[PKMN FULL] TRAINERS (IC)

[budube]

Bruno Dillinger
May 21, Tuesday

Chapter 1: END​

---

"Shit…" the purple haired woman muttered with an uneasy expression of both nervousness and anger, rising her right arm where she had an older version of the PokéGear the kids had. It was red and a little rusty in the lid, but it seemed to work fine. Bruno thought perhaps the two thugs used to be rookie trainers that never graduated since they didn't seem to have a license and considering the way the woman talked about Cape College during the former battle. The PokéGear could've been stolen as well, but that was unlikely since it was very old.

The masked man started laughing. "Oi, girl! What the hell was that!?" He shouted to Debbie, who was still nervous and processing the final result of the battle giving no attention to her opponent. "We have to do this again sometime! This was the best battle I had since I joined this damned team! I was really missing battles like this one!" he kept laughing out loud, but the girl ignored him looking at him only once, but then returning to her own thoughts.

"Shut up! It's not funny." his partner interrupted, she sighed and continued in a lower voice "Another group is coming soon… Kurogane won't— What are you two waiting for, uh!? You beat us already, get going!"

"Wait, what!? We can go on!?" Debbie said with genuine surprise, suddenly regaining her consciousness and her previous energy. She turned back at Bruno with a smile. He knew what that look meant, it was the same look she had when they met at Cape College for the first time and the one they had when they met in Route 24 last night. "Oh no", he muttered to himself, closing his eyes and shrugging, it was inevitable. She held his arm tight and dragged him across the bridge, walking as fast as she could and leaving the thugs behind waiting for the next group.

The road across Nugget Bridge was calm… or it would've been weren't it for Deborah's constant chatter and Bruno's thoughts screaming and mixing up inside his head, so no it wasn't a calm road for him. He could see the soothing scene of Route 24 and Cerulean's river which he prefered to call the Nugget River, which pretty much helped him not to go insane at the moment
"What are we going to do once we get to Cerulean?" Deborah asked as she dragged the boy around.

"I guess we can begin with stop dragging me like that, it sounds like fun." he answered in a sarcastic tone "Then I'll probably run away from you in hopes of not seeing you ever again."

"Ha! Yeah, sure, whatever you say. You wouldn't even last the first block and I could catch up with you by only walking." the girl laughed. She stayed quiet for a bit, until suddenly she jumped screaming with emotion. Bruno was caught off guard both by the sudden scream and the unexpected jump, that he stumbled and fell down, gladly Deborah released his arm the moment she jumped or she would've fallen too. "Oh, I know what we can—! What are you doing on the ground?"

"I don't know, you tell me." He answered as he rubbed his hurt arm and slowly started getting up.

"Uh…?" the girl looked at him disconcerted, but her face quickly changed to her usual smile. "Well whatever. Let's have a battle!"

"Right now? Really?"

"No, fool! After lunchtime, what do you say?"

"I mean, maybe we—"

"Then it's settled!" She interrupts "We'll have a battle today afternoon!"

"That's not what I… forget it." Bruno started complaining, but he knew by Debbie's face it would be totally useless, she wanted that battle. On second thought a friendly battle with her wasn't a bad idea either. "What are we going to do until then?"

"I'm going to challenge the gym!" she answered confidently, Bruno looked at her with an unnamused expression, something like saying I knew it and Seriously?. "I don't care what Professor Palm said, didn't you see Pancho's performance back there? He was great, and I still have another pokemon with me! There's no way I'm gonna lose."

"I think we should organize things a little bit… let's see, the map says there's a PokéMart here and a…" he looked back at his friend except she wasn't there anymore. Of course, she would normally escape the moment she hears the word organize. They didn't even trade their Pokégear numbers, so they wouldn't know when and where the battle would take place... Whatever, he was apparently free now and the road was quieter than before. The first thing he's doing once he reaches Cerulean is buying some Potions and Pokéballs in the PokéMart that was like an hour from Nugget Bridge, then he would heal his pokemon and take a look around the city after lunch and hope he finds Deborah on the road.

Cerulean was a small and serene city and apparently there was not much to do here compared to Saffron, but it did look as a good place to live in since Bruno prefered calm places. It had a minimalist architecture and sett paved roads, nothing out of the ordinary or at least not from the southern edge of Nugget Bridge. If there was something that would catch the eyes of many tourists and visiting trainers (and it DID caught Bruno's eye), it was the big building at the east of the city, one could see it even at the distance; according to Bruno's map that was the Cerulean Dragon-Type Gym, it was a tall, majestic structure that pretty much spoke for the serenity of the entire city. Bruno would've gone there, but there was no time for sightseeing now, so he walked his own way forward where the map told him the PokéMart would be.​

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt
Day 2 • Tuesday, May 21, Midday • Cerulean

2-01. come on say what you think
it won't mean a thing

The first thing Casey does upon entering the city is make a beeline for the Pokémon Center. Charmander's fine but Buneary's resting in her PokéBall, still not fully recovered. The plan is to reserve a room, heal them both up, then... explore? Maybe check out the gym? Whatever looks interesting, really!

Casey glances back to check on his Pokémon. Charmander is idly twirling his stick at the moment. Thankfully. Casey's had to apologize to enough people already. He's learned today that Charmander's tendency to swing at anything near him extends to human shins.

He turns his gaze forward again and stops in his tracks, face inches from that of a silent Scizor. A Scizor that hadn't been there a second ago.

"'Scuse me," he says, and tries to duck around the Pokémon. He comes face-to-face with a stinger.

Scizor don't have stingers.

Casey backs away. The new arrival- a Beedrill- takes a position on his left, not allowing an escape into the street. Both Bug-types keep with him as he begins to walk backwards in earnest. Casey can feel Charmander brushing up against his leg but doesn't dare take his eyes off the threats guiding his movements. Charmander has the type advantage, but these Pokémon… they look tough. Intent.

Battle-hardened.

There's an alley just behind him. He remembers passing it earlier and now he can feel the difference in airflow. He takes one more step and hopes Charmander will read his signal correctly. He snaps his fingers twice behind his back, points at the alley, and runs.

Charmander's ahead of him in a beat, stick in his mouth to free all his limbs for speed. Casey's really not a sprinter, especially not with his walking stick and bulky backpack throwing him off-balance, but he's still a third of the way down the alley before his pursuers turn in to follow. He's two-thirds of the way down when he notices a figure ahead and skids to a stop. A wild glance around pegs the Scizor still slowly advancing with the Beedrill hovering above it.

"Hey-" the figure dressed all in blue turns. Their face is obscured by the hood of their sweatshirt. "Hey, there's some scary Pokémon back there, let me-"

"Good," they say, quiet enough that Casey almost misses it. He shuts up in time to hear the buzz of wings pass overhead. The Beedrill is recalled as soon as it settles by the person's side. A prickling sensation over the back of his neck tells Casey that the Scizor is very close to him.

"What do you want?" he demands. The walls framing the alley are made of brick. Could he scale- no, he's not fast enough even without all his stuff… "Are you-"

"How many Pokémon do you have." The words are muffled by the bandana covering the lower half of their face, but the tone is clear. It is a demand, not a question.

"Two, now let me-"

"Battle me."

Casey's incredulity outweighs his fear for a split second and he gestures to the motionless Scizor behind him. "Battle that?"

The person in blue laughs in tones of condescension and scorn. Casey bristles. "Of course not." A light flashes. "You will battle this."

It's a Pidgey.

Casey blinks.

He doesn't get it. He doesn't know what this person wants, he doesn't know why they are forcing him to fight, he doesn't have any clue as to why they've chosen a Pidgey. He does know that there are no real escape options. He does know that he's been told to battle. Against a Pidgey. Pidgey, a common, unevolved Pokémon. A Pidgey that's pecking around in the alley dust, paying little attention to the tension in the air. That's… fine. It's fine!

It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, "You'll let me go if I win, is that it?"

"You can go if you fight."

...It's fine. "Charmander." It's just a Pidgey. The Pokémon readies his stick and advances. The Pidgey watches.

"Scratch!"

He barely even starts the word before the Pidgey is turning, kicking dust in Charmander's direction as it takes off. It glides around the narrow alley in tight loops while Charmander furiously rubs at his eyes. The trainer commands a Quick Attack- the Pidgey dives, crashing talons-first into Charmander's back, forcing him down. Charmander's flailing knocks the bird away just long enough for him to flip himself over. The Pidgey launches itself up and away when Casey calls for a volley of Embers. Most burst across the brick walls while Charmander's concentration is split between aiming and righting himself, but one grazes a feathery tail and a second hits it square in the chest just before a wind whips up to throw Charmander back toward Casey. He skids but stays upright, firing Embers ineffectively into the wind. The Pidgey rockets forward once more and Charmander readies his stick for an overhead swing.

What an obvious move.

The Pidgey flips sideways and grabs the stick mid-swing, wrenching it from Charmander's grasp. He drops backwards and hits the ground just as the Pidgey comes looping back to land a decisive blow to the face with Charmander's own weapon.

Casey shakily recalls Charmander. It's not fine it's not fine it's not fine-

"It's- I fought, okay? Let me go."

The trainer shakes their head. "You have two Pokémon."

"No, she- she's not-"

The trainer gestures and Casey feels the Scizor step closer to him. The Pidgey glides lazily along the alley walls. Every sense he has is screaming at him to run. There's nowhere to go.

"Send her out."

It takes three tries for his shaky hands to activate the PokéBall. Buneary appears at his feet and he's immediately crouching down, his brief overview of the situation littered with pleas and preemptive apologies. She's had time to rest since the battle at the bridge but it hasn't been long enough. He knows this, she knows this, and it is with grim acceptance that they take their stance.

Buneary's defensive posture is immediately noted. Gusts of wind slam her sideways into a wall. She's already wobbling, she's going to go down, all she can do is Endure one more attack-

From somewhere behind and above Casey, a beam of sparkling pink light flashes across the alley to blast its target into its trainer's arms. The person in blue staggers at the impact, but rallies quickly.

"You said you had two!" they accuse, recalling their unconscious Pokémon.

"I do- I only have-"

They aren't listening. "Scizor!"

The Scizor shoves Casey into the wall as it makes its way past. Trainer and Pokémon stalk out onto the street beyond, leaving Casey to catch Buneary as she finally falls over.

A shadow bathes them in gentle darkness for a brief moment before moving on.

 

[moon]

Ralph

Arianne

Route 25, Monday May 20th

The door opened, and there stood… A boy of similar age to them, practically beaming with excitement. His hair was brown and wild, his skin pale but freckled, and his eyes were blue and blinking happily at them above the blinding smile he wore.

"More Cape trainers!" he called out, perhaps to them, or perhaps to other people inside of the house. "Didn't you say you had room for a few more, Darling?"

A grumpy woman's voice could be heard from inside. "Only a couple! And you know the rules."

"Yes, I do now, but they don't! Probably. Do you know the rules?" the boy added towards Ralph and Arianne.

Ralph looked from him to Ari. "I… Don't think we do, no?"

"I figured!" the boy said, beaming again. "I'll tell them to you! So-"

"No, you won't," the grumpy voice interrupted him.

The sound of somebody getting up and walking with heavy steps to the front door could be heard, and then a large, rough hand was placed on the cheerful boy's shoulder.

"I'll tell them. You go on and finish making dinner together with the others, won't you?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the boy said, making a quick honneur before darting away back inside.

The lady turning to face the girls now was anything but girly. Her hands were coarse, her arms and shoulders broad. Her whole body gave the impression of a huge tree stump, or perhaps a gorilla. The face didn't exactly look inviting either, her jaw and eyebrow bones protruding so much it almost looked like the face wanted to fold in on itself. In between were a couple of surprisingly alert blue eyes though, partially covered by greying hair that was otherwise put up in a messy bun at the back of her head. She was wearing laced trousers of some heavy denim material, over a grey buttoned shirt that did little to give her any sort of femininity either.

In short, Ralph was impressed by her style.

"I am Gregia Darling and this is my small farm. You may simply call me Darling, or ma'am. Who are you two, then?" the lady asked.

Arianne wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Ralph was with Darling. But the boy, on the other hand, was... a good sign, in her eyes. She took one last look at him before having her attention drawn towards the woman. "Yes.. We're indeed Cape College trainers on their first night out! I'm Arianne, and she is Ralph."

"Pleasure," Ralph said casually with a nod. "We're looking for shelter for the night… Like everybody else today, I guess."

"I expected as much. And I do happen to have exactly two beds available still; it may be a small farm but I raised a large family once upon a time. However…" Her sparkling blue eyes narrowed as the edges of her lips formed a smile. "In order to earn your stay here, you have to help out."

"We can do that," Ralph immediately responded. "We did chores all the time at the school, it's no biggie."

"That's not all," Darling said and leaned forward slightly. "You also need to beat me in a pokémon battle first. Both of you. I'll use one pokémon in a battle against one of yours, in succession. No healing items."

Ralph turned to look at Arianne before she responded this time. Arianne was hurt and needed rest, and she had already mentioned being hungry too. It might be a really bad idea to force her to battle now.

Arianne couldn't help but feel baffled. A battle to earn my stay? She could have coped with doing some chores if it meant having a comfortable bed and a hot, delicious meal, but the part about the battle caught her off guard. However, since she put on herself the responsibility of choosing the farm, she was committed to battling to the best of her abilities.


Noticing the worried look in Ralph's eyes, she stepped forward. "I gladly accept the challenge. All I ask for, however, is to let us have a Double Battle for our room together… if possible". Despite her efforts to hide her tiredness, her voice didn't sound as confident and steady as she would have liked. But in Arianne's mind, there was no turning back.
Maybe this will save us some time!

"Oh?" Darling said, pondering the idea for a moment.

It was a good suggestion. Ralph stepped up beside the other girl. "Please. We'd like to cooperate." She didn't particularly feel like trying to show off on her own, anyways.

The farmer nodded slowly for a few more moments, before she put her hands together in a big 'clap'. "Oh, why not," she finally said. "It's been a long time since I did something like that. However, then we need another opponent too, don't we?"

Oh, Ralph hadn't considered that. "Do you live here with someone else, ma'am?"

"I do not. But there are others who might be willing to help us out. Mr Montany?"

A rustle from inside was heard, as if somebody put down pots or pans of some kind, and then hurried footsteps before the boy from before appeared again, looking just as eager.

"Yes, Darling?"

"How are your pokémon feeling, are they rested yet?"

"Well, one of them is kind of tired, but my starter is fine! Why?"

"I wonder if you would like to assist me in a double battle against these two girls."

His whole face shone up at that. "More battles? Sure! How come you can't battle on your own though?" he asked towards the girls.

"There there, no need to pry," Darling said and put a huge hand on his shoulder again. "The dusty yard right here in front of the house is where I usually do battles with guests. Let's move up a bit."

She motioned for the girls to take place on the opposite side of the area in front of the house, while she and Montany remained stationed close to the porch of the house.

"One pokémon each, then. Both of one team's pokémon need to be knocked out for it to count as a win. No healing items during the game. Ready?"

Ralph glanced at Arianne. The taller girl looked determined, so the shorter one didn't inquire about her status. She couldn't keep herself from casually giving her an encouraging pat on the arm though. "Let's do this," she said.

The girl's encouragement was met with a grin and with a yelped "Here we go!" from her now battle partner.
Arianne's Squirtle ran in front of her trainer, eager to finally try out a battle against another trainer. Just like the black haired girl was determined not to let down Ralph, he was determined not to let down his trainer.

"Looks promising!" commented Darling, grabbing a pokeball of her own. In the meantime, Squirtle took a better look at the battlefield. Those opponents looked tough, but, to be honest, so did the trainer that was fighting alongside Arianne. At least, for being on her first day of her journey!

Darling nodded at the smiling Montany, and both tossed their pokéballs out at the same time. What appeared was a small Pikachu… and a huge Tauros.

"Yikes," Ralph couldn't help but commenting. "I guess this is not the day I start training Weedle. Sandsy, go!"

She sent out her ground type starter, who took the stage with zero fear. Perhaps he knew that the other mouse wouldn't be able to hurt him much. The Tauros, on the other hand… It stomped challengingly as it stared Squirtle and Sandsy both down.

"You may make the first move," Darling said with a wide, old smile.

The sight of their opponents caught Arianne off guard. The tension kept rising more and more, as she thought about what move to use first with Squirtle. The Water type looked back at her, seeking a spark in his trainer's eyes. Finally, after what Arianne thought was an eternity, a command was given. "Use Tail Whip!"

Playing safe was probably the best choice here. Tail Whip would have lowered the opponents' defense, this way helping out the ally Sandshrew, plus Squirtle could use that move while keeping a safe distance between him and Tauros. Once again Arianne turned towards Ralph. "Your attacks should hit stronger now! If you can, go for it!"

The Tauros seemed mostly unphazed by the wagging tail in front of it, but the Pikachu certainly got distracted. Montany glanced at Darling, as if impatient, but the farmer remained silent. Probably waiting for Ralph too.

"Support, huh?" Ralph said with a smile. "Thanks. Sandsy, Rollout on Pikachu!"

Sandsy wasted little time. He took a leap, curled up into a rolling ball, and started rolling towards the other mouse. Still entranced by the tail, Pikachu could hardly evade the attack and got tackled aside. It got up pretty easily though, with much more resolve than before, and some encouraging words from Montany. Sandsy kept rolling, turning around at the edge of the battlefield.

"Our turn," Darling said calmly. "Tauros, Horn Attack."

The Tauros made a loud noise before it stomped forward, aiming at the Squirtle. Its horns were lowered, and its speed were surprisingly high.

In the meantime, Montany and Pikachu had regained their composure. "Pikachu, use Double Kick on Sandshrew!"

Squirtle wasn't very apt with battling against such a strong Pokémon. A fully grown Tauros wasn't a common sight at the College, that was for sure. But Arianne's reflexes were still on point, luckily. "Jump and hit the ground with Water Gun!"

Squirtle understood exactly what Arianne wanted him to do, even though the command seemed very weird at first. The Turtle Pokémon did as he was told to, lifting himself up in the air above his huge opponent, who appeared to only be concerned about ground level. "Attack again, it's your chance!"

Another Water Gun soaked the Tauros, still without any major, visible damage, as Squirtle landed back on the ground. The Normal Type barely flinched... but getting back to a fighting stance, facing Squirtle, took him quite a while. That could have been a good strategy for the oncoming turns?

Ralph watched the bull getting soaked, but trying to stay focused on the Sandshrew coming back around for another bout of Rollout. As he approached the electric pokémon however, the latter bounced up and delivered two kicks in swift succession, disrupting the Rollout and making Sandshrew unfold himself, even if he wasn't badly hurt.

"Aw, man," Ralph muttered. "Sand Attack him!"

Sandsy found his footing, still in pretty close proximity to Pikachu, and delivered a rough shove of dust into its face. It squeaked in surprise and started flailing about, leaving Montany furrowing his brow in worry.

The Tauros was shaking the water off of its mane, as Darling delivered her next words. "Clever, do you learn such tactics at the college?" she asked Arianne. "Tauros, Scary Face! Let's slow them down a bit."

Now that could have been a problem. A huge problem, in fact… Squirtle seemed to have lost most of his lucidity because of that unexpected attack. His movement speed had been lowered, meaning dodging Tauros' attacks was much harder… but also Pikachu's attacks could have been the end of him! After all, they were super effective against a Water type.

Communication was quintessential in Multi battles. That was what Arianne learnt at the College, and for good reason. And now that her journey had begun, it was time to put that into practice!
"Ralph" she called out, forgetting Darling's question entirely. "I'm afraid that Pikachu can hit Squirtle too easily now. We need to take it out if we want to have a chance." She took a glance at Sandsy as well, who was eager to attack again, and finally at the opposing Mouse Pokémon, who seemed to be already quite hurt.

