[PKMN OPEN] Pokémon Spear [M] [IC]

gimmepie · Mar 13, 2021

Catherine Carlisle
18 | Female | From Wyndon

Indra (Male, Swift Swim) - Rain Dance, Hypnosis, Bubblebeam, Double Slap, Mud Shot, Refresh

Stampede (Male, Poison Point) - Water Gun, Smokescreen, Twister, Focus Energy, Dragon Breath, Icy Wind

Holo (Female, Lightning Rod) - Tackle, Thunder Wave, Spark, Howl, Flame Burst, Flash

Vessel (Female, Dry Skin) - Fury Cutter, Scratch, Absorb, Poison Powder, Spore

Lightning and Rain

Storm clouds gathered at the top of the stadium and rain began to fall over the arena, each droplet sending tiny ripples out over the pool as the water level slowly started to rise. Even with the rain being summoned by the opponent instead, Catherine couldn't help but feel like she was on her home turf. She'd have to be careful to manage that.

"Tailwind and then Fly!" Nessa ordered as Vessel climbed back up to the platform. Her Pelipper started flying rings around the stadium, a strong wind seemingly pushing it from behind no matter which direction it was flying. Then, it abruptly swooped down.

"Spore!" Catherine countered. A flair of golden-yellow particles shot up from the Paras' mushrooms in defense. Nessa's Pelipper tilted and swung its trajectory out in a wide arc, avoiding the sleep-inducing cloud before sapping back in and slamming into Vessel from behind.

Vessel nearly skidded off the side of their platform, rotating as they moved to face where they thought the Pelipper would be. It had already flown off though and was now circling from above.

The rain kept falling, causing Dry Skin to gradually heal the damage the Pelipper had done to Vessel - its own rain working against it. Catherine could tell at a glance though, Vessel would take damage faster then they could heal it. One look at Nessa smirking at her from the other side of the battlefield was enough to tell her that Nessa saw it too.

"Again!" the gym leader called.

"Scratch it, Vessel!"

The Pelipper soared up higher, continuing to fly in its wide loop before going a dive. The bird crashed into Vessel from besides as the Bug lashed out with their claws, earning a glazing blow as they were catapulted off the edge into the water.

Vessel clambered back up onto the platform before they could drift too far, their trip into the pool hastening the speed they were recovering. It wasn't enough though. Once more, the Pelippers smashed into them from behind and had them sprawling across the platform. There was only so many hits like that Vessel could take.

"One last time!" Nessa ordered.

"Grab it!"

Even as the Pelipper collided with Vessel once more, the Grass type latched onto it and was carried up into the air with it.

"Absorb!" Catherine instructed.

The strands of green light wrapped around the Pelipper and the bird squawked and cried out as Vessel started draining its vitality. It tried to loop and spira, hoping to shake Vessel off but their grip was iron.

"Into the water, then use Twister!"

The Pelipper dove hard into the water, the impact finally shaking Vessel off. Then the counterattack came. The water exploded up as a vicious tornado carried it - and Vessel - up. The wind dissipated as the Pelipper emerged on the other side of the pool and Vessel hit a platform, knocked out.

"Great work." Catherine returned Vessel with her confidence intact. Then she released her next Pokemon, Holo emerging on the nearest platform with an enthusiastic bark and a crackle of electricity.

"A type advantage won't be enough to win this. Bring it on!" Nessa declared.

"Maybe not," Catherine said, "But it helps and your Pelipper did just dive into a pool full of poison."

"Not for long enough to get the worst of it."

"Long enough to get some of it though. We just have to wait it out."

"We'll see about that," Nessa countered, "Water Pulse!"

An orb of water formed in the Pelippers bill before shooting towards Holo. The Electrike jumped back as the projectile hit the platform and exploded into a surge of water that pushed her back towards the edge. She barked in defiance, not willing to be defeated so easily.

"Thunder Wave!" Catherine called, hoping to negate the Tailwind speed boost.

Rings of sparking electricity flew towards the Pelipper, but Nessa was having none of that. "Water Pulse!"

The retaliatory Water Pulse flew through the air, colliding with the first ring in a detonation of sparks and steam that started a chain ration through the rest of the Thunder Wave and cancelling it out.

"Try staying on that platform with this ringing in your ears! Supersonic!" It seemed Nessa was determined to pay her back with a taste of her own medicine.

"Howl!" Catherine ordered.

Catherine couldn't hear the Supersonic attack, but she felt the soundwaves as they started pulsing out from the Pelipper's open mouth. Then she felt relief as her desperate counter actually worked. Holo screamed out the loudest Howl she could muster and the sound from her own sound-based move seemed to drown out the worst of the confusion-causing Supersonic.

"Impressive!" Nessa said, "Water Pulse!"

"Flame Burst!"

Water orb and fireball collided in the air between them and exploded into a wave of steam followed by a weaker surge of water that didn't make the distance to Holo's platform.

"What? No electricity?" Nessa taunted.

"What can I say? Options are limited," Catherine replied.

"That's unfortunate! Whirlpool!"

At Nessa's command, a vast vortex of churning water took shape in the pool. Her Pelipper's attack was powerful, fueled even more by the strengthening effect of the rain. The floating platforms in the pools started getting pulled forward into the centre of the maelstrom.

"Supersonic!"

"Howl again!"

Again there was a sonic clash as the Pelipper tried to confuse Holo and send her stumbling into the pool and Holo Howled her lungs out to counter it. With the Whirlpool below pulling the platforms in, rocking and bouncing them, Catherine couldn't afford to let Holo be affected by Supersonic.

"Now, Twister and Fly!" Nessa ordered.

The vortex below started to weaken as a new one, another powerful tornado, exploded up around Holo with a hard flap of the Pelipper's wings. Holo was instantly dragged up off her unsteady feet into the Twister, carried up by the air currents as they threw her around.

As this happened, the Pelipper angled around and then flew into a dive. It was clear to see what was coming. The Twister would end while Holo was helpless in the air, the Pelipper would crash into her and she'd either be knocked out entirely or dropped into the toxic pool beneath. That couldn't happen.

"Flame Burst! As hard as you can behind you!" Catherine yelled over the sound of the Twister as it whipped Holo around.

Holo gathered the flames in her mouth and fired the attack against the wind. It detonated against her and flung her violently out of the tornado, right towards the incoming Pelipper.

"Spark!"

"Move!" Nessa yelled.

It was too late though, her Pelipper had committed to its dive and even as it tried to pull up it collided with Holo and a rush of electricity passed from her over it. Both Pokemon dropped like stones onto one of the platforms below.

Neither moved for several seconds. It looked like the match would end in a tie. Then, Holo barked defiantly and proudly, climbing up to her feet next to the defeated Pelipper… albeit barely.

"Challenger 861, Catherine Carlisle, is the winner!"

Nessa returned her Pelipper as she walked around the pool. Catherine did the same to Holo, narrowly avoiding the excited pup jumping into the poison water to paddle over to her in her excitement.

Eventually, they met in the middle of the arena.

"For someone who didn't seem that excited to be here, you pulled some wild stuff during that battle. I've had people take the fight to me in the water before, but I never thought I'd see the day where my pool was used against me like that. I even used my Pelipper instead of my Dreadnaw. I was avoiding my own battlefield. You've got more fight in you than first appearances suggest."

"If you say so," Catherine replied, "I just didn't want to have to go through all this twice."

"Is that so?" Nessa replied, "You seemed so into it by the end that's hard to imagine. Well, regardless of your motivations, you earned this."

Nessa reached out, a Water Badge sitting on her open hand.

Catherine took it without hesitation. "Six to go then. Then I can be done with this."

Spoiler: Inventory

Fen-Fen · Mar 13, 2021

Haleigh Windsor and Catherine Carlisle

Spoiler: Memories

Charity

Eventually, Haleigh's cries had sputtered out once her body decided it had enough. She felt like she had just run a marathon from all of the sobbing and yelling she had done. When she stood up from the bench she had been using, a wave of fatigue had washed over her. The sun was only just starting to dip a little bit, but Haleigh felt the need to just collapse onto her bed and sleep for a little while.

Before she could do so though, Haleigh needed to get Corey. Unfortunately, she had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts she had barely remembered where the Raboot had gone off to after she had told him off. She winced as she remembered how ugly she had been with him.

She called out onto the promenade, "Corey? You here mate?"

No response. He probably went a bit further than just around the corner from her - not that Haleigh blamed him at all. Even feeling as shitty as she was, she knew it wasn't right to just yell at him so viciously when he just wanted to help. She sighed deeply, a dull pang returning to her chest. She really did botch everything.

Haleigh went over towards the piers that held the boats, trying to see if Corey was on them. Again she called out his name, no response.

A sense of dread was starting to build within Haleigh the longer she spent trying to search for him. She walked parallel to the water on the waterfronts path, first opting for the path that led down towards the main part of the harbor, looking high and low for any sign of the Raboot, asking if anyone had seen him. Nothing.

Haleigh backtracked and tried a different path heading out towards the lighthouse. Still nothing. She clenched her fist as her sense of dread grew and tapped into the sea of emotions she was feeling earlier. What a stupid trainer she was, letting her Pokemon just wander off in a city he had no idea the layout of. He could be damn well lost by now, facing hostile Pokemon or even worse, hostile humans. The pit in her stomach only grew, knowing that someone like Corey would be a prime candidate for being smuggled.

"So every time he dies, he comes back to life and uses what he learned last time to -" Catherine stopped mid sentence, eliciting a curious peep from Indra, who was at her side keeping her company. She had rounded the corner and immediately spotted Haleigh running around frantically, hearing her shouting someone's name.

Shit.

"Poli?" A few seconds later, Indra had apparently noticed what she was looking at.

Catherine groaned. She just wanted to go back to her hotel room, sit back and watch some good anime with Indra and the rest of her team. Evidently though, the universe wasn't having any of that. How could she ignore a classmate's distress and still claim she was making a point of being better than everyone else? She groaned again and started moving towards Haleigh with Indra waddling along behind her. "What's got you so freaked out?'

Haleigh was also surprised at who had come her way. She hadn't seen Catherine since their encounter in Motostoke. While Haleigh would like to say that the unpleasant girl hadn't crossed her mind since then and now, it unfortunately wasn't the truth.

Suppressing her own urge to just run and hide from Catherine, she replied, her voice shaky and tears welling up in her eyes, "I-it's Corey, I can't find him anywhere! The harbor, the lighthouse, back towards the stadium, I-I just don't know where he is!"

"And I don't know who he is," Catherine responded. "How am I meant to tell you if I've seen him with just a name to go on?"

"Corey's my Raboot. He ran away after I...after I told him to leave me alone for a while…" She looked away from Catherine.

Catherine frowned. Something about that was off. It felt like she wasn't being told the whole story. "How the hell did you manage to lose your Pokemon? If you wanted some peace and quiet you could have just returned him to his ball for a bit."

She desperately wanted to put herself together, especially against someone like Catherine, but Haleigh was so emotionally raw after the last few hours that she couldn't even pretend anymore. Haleigh started to cry again in earnest, "I...I wasn't thinkin' at all. I was just...I…"

Haleigh exhaled, taking a shaky breath before finishing the sentence she tried to get out. "I blew it. I blew it all. Went up against Nessa, had my arse kicked. I thought I stood a chance, I thought I was strong enough…"

"I saw," Catherine said, "I watched all the battles before mine. He ran away after that, because you said you wanted time alone? You're not telling me everything to save face. Get your shit together and tell me what you did and then I can help you."

"Poli?" Indra chimed in nervously at Catherine's feet, uncomfortable with the tense atmosphere.

Haleigh held in her sob and said, "I...I was having a moment, I was yelling and I guess it scared him to get out of the ball to check on me. He was trying to get my attention...and I just wanted to be left alone. I...I got mad at him…"

She paused, the sob she was holding in coming out, "A-and I s-said, be useful and s-sod off."

"Then he didn't run away," Catherine said scornfully, "He left because you chased him away. You were being selfish and self-pitying without even considering how he feels. He actually fought that battle. He got curbstomped for you and you repaid him with that. Idiot."
Haleigh looked down at Catherine's harsh words. She wanted to say something to rebuke them, but it was the truth. He had given it all for Haleigh, and she repaid his kindness with a selfish request to leave her alone so that she didn't have to confront the reality of it all. She listlessly said, "You're right, you've been right from Motostoke. I'm just a weak, pathetic little girl trying to be strong."

"Good. Now that's all cleared up, do better," Catherine said, "Stop snivelling and wallowing in self-pity and fix it. Let's go find your Raboot."

"O-okay." Haleigh started to walk, keeping her head up to keep a lookout for Corey.

"Don't just walk around aimlessly bothering people with your shouting." Catherine grabbed Haleigh and made her stop. "Use your damn head for once. Where would he actually go? What does he like? What does he take comfort in? What makes him feel good about himself. You should know, he's your partner."

Haleigh looked up in thought, thinking about all the different things Corey liked to do. She mused aloud, "Well...Corey ain't a big sweet eater, not like Coraline anyways, the little gremlin. Not a big into food in general, now that I think about it. We can cross off restaurants and such from the list."

She continued, "He's very much at home when he's got the blood pumping. Somewhere where he can just blow off steam by kicking and hitting things."

"So let's go find a park or football field or something," Catherine suggested, "There's bound to be one or two nearby and it would be on brand for it to be another footballer making my life difficult."

As it turned out, there was a park overlooking the water no more than a ten minute walk from where Catherine and Haleigh had met. It hadn't even got darker when they arrived there and were immediately greeted by the sound of a group of children laughing and shouting. Sure enough, right ahead of them a group of six kids were running about, kicking a ball between them, and in their midst was the red, black and white shape of a Raboot.

Relief flashed over the purple haired girl's face as she saw him. No, she was overjoyed that Corey was okay, that he didn't run off into some dark, seedy place. In her excitement, she shouted over to the group, "Corey! Thank Arceus you're okay!"

The Raboot froze, looking over at Haleigh and flinching a bit at her enthusiastic response. His response wounded Haleigh, but she didn't blame him in the slightest.

One little girl dressed in a white football jersey with blue stripes - the colors of Circhester United - with the number 17 and the name Meachem called out to the Raboot, "Oi, who's that there? Is that your trainer?"

"Clearly," Catherine said, "Can you give us a minute?"

"If she's his trainer, why was he alone?" This came from one of the other kids, a boy representing his local team with a Hullbury jersey.

"It's complicated," Catherine replied.

"Complicated how?" The girl in the Circhester colours asked.

Catherine was starting to feel her irritation rise and may have just snapped at the kids if not for a nudge on her leg from Indra. She took a deep breath and changed tactics.

She released Holo onto the grass in front of her. "Grab the ball and run for it. Don't let them have it."

She did just that, sprinting past the kid who currently had the ball, grabbing it in her mouth and running off. She wasn't one to turn down a good game of keep-away.

"I'll give 100 poke to the first one who catches her and takes the ball," Catherine said, inwardly berating herself for not thinking of a cheaper method of making the brats leave. The comment had the desired effect though, the children were all quick to chase Holo for their ball, much to the Electrike's pleasure.

"Poli!" Indra remarked proudly, waddling off after the kids to keep Holo in check for Catherine.

That left just the girls and Corey.

"Th-thank you, I don't think I could deal with it with all those kids around." It was clear that the children's comments had only added insult to injury, her face tight with tension.

She faced Corey properly, looking down at him and looking down at him. His own gaze was downcast, shying away from her like he expected a repeat of what happened at the waterfront. Haleigh kneeled down to his level, whispering to him, "Aww Corey, I ain't gonna get after ya for this. Listen…"

She looked up at Catherine, remembering the words that she had told her, "I was acting a complete arse back there. It was selfish of me to just push you away when you wanted my attention. I was so afraid of facing you after what had happened, I didn't even think about what you wanted, what you needed. And...it was wrong of me to do that. It's been a tough day for the both of us, but it doesn't excuse what I did to you at all. For that, Corey, from the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry."

Corey pondered his trainer's words. She sounded genuine, but he still had doubts about it all. It was in no small part because of how much his pride had been injured (arguably more so than his actual body), but it was also because of the flaws that he had seen with Haleigh.

Haleigh, sensing her Pokemon's hesitation, chimed in. "You don't have to accept it right away, I understand that you have your doubts about me. Hell, I'm having doubts about me right now. But at least come back to me, just so you got a roof over your head and some food to eat. This sorry excuse for a trainer can do that much, at least." A wan smile crossed her face, her eyes tearing up again - though this time managing to keep it together.

"If it helps," Catherine said, feeling less and less comfortable with every passing second, "I can give you something that will give Nessa a hard time."

Not too far away, she could hear cheering. It sounded like someone had succeeded in liberating the ball from Holo sooner than expected. It was time to wrap things up before this debacle cost her anything else.

Haleigh looked at the other girl, tilting her head, "And what would that be? I'm not much for money, unfortunately, so-"

"I don't want anything for it. That defeats the purpose," Catherine said, turning to Corey. She rummaged through her bag for a moment, eventually withdrawing a yellow-coloured disk - the same one she had liberated from the man in the suit. "It's a TR for Electro Ball. Pretty sure you can learn it."

She handed it to the Raboot. "Consider it a down payment on her future success. She can work out how to use it I'm sure."

Corey looked at the disk that Catherine gave him before looking back up to Haleigh. She looked pretty surprised that the other girl, for no charge, gave her the TR. Based on the name alone, Haleigh could figure out why it would be a great tool against Nessa…if she gets around to rematching her. She still didn't know what the path forward was going to be. What was Catherine's endgame for all of this?

Incredulous, Haleigh asked, "B-but why do all this, help me find Corey, give me a TR free of charge...you could have just left me to struggle on my own, find some amusement in it maybe."

"Because I'm going to be better than you," Catherine said simply. "So here's one more favour; his job is to be strong and he has that covered. Your job is to be smart. So get your shit together so you don't let him down again, because most people won't bail you out like I did. That's not how the world works."

Haleigh raised an eyebrow at what Catherine was saying. All of it was a bit unexpected coming from her, but she was hardly in a position to judge what she had thought of others. It was unmistakably a Catherine way to go about things, with the grumbling about her needing to bail her out, the harsh words and a general unpleasantness around it all, but she was right about one thing: Haleigh did need to get her shit together.

She sighed, nodding her head. "He's the world to me, hard as it is to believe with all that you've seen."

Despite everything that the two had gone through the past few hours, Corey decided to get closer to his trainer, giving her leg a hug. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Aren't Pokemon great, Catherine?"

"Well, they're a lot better than people." Catherine, pulled out 100 poke - the only physical money she had on her - and shut her bag before walking across the park towards her Pokemon and the kids. She was eager to get far away from Haleigh, the children and people in general. They were all so much trouble. "Alright, who won the money? We're heading off."

Kana · Mar 14, 2021

Arrietty Maverick

Spoiler: Inventory

"I took part in a gym battle for the first time."

By now, most of her peers had moved on from Turffield. Thankfully, as well - this way nobody would see her struggle against the Gym Leader as well, after that debacle of a contest performance. Arrietty cringed each time she so much as remembered it. This was another one of those things that would haunt her forever, wasn't it…

The thought gave her pause, halting her step even when she was already in the tunnel leading out onto the pitch. Not right now, she scolded herself internally. She didn't have time for this. Perhaps contests didn't pan out, but this… she went to school for this, right? Even uneducated trainers could make it through this early. Even if that Gym Mission had been laughably easy, truly like a trial run. She harshly slapped her cheeks - immediately regretting the potential red glow she may have given them as a result - but with another self-exasperated huff, she walked out into the bright stadium lights.

Milo must have a loyal audience of support, for them to come watch him even for the umpteenth new challenger battle. A quick spy around didn't let her see anyone she recognized herself. A relief, but this was a large crowd, familiar faces were easy to miss. She couldn't let her guard down either.

"Oh, another of those serious faces!"

The jovial voice of the Turffield Gym Leader emerged from the other side of the field. Milo approached, his signature smile plastered on his face. "Gosh, I'm starting to wonder if Sonia is such a harsh teacher, or if she intentionally picked only the students with this level of drive!"

Drive? Arrietty's expression softened, if only because the observation caught her off guard. She felt inclined to correct him, apologize even… but she bit her lip instead. It wasn't her fault if he misinterpreted her expression, and realistically, she didn't even know how to explain otherwise.

The Gym Leader tilted his head, confused by the lack of response, but a gentle smile soon returned to his face. "Well, I hope you're ready, Arrietty. I won't hold back, so you don't either, okay!"

With that, he turned to take his place at one end of the pitch. Arrietty watched him for a few steps, before following his example. Don't hold back? As if she'd have the luxury of holding back against one of the top ten trainers in the land...

The first Pokémon he sent out was Eldegoss. Arrietty was familiar with this one - it was Milo's most well-known asset. The unassuming stature of the small grass type made it look less than threatening, but the conniving nature it concealed was likewise infamous. Eldegoss floated slightly above ground, seemingly already looking down on the newbie challenger before her.

Steeling her nerves, Arrietty sent out Wren from his Pokéball. The Torchic emerged with a triumphant cry, confident he could best the gym he'd obviously have an advantage against. His trainer wasn't so sure, but there was no more time to worry as the referee raised his flags. Wait, she forgot to think of an opening—

"BEGIN!"

Since his challenger took more than a second to get a command out, Milo took the liberty to start off the battle. "Alright, while they're at range, start off with Leaf Tornado!" Eldegoss floated further upward and dove down momentarily, summoning a flurry of leaves to launch towards her small opponent.

Thankfully, Wren was on his toes, and took off towards Eldegoss as soon as the start signal sounded. He nimbly ran across the grass, picking up speed with his Agility, and successfully avoided most of the leaves the grass-type sent his direction.

Arrietty regained her composure, hoping to put her Pokémon's momentum to good use. "Flame Charge!" she shouted across the battlefield, to which Wren almost seemed to smirk. Having closed the distance, he opened his beak, and engulfed himself in flames, before jumping in the air. Torchic, coated in fire, burnt through the last of the leaves and collided with the Eldegoss in mid-air.

The super-effective hit did a visible number on Eldegoss. Her leaves were charred, the white puff atop her head blackened slightly on one side, and her expression furious. Her trainer, however, seemed thoroughly unfazed.

"Oh, well done!" Milo beamed. Arrietty grew frustrated. Was he still going easy on her? She grit her teeth momentarily, but spat out another command to her faithful Torchic.

"Let's go! Hail of Embers!"

Wren didn't waste a second, but instead of charging towards his opponent, he ran below her, prompting Eldegoss to turn and follow him with her gaze. Milo, too, looked on in curiosity - this girl had named a technique herself? - but didn't let his guard down either. "Eldegoss, Leaf Storm! Don't let him get close!"

Eldegoss twirled in the air, and whipped up a torrent of leaves around her. The strong winds created a perimeter, strong enough to knock any off their feet, and pelt them with sharpened leaves besides. Wren circled around the airborne grass-type, but the cutting winds extinguished any and all Embers the Torchic managed to shoot in its direction.

"Hyper Voice!"

Arrietty had been too focused on Wren to pay attention to the Gym Leader across the field. He looked as amused as before, and the girl's gaze slid back to the Pokémon on the field, just as Wren was thrown off balance by a number of leaves pelting his side. Eldegoss' expression contorted into one of mischievous approval, and flew in closer to the disoriented Torchic - only to open her mouth and unleash the deafening sound waves point-blank.

Wren was dazed, but the Eldegoss didn't let up. She dropped a Pollen Puff on top of him, using the force of the explosion to propel herself back into the air. Her opponent shook his head, the bug-type damage thankfully not affecting him too much, and glanced expectantly towards his trainer. Arrietty had been worried he couldn't fight on, but she met the determination in his gaze with a nod.

"Give chase!"

Wren's eyes locked with those of the Eldegoss, just as Arrietty's did with Milo. She could only hope Wren would understand her command and keep the Leader guessing. He sped up once more, using Agility, but the opposition wasn't about to let that slide.

"Oh no you don't! Cotton Spore, Eldegoss!"

The grass-type flipped in the air, releasing some of the cotton from her scalp in the direction of the Torchic. Some stuck to him, slowing his movements, but the speed he'd gained cancelled it out, and the bird Pokémon caught up to his foe in no time.

"Now! Finish it, Wren!"

Torchic lunged. Eldegoss' eyes went wide as he jumped within inches of her face, and couldn't respond in time. Wren weakened her leafy robe with a super-effective Peck, before kicking off of her side and blasting her into the ground with another flurry of Embers.

The crash resounded among the battlefield, and Wren nimbly landed on the floor, panting slightly from the exertion. A tense silence fell, all eyes locked on the place of impact, until the dust settled... and Eldegoss could no longer get up.

Orx of Twinleaf · Mar 15, 2021

Team:

Rij

Henj

Tim T
Hulbury was just a couple hours away. Tim could walk there now and be able to find a bench to sleep on, maybe some dumpsters to dive. It was only a couple hours away, but Tim could walk for days and days and be no closer to the Hulbury Gym. Tim could walk for weeks and weeks and be no closer to Nessa. Tim could walk for months and months and be no closer to Rij.

"Come on," Tim coaxed, "do like Henj does."

Henj was even more stone-faced than usual where he stood halfway up his legs in the surf. "O-Ourjons," the Stonjourner bit out nervously as the gentle waves lapped at him.

Rij at least didn't snort dismissively, and even looked over at Henj as if considering the proposal, but the Rhyhorn still didn't budge from the sand.

Tim had found this little out-of-way beach to train. The sand was too rocky for lounging and the rock outcroppings nearby broke the waves loudly enough to evidently be too agitating for naps. It seemed like the kind of place most other people didn't bother being around, although Tim imagined people might jog along it sometimes. No one was doing so presently, however, so Tim was taking the opportunity to try and get his mons to train in the sea. That they were weak to Water Moves didn't automatically mean that getting wet was painful for them, Tim was sure.

Henj seemed shy of the water, but that made sense. He was a terramorph (or had the term been geomorph?) and effectively stone all the way through: a creature so dense would naturally be scared of deep water. Tim couldn't remember if Rij was too or if his stony exterior was merely a shell over flesh, but the Rhyhorn didn't seem scared of the water. He just seemed like he didn't want to listen, like any other time.

Tim had been standing on the beach as well, just in case he had to recall the mons out of the water if something happened, but he decided to try something else. He disrobed down to his threadbare boxers and took off his boots. Rij and Henj both looked at him questioningly. "Here, Rij," Tim said, stepping into the water. "Look, I'm in too."

Usually Tim would leave his things on, even his boots. It was coming warm enough now to not be too brisk and it was early enough in the day to dry off, so he wouldn't have minded getting his clothes wet. But his body was sore all over. He had nearly crippled himself with how badly his core ached after the flipping exercises with Henj, and now every day was one of burning limbs as he'd started training with Henj to kick higher and wider. He'd recently started doing so under Henj's Gravity too, so Tim didn't trust himself not to just cramp up and drown if the undertow took him while he had his clothes on. He kept his sunglasses on though, of course. It was rare that he took those off.

Tim waded out to where he was next to Henj, at a depth that came not quite up to Tim's shoulders. The waves pushed and pulled, but despite the ache in his muscles Tim could stand up to it easily. Tim patted Henj on the leg. Henj visibly relaxed a little and took another halting step deeper into the water. Tim looked back at Rij on the shore. Rij was sniffing the waves uncertainly, grumbling.

Tim rubbed the side of his sunglasses, watching Rij. These sunglasses, ridiculous as they were, were the last surviving part of Tim's outfit before he'd let himself go, along with his boots.

"What are you wearing?" Tim's friend had asked the first time she'd seen him dressed like that.

"I figured it was time for a makeover," Tim had said, flourishing. His boots had been in much better shape, and their dark leather gleamed from under the cuffs of his heavy black cargo pants. He'd had a black denim jacket over a bright shirt that matched whatever brightly-colored ball cap and ascot he'd worn that day. The sunglasses back then had been so dark as to match his black hair, back before the glasses grew cloudy and the hair went grey.

Tim's friend had laughed at him. It was a graceless laugh, loud and hitching. It had been such a beautiful sound. "You're wearing a denim jacket to go climbing?" she'd asked incredulously, sharing a look with her Rhyhorn, Rij.

"I'm wearing a denim jacket to start the climb! The one where I reach your level: I'm calling you out!" Tim's deep voice had had the hum of confidence behind it when he struck his once-iconic pose. One fist on his hip, the other against his puffed-out chest. "I'll be your rival, and I'm going to go places even you haven't been!"

Tim's friend had grinned at him. Her grins had always made that scar along her face bulge and showed off her missing molar. Tim could never hope to have such a perfect smile. "Well, we'll see about that. But you won't be getting too far by yourself." She had rapped Rij on the snout, the way Rij had liked. "You might match me, and even surpass me, but you'll never beat me and Rij together!"

That had been what had convinced Tim to become a Trainer. Tim had done his research and learned of Wedgehurst's newest school, in his friend's native Galar. Tim had agreed with his friend: as long as she had Rij Tim could never match her.

And now Tim had Rij. And Tim would still never match her.

There was a heavy, jarring impact in Tim's back. Something stiff seemed to adhere to him, a hard hook reaching over his shoulder and pulling him both out of his thoughts and under the water. Henj made a surprised noise as Tim was pulled slowly further from the coastline. Tim twisted in the water as the salt stung his eyes behind his glasses and saw the circular body of a Dhelmise some distance out, its chain-like vine taut as it wound up and reeled in the anchor that had latched to Tim's back.

Weren't Dhelmises deep-sea mons? Tim seemed to remember that they sat along the sea bed or in crevices to ambush mons from underneath, towing them down to constrict. What was it doing so close to shore? Well Hulbury was nearby, and all the chum that was probably tossed from the fishermen there probably attracted all sorts of things that a Dhelmise wouldn't mind snatching. Tim remembered hearing folktales of Dhelmises striking fishing boats and dinghies in the old days, and many a sea tragedy had ended with the lone lifeboat catching a viney anchor through its hull. Tim remembered his old school teacher explaining how Dhelmise anchors striking boats in stories were supposed to be symbolic of the chaotic, unfeeling nature of the ocean.

Tim pushed such trivial thoughts from his head and flailed, trying to reach around. He'd thankfully been small enough a target that Dhelmise's anchor hadn't just sank itself into his body, but its Anchor Shot ensured entanglement: it was uncannily clinging to his skin, and Tim couldn't bend any of his limbs around to find the vinechain. Tim drove his limbs down instead, trying to root himself in the sand. The wet sand wouldn't allow his feet in, but by straightening his hands Tim forced his hands painfully to the wrist. Twin trenches dragged into the sand but the pulling had slowed at least a little bit.

Tim heard Henj's voice and saw the Stonjourners legs some ways away, approaching haltingly. Had Tim really been pulled so far already? At this rate the undertow would probably fling him all the way out to sea even if he managed to get loose. Tim's lungs were beginning to complain. Tim turned toward land and kicked his legs as hard as he could, but the Dhelmise's pull didn't let up. Tim saw something shimmer as it scurried along the sand under the water towards him, leaving a messy cloud of sand behind it.

Rij's horn hit the anchor where it was hooked over Tim's shoulder with enough of an impact to ring shrilly even in the water. The anchor bucked, releasing Tim of its strange adhesion so Tim could shrug out of under it. He pulled his hands from the sand and kicked for the surface. His head broke out and he coughed, heaving for breath. Henj was shuffling closer with a determined frown, but he was too far to help. Tim's Pokéballs were in his pants on the beach. If he swam for them, would he make it back in time to recall Rij? What if he went to get them and Rij was too far away by the time he got back?

No. Tim wouldn't leave Rij the way he'd left—

Tim dove under, down to the sand. Rij had his stubby legs planted, trying to back away towards shore, his shell still glimmering with the effects of Rock Polish. Dhelmise had its anchor latched along Rij's back, hooked shallowly around his spines. Dhelmise at least seemed to have more trouble pulling Rij: the Rhyhorn was firmly grounded, only marginally more buoyant than the namesake of the Rock Type. Whatever strange force allowed Dhelmise to brace itself for towing while floating free seemed to begin to show its limits as Dhelmise was now pulling itself closer to Rij faster than it pulled Rij to itself. Dhelmise's strange compass-like eye spun in agitation and then its body wound faster, pulling itself quickly towards Rij.

Tim swiped his arms and kicked, low enough for the undertow to speed him out to the scene. He reached Rij at about the same time Dhelmise did, and then, with his arms screaming in complaint, forced a monkey knuckle through the water into the glassy dome of Dhelmise's eye. The impact hurt Tim's fingers enough that he knew Dhelmise felt it, and the wheel of its body indeed dipped backwards in the water, its vinechain slackening as its anchor released Rij.

Without orders—Tim couldn't give any underwater anyway—Rij sprung off the sand, his little legs whirring with the Rock Polish speed boost just enough to let his snout breach the top of the water. It carried Tim and Dhelmise both upward to be sprayed by Rij's exhale before a greedy, loud inhale refreshed the Rhyhorn's breath and he sank away again.

Tim tread the water at the surface, opposite the Dhelmise as the wild mon reeled its anchor all the way in and set it to its face, the bottom of the wicked biometallic thing still under the water. Tim looked into Dhelmise's eye for a moment as he caught his breath. It was as unreadable as Tim's own sunglasses. Tim had kept these glasses even after he'd sold the rest of his ridiculous get-up all that time ago. Behind these glasses neither Dhelmise nor the rest of the world could see the fear in his eyes.

Tim brought a hand up and put a proper punch into the mon, this time into the coiled vine holding the anchor to its body. Dhelmise groaned, its wheel spinning quickly as the anchor dropped straight down, apparently involuntarily. Rij's snout came up again for another breath and when it disappeared this time, Dhelmise's body pulled face-down against the waves, its vinechain taut as Rij had evidently grabbed it on the way down.

Dhelmise groaned, heaving in the air as its wheel tried to reel against Rij's weight. Dhelmise suddenly flipped back upright with slack as Rij seemed to let it go. Rij's snout came up again and Dhelmise tried to pull its anchor back in. Tim grabbed the wheel to try and hold it but it didn't work too well until Rij's snout went back down and Dhelmise's vinechain went taut again. Dhelmise managed to keep upright this time, so Tim let go with one hand to start hammering punches into its eye. Dhelmise complained first in fury and then in desperation, turning the wheel away trying to get loose.

"Let it go, Rij," Tim bellowed hoarsely for Rij to hear under the water the next time the Rhyhorn's snout came up. Tim unhanded the Dhelmise and it started hovering away, reeling slowly, the needle of its eye sideways in pain. Tim noticed as it reeled that a length of its vinechain seemed frayed, as if it had been gnawed on by a certain stony maw. Dhelmise fixed its anchor all the way in and made a show of turning away before sinking below the waves: it had disengaged.

"Jouron!" Henj called.

Tim turned in time to see Rij's snout poke out again a ways away, already on the way back to land. Henj's face popped up and called again only a few feet away from Tim. Seeing Rij's method of approach, the Stonjourner had also come out past the top of his head, even despite his hesitation. Tim swam closer and grabbed Henj's blocky hand even as it pulled him a bit under the water. Henj kicked himself into reverse, scuttling backwards, his heavy legs ignoring the undertow, pulling Tim to shore. With only a couple more short hops for air, both Henj and Tim had their heads above water again. Tim let go as he came in and Henj's arms came too high out of the water. Tim staggered the rest of the way out of the water and collapsed in the sand next to his clothes.

Rij was already there, breathing heavily and looking at Henj. Rij had been able to jump for air in the water. Where had Rij learned to do that? Well, Tim's friend had been a proper explorer, not just a climber, Rij may well have had to be underwater before in the past. Or maybe he had devised it in the moment, had picked up some of Tim's own ingenuity …? No, it was more likely Tim's friend had taught Rij years ago and Rij still remembered the technique.

Tim sat up, tears running from behind his glasses. Not because of the screeching hot pain in his limbs. It was just the salt. Certainly not because he had been within inches of being drowned and lost to the waves. It was just the salt. And it was definitely not because he was emotional over seeing such in-the-moment quick thinking from his Pokémon for his sake. It was just the salt.

Rij and Henj looked at Tim with some concern. "I'm alright," Tim said, waving a hand dismissively. His voice hitched the slightest bit through his mustache, but Tim wasn't crying.

It was just the salt.

Sonata · Mar 17, 2021

Poké:

5020 ♦ Pokemon: 6

CHAPTER 8.1 - FEAR THE BEGINNING PT.3
TW: Nightmares / Physical & Verbal Abuse of a Child / Victim Shaming

"Don't fall asleep."

Wyatt slowly peeled his eyes open, looking at the Pokemon hovering over him. The Loudred slowly pressed his hands against his eyes before dragging them down his face. "What time is it?"

Zorro hopped over to the nearby table, opening up Rosa's bag before turning on the girl's pokedex. "Early."

Wyatt looked over at the window, seeing the moon sitting high in the sky. The Pokemon sighed, pushing himself up against the wall as he wiped the sleep from the corners of his eyes. "No, it's late." The Loudred took a second to stare at its own feet, wondering what it was doing, indulging the Grass-type before it turned its attention towards the Roselia. "What's going on?"

"It's nearly time!" Zorro whispered loudly, waddling back over towards his friend. "This was the earliest that he came that one time, and we need to always be ready to catch him if we can!"

Wyatt sighed, shaking his head. "How many of those have you taken? You look tired."

Zorro dropped the Worry Seed he'd been holding on to before kicking it under the bedskirt. "Don't worry about me, just think about Rosa! What if she has another nightmare- what if everyone has another nightmare? I don't want anyone to have to suffer from this Pokemon if we can do something about it."

"And? What do you think we can do? We're not strong enough to face off against him. Last time we tried to run, but he just… it was pointless." The Pokemon shook his head, slowly laying back down on the ground. "There's nothing we can do about it except get stronger in our own time. Until then, just worry about getting some rest. The gym challenge is in a few days, and you're going to be the star; right?"

Zorro nodded, doing his best to strike a heroic pose. "Of course! I've been practicing hitting Pokemon that swim underwater just in case I can't get one of that Dreadnaw to come up."

"Good, then just think about that. If you worry about too much, you'll have nightmares regardless of whether that Pokemon comes or not."

Zorro grunted, producing another Worry Seed before starting to nibble on it. "I don't need sleep… I just need Mom to be happy…"

The two Pokemon sat in silence for several seconds, listening to each other breathe. "Fine," Wyatt grumbled, throwing the sheet off of himself before sitting up fully. "Pass me one of those."

Zorro grinned as he produced another Worry Seed and passed it over to the Loudred, prompting the Pokemon to swallow it whole. "So… do you have a plan?"

Zorro shrugged. "Hit it with my strongest moves and see what happens?"

Wyatt sighed, shaking his head. "I guess that is the best you could do against someone like him. But it would be better if we-"

"Someone like whom?" The voice echoed like a whisper in the Pokemons' ears.

Zorro and Wyatt leapt up, their heads turning rapidly as they searched for the source of the voice. "Show yourself!" The Roselia cried out, readying his petals for an attack.

Laughter echoed through the room as a shadow began to fill it, snuffing out the lights emitted from the various devices around the two Pokemon. "What would you do if I did?" The voice questioned, setting the room's temperature down a few more degrees as it spoke.

"I'd- I'd-" Zorro stuttered, feeling for Wyatt in the new darkness that surrounded them. "I'd hit ya hard! Pow! With everything I've got!" The Pokemon motioned with its other arm, having found and wrapped itself around Wyatt.

"You can't keep doing this to us!" Wyatt yelled out, feeling the comfort of Zorro's roses. "We'll stop you!"

"Oh, you'll stop me? Really?" The voice questioned again, "But how will you do anything when you're asleep?"

Zorro winced, feeling the weight of the darkness bearing down on him more now than the last time. His eyes felt heavy, despite having used so many Worry Seeds to keep himself awake. "I'll beat you, even if it's just in my dreams then!"

