[PKMN FULL] TRAINERS (IC)

QueenNothing · Nov 7, 2020

Gwen Alanis
Saturday, May 25th, 11:30

It had been a pleasant Saturday morning for Gwen, just perfect for her to go grocery shopping. Lavender Town had a notable market square, from which she bought some food and ingredients not commonly found in Kanto.

As a kid living in Unova, grocery shopping was always dreadful to her, especially when her family would always go during the weekend, and, while at least not cutting into Detective Greedent's air time, was still pretty dreadful for the Unovian trainer.

Since she'd been buying her own groceries since Cerulean, however, something about it was enjoyable. Grocery shopping seemed to be less torture when you actually got to pick out your own meals.

These thoughts lingered on her mind, eventually overtaking her thoughts to the point where she was aimlessly wandering Lavender.

"Excuse me, Miss! Would you like to sign the petition to save the REAL Lavender Town gym going?"

With someone sticking a clipboard in her face, Gwen had no choice but to pay attention to her surroundings. "W-w-wait, is the electric gym in t-t-t-trouble?"

The person holding the clipboard, a young woman slightly older than Gwen, didn't appear too happy with her response, furrowing her eyebrows. "Oh, of COURSE not- Why would a rich boy ever be in any sort of trouble? That's why I said the real Lavender gym, the Pokemon Tower right here!"

Gwen followed the young woman's gesture to the old tower she stood in front of, to which the Unovian trainer raised an eyebrow.

"W-wait, I thought there already was a gym? I'm confused…"

"Beaumont's dad bought his way into the league." The young woman sneered. "He pales in comparison to our very own Leader Jarmie and her ghost Pokemon!"

Gwen's eyes lit up. "Did you say ghost Pokemon?"

The young woman noticed the black haired girl's enthusiasm, and decided to capitalize on it. "Why yes, GHOSTS, certainly something you won't see everyd- Hey, where'd my clipboard go?"

She looked around to see her clipboard had been snatched away from her by Gwen, who already handed it back as soon as she noticed. "Can I battle the gym leader!? I've always WANTED to battle the ghost gym in Nacrene, but I'm not in Unova right now, so-"

"Alright, alright, enough! If you want to battle Jarmie, follow me!"

Gwen followed the seemingly nameless woman through the tower, and up to the second floor. Her excitement came to a breaking point as she walked up the creaking stairs.

"Jarmie, we have a new signature and a new challenger today!" The young woman shouted as they reached the second floor.

Gwen noticed another young woman, dark olive skin, short black hair exposing her golden, dangling earrings, and wore a purple and lavender kimono that was adorned with a Duskull pattern.

"Good job, Keiko!" Jarmie called out, then shifting her attention to Gwen. "So challenger, what's your name!"

"My name is Gwen Alanis!" The Cape Trainer smirked "You may have heard about my sister, Jennifer Alanis!"

Jarmie appeared to recall the name she just heard. "I don't think I have. But that's not relevant, I'm here to test your strength as a gym leader!"

What does she mean, my strength? The black haired girl thought. Shouldn't hearing about my sister set a precedent for how strong I am? Oh well.

"Now Gwen, this is how we do things here." Jarmie announced, holding up a Pokeball. "Before we start, I'm going to announce what Pokemon I'm going to use in the exact order I send them out. I'll start out with…"

Jarmie then tossed the Pokeball, sending out a Golett. "Golett right here. I'll then use Lampent. Now you tell me what two Pokemon you'll use, in whatever order."

The Cape trainer looked as if she was about to shriek with excitement at the sight of the Pokemon, but rapidly shook her head to refocus.

Focus. Alright, so she because she uses ghost Pokemon… I'd use Bead but he doesn't have any good ghost type attacks. Tusk and Jess both know Bite, and that should help me out a lot.

"Alright!" Gwen called out. "I'm going to use my Axew and Ekans!" Examining Golett and his body-type, Tusk seemed like a good choice to use Doryu's training on.

"Starting out with Axew! Go, Tusk!"

Tusk was sent onto the battlefield, holding his left arm over the other, legs apart. It was still pretty sloppy looking, but Gwen was confident enough that it didn't bother her.

"And one more thing Gwen, I take music requests! So if you want to listen to something while we battle, now's your chance.

"Well… Y'know, I REALLY like this one group called Hundred Ge-"

"Nope!" Jarmie interrupted. "Trash! Bottom of the music barrel! We're listening to what I want!"

While Jarmie's music taste wasn't exactly what Gwen wanted, the song she chose was pretty pleasing to her ears.

"Keiko! You know you're supposed to referee!"

"Oh right, right, sorry Leader Jarmie!" Keiko scurried over to a spot that was far enough from the action to avoid getting hit, but close enough to still get a good look at everything. "Um… Am I supposed to say the thing?"

"JUST START THE BATTLE ALREADY!"

"Ohh, yes Leader Jarmie! Uh, begin!"

With the referee's announcement, Golette launched itself towards Tusk, fist first, just as he had anticipated. Golette's fist was right about to hit the Axew, but Tusk stopped his opponent by using his right claw to grab the underside of Golette's arm, jamming his elbow into the other side of its arm.

Alright! We got this under control, this should be easy!

Right as she had gotten cocky, Golette used his stubby feet to kick thick mud at Tusk, loosening his grip, before letting go entirely. The mud blast had reached into the Axew's eyes, blurring his vision, and opening him up for a Shadow Punch to the gut, knocking him back as Tusk did his best to stand his ground, skidding across the floor.

"Damnit! Uh, Tusk, use Dual Chop!"

"KEW KEW!"

With his stance gone and mud still in his eyes,
Tusk rushed up to his foe, bearing his claws which had been surrounded in dragon energy. He was able to strike Golett's left, but his second jab was interrupted as a Shadow Punch clocked Tusk straight in the face, knocking him down on his back.

Tusk still had some fight in him, enough to stand up back on his two feet, but didn't even attempt to use what Doryu had taught him. Instead, he breathed heavily and aggressively, a type of anger present in his face that Gwen had never seen.

"Tusk, use-"

"KYEEEEEEEEEEW!" Gwen was cut off by her Pokemon letting unleashing a loud, blood-curling roar, unlike any she heard from the Axew. Without any input from his trainer, Tusk's right claw was surrounded with purple static that appeared stronger than the Dual Chop he used a moment ago.

Tusk, deeply enraged, used all the power his tiny legs muscles contained to rush the short distance to get closer to Golett, and used his claw to scratch across Golett's chest. With Axew at point-blank range however, Golett was once again able to quickly jam it's fist into Tusk's face, and followed up by kicking mud at him while Tusk lied on his back again.

"Tusk! What the fuck is wrong with you!? Uh, remember what Master Doryu said!"

Completely ignoring his trainer's commands, Tusk got back on his feet, getting ready to use another Dragon Claw. As more dragon energy exerted through his claws, however, Golett jumped up and down on the floor, causing a small quake that made the dragon-type lose his balance, and the automaton Pokemon used this to its advantage, flying yet another Shadow Punch at Tusk, this one able to knock Tusk back a few feet.

The Axew again laid on the ground, but showed no intent of standing back up. It was clear he was down for the fight.

"Tusk is unable to battle!" Keiko announced.

Frustrated, Gwen retreated her Pokemon, only having one option left, and with a type disadvantage no less.

"Jess, you're my last hope! You can do this!"

As the white light from the Pokeball formed into an Ekans, as usual, Jess loudly hissed at her opponent and rattled her tail. Golett didn't show it, but the automaton Pokemon was intimidated enough to the point his attacks weren't as strong.

Golett's immediate fear was enough for Jess to get a head-start, and she shot a Poison dart directly at the ground-type- It didn't do a lot, but chip damage was still damage. After being struck by a weak ranged attack, Golett jetted forward, again propelling himself with a Shadow Punch that aimed for Jess' jaw. The incoming attack was predictable enough however, that Jess bit Golett's fist before she was able to be punched.

"Normally I'd use Wrap, but normal type moves don't effect ghost Pokemon." Gwen stated.

"You're decent at countering attacks, but let's see how you can handle this- Golett, shake Ekans off!"

With Jarmie's command, Golett rapidly shook the arm Jess biten onto, who only further sunk her teeth in response.

The arm swinging of the automaton Pokemon slowed down after it noticed a flash in Jess' eyes, eventually halting entirely while static pulsated through its body- He had been paralyzed.

"Yes! Now Jess, let go and use Acid!"

The poison-type leaped down to the ground, and hacked up an Acid that landed directly onto Golett, who was still unable to move. With Golett as a sitting Ducklett, Jess lunged forward and bit down on the automaton Pokemon's face, causing it to crash to the ground.

"Golett is unable to battle!"

"Not bad." Jarmie said, returning Golett to it's ball. "But I still got one Pokemon left, and we'll see how you'll struggle with him."

With a Pokemon she struggled with down, Gwen couldn't help but be a little cocky, flashing a grim that beamed her confidence. "Come on now! Show me your Lampent! We got this!"

Jarmie, having a smile of her own, tossed another Pokeball, which released a lantern Pokemon floating in the air.

"Jess, use Poison Sting!" Both Pokemon on the battlefield shot out a small projectile, Lampent firing an Ember, with both attacks colliding, canceling each other out and creating a small explosion. When the smoke cleared, Gwen noticed that Lampent had completely disappeared.

"What the- Where'd he go!?"

"Lampent, use Fire Spin!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Jess was suddenly caught in the middle of a fire vortex, hissing in pain from the intense heat.

"Jess!! Gah, where that'd come from!?"

Gwen's attention was caught by the Lampent who appeared right in-front of the Fire Spin. Surprised, the Cape Trainer flinched.

"That was Minimize." Jarmie explained. "Seems I was able to throw you off."

"Shut up! Jess, uhh, use Poison Sting, or Arcid, something!"

The Ekans did her best to shoot a poison sting out of the vortex, but her attack was only burnt up by flames, which only grew stronger as Lampent continuously shot more Embers into it.

Things weren't looking so good for Gwen, and she knew it.

"Shit, what do I do!? Goddamnit, I wasn't expecting this! Her ranged attacks won't work, but, uhh, uhh, ARGHHH!!!! What the hell am I supposed to do!!

"Ekans is unable to battle! The winner is Leader Jarmie!"

Gwen snapped back to reality at Keiko's announcement. She wasn't sure how long her own anxiety consumed her consciousness, but apparently it was long enough to not notice Jess fainting from the heat.

Gwen stood in disbelief, watching the fire vortex surrounding Jess dissipate. This wasn't an official gym battle, but the loss deeply stung nonetheless.

"I lost… B-but, how could I lose, I was able to beat Beaumont…"

From the other side of the field, Jarmie scoffed. "There's a good reason for that. Tayloz is a phony. He goes way too easy on his opponents, it's pathetic."

The Unovian trainer could feel her fist tightening. "So are you saying that…" She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. "You're saying I didn't deserve that win?"

"If our match was anything to go by, sounds about right."

Gwen could feel a knot in her stomach. Beaumont going easy made sense- Him sending out Magnemite against Pix, and his unnerving smile was probably a facade to hide his intent- but being faced with the confirmation of it hit like a truck.

"You have a long way to go." Jarmie stated. "You're unfocused, you're only prepared for a limited amount of scenarios, and you can't control your Pokemon very well. You're clearly not prepared to face the league. Tayloz should have done a better job at showing you that."

Hearing the gym leader's harsh words struck Gwen even harder, and was humiliated, facing the floor while her bangs hid her watery eyes. She kept this posture while she used the healing machine present in the tower, avoiding eye-contact with Jarmie and Keiko at all times.

As she exited the Pokemon Tower, many thoughts lingered on her mind. The thought that Jarmie might be right, and maybe she should give up her dream, but more than anything, one thought terrified her more than anything…

How would Jenny feel after hearing her younger sister lost to a "real" gym?

Gwen's team

moon · Nov 8, 2020

Ralph Gonder

Lavender Town

Saturday, May 25th
Morning, Day 6

Waking up in Lavender Town on the Saturday felt like a whole world apart from waking up on the Friday. Ralph sat up and blinked, yawning hugely. On a pillow next to her, Greeny eagerly smiled at her as if the little rat had been waiting for her to wake up. Slightly creepy, but okay. In a pile at her feet in the bed lay Softy and Sandsy, the latter unfortunately not entirely clean after the night's escapades, so the somewhat muddy sheets would have to be changed… Wait, they probably always changed the sheets in the pokémon center rooms after a trainer checked out. And they must have seen much worse things than a little mud. It was probably all good, then.

Edgy, Jolty and Dreepy - or Creepy, as Ralph was definitely going to call her - had spent the night inside of their pokéballs. Edgy was always antsy, and the others were still new, and even though Jolty seemed pretty morally trustworthy, she took the safe path and let him be inside his ball for their first night together. As for the trickster dragon, she didn't want to risk it phasing through some walls out of boredom or curiosity when Ralph was asleep…

Her last pokémon was now sitting on top of the small desk the center provided each room, looking like she was observing her own metal claws closely. She didn't pay Ralph any attention. Ralph shook her head. The Alolan Sandshrew was maybe always going to be emotionally cold. Whatever made her happy, the trainer figured.

When watching all of her pokémon gathered, she first found it pretty cool that she had actually gathered a team like this in only a few days. But then she realized something, and counted them slowly.

"Wait. I have seven pokémon."

That was too much. Licensed trainers were only allowed to carry six pokémon on their person at any one time, if they were going to participate in legal matches. And Ralph intended to. So she would have to… Leave one. Probably at Palm's place, to help out in training budding trainers at the school. Or maybe with her family in Pewter, like Hardy.

Hardy. Ralph made a second realization within her few minutes of being awake this weekend. Was she going to keep the Geodude there? Maybe he liked it at her parents' place. Or maybe he hated it and really just missed his home. She should probably check on him. And also figure out what to do about her seventh pokémon, and which one it would be…

She gingerly woke up and then returned all her pokémon to their pokéballs, except for Greeny who gave her the biggest puppyeyes she couldn't resist. The rat was allowed to stay out while Ralph got ready for the day. She still left her bag and biggest belongings in the room; she intended to keep it until she knew she was fully ready to leave town.

Greeny

Lv 9 | Sandsy

Lv 22 | Coldy

Lv 18
Edgy

Lv 18 | Softy

Lv 10 | Jolty

Lv 17 | Creepy

Lv 14
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

QueenNothing · Nov 8, 2020

Gwen Alanis
Lavender Town, May 25th, Noon

I still don't believe it… Beaumont just handed me a win...

Even as she stuffed her face with hot dogs, Gwen couldn't stop thinking about her loss against Jarmie, and what she revealed about Beaumont Tayloz.

Her loss almost sent her to a depressive state, to which the Cape trainer tried remedying by eating lots of food from the cafeteria in the Pokemon Center. Tusk, who sat right next to her, followed suit, and was on his fifth or sixth hot dog. Pix and Custard had smaller servings of Pokemon food of their choice, whereas Jess and Bead didn't seem very interested in eating at all.

Even lacking any desire to eat, Bead still decided to float around the table outside of his ball, and could feel the pain Gwen buried with food. He could tell his trainer's defeat was a lot for her to deal with, and Bead wanted to do whatever he could to cheer her up.

