Pokémon III

[HoundoomOfTheDarkness]

Houndoom, ironically enough, was the one startled as it was approached by the Vulpix. It flinched back in surprise as the smaller Pokemon touched its nose, before regaining its composure and taking on a friendlier air and sitting down next to the fox Pokemon. Jake put his badge away and grinned in amusement at the scene, until noticing everyone staring at him. He chuckled slightly as he looked upon the multitude of anxious faces. "What? Were you all expecting bloody murder or something?" he asked sarcastically, knowing full well the kind of air he and his Pokemon generally gave off.

Jake then turned, noting a comment from the boy with the Garchomp. "Well, kid, between the choices you gave, the likely answer would be something ending up scared. The writhing in pain only comes if someone wants a badge," he said dryly, again flipping a badge like a coin. "Though I must admit, your Garchomp impresses me," he added with an acknowledging nod. "I don't really want to call you 'kid,' but I never quite caught your name. In fact, I believe the only name I've really caught here is Jay," he pointed out in a blunt, matter-of-fact way.

Looking around, he noticed that the group was moving towards Mt. Coronet. Well, provided Absol lets me in, this will work fine for me, he thought, planning ahead again. I'll stick around until the cave path breaks off between the way to Celestic Town and the way to Snowpoint. Pulling the hood back over his head, he looked up at the imposing mountain. Then again, the cave in itself could be problematic... he thought, before taking his thoughts off of the mountain and focusing back on what was currently happening.

 

[LaurenLOVESTONED]

Jake's Houndoom gently sniffed the Vulpix, a curious expression on its face. Charlie still held her breath though, this was the part where Vulpix would pull on the dark Pokemon's tail or headbutt it's side, playfully of course and Charlie doubted the dignified Houndoom would appreciate either of these actions. Charlie watched her Vulpix look up at the Houndoom with a serious face, and cry her name in her high pitched voice. The Houndoom responded in his low cry.

Charlie was shocked at her Pokemon's demure behaviour; she turned to Arlene who was also watching the interaction,

"I guess my little girl is growing up," she joked, and Arlene nodded her blonde haired head and said

"They don't stay as babies forever after all." Charlie knew this was true but she still felt a pang of sadness mixed with pride, I think Fate has rubbed off on her she thought. Charlie looked at the Houndoom's trainer, Jake, he was wearing an amused expression but he still looked bored. Charlie wasn't sure if she like this quiet stranger, he had flat out ignored her upon meeting her and he would probably think her Pokemon were weak or something. She was trying hard not to dislike him, but he wasn't making it easy.

She heard him mention the word badge, it pricked her curiosity. Judging by his dark Pokemon she assumed that was his speciality, she wondered which region he was from.

"Badge?" Charlie queried, trying to make an effort to converse with Jake "And I did introduce myself, but perhaps you didn't hear. I'm Charlie Maddox of Snowpoint City," she stated and then she gestured to Arlene "and this is Arlene of Pallet Town" and then she pointed to the two boys left "the boy with the Garchomp is Malic and this is Bobby."

She looked at her watch:

12.28pm

Charlie was annoyed, by the rate they were going she would make it to Sunnyshore in ten years and by then Volkner would be retired.

"Come on! Push up!" she called, using her soccer jargon, this made Arlene laugh, and so Charlie laughed too, she was being silly afterall.
In the near distance Mount Coronet loomed, they were half an hour away or so, she assumed. Charlie looked around at the group-; Jake was walking alone, his cloak drawn back, but he seemed happy with that, Malic was gripping his Garchomp's Pokeball soon and Charlie sincerely hoped he would not release the angry dragon Pokemon, Jay looked eager and but still very lost in thought, he walked by her side just far enough away so she couldn't easily grab him and kiss him again, like I would she thought; Arlene was walking with her Lucario, Snake, deep in conversation and Jaydin and Fate were close to Houndoom and Vulpix, just in case and finally Bobby looked nervous and a little nauseas, perhaps nervous about Mt Coronet she thought, she could've asked, but they would find out soon enough...