Wyatt shook his head, feeling a similar sort of drowsiness to the Grass-type. "Whatever it takes," he tacked on, puffing out his chest slightly as he took in a deep breath, readying his first attack.

The voice laughed, letting the darkness around them slip away. "I see." The Pokemon floated out from the corner of the room, fixing its gaze on the two smaller Pokemon as it reached one of its arms out towards Rosa. "Well then, what do you say we do this?"

Wyatt and Zorro tensed up, coming truly face to face with the Pokemon for the first time. The two looked at each other momentarily, nodding their heads as they consigned themselves to their fates.

"Just try and keep us from protecting her then!" Zorro cried out, turning a pair of Poisonous Stingers towards the Pokemon as Wyatt rushed in for a grab.

"Hmm. Very well then. Feel my power." A blue-ish psychic energy filled the room, causing everything to float up from the ground as Wyatt opened his mouth to let out a scream before being forced to clamp it shut. "Now now, we can't have you causing a commotion, can we?"

'Another one of these, huh?' Rosa thought, finding herself in the middle of a dance. The lights focused around her were blinding, but each time that she turned she caught a glimpse of some of the girls that she had used to dance with. 'Well, maybe this'll be a little less…' she thought, trying to figure out exactly where she was in her memory.

"I can't believe she still has the gall to get on stage like that."

"I know, right? You'd think she'd have the decency to step down on her own. Her mother's just too good of a person."

"For sure. If it were me, I would have taken her off of center stage the second I found out what she was getting up to."

Rosa winced, hearing the parents chatting amongst themselves. They always gossiped - and her mother didn't stop them. Why would she? After all, she was the one that had let the rumors slip to begin with. Her gaze wandered through the gathering of parents, taking in the looks of disgust and scorn directed towards her.
Her mother clapped, a signal which caused all the girls to stop at once. "Our lead will now perform the Offering to Arceus. Please clear the stage." Rosa quickly put herself into position, watching as the other girls left the stage to join their parents.

The lights trained on her turned a pale yellow as the music slowly started. The dance started with a long, reflective prostration. As the music carried on, the girl closed her eyes, slowing her breathing as she waited.

'Why am I still here?' she wondered, trying to remember if anything happened on this day in particular. 'I've messed up this dance a few times before, but that doesn't mean that-'

The girl rose slowly, rocking back onto her heels before coming fully to her feet. The music continued on slowly, and she followed its rhythm with a series of sharply extended yet fluid motions. She stretched her body as she moved across the stage, turning herself into an arrow which directed the lights which imitated the Pokemon's path of creation, as in a legitimate performance there would have been singing of the things to which they were meant to be giving thanks.

Rosa looked out over the crowd as she continued to perform, and saw a few of her classmates snickering at her and whispering to their parents, earning smiles or laughter in some cases from them. She frowned slightly, turning her face away from them as she continued on.

'Don't worry about them,' she thought to herself, hoping to instill some confidence into the younger form of herself. 'You're doing great, just-'

Rosa fell on her face, having extended a bit too far on the last point. Her mind was occupied, having seen the interactions between the parents and children. She winced, pressing herself up off the stage as the music stopped. The girl looked over towards her mother, who didn't scold her, but simply gave her a look of immense disapproval.

"That's where we'll wrap it up for today," her mother said calmly, clapping her hands as she looked back towards the rest of the students and their parents. "I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. Make sure to practice when you get home as well."

Rosa sat on the stage, watching as everyone quickly gathered their things and left, paying her no mind whatsoever. The girl looked to her mother, who was already heading back towards the house. Rosa rose slowly, pursing her lips as she followed her mother's lead back towards the main part of the estate.

"Come," her mother stated calmly as the girl made her way into the house.

Rosa nodded, walking over in front of her mother before being helped to undress. "I didn't mean to-" She started, turning towards her mother as her dress fell from her shoulders.

The sound echoed through the room as Rosa fell to the ground, her own hand against her cheek as she felt the burning warmth of the mark her mother's fingers had left on her face. "How dare you embarrass me like that, and on such a simple performance." her voice was dull and cold, but the look of anger in her eyes was intense. "How am I supposed to hold up my reputation and train these other girls when my own daughter can't even properly perform the simplest of offering dances? If you can do nothing properly besides pleasure men, perhaps you should find a different school of study and save my face."

The woman quickly turned and walked out of the room, leaving Rosa to her own devices. The girl ran her hand across her cheek, holding on to the stinging sensation as she pulled her clothes off the rest of the way. "Why do you hate me?" She whispered to no-one but herself, feeling herself tear up as she stopped to wipe them away. "It's not like I asked for any of it…"

"It's no problem, Mrs. Valdés. This is what I was hired for." The voice of a man came from downstairs, prompting Rosa to come out of her room and see what was going on.

It was early in the morning, earlier than she'd normally woken up for school, but she hadn't been able to sleep right the past few nights anyways. She listened in on the conversation that her mother and this man were having, curious as to what they were discussing since this man's voice was unfamiliar to her.

"You came highly recommended, so I didn't have any doubts. You are quite quick, though." A small laugh escaped her mother's mouth, causing Rosa to wince as she peeked around the corner.

He was… handsome. His platinum blond hair was tied up in a bun, which went great with the business suit he was wearing with its diamond pattern on the sides. But what was most interesting of all to her, was his eyes. Since he was sitting on the opposite side of the table from where she was coming down from, she could see them - one eye was strangely yellow, while the other was grey.

"I don't particularly like cleaning jobs, but I wouldn't want you to settle on someone else. You are a friend of a friend, after all. It could be troublesome for them if this mess were to come back on you."

"I appreciate the courtesy. I'll be sure to thank them properly the next time I see them."

The man looked up in the direction of the watchful girl, just barely missing her before she turned back around the corner. "Of course, Mrs. Valdés. I must, however, be taking my leave now. If I stay too long, I'll be late for my next job. I can't risk my reputation of efficiency, you understand?"

"Of course. In that case," her mother scooted out the chair she was sitting on, "I'll see you out."

Rosa rushed back upstairs, looking out from her window as she watched the man get walked out to a waiting vehicle. He turned, and exchanged a few words with her mother before glancing up at her window with a smile which was followed with a glare from her mother.

'Who… is he?' She wondered. She'd forgotten all about this moment, since in the face of everything else she'd gone through, it seemed so insignificant. But now that she was here, reliving it… 'Why was she meeting with him, and what did he mean by cleaning? We have maids that come every week, so then what is…'

Rosa turned from the window as the man got into the vehicle and quickly found her way back into bed. She rolled over under the covers, closing her eyes as quickly as she could to try and fall back asleep, or at least get into a position that felt like she'd just woken up. She didn't think she was supposed to see that conversation, but what she was more worried about now was what her mother would say to her.

And so she laid there. And laid there… and laid there. She waited patiently for her mother to come talk to her, to get angry at her for eavesdropping, but she never did come. Slowly but surely, the girl's eyes did start to grow heavy on their own, and soon enough, she was back asleep.

'Wh-where am I?' Rosa wondered, taking in her new surroundings. This nightmare was different from the last one. Last time, she'd been in her body through the whole experience, but now… it was choppy, jumping from bit to bit. She looked around, taking in the empty classroom around her as she wiped the tears from her eyes. 'What is… what happened?'

"Rosa, you alright?" A young girl asked, making her way into the room with a twisted length of aluminum in her hands.

Spoiler:

'Where do I…' Rosa wondered as her mouth slowly opened.

"Yeah, thank you for running them off, Elena." Rosa looked up at the pink-haired girl and wiped the tears from her eyes.

'I remember now, she was my friend… the only girl in school that ever stood up for me. I can't believe I'd forgotten about her for so long… and after all she did for me, I-'

Elena shook her head, pulling her bangs up away from her sweaty forehead into a clip atop her head. "Don't mention it. I expect the boys to be immature and dirty about it, but the girls… they're just bitches." The girl took a seat at the desk in front of Rosa, turning the chair around to face her. "So, what do you want to do today?"

Rosa shook her head, looking at the bloodshot and tired eyes of the girl in front of her. "What do you want to do?"

Elena stared and Rosa and slowly smiled, shaking her head. "Dunno. Guess we'll leave it to Simon then, yeah?" She said softly, tapping the length of metal against her boots as she looked over at the door. "Where's he at, anyways?"

"I think he went to chase after the boys after you went for the girls," Rosa smiled, blushing slightly. "You two always surprise me." She chuckled, picking up some of the scattered papers that were left on the floor from the girls that had been there just minutes before.

"We're friends, right?" Elena questioned, leaning in closer. "What do you want me to do, just join in with them and laugh about some rumors I'd never even heard about?"

Rosa shrugged, letting her eyes linger on one of the papers she'd picked up, and let her smile turn sour as she looked it over. The paper had been covered in slurs by the other girls, and a few phone numbers from the boys. "I dunno… I just didn't think I would get to be this lucky."

"I'll always be there for you, Rosa. You're family to me, yeah? No matter what happens, I'll always treat you like my lil sister." Elena smiled, vigorously rubbing her hand against Rosa's head, messing up the girl's hair. "Besides… what do I really have to lose? It's not like anyone around here would have wanted to adopt me after I ran away from that last family."

Rosa sighed, fixing her hair as the smile returned to her face. "You don't know that, Elena. I think anyone would be-"

"Rosa!" Simon called out, sliding back into the room with a few new bruises on his face. "You doin' okay? They didn't hurt you, ri-"

The girl quickly shot up from her seat, her face turning white at the boy's injuries. "Simon, what did you do?" She asked, immediately cutting him off.

"Ah… I just wanted to-" the boy winced as Elena hit his foot with the metal stick, shaking her head at him. "I, uh… fell, on my way back here." He laughed lightly, scratching the back of his head.

Rosa shook her head. "You guys… you don't have to-"

"So!" Elena chimed in, inching closer to the boy in her chair. "We've decided that we don't know what we want to do today, so it's on you now. Where are we going after this Si-boy?"

'She came into our class a year after the rumors first started spreading… the new girl, in a class full of people who'd already decided who the class victim would be. She was an orphan, someone who'd travelled the world by no choice of her own. She had a chance to start fresh in a new school, already accepted by everyone simply because the role she'd have normally fallen into was already filled. Nobody could have been more of an outcast herself, and yet… Elena didn't hesitate to stand up for me. Maybe it was because she felt bad for me, or maybe it was something else… but either way, she'd become my only other friend besides Simon. Ever since, we'd been inseparable… that is, until that day…'

Simon looked at the two girls and sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "Want to go swimming? The weather's nice enough."

Rosa shook her head and frowned. "Sorry, I can't get wet… I have dance classes again tonight."

Elena rolled her head around and sighed, "Ugh! You have dance class every night! I can't stand spending so much time away from you!" She laughed playfully, shaking her head. "Why don't I just join in your classes with you? I can protect you better from the girls that are in your lessons too, and like, it'd be super cool to learn some of the same moves as you, yeah?"

Rosa smiled and shook her head. "You wouldn't want to join our lessons… everyone there is-"

"Whaaat?" Elena scoffed, shaking her head. "I can't believe you don't want to spend time with your bestie." She frowned playfully, crossing her arms as she puffed out her lips. "Simon, pleeeeease? Can you pleeeease talk her into asking her mom for me?"

Simon sighed, shaking his head as he sat in a nearby chair. "Is it that big of a deal?"

Rosa shook her head. "Simon… you know how my mom gets… I don't want to make her angry."

"Oh no," Elena whimpered, faking a sniffle as she put her sleeves up against her eyes. "One of my best friends is too embarrassed of me, what am I supposed to do now? Now I'll never get to meet her mom or learn the proper way to present myself as a woman." She peeked at Rosa through her sleeves, letting her tongue hang out slightly.

The girl shook her head and sighed, laughing lightly. "Okay… I guess it won't hurt to ask if you can join in. You'll have to take out your piercings though, otherwise I know she'll say no."

"Hmm," Elena mused, shaking her head. "No, I think I'll keep them in. I got a plan if she tries to refuse me. Trust me, I know how to manipulate adults… after all, how many times have I been adopted? You know how it is."

Rosa nodded knowingly. She had travelled most of the world in this way. The way she looked now was expressly done for the purpose of making sure nobody would want to see her, just to be certain.

"Well… I guess we'll head home then."

Simon and Elena nodded, grabbing their things from around the room before rejoining Rosa at the exit to the classroom. "I'll walk you home," Simon said, "but after that I think I'll probably head back to my place. My new records just came in, and I've actually been super anxious about getting to listen to them all day long."

"Ooh, what'd you get, Si-boy?" Elena asked, pulling open her bag to reveal a small device. "I listened to a few of those bands you recommended last time, but I think I'm looking for something a little more melodic."

"Ooh, in that case let me recommend this band here," he said, pulling out his own device.

Rosa fell slightly behind, watching the two of them continue on with their music talk as they made their way back towards her house. She smiled, watching the two of them getting along.

'They were perfect for each other, weren't they?[/i]

"Something's come up, so there'll be no classes today," her mother announced as she came into the building with Elena in tow. The woman didn't even turn her gaze from the piece of wood she was whittling away at. "What's that rat doing here? I thought I told you not to bring her around anymore. I have an image that needs to be-"

"Mrs. Valdés," Elena cut in, "I'm sorry to ask, but could you please teach me how to dance?" She questioned, prostrating herself at the feet of Rosa's mom. "I've been on the wrong path for so long, and Rosa's told me so much about how dance has helped to change her life… I just… I want to know how to be a proper maiden."

Rosa's mom put the piece of wood down and looked between the girl in front of her and her daughter. "Is this a joke to you? You think it's funny to waste my time with-"

"No!" Rosa replied, joining Elena on the ground in front of her mom. "I- I want to help Elena… you know she's an orphan, right?"

"Yeah, I'm an orphan… so learning to be a proper maiden could help a lot in getting me adopted again."

Silence hung over the three of them, with none of them wanting to be the first to speak. Eventually, her mother took a breath and cleared her throat. "I don't appreciate being talked over." She stated bluntly, letting the weight of her words hang over the two young girls. "Though, I suppose if you're looking to reform yourself, it would be good for my image if you were to join the class. That being said, you have to lose the piercings and change your hair to a natural color before I'll consider accepting you."

Rosa felt her heart leap, feeling excited in the presence of her mom for the first time a while. "Thank you, mother." she stated, her voice shaking slightly with excitement.

"I'll be sure to make myself presentable for you in the future," Elena added on.

"Tch. That is good to hear. Now, get off of my property until then. Rosa, head to your room and start your schoolwork."

"Of course," Rosa replied, glancing over at Elena as the two rose to their feet. "I'll see Elena out and then head up." Her mother waived them off, returning to her work as the two girls excitedly made their way back outside.

"See, I knew it would work in our favor." Elena whispered, wrapping her arms around Rosa. "Now we get to be together even when you have dance."

"Yeah!" Rosa replied, smiling as she returned the embrace. "I'm super excited for it… but, now that she's kicked you out for the day, what are you going to do?"

Elena shrugged, looking behind her. "I dunno. Might go see what Simon's new albums are like. Then I guess I'll have to stop at the store for some new dye before I head back to the orphanage."

Rosa nodded, looking back towards the entrance to her own house. "That sounds like fun… I have to go study, I guess. Let me know tomorrow if you find anything you think I'd like to listen to." She smiled softly, hugging Elena again before taking a few steps back the way they'd come.

"Of course," Elena replied, returning the embrace. "I've also got a fair few joke songs I can torture him with, so I'll let you know how that goes too."

Rosa laughed lightly, heading back inside as she waved back at her friend. "Things are going to get better… I just know it."

'Don't… don't set yourself up like that. It's not long from now, that…'

"Phew, your mom's really been kicking my ass with those lessons." Elena shook her head and massaged her thigh. "You'd think she'd take my first week a little slower, given I've never danced before."

Rosa laughed lightly and shook her head. "You shoulda known better, El. I've told you the type of teacher she is… she never takes it easy on anyone."

"Yeah, I remember… I'm kind of glad we don't have class today. I love getting to spend all this extra time with you, but man… my body just really needs a break."

Rosa laughed, looking over at Simon. "I told you it'd be hard when you first started out, didn't I? But yeah… I guess I could get a head start on studying for our midterms. I think the plan is to drop you off first, then me and Simon'll head down into town to go home."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I think I can make it home myself." Elena smiled, giving her leg a little slap.

"You really do look so much different with black hair." Simon remarked, staring at Elena. "I can't believe you even did your eyebrows just to take these classes."

Elena shrugged. "Anything for Rosie, yeah?" she smiled, winking at the boy.

"Y-yeah," he replied, blushing.

"You two should just date already," Rosa remarked, covering her smile.

"No no no no no," they both said in unison, shaking their hands in defense towards their shared accuser.

Rosa laughed lightly, rising up from her seat as she looked at them. "I dunno, you're pretty cute together."

"Don't joke around like that, Rosa." Elena chuckled nervously, pulling on the choker around her neck. "We don't even have that much in common."

Simon shrugged as he cleared his throat, making his way towards the exit to the room. "Y-yeah, we're just friends, right? All of us are like a family, so that'd just be kinda weird."

The three made their way down the hallway, laughing awkwardly amongst themselves as they exited the school. "Well, I guess I'll see you later then, huh?" Rosa wrapped her arms around Elena, giving her a hug before they parted ways. "No school tomorrow, but classes are back on."

Elena nodded. "Yeah, I know. We're all set to meet up at Simon's in the morning, right?"

Simon nodded, "Yeah, just gotta wake up this one," he said, pointing his thumb towards Rosa as he stifled a chuckle. "I'll help knock out her chores early on, so we should have plenty of time together afterwards."

"Sounds good," Elena laughed, waving at the other two before starting off towards the orphanage. "See ya tomorrow! Be safe!" Rosa and Simon nodded, waving back at the girl as they walked in the opposite direction.

The duo walked in relative silence on their way back home, finding themselves still under the veil of the awkward silence of Rosa's earlier suggestion. Simon looked like he wanted to say something several times, but he never let himself voice whatever it was inside of him. Eventually, they found themselves at the gate to Rosa's estate.

"Well," Simon said quietly, chewing on his lip as he kept his focus on the ground in front of him. "Guess I should go clean up my room if we're all getting together tomorrow. Since Elena hasn't been coming over, I let it get a little bit out of hand."

Rosa smiled and nodded, wrapping her arms around the boy. "Sounds good. I'll see you in the morning, lover boy."

"I'm not in love!" He replied, squeezing his arms in between Rosa's to break the embrace. "Like I said, we're all just friends, right? Just… friends."

Rosa stuck out her tongue at the boy as she made her way up towards her front door. "Yeah, whatever you say. See you in the morning!" The girl entered her house, waving at the boy as she closed the door behind her.

Whoosh. Woosh. Woosh..

Rosa slowly made her way through the house, following the whooshing sound that she kept hearing. "Mom?" She called out lightly, not wanting to interrupt her if she was in the middle of something.

"Come in, Rosa." Her mother replied, swinging around a long and thin piece of wood.

"What is… what's that?"

"Don't repeat yourself." Her mother stated bluntly, continuing to swing around the wood. "It's called a switch. It's not used anymore, but it used to be a tool for punishment. I've been working on it the past two weeks, just trying to get it down to the proper thickness and length."

'She knew…' the girl slowly realized, piecing together the details she'd remembered from this dream and combining them with what she'd learned from the last nightmare. 'She didn't start making the switches until after she met that man… she… she knew. I don't know how, but… she...'

The girl nodded, watching and listening as her mother swung the switch around the room. It was almost mesmerizing, watching as the switch almost disappeared each time that she swung it, turning into a blur before coming to a wobbly stop. Her mother slapped the stick against the wall, creating a cracking sound and leaving a small imprint of the wood before nodding.

"Head on upstairs. I want all your work done before tomorrow so we can dedicate the whole day to your training."

Rosa begrudgingly nodded. She'd just promised to meet up with Simon and Elena, but now her mother was telling her she'd spend the whole day dancing… "Yes, mother." She'd try to fight it later, but for now, all she could do was accept it. She had intended to start studying anyways, so it wasn't the right time anyways. She'd wait until she was called for dinner to bring it up.

'But… she never did call for me.'

Hours passed, and Rosa finished studying for the night. The sun had fallen, and the moon was sitting in its place. The girl stretched out, wondering what was taking dinner so long as she made her way to the window. She looked out, watching the lights in the town flick on as the last bits of daylight faded out. She sighed, and then noticed something that… she hadn't expected to see for a while.

A truck was pulling up to their estate - a truck, with the symbol for the Pokemon Rangers emblazoned on the side. Her father wasn't supposed to be back yet, not for a good while. He'd only just been back the last month, and his assignments were for two at the bare minimum. The girl started to shake as she inched towards her closet. She needed to get dressed… she had to meet him at the door, regardless of whether he was supposed to be back or not.

She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, wondering what had happened that he'd be coming back home so early. And… was it because of her? Was it because she'd opposed her mother? Did she call him back? These questions ran through her mind as she changed into his favorite dress and continued to plague her even as she made her way down to the front of the house. She pressed her hand against her chest, feeling the pit starting to form as her mouth quivered.

"M-mom?" She questioned, seeing that her mother was already waiting at the door.

The woman turned to look at her daughter. At the time, the look on the woman's face seemed… odd - something that she couldn't exactly explain. It wasn't joy, or anger… it was…

'She has the same look on her face that Damien did, that last night in Motostoke. Playfully malicious... knowing that there's nothing that can be done to escape the position that they've put you into.'

Her mother opened the door, greeting the ranger that was there waiting for her. "Hello," she started kindly, ignoring the box in the hands of the man just behind him. "Is there anything I can do to help you? I believe my husband should still be on patrol in Hoenn."

"Mrs. Valdés?"

Rosa leaned around her mom, looking at the Ranger just on the other side of the door. She felt the pit in her chest ease up a little bit as she looked the man over, making sure that it wasn't her father.

"Yes, that's me. What can I do for you?"

The Ranger looked at Rosa's mother, and then down at the girl. "Ma'am, it may be better if you step outside for this." The man nodded towards Rosa as he pulled his hat off and rolled it between his hands.

Her mom shook her head without even glancing back at her daughter. "I'm sure whatever you have to say will be perfectly fine for us both to hear. She is a young woman after all. I'm sure she'll be able to handle it, if it's regarding her father."

The young girl's heart dropped as the pit returned, spurned on by the spite that was dripping from her mother's words. The girl winced, doing her best to keep her mouth steady so as to not show the pain that was hidden beneath her natural smile. She looked up at the Ranger, who was clearly having difficulty grasping the dynamic that her mother had just created.

"Well… it is in regards to your husband, but if you're certain that it's fine, I can't stop you." The man glanced back at Rosa and then at someone else who was just outside of view from where the young girl was standing. "I'm afraid that your husband, Ranger Rey Valdẽs, was killed in action this past week."

"Wh-what?" her mother replied, her whole body starting to shake as she slowly fell to the ground. "Don't- Don't say that… Rey can't be… he can't be."

"Mrs. Valdés, I'm sorry, but it's the truth." The Ranger reached his hand out, placing it comfortingly on the woman's shoulder.

Rosa felt the pit in her stomach slowly disappear, as the fear of being subjected to the presence of her father slowly slipped away from her. She felt a small smile forming on her own face, knowing that she'd never again have to… but then, realization struck. She felt at some of the small bruises she'd earned from her mother over the last weeks, and wondered how things would escalate now that the threat of her father's return wouldn't be there.

Her mother would typically stop with her punishments a couple of weeks before her father was due back, just to give her time to heal up before he found her again… but now…
There was nothing to stop her mother from treating her however she wanted… and even if she was somewhat glad her father was gone now, she recognized even then that things were about to get much, much worse for her.

"Mrs. Valdés, I'm quite sorry for your loss." The Ranger continued stoically. "This is… all that remains of Ranger Rey Valdés." He stated, holding out the small box towards Rosa's mother. "After the incident, there wasn't much to recover that was… whole… so we went ahead and had his remains cremated - as were his wishes, indicated in the will we found in his office at headquarters."

"He… wanted to be cremated?" Her mother asked, the tears streaming down her face.

'Those… those aren't even real,' Rosa thought to herself as she watched her mother crying. 'Why… is she faking it?'

"He indicated that he wished to be cremated regardless of how he met his end. It was written that… this was to ensure his family wouldn't waste time mourning over him when he passed." The Ranger pursed his lips, opening the top of the box, revealing its contents. "It seemed his Pokemon were stolen or released, since all we could find on him were empty capsules marked with what was supposed to be contained within. Other than that, all that was left was his styler system, a torn patch indicating his rank, and a few service medals that were part of his outfit."

Rosa's mother looked through the box, her tears still flowing as she struggled to get anything else out. "D-Do you k-know wh-wh-"

The Ranger nodded his head. "I know it's hard to accept, but the investigation is still ongoing, and will be for some time due to the nature of his death. It seems from the forensics that were recovered, there was a Kabutops that was involved, but we're still uncertain of where the Pokemon came from exactly or why it had targeted him in particular, given that we had several Rangers in the area investigating some disappearances."

"Of course, those Rangers were stationed every couple of hundred miles so there could have been room to slip through the cracks in their perimeter… if that were the case, it would be hard to argue this was the act of a truly wild Pokemon. There's also the fact that there've been no reports of wild Kabutops in that area, nor any trainers with the Pokemon registered to them. However, the current theory is that it came from the sea bed."

Her mom lifted her gaze from the box, meeting the eyes of the Ranger who had kneeled down next to her. "W-why?"

"Rey was investigating in the area of a sunken ship out in the open seas. They suspect one of the passengers on that ship may have been smuggling rare Pokemon out of Kanto and released the Kabutops in their last moments. Though… there's about as much supporting evidence for that as there is any other we're currently pursuing."

"I… I see…" her mother cleared her face of the snot and tears which had covered it. "I suppose I'll-"

Rosa shot up out of bed in a cold sweat and quickly looked around the room. "N-not again," she whispered shakily, before noticing that the room was an absolute disaster. She quickly jumped out from under the covers, looking around to check the locks on everything. "What happened?" She whispered, feeling her heartbeat accelerating as she finished checking the door and windows. "I know I locked everything, so then what-"

"R-Rose." Zorro called out weakly, crawling out from beneath the bed.

Rosa turned on her heels , seeing the beaten and bruised form of Zorro inching towards her. "Oh no! What happened?" She fell to her knees and lifted the Pokemon up before looking around the room again. "Who did this to you?"

Zorro shook his head before pointing towards the bathroom. "Rose." He said weakly, his eyes slowly closing as he fell asleep.

Rosa's face went completely white as she gently laid the Pokemon down on the bed. She slowly walked towards the restroom before pressing the door open with her fingertips. "H-hello?" She whispered, balling her hands up into fists, ready to confront whatever or whoever was waiting for her.

"Loud." Wyatt smiled weakly, seeing his trainer coming into the room as picked himself up off of the floor.

Rosa looked her starter over, seeing that he was even more injured than Zorro had been. She quickly grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it around Wyatt, hugging him tightly as she teared up. "What the fuck is going on around here?" she whispered, her voice shaking as she tried to comfort the Pokemon.

"L-Loud," Wyatt replied, patting the girl on the back before pushing her away. "Loudred." He said weakly, holding out his hand towards her. "Loudred, Loud Loud-red." The Pokemon muttered, pushing the orb towards the girl.

Rosa held out her hand, turning the orb over in her hands. "What is this?" She whispered, looking at the purple and pink rings within it. "Where did you get this?" She looked up at Wyatt, who simply smiled at her as he dozed off.

Rosa winced, looking around her as she exited the bathroom and took a secondary look at the room around her. A battle had definitely occurred here, but she had no idea against what. Then again… "Mom," she whispered, placing the orb on the bed before remembering the nightmare she'd just awoken from. "She wasn't even upset," she whispered. "And yet for all that time, she… no…" she shook her head, trying not to connect the two nightmares she'd recently had to relive in such a similar fashion.

"It couldn't be," she whispered, thinking about the man she'd seen leaving the house that morning, and how her mom acted towards her after that. And then the way that she'd talked to her father's shrine up until the night of the fire… "She wouldn't have," she whispered, choking on tears. "They're just bad dreams… just- bad dreams…" she bit her lip as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"We have to do something to stop these nightmares," she whispered, placing her hand on the orb beside her. "And I need to find out what it is that you do."

Rosa's Party

Memories

CHAPTER 1 - WEDGEHURST & ROUTE 2
GOODBYES, AND HELLO TO A NEW JOURNEY
TROUBLE'S ON THE TRACKS
NAMES AND NIGHTMARES!

CHAPTER 2 - THE SOUTHERN WILD AREA
ENTER THE WILD AREA!
NEW BIKING BIKERS!
THE MYSTERIOUS SHINY POKEMON!
RANGER DANGER! PT.1
RANGER DANGER! PT.2
RANGER DANGER! FINALE!
RED-EYES BLACK-HAT!

CHAPTER 3 - MOTOSTOKE
INN FOR A PENNY, INN FOR A POUND
INN FOR A PENNY, INN FOR A POUND PT.2
SHADY SHOPPING
THE OPENING CEREMONY
THE OPENING CEREMONY PT.2
THE OPENING CEREMONY PT.3
INN WITH THE FAMILY
ALL BETS ON BLACK
LATE NIGHT LULLABIES
SNACK ATTACK!

CHAPTER 4 - ROUTE 3
VS SIMON
VS SIMON PT.2
MYSTERY OF MEW
MYSTERY OF MEW PT.2
WINTER FESTIVAL
A TWO HEADED REFLECTION

CHAPTER 5 - GALAR MINE AND ROUTE 4
DAYDREAM OF MINE
DEVELOPMENT AND MISSED CONNECTIONS
BUGGIN' THE COSMOS

CHAPTER 6 - TURFFIELD
GAMBLE FOR A RUSE
GAMBLE FOR A RUSE PT.2
GAMBLE FOR A RUSE PT.3
IS IT TOO LATE TO APOLOGIZE?
TURRFIELD CONTEST PERFORMANCE
PLANNING AND CHALLENGE
VS MILO
GIRL'S NIGHT OUT
FEAR THE BEGINNING

CHAPTER 7 - ROUTE 5
WORK FOR A PROMISE
WORK FOR A PROMISE PT.2
BUDDING YOUTH
BUDDING YOUTH PT.2
FEAR THE BEGINNING PT.2

Rosa's Journal

Simon Dansen

My childhood friend. Absolute idiot. Can't ever get a read on him anymore. Buttface. Always there when I need him. Always there when I least expect him. JERK. Showed me up in battle and evolved his Pokemon before me.

He came to "rescue" me after I coerced Ruben into protecting me in the underground casino. I told him off... and then didn't apologize until much later. He came to wish me a late merry christmas after Ruben gave me his spare room. He reminded me of our promise from before our journey started, and gave me my christmas gift which was a traditional Johtoan kimono and fan - all to prepare me for the upcoming contests. He also told me I should call his mom and dad since they're so worried about us both now that we're gone, but... I'll figure it out later.

Jasper

An ex-classmate. He took my bait and threw me for a loop when we were fighting a group of Munchlax together. Not as bad a guy as I thought. Because of him, I have to re-evaluate my notes on everyone else just in case. I'm interested in trying a different approach with him when next we meet.

Helped out a wrongfully arrested girl. Really smart. Observant. Kind, but doesn't like to show it. Isn't a terrible cook.

Charles the Biker

An eccentric, but strong man. Indulges in bad puns. Love for bikes. We left on good terms.

Nat the Ranger

A doting older brother to several sisters. A strong trainer who follows their duty. Only spent a day with them. Not sure if I want to meet again or not since I stole a broken styler from his scene of investigation. We left on good terms, I think? Unless he notices that something's missing.

Budew Girl

Never got her name. Apparently she's a challenger like the rest of my classmates. Comes from a family of Budew fanatics. They breed Budew in their hometown and journey around with all three forms of it. She seems endearing. It might be interesting to meet her again in the future. As long as she's not being accused of theft, that is.

Achille Béringer

Rich kid. Pays his debts. Is keen on rich kid things. Doesn't seem much different from how he was in school, but still need to reevaluate.

Melody Argent

Cute and kind. She keeps to herself kind of like I do. Loves music. Feels similar to Simon. Still need to reevaluate because of interactions with Jasper. Kind of maybe, possibly, a small amount of a badass. Finger guns - super corny. Don't harp on the idea of being in contests. If that culty stuff doesn't get figured out by the time we come back to Motostoke, I'll have to remember to find her around town. She's much more attuned to pop culture than I am.

AAAAAHHH! We did so much in Turffield, and even more just after! I still can't believe that she wont that contest and made it look so... so easy! She's just, like, wow. I still don't know what to do with all of my thoughts, but after that delivery we did together especially I just. Wowee. Jeez.

The Family // Damien(?)

Not the family himself, I don't think. I still haven't got his name or what role he really plays in all this. He's a shady motherfucker - pardon my Kalos. I still don't know how much of the stuff I've gone through in Motostoke has been orchestrated by him, but for the moment I'm not planning to try anything. I still don't know enough about him to make any real guesses. The longer that I stay around this town, the further behind the veil that I see. I'm scared even to go to sleep at night so long as I'm here. They have eyes... everywhere.

Buggy Simon

Some kind of freak of nature. I guess he understands Pokemon in some way that I can't; like, he understands what they're actually trying to say when they speak? Kind of cool, but also weird. Him and Simon used to hang out every once in a while at school. He knows about my "secret styler".

Valerie

An absolute ray of sunshine and happiness. She's also a streamer, and earns enough money from it to show it off. Not put off by literal ghosts. Has some kind of dream of meeting Mew.

Aeliana Kekoa

Alolan dance girl. She's supposed to teach me sometime. Pretty much just how I remembered her in school. I didn't get to spend much time with her when we all hung out. Didn't seem too bothered by the ghosts.

Pia McGuire

Pia... definitely is afraid of literal ghosts. I had a few choice words for her, but... after we saw Jirachi, it just felt like the time had passed, so I gave up. She's seen me without my mask, so next time we meet up is probably going to be awkward.

Haleigh Windsor

A friend of Melody's. I intentionally ran into her after failing to catch up with Melody, due to the addition of Haleigh. We had a short battle, and then made a promise for drinks with Melody after I urged her to drag the girl along with her to the contest in Turffield. She seems quite naive, so I may be able to get some more use out of her as long as I stay true to her persona. She's battle hungry, the same as Simon, but her Pokemon are still a little lacking - that coming from someone who still has no idea what she's doing here herself. She might end up being a good sparring partner in the future since she knows a little of what I've got and we're on relatively equal footing.

Mother Priscilla

The leader of the Turffield Sisterhood. I thought at first she was just an escort, but once we got to their hideout, I slowly started to realize what she really was. She's an incredibly dangerous woman who has no trouble pulling a gun on important people or those that she may need. There's still too much I don't know about what's going on to get a good grasp on what her and Damien's goals are, but given what I've already seen I really could do without finding out.

Ruben Sancho

Truth be told, I hadn't cared for Ruben when we went to school together. I thought he was your average rich celebrity who was forced into something he didn't really want to be a part of. After getting involved with the family and finding myself in that gambling hall, and then finding Ruben there as well, I felt that my suspicions were true. I had no second thoughts about what I was going to drag him in to. But as time went on, I found myself feeling more and more regretful with each time that he said Pia's name. And then because of me, news about him and Pia got out before either of them were likely ready to go public. And after all that, Simon attacked him out of the blue... but even after all that, he still offered me a free room at the local hotel. I already apologized to him about Simon, and about lying to get him to go with me. But, I should apologize again. He's not as bad of a guy as I thought he was.

Outfits

Spoiler: Here be a number of large images

Inventory

Spoiler:

Dragon · Mar 19, 2021

Valerie's Quest for 100 Friends
Poké:

1000 ♦ Friends: 20

vs. Wooloo

On her way to Hulbury, Valerie was busy admiring her Gym Badge. Valerie's First Gym Badge gleamed in the sunlight. Her eyes sparkled with it - this was the very first Gym Badge she had received. It wasn't too long ago, but she still felt very reminiscent.

That day when Valerie got her Gym Badge win from Turffield…

****

"Valerie Gym battle mode ACTIVATED!" Valerie had just put on her League Challenger uniform - a uniform that was easy to move around in, custom designed with a flaming Pokeball and the number 100 on her leg wear. The gym official was waiting for her arrival.

"Entry number 100 - Valerie Amity, confirmed!" he called. "Now then Valerie, before the gym battle we will have you set to try and complete a gym battle mission."

"A gym mission?" Valerie questioned. "Might have missed that on the telly, but wazzat again?"

"The gym mission is designed to test your skills and wits as a gym challenger," the official responded. Now, skill was something that Valerie could have, but wits? Oh no… " In this mission, you're tasked with herding a couple of Wooloo that are scattered around the field. You'll have 10 minutes to herd them back to the center, which has been fenced up and gated. You may use any of your Pokemon to assist you, but you may use no attack moves against them whatsoever. Understood?"

"No problem for Val!" she boasted. "Lemme at them! Time for herder Val to get to work!"

"Very well," the league official stepped aside, allowing Valerie to pass on through. "Your gym mission starts… now! Off you go!"

Valerie quickly rushed in, right away noticing the Wooloo that were packed all around the area. With a happy, excitable smile, she quickly prepared her XTransiever, having her Morpeko who peeped out from her bag afterwards, to hold it steady. Peko with Valerie's streaming device, hopped from her bag, and held it right near Valerie. "Stream is live!" Valerie stated. "Alright! Time to own this mission! Get em' Flame! Let's 'rangle them up!" she sent Flame from his pokeball - in which Flame, aware of the situation, ran up to a few of the nearby Wooloo. The Wooloo all saw Flame approach, and decided to roll out of his way. But Flame with his new speed managed to cut them all off their planned path, leading them straight inside the gate.

There were still quite a few more, scattered among the gym, however. "Let's round up the rest of these guys, Flame-bro!" Flame certainly did try and round up the rest, but they were so scattered that they rolled off in different directions, making it that much challenging to wrangle them all together at the same area.

With the time ticking, Valerie needs another plan. "Right, looks like Flame-bro could use a hand," she said to herself, exploring her options. She shuffled through each of her friends… until she brought out one that stuck out. A Pokémon that was inside a Great Ball. Smiling, she had a crafty idea. "Maaaaaybe this guy knows a thing or two!" she promptly threw the ball, sending out a face that might not be one expected… who came with a loud roar. Her Tauros.

The Tauros glimpsed left and right of this strange, boxy area he was suddenly in, until he was greeted by a familiar voice. "Truck! Buddy!" Oh no, not this human again, he grumbled. And… Truck? Was that supposed to be his name? "Oh! Btw, I'm calling you 'Truck' 'cause you hit like a truck! Cool and badass, huh?!" Truck stomped his feet, creating a racket and a loud roar of anger and disgust. "Brilliant! Glad you like it!" Valerie cheered. "Say, you know about farms and stuff, yeah? Be a pal? Mind helping Flame with those Wooloo?"

Truck was taken aback. Flame. That small Fire-type weakling. He turned to Flame who was busy with the Wooloo who were around him. But just the sight of him made him angry. That's it. It was time to break something. Meanwhile the Wooloo did their best to elude Flame… that was until they encountered Truck, who galloped with his hooves towards the ground, creating a ton of noise. The Wooloo stopped at their tracks. All of a sudden they were met with this… monster. Truck though, was not interested in them, but rather, the opportunity to beat down Flame, once and for all. He snorted out from his nose, and gave the Wooloo a sharp warning. Get out of his way, or be crushed.

The Wooloo quickly complied, rolling even faster in the opposite direction from the Pokémon. Their only safe spot was the opened gate, which they all poured inside leaving the last one to use their mouth to shut the gate behind them, allowing Valerie to lock them in place. "The Gym Mission is complete!" the official called. "In six minutes, 30 seconds, all the Wooloo have been gathered! Well done, you know have the opportunity to fight the Gym Leader!"

