(Reach Into Time) [PG 16]

[punkforlife93]

Jed was running as fast as he could, eager to reach the shadowy figures in front of him. But his ears picked up a shout from a ways behind him, and he glanced back curiously. Someone else was chasing him, and he could see their Pokemon giving chase as well. He couldn't tell what they were saying from so far away, so he ran over options in his mind. The first was that he could turn back from the figures he was closest to, instead helping the ones that seemed to need help the most. The other was that he could keep going in the same direction, and wait for the ones behind him to catch up, so the three could be reunited. Jed opted for the latter, motioning towards Lex to give her instructions. She quickly swooped down, her eyes wary.

"Lex, I'd like you to go check out the fellas behind us. Let them know that we're friendly, don't do a divebomb or anything freaky. Just make sure that they know we heard them. Keep our conscience clear, eh?"

Lex wheeled around gracefully, circling towards the others while Jed watched, still running. She stayed about fifteen feet or so above them, but flapped her wings a bit, creating a light gust, before speeding off towards Jed and his troop again.

"Thanks, girl."

Soon, Jed had come within about twenty feet or so of the person he'd seen before. It was another boy, about half a head shorter than Jed, and roughly the same age, he estimated. His hair was brown and rumpled like a piece of construction paper, but it had a purposeful quality about it, perhaps because of the spiked ends. Jed couldn't quite make out his eyes, as they were hidden by a pair of tinted glasses that must have miraculously survived the wreck.

One of the first things that Jed noticed was that this boy had a clear affinity to Grass Pokemon. All of them were of the grass type, large and lumbering earth-creatures, exempting the creature that caught Jed's eye quickest - a tiny Growlithe. It seemed to ooze power, though, oddly enough for its unusual size.

"Hey...you guys come from the boat as well?"

Jed looked back at the other kid. The boy's face was inquisitive and...perhaps longing for something. Jed shook his hair out of his eyes quickly and smiled a bit, performing a mock-bow intended to break the ice.

"Jedidiah Knode at your service, bro. And I am, as a matter of fact, from the ship that you mentioned. Me and my Pokes," he gestured around him, "were just hoping to find survivors, and...well, seeing as you're here, and so is the person behind us, I guess our work's cut out for us."

Jed coughed lightly, pondering his next words. "Eh...these are my Pokemon, as you can see. Mudpimp, Lex, Jammer, Dunn, Two-Face...shouldn't be too hard to figure out who's who, but it's not a big deal anyways. Our first priority should be to get to some sort of...well...civilization. This beach isn't doing it for me, and I doubt it's doing it for you much either. Sure, it's pretty and all, but I'm sure it'll get old soon."

He heard footfalls behind him, and turned around quickly. The person following turned out to be a woman, definitely older than Jed, but still with a youthful air about her, and looking somewhat anxious. He gave her a little salute, grinning widely.

"I'm guessing that you're the one who was shouting at me. Thank God we've got company, all of us - I was already getting a bit lonely." He glanced at her again, surveying her more thoroughly. She had light brown hair that contrasted sharply with her eyes, which were a far deeper brown. He blinked. Jeez, she was athletic. Toned muscle through and through. She could probably kick Jed's ass if she wanted to. He glanced away quickly. No point in giving her the wrong impression. After all, she was older than him by a bit, he was sure.

Scratching his neck, he looked back between the two at either side of him. "So, either of you have names?"

 

[YoshiRiRu]

OOC: Gaurdian, I didn't mean it like that man. I was just asking for a little bit more attention to grammatical details to make it a bit easier to read and it also helps your own ideas flow better, and just makes it more fun for everyone. If you want to leave, you can but I'm not kicking you out.

IC coming soon.

 

[Esper]

Abigail was still running when something flew toward them. Its long wings left streaks like scratches on glass on the air itself. She stopped and held her arms out to signal her Pokemon to do the same. The great bird circled purposefully, casting a dark shadow over them. It seemed to stop midair and hover a moment then, slowly and building up speed with every flap of its wings, it beat out a torrent of wind that kicked up so much sand that Abigail was forced to her knees.

"Wait!" Abigail tried to shout, but sand caught in her throat. She bend forward. coughing. That was no wild Pokemon. What kind of game was its trainer playing? It flew away before she could call out again.

Her Staryu shook itself off, inadvertently flinging more sand, but no worse for the experience. Her Corsola, however, wobbled as it tried to stand. She cradled the Pokemon in her arms and brushed away the sand from her eyes. The Corsola whimpered and cooed then tucked her face into Abigail's arm.

"Poor Corsola." Abigail continued wiping away the sand as she turned toward the ocean. A cool feeling crept between her toes. She stopped. Waves lapped at her ankles. She held the Corsola up.

"I haven't given you a name yet." The Corsola shook her body sideways. "I guess you knew that already." She had not given names to any of her Pokemon. It never occurred to her that they might want them. She leaned over and the Corsola hopped into the surf. Staryu followed and they both seemed cheered to be in the water again. Abigail splashed some water onto her own face as well. What a wreck I must look, she thought. Corsola skipped into an oncoming wave and when she returned looked completely revived.

"Let's get going now. I have a bone to pick with someone I haven't even met yet." They marched forward, Corsola on her left, Staryu on her right. "I'm no good with names, Corsola, but what if I called you 'Nu'? And Staryu, you're kind of quiet so can I call you 'Mu'?"

Both Pokemon stopped in their tracks. "I can come up with something better, maybe." They began following her again.

There were quite a few people down the beach and even more Pokemon. They were talking, or rather, one of them was talking, a tall, shaggy haired boy who looked like he was on vacation, and the other was listening. He seemed quite young and animated about some plan he was concocting. Civilization? Didn't he know where they were? He was the trainer who'd sent that Pidgeotto at them. Feeling very irritable, Abigail approached him. She made what she thought was a gesture for him to stop and let her speak, but he just gave her a salute and kept talking. She caught him glancing at her, typical boy, and acting like he hadn't.

She turned to the boy standing around his large Pokemon. He seemed immediately more pleasant by comparison.

"I'm Abbie. Nice meeting you. Listen, I need your help to find my friends."

