool as ever, stands in the middle of the yard and faces north, watching the sunset in his peripheral vision.

Which just leaves one.

Tsu looks at Stacy's ball, unsure how to go about this. The ranch has a decorative pond, with a small waterfall feature and some Goldeen swimming in it, but it's not really big enough for Stacy. Tsu looks around, but the small handful of other patrons aren't paying her any mind.

So she sends Stacy out into the pond with the Goldeen. Right away, she can tell she was correct about the size. Stacy's mere presence displaces a lot of the water, even with only her lower half able to fit in the pond. The poor Goldeen immediately swarm to the opposite end, swimming in tight, panicked circles around each other.

Stacy looks at the pond, then at Tsu. With her mouth closed, Stacy looks like she's frowning disapprovingly at Tsu.

"I know, I know. But it's the only water here. And look! A waterfall!" She points to the water cascading gently across the rocks, currently splashing onto Stacy's tail. Stacy looks at it, then back to Tsu. She still looks like she's frowning, but her eyes seem gentler, maybe.

Tsu puts her hand on Stacy, gently petting the serpent's belly. "I know we haven't spent a lot of time together. But there aren't a lot of places you can go now. You're just so big! And even when you do get out, you usually have to keep track of Totodile."

Tsu's vision blurs a little, and she's surprised to find tears forming. She steps into the pond, which only reaches about halfway up her shins, giving Stacy as big of a hug as she can.

"I miss hanging out with you! I miss holding you and having meals with you and just getting to talk! Everyone I know is so scared of you now, but you're my friend! My first real catch, my Contest Star, my little fish!" She's actually crying. Trying to hold back, but crying nonetheless.

Stacy leans down, water sloshing out of the pond as she slinks backwards until her face is level with Tsu. Slowly, gently, she nuzzles up against her Trainer. Tsu hugs Stacy's face, earning a big ol' lick from Stacy's large tongue.

"Eeww! Sea monster drool!" Tsu laughs, making Stacy grin. "You know what? I don't care what other people think! You're my Pokémon, I'll bring you out when I want! You've been hanging out in my pocket for days, because... I'm afraid of what people will say? That's not fair to you, and it's not fair to me!"

She feels a little silly, to be honest. She hadn't realized how worked up she'd gotten, and for nothing! Sure, the stares she's getting now show that there was a bit of truth to her fears, that Stacy's sheer size and intimidating appearance will concern others, or limit where she can go, but that's no reason to leave her cooped up all the time!

"I'm gonna grab us some food. You hang out here, I'll be right back. Maybe you can make a new friend!" Tsu heads inside, leaving Stacy in the pond with the Goldeen.

Stacy looks down at the fish, flopping around in the remaining few inches of water in the pond. They look more like fancy Magikarp, the way they're moving, and Stacy's attention only seems to further agitate them. Stacy huffs out a breath, not interested in such shallow company.

💧💧After dinner...💧💧

The Fan Club staff member in charge of the ranch had asked Tsu to move, so she and her four Pokémon are sitting in their own reserved corner of the yard. They'd even brought out a card table and folding chair for Tsu. Stacy isn't too happy about having to sit on dry land, but she didn't cause any fuss over it. Mostly she just seems to enjoy being out with the group.

In addition to dinner, Tsu was also given a gift: five rare medicinal Berries. The lady at the counter hadn't been very forthcoming with information, only suggesting they would be beneficial to Tsu's Pokémon. Luckily for her, she had made some friends on her journey who knew a lot more than her. Time to call one.

"Miss Tsu! I was afraid you'd forgotten about me!" Sir William answers on the third ring.

Tsu grins at her Galarian friend. "Oh, come on, Bill! How could I forget you? I've just been busy!"

"I can see that!" Bill laughs, peering closely at the screen. "I see the Grand Duchess is doing well, and is that a Totodile in your arms?"

Tsu lightly bounces the sleeping croc, earning a half-hearted growl from him. "Yep! This is Totodile. He's all tuckered out right now."

"Just Totodile? You haven't given him a name yet?"

"Well... you know how it is!" Tsu laughs, hiding her eyes behind the brim of her hat. "I'm just not good with names."

"Balderdash! You came up with wonderful names!"

"I mean... I guess? Just not as good as you can. What would you call him?"

"I don't know him, my dear girl. How can I name someone I don't know?"

"Well... he's strong, stubborn, likes to fight, and often gets in over his head. He likes sandwiches and Stacy is pretty much his favorite person in the world."

Bill thinks it over, taking a slow sip from his wine glass. "I still think you should find a name, but since you asked for my help... how about Riptide?"

"Like the song?"

"Like the natural phenomenon, my girl. It's just a suggestion."

Tsu thinks it over, turning Totodile around to look him in the eyes. He grumbles as his eyes flutter open.

"What do you think? Do you like the name Riptide?"

Totodile yawns, falling asleep in her arms again.

Tsu gently sets him in her lap, her mind already going off in another direction. "It's not a bad name. I could even call him Rip for short. Or Ripley. Ooh, maybe Ripple? So many options!" She smiles happily at Bill. "I like Riptide as a name, thank you, Sir Bill!"

Bill raises his glass to her with a smirk. "Twas my pleasure to assist. Anything you need, just ask."

"Oh!" Tsu picks up her phone, aiming the camera at the Berries she'd acquired. "I was hoping you could help me identify these? I know the Sitrus Berry, it's a stronger healing Berry than an Oran."

"Among other things, yes. And that green one is a Lum Berry, do you know that one?"

"Um... not really. I think it's a cure-all? I heard something like that in Celadon once..."

"Spot on!" Bill taps his nose with a finger. "You might also be familiar with that Shuca Berry, then. Eating one can temporarily negate one's weakness to Ground attacks. It also happens to be a favorite of Rapidash and Ponyta."

"Really?" Tsu picks up the Shuca Berry, offering it to Shiny. The little pony's ears perk up at the scent, and she nibbles at it eagerly. Tsu pulls it back, leaving Shiny licking her lips. "Maybe we save it for a different occasion..."

"A wise decision. Along those same lines, that one on your left is a Wacan Berry. Similar to the Shuca, except it negates a weakness to the Electric element."

"Oh, then I should definitely give that to Stacy. She's afraid of lightning." Stacy huffs at the accusation, but doesn't argue.

"As well she should be. Electricity is her primary weakness. But... that last one. Do you know what that is?"

Tsu shakes her head, barely able to remember everything Bill has told her thus far. "All I know is that the woman at the desk said I should give it to Toto... Riptide. Said it would do a world of good for him."

"Ah. Well." Bill clears his throat, taking another drink. "I believe she was 'throwing shade', my dear. What you have is a Kelpsy Berry. It makes a Pokémon more friendly, but has detrimental effects on their physical strength."

"...huh?"

Bill sighs, looking disappointed. "It's likely she expected you to feed it to Riptide in order to make him more docile and less destructive."

"That bitch! Rip loves being destructive! He's more proud of his strength than anything else!" Tsu grabs the Berry, fully prepared to crush it right now.

"Don't be too hasty, Ms. Tsu! You could still find a use for that!"

"Like what? Bake it into a pie?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. There's a technique Pokémon can learn called Fling, utilizing pinpoint accuracy and the inherent qualities of items. You could Fling that Berry to weaken a foe. Or just use it in baking. It's remarkably similar to vanilla in flavor, it's a passable substitute."

Tsu looks at the Berry suspiciously. It looks more like kelp, and she doesn't want to try tasting it. "If you say so..."

"Waste not, Miss Tsu. When one is off to see the world, they shouldn't turn up their nose at a new experience."

"I guess you have a point. Thanks for your advice, Bill. You're so smart!"

"It's wisdom earned over decades, my dear. Hard earned, so make good use of it!"

"Oh, come on. You're not that old! You're still in your fifties!"

Bill laughs at that, a hearty belly laugh. "You flatter me! I'm 72 years old. Old enough to be your grandfather."

"Wow. You aged well, Papa Bill." Tsu smiles at him, though his gaze becomes distant.

"Papa... I haven't been called that in a long time..."

Tsu moves the phone closer, becoming concerned. "Bill? You okay?"

Sir Bill looks over at her, a big smile in place again. "Of course, my girl! I must just be tired, that's all."

Tsu frowns, but fakes a smile herself. "Well, I won't keep you up much longer, then. Good night, Sir Bill."

"Indeed. Sleep well, my dear. I look forward to our next conversation." He smiles sadly, but hangs up before Tsu can say anything. "...me too, Bill. And sorry..."

She puts her phone away, returning her team to their Balls and heading for her room. Tomorrow should see her reaching Oldale if she hurries, so she wants to be well rested.

QueenNothing · Jun 24, 2021

Junko "June" Enomoto

Monday, September 28th
Early Morning
Oldale-Littleroot Township

Spoiler:

"Einstein, you've been doing so good! So have the rest of you- let's keep it up, shall we?"

Despite how Giorgia's tone of voice seems to be soothing and caring, something about the way she speaks to us seems almost authoritative- but it's so subtle. It's a subtlety that June lacks, although exceptions have occurred, but from all the data I've collected it seems unlikely that she'd use this tone for a task as simple as picking fruit off of plants.

Humans are quite fascinating creatures- most living beings need to consume food to sustain their well-being, and humans are no exception to this law of nature. But where humans diverge is where it gets strange. Most sentient beings, such as Pokemon, gather food through scavenging, hunting, or other similar ways, but humans manipulate their environment so that it may grow produce for their own consumption! This is a practice known as "agriculture", although it's commonly referred to as "farming". Entire industries have risen from this which gives me more data on human life than I could have ever imagined they were capable of, even with my recently expanded intellect!

Right now, Giorgia, Chip, and I are in the middle of the harvesting process. Chip, who is less anxious than usual under the guidance of this human, uses his weight to support a bucket placed on-top of it, and that's where Girogia and I place these round red fruits known as tomatoes. There's a process to picking the tomatoes off of the plants that humans do, which Giorgia demonstrates by grabbing a tomato to feel it for firmness and then grabbing onto the stem it hangs off of with another hand, twisting the fruit gently and seamlessly pulls it off.

I'm assisting her with this task as well, although because my physiology is drastically different from that of a human, I go about it in a unique way: using my psychic radar capabilities, I can sense tomatoes that have the texture that Giorgia wants and use Confusion to gently pick it from the stem. Once I have grasped it, I then place it into the bucket Chip supports and then we seek out different fruits and repeat the process. Kit walks behind us, using Water Sport on the crops to hydrate them so that they may bear fruit.

Though I output very little of my psychic energy, the precision required for this task is unlike anything I've had to do before today, and I can feel my control over my power strengthening with each fruit I pick. I imagine the same must go for Chip and Kit- Wimpod are physically weak Pokemon that haven't evolved to carry heavy objects, and Kit isn't used to continuously sprinkling water to feed plants. But through Giorgia's encouragement, we all persevere.

As we all continue this task and Chip struggles to support the bucket as tomatoes are continuously placed inside of it, I appreciate my ability to freely move about. It's not at all what life was like as a Blipbug, where my movement was slow and my understanding of the world was incredibly finite, but through my pupa phase, I gathered information about my surroundings while my body developed, and now that my movement is unlimited, I truly feel capable of doing anything… and with this movement I can now do what I've desired most, which is to be by June's side at all times.

Although it was no fault of my own, I feel incredibly guilty over not showing affection to June for all the effort she's put into raising me to this stage. Now that I have control over my movement again, I vow to myself that I will do everything within my power to stand by her side at all times. To sooth her during times of distress, to celebrate with her when a goal is achieved, to protect her when she wanders into the wilderness, and to guide her through any obstacles she faces as she matures at a significantly slower rate than I. June… if only I was physically able to communicate the way humans do, I would shower you with endless words of affirmation. But I cannot, as painful as it is. So, to make up for my biological shortcomings, from this moment forward, I shall dedicate my existence to watching over her...if only I could accompany her right now.

"HISSSSSSSS!"

Alarmed by the sudden noise, I use my radar capabilities to scan for the source. While I cannot see every detail through my own eyes, I'm able to interpret what unfolds. The hissing sounded familiar… of course, that must be Sting guarding the crops from any wild Pokemon, which must be the two other life signals I'm picking up on. How could I forget- I've fought alongside him enough that it should be ingrained into me. Giorgia was smart to conclude Sting would be able to ward off any wild Pokemon. His usual habits are utilized for practical use- although unlike the rest of us, little discipline is required. How shameful! June stresses over caring for us and that bastard is completely apathetic!

...I suppose I shouldn't be too focused on him. Through the discipline that Kit, Chip, and I do, we'll all hone our skills in various ways that will be of use to June.

Einstein grew to level 31!
Chip grew to level 24!
Kit grew to level 27!

🐞 June's Party 🐞

37,492

Spoiler:

Eleanor · Jun 24, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Written with QueenNothing as Giorgia and Akira Enomoto

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $32 000 ↑

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]

Enomoto...

Monday, September 28^th - about 9:30 a.m. - Oldale outskirts, Enomoto Farm

Ebb and Flow is closed on Monday, but the pleasant experience from the previous night has given Avril some momentum. Eventually, this is what prompts her to visit one of the farms near town in the late morning for an "interest check" at least. She gets ready, with a nice comfy outfit and her bandana on her head, and falters just for a few minutes when she looks at the odd jobs list. Enomoto... maybe she could still give it a try.