"Yes!" Valerie cheered, pumping up her fists. "You go, Val! O-o-oh, here we go! I love the nightlife~ I got to boogie~ on the disco 'rouuuuuund… oh yeah!"

Meanwhile Truck leered Flame down. This was it. This was the time for his revenge. He let loose a roar as he started charging at Flame… until he was quickly recalled back into his pokeball. "Nice work, buddy!" Valerie congratulated her Tauros, now inside his ball. She turned to Flame. "You too Flame-bro! Next up, the gym match! We're comin' for ya, Wind-Mill and Eldegoss!"

With a nod from Flame, he looked up ahead. The stadium doors were beginning to open. It was time to fight.

-PAUSED-
Press START to continue!

P1 Valerie's Party

Reserved

Journal

STAGE 1 - WEDGEHURST & ROUTE 2
vs. Zigzagoon pt.1
vs. Cyndaquil
vs. Zigzagoon pt.2

STAGE 2 - THE WILD AREA
vs. Morpeko
vs. Zangoose & Seviper
vs. Nidoran

STAGE 3 - WEDGEHURST
Opening Ceremony Pt. 1
Opening Ceremony Pt. 2
Opening Ceremony Pt. 3
vs. Swirlix
vs. Meowth

STAGE 4 - ROUTE 3
The Mystery of Mew ACT I Pt. 1
The Mystery of Mew ACT I Pt. 2
vs. Cherubi

STAGE 5 - GALAR MINE NO. 1 / ROUTE 4
vs. Dugtrio
vs. Vespiquen

Current Location

Route 4

A road dotted with wheat fields, long dirt paths and rolling hills, Route 4 is where most of the crop focused farms of Galar find a home, as opposed to the livestock trade of Wedgehurst and surrounding regions. Route 4 is the heart of this cultivation, the source of food, hard work and life across Galar. A bright and happy place to contrast the gloomy overcast of the mine before it, the hopeful atmosphere is known to attract some species of rarer, popular pokémon, making this place popular for trainers as well.

Trainer ID

Valerie (Val) Amity

Her main goal for her journey is to seek at least 100 friends - humans, or pokemon. So, she seeks to meet and obtain as much pokemon as she can for friends. She also seeks a successful endeavor within her Gym Battle challenge in Galar, in the hopes of one day, becoming champion, like many other trainers who have the same dream.

Items

Moomoo Milk x3
Sweet Apple

--

TR: Rock Tomb x1
TM: Dig

Badges

---

Galarian Pokédex V. 8

#032: Nidoran♂
#035: Clefairy
#172: Pichu
#155: Cyndaquil
#158: Totodile
#246: Larvitar
#255: Torchic
#263: Zigzagoon
#270: Lotad
#293: Whismur
#335: Zangoose
#336: Seviper
#384: Rayquaza
#416: Vespiquen
#420: Cherubi
#532: Timburr
#546: Cottonee
#582: Vanillite
#684: Swirlix
#778: Mimikyu
#821: Rookidee
#824: Blipbug
#867: Runerigus
#885: Dreepy
#887: Morpeko

Remember: Val loves you! ♡♡♡
Struggle: Valentine ♡ Chatter: @WillUBMyVALentine? ♡ Dizcord: Valentine#1196

Stinging Bea · Mar 19, 2021

Aeliana Kekoa

Hulbury

Chapter 8-1 | Making A Splash

Aeliana's Current Party:

The crowd erupts as the announcer's voice echoes throughout the stadium. "What an amazing run through the obstacle course, ladies and gentlemen! And with plenty of time to spare, challenger Aeliana Kekoa will be moving on to face Nessa in just a few moments! After her amazing comeback victory against Turffield's Milo, I'm anxious to see just how well she'll perform against Nessa!"

Tyrogue lets out a huff at the man's enthusiasm. The course wasn't even that difficult to warrant so much excitement. Aeliana glances down at her Pokémon, offering him a smile in the process.

"You really rocked their socks out there, Jet!" the pink-haired trainer exclaims. "I can tell you're gettin' stronger by the day!" Jet merely brushes off the girl's comment. He's done his part, but it will mean nothing if Aeliana and the two Pokémon she's chosen to battle against the gym leader blow it. The trainer recalls her Tyrogue and lets out a small sigh as she steps through the door into the stadium proper. "Alright… it's show time!"

The stadium she steps into is nothing like Milo's. Stretching out before her is a deep, cool pool of water. There's hardly ground to stand on, save for some platforms bobbing back and forth in the pool. Standing at the far end on the other side is none other than the gym leader, Nessa. Calm, cool, confident, and collected, she's everything that Aeliana pictured her to be when finally meeting her in this situation.

"Are you enjoying the view, love?" Nessa questions, her hardened features disappearing and replaced with a somewhat cheeky grin. Aeliana blinks in confusion, before her face heats up with the realization that she had likely been staring at the gym leader for a bit longer than she had intended. "You're the one from Alola, right? Sonia told me a bit about you. I'm interested to see what you can do! Think you're up to the challenge of fighting me? Or will the tide drag you and your Pokémon under?"

A bit of nervousness is in the pit of her stomach. That said, Aeliana manages a confident smile as she grips one of the poké balls of her team. "I'm ready whenever you are, just don't blame me when you wash up on the shore of defeat!"

Aeliana catches herself. Her eyes grow wide as the crowd begins to whoop and holler from the banter of the two trainers. She expects the gym leader to be angry about her comment, but the smirk on her lips only grows. If anything, it seems as though Nessa is even more anxious to battle her. Hopefully that comment won't come back to bite her in the butt later.

The announcer goes over the rules, which Aeliana already expected from her battle with Milo. As before, it was going to be a 2v2 battle, with both the pinkette and Nessa using one Pokémon at a time. What through the Alolan however, was the second rule. Underwater battling was allowed. When she initially saw all the platforms, Aeliana assumed the goal was merely to stay from falling in the water. She sees this as both a positive and a negative. One on hand, it widens the playing field. On the other hand, the trainer wonders how well her Pokémon would perform underwater.

"Well, guess we'll find out."

Nessa gives Aeliana a single nod, her smile washing away from her face and replaced with a look of sheer determination. She grips a poké ball tightly in her hand before tossing it out with leg raised high, as if to signal to the pink-haired trainer that she has no intention of going easy on her. A deep, hearty squawk echoes out through the arena, and with it a shift in the weather. Aeliana's eyes widen as she notices clouds somehow start to form overhead. Before Aeliana knows it, it's somehow starting to rain indoors. It's not enough to cause any concern, rather it's gentle like a passing shower. That said, the Alolan honestly was not expecting for her uniform to get drenched, despite battling a trainer that specialized with water-types.

Shifting her gaze from the rain to her opponent, Aeliana takes in the sight of the Pokémon before her. A large, white bird with blue feathers on her wingtips and her head, almost looking as if she's got hair. A large, rounded beak forms on her face, somehow melding into her belly as well. It looks… deep to say the least, as if she would be able to carry an entire Pokémon in there should she so choose.

"Let's get this started, then! Fiesta, you're up first!" Aeliana finally cries out. She takes hold of a poké ball of her own, before tossing it out onto the field. The Lombre in question bursts out onto the field, a seemingly peaceful expression gracing the Pokémon's face as he looks up and feels the rain on his face. Fiesta is quickly brought to his senses however, when he hears the roar of the crowd and catches sight of the Pelipper that waits across from him. "Fiesta, use Astonish!"

Fiesta feels light on his feet. Without hesitating, he zips his way towards Nessa's Pelipper, attempting to slam his bill into the bird. Nessa smirks, however. The gym leader doesn't seem to be concerned in the slightest bit.

"Pelipper, use Tailwind!" Nessa counters.

The gym leader's Pokémon begins to flap his massive wings wildly. A whirlwind of sorts begins to kick up and form from behind the Pelipper. Aeliana doesn't seem too concerned, especially with the wind force coming from behind the bird. While the Pelipper does this, Fiesta takes advantage of her distraction as his beak slams into the Pokémon. The Pelipper flinches in response.

"That's right, Fiesta! Use your speed to your advantage! Let's go with another Astonish!" Aeliana commands.

"Pelipper, dodge with Fly!" Nessa orders.

The Pelipper flaps his large wings, shooting up into the sky with ease as he just narrowly manages to dodge past the oncoming attack from Fiesta. The Lombre looks surprised at how easily she managed to dodge his attack, but before he has time to properly process what's going on, the Pelipper dive bombs from the sky and slams her entire form into the Lombre. Fiesta lets out a pained wail as he staggers back, but keeps his footing just the same.

"Hang in there, Fiesta! Use Water Gun!" Aeliana cries out.

Fiesta narrows his eyes. He leans forward, balancing himself with his long arms, before taking aim and shooting a chilly blast of water with his beak. The water splurts out, splashing against Nessa's Pelipper, but not doing much damage in the long run.

"Give him a taste of his own medicine, Pelipper! Use Water Pulse!" Nessa calls out.

Aeliana and her Lombre barely have time to prepare themselves as the massive beak on Pelipper drops open. A pulsing blast of water comes firing out from the Pokémon, splashing up against Fiesta with enough force to almost send him toppling over. Still, the Lombre remains determined.

"Astonish, again!" Aeliana calls.

"Pelipper, Tailwind again!"

Fiesta takes off charging towards the gym leader's Pokémon. All the while, she begins to flap her mighty wings. A burst of wind begins to form underneath her, her movement starting to become much more quick and responsive. Still, Aeliana and her Lombre remain focused. Fiesta quickly pecks his beak into Pelipper, an annoyed squawk echoing out through the arena as Aeliana orders Fiesta to attack with Fury Swipes. For a moment, she sees a smirk come back to Nessa's lips.

"Pelipper, Fly!"

Pelipper effortlessly takes to the sky, nimbly dodging the oncoming Fury Swipes despite the close distance between the two. Fiesta stares up at the sky in shock. Was she getting even faster?!

"Fiesta, Mega Drain when she comes down!" Aeliana orders.

Fiesta readies himself, preparing to dodge the Pelipper as she begins her descent down from the stadium ceiling. The Lombre hops back, lowering his lilypad which quickly begins to glow as he prepares his Mega Drain. Nessa's Pelipper is no slouch, however. Despite the quick hop back, she effortlessly manages to slam her body into her intended target, sending the Lombre toppling over with a pain-filled cry.

"Twister, Pelipper!" Nessa commands.

"Hang in there, Fiesta! We can do this! Use Mega Drain again!" Aeliana calls out.

Fiesta crawls back up to his feet, lowering his lilypad yet again in an attempt to syphon some of the energy from Nessa's Pokémon. The Pelipper is already flapping her wings wildly, however. The Lombre pauses in his assault, eyes widening in shock as he feels the wind begin to pick up from underneath his feet. Without warning, a full-on cyclone tosses him high into the air before he once more slams down onto the ground.

"This isn't good… If she keeps this up much longer, we're screwed! I've got to find some way to work around this thing's speed…" Aeliana thinks, gripping Fiesta's poké ball tightly. For a moment, she thinks of recalling the Lombre. However, an idea suddenly rushes to her head before she can make the call.

"Let's end it, Pelipper! Fly once more!" Nessa commands.

Pelipper lets out a loud squawk, her strong wings once more lifting her high into the air. Aeliana grits her teeth. It's now or never.

"Fiesta! Use Mist!" Aeliana shouts. The Lombre lowers his head, the condensation in the air from the water in the pool as well as his own damp lilypad begins to encircle the platform he's standing on with a thick, white mist. Pelipper's eyes widen as she descends, Fiesta quickly vanishing from sight as the mist. Pelipper stops just short of her target, eyes narrowing as she tries to pick him out from thick mist. "Now's our chance, Fiesta! Fury Swipes!"

Fiesta suddenly launches himself from the mist, his body slamming into Pelipper and taking her by surprise. The duo crash back onto the platform, but Fiesta keeps his grip on the bird as she flails to try and get him off her. Fiesta's left hand rears back and slashes across the Pelipper's face. Once… twice… three times… then four… then five!

"Pelipper, Fly again!" Nessa shouts at the bird Pokémon. "Slam him into the ground!"

"Fury Swipes again!" Aeliana calls out.

Pelipper takes off into the air, taking with her a clawing Fiesta once more. The Pokémon continues his assault, laying a series of claw swipes across the Pelipper's face. Once the Pelipper reaches max height, she quickly turns and begins to dive down towards the platform. All the while, Fiesta is now holding on for dear life.

"Fiesta! Mega Drain before she can escape!" Aeliana shouts.

Fiesta clenches his claws onto the Pelipper's feathers. His eyes clench shut as his lilypad begins to glow once more. The Pelipper feels the pain as her energy slowly begins to leave her body, quickly entering Fiesta's as they made a mad descent to the platform below. The audience goes silent as the duo slam down into the ground. Nessa and Aeliana are both on pins and needles as they wait for the smoke to clear and the mist from Fiesta's early technique to clear. After what feels like hours, the announcer's voice finally booms through the arena.

"Unbelievable! Ladies and Gentlemen, both Aeliana and Nessa's Pokémon are unable to continue battling! We have a double knockout, folks! This is really heating up now!"

TM Case:

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Sapphire Rose · Mar 20, 2021

Pia McGuire
Poké:

5550 ♦ Pokémon: 4

Gym battle: On treacherous waters Part 1

Drenched from the water, both Pia and Cintra stood in the tunnel leading towards the big open… swimming pool? She had seen this platform multiple times on mewtube videos from previous seasons of gym challenges. Now she was standing here herself. A sense of nervosity much like she was feeling at Milo's gym came over her. She threw a quick glance to her side, where her trusty Eevee was standing. It was quite a hassle to get through that trial but Cintra's dexterity was what had helped them… and besides, she seemed to have quite enjoyed it. She stood proudly, drenched… but with pride. Pia couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you, Cintra. It's time for you to rest. I'll get you a nice dinner." She promised the Eevee upon calling her back inside her Pokéball who only gave her a small nod. Pia took a deep breath, stood there for a few seconds more before she made her way towards the oversized swimming pool where she could already see Nessa standing and even smirking. Come to think of it, wasn't Nessa Professor Sonia's best friend?

She smiled back as she tried to gather every inch of "confidence" that she could find in her body to proudly enter the platform. She heard the cheers… the screams for not Nessa's name… but hers. She looked around the stadium. It was so much different from her battle with Milo. It was, but she could only give it credit to her recently acquired celebrity status. None of it was something she deserved. That's what she kept telling herself.

One thing hadn't changed since her last battle with Milo. The people that she wanted to be here, were once again not here. Arrietty… Ruben… She knew that the latter had a football match coming up. That's why he wasn't in Hulburry at all. She still felt kind of lonely. As if a part was missing. Was this how it felt like to be missing someone's presence? Why was that…? She shook her head. Despite her odd feeling of wanting him here, it couldn't be helped. She knew that very well. She wasn't supposed to yearn for these things. She told herself that… yet… the more she spent time with him, the more she started wanting to spill the beans to him. Why she had been so secretive. Everything.

"Welcome, Pia McGuire!" She heard on the other side of the platform with a snicker, putting her attention back to Nessa. "I see that you are familiar with me." Pia smirked back at the only slightly older girl.

"Of course I do. You're one of Sonia's kids." Nessa grew a mischievous grin. "I've seen your battle with Milo. I'm interested in what you'll bring to my stage. I'm sure I don't need to tell you but I won't make this easy." She announced proudly with a puffed chest and hands in her waist. Pia only shook her head and shrugged.

"Don't cry to professor Sonia later then." The blonde trainer taunted her, implying that Nessa was going to lose just like she had done with Milo. "I'll dent that fake confidence of yours." She sneered back. "Let's start."

Both girls took their places on the platform and Nessa immediately threw up one of the two pokémon she had decided for this battle. Before them materialized a turtle-like creature, a Drednaw. It was rare for a gym leader to start with their ace but Nessa judging from the leader's confident smirk, she was up to something. The crowd cheered for their gym leader and their ace, some surprised gasps were heard from them too.

"Milla, you're up." Pia threw up the Pokéball she rarely used for Milla. The Pikachu hated to be caged up after all and would often break out of it anyway but sometimes she would obediently listen. Especially… when pancakes were involved.

"Chu!" Milla stretched in front of her. A bit exaggerated for a Pokémon that has only been in their ball since this morning. The little rascal. She quickly got herself ready for battling position though. She was all too happy to finally be in battle again.

"Leader Nessa Vs. Challenger Pia McGuire folks! Let's make them hear it!!" The announcer yelled through the speakers, followed by a loud cheer by the crowd that was mixed between Pia and Nessa supporters. With this, the battle started.

"Start with a Rock Polish and retreat to the water!" Nessa called out as soon as the battle started. The shell on Drednaw's back shone brightly, getting rid of every little bit of dirt that had occupied it leaving sparkles behind as an indicator of how clean it was afterwards and reducing the drag. He already seemed faster as he retreated to the big pool that was Nessa's gym as was ordered.

Milla searched around her, confused as to where the Drednew could've gone. The pool was dark and deep, it was hard to get a good view of what was inside of it. This was probably done on purpose. Or so Pia thought as she watched her Pikachu trying to make sense of the situation.

"Don't let them distract you! Open up your ears and listen to where he's coming from." Pia told the mouse Pokémon who briefly glanced at her. Milla closed her eyes and tried to listen but the sounds around her were very distracting. "Block out the audience! Only listen to the water! Use Tail whip as soon as you hear him and follow up with Thundershock!" Pia added, thinking of new tactics in the meantime. Milla did as she said, though it was hard to completely block out everything, eventually she heard something coming up from behind her.

"Razor Shell! Now!" Nessa called out with a smirk. Her Drednaw jumped from the water and tried to cut Milla with the edges of his polished shell. Fast as he was, Milla had heard him and jumped aside to dodge the incoming spinning turtle Pokémon. With her back turned towards him, she wiggled her tail to distract the Pokémon to lower his guard. As soon as the latter was the case, she unleashed a thunderous shock from her body and hit the Water-type Pokémon, making it retreat to the water once again.

"I see! That was rather clever!" Nessa laughed at the show in front of her eyes. "But this is only the beginning. Drednaw! Rock Polish again!" Nessa called out to her trusty partner hiding in the depths of the water.

"Keep your ears open for the Drednaw!"

As soon as Pia yelled at Milla to pay attention to her surroundings. Drednaw once again resurfaced behind the Pikachu. "Water gun that Pikachu from the platform!" Nessa pumped her fist up in the air. Drednaw smirked, opening his beak wide to unleash a force of water that hit Milla right in her back and launched her from the platform right into the water. "Use Jaw lock and headbutt the little thing!" Nessa's grin only grew wider now that Pia's ace Pokémon was right where she wanted her to be. This girl won against Milo?

Drednaw clenched his teeth in Milla's tail and dragged her further down the water. Milla squirmed, trying to lose herself from his grip but failing terribly. Just when she thought she succeeded, the impact of Drednaw's head that was as hard as actual stone once again launched her away from him. The impact caused an instant headache. With the Drednaw circling around her now really quickly, Milla only grew more nervous and anxious.

Pia could only stare as she saw Milla getting dragged off deeper in the water. Water Pokémon might be able to breath underwater but Milla definitely couldn't. She felt so powerless with so many disadvantages being thrown at her. Milla was supposed to have a type advantage here, this showed that you needed more than just type advantage. The very thing that got her through Milo's gym. She had to think quickly. What could she come up with that could give them a definite win? There were these platforms… water… Water? Water!!

Pia's eyes lit up as if she had gotten some sort of revelation. Nessa noticed this as well and raised an eyebrow at the girl while curious at what she had thought off.

"Milla! Electrocute the water! Let out a powerful Thunder Shock!" Pia bent down towards the water, hoping that her partner would hear her. She looked up at Nessa. With a playful smirk she waved her hand while Nessa's eyes widened.

"Nooo! No no no! Drednaw return! Get back h-!"

The whole pool lit up, sparks of electricity flew around on top of the water and the whole stadium was silent . A double edged sword. That was what this had been for the Drednaw. After a short moment, both Pokémon resurfaced and each took their place on the little platforms looking as worn out as they could ever be. It was a sign that this battle wasn't going to keep on much longer.

"Both Pokémon look incredibly hurt! Who will be knocked out first?!" The announcer once again screamed through the speakers, hyping the crowd up who had been watching in awe. Nessa snickered and pushed her back.

"Rock Polish and Dragon Tail! Take her head on!" Nessa commanded Drednaw, not making the mistake to drag the little creature down towards the bottom of her pool once more. The Drednaw wouldn't be able to take another one of that. Having polished his shell once more as he ran towards the Pikachu on the other platform, he readied his tail for a Dragon tail and jumped up to hit Milla with full impact.

"Dodge that!" Pia called out but the Drednaw had been so fast that Milla was only able to dodge halfway.

"Finish it, Drednaw! Take that thing out with a headbutt!"

Drednaw ran up to Milla once again, causing Pia to flinch at how fast this battle was going. It was so fast that she could nearly not think but at the very last moment she thought of something she had seen in anime before.

"Thunder punch that annoying bastard in his face!" Pia shouted at Milla, punching in the air herself. Thunder Punch. Milla's egg-move and something she happened to be incredibly good at. This Pokémon might be tanky but even he was no match for Milla's punches. As soon as it got close, it received one of the harshest punches he had probably ever gotten in his life. A tiny Pikachu launched the Drednaw off it's platform. It was quite a sight. Pia was immediately reminded of their time on Route 4 with the Ferrothorn and that gave her an idea. "Double team and punch it again! Show them what you've got Milla!" Pia hyped up the electric-type.

Milla stood on all fours and doubled herself, quadrupled herself and before they knew it, quite a few Pikachu's had surrounded the Drednaw with each a Thunder punch ready in their fists. Milla almost looked sadistic while the Drednaw desperately searched for a way out. However, it was too late.

Once the chaos before their eyes had stopped, only Milla and a knocked out Drednaw were left.

"Drednaw has been knocked out!" The announcer announced, earning them another wave of screams and cheers from the crowd.

Pia's Party

Memories

STAGE 1: Wedgehurst -> Wild Area -> Motostoke

Wedgehurst
I choose you part 1
I choose you part 2
I choose you Final

Wild Area
Train to Wild Area ft. Raphael & Aeliana
Two birds with one stone
Two birds with one stone part 2 + Bird Brain
Wild Area with Arrietty

Motostoke
Double Trouble part 1
Double Trouble part 2

STAGE 2: Route 3 -> Galar Mine 1 -> Route 4 -> Turffield

Route 3
It's the most wine-derful time of the year | Part 1
It's the most wine-derful time of the year | Part 2
A Festive Fight to the Finish
The Mystery of Mew! | Part 1
The Mystery of Mew! | Part 2
The Mystery of Mew! | Part 3
A Two headed reflection

Galar Mine 1
Galar Mine #1 | Part 1
Galar Mine #1 | Part 2
Galar Mine #1 | Part 3

Route 4
Route 4
Coach McGuire
A failed attempt.

Turffield
Bad Company.
It gets worse.
Shopping shenanigans
A challenger approaches!
Gym battle: Turffield
Here and Now
Performance Post: Dreaming Fairy
New Friendships

Route 5
Homecoming | Part 1
Homecoming | Part 2

Pia's journal

Arrietty Maverick
Pia and Arrietty met in the Wild Area although the two have shared classes before. It struck Pia as odd that the girl seemed to have no ambitions or goals at all. Although disappointed upon finding out this girl had no fire burning that would light her path, Pia made it her mission to help this girl get a goal and become a bit more social. Arrietty is the closest Pia can consider a "friend".

As according to their promise, Pia helped Arrietty get ready for her very first contest in Turffield. However, the girl ran off from stage when she was up. Pia has been feeling guilty for "forcing her into contesting" ever since.

Ruben Sancho
Pia met Ruben during Motostoke while on a double date with him, Arrietty and Ainsley. The date went disastrous with both Arrietty and Ainsley running off but Ruben and Pia were able to grow just a tiny bit closer during their search for Arrietty. They have been texting since and are on good terms with each other. They both seem to be interested in just a little bit more...

Ruben and Pia are officially dating since the end of the year festival on Route 3 following their "official second date" that went well. Pia knows about Ruben's ankle and that it's still hurting. They're in close contact with each other through calling and texting. They went on another date on Route 4 where Ruben had a gig for a coaching session with kids with the promise to spend time together after that. Both confirmed their feelings for the other by sharing a kiss. Pia likes him a lot.

Their relationship became public knowledge when a picture of Ruben staring down Pia's shirt was shared on social media and all gossip magazines. Ruben has been hiding it from Pia but as they went shopping, Pia got vocally attacked by a group of girls calling her out for being a whore and having no dignity. Ruben stood up for her and made their relationship public knowledge, no longer wanting to submit Pia to such harassment. Ruben publicly announced he likes Pia a lot and that they have been dating as opposed to what he has been saying before. Pia still doesn't know about the picture that's going around.

Despite the situation that had happened in the mall, Ruben insisted towards Raphael that they're just "friends" while Raphael announced to know more about their relationship due to being uncomfortable with the fact of calling Pia his "girlfriend". He has been slowly getting into the idea of being in a relationship with her throughout Turffield. The two of them visited his home in Wedgehurst during the events of Route 5 where Pia ended up meeting his sister Daija and his little brothers. He told Daija to stop calling her the "G" word but he ended up admitting to her he indeed considered Pia his girlfriend. During all of this Pia has been thinking about their time together and has grown quite fond of Ruben, more than she probably realizes herself as she has to constantly remind herself that she shouldn't be feeling the things that she is feeling. She believes that it will all come to an end but has recently started clinging on to a little spark of hope...

The two of them exchanged Applin's during their Valentine's day date where they also decided to release them, promising each other that they would stay together.

They've proven to be currently in love with both of them starting to show effort in their relationship. However, Pia's big secret that she's trying to keep hidden from Ruben is becoming a ticking time bomb...

Raphael Allard
Pia met Raphael during her train ride to the wild Area together with Aeliana. Thinking that he had a lot of potential in becoming a chamption which would benefit her, Pia approached him thinking they could become friends. Their interactions didn't go as smoothly as Pia had hoped. After their argument at the end of her battle with Aeliana, the girl ran off thinking she had blown her chances. Raphael doesn't harbour any ill intend towards the girl and only hoped to give her some advice.

They have resolved their issues in Galar mine 1 and worked together to battle Oleana in which they were victorious. Raphael brought the issues with Pia's overprotectiveness of Milla back up on Route 4 when Pia was refusing Milla from battling. Raphael spoke some sense into her, prompting her to finally trust Milla. Raphael understands Pia better now and Pia has a better opinion of Raphael now too.

They met again during the events of the Turffield contest and spend some time talking to each other while Pia tried to get Ruben to apologize to Arrietty. Raphael said something similar to what he said on Route 4 and confused Pia in her actions. He seems to know more than he lets on.

Aeliana Kekoa
Pia met Aeliana during the train ride to the wild Area together with Raphael. Although her interactions with Aeliana went a little bit more smoothly than with Raphael, Pia still ran off at the end of their battle in an attempt to distract her since Pia owed her money for losing. Although Pia has declared Aeliana her rival, they haven't spoken since and Pia attempts to keep it that way.

Pia met Aeliana again on Route 3 when she was on her way to the end of the year market. Together with Rosa and Valerie they went into an haunted mansion. Although they didn't converse much, Aeliana made some comments that Pia saw as snarky that were meant well by Aeliana. This indicates that Pia still thinks that Aeliana is out to get her.

Ainsley
Ainsley was Pia's date partner during the double date in Motostoke and is Ruben's best friend. Ainsley pretended to be rich and paid for the date with Ruben's money. Pia saw through the charade and called him out on it after Ainsley suggested they'd book a hotel together and make love. He ran off afterwards, angry that the feelings of lust he harboured towards Pia were not returned. Pia doesn't think highly of Ainsley and told Ruben that he needs "better friends".

Melody Argent
Although Pia and Melody attended the same Trainer school and were in the same class, they never once teamed up for an assignment. Both didn't have a very good impression of the other and avoided them like the plague. It's not until the Festival Fun-time Flurry that they have tried teaming up to win a competition as both of them were interested in the prize. They chased down a cheater together and have a better opinion of each other since their teamwork. They figured out that they're a pretty good team actually. Both of them thinks "the other is not so bad after all".

Valerie Amity
Pia met Valerie on route 3 where they went inside a haunted mansion together with Aeliana and Rosa. They didn't get to converse much but it was enough for them to establish some sort of familiarity. Valerie calls Pia "Lady P" as a nickname. Pia thinks of Valerie as someone with too much energy but not a bad person overall, maybe a little too naïve.

Pia was able to form a friendshop with Valerie in Turffield where she finally managed to catch the girl alone. Pia decided that Valerie's stream and followers could help her towards her goal of becoming rich, one she is trying to head towards to against ever since the events with Catherine. She feels guilty about this though.

Rosa Valdés
Pia met Rosa on Route 3 and went inside a haunted mansion together with Aeliana and Valerie. They were stuck inside a room together where Rosa found golden nuggets and shared one with Pia. Rosa's small moments of kindness seemed insincere in Pia's eyes, someone who is well versed with duality. When Rosa left the end of the year market after they had gotten out of the haunted mansion, Pia followed her and saw her crying. Pia comforted the crying Rosa but as soon as Rosa had gotten herself together again, Pia fell the need to call her out on her duality, telling her that how she was acting now was quite different from before. Rosa denied at first but as soon as Pia had driven her into a corner, she stopped trying. After Jirachi appeared for a brief second, Rosa walked off. They're neither on bad or good terms but both have things they probably need to speak off.

Simon Pearburgh
Pia met Simon in Galar Mine 1. Pia thought nothing more of him than a bug nerd. They partnered up to battle against Oleana and his clever strategies impressed Pia, prompting her to compliment him after their shared life/death situation on Route 4.

Pia considers Simon to be a positive influence and appreciates him cheering her on during the contest in Turffield where he appeared to be the loudest in the room.

Catherine Carlisle
Yeah.... Pia really doesn't like Catherine but she enjoys getting under her skin.

Kit
Pia met Kit in the Wild Area. Kit had been trying to catch a Pokémon for days but had yet to catch one. He begged the girl to help him in exchange for money and a strange rock that he found. Pia taught him how to catch a Pokémon but after hearing that Kit is in search for his father, she decided to only take the strange rock as her reward and left the pouch with Poké behind for the boy to keep. Kit seems to have developed a crush for her because of that.

Daija Sancho
Daija is Ruben's little sister by 2 years. Pia met Daija during her trip to Wedgehurst with Ruben on Route 5. Daija was wary of the girl at first as she is well aware of her brother's "type". She has given Pia her nod of approval when she found the two being silly in the living room after she had left the house for a little bit to cool off. She thinks Pia is a positive influence in Ruben's life.

Jovian and Livia McMiller and Daniel
Pia met the McMiller couple and their foster son on Route 5 when she took a nap outside in the cold covered in her own Pokémon. Livia McMiller invited her at her home with happened to be the Nursery on Route 5. Pia investigated the Chimecho mystery of how she had suddenly laid two eggs. She appeared to be fostering them as trainer's had left those eggs behind. Chimecho have her a mint-green coloured egg with darker green swirls as a thank you for getting her wishes across to the McMiller couple.

Trainer ID

Pia McGuire:

Pia was born in the town of Hammerlocke in the Galar region and is part of the first graduating class of the Wedgehurt trainer's academy. Despite having lived in poverty, her mother has been able to pay for her tuition in alternative ways. She's quick witted and rather clever but is sometimes a bit "too" honest. Pia dreams of becoming an actress and does almost anything to get more money. When it comes down to it, what she really wants is to no longer live in poverty and live a bit more happily.

Inventory:

4x Pokéball
Galarian Pokédex
Xtransceiver
Broken Flashlight
King's Rock
Sun Stone
Thunderstone
Mint green Pokémon egg with darker green swirls

Outfits:

Daily Outfit:

Spoiler:

Contest outfit:

Spoiler:

Ribbons:

Turffield Ribbon 2nd place:

Badges:

Turffield Grass badge

Sonata · Mar 21, 2021

Poké:

5020 ♦ Pokemon: 6

CHAPTER 8.2 - VS NESSA
Rosa woke up, slowly opening her eyes to the sunlight which was shining through the curtains of her room. She looked out the window, pursing her lips as she took in a deep breath.

"It's today…" she whispered with a sigh.

The girl continued to stare at the window, wondering what she should do. She had to call them at some point, given that she was staying in the room on their dime. But at the same time, she really would rather just sleep through the entirety of the day and forget it ever happened.

"Rose?" The Roselia looked up at Rosa from the edge of the bed.

"Hey, Zorro." Rosa whispered, staring back into the bloodshot eyes of the Pokemon in front of him. "You been standing guard, huh?"

"Rose," he replied, stretching out.

The girl nodded, putting her hands beneath the Pokemon before lifting it up into the bed with her. "I don't think it'll come back during the day. Which means…" she pressed the tip of her finger gently against the Roselia's face, smiling at him as she pulled the covers up over both of them. "We can both just sleep the day away, and pretend it doesn't exist."

Zorro smiled weakly, cuddling up towards the girl as he got comfortable under the covers. "Ro-Rooooooose." The Pokemon stated, yawning as it cried out.

The girl placed her chin on Zorro's head, burying him in the covers as she took in the aroma of the grass type through the thin sheets. She wanted to just pretend this day never existed, and would have been happy to sleep through the rest of the hours in which the sun was up with her little bodyguard… but that thing was an issue. These restless nights were killing Zorro, and it was… it was all her fault.

She felt a twang of guilt in her chest. She didn't know why the Pokemon was after her, or even what type of Pokemon it was… but she did know that whatever it was, it's reason for following them was her. She wondered if capturing Ozzy was a good idea either, since one of the first things he got to experience as part of their team was one of these nightmares that had been plaguing them all for weeks now.

"Everything would have been better if I… If I had just…" she shook her head, closing her eyes as she bit her lip. "It's today. It's… my birthday."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she winced. Each year that passed was a constant and inevitable reminder of her existence. She could pass each day just going with the flow and pretending that she didn't exist, that she wasn't a burden on those around her, that she wasn't this terrible person that she'd been forced to become… but the one day she couldn't deny her own existence, was the one which constantly reminded her she did in fact exist.

For Rosa, a birthday was a double-edged sword. At first, the date had no meaning to her at all. She'd only celebrated the occasion a few times in her early years, but as her family grew more and more distant it came to a point where it was just another number in a long list of combinations. But on the other side, it was that reminder. The people she'd come to love and appreciate helped her to remember the joy that came with the moment, and with that love came realization.

'I wouldn't be here, if it weren't for them.'

This thought struck true now more than ever. With the nightmares she'd recently been having, she was made to remember just why this thought had first come to mind. And with that thought, came the pit in her chest.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, sniffing as she bunched up the sheets in her hands. She rolled over, facing away from the Roselia which had already fallen asleep. She pushed herself up out of bed and headed over to the window, opening the curtains as she looked out at the port of Hulbury.

"It has to be today," she whispered to herself as she glanced over at the note on the table beside her. She nodded, picking up the letter which had been signed on the envelope by a large, singular 'P'. "It… needs to be today."

Rosa jogged into the stadium, a little more prepared this time for the weight of the attention than she was at Milo's gym. She'd passed through the gym mission fairly handily, using her smaller stature and a few dance moves to make her way through the course without getting knocked off balance.

Outside of battling, her dancing skills had been the thing she'd been brushing up on the most - given that her last few attempts at using the styler were rather lacking in results. Since failing to really place in the Turffield contest, she'd been using any excuse that didn't make her look like a complete fool to force practice into her daily activities. She wanted to get better at utilizing the styler too, but for the moment… she knew she was still lacking something.

"Welcome, Rosa." Nessa called out from one of the platforms on the pool of water. "I'm happy to see you made it here. I was skeptical at first, but after Sonia talked you students up and then watching the battles you lot had against Milo - well, I can't say I'm not interested in what you have to show."

Rosa smiled and nodded. She'd seen some of the battles that had come in the weeks before hers, and knew what was in store for her. She had already decided that she'd be using Zorro as her ace, given his advantage in type and recent development in terms of battle power. The only question was, who would she lead with? And for that matter, what two would she choose?

"Thanks," Rosa called back, pulling the plumage from her skirt before wrapping it around her arm. She'd been practicing with this bit of her outfit, trying to think about how to utilize it now that it had been butchered completely… but even if it had been what she'd originally requested, she wasn't sure that her plan would have worked all that well anyways. "I hope that means you won't take it easy on me?"

Nessa smiled and laughed, shaking her head. "No, of course not." She replied bluntly, pulling a ball from her belt. "It wouldn't be respectful to you, or to my friend."

Rosa nodded again, placing her hand on her waist. She grabbed two balls from the strap on the back of her skirt where the frills had been, hiding one of them in her sleeve for later. "I appreciate your honesty," Rosa smiled sweetly as she tapped one of the balls, causing it to expand as she pulled her arm back. "I hope you don't mind, but I have people I can't disappoint today either!" She yelled out, launching the pokeball at a nearby platform.

As the ball flew through the air, Nessa smirked and followed suit. The gym leader pulled her arm back and threw the ball into the air, releasing her Pelipper into the stadium. The Pokemon's appearance marked the beginning of a storm, with which Rosa had become familiar with - and not just from the last few days.

At the same time that the Pelipper appeared, Rosa's pokeball ricocheted off of the targeted platform, releasing her Bug-type into the arena. The girl knew that Dahlia would be at a disadvantage against the Pelipper given what she'd witnessed in the past few days, but she had to hope that the Cutiefly's speed and small size would make up for that and put them on the proper path. She had also hoped that maybe Nessa wouldn't use Pelipper at all - but that was just wishful thinking. Out of all of the Pokemon she had, Dahlia and Ozzy were the least oriented to battle… but they were also the best choices she had out of the rest of her team.

She didn't want to keep using Wyatt, since that might send the message that she was overly reliant on the power of her starter. She couldn't have people thinking that all she had to offer was him and whatever other Pokemon she picked up along the way. This battle was important, but in order to clear the air of the laughter which still plagued her as she entered the arena, she had to prove she was a capable trainer. She had to prove that she could do this for herself. She had to prove this… to herself.

"Dahlia!" Rosa called out, watching as the Cutiefly swayed from side-to-side, dodging the falling rain droplets.

"Cu?" She called back, turning slightly to look at her trainer.

"I believe in you." Rosa smiled, giving her Pokemon an encouraging thumb's up.

"Cu!" The Pokemon replied back in what Rosa hoped was an excited affirmative. What she wouldn't give to have the same ability to understand Pokemon that Simon did.

"Let's get this thing going then!" Nessa called out, pointing towards the tiny Fairy-type. "Pelipper, use Tailwind!"

Rosa winced at Nessa's command. She knew with that one command what the gym leader's plan was going to be. She'd planned for it, run through the possible scenarios in her head, and decided what the best path to victory would be. For this one in particular - it would be messy, but given the choices she made coming into this battle, it was her best option.

"Dahlia, run away!"

"Cu!" The bug type responded quickly, rising up into the sky without a moment's hesitation before taking off as quickly as it could.

"Follow it, Pelipper!" Nessa immediately followed. "Don't let it build any distance between you and hit it with Twisters when you can!"

"Pelii!" The Pokemon replied, catching the tailwind as it chased after Dahlia.

The two Pokemon flew around the stadium for several seconds before anything happened. At least, anything that would have been easily noticed. Rosa smirked, knowing the first part of her plan had already been set into motion. Now all that was to be seen, was how long it would be until it finally took effect. Until then…

"Dahlia, use Fairy Wind!"

"Use Fly to dodge those Winds, Pelipper!"

The two Pokemon took note of their trainers' orders, but each had a very different idea of what a successful use of those moves meant. For Pelipper, it knew as soon as it shot up into the sky that it's objective had been completed. But for Dahlia, it didn't matter if the attack landed or not. What she was waiting for, was the moment that the Pelipper came in for the attack.

