[PKMN FULL] TRAINERS (IC)

moon · Jun 10, 2020

Ralph

Rock Tunnel, Thursday May 23nd

Spoiler:

It seemed Lavoise didn't mean to crush the Sandshrew too easily off the bat, because she made Magmar lead with the relatively feeble Ember attack. Sandsy blocked most of the damage by using Rapid Spin and making it bounce off of him.

Despite everything that had happened in the last couple of hours, Ralph felt hyper focused. An annoyance that had grown and erupted into something close to hatred, fueled her. Anger over all the nonsensical violence. She used nonsensical violence too, back in school. But not actually with the intent of hurting people. And she could somewhere understand that Ferrothorn had just tried to protect its home. But what the woman in front of her had done just now? That was just...

Evil.

So, she was hyperfocused, seeing only her own pokémon and their opponent in red. They didn't have to win, but she sure wouldn't make it easy for them to beat them.

Another Ember, but this time Ralph just ordered Sandshrew to dodge it, which he was luckily just fast enough to manage. It seemed like their opponent wasn't very precise. Powerful, but sloppy. They could work with that.

"Sand attack!" Ralph ordered.

Sandsy made a dustcloud fly up into Magmar's direction, which merely caused it to turn its head away and not much more.

"Ember," Lavoise said for the third time.

She was literally just playing with them. Well, two could play. At that.

"Rapid Spin! Sand Attack!" Ralph called out, and the manuever was repeated.

Before Lavoise called out another move, Ralph made Sandsy rush a third Sand attack. There was a thick cloud of dust airborne in between the two pokémon now, and Magmar had gotten quite a bit into its eyes.

"Nuisance," Lavoise commented barely loud enough for Ralph to hear. "Fine then. Lava Plume!"

"Rock Slide!"

Magmar shot its plume of hot flame up into the air, but it was met with a rain of heavy boulders. The magma was blocked from rising high enough, and splashed down again onto the fire pokémon along with the heavy boulders. It wasn't enough to cause a lot of damage to it though, and it moved the boulders aside angrily and stepped forward through the sand cloud again afterwards.

"Smog!" Lavoise shouted from the other side of the now smoldering mess.

Ralph was suspecting that although Lavoise had gotten her trainer's license once upon a time and had a fairly strong pokémon she had caught, she hadn't actually trained it extremely well nor practiced a lot recently against other trainers. Maybe she mostly used Magmar to scare off wild pokémon when roaming the tunnels here. For Ralph, on the other side, battling courses at Cape College were the few courses where she had actually gotten pretty good grades. So she knew that the Smog was unlikely to harm Sandshrew much.

"Sand attack!"

Dust and gas alike was covering the space in between the two pokémon now.

"Fire Spin!" Ralph heard Lavoise shout.

A stream of fire came out from the cloud, but missed Sandsy by a long shot. Magmar's aim was thoroughly disrupted by now. Ralph felt calmer. Not as single tracked, but more aware of the situation now that she felt more confident. They had a chance. To get back at them.

"Rollout!" she ordered Sandsy, who immediately obeyed and rolled with high speed into the cloud. The Smog didn't bother him much, and neither did the sand. He easily hit the stumbling fire type, who was thrown down into the ground. Unfortunately, Magmar's flame body singed Sandsy as well, and he hopped out from the dust cloud afterwards with a slight burn.

"That's not as bad as it could have gone," Ralph mumbled under her breath.

It was about to get worse though.

"Clear Smog!" Lavoise shouted in a high pitch, as if she just thought of that. Ralph had hoped she wouldn't.

Magmar spouted out his weird mud shots all around him, and managed to get rid of the Smog again and much of the dust, except for the particles that had gotten into his eyes. He wasn't quite hot enough there to melt them. His line of vision was at least much more clear now.

"Fire Spin!" Lavoise repeated, and Magmar's stream of fire from its beak hit its target this time and enveloped Sandsy in fire.

This could end Sandsy in a matter of seconds if Ralph didn't figure something out. Could a Rock slide on himself block the fire? More sand attacks? If he tried to roll out, would the spin follow him? Or... Oh, that could work... She had to try, at least.

"Sandsy, use Rapid Spin in the opposite direction! The opposite to the fire spin!"

Sandsy was in clear pain, but he was a well trained pokémon who always tried to obey his trainer if he could. And he made an effort, and started spinning. Within mere seconds, the Fire Spin had dissolved, being countered by the draft produced by the Rapid Spin. Ralph shouted out in triumph, while Lavoise frowned with badly disguised annoyance now. Ralph sensed that she wanted to end this as quickly as she could. But she wouldn't give the awful lady the pleasure. Sandsy was badly hurt, and normally Ralph wouldn't press on now. She'd have to make it up to him later. But this time, she really wanted to continue for as long as they possibly could. Even if they lost in the end.

"Lava Plume!"

"Rock Slide!"

"Wait, change! Fire Spin again!"

Magmar had started blowing upwards, but got confused from the sudden change in orders. It took him several seconds before he started to take in a new breath and prepare for a Fire Spin instead.

During those seconds, Ralph changed her mind as well. "Sandsy, Magnitude!"

It was a new move she had just discovered that Sandsy knew an hour or so ago. They had never practiced it. She knew what it would do, in theory, but she wasn't quite sure of what would happen if you used it inside of a cave.

The Fire Spin shot out, but barely missed - Sand Attack was still doing its job - which allowed the Sandshrew to gather energy before he slammed down onto the ground and unleashed it. The ground started shaking, first with a light rumble, but it grew more and more. Ralph had to back and steady herself against the cave wall - but soon realized that it wasn't a safe spot. Ferroseeds who had awakened struggled to help their weak friends up and into other tunnels. Magmar was doing a really bad job of staying upright, and Lavoise looked actually terrified as she crouched on the ground, hands over her head.

A crack in the ground in between Sandsy and Magmar split open, and Magmar fell over, just as the ceiling split as well. Numerous boulders, much bigger than anything Sandsy's Rock Slide had been able to conjure, fell down onto and around Magmar in the dusty, still smoldering mess that was already there. The noise was deafening. The only stable thing in the whole cave seemed to be Sandsy. Ralph took a risk and rushed up to him, nearly getting crushed by a falling rock in the process. She crouched next to him and held onto his body hard while he was still glowing with energy and glued to the ground.

Finally, the tremors stopped. The cave looked different now - almost all of the ceiling was gone, and instead a lazy sun was peering down on them through holes in a fluffy blanket of clouds. Most of the ceiling seemed to lay atop what had been a gorgeous flowerbed half an hour earlier, or around the fire pokémon who had ruined it. Who was, by the way, utterly knocked out.

"You did it..." Ralph breathed, but she noticed how weak Sandsy was when he finally ended the grasp he had on the earthly powers. He practically fell backwards into her arms. "Not yet, my friend, I'm sorry. Please stand up for a few more seconds, please, I'm sorry..." Ralph whispered and steadied him as she stood up. He still held onto her jeans leg though.

Lavoise stood up too and didn't waste much time observing the scene before she located her fallen pokémon and returned it to the Ultra Ball.

"I won, Sandsy is still standing," Ralph said quickly.

"Yes. I underestimated you. The fossil is yours, even though it is a waste of the precious find. You really should take it to the laboratory in Saffron and see if they can figure something interesting out from it."

And you really should have been the one to get buried, a cold, distant part of Ralph's brain muttered inside of her. Magmar was just your tool.

"You should release Ferrothorn too," Ralph pressed on.

Lavoise shook her head. "That wouldn't make sense. I captured it fair and square."

"Hardly!"

"Life is hard. And not always fair in your eyes. Learn to cope with it. From what I've seen here... You're more than capable, actually."

Was that a compliment? It threw Ralph off guard.

"Good luck with finding your friend. Adieu," the woman said before turning and abruptly leaving the area the way Joseph and Ralph had initially come.

The moment she turned around the corner, Sandsy fell apart. Ralph gave him a thorough hug before returning him to his pokéball. Dammit. Always buy potions. And Revives, if she could ever find or afford such. Surely, Palm would allow that?

Now, it was time to continue her main quest. The hole was still there, and the Magnitude quake had caused more boulders to fall down, actually leaving what looked like a decent way to climb down now. Ralph put the damned fossil away in her backpack, cursing it a little bit for just making things heavy - but no way she would just toss it away now - and finally begun climbing down into the darkness.

Dragon · Jun 12, 2020

The Super Aaaamazing Noel!
Rock Tunnel

vs. Seviper

The wild Machop fled, following the powerful yet quirky Double slap attack from Luna. Luna posed in victory, winking and giving a huge smile in a flashy showing to an empty audience. The wild Mawile crept from behind the small boulder it was hiding from. It was surprised, seeing the victorious Clefairy being much stronger than it initially thought. Luna then noticed the small rock the two Machop took from the Mawile. She took up, and handed it back to the shy Mawile with its signature smile.

"Annnnnd Luna, the super amazing, super ultra, super fantastical luminary of the stars wins!" Noel cheered. She then snapped her fingers in a sudden burst of inspiration. "Heeey, and not a bad victory cry either! We should remember that one!" Luna nodded in agreement, as she skipped and hopped back in Noel's arms.

The Mawile, still shy, inched her way closer to Noel and Luna, giving the two of them a simple, yet polite bow in thanks. "No need for thanks!" Noel reassured. "If you are ever in trouble, just call in your friendly neighborhood Star-Guardian: Noel, and Luna: Luminary of the Stars! Now... off we go!" The two both left in a cheerful huff, signing together... a theme song.

Fiiiiighting evil by moonlight~
Winning love by daylight~
Never running from a real fight!
They are named, Noel-and-Luna too!

Mawile looked on at those two as they parted off, but... there was something about them that intrigued her. Noel seemed eccentric... without question, but to Mawile, her enthusiasm matched up with her previous trainer. Curious about what those two might get up to, she decided to discreetly follow them.

Noel and Luna continued on the cave, signing and humming their tunes, raising both their spirits as they continued the rock path. But soon, Luna stopped, having a more concerned look on her face. "What is wrong, dear Luna?" Noel asked, turning to her partner. Luna's ears were twitching. She then leaped off from Noel's arms, and hopped her way forward. Noel followed suit, unsure of what her partner was leading her to.

"You're gonna give up those rocks, one way or another, punk!" a voice rang out where Luna was leading to. She then stopped, waiting for Noel to catch up. When she does, Noel and Luna decided to hid nearby a boulder. It seemed like there were a pair of men, who were confronting another main, who had a lab coat on. The one with the lab coat seemed to be a researcher of sorts... but the other two dressed ragged with baggy pants and dark coats with an assortment of jewelry like ear piercings and necklaces. The most striking feature about them was that they both had a bright and distinctive pattern on their coat backs... it looked like a sort of long, green creature of sorts.

"I-I told you!" the researcher pleaded. "These are for important research purposes..." he seemed to be carrying a bag. Perhaps that's where he was storing all of the rocks that those two ruffians wanted, but Noel could only guess from where she was standing.

"They're for us!" another one of those men barked, pushing and shoving him, making him fall down on his back. "Or do you not know that we're the Dragons?!"

"Dragons...?" Noel whispered to herself, observing the insignia on their back. "Is... that some sort of dragon, then?" Luna cried quietly in an awed reply, but she did not have a response either. "Nonetheless... it is not like Noel, Star-Guardian, and Luna: Luminary of the Stars to let this transgression go unpunished, no?" Luna gave a confident nod in agreement.

"I'm telling you, I can not hand these over to you people!" the researcher yelled. "They must be put to use for the betterment of the region as a whole!"

"Shut it!" the man barked, walking over to the man. "We don't giv' a damn!" He started, with his right foot, stomping on top of the researcher, as the defenseless researcher could only block with his elbow. The act of violence however, was stopped by a sudden rock that flew on the ruffian's temple.

"Guh!" he shrieked, holding the side of his head from the sudden pain. "What the hell---"

"Stop this at once!" Noel came rushing in, with her Clefairy hopping right in front of her. "You lot! Leave this humble man alone!"

"Who the hell are you, brat?!" the other ruffian angrily asked.

"I am she who sides with justice!" Noel replied. "Noel! Star-Guardian of Twilight, with her faithful partner, Luna! Luminary of the Stars! Although our hearts' are at peace, you have unleashed a fury that awakened the legendary warriors inside of us!"

"Why you... Get lost!" the ruffian Noel hit barked. "Or we'll give you a reason to cry and get lost. You hear me, little girl?!"

"Please... you must get away from here!" the researcher pleaded with Noel. "These lot... are very dangerous!"

Spoiler:

"Got that right," the ruffian replied. "You gotta have a lot of spunk to be messin' with the Emerald Dragons..."

"The Emerald Dragons?" Noel asked.

"We'll show ya what happens when you mess with us," the ruffian said, stepping back to unveil a certain pokeball... but it wasn't just a pokeball. It was a higher class of pokeball... an ultra ball. "I'll mess you up with my rare, powerful pokemon! Seviper!!" He threw his pokeball, and the energy released materialized into a snake pokemon, a Seviper, who slathered in and out it's tongue, letting loose a roar that echoed throughout the cave. But there was something odd about this particular Seviper: Noel recognized one from the pictures she saw in class, but this one had purplish-eyes, blue tail, and moss-green patterns on its body, instead of the normal light-red eyes, red tail, and yellow patterns it would normally have.

"Those colours..." Noel observed. "Seviper normally don't have those colours..."

"Impressed, kid?" the battling ruffian bragged. "Costed a pretty penny, but bagged a good one! Rare, powerful and unstoppable!"

"Cost? Are you saying you lot bought that pokemon?" Noel asked, with a wave of disgust. "But pokemon are our friends! They are no some sort of product for you fools to buy!" Luna cried in agreement, preparing her battle stance.

"Bah, what does some kid know? Who cares! It's the strongest pokemon that wins in the end!" the ruffian barked, with his Seviper making mocking hissing notices toward its opponent. "Nuff' talk... Seviper! Poison Tail attack!" his Seviper rushed in, raising its glowing purple tail in preparing to strike.

"Get out of the way, Luna!" Noel shouted. Luna managed to nimbly dodge all of Seviper's attacks while trying to use the terrain to her advantage, gaining her leverage for leverage, but Seviper was also as quick as it was vicious, managing to quickly catch up with Luna's speed and dodging habits, hitting it square on with its poisonous tail, knocking Luna back a few feet backward. "Oh no...!"

Spoiler:

"You think you're a match for our speed, kid?!" the ruffian taunted. "Another Poison Tail!" he then commanded. His Seviper didn't give Luna much time to rest, as it struck the Clefairy again with another strike from its tail. Not only was it a good match up, but its ability to quickly strike with its tail seemed to be its advantage against Luna.

"We will strike back, then!" Noel declared. "Show them your power, Luna! Copycat!!" Luna's eyes glowed a shining blue light. She glared intensively at the Seviper, then quickly made a leap upwards. It's small tail glowed a colourful purple colour; not knowing how to react, the Seviper was quickly then hit with Luna's attack.

"Th-that was Poison Tail!" the other ruffian noticed. "But how?!"

"Copycat is a move that allows Luna to use the last move that was used in the battle," Noel explained. "Now do you understand? You can't fathom the powers that the Luminary of the Stars possess!"

"A weakling is still a weakling, kid!" the battling ruffian scoffed. "You'll never beat me and my rare pokemon!" His Seviper shrugged off the hit from Luna, and quickly made another battle cry.

"You best watch! To ensure the smiles upon the unhappiest of faces, we will tap in our unlimited power: the power of luminary miracles!" Noel declared, followed up with a battle cry from Luna.

Meanwhile, the wild Mawile had finally caught up to where the action was. It then quickly hid itself behind a few boulders, not expecting of the multiple people that were now around the quirky girl and her Clefairy. The Mawile noticed the men who were battling her... they both were wearing jackets... that had both a particular image that was embroidered on their back. It dawned on the Mawile: it had seen that pattern before...

...On that dreadful night.

"Next time you old bat...don't mess with the dragons!!" That was the shout that rang in its ears. Her old master's house burned down, and her master perish trying to save her Mawile's life. All the Mawile remembered that night, were the humans who wore those same dragon-like patterns on their clothing, just as those men who were battling Noel had now. The Emerald Dragons.

It got scared... what if this girl got hurt as well because of them? But still, the Mawile was scared. All it could do was hide from them. Even so, within her fear, she didn't want the same Clefairy that helped it get hurt by these same people as well. For now, she could only wonder on how it could help.. or if it even could.

Groc · Jun 15, 2020

Vera Hill, Jordan Springs, Casey Holt
Chapter 5 - Bed, then Breakfast
Lavender Town, May 24th

Vera bolts upright, flailing at the back of her neck, only succeeding in hitting herself in the face with a blanket. "Wha- Zuba- my hai... huh?" Gasping for breath, she looks around the dark room in a state of shock, until a soft "ruff" catches her attention.

She looks down to see Iggy standing on his hind legs, his front paws on the bed as he looks at her with concern. A bleary-eyed Bonnie is on her feet, club at the ready, while Sapphire is still curled into a ball, sleeping.

"Oh... just a dream..." Vera reaches down to scratch behind Iggy's ears. "It's okay guys, I'm fine." She grabs her phone to check the time, and is horrified to see it's only a quarter after 4 in the morning. "It's too early for this..."

Despite the early hour, Vera decides to grab a quick shower. After her adventures in the Tunnel, she feels very unclean, especially after that little night terror. The shower feels good, and she takes some extra time on her hair. She's glad Casey talked her out of cutting it off, but she wouldn't have done so anyway. Still, he'd said she looked cute...

Now clean and wrapped in a towel, she stifles a yawn as she looks over her clothes for the day. Her gaze falls on her red shirt, and the small tear Pepper accidentally ripped with his claws. Grabbing her sewing kit and red thread, she does her best to patch the hole, taking longer than normal on account of still being tired. It's a decent fix, and not very visible unless one was looking for it.

She sits back down on her bed, letting out another yawn. Iggy puts his paws on her leg, so she picks him up, idly petting him. "I should see if there's breakfast yet... maybe the boys are awake by now." She lets her head drop, and she's asleep before she even knows it, Iggy happily sitting on her lap.

☆☆Two hours later...☆☆

There's a knock on the door, and Jordan's voice comes through faintly. "Hey Vera, it's almost 7 - you good to go soon?"

Iggy jumps down from Vera's lap, hitting the floor with a thump. He recognizes Jordan's voice, and barks to let Jordan know he heard him. Vera is startled awake, and nearly falls off the bed. "I'm up, I'm up! Just give me ten minutes!"

She reaches for her backpack, accidentally knocking it off the bed. "Maybe fifteen..."

It doesn't take her nearly that long, and soon she's dressed and ready to go, with all her gear packed and her Pokémon safely in their Pokeballs. She's wearing the red shirt, along with black pants, her trusty black flannel, and her worn out canvas shoes. She frowns down at the shoes before stepping outside, deciding to visit a clothing store later to buy new ones. Hopefully, her Trainer card will cover the costs for new ones.

Heading out, Vera knocks on Casey's door. "Come on, guys, I'm waiting on you now. I'll be in the lobby." She doesn't wait for them to respond, hoping there's still food available.

The boys emerge from Casey's room a moment later with no explanation for the delay, but Jordan gestures to Vera when he sees her, opening his backpack to reveal several bags of chips and candy bars lying on top of his clothes and supplies. "There's uh, Ranch, BBQ, Dill - take your pick."

Vera accepts the offering, grabbing the ranch flavor and ignoring Casey's half formed protests. These wouldn't be her first choice, but it was still food.

Casey finally finds the words he's looking for, which turn out to be: "This is breakfast, what is wrong with you, both of you-"

She slowly and deliberately removes a single potato chip and eats it in front of Casey, smirking slightly at his reaction. "Hey, I'm hungry, and I don't see you offering anything. If you're going to make this a problem, come up with a solution."

Casey turns on his heel, stalks over to the breakfast bar and selects a pear, tossing it up and down a few times as he inspects it.

And with a flick of his wrist, it's flying directly at Vera's face.

She flinches, dropping the chips as she turns her head and raises her hands on instinct. Her eyes shut, she waits for the impact of fruit to the head, but it never comes. When she looks, Jordan is between her and Casey, having stepped in to save her.

He's not the most graceful, but he fumbles with the pear for a few seconds and does manage to stop it without dropping it on the ground. "I- you- why do you keep throwing things?!"

"Efficiency."

"How much time are you sav- you were walking back here anyway!"

Casey continues to act like his choices are logical with the excuse: "Well I can't carry everything, now can I?"

"You seemed pretty good at 'carrying everything' earlier, with the amount of stuff you managed to bring…"

Vera watches them bicker for a moment, then goes to make a cup of tea. This is exactly the kind of social activity she'd avoided back at Cape, but with these two it felt familiar, almost comfortable. It brings a slight smile to her face, one she quickly hides behind her cup. She pays enough attention to hear Jordan say,

"-that's different, I know you're used to hurling things at me, but she's a lady-"

Vera's smile fades at that, but she doesn't bother hiding the frown. The tea isn't very good, anyway, so she sets the cup down. Before she can respond, she notices Casey looking her over. "She could prob'ly catch just fine if she didn't flinch. Or if she had to."

I thought we were friends, why are they picking on me? Vera thinks. What she says is slightly more defensive. "Yeah, sure, if I had to, but a heads up would be nice! And why'd you aim for the face?!"

"So you could see it."

"I'm not blind, Casey, and you're not exactly subtle." She whirls on Jordan before he can agree with her. "And I'm not helpless, either. Thanks for stepping up, but it was a pear, Jordan. It's a soft fruit, it wouldn't even leave a bruise. I can take care of myself."

Casey laughs, and Vera bristles, assuming he's laughing about her ability to take care of herself. "Wouldn't leave a bruise? Vera, you'd bruise more than the pear if it hit you."

Vera grabs an apple from the plate Casey had brought her, raising her arm to throw it at his face. "Then let's see which one bruises more, you or this!" But Jordan is once again ready to protect his friends, grabbing Vera's arm before she can let fly the fruit.

"Okay, okay! That's enough fruit for today. We-" he sighs, gently removing the apple from her grasp. "Hey, how about the Gym, huh? Let's keep our eyes on the prize here."

Vera sits down in a huff. "I have to buy something first." she says, but Casey says the same thing at the same time. The two lock eyes, and Casey points to Vera with a grin. She points back reflexively, not entirely sure why, but takes the initiative to speak up.

"I don't know where you want to go, but after yesterday I need some new shoes. Because I am not going through that again." She pounds a fist on the table for emphasis, then winces and shakes her hand. That hurt more than I thought it would...

Jordan wiggles his feet around inside his shoes and grimaces. "Same, actually - these aren't a lost cause, but the soles could use a little more time to… air out. Wouldn't mind getting a new pair and giving these a break."

"I don't know where I want to go anyway, so that's fine." Casey continues on before Vera can raise any questions. "May 's well resupply while we're out, then, huh?"

Vera nods, taking a bite of some of the fruit Casey had given her. "Sounds like a plan. We'll do some shopping, then hit the gym after lunch, yeah?"

A joint post between Groc, Juno, and Aquacorde.

Ninetales · Jun 17, 2020

Coralie Summers & Arianne Chandler

Lavender Town, May 24^th

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pokémon

♡

Coralie's team:

Florian the Bulbasaur
Stella-Luna the Noibat

Theme song:[/tab]

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Quaint Brunch Date

Coralie emerged from her room, Florian in toe. She wore a soft pink A-line dress and a pair of cute sandals, her long bubblegum locks cascading down her back. It felt good to change out of her usual paint-splattered overalls.