Avril approaches the farm somewhat warily, looking around as if she'd never seen a place like that before. Well she didn't technically: the house in front of her has a very distinct style that she can't quite place anywhere, and the plants that are growing around it are also rather new to her, but of course, her mind is elsewhere. Her mind is thinking about what (or who) she doesn't want to see.

She can't really know until the door to the inside of the house opens in front of her, though. And so she takes some heavy breaths, fixes her hair and glasses, tries to get her trembling under control, and finally rings the bell. Her cheeks are still a bit too red for comfort, but that is something that she's given up on.

"Excuse me, can I help ya, missie?" A voice calls out from behind her, belonging to an extremely tall muscular woman with brown hair and olive skin who carries a shovel with one of her large arms..

Needless to say, the girl gets startled and loses her cool. "H-hello, I came here following an ad on the PokéCenter jobs thingy and I kinda need some money and…" Sometimes I really do envy Poppy and how she can just keep a smile on her face through all these situations. Or pretend she's a hairclip - that's a pretty good superpower too.

The woman rests the shovel against a wheelbarrow. "Care to tell me yer name first?"

"Avril…" the girl mutters, trying to get in some more breaths. "N-nice to meet you."

"Yer gonna have to speak up if ya wanna work."

The woman only gets a raised eyebrow for that. "I thought you'd just let me know what you do here usually and… like, how I can help out?" Avril questions after a few moments of silence. "Last time I got an odd job in town, here, people were way too quick to get me into it, it was mind-blowing…"

"I can't give ya work if I can't hear ya say yer name under all that mumblin'!"

At this point, Avril just grabs her Trainer Card and shows it to the woman. "H-here you go…"

"Missie, all ah'm askin for is ya to say yer got dang na-"

The creaking of a door is heard as out from the small house walks another woman, much shorter than the one working outdoors. "Oh why hello there! You must be a trainer looking for work, yes?"

This time, the blonde girl is… well, less startled than before. And so her answer comes out of her mouth a bit more clearly. "Yeah, I am! Name's Avril, nice to meet you." And that should be everything I need to say.

"Took ya long enough." The tall woman scoffs, adjusting her straw hat to avoid the harsh glare the shorter woman quickly shoots at her. When she looks back to Avril though, her expression is suddenly soft and welcoming again. "Right now I'm doing some indoor cleaning where it's quite cramped, and I'm sure you'd much rather be outside while the weather is still nice. My wife would be happy to show you what needs to be done on the farm!"

"Giorgia, ya know how I feel 'bout-"

"When you're done for the day, be sure to report back here to receive compensation. Until then, see you later Avril!" Before the tall woman has any time to respond, Giorgia quickly pops back into the house and slams the door behind her.

"Well… ok, I'll try not to be a nuisance…" Avril grimaces, still confused by that whole conversation. And by that woman talking about her wife... well, it's probably too soon to think about marriage anyways, but it's something.

"The only thing here that's a nuisance is that attitude of yours." The tall woman laughs to herself and wipes a tear from her eye. "I'm funny. But if I'm gonna be workin' with ya I reck I should introduce myself. Name's Akira Enomoto, an' that lovely lady ya just saw was my wife, Giorgia. We got a Machamp 'round here somewhere as well as some other Pokemon who are off workin' right now. Anyways, follow me- those Miltank ain't gonna take care of 'em selves."

"Oh s-sure!" Avril replies, somewhat distracted. Akira Enomoto she said, that's the name that's making her feel so torn right now. That's probably why she has "that attitude" that Akira (not knowing the blonde girl's adventures so far) still despises. Then again… Avril could just play it cool and avoid bringing up June at all. Maybe.

🌾🌾🌾

After she provided a brief explanation of how to brush a Miltank, Akira has been completely silent for the past ten or so minutes as she runs a hand-brush through the fur of one of the Miltank kept in the stable. Avril is trying to do the same, following Akira's instructions carefully and trying to relax. If anything, even the Miltank should be happier to get brushed by her if she looks relaxed and confident.

This is also an occasion for Poppy to test her magic though. A pleasant smell wafts through the air as she channels Aromatherapy, floating around the stable with a smile. Once again, she's making the best of every situation…

"Hm… hey, Akira, do you maybe…" No, not yet! "Do you also have, say, Gogoat here? They also make good milk…"

Akira glances over to Avril, surprised to see she's the one to break the silence. "Oh, well um… " She taps her chin with her index finger. "We don't, I just... never really thought about it since we have all these Miltank. Gogoat haven't been in Hoenn very long, but since ah'm seein' 'em 'round these parts, ah can probably buy some from a nearby ranch."

"Just asked because there's a lot at my family's farm in Kalos!" Avril gets enough energy to actually grin in front of Akira. "That's… actually a nice coincidence, right?"

"Sure is!" Akira chuckles as her face brightens. "Shoot, ya should have just said that when ya got here!"

"Oh, sorry…" the blonde girl now chuckles, fixing her bandana. "I guess I never did that much work there though. I'd just help if needed, check on the berries… those things!"

"Berries, huh? I actually used t'work on a berry farm south of Mt. Pyre! Seems we got a lot more in common than ah thought!"

"Oh, that's so cool! I'm from Laverre specifically, it's a pretty similar place to here." Avril adds, getting carried away with the conversation.

"You're from Kalos… that's the place with the tower, ain't it? What are ya doin' all the way out here in Hoenn?"

"Lumiose you mean? Yeah…" The girl fixes her glasses. "I technically came here on a Trainer Journey but you know…" Should I really say that? She seems reasonable enough I suppose… "Well, I'm kinda giving up. I'm saving money to get back home."

"A wise decision, if ya ask me. Pokemon battlin' ain't nothin' more than gettin' 'em hurt for sport. They don't belong in these tiny lil' balls, they need fresh air and wide open space."

Oh, what a response… Avril is actually very surprised to find someone whose opinions are even stronger than hers. But there's someone else who may disagree…

"I-I don't know about it, all I know is that I did a terrible job at being a trainer and… yeah I don't want them to get hurt! It just breaks my heart!"

"Good to see ya care for 'em." She grins. "Seems most trainers are eager t'just throw 'em out to beat the tar outta each-other. My brother, for example, when he was about yer age, he didn't treat 'em right! He's always hollerin' at 'em when he don't get his way!"

"Yikes… I guess there's trainers like that around yes… there's good ones too, sure, but it's the ones you described that ruined the whole thing for me!" Avril's expression turns pensive. "I used to watch Valerie's battles as a kid… you know, Laverre's leader, and she always seemed so collected even when total weirdos would challenge her, but I couldn't stand it…"

"Sorry missie, I'm afraid I don't know much about gym leaders, 'specially not those in Kalos. But good trainers, you say?" Akira taps her chin again. "Well… shoot, closest I can think of is my niece. Ever since she was a lil' girl she cared about Pokémon. But a trainer is a trainer- and I just can't condone that."

Enomoto… Niece… Girl… Pokémon…

"You don't want… any trainer?" The girl questions. But all those words are just too much to ignore now. "Look, uh… I think I know who that is, and she is good in my eyes! I'm just not the best person to ask, that's it…" She mutters, as her cheeks quickly turn red.

"...wait, ya know lil' Junko? Why didn't ya just say so!" Akira, with a smile that reaches both ears, releases the Miltank she was grooming and calls for another one. "Ain't she just sweet as honey?"

"T-that's an understatement, Akira…" Avril bows down and tries to hide with one hand the bittersweet smile she has plastered on her face. "We met in D-Dewford and it was nice since then but…" If June is sweet with everyone, that's more chances that she will be more understanding with me too…

Akira wraps her arms around a Miltank that comes to her. "Oh." She chuckles while rubbing the brush against the Pokemon. "I reckon ya really fancy her, huh? Why shucks, I reckon ya two get along like Doduo heads! Shame yer leavin' soon though- I was startin' to like ya. It ain't everyday ya see a youngster like ya."

YES DEFINITELY! "I… yeah, I do, I do…" Avril mutters, a turmoil of emotions going on inside of her. "But I m-messed up a few things and I'm not sure what to do now! And she's also a good trainer and has no problems pursuing that career while I definitely am not fit for… sorry." The girl takes some breaths after speaking a tad too fast and too quietly.

"Are ya really gonna just give up on 'er that easily?" The Miltank looks to be enjoying her grooming more than the last one. "Did ya think I just quit when we don't get no produce from our crops? Or no milk from our cattle? Heck, ya know who ain't a quitter- lil' Junko has been 'round here tryin' to tell me bein' a trainer ain't so bad- and she'll be doin' that since til the Miltank come home! But she don't quit, and even if she ain't gonna change my mind, I declare she's one of the strongest youngsters for that! Can't never could!"

"I-I'm…" Avril flinches, and the Miltank she's stopped brushing looks at her suspiciously before she resumes her work. "Guess you're r-right, June's always been rather u-understanding with me… but this time I might've crossed a few lines… ugh!" She groans, trying to find the words to say next. "Ok, maybe we could meet up again and sort it out but… do you know where J-June even is?"

"Wish I knew, but I'm afraid I don't know much more than that she's somewhere in Littledale. She was here early mornin', but left to go do some other stuff- probably trainer things or somethin'."

"S-so maybe if I come here early enough t-tomorrow morning…" Avril pauses there. "Would that even work?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Gettin' up at sunrise two days in a row might not be her favortiest thing in the world, so I can't make any promises. But I certainly wouldn't mind havin' ya over for some extra hands. Ya need money, don't ya?"

"Oh true, true…" Avril chuckles nervously. It has to be said - money may not solve that many problems, but is always nice to have, just in case. "I'll be here tomorrow as well, sure."

Eleanor · Jun 24, 2021

Avril Reese

16 - ♀ - Laverre City

Pokémon / Inventory:

AVRIL'S MONEY: $32 000

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]

If life is a struggle, pt. 1

Monday, September 28^th - about 3 p.m. - Littleroot-Oldale township

By the time I get back to the Pokémon Center, the cafeteria has already opened up for lunch. As hungry as I am though, I decide to have a quick shower and change my clothes first - a difficult decision, yes, but definitely worth it. After I get my meal and make it up with my own body for getting just a not-so-fresh sandwich yesterday evening, I can in fact lay down on my bed and get some more rest.

Right now, I'm actually at a point where I wish time would stop. I like it here, I like the odd jobs I've got, I feel alright. And yet, this apparently calm situation is just the product of a very unstable balance! Sooner or later I may have to leave this region, free my Pokémon, do all that I said I would do basically. Nothing about my situation is that stable, I'm only working at odd jobs and staying at a Pokémon Center, all because I have a trainer's license that I don't deserve.

But honestly, wasn't this my objective once I literally set foot on Hoenn for the first time? Becoming a good trainer was never my focus, and I was fine with settling for mediocrity if it allowed me to explore other routes too, and… find myself. Which seems close enough to what this job is allowing me to do!

🛼🛼🛼

As soon as I start to doze off, possibly too distracted to remember, Poppy wakes me up with some weak attacks of hers and directs my attention to the skates I basically stole from my work place. They're still down there on the floor, right where I left them yesterday before collapsing on the bed… I haven't touched them at all today. Something that Erin and Ellen would probably disapprove of!

And case in point, I have agreed to meet them in a few minutes, right inside the lobby of the Pokémon Center. I make my way there, holding the skates in my hands, and find them sitting inside, as expected. I have to remember now… black hair, Erin, red hair, Ellen.

As I lace up my skates, the two already start with a hard question. "Have you already used them today, blondie?" Erin asks, getting a nervous "N-not yet" from me in response. She seems comprehensive enough, but Ellen apparently isn't. "You know, if you're able to get your hand on some skates but don't use them to get around, you're definitely missing out!"

"I m-mean, I've been to a farm on the edge of town and it was, you know… fields…" I point out, and the two girls just laugh.

"It's alright, it's alright. Now we can fix that though!" Erin smiles. "By tomorrow evening you'll be just as good as us!"

"Maybe." Ellen smiles at that remark. "We're, like, good." She gives Erin a nudge, and she smiles back to her red haired workmate.

And so, after putting on some protections that the two girls have provided me with, the training ensues. At first it's just a relaxing trip around Oldale, which the waitresses use as an excuse to have some small talk or show me some of the local shops they would recommend, but it soon turns into, well… tricks, tricks and more tricks.

Erin and Ellen take turns as they try to teach me some of the incredible things that they can do with skates and that I have never learned before. All I can really do with enough confidence going into this is, well, going forward, turning, and stopping slowly. But that's obviously not enough for the pro waitress of Ebb and Flow!

To my credit, I can master some of their easiest moves after a while, like how to stop more efficiently or how to do "bubbles" to move forward. But after that, the tricks keep getting worse, and the falls that follow chip away at my confidence. And don't stop happening.

Going backwards, spinning in place, doing some dance moves… Ellen definitely makes it look easy and sound enticing. "You'll even get higher tips!" She cheers. But with how many times I'm falling, I'm seriously doubting it.