And in a few seconds, Nessa's Pelipper did swoop in for a strike - and Dahlia was ready, waiting, and… smiling. The small fairy type created a vortex with her Fairy Wind, creating a perfect path down to her body for the Pelipper to aim for and fly into. However, these Fairy Winds were not what they seemed - for on the winds rode a number of Stun Spores which had been slowly floating down around the stadium as the two Pokemon did their laps.

Dahlia knew what this moment meant. The Pokemon knew that she wasn't strong, and that she didn't have anything that would be of great effect in the battle ahead. But what she did have, was this combination that they'd shown off a month prior at their first contest in Turffield. At that time, the winds had also carried a Sweet Scent into the audience, but that much was unnecessary at this time. All she needed to do was land this one attack. As the Pelipper dove in, lowering its head to strike at her with the completion of its Fly attack, Dahlia closed her eyes.

"Zorro, use Extrasensory!"

"What?" Nessa recoiled, letting her gaze fall from her Pelipper to Rosa as a beam of red light shot through the sky.

The light recalled Dahlia before the attack could land, and at the same time, a ball rolled out of Rosa's sleeve, releasing her second Pokemon onto the platform beside her. Zorro burst free and immediately hopped to the next platform, firing off the psychic energy from his eyes as the Pelipper continued through the converging wave of spores which had surrounded it. Before the Flying-type could stop its momentum, the attack landed - combining with the paralysis it was just starting to suffer from.

The Pelipper crashed into the platform below, causing it to crack at the impact of the attack. The Pokemon flopped over, struggling against the paralysis and the damage it had just taken as it tried to make its way into the water.

"Zorro, don't let it escape! Hit it with a-"

"Fly, Pelipper!" Nessa abruptly called out.

The Pokemon winced before crying out in frustration, "Peliii!" The Pokemon slammed its wings against the platform, forcing itself up into the air before flying back high into the sky.

Rosa grinned, knowing that her little gimmick probably wouldn't work for a second time. "Zorro, return!" She called out, pointing the ball towards the Grass-type before throwing out her first Pokemon. "Dahlia, chase that Pelipper!"

The audience gave off a collective gasp as they watched the tiny Fairy-type rush off into the open skies, following the Pelipper as the rain started to die out.

"Cuuuu!" Dahlia cried out, just barely keeping pace with the Flying-type's ascent.

"Pelipper, finish it!" Nessa called out with a grin. "If she wants to follow you, make her regret challenging you!"

"Peli!" The Pokemon replied, performing a small roll in the air before facing down the much less imposing Cutiefly.

"Wait for it," Rosa whispered, watching the two Pokemon as they closed in on each other. "Wait for it… wait… now, Dahlia!" The girl cried out.

The young trainer often struggled with her thoughts in regards to the way that her mind could wander. She was no doubt intelligent, but that intelligence oftentimes proved burdensome. In many ways, it was due to the manner in which she was raised. Any normal person when presented with a scenario might consider a handful of possibilities - they might even humor a few "impossibilities" given what they knew going into that moment.

But Rosa? She was thorough. She'd considered hundreds of different ways that today's battle could pan out, and had prepared a number of tactics to meet each situation. Whether these things would, or even could come to pass were of no relevance to the girl. Nothing, was impossible. She'd trained with both Zorro and Dahlia enough to know what was expected of them in each of her scenarios, and because of that, her Cutiefly knew what needed to be done without the girl having to give away their plans.

Dahlia waited until the last second, feeling the stress that was riding on her ability to pull this maneuver off. She was the air power - if she fell, there would likely be nothing Zorro could do to fight against the Pelipper without taking too many hits. She was the star of this show. Regardless of who got the final hit in, she'd be the one to set up each opportunity and take her chances when they came to her.

"Pelipper, use Water P-" Nessa started to call out. She didn't know what Rosa had planned, but she was going to land something with Pelipper.

Just as the words started to come out of the leader's mouth, Dahlia spun around, dodging the Pelipper just enough to not take the attack but still be able to land on the Flying-type's back.

"That doesn't change anything!" Nessa called out, quickly formulating a new plan of action. "Pelipper, pin your wings back and use Water Pulse!"

"Peli!" The Pokemon replied, putting its wings back.

The Pelippers' wings covered Dahlia's means of escape and effectively trapped her with it. The Pelipper followed this up by firing off a Water Pulse which it promptly flew through, covering its body in several pulsating rings of water. All this meant, was that even if Dahlia did manage to escape the blanket of feathers it currently found itself in, she would still be hurt by the attack.

But, this was fine. Dahlia already knew what her role was. Her line was already complete, and all she needed to do now, was go down with the ship. "Cu!" She cried out triumphantly as she repeatedly kissed the Pelipper she was attached to, sucking away its energy with her Draining Kiss. This was what everything had been leading up to. The rain was dying down, the tailwind had petered out, and all that was left was to fight until the bitter end.

Neither Pokemon knew exactly where they were in the air. Pelipper had tucked its head back, making sure that the Cutiefly couldn't escape, and Dahlia was shrouded in the darkness which had formed around it. Dahlia continued to Kiss, Draining all that she could from the Pokemon to give Zorro the best possible chance of succeeding. She knew that no matter what, sh-

'Sploosh!'

The two Pokemon crashed into the pool of water, and quickly started to sink. Pelipper, being a Water-type, had it much easier than that Pokemon it was dragging down with it. Unfortunately, Dahlia still hadn't managed to knock out the enemy, and the water was pouring in through the spaces around it. As impenetrable as the fortress of feathers was to her, water had no trouble finding its way in. But still yet, she continued to attack. Draining Kisses, Fairy Winds to push futily push away what water she could, and an anxious Absorb was all that she could manage before finally…

Two red beams of light shot into the pool, and two girls held their now filled balls close to their chest. Neither were too happy about the outcome of the exchange, though Rosa had come out just slightly ahead.

"You did great, Dahlia." She smiled, putting the ball back onto her waist. "Zorro, you know what to do!" She tossed the other ball out, releasing her Pokemon back onto one of the center platforms.

Nessa smirked and laughed lightly. "Well, can't say that I expected that matchup to go that way. That Cutiefly of yours was pretty interesting to watch. I hope that your Roselia will be able to keep up though. Pelipper definitely helps my Dreadnaw out, but neither of us are overly reliant on his abilities. So, don't go thinkin' you've got it easy just because you did one of us in. Come on and show us what you got, Dreadnaw!"

"Dreaaad!" The Pokemon replied as it burst out onto one of the platforms.

Rosa smirked. It wasn't the best possible scenario, since Dahlia hadn't managed to take the Pelipper out before losing herself - but this was still a good state to be in. Zorro had really proven himself recently, so she had full faith in the Grass-type being able to pull it off here. "C'mon, Zorro. Let's show her what we've learned since Milo."

Rosa's Party

Memories

CHAPTER 1 - WEDGEHURST & ROUTE 2
GOODBYES, AND HELLO TO A NEW JOURNEY
TROUBLE'S ON THE TRACKS
NAMES AND NIGHTMARES!

CHAPTER 2 - THE SOUTHERN WILD AREA
ENTER THE WILD AREA!
NEW BIKING BIKERS!
THE MYSTERIOUS SHINY POKEMON!
RANGER DANGER! PT.1
RANGER DANGER! PT.2
RANGER DANGER! FINALE!
RED-EYES BLACK-HAT!

CHAPTER 3 - MOTOSTOKE
INN FOR A PENNY, INN FOR A POUND
INN FOR A PENNY, INN FOR A POUND PT.2
SHADY SHOPPING
THE OPENING CEREMONY
THE OPENING CEREMONY PT.2
THE OPENING CEREMONY PT.3
INN WITH THE FAMILY
ALL BETS ON BLACK
LATE NIGHT LULLABIES
SNACK ATTACK!

CHAPTER 4 - ROUTE 3
VS SIMON
VS SIMON PT.2
MYSTERY OF MEW
MYSTERY OF MEW PT.2
WINTER FESTIVAL
A TWO HEADED REFLECTION

CHAPTER 5 - GALAR MINE AND ROUTE 4
DAYDREAM OF MINE
DEVELOPMENT AND MISSED CONNECTIONS
BUGGIN' THE COSMOS

CHAPTER 6 - TURFFIELD
GAMBLE FOR A RUSE
GAMBLE FOR A RUSE PT.2
GAMBLE FOR A RUSE PT.3
IS IT TOO LATE TO APOLOGIZE?
TURRFIELD CONTEST PERFORMANCE
PLANNING AND CHALLENGE
VS MILO
GIRL'S NIGHT OUT
FEAR THE BEGINNING

CHAPTER 7 - ROUTE 5
WORK FOR A PROMISE
WORK FOR A PROMISE PT.2
BUDDING YOUTH
BUDDING YOUTH PT.2
FEAR THE BEGINNING PT.2

CHAPTER 8 - HULBURY
FEAR THE BEGINNING PT.3

Rosa's Journal

Simon Dansen

My childhood friend. Absolute idiot. Can't ever get a read on him anymore. Buttface. Always there when I need him. Always there when I least expect him. JERK. Showed me up in battle and evolved his Pokemon before me.

He came to "rescue" me after I coerced Ruben into protecting me in the underground casino. I told him off... and then didn't apologize until much later. He came to wish me a late merry christmas after Ruben gave me his spare room. He reminded me of our promise from before our journey started, and gave me my christmas gift which was a traditional Johtoan kimono and fan - all to prepare me for the upcoming contests. He also told me I should call his mom and dad since they're so worried about us both now that we're gone, but... I'll figure it out later.

Jasper

An ex-classmate. He took my bait and threw me for a loop when we were fighting a group of Munchlax together. Not as bad a guy as I thought. Because of him, I have to re-evaluate my notes on everyone else just in case. I'm interested in trying a different approach with him when next we meet.

Helped out a wrongfully arrested girl. Really smart. Observant. Kind, but doesn't like to show it. Isn't a terrible cook.

Charles the Biker

An eccentric, but strong man. Indulges in bad puns. Love for bikes. We left on good terms.

Nat the Ranger

A doting older brother to several sisters. A strong trainer who follows their duty. Only spent a day with them. Not sure if I want to meet again or not since I stole a broken styler from his scene of investigation. We left on good terms, I think? Unless he notices that something's missing.

Budew Girl

Never got her name. Apparently she's a challenger like the rest of my classmates. Comes from a family of Budew fanatics. They breed Budew in their hometown and journey around with all three forms of it. She seems endearing. It might be interesting to meet her again in the future. As long as she's not being accused of theft, that is.

Achille Béringer

Rich kid. Pays his debts. Is keen on rich kid things. Doesn't seem much different from how he was in school, but still need to reevaluate.

Melody Argent

Cute and kind. She keeps to herself kind of like I do. Loves music. Feels similar to Simon. Still need to reevaluate because of interactions with Jasper. Kind of maybe, possibly, a small amount of a badass. Finger guns - super corny. Don't harp on the idea of being in contests. If that culty stuff doesn't get figured out by the time we come back to Motostoke, I'll have to remember to find her around town. She's much more attuned to pop culture than I am.

AAAAAHHH! We did so much in Turffield, and even more just after! I still can't believe that she wont that contest and made it look so... so easy! She's just, like, wow. I still don't know what to do with all of my thoughts, but after that delivery we did together especially I just. Wowee. Jeez.

The Family // Damien(?)

Not the family himself, I don't think. I still haven't got his name or what role he really plays in all this. He's a shady motherfucker - pardon my Kalos. I still don't know how much of the stuff I've gone through in Motostoke has been orchestrated by him, but for the moment I'm not planning to try anything. I still don't know enough about him to make any real guesses. The longer that I stay around this town, the further behind the veil that I see. I'm scared even to go to sleep at night so long as I'm here. They have eyes... everywhere.

Buggy Simon

Some kind of freak of nature. I guess he understands Pokemon in some way that I can't; like, he understands what they're actually trying to say when they speak? Kind of cool, but also weird. Him and Simon used to hang out every once in a while at school. He knows about my "secret styler".

Valerie

An absolute ray of sunshine and happiness. She's also a streamer, and earns enough money from it to show it off. Not put off by literal ghosts. Has some kind of dream of meeting Mew.

Aeliana Kekoa

Alolan dance girl. She's supposed to teach me sometime. Pretty much just how I remembered her in school. I didn't get to spend much time with her when we all hung out. Didn't seem too bothered by the ghosts.

Pia McGuire

Pia... definitely is afraid of literal ghosts. I had a few choice words for her, but... after we saw Jirachi, it just felt like the time had passed, so I gave up. She's seen me without my mask, so next time we meet up is probably going to be awkward.

Haleigh Windsor

A friend of Melody's. I intentionally ran into her after failing to catch up with Melody, due to the addition of Haleigh. We had a short battle, and then made a promise for drinks with Melody after I urged her to drag the girl along with her to the contest in Turffield. She seems quite naive, so I may be able to get some more use out of her as long as I stay true to her persona. She's battle hungry, the same as Simon, but her Pokemon are still a little lacking - that coming from someone who still has no idea what she's doing here herself. She might end up being a good sparring partner in the future since she knows a little of what I've got and we're on relatively equal footing.

Mother Priscilla

The leader of the Turffield Sisterhood. I thought at first she was just an escort, but once we got to their hideout, I slowly started to realize what she really was. She's an incredibly dangerous woman who has no trouble pulling a gun on important people or those that she may need. There's still too much I don't know about what's going on to get a good grasp on what her and Damien's goals are, but given what I've already seen I really could do without finding out.

Ruben Sancho

Truth be told, I hadn't cared for Ruben when we went to school together. I thought he was your average rich celebrity who was forced into something he didn't really want to be a part of. After getting involved with the family and finding myself in that gambling hall, and then finding Ruben there as well, I felt that my suspicions were true. I had no second thoughts about what I was going to drag him in to. But as time went on, I found myself feeling more and more regretful with each time that he said Pia's name. And then because of me, news about him and Pia got out before either of them were likely ready to go public. And after all that, Simon attacked him out of the blue... but even after all that, he still offered me a free room at the local hotel. I already apologized to him about Simon, and about lying to get him to go with me. But, I should apologize again. He's not as bad of a guy as I thought he was.

Outfits

Spoiler: Here be a number of large images

Inventory

Spoiler:

Kitty · Mar 21, 2021

VS Milo (II)
Tristan Trevall: starting trainer, CEO
Magnemite -- Growlithe

---

Milo smiled, looking at the exasperated look on the trainer in front of him.

"Appletun? Really?" Tristan asked, and to his dismay, the gym leader nodded.

"Heh, didn't think I'd have a solution for fire types did you?"

"You're usually..." He mumbled, looking down at his feet as he thought of the next course of action. Growlithe growled, his pose looking ready for battle. "Fine. Let's try this. Growlithe!"

The Pokemon barked, in response to his trainer.

"Flame Wheel, then back away immediately and use leer!" The dog Pokemon responded in kind, quickly gaining flames and ran towards the pie Pokemon, who took the attack head on with ease. In return, without even getting his trainer's go-signal, striked the Growlithe with a blast of grassy energy, and even though it wasn't that effective, the Growlithe still winced in pain as it didn't manage to continue it's supposed combo.

Tristan sighed, "Of course your Pokemon would move without a second thought."

"Didn't I say?" The gym leader shrugged, "I trust my Pokemon to do the best thing."

Tristan was about to respond when a loud ringtone could be heard in the area, interrupting their battle. He looked down on his phone and saw a number he had been waiting for. "Uh, do you mind?"

"Go for it."

Giving him a brief smile, Tristan answered the call. "Trevall speaking."

--

It had been five minutes.

"...Okay, noted. I'll wait for the meeting details. Thank you, have a nice day." With that, Tristan put his phone down and back on his bag, now facing the gym leader again. "Sorry about that, important call."

"Of course, no problem!" Milo smiled, "What was it?"

"Just a meeting with a potential business partner. Now, shall we continue?" He looked at his Growlite, who was still hurt from the Energy ball attack of the Dragon Pokemon. "Growlithe isn't looking fairly well, but I do think he can still keep up." He glared at the dog, who in turn whimpered. "Can't you?"

The Growlithe barked, a dignified doggy yes and stood his ground. It looked scared for a moment, but easily got back to it's focused state and growled at the Appletun. The aforementioned Pokemon, in turn, just smiled derpily as it doesn't move, stoutly standing in front of its trainer.

For a brief second, Milo was concerned for the Growlithe, but shook it off. "...It can't be... Anyway, yes. Let's continue. I can't wait to send you straight back to the Wooloo!" He smiled, "Appletun, roll out!"

The apple nectar Pokemon tunn'ed, quickly setting off a small ball of rock that was heading straight towards the Growlithe, hitting the dog in its first try.

"We can't have that, Growlithe, agility to dodge!" Tristan barked, prompting the Growlithe to run faster and faster, leaping from side to side until it looks like the Pokemon is faster than normal.

The second rollout comes and as soon as it looks like it is about to hit Growlithe, the Pokemon vanishes and appears at a different spot, still running towards the Appletun. The same thing happened to the third one, and all was about to be good until the fourth, large block managed to hit the fire Pokemon fair and square, stopping it in its tracks just a few distance away from the grass type.

"That was good usage of Agilty," Milo started. "But not good enough for my Appletun!"

Tristan nodded, "We were supposed to follow it up with a flame charge... but it looks like Growlithe still needs practice." He sighed, "Anyway. Agility, again, Growlithe! This time, hit it with ember while you avoid the attacks!"

Again, the fire type charged at the dragon, but this time, the Appletun was prepared and prepared a shield that easily dodged the ember attacks fired at it. "Is that all you got? I might really have to take you back to the Wooloo for a round two!" Milo chuckled, but Tristan merely smirked.

"Keep going, Growlithe!"

"You can do it Appletun!"

"Tsk," Tristan muttered to himself as he looked at the ongoing barrage of attacks from his Pokemon. They weren't out for the count just yet. Even without trust, he was sure that the damage was slowly but surely hitting the grass type, even if it did counter via it's super-effective dragon typing.

And even then, he had Magnemite, who had a steel type move as back-up.

He wasn't out just yet. Tristan looked at the Appletun, who now was looking rather exhausted from protecting itself from the Growlithe's multiple ember attacks. The latter, was also looking exhausted, but still raring to go. As expected, really. Else he would have to conduct another training session, and the fire type knew that would be worse than losing in this gym battle.

"Now, flame charge!" Tristan yelled, and the Growlithe immediately went for it, using the embers as distraction as he sped up in flames and ran towards the Pokemon.

Before Milo could even yell out another attack, the Appletun crumbled, toppling down to its last life. "P-protect!" The Wooloo enthusiast yelled.

"Flame charge again!"

With the repeated usage of Appletun's shield, to the surprise of nobody, the Growlithe managed to crash through and land a direct hit, finally knocking out the grass type. However, with that, the Growlithe also passed out, prompting Tristan to return it back to it's Pokeball.

"...I can't believe your method actually worked." Milo said, walking towards the trainer, who was only staring at him. "Growlithe trusted you that much enough to faint itself into exhaustion? You must be a skilled trainer. You deserve this badge." With that, he held out a shimmering object to Tristan, who gladly accepted it and put it in his badge case.

"...Thank you." He smiled, "It was rather brute force, and I'll need to talk to Growlithe about his last stunt.. But yes. We did pretty well, all things considered." Tristan shook his head as he stared at the Pokeball he's gripping, containing the now fainted Growlithe.

"Well. The Pokemon Center is that way. Do you want to go there together?" Milo shrugged, "I'm also in need of some healing after the job your Growlithe did! Hahaha!"

Tristan smiled but shook his head, "Thanks, but no thanks," he took a phone and called a number he had in his speed dial, "I'm directly heading to Hulbury via flying taxi."

The statement made Milo raise a brow in suspicion. "Oh?" He hummed, "It's not common for trainers to skip the journey." It wasn't common at all, and would likely make the trainer lose any fans he had (if there were even any). "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I can... afford... to lose a fair share of fans," The trainer started, "As well as the sponsorship," he continued, handing out a business card of his company to the gym leader, who silently stood there and took it. "I do have the money after all,"

"...But what I can't afford is time." Tristan coughed, "Anyway," He said, looking down at his phone that dinged the notification of the flying taxi arriving, "I'll have to go. Thank you for the battle."

--

[ You have updated your reminders. ]

[x] Milo at Turffield
[x] Receive call and send details
[] Nessa at Hulbury
[] Company meeting at _______
[] Kabu at Motostoke

[ Saved. ]

LinearAxel · Mar 21, 2021

Melody Argent

18 | Female | From Spikemuth

Inventory

Spoiler:

Team

Spoiler:

Through the Deep Dark Water, I Know We Can Conquer It All

As the early-morning sunlight glistens and reflects off the water, Melody stares at the towering, blue building before her. Her fingers tighten into fists as she glances to her right shoulder and sees the ever supportive Doom Noodle. Her starter squeezes her shoulder with his nubbed arms and gives a small yet excitable shimmy. A soft tug on Melody's sleeve causes her to look down to her left side, where, peeking out of her satchel, is Spike, the infant Toxel (now complete with his own spiked collar.)

"Tox tox!" He cries once he has his trainer's attention, happily thrusting his fist into the air.

"Heh… you ready to see somethin' pretty cool?" Melody says as she pats the purple reptile's head.

Spike shakes her hand away from his head and playfully delivers a tiny fist-bump. "Toxel!"

"You excited?" She asks. Well, that makes one of them. While she was pretty confident in her battle against Milo… it was Milo. Has anyone taking this trial ever lost to Milo? Not to mention she had a very good idea of what he was going to bring to the table, and she just so happened to have some pretty decent coverage. She was a mystery to Milo, while Nessa had now seen three-fourths of her team and most likely has a plan to counter-balance Melody's grass type Pokemon. She can't help but feel slightly annoyed that Spike didn't hatch sooner. He… really would have come in handy here if he was a little older… and she didn't feel like she was chucking a baby into the water to fend for its life. Well… here's to… winging it, mostly. She kind of has a plan (the same way she kind of had a plan to fight Annabelle in the fog: Come up with ideas and hope they work.)

The punk teen is brought out of her thoughts as the infant Pokemon tugs at her jacket sleeve as if trying to yank her up the steps.

"Okay, okay!" She says with a small laugh. "We're goin', you big baby." As Melody walks up the steps, she is greeted with a very serious face from the purple Pokemon, as if to say Yes, I am a baby, what do you want from me?

Melody shoves at the stadium doors and they swing open, her arrival earning stares from a number of unfamiliar faces-- and one familiar one.

"Boss!"

Comes the call of a bulky, blond teen wearing a black chain with a skull pendant much like the one Melody wears. He waves as he hurriedly jogs to meet her at the door.

Surprise quickly melts into a playful smirk as Melody takes just a few steps to seal the space between them. "Holy ****. What are you doing out here? And what's with the skulls?" There's one on his beanie too, and a little button-skull clipped to his shirt beside… what Melody can only describe as a smiley face with ears. Rabbit ears? "You tryin' to steal my gimmick? You know these skulls are all I've got." She teases as she holds her arm up for a dramatic high-five.

"Nope! Totally the opposite. They're here to represent!" The blond says as he returns the dramatic gesture.

"Represent… what?"

"C'mon, boss, get it together! You and Haleigh! See, the guys and I were talkin' after we watched you two's battle with Milo, and ya both killed it! But there's a ****-ton of people online flappin' their gums about how you two won't make it, 'cause Spikemuth never makes it, even after Marnie creamed every gym leader!"

Melody raises her eyebrow as far as she can. "Were you not expecting that to happen?"

"I mean, yeah, I know we're underdogs and all… but they don't gotta be so rude about it!"

Melody tries to stifle the laugh in the back of her throat. "Sounds like the internet, Kai."

"Yeah, well, doesn't mean I have to like it. In fact, we don't like it! So I got together with the ol' gang and some old Team Yellers," there's a pause. Is that what they're called? Ah, well, can't go back now, "and we decided to cancel out all that negativity with some positivity for you two!"

Oh, sweet Arceus. "You wanna reform Team Yell?!"

"What? No! Nothin' like that. We're not gonna screw anyone over or mess with the other challengers, we just wanna cheer you guys on! And, y'know, punch people in the face if they talk ****."

"Can't blame you there." Melody murmurs. Kai was never the brightest goon in the gang. He's always been a well-meaning guy and he would pick a fight with a car if he thought it had wronged a friend, but he's hardly the brains of the operation type. Melody flashes a wry smile. "Just don't start a riot without me and… do what you want, I guess." Melody begins to step around the bulky figure when she stops in mid-step. "-- How'd you know when I was going to be here?"

Kai glances to his shoes and slowly rubs at the back of his neck. "We knew you'd end up here eventually, so I've just been… waitin' 'til you got here."

That… yeah, that sounds about right for him. "Go take a load off, dude."

The blond holds his arm out and flashes a thumbs up before heading back towards the doors that lead to the stadium. Melody heaves what could possibly be the largest sigh she's ever sighed and starts to walk towards the check in counter.
The man sitting at the check in counter offers her something of a sympathetic smile. "Over-enthusiastic boyfriend?"

Melody's face visibly wrinkles at the thought. "We rolled in the same gang back in Spikemuth."

"That's a new one." He says as he takes the Pokedex Melody offers and scans her into the system. "Alright, Challenger 182. Get into your uniform and we'll call you when Nessa's ready for her next challenger."

Melody gives a short salute and walks towards the dressing room. Right now, she needs to focus on the match ahead… and not the apparent growing number of people she's going to disappoint when she inevitably crashes and burns.

Only a few short minutes after getting dressed was Melody called into the arena. This challenge came far more easily considering the lack of farm-skills required: Running across floating platforms while geysers shot out at random intervals to keep her from activating a switch was far more fun for her-- and Lyric, who she brought along because of agile build and seeming lack of a problem with getting knocked into the water. The dark type seemed to be having a great time zigging and zagging across the platforms, and once his switch was activated, he took a short-cut to Melody's switch by letting one of the geysers blast him skyward before launching himself down into Melody's arms.

"Challenger Melody has completed the Hulburry Gym challenge and earned the right to challenge Nessa!" The voice of the announcer calls out as the Roto-camera spins around the punk teen. Melody flashes a grin for the camera as her heartbeat begins to slow from the frantic sprint across the water. In her arms, Lyric raises his paw to wave to the camera and waves his tail happily. The tinge of annoyance that flashes in Melody's mind of those watching thinking, A Spikemuth girl with a Zigzagoon, what a refreshing and original concept for this exciting new gym challenge is quickly shoved back down into the pit with the other negative thoughts she refuses to confront.

"Excellent work, little dude." Melody says as she gets her satchel and other Pokeballs back from the gym trainer who was holding them.

"Zigzag!" Lyric says as he proudly hops onto his back feet. The tanuki Pokemon is returned to his Pokeball and Nightshot phases out of Melody's bag to float back onto her shoulder. One challenge down… one to go.

The familiar feeling of excitement and uncertainty creeps into her chest and stomach as the punk teen makes her way into the battle arena. The lights flash to life and light up the stadium as Melody meets Nessa beside the watery stage.

"Welcome, Death Princess." Nessa says with a soft yet genuine smile.

Dea-- Oh, right, that's what those article writers started calling her after the contest. Admittedly… it's a pretty metal name and she doesn't mind it.

"I'm excited to see what you're made of for myself." Nessa continues as she extends her hand. "And I hope you know what you're in for."

Melody reaches out and grasps her hand. "Not sure I do," she answers with a wry smirk, "but I'm looking forward to finding out."

As the two turn and walk to their designated points, both the roar of the crowd and the announcer's voice are drowned out by Melody's own, hyper-focused thoughts. She really doesn't know what she's in for. Even with knowing what Pokemon Nessa will bring into battle, depending on which two she picks, it's going to be a very different battle. Now that she knows Nessa has at least read about the contest, she's certain the Gym Leader will use her Pelipper to counter Piper, and with her other two Pokemon being part electric and part rock respectfully, it would be stupid of Melody to bring in Bishop, who was, without a doubt, her heaviest hitter.

It wasn't supposed to matter if she lost. It would be expected for a girl from Spikemuth that slept through classes and had no discernable talents to speak of not to make it far, and she was happy with that. She was taking part in this challenge for herself with no concern for what anyone else thought.

… Now there's a gang forming to back her up. Now there's people rooting for her who are going to have that same disappointed look on their face that Rosa had when she placed fourth in the contest. Now she's got people who she's going to let down.

Once she's on her side of the arena, a light poke to the cheek causes Melody to look at Nightshot.

"Dre-pypy-py." He says in a sing-song like tone.

"Get… yeah." Melody takes a deep breath and clenches her fist. She recognizes that tune; it's one Nightshot used to ask her to sing a lot.

Just head on, hit dead on,
and don't think about anything else.
Give a shout,
make a Quick Attack to chase your worries out.
Let's go all out, take this chance before it's gone.

"Let's make some waves, Pelipper!" Nessa calls from the opposite side of the stadium. The blue ball opens to reveal the flying type Pokemon. Mere seconds after he enters the field, clouds form above them and rain begins to pour down on the arena.

Melody figured as much. It would be stupid for Nessa not to bring her flyer once she learned Melody had a grass type. It's fine, though, they made a plan for this. Sort of.

"C'mon out, Piper!" Melody shouts. The tiny pumpkin Pokemon bursts onto the scene with a determined expression, though she quickly begins to look around the arena before them and swallows nervously. There's even more people here than there were in that barn!

For a brief instant, Nessa looks surprised. Still leading with the little pumpkin, huh? "I had a feeling I would see her." The Gym leader says with a confident smile. "Pelipper, use TailWind!"

Pelipper begins to flap its wings as it summons a powerful gale to blow along behind him. Piper's not the speediest as is, now she's got a suped up pelican gunning for her. They've got to get this done fast.

"Piper, use Trick-Or-Treat!"

As Pelipper flaps his wings to summon the gale, from out of Piper's jack-o-lantern holes come several familiar, ghostly wisps. They quickly join hands and glide over to Pelipper, swirling around him before phasing through him.

"Making more ghosts, are we?" Nessa says with a playful hint to her tone.

"Everything about this place is made to your advantage, so I had to make my own." Melody says as she holds out Piper's Pokeball. "Return."

Piper returns to her ball with a look of relief. Melody then stares at the Pelipper before her and clenches her teeth. "Ready?"

A soft squeeze on her shoulder answers her question.

"Let's rock, Nightshot!"

"Dree-py!" The small dragon cries as he leaps from her shoulder and soars onto the arena.

"So that's it. Pumpkaboo was only a set up so your other ghost's moves would be super effective."

"I've never claimed to be very creative." Melody says. Her plan was probably obvious. This world handed her a way to make her Pokemon super-effective against nearly everything, and she intended to exploit the hell out of it.

"Pelipper, use Twister!"

Banter time is over it seems. "Nightshot, get away with Quick Attack!"

As the winds begin to spin in a circular formation and dip into the water, the Dreepy sets his sights on the other side of the pool and zips away. It won't do any good for him to charge Pelipper, he knows he'll go right through him, he just needs to get away.

"Now use Infestation!"

Nightshot cries out confidently as the very tiny insect-shaped dark energy swarm from around him and latch onto Pelipper. Go down there and fight real hard was Melody's go to strategy, but she knew it wasn't going to work for her here. Her best bet was to play smart and do as much damage from a distance as she could.

Nessa's nose wrinkles in annoyance. That was going to become a burden fairly quickly if she didn't switch out. They should be able to finish this quickly, though. It's a Dreepy, after all. "Pelipper, use Fly!"

The flying type flinches from the little ghost-bugs biting at him as he soars into the air, leaving Nightshot to hover above the water with a look of uncertainty. There wasn't anything he could do until Pelipper came back down, he can't get that high up!

Fortunately, thanks to the tailwind making him an obnoxiously speedy pelican, neither Nightshot nor Melody had to wait more than a couple of seconds before the flying time came crashing back to land.

"Dive into the water!" Melody shouts.

Nightshot frantically does a nose dive into the water below, with Pelipper not far behind. Their opponent hits the water with a significantly larger splash and collides with Nightshot. Fortunately, colliding with the water added much needed traction and softened the force of the impact.

"Use Assurance!"

Nightshot reels from the impact but quickly corrects himself. His snake-like shape makes him significantly more hydro-dynamic than the awkwardly shaped Pelican. His tail glows an angry purple as the ghostly-dragon and the water bird emerge from the water. In one swift movement, Nightshot returns the favor by crashing into Pelipper.
Nessa glares. Assurance got a boost in power because the Dreepy took damage, and it dealt even more damage to Pelipper because of Melody making her Pokemon weak to dark type moves. AND Pelipper is taking even more damage because of the infestation. She doesn't like doing it, this isn't her style at all, but this challenger isn't giving her much of a choice.

"Pelipper, return."

Not bad. Melody thinks to herself. She knew Nessa could switch to get rid of the advantages Melody set up-- though she had also seen enough of Nessa's battles to know that she rarely did it. At least they got in some good damage before she caved.

"I choose you, Lanturn!"

The new Pokemon appears only briefly before vanishing into the depths of the water below. Melody grits her teeth. That thing's going to be hard to hit-- lucky for her, she doesn't have to deal with it just yet.

"Lanturn, use Psybeam!"

"Nightshot, use Dragon Tail!"

The whale Pokemon peers out of the water and shoots a multi-colored beam from her mouth. The ghostly dragon lets out a frightened yelp as he zips away from it. His tail takes on a blue glow as he tucks his tail and does a summersault through the air, extending it just in time for it to crash into Lanturn's face. The Pokemon's pained cry is cut short as she suddenly vanishes from the battlefield in a beam of white energy. Only a split second later, Nessa's other ball opens without her so much as touching it, and Pelipper is back on the field.

Nessa casts an annoyed stare at Melody, who smirks.

"Sorry. We really wanted to finish what we started."

Now, there was good news and bad news for Melody: The good news was that the tailwind Pelipper had summoned at the beginning had finally petered out, making Pelipper likely slower than the zippy Doom Noodle. The bad news was that Pelipper's ghost typing was gone, and if she wanted it back, she would need to switch into Piper and risk getting struck with a flying type move.

Before Melody can decide if it's worth the calculated risk, Nightshot looks over his backside and locks eyes with her. "Dree-pypy-py!" He calls out in a determined voice.

"You wanna see this through, huh?" She asks. The reason Melody didn't charge into the Hulbury gym like she charged into the Turfield gym was because she wasn't entirely sure how she wanted to tackle this challenge. It never occurred to her to bring Nightshot into battle, despite him being resistant to water type moves and despite the watery arena being of little consequence to him. She didn't see the Doom Noodle as a fighter-- despite the number of times during this journey that he has thrown himself into the fray. It was only after going through every other possible option multiple times that she even considered it.

Watching the way Nightshot interacted with Piper and Spike, it was evident that he wanted to be stronger-- though that directly contradicted Melody's desire to never see him struggle or be pained in any way. Hell, when this journey started, she had no intention of ever using Nightshot in battle. Then the situation with the Nickit thief forced the little dragon's hand and he had to attack to protect Melody and the baby foxes. Shortly after, Melody and Jasper got caught up in that flock of Rookidee, and he stepped in to keep the group of birds from pecking his trainer's eyes out. Over and over, Nightshot proved that he wasn't nearly as fragile as he was the day they met. Melody still doesn't like it… but the Doom Noodle's determined, pleading eyes combined with the lack of any other real plan forced the punk teen's hand. "Okay. We're all in."

"Pelipper, use Tailwind!" Nessa calls.

Damn it, this again? Fine. They can be annoying too. "Nightshot, Infestation!"

As Pelipper flaps his wings and summons back the powerful gale, Nightshot calls his ghostly insects back to the battlefield to swarm and tear at the pelican Pokemon.

Both trainers exchange rather annoyed, brief glances at one another. "Pelipper, Super Sonic!"

The Pelipper flinches as the tiny ghost-bugs continue to bite into his flesh. With a determined expression, he harnesses the power of the wind and quickly flies towards Nightshot. Once he's close enough, the water-type opens his mouth and--

"Nightshot, Quick Attack!" Well, there is one benefit to Pelipper not being a ghost anymore: This works now.

The Dreepy puts his head down and frantically zips over to Pelipper, crashing into his beak before he can unleash the super-sonic waves. While the attack breaks Pelipper's focus, crashing into the larger Pokemon with his entire body seems to hurt Nightshot almost as much. The tiny Pokemon falls back with a flinch before catching himself and shaking the twinge off. He's still in this!

"Pelipper, use Water Pulse!" Nessa shouts out, planning to take advantage of the Dreepy's moment of hesitation. Pelipper once more opens his mouth and unleashes the pulsating jets of water at nearly-point blank range.

Without much time nor room to move, the attack hits its mark, pulsing waves of water crashing into the little dragon one wave after another.

Nightshot took damage. That meant this was their best shot to get in a powerful attack-- they have to be quick about it, though. Melody's not sure how many more hits the little dragon can take. "Use Assurance!"

Nightshot looks at Pelipper and sways uncertainly. That last attack has him seeing double. "Dree...py!" He cries out as he flies forward. Darkness gathers around his tail as he flies forward. With a powerful spin, he swings in between the 'two' Pelippers and hits his mark right between the eyes. Pelipper falls and crashes into one of the floating boards that wades in the pool. He's still. Very still…

Pelipper is unable to battle! The referee calls out with a wave of her flag.

Melody huffs out a short sigh of relief as Nessa returns the flying type to his ball. "Impressive." She says with a soft grin. "I didn't expect the little man to hussle that much."

"He's full of surprises." Melody answers with a returned grin. And… neither did I.

"Let's see if he can keep his head above water for round two." Nessa says as she brandishes her second ball. "Come back out, Lanturn!"

Melody flinches as the second Pokemon appears and Nightshot looks back to her. It's clear he's exhausted, yet he seems so determined to stay in this. There's no way he can hang in there much longer… so she has to make what little time he has count.

"Use Infestation!"

"Use Electro Ball!"

Nightshot summons the ghostly insects as Lanturn leaps from the water and creates a large sphere of electricity. As the insects begin to gather around the water type, she smashes the electrical attack against her tail and sends it crashing straight into the little dragon.

The Dreepy crashes into the water as his body sparks with electricity. Melody doesn't even wait for the referee's call to return the little fighter to his ball. "You really showed 'em, li'l dude." She says with a saddened smile. Tucking his ball back onto her belt, Melody breathes in a soft sigh. One down… one to go. "Let's show 'em what we're made of, Piper!"

Piper makes her second appearance. While she still appears less than pleased to have so many eyes on her, she seems slightly less terrified by the whole ordeal. She just… has to get in there and give it her all! So that this is over with as quickly as possible!

"Lanturn, use Eerie Impulse!"

"Piper, Shadow Sneak!"

As Lanturn opens her mouth to launch the unpleasant soundwave, Piper (with a short scream) vanishes into the shadows and glides across the water. As her body regains shape and she crashes into Lanturn, she gives the most fearsome glare she can muster. "Now Leech Seed!"

Piper opens her mouth and launches a seed at the larger Pokemon. When the seed makes contact, it quickly opens and produces multiple, slender vines that wrap around the Lanturn. The seed will leech away Lanturn's strength and give it to Piper, and the infestation will keep eating away at her… they just have to stay alive long enough for those two things to earn them a victory. Is it an obnoxious way to win? Yes. Does she kind of get a kick out of it because of that? Well, also yes.

"Psybeam!" Nessa calls out, the annoyance in her tone over her Pokemon's slowly dwindling health not lost on the punk teen.

A vibrant ray of light shoots from Lanturn's mouth and crashes into the jack-o-lantern's fake face. Piper cries out in pain as she's hit-- only to slowly blink in surprise when, the instant the attack stops, she feels herself healing. "Pum!" She cries out happily while giving a small bounce.