She flounced down the hallway toward the receptionist who glanced up at her with a pearly white smile. It was the same woman from the night before.

"Goodmorning, complimentary breakfast will be served at the Pokemon Center restaurant if you're interested."

Coralie squealed. "Oh, that sounds wonderful! Thank you." With that, she headed off to the restaurant, her stomach grumbling as she thought of all of the scrumptious breakfast options.

~

She was seated, multiple slices of french toast before her, stacked high on an azure plate, all bathed in saccharine syrup and doused in icing sugar. Her eyes were sparkling as she took her first nibble. "WOW, this is FABULOUS!" She cried.

She had decided to sit on the restaurant's outdoor patio, and was situated at a quaint table tucked in the corner. Multiple blooming bushes surrounded the perimeter of the patio and a medium-sized flowering deciduous tree stood nearby, Pidgey chirping as they perched on the tree's many branches.

"Oh, hi Coralie! This time I'm sure it's you!" Arianne chuckled, as she finally appeared on the patio. No need to say, the older girl got up fairly late that morning as well, but she took less time getting ready than her friend. And while she didn't expect to see her, she definitely wanted to… at least to check on her after the previous night's scare.

"Again, can I sit here please?" Arianne asked - just for courtesy - as she put on the table the generous breakfast she ordered for herself. "I hope you're feeling better today…"

"Oh, hi, Arianne!" Coralie greeted with a mouth stuffed full of sustenance. She swallowed and smiled at her friend. "Last night was quite a scare! I'm just glad we made it out ok." She glanced in the direction of the haunted tower. "I'll make sure to stay away from that spooky place! Eeek! I don't even want to think about it."

"I'd better do the same…" Arianne sighed, looking down at her friend before sitting beside her. "As you can see, I didn't sleep that much last night. What about you though? Seems like you handled it better after all… you look great today!" Her voice jumped from being sounding sad and tired to slightly happier - for Coralie, of course.

"Oh, thank you!" Coralie blushed. "I had an amazing sleep, surprisingly! I was exhausted after all of the excitement yesterday and I was asleep the moment I hit the sheets! I had a dream, though I only remember bits and pieces of it.." She trailed off as she recalled remnants of her dream. Coralie smiled at her friend then. "If you're tired, why not have some tea? I've heard that the London Fogs here are to die for!"

"Wish I could say the same! But… I did have some bad dreams, woke up way too early, and couldn't get back to sleep. At least I lied down rather than being fully awake." Arianne explained. "So, I'll definitely try out that tea later, seems like a great idea!"

The black haired girl started to munch on her breakfast. "This really is good! Hopefully it will keep me up for today" she smiled. "So… what are you up to today, Coralie?"

"I'm sorry to hear that!" Coralie cast her friend a sympathetic gaze. "I'm planning on taking a stroll through town, I want to go exploring, see all that Lavender has to offer!" She took another bite of her breakfast, murmuring a satisfactory "Mmm-hmm!"

"I also want to see what wild pokemon live on the outskirts of town, hopefully I don't run into anything too spooky!"

Arianne laughed at her friend's last remark. "That sounds like a great plan! I'm probably coming along for this morning, maybe it will clear my mind a bit. But…" she took another bite of her breakfast. "Do you think the Tower really is the valid gym, as that other guy said? Does it mean that we need to go there again? I-I've heard that the official Gym is specialized in Electric types."

"EEEK! Ari, I think you'll have to go alone! I wouldn't go for all the french toast in the world, well, maybe I would, but that's besides the point!" Coralie looked at her friend seriously. "Who knows if that Mav guy is still creepily lurking about?! I suppose it is a gym but regardless… it's suspicious, for sure. If you go, please be safe!!!"

"Oh, Coralie, I don't wanna go either, obviously. I just hope we're not forced to. It's already happened with Rock Tunnel… you know, I'm afraid of caves…" Arianne replied.

"Well, you made it out, didn't you!? I got trapped in Rock tunnel in an underground tavern, it's a long story!" Coralie began before giggling. "It's good to face your fears sometimes, isn't it? That's how you grow! I certainly had to set my fears aside when entering Lavender tower yesterday, I was so anxious, Ari! I was able to do so though because of you! Courtney and Francis, too, of course! We were there for one another and we made it. Well, Francis chickened out, but, you get the point."

"Next time you have to travel through a cave, I'm just a call away! I'm always up for an adventure!"

"Wait, are we? I should check and exchange numbers if we didn't already." Arianne almost interrupted her friend. "But… yeah, I made it out thanks to some great company. They brought me into the deepest parts of Rock Tunnel and made me swim in an underground lake, remember? But since they were there it was… acceptable. I even got a nice little treasure out of it!" She giggled. "I'd say it would've been even better with you though…"

"Oh, yes, I remember you telling me about that last night! I found a treasure of my own in Rock Tunnel!" Coralie's eyes were sparkling as she reminisced on the exhilarating memory. "Oh! I do believe we exchanged contacts when we were at Cape!" Coralie reached for her sleek jet black purse and began rummaging through it to locate her pokegear.

"You found treasure too? That's so cool Coralie!" the black haired girl exclaimed as, in the meantime, she quickly cleaned her hands and pulled up her backpack, now emptied out of most of the additional clothing and sleeping bag. She quickly pulled out her PokéGear, but she had to rummage through the various pockets for a few minutes to try and find the other thing she wanted to show Coralie. "Wait, I… can't find it. What happened here?"

"About your number… yeah, there you are, one of the oldest contacts! My bad!" Arianne chuckled as she let go of her bag for a moment and checked the list of contacts on her PokéGear. Seeing Coralie being already there made her let out a sigh of relief. But, in order to do that, she had to give up finding the treasure - she soon returned to fiddle with her stuff as soon as the number issue was sorted out.

"Arianne, is something the matter? Have you misplaced an item, perhaps?" Coralie asked curiously, as she watched her friend grow somewhat worrisome.

"Ugh, my lucky stone! Guess what color it is?" Arianne answered with a weird mixture of worriness and playfulness. "I didn't even want it, but I lost a game of rock paper scissors and it started to grow on me! And now… I wonder where that could be."

"Let's retrace your steps! When was the last time you had it? Did you check your bag for it last night once we returned to the pokemon center?" Coralie questioned before plopping another bite of gooey French toast into her mouth. " And it's definitely purple." She added, her cheeks full of syrupy goodness. "No need to worry, we'll find it for sure! We'll go into full detective mode."

"Yes, correct!" Arianne laughed. "But, I've always kept it in my backpack, in this pocket, ever since I got ready for dinner? And never checked afterwards." she explained, pointing at a small side pocket of her bag. "I can check more carefully throughout my room but you know what? I have a bad feeling about this."

"We can check the restaurant, it's possible someone turned it in. The other logical places it would be are the pokemon centre battlefield, your room, and… Lavender tower." Coralie gulped as she mentioned the last location. "Oh my… you don't think it's there, do you…? It might have fallen out of your bag when we were making our escape. EEK!"

"That's exactly what I think happened… it could've slipped out the moment I almost fell on the stairs. B-but… I don't really wanna go there. I'd rather check some of the other places at first!" Arianne shuddered at the thought of going back to the tower. "M-maybe since it's d-daytime…" she sighed heavily.

"Well, what are we waiting for! Mission: Find the lost stone commences! Let me just pay first.." Coralie giggled sheepishly, before she jumped up from her seat, grabbed her purse, and took Arianne by the hand before dragging her into the restaurant.

~

"There you are again! I've scanned my room to the best of my abilities and I couldn't find the stone. Have you found anything out in the battlefield? Because if that didn't work, it means only the t-tower…" Arianne explained, after finding Coralie in the Pokémon Center hall and running to her. "I-if I prepare well, I may actually d-do it…"

"I searched high and low but I couldn't find anything! I'm so sorry, Arianne!" Coralie hung her head apologetically. "I guess Lavender tower is the ONLY place left! EEEEEEEK! I get anxious at the thought of stepping foot in that horrific building again!"

"I'm starting to think I won't get it back anyways. A trainer or a Pokémon could have just taken it, it happens… but it's important to me!" Arianne complained, begging for encouragement. "I-I feel like I should still check the tower out… D-d-don't worry though, you don't need to come if it makes you feel like that." she continued, her voice getting more unsteady.

"No, Arianne. I'm not going to let you go to the tower alone! I'm sticking by your side. You lost something special to you and I won't rest until we find it! I'll have to cast my worries away for now. Besides, we make a fabulous combination! Pokemon Tower, here we come!" Coralie bellowed, her eyes ablaze with fiery determination, her fist pumped into the air.

"T-thank you but… I don't want to force you or put you in danger. I g-guess we can go there and then decide what to do?" Arianne asked, a bit baffled by Coralie's rather sudden change of attitude.

"As frightening as the tower may be, what's even more frightening is the thought of you losing something so important! Also, it is daylight after all. I'm sure Mav is gone along with those ghost pokemon! As long as we have each other, nothing can stop us, right?"

The black haired girl laughed. "Yes, you're totally right! I think…" she looked closely in her friend's eyes. "Let's just go and get this over with, alright? W-we have each other!"

Groc · Jun 22, 2020

Vera Hill, Casey Holt, Jordan Springs
Chapter 5 - A Shoe-In
Lavender Town, May 24th

With the help of a map and some friendly locals that Vera didn't want to talk to, the trio manage to find a decent shoe store. Apparently, hiking and running are popular forms of exercise around Lavender, so proper footwear is encouraged.

The store is neatly organized, with men's shoes on one side and women's on the other, so Jordan and Vera end up going to different aisles in search of their respective accessories. Vera wanders the aisles first, trying to figure out what she needs. Thinking back, Route 9 and Rock Tunnel had been rough on her, especially after getting her shoes wet, so she definitely wants some decent hiking boots in case there are any more rocky roads ahead.

That said, it wasn't going to be all caves and mountains, so a pair of good walking shoes would be a smart purchase. If Palm's going to make us walk around the whole country, then decent shoes should count as a justifiable expense!

Oddly, and a little annoyingly, she keeps coming across Casey in the aisles, apparently interested in the variety of womens' styles but tsking at the quality. She finds some nice running shoes, but while looking for a pair in size 9, he comes up beside her, which leaves her inexplicably embarrassed, and she snaps at him. "Casey, this isn't even your side of the store! If you want to help, why don't you help Jordan?"

Casey blinks at her. "I'm just lookin' at cute shoes. Not that any of them fit me, or that I'd want to wear them if they did. The soles are already comin' off half of these, did you notice? Make sure to check before you decide on a pair." He wanders around the corner again.

Vera feels a little bad, upset that she lost her composure like that. She resolves to apologize before they leave, and even lets herself get a little excited. After all, she didn't get new shoes very often, especially not high quality ones like some of the brands here, so she decides to get herself two pairs, as a treat.

She finds the running shoes she wanted, in a sky blue, and is trying to decide between brown boots or black when she hears Casey laughing. She grabs the black and leans out to investigate, noticing Jordan doing the exact same thing down the aisle. The two share a confused glance, Vera wondering what Casey could find so amusing in a shoe store, before heading off to find out.

They find Casey near the front of the store, along with two unfamiliar boys, both about their age. One is a similar size and build to Casey, with a red jacket and a buzz cut. The other is shorter, with spiky blond hair and small glasses. The big guy seems confused by Casey's laughter, and it looks like his friend was doing most of the talking.

"What's all this, then?" Vera smoothly hands her two boxes to Jordan, hand on her hip as she looks at the boys.

"Huh- oh, they're spreadin' rumors or something. 'Bout Ghost-types."

The smaller boy adjusts his glasses. "As I was explaining to your friend here, Lavender has a deep cultural connection to Ghost types, along with a shiny new power plant that is very attractive to Electric types. As such, it's the perfect home for Rotom."

"My cousin Jimmy says he saw one when he was here last." The larger student chimes in. "So we're headin' to the graveyard later to catch one. You want in on this action?"

Vera glances at Casey and Jordan. "I don't know… what do you guys think?"

Jordan doesn't say anything, but also doesn't look unopposed to the proposition, as he sits and considers this. Casey laughs breezily, which seems to agitate the unfamiliar boys. "I'm not gonna be baited into that."

The big guy scoffs at the trio. "Shoulda known. Weak little Cape kids, too scared of the dark!"

"Weak?!" Vera steps forward, glaring daggers at the Safari student. "I am not weak. You wanna see a Ghost? I'm in."

To his credit, the boy doesn't seem that threatened by Vera, even having the audacity to laugh at her. "I think I'm seeing a ghost right now. Sure you won't chicken out?" He jabs a finger into her shoulder, pushing her back a step and making her like him even less.

"Time and place." She growls through gritted teeth. "I'll be there."

The shorter one gently pushes the big one back, drawing attention to himself again. "They lock the gates at sundown, 7 PM. Meet us in front of the gates at 7:30."

Vera continues to glare at them as they leave. She sighs, rubbing her shoulder indignantly. "I don't like those two. Who do they think they are?"

"Safari trainers." Casey shrugs. "Don't really know why they have it out for us."

"Well, I don't like them either." Vera takes her boxes back from Jordan. "They're jerks. I'm not letting them get away with insulting us, either. I'm going to that graveyard tonight, and then we'll see who's scared. It'll be them."

"You're on your own there, then," Casey says mildly.

"Well, now, hold on," Jordan finally interjects. "This could be… an experience."

Casey looks scandalized. Vera nods, grinning in smug satisfaction that Jordan agrees with her. Sort of.

"Come on, challenge or not, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really get some hands-on experience in dealing with the Pokemon of Lavender Town! Where's your intellectual curiosity?"

"My 'intellectual curiosity' can be satisfied by plenty of other experiences, thank you very much."

"That's your choice, Casey." Vera deposits her boxes on the counter. "Jordan and I can go have an experience, and maybe we'll bring you back a souvenir."

A joint post between Groc, Aquacorde, and Juno.

Aquacorde · Jun 29, 2020

Casey Holt & Jordan Springs & Vera Hill

Friday, May 24, 2019
Lavender Town
Morning, Day 5

5-08: new techniques

The logo displayed above a little storefront catches Casey's attention; he's seen it plenty over the past week after all, branded just above the grip of his walking stick.

Strange.

Vera and Jordan follow him into the quiet shop, where a middle-aged woman greets them. "Hi!" Casey responds cheerfully. "I didn't know y'all had a store in Lavender!"

"Mm," she says, carefully marking a page in her book and setting it aside. "This is the original; our studio is in the back. Everything we make is crafted right here in Lavender. The Saffron location is mostly for promotion."

You KNOW your walking stick isn't possessed, don't even start this shit- "That's really cool! Don't s'pose you do demos, do ya?"

She shakes her head, salt-and-pepper curls bouncing with the motion. "Not today; everyone's focused on the festival. Monday, perhaps. But you three are travelling trainers, aren't you? And you'll be leaving before then."

"We'll probably be gone before Sunday, let alone Monday." Vera speaks up, keeping an eye on Bonnie as she looks at staves.

"My apologies, then. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Oh, yeah, I had an idea! I commissioned a walking stick from here a while ago and it's been great, really, love that thing. Very pleased. Uh, but my Charmeleon had to use it for a battle yesterday-"

The raised eyebrow gives Casey pause. "Sturdy as they are, they're not made to be weapons."

"I know, sorry, we were kind of in a pinch. But it worked! It's way too long for him, though, obviously it was made specifically for my height and like you said, not for that. But today I thought: what if he did have something like that? Made for fighting, at least, I don't really have time to get something made custom."

"Hm. Let me see him."

Casey lets Pepper out to be inspected. Inevitably, he preens and poses under the shopkeep's calculating gaze. She takes one of his clawed hands, gently tests the range of motion starting with each claw and ending at his shoulder. "Hm."

"His name is Pepper. He likes to run circles 'round things. And hit things with sticks," Casey volunteers. It might be useful information. He doesn't really know.

The woman nods, apparently taking this into consideration as she continues her evaluation. Casey's focus drifts to Vera as he waits, across the room and looking rather bored. She idly sizes a short length of wood against Bonnie.

"I don't know, do you want a new weapon?" Bonnie merely holds up her club, then flips it around, the green Leaf Blade energy erupting from the broken end. She cradles the weapon lovingly as Vera returns the staff. "Yeah, you're right. You have that whole bone theme going for you."

Casey doesn't even realize the shopkeep has left until she returns, a matched pair of sturdy staves in hand.

"These," she says, handing one to Pepper for examination, "are called tanbō, or short staves. They are much the same as hanbō- half staves- though there are a few differences. The most obvious is that hanbō are traditionally about a meter long, while tanbō are sized based on their users' hand-to-elbow length. These in particular are half a meter. Conveniently, a Charmeleon's forearms grow very little upon evolution, so he will be able to use them effectively as a Charizard as well."

Casey and Pepper as one, look at Pepper's arms. "Huh. That's good to know!" A fleeting memory from a karate class makes itself known. "Uh, aren't a lot of bō techniques two-handed?" He's never used any himself, only watched advanced classes train with them.

"Ah." The woman smiles. "Traditionally, yes. However, Pokémon battles are a decidedly non-traditional use. All bō techniques assume the user has a single weapon and that the opponent is human. Much of the focus is on blocking strikes and immobilization of the opponent- this will not translate to the majority of Pokémon, as many are not humanoid and it is a rare ranged move that may be deflected with such a tool. Therefore, I would recommend a focus on striking techniques. May I?"

She gives a short bow- "Oh, yeah, sure-" and Casey responds in kind as he's been trained, motioning for Pepper to observe. "Youi," she instructs. Natural stance is met with approval, but she doesn't immediately begin a demonstration. Instead, her tone becomes deadly serious.

"First, allow me to impress that these striking techniques are not to be used on humans. Our species is far more fragile than any species of Pokémon, and far slower to recover. These ideas come from a time when crippling or even lethal force was necessary for individuals' survival. They form the basis of bōjutsu, but those trained in the art are also trained never to use force that would cause lasting damage. If one must defend themselves against a human, blocking and immobilizing are the only routes one may take. That said..."

Her voice lightens once more as she also takes up a ready position. "To give the tanbō the most striking power, one must use wide, arcing motions from the shoulder." From holding it loosely at her side, she sweeps her right arm out and up, almost fully extending as she brings the staff across and down to tap Casey's left shoulder. "It becomes an extension of the body in this way. For precision, it can be manipulated by the wrist-" A flick of her wrist and the staff taps his temple. "-and for a balance, by the elbow." Up, then back again at his shoulder. "To severely injure a human, one would aim to strike bones resting close to the surface. The skull, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles are all prominent and easy to target." She taps each as she speaks. "The shoulders, ribs, and hips may also be targeted, though they are naturally protected by the way humans hold themselves. Understood?"

"Makes sense, yeah." Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Pepper nod along with him. Good.

"For extremely focused strikes, the grip is shifted- the tanbō may be flipped in hand, or the hand may slide forward along the shaft to hold the opposite end. These two were not made with a dedicated grip, so either method will suffice." The woman demonstrates both. Pepper, of course, is delighted that twirling the thing could be a functional move. Maybe they could put that sense of showmanship to use as well...

"Once gripped in this manner, the tanbō can support the forearm as it blocks or pushes an opponent. The strike becomes a jab, aimed primarily at soft tissues rather than bone. The pit of the stomach and the throat are the most obvious targets." Casey swallows reflexively at the touch to his Adam's apple. She smiles, and everything about her is reassuring as she comes back to natural stance as well.

He's a hundred percent sure she could break every bone in his body.

She bows, and so does he. With two hands she offers the second tanbō to him. Like its twin, it is made of a dense wood, stained darker even than its maker's skin and finished with a sealant, and with the same brand at one of the bases.

"In finding the ideal way to use bōjutsu in Pokémon battles, I would think it best to have as many options as possible. I do believe that a focus on striking will do you well, and a second tanbō will provide more opportunity to do so. However, it may be that the traditional ways turn out to be the most effective. I cannot be sure. In a more speculative vein… you may run into trouble using these techniques against armored or amorphous types. Be mindful of that." She grins, quick and bright but with an edge. "And try that walking stick again someday and report back, hm?"

Casey blinks. She anticipates him, though. "Just because they are not made for combat doesn't mean they can not be used for such. So. Will you take the tanbō?"

"Absolutely, how much?"

The woman names her price, and Casey hears Vera gasp, "Whoa, whoa, how much? For a pair of sticks?!" But he nods and produces a card from his wallet.

"Casey, there's no way that Palm will let you charge that to your Trainer card!" Vera puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him, which all is rather confusing.

"Huh? 'Course not. This is my personal card." He hands it over, Vera's hand slipping from his shoulder. "₽11000 isn't that much, really, not for high-quality handcrafted pieces like these. You should be charging more," Casey notes, despite the shopkeeper's raised eyebrow. He scribbles a generous tip on the receipt anyway, as usual. They're pieces of art, even if they have a practical application as well. She rolls her eyes when she sees the amount, but accepts it anyway.

He hears Jordan hoarsely whisper an "I'm sorry, what?!" as he sticks his card back into his wallet, which he ignores until he's done a polite farewell, returned Pepper, and led the three out of the store.

"What're you being weird for?"

"You think we're being weird?!" Vera seems upset. "You just spent more money on those staves than I've ever had. You're the weird one."

"Ah." That kind of thing. "Sorry. It's not weird for me." Maybe not the most sensitive thing to say, but it is what it is.

"It's just… I mean, it's already done now but…" Vera struggles to find the words. "I know Pepper did some good work back in the Tunnel, but… if you're sure…"

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. I know what I can afford." It's basically anything, but if they're the type to see money as a status symbol or whatever his old boss had tried to explain to him… he'll keep the depth of it to himself. Still won't stop him from buying them fun things or footing the bill at restaurants. If he can afford it, then he should, right?

"Well… aren't you confident." Vera replies with her usual sass, but she doesn't press the issue any further.

Jordan leers at Casey's wallet as he fumbles for his words. "Yeah, but you-" he closes his mouth, thinks for a moment and tries again. "That kind of money can- but I mean-"

Eventually, he shakes his head and gives up. It's not the first time Casey's done something like this, nor the first time Jordan's objected. Someday he'll push, Casey knows it.

But not today.

"Resupply now, yeah?"

moon · Jul 4, 2020

Ralph Gonder

Rock Tunnel

Thursday, May 23
Afternoon, Day 4

It was a very dark tunnel Ralph descended into. Joseph wasn't there. Well, what had she expected? That he had just been sitting around waiting for her? No, she had to admit to herself that she actually expected him to have been, well, not awake. Injured.

Oh.

The pile of rocks behind her suddenly became intensely frightening. What if he was below all of those? She couldn't move them on her own. Could Sandsy help? He was tired from the battle though, and the Geodude she had captured was also weak. But, hang on, those were not the only pokémon at her disposal currently.

Apprehensively, she called out Lycanroc from one of Joseph's pokéballs. She still didn't like the girl much, but when Ralph explained that they had to find Joseph, she at least agreed to help. Together, they moved as many rocks as they could in the relative darkness. But after a while, it became clear that there probably was nobody under there.

Ralph felt relieved - there was no body either. She had really been dreading finding something. But that meant that he wasn't here at all. He had gone on then? She glanced towards the tunnel. Only a faint light came from around the bend. Well, she didn't exactly have a choice. She recalled Lycanroc and started stumbling along the wall on her own.