The Water type still looked intimidated, and unwilling to continue. But at the same time, he wanted to prove his worth to Arianne, who was unusually determined to win. These contrasting emotions only lead him to… well, walk closer to Sandsy, his eyes glowing pink again. It must have been a Pokémon move of some sort, but Arianne still had no clue what that move was - in fact, she'd never commanded anything of sort to her partner. Sandsy could feel slightly better and stronger: he would have needed it if he would have jumped again in the heat of the battle, as Arianne wanted him to.

"Got it," Ralph said. "Sandsy, use Scratch!"

"Dodge with Quick Attack!" Montany called out almost at the same time.

Pikachu did indeed manage to avoid Sandsy's Scratch, and returned with a lightspeed tackled that sent Sandsy flying back towards Squirtle.

"Argh, it's too fast," Ralph muttered.

Admittedly, Arianne was a little disappointed with Pikachu dodging the attack. But Squirtle was too slow to get close to him, not to mention, he was weak against Electric type attacks. "I'm sorry Ralph, but I can't do much myself… shall we try again to go for the Pikachu?"
Thinking about Squirtle's dodging maneuver from before, Arianne came up with another idea. "Mind if I give your Rollout a speed boost?" she asked.

"Oh… I like the way you think," Ralph said with a smile. "Sandsy! Rollout!"

The Sandshrew blinked at the Squirtle before rolling itself up again and darting towards the faster mouse.

Once again, Pikachu was able to dodge the Rollout by swiftly moving to the side. A second attempt was made but returned the same results. Encouraged by his trainer, Sandsy kept his momentum and launched himself towards his opponent once again, Squirtle staying behind him.
Arianne felt like not much time was left. She could see that Tauros was readying to attack again, but the thought of at least knocking out one foe made her heat up. "Water Gun on Sandsy! Let's boost his speed."

Squirtle did just as he was told, despite his disagreement with that decision. Luckily, the strategy worked. Pikachu had no chance of moving aside fast enough as the curled Ground type hit him, followed by a blast of cold water.

Arianne couldn't contain herself anymore by that point. She quickly attempted a high five with Ralph, her eyes sparkling with pride. Ralph didn't quite react in time due to being focused on the battle, and the result was some kind of half sloppy hand meets hand.

Arianne was tired, yes, but that battle to her felt just like a life or death kind of situation. It was her first day as a trainer and, after what happened in the forest and all, she was determined to end it in a good way - and to gain more control over her adventure.

She didn't consider one thing though. Instructed by Darling, the Tauros was now heading straight towards Squirtle, charging with Horn Attack. As the Scary Face was still in effect, the Water type wasn't as fast as before, and was hit. Squirtle, who had retired into his shell, was knocked airborne.

"Sandsy!" Ralph called out, watching the battle turn around. "Keep rolling out towards Tauros!"

Coming in from behind, Sandsy kept the Rollout up. But Tauros had keen senses, and so did Darling.

"Stomp!" the farmer commanded, and Tauros followed the order. Or, rather, it became some sort of rear kick that made such an intense impact with the high speed Sandshrew that he unfolded himself and bounced off to lay still on the ground.

"Sandsy?" Ralph gasped.

"Finish the Squirtle with a Stomp as well," Darling said calmly.

Yet again the Water type could not react in time. He just took the attack, trying his best to stay inside his shell, and was knocked back for the second time in a row.
Arianne just didn't know what to do at that point, aside from taking a couple of steps towards her Pokémon and kneeling beside him. "How are you feeling? Can you really continue?"
She turned to face Ralph and Sandsy. The other girl had sat down next to her own pokémon as well. "What now?" she muttered, visibly panicked. Switching from fiction to reality had proven harder than expected, once again.

Ralph clenched her fists and was silent for a moment, before she stood up and returned Sandsy to his pokeball. Arianne did just the same seconds later, seeing that Squirtle was too hurt to keep battling. She was already looking for Pineco's Pokeball, not accepting the loss: but a look to Ralph was enough to calm her down. After all, her partner didn't seem so riled up.

"I've lost. I'll camp out, it's fine." She turned to Darling. "If there is any possibility you can let Arianne stay over, please let her. She's hurt."

"Ooh," Montany said, looking from Ralph to Ari to Darling with suspense.

Darling, however, just waved her hand and walked up to Tauros, calming the pokemon down. "Nonsense," she said. "I'll help anyone in need. I just wanted you to go all out in your battle with me! As if your beds were at stake!"

She laughed at that as she returned Tauros to its pokeball, and Montany laughed with her. But they were no evil laughs.

"You… You'll let us both stay the night?" Ralph asked, unsure of what had just happened, as Arianne stood beside her, equally puzzled.

"Certainly. Come inside now and we'll have a look at any wounds. Your pokemon will want to rest up as well."

"And dinner's ready!" Montany beamed, running back inside at that.

Ralph walked over to Arianne and suddenly thought of the high five she had messed up before. "Hey," she said and reached out a hand to help her up. "You all right?"

"Yes, I'm good..." the girl muttered. She touched the right side of her head, still unsure about what was the deal with that. The cuts were, in all honesty, superficial - plus the bleeding had stopped a long time ago - but now that Squirtle was focused on the battle, the pain came back slowly but steadily. Everyone there had seen what move Squirtle used on Sandsy, including Darling, who perhaps knew more about it.

"I'm not that talkative, I don't want to bother new people, but in that situation I behaved differently, and then dragged you into all of this… sorry Ralph, I hope Sandsy is ok." Clearing her throat and telling the other girl all that was like leaving behind a big burden.

"Wanna try the high five again? We've got a room for the night after all."

Ralph smiled and held her hand up. "Put it there, girl."

"Here we go!"

 

[Cid]

David Alexander

Chapter 1: Route 24
Day 1, Part 4: Evening

May 20th, Monday

One of the sleeping girls began to yawn herself awake. She rubbed her eyes to see a small campfire in front of her, and she combed her pink hair with her hands to look a bit more presentable. On the other side of the fire were two boys barely visible in the night: a blond boy, petting a Growlithe, and a brown-haired boy she recognized, who was watching his Vulpix, Nimbi, play with fallen leaves.

She formulated a question in her head, cleared her throat, and asked it across the little circle they had around the fire. "Bill? Who's the new guy?" Heather's voice was still a bit scratchy from just waking up, but she managed to catch Bill's attention, whose face was glowing from the fire.

"Hey, Heather. This is David," Bill answered, his hand punching lightly at David's arm to pertain the subject. David waved his other hand at Heather, who waved back, albeit groggily.

Heather continued to speak, looking around at the nighttime surroundings. "It's gotten pretty dark out, hasn't it?"

David found himself smiling at Heather's statement. "Yep, it's almost time for dinner. You guys were out like two Snorlax."

Before Heather was able to react, a clanging sound was heard from the main farmhouse door.

"Dinner's ready! Make sure to put out that fire, boys." exclaimed Pam, banging a pan with a large spatula to make the clanging sound. Her ruckus woke up Violet, who was surprised to see a new boy staying the night. Not one to stall, the newly-awakened girl immediately picked up her things and walked toward Pam. Everyone else followed suit, with David using a bucket of water Bill prepared earlier to douse the flame.

Inside the house was a small room where guests took off their shoes and placed coats and umbrellas, and the room right next to it contained the dining area. Julia was already sitting on one of the chairs that faced the dining table. Pam and her husband, Mark, were busy preparing the plates and utensils for the meal. A large pot containing curry, a platter of white rice, and two plates of spicy-looking sausages were at the center of the table. David felt his stomach rumbling.

"Thanks for letting us stay the night and preparing dinner for us, Mr. and Mrs. Woolrow," spoke David in gratitude. Bill, Heather, Violet, and Julia gave their thanks in unison.

"It's no big deal, dearies. Just make sure you show everyone else kindness as you go, and we'll be happy," Pam replied with a smile.

Mark placed the last set of plates and utensils before chiming in. "Well, kids, dig in! The food's going to get cold."

All four of trainers who still were standing picked their seats and sat down. The night quickly became a lively one, with the farmers asking questions about Cape College and everyone's families. The food itself was both filling and delicious. When it was time for David to tell his story, he began to recount his journey thus far and told everyone how difficult he found his Cape College subjects. The other trainers reassured David that he wasn't alone. Getting to share his worries with kind people was a good feeling for David, so he was glad he got the chance to talk.

Soon, dinner was over, and he found himself sleeping in a very small room with a mattress on the floor. Two of them could sleep here, with the three other girls having their separate room next to them. David and Bill were alone in the room, and they began to talk about their pasts.

Bill was talking about having a childhood friend play basketball with him all the time. Whenever they weren't playing basketball, they were playing make-believe in Bill's house. This reminded David of his own childhood.

"My best friend was an Arcanine," David told Bill.

"Oh? Was he related to your Growlithe now?" Bill asked.

"Arcanine was a she, actually. But yeah, she was Growlithe's mom," he replied wistfully.

David continued to recall his own childhood experience. "Before I was born, my dad had an Arcanine that loved watching movies. That made her a bit weird compared to other Pokémon, but my dad loved her all the same."

"My mom told me that when I was about four, Arcanine was watching a movie on a TV left on by my dad, and I crawled right next to her and watched it with her," he said with a smile.

"That's cute," Bill added.

"Haha, yeah. We ended up doing it all the time, and I caught the movie bug as well. I dreamed of starring in a movie one day."

David, lying down on the mattress, shifted his body and turned to the ceiling.

"In our off days as I grew older, Arcanine took me on rides around Vermilion City."

"That's amazing. I always wanted to ride an Arcanine. Do you think I could visit her and ask for a ride?" Bill casually mentioned in jest.

"I… I'm afraid not. She's gone."

The room went silent.

"Oh. I'm so sorry," said Bill, regretting his remark.

"No, it's okay."

"If it's alright to ask, what happened?"

The memories that flooded David's mind were painful, but he's wanted to tell someone about them. Taking a deep breath, he replied.

"There were some thugs. She was defending me, and I was just a kid."

David gulped, recalling the emotion of that moment. "I wasn't strong enough. She died because I didn't know what to do."

Bill didn't know what to say. He felt bad for David, but it didn't seem appropriate to say anything. The room was dark, and cries of Hoothoot were heard from the distance. A few minutes passed before David spoke again.

"That's why I wanted to become a trainer. I didn't want to feel that weak ever again."

Still laying down on his back, David stretched out his arm and touched the air with his open hand, as if reaching for something.

"I also… still want to be an actor. Not just because I grew up loving movies. I want to do it in her memory."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, David. I hope we both… do right by our old friends," Bill finally said.

"Yeah. I hope so too."

The two boys quickly fell asleep. They were momentarily shaken awake by a loud ghastly scream coming from a distant location outside, but after sharing a few bewildered questions, fell back to sleep.
​

David Alexander

Chapter 1: Route 24
Day 2, Part 1: Morning

May 21st, Tuesday

The morning came and the trainers had a small meal for breakfast: fried eggs, bread, Moomoo Milk, and berries. The piercing sound last night was a topic of conversation, but the farmers were very nonchalant about it, so the trainers categorized it as a usual occurrence. After breakfast, the five helped out the kind farmers with the farm chores before setting off on their journey once again. David gave Julia some money for the Potion he owed her, and with a smile, parted ways with both her and Bill. Heather and Violet opted to stay in the previous route to train some more, while Bill and Julia went further west of Route 24, probably to catch some more Pokémon. David was alone, but he walked south to where the Nugget Bridge was, in order to continue his journey.

"Come on out, Growlithe. Oddish."

With a flash of red light, his two companions were out and looked happy to see David. He each gave the two a light pet, the appearance of Growlithe bringing back the memory of his mother after talking about her the night before. Growlithe looked puzzled by David's tearful expression, but he offered David a few licks on his face to cheer him up. David certainly needed that, so he thanked and called both Pokémon to lead the way.

The Nugget Bridge could be seen in the distance. On a nearby forested area, David could see some burnt patches of grass and burn marks on trees. It looked like a battle had taken place there. There were also leaves and prints strewn about, looking like a separate battle that took place near the bridge itself.

In front of the bridge was a scary-looking trainer wearing a red bandanna. She had long black hair, large gold earrings, and bright red lipstick. She was wearing an olive green tank top and ripped jeans, and sneakers that looked like they've seen better days. She looked like she was a couple of years older than David. An Igglybuff was in front of her, looking angry and blocking the way with the exact same intimidating expression. At least, it tried to, because it still looked adorable.

David, Growlithe, and Oddish walked to where the two obstructing figures were standing. Growlithe had a determined expression, while Oddish was a bit more apprehensive. David was frowning.

"You can't cross this bridge, kid. Unless you beat my Igglybuff, which I know for a fact you can't, go back to your little college and scram."

"What makes you think we can't beat you, lady?"

"Lady? Hah, please. Don't call me that. Igglybuff, use Sing."

A sweet and sonorous melody filled the air. It made David drowsy, but he quickly shook himself awake. The woman who commanded Igglybuff was unaffected, probably because she had already heard the song multiple times. Growlithe and Oddish immediately fell asleep. David was taken aback, and returned Oddish to her Poké Ball. He then tried to wake Growlithe with his voice, to no avail.

"Pound that pup into pulp, Igglybuff."

The round balloon-like Pokémon exhibited a speedy dash, suddenly appearing right next to the sleeping canine. Igglybuff then used a very strong Pound attack, which looked like it hit Growlithe at a weak spot. The force wasn't enough to wake Growlithe up, which worried David. He still wasn't responding to any of his commands.

"Before it wakes up, give it a Sweet Kiss."

The kiss noticeably affected Growlithe in his sleep, but as to any damage, it didn't seem to lay a scratch. The woman then commanded Igglybuff to use Pound continuously, which chipped off Growlithe's health as he slept. After a few more painful hits, Growlithe was finally awake, but his eyes looked dizzy. David was not having it.

"God why does every trainer use the same damn annoying tactic, damn it!"

Forgetting to give a proper command in his anger, Growlithe attempted a Morning Sun, but was too confused to pull it off, hurting himself in the process.

"Use Pound once again!"

Yet another slap to the face. Growlithe was visibly weak, but thankfully, it was no longer confused. The sight was enough for David to finally give a command, but due to his clouded judgment, he opted to go for the offensive than to heal his Pokémon.

"This is our chance. Growlithe, use Bite!"

Growlithe chomped on the Igglybuff's arm, but it seemed to barely hurt the pink puffball. The Fairy-type resisted the move. The woman merely laughed.

"What a joke."

"What did you say!?" David responded in anger. "You don't get to call us that with your cheap tactics!"

"How's this, then? Igglybuff, for your special move, use Copycat!"

Suddenly, a set of sharp teeth was conjured in front of Igglybuff, and this successfully bit on Growlithe. The pup yelped in pain, and dropped to the ground, no longer moving.

"Growlithe, no!"

It was too late. Growlithe was unable to battle any further. The pain left it unconscious. David made sure to check if he was still breathing, and to his relief, he was. He was then overcome with anger.

"Oddish!"

Retreating his unconscious pup in his Poké Ball, David sent out Oddish, who was still snoozing away. The woman merely crossed her arms, and let out a single word.

"Copycat."

Another conjured set of fangs. Oddish was getting weaker by the minute. David was clenching his fist, unable to calm himself down. After three more Bite attacks, Oddish was weak, but finally awake. David was no longer angry, but on his knees.

"Please Oddish, use Absorb."

A red beam shot out of the groggy-looking Oddish, who was also visibly weak from so many Bite attacks. Igglybuff was hit, but barely got affected, which meant very little health went back to Oddish.

"Finish this. Pound."

As if in slow-motion, the last Pound attack from Igglybuff shot Oddish in the air, and the battle was over. David had lost.
​

 

[Eleanor]

Arianne Chandler & Ralph Gonder
🍀🍀🍀
Route 24 - Day 2 - May 21^st
Joint post with Astronaut
​

---

It didn't take long before the two girls could finally enter their room for the night. They took a good look around as they left their backpacks inside, admiring the wooden beams of the roof, the windows decorated with large amounts of flowers, and the (also) wooden floor slightly creaking under their feet.

Not a lot of time was left for Arianne and Ralph to stay there, though. The dinner Darling and the other trainers prepared was ready and waiting for them.
"I feel like we need Darling's help for this," whispered Arianne pointing at her head, glancing at her own reflection on a window and hoping to finally see her injury with her own eyes, but to no avail.

"I told you I could take a look at it," Ralph sighed. She had quite a bit of experience with treating injuries from sports earlier in her life, and had put her skills into practice more than a few times during the school time, what with reckless adventures with school pokémon and whatnot. But… Now that they were at a farm with an adult present, and one that seemed to be able to fend well for herself, perhaps it was just best Ralph didn't attempt to do anything amateurish. "But you're right. I hope the farmer lady will know better what to do about it."
Shortly after, the two girls reached the other trainers on the first floor of the farm. As Darling said, they helped doing the table for everyone: there were in fact at least other three trainers from Cape College in that farm that Arianne had recognized. Ralph recognized them somewhat too, except for the Montany guy. Perhaps he had been in a different year, just like Arianne.

The dishes were all very well made in Arianne's kind, and she made sure the other trainers knew! Even if she wasn't used to some of the condiments and aromatic plants they used - which were almost unknown in Cinnabar - she ate most of the food. But even then, no one seemed to top Ralph's appetite, not even her. It seemed like the younger girl ate like a teenage boy.
Quite a lot of food was prepared for the Pokemon as well. Sandsy, Squirtle, Pikachu and Weedle, once they got out of their pokeballs, had plenty of space to relax after the battle and regain forces, and they could be seen eating and playfully interacting with each other in a dedicated area of the large room. Well, the former three at least. Weedle mostly sulked in a corner, growling at anyone who approached, although he did seem to accept Ralph as superior, as he shut up when she told him to.

After dinner, Arianne got her head checked. It looked… alright, for lack of better words. The cuts were healing as expected and all Darling considered necessary to do was wash the wounded area and apply one of her natural remedies. When asked about the Water type's antics she was finally able to give Arianne a good answer: that move could only be Heal Pulse, which Squirtle don't usually learn.
It wasn't, in fact, that strong of a move yet, and especially when used on humans, could only soften the pain, slow down the bleeding if present, but not get rid of any wound… for now! One more reason to keep training and journeying together. Ralph found that very impressive, and thought back to her own healing skills again, quietly wishing she had gotten a pokémon with that kind of move too. Would certainly come in handy.

When the two girls got back to their room, Arianne started to fiddle with her backpack, grabbing a paper envelope.
"This is for you! Thanks for the help." She offered Ralph a bunch of Lava Cookies she'd tried to bake during her last week at Cape College. "It's a common sweet in Cinnabar. You can try some now, or for breakfast tomorrow! But they're also great on Pokemon, and can heal their status problems."
Ralph accepted the gift, of course having a hard time turning down food. "I don't know if I really helped you much in the end," she said, then hesitated a bit. "But thank you. I think I much prefer being here than sleeping out under the open sky somewhere, after all."

Shortly after, both girls were asleep.

---

The following morning Arianne and Ralph were on duty for preparing breakfast, since Darling and the other kids had made the dinner the night before. The large table became quickly covered to the brim with mugs, plates, biscuits and other treats.
"This doesn't even come close to what I made last year!" Darling yelled, playfully, as Arianne brought the last carafe of hot milk.
"Everything is ready!" Arianne announced, before returning to her place beside Ralph.
Ralph of course dug in without much smalltalk. The breakfast was lovely, much thanks to Arianne's enthusiasm.
"You're all traveling to Cerulean next as well, right?" one of the other Cape trainers, a girl, asked them.