Sapphire Rose · Mar 22, 2021

Pia McGuire
Poké:

5550 ♦ Pokémon: 4

Gym battle: On treacherous waters Part 2

"Good one. You got me there." Nessa flipped her hair back once more. What was off-putting was that rather than looking like Pia had actually got her like what happened with Milo, Nessa was showing a confident smirk. The kind that you would have when things were maybe not exactly going your way but somewhat still going into that direction. "Show 'm what you got, Lanturn!" Nessa threw her second Pokéball up in the air, revealing a blue fish with an angler on top of it's head.

Pia watched the Pokémon with a careful eye, then turned her gaze to the worn-out Milla who had definitely seen better days with her current condition. She wasn't even sure if you could take on another attack. It was probably safest to return her, seeing as the girl didn't want the Pikachu to get hurt even more than she already was.

"Milla, come back, you won't last long out there." Pia tried to recall the Pikachu but she immediately turned around and shook her head. Milla was determined to continue. She knew that getting knocked out this soon would mess up her trainer's plans. She was supposed to weaken the second Pokémon a fair bit too. None of what had happened had been according to Pia's plans and exactly that seemed to have been Nessa's objective judging from her grin.

"Milla? Don't be stubborn. We'll think of a new plan." Pia called out again, trying her best to not wear the worries on her face. It just wasn't a good look for her after all but she couldn't guilt trip her partner like that.

"Chu!" Milla refused once again. Standing firm on her spot. The thought of just forcing her to return to her pokéball crossed Pia's mind briefly but… She had finally shown the Pikachu some trust. Was she going to hurt her feelings like that again? Pia sighed. What to do here…

"Seems like your Pikachu still has some spark in her. Are you really going to dampen her fun?" The voice of Nessa cut through her thoughts like a hot knife in butter. Pia was immediately reminded of something similar Raphael had said. She gritted her teeth.

"Thunder Punch, Milla." Pia commanded her with a glare in Nessa's direction, making Milla smile and leap in for a powerful punch. It was there at then that Nessa's unwavering smirk just wouldn't leave the gym leader's face, making Pia insecure about her decision to… yeah there it was.

"Chu?" Milla's fist drilled inside the Lanturn's body but instead of getting electrocuted, all the electricity that was inside the punch seemed to just have been… sucked up. Milla bounced off and was launched back at her platform. The moment Pia saw Lanturn getting healed rather than getting damaged, she suddenly remembered an important detail that she had forgotten in the midst of Nessa's taunt.

"Oh nooo…." She whimpered, facepalming her head. She had seen this in previous videos. Lanturn had Volt absorb for an ability. None of Milla's regular Electric type moves would work on it. Pia knew this, she made such a stupid mistake. She had been so absorbed in the whole Ruben stuff that she didn't prepare herself well enough for this challenge.

Nessa snickered at her opponent. It was always hilarious to watch the challengers stumble upon this revelation. Electric type advantage? Not in her gym.

"Hit her with her own medicine! Electro ball!" Nessa pointed forward. Her Lanturn created a ball of electricity of her own with her lit up antlers and hurled the orb towards her target. The only thing Nessa and the Lanturn had not anticipated was that the orb completely disappeared in front of the Pikachu. Sparks of electricity bounced off Milla, indicating she might have gotten faster from that too. "Oh no, this is annoying." Nessa said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a stalemate! Both Pokémon have an ability that won't let them get hurt from electric type attacks! What's going to happen next?!" The announcer hyped the crowd up even further than they already were with the constant cheering and song chanting.

"It's fine, though." Nessa brushed a few strands out of her face with another smile. "Use Psybeam instead."

Lanturn smirked and swam towards the confused Pikachu, not knowing what she should be doing next as her trainer was thinking of how to fix this situation.

"Dodge that, Milla!" Pia called out in the midst of her thinking process, immediately getting back to it. Unless Milla learned a new move in the middle of a battle, they had no chance at this. Milla on the other side, jumped away from the incoming impulse of psychic energy with high speed. However, since Milla did not receive a new command, she was wide open for another attack.

"Psybeam again!"

Lanturn fired another peculiar ray that hit the Pikachu this time around, hurling her back to Pia's feet. "Chu…"

"Challenger Pia's first Pokémon has been knocked out! Lanturn won the battle of the fittest!" Pia heard the announcer call out and the audience going wild.

"Milla…" the girl whispered and took out Milla's Pokéball to return her, only staring at it briefly before unclipping the next one from her belt. Soma's Pokéball…

Now, there were several issues with this situation. One was that Nessa had probably seen her strategy against Milo and had successfully countered her in every possible way. She still had a possibility to turn the tables if Milla had been able to damage the Lanturn even slightly. The next one was that although Pia had counted on Soma to be called to battle… The Cottonee was inexperienced and compared to Milla and Prim, he could even be considered on the weak side. No, it wasn't Milla's fault. It was also not Soma's for being inexperienced. It was her fault for thinking she could defeat Nessa with just Milla. For forgetting this one ability that would mess up her entire plan. She got cocky. She was to blame… and while these thoughts brooded inside of her mind, she threw up Soma's ball.

"Let's do this Soma, I'll guide you through this…" Pia sighed, almost feeling guilty for the little Cottonee for calling him to such a difficult battle. "Though I feel like we should maybe give up at this point…" Pia gritted her teeth as she whispered quietly to herself with all the regret in the world that she had only trained him for contests.

"Nee?" Soma glanced behind him, noticing the brooding and sheming expression on his trainer's face. Pia almost sounded disappointed and the last bit hit the Cottonee right in his gut. Give up? Why? Wasn't he just called here? His worried look earned him Pia's attention.

"D-Don't worry! I know what you're thinking… I'm sorry for lacking as a trainer but I will get you through this mostly unharmed, alright?" Pia waved both of her hands in front of her, trying to sooth Soma's worries but they only grew more. She was lacking? How exactly was she lacking? Wasn't it him who was lacking in battling capabilities…? Soma glared at the Lanturn and female gymleader in front of them. Were they the ones that gave his beloved trainer a beating to her confidence?

Nessa glanced at the situation in front of her. She had no obligation to wait for this girl to be ready but it was rather interesting what was happening. She did tell Sonia that she would give her kids a proper beating but this had been a little too easy. What was she even doing treating her Cottonee like that?

"It's not good to look down upon your Pokémon, you know? You'll dent their confidence. Hasn't Sonia thought you that much?" Nessa shrugged. Pia glanced up at the gym leader. Although she had heard the nasty remark, she seemed to be lost in her own thinking process. As if she was calculating something right there and then.

"What's the matter? Lost your wings, little fairy?" Nessa snickered and the girl's frowns. "No matter, I've waited long enough. Lanturn, use Rain Dance!" Nessa called out the the waiting Lanturn who immediately sprung back into action after pretending it was napping from boredom. Dark stormy clouds appeared above them within the stadium, depriving the grass Pokémon of the light it needed for any form of synthesis. Another smart move from Nessa who only smirked more while Lanturn hid himself away in the depths of the pool much like the Drednaw had done before him. Pia decided upon a strategy and took a deep breath. It was time for a hit and run.

"Lure him out, Soma!" Pia called out to the frustrated Cottonee. He did as Pia said, thought for how long… And flew around his little platform.

"Eerie impulse!" Nessa called out the swimming Lanturn who had hidden himself underwater and now finally jumped up. The fast Pokémon practically flewed above the Cottonee while it dodged the incoming attack.

"Cotton Spore! Now!!" Pia screamed.

Soma shook his body and unleashed little cotton particles that stuck to the Lanturn's skin. No matter how much he tried to shake them off, they wouldn't budge. This was surely going to make him slower in the water but he retreated for now. Pia glanced at Nessa, waiting for her next move while calculating Soma's next best position. She was reminded of her battle against Oleana...

"Move a bit to the right!" Pia called out, making herself sound unsure. Sure, what she was trying to do was maybe a bit of an underhanded tactic but… She really couldn't falter here. She couldn't let the others watch her pathetic performance and she refused to be made an example of. Luckily Soma understood what she was trying to do here and did as she said while "readying" an attack. Nessa smirked at the girl, not realizing for once what she was up to.

"Electro ball!' She called out, making the Lanturn jump up on the exact side Soma was on. By doing so, Nessa hoped to cancel out

"Jump out of the way and Poison Powder that annoying thing!" Pia's face was as serious as ever. She took no pride in what she had done but Soma listened all the same. He jumped aside and unleashed a poisoned spore in the face of the Lanturn, poisoning the wretched thing.

"Ohhh that was a mean one. Who knew you had this side?" Nessa commented. Pia felt the chills travel over her back and only now realized she had broken out in cold sweat. Sure she was lucky now but for how long. "Electro ball again now you have the chance!" Nessa repeated at her Pokémon.

"To the floor and use Razor Leaf underneath it!" Pa called out in her turn. The Lanturn that tried to jump over the platform had no way to dodge the incoming grass move, leaving a satisfied Soma until he noticed how little damage the Razor leaf had done. Nessa wasn't even mad. It was finally turning into somewhat of a challenge.

"Eerie impulse again! Make sure to get him this time!" Nessa smiled.

Lanturn swam around the platform Soma was on rather than jumping up and making himself vulnerable. Lanturn's body briefly lit up as it generated enough electrical sparks to send out a wave of impulses. Soma immediately felt his strength being sapped away.

"Follow up with an Energy ball!"

Nessa proved to not be done yet as Pia did not get the chance to call out for another command while Lanturn hurled a ball of electrons in Soma's direction.

"Dodge that!" Pia called out but Soma refused to step aside for some reason. "Soma!!" Pia screamed at the Cottonee. He had always been obedient, what is this?! Soma thankfully decided to step aside. "Cotton Spore now that he's distracted!" Pia almost begged the Grass type Pokémon. The Cottonee sighed and did as she said… Releasing more cotton particles to stick on the Lanturn's body to slow it down even more.

"Again! Energy ball again!" Nessa walked a bit more at the sidelines of the pool. trying to get a better look at where Lanturn currently was. It resurfaced and shot an Electric orb right in Soma's back. Pia gritted her teeth but as the dust settled, Soma seemed to be… somewhat okay. Energy ball only worked well if the opponent was slower than the user. The girl sighed in relief. That cotton spore at the last moment had probably saved the Cottonee.

"Razor leaf!" Pia started walking around similarly as Nessa did. Lanturn was hit but shrugged the attack off. Returning to the water as he did. That Eerie impulse from earlier… How annoying. She could see Lanturn getting hurt by the poison Soma had inflicted earlier. That was at least something. Soma probably had to hit the Lanturn 2 to 4 times more to win this fight. Soma on the other side… Pia rubbed the sweat away from her face, her hair still wet from the shower she had gotten during the gym trial. This was all on Pia. This was her fault.

Soma noticed the distress his trainer was radiating and turned around once more to get a quick glance at Pia. Pia gave him a reassuring nod but… it wasn't all that reassuring. Weak. Soma felt incredibly weak. It made him feel so weak in fact, that the despair he felt turned into anger. Uncontrollable anger… until everything in front of him went black and he charged into the Lanturn head on.

"Soma?! What are you doing?!" Pia called out. "Get a hold of yourself! You received no instructions!" She tried to get some sense into him but Soma just kept flying. Nessa could only shake her head and snicker.

"Confuse Ray him. Show the Cottonee what happens when he disobeys his trainer." Nessa sighed. Lanturn showed an eerie and scary smile. A sinister flash of light exploded from the angler on top of his head. Soma stopped flying up ahead and stopped in his tracks, finding that his sights had gotten terribly blurry. Pia gasped.

"Get close and use Bubble Beam!" Nessa smiled in enjoyment. Despite the opponent being rather weak, she was having fun trying to take it down. She had to give it to Pia. She had done a good job keeping the Cottonee safe so far but this is where it would end. Lanturn charged at Soma at full speed, for what it was worth with all the cotton spores still attached to it's body, and readied it's attack.

Pia's eyes widened. A close up water attack would definitely knock Soma out there and then. She couldn't allow that. She had to do something.

"Fairy wind! Use Fairy Wind to blind him!" Pia yelled at Soma, frustrated at his previous actions but this wasn't the time to argue. Nessa was obviously not going to sit around anymore. Soma wobbled left and right, very confused thanks to the sinister light that came from Lanturn. He tried to stop himself from moving around so much and tried to focus. It took him everything he had to make his sight a bit more clear from all the blurriness, just enough to be able to pinpoint the Lanturn… Then he spread his tiny leaf wings and shot a pink glittery wind right into Lanturn's face, making it go off-course and missing Soma just by a hair.

"Mega Drain! Please, Soma!" Pia told the Cottonee and although he was about to go stubborn again… he relented. A breeze of particles flew towards Lanturn and landed on it's skin, draining Lanturn's nutrients and healing himself with it. Soma shook his head a few times and eventually got rid of the confusion by peer pressure. His trainer was upset with him. He was supposed to protect her… What is he doing?

"The battle is not over yet! Eyes open!" Pia called out to the no-longer confused Cottonee and brought his attention back to the Lanturn that was once again trying to close in on Lanturn.

"Psybeam up close, Lanturn!" Nessa grinned from ear to ear. As soon as Lanturn jumped, Pia's mouth started to move again.

"Fly up and use Razor Leaf! Slam it against the platform! Give it everything you've got!"

While Lanturn jumped over the platform Soma was on, Soma flew up higher just in the nick of time. While lanturn had a purple orb growing in front of his mouth, Soma started gathering leaves all around to turn it into the biggest Razor leaf storm they had yet to see.

Cracks were heard coming from the platform and an incredible cloud of dust blinded the whole field. It was awfully quiet… until the dust finally settled. From the clearing up dust, one peculiar sight was seen. A triumphant Cottonee that looked like it had gone through war and a fainted overgrown fish. Even Nessa finally let go of the tension she felt. The Razor Leaf alone wouldn't have been good enough to defeat this Lanturn… The poison had caught up to the fish. How dramatic. Pia, who had held her breath the entire time, let out the deepest of sights. Relieved to find Soma be the winner.

"That battle really had me at the edge of my seat! The winner is Pia McGuire!"

Pia and Soma glanced at each other. She tried to give him a small smile and a thumbs up but the Cottonee immediately looked away from her. She sighed and returned the Pokémon to his Pokéball, clenching it between both her hands and pressing her lips softly upon the surface.

"You did well, no matter what you may think..." She whispered.

Nessa returned the Lanturn on her side of the field, the smile she had earlier never having left the gym leader's face. This was an interesting battle.

"I see now why they call you a sorceress. Despite your odds, you managed to win." Nessa came up closer to the girl, using the platform as jumping stones. Pia was unfamiliar with the name she had just called her with but she was too tired to even ask.

"I messed up big time…" She said quietly and looked away from the gym leader.

"You kinda did. The way you got back from that was amazing though. Sonia thought you kids well." Nessa started rumbling in her pocket and held out the badge in front of Pia, trying to make her look at her. "You've got a lot to learn but I can see how you defeated Milo. Good job Pia. You've earned this Hulburry gym badge." Nessa grabbed the reluctant Pia's arm and held it up high in the air for the audience to see. A chant, so loud that they could probably hear it all the way in Turffield, was heard… but Pia still didn't feel like she had earned those.

Pia's Party

Memories

STAGE 1: Wedgehurst -> Wild Area -> Motostoke

Wedgehurst
I choose you part 1
I choose you part 2
I choose you Final

Wild Area
Train to Wild Area ft. Raphael & Aeliana
Two birds with one stone
Two birds with one stone part 2 + Bird Brain
Wild Area with Arrietty

Motostoke
Double Trouble part 1
Double Trouble part 2

STAGE 2: Route 3 -> Galar Mine 1 -> Route 4 -> Turffield

Route 3
It's the most wine-derful time of the year | Part 1
It's the most wine-derful time of the year | Part 2
A Festive Fight to the Finish
The Mystery of Mew! | Part 1
The Mystery of Mew! | Part 2
The Mystery of Mew! | Part 3
A Two headed reflection

Galar Mine 1
Galar Mine #1 | Part 1
Galar Mine #1 | Part 2
Galar Mine #1 | Part 3

Route 4
Route 4
Coach McGuire
A failed attempt.

Turffield
Bad Company.
It gets worse.
Shopping shenanigans
A challenger approaches!
Gym battle: Turffield
Here and Now
Performance Post: Dreaming Fairy
New Friendships

Route 5
Homecoming | Part 1
Homecoming | Part 2
An eggcelent situation.

Hulburry
Gym battle: On treacherous waters Part 1

Pia's journal

Arrietty Maverick
Pia and Arrietty met in the Wild Area although the two have shared classes before. It struck Pia as odd that the girl seemed to have no ambitions or goals at all. Although disappointed upon finding out this girl had no fire burning that would light her path, Pia made it her mission to help this girl get a goal and become a bit more social. Arrietty is the closest Pia can consider a "friend".

As according to their promise, Pia helped Arrietty get ready for her very first contest in Turffield. However, the girl ran off from stage when she was up. Pia has been feeling guilty for "forcing her into contesting" ever since.

Ruben Sancho
Pia met Ruben during Motostoke while on a double date with him, Arrietty and Ainsley. The date went disastrous with both Arrietty and Ainsley running off but Ruben and Pia were able to grow just a tiny bit closer during their search for Arrietty. They have been texting since and are on good terms with each other. They both seem to be interested in just a little bit more...

Ruben and Pia are officially dating since the end of the year festival on Route 3 following their "official second date" that went well. Pia knows about Ruben's ankle and that it's still hurting. They're in close contact with each other through calling and texting. They went on another date on Route 4 where Ruben had a gig for a coaching session with kids with the promise to spend time together after that. Both confirmed their feelings for the other by sharing a kiss. Pia likes him a lot.

Their relationship became public knowledge when a picture of Ruben staring down Pia's shirt was shared on social media and all gossip magazines. Ruben has been hiding it from Pia but as they went shopping, Pia got vocally attacked by a group of girls calling her out for being a whore and having no dignity. Ruben stood up for her and made their relationship public knowledge, no longer wanting to submit Pia to such harassment. Ruben publicly announced he likes Pia a lot and that they have been dating as opposed to what he has been saying before. Pia still doesn't know about the picture that's going around.

Despite the situation that had happened in the mall, Ruben insisted towards Raphael that they're just "friends" while Raphael announced to know more about their relationship due to being uncomfortable with the fact of calling Pia his "girlfriend". He has been slowly getting into the idea of being in a relationship with her throughout Turffield. The two of them visited his home in Wedgehurst during the events of Route 5 where Pia ended up meeting his sister Daija and his little brothers. He told Daija to stop calling her the "G" word but he ended up admitting to her he indeed considered Pia his girlfriend. During all of this Pia has been thinking about their time together and has grown quite fond of Ruben, more than she probably realizes herself as she has to constantly remind herself that she shouldn't be feeling the things that she is feeling. She believes that it will all come to an end but has recently started clinging on to a little spark of hope...

The two of them exchanged Applin's during their Valentine's day date where they also decided to release them, promising each other that they would stay together.

They've proven to be currently in love with both of them starting to show effort in their relationship. However, Pia's big secret that she's trying to keep hidden from Ruben is becoming a ticking time bomb...

Raphael Allard
Pia met Raphael during her train ride to the wild Area together with Aeliana. Thinking that he had a lot of potential in becoming a chamption which would benefit her, Pia approached him thinking they could become friends. Their interactions didn't go as smoothly as Pia had hoped. After their argument at the end of her battle with Aeliana, the girl ran off thinking she had blown her chances. Raphael doesn't harbour any ill intend towards the girl and only hoped to give her some advice.

They have resolved their issues in Galar mine 1 and worked together to battle Oleana in which they were victorious. Raphael brought the issues with Pia's overprotectiveness of Milla back up on Route 4 when Pia was refusing Milla from battling. Raphael spoke some sense into her, prompting her to finally trust Milla. Raphael understands Pia better now and Pia has a better opinion of Raphael now too.

They met again during the events of the Turffield contest and spend some time talking to each other while Pia tried to get Ruben to apologize to Arrietty. Raphael said something similar to what he said on Route 4 and confused Pia in her actions. He seems to know more than he lets on.

Aeliana Kekoa
Pia met Aeliana during the train ride to the wild Area together with Raphael. Although her interactions with Aeliana went a little bit more smoothly than with Raphael, Pia still ran off at the end of their battle in an attempt to distract her since Pia owed her money for losing. Although Pia has declared Aeliana her rival, they haven't spoken since and Pia attempts to keep it that way.

Pia met Aeliana again on Route 3 when she was on her way to the end of the year market. Together with Rosa and Valerie they went into an haunted mansion. Although they didn't converse much, Aeliana made some comments that Pia saw as snarky that were meant well by Aeliana. This indicates that Pia still thinks that Aeliana is out to get her.

Ainsley
Ainsley was Pia's date partner during the double date in Motostoke and is Ruben's best friend. Ainsley pretended to be rich and paid for the date with Ruben's money. Pia saw through the charade and called him out on it after Ainsley suggested they'd book a hotel together and make love. He ran off afterwards, angry that the feelings of lust he harboured towards Pia were not returned. Pia doesn't think highly of Ainsley and told Ruben that he needs "better friends".

Melody Argent
Although Pia and Melody attended the same Trainer school and were in the same class, they never once teamed up for an assignment. Both didn't have a very good impression of the other and avoided them like the plague. It's not until the Festival Fun-time Flurry that they have tried teaming up to win a competition as both of them were interested in the prize. They chased down a cheater together and have a better opinion of each other since their teamwork. They figured out that they're a pretty good team actually. Both of them thinks "the other is not so bad after all".

Valerie Amity
Pia met Valerie on route 3 where they went inside a haunted mansion together with Aeliana and Rosa. They didn't get to converse much but it was enough for them to establish some sort of familiarity. Valerie calls Pia "Lady P" as a nickname. Pia thinks of Valerie as someone with too much energy but not a bad person overall, maybe a little too naïve.

Pia was able to form a friendshop with Valerie in Turffield where she finally managed to catch the girl alone. Pia decided that Valerie's stream and followers could help her towards her goal of becoming rich, one she is trying to head towards to against ever since the events with Catherine. She feels guilty about this though.

Rosa Valdés
Pia met Rosa on Route 3 and went inside a haunted mansion together with Aeliana and Valerie. They were stuck inside a room together where Rosa found golden nuggets and shared one with Pia. Rosa's small moments of kindness seemed insincere in Pia's eyes, someone who is well versed with duality. When Rosa left the end of the year market after they had gotten out of the haunted mansion, Pia followed her and saw her crying. Pia comforted the crying Rosa but as soon as Rosa had gotten herself together again, Pia fell the need to call her out on her duality, telling her that how she was acting now was quite different from before. Rosa denied at first but as soon as Pia had driven her into a corner, she stopped trying. After Jirachi appeared for a brief second, Rosa walked off. They're neither on bad or good terms but both have things they probably need to speak off.

Simon Pearburgh
Pia met Simon in Galar Mine 1. Pia thought nothing more of him than a bug nerd. They partnered up to battle against Oleana and his clever strategies impressed Pia, prompting her to compliment him after their shared life/death situation on Route 4.

Pia considers Simon to be a positive influence and appreciates him cheering her on during the contest in Turffield where he appeared to be the loudest in the room.

Catherine Carlisle
Yeah.... Pia really doesn't like Catherine but she enjoys getting under her skin.

Kit
Pia met Kit in the Wild Area. Kit had been trying to catch a Pokémon for days but had yet to catch one. He begged the girl to help him in exchange for money and a strange rock that he found. Pia taught him how to catch a Pokémon but after hearing that Kit is in search for his father, she decided to only take the strange rock as her reward and left the pouch with Poké behind for the boy to keep. Kit seems to have developed a crush for her because of that.

Daija Sancho
Daija is Ruben's little sister by 2 years. Pia met Daija during her trip to Wedgehurst with Ruben on Route 5. Daija was wary of the girl at first as she is well aware of her brother's "type". She has given Pia her nod of approval when she found the two being silly in the living room after she had left the house for a little bit to cool off. She thinks Pia is a positive influence in Ruben's life.

Jovian and Livia McMiller and Daniel
Pia met the McMiller couple and their foster son on Route 5 when she took a nap outside in the cold covered in her own Pokémon. Livia McMiller invited her at her home with happened to be the Nursery on Route 5. Pia investigated the Chimecho mystery of how she had suddenly laid two eggs. She appeared to be fostering them as trainer's had left those eggs behind. Chimecho have her a mint-green coloured egg with darker green swirls as a thank you for getting her wishes across to the McMiller couple.

Trainer ID

Pia McGuire:

Pia was born in the town of Hammerlocke in the Galar region and is part of the first graduating class of the Wedgehurt trainer's academy. Despite having lived in poverty, her mother has been able to pay for her tuition in alternative ways. She's quick witted and rather clever but is sometimes a bit "too" honest. Pia dreams of becoming an actress and does almost anything to get more money. When it comes down to it, what she really wants is to no longer live in poverty and live a bit more happily.

Inventory:

4x Pokéball
Galarian Pokédex
Xtransceiver
Broken Flashlight
King's Rock
Sun Stone
Thunderstone
Mint green Pokémon egg with darker green swirls

Outfits:

Daily Outfit:

Spoiler:

Contest outfit:

Spoiler:

Ribbons:

Turffield Ribbon 2nd place:

Badges:

Turffield Grass badge

Stinging Bea · Mar 22, 2021

Aeliana Kekoa

Hulbury

Chapter 8-2 | Into The Deep

Aeliana's Current Party:

"Tampa! Let's go!"

Aeliana tosses the ball of her second Pokémon out onto the field. The familiar shape of her beloved Croconaw comes into form, the blue gator clearly excited as she takes in the familiar sounds of the audience cheering for her. It's clear that Tampa has already gotten a name for herself. Various shouts and cheers reach both her and Aeliana's ears, making it clear that Tampa has something of a following after she managed to topple Milo's Appletun during her gym challenge debut.

A smile seems to have crept its way upon Nessa's lips as well. She offers a small word of thanks to her now fallen Pelipper before placing the ball back on her hip and reaching for another poké ball.

"It seems you've got a fondness for water-types," Nessa muses aloud.

Aeliana blinks in confusion. She gives a curious glance down towards her Croconaw, who in turn gives the pinkette just as clueless of a look. "Eh…?"

Nessa merely chuckles in response. "Don't sweat it, love. Let's just get down to it. Let's see who's going to turn the tide in their favor!"

Nessa takes hold of her poké ball of choice and tosses it forward with the grace one would expect of the model. Immediately, Aeliana takes notice of the ball's different color and design. It's blue, with what looks to be red marking along the top that goes down the middle of the ball. What surprises the pink-haired trainer the most however is where Nessa tosses it. There is a solid splashing noise as she chucks the poké ball into the water, before a bright light can be seen shining out from the depths of the pool. The ball bounces back into her hand, as if being smacked with a baseball bat and Nessa was the one playing catcher. The "hitter" is made obvious when a blue and yellow fish Pokémon pops out to the surface of the pool. A friendly smile graces the Pokémon's face, with a dangling antenna in the center of her forehead that sort of resembles a light..

"I was gonna use my Drednaw, originally… But I think my Lanturn will make more of a splash," Nessa says with a small chuckle.

Aeliana opens her mouth to reply, but instead chooses to give the gym leader a small giggle for the pun. It wasn't the first time she had heard something like that. It probably wouldn't be the last, either.

"Alright, Tampa! The first move is ours! Let's start off with a Dragon Dance!" Aeliana calls out.

"Lanturn, Rain Dance!" Nessa counters.

As Tampa begins her dance, the rain once more begins to pour from overhead. The gator Pokémon shuffles about on the platform, but the downpour causes the footing to become rather slippery, and just as soon as she begins to feel a rush of power from her boogie, the Croconaw loses her footing and tumbles over onto her backside.

"Tampa!" Aeliana calls out. "Are you alright?!"

Nessa gives a nod to her Lanturn. "Now, Lanturn! Bubble Beam!"

The Lanturn launches a powerful blast of water and bubbles at her target. Tampa is caught by surprise from the sudden attack, still struggling to climb back up to her feet. The force of the water slams right into her gut, sending Tampa flying back and right into the watery depths of the pool.

"If we're both bringing water to this fight, we're going to take things to my territory," Nessa declares.

Aeliana pays Nessa no mind. She instantly rushes to the edge of the pool to see if her Pokémon is okay. After a few seconds, Tampa breaks through the water and reaches the surface. She seems a little shaken up at the sudden change in battling environment, but is fine nonetheless. Aeliana mentally kicks herself. Of course Tampa's fine. She is a water Pokémon after all. She returns her focus to Nessa, eyes narrowing. If it's a water battle she wants, then she'll be happy to oblige.

"Alright Tampa! Let's get back in the game!" the pinkette cheers. Tampa lets out an excited gurgle, mimicking her trainer's glare as she shifts her focus towards Nessa's Lanturn. "Aqua Jet, now!"

"Lanturn, Electro Ball!" Nessa retorts.

Tampa launches herself at the fish Pokémon. Her tail spins behind her as she quickly darts through the water, almost as if it's operating as some kind of propeller. The Croconaw effortlessly slams into the Lanturn, causing the fish to recoil in surprise from the force of Tampa's body slamming into her. The fish is able to easily recover, however. The light dangling at the end of her antenna begins to glow brightly, a massive ball of energy suddenly firing out from it and right into Tampa's face. The gator Pokémon lets out a pained wail as she sinks down into the deep water. Still, she manages to recover and takes aim at the Lanturn.

"Tampa, go for a Bite!" the pinkette calls.

"Lanturn, Confuse Ray!" the gym leader shouts.

Tampa begins to kick her legs and swing her arms as she pushes herself through the water towards her target. The Croconaw narrowed her eyes in the water, as if taking aim at the fish Pokémon. Meanwhile, the Lanturn's antenna began to glow a strange assortment of colors. The strange display causes Tampa to freeze in her tracks, the Croconaw seemingly becoming entranced by display. The strange lights swirl around Tampa, causing a dazed look to come to her eyes. She didn't seem to be hurt by it however…

"Tampa! Come on! Get back on the attack and use Bite!" Aeliana calls out again.

Tampa merely floats in response. She starts to swim forward, but quickly comes to a stop before suddenly turning face and swimming straight up. Without warning, the gator Pokémon ends up slamming her head into the nearby platform.

"She's confused!"

"Lanturn, Psybeam!" Nessa's yells.

The fish Pokémon's light on her antenna begins to glow again. Another strange light emanates from the Lanturn's antenna. Aeliana clenches her fists with worry.

"Come on Tampa, you can dodge it! Go in for a Bite!" Aeliana orders.

The beam encircles Tampa, essentially acting like some kind of leash around her ankle. Before the Croconaw can properly respond to what's going on, the Lanturn takes off swimming furiously. All the while, Tampa is being dragged around behind her. Tampa reaches out, her fangs chomping down tightly… right into her own tail. Tampa lets out a loud, pain-filled wail.

"Tampa, come on!" Aeliana calls out. She's practically begging at this point. "You gotta snap out of this!"

Tampa's eyes go wide. A look of embarrassment, followed by anger quickly washes over the Croconaw's face. Without waiting for another order from the pink-haired trainer, Tampa quickly shifts and manages to free herself from the Psybeam that was dragging her along in the water, before she propels herself forward and finally sinking her razor-sharp fangs into the Lanturn's tail.

Now, it was Lanturn's turn to do the struggling. The fish Pokémon began to thrash about wildly, doing everything in her power to try and somehow shake her tailfin free from Tampa's toothy grasp. The blue gator remains firmly locked on, however. In fact, it seems as though she was somehow biting down harder onto the Lanturn's fin the more she tries to free herself. A panicked look overtook the fish's facial features, before an idea seemingly came to her mind. The fish quickly swims up to the surface, leaping out of the water with as much energy as she can muster. Both Nessa and Aeliana stare with wide eyes as the Lanturn slams Tampa back down onto the platform. The Croconaw finally releases her grip on the fish's tail fin, before standing proudly as the Lanturn manages to push itself back into the water.

"That's the way to do it, Tampa!" Aeliana exclaims with joy. "We're still in this!"

Nessa remains silent, however. Her gaze hardens as she adjusts her focus towards her Lanturn. The fish Pokémon was now circling the platform that Tampa stood on, quickly resembling a shark that was looking to make a meal out of some poor, stranded soul.

"Let's get this done with, Tampa! Time for another Dragon Dance!" Aeliana orders.

Tampa begins to shuffle about. Her hips thrust in and out. Her tail swishes back and forth. Nessa smirks, quickly realizing the situation she's been presented with.

"Electro Ball, now!" the gym leader shouts.

A sparking ball of electricity forms overhead of the Lanturn. Her head bobs out of the water, pulling herself onto the platform before taking aim and unleashing the ball of energy at the dancing Croconaw. Before Tampa can prepare, the Electro Ball sails straight into her gut. Tampa staggered back, almost toppling over in the process.

"These platforms don't give her much space to dodge anything... Looks like there's not much of a choice…" Aeliana gives Tampa a quick nod. "Back in the water! You can dodge her attacks easier in the water!"

Tampa hurriedly scurries to the edge of the platform and hops in the water. Lanturn is quick to follow. The fish Pokémon submerges herself beneath the surface of the pool, looking about to see that the Croconaw is swimming at a much more rapid pace towards her. Nessa shouts for her to attack Tampa with yet another Electro Ball, but the increased speed from the Dragon Dance allows for Tampa to dodge the sparkling ball with ease.

The Lanturn immediately goes on the defensive. She tries to put more distance between herself and Tampa, but the Croconaw is still right behind. Her claw-like hands reach out in an attempt to try and grab hold of that tail fin once more, however the Lanturn manages to keep it just out of reach. At the very least, Tampa manages to give a Scratch to the fin as the fish Pokémon tries to avoid her.

"Lanturn, Confuse Ray!" Nessa shouts.

The familiar, color beam of light begins to form around Lanturn's antenna. Tampa's eyes go wide as the fish suddenly turns and fires the strange ray of light in her direction. Almost instantly, she can feel her head start get fuzzy. Everything around her starts to spin and her vision starts to get blurry. However, Tampa grits her teeth. The Croconaw knows that she can't succumb to this attack! All the work Fiesta had done when battling that Pelipper would have been wasted! And Aeliana… she'd be so sad if they lost now. Tampa lets out a feral gurgle, shaking her head as if clearing the mist that was clouding her judgement.

Aeliana gasps. This was her chance! "Tampa! Finish it now!"

Tampa launches herself at Lanturn as the pinkette shouts for her to use Aqua Jet. The Croconaw slams into the fish Pokémon with a grunt, before suddenly unleashing a surprise attack as she begins to flail her tail into the Lanturn's head. The tail slams into the fish repeatedly… until it lets out one final groan before slowly sinking to the pool floor.

The battle was over… Lanturn had fainted.

The audience roars with excitement as Nessa recalls her now fainted Pokémon. A few moments later, a tired Tampa slowly swims to the surface of the water. Throwing all caution to the wind, Aeliana rushes to her Pokémon's side. She helps the Croconaw out from the water, before cheering and hugging the blue gator tight.

"Well… I have to admit, you do have a knack for pulling yourself out of a tight corner at the last minute," Nessa muses as she walks towards Aeliana.

Aeliana frowns. "I just got lucky, if that last Electro Ball would have hit… or if you confused Tampa…"

"I'm not gonna lie, you've got talent. I can see that Sonia taught you well, but I think it might do you some good to start thinking things through a bit more instead of just trying to constantly brute force your way through," Nessa replies. She sighs, smiling at the trainer before holding out her hand. Aeliana and Tampa's eyes lit up. "Congratulations, you've earned yourself the Hulbury gym badge!"

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Orx of Twinleaf · Mar 22, 2021

Team:

Rij

Henj

Tim T
Tim scrubbed hard at his tangled, ratty hair. Finally, some of the knots started to work themselves out. Bathing in ponds and rivers had never been quite adequate to manage his ever-unruly mane, and he didn't own a comb or brush. Tim often thought he should have kept his caps after all, just to be able to hide the sorry mess. But he supposed he would have just ended up losing the caps somewhere anyway. If his sunglasses weren't warped at the bridge to be tighter on his head he would have probably lost them somewhere by now too.

Tim wasn't wearing those sunglasses at the moment though. He wasn't wearing anything. It was likely far more common for people to use these showers after challenging the Gym, but then most people probably didn't come in looking like Tim. He'd drawn some raised eyebrows when he shuffled up to the desk and provided his information. The woman at the counter had been extremely professional though, hadn't even winced when she had to take Tim's card from his hand.

Tim sighed and turned off the shower. He briefly considered drying off on his clothes but decided that as long as towels were provided he'd might as well make use of them. With some effort he managed to get on his Gym Uniform. It still felt clean and crisp, protected by the plastic pouch he'd kept it in. As he put it on, a piece of paper fell from one of the sleeves. Tim picked it up and placed it on the bench next to his usual clothes and his bag.

It was a signature from another Trainer, one Clovis, who had also graduated from the Wedgehurst Trainers' school and who was also challenging the Gyms. It was a reminder to Tim of the confidence and heart a Trainer should display, and a memento of the first time since graduation that Tim had spoken to his peers. Clovis had not been fond of Tim, but that was to be expected; Tim remembered he had always been rather unsociable. And Xan had been so gracious as to give Tim his proper first battle. Tim was embarrassed that he couldn't tell if Xan was a boy or a girl, even after all this time, but Tim would never be so boorish as to ask, so for now he would think of Xan as a they. For whatever Xan might have thought of Tim, they still gave Tim a chance to speak and be heard.

Clovis and Xan, they almost certainly had both forgotten about Tim by now. Honestly, it would be better for everyone if they never saw Tim again. They probably thought nothing of what they said and did in front of Tim that day. But Tim would be eternally grateful to both of them. Some day, Tim could look Xan in the eye, even through sunglasses and a helmet. Some day, Tim could sign his own name with the same haughty confidence as Clovis had had.

Tim had had vivid dreams since escaping the Dhelmise on the beach. He didn't have the presence of mind to remember any of these much, but he woke hot, raring to go. His body had caught up to his training with Henj under the Stonjourner's Gravity. He didn't hurt quite so much now. It was a satisfying ache now, as if his muscles whispered their approval. Tim's Rhyhorn, Rij, ran under the Gravity while Tim trained now, and practiced tight turns.

Tim sat down on the bench to put on his big boots. Their size and wear contrasted markedly against the Gym Uniform, but they were all he had. They weren't suited for this sort of activity, but Tim would make them work. Rij and Henj weren't suited for the sort of combat Nessa's Gym dealt in. But they would work. Tim would make them work. They had made Tim work.

Tim took his Pokéballs and slipped them into the pocket of his shorts. There was no denying they were comfy and easy to wear, but Tim was a little uncomfortable with the idea of strolling out there with his legs bare. They were muscled and hairy and seemed to belong to a much stronger, older man than Tim was. Tim had never really felt his legs suited him. But it couldn't be helped. The uniform had come with shorts, and Tim didn't want to try and ask for any substitutions. The change would probably be charged to his family.

Tim didn't miss his family really. After his father had been killed in the mine collapse his mother had become a proper harpy. Sometimes Tim wondered if she wouldn't have rathered he'd also been in the ill-fated shafts at that moment. She had been all-too-happy to throw off the name of Tim's father when she remarried. Tim's step-father had told Tim to keep the name though, since it had been clear Tim wasn't interested in changing over and by then had been old enough to make such decisions. Tim's step-father was a nice guy. The man was sterile for some reason Tim couldn't recall but had always been a friendly and accommodating figure to Tim. It was why Tim had left. It seemed rude to stick around when his mere existence seemed to set his mother off: his step-dad would always have to deal with the fallout. Tim's step-dad would happily pay for any of Tim's expenses as a Gym challenger, but Tim knew that every single bill that came in would be a fresh cause for his mother to screech. Tim felt it would be the proper thing to do to just not have such bills exist at all.

