[PKMN FULL] TRAINERS (IC)

[moon]

Ralph Gonder

Lavender Town / Rock Tunnel

Saturday, May 25th
Noon-Afternoon, Day 6

She returned to the pokémon center to heal her pokémon and fetch her backpack, after which she left the keycard to her room with the receptionist. She wouldn't need it anymore now.

Six days into her graduation journey, the journey she had postponed or missed out on for so long, and she had already passed through two towns. Battled two gym leaders. Seen two of her pokémon evolve. Made... At least two friends. Probably more. It felt strange. It felt almost as if she was an innocent kid again, believing the whole world was within reach as long as she had Cas-

She caught herself, and nearly dipped into bitterness for a moment, but managed to wipe thoughts of past events away. Pfft, wow. Her head had gotten so mushy. But yeah, she must admit that even though things had been really rough on Thursday and Friday, that now seemed insignificant. She could do this. And she wasn't alone, at all.

A purple face with blinking, emerald eyes peeked through the braided hair where the face's owner nestled on Ralph's shoulder. Greeny purred happily and rubbed her cheek against Ralph's.

"Should we go south, girl?" she asked.

But then, another thought crossed her mind. She mentally recalled her team members. There was one of her pokémon who wasn't here right now. And he wasn't really hers, per se. She didn't feel like she deserved him. Or rather... She had made a promise. Yesterday, she had been a coward and taken the easy way out - sent the Geodude home to her dad to look after. But today? She gripped the hems of her backpack hard.

Today she could keep the promise. It didn't really matter if she fell behind the others for a bit. She could catch up, somehow. For now, she had to travel back to Rock Tunnel.

The phone call she had with her father this time was friendlier than yesterday. She received Hardy's pokéball and sent back Softy's to let the kind bug enjoy life in Pewter for a while in his stead. And shortly after, they were back on the road north.

Last time she walked this route, it had been late, and she had been half dragged here by Joseph... By her uncle. It stung when she thought about him still. She had started to look forward to traveling with someone who found joy in the small things and, well... Someone who cooked great food for her. But now that she was feeling a bit better about herself and life in general, she could look at it differently. Had she stuck with Joseph, not only would there have been a risk for her being disqualified when the truth inevitably came out in some other way than the way it had now, but she would also not learn how to actually do this herself. Travel, be independent... She didn't need Joseph. Or any other man or boy. She was as much boy herself as she'd ever need.

Sure, maybe some day she'd want a boy or man nearby. But it'd be because she wanted to, not because she couldn't do it without them. Yeah. She pulled Greeny down to carry her in her arms instead of hanging over her shoulder.

The eastern entrance to Rock Tunnel loomed ahead. Ralph didn't recognize it at all. She really hadn't been more than half conscious when she passed out from it before. Right at the entrance, there was some tumult going on.

It looked like a Geodude was being bullied out of the cave by two Machop. They drove the Rock type further and further away from the opening with threatening gestures and screams.

"That doesn't look like a fair fight," Ralph said and hurried up to them, startling all the wild pokémon.

The Geodude looked instantly terrified, making Ralph' wonder for a split second if it maybe recognized her from the other day. The Machops looked unsure, but stood their ground and even sneered at Ralph and the others. Greeny responded by squirming away from Ralph's grip down onto the ground and letting out a sort of tiny growl that unfortunately wasn't very threatening.

"No, you're a pet now, remember?" Ralph said and picked her back up again. "And you, Machop? Has this Geodude committed some crime, or what?"

The Geodude shook its head violently, looking desperate. The Machops just looked annoyed, leading Ralph to believe that they were just being general bullies.

"No. No, I know your kind."

She'd tried to be one at some point. It had seemed like a good career choice at the time, to become the most feared school bully. But it hadn't been a very long episode... Mostly the autumn after she had first failed her exams and not been allowed to go on the journey. What had eventually happened was that younger outcasts had irritatingly started to flock to her, as if she could protect them against classmates who made fun of them. Of course she had called them dorks and become the new one to make fun of them instead.

But then she had gone and beaten up their previous bullies, too.

"Let's even the odds," she said, and let out a pokémon of her own.

The Geodude Ralph had nicknamed Hardy materialized in front of her, and instantly mirrored Ralph's glare at the enemies, shoving one fist into his other hand threateningly.

The other Geodude seemed to suddenly flail, but then it dashed forward through the air and literally jumped Hardy to hug him. So they knew each other, then. Ralph felt incredibly relieved.

The Machops didn't seem discouraged though, and Ralph recalled that Fighting types were usually strong against Rock types. Well, then. She sent out one more pokémon.

Creepy the Dreepy appeared, and hissed curiously at the collection of creatures present. This made the Machops look a bit taken aback. Maybe they had never seen a ghost before?

"Now, I'd say the odds are even," Ralph smiled. "Creepy, Astonish!"

The ghostly Dragon type shot forward along the ground and jumped up just in front of the Fighting types. One of them jumped back in fright, but the other one lunched forward with a Karate Chop... And of course went straight through the Ghost who easily phased out. Creepy giggled at the Machop when it stumbled in confusion.

But by then, the other one had regained its composure and its eyes glowed red. Creepy blinked curiously at it, but was then suddenly hit by its Karate Chop, and escaped back towards Ralph, close to tears. She hadn't counted on being hit, clearly. Neither had Ralph.

As the first Machop advanced again, its eyes now also red, Ralph pulled up her pokédex and realized they were using Foresight - a force that imbued their otherwise plain Normal or Fighting type attacks with the power to hit ghosts.

"Well, that slightly sucks," she admitted.

But the two Geodudes floated up to Creepy and gave her encouraging smiles. Hardy also nodded at Ralph, before both Rock types turned back towards their enemies. Together, they initiated a Rock Throw but not independently. Instead, they grabbed hold of a whole piece of cliff next to the trainer, and lobbed it towards the Machops with impressive strength.

The two Fighting types stood their ground though, and punched together through the boulder, cleaving it in half. But Ralph noticed that the red in their eyes had gone. Maybe when they shifted attention to the other opponents, they forgot to keep the power up?

"Nice work, Hardy!" Ralph cheered. "Creepy, Astonish again, from behind!"

Creepy, now seemingly encouraged again, darted off and Astonished the Fighting pokémon already before the dust settled. That made them stop looking at the Geodudes, who now both prepared a Rollout attack. Creepy ducked out of the way, but the Machops noticed too late the rolling boulders that were coming straight at them, and both got hit and thrown back inside the opening to Rock Tunnel. The Geodudes flew back up and out of reach.

"Now, Quick Attack! Don't let them get up!"

Creepy shot off again, but so did someone else. Greeny couldn't be held any longer; she took off and fell into pace alongside the Dragon, hitting one Machop with Quick Attack at the same time as Creepy hit the other.

It seemed like being opposed by four pokémon and one tireless human was too much for the bullies at last. They finally got up and scrambled off into the darkness inside. Greeny cheered and snuggled up to Creepy, who was first surprised, then seemed close to tears in a happy way this time, and returned the snuggles without phasing. Ralph shook her head and sighed, but then turned to Hardy.



He looked calmly up to Ralph, the other more nervous Geodude's eyes darting from Ralph to him nearby.

"I said I would bring you back to your family when I had healed you," she told him. "They're deep inside Rock Tunnel. Let's go."

But Hardy shook his head while pointing at her, and smiled as warmly as a being made out of rock probably can, before gesturing to to himself and pointing at the Rock Tunnel entrance. He held out a hand. Ralph blinked for a moment, and then slowly took it. They held hands in the sunshine for a few moments, before she realized that Hardy's eyes were not on hers anymore. She followed his gaze. He was looking at his own pokéball at her belt.

"Oh... Yes."

She released his strong hand and took the ball, holding it up. "This isn't your home anymore. Well, actually it never was, it was just an ambulance. And Lavender was your recovery house, I guess. I hope it was okay there."

Hardy smiled a bit harder. Then, he just turned towards Rock Tunnel and floated away inside, the other Geodude following him. Greeny called out after him, but he only turned once to wave, before the dark contrast of the cave's inside enveloped him.

Ralph had kept her promise.

"And you?" she said, arms crossed as she turned to her remaining pokémon on the ground.

They both looked up at her, eyes huge and seemingly innocent.

"You actually do like to battle, don't you?" she asked, half to herself.

Greeny squeaked happily, and Creepy darted in circles around her.

"I guess I can't both keep the cake and eat it," she said, and felt a bit annoyed with herself for using such a grown-up term. "I'm sorry for making you a pet. I didn't really ask you about it. Come here."

The Rattata jumped up into her trainer's arms again, where Ralph removed the black collar Greeny wore. "There. I'll pass by the pokémon center and de-register you as soon as I can. How's that sound?"

Greeny made a sound that definitely was a rat's variant of laughing, and jumped up to nestle herself on one of Ralph's shoulders again. Surprisingly, Dreepy suddenly appeared in between Ralph's braids on the other. Ralph sighed.

"Dorks."

And so, with two small, happy pokémon as shoulder pads, she finally left Rock Tunnel behind her for the last time in a long, long while.

Sandsy

Lv 24 | Coldy

Lv 21 | Edgy

Lv 18
Jolty

Lv 17 | Creepy

Lv 14 | Greeny

Lv 9
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

 

[moon]

Ralph Gonder

feat. Casey Holt

Saturday, May 25th
Early afternoon, Day 6

It is long past noon when Ralph reaches Lavender Town's southern edge. In all her pride over her gym win, and with and subsequent pokémon party changes occupying her thoughts, she didn't even remember to get a late lunch when she stopped by the Pokémon Center to somewhat awkwardly make the nurse call Palm again.

Now, Greeny cheerfully cuddles up against her neck, no collar in sight. It is nice and cozy, and gives a bit of welcome warmth in the wind that's picked up while the sun started hiding behind increasingly grey clouds. Ralph is still not wearing any coat, just one of her regular hoodies, but she did find a beanie when she packed her stuff this morning, recalling the odd find she had made on her first leg of the journey. Since it looked clean, warm and of quality, even if it was a bit big, Ralph shrugged and put it on. Her hair, unusually, was thus let out for the full length of the countless purple braids to hang loose.

Now, hours later, Ralph's stomach is reminding her that she's still human. Saving her is a lucky café next to the road. With a one-track mind, the track being food, she steers her feet off the road and towards the café's entrance.

"Ralph! Haven't seen ya since we started this! How're you?"

It's Casey.

Just outside the café, lounging at a picnic table surrounded by what Ralph can only assume are his Pokémon- a Charmeleon on the bench next to him, a Skiddo laying partially under the table, and a Buneary on top of the table surrounded by piles of berries. The boy himself is dressed for hiking, with his sturdy jacket, perfectly-fitted jeans, and expensive boots. Plus the walking stick and backpack settled next to the Skiddo.

Ralph puts on a nonchalant smile and strolls up to him.

"Hey. I'm just fine. Good, actually," she says simply.

Then she raises an eyebrow at the excessive abundance of natural goodies, feeling Greeny twitch on her shoulder as the rat undoubtedly has spotted the same thing. "So, are you planning on becoming Kanto's next pokémon master, or the next master chef?"

"Neither," Casey laughs. "Pepper bought too many. Does your Rattata want some? Or you, I guess. Or any other Pokémon you have. What's your team like?"

At the mention of 'Pepper', Ralph instinctively looks around, trying to spot Casey's berry-crazed friend. There aren't many other people nearby, and nobody is looking their way in particular, though.

"Um," she starts, but Greeny continues for her by leaping from her shoulder directly onto the table.

She lands very close to Casey's Buneary, but only has eyes for the berries. The bunny hisses, but Casey cuts her off. "Be nice, Ginger. We have way too many."