(OOC: I hope no one minds that I'm posting again, but I didn't really push the overall story forward so I hope it's okay.)

 

[YoshiRiRu]

OOC: Sorry it's late, I had some stuff to work out today.

IC:
The sea breeze ruffled Blue's hair, and he brushed it reflexively out of his troubled eyes. All of his pokemon were tucked safely back in their pokeballs except for Lash, who stood on a rock, staring out at the sea, his arms crossed neatly over his chest, his claws tapping the sides of his arms. Nobody had said a word in almost a half an hour. Blue ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, eyes aimed at the sea.

"So now what?" he said. "Who knows where we are. We could be anywhere. I guess the tidal drift must be really strong, we were smack dab in the middle of the ocean."

<Tidal drift? You just made that up.> said Lash over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised. Blue looked flustered and scoffed.

"Fine then. YOU think of something." he grumbled, not liking his chops busted. Lash shrugged.

<I don't know what happened.> he said, shrugging once again.<All I know is that I'm hungry. Do you have any food?> Lash jumped off the rock and walked toward Blue, his eyes on Blue's pack. Blue set the pack down and rummaged through it.

"I don't think I do, man. Sorry. Everything that was anything worth eating is pretty much soggy by now." he said, realizing as he said it that that meant he had no food for himself either. As he sat digging through his posessions, he realized how hot it had gotten in the last half an hour. "This sun is killing me." he said, realizing how much sweat was dripping down his face. Lash also wiped his brow.

<I'm dyin' over here.> he said, exasperated. <Even the forest looks better than this. Look at all that shade, and... cool grass, and..> But Blue was already gone, head first into the jungle.

Scyther lead the way, cutting down intruding branches with his expertly honed blades. Lash followed closely behind, his hungry eyes on the lookout for edible berries, which he found several of. Thick and juicy berries filled with juice lined nearly every bush. Lash, who had spent years feeding off of berries, knew which ones were good to eat, and which weren't, so he made sure to pick a wide variety of tasty berries. The forest was cool and drafty, with the damp grass keeping even the air nice and refreshing. Blue found himself in a clearing, where he decided to eat and figure out his game plan from there.

 

[Game Over1375]

Gamis had been searching for several minutes. He could tell that Volcannon and Viral were still arguing about the situation before now that Calybias was gone. He was slowly starting to get tired of them nagging at each other. Finally, he snapped.

"WILL YOU TWO KNOCK IT OFF?!" shouted Gamis as his two Pokemon looked up at him afraid. They had never seen him like this before.

<I'm sorry,> said Volcannon as a red tear went down his face. Viral just turned his head the other way, but Gamis could tell he was sorry.

"It is okay guys. It's just that I'm worried about the other people. We need to work together in order to survive."

Suddenly, Gamis felt a strange energy flow into his mind. It didn't take him long to find out who it was.

"Hey Calybias," said Gamis in his mind. Calybias was able to talk telepathically to Gamis anytime he wanted to. "Nothing much is happenning. Thunoir and I are still collecting fruits and nuts, which we have found alot of. There is something strange here though," said Calybias as he had a hint of concern.

"How so?"

"I am picking up a very strong magnetic reading here."

"It is probably nothing."

With that, the strange energy left Gamis's mind, who had spotted some people several feet away.

"Hey guys!" he shouted as he started running towards them. Volcannon and Viral were doing all they could just to keep up with him.

 

[Shen]

OOC: Sorry for the radio silence, been on holiday for the weekend. Will post tomorrow.

 

[punkforlife93]

(OOC: I know that this is my third post, but it's nice keeping it moving along. Nothing wrong developing with what we have right here. It shouldn't interfere with Shen's writing, I don't think. Eh, enough OOC though, time to rumble.)

Ever since he could remember, Jed had thought of himself as the one to make the first move in a conversation – to break the barrier between himself and a stranger, so to speak. It hadn't failed him yet, as it usually allowed others to grow comfortable around him – after all, if he was getting out of his comfort zone, why shouldn't they? Therefore, he was naturally somewhat surprised when the woman who had shouted at him for help had completely ignored him, turning to other boy, a look of disdain on her face.

Another habit Jed has from his youth that should be taken note of – he flusters when things don't go half as well as he expected. It's similar in nature to a socially awkward moment, such as telling a joke that no one happens to laugh at.

"I'm Abbie," she said, carefully avoiding any eye contact with Jed, who looked a bit hurt. "Nice meeting you. Listen, I need your help to find my friends."

"I'm Tyler," said the boy, who seemed a bit fidgety, perhaps at all the attention he was getting. "And these are my Pokemon. Torterra, Tropius, Meganium, and this little guy is Blitz, my Growlithe."

Jed glanced at Blitz again, and the two actually locked eyes. He smiled at the puppy-like creature. It wasn't one intended to make friends with him, but one of appreciation. The little Pokemon had something truly special about him, although Jed couldn't put his finger on it – perhaps it was something to do with his qualities of leadership.

Tyler on the other hand – well, he seemed nice enough. There was nothing necessarily wrong with him, he supposed. But he seemed to be traveling back and forth between his own world and the real world, simultaneously, while he talked. It struck Jed as similar to his own way of speaking.

"So you've lost some Pokemon? Our best bet would be to start in the middle and see if we can find any more people on the way. Then once there we can split up and work our way out to the beach. If we find nothing then we should go back to the middle. To me that sounds like the smartest plan, but let's hear your ideas."

Jed pondered that. It wasn't that it was a bad idea. It was just too simplistic. It didn't regard some facts that could determine the survival of the group – for example, he was positive that the island wasn't precisely circular. Heck, they didn't even know how big the island was. For all they knew, it was as big as Kanto, and at that rate, it would take weeks to find the center of the island. Then, there was the fact that none of them had compasses. There was the fact that he made it seem like they'd be traveling alone. Groups of two would at least make the venture safer; not to mention, they could get to know their fellow "maroon-ers" better.

He decided to try and point out the faults in the plan in the least harsh-sounding way that he could think of, but before he could, Tyler had started speaking again.

"Look. We should get moving. I think there are other survivors so I'm going to carry out my plan. I will wait a few minutes for you to decide or come up with a different plan so think fast."