Things get possibly even scarier when Erin - this time - decides to train close to the Gym Building, where there are some steps that she wants me to climb while on skates… or roll down from 'with speed'. I don't think there are weird steps at Ebb and Flow, so what is this even for? "Always good to know that skill!" is her unprompted response.

This is turning from fun to stressful, frightening, awkward. Sorry Ellen, but seeing you perform these crazy tricks only to tell me "hey you can get to this level with some practice!" is not really helping.

🛼🛼🛼

"Hey Avril… is everything alright?" Erin comes up to me during the break from training that we have allowed ourselves to take.

"Well, not really…" I sigh. "Like, thanks for the protections and all but it was still scary to fall like that… I'm not cut for this either uh?"

"Oh no, by all means, you're fine Avril! We were all there when we started. You know the drill right?"

"I-I don't even remember that. I was just a child…"

"Aw, that's besides the point though… I'm just saying, you shouldn't give up here! You already did so well last evening, we were both quite impressed! You picked it up in no time, and I'm sure that Tuesday you might even be able to carry drinks and ice cream and…"

"Just stop it…" I clench my fists. "This is not my path. It's gotta be something else…"

"What are you even talking about…?" Erin sits down right beside me, right on the steps we practiced with, and lets me lean on her shoulder. Ellen quickly sits down on the opposite side and leans on me instead. "We're here Avril, we're here…"

"I just said that this is not for me, I can do the simple stuff but…" I start sniffing. "I get too scared to do the things that you have to do to become… good. So I'm not cut out for this. Other people like you are better for this and…"

"Well, what is for you?" Ellen pats me on the head, and I blush slightly.

"I…" I go through some of my best options. I can help my family with their farm, taking good care of their Pokèmon but especially of their orchard. I'm good at cooking, I follow recipes well. I like cute things in general, maybe that matters. I can even sing pretty well, although I'm usually too shy to let anyone hear it. And still…

"I'm not sure. I don't know yet."

"That's valid, that's alright Avril!" Erin grins. "That is definitely something we find out as we go and try out different things, right?" I nod, as that's exactly what I've been trying to say, too.

"Well then, how do you know that something is for you, Avril?" Ellen chimes in this time. How do I know… that's hard actually. I take several seconds, even minutes to think of an answer that I like, as the two waitresses wait with reassuring smiles on their faces. If anything, they get to hear my chime pendant clearly for a few times.

"So! I know what's not for me because I try and it doesn't work, I get to a point where I stop and… that's it. I guess that if something is for you this doesn't happen. And that's all I can say!"

I immediately get tense after pronouncing those words, also because the bittersweet smiles on Ellen and Erin's faces don't help at all. I can feel Poppy turning around, looking at both of them, from over my head. She's not chirping or anything though, she just seems very focused.

"Hm, I guess we all have strengths or talents but I don't think that's how it even works!" Erin finally explains. I'm starting to feel as if I'm enraging them or being annoying. Maybe they'd just like to continue the practice session.

"Yeah! Sure, Erin's thing is definitely sports and skating, so it's normal for her to do this, and she's improved over time. But just ask her how much practice she's had to put in and how many struggles she's had to endure!" Ellen smiles, as her friend nods and buffs her chest.

"Well said… you see Avril, to me that something you're talking about is not that obvious of a thing. It's not something you're good at by disposition, not at all! It's that one thing that you wanna keep doing and working on no matter how many times you fail or struggle. It's the one thing you want to be the best at, no matter how hard it can be."

I look at Erin, who's just finished speaking, with watery eyes. "B-but that means…"

"Life is a Struggle, they say. Might as well Struggle at the right things!"

Silence comes down again on the three of us, as the two older girls look at me and I look down at my skates, right hand pressed against my forehead.

"Well girls, who's up for an ice-cream right now? I know a cool place we could skate to and chill at!" Ellen finally chimes in, before getting up and helping Erin do the same. They both extend a hand for me to grab, which I accept right away. "I'm coming with you!" I announce with a smile, as I get back up on my wheels.

Caesar · Jun 24, 2021

Monday, September 21st @ 1030 – Dewford Beach

Clint fanned himself with his hat as he scanned his eyes around the beach. He needed to find some trainers or wild Pokemon to battle, make sure he was up to speed for whomever this Dewford gym leader was. A small Pokemon with an oversized head and big blue tentacles grabbed Clint's attention. Clint could not put a name to the creature however, another situation that would require that painful to use PokeNav. Clint powered the device up, and managed to open up the scan feature. Aiming the Nav's camera at the Pokemon, the Nav started recording the Pokemon as it slowly made its way across the beach towards Clint.

"Clobbopus, fighting type, It's very curious, but its means of investigating things is to try to punch them with its tentacles. The search for food is what brings it onto land," The PokeNav blurted out, before Clint returned the device to his pocket. Clint's right hand hovered over his Pokeball holster, and placed his hand on the Pokeball Treecko was in. He took the ball off, and let Treecko out.

"C'mon out Treecko, let's start with a Quick Attack," Clint made his first move. Treecko came out of the Pokeball and instantly made her way towards the Clobbopus. Treecko slammed into the Clobbopus, sending the Pokemon back into the water. Treecko adjusted her position in relation to the Clobbopus as it came back out of the water. Clobbopus Leered at Treecko, causing Treecko to feel a little shaken up.

"Treecko, use Leaf-age," Clint ordered. Treecko summoned up some leaves from a nearby palm tree, and they floated around Treecko for a couple seconds before being shot at Clobbopus, roughing the Pokemon up. Clobbopus shaked the leaves off, then charged towards Treecko. Clobbopus threw a hard punch, looked like a Rock Smash, and hit Treecko square in the stomach. Treecko was knocked down, but got up in short order.

"Another Leaf-age Treecko." The leaves used in the last attack came back to Treecko, and swirled around in the air until fired at Clobbopus once again, leaving a handful of cuts on Clobbopus, and Clint could tell the Clobbopus was wearing down.

"Almost done, try a Quick Attack." Treecko sprung into action, closing in on Clobbopus rapidly and striking the Clobbopus square in the head. Clobbopus fell back, took a second to regain its composure on the ground, then scurried back off into the sea. Looks like a win for Clint and Treecko, but based on what was happening in front of Clint it wasn't going to be Treecko for long.

A blinding bright light surrounded Treecko just as Charmeleon was surrounded a couple days ago. Clint shielded his eyes from the light for the short period of time it was active. The light then subsided and a new Pokemon stood before him. Clint rushed to take his PokeNav out and scan the new Pokemon, fumbling the device and dropping it on the way out. "Grovyle, grass type, The leaves growing out of Grovyle's body are convenient for camouflaging it from enemies in the forest. This Pokémon is a master at climbing trees in jungles." Clint stood there still, and locked eyes with his Grovyle. Either Clint was a real lucky guy, or he had a knack for evolving Pokemon. Clint walked towards Grovyle, as Grovyle walked towards Clint.

"Guess the saying is true, they grow up so fast," Clint said, looking down at Grovyle. Clint patted the head of the Pokemon, and then put Grovyle back in her ball. Grovyle would need some healing up after that encounter.

Monday, September 21st @ 1600 – Dewford City

Clint walked up to the Dewford City Gym, with his team all healed up and ready to go. Did he have doubts swirling around in the back of his mind, perhaps. But he had to suppress those as best he could if he was going to beat the Gym Leader. Clint stepped inside the building, only to find that the dojo was empty. Clint walked in a little further, looking around the main room and listening to see if anyone was there. The wooden floors creaked under Clint's steps, the only sound you could hear in the building. Was I in the wrong building? Or is this part of the Gym Leader's game? Clint's mind was racing with questions. All of the sudden Clint heard footsteps behind him. Clint turned around, seeing a young boy, most likely a couple of years younger than him, in the doorway. This kid was very short and scrawny, and was rocking a disastrous looking bowl cut. Kid was wearing a t-shirt with a Pikachu on it, blue skinny jeans and was wearing a backpack as well. If this kid is the Gym Leader, he should just give Clint the badge already. Clint shook his head and walked over to the kid.

"Umm… excuse me do you, uh uh, know where Gym Leader Brawly is," the kid asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Clint replied,

"Guess I'll have to find him another day."

"Uh, uh why don't we wait for him," the kid suggested,

"We could uh, b-battle to practice!"

"You know what kid, that sounds like a good idea," Clint answered him, slowly backing up and getting himself into position on one side of the dojo. The kid simultaneously moved into position across from Clint, giving enough space for their Pokemon to duke it out.

"Single battle, standard rules ok, I don't want any tricks," the kid pleaded.

"Works for me, I got two Pokemon, looks like you do as well, last one standing wins," Clint negogiated.

"Yup, also my name is Eric, what's yours," Eric introduced.

"Clint."

Eric's Team:

Clint grabbed a Pokeball, and let Charmeleon out, while at the same time Eric had let out his Nuzleaf. Eric had a look of embarrassment on his face, while Clint had a quick chuckle to himself, then shook his head in an effort to hide the smile on his face. Standard league rules didn't allow switching out in battles of this size, so Clint had an easy chance at pulling ahead. He watched Eric fumble to get his Holotch out of his pocket, not sure what the kid had planned with that fancy device. There might have been some benefit, but Clint was more old school anyways.

"Charmeleon, smokescreen." "Nuzleaf, Astonish."

The first moves had been decided upon. Charmeleon started producing a thick cloud of smoke from his mouth, and then hid in it, making him tougher to see. Nuzleaf let out a loud shout, which managed to still make Charmeleon cringe. Charmeleon clearly didn't like that Astonish, but the move did not hit Charmeleon very hard.

"Charmeleon, hit 'em with an Ember," Clint wasted no time. Charmeleon conjured up an ember, and shot it at Nuzleaf, hitting the Pokemon and knocking it back. The Nuzleaf struggled a bit to get back up, and was still smoldering when it finally did. Looks like Nuzleaf may have been burned. There was smoke coming off of Nuzleaf, not enough to create a smokescreen of its own but it was still noticeable. Clint took a look at Eric, who was clearly feeling the heat.

"N-N-Nuzleaf, use Razor Leaf," Eric called out. A pile of leaves showed up suspended in the air, and then were shot at Charmeleon. Most of them missed, a couple leaves hit but Charmeleon was barely affected.

"Another Ember Charmeleon." Charmeleon once again conjured up an ember, and fired it at Nuzleaf, once again bringing Nuzleaf to the ground. Nuzleaf shook off the attack as it got back up, but by then Clint had Charmeleon running towards Nuzleaf, ready to Bite the Nuzleaf. Charmeleon jumped towards Nuzleaf, mouth wide open and clamped onto Nuzleaf's arm, and bit down hard. Nuzleaf fell down, and looked weak. Nuzleaf laid on the ground, breathing heavy.

"Nuzleaf, that's enough come on back. Whismur let's see how you do!" Eric said, with a clear lack of confidence in his voice,

"Whismur, use Pound!"

The Whismur released out of the Pokeball, and immediately started charging towards Charmeleon. Whismur threw its entire body into Charmeleon, sending Charmeleon flying back and Whismur followed through and fell down in front of Charmeleon. Charmeleon rolled twice on the landing, and then got back up. Charmeleon was starting to show some wear and tear, he had got scratched up a bit on that last attack.

"Charmeleon, Dragon Breath." "Whismur, Echoed Voice."

Charmeleon breathed out a purple nebulous gust aimed at Whismur, while Whismur shouted so loud it created a shockwave headed for Charmeleon. The two attacks met in the middle, and cancelled each other out. Clint furled his brow, and started to think out his next move.

"Charmeleon, try another Dragon Breath." "Whismur, use Echoed Voice."

Once again, the two Pokemon used their moves, and once again they met in the middle. Only this time, the Echoed Voice burst through the Dragon Breath, and put Charmeleon on his a**.

"Echoed Voice gets more powerful if you use it consecutively," Eric rattled off what he knew about the move,

"Whismur, use Echoed Voice again."

Whismur shouted once more, sending a powerful shock wave that sent Charmeleon for a spin, rolling out of control behind Clint. Clint looked over at Charmeleon, who was getting back up from the attack. Charmeleon walked back in front of Clint, panting as he did so. Charmeleon looked rough, but still had a little energy left in the tank.

"Charmeleon, use Bite," Clint called out. Charmeleon ran after Whismur, and opened his jaws up wide, and bit down on Whismur, causing some damage. Clint called for Charmeleon to use another Dragon Breath, hopefully this time uninterrupted by an Echoed Voice. Charmeleon got the attack off cleanly, pushing Whismur back. Whismur took a couple seconds to shake off the attack from Charmeleon, but soon made its way back into the foray.

"Charmeleon, use Ember," Clint called out another move to keep the pressure on. Charmeleon aimed an Ember at Whismur, hitting and knocking the Pokemon down. Whismur was clearly struggling, and Eric put his hands on his hips and sighed.

"I yield, Whismur come on back," Eric said, with a disappointed tone of voice,

"You win Clint, good luck against Brawly."

Eric put Whismur back into its Pokeball, and got fifteen hundred bucks out, standard wager on a battle. Just as he was doing that, a blue-haired surfer looking man walked over, accompanied by two blue haired kids.