"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISDREAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…"

Finishing up her hot dog, Gwen turned around and was greeted with Bead's face at an uncomfortably close range with his tongue sticking out.

"Bead, you should know Astonish won't work on me. Besides, I'm trying to eat, I need to eat lots so I can grow stronger!"

Gwen nabbed another hot dog sitting on the table, getting ready to eat it, but it was snatched away by the ghost Pokemon.

"Hey! I was gonna eat that!"

With the hot dog in his mouth, Bead shook his head. She already had three, and he sure as hell wasn't letting her eat a fourth.

"Ugh…I guess I ate enough anyways."

At least that mission was accomplished. Eating that much food couldn't have been good for his trainer.

Now that Gwen had gotten plenty to eat, she could feel pain manifest into a burning desire to get stronger.

"Now that I'm all pumped up, I'm gonna train a bunch and kick Jarmie's ass! I'll show her!"

...At least that's what she told herself. The reality that if she wanted to get to Saffron ASAP she'd have to put aside grudge matches started to sink in. Rematching Jarmie wasn't an option, at least not at the moment. Right now she needed to focus her efforts on Route 12, just south of Lavender.

Gwen had everything she needed, and all there was for her was to make her way to Route 12, only waiting on her Pokemon to finish their meals. Although with Tusk, who would know when he'd be full.

Gwen's team

QueenNothing · Nov 8, 2020

Gwen Alanis
Route 13, May 25th, 1:00 PM

Route 12 had some new sights at least.

The harsh waves hitting the rocky coast created a thundering sound that echoed throughout the open space. Perfect background noise for Gwen staring into space. She should be trekking South, but the wave noises were so relaxing to her that she just had to sit in some grass. Plus, the amount of hot dogs she ate might have contributed to her unwillingness to advance.

The sounds of nature helped alleviate her inner-tension at least, even if it was at the expense of progress.

Suddenly, without Gwen's consent, Bead let himself out of his Pokeball, doing his best to cheer her on. She might need to relax, but Bead felt it was his job to make sure his trainer achieved her goals.

"I dunno Bead, I'm not really feeling it right now."

The ghost-type cheered a little more aggressively, but his efforts seemed fruitless. He continued to attempt to motivate Gwen, but anything he did paled compared to what stole her attention.

"Bead! Look at that!" Gwen exclaimed, pointing behind her Pokemon. Bead turned around to see a long line of about twenty or thirty Wooper, all of them marching towards the sea together. Their marching was completely unsynchronized, adding a charm to it.

"That's so many Wooper in one place! They're so adorable!" Seeing the massive amount of water fish Pokemon gave her the energy to jolt to her feet. "Alright all you Wooper! My name is Gwen, and I'm gonna catch at least one of you! In fact, I might just try to catch ALL of you! Yeah, that sounds good!"

The only response the Wooper gave was collective blank stares, some neutral, some frowning, but most of them just kept smiling. "Now, which one of you wants to take me and my Pokemon o-"

Her arrogant cry was cut off by every Wooper simultaneously blasting a Water Gun directly into the Cape Trainer's face, knocking her down onto her back from the pressure. Bead floated down to her level to make sure she was alright.

"Yeah Bead, I'm fine...I think. I don't know if I've ever gotten hit with a water-type move before...Or, have I been hit by any Pokemon attacks at all?" Gwen could hear the Wooper pack marching away through the ground's vibrations. As much as she wanted to chase after them, getting hit by a few dozen blasts of pressurized water to the face was as demoralizing as much as it stung.

"Y'know, this doesn't seem like a bad spot to rest for a bit…" The Unovian trainer told herself, the soothing waves relaxing her. Added with her food coma and the pain from the Water Guns, she didn't plan to resist her increasingly heavy eyelids while her consciousness slowly drifted away. Bead tried using countless Astonishes to keep her awake, but nothing seemed to stop Gwen from nodding off.

Gwen's team

Aquacorde · Nov 8, 2020

Casey Holt

Saturday, May 25, 2019
Lavender Town
Morning, Day 6

5-23: perhaps i lack some foresight

Spoiler: music

He leaves Jordan and manages to stay stoic and stone-faced until his feet find the sunny alcove he'd trained in yesterday, until his brain says safe and he sits heavily in the grass, breath coming harsh as he presses his palms into his cheeks. Pepper climbs into his lap and Parsley curls around his back. The comfort they offer is sweet, but mostly it just triggers more feelings of safe and he cries harder. This- this doesn't make any sense; he shouldn't be this sad. He does just fine on his own. Nobody stays together all the time. And he's the one that chose to leave, nobody abandoned him or anything. There's no reason he should be sobbing like his heart just got broken, like some kid in a teen movie.

But maybe his heart did just get broken.

Vera didn't really know, she's not that observant in the first place, but Jordan… Jordan captured a Ghost-type knowing full well that Casey has… issues. Even if he doesn't know the depth of them. His best friend did that.

Best friend?

Oh, that makes sense.

And yeah, that's heartbreaking.

Why do I have to be like this? Casey sniffles and pulls Pepper to his chest. This isn't Jordan's fault, not really. Or Vera's. Casey knows he can't expect the world to cater to him. He can't expect his friends to pass up Pokémon that they want for his sake. He's been telling himself this since he started school- he can't do this. He can't let Ghost-types control his life. Being controlled by his fear of them is just as bad as being controlled by them.

Oh.

Being controlled by his fear is just as bad as being controlled by Ghosts.

Casey sits bolt upright and scrambles to pull his phone from his pocket, ignoring Pepper's complaints. He has- yes, he has Sorley's number, of course he does. He stares at their name in his contacts. They know what they're talking about. They know what to do. Exposure therapy. And they have Ghost-types. One of which likes Casey already, for whatever reason. He's still not at all comfortable with that, but...

His thumb hovers over Sorley's name.

And he scrolls up.

"Hi?"

"Hey, Bruno!" His voice cracks, just slightly, and he winces. Puts on the cheer more thickly to mask it. "Listen, are you still in Lavender? Great. I wanna get some training in; do you have time for a battle?"

Pepper Bomb • Charmeleon • lv24 | Ginger • Buneary • lv22 | Parsley • Skiddo • lv19
Casey's Profile | Extra Characters | TRAINERS Art

moon · Nov 9, 2020

Ralph & Arianne
Saturday, May 25th, Morning
Lavender Town Pokémon Center

Down in the cafeteria, Ralph recognized a couple of Cape trainers, but nobody she would like to walk up to and have breakfast with. Ari, Coralie, Richard or Noel didn't seem to be around, nor Casey or Gwen or Deen. Well, then. She absent-mindedly strolled up to choose between pre-made sandwiches available, Greeny hiding comfortably on her shoulder underneath her hair, when a flyer in a newspapers stand next to the food caught her eye by chance.

It was at that moment that Arianne entered the breakfast room. She got up quite late once again, but this time could easily forgive herself for doing so, given what happened last night… and the same was true for the abundant breakfast she was ordering. When the time came to look for a seat, she hesitated and looked around the room, but quickly spotted Ralph and walked closer to her.

"Morning Ralph!" Arianne began. "Hope I'm not disturbing… how's it going?"

Ralph looked up from her thoughts as the other girl approached. She felt pretty relieved to see Ari there. Not that she was a stranger to eating alone in a cafeteria, nor that she really minded, but… It could be nice with some company again. She had started to get used to it.

"Hey Ari," she said. "I'm… Alive. About to devour the biggest one of these though," she added and picked up the sandwich she picked at last.

Somewhat relieved, Arianne beckoned Ralph to the tables outside, where she'd had breakfast the previous day with Coralie. "Nice! I'm hungry as well… shall we sit out there?" She asked. "I r-really like that table!" She giggled.

"Sure," Ralph said, shrugging.

But as she grabbed her breakfast stuff, she also nabbed the flyer she had been looking at. As they sat down opposite one another outside, she immediately showed the piece of paper to Ari.

"Hey, have you ever thought about this?" she asked. "I always thought it was simply the only way for non-trainers to have pokémon, but… We can do it too, right? Technically?"

The flyer seemed to just be a colorful public information message from the pokémon center itself, showing a smiling trainer and her Meowth hugging. The trainer was holding some sort of small toy in her hand and the Meowth was wearing a pretty bow around its neck and looked generally very well taken care of. Or well photoshopped. The big swirly text above the picture read: 'Don't forget your pet companion! Not all your pokémon need to battle!'

"Uhm… we can?" Arianne questioned. "I know many people in Cinnabar with pet Pokémon! Even my family has one! But... I didn't know travelling trainers could have one as well…"

The girl chuckled as she thought about home. "Did you have a pet as well back at home, Ralph?"

Ralph shook her head vigorously.

"No, we had zero pokémon in my family. Nobody was a trainer either. Well…" Her extended family was full of trainers though, she had recently learned. "It kind of sounds from this little flyer here as if we could be trainers and also have a pet, a seventh pokémon we're not battling with. Right? Maybe one of the nurses can say more."

"Oh, we can definitely try and ask after breakfast!" Arianne smiled. She already had one Pokémon in mind to become her pet, after all… even though not giving her any more chances of battling did make her feel guilty also. "Hm, I just wonder if pets can also help us on our journey the same way they can help other people. For example, by letting us ride them or fly on them!" Her eyes sparkled.

The purple haired girl thought for a moment before nodding. "I really don't see why we couldn't, as long as they don't do official battling. But I wonder how it really works, like… Is your pet a pet forever or can you make it a battling team member again later? Can you switch it in every town? It seems a bit weird."

Greeny chose that moment to jump out of Ralph's hair and onto the table with a squeak and a grin. Ralph thankfully reacted quickly and scooped her up and down into her lap before she could step in the girls' breakfast.

"Not that this little potato could fly me anywhere anyways," she added. "But yeah. I realized. After catching Dreepy, I have too many pokémon."

"Uhm, I have quite a few also! I'm not sure whether or not I can train them all, so having a pet fits the situation quite nicely." Arianne grinned. "That reminds me… I also have to battle Beaumont still… and it's making me nervous."

That response pulled Ralph out of her team organization troubles and back into Lavender business thoughts.

"Oh, you'll probably do fine. You have your glowing mushroom and dragon and all. Just don't use Eric," she advised with a wink. "I lost to him, you know," she continued, shrugging. "It's whatever. But you saw him last night, at that stupid battle. He's not scary."

"I g-guess so, but you never know what to expect. And Eric is still stronger than my other Pokémon… and look, I'm just sorry you lost, Ralph!" Arianne mumbled, trying to still keep a smile on her face. Still, the previous day's battle against Jarmie really did no favors to Arianne, and only made her less at ease instead.

"I also couldn't win against Jarmie, despite using Eric. Meaning that Beaumont will end up being even harder." The black haired girl sighed.

"Oh, right. The other gym," Ralph said, pondering. "What is she really like, this warden girl? And, it's not like we have to battle her, right? According to Palm, I mean."

"She… made me battle her, something like that, but you don't have to!" Arianne smiled nervously. "Anyway, she's quite strong and always gives it her all. But in the end she still gives advice and such, like official leaders… and loves to play music during battles. It will be interesting for you, I'm sure!"

Ralph stroke Greeny's back absent-mindedly as she thought about it more. She would probably lose there too. But then again, so what? In the past, she hadn't really tried hard at anything - other than annoying her parents with her piercings and hair color, pretty much, and it turned out she was actually hella good at that. But now? Trying and failing recently hadn't actually hurt as much as she thought, she realized. Beaumont beat her. So what? She hadn't caught Rotom. So what? Apparently she caught a badass rare dragon instead. As long as she didn't actually expect great success or victory (and she maybe hadn't really believed that Rotom existed at all… maybe), then whatever happened happened. And it wasn't technically a failure.

Suddenly very content with her internal reasoning, Ralph hadn't noticed a calm smile spreading across her features. But now she looked back up at Arianne.

"You know what? I'mma go and challenge Jarmie. Just for fun. And I'll try to play some really weird music when we fight just to throw her off," Ralph chuckled.

"Oh, well…" Arianne laughed, a hand in her hair. "Good luck then, and have fun! I think… you're going to like Jarmie more if you try to battle her, actually."

"More than now?" Ralph asked and took another huge bite from her sandwich, which she chewed hard before continuing. "Yea, I don't even really understand her now, so I don't really dislike her or anything. I just think, honestly, that it was pretty arrogant to slam up a tower and call it the gym when there already is an official one. I dunno. You're probably right. I'll have to see for myself!"

"I guess we swap Gym leaders for today, and see who's actually right!" Arianne giggled, munching on the last bits of her french toast. "After what happened yesterday evening… I can't really dislike either of them myself."

They finished the breakfast in pleasant chit-chatter. Then, they approached the nurse behind the main counter in the lobby.

"Yo," Ralph said, then looked a bit hesitant.

The nurse looked down on the happy Rattata in her arms and then back up at the trainer. "Is your Rattata alright, Miss?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, of course," Ralph answered. "It's just. I think maybe I should have her as my pet instead of… A battler. Is that alright?"

The nurse smiled widely. Maybe she was happy to hear about less pokémon getting hurt. "That's wonderful!" she said. "I have forms for pet registration right here. If you have a trainer's license, I can approve it right away. Otherwise, it needs to be sent to-"

"I have a license. Well… a provisional license. I'm on my graduation journey. From Cape College," Ralph admitted.

"I see. I will need to confirm with professor Palm, then! Fill in this form and lend me your license for a moment, and I'll be right back."

Ralph took the form and the pencil she was given, in exchange for her license card. She glanced up at Arianne. "I guess I'm doing this," she said.

"Oh, that's cool!" The other girl smiled. "I… I'm sure Greeny will love it! Meanwhile…"

Arianne called out her Pichu, Alice, a smile on her face as she appeared in front of her trainer and Ralph. "I don't know how she'd take it! Maybe I should try battling with her a bit, what do you think?" The black haired girl questioned, turning towards her friend.

"You've never battled with her?" Ralph asked, a bit surprised. "I don't even know where you could catch a Pichu. How long have you had her?"

Arianne looked more nervous. "I got her in Cerulean, an adoption center… and battled just once, when I needed help in Rock Tunnel. And she still did her best!" She said, picking up Alice and giving her a head pat. She was actually feeling like Alice just wouldn't be fit for battles, but she struggled to tell her that to begin with.

Ralph shrugged. "Well you don't have seven pokémon yet, do you? So maybe wait a bit then and see. Decide later."

Her advice was met with a hopeful nod from both her friend and the Pokémon in her arms.

Ralph filled in the form with her name and details as well as description and name of the pokemon and a statement of intention to not battle with her. Soon enough, the nurse came back from the office within.

"You're in luck! I managed to reach Palm by phone. Otherwise I would have had to send an e-mail and who knows when he would reply."

"And?" Ralph said, not really thinking that she should be nervous but being nervous all the same.

"It is all fine. Let me take your form and register it officially for you."

It went without a hitch and a minute later, Ralph walked out from the pokémon center with Greeny nestled in her hair on her shoulder and Ari with Alice following. The nurse had reminded them that if active trainers brought pet pokémon with them, those should wear something to specifically denote them as pets. For now, she had handed Ralph a cheap looking black collar to put on her rat. She intended intensely to swap it out for something nicer as soon as she could.

