[PKMN FULL] Seeds of Tomorrow [M][IC]

[Stinging Bea]

Maria Cosgrove

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Memories In The Rain

Eterna Forest

Maria's legs shook with every step she took as she ran blindly through the forest. A light rain had taken to falling through the leaves of canopy of trees overhead, bringing with it a chill in the air that made the tall blonde even more uncomfortable than before. The breeze blowing through the air seemed to cause whatever daze Maria was in as she ran to come to an abrupt end, which in turn followed by causing her legs to finally give out from underneath her. The girl fell to knees, her body trembling as she struggled to catch her breath.

"I couldn't... I'm sorry, I..." Maria whimpered, her breath sputtering out of her lips in quick, sharp huffs. She could feel her chest tightening, her heart was racing. In a state of panic, the tall girl flipped her bag around and began to rummage around inside of it. She felt a small tinge of relief as she found her inhaler, quickly bringing it to her mouth to try and help soothe the oncoming asthma attack she could feel welling up inside of her. Maria took it slow, calming her breath and body as best she could, before resuming her apology. "Please... let's all c-calm d-down and..."

She paused, taking a look around her. Logan wasn't there. Neither was John or Melody. She was completely on her own, in the middle of the forest... somewhere. Just as soon as it had left, Maria could feel another wave of panic starting to overtake her body. It had finally dawned on her what had happened. She had ran away from them all... She was alone in some creepy forest, now... All because of that stupid argument.

Maria closed her eyes, thinking back to the confrontation that had happened such a short time ago. It was so familiar... the way Logan and Melody had been fighting amongst themselves like that. It was like she was back home again...

"You're drinking again...? Is that all you ever do anymore?"

Bloodshot, angry brown eyes gazed up from his shot glass towards the sound of the voice. A thin, blonde woman, probably close to in her forties, was staring in disgust at the man before her. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun, clad in nothing more than a fluffy pink robe and a matching pair of slippers on her feet. A rather flashy pearl necklace dangled around her neck, looking very out of place given her current attire.

"Does it really matter to ya? It's not like one or two drinks are gonna mess with anything," the man scoffed. He was dressed in what looked to be a rather fancy three-piece suit, but it was looking rather sloppy at the moment all things considered. Wrinkled and stained, it looked as though the man had been wearing for a few days in a row at this point. Despite his best attempts at trying to ignore her, he could feel the woman's eyes staring down at him in constant judgement. "What the hell do you want, Eve?"

Eve scoffed. "The party... Don't you remember? We're due at the McMillain estate in thirty minutes, Frank! Yet here you are once again, drinking away without a care in the world and looking like you just crawled out of the damn gutter! It's embarrassing!"

"Well, I suppose it's better than looking like some whored-out bimbo!" Frank shouted back, slamming his glass in anger down on the table. The glass instantly shattered from the force of the impact, several shards managing to embed themselves into Frank's hand. The inebriated man seemed to not notice, however. Whether or not it was from him being drunk as a Skuntank or not was up for debate. "I go out and work hard, I make the living for this lifestyle, and all you ever do is nag and bitch! I'm sick of hearing your endless shit, Eve!"

"You work? Cut the Tauros-shit, Frank... You go into the office at 9:00 AM and by 9:30 you're at the Rhyhorn track betting on the races. Everyone knows it, it's fucking ridiculous!"

Frank sneered. "Maybe I wouldn't be there if you'd just be a good bitch for once and quit riding my ass!"

The shouting and yelling seemed to increase in volume with each passing moment. Unbeknownst to the two arguing adults, a small, frail blonde child had began to stir in her bed from the constant anger and yelling going on beneath her. A small, quick yawn escaped her lips as she sleepily sat up in her bed, before a series of faint coughs sputtered out from her lips.

"...M-Mommy...?" the small child called out, rubbing her head in pain as she attempted to adjust her version in the darkness of the room. "M-Mommy, I'm thirsty..."

There was no response, however. At least, there didn't seem to be one directed at her. The child was able to hear some sort of commotion going on downstairs. As to what it was, the small girl couldn't be sure. Gripping hold tightly onto her stuffed Pancham, the tiny tot dropped out of her bed onto the floor and started to make her way carefully down the stairs. The sound of the voices got louder as she walked, easily becoming more recognizable as those belonging to her parents. She silently crept down the stairs, holding onto the railing as she stared at the sight before her.

"I make the fucking money around here, Eve! All you have to do is sit on your ass and look pretty... I know it's hard work for you, but it ain't a fucking concern what I do with my share of the income to make you or that little bitch happy!" her father shouted.

"That little bitch is your daughter!" Eve snapped back.

"That little bitch that neither one of us asked for?!" Frank questioned. "Those fucking bills pile up, you know! A month in that stupid ward and the doctor still can't fucking fix her! I never wanted the stupid brat anyways!"

"I don't recall asking for her either!" Eve shouted, her voice dripping with venom. "But you were sooooo worried about what the boys at the club might think that you insisted we get married and have the stupid child. It's too late to do anything about it now! So man up and grow a fucking pair and quit hiding behind you're damn booze!"

Frank lost his temper in that moment. Without a word of warning, he lashed out and slammed his fist right into the woman's gut. Eve let out a pain-filled scream as she fell to her knees and desperately to tried and catch her breath, but Frank was on top of her without a moment's delay. He began to punch and kick at the woman, yelling various curses and inflammatory remarks to his wife with each blow... Unbeknownst to them both, a trembling, seven year old Maria watching all the while.

A loud boom of thunder snapped the blonde out of whatever thoughts she was currently having. Maria glanced around in surprise, as if waking up from some kind of nightmare, to the feel of heavy rain cascading through the treetops to the forest floor below. Despite the downpour of rain, Maria didn't move. She sat in silence, her mind racing with thoughts spurred on by memories of times long past.

"It's... It's okay, Maria... That's done now... It's past... W-We can... We're not..." she tried to encourage herself.

Her own words fell on deaf ears, though. The memories had been stirred up and despite her best efforts, the tall girl could bring herself back up to her feet. It was then that the rustling of a nearby bush caught her attention. A wild Pokémon attacking? It was a forest, after all. Maria scrambled, climbing up to her feet in a hurry as she prepared herself for a battle. Without warning, she took hold of her Chimchar's ball, releasing Jango out to be on the ready for whatever creature was about to emerge from the forest greenery. Needless to say, the last thing she expected to see was a curious and tiny Ralts crawling out from the forest depths.

"...OZ?" Maria questioned, making her way towards the Psychic Pokémon with Jango hot on her heels. The Ralts smiled softly at the trainer, slowly reaching out to pat her on the leg. Maria sighed in relief, reaching down (albeit cautiously) to carefully pick up Logan's partner. "We've... We've all b-been worried sick about you. W-Where in the world have you been?"

Oz only looked up at Maria in silence, offering a comforting pat on the blonde's shoulder.

"...N-Never mind. We'd best find someplace to wait out t-this storm and then f-find Logan and the others..." Maria determined. She felt OZ wriggle about in her arms, suddenly pointing out and ahead from the bush she had just crawled out of. "...Do you know of s-somewhere...?"

Maria gently sat OZ down, the Ralts regaining her balance before slowly making her way back towards the bushes she had just crawled out of. Maria gave a nervous glance towards her Chimchar, who quickly scampered ahead to follow behind OZ. Without having any other options at the moment, Maria quickly gathered her bag back over her shoulder and followed the two Pokémon deeper into the woods.

Next Objective: Find Shelter!

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[Stinging Bea]

Maria Cosgrove

Current Party:

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The Old Chateau

Eterna Forest

Maria had read many books back during her days in the hospital and even back at camp. She couldn't count the number of hours that she whittled away, reading of adventurous knights, the life and times of various historical figures, and even silly and humorous anecdotes. When it came to subjects involving horror and the macabre however, Maria tended to shy away. While the tall trainer had no real expertise in regards to subject manner, she couldn't help but think that this was the setting ripped straight from a horror novel.

Logan's Ralts had led her and Jango deep into the woods. The rain hadn't let up in the slightest bit, and the wind was definitely starting to pick up with each and every step. The trainer and the Pokémon were positively soaked to the bone, and the wind did little to aid in the situation. The group came to a stop in front of what Maria could call an abandoned manner of sorts. It looked to have been abandoned some time ago. The passage of time and weathering of the house was apparent. Paint was fading and chipping away, with various windows having even been shattered. The grass around the abandoned house was littered with shards of glass and broken roof tiles, and the wood of the porch leading up to the front door was literally rotting away. Thick vines wrapped around the building in various spots. A howling filled the air. Maria wasn't sure if it was from the wind blowing around her coming from the wind blowing through the broken out windows of the house. Either way, she was able to tell that this place was not somewhere she willingly wanted to set foot in.

Maria stared up at the dilapidated building for a moment or two longer, before glancing down to OZ. "...Y-You want us to go in there...?"

OZ glanced back up at Maria, tilting her tiny head at the girl's question before gently patting her leg and pointing forward. Maria sighed in disappointment. Of course the Ralts wanted them to go into the house. She probably had no idea what kind of condition the house was in. All she was doing was trying to get the group into some kind of shelter to wait out the storm. Maria opened her mouth, preparing to try and explain the reasoning why the group should keep looking... however a loud clap of thunder and bright flash of lightning was more than enough to cause the blonde teenager to drop all reluctance and make a mad dash towards the front door of the manner, all the while Jango and OZ followed closely behind.

Maria stopped just short of the door, her hand coming to hold the slightly rusty knob. She gave it a gentle twist, as if checking to see if the door was unlocked. Though a bit creaky, the door did begin to push open… As to whether or not Maria was relieved or disheartened by this fact, she was unsure. Her legs trembled beneath her as she slowly pushed the door open just far enough to slowly poke her head inside.

"...H-Hello…? I-Is anyone in h-here…? W-We're coming in, okay…?" the girl called out.

Silence was the only response, however. At the very least, this confirmed that she essentially wasn't breaking and entering someone else's property. Pushing the door open further, the trainer and Pokémon stepped inside before carefully pushing the door shut behind them. Inside was pitch black. Maria couldn't even see her hand in front of her face, a factor she quickly realized would make traversing through the abandoned house quite difficult. She glanced down at her Chimchar, quickly taking note of the small flame glowing on his tiny rump.

"J-Jango…? Is there anyway y-you can make your flame a b-bit brighter…?" Maria questioned.

Jango tilted his head, as if thinking over what the blonde girl was asking. Eventually, the Chimchar gave the trainer a rather toothy grin before appearing to focus intently. Sure enough, the small flame on his backside did grow a bit larger. While it wasn't enough to completely illuminate the room, it did provide enough light so the group wouldn't be completely fumbling around in the dark. Taking a moment to scoop up OZ into her arms so the tiny psychic Pokémon wouldn't fall behind, the girl and her Chimchar began to cautiously make their way forward.

They appeared to be in some sort of entry hall. From what Maria could tell, the house was well furnished… at least, that had been the case before it was apparently abandoned. Several pictures hung from the walls, most of them faded out from what was likely the passage of time. An old, ticking grandfather clock stood against one of the walls. Amazingly enough, the pendulum still seemed to be working, but the hands of the clock appeared to have been broken off long ago with the glass covering the face having been shattered as well. Various decorative plants were spotted here or there as well, most of them wilting or rotting away however. A thick layer of dust covered the floor and most of the furnishings, an observation that caused Maria to be thankful once more that she had remembered to bring her inhaler with her from camp. A chill was still prevalent in her air, however. The old, musty building did very little to keep some… if any heat inside of its walls, unsurprisingly.

Unbeknownst to the trainer and the Pokémon, they were not the only ones currently occupying the abandoned building. A pair of glowing, pink eyes was staring at the group intently as they made their way further into the manner. A wide sadistic grin stretching across its face as it watched the group with glee. By its side, a small creature slowly crawled out by its side. A cloth obscured most of its features, with a rather crudely drawn face having been drawn across the sheet to resemble that of a Pikachu. It seemed like the dilapidated manner was home to a Banette and a Mimikyu...

Banette shook with glee and delight as it floated forward. It had been so long since a human had had the lack of commonsense to wander into its halls, very long indeed. The marionette Pokémon closed its eyes for a moment, sniffing the air before suddenly squealing in delight! That aura! There was so much negativity and darkness shrouding off that human that it was going to be like a feast! Oh, this was going to be fun! The Banette could hardly wait to begin to its curse upon this unsuspecting fool! The Mimikyu however, seemed a bit unsure. It slowly skittered forward, glancing between the Banette and the retreating form of the human girl and her Pokémon as they moved further into the halls of the mansion. The Mimikyu wasn't looking particularly thrilled with this situation. This wouldn't be the first time that the Banette had gone out of its way to make a poor, unsuspecting human its victim... and they were never circumstances the Mimikyu was looking forward to. A long, claw-like hand reached out from beneath the sheet that covered the Mimikyu's physical features, taking hold of the floating Banette's leg. Banette quickly glanced over its shoulder, glaring at the Mimikyu with ferocity as it saw the disguise Pokémon shake its head in disagreement with this plan. Banette growled in annoyance, quickly swatting the the claw away. How dare this lowly creature question its plans! Without warning, the Banette floated down and quickly delivered a fierce slap across the Mimikyu's face, causing the said Pokémon to recoil in a mixture fear and shock.

Banette had a look of absolute contempt on its face. What sort of ghost Pokémon would go out of its way to try and take pity on a human of all things? It was absolutely disgusting. It wasn't the first time that Mimiky had tried to do such a thing, and to be quite frank Banette had had enough with this cowardly behavior. It would get this tempting feast with or without Mimikyu's help. Without even another look of acknowledgement, Banette floated off... leaving the Mimikyu alone to stew in its cowardice.

Next Objective: Wait Out The Rain...

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[Shak]

Team Fruit Punch

Logan

Melody

*bulbagarden.net image removed*

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Trust

"Scul, you haven't had much luck with that lass you met in Sandgem, have you?" Ben shined a flashlight in the face of his taller companion with a snarky smirk. Among the group, only him, Scully and Marco seemed to be getting any enjoyment out of the conversation. Their leader, and the young teen they'd near enough kidnapped were just a few paces behind.

"I met her Jublife." Scully spat back, dropping a cigarette from his mouth in annoyance. "She was from Sandgem. She was actually from Unova. You know what they say about Unovan girls..." The tallest hunter lectured, a fresh cigarette already in his lecturing hand.

"They don't sleep with lanky bastards who need a silph scope to get a glance at their own tools?" Ben snapped back. Both he and Marco burst into laughter, which left the joke's victim as the odd man out. Scully scoffed and sheltered his cigarette lighter from the rain.

"You boys haven't forgotten what we're here for, have you?" The sharp voice of their leader cut through the fun like a bullet. The His tone carried by the crack of thunder in the distance.

"We're here to talk to a girl about a fox. I remember." Marco nodded, though the lightheartedness he tried to usher back into the moment just fell short of its mark.

"And you're not going to handle it like your 'lass from Sandgem'. Have some decorum. We're dealing with a kid who doesn't trust us here, we're going to need some class if we need to win her over." As he spoke, he spotted a mush of crushed leaves. in the mud, strewn along the ground. He brushed them aside and examined the impression in the soaked soil beneath them. "She's close. Someone's close."

Logan took it all in. His gaze wandered. Everything seemed to be so easy; from getting the hunters to help him, to tracking down Mel even without the assistance of the Spearow who had been recalled into their pokeballs to lessen the risk of giving away their position. This plan was his least of all, but he couldn't help but feel the responsibility bubbling inside of him for if anything were to go wrong. He knew Mel. Something going wrong was a given. A deep sigh took him back into the moment.

"Boss, I think we found something." Marco, who had walked on ahead, spoke through the walkie talkie. "She's...singing. She's actually quite good." Marco simpered in appreciation.

"Singing? That doesn't sound like Mel. You sure it's her?" Logan responded with optimistic skepticism.

"Well, you go find Marco and find out. It's time for you to do your part anyway. We'll be watching." Ben ordered, ushering Logan toward his new target.

Before he knew it, Logan was out in the clearing, with no more obstacles between him and Melody. He felt his stomach twisting inside him. The girl was supposed to be his friend, and here he was about to trick her into surrendering her new pokemon. When he put it into perspective, the job he'd been tasked with became much harder. His eyes fell to his feet. Only the melodies of his estranged friend were there to guide him. With a big gulp, he stepped forward, one more closer to Melody.

"H-hey Mel…" He finally found the words, breaking the harmony of the moment around him.

The brunette silenced her angelic voice immediately and turned around to meet the blue haired dolt that was the cause of the group splitting up. Melody was not amused, and that showed in her face. Until the thought crossed that he might've heard her sing. She stared at Logan, only stared with a somewhat shocked expression but still pissed.

"Hey uh...you got a minute?" He began, knowing full well he needed to continue whether Melody had that minute to give or not. "Look...about the umm...the Eevee situation. Y'know, the one you hid from the hunters." He clutched the straps to his backpack as tightly as his knuckles would let him. "I'm sorry. I should've been on your side about that."

Melody crossed her arms and sighed. "Well, I'm glad y-" the brunette immediately paused right before finishing that sentence. Logan apologizing…? Just like that? The girl stared intensely at him. She didn't know what to think of the blue haired boy just apologizing without trying to put the blame on her instead. It was in fact so rare that she didn't have a proper reaction ready for situations such as these. "I'm glad you now understand the errors in your actions." Melody said but her eyes said something else. She was glaring at him, almost questioning him what was going on but without saying a word. He was acting strange.

Logan's eyes fell to the ground, then back up to Mel. His met her own, then carried down to his hand, which was still tightly grasped around the backpack strap. He darent turn around, even for a second, as the hunters would have surely viewed it as suspicious behaviour - if behind was even where they were watching from. They'd taped the button on his walkie talkie, so that there was no way he could say a thing without them listening in. Whether or not they were willing to shoot on sight if he tried anything funny, he wasn't sure, but seeing Mel again made him realise which side he should be on - so he had to try. "We should probably check on the Pokémon to make sure she's okay. After everything, it's gotta be pretty scared, huh?" He forced a chuckle.

Melody watched his behaviour and saw how his eyes went from staring into her own to his hand. Something was going on. She was sure of it… Logan seemed to be pleading for help but help for what? "I'm sure she would." Melody agreed as she was surveying the area. She couldn't directly see anything but something was up. She just knew it. She had spent enough time with Logan, Maria and John to at least know when they were acting weirdly. They had lived together at the camp like family. Like…. Family.

Melody's gaze fell upon Logan's posture again. He didn't seem hurt but he looked… nervous. That's when it hit her. Logan didn't look at his hand. His gaze was directed towards the bushes! Logan had been boasting about those stupid hunters the whole time. Did he get in trouble for letting the Eevee go? Was he being followed? Being overheard?

"Why don't we go look for her, together?"

A pained smile fell on Logan's face.

"What do you make of it?" Ben asked the hunters leader, both of whom were watching proceedings much more closely than their compatriots.

"Well...I guess we're following now." The leader sighed in response.

"You think your story inspired the kid?"

"Definitely. He's on her side again. Now for the hard part." He sighed, climbing to his feet, but staying low enough to be out of sight.

"So...Mel, with the hunters gone and all, how do you think we're gonna find OZ? We can't just go around lifting every bush. That'll take forever, y'know?" Logan asked, finally easing into his facade as he found a topic of genuine immediate concern for him.

"OZ is good at identifying emotions, especially negative ones, right?" Melody asked. "She'll find us." the brunette brushed some locks out of her face as she turned to follow along the path behind her, waiting for Logan to walk beside her so that both their backs would be turned towards the hunters. It would make it easier for them to think of something. At least… that's what she hoped. She had no way in finding out where the hunters were hiding but Logan's behaviour and whole demeanor gave him away. This one got in trouble, again.