"We've been watching you guys, what a great battle," the man said,

"Name is Brawly, I run the gym here in town, I assume you two cool dudes are wanting to challenge me."

"Umm, umm, umm, I was Mr.Brawly sir, but after my battle with Clint I need to get better," Eric admitted, feeling shameful.

"Hey dude don't be down on yourself, spend some time with your Pokemon and come back when you feel confident," Brawly assured Eric,

"Hey what about you cowpoke, I assume you and that Charmeleon of yours are feeling up to the challenge."

"Yes sir I am," Clint replied.

"Well dude, I'm a little busy today, only stopped by 'cuz I heard the racket you four were making, how about we do tomorrow at noon, give ya a chance to rest up."

"Sounds good," Clint had offically booked his first gym challenge.

"Bring your A-game tomorrow cowpoke, and here take this," Brawly said, taking out $1500,

"Don't worry about paying your wager little dude, just remember what you learned here today and build on that."

"Thank you," both battlers said in unison.

"Catch you two dudes later," Brawly said, throwing up a peace sign with his fingers as he and the two youngsters he was with left the gym.

Clint started to walk out of the gym before Eric stopped him,

"Hey Clint, can I take your number please, I want to be able to battle you again someday, I'm travelling Hoenn just as you are I imagine."

"I guess so," Clint replied. He never really used the PokeNav that much anyways, not a big deal if Eric is able to call him. He gave Eric his number for the PokeNav, then waved goodbye. It was time to get back to the Pokemon Center, rest up him and his team for the big matchup tomorrow.

- Treecko levelled up to Lv.16!
- Treecko evolved into Grovyle!
- Charmeleon levelled up to Lv.21!
- Charmeleon learned Fire Fang!

Groc · Jun 28, 2021

Edison Kintobor
Friday, September 25th, late afternoon
Littledale, Birch Research Institute

The Institute isn't hard to find, despite being the same size as most other buildings in Littleroot. The large fence encompassing the yard makes sure of that. Ed takes note of the bicycles chained up outside the building. One of them stands out for being a much fancier Acro Bike, but also because the owner left their helmet on the handlebars. Specifically, a Medieval knight's helmet, slightly modified to meet modern safety standards.

In hindsight, that should have been a clue as to what he could expect going forward.

Entering the building, he finds himself in a cramped little space with a few desks sharing the floor with several bookshelves, filing cabinets, and lockers. It's oddly nostalgic, reminiscent of his father's cubicle back at SilphCo in Goldenrod...

Before he can get lost in a flashback, he hears voices approaching as someone comes out of a back room. He's dressed in casual slacks and shirt, but with a white coat and a transparent green visor for a hat. He's looking at a document while holding a phone, the other voice coming from the device's speaker.

"...definitely be back by Sunday, at the latest. Maybe tomorrow if everything goes well."

"Sounds great! I'm looking forward to it, and to Monday." The man replies, stopping when he sees Ed. The voice on the phone continues, unaware of Ed's presence.

"Aw, come on, Professor! You said you weren't gonna bring that up!"

The Professor just grins, holding up one finger to Ed as he quickly looks him over. "Yeah, but I get excited. I'm gonna have to let you go, Van. I've got a visitor."

"Okay, talk to y-" The Professor hangs up as he sets his papers and device on a desk, opening a nearby locker to toss his green visor in and recover a different hat, a short top hat with dark goggles on the brim and a pair of superfluous cogs on one side.

"Sorry about that, I didn't realize you'd come in! Just having a chat with one of my associates. I'm Professor Brendan Birch, how can I help you?"

This is the Professor? "Yes. Well... My name is Edison Kintobor, I'm a traveling trainer. I'm interested in becoming a researcher myself, actually. I wanted to stop by, see how things run in a... legitimate research facility." Ed keeps looking up at the hat. It just doesn't match the rest of his outfit at all.

Brendan notices Ed staring, but brushes it off. "It's too much, isn't it. I don't get to wear this one that often, but I figured that someone with your sense of style would get a kick out it."

"My sense of..." Ed throws up his hands in exasperation. "What's wrong with how I dress?"

"Nothing at all!" Brendan puts his own hands up. "You have a unique style, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that! I like hats, I figured you'd like this one too. That's actually a good lesson to learn, Eddie. Can I call you Eddie?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

Brendan snaps, pointing at Ed with two finger guns. "Full name kinda guy. Got it. Listen, Edison... you be you. You wanna wear a silly hat, wear a silly hat. You like wearing a waistcoat and goggles? That's fine, you rock that look. Do what you wanna do, love what you do, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Ed nods, not entirely understanding what Professor Brendan is talking about. He was just hoping to learn more about Pokémon research, not get a life lesson. Maybe I should just go...

Brendan's device rings, and he again holds up one finger to Ed. He doesn't use the speaker function this time, so Ed only hears his half of the conversation.

"Hello?... Hey Heather, what's up?... They need me for that?... Right now? You sure?... Fine, I'll be right there." He hangs up, smiling apologetically at Ed. "Sorry. I'd be happy to answer your questions, but I am needed elsewhere. Another of my associates will be out shortly."

He goes back through the door he'd come in from, leaving Ed alone in the lab. Honestly, this is not what he'd expected when he came in here. But it's certainly not dull, he'll give it that.

The back door opens again while Ed isn't looking, and someone else comes through. "Sorry about that, Edison. Professor Birch can be a bit eccentric, but he knows his stuff. I'm sure you can relate, right?"

Ed turns to face this other Professor, who looks much more professional. Simple shoes, white pants, a brown shirt mostly hidden under her white coat, her straight black hair hanging loose just past her shoulders... and a warm smile adorning her familiar face.

"Professor Wisteria? What are you doing here?" It's a surprise to see his teacher here of all places, though a welcome one.

"That's a fine hello!" Wisteria chuckles. "The same thing as you, I imagine. I went where the Pokémon are. With my old lab closed down, I've been finding work where I can. A lot of folks coming to Hoenn this year, though. Even some researchers from Kanto have been collaborating with Professors Birch and Norman."

"I see..." Ed puts his hand to his chin, muttering to himself. "So Professor Birch likely has plenty of help already... not probable that I can take on that role, then... unless the surplus of assistance means he's set a system in place to facilitate all the incoming data..."

Professor Wisteria laughs, a warm, happy sound that snaps Ed from his thoughts. "That big brain of yours never stops working, does it? If you'd like to assist with some research, you're in luck! Brendan is looking for research assistants to do some field work for him. If you'd like, you can gather information while you're out and about on your journey. How they interact with each other, their habitats, and you know I'm interested in how wild Pokémon interact with domestic Pokémon. You can write short essays, three to four hundred words or so, and email them back to him. I know you're familiar with the format."

"That's... fantastic, actually!" Ed takes one of the Professor's hands between his, bowing his head in gratitude. "I'll be able to do research as I travel, casting a farther net than if I was here, and it won't interrupt my journey! A win-win situation, and Sunny will appreciate it, too."

"Oh, you're traveling with Sunny?" Wisteria lightly pulls her hand free of Ed's, surprised at the gesture. "Best of luck to the both of you. Not that you need luck, but it never hurts to have on your side."

As a nearby clock chimes 5 o'clock, Wisteria rises from the desk. "Is that the time? The lab will probably be closing soon. Consider my offer, Edison. I'd love to read some of your reports."

"I'd love to. I'll head out first thing tomorrow, and send you a report every week!"

"No need for a schedule, Edison. Just send one if you find anything interesting. And don't be such a stranger! Give me a call sometime, I'd love to hear how your Pokémon are doing. Rem says hi, by the way."

Ed grins as he waves goodbye, setting off for the Pokémon Center. Although he'd initially had his doubts, his visit to the Birch Research Institute fills him with determination. He has a new assignment, collecting data and filing reports, just like a real scientist! He feels better about his journey than he has all week, and he lets Addie out to walk beside him, offering him a Pecha Berry to snack on, which Addie gladly accepts.

Caesar · Jul 1, 2021

September 22nd @ 1200 – Dewford Gym

Clint strolled in to the Dewford Town gym at noon, just as he and Brawly agreed on yesterday, but Brawly was nowhere to be seen. Clint shrugged his shoulders, and walked to the other set of doors. He opened them, which revealed an outdoor ring for Pokemon battles. Still no Brawly however, and he needed to be here for the battle. Brawly was not too far away however, as he ran inside the building and towards Clint.

"Sorry cowpoke, was running behind a little."

"It's alright I got time," Clint muttered, less than impressed but he needed something from Brawly so there wasn't much he could do about it. Clint noticed that Eric kid from yesterday was also with Brawly.

"Yea so this dude here you battled yesterday is gonna ref for us, good for him to get some learning in as well."

Clint agreed, and the two trainers agreed on a single battle format, two Pokemon to be entered. No switching as per League rules, once you return your Pokemon into its ball it will no longer be in use for battle. Clint and Brawly took their positions on either side of the ring, and Eric stood to the side at the halfway point. A few locals started to gather around to watch the fight.

"Today we have Challenger Clint versus Leader Brawly," Eric began setting the stage for the audience,

"Single Battle format, first to two knockouts wins the battle, let's see some action!"

Eric stepped back to the sidelines, and Clint stared down Brawly. He stood ready with his Pokeball, ready for battle. He breathed slowly, and he never broke eye contact with Brawly. Brawly picked his Pokemon, and let it out. Clint quickly flung his Pokeball onto the ring, and Charmeleon came out ready for battle. Brawly had decided on what looked like a Raichu, but slightly different. He had no time for the scanner, it was time to battle. Clint moved the brim of his hat a little lower, then announced his first move, a Fire Fang for Charmeleon. Charmeleon started to chase the Raichu down, but as Charmeleon got close Brawly had Raichu Teleport behind Charmeleon then use an Electroweb, catching Charmeleon in it and shocking the lizard Pokemon.

"C'mon cowpoke, you can do better than that." Brawly taunted Clint,

"These Alolan Raichu are quick, can't be expecting an easy attack like that."

Alolan Raichu, that helped Clint out for sure. They also had Psychic typing compared to their Kanto counterparts. Clint stroked his chin quickly, and told Charmeleon to use bite. Charmeleon turned back around and was able to get a bite off, clamping on to Raichu's tail and biting down. Raichu tried to swing Charmeleon off but that didn't work. Brawly called for a Teleport which got Raichu's tail out from Charmeleon's grasp. Raichu began to charge up an Electro Ball, so Charmeleon began deploying a Smokescreen, which allowed Charmeleon to sneak away and avoid the incoming ball of electricity. Charmeleon replied with a Dragon Breath, with the powerful gust knocking Raichu off balance and falling out of the air. Raichu got back up and was hovering in front of Brawly, waiting for the gym leader's next move.

"You've got some gnarly moves cowpoke," Brawly expressed some admiration of his opponent,

"But you've still got a lot to learn."

Raichu released a large amount of electricity, surrounding the battlefield in arcs of lightning, this had to be an Electric Terrain. Charmeleon got the order for a Dragon Breath, and began to unleash the attack. But this time Raichu Teleported once again, and released an Electro Ball that sent Charmeleon for a spin out of control. Charmeleon landed at the edge of the ring, and had to dust himself off before getting back up. Charmeleon leaped towards Raichu, jaws wide open with fire brewing inside. Charmeleon caught Raichu with the Fire Fang, and gave Raichu a couple of teeth marks and some steam coming off around the wound. Charmeleon landed on the ground next to Raichu, and turned around and fired an Ember towards Raichu, which hit the Pokemon and knocked it down. Brawly sighed, and returned Raichu to its Pokeball.

"Very good effort cowpoke, seems like you and Charmeleon work well together. Let's see what happens when we push that relationship to the limit," Brawly said as he grabbed his next Pokeball.

Brawly's next Pokemon was sure to cause some problems for Clint. Brawly had a Poliwrath up his sleeve, which was a tough matchup for Charmeleon. Brawly's Poliwrath used the move Coaching, which made Poliwrath pump itself up, which made the Pokemon tougher. Charmeleon shot a Dragon Breath at Poliwrath, hitting the tadpole Pokemon and pushing it back slightly. Poliwrath deployed Hypnosis, which consisted of the lines on its chest spinning around until Charmeleon fell asleep. It even made Clint feel light headed just watching it, and now Charmeleon was snoozing away on the ground.

"Snooze ya lose," Brawly taunted Clint, he wasn't exactly wrong however.

Charmeleon was completely useless until he snapped out of it. Clint started shouting at Charmeleon, telling him to wake up but nothing was working. Poliwrath used a Water Pulse, which shot a ring of water at Charmeleon with some momentum behind it. That knocked Charmeleon down, but still didn't wake him up. Charmeleon was doing poorly, as his tail flame was starting to flicker. He didn't have much left in the tank. Clint had never felt flustered in a fight like he did now. He did have another Pokemon with him, but Clint and Charmeleon were very much in sync, while Clint and Grovyle met just a couple of days ago. Left with no other options, Clint withdrew Charmeleon from the fight, and put Grovyle in the action.

"A shiny Grovyle? You've got all sorts of tricks hidden up those sleeves of yours cowpoke," Brawly said.