Ralph shrugs and relaxes a bit. "Sure, if you insist. But I ain't paying for it."

Casey dismisses the notion of payment with a wave. Greeny eagerly gobbles up a handful of berries all at once at Ralph's approval. Meanwhile, the girl sits down across from the boy and leans her elbow on the table, adjusting the beanie on her head slightly with the other hand. Casey glances at the beanie quizzically, but Ralph doesn't notice.

"So this is your team? Ginger, Charmeleon and-", she peeks under the table for a moment. "Grass goat?"

"Ginger, Pepper, and Parsley," Casey corrects, gesturing at each in turn. The Charmeleon- Pepper- waves, Ginger glares, and Ralph feels a damp sensation on her ankle, which turns out to be a lick from Parsley. She decides it's cuter than it's disgusting.

"Spices. Kanto's next master chef it is!" she teases, but already before she stops speaking, her belly chooses to roar agonizingly. "Uh. I wouldn't mind if you were right now, honestly. Berries are good but do you know if they have some actual food in here?"

"Oh, yeah. Sandwiches and salads and stuff. Here-" he pulls his wallet from his pocket and hands over his card. "Get somethin' and come hang out with me."

Ralph looks from his outstretched hand to his face as if he is crazy for a moment, before she remembers who she is talking to. As a kid, Ralph just saw it as an awesome boon that Casey always seemed to have pocket money for snacks or whatever else they wanted to get, and never reflected much on it. So at least that trait hasn't changed.

Her expression relaxes again for only a second before she makes the next connection.

"Pepper," she states blankly. "Casey, did you hand your bank card to your pokémon and tell it to get something and come hang out with you?"

"Uh, yeah? Well, he's got no choice but to hang out with me. But yeah, I told him to get more berries and this's what he came back with."

Ralph lets out a laugh. "Seriously, how have you survived without me?"

But the instant she hears her own words, she cringes inwardly. To distract, she stands up fast. "Well. I'd rather milk the professor for food money. Be right back. Greeny, make sure he doesn't give his card to the next stranger that smiles at him, okay?"

And she darts away inside the café before she can hear any response. There is a perfectly okay selection of café food here, and Ralph quickly zooms in on the biggest sandwich. With it wrapped in napkins - and a milkshake to-go because she figures she deserves it - she turns back towards the entrance, but she stops at a table first to momentarily put her loot down.

There is another reason for her wanting to get out of sight for a bit, too. She is extremely hungry, but she actually loves berries and could probably have gone ham on them like Greeny if she was less self-conscious. But there's something else, aside from wanting to annoy Palm with borderline excessive purchases.

She reaches back and gently nudges the hoodie that's mostly hidden under her vast amount of hair. A tiny growl comes at her, so she pats the bulb more vigorously.

"Wake up. I'm so lucky you are a hard sleeper, though. Can't have you pop up out of nowhere and scare Casey," Ralph says quietly.

Creepy finally, sleepily slithers up on her shoulder, clearly preferring to nap in the hoodie above the pokéball. At least this one isn't the naughtiest of ghosts. She lets Ralph recall her without further fuss, and the trainer picks up the food and exits the building.

The two of them haven't spoken a word about his phobia since they started attending Cape together, but Ralph swears she's seen him shiver when Ghost types are nearby sometimes in school. Or maybe she was just imagining it. Either way, she doesn't want to take the risk, in case he's still got it bad. Maybe as a prank some time. Maybe. But today doesn't seem like a prank day.

She sets down the sandwich and milkshake on an spot at the table that's relatively berry-free, and instantly digs into it like a starved Mightyena. Casey blinks at her, apparently confused about something. It bothers her.

"What? I didn't pick the smelly sandwich. It looked good, though."

"No, uh- your beanie is teal?" This is nothing to go on, and Casey seems to know that. "Where'd you get it?"

That takes Ralph by surprise. She wouldn't have worn a hat she found randomly on the ground if she'd known people would actually ask her about it. What kind of maniac takes clothes from the dirt and thinks 'neat. mine.' after all? Ralph does, apparently. And to boot, this one happens to have her old friend's signature color. She feels her cheeks go hot.

"Maybe I still like teal," she says, speaking fast. "Does it matter where I got it?"

"Just wonderin'." Casey shrugs. "I lost a teal beanie in the woods back by Cape. Belle Météo brand, I think. Yours looks like it. Huh." He rolls a berry across the table contemplatively. "Maybe I should buy another one o' those when we get to Saffron. Online ordering doesn't work so well when you're on a journey. No, an adventure! It's an adventure, right? Least for me it's been. What about you?"

Ralph's cheeks are definitely red now as she realizes that the coincidence is a bit too unreal, so she is very grateful that Casey keeps talking and changes the topic. She takes a few deep sips from the milkshake that nearly gives her a brainfreeze but does make her feel a bit lighter.

"It's been crazy," she admits. "I've caught pokémon and battled gym leaders and gotten lost and…"

That could be a way to find out, actually.

"I faced both gym leaders in Lavender. Since there's two. Well, one and a half, maybe. Did you battle both as well?" she asks and pays attention to his expression.

Casey sighs, finding another berry to roll around as his gaze slips from her face. The frustration evident across his features is clearly something he doesn't actually want to show. "'Course not. She uses Ghost-types. An' Beaumont is the actual gym leader, so that's all I needed to do for graduation."

That was answer enough.

"You're not wrong," Ralph says, swallowing a big chunk of sandwich. "Beaumont beat me, but her I could just have fun annoying until she gave up. Kind of." She can't help but smile smugly at the memory, but then shrugs. "I don't think Palm cares about that win, though, like you said." Casey hums in agreement.

She studies him again. There is the hint of a stubble on his cheek, making her realize anew that he is older than her. Not really a kid at all anymore, in spite of the mounds of irresponsibly acquired berries.

"What other kind of adventures have you been in, then?" she asks, and reaches for the now lukewarm milkshake.

"Uh…" Casey begins to tick things off on his fingers. "Fell into a Pidgey nest, got attacked twice in Cerulean and once in Lavender, made a new friend, met my cousin for the first time, got run over by a herd of Skiddo, climbed all over Route 9, went camping, found some cool stuff and not-so-cool stuff in Rock Tunnel, and had fun at that party yesterday. Maybe it sounds boring when I say it out loud! But it's more action than I've seen for the last few years, y'know? Cape was kinda monotonous. We didn't even get our own Pokémon to learn with! But now I've got these three. I think it's like having kids. Maybe. That's what Jordan acts like, and he knows better about family stuff than I do." Casey makes a slight face, as if he feels he shouldn't have said that. He continues anyway. "What're yours like? Do they feel like kids?"

"Definitely not," Ralph says promptly to the last question, but badly suppresses a grin. "Weirdo." Casey sticks his tongue out at her.

Greeny chooses that moment to wobble up to Ralph's plate and basically fall off the table into the trainer's lap, having eaten her fill and then some of Pepper's berries and suffering the subsequent sugar coma now.

"Scratch that, this one's a messy toddler," Ralph sighs. "And I have at least one more like it. The others are pretty cool though. Um."

She glances at Pepper again. As a kid, she'd actually always wanted a Charmander, and eventually a Charizard. She could probably have chosen Charmander when she started her journey now, but she hadn't really paid much attention or cared, and instead just gotten whatever. Sandshrew.

Casey had gotten a Charmander. Pepper notices her stare and blinks at her, head cocked to the side in curiosity. He looks pretty friendly, actually.

"You wanted to see my pokémon too, right?" she asks Casey.

"Uh, well, uh-" Casey's clearly caught off-guard, but his words resolve themselves into an actual request: "Yeah! Just not any Ghost-types, thanks."

She offers him an uncharacteristically kind smile - for 15 year old Ralph at least. "Nah."

Without moving her napping Rattata, Ralph reaches for the other pokéballs at her waist, carefully skipping over Dreepy's. She lets them out on the lawn next to their table.

"There's Jolty, Coldy, Edgy, and Sandsy is my starter," Ralph said, pointing in turn at Elekid, Sandshrew, Beedrill and Sandslash, the latter two seemingly flexing slightly while the former two just chilled. "There's a couple more elsewhere," Ralph then adds noncommittally.

"You got too many to carry already?" Casey asks, leaving his seat to inspect the Sandslash and Beedrill. "Wow, you guys are already evolved! Nobody else I've hung out with has evolved Pokémon yet. Well, nobody from Cape." He touches Sandsy's spikes gently and curiously. Sandsy lets him and just smiles proudly. "You guys must train a lot, right?"

"Honestly, not as much as we should. I mean, I lost to Beaumont. Although that wasn't their fault, it was just mine," Ralph says, now crossing her arms and furrowing her brows. A vague "same, really," is all she gets from Casey as he watches her Pokémon with curiosity.

A few long seconds pass in silence, and Ralph isn't sure of what more to say. She catches Coldy casting curious looks at the newly evolved Sandsy as the latter walks over to say hi to the Charmeleon; perhaps the two starters had met before at Palm's? Edgy has already stolen several berries and buzzed off to somewhere behind Ralph, and Jolty has settled down on the ground next to Parsley the Skiddo, now looking relaxed as he leans against one leg of the table.

She doesn't really want this moment to end, she realizes. It's strangely nice, just being her and Casey seemingly just being him. She's sure they haven't talked this long in private, or at all, ever since she left Pewter City all those years ago.

"I dunno what the next gym leader's like, but we're not gonna lose again," Casey says, apparently deciding this right in this moment. "Neither of us. We're gonna train hard and we're gonna win fairly!"

"Yeah," Ralph agrees, and then feels daring. "I bet I'll beat more gyms than you in the end though!"

"You're on, girl," Casey grins, emulating Ralph's own quirk of speech and holding his fist out to tap her knuckles. "Zero for one right now, for both of us- call me after Vermilion. We'll see who's ahead then."


Half an hour later, on Route 12, Ralph remembers to pull off her beanie and check inside. Belle Météo is the brand.

Well, shit.

Sandsy

Lv 24 | Coldy

Lv 21 | Edgy

Lv 18
Jolty

Lv 17 | Creepy

Lv 14 | Greeny

Lv 9
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt

Saturday, May 25, 2019 // Afternoon, Day 6
Route 12

6-04. tryna find a starting line

Spoiler: music

lost in the wild - walk the moon

Ralph had said goodbye some time ago.

Casey's trying not to think about the strange, heavy pull he'd felt in his chest as he'd watched her go.

He distracts himself with waving to and chatting with classmates and strangers alike until he finally finds what he's looking for- a bright young woman named Viveka, whose round face framed by the single blonde streak in her dark chin-length hair makes her look much younger than her claim of twenty-four years old.

Not that any of those details matter much to Casey. He's been screening for only two things while chatting amicably to every passerby- an intent to walk Route 12 and a lack of Ghost-type Pokémon. Viveka meets both of those criteria, and apparently has no objection to hiking with some scruffy-faced kid she just met on the street.

Perfect.

Viveka finishes her lunch, watching as Casey re-laces his boots and anchors his backpack. He feels nearly unencumbered by it now- a few days of getting used to walking with a full bag was all he needed, apparently. He probably should have done that the week before he left. But Casey is not the type of person who prepares for things.

He glances at Viveka, returning her dishes with a cheerful grin, and wonders if she's the type to prepare for things. Two unprepared people might not be the best combination. Unless, perhaps, they are unprepared in opposite ways. Then things would work. Maybe the best idea would be to form a little travel group of people who are unprepared in all different ways, so they could make up for each others' shortcomings.

But he'd kinda done that already, hadn't he?

Casey presses his palms to his cheeks and exhales sharply. Doesn't matter! He shouldn't be relying on people anyway.

Maybe he should have gone on alone.