Jed started to open his mouth, but before he could, he heard a yell some distance away to his left. He spun around, looking at the jungle.

"Well, I doubt we're the only survivors now," he said. "I guess there's someone else close by. Better just not hope he's hurt."

But it was soon obvious that the speaker wasn't. He was sprinting full-speed out of the jungle, waving frantically to get their attention.

"Hey guys!" he practically screamed, skidding to a halt several feet away. The boy was older than Jed, he could tell, but not by much. He had curly black hair with blonde streaks – or maybe blonde hair with black streaks? – and he looked muscular, as well as having a slightly tan skin pigment. Not to mention, he didn't look hardly worn out after the 100 yard sprint. That alone was impressive in Jed's eyes. However, the fact that Jed has barely enough stamina to climb hills goes to show how easily he is impressed by someone who's even slightly fit.

His two Pokemon struggled to keep up with him. One was a Muk, Jed recognized, oozing slime as he came towards the others, and he had an evil flare in his eyes. Jed blinked and looked at the other Pokemon. He'd never seen one like it before. It was flaming and sizzling, eyes watering as it tried to keep up, but it still looked powerful.

Jed licked his lips, thinking about what to do. He could introduce all of them to the guy, but Tyler really seemed like he wanted to leave – and soon. Another possibility was simply stating his plan, but he didn't want to appear uncaring towards the new kid who had just ran up to them.

He decided to do both, hoping that neither Tyler nor Abbie would mind.

"Hello, there," he said, giving a half-hearted wave. "I would say more, but right now, names are the important thing. I'm Jed, he's Tyler, and she's Abbie. I'm sure that they're all awesome people – or at least, Tyler is. But right now we really need to form a plan about finding civilization, maybe a way to get off of the island – or at least, shelter of some sort."

He paused briefly, and then he said, "I hope I'm not coming off as pretentious here, trying to do a lot of talking, but to be honest, I don't care much of what any of you think of me. Okay, that's not true…but I think that the important thing here is that we actually form a plan. Moving on…I think that the first thing that we should do is send out any flying Pokemon we have to circle the immediate area. In a group – strength in numbers, all that jazz. That way, we might find some other survivors, including your lost Pokemon," he said with a nod to Abbie, "and yours too, unless those are your only Pokes," he added to the unknown newcomer. "Then, I recommend that we take who and what we have and try to set up camp somewhere. We might find some way to get off soon, or we'll never find anything and we'll simply die here because we didn't plan to outlast the night. Thinking ahead and then adding other goals would be a good idea. That way, we can accomplish something along the way. It would be nice to know that we have a chance here."

Jed shrugged. "That's my two cents. I know that many of you probably think you have a better plan, and I'd be glad to hear it. I'm sure everyone would. I just think that we need to stick together. If we split up, there's no telling whether we'll be able to find our way back."

"Now that I'm done rambling, I'm sure you all are annoyed by me enough to tell me what faults mine has. I'm sure it has some, so be honest, I'd hate to cause any trouble."

He looked back at the other boy. "And it'd be nice to know your name too, if we could – you know, so that we don't have to refer to you as 'you' or 'man' all the time. I'm sorry if I offended you by chattering instead of asking you about yourself."

 

[Shen]

OOC: And here we go.

The clouds drifted peacefully above...wherever they were. Selena loved clouds. They knew how to live life: drifting endlessly, going as fast as they wanted or as slow, just following the wind. She wondered for a moment what it would be like to be a cloud. Clouds never had any worries. The world below them could become unrecognisable and they wouldn't notice or care. They'd just keep on going nowhere.

"Hey look Virtua, that one looks like you." She called, pointing at a certain Porygon-shaped cloud. At the sound of his name, he came bounding over from thoroughly investigating a rock. "Cloud. Looks like you." She repeated with a sigh. The Porygon followed the finger's gaze towards the mentioned cloud. He looked back at her puzzled. "What, abstract object recognition not one of your subroutines?" Selena smirked. Virtua beeped back happily, not really understanding what she meant but glad to see her smiling.

Selena had been lying on the sand for somewhere between five minutes and an hour. She had drawn her hair up into her hat, which now doubled as a pillow, to keep it from getting dirty. Her arms were still bare as she lay sprawled on the beach because she decided the sand was comfortable. It was strange how untainted it was. Most commercial beaches were cleaned and filtered and ended up feeling like mud. This sand however, while fine, still possessed its natural charm. Selena didn't know anything about this of course, having only gone to the beach four times in her life. She had learnt how to swim quickly enough but couldn't see the appeal her parents did. Too many people, too much noise, not much really interesting to do. Not to mention how dirty the water must be, filled with unclean wild Pokémon and half-naked commoners. The young lady shuddered at the thought of the bodily waste no doubt swirling around those supposed perfect waters. She reminded herself, however, that she had brought her swimsuit with her as per her friend's request. Apparently both Slateport and Lilycove had wonderful beaches.

Maybe I should change. Selena thought to herself dryly. She had no idea where she was, where her ship had vanished along with its other passengers, whether or not said other passengers were even alive... Like she could be thinking about going swimming. Maybe I should go look for them. But there was no wreckage, no noise, no sight of others... it was just as likely that she was alone as it was that she was the only one washed up here. If I was washed up at all.

Selena was still troubled by the fact that she was neither wet nor injured in any way. It was highly unlikely that the sun could've dried her off so perfectly that it would seem like she was never wet at all. In order to have the time to get anywhere close to that, she would have to have been in a much sorrier state than what she was in. The nagging hunger was entirely consistent with what she felt before the incident, having not eaten since before the journey started. Then there was the fact that the Elixer had been attacked in the first place. As the leaflets had been so keen to emphasise, Tentacruel of any number were nowhere to be found out at sea at the time of the journey. Yet apparently hundreds were assaulting the ship for no solid reason. And what happened at the end, before she blacked out? The feeling she had was similar to what was described once in a book she read; of being thrown into the air. There was no way any number of jellyfish could've thrown a liner in the air.