The tone in Brawly's voice calmed Clint down, and now it was up to him to be focused again. Clint started off by calling for a Quick Attack, and Grovyle got moving immediately, slamming square into Poliwrath's chest, sending Poliwrath falling and landing on its back. Before it could get back up, Grovyle used Leaf-age, which brought in a barrage of leaves to strike Poliwrath all over. It clearly did some damage to Poliwrath, but this wasn't over yet. Poliwrath popped back up, and attempted a Hypnosis, but this time the attack missed. Poliwrath shot out a Water Pulse, which did hit Grovyle, who was much more equipped to handle the pulse than Charmeleon was. Grovyle staggered briefly, but held her ground. Grovyle shot out another Leaf-age, which Poliwrath was able to weather, but clearly was running out of breath. The two Pokemon stood still staring each other down, with their trainers also locked in. The crowd went from cheering along to patiently waiting. Poliwrath fist bumped itself, while Grovyle scraped the sand in the ring with her foot. It was all about who made the critical move.

"Grovyle, use Quick Attack," Clint made his move.

"Poliwrath, use… ah never mind," Brawly started giving out direction, but then stopped and withdrew Poliwrath from battle.

"No need to hurt our Pokemon anymore, I've seen what I need to see cowpoke. You earned this badge one-hundred percent!"

"With Poliwrath being withdrawn from battle, Challenger Clint has beaten Gym Leader Brawly and earned the Knuckle Badge," Eric declared the winner of the battle.

Clint brought Grovyle back into her Pokeball, and Clint and Brawly walked towards the center of the ring. Clint stuck his hand out, and Brawly enthusiastically shook Clint's hand, while handing Clint the knuckle badge and the prize money for winning the battle.

"Keep doing what you're doing cowpoke, the sky is the limit," Brawly started lecturing Clint,

"Take this badge and the prize money. You'll wanna catch the next ferry out of here and go to Petalburg City. The gym leader, Wally will be waiting for you. Totally rad dude, even though he's a little shy."

"Thank you sir, it was a pleasure to battle you. I'll always remember the first badge," Clint responded.

"Glad to do it cowpoke, hope you learned something today, you and that buddy of yours," Brawly said, as Eric walked towards the duo,

"Managed to take some notes on the battle, in between my refereeing duties. I'm going to practice some more, then come back and see you tomorrow Brawly, and Clint, I'm gonna see you in Petalburg. Be ready for a re-match because I know I will be!"

"Love the enthusiasm kid, can't wait to see ya tomorrow," Brawly had to admit he liked this Eric kid, hopefully his journey works out for him,

"Best of luck to ya cowpoke, good luck against Wally."

Clint nodded at Brawly and Eric while tipping his hat, and walked out of the ring. He shook a few hand on the way out. It was time for him to pack up, and catch the next ferry out of here.

- Charmeleon grew from Lv.21 to Lv.22!
- Grovyle grew from Lv.16 to Lv.18!
- Clint received $5,000!
- Clint received the Knuckle Badge!

Embyr · Jul 1, 2021

Name: Kira Wolf || Day: Thursday, September 24 || Time: Afternoon
Location: Petalburg Forest Outskirts

Forest Breakdown

"Come on… Open up your eyes!" Kira pleaded with a small cocoon-like pokemon, Kneeling down to get a better look at it.

Azure gave a disappointed whine as Kira pleaded, trying again to paw at the goggles strapped to his head.

Kira patted Azure on the head, giving him a gentle smile. "Sorry, at least we match though!" She said reassuringly, fiddling with hers a bit.

Frowning, Azure gave up trying to reach at his goggles with his flipper and sadly rolled over towards a tree, resting against it frustrated and bored.

"Yeah… I don't blame you." Kira said with a sigh before turning her attention back to the cocoon. "Now about you…"

Picking up a stick nearby, Kira took a step back and poked at the cocoon a few times. Quickly, spikes jetted out from the sides of the Cocoon, a pair of very annoyed eyes staring Kira down.

"Angry eyes!" Kira shouted triumphantly, striking a mark on her notepad next to the word Cascoon. "There really are way more Cascoon than there are Silcoon aren't there? Weird that the evolved forms don't share the same pattern..."

"H-Hey! Get away! Don't touch that!" A loud, Panicked voice echoed south along the tree line.

"Aaron?" Kira said out loud, recognizing the scream. Looking down at Azure who seemed to be alerted as well Kira gave a curt nod. "Let's go!"

*****

After a minute or so of running, the voice getting louder and more panicked as she approached, she finally found its source. Her brother, glowering angrily at a rustling bag. "What's wrong?" Kira asked quickly, Azure picking up the rear behind her.

"That! It's going to tear up the equipment!" Aaron replied, pointing towards the bag.

Nodding for Azure to follow, Kira slowly approached the bag. Sensing someone outside the bags rustling halted, a big, fluffy gray tail poking out from the top.

"Oh my god, you've got to be kidding me…" Kira muttered to herself. Walking up towards the bag she quickly picked up the pokemon by its tail. A Sqwovet hanging from upside down struggled against Kira's grasp, it's cheeks greedly puffed out. "Really dude? This is it?"

"I-I'm not a trainer like you are." Aaron quickly defended himself, giving a bit of a bashful look. "Either way you shouldn't be doing that! It's still dangerous."

As if on que, the Sqwovet managed to curl itself up far enough to Bite Kira's hand, causing her to drop it as she pulled away quickly. "Ack! Azure!"

Not missing a beat Azure shot a powerful, salty stream of water at the Squirrel-like pokemon, striking it square in the chest. Stunned for a moment the Sqwovet shook off its dazed state and quickly retreated back into the forest, its pilfered loot still stuffed in its cheeks.

"Kira!" Aaron panically called out, snatching her hand in order to check the bite. "Let me get something for that real quick!"

"Let go!" Kira snapped, pulling away from her older brother. "It's fine! It's only bleeding a bit."

"Don't worry about it, we've got plenty of…"

"Don't worry about it?" Kira said, cutting her brother off. "You're the one who should have done that in the first place!"

"What are you talking about!? It bit you! Why would I…"

"It was only able to bite me because I held on to it to prove a point!" Kira snapped back "Why the hell are you calling for help, relying on your little sister to come save you? It's embarrassing!"

"I didn't know you were…" Aaron began, starting to look rather flustered. "Look, I wasn't afraid! It's just that…"

"Really? You weren't afraid?" Kira asked condescendingly, interrupting him yet again. "Then prove it! Azure, come over here real quick."

Azure slowly rolled over to Kira, indirectly causing Aaron to take a wary step backwards. Between the two of them Azure gave a worried look.

"Hey, what's going on!? I heard yelling!" Marie called out as she approached the bickering siblings, sharing Azure's concerned look.

"You're right on time…" Kira told Marie before shifting her attention back to Aaron. "Prove it to me and pick Azure up!"

"You're kidding right? What will that prove!?"

"What it will prove is that you weren't just lying to me! So just do it!" Kira hissed.
"R-Right…" Aaron stammered as he looked down at Azure. Azure meanwhile starred back with his same worried expression from before, not sure what was going on.

With a deep breath Aaron reached down to pick Azure up, his arms shaking violently as he did so. Hesitantly reaching out towards Azure, his hand gently touched his soft, blubbery fur before quickly recoiling back with a gasp.

Kira gave an annoyed sigh, shaking her head in disappointment. "That's what I thought… Come on Azure." Kira beckoned with a headnod as she turned away.

Aaron didn't say a word as his sister left despite Marie's attempts at comforting him. Simply feeling completely defeated. Marie, absolutely horrified, ran after Kira "Hey! What the Hell!?" she called out as she pursued.

Once a safe distance away Kira stopped, allowing Marie to catch up. Turned away, she quietly took off her goggles as she allowed Marie to chew her out.

"What in the damn hell do you think you're doing putting him down like that, while at work nonetheless!? He's your brother! Don't you see what you just did to him!?"

After a small moment of silence Kira slowly turned back to look at Marie, giving her a pained, teary eyed look. "Don't you remember? You asked me last night…"

Marie's eyes widened, her tone shifting in an instant. "Y-Yeah, but you didn't need to do that! That was completely uncalled for!"

"Like I said, growing up I always knew I wanted to be a trainer. " Kira said as she stifled a sob, looking away with a guilty expression. "However everyone, even my other two brothers, insisted it was a waste of time and that I was better off doing anything else. Aaron was the only one who didn't berate me for it."

"That's not what this is about! Why are you telling me this?" Marie asked sternly.

"Because I want you to understand, I've already done everything else I could think of! If there was another way I would have tried it by now!" Kira shouted, clutching at the Squovet's bite marks with her other hand. "Being a kid I wanted someone else that I could share that dream with, even if just a little bit. However his stupid fear always got in the way. He'd take me to league matches but he refused to get close to any pokemon, no matter how docile. I tried everything from pestering him to pranks, nothing worked. Now we're here today and it's affecting his job, It's affecting you, it's still affecting me, and because of all of that… Well, you saw it."

"Kira…" Marie called gently, holding her hand to her chest.

Stifling a sob Kira looked up towards Marie, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "I just hope that this time it works…"

Marie stepped forward and embraced Kira, letting the young trainer quietly cry into her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you promise…"

Spoiler:

Groc · Jul 1, 2021

Sunny Dey
Friday, September 25th, afternoon
Trainers' Corridor

That Skiddo is long gone, and Sunny knows it. She spent too long coming up with this plan and talking with Eddie, giving it plenty of time to return to its nest. Or wherever goats go to sleep. A lair?

Regardless, this whole plan would be scuttled if not for one migrating factor: technology! The Ranger database says that Skiddo are rare around these parts, so the SCAN should be able to track down the closest signature, which will most likely be her target. She's so clever for thinking of it that she deserves a pat on the back.

But there's no time for that! She quickly runs the scan, managing to locate a Skiddo not far from the Gym, technically off the beaten path and into the trees a bit. It's probably fine. Not like she intends to catch it, just get in some training. And some payback.

Picking her way through the trees, she follows the Holotch to a hidden glade, spotting the Skiddo in the center, nibbling on some flowers. She isn't 100% certain it's the same Skiddo, but she's not picky. And this'll be a good chance to train up Flare a bit, so she quietly sends him out. He chitters in excitement at all the trees around, not used to this terrain.

Unfortunately, Skiddo seems to hear them, looking up in surprise. Sunny curses under her breath as she steps into view. "Hey, remember me? Flare, use Fire Fang!"

Flare screeches as he leaps forward, his mouth blazing like a furnace. Skiddo steps back in fear, causing Flare to land amongst the flowers. He chomps down on some of them, which quickly burn to cinders in his mouth, small embers falling to the ground as he spits out the distasteful plants.

That Hustle ability is a real pain sometimes... "Go for Fire Punch!" Skiddo quickly backs up, but Flare gives chase, his fist aglow with flames as he strikes Skiddo in the jaw, making it stumble.

...but other times, the power boost is nice. She just needs to temper the ability a little.

Before she can call out another attack, another Pokémon drops from the sky, lashing out with a flaming foot and tossing Flare halfway across the glade. Sunny recognizes the move as Blaze Kick, a signature move of the super cool Blaziken, which just happens to be the Pokémon in front of her.

She doesn't take much time to admire it, as it knocked out Flare with one kick. She returns him to his ball, noticing the Skiddo running away. "Hey, wait!"

The Blaziken turns to look at her, or rather, looks past her, before jumping to the side. Sunny has the presence of mind to look behind her just in time to see another Pokémon rapidly heading her way, jumping clear in the nick of time.

The Pokémon rolls like a wheel, a Rollout attack, making several quick passes over the flower patch that Skiddo had been snacking on. Sunny is confused until she notices the thin trails of smoke, undoubtedly caused by Flare's missed Fire Fang. She winces, realizing too late that that could have been bad.

"Caught on, huh?" A sharp voice catches her attention as a woman enters the glade. She looks like she could be a Ranger, with her sturdy boots, brown shorts, and orange shirt, but the white coat makes Sunny think twice. It's a practical cut, but the deep pockets and color definitely give off a "researcher" vibe.

"Uh... yeah. Sorry, that was my Darumaka, he can be a bit reckless."

"No shit." The woman returns Blaziken and the other Pokémon, a Donphan, to their Poké Balls. "Using a Fire attack in the middle of the woods? Not just reckless, that was stupid."

Another adult, here to talk down to Sunny and criticize her. Typical. She responds with her usual backtalk. "Yeah, that Blaze Kick sure seemed safe. Not like a Fire attack at all."

"Yeah. It was." The woman rounds on Sunny, getting up close and looking her in the eye. "My Pokémon train to control their abilities, to be precise. And I had a backup plan to deal with the fire." She holds up Donphan's ball, causing Sunny to flinch at the sudden movement.

The woman steps away, looking at the scorched ground. "What are you doing here anyway, kid? You get lost?"

"My name isn't 'Kid', it's Sunny." She crosses her arms petulantly. "I'm doing some training before I take on the Gym."

This gives the woman pause. "...you need more training."

"Hey, screw you, lady! Who even are you? Just some weirdo out in the woods picking fights with kids?"

The woman sighs, finally looking at Sunny again. "Name's May, a Pokémon Researcher. Professor May, actually. I'm out here doing research, and you just about started a fire in the middle of it."