But he doesn't like to be alone for very long.

So he'd found Viveka, and she's a real adult, and is probably better at being prepared simply because of that! Better than three teenagers who've never travelled in their lives. At the very least, she's prepared to charge whatever electronics she's got stuffed haphazardly into her own satchel. Her red Charjabug sits sleepily on top, various wires gently held in its mouth, and her slightly more active green one spits Casey's phone charger at him so it can greet Viveka as she returns.

Hundred percent battery. Cool.

"Ready, dude?"

Casey bounces on his feet, catching the walking stick Pepper tosses up with ease. "Forget my name already?"

Viveka grimaces. Casey laughs. "Casey Holt," he reminds her.

"What do I need your last name for?" Casey shrugs. "Mine's Anand, if you wanna know. Anyway- ready to go?"

"All set!"

Viveka recalls both Charjabug and picks up her satchel after her fussy Cincinno packs everything away. "Thanks, Cin!"

The Cincinno ignores her and scrambles up to Parsley's back to give him a thorough dusting before he sits, apparently choosing to ride for the journey ahead. Parsley sneezes, and Ginger grumbles from her perch on Casey's shoulder.

"You can't grumble; Parsley's not yours." Casey admonishes as they set out. "Let someone else hang out with him for a while." Ginger continues to grumble anyway. "You wanted to sit in my collar."

"Was she your first Pokémon?" Viveka asks, the interaction sparking some questions in her bright brown eyes.

"Huh? Nah, that's Pepper." Casey gestures to the Charmeleon, who is happily bounding back and forth across the road. Much as he had done that first day, in fact. "Got him from the school. But Ginger was the first one I caught." He waits for Ginger to argue the point, and she doesn't. Huh. "That was the same day, though. Monday."

"Only Monday?!"

"...Yeah?"

"God, she's practically in love with you, then."

Casey's quick reflexes are all that save Viveka from a kick to the face. Ginger, upside-down in his two-handed grip, screams at the woman. And at Casey. And at the world, probably. "Uh, she doesn't like to talk about feelings. She stopped using Frustration after I told her it was the same strength as Pound and I think it's 'cause she thinks it lets me know too much. But, uh. What d'you mean?" he asks, over Ginger's tantrum.

Viveka takes all that in and chooses her words more carefully. "Buneary are notoriously difficult to get along with. They don't listen well, they're cold to or actively dislike their trainers, they're guarded and defensive. People tend to give up on them because of their temperaments." Ginger falls still and silent at that. Casey takes the opportunity to right her and settle her into the crook of the arm not occupied by his walking stick. "So for you to have a Buneary that listens, that chooses to sit in your collar, that lets you handle her like that after… five days? That says something about… about one of you. Or both of you. Maybe just one of you, honestly, considering that she just tried to jump me."

Casey sighs. "Yeah, she does that to Jordan, too."

"What did you do to make her like you so much?"

"I…" He glances at Ginger. She glares at him. "She likes battles and berries, and gets a lot of both with me. 'S all I can say about it."

He's not going to speculate on Ginger's potential abandonment. Not right in front of her, anyway. Viveka looks like she knows she's not getting the whole story, but backs off.

"She'll need a lot of care and attention, still," Viveka muses.

"Yeah. I'm not gonna catch many Pokémon. It'd be unfair to her. And the other two. If I get too many then I won't be able to give 'em the attention they need."

"Smart," Viveka agrees. "I'm glad I didn't have many Pokémon while I raised my Togepi. Same reason! Bonding takes a lot of time and effort, and catching too many new Pokémon at once hinders that. I think a lot of young trainers run into problems that way. Especially if they happen to catch one that needs more care."

"You've got a Togepi?" He hasn't seen one yet, not in real life. Viveka grins.

"Not anymore- she's a Togekiss now!" And said Togekiss bursts from a Friend Ball to glide above them, clearly happy to fly in open skies, even if those skies are a gloomy grey. Casey watches in awe. "It's been a long time since she was a Togepi. Technically she was my first Pokémon, but Cin has been with me longer. My mom got him to clean up after me when I was young, but he likes me more than her so we transferred ownership a few years ago."

The Togekiss loops and rolls above them, gliding on the strong winds blowing in from the sea. Pepper chases her shadow, and Parsley cheerfully chases Pepper. Viveka's Cinccino looks somewhere between distressed and horrified at this turn of events and the two trainers stifle laughter.

Viveka is a good travelling companion for him. What Casey needs most is someone to talk to. His Pokémon are fine, but they're not the best at holding an actual conversation. Well, they're not any good at it, really. They don't have language. Or complex enough ideas to make a conversation interesting. It gets repetitive over time. Maybe it's similar to a thing he's heard- how parents who stay at home with their young children hunger so desperately for interaction with people at their own level of comprehension and experience. They love their children as he loves his Pokémon, but they don't fulfill intellectual and social needs in the same way a peer does.

Maybe that's why his parents didn't spend a whole lot of time with him as a child.

Maybe he'll ask Aurelia if they were the same with her.

Maybe she'll actually answer him, for once.

It's a good thing his mouth can carry on normal conversation without much input from his brain- he can dismiss the discomfort associated with that train of thought simply by focusing more fully on what Viveka is pointing out.

"Look, a lot of the power-generating structures were torn down- the solar panels and the wind turbines- but you can tell where they were. Can you guess how?"

Casey peers into the swampy forest as they walk, almost tripping over Pepper when the Charmeleon wanders in front of him. No obvious paths remain leading in toward the factory's silhouette- new growth has covered any gravel or concrete pads that may have once existed. It's been- what did Viveka say? Over twenty years since this project was abandoned. Of course signs of the past have been obscured, so how exactly...

Oh. New growth.

"All the places where the trees are young 'n' skinny, huh?"

"Yeah, that's usually where the concrete was! And still is, actually. Just broken and covered. If you walk around in there, you can see that those patches are usually rectangular-ish. Very obviously man-made. Good eye, man."

"Thanks! You've been in there before, then?"

"Oh, yeah. I've been filming!"

"Filming here?" The two Charjabug and plethora of electronics had been explained to him earlier, but... "Why?"

"I'm making a documentary series, so I'm trying to get footage of all the factories. I took a break and chilled out in Lavender for a few days. But it's time to get back to work!" She sighs suddenly, running a hand through her mostly-dark hair. "I'm not very good with long projects, honestly. This is the third time I've been out here and I… I'm really only walking with you because I'm dragging my feet. Not that you're bad company or anything! But I could have flown, you know?"

"But... you haven't been to all of 'em yet?" Casey personally has never experienced the desire to drag his feet in the face of exploring something new.

"Oh, no, there's a bunch. But I've been in everything in this northern half. It's close to Lavender so it's easy to stay in town and come down- but that makes them not as good for exploring, because a lot of Lavender-based people have already done exactly what I did."

Trails more well-worn, buildings made safer, graffiti, remains of campfire, whatever else that humans introduced to the factories- Viveka says it ruins the atmosphere that she's looking for. It doesn't feel "wild" enough. It makes sense. So this time she'll be basing herself out of the research center at the crux of Routes 11 and 12 for a while, taking advantage of what mapping of the area those scientists have done.

"Hey, you should stay at the lab tonight! Better than camping by yourself."

She's not wrong. "Do they have that kind of space?"

"Oh, yeah, it used to house loads of people. But right now there's only two using it- Doctor Quartz and their assistant. Aaron? Arthur? Allen? I don't remember. But it's only them, so they let travellers stay. Might as well!"

"Yeah, good idea! 'Specially if this weather gets worse." Camping isn't an issue, even in poor weather, but would he prefer to spend his time drying his tent and struggling to cook dinner, when he has easy access to modern amenities? No.

Viveka sighs again. "It's not great, is it? Bad lighting. Terrible for filming. At least it isn't windy inside the factories. But it's cold and damp, that's for sure. I keep hoping for a sunny day, but I don't think I'm going to get that."

She's probably right. Casey scrambles to recall Pepper as the rain begins to fall in earnest, and Cinccino disappears from Parsley's back as Viveka has a similar thought. Ginger reaches into Casey's pocket to tap her own PokéBall. And it's only Parsley left to frolic in the downpour and Togekiss to float peacefully above the two trainers, playing the role of a somewhat ineffective umbrella.

It's better than nothing.

Pepper Bomb • Charmeleon • lv24 | Ginger • Buneary • lv24 | Parsley • Skiddo • lv21
Casey's Profile | Extra Characters | TRAINERS Art | Current Chapter

 

[QueenNothing]

Gwen Alanis ft. Casey Holt (Aquacorde)
Route 12, May 25th, Afternoon,

---

"Here ya go, young one!" The round old man from earlier handed Gwen a paper plate that carried a large slab of meat that looked as if it had been cooked on a grill. "Fresh Seaking!"

She didn't seem very bothered by the fact she was eating a Pokémon that was swimming in the ocean just a few hours ago, but Flynn, who judgingly looked over her shoulders, was visibly repulsed.

"Gwen, you're eating Pokémon meat! Doesn't that feel wrong!?"

Gwen simply shrugged. "Pokémon eat other Pokémon in the wild, y'know. It's all a part of nature." She took a bite of the Seaking meat, analyzing it as she chewed it apart. Tusk and Pix were out, also sitting underneath the tarp that had been set-up, with Axew getting more meat than his trainer.

Flynn, however, was sickened by the act of eating meat. He was a vegan, he saw Pokémon as pets, and the thought that anybody could betray that sickened him. This made him an outlier in his family, who all fished for the meat instead of collecting, as Flynn had aspired to. Seeing the girl he crushed on unhesitatingly eating meat twisted his stomach a little- Only getting worse when she seemed to enjoy it.

"Y'like your food there, Missie?" The old man asked. "We got plenty more if you want seconds, and if we find any, we might cook up some Slowpoke tail!"

"Isn't that still illegal?" came a new voice laced with curiosity. Gwen recognized the voice as one of her classmates, and turned around to see a familiar face. His name escaped her at this exact moment, it was probably Quincy or something like that, but whatever. Her attention was more focused on the Skiddo walking toward the makeshift tent, trailed by a completely unfamiliar woman with a blonde streak through her dark hair. A short, sharp whistle from the woman prompted a Togekiss to circle lazily down to settle near her.

"Oh, hey there Casey." Flynn's face began to turn a little green. "I know you just got here, but I need to step away for a bit. I don't feel so good."

Casey shrugged, apparently not offended by this, and waved him off. "What's up with him?" he asked Gwen. The Skiddo nosed gently at her plate. "Uh, don't give him any of that. I'm tryna teach him not to beg."

The Unovian trainer pet the Skiddo's head with her free hand, giggling as she witnessed the grass-type's reaction. "Uh, I think he doesn't like eating meat or something. But that's just how Flynn is. What a weirdo."

"Meat… you mean like real meat?"

Gwen nodded with her mouth full. "Mmmhmmm." She took a second to swallow her food. "It's Seaking meat. It's pretty tasty!"

A flat "what" from Casey's travelling companion was overridden by his own curious enthusiasm. "Hey, gimme a bite, I wanna try!"

"We got plenty more, young one!" The old man enthusiastically stated, handing Casey a plate of his own. "Unless you're gonna be like my grandson. Hah!"

Casey accepted his plate with a "thanks!" and set about examining it from every angle. "Wow, you get a good char on this- is that skin? What do you season it with?"

"Alright guys, I think I'm feeling a little be-" Flynn, who had just gotten back, froze when seeing Casey with a plate of Seaking meat. "Casey! Not you too!"

Casey, who had finally taken a bite, looked at Flynn with raised eyebrows. "What?" he said, through his mouthful. "It's food. Good food, too. Texture's diff'rent than the normal stuff, of course. Flavor's pretty close, though."