"Aaah!" cried Selena grumpily, "This is ridiculous! Just where the heck are we?" Her stomach responded with a growl, which Selena replied to with a sigh. As she rummaged through her bag, retrieving a bar of chocolate, she noticed a slip of paper that took her a moment to recognise. It was a list of information for Virtua. The Porygon had been taught various techniques to make it more useful and valuable. Selena hadn't really cared about that when she aimed to win him: no Pokémon was a household appliance. Nevertheless, she carried it with her wherever she went in case she might ever need it.

How convenient.

Skipping over the introduction, including the message stating that Porygon don't need to eat but are capable of doing so, Selena's interest was the list of moves Virtua had been taught. Her eyes flickered down and across each move's name and use, looking for something that could be useful.

"Virtua, will you do me a favour please?" she asked, knowing he wouldn't refuse anyway. Selena never really liked the idea of ordering a Pokémon to do something. As expected, the virtual Pokémon bleeped with delight. "Can you use Flash? And make it blink so it stands out against the sun and sand." Virtua whistled in confirmation as his whole body suddenly began glowing, before sharply spiking into a blazing flare.

Selena shielded her eyes with a pang of irritation. However, she decided against making him imitate a lantern further up and away from her eyes. He looked like he was really enjoying himself and, as something close to a machine, would go on for hours without getting bored. Kero moved for the first time since waking her up to cover his eyes with one furry arm. It didn't bother him in the slightest of course; Kero was a champion sleeper.

Lying back down to her new pillow, her bag, Selena pulled her beret over her face to block out Virtua's glare. Now if there were any other people trapped on the same beach, or maybe a rescue team, they would see her sign and come to her. In the meantime, Selena didn't have to move from the spot she had woken up from a few hours earlier. Or maybe a few minutes ago. She still wasn't sure.

Pushing useless worries out of her head, as she had done so many times throughout her life, Selena drifted off to sleep.

 

[Game Over1375]

"Well, my name is Gamis Oliver Stevenson," said Gamis as he bowed his head to Jed, Tyler, and Abbie. "Don't worry about setting up a camp. I have four other Pokemon gathering firewood and supplies."

Gamis then felt the same energy from before. Calybias was calling him again.

"Calybias, we have found survivors," said Gamis in his mind as he felt the energy become "excited."

"That's great Gamis! Sceptile and Queenler are back with plenty of firewood, and Thunoir and I have gathered enough fruit and nuts to last twenty people several days. We are back at where you let us out of our Pokeballs," said Calybias as his telepathic energy left Gamis's mind.

Gamis then came back to his senses. The other survivors were looking at him strangely.

"Sorry about that," he said while rubbing his head. "My Metagross Calybias has just told me he and all of my other Pokemon were back from gathering supplies. If you guys will please follow me."

With that, Gamis started walking away. He turned to Viral and Volcannon, who looked to be extremely tired.

"How rude of me! Volcannon, Viral, meet Jed, Tyler, and Abbie. Abbie, Tyler, Jed, meet Volcannon, my Magmortar, and Viral, my Muk. They are two of my best Pokemon."

<They look weird,> said Viral as he burped in the other survivors' direction. Volcannon then gave an evil look to Viral and went up to the group.

<It is a pleasure to meet you,> said Volcannon as he turned to look at Abbie. <Oh. My. God. I love your dress and hat!> said Volcannon as he pointed at Abbie's dress and hat, indicating that was what he was talking about. Gamis just smiled at this.

"Abbie, Volcannon likes your sense of fashion," he said as he continued walking, Viral and Volcannon following him. After several minutes of walking, Gamis finally arrived at the site, which had several huge leaves around a pile of wood. A huge leaf was set aside and was piled high with fruits and nuts. They were several other leaves which had leaves on top of them, making them look like beds. After noticing all this, Gamis noticed that Sceptile, Thunoir, and Queenler were already eating. Calybias hadn't ate yet. He was waiting, and he was the first to notice Gamis and the survivors.

<Gamis is back,> said Calybias as he levitated towards Gamis. <Who are those people?> he asked as he looked at them.

"These are Jed, Tyler, and Abbie," said Gamis as he pointed at each of them respectfully.

"Hello," said Calybias telepathically to each of them. "I am Calybias, Gamis's Metagross. It is a pleasure meeting you."

Sceptile had walked up with Queenler and Thunoir behind him.

"This is my starter Pokemon Sceptile," said Gamis as he walked up to Sceptile and patted his shoulders. <Nice to meet you guys,> said Sceptile as he waved a claw at the trio.

Gamis then walked to Queenler and patted her small pincer. "This is Queenler the Kingler. Some of you might recognize her from her numerous television appearances." <What up? I'm Queenler, and I know how to kick some butt, so don't still my food,> said Queenler as she opened and closed her small claw several times, as if she was snapping.

"And this is Thunoir," said Gamis as he walked behind his Electivire. She just waved her hand towards the trio. "I must apologize. She doesn't like to talk much."

Gamis then looked at Volcannon, who had already started eating various fruits and nuts. Gamis then gathered some of the fruit and nuts and gave them to Viral, who knew not to touch food that everyone was gonna be eating. After giving him some food, Sceptile, Queenler, and Thunoir went back to eating with Calybias finally getting some of the food. He hardly ate anything, but he did eat every now and then. Gamis also got some of the fruit and nuts and sat down on one of the leaves near the pile of wood.

"Guys, get some food. I'm sure we are all going to need the energy," said Gamis as he looked at Volcannon.

"Volcannon, use Fire Blast at 10% power on this wood here," said Gamis. Volcannon, with one arm, lauched a very small Fire Blast at the pile of wood, causing it to get started.

It was then that Gamis noticed a bright flash not far from the campsite. "Looks like we have another survivor," he said as he stopped eating. He then got up and started walking in that direction.

"Calybias please follow me," said Gamis as Calybias stopped eating and quickly levitated to Gamis's side. Eventually, they came across a young girl asleep, and what appeared to be a Porygon using Flash over and over again.

"Calybias, use Psychic to stop the Porygon. Be sure to not send him into a tree or anything else though. Just stop him," said Gamis as he put his right arm over his eyes.