 

[HoundoomOfTheDarkness]

Jake gave a nod to Charlie at her question. "Yes, I'm the Gym Leader of Redwood City, in the Johto region. I ended up here due to... complications... on a trip to the Battle Park." He sighed with a tone of irritation, but continued talking. "I'm not from Johto, though. My hometown is Sootopolis City in the Hoenn region." Having been talking a bit, Jake was now finding it much easier to converse. "You seem quite close to your Pokemon. That's good; it's way more important than just having strong ones." Not that it isn't really irritating when somebody tries to challenge me using a Wurmple, he thought, but didn't say aloud.

He was interrupted by a ringing, coming from the phone he was carrying in his pocket. "Sorry, I have to take this," he told Charlie as he answered the call. "Hello? Jake Silver here," he said into the phone.

"You're late, Jake." replied the voice on the other end. "You were supposed to arrive at the hotel last night," it continued, sounding a bit annoyed.

"Sorry, man," Jake responded. "For whatever reason, they wouldn't let me take the boat there. I'll be there soon, alright."

"Alright, alright," the caller replied. "Just don't keep me waiting too long."

"Yeah, yeah. Bye now," Jake said as he closed his phone. "Oh, yeah. Thanks for bringing me up to speed on who everyone here was," he said, turning to back to Charlie. "I was a bit lost. So, uh... thanks," he finished awkwardly. Good job there, Jake. Way to sound like a total imbecile.

 

[Legend]

Realizing that Houndoom was not a threat, Malic stopped gripping his pokeball and assumed a very straight posture. I see he thinks my Garchomp is impressive. Thats expected after all.

Afterwards, Malic looked towards their destination. Thats a big mountain. Im taking a guess we have to go around that. I hate hiking.

"Please tell me we can fly around the mountain." Malic then noticed Bobby seemed nervous and not like himself. "I think Bobby would agree with me."

Malic attempted to eavesdrop on Jake's discussion on the phone. All he really got of was something about lateness. Probably nothing interesting. Maybe he is late for a date.

Malic let out a little chuckle and then resumed his focus on the tall obstacle in front of him.

 

[Darkhaven3]

Arlene suddenly had a rather grim feeling in the pit of her stomach as the group continued on the trail to Mount Coronet... In the distance, a good hundred fifty feet ahead, nestled in the trough between two hills, was a messenger pack and what appeared to be a guitar bag. The relevance of these two items to her seemed very real suddenly, and her heart jumped into her throat out of nowhere. More worried than ever, the vixen started walking noticeably faster than the rest of the group, immediately getting out of step, then breaking into a jog, then a run. She had a strong, tense feeling all over her body as she neared the drop of items, and she skidded to a halt, digging into the road with her boots as she stopped before the bags.

On the messenger pack was a note, written in plain parchment, and in red ink; Arlene was about to pass out from the tension as she lifted it to read.

Arlene,

You know who this is, but I cannot reveal myself for my safety and yours. I have been found. In my haste, I had to abandon our home in Pallet town. With the help of your grandfather I was able to escape to the Sinnoh region, though I cannot say where, I'm sorry. Though I can tell you it will be a long journey, so I have dropped these things for you which you hold dear. I'm sure you would have wanted your Stealth guitar, though I took the other three with me. Everything you'll need to care for it is in the bag, and I have included a stipend of supplies in the messenger bag. Please take care of yourself, for my sake.

Arlene could have vomitted to purge herself of the fear that riddled her whole body. She was racked with shock from the revalation that was now upon her, and it took her a moment to regain composure. Looking over at the guitar bag, she carefully unzipped the side to look upon the instrument that Orion had left her; it's sleek black surface shone in the midday sun, and it's single pickup rested comfortably near the bridge; all the strings were of a nonstandard red color, deep and blood-like. The instrument's unusual reversed headpiece had always been a favorite for her, and it's strange skewed X-shaped body was always pleasant to look at.

She couldn't help but smile inwardly to know that Orion had stopped in the midst of running from a guild of assassins to care for her. For that she thanked him mentally, before opening the messenger pack, revealing a stock of food and beverages, including plain water and a favorite she had brought to this region from the United States; Dr. Pepper. Satisfied, she dumped the contents of the bag out onto the road and began sifting through and carefully organizing it all into her main backpack. Alot of food, plenty of water and soda, and assorted survival supplies, including a new PokeGear. Shocked as to how Orion had such insight on her travels, she looked at the sleek device for a second, before stuffing it away into her butt pocket. The rest of the messenger pack was taken up by various application cards for a device she was unfamiliar with, and a strange new device she had never seen before... The phrase "Poketch" was chiseled into the faceplate of the object, and she gratefully fitted it on her wrist.

