Johto's New League [PG-15]

[Ash_Ketchum123]

Chapter 1~
Received!

Leo stepped out of the bus that took him to the rundown town of NewBark. He took a deep breath and looked around. He saw nothing interesting. Just a few meters into the water, he saw the half-destroyed iron wall that was supposedly used in the war. He gave a smirk. He thought it was smart for the president to do so, since the Kanto region did have better technology than them, thus making them vulnerable to high-tech attacks. He strolled around the small town a little more and noticed that almost all of the houses were abandoned. He decided to do a little "research" inside one of the houses by kicking open one door. Instead of opening, the door broke into many tiny pieces. He went inside the dark "cave" and investigated a little. A bunch of papers were scattered across the floor. One of them read "President Gray: --hto's ---e." The piece of paper was too worn out to read properly. Leo didn't care, so he crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it out the broken window. He picked up all the other pieces of paper but ended up crumpling them and throwing them outside. All of them were too worn out to read. Judging by how they were worn out, Leo guessed no one has lived here for a long time. He sighed and stepped out of the house. He looked around like there were other people around him, when in fact, the whole town was almost deserted.

He remembered why he came to NewBark in the first place. He walked calmly towards the center of the town. When he arrived there, he noticed the building surrounded with cardboard boxes. He looked at the building more carefully as he walked towards it. As he got closer, he saw that there were more cardboard boxes inside the building. Now he was definitely sure this was the laboratory. He went inside without knocking and marched right through the halls. Some people in labcoats stopped what they were doing and stared at Leo, but he didn't care. So what if they think he's rude? The halls were bleeping because of the weird machinery that hung on the walls. He kept walking until he spotted a woman in the same coat as all the other guys, but somehow, this woman showed authority. She looked like she was in her twenties. She had a latino look and dark brown hair bundled up in a messy bun. Beside her was someone Leo recognized a lot from the television back in the orphanage. It was the president himself. He wore a formal suit, one that stood up in the midst of all the people in labcoats. As he got even more closer, he saw that his gray hair was combed back. He had a smile on his face, a smile that he had always wore in television. He stopped when he reached the two persons who were to greet him in the middle of the laboratory.

"Hello there," the president told Leo with his hands stretched out "you must be...um..."

"You must be Leone Storm." the woman interrupted, "My name is Professor Acacia and this here, as you may have already known, is-"

"I," the president said, raising his palm to cover the professor's face, "am Marcus Antonius Gray, or President Gray."

Gray closed his eyes like he was waiting for an applause, but Leo didn't give him one. He didn't really like the president that much. He just shrugged and faced Acacia instead. The professor was looking at the president like she was saying "really?" She shrugged his head and faced Leo.

"Anyway, like the letter we have sent you said, we wanted you to come here to pick out your first Pokémon." Professor Acacia said, pointing towards a metal desk that had three Pokéballs on top of it. "We have-"

"A Munna, a Combee, and a Skitty." the president, who had apparently stopped waiting for an applause, interrupted. He pointed out which Pokéball contained which, but Leo wasn't that happy of his choices. First, he thought of owning a Combee, but he was instantly reminded of that time he was chased by a Vespiqueen back when he played with their hive. Next, he imagined owning a Skitty, but almost immediately disregarded the thought. There was no way he was gonna travel with a pink cat who seemed to always have its eyes closed. Finally, he was left with the choice of a Munna. He tried to remember of a time he had bad times with one. Luckily, there were none. As he lifted his head to tell the professor and the president his decision, he saw the two arguing over something. They drifted away to a place where Leo couldn't overhear what they were quarreling about.

"Hey, professor! I've decided who to choose!" he called out to Acacia. The professor turned and smiled at Leo, and so did the president. They both walked together towards Leo with both of their awkward smiles on their faces. Leo found that it was best to smile back at them, and so he did. But his smile obviously showed that it was false, but the two adults didn't mind. All three of them smiled at each other awkwardly. It was like that until Gray broke the silence.

"You know, I have handpicked both the trainers and the Pokémon for this journey." he bragged, while the professor made subtle faces at him, "so I'm pretty proud of myself to have picked you." He patted Leo's shoulder. He knew this was what he said to every single person who have been here before, so he wasn't that proud of himself. [This person is a fake, and so is what everything he says.] he thought to himself. Still, he gave him that weird awkward smile that he was giving them awhile ago. After all, this is the president we're talking about here. Leo had no intentions to go to jail. He took the president's hand and made it let go of his shoulder.

"So, yeah. I have decided to choose Munna." he told the president. When Leo looked above the Gray's shoulder, he saw Acacia smile. He didn't know why exactly, but she did. The president walked over to the table and picked up Munna's Pokéball. He gently rubbed its red part, making it shine under the light of the bulb that hung on the laboratory ceiling. He handed the ball to Leo and he took it as fast as his hands could handle. He stared at the Pokéball that he had received. [Okay, Leo. This is your last chance to change your mind...]

"Here. Take this." Professor Acacia said, snapping Leo out of his mind. She was handing Leo a rectangular device that Leo had no idea what was. He took it anyways. He opened it to see one wide screen covering the whole bottom part. "It's a PokéDex. The newest model available in Johto. It has a touch screen and comes with limited internet access. It also comes with a built-in phone. I have already put in my number there, so feel free to call me whenever you can."

The president chuckled. Acacia turned around and the president covered his mouth. Clearly there was something going on with them. The professor snubbed Gray and turned his attention back towards Leo. "I hope you have enough space in your bag..." she said with a sly grin.

* a few moments of stuffing Pokéballs in one bag later *

Leo stepped out of the laboratory with a bag full of Pokéballs. Surprisingly, it was a lot lighter than Leo thought. He took one last look around the deserted town. It was still abandoned, not like Leo was expecting the town to magically have its population go up. He took in one last deep breath before walking away towards his next destination, and first step towards becoming a Pokémon Master...
​

 

[moon]

Chapter 4 ~ Pink Balls Of Fire

Phew. It had suddenly gotten warmer. Maya wondered why, and almost wished she was wearing a bikini top instead of her tube top. Really, it wasn't that warm, but Maya was more tired than she realized herself, and when she got tired she got warm.

Parade was walking beside her. He noticed his trainer was nearly exhausted, and... held out a leg to trip her. Maya let out a short scream and fell to the ground, only barely having time to put up her hands to fall on and not let her nose take the fall.

"What did you just do?" she angrily said to the pink pokémon.

Parade crossed his arms and stared at her. "I don't get your point," she said, getting up. "But don't do that again, or I'll... uh, I'll just... hey, what?"

Before she had gotten to her feet completely, Parade jumped forward and grabbed her backpack, pulling her down again and pulling it off her. She watched dumbly as he started to unpack things. It didn't go very well, as his hands were made up of two big claws and not even one single thumb.

"Oh..." Maya said, as realization struck her. "You want to rest? Ok."

It was afternoon. The sun was shining mildly, now and then passed by some pearly clouds. A small wind was blowing, but not nearly strong enough to take some heat off Maya's tiredness. They started to unpack a little food and water, she lit a fire with an electronic fire lighter, pocket size, and then she thought it might be best to let out the others as well. She sent Clown and Balloon out from their pokéballs.

"Hi guys, had a good rest?" she asked them cheerily, without looking at them or bothering to take in their responses.

Clown nodded, as well as someone made up of a single ball can perform a nod, and then stared at the other pokémon. Balloon smiled back and twirped a little at Maya, but when she noticed that Maya was so tired that she didn't really listen, Balloon instead floated up into the air and settled herself on top of the trainer's head.

"Not now," Maya said, but didn't shove her away. So Balloon remained there.