<Yes Gamis,> said Calybias as his eyes began glowing blue. The Porygon then became enveloped in a blue light, stopping it from using Flash again.

"You may stop using Flash," said Calybias telepathically to the Porygon, stopping it from continuing. He then stopped his Psychic attack as well once the Porygon had stopped.

Gamis then went to the girl and shook her, waking her up.

"Hello," he said when she moved the beret. "I am Gamis Oliver Stevenson, and over there is my Metagross Calybias. We are survivors of the shipwreck, and some of the other survivors are at the campsite we have set up. Whe have a fire, a bed, and food waiting for you."

 

[Esper]

The Pokemon swung its cannon of an arm at Abigail. It was hard not to read the grin splashed across its face as anything but threatening.

"Abbie, Volcannon likes your sense of fashion," Gamis told her. Still feeling like she was at the end of a gun, Abigail looked at the torn clothes she wore. She had been shipwrecked, had run through a jungle and been covered in sand. Her sweaty hair clung to her forehead and the sand lay plastered to her skin.

"Thanks," she replied. Oh God, she thought. I'm trapped on an island with a bunch of space cadet trainers who can't control their oversized Pokemon and now they act like they can speak to each other. I'm doomed.

"Guys, get some food. I'm sure we are all going to need the energy," Gamis offered cheerfully. Volcannon turned away. Abigail sat down. She picked a dark purple berry from a branch and held it up for inspection. Mu and Nu leaned in.

"It doesn't look poisonous. Not that that means anything. Do you think it's really edible?" It felt dry and wooden and gave off a pungent smell of garlic. She squeezed it and a red juice seeped through the skin. She picked a handful and started eating. "You're lucky you don't need to eat them."

As she chewed a silent explosion lit up the sky. Everyone turned to see what had happened. "Looks like we have another survivor," said the boy as he dashed toward it with his alien-looking Pokemon floating alongside. It looks like we have nothing but survivors, Abbie thought. Her own two lseemed eager to run as well, but she shook her head.

"We can't go chasing everything. If there is someone else alive he'll find them and bring them back." That there were so many survivors was a good sign. It meant the ship had to be nearby, if it hadn't sunk, which Abigail reckoned was too large a possibility to count on. They would have to find some way to rescue themselves. For that, they needed more information.

"Er, Mu," she ventured, "do you think you could swim out and look for the ship or anything else that might help us?"

The Staryu wiggled in what appeared to be a nod and dove into the ocean.

Tyler sat down next to her. "What did you ask it to do?"

"To look around," she said. "We all washed up more or less in one area which means the currents didn't have time to spread us out. That tells me we didn't travel very far. If the ship sank it will be close by and my Staryu will find it. If there is no wreck the ship is still out there somewhere." Abigail laid back on the sand, placing her hat over her face. "There's nothing to do now except wait and save up our strength."

Actually, she thought, there were plenty of things to do. She could be searching for her lost Pokemon who, though strong enough to survive on their own, needed her to take care of them. She could be getting to know the people fate had thrown at her, who they were, what they might do to help the situation. Abigail brushed her fingers over the clay doll she had carried back from the jungle. At least she had this. Proof that the legends were true was literally in her hand.

With thoughts fading and the sun warming her body all over her she fell asleep.

 

[Shen]

OOC: If nobody else is gonna go...

Virtua happily continued flashing as Selena slipped into her dreams. The virtual Pokémon was greatly enjoying itself; there was lots of interesting things around to scan, Selena had given it a job to do and there were no scary strangers watching. The Porygon began bleeping an 8-bit version of one of its master's favourite songs. Just then, everything was perfect.

A sudden sensation wrapped itself around it, paralyzing it in its place. The Pokémon's Flash flickered away to be replaced with a faint blue aura. Virtua screeched in fear as it located two strangers making their way towards its haven. The Porygon's sensors picked up another psychic brainwave transmitting towards it but lacked the updates to effectively understand it. Its mind was one formed of ones and zeros, incapable of translating thought patterns at his current level.

As the human stranger approached its sleeping master, Virtua whistled shrilly in an attempt to warn her. It felt the Psychic hold fade, unsealing its movements, but it remained stationary, unsure what to do and scared out of its mind. It dropped silent.

***

​

Selena waved proudly to the teeming masses below as they screamed her name. Someone was talking animatedly at her, asking her something; she could barely hear them. A microphone was handed to her. The noise dissolved almost instantly. Everyone was watching her, smiling, waiting for her. Her own face was glowing; she smiled nervously.

"Um..." She was feeling a little dizzy, her heart thumping like crazy. It almost hurt. An arm rested itself on her shoulder, calming her instantly. Her head cleared, her breathing slowed. She opened her mouth to speak again, unable to fight off a grin.

***

​

A high-pitched whistle broke through the fabrication. Instinctively yet reluctantly, her eyes fluttered open. Slow to start, she found herself wondering why the world was so dark. Her senses returning to her, she remembered the beret shielding her from the sun. Speaking of which, I need sun cream. Selena wasn't very alert upon waking – most definitely not a morning person.

It wasn't until she felt someone take her arms and shake them lightly did she start to speed up. Cautiously removing the beret, she found herself staring dumbfounded into the face of an older boy crouching over her.

"Hello. My name is Gamis Oliver Stevenson and over there is my Metagross, Calybias. We are survivors of the shipwreck and some of the other survivors are at the campsite we set up. We have a fire, a bed, and food waiting for you."

She found herself staring at him for several more seconds in silence. Suddenly she had a sharp intake in breathe and struck the person with a sharp slap to his face. Launching herself away from him, she clambered higher up the beach and out of reach. Flipping back on her back, supporting herself with one arm, consciously covering her body with the other, she cried;

"What the heck do you think you're doing!?"

Unnoticed and camouflaged in the sand, Kero opened a single eye, his body brimming with energy to use at a moment's notice.

 

[Game Over1375]

"I'm sorry," said Gamis as he rubbed his face. He definately wasn't expecting that. "I just wanted to wake you up.'

Gamis then looked over at Calybias who was still standing near him. He looked like he was ready to defend Gamis no matter what.