"Isn't everyone?" Montany said and munched on three biscuits at once. His appetite seemed to be pretty good as well. "Professor Palm has prepared the gym leaders in a certain order for us, first Lavender, then um I need to double check, but, either way, the only way to reach the rest of the region is to pass through Cerulean."
"I bet you're gonna try to challenge the gym leader there," the other Cape boy said playfully.
"We'll see!" Montany laughed.
"But I heard something bad…" the first girl continued and bit her lip. "That there are some thugs blocking the bridge down south."
"I heard as well," Darling commented grumpily. "Not even licensed trainers apparently, blocking the route to bully Cape trainers they're jealous of."
"Huh," Ralph let out without thinking. She'd have to battle evil trainers in order to get to Cerulean? What if she failed? She wouldn't be surprised, of course, but her parents would be disappointed. Not to mention her sister. She became lost in thoughts in between bites.

Arianne caught on the conversation as well. While munching some biscuits, she looked at Squirtle and debated whether or not to let him battle again. Not knowing any better, those thugs could have been very strong… no match for the Water type, let alone for Pineco, who had finally come out of her Pokéball and apologized profusely.
To tell the truth, the Tauros battle of the previous evening had cut down Arianne's confidence in her battling abilities as well - though she'd rather not tell anyone.

"Ralph", she whispered while the others kept chitchatting, "it seems it's better to stick together until Cerulean… so we can fend those guys off, or find a different way to get in town. What do you think?"
Ralph was pulled back to the real world at that and considered what Arianne said before she replied, also in hushed tone.
"Sure, I don't mind," she said, and found that she actually didn't. She hadn't really had a plan for her journey besides challenging each gym, but hanging around other people had so far proven to not be as bad as she expected. "Let's get to the bridge as soon as we can and see what we're up against."
"Well, I'm going to train my pokémon much more before facing those thugs!" the third Cape girl exclaimed, bagel crumbs flying out of her mouth.
"Shouldn't we just call the police about them?" the other boy questioned.
"Where's the fun in that?" Montany said with a way too wide smile, as if he loved the thought of some risk and danger.
"Okay…" the first boy said, still seeming a bit unsure. "Can I join you in training?" he asked the girl.
"Sure! I'll need a sparring partner!"
"I'll go my own way," Montany decided, seeming relaxed about it.
"We'll go our own way too," Ralph spoke up. "Me and Arianne. Maybe we'll see you in Cerulean. Or further."
"Yeah! It's a long journey," Montany said with a wink.

Admittedly, Arianne was relieved by Ralph's words. She now was sure of it - Ralph didn't think of her as a burden, even though that was the black haired girl's first impression. With a smile of complicity, Arianne finished all her breakfast. She then reached her room, upstairs, one last time, packed all of her things inside (noticing how she still had plenty of food left) and watched Ralph do the same.

---

The two girls left the farm shortly after, not before greeting and thanking Darling for her efforts. Arianne hoped to catch up with Montany as well (what if he got himself into trouble?) but he was too far already. The girl then kept walking at Ralph's pace, being beside her most of the time.
Ralph had been lost in thoughts and barely spoken for the better part of half an hour on Route 24, before she suddenly cleared her throat.

"Arianne," she said. "If those illegal trainers really are beating Cape trainers, I think… I think I'd like to train some more before we reach the bridge. I should make sure Weedle is battle ready too."
"You're right, plus Pineco needs some action too," Arianne responded.
"And…"

Ralph weighed her next words carefully. She wasn't really the one to have trouble admitting her mistakes and weaknesses, quite the opposite. But she felt a bit worried what the bubbly girl next to her would think of her skills as a trainer now, which might make her doubt Ralph, and she didn't actually want to let her down. She let a breath out and went for it though.
"And I need to become wiser myself too. Yesterday, I didn't consider that Squirtle's water attack would harm Sandsy. That was probably why he got knocked out so easily by Tauros later. I was careless and didn't think."
"Sorry for Sandsy, I was too focused on winning the battle…" Arianne looked carefully at Ralph's grumpy face. "Come on, it wasn't your fault!"

Ralph shrugged. "Anyways. I was gonna suggest we have a practice battle but… I'm not sure it's a good idea to tire all our pokémon out at the same time. So let's try to find some wild pokémon to challenge instead?"
The two girls were strolling through the main path by then, a large route that ran across the fields and farms of Route 24 before pointing straight for Nugget Bridge, the entranceway to Cerulean City. But, following Ralph's suggestions, they decided to take a side path that would lead them into a more forested area.
"Let's go this way and see which Pokemon we can find, ok?" Arianne asked.
"Sure thing," Ralph agreed. "There doesn't seem to be much chance of encountering wild ones on the path here, not like in Route 25 that literally went through a forest."

The small path ended near what looked like a wooden plank sitting on top of a small canal, which was used to drain the fields when it rained too much and was, therefore, almost empty, with just a layer of mud at the bottom. The boundary was very clear: on one side, grassy fields and flowers, on the other, a dense woodland and an upward slope.
Arianne slowly stepped on the plank: two steps were enough to reach the other side and the wooden rectangle seemed strong enough to not break under her weight. "Want some help?" she asked Ralph, her hand reaching for the other girl.
"Pfft, no thanks," Ralph scoffed, but added a grin to make sure to mark that she didn't mean it in a mean way. With a couple of swift steps, she was across as well. "Easy peasy. So, did you see a pokémon over here or?"

"Not yet! But there should be many this way." Arianne gestured, pointing at the path, which turned left along the side of the hill. Soon after, the two girls found themselves in front of a very old and large tree. "I caught Pineco on a tree like this so… stand back!"
Maybe in a fit of bravery, Arianne called out Pineco and held her in her arms.
Ralph raised her eyebrows. "Wait, what are you going to-"

After spotting a very crowded and low branch, Arianne literally threw her Pokemon towards it, the Bug type increasing her momentum through Tackle.
Tree branches couldn't always be dangerous because she had one bad experience with them, right? Arianne wouldn't quite accept it.
"I'm suddenly understanding how you got yourself hurt!" Ralph exclaimed, taking a maybe unnecessary extra leap backwards as Pineco hit the large branch with a THUD.

This time Arianne stood at a safe distance from the branch as well. Some startled Weedle and Caterpie could be seen crawling away from the impact, and some Pidgey were flying around the area. One pokémon simply fell down onto the ground next to Pineco though. It blinked to orientate itself after the fall, and spotted Pineco bouncing back to her trainer. But it didn't attack.
"This one?" Ralph said with one raised eyebrow. "I don't know… It doesn't look very feisty, does it? Maybe it doesn't want to battle."
"Venonat is a nocturnal pokemon, right? Maybe this one is half asleep!" added Arianne with a slight chuckle.
Venonat's huge eyes seemed to stare into Ralph's, until suddenly the bug started moving. Way too rapidly and way too much aimed at Ralph. Was it attacking? Or just… Well, she wouldn't take the chance.
"Weedle, go!" she called out and tossed the pokeball up in the nick of time.

---

Weedle appeared at her feet, making the wild Venonat stop a mere two meters away from the trainer. Its unblinking eyes shifted to stare at the other bug instead. Weedle instantly saw that as a threat and started growling in its odd buggy way.
"I suppose it's time for you to challenge your grumpiness," Ralph said to it. "Let's battle! Use Poison Sting!"
Weedle growled for a while longer before it obeyed. Untrained pokémon sure were not like the school bred variety, like Sandsy or Squirtle...

Arianne let Ralph handle the battle, standing further away but still facing the Weedle. Even Pineco had clumsily stepped aside, but kept an eye on the two Bug types confronting each other. "If you need any help, we're ready!" Arianne reassured her friend. After all, it was clear to her that the Weedle was just a beginner.
"Thanks," Ralph said without taking her eyes off the wild pokémon. It still hadn't moved again, and seemed unphazed by Weedle's mood. "Come on, Weedle, will you attack?"

Finally, Weedle seemed to decide to be docile enough when ordered, and lashed forward with the stinger on its tail. It hit Venonat without trouble, but the reaction from the wild pokémon was unexpected. Instead of getting angry or trying to attack in return, Venonat was initially visibly hurt physically from the sting, and then… seemingly emotionally too? Tears started welling up in its big eyes which it turned towards Weedle anew.

Weedle seemed very unnerved by this strange creature.
"What is it doing?" Ralph asked.
Arianne and Pineco stared at the Venonat, visibly puzzled. An embarassed "Oops" was the only sound the girl was able to let out.
"Weedle, String Shot!" Ralph continued.

Weedle got a grip of itself and backed off a bit before it spat out a sticky string that wrapped neatly several times around the Venonat until it was basically incapacitated. The wild pokémon seemed visibly confused about it and started whining, tears really coming from its eyes now. Weedle stopped using the attack. Perhaps he had a heart after all?

"Oh, for crying out loud," Ralph sighed. "Perhaps it is just a baby? But it's not very small, I think."
"No idea…" added Arianne. She was nearly as confused as the wild Venonat.
Ralph thought for a couple of seconds more before she simply walked up closer to the two battling pokémon so she could talk without shouting.

"Hey, Venonat," she said calmly. "I came out here to let Weedle get some battling experience. If you really don't want to fight, that's fine. I'll find another opponent. But… Just saying, if you act this way every time another pokémon attacks you, you'll have a hard time surviving in the wild. Don't you think?"
The weak String Shot was starting to dissipate a bit already, so Venonat could stand back up, sniffling as it seemed to listen to Ralph's words.

"I mean, I imagine that has to happen a lot? Even if you don't have a trainer to push you around."
Venonat whined a little bit and looked down into the ground. Weedle scoffed at the pathetic sight. Arianne stood back instead: after all, this appeared to be a personal moment for her friend.

"Just… Well, you can practice now as well? Use a move on us, come on! You can take it, right, Weedle?"
Weedle scoffed even louder and propped himself up to look larger and more intimidating. It certainly seemed to work on the scaredycat Venonat. But it looked back up at Ralph, and steeled itself, before suddenly ramming Weedle out of the blue with a Tackle. It caught him so off guard that it really hurt, and made him tumble backwards past Ralph.
"Wow! You're packing a punch!" Ralph commended, smiling now. "Did you see that, Ari?"
Slightly lost in thought, Arianne could barely notice what happened, if not for a distinct thump. "W-what…" she muttered, turning to Ralph.
"You better try something else before Weedle realizes what hit him!" Ralph encouraged the wild pokémon.

It seemed to work, as all tears were gone, and even a little excited purr escaped the purple ball instead. It glared at Weedle with shining eyes as he got back up, veeery agitated now. Without Ralph even giving a command, he tried to use String Shot again.
But nothing happened, other than another excited purr from Venonat.
"Haha, that must have been Disable then?" Ralph said, standing somewhere in between them now, remembering her lessons from school. "Weedle can't wrap you up with his thread anymore! Weedle, are you going to give up already? Poison Sting it!"

Weedle started crawling quite quickly up towards his enemy, tail stinger at the ready.
"And you," Ralph quickly turned back to Venonat. "Are you going to get hit again, or are you going to counter it somehow?"
Venonat seemed to almost start to panic, before Ralph's words focused it again. It stretched its round body up a bit, and it almost felt like the air around it started vibrating as a high pitched noise barely audible to Ralph appeared. It was quite audible to Weedle though, who stumbled just before he reached his opponent, and accidentally stung his tail hard into the ground instead. And he got stuck!

"Maybe that was Supersonic!" Ralph commented, nodding. "Well done! See, once you try, you really can do a lot of stuff. So maybe next time, don't just walk up to strange pokémon okay? They can attack you, you know. Protect yourself!"
Venonat's purr was louder than ever now, and it was practically beaming with pride and happiness from being praised. Meanwhile, Weedle was muttering with utter shame, face into the ground without even trying to get up again.

"Aw, you," Ralph said and sat down next to him. She pulled his stinger out of the ground and picked him up into her arms. Overcome with shame, he just let his body go limp and looked away. "You did good too. But you're way too angry about things, and there's no need to be so proud and aggressive. I think battling can be fun. In fact, I know it can be."

Suddenly, a memory of a wet Sandshrew being squashed by Tauros flashed by, and momentarily darkened her mood. But she shook it off. "I've still got things to learn as well. We'll learn together," she said quietly and gingerly stroke her hand over Weedle's head, carefully avoiding his large horn. He seemed to relax a little bit at least.

Ralph stood up, keeping Weedle in her arms as she turned back to Arianne. "Perhaps that's enough battling for now. We… We can challenge the thugs at the bridge. I think we can do well as long as we keep our heads cool. All of us," she added with an extra squeeze around the caterpillar in her arms. She got a small growl in return, but no squirming.
Arianne watched more carefully the following exchanges of attacks, with her mind occasionally going back to Pineco. Her own Bug type didn't do anything, really, but looked eager to learn and was just as hooked by the battle. Replying to Ralph's encouragement, Arianne only said "Yes, let's go back to the bridge! And… Weedle, great job!"

As they turned to leave the big tree to return to the road over the small canal, a whining noise came from behind them. Venonat had not returned to its home. Instead, it was running after Ralph and Weedle, nearly falling into the small canal. Now it was standing there on the other side of the wooden plank, looking at them longingly.
Ralph glanced at Arianne, only to hear her say "It… It seems like it wants to come with you? Look at how much road it's covered trying to follow us!"

That would be fine, really. The Venonat could probably become a good battler if it build some confidence up. Just like how Weedle would probably grow to become a great pokémon if he lost some of his. She smiled at the thought. A nice bug duo.
"Come on, Venonat," she said. "There's a pokéball waiting for you and we've got a region to challenge."
The pokémon nearly glittered with joy at that as it bounced over the plank and practically attached itself to Ralph's leg. Weedle muttered a bit from the girl's embrace now, but didn't do anything bad at least. Her smile grew as she turned back towards Arianne. Turns out bugs were kind of cute, really. Who would have thought?

---

Arianne's team:

•

Ralph's team:

•

•

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt & Bruno Dillinger
Tuesday, May 21 • Afternoon • Cerulean

2-02. looking for adventure
big and small

His gear's in his room, his Pokémon are fully healed, and he's got the remainder of lunch in hand when Casey spots a familiar face in the Pokémon Center's lounge. The black-haired boy is sitting at one of the café's stools and doesn't seem to notice Casey's approach until he's addressed.

"Hey, you're from Cape! Bruno, right?" A nod tinged with bewilderment. "Nice! I was wondering where everyone else ended up! How's it going so far?"

"Fine, I guess."

"That's great! Hey, listen, have you looked around the city yet?"

"I went shopping; does that count?"

Casey gestures dismissively. "Nah, that's not anything! You should come with me to do real exploring! Well, unless you've got plans. Do you have plans?"

Bruno ponders, then shrugs, "I'm supposed to have... a battle with the devil."

Casey has no idea what that means. A battle, though? Here for it. "Oh, cool! Where's the battlefield?"

"I don't know. She fled before we could organize anything."

"Huh. Well, I'll help you find the place, then! Let's go!"

His outward enthusiasm drags Bruno along in his wake. Internally, Casey is very much relieved to have another trainer with him. It's not that he's scared! It's just that he's in a cautious mindset right now.

Casey leads the way for a while, turning randomly at every intersection. Cerulean's really cool, actually, now that he's taking time to look! The architecture is interesting and the main streets are clean and seem peaceful despite the amount of people going about their business. There's lots to do, even if it's not so much geared toward tourism. The two boys wander past a variety of shops, restaurants, and parks. Some of them begin to look suspiciously familiar after a while.

"Hey."

Casey turns, maintaining his pace even walking backward. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Do you know where you're going?"

"Nope!" Casey admits cheerfully. "But you don't know where your battle is supposed to be, so this will work!"

"That- that's not-" Bruno sighs. "Stop. We're going to look at the map."

"Don't know what good that's going to do," Casey says, but peers over Bruno's shoulder anyway when they stop at the next intersection. Their height difference makes this no trouble at all. "Does it have any battlefields labeled?"

"No, but there are a few possibilities. She could be still insisting on battling the gym right now or maybe— Hey, where are you going?

Casey's already moving, traipsing straight across the intersection. "The gym!"

He doesn't quite catch Bruno's exasperated reply of "That's not the best way…" as he hurries to keep up.

►►​

They're walking mostly north and west, even with all the loops and backtracking. Every time Bruno stops to re-orient them, Casey goes vaguely the correct direction for a while until taking a random turn out of nowhere. There are a lot of interesting things to see in a new city, so he's going to try to see them! It's about the exploration, anyway. Bruno doesn't talk a lot, but that's fine! Casey still points things out to him- "Hey, that looks like a field! Let's go see if she's there!" and asks questions- "Did she get lunch? That place has soba!" He talks to a few passerby long enough that Bruno leaves him behind and Casey is forced to jog to catch up. Multiple times.

As such, it takes an hour and a half for them to come to the riverbank.

Casey sees the battlefield first. "Hey, Bruno, there's another- OH!"

He cuts himself off and begins frantically waving when he notices brown hair and a striped sailor shirt. "Bruno, look, it's Debbie! HEY, DEBBIE!" Casey yells. The girl looks up and begins to wave. Bruno's resigned "...I know," goes unnoticed as Casey takes off.

"BUOY KID?! What are you doing here?" she demands as Casey approaches at a jog. Their hands collide in an echoing high-five. Bruno winces in tandem with the Psyduck at Debbie's feet. "Bruno! Look, Bruno, it's buoy kid!"

Bruno sighs. "Yes. I know." The words go unnoticed once again, talked over at a frankly unreasonable volume as Casey and Debbie chatter at each other.

"Yes," he concludes, "This is definitely a reunion with the devil."

Debbie rounds on Bruno. "You! Where did you go? I thought I lost you!"

"You were the one who ran off…"

Casey holds up his hands in a "whoa, hold on," gesture. "Wait- your fated battle or whatever is with Debbie?"

"Unfortunately."

"You know," Casey says, "this wouldn't have happened if you had each other's numbers."

"We couldn't do that because she was gone before we could organize everything." the other boy mumbles as he prepares his PokéGear.

All three pause for a moment to plug in contact information.

"Oh, oh, oh, by the way!" Debbie fumbles with a PokéBall for a moment before presenting it to the boys, grinning. "I found a way to have more than six Pokémon in my team! Check out this cool thing!" A beam of light hits the ground and resolves itself into six pink lumps. Casey casually edges away. To give it space. "I wanted to give the inexpressive one your name but they are all female."

"Uh," he says eloquently. "Where'd you get an Exeggcute? Didn't think they lived around here."

Debbie gestures vaguely. "There's this, uh, rescue center thing over that way. Oh!" She turns to Bruno. "I also found this Rattata that reminded me of you! You shoulda seen it!"

Bruno blanches. "Please, don't."

"What, you scared of Rattata or something?" Casey prods, a teasing note in his voice. "They're just little and fuzzy!"

Debbie laughs. "Oh, man, you have no idea! You see, there was this one time in Vermillion where Bruno-"

Bruno's stoic demeanor cracks, just a little. "That's not—!" Then he sighs. "Can we just get this over with already?"

 

[Groc]

Vera Hill
Chapter 2 - Summer in the City
Cerulean City, May 21st

---

"We'll take good care of your Pokemon. Please take a seat in the waiting room and we'll call for you when they're fully recovered." The nurse on duty smiled warmly at Vera, although Vera doubted it was genuine. Most people in the service industry were trained to smile like that.

"Thank you." Vera nodded politely, then went to the waiting area. No one else was currently waiting there, so she just sat in the nearest spot. She pulled out her Pokedex, idly skimming through the pages while she waited.

Someone sat down next to Vera, an older woman with a Pikachu on her shoulder. "Oh, is that one of the new Pokedex models? They look so sleek and fancy!"

Vera immediately stood up and moved to another seat, noting that the waiting room was still empty aside from her and the old woman. The Pikachu followed her to her new seat, sniffing at her and smiling. Vera responded with a grumpy frown. "All these empty seats, why are you sitting on top of me?"

"Don't mind him, dearie." The lady spoke up, smiling at Vera. "He just loves to meet new people. It's part of the reason why I adopted him. You see, I run a local bed and breakfast..."