"Fine. I'll just go train somewhere else, then."

"Probably for the best." May looks back at the flowers. "Stick to the path, you won't hurt it as much if you screw up again."

Wow. Rude. "Thanks, Professor, but I'll be fine. ...I won't be staying long anyway." She mutters under her breath as she walks away.

After a moment, she notices May walking beside her, giving the professor an irritated look. "What?"

"Just making sure you find your way back. This area can be tricky for rookie trainers."

"Rookie?! You don't even know me, what makes you think I'm-"

"I know plenty." May interrupts, lightly grabbing Sunny's jacket long enough to see Benji's Badge pinned inside before letting go.

"You're new to Hoenn, but you're taking on the Gyms. You started in Slateport, took on Benji and won. You made your way here, to take on Merry. You're training, trying to get stronger, because that's what you know, right? You train, you get stronger, you take on a Gym and get a shiny badge to prove your strength."

"I... I also fought Brawly and Wally, you know!" Sunny is very uncomfortable with this conversation.

"No badges from them, though. Hm. So you're just going from one Gym to another, fighting them and moving on. Not staying, just moving forward. Gym after Gym after Gym. But what then? You'll run out of Gyms eventually."

Sunny hadn't thought that far ahead. "I... don't know..."

"You hadn't thought that far ahead. You're just going through the motions, doing what others expect you to, what you've been told to do."

"No, that's... I want to get my license. I want to be a Trainer! No one told me to do this!"

"And why do you want this?" May stops, looking Sunny in the eye. There's an unexpected heat to the question, an unexpected weight to her words.

"Uh... well... it's what you do, right? You go around, you get your badges, you get a license. It's the only way to become a professional trainer."

May looks at Sunny for a long moment, then sighs. "It's what you do. It's the Path you've been put on." She starts walking again, Sunny instinctively following. "Look, kid... I'm not great at advice. But there's lots of stuff out there in the world. You gotta find out what you wanna do, not just do the first thing that gets put in front of you. You just stick to the Path, it'll end eventually. And then where are you?"

Sunny says nothing, trying to think of an answer.

"Teenage girl, new to this country, leaving everything behind and setting off on a journey all by yourself... I know you. I was you. Don't follow the Path put before you. Don't do what I did. Find the Path that's right for you."

Coincidentally, they arrive back at the main road of Trainers' Corridor just then. Sunny immediately heads north, back to Oldale, while May goes south toward Littleroot.

There's a metaphor there, but Sunny can't think of it right now. May said a lot of things, but she was wrong about one thing: she's not all by herself. She sends out Sputter, who looks around expectantly.

"Hey," Sunny picks her up and holds her close, "no fights right now. Just wanted some company."

Sputter happily snuggles up to Sunny, making herself comfortable in her trainer's arms. They take a moment to watch the sun start drifting down to the horizon, then start heading back to town before it gets dark.

Groc · Jul 6, 2021

Edison Kintobor
Saturday, September 26th, morning
Oldale Pokémon Center

In addition to its charmingly rustic decor, the Pokémon Center also serves a charmingly rustic breakfast. Ed has assembled a couple of sandwiches out of fried eggs, bacon, and biscuits, and is just sitting down with a glass of orange juice when Sunny slides into the seat across from him. He idly notices her own breakfast is a cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal topped with blueberries, making a note to grab some fruit himself before he leaves.

"Good morning, Sunny. Sleep well?" The faint darkness under her eyes and her still frazzled hair imply otherwise, but he knows she won't admit it.

"No, not really. Couldn't stop thinking about things." She takes a long sip of coffee, stirring her oatmeal with a fork.

His initial assumption immediately proven incorrect, Ed looks at Sunny in concern. She notices him staring, looking down at her breakfast. She either doesn't notice or doesn't care that half of each forkful of oats falls back into her bowl.

"Sunny, are you alright? You seem... distracted this morning."

"I'm fine! Totally fine. Just... don't know what I want to do with my day. How about you, any plans?"

Ed stares at her for a moment, but he believes her. "Not specifically." He takes a bite of sandwich. "I figured I'd look around Route 102 some more, or maybe go up to Route 103."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, cool... Would you want to do that before or after lunch?"

Ed stops midbite, suspicion darkening his features. "Sunny. What did you do?"

"Well... I mean, technically..."

"What. Did you do?"

Sunny fidgets, looking... guilty? "How mad would you be if I'd signed you up to battle the Gym Leader today?"

Ed drops his hands to the table, causing the tiniest of *clink*s as his silverware is disrupted. "Sunny, we talked about this!"

"I know!" She looks legitimately guilty, which confuses Ed. "We talked about it, and I didn't listen! After we split up last night, I didn't go straight back to Trainers' Corridor. Most of the Wooloo had left, so I was able to get inside the Gym. I signed us up to fight the Leader today, then I went hunting for Skiddo. I was up all night thinking about it and I feel terrible, okay? I don't know what I was thinking."

Ed sighs, still mad, but he can't express it when Sunny clearly already feels bad enough. He swallows his frustration along with his eggs, looking at Sunny with more disappointment than anger. "What time do I fight?"

Sunny just looks at the table. "Ten o'clock."

"Well. I guess that leaves plenty of time for breakfast, at least." He offers her a spoon and a smile, and her face turns a little red as she accepts them.

🥚🥚Later!🥚🥚

At the Gym, one of the trainers from yesterday greets them, though he gives Sunny a stern look. Considerably cheered up from this morning, she gives him a smirk in return. He rolls his eyes at her, leading them to a door in the back of the Gym.

The door leads outside, to the confusion of both teens. "Wait... where's the Leader?" Sunny looks back at the door. "I thought he would be here?"

"They," the Gym Trainer stresses, "are in the fields. We don't do indoor battles here in Littledale. Leader Merry fights challengers outside, and all these hills around you are the arena."

"Hmmm..." Ed looks at the terrain, his hand on his chin. "Plenty of open space means plenty of maneuverability, with freedom for any Pokémon to use any abilities they see fit... it's genius."

"I'm glad y'think so!" The Gym Leader... there's no other word for it... moseys over to them, the sun at their back leaving them mostly in silhouette, their eyes hidden under a straw hat.

Sunny laughs in disbelief. "That's the Gym Leader? Farmer Ted over here?" She looks them over, from their plaid shirt to their overalls to their mud-caked work boots.

"It's Merry!" The Leader corrects sternly. "Leader Merry Richtide, an' my pronouns are they an' them. You the one challengin' me?"

Sunny immediately steps back. "Oh, not at all, si- uh... Leader. Merry? My friend here is going first."

Ed steps forward, offering his hand. "Edison Kintobor, nice to meet you. I'm issuing the challenge."

Merry nods, accepting Ed's handshake. "Your friend likes to run her mouth. That'll get 'er in trouble one o' these days."

Ed shrugs, dropping his voice slightly. "I'm aware. I'm working on training her when I can."

"I heard that." Sunny punches Ed's arm, making him wince, but smile.

Merry actually laughs as well. "You kids are alright! C'mon, let's see what you can do! Jed! You be the ref, make it all official like."

"Sure thing, Merry. Challenger Ed versus Leader Merry! One on one battles, winner withdraws their Pokémon too, four rounds. The challenger must defeat more than half the Leader's team to win, that's three wins to earn a badge."

"Wow," Sunny remarks as she leans against the wall. "How'd you know Eddie had four Pokémon?"

"I didn't!" Merry grins. "But four fights is how I battle, no exceptions. Show me yours first, then I'll pick mine."

Ed nods, having already made up his mind. He puts aside all outside thoughts, ignoring Sunny, his plans for the day, anything not related to this battle, and focuses on Merry. "First, Neodymium!"

Neo appears in a flash, buzzing as they scan the area. Merry nods, taking only a second to choose a Poké Ball. "Alright, fine choice. But it kinda looks like a toy for my Yamper to play with!" The yellow dog-like Pokémon barks happily as it jumps up on Merry's leg, earning a head pat.

Ed looks at Yamper carefully, trying to remember what he can about it. He doesn't know much about Yamper, but he recalls they are Electric type.

"Both Trainers ready? ...begin!"

budube · Jul 6, 2021

Jordie "Jo" Hughes

Tuesday, September 22nd

Chapter 3: Part 1 - Synchronization

14:10 pm - 15:40 Briney Port
One of the things I love about Hoenn so far are the beaches, even the least crowded and more rocky ones are lovely solely for the view itself.

Briney Port has a few, but there's barely any tourists there. Of course, this is because they aren't very tourist-friendly beaches. You would be sitting on rocks instead of sand and you won't be able to swim either. It's a good place to train, though, both because of the small number of people and because rocky terrains emulate a gym's battlefield better than sand does.

First thing I do is train Maroon on their own. Together with Gabby, this is the pokémon I'm worrying the least about. They have shown they can handle Gabby's Trick Room with ease and they are also really powerful, but I have to enhance their physical capabilities, like the length the seaweed can extend for more range, and the power they swing that anchor with, by hitting a huge boulder with it. I'm also testing their reflexes by having Gabby get in the middle of the attack with Ally Switch and healing with Recover when she gets hurt.

Gabby's training is more focused on Trick Room's duration and Ally Switch utility. Ideally, I was training her combination of Endeavor and Recover as well, but since it doesn't affect Maroon and they are the only pokémon that can heal aside from Gabby, I lost all of my potions doing so.

I don't start to worry until it's Neon's turn. As soon as I send him outside his pokéball he flops his way to the edge of the rocky beach, facing towards the sea. When he did that in Dewford, I thought it was because he enjoyed hiding under the sand, but there's no sand here, so there must be something else.

Gabby switches places with him to bring him back to where I am, but he rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue at me before going back to watch the sea.

Gabby looks back at me with disappointment after watching Neon flop away from her, but I make some signals to tell her I can handle it on my own before recalling everyone to their balls.

When I start getting close, Neon sighs, rolls his eyes, and tries to avoid me and go find a different spot to relax.

"Don't worry, we are not training… yet," I say, sitting by his side, facing towards the water. "It's amazing, isn't it? The sea."

I turn my glance at Neon to see what he thinks about that. He has his eyes locked on me, but his expression has barely changed. However, his… face, yeah, seems to move as if he was nodding before he looks away once more.

"You miss that place, don't you?" Neon doesn't seem to have listened, for he keeps staring blankly at the horizon. It's not as if I need an answer, though, I didn't give him much of a choice here.

I may have forgotten a few things from Trainer School. Back in Granite Cave, I told that kid that befriending pokémon was the best way to catch them, but up until now I forgot why it was the best way to do so.

Trainers choose their pokémon. Of course, they are the ones that choose what to work with and how to do so. Every pokémon can have different strategies to work with, but it's up to the trainer to figure out what to use.

However, pokémon choose their trainers as well. We can catch whatever we want, pokéballs give us that power, but that doesn't mean those pokémon will work with us just because of that. If a trainer wants their pokémon to obey, they must be synchronized.

Synchronization between trainer and pokémon is the most important thing at the moment of battling, and for it to happen, the trainer has to form a special bond with them.

I forgot the importance of synchronization with Neon and that Wimpod from Dewford. When I caught Neon, I was desperate for a first catch so I could challenge Benji, not to mention, he was also the first shiny I ever saw.

"Y'know, back in Slateport I didn't want a Stunfisk. You guys don't have the best reputation in Unova, y'see? Always getting in the way and aren't even that strong." I say. This obviously makes Neon give me all of his attention. "... Or that's what people say. I had that misconception at first, gotta admit, but now I think you are pretty strong, y'know? You saved my ass in Slateport's Gym and against that Probopass in Dewford. And you are… a special pokémon, to put it some way."

Neon stares at me for a few seconds, but then makes a sound similar to a meh and looks away again. This will be more difficult than I thought. If he doesn't care about that praise, then I don't know what to do to make him train now.

As a trainer, I have no use for a pokémon that won't listen to me because it's an obstacle between the Hall of Fame and myself. If I'm unable to form a bond with Neon, then the best thing I can do is let him go.

But I won't give up just yet, I still have a few options left.

"Hey, how about a deal?"

Inventory:

Spoiler:

Jo's portrait made with: https://picrew.me/image_maker/1140610/

WizardOfOdd · Jul 8, 2021

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

Friday, September 25th

Chapter 3 - 11
My Moment
Part 2

"Payback! Peck! Keep up the pressure!" yelled loudly at my two Pokemon in the field. They landed multiple hits on Indy who was unable to defend himself due to being afflicted with Hypnosis.

One step at a time, Arthur… You just need to take it one step at a time.

I took several deep breaths to calm myself down while I watched the beatdown with a cautious gaze. The surge of adrenaline inside was pushing me to seal the deal, but I knew well rashness would only lead to calamity, just like many disappointments that I've had before this.

I didn't have much time to calm my emotions though, as Deedee managed to wake up fairly quickly from its slumber.

"Terrain Pulse!"

Despite Wally's clear urgency in his voice, the attack barely did anything on Nero who was completely unfazed with the attack while Hunter managed to fly to safety.