The woman, however, seemed to be on Flynn's side. "Something about real meat grosses me out. No offense to the chefs," she added hastily, glancing around the other adults nearby, "I just don't like the thought of it."

"Yeah!" The fisher boy added in. "Pokémon are our companions, but…" He took a good look at Gwen, who couldn't get enough of her food, and sighed. "I guess if Gwen wants to eat it then it's fine."

"I don't see what the big deal is." Gwen spoke up. "Do you think a Pyroar eats synthetic meat?"

"Or a Flygon," Casey chimed in. "Didn't you say your mom has a Flygon, Viveka?"

The woman- Viveka- rolled her eyes. "Okay, yeah. But we're not Pokémon; we don't have the same nutritional needs. Humans are fine with full synthetic. And most Pokémon are, too."

"Fair," Casey conceded, "But I'm still gonna try what I can and eat what I get." He took a few more bites, clearly unfazed by the argument. "Like at the party yesterday. I got to try so many foods that were specific to Lavender! Or maybe they were just old-school foods that aren't too common anywhere else. I should've asked. Did you try anythin' there?"

"Wh-Who, me?" Gwen nervously pointed to herself, realizing that yes, Casey was indeed making her the center of attention. "Uh, well I had some pretty good chicken strips and fries. Nothing fancy."

Casey scrutinized her. "What'd you do all night, then? Just ended up watchin' the entertainment?"

"I didn't even know there was a party. But I did go the the graveyard and caught a cool Pokemon!" She reached for her belt, about to grab Bead's Pokeball, but Casey flinched and held his hands up, his plate clattering to the ground. Viveka jumped.

"Waitwaitwait don't-" Casey took a sharp breath and ran a hand through his hair. "Uh, graveyard. You caught a Ghost-type. Uh, can you… keep it in its PokéBall for a while?" His Skiddo, finally free to investigate the food, did so with abandon.

Gwen stared at Casey with a cocked eyebrow. "What? He doesn't bite or anything, in-fact he's pretty helpful. His name is Bead, and he's a Misdreavus!"

"Another Misdreavus…" Casey sighed, mostly to himself. "Look, I, uh. I don't do well with Ghost-types. I don't like 'em. So if you could keep him put away…"

"You don't like ghost-types? What is there to not like about them, they're super cool!"

"They're unpredictable an' they can control things an' influence people an' possess things an'-" Casey stopped himself, crossing his arms and glancing away. "I just don't like 'em. So…" Something occurred to him, and he looked back to Gwen. "Maybe if you warn me 'fore you bring him out, that'd be… that'd be okay. 'S long as he ain't out long."

"I don't know what you're talking about, ghosts are just like any other Pokémon." The black haired girl said, with her eyebrow still raised and her arms crossed. "But if you're gonna be such a baby about it, fine, I guess. Although Bead has a habit of coming out of his PokéBall without me even opening it."

Casey went quiet for a moment, patting his Skiddo vaguely and watching him spit out some of the fallen Seaking fillet. "Can I ask him not to?"

"Sure, I gue-"

Gwen was cut off by Bead's PokéBall opening by itself, sending out a light that formed into a very irritated looking Misdreavus. "Mis mis?" He chirped, facing Casey. Casey's fingers curled into his Skiddo's pelt and he took a deep breath, eyes locked onto the Ghost in front of him.

"Uh, hi. Misdreavus. No, Bead. Uh, can you- can you stay in your PokéBall when I'm around? Please? Or, uh, give Gwen a sign when you wanna come out or somethin', I dunno, I bet you can do that, make things happen from inside your PokéBall and, and influence things and-" He was cut off by a complaint from the Skiddo about his tightening grip. "Sorry. Uh. What do you think?"

"Mis mis…" Bead rolled his eyes before bobbing his head, reluctant to agree.

"Good job Bead!" His trainer praised, returning him to his PokéBall. Casey sighed and sunk to his knees to both pet and murmur apologetic nonsense to his Skiddo for the rough treatment.

"Good job indeed! I can't imagine anyone else would be able to handle such a Pokémon like you did, Gwen!" Gwen turned her head, remembering that Flynn was apparently still here, and was as persistent as ever. This was never not annoying. Casey peeked up from nuzzling his Skiddo, glancing between his two classmates.

"Hey, Gwen," he hissed, beckoning her down to his level, to which the Unovian girl followed. "Is he still, y'know. Into you?"

"Urgh, yeah." She nodded. Casey looked thoughtful for a second, then grinned.

"Let's take a page out of Noel's book!"

"Who?"

"Noel Yukino? She was in our class- why does nobody know anyone else? Nevermind, it don't matter. We're gonna put on a show; just follow my lead."

---

Gwen's team

 

[Dragon]

The Super Aaaamazing Noel!
Lavender Town

vs. Flaaffy

I never wanted to be me.
I'm tired of me.
I hate me.
I...
I want to be someone else.
I want to be...

"Noel Yukino, ready to battle!"

The Western Lavender Gym was a buzz the following morning, with Noel now the new challenger. Noel was at one side of the gym, while the Gym Leader, Beaumont Tayloz, was on the other side. He seemed quite cool and calculating - it was obvious to Noel that he had a similar aura to her proclaimed master Jarmie: he was quite experienced in battles, with fairly strong pokemon to boot. But, that's a Gym Leader for you.

Beaumont adjusted his glasses. "Well then, Noel. I trust you know the rules, yes?" he said. "The first trainer to knock out the opponents pokemon is the winner. Since you have two pokemon, I'll just use two as well. Feel free to select the order of your pokemon without telling me. Simple enough, yes?"

"Of course!" Noel agreed, bringing out the first of her pokeballs. "We're ready to dazzle!"

"Very well," Beaumont claimed, bringing out one of his pokeballs as well. He then threw it towards the stadium. It opened up upon impact with the floor, releasing energy that materialized into a wooly, pink pokemon: a Flaaffy.

"Flaaffy, huh? Ah... That's right, master said that he likes to use Electric-type pokemon," Noel softly said to herself. "Okay! Let's goooo... Amethyst!" Her pokeball released her partnered Mawile, who bared her fangs towards the fluffy electric pokemon.

Flaaffy vs. Mawile. Battle Begin!

"Go on, Amethyst - use your Iron Head!" ordered Noel. Her Mawile rushed on, to attempt to slam the enemy Flaaffy against her steel-plated jaw. However, Beaumont did nothing in response, as he calmly assessed the situation. Finally Mawile reached her foe, delivering her strong attack, only to be stopped... by the Flaaffy's increase of wool.

"What was--"

"Cotton Spore," Beaumont explained. "My Flaaffy has the ability to raise her defense with that move, rendering physical attacks null and void. A pity." he then raised his arm, preparing a counter-attack. "Thunderwave."

His Flaaffy released a strong current of lighting from its wool, zapping Amethyst with a strong blast full of it. Amethyst knelt down, her body completely electrified, and paralyzed.

Wait, I can work with this... just as I trained, Noel thought to herself. "Go on, Amethyst! Bite it!"

"Cotton Spore!"

Amethyst, trying to fight through her paralysis, once again approaches the Flaaffy, only for it to be intercepted by the growth of its wool. Still, Amethyst did as commanded and bit on the Flaaffy's wool, seemingly doing nothing, until Beaumont noticed that the electrical current from the Mawile's body started to pass through the Flaaffy, shocking it for damage as well.

It's a good thing we practiced with master's Lampent... now we know what to do against being burned or paralyzed, Noel thought to herself, with a sigh of relief. "Now throw it!" Noel quickly yelled, having her Mawile muster up her strength to lift up the Flaaffy with her jaw, throwing it across the battlefield, to the ground.

"Hmmm... not bad," Beaumont said in compliment. "But what say you to this: Thundershock!" His Flaaffy then released a stream of yellow electrical current to the Mawile.

"Quick! Block it!" upon Noel's command, Amethyst spun her second jaw around and around like a pinwheel, forcefully nullifying the electrical attack as it made contact. "That little surprise we learned during our acting training! Looks like it paid off!"

"Let's see you handle - Take Down!" Beaumont then responded, his Flaaffy then rushed down with a good amount of force and speed towards its foe.

"Alllright, be amazed by Play Rough!" Noel goaded, ordering her Mawile to counter the blow. When the two pokemon collided with each other, Amethyst held itself up against the full weight of Flaaffy, as the two struggled in a test of strength. Though Beaumont's Flaaffy seems to be getting the better of it for a good while, as it managed to continuously push Amethyst backwards.

"It's almost over now," Beaumont proclaimed. "You have good tactics, but your Pokemon's level isn't quite high as mine. Strength also matters in a pokemon battle. Remember that."

"Don't sell us short yet," Noel carefully explained. "We've got plenty of spirit to make up for it! Get em' Amethyst! Iron Head!"

During their struggle, Amethyst raised her second jaw, even as her arms were locked. She then used her jaw to slam down upon the Flaaffy, right on its nose. The Flaaffy stumbled a bit, kneeling on the ground.

"Get em'! Fairy Wind!" was Noel's next command. Amethyst body glowed a brilliant pink, flashing and showering the enemy Flaaffy with a strong gust of pink energy, sending the Flaaffy flying, ruslting in it crashing on the ground, causing it to faint.

Flaaffy is unable to battle, Mawile wins!

"Haha! Yeeeees!" Noel cheered on, with Amethyst only sitting down, breathing in and out from all the stress of the battle.

Beaumont calmly returned his pokemon back into its pokeball. "Good work, my friend, take a rest," he whispered to it, putting back his pokeball back, and getting out another one. He flashed Noel with a warm, sincere smile. "Hah, I have to say, you're doing quite good! Despite the level difference, all those small strategies are keeping me on my toes!"

"Don't underestimate a acting star!" Noel boasted. "Amethyst and Luna got some hard training in as actresses for the play! Plus all the trainers in Lavender helped out a ton too! Noel has evolved from Super God to Super God Ultra PLUS!"

"We'll see, we'll see," Beaumont replied with his usual tone, sending out his next pokeball. "To get the badge, you'll have to win against my ace!" He then threw his pokeball, releasing it, as the energy materialized into a peculiar pokemon - its head is mostly black with a yellow lower jaw. It has blue eyes with a pointed spike over each. Covering its neck is a black frill with orange spikes around the rim. Its hands and feet are black with three digits each and there is an orange band with triangular markings around each leg. Finally, it has a long, tapering tail that is orange and then black at the tip. It let lose a fierce hiss that echoed the battle field.

"Go now... Heliolisk!"

"...Heliolisk?"



To be continued...

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt & Gwen Alanis

Saturday, May 25, 2019 // Afternoon, Day 6
Route 12 // Seaside Shelter

6-06. the mighty titan

Spoiler: music

seven seas of rhye - queen

"So Flynn," Casey says, finally cleaning up his dropped meal, "How've you been doing, handlin' your Pokémon?" That sounds more like an innuendo than he wants it to. Thankfully, Flynn doesn't take it that way.

"Oh, well, not very well honestly…" The brunette boy admits shyly. "When I started my journey, I chose Slowpoke, named him Pokey, but he doesn't listen to me very much. He just lays around all day. I also have a Poliwag who can't stand his ground very well. Then there's…" He needs a second to gulp. "I caught a Magikarp today who evolved, and uhm, he's… Kind of scary."

"Scarier than a Gyarados normally is?" Not that Gyarados are particularly scary. He's surprised that Flynn is afraid of them, actually- isn't the dude from a family of fisherpeople? Casey's heard that from him before, one of the several times they'd talked at school. A guy from a family of fisherpeople's got no business being afraid of fish.