The tunnel was narrower than any she had gone through this far. She was lucky to not be claustrophobic. After what felt like an eternity, there was finally a light at the end though! Ralph approached, and found herself gazing out over a seemingly endless rocky landscape. The northeastern mountain range of Kanto. There was basically nothing here at all, for humans at least. She emerged on a small ledge, with a steep edge and a fall that surely no human would survive. Oh...

She glanced over the edge, not really afraid for her own safety, but mostly feeling dread fill up inside of her again. There was a lot of spiky rocks below, but no body. Phew.

But there was no way away from here either. There was just a ledge. So where had Joseph gone? Maybe... Maybe he had survived the fall and crawled away somewhere to where she couldn't see? Into some other cave? And there, met his end.

A wave of hopelessness came over her, and she felt herself sinking down against the cliffside, sliding down to sit on the rocky ground just staring into the distance. The weather was relatively nice; grey but with sun peeking through the clouds here and there. It wasn't very windy. It wasn't too cold.

But Ralph was too useless.

She buried her face in her knees and wrapped her arms around them. What was she supposed to do now? This was not how she had thought her journey would come to an end. Well, she could go back of course. But then what? 'My traveling companion died in the caves, sorry. Yeah, I had a probably illegal travel partner. But he doesn't count if he's dead, right?'

She was done for. Expelled, or at the very least not getting any more chances to graduate. Maybe she could mop the floors at Cape College for the rest of her life. She sure couldn't go home.

The faces of her elder siblings floated into her mind. So great, so successful, always getting praised. How could Ralph have ever thought she could compete with that? Pokémon is a unique hobby in the family, no bar is set, you cannot possibly fail. Well, clearly if anything can be failed, Ralph will be able to fail at it.

She didn't even notice that her fingernails were clawing into the skin of her legs through the jeans until she suddenly noticed it hurting. What a bother, jeans. She wished she could wear her shorts. Wouldn't that be just great? If she also started breaking promises now. Great.

Several minutes passed, with Ralph spiraling deeper and deeper into her own self-wallowing. Until suddenly, one of her pokéballs popped open.

Greeny emerged, and blinked up at her trainer with those huge eyes. Clearly noticing she was upset, Greeny almost instantly took to forcing herself into Ralph's arms and smiling at the girl with a squeak.

"I don't feel like... Cuddling right now," Ralph muttered weakly. "I've lost two friends in one day," she added, and feelings of guilt over how childishly she had handled the Arianne and dragon situation surfaced as well. Her head fell back town onto her knees, Greeny being squished against her belly.

But the small purple creature didn't give up. She squeaked even louder, and the result became four more pokéballs popping open. Ralph's head shot up at the noise and light coming from her belt, and found Edgy and Softy close to her, their large bug eyes staring expectantly at her. On her other side, Coldy was helping a still exhausted Sandsy stand up. But she still shot Ralph a glare along with Sandsy's softer gaze.

All of them were rather clearly trying to convey some message about not giving up or that she wasn't useless at all. She assumed. And, dammit, maybe it worked. She hated cringy shit like this. There was no way she would pull them all into a hug now and cry like a little kid.

Turns out she didn't need to. Sandsy stumbled forward and was the one to initiate the hug for her. Softy followed suit, her strange fur tickling Ralph's face. Edgy, tsundere as always, put a lance on Ralph's head and she could swear he blushed. Coldy also put one paw on Ralph's knee, in camaraderie. And was that Greeny purring in her lap? No, rats didn't purr. She was just being a little weirdo and content with what she had accomplished, Ralph bet.

"Dammit, guys," Ralph said, and it came out slightly croaked.

She patted Softy and Sandsy on their backs and held back tears - pfft, tears? - before she stood up, grabbing Greeny with one hand and putting her on her shoulder. The Rattata seemed a bit surprised at this new position, but grasped her trainer's shirt with her small claws and nestled in with Ralph's thick braids.

Ralph sent the tired Sandsy back and gave the pokéball one extra affectionate stroke with her thumb before she put it back at her belt. The other three pokémon looked at her where they all were gathered on the small ledge, as if waiting for orders.

"Okay."

Ralph took a few deep breaths. Gotta be rational about all this. Push emotions aside. The future came later, and it was too much of a bother to deal with it right now. What should she deal with right now?

"He probably didn't fall," she suggested. "And he didn't go back into the tunnel. So..."

She slowly turned around and looked at her surroundings closely. Next to the cave opening, the cliffside was extra rough. It could actually be very possible to climb it. He could have climbed up! There was only two meters or so before there was another ledge, and it seemed to lead somewhere further ahead. Could he have made that climb? If so, he maybe wasn't as hurt as she had feared!

Almost smiling, she returned Softy and Coldy to their pokéballs and sent Edgy to scout ahead. Greeny still on her shoulder, she climbed up with relative ease. She had probably just been too stressed to see this solution before.

Her pokémon were really good to have. Not just for battles or for their skills. They were genuinely nice 'people'. The thought made her smile for real once she came up on the next ledge. There was indeed some form of winding path along the cliffside here, and the fall to the side wasn't very steep as there were other boulders and cliffs next to or beneath it. The path turned a corner further ahead so she couldn't fully see where it led, but they walked it nonetheless.

As she turned the corner carefully, Edgy reappeared. He pointed towards another opening in the mountain. She could reach it if she climbed another meter or two up, further ahead on the path.

"Good work, Edgy!" Ralph said and returned him to the pokéball, as he probably wouldn't feel as good flying around inside.

She entered the cave and it was more open and higher ceiling than the previous. Well, anything would be, basically, as the previous cave was almost frighteningly narrow at times. They walked through a seemingly dark and hollow chamber for a few minutes, until it got too dark when the light from the opening disappeared behind them. Deciding that it was better to have more companions here now than to be quiet and careful, Ralph decided to let Softy out. She could behave relatively well, and spot potential dangers with her powers.

They walked onwards even if the darkness was starting to make even Ralph too uncomfortable - until they finally saw another famous cave light up ahead. It turned out to be a quite wondrous sight.

An underground river flowed through the cave, and it was almost glowing, with something bioluminescent - much like the mushrooms from earlier. Ralph soon realized that there was a lot of grass growing here, and many other plants and flowers too, the more the further they walked. It was weirdly beautiful, almost surreal. Even more so than the beautiful-turned-tragical meadow from before. Light was again trickling down from above in small holes in the ceiling.

There were huge orange mushrooms lining the walls and leaning against various pillar formations in the cave. They didn't glow, but they were warm to the touch, Ralph noticed when she brushed past one. Strange. This whole mountain was just one big super strange place. She honestly couldn't wait to get out.

A giggle made her turn around, and she felt Greeny stretch her neck up to see, on her shoulder. Venonat had poked one of the smaller mushrooms, and it started moving. Wait, what?

The mushrooms emerged from where they had been sitting, and came out from the green patches of grass. It was a Paras! It blinked at Venonat, who were trying her best to make friends.

That made sense, Ralph thought, and pulled out her pokédex. And the huge mushrooms must be Parasect, then? She scanned them both, confirming her suspicions. Maybe she should try to capture one? Those claws and spores could come in handy.

Spores.

Oh, that was probably what was in the air around them all of a sudden. Wait, that was bad.

That was really bad.

"Softy," Ralph coughed. "Come on, let's go!"

Softy hopped towards her, but the Paras behind her used another powder attack, with a different tint. Softy fell, and closed her eyes.

"What!" Ralph exclaimed. "Sleep spore, or what?"

She quickly returned her pokémon, at the same time as Greeny jumped off her shoulder.

"Not you too! Let's go! Please!" Ralph called and started running. Thankfully, Greeny actually listened to her orders and ran after her trainer.

But when Ralph turned her attention forward again, two large Parasect blocked her path.

"Oh no, you've gotta be-" she started, but was interrupted by yet another coughing fit.

The Parasect both fired off spores at her and Greeny. She tried to not inhale them, and desperately sent out Coldy and Sandsy.

"Sand Attack! Powder Snow!"

The Sandshrews fired off their attacks and managed to blow away most of the spores.

"Greeny, Quick Attack!"

Greeny threw herself at the Parasects with blinding speed that they didn't see coming after the Sandshrew attacks. It knocked them aside and cleared the path briefly. Ralph recalled Sandsy and Coldy again and sprinted, grabbing Greeny with one hand as she ran past her.

They turned around a corner in the cave with the riverbend. There were no orange mushrooms here, but there was still a lot of greenery and light coming from above.

Her chest hurt. Breathing hurt. Her vision was swimming. Her limbs felt powerless. She fell to her knees, Greeny tumbling out of her arms as she did. It seemed the small pokémon wasn't faring much better than she was.

A strange sound made Ralph look up though. There were pokémon here too. Mushrooms again. But these were yellow and purple. And advancing on them.

"God... Dammit..." Ralph wheezed as her hands couldn't hold her up anymore. She barely registered the small Rattata stumbling and falling against her side as well.

If she had ever imagined her life ending, it sure hadn't involved fairy mushrooms. Alas.

Greeny

Lv 9 | Sandsy

Lv 17 | Coldy

Lv 13
Edgy

Lv 16 | Softy

Lv 10 | Hardy

Lv 8
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

moon · Jul 5, 2020

Ralph Gonder

Rock Tunnel

Thursday, May 23
Afternoon, Day 4

Through the spore induced pain and confusion, Ralph felt something grip her around her torso and pull her up. Her feet lost contact with the ground and she was carried. She made a huge effort to blink and try to make sense of what she was looking up at. A dark face, long dark curls.

"Joseph!" she wanted to call out, but it turned out mostly to be a strong cough.

"Careful, girl," his warm voice said and pulled her tighter. "We're safe now."

She didn't see much else as she was carried for several minutes or hours - she had no idea. Finally, she was jolted back to a slightly aware state when her back felt the ground against it. She let herself be fed something, and forced herself to drink something she was given, and then she vaguely saw Greeny curling up next to her. After a while, she started making out her surroundings and feeling her brain function again.

They were inside of what must be a tent, but it looked furnished. Somebody had probably been here for quite a while. The opening was right in front of her a few meters away, and she was half lying against some sacks and bags on a big rug. Greeny slept and snored cutely against her side.

"Joseph?" Ralph tried, and her voice carried somewhat and she didn't immediately cough anymore. Had she just dreamed that he was here?

In response to her sounds, a big yellow and purple mushroom creature appeared in the tent opening. It smiled at Ralph and walked forward, which caused the trainer to startle and back up, waking Greeny in the process. But Greeny didn't show any aggressiveness towards the newcomer. Instead, she just smiled at it, and then at Ralph. Okay... if the Rattata felt it was safe, maybe it was.

And then, somebody else appeared in the opening at long last.

"Ralph!" Joseph said, beaming and hurrying forward to crouch at her side. "How are you feeling?"

She just stared at him for a moment and felt like crying. She didn't, of course. Instead, she looked away and cleared her throat. "I'm alive, apparently. And so are you."

"Barely," he laughed.

"What happened?" she couldn't help but asking, and turned back towards him again. She was too desperate to play cool.

He sat down and crossed his legs, giving the mushroom pokémon a smile before he started talking. "I fell down and hit my head - among other things. I was terribly worried about you, being left up there with the dangerous pokémon. But I couldn't find a way to get back up, and all my pokémon were still up there. So I walked through the tunnel, found a way out, kept walking and climbing and found the other cave with the Paras which I see you encountered too. It was getting bad, but Shiinotic here showed up to help me, with a dozen Morelulls to help. There seems to be a gang war between the two pokémon families, and the Morelulls and Shiinotic are the less aggressive ones."

Ralph took it in slowly, and felt a bit silly for having worried about him so much. He had hit his head and bruised, but other than that he seemed to have had a much easier time in the tunnels than she had. She crossed her arms and pouted.

"What's this place then? Who lives here?"

"A man called Niels. Shiinotic led me here and they together healed me. When I told him that I was missing a young friend, he told me that you had come by earlier. So I went back to try to find you, but Shiinotic insisted we go back to his home. We did, and found you. I guess the Morelulls there must have signaled him somehow that you had arrived and was in danger. Very nice pokémon, these."

"Okay," Ralph said.

"What has happened with you? Did you defeat the pokémon at the meadow and dig your way down with Sandsy?"

Ralph shook her head and felt really tired. "Is there any food here? I'm starving, really."

Joseph sighed but smiled. "Yes, I just made some. I figured."

They had some form of late lunch, and Ralph finally recounted how she had encountered the Zubats, caught the Geodude, recruited the bossy Archaeologist to help her against the Ferrothorn, used Lycanroc for help... She skipped the emotional part on the ledge on the outside of the mountain, but then went on to confirm what had happened in the Paras area.

Shiinotic and some of Niels' medicines healed both Ralph and some of her pokémon up decently, but they didn't have the kind of medicine that Hardy would need in order to get completely well. Joseph said that they would need at least a Revive grade pokémon medicine for that. This worried Ralph. She had promised to take Hardy back healthy. The Lavender pokémon center it had to be, then.

After they finished eating and cleaning up after themselves, and ensured that Joseph's head and Ralph's lungs were in good enough condition for hiking, they finally left the camp and reconnected with the main tunnel. Joseph was prepared to say goodbye to Shiinotic, but it seemed that the pokémon had taken a liking to him and wished to be part of his group. It was kind of heartwarming to see, Ralph admitted to herself when she saw how Joseph shone up at the realization, tossing a pokéball that engulfed the happy mushroom pokémon without resistance.

Greeny

Lv 9 | Sandsy

Lv 17 | Coldy

Lv 13
Edgy

Lv 16 | Softy

Lv 10 | Hardy

Lv 8
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

WizardOfOdd · Jul 5, 2020

Richard Wolstenholme
Road to Lavender Town, May 23^rd, Evening

Chapter 4 - 9
Onward, to Lavender Town!

"Mmm?" Richard rubbed his eyes as he woke up from his slumber, he looked around. Apparently they hadn't arrived at the Lavender Town yet. Not having any desire to lay down at the comfortable hay bale again, he decided to stretch his arms.

Just as he completely focused himself on stretching, a sudden bump in the road shook the cart he had hitch-hiked with Gordon, which had awoken the old man up.

Gordon looked left and right until he realized they haven't arrived at Lavender yet, which made the old man content to rest his hips once more as he laid down on the fluffy hay bales once more.

"Ah sorry, did it wake you guys up? The road is a little bumpy around here. Don't worry, it wouldn't take long until we reach Lavender." The farmer carrying the carriage smiled towards them.

"Ah, it's fine, Sir. We're really grateful that you didn't mind us tagging along. Sorry, we couldn't repay you with anything."

"Eh, don't be… It's nothing, after all, we're just helping a fellow passerby that's all. Right, Tauros?"

Tauros mooed, agreeing with what his trainer just said. Richard didn't feel right to impose on the farmer's kindness, but he had no choice seeing the condition both him and Gordon were at the time.

Didn't want to turn the atmosphere silent, the farmer tried his best to find a topic of conversation. Feeling confident with the feeling he got from seeing both Richard and Gordon's clothes and condition, he immediately asked a question to both of his passengers. "So you both are adventurers? It's rare to see people going to Lavender Town these days yet alone from Rock Tunnel, most of the people who came just flew over it."

"Uh, we-"

"You can!?" Gordon was about to answer until Richard accidentally cut it.

"Well, it's not there until a few years ago, but yes due to the difficulty of passing supplies through the Rock Tunnel there is one now… All thanks to the Tomorrow Foundation…" The man said listlessly.

Richard was confused, why the man's enthusiasm suddenly gone as it had never existed in the first place? Is it because of the topic? Did he just ask something he shouldn't?

Realizing the situation, Gordon immediately sprung into action as he put his hand on Richard's soldier in an effort to calm him down. "It's not your fault, Richard. The situation in Lavender is a bit complicated."

"Ah, sorry… I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. It's not your fault at all, young man. It's just that… Not all of us like the presence of Tomorrow Foundation on our beloved town, well it's more of afraid to be exact… Anyway, you both are very lucky, we're going to throw a celebration tomorrow!" The farmer changed the topic with a smile now returned in his face.

Not wanting to chase a topic that might be too sensitive to be discussed, Richard decided to play along with the topic change. "Ah, if I may ask? what kind of celebration is it?"

"Geez, you… I've told you to not be so formal around people. I know being polite is important, but you shouldn't be too stiff either." Gordon playfully ruffled Richard's hair.

"Ack, okay, okay, I'm sorry…"

The farmer laughed seeing that their passenger having fun. "It's the warden's birthday, you know… The warden of Pokemon Tower? She's having her 20th birthday and the whole town is celebrating. You both can join, it's pretty fun there. Also, sorry to ask, but are you both related? Because it feels very much so."

"Oh no, we just met earlier today. And about your question earlier? I'm an archeologist and he's a trainer, we met inside the tunnel and he helped me a lot with my research. Thanks for the compliment, though."

Richard smiled and nodded at the statement.

"Oh, you both looked so close with each other that I thought you guys were family haha… So young man, you must've come to Lavender because of the gym here, correct? Well unfortunately for you, that means you have to defeat the heir to Tomorrow Foundation. He's a weird one, that guy…" The farmer shook his head.

"By weird, you mean?" Richard tilted his head, unsure of what the farmer meant by the gym leader being a weird person.

"Well, I'm not going to spoil anything since you're going to meet him anyway. He's one hell of a battler though. Although if I may advise, you should just go to the Pokemon Tower. I'm sure Jarmie will be glad to fight you, besides that Beaumont kid is the official gym leader all because of the foundation's influence, Jarmie would be a much better challenge if you want to hone your skills."

"Thank you for the advice, Sir." Richard just nodded while trying to plaster the best smile he could muster on his face. The bitterness in the farmer's voice when he talked about Future Foundation made him curb his curiosity, as much as he wanted to know more about the situation of the town, he didn't want to be rude and pester the farmer who had helped him and Gordon. Thankfully the ride was soon over as they finally reached the entrance of Lavender Town."

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys, I sincerely hope that you both enjoy what our city has to offer." The farmer grinned as he waved towards Richard and Gordon before he continued his own ride towards his farm.

"It was one hell of a journey, eh? Thanks a lot for your help, Richard…"

"Eh, it was nothing, I didn't do-"

"Shhh... At moments like this, you should just say your welcome and be happy with it." Gordon ruffled Richard's hair playfully.

Richard only nodded and smile slightly at Gordon's gesture, he really appreciated what Gordon had said to him, but he's not sure that he deserved that gratitude.

"Well… Unfortunately, I have to get going soon. I have an appointment with an acquaintance in Saffron tomorrow and that means I'll be leaving shortly. Good luck in your journey, aight? Just be more confident… You're a great trainer and even a better person."

"I don't think, I can be called-"

"You can't just take a compliment and be happy about it can't you?" Gordon interrupted Richard's opinion himself as he already knew what the young man was going to say. "Listen, not all people are willing to put their life on the line for their Pokemon. All people have flaws and the fact that your humility regarding your kindness is proof that you're a good person Richard. You should accept that fact while continue to be kind. Oh yes, also this…"

Gordon put a piece of small paper on Richard's hand, as Richard glanced at the paper, he was quickly able to discern that it was a business card. The business card has several parts scribbled out crudely using a black marker all while Gordon's personal phone number added on the card in the same manner, causing Richard to instinctively let out a chuckle seeing how funny the card looks.

"... Well sorry that it looks crude, I haven't had much time to design a new card. Anyway, just call me when you need anything aight? Don't be shy, I won't bite you know?" Said Gordon, giggling at his own joke.

"Thank you, It's a pleasure is all mine."

"Nah, the pleasure's all mine. That being said, break a leg, future champ. Don't forget me when you got all famous, aight?"

Richard nodded while smiling, appreciating the gesture that Gordon gave him. With parting words exchanged, both of them parted ways. It was an eventful encounter for Richard, he who was unsure if he was doing well in life can finally breathe in relief with what Gordon said about him. Even if it's just small steps, he'll continue to walk forward, even if it's painful, even it's hard, even if he's going to suffer in the process… All to atone for the sins he had done in his past.

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Eleanor · Jul 10, 2020

The second chance
🍀🍀🍀
Arianne and Coralie - written with Ninetales
Lavender Town - Day 5 - May 24^th

♫ - Rammstein - Ich will
Lavender Tower was definitely more beautiful in the morning. The old, sturdy building now stood out against the pale blue sky, and Arianne could now spot all of the iron reinforcements, the little windows, and the climbing plants that made it their home. The surrounding lawn was also much more colorful, with little daisies and other flowers scattered around the place, and even party flags hanging above it.

The place was almost impossible to recognize, hard to believe that it was there that the two girls got mercilessly terrorized by ghosts the previous day. Arianne hesitated before approaching the tower's entrance - for all she knew, behind the tower there could've been an entirely different world. She still had to give it a try and get in there, though!

"See, Ari! Lavender tower isn't so mystifying in the morning, now is it?" Coralie commented. She turned towards her dark-haired and offered a confident, toothy grin. "I'm sure we'll find your precious stone in no time!"

"You… you're right, Coralie! But… what if the inside is nothing like the outside? Let's s-see…" the black haired girl replied, her voice slightly shaking.

Arianne examined the tower as she walked all around it, struggling (despite her height) to even reach the first small window and take a peek inside. That really didn't help though: the only clue the two girls could find was a small, handwritten sign hung on the door. "The Gym closes at 3 pm on Friday."

"This gives us less time to act, doesn't it…" Arianne pouted after reading the sign aloud to her friend. "But, I guess Mav didn't lie when he said this place was also a Gym."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's head inside! The sooner we find your stone, the better!" With that Coralie pushed open the door, light cascading through the tower's interior.

"Nononono… wait!" Arianne was caught off guard by Coralie actually opening the door. Didn't she remember what happened the night before? She definitely said she did… and yet, she entered the tower like it was nothing special!

The girl instinctively called out Eric and braced herself for what could have turned into a full on fight against various Ghost Pokémon. Only then she felt confident enough to follow her friend into the building: and right as she did, a feminine voice called out. "Who are you? Challengers maybe?"

"Hi! Sorry to bother you, my friend has misplaced an item of hers, it's really special. We thought that it might be here!" Coralie explained, glancing around the dimly-lit room for the individual who greeted them.

"Oh, but today is a great day to challenge this gym! And then party with us, of course!" another girl chimed in. "Are you sure you two wanna pass up on this opportunity?"

"A party? Oooh, sounds like fun!" Coralie squealed as she excitedly glanced at her dark-haired friend.

The Cape trainer looked once again at her Wartortle, the memories from last night making her rather wary. "Yes, but… what kind of party?" Just as she whispered that, the door behind her and Coralie closed shut: now, in what now looked like an old rustic basement with some anachronistic refurbishments, stood two girls in traditional clothing: one with very short hair and eye-catching earrings, another with long brown hair tied in a braid and piercing eyes.

"Welcome to the Lavender gym, you two! Now, how do I know I can trust you on this stone problem?" the short haired one smirked.

"Guess what? I haven't seen any weird stones this morning. Have you, Jarmie?" the other one asked.

'Jarmie' could only say "No, I didn't!" before the creaking of the stairs anticipated the arrival of someone else. It's him! Arianne thought, shivering as Mav came down onto the ground floor. He wore a dark violet yukata and his hair was in a bun though he looked just as demonic as the night before.