"Don't worry Calybias. It will be okay," said Gamis as he stood up. "Do you want to go to the campsite or what?"

As Gamis waited for a response, he heard a twig break nearby. He turned to see what it was, but whatever broke the twig wasn't there anymore.

 

[AuraTrainer]

Heres my sign up.

Name: Jackson "Ace" Miller
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Description: A Young Male about 5'8" Tall. Has blue eyes, a well shaved all over goatee, and wears a fancy, blue fedora hat which makes hair look spiky around the edges. Wears a nice white polo, black jeans, and a long blue over coat. Wears black leather, very nice gloves, and carries a nice messenger bag on his back.
Personality: A very nice man, doesn't usually get mad, but at certain times can be a hot head. He is very social and can easily make new friends, with his sense of humor, charisma, and just by talking a little chat with you. He has always been curious since he been five. And some times can be a little clumsy.

Strengths:
Friendliness
Charisma
Pokemon
Stamina
Weaknesses:
Building from scratch
his old memories.
Likes: Pokemon,Food, exploring, adventure
Dislikes: None
Skills:Cooking, Training, Fighting, Charisma, sense of humor

History: Ever since Jackson or Ace- getting this name for carrying his lucky ace in his back pocket- was five he had always been interested in adventure and Pokemon, so he went on this boat for going home from a long five Months of expedition at the orange island where he encountered all of the legendary birds, but that doesn't have to do with his history. Ace had his first adventure when he was ten where he set of for snowpoint city in his home town of the sinnoh region where he finally came back with a bag full of ancient artifacts and, a cold. So ever since then he had been in numerous adventures.

Pokemon:
His very trusty and close friend Blaziken or Blackout
The Muscle of the Team Dragonite Also named GoldenMoon
The brains and stealth of the team Lucario Who's nickname is SilverStar


Other: Has PokeGear where he contacts his family, friends, and the local search and rescue team if he gets lost. He refused a Poketch saying that it was useless except for the map but he was always OK with the old fashion drawings on paper. Also ever since his first adventure he had sometime random sniffles but those are rare to this day.

RP Sample: Like always since the last 2 weeks, I wake up in my cavern, get dressed and went out to socialize, like usual, on the main deck. When he left the darkness of the corridor, the blaring sun almost blinding Ace. "Weird, the sun seems bright today, oh well, I'll get used to it." Jackson said and walked to his good friend Abby. "Hey Abby, how's it going" He said making Abby jump not noticing him standing in the seat next to him with a glass of milk on the table next to him." Oh, God, don't scare me like that again Jack!" Abby giggled. "Hey you know me, it's just how I roll." Ace said. Noticing something in the distance, it was, a tentacle? This isn't the Tentacruels section, oh well I'm sure its lost or just passing by. "Are you OK Jack?" Abby asked. Ace finally got pulled back to reality and said, "Oh yeah, I just saw, well never mind I think it is just magikcarp in the distance." Ace said picking his words carefully "Oh and stop calling me Jack" "Fine then, Ack" Abby says and laughs. "Ha-ha Very funny." Ace said when all of a sudden he saw 3 tentacles come full speed at them. "Oh shi-"Boom! All of a sudden Tentacles smashed from everywhere. Abby and him flew half way across the deck backwards and hit a wall. "Ahh, Abby are you OK, just never mind, get to the lift rafts and go. There's no time left go!" Jackson yelled. "But. Jack!" Abby Yelled back. Then another blow shock everywhere. Ace reached for Abby's hand and held it, "Go now you have to believe me, and I said don't call me Jack!" Ace said as he let her go and she slid into a life boat with everyone else and sailed off. As the boat sailed away, Jackson saw everything was clear, so he ran and jumped into the warm waters and swam, and swam, till he found a piece of drift wood and floated to land. Where he woke up was totally unknown to him, when he got up, he noticed a rip in his over coat. "Great 200 Dollars ripped apart, but whatever that's not the problem, where am I?" He pulled out his poke gear, noticing he had no signal. "What the, great now I;m stuck here, whatever I better use that 5 weeks of survival camp right now." So He made a small, one bed, one small table Half a globe and started a fire in front of it just in time for nightfall. When Ace's stomach grumbled, he knew he needed food but he was way to tired, and he fell asleep

 

[Esper]

Staryu sailed across the surface of the water, skipping like a stone then dove into the ocean. A flurry of bubbles enveloped its plunge. It sank slowly as it waited for its senses to adjust to the equilibrium of floating world. Further and further it dropped, letting the current take it. Light floated down just a lazily, bending and swimming like everything else. Finally, it reached the floor. Five arms began to move simultaneously. Spinning across the sandy bottom the Staryu cut through the water, moving against the current and dodging plants, rocks and animals as it headed toward the most likely place to find a shipwreck. Jellyfish passed by and fish swam to escape the sea star's path. The Staryu loved the ocean depths. Given the option it would roam the ocean floor forever.

A fish appeared beside the Staryu, then another. Dozens followed and soon it was overrun by a massive school so thick it blocked out all remaining light. The Staryu pushed away instinctively, but the school closed in from all angles. It found itself drawing closer to the center from which a faint light emanated.

* * *
​

The wind which had blown the storm away had continued throughout the day. Blowing from inland it carried on its eaves the smells of the jungle, the sweet perfumes of wild flowers, the thick musk of decaying plant matter, and always the salty scent of the ocean. Now the winds began to change. Some of them noticed it right away. Others saw their attentive expressions and they too caught the unmistakable smell of smoke.

From somewhere deep with the forest a slender grey rope reached out taller than any tree. No one could make out how large or far away the fire must be, but they each knew they could not ignore its meaning.

"A forest fire?"

"It's a signal. More survivors, calling for help."

"I hope that's what it is."

(OOC: Gah! writer's block. Couldn't think of anything to have my character do. And are we still doing sign-ups?)

 

[Shen]

Selena clambered to her feet as the stranger made his apology, incredibly irritated at getting sand all over her body. The wretched golden grains clung spitefully to her skin and clothes, resisting any attempt to brush them off. She had started to sweat in the heat; the thought gave her shivers.