"So. Gym?" the most purple haired girl asked.

"Looks like it! It's got to happen sooner or later!" Arianne smiled, fixing her hair. "And good luck for your battle also, Ralph!"

"Yeah, good luck. Give him a hard time," Ralph grinned.

That was met with a nervous laugh… but a laugh nonetheless. "We'll do our best! And then… and then, do you think you'll leave Lavender today?"

"I guess. Been here for a whole day already. I'll probably leave just after the gym."

Ralph hesitated. It felt like she should say something more. Something about their reconnection yesterday, about their friendship, offering to travel together… But she couldn't really bring herself to it. Ari had plenty of other friends, and Ralph had her own things to work out anyways. So instead, the dark skinned girl just smiled more warmly.

"Thanks for everything, girl. Really. See you when I see you!"

Where would that be? What is the next gym again? When are we going to meet again? Arianne's mind was already filled up with anticipation, and yet all those questions really struggled to come out of the girl's mouth… for some reason. Plus, Ralph was just a call away to begin with, since they exchanged their numbers!

"A-alright, I'm sure we'll meet again soon!" Arianne cheered, and soon the other girl found herself embraced in her warm hug.

QueenNothing · Nov 9, 2020

Gwen Alanis
Route 12, May 25th, Afternoon

"Mis! Mis! Misdreee! Mis!"

Gwen slowly opened her eyes to see Bead, who had probably been barking at her for as long as she'd been asleep. Taking a nap was probably a mistake in retrospect, and nothing made that as clear as her incredibly dry mouth and banging headache.

"Urghhh, I feel like shit." Maybe listening to Bead wasn't such a bad idea, and the Misdreavus felt the same way, projecting his thoughts with an "I told you so" expression.

Lethargically, Gwen sat up off the ground- It was a mystery how she could fall asleep on such a surface- and rubbed her eyes. "If I didn't nap I probably could have caught those-"

She stopped talking after she rubbed her eyes, noticing a single Wooper still stood in-front of her. The Pokemon's had four "branches" sticking out from each antenna, indicating he was a male. The Cape trainer was initially confused as to why he didn't leave with the rest of the pack, but she wasn't complaining.

"A Wooper! Quick, Bead, Confuse Ray!"

Bead's "hair" flared up, while his eyes glew red, then shooting a Confuse Ray. The energy ball was so slow, however, that Wooper was easily able to side-step it while he still had a large, blank smile on his face.

Frustrated, Bead shot a wave of psychic energy at Wooper, and while hitting him, the only change in expression he had was that he closed his eyes while being immersed in psychic energy. When the Misdreavus wasn't able to exhaust Psywave anymore, Wooper retaliated with a Water Gun to the face.

Bead, soaking wet, shimmied to dry off, and Wooper used this opportunity to shoot a blob of mud at the ghost-type, but it was arched at an angle that couldn't hit Head while he was levitating.

Suddenly, Bead teleported behind Wooper, screaming to make him flinch. To his shock, however, Wooper simply turned around and Water Gunned Bead at point blank range.

"I think getting up close is a good idea, but not with Bead…" Gwen mumbled to herself, using Bead's Pokeball to shoot a thin red laser to return him to his ball, Jess being sent out in his place.

Jess did her usual, loudly hissing and rattling her tail, but Wooper only shivered once before hurling up another Mud Shot, landing directly on Jess' head. She recoiled, but was able to shake it off and slithered over to Wooper, who did very little to stop the Ekans, even as she used her long body to wrap around him. The water fish Pokemon was obviously pained, but just couldn't seem to show it, even with Jess gnawing on his head.

"Uh, I think he's weak enough to capture?" Uncertainly, Gwen tossed a Pokeball at the Wooper that hit him smack in the middle of the face, with the water-type not even as much as wincing before he was converted into a white light and sucked into the device.

One shake. The thought that this Wooper wasn't weakened enough and could escape any second was pretty scary. Breathing heavily, the Cape trainer nervously bit her nails.

Crap, I really didn't fight him enough! Oh man, he's just gonna escape, isn't he?

CLICK

To Gwen's shock, Wooper just didn't seem to mind being captured. Maybe he just took a liking to her? Gwen was never one to think too hard on things handed to her on a silver platter though, and she cheered as she picked up the ball her new Pokemon resided in.

"Oh my god, I have a Wooper! Now, if I ever face a Golett or Lampent, my Wooper will be able to soak them! I'm gonna call you…" The Unovian trainer glanced long and hard at her new catch's ball, trying to think of any nickname for the water fish. "Marshall! Y'know, because they live in marshes...But wait, these ones were headed for the ocean…Oh well."

"Wow! That was fantastic Gwen!"

Oh great. Another unfamiliar person who Gwen couldn't remember just had to show up behind her and ruin the mood.

Anxiously, she turned around to see a teenage boy, about her height, with pale skin and short brown hair that peeked out from under his blue cap with a gold Magikarp centered on it. He matched it with a tan fishing vest and denim jeans, and carried a fishing rod over his shoulder, but despite his hand being occupied he still tried to clap seeing Gwen's catch.

She thought this boy might have looked familiar, but she couldn't put her tongue on it. Without being to remember him, someone who might as well have been a stranger was approaching her.

"And the fact that you named him Marshall is super clever! I wouldn't expect any less from you!"

Retreating slightly, Gwen did her best to respond to the boy. "D-d-d-do I know you?"

Shocked, the boy stopped in his tracks and widened his eyes. "You don't remember me Gwen? I'm Flynn, from Cape College! We had class together!"

Flynn...I've heard that name before… Memories of her years at Cape came rushing through her mind, but she was starting to wish she didn't.

Oh my god, it's fucking Flynn Sting. Why did I have to come across him of all people?

Gwen's team

QueenNothing · Nov 9, 2020

Gwen Alanis
Route 12, May 25th, Afternoon

The stage was set. It was the beginning of the year, probably January or February, and Gwen could vividly remember a specific day.

It was just like any other day, probably one Gwen would have forgotten if not for what happened. During lunch, she went about it like her usual routine, grab lunch, take a seat, and watch videos of Pokemon battles on her phone.

She always sat at the same table, one that was as close to the corners of the Cape College cafeteria as they were placed. The other people who sat at that table seemed to change frequently, except for one student- Flynn C. A. Sting. It was weird Gwen could remember his full name, but the impact he left seemed to do that.

As she was eating her lunch, Flynn desperately tried to reach out for her attention. "Gwen Alanis! I have something to confess to you!"

She meekly looked up from her phone like a Deerling in headlights. Considering that every student in the cafeteria focused their eyes on his performance, it was pretty hard not to hear Flynn's plead. The students watching were either holding back their laughter, concerned for Gwen, or embarrassed for what was about to commence.

Flynn pressed a single foot against his seat, as if it would make him look more appealing. "We've known each other for a long time now! We see each other everyday in class and at lunch, and I feel like I've gotten to know you a lot, and I just wanted everyone to know that I like you! A lot!"

Gwen had no clue what this kid was talking about. The most interaction she could recall was how Flynn would go on long tangents about fishing or whatever, and she would only respond with half-hearted nods. This was WAY too sudden for her, as shown by her heavy breathing.

"Now that I've told you everything, will you be my girlfriend?"

He really wasn't able to get the hint. Gwen was anything but flattered already, and the question at the bit only intensified her feelings. Her heartbeat kicked up a few notches, breath growing heavier, and was so incredibly nervous that she could feel her head spinning.

Her memory of what happened next was less clear, but she was pretty sure she broke down then and there. Being asked out by someone she didn't even know the name of terrified her more than anything she previously experienced.

From there she knows that some other students came rushing to her aid while also trying to shoo Flynn away, and everything after was completely blank. He probably asked her out a few more times, but none immediately stood out as much as this.

Ugh. What's with this guy.

At the present day, her terror became irritation overtime. She had gotten used to being asked out by Flynn at this point, even if she still didn't like it one bit more.

"Oh. What are you doing here?" Gwen harshly asked, crossing her arms.

"I'm on my graduation journey, obviously, but right now I'm just heading south- I have family who are staying here to fish, and..."

Oh my god, please shut up.

Flynn continued to passionately banter about his family's fishing history, and Gwen mentally checked out. Sure, fishing Pokemon was pretty interesting, but the way this guy focused on the fishing instead of the Pokemon was just enough to bore her out of her mind.

Flynn was able to catch onto this, and thought to turn the conversation in a way that might interest the Unovian girl. "And I hear they once caught a rare Pokemon!"

Just as he expected, Gwen's eyes were beginning to light up. "A rare Pokemon!? What kind!"

"Uhm, well my uncle caught a, uhm, a Kyogre! Yeah, uhm a Kyogre for sure, definitely! And it was uhm, purple! A purple Kyogre!" The brown haired boy was certain that he would be called out for lying. Sure, coming up with a fib on the spot was difficult, but he could have done better. Any intelligent person should be able to see through his lie.

"OH MY GOD, A PURPLE KYOGRE! THAT'S SO COOL, I NEED TO SEE IT NOW!"

Apparently Gwen lacked the intelligence of the average human being. Even if she might have been smart when it came to Pokemon, her social skills needed some improvement.

"Well in that case, why don't you come with me? I'm sure we can go fishing with my family and find some rare Pokemon of our own!"

Unsurprisingly, the Unovian trainer very enthusiastically nodded. "I didn't even know Kyogre was in Kanto! That's an amazing discovery! We can't waste time, let's go NOW!"

"Yeah... Neither did I…" Flynn could feel his nefarious plan to get Gwen to go fishing with her to fall into place, as the two trainers walked along the path set in-front of them. The brunette boy smirked to himself the more he realized that soon, Gwen would realize that fishing wasn't lame, and maybe from there she might warm up to him.

Gwen's team

QueenNothing · Nov 10, 2020

Gwen Alanis
Route 12, May 25th, Afternoon

"Flynn! It's been awhile!" The two Cape trainers were greeted by a young woman who shared a lot of physical traits with Flynn, even having a similar get-up, fishing rod and all. She, along with the massive amounts of fishermen gathered in the area, was a good sign this was Flynn's family.

The young woman focused on Gwen for a bit, making her a little nervous. "Is this your girlfriend?"

The Unovian trainer winced. "Ew! No way would I wanna go out with him."

"I can't imagine anyone would." The young woman laughed, then holding her hand out. "I like you, kid. My name's Fay, I'm Flynn's big sister. What's yours?"

Gwen got a chuckle out of Fay's response. "I-Its Gwen."

Flynn, meanwhile, felt a little heartbroken at both Gwen and his sister casually throwing out jabs.

"So Gwen, what are you here for?"

"I'm here to fish for rare Pokemon!" Saying the sentence out loud only further fueled her excitement, and she held her fists to her chest, containing her eagerness.

"Rare Pokemon, eh? Truth be told, we don't find a lot of rare Pokemon, if anything we almost exclusively fish up Magikarp."

"Oh…" Gwen was pretty visibly disappointed with what she heard. "Well, at least Magikarp can evolve into Gyrados, and that's pretty cool."

"A lot of us here could care less about evolving Magikarp, instead we like catching different kinds of them! Did you know, for example, Magikarp can come in all different kinds of shapes and sizes! I've seen some as big as a Haxorus!"

"Really? Wow!" The black haired girl's face lit up in awe.

"Mmmhmmm. Personally, I find Magikarp more interesting than any rare Pokemon! I think someone might have misled you about that…" Fay's pupils scrolled over to her younger brother, who was whistling as if he was innocent. "Flynn, have you been fibbing again?"

"N-No! Of course not!" He shook his hands to gesture his denial, causing Fay to raise an eyebrow.

"I see…" She quickly went from stern to excited. "Well, anyways, we're about to hold a fishing contest for the young ones soon, and you get to keep your catch! And who knows, you may find a giant Magikarp, or even a gold one!"

"SIGN ME UP!" Gwen jumped in the air with glee. "I BET I'M GONNA CATCH A GOLD MAGIKARP, JUST YOU WAIT!"

Flynn, on the contrary, was rather cool and collected. "This is my turf, no way I'll lose." He then began giggling to himself as he hatched a plan in his mind. "And when I do win, maybe I can impress Gwen, hehehe!"

Flynn was lucky that the girl he focused his attention on was too oblivious to hear his scheming, but Fay heard everything her brother said, and she simply rolled her eyes. "Before we begin Gwen, let me teach you how to fish."

"Alright kids! We're about to start the fishing contest!"

Gwen stood on the rocky shores with Flynn and his younger brother, Flint, both a few feet apart from her, holding fancier fishing rods than the one the Unovian trainer borrowed.

"We got less people than we expected, but that's okay!" The person who seemed to orchestrate the competition was a round old man, who sort of resembled Flynn. Probably his grandfather or something. "But I'll explain the rules anyways! The first Magikarp you catch is what you'll be showing off, so you better hope it's a good one! Now, without further ado, begin!"

Dozens of fishermen all circled around the contestants, as each of them patiently- Well, not so much in Gwen's case- waited for a bite.

Five minutes passed. Not a lot of time, especially for fishing, but Gwen could feel something pulling on her pole.

"Woah! I got something!" With all her might, she turned the reel, digging her feet into the ground. She used up enough strength to pull a Magikarp from the ocean, one that was a foot bigger than average, and a bit rounder as well.

"Looks like we have our first catch!" The crowd cheered, and Gwen seemed pretty proud of her new catch, holding it up while some of the fishermen photographed the scene.

"Hey! I'm feeling something too!" Flint reeled in his bite, although he didn't need to use nearly as much strength as Gwen. With little struggle, the pre-teen reeled in a small Magikarp, five inches smaller than standard, but was shining gold almost as if it compensated for it's small size. The crowd "oooooed", paying more attention to this than to what the Unovian trainer caught.

Heh, just you wait. Flynn thought to himself. I'm gonna catch a Magikarp bigger than both of those! He smirked as he faced the ocean, absolutely confident things would go his way.

"Flynn! It's been an hour!" The old man shouted. "Are you sure you don't wanna give up?"

"I'm sure grandpa…" The brunette boy was on the verge of sobbing as he was about to toss aside his dream.

"Well, you better hurry up, because we all have better things we'd rather be doing!"

The crowd had diminished to half its previous size. Even if fishing required patience, Magikarp were super common. This was starting to get a bit ridiculous.

All hope was lost. There was no chance he'd reel in a Magikarp that could top a gold or a large one. He probably should just throw in the towel.

...Is what he thought, until he felt a massive force that almost pulled him into the ocean. He planted his feet deep into the shore, but he still couldn't resist the strength of his catch.

He struggled so much that Fay had to step in, and wrap her arms around him to make sure her younger brother wouldn't get sucked in with his catch. With their combined strength, the siblings used all their strength to reel in a massive catch, much bigger than anybody could have reasonably expected. It made a large splash with its massive body being pulled from the sea and onto the shore, soaking both Fay and Flynn.

"Wow! I think we have a winner!" The old man cheered.

Flynn needed to double-take at what he saw. It looked similar to any other Magikarp, but was much larger than average, even bigger than the fish Pokemon Gwen caught, flopping on the shore at a whopping eight feet. This certainly turned the brunette's day around, and he felt that driven home as the crowd consisting of his family all cheered him on.