"However, I think we should search for her in this direction. We haven't gone here yet." With this, Melody hoped to let the hunters know that they have no idea where they would be going while in reality Melody had already found out this was the direction of Eterna since her Pokégear was starting to have slightly more signal the closer they came to the city.

Logan's brows furrowed. 'She'll find us'? What did she mind by that? "Right." He agreed, before he caught up to her as the pair continue deeper into the forest.

The team of Logan and Melody searched high and low, but saw no sign of the little emotion pokemon. All the while, both trainers kept an ear on alert for any rustling from a nearby bush. The hunters were still out there. Logan turned and once again his eyes fell on Melody. He watched her for a moment, calling out to his lost friend. He sighed and approached her.

"Hey Mel...thanks." Logan barely whispered, struggling to maintain any form of eye contact. He stuck his hand out for her to shake.

Melody stopped searching only for a moment and glanced at blue haired dolt's hand. That's all she did… glancing. Melody hated any kind of body contact, just like Raeliana, so there was no chance at all that she was going to shake it. "Don't mention it." She said eventually, turning away from Logan and refusing to shake his hand at all.

"Mel seriously, I'm glad you didn't just up and leave. You could've." Logan gasped as he reached out and grabbed onto Mel's bag before she had the chance to walk away. His breath was caught in his chest as he admitted that. With his piece said, he pulled away, head hung. "I'll go check near the bigger trees." He practically whispered as he turned his back to her.

"I could have indeed." Melody responded, although a bit late as she didn't bother to turn around to face him.

As he got a few paces away from her, Logan finally sighed as his heart rose from his stomach. He was no stranger to pickpocket, but doing it to Mel just felt wrong somehow. The pokeball in his hand was the key to getting his pokemon back, yet he took no joy in taking it. With one last pained scowl, he looked down at the ball, then stuffed it in his bag.

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[Stinging Bea]

Maria Cosgrove

Current Party:

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The Old Chateau 2

Eterna Forest

Maria coughed violently, the urge to throw up rising in the pit of her stomach. On her head, a cold washcloth was placed to try and bring down her constant fever. Her beloved Piplup doll, Mr. Tux, was wrapped tightly in the blanket to keep her company. The small child sniffled, slowly sitting up in bed as she staggered off the edge and hit the floor below.

"Momma...?" the small ten year old called out, her throat raw and dry. "Momma, I need a drink of water please..."

Silence. Maria had been slowly getting used to it at this point. Many a night had gone by since her latest bout with illness that she had to either get her own drink or be lucky enough to bump into one of the hired helps in the hallway on her way towards the kitchen. Her amber eyes narrowed, confirming her deepest fears. It was late, about ten minutes after midnight. Chances were that most, if not all of them, had gone. Henry, her favorite of the family's butlers, was more than likely to stay into the early hours of the morning, often making sure that everything was just right for the next day or perhaps to make sure notes were filled out for the others assignments in the morning. The problem was that, if Maria could remember properly, tonight was a Tuesday. Henry always took Tuesdays off.

"I guess it's no b-big d-deal," Maria replied, another coughing fit escaping her lips as she grabbed hold of her Piplup doll. She offered the tiny penguin-shaped stuffed animal a weak smile. "I guess we'll have to get our own d-drink... Momma and daddy are both probably sleeping. W-We shouldn't disturb them..."

With Mr. Tux securely bundled under her arm, the ten year old blonde shuffled her way out of her bedroom into the hallway. The house was always so quiet, you could practically hear a Rattata drop a pin. Walking around the house late at night always made Maria feel a bit uneasy, especially she was alone. Thankfully, that was not the case. The girl kept her Piplup doll close to her chest as she made her way down the hallway towards the kitchen. The faint glow of the pale moonlight being the only thing to illuminate the otherwise dark halls. As she slowly rounded the corner to the stairs, Maria's eyes spotted the door to her parents room. The small girl quickly took in the sight of the door being slightly ajar, a faint light shining out into the hallway and the sound of what appeared to be... heavy, frantic breathing.

Maria slowly shuffled her way forward, her grip on Mr. Tux growing even tighter with every step. "M-Momma...? Momma, is that you...?"

Her hand was shaky as she slowly reached out to the doorknob. She stood there for a moment, staring in silence, before slowly pushing the door open. The Piplup doll dropped to the floor as a scream echoed out through the house.

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A loud, crash of thunder caused Maria's eyes to snap open. She gasped in surprise, her body trembling as her eyes darted around, quickly taking in the sights around her. It all started coming back to her. She was in that old, abandoned manor that she had stumbled upon when wandering through the forest. Currently, the blonde was seated on an old rug inside of a rather dusty and cold den. In particular, she was seated in front of a fireplace. A small flame was burning in the place, the girl and her Pokémon having decided to sacrifice one of the dining room chairs to help produce a small amount of heat, courtesy of Jango.

The said chimp Pokémon was snoozing by her side, with OZ right beside him as well. In her lap, sat a roosting Ducklett. The small duck Pokémon was looking up at her trainer in concern. A small, curious quack echoing out into the expansive room. Maria sighed, slowly reaching out to gently pet her Pokémon.

"Sorry if I d-disturbed you, Lucy..." Maria said, slowly shifting in a manner to let the Ducklett hop off her lap. The girl and her Pokémon slowly walked towards a window, taking in the sight and sound of the rain pitter-pattering against the glass. "I haven't been t-thinking about this stuff for a w-while...? Why am I only thinking about it n-now...?"

Maria closed her eyes, pressing her head against the cold glass. She had been trying so hard to forget about that night. She figured that with this journey, she might be able to finally start putting this stuff behind her... to just forget about it all. The tall blonde had managed to at the very least put a majority of these memories into the back of her mind, but... ever since the incident with Melody and Logan, the thoughts and memories had become... quite vivid. The girl began to have thoughts that maybe she wasn't ready for this journey after all. Maybe she really did need to go back to camp.

The sudden sound of a door creaking caught Maria's attention. The girl spun around, eyes wide as she slowly took a step forward.

"H-Hello...?" Maria called out. No one answered, prompting the girl to speak a bit louder. "Is... Is s-someone there...?"

Jango and OZ both seemed to stir as Maria made her way across the room. The faint glow of the lit fireplace made things a tiny bit easier for the trainer to make things out. The door on the left side of the room was definitely open. Had it always been that way, though? Maria felt her body shaking with every step as she made her way to the door, gently pressing it open. A dark hallway stretched out before her, only lighting up when a flash of lightning happened to strike from outside the windows. The girl all, but screamed as she felt a hand suddenly touch her leg. Her gaze quickly shot down just in time to see OZ gently looking up at her, a small smile gracing the tiny psychic-type's face.

It was a comforting presence, one that didn't get to last too long. A delighted squeal quickly echoed out into the air, causing Maria to jump just in time to see Jango go dashing down the hallway with excitement.

"J-Jango! Jango, get back here!" Maria called out.

Of course, the Chimchar chose not to listen to his trainer. The small chimp was much more interested in what the sounds coming down the hall were. Maria whimpered in response, but knew she couldn't just turn back and leave her Chimchar alone in this place. She quickly made her way down the hallway, frustration evident in her voice as she reached her Pokémon. The Chimchar was staring through an open doorway, his eyes focused as if he was looking at the most amazing thing he had ever seen.

"J-Jango, I r-really think we n-need to go…" Maria began, but her voice trailed off as she spoke.

Her eyes went wide. The sounds of screaming and yelling began to fill her ears. She stood there in the doorway, the sight before her rendering her completely speechless. The room that stretched out before her was… it was from her home. The hosting room where her parents held their social gatherings. Everything was like it had been. Maria could see the pool table that had been set up in the middle of the room. There was a dimly lit fireplace against the northernmost wall. Her father's bar was seated in the corner, with plush leather-seated stools around it. And by that fireplace, was a very familiar sight...

Her mother and father.

Both of them were yelling at the tops of their voices. Her father was holding his favorite glass, half filled with what Maria knew was his favorite liquor, a few ice cubes floating on top as per usual. Her mother was yelling at him, lecturing him about how he needed to do more for the family and how his drinking was getting out of hand. Their voices growing louder and more violent with each passing moment.

Maria found herself wincing with every insult. The blonde found her breath quickening with every curse. Jango suddenly glanced up as he watched the blonde girl slowly walk past him. Lucy watched nervously as Maria slowly began to make her way towards the arguing couple.

"P-Please… That's enough, s-stop…" Maria whispered. "M-Momma… D-Daddy, please…"

Neither of the girl's two parents seemed to be listening to her, however. The arguing began to grow only more violent, the blonde flinching back as she watched her mother slap her father across his face without so much as a single hesitation. She watched helplessly as her father began to shake with anger, tossing his glass across the room before suddenly lunging at her mother. Maria's eyes widened in horror at what she saw next. The man shoved his wife to the ground, his large hands finding their way around the woman's neck as began to squeeze with all the strength he could muster.

"N-No… No, no no… D-Daddy, stop! P-Please, that's enough!" Maria shouted, her voice shrill with fear at the sight before her.

The blonde seemed to lose all sense of control. She quickly stumbled forward, completely throwing caution to the wind. Maria quickly reached out, her smaller hands wrapping around her father's arm in an attempt to pry him off of her mother. Her mother's face was quickly changing colors as she too struggled to free herself from her husband's grasp. First from red… then to blue… then… black…?

Maria slowly released her grasp on her father's arm as she fumbled back. Her mother began to giggle… and then she burst out into a demented laugh. Her eyes began to blow an eerie, blood-red as she flashed Maria a wide, yellow-toothed grin! Her father seemed to be oblivious to this, his grip on his wife's neck growing ever tighter all the while. Maria was speechless as her body trembled at the sight of her mother… The older woman's starting to swell up like a balloon… until suddenly…

POP!

Maria flinched as the woman's head literally popped like a balloon. Within an instant, the scenery faded around her. Gone was the familiar sight of the family hosting room, instead replaced by a dusty and dirty kitchen. Her father was gone… Her mother was gone… All that remained was the girl and her Pokémon. Maria began to cough violently as Jango, Lucy, and OZ all made their way to her side.

"What… What in… How…?" the girl could barely fumble out. Had she been seeing the whole thing? There was no way, right…? "It all felt so real…"

The girl slowly picked herself up off the ground. Her breath still short as she tried to push what she had just witnessed as far out of her mind as she could. The sounds of thunder and splattering of rain against glass was once again the only noise that filled the room… That is, until the creaking sound of a door caught her attention yet again. Maria quickly spun around, the girl dreading what ever could have been making that noise this time, only to come to see a small, yellow Pokémon come skittering out from within one of the kitchen cupboards. It almost looked to be a Pikachu, only the ears were a bit off… and the face looked like it had been crudely doodled by a six year old.

"A Mimikyu…?" Maria questioned. It was then that the realization dawned on her. Mimikyu was a ghost Pokémon. "You… You d-did this didn't y-you?"

Mimikyu squeaked in surprise. The small ghost Pokémon looked around, tilting its head in confusion before it finally realized what the girl was accusing it of. It began to violent shake its head. No, it was the Banette! Maria didn't seem convinced, however… Nor did Jango. The Chimchar quickly ran forward and spat out an Ember attack at the Mimikyu's direction. The small ghost Pokémon wailed in response, quickly skittering out of the room.

"I knew this p-place was a b-bad idea…" Maria whimpered. "We… We have to get out of here… R-Right now!"

Next Objective: Make For The Exit!

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[Sapphire Rose]

Team Fruit Punch

Logan

Melody

*bulbagarden.net image removed*

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Chuck Norris was shot with a gun. The bullet was critically injured.

Following the aroma of meat that consumed the forest, Logan found himself standing before a family sat around a bubbling put. Despite the rain and storm, the teen arrived just in time to watch the troupe leader dishing out bowls of stew for his team.

Ben, who was on the verge of enjoying his first spoonful, stopped at the sight of Logan. His eyes locked onto the younger boy.

"I got it." Logan said. He was resolute, but couldn't raise his eyes from the ground.

The troupe leader stuck out his hand but, again, Logan remained firm. The teenager reached into his bag, clutched onto the pokeball he'd taken from Melody just a few minutes ago. He froze. That same twisting feeling in his stomach returned.

The hunters watched in anticipation. There was no way this kid had actually brought them the Eevee they'd spent weeks tracking; the one that had always eluded them, that always got away. Each of them exchanged confused glances as the boy instead pulled out a bushy brown and beige tail.

"Y-you…?" Ben stammered, more out of disbelief than shock.

"Yeah." Logan answered bluntly. "You guys haven't done much to help with finding OZ though..." He began before releasing the tail, leaving it to the fate of the wind.

Before it could hit the ground, Ben caught the falling appendage and looked over it again. He watched Logan turn his back to them, then looked across his group again. Defeated and deflated, he addressed the teen that was now blackmailing his team.

Logan walked a few paces behind the troupe. He'd always been just off the heart of the group, but now he didn't even have the leader to converse with.

"Looks like your Ralts ain't alone." Scully suggested as he sifted through the mud to find the tiny white pokemon's impression.

Logan held his nerve, but inside, he was losing his mind. He knew it wasn't Melody, since he'd just seen her much closer to the forest exit than they were now. Maria had completely disappeared, there was no way she was in any place to protect OZ from anything. As for John...Logan was beginning to question what good John had ever been for the group. All John seemed to do was give up. With all the positive options eliminated, Logan began to envision much more horrific possibilities. If he kept this up, how would he ever have strong pokemon? OZ was gone.

"It's almost cute that you tried." Ben's voice, and the sharp metallic prod in his back, snapped Logan back into reality. He half-turned his head to see the gun barrel poking into his spine. Logan bit his lip. He put his hands in the air and lowered himself to his knees.

"He knows what to do. He's good." Marco joked as he grabbed Logan's bag.

"You tried to get us with a Zigzagoon tail?" The leader asked, crouching to meet Logan at eye level. "You thought we wouldn't know the difference? It's a good thing we got the dumb one."

"That dumb one found the Eevee you've been searching weeks for." Logan snapped back, keeping his eyes glued to the floor.

"Yeah, he did." Scully scoffed, dismissing Logan's insult. He tossed a pokeball from Logan's bag and out came Nectar.

It took the Combee a few seconds to grasp the situation, but once he did, he was quick to jump to his trainer's defense. He fluttered, he buzzed and his stung. The little bee pokemon mustered all of its will to defend his trainer. It was all in vein. Nectar was effortlessly swatted away by Marco's offhand.

A second pokeball toss revealed exactly what the hunters were looking for. The elusive materialised from the ball, eyes wide with wonder. Wonder that slowly turned to fear. The little pokemon scurried as far away as it could, before a rifle bullet cut its path.

"Veee!" The little fox screeched with terror.

In a flash, the Eevee was gone. In her place, a man in a large yellow sun hat stood beside a Pidgeot, the pokemon poised to attack. The man wore shorts and a short sleeved shirt. A mane of thick, blonde hair draped down from his sunhat. Most strikingly, he wore a nametag labelled 'Counsellor Chace".

"Gentlemen, I'm going to have to ask that you lower the weapons." Chace spoke with an aloof confidence. His eyes scanned beneath the brim of his hat. He noticed that only the eldest member of the group had lowered his gun. "All of you please."

"What, we're just giving up like that?" Scully spat in disbelief.

"Yeah, unless you're keen on picking up jail time." As the leader spoke, a platoon of police officers flanked the man with the sun hat and from behind them, came a familiar figure to Logan. Two in fact.

Brown glossy hair reaching until her waist with piercing light blue eyes that didn't look to pleased. They were quite furious actually. The tiny fox Pokémon that was hiding behind her legs looked up to find it's savior from earlier, even though she hadn't much of a choice. It was live or die. If it wasn't obvious by now, that girl was Melody backed up by their camp counsellor who stood beside her. Melody was silent but her expression and eyes spook a trilogy of books.

"Scul, I believe the ball in your hand needs returning." The troupe leader grumbled.

"Scul…" Ben hissed in response.

The pokeball fell to the ground next to Logan. The blue haired teen was still humbled, on his knees. His face slapped with dread and trepidation as his eyes fell upon the owner of the ball.

"Logan." The camp counsellor, flanked by the officers who now surrounded the troupe, approached Logan and stood over the boy. His face scrunched. Obvious disappointment. It was an expression Logan recognised all too well. "You and Melody/Raeliana will be making your way to Eterna. I'll handle things from here."

Logan climbed to his feet and walked past the counsellor, his head hung in shame. He felt a hand grab his shoulder. Just an ounce of comfort. He turned to the counsellor again, who now held the Eevee's pokeball out to him.

"Don't forget this. I've a feeling you're going to need it." He said, guiding Logan's gaze toward Melody.

"Girl…" The troupe leader shouted to Melody. The Brunette raised a brow at being addressed, but remained resolute in her cross armed stance. Even the officers were taken aback. "You've got a Sneasel in your camp! You'd be wise to cut the grass before it finds you." With that, he surrendered his hands to be detained by the surrounding officers.

Melody didn't really respond to the words of the ones trying to hurt her Eevee, even though she knew somewhere deep inside that they were right but that feeling was being suppressed by disbelief. Melody guessed it had to be Raeliana.

Logan took the last of the dreaded steps that brought him face to face with Melody. The Hunter Troupe leader's words were a puddle of lava in that walk and Logan had unfortunately stepped right in it. Logan held out the pokeball from Melody.

"I…" He began, before biting his lip.

Melody snatched the pokéball from his hand and didn't move her face even an inch. It was having the same pissed look as before. "Don't even say it." She snarled at him. Those were the only words she would waste on someone like him. She opened her mouth because there was still something she wanted to say, but closed it. The pissed look was being traded for a disappointed one as she turned away from him. Some officers would stare at her attitude, even they took quick notice that Melody wasn't someone you should make angry. "She's scarier than my mother-in-law..." One whispered.

Melody started to walk towards the exit of the forest. She stopped for a moment and signed Logan to follow her.

Logan took one last look at the hunters, before he hurried behind Melody. Just like before, he watched her back as he followed, but unlike last time something was ushering her forward not backward. His breaths were short, but he worked up the courage to say a word. "Counsellor Chace calling you Raeliana, huh? What was that about?" Logan sneered. After a couple of beats of silence, he realised the girl hadn't responded to him. He glanced to the two officers the Counsellor had sent to escort them. Neither seemed particularly interested in easing Logan's nerves. "I mean, what kinda name is that, am I right?" He persisted.

Melody stopped for a moment, and with that, everyone stopped. She wanted to ignore it at first but that last sentence didn't sit right with her. It was because of Raeliana's suppressed feelings that Melody didn't outright scream at him the moment she saw him. He should be more grateful for that.

"My official name." She said short but there was something unpleasant about the way she said it. As if a bullet from a gun had been shot because both officers were pretty quiet as well even though they didn't care about neither the blue haired dolt or the brunette but it was a sudden vibe of hostility.


​

 

[Stinging Bea]

Maria Cosgrove

Current Party:

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The Old Chateau 3

Eterna Forest

Maria's Pokémon were startled by the amount of energy the blonde suddenly showed. She wasted no time in climbing to her feet and making for the door to the kitchen. Lucy gave a worried look towards Jango and OZ, before the trio of Pokémon quickly began to follow behind the girl. The blonde threw the door open without a single moment of hesitation, only to stop as her eyes widened in shock. The doors in the hallway had seemingly all vanished, only one door at the far end remained. The girl's eyes widened, her mind racing to process what had happened.

"I... I w-was sure there was... D-Didn't we come from...?" Maria questioned, glancing down at the Pokémon by her side for some sort of answer. Jango and Lucy seemed to be at just a loss as she was. "...W-We should h-head for that door, I guess? M-Maybe I'm just remembering wrong..."

The group began to exit out of the kitchen, walking slowly up the hallway in the direction of the door. All the while, the Mimikyu slowly began to skitter out behind them. A worried squeak escaped from the disguise-wearing Pokémon as it shuffled forward as quickly as it could, trying to gather the attention of Maria. The blonde froze, a shiver running down her back as she turned to see that the wild Mimikyu was following behind them.