Tim shook his head and went to the sink to look in the mirror. He used his fingers to try and comb his hair into a presentable fashion, but as wet as it was it still hung heavily. When had it gotten so long? It almost reached his shoulders. There was nothing he could do with it: he gave up and let it hang straight with only a simple combover to keep it out of his face. Tim rubbed his mustache a little. His mustache was still a strong, dark black, unlike his greying hair and brows. Tim hadn't looked at his reflection for a very long time: he hadn't realized just how silly he looked. Usually he wouldn't care much, but this was a Gym challenge, he didn't want to look so screwy for such an event.

There was a clatter and Tim jumped. He noticed there was some sort of repairman huddled under one of the other sinks doing something. How long had that man been there? Tim wondered how he'd let himself be so lost in thought that this guy had snuck up on him. Or maybe he'd been there the whole time, privately wondering what Tim was taking so long for? The man glanced over and noticed Tim staring. Tim hadn't put the sunglasses back on yet and so was caught red-handed.

"Nervous?" the man ventured with some thick accent Tim couldn't place. He had a pipe wrench fixed to one of the pipes but Tim didn't have the plumbing knowledge necessary to identify what he was up to.

"A little bit, I suppose," Tim answered. Truthfully, Tim wasn't really all that nervous. He didn't really get stage fright, and as far as he was concerned there was no huge problem with losing here. He could always just try again. It wasn't as if he had some sort of reputation to uphold. There would be no one watching Tim's performance with the same sort of commitment Tim watched those of others. Tim had even been careful to let the staff know not to refer to him as "Tim," so that even on the off-chance someone recognized that name they couldn't hear it in passing and maybe be inclined to look over at the screens to see him bumble. Tim doubted anyone had bothered learning Tim was short for Timereaux, not short for Timothy.

The man nodded a little. Perhaps hearing Tim's voice confirmed Tim's youth. Tim certainly didn't look the part, he wagered. "Is okay. You do good, kid."

Tim looked at the floor a moment. It had been a long time since someone had referred to him as "kid." Honestly, Tim couldn't remember how old he was these days. His birth date was on his card but he didn't dig it out for such frivolous reasons as to check his age. Was Tim still a "kid?" What did that mean? That Tim could still grow? Or was Tim already past his prime now, on the ever-steeper downhill slide of youth lost?

The man went back to his work and Tim looked in the mirror again. Tim's deep, brown eyes seemed young. Tim was still young. There was time. With his eyes hidden so often, the rest of Tim's face was an aged one. People likely assumed he was older than he really was. People likely assumed Tim was broken down and past his prime. People likely assumed Tim had already failed at his goal.

Tim's hand moved to his pocket. He felt the Pokéballs of his mons.

"Try and catch me!" Tim's friend had boasted, tearing through the brush with her Rhyhorn, Rij.

Tim had never been able to catch her. But she wasn't running anymore. She wasn't climbing, or swimming, or spelunking. She was dead. She had been dead for a while. She would be dead forever.

Tim's brow lowered, his mustache stretching over clenched teeth. Tim had never been able to catch her. But he would do so now.

Tim straightened up. The short sleeves of his uniform showed the results of his training, wiry-taut under sun-tanned hide, his chest broad. People probably assumed he was skin-and-bone under his raggedy poncho. His shorts exposed hard climber's legs, calves and thighs that could carry him for miles over the roughest terrain. People probably assumed his legs were withered and weak under his tattered pants. His eyes and hair bespoke a youth even he often forgot he still had. But people probably assumed his mustache was one of decades, rather than months.

Tim rubbed his mustache again unhappily. He had no way to shave it of course, and even if he could shave it it would only grow back. Tim looked over at the plumber working away. The man had a handrag in his pocket.

"I beg your pardon," Tim ventured, "but could I have your rag?"

The man looked at Tim quizzically. "What for?"

"My teeth are ghastly, I don't want to go in front of the cameras like this." That wasn't even really a lie. Tim hadn't so much as lifted a toothbrush since before leaving Wedgehurst. It was a good thing his diet was one distinctly lacking in excessive sugar, and that he was often hungry enough to spend minutes and minutes licking his teeth clean for all the food he could get. Otherwise Tim may well have started losing his teeth by now.

The other man chuckled at Tim's explanation and pulled a clean rag from his tool bag. He gave it to Tim and Tim tied it around his face, up over his nose like a bandanna, hanging open underneath. Tim looked in the mirror again. The effect was staggering. Tim looked like any other young, proper challenger. The darkness under his eyes almost even seemed to compliment his lashes, where before it had just added to his weary look.

"What are you wearing?" Tim's friend had asked him all that time ago. Were she here, she would have certainly asked it again now.

Tim glanced back at his things on the bench, looking at his sunglasses. The sunglasses stared back at him from atop the pile of rags that made up his usual outfit. It was like looking at his own shed skin.

Look at you, the deflated Tim-suit seemed to say, its eyeless stare condescending. When Nessa humiliates you, at least no one will recognize you on the street.

Tim scowled at it. "Thank you," he said to the plumber, moving to the gate and nodding to the attendant standing inside it.

"Good luck," the other man said, waving.

You are right to hide your face, the sunglasses sparkled, Clovis's signature nestled behind them.

"Oh? And who are you?" Tim's friend had asked him, back when they'd first met.

Tim stepped through the gate. He heard the announcer sing out over the intercom. "Next up is No. 252, here comes Timereaux Nigel Thaumatoff!"

Sapphire Rose · Mar 23, 2021

Hulbury 1

"This place almost reminds me of home… almost."

Aeliana took in the scent of the port city of Hulbury, a wave of familiarity rushing over the girl. While it was a far cry from the sandy beaches and salty, seawater scents of Alola, it was about as close as she had come to being in an area that at the very least mimicked those old sights and smells since she had come to reside within Galar. Combined with the sounds of various fishing boats rocking in the waters and the singing squawks of Wingull that were flying overhead, it was hard for the girl not to have a wave of nostalgia rush over her as she walked the Hulbury streets.

A seasonal warmth was in the air. While the temperature was far from sweltering, it was enough that the pink-haired trainer no longer felt the need to bundle up or even wear a jacket. She was dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a black tank top, with a pair of red, canvas sneakers covering her feet. A brown, leather bracelet was wrapped around her left wrist, with a red, white, and black flannel shirt wrapped around her waist, just in case she felt a chill and needed a bit of extra warmth. Mahina and Tampa walked by the trainer's side, with her new egg now carefully nestled in her arms.

"I guess the first thing we need to do is head for our challenge with Nessa," Aeliana dictated as she glanced down at her two companions. A look of excitement rushed over Tampa's face at this mention. She was excited that they were already going to be facing another challenge so soon. The blue gator immediately began to question whether or not this Nessa human was going to prove to be as much of a challenge as the big human with his Appletun. "That said, I kind of wouldn't mind doing a bit more sight-seeing first. Despite all the delays, we made pretty good time getting here. So we have a little extra time here, especially since we don't have to practice for any contests this time."

At that same time, a middle-aged man and young woman happened to be sitting in Hulbury's famous, seafood restaurant. Despite the delicious meal that the duo had partook in, a look of worry and dread seemed to be etched across the man's face. Both sat in silence, the man eyeing the waitress as she refilled his wineglass for what must have been the fourth time, only taking it when she had finished and walked away to tend to her other customers. His companion watched as the man took the wineglass, easily downing its contents as if it was the final thing he'd be drinking on the Earth.

"Mr. Armstrong, don't you think you're going a little overboard…?" the woman questioned. She adjusted her glasses, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned in closer to speak. "People are starting to stare… Perhaps we need to take this brainstorming session elsewhere?"

"And what, Vella? We've been over these models at least ten times since we've been here," Michael replied. A disgruntled sigh as he placed the glass back on the table before cupping his head with his hands in frustration. "You heard the higher-ups. They want new talent for this upcoming shoot. Fresh blood that's going to garner excitement for our new line, while they're also making a splash with the public? Where in Arceus' name do you think we're going to find someone like that? It's not like they're just going to come waltzing down the street with nothing better to do!"

At that exact moment, Michael's gaze shifts to the window that he and Vella were seated in front of. His mouth drops agape as the familiar sight of one tan-skinned, pink-haired, young woman came walking by. He quickly noticed the Croconaw walking by her side as well! There was no doubt about it! It really was her!

Without even a word to Vella, the portly man rose from his chair and made a frenzied dash towards the doors of the dining establishment. "You there! Wait a moment, please!"

Aeliana stopped, looking around curiously at the sound of the voice. Her eyes lit up as she spotted Michael making his way towards her, jogging at a brisk pace as if she was going to disappear at any moment. She offered the man a friendly smile as he reached her.

"Miss… Miss Kekoa, yes?" Michael said, panting as he caught his breath. It was clear to Aeliana that the man was not used to running… any distance at all. Still, she kept it to herself and didn't draw attention to it. "Do you… Do you remember me, by any chance?"

Aeliana narrows her eyes, a wave of realization quickly rushing over her facial features. "Oh! You're the guy from the clothing store in Wedgehurst! Alola!"

"Yes, yes! Alola to you as well, my dear!" Michael replied. "We saw you in the contest, my dear! That dress looked absolutely ravishing on you! Ravishing, I say!"

Aeliana smiled. "Yeah, I doubt I would've placed anywhere near as high without it. I really owe you guys for that."

"Think nothing of it, Miss Kekoa!" Michael exclaimed.

"Um… Just Aeliana will do," the pinkette replied, winicing a bit at the loudness of his voice. Tampa and Mahina both seemed to flinch from it as well, though the Croconaw was hardly bothered by it compared to the Clefairy. Mahina was already hiding behind Aeliana's leg, peering out to see if this man was going to attack her trainer or not. "So… What brings you here?"

Michael beamed. This was his chance. "Why, after your stellar performance at the contest, as well as that match you had against Milo at the Turffield gym, I'm here to offer you a chance of a lifetime!" Aeliana glances down at Tampa, who merely shrugs before refocusing her attention on the man. "My dear… how would you like to be a model?"

Aeliana remained silent for a moment, blinking slowly. "I'm… sorry…?"

"Model! Would you like to be a model?" Michael asked. "We're in the midst of launching a new line and I think you might be just the kind of person we need to help with our photoshoot!"

"I… I mean…" Aeliana stammered out. "I'm not… really model material. Don't you have anyone else that you could ask?"

Michael offered her a broad grin. "My dear, someone of your kind is just what we're looking for! People are bored of the same old models. We're looking for new blood! Fresh faces that will take the world by storm! You trainers are just the kind we're looking for!"

As if rehearsed, Vella exited the restaurant and glanced around for her boss. A sigh escaped her lips as she spotted him, talking to a familiar face as well. It doesn't take long for Vella to put two and two together as she quickly made her way towards the man and tapped him on his shoulder. Michael glanced over his shoulder as Vella smiled at the pink-haired trainer, before excusing herself and her boss for just a moment.

"Sir… Are you sure this is a good idea?" Vella questioned in a hushed voice. "She is pretty and she did help us out back in Wedgehurst, but… Don't you think signing her up to be a model out of the blue is a bit much?"

"Nonsense, Vella!" Michael replied. "We already have a working contact with this girl! Plus, you saw how well she did in the contest in Turffield and how she handled herself in the battle with Milo! She's starting to make quite the buzz already! Trust me, they want us to make a splash with this new line? Well, we're gonna make waves when they see that we have League challengers working as models too! People will go far and wide to buy clothing from our brand! The executives are going to love the publicity this brings in! Trust me!"

"If you say so, sir…" Vella sighed.

"Now then, Aeliana!" Michael's voice boomed as he returned to address the trainer. "What do you say?"

"Well… I guess I could lend you a hand," Aeliana finally concluded. She offered the man a small smile. While she was unsure if she really fit the bill as a model, she did owe him a favor for giving her the dress she wore in the contest.

"Excellent! Now we're getting somewhere!" Michael cheered, a boisterous laugh echoing out through the surrounding area.

Vella sighed before taking a look at her clipboard. The woman made a few notes before addressing the man once more. "Mr. Armstrong, not to rain on your parade but this shoot is going to require multiple models. Counting our star and now miss Kekoa, we're still short one more."

"Drat… that is a problem, yes…" Michael mumbled. He brought a hand to his chin, looking back down to Aeliana. "You've helped us out once before with your expert knowledge and insight, perhaps you can do it once more! Tell me, do you know of anyone that could join us in this photoshoot."

"Do I know anyone…?" Aeliana repeated.

She closed her eyes, leaning her head back as she began to run through various members of her graduating class. Valerie was definitely pretty enough to do some modeling, but… she likely wouldn't be up for it. Despite being an entertainer, the girl was unwilling to participate in contests even. Aeliana imagined that Melody would also be against something like this. Jasper or Clovis? No, neither one would be caught dead doing modeling. Raph probably wouldn't even attempt to muster the energy to change his clothes for it. Simon… while a good kid, probably wouldn't fit the bill either. She hadn't seen Rosa since the contest at Turffield. Ruben was an option. She was sure he'd probably modeled things like sneakers and sportswear before for endorsements, but that probably wasn't what Michael was looking for either. Wasn't there anyone else?

Like some sort of blessing, a familiar platinum blond haired girl walked down the path towards the trio, completely in thought and not aware of her surroundings as she was busy typing on her old, cracked device which you probably really couldn't call a phone anymore. None other than Pia looked up from that same cracked device to find the familiar pink hair she had seen multiple times before. Instead of wearing her usual outfit, she wore a mint coloured t-shirt that hanged over her shoulder, a pair of jeans and a pair of pastel pink coloured high heels as at this point she was just sightseeing and waiting on replies from Ruben and Arrietty. Especially Ruben had been a lot slower with replying but she knew why that was. He was getting himself ready for football. She could respect that but that was beside the point. Startled on seeing that very familiar pink hair, she turned around, hoping Aeliana hadn't seen her yet and attempted to head back into the direction she came from. Milla, who had been resting on the girls shoulder this entire time was immensely confused by her trainer's actions.

Unfortunately, luck was not on Pia's side. Lavender eyes lit up. A broad smile graced the Alolan's lips. "I know just the person, actually! Give me just a minute!"

Aeliana turned and began to chase after Pia. Mahina and Tampa were right on her heels and the egg was wrapped tightly in her arms. "Pia! Hold up a sec! I really need your help!"

Pia froze in place and let out a very deep, exhausted sigh. This had not been the first time she tried to head off, not been the second either… she just didn't learn. The only way to prevent this was to not get distracted next time that she walked around.

"A-Ah… Hi Aeliana. What have you been up to?" Pia turned around to meet the girl in question. "You need my help…?" What sort of help this could be only concerned the girl.

Aeliana offered Pia a smile before she pointed to Michael and Vella. She then grabbed the shorter girl's hand. "These two are some nice people I met at Wedgehurst, they run a clothing store there, part of a chain." The pink-haired trainer began to lead Pia back towards Michael and Vella. "You see, they need some help with a modeling gig! Something about needing some new talent. I'm not much of a model, really but they insisted I needed to give them a hand. They also said they needed a second model. So long story short, wanna lend a hand?"

Pia tried to squirm her way out of Aeliana's grip but it was too strong to make it not seem on purpose. What was this about a modelling gig? It's not like she had much to do now, it was basically the waiting game until she'd move on to the next town as scheduled. "I see… modelling." Pia sighed, somewhat in relief but why did Aeliana want her help? Wasn't she still mad?

Aeliana stopped in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder at Pia. Had she figured wrong? "Are you not interested?"

"Interested…" Pia mumbled. She was getting short on money. Ruben had been paying their accommodations in Turffield and that made things a lot easier but… She almost forgot she was flat broke. "Of course I'm interested~ I just wonder if I'm the right person for it." She gave the taller girl a sheepish grin.

"Of course you are!" Aeliana replied quickly. "I mean, you're pretty and you seem to like wearing more… fashionable clothes and stuff... Oh, and you're always worried about what you should or shouldn't be eating, despite the fact that you look amazing!"

Aeliana's sudden unannounced pile of compliments that she showered Pia with caused the latter's girl face to flare up in an instant. It was a combination of pride and embarrassment that she felt. Of course she had been taking good care of her appearance…

"I… I guess I can't say no then." Pia sighed in defeat. "What is this clothing store called again?"

"Calvin Klefki," Aeliana answered. "They're the ones who made the dress I wore in the contest back in Turffield. So, they're not just some no-names, you know?"

"Calvin Klefki?!" Pia practically shouted but quiet herself down immediately. "Aeliana! They're a super well-known and big branch! How did you get a modelling gig from them?!" Pia's eyes lit up in both admiration and surprise. Modelling for a big clothing branch?! This was an opportunity of a life-time! But why was Aeliana allowing her such an opportunity…? "Yes! I'll gladly lend a hand!" Pia announced full of passion.

"Awesome, let's not keep 'em waiting any longer then!" Aeliana beamed as she led the shorter girl towards the waiting Michael and Vella.

Michael offered Pia a warm smile as she approached. Meanwhile, Vella's eyes narrowed, the older woman seemingly analyzing Pia before mumbling something to herself and jotting a few things down on her clipboard.

"Why hello there!" Michael greeted the girl. "I take it you're Miss Kekoa's friend, yes? A fellow league challenger too! I think I recognize you from one of the matches with Milo I watched! My name is Michael Armstrong, and this is my associate, Vella McWinters." The blonde in question merely nods before returning to writing on her clipboard. "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name, my dear…?"

"Ah, my name is Pia McGuire. Aeliana and I were former classmates. It's nice to meet you." Pia gave them the most heart-warming smile that she could give them, a funny contrast to her earlier behaviour.

"Miss McGuire, got it," Vella responded, apparently writing the girl's name down last.

"So… What exactly are we going to be modeling?" Aeliana inquired.

The two trainers soon got an answer. Michael and Vella had soon led the duo towards Nessa's gym, a bit of a curious location for some model work to be done… At least, that was how Aeliana figured it. She began to wonder if perhaps they were going to be modeling some sports-wear or something, and the gym was just the natural place to go to for that sort of work. That assumption was completely tossed out the window when the two ladies were escorted to a make-shift dressing room and handed two rather… revealing swimsuits to wear instead.

"Uhh…" Pia looked at the thin piece of cloth that was handed to her, then to Aeliana and then back at Michael and Vella. "What kind of shoot is this if I may ask? Is this for a summer collection?"

"That's correct," Vella answered, adjusting her glasses as she spoke. "We're launching a new line of swimwear for the summer. Mr. Armstrong believed that Hulbury was the best place to model it and was able to make arrangements for Miss Nessa to assist us in the photoshoot."

"Nessa?" Pia repeated a bit surprised. They were going to have a shoot with a gym leader? It suddenly made more sense why they'd want gym challengers to be there as well despite Nessa being the star so to say. She stared down at whatever she was handed. It was light blue, probably to match Nessa's aesthetics. It was sparkly and had a thin chiffon cloth that was probably supposed to be worn around the waist. It looked cute but the thought of modelling something so revealing was a bit…

Pia quickly shook her head. An opportunity was an opportunity and she oddly felt a lot better not being the only one doing this with Aeliana at her side, despite their previous encounters, and even Nessa. People probably wouldn't look at her all that much anyway. Both Nessa and Aeliana were beautiful ladies. It was going to be okay, that's what Pia told herself.

Aeliana glanced down at the suit that she had been handed. It was a stark black in color, with what looked like dark blue and light blue straps attached to it. There was also a metallic, ring-like circle on one of the straps. Before she had a moment to ask about it further, she felt a hand suddenly, yet gently, take hold of her hair. Aeliana froze up for a moment, slowly looking off to her side to see Vella examining her.

"No… No, this color won't do," she mused. "It's a lovely color, but… it will clash far too much with the swimsuits and overall aesthetic we're aiming for… We'll need to dye it."

"Dye it…?" Aeliana questioned.

"Yes. A nice… blue, I think. It would set off well with Nessa's own hair as well as your two suits," Vella explained. "Black would blend in too much, especially with the color of your swimsuit."

"I think blue would suit you." Pia responded to the Alolan girl beside her with a smile.

"You're not off the grid either." Vella responded almost immediately, turning to the blonde girl as well. "The outgrow in your hair on top. That needs to go. It'll look messy on the photo's." She explained. Pia checked herself in the nearby window and realized she was right. Her dyed platinum locks were making place for a golden radiating blonde instead. Of course it would. It had been months since she had last dyed it. Her hair had grown a little longer overall. "Just the outgrow would be enough." Vella wrote something down on her clipboard.

Aeliana glanced between the two girls. She had never considered dying her hair blue before. In fact, she had been dying it pink ever since she had come to reside in Galar. That said, she had promised to help Vella and Michael in any way she could with this photoshoot…

"Alright, I'll give it a shot," she finally replied.

Vella nodded, as did Michael with his arms crossed.

-------

Spoiler: Memories

The flanking pavement of Hulbury's portside was occupied by a heavily encumbered but noisy rabble of men. Among them, a bitterly despondent Ruben Sancho, who was forced to stop every few feet to get a picture with a fan. It happened so regularly in fact, that the group he was among even with his best friend in tow, had opted to leave him behind. That pattern repeated itself over and over down the portside...until an attractive group of young ladies stopped him. Ainsley was first to make his presence known.

"Ladies, ladies, ladies...lemme introduce the team. Firstly, he's tall, he's slick, he's darker than a sunburnt Jynx." Ainsley snickered at that line. He stood with a half finished bottle of beer in his hand. Ruben disturbed as the phone-wielding girls, most of whom had managed to stuff them away before any mention of numbers or contact details occurred. Behind Ainsley, were the two men he was introducing. The taller of the two, a man that looked down to even Ruben and Ainsley, dark skinned and head topped with dreadlocks that could rival a lot of people in length. "'The Black Dread', 'The Shadzinator'-"

"Bro , don't use that one." Shadz, the very man being dubbed the name, shook his head in disapproval despite not looking up from his phone.

"Shadz, how you gonna ruin the intro?" Ainsley grumbled, spilling a little bit of his beer as he swung in frustration. Each of the lads chuckled at that. Ruben caught himself smiling. The girls made an attempt to slip away in the chaos and the footballer gave them a shrug of acceptance as the drunken Ainsley turned his attention to Shadz. Just the idea of linking back with the boys was a relief after the weekend he had. He loved spending time with Pia and with his family, but there was still a tension there he couldn't quite put his finger on. He felt the need to impress her, even now. Pressure. Pressure he just didn't feel with the boys. He looked past Ainsley, his gaze falling on the fourth and final member of the get together. Unlike Ainsley and Shadz, the shortest of the group wasn't enjoying a beer. He was decidedly unimpressed by Ainsley's pantomime.

"Mandem!" The man, Vinnie, called out, earning all their attention. He was a few years older than Ruben and Ainsley, a solid twenty two in the face but eighteen in the brain. A man with but a single pursuit. "How you man let the tings get away? This how the whole weekend's gonna be? We should've been picked up Ruben and linked up with the tings Ains lined up."

"We ain't dropping off at the hotel? Man's got bags." Shadz responded, finally looking up from the phone. Even Ruben looked up with concern in his face. All of them still had their bags. He knew Ainsley and Vinnie well enough to know how they operated when they travelled."Nah mandem, I can't be staying at no girl's house." Shadz protested as he caught up to the subtext of the conversation. "My girl would kill me. That one can't run." He waved his phone in the faces of Ainsley and Vinnie as though he were showing a teacher a doctor's note.

The duo glanced at each other, unimpressed by the dissent. Ainsley reached out and grabbed the phone. With all his might, he tossed it into the horizon. It left a satisfying plop as it hit the water. "ARE YOU MAD?!?!" Shadz roared, as he watched his phone sink into the bay.

"No girlfriends bro. Ruben's already told his that he ain't in Hulbury. He's allowed intermittent texts just to keep up appearances." Ainsley explained, to which Ruben responded with a defeated nod of confirmation. "Nah bro, this weekend's about conquest. I want you to become the Shadz that convinced an entire pink tour bus he was related to Robbie Marley and got them to come back to the crib. That's the Shadz I want. So you're probably thinkin...why are we walking towards Hulbury stadium. Well boys...I'm gonna cuff gym leader and model extraordinaire, Nessa."

-------

Simon was standing in front of the Hulbury Stadium with his arms crossed, mentally preparing himself for what he knew was to come. This was the first time he'd made it to the stadium before Raph, and while he'd constantly done his best to beat them at the unspoken race, he always secretly hoped Raph would get there before him - it helped his confidence to know someone had cleared it before him, and gave him something to work towards. Pia and Haleigh - even Catherine, he had to admit - had done great, but for once, he wasn't willing to rush into battle just yet.

He'd arrived in Hulbury the evening before, and despite the time of day he'd found the temperature in the city was far warmer than Turffield or the wild area. The heat had only gotten worse in the daytime, and he was already sweating under the heavy bug-infested coat (made worse by Larvesta feeling particularly cuddly today as well.) None of this was helping with the boy's confidence, but he eventually took a deep breath and steeled himself.

"Alright, here goes nothing." he muttered under his breath, and stepped towards the stadium doors to open them.

But they didn't budge. "Wha…?" he narrowed his eyes and tried again, before peering through the semi-transparent glass. The lobby was completely empty save for a janitor mopping the floors alongside a Corphish.

Simon tapped on the glass to get the man's attention. He looked and Simon and gave a friendly wave before making an 'X' with his arms and shaking his head.

"Closed?" Simon mouthed.

The janitor nodded back, shrugging apologetically before getting back to work.

Simon sighed and turned back around, half in relief and half in resignation. Maybe that's why Raph hadn't shown up yet- now he just had to figure out something to do for the rest of the day. Sachi said she'd arrive in the afternoon, so he was out of people to hang out with as well. "Maybe go to the gym… or get myself a lighter coat." he thought out loud, fanning himself.

The bustling of laughter and clinking glass sounded up the bridge to Hulbury Stadium. Ruben, Ainsley, Shadz and Vinnie strolled toward the gym, intent on meeting its afamed gym leader. As they drew closer however they, Ruben at least, noticed a very familiar face waiting at its doors.

"Shit." Ruben said in a gasp, spinning on his heels and taking shelter behind the nearest lamppost. The drunkards seemed to either be so intoxicated or so intent on their mission, they hadn't noticed the missing man at all.

"Yoooo!" Ainsley called out to the boy at the door. His words were slurred and his gestures exaggerated. "You gotta bounce bro, I need to speak to Nessa real quick."

"Good luck with that," Simon replied, pointing to the doors behind him. "Stadium's closed for the day apparently." Something about the alcohol-reeking man was familiar to him, like he'd seen him in Motostoke or Wedgehurst somewhere, but the other two were strangers.

At the sound of new people, Larvesta immediately poked his head out of Simon's pocket and blasted off to meet them, flying in circles around each individual as if he was a plane asking to land. The bug made a retching sound as it approached Ainsley and Shadz, put off by the stench and alcohol, and quickly flew off in the opposite direction. The Pokemon's keen sense of smell told it there was one more person in the vicinity, one he'd met before he was even born. Like a hawk spotting it's prey, the Larvesta found Ruben hiding behind a lamppost and spun around before charging down towards him.

Meanwhile, Simon hadn't cared to notice any of it. "You lads gym challengers or something?" He asked as he saw the trio move up to the doors.

"Nah, that shit kinda pricey bro. I'd make a sick champion though." Ainsley responded, pondering the image of himself in Leon's spot.

"Yo Ains, I didn't know man came to make friends." Vinnie sneered, looking Simon up and down. Ainsley sneered back in response.

"Chill out bro, cricket shin pads ass. Kid looks like he goes to games more dressed up than the man on the field."

"Oi, piss off mate.' Simon spat back, slightly indignated and furrowing his brow. "Like your fat arse could even make it into the stadium!"

"Yoooo!" Both Shadz and Vinnie hollered as Ainsley reeled in disbelief.

"Nah nah, hold up Slumbug Millionaire, you need to learn the pecking order. You can talk to big man like me when you take them spaceboots off. Looking like you 'bout to go hit six on a martian, you better stop."

As Ainsley stepped closer, Simon made an exaggerated grimace and waved the air in front of him, "Shit bro, I thought you just looked like you smell bad, but you actually do- what d'you drink to get this wasted big man, half a bottle? Don't think Nessa's type is 'kicked out the pub at noon', mate."

"It's your mum's type though big man. You keep talking my future wife's name so recklessly, I might just fuck around make myself your new step dad." Ainsley sneered, finally turning his attention away from Simon. He turned his attention to the gym in front of him.

The young trainer rolled up his sleeves, ready to pounce on the much larger man. "Oi, you want some-"

In that same instance Ruben, trying to swat away the pestering fire bug, came stumbling and stammering up the bridge.

Recognizing the voice, Simon turned away from the drunken men and looked at where it had come from; at least it gave him an excuse not to fight the huge guy in front of him. "Oh, sick! Yo, Ruben!" he greeted, running up to him. He hoped calling the famous star by his first name would flex on the others a little.

"Si!" Ruben called out, panic evident in his voice as he used the bug catcher to take shelter from the fire spewing bug. "This one of yours? It's getting way too friendly. Not in a good way."

"Oh shoot, sorry-" he said, expertly snatching one of Larvesta's horns midair as it flew back down for another charge and stuffing the Pokemon back into his pocket. "Larvesta gets excited when he meets new people, my bad." he apologized. "You up here to challenge Nessa as well?"

"Hold up, hold up...Ruben, you know this bug brudda?" Vinnie gawked in disbelief. While the quartet fumbled around the chance encounter, it was Ainsley who had his eyes on the prize. He had dismissed the younger bug catcher and was now surveying the exterior of the stadium expectantly until…

"Mandem! I found it!"

"We're deadass about to break into a pokemon gym, aren't we?" Ruben sighed in realisation. Shadz and Vinnie had less doubt, no doubt the bottles in their hands had some time to do with the rash decision making.

"Uh…" Simon was unsure if he should intervene in the moment. On one hand, what the men were doing was probably, likely, definitely illegal… but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious what an empty stadium looked like.

Joint post of Stinging Bea, Sapphire Rose, Shak & Foxrally

Sapphire Rose · Mar 23, 2021

Hulbury part 2

"Nice one girls! Just a couple more!"

"Pia, dear, could you move your waist just a little bit more towards Nessa?"

"Aeliana, sweetheart, your arm… ah yes like that! Perfect!"

Sounds of camera's and electric fans echoed in the background. Light flashes among them too. It was the real deal. A modelling shoot where they had temporarily changed Nessa's gym into a backdrop. It was quite the sight with the three girls on the main platform, crammed up together while doing dynamic poses. Of course Aeliana and Pia needed more guidance while Nessa seemed to be professional at this but such was only natural for two young girls who had never modeled before. Nessa smiled, she was having fun with her best friend's kids and already thinking up ways of how to brag about that towards Sonia.

"Alright girls! Let's take a break!" Vella's claps sounded through the stadium. The camera man stopped in his tracks immediately, gave the girls a smile and a thumbs up while rubbing away his own sweat. There was a whole crew here that immediately scattered all around, presumably to grab some food.

Aeliana let out a small sigh of relief. Doing this sort of work was a lot more difficult than she initially thought it was going to be. Plus, the whole thing of what she was wearing and how she looked with her new hair color… It was a lot of change to take in just all of a sudden. The now blue-haired trainer was snapped out of her thoughts at the familiar sound of gurgling coming from her Croconaw. Tampa waddled over towards her, carrying the egg carefully in her stubby little arms so as not to drop it. A look of concern was evident on Tampa's face, the Pokémon obviously worried about her trainer.

"I'm okay, don't worry about it," she assured the Croconaw. "Just keep on takin' care of our new little friend, okay?" Tampa offered the bluenette a broad, toothy grin and nod in response before waddling back to rejoin Mahina who was also watching the ongoing photoshoot with rapt attention. "Tapu Bulu, I could really use some water or something…"

"Water you said?" Pia came up holding her bag and two bottles of water, one for her and the other for Aeliana. "Nessa gave me these." She pushed one of them in the Alolan girls hands with a smile. In comparison to Aeliana, Pia had gotten a smaller makeover but a makeover all the same. Her outgrowth had been dyed while her hair had been left long. Despite the small changes, something had been put in her hair to make it radiating and a blue flower that matched the rest of what she was wearing was keeping one side of her hair up.

"Isn't it weird, despite what we're wearing here, I don't feel uncomfortable at all." Pia referred to their bikinis. Pia's top had frills and her bottoms were decorated with a ribbon while a chiffon see-through cloth posed as a skirt. She wore another ribbon around her upper leg. It suited the girl but was made to match Nessa's and Aeliana's.

"Why should you?" Aeliana asked curiously. She offered the shorter girl a small smile before taking a sip of her water. "It's not like you're ugly or anything. Besides, you've been swimming and stuff before, right?"

Pia's face flared up. "Well.. Uh duh!" She crossed her arms and pouted. "Of course I have…" Was it stupid what she said?

Aeliana's smile grew. "Then be proud. Once this shoot goes public, you'll probably have to swing a stick to keep 'em away if you know what I mean." A small growl can be heard, causing Aeliana's cheeks to heat up a bit themselves. "Heh, in all the excitement and such, I forgot to have lunch today… I better go get myself a small snack to tide me over a bit."

Pia blinked a few times at the things Aeliana said. Seriously, this girl said such weird things. Keeping them away with a stick…? Pia glanced away to the side, biting her lips just a tiny bit. There was just one guy on her mind that she wanted to look at her in such a way…

A *thunk* of metal sounded through the gym as the plate cracked against the tiled flooring below. Ainsley, Shadz and Vinnie all stumbled through the hole first, with the former standing triumphantly as he surveyed the room.

-------

Spoiler: Memories

"Mandem, my betrothed stands between these walls. We just gotta peep her ennit."

Upon hearing some kind of commotion, Nessa immediately turned to the girls wearing revealing bikinis and hurried over to them. She was fine being seen like this but the girls… She couldn't let Sonia hear she'd let them into such a precarious situation. "Pia, Aeliana." She got their attention and slowly pushed them towards a door in the back, ignoring any resistance they put up. Both girls had their protests, but the gym leader stood firm. She gritted her teeth as she spoke. "You're taking a break." The girls looked at each other and accepted they weren't winning this one. As she turned away from them, Nessa slammed the door and surveyed the gym. "Now, let's see what kind of idiot decided to break into my gym." The camera crew had already taken a stance against the intruders, where Ainsley as the spearhead, seemed unfazed by the resistance.

"Wifey! I've found you!" Ainsley called out, arms spread wide as he stood poolside and stared over to her. Vinnie and Shadz both readied themselves, albeit hesitantly and drunkenly, for a fight.

Nessa was no stranger to adoring fans who wanted to win her heart. In fact, she was confident she could pick them out of a crowd without much error, but to have the nerve to break into her gym...the woman scowled. She could almost smell the rotten odour of beer from across the pool. "Get them the f-"

The sentence the gym leader had so angrily formulated was lost in the chlorine filled air as another two intruders stumbled into her gym. These two, she recognised. Ruben Sancho and Simon Pearburgh. Another two of Sonia's kids.She watched them curiously as the older of the two pulled his junior through the loose plating in the building's infrastructure.

"C'mon Si, I got you." Ruben grunted as he helped Simon through and planted his own feet. He looked around and immediately locked eyes with Nessa, who was staring straight at them. "Well that lasted long." He grumbled.

"Ah... shit." Simon cursed under his breath. This was not what he'd expected. He gave the gym leader a sheepish little wave, hiding behind Ruben.

"Nessa! I've got a proposition for you!" The drunken Ainsley stumbled back, realising just how close he was to the water.

"You haven't given yourself room to negotiate." The gym leader snarked back, resisting the urge to have Drednaw blast them into oblivion. She was a gym leader after all.

"Hear me out babes, it's gonna be romantic." The leading intruder snapped back, his voice cracking as he gestured for her to slow down but in reality just regained his balance. "My boy here is gonna challenge you. If you win, we leave you do due process we go jail or whatever…" he waved dismissively earning him dirty looks from just about everyone he'd dragged into his stupid wedding crusade. "If he wins though, me and you get married!"

Nessa's reaction was...incredulous. The woman couldn't comprehend the stupidity behind the request. She herself was partial to a cocktail or two, even Gin if she was feeling risky, but alcohol had never driven her to such disastrous levels of Grumpig-ignorance.

"Wait, what?!" Simon exclaimed at the man's challenge and stepped in front of Ainsley. "Oi, if we're battling Nessa, I get to go first! I was here before any of you!"

"Hold up, big man you better chill. That's my wife you're talkin to." Ainsley scowled. The woman in question stared across at the two boys. She'd already dismissed the drunken idiot asking for her hand in marriage. Her gaze jumped between Ruben and Simon. It was those two that interested her. Those two...

The Alolan trainer made her way to a nearby table that held a variety of snacks, ranging from cookies and the like to more healthy treats like apples and bananas. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if everything was alright out there, before moving towards the fruits that were laid out for the models and crew. Aeliana took an apple from the tray and prepared to take a bite out of it, but suddenly stopped before making sure to look it over carefully. She didn't want a repeat of the Applin incident that had happened back on Route 5.

The blonde trainer had followed her and rubbed the back of her head. Why the hell were they forced to take a break in the back? No matter, before she could think more about it, something else immediately caught her attention when she looked back at Aeliana. Aeliana had something on her shoulder… she remembered one of the crew members commenting on it too. It was a black skull.

Pia couldn't help but stare at the black skull that was inscribed on the Alolan girl's shoulders. It stuck out like a sore thumb after all on her beautiful sun-kissed skin. She shook her head as it was rude to stare at one's body but soon her eyes were drawn towards it again. What was more was... that it seemed to be hiding something else. Like some sort of mirage it was drawing in Pia's attention and soon her hand moved on its own. Before she even knew it, she was carefully caressing the spot of the tattoo. It was a scar... a big one at that. It must have been painful. Those were the things that raced through the girl's mind before she even realized what she was doing and caught Aeliana staring at her with shock in her eyes and a gasp escaping from her lips. All the while her body had seemed to flinch from the slightest touch from Pia. The apple fell out of her hand, rolling under the table and out of sight as the taller girl almost fell back into the table in her attempt to suddenly put space between them.

"A-Ah! Sorry! I don't know what came over me!" Pia jumped back, holding both of her hands up.

Aeliana blinked slowly, her mind racing to try and formulate some kind of response. "N-No… I… I'm s-sorry, I just…" Words failed her. It was as if she had forgotten how to suddenly talk. Her voice was barely a whisper, almost quivering, as if the duo were back in that haunted castle on Route 3 and she was the one having a panic attack over the ghosts instead.

The odd response caused Pia to blink again a few more times. She had never seen Aeliana like this. Not even back in the Trainer School. Was she afraid of sudden touches?

"I've got foundation in my bag, I can cover it up for you if you want." Pia offered with a weak smile, feeling guilty about the situation. "I… Uh.. Didn't like how they were talking behind your back about it…"

"People… People were talking about it…?" she questioned. The girl had somehow forgotten all about it with all the hustle and bustle. Aeliana was usually so careful about making sure it was mostly covered, even in warmer weather. "Yeah… Yeah, I guess they would. It's pretty ugly." She paused again, her eyes darkened a bit as she glanced around before speaking in a hushed tone. "Please cover it… just for now."

Pia nodded and opened up her bag to retrieve her foundation. While Aeliana turned around for her and flinched again from another one of Pia's soft touches, this time it was less shocking. "It must have been painful… That scar underneath it I mean."

Aeliana remained silent. Her only response came in the form of a stiff nod. "I won't pry but if you want to speak about it, I'm all ears." Pia quietly mentioned as she finished applying. Thankfully she had a very good covering foundation and almost all traces of the skull were gone. "There you go."

"...I was in Team Skull," Aeliana whispered. "All of the people who joined got one. The tattoo, that is..."

Upon the mention, Pia stopped in her tracks. Team Skull…? Wasn't that… a gangster group? "I-I see…" She answered quietly. Was… that was past tense. That means she's no longer part of them and that means there was no need to worry. "Would you like it gone?"