"Yes!" The boy exclaimed. "Have you ever seen a Dynamax Pokémon? He's THAT big!" He shudders. Casey laughs, but his disbelief has to be obvious. Not that it's unwarranted- Flynn's been known to exaggerate. Makes for good stories, but works against his credibility. Casey's been caught out by his tall tales a few different times, and he's not intending to be this time.

"I've heard you tell some wild stories before, but this's a bit much, don'cha think?"

"No no, you don't understand! My entire family just saw it a bit ago, you can even ask Gwen!"

"Well, if you wanna show your big guy off... let's see how your team battles, huh?" Casey grins cheekily. This still sounds like a weird innuendo. Oh well, power through. "Bet Gwen would love to see her two favorite boys duke it out!"

While Casey is being mildly amused by the truth of the statement- he and Flynn probably are Gwen's favorite boys, simply be being the only two she seems to know- Flynn's eyebrows are furrowing, clearly taken aback by the allegation. "What do you mean, favorite? You know I have a thing for her, and if you're trying to take her from me, I'll stop you right here and now, buster!"

Wow, that went quicker than he thought it would. He barely had to work. But the show's just begun. "Will ya? I'll take that bet. And if ya lose, well. Gwen and I will be off together." Again, it's not untrue- he'll walk with Gwen for a while, just to allow her to ditch Flynn.

"W-w-w-wait, what!?" Typical of her, Gwen doesn't seem to catch onto his signaling, not that Flynn is any less sold. That's fine. He can probably cover if she slips.

Casey catches a glimpse of Viveka rolling her eyes and gives her a quick, hard stare. Of course she knows what he's up to. He's really not that subtle. Don't say anything! "Hey Viveka! You used t' be a ref, right? Wanna judge this battle?"

"As long as I get to stay under here," she says, sizing up the unending rain.

"Sure, sure."

Flynn tightens his fists and grits his teeth, seething as he stares Casey down. "Let's go then!"

Casey opts to leave his jacket under the tarp with Viveka and Gwen; as much as it protects from the elements, the thing is hell to dry. His shirt is soaked within minutes, but it doesn't matter. He's got spares. Parsley follows him as they put space enough between them and Flynn. "You get to go first again this time, baby boy," he cooes as Flynn hesitates to reach for a Lure Ball. He instead opts to toss a regular PokéBall, which pops open and sends out a Poliwag.

"Everyone ready?" Viveka calls. At Casey and Flynn's dual affirmative, she nods and puts on a voice much more akin to a professional referee than her usual. "The battle between Casey and Flynn may now begin!"

Casey starts with the usual- letting Parsley run. At least in battle there's a point to it; the Skiddo circles his less nimble opponent, forming a Leech Seed as he does and firing it into the center of the Poliwag's chest where it sprouts roots to wrap around the little tadpole's entire form.

Obviously, not being able to catch up with such stubby legs, Poliwag instead shoots an assortment of bubbles that swiftly chase after the grass-type, wincing as he feels his energy being sucked through the plant that's grown around him. But that's easily taken care of- Razor Leaf pops all of the bubbles before they can even get close to Parsley himself. The Skiddo changes the direction of his circling on command; Casey's seen him get dizzy before and it's not the most helpful state for a battle.

Even with his mobility limited, Poliwag is able to blast pressurized water from his mouth, doing his best to fact whichever direction Parsley prances to. Parsley keeps his normal pace and that has consequences- Poliwag predicts him, and he takes the hit in the rear with a yelp, even as energy drains from Poliwag and into Parsley to heal his minor hurts.

"You're okay, baby boy. Vine Whip it back!"

Parsley gets in closer on this pass to slam a vine into Poliwag's back, sending it stumbling forward. "Good boy!"

The Poliwag is looking rough and Casey wonders if Flynn will call it; the battle's clearly not going his way. But no- the boy's drive has him persist, commanding his Pokemon to Water Gun Parsley again.

"Leaf Screen!" Casey's named this thing now, this particular utilization of Razor Leaf that simply sheds a pile of leaves in front of the Skiddo. They don't go far, there's so little power behind each of them, but they are enough to diminish the force of Water Gun and allow a vine to lash out once more and send Poliwag sliding back across the muddy grass.

Viveka sneaks out from under the tarp for a closer look- "Flynn's Poliwag is unable to battle! Choose your next Pokémon!"- and darts back to shelter.

"Usually Pokey won't obey, but I can't give up with Gwen on the line!" Another PokéBall is tossed, this one sending out a Slowpoke who just lays on his belly, showing no interest in even lifting his body weight. Casey almost feels sorry for Flynn- he's not a very good trainer, it seems, and he's so desperate to impress Gwen. Honestly, Casey doesn't really get that. What does he want from her, anyway? A kiss? He could just ask. Not that Casey thinks Gwen would say yes- she's clearly not interested in Flynn. Or people in general. He's probably talked to her more in the two times they'd met on this journey than the two years at school together. If Flynn is so obsessed with her, he'd have to know how Gwen is too. Right? So why's he still pressing the issue?

Romance stuff makes no damn sense.

Casey shakes his head and re-focuses on the battle, starting the exact same way- with Parsley circling, throwing a Leech Seed that wraps itself around the Slowpoke's tail. Flynn does nothing at all to prevent Casey using this exact same strategy twice and even lets Parsley just prance away. Fool me once…

Pokey then opens his mouth, releasing a loud yawn that causes the Skiddo to yawn shortly after, even as he gallops away. Casey yawns as well, then realizes what just happened. "Ah, crap- Razor Leaf!"

Parsley obeys, whipping up a normal amount of sharpened leaves this time. Their opponent doesn't care to dodge, even though the move is super-effective against it, but it doesn't have to be too concerned- Parsley stops running, for probably the first time since Casey caught him, and wanders back toward his trainer's side of the field to flop down. "Hey, don't do that. Don't go to sleep, uh- use Razor Leaf again!" Pokey's eyes then flash red, as he makes eye-contact with Parsley, and Parsley seems to obey Casey's command, but… but can't?

"What happened, why-"

Parsley shrugs as his eyes get heavier and he can no longer keep them open- he falls asleep where he sits, legs tucked under and nose dropping straight into the ground. Dammit. How does one wake a sleeping Pokémon in battle? Berries, flutes… he doesn't have anything that's used for that. Move-induced sleep is a heavy drug and almost impossible to shake off without waiting out the effect. So he'll just have to wait. Luckily, Leech Seed is still draining energy from Slowpoke and into Parsley, but that's not stopping Pokey's eyes from glowing pink, which summons a surge of psychic energy that picks the Skiddo up and slams him into the ground. Parsley doesn't stir, and Casey winces when his Pokémon is slammed mercilessly into the ground once more. Parsley whimpers and twitches, finally cracking one eye open and staggering to his feet.

"Get moving, get your energy back- Pursuit!"

Parsley canters straight for the Slowpoke, speed boosted by the dark energy wrapping around him. Pokey doesn't take the super effective attack very well, but he's still able to use more psychic energy to harshly drop the grass-type into the ground a third time. Parsley doesn't even bother to get back up- he simply extends his vines to pick the Slowpoke up and slam it to the ground this time, as if to say "how do you like it?!"

Viveka once again makes a brief appearance outside of the tarp. "Slowpoke is unable to battle! ...Wait, is that the match? Did anyone decide on numbers? Damn, it's been a while since I did this. Anyone?" Casey shrugs. Parsley circles back to him and noses at his pocket as if there may be a granola bar in there.

"I," Flynn clenches his fists. He looks as if he's afraid to say it. "I have one more Pokémon left!" In his right hand, he holds the Lure Ball from earlier. He's proven himself as a mediocre trainer, and surely his final Pokémon couldn't be any more difficult to put up with. Even if it is a Gyarados.

"FLYNN, DON'T DO IT!" A young woman calls out from under the tarp, catching everyone's attention. "Your buddy could have created so much chaos just a second ago! There's a time and place for everything, and now is not the time!"

"You're wrong, Fay!" The brunette boy shouts back. "I got a lot on the line here, and if I don't reel 'er in now, I've lost that opportunity for good!" He shakes with the specialized ball in his hand, almost as if the world will end if he tosses it open.

This sure is a lot of drama for a Gyarados.

"Go, Gyarados!"

As his words echo through the area, the fisherpeople all dash away, screaming with fear. The Lure Ball lands on the ground, cracking open and releasing a large white light. It initially appeared unimpressive, but the white light further expanded past the height of the average Gyarados. And kept expanding. And kept expanding...

Flynn couldn't contain his trembling as the light formed into a large serpentine Pokemon that was at least three times the standard height of most Gyarados. Now on the battlefield, the Atrocious Pokemon looked down at Parsley with rage running rampant his eyes, unleashing a ferocious roar causing the ground to shake and the Skiddo to cower behind Casey.

Okay, the drama was warranted.

What the hell is this?! his internal monologue began. How the hell is it so big- there's no way this thing just grew to that size- how old is it? What was it eating? How did Flynn of all people manage to drag it from the depths and catch it? He has too many questions and not any time to find answers- he's still battling, technically, and there's no way Parsley is even going to stay out long enough to plant a seed on that thing.

"Been there, done that." Gwen yawns from the sidelines, somehow unimpressed.

I guess she did see it before. "Stay back, baby boy. Ginger's got it." Casey keeps Parsley at his side and tosses Ginger's PokéBall. She's clearly displeased to land in mud, as she turns to yell at Casey without any hesitation. "Ginger- Ginger, I'll give you a bath after, look at your opponent-"

She turns to the Gyarados, jumps slightly, but then composes herself to be as dispassionate as ever.

The Atrocious Pokemon starts coiling in-place and spinning around, kicking up mud in every direction- including onto Casey, Ginger, and Parsley. The mud, however unintentionally, served as a distraction from the tornado that formed from Gyarados' body molding itself around air. It looks similar to the whipping vortex of Heliolisk's Razor Wind, perhaps, though scaled massively up with purple-tinted energy running throughout- probably dragon energy; there aren't many moves like this as far as he remembers. And most of them are flying-type.

Okay. Casey steels himself.

He can use this, actually.

"Ginger!" Casey calls. "Use the tornado to go high!"

She catches on quickly and unhesitantly kicks off from the ground, Quick Attack boosting her every step and her somersault spring to arc into the whipping winds. She curls in on herself and rides the vortex upward, above the Gyarados' looming silhouette, knowing exactly what to do next. At the top, with all the power in her little body, Ginger flings herself into the eye of the storm, heels crackling with lightning as they make one-two contact with Gyarados' forehead.

Being struck by the attack, the serpent Pokémon screeches in agony, flailing his massive body in anguish as Ginger bounces back into the swirling wind. Once back to his senses, Gyarados draws his fangs and lunges towards the Buneary, barely managing to catch her in his snapping mouth as she curls in on herself.

"HE FUCKING ATE HER!!!" That was enough to pump Gwen up. Flynn took this as a sign of his victory, not taking into the account the morality of his perceived win.

"You saw it, Casey boy! Gwen is mine!"

He's honestly not concerned. If Ginger did get swallowed, there is no doubt in his mind that she would rip that Gyarados open from the inside.

Not that he needs to say such a thing.

Instead, he takes stock of the situation and says with an easy smile on his face: "Gwen's gonna be leavin' with me."

The Gyarados stiffens suddenly. Slowly, the massive beast topples to the ground, shaking the earth as he hits and splattering Casey, Parsley, and Flynn with mud. The impact knocks the wind from the serpent's lungs and with it Ginger, rolling into a hill of mud and using the speed boost of Quick Attack to dash away from the rancid breath of her downed opponent.

Flynn has no words. His jaw is dangling wide open, but no words can be formed with it. All he does is stare at his fallen titan, mourning the chances he thought he had with Gwen.