"G-Go away!" the tall blonde trainer managed to squeak out, recoiling a bit at the memory of what had transpired in the kitchen.

She recoiled slightly as the ghost-type bounded forward, but it was thankfully quickly intercepted by Jango. The Chimchar hissed at Mimikyu, quickly spitting out an Ember in its direction which caused the ghost to jump back in surprise. Maria took the opportunity to quickly quickly scoop OZ up into her arms, making a break for the door with Lucy and soon Jango following close behind. Mimikyu let out a weak whimper. Why didn't this human understand? It was trying to help her! The ghost attempted to garner the trainer's attention once more, but Maria paid it no mind. Instead, she ran straight for the door and threw it open without so much as look back at over her shoulder at the wild Pokémon.

Words could not express the confusion that was suddenly etched across Maria's face as she stepped through the door. She was no longer in the seemingly haunted manor. Rather, she now found herself back in Eterna Forest. It was clearly late afternoon as she stepped into the wood, the sun still shining brightly overhead with an orangish hue decorating the otherwise green surroundings. As Maria stepped further into the forest, a familiar sound quickly garnered her attention. She quickly turned to the left, a worried whimper slipping out of her lips in the process.

Logan, Melody, and John... They were all there too. Logan and Melody were locked in a tussle on the forest floor, a pokéball gripped tightly in Melody's hand while Logan was desperately trying to pry it out and into his own. John was there too, his voice loud... much louder than Maria remembered. The girl trembled, taking a step back away from the arguing trio. Her hand began to frantically reach for the doorknob... only to find it gone. The door was gone! She quickly spun around, her eyes darting all over the place to find the door. How did a door just disappear? How did all the doors just disappear?!

"Get... off, Logan!" Melody shouted, snapping Maria's attention back to the struggle before her. "I'm... Not letting you... trade it for another life!"

"I have to find OZ! You would do the same if it was Terra!" Logan snapped back, his eyebrows furrowing in anger as he focused all of his energy and trying to pry the ball out of Melody's hands.

"You're both being ridiculous!" John shouted. The boy boldly stepped forward, attempting to pull the two fighting... friends...? Teammates? Honestly, Maria wasn't sure what they even were at the moment, but the boy was trying to pull them off of each other to his credit.

"G-Guys... P-Please... W-We need to stop," Maria stammered out. Her voice soft... hardly audible over the growing volume of the arguing trio. Her eyes widened as she remembered something important. "O-OZ! I f-found OZ... W-We can stop this n-now..."

But the three didn't stop. If anything, they're arguing only grew more violent. Maria winced as she watched Melody start to claw at Logan's hands. She gasped as she watched John grab the girl by her hair, pulling it fiercely in an attempt to try and pull her off of Logan. She snapped her eyes shut as she heard Melody scream, Logan suddenly having darted up and bit the girl right on her shoulder. The bite seemed to be hard enough to cause Melody's grip on the ball to loosen just enough. Logan smirked in satisfaction as he pulled the ball out of the girl's hands, before shoving her down to the forest floor and hopping to his feet.

"I got it! Now I can hand this thing over and those guys will help me find OZ!" Logan shouted in celebration.

The boy turned and began to make his way towards what Maria could only assume was the direction of the men who were hunting the Eevee to begin with. The tall blonde slowly took a step forward, her throat dry as she attempted to call out to Logan yet again to get him to stop. But the sight of what happened next brought everything in her world to a halt. Maria watched as Melody suddenly grabbed hold of a large rock. The girl picked it up without hesitation, before suddenly launching it straight at Logan. The rock smacked the boy right in the back of the head, causing him to tumble over in surprise. But Melody's assault didn't end there. She quickly darted over to Logan, grabbing the rock again in the process, before tackling onto him and holding the rock over his head.

"I said you're not trading Eevee away!" Melody shrieked, her voice bubbling with twisted glee as she brought the rock over her head and slammed it down into the back of Logan's skull.

Maria felt her stomach churn. The girl falling to her knees and snapping her eyes in fear. But closing her eyes simply wasn't enough. The sound of the forest was soon filled with a mixture of crunches and squishes. Logan's voice loud as he screamed in pain, before becoming garbled and heavy with a sound that was definitely liquid mixing in. Eventually, the boy's screams became quiet... simply fading into the air only to be replaced by Melody's heavy breathing.

"M-Melody... What have you done...?" John questioned, his voice full of disbelief.

Melody didn't answer, however. She began to laugh loudly, voice cracking with hysteria as she turned to face John. Maria's eyes slowly opened, her body numb with fear as she watched the female trainer slowly climb to her feet. A twisted smile graced Melody's lips as she began to walk past John, only stopping long enough to jab a knife... a peeling knife, straight into the boy's chest. Maria let out a shrill scream, the girl crawling into a ball as she watched Melody begin to slowly pace her way towards her.

"I haven't FORGOTTEN you MARIA~" Melody sang in delight, another knife gripped tightly in her hands.

Maria needed to run. She needed to get up and run away. But she couldn't. Her legs wouldn't move. She didn't have the strength to pull herself to her feet. She began to frantically look around. She needed Jango... and Lucy... and OZ... But all three Pokémon were nowhere to be seen. She could feel her chest getting tight. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing on end as Melody approached. Her eyes were glowing red, blood splattered all over her clothes, and flashing a sickening, yellow, demented, toothy grin. Maria watched helplessly as Melody came to a sudden stop, before screeching in glee and diving straight down towards her. Maria let out a loud, ear-splitting scream as she closed her eyes, bracing herself for sudden death...

A death that never came.

A loud clap of thunder shot the girl's eyes open. She frantically began to look around. The forest... was gone, replaced once more by the drab and musty interior of the abandoned manor. She felt a small touch on her legs, glancing down to see OZ staring up at her in worry, with her Chimchar and Ducklett both close by as well. Had... had she been imagining all of that? It felt so real... sounded so real. She closed her eyes... she could see it all in her mind. Her three supposed friends fighting... then Melody snapping and... and...

Just the images of what had happened to Logan and John were enough to make the girl sick. She quickly scrambled to her knees, crawling to a nearby corner where she found herself vomiting violently from the images flashing through her mind. This house was driving her crazy! She had to escape! She had to get away from...

"K-Kyu...?"

The sound of the tiny, yet curious cry immediately grabbed the blonde's attention. She turned, her eyes narrowing at the wild Mimikyu. She wanted to scream at it. She wanted to tell it to just go away and leave her alone... But she couldn't. This place had finally pushed the blonde to her breaking point. In fit of blind fury, the blonde quickly climbed back to her feet and shoved past Jango, Lucy, OZ, and the wild Mimikyu. She had had enough of the Pokémon. She had had enough of Logan and the others. She had had enough of this whole stupid journey. All she wanted to do was just quit all of it and go back to her room at Camp Floaroma. A mixture of anger, fear, and anxiety were all running together within Maria, and she had no idea how to handle any of it.

Without thinking, the girl ran up the first flight of stares she saw and into the first door she found. She slammed it behind her, her breath quick and tight, before slowly making her way into the far left corner of the room. It was here, that Maria finally collapsed. The blonde felt all her emotions bubble up and let loose into an emotional break down of screams, sniffs, and sobs.

...All the while, a pair of glowing red eyes watched her from underneath a dusty, abandoned bed.

Next Objective: ?????

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[Stinging Bea]

Maria Cosgrove

Current Party:

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The Old Chateau Finale

Eterna Forest

Jango watched as Maria ran out of the door, the Chimchar reaching out to try and stop his trainer. The blonde simply ignored her Pokémon, however. It was either that or she was in such a state of panic and dread that she had completely zoned everything out around her as she blindly ran to find some kind of safe zone to hide away from. He quickly spun around staring at the Pokémon around him. Lucy was in a state of panic. The Ducklett was running back and forth, nervously twitching as she was clearly wondering what they were supposed to do now. OZ was doing her best to try and calm the blue duck Pokémon down, but she was clearly in the midst of a panic attack that could rival that of her trainer's. The Chimchar's eyes then drifted over towards the wild Mimikyu.

The ghost Pokémon was completely silent. It's small, tail-like claw was reaching out to try and do something, but that came to a halt the second it noticed Jango staring at it. It slowly backed away, quickly taking notice of anger showing in the Chimchar's eyes. In a flash of rage, the chimp Pokémon suddenly bounded forward and began to screech and squeal at the wild Mimikyu. Mimikyu flinched at every noise the Chimchar made, Jango going as far as to jab his finger into the disguise Pokémon's chest before pointing out at the door Maria had just ran out of. Mimikyu's body went stiff. It quickly began to shake its head, trying its best to try and deny it. Jango was accusing it of haunting the human girl! Didn't they understand! It wasn't trying to scare her, it was trying to help the girl and the Pokémon escape! OZ looked on at the two arguing Pokémon, slowly determining that she had to do something to put this whole mess to rest.

The Ralts slowly crawled forward, putting a hand on Jango's own. The Chimchar glanced over at OZ, a questionable squeal escaping from the fire Pokémon's mouth before OZ turned and offered a comforting smile towards Mimikyu. This seemed to at the very least diffuse the situation for the time being, but they still needed to know what was going on. OZ moved closer towards the wild Mimikyu and put a comforting hand on its head. It squeaked a curious squeal, as if asking for its side of the story.

Mimikyu glanced over at Jango. "K-Kyu...? M-Mimi...?"

OZ smiled, glancing over her shoulder at the Chimchar in question. As if on cue, Jango offered the ghost Pokémon a somewhat forced smile. It did little to comfort the small bundle of nerves that was Mimikyu. However, the ghost Pokémon figured it truly had nothing to lose at this point...

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Maria was tired. She was cold. She was scared. She wanted to do something, anything to go back and stop all this mess from happening. Yet, she knew she couldn't. She was stuck in some haunted house and lost in the forest at well. Maria paused, a sudden thought entering her mind. The blonde, with eyes puffy and red from her tears, began to look around the room. She didn't see the wild Mimikyu anywhere. The problem with that however, was that she also didn't see OZ, Jango, or Lucy. A sudden feeling of dread entered the blonde's stomach at the realization of what she had done. In her blind anger and panic, she had managed to not only lose sight of that wild Mimikyu, but her own Pokémon as well.

Maria sunk further in the corner, thoughts of her the creatures she had been put in charge of, either via the camp or her own accord, wandering aimlessly and being tormented by that crazy ghost Pokémon entering her mind. "Oh... n-no... They're probably being ripped apart... O-Or driven insane... I b-bet Jango is going to k-kill me... and it's all my f-fault..."

Maria began to feel her heart race. No, she knew that she couldn't just leave them down there. She had to go back out and find them. She had to get out of this house. Slowly, the blonde picked herself off the ground and began to make her way towards the door… only for a sound to echo out into the room, some kind of light-hearted giggle.

The trainer froze, slowly looking around. "H-Hello…? J-Jango, is that y-you…?"

She took another step, trying to look into the shadows to see if the Chimchar in question was hiding somewhere she hadn't seen. Maria supposed it was possible that he had managed to follow her up the stairs in time without her noticing. Another giggle, this time a bit slower slipped out into the air. Maria felt her heart begin to race.

"Jango… J-Jango, this isn't funny…" Maria whimpered. Another step, and another giggle was heard shortly after. It was much louder this time. Maria glanced over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing as her gaze fell upon the musty, old bed. "J-Jango, c-come out right now…"

At the sound of her demand, the laughing came to a complete and total stop. The room was now deathly silent. Only the sound of the rain splattering against the window reaching her ears. Maria began to make her way towards the bed. With every step, she could hear the beating of her heart growing louder. She silently reached down onto her knees, her eyes squinting as she looked into the darkness.

"J-Jango…?"

A sudden flash of red eyes. Maria screamed in surprise as a black blob suddenly shot out from underneath the dusty bed. Her eyes wide as she looked up above her, taking in the sight of a strange, doll-like Pokémon. It laughed with glee as it circled around her in the ar, staring down at her with blood-red eyes and grinning in delight with its yellow, zipper-like teeth.

The Banette was quite pleased with its work. It had taken much longer than it would have liked, but the human had finally managed to get right where it wanted her to be. The Banette made a note in the back of its mind to deal with that stupid Mimikyu later. If it hadn't tried to interfere, chances were that the Banette would have gotten the human right where it wanted her to be much earlier. In a way, the ghost figured it wasn't too bad. After all, Mimikyu's constant interference had at the very least separated the human girl from her Pokémon. This was going to make getting its feast much easier.

"A B-Banette…? Wait, does that mean that Mimikyu w-wasn't alone…?" Maria stammered out.

She unfortunately didn't have the time to think it all out. The blonde watched as the Banette's eyes began to glow. A dark energy started to form in between its claw-like hands, quickly taking the shape of ball of sorts. Maria whimpered, the girl's legs giving out from underneath her as she fell to the floor and braced herself for impact.

"KYU!"

Maria jumped at the familiar cry. Her eyes darted towards the left, as the door to the room had swung open and the sight of the wild Mimikyu from before had quickly entered her vision. The disguise Pokémon launched itself up towards the wild Banette, slamming itself into the attacking Pokémon with as much force as it could possibly muster. Banette was taken by surprise, the Pokémon's attack dissipating before it fell back with a look of anger stretched across its face.

"M-Mimikyu…?" Maria questioned. "What… W-What's going on…?"

The sound of footsteps entering the room caught her attention. The girl turned turned to see more familiar faces. Jango, OZ, and Lucy were all following the wild Mimikyu. Lucy let out a delighted and relieved quack as she quickly waddled over towards her trainer's side, looking over her to see if she had been hurt. Jango wasted no time in hopping onto the girl's shoulders, embracing the blonde in a delighted hug.

"J-Jango… L-Lucy…" Maria stammered. The girl shook her head. There was no time to question how they had managed to find her or why they weren't angry over her just up and running away from them earlier. Right now, they had to take advantage of the ghost Pokémon bickering and run away. "L-Let's go… This is our chance…"

Maria shakily climbed to her feet and began to make for the exit of the room, when OZ suddenly reached out and put a hand on her leg. Maria's eyes glanced down at the tiny psychic-type, watching as the Ralts looked from Maria towards the MImikyu. The disguise Pokémon was doing its best to try and keep the Banette pinned down, but was taking some rather nasty scratches and claws to its face in the process. OZ was looking up at her expectantly. As if she was trying to tell the blonde something. Jango then hopped down from her shoulders, taking his place besides the Ralts. He too was looking back and forth between Mimikyu and his trainer, hopping up and down in a very excitable manner. That's when something suddenly dawned on Maria.

The Mimikyu hadn't been trying to haunt her. All of those visions she had seen were the work of the Banette! Mimikyu had been trying to warn her!

Maria felt a lump in her throat. She felt awful, blaming the poor wild Mimikyu for all of those incidents. Likely, it had been the MImikyu that helped OZ and her two Pokémon find her as well. Turning her focus back towards the dueling ghost-types, Maria felt a small ping of anger bubble up inside of her as she watched the Banette finally manage to push the Mimikyu away with a rather fierce Shadow Claw. The wild Mimikyu let out a pain-filled cry as it was knocked up against the wall, the neck of it's disguise seemingly breaking from the force of the impact.

"W-We… We have to help it," Maria determined. She glanced down at Lucy and Jango. "P-Please, we can't j-just leave it."


Jango squealed with delight as he bounded forward. Lucy, a bit nervous, slowly followed behind the energetic Chimchar. The Ducklett wasn't particularly thrilled with the thought of fighting against such a scary Pokémon, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to get much of an option in the matter for the time being.

"Lucy… W-Water Gun!" Maria quickly spat out.

A stream of water shot forth from the Ducklett's mouth, splashing up against the wild Banette's head as it prepared to finish off the Mimikyu. It seemed to jump in surprise from the attack, quickly turning to glare at the Ducklett for daring to interrupt it. The ghost shot forward, slashing its claws straight into the Ducklett's gut. Ducklett stumbled backwards, only for Jango to suddenly jump towards the Banette. He screeched in anger, attempting to scratch at the ghost with his sharp claws. Banette merely laughed at the Chimchar's feeble attempt however, the monkey's claws seemingly phasing right through its body.

"J-Jango, c-calm down! N-Normal attacks w-won't work," Maria tried to warn.

The Chimchar's anger was getting the best of him, however. Jango tried to scratch at the Banette again, only for the ghost to launch a punch right in the Chimchar's face. Jango fell back in pain, holding his head in irritation as he glared daggers at the Banette.

"Lucy, W-Wing Attack!" Maria called out. "J-Jango, u-use Ember!"

The two Pokémon followed through with the trainer's commands. Lucy slammed her wing into the back of Banette's head, which distracted him long enough for the Chimchar to spit a ball of fire in its direction. Banette's anger only seemed to grow in response, however. The doll-like Pokémon suddenly let out a rage-filled, ear-piercing screech causing Maria and her two Pokémon to shudder and hold their ears in pain. Using the distraction, the ghost suddenly lunged forward towards Maria's Ducklett. It slammed its claws right into Lucy's face, slashing at it continuously. Jango stumbled forward, attempting to spit another Ember at the ghost, only to be sent flying back when a ball of dark energy flew into him.

Maria slowly fell to her knees, looking at the sight before her. Jango was down. Lucy was down. Things were looking very bleak, very quickly. Maria glanced up at the Banette, watching as it was once again forming another Shadow Ball… when she suddenly felt a small hand on the side of her leg. The girl glanced down to see OZ looking back up at her with a determined smile before placing herself between the trainer and the wild Banette. OZ closed her small eyes, focusing a small wave of psychic energy at the ghost. The ghost grunted in frustration, holding its head in pain. A fierce glare was sent in OZ's direction, before the wild Banette zipped over towards her and slammed its claws into her without even the smallest bit of restraint. OZ wailed in pain as she was sent to the ground in one pain, her tiny body shaking in pain.

"O-OZ!" Maria cried, quickly running towards the frail Ralts. OZ slowly looked up as Maria scooped her battered body, a small smile still managing to grace her face as if she was still trying to comfort the blonde. "Y-You shouldn't have done that… What about L-Logan, he'll be w-worried sick about s-seeing you like this…"

Maria didn't have time to lecture the Ralts any further, however. The angry grunts of the Banette quickly caught her attention as she turned to see it hovering just before her. It glared hate at the girl and the Pokémon in her arms, rearing back to take a swipe at both OZ and the girl. A tired, battered Jango slowly looked up at this point, his eyes widening as he saw his trainer in danger. The Chimchar staggered back up to his feet, screeching in anger at the sight before him. Banette's vision snapped back towards the chimp Pokémon just in time to see a wheel of fire completely engulf Jango before he charged straight towards the ghost Pokémon, slamming his body into the Banette with all his remaining strength. Banette went sailing from the force of the blow, slamming up against the bedroom wall before collapsing on the floor in a heap. Time seemed to freeze as Jango and Maria both stared at the wild Banette. Slowly, it tried to pick itself up, arms shaking in pain, before it simply gave into the pain and fainted on sight. The battle was finally over.

"Thank Arceus…" Maria managed to whisper, her body slumping against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. A matching, tired smile graced the Chimchar's face as well. "J-Jango… Lucy… good job…"

Reaching into her bag, the trainer pulled out two pokéballs and recalled her two teammates back to rest. It looked like things were finally calming down now. The girl and the Pokémon were all back together. The wild Banette was finally taken care of. Even the storm seemed to be letting up… All that remained now was…

Maria's eyes snapped wide. "We have to escape!"

As if on cue, Mimikyu skittered across the room, it's tail-like claw waving for the girl to follow it. Maria seemed hesitant for a moment, but realized that the ghost Pokémon in question was indeed trying to help her get out of the abandoned house. She gently pulled herself back up to her feet and wasted no time in following it. Mimikyu led the girl all the way back down to the foyer of the manor, going as far as to open the front door so the blonde could leave without any issues. Maria smiled weakly down at the wild Mimikyu, before stepping outside onto the front porch with it behind her.