Vera tuned out the story, pushing Pikachu gently with her foot. He didn't budge, and instead nuzzled against her leg. "Yes, you're cute. Now get." She muttered softly, pushing him harder. Pikachu stepped back from the push, but immediately moved back to her leg. Vera tried to shake him off her leg, but Pikachu just laughed and clung tightly to her.

The woman, clearly not noticing the expression on Vera's face, put her hand to her mouth and chuckled. "Oh, he likes you! And you're so kind to play games with him like that!" Vera stopped trying to pry Pikachu from her leg to look at the woman incredulously. "Come on back, little one, I'm sure the young lady can't stay for much longer."

Pikachu jumped off Vera, returning to the old woman's shoulder. "You know, you should stop by the rescue center yourself. It's on the west side of town, and they just received a lot of new Pokemon from very far away. I'm sure someone as kind as you would find a new friend there."

Ding ding, ding-ding DING! There was a small chime sound, before the nurse called out "Vera Hill?"

Vera nodded to the old woman. "Maybe I'll do that. Thank you." She went up to the service desk and the nurse who had called her.

"Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health. Please, come back again any time!" The nurse returned Vera's Pokeballs with a practiced smile and a rehearsed line. Vera simply nodded, responding with a, "Thank you. Have a nice day."

The nurse seemed a little surprised at the response, but kept up her professional demeanor. "Oh. You too!" She gave Vera a friendly wave as she left the Pokemon Center.

---

The Rescue Center was a rustic old building on the edge of town, though larger than Vera had expected. She supposed it made sense, considering the potential size and quantity of Pokemon they would care for. The receptionist inside greeted Vera with that same forced enthusiasm, but he brightened up when Vera asked about adopting a Pokemon.

He led Vera to a small side room where various Pokemon were playing. Vera checked her Pokedex for information on them all, and was surprised when many of them appeared different than her Pokedex displayed. She fiddled with the settings a bit before the worker got her attention.

"I can see that you have a Pokedex, so I imagine you're going on a Trainer journey, but maybe consider picking a partner based on their personality rather than their species. Remember these are rescues, and they need someone to bond with."

Vera put away the Pokedex, resolving to fix the issue later. "Fair enough. Would you mind waiting over there? I don't want to skew their opinions of me with you around."

"Oh. Of course. Take all the time you need." The worker moved back toward his desk, while Vera made a shooing motion at him behind his back. "Okay. Let's make some friends..."

Most of the Pokemon ignored her as she looked around, but a few came over to her. A dark furred Meowth pawed at her jacket, an inquisitive Pikachu ran in front of her and almost tripped her, and a male Cubone seemed interested in her scent.

Vera tugged her flannel shirt out of reach of the Meowth, and it backed away. She immediately disliked the Pikachu, wondering if all members of its species were as obtrusive and inquisitive. She was about to push it away with her foot, but remembered how well that worked out in the Pokemon Center, so she just walked away from it. The Cubone sniffed at her, but probably just smelled Bonnie's scent on her, more interested in the female Cubone than the female human.

Vera wasn't sure about any of them, becoming doubtful of what she was even looking for. The Meowth popped out of a wooden climbing tower to bat at her shirt again, and Vera had to step away to avoid its paws. "You're a persistent one, I'll give you that. But quit it!" The Meowth just looked at her, grinning its cat grin.

Vera backed away from Meowth warily, slightly creeped out by the cat. She looked around at the other Pokemon, and gasped when she saw a small white Vulpix. It was daintily drinking from a bowl, looking up at Vera when she gasped. "It's so majestic!"

Vulpix looked away from Vera, letting out a tiny sneeze. Vera practically squee'd. "Even her sneezes are graceful! That's my Pokemon!" She approached the Vulpix, who pulled back warily at her approach. "Oh, don't be scared, little one. I just want to take you with me!" She reached forward, but Vulpix turned tail and darted away. "Hey!"

The worker spoke up from the doorway. "Sorry about that one. She's still a little shy around new people. She seems to like me, though. I could coax her out for you if you'd like."

"It's fine. I'll just have to make her trust me." The worker made a noise of hesitant protest, but Vera ignored him. She walked up to Vulpix, who was licking the back of one paw, and crouched beside it. "Listen here. I want to take you with me on my journey, and they told me you Pokemon were all looking for people to adopt you. It's a win-win situation here, what do you say?" She offered a hand to Vulpix, but Vulpix exhaled a burst of frigid air at her. Vera pulled back, standing up and glaring at her. "You look pretty, but you're a real bitch, you know that?"

"I've known a few people like that, too." The worker chimed in. "They really are just like you and me, aren't they?"

Vera felt oddly offended by that comment, but before she could respond, Meowth leaped off the climbing tower and landed on Vera's shoulder. It grabbed onto her hair, making her freeze in panic. "Help! What do I do?!"

The worker immediately came over to assist her, gently grabbing Meowth. "Stay calm, she's just friendly. She really seems to have taken a liking to you, though. I've never seen her this excited!"

"That's great, I'm glad a cat likes me, but get her out of my hair!" Vera was turning bright red as he tried to extricate Meowth from her hair, embarrassed to need help with something so undignified. Meowth was resisting him, snuggling up closer to Vera. When he accidentally grabbed Vera's ear, she pushed him away roughly. "You know what, it's fine! I'll take her! I think we have a real bond!"

The worker stepped back, and Meowth relaxed, settling in against Vera's chest. Vera held Meowth in her arms, surprised that she started purring. "I... actually think she's perfect. I'll take her with me."

The worker nodded, a small smile on his face. "Well alright. I'll get her paperwork and Pokeball, and you can be on your way."

---

The Meowth's name turned out to be Sapphire, which Vera found strange for a gray cat with no blue on her, but at least it wasn't something cliche like "Smoky" or "Luna". Since she was already accustomed to the name, Vera figured she'd let her keep it, and let her ride on her shoulders, nestled under her hair. It was now late afternoon, and Vera wanted to go to the market and get some food for the road, both for her and her Pokemon.

 

[budube]

Bruno Dillinger & Casey Holt
May 21, Tuesday

Chapter 2, Part 2: Bruno vs Debbie​

---

Casey and Debbie kept chattering, ignoring Bruno for the most part. With all the embarrassment he could possibly have at the moment and ignoring both kids, Bruno took out a random pokeball from his belt without checking what it had inside first. "Go, uh… Eterna!" the round flying type appeared as the white flash from the pokeball faded, making a swift maneuver in the air and falling in one leg.

Casey sidled away suspiciously quickly. "Well, if the battle's on…!"

"What, you're starting already!? What a way to ruin a fun moment!" She returned Exeggcute to its pokeball and pointed forward. "En garde, Dukko! Let's show this killjoy our magnificent combination!" her Psyduck turned disconcerted but eventually moved forward, seemingly not having even the slightest idea of what was about to happen.

There was no one around- besides Casey, who had for some reason let out his Buneary and seemed to be whispering urgently to it- and the battlefield had plenty of space. Bruno had won every single battle against Deborah so far, and her Psyduck didn't look like the smartest Pokémon and Eterna had already proven she was a good battler. He could take advantage of the wide terrain to move around freely and strike directly. He got this, the only thing he didn't know is how much his friend had trained before, but with a good strategy that wouldn't be so important.

"Eterna, strike with Tackle!" The flying-type jumped forward alternating between her two legs to gain speed, when she was at enough distance, she Tackled Dukko landing a headbutt to the water-type's belly. The Pokémon didn't react to the attack at all, moving only a few steps back with the same disconcerted look it had since Casey found them.

"Scratch!" Dukko removed one of his arms from his head and Scratched Eterna's left wing making her lose her balance. A slow attack, but Eterna still didn't seem to be able to avoid it.

The pokemon rolled back to her trainer and got up in one leg once more, it wasn't a strong Scratch, but it was enough to make her fall. "Let's change our strategy! Use Growl!" Eterna gave sharp hoot that made Psyduck walk back, holding his head tight as if it were in pain.

"Tail Whip!" Dukko shook his body, distracting Eterna and making her defense go down, neutralizing her Growl. "Now go forth and Scratch!" The Pokémon ran towards Hoothoot holding its head and moving it from side to side as he ran, but stumbled and fell down, foolishly extending his arms in an attempt to land his attack.

"What the…" Bruno was trying not to laugh at the awkward situation Deborah's Dukko was in, it seemed foolish, but he had an opening for his next attack now. "Thanks for the opportunity. Eterna use Tackle!" the flying type jumped towards her foe, but was blasted away by a well aimed Water Gun.

"What's wrong, Bruno?" she chuckled. "Had enough of our magnificent combination?"

"I'm just starting." Bruno realized he had no way to beat Psyduck with only close range attacks, but the previous reaction Psyduck had against Growl pretty much told him what he had to do, and he had the perfect Pokémon for that. "You did good, Eterna, come back! Go, Gospel!" Gospel got out of his Pokéball, laughing hysterically with his long tongue out and started swirling around Bruno with a happy face.

A light burst a fair distance from the edge of the field. A Charmander with a stick had joined Casey and his Buneary. If he hadn't been before, Casey was noticeably backing away now.

"Not now, Gospel! It's battle time— no!" Gospel licked Bruno and continued laughing and swirling around. Debbie started laughing and the ghost-type followed, laughing even louder "This was a huge mistake", the boy murmured to himself. "Enough! Deborah, do you remember the farmer from Route 25 you told me about?"

"Don't tell me you spent the entire day thinking a punchline for that!"

"I don't think this could be considered a punchline, but I will definitely find this funny!"

"Well, I'm sure I won't!" she says indignantly "Your jokes are never funny— EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!" her scream drowned by Gastly's Hyper Voice which made his laugh much louder than it already was. Dukko backed off while holding his head even tighter than before. Casey, far across the way, turned white and sat down heavily.

"Go, Gospel! Use Lick!" Gospel moved forward, taking out his tongue and licking the disconcerted water-type, making it come back to its senses after the recent voice attack, but making it fall back on the ground as well. Dukko got up and looked at Gospel as if nothing had happened, smiling and giving him a friendly "quack", Gospel smiled back opening his mouth wide. "What are you…" the boy shook his head "Use Lick!" Gospel licked the still smiling Psyduck, the water type shook his body but from his expression it didn't seem is if he minded being licked.

"Dukko, use Water Gun!" the Pokémon tilted his body backwards and raised his head, preparing his attack. However it shook a second time and fell on its back unable to move. "What did you do!?"

Bruno smiled. He didn't expect to paralyze Dukko, but that turned the situation to his favor. One more Hyper Voice and the Pokemon was done for. "Gospel use one last Hyper Voice!" Gospel screams louder than the last time, Psyduck is blown away by the sound waves while Debbie tries her best to stay on her spot, in the distance Casey is with covering his ears sitting with his head between his legs with his two Pokémon looking at him concerned.

But Dukko didn't faint with that attack. He got up, slowly shaking its body, battling against the paralysis. "Use Confusion!" Dukko's eyes glowed purple and he shot an energy wave towards Gospel. The ghost-type suddenly started moving on his own, ignoring every instruction his trainer gave, hurting himself in its confusion.

"Come on, Gospel! Use Lick!" Gospel was confused and didn't know what to do now. He eventually came to his senses… barely. He made his way against Dukko, swinging his tongue and bashing the water-type with it, this time taking him down for good. "It's over. Your other Pokémon are no match for Gospel."

"It's not over yet!" Debbie took out another Pokéball "Go, Jade, Wanda, Rosie, Viola, Kim, Lilly!" the six pink creatures jumped out of their Pokéball, landing on the battlefield one-by-one. A prideful-looking one with a challenging look fell in front, followed by an angry and a cheerful one, behind them both fell a serious, inexpressive lump along with a sadder one, and finally, in the middle of the group, one that landed upside down with a confused look.

"Are you going to memorise all those names?"

"I'll take my time, for now I wrote them in my arm just in case! You can call them The Jade Squad if you want to, she's the leader after all!" she confirms with a proud stance. "Anyways, Jade use Leech Seed!" The prideful one gave some signals to the other lumps and they changed their formation to a row, now each one of them copying their leader's exact expression, aiming at Gospel and shooting seeds at the Jade's command. The seeds grew vines around Gospel's black body and sapped his health.

"Gospel, use Lick!" Gospel shook its body, still confused and trying to remove the vines slowly draining his energy as well. He didn't hear Bruno's instruction, instead, he hurt himself once more.

Gospel's health was sapped by Leech Seed...

"Hypnosis!" Jade rolls in front of the rest of the group, shivering as its eyes started glowing purple, the rest of the squad change their formation again, forming a flying wedge and started following her, collectively shooting waves of psychic energy at Gospel. The ghost-type was too confused to even attempt avoiding the waves, instantly falling asleep the moment they reach him. Meanwhile, Casey was still far away sitting with his head down, Buneary moved forward looking at the other two kids in a defensive position.

Gospel's health was sapped by Leech Seed...

"Reflect!" Jade gave more signals to the rest of the Squad, and they instantly moved and formed a circle. Exeggcute shook all of its heads at once, creating a dome of psychic energy around them to protect them from upcoming physical attacks. Gospel was still sleeping, each time levitating closer to the ground.

Gospel's health was sapped by Leech Seed, and the now-fainted Pokémon peacefully returned to his Pokéball.

"I didn't expect this. Go, once more, Eterna!" Eterna made another entrance, similar to the one she made before. "Use Peck on the one in the front and snatch her! If they don't have a leader they can't move!" Eterna obeyed and rushed against Jade, picking her with her beak and jumping back to Bruno's side.

Debbie faked a laugh but it turned out into genuine laughter. "Silly Bruno. I'll let you know that I am no fool!" she said pointing at him. "While you were busy looking at your map I was training the Squad and took my time to learn how their minds work. Jade is the leader because she likes taking the lead, but in the end their minds are connected as one!"

Bruno looked back at Exeggcute, they were all shaking and growling at his Pokémon in anger. "Oh no!"
It was not Jade the one taking the lead now. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!!"

"Put her down now!"

"Wanda, it's your turn! Use Barrage!"

"Move!" Wanda yelled a war cry and the rest of the squad followed her and pounced at the flying-type who left Jade on the floor and started moving around trying to escape the attacks. The sad one missed, falling at Bruno's side and the inexpressive one fell at the center of the battlefield. Eterna jumped over the later one, stumbling and falling on her back, Wanda and the two remaining creatures attacked her, leaving her unconscious on the ground.

The boy took out his last Pokéball. "When did you…" He shook his head, the battle wasn't over yet. "Forget it. Go, Artemis!" Artemis landed without doing much, compared to the other two Pokémon, just opening her arms in her usual battle position. "Use Fury Cutter!"

"Jade, use Hypnosis!" The group rolled back to Deborah's side and regrouped in the previous flying wedge formation with Jade on the front taking the lead once more. Bruno's Pokémon charged forward and ran towards her opponent who shot another beam of psychic energy, but she dodges, striking Jade with a Fury Cutter. The psychic dome lights up, reducing the amount of damage and fades once more.

"Use Fury Cutter!"

"Hypnosis!" Artemis charged again preparing her other attack. The Jade Squad kept its formation and started charging their psychic powers. Artemis braked astonished once they shot the hypnotic beam, falling asleep.

Debbie jumped in excitement, this could be the first time she wins a battle against Bruno. "Jade, use Barrage!" Jade leaned forward, signaling the rest of the troop to start the attack. Artemis, asleep and completely defenseless was unable to move and thus was hit five times by Barrage. "Last move! Kim, use Uproar!" one of the lumps started shivering, bursting into tears with the rest of the group bawling as well. Artemis woke up because of the noise, but quickly fell back the moment she fainted. The battle was over. The boy sighed, that result was certainly unexpected for him.

"Congratulations, you won." Bruno said, returning Artemis to her Pokeball. " There's a first time for everything it seems."

"Did I really…?" Debbie was about to cry full of joy. She bent down to the Jade Squad and extended her arms to them. "Girls, we won!"

"Cue!" the cheerful one cried, and jumped to her arms. The others followed her, crying "Cue!" repeatedly.

"Buoy kid, look! I— Hey, what are you doing over there!?" Casey was still strangely far from the battlefield, head on his knees. He probably hadn't seen the battle conclude. Charmander, stick in both hands, and Buneary were holding their positions as if they were protecting him.

Bruno and Debbie ran to him. "Is something wrong... ?" Bruno asked, suddenly realizing he never asked for his name.

Casey held up a shaky finger. "... give me a minute."

"Excuse me?" the girl asked putting her hand by her ear.

"... don't like..."

"I can't hear you at all! Did you hear something Bruno?" the boy shook his head.

"I don't like Ghost-types!"

"Oh... Ohhh!" the girl said, chuckling. She raised her arms trying to scare him "Boooo…"

"Ugh. No, no, it's not like that," Casey sighed as he stretched out and flopped back onto the grass.

"If you say so… Do you wanna do something else?" she asked and waited for an answer, but there was only silence. "I know! I can show you the Rescue Center! Then we can go to eat something. Bruno pays as a punishment for losing!"

"When did we set that?"

"I did, just now." She started walking on her own and Bruno followed her before she started dragging him. "Hey, are you coming? Don't stay behind, ghost kid."

Casey dragged himself to his feet. "Prob'ly preferred 'buoy kid'," he grumbled as he recalled his Pokémon.
​

 

[moon]

Ralph

Arianne

Route 24, Tuesday May 21th

From atop Nugget Bridge, a group of youngsters was staring into the distance, either standing on the side and letting their Pokémon rest, or right in the middle of the structure. That day, many Cape College trainers attempted to cross the bridge and reach Cerulean City, but not everyone was allowed to: those people were there to block that path and had partially succeeded - better than nothing, some might say.

A trainer could be seen walking away from the bridge, towards Route 24, defeated. Those thugs - that's what they were called by everyone - were able to fend him off. But two more were coming closer, evidently looking for an easy access to Cerulean - two girls to be precise. The trainers on the bridge started to get their Pokémon ready for yet another battle, determined not to let anyone through.

From where Ralph caught Venonat to Nugget Bridge, it wasn't that long of a walk. Even the path that connected the bridge with the city was relatively short. Good on Arianne, because by then she was very eager to explore Cerulean City - the first of many cities she'd never seen before and only heard or read about.

Only when the two girls approached the bridge, they could see the thugs standing on it. Probably the ones Darling and the other trainers mentioned…

"So those are the thugs they were talking about?" asked Arianne, turning to Ralph. By now, she seemed to be the more confident of the duo, and also the strongest in terms of battle abilities. The Venonat she'd just caught was truly gifted, and Arianne couldn't help but smile when thinking about how Ralph actually obtained her.

Ralph's eyes darkened as she looked towards the bridge ahead and the people visible in at its entrance. "Likely," she said lowly. "Talk about cowardly, challenging rookie trainers instead of challenging themselves by finding more equal opponents."

"They must be there for a different reason… but why would they block us College trainers?" Arianne replied, unsure of what to do.

"You don't think they're just bad, stupid delinquents?" Ralph said with a raised eyebrows. "Maybe they have some deeper reason… But yeah, why would someone want to stop Cape trainers, though? Literally the only ones who don't like professor Palm are the people from the Safari Academy in Fuchsia City-"

She stopped in her tracks, so suddenly that Venonat almost bumped into her legs as she was walking close behind her new trainer. "Uh. They can't have anything to do with it, can they? I mean… That would be sabotage."

"I have no idea so I just asked. And since we're on topic, I know almost nothing about that other Academy." Arianne shrugged. "Shall we go towards the bridge?"

"Hang on," Ralph said and pointed ahead. "That's Montany!"

The defeated trainer walking away from the bridge was indeed the boy they had said goodbye to a few hours ago. He didn't look at all as cheerful now. When he spotted the two girls, he hurried up to them and seemed to want to motion for them to hide behind some trees beside the road.

"Hi," he said plainly when he finally came up to them.

"Hi?" Ralph said back. "How did it go?"