"Maybe…?" Aeliana questioned. She's really not sure herself. It's always been a mark she was never really proud of, but… at the same time, it had its purpose. It brought with it memories that made it feel like a part of her now. "...No, probably not. You… felt it, right? That scar…? I had it put there because of that… to hide it."

"I see…" Pia replied again quietly. Of course one has scars they wanted to hide… but a tattoo… "In that case, you need this more than I do." the blonde girl handed Aeliana the bottle of foundation she had used to cover up her tattoo with. "Use it whenever you want to cover that up." She winked.

"Thanks…" Aeliana replied as a weak smile came to her lips.

While the girls shared a quiet moment together, the sounds of an argument were heard from outside the room that caught the attention of both of them. One voice in particular was very familiar to Pia… "It couldn't be…" she whispered as she moved back towards the door and opened it.

"Hmm…? What is it…?" Aeliana questioned. She turned to follow the shorter girl, hearing the voices now getting louder as she reached the door and glanced out. "Do you know these guys or something?" As Aeliana asked that, Pia's expression turned into one of scorning. "I certainly hope not." She said as she opened the door in front of them.

"Nah, nah, nah! Wifey, how you gonna pick bug boy over me? Man applies worms under his coat like they're deodorant. Less of that!" It was indeed the voice of Ainsley that Pia had recognised, the drunken man ranting and raving as Ruben and Simon stepped to oppose each other across the battlefield. Nessa was so done with Ainsley's shit.

"I'm not battling both of you, since you want to break into my gym there's going to be penalties for that. You want your gym battle, you beat Ruben. You want your friend to get even a slither of a chance at marrying me, you beat Simon." The leader huffed, the stupidity of the words coming out of her mouth apparent to her before she even spoke the first one. This was, in a way, her way of giving back to Sonia. What better way to reinvigorate her least dedicated graduate than to put him in a 'high stakes' battle against one of the most dedicated. For all she'd seen of the two, she was expecting the bug trainer to breeze this one, unless the footballer had some wildcard she didn't know about. [Wildcard in this case being Pia - dramatic irony and all that]

"I've been looking forward to having this battle!" Simon grinned and extended his arm. "And now I've got even more of a reason to win! Go, Spewpa!" The fuzzy bug on his shoulder hopped off of his arm like a springboard and landed on the field with a determined squeak.

"Alright Lucky...we're doing this for Ainsley." Ruben spoke, clutching the pokeball in his hand. He tossed it out, the very same Boltund he was given by Sonia's own academy emerging from the ball. "We gotta win this one." He said, his voice trailing off slightly and earning a small snicker from Nessa.

"Ruben?!" A surprised voice yelled in disbelief across the gym. The voice belonging to his ever-so-lovely girlfriend. The very same that he had told he wouldn't be in Hulburry. Beside her was Aeliana, someone else he hadn't seen in a while. It was ironic seeing the two together. What was more what… they were wearing at the moment.

Ruben practically jumped out of his skin, the voice immediately blaring alarm bells in his head. Shit! He glanced up to where the voice came from and…woah. The boy gulped, his face frozen in shock in realising that despite living together for over a fortnight, this was the most he'd seen of her. He'd heard that if you were scared to face a crowd, you picture them in their underwear to get over stage fright. Well this had the opposite effect. Only the voices of Ainsley and Vinnie, behind him, rang through his mind.

"Yoooo, them tings are fire bro, good shout Ains. Man's bout to spit game."

"Nah, the short one's Ruben's girl."

"I thought he told her he wasn't gonna be in Hulbury."

"Gold digging sket probably put a tracker on his phone or something." Ainsley responded, shaking his head. The comment earned him a sharp glare of warning from Ruben, so much so that he staggered back.

Simon was on the other end of the field, completely speechless and redder in the face than a Larvesta. His eyes were fixated on Pia and Aeliana's outfits, though a sudden jolt of electricity to the side of his face immediately snapped him back to reality and he looked away shamefully.

Vinnie, on the other hand, stood his ground as he watched Aeliana's arrival.

"Bun her then, who is that? Alolan beauty, I see an island girl who's a cutie. You man ain't ready." Vinnie almost sung, committing to his approach of the blue haired girl. As he arrived beside the two new arrivals, he looked the taller of the two up and down. He even smouldered at her, before switching his attention to Pia. He grabbed the smaller girl's hand before he spoke again. "It's terrible that he lied to you." He sighed, shaking his head. Again, he subtly caught Aeliana's gaze before he continued. "I'd never do such a thing to a woman."

The chaos that had unfolded in front of the girls confused Pia greatly. Ruben wasn't supposed to be here, why was Ainsley here, what was Simon doing with them, who were these other people etc etc. The conflicted feeling whether she should be angry or happy that Ruben's here also didn't help. There was too much going on at once and the realization that they were wearing close to nothing only sunk in later. She took a deep breath, ignoring Ainsley's offending remarks of calling her a gold digger and pulled her hand back in annoyance. She was silent for a bit and crossed her arms which was all-telling to Ruben. The girl was absolutely not amused. She tapped against her head a few times. "Why…?" Was all she eventually got out of her throat.

Aeliana glanced between Ruben and Pia. Wait… She's Ruben's girl? Lavender eyes widened. Ruben and Pia are an item? When did this happen and how? Aeliana suddenly had so many questions she wanted to ask, but before she could debate about whether or not this was the proper time to even casually inquire, her focus is torn away from the thickening tension forming between her two fellow classmates and instead plastered to the boy in front of her.

Her mind went blank as the boy began to prattle off condolences to Pia, before shifting his gaze to her. All the while he tossed out a reminder of how he'd have treated them both. Something… about this guy really rubbed Aeliana the wrong way. She slowly peeled her eyes away from him before setting her gaze towards Ruben.

"...Who is this tiny goblin?" she asked bluntly.

Not a single word that came out of either girl's mouth didn't sting Ruben. His priority was calming Pia down and he really didn't want an audience for that. His gaze wandered up to where the gym leader stood watching. Somewhere deep down, he hoped she'd intervene. She didn't. She watched with a keen eye, but only observed the drama.Ruben quickly approached Pia.

"Wait, you're just gonna bail again?" Simon said, dropping his arms in disappointment.

"Hold on. Pia...let me take you away from all this and I can explain. You're gonna let everything going on get you all worked up." The boy pleaded, attempting to usher his girlfriend to 'safety'.

"Worked up…?" Pia raised her eyebrow and tried her hardest not to glare. She failed. "Of course I am worked up, Ruben! What are all these people even doing here?" She took a few steps back the more Ruben approached her, only now the embarrassment kicking in of what she was wearing.

"Look, Pia, I…" While Ruben's words were aimed at Pia, he barely glanced at the girl's face. His gaze never really reached that high. He could feel himself smirking a little, despite the situation he'd put himself in. "I'm only here for a few days, I just bumped into these guys. I wanted to call you as soon as I knew but..." He fumbled his words, finally taking his eyes off the girl to look everywhere but at her. "There's no need to be worked up."

Pia's face flared in anger. "No need?! You lied, Ruben!! And for what?! What were you doing that you wanted to hide it from me?!" Pia snapped. "What were you thinking when you broke into this gym?!" Pia waved around before turning back at him. She held her breath, tried to calm down only slightly before the glare of death returned. "I hope you have the best excuse in the world ready to save your ass."

Where he'd usually have some contrived and lie about the game location raffle, the boy was completely without the words he needed right now. His vocabulary betrayed him as he could only say exactly what he was thinking.

"You look amazing by the way…" Was the only response he could muster.

Pia blinked a few times. The nerve… of this… fucking boy. She lifted her left foot and took off the slipper she was wearing to yeet it, barely missing the footballer's head.

The tension between the two held for what felt like hours to Ruben. Nessa watched quietly and patiently. The crew that stuck around watched with wide eyes, unblinking as they missed their mouths with snacks.

Simon waved at his Blackspear colleague with a sheepish grin. "H-hey Aeliana!"

Aeliana tore her eyes away from the fallout of Ruben and Pia (and Vinnie to a lesser extent, but she really wasn't paying him much mind to begin with). A small smile came to her lips as she waved at Simon, only now realizing that the younger boy was present in this group as well. She immediately recalled their last meeting, wherein the boy ran right into her… Anyway, she took the time to wave back at Simon. All the while, she began to wish that she and Pia had stayed back in that dressing room for a bit longer.

Shadz shook his head at the situation, while Ainsley saw his opportunity to steal the attention of the Alolan girl.

"Nessa! You wifin' me or not? The Alolan girl over there is kinda buff, so if you're not on it…" He called out, ending on a hiccup. Catching the glare that Nessa returned, he dismissed the gym leader and turned his attention to the gym challenging young debut model. "Apologise for my friend over there…" Ainsley began before stopping himself. Something was wrong about that sentence, but he wasn't sure what. "I don't know why he thinks he can sing. Let me serenade you like a real man should."

More attention being fired in her direction. Aeliana now found herself face to face with someone who… made her stomach feel like doing flips, though not in the way one would like. She could smell the alcohol on the boy's breath as he spoke, which instantly made the girl yearn to not hear a single note that would come out of his mouth.

"...A real man? Is that right?" Aeliana inquired.

"The realest. Man so real, it took more than a man and a woman to make me." Ainsley snapped back. Literally snapped. The alcohol fueled flirting implored the drunken man to chomp at the girl.

"Well… as thrilling as it would be to hear about the time that apparently your parents decided that intercorse with a Slowbro was just one opportunity they couldn't pass up? Yeah, I'll have to just… skip that," Aeliana replied, taking a step away from the boy. "Also, stop drooling. I'm pretty sure Nessa just had the floor cleaned."

"I don't see men… I see little boys." Pia sneered at all of them, gritting her teeth. To an onlooker she would look like a barking Yamper but to the targets of her outrage she would project the very image of a fire spitting Charizard.

Even Nessa chuckled as she watched the girls stand up for themselves. She felt herself let go of drednaw's pokeball, that she was clutching ever so tightly in the event that Sonia's girls weren't given more than they could handle. She guessed Sonia was right. They weren't the kids she thought they were. A former member of team skull and the princess who seemed to wear the pants in her relationship with a football superstar. They'd already beaten her in the gym challenge after all. She lowered her head to hide her growing smirk.

The pride quickly settled as she noticed Ainsley's smirk curl into a scowl. Before the intruder could sling any spite-filled comment, or worse yet his fist at the girl, Nessa's drednaw slammed onto the tiles between the two. Ainsley staggered back, barely staying on his feet as the drednaw stalked him toward the door.

"All of you are leaving. Now." The gym leader said coldly. She glared at Shadz and Vinnie, who put up no resistance. Next was Ruben, who seemed to think he was exempt from her exile. "You too Ruben." She hissed.

"Pia…" The boy called but all Pia did was cross her arms and face away from him, making it obvious she didn't want to hear any more of it. Rather than just looking angry, she also looked quite hurt by the boy's actions.

"The girl doesn't want to talk." The gym leader stated in the same cold tone she'd issued the first of her orders to leave. She lazily looked back to the door, where Drednaw had afforded Ainsley just enough room to call out to the woman he'd hoped to make his wife in waiting.

"Nessa, you really gonna do me like that?" He called.

"You were unfaithful. Take your things and go." The gym leader sighed, sending a glance Ruben's way as a warning to make sure he didn't find himself hearing those same words from Pia. She almost felt bad as the footballer looked back at the girl one last time before he too left the gym.

Now all that was left was Simon, metaphorically cowering in the corner as he looked around nervously, unsure of what to do. Spewpa and the rest of his bugs were shaking at the sight of Drednaw and had all crawled back into his coat, save for Larvesta that had taken the opportunity to blast out of his pocket and zoom around the empty stadium, and Simon wished he had a coat to crawl into himself.

He raised a finger timidly. "Um, miss Nessa, does that mean we... get to… battle now?" he asked, his voice trailing off.

"Simon," Nessa said sweetly, finally easing her scowl. "Does drednaw look like she's in the mood for an exhibition match?" The leader hissed. A fearsome roar from her ace shook the gym, making the answer very clear to the young trainer. Her patience for stupidity was wearing thin and Simon's question was testing the last of its strength.

"Yep, heard you loud and clear!" Simon stumbled backwards and quickly ran after the others towards the exit. "I'll, uh, see you tomorrow-" he added on his way out, as a sharp whistle alerted Larvesta to stop flying circles around Aeliana and come back to him.

Aeliana watched as the boys all ran out, leaving just the crew, Nessa, Pia, and herself there once more. The blue-haired trainer sighed to herself, clearly relieved to see that all the chaos was finally coming to an end. Lavender eyes shifted back towards her classmate. She wasn't like Clara, but she could feel the anger, disappointment, and sadness all rushing over Pia.

Slowly, Aeliana made her way over towards the shorter girl. Her hand gently reached out, placing itself on her shoulder. A gentle smile was worn on her lips. "Hey… You okay?"

"Yeah… I'm fine…" Pia replied, her gaze locked on the boys leaving until they were out of sight. Nessa walked over the girls and laid her hands on both of their shoulders.

"Don't let it get to you too much." The gym leader said with a sigh. "Do you want to stop the shoot?" She asked concerned but was soon reassured by a smile that Pia was able to muster up.

"Hell no. I need the distraction. Let's get going."

Joint post of Stinging Bea, Sapphire Rose, Shak & Foxrally

Foxrally · Mar 23, 2021

Simon Pearburgh

Spoiler: Inventory

Spoiler: Memories

Raphael Allard

Vito ♂

Carmen ♀

Lumi ♂

Selene ♀

Roe ♂

Spoiler: Inventory

Hulbury

10 AM. A fairly late time for Simon to have breakfast, but considering the day ahead, he'd decided that a good night's sleep was well deserved - yesterday's meetup with Sachi had taken far longer than he expected. He'd decided to preoccupy himself with watching Wingull getting breakfast, as he waited on the edge of the pier for Raph to arrive. The flock of birds was flying in a chaotic formation below a Pelipper, expectantly waiting for the larger Pokemon to drop one or two Arrokuda from its maw every time it dove down, and diving every so often themselves in the hopes of skipping the queue. Similarly, a number of Dewpider had gathered under Simon's spot as well, and he shared his own breakfast with them, tossing crumbs of cinnamon bun into the water which the bugs gladly gobbled up.

His own Pokemon were sitting on the edge of the boardwalk as well, fascinated by the giant blue expanse which none of them were familiar with. Larvesta had of course flown headfirst into the water to see what it was like (and quickly regretted it) before getting rescued by a well-timed string shot from Spewpa. He'd noticed Snom scolding the baby afterwards for his behaviour, almost like a mother yelling at her child, but it didn't seem to faze the firebug at all. Simon had been quite content to watch it all while munching on his cinnamon bun.

He glanced at the conversation on his phone, which was almost out of power now, thanks to a certain royal Joltik.

--- Yesterday ---
@SimonSays412: yo r u in hulbury yet
@SimonSays412: lets meet up
@SimonSays412: i got a surprise :)))
@Raph810: if u insist
@SimonSays412: hell yea
@SimonSays412: tomo 10am? near the docks in front of stadium
@Raph810: kk
--- 16 minutes ago ---
@SimonSays412: im @ the pier, lmk if u want me to save u a bun

Simon closed his phone and set it to power-save mode. He just hoped that if Raph had to cancel, he'd call him before it ran out of battery.

Though it was quickly made apparent that his fears were unfounded.

"Oi." The voice of the older trainer cut across his train of thought and as Simon looked up, he saw Raphael standing a few feet away. Bouncing along beside him was Vito, who happily slapped his fins together as he saw Simon and bounded the rest of the distance to the bug-type boy to give a proper hello. "I assume you saw but… Vito got bigger." There was almost a smile on Raph's face, almost, but it quickly faded into the usual cold apathy he was known for.

"YO!! He's even cooler in person!!" Simon grabbed the squishy Sealeo and embraced it in a tight hug, delighted by the absolute cuteness of his new form. Spewpa and the rest of his team stared at the larger Pokemon with stars in their eyes too, squeaking out words of amazement and wonder and showering Vito with attention.

"I'm supposed to be heading to the gym right now, you know? I already wasted a day, so." Raph looked out over the empty pier, a few passing ships catching his eye… far out in the water he saw a cruise ship doing a lap around the bay, most likely set to dock that evening. "What was it you needed?"

Simon tapped the edge of the pier beside him, inviting Raph to sit. "Well I wanted to catch up first, it's been a couple weeks! How's the journey been so far? Any adventures, any cool new people you've met, any new Pokemon?" he asked. Before Raph could respond, he spoke up again, "I'll start- DID YOU KNOW I GOT A ROLE ON TV?!"

Raph opened his mouth to speak, but saw that Simon was on a roll. When this kid got started there was no stopping him, so the older trainer hunkered down and gave a small sigh. "Yeah..?"

"I got to play as an Anorith and everything, and my co-star was VAL!" Simon went on. He could tell Raph was thrilled at hearing the girl's name. "They made us wear VR headsets, motion tracking suits, the whole lot- did you knowone girl plays most of the Wishiwashi characters?! The dude who played the villain tried to scare us silly, but it didn't work on me - obviously - and the director said we did a great job, even though that was my first time ever acting. OH, and before that, right- I was at a friend's place and I stumbled across some crazy machine room with some inventor guy in there. We talk for a bit, etc etc, but then he notices the rock that one merchant man gave me on christmas- you remember, right? Anyways, I kid you not mate, the guy looks at the bloody rock and says it's a million-year-old fossil. No idea what kind it could be, but I handed it to him out of curiosity to see what could happen."

He took a breath in between sentences. "Oh, and my Larvesta hatched. He seems to like you." he pointed at his Pokemon that had curiously crawled onto Raph's back during their conversation.

Raph slowly reached around and pulled the small fluffy bug off of his back. The small pokémon was very young, recently hatched, its eyes were full of wonder and it looked at Raph… much like Simon did. That was an unnerving comparison to make. "This is a rare Pokémon, Si. You're lucky to have it." He said that having never seen one, but he really wasn't sure, he assumed it was since the name "Larvesta" didn't ring a bell.

"All of that sounded… pretty exhausting." Raph responded with a yawn, stretching his back out a little and closing his eyes to sigh again. "I've been keeping things slow. Not done much of anything since the contest."

Simon tapped his chin. "Oh! Speaking of, where'd you disappear off to after that? I wanted to have a drink to celebrate us beating Milo, but you were gone!" he asked. "Not that we could've anyway, Ruben said some garbage about 'being underage' or something." he grumbled, but Raph quickly retorted to follow.

"Yeah and he was right to!" He glared a little at Simon as he spoke. "You're what, sixteen? Seventeen at most? You're not drinking anything for a while mate." With a sigh he lightly elbowed Simon's arm, it was a weak blow, but about all he could be bothered to manage.

The question the younger trainer had asked still weighed on him however, he knew he couldn't simply ignore it. "I… went after Arri." He mumbled, thoughts of that night rushing back into his mind, the worry she had felt in that moment, the fear, the turmoil. It was similar to his battle against Kabu but there was more to it than that. It was like he could feel her suffering. Like he was there, beside her, like something in his was connected to her. How painfully romantic, but it wasn't quite like that either. He could admit to himself that Arri was… interesting to him, but… This was different. It was something deeper than that, something he had felt once before, briefly, with a small blue pokémon on Route 3.

"I couldn't find her, though, she texted me after… and I still need to talk to her again."

It took Simon a little bit to remember who Arri was, but he soon recalled that is was the girl that had choked in the contest- and the one Raph and Pia were talking about back in the caves. A cheeky smirk crept up the boy's face and he looked away innocently.

"Right, and you said there's nooooothing happening between you two, huh?" he asked mischievously.

Raph rolled his eyes. "There really isn't. You need me to start texting Sachiko about your obsession back at the lodge? Or are we good to drop that line of questioning?"

That seemed to shut him up for now. "Oookay, fine, fine." Simon shrugged. Raph was as much of an enigma when it came to romance as anything else.

He looked in the distance towards the Hulbury Stadium, which was already beginning to fill up with crowds at the entrance. "How are you feeling about challenging Nessa? I'm pretty excited to see her in action myself."

"Hmm… I was a bit stuck for ideas, but someone arrived to help me out just when I needed it." Raph nodded a little to himself as he responded, his face calm and cool as usual. "I met a big shot from Sinnoh by chance, I don't know if maybe the guy happened to be in town for some reason or the other, gave me something he called an 'ace in the hole'. So I think I've got a pretty solid strategy worked out."

"Ooh!" Simon's eyes lit up. "You think it's one of those foreign league scouts they talk about sometimes? Or… one of those big shot trainers from their own gym challenge? Or maybe… Mustard in disguise?!"

"No. It was Jackson Crane." Raph dropped a bombshell in response, no doubt stunning Simon for a brief moment. "He walked up out of nowhere and said he knew Sonia, before giving me a TR and walking away before I could really ask him anything else…"

"WHAT." Simon gripped Raph's shoulder intensely. "RAPH. You met. THE. Jackson Crane… AND YOU DIDN'T POST PICTURES?!" he screamed, absolutely flabbergasted. He had a million more questions now- why was champion Jackson in town, where was he currently, how long was he staying, how had Raph met him, what TR had he given… But instead, his mind immediately settled on one. "You think he's here to watch the matches?!"

Raph blinked twice as Simon jostled him, he probably should have seen that one coming. "It all happened so fast… I barely got time to react." He paused to consider the mysterious event once more. The way Jackson spoke, it was like they were old friends, not strangers meeting for the first time. Why was that..? He shook his head to clear the thoughts. Sonia had probably talked about the class as a whole and showed Jackson the battles thus far.

"I mean he is a league Champion, maybe?" Raph smirked and slowly pulled himself up from the place he was sitting. That was probably enough to let Simon stew on for now. "Best step up your game Si. Wouldn't want to let him down." He almost smirked. Almost. "As for me, I should get going, things to do before the day is out. Gotta get some practice in before the battle."

The bug catcher was snapped out of his daydream as he saw Raph get up again. "Oh, oh, okay then- before you go, I gotta show you the surprise! It's also why I called you here." He quickly made it to his feet and went to rummage around his backpack, carelessly tossing a few items and a groggy Burmy before letting out an 'ah' and pulling out two sloppily-wrapped gift bags, one large and one almost jewelry-sized. One of the ribbons had already come undone.

He kept the two behind his back as he approached Raph again with a grin. "Okay, soooo- I maybe stalked your Yamaskbook profile and found out your birthday was a while ago, and I happened to be at the Wishiwashi gift store, so I thought…."

He pulled out the large bag. "Why don't I get VITO a gift?!" As he pulled it out the wrapping came undone, falling to the ground and revealing a large, inflatable Qwilfish-shaped ball. "Ah, oops…"

Raph bristled immediately, he didn't immediately turn to face Simon, but a look of dread swept over his face and was barely kept away. He turned, but his apathetic mask immediately started to crack and a pained furrow took to his brow. "You… did what?" As the ball fell downwards Vito excitedly hopped upon it, rolling it around and grabbing its tail in his mouth to drag around with him happily.

"Simon… you shouldn't ha-"

Simon burst into laughter, "Hah, come on, you didn't think I'd forget about you, right?" He pulled out the smaller, more neatly-wrapped gift box. "This one's yours."

Raph… hesitated. His hands gently and gingerly took the small box from Simon, but as he opened it to reveal the contents, his expression darkened. Inside was a blue, heart shaped enamel pin. About the size of an unexpanded pokéball. For a moment, he simply stares at it.

"You get the reference? It's cause your birthday's on Valentine's! Pretty genius, I know-"

"...what the hell is this?" Raph mumbled. It was barely intelligible, quiet and gentle despite the words therein, but it was enough to cut Simon off. Was this some sort of sick joke? How could it have been, Simon didn't know anything… right? He had stalked his… he had looked into him. What had he discovered? How close had he gotten?

How close was he getting? To Raph in general. The young man's face clenched slightly, his teeth grit together and his expression soured. Memories of that day bubbled back in him, the hours he spent, alone, in pain. He forced them down, it wasn't Simon's fault. He didn't know. He didn't know and that meant, when Raph was gone, this day would come back. It would haunt him. It would hurt him.

All that pain soon to come, that was Raph's fault. It was all Raph's fault so why? Why was he letting this kid get so close? He clenched his hand next, tightly around the pin, so tight his knuckles turned white, without thinking he shoved it into his pocket. He was hurting everyone by being a part of their lives, right? That was what this was, right? "You… shouldn't have gotten me this." were the words Raph forced out, his hair falling to cover a portion of the face he was desperately trying to drag back to a blank canvas.

"Hm?" Simon's smile faded as he noticed Raph's demeanor change. "Something wrong with it? I had to guess what colour you'd like, but since Vito is blue and all-"

"That's not what I…" Raph cut him off again, but wasn't able to finish the sentence. How could he explain this, he couldn't, it wasn't possible. Nothing he could say would make Simon understand.

So what was Raph supposed to do..? There was only one thing he could do now; the responsible thing.

Raph returned Vito to his pokéball, leaving the Qwilfish ball abandoned on the pier. He turned away from Simon again and started to walk away. "I'm sorry, but that's enough." He stated plainly, his features slowly shifting back to where they belong, a cold and quiet apathy. "It's for the best that you don't get too attached to me anymore. It's not worth my time, nor yours."

Simon was utterly confused and worried now, his eyes rapidly shifting between the toy and Raph leaving, unsure what to do. Had he offended Raph somehow? Was it something he'd said, something he'd done? "Wait, wait!" he ran up to the older boy, grabbing his arm. "I'm sorry, what's going on? Did I say something wrong?"

Raph swung around quickly, waving his arm and slapping Simon's hands away. He stared at him long and hard, an eternity in a moment. He wanted to explain, something in him wanted to explain. Could he trust Sim-

A world of trauma flashed in him; burning buildings, broken hearts, pain and inevitable death. His future, his endless nightmare of a future. No. He couldn't let this go, not now, not like this. He'd already been too selfish, this was wrong, he was wrong.

Raph turned and kept walking. "...Stay far away from me, Simon."

Joint post of Jay and Foxrally

Turnip · Mar 24, 2021

CRAB MISSION CRAB MISSION CRAB MISSION CRAB MISSION CRAB MISSION CRAB MISSION CRAB MISSION
Featuring Xan and Kass and Jerry and crabs and crabs and crabs and crabs and crabs and crabs and crabs and crabs and crabs.

The weather seemed to have taken a turn for the better compared to the recent days of travel, and that meant that Hulbury market was absolutely bustling. People milled about window-shopping - an irritating obstacle for someone with a clear objective and an intention to get in and out as quickly as humanly possible. Though it came with its own fair share of problems, Xan wasn't quite as perturbed by the increased density of people as might be expected. The more people there were to pay attention to, the less chance there was that they would pay attention to Xan. The less time shopkeepers had to serve people, the less time (hopefully zero) they would waste trying to talk to Xan. There existed a sweet-spot between nigh-deserted and overcrowded where the psychic enjoyed both the perks of anonymity and the preserved sanctity of their personal space - the market today was a little more on the side of crowded, but by all means it was a pretty all right time as far as forays into public spaces went.

Kass and Jerry, the dynamic duo, Abra and Psyduck both were tucked away in their Pokéballs for now. Xan tended to let the two roam free as they wished, but that wasn't to say they wouldn't encourage either of the Pokémon to stay cooped up as a way of doing the human a favour. High population densities became a minefield when any single person might approach Xan to ask about their cute fuzzy widdle pets - they shuddered at the thought. They had absolutely no idea how Kass put up with derisive attitudes like that. They were yet to see if Jerry would have to - and didn't feel like finding out any time soon, for the Psyduck's sake if not their own.

The air felt different down here, near the sea. The psychic could perceive some kind of difference in the currents that circulated about them - it was the salt spray, they figured, though they doubted they'd be able to make that assumption without the large amount of circumstantial evidence and the aid of their nose. They could smell the sea even through their helmet. The fish, too, they could smell the fish. They didn't for a second think that their psychosensory perception was keen enough to pick out the airborne particulates that constituted fish smell. Another smell wafted its way into Xan's nostrils even through the strong aroma of freshly caught sea creatures - a certain exotic scent, a complex one; mingling with so many other smells made it difficult to discern its exact qualities. Xan could discern, however, that that scent probably came from the incense stall: their destination. Steadily it approached.

Seeking out new physical shops to buy stuff in was still an alien experience for Xan, but journeying and Pokémon training both made it something of a necessity. Thankfully, the internet was helpful enough to make the task quite painless. Hulbury market had stood out to the psychic for one main reason: the incense stall, along with the existence of what was known commonly as 'odd incense'. It wasn't Xan's typical choice of psychic focal aid, but with the awkwardness of journeying they didn't think it'd be feasible to buy something online and have it delivered like they had before. If time was no object, sure, they'd order some more psycho-augmentative metal - the common term for which was 'twisted spoons', but Xan was privy to the closely-guarded insider knowledge that the metal didn't have to specifically be twisted, nor were its origins as cutlery particularly important - and they'd cobble something together and make Jerry a headband or something in a similar vein to their own helmet or wrist-things or ankle-things or backpack-strap-things. Maybe a beak-band, or something, Xan didn't really know; awkward anatomy had proved an issue with Kass, too, and Pokémon weren't always keen on worn accessories either so maybe this incense route was as convenient as it would get. Heck, even still it was awkward enough to make something that worked properly for their own cranium, let alone something that worked for a creature with a beak coming out of the front of its face and a total lack of discernible forehead.

Regardless of anatomical complications, the point was that Jerry had difficulties and psychic foci seemed to assuage them somewhat. If this 'odd incense' worked, then- boy, er, that smell was really starting to get powerful. Not the fishy smell, the incense-y smell. Funny, was it really a thing for incense stalls to throw out this much odour? Was this a marketing thing? With all the mingling fishy aromas Xan couldn't say it was doing too great a job at it, if it was. It didn't seem like- … whyyyy were people screaming...? That was definitely screaming. Children, a few adults, it sounded like. It was a strong smell, for sure, and not all that pleasant, but it wasn't that bad - Xan hurried their pace a little, soon getting close enough that they could see over the incline down to the waterfront below. The sight they were met with left them speechless.

Holy fucking shit that was a lot of crabs.

Xan breathed deep to banish the initial shock, then began a quick descent of the stairs as they took more detailed stock of the situation. While Wingull were the usual meal-disturbers, this time the presence of a few Krabby were what was putting off picnickers on the nearby benches. The psychic's eyes landed on a sight that brought them both joy and despair: the incense shop, at last, lay before them, but the place was a mess and the presumed shopkeep was scrambling about on the floor in distress trying to clean up a considerable mass of containers, some more broken than others. Nobody seemed in immediate danger, which was a relief, though many people were packing up what they had and leaving. Others were staring out into the sea, perplexed. There was much confused murmuring amongst the crowd-noise. The Water-type Pokémon currently milling about didn't seem to be bothering people as there were only a few of them - below, emerging from the waves, however, was a veritable armada of crustaceans. Krabby after Krabby after Krabby clawed their way up from sea and sand to shore. Not many were fully visible; there were a smaller number making their way up the beach but most hadn't reached that far and were obscured in the water. Nonetheless, the group's presence and imposing number was betrayed by the frothing of the sea and the numerous Krabby popping up above the surface as they clambered over one another. Why were they here? What had them all acting like this? No way to tell at a glance, but one thing was clear to Xan: the incense stall was too compromised to evacuate, and if this horde of Pokémon kept going the way they were going then a purchase was going to end up impossible. Great.

"Are there any trainers around?" Came a call from one of the bystanders that cut through the small crowd.

"Are there-? I could do with some- oh, Arceus, the Krabby…" The shopkeep, still panicking at the state of her produce, was less eloquent and more vague with what probably counted as a cry for help. However unclear it may have been, it was all Xan needed to make this an issue that existed outside of their own desires. As their boots reached the end of the steps, telekinetic force parted their coat and lifted two Pokéballs from inside. At the psychic's whim they popped open, and red light trailed from the spheres to the ground at their side. They took to the grass to avoid the bystanders, approached the shopkeep and began speaking - if they had to ask someone about the situation anyway, they might as well talk to the person they were going to have to buy something from later. Keep the people-talked-to number as low as possible.

"I have no idea what's going on," was the statement Xan went with to immediately take control of the situation. "But I can probably buy you some time- what is-? Is there an explanation here for the- for this?"

"There's- I was- a Wingull swooped in to get someone's food, but it dived- it crashed into my stall and it's spilled everywhere, and now there's," she gestured wildly to the shore and the encroaching mass of Krabby. "This, I…"

A few other bystanders weighed in with more detailed and coherent accounts that ultimately amounted to the same information.

"You two, I could do with your help," Xan implored of the recently-materialised Pokémon before him, neglecting to mention that the summary of the situation wasn't making anything any clearer. "Loads of Krabby advancing on the shore for Arceus-knows-what-reason, it's crazy and we've got to minimise damage. Are you in?"

Kass nodded without hesitation. Jerry took a while getting there, but after realising that Kass had already nodded he made up for the delay by nodding rapidly at least six times in succession.

"Right," Xan nodded back, satisfied. "You two are probably better suited to redirecting the stragglers up here than I am, but let me know if you need anything. I'm going to head down there and see if I can glean anything more, maybe try to slow or stop this advance of- … Arceus, what the hell is this, a load of-? Anyway I'll meet you down there-"

With that, the psychic took off at a run. They weaved out of the throng of people, vaulted quickly but awkwardly over the railing and transitioned into a hopping-roll sort of maneuver up to the edge of the grassy bank that followed it. Their amble down the hill to the gravelly beach below wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. Xan's first thought was that perhaps the great mass of Krabby was fleeing from something that would be a more pressing concern, but as they got a better look they found that the crustaceans that were this far up the shoreline, at least, didn't seem to be in much of a hurry as they trundled onwards. They supposed it was a plus that there presumably wasn't some kind of bigger fish to deal with. There were a lot of Krabby in the water, though, and trying to body-block or otherwise push them all back would be a fool's errand. As was often the case, Xan looked to their environment for ideas; no trees nearby unless they wanted to climb back and up a ways, a few large-ish rocks around, seaweed strands were sparse, the sand was coarse and gravelly but while not ideal it could suffice as building material if wet. Sand seemed like the best option for buying time, and they'd best start now before things got worse.

The average person would likely struggle to mold any precise structure out of this mediocre material - but psychics, as it turned out, were excellent sand-castle builders. The human hand was far inferior to intangible power at applying equal force over specific areas. They would need a wall that stretched a fair portion of the beach, long enough at least to divert the Krabby to more manageable areas. Thankfully it didn't have to be that tall. Xan worked quickly, scooping and flinging over wet sand from the water - the wall would make use of whatever made its building easier, be it in the form of dunes with existing elevation or rocks to serve as additional structural support. Sand was piled up on one end and sheared off with something of a ditch below it. It was quickly becoming clear that the sand wasn't very structurally sound and would quickly crumble, but as long as it could hold its structure when left alone Xan figured its poor stability could be used to their advantage.

Xan sighed in relief as Kass appeared at their side. The Abra had made quick work of the few Krabby who were milling about; it didn't take a lot of telekinetic persuasion to push the crustaceans down to areas where they couldn't simply climb back up, and they hadn't seemed particularly hostile to the Psychic Pokémon's doing so. After a brief moment of panic, a peculiar scent from the incense stall had drawn Jerry's attention. Following that, the Psyduck had devoted himself to helping the shopkeep pick up the pieces. The humans present seemed to appreciate that Jerry was trying to help, but nonetheless had urged him to go down to the beach instead and leave the picking up of things to them - the Psyduck was now approaching and would arrive in a little while. Kass was privy to a good portion of this information, and was able to telepathically relay a general gist to their human research partner.

"Right," said Xan, absorbing the relay and preparing to relay back. "I've been walling - you see here, using rocks and stuff. Aim is: block if possible, divert if not. Need to find where they're closest and wall there first. Keep it an incline on our side - there's no stopping the crumbling as they try to climb the wall, but if it's on their side it should mean they can't get purchase and ideally we just repair."

Xan hadn't even finished their summation of the situation before Kass had already leapt into work. Ever-looming was the threat of great big lots of crabs. To work, then.

Grab, place and pull. Push edge down. Repeat wet sand acquisition. Side crumble! More sand to fix the crumble. Xan looked up and first spotted what was presumably a Krabby scout being flung back into the waves by psychic force. What they spotted next was approaching steadily and toward the left-middle of the beachfront which was not yet walled. Less a single scout and more a small battalion, an expeditionary force. Mounted raiders? Shock cavalry maybe? Xan didn't know where they were going with this metaphor they were all just crabs-

"Need walls on your right, Kass!" They called out, rushing over to begin the construction process themselves. The psychic had to bring in wet sand from farther away to avoid interference from the Krabby, and it was taking a little longer. The Krabbattalion met the partially-constructed wall and split, a few aimlessly going left and others confusedly right. One stayed, attempting to scale the sand. The front of the barricade crumbled around and on top of it as it clawed for some kind of purchase - Xan gave the creature the very smallest of telekinetic pokes, and it flopped harmlessly onto its back. They were beginning to think that perhaps these weren't military cavalry so much as lost farmers. Lost drunk farmers, riding Stunfisk, who were maybe also drunk. Why were they so numerous, and why did they want up to Hulbury? Xan pondered this as they ventured right, continuing to wall towards their earlier completed portion to block off one half of the intoxicated Stunfisk rider brigade. Was it the fish market that drew them here? If it was, surely this would happen more often.

Kass was unfortunately too late to save the left side of the wall. A few Krabby made their way through - the Abra teleported in front of them and threw out psychic force, forcing the group back a ways as though they were caught in the current of the sea. Kass was just in time to save the left side of the wall! They pulled two globs of sand from the left and right and voila! Now there was no way the enemy could get- well, there was a bit more beach to go still. They continued leftwards to make sure none of them could catch an easy opening.

"Psy!" Jerry panted, appearing heroically upon the battlefield. With his help, perhaps the stone defences of Hulbury (sand is basically tiny stone shut up) could last after all!

"Jerry," Xan acknowledged the hero's entrance.

"Abra!" Kass shouted what was probably Abra-speak for Jerry, likewise celebrating the triumphant arrival of the saviour as they batted away some confused crustaceans.

"Feel free to help however you can," said Xan, focusing heavily on sand levitation. "If you don't mind, we could probably use some wet sand on this side."

"Psy…?" The Psyduck Knight murmured, in the midst of a Champion's Befuddlement. They picked up some dry sand between their hands, wandered over to a completed wall and drizzled the tiny rock particles upon it. Surely this now meant that the wall was blessed with good fortune, all thanks to the favour of Jerry.

"Er- Jerry, I'm done with that bit of wall - should be more efficient if we work on our own parts, get it all done as soon as possible to stop the Krabby getting through. Are you still good to produce water? You're ok?"

Understanding dawned in the valiant Psyduck's eyes. Water! He had had troubles with it before, but yes, Jerry was a paragon of water! With a stupendous quack, the duck Pokémon let loose a jet of pure water that soggied the sands around the human and Psyduck alike. With that glorious deed done, Jerry charged onward, intrepid, toward the right side of the beach where there was sand-building to be done.

"Right, er- that's great! Thanks, Jerry!" Xan called after the Psyduck, glad for the useful strip of sodden beach that would be vital for construction and repair. The Water-type seemed focused, determined, even. He disappeared behind a large rock that Xan had almost walled to earlier when they'd looked around and spotted the battalion - hopefully the Psyduck would be capable of walling to there; Xan figured they could just about manage to build up to the other side of it from here before the Krabby got the better of them. One Krabby managed to get through by the time the barrier was complete on Xan's side, though the wild Pokémon didn't seem interested in the human at all. It walked steadily past, only for Xan's hand to grab its shell by the back and toss it back over the other side of the sandy barricade.