The late afternoon sky was fading into dusk as stars began to paint the sky. The clouds were beginning to break apart, bringing with the rising moon a crisp, cool wind in the air. A soft smile of relief stretched across Maria's lips as she took in the scents and sounds of Eterna Forest. Suddenly, the girl felt much more calm and at peace than she had before entering the abandoned house or the forest earlier in the day. She glanced down at the wild Mimikyu and nodded.

"I'm… I'm s-sorry about before… all of this," Maria began. "Y-You were j-just trying to help and I… I treated you t-terribly. P-Please, I hope you c-can forgive me."

The Mimikyu merely waved the tall blonde's concerns off. It seemed as though the ghost Pokémon had no regrets or hard feelings towards the trainer, much to Maria's relief. Sighing in response, Maria turned to begin making her way back towards the woods proper. It was then that a sudden thought entered the blonde's mind. The wild Mimikyu… It had nowhere to go. There was no way that it could go back into the house. When the Banette came to, it would likely focus all of its anger and hatred on to the poor thing. She glanced back over at the Mimikyu, hesitating for a moment before stepping way towards the small creature once more.

"Kyu…?" Mimikyu questioned, the broken head of its disguise flopping about as it looked up at her cautiously.

"M-Mimikyu…" Maria began, reaching into her bag to pull out a spare pokéball. "...Would y-you… I m-mean, if you d-don't mind… W-Why don't you come with us…?"

The world around the Mimikyu seemed to freeze. The human…? Was she actually inviting her to come along? At first, the Mimikyu thought it had to be a dream. She even went as far as to pinch herself with her tail-like appendage. However, when she found herself still staring up at Maria, the ball still held in the trainer's hand, tears began to slowly fall from the eyeholes of the disguise. At first, Maria was startled, afraid she had done something to upset or offend the ghost Pokémon. Her fears were put to rest however, when the Mimikyu's tail reached out and pushed the button in the middle of the ball, pulling her inside.

Maria smiled weakly. "Welcome to the team, Mimi…"

Placing the ball holding her new teammate into her bag, Maria glanced down at the Ralts still held in her other arm. All that remained now was for the blonde to track down Logan and the others. Of course, this forest was huge… Who knew how long it would take her find them? OZ looked up at her with a weak smile, the Ralts taking in a deep breath before suddenly yelling out, very loudly. Her voice carried all the way to the tops of the trees, echoing out into the night sky. Maria flinched from the volume of the cry. It looked as though OZ was going to lend her aid yet again.

Mimi joined the team!

Jango learned Flame Wheel!

OZ learned Disarming Voice!​

Next Objective: Reunite With The Group!

​

 

[gimmepie]

Eterna City Bulletin Board

ATTENTION! Camp Floaroma Meet Up
Please note that a meeting has been arranged for Camp Floaroma members attempting their graduation journey this weekend at Eterna Square. All Camp Floaroma trainers passing through Eterna City at this time should attend this assembly.

Entertainment wanted!
My son's 6th birthday is coming up soon, and as a big fan of battling, he has requested a Pokemon battle as entertainment. My husband and I aren't much in the way of trainers, so we're looking to hire. Please contact me on 55-78-09.

Find Kekkles!
I recently moved to Eterna, and in the fuss of moving, I got separated from my beloved Keckleon, Kekkles. I'm a collector of evolution stones, so if you are able to find him and return him to this Pokemon Centre with your details, I can get a stone of your choosing to you.

Rad Rickshaw's Promotional Offer
For a limited time only, Rad Rickshaw's Cycle Shop is offering a free folding bicycle to a trainer who has obtained Eterna's Gym Badge. Bike's are also 50% until the end of this offer. Rad Rickshaw's Cycle Shop is located in southern Eterna, near the entrance to Route 206's Cycling Road.​

 

[Shak]

Team Fruit Punch

Maria

Logan

Melody

*bulbagarden.net image removed*

John

---

Doctor Cygnus Hickory


"That's the last of our groups accounted for then."

"Team Fruit Punch?"

"Yeah. Logan, Maria Cosgrove, Raeliana Farrel and Jonathan Mist. All four."

Counsellor Chace leaned on the wall of Eterna Hotel's luxury suite, his face buried in the page he held in his hand. He looked up from the sheet of paper and over his employer.

She sat, legs crossed and donned in a white lab coat. While Chace's attention was shifting between her and his register, the woman barely had a moment to spare on him. She scanned the page before her several times. It was a police report.

"You're still sure you wanna let them go?" Chace questioned, the same confidence he'd shown the hunters was nowhere to be found. "You've read that. If Raeliana hadn't called the cops when she did - who knows how that could've ended? Maria was telling me about a haunted house. That hardly sounds like progress. As for Jon..."

The woman pursed her lips. "These aren't projects Chace. Let's not treat them as such." Her response was damning. "Team Fruit Punch were unfortunate heroes of the day."

"I was the unfortunate hero. They're going to need me again. Letting them start their journey would be condemni-"

"Growth is a trial, not a shelter." With those words she flipped the report and laid it face down on the bed. "I expect you'll be attending the assembly tomorrow. It may be the last time you see some of these students for a while."

"Yeah. See you in the morning Doctor Hickory."

---

There was a hustle and bustle about Eterna Square. The monument of the Time Pokemon stood tall above the fresh faced and hopeful youths who had just jumped the first hurdle on their roads to recovery. Among the crowd, a spunky and sprightly young woman extended a camera phone in front of her face.

"Hi again Nickles, and welcome back to my lovely Coin Purse, I hope you're all having a wonderful day~!" She practically sung into the camera. "As you can probably see by the big scary statue in the background, Team Ginger Beer has made it to Eterna City." The camera panned over, stopping on the face of a short brown skinned girl.

"Penny, enough with the camera already." The frizzy haired girl grumbled, her Butterfree giving Penny a sympathetic look before fluttering behind its trainer.

"We're having to put up with grumpy Denny today, but we can forgive her this time round. She's cranky because she beat the gym yesterday and has had to wait around for the rest of the teams to get here today." Penny explained, pouting into the camera to imitate Denny. "She's been plenty popular because of it though~!" She sang again, this time gesturing to the cluster of trainers that clamoured around Denny and her Butterfree.

"If the camp only endorsed the journeys of genuinely competent trainers, we wouldn't have scenarios like these." Denny rubbed her temple in utter contempt.

It was at that unfortunate moment, that Logan found himself trudging into Eterna Square. He looked down at his Poketch. Team Fruit Punch had all agreed to reconvene at the monument prior to the assembly to ensure they could straighten themselves out, but something just didn't feel the same. Logan hadn't given himself much chance to risk another night of moisture. The fraction of the night he did spend in bed was spent fidgeting and stewing over the fate of his starter pokemon. He had been escorted back to that state having begun the night trying to sneak back to the forest in an attempt to absolve himself of his worries. Here he was now, about to reunite with his so called friends and he couldn't have dreaded it anymore than he was.

Maria slowly trudged her way from the Pokemon Center towards the Eterna Square. She had been informed by Counselor Chace that she was the last member of Team Fruit Punch to be located in Eterna Forest, a reunion that didn't particularly sit well. Chace was very inquisitive about how Maria had ended up so far away from the others and his questions only became more frequent when he noticed OZ in her company instead of Logan's. Maria had tried her best to explain the situation to him, but the tall blonde could tell that Chace wasn't believing much of what she had to say.

Maria had been allowed to drop her team and OZ off to be treated overnight. While knowing that the creatures were in good care after the horrifying events of the Old Chateau, the upcoming reunion with her teammates of Fruit Punch did little to bring her ease.

She wondered if they were all going to be mad at her. She wondered how she could handle being around them. Just the thought of Logan, Melody, and John was enough to make her relive their argument over the Eevee over and over again, to the point that sleep was not an easy accomplishment the previous night.

And unfortunately, Maria didn't have long to dwell further on the situation.

A sudden squirming in the girl's arms snapped her back to reality. Maria glanced down at OZ, curious eyes watching as the Ralts pointed ahead with glee. Maria followed the point, her eyes widening at the sight before her.

"L-Logan…"

The object of the little emotion pokemon's affection glanced up at the whisper amongst the ruckus. His heart jumped at the sight. First Maria, then at her feet, OZ.

"Maria, I...how did you...why didn't you tell me you found her? You know, forget it, I'm glad you did." Logan rambled in glee as he embraced his starter. As he did though, he felt the cold stare of a camera lense on his back.

"Awww, Nickels, look what we've got it's an old movie reunion. And I caught it on camera~!" Penny sang. "Logan, how do you feel?"

Logan drew a blank. He stared down the lense of the camera in utter confusion, before he looked up at Penny.

"Wait, you're filming? Hey how's it-" Logan began before the moment in the spotlight was cruelly snatched away from him.

"Alright moocher, the nickel pack came here to see me, not you." Penny scoffed as she walked away with her camera.

"Well…" Logan sighed. "How'd you get out the forest, or is that a dumb question?" He forced a chuckle, turning to Maria. "And how'd you find OZ?"

Maria felt her cheeks heat up from being the focus of being on camera for a moment before turning back to Logan. "Well, the truth is I um… I k-kinda got lost after we all g-got s-separated. OZ ended up f-finding me instead…"

She paused, thoughts of her rather unpleasant adventures in that old house playing out in her mind. Maria quickly determined that she didn't much care to relive the details of that experience. Much less the weird things she saw, compliments of the Banette.

"Um… that storm c-came, so we-we had to wait it out… Councilor Chace f-found us l-later…" Maria concluded.

Logan scooped the little white pokemon and placed her on his shoulder. They both shared a content smile having been reunited.

"Looks like my little hero's really stepping up." The blue haired boy blinked. His brows furrowed and he turned to Maria again. "Hey umm…" He began, checking the surrounding area to make sure the coast was clear. "So I found out...Mel has two names. Whaddaya think that's about?" He enquired with the utmost trepidation.

"T-Two names…?" Maria questioned, surprise evident in her voice.

She already knew about the existence of both Melody and Raeliana. What threw the taller of the two trainers for a loop was the fact that Melody, at least Maria was certain that was who was in control yesterday after she herself had left, had decided to tell Logan about this.

"What all happened yesterday…?" the blonde questioned inwardly.

Realizing that she had probably been silent for far too long, Maria shifted her gaze back down towards Logan. "I… um… Y-Yeah… I k-kinda already knew."

"Y-you knew?" Logan stuttered as he began to slowly edge away.

Before Maria could say anything more, the brunette in question slowly walked up to them with both an Eevee and the ever loyal Rockruff by her side. Not quite used to the presence of the Eevee yet, Raeliana seemed a bit awkward and tried to keep her distance from the small fox who persistently tried to stay closer than her new trainer preferred. "W-What did Maria know…?" The girl asked timidly. Her whole demeanor suggested that the one in front of them was not Melody but in fact Raeliana but of course only Maria knew this.

Logan took stance against the new arrival. His eyes were naturally drawn to the Eevee, who was now understandably hesitant at the sight of him. "Umm…" He stammered, quickly glancing around the vicinity. Somehow nothing seemed like a good enough lie. "Where OZ was." He announced and presented the confused psychic type as though she were a prize. "I...thought she'd be more mad." Logan whispered to Maria.

"M-Mad…?" Maria questioned, tilting her head in confusion.

It was then that the blonde thought of something. Logan wasn't aware of Raeliana's condition. The blonde opened her mouth to respond, but then glanced back over at her friend. It was possible… maybe even very likely that Raeliana didn't exactly want Logan to be aware of it. If she told the boy now, that could make her upset… which would make Melody come out… which would make Melody upset.

Maria felt her body trembling at the thought, and instantly took a step away from both Logan and Raeliana. "I… I g-guess she f-forgave you overnight..."

Raeliana, whose gaze was constantly shifting between her feet and the faces of the taller girl and the blue haired boy before, looked up and stared at Logan. "I didn't." was the response that flew out of her mouth like an automatic reply. Though, it was less intense and piercing than Melody usually did. It was a bit more convincing. That determination was short, however, since she realized what she had done a few seconds later and immediately went back to shifting her gaze between her feet and the pair of teens. "I-I mean…" She started.

Raeliana had read what occurred yesterday in the notebook in which Melody always left behind a summary of the day. Melody had written a lot about the situation that happened with Logan and the Eevee… she only did that when she was extremely bothered. Raeliana was bothered by it as well. "Logan stole Lily from Me-... from m-my backpack yesterday knowing what was going to happen with her if he gave her to the hunters… Although I understand it was for OZ… You got in danger for it too..." Raeliana paused for a moment and tucked at her own collar of her t-shirt. "I… I cannot easily forgive that. I'm sorry."

Maria's eyes went wide, the girl glancing down at Logan with a look of absolute shock. "Y-You… You stole her Eevee…?"

Deep down, the tall blonde didn't want to believe it. She knew Logan could be a bit rash, but to do something so aggressive... Maria took a step further away from the boy. The more she thought about it however, the easier it was for her to believe. After all, he had gone out of his way to to force her into the whole honey incident back in Floaroma Town before they had properly set off. Then he stole a page out of her sketchbook. Then he sent out his Combee to attack her on the way to the forest. Maybe, this wasn't so much of a stretch for Logan after all.

"I… I c-can't b-believe you…" Maria muttered, the girl casting her eyes downward towards the ground. Even OZ seemed to shudder at the revelation.

The accusatory tone set Logan on his backfoot. He said nothing, but the lump in his throat curdled in gross anticipation as he watched the two girls. He was a mother Talonflame protecting his eggs.

"I'm glad you all managed to find the place." A cold, clinical voice severed the noise of the atmosphere like a surgical blade through cling film. Many of the students dropped their benign distractions and began to congregate around the elevated bandstand that now held Dr Cygnus Hickory, a speaker and Counsellor Chace. The bandstand stood as the highest point of the city, visible from the first steps out of Eterna Forest.

The silent atmosphere was immediately broken when the last member of the team arrived. "*cough* Sorry… I… Am… Late…" John continued to cough, as he was trying to gather his breath. "So… What did I miss?"

The standoff between the present members of Team Fruit Punch broke as the crowd left them and submerged around the bandstand.

"To those of you who are here to undertake the graduation procedure for Camp Floaroma, and to those who are simply here as fans of my work, welcome." The doctor flashed a bashful smirk, before stuffing it back behind her demeanor of assuredness. "For the former, many of you may have noticed some of your fellow campers are not present. They've unfortunately failed the trial." A collective gasp took the crowd and proceeded a wash of uncertain murmuring. "Yes, a trial. The journey to Eterna was just that. We kept watch over your journeys. The teams that we deemed not yet healthy enough to take on such a task were sent back to Floaroma." She noticed Counsellor Chace gulp in the corner of her eye, but continued with the unfiltered nature of her speech.

"Those that were sent home were guilty of unsafe or antisocial conduct…" Her eyes met with Logan's as she said that. The blue haired boy, who was already two steps behind his teammates, backed up even more. "...flightiness…" Maria grabbed hold of the strap of her traveling bag so tightly, her knuckles went white. Feeling Doctor Hickory's eyes on her for just a moment was enough to almost cause her legs to buckle.

"...reluctance to participate in a team…" Raeliana's gaze went to Doctor Hickory for only a moment. She knew exactly what she meant with that… This entire journey, Raeliana had relied on Melody too much. "...and some were absent entirely; among other reasons, of course." A moment of quiet befell the crowd. "I say all that to say this, the supervision you were afforded on the path from Floaroma to Eterna will no longer be at your disposal. You all have a means with which you can contact us; or even the authorities, should you face any danger - which we expect you to do should face that danger."

"So nothing changed?" A voice called out from the crowd. Doctor Hickory licked her lips at the challenge.

"Well…" She began, a smirk growing across her face. "If you're going to travel the region, it's only fair you pick who you do it with. So you have until you leave Eterna to confirm the teams you'll be travelling with. I would hurry too, the person you have in mind may have one foot out of the city already."

​

 

[Stinging Bea]

Team Fruit Punch

Maria

Logan

Melody

*bulbagarden.net image removed*

John

---

An Empty Juice Box


The rest of Doctor Hickory's speech passed by in a flash. Most were still left stunned by the team switching revelation.

Possibly most stunned of all, a blue haired teenager's jaw hung agasp. His eyes shot forward, where the back of the heads of his two teammates stared back at him.

Maria blinked slowly. "...W-We can change what t-teams we're on…?"

The blonde glanced over at her teammates. She wasn't going to lie to herself. It was a very tempting thought. Traveling with this group so far had been a very… trying experience, to say the least. Logan's lack of respect for boundaries, John's outright weirdness, and Raeliana… or rather, Melody's entire demeanor were enough to cause her to want to hide under her bed in her room back at camp sometimes. There were also thoughts of the entire incident in Eterna Forest.

Maria took a step back. She glanced down towards the ground, biting her bottom lip in apprehension. If she were to change teams… where would she go? She really didn't know most of the other campers beyond a face and a name. Of course, the only one she managed to form a friendship with was Raeliana herself. It was a lot for the tall girl to take in…

The brunette herself was seemingly having troubled thoughts as well, as her gaze hadn't left her feet the moment they were told they could switch teams. She hadn't been around most of the time but everything that was written within the journal by Melody… she knew parts were missing. The fact that Maria seemed so scared around her lately, Logan who absolutely despised her according to the behaviour he showed towards her and what Melody wrote kept the young girl thinking. That both of them were having odd reactions to what Doctor Hickory stated was proof enough for her that they wanted to get rid of her. That insecurity kept growing inside her like a sprout until… her counterpart would take over again. It was always around this moment… but not right now. Not today.

"I… I understand if you would want to switch me out for someone else…" Raeliana finally spoke with an obvious shake in her voice. The feeling of a brick in her throat wouldn't go away either but it started hurting. She found it the perfect excuse to get something to drink. "I will not stop you…" her face finally glanced up towards the three teenagers but the smile she tried to show was only a painful one.

"Come on Mel, I'm pretty sure you're not the problem.. I didn't hear anything you guys talked about before the speech, but I'm pretty sure that if someone had to take the blame for Maria wanting to move out from the team, I guess it's all my fault. Sorry for being a dead weight." John bowed slightly.

"I reckon you wanted to leave from the beginning." Logan sneered. His head was turned away from the group, as far as it could be. "You said as much back in the forest."

Raeliana flinched at Logan's words, disregarding what John had said. "I-I…" With widened eyes she glanced at each of the teens. "I-I never said…" She then stopped herself. How would she know she hadn't said that? Melody was out when the forest happened… She wouldn't know anything besides the things her counterpart wrote to her. The discomfort was shown on Raeliana's face and in turn made her stare at her feet again, unable to go back to the hotel like she planned to do before.

"Not like John's actually ever with us anyway." Logan continued on his tirade, his venom now directed to the teammate that had arrived long after their arranged meeting time. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was on his way out too." Finally, he turned to the tall blonde. "Maria didn't even want to come with us in the beginning. Anyone coulda dragged her out and it'd be them standing here getting ditched instead of us. It's fine, I'm gonna go find my new teammates." He finished, brushing past John as he walked away.

Maria flinched at Logan's accusations, a sudden urge to run away again filling her insides. However the longer Maria listened to the blue-haired boy's rants, the more a different kind of emotion started to bubble up inside of her. Her hands began to shake. Her eyes slowly looked up to the sight of Logan's retreating form.

"Stop it!" the blonde suddenly cried out, reaching out to grab Logan's shoulder before he could get further away. "None of that is fair and you know it!"

She paused, her eyes wide as she realized how loud her voice was carrying. Her legs began to shake and her throat suddenly felt very dry. Yet despite this, Maria continued.

"I… I know this j-journey hasn't b-been easy, b-but… It isn't f-fair to g-go blaming John or M-Melody over what happened so far," Maria stammered out. Her heart was racing. "What happened in Eterna F-Forest w-was my fault… If I hadn't ran off… or insisted Melody catch Eevee… or made you angry on the way to the forest… None of this w-would have happened."