"Not good," Montany said and shrugged. "Pikachu fainted and Pidgey is weak. I didn't want to push her further. I'm not sure what to do now. I kind of feel like it's best you don't show yourself to these people until you're sure you're ready though. They're… Well I saw them follow a trainer before who didn't really want to battle, and forced her to do it."

He didn't really seem sad or angry, more as if he hadn't expected this outcome at all and had no plan for what to do next.

Ralph audibly growled now, causing Venonat to worry and hug her leg in an attempt to support. If Safari Academy had anything to do with this… She would find out, once she got there. Eventually.

"Are you guys feeling strong? I'm not sure they're as good as Darling at battling, but we all lost to her. And I lost to them here as well."

"I could use even more training… But we've got to get to Cerulean somehow," Ralph said. "What do you think, Ari?"

"Can I do anything for your Pokémon? And… how do those thugs battle?" Arianne quickly asked, turning to the boy without even thinking about the right words. She wasn't the best at conversations, but those were becoming such a large part of her journey as a trainer.

Fighting those thugs and winning could have been doable if, once again, Arianne and Ralph teamed up. Maybe. But even then, who would help Montany to get to Cerulean? "Let's… calm down for a moment" whispered Arianne to Ralph. "I think we need a better plan."
The girl gestured towards the side of the path, in the direction of a meadow and a couple of lone trees. She tried not to give that impression, but she as well wasn't sure of what to do next.
Out of sight from the bridge thugs, the three trainers walked off a bit.

"Is there no other bridge?" Ralph asked. "Or a boat or something? Has nobody tried to get to Cerulean in some other way?"

Montany seemed to shine up at the thought and looked at the water nearby. "We could swim! Shouldn't be too cold."

Ralph frowned at him. "Your scrawny body would freeze over in minutes, or tire out. It's not a small river, even if the current doesn't seem too strong."

"That's what I thought, Ralph… what about all the trainers who are pushed back? Maybe there's a way to help them out." Arianne started to brainstorm, but no ideas seemed to be actually feasible. In the meantime, she grabbed some Lava Cookies from her backpack and started munching one, before offering the remaining treats to the other two trainers. "Here, take some! You can also have your Pokémon try them!" she said in between bites, before losing herself in her thoughts again.

Ralph and Montany both happily accepted the gifts, Ralph being reminded that she had one more in her backpack also. She split this one in half and handed one piece to Venonat, and the other to Weedle after bringing him out of his pokéball. He reluctantly accepted the food after a few grumpy moments, and seemed to be feeling better from it. In the meantime, Montany brought a small bird out of his own pokéball, a Pidgey. It happily pecked away at the cookie, to Montany's delight.

So, the Lava Cookies were common in Cinnabar Island, Arianne's hometown. What else was in that place that the girl loved? The ocean, maybe? Her own beautiful home? The bustling atmosphere and the tourists? ...the chair lift that lead to the volcano's summit!

How would that have anything to do with crossing the river, other than carrying people from one point to another? Why did Arianne's mind pick that particular memory?

She then looked at the Pokémon, happily eating the Lava Cookies. Pidgey could fly, but was too small to carry people. Weedle could use String Shot, but for what purpose? Squirtle could swim, but he was also too tiny. But, maybe they could build their own kind of chair lift together?

"I don't know if this is going to work, and the risk is definitely high. But with a little help from your Pokémon, we might be able to reach Cerulean without crossing the bridge!" Arianne finally exclaimed, standing up close to the river. "But I'll need some help from your Pokémon."

Ralph stood up too. "I'm listening."

"In Cinnabar Island there's a chair lift that starts from the town and rises up to the summit of the volcano. My plan is to recreate a similar structure to get across the river… except we will be going downwards!" Arianne was starting to feel like the super optimistic, bubbly protagonist of those mangas she used to read at home. "I have an Escape Rope here, but it's definitely too short to do this. However, Weedle's String Shot will work. And to help Weedle with this task, Pidgey is perfect! Let's move closer to the river and find a good place to start."

In those stories, it always ended well for the protagonist, no matter how many problems he or she had to face along the way. But this was reality, and Arianne still had not fully grasped that concept.

Both Ralph and Montany were silent and blinked at Arianne for a few seconds as she walked away towards the water. But while Montany's face slowly cracked into a huge excited smile, Ralph's remained hugely skeptical.

"You want to - what?"

"That sounds AWESOME!" Montany exclaimed and ran up to Ari.

"Wait, hold on, you want us to somehow slide across all these, what, hundred meters somehow holding on to Weedle's string?" Ralph kept going.

"I don't think it's a hundred meters," Montany said, still smiling widely. "More like ten."

"It's a lot more than ten meters!!!"

But Arianne stood on the bank, looking for large trees that could endure a large force. Once she found one that she deemed good enough, she explained her plan in detail. "I need Weedle to climb this tree with me… but first, let's see if I can do it." With a grin and a drop of sweat, she grabbed the lowest branch and lifted herself upwards, Weedle crawling past her.

The other two trainers couldn't understand Arianne's words from ground level, so all they could see was Pidgey, swiftly flying over the river while carrying the Worm Pokémon. He was holding a large thread in his mouth which kept increasing in length: that was, in fact, the result of his String Shot attack. Pidgey dutifully managed not to fall prey to its predatory instincts and carried Weedle all the way to the other river bank, where a large rock could be seen.

As Arianne had told them, Pidgey perched himself on top of the rock as Weedle crawled around it, still holding String Shot and wrapping it around the boulder. That was the Cinnabar Town station of the lift. Of course, the String Shot acted as the lift's steel cable, while two more winds of silk around the tree branch Arianne had chosen were supposed to be the Volcano Station.

To be honest, the end result wasn't that bad. But again, this was reality. One false step and Arianne was ready to be sent to the hospital.
She slowly reached the ground again, carefully letting herself go from the large branch she'd held on before. "We'll need to wait for the string to become more stable, and then we'll be able to slide on it by using this rope." she proudly announced, as Pidgey and Weedle landed not too far from her.

Ralph was sitting down again, head in her hands. "I think I'll swim," she said.

"Haha, no come on! This will be great!" Montany said, already looking like he was considering how to best do this. "What, are you afraid of a little adventure?"

That made Ralph look up at him with narrowing eyes. "No," she said. "No, I like adventure."

"Sure doesn't seem that way to me!" Montany said with a stuck out tongue.

Ralph shot up from the ground and returned Venonat to her pokéball without further ado. "Weedle's string shot can be really strong unless provoked while it's hardening, I've read. So any minute now, it should be ready. We can use our belts or ropes to hold onto around the strings, and slide across with. If your small hands can manage that," she added towards Montany.

"My fingers are really long, actually!"

"For the love of Pidgeot…" Ralph muttered under her breath. "You can probably have Pidgey helping you out on the way. And Ari? Perhaps Squirtle could be in the water? Just… Just in case you fall. And I will go last."

"Why you?" Montany asked, but it didn't seem accusatory.

"So I can make sure you guys get across safely." Before the string breaks, she opted not to add. Not that it necessarily would. But she'd rather not risk the other two taking a dive in the cold water with potential strong currents. "Now the thread should be hard enough. Let's go! If you can climb?"

Montany winked at her and Ari. "I was born a climber!"

He really wasn't. Ari and Ralph and Pidgey all had to help him up as the thin boy's arms were pretty weak. Once he was up near the branch where Ari had tied the string to, he had to sit and rest for a while, on Ralph's orders, as she wouldn't risk sending him across in that state. Which meant it was Ari who would need to climb back up and start.

Squirtle came out of Arianne's pokeball, as Ralph suggested. Apparently, the curly haired girl had knocked some sense into her friend just before a potential disaster.

"Time for the test run, I reckon!" enthusiastically proclaimed Arianne seconds later, suggesting otherwise. "Well… I just need to remember how to tie a knot like the Cinnabar fishermen" she added, more calmly.

She explained his role to Squirtle, who was very eager to swim in spite of the temperature of the water. Then, she grabbed her Escape rope and cut out part of it with the help of Ralph.

It took her quite a while to get back to Montany, who was perched on one of the largest branches he could find up there. After all, the string was tied quite high up. Some minutes later, the… real rope was hanging from the string by about two meters, allowing every trainer to grip onto it with both hands and legs, and slide alongside the String Shot.

"Sorry, but I'll need your Pidgey's help again, to bring this rope to this side of the river everytime a new person crosses it." Arianne told Montany.

"Sure! Pidgey, did you catch that?"

Arianne then looked carefully at the string. It spanned several meters (one hundred maybe?) She couldn't quite tell because of all the leaves in the way… but on the other hand, she caught Squirtle swimming in the river below.

"Go! You can do it!" Montany cheered from just behind her in the tree.

Ralph looked on from the ground, trying to not look too worried. It's not a bad idea, it's not a bad idea, she kept thinking like a mantra.

Arianne tried her best to stand up on the branch she'd found, her legs trembling (finally!)
She grabbed the rope and, with a yelled "Here goes nothing!" launched herself across. The string wasn't that sloping, but it wasn't flat either, allowing for a faster ride… in fact, Arianne kept gaining speed as she crossed the wide river. That made the whole experience more dangerous, but also more thrilling and less demanding for everyone's hands.

A couple of seconds later, and Arianne was already on the other side. She had to avoid a head on collision with the rock that acted as the other end of the string, and because of this she let go the rope that acted as her hook, landing on the beach beside the river.
No need to remark that: Arianne hurt herself. But even by her standards, that was a perfect result! Her clothes and boots were slightly ruined from her attempt to slow herself down, her legs tired from the effort, her hands red after holding onto the rope for so long.

She had made it to Cerulean though! Plus, it was extremely fun! In fact, all of her pain was secondary. Soon after came Pidgey, bringing back the rope to Montany by holding it in his beak.

Time for the next trainer… or victim.

"Finally!" Montany said cheerfully as Pidgey returned to him. "Okay, here we go!"


"Be careful! Hold tight!" Ralph called after him as she was climbing up (with much less effort than he had needed), but Montany was already gone. He barely made it to the other side before he lost his grip and fell into the shallow water just by the beach, shallow enough for him to sit up and grin at Arianne like a kid in an amusement park.

Two down. One to go.

"Alright. I like adventure," Ralph told herself as the smart Pidgey returned for the last time with the rope. She gingerly touched the String Shot thread and wondered if it would really be alright. Yeah. It probably would be. If it had held up for both Arianne and Montany so far, there was no reason it wouldn't now.

"I like adventure."

She took off, and soared with increasing speed for mere seconds although they felt like hours. Until, suddenly, a loud snapping noise could be heard, and the blue darkness below her came closer much faster than she had anticipated. She hit the surface of the water slightly halfways across the wide river, and disappeared beneath the surface.

"Ralph!" Montany shouted. "Pidgey, can you see her?"

Pidgey fluttered in panic around above the bubbles in the water but didn't give any indication of spotting the girl.

Squirtle immediately swam towards the bubbles and sprays, trying his best to spot Ralph from underwater. He alone, however, wouldn't have been strong enough to pull the other trainer back to the shore safely, and Arianne knew that.

"no no no no no no no" she squeaked, leaving her backpack behind and running towards the river. All her happiness was gone in the current as she threw herself in the cold water, but not the feeling of being the one that would save the day. Her plan didn't work so she had to do something and, guess what, she would succeed for sure.

Swimming with clothes felt so weird, so uneasy. In Arianne's mind, reaching Squirtle and Ralph took years - but in reality, she was just fast enough. Spitting and coughing, Ralph came up to the surface when she finally felt Arianne's hand in hers. She had been shocked, and not at all prepared for all the cold strong water to come rushing around her, and she had not known what way was up or down.

Together, trainer and pokemon were able to bring the curly haired girl back to the surface before anything bad would happen. Slowly but steadily, Arianne and Squirtle started to swim towards Montany, whose Pidgey could be seen observing the trio from above.

Ralph let go of Squirtle and Ari once they reached land, and stumbled ashore, throwing her backpack and top shirt off.

This time, Arianne succeeded for real! She couldn't help but apologize profusely to Ralph for endangering her like that - however, she also couldn't contain a sarcastic comment for Montany. "You didn't see anything… boy."

"Didn't see what? You just rescuing your friend from certain cold wet death?" Montany garbled. "That was amazing! Oh, and I'm glad you are alright. Uh, are you alright?" he added towards the dark girl.

She gave him a darker stare as an answer, while Arianne attempted, with less satisfactory results, to give the boy that same look.

"Fine, I saw nothing," he said, rolling his eyes. "But you know what, guys? We crossed the river! And right there is Cerulean City."

He pointed at buildings not very far at all away from the riverside they were now at.

"Let's hope they have a pokémon center," Ralph said. "I'll need… a shower. And a change of, well. Everything."

"I'll head there immediately to heal Pikachu and rest Pidgey up! I'll see you guys later, ok?" Montany said, making Ralph raise an eyebrow at his lack of group loyalty after what they had just experienced together. But the boy stopped just after he had started walking, and turned back to the girls again. "Two more things though. One: Arianne? That was a really cool plan. I didn't see that other super brave thing you did, but that was really cool too. And two: Montany is actually my last name." He winked at them. "I only used it at the farm because Darling kept using her own family name. When we meet again, you should call me Aberdeen!"

And then he was off, Pidgey tweeting proudly above his head.

Ralph sighed and stood up, carrying her soaked backpack in one hand and drenched shirt in the other. Her long-sleeved t-shirt was still on, just as wet as well. She looked over at the black haired girl and her pokémon.

"Ari…" How to say this? Just bluntly, probably. "I actually can't really swim. So. Thank you for saving my life."

Arianne, perhaps, didn't quite fully grasp what she'd just done. Too many emotions in her head. At that point, she just hugged Ralph out of instinct - one of the most intense hugs she'd ever experienced. "I'm just glad you're alright. Sorry for putting you in danger."

Ralph heard herself laugh at that, and hugged Ari tightly back.

"Alright, no more roadblocks. Cerulean is close!" Arianne whispered after a while, letting go of the other trainer and grabbing her own backpack. After fiddling with it one more time, she took out something for Ralph. "Try covering yourself with this, it should suffice" she commented, with a blue jacket in her hands. "At least we won't catch a cold… I hope."

Ralph considered accepting it, and did so only after realizing that Ari already had her own dry clothes to protect her. "Alright. Thank you. Let's hurry to the pokémon center or wherever we can get a shower and a change now."

Together, the two trainers finally entered the first city on their journey.

 

[moon]

Ralph

Cerulean City, Tuesday May 21th

The two girls reached the pokémon center as soon as they could, still dripping wet. Thankfully, it was easy to get a room and be able to shower and change. A Chansey was directed to take care of Ralph's wet clothes, wash and hang them up, as she was allowed to use the room for the whole day as well - apparently they were well prepared for the horde of Cape trainers that would arrive today and tomorrow (the ones who could pass the river at least).

The contents of her backpack were mostly wet as well, but some things had stayed dry. The few Lava Cookies that were still in a plastic bag from Arianne were ok, and a few pieces of clothing were somehow ok after some light drying with a hair dryer she found in the room. After a shower, she put on a blue long-sleeved t-shirt and a purple checkered short-sleeved shirt on top of it, leaving it unbuttoned. She had another pair of jeans with her, these being a dark grey color instead of her favorite slim black ones. Her yellow beanie was wet as well, so she gently washed it in the sink and hung it up on a chair to dry. But she really didn't like to wear her hair free. Oh, right… She had found another beanie on the ground in Route 25, hadn't she?

She pulled it up from her bag. this beanie somehow was pretty dry too. She shrugged and put it on. The rest of the bag's contents were laid out on the floor to hopefully dry until she got back from… Yeah, what was she planning on doing in Cerulean really? She and Ari had decided to go their own ways for now, but they had exchanged PokéGear numbers and for sure wanted to meet up again at some point. They were friends now, after all.

​

She took her pokéballs with her on her magnetic belt; there was also a spot there for hooking the pokégear to, and the slim pokédex fit in one of her back pockets as she went down to the lobby. She hadn't spent much time in Cerulean at all - merely as a stop when she was going between school and home during holidays. There was a big awesome gym here though, the fanciest one in all of Kanto, they said. Perhaps she should check it out.

It was on the edge of the city, so there was a bit of a walk to get there, but Ralph didn't mind. She wasn't very tired even though she had been traveling by foot all morning as well as the day before; her stamina was pretty good, after all, as she had made sure to keep active physically at the Cape College as well as earlier in life. For some company, she let Sandsy out of his pokéball, which he seemed to appreciate. But she was sure he had appreciated being inside of it when she took a dive earlier.

The gym was beautiful, but not as flashy at all as she had expected. It was actually looking quite humble. Strange, wasn't this the place for majestic, pompous dragon types?

Spoiler:

She passed over small bridges over artificial (probably) streams and entered through the gates into a courtyard. There, she did see a dragon running by though, nearly crashing into her as it went by. But it was a very small one. Quickly, with an excited smile she couldn't hide, she pulled up her pokédex and aimed it at the little creature as it ran off and jumped into a pond.

"Gible," she murmured to herself. "Dangerous but cute. I wonder where it lives."

"Not nearby," a voice told her from behind, completely startling her.

She spun around, and found herself standing face to face with a tall, fair man. His hair was longer than any she had ever seen, fluttering in the light spring breeze in front of his hazel eyes. He wore a calm smile as he leaned his head to the side a bit, as if waiting for her reaction.

"Oh, ok," Ralph said stupidly, before composing herself. "Sorry for just entering the gym like this, leader Hoshi," she said with more confidence. "There were no guards, so I just... Strolled right in."

She knew who he was, of course. Anybody who aspired to be a trainer in Kanto knew of the gym leaders, or at least some of them, and Hoshi was the very best of them all.

"Why would we need guards?" he questioned gently. "Nobody means anybody harm here. Unless it is a battle, of course!"

"Right," Ralph said, a bit relieved. He seemed just as kind as he appeared on TV. That was nice to know. "I haven't come to challenge you though! Yet!"

"I suspected you were one of Palm's trainers," the gym leader chuckled as he started walking towards the biggest building. Ralph followed him mindlessly. "Several have stopped by already. Some really are eager to get through with this journey as fast as they can."

"Leader... Have you gone on this journey too?" Ralph couldn't help but asking.

He looked back at her with a curious face as they walked slowly. "Not in Kanto, no. But I went through a similar thing in Johto, years ago. Rites of passage. What is your name, young trainer?"

"Ralph Gonder, leader," she answered factually.

"If I can give you one piece of advice, Ralph, it is this: the goal isn't the goal."

She stopped in her tracks at that, trying to understand what he had just said. "What... Does that mean?"

"The true reward lies in the journey itself. Perhaps there is glory in speed. But enjoying the ride and living in the moment is the most important thing of all. That is how we truly grow."

"Oh," Ralph said, nodding. She could understand that. And in a way, she had agreed already from the start of her journey, or before even. She hadn't rushed away. She had taken her sweet time. A smile crept over her features as she felt proud of already living by the wisest gym leader's words.

"Now, were you just sight seeing or was there a specific purpose to you visiting us today, young trainer?"

They had reached the entrance to the big building now. Several stories towered above them, each looking just as sturdy as the previous. No doubt there was pokémon training going on inside!

"I guess I was just... Walking. I wanted to see what the gym was like. You're quite famous, you know, leader. And your gym too."

Hoshi chuckled. "I see. However, won't you come spar with us for a while? My dragon trainers and their pokémon are always looking for new experiences to enjoy, and there is nothing better than a stranger to battle!"

Ralph considered it for a moment. Why not, really? As long as she didn't battle Hoshi himself, it didn't count as a gym leader battle assessment. And her pokémon could always use some training. Plus, dragons were really cool...

"Sure! Lead the way, leader," she said with a wide smile as they walked inside.