"Okay, wall complete on this side!" The psychic called out after a relieved sigh. Kass reached out with a telepathic message that was reassuring, and there was an affirmative quack from the other side of the wall that was similarly good to hear. The relief wouldn't last, however, as the density of approaching Krabby was rapidly increasing. The horde marched on Hulbury. Some Krabby were so closely packed that they rode atop one another - did that mean that this was actually the cavalry? No, there were even stacks of three or more. These were siege towers. Kass valiantly defended the walls with their Psychic power, throwing out Confusion attack after Confusion attack as waves of force or precise bolts of energy to either force the crustacean tide back or take out key troubles. Siege towers were destabilised and Krabby after Krabby were knocked onto their backs. The front of the walls were wearing down as the scrambling and scratching of the wild Pokémon built up - more wet sand was piled on to help mend the ailing barriers, but it was a losing battle. Xan could only hope that the incense shopkeep was almost all cleared up. The human hadn't the psychic strength of their Abra partner, but telekinetically launched pebbles were doing a solid job at keeping the towers at bay and the extra supply of wet sand from Jerry was keeping their portion of the wall in relatively good health. They just needed to last a bit longer...

Suddenly, from beneath the waves, something great and terrible emerged. Kass and Xan - and maybe Jerry, Xan couldn't see - looked on in terror as what looked like the largest tower of Krabby they had ever seen broke the surface of the water and began surging onto land. But wait, no, that wasn't Krabby, there were just a few on top… it was one huge Kingler. Bigger than average. Maybe even taller than Xan, and certainly much wider. Too big for the walls, for sure. Even if it couldn't just walk right over the meagre barricade, that big claw on its left arm could destroy it all in one fell swoop. Hell, it could probably even crush the rock part without breaking a sweat.

"Big one on approach! Getting info," the human announced, psychic power opening their backpack and retrieving their Pokédex to point it at the big boss. "Kingler, Water! Seems mostly physical! Big claw is dangerous but it's a liability too - unbalanced - backside for avoidance or try to exploit the unwieldiness! Mouth projectiles possible - don't underestimate face or other claw!"

Kass noted the info, deciding that a long-range blast of psychokinetic energy couldn't hurt. Or rather, could hurt - the Kingler. The attack ploughed into the side of its shell, knocking the big crab onto one side for a moment before a claw was used to keep it upright. In response, the Kingler, this royal juggernaut, the Queen of Krabby simply continued her approach steadily down the middle of the beach, her eyes focused not on the battle at the walls, not on Kass who had attacked, but straight forward, unblinkingly. Facing down the big beast was exhilarating still, but Xan noted that something was distinctly off about this in comparison to the regular threatening wild Pokémon encounter. Granted, Kass' Psychic attack hadn't torn a leg off or something too serious, but what gave her focus such that she would ignore a direct hit like that? They didn't have time to ponder it; they had to gather pebbles and prepare as best they could to defend. The smaller crustaceans rallied around their monarch, serving as a retinue of warriors. A Queen surrounded by Pawns. They were doing chess now? A fair swap - if the regular medieval metaphor was still going, this Kingler might as well be a fucking tank for how intimidating it was by comparison. The wall in front of Xan was crumbling steadily now but it didn't matter if the Kingler was going to show up there in a few moments anyway. With psychic grasp they experimentally threw a small rock at the behemoth-queen - it clattered harmlessly off her upper shell. She continued walking straight forwards. Her advance would not be halted. Xan readied their pebbles, stood on their toes, and hoped that they were right in thinking the Kingler was looking past them - that they hadn't been slightly off, and the Kingler was actually looking directly at them with unflinching focus...

Instead of indulging that thought, Xan chose to wonder how Jerry was faring on the other side of the rock.

As it turned out, Jerry was frantically trying to pinch the battlements into shape atop his watchtower. It theoretically served nothing in terms of defence for the shoreline, what with the lack of sand-scouts and sand-archers, but even with the Psyduck's constant shaking it was shaping up to be quite pretty. This tower would be the pride of the sand-city! The Krabby, although somewhat entranced in their journey toward land, seemed to inexplicably avoid the Water-type's work. Maybe the complexity of the architecture was more intimidating to the wild creatures, or perhaps somehow, deep down, they had an appreciation for the artwork the Psyduck was steadily creating. Regardless, they diverted from their course to avoid Jerry's citadel. Either they went back around the rock and were caught up in Kass and Xan's Kingler-battle, or they went the other way and came up against walls that Xan had made earlier, when they were less hurried. They were taller, thicker, more tightly packed and could handle more crumbling. There were some other Pokémon who had come to shore, too, not just Krabby - four Chewtle, two Corsola, even a brave Tentacool. The group seemed enticed to go toward land, too, though not quite as mindlessly as the Krabby; their attention was taken, instead, by Jerry's grand work. Some had even begun piling up sand themselves. Could these be… allies? The Krabby, on the other hand, were definitely still enemies, as they were currently battering walls that were connected to his city - Jerry would maybe have to sculpt some sand-halberdiers to deal with that lot...

The Kingler hadn't stopped, in spite of multiple glancing blows from Kass' Confusion. Deciding to tempt fate, Xan placed themselves firmly between the Kingler and the direction she was travelling. The response they got was a lazy claw swipe, which they hopped back from without much trouble - killing them definitely wasn't the goal, then. This was ultimately a good thing, the psychic knew, though half of them was a little insulted they were being more-or-less ignored. On top of that realisation, they were beginning to think it was possible that perhaps the surge of Krabby heading ashore was simply down to the Krabby following the Kingler, and the Kingler alone being drawn to the land. If that was the case, immobilising the Kingler might stop the entire horde - if they wanted to do that, though, they'd have to be a little more of a nuisance to draw the big crab's attention properly.

"I can take aggro, Kass," Xan called out to the Abra. It was all they needed to say - the Psychic-type Pokémon returned a telepathic affirmative and backed off from the nearby Krabby, giving them space for when they needed to swoop in. Xan took a psychic hold of the pebbles between their fingers. Right, danger time it was. Kingler had comfortably large enough eyes to target without much focus. Things tended to not like it when other things got in their eyes. Aiming wouldn't be difficult, so they should be able to keep a better eye on the Crustacean Queen's other movements. Catching the body or either arm rearing back would be the difference between scraping by unscathed and taking a trip to the hospital. Xan wasn't sure they liked how much of a thrill came with that knowledge. Oh well, time to go.

A step forward. Raise hand for alignment. Choose pebble - launch, eye one. Wait for the flinch, gauge direction. Second pebble - eye two. The Kingler made a rumbling noise; desired outcome achieved? Launch the rest of the pebbles at the general face area just to make sure it got the idea - focus on movements, read the-

The small right arm, flailing, horizontal. Xan dropped limp, a wave of psychokinetic force acting on their back to ensure they hit the dirt before the claw could clip off their head. A siren of danger flared in the Psychic's mind - excellent, was that more psychoprecognition or just a general-? Roll out of the fucking way you moron! Xan sausage rolled, another psychic push aiding their travel. The sheer impact of the giant claw that came down where they had been mere moments ago helped even more, giving them the momentum to get a good few paces away and roll to their feet. The Kingler was scuttling Xan's way as they lifted their large claw from the sand-dent to swipe - the lifting action had put them off balance, and as they began the swing their body leaned left. On the right, an opportunistic Abra launched a concussive wave at the colossal crustacean's underside. Xan pressed telekinetic force against their own front that sent them sprawling backwards, like they'd been shoulder-checked by The Invisible Shoulder-Checker, falling clear of the botched swing that sent the Kingler rocking, wobbling, angle becoming ever more precarious until Kass blasted the Water-type again. Queen Kingler fell onto the top of her shell, fully upside down, and Kass cheered.

Xan sat up, groaning at the ache of falling onto their back. Kingler down, it seemed. She stopped flailing within moments, and didn't even appear all that distressed by her current predicament. Odd, but not necessarily bad. What about the Krabby? They were swarming about the Kingler, some even turning tail from going towards the land. Had they been correct, then? Mostly on the Kingler? Seemed to be - in which case, maybe with her upside down they'd have ample time to clear up and get away, or maybe even they could just wait out whatever was drawing the Pincer Pokémon so far onto land and they-

The Kingler was rocking. The Kingler was rocking back over onto her front - the Krabby had banded together, the Pawns were combining their strength to resurrect their felled Queen and Kass' psychokinesis wasn't enough to stop their teamwork. Xan took several steps back as a precaution and Kass teleported to their side. The Kingler was righted… and it seemed she had either forgiven or forgotten their recent altercation, because she continued to walk up the beach in exactly the same direction she always had. Well, fuck, they were back to square one. How was Jerry faring? There were no Krabby coming up his side. Perhaps the Psyduck was doing a better job than either of them. How close was the incense shopkeep to being ready to go? She seemed to be standing up consistently now, so it shouldn't be long before- hold on a minute...

"The incense shop," Xan said to Kass as they began to jog in that direction, barely holding back from slapping themselves. Was it a coincidence that the Kingler was heading directly in the direction of the incense stall? On any other day, perhaps it would be, but apparently earlier today a Wingull had spilled a load of the incense. It seemed so obvious now - there was a chance that wasn't the reason, but there weren't many others Xan could think of, and if the incense could lure them here then it should sure as hell be able to lure them to Fuckoff Town.

"Hey," Xan called up to the incense shopkeep, and to their relief she immediately noticed. "I think they want incense! I think they're following the spill, I don't know where they'll stop!"

"They want incense? You think if we gave them some they would stop coming?" The shopkeep yelled back. The help from the community seemed to have calmed her down considerably.

"Your guess is as good as mine, I don't-"

"What kind would a crab Pokémon want? Sea incense maybe?"

Kass giggled, despite Xan's growing tension. The Kingler behind them wasn't slowing and was growing ever closer, accompanied by the skittering of her Krabby armada.

"I don't- I-" Xan shook their head. "Does the sea not already smell of sea?"

"Well there's also wave!" The saleswoman supplied. "And we've got rose, and rock, and odd, and lax, and full, and pure, and luck! You're a trainer, you know Pokémon, what incense would a Kingler want?"

Xan blinked beneath their helmet, irritated, "That logic isn't even the slightest bit-"

They were interrupted as the image of a sleepy Snorlax prodded at their brain. Kass, at their side, was nodding vigorously. Xan could hear each individual Kingler leg hit the sand.

"Lax?" The human psychic questioned, prompting more nods. "You're sure? You know, it's worth a try- Lax incense! Kass is confident about Lax incense!"

"I've got some here! Can your Abra take it-? Thank you!"

Kass wasted zero time; the second the container of incense left the shopkeep's hands and entered their psychokinetic grip, it flew. Like a missile it shot down from the railing, over the grass and over Xan's and Kass' heads alike until it shattered directly atop the Kingler's. There was a crash, then a few more crustacean steps, then silence. A breath. Then two. Then an inhale so deep it was heard by all who were watching, and a gargantuan thud as a massive crustacean's body hit sand. The Kingler's eyes closed, fast asleep. The Krabby crowded around their Queen, and some fell asleep along with her. None approached the grass.

Suddenly, cheering! Apparently the crowd didn't think it prudent to keep quiet in case it woke the Kingler back up. She remained asleep, but fortunate idiots were idiots still. Xan raised a finger before their helmet - 'shh' - and made some calming hand gestures that quietened the group down a bit - something caught the psychic's eye as they glanced up at the people peering over the railing.

"Oh, fuck off, they're filming…" Xan muttered, spotting the classic pose of someone aiming a smartphone camera. The psychic knew, in the grand scheme of things, this was a good thing. This was, in fact, what their aim was. The more people were exposed to genuinely useful displays of psychic power, the more interest would be generated and the more seriously it would be taken as an area of study. This was basically half of the objective of their journey going well, right in front of them, and they were not happy. In fact, it was all they could do not to be filled with hatred. Especially for the fuckers filming vertically. The dread of what this exposure would mean for them in their near future - exposure that they had planned to obtain over the course of this journey - was crushing. For days, maybe the rest of their journey if they kept doing things like this, they would be recognised by the public. Asked questions. Accosted on the street. Were they ready for it? They'd thought so, but the whole ordeal with Tim had made them realise that perhaps they weren't. They left the presence of the crowd without a word to check on Jerry. Kass waved at the crowd and tentatively began to psychokinetically push the Kingler back toward the sea.

Xan was very puzzled by what they found. Jerry's defence of the shoreline wasn't particularly sturdy, and yet it didn't seem to have been attacked by the Krabby at all. They would have been disappointed, but if no Krabby had got through then apparently it worked - and if they were being honest with themselves, they were impressed by how good the sand-citadel the Psyduck had built looked. It wasn't record-breaking work, by any means, but there was some solid design work on display and nice decorative touches. There was a leaf atop the tallest watchtower serving as a flag of sorts, and discarded cigarette butts pressed into the others to act as… beacons, presumably. The walls and towers all had well-shaped battlements. There was a moat, complete with a discarded piece of cardboard to act as a drawbridge. Jerry looked up from his work for a moment, beaming, and acknowledged Xan with a quack. It seemed he was using his hands for the big bits and psychokinesis for the small bits, which was a demonstration of precision that Xan hadn't yet seen in the Psyduck.

"Hey Jerry," the psychic greeted the Water-type. "Looks good. Hey, er, all of you." Around Jerry, pitching in, were four Chewtle, two Corsola, and a brave Tentacool. They had made a makeshift sand-village outside the citadel, with a river running through it. The Tentacool extended a friendly tentacle toward Xan's foot, but the human hopped away skittishly as they opened their coat to get their smartphone out. They asked the group, "Do you mind if I take a few pictures of this, actually?" and besides Jerry's happy quack there was a unanimous response of resounding indifference.

Once Xan was done, they helped Kass get Queen Kingler and her subjects the rest of the way back to sea, then went to stand alone at the side of the grassy bank above the beach. They needed focus if they were going to detect and extract the Arceus-awful amount of sand that had accumulated in their clothing. Kass had teleported up to the market to soak in the praise; Xan would have to thank Kass later for holding the attention of the crowd so well. Apparently the Psychic Pokémon was doing what amounted to telepathic joke charades - they assumed as much, as a voice they didn't recognise had shouted 'smells fishy!' in realisation earlier and the crowd had burst into laughter. The Abra and Jerry both seemed to be enjoying themselves, so Xan was figuring they'd tell the two they were going to go and complete the shopping trip and then come back here to meet up and head back to the hotel. They had just finished de-sanding their boots as well as they could - they would definitely need a more thorough cleaning later, but their feet would thank them for taking most of the sand out now - and were just starting on their trousers when they were disturbed.

"Hey!" Said the shopkeep, apparently involved enough in the incident to not be overly absorbed by Kass' presence. "Wanted to thank you for dealing with those Krabby and the-"

"Don't-! Er, don't come close, please," Xan interrupted her, lifting a hand very slightly. "Sorry. Got to focus; getting the sand out. Needs minimal physical distractions in the area. Talking's fine, not too much though if you don't mind."

"Oh, right, of course!" The incense seller seemed quite accommodating, which was nice, but how much of that was just gratitude Xan didn't know. "Just wanted to give you a gift. I sell incense, so incense made sense. You have an Abra, so odd incense made sense! It can boost the powers of Psychic Pokémon, you know!"

"Huh, that's some solid reasoning. You're right; I was going to buy some, actually, before the whole crab situation happened-"

"Well, now you get it free!" The shopkeeper laughed. "I couldn't think of charging you after basically saving my entire stock."

"Okay, I get the point," Xan nodded lightly. "If you insist I'll gladly take it. Thank you."

"Thank you, I do insist! And I'm throwing in a revival herb, too. Always helps to have a safety net, right?"

"Also well reasoned, great." The psychic agreed. "You can leave them on the grass there - thank you. Bye."

The shopkeep hadn't yet expressed any intention of leaving, but Xan knew well that passive-aggressively saying 'bye' was an excellent way of getting someone to leave without immediately appearing in the wrong. It was something people could well look back on and think 'huh, they were a bit of a dick, actually', but in the moment? Consequence free. Would it work?

"Uh- you're very welcome! Bye!"

Fucking nailed it.

Foxrally · Mar 24, 2021

Simon Pearburgh

Spoiler: Inventory

Spoiler: Memories

Hulbury

Simon stepped through the doors of the stadium once more (legally this time), backpack in hand. Now that the stadium was actually open, there were far more people inside the lobby, more than he'd seen at either Motostoke or Turffield; he figured this was a popular challenge to watch in person. Several of the attendees waiting in line for a ticket turned and whispered as they saw him enter, some giving him a wave as they recognized him.

Simon waved back at them with a smile and made his way to the front desk to present his ATC. The league employee quickly confirmed his details, and motioned towards the waiting area to await his turn to be called. He checked his phone; Ruben would be here anytime so he should get dressed before that. Though he would've preferred to wait and chat with the other challengers in the meantime, Simon wasn't feeling up to it. Under Ruben's name in his contact list was another he'd recently texted: Raphael's.

Raph's words were still distracting the boy, and no matter how much he told himself that Raph was just having a bad day, he couldn't shake the feeling they'd left him with.

"Stay far away from me, Simon."

The way he had said that… it was almost like he was referring to himself instead of Simon. What was he holding back? The incident reminded him of the other time he'd seen Raph this way, after the ceremony when they were taking pictures. Simon had just chucked it up to Raphael being antisocial that day, but this was different… he still had no idea why Raph acted this way after seeing him the pin- clearly birthdays were a sore spot, but why the pin?

As Simon made his way to the locker rooms, he noticed Ball Guy standing near the doors, flailing his arms wildly to get his attention.

"Oh, hey Mr. Guy." Simon waved back.

"412! The Joltik King! The Snom Scourge! The time approaches - don't get crushed by the wave of defeat! Surf them like a majestic Surskit!" the mascot yelled out, crossing his arms and striking a pose.

"Ah… thank you?" Simon replied, raising an eyebrow at the cryptic words.

After he'd changed in the locker rooms, the young trainer stepped back out into the lobby, just in time to spot a familiar face.

"Yo, Simo!" It was none other than Ruben Sancho. The footballer was in the middle of waving off some adoring fans, but the moment Simon walked in the room, he became his focus. The celebrity was flanked by his less-than-enthusiastic, overweight friend. "How you feeling going into this one?" Ruben asked with a smile and gentle punch to Simon's arm.

"Ready as ever! Gotta keep the champion streak going, right?" Simon replied, brimming with confidence. He had to get his head in the game now, there was no point trying to justify his anxiety. "Thanks again for coming to watch." Just as he spoke, the employee at the desk called out his number, signalling it was his turn.

"Break a le- um, good luck out there kiddo, you got this." Ruben smiled, patting Simon on the back and ushering him toward his gym challenge.

"Thank you!" Simon threw a thumbs-up in their direction as he ran to the stadium doors. "Showtime, lads!" he said to his team.

"I swear I recognise that little bug kid from somewhere..." Ainsley grumbled as he watched the boy barrel into the gym. He could practically hear the 'wit' coming in the curl of Ruben's lips. "Obviously not from yesterday. Before that." That earned a raised brow from the footballer.

---------

Simon stepped out of the tunnel and shielded his eyes from the blinding lights of the stadium as he made his way to the starting location of Nessa's gym mission: The Wave Wipeout. While it was an effective (and thematic) way to gauge a challenger's coordination with their Pokemon, the mission also proved for an entertaining show all on its own, which explained the huge crowd at the lobby.

A giant pool of water sat between him and the other tunnel entrance where Nessa's court was. Inside the pool where several obstacles attached to mechanical platforms, which were currently moving around as their order was randomized for the upcoming challenger. The obstacles ranged from tiny platforms that had to be jumped on, to slippery wet bridges that had to be crossed, and even water jet machines that periodically turned on and off. The seating beside the arena was packed with people excited to watch the next attempt - judging by the soaked figure of a trainer walking away towards the exit, Simon guessed the previous challenger hadn't been so lucky.

"Here comes our next challenger, 412, Simon Pearburgh!" the announcer introduced him as he stepped onto the starting area. Simon struck his signature pose for the crowd which earned him a number of cheers.

"Let's see what Nessa's Wave Wipeout has in store for you today!" the man said, as the obstacles locked themselves into place. A combination of water jets, small platforms and a slippery slope with a few footholds to climb. At the top of the slope was a large red button. Simon also noticed a similar button on another platform underwater, though it was blocked off by several hurdles.

"BUTTON CHALLENGE!" the announcer exclaimed. "Truly a test of partnership between Pokemon and trainer! For this challenge, both the underwater and above-water switches have to be hit at the same time within the time limit! Keep in mind, you are limited to one Pokemon - and be careful not to fall into the water, or you'll be disqualified!"

Simon's heart sank, almost literally. This was the worst possible type of challenge for him. He'd seen the other missions before his and hoped the one he'd get didn't involve the double buttons… but luck wasn't on his side today. None of his Pokemon could swim, not even by a long shot, but he had no choice at- this was literally impossible without a partner. His mind raced with possible plans, any ideas he could have. Was he allowed to back out now and catch one of those Dewpider?

A tap on his shoulder caused him to turn around. It was a league employee holding a Pokeball tray. The cap and sunglasses were obscuring his face. "Please deposit your other Pokemon here, sir."

Simon raised an eyebrow, now that he could see the employee up close, his voice sounded incredibly familiar. Sighing, he took out his Pokeballs and placed all of them in the tray, still unsure of who to take.

"You forgot to take a Pokemon, sir." the league employee feigned grabbing a ball from the tray, but suddenly, one popped out of his sleeve and into his palm. "Here you go."

"Wh-wha?!" Simon mouthed in confusion. He finally got a good look at the employee's face as the latter lowered his sunglasses. "Victor?!"

"Shush, not so loud." the disguised young man said back with a grin. "Take the Pokeball."

Simon quickly took the ball handed to him, though he was still shocked at the revelation. "What are you doing here?!" he whispered back, his voice thankfully drowned out by the crowd. "I can't just use a random Pokemon you gave me, that's cheating! Are you even a league employee?!"

"Nope! But don't worry, I'm pretty good at the whole 'breaking into places' thing. And it's not technically cheating, because I registered this little guy under your name earlier." Victor winked.

"Wha- what even is it?!" Simon asked, still flabbergasted.

New Capture?!

Anorith ♂
Swift Swim
Water Gun - Aqua Jet - Smack Down - Scratch - Rapid Spin

"So, disclaimer, it miiight be a little wonky in the head," Victor laughed sheepishly, "My machine had to, uh, get some maintenance after I asked my friend about his fossil 'mon - turns out Shieldon and Anorith are nothing alike - so I ended up having to program the mental capacity and instincts and whatnot myself."

"You WHAT?!" Simon was desperately trying not to be too loud.

"Nono, don't worry! He can still eat and breathe and stuff, I made sure of that. And I had a perfect reference for the rest- luckily Elliott was watching one of his cartoons on the telly, right - and the episode actually happened to have an Anorith in it! I figured the one on that documentary is as good as any, so I used it as a mental base for this little bugger. Genius, no?"

Simon had no words. He wasn't sure where to begin- whether it was that Victor's life-creating machine 'stopped working' midway, that he'd manually coded a Pokemon's survival instincts, or that he thought the Wishiwashi Squad was a documentary-

Victor gave him no time to think. "Okay, anyway, gotta dash before the actual officials get suspicious. Good luck, champ." the young inventor winked at him again before pushing his sunglasses back up and quickly leaving.

Simon sighed in exasperation. Well, this was at least better than having no Pokemon at all. He released the creature inside the ball and held his breath. "Go, Anorith!"

A white light burst from the device and materialized into a small, crustacean creature on the ground, with several little fin-like appendages on its side and two large claws in front. As the light faded, it revealed the Anorith… lying upside down. The little Pokemon pathetically flailed its limbs on the floor, it's two globe-like eyes darting around as it took in its surroundings. The circular mouth on its belly opened and closed as it let out a series of confused squeaks.

Simon blinked; he could barely understand what the bug was saying, as if it was communicating in some sort of dead ancestral pokemon-language. He figured that it wanted to be put upright, at least. He crouched down and flipped the Anorith over, the little bug's claws snapping at his face instinctively before realizing who he was. Once it was upright, Simon looked at the Pokemon proper. No crucial body parts were missing, thank Arceus, but several of the wing-like fins were much shorter than the others. As he looked, the bug was staring back at him expectantly.

"Heya, laddie…?" He gave a little wave. The Pokemon continued to stare blankly for a few seconds before giving a delayed response and waving back with its claw.

"Challenger 412, are you READY?" the announcer's voice boomed from the speakers above.

Simon sighed and steeled himself. He couldn't look nervous in front of the crowd now. Looking at the nearest camera, he picked up his Anorith and gave a confident-looking thumbs-up.

"Wonderful! In that case… 3… 2… 1… BEGIN!"

Simon sprinted to a start towards the first obstacle, a series of slanted platforms he had to wall-jump from rapidly. Anorith in hand, the boy leaped into the first one, barely catching the bottom edge of it before bounding to the next. He repeated this in quick succession- the key was to keep up his momentum. After a few more platforms, he reached stable ground again. First obstacle cleared. The button still loomed in the distance however, and Simon knew he'd have to actually make use of Anorith eventually. The little rock bug was flailing its limbs as he was carrying it, though it wasn't trying terribly hard.

Simon looked ahead at the next obstacle, a series of geysers that dropped water in a simple pattern.

"Psh, piece of cake." he said to himself as the announcer narrated over his approach.

He bolted through the first geyser just as it stopped spitting water, and kept running forward. As expected, the next one also dropped right after, and soon the boy could see the next platform before him.

"Oh dear, is 412 going to fall for this infamous trick?"

"Wha-?!" Before Simon could realize what the announcer meant, a surprise geyser burst forth from underneath him, completely separate from the earlier pattern. The water shot up immediately, flinging him sideways and up into the air, plummeting into the water below. "Shit!' Simon cursed, closing his eyes and bracing for impact.

But thankfully, it never came. Instead, he felt a sudden blast come from the Anorith under his arm as the Pokemon shot out a powerful concentrated jet of water. The strength of the attack was so strong that Simon began feeling himself rising, as if propulsed by some sort of shrimpy jetpack. He held on as tight as he could to stop it from slipping out of his grasp. Slowly he was pushed back upwards to safety, and Simon quickly grabbed the ledge of the platform once it was close enough.

"Amazing! Challenger 412 has managed to recover against all odds, with the power of a single water gun!" the announcer said, and the audience around them cheered loudly.

Even as Simon clambered onto the main platform again, Anorith kept blasting water out of its mouth in panic, the strength of the beam even reaching some of the spectators. "Whoa, whoa, you can relax now!" Simon tried to comfort it, which seemed to work as the attack slowly sputtered out and the bug let out a confused squeak. Simon got the idea that it had completely forgotten who he was. He pet it on the head, "That was amazing, lad- now let's clear this final obstacle!"

The trainer and Pokemon duo reached the final platform, where a tall, slippery incline towered above them. The large red button was at the top. The underwater button was underneath them as well, guarded by a bunch of hurdles and spinning arms that blocked the path for the Pokemon. "Okay, Anorith." Simon set the shrimp down. "I know we've just met… but I need you to do this with me, okay? You see that big red button? You need to dive down and get to it as fast as you can." He pointed at the objective below them.

Anorith blinked one eye slowly… then the other, not even looking in the direction he was pointing at. Simon hopped on the spot and eyed the clock nervously; this thing had no idea what he was even saying. He racked his brain for ideas; anything to get it to move...

Suddenly a realization popped in his mind. If this worked, this would officially be the stupidest idea he'd ever come up with. "Anorith! King Carvanha is right there! You see the big red button? That's him in disguise!"

Almost immediately the Pokemon's eyes lit up, as if the words 'King' and 'Carvanha' had triggered some survival mechanism in its brain. The Anorith began to screech loudly as it flailed its claws and fins around, its eyes now sharp and predator-like. Without Simon giving it any more orders, Anorith backflipped impressively from the platform and dove into the pool below.

"YEAH! GO GET 'IM!" Simon cheered. He crossed his fingers and hoped the Pokemon wouldn't lose focus mid-mission, and sprinted towards the steep incline. The few footholds on the side of the incline would have been almost impossible for someone of his height to clear- but he wasn't going to let a damn waterslide get in the way of his championship. As he stepped onto the first foothold, Simon threw himself upward with all his strength, grabbing the next hold with one hand and extending his bug net with the other. Using his momentum he pulled himself up again, and managed to hook another foothold with the rim of the net, using it to pull himself higher. His arms were sore and burning, but he pressed on - and he definitely felt grateful for that gym membership right now. Another foothold, then another, and finally the button at the top was in view.

Simon raised the net above his head and brought it down on the button with one last burst of strength, then held his breath…

"TIME!"

The audience erupted into cheers and Simon breathed a tired sigh of relief. Anorith had actually made it. He let go of the foothold and let himself slide back down the incline. The obstacles platforms whirred and shifted quickly to allow for a solid bridge to form between him and the other side of the gym, where the real challenge was waiting for him.

"Absolutely incredible! Challenger 412 has cleared the infamous button challenge and is ready to challenge our Nessa!

Simon posed for the cameras once more, throwing a thumbs-up in the crowd's direction as well. In the water beside him, Anorith slowly floated to the surface, utterly confused by the fact the button had now disappeared and looking like he had forgotten how to swim. Simon pulled out his Pokeball and quickly retrieved the Pokemon with a sigh before heading to the tunnel.

Though he was waving at the audience, the boy's smile wasn't as enthusiastic. Was he really ready to face Nessa? This was the first time he'd challenged a gym leader without Raph to benchmark against… After this morning, was his head really in the game? There was no point thinking about that now, he thought - it was time to face the waves.

Foxrally · Mar 24, 2021

Simon Pearburgh

Spoiler: Inventory

Spoiler: Memories

Hulbury

Once again Simon was inside the battle section of the Hulbury Stadium, except this time, he was actually going to face down Nessa. The once-empty seats were now filled with thousands of excited spectators, some cheering, others jeering at laughing, but all equally as loud and with their eyes all on him.

A particular pair of those eyes belonged to Ruben Sancho, watching from a booth in the lower tiers of the stadium. He and Ainsley watched on, the latter of the two far more focused on the young bug catcher's opponent. Ruben himself, he felt a grin coming on as he watched the kiddo take stance.

Simon could still see the cracked spot on the ground where Drednaw had stomped its feet to scare them yesterday. In retrospect, sneaking into a closed stadium had not been a good idea. Nessa could likely have gotten him and disqualified if she wanted to, on top of any additional trouble that came with breaking into official league property. Regardless, he now had to face Nessa again, albeit a little awkwardly, but still riding on the success of his mission.

He'd been given the rest of his team back in the tunnel, all seven bugs clinging to his sleeves and hair. Spewpa, Caterpie, Burmy, Snom, Princess, Larvesta, and their newest addition, Anorith. As he stepped onto the field and waved at the crowd, Spewpa and Princess buried themselves deeper in his pockets away from the noise; Snom was relishing in the thrill, screaming out a battle cry atop his head as Larvesta flew circles around them; a still-groggy Burmy watched them atop Simon's shoulder, eyeing the crowd lazily beside Caterpie, who also seemed largely unbothered by the crowd as he munched on the remainders of his breakfast. And then there was Anorith, who'd found himself a comfortable resting position halfway down the back of Simon's shirt.

This was the team Simon was leading into battle. In a way, he felt proud… but at the same time, was it enough? Was he enough? The victory against Milo had been well-earned, sure, but this time he didn't have the type advantage so easily…

The boy shook his head and recalled all of his Pokemon. This anxiety wasn't like him. He had to remain confident in himself and his plan, Raph or no Raph - after all, he'd been training for weeks for this stadium, and if his strategy went well, he'd be holding on to that badge in no time. He just had to get his head in the game.

"Welcome back, Simon!" Nessa said to him as he approached. "Not too drenched from the mission, I hope?" she asked with a smirk.

Simon rolled up his soaked sleeves and pointed at himself. "If you think that'll extinguish the fire of my spirit, you've got it all wrong!"

"Oh my, you're sounding like Kabu right now." the gym leader chuckled. "Well, I'm looking forward to finally battling you. Time to see if Sonia's teachings paid off."

Both challengers made their way to either side of the battlefield-turned-swimming pool. Nessa pulled out one of her Pokeballs. "I have to say, Simon, going with a team of all bugs makes you a little predictable." she said, as she released her first Pokemon, Pelipper.

"I think you'll find me anything but predictable!" Simon replied, posing dramatically with a flex. "Let's go, Princess!" The little Joltik squeaked and hopped out of his Pocket before landing on one of the small platforms, eyeing the larger flying-type nervously.

The announcer's voice boomed through the speakers as the referee commenced the match. "AND WE ARE UNDERWAY! 412 VERSUS GYM LEADER NESSA!"

"Alright, let's make it rain, Pelipper!" Nessa called out, throwing her arm out. The flying-cawed as it did the same, and Simon noticed several large storm clouds forming above them.

"Oh, come on…" he groaned, cursing himself for not getting his raincoat beforehand.

"Now start things off with a Twister, then take to the skies!" Nessa crossed her arms.

"Not so fast! Princess, pin it down with Spider Web!" Simon commanded. As the joltik prepared to shoot, Nessa's Pelipper released a whirlwind from its wings. The vortex began to pick up water on its way, and before Princess could react, she was encapsulated by the twister, blocking her vision and allowing the bird to fly up. The net landed harmlessly in the water.

"Too slow on that." Nessa taunted.

"Only a minor setback!" Simon responded confidently, "Hit it with electroweb instead!" Princess shook off the attack and blasted the electric net at the flying-type. Simon knew that only a few of the attack would be enough to take it down- the hard part was actually hitting it.

"Dodge, then tailwind!" Nessa retaliated, as the pelipper dove down mid-flight and the electroweb sailed above it harmlessly. As it adjusted itself it began flapping its wings rapidly, creating a tailwind which blew from its rear and greatly improved its speed. Hitting it now was going to be even more difficult.

"Jump to the next platform and try electroweb again!" Simon hoped getting closer would improve their chances. Princess hopped to the next land platform, barely catching the edge with her jump, before shooting another electric attack at her opponent. The Pelipper dodged again easily, swerving to the side before flying again up high.

"Now, use Fly!" Nessa commanded. As she did so, her Pelipper began plummeting towards the ground like a meteor, headed straight for Princess. Before Simon could react the Joltik was slammed into and nearly thrown off of the platform completely.

"Gah! Princess, you okay?" The Joltik slowly got back up and gave her trainer an affirmative squeak, though she was beginning to look worse for wear. One more devastating hit like that would spell the end for her.

Nessa shook her head. "That won't be for long! Use fly again, Pelipper, finish it!"

Simon took a deep breath, if there was any time to enact his plan, this was it. He just hoped it would work.

"Okay Princess, I'd say it's time we CALL IN THE CAVALRY!" he yelled out, posing dramatically at Nessa.

"Bro this kid's a damn weirdo." Ainsley grumbled as he watched on with lazy eyes. All the poses, the bug types...how could anyone take him seriously? If Ruben hadn't insisted on watching this one, he'd be more inclined to watch Ruben's girlfriend or the Alolan girl battle Nessa. Even that goth chick had something about her that appealed to him. He glance at Ruben, who was completely invested in Simon's performance.

"He managed to bait Milo's Pokemon into a big attack back in Turffield. If Nessa's not careful, she could make herself a sitting ducklett here." Ruben explained.

"Ohh, man's been watching tape? Swear down." Ainsley joked, meeting Ruben's fist with a quick fist bump. "It's a Pelipper though fam, not a Ducklett."

Princess' eyes lit up as she recognized the words. Giving Simon a little nod, the bug looked up at the divebombing Pelipper… before jumping off of the platform and into the water.

"What?! 412's Joltik has just willingly thrown itself into the pool?!" the announcer was incredulous, and so was Nessa. Her Pelipper quickly adjusted itself midair in surprise, and looked back at its trainer in confusion.

"Wait for it…" Simon muttered under his breath as he eyed the water intensely. The wind and rain were making it hard to see underwater; just what he needed. Confused muttering echoed through the audience. He just needed to give it a few more seconds…

Simon threw his arm forward. "NOW!"

Suddenly, hundreds of Joltik burst out of the water in unison, covering nearly the entire pool. Their claws were all sharp and glowing a bright green, and all had their eyes fixed on one target: Pelipper.

"Wh-what?!" Nessa stepped back in shock. "It's the- how did you- where did they all come from?!"

Simon smirked and flipped his shaggy hair in the rain. "A king never goes anywhere without his Royal escort." The crowd went wild as they erupted into a deafening round of cheers and screams. Simon posed dramatically one more time, "FURY CUTTER!"

The Joltik all leaped towards Pelipper with the claws raised. The bird had no time to react as it was still low to the ground, and just as the first attack was going to hit its mark…

"Pelipper, return!" Nessa called out, panic clear in her face as she withdrew the Pokemon. She knew that if she had to face down this threat, she'd need to bring out her ace.

"Drednaw, it's on you now!" she yelled out, throwing her Pokeball and releasing her Pokemon. The massive turtle crashed into the platform below it as it landed, and let out a fierce roar that echoed through the stadium.

"Ain't that that cheating? Them man are rushing her!" Ainsley cried out, only earning a shrug from Ruben.

Simon grinned. This was all going according to plan. "Rush him, lads!" he commanded. The Joltik all squeaked in unison and leaped at the Drednaw, assaulting it from all sides and clinging to its body as it flailed helplessly.

"Use Razor Shell! Clear them out!" Nessa ordered, her expression growing more panicked by the second.

Now covered in fuzzy yellow Pokemon, Drednaw let out a roar as its shell grew several blue blade-like spikes and it trashed about. Several Joltik were thrown off of its shell… before disappearing in a cloud of dust.

"Wait a minute…" Nessa mouthed as her eyes grew wide and she realized what was really going on.

Simon's smirk was even wider now as he saw the realization evident on her face… but it was too late now. "Princess, hit 'em with the Absorb!"

Unbeknownst to the Drednaw, the real Princess had sneaked up behind him. Using the sunken spider web as a cover, she'd swam to the other side of the pool and latched onto the back of its shell- and was now ready to strike. The hungry little Joltik glowed green as she bit down on the water-type sapped Drednaw's energy.

"No! Drednaw, shake her off!" Nessa yelled as the turtle let out a roar of pain, severely weakened by the devastating grass move. It attempted to flail about some more, but the Pokemon had no idea which Joltik was the real one- all the while, the Joltik continued to sap its energy.

The massive Pokemon raised its tail desperately and crashed it down on the ground with Dragon Tail, sending a shockwave that shook off some more of the Joltik. Princess took some damage, but held on tight.

"There! The one on your back!" Nessa exclaimed, noticing the glow coming from the real Joltik.

"Absorb again, Princess! One last time!" Simon cheered. With a final determined squeak, Princess used the move once again, which spelled the end for Nessa's Drednaw. The massive Pokemon's legs shook as it attempted to maintain its balance, before ultimately falling over and fainting.

The announcer and the crowd equally went wild. "Incredible! 412 has amazed us yet again with his Joltik Princess!!"

Simon threw a thumbs-up in Princess' direction as the Joltik hopped back to his side of the battlefield, and flexed once more for the crowd.

"Rahhh! That was mad!" Ainsley exclaimed, making no effort to mask his excitement. He looked closer at the battle, his childish excitement forcing a smile out of Ruben. As Ainsley got that closer look though, he squinted. "Nah bro, now that I'm sober, I know I've seen this kid before. I spoke to you about him, I remember." He mused. Ruben could only shrug and dismiss the notion in favour of watching the younger trainer's incredible performance.

As Nessa recalled her Pokemon, the Double Team copies faded into dust. The gym leader clutched Pelipper's ball again in frustration, before her expression softened into a laugh. "Okay, Simon. You've made a fool out of me once, but don't expect it to work again! Go, Pelipper!"

The bird Pokemon landed onto the battlefield again with a caw, relieved that the horde of Pokemon earlier was gone. It narrowed its eyes at its now lone opponent, and Princess let out a timid squeak.

"One down, another to go, lass!" Simon cheered. "You've got this!"

[PKMN OPEN] Pokémon Spear [M] [IC]

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