By this time, the rest of the group had caught up with her. Charlie was the first to ask, "What'cha got there, Arlene?"

"My uncle dropped me off some stuff," Arlene responded with a grin, pointing to her new Poketch, before zipping up the empty messenger pack and tossing it aside into the tall grass, and putting her Stealth guitar back into it's case and zipping it up. She lugged it over her shoulder and nodded that she was ready to continue; the guitar was very light and was perfect for road travel.

[[ OOC: For those of you who are unaware, this is the B.C. Rich Stealth guitar that Arlene uses: == https://www.bcrich.com/images/sm_stealth.jpg == 24 frets, neck-through construction, and the single pickup is a Dimarzio X2N. ]]

 

[Stantler]

As the group traveled to Mt. Coronet, they discovered that the hiking trail has been blocked by boulders and the walls to climb have been damaged by this leaving no alternate means to travel across and thus unable to continue through the mountain range any further. So, with little choice, the group decided to head to Celestic Town since that way was more safe and from there they can think of ways to get to the southern parts of Sinnoh. However, Jay wished to only travel to Celestic since this is what he thought he should go if he were to learn more about his past...

Jay listened to the group talk, he found no need to drag himself into conversation especially since the group was doing fine on it's own. Actually, he couldn't find a spot for himself at all, not like it mattered. Jay was expecting this until he heard Arlene's story. He lowered his face under his scarf and thought to himself,

"I've been so selfish, to think that no one wants me. She must of had it really tough... I guess my shyness has come off rude..." Jay thought to himself, yet as he looked at the one who held his hand, Charlie, he realized that she was already angry at the group and possibly at him. This is why Jay didn't want to be with anyone, misinterpretations like this could of been resolved easily if he was alone.

Jay let go of Charlie's hand for he didn't feel worthy to be with her and he didn't feel like he belonged with this group of people. He wondered why they were with him and tried to help him so. Was this fate?

Soon, they have reached their destination, Celestic Town. The town is ancient and by the architecture of the houses, it looks like it hasn't changed for many years. As the group decided to rest from their travels, Jay found this to be the perfect opportunity to drift away from them and be on his own for awhile. He walked around and thought, he thought for a long time about what the trainers were talking about and what issues they brought up until he saw, around the corner of the street, there was a cave with many people leaving,

"Wow so that's the new tablet that they found?" "Did, you read it? What did it all mean?" "Hey, I had a crazy dream the other night, do you think this is all just coincidence?"

People spoke as they left, Jay waited outside until they were all gone and once the coast was clear, he decided to see what was inside the cave as well. The cave is small and circular. A path is made to circle around the cave and see the many scriptures that are placed around the walls. Many of them have to do with Palkia and Dialga and legends of Sinnoh and how they started. Soon enough, Jay found the tablet that the people were talking about, it was found by following a small passage within the cave, it seems newly discovered. The tablet was forged on the wall and was engraved with strange writing, the writing looked like a sort of pokemon,

"Th-this looks like...." Jay said to himself as he placed his hand on the pokeball containing the pokemon he hasn't shown anyone yet. He then read what the tablet had to say,

"Praise thy sun, for thy sun has given the message; beware the mark. Those who shall not understand shall see thy sun with hate in their eyes. Past heroes for generations to come shall realize that foe were thy sun and once this takes its course, signs shall come:

Thy sun shall rise with use of these words and grant the wish of the loved one, for he shall bless thy minds at ease with redemption, and, forgetfulness of the past.

The blessing shall soon come to the end as the one that thy sun tried to perish shall step forth upon this land and will bear the mark.

Beware thy mark, for the mark is a sign of doomsday upon us all. When the time comes, all on this great earth shall receive visions, within their rest, of warnings as thy sun shall use the last of its powers to warn us all.

The mark shall destroy all land, ocean and life, once thy has found the peak of legend, thy shall find true self and perish all before where it stands. However, the mark can be helped, for all thy needs is---"

The tablet seems broken at the bottom. It looks like the scripture is incomplete. As Jay turned around, to his surprise, saw the other trainers who traveled with him reading what the tablet had to say as well...