"That's because I picked the stone up once she left." the boy drawled, a sly smirk upon his porcelain face. "Long story short is… last night, three girls came here. A brat, a wimp, and this one, the hero wannabe. And I scared them off obviously. But…"

"She had a Dusk stone on her. Interesting…" the brunette commented, finishing Mav's sentence herself in the meantime.

"Hey! Who's the brat?" Coralie wondered aloud. Though she cast Arianne a reassuring grin. "At least we found it." She murmured. The other cape trainer nodded, but still didn't find the courage to speak in Mav's presence. "You can figure it out for yourself." the boy replied to Coralie instead.

"Anyway, yes, Lucretia. And she dropped it in a place full of Pokémon that would make good use of it. But in the end, I did as you suggested, Jarmie. When I saw some Misdreavus bickering, I stopped them and picked up the stone myself." he continued, though he cast the younger girls a menacing grin. "Maybe I should've left it after all. Well, too late now. The Skitty's out of the bag."

"Well," Jarmie started talking as she walked forward, not minding the other two friends of hers. "You… purple hair girl, how did you come across this stone?"

"I- It was at a lake in R-Rock tunnel… guarded by P-Pokémon and all." Arianne replied, trembling.

"Weren't you just a bit too harsh with your antics, Mav? She can't even talk!" the girl with the braid asked in the background.

"Oh, Lucretia, don't be overdramatic. They had another friend, a redhead. She was on another level of irritation. The sound of her voice gave me an instant migraine. It was a delight to... give these girls a little fright. But it was all in good fun, right?" the boy replied, his words being met with a mischievous snicker.

"That seemed like a lot of effort, but…" Jarmie continued, drowning out the voices of her two followers. "I want to make sure you deserve it."

"I- please..." Arianne whispered, as the other girl kept talking.

"Let's fight for the stone, ok? You and me, in a proper gym battle."
Just as she said that, Lucretia turned on the stage lights with perfect timing. Now every little detail of the inside was more clear: the center of the room was occupied by a battlefield, while on the sides stood a couple of benches and huge audio speakers, other than the unsafe, creaking staircase. Some more party flags and banners were hanging all around the inside as well!

Arianne didn't even want to battle there and then. Her Pokémon were all rested and ready to fight, but she was… really not. She wasn't believing this to be the official gym either. But she really had no choice now - the door was closed, Mav still had her stone, and she could have never gotten it back. In that scenario, it was just better to commit to it and accept the challenge.

She nodded and agreed to Jarmie's proposal.

"EEEE! A battle! How exciting Oh Ari, I'll be your own personal cheerleader! Florian, Stella-Luna, and I!"

The trainers aligned themselves on the battlefield, with Coralie eagerly perched on the edge of her seat, her pokemon alongside her.

"Ok, you two, watch and learn! We may just have a gym challenge of our own very soon so it's important that you pay attention!"

"Nya! Nya!"

"Bulba-saur! Bulba!"

"The first battle of a special day, I'm excited! It's a 2 versus 2 battle, with no substitutions allowed." Lucretia explained somewhat cheerfully. "Gym Leader Jarmie will declare two Pokémon to use, and the order she'll send them out in. You there will only need to tell us the two Pokémon you want to use, but not the order. We can do turns for that, alright?"

"If you need to, there's a healing machine upstairs. It won't work on you, though…" Mav smirked, as the girl grabbed a pen and some paper, and asked: "What's your name, challenger?"

Arianne took some heavy breaths, trying to get the memories of last night out of her mind, and pretending she was not in the same place where it all happened. It was still hard for her to speak normally, though - she was constantly on the lookout for Ghost Pokémon trying to pull pranks on her. "A-Arianne!" she eventually declared.

"Come on Lucretia, you had one job!" Jarmie laughed in the meantime. "What music do we put on? Any suggestion, purple hair? In the meantime…" she continued. "You can already write down Sableye as my last Pokémon. Got it?"

Lucretia nodded in approval from the referee spot, where she was now sitting. "Your turn! To recap, you'll need to tell me one of your two Pokémon and your music preference."

"I'll use my Wartortle for s-sure," Arianne said, while the brunette girl promptly wrote that down as if she was a waitress. "About the m-music… I'm not sure yet…"

"Well then, my turn! I'll use Golett… right now!" Jarmie exclaimed, pulling out a Pokéball and calling out her companion right away. The Ghost type, already expecting a battle, playfully swung its fists in the air and greeted the challenger. "And you, Arianne?" Jarmie asked, excitedly.

The girl tried to think about who to pick, but was still upstrung and found it difficult to focus. Eventually, though, she came to a decision. "M-morelull it is!"

"This will be interesting…" Mav whispered to Lucretia as he sat beside her. "I can't wait to see this little tryhard squeal and squirm as she watches her pokemon get annihilated. I'm looking forward to this."

"All set then! Hope you like the music we've chosen. And now… begin!" the referee chimed in from the side of the battlefield, as the sound waves began to take over the place. The song was loud, energetic, possibly a bit spooky, but perfect for the situation.

Arianne promptly called out Lulu first, knowing that Eric would've been better kept for last, and tried her best to keep calm. "O-ok, let's use Confuse Ray!" she ordered, once she returned her starter to his Pokéball.

"Shadow Punch!" The opposing Golett charged forward, getting hit by Lulu's move but landing a powerful uppercut on her afterwards. "Mega Drain, quick!" Arianne called out in the meantime: the Mushroom Pokémon quickly got back up and sprung towards Golett, who was now seemingly dizzy, and attached her root to its body. "Ingrain, now!"

From Lulu's little roots came out even more roots that let attach herself to Golett's body more efficiently. The Ghost type, still confused, was struggling to get rid of her.

"LET'S GO ARI!! WOOO! COME ON LULU, YOU'VE GOT 'EM WHERE YOU WANT 'EM! NOW PUMMEL THAT PUNK POKEMON!" Coralie hollered, cupping her lips.

Mav and Lucretia turned to look at her, the former scowling menacingly. Lucretia chuckled. Her friend's encouragement was enough to make Arianne grin slightly, as she was still trying to focus on the battle.

"She has type advantage, but Golett is strong… It should be able to overcome this." Lucretia remarked in the meantime to Mav, who just nodded and kept quiet.

"You're already feeling better, aren't you?" Jarmie's voice came through over the music. "Just give us and our Pokémon a second chance!"

Arianne's team:

Eric •

Mulan •

Alice •

Mizar •

Lulu

Juno · Jul 27, 2020

[a id]menu17[/a id]

background art: pokemon movie

Chapter

Pokédex

Chapter 4: Ready Or Not // May 24th
ft. Casey Holt & Vera Hill

Satisfied with their new purchases, Jordan, Casey and Vera head back to the Pokemon Center to drop off their things before exploring the town a bit more. It was nearing lunchtime at this point, and they initially planned to look for a restaurant to sit down at when they were done with the Pokemon Center, but by the time they actually got back there, they weren't feeling all that hungry anymore - the three of them decided to walk through Lavender's bustling market square on their way back, and just stopping at and sampling from all the local vendors and stalls there had them full enough to continue touring their new surroundings uninterrupted by the time they returned to the center.

Back in his room, Jordan eagerly sorts through his bag, taking out anything bulky or heavy so he has room to buy more things at the market square. A few stalls had caught his eye on the way back, and he wants to be able to hit them all before he forgets. The first thing he pulls out is the shoebox holding his worn boots. He had already changed into his new shoes, and he won't need these again for a while. "Probably won't need to carry my clothes around too…" He looks out the window. "Maybe a light jacket, or a -" Jordan stops as he pulls out a shirt he doesn't recognize, and is visibly not his size. "What-" he unrolls the shirt to reveal an ugly, brown slogan printed on the front, declaring 'Amateur Archaeologist'. He has a pretty good idea of how that got into his bag, and exhales sharply through his nose. As he throws it back down on the bed, he sees the back has an equally ugly pattern on it, but with the words 'Let's Get Dirty!' printed on it. "Funny, Casey." he mutters under his breath.

As he roots around his backpack, his fingers wrap around something cool and smooth. And heavy. He yanks it out.

"Ah." He says to himself, staring at the rock he had retrieved in Rock Tunnel. All three of them took a piece of the caverns with them last night, but truthfully, he had completely forgotten about that until now, and he's willing to bet Casey and Vera do not remember, either. "A geode," Harper had told them. "You'll need to break it open."

Jordan shrugs, putting it back in his bag. Maybe he'll bring it up with them later and see if they want to try cracking these things open. As he gets ready to leave the room again, he glances back at the bed, then grabs the ugly shirt and takes it with him. Maybe he will find an opportunity to return it to its rightful owner, he thinks to himself, grinning.

Emerging from his room, he is greeted by the sight of a familiar, silvery-gray blonde also leaving her room. Wordlessly, he gestures towards the lobby with a sweeping motion and lets her walk in front of him, which Vera rolls her eyes at but obliges, as they make their way down.

Casey's waiting for them in the lobby, recently purchased drawstring bag apparently the ideal place for Pepper's new accessories and what little else he likes to carry around. As the three of them gather together, Jordan holds up an index finger to signal he has something to say, as he reaches into his own bag. "Hey, so, before I forget again, and not that it's a huge deal or anything-" he begins, feeling around between his supplies before finally producing the rock he had been looking at in his room. "You guys remember this thing?"

"Oh hey, those things! I'd forgotten about those after…" Vera glances at Casey, "everything else that happened." Casey refuses to make eye contact with either of them.

"Well, I didn't either, but I just remembered as I was unpacking, and thought about the stuff that Harper guy was telling us. It wasn't just a rock to him - he called it a geode and said we have to break it open."

"Well, let's do it!" Casey's heading back upstairs to retrieve his own geode before anyone can argue.

Vera unslings her small backpack, having left her larger one in her room. She rummages around inside it for a moment before finding her own geode. "These things are supposed to be full of crystal or something, right?"

Jordan shrugs. "I think so? Then in that case, we have to break it, but like, carefully… Don't want to destroy whatever's inside too, you know."

Casey jumps the last three stairs on his way back down, which earns him a hard look from a staff member. An apologetic hand wave is responded to with rolled eyes, but Casey's already rejoined them and is talking. "Okay, got it. How do we open these?"

"Uh… how about you hit it on the table, like cracking an egg?" Vera tosses hers lightly in her hand, feeling the weight before smacking it into the edge of the table.

The resulting thump can be heard throughout the room, making Vera glance around nervously. The geode doesn't break, but thankfully neither does the table, not that there was much risk of that.

She scowls at the rock in her hand, then looks to Casey's. "Fine, that didn't work. Eggs crack better if you hit one with another one, though. Here, Casey, hit these together." She offers her geode to him.

"Is that true?" Casey asks, not leaving room for an answer before he taps them against each other, as if they actually had the delicate shell of an egg. Nothing happens.

"No, hit it harder! What if…" Vera brushes a lock of hair behind her ear as she thinks. "What if you got more speed? Get a sock out, drop it in there, and swing that thing like a hammer!"

"Absolutely not; my socks are one hundred percent, high-quality Wooloo wool and take forever to ship from Galar. I refuse to destroy them for a rock."

Vera grabs her geode back, a grumpy pout on her face. "Fine, you think of something, then."

Some contemplative silence, and Casey eventually concludes: "I'm gonna spike it!"

Jordan immediately has a few questions as he says this, like from where? and how?, but decides he didn't need his answers to shut him down, and was quick to mimic Casey's earlier "Absolutely not."

Before Casey can respond, he offers up a different solution, if only to shift his attention to anything else. "I suppose we could hit it with like… a club or something?"

Vera perks up at that. "Hey, like Bonnie fighting the Aron!"

...Going in the right direction, I suppose. He thinks to himself. "Yeah, something like that-"

"Yeah! Casey, use Bone Club! Or… Staff Club!"

Casey cheers and pulls a tanbō out of his bag, winding up to smack the geode in his hand with all his strength. Jordan catches his wrist. Sometimes, potentially poor outcomes just don't seem to occur to Casey.

"No. No, not like that- carefully, remember?"

"Ugh, fine," Casey whines, stretching his vowels to the extreme. But he sets his geode on the floor and delivers a wrist-driven strike to the middle of it. Three more times he strikes it, turning it as he goes, and on the last it falls open. "Oh!"

Jordan and Vera lean in for a closer look as Casey pulls a dark purple stone from the neatly split halves. "A Dusk Stone?"

"So… it's not crystals, then?" Vera brushes aside the broken halves, putting her geode in their place. "Do mine next, maybe I got one, too!"

Vera's falls open in three hits. Maybe smacking it against the table had done something after all.

Vera eagerly pushes past Casey to look at her geode, barely moving him in the process. But sure enough, there's another stone inside, this one cyan blue and glittering slightly from within. Vera gasps as she picks it up. "It sparkles and shimmers! I wonder what kind it is?"

"An Ice Stone, I think…" Jordan leans in to get a closer look. "No, wait, that looks like a Dawn Stone!"

"Dawn Stone…" Vera gazes deeply into the stone, barely paying attention to the boys.

A bit less apprehensive to let Casey smash the final geode now, or just excited after seeing his friends' prizes, Jordan sets his hunk of rock down and gestures for Casey to give it a whack. "Alright," he says, rubbing his hands together. "Let's see what's in this one."

No further prompt was needed for the boy to start cracking it open. After four hits, Jordan frowns. He's starting to think his was a dud, but a change in texture and slight sparkle of the stone catches his eye. "Wait, stop!" The tanbō almost comes down on his hand as he reaches out, but he picks up a chunk of the stone and dusts off the dirt and debris still clinging to it.

"You are so lucky my reaction time is amazing, what is wrong with you," Casey huffs. Jordan ignores that, so Casey follows up with: "What're you looking at, anyway?"

"It's a Moon Stone! See how it shimmers here, and-" Jordan's voice trails off as a young woman approaches the trio with a pained smile on her face.

"Sorry to interrupt, but can I ask you to take this outside?" The Pokémon Center staff member displays the practiced patience of a service worker, but it's obvious she's not happy. "You're all making a lot of noise, and a bit of a mess, and we can't have you damaging our floor and tables. Thank you, I'd appreciate it."

The tip of his ears turn pink. "Right! Sorry- I mean, we were just wrapping up here," Jordan says quickly as he picks up a few of the larger chunks of rock and kicks a bit of the rubble under the table, as if that minimizes the damage they had caused. "We'll just… come on, let's go, guys."

Metaphorical tails between their legs, the three step back into the market square. Although full now, there is still a lot to take in just in the rows of stalls and tents set up in front of the Pokemon Center, and definitely more than just food to offer. A group of five or so young women with their hair pulled up and all dressed in form-fitting yellow and black outfits catches Jordan's attention. One of the girls looks over and meets his gaze, and before he could look away, she smiles and gracefully makes her way over, pressing a flyer into his hands.

"Hi! I'm part of a local dance school here, we're putting on a show over by stall 4C in a bit. We're always looking for new students and members, too, so there will be information on how to sign up as well. Pokemon and humans are all welcome - in fact, we teach and highly encourage dancing with your Pokemon as a way of bonding with and training together! Are you or your friends interested in hip hop and dance?"

The girl looks maybe a year or two older than him, tops. She has freckles, too, but they are a bit darker than his, matching her soft brown hair, and only dotted across the bridge of her nose. She looks up at him with deep, blue eyes that now have a… slightly concerned look in them, as Jordan is taking a while to respond. "Um. Yes! Yes, we are!" he finally manages to blurt out.

She smiles warmly back, the worried look on her face quickly evaporating. "Oh, that's great! Well, I hope to see you all there - that's 4C, but if you forget, it's all written on the flyer, time and everything. Later!" with a small wave, she spins around and disappears back into the crowd, in the direction of where the rest of the girls had walked off.

Jordan looks down at the flyer and smiles, before looking back up to meet Casey's slight smirk. Vera watches the girl leave with a small frown, holding Iggy close and scratching behind his ears.

"Ah. Do… you guys want to check out… 'the electrifying dance moves of Luminus Academy's students' with me later...?"

"That's a hard pass from me." Vera shakes her head, taking her attention off the retreating girls. "Besides, none of my Pokémon are really dancers."

Casey gives him a critical once-over. "I don't think you're that invested in the dancing anyway."

"Well, no, but…" Jordan's eyes dart back to where the girl was standing. "We can… think about it more once we get the Gym battles over with, maybe." he says hopefully.

The further west they walk, the more modern architecture sneaks its way into the landscape of the city. Eventually, at the very edge of town, they find the gym- a modern but otherwise unobtrusive building, from the outside. The inside, however, is anything but.

Sleek, automated, futuristic… despite its modest exterior, the interior is gaudy and bright. It takes a moment to find the check-in screens, not because they're hard to notice, but because the trio are in slight awe of the sudden style shift. It is unlike anything Jordan had ever seen before - they certainly do not have buildings like this in Celadon, not even in the heart of the city. As he continues to look around, he feels a light nudge in his rib.

"Your turn," Casey gestures at the machine in front of them.

"Hm? Oh, right." His focus returns to the check-in screen. His palms are a little sweaty. Admiring the building took him out of their situation for a moment, but he remembers why they are here, and starts to feel a bit jittery. With each field of information filled out, the more nervous he feels.

"What… um, which time slot did you guys pick?"

"The soonest one. 'S in ten minutes." Casey's nonchalance is baffling.

"Ten minutes?! Don't you need some time to like… prepare, or collect yourself?"

"No?"

Jordan exhales sharply. "Well, what about you, Vera?"

"Oh, please." She runs her fingers through her hair, exuding confidence. "Do I look like I need time? I'm up right after Casey."

He shakes his head. Okay, just me, then. This works out for the best, anyway… "Well, good, I guess. I can take the slot after both of you. Gives me some time to think." He's mostly muttering to himself now, since Casey and Vera had already walked off. "Hey, wait-" He quickly finishes up his registration and catches up with his friends.

They are ushered into a part of the arena's seating area that is close to the field, designated for gym challengers. A handful of other young hopefuls are already sitting there. As the three of them join the seated students, a sharply dressed woman enters in after them, and gives a brief overview of the rules, how the digital screens work and what will be displayed on them, as well as a quick run-down of the AI judge and anti-cheating software. The last part she talked about is pretty cool… and a bit intimidating.

"Did she just say a robot is going to be judging us?" Jordan whispered only loud enough for Casey and Vera to hear.

"That means cameras everywhere, right? Good thing every angle is my good angle." Casey's usual grin has an edge of excitement to it.

"That's what you're focusing on? The cameras?" Vera sticks close to the boys, hugging Iggy close. The little Rockruff is unusually quiet, but still has his usual grin, not unlike Casey's.

"Well, yeah! Do you think we can get a recording?"

Jordan sincerely hopes there will not be recordings. The stadium is sparse with spectators, but just the idea of people watching his first Gym battle, every move and mistake he might make, gets his heart racing again, and not in a good way. "You are mighty confident the battle will go well enough in your favour that you'd want a recording of this."

"Nah, the battle doesn't matter, I just want to-" But whatever Casey's goal is, Jordan doesn't have the opportunity to find out as the assistant returns to escort Casey down to the field for his battle.

"Well, good luck," he calls out hastily. Casey waves without turning back.

Pokédex

Pokemon on hand:

Tangela // "Tangles"

Ingrain
Constrict
Absorb
Vine Whip
Sleep Powder
Poison Powder

Pidgey // Hop

Headbutt
Sand Attack
Gust
Mirror Move

Cubone // Spirit

Leer
Growl
Bone Club
Headbutt

Skiddo // Sage

Tackle
Growth
Vine Whip
Play Nice

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Aquacorde · Jul 30, 2020

Casey Holt & Jordan Springs & Vera Hill

Friday, May 24, 2019
Lavender Town
Afternoon, Day 5

5-10: the first test

Casey has not prepared for this in any way.

Why would he? He doesn't prepare for anything else.

The screens on either side of the field light up with images of both his and Beaumont's teams, which is a really cool visual. Oh, but what's he got- okay, what's he gonna lead with? It won't be the Emolga; he'll want to save that for Parsley. Flaaffy or Heliolisk, then, because Magnemite isn't even an option when Pepper's listed right up there on the-

A flash of light from Beaumont's side of the field cuts him off.

It's the Magnemite.

What?

It must have some counter to Fire, there's no other reason for it to be out. But of the others he has to work with, only Parsley's Pursuit would do any good. He'll have to stick with Pepper. "Ember is gonna be best," he says as Pepper's form solidifies. Pepper nods and accepts the tanbō as Casey hands them over, though he looks slightly confused. "Well, options, right?"

The voice booms out a resounding "Begin! and the Magnemite emits the weirdest sound- is that Supersonic? Casey glances to Pepper, who looks baffled but not confused, so Casey sends him circling. The Magnemite revolves slowly in the center of the field, keeping its eye on the Charmeleon. The first Ember is their toe in the water; it hits dead on, pushing Magnemite a few feet before it hovers back to its place. Beaumont grins. He seems to be waiting on Casey- it makes sense, really, considering how slow Magnemite are. Much easier to defend in place than attack.

A reasonable strategy, but not one Pepper wants to imitate. He's already shuffling in place, getting antsy without action, as is Casey. Someone has to make moves here.

More Embers, then.

The Magnemite takes another hit, but the third Ember is countered by a summoned steely orb, several more in its wake. "Shoot 'em down!"

Pepper's aim is a gift; each orb is taken down as quickly as Magnemite can make them. Beaumont praises Pepper's technique as the two Pokémon continue their back-and-forth, even as another Ember breaks through to hit the Magnemite itself. But why is Beaumont letting it happen? That Magnemite has to have other moves, something else it can do, why is Beaumont letting-

Letting.

Oh, that's the key word, isn't it? Beaumont is allowing him to get hits in. And he's using Steel moves against a Fire type; even if Pepper were taking the hits he wouldn't be taking much damage. Is this a test? Well, testing challengers is what a gym leader is supposed to do, of course, but- this doesn't feel like testing. It's a single move versus a single move, after all. What are either of them learning here? No, this feels more like...

Giving him a chance.

Casey's eyes narrow.

"Pepper. Just aim for the Magnemite."

Three Embers in quick succession; two hits and a miss as a Magnet Bomb attaches itself to a tanbō and explodes a foot from Pepper's face. Beaumont shakes his head and Pepper shakes it off, opens his eyes just as a Thunderwave- finally, something different- spikes out from the Magnemite. Casey calls out; Pepper throws a tanbō and its spin disperses the weak wave, but the second isn't enough to dispel the more powerful Thunder Shock that follows. Pepper's grimace as he takes the hit is echoed on Casey's face but recovery comes quickly and Embers fly quicker still into the shimmering Light Screen Beaumont has called up, visibly losing heat as they pass through, the Magnemite no longer so distressed by each hit. Now this is a battle. But he's still not happy with Beaumont. "Get closer."

Magnet Bombs begin to intercept Embers again as Pepper, on all fours now, runs tightening circles around the Magnemite. With Light Screen in play they'll have to go physical; they'll have more options if Pepper can retrieve his weapons. The circle tightens, a tanbō is within reach- "Grab it-" but Pepper recoils as a Thunder Shock strikes his outstretched claws. Another one's coming, Casey can see it, but Pepper can't block, can't get out of the way-

Can he?

"Turn around- Dragon Breath at the ground!"

Thank god Pepper follows commands without hesitation. The lightning hits half a second too late; Pepper ungracefully careens backward into the Magnemite and sends them both crashing to the ground, the Charmeleon scrambling to flip over and chomp his flaming teeth into his opponent's body, once, twice, a third-

"Magnemite is unable to battle!"