Maria glanced down at the ground. "If anyone should leave or be replaced it's me. But… I don't… I don't think I wanna leave. I don't think any of us want to. I know that we're probably n-not friends… but… I…"

She finally released her grip on Logan. "I d-don't want to be alone again."

Logan glanced at the shoulder that carried Maria's hand just a moment ago. That shoulder was sore now, aching even. He clutched onto it with his off hand. "You're right." He said, clearing the lump from his throat. "We're not friends." With that, he continued forward, refusing to glance back for a second. OZ turned and watched her friends as she was carried away on Logan's shoulder.

​

 

[Stinging Bea]

Maria Cosgrove

Current Party:

/

/

/

/

/

Team Cola Mix-up

Eterna City

Maria sat alone on a small bench just outside of the Pokémon Center. A wave of emotions rushed through the blonde, but she wasn't really quite sure how to describe how she actually felt. Angry…? Sad…? Disappointed…? Scared...? They were all viable options at the moment, especially with the future of the team now up in the air. She was sure that her speech would have finally made some sense out of the situation, that it would have diffused all the tension that was floating in the air around Team Fruit Punch. In reality, all it had done was making things worse. Logan had decided to leave the team, intent on forming a new group to replace the void that was being left behind by those he was leaving. Raeliana also seemed to be interested in the prospect of finding a new team as well, as did John.

Maria had at the very least made the latter two members of the group see some sense. While she wasn't able to make them change their minds there on the spot, they had promised to at the very least think things over and then reunite later that afternoon. It was a slim ray of hope… But in retrospect, Maria still found it was better than none.

Now, the blonde found herself thinking things over as well. She knew that she had to brace herself for whatever choice John and Raeliana would make, especially in the event that they both decided to try and find a new group to join as well. Just the very thought of it made several questions pop in Maria's mind.

Was there a team that would consider taking her along with them?

Would she be forced to go back to camp if there wasn't?

Were any of the other teams going through this same thing?

It was a very stressful situation, to say the least. So, Maria found herself doing what she normally did during these trying times. The girl sat with her sketchbook out on her lap, her pencil gently moving across a page as she occasionally looked up at her subject, this time a wild Fletchling, before moving back to draw some of the finer details in the work of art. The girl had completely closed out the world around her, nothing remaining but herself and the tiny bird to accompany her thoughts…

Besides Maria and the bird, there was one more notable interested party that appreciated the quiet surroundings of Eterna Pokémon Center. Looking like a Ducklett in a school of Wishiwashi with his tattoos and 'Death Grip Skull' vest, Kurt Schneider sat amongst the a company of bird watchers; all of whom were there to appreciate the array of Pidgey, Fletchling and Starly the perched in the trees of Eterna's greens.

"So peaceful, aren't they." Kurt uttered in appreciation of the birds, much to the surprise of his much older bench neighbor. As he followed the trail of a stray Starly, his eyes fell upon the most beautiful sight of his day. He wandered over to her, wasting no time in boldly taking a keen interest in the blonde girl's hobby. "Hey, what is it you're drawing there?" He asked, masking the coarseness of his voice as well as he could.

"One of the Fletchling," Maria answered bluntly. "That one over there…? The feathers on its head are brighter than the others so…"

She paused, eyes growing wide. Maria slowly looked up from her sketchbook. Her pencil stopped moving. Her hands started shaking as her eyes fell upon Kurt.

"W-What…? W-Were you watching m-me?!" the blonde questioned. Her heart started racing as she shrank back against the bench. "Oh no… This is it, M-Maria… He m-might be a m-mugger or s-something… He's g-gonna steal my-my Pokemon! Oh, I knew I s-should've stayed in the hotel… Stupid, stupid Maria!"

"Oh! I- I wasn't trying to spook ya or anythin'. I thought Logan would've told you ab-" He rambled, his voice breaking out in its full gravelliness until he was able to collect himself. "You uh...just seemed so into it. Plus you were forcin' the pen on the page pretty hard...I just thought-fuck." He grumbled to himself as his frustration at his own paralysis bubbled up. His fist clenched by his side. His arm was shaking. "I'm-I'm gonna go. Sorry." He murmured through gritted teeth.

He stomped a few feet away from the pretty blonde, berating himself internally with all sorts of less than tasteful curse words. All of a sudden, he came to a stop. His knuckles were whitening with tension as he approached Maria again.

"I noticed you're not here with your team, and I know you're on Logan's team. So I don't think it's too crazy to think you're gonna wanna change."

Maria blinked slowly. "M-My team… change?" A thought then sparked in her mind. "Y-You know L-Logan… That means… That means you're from C-Camp Floroama too…?"

"Yeah...he didn't tell you anything, huh? Good for nothin' punk." Kurt grumbled, grating his teeth. "If you're lookin', you could join the new Team Cola."

"The n-new Team Cola?" Maria questioned.

It looked like other teams were having the same kind of problems. Did that mean that he was abandoned by his team? Maria didn't want to dwell on it for too long. The girl closed her sketchbook and returned her focus back to Kurt.

"...I… I m-mean… W-We haven't d-disbanded yet…" Maria began to stammer out. "But… I g-guess it's something I c-could no-look into…?"

"You're actually on board?!" Kurt exclaimed, surprise evident in his voice.

Maria wasn't actually sure if he had actually acknowledged whether or not she said she was mostly just curious about checking out a new group, but the blonde quickly decided not to press that matter for the moment. The girl took her sketchbook and pencil and packed them up into her bag before slowly sliding off the bench.

"Um… S-So, where's the rest of this n-new Team Cola…?" Maria questioned.

"I'll show you." Kurt beamed in excitement.

"O-Okay…" Maria stammered out. "L-Lead on, then…"

With Maria's hand locked into his, Kurt marched through Eterna until the duo arrived at the door to the Spelunker's guild. Outside a young boy, face donned with glasses and back burdened by an overstuffed backpack. Partnering him, a youthful faced, but pretty girl.

"Amy, Shane, this is Maria. She's who I'm choosing to replace Herman." Kurt announced with an air of authority about him.

"That was fast." Amy announced rather absentmindedly. "You must've had her lined up for a while. Hi I'm Amy!" The girl walked up to Maria and clasped the blonde's hands inside her own. "You're gonna do awesome on Team Cola."

Maria's face was already beet red from being dragged about Eterna by Kurt. She barely had a chance to recover before Amy had grabbed her hands and smiled warmly at her. The blonde really didn't know how to respond to the abundance of energy that was being shown to her. She offered a small, very nervous smile to the girl however. The last thing Maria wanted to do was upset her should this really end up becoming her new path in this journey.

"It's um… v-very n-nice to meet y-you," the taller girl responded, trying to gently pry her hands free of Amy's grasp without making it seem too obvious. "Ah… Are y-you from another t-team too…?"

"Another team? No, this is team Cola. Well...most of it."

"We're dropping Hermann. That's the short of it." Kurt could barely whisper. "We think you'd be a great inclusion."

"Kurt thinks you'd be a great inclusion." Shane muttered under his breath, to the response of a sharp scowl from Kurt.

Maria glanced down at the boy and then back over at Kurt. "H-Hermann…? Is s-something wrong?"

She quickly picked up that something didn't seem to be sitting with all of Team Cola. Not that it was a particularly difficult deduction. Shane seemed to be rather upset over Kurt's idea. The last thing she wanted was to start off a journey with someone holding a grudge against her. What if they came to outright hate her? What if they wanted to take any opportunity to hurt or embarrass her?!

"I d-don't mean to… If this is a b-bad time or something, then… M-Maybe you should j-just go get your other t-teammate back," Maria quickly suggested. "Y-Yeah, so um… I'll j-just go back and um… I appreciate the offer b-but…"

"No, wait! Shane's just being a kid." Kurt's desperation was evident to all present. Even the fourteen year old, who watched with pouted lips could see how much Kurt wanted this to be a permanent change.

"So what happened with your team why you're even considering this?" Amy enquired.

"She's got Logan on her team."

"What's wrong with Logan?"

Kurt just rolled his eyes at that. It was as if Amy could only see the good in just about anyone.

"She's got that Melody girl too. You know how much of a piece of w-" Kurt stopped realising he wasn't entirely clued up on Maria's relationship with the individuals he was slandering. "Look, Maria, we've got a great team. This journey will be a lot better for you if you join us."

"I don't wanna leave Herman. He doesn't even know. Sure he's a scared-Espurr, but...he's fun." Shane explained, tapping his fingers together.

"I like Herman too, but he's not cut out for this. If he's gonna run away at every sign of danger, how's he gonna cope?" Kurt explained, putting a hand on Shane's shoulder.

Maria flinched slightly at Kurt's reasoning. She knew he wasn't exactly wrong. Logan could really push a few buttons pretty easily and Melody… could be quite scary to deal with herself, but it still didn't really sit all that well with her. There was also the matter of the person she would be replacing.

From what it sounded like, this Herman had a lot in common with herself. The girl knew that she wasn't exactly the most dependable member of Team Fruit Punch, at least not with what they had dealt with so far. Maybe that was part of the reason the team was falling apart now… What if she did replace Herman here? What if similar things happened here? Would this new group want her to leave? Would Kurt think Maria was just a waste of space as well…?

"He… k-keeps running away…? Is it that b-bad…?" Maria inquired, her eyes slowly drifting to the ground as she spoke.

"It's holding us back, that's for sure." Amy huffed as she planted a hand on her hip. "We wanna be the first team to finish and with teams like Ginger Beer, Sarsaparilla and Strawberry Milk we've got our work cut out for us carrying Herman. At this rate we might not even finish." Amy ranted on. Kurt's pained expression told of his disagreement.

"We don't hate the kid. I just don't think he can handle it. The world out there is real, and people like him...they get swallowed up." Kurt finished with a sigh.

"He… He d-doesn't really s-sound to sold on this…" Maria thought.

The girl wondered if this was something that the group merely came up with spur of the moment. She really wouldn't be wrong. After all, Team Fruit Punch came up with the potential idea of splitting not even a full five minutes after the announcement from Doctor Hickory. Of course, Maria really wasn't sure of the whole dynamic between Team Cola, but she figured that if she was potentially taking someone's spot that she should at least inquire.

The blonde took a deep breath, slowly looking back up towards her potential future teammates. "Have… H-Have any of y-you actually talked to H-Herman about this? M-Maybe this is something that y-you all c-could work through…?" She paused, realizing how she had worded it made it sound like she was coming off as slightly ungrateful for their invitation, which instantly caused the blonde to backpedal a bit. "I m-mean, d-don't get me wrong! I'm r-really grateful for this chance, d-don't be mad! B-But… w-well… You all d-don't seem to be t-too sure on the whole thing… I d-don't want there to be any resentments…"

"We did tell him. He ran away." Shane barely whispered.

"He could be anywhere now." Amy announced, her tone extremely melodramatic.

"Y-You… I mean… W-We should go l-look for him," Maria replied.

The girl closed her eyes, thinking back to the incident in the forest. In particular, she remembered back to the point when she ran away from Melody and the others, as well as her time in that old abandoned house. She knew that during that time, the last thing she found herself wanting was to be alone… and if Hermann was as similar as he sounded, something told the blonde he was probably the same.

Next Objective: Find Hermann!

​

 

[Sapphire Rose]

Melody/Raeliana Farell
Raeliana // Floaroma Pokémon Center

---

Dear Rael,

Logan was at it again today. That boy is so thick headed! Seriously...

The hunters we met earlier promised Logan that they'd help him find OZ if he helped them find their target. It appeared to be the Eevee that is now in our possession. I can imagine your surprised face upon reading this. Yes, we caught the Eevee. I went ahead and named her Lily. She's delicate like a Lily so I thought it suited the young lady well.

Anyhow, Logan is not too happy with us catching that fox Pokémon. There was a fight and we all went our separate ways. Maria was suddenly gone, that girl... She's too much of a scaredy skitty. She's so tense around me, I hardly know what to do with her. John also suddenly left. He seems to be the most sane one of the three but this is the second time he just leaves us hanging!

I'm straying from the subject. Logan came up to me later and I decided to help him because he seemed to be in trouble. He thought it smart to betray that kindness by stealing Lily out of our bag! The nerve! I didn't even notice until it was too late and he knew damn well that trading one life for another is not how you solve things! I had to call our counsellor to solve the situation and he went ahead and called the cops. He wasn't too happy with the group split up too.

The situation was solved eventually and we got Lily back safe and well. Logan better not come near me for a while. There is no way I'll forgive him for this!

We are currently residing in the hotel in Eterna. There is a meeting tomorrow in the town square, be there on time. I packed our clothing for the day on our desk.

Melody.

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

Raeliana reread the piece in her diary that Melody left behind the day before. This was Melody's side of the story but she had no way of knowing what happened until she asked Logan about it too... but knowing Logan, his story would be completely different as well. She would have to chose which of the two was right even though there was a high probability that both were lying. "This would've been so much easier of John or Maria were there too..." Raeliana spoke quietly and sighed at the same time. There was this inner conflict she was having with herself.

She put the diary back into her backpack and stood up from the bench she was sitting on. Her other teammates had only just departed to have some time on their own to think but the brunette felt as though she already knew their answers. Logan was definitely going to get rid of her or find a whole new team all together after the incident in the forest. He despised her, that much was clear. Maria on the other hand was terrified of her counterpart and would probably prefer to have her switched out for someone... less present than Melody. The short girl couldn't even blame her because Melody did sound like she had been quite a handful to deal with and she herself hadn't exactly been around a lot to comfort her taller friend. It made her realise what a bad friend she had been this entire journey.

John... John was a whole different story. The two of them hadn't been in contact a lot and Melody didn't write about him often. Was this a sign he preferred to stay away from her as well? In that case he would probably go with what everyone else would choose.

Raeliana held her hands clasped together against her chest. She was determined now to tell her soon-to-be ex teammates that she would be leaving the group. That way they wouldn't have to go through the trouble to tell her themselves... She knew it would probably hurt Maria too to have to boot her friend out of the group. The decision itself made her feel anxious though and sad too... She turned around to see both Terra and Lily sleeping on the bench, cuddled up together like two balls of fluff. They were right beside her the whole time and the thought of that made her feel a little better at least. Especially Terra who hadn't left her side this whole journey. For a moment she felt... blessed? She did hope he would refrain a bit from trying to get her affection and making her touch him. She still wasn't comfortable with that.

"Terra, Lily. Let's go." She called out to her Pokémon, who immediately had perked up ears and glanced up at her expectantly. The thin girl gave them a small smile which both the puppy and the fox Pokémon saw as their queue to jump of the bench and take their places beside Raeliana. Each a side, something they had started doing since this morning. "Wraff!" Sounded the little but cute bark of the tiny Rockruff with his tail wagging. Lily was quiet and still a bit timid but it was adorable in her own way. She probably had to get used to her new life as a partner Pokémon. One she was... half-forced into because it was either that or dying.

"Let's go... find the others..." Raeliana said a bit hesitant and started making her way back towards the hotel. Along the way she started overthinking again. What if they had already found a new member to replace her with? Was Dr. Hickory going to send her back to camp if she was ditched? All these thoughts flooded in her mind. She was in fact so distracted that...

BAF!!

Raeliana felt herself crashing into someone and dropped to the ground, flinching from that short moment of physical contact. She felt a strong presence in the back of her mind trying to force her way out. That was probably Melody trying to take over to protect Raeliana... but not today. Raeliana must tell the others of her decision herself without Melody making it worse. "T-That hurt..." Raeliana spoke quietly. Terra immediately growling at the person she crashed into and Lily trying to make sure her trainer was alright.

"Ouch... Look out where you ru-!" Raeliana heard a young man's voice yelling, although it seemed as though he had paused whilst speaking. The younger girl looked up. In front of her was a young man, roughly 2 years older than herself with due coloured pompadour haircut with blue on top and black on the bottom. If it wasn't for his somewhat handsome face and rather good-looking physical build she almost would've mistaken him for Logan... Except that Logan wore a red sweater with black sleeves and this guy was wearing a white t-shirt with a black jacket. Their jeans were totally different as well... This guy wore light brown jeans.

"I-I'm sorry! I was totally lost in thought and a-and-!" the brunette started apologising like crazy and averted her eyes away from the boy. She could feel her face getting red, this was a situation she would've rather not dealt with. "Uhh..." was the only sound she heard from the other party. The boy reached down towards her with a hand held out, probably meant to help her back up on her feet. He rubbed the back of his head with the other hand. "Watch where you're going next time, you could've gotten into a serious accident wandering about like that." The boy spoke but he as well averted his eyes away from her, his cheeks had a rosy colour.

Terra was still growling at the boy and wouldn't back down as Raeliana stared at his hand. She was debating with herself whether she should take the hand or not. She reached out her hand hesitantly but she couldn't stop the shaking. The boy, who thought it took rather long, glanced back at the girl on the ground. "I won't... bite you. Look, I'm sorry." he said with a sigh. Terra instantly seemed to settle down with those words and walked up behind his trainer. Raeliana felt a light push in her back, it was Terra telling her to get up. Lily looked rather worried on the other hand. "Let's get you back on your feet." before the shorter girl knew it, the boy grabbed her still shaking hand and pulled her back up.

Raeliana had a hard time finding the right words to speak so it stayed quiet for a bit. "I gotta go." The boy looked a bit annoyed by the brunette's lack of words. All she could do was stand frozen there and stare at him with her blue lookers. Throwing him a bit off-guard. He turned towards the small Rockruff beside the girl's feet. "Take care of your trainer, bud. She's a bit absent-minded." with those words, he left. Only waving with one hand and not looking back while Raeliana followed him with her eyes. She was trying her utmost best to keep Melody contained. Terra barked at him and of course couldn't speak but it seemed like a "thank you" from the small Pokémon. Lily joined him with a small screech. It was only then that they noticed a tiny Oshawott taking a peek from out of his backpack.

 

[WizardOfOdd]

Jonathan Mist
Location : Eterna City
Partner Pokemon :

​

​

Despair​

It was a sunny day at Eterna City. Everyone looking cheerful as they went on with their lives, most of them chatting happily about different kinds of things even the mundane ones. Everyone, except one gloomy-looking young man sitting in an empty bench of a nearby park with two of his Pokemon accompanying him.

"Can't believe I had to visit the apothecary again after all this time, I thought I was doing very well..." John sighed.

Shelly and Grace both tried their best to comfort their trainer, but the man was absentmindedly staring at the sky, oblivious of their efforts.

"I guess I should just quit from this entire journey… Maybe it was my fate to be good for nothing forever. I can't even help my so-called friends with anything… Heck, all I say just makes things worse. I'm pretty sure Maria thinks I'm a freak and who knows what Mel and Logan are thinking about me, pretty sure it's not something pleasant." John mumbled alone to the horrors of both Grace and Shelly.

"Maybe on that day… It would've been better for me to pull the trigger hahaha" John started to laugh uncontrollably with a sad expression, the burden of his anguish has started to take a toll as he started to lose control on his own sanity.

Not willing to stand and not do anything, both Pokemon decided to do what they have in mind. If John really thought that he's powerless, they agreed that the only way to show him the errors of his judgment is to show their power and make him realize that he's not. Both Pokemon took a battling position without John realizing what was going on.

Shelly used Acid Spray while Grace used Struggle Bug, both attacks managed to be evaded by each other but seeing their trainer who was still staring at the sky, they continued their battle.

Shelly sprayed out black gas to cover her position with Smoke Screen while Grace created a powerful gust of pink-colored wind by flapping her wings used to blow away the black smoke.

Little they know, their trainer was snapped out from his thoughts when he realized that the blue skies he was seeing suddenly turned black due to it being obscured by the black smoke. "What is happening!? Sherry! Grace! Answer me!" The man called to his Pokemon as his sight was obscured by the black smoke.