The fact that Wally was forced to use a move that had no effect whatsoever against Nero, didn't go unnoticed by me. That meant that my assessment was correct. The reason why Wally swapped his Pokemon's position was due to how each of his Pokemon has their own specialization, a great choice, except for the fact that when one Pokemon got knocked out, it was as if a wheel came off from a wagon. At this point, I knew I had every single piece to the puzzle called victory, it was just a matter of assembling it properly. Because after all—

"...You did a great job, Indy." He put his Pokemon back into his Pokeball with an uncomfortable look on his face. It's almost like he was beating himself up for being responsible for his Pokemon's quick downfall.

—Wally only had one Pokemon left.

And so, I drove the worn-out gears inside my head to work overdrive, and just like a well-oiled clockwork I immediately sprung out a follow-up assault against his remaining Pokemon.

"Just one more push…" I muttered under my breath.

But of course, that wasn't so simple. With a determined look, Wally managed to instruct Deedee to parry most of my incoming attacks.

As expected from a gym leader's Pokemon, despite the numbers disadvantage dodging wasn't much of a problem for Deedee, using the psychic powers it managed to move itself to safety with relative ease.

"Night Slash! Peck!" Both Nero and Hunter approached Deedee with an intent to finish the battle, yet despite knowing it, Deedee managed to stay calm and voided out our coordinated maneuver with fast and precise instructions from Wally.

"Terrain Pulse!"

My brow furrowed as he yelled at his Pokemon to use the move. Despite knowing the move had no effect whatsoever against Nero, he still ordered Deedee to launch a powerful wave of Psychic energy which launched Hunter against the wall.

Why did he bother to use it?

Despite knowing that his Pokemon would eat a super-effective move just because he risked a move to be used. Even my brain that was running on fumes knew that something was not right.

"Heal Pulse!"

Of course…. I was an idiot, why didn't I realize sooner… He was no ordinary Gym Leader, even when he was backed against the wall the fact that I expected he would just roll over and surrender was so naive. As the pink aura that enveloped Deedee started to fade away alongside her wound, I was left in a state of frustration.

Yet I wasn't willing to give up, not like this, not when I had gone so far. The strategy I used against him depended on the element of surprise, and now that he experienced it, there was a very high chance of me losing if I had to use it again in a rematch. I had to win this.

"I see so healing is your way to go, huh? Let's see how you can heal after this, Swagger! Peck!" I put up a false bravado in order to maintain the look that I was still having the situation under control.

Nero's eyes shined bright red, yet Deedee managed to dodge the attack normally as if the move had no effect against it, at all. And even worse was the fact that it left Hunter not suspecting the Terrain Pulse that was able to blow him away. Hunter was on the brink of being knocked out, and the realization of it flared up the welling frustration inside me.

"Fuck, I messed up again!" I accidentally conveyed the thoughts inside my head to the rest of the people in the room.

At this point, I was devoid of hope.

Ahaha, so the idiot fell again into the same hole, huh? Goddamnit...

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

WizardOfOdd · Jul 10, 2021

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

Friday, September 25th

Chapter 3 - 12
My Moment
Part 3

"This is not over yet, dummy! Focus!" Vincent's shout from the stands was quite annoying for me to hear.

Of course, it's not over yet Mr. Obvious, it would be off-brand if God was so kind to me and granted me a quick downfall. Instead, this slow yet agonizing moment before my hopes and dreams were shattered upon my eyes for the umpteenth time seemed par for the course at the time.

Yet despite my resignation to my incoming defeat, my Pokemon just didn't want to do the same. Hunter was battered quite badly due to the punishment it took from Deedee, yet his face stayed resolute despite literally having to be pulled from the ground by Nero, just like a warrior that was ready to fight until the bitter despite knowing they were one foot away from death's door.

Vincent's face didn't help things either. His face seemed to reflect his full trust in me which irked me… WHY! LIKE WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU… ARGHHH! SHIT!

I hated it.

I hated the look so much.

The hope reflected in his eyes… The expectations shining brightly from it… I felt like being smothered to death by it... Just like back then...

Geez, you're sick again? Should've known that we shouldn't play with you

No...

Hey, have you heard about the poor kid of the Weissmann household? It's a shame that he is sickly, but at least they have their eldest daughter to rely on.

No, that's not true...

Just like his father… He too is a disappointment, huh?

NOOO! STOP IT!

Despite my deepest pleading, I wasn't able to stop my mind from being thrown into a messed-up state as I was barely able to hold back the bad memories from flooding my head. The sheer amount of it made me sick down to my very core and with tears rolling down my eyes I hopelessly fell to my knees.

"Hey, it's okay if you lose, you know."

In the middle of my panic attack, a familiar voice from the other edge of the field managed to snap me out of my stupor.

"It may sound presumptuous for me to say this, but… It's completely fine to lose. You'll just have to slowly learn from it and keep trying, looking back, it was hard for me to accept losing too. But, I just couldn't give up until the very end… And in the end, it worked out well for me… So please, don't fret. There's still more opportunity for you to beat me, haha…" Said Wally while nervously looking at Norman as if he was looking for approval from his mentor.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT NEVER GIVING UP!? DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!?

That would be the word coming out of my mouth if I didn't know about the story of the man standing in front of me. He was the textbook example of how anything can happen in life if someone tried hard enough, well… He certainly had the talent to push him through the Pokemon League, but no chance he would know that at the time.

Yet he soldier on, didn't he? Without knowing what would happen in the end, he just marched on the steep hill and ended up breaking people's expectations of him.

"Damn it, despite all the stuttering and nervousness he elicited in his mannerisms, in the end, he is indeed a worthy Hall of Famer…" I muttered under my breath.

I chose to wipe away the tears welling in my eyes and stood up on my own as my two Pokemon watched with worried eyes.

"...Sorry, let's finish this battle, shall we?" I mustered every ounce of my remaining spirit as I put on a textbook smile to calm down the situation.

No one was looking convinced with what I said at all, but perhaps Wally decided to honor my wishes anyway by resuming the battle. And with that, the skirmish between the three of our Pokemon was on again but I had to find an immediate solution to put down Deedee before it turned into a one-on-one situation.

Think, Arthur, Think… The fact that Deedee managed to escape Swagger without any after-effects meant… Abilities? Own Tempo, perhaps. That could explain everything, but what to do… There wasn't much I could do despite understanding what was going on. Oh well, screw this… I can't care less. If I lose, I lose damnit! But at least I'll go down fighting! So I gritted my teeth hard while putting my final gambit in motion.

"Night Slash! Peck! Single line!"

Hearing my orders, Nero launched itself first with its tentacle clad with dark energy while Hunter followed suit in … just shortly after him. Deedee managed to position herself carefully to dodge Nero's attack, but she didn't expect Hunter to do a Hail Mary and launched itself towards her. Caught off-guard, she was unable to react properly to the real attack coming against her. As the purple rays of energy ran through her body, the drowsiness she felt inside her was too much that she finally tumbled down. Allowing Nero to seal the deal against her with the help of his dark blades.

Both Wally and Norman had several things to say after my victory. But I couldn't remember a single thing, my mind was all over the place at the time. All I remember was me putting on a business smile on my exhausted face and going through the formalities of taking a Technical Machine and the prize money.

As soon as I walked out the door, I could feel a rugged hand pressing me on the shoulder.

"Despite winning against your idol, you don't look too happy."

I couldn't help but let out a sigh in response to what Vincent had just said.

It was true, 100% true. Yeah, I did beat one of my childhood idols, heck I was still looking up to him greatly even if I was no longer that wide-eyed kid who scrambled as fast as I could towards the television to watch him every single time he appeared in a competition. But with how I won, could anyone blame how I felt at the time?

"Why brag when you couldn't even do shit. If he was being serious, Wally would've swept the floor with me."

Unbeknownst to me at the time, the answer I gave was enough for Vincent to justify his actions of obstructing my walking path.

"Vincent, get out of my way…"

"No." He answered coldly.

"Okay fine, what… What do you want? Like really, what?"

"Give up on your dreams."

The piercing answer he gave froze me in my tracks.

"What the hell Vincent!? Even when it's coming from you that's—

"DO IT OR YOU'LL DIE!"

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

Groc · Jul 10, 2021

Edison Kintobor
Saturday, September 26th, late morning
Trainers' Corridor, Littledale Gym

As the battle begins, Yamper immediately starts digging at the ground, rapidly burying itself in the soft earth. Even with Supersonic, Neo can't determine its exact location, scanning the ground warily.

Yamper erupts from the earth underneath Neo, striking with both paws and knocking them off balance. It starts digging as soon as it lands, burying itself before Neo can recover from the attack.

"N.D., use Magnet Bomb on the ground. You might be able to find it with your seismic scanner, or maybe drive it to the surface." Neo complies, firing small bombs into ground, but the soil has been recently tilled, dampening the explosions. While they're doing that, Yamper bursts forth again, this time behind Neo, hitting them again.

"How is it so fast?" Ed questions Merry while Neo recovers from the hit. "I know dogs are good at digging, but I've never seen one like this."

"Well, Yamper are a special breed!" Merry replies proudly. "Diggin' holes an' rootin' out burrowin' critters is their specialty. 'S why they got those squat little bodies, for gettin' into tunnels. Plus, I keep this area nice an' soft, so Yamper can dig a little easier here."

Ed puts his hand to his chin, subconsciously biting down on his finger as he furiously tries to come up with a plan. Neo looks to him for guidance, but Ed is watching the earth closely, not even blinking.

A slight disturbance of the dirt signals Yamper's emergence, and Ed snaps out a quick "Thunder Shock, six o'clock!" As Yamper leaps from the dirt, a wild bolt of electricity clips it, knocking it off target enough for Neo to dodge.

Yamper sneezes, more annoyed by the jolt than hurt, but swiftly starts digging again.

"N.D., set up a Light Screen, horizontally instead of vertically! That should stop it from emerging below you!" Neo glances at Ed dubiously, buzzing uncertainly, but does as instructed, projecting the translucent barrier under themself and holding position.

Merry shakes their head at that. "You got a screw loose, son? Even I know that Light Screen won't stop a physical attack."

Sure enough, Yamper leaps from the ground directly below Neo, bypassing the Light Screen entirely. Ed grins as Yamper emerges exactly where he predicted, quickly ordering a Supersonic. The sound waves wash over Yamper, leaving it staggering as Neo swiftly floats away from it.

Yamper starts barking and snapping at the air in frustration. Merry whistles to try and get its attention, but Neo fires a Shock Wave, zapping the little dog as soon as it looks. Merry whistles again, but Yamper just growls at the sound.

"N.D., prepare a Magnet Bomb... Hey, Yamper!" Ed whistles sharply, causing Yamper to turn and growl at him. "Fetch!" Neo fires the bomb, the small spherical object immediately catching the confused dog's attention. It leaps up, catching the bomb in its mouth, where it promptly explodes, sending Yamper flying backwards.

"Yamper!" Merry kneels down to check on their Pokémon, who slowly rises back to its feet. "You feeling up to a Fire Fang?" Yamper nods, no longer confused as bits of flame erupt from its mouth.

"N.D., get some distance! Keep firing Magnet Bombs!" Neo launches more bombs as Yamper charges toward them, guiding them into the little dog with their magnetism. Yamper closes in, undeterred, leaping up and chomping down on one of Neo's magnets. Neo buzzes in discomfort, starting to spark and smoke in distress. They fire a Magnet Bomb point blank, blasting Yamper away again. Neo struggles to stay aloft, but Yamper lays on the ground grinning but unconscious.

"Yamper is unable to battle! It's a close one, but Edison takes the first round!" Jed calls it, and Challenger and Leader alike withdraw their Pokémon.

"Well alright, that was a good match! Go on, call out your next one." Merry tips their hat slightly in respect.

Ed thinks it over, looking between his remaining three. He puts two back, looking at the one remaining for a moment. "Alright, here's Aster." The Staryu stands stationary as they appear, awaiting the next opponent.

Merry immediately grabs a ball, apparently not needing time to deliberate. "Come on, Skiddo, get 'er done!" Skiddo appears with a burst of leaves from the ball, prancing a bit on the soft soil.

Aster turns to look at Ed, their core flashing red. Danger. Ed glances back at Sunny, still leaning against the wall of the Gym. She refuses to look at Skiddo, turning her head with a little "Hmph."

He didn't see how her battle against Skiddo went, but from her reaction, not well. From this, he infers that Skiddo will be a dangerous opponent.

"Start with Confuse Ray, try to trip it up!" Aster's core shines with eerie light, causing Skiddo to stumble midstep as the light hits her, and she trips over one of the holes Yamper emerged from.

Ed decides to capitalize on that, using Swift to strike Skiddo's legs with shuriken of force.

Merry tsk's at the display. "Skiddo, patch up the ground around you, get your footing." Skiddo shakes her head, a shiver going down her spine as small seeds and bits of pollen are shed from her grassy pelt. A gentle green energy flows from her into the ground, causing new grass to sprout forth and grow around both her and Aster.

Aster jumps into the air, spinning like a top and dashing forward. They cut through the grass, but it simply regrows faster than they can remove it. They reverse direction in midair, managing to clip one of Skiddo's legs and cause her to trip again, but motes of green energy flow from the ground into her, restoring some energy.