"OH MY GOD, THAT'S SO AWESOME!"

Now there was the validation Flynn was hoping for. He turned to see Gwen rushing toward him, likely impressed by the massive Magikarp he caught, despite all odds. He held his arms open, awaiting to be embraced by the black haired girl, but only found himself sticking both arms out while Gwen instead ran up to his Pokemon.

"I'VE NEVER SEEN A MAGIKARP THIS BIG!" She shouted, petting the fish Pokemon above the eye. "And look! Yellow whiskers! That's how you know this one's a male, just like mine!"

Just his luck. Even when the contest goes as he desires, the girl he hoped to impress is more interested in a fish. At least he taught her the joys of fishing- Even if in reality it was his sister, but Flynn liked to tell himself otherwise.

"Alright you three!" A middle aged woman holding a case approached the contestants. Her case was cracked open enough to reveal three Blue Pokeballs. "You all get a special kind of ball to commemorate your new capture, Lure Balls! Use these to catch those Magikarp! And for winning the biggest Magikarp I've ever seen, Flynn is rewarded with a Mystic Water!"

Each contestant tossed their new Lure Ball at their Pokemon, without much struggle due to their perceived weakness. Gwen was unable to carry seven Pokemon however, and used her Pokedex to transfer her Magikarp, which she nicknamed "King", to Professor Palm.

Flynn moped about, upset his plan didn't go as he would have liked. There had to be something he could have done to impress the girl he had his sights on, but what?

"Hey Flynn!" His younger brother cried out. "You're a trainer, aren't you? Give us a battle with your girlfriend!"

The crowd shouted in agreement, all insisting that Flynn, whose cheeks grew a deep scarlet, battle his classmate.

"Hey!" Gwen furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not his girlfriend, but I will battle him!"

"I don't blame you! Who'd wanna date Flynn!" Flint jabbed, causing everyone in the crowd, including Gwen, to chortle. Of course, the brunette boy wasn't at all amused. He always thought he was used to being poked fun at, but hearing his crush and his family laugh at a joke at his expense set something off.

"You all won't be laughing when I win in battle! Bring it on!" He gloated, grabbing a Pokeball from his vest.

Gwen smirked, grabbing a Pokeball of her own. "You're on!"

Gwen's team

budube · Nov 14, 2020

Bruno Dillinger
May 24, Friday

Chapter 5, Part 3: One-sided game

Evening, Lavender Hills

There's some sort of Power Plant away from town, but not really exiting Lavender. One gets there by walking across a grassy hill-like thing, and while it's tiring getting there -or at least for Bruno-, the place is quiet and boring enough for it to be a good relaxing spot.

There's not many people there. If anything he's seen two, at most and one of those people was a guard and his Houndour, patrolling the area, who told him not to get too close to the Power Plant.

There's nothing I can do there, anyways. Why would I even go there?, he thinks, but just replies with a "Sure."

Actually, never mind, the place isn't too boring. There's a few Pokémon around the whole place. Most of which are Tynamo, Pachirisu and Elekid which are most likely there because they are attracted to the Power Plant's energy. That makes him wonder if they use pools of Tynamo to generate power or if they have special security measures to avoid Pokémon from the Elekid family to break into the building and mess with the generators. Interesting, but not important.

Bruno didn't leave the Pokémon Center with any of his Pokémon, because he just expected to take a walk outside and clear his head from all that happened in the past few days, but apparently there was going to be an important event of some sort in town, and since he didn't want to do anything outside, he decided to look for a less crowded place.

Thing is, he didn't expect to find any wild Pokémon outside, so he has to be careful not to step on well, anything.

But that is the only issue. Bruno really needed a breath of fresh air and a quiet walk for himself, and he is feeling pretty relaxed.

BOING

Not anymore.

How did Bumblebee even get out of his PokéBall? He is pretty sure he wasn't following him when he left the Pokémon Center… Just as how he didn't realize he was following him back in Route 9 until Katherine pointed it out.

He is holding onto something, but once Bruno realizes and tries to see what it is, he turns around and tries to hide it while grunting nervously… which means that he stole it, as expected.

There's something else, though. It looks as if Bumblebee is trying really hard to stand on a single spot but something is pulling him away. It's as if whatever he is holding, is also trying to get off his hands!

Bruno isn't even able to intervene in time, for coming from far away, he sees something rolling under the tall grass at full speed, and it's directed specifically at what Bumblebee is holding.

It obviously hits him, and sends him rolling backwards. What the Pokémon was holding was none other than one of the gears of a Klink. As soon as Bumblebee drops it, it connects with the other gear quite magnetic force.

The steel-type Pokémon surprisingly doesn't seem to be angry. In fact, it seems to be having fun!

Bumblebee does seem to be annoyed, though and angrily bounces at Klink for taking away his toy.

Klink, still thinking this is a game, gladly accepts lending the gear to Bumblebee, and the psychic-type bounces away, this time behind Bruno, but he moves away. The wild Pokémon jumps again at Bumblebee and connects with its gear once more.

The one-sided game continues for a few minutes. Bruno doesn't know what's worse, Klink still taking that as a game or Bumblebee not realizing both gears are attracted to each other and that he still persists on keeping one of them. He doesn't even want to resort to violence against the other one, he just tries to flee with the gear before he gets slammed by the one that stays behind.
Bruno doesn't do much other than looking at the scene before him until Bumblebee finally gets tired and pulls his clothes and points at the town, signalizing he wants to go back.

"You have to calm down." He says. "No more stealing, okay?"

Bumblebee nods rapidly. More than agreeing with his trainer, it looks like he just wants to avoid getting yelled at. That's what Bruno thinks, though, so he gets an idea that could probably work for that.

"Do you want to come with us?" he asks the Klink that was very close to them.

It agrees.

Bruno "caught" Klink!

Bruno's Party:

Bruno art by Aquacorde

Eleanor · Nov 15, 2020

Where's the proof?
🍀🍀🍀
Arianne Chandler
Lavender Town - Day 6, Saturday - May 25^th

♫ - The Offspring - Turning into you
Arianne walked right out of the Official Gym with a pounding heart, two watery eyes, three Pokémon knocked out, and zero badges. The battle started off well for her, but that advantage did not last for long enough.

When Arianne was down to her last Pokémon, she made a gamble. She chose Eric, sent him out, and kept fighting, even if it was just for fear of having to forfeit. The Wartortle definitely pushed himself to be the best he could, and reignited Arianne's hope for a couple seconds, but it was just too late!

Beaumont's Emolga was not an impossible challenge. Eric surely could not take many hits from her, but neither could she. After all, she was already a little tired.

What Eric had to be careful about was Nuzzle, and Paralysis in general. That's where his Protect came into play, though! The first move that the Emolga attempted was, in fact, Nuzzle, but as she lunged down at the Wartortle, she could only crash and bounce off a green-ish shield.

Beaumont had another way to improve the strategy though, Double Team. The different copies of Emolga that soon appeared made it way harder to hit her, or shield from her attacks. Arianne had an answer to this also, though - Rapid Spin and Water Gun, something that she already tried against Courtney. The splashing water could easily reach every corner of the field, clearing out multiple copies at once.

This exchange continued for a bit, until finally Emolga swooped down from above and landed her Nuzzle, before being knocked away by a Water Pulse. A gamble on Beaumont's part maybe, but surely much more rewarding that Arianne's choice of Pokémon. It was relatively easy for the tired, but still nimble Emolga to knock out Eric with a couple of Sparks and Thundershocks.

That sealed the deal: Arianne had lost, and didn't even get to see Beaumont's third Pokémon, either! This was really because she wasted a teammate, and was reckless with it. She tried to use her newly caught Honedge against Emolga, picking it instead of, say, Mizar or Mulan for its slightly better mobility. Beaumont's Pokémon was too fast, though, and had no issues going for a Nuzzle right as soon as Honedge tried to use Swords Dance.

Honedge had already lunged at Emolga with Shadow Sneak or Pursuit, swiftly hitting her everytime she came close enough, at least two or three times, but after being paralyzed that turned out to be much more difficult. Not to mention, the Electric-type could just hit Honedge from a distance with Thundershock. Arianne realized only too late that she was at a disadvantage, but still tried to put that Attack boost to good use, and landed a powerful Shadow Sneak right as Emolga charged up another Spark. But as the two attacks collided, only Honedge had fainted.

After all, when Honedge was sent out, Emolga was still in top shape. All she really needed to do was to use Pursuit on Arianne's first Pokémon to knock it out in just one move. And said Pokémon happened to be none other than Lulu.

After the previous night's incredible performance, Arianne had no hesitations, and quickly let her out against Beaumont's first Pokémon, a Heliolisk. The small Morelull, albeit intimidated by the fully evolved Pokémon that stood in front of her, still tried to give it her best, and started things off with Flash and Sleep Powder as her opponent tried to run in for a Slam. Lulu took the attack, proudly looking back at her trainer as Heliolisk slowly fell victim to her spores, before bouncing closer and closer to her opponent and setting up a Mega Drain.

When Heliolisk woke up, though, Arianne realized that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. The Generator Pokémon easily knocked Lulu away, hitting back with Mud Slap. She then slammed onto her as the Grass-type tried to recover some energy with Moonlight.

Seeing that, Arianne quickly told Lulu to use Ingrain. She also asked Lulu to raise herself off the ground with her mycelium, this way avoiding another Slam… and thought that finally, she'd done something that Beaumont would consider impressive. But the look on his face as his Heliolisk bounced off Ingrain wasn't exactly full of emotions.

The battle was continuing. Lulu somehow struggled to hit Heliolisk back with her Mega Drain, but appeared to be in a good, defensive position, from which she could heal herself or cripple her opponent. Beaumont found a way to change that, though. It took Heliolisk a couple of Razor Winds, but eventually her attacks cut through the mycelium and made Lulu fall down from her throne. Struggling to get back up, she was promptly slammed into by Heliolisk, who knocked her back towards her trainer before shoving some more sand in her face with Mud Slap.

Hurting but still determined, Lulu went straight for Mega Drain as Heliolisk came for her. Both trainers knew that someone's Pokémon was likely to fall at that point of the battle, and - to Arianne's surprise - it was not Lulu. Her draining attacks kept her image in full colors for a little longer. The Cape Trainer celebrated, after all who wouldn't have… too bad for her that the battle would just change course soon after.

🍄🍄🍄

Beaumont looked quite happy with Arianne, for sure. She messed up a few decisions, and surely could've done better, but the basics were there. He already had that feeling ever since he saw her battle in Lavender Town the previous day. There was some kind of advice he could give her though… Think about who you have up against. Be flexible with your strategies. Don't do that cool Ingrain thing in front of anyone, because it's going to backfire eventually.

Arianne couldn't quite focus on Beaumont's words, though. The relentless announcement from the AI judge was more important in her mind, and all it said was that she had lost, 3 to 1. 3 to 1…

She struggled to believe that all she did in that Gym really mattered. Lulu's Ingrain shenanigans, or the way she handled Heliolisk at first with Sleep Powder. Honedge's clockwork efficiency in the way it landed Shadow Sneak after Shadow Sneak, despite a clear level disadvantage. Eric's cool Water shield and seamless transition from defensive to offensive moves. But she still lost the battle, and that was what mattered in the end. Maybe not for her, maybe not for Beaumont, but…

What about her Cape College friends? Courtney, even? Or most importantly, her parents? The ones that were still the most likely to doubt her own choice to become a trainer, and potentially even ready to bring her down at every misstep? No matter what their reactions could be, she just didn't look forward to seeing them… at all!

She was starting to understand how Courtney and Sarah could have been feeling the previous night, as they broke into the graveyard trying to find a Rotom (of all things). They needed some kind of proof, a tangible result to display and be proud of, and that no one could contest.

Arianne was getting better at battling, at training Pokémon, at bonding with them even, but winning battles? Still nothing, especially when she was dealing with the battles that really mattered. Drowning in frustration, the Cinnabar girl walked back to the Pokémon center, ready to leave Lavender behind.

Arianne's team:

Eric •

Mulan •

Alice •

Mizar •

Lulu •

Honedge

QueenNothing · Nov 15, 2020

Gwen Alanis
Route 12, May 25th, Afternoon

"Hey Uncle Fletcher, y'see those clouds?" Fay called out to an older man. "Looks like it might rain. Is it really a good idea to have the kids battle in that weather?"

"Oh nonsense!" The older man replied. "A little rain never hurt anyone, nobody from the Sting family that is! Although who knows with Flynn! HAH!"

Flynn was never much of a battler, but his instinctive drive to prove he had some kind of worth led him to where he was now, facing off against the girl he had hoped to impress. If fishing a large Pokemon didn't work, maybe proving himself in battle would.

Gwen and Flynn both sent out their Pokemon at the same time, Gwen using Jess whereas the brunette boy sent out a Poliwag.

The black haired girl could have switched into Custard, but right now she was fixated on training Jess, as she felt her Pokemon was creeping closer to evolving. Besides, Gwen could tell her opponent wasn't a very skilled battler. She couldn't describe why she thought that, she just knew it.

The battle started off with Poliwag aiming a Water Gun at the Ekans. Jess had been in this situation enough times to recognize her first action should always be to side-step the attack, and slither up to Poliwag. She executed everything properly, and could wrap her body around the Tadpole Pokemon.

Poliwag groaned in pain with the snake Pokemon constricted around his round body, while Flynn nervously grit his teeth. "Poliwag, use Bubble Beam!"

Poliwag could only shoot five bubbles at Jess' face, being squeezed so tightly made it difficult to produce anymore. Of course, the Ekans was able to shake the attack off, and tightened her grip.

Flynn commanded a few more Bubble Beams, and with each subsequent attack, the Tadpole Pokemon shot less and less bubbles. Eventually after being unable to resist any further, Poliwag passed out.

"That was almost stupidly easy…" Gwen mellowly boasted. As her opponent failed to provide an interesting challenge, she began to grow bored.

Flynn, on the other hand, felt a mix of frustrated and embarrassed. Losing to Beaumont set a precedent for what to expect from battles, but not even being able to stand a chance against a classmate pained him.

He still had two Pokemon left however, and couldn't give up just yet.

"Go, Pokey!"

Flynn's next Pokeball unleashed a white light, forming into a pink, quadruped Pokemon that laid on his back, with a white-tipped tail pointing in his trainer's direction. He certainly wasn't in the mood to fight, but he had little choice.

"Slowpoke!" Gwen cried. "A type advantage! That should be some kind of challenge!" Examining Flynn changed her demeanor, making her question her previous statement. "Er, maybe."

"Pokey, use Confusion!" The brunette boy ordered, waiting for his Pokemon to comply. To his disappointment however, the Slowpoke did nothing, and continued to lay on his back, even as Jess got up close and used Wrap on him. Even as Jess bit Pokey's head, he didn't seem at all bothered, despite being dealt super effective damage.

"Pokey! Please just use Confusion already!" Watching his Pokemon not even resisting, Flynn pleaded for the Slowpoke to attack.

When Jess' grip really started to suffocate him, Pokey's eyes glowed pink. A psychic aura lifted the two into the air, and then quickly slammed both of them back into the rocky ground.