The smoke slowly dissipated to completely reveal what was happening. Much to John's horror, Grace and Shelly both fought each other in what appeared to be a heated battle. Not wanting it to end like what happened to his team's quarrel in the morning he decided to intervene in the heat of the moment, using his body as a meatshield to stop the two from battling. "Stop it you two! Why the hell you both fighting against each other!? Don't tell me what happened earlier this morning was because…"

John was late to the meeting due to Grace and Shelly went missing after he gave him a little time to go outside. He was shocked when he saw both of his Pokemon returned after quite a while full of battle wounds, but to his surprise, both Pokemon didn't look distressed at all after all the damage they took. With little time he had left, he practically rushed to the Pokemon Center before finally turning up late.

John finally managed to put the pieces together, the incident this morning must've happened because they fought against each other. His thoughts turned even more distressed than before, as the thought sank in that he was not only a bad friend but that he's also a useless trainer. His fake smile almost shattered completely as his eyes turned moist as he held back his tears.

Both Grace and Shelly panicked seeing this and quickly nuzzled themselves on John to stop his tears from pouring out. Both of them tried their best to explain the situation which thankfully managed to catch their trainer's attention.

"But why? Why are you two fighting? It's not because of you two hate each other, right?" Both of them shook their heads. "Could it be? It's because of me isn't it?" This time they nodded slowly.

John tried to find the reason why they are trying their hardest to fight each other. The fact that they were fighting for him was unreasonable, what benefit could they give him by battling. Except…

"No way… You both were trying to show that I'm not that useless are you?" Both of them nodded once more, this time they didn't hesitate to nod at all. They gazed towards their trainer with pleading eyes, they didn't want their trainer to make a rash decision that would endanger himself.

Feeling their intention, John tightly hugged Grace and Shelly. "I'm very grateful for that you both tried your best, but--"

"Hey, you! Why are you vandalizing the park!" John's heartfelt speech was cut off by the sound of a furious girl behind him.

"Oh, no…"
​

 

[Shak]

-Logan

Riding With Loose Links​

​

A stray pebble bobbled across Eterna's cobble and away from the rabble of people that filled the streets. With the city blanketed in sunshine, a single instance of gloom wandered through the shade. The pebble seemed to suck back into that black hole of dread, as it ping ponged off the feet of unsuspecting passers-by. That black hole was Logan.

Logan had embraced that now. Since he was a child, if he found anything he liked, he tended to break it. As a result, the boy had five foster families growing up. It was no surprise that a stupid 'team' couldn't handle his determination to protect the only one that hadn't stabbed him in the back. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at the little emotion pokemon. The expression she returned was uncomfortable, but Logan could barely tell the difference between her frown and her smile at the best of times. Maybe it was all his fault, but he doubted it.

The blue haired boy's tirade of self-pity brought him to the southernmost section of Eterna city. It was a venture that forced an uncanny moment of self-reflection. A head of blue hair, with shaved brown sides. A red vest with a black zip up tracksuit underneath. The only thing that wasn't identical was the backpack and shoes. If the former Team Fruit Punch member hadn't doubled back, he'd have been convinced he'd just looked in the mirror. The doppelganger was much smaller than he was, and once he got a look at the kid's face, Logan knew exactly what was going on. This was Anthony Hart. Unfortunately for him, the kid noticed Logan just as quickly.

"Logan!" Anthony screamed, as he ran across the city to reconvene with the teenager he'd modelled his whole look after.

"Hey kiddo, how's it goin? Long time no see, huh?" Though he really wasn't in the mood, something about seeing young Tony Hart, lit a fire in Logan's spirit again. "How come you're not with your team?"

"Oh! Oh man, that reminds me, Denny is gonna kill me if I don't get this gym badge. I was kinda hoping you could help me."

"Alright slow down, why's Denny gonna kill you? From what I hear she's already got a gym badge." Logan tapped his chin pensively, trying to put the pieces together himself in order to impress his young protégé. "Perhaps she needs two for some reason?"

"No, no, nothing like that. See, the guy at the bike store is sellin these awesome bicycles, but Denny isn't willing to splash the budget on one. You can get 'em for free if you got a gym badge, but Denny won't let me use hers." Anthony pouted.

"Damn…she's mean." Logan shook his head disapprovingly.

"Yeah." Anthony agreed. "She said she'd help me get the gym badge though, so I'm just pickin up some supplies to train my big fish, Stoopid."

"Wait…what did you just call me?"

"No, that's his name! He just looks so darn stupid and I couldn't think of anything better." As he announced that, Anthony tossed the poor Magikarp out from it's pokeball and presented it to Logan as it flopped helplessly on the cobblestone.

"…and I laughed at John's nickname." The taller of the boys muttered under his breath.

A much taller, dirty blonde man came stumbling in as the boys were about to end their little meeting. Logan recognised him too. Joseph Whittaker. Easily one of the teen's favourite people at camp.

"He-hey! If it ain't Low to the Logang. How's it hangin big blue?" Joseph stuck out his hand for a big hi-five.

"How's it goin Jojo?" Logan beamed as he welcomed the hi-five with a big palm of his own.

"Sorry to cut the meetup short, but me and little blue here have really gotta get movin. If he's gonna be the first to get that last snazzy bicycle for free, we gotta get a move on." Logan's eyes widened as Joseph mentioned that the bike was the last.

"Awww…I was gonna ask Logan to join our team!" Anthony whined, but put up little resistance as Joseph whisked him away. "I'd rather him help us than Denny!"

"Denny and Penny ain't that bad! Hey Logan! See you later Feraligatr!" Joseph called back before the two disappeared into the thick of the city.

Logan thought back to those foster families again. If he had one fond memory from those times, it was when he learned to ride a bike. That was during his short stint in Twinleaf Town. The rush of zooming down the hill from Sandgem. The wind rushing through his hair. He had to get that bike.

If the events of Floaroma had taught him anything it was that Mel wasn't about to loosen her grip on the--

His train of thought crashed head on. They weren't a team anymore. There was no more 'ask Mel for this' or 'make sure to let Maria know we're doing that'. He was relishing in his new freedom. He'd grown so much from that experience.

Beating a gym leader couldn't be that hard. He'd get the free one instead.

Spoiler:

- Empty -​

Eterna City​

 

[Shak]

-Logan
Maria Cosgrove

Rock, Paper, Scissors​

​

While Amy and Shane had been sent to scour the Northern sector or Eterna, Kurt had opportunistically taken the the search of the Southern sector with Maria and they found themselves in Eterna gym. There they found the peculiar sight of Logan on the gym's elevated podium, facing off against Gardenia under a sky of harsh sunlight.

"OZ return!" Logan's Ralts dematerialised and returned to her pokeball despite her protests. The pokemon wasn't fainted or even harmed, but Logan didn't hesitate to toss his Combee into the fray. "Alright Nectar, go sting her!"

Gardenia visibly cringed at that command. She didn't have the heart to address the fact the boy hadn't called for a single proper attack since he walked into her gym. She had to end this quickly.

"Cherrim, weather ball!" With that one attack, Logan's Combee was defeated.

"Nooo! How the heck am I gonna get that bike now?" Logan whined.

"You do still have your Ralts." Gardenia suggested, though a hint of doubt crept into her voice. With that, she noticed the spectators in the corner of her eye. "Oh, are you two here to challenge the gym too? It has been busy here today."

Logan jolted at the suggestion someone else was in the room. He looked down at the two faces he recognised all too well. Oh crap. It took the sight of Kurt and Maria together to remind the blue haired boy he was supposed to play cupid and pass on the message of Kurt's affection to the blonde. He could only hope the team redrafting had afforded the big guy the space he needed to confess, without feeling the need to take his frustrations out of Logan.

"Kurt...Maria? You guys are here together huh?" He felt a strange twang in his stomach as he said that. "So I guess your team is getting that gym badge, huh?" He asked, the bitterness evident in his tone.

"Well…" Kurt began, stumbling on his words as he turned to Maria for confirmation.

Maria jumped, a feeling of panic rushing through her as every eye in the room was suddenly on her.

"W-What? Me, take on the g-gym?" Maria questioned. The blonde quickly shook her head. Dread was evident in her voice as she denied Logan's voice. "No, no… I c-couldn't… I r-really wouldn't be any good at it… Y-Yeah, w-we're just looking for someone, that's all!"

Kurt quickly picked up on Maria's suggestion that she wasnt able to beat the gym leader in battle. He opened his mouth to object, but before he could, Logan had already dismissed the girl's claim.

"Oh please, you got a super strong Chimchar. He could probably do it on his own. Plus you know way more about Pokemon than I ever could." Logan turned his head away from the situation as he explained why his former teammate was a candidate for Gardenia's next winning opponent.

The gym leader herself, while insulted by how easily her say in the matter had been dismissed, couldn't help but swoon at the sincerity of the boy's compliments.

"Only thing I know for certain is that Rock beats Steel, Steel beats Grass and Grass beats Rock. Everyone knows that much though…" The boy sighed in defeat.

Maria cast her eyes downward into her bag, her eyes coming to rest upon the Chimchar's poké ball. It was true that she technically had the advantage when it came to types… That said, her experience in battling wasn't all that vast. All she had done at this point was barely battle Logan's Combee, the small skirmish between Jango and Lucy when she caught said Ducklett, and that battle against the wild Banette back in that haunted house. She bit her bottom lip in apprehension.

"I m-mean… I g-guess I could give it a try…?" Maria stammered, glancing up towards Kirk for a brief moment as if asking his opinion on the matter. "B-But… what if I l-lose? What if I m-make a huge embarrassment out of m-myself and everyone thinks I'm a l-laughing stock?"

"More of a laughing stock than Logan? I doubt it." Kurt sneered, putting a hand on Maria's arm.

"You'll do great Maria." Gardenia smiled. "And Logan, after our battle, I'll explain what was wrong with that type triangle." As she spoke, she positioned herself for the next contender.

Logan stepped down and found himself brushing past Maria and Kurt.

"Well...good luck, I guess."

"W-Wait!" the blonde called out, taking a step forward to try and catch Logan. "M-Maybe… Maybe y-you… could stay and w-watch… If you w-want…"

"S-sure."

Eterna City​

 

[Stinging Bea]

Maria Cosgrove

Current Party:

/

/

/

/

/

Maria's Big Debut

Featuring Logan and Kurt Schneider| Eterna City Gym

Maria nervously made her way over to the challenger's side of the battlefield. Her heart was racing with every step she took. Her mind was buzzing with a multitude of questions. What was she even doing right now? What in the world possessed her to think she was even going to be capable of this? Did she even have a strategy to be able to deal with whatever Gardenia would throw at her.

Amber eyes slowly drifted towards Logan. The blue-haired boy's eyes were cast down to the ground. Clearly, he was taking the loss to the grass specialist very hard. The sight was enough to cause Maria to start doubting herself even more. Out of all of Team Fruit Punch, the blonde always figured that if any of them were a natural born gym challenger? It would be Logan. If he couldn't win, what chance did she have?

"Maria, right?" Gardenia called out, causing the blonde to snap back to reality. A comforting smile graced the gym leader's lips. "Don't stress it so much. As long as you give it everything you have, everything will be fine!"

Maria gave a weak nod in response. The taller girl could tell that Gardenia was trying to help her relax, but the blonde couldn't quite shake off her anxiety over the situation.

"Might as well get this over with…" Maria inwardly mused.

The blonde reached into her bag and pulled out Jango's pokeball. She could feel the ball shaking in her hand. As to whether or not that shaking was a result of her own hand trembling or the Chimchar inside quivering in anticipation, Maria wasn't sure. Regardless, the teenager tossed the ball out towards the lush, meadow-like field.

"J-Jango, I choose y-you!" Maria called out.

The Chimchar in question took to the field. A look of excitement radiating from his face as he looked around, before his eyes locked onto Gardenia's. The Chimchar gave the gym leader a cheeky grin, flexing his arm and puffing out his chest in an attempt to assert his dominance.

"No-No, d-don't be rude!" Maria snapped. The blonde frantically gazed over towards Gardenia. "I'm sorry! P-Please don't b-be mad!"

Gardenia merely chuckled in response. "Don't worry about it. Your Chimchar has a strong spirit."

Kurt glanced over at the door, where Logan had chosen to watch the match from. This was his first time seeing Maria in action, but Logan knew the girl well enough. Her stepping up like this made him curious as to what it was that caused their team to split so spontaneously.

"Alright then, let's get this started! Deerling, you're on!" Gardenia called out.

The gym leader tossed out her poke ball, sending out a bright pink, deer-like creature. Maria stared in awe at the Pokemon, quickly taking in what appeared to be its gentle demeanor and the dainty, yet beautiful yellow crown of flowers that adorned its head. Jango on the other hand, seemed to be anything but impressed. The chimp began to hop around anxiously, screeching at the Deerling in an attempt to impress her.

"Alright Deerling, start out with a Jump Kick!" Gardenia called out.

"J-Jango, use Ember!" Maria countered.

Logan perked up as he heard Maria give her pokemon a command. The farce of a battle they had at Floaroma gate was the only time he'd seen the girl participate in anything but practice battles at camp.

The Deerling dashed forward, leaping into the air with her back hooves first in an attempt to slam them into the small monkey Pokémon's head. Jango quickly rolled out of the way, causing Gardenia's Pokémon to nearly miss her attack. Jango spun around, spitting a small ball of fire in the direction of the deer. The flame splashed against the grass type, causing a pain-filled wail to escape her mouth.

"J-Jango, n-now use Scratch!" Maria ordered.

"Deerling, Tackle!" Gardenia countered.

The Chimchar dashed forward, claws ready as it hopped up into the air to attack the Deerling. A look of determination graced the Deerling's features as she too charged forward. The larger size of the grass Pokémon gave her the advantage in the collision of the duo, however. Her head slammed right into Jango's belly, causing the chimp to fall back to the ground.

"Leech Seed, Deerling!" Gardenia commanded.

Jango slowly picked himself off the ground just in time to see a barrage of seeds shoot forth from Gardenia's Deerling. The seeds shot forward, landing softly into the Chimchar's fur. Jango gave a confused glance towards the Deerling, before suddenly dashing forward with an excited squeal echoing out into the gym.

"N-No, wait J-Jango! U-Use Ember again, d-don't attack with Scratch!" Maria called out.

The Chimchar didn't listen as he charged ahead, however. He jumped onto the deer Pokémon and scratched at her head, causing the Deerling to buck and hop about in an attempt to shake the fire monkey off of her body. Jango grinned as he hopped off the Deerling himself, landing a short distance away from the grass Pokémon. He quickly stuck his tongue out at Gardenia's Pokémon, going as far as to spin around and taunt the deer by slapping his own rump.

Kurt looked back at Logan as the Chimchar's taunting took place.

"Hey, does he always do this?" Kurt cried, seeming far more panicked than the situation called for. Logan just looked at him and shrugged. Dismissing the useless so-called former teammate of Maria, Kurt looked back up at the battle with pleading eyes, his knuckles whitening. "C'mon Maria! You got this!" He yelled.

Maria could feel her face heating up from embarrassment. The tall blonde opened her mouth to oppose the Chimchar's Taunt, when she noticed the seeds that had been launched into his fur suddenly sprouted open! Vines sprung forth and wrapped themselves around the Chimchar, glowing faintly before Gardenia's Deerling too began to glow. Maria's eyes widened as she noticed that some of the Deerling's wounds from Jango's attacks seemed to heal slightly.

"Deerling, Tackle again!" Gardenia ordered.

"Jango, try t-to jump over it!" Maria called out.

The Deerling came charging towards the Chimchar once more. Jango's eyes narrowed,the small chimp keeping his focus on the charging deer Pokémon. Maria's eyes widened in horror however as instead of preparing himself to jump, the Chimchar suddenly began to charge forward himself. A wheel of flames soon surrounded him, before he then slammed into the Deerling. The two Pokémon collided, but the fiery power of Jango's attack was enough to push Gardenia's Pokémon back. The Deerling was launched backwards, before landing in a crumpled heap back in the direction of her trainer.

"Yeaaah!" Kurt yelled, his bellowing near shaking the building. "How are you likin' the newest member of Team Cola, Logan?" He taunted.

Logan's folded arms fell to his side at the sight. He knew Maria was good with pokemon, but this good? Her Chimchar had brushed Gardenia's first pokemon away with relative ease.

"My pokemon weren't feelin' so good." Logan grumbled. In truth though, he was awed by Maria's performance already. Biting his tongue was the easy part, seeing her leave his team would be much harder.

Maria felt her heart begin to race. She couldn't believe that she had managed to take down a gym leader's Pokemon like that. She glanced away from her celebrating Chimchar to Gardenia, only to see the leader looking calm and collected as ever.

"Your Chimchar did very well, although he is a bit of an… independent fighter," Gardenia mused. "Well, let's see how he fares with my next Pokemon. Parasect, go!"

Maria watched as Gardenia called back her Deerling and tossed out another poke ball. The ball snapped open to reveal a large, bird-like creature with a massive mushroom growing on its back. Maria stared at the creature cautiously, a shiver running down the blonde's back as she looked into its blank, vacant expression.

"J-Jango, start off w-with a Flame Wheel!" Maria ordered.

Jango began to charge forward. Just like before, flames began to circle his body as he ran towards the Parasect. The bug Pokemon seemed to remain perfectly calm, however. Maria found herself wondering if the Parasect was even awake.

"Parasect, Protect!" Gardenia called out.

The Parasect gurgled in response, the creature digging his feet into the grass in the process. Without a moment's hesitation, Jango slammed body into the Parasect with as much force as he could muster, but the attack… seemingly did nothing. Before Maria could even question what had happened, the vines wrapped around Jango began to glow, siphoning energy from the Chimchar and into the Parasect. Jango winced in pain, but Gardenia took advantage of the opening.

"Now, use Stun Spore!" Gardenia called out.

The Parasect lurched its body forward, the spots on the creature's mushroom glowing as a golden, pollen-like powder showered over Maria's Chimchar. Jango growled in anger, trying to reach out and scratch at the Parasect. However, Jango's body suddenly felt quite stiff… As if he was having difficulty moving.

"Parasect, now Slash!" Gardenia called.

The Parasect charged at Jango, its massive swinging down into the Chimchar's head. Jango was sent flailing back… the vines wrapped around his body glowing yet again.

Jango let out a pain-filled moan as he struggled to pull himself up to his feet. His legs were shaking from the constant pain all the while. Maria bit her lip in apprehension, slowly bringing out the Chimchar's poke ball. A defeated sigh escaped her lips as she recalled the weakened Pokemon.

Next Objective: Win The Gym Battle!

​

 

[Shak]

-Logan
Maria Cosgrove

Maria's Big Debut pt.2​

​

"Hey, why are you even stickin' around?"

"Hmm?"

"You coulda left already if you really wanted to, so what's the deal?" Kurt's enquiry dragged Logan's attention away from the battle.

"Maria asked me to stick around." Logan answered, dismissing the irritating question almost immediately. He shook his head and looked back up at the battlefield as the girl in question wrestled the Chimchar's pokeball back into her bag.

"Bull****! If you really wanted to leave, Maria asking wouldn't have stopped you. You ain't exactly got a reputation for stickin' by your friends. I know about Jublife y'know?" Again, Kurt's words were cutting but Logan remained unmoved. "She needs you now more than ever, and for once, you've actually decided to stick around."

"I never said anything about friends." Logan sighed and turned to walk out the door.

"Lucy, y-you're up!" Maria cried out.

Both boys' heads shot round as they heard the girl call out her second pokemon for battle. Kurt looked at Logan, but without having ask he could tell the girl's former teammate was just as shocked as he was. With the surprise addition, both boys walked closer to the arena. They needed to see where this was going.

The ball snapped open and a beam shot out, taking the shape of Maria's blue, duck Pokemon. The winged creature looked around, her eyes widening at the sight of the large, mushroom-sporting bug, before she frantically cried out in fear and ran back towards her trainer.