"I'd expect nobody to lose with such a large Pokémon quite like Flynn C. A. Sting." Gwen scoffs, using her arms to shield herself from the mud. Her poncho prevented it from getting on the jersey she seemed to value so much, but she'll need a change of clothes regardless. As would he. But there's no point in changing, is there, if they'll have to walk in the rain and mud anyway? They may as well just walk in dirty clothes and not have to wash as many later.

"It was a good battle," Casey says diplomatically, once he, Parsley, and Ginger are back under the tarp. Realistically, it wasn't. Casey'd had type advantage throughout and kept Flynn in check with little effort. But that's not something that should be said out loud. He glances at his jacket and hesitates- maybe he will change his shirt; he doesn't really want to put his jacket over this mess. Yeah, he'll commit to that. He strips his shirt, turning it inside-out to have a clean surface to wipe most of the mud off his skin, jeans, and Pokémon. Gwen makes sure to stare at the ground while Casey is shirtless, trying to hide her blushing. Casey's pleased with that. He knows he's got a great body; he works hard for it. And it's fun to tease people sometimes. Besides, this little stunt is currently boosting the credibility of his act- Flynn isn't oblivious to Gwen's reaction, of course, and his frustration remains. Casey spends far more time than necessary rummaging in his backpack for a new shirt, only straightening up when Viveka clears her throat pointedly.

"Teenagers," she grumbles, just loud enough for Casey to catch. He sticks his tongue out at her- he's got an agenda, thank you very much, and none of it's for him. Well, the showing off is for him. Actually, he's having fun, so maybe this is all for him. But he's helping Gwen too, so it's not entirely selfish.

Ginger taps her PokéBall grumpily and puts herself away as Flynn pulls the brim of his cap over his eyes. "Looks like I need to get stronger."

"Yeah, maybe then you won't be such a pushover in battle." The black-haired girl chuckles to herself. She can't seem to get enough of kicking Flynn while he's down, which is not the greatest attitude. But he's been bothering her for a while, hasn't he?

Not that it's Casey's concern, really. He chose to help Gwen out a bit this time, but he's not about to get invested.

He finally pulls his shirt on and subsequently his jacket and backpack. "Train your Pokémon to deal with their type disadvantages," he says, holding his hand out for Flynn to shake, which he accepts with sorrow. "'S the main reason I ran through 'em." Realistically, Flynn needs to put in a lot more work to become a decent battler. Casey's not sure how he got out of Cape being this bad. But he can start with that advice, at least.

Gwen notices her Vulpix and Axew under the tarp- the Axew is laying on the ground holding his stomach. He probably had too much to eat. She walks under the tarp to return them to their Pokeballs, attaching them to her belt.

"Is the happy couple ready to leave?" Viveka asks, words laced with sarcasm. Casey tsks at her. "Sorry, weather's getting to me."

Gwen tilts her head in confusion. "Happy couple?" She raises an index finger and thumb to her chin then shrugs, somehow unaware who Viveka is even referring to. Casey gives Flynn a quick glance and commits to the bit by taking Gwen's hand and lacing their fingers.

"Aren't you happy with me, babe?" He gives her a faux-pout, leaning in enough to whisper, "We're pretendin' we like each other so Flynn leaves you be. Just go with it."

Gwen's face flushes red, and she struggles to find the words she needs. "Wh-wh- I- wh-" She stops to heavily pant. "Y-y-y-y-yes, v-v-v-v-very…"

Flynn faces away from the two, clearly upset. Even if Gwen's acting is far from acceptable, at least he's fooled. "Go on. You two go on without me." Fay puts her hand on his shoulder, trying to cheer her brother up. "It's alright, Flynn, there's plenty of fish in the sea."

"See ya later, then!" Casey says cheerily, tugging Gwen along with him as Viveka leads the way back onto the main road. Togekiss sails up above then once more. He doesn't drop Gwen's hand until Flynn is well out of sight.

"End scene," he says happily.

"Thank god," Viveka adds.

Gwen just stares at the hand that Casey had been holding. Clearly a first for her. Casey looks at her quizzically. It's not that big of a deal, right? Holding hands is just… nice. "Y'alright?"

She shook her head, returning back to Earth. "Oh, uhh, yeah. Sure, I'm fine."

Pepper Bomb • Charmeleon • lv24 | Ginger • Buneary • lv24 | Parsley • Skiddo • lv21
Casey's Profile | Gwen's Profile | Extra Characters | TRAINERS Art | Current Chapter

 

[Juno]

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Tangles Art Cred

​

Chapter 4: Soar

⚡ Lavender Town Official Gym 🕙 May 25th​

The spotlights made him feel a little hot and dizzy. At least, he hoped it was the spotlights doing that.

Jordan couldn't really remember walking from the Pokémon Center to the Gym. After Vera stormed off and he exchanged awkward goodbyes with Casey, everything in the present seemed to fade away, as he replayed every word the three of them exchanged at breakfast in his head.

Was that... my fault?

Lost in thought, his legs carried him through Lavender Town on autopilot. He watched himself register for a new timeslot and await his turn, all while privately recounting all the moments he could recall of Casey vehemently objecting to being near, by, around, close to, or in the vicinity of a Ghost. It was obvious.

I knew. But I didn't think it was THAT bad. He justified. I could have been more careful breaking it to him. I tried. I should have told Vera so we both could've been more careful. I...

The lights had flickered on as he was ushered onto the stadium, and the harsh brightness snapped him back into reality. Sounds in the present came back into focus. He couldn't remember consciously moving himself here. But he was here now. And a familiar blonde man stood across from him. He felt a light sheen of sweat form across his forehead and the back of his neck.

I'm here now.

"I said, is everything alright, Mr. Springs?" A slightly concerned, but patient smile played across Gym Leader Beaumont's lips. He must see so many nervous challengers here every day, but that didn't make Jordan's first impression to him any less embarrassing.

I'm here now. Focus on yourself.

A Magnemite hung patiently in the air between them on the field. He didn't even notice it being sent out. I'm here now. I... I should send out my own Pokémon, huh.

"Yes. Sir. I'm sorry, I—I'll send out..."

He looked at the Magnemite hovering in place. Spirit would seem like an obvious choice here. He had a great Type advantage against their first opponent, and maybe even the rest of Beaumont's team, but he was... inexperienced.

"Mr. Springs, if you need a moment to collect yourself—"

No, I'm okay, I just, um," He fumbled for his Poke Balls, dropping two of them in the process. A cough masking a laugh could be heard from the near-empty spectator seats, but Jordan did his best to ignore it as he gathered the capsules and pulled out Spirit's, releasing him onto the field. No time to keep thinking. This was the best choice. It had to be.

"A Cubone, excellent." Beaumont smiled warmly. It was reassuring to hear confirmation on his first selection, though he was likely just happy to see Jordan do something. "He holds a pretty big advantage here, of course, and this renders quite a few of Magnemite's moves unusable as well. So, I suppose we should start with a Light Screen."

On his command, the Magnemite emitted a low, humming noise as four shimmering walls of light assembled around it. It hovered from side to side, and the protective forcefield followed wherever it went.

"Spirit, let's... bring its guard down a little with a Leer!" Jordan wasn't even sure if a Pokémon like this was capable of emotions that would make it susceptible to Leering, but... it's got a pretty big eye, so it was worth a shot. Spirit puffed up his chest and stood as tall as he could to look the levitating Pokémon in the eye. Eventually, he caught its attention. Magnemite made a crackling noise as they made eye contact.

Beaumont looked at the puffed-up Cubone with amusement, but he appeared to be stalling in thought a little. As he stated earlier, their range of attacks must be quite limited against Spirit, after all. "Magnet Bomb!"

"Bone Club!" Time to come out swinging, literally. The Leer was likely not even necessary; even with a Light Screen up, he was pretty sure Bone Club should smash right through it.

Magnemite was still faster than Spirit, and the Magnet Bomb accurately landed on its target with a dull thonk. Jordan winced. That might leave a bruise, but the Cubone looked fine otherwise. It stuck to his right shoulder as he was charging forward, making him stop in place to wave his arm a little to try and get it off. "Ignore it, Spirit, you got this!"

On his Trainer's command, Spirit kept shaking his right arm, but with his left, he hurled his Bone Club at the Magnet Pokémon. Magnemite wobbled from the blow, before righting itself and emitting a humming noise once again, as it struggled to keep up its Light Screen. That looked pretty effective. "Again!" Jordan called out.

"Magnemite, Tackle!" The Gym Leader countered. A physical attack could knock Spirit down before he could throw his Club again, since he was not as quick. But Spirit stood still, bracing for the attack. He held up his club with both arms as his opponent flew straight at him. Instead of throwing it, he swung his club and batted the Pokémon like a baseball right back to his Trainer. Magnemite flew through the air, in a much different way now, and in the opposite direction, before landing with a dull, screeching noise as the impact of its metallic body against the packed dirt floor caused it to scrape up a thin layer of the ground. It came to a stop at Beaumont's feet, and a cloud of dust rose up from the disturbed dirt.

Wordlessly, Beaumont returned his Magnemite to its Poke Ball as the giant screen behind him displayed one downed Pokémon, but he looked unbothered. Jordan could feel the adrenaline pumping through him. It was only one down, but his Pokémon made it through near-unscathed.

"Well done. I don't believe Magnemite ever stood a chance against Cubone." Beaumont praised. "But Type advantages will only take you so far. Now, let's see how little..."

"Spirit."

"Yes, let's see how little Spirit fares against Flaaffy here." He continued, releasing his next Pokémon. "Bone Club will still pack a punch, but you should find him a fair bit sturdier than Magnemite."

Jordan took this to mean the Flaaffy's got more physical attacks, but he wasn't really sure. It could be problematic if that was the case, though—the woolly Pokémon easily stood at twice the size of Spirit.

"Right. Okay. Don't be scared," Jordan told both himself and Spirit. "Give him a nice, strong Growl, alright?"

The Cubone did as he was told. Not a very intimidating Growl, but he did it. The larger Pokémon returned the sentiment, letting out a much louder, guttural Growl that did not match its cute, fluffy appearance. Spirit stepped back, turning to look at Jordan.

"Th-that's okay, you're doing great!" Jordan called back. "We'll stick to what you know best, okay? Bone Club!"

It was expected, of course, but it was also his best attack here. Like its previous partner, Flaaffy must have been limited by the unfavourable matchup, resorting to plain physical attacks, as Jordan had guessed.

"Tackle!"

Spirit's club met Flaaffy's head at the same moment he charged into him. The Flaaffy looked a little hurt and dazed, but Spirit was the one who went flying this time from the impact. "Bone Club, again!" Jordan called out as the Cubone stood back up. His lack of training and experience was getting apparent—it was effective, but there weren't too many tricks up their sleeves here.

"Take Down!"

Jordan's head snapped up. "What?" Oh, no. Spirit was not going to be able to withstand that. Even the Tackle looked rough. "Um, sorry, I just—come back, Spirit!"

He didn't need to be told twice. The little Cubone ran back to his Trainer, willingly returning to his Poke Ball.

"He's still fit to battle, no?"

"Yes, I think so, but I don't think he'd like a creature more than twice his size barrelling into him." Jordan chuckled nervously. Right, who's next...? he fumbled through his Poke Balls once again. "Oh—!" He exclaimed, as another one rolled away.

And then, he heard a familiar click. His felt his stomach drop as he looked to see who he'd accidentally released.

Tiny stood on the field. Tiny, whom he had caught just last night. Tiny, who had no qualms about using Worry Seed on her own Trainer. Tiny, whom he had never battled with before. Tiny, who was now making a Scary Face at Flaaffy, completely unprompted.