 

[Legend]

Malic struggled to read the tablet, for the language was far too old for him to understand a single. Why can't these people speak normally? Malic attempted to read the tablet several times, desperately trying to come up with some sort of meaning. Soon, he grabbed his head and made a growling noise of frustration and pain. Malic promptly fell to the floor moaning about the headache that reading the tablet gave him. The ground was cold and hard, and the fall made a loud thump noise when Malic's body made an impact. "Aw my pants are so dirty now. This sucks." The fall kicked up some dust from the floor causing most of the group to cough up a bit. With everyone giving him a dirty look. Malic responded with a simple "Sorry" and continued to read from the floor.

"Well guys, I can honsetly say that....I don't understand this stuff at all." Malic said very loudly hoping that everyone heard him and would give an explanation or at least a translation. Hope my dramatic scene didn't disturb anyone. I really want to get it.

"Stupid ancient people...can't speak regular english...." Malic mumbled his last statement.

 

[HoundoomOfTheDarkness]

"The way north is blocked?!" Jake shouted in disbelief. "Ugh... whatever. I guess we'll just hang around here a while more. I kinda wanted to visit Celestic Town anyway." As the group entered the small village of a town, he followed along past the central shrine into the cave behind it.

Jake looked in fascination at the tablet in the cave. "Interesting," he thought aloud as he read the scripture engraved on the stone. "I've never heard of anything like this before..." He looked at the illustration on the stone. Again, the light... he thought. I must be going nuts... His Houndoom and Weavile looked at the stone in an equally quizzical fashion, while his Absol seemed nowhere near as interested as its Trainer and the other Pokemon.

Regardless, the Gym Leader was happy to be in a town like Celestic, rather than Eterna City. Though both places were steeped in history, he preferred the quiet atmosphere of Celestic Town to bustling Eterna. He enjoyed quiet places, particularly when there was that air of sanctity, of sacredness. He noticed that several other people were waiting to see the tablet, however, and walked away to look at some other artifacts.

 

[Zimvee]

Bobby was relieved that they didn't get to go through Mt. Coronet, but was still nervous in the small cave. "It's ok, it's not that big..." Bobby sighed. He overheard Malic's comment about the ancients who wrote the message, and Bobby agreed. He read the message and wondered. "Is the mark something you can find, or is it something that will happen?" Bobby wandered outloud. But then he remembered he was in a cave, felt sick, and stepped outside for some air.

 

[Darkhaven3]

Arlene showed up moments later, lugging nothing but her guitar. She was playing as she walked, picking down a brutal riff from Scavenger of Human Sorrow. It's not like anyone knew the song first-hand; so the vixen was just having fun with it; her finger movements were very precise and calculated, even as she was in movement.

She had decided that the cave at the northern end of town looked like a prime place to rejoin the group she had been part of earlier, leaving her things with a friend that lived in town. It took a while to actually find them, but once in sight, they were an obvious bunch, huddled in front of a stone tablet like it held their future. Arlene approached while playing Flesh And The Power It Holds, watching the others' looks with a hint of discontent in her voice, "What the hell are you all staring at?" That's when she noticed the tablet itself, full of cryptic glyphs and markings she could not comprehend. Sighing, she commented again, "You know, that's probably just some ancient crypticism that's predicting the end of the world. The Mayans predicted the end of the world was 2012, and that was bullshit."

 

[LaurenLOVESTONED]

Charlie surveyed the area, Celestic Town. She had followed Jay down the rocky pass, as he seemed to know where to go. Arlene was trailing behind, she looked deep in thought and Charlie had decided not to disturb her. The town was fairly small, not many houses but it had a Pokemon Centre, which is always a bonus. In the middle of the town, with the buildings and infrastructure spiralling out from it, was an old mystic shrine, which Jay made a beeline for. Charlie followed him, but she didn't inspect the stone tablet. Crap like that annoyed her, her history knowledge told her that people had actually built their homes here because of the tablet. How do they know that it wasn't just some really intoxicated man scribbling whatever phrases he could coherently string together?

Charlie sat down on a rock and Vulpix curled up in her lap, she combed her fingers through her golden hair and yawned. She removed her shoes, revealing her disgusting, ballet tortured feet. Art would always retch at the sight of them and he had reason to, they were covered in blisters, some of the toes were mangled and would never heal and they looked very red. Charlie could see Bobby and Malic looking at them in disgust, but Jay was too absorbed in the tablet to notice them. She shrugged, it was a small price to pay to be able to dance. Vulpix was used to her feet, but she still didn't like seeing Charlie's sores, when Charlie pulled her feet into her lap to rub them, Vulpix leapt forward and licked them tenderly. She's such an angel Charlie thought.