Clown and Parade sat beside each other on the other side of the fire, and ate their pokémon food. It wasn't of the best quality, but it was better than what Clown had eaten in the wild. He liked it a lot. Parade, though, being a bred shiny and all, was used to better stuff. He growled a little but ate it up. Clown snorted at him. How rude to not eat when you're given such fine food. The Sneasel retorted. How unsophisticated to be used to worse stuff than this.

Clown didn't want to show that he got angry from that remark. But Parade saw him twitch, almost unnoticeable. A mischievous grin formed on the ice-type's lips. And he suddenly took one bite of Clown's food, munching it down demonstratively and eagerly waiting for Clown's outraged response. It didn't came. The Poliwag simply stared at Parade, with a look that said: Is this really a pokémon that has defeated me? tssk, tssk.

It was Parade who got angry now. How dared the blue thing not fall for his taunt! Balloon watched the scene and didn't quite understand the subtle interaction between the two males, but she understood a storm was brewing. She floated over to intervene with some cute words, but she got too close to the fire... one of her leaves caught fire!

She didn't notice though; it was Parade who smelled something burning and spotted it. He jumped up and started screaming to the Hoppip. When she noticed what was going on, she panicked and tumbled around in the air. She was floating higher and higher, the warm air around the flaming leaf carrying her upwards.

A blue streak shot past Parade and he blinked. The Poliwag had taken a leap much higher than you'd expect a pokémon with legs as small as those to be able to do, and he blew out a thin beam of bubbles towards Balloon. Parade gasped. Was he attacking her?!?

The Bubblebeam missed Balloon, but Clown tried again, before falling back towards the earth again. He hit this time! The bubbles exploded against Balloon's skin, but the fire went out and she tumbled down again. Parade ran around on the ground, sweatdrops on his face, trying to guess where she would land. Her trajectory was very flutterish, but finally Parade caught her in his arms. He looked down to see if she was conscious. The Hoppip's eyes were pinched closed, but when she felt his arms around her, she opened them and smiled and tweeted loudly. He had saved her and she was healthy! Aha... water attacks didn't harm her much.

For some reason, Parade was a bit uncomfortable with the gratefulness. It was Clown who had gotten her down, after all. He told her so, a bit hesitantly, as he didn't really want the Poliwag to feel good about himself. But he felt he didn't need the Hoppip's attention. Naive and up among the clouds as she was, even when standing firmly on the ground, she hadn't thought about the impossibility of Parade making water attacks. But now it made sense!

The Sneasel let go of her, and she carefully approached the Poliwag, who had landed a little ways away, taking quite a bump. Her eyes twinkled as she said her thanks. At first, Clown didn't react. But then he looked at her... and smiled.

Parade flinched. He smiled? That had never happened before? Oh, my god... what exactly was he witnessing here? A strangely pink aura floated around in the air this evening................. yuck. ((OOC: For a gay person, compared to most gay friends I have, Parade is pretty un-romantic XD Well, at least he turned out like that in this post.))

Averting his gaze from the two balls of fluff, he looked back towards the fire. There was his trainer, head bent down and legs crossed, leaning on her backpack with her chest and arms. Wait, why hadn't she been intervening in all this? A loud snoring noise answered his question. Eh...


((OOC: Told ya I'd post anyways XD I thought it was time to give those pokeymans some personalities.
We don't always have to do mega-long posts, do we?))

 

[Doctor Who]

MMGiru - Pfft, looks like Lightning's not the only one to battle xD Again a nice change from the usual format.

Lightning grew to lv. 17 and learned Quick Attack!

Ash_Ketchum123 - Great first post you did wonders with the setting and the characters alike, I'll be looking forward to more of your posts!

Congratulations Leo received a Munna, Pokedex and Pokeball!

Red's Hawt Chibi Pellipers - Aw is Parade, quite a possibly, a little jealous? That was a great post it was a lot of fun to get a bit into the head of your Pokemon!

Parade grew to lv. 12!
Clown grew to lv. 12!
Balloon grew to lv. 10 and learned Tackle!

 

[Zeph.]

Copper finally reached Violet City, and a large smile overcame his face. He made it to his first stop along the region, all by himself - well, obviously it would have been near impossible without Pigman Pete and Karp, but he was the reason they were with him... right?

After visiting the pokemon centre and, most importantly, restocking in more food for the road, the teenager set out to find the gym.

But where to start...

The city looked quite big, and on top of that, it was thick with trees and greenery, so you couldn't spot anything easily. Cooper decided to head towards the middle of town, there was bound to be a map or something.

As he walked, he caught sight of an elderly man. Not one of those urine stenched (and possibly stained... ugh) oldies, but a man in some sort of robe. Cooper guessed he was a wise old fellow, and so approached him,

"Excuse me?"

The man turned to face Cooper, eyes like small slits hidden by his ridiculously thick white eyebrows,

"Hello young man." he replied in a soothing voice, "What can I do for you?"

"Do you know how to get to the Gym from here?"

The man let out a small chuckle, and Cooper was close to asking him why, before his old, wrinkled hand pointed over the young trainer's shoulder. Sure enough, right behind Cooper, was a pagoda style building, with a large sign by the main gates - notifying that it was indeed Violet City Gym.

Cooper now had to foolishly respond to the man, "... the, umm... sun, was in my eyes when I looked that way... *cough*."

The old man laughed again, "Are you in a hurry, my boy?"

"Well, kinda. I guess I'm just excited."

"I presume you're a trainer?"

Cooper tried to puff out his chest proudly, "Yea, how did you know?"

"I'm eighty-two years old my boy, and have been here for most of those years," he said, "I see them all the time,"

'Cool...' thought Cooper,

"What with their dirty looking clothes, body oudour, I can spot a rookie from a mile away. Hohohoo!"

"Classic..." cooper muttered sarcastically. Was this old man saying he stunk?

"I've a suggestion for you young lad. You see the old tower to the North? That's the Sprout Tower. You know, it's tradition for the monks inside to battle with trainers such as yourself. Not to mention it would be invaluable practice for your Gym battle."

Cooper looked towards the tower. He didn't know how old it was exactly - only that it was hella old.

"Please excuse me, but I have to be going now. Monk stuff..." the old man said before walking in the direction of the tower, "Good luck young traveller!"

Cooper raised a hand in the air to signify a farewell. He looked at the Gym, then off to the tower. Then the Gym, then the tower. Gym, tower, Gym, tower...

He took a deap breath. This was for the best...

"Eanie, meanie, minie, mo..."

Cooper nearly threw the gates to the gym open in confidence, "I'm here to challenge you!"

"Keep it down! Jees..." a female voice spoke from the other side of the building. Well, it had no roof, so it was more of a small arena. A young lady with a white shirt and navy blue leggings appeared, automatically taking her place in a trainer's box on her end. Cooper got the idea, and did the same,

"I am Aderyn, leader of the Violet City Pokemon Gym!" she announced, "And you would be?"

"Cooper Phillips! ... I got an A in Cookery once!"

There was a pause among the two, before Aderyn coughed,

"The rules are simple. Two on two, single battle. Only you may make substitutions, and you win if you knock out both of my pokemon."

When she stopped, there was a rumble, and Cooper almost hit the deck. The two trainer boxes slowly rose, before stopping about eight feet off the ground.

"... The hell is this!?" Cooper demanded as he looked down to where he used to be,

"I specialise in the Flying type, Cooper." Aderyn replied as she brought out a pokeball and threw it skyward, "This way I can be in the air with my pokemon!"

"And this is fair on me how...?"

"You can switch out at any time, remember?"