"L-Lucy…" Maria whispered, kneeling down to the Duckett. She began to gently pet the duck's head as she spoke. "It's okay… Y-You don't need to b-be scared…"

The Ducklett sniffled, wiping her eye with her wing as she looked up towards her trainer. Despite her unease over this whole situation, Maria did her best to offer Lucy a reassuring smile. To the more aware occupants of the gym, it would definitely look a bit forced. That said, it did seem to do the trick. Lucy turned and waddled back towards the battlefield, nervously taking her place against Gardenia's Parasect.

"L-Lucy, start off with W-Water Gun!" Maria called out.

"Parasect, Protect!" Gardenia countered.

The Ducklett shot forth a blast of cold water. The Parasect once more dug its feet into the ground, its body stiffening as the water sprayed up against its body to no real effect. The bug Pokémon shrugged off the attack as if it was nothing, before Gardenia ordered the Parasect to attack with a Slash attack. Parasect gurgled in response, charging forward towards Lucy without a moment's hesitation.

"Quick, use W-Wing Attack!" Maria shouted.

The Ducklett took to the air and flew towards the charging Parasect. The bug's claw-like arm raised up as Lucy closed the gap between them, taking a wild swing at the blue-feathered Pokémon. At that exact moment however, Lucy's smaller wing slammed into the Parasect's claw. The two Pokémon struggled momentarily, before they both managed to push past each other. Gardenia's Parasect landed a fierce blow against Lucy's underbelly, meanwhile Lucy's wing managed to slam right up against the Parasect's mushroom.

The two Pokémon quickly moved away from each other, albeit Lucy a bit slower. The Ducklett landed a little bit away from Maria, a weak-sounding quack escaping her bill. A look of concern quickly took over the blonde trainer's face.

"L-Lucy, are y-you okay…?" Maria questioned. The expression on her Ducklett's face said all that needed to be said in response. Lucy suddenly looked as if she was going to be violently ill. She looked very dizzy as well, her legs wobbling to keep her upright. "P-Poisoned…? But…"

Maria's eyes drifted over towards the Parasect, a sudden realization coming to her as she stared at the creature's mushroom. The spores on the mushroom must have poisoned her Ducklett somehow. Taking this thing out with physical contact was definitely going to be a no-go.

A coy smirk seemed to grace Gardenia's lips. "Parasect! Use Bullet Seed!"

The Parasect raised itself up slightly on its back legs. Opening its mouth, a barrage of seeds began to fire off in the Ducklett's direction. Lucy began to flap her wings, aiming to take up towards the sky, but the nausea forming in the pit of her stomach quickly brought her back down to the ground, wherein she found herself being pelted by the seeds three consecutive times.

"H-Hang in there, L-Lucy…" Maria encouraged. "I know y-you can do it!"

The battle's two spectator's jaw hung agasp as the battle played out.

"Bullet Seed again, Parasect!" Gardenia ordered.

"Lucy, G-Gust!"

The Ducklett began to flap her wings as quickly as she could, kicking up a strong burst of wind in the direction of the bug Pokémon. The seeds began to blow back in the Parasect's direction, causing the bug wince in pain as they suddenly flew back and pelted it in the face.

"Quick, Water Pulse!" Maria ordered.

Before the Parasect had a moment to react, a pulsing blast of water shot out from the Duckett's bill once more. The water splashed up against the gym leader's Pokémon and while not having the time to defend itself from the attack, it didn't seem to take that much damage from the drenching attack. What did happen however, was a dizzy look quickly taking hold on the Parasect's normally vacant expression. Lucy quacked happily at the result, but was quickly silenced as another wave of nausea and pain ran through her feathered body.

"Parasect! Finish it off with Slash!" Gardenia ordered.

"Lucy, G-Gust!" Maria countered.

The Ducklett attempted to flap her wings to kick up another blast of wind, however the poison running through her body simply wouldn't let her. She winced in pain, practically feeling like she was going to be sick at any minute. The Parasect was fairing much better. He dizzily staggered forward, essentially tripping over his own feet and smacking against the grassy turf with a solid thud.

Maria clenched her fists. She knew it was risky, but this was her best shot to finish off the gym leader's Pokémon. "H-Hold out L-Lucy! Wing Attack, now!"

"Parasect, Protect!" Gardenia called out.

The Ducklett weakly staggered forward, raising her wing over her head as she moved towards the confused and dizzy Parasect. The bug Pokémon in question raised its claw over its head, essentially slashing at thin air instead of using the protection move that its leader had ordered. This left the bug open wide for when Lucy's wing weakly slammed against the top of its head. Both trainers watched in silence as their Pokémon remained still for a moment, before both of them simply collapsed on the field in exhaustion.

"D-did she win?" Kurt was practically chewing his fingers off in anticipation. He looked around, but found no immediate answer to his question.

"Down to the wire…" Gardenia mused aloud. Despite the situation she found herself in, a smile still formed on the grass-specialist's face. "It's been a while since someone pushed me this far… I'm getting excited!"

Maria felt a small tinge of excitement herself. That said, a feeling of dread began bubbling up in the blonde's stomach again as well. They were both down to their last Pokémon… Her last chance to try and claim victory in… her first gym match ever. Her amber eyes slowly looked over towards Logan and Kurt. What if she lost…? What would they both say if she wasn't able to pull out of this match victorious? Would they both abandon her? Would they laugh at her…?

Maria could feel her legs start to shake from the fear of it all. The blonde shook her head. She had to at least try, no matter how bad it might end up. She recalled her Ducklett as Gardenia recalled her Parasect, before looking down in her bag. Her last Pokémon… Her Mimikyu. Even now, Maria wasn't exactly sure what possessed her to decide to bring the ghost with her. If anything, it served as a bitter memory over what had transpired back in the forest… a memory she would rather just forget all about as soon as she could. Still, it wasn't like she had much of a choice at this point. Lucy was out for the count and Jango could hardly stand at this point. The blonde knew she'd have to put her faith in the Mimikyu.

"M-Mimi, y-you're turn!" Maria called, tossing the ghost type's ball out onto the field.

A loud, wail-like cry echoed out into the gym as the Mimikyu took form. Mimi glanced around curiously, before she looked up and over towards Gardenia. A claw-like tendril slipped out from underneath her disguise as the ghost Pokémon attemptted to wave a friendly greeting towards the gym leader.

"ARCEUS! WHAT IS THAT?" The gym leader yelped in horror, as she stumbled backwards. The little ghost cocked its head in confusion, but the green haired woman had no doubts about the terror she felt in that moment. "A two on two is enough for a gym battle, you win! Just please, recall that thing!"

Both Logan and Kurt exchanged looks. They were as baffled as the inciter of this peculiar situation, and they had no doubts the pokemon's trainer shared that sentiment. Neither Logan nor Kurt had ever seen a pokemon like this one before either, but they hardly found it terrifying.

"Look, I'll give you your Forest badge, just please…" Gardenia continued, she'd back up about as far as she could by this point.

Maria was at a loss for words. The blonde had… not been expecting this reaction from the gym leader. Part of her was relieved to know that the match was suddenly over, but… Her eyes drifted down towards Mimikyu. Mimi had a different look about her as opposed to her trainer. It was difficult to make out due to the disguise covering her, but… Maria definitely noticed a shift in her stance at her shoulders…? Her neck…? Maria honestly wasn't even sure if the creature actually had those. But the way her head quickly drooped down was a telltale sign that the ghost Pokémon was suddenly feeling very ashamed.

Maria wasn't sure what was happening or how, but she suddenly found herself moving towards the clearly distraught Mimikyu. She stopped just short of Mimi, hesitating for just a moment, before gently kneeling down and petting the ghost's head.

"It's… It's okay," she said quietly before picking her up. "S-Some people… they're j-just scared of g-ghosts… It's not your fault…"

The Mimikyu didn't seem so sure, however. She slowly looked over in the direction of Gardenia, who seemed to take another fierce step back at the sight of Mimi looking directly at her. A sad whimper escaped the ghost Pokémon before she reached into Maria's bag herself and forcefully returned herself to her ball.

Before Maria had the chance to further comfort her distraught little friend, Kurt was well within any bubble of space she'd set between them in the past. The former thug showed brutish strength in lifting the girl off the ground and celebrating with her hoisted in his arms. The blonde's face was bright red in a mixture of surprise and embarrassment, but Kurt's grip was so tight she couldn't even begin to try and wriggle out of his grasp.

Logan, on the other hand, wasn't so pleased. As he watched Kurt and Maria together in victory, the former team fruit punch member's eyes fell to the ground. He turned his back to the occasion and once again made his way toward the streets of Eterna.

Eterna City​

 

[Sapphire Rose]

Team Fruit Punch

Maria

Logan

Melody

*bulbagarden.net image removed*

​

---

Logan causing drama. Again.

Another pebble leapt across Eterna's Shellos pond. This one shot like a bullet, and was followed by another, then another then another. The blue rifle from which the bullets were fired cocked back once more, but shuddered at the sound of a familiar call.

"Logan?"

The boy turned his head on a dime, instantly recognising the faces of Shane Denvir and Amy Carlton. They were followed by a young skater who looked barely older than Shane. It was the final member of Team Cola, Hermann Joyce.

"Oh, so you guys are a team of three now, huh?" Logan asked, a bitterness obvious in his tone.

"Team of three? We're just going to pick up Kurt and then...why? What makes you say that?" Hermann protested, still shaken.

"Well Kurt's with Maria now. I guess he didn't tell you that." Logan spat back, earning himself a harsh glare from Shane and a pleading look from Amy. Those looks only spurred the teamless teen on. "Oh? It looks like your whole team didn't tell you." He sneered, some form of satisfaction washing over him. "I think they're dropping you for-"

"Logan!" Shane shouted, his face red with fury.

"What? You guys turned your back on him and weren't plannin' on telling him. He deserves to know." Logan scoffed, folding his arms and turning his body away from the remnants of the original Team Cola.

"You guys were going to replace me? You've already got a replacement?" Hermann questioned, his breathing steadily accelerating with each question. "Who is it? Who's Maria?"

"Hermann, calm down. We haven't made any decisions without you." Amy pleaded, but her request fell on deaf ears. Hermann was already down to one knee, breathing into his palms. "Hermann, it's okay!"

By now a few onlookers had stopped to survey the situation. Shane had taken it upon himself to stand up to the blue haired instigator that had caused this incident. Amy was persistent in shaking her friend, who was now near enough unresponsive.
"The hecks up with him?" Logan asked, a dismissive chuckle being all he could muster in response.

"You know exactly what's up with him." Shane growled, before turning to help Amy with Hermann's condition.

Logan looked around, now noticing a crowd that started to form in the area. His dismissive smirk was replaced with trepidation and concern. Somehow, he'd been made to look like the bad guy here. Before long, Hermann was curled up on the ground and the area was surrounded by flashing red lights.

From a distance, a brown haired girl had just arrived at the scene and stared at the situation unfolding in front of her eyes. Behind her was an Eevee hiding between her legs at the sight of the Blue chaos seeker and in front of her was a very hostile Rockruff attempting to protect both his trainer and their new little friend. "Is that… Logan?" Raeliana whispered softly but as soon as the words left her mouth, both Terra and Lily growled in response. Of course it was Logan… who else would it be? Wondering if she should approach the group, she trembled.

Also at that exact moment, the doors to the gym opened up to reveal the sight of Maria and Kurt. The tall blonde had been curious as to what all the commotion she had been hearing was while she received her badge from Gardenia. Amber eyes widened at the sight of the flashing red lights before darting around looking for the cause of the situation. Maria quickly spotted the familiar faces of Amy and Shane, before spotting the boy curled up on the ground who was in the middle of being checked upon by the medical professionals. It was then that her eyes fell upon her blue-haired teammate.

"L-Logan…?" she questioned, her voice barely audible over the sounds of the sirens and gathering spectators.

Maria slowly stepped back. There was no way that the boy was responsible for this, right? Logan just found the boy on the ground in trouble and called for the ambulances, right…?

Once Raeliana spotted Maria in the crowd, she overcame her trembling and slowly made her way towards the cause of the fuss. With Maria there, she would at least feel a bit more comfortable. "What… happened here…?" The brunette asked, followed by her two companions.

Maria could only shrug. "I d-don't know. I w-was in the gym and g-getting m-my b-badge from Gardenia," the blonde explained. She gestured to Kurt beside her, the punkish boy staring in shock at the commotion before him. He had been unusually quiet (at least unusually quiet for how Maria had come to know him thus far) since the duo stepped outside. "K-Kurt and I h-heard the noise, s-so we came to s-see what happened…"

Kurt didn't hesitate to leave Maria's side. The boy only saw red. He launched himself at Logan, raising the blue haired boy of the ground by his collar.

"What the hell did you do?" The former thug grunted, hatred burning in his eyes.

"Hey I..." Logan began as he attempted to wrestle himself free of Kurt's grasp. "I didn't do anythuh-'' Before he could finish, Logan found himself crashing to the from Kurt's left hook.

"You knew exactly what you were doing!" Kurt spat, still lost in his rage. He turned to check on Hermann, only to find the panic attack victim was now being hoisted into the back of an ambulance. "Wha-where are they taking him?"

"He forgot his inhaler." Shane sighed.

Again, Kurt's anger found itself directed at Logan, who had managed to climb to his feet.

"See what you did? See what you always do?" His knuckles were white, hands shaking. He looked Logan up and down one more time.

"Kurt, come on!" Amy called from the back of the ambulance.

"You're a piece of **** Logan." With that, Kurt gave one last longing look at Maria, then glared back down at Logan. "You'd better not hurt her." He growled, before he turned and joined his team in the back of the ambulance.

Raeliana could only watch Kurt leave, she didn't know them very well after all… but to her it seemed like Logan was the cause of Hermann's panic attack. "Logan…? What was that about?" the girl asked timidly and quietly but loud enough for the pair of teens to be able to hear her. Terra was once again being hostile towards Logan, although not openly growling as he did moments ago.

The familiar voice caused Logan to shudder. He could feel every pair of eyes on him, but matching the pair with the voice made it sting even more. He turned to see his former Fruit Punch teammates. Melody and Maria had both witnessed the whole thing. This was a new low.

"I...I was trying to help." He muttered, his eyes locked on the ground. "Hermann needed a new team. They were gonna ditch him and not even tell him!"

"D-Ditch him…? N-No, w-we were trying to f-find H-Hermann so w-we could talk t-to him about it..."

"W-Wait…" Upon hearing those words, various thoughts ran across Raeliana's mind. Terra and Lily both looked up at their trainer with worried expressions clearly visible on their small snoots as their trainer started to turn white like milk. "Maria… were you… Are you going to leave…?" Raeliana asked the taller blonde girl she considered her friend.

"She already has." Logan croaked.

Raeliana's expression turned into a bit of a sad one. Even though she was about to leave herself, as to no longer bother the others anymore… She felt her heart getting heavy as that fear became very real. "M-Maria…?"

"I… I just…" Maria stammered, the blonde immediately gripping the strap of her bag tight as per usual. "Everyone else w-was thinking about l-leaving and f-finding n-new teams… What else was I supposed to d-do…? I h-had to h-have a backup p-plan in c-case you all left me…"

Raeliana fell silent and could only stare at her feet after hearing Maria's reason.

"Well...I'd suggest getting the team back together, but I've already got a couple of teams vetting me, so I'm gonna have to consider my options." Logan could barely face the group as he spoke. He turned away from them with his arms folded, his face red with shame and realization. "I suppose I could use a hand though, since none of the others are around, you helping wouldn't do any harm."

Maria remained silent, the girl gazing back up towards Logan as he spoke. A helping hand? Since none of the others were around? It sounded like the blue-haired boy was simply using them as some sort of temporary bench warmers, almost as if he planned on dropping them off as soon as some other prospect came by.

Maria felt a wave of unease bubble up in the pit of her stomach. Yet despite this, the tallest of the trio couldn't bring herself to protest Logan's choice of words. She merely glanced over towards Raeliana instead, as if waiting for the brunette to voice her opinions first.

That same brunette was still staring at her feet but what both Maria and Logan said got her thinking. Were they all going to leave because they… equally felt like the others would drop them?

"We're not disposables, Logan." Raeliana spoke, her head turning straight at Logan and her voice as piercing as Melody's, so piercing in fact that even Raeliana was startled for that moment. "I-I mean…" she quickly tried to recapture her stance. She shortly glanced at her two brown fluffy companions that had curled up around her legs. Especially Terra looked supportive of his trainer. It gave the short, thin girl the confidence boost she needed to say the words that were lining up in her thoughts like two strings tying a knot.

"E-Earlier you said we weren't friends a-and… you're right." Raeliana started. As those words escaped her lips, she could see the blue haired boy bounce a little. As if she was confirming something he had feared. At the same time, she felt something pulling in the back of her mind. Realiane discarded that feeling. "We may not be friends… but we… we have arguments and fight like brothers and sisters. So… to me that's what we are." these few sentences came out quicker than the girl intended. It was a clumsy way of putting it but she just wanted it to be done with. Again, she felt something pulling her. Keeping her from talking or at least saying whatever she was thinking of.

"Like...brother and sister?" The orphan repeated. His eyes fell to the ground and he began to twiddle his thumbs."What...for real?" He couldn't hide the inquisitive expression on his face. Brother and sister was something he would never have considered. "Like actual brothers and sisters? But how could we be…?"

Raeliana scratched her nose. "W-Well… H-Have you never heard of the phrase "Family goes thicker than just blood"...?" she said. Suddenly she felt the pulling in the back of her mind stop. It seemed like Melody had settled down or was at least willing to hear Rael out as well. "I-I used to fight a lot like this together with my little brother… that's why I'm sure this is the same kind of feeling…" the brunette turned her gaze back towards her feet as she felt her cheeks turning bright red, staring back at her were both Lily and Terra.

"A family…?" Maria questioned inwardly.

She had never thought of it that way herself. Now that she was thinking about it, what Raeliana said made a lot of sense. Maybe that was why Maria herself wanted to keep the group together as well. A small smile crept up upon her lips.

"I think s-so too," the blonde chimed up. "So, please… no more splitting up like this?"

"Y-Yeah… Let's see this through together…" Raeliana started to smile as well.

Maria felt a weight being lifted off her shoulders. Still there was one last thing to take care of. The blonde turned her focus back towards Logan and smiled weakly.

"Logan, n-now that that's settled… Can you n-not… um… You know… d-do that to H-Hermann again…?" Maria inquired.

"But I was just...trying to help." The troublesome teen in question murmured to himself. He felt a huge twang of guilt rush through him as he looked down at the spot where Hermann had just suffered his panic attack. After a somber moment, the boy forced a smile back onto his face. "Well I'm glad that's over, huh?" He beamed, dismissing the entire situation. He strolled past, without waiting for any kind of response from the rest of the group. Both Maria and Raeliana exchanged worried glances before joining Logan in the direction of their hotel.


​

 

[Shak]

Team Fruit Punch

Maria

Logan

Melody

*bulbagarden.net image removed*

​

---

Blacker the Berry

Logan found himself whistling with glee as he once again walked alongside his friends...no, his sisters Maria and Melody. He had a spring in his step and a chip on his shoulder. A feather glided past his feet as he kicked his feet forward with each step. His eyes followed the feather.

The wind carried the feather to a park, there was a mass of joy and that almost matched Logan's own level of glee. Kids playing tag, sliding flying high on the swings. Even the nattering mothers were enjoying their time under the Eterna sun. Of all the places that feather could've landed...it found itself on the pedal of a toddler whose mother was teaching him to ride a bike. Logan stopped and watched as the boy struggled to force the pedals down. His mother helped him, pushing the pedals down with her hands. They even celebrated together as though the kid had achieved something. Logan sneered as he watched them run to the ice cream truck together. He turned and looked at his sisters, who hadn't yet realised he'd even stopped.