Pepper backs off, rubbing his teeth. Chewing on steel probably doesn't feel great; Casey should check on that later, but right now the Charmeleon has to scoop up his tanbō as Beaumont is sending his second out. The leader says something; the tone is encouraging, but Casey's focus is on the Pokémon rather than the advice. He doesn't need to hear some appeasing garbage when he knows he's just been handed a win.

Good, not Emolga- Heliolisk, something Beaumont should have led with, starts in with a Tail Whip and a re-armed Pepper charges straight in. The long tail swipes the ground and flicks a Mud Slap into Pepper's eyes, swinging back into a Pound that hits only a tanbō, held along the forearm as they'd been taught. Pepper's stance doesn't break so Beaumont changes tactics- a full spin brings Heliolisk's tail back around to sweep Pepper's legs, dropping him to the ground, into a perfect position for Heliolisk to Slam its full weight into Pepper's side. The hit boosts Pepper's exhale and a blast of Dragon Breath sends Heliolisk flying across the field. It skids on landing but pops up into a stable stance, waiting for Pepper's charge.

Pepper is twenty feet away when Heliolisk's neck frill flares and a Thunder Shock arcs toward him. Casey calls out an instruction, another they've never tried before, and Pepper stacks his energy-infused tanbō one over the other, planting them down to ground the lightning before charging all the way in with a Staff Rush. Tanbō collides with skull, elbow, knee- neck, ribs, tail- the tail that has now gathered enough swirling energy to swing blades of air directly into Pepper's belly. Dragon Breath shoves Heliolisk away and a cloud of black smoke conceals Pepper's dart to the right, leaping from the smoke to ground another Thunder Shock with one tanbō and hit with the other. Heliolisk spins, tail slapping Pepper away and coming back around to throw a Mud Slap into Pepper's flaming teeth. Pepper coughs, stumbles, and Heliolisk Slams him into the ground.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle!"

Casey recalls Pepper and tosses out Parsley in a quick motion, cutting off Beaumont's observations, eyes never leaving the Heliolisk. No time to think, not for either of us! Parsley's running as soon as he solidifies, the green glow of Growth pulsing through him as he charges the taunting, tail-wagging Heliolisk. Razor Leaf interrupts the first telltale flare of the neck frill and Vine Whip catches Heliolisk around the arms. Parsley fires Leech Seed point-blank into its torso even as lightning courses down his vines, even as the long tail smacks his snout; he holds the Heliolisk in place until the roots take hold and then whips the lizard into the middle of the arena, allowing him room to circle at a canter as energy from both the seeds and Growth flow through him. Heliolisk glances over its shoulder as it wags its tail at Parsley, takes in stride the leaves that cut at its scales, takes in stride being sapped of even more energy. Casey clocks the cyclone circling the tail too late and so the leaves Parsley calls up are too slow this time. Razor Wind shreds them all, their remnants obstructing the Skiddo's vision as the wind slices at his pelt. A motion across the field catches Casey's attention- Beaumont is raising a PokéBall. Casey feels an uncharacteristically nasty grin tug at the corner of his mouth.

"Pursuit."

Parsley shoots forward, energy-infused horns making contact with Heliolisk just as it turns to light and is sucked away. He skids to a halt in front of Beaumont, who turns to look at the screen behind him. The confirmation comes a second later- "Heliolisk is unable to battle!"

And finally, the Emolga, bursting out of its PokéBall and into an immediate Quick Attack, darting through Razor Leaf to slam into Parsley's shoulder and bounce away, copies of itself appearing as it circles the Skiddo. Vine Whip dispels a few but the Pokémon itself dives in low to hit the back of Parsley's knee and sends him stumbling. Razor Leaf knocks out more copies before Emolga targets another knee. This time, though, vines catch around its tail before it can escape and lightning once again follows the path of least resistance as Leech Seed takes hold. Emolga is much lighter than Heliolisk and Parsley slams it to the ground, dropping the hold only when another bolt skitters down his vines.

Emolga gets up as Parsley prances backward, little hands rubbing cheeks in a strikingly familiar way. Casey's split-second distraction has consequences- Emolga darts forward and Nuzzles said cheeks into Parsley's neck, electricity coursing through the Skiddo. He stumbles, crackling static refusing to fade even after Emolga backs away to shock him from afar.

Paralysis.

Spores, paralysis, helplessness-

"Return-" Casey chokes out, light arcing onto the field, but Emolga reaches Parsley just as the beam does in cruel mockery of his own earlier strategy.

"Skiddo is unable to battle!"

Ah, shaky, stop that, he tells himself. Little hops from foot to foot as he clicks Ginger's PokéBall, that's enough motion to get his body back under control for now. Ginger enters the field as the last of Emolga's shadow copies fade away. The Pokémon itself flits about overhead and winces as the tangled roots drain its energy. Beaumont looks expectant, as far as Casey can tell, and he thinks he knows why.

But Ginger doesn't battle like his other two.

She waits.

So Casey, this time, also waits.

Beaumont finally decides to play and Emolga dives at Ginger, who delicately pivots so she can watch Emolga eat dirt and allow it no time to recover. A Frustration-backed stomp to its tail, a Pound to the back of the head; Emolga cries out and electrifies the both of them, shaking Ginger off as soon as it can. Ginger rolls, glowing with stolen energy, and pops back up in time for Emolga to drop its hands from its cheeks and dart in to Nuzzle against Ginger's defensive stance. The shock fades but this time, of course, no lingering static courses through Casey's Pokémon. Not with Ginger's ability.

Emogla flits away but Ginger follows, somersaulting to spring with her ears and arcs down, using a foot to slam weight, gravity, and energy into Emolga's back and take it back down to the ground. Ginger bounces away before Thunder Shock can catch her again and defends against the Quick Attack, skidding backward before planting a foot down and punching out with coiled ears, one after the other.

Lightning envelops both again, mitigated only slightly by the boost of Leech Seed, and Emolga takes to the air. Ginger pursues, launches high, aiming to make use of gravity once more, but Beaumont has watched, has understood, is ready this time and Emolga darts forward to crash her full weight into Ginger at the apex of her arc. All Ginger can do is cross her arms, brace against the hit, and-

Something shifts.

The arena lights intensify, a wave of sound washes over him. Wide eyes dart around to take in the stands, the screens, his friends, everything outside the field's boundaries. It's all been there, of course, this whole time- just muted- and it's flooding back, all at once. That driven, world-dulling focus has evaporated, just like that.

He looks up again.

The two Pokémon fall toward Casey, who dashes onto the field and whose shout is cut off by taking the struggling pair to the chest. Beaumont's Emolga is quick to drop the tension of battle and looks at him quizzically from the crook of his arm, but Ginger's continued attempts to punch it force him to pin the Buneary to his shoulder, where she yells directly into his ear and beats her fists into his collarbone. She's definitely the reason he can't hear Beaumont until the man is within five feet of him.

"What did you say?" he asks, taking Emolga so Casey can use both hands to restrain Ginger more comfortably. She bites him again, same place as this morning, and gets a mouthful of gauze for her trouble.

"I forfeit." Casey repeats, and it's somehow like a weight is lifted. Ginger screeches at him. "Stop that. I saw you use Endure. I can tell now."

"Endure can give you an opportunity to win, though," says Beaumont, in a very neutral tone. Casey shakes his head.

"Ginger doesn't have much to work with right now- no, stop, we had this discussion- and we rely on her jumping a lot. But Emolga is fast an' way more mobile in the air. Obviously. And stronger overall. There's no reason for Ginger to get knocked out when I can see all that." Beaumont nods, but Casey plows on. "There was no reason for you to let your Magnemite get knocked out, either. You knew damn well I would call Pepper out."

Beaumont blinks. Casey's a little surprised at himself, if he's being honest, but he's said it already so he'll see it through. "And you used Magnet Bomb a buncha times even though you had way more effective ranged options. Everything you did in that first matchup was terrible. I'd'a been real mad if I won, 'cause you woulda let me. It don't matter if we win or lose here, so what's a cheap victory gonna do for me anyway? Give me a little self-esteem boost? I don't need that. I need to know where I'm at compared to you. An' yeah, I do know now, but I didn't learn a damn thing from that first matchup."

Beaumont opens his mouth, hesitates, then finally: "Apologies. My goal was to prolong the battle so I would be able to see more of your skills."

"I don't like that," Casey says, but sticks his hand out for Beaumont to shake anyway. "Don't do that to my friends."

"I'll keep that in mind," is a response Casey sees right through, but he doesn't say anything more as he takes his place on the sidelines. A little robot zips over to him and beeps with the same cadence as a Pokémon Center's healing machines, so Casey gets the point, recalls Ginger, and hands over his PokéBalls for a quick heal before it can zoom off and do the same for Beaumont in preparation for Vera's battle.

This'll be interesting.

Dragon · Aug 5, 2020

The Super Aaaamazing Noel!
Rock Tunnel

vs. Mawile

The Seviper swung its tail again and again, trying to hit its mark on the nimble Luna. Soon however, the Seviper managed to catch up with her speed, and managed to strike with its Poison Tail, right against the Clefairy. Luna fell down on the ground. The two Emerald Dragon members chuckled and laughed in an attempt of a taunt. Noel was taken a back by this development, even as the voice behind her called her to attention.

"Please... forget about me, you must run!" the scientist warned. "The Emerald Dragons are notorious individuals who would do nothing at getting what they want... they commit arson, assault, and all sorts of other crimes, just for their monetary gain." Noel crossed her arms and remained silent. "You don't know what kinds of destruction and mayhem they can do! And to think they chose a Dragon of all things as their motif... striking fear into the eyes of the public eye..."

"That's enough of that," Noel replied bluntly, her arms remained crossed. "Now here this. Before Noel became the star-guardian you see before you today, she—er, that is, I—always had a certain story in mind that papa used to tell her. Rejoice my scientific friend, you are the first person to hear of Noel's origins! Now then, my papa used to tell me a tale: It was about a kingdom of dragons, who were battling against the orderly yet tyrannical reign of fairies. The King of the Dragons was just, kind, yet the bravest and strongest of them all. The battle of the dragons and the fairies began, with the fairies having a clear advantage against the dragons, almost wiped out the dragons completely. When all hope for the dragons were almost extinguished, the King of Dragons rose up once again, to deliver a speech..."

A dragon never yields!
Even when wounded, a dragon bites down hard, and never lets go till its dying breath.
It glares, it roars, and it latches its jaws firmly onto its prey till the bitter end.
Glory to the Dragon Kingdom!

"That story... struck something deep within me, I suppose," Noel continued. "I was always kind of cowardly. I used to cry a lot, and I never achieved anything meaningful because I was always quick to give up. But when my dad told me that story of Dragons... it made me think, what if everyone became a dragon? Would we get along better with everyone? Would we work harder to achieve our hopes and dreams? Will we have the courage to fight for a better cause? That's when... that's when I decided, I'd take after my family and help out the world, as a dragon, in my own way: to help put on smiles on everyone's faces. And that's why it really pisses me off to see someone use a dragon for nothing but fear for others."

She left the scientist speechless, as she turned to Luna. "Come on, Luna! Get up! You can do it!" Luna, having responded to Noel's voice, rose back slowly to her feet, but stumbled a bit. She was exhausted and hurt... even standing on her own two feet was a bit of a challenge for her.

"The game's over, brat! Hope you've had fun," the gang member taunted cockily. Noel gritted her teeth. She didn't want to give up, and she sensed that Luna didn't want to as well, but the difference was imminent. And so was the incoming final blow. "Poison Tail!"

The honed in on its prey once again, raising it's venomous tail to strike once again. But as it tried to slam down on the helpless Luna... CLANG! it hit against something else, something that bounced off the Seviper's attack on impact.

"What's that?!" the gang member roared. Luna was confused... yet then delighted to see what had saved her. It was the Mawile from before. It had shielded Luna from Seviper's attack, using its large pair of black jaws it had on its back. The Mawile still seemed a bit frightened, covering her eyes and shivering like a leaf, but still... it came in to save Luna anyway.

"I-It's you!" Noel said. The Mawile, welling up with tears of fright in its eyes simply nodded. "I see... if I remember right, Mawile is a steel-type pokemon, and steel-type pokemon aren't affected by poison-type moves!"

"You'll pay for this!" the gang member roared. "Seviper! Use Crunch on that pest!" the Seviper obeyed, reading its Jaw. It honed in the Mawile. The Mawile could only look back on it, even more frightened than before.

"I don't think so! Go, Luna!" Luna finally managed to sprang up, in an attempt to intercept the Seviper while it was distracted.

Spoiler:

"☆☆☆Luuuuuna's... Star Crush Attack!!★★★"

...In other words, it was Luna's Doubleslap attack. Luna delivered a slap against the Seviper so fierce that the sound echoed within the cave. She didn't let up, as Luna slapped the Seviper again, and again, and again, and one more time to send the Seviper flying, after the final slap hit against its face. It fell a few feet towards the gang member's direction, until it slammed hard on the ground, creating a layer of dust within impact. The Seviper tried getting back up, only to slump down again. It fainted.

The two gang members looked at each other in disbelief. "I...It can't be!!" the one who was battling remarked, seeing the fallen Seviper, then back at Noel, who gave them both a surprisingly firm, yet fierce stare. "I lost to this runt?!" The gang member returned his Seviper back into its Ultra Ball. "I'm gonna remember you for this, kid... mark my words!" The two gang members fled. The scientist stood back on his feet in shock.

"Y-You actually won..." he said in disbelief. "Most new trainers I seen are no match for those guys... incredible..."

"Hehe... One of the many humble feats of the Star Guardian Noel, and Luna: Luminary of the Stars!" Luna turned back to Noel, running past the still-cowering Mawile. "The time as come, Luna! Just as we practiced, now!" Noel and Luna both gave each other a hi-five, then Luna climbed eagerly to the top of Noel's head.

Let Darkness be returned from whence it came!
★★★THE SUPER DIVINE, AMAZING STAR GUARDIAN NOEL WINS~!★★★

The Mawile stood up once more. It still had small tears flowing from its face, but promptly wiped them off after seeing that the two goons were already gone. Luna had jumped off from Noel, to greet the Mawile that had saved her. She gave her a small pat on the had, symbolizing her thanks. "We couldn't of won without you," Noel said to the Mawile. "Thank you." The Mawile gave a shy, small smile, saying not a cry, but giving her a simple bow to them both. The scientist who stood up came by closer to Noel.

"I have to thank you all as well," the scientist thanked. "Without you, I don't know what would of happened... I truly can't thank you enough, but..." he then scrambled for something in the bag he was holding on to. Eventually he took out what it seemed to be a small rock. "This fossil can be my thanks. I want you to keep it."

"No, keep it," Noel insisted. "You have your own dreams too, right? That's why you decided to become a scientist, correct? This can be your thanks to me: go and uncover the secrets that you want to unfold! I'm sure that's why you wanted to keep that rock of yours safe."

"I see," the scientist replied, returning back the fossil. "Yes... you're right. You know, when you told me that story about the dragons, that reminded me of a few stories that I've been told when I was younger too. My favourite one was about one my grandpa told me: it was about a mysterious pokemon that came to our world from outer space. It was lost, and alone... until it made friends with a human boy and his partner pokemon. Bizarre, right? A pokemon from outer space? But, thinking along those lines, there are a ton of pokemon that we have not even seen, nor heard of. That's why I wanted to research them all as a scientist."

"An admirable dream!" Noel said. "Then lets both work hard to make our dreams come true, yeah?" The scientist simply nodded. Eventually, the two parted ways. Luna hopped on to Noel's shoulders. But as they turned to leave, something was pulling on Noel's stockings. It was the Mawile again.

"Oh, it's you... what is it?" Noel asked it. The Mawile stood there, as shy as ever, not even looking at Noel's face as it fidgeted its hands. It then finally turned back to Noel with a meek, but a determined face as it was going to do. Noel looked confused by it for a while, but.... she finally realized. "Are you saying... you want to come along with us?" she then asked, with an immediate, eagerer nod by it.

Noel stood in thought for a while. She had her eyes closed, and her arms crossed, and stood in thought. The Mawile looked nervous about her response.... but after a while, Noel opened her eyes and uncrossed her arms, giving the Mawile a smile. "It looks like another guardian as joined us!" she said, turning to Luna, with Luna giving a nod and a smile back at the Mawile. The Mawile gave a bigger smile, approaching Noel and Luna with a glorious outlook. "But we must give you a stage name... how about... Amethyst, the Iron Heart of the World!"

Mawile was shy, perhaps, seemingly felt unworthy of such a name, but she agreed. It was that point on, the Mawile now known as Amethyst, accompanied the Star Guardian Noel in all her adventures.

The trio trekked on through the cave, eventually reaching a bright light. It was coming from outside -- they had finally reached the exit. Noel herself, marveled at the fresh air they have basked in, after spending all that time within that cave. She, alongside her two pokemon then looked down. They were seemingly on top of a hill, where they can see below. The sight was truly staggering - it was Lavender Town, now within their sights. Lavender Town was seemingly enveloped in fog, but that was part of the town's charm.

Amethyst leaned on to Noel. To her, it seemed quite startling... she was not used to anywhere but near where her former master used to live, or the Rock Tunnel. "Are you feeling nervous?" Noel had asked her. Amethyst gave her a sidelong glance. "It's perfectly fine for stage performers to feel nervous before an epic performance. I still get butterflies in my stomach too. But, as long as we do this together, we'll be okay." Luna gave a chipper cry in agreement, holding on to Amethyst hand. She wanted to prove Noel's point, that she was always going to be right alongside her. Amethyst blushed, but gave Luna's hand a gentle squeeze in return, followed up with a shy, yet sincere smile.

"Let us go, friends! Let our adventure carry on!"

****

"So, you failed, huh?"
"I-It was not our fault! There was this kid, and..."
"Get them out of here."
"N-No! Please, wait! Noooooo!"

"Useless..."

"So, a kid, wants to get in our way, huh? We'll show them what happens when you dare pick a fight with the Dragons.

To be continued...

Dragon · Aug 5, 2020

The Super Aaaamazing Noel!
Lavender Town

vs. Sableye

After visiting the nearby pokémon center, it was now time to explore the town. But, Lavender Town wasn't at all as Noel had expected. The town was very quiet... at least, quieter than she remembered. When she was younger, she used to travel with her family to perform, and there were a multitude of tourists there who loved what they did while soaking in the town's atmosphere. But now, there were less people than before. The town still remained to have its peaceful vibe, and a gentle subtlety as a Kantoarian Town. Noel and her two Pokemon remained close, side by side with each other as they explored the town. Perhaps out of nervousness of the sullen atmosphere, Amethyst the Mawile leaned closer to Luna, in which in turn, Luna gave her a couple of pats on her head as comfort.

"Let's see... as I recall, there was this ancient tower around this place..." Noel explained, while exploring. "Ah!" Eventually, she saw something that was a tall, conspicuous tower that rested in the supposed heart of the town. No doubt about it, it was the Pokémon Tower. "There it is... evidently, this town is well known to be a memorial cite for fallen Pokemon. And the Pokemon Tower was a place to pay respects for those pokémon. In all honesty, coming in here, this town felt a bit... off. Perhaps we can learn more in there?"

Noel then took off. Amethyst the Mawile shivered; the Pokemon Tower itself looked pretty spooky and ominous from the outside... what kind of place would it be inside? Still, she found comfort, clasping Luna's hand. Luna cried in reassurance as once again, she'll be right near her. Eventually, the reluctant Mawile joined Luna as they followed Noel to approach the tower, hoping that the tower wasn't as intimidating as it looked.

And she was right!
...It was scarier.

Close up, they could now see pokémon gargoyles that decorated the entrance of the building, with a few windows that looked like they could scratch and break at any moment. Still, Amethyst, thanks to Luna, found the courage to follow Noel inside.

Spoiler:

Inside didn't seem well ventilated, and seemed dusty at some parts of the area. It was somewhat dark, and the floor creaked as Noel and her two pokémon stepped through inside. But there was no one there. Thinking it odd, she ventured through the room for a closer inspection. Amethyst was meanwhile, clinging on to Luna. She surveyed the room too, cautiously... and carefully...

She then felt... a chill.
Was it above?
Below?
Left... right?
Or was it... from... behind...

It was then she became face-to-face.. with her own shadow. The shadow gave her a quiet, wicked, sneer. Eventually, the Mawile gave a scream, releasing from Luna's grasp, running for the nearby table to hide herself under. "Wh-what's wrong?" Noel could only ask. Luna herself didn't realize what was going on, as she too looked behind her, but... only to find nothing. Noel looked around too, only to find nothing. "Amethyst? What's--"

"Hey!" Then came an unrecognizable voice. Noel then heard the sounds of footsteps, creaking on the floor. It came from nearby -- it seemed to be stairs. Someone had come downstairs from the upper floor, and turned the nearby light-switch on, lighting up the entire room. "What's all this noise about--O-Oh!" It was a young Lass. She noticed Noel immediately, and rushed down the remainder of the stairs. "Who are you? A trainer?"

"That... I am," responded Noel, still a bit confused with Amethyst's outburst. She then cleared her throat, and proceeded with her normal routine of introduction. "I... am the one who even the gods have chosen to oversee the universe... Noel Yukino! With me are my two friends and allies: Luna: Luminary of the Stars! And Amethyst: The Iron Heart of the World!" Luna gave her usual cheerful greeting by blowing a kiss, and Amethyst... slowly peered from the table, and give a friendly yet shy wave of a hello.

The girl was a bit taken a back for their eccentric introduction, but... that didn't matter. There were more important matters on her mind. "Then, can you please help us?" the girl had suddenly asked. "We want you to help us, help this place!"

"Come again?" Noel asked.

"Ah.. here, why don't you come with me? I'll explain everything." the girl hurried along back upstairs. Noel shortly followed, with Luna tagging along. Amethyst quickly had a look around the room again. That creepy... thing that ambushed her was no where in sight - even when she looked form behind her. She didn't want to move from her hiding spot, but she also didn't want to be left alone, which is why she quickly, and frighteningly followed. Unknowing to her, nearby there was a presence that gave a sneer...

Noel had found herself upstairs, where it was a bit smaller, but with a couple of people around the area. The girl came along, gathering everyone in attention. "Hey! I found another one!" she addressed. The people there turned their attention to Noel, then the girl also turned back to Noel. "Like I was saying before... will you lend us your support?"

"Huh?" Noel was even more bewildered.

"Who do we have here?" A taller, older looking women came by from the area. She was wearing a beautiful, dark kimono with jewelry that shined with the gleaming light around her. She gave Noel a hearty look, then nodded. "I see... a trainer. Not just any trainer, but a new Cape trainer, right?"

The woman carried herself with a bit of a style, yet seemed to give off an aura that can fend normal trainers off their feet. Noel was a bit nervous, enshrouded in this aura... this was the first time she saw someone of this caliber before. The footsteps of Luna, followed by Amethyst then came as they all finally made their way upstairs. The woman then stared long and hard towards Amethyst, with of course, Amethyst responds by quaking where she stood. The woman finally gave off a sigh. "Geez, there you are. Didn't I tell you not to go off by yourself?"