From the pokeball, a small, grey bird emerged, cooing and making small, swift movements in midair.

"Piii!"

Pidove: the Tiny Pigeon pokemon. This pokemon lives in urban areas. It loves company, so may gather in parks and plazas.

"That's new to me..." Cooper said to himself. He brought out one of his own pokeballs and pressed its button, expanding it in his hand.

"You can do it: Pigman Pete!" the pokeball hit the ground and Pete burst out from it.

"Swiiiine..."

"You can make the first move." Aderyn said,

"Ha! Your first mistake! Pete, show them Ancient Power!"

The Swinub's body began to shake as it concentrated hard. Pete's nose flared as whole chunks of the floor were ripped out, floating in the air as he prepared for another large push of energy.

"My floor!!" Aderyn gasped, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Don't listen to her Pete, FIRE!"

The Pigman let out a piggy squeal as the aura engulfed rocks were hurled towards Pidove, who awaited its command.

"Dodge them and attack with Aerial Ace!" Aderyn commanded. Pidove set off for Pete, white streaks of turbulance trailing behind it from its beak and wings. With ease, it weaved in and out of the oncoming rock obsticles, before finally shooting for Pete in a straight line, swiping him across the side before zooming right back up.

"Damn, it didn't work at all..." Cooper cursed, "Try Powder Snow!" Pigman Pete kept and eye on Pidove's movements, before taking a breath in,

"Fly in for it Pidove!" The tinypigeon did as commanded, showing no hesitation whatsoever. Pete unleased Powder Snow from his nose, and it was heading right for Pidove.

"Now, Gust!" Aderyn shouted. The gray bird suddenly began flapping its wings hard, and harder, and harder, until it was actually moving backwards in the air. The harsh Gust attack met Powder Snow, and ultimately changed the direction of the attack. The icy move was blown back at Pete, who stood his ground and bared the cold.

"You think that's gonna stop Pete? He's a Swinub!"

"No, but it's enough of a distraction. Air Cutter!"

In the air, Pidove's wings began to glow a light blue. The pigeon pokemon again flapped them increasingly harder,

"Piiii...DOVE!"

With a harsh swipe, sharp 'S' shaped blades of wind boomed from the wings, shooting down to Pete and hitting him. The Pigman was thrown into the air as the attack cracked the ground below.

"Aerial Ace!"

"Pete! Powder Snow, quick!"

Pidove shot like a dart once more for Pete, who let loose another Powder Snow. The attack eventually aimed in the right direction, if a little too late. Pidove's wing was caught in the icy attack, however the bird just managed to slash Pigman Pete with Aerial Ace before both pokemon fell back to the ground. Pete landed in the middle while Pidove careered into Aderyn's raised podium and slumped to the ground.

"Finish it with another Powder Snow!" Cooper commanded, before Pete complied with another attack making its way to Pidove,

"Quick Attack!" Aderyn shouted down. Pidove was on its feet, flew up and over the attack successfully and was zooming in for Pete in mere seconds. Cooper and Pete had no time to react, as Pidove slammed into the Swinub and shot back up again. Pigman Pete rolled backwards until he was a few meters in front of Cooper's podium.

"Air Cutter!"

Again, Pidove hurled sharp 'S' blades of compressed air, striking Pigman Pete on the deck. The dust settled, and Pete didn't get up.

"That one looke like a critical hit," said Aderyn.

"Sh*t..." Cooper said worriedly as he retrieved his fallen comrade. He only had one pokemon left. As much as he thought Karp was awesome, nobody would want to be left with a Magikarp in this situation.

But he could always try.

Without saying anything, Cooper threw the pokeball, and Karp emerged, flopping onto the ground.

"... It's the only other one I have just now..."

There was a pause, and this gave Cooper's face a chance to fluster with embarassment.

Aderyn laughed, "You know, when I heard they were bringing the League back to Johto, I was optimistic. But this is the best they can come up with?!"

Cooper said nothing. His head was full of things to say, but it was futile.

"End this Pidove: Aerial Ace." The grey pigeon pokemon flew in fast with the white streamlined energy,

"Know what your problem is?" Aderyn continued, "You rush too much. You walked in here for a battle, when half your team consists of a Magikarp?"

"Get out of the way Karp!" The Magikarp managed to flip its whole body right over, avoiding Pidove,

"You don't concentrate enough! Again Pidove!"

Pidove, this time right next to Karp, rammed into the red fish, slamming it into the wall.

"When you stop and take your time; then you can challenge me again."

Pidove flew back to its owner as Karp panted heavily in a heap against the wall.

Cooper accepted that the battle was over. Without saying anything, he retrieved Karp, and the podiums began to lower themselves.

As soon as he and Aderyn hit the bottom, Cooper took off for the exit. He wasn't even close.

[OOC: I almost feel sorry for poor Cooper xD I've never made any character loose a gym battle before, but Cooper seemed the most likely :P]

 

[Doctor Who]

Zeph. - Aaaw poor Coop! I feel sooo bad for him, but I definitely do appreciate how you made the start of the post still so very comical even though the rest was more or less serious. I don't believe any post with Cooper can be wholly serious xD

Pigman Pete grew to lv. 16 and learned Endure!
Karp grew to lv. 18!

 

[MMGiru]

Chapter 5 - Violet City




Ow... head... back... and feet?

The boy opened his eyes, and was met with pink, yellow, red, and white walls and ceiling, with a sort of purple trim. His little sister was sitting next to him, and a few others were in the room. It was a PokeCenter, and he was slumped uncomfortably in a chair. He remembered... that girl! He'd beaten a girl's pokemon, and then tried to hug her. But that was where his memory ended, aside from a fading dream of a now-dead woman. The dream sobered him up, more than the consequences of his actions.

"Oh, you're awake." He didn't quite respond, and his sister continued, "That girl, Maria, and I, carried you here."

Carrying dead-weight.... The boy suspected that his sister had taken a rather lighter portion of the load than the girl he'd made a pass at. He sat up and rubbed his temples, without speaking. With a nearly inexplicable timing, the automated door opened, and Maria entered. The boy looked at her, and she looked at him, before she held up a small cloth sack that she was carrying.

"Berries, that wake a pokemon up. Nurse told me there were some the way we'd come from." The boy looked at her for a moment, then closed his eyes again, turned his head away, and spoke.

"Maria, right?"

"Yes; and your sister said your name is Yamamoto Ichirou."

The boy's face had a flash of some kind of sadness Maria found slightly familiar, before it was quickly replaced with some groggy curiosity. "Where did you learn to knock people out like that?"

Maria seemed to consider saying something, but the younger Yamamoto sibling interrupted.

"Ichi, she's from Cianwood! Her family runs a dojo!" She was excited now, as if she didn't have a chance to be before. The elder Yamamoto considered what his sister had said.

"Maria Black; your pokemon is fully healed." When the speaking nurse looked at her, Maria pointed her thumb towards the woman, and then turned to get her pokeball. When she had collected her pokeball, she coolly said good-bye, and left. Ichirou waited for a moment, then started to speak.

"I had a dream about...." He quieted down, but his sister had caught enough to be interested.

"What?" When her brother didn't reply, she asked again, but he ostensibly got his spirits back up.

"Hey, let's go catch you a pokemon!"




- - -




Violet's buildings were all of a very traditional style, and many had roofs of a color to honor the town's name. Most of the buildings themselves were quite old, as well. But this was not as surprising as Cherrygrove's being mostly intact, given the lack of use that Violet could provide in war. It seemed that any attacks the place had taken were meant to be a show of force. In a way, it reminded Maria of Cianwood. There was a difference, though.