"Hey, Maria!" He called out, running to catch up to the two girls. "I was wondering if I could borrow that gym badge of yours. It's for a good cause I swear. No more...Hermann stuff." He admitted, rubbing the back of his head in shame.

Raeliana in turn raised an eyebrow. "A good cause?" She questioned, her face turning to Terra and Lily who equally looked confused. "Wait! Maria has a gym badge?!" She suddenly realised, staring at her blonde friend or how Logan now referred to them, sister.

Maria felt her cheeks heat up with the attention suddenly put on her. Her eyes immediately fell to her boots, but a small smile was still on her lips.

"I… Y-Yeah…" Maria responded. "I don't… r-really know how I even got p-put into a b-battle with G-Gardenia, r-really… but…" She paused, reaching into a pocket on her hoodie to pull out the Forest Badge. "I managed to win... S-So, I do have one."

Turning her attention back towards Logan, the blonde tilted her head in confusion. "But… Why do y-you wanna borrow my badge…?"

"Well…" Logan began, pausing for just a moment to formulate his case before continuing. "...see, there's this bike right? At the bike shop. You can get it for free...if you've won the Eterna gym badge." His voice shrunk within as he finally finished, his eyes narrowing on the badge Maria held so proudly in her hand.

Raeliana couldn't help but show a small smirk at Logan. In other words, he couldn't get a gym badge so he wants to borrow Maria's.

"A b-bike…?" Maria questioned. The blonde's gaze slowly drifted towards the badge in her hand, before she looked back towards Logan. The pleading look in his eyes was like a Lillipup begging for a bone… A look that made it very difficult for the tallest member of the group to turn down. "I g-guess having a b-bike could be useful…"

With that, Logan sprang forward and reached to grab the badge from Maria's hand. In a matter of seconds he was sprinting off into the thick of Eterna, leaving his team members in his dust.

He stopped just outside the shop. Not because of nerves or guilt over using someone else's gym badge to secure the purchase. He stopped because he noticed a poster on the wall outside the shop. The poster read: 'The Hearthome voice: Your first Pitch'. As he scanned more of the page, he noticed the various singers that took center stage on the poster. He crossed his arms in annoyance.

"I bet Mel is better than all of 'em." He grumbled. The disgruntled Team Fruit Punch member ripped the page from the wall and examined it again. With that, he stuffed the poster in his bag and strolled inside.

The first thing he noticed as he burst through the doors of Rad Rickshaw's cycle shop, the bike was still there. He marched up to the counter with a cheek stretching grin on his face.

"One Mach Bike please." He stated proudly, sliding the Forest Badge across the desk.

The jagged bearded man, who had been fiddling with some bike part behind the counter, turned around to get a look at his new customer. He looked the boy up and down, only noticing the forest badge on the second scan.

"Ohhh, you beat Gardenia? That's impressive." Rickshaw nodded. He gestured to a single bike that sat in display on the far side of the shop. "I'd say pick whatever colour you like, but…"

His words fell on deaf ears. Logan had already pounced on the remaining silver Mach bike, gawking over it like it was a pot of gold.

Before he got a second foot out the door, Logan had hopped on the seat of his new bike and lurched forward to breeze through the city. Instead though, his bike slanted and he collapsed beneath it.

"Ummm...you alright? You should probably try it in steady mode if it's your first time." Rickshaw explained.

The defeated boy with the bike on top of him, lurched forward. Rickshaw's comment annoyed him more than it helped. The bike wheels were still spinning, but Logan couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of them.

"Hey, there's only two wheels on this thing!" Logan's exclamation caused Rickshaw to recoil. The unsatisfied customer noticed the shopkeeper gulp at that comment. Logan recognised that all too well. Whatever it was he'd said, clearly he was in the wrong. "It's fine, I'll do without the others." He sighed, getting out of there as soon as possible.

Rather than reconvene with his team straight away, Logan felt it appropriate to practice his riding in Eterna park, but somehow he just couldn't seem to get it right. As he got up to try one last time, he noticed a group of familiar newcomers join the park. Team Ginger Beer. They all had ice cream, Penny was once again filming another of her patented video blogs and Joseph seemed to have an arm around Anthony. The fourteen year old seemed really down. Logan watched them for a moment before folding the bike, stuffing it in his bag and walking over.

"Hey what's up Tony?" Logan asked, brimming with pride. The boy didn't so much as flinch. Usually Logan's voice alone was enough to get the blue haired copycat to bound with joy like an excited Lilipup.

"Just lost his gym battle. Denny agreed to get him the bike and everything, but when we got there...." Joseph explained, none of the peppy over exaggerated slang Logan was so used to hearing from him. "Kid's pretty broken up about it. He worked pretty damn hard for that bike."

Logan's eyes drifted back down to Tony, whose ice cream was dripping down his hand at this point. It clearly wasn't the best time to brag about the bike, but Logan was desperate to tell someone.

"Hey man…" Logan began, allowing Tony's eyes to meet his own before he continued. "...work smart, not hard." He shrugged. Satisfied with his advice, clearly not noticing Denny scowl at him through the corner of his eye, he got up and began to walk away. Something stopped him though. He wasn't sure what it was. All of a sudden he noticed the weight of the bike in his backpack. Curiosity burned inside of him. He turned back around, prompting confused looks from the members of Team Ginger Beer. "How well did you do against her? The...gym leader."

"I beat her Deerling." Tony blurted out through what Logan could only assume was the dam that held back any sobbing he'd been doing earlier. Logan sighed. Even he hadn't managed to do that. Again, something felt off for the older of the two blue haired teens.

"My mum taught me how to ride a bike." Logan began. He took the time to walk back over to team Ginger Beer before he continued. "Back in Celestic Town." Denise and Joseph exchanged confused glances at that, but Logan continued. He grabbed the bag and yanked the bike out of it. Joseph lurched forward to express his disgust at Logan, but Denise quickly stopped him. "Take it."

"Thanks Logan. We appreciate it." Denny stated flatly.

Anthony opened his mouth, but the words couldn't find themselves. His starry eyes gazed up at Logan in awe as the older teen got up and made his way out of the park. A single pebble bounced into the Eterna park pond

"Howdy do Fruit Punch!" Logan called out to the rest of his team as he returned to the group empty handed.

Maria offered Logan a curious glance. "I thought y-you were getting a b-bike with m-my badge… What h-happened?"

"Oh umm…" Logan began, stopping to contrive some sort of lie in his head. It fell in a pond. A Wingull swooped down and took it. The police stopped him and found he didn't have a license. None of those really stuck. He thought back to Denise's last words as he left them. Maybe, just maybe, Maria would understand if he got Denny to vouch for him. "Well, I ended up giving the bike to Tony from Team Ginger Beer. Kid worked really hard to get his badge and just fell short." He explained in an attempt to diffuse any backlash he may have got. He'd never exactly seen Maria angry, but people never exactly responded kindly to him giving away things they were expecting him to bring back. "Here's your badge. Y-you're not mad are you?" He asked, bracing himself for what was to come.

Maria blinked slowly, looking from the badge and then back at the boy in front of her. As she focused her attention upon Logan, she immediately noticed that he seemed to shrink back a little. Was he afraid?

"N-No… No, I'm not m-mad," Maria answered, trying her best to offer her teammate a genuine smile. The smile itself looked like she was quite nervous herself, but the blonde resumed to try and put Logan's concerns to rest. "I think that w-was a very good thing you did, L-Logan."

The brunette beside them seemed equally confused. Logan wasn't one to give things away as far as she could remember. However, she agreed with Maria. "Y-Yeah. That was very kind of you, Logan." she responded in kind. "And if it makes you feel better… we never really… needed a bike, right?" She shifted her eyes across the other two members of the team. "We're with three people and with John, four. We only get one bike for each badge… but I'm not planning on challenging the gym for one." The thin and short girl started scratching her chin, one of her habits when she was going to belittle herself. "I-I don't think I'm very good at Pokémon battles… the doctor said I should find a different goal for this journey then but… I haven't found one yet."

The praise from his teammates lit up the blue haired boy's face like a christmas tree. He couldn't help but burst into a big dopey smile. His shorter teammate's insecurities were nothing more than a whisper in the wind now that he was lifted by the storm of compliments that came with his good deed.


​

 

[Stinging Bea]

Team Fruit Punch

Maria

Logan

Melody

*bulbagarden.net image removed*

---

Mixed Berry


"Doctor, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Who's to say something like that won't happen again?"

"He hasn't shown signs of similar signs whilst with his teammates. Perhaps it's a one off."

"Doctor…" Councilor Chace and Doctor Cygnus Hickory stood over the unconscious body of one John Mist. "If what that girl says is true, we can't risk John returning. Raeliana, Maria and Logan were all in grave danger." As he said that, he noticed the doctor roll her eyes. Chace knew she would never dismiss the safety of the patie-campers, but her willingness to live life on the edge was always too much for him. "What if there are more...that aren't ready."

"I'll make sure they don't miss him."

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"Y'know, part of me feels like we should check in with John before confirming anything. What if he's found a new team?" The musings of Team Fruit Punch's last man standing could be heard droning through the hotel lobby. It was a quiet evening and most of the patrons were either frollocking about the city or settling for their dinnertime banquets.

Maria glanced up from a magazine she had found on a table in the lobby. The tallest of the gathered members had been sitting on a sofa quietly, thumbing through the pages of the magazine for the better part of fifteen minutes now. She really wasn't even paying attention to the contents inside as much as she was using it to pass the time while they waited for John.

"M-Maybe he just decided to get something to eat w-without us and t-turn in early…?" Maria questioned. "It is dinner time and it is g-getting a bit late."

"I dunno, he's been missing since we had our fight. Whadda you think Mel?" Logan asked as he threw himself into the sofa Maria had been so happily enjoying the space of. Only now did Logan think it smart to zip up his fly, making it all the way back from the bathroom before even considering the notion.

Raeliana looked away for a moment. She had seen he forgot to zip up his pants but thought it was too embarrassing to mention. "M-Maybe he's just not back yet." She proclaimed. Although, thinking about it now, Logan was kind of right. "H-Hold on… you're right." She said. "We haven't seen him since the ceremony… I wonder if he's okay."

"Maybe we should ask one of the councilors if they've s-seen him…" Maria suggested quietly. The blonde paused, her eyes widening as she suddenly began to wonder what had actually happened to him. "What if… What if he g-got lost? Or hurt somewhere? Oh no, he could b-be laying out in the t-town or something, b-bleeding out and c-crying for help!"

"I wouldn't worry too much about any of that." The sultry, stoic tone of Cygnus Hickory cut through the panicked teenager's rambling. All three Fruit Punch members straightened their backs at the sound of the matriarchal figure's voice. Her companion, Councillor Chace glanced curiously at the back of her head in response to the comment. "I trust you're all doing well, Fruit Punch."

"Maria, Raeliana, Logan." Chace added, ensuring the campers felt some semblance of their individuality was recognised.

Maria felt a wave of unease in the pit of her stomach. "Don't w-worry about any of that? Why? W-Where is he?"

"Well…" Chace began, before the doctor took control of the situation. If he didn't know any better, he may have assumed she was taking pleasure in the misfortune of their situation.

"He's been hospitalised. Fret not though, his condition is far from critical. He just needs rest. In the meantime, we'll be filling the gap left in Fruit Punch with another camper who we deemed ready to graduate-"

Raeliana felt a shiver going down her spine. It was surreal. They had just made up and now John was forced to leave the team? And not just that, someone new had to replace him too? She was just starting to get used to this team… "Who is this graduate…?" Raeliana asked a bit timidly.

Ever the keen eyed obserserver, Cygnus stopped her explanation to provide Raeliana the opportunity to speak. She smiled as it was exactly the question she anticipated. "Well, you can meet her as soon as you'd like. She should be waiting in Maria's room." She paused, melodramatically massaging her temple. "If she chose to listen that is."
Chace glanced at the woman again. She definitely was enjoying this.

Something inside Raeliana started to burn. Was it anger? She wouldn't know and was not going to find out because that short moment of retribution gave Melody enough space to appear and made the timid Raeliana inactive immediately.

"What do you mean, if she chose to listen?" The piercing voice of Melody sounded as her eyes too appeared more fierce. The brunette folded her arms and took a few steps forward. "Doctor Hickory, if this new "member" brings harm to my team members, you will regret this." She spoke with an intimidating smile spread across her lips. Melody never liked this woman, she could not deny that her camp helped out Raeliana quite a bit though and along many others. She had to make sure not to be too insulting.

"I'm sure you mean well but I can't allow anyone else trying to bring destruction to our "little family"." The girl with the attitude sounded quite sarcastic but the words that escaped Raeliana's lips this evening even now echoed in her ears.

'We may not be friends… but we… we have arguments and fight like brothers and sisters. So… to me that's what we are."

Melody didn't want the resolve of the timid version of herself to go to waste. She had to protect it, that's why she was created. How much she disliked Logan's destructive nature and Maria's paranoid, she had to learn to deal with it. With that, she smiled softly at her two teammates behind her for the very first time. It was process, even for her.

Logan jumped. The abrupt lashing out of his teammate caught him off guard. He was sort of getting used to what happened to be a very subdued Melody. What unsettled him more, was her audacity at standing up the Doctor Hickory. He'd never dream of doing such a thing. The scene came with even more surprises.

Hickory raised a brow, but said nothing more. She pulled out a journal and scribbled a bunch of indiscernible notes. Even Chace seemed hesitant to butt in at that moment. "You're certainly correct," Hickory finally said with a smile. "But we'll see." Hickory had nothing more to say to the teenagers after that. She turned her back, and left Chace to clean up any mess she left in her wake.

Maria stared wide-eyed as Hickory left Chace and the team behind. Her mind was whirling as she fidgeted with the hem of her jacket. Her heart was racing with dread all the while.

"There's s-someone in my r-room… Why is s-she in room…?" Maria mumbled as her body began to tremble. "What if she's g-going through my things… Oh no, she's g-going to think I'm some k-kind of weirdo… Why did it have to be m-my room?!"

"Listen." Chace began, biting his lip as he addressed the teens. "She would've never graduated John if she didn't think he was ready. She'll be hurting too." His gaze followed Doctor Hickory as she turned the corner. "Your new teammate's a catch. She'll have her teething, but she's got potential. Go meet her." He suggested with a smile. Once he turned his back though, one more thing occurred to him. "On behalf of the Doctor...I'm sorry." He finally left the hotel as he finished.

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"I would say I'm surprised, but really it took too damn long in the first place…"

Erin Winters sat on the window seal of the hotel room that had been previously occupied by Maria Cosgrove. Her amber-red eyes gazed out listlessly of the window, watching the final moments of the setting sun for the day. Normally, she'd have been sharing a meal with her teammates of Strawberry Milk. However, once the notion of the team swaps and replacements had been mentioned by Doctor Hickory, they were all too quick to promptly toss her out of the team. They had told Meghan, their councilor, that Erin was too difficult to work with. They told her that she was extremely confrontational and had to be more or less forced to do any sort of teamwork at almost any time.

"Forget the fact that I was the one who drug their sorry asses through Eterna Forest in the first place," Erin thought, rolling her eyes at the resurfaced memory. "Now I'm being tossed around by the system like some useless Lillipup toy. Whatever… It's not like I'm not used to it at this point…"

Closing her eyes, Erin tried to think back to what her current situation was. After her previous team had dumped her off, Councilor Meghan had taken her to Chace and Doctor Hickory. There had been some discussion about returning her to camp for the time being, but… something had suddenly come up with another team. Erin wasn't honestly aware of all the details. To be frank, she really wasn't paying too much attention at the time. What she could recall however, was that something had happened to another team's fourth member, forcing him to be hospitalized. It was suggested by the good doctor herself, that Erin be slipped into the team to take his place…

"Team… Apple Juice…? Alolan Punch…? Whatever, it's not like the name is important," Erin deduced. "It's likely just going to be a matter of time before they dump me off too, just like everyone else."

The loudest of Erin's new teammates bumbled through the door first. A head of blue hair poked through the door, before disappearing. The head emerged again, this time followed up by an unimpressive teen gesturing for what Erin could only assume were his teammates to hurry and join him. He stepped forward into the room and bashfully ushered her a wave.

Erin stared at the blue-haired boy in disbelief as he rumbled into the room. The girl slowly stood up off of her makeshift seat. "You have to be kidding… It was just an accident and he's looking for a different room, right…?"

"L-Logan, p-please calm d-down," a weak voice called out.

If the room wouldn't have been so quiet, there was a very good chance that Erin wouldn't even have heard it. Following the blue-haired boy into the room was a very tall, blonde girl. She looked as if she had just finished running a marathon, judging from the way she was gasping and panting. As soon as she took notice of Erin however, her disposition suddenly changed. The tall girl let out a timid, weak-sounding squeak of embarrassment, before her amber eyes suddenly shot straight down to look at the floor. A faint blush rose to her cheeks, one that Erin almost missed completely as the blonde quickly moved to hide behind Logan.

Erin could only stare in silence at her, a sudden realization rushing over her that this was looking less likely to be an accidental encounter.

"So...you're replacing…" Logan began, before taking a moment to pick his words. One of the many thoughts that crossed his mind made him grumble to himself. He shook it off and gave the girl a questioning look. He looked at Maria, who was as timid about the situation as ever. "Erin, right?" He asked. In truth, he knew exactly who the girl was, but she'd never been the most receptive. It probably wasn't best to throw himself at her head first. "Well I'm Loga-"

"I know who you are…" Erin muttered quietly. She rested her forehead into her palm at the boy's introduction, mentally cursing her luck and Arceus all at the same time. "This has got to be a bad dream… Can I wake up now?"

"Geez, have some more composure both of you." a thin brunette girl grumbled as she entered the room as well with folded arms, not looking very impressed. This girl was Erin Winters. Melody had heard rumors of her trouble making ways and tried her best to not have her glance turn into a glare. She most likely was dropped into this team without her having a say in it at all. That's how doctor Hickory operated, nothing they could do against until they graduated.

"Erin Winters, what a pleasure." She called out, giving a faint smile to the girl with short hair.

Erin glanced over at the new comer into the room, her eyes narrowing at the girl's introduction. Melanie…? Melody…? It was one of those two for sure. Erin didn't know many details about her, other than her constant mood swings and rather strict nature. Even then, that was mostly carried across the grapevine throughout the camp.

"...Charmed," Erin stated bluntly, her eyes narrowing just a bit as she finally returned Melody's greeting.

"Oh. Right." Logan uttered, barely above the volume of his breath. He was admittedly taken aback by the curt nature of all the girl's welcomes. "Well, did you get to see John before...?"

"I'm sure he was taken to the hospital before she even got here. Tell us, Erin, did Doctor Hickory drop you in our cosy team without your own consent? Not to be rude, but that's what it looks like to me." Melody spoke, confirming her earlier thoughts to know on what ground they were standing. There was this hostile aura hanging in the air. Logan sensed that hostility immediately.

"That's none of y-" Erin began, ready to tell Melody to keep her nose out of her personal affairs.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter, huh? Our little family of four is a family of five now." Logan beamed, with a drop of nerves washed within his wave of excitement.

Erin sighed. "Family…? You're making a big assumption there…" Still the short-haired girl relented. It wasn't like she had much say in this matter. Erin scoffed as she noticed the boy's resolve wither away.

While Logan and Melody tried to be at the very least accepting of this new addition to their "family", Maria wasn't so sure. The blonde had just started getting used to the group she had been traveling with now. This new girl… she gave the tall girl even more trembles than Melody when she was in a bad mood… And she was almost always in a bad mood.

"Are… Are we s-sure about this…?" Maria whispered, oddly enough leaning towards Melody as she spoke.

It was an action that didn't go unnoticed by Erin, causing the glasses-wearing girl to glare at her.

Melody shrugged. "It's not like we got much choice, do we?" She said outright. "We've all been thrown into this by our "dear" doctor. Let's make the best of it." Melody sighed as the words left her lips.

​