**

There were plenty of eager trainers in the gym. It wasn't the biggest gym in the region, but in some ways it was the most revered and admired, so plenty of trainers sought to work here. Many of them had attended Cape College back in the day - others tried to learn battling in the spirit of the gym and one day pass the license exams and tests without having to attend the school! That seemed very tryhard, to Ralph. But she was happy they were here now at least, because they were apparently always looking for new people to train against.

Sandsy got to spar against a rather small Fraxure who seemed to have self-control issues. Its trainer frequently had to tell it to stop and think before doing some rash move without having been ordered to. Sandsy was the epitome of self-control in contrast, which initially made the gym trainers approve quite well of Ralph. She felt embarrassed, however and said it was just because Sandsy was specifically trained to be a good first partner for Cape journeyers. Their battle wasn't as much a battle as it was a training session, also. Sandsy used his Fury Cutter and the young Fraxure practiced his Dual Chop and Slash, and while they tried to hit, neither pokémon went all out with the effort, even though Fraxure had some issues stopping sometimes. Eventually, Sandsy seemed to get pretty good control over his rather newly discovered move. He could build its power up by carefully aiming to scratch at his opponent in swift hit-and-run attacks.

Venonat, or Softy as Ralph had now named her, got to spar against a Goomy. That was much less of a physical fight, and more of a mind game. Goomy used Absorb, Protect and Bide to try and cleverly get at the bug, while Ralph had Softy play around with Supersonic, Foresight and even Disable to circumvent Goomy's plans. In the end, both pokémon just resorted to Tackles anyways, which the much stronger Goomy was superior at. Ralph interrupted the battle when she noticed that her Venonat was getting emotional (sad) again, and made sure to give her lots of praise for having fought at all.

Weedle was a trickier kid to train. Now aptly named Edgy, his sparring partner was a Dratini. They started the battle by just staring into each others eyes for a while. Edgy became angrier and angrier, as he was quite an impatient pokémon, while the Dratini seemed just calm and stone cold. Eventually, Ralph figured they better take action. She ordered a String Shot, but Dratini avoided it with Agility and closed in on the worm. It Wrapped its thick body around the smaller pokémon and squeezed hard, but Ralph ordered a Poison Sting as fast as she could. The sting hit easily, and Dratini let go in pain. Keeping up momentum, Ralph ordered a String Shot again, which now hit Dratini's face and temporarily blinded it a bit. As Edgy backed off, Dratini however was told to use Dragon Rage to get rid of the block, which worked well. Ralph knew very well that any pokémon at this gym likely was much more experienced than her small Weedle, but she also knew they were out to train and help her and Edgy train - not to crush them. Still, it was scary to see the Dragon Rage aimed at Edgy and fire away, with no real chance for him to avoid it. Edgy was struck right on, and even if the attack wasn't at full force, he was quite badly hurt by it.

"Let's stop here," Ralph said and started walking forward in the small side arena where they were battling.

But Edgy growled at her. He wouldn't stop.

"I don't need you to overdo it today," Ralph tried, but Edgy really didn't want to give up. "Fine."

The Dratini didn't let up; it opened its mouth and something started crackling again. Ralph clumsily hadn't heard what move its trainer had called out, but her brain worked fast when she figured it was another Dragon Rage. What could she do about that?

"Edgy, String Shot into the ceiling! Up!"

Edgy, totally on edge here, immediately did what he was told - for once - and managed to pull himself up enough to avoid the blast that came.

"Can't escape there," the Dragon trainer said. "Dratini! Twister!"

The blue snakelike pokémon's forehead and eyes started glowing, and a small sparkling twister suddenly appeared in front of them, growing slightly and making it very windy in the room. The twister moved forward slowly, crackling with Dragon energy, and found its way to just below Edgy, who seemed to have trouble clinging on. Ralph figured she couldn't let him down now. Think. She had to think fast and cleverly, like Arianne would... String Shot was such a useful move, it could take them across rivers and it could...

"String shot on yourself!" she called up into the air.

Edgy wasn't sure at first, but he looked at his trainer, and then nearly fell into the small raging Twister, only saving himself by once more shooting String Shot up onto a wooden beam in the ceiling. He seemed to realize her idea then, and started spinning a web around himself that held him to the beam, safe from the powerful gusts. When their opponents realized that the assault didn't work, the Twister dissipated quickly.

"Well, you've made a mistake there," the gym trainer said with a grin. "Now you can't escape the Dragon Rage!"

Ralph didn't grin, but she also didn't falter. "Now, Poison Sting to get loose!"

Edgy's horn and stinger glowed as he used them to quickly cut the String Shot open and start falling down right over the Dratini.

"Dragon Rage! Now!" the Dragon trainer shouted as soon as they saw what was about to happen.

"Poison Sting!" Ralph called out at the same time.

In the end, Edgy cleverly twisted his body in the last second by swinging his tail around, and barely avoided the Dragon Rage (he got burned by it partly though). He did however manage to swing the Dratini in the neck with his tail stinger in the same movement!

"Yes!" Ralph called out in triumph.

Dratini blinked and shook the worm off, which tumbled down onto the ground. It seemed it wasn't really badly hurt from the attack. That riled Edgy up and his tail started glowing anew.

"Wait, wait, that's really enough," Ralph said and actually ran out to pick him up now. He growled angrily and tried to get away, but he at least made his tail stop glowing; it was a nice gesture, Ralph thought, as that meant that he didn't want to risk poisoning her. "You did really good there! I'm really impressed!"

"So am I," Hoshi suddenly said, and both trainers spun around. Ralph hadn't realized that he had been watching, but he was walking up to them now. "A very feisty companion you have there. Even though he lacks the control of your other pokémon, he is very acrobatic and fast. He will become a good companion for you, I believe."

"He already is," Ralph said with a cheeky smile and hugged the muttering worm closer.

She thanked the other trainer for the sparring battle, and Hoshi for the good advice, and went on her way back to the pokémon center to see how her clothes and stuff were doing.


Ralph
Sandsy grew to Lv 11!
Softy grew to Lv 6!
Edgy grew to Lv 8!

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt
Day 2 • Tuesday, May 21, Evening • Cerulean

2-04. don't you worry 'bout a thing

Casey regains his usual cheer quickly as the trio make their way to the rescue center. Debbie's chatter is easy enough to respond to, and he's goofing off with her again in no time. Bruno mostly stays out of the conversation, but offers the occasional dry remark to the delight of the other two. Their time at the rescue center is enjoyable, even if neither boy comes away with a Pokémon. Neither is quite in the right state to be thinking about taking on a teammate- Casey due to his entire day thus far, Bruno due to Debbie terrorizing him with the few Rattata staying there. Debbie does attempt to adopt a Grimer on Bruno's behalf, but the staff take one look at his face and shut that idea down.

The afternoon sun is still blazing when they leave. Bruno chimes in to Debbie and Casey's inane chatter to ask if anyone knows a place to eat.

"We saw so many while we were walking! Weren't you paying attention?" Casey chides.

"Ha! I bet Bruno had his nose in the map the whole time!"

Casey's affirmative giggle is cut off by Bruno's sigh. "I'm not taking a map out around either of you ever again."

"Well yeah, there's no point anymore! I know where everything is now!" Casey spins around in place, arms wide open. "Where d'you wanna go? I'll take you!"

"Anywhere… not so expensive is fine." Casey suddenly remembers that Bruno's supposed to be paying.

Debbie counters with, "I want to go to the most expensive place you know!"

Neither of those are preferences that Casey's really going to cater to. "I want… noodles!" he declares, and starts leading them east into the city.

They get there with only three (quickly corrected) wrong turns. Debbie hassles him for it, but Casey returns that she has far less idea where she's going than he does. The place he's chosen isn't expensive, but it isn't dirt cheap either. Casey pays for his own food. He does, however, join Debbie in persuading Bruno to pay for her meal as a prize for winning.

"So hey," Casey says after their food is placed before them, "what did you two do yesterday? Did you camp for the night?"

"I accidentally created a ghost story." Bruno answers, picking his chopsticks. "Then I was attacked by a berry."

"A ghost story? What, because of your-" Casey grimaces. "-Gastly?"

Bruno nods. "Apparently there was a farmer near the forest when I used it against Eterna before catching her. What did you two do?"

"Well… I fell into a Pidgey nest, caught Buneary, fought with a Pancham, and stayed at North Maple," Casey ticks off each item on his fingers as he talks.

"Did you— !" Debbie says but chokes on her noodles. Casey waits for her to regain composure and continue. "Did you stay there too!?"

"Yeah! How did we just completely miss each other?"

"I went out to train Dukko at eight or something after dinner and the entire performance and singing thing!"

"I ate dinner with Noel after she finished her thing! But I went straight to my room after, so I guess it makes sense that I didn't see you."

"But I was at dinner!" she holds a hand to her head, as if this conundrum is hurting it. "How- how did I miss you there!?"

"Well-" Casey- rudely- points his chopsticks at her. "-I don't know how I missed you. Feeling's mutual."

Debbie grumbles.

"By the way," says Bruno, "were there some thugs blocking the bridge when you passed through as well?"

"Yeah, some older kids. Like six or so? Noel and I had to battle two of 'em. She beat their leader!"

Bruno nods. "We battled two as well and we lost… well no, it ended in a draw. We were allowed to cross the bridge anyway."

"Then I went to challenge the gym and that's when Bruno left me all alone!"

"Oh, did you beat the gym leader already?!"

"He didn't even let me try!" she answers with a frown. "He told me I needed to train more and get more badges first. He was all calm and quiet... it was like talking to Bruno! But without all the sarcasm and he wasn't inexpressive at all! I don't want to go there ever again."

Casey forces himself to swallow before responding. "Well, I guess it'll be the same for all of us then. Where're we supposed to do our first gym challenge, then?"

"I don't know." Bruno answers. "Professor Palm told us to go through Rock Tunnel, but I have no idea where it would lead us."

"Hey," Casey immediately adopts a teasing tone. "You know what that means?"

"... No?"

"Now's the time to get that map out!" Debbie starts giggling. Bruno, expression still neutral, takes out the map. Stoicism at its finest.

"Let's see... Rock Tunnel is to the east of the city… And that leads us into… Ah. Lavender Town."

Casey drops his head with a thud and groans.

Debbie's giggles now have a new target. "Isn't that the place where the dead Pokémon go?"

Casey's muffled "yes" vibrates through the table.

Debbie is full-blown laughing now, unable to eat the rest of her food. Bruno joins in after a moment, though not nearly as loud. Casey whines and smushes his face further into the table.

"Are you going to do something else now?" Bruno asks after calming down

"I'm going to eat my noodles from here and not think about anything," Casey says miserably. He sets to work doing that. It's rather messy.

"I-" Debbie has to fight to get words out through her laughter. "I'll try to finish this and then- Uh… Oh no, I totally forgot! I didn't heal Pancho after the Nugget Bridge battle, and I ran out of Potions there as well!"

"You went to the gym without healing your Pokémon first…"

"You didn't go shopping, either?" Casey asks, sitting up properly and beginning to clean up after his theatrics.

Debbie puts her hand behind her head and chuckles. "Yeah I think I got a little rushed there, didn't I? But hey, in the end I didn't challenge the gym! So it worked out!'

"Should prob'ly get more Potions though." Casey points out through a mouthful of food.

"I think I should start buying Super Potions, actually. I got carried away with training before." She chews contemplatively for a moment. "I know! Can we all go shopping after this?"

"I already went shopping but I don't have any problem, honestly."

"I should stock up on things, so yeah!"

"We can go back to the Pokémon Center after that. I already have a room and I think… What was your name?"

"Buoy kid." Debbie answers, smiling.

"Casey," he says simultaneously. He sticks his tongue out at Debbie, but there's no heat in it.

"Well, I think Casey has a room as well-" Casey nods. "-so you might as well stay there with us."

"A sleepover!" Debbie cheers.

"No."

►►​

The markets have a decent selection of trainer items. Casey and Debbie pick out what they need, chatting the whole time. Bruno makes some effort to point out where the more useful stalls are, but even knowing doesn't make the chatty pair any more time-efficient. By the time they've made their final purchases, the sun is beginning to set.

The three kids get to the Pokémon Center not long after complete darkness has engulfed the city. Casey tags along while Bruno and Debbie hand over their Pokémon to be healed.

"What are you guys doing tomorrow?" the girl asks as they wait.

"I think I'll just go to Rock Tunnel once I get up. And you, Casey?"

Casey shrugs. "I'll probably go back to that bakery we passed. Maybe see more of Cerulean before I head out. No need to rush! Play it by ear, y'know?"

Debbie stage-whispers to Bruno. "He's avoiding the ghosts." Bruno hides a smile.

Casey splutters. "I am not! I am going through my journey at my own pace!"

Debbie wordlessly expresses many things. Belief is not one of them. Casey huffs at her back as she and Bruno pick up their Pokémon.

"Now that everyone's healed, maybe I can get some training in before bed!" Debbie says. Casey grimaces and Bruno stares unamused.

"It's almost eight already, how can you still be doing things?"

"What, are you going to sleep already, old man?"

"Early to bed, early to rise," Casey recites. Debbie laughs at him. He dismisses her with a jaunty wave. "You two have a good night! And if I don't see you tomorrow- good luck!"

 

[WizardOfOdd]

Richard Wolstenholme​

Cerulean Town, May 21^st, Afternoon

​

Chapter 2-1
For the Abandoned Ones
​

Richard came out from a nearby cafe near Pokemon Center, he then walked around the street with his partner Uri. They took a stroll around the city to relax.

"Nugget Bridge was actually easier to cross than Old Man Tarkus told me, I should have walked instead of hiding on the produce carriage..."

Richard heard that Nugget Bridge was very dangerous due to punks all around the bridge, so he decided to follow Old Man Tarkus's suggestion. However, when they crossed the bridge it was devoid of any punks at all. Which left Richard with a salad bar odor without any advantages gained at all.

"Well, at least Old Man Tarkus was fine. Are you enjoying the view, Uri?" Richard asked the pokemon walking besides him.

"Abra~" The Pokémon besides him appeared to be cheerful, however, its sight was suddenly diverted at an old rustic building near the edge of the city.

"What is it Abra?" Richard moved his eyes to the building. "Res… Cue… Center?" The writing in on the building sign was already fading, it's hard to read it especially from far away. Richard was very curious about this building, he decided to enter it to try and find out more about it.

"Excuse me, anyone here?" Richard slowly entered the building. "Oh, a visitor! Are you here to adopt a Pokémon?" An old woman at the reception desk asked the wandering boy.

"Oh… Uh, I was actually interested at the building after I saw the sign outside. If I may know, could you explain to me what this building is for?" Richard was eager to know about this rescue center building, after all it was on the edge of the city.

"I don't mind at all, basically this place is a safe haven for Pokémon, either those that have been abandoned or hurt and need a place to recover. Well, maybe you'll understand more if you see them with your own eyes." The receptionist offered Richard a chance to saw the Pokémon directly.

Richard instantly accepted, and the receptionist called for a younger staff to guide Richard. He was led by the woman through several rooms. Apparently the building was much bigger than what appeared on the exterior of the building, with quite a few different rooms inside. The woman then led Richard to a door in the side part of the building.

"Be careful, they are very enthusiast with new visitors. So please keep calm, okay?" The woman warned Richard while giggling.

Richard then entered the room slowly together with Uri besides him. As soon as he entered the room, most of the Pokémon there swarmed Richard and Uri. They was excited at the fact that there were new visitors and wasted no time to ask the visitors to play with them.

Richard heeded the warning of the lady, however he didn't expect it to be that festive. Richard and Uri played for quite awhile with the Pokémon there, however Richard realized there was one Pokémon sitting in the corner. It was a Pikachu, it averted Richard's gaze, afraid of the man intruding its haven.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry to disturb you. But, about that Pikachu… Why is it afraid of me?" Richard was scared on the fact that his presence was the thing that Pikachu feared.

"Ah… That Pikachu, don't worry you didn't do anything wrong. However, that Pikachu was traumatized after she was being left by its trainer. We actually received that Pikachu from a man, he deemed that the Pikachu was weak and that she has no business being on his team. She was abandoned ever since, staying away here with her broken heart." The woman appeared to be very sad as she recount the tale.

"But… That's..." Richard was exasperated, in his mind even if the Pikachu was actually weak, it's the job of a trainer to help it reach greater heights. Richard held back his anger and instead reached out inside his bag for an Oran Berry. "Hey little girl, want a berry?" Richard held the berry in his right arm and reached to the hiding Pikachu.

The Pikachu was initially reluctant to eat the berry, however she eventually relent seeing the boy's earnest expression. Richard patted the head of the Pikachu while it was eating, which eventually leads to Pikachu nuzzling its head to Richard's body. Pikachu then monopolized most of Richard's attention.

"Look… The Pikachu seemed to like you, how about you adopting it? I'm pretty sure it would love to be raised by you." The lady try to coax Richard to adopt the Pikachu.

"I would love too Ma'am, but… I need a time to think. I'll come back tomorrow though." Richard was unsure if he could take care the Pikachu properly, he was hesitant if he's going to be any better than its former trainer.

Pikachu was surprised at the revelation and immediately decided to curl up herself in the corner again, thinking that another trainer had abandoned her. Richard had to calm it down by patting its head again.

"I see… I sincerely hope that you would finally make up your mind tomorrow." The lady sounds sad, but she still have hopes that Richard would finally adopt the Pikachu.

"Don't be sad, I'll be here again tomorrow morning." Richard patted the head the head of the female Pikachu, now looking hopeful at Richard's words.

Richard and Uri then goes back to the Town and they managed to relax on an inn Richard managed to book.

"Abandoned… Eh…" Richard silently muttered thinking about the Rescue Center.

"Abra…" Uri suddenly spoke out, it was worried at its trainer's muttering. Perhaps it was afraid to be abandoned like those Pokémon he played with today.

"Haha, you don't have to be sad silly… I'm not going to abandon you." Richard hugged Uri.

With Uri calmed down, Richard finally could rest with no burden. The time he had on Cerulean was fun for him, he hoped nothing bad would happen at all… Nothing… At all...
​

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continued in part 2-2
Catastropika​

​

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt
Day 3 • Wednesday, May 22, Early Morning • Cerulean

2-05. every town and every road

It's early. Casey's back to getting up with the sun and while that's good for his personal schedule, it doesn't seem to match up with that of Cerulean's residents. Nobody's around, he notes as he eats a simple breakfast in the Pokémon Center's lounge. Nothing's open yet, he realizes, as he flips through a visitor's brochure. Not even that cute bakery he saw yesterday. He sighs. At least he has Pokémon to go do something with. Something that's not battling. Yesterday's loss is still on his mind.

He's planned and therefore dressed for a morning riverside jog, but it turns into an impromptu beach visit as soon as Buneary finds the little stairs down to the shore. Since she's spent more time on his shoulder than actually jogging, Casey is happy to indulge her desire for some kind of activity. Even if it means both braving the springtime chill of the water and suffering through Charmander's theatrics. He's acting as if he's not scrabbling around back where the sand meets grass, perfectly happy and safe from Casey and Buneary's splashing. Casey's learning that Charmander's just like that. It may be a trait they share, that tendency toward the dramatic, but is Casey going to admit that to anyone? No.

They meander west when Buneary gets bored. Casey's carrying his socks and running shoes and so keeps to the grassy boulevards bordering main streets, which eventually drop them into a public park. Casey remembers cutting across it with Bruno yesterday during their search for Debbie. It's mostly grass and trees with a few stone paths winding through. There are a few sculptures and picnic tables scattered around. Casey doesn't know if the little playground is meant for children or Pokémon, but since it's empty he lets Charmander and Buneary have run of it. They're clearly thrilled.

He's put his shoes back on and is focusing more on his Pokémon than his absentminded lunges when someone appears in front of him. Casey's instinctive attempt to back away is foiled by a lunge's demand for careful balance and he awkwardly topples sideways into the grass.