She placed Vulpix on the ground and stood up, beginning to stretch, moving her feet into first position, and then second and then third and so on. Charlie was standing en pointe when she saw Arlene stomp her way into the clearing, clutching a black guitar, obviously annoyed. She heard her chastise the boys for taking such a keen interest in the tablet and then she turned to Charlie, who was beginning to use arm movements to match her leg ones.

"What?" Charlie asked, amused by her friends stare "I'm a prima ballerina, didn't ya know?" she joked.

 

[Legend]

Malic stomped out the cave, extremely angry due to his inability to understand anything on the tablet. His steps were loud and noticeable with even regular people staring at him wondering what he was so mad about. While he left, one could clearly hear him mumbling and complaining about complicated tablets that have no clear meaning.

Malic looked around to see a sparse town full of nothing. All Malic could see was lush green grass and a few small houses that few people who actually bothered to live here. "I need something to distract myself from the pain" he said clutching his head. Seeing there was nothing in town but a quaint pokemon center, Malic decided to place his backpack on the floor and work out. Working out might relief some stress. At least I can hope. The damn tablet made my brain swell up and give me the worst headache I have ever had.

The workout was long and painful, complete with sit-ups, push ups and jumping jacks. Most people wouldn't be able to complete even half of the regime, but Malic wasn't most people and clearly angry which probably numbed most of the pain.

 

[Darkhaven3]

Looking over at Charlie's dancing, Arlene stopped mid-beat and started contemplating a few scales, this and that, progressions... Then she took a seat a few feet away and began to pick out a strange, somber melody. Slowly, on improvisation, the vixen began to add in bits and pieces of scales as she played and moved into a different riff altogether suddenly, though remaining in the same general beat for Charlie's sake. This happened multiple times, a display of skill if nothing else. The combination of Charlie and herself was extraordinarily beautiful for a minute or two, and Arlene broke off for a few seconds. She never was good with 'pretty' music... Heh.

Standing, Arlene felt refreshed by pouring out a little emotion with Charlie. That seemed to be the case today with the two; they were getting along much better than anyone else in the group. It could have been that Arlene sensed some slight emotional distress - some hardship - in Charlie's soul, but definitely one reason was that Charlie had been the only one besides Bobby to show any emotion towards her. The rest of the 'team' were just faceless robots. "We should do that again sometime," the vixen said with a smile to her friend, "But for now, I'm out of here. Me and the team need to go get patched up at the Pokemon Center."

"What? You too?" Charlie questioned, oblivious. "I'm not human, after all. Pokemon medicines work wonders for me. Go figure!"

With that, Arlene exited the dank cave and made for the Pokemon Center. Upon entrance, one or two people threw her somewhat-disconcerted glares, and she noted that Malic was there; though his name escaped her for the moment. She was sure he was in the group, though. Moving to the counter, one of the many Nurse Joys greeted her happily, which was a shock, and the vixen turned over her Pokemon. She also put in a request for over-the-counter headache medicine, and the nurse present handed her over a small bottle filled with a bright pink liquid. No questions, Arlene was thankful. After receiving her Pokemon back, she took a seat near Malic.

"Hi there," she said tenderly, sitting cross-legged on the couch, and playing out a segment of the song she'd written earlier, about her friend.

 

[Legend]

By the time Alrene sat down, Malic was finished working out. He sat on the floor breathing heavily as though he ran across the world and back. Sweat covered the floor and his entire, probably enough to fill an entire lake.

He looked up and saw the canie individual. Malic was always put off by her strange apperance but was able to restrain himself from screaming that a talking cat or whatever was speaking to him. "Oh hey. Whats up?" he said in between breaths. Malic ended up holding his head. Damn brain still hurts. I hate tablets. "Sorry if it smells. I kinda had to work the stress out. Stupid tablets make what is left my brain melt. I hate history. Especially when the history is in old english. Who in the right mind uses the word 'thy'. Stupid ancients. Bet their little voodoo is a bunch of lies." Malic let out a little chuckle.