Cianwood had never been hit by any sort of explosive, nor had Kanto ever breached it. Because of its sudden flooding, no one wanted to interact with the wall. If Kanto were to take it, Johto could always flood it. If anyone tried to raise an attack from Cianwood, Kanto could flood it. The only comfortable dangers was the chance that Kanto would hold the entire town hostage. Any alternatives were far too gruesome. Apparently, no one in charge wanted that much blood on their region's hands. After all, if other regions became involved, who would they lend their support to? Most of the town's wounds were empty houses. Few who had been trapped in the shadow of the wall wanted to remain so. Maria could remember seeing children play in old, broken, traditional style houses.

Suddenly, it dawned on her. She was upset that she hadn't worked it out before now. The Yamamoto siblings, who didn't have a place to go in Violet, aside from its PokeCenter. Maybe she was just over-thinking things... but, that boy got a look on his face when she mentioned his name. It seemed like longing.

"Are you a trainer, by chance?" A man's voice interrupted Maria's thoughts. She was a little upset with men:women ratio she was encountering, but knew she probably wouldn't deal well with more women anyway. This man was middle-aged, bald, and wore robes. The bald-ness seemed to be intentional, so, taken with everything else, she reasoned that he was a monk.

"Yes, I am." Ever the conversationalist, Maria.

The monk seemed to wait for elaboration, and continued awkwardly when there was none.

"Well, if you're not too busy, you might want to consider stopping by Sprout Tower." He gestured to a tower to the north, that... yes, it was swaying. "It's one of the oldest used buildings in Johto, but it's also famous for offering trainers a battle against a monk."

Maria considered this for a moment. The sun was setting, as it often does, and she didn't know how long Violet Gym stayed open.

"We exclusively use Bellspouts, if it makes a difference." When Maria pulled out her pokedex, the monk said, "It's a grass type."

A few minutes later, Maria was standing before an old monk. Once she realized that the enemy had a type resistance to electricity, she was sold. Now that she was standing in front of the head monk, it occurred to her that Lightning only had one electrical attack, and that was really just a stun technique.

"Elder Chen, this trainer would like to challenge Sprout Tower." The middle-aged monk backed away a couple steps, and waited for a reply.

"Ho! Would she now?" The old monk gave a reassuring smile to Maria, while he studied her. "How long have you been a trainer, young miss?"

"About two days," Maria's answer came, calmly. Chen considered this immensely quickly, then burst into laughter.

"Really," he wiped his eyes, "two days, and you're challenging establishments. I'd expect it from a child, but not one of your age."

Maria had to wonder if the Elder often offended people, and if he did it knowingly.

"Child, may I ask if you've challenged Violet Gym yet?"

Maria felt herself redden a little, and replied, "I've come here first. I..." she paused, "was told it would be too easy for my pokemon."

"Hm!" The old man didn't take long to formulate his opinions, it seemed. Maria had just enough time to see that he was thinking, before he spoke. "What do you have, dear?"

Maria responded by letting out Lightning. It was about time for him to make an appearance, anyway. When he materialized, he immediately looked around himself. He was inside a large, wooden structure, with a pillar moving through its center. There were three people in this room; an old human, a younger-but-still-old human, and Maria. He built up a little charge, narrowed his eyes, and stretched his back, while sparking up his fur.

"An Electrike!" The old man seemed genuinely surprised. "I can see why you were told that it will be easy."

Lightning felt like maybe he should be offended, but he couldn't quite decide. Maria had thought that Greg was saying that Lightning was too powerful to get a challenge from the gym, but Elder Chen was implying....

"What type does Violet Gym use?" She quickly realized that she'd let what she'd been thinking slip. It could not have been lost on Chen.

"The flying type, lass. Violet Gym has one trainer; the Leader, Aderyn." There was a moment of quiet, before he continued, "But you must know that at Sprout Tower, you'll have a type disadvantage."

Both trainer and pokemon perked up, and answered simultaneously. "I know," Maria said. "I don't care," Lightning said, not that they could understand his speech.

"Ho hoo!" Chen reached into his robe. "If you're that confident, why don't we get started?" He pulled a pokeball from his robes, which opened up to reveal a red mist of light. The light formed into a bellsprout, which Maria's pokedex redundantly pointed out. It was a small pokemon, with a powerfully fitting name. It had a little bell flower for a head, and a stem, two leaves, and roots for torso and appendages.

The monk that had brought Maria here stepped further aside, until he was evenly apart from them.

"Ready... start!"

"Thunder Wave." Maria had wanted to see how much it did against a target with resistance. About the same, it turned out. Maria reasoned that it was all or nothing with a move affecting only the opponent's status.

"Sleep Powder," the monk responded, calmly. Both words registered for Maria, as the flower spit out a sort of thick, purple spore cloud.

Maria called out to her pokemon. "Lightning, the berry." He knew what to do, but immediately hated it's necessity. The tiredness he'd begun to feel was purged by an awful taste. The monk wasn't wasting the time it took Lightning to eat, though.

"Growth." Maria didn't bother checking what the pokedex said about the move. She would have time to read later.

"Swift." Lightning let out the stars that had served him so well in the past, and could immediately tell they'd done their job. But there was more; this plant was taking the hit, much better than anything he'd yet faced. It's reaction reinforced his opinion of it.

"Wrap." The little plant threw out vines, which extended, and wrapped around Lightning. They hurt more than he would have expected, but not by much. The real concern was when Lightning realized that he couldn't move.

Maria said to him, "Blast it again." Lightning assumed, correctly, that she meant Swift, and heartily agreed.

When his blasts hit the bellsprout, it tightened its grip instinctively. Chen called out to his pokemon.

"Enough, use Weather Ball." The bellsprout, visibly weak, released Lightning from its grip.

"Swift." Lightning began charging as soon as he heard Maria make noise.

Soon the room was filled with light. The grass pokemon was firing a ball of energy while Swift beams hit it. The Weather Ball hit Lightning, the most powerful move he'd taken yet. He managed to stand after, though. Looking at his opponent, that was more than it could say. It dispersed, into a red mist that meant his victory. There was a moment of silence, before Elder Chen burst into another fit of laughter.

"Oh, my." He took a step forward, and nodded at his subordinate. "Now, young miss, it seems you have your training well in hand, but there are two things I must say."

The monk that he'd nodded to, the one that had brought Maria, walked into another room, where she could see a staircase.

"The first, is that, in my experience, some trainers have a natural talent for raising pokemon. This generally presents itself in the way of child prodigies. I believe that the President has just given us an influx of such children."

Maria thought about this for a moment. It hadn't occurred to her that she had any actual talent for this. Then she thought of something else: how had Gray chosen the children for his New League? Her thoughts were interrupted when the middle-aged monk returned, carrying a box.

Taking the box, Chen continued, "My second point, which I think you'll like rather more than an old man's ramblings, is this...." He pulled a memory stick from the box. "This is a Technical Machine, miss. If you're not familiar with them, they teach a pokemon what it needs to know, in order to use a new technique." He handed it to Maria, and spoke one last time. "It burns up after one use, though."

After this, the little old man walked off, to the staircase the box had come from. The monk she'd first met spoke.

"You put it in the pokedex, to use it. Can you find your way back home?"

Maria looked at a slot in her pokedex, and replied.

"I expect so."

 

[Doctor Who]

MMGiru - Another amazing post with more questions bubbling up, your posts are quite like a mystery book xD In any case a great battle and I liked how you portrayed the Elder, albeit through encouraging consistency (;

Lightning grew to lv. 19!
Maria received TM57: Charge Beam!