"Hi!" The person says brightly, as if none of this is unusual. They might be about Casey's age, with big brown eyes and a face full of freckles. They're wearing heavy denim overalls over a baggy, violently pink sweatshirt. The look is accentuated by a yellow bandanna tied through springy copper curls. "Whatcha doin'? Exercise? Are those your Pokémon? When did you get them? Not that long ago, 'cause they're not evolved, huh? Do they have nicknames? Are they friendly? Do they-"

"Uh," says Casey, pushing himself back up. "Hold on, um- I was exercising, yeah, and those two are mine- I got them both on Monday, so yeah not long, and- what was the last thing?"

"Are they friendly? Do they like you, at least? I heard Buneary don't like people at all!" They bounce on their heels cheerfully, not put out by Casey's inattentiveness.

"Charmander's pretty friendly and Buneary is letting me carry her now, so that's progress!" He realizes even as he says it that it's not much to brag about, but the shorter stranger seems impressed.

"That's really good for how long you've had her!" They frown suddenly. "I think. I don't actually know a lot about that. But! That's okay, 'cause I don't have a Buneary and never will!"

"You know that for sure already?"

"Oh yeah, yeah. I've got three-" a flash of three fingers to emphasize the point- "Pokémon and that's enough for me! Besides, I only train Ghost-types, so I wouldn't- what are you doing?"

Casey steps back another pace before he catches himself and flushes. They're not even here and he's still doing this. "Uh, I- I'm not a fan of ghost types."

"Oh, oh, that's okay! Lots of people are scared of them, so they don't hang out with me when I'm working. Don't worry about it!"

Casey forces himself to relax. "Are you working? Right now, I mean?"

"Yep, yep, well- I was about to start! And then I saw you! But it's okay because nobody's here yet. Nobody will buy anything if they're not here to see it! But I should set up before they get here, and I don't know when people get here. I'm not usually in Cerulean this early."

They're moving as they talk and Casey finds himself drawn along to one of the picnic tables. The stranger gives one of the benches to their giant canvas backpack and rifles through it. A tartan blanket gets haphazardly thrown over the table and a wooden sign is placed on a folding easel. The sign is hand-painted and only says "LEATHER".

"Leather?" is all Casey has to say to prompt another deluge of information to compliment the deluge of crafts onto the table.

"Yeah, yeah, so I'm a leathercrafter! I've officially been one for um, three years now, since I was twelve, but I kind of grew up in the studio so I've been doing it for a long time! My boss has a place in Saffron where we all work but sometimes I get bored so she lets me travel! She says it's good for business anyway- oh!" They rummage in the backpack again and come out with a handful of something. "I almost forgot the business cards! That's really the most important part, 'cause I don't sell much more than trinkets while I'm out. I do minor repairs and maintenance on leather stuff, too, but you gotta go to the studio for major stuff. That's why I gotta give out the cards!"

Casey takes one of the proffered cards. Printed across the front is an elegant silver logo. Below it reads:

Silverfield Studios Public Relations
Sorley Silverfield
​

The back lists an array of contact information. Casey slips the card into the pocket of his gym shorts.

"Sorley, huh? I'm Casey."

"Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? Well, I guess that's what business cards are for too. Nice to meet you, Casey! And your Pokémon," they add, as Charmander and Buneary join them. Buneary glares at Sorley, but they just look thoughtful. She seems put out by this.

"You're doing the graduation journey, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but the gym here-"

"Oh don't even go over there," Sorley waves a hand dismissively. "He just refuses to battle people who don't have any badges."

"How do you-"

"I like to check on the gyms and see what kind of trainers are there! So I've seen Hoshi turn away all sorts of people. Even someone that had three badges! Anyway, that's not what I was gonna talk about! I was gonna say, you know about held items, right? And how it's annoying for Pokémon to actually hold most of them?"

"Sure, yeah," says Casey vaguely. He has not actually considered this very much, but his thoughts have run off in the direction of the Cerulean gym. If Leader Hoshi even refuses people with three badges, when are we supposed to come back here?

"Well! We make equipment so Pokémon can carry those things easily! Including holders for Mega Stones!" Casey's attention snaps back as they flick through some of the wares scattered on the table, holding them up to Charmander as examples. Charmander poses with each item. "So, you should remember me if you get an item like that! You'll need something eventually, since you've got two that can learn to Mega-Evolve. Which one are you going to train with to do that? Most people only work with one, 'cause it's so hard to do."

Casey has not considered this at all. He admits as such and Sorley laughs.

"Most people with a Charmander would be thinkin' about that right away! But that's okay! You've got plenty of time to decide, 'cause they won't be ready to try for a while yet. But like I said! Any other item, I can design something for as well if you need me to!"

"I don't have anything like that yet." A thought occurs to him. "Hey, you said you do repairs and maintenance, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, anything leather!"

"I've got this leather jacket-"

"Oh! Yes! Let me see it!"

Casey laughs. "It's back at the Pokémon Center! It got a little beat up on the way here, so I want to make sure it's alright."

"Leather's pretty hardy so it's probably fine but! Of course I'll take a look! If you don't make it back right away that's okay but I'm only here 'till noon! Then you're gonna have to, I dunno, call me or something. My number's on the card so don't lose that!"

Casey scoops up Buneary as she demands, calls out to inform Charmander that he's going the wrong way, and thanks Sorley. "I'll be back soon!"

"See ya!"

 

[WizardOfOdd]

Richard Wolstenholme​

Cerulean Town, May 22^nd, Morning

​

Chapter 2-2
Catastropika
​

Richard awakened from his deep slumber, it was a nice rest, after all, he had slept more than usual. He was looking forward to what events would happen to him that day. However, he was hearing murmurs about a new incident happened in town. From there, he learned that a lot of Cerulean Gym's Dragon-type Pokémon was missing that morning.

"Cerulean is a very nice city, it's sad that the police are everywhere now though." Richard looked around.

Almost in every corner, the police were trying to investigate the disappearance of Cerulean Gym's Dragon-type Pokémon. It caused a huge uproar all around the city. Wherever Richard goes the topic always came up in a conversation and the fact that the uproar was so big, confused Richard's mind.

"How could so many Dragon-type Pokémon disappear so suddenly? Something wrong must have happened, no way this natural at all," mused Richard. Suddenly, he was awakened from his deep thoughts by a realization, maybe something also went wrong on the Rescue Center. He rushed as fast as possible there, only to found some volunteers searching for something in the forest near the center. The woman who escorted Richard yesterday rushed to talk with him.

"It's Bad, Pikachu… She escaped from the center. I think she was trying to find you, just in case if you left her for good. Please, you have to help us find her…" Says the woman worried a lot about the Pikachu.

Richard deeply regretted the fact that he didn't act yesterday. What a fool he was for thinking the Pikachu would be better without him. He ran as fast as he could in the direction of the forest, searching for any flash of yellow among the lush greeneries. Even after he screamed its name for quite a while, Richard couldn't find the Mouse Pokémon anywhere. Suddenly a huge roar could be heard near his position. There he found Pikachu looking agitated towards a man with a bird mask alongside a Gabite and a Trapinch beside him.

"That mark on the Trapinch… It's one of the gym Pokémon, isn't it? What have you done!?" Richard shouted at the man standing in front of him full of suspicions.

The man pulled a mysterious ball from his pocket and put Trapinch inside of the ball, he then shrugged his shoulders appeared to be unfazed at Richard's shout. The man wore a black robe and a top hat. "Why? You're mad, Brat? Not strange coming from a weakling like you… You know? You're like that Pikachu over there, sticking your nose to somewhere it doesn't belong. Why don't you scram and keep your mouth shut, maybe I'll let you live, while for that Pikachu… Gabite is going to crush it to bits."

Richard was afraid of this man, after all, everything about the man screamed bad news. However, he had to be brave. He'd rather be injured heavily than letting Pikachu get crushed by the Cave Pokemon.

"Nah, I refuse. No way a trainer leaves his Pokémon alone, you know? Either way, you should just turn yourself over to the cops. You might save yourself from plastic surgery you'll need after I wreck your face," Richard said while cracking his fist. "Come here, Eileen."

Pikachu felt that she was accepted by its new trainer, and the fact she was given a name even made her happier. However, the happiness was cut short, the masked man was less than amused looking at the act and decided to attack them with Gabite.

"Come out, Uri!" Richard who dodged together with Eileen decided to call out the Psi Pokemon. "Uri, use Confusion!" The eyes of Uri turned blue, enveloping Gabite in a blue aura which rendered it unable to move. However, Gabite proved to be much more powerful than Uri's Confusion could handle, it retaliated with shooting Dragon Rage from its mouth which Uri dodged with Teleport.

The red ball shot by Gabite destroyed a tree with ease, and Gabite now ran as fast as he could using a Dual Chop to strike down the Psi Pokémon who dodged the attack once more with Teleport. Even if Uri managed to dodge Gabite's attack attempt, it was now visible on Richard's head that if he didn't want Uri to be exhausted and becoming the Cave Pokémon's victim, he had to rely on his Ice Beam. However, using it was risky as the last time Uri used it thrice against Oddish, it almost fainted him. Richard's deep thought was interrupted by Eileen tugging away at his pants.

"Eileen?"
​

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continued in part 2-3
Reality​

​

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt
Day 3 • Wednesday, May 22, Early Morning • Cerulean

2-06. street fight

It's really not as if he goes looking for trouble.

But he's in a such a good mood this morning that he forgets his worries for a moment. He forgets why he's sticking to the main streets, to open areas. And for the second time since entering Cerulean, he tries to cut through an alley and comes face-to-face with a mysterious person. This one, seeming quite a bit more surprised to see him than the last, is dressed in clothes closer to black than any other color. Their mask resembles a Pokémon, in a way, but it's not one Casey recognizes. And Casey can recognize a lot of Pokémon.

The person's outfit isn't really what draws Casey's attention though, no. It's the way they're holding a strange PokéBall, as if it's difficult to keep a grip on. It's the dark light that's engulfing a struggling Garchomp. It's the fact that this doesn't look like something that should be happening.

It's the way this looks like a crime.

Casey makes to retreat but the other person is already in motion, activating a standard PokéBall and summoning a Hitmonlee. A curt "Take care of it," sends the Pokémon into motion, catching Charmander in a roundhouse kick before Casey can utter a sound. Charmander slams into the wall of the alley.

Casey rushes to his Pokémon, seeing the foot springing toward him far too late to react. Buneary, of her own will, launches herself from his shoulder and braces to Endure. The foot connects and keeps with Buneary as she's slammed back into Casey. He's hit hard with both a Pokémon and déjà vu as the Hitmonlee retracts its foot, driving it down for balance and springing the opposite leg out towards the three of them. Casey scoops up both his Pokémon even knowing he's not fast enough, that foot's aimed right for him, it's about to hit the Pokémon in front of him-

What?

The kick connects. Not with Casey, not with this sudden arrival, but with a glowing blue force field. The Hitmonlee's foot retracts. The Garchomp is sucked into the PokéBall and the masked person finally pays attention to the battle. The Misdreavus floats lazily toward them. A grinning Sableye sidles out from the shadows next to Casey, who is probably gripping his Pokémon too tight and is definitely breaking out into a cold sweat.

"What the hell…?" is all the masked person has time for before he and his Pokémon vanish from Casey's view, engulfed in a rainbow light from the Misdreavus. When it fades, Casey catches a glimpse of the Hitmonlee lying limp on the ground before it is recalled. The person growls and sends out a Fearow.

Heavy footsteps and a shadow in the mouth of the alley announce the slow but purposeful arrival of a Golurk. The masked figure wavers a moment, then clicks their tongue and mounts Fearow, rising swiftly above the rooftops. They are pursued by a sparkling pink beam from Misdreavus but a sharp bank lets them dodge and vanish from view.

The Golurk plods over to join its companions. All three turn eyes to Casey.

Casey's vision goes fuzzy.

 

[budube]

Bruno Dillinger
May 22, Wednesday

Chapter 2, Part 4: Unease​

---

Bruno went down the stairs to the main hall of the Pokémon Center ready to leave and walk his way through Route 9. He didn't plan anything with Deborah nor Casey last night, so he would be going alone. For Bruno's surprise, the Pokémon Center was quieter and emptier than how it was the day before. On the one hand, that was good, since yesterday was too loud for him already, but on the other hand it was… disturbing, because the silence was not a calm and satisfying one; in fact, the entire air of the Pokémon Center felt eerie and melancholic.

The first thing Bruno did was go to the Café at the entrance, maybe have a Roserade Tea and a Lumiose Galette before leaving. There was another man sitting on one of the stools, apparently tall -he couldn't tell from the distance he was in- and with short, dark brown hair with little gray areas, his face looked that of a 40 year old and he was wearing a moss-green trench coat. Bruno overheard the conversation he had with the barista, something about tattoos and mysterious people with masks, but nothing he could understand. Apparently, Gym Leader Hoshi was involved in this as well, so something wrong was definitely going on in this city.

The barista served Bruno his tea and Galette, and turned back to the man in the trenchcoat. "As I was saying" he continued "I think it's best not to bother him too much with this, he's the most affected in this matter."

The detective took a big gulp from his drink and grimaced as if it was because of the bitterness of his Galarian Coffee, but Bruno knew it was because he didn't like the "don't talk to this specific person" advice "That's part of my job." he took a last gulp and left, leaving his money in the bar.

Bruno drank his tea slowly, curious about what was happening but too afraid to ask. Whatever was happening in Cerulean was not something he could take care of on his own, so he sticked with the plan of going to Rock Tunnel once he finished his tea.

The city was empty as well, everybody locked inside their homes and just policemen and a few trainers walking around. Bruno took out the map; to get to Rock Tunnel he had to walk west for around three or four blocks and then go east again, but he could take a shortcut by going through the Public Park near the Pokémon Center which was convenient since it was most likely to be empty.

---

The park was clean for the most part. Bruno could easily tell Cerulean had strict policies when it came to maintaining the city clean, unlike Saffron. There were sections for kids to play and other sections that existed only to relax, like gardens and ponds, there were also a few statues depicting Dragon-Type pokemon, but the only ones he could recognize at first glance were Salamence and Kommo-o. Casey was right, there was a lot to explore in the city.

Bruno kept walking with his usual slow pace, he had no rush and no one to rush him now. He was avoiding the places that could have cops around, expecting to avoid getting involved in this mess. In the end, he walked through a grass path with a bunch of trees around. The path kept going straight and split in two paths like two or three times, but the boy only walked in a straight line because it looked like the fastest way to get to the city, so it was impossible for him to get lost as well.

Too concentrated in walking forward with his eyes on his map, Bruno didn't realize when he finally made it through the grassy road. He appeared in a circular area surrounded by trees, at the center there was a fountain, sculpted like a Kingdra, and wooden benches in front of it. He was getting tired of walking, it was still morning and he had enough time to lose, so he laid on one of the benches, avoiding falling asleep and just… relaxed, or well, that was the idea. He got up from the bench the moment he realized an opening between two trees and a light breeze coming out from there. He remembered one of his teachers from Cape College talking about how some Pokémon liked hiding inside these "Hidden Grottoes", many of those Pokémon were different from others, and that idea excited Bruno, so he decided to explore, taking one of his Pokéballs and sending his starter Pokémon out.

"Keep quiet." he murmured to Gospel once the Pokémon started floating around him while laughing. "You'll scare the Pokémon."

"Gah!" the Pokémon smiled and licked the boy.

"Don't…!" he sighed cleaning his cheek with his hand and looked back at the narrow path and then back to his Pokémon again. "Look, let's beat the Pokémon there, we catch it and I'll let you Lick my face all you want, got it?"

"Gah, gah!" the Ghost-type nodded. Bruno couldn't understand a thing of what Gospel was saying, but he hoped it was an agreement and took it as such.

"Ok, but keep quiet for now."

Bruno walked inside the Hidden Grotto, breaking through the branches of smaller trees, with Gospel following him simply floating and passing through them as if they were nothing. It was dark, with barely any sunlight hitting the place since the trees around the grotto where tall and leafy enough to block most of the sun rays, but it was still illuminated enough for Bruno. There were small trees and bushes around, big enough so Bruno could hide from the masked man in dark clothes that was there.

Just as expected, there was a Pokémon there. It was a big, dragon-like, black and purple Pokémon, with white fur covering its neck, and big ears that looked like loudspeakers. Printed on its right wing, a green tattoo, Bruno could barely notice it, and couldn't tell what the tattoo looked like, but the fact that it had a tattoo meant that it had a trainer. But wait, if it had a trainer, then how come the angry man with the mask was able to throw Pokéballs at it, and why was his Shiftry attacking it?

"Tattoos, masked people, Dragon-Type Gym Leader" he thought to himself, trying to remember what he heard back on the Caffé. "Tattoos, masked people, Dragon--"

"WHY WON'T THIS THING STAY INSIDE THE POKEBALL!?" the shady-looking man suddenly shouted "HOW CAN IT EVEN GET OUT IF IT'S ASLEEP IN THE FIRST PLACE?" he tossed another one of his Dark Pokéballs (a type Bruno hadn't seen before) at it. A black light took the Pokémon inside it. One… two oscillations… the Pokéball flashed open. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

The dragon growled and started moving, it was waking up.

"SHIFTRY, USE THROAT CHOP!" The dragon attempted a Boomburst, but Shiftry was faster, striking it's throat with its leafy arm and drowning the dragon's voice.

"HYPNOSIS!" The masked man threw another Pokéball, and just as a yellow Pokémon appeared, it started moving its pendulum. A purple aura surrounded it and shooted an hypnotic beam, making the dragon fall asleep again. With its task done, Hypno returned to its Pokéball. He threw another Pokéball, one… two… three oscillations, the ball opened. "DAMMIT!!"

The other trainer was too busy yelling at the sleeping Pokémon to even look at the bush where Bruno was hiding. "WHY CAN'T WE CATCH WILD POKÉMON AND BREED THEM LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE!? AND WHY AM I, OUT OF EVERYONE IN THE TEAM, THE ONE STUCK WITH NOIVERN WITH THESE… BROKEN... POKÉBALLS!?" he prepared another Dark Pokéball "BOSS WAS LIKE 'nO, dOn'T WoRry AbOuT iT, tHe PoKéBaLls CaN cAtCh OtHeR tRaInEr'S pOkÉmOn JuSt FiNe' YEAH SURE, WHATEVER YOU SAY YOU SON OF A-- FINALLY!!" he let himself fall on his back, suddenly more relaxed, and sighed. "Once I return home, I'm going to add this to the list of The Worst Decisions of My Life."

At the same time, Bruno was watching from behind the bush, with Gospel at his side. He could not understand exactly what was happening here, but he knew enough of it to know that it was wrong. He could just leave, but his guilty conscience wouldn't leave him alone for the rest of the day.

"What should I do, what should I do, what should I do?" he started murmuring as he started to think about every choice he had, occasionally going back to his desire of only running away.

"Call the police?" "No, they'll take to long to arrive?"

"Call the Gym Leader?" "I don't have his number."

"Challenge him to a battle?" "I lose and then what?"

"Call Debbie?" "… No."

"Casey?" "No."

"Prof. Palm?" "No!"

"Attack the trainer!" "NO!"

"Stay calm, Bruno. Stay calm." Bruno started breathing heavily. He felt as if his head was about to explode, and he started sweating and scratching his neck out of nervousness. "How can I be calm if I can't do anything about this!? How am I supposed to be a trainer worth listening if I can't even do something about what I know is wrong!?"

Gospel licked Bruno's face, and the boy snapped back to reality. Somehow regaining his previous calm.

"... Thank you."

"Ga' has!" the Pokémon smiled.

"You…" The boy stared at Gospel for some seconds. Wasn't he forgetting something? He went back to his own thoughts but he wasn't panicking as he was before. The boy raised his eyebrows, and turned his look back to the ghost-type "You!" he totally forgot about Gospel's new move. Mean Look would not allow Shiftry escape from him, he could use this to trap the trainer and have a battle with him to make time until the police arrived. "Attacking another trainer's Pokémon without challenging them first? Wasn't that illegal?" "Who cares? What he's doing is illegal as well and I have no other choice. Also… technically, Mean Look isn't an attack."