"Tiny, no!" He gasped, a little too late. "I—I'm sorry, Mr. Tayloz, that was an accident. Can I just recall her and pretend this didn't...?"

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Mr. Springs—rules are rules. Maybe if no moves were made, but it... looks like your Pokémon has started the match without you." Beaumont smiled apologetically. "You can still recall her, of course, but she will have to be one of your three participants for this battle. This isn't terrible for you, either way—she is a Ghost type, no?"

A Ghost type.

"Yeah, we caught Ghost types. What are you gonna do about it?" Vera's voice from that morning suddenly cut through his thoughts, followed by Casey's hurt expression that he still remembered so clearly.

Stop it. Focus on yourself.

"Yeah... yeah, that's right—she should dodge the physical attacks just fine." Jordan mumbled softly.

"A happy accident, then." The Gym Leader grinned. "Shall we continue?"

Jordan smiled back. But what can Pumpkaboo do?! He was screaming internally. Think, Jordan, think. What did she do yesterday...?

"Uh, Trick-Or-Treat, Tiny!" He remembered the nasty little trick she played on them last night. It'll set up their next attack nicely.

"Thunder Shock, Flaaffy!" Unlike Jordan's own Pokemon, neither Flaaffy nor Beaumont were particularly startled by the Type change. They must see a lot as Leaders of this Gym, after all. Without missing a beat, Flaaffy sent a jolt of electricity through Tiny's gourdy body.

Luckily for Jordan's corner, Paralysis did not hit them, so they were able to carry out their plan without a hitch. "Shadow Sneak, now!"

Absorbing the hit in Ghost-form, and compounded by the whacks of Bone Club he had previously sustained, Flaaffy did not stick around the field much longer.

"That's a fun combo," Beaumont remarked lightly, as he withdrew his Pokémon once again. He paused for just a moment, before throwing his next one out. "You should find less success with it against my next friend here, though."

The last Pokémon. One more. I'm actually doing this. One more, and I win. It has to be his...

In a flash of light, a Heliolisk towered over Tiny on the field now. Part Normal type. Shadow Sneak would not land, even if they Ghostified her. It was finally Jordan's turn to be walled in by the matchup.

Alright, what else does she know... what else does she know... Jordan wiped his brow quickly as he thought this over. She's a Ghost, and... also a plant. Grass. Not the most effective against Heliolisk, but not the worst. "R-Razor Leaf, Tiny!"

A barrage of leaves were let out, but not before Tiny confirmed for herself that her Shadow Sneak was ineffective here, first. The sharp leaves flew at Heliolisk as she let out a threatening roar, followed by a Thunder Shock on command.

For the next few minutes, they seemed to be stuck in a Thunder Shock-Razor Leaf impasse of sorts; it would appear the whole part-Normal thing was helpful as well. Like Flaaffy, Heliolisk must have a lot of physical or Normal type attacks, too. The Razor Leaf was chipping away at the Heliolisk's health steadily, and the Thunder Shock at Tiny's, but maybe there was something else they could do to speed things along in their favour and disrupt the pattern.

"Confuse Ray!"

A bored Tiny did not need to be told twice—the eerie ray was also a Ghost-type move, but as it didn't make contact, it seemed to affect the opposing Pokémon all the same. Dizzying lights descended upon Heliolisk, and her eyes followed them closely, even as Beaumont called out commands to her, until they faded away.

The confused Heliolisk seemed to have heard 'Mud Slap' instead, hurling a handful of mud that the Pumpkaboo shook off easily.

...Mud Slap! This gave Jordan an idea. If I can get her to do that again... He pulled out his Poke Balls once again for a swap, without dropping anything this time. He noted that Tiny looked fine even as she was reluctantly recalled. So worst-case scenario, we're back to pelting Heliolisk with leaves later, if she can withstand a few more shocks.

He looked at the Poke Ball in his hand. Victory was so close. This is not a favourable matchup. But I believe in you.

"Go, Hop!"

A few confused murmurs could be heard, as Jordan sent him out. The tiny bird Pokémon was no larger than Spirit was on the field, but he looked up at his much larger opponent with a steely gaze. Jordan had released him deliberately enough that Beaumont did not mistake it for another error, but he did raise an eyebrow. "Interesting choice. You've been very mindful of Type advantages so far, so I assume you have a plan. Now, Heliolisk, let's see if we can shake this Confusion and send out a Thunder Shock."

To Jordan's relief, it would appear the Heliolisk was still in a daze, and, as luck would have it, chose to fling more mud in their direction. Perfect.

"Mirror Move, Hop!" The Mud Slap missed him by almost two feet, but he took the time to preen his feathers of the droplets that sprayed him, before taking a running start towards the residual puddle that landed in front of him, and deftly kicking it back at Heliolisk.

"Mirror Move! What a peculiar little bird," Beaumont noted. "Heliolisk, can you hear me? Dear, I need you to do something other than Mud Slap."

And she did, but it was not at all more helpful for the Gym Leader, luckily for Jordan. This time, it was a physical attack aimed at... herself. It wasn't more mud they could use, but taking further advantage of the Confusion, he figured they could get a few physical attacks in themselves.

"Tackle her, Hop!" A few more chuckles from the peanut gallery could be heard from the small crowd, as the tiny bird charged forward and rammed into Heliolisk with all his strength.

And then, something weird happened.

A blinding, white light engulfed him as he crashed into the opposing Pokémon. At first, Jordan thought Heliolisk had regained her senses and this was the delayed Thunder Shock, but he was pretty sure this was brighter than that. Hop was glowing, quite literally. And then the white light grew. And it grew. And it grew, until Hop's glowing silhouette stood as tall as his opponent.

The impact of his new form caused both Pokémon to tumble to the ground, skidding to a stop several feet away. As the glowing light finally subsided, a Pidgeotto stood in his place, squawking loudly as he stood over the bewildered Heliolisk, wings stretched out threateningly.

Both wings stretched out.

"I—" A wave of emotions hit Jordan in this moment and he wasn't sure how to process them, but he needed to pull himself together to finish this. The unique incident seemed to have finally shocked Heliolisk back to her senses. Jordan looked up to see an expression of mild surprise on Beaumont's face as well, but he wasted no time regaining control of his Pokémon.

"Heliolisk, Thunder Shock!"

Hop was still flapping his new wings and checking them out curiously when the electricity struck. He let out a pained squawk. "Hop..." Pull yourself together! He needs you.

The attack looked rough, but Hop stood back up. The Heliolisk and her Leader were really making up for lost time, preparing to Slam into him next. Hop deftly avoided the charging Pokémon and propelled himself upwards.

"Y-you're flying—" Jordan managed to choked out. Hop had crashed through every obstacle with a broken wing even when he wasn't supposed to keep fighting. Jordan knew he could win this one, even if he wasn't supposed to win against an Electric-type. He was at a disadvantage ever since they met. He had always been at a disadvantage, and that never stopped him. It wasn't going to stop him now.

Watching him soar, even just under the Gym's roof, Jordan felt like they could do anything.

"Right," He blinked back his tears as his Pidgeotto circled back and landed heavily on his shoulder. His talons were much sharper than the last time he'd perched on him, and they were digging through his shirt. It was pretty painful, actually, but he ignored it and smiled at Hop. "Let's finish this the way we started—crashing through all our problems with determination. Hop-style."

With a squawk of agreement, he took off, back towards his opponent.

"Wing Attack!"

Using the full force of both his wings, Hop struck the Heliolisk from above as she held up an arm to defend herself. It wasn't particularly effective, but it did look like the multiple injuries sustained from both Hop as a Pidgey, a Pidgeotto and also the previous battle with Tiny, were finally catching up to her. And damn, was it just good to see him use his wings. Jordan grinned.

"Put some distance between you, and another Thunder Shock should do it!"

Uh, oh. "Quick Attack, now!"

In the blink of an eye, Hop sharply dove down towards Heliolisk, aggressively crashing onto her before the second jolt of electricity could be released from the worn-down Electric-type. She weakly growled from under Hop, but this time, she did not stand back up.

"Heliolisk is unable to battle!"

A few unenthusiastic whoop's could be heard around the sparse seating area, as the screens behind him and the Gym Leader announced him as the winner. Beaumont stepped forward to congratulate him and hand Jordan his reward, but what he won today was so much more than a badge. After shaking the Gym Leader's hand, he laughed excitedly as Hop flew into him, nearly knocking him to the ground.

I can't wait to tell... my friends.

Party

Tangela // Tangles // F

Ingrain
Constrict
Absorb
Vine Whip
Sleep Powder
Poison Powder

Pidgeotto // Hop // M

Headbutt
Sand Attack
Gust
Mirror Move
Tackle
Wing Attack

Cubone // Spirit // M

Leer
Growl
Bone Club
Headbutt

Skiddo // Sage // F

Tackle
Growth
Vine Whip
Play Nice
Tail Whip
Leech Seed

Pumpkaboo // Tiny // F

Razor Leaf
Shadow Sneak
Confuse Ray
Scary Face
Worry Seed
Trick-or-Treat​

Inventory

- Pokédex
- Pokégear

Moon Stone
​

 

[moon]

He feels surprisingly light as he approaches the daunting elderly building. Its gargoyles stare down at him, but he shrugs their ominous aura off. He's certain he wants to do this. He needs to.

There isn't a doorbell. He's not sure why he expected an ancient tower to have a doorbell, but it perplexes him nonetheless. His own gym gate has a very fancy one, although it's only needed in late hours when the automatic doors are turned off, of course. He raises his hand to knock on the imposing door instead.

The wood swings outwards before his knuckle can make contact. Somebody has opened the door at just the same time, and now makes his fist slam into his own face instead.

Letting out an 'oof', he stumbles backwards and rubs his poor nose fervently.

"Tayloz," a low voice comes, and he recognizes it and look up.

Jarmie Katalan stands there, framed by the opening, looking very surprised to see him. That expression only lasts a few seconds though, after which a stern, dignified glare takes its place. She doesn't say anything more, nor moves. Seems she's waiting for him to state his intentions.

He ignores his throbbing nose and takes a deep breath.

"Jarmie," he begins, deciding to be informal. "I didn't see you at your party yesterday. I enjoyed it though!"

"You attended?" she asks, an eyebrow raised.

"Of course!" he assures her. "As the gym leader of Lavender, I wanted to-"

She starts to back off and close the door, and he realizes his tactlessness. He leaps forward and puts a foot in the opening, suppressing a whine when it's squashed.

"Please. I'm sorry. Let me start over."

"Go away, Tayloz. You cause nothing but trouble."

"Somebody told me last night that we should talk. Really talk."

He sees hesitation on Jarmie's face, as if she suddenly thinks hard about something. He take his chance.

"I really think it's time we do. Our followers are making Lavender unsafe on our behalf. My followers, mostly, maybe. So."

Slowly, he's grabbed the door while he talked, and now he gingerly pulls it back open so that he and the other gym leader can stand face to face at last. She's quite short, but with the way she carries herself, you'd never really notice until you get close like this.

"I have a proposal."

Jarmie's face instantly flashes red.

"N-not that kind!" he exclaims very quickly, hands in the air. "I mean a business proposal! Of sorts. I've come to ask for your help."

She calms down, and clears her throat, then finally looks the blond man in the eyes for the first time properly. Hers are so sharp and deep that he feels like they could both stab him and throw him into a well to drown. Maybe she's done thinking now.

"Go on," says the Warden of the Tower.


Several miles away...

Something in the chair cracks when the body is slammed against it. The owner of the body whimpers, but he's given up on trying to get his bound hands free from behind his back. He looks up, and by now he is terrified.

The tall, muscular figure stalks closer again. It is rare to see him without the swooshing robes and elegant hairdo, but the man who advances now is nothing but raw. And angry.