Amethyst was confused by her remark, until from behind, she can sense a peering darkness. Her shadow, once again popping up, throwing Amethyst off her feet by the shock. The shadow then materialized into something more solid. It was a gold-bodied pokemon, who immediately laughed at the fallen, scared Mawile. It was oddly coloured, but it was for sure a Sableye, a mischievous one at that. After laughing, it scampered towards the woman. But, it was still scary to Amethyst, who she then proceeded to cower behind Luna. Luna then sighed pitifully.

Spoiler:

"Man, what a pain..." The woman gave her attention back to Noel. "So, did you sign our petition?"

"Er, petition?"

Jarmie then turned to the young girl. "You didn't explain again, did you..." she asked her, annoyed. The girl could only bow and apologize. She was the eager type it seemed, but her shortsightedness makes her clumsy and forgetful. A classic trope. "Look, I don't feel like picking up your slack again, so go on and do it, will you? Make yourself useful for today." she then had her hands behind her head, and casually, alongside her Sableye, ventured back downstairs. Her Sableye gave Amethyst a cheeky wave, knowing full well the resulting creeped-out reaction from her.

"R-Right," the girl agreed. "So, uh... this Pokémon Tower is actually a Gym. Or at least, we want it to be. The woman you met is Jarmie Katalan, the granddaughter of the previous Warden of this tower. Also, the acting Gym Leader here. You see, thanks to the Tomorrow Foundation organization, they bought the old local Power Plant as an effort to harvest geothermal power from the Rock Tunnel. But because of that, the town's atmosphere has become sullen and unappealing to newcomers."

"That's why there's not much people than usual..." said Noel in response.

"Jarmie wants the town to stick to traditional values. That's why she wanted to refurbish this tower as an actual Gym. But due to the Tomorrow Foundation's money and influence, they built a new gym, and the Pokémon League officials decided to make that as an official Gym. So, we're having a petition now, so that they'll recognize this Ghost Type Gym as Lavender's rightful official gym. And that's why we're asking you to sign this petition to help us today."

"Ah," Noel grasped. "Well... I uh..."

"This town has become a joke now," It was Jarmie, who had found her way back upstairs with her Sableye. She then crossed her arms with an annoyed look. "After all, it's he they chose."

"Oh uh, the other Gym Leader from the Gym I told you about is Beaumont Tayloz," the girl explained. "He's the the son of the Foundation's Director."

"And half the Gym Leader I am," Jarmie explained, fuming. "A pretty boy, bought-out fake excuse of a Gym Leader has no business even being in this town, let alone be its Gym Leader! And yet, those assholes decided that because they just happened to be rich, they can just ignore the values and reasons why trainers shape themselves today - and why they become trainers in the first place!" Her voice echoed around the room. Jarmie collected herself, before speaking once more. "Well, what do you say, kid?"

"Noel," Noel introduced. "And well, I say..."

The room was left with a silence, all eyes fixated on Noel. Noel then suddenly started to chuckle. Then that chuckle turned into a hearty laughter. Then, from the bottom of her heart, she let out her response. "...You are all fools."

"Wh-what?!" Jarmie yelled. "What did you just--"

"You said you wanted to show them the power of traditional values. You said that you are superior to that other Gym Leader in every way. I, Noel Yukino, am quite enamored to anyone how follows their dreams with such passion. However! The foolish thing is, you have yet to use your passion to bring out the love and passion you have for this town! If you want to show this town the power of tradition, you must show it to them!"

"What are you talking about?" Jarmie asked. "You think we're not doing enough? We have a petition going on! Sure, most of the townsfolk agree to our side, but in the League... we're seen as the villains."

Noel chuckled even more, but this time, more... ominously. "I will sign your petition.. under one condition."

"And that is?"

Noel garnered everyone's attention. She then briefly took off her hat, and tossed it to her pokemon. Luna caught her hat, wondering what she will do next. "If this world wants to treat me like a villain... hmhmhmhm... THEN THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WILL BE!"

To be continued...

Groc · Aug 5, 2020

Vera Hill
Chapter 5 - Beau vs. 'Bo(ne)
Lavender Town, May 24th

"Welcome to the Lavender Town Gym, Miss Hill!" Beaumont greets Vera warmly, all smiles and enthusiasm. "This battle will show me the skills you've learned at Cape and practiced on the journey here, so I want you to give me everything you've got!"

Vera thinks he's being pointlessly dramatic, but it's his Gym, so she doesn't say anything, and he soon comports himself in a more professional manner. "I can see you have three Pokémon, so I'll be using three, myself. First up, my Emolga!" He tosses the Pokeball, revealing the Electric squirrel.

Vera scoffs, grabbing a Pokeball from her belt. "That's easy, I'll be using-" Iggy barks excitedly at the sight of Emolga and rushes forward, entering the circle. Emolga jumps into the air to avoid Iggy, gliding in a lazy circle. "Iggy?!"

"Interesting choice!" Beaumont nods sagely, sizing up Iggy. "A Rock type makes for a solid counter, but type matchups aren't everything."

"Wait, but I didn't... that's not what I..." Vera sputters, kicking herself for not putting Iggy away before now. "Oh, fine! Give it your best shot, Iggy!" Iggy barks happily, not sure what's happening, but happy to be included.

"I think he wants to play. Emolga, why don't you give him a little Nuzzle?" Emolga darts over to Iggy, hugging his leg and rubbing her face against his chest. Iggy sniffs at her ears, returning the nuzzle himself. Vera bristles at the implication that Beaumont isn't taking this- isn't taking her- seriously.

"You wanna play? Okay, we'll play. But we play rough! Bite her, Iggy!" Before Iggy can respond, electricity crackles along Emolga's cheeks and into Iggy, causing him to lock up with paralysis. Vera huffs out a frustrated breath. She'd had to deal with one paralyzed friend already, she isn't looking to go through that again so soon. "Fine!" She grabs Iggy's ball from her belt. "Let's get you out of there, this isn't your fight."

Beaumont whistles sharply, and Emolga dives toward Iggy, striking with her tail just as the red beam envelops him. Dark energy surrounds Iggy, and his cry of pain is cut short as he is recalled into his ball.

"Rockruff is unable to battle!" The automated voice calls out, much to Vera's confusion. "What?! But how, I was pulling him out!"

"You're easy to predict." Beaumont chides her, all traces of his easygoing demeanor from before gone. "Your emotions give away your plans, and you lack patience. You didn't want little Rockruff fighting at all, so after one failed attempt at an attack, you called him back, which makes Pursuit hit twice as hard."

Is he… lecturing me? Vera scowls at Beaumont, gritting her teeth in restrained anger.

"Trainers, especially young ones, are easy to figure out. You need to think tactically, and knowing a little bit of psychology doesn't hurt, either."

Vera's not listening, though. She rarely ever listened to lectures, even in college. Instead she sends out Bonnie to avenge Iggy. "Are you gonna keep yapping, or are we gonna fight?"

Beaumont sighs, recognizing that he's not getting through to her. "Very well. Emolga, Double Team." Even Emolga doesn't seem as friendly now, and she's darting back and forth so quickly she looks blurry, and leaves blurry after images in her wake.

"Bonnie, hit her with a Bone Club!" Bonnie swipes at Emolga with her weapon, but the nimble rodent easily flips into the air, dodging the attack and landing on Beaumont's shoulder.

"Yeah, I've seen that before…" Beaumont lightly tosses Emolga into the air, and she glides in a tight spiral to land safely in the circle. "Electric types are weak to Ground moves, and not much else. That's why I start with a Flying Pokémon. Type advantage isn't everything, Ms. Hill. You need to start using your head, figure out a plan and follow through."

"Are you calling me dumb?" Vera is surprised and a little offended by how he phrased that advice. "Okay, you want me to use my head? Bonnie, use Headbutt!"

"That's… not what I meant." Beaumont covers his face with his hand. This girl was proving to be very difficult, but probably not in the way she was expecting. "Emolga, strike first!"

Emolga zips in to strike, faster than Vera can track, but Bonnie slams her armored head into Emolga, knocking the rodent out of the air.

Emolga starts moving fast enough to create blurred images again, but Vera tries to follow with her eyes. "On your left, Bonnie! Headbutt!" Bonnie hits only air, almost knocking her helmet off with that headbang. "No, I mean your right! Try again!"

Emolga darts in to slap Bonnie with a Quick Attack, but Bonnie isn't fast enough to retaliate in time, missing again. Bonnie tries to track Emolga, but can't keep up. "Why can't we hit that thing?" Vera growls, taking Bonnie's Pokeball off her belt.

She points to Bonnie, and Beaumont whistles sharply to signal another Pursuit. Vera grins, and instead of recalling Bonnie, orders her to Focus her Energy. Emolga strikes Bonnie with a Dark energy infused tail, while Bonnie bows her head, holding her club at her side like a samurai sword.

Beaumont looks surprised, then shrugs, admitting he'd been tricked. "Well played, Ms. Hill. Emolga, Quick Attack!" Emolga darts in, while Vera calls out for another Headbutt. Emolga hits Bonnie, but doesn't dodge in time as Bonnie rams her head down. The hit seems to play out in slow motion as Emolga is knocked to the ground, skidding to a stop at Beaumont's feet. She lays on her back, eyes distant and unfocused after the hit.

"Emolga is unable to battle!" The computer voice helpfully informs as Beaumont recalls her. He offers a small smile as he chooses his next Pokémon. "Well done. That was a good hit."

Vera smirks at the compliment, sweeping a lock of hair out of her face and behind her ear. "Got you in close, didn't it? Focus Energy helps Bonnie get good hits in."

"A fair point. In that case, here's Flaaffy!" The little sheep Pokémon bleats as he arrives, the orb on his tail lighting up briefly. Vera laughs at it, knowing it won't pose a threat. "Oh, you're sending out a little lamb? Bonnie, knock it out with Bone Club!"

Bonnie rushes forward, but Beaumont counters with a Growl. Flaaffy bleats loudly at Bonnie, but the attack barely slows her down, and she strikes the sheep in the chest. Beaumont frowns, not looking too pleased, but orders another Growl.

"Growl away, boys, but that won't stop another Bone Club!" Vera taunts. Flaaffy Growls right in Bonnie's face, earning a Bone Club to the jaw for his trouble. He reels from the blow, but stays standing. Beaumont nods, but doesn't look happy. "Excellent, Flaaffy. Keep it up."

Vera's smug attitude falters as she realizes Beaumont's plan. "Bonnie, Bone Club, now! Take it out quickly!"

Beaumont orders another Growl, and the two Pokémon trade attacks, Flaaffy falling from the impact. "Flaaffy is unable to battle!"

Beaumont returns Flaaffy to his ball, bowing his head momentarily. Bonnie looks shook, her grip on her club quavering as she tries to clear her head. Vera is concerned, but hides it behind her facade of confident surety. "That's two down, Beaumont. I'd say things are looking grim."

"Don't count your opponent out so readily, Ms. Hill. My final Pokémon may surprise you. Let's go! Heliolisk!"

Vera was concerned about that, him saving his best for last, but she believes in Bonnie. "Take your best shot! Bonnie, use Bone Club!"

"Heliolisk, Mud Slap!" The big lizard is surprisingly fast, running at Bonnie and sliding to a stop in front of her. A wave of mud is kicked up- It's a vinyl floor, where did that come from?!- splattering mud on Bonnie's face. She swings her club wildly, managing to land a solid hit on Heliolisk's ribs. It hisses in discomfort, stepping back from Bonnie's wild swings.

He's trying to blind us! "Bonnie, Focus Energy again! Go for the big hit!" Vera tries to stay calm, but her clenched fists give away how nervous she's feeling.

"Whip up a whirlwind, Heliolisk, and charge up your Razor Wind!" Heliolisk spins in place several times, tail extended behind it. A whirling cyclone of air surrounds it, streaks of white lightning arcing through it occasionally.

"A stiff breeze won't scare us!" Vera brushes her hair back in concern. "Bone Club, Bonnie!" Bonnie leaps forward, club held low.

"Let it rip, Heliolisk!" Heliolisk swings its tail, dissipating the whirlwind and sending a blade of air scything toward Bonnie. The blade hits her knees, knocking her legs out from under her.

"Bonnie, no!"

The little Cubone hits the floor, rolls, and uses the momentum to leap back up, bringing her club crashing down on Heliolisk's head. The impact sends it to the floor, driving the breath from its lungs and leaving it dazed and confused on the floor. Bonnie climbs to her feet, using her club as a crutch.

"Bonnie, yes!" Vera cheers, her heart pounding.

"Heliolisk is unable to battle!" The computer announces. "Leader Beaumont is out of usable Pokémon. Challenger Vera wins."

Beaumont returns Heliolisk, holding the ball in silence as Vera celebrates. He grins as he looks back up, his cheerful demeanor back in full force. "That was an excellent match, Ms. Hill!"

Bonnie waddles back over to Vera, who picks her up into a hug. "Well, of course!" Vera preens under the praise. "Was there ever any doubt?"

Beaumont lifts an eyebrow at her response, but grins slightly. "One never knows. But your friend Bonnie is certainly powerful, and you two have a close bond. I'll be sure to include that in my report to the Professor. Along with other notes I've made."

Vera detects a veiled threat in those words, bowing her head graciously. "Well, thank you for the match. Truly, it was a pleasure. And an honor. I'll take my leave now." She turns to leave, hoping her big mouth didn't just get her into trouble again.

Eleanor · Aug 6, 2020

The second chance - pt. 2
🍀🍀🍀
Arianne and Coralie - written with Ninetales
Lavender Town - Day 5 - May 24^th

♫ - Fall Out Boy - Dance, Dance
Lulu didn't last as long as she would have hoped clinging to her opponent's body. Golett, encouraged by Jarmie's words, was able to come back to its senses quite quickly, and was eventually able to punch the Mushroom Pokémon away with a strong Shadow Punch.

The time that the Morelull spent on Golett's arm was enough to fully recover from its first attack and weaken him a bit, though. Overall, it seemed like a good trade off.

"Good, keep bouncing!" Arianne called out. "And now, Astonish!"

Lulu used the momentum that the Ghost type attack granted her to lunge at it again. Her opponent was able to limit the damage with a well timed Mud slap, but was still struck, and had to get ready for another attack as Morelull bounced one more time on the battlefield. All of these movements seemed to confuse Golett enough at first - and actually even Jarmie seemed to have stopped giving out orders, just letting her Pokémon stand still and taking hits. At the same time, even Arianne didn't speak much and continued with her strategy of using Astonish as Lulu jumped around.

"LULU! LULU! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" Coralie hollered, cupping her mouth from the stands. Beside her, Florian and Stella-Luna chirped energetically, relieved to see that their friend was managing to deal out damage.

One thing was getting clearer and clearer as the battle kept going, though: Lulu wasn't doing that much damage, not even against a Pokémon who was weak to both her attacking moves: Astonish and Mega Drain. It would have taken quite a while to knock out Golett, even if it didn't counter attack. Which it wasn't doing… for now.

There was a very specific reason why Golett wasn't doing anything though. You could see it in its eyes. Jarmie smirked as the Grass type was sent flying away with a perfectly timed and executed Shadow Punch, right as she tried to hit another Astonish. A powerful Mud Slap was promptly sent her way right after, covering Lulu with dust and making it harder for her to see.

Arianne found herself panicking, caught unprepared by that attack. She just muttered her Pokémon's name a couple times, and stood there, watching as Golett ran faster and faster to close the distance. Lulu was standing there in the corner of the battlefield with her eyes shut, seemingly shivering.

"LULU!" Coralie shrieked, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

Just in time, mycelium sprouted up from the Gym stone floor, white root-like filaments creating a web all around a nearly immovable Lulu. It was easy to tear through one of them, but they were a lot more than that: so in no time, Golett found itself stuck, its arm trapped in the web of mycelium.

The worried Ghost type waited eagerly for any command from Jarmie, who in response only told it to back off and get further away from Lulu. The mycelium kept growing though, and it took Golett a couple tries to shake it all off. Lucretia looked carefully at the whole exchange with worried eyes, but that sensation was short lived. Jarmie looked like she knew exactly what to do.

"What an impressive move…" Coralie remarked, as she ogled the mycelium in awe. She cast Arianne a supportive glance. Maybe the tide would turn in her favour.

She turned to Florian. "Perhaps we could create a similar move. Just imagine! It's essentially an impenetrable fortress!"

"Bulba-saur!"

Coralie eyed Jarmie then, wondering what trick she had up her sleeve. Maybe the fortress of mycelium wouldn't be so impenetrable after all.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Stomping tantrum!"

A tremor was felt all around the tower as Golett slammed on the ground a few times, progressively weakening Lulu's shield. The stones that the battleground was made of kept moving, making the mycelium way less stable. Lulu however kept hiding inside, knowing that the amount of "roots" she had created wouldn't allow her to move anymore.

"Shadow Punch!"

Lulu shrieked as Golett jumped down on her and hit her perfectly, passing easily through the web. As the mycelium cleared out, there seemed to be just one clear winner. "Morelull can no longer fight!" Lucretia called out from her spot, as if she knew all along.

"Oh.. Lulu!" Coralie gasped audibly, gazing sorrowfully at the fallen Pokémon. She wasn't exactly surprised, Jarmie was rather unperturbed by the wall of mycelium.

"That Ingrain was a nice strategy, high risk and high reward! Not a bad idea, I just happened to know how to deal with it." Jarmie shouted over the music, trying to reassure Arianne when in reality, it was all Lulu's idea.

Lucretia chimed in shortly after. "Now it's Wartortle's turn, right?" She asked, and not before she was done with her question, Eric appeared on the battlefield. "Here we go! Water pulse!" Arianne exclaimed.

Golett dodged the first water pulse, but when the black haired girl called for another one, it wasn't able to jump away as easily on the slippery stones, and was hit full blast. That is really all it took: as Lucretia confirmed, Golett was out.

"YES! YES! GET EM ERIC!!" Coralie screamed! "WOOHOO!"

Mav, rolled his eyes and cast the bubblegum-haired female a nasty glare. "Can we get this brat out of here for the love of Arceus?" He whined to Lucretia who simply chuckled in response.

Using this strategy again won't help you. Jarmie thought as her next Pokémon appeared on the field: a rare golden Sableye with an emerald on its chest.

Coralie observed the Pokémon that appeared on the field, it was like nothing she'd ever seen before. It was rather eerie looking, yet she was absolutely enthralled. She suddenly wondered what it was capable of.

"Pay attention, you two! I have a feeling that things are about to get intense."

"Nyah! Nyah!" Stella cooed, just as curious about Jarmie's second Pokémon as her trainer was.

Not knowing any better, Eric just readied up another Water Pulse. But this time, it was easily dodged by Sableye, whose eyes were glowing. That was surely Detect, and for the Ghost type, it usually meant one thing: time to follow that up with a Disable.

That is just what Sableye did, preventing Eric from using Water Pulse again for some time. The bubble would break right away, as if Wartortle had forgotten how to use that move.

Arianne looked at her Pokémon, visibly worried, and tried to think for a second about what to do, but Jarmie was faster. "Sneak towards it!" She called out as her Sableye quickly dashed towards the Water type, hitting it from behind before using Fury Swipes a couple times.

Mav grinned to himself. "Ah, it is so satisfying to see a pathetic child crumble under pressure. It truly brightens my day."

Eric was able to stop the onslaught by casting a Protect, therefore prompting Sableye to just let him go. But who knows what that pesky Ghost type could've done with enough free time?

That's all Arianne's mind was thinking. A Rapid Spin later and, also because of the wet floor who provided him with more speed, Eric and Sableye were already butting heads together. "Bite!" the Cape trainer called out, quickly followed by "Detect!" from the other side of the field. "Try that again!" Arianne shouted.

The attack landed, Eric was in fact able to bite Sableye without it really trying to dodge. But this was all so that it could show another trick up its sleeve. Its eyes glowed hypnotically just as Jarmie called out her next move. "Confuse Ray!"

"Gotcha!" Mav cheered, grinning like a Cheshire Meowth.

"HANG IN THERE ERIC!"

"Bulba! bulba!"

"Nya! Nya!"

All that support from Coralie and her Pokémon wasn't able to knock back Eric to his senses, but the next series of attacks (Night Shade and Shadow Sneak) from Sableye, luckily, was more than enough. Arianne, too worried about the confusion to call out any command, just waited and hoped for the best.

That hope proved to be well-founded, however. Eric was able to Bite Sableye once again as it came close, before enclosing it right inside of a Water Pulse attack. Disable's effect was over just in time for that to happen, too.

"YES! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! SHOW THAT NASTY GHOST WHO'S BOSS!" Coralie jumped to her feet, her hollers echoed by her Pokémon.

Mav's grin dissolved instantaneously. "Oh, can someone please tell that Loudred to PIPE DOWN!"

Coralie simply stuck out her tongue at Mav in defiance.

Lucretia couldn't help but turn around and laugh at the bickering happening on the spectators' benches. But Jarmie and Arianne were somewhere else entirely. "Not bad, not bad! But you know, I can just…" The Gym leader smirked. "No! Rapid Spin outta there!" Arianne shouted even louder, and Eric was just quick enough for Sableye to disable the Normal type move instead. The Wartortle stopped moving somewhat awkwardly, but at least was still able to use his strongest move.

Knowing this, Jarmie told her Sableye to stay at a safe distance and use Night Shade instead. Wartortle let out a cry and endured the hit as good as he could, before getting back up again. The second Night Shade was blocked by Eric's Protect, instead.

"How about this then?" Jarmie chuckled again as Sableye's eyes started glowing again. Eric was confused once again, and awkwardly stumbled around the Gym floor. "It's not just Ghosts who do this you know? You should be more prepared, no matter who your opponent is." she explained, as her Sableye easily got up close and personal to Wartortle and started unleashing its various close range moves on him.

"Come on, Eric snap out of it!" Coralie pleaded. She looked on as the water type was repeatedly hit with physical attacks. This is really bad, she thought.

"Alriiiight! Florian, Stella-Luna, you know what to do! We have to give Ari and Eric all of our support, got it?"

"Bulba!"

"Nya! Nya!"

"Let's go Eric, do it right! Come on, come on, fight, fight, FIGHT!"

"Bulba! Bulba! Saur! Saur! Saur! Bulba! Bulba! Saur-Saur!"

"Nya! Nya! Nyaaa! Nyaaa! Nyaaa! Nya! Nya! Nyaaaa!"

The encouragement coming from Coralie and her team was certainly helpful for Eric, but even more for Arianne, who just looked completely lost at that point and in need of reassurance. What she did before with the point blank Water Pulse was probably too obvious to try a second time, so she just waited for Eric to snap back to reality before commanding him to… yes, he still knew that other move! "Blast it away, Water Gun!"

This time, Sableye was sent flying backwards, and landed not too far from where Jarmie stood. Eric then charged towards it, now ready to end the battle with the Bite and Water Pulse combination. Both Pokémon seemed very tired already: this exchange was probably the one that would decide the battle.

"You forgot one thing… again." Jarmie smirked as Sableye moved out of Eric's way in a really… unnatural fashion. Of course, it had to be Detect once again. Not exactly a nimble Pokémon anymore, Wartortle face planted on the stone floor, and was finally defeated by a well placed Shadow Sneak.

"Wartortle is KO'd! Jarmie wins this fight!" Lucretia excitedly chirps.

"FINALLY! Jarmie, you were playing around. You should've pummeled that brat right from the start. Oh well, at least now we can escort these pests out of here. Go on, get lost children!"