As a form of payback, Jess bit into Pokey's cranium again, slightly harder than before, while Pokey once again used his psychic energy to pick them up and harshly drop them back into the ground.

Both Jess and Pokey looked to be unconscious after being dropped a second time. Flynn sighed in relief as he returned Slowpoke to his ball. At least his starter was able to do some damage, even if it was at the expense of his own status. But this meant Flynn had one Pokemon left, and it was his brand new catch. He wasn't sure how well he'd fair in a fight, but only one way to find out.

Reluctantly, Flynn tossed a Lure Ball, which unleashed his gigantic Magikarp, which flopped against the rocky surface.

Gwen, knowing full well at this point that her opponent used exclusively water types, sent Custard out in Jess' place. Even if Custard was scared by most Pokemon even a centimeter taller than her, the giant fish across from her was almost too comical to see as a threat.

"Custard, Thundershock!"

Standing in place, the Pikachu zapped the Magikarp with electricity she had stored in her cheeks, causing the fish Pokemon to jump in pain.

"You're my last hope, Magikarp! Tackle!"

Flynn waited for his Pokemon to so much as flop forward, but with his luck, the water-type would not obey. This left him open to another Thundershock.

"Come on, please do something!" His Magikarp wouldn't budge, only continuing to flop on the ground, frequently leaving him defenseless to the onslaught of electric shocks.

While the brunette boy focused on his Pokemon, he noticed a water droplet landing straight into Mahikarp's eye, followed by another on his flipper. It was beginning to rain. How appropriate for his mood.

Magikarp's flopping gradually became slower and weaker with each zap, matched with the rain setting in. He wouldn't be able to stay out much longer. Flynn fell to his knees, embarrassed by his failure to both his family and Gwen.

"Please Magikarp! Just do something, I'm begging you!" Even with the rain increasing, Gwen could notice tears rolling down the face of her classmate. She had Custard lay off of attacking out of pity.

Flint wasn't so sympathetic, and chuckled at the sight. He had gotten pretty used to this, and a few of their family members joined in. Fay was an exception. She frowned with disappointment, seeing her brother get himself in such a position.

Kneeling over to the water-type, Flynn crashed his upper-body onto his Pokemon, still sobbing. "I'm so sorry!" He cried. "I caught such an impressive Pokemon, and I couldn't even properly utilize your strength! If only I was a better trainer."

Gwen looked at the boy and his Magikarp, sympathizing with him. She could end the battle right here and now, but she couldn't bring herself to. Even if Flynn was a nuisance, there was no helping how similar she felt when losing to Jarmie.

With his eyelids sealed shut and pressed against his Pokemon's scales, Flynn found the nothingness of his closed eyelids to be comforting. Burying his face and blocking his vision was one way he could hide from embarrassment. This was disrupted when the darkness of his closed eyes had some light seep into it. He thought he was about to pass out or something, but he could also feel warmth against his hands, and then against his face, and with that the mockery of the crowd died down.

Flynn backed away, and after blinking to get the light out of his eyes, saw the fish Pokemon was completely consumed by a near blinding light. Unable to move, all he could do was blink in disbelief- He couldn't believe that Magikarp was evolving.

The fish Pokemon's glowing body slowly stretched out, resembling a Magikarp less and less. The light began taking up space, and many people rushed with their lives out of the scene to not get crushed by the light. The light kept growing, and growing...

When Magikarp evolved, they usually came in at a height of twenty-one feet, but the light stretched far beyond that. Custard trembled in an absolute state of terror, observing what used to be the fish Pokemon growing more than twice the size of the average Gyrados.

The light eventually faded away, revealing an enormous, blue serpentine Pokemon who stared down Gwen and Custard, letting out a ferocious roar that caused the ground to tremble. The surrounding fishermen were all astounded, yet horrified at the sixty foot long Pokemon that lay in-front of them. Even Flynn was curled up in a ball on the ground, shivering like a Snorunt. He wanted a chance at winning the battle and Gwen's heart, but he was too afraid of his own Pokemon to so much as command him. Custard was completely frozen in fear, but Gwen couldn't be any more excited.

"OH MY GOD, THAT'S A MASSIVE FUCKING GYRADOS!" She adoringly gazed back into Gyrados' large eyes. She'd never been to Galar, but she imagined Dynamax Pokemon to be this size- The rain clouds furthered that image. "Custard, use Thundershock!"

Custard instead turned back to look at her trainer, wondering how serious she could be at a time like this. Her trainer was reckless, but taking on a sixty foot Gyrados was pushing that boundary into insanity.

Of course, Gwen wasn't fooling around. If anything, she saw this as a mountain to overcome. "You heard me Custard! Use Thundershock!"

The Pikachu grit her teeth and cautiously opened fire at the Atrocious Pokemon, generating as much electricity as she could from her red cheeks. Gyrados writhed in agony, flinching and roaring, creating mini quakes in the ground where he stood. Even at his stature, he gained the flying type upon evolving, and had already taken a few electric types just a moment ago.

As the water-type failed to keep his balance, Custard used another Thundershock, and Gyrados continued to squirm with misery. Gwen steadily kept her ground, anticipating something from her opponent.

"Come on already! He's your Pokémon! Do something!" She shouted, furrowing her brows. She was able to get a glimpse of Flynn, who was curled in a ball, shaking. "Oh, for the love of- Custard, use Thundershock again!"

Custard, while intimidated by such a large Pokémon, figured out by this point he wouldn't put up much of a fight, and used another Thundershock. The attack was too much for Gyrados, causing him to faint, and his head was about to crash right into where Gwen stood. The weight of the serpentine Pokemon would have probably crushed her. Custard dashed behind her trainer, but all Gwen did was fearlessly stare into Gyrados' face. Her expression didn't change when the water-type was consumed by a red light, shrinking the enormous Pokémon to fit in his Pokeball. "That was pathetic."

"S-Sorry Gwen, I just, uhm, got a little scared. Truth is Gyrados scare me…" Flynn scratched the back of his head in shame. "But I did save you from getting splattered! Hehe, gotta admit, if it weren't for me, yo-"

"Oh my god, you're such a bad trainer!" Gwen retorted, ignoring what the boy was saying. "You had a type-advantage over Jess AND a massive fucking Gyrados on your side, and somehow you lost!"

Flynn looked down in shame, adjusting the brim of his cap to hide his eyes.

"And you're scared of your own Pokemon? That's pathetic!" The black haired girl continued. "Why would I ever want to go out with somebody afraid of a simple Gyrados?"

"Alright, that's enough!" Fay ran up wearing a yellow poncho to protect her from the rain, and held two more in her hands. "You two are soaking wet! Come on, we got a tarp set up!"

As he was beckoned by his sister, Gwen's words sunk into his head. It wasn't something he ever really did, but it might be time to finally start training. Maybe then he could get on Gwen's good side.

Gwen's team

budube · Nov 15, 2020

Bruno Dillinger & Casey Holt
May 25, Saturday

Chapter 5, Final: vs. Casey

Morning, West of Lavender Town

Bruno faces off against Casey in a small park on the west side of Lavender. The few passerby pay them no mind as Casey calls across the field.

"I wanna do full teams! I've got these three." He gestures to the Charmeleon and Skiddo beside him and the Buneary in his arms. "How many do you have?"

"Four." he answers, looking at his belt.

"Alright! Parsley- you're first, baby boy!"

Casey's Skiddo trots happily out onto the field.

Bruno tosses Klink's PokéBall. He likes using the newest Pokémon of his when given the chance to get some idea of how to use them in battle. He hasn't checked Klink's moves yet, though, so he also has his PokéDex in hand.

"Oh, a Klink! Wow, where'd you find that?" Casey asks, as he commands Parsley to start circling Bruno's Pokémon.

"Near the Power Plant." The Skiddo spits a Leech Seed as he finishes his sentence. That was a problem. Bruno checks his PokéDex to see if Klink has a move to do something about the vines that slowly start growing around them. Klink has only three moves, which could be good because of timing, or bad because of the lack of variety.

Charge is probably the best option for him. As soon as Bruno commands Klink to use it, the gears start spinning at great speed, generating electricity that ultimately electrocutes the vines, making them frail enough to break with the gear grind.

Bruno takes that moment to make another command. Klink shoots one of their gears at Parsley, but it misses. However, since both of them are attracted to each other due to Klink's magnetism, it returns like a boomerang while the other gear rolls against the Grass-type, hitting him with both.

"Ooh!" Casey exclaims, clearly fascinated by the trick. "Parsley, pull one away and throw it!"

The Skiddo complies, wrapping vines around one of the gears and whipping it as far away as he could. However, the other gear follows suit because of magnetism and flies the same direction, hitting Parsley in the way before returning to the battlefield.

"Huh, okay- pull them apart and keep them there!"

"That won't-" Bruno whispers but doesn't finish his sentence.

Parsley gets in close again, enough to wrap a vine around each gear and drag them apart, trying his best to push them into the ground on opposite sides of himself. They slam back together and grind so Parsley retracts his vines, whining a bit. "Fine- back off and Growth!"

The Skiddo starts circling once more, this time glowing green for a moment as he does.

Bruno orders to Charge once more while Parsley runs around and then they aim a Thundershock at him.

Casey's call of "Pursuit!" has Parsley boosting his speed just enough to bypass the Thundershock and lets him ram headfirst into Klink, knocking the Pokémon back.

The steel-type starts grinding at full speed to charge its power, but this time it is to use Vice Grip one more time with more strength. That seemed to work better for Bruno before, better stick to that. Parsley takes the hit, waiting just until the gears come back together to use Leech Seed once more to lock them in place and backing off to see what they will do.

Bruno stops to think for a bit. Using Charge immediately will probably not work.

"Try slowly grinding from left to right." the boy commands. The gears start spinning from side to side and the vines slowly start loosening up. It works! Once Bruno sees Klink can move more freely, he commands another Charge to electrocute the vines.

Bruno has totally ditched the idea of using Vice Grip now, it doesn't work as well as it did before, so he limits himself to just have Klink charging and using Thundershock while keeping distance with Parsley. Parsley takes some hits, but a combination of Pursuit's speed boost for dodging and his natural resistance to electricity allows him to get in close enough to score two hits on Klink which make him faint.

"You did good." Bruno says, taking his Pokémon to rest back in their PokéBall. Next up comes Shir. She lands on the battlefield with her arms on her waist in her usual heroic pose and she doesn't even realize Parsley is in front of her. Casey laughs delightedly from across the field.

"Better back up, Parsley! She's dangerous!"

The Skiddo does as he's told, prancing in a wider circle and letting the green glow of Growth suffuse him once more.

"Shir, use Leafage to get some speed, then Fury Cutter."

Shir starts spinning and is blasted away by the Leafage at full speed. While she is propelled by her attack, she charges power on one of her arms. She ends up rolling under Parsley and before he can react, she slashes one of his legs. His knee buckles and he lets out a surprised bleat, which is apparently enough for Casey.

"Come on back, baby boy," he coos at his Skiddo, patting him as he returns to his trainer's side and offering something from his pocket that Parsley gladly eats. "Pepper, your turn!"

Casey hands Pepper a pair of tanbō as the Charmeleon steps forward. There's no way Shir will have an opportunity here. If anything, she could try getting close enough to use Frustration, but she'll probably faint before that.

"Enough, come back." Bruno picks Gospel's PokéBall now and commands him to open with Hypnosis, making Pepper fall asleep as soon as the gas Pokémon enters the battlefield. Casey's cheer vanishes, replaced with an expression of grim determination as he returns the snoozing Charmeleon to his PokéBall.

"Ginger."

His Buneary hops from his arms and strides toward Gospel, stopping only to toss the fallen tanbō back to her trainer. Bruno looks confused at first, but then remembers the Quick Attack Mr. Tayloz pulled in his battle. Is probably not the same case as here, though it could also be-

"Quick Attack."

Ginger springs forward, kicking off with ridiculous speed to slam her whole body into Gospel.

Foresight, yes.

"Gospel, float upwards and attack with Hyper Voice." Bruno is still trying to keep some distance from Casey's Pokémon and just attack from afar. However, Ginger can jump like nobody's business- she arcs into the air, higher than Gospel had risen, and comes down with one kick after another to the top of his head, knocking him back down to the ground as she lands primly next to him. Gospel catches himself on fire and shoots a blue fireball at Ginger. It doesn't do direct damage, but it burns her. Bruno didn't know he could do that.

Casey's next move will possibly be switching to another Pokémon, so he commands Gospel to use Mean Look now. Casey nods, and commands Ginger to dart back in with Quick Attack- but this time she grabs onto Gospel, dragging him down to the ground with her, wincing from the pain of her burn.

Gospel lets Ginger drag him down, but once she hits the floor, he uses Hyper Voice again and floats upwards once more. Ginger curls up in response, pressing her ears down against her skull.

Bruno got this. He commands Gospel to use Curse once he is high up enough. Gospel is obviously a bit hurt for it, though not enough to faint. He starts floating in circles now, waiting for Ginger to attack again so he can counter with Hyper Voice. There's nothing else Bruno could do now, Gospel's other moves won't work against Ginger. Ginger, for her part, somersaults into a flip, using her ears to propel her upward to kick at Gospel but is deflected by his Hyper Voice, slamming into the ground below. She readies herself, clearly aiming to try again, but Casey's lips move and she changes direction- Quick Attack boosting her speed to come all the way over to Bruno himself. Bruno is pretty sure that Ginger is about to attack him and tries to avoid her, but all she does is smack the button on Gospel's PokéBall, sucking the surprised ghost-type away.

Bruno tries to process what just happened. Casey's lips move again, but Bruno still can't hear the other boy. Casey walks across the field, scooping up Ginger when he gets to where she and Bruno stand.

"Thanks for the battle," he says quietly. Subdued. Not making eye contact.

Bruno looks at him, still confused, and just answers with a "S-sure. Thanks to you too…"

Casey, somewhat pale, gives him a wave and turns to leave. "Uh. Sorry 'bout this. I'll… see ya later."

Bruno, still clueless about it, just waves back. He takes Gospel's PokéBall and looks at it for a second. "... Isn't that illegal?" he whispers to himself, before making his way back to the Pokémon Center.

Bruno's Party:

Bruno art by Aquacorde
ft. Aquacorde as Casey Holt

moon · Nov 18, 2020

Ralph Gonder

Lavender Town, Pokémon Tower

Saturday, May 25th
Morning, Day 6

Her steps towards the Ghost gym were calm. The town was coming alive around her. She saw someone in their garden, watering a thirsty plant. She saw a lonely kid kicking a ball up some stairs, probably waiting for their friends to wake up. She saw a couple of wild pokémon jump between a couple of tree branches, giggling at each other until sparks flew between their big, fuzzy tails.

Yesterday when she was heading towards another gym, she hadn't noticed any of this. Of the town itself, living and breathing, going about its own business. Because all she had been able to think of was her own problems.

She entered the imposing tower building and was met by two women, one whose face she recognized from the other night. Lucretia, she somehow remembered the name was. She smiled at Ralph and invited her to follow them to the arena.

The floorboards in the dark building creaked as they stepped on each one of them. They were old. Taking in her surroundings deeply, Ralph noticed clear contrasts everywhere. Some parts of this tower seemed to be ancient, but others were brand new. They really had been trying to build a new, cool gym here, hadn't they?