 

[dragonite149]

Cirruna peered through the darkness, trying to make out a shape and identify the thing that was causing the rumbling. 'I've heard there's a move called Flash that can light up caves. But, I don't have the TM for it, and none of my Pokemon know the move. There must be another way to light up the cave though. Maybe a move could help...' Cirruna thought, trying to remember what moves her Pokemon knew. Soren and Luntique stayed close to Cirruna, so they wouldn't get lost in the dark cave.

"Alright, you two, I have a plan. Soren, you have to attack Luntique with Tackle." Cirruna whispered. Turning to Luntique, who was standing on her right, she whispered, "Lunti, then you'll use Mirror Move to create a glowing 'orb', but you won't fire it. You'll just hold onto it, lighting up a small area of the cave. Got it?"
"Giy!" Soren smiled.
"Duo!" Luntique replied.
"Kay, then. Do it... now!" Cirruna exclaimed. Soren charged into Luntique, thinking that this plan was very crazy. The Doduo withstood the damge, but was still damaged quite a bit. Then, Luntique lifted his heads and formed a green glowing energy ball with the energy from the Tackle. Cirruna looked straight ahead, and noticed that the cave was illuminated now.
"Great job, you two!" Cirruna smiled, before looking in the direction the rumbling was coming from.

She saw a massive snake-like Pokemon, that was made of rocks. It had a spike on its head too. Cirruna pulled her Pokedex out of her pocket, and scanned the rocky Pokemon.
"It twists and squirms through the ground. The thunderous roar of its tunneling echoes a long way." the red Pokemon encyclopedia stated, in its usual mechanical voice. Then, Cirruna put the Pokedx back in her pocket.

The Onix didn't waste any time with getting the battle started. Straight after the Pokedex had finished explaining about Onix, it wrapped its tail around Soren. The little bird was squished in the grip of the Bind attack.
"Hang in there, Soren, and see if you can Sand Attack some rocks into the Onix's eyes!" Cirruna commanded. Despite the fact that Soren was being gripped tightly by the Onix, he managed to pick up a few pebbles in his talons. He tried to hurl them at the Onix, but most of them bounced of its rocky body. One, however, flew throguh the air and hit the snake-like Rock Type in the eye. Gasping in pain, Onix slackened its grip on Soren, releasing the tiny pidgeon.

"Soren, try a Tackle attack!" Cirruna shouted. Her Pidgey charged at Onix quit ast, but not as fast as a Pidgeotto would attack. The Tackle hit, dealing a little amount of damage. The Onix wasn't feeling that much pain now. The rock snake stretched its tail out towards Soren, ready for a Bind attack. Meanwhile, Luntique was starting to get a little tired from holding the Mirror Move.
"Kay, you can let go of it now," Cirruna smiled. Luntique flicked his beaks up, flinging the Mirror Move orb into the air. When it shot back down, Luntique tilted his head up, and pecked the orb. It exploded into green dust, and the cave dimmed,
"Lunti, that's a pretty good contest mo-" Cirruna glanced towards the Onix. It was bringing its tail back from the attack, as if it didn't want to attack any more.
"W-why did it stop attacking?" Cirruna thought out loud, scratching her head in confusion.
"On ix on. Onix ix onix," the Onix grunted.
"I became angered when you lit up the cave. I don't like light. But, now that the cave has become dark again, there's no reason for me to keep attacking." a mechanical voice stated. Cirruna looked down, and saw that her Pokedex was beeping. 'A translation device? Cool. The technology really is advanced!' Cirruna thought, before thinking about the translation. 'If the Onix likes being in the dark, it wouldn't like battling in the light outside.'

"Onix, I know you won't want to come outside in the sunlight and battle by my side, so I'll just let you live in the dark," Cirruna smiled, turning in the way the thought led outside. "Lunti, Soren, come this way."
Her Doduo and her Pidgey glanced around, trying to find where Cirruna was, before stepping towards her.
"Ix! On ix on on ix! On on ix!"
The Pokedex beeped, before stating: "Wait! You're a kind person! I want to go with you!"
"You... do?" Cirruna asked, shrugging.
"On. On ix ix onix on, ix on ix."
"Yes. Kindness is a trait of a great trainer, and you are kind." Cirruna's mini-Pokemon encyclopedia bleeped.
"O...kay then. Here's a Pokeball. If you really want to go with me, but touch the button," Cirruna said, pulling a Pokeball out of her bag and thrwing it on the cave floor near the Onix.

OOC: I hope that it's fine that I made the Pokedex be able to translate Pokemon speak.

And RHCP, I'm jacking your capture style. xD

 

[Doctor Who]

Dragonite149 - Ouch, the eye, man I feel his pain! It's just fine that you made it a transliterating device, in the age they're in who knows what technology can do?

Cirruna caught a lv. 6 male Onix!

 

[MMGiru]

[OOC]
Trying to space out a number of things here, to add significance. Interesting formats, details about NPCs, and such.

Anyway, I'd better get to the editing, as I'm strangely tired. It's only one in the morning, after all.

During the editing, I've remembered to point out that, as I've yet to invest any real time in 4th and 5th gen games, I have no idea what Charge Beam looks like. >.>

--------------------
EDIT
--------------------

It's confusing to use the word "edit" for two different things. -_-

Anyway.... Now I've forgotten what was so important in the first place.

Remembered just in time to finish that last sentence.

If I get Spark, I'd prefer to replace Tackle with it. It just seems the logical thing to do away with. Inventory management. Prep for DA2 and Skyrim.

>.<
Now I've got myself excited about Skyrim again! Must hold off 'till November, must hold off 'till release... must use human blood and DA2 to keep myself busy until beautiful disk is in my hands....

[IC]




Chapter 5.5 - Violet City, Continued




It was dark out, and Maria had had a strange day. After the nurse confirmed that the rooms had their own bathrooms, she decided to spend the night there. She needed a shower. After she'd had one, she picked up Lightning from the counter, and returned to her room.

She was rather uncomfortable sleeping in the place, but she reasoned that she might as well spend the night there. She released Lightning from his ball. He looked around after materializing, and took in his surroundings. Small room, two doors, one led to a smaller room. There was a single bed, which Maria sat down on. She was holding her pokedex in both hands.

"I've looked at this TM the old monk gave us," she said. "It seems to be exactly the sort of attack we needed."

Lightning jumped up onto the bed, next to her, and looked at the screen. He couldn't read. "Hey, what's this attack you're so obviously thrilled about."

Maria caught the request, missed the sarcasm, and spoke. "Well, it's a non-physical electric attack, that does moderate damage. It also says it has a chance to raise your attack power."

"How do we use it?" This one was lost on Maria. Alas; context alone could convey only so many jokes over species, it seemed. Maybe he could've used more tone. Maria answered without knowing, though.

"The monk said it teaches you," she said; "so I guess...." She used a virtual button on the evil touch screen, and instructions popped up. It was quite simple, it seemed. She turned the pokedex's screen to Lightning, and said, "You need to say 'Confirm.'"

Lightning barked his confirmation, and the pokedex loaded something for a moment, before displaying a pokemon. The pokemon was a serious business-looking Raichu, with a scar across his face. He spoke, in a gruff voice that Maria couldn't.... Wait, there were sub-titles.... While Maria spent some time pondering the translation, Lightning listened to his elder electric pokemon.

"Alright, people. Today we're gonna learn ya how to fire a Charge Beam." Lightning could already tell he was going to enjoy this.