Coralie, ignoring Mav's remarks, raced over to Arianne to lend her support. "Ari…! You were magnificent. That was a tremendous battle. Lulu and Eric fought till the very finish. You should be proud! Isn't that right, you two?"

"Nya!"

"Bulba-SAUR!"

"Yes, they did great, but… I still lost." Arianne shook her head. "Wait, I lost the battle! The stone…" She gasped, as Jarmie walked closer to her as well.

"Oh, you still fought rather well, and got to know me and my Ghost types. I should be the one to thank you for that." The Gym leader explained. "And because of this, you can have your stone back!" She smiled. Arianne, still visibly puzzled, took the stone from her hands and thanked her, attempting a slight smile herself.

"You both did great!" Lucretia came over as well, still holding her notepad. "Now, I hope you don't mind if we heal your Pokémon here and hang out a bit! We have a machine for this upstairs."

Mav rolled his eyes and groaned. "Well, let's get this over with."

Coralie enveloped her friend in an embrace. "You got your stone back! OH! I'm so happy Ari! I knew everything would work out." She let her friend go and giggled. "Now, let's get your Pokémon healed!" She took Ari by the hand and hauled her towards the staircase. Florian bounced along behind them and Stella flew about playfully.

The upper floor of the tower looked much less spooky with daylight streaming through the small windows, but it still had a mysterious atmosphere. It was a place to hang out, but the people who used it were almost entirely Jarmie's friends, so maybe that was the reason. There were two or three computers, a comfortable looking but slightly battered couch, and a small Healing Machine that, as Jarmie explained, was used in between matches when there was no time to go to the Pokécenter.

Arianne handed Lulu and Eric's Pokéballs over to Jarmie, who put them right next to Golett and Sableye's, before turning on the machine and leaving it to do its job. Once that was settled, Lucretia started to talk.

"You probably have heard about Lavender Gym already and how it's not a Ghost type gym, right? That is because the League chose this fake, rich dork that isn't even from here in place of Jarmie, the Warden of Lavender and righteous Gym Leader!" She began, in an overly dramatic tone, as Jarmie chuckled beside her.

"Well in all seriousness. Jarmie was supposed to be the Gym Leader and keep the traditions and values of this town alive, but then… yes, the new Gym Leader took her place and things are going all wrong. So, we've made a public petition to have Jarmie become the official Gym Leader, just as it should be! You've seen her battle, you know she's fit for the job. So, will you sign up for this petition?" Lucretia smiled, eager for a reply.

Coralie looked at Ari, still processing the information that Lucretia had just explained to them. It seemed like such a trivial issue and she didn't want to upset anyone.

"Well? The least you buffoons can do is sign. You both know what a signature is, correct? Hmm maybe not. You're what, 2nd graders?" Mav jabbed, his brows furrowed.

"I'll sign it!" Coralie squeaked. "You all seem very passionate about reclaiming the title of official gym leader! You certainly are capable of filling that position, Jarmie! I'm not so certain about a particular member in your entourage, but I think this is a worthy cause! You have my unwavering support!"

Coralie took the petition and a black ball-point pen from Lucretia and delicately wrote her signature.

"That is… not great publicity? But you still seem to be fighting for a good cause. I'll sign as well. And don't worry, I know how to do that!" Arianne chuckled, and signed right below Coralie's name. Not her best signature, but still good enough.

"Well, now I can officially invite you to my birthday party! Today, in the town square, late afternoon. If you want to hang out some more, you know where to find us." Jarmie chimed in afterwards, as Arianne handed over the petition. "I'll be there as well!" Lucretia added cheerfully.

"OOOH! A party!" Coralie squealed. "Sounds like fun! We'll be there, of course! Right, Ari? Thank you so much for the invitation!"

"Yes, I'll come too!" Arianne nodded towards her friend, smiling slightly.

"Oh, you just HAD to invite these two morons, didn't you.." Mav sighed dramatically. "Well, as long as their redheaded whiny brat friend doesn't make an appearance..."

Coralie wiggled her eyebrows at Arianne at the mention of Courtney and giggled.

"Look, I don't like her much either, not anymore… alright? But no one heard this from me." Arianne shrugged.

Meanwhile, a beeping sound from the machine let everyone know that the Pokémon were successfully healed. Lucretia approached it, grabbed the four Pokéballs, and gave them back to their owners. "Haha, how bad can it be?" She remarked. "I'll be looking out for her."

"Meanwhile, I'll have to get ready for more challengers, if they even decide to show up. Who knows, maybe she'll be one of them?" Jarmie giggled.

"Oh dear Arceus! If I see a single strand of red hair, I'm leaving immediately." Mav retorted.

"Luckily, I am the Gym Leader." The girl replied, before going back downstairs and beckoning everyone to follow her. Lucretia was the first to go after her, pen and paper on hand.

Coralie skipped down the stairs, her Pokémon in toe. She was ecstatic for the party later this evening. "Alright, we'll see you all tonight!" She waved as she exited the building.

Shortly after, Arianne did the same, hiding a yawn as she greeted everyone and thanked Jarmie for everything. She caught up to Coralie just outside of the tower. "Just, thank you for all the support you gave me this morning! You're a very good cheerleader!" She chuckled.

"But OF COURSE! I had so much fun watching you battle! It was riveting! It actually inspired me! I need to do a bit of training first but I plan on challenging the Electric type gym as soon as I get the opportunity!" Coralie declared, feeling determined. "I'll be off to find the perfect location to train! So, I guess this is where we part ways, for now, that is!"

"That's great, I'm glad to hear! I feel like I need more training as well if I want to have a chance but… yes, I'll be going back to the Pokécenter for now." The black haired girl replied, before waving as she walked away from the tower. "Alright, see you later Coralie!"

"Toodles! I'll see you at the party!"

With that, the two friends went their separate ways.

Arianne's team:

Eric •

Mulan •

Alice •

Mizar •

Lulu

Dragon · Aug 6, 2020

The Super Aaaamazing Noel!
Lavender Town

vs. Lampent

"You... wanna run that by me one more time?"

"I, throughout my travels up to this point, stood before you, as Noel! Star Guardian of truth and light that shines within the universe! But now..." Noel did a sudden pose, turning her back around from the crowd, using her right hand to cover her face, and brought her left arm slightly behind her. She was silent for a brief while, while every trainer in the room, Jarmie included, exchanged glances with each other and stared at Noel with suspicious looks. The odd silence in the room eventually broke.

"...I have a message for those corporal bigots," Noel had a deeper voice, one that even surprised Luna, but also left her in anticipation. Amethyst glanced at Luna, then back at Noel, more confused than awed on what's going on. "On this night, when the moon turns a bloody scarlet red, I will crush their lofty ideals into dust, and strip their Gym Leader of all his PURE light, snuffing him in an endless abyss of suffering and decay for all eternity. I DARE THEM TO TRY AND STOP ME!" Noel suddenly shouted, surprising everyone in the room.

But that wasn't all; there were sudden bursts of black-colored confetti that surrounded Noel as she slowly now gave the crowd a side-look. It was almost as if Noel had a sudden veil of dark magic that encased her body. Slowly, but eerily, she turned herself all the way to face the crowd. Her face was still covered with her hand, and her eyes were closed.

"What are you..." Jarmie could only ask, while watching this strange development.

Noel eventually quickly uncovered her face, and opened her eyes. However, her eyes now seemed to be red, instead of blue. Perhaps she slipped on a pair of red contact lenses that colored her eyes? "I am fear! The end of all things! Corruption made flesh... NOEL! THE DARK CALAMITY!!"

The room was left in a stunned silence. After all...
How would anyone react to something like this...?

"Um, so..." Jarmie finally spoken up. "Just trying to make sense of all that nonsense, you want to challenge the bought out electric boy, right?" the room whispered to themselves, trying make sense of everything on their own. "I mean, that's all fine and dandy, and really I hate to say this but, you're still a beginner. No matter how much I hate that electric snob, he's still kinda above beginner level."

Noel let out a harrowing chuckle. Or at least, one that she did to the best of her ability. "Are you addressing me, the Dark Calamity... you lesser being?"

"Aaaand you don't care," Jarmie sighed. "Lovely! That's... that's just lovely."

"Don't make assumptions now!" Noel warned. "Your concern has been noted. However, with the power of my all-seeing eye, I already knew the outcome!"

"And that is?"

"Hah! Ahahaha! Due to my low power level, I would lose instantly!"

"Why did you laugh about that?!"

"However!" Noel then shouted, giving Jarmie a devilish grin. "Rejoice! I would let you become the harbinger of the darkness."

"...Geez, is that all? I'm soooo thrilled," Jarmie replied. "But just to be sure, say that again? This time, in plain English... and without the crazy."

"Gym Leader or not, I can definitely tell you're a pretty strong trainer in general," Noel explained with her normal voice, and expression. "I wanna learn more about battling, and become stronger! But, you're right, I'm just a beginner, I just don't know how yet. I don't even know much about the basics of battling. So, I'm hoping... maybe you can teach me some pointers?"

"Look, the only way you're going to learn is from experience. There's no substitute for that," Jarmie explained. "Take it from me. I battled a lot of strong opponents to get where I'm at now."

"I see... alright then..." Noel grasped. "Then I challenge you to a battle!"

Jarmie gave Noel a grunted loook. "Uhh, slow down, 0 to 100, much?" said Jarmie. "If you can't beat the snob, there's no way you're gonna beat me."

"You just said I have to battle strong opponents, right?" Noel pointed out. "Who better than the charming woman that's standing right in front me? With your power, I'll be able to learn all the techniques of the ever growing darkness - specialized in Ghost-type pokemon!"

"Seriously? What's with all this 'darkness' talk crap... ugh..." Jarmie stood in thought with a pained, annoyed expression. She sighed, then turned back to Noel. "Fine! Fine... it's not like me to refuse a challenge anyway... just follow me. I just hope you won't regret this." She and her Sableye headed back downstairs. With a accomplished, gleeful chuckle, she signaled her two pokemon to follow behind her downstairs as well. Everyone else in there, eventually made sure to follow them too. Whatever is going to go on, they knew she had better be there to witness it..

***

Downstairs on the first floor was an area spacious enough to be an arena. Noel had wondered how the Pokemon Tower could be converted into a Gym... perhaps this floor was the main floor to do battles on. Noel hadn't noticed it clearly, but there were some furniture around the place too - most likely for unwinding.

"I'm pretty sure this is your first experience with Gyms, so listen," Jarmie said sharply and firmly. "In this Gym, you are only allowed to use two pokémon, and so am I. No switching out is allowed, and the one who knocks out the opponents two pokémon is the winner. Make sense? Now, normally you're supposed to declare which pokémon you are going to use in this Gym, but in your case... "

"I get it!" Noel replied enthusiastically. "I only have Luna and Amythest, so... those are my two pokémon."

"I'm going to use my Sableye, obviously," Jarmie declared. Her Sableye giggled in excitement. It seemed like it was a pokémon that enjoyed battling as much as tormenting suckers. "But, for the first battle... I'm going to use this!" she brought out a pokéball that was tucked within the sleeves of her kimono. She then threw it, opening the pokéball as it soared through the air. The pokéball released energy, materializing into a strange spherical headed pokémon. On top of its head is a black covering, which resembles a lampshade, with a pointed spike on top. Underneath its head is a small, black body with a pointed spike at the bottom. Extending from its body are two long, wavy arms with no fingers. It levitated through the air, giving out a sharp, yet quiet cry.

"Wh-what is that... thing?" Noel asked.

"It's called a Lampent," Jarmie responded. "Rumor has it, that one can arrive near the moment of death of someone, and steals their spirit from the body. But he's a harmless thing... except in battle, of course."

This is actually my first time fighting Ghost-type pokémon... Noel thought to herself, with sudden, growing butterfrees in her stomach. I hope I can do well, here...

"Um! Excuse me!" called out a voice - it was the Lass that Noel had met when she first got in the Pokemon Tower. "I can referee!"

"Do whatever you want. As for you Noel, you go stand down over there, and I'll stand at the opposite end of the field," Jarmie replied. The girl nodded, and took her place near the side of the arena. Noel and Jarmie both took their places at opposite sides of the battlefield as well. "By the way, while we're battling, I do like to have a little bit of music going on. Any suggestions?"

"Oh! How about that disco fever composition from Miror--"

"No. Trash tier. I'll pick," Jarmie snapped. Noel simply pouted and stamped her left foot. There was an old radio box beside a couple of CDs that sat nearby the table that was closest to Jarmie. She flipped through each of them until she found one she seemed she could get into.

"Ohohoho yeah, here's my jam," Jarmie said with pride, even starting to move her body along with each beat.

"Meh, my pick was still better." Noel pouted, but she soon accepted it.

"Alright... let's go, Lampent!" Jarmie called out. Her Lampent floated from her side of the plain field, to the arena. It then released a couple of blue, hot flames that was stored inside of its body. It seemed quiet, but a hot-head... literally.

"Okay, I pick... you, Amethyst!" Noel announced, with a reply of shock terror from the Mawile in return. Look carefully at the 'Nope! Nuh uh! not me!' expression vibes she gave - she mastered that art in light years apart from others. "Come on, go on! You can do it! I really wanna see how you and I can battle, anyway!" Luna gave her a cheer as well. Amethyst gulped, but eventually decided to do as ordered, and step in her side of the arena. Noel had recently partnered up with Amethyst, but in order to be stronger, she had to grow stronger with her too.

"Ohhh wait, I didn't read all of Amethyst's moves yet..." Noel got out her pokédex. Luckily she remembered that she can read all of her captured pokémon's moves with it - like she did with Luna. "Okay.... mhm... got it! Alright, we're ready to battle!" Amethyst made a deep breath. While Noel was ready to go... she sure hope she was ready too.

"Mawile vs. Lampent... Let the match begin!" the lass announced.

"Go on, take the first move," Jarmie said, followed with a yawn. "This will be quick."

"Okay then... we'll use Fairy Wind!" followed from the order from Noel, Amethyst's second set of jaws from her back glowed a vibrant pink. She then twirled it around, and around, releasing a gust of wind that sparkled and glittered through the air. Jarmie didn't order her Lampent to dodge it however, as the Lampent simply stood still to take the attack. The attack connected, but didn't seem to do much of anything to the ghost pokémon. "Awww, that was so cute and pretty!" Noel remarked. "I have to write this all down..."

"Idiot, don't do that now!" Jarmie barked. But, she shrugged it off. "Lampent, show her what a real attack looks like with your Night Shade!" Lampent's eyes darkened, releasing a ray of dark energy towards the Mawile. Amethyst tried jumping out of the way, but the collision the made when it hit the ground was so powerful and forceful that it blew Amethyst away, slamming her to the ground without a proper landing.

"We'll just pile on more pressure! Use Ember!" the Lampent prepared it self to let loose a barrage of spit-flames from its body. Amethyst managed to stand back up.

"Gotta block it somehow... use Fairy Wind!" Amethyst twirled around its second set of jaws from its back once again to conjure up a Fairy Wind attack. The Lampent released its swarms of flames, only to be counter-acted by Amethyst's Fairy Wind. However, the Ember swarms were too strong, and too numerous for Amethyst to keep at bay. The spit-fire attack managed to repel the sparkling wind, and made its way to the Mawile, striking it numerously. After the barrage, Amethyst was covered in bruises and burns, with its body enveloped in a light smoke. She knelled to the ground, reeling from the attack.

"Hah. Get it now? Fire-type attacks work well against Steel-type pokémon, and Fairy-type moves aren't very effective against Fire-type pokémon in turn," Jarmie explained. "Perhaps you should of given your selection a bit more thought."

That's right... that time in the Rock Tunnel, I fought against a Seviper and its Poison-type attacks were super effective against my Fairy-type Clefairy... Noel pondered. And last time I fought a Fire-type, I used Luna's Echoed voice to block that Magby's Ember... but this Lampent is way stronger than that Magby. So, not only that I have to remember and take advantage of type advantages, I've got to take level and experience in account too. Damn, she really is good... but which moves are good against Ghost-types again? If only I can remember...

"More Night Shade!" the Lampent sent out more streams of black energy beams, trying to keep Amethyst pinned down.

"No! Run, Amethyst!"

"There's no escaping for you!" Amethyst desperately tried running, evading each of the black beams, but every time she tried to gain some distance, the Lampent managed to cut her off, thanks to its air mobility. Lampent launched more black beam attacks until it managed to make Amethyst trip by blasting away the ground she was nearby to. Now having lost her balance and collapsed onto the ground, all Amethyst could do is duck and cower to try and shelter herself from the attack by laying face down to the ground.

"No! Amethyst!" Noel cried out. Amethyst remained at her usual spot, face down with her arms covering her head and her back-jaws laying in-front. Amethyst was sobbing and grieving for her situation. "We can't beat her in power and experience, and.... huh...?" Noel was worried for her pokémon, but then... she noticed something. While she would of tried to pull her back, she... the sobbing Amethyst did was emotional, and to a curious teen, can tug at one's heart-strings.

It was a sad sight, but it oddly seemed... familiar.

Wow mom, your drama's are always so good! I cried all the way through...

Noel... do you know what makes a good drama?

What do you mean, mom?

Good drama involves conflict and how that conflict is expressed through gestures, expressions, and the tone of the character. It should be believable. It takes the actors and the audience for an enjoyable ride into the world of the play! No matter what kind of story it is, as long as it takes the audience into the world your creating, they would want to watch it a second or third time!

Do you think I can be as great as you?

You will find your answer. One day...

A light flash within Noel. She had a idea.

"By the way, Jarmie," Noel said, making a kind-of frame with her hands, framing her Mawile. "Do you know what shows I loved watching my mom perform the most? Her Pyroar taming was second to none, and... I also really adore her dramas. And my favourite drama genre? Romance."

"...What are you talking about now?" Jarmie asked, puzzled.

"Will the light shine for our princess once more? Or will she be forever in case in darkness of shadow and despair...?" Noel continued. "Oh, how I watch as my friend withers down to the fragility of a newborn Caterpie! Is there no pause? No hope...?"

"Lampent, finish her off," Jarmie said, apparently having enough of Noel's antics. As her Lampent honed in to the Mawile, however... it stopped. It noticed Amethyst rose her head upwards a little bit, with streams of tears flowing down her face. Watching this pitiful sight, Lampent grew more reluctant. "Hey! What's wrong with you...?" Lampent crept closer and closer to the crying Amethyst. It must of... pitied it a bit so much that perhaps it wanted to comfort it...

☆☆☆☆☆
"Is... that you, my love?" said the sad Mawile, now having a ray of hope that she finally saw her love, her prince Lampent.
★★★★

"What the heck?" Jarmie said, dumbfounded.

"Ah, the young love that blossomed through tragedy..." Noel said. The following events are a fantasy within Noel's mind.

☆☆☆☆☆
"A-Are you okay?" said the young, dashing Lampent. "Why are you crying..."

"Darling… what aren't you telling me?" said the hopeless Amethyst. She clung to her love's arm.

The Lampent didn't look back at her, but only gave her a sullen sigh. Amethyst… I love you, but... the truth is…" he began. "I am in love with someone else."

"No...!" Amethyst was on her knees. All the sadness, regret had taken over her body. She looked back to the one she loved, with teary eyes. "Am… am I not good enough?"

The Lampent looked back on the crying Mawile. What will he say to the young Mawile? Will Mawile be drowned in despair? Tune in next time… Like sands in the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.
★★★★

"What the heck are you imagining?" Jarmie asked sullenly.

"But wait! Ladies and Gentlemen... as despair is rooted within her soul... hope shall once again bloom a new!" Luna gave a determined look. If Noel was doing what she think she's gonna do, then... it's almost time. "Hope shines within us all!"

"Wh-what?!"

☆☆☆☆☆
"My love, perhaps this too, is fate... sleep peacefully now, in the abyss..."
★★★★★★

"Bite!!"

Spoiler:

Amethyst readied its back jaw, clamping hard on Lampent's ghostly thin arms. Amethyst was still scared as it remained face down in terror, but her second mouth continued to bite down on the enemy Lampent.

"Hahahaha! A drama like no other, performed by the Iron Heart of Darkness, my faithful minion, Amethyst!" Noel blurted out with her new-found cackling.

"You...wait, I get it! That whole crying act before was Fake Tears!" Jarmie pointed out. "You tricked us!"

Well, not so much tricked as much as taking advantage of Amethyst's cry-baby character trait... but hey, taking advantage of character traits are important too! Noel thought to herself. "Of course! You're up against the Crimson Calamity now, after all! Tricks and deceit they may be, but together they make a fine spectacle! It's our specialty, after all! Buahahaha! Annnd a good thing I just remembered! Dark type moves like Bite are super effective against Ghost-type pokemon!"

The Lampent struggled to release itself from Amethyst's grasp, but it was clamped on too tightly. Perhaps it was Amethyst's desperation from her cowardice, but it remained strong. Still, she never looked up from the floor she buried herself on. Soon she had her second jaw throw the Lampent, throwing it across the air. The Lampent staggered, until it finally managed to regain its balance.

Dad... mom... Noel then thought. While we look carefree and silly, in truth, we don't just want to get stronger on a whim. I really want to win, and perform to bring smiles for everyone... could this be the first step in finding my own style...?

"Well, good on you for thinking on your feet," Jarmie applauded. "But trickery won't work against us a second time. Lampent! Use your Fire Spin!" her Lampent released a more ferocious stream of flames from its body, this time, making it surround the Mawile. Amethyst was trapped within the ring of flames.

"Wh-what is that?!" Noel could only ask. Her Mawile finally rose up, but still confused by the ring of fire that surrounded her.

Tch, the kid is a bit better than I thought, but... Jarmie said, clenching her right fist. If I'm going to show everyone the beauty and strength of Lavender tradition, I can't afford to lose!

To be continued...

Eleanor · Aug 8, 2020

A quick glance
🍀🍀🍀
Arianne and Richard - written with WizardOfOdd
Lavender Town - Day 5 - May 24^th

♫ - Negrita - Lasciami Dormire - (Let me Sleep)
The Pokémon center and its park were finally in sight. Arianne's mind was already in her second floor room, where she could relax and clear her mind. That would have had to wait, however, because she had almost bumped into someone. Arianne stopped and looked at the boy, hastily muttering an apology. "O-oh, I'm sorry…"

"Oh no, I'm the one that should've been more careful." The boy grabbed his Pokeball that he dropped on the ground.

The girl also reached for the fallen Pokéball, but the boy was faster than her. When she got back up, though, she noticed how the boy looked somewhat familiar. "Do we know each other? Are you from Cape?"

Yeah, I'm from there… Wait, you're also from Cape, aren't you? I think I've seen you before… Did you participate in the camping back at Route 9?"

"Y-yes, for a bit…" Arianne muttered, slightly embarrassed not to have recognized him right away. It happened with Coralie as well but this time, it should've been much easier. She was willing to make up for it, though. "Richard, right? How has your trip been since then?"

"I… I can't say it's good… But it's fine… Would you prefer to be called Arianne or Ari, or?" Richard nervously asked her.

"Oh, both ways are fine!" Arianne smiled. "My journey hasn't been very fun either, I'll admit, but with the help of some nice friends, I've managed. So… what are you up to now?"

"Oh me? I'm actually preparing to challenge the local gym leader. I heard there was another rival gym located at the Pokemon Tower, so I thought that I'd see for myself what the place is like and hopefully train my Pokemon there before fighting the official one." Richard reciprocated her smile. "How about you, Ari?"