Not as cool as Beaumont's though. The 'arena' she entered had a long way up to the roof, and several wooden pillars and nooks and crannies along the walls. But it was not as long or wide as the Electric gym's battlespace had been. And there were only small areas to sit and watch, and definitely no digital screens behind the trainers to display their team status on.

Ralph felt herself grinning, but not because of the modern or not modern state of the gym she was in. She was happy, because she was aware and present. And focused. And she was going to do her best. As long as she didn't actually expect great success or victory, then whatever happened happened. And it wasn't technically a failure. So she was just going to, once again, try to take Hoshi's advice to heart and enjoy the ride as much as she could. She did like to battle, after all. Pokémon or fist, either.

The Tower Warden walked out on stage in front of her. Ralph blinked. She at the same looked exactly like what she had expected of the wannabe gym leader, and also not at all. Her complexion had an olive tone, her eyes a dark chocolate brown. She was wearing a dark lavender colored kimono, adorned with a subtle Duskull pattern. But her hair was cut extremely short, showing off some jarring golden and teal ear-jewelry, which dangled and reflected some shine from the spotlights. She also wore some golden necklaces with colorful stones inset in between the links.

About as much of a contrast as her gym itself, Ralph thought. And didn't she just turn 20 yesterday? Her posture says 50 and bitter.

Before the supposed gym leader could offer the challenger any sort of greeting, Ralph spoke up.

"Happy birthday," she said with a cocky smile. "Think you're big enough to run a gym now?"

Both women who had led Ralph into the arena - now sitting in a booth to the side - loudly gasped. The leader herself visibly turned sour.

"What the freck did you say? Who are you?"

"I'm here to challenge you to a battle. If you are the one who thinks they're a gym leader here."

Wow, maybe she had managed to make her opponent unsteady already. That was easy! Ralph tried to resist the temptation to make it worse though, remembering how uncomfortable it had become when Courtney had become sad rather than angry by Ralph's teasing last night.

"I am Jarmie Katalan," the young, riled up woman said and took some imposing steps forwards on the battlefield. "I'm the Warden of the Tower and the rightful gym leader of Lavender Town. I'm sure you've heard differently, but that's nonsense."

"I've heard that Beaumont is the official gym leader because official people officially put him here," Ralph shrugged.

"He bought his way to the title, that fake idiot," Jarmie said, eyes narrowing. "If you are a trainer with an honest backbone you should support us against the big corporations. Not insult us."

Ralph could see Lucretia squirming a bit though. She surely remembered last night, right? How their argument had ended in her agreeing to make Jarmie talk with Beaumont. Clearly she hadn't passed on that message yet. Ralph scoffed. She had battled against Beaumont's workers for this, and it hadn't even meant anything in the end. That was insulting, if anything.

Stupid grown-ups.

"So have you won a battle against him to prove you're a better leader, or what? How are you actually trying to fight the 'big corporations', huh?" Ralph leered.

"We have a petition going!" the younger lady in the booth finally piped up, making both trainers' heads turn her way. "We're gathering names of townspeople and trainers to show - peacefully! - that there is big support for making Jarmie the gym leader and not this foreigner."

"Thank you, Keiko. And you. You should sign it," Jarmie said, giving Ralph a thoughtful look, actually less venomous now.

"Lady," Ralph drawled, arms crossed. "Has anything you've seen from me yet given you the idea that I'd support your side in this? I fought Beaumont yesterday. He beat me, but he was okay. He's a good dude."

Ralph pointedly looked at Lucretia at that, and actually saw her swallow hard. Was she so intimidated by Jarmie that she was just going to sit there like a weakling? Sigh.

"He beat you… You're here to challenge me, right?" Jarmie asked.

"Yes."

"So. Let's say like this. If beat you too, you have to sign the petition."

Ralph's hands gripped her own crossed arms harder and she was about to protest. But then she realized, and smiled again.

"And if I win, you have to go and have a long, serious conversation with Beaumont. Deal?"

Keiko gasped loudly again, but Lucretia actually seemed to start smiling too at that, and both looked expectantly at Jarmie, who seemed to think it over for a moment, before her face became even sharper again.

"Deal," she said, then walked back a bit to stand at the edge of her side of the arena. "I will tell you the rules of this gym. You're going to choose two pokémon. I will then let you know what two pokémon I will choose to battle them, and in what order. Then you can decide which one of yours you want to lead with. No switching out beyond that. Once a pokémon is off the battlefield, it's out of the battle. Switcheroo moves and Teleport are banned. As are healing items. Basically, do your best, no stops, or be wiped."

Ralph unfolded her ams but clenched her fists, breathing as calmly as she could.

I think you have the makings of a great trainer if you find the balance between backing down and pushing forward, Beaumont had said. Today, she was not going to back down as easily as she had then.

"Sounds awesome," she said.

Jarmie smiled a sly smile now. "So, what music do you fancy?"

"You play music during the battle?" Ralph asked, a bit surprised, but not negatively so.

"Real gyms have personality," Jarmie scoffed. "What's it gonna be?"

"Um..."

Ralph thought about it for a while. What kind of music had she been playing when she studied pokemon types and moves back at the college? She was about to reply, when-

"Too slow. I choose! Lucretia, hit playlist 2. Keiko, you're the referee!"

The assistants sprung into action, and Ralph shrugged, taking a few steps back to mirror Jarmie's position on the field.

She took a moment to try to really study her opponent from afar. She seemed a bit riled up still. But Ralph didn't doubt that Jarmie was a strong trainer. Probably pretty headstrong too, and arrogant. But this whole Beaumont and gym thing probably worried her a lot. Or aggravated her, at the very least. She bet that the leader's mind was preoccupied with that, at least partly.

Ralph's mind, on the other hand, was like a cloud-free summer's day. Her smile grew wider, and she felt like she would probably keep it on throughout the battle. No matter what happened. She had watched Gwen battle with complete focus yesterday, forgetting the world around her in favor for the battle at hand.

Nobody would call Ralph a bad student again.

"Gimme the names of your battlers," Jarmie called from the other side.

"Coldy and Sandsy," Ralph said, having already decided beforehand.

Jarmie gave her an even more angry face. "Funny. Their species. Not their nicknames!"

"Oh," Ralph said, genuinely not having realized what she'd done, but then laughing a bit when it dawned on her how genius this also was. "Sandshrew! And... Sandshrew."

Jarmie looked a bit surprised at first, but then seemed to accept that this trainer seemingly owned two pokémon of the same kind.

"Not risking Lampent in a battle with a ground type. So I'll lead with Sableye, and if it's really needed, bulky Golett will finish it off after. Now, I guess there's not much of a point asking which pokémon you will lead with."

Jarmie looked smug, and Ralph did all she could to try to hide looking even more so.

"Guess not!" she said and sent out Coldy onto the field.

The music was the only thing that didn't pause for a few seconds at that. The look on Jarmie's face as Ralph's sneaky strategy dawned on her was priceless. She had dodged a Lampent! Fire would have melted Coldy in an instant.

"Oh yeah," Ralph added with very fake nonchalance. "She's Alolan. Ice and Steel type. Very cool, huh?"

Lucretia smiled again now, while Keiko looked worried. Jarmie was downright flustered, but came to her senses soon enough.

"Very," she snapped, and sent out her Sableye.

Ralph had to admit she was impressed when she saw its golden skin. It was shiny. That was incredibly rare. But she didn't feel like acknowledging that right now.

The referee, Keiko, piped up again. "First pokémon to faint or get recalled loses. Begin!"

Aquacorde · Nov 19, 2020

Casey Holt

Saturday, May 25, 2019 // Noonish, Day 6
Lavender Town // A Café Near Route 12

6-01. phantasmal nudes

Spoiler: music

Casey doesn't even try for a rematch against Beaumont on his way out of town. Maybe it has something to do with knowing Jordan is going, or maybe he's just not in the right frame of mind for another battle today. Or maybe it's just Beaumont himself. Casey briefly contemplates marching over to the tower and demanding a battle with Jarmie.

The idea makes him nauseous.

It's been a day.

During school, he'd been able to deal- he just exercised caution during the few times Ghost-types happened to be around. Stayed in the back of the classroom, the back of the crowd, whatever. None of this panic attack and fainting business. He hadn't wanted anyone to know. And nobody had known. He'd been in control, every time. He'd put his acting skills to work and it had paid off- nobody had known how bad it really was. How bad it is. But now… he isn't in control anymore. Several people know. Including someone he just met!

If he's not thinking of it from a reasonable perspective, it seems like things are getting worse.

But from a reasonable perspective, taking into account surrounding circumstances, he's… well, he's not doing great, and not even doing fine, but he's not doing as bad as it seems. The worst reactions have been compounded- the adrenaline of almost getting his skull bashed in hadn't helped when trying to deal with his ingrained fear of his ghostly rescuers in Cerulean. Physically fighting people just before Missy appeared last night was similar. And this morning, finding out he's being stalked and then coming face-to-face with some Ghosts and no protection…

Extenuating circumstances.

He's been okay with Gospel, mostly, despite doing a lot of hiding from him. Casey's never fainted because of Gospel. That's good. And he hadn't with- what was Vera's guy called? Oh, Ebony. He'd just been… very afraid. But for good reason! Besides Ebony being a whole ghostly surprise. He'd barely recovered from encountering three wild Gastly and dealing with the knowledge that Missy is still probably following him around. That's four Ghosts in an hour and Ebony made five; of course his reaction would be a bit… volatile.

Volatile enough to concern his friends, volatile enough to make him choose to leave…

Casey sighs. Sorley's right, and Jordan's right. Exposure therapy. He's gotta get used to these things, little by little. But he can't do that with the lingering fear that a Ghost-type could pop out at any moment without warning. He has to do it on his own time. He has to choose when to see them. That's what Sorley said, right? And that's what he did with Bruno. Kind of. That had been weird. He should probably explain himself.

Instead, though, he texts Jordan.

send nudes
jk
send me a pic of your ghost

Jordan responds promptly, but Casey ignores his phone's chime momentarily to order a salad and some tea at the small café overlooking the road out of town. Tray in hand, he wanders back outside. Parsley lays claim to a picnic table by flopping down next to it, Ginger falling off as he does. Casey and Pepper's poorly stifled laughs make her sulk, but she accepts the Charmeleon's peace offering of a berry.

"That was on my salad for a reason," Casey complains. "Go get more."

Pepper sighs dramatically and takes Casey's card back into the shop while Casey finally opens Jordan's message- two photos with no text. The first is Jordan with his shirt pulled down as far as he can stretch it to simulate "nudes", and the second is a panned down shot of his jeans, with a small, gourd-like Pokemon sitting over the crotch area.

A Pumpkaboo.

Of course Jordan's Ghost is also a Grass-type.

Looking at a picture isn't bad at all. Casey still doesn't like the idea of a Ghost, doesn't like the thought of what it can do, has a fleeting question of if ghosts can possess extremities only. He firmly locks that thought away in embarrassment and goes back to examining the photo. A Ghost-type, apparently doing nothing but letting Jordan manhandle it for a photo op. He wonders what it would be doing if not allowing itself to be posed with. Before he can think too much about it, he sends another message.

can i have a video?

Pepper reappears, handing over Casey's card and dumping his haul onto the table. It looks like the cashier let him take all the berries out of the display case.

"Pepper… this's way too many."

Pepper shrugs in a way that Casey interprets as I'm a Charmeleon, what exactly do you expect here?

"Fair." Casey inspects the pile and chooses a few berries. "Y'all better eat these ones first; the rest'll keep."

His phone chimes again.

The video is about two minutes long. The Ghost in question, the Pumpkaboo, Tiny, chases a familiar Pidgey. It wrestles a small container of trail mix away from him, and Spirit also runs into view, joining the scuffle with his club brandished. "Hey - you guys - share-" Jordan calls out from behind the camera, as the video cuts abruptly.

Very mundane, really.

He plays the video back a few times, pausing and examining certain frames. Nothing ghostly about this. Not anywhere. Except the Ghost-type at center stage.

He knows that this is just another Pokémon. But also, he knows that Ghost-types have powers that other Pokémon don't.

Maybe later he'll ask what that Pumpkaboo actually does.

But for now, he puts his phone away and starts sorting berries.

Groc · Nov 20, 2020

Vera Hill
Chapter 6 - Out of Town
Route 12; Saturday, May 26th

Anger. Pride. Confusion. Betrayal. Sadness.

All these and more ran through Vera's head as she walked away from the Pokémon Center, Bonnie held close to her chest. Sorting out these emotions was difficult, but once she had done that, she could force down the painful ones and deal with them later, and the walk actually helped clear her head. With her emotions dealt with and another panic attack averted, she can now deal with another problem:

"Where am I?"

She's not in Lavender anymore, that's for sure. Looking at her phone, she finds herself on Route 12, with a calm but chilly breeze in the air and gray clouds filling the sky. She can see the ocean, but instead of the soft sand near Cerulean Cape, the shore is rocky and rough, the waves crashing harshly instead of lapping softly. It's almost poetic. As soon as she's calmed the turmoil inside of herself, she realizes she's stumbled into the turmoil of nature.

Unfortunately, Vera has no patience for this kind of poetry. "Come on, Bonnie. Let's get out of here." She turns to start walking again, but Bonnie wriggles herself free of her arms, leaping to the ground. "Bonnie, where are you-"

Bonnie hits the ground in front of Vera, and a burst of electricity flows through and around her, having no effect on her Ground typing. Vera steps back in shock as a flat brown Pokémon rises from the ground, looking rather grumpy.

"I almost... thanks, Bonnie..." Vera shakes her head to clear it, now convinced that she needs to refocus. "So! Trying to ambush me, huh? You'll need to try harder than that! Use Bone Club, Bonnie!"

Bonnie leaps forward, bludgeoning the flat fish with her club. It winces, then retaliates by spitting a stream of water at Bonnie. The hit knocks her down, her helmet askew.

"Bonnie! Are you okay?" Bonnie quickly fixes her helmet, getting back up. "Good! Hit it with Bone Club again!" Bonnie again charges in, but Stunfisk burrows into the loose earth, dodging the club. It spits more water, making mud, which it then throws at Bonnie's face. She winces as the mud gets in her eyes, and she can't easily clear it through her helmet.

"Focus, Bonnie! You don't need to see it to hit it. Wait for it to come to you, then do that cool samurai thing with your Leaf Blade." Bonnie closes her eyes, flipping her club around and holding it by the heavy end. She takes a ready stance, her breathing slowed as she focuses on the ground at her feet.

Stunfisk pops up to spit more water at her, and the green blade erupts from the end of her club. She slices through the Water Gun, cutting into Stunfisk and knocking it aside. The split streams of water splash against her helmet, and she lowers her sword as she hears Stunfisk flee to the safety of the long grass.

Vera waits a moment before heading over and helping Bonnie clean the mud from her face. Bonnie stubbornly refuses to remove her helmet, but that's nothing new and Vera is used to it. "You're making this harder than it needs to be, but fine. We got most of it. Let's keep going."

Now extra cautious of the area, Vera calls out Ebony to keep an eye on things from above. He tries to snuggle up to her shoulders and hide under her hair, but she brushes him off. "Stop that. This is serious time, and I need you keeping a lookout. Besides, it's getting colder, and you're not very warm yourself."