He never actually talked Arlene and every time he spoke it felt awkward. He barely knew her, and felt as though he would be more comfortable talking to a wall in front of a crowd. He had hoped his stupidity would break the tension and ease into a semi-normal conversation between two people.

 

[Darkhaven3]

"I agree, I have little use for history. As I told the others in the cave, the Mayans predicted the end of the world in 2012. And that's just nonsense, right?" Arlene said, grinning at Malic with a quirked brow. She was a bright girl, and aware of the world, despite most girls that were nineteen. She propped her legs up on the table nearby and continued playing, not bothered by the stench of sweat, although she was aware of it.

"I don't believe we ever talked properly. My name is Arlene," the vixen spoke, noting the strange way Malic was looking at her. "Is it really that shocking that I'm not human, and yet I speak perfect English and walk on two legs?" she finished, keeping her brow furrowed at him. She probably came off a bit more disgruntled than she intended, and so she added gently, "I'm sorry for sounding mad, I just hate being an outcast. Nothing to do with you."

 

[LaurenLOVESTONED]

Charlie smiled as Arlene left the cave, she'd enjoyed dancing to her friend's music, she was a skilled musician it seemed. She'd been surprised that Arlene used the Pokemon Center to heal herself, but it made sense. What doctor would allow her into their practise anyway? she thought sadly.

Malic had also left the cave, apparently very annoyed at the tablet. She didn't understand what had confused him so, but then again Charlie had not inspected the inscription and nor do I plan to she thought stubbornly. It was getting late, she could see the light fading outside the cave, so she left. Jay and Bobby were far too engrossed to notice her afterall, upon exiting the cave her phone beeped, indicating a message. Damn lack of reception in anicent, mystic caves Charlie thought and then opened the messages:

I have sent the Pokedex as well as a PokeGear and some other supplies with Pelipper, it should be there in no time. Russel is here to visit, I'll call you about it later. He's not well. Message me when you get the package. Love you, From Dad

Hey Charlie, on an impulse I challenged Candice yesterday- I got my butt thoroughly kicked! She had the type advantage though. Snover, Pidgeotto and Sandshrew miss you, but I miss you the most. Love Art

He's not well Charlie read over and over again, her stomach sinking faster and faster. What the hell is that supposed to mean?? she screamed in her mind before storming off to the Pokemon Center to see if the dumb package from her dumb father had arrived. She started crying, hot angry tears and she was glad she was alone. Not even the mention of her best friends Pokemon, who she had played with and battled against forever could make her smile. Doctors had never discovered what disease had killed her mother and the autopsy revealed nothing, it would be just her luck that Russel would get sick and die too.

Vulpix was at her heels, keen to keep up. It was then Charlie realised that she wasn't wearing any shoes, as Vulpix had them in her mouth. She stopped, and yanked them on and set off again, her steps heavy and angry. Vulpix followed her, trying to get her attention by crying her own name but Charlie ignored her. She entered the Pokemon Center and walked straight past Arlene who was surprisingly talking to Malic, Nurse Joy was free so she asked her about her package and turned her two Pokemon over for healing, all the while trying very hard to not cry.

 

[Legend]

"Nice to meet you. Name's Malic, but you probably knew that." Malic paused for a second. He could tell she wasn't exactly happy that he couldn't get used to her appearance. "Yeah...sorry about the stares. I shouldn't be so off-guard. After all, we are surrounded by talking creatures. Then again, all they can say if their name."

Malic picked himself off the floor and pat the dirt off the pants. He approached his bag and picked up a towel and a bottle of water. Malic parked himself on the couch across from Arlene, rubbed his face with the towel, and took a drink. The water was cool and refreshing and seemed to give Malic some relief and energy.

In true childish form, Malic tried to see how he smelled and took a whiff from his towel. Immediately, he jolted back and made a peculair face. "Wow, I smell really really bad." He rubbed more sweat off before tossing the now drenched and heavy towel away. "I will probably never use that thing ever again." Malic reclined in the couch with the help of the placement of his mud infested sneakers on the now filthy table and decided to listen to Arlene play. He wasn't a huge music fan, but the tunes weren't half bad so he didn't mind nice background noise to prevent any unneeded silence.