There was nothing to lose now but a battle. Shiftry was walking to his trainer, holding the Dark Pokéball containing Noivern. It was now or never.

"Gospel, use Mean Look." Gospel's eyes flashed, and somehow the glare reached Shiftry. The grass-type Pokémon dropped Noivern's Pokéball and stood still, moving his gaze around the grotto with trembling legs, as if it knew there was danger around. "Checkmate!" Bruno started preparing to call Cerulean's Police.

"What's wrong, Shiftry?" the masked man leaned forward, taking the nearby Dark Pokéball on the ground and putting it on his belt, changing it for Shiftry's Pokéball. "Well, it doesn't matter. The job here is done."

"Hide between the trees, but stay close to me. I'll tell you when to use Hyper Voice." the boy murmured to his Pokémon, and Gospel obeyed after a nod, moving as close to the ground as he could to avoid being seen.

The dark trainer attempted to return Shiftry to it's Pokéball, but it wasn't responding. "Huh? What the hell?" he was starting to lose control again.

Bruno made the call.

A second attempt… Shiftry's Pokéball didn't respond. The dark trainer took out a PokéDex and stood still for some good five seconds, twitching the fingers of his free hand and slowly losing his calm again."Show yourself." he warned.

"Hello? This is Cerulean City's Police Department. What's your emergency?"

​

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt
Day 3 • Wednesday, May 22, Early Morning • Cerulean

2-07. picking up the pieces, putting them away

"Prob'ly shoulda brought them to the Pokémon Center instead of to me. ...What? Oh right, right, that's a good point. What're we gonna do with them though?"

Casey's eyes flutter open. He sees a shock of copper curls on a background of blue sky.

"Oh hey, hey, you're awake!" A grinning purple face looms over him, forcing the copper hair out of sight. "Sableye-! Oh, no, there he goes…"

-

It's quiet.

Casey's eyes flutter open. He sees a shock of copper curls on a background of blue sky.

"Sorry 'bout that. You really weren't kidding about the Ghost thing, huh?"

Sorley helps Casey sit up. They're on the bench of the commandeered picnic table in the park. Charmander and Buneary are on the ground in front of him, nestled together on top of a folded blanket. How'd that happen?

"Golurk brought you!" Sorley says, and he simultaneously stiffens and violently shivers. "No, no, it's fine, they're gone again, don't worry! What happened to you, anyway? Weren't you going to get that jacket?"

"I was," Casey forcibly exhales the tension out of his body and stretches, then reaches down to prod his Pokémon. Charmander seems to be unconscious. Buneary cracks an eye open and swats at him. "I got… attacked?"

"Attacked? In Cerulean?" Sorley's frown is sudden.

"Okay, so, the one today wasn't trying to attack me, I think I walked into a crime scene?"

Sorley sputters. "A crime-? No, no, wait, wait- what do you mean 'the one today'?!"

"Uh, there was someone yesterday that brought me to an alley and made me battle them?" It hits Casey suddenly, the fact that his experiences are not the norm for this city. But he'll have to ruminate on that later. Sorley seems lost for words, though not for various noises of incredulity. Casey continues, thinking aloud.

"I don't think they're together or anything though, 'cause the first one wanted to battle. But the second was busy doin' something with a Garchomp and- I think- only battled because I found them."

"I thought you said they were doing a crime? What's the Garchomp got to do with it?"

"Well, it looked like crime…? The, the person had a weird PokéBall and the Garchomp looked was fightin' it. It took way longer to get it in than regular PokéBalls do. And the light was dark-colored. I dunno, it seemed… wrong. And, I mean, they attacked me, so why would they do that if they were doing something… not-criminal?"

Sorley considers this. "Did the Garchomp have a, a… tattoo, or something? Maybe on its chest?"

It's a little fuzzy, all of it. Casey tries his best anyway. "I think so. Uh, eighty percent sure."

Sorley sucks in a breath through their teeth and swings their legs. "That's a gym Pokémon, then. You're gonna have to go tell Hoshi. Or the police. Maybe both."

"That means I have to go all the way 'cross the city to the gym, huh?"

An affirmative hum. "I'll come with if you want! But, I don't know if it'd be helpful, considering."

"...Yeah. Maybe not."

"Maybe at least go to the Pokémon Center first? It's on the way anyway."

"That's prob'ly a good idea." Casey retrieves his PokéBalls from his zippered pocket as he stands and recalls Buneary and Charmander. "Thanks for helping me out. I'm still gonna come back with the jacket when I'm done."

Sorley grins up at him. "Well, I'll see ya later then!"

 

[WizardOfOdd]

Richard Wolstenholme​

Cerulean Town, May 22^nd, Morning

​

Chapter 2-3
Reality
​

Eileen tugged Richard's pants, she attempted to persuade its trainer to use her for helping Uri

"Eileen? But he's a Ground-type Pokémon, you wo--" Richard stopped his sentence midway after he saw the determination in the eyes of his newest team member. "Fine, I'll need you to distract it, not to endanger yourself carelessly. Now go, Eileen!"

Eileen ran over to the Gabite, surprising it in the process. "Eileen, Growl!" Eileen released a screeching voice, angering Gabite who proceeded to try and use a Dual Chop on it. "Uri!" This time Uri used Confusion at Gabite, slowing it down so Eileen could escape, Eileen then proceeded to use Growl once more at the Gabite.

"What do you think you're doing? It's no use stalling for time, Gabite!" Gabite's rage was directed against Eileen who was still taunting it from far away. The Gabite now looked angrier than ever lunging itself with all of its might at high speed at Eileen who appeared to be unable to escape from the top of a tree. However…

"You fell for it, Uri use Ice Beam!" Gabite's attention against Eileen was used perfectly by Uri to hit it with a devastating beam, crashing it to the ground while also freezing its body at the same time.

"Bravo, Bravo.." The mysterious man clapped his hands. "You managed to use Gabite's quadruple weakness and rage against itself, I was wrong regarding you the same as other brats… However, a kid is still a kid." The ice encapsulating Gabite started to crack until it finally breaks, and the Cave Pokémon then roared in rage angry at what Uri and Eileen did to it.

"Let me show you Kid, the harshness of reality!" The man shouted at Richard. Gabite started to make its move, moving even faster than before with dangerous intent so visible in its expression. Its target was Eileen, the Mouse Pokémon managed to dodge the Gabite rabid fast attack by jumping from the tree.

"Nuh-uh… Gabite, lunge yourself!" Gabite used the tree as a platform to launch itself towards a defenseless Eileen, finally managed to spike the Mouse Pokémon hard to the ground leaving it in the brink of collapse. "Now, finish her off, Gabite!" Gabite prepared to use Dragon Rage against Eileen.

Sensing the lasting damage it would cause Eileen, Richard made a mad dash towards Eileen disregarding the injury the Dragon Rage would cause against him, grabbing her just in time before the move hit the ground. Seeing this, Uri distracted the Cave Pokémon again using his Teleport while Richard rolled to safety with Eileen.

"Eileen! Eileen!" Richard yelled at Eileen, panicked at the damage the much stronger Pokémon did to his partner. Eileen was barely conscious but still managed to hang on, she faintly let a sound out at its trainer.
Richard who heard this only could say with a sound full of sorrow seeing his team struggling until they finally fall down. "Please Eileen, stop… It's enough, you already tried hard enough…" However, Eileen's eye still appeared to be defiant until its very end, which left Richard to grit his teeth in anguish.

"Whoa Kid, you sure you're still going to fight? You should take a look at your Abra before you make more idiotic choices." Uri appeared to be struggling and exhausted that he had to use Teleports to avoid the dangerous Gabite, which closed the opportunity of attacks that could be done by Uri.

"Damn it, there's should be something we could do… Or not we'll be sit--" Richard suddenly had a plan in his head. However, this was a final plan which means if the plan failed then all of them could be done for. However, seeing the resolve that had been put in by his pokemon, there's no way he would back down. If the plan had to be a Hail Mary, then so be it. He quickly grabbed a potion from his backpack and sprayed it at Eileen. He told Eileen of his plan, while Uri still fought against Gabite.

"Hey, you! Overgrown Lizard, come here and get a taste of my fist!" Richard tried to taunt the Cave Pokémon which apparently worked as the Gabite then started to run to attack Richard. Just as it was about to maul Richard, Eileen used Growl once more from a tree near Gabite turning her once more as its target because of all of the annoyance she did. Gabite jumped into the air to swat down Eileen, this time permanently.

This time the masked man realized what the boy was trying to do. "Gabite, no It's just a trap!" The rage blinded the Dragon-type Pokémon ignoring the instruction of its trainer as it tried to ground the airborne Eileen.

"This is the end. Uri, Teleport then Ice Beam!" Uri teleported in front of Eileen shooting a beam of ice it created from both of its hands, Gabite who was surprised didn't manage to jump on time and was hit at point-blank range with the light blue colored ray sending it crashing towards a tree encased in ice.

The man looked like he was exasperated at the result. However, it was soon replaced with a maniacal laugh. "Boy, oh boy. You're one feisty person, ain't you Kid? But, as I said earlier that reality is one cruel mistress." As he finished his sentence, Gabite managed to broke free from the ice. Although he was considerably injured, Uri and Eileen were both almost out of commission leaving Richard to prepare for the worst.

"Well, playtime's over. Gabite, Sand Tomb!" A sand tornado was unleashed by Gabite, however this time the target of his attack was Richard. The sand tornado enveloped his legs, leaving Richard to be stuck without a chance to escape.

"And for the final act, Go Electrode! Use Charge! Bye Kid, good luck surviving from this." The man called his Electrode to the field while he ran away and it immediately gathered electric charge from its surroundings. Then it jumped at Richard, with its body shined white.

"Wait, No way… Uri, use Tele--"

Just as Richard was about to finish his sentence. The Electrode exploded, causing a huge energy blast and a noise so loud it could be heard from far away.

​

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continued in part 2-4
Hospital Visit​

​

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt
Day 3 • Wednesday, May 22, Morning • Cerulean

2-08. as we relive our lives in what we tell you

Casey sticks to the exact middle of the streets on his way back to the Pokémon Center. More people are out and about now, which makes him feel better, but there's a weird feeling hanging over the city. Tension. Confusion. People are speaking quietly, hurriedly. Individual words are hard to catch, but tone is audible and frequently questioning. Casey quickens his pace.

Something flits by as he approaches the Pokémon Center. He catches sight of Misdreavus zooming off into the shadows and shudders.

The doors to the Pokémon Center slide open. Three hours ago, it had been deserted. Now, trainers of all ages are milling about, buzzing with the news. Dragons are missing, they murmur. Casey turns over his Pokémon. The nurse appraises him as she sets his PokéBalls in the rejuvenator.

"What trouble did you manage to get in so early?"

"Walked in on a crime, nearly got killed," he summarizes, glumly and without thinking.

A look of incredulity is all the warning he gets before she's calling two blue-clad police officers over. One is perhaps in his fifties, hair mostly grey. The other is clearly younger, with brown hair bound in a simple half bun and wearing oversized sunglasses despite being indoors.

"How can we help you, ma'am?" asks the older one.

"This trainer said he witnessed a crime this morning," she says, indicating Casey, who is somehow very unprepared for this.

"Is that so?"

"Uh, yes."

"Would you mind giving a statement?"

"Yeah. I mean no, I don't mind."

"Thanks!" the younger officer chimes in as they meander to a more secluded area of the lobby. "We'll just scan your Trainer ID first, alright?"

They unhook a handheld device from their belt. Casey hands over his ID and is greeted with immediate delight. "Casey Holt! I thought you seemed familiar. You prob'ly don't remember me; you weren't much bigger'n my Growlithe last I saw ya!"

The older officer's long-suffering sigh is drowned out by the younger's enthusiastic self-introduction. "Kel Dolan! Uh, Officer Kel Dolan," they correct at their partner's pointed cough. "Your mom is my aunt! But, y'know, since we all stopped gettin' together when Grandmother died, I don't see hardly anyone anymore! This is really exciting!"

"Kel. He's witnessed a crime. You can catch up later."

"Uh. Right. Sorry."

Kel flips to a random page in a writing pad and clicks their pen a few times. The older officer takes over. "We'll take a general retelling of events first and then follow up on key points, alright?" Casey nods. "Good. Go ahead and begin with time and place."

"Uh, so, it was around seven o'clock. I was coming back from that park- Berry Park? no, Mill Park, sorry- goin' down Rush, but I tried to cut through that diagonal alley right after uh, Market? But there was someone there. They had a weird PokéBall that they were forcing a Garchomp into. Soon as they saw me they sent out a Hitmonlee and it took out my Pokémon real quick. I think it was tryna kick me next, but a... a Misdreavus knocked it out. The person took out a Fearow and flew away when uh, that Golurk showed up."

"...Interesting…" Kel mutters as they write. Their partner discreetly elbows them, then asks Casey to describe the perpetrator.

Casey hums. "They were shorter'n me, maybe five-foot eight-ish? And thin? They were wearing all black, even gloves. No logos or anything, far as I could tell. And something over their head but under the mask."

"The mask?"

"Yeah. It looked like a weird Pokémon. Not like any I know but also… not human-ish."

"Can you tell us about the strange PokéBall?"

"Yeah, it was all dark-colored and looked like it was hard to hold onto. It took a long time to get the Garchomp in. And it- the Garchomp- was covered in a dark-colored light. Not like normal PokéBall light."

"Do you remember any specific details about the Pokémon involved? Moves used, identifying marks, odd behavior?"

"The Garchomp was fighting against going in the PokéBall. And I'm… pretty sure it had a tattoo on its chest? The Hitmonlee kicked at us, but it wasn't any of the elemental ones so I don't know what it was specifically. It was in a basic PokéBall, same as the Fearow, if you want to know that." Casey watches Kel scribble as he tries to remember more. "I guess the Fearow knows Fly, since the person flew off on it."

"What about the two Ghost-types?"

Casey shudders. "There were three, actually. A Sableye was there too. The Misdreavus used Protect and maybe Dazzling Gleam? And a beam move, but I don't know which. Actually– you can go ask Sorley about them if you want to know. Those're their Pokémon. Um… the Golurk brought me to Sorley after the person flew away. Uh. That's all, I think."

The interrogating officer's face twitches, but all he says is, "Sorley?"

"Sorley, uh," Casey references the card in his pocket. "Silverfield. They're hanging out at the park."

Kel flips their writing pad closed. "Hey, this is really gonna help us! Best news we've had since Leader Hoshi called it in, no contest."

The older officer's groan of "Kel, this is an active investigation-" is overrun by Casey asking, "What did he say happened?"

"Right, so, 'bout an hour ago Leader Hoshi called us up about some of the gym's Dragon-types going missing. And that's crazy, right-"

"Kel…"

"-because they haven't just up and left. They've all been trained at the gym and most Dragons are super loyal. They all even wear the tattoo! So when Leader Hoshi-"

"Kel."

"-said they were gone, the only obvious conclusion is that they were forcibly removed from the gym, right? Which I mean, why else call us if they weren't? Well, maybe murder, but there's no evidence of that anywhere. Yet. But how could a Dragon be forced? Especially strong ones? That's what we've-"

"Officer Dolan."

Kel shuts up and snaps to attention. "Yessir!"

"We have others to interview." He inclines his head toward Casey. "Thank you for you time. We will be in touch if we have further questions."

"Sure, yeah…"

"I'll call you later so we can meet up when I'm not working!" Kel calls as they're tugged back into the crowd of trainers. Casey waves.

Someone taps him on the shoulder. It's the nurse, who presses his PokéBalls into his hand. 'You did well, dear," she reassures before returning to her station.

 

[budube]

Bruno Dillinger
May 22, Wednesday

Chapter 2, Part 5: vs. Shiftry​

---

"I said… SHOW YOURSELF!!"

"... Is anybody there? This is Cerulean's Police Department. What's your emergency?"

Bruno stood up, still unsure of what he was about to do, but there was no holding back now. He walked away from the bush, raising his hands, making sure his PokéGear was as closer to his mouth as possible.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!? WHAT IS A KID DOING HERE!?"

"My names is Bruno Dillinger. I am…" he suddenly felt a lump in his throat and remained silent "Congratulations, Bruno. You didn't even begin and you already screwed everything up."

"Hello...? Look, kid. We have a lot of problems here already, so if you have something to say, stop joking around, please."

"I am… I am a student from Cape College." he took a deep breath "Good, now how do I continue?" "Um… I was just walking around the Public Park and… found this Kingdra-looking Fountain so I decided to take a look."

"I ASKED WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"I found this Hidden Grotto... so I entered expecting to see a Wild Pokémon... but I found you... and that Noivern." he took another deep breath. Was it even resulting as expected? "Or well, your Noivern since you just caught it…? Oh, about that... those Black Pokéballs you have there are really weird and cool looking, I've never seen any of that kind."

"GET TO THE POINT, DAMMIT! WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"

"Huh?" the boy chuckled "No, nothing. I was just talking to the police."

The masked man raised a shaking hand and closed into a fist "STUPID KIIIIID!!!"

Bruno snapped his fingers and closed the call. Gospel scram from behind the trees in a sharp voice. The Ghost-type's Hyper Voice made Shiftry take a few steps back and fall over its left arm.

"SHIFTRY! THAT SCREAM CAME FROM THE TREES IN FRONT OF YOU! TRY HITTING WHATEVER THAT KID'S POKEMON IS WITH LEAF TORNADO NOW!"

Shiftry fanned its leafy hands and created a gust of wind that raised the leaves on the ground and the nearby bushes. The Leaf Tornado struck the trees in front of the Pokémon where Gospel was hiding, destroying some of them.

Bruno expected to make time, but if Shiftry destroyed every tree in the grotto there won't be much he could do with his current strategy, and if that wasn't enough of a problem already, Leaf Tornado was a wind-based attack and Gospel had to be careful with those.

Gospel managed to dodge one of the fallen trees and thus was unaffected by the attack. The Pokémon shouted again, now hiding between some bushes at the left corner of the grotto. A second Leaf Tornado came towards the bushes, completely destroying them and the trees behind them as well, but Gospel dodged barely.

"Hypnosis!" Shiftry fell asleep after the hypnotic waves hit him, but woke up almost instantly, shooting a third Leaf Tornado at Gospel.

The ghost-type shouted again. The sound waves from Gospel's Hyper Voice collided with Shiftry's Leaf Tornado, blocking the former and dissipating the later.

"Hypnosis again!"

"FOOL!" the masked man laughed "DIDN'T YOU REALIZE THAT HYPNOSIS WON'T WORK!?"

The hypnotic beam made Shiftry fall asleep, but this time Gospel floated towards the Pokémon as fast as he could. The Grass-type woke up. "Lick!"

Gospel slams Shiftry's ankle with his tongue, making it fall in one leg. "THROAT CHOP!" Shiftry attempts hitting the other Pokémon but its arm stops before it could land the hit.

"YOU'RE STARTING TO ANNOY ME, KID!" the masked trainer shouted in desperation.

"Hyper Voice!" Gospel shouted, but even after getting hurt, Shiftry maintained its position.

"EXTRASENSORY!" Shiftry's eyes glowed yellow, and it shot rings of psychic energy that struck Gospel. The Ghost-type was sent flying back to Bruno and fainted instantly, giving his trainer a final lick before returning to his Pokéball.

"I hate kids so much…" the masked man sighed and suddenly regained his calm once more "You're weak, kid. A smart one, I'll give you that, but still weak." He returned Shiftry to its Pokéball and took out Hypno's Pokéball. "I'd like to play with your Pokémon a little more, but I have more important things to--"

"Awooooo!" the howl from a nearby Pokémon interrupted the masked man. The police had arrived.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING NOW!?"
​