Ebony floats down until he's only a couple inches off the ground, looking sad. "Don't give me that face. ...okay, fine, you can ride on my shoulder."

Ebony coos happily, floating back up and settling on Vera's shoulder. She tousles his hair, a small smile on her face. "Eyes open, though. I don't want to step on anything dangerous."

She keeps walking, pulling her flannel closer to her chest as the wind starts to pick up. As much as she loves the old shirt, it really doesn't help much against the weather. She makes a mental note to buy an actual jacket when she gets to the next town. I'm really not that prepared for this journey. Maybe Casey was right...

Before she can dwell on that thought, a sudden gust of wind causes her to stagger a step to the left. It also shakes the branches of a nearby tree, causing a pair of heavy objects to fall not far from her. The objects quiver and shake on the ground, and a second glance shows that they're large cocoons. They're Pokémon!

Actually remembering her Pokédex this time, Vera scans the cocoons: Silcoon and Cascoon. She vaguely remembers something about Cacoon Pokémon from class. They're nearly immobile, known for only using Harden, and rookie trainers often practice battling against them. And while she herself is no rookie, Ebony could learn a lot from this fight.

"Alright, it's two on two, it'll be a fair fight. Bonnie, Ebony? Let's send these Bugs back to their tree!" Bonnie steps forward, club at the ready, while Ebony needs to be coaxed from Vera's shoulder. The little Ghost tries to slip through her fingers, but she manages to toss him toward Bonnie. He has no problem catching himself in mid-air, levitating above the battlefield and looking at the Cacoons nervously.

"Come on, Ebony, you can do this! Use some of your ghostly powers! Bonnie, show him how it's done!"

Bonnie nods, giving Ebony a quick thumbs-up before leaping forward and delivering a powerful Headbutt to the Silcoon. Ebony hesitates, but his orbs shine with eerie light as he shines a Confuse Ray at Silcoon.

"Good job, Ebony! Maybe it can't Harden its armor now!"

A cracking sound comes from the Cacoons, and to Vera's horror, a pair of mandibles emerge from Silcoon's face as it chomps down on Bonnie. Cascoon also sprouts a mouth, but with tiny fangs protruding. Fangs that drip with venom.

Vera is suddenly acutely aware of how fast these things can move as Cascoon leaps at Bonnie, stabbing its venomous fangs into her arm. They're supposed to be slow! Cacoons aren't supposed to move at all! Why can they leap and BITE?!

"D-d-don't let them get any closer! Keep them away! Growl at them, both of you!" Vera takes a large step back from Cascoon, hoping it won't notice her.

Bonnie immediately picks up on Vera's fear, a fierce gleam in her eye as she growls at the Cacoons threateningly. Ebony backs her up, and dark shadows surround the pair. The two Bugs glance at each other, suddenly unsure about this, and hesitantly attack again. Both of them target Bonnie, but she shrugs off their attacks this time.

At least until the poison takes hold.

Bonnie stops in her tracks, gasping as her arm starts to burn like fire where Cascoon bit her.

"Bonnie, no!" Vera instinctively steps forward, but Cascoon turns to look at her. She freezes up, but Bonnie waves at her, gripping her club tightly. Her helmet hides her face, but Vera knows she must be hurting. Ebony hovers overhead, wringing his hair hands nervously.

"Fall back! I have potions, if you keep your distance, I can heal you!" Vera takes off her bag, looking for her medicine kit. She opens the kit triumphantly, revealing 10 Potions and an Oran Berry. Damn it! Why didn't I grab any Antidotes?

Ebony pulls back to her side as instructed, but Bonnie grits her teeth and Headbutts Silcoon again. "Bonnie! Ebony, Confuse Ray!"

Ebony fires off the ghost light, shining it on Cascoon. Silcoon bites down on Bonnie again, but Cascoon clamps its mouth shut, shuddering under the effects of Ebony's eerie light. Bonnie gives him another thumbs-up, then grabs her chest and falls to one knee as the poison ravages through her.

Vera grabs Bonnie's Poké Ball from her belt. "Get back, Bonnie! Please, you're hurt!" Bonnie angrily waves her off, using her club as a crutch to push herself back up. She angrily Headbutts Silcoon again, leaving it dazed for a follow-up swing with her club, knocking it back into the tree. Ebony suddenly screams, his eyes glowing red as a wave of unseen force crashes into Cascoon, sending it spinning like a top and into the tree with its friend.

With the battle over, Bonnie sits down heavily, gasping for breath. The poison is still in her system, but now she can focus all her effort on fighting it instead of an opponent. Vera rushes over, tears in her eyes as she scoops Bonnie up into her arms. "What were you thinking?! Why wouldn't you listen to me? I could have sent out Sapphire, or even Iggy! Why would you put yourself through that?"

Bonnie coos softly, shaking her head. She smiles softly at Vera, then beckons Ebony closer. Ebony's eyes widen in surprise, but he floats over. Bonnie grins at him, chuckling and lightly touching a fist to his chin, before snuggling up close to Vera.

Vera looks at her Cubone in confusion, while Ebony touches his chin thoughtfully. Vera quietly dries her eyes. "We need to keep moving. That was a good attack, Ebony. Was that Psywave? You could be a decent fighter if you put your mind to it."

He reacts in surprise, but Vera starts walking again. He quickly follows after her, more actively looking for other Pokémon now.

Eleanor · Nov 24, 2020

Taking things as they come
🍀🍀🍀
Arianne - with Aquacorde as Casey

Lavender Town - Day 6, Saturday - May 25^th

♫ - HG/SS PokéMart theme - remix by HoopsandHipHop
The edge of Lavender town is in sight, and I've made up my mind that I'm going to cross it today… even if the weather doesn't seem to be in my favor today. As much as I'm missing my little room with a view, the festival atmosphere, or… Jarmie, I guess, I need to move on and become stronger elsewhere.

Well, I'm not quite sure how, but I know I'll be able to find more opportunities to challenge myself. Or at least, some that aren't as scary as a graveyard by night! I wonder what Route 12 could have in store.

"Arianne!" A voice calls out, pulling me from my thoughts. "Hey, Arianne! How's it goin'?"

It's a voice I recognize, but that I haven't heard in a while… Casey, my classmate! Might as well stop by and say hello - I don't really have a reason to be afraid of him.

The boy waves me over to a picnic table outside a small café. It's covered in berries, seemingly organized into various piles, and a Buneary with berry juice staining her paws lounges in the middle of them. She glares suspiciously as I walk over, but the Charmeleon and Skiddo are happy to greet me.

"Hi Casey!" I smile back at him and his Pokémon. "I'm… I'm alright, just leaving town. You?" I ask, still reluctant about bringing up the Gym battle.

"Same, really," he says, clicking his tongue to call his Skiddo back. The Skiddo doesn't listen, too interested in sniffing at me. "Just stoppin' here for lunch. Uh, don't give Parsley any snacks. How's Lavender treated ya?"

"Oh, so much has happened here! I reunited with some friends, found myself a rival, caught a Pokémon… and got into trouble with Ghosts, of course." I laugh, a bit nervously. I still don't have a clear answer after all, and… Courtney probably isn't the best topic either.

Casey shakes his head at that. "You went into the graveyard too, huh?"

"Y-yeah, got dragged in because someone thought that a Rotom might hide in there. I wonder if someone actually found it…" I shrug, my mind going straight to Honedge and the way I encountered it.

"Oh, I heard that rumor too. Didn't believe it for a second. Did you, uh, find anything else in there?" He sounds casual, but his eyes slip from my face and focus instead on a smaller berry as he rolls it across the table.

"I did, yeah!" I grin. "D'you want to see?"

"Could just tell me what it is," he laughs, though it sounds a little forced.

"It wouldn't give it justice, but alright…" I smile. If he's somewhat afraid of it, then that is totally understandable, given the jumpscares I got for the previous two nights. "It's called Honedge."

Casey hums. "The sword ghost, huh? That'll be interestin' to work with. Have ya battled with it yet?"

Do I need to tell him? Do I? I hesitate for a bit, but eventually decide to answer truthfully. "I tried, yes, but it didn't go that well." I put one hand on my hair. "It looks pretty strong already, though!"

"It's good to have strong team members," Casey muses. "Should be helpful against all the gym leaders, right?"

"That's what I'm thinking, yes." I reply, somewhat dryly. "But it always depends on who you're going up against… that's what Beaumont said." I add, this time trying to stay more vague.

"Sure, sure. How'd your battle with him go, then?"

Might as well. "Well, I lost. Thought I was doing a pretty good job but really, I wasn't." I admit, finally opening up about that with someone. "I can only hope he gives me a good review, but the result…" I mutter. "It is what it is."

Casey taps his fingers against the wooden table. "I kinda forgot about the review," he says. He doesn't look too worried about it, though. "That's actually what matters, right? Even if we couldn't beat him, it's about how we handled ourselves."

"I hope so…" I reply, looking down to the side and focusing on all the berries that are still there on the table. "Well, may I ask, how did your battle go then?"

Casey hums again, but this time it sounds a little more frustrated. "He pulled a stunt I didn't like. I took out two of his an' he took two of mine an' then I forfeited."

"I can see that…" I mutter, thinking back about the battle. "I only took one out. It was a weird battle and I was too scared to just forfeit. Guess we're still on the same boat, then?"

"Seems like!" Casey's usual cheer returns with that- I hadn't quite noticed it was missing until now. "Gotta see how Route Twelve treats us now, don't we?"

"Oh, sure thing!" I smile, finally back to a better topic. "What do you think it's going to be like? Will you leave today as well?"

"Dunno." Casey shrugs. "Haven't really looked into the route. Kinda takin' things as they come, y'know? Got plenty of berries to keep us fed now, though." He gives his Charmeleon a exaggerated dirty look, which the Pokémon responds to by mimicking Casey's earlier shrug. "Y'wanna take some, Arianne? We got way too many."

"Really? Well, t-thanks!" I take a better look at the berries. "And, uhm, if you want we could just travel together through Route 12."

I am not entirely certain about travelling with Casey, but from what we've already talked about, he looks like a much better alternative than… some other people I'm a bit afraid of sticking around to. I'd be happy to go with someone, too!

But Casey shakes his head, smile still on his face. "That's alright. Thanks for the offer, though! Maybe I'll see ya out there."

I can't help it but raise an eyebrow. But I don't want to force him of course, so I just take a few berries as he suggested. "Alright, alright… see you around, Casey, and thanks for the berries."

Arianne's team:

Eric •

Mulan •

Alice •

Mizar •

Lulu •

Honedge

moon · Nov 25, 2020

Ralph Gonder

Lavender Town, Pokémon Tower

Saturday, May 25th
Morning, Day 6

"Night Shade!"

Jarmie called out her order and her golden Sableye reacted without delay. Luckily, Ralph was completely focused, and did so as well.

"Mirror Coat!"

Sableye strained itself for a split second, and then sent out an impossibly dark, seemingly zig-zagging beam from its eyes. It looked like a long, stretched out shadow cast by nothing, reaching out quickly towards Coldy like a monster hand from under the bed. Coldy had just managed to activate her Mirror Coat when it struck. The sinister beam peppered her glowing body, zig-zagging all over it for a few seconds before it let up, Sableye's eyes finally closing momentarily. Coldy took that moment to stand up straight quickly, sending her absorbed energy out and mirroring its gastly energy twofold.

Jarmie realized her mistake only when Coldy had already started expelling the bounced move. In a desperate bid, she called out: "Detect!"

Sableye got hit by a first crackle from the beam and hissed in pain, but then its eyes started glowing with an intense emerald light, and it dodged out of the way from all the remaining crackling whips of it.

When the battlefield calmed down, Sableye was panting though, and Coldy was giving it a very triumphant sneer. Their expressions were somewhat mirrored in their trainers.

"Very, very clever," Jarmie admitted. "Double the damage of a Ghost move, mirrored back at a Ghost type. If I hadn't used Detect, you might have won there. I did not know Alolan Sandshrew knew Mirror Coat."

Ralph just kept smiling. "Are we here to chit-chat or battle? I thought I had left trainer school behind. Maybe you're just like an official gym leader after all."

Jarmie groaned. "Fine. Sableye, Disable!"

The golden ghost's eyes now glowed in yet another color: blue. Coldy for a sudden moment also glowed in blue, and shuddered, trying to shake the sensation off of herself, before it disappeared.

"Now we should have remedied that strategy for the rest of the fight," Jarmie said, still not smiling.

"Chicken," Ralph muttered, but wasn't going to invite more discussion. Fine. She had other moves too. "Ice Shard!"

Coldy swept her claws above her, flash-freezing chunks of air into ice and shooting them like large darts towards Sableye. The icicles hit it and made it stagger backwards.

"Not so fast now? Can't use Detect so soon again?" Ralph leered.

"Now who's chit-chatting!" Jarmie grunted. "Fury Swipes! Get close and let its scratches and slashes phase through you!"

"Metal Claw!" Ralph called out quickly.

Sableye darted in and started swiping in fury, but Coldy, enjoying close combat, met its swipes with her sharp, shining arms. Jarmie audibly groaned again now.

"Really not focused today, are we? Beaumont getting you riled up? You worried you're not as good a trainer as he is?" Ralph said, almost laughing as Coldy didn't have much trouble matching Sableye's slashes and even getting a few hits in of her own, her energetic metal claws easily making contact with the ghostly body, unlike what Jarmie had likely expected.

"Get back!" the tower warden called out, and Sableye finally retreated.

Both pokémon were now panting, but neither was badly hurt yet.

"Confuse Ray!" Jarmie ordered.

Sableye's large eyes now turned shimmery, while Ralph desperately tried to think of a counter move. If Coldy got confused, everything would be much harder.

"Ice Ball!" she settled on. "Launch at Sableye and don't try to steer!"

Sableye fired off its Confuse Ray, but what it hit was Coldy already in icy ball form, plowing across the arena straight for her opponent. She hit the dark ghost hard, slamming it backwards in a freezing impact. However, she also bounced back herself, unfolding and staggering a bit. Oh no. She had indeed gotten confused.

Jarmie looked triumphant, but Ralph kept herself grounded. Sableye had taken several direct or near hits, Coldy had barely taken more than a few Fury Swipes. She still had the upper hand if she could get Coldy to stay out of harms way, or preferably even snap out of it.

"Shadow Sneak!" Jarmie called out.

Sableye smiled creepily as several shadows extended from its feet, stretching across the battle area towards its opponent. Coldy was struggling to stay upright and fully see where her opponent is, badly affected by the Confuse Ray.

"Powder Snow!" Ralph called out, and Coldy tried, but fired it off in the wrong direction, instead making Lucretia jump when the cold flakes blasted against the seat next to her.

A shadow suddenly appeared behind the Sandshrew, startling her and diving down on her with its dark energy. It damaged her and did little to lessen her confused state.

Ralph's smile had wavered at this point, but she wasn't giving up yet. She had to keep counter-attacking and hope for the best. Coldy had a strong mind and a very strong will. If any pokémon could snap out of a forced confusion fast, it was her.

"Night Shade!" Jarmie now ordered, probably feeling safe while Mirror Coat was off the table.