"It's like a metaphor." Merry smiles. "You take care of the land, she'll take care of you. You won't get nowhere trying to tear up the grass like that."

Ed says nothing, merely calling for a Psywave. Aster unleashes the wave of kinetic energy, pinning Skiddo to the ground. They unleash another wave, but Skiddo pushes herself back onto her hooves, drawing power from the grass around her to fire a pulsing ball of Grass energy. The ball knocks Aster to the ground, their core once again flashing red.

Oddly, the Grassy Terrain restores energy to Skiddo and Aster both, but Ed knows Aster doesn't have a means to turn this around, even with Recover. He desperately tries to think of a plan, but Merry doesn't give him time. "Finish it with a Wild Charge!"

Electricity crackles along Skiddo's fur, sparks flying from her hooves as she charges forward. Ed recalls Aster before Skiddo can connect. "Enough, you win this round."

That seems to earn Merry's respect, and they smile gently as they return Skiddo. "Know when to fold 'em, that's nice."

"Staryu is unable to battle! A valiant start, but a decisive victory for the Leader!" Jed announces, earning a glare from Sunny.

Ed shrugs off the words, looking at his last two Poké Balls. He puts Gremlin's back on his belt, sending out Addie. Addie immediately runs to his leg, giving him a hug. Ed reaches down to scratch his ears, but watches Merry warily.

Merry actually pauses when they see Addie. It takes them a moment to think, but they send out a Wooloo in response. "This should be a fair match. Let's get this started!"

Once again faced with an opponent he knows little about, Ed tries to start off tactically with Rock Smash. He hadn't anticipated Wooloo's speed, though, and she charges in to kick Addie before he can waddle close enough to strike. Wooloo prances around to strike Addie from behind before he can recover, knocking him off balance. He manages to hit her before she escapes his reach, but his fists disappear into her fluffy wool, reducing the force of the blow.

The exchange did not go in Ed's favor, and Wooloo appears to be as strong as Ed feared. A silvery aura surrounds Addie as he Stockpiles energy, but not before Wooloo gets another pair of kicks in.

Merry takes notice of Ed's shift in tactics, but rather than press their attack, they call for Cotton Guard, causing Wooloo's fur to double, no... triple in density. Addie gathers more energy, the faint silver glow from his accumulated energy persisting.

Both Trainers stare each other down as their Pokémon again repeat their techniques, maxing out their defensive capabilities. Ed cracks a smile, despite the odds stacked against him.

"What're you cookin' up over there? Ya don't smile like that unless you got a plan."

"Thank you for allowing Addie to shore up his defenses. Wooloo may have added some more padding, but Addie knows a technique that can bypass such measures!"

"Say what now?" Merry is taken aback, but Ed doesn't bother explaining, merely calling for Chip Away. Merry orders Double Kick, but the protective aura around Addie flashes with each kick, the damage visibly reduced. Addie lays into Wooloo with a flurry of blows, pushing through all the extra wool as though it weren't there, though Wooloo's Fluffy Ability still halves the potential damage.

Merry nods in respect of Addie's tenacity. "That's quite a trick! These two 're closer than I expected they'd be. 'Course, now it's just a matter of endurance. How long you think Munchlax can last?"

And so it goes. With Wooloo's defensive advantage negated, she relies on her superior speed, but Addie strikes as soon as she gets close enough. She kicks him, he retaliates. Again and again they clash, but Addie is starting to look rough, taking a moment to fish an Oran Berry from his fur to get a quick energy boost.

That seems to have been the sign Merry was waiting for. Ed notices their shift in demeanor, anticipating they'll change up their tactics. Sure enough, Merry calls for Rest, and Wooloo curls up and falls asleep.

Had Addie been waiting for her to approach, he might have missed his shot. But Ed had instructed him to use Metronome, and already he was hypnotizing himself. Ed watches eagerly as the Metronome energy builds, Pokédex at the ready. The white energy forms into a long tentacle that the Pokédex identifies as Wring Out, wrapping Wooloo and constricting her.

Merry chuckles as they shake their head in disbelief. "Boy, you are just full of surprises, ain't you? But just because Wooloo's asleep don't mean she's out! Y'ever hear of Sleep Talk?"

Ed has heard of it, but calls for Metronome again. Despite still being asleep, Wooloo rolls forward and delivers another Double Kick to Addie. The energy at Addie's fingertips flows into the ground, where ethereal flowers sprout and feed green-tinted energy back into Addie, the Floral Healing technique.

"Haha, brilliant!" Ed is delighted by the display. "It's never used a healing move before, I hadn't even factored that in! Looks like we're still in this fight!"

Another Sleep Talk from Wooloo results in Grassy Glide, dealing somewhat less damage than before. Unfortunately, Metronome results in a rather underwhelming Hold Back attack, which barely phases Wooloo, other than her waking up at that moment. Merry goes back to his prior strategy, the more effective Double Kick attack, but they seem a tad bitter about their primary style being negated.

Metronome results in Conversion, temporarily turning Addie into a Fighting type Pokémon. While this will reduce the effectiveness of Chip Away should Addie need to revert to that strategy, it also removes Addie's weakness to Double Kick, allowing him to last longer in the fight.

Sunny speaks up from the back, sounding oddly bored. "Eddie, you know I love Metronome as much as the next girl, but how long is this gonna take?"

"You can't possibly be bored!" Ed glances back at her, appalled. "Just look at the state of the battle! I've neutralized all advantages Wooloo had over Addie, can bypass her only strength, and still have a backup plan should things go sideways! This is the epitome of the second round comeback!"

"Yeah, but it's not very fun to watch. Wooloo just uses the same moves over and over again."

Merry politely allows the conversation to take place, but takes exception to Sunny's casual shade thrown at Wooloo. "Well how about something more flashy? Wooloo, use Grassy Glide!" Wooloo charges across the fertile ground, leaving small flowers in her wake.

In a rather morbid counterpoint, Metronome materializes a skeletal hand around Wooloo's neck, a bizarre manifestation of Heal Block. "Ha! You see? No healing of any kind! I now have every advantage!"

"Just 'cuz you hold all the cards don't mean I'm gonna fold! Wooloo, use Copycat!" Vines wrap themselves around Addie, small buds ready to steal any restorative energy he might gain.

Addie ignores the vines, using a Megahorn attack that sadly fails to puncture Wooloo's armor. Wooloo, starting to look tired, uses Grassy Glide to get some distance. When Addie's next Metronome yields Defense Curl, Sunny speaks up again.

"This is supposed to be a test of skill, to show what you've learned and how strong you've grown! How can you show your skill if you're relying on luck to get any moves?"

Merry actually holds off on attacking, curious to hear Ed's response.

"Well... one could argue that skill is just how one reacts to luck, good or bad. But honestly, did you forget why I use Metronome? All these random effects, the complete inability to plan or counter, just the sheer spectacle of it all! Pokémon are amazing creatures, capable of all kinds of things. I just want to see as much as I can."

Merry claps their hands together, smiling at Ed. "That's a beautiful speech, Edison. Maybe you're right. Maybe you do have this battle won. I'll call this round, you win."

"Oh, um... I already started the Metronome, though." The white light goes inside Addie, his silver aura of Stockpiled energy fading as well, before he opens his mouth and Spits Up a massive beam of silver energy twice the strength of a Hyper Beam. It bypasses Cotton Guard, ignores Fluffy, and carves a trench through the field as Wooloo is blasted out of the tilled arena and sent tumbling down the hillside.

"Oh, shit! Time out, I gotta go get her!" Merry chases off after his unconscious Wooloo, leaving Ed, Sunny, and Jed to look at each other in shock. Addie sways for a moment, then sits down with a grin, letting out a loud burp.

Caesar · Jul 12, 2021

Background by Pete Jendro

Tuesday September 22nd @ 1800 – Briney Port

Clint took in the view of Briney Port, where the ferry from Dewford was taking him next. Clint was set to push forward on his tour of Hoenn, after securing his first badge. The fact that Brawly pulled back in the fight was inconsequential, as Clint left with the hardware. However, it was only going to get tougher from here, as according to uncle Darryl Brawly sought to help his challengers along their journeys as opposed to being a roadblock.

The ferry docked at the port, and Clint made his way off the boat. He had been on more boat rides in the past few weeks, including the long haul from Kanto then he had ever done before. Clint headed straight east, as the city of Petalburg was his true destination. Although Clint liked the vibe of the small village, it was more a place to retire, not a place for someone still in the beginning chapters of their life. With that notion, Clint followed the coast line east, away from Briney port and towards Petalburg.

After at least a good hour of walking, Clint decided to sit down and take a breather. He found a ledge overlooking the sea, which was still calm as it was when Clint sailed over. Clint sat down on the ledge, and soaked in the view. The sun was beginning to set, which provided quite a spectacle. The sky was orange like a Charmander, which brought Clint's mind back to the times that planted the seeds of becoming a Trainer in his brain.

Clint's first Pokemon was originally a cast off, an extra Charmander bred by his father for a very big-time client, who wanted a Charmander with the right nature. Clint's Charmander didn't meet the qualifications, which confused Clint. His Pokemon was very loyal and reliable, not to mention was growing into a strong battler. Clint had taken a liking to the lizard Pokemon very early on, and eventually was given to Clint as his personal Pokemon to train. It was not long after that when the two began to train together, and eventually dipped into the sport of battling. Clint secretly enjoyed the competition of it, and wanted to pursue it further. Clint's father disapproved of the idea, wanting Clint to focus on farm work. Raised to be a hard worker, however Clint had become disillusioned with the idea of staying on the ranch his whole life, especially with his older brother set to inherit the farm.

The two brothers never got along, and the problem was exacerbated when the issue of inheritance came up. Clint had felt inferior due to the issue, not like he could have done much about it anyways, as he was the younger brother, and also did not share his father's first name like Jeremiah Jr. did. So it was additionally disheartening when Clint wanted to set out on his own path, only to be originally shot down by his father. Many of the Kanto gym leaders were clients of Clint's father, and that for some reason made him unwilling to send his son out in Kanto. Would have been "bad for business" if Clint came from the Shaw Pokemon Ranch and lost. Why his father thought he would lose was an unanswered question, as Jeremiah Sr. also taught him basic Pokemon battling tactics. But the two reached a compromise, and Clint made his way over to the Hoenn Region.

Speaking of the Hoenn Region, Clint reminded himself to snap back to reality and keep pushing forward to Petalburg. He wasn't going to prove anyone wrong daydreaming watching a sunset. Clint got back up, dusted himself off, and kept pushing east.

Clint arrived in Petalburg under the shroud of darkness, with the city lights he approached emanating outwards towards him. Luckily for Clint, the Pokemon center was right on the western edge of town, on the road heading out to Briney Port. Clint walked inside, and signed himself up for a room to stay in. Clint made his way to his room, a small unit just big enough for a bed, chair and a desk. Clint threw his backpack in the chair, unbuckled his holster and hung it over the back of the chair, then left the room to head down to the cafeteria.

Since it was late, it was fairly empty, which suited Clint just fine. They were serving chili, so Clint got himself a big bowl of that, along with a slice of toast on the side. Clint found himself an empty table in the back corner, sat down and started to eat. After a few spoonfuls, he was interrupted by a short, petite young lady who was standing in front of Clint's table. She had long hair, dyed pink and was wearing a knit hat that was supposed to look like a Pikachu, ears knitted on to it and all. She was wearing a jean vest with a white sweater underneath, and black leggings. Some reason she looked kind of familiar to Clint.

"C'mon Clint you don't remember me?"

Clint finally clued in, this had to be his cousin Ruby. He hadn't seen her in years, so it's not entirely his fault he did not remember how she looked,

"My apologies Ruby, it's been quite some time since I've seen you. How's the gym challenge treating you?"

"Well it started out well. I took care of Brawly pretty easily. But this Wally guy, he's something else. My poor Pokemon didn't stand a chance," Ruby explained,

"He always seemed to be one step ahead of me, so that means I got some training to do."
"Well maybe we can train together Ruby, we have some catching up to do as well," Clint offered. He was very curious about what he had been told, he had better be prepared for the next gym.

"How has Hoenn been treating you Clint, how's my Dad holding up," Ruby inquired.

"Your father is doing well, and he misses you. Hoenn's much different than anything I'm used to, but I've been able to manage. It's nice to be able to skip out on farm work, even if it's only for a little while."

The two carried on a conversation for a little while longer, which consisted of Ruby asking about each member of the family back in Kanto, and Clint giving a short answer about how they were. Clint had finished his meal, and it was time to get some sleep.

"Well it was good to see you cousin, we'll have to meet tomorrow, get some practice in for the gym leader," Clint said, waving to Ruby.

"See you tomorrow then Clint."

Clint put his dishes away, then hit the showers. The showers, much like the cafeteria was empty at this time of night. Clint hopped into the shower, and the mind started racing again. This time however, he was thinking about the future, not the past. He couldn't let the second gym leader stop him, Charmeleon and Grovyle needed to be ready. Clint needed to be ready as well, that started with getting some shut-eye, so Clint dried himself off, changed clothes and went up to bed.

[PKMN FULL] Hoenn: Square One [IC]

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