"Oh…" The girl remained quiet for an instant. "I've just been there and ended up losing, it's a challenge for sure! Good luck on your fight." She cheered, before adding one more detail. "If you see a black haired boy in traditional clothing, just don't let him get to you, he's just rude."

"Is that so? Well, I'll be going then… Thanks for the word of encouragement. Take care, Ari!" Richard waved at the girl as he walked away towards the direction of the Pokemon Tower.

"See you soon! I'd like to know how your battle goes, you know!" She replied, before walking once again towards the Pokémon Center. After what happened with Richard and that somewhat random exchange, the thought of a nap enticed her more and more.

It has been some time since Arianne has taken a nap in the middle of the day. In fact, this thought has never crossed her mind during this journey! So many things to do and places to see, so many friends to keep up with as well. Today was different though. A rather rough night, a strange awakening, an arduous battle out of nowhere.

The girl tried to keep her mind occupied for a bit, coming up with various ideas to pass the time, like having an early shower. She even thought about training on her own, but… not right after a battle like that one! In the end, Arianne just chose to have her lunch a bit earlier than usual, even if she wasn't particularly hungry.

The food was aplenty and was, as expected, very good! In fact, that was the coup the grace for the black haired girl: by the time she got to the counter to pay, she had no doubts what to do next. Lazily, she walked up the stairs to her room, pulled down the blinds, and laid on her bed.

Arianne's team:

Eric •

Mulan •

Alice •

Mizar •

Lulu

Ninetales · Aug 9, 2020

Coralie Summers

Lavender Town, May 24^th

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pokémon

♡

Coralie's team:

Florian the Bulbasaur
Stella-Luna the Noibat

Theme song:[/tab]

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Trickster

Coralie felt a burst of exhilaration as she trotted along a dusty path, the tangerine sun shining down on her from the cloudless, azure sky above. Stella floated about on gusts of wind, chirping gleefully as she dove and soar and Florian was munching on a dandelion.

"Such a lovely day outside, perfect for a stroll." She hummed, as a breeze ruffled her carnation tresses.

"Bulba! Saur-" The grass type's voice was slightly muffled as he swallowed the flower in his mouth.

Stella-Luna dove once more, spinning as she went before perching on Coralie's head.

"Oh hiii Stella!" Coralie giggled.

"Nya! Nya!"

Coralie spun around playfully, the flying type clinging to her hair and cooing with pure delight.

~

Before she knew it, Coralie had descended upon a graveyard. A tall iron gate encased the burial grounds. Tall trees with winding branches were scattered in-between the countless slate grey tombstones. The graveyard was extensive, as it seemed to spread over the horizon.

Coralie shivered slightly, though she reminded herself that it was in fact daytime and that there would be no ghost pokemon to jump out at her.

"Well, should we enter the graveyard? Who knows? Maybe we'll find something special!"

"Nya!" Stella Luna seemed all for it, as she swooped about joyfully. Florian, in contrast, appeared uncertain. "Bulba.." He croaked, giving his trainer a rather discontented glance.

Coralie lowered herself to Florian's level. "Florian, cheer up! If we come across anything suspicious, we'll leave, alright? Besides, Stella and I are here with you, ok? We are a team." Coralie thought it was adorable how overly cautious Florian could be at times. However, she of all people knew that sometimes boundaries had to be overstepped. It was necessary for personal growth, after all. Living life within one's own comfort zone would lead to a boring existence. Although Coralie would be incorrect if she proclaimed that she was not a touch anxious herself, the difference was her curiosity and erratic impulsiveness immensely outweighed her slight discomfort and uncertainty.

"Bulba-saur!" Coralie's words of wisdom seemed to appease the dual type pokemon, who now seemed a tad more confident.

Coralie patted his head affectionately before scooping him up in her arms. "Here, I'll even hold onto you so you feel safe."

"Bulba! Saur!"

With that, the trio entered the cemetery through the towering and noticeably rusty iron gates. They creaked boisterously as they shut behind her, a gravitational pull dragging them together, or perhaps a supernatural being - you never could be sure. If last night taught Coralie anything, it was that Lavender Town was packed full of surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant.

She looked about carefully, inspecting the grassy terrain ahead of her. Suddenly she questioned why she was initially so eager to venture into the graveyard to begin with. It was a place where deceased people and pokemon lay 2 metres underground, after all. Something about the thought of that was unnerving.

Coralie approached the nearest tombstone and examined it carefully. The gravestone was in the shape of a crucifix and was slightly crooked, with a long minuscule crack through the center of it. It appeared severely weathered and Coralie struggled to make out the writing engraved upon the stone. The verdant grass surrounding the tombstone was noticeably overgrown and several weeds sprouted around it, their spiky leaves swaying in the breeze. It must've been considerably old, Coralie thought.

She moved on, holding Florian against her chest as she could practically feel his nerves. Stella Luna remained perched atop her head, completely unbothered by their eerie location.

Coralie came to a halt when she spotted an elder man hunched over at a headstone a few metres to her right. He was a narrow man, with a tuft of white hair on his head and a pair of circular spectacles that made his eyes bulge out of his head. He was clutching a bouquet of scarlet roses whilst kneeling in front of the monument. He gingerly lay the flowers directly on the foot of the tombstone before reaching out to the stone with a frail, shaky hand and stroking it ever so delicately, as if he was reaching for the hand of a beloved. He then struggled to get to his feet and reached for a cane that he leaned against the tombstone, using it to regain balance. A pokemon was alongside him, Coralie realized. It had laid behind the headstone which was why she didn't initially see it. It was a Herdier, who rubbed its fur against the man's stick thin legs affectionately. The man glanced in Coralie's direction, catching her eye and she offered him a polite wave and a sheepish smile in return. Truthfully, she was embarrassed to have been caught observing this man, she was just so enthralled by his sweet gesture.

He hobbled over to her, seemingly out of breath after only a mere few steps. As he neared in proximity to the bubblegum-haired female, Coralie noted the many lines on his face and came to the conclusion that this man was either in his late eighties or nineties. The Herdier trotted slowly behind the man as if wanting to ensure that he did not stumble and fall.

"Hello, my dear.." He began. His voice was rough like sandpaper, though it was oddly soothing, it had a charm to it.

"Hello, sir." Coralie bowed politely. "I-I apologize for staring, I didn't mean to be disrespectful!"

The Herdier came up to Coralie and greeted her with a low-pitched bark. Florian hopped out of her arms and chirped, greeting the new pokemon. Stella swooped at the canine pokemon playfully, wanting to be acquainted as well. Coralie knelt down and rubbed the pokemon's back, the inky black fur soft and silky, the pokemon seemed to be in wonderful health.

"Nonsense. Name's Walter. It's a joy to have some company, to know that you aren't alone… I-uh come here on a daily basis and it's been quite some time since I've seen anyone else here."

Coralie nodded. "I see."

The man turned to face the tombstone then and motioned to it with his cane. "That is my wife. Rose was her name. She passed away last spring, over a year ago now. I try to visit everyday but with my health- it-uh… can be difficult." He chuckled lightly. It was a low, somewhat somber laugh that broke Coralie's heart.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. I cannot begin to comprehend how you feel."

The man waved it off. "We were married for fifty-seven years. The best years of my life. We had a long time together. You know what they say - all good things must come to an end, well, that's just how it is. But, one day we'll be reunited and those good times will last an eternity."

Coralie nodded and offered the man an empathetic smile. She felt an instinct to reach out and hold his shriveled up hands in her own or to wrap her arms around him in an embrace. She worried though that he'd shatter into a million pieces if she were to do so.

"This here is my pal Rufus.. You see, Rose and I found him out in a storm a few years back, when he was a mere Lilipup. He seemed severely malnourished and was clearly neglected and abandoned. He was quite fearful of the storm and so we brought him into our home. It took awhile for Rufus to trust us, naturally, but once we managed that, he became a permanent member of our family. He was Rose's pride and joy and now he's mine. He's been a grand ole companion, especially since she's gone.." His voice trailed off as he patted his pokemon on the head, the canine yipping with utter satisfaction.

"That's such a sweet story. It's fate that the two of you were brought together. I think that's a very beautiful thing."

The elderly man nodded and closed his eyes, as if deep in thought. Coralie suddenly wondered about Rose, what she was like and how the two of them met. She had a sense that Rose was a phenomenal individual and that she and Walter had been deeply enourmed with one another.

"I think so, too.. A beautiful thing indeed..."

"Yip! Yip!" Rufus nudged Walter's leg before tugging on the fabric of Walter's slacks, pulling him forward slightly.

"Alright, buddy... I 'spose that's Rufus reminding me that we have errands to run." Walter explained with a guffaw. He bent down to rub his pokemon's back before steadying himself with his cane and returning to an upright position.

"Well, miss, it was lovely runnin' into you. You take care of yourself now.." He tipped his hat at Coralie and she curtseyed. "Yes, take it easy, Walter. You too, Rufus!" Coralie rubbed the canine pokemon's chin, much to his delight. He muttered a gleeful woof in reply before sauntering off ahead of Walter.

"Oh.. and before I forget… Do be careful. There are some real tricksters that love to hang out 'ere." Walter forewarned, stopping dead in his tracks and gazing at Coralie with a serious expression plastered to his worn face.

"Oh, I will, no worries!" Was Coralie's response, her voice a tad squeakier than normal. She gazed at Stella and Florian, who both seemed just as confused by Walter's sudden admonitory.

~

"Ohhhh, I'm starting to get peckish." Coralie groaned, clutching her stomach. She had only eating a scrumptious breakfast with Arianne mere hours ago and yet here she was, famished as could be.

Florian and Stella seemed to share their trainer's hunger. They three of them had been aimlessly wandering about the cemetery for an hour at the very minimum and were hopelessly lost. To make matters worse, a fog had shrouded the burial grounds, impairing Coralie's ability to locate any sort of exit.

She looked about and sighed, feeling trapped by the dense fog that seemed to thicken by the second, it was as if it was trying to swallow her whole. "Well, we might as well have a picnic whilst waiting for the fog to clear." Coralie selected a patch of grass away from any tombstones before extracting a small quilt from her purse and laying it out on the grass. Florian hopped on it playfully before wrapping himself in it like a burrito.

"Florian, you silly Swanna! We have to sit on that." Coralie giggled as the Bulbasaur unwrapped himself.

She plopped down on the quilt as she extracted a container from her purse. In it were slices of Strawberry Shortcake, her mom's specialty. The two of them had baked it before Coralie's departure. Her mouth was watering as she removed the lid and examined the decadent dessert.

"There's 3 pieces, so - one for each of us! How perfectttt!" She declared in a sing-songy voice.

Coralie turned to Stella and Florian who were seated on the blanket before her, both eagerly awaiting their treats.

Coralie turned away for a minute and rummaged through her purse, attempting to find a utensil. When she managed to pull out a fork, she turned to see that the cake had vanished.

"What!? The cake, but-" She was flabbergasted.

"Florian, Stella, I understand that you're both hungry but that was uncalled for!" She stated in an accusatory tone.

Her pokemon tried to defend themselves but she wouldn't hear it, she sighed miserably as she turned back to her purse - only to find that it had disappeared as well.

"EEEEEEEEKKK! Oh my Arceus! My purse, oh my purse! Oh this can't be!"

She hopped to her feet and frantically searched the premises, though she could barely see due to the fog's density.

"If this is some kind of prank, it most certainly is not humorous AT ALL!" She whined, desperate to locate her missing possessions. Due to the fog, Coralie could no longer even find the quilt.

She was now lost. Completely and utterly in solitude.

"Florian! Stella Luna! Where are you guys?" She called, cupping her mouth to elevate the volume of her cries.

It was no use, she had trotted too far.

"EEEK! Oh what have I done?! This is simply TERRIBLE!"

Coralie suddenly felt someone or something grab her. It felt as if she was being lifted into the air, though not very successfully, as she was barely three centimetres off solid ground.
"EEEEEEK! UNHAND ME YOU FIEND!" She thrashed about and whatever it was that held onto her let go, causing her to collapse in a heap.

She then felt a strong breeze and she winced, forcing her azure eyes shut. Just as swiftly as it had appeared, the fog dissipated entirely. Before her, was a lilac pokemon that resembled a balloon.

"Oh, you must have used Gust in frustration.." Coralie decided, eyeing the ghost pokemon cautiously. "But WHAT WAS THE BIG IDEA TRYING TO KIDNAP ME, anyways!?"

"Flooon."

"That's all you have to say for yourself?"

"Bulba! Bulbasaur!"

Just then, Florian reappeared, the container of cake atop his bulb, Stella in toe, Coralie's purse dangling from her claws.. They both set her items down and jumped onto Coralie and she immediately embraced them.

"OH, I was so worried about you two, I'm glad you're both ok."

"Drifloon. Drifffff." The ghost type seemed to be laughing at the trio, mocking them.

"I understand now, so you were the one who stole the cake, my purse, and my pokemon!" The bubblegum-haired girl accused, clearly unimpressed.

"Flooon."

"Hmm.. you are undeniably cunning. Well, that settles it! What do you say to a battle? If I win, you have to accompany me on my journey and if I lose, you can have the cake."

The Drifloon seemed overjoyed at Coralie's proposal and prepared itself for battle.

"Alright, Stella Luna, I'm counting on you!"

"Nya! Nya!"

The Drifloon started out with gust, blowing a strong breeze directly at the bat pokemon.

"Soar above it!" Coralie instructed. The Noibat followed orders and swiftly dodged the oncoming attack.

"Now! Use Double Team!"

Multiple Noibats surrounded the Drifloon now, rendering it unable to escape.

"Give it a taste of its own medicine! Use gust!"

All of the Stella copies began to rapidly beat their wings, creating a massive flurry of wind that struck the ghost type from all sides and caused a miniature explosion of energy.

The Drifloon attempted to shake off the damage but Coralie wanted to end things quickly. "Supersonic now."

The bat pokemon emitted a sound wave that instantly confused Drifloon, causing it to float about in circles.

"Gust once more." Stella repeated the move but Drifloon teetered out of the way just in time before using a move of its own, Astonish. THe move connected and it sent Stella reeling.

"Stella! Please be careful!" Coralie cried as her companion shook off the damage.

"Absorb now." Stella Luna swooped at the balloon pokemon, sinking its fangs into Drifloon and consuming its life force.

The Drifloon wobbled about mid-air in an attempt to shake Stella off, but to no avail. Stella was holding on for dear life.

"Gust once more." Stella released herself from the Drifloon and created a wind current that aggressively hurled Drifloon into the thick trunk of a nearby tree, knocking it out.

The ghost type collapsed on the Floor as Stella did a celebratory dance airborne.

"Yesss! Stella Luna, you were fabulous!"

Coralie picked up her purse and pulled out a heal ball from within it, pressing the center button as the ball expanded in her hand. She studied it momentarily, before tossing it mid-air, a beam of red light encompassing Drifloon and sucking it into the ball. The catching device toddled three times consecutively, before a clicking sound was heard, signifying a successful capture!

Coralie scooped up the pokemon and raised it in the air triumphantly. She then held the heal ball close and studied it, as she mulled over a nickname.

"… Trixie! Yes! Perfect! A fitting nickname for such a mischievous pokemon." Coralie giggled. "So glad to have you join us, Trixie." She slipped the ball into her purse.

"Alright, now let's get out of here! This place gives me the CREEPS!"

Trixie the Drifloon, Female

Ninetales · Aug 10, 2020

Keone Maluhia

Lavender Town, May 24^th

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pokémon

Keone's team:

Kai the Machop
Pele the Larvitar
[*]Bane the Pancham

Theme song:[/tab]

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Attack from the Sky

There was something unsettling about Lavender town. There was a tension that hung in the air like a cloud of fog, so thick that it could be severed with a blade. Keone had come to the conclusion that the rigidity in the town stemmed from the re-establishment of the power plant, which was something he learned after overhearing a conversation between two astute elderly ladies who whined about how the Tomorrow Foundation was solely responsible for diminishing the town's cultural values whilst replacing them with modern ones.

The one lady, who had the face of a Grimmsnarl, described Lavender town as a "moralless, corrupt, consumerist town" to which the other lady, who possessed slightly softer features, vehemently agreed with the sentiment.

The discussion had reminded Keone of remarks that his own grandmother Iwalani had made, as she worried that technological advancements in Alola, combined with the expansion of metropolitan cities such as Hau'Oli would lead to a decline in cultural interest and spiritual connectedness and enlightenment, which would in turn anger the island deities. This is part of the reason why Keone's Parents were so adamant about Kainalu and him practicing their culture, so that it wouldn't be lost in an increasingly modernizing world.

It was interesting to consider similar issues present in different cultures. Was modernity that big of a threat? Keone wasn't necessarily convinced either way. Like anything, it had its pros and cons. Change in most instances, was positive. Adaptability was key.

The ladies finally passed by and Keone found solace in the momentary state of quietude. Lavender, despite its brewing conflict and grisly elderly population, was quaint overall, Keone thought. Many decorated their homes with colourful lanterns in preparation for the upcoming festival and the town itself was springing with life, flowers and shrubs sprung up in all of the town's many unoccupied nooks and crannies. This, again, gave Keone a sense of comfort, as it reminded him of the island oasis he called home. Many parts of Alola were overgrown, after all. Plants there seemed to have a mind of their own, one that could not be contained or regulated by humanity.

I should make use of the day and train.

Keone got up off the bench he sat on, slinging his backpack over one shoulder. He wanted a clearing to train away, on the outskirts of town perhaps. He planned to challenge both the Ghost and Electric type gyms. He figured that if there were two leaders to challenge, it'd do him good to battle both of them. It was a perfect opportunity to learn and become stronger. Even if he were to lose, he would at least gain insight on different battle strategies which would be beneficial overall.

He treated training and battling similar to sport, be it surfing or martial arts. Watch, wait, practice, repeat, succeed. It was a simple yet effective and efficient formula.

He followed a path that passed by Lavender tower. He observed it as he trudged on, it was quite something for sure. There were many rumours about the tower that he'd overheard at Cape College, including ones detailing supernatural beings that haunted the place.

It all sounded ridiculous to him, though he wasn't really up for finding out on his own, either. It was easier to pretend that some things were simply not true. What you don't know won't hurt you, as the saying goes.

As the tower faded in the background, Keone decided that he had found a decent enough place to train. It was far enough on the edge of town that no one should appear to cause him and trouble.

He set down his back and extracted his pokeballs from it, tossing them all into the air and summoning his trusted pokemon.

Kai, Bane, and Pele all appeared before his eyes, eager to get some training in.

"Alright you guys, we have a big day ahead of us. We'll aim to hit both the ghost type and electric type gyms today. Two pidgey with one stone."

His pokemon all nodded, determination burning in each of their eyes.

Keone knelt down and pulled out a bag of pokemon food, which was specialized to increase his pokemon's stamina when training.

He set the bag down in front of his companions. "This'll help with training. You can help yourselves. Don't eat too much, you don't want to be sluggish."

Pele immediately began to help herself, practically shoveling the bits of sustenance into her mouth. Kai had a bit more self-restraint. Bane was perhaps the most ravenous out of the trio. Keone couldn't help but chuckle.

~

"Alright. Battle positions."

His pokemon had aligned themselves in a meadow. Keone would start them off with exercises to heighten the strength of their moves.

"Pele I want you to use Rockslide on Kai. Kai, your job is to deflect and smash the rocks with Karate Chop. Protect yourself."

He turned to the Pancham who stood beside him. "Bane, watch Kai's movements, 'aight? You'll be up next!"

"Pan! Pan!" Bane huffed, evidently displeased to not be in on the action. Keone knelt down and patted the fighting type's head. "Don't worry, buddy, you'll get your chance to shine."

Bane crossed his arms and kicked at the ground.

"Ok, Pele, whenever you're ready."

"Larvie! Larv!" Pele hopped up, readying herself. She appeared a bit over enthusiastic to pummel Kai with rocks.

She summoned multiple terracotta stones that came crashing down on Kai.

Kai's hand shone as he smashed it into the first few rocks, deflecting them as they descended. He quickly became overwhelmed and failed to guard himself from the rest of the stones as they rained down on him. As a result of this, he collapsed as the rocks smashed into him.

Keone took a step forward to ensure that his pokemon wasn't injured when Kai picked himself up off the ground. He turned to his trainer and nodded.

"Mach."

He was ready to continue.

A certain pokemon was enjoying the spectacle. He looked on from afar, perched on the iron gate of the graveyard. He wanted in on the action.

The second time ended up like the first, Kai was easily overwhelmed by Rock Slide and didn't react fast enough to deflect all of the rocks.

You'll get it. Don't get discouraged. Keone thought, as he observed Kai try it for a third time.

The rocks fell once more and Kai seemed more prepared this time. He dodged the first rock whilst sending another flying with his fist. He dodged a third and deflected three more consecutively. It seemed as if he was getting in the swing of things.

Suddenly a loud caw could be heard, as a jet black avian pokemon appeared overhead. It dove at an incredible speed and swooped down at Keone and his pokemon.

"What the-"

The pokemon climbed on an air current before diving once again, this time spinning as it descended. It aimed its attack at Pele, slamming into her with its sharp beak. Pele was sent tumbling in the grass, stunned by the unprecedented hit.

Hmm. It seems this ruffian wants a battle. Well that's exactly what he'll get.

Pele hopped to her feet as she readied herself for the flying type's next attack.

"Larv!" She was clearly enraged that this wild pokemon had the audacity to strike unprovoked and clearly wanted revenge.

As the pokemon neared, which Keone identified to be a Murkrow, Pele used Rock Slide in an attempt to stop the mischievous pokemon in its tracks. Murkrow, however, was much too fast and easily dodged the falling rocks, landing another hit on the Larvitar.

Pele was essentially crimson with vexation.

"Calm down. Focus, Pele. If you lose your cool now, you're sure to lose." Keone advised, studying the Murkrow as it circled overhead, taunting Pele with a loud caw.

It dove though it switched directions this time, it seemed to be aiming directly for Bane.
Bane froze and was knocked over by Murkrow's attack. The Pancham struggled to stand up and regain his composure as Murkrow was fast climbing a gust of wind and was preparing another attack.

"Don't let your guard down."

Bane looked at his trainer and nodded, understanding that this opponent was ruthless and clearly didn't operate by any rule book. Murkrow would strike the defenseless, all for its own sadistic gratification.

Within seconds, Murkrow was diving once again, its golden beak reflecting sunlight.

This time, however, it didn't have an opportunity to strike, as Bane had grabbed onto the avian pokemon and violently threw it.

Circle throw.

The flying type crashed into the ground, now in a state of unconsciousness due to the unanticipated attack.

A taste of his own medicine.

Keone approached the now fainted pokemon, holding a pokeball in hand.

"Larv!" Pele, who was still seething, was unimpressed with the thought of having Murkrow as a team member, especially after its dirty tricks.

"I know, Pele. I think Murkrow might be a useful teammate though. He has tremendous speed, you have to give him that. You'll warm up to one another."

Both Bane and Kai seemed a tad weary as well, though Keone knew what he was doing as he tossed the capture device, Murkrow entering it. The ball teetered back and forth three times before the capture was complete.

Keone picked up the ball and smirked.

"Alright, we'll name you Blitz."

Keone looked up at the rest of his pokemon, who were ogling him carefully.

"Let's get back to training now that we won't have any disruptions."

Blitz the Murkrow, Male

[PKMN FULL] TRAINERS (IC)

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