"Try to dodge!" Ralph shouted.

Sableye's dark ray emerged once more. It went for Coldy straight on now. She dove to the side in ball form but was still hit by a few crackles of the dark beam, making her stumble and fall. Keiko stood up more straight and looked ready to pronounce this round won by her leader, but Ralph wouldn't give up so easily.

"Wait! Coldy, you're still fighting, right?"

The battlefield fell still for a few seconds, during which Coldy slowly stood up and grunted. That was a yes. Keiko sat back down, and Lucretia actually looked hopeful, despite still brushing a few snowflakes off her arm.

"Of course," Ralph said, smile back.

"Do you really want to drag this out longer? Your pokémon is confused. You're tiring it out needlessly," Jarmie taunted.

"I know when to quit now," Ralph said calmly. "And when not to. Beaumont gave me a lesson! Coldy, Rapid Spin!"

"You haven't even studied enough type interactions," Jarmie scoffed. "Fury Swipes!"

Coldy started spinning and made her way across the floor, still wobbly from the confusion though. It didn't look like she was going to hit Sableye, who sniggered as it ran up close to the spinning ice ball on purpose and raised its claws.

"Ice Shard now! Just shoot 'em out!" Ralph almost screamed, and simultaneously ducked low.

Keiko and Lucretia exchanged one panicked look, then looked at the still freezing seat next to them, and then hurriedly ducked as well.

Sableye had time to slash once across Coldy's body with its claws, well aware that if Coldy actually managed to direct her spinning towards it, she'd just pass through it. But then there came ice projectiles. Sharp ones. And many.

They spread across the arena as Coldy was still spinning and firing them off without aiming. Many hit Sableye and made it stagger backwards, unable to hit more times with its Fury Swipes.

When the hail carousel finally ended, both pokemon stood panting and groaning on stage. And both trainers were intensely focused on them. Ralph could see the Sandshrew's body rise and fall with every breath. Could see her stance, and her mood.

Focus. Jarmie's focus needed to budge. Time to talk more nonsense.

"Yea, Beaumon't lesson was good," Ralph began.

"Shut up!" Jarmie exploded. "I won't have you insult me anymore! Sableye, Night Shade!"

Ralph's smile returned. Bingo.

"Mirror Coat!"

What happened next was a triumph for one trainer and a ridicule for the other.

…

Sableye fell, completely knocked out.

Keiko confirmed it, sounding like she was in quite the disbelief. Lucretia actually clapped excitedly though. Next to her, the snow had melted into a small pool, but the new arrival who just sat down in it didn't seem to mind. His cape was probably waterproof anyways.

Jarmie recalled her shiny pokémon to its pokéball and closed her eyes for a minute. Meanwhile, Ralph walked up to her battler and managed to get a cold fistbump before the mouse was allowed to rest inside of her own ball.

"I only saw the last move but I feel like I missed something good," Marcus' voice now came from the spectator seats.

"Hey. Too busy to recap right now," Ralph snickered as she walked back to a safe distance from the main battlespace.

"You upset the Warden though," Marcus said analytically. "I might have to punish you later."

Lucretia rolled her eyes, Keiko stared nervously at him and Ralph just ignored what she still couldn't tell was a joke or dead serious information.

"No, it's fine," Jarmie finally spoke, making everybody turn back to watch her.

She straightened up, and there was a strange, playful smile on her lips.

"You're clever. Very, very, very clever."

"That's at least two too many," Marcus butted in, but now ignored by all.

"You distracted me. I didn't notice the confusion had let up. You did. You're keenly observing the pokémon. I underestimated you."

"Damn right, girl," Ralph said, beaming with her arms on her hips for once. Not gonna lie, it did feel pretty good to not fail, after all.

"Next round won't be so easy," the Warden said though. "Punk."

To the three onlookers, the air in between the battlers now almost crackled, as if they were in the official gym after all.

Sandsy

Lv 22 | Coldy

Lv 18
Edgy

Lv 18 | Softy

Lv 10 | Jolty

Lv 17 | Creepy

Lv 14
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

moon · Nov 26, 2020

Ralph Gonder

Lavender Town, Pokémon Tower

Saturday, May 25th
Morning, Day 6

The two new pokémon battlers were sent out. A Golett faced Sandsy on the field.

Ralph had gotten cocky now.

"Sandsy! Dig!" she called out.

But she was met with only a confused stare from her own pokémon.

"Oh…" she realized. "The floor isn't earth. Hang on. Is that really ok in an official gym?"

Jarmie laughed, but ignored the inquiry. "Maybe you don't have such good observational skills after all. Golett, use Shadow Punch!"

The rocky ghost readied its fist, enveloping it in a dark shadowy aura.

"Rapid Spin!" Ralph called out.

Sandsy jumped forward and started spinning, advancing on his opponent. Meanwhile, Golett thrusted his fist forward, sending out a dark image of a fist. It was impossible to avoid, and Sandsy was slammed by it and bounced back, but was still spinning. He came around and advanced on Golett once more. But when he was about to make impact, Golett… Didn't do anything. It just stood there, and Jarmie was waiting to let it get hit.

"Oh shit," Ralph remembered. She had let the recent victory feeling get to her head and forgotten to carefully think about the situation and her moves.

Golett is a ghost.

Sandsy phased right through what should have been a solid rock impact. He unfolded himself on the other side, now blinking at his opponent in between it and Jarmie.

"Whatever," Ralph groaned. "Fury Cutter!"

"Stomping Tantrum!" Jarmie's counter order came.

The Sandshrew advanced, claws glowing yellowy, and began slashing. But even though Golett was easy to hit, it didn't make it easy for the mouse to stay unharmed himself. The ground type started stomping around, harder and faster, trampling a mouse tail here, a foot there, making Sandsy have to scurry around to get his Fury Cutter hits in and taking quite a bit of damage himself in the process. It didn't take long before Ralph realized that they wouldn't win this duel.

"Sand Attack!"

"Mud Slap!"

Sandsy produced dust and threw it in the face of the Golett, but the golem almost at the same time lobbed a chunk of mud into Sandsy's. Both pokémon now stumbled backwards, trying to get the dirt out of their vision.

Ralph clenched her fists. Jarmie really had decided to focus now. Gone was the rage. Or maybe it was just sharpened and used to make split decisions about counter moves instead. The cape trainer glanced at Sandsy. Golett was hard to read, but her starter did seem to have taken more damage than the gym leader's battler. She had to try harder. And be very, very, very, very clever somehow.

Jarmie didn't let her think for too long though.

"Shadow Punch!"

Golett gave up wiping away the sand from its features and instead readied the dark arm again.

"Here goes nothing," Ralph sighed and turned on the spot all of a sudden. She was running towards the confused spectators and the referee while she called out her counter move:

"Dig!"

Golett's shadowy fist extended from its body, but Sandsy actually dove down into the floor this time. He had heard the urgency from his trainer.

The Shadow punch dissipated above the hole in the floor where the Sandshrew had just stood.

"Did you just ruin my floor?!" Jarmie shouted.

Ralph had just jumped up to take a seat next to Marcus in the booth.

"Oh, no," he said blankly.

"Oh, yes," Ralph said plainly and wiped off some nervous sweat. "Sandsy! Magnitude!"

The floor on the arena began to vibrate. The whole room then started shaking. Magnitude had hit hard. A crack opened in the floor in between Jarmie and Golett, both who had trouble remaining standing.

Finally, Sandsy shot through the floorboards and tackled the fallen Golett hard from below. The rumbling stopped, but a piece of wood tumbled down from above and forced Sandsy to jump out of the way.

Jarmie looked bewildered. "You punk!" she raged. "My gym!"

"Real gyms are built sturdy," Ralph scoffed as she swung her legs over the wall of the booth and walked back to the battle area. "Maybe that's a hint for ya?"

"You're not gonna do that again."

"Wasn't in the rules I heard before the match," Ralph said, feigning worry.

"Astonish!"

Golett reacted surprisingly fast now, suddenly swooping close to Sandsy and letting out an archaic scream. Sandsy leaped in shock.

"Stomping Tantrum!"

"Hang on!" Ralph called out, realizing that Jarmie really wasn't going to give them any break now. "Rock Slide!"

Sandsy walked backwards as he materialized and hurled big boulders at the golem, who managed to stomp down many of them but got hit by many as well.

"Shadow Punch!" Jarmie ordered harshly.

As the ghostly arm darkened once more, Ralph knew that if she let Sandsy get hit by that, it would be over. But if she ordered another Dig to avoid it, Jarmie would surely get angry again…

Oh wait, Ralph really didn't care.

"Dig!"

"Nooo! Stop!" Jarmie shrieked, making both pokémon halt.

Ralph crossed her arms, as the dust settled and Jarmie calmed her breaths and made yet another attempt to look respectable.

"You win," she said slowly, and called back Golett without further ado. "Bravo. Punk."

It took a few moments before Ralph realized what had happened. Lucretia's cheer finally registered, and she faintly heard the end tail of Keiko announcing Jarmie conceding officially and turning off the intense soundtrack that had been playing.

Marcus was already at Jarmie's side, but she waved him off, irritated, and walked up to Ralph. Sandsy had scurried over to his trainer and was now receiving well deserved ear scritches.

"You're paying for repairs," Jarmie said matter-of-factly, looking down on the squatting challenger.

"Uh. Send the bill to Palm?" Ralph said, but then fell over backwards when a sudden bright light astonished her.

Everybody watched as the sand mouse started glowing, slowly growing in size, and then softly faded back to his normal colors. Well, almost. Sandsy's back was now brown and spiky, and his claws were much longer than before.

He shuddered once, then gave Ralph a blaming look and nudged her hand with his new nose. She burst into laughter as she sat up and resumed the ear scritches.

"Send him the bill and tell him my starter evolved!" she suggested.

Jarmie facepalmed, while Lucretia praised the evolution and Keiko swooned.

"She kind of has a point," Marcus said to the Warden. "Gym arenas should probably be built more sturdy."

"Shut up," the Warden grunted and turned to leave.

"Hold up," Ralph said and stood up, finger pointing straight at the older girl. "We had a deal."

Jarmie slowly turned around, clearly agonizing. She somehow managed to muster a stiff smile when she responded.

"A deal is a deal."

"Great. Let me know how it goes, alright Lucretia? Marcus?"

"Does that mean I have to take your number?" Marcus asked.

"You know, I never know if you like or dislike someone, not even me," Ralph said, eyes rolling.

Marcus just grinned, and gave Jarmie a hearty pat on her back which seemed to be the last thing she wanted right now.

Sandsy

Lv 22 | Coldy

Lv 18 | Edgy

Lv 18
Softy

Lv 10 | Jolty

Lv 17 | Creepy

Lv 14
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

Groc · Nov 27, 2020

Vera Hill
Chapter 6 - A Quartz Past Noon
Route 12; Saturday, May 26th

With Ebony's help- he's really good at avoiding fights- Vera manages to avoid any more encounters for the time being. As she hurries along the path, she spots a building up ahead. "Maybe someone there can help us! Come on!" She hurries forward, Bonnie dozing fitfully in her arms.

She arrives at the front door, frantically pounding on it with her fist. "Hello! Anybody home? I need help out here!"

The door opens, revealing a man who is starting to turn gray in his hair. "Goodness, what's all this racket? Can I help you, miss?"

Vera holds Bonnie close, showing her injured arm to the man. "Yes! My Cubone got bitten by a venomous cocoon! I need medicine for her! Do you have any?"

"Oh, of course! Right this way." The man steps aside to let her in, and she quickly pushes past him. She finds herself in a fancy, if outdated, science lab. Her presence seems to attract the attention of another individual, a scientist who pokes their head out from the back room.

"Oh, Arthur... do we have a visitor?"

"Yes indeed!" The older man, apparently Arthur, gestures to Vera. "Her Pokémon suffered a nasty bite, and could use an Antidote. We still have some in the back, could you grab one? I'm sure she'd be appreciative."

The scientist frowns, then their expression brightens. "Right! An Antidote. I'll get one for you." And they withdraw from the doorway.

Okay... that was suspicious... Vera glances at Arthur, no longer comfortable with this decision. He merely smiles at her, walking over to one of the tables in the back.

"While you're waiting, would you care for a cupcake? I made them myself!" He offers her a plate, six dark cupcakes with way too much frosting sitting on it.

Vera eyes them suspiciously, while Ebony silently hides himself inside her hair. "Can they heal my Pokémon?"

"Um, no. I didn't put any curative berries in them..."

"Then I don't want one." Vera turns away from him, waiting for the scientist to return. She doesn't have to wait long.

"I found one!" The scientist returns, holding a spray bottle of the medicine.

"Thank you!" Seeing the miraculous liquid makes Vera feel much better, and she snatches it from the scientist, immediately applying it to Bonnie's wound. Bonnie stirs as the medicine seems to sting a little, but makes a happy noise as the poison in her is neutralized.

"Happy to help! After all, everything i do here is for the good of Pokémon and humanity alike." The scientist adjusts their glasses, smirking smugly to themself. "Speaking of which, I'd like to ask you for a favor..."

Vera freezes, mentally kicking herself for not thinking this through. Of course he does! I should have known there'd be a fee!

The scientist seems to notice her expression, shifting gears immediately. "Wait, no, it's not what you think! I wouldn't hold your Pokémon hostage like that! I legitimately wanted to help you! It's just... I'm no Trainer, and I've gotten myself into a bit of a dilemma."

"Healing your Cubone was the least we could do, miss." Arthur chimes in. "And we'd be willing to repay you if you'd only lend us a hand."

Vera looks between the two, and Bonnie prepares to leap to her defense if needed. "I'm listening..."

"First off, introductions!" The scientist pulls up a chair, gesturing to one by Vera as well. "My name is Doctor Quartz. I'm researching the Pokémon in this area, and the effect humanity has had on their habitat. To that end, I've set up devices around the area to gather data. Unfortunately, the Pokémon in the area weren't too happy with me entering their territory, and chased me off. I don't have any Pokémon of my own, so..."

They shrug, but Vera just stares. "And you want me to do what? Protect you while you go get them?"

"Certainly not!" Arthur seems appalled by the idea. "Quartz needs to stay out of that area, and there's much to do around here."

"If you could just go out and recover one of the devices, I could start studying the data it's gathered. There are several in the area, but since I'm the only one here, I can only work on one at a time. I'll pay you for your time! I don't have money, but I can teach your Pokémon a new technique from my TM collection."

Vera looks between the two as she thinks. Quartz is a little odd, but certainly looks like someone who could use the help. And there could be a new move for Ebony in that collection, an actual attack he could use...

"Fine, I'll help you out." Vera sets Bonnie down on the chair. "Just let me take a short rest so my Pokémon are ready to go."

"Excellent! You may have just saved my research. I'll get you a map so you can find the device!" They head back into the other room, and Vera can hear them rummaging through papers.

"If you're going to stay for lunch, could I offer you a cookie? I made them myself..." Arthur gestures to a cookie jar, a hopeful grin on his face.

Bonnie nods, reaching for the jar, but of course she can't reach it. Vera sighs to hide her smile. "Ugh, fine, but just one."

[PKMN FULL] TRAINERS (IC)

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