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




The next morning, Maria walked into Violet Gym, with purpose. From the outside, Maria reasoned that this was one of the newest buildings she'd seen in town. It was a traditional style, with what might usually have been a courtyard serving as the arena. The same style of white walls and purple shingles was present on the inner walls, as on the outer ones. The ring itself was a nicely (and recently) packed dirt, with two platforms on opposing sides. Each platform had guard rails on all sides, with doors on the backs.

"Are you here to challenge the Violet City Gym?" The questioner's voice was that of a young woman. The woman herself, Maria observed, was not unpleasant to look at. Maria nearly physically shook herself before responding.

"Yes." There was a pause, presumably for Maria to speak in. She couldn't think of anything helpful.

"Well..." the young woman said, "I'm Aderyn, the Leader. What might your name be?"

Name! That's what she'd forgotten. "Maria Black."

Aderyn seemed to be getting a better idea of how long to wait, and spoke, while walking to one of the platforms. "Okay, Maria. The rules for my gym are pretty straight-forward: we do a single battle, and you can switch your pokemon at any time. You are allowed any items, if you need them." She paused just before entering the platform she'd been approaching, and gestured to the opposing one. "We do battle from elevated boxes."

Maria hadn't walked to the other box at all, so she did so now, embarrassed. When both were in their spots, the boxes rose, without a command from Aderyn. Instead, she pulled out a pokeball, and commanded Maria to send out her pokemon. Maria loosed Lightning, while Aderyn sent out her own pokemon. Lightning looked around, saw that he was in what was essentially a pit, and then saw his opponent. It was a bird pokemon; Pidove. Lightning encouraged the spread of a particularly menacing grin spread on his face, while charging sparks in his fur. The bird appeared more than a little unnerved.

"Gah!" Aderyn cried from her box. "An Electrike? There's always an electrical pokemon." She seemed to calm herself with little effort, and took on a more serious face. "Ready?"

"Yes."

"Three, two, one... GO!" At the same moment, both trainers issued commands.

"Ariel Ace, fast!

"Charge Beam."

Lightning's grin reached what seemed a peak, when firing a bolt of electricity which then... missed, completely. In response, he was hit by the tiny bird. The Pidove pulled away from him, and turned to see the opposing dog, grinning teeth lit by sparks. It was repeating the first attack, apparently unharmed.

For Special attacks, Lightning had only ever used Thunder Wave and Swift before. The latter did not help his accuracy, as it aimed itself. Because of this, he'd had a little difficulty finding his mark with Charge Beam. Practice improves technique. He loosed another blast, this time making it very near the bird's head. If nothing else, Pidove was rattled.

"Air Cutter, don't let it try-" It was too late. When the Gym pokemon went in for the attack, Lightning waited just long enough for it to get close, and fired one last time. Super Effective. An air of glee resonated from him, when Aderyn pulled her pokemon into its ball. She spoke, holding her frustration, to Maria.

"Would you like to send out another pokemon?"

"I don't have another."

Aderyn paused, and then sighed. "I guess I can't be upset now that I know that." She held up another pokeball, and released another bird. A crow, this time. Maria's pokedex identified as a Murkrow. After taking in the situation, it focused on Lightning, with a sort of curiosity on its face. Lightning responded with a barely restrained enthusiasm.

"Ariel Ace." Aderyn seemed to have calmed herself completely by now.

"Charge Beam." Maria had never been particularly excited to begin with, aside from the testing of their new attack.

Lightning began charging for his next attack, but was hit. The crow was fast. It also hit hard; far harder than the attack that the Bellsprout from last night had been. There was no way for him to dodge, and he felt the hit in a big way. Without Maria commanding him to, he ate the healing berry he'd stored in his mouth. He'd been reluctant to take it with him, but Maria insisted he have emergency measures. He could continue fighting, but the pain remained, sobering him. The crow was already turning around to strike again. Not an option. Lightning knew he couldn't be hit with another of those. An old move would prove faster and easier to use, which he knew subconsciously.

A Thunder Wave hit the crow, and it immediately slowed. With his stolen time, Lightning used his new attack. He saw the Murkrow play with something in its mouth, but it didn't finish in time. It was struck with a Charge Beam, and fell to the ground, before de-materializing.

After Aderyn pulled her pokemon back, the boxes lowered, and both trainers were allowed to leave them. While Maria walked toward the door, she met up with Lightning. He grinned at her feebly; the crow's attack had got to him. She thought for a moment, then held up his pokeball. He considered it, before giving what seemed a bark of agreement. Maria pressed the button on the ball, and her ally evaporated into a familiar red mist. As she put the ball in her pocket, she turned to see Aderyn watching from the exit door. The Leader wore a thoughtful expression. Everyone in the room seemed to be doing quite a bit of re-evaluating.

She decided on the sigh she'd used earlier. "Weird kids, the lot of you." She was holding something in one of her hands, gesturing for Maria to approach with the other. Maria fleetingly wondered where Aderyn had put those pokeballs from earlier. "Maria Black, I present you with the Zephyr Badge." The Violet Gym Leader held the badge in the air in front of her, between her thumb and fore and middle fingers. She placed it in the hand that Maria offered.

The badge was in the shape and image of a pair of wings. "I also present you with this TM." Ah! Maria had missed her chance to see where these things were being stored. Aderyn was already holding the memory stick, in the hand she hadn't used last. "It's my favorite move: Ariel Ace. A Flying attack, that hits without fail... provided you get it started." Maria took this, as well, before her vanquished said, "You should really consider getting another pokemon. Perhaps a Flying one."

 

[Doctor Who]

MMGiru - Great post once more, although I know nothing of those games you were talking about xD Hm, maybe Aderyn has a secret stash of thins in her belt? (;

Lightning grew to lv.22 and learned Spark!
Maria received the Zephyr Badge and TM40: Aerial Ace!

Oh and if you have troubles visualizing the moves I'd suggest using Bulbapedia, it has both the anime and the game ways of portraying the move, though there's absolutely nothing wrong with a little creativity either.

 

[moon]

Chapter 5~ (listened to the Chrono Cross theme while writing this, maaaah Violet looks so bwotiful in my mind now)

Maya had been sleeping for hours on that backpack. Luckily for her, the pokémon didn't run away. Clown did disappear for a while, leaving Balloon anxious and Parade seething, but he soon reemerged from the woods, carrying several sorts of berries. He pressed them against his body with his tail, in order to carry them. Clown gave most of the berries to Balloon, but after a while he also let Parade have some. Parade was very pleased, but he surely didn't show it.

When Maya woke up, it was dark. She checked her watch to see that it was about 4 AM. The heck?!? Rushing up, she retreated her sleeping pokémon into their pokéballs without them noticing, and picked up her stuff, leaving the camp. She felt a teeny bit frightened walking alone in this kind of darkness and hoped the sun would go up soon. It did.

As the first rays or morning sun hit her nose and made her sneeze, she saw the edge of Violet City before her. Nobody was up yet, as the streets were very empty and quiet. Calm, even. This town was very different from Goldenrod. No machines were bustling around, building things or transporting things. No stressed parents with whining kids going from shop to shop. This city was boring, in Maya's eyes, but still... she liked it. But then again, it was, like 6 AM and it would maybe get more crowded later on.

She made her way to a pokémon center and was relieved to see it was open. Maybe it was open 24/7? For trainers who dropped in in the middle of the night, like she almost did.

The nurse took care of her pokémon while she got some breakfast from the cafeteria. When she came back, she took out her team from their pokéballs. Clown was awake and nodded at her when he came out, but the other two blinked confusingly. Where were they? Oh right, a pokémon center.

"Hey guys," Maya said and yawned. "That was a weird night."

Parade snarled slightly. Indeed.