 

[LaurenLOVESTONED]

Nurse Joy looked at Charlie kindly, sensing her sadness but not questioning it. She took Vulpix and Drifloon to heal and Charlie waited at the counter, feeling awkward as her friends eyes bore into her back. A Blissey came to the counter, chanting it's own name, she handed Charlie a brown paper package... with two notes attached. Weird thought Charlie.

She sat at the closest lounge to the counter; she'd go and join Arlene and Malic as soon as she'd composed herself, and began to unwrap.
The first note was simple, and typical Dad

Charlie, enclosed are the items you requested as well as some treats picked out by Art. We all miss you here

The second note was shabby, and not enclosed in an envelope.

Stay away from the fox-girl, she will only bring pain to the group and mostly you
was written in red ink

Charlie snorted at the absurdity of the letter, it had the makes of some dumb prank. Though it couldn't be Art she thought, she'd told no one at Snowpoint she'd met Arlene. Still, the letter was silly, Charlie trusted Arlene even though she'd just met her. She tucked the letters into her bag, and wondered if she should show Arlene the one written in red ink, but she wasn't sure if it would upset her or not.

Charlie opened the package, tearing away the brown paper. In there was the red, plastic Pokedex, and a red PokeGear. She fiddled around with the buttons of both and then slid the PokeGear onto her wrist and then put the Pokedex into her backpack. And now for the treats she thought. Charlie found a block of her favourite chocolate, some food for Vulpix as well as a midnight blue silk ribbon with a bell attached at least if she runs away again I can't lose her, some soaps and a shower gel from her favourite shop, Lush good, the smell of sweat and dirt was beginning to be unappealing, a thick handknitted sweater probably the work of Art's mum and a contest ribbon, blue, for Hyper Rank in the Beauty Contest.

This was weird, Art and her father had never been in a contest and had no desire to do so, calling it a girls sport. Charlie had watched a few contests on television and planned to enter Vulpix one day, but she had definitely never won a ribbon. Charlie shrugged and stuff it, the food, the soaps and the jumper into her bag and returned to the counter where Nurse Joy was waiting for her.

She took back Drifloon's Pokeball and Vulpix, depositing the Pokeball in her bag. She attached the ribbon around Vulpix's neck, which coincidentally matched Charlie's jacket and then headed over to Arlene and Malic, just as Bobby, Jay and Jake entered the Pokemon Center

 

[Stantler]

OOC: Zimvee, you should add more to your posts, I'm starting to see some 3-4 line posts. Posts must be 5-10 at least.

IC:

Jay found himself with the group of trainers again, they seem to just drag him along where ever they go, but he doesn't seem to mind. He was too involved with the tablet and what he just read. Some time past and it was starting to get late, the sun began to set and everyone began to leave the Pokecenter and sit by and watch the the remains of day turn to night. Here would be the opportunity for Jay to apologize to Arlene and the rest of the group for his rude behavior, he is not used to having friends.

"Hey, um, A-Arlene...-" But before Jay could get on with it a voice suddenly came,

"So I have finally found you."

Jay jumped and looked around to see where the new voice is coming from. Just then a being jumped in front of the group as if from no where. It seemed to be someone dressed in a tight metallic suit, each arm equipped with some sort of device, the head is well hidden under a silver-white helmet with a black visor which seemed to have a robotic depiction of a Pokeball design in front of it.

"Wh-who are you?" Jay asked scared of the sudden appearance of this strange looking person.

"I can't let you continue any further." The figure said, "Edge, GO!" The figure shouted as it threw a pokeball. A Salamence formed from the red laser. "Eliminate these trainers." The Salamence nodded and began to fly through the air towards the Trainers. Jay just stood there in shock, unsure of what to do...

 

[LaurenLOVESTONED]

Charlie swore as the Pokemon flew at them, its mouth agape, roaring its name. It was impressive to say the least, she'd never seen one of these Pokemon before, but based on descriptions she'd read in books Charlie was fairly sure it was a Salamence, the dragon Pokemon.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as the other trainers sprang into battle, Pokemon ready to fight. With trembling fingers Charlie reached for the Pokeball containing Drifloon, she threw it and her Pokemon appeared

"C'mon 'Floon, we'll give it our best," she shouted and then turned to Vulpix, who was hiding behind her, trembling.

"I know you're scared Vulpix, but you have to try," Charlie urged and the little fox Pokemon jumped forward, six tails standing tall.