Virtua rushed fearfully towards her and hid unsuccessfully behind her legs. He peeked timidly at the large blue metal monstrosity which was looking noticeably more vicious than before. With a frightened bleep he dug his head into the back of his master's knee, almost knocking her over. She snapped his name before turning back to the other man.

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she tried to stand tall, very aware that she was panting like she'd run a marathon, covered in sand and with her only visible Pokémon cowering behind her leg. Before answering him, she spent a second drinking in his appearance. I need some water too...

He was much taller than her, which certainly didn't help her opinion of him in her current state, well muscled, rather intimidating at the moment, and lightly tanned skin, hitting a nerve of slight jealousy. His hair was a long mixture of blonde and black: it was unclear whether or not it was dyed, not that Selena really cared. Perched on his head was a fedora hat, black like his jeans.

Her first impression was that this guy was probably some wannabe gangster-type on account of his hat and hair. Her second impression was that the guy was trying to pull off some sort of anti-hero thing with the black in the blazing sun. Unlike her, he would surely have had time to change out of it and he bore signs of being recently wet. Her third impression was that she didn't care as the fact that he was wet and she wasn't was much more interesting.

Her head abruptly began swimming, causing her to sway. The young lady had forgotten how quickly she had moved (for her) and now she felt it.

"Urgh, whatever." She muttered to herself, "Hey, you. Show me to my bed. And food. I need that too." Digging her phone out of her back pocket, the Porygon was more than happy to return to his remote, digital world. Selena marched over to where she had been lying and Kero leapt up into her arms with surprising agility. "Don't forget my bag." She told Gamis Oliver Stevenson.

 

[YoshiRiRu]

OOC: Aura, I'm sorry, but I can't accept that. You have one line for each your personality and appearance and your RP sample switches from first to third person, and is blocky and hard to make out. I'm sorry, but you're Declined.

I'm so so sorry that I've been out of my own RP guys, I don't really have an excuse, but I'm back in now.

IC:

Blue found himself miserable after only about an hour. The berries on this island (or at least the ones that he had found) were not very good, and he was pretty sure that if he continued to eat them, bad things would happen. So he stopped... for a minute. His hunger started to gnaw at him again, and he resumed his futile and hated act of consuming the bitter berries. Each one that he plopped grudgingly into his mouth made him grimace so strongly that after a while his face muscles began to hurt. Lash wasn't having much fun either, barely able to choke down more than 4 or 5. Both of their stomachs rumbled, and Lash was sure he was imagining it, but the smell of a wood fire drifted to his nostrils. <Blue. Do you smell that?> he said quietly, as if loud noises would scare the wonderful scent away.

"No, I don't." Blue mumbled, sure his friend was losing his mind. "What do you smell?"

<Fire. Fire and maybe food? I can't tell. But it's no natural fire, or else I would feel it in the air. This is a controlled fire..> Lash mused, and already he was following his nose.

"H-hey! Wait!" Blue called, grabbing his pack and making his way through the trees after his friend. He had only been running for a minute or so before he could smell it too; a home burning fire. The trees were full and healthy, so they carried the scent in their very leaves, and even though there was no smell of food attached to the fire scent, the prospect of a cooked meal almost drove him mad. As he wandered the dirt path, he began to hear voices. He kneeled down in the grass, next to Lash. A girl's voice drifted from the site and he listened intently.

"- up more or less in one area which means the currents didn't have time to spread us out. That tells me we didn't travel very far. If the ship sank it will be close by and my Staryu will find it. If there is no wreck the ship is still out there somewhere. There's nothing to do now except wait and save up our strength." she stopped talking for a minute, and another voice chimed in, this one a boy's.

"Nice to meet everyone.. I don't want to sound rude but Ive decided to go search this island." he said. Everyone? thought Blue. So now there's an everyone? He found himself letting out a sigh of relief. As he watched the boy and his pokemon scatter to the four winds, he decided against calling to their attention. Where he was now, they couldn't see him and who knows what kind of Pokemon these were, and whether they'd attack him on sight or not? After he felt they were a safe enough distance, he walked into the campsite carefully. Two people were in the site. One boy, whose voice he hadn't heard and a girl, who was asleep on the grass. As he stepped out of the bushes, he cringed as he made a rustling sound that could be heard by anyone nearby. Lash shot him a poison glare. He froze for some reason, offering a pleasant but obviously fake smile to anyone who looked his way, hoping to get off with the "just looking around" persona.

"Hi." he said dumbly. "Uh. I'm Blue. This is Lash." he motioned to the Sneasel, who had come out with him.

 

[Game Over1375]

"Okay," said Gamis as he picked her bag up. "You remind me of Queenler, my Kingler. Very sassy."

He went ahead of her quietly and continued on. Meanwhile, Calybias decided to have some fun.

"Hello," he said to the girl telepathically. " I'm Calybias, and yes, I am in your head. How do you like me right now?"

Back at camp...

Sceptile noticed the new guy and immediately walked towards him. He guessed by the look of the guy that he was a survivor. He put a claw on the man's right shoulder and pointed towards the food pile and then the make-shift beds.

After showing him that, Sceptile noticed Gamis was back on the scene, with another survivor and a Slakoth.

"Welcome to the camp," said Gamis as he put the girl's bag next to one of the make-shift beds.

 

[Esper]

Abigail peered out from the brim of her hat. Maybe it was nervous energy or an unconscious distrust of strangers, but she had not fallen very far asleep and had woken when the newcomer had stepped into their camp. He was another boy, well, it might be right to call him a young man, thin with the unkempt hair that was the current fashion among beach going castaways. A Sneasel stood with him and neither looked entirely comfortable as a Sceptile led them to the ever-decreasing supply of berries. What's-his-name, that crazy-haired boy, Gamis brought back a girl who was putting on a brave face as she clung to her Slakoth as much as it held on to her. Whatever her worries, they didn't seem to stop her from assuming leadership and commanding poor Gamis to play bellhop.

They gathered by the food and fire. Abigail continued to play the sleeping beauty, rolling onto her side to get a better view of the gathering. A doubt tapped her on the shoulder as such thoughts metaphorically do. It was unfair to hide from them and still expect their help, but she needed to know who they were before they had a chance to size her up. Behind each of their smiling, contented, and indifferent faces could be a backstabbing, cutthroat personality. That was just common sense.