"But now we're in a new town. I've never been here before. Violet..." she looked out through the glass door of the pokémon center. The town was starting to come alive. "Let's check it out. Maybe there are some nice stores here. It doesn't look like the war struck Violet very much."

Good for them, her mind added. Violet probably hadn't been a very important place for neither Johto to keep or Kanto to grab.

Clown nudged her leg. He wanted back inside his pokéball. Maya obliged and let the red beam minimize him and then put the pokéball into its place on her belt. Balloon took her place on Maya's head and Parade smiled (happy that Clown wasn't out in the open anymore?) and made clear that he intended to follow Maya by foot. "Right!" Maya said and went outside.

As she looked around a bit more closely, something immediately peeked her interest. A tall tower standing at the edge of town. Cool, she thought, and then noticed how Parade seemed amazed by it. Weird little fellow... must be the purple color of the roof. She followed him as he walked closer to the tower. It was a great pagoda, most likely the crown jewel of the town, as the other buildings didn't look half as respect-inducing as this one. Between it and the other buildings were a small river with a bridge crossing it. Parade hurried over, but Maya stopped to look down into the waters. There wasn't a fence.

Around the tower was a stone layed courtyard and an impressively beautiful wooden fence, though. Some pine trees lined the fence here and there, their branches swaying in the wind up above. Parade was still amazed by the building. Maybe Maya's pokémon had a hidden sense of architecture? Silently, she swallowed and agreed with him when they entered the courtyard. Only a couple of people were there, and they were going in Maya's opposite direction. As they passed her, they gave her friendly nods. Maya wasn't really used to that; in the large city of Goldenrod, people seldom greeted each other on the streets.

Parade had rushed in front of her and entered the great pagoda on his own. Worried that someone might go wild if they saw a stray, shiny pokémon, Maya swore (hoping that the other people didn't hear her) and rushed inside herself. Balloon clung happily to the black curls on the trainer's head.

Inside was a great hall, made of wood all over. In the midst of it was a great, thick pillar of wood. It was... swaying? Maya had half expected there to be a reception filled with tourist brochures... but there was only one person there, and nothing that even remotely resembled a reception. The person was a young boy with a shaved head. He was sitting alone on a stool, reading a newspaper with a bored look. Beside him on the floor sat a snoring pokémon looking like a flower. Balloon blurbed and Maya let her pokédex identify the pokémon. It was a Bellsprout, a grass type.

Parade had a smile on his face as he looked around him in the impressive room. He took some steps towards the pillar and the boy, but then the boy noticed him and flew straight up, dropping his newspaper. The Bellsprout awoke and yelped as it landed on top of it.

"Welcome!" he said quickly. "To the Sprout Tower! Here you can view..."

He seemed to stumble on his words when he spotted Parade's unusual looks. Maya rolled her eyes and guess that she better get used to this. "He's a shiny," she explained briefly. "And thanks for the welcome. So what is this place?"

The boy shook his head to regain his senses. "Right. This place is Sprout Tower... and you've just come to challenge the elder Chen, haven't you?"

Maya blinked. "The what?" But Parade stretched his fist towards the roof and growled. The boy somehow took that as a yes.

And that was how Maya a few minutes later was standing on the bridge again. This time, she was facing an older man on the other side of the bridge. He was dressed in yellow and purple clothing, pretty non-modern style, and he was holding a single pokéball. His face was so old and wrinkled, and filled with white beard, so that Maya could hardly see his eyes. But he looked wise. A breeze had been whipped up by the forces of weather, and made her a bit uneasy. She certainly wouldn't use Balloon for this battle. Parade or Clown, though?

The boy from earlier was a young monk in the Sprout tower, apparently. He and his tiny Bellsprout were now standing on the shore, behind the elder. They were on the Violet side of the river, while Maya was standing on the tower side. It gave her the feeling that she was fighting for her right to get out of there.

"It'll be a one on one battle!" the boy shouted. He was to be the judge.

"Fine with me," Maya said as a response, through the slight wind.

Elder Chen nodded, and sent out his pokémon. It was a Bellsprout. It was slightly bigger than the boy's, and looked angrier. Or bitter, rather. Figures, Maya would be bitter too if she had spent her life living in a wooden tower.

A grass type. That settled it. Maya had been studying the pokédex a little. Clown wouldn't do good here. "Parade, go!"

Parade had been sent back into his pokéball, but now he sprung out again, and landed nimbly on the wooden bridge. His feathered ear waved slightly and glittered like gold in the still early sun.

"You first," the elder said.



((OOC: I'm posting a shorter post than planned... to show I'm alive :) The elder battle is coming up next. And then another post for the gym battle, I guess))

 

[Doctor Who]

RHCP - It's quite alright, just happy to see you're still in. Great post, you've really made the town come alive and definitely anticipating the battle now. Still take your time, I heard you had exams and all.

 

[moon]

Chapter 5 - Building Bridges
Maya​

"Alright," Maya said. "Parade, go with Scratch!"

Parade smiled menacingly and threw himself forward through the breeze on the bridge, claws first towards the Bellsprout.

The Elder Chen didn't move nor speak, but so did Bellsprout. With a weird noise, as if the plant was twirping like a bug, vines shot forth from its "leaf hands" and smacked Parade so that he lost his focus. He tumbled over, dangerously close to the bridge's edge.

"Whoa!" Maya exclaimed. "Careful with those vines! Parade, we'll have to watch them and avoid them."

Parade raised an eyebrow. Easy for her to say, she was standing on earth and not on a wooden bridge.

"Use Quick Attack instead!"

Again, the elder didn't speak. Bellsprout didn't even look at its trainer before it whirled up even more vines, as the pink Sneasel disappeared from the place it was one second ago, and emerged blindingly fast in front of the plant, ready to strike with a fierce tackle. But instead of hitting the thin plant's body, it hit a net of vines, extracted from the Bellsprout's arms. Before Parade could react after its own Quick Attack, the vines had spun themselves around him and started to squeeze the air out of his lungs. He squealed loudly.

"Parade!" Maya screamed. Darn that plant... why was it so fast? Did it have many more levels than Parade did? And... "Why aren't you giving it any orders?" she shouted as a question through the wind across the bridge.

The elder looked at her with his ancient eyes. "I trust Bellsprout," was his simple answer. Even though he hadn't raised his voice much, it was clearly audible to the girl.

She was puzzled. Trust? She looked at Parade, who was struggling to get free from the vines. Didn't she trust Parade? Maybe she didn't... he was such a headstrong pokémon. She hadn't even thought about trust. Did she trust Balloon and Clown then? Balloon wouldn't hurt a fly, unless Maya told her to. She was kind and playful, but now Maya wasn't sure that she really knew the little pokémon. And Clown... he was righteous. Maya and Parade had defeated him and for that, she was pretty sure he would never openly fail her on purpose. But...

The boy and his tiny Bellsprout had been cheering on the bigger Bellsprout, and now when things looked bad for Parade, the boy opened his mouth again to announce that there seemed to be a winner. But the Elder silenced him with a look. The boy was now puzzled, but obeyed and stayed quiet. Elder Chen watched Maya as her brains and mind worked together to form some kind of resolution.

As she watched her shiny pokémon struggle, something clicked inside her. If she could just... imagine being in his situation. Imagine what it felt like, and what he was capable of. Standing here on dry shore wasn't at all the same thing. Slowly, she took a step forward. And then another. Soon, she was standing on the end of the wooden bridge. She wasn't sure why... but she just had to be there. It wasn't fair if she was on the ground while Parade risked falling into the stream. It bubbled and rushed beneath them, as she focused on the pokémon again. At the same time as she couldn't completely imagine how it must be for him, being in the heat of battle, he probably couldn't see all the possibilities from where he was. He wouldn't see all the openings... unless she saw them for him. That's why they needed to trust each other. They were a team.

The elder smiled.

"Parade!" Maya felt the vines wrap themselves around the Sneasel. But the Bellsprout was so small. It couldn't possibly weigh much. Parade was blinded by being wrapped up. But she saw the solution. "Parade, use Screech!"

Parade stopped squirming and blinked. The Bellsprout blinked back. Had it heard Maya's order as well? Regardless of that, Parade started screeching instead of squealing, and it was visibly shaking the plant pokémon.

"And now, Bite!"

Parade didn't hesitate one second before he chopped a vine with his teeth. Bellsprout made the weird sound again as the dark energy and the teeth struck it. Parade did it again on another vine, and the Wrap loosened up. In an attempt to regain control, Bellsprout backed up and fired a powdery ray towards Parade. It glimmered blueishly in the weak rays from the sun, and only spread slightly in the wind.

"Oh, no, we won't fall asleep now!" Maya shouted, somehow just sensing that the powder would do something like that to Parade. She rushed forward, grabbed the Sneasel and literally dragged him backwards until the powder ray had disassembled enough in the wind to not reach him. He looked up at her, backwards. "Uh, it's just that, you're pretty bad at avoiding things that make you fall asleep," Maya explained apologetically. Parade gave her a bitter glance at first, but then he grinned. True that.

Seeing the Sneasel still up and living made the Bellsprout angry enough for the Elder to finally speak to it. "Calm down," he said. "Use Weather Ball."

Bellsprout nodded and closed its eyes. It started to gather energy, in what looked like a dim ball above its head. It resembled the clouds drifting above, covering up the sunshine slightly. A fog ball kind of thing?

"Don't let it, Parade," Maya said, and got the Sneasel into attack stance as a response. She felt the wind swirl around herself and Parade. "Quick Attack!"

Parade shot forward, even faster than before if possible, and this time he struck the grass pokémon head on. The foggy ball disappeared and the pokémon got thrown up into the air. "I knew something that tiny was that light!" Maya said.

As the Bellsprout realized it was drifting in the wind, away from the bridge and out over the water, a vine grew out from the plant, trying to reach the bridge and hold on. It wrapped itself around one log of the bridge, and began hauling the pokémon back. But then Parade stepped up. Raising his big claws and giving the plant pokémon a mischievous grin, the Bellsprout's eyes grew big as teacups from shock. Parade snapped the vine in two with a Scratch, and one second later a splashing noise was heard as the flower pokémon landed in the water. The young monk and the other Bellsprout rushed to a little boat and rowed out to fetch the half-drowning pokémon.

Parade let out a breath. Nice battle. Maya stepped up beside him and smiled down at him. "You're pretty good," she admitted, and got a sneer back.

"As a team, yes," an old voice said from the other end of the bridge. They turned to see the elder walking up to them. "You need each other to succeed. You need to trust each other. Do you understand?"

The last words felt incredibly strong. Maya gulped but nodded.

Elder Chen then smiled, so that his eyes completely disappeared into wrinkles, and held out an item towards Maya. "What is this?" she asked.

"It is a gift. You have deserved it. Now, good luck on your journey. I believe I have some plants to attend to."

And with that, he and the younger monk left Maya and Parade standing on the bridge, as they walked back to the Sprout Tower. Maya looked down on the thing in her hand. It was... was it a Technical Machine? She had heard of them and she thought she had seen her father have one. But this looked like a more modern model.

 

[Doctor Who]

RHCP - Wow that was an incredibly battle and an incredibly post. Character development ftw!

Parade grew to lv. 14 and learned Faint Attack!
Maya received TM47: Low Sweep!

 

[moon]

Chapter 5 - Open Sky​

Maya​

The afternoon was even windier. Balloon had to hold on hard to Maya's curls to not blow away, and Parade stayed close to the girl's legs as she walked through the calm city and came to a halt in front of the gym. It was a magnificent building, not very tall but very wide instead. It had the same purple color as the Sprout Tower and was built in the same style, but somehow... Maya glanced back at the tower that peeked out from the trees to the north. This building in front of her was definitely a lot younger than that one.

She entered the main hall through some weird sliding doors. There was a reception there, but the room was very small otherwise. Maya was entering a long corridor, stretching out both to the right and the left, with the reception desk being right in front of her. "Yes?" a young girl with blond curls said, sitting behind it.

"Uh, is this the gym, ma'm?" Maya asked, then wondered if she really should call this girl 'ma'm'.

"Correct! Are you looking for the gym leader?"

"That's right!" Maya said, clutching her fist with a smile. Parade mimicked her movement and Balloon tweeted happily.

"Alright then, follow me," the blond girl said and walked out through some sliding doors right in front of them. They were leading... outside?

Maya gasped as they entered the large courtyard in the middle of the gym. It wasn't really a courtyard. It was a large arena with platforms on each sides and a grassy and rocky ground in the middle. It looked like a battlefield. And of course, it was. The platforms were slightly heightened from the ground and Maya soon understood why.

A pokémon came swirling down towards them when the blond girl waved upwards. Parade rubbed his face and had to look again. Up there, above the gym, several birds were flying around. Some seemed to attack each other, while others seemed to simply float. They were carrying people. Trainers!

The great bird landed with a thump on the ground and screeched at Maya. "There, there," a voice said, and another girl jumped off its back. The bird was huge; large enough to probably carry both the blond and the new girl.

"So who have we got here?" The new girl asked. She was black haired with pale skin, and had a classical beauty about her. The wind made her long hair swirl around her and Maya had to shake her head to not be mesmerized by it. That was something her fluffy hair would never do.

"I'm Maya," she said and nodded.

"Pleasure. I'm Aderyn, niece of the bird master Falkner and leader of the Violet City gym," she said and smiled.

Parade grunted but Maya kicked him silently. Sure, she was younger than Maya had expected gym leaders to be, but she was probably really strong.

"She's here to challenge you!" the blond girl told Aderyn, who nodded slowly.

Maya blinked. Why did everybody in this town just assume she wanted a fight? Were they really that desperate for trainers?

"Challenge accepted!" Aderyn smiled widely and gestured for the great Pidgeot to take off into the sky.

And that's how Maya for the second time that day found herself in a position where she was going to send out a pokémon to fight an opponent. As she took her place in the platform, Parade boldly stomped out onto the arena. Maya shook her head though. "Not this time," she said and retreated him to his pokéball. She could spot his sour face through the semi-transparent glass. "You wouldn't reach the flying pokémon anyways," Maya said as an excuse. It was true, but the main reason was that she wanted to train Clown.

His pokéball flew through the sky and let him out onto the open grass between a couple of rocks. The Poliwag rustled and made a bubbling noise, standing tall then. He was ready for battle. Maya smiled. He was someone to count on.

Aderyn kept smiling her strangely calm and patient smile. "I will start with Pidove for this battle, and then I will use one other if necessary. You are allowed to use all of your pokémon. Go!"

And with that, a pokémon was sent out into the battle. It stayed in the air when it came out of the pokéball. Maya reached for her pokédex and noted that it was indeed a Pidove. A tiny bird pokémon. Hmpf. Shouldn't be any trouble. Or would it?


((OOC: Sorry for the awfully short post, but it feels better to post more often than to save a document and write if spontaneously and maybe forget about it. Or what do you think?))

 

[Doctor Who]

RHCP - Apologies for the long wait, but a good post. I do agree with you that an intro post like this is better than no post at all, especially since everything's gotten slow again. Great to know you're still in and looking forward to your next post!