But common sense didn't seem so sensible lately. She sat up. It was still so unbelievably hot that she had to fan herself with her hat as she turned back to call out to Tyler.

"Tyler!" she yelled. "Don't wander off yet." The shouting caused everyone to look over.

"Err," Abigail liked being the center of attention, but of just one person, not five. "Before we wander apart I think we should all know exactly where we are and what that means." She held up the little clay figure, turning it around to give everyone a look.

"I found this in the jungle. It's not something most people are familiar with, but for anyone from Hoenn it's instantly recognizable from ancient cave paintings we have scattered around. These cave paintings were made a long time ago, but what no one knows for certain is who made them, or why, just that they stopped appearing thousands of years ago. No one can prove it, but many think the people who made those painting came from Mirage Island." Abigail waited for the shock to settle in.

It didn't.

"I've never heard of Mirage Island," someone said. "Where is it?"

"Well, it doesn't exactly exist. Not in any one place. It... moves, and disappears. No one has actually seen it and brought back proof. So, while I'm hesitant to jump to conclusions I think that we, at this very moment, are there, I mean here, on Mirage Island."

 

[Game Over1375]

Gamis perked himself up at the Mention of Mirage Island. He had heard only stories about it from old sailors, and he was hoping that he could see it one day. Finally, the day had came if what Abigail had said was true.

"If that is the case," began Gamis after taking a bite of a rather huge green berry. He then spat what he ate back out. "Don't eat the huge green berries. The blue juice in the inside is so sour it is not even funny, but the skin is surprisingly sweet. Anyways, shouldn't this island be going away at any minute? I mean, I have only heard sailors talk about how this place goes everywhere. Heck, this place was supposedly spotted in Sinnoh. If this place disappears, will we go with it. Or, will we be at the complete mercy of the ocean?"

Everyone then looked at Gamis like he was some sort of alien. Gamis just cocked his head to the side and took a blood-red berry from the pile. He quietly ate the sweet, but dry, fruit. He decided to shut his mouth.

Gamis then noticed that the girl he found was looking quiet scared. That was when he noticed that Calybias's eyes were faintly glowing a light blue color.

"Calybias, stop. You are scaring her," said Gamis as he took a nut from the pile and threw it at the Metagross. As soon as the nut made contact, Calybias's eyes went back to normal.

<Sorry Gamis,> he said as he ate the same nut that Gamis threw at him. <She had no right to be rude to you.>

Gamis then turned to the girl. "I am so sorry. Calybias never does this to scare people. By the way, what is your name? You didn't tell me before."

 

[Shen]

"I'm just making sure you remember what it means to be a gentleman." Selena replied to the Kingler comment as Gamis led the way.

"Hello," came a voice from nowhere. Selena jumped, head swivelling to face the only possible culprit. "I'm Calybias, and yes, I'm in your head. How do you like me right now?" Regaining her composure, she tilted her head higher and met its burning red gaze coolly,

"The further away you are from me and my mind, the more I like you."

***

​

"How much further...?" Selena called as they picked their way through the edge of the jungle. It felt like they had been walking for hours, although minutes were a more realistic unit. Even though they were only on the outskirts, the place still felt incredibly foreboding. The trees seemed a lot taller when one was standing next to them, the floor was booby-trapped with roots and vines trying to trip her up and from everywhere echoed the cries of Pokémon, watching unseen from the darkness. She couldn't say if he answered; she had asked more out of annoyance than an actual inquiry and so was paying more attention to evading wild droppings than his answer.

"Welcome to the camp." He said at last, setting down her bag next to a 'bed'. Selena couldn't help but feel it anti-climatic, despite not really expecting anything else. Gathered around a rather unnecessary fire were three individuals, not counting any Pokémon. There was a slightly older woman whose face was obscured by her straw hat, sleeping it seemed. She was wearing a cute sundress and was clearly some kind of athlete, but couldn't tell much more than that. On the other side of the fire was another guy, also clearly older than herself, with a Sneasel she assumed was his. Like her, he looked bemused about being there. His bright blue eyes and blonde hair reminded her of the beach – somewhere he looked like he belonged.

Too tired to complain, the lady plonked herself down on the pile of leads that was her promised bed. She could tell instantly that she'd never get a good night's sleep in it: the leaves did little to cushion the lumpy earth beneath. Kero slipped out of her arms and dropped onto her bag. Selena sat hugging her knees, staring at the small pile of berries that she guessed had been what Gamis had meant by 'food'.

There had been so many attempts on her heart in the pass twenty-four hours that the girl didn't even flinch when the woman awoke and shattered the awkward silence by calling out to another. Looking slightly apprehensive, she held up a small clay doll and launched into her theory. It took a moment for Selena to recognise what she was talking about. Mirage Island was today known more commonly as the Phantom Island and appeared a lot in fiction. So you reckon it's more likely that we landed in a place that we don't know even exists than a small uncharted island? She criticised silently. Mulling it over though, it did seem entirely plausible, if ridiculously cliché. It would explain the lack of signal more appropriately at least.

"Calybias, stop. You're scaring her." Gamis said, tossing a nut at the Metagross. Selena looked just in time to see a blue glint dim in its crimson eyes. She hadn't noticed the thing staring at her in the slightest. There were more important things to think about. "I am so sorry. Calybias never does this to scare people."

"Do...what?" she replied, wondering what her expression had looked like.

"By the way, what is your name? You didn't tell me before."

"Oh," Selena had forgotten about that. Her cheeks flushed slightly; she had never had to introduce herself to anybody that she could remember. Her mother had warned her repeatedly about the dangers of strangers, especially so if they found out who she was. It had only been the daughter's stubborn uncharacteristic desire to do it alone that let her leave the house without at least two servants and a squad of bodyguards. Looking at these people, they certainly didn't seem very threatening. On the other hand, she knew nothing about them. Her name suddenly felt very personal to her.

"Manhassen." She let slip, "Selena Manhassen." Feeling horribly exposed, she quickly shot back, "And who are all of you?"