"I'll ask again, then. Who's actually responsible?"

"I told you! It's in the news! You've seen! That little terrorist organization claimed responsibility! Why don't you believe me?"

"You're not the one to fight for an ideal. You were clearly offered money. Those terrorists don't have more money than I already pay you."

"I..." the man in the chair begins, but doesn't continue.

"Did your real contractor really pay you enough to endure all this for them, though?"

A hissing noise comes from behind the tall man, and a Haxorus' gleaming eyes appear.

The man on the creaking chair finally cracks.

"No! No, they didn't!" he cries. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry for betraying you! I'm sorry, leader Hoshi!"

Hoshi crosses his arms and nods to Haxorus to back down.

"You did betray me. You scared my dragons off in the middle of the night, and I'm sure you knew that they would get kidnapped after that."

"I... Yes..." the perpetrator says miserably, head hanging.

"So tell me at last. Who made you do it?"

"I don't know! I swear I don't know! They never said!"

Hoshi's arms unfold, and the strong muscles tense. Enough to make the traitor panic again.

"Please!" the perpetrator calls out.

"What did they look like?"

"It was just some woman, she never told me her name... There was a hooded person with her, but there was no... Wait, there was something! Maybe they didn't mean to-"

Hoshi grabs the man's shoulders and growls.

"What was it you saw?"

"A-a small emblem! It was on the duffel bag with the money they brought, but they didn't give me that bag, just plastic bags from it with the money inside-"

"Get to the point!"

The grip hardens and the traitor feels more than ever like a Deerling about to be devoured by a Houndoom.

"It was like- like- like a T! A plain letter T b-but with a sun on top? I've seen it somewhere, I'm sure. Like a sunrise or sunset!"

Hoshi drops the man so abruptly that he falls over backwards with the chair, yelping when his back and the backrest hit the floor awkwardly.

The gym leader is confused. This isn't what he expected. But his confusion is not about the symbol itself. It is very easily recognizable, at least for people who pay attention to the world, unlike the scum on the floor here.

"Tomorrow Foundation," Hoshi murmurs.

Spoiler:

 

[Groc]

Vera Hill
Chapter 6 - Here Comes the Rain Again
Route 12; Saturday, May 26th

---

The cookies Arthur made- oatmeal and cranberry, surprisingly- were actually pretty good, so Vera bundled some up for the road. And despite the sounds of paper, Quartz had provided a digital map for Vera's phone, so she could easily follow it. It seemed like this would be an easy mission.

And then she went outside, and into the rain.

Bundled in her borrowed poncho, Vera grumpily follows the map while Ebony floats beside her. Out of all her Pokémon, he's the least bothered by the rain, and Vera finds herself a little jealous of his ghostly nature. She's tempted to seek cover under the trees, but her encounter with the cocoons earlier (and a vague recollection of advice not to stand under a tree during a storm) convince her that it's safer to just suffer in the rain.

But getting to the device requires her to leave the beaten path, and enter into wild Pokémon territory. As a Trainer, the idea of battling should excite her, but right now it would mean staying in the rain longer, so she's hoping to avoid it. But of course, her luck isn't that good.

Up ahead, she spots something scurrying from one patch of long grass to another. She holds up a hand to signal Ebony to stop, but he wasn't expecting it and accidentally phases right through her hand.

"The hand means 'stop', Ebony." She scowls at him, and he sinks a couple inches, smiling apologetically. She shakes her head, pointing forward. "Look there, do you see it?"

Ebony watches, and the creature pops out of the grass again. It's small, yellow with red cheeks, and has a crooked tail like a lightning bolt. Vera gasps in recognition. "It's a Pikachu! It's a little skinny, and kind of... pale, but it's a Pikachu. Let's catch it!"

Ebony looks unsure, but follows her lead. She creeps closer while its back is turned, and when they're close enough, she whispers to Ebony to attack with Astonish. Ebony sinks into the ground, moving as a shadow until he's close enough to strike, then leaps forward with a shrill scream. The wild Pokémon spins around in surprise just as Ebony slams into its face.

*KKRRRRKK!*

Ebony pulls back, and the Pikachu stands still, its head hanging limply at an odd angle. Ebony screams in horror, certain he's just murdered it.

Then it screams back, in despair rather than fear. Vera screams too, and Pikachu screams in surprise, which causes Ebony to scream again.

The Pikachu starts berating Ebony, who keeps looking between it and Vera, unsure of what to do. Vera pulls out her Pokédex, hoping it can provide some answers. "Wait... it's not a Pikachu?"

The Pokédex identifies the Pokémon as Mimikyu, a Ghost and Fairy type that makes disguises to blend in as other Pokémon. With that in mind, it appears to be angry at Ebony for breaking its Pikachu costume. So angry that it falls backwards into its own shadow, then pops out from Ebony's shadow directly below him, lashing out with a dark claw.

"Hey! Ebony, don't let it hit you like that! Use Confuse Ray!" Mimikyu's hit knocked Ebony for a loop, but he quickly rights himself in midair, shining an eerie light from his center orb. "Good, now use Astonish!"

Ebony and Mimikyu both rush toward each other, screaming as they are surrounded in ghostly energy. They smash into each other, bouncing off the other. Mimikyu stumbles a bit from the Confuse Ray, while Ebony holds his head in pain. He's never been hit like that before.

"Okay, then use Psywave! I know you can do it, just like when Bonnie was fighting those cocoons!" Mimikyu starts wildly flailing around with the crooked stick it uses as a tail, accidentally hitting itself in the head. Ebony screams as his eyes glow red, and a wave of force knocks Mimikyu over.

Another attack would definitely end this fight, but Vera considers capturing it instead. It's a decent fighter, oddly adorable, and she feels bad for breaking its costume. But it's also a Ghost, and Casey would probably hate it if she caught it.

She throws the Poké Ball, hitting it just as it shakes off the effects of Confuse Ray. It gets pulled in, and the ball shakes a bit before clicking shut. Ebony recovers the ball for her, and she considers sending Mimikyu out, but remembers that Iggy wasn't very useful as a guide when she first caught him.

"Alright, she needs a name. Ghost and Fairy... she has a disguise... plenty of tricks... tricks, tricky, tricksy... how about Trixie?" Ebony nods at the suggestion, then slides into Vera's hood to escape the rain.

"Hey, who said you could do that?" Ebony phases and weaves himself into her hair, making it appear purple except for where it looks pink. It also pushes the water out of her hair, so she doesn't complain too much. "Alright, you get a pass this time. Come on, let's go."

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt & Gwen Alanis

Saturday, May 25, 2019 // Evening, Day 6
Route 12 // East Kanto Research Station

6-07. where do I go from here?

Spoiler: music

my fault - imagine dragons

It's nearing dusk as their destination finally comes into view- a rather large building built close to a cliff's edge, right next to the road. It's been a nice enough walk, but Casey's found himself somewhat bored- the persistent rain made Viveka grumpier as the afternoon wore on, and Gwen's never been the best conversationalist. And when he's bored, he inevitably hops on random trains of thought- specifically, now, about the fact that he's ended up travelling with a Ghost-type. Despite all of his precautions.

This particular Ghost-type seems… polite enough to acquiesce to a request, so far. But will that hold? He doesn't know. And he doesn't want to find out, really. He doesn't exactly trust Gwen, either. She tends to have a one-track mind, and she'll probably forget what he said at some point and send out Bead, and Casey won't be prepared, and it will probably be in a stressful situation, and...

And if he'd known he would have no choice but to travel with a Ghost-type trainer, he wouldn't have chosen to go with Gwen. He'd have stuck with Vera and Jordan- well, maybe not. That's too many Ghosts between them. But Ralph would have been good to him. He knows that. He should have...

But he couldn't have known.

What he actually should have done is left Gwen to Flynn, however awkward that would have been for her. It's her problem, after all, not his. But no, he had to go and get excited about putting on a show and battling someone new.

And as a consequence of said battle, he is now travelling with a Ghost-type. And a girl who's not great at talking about anything except Pokémon. And he and Parsley are still fairly muddy and soaked to the bone, and he's dreading what Ginger's going to have to say when they finally get indoors.

So it's with some trepidation but mostly relief that the research center's door opens to warmth, light, and an older man with a tray of pastries.

"Welcome to the East Kanto research station. Please, have a sfogliatelle- baked fresh this afternoon. My name is Arthur; I am an assistant to Doctor Quartz. I've already met Viveka, of course-" Viveka gives a half-hearted affirmative and pushes past the other three to find a shower, probably. "-and know well what the weather does to her." Arthur sighs, shaking his head, and looks Casey and Gwen up and down. "But the weather's not been good to you two either, has it?"

Gwen focuses entirely on the tray, just barely listening to what Arthur has to say. "Oh, uhh, yeah, I guess the weather is pretty bad." Being offered sweets seems to be enough to relieve her social anxiety, so it's only natural she helps herself to one. Casey picks one as well. It seems to be a puff pastry stuffed with some kind of sweet filling- cheese-based, he thinks, when he bites into it. It's good. A little on the sweet side for him, though.

Arthur tuts. "We'll have to find you some bedrooms, then. Best to get into dry clothes as soon as possible. Follow me." He turns swiftly and marches away, tray held high and Parsley cheerfully on his heels. Casey watches his Skiddo flick mud and water through the hall and grimaces.

"Uh, if you could show me where you keep cleanin' supplies, I'll take care of this…"

"What?" Arthur glances back. "No, don't concern yourself with that. Just give your Pokémon a bath before you let him out again- all our rooms have a fully stocked attached bathroom, Pokémon shampoo included."

Gwen gets a good look at her outfit, noticing how soaked it had been. "Oh yeah, I probably should change, huh."

"Yes, please. The floors get terribly slippery when wet. You two can take rooms eleven and twelve. Viveka's in ten- I'll go get the mop and take care of all these footprints. Feel free to find myself or Doctor Quartz once you're tidied up and settled down."

Arthur spins with a flourish, taking advantage of said slippery floors, and leaves them to eat their pastries and choose rooms. Casey peeks into each. A bed, a dresser, a desk, and a door to an attached bathroom- much the same as a Pokémon Center room, just with more interesting sheets on the bed.

"They're pretty samesies," he tells Gwen. "D'you like either one better?" She shakes her head in response. "I'll take twelve, then."

His first agenda is to lay everything out. Most of the gear in his backpack is actually fairly dry already, which is convenient. The muddy shirt from earlier gets tossed into the bathroom along with his current attire- may as well rinse the mud out, at least, and hang them to dry after.

But before that: his Pokémon.

Pepper happily makes a nest of the pillows- "Watch your tail, Pepper, no fires-!" while Casey closes the bathroom door, barring the muddier two from escaping. Ginger sits in the sink and watches Casey usher Parsley into the tub.

Despite Parsley's enjoyment of the earlier downpour, he's surprisingly resistant to being rinsed and rubbed down and Casey finds himself wrestling with a slippery Skiddo on slippery tile and everything's happening at once but nothing is going right- "Stop wigglin', baby boy, you're getting everythin' full of mud. No, I said stop, c'mon-" Eventually, Casey yells for Pepper- the Charmeleon slides a granola bar under the door so Casey can bribe Parsley into standing still and not splashing everywhere throughout the multiple rinses and shampooing. When the water finally runs clear, Casey once more starts from the top, this time firmly pressing Parsley's fur down, following the direction of growth to squeeze all excess water from his pelt.

"Well, that's you done," he says, petting his somewhat less bedraggled Skiddo. Parsley huffs at him. "Yeah, yeah, I know you hated that. But you did a good job. Eventually. Shoot, now what do I do with you? Can't let you go lay in the bed all wet."

Casey ends up laying a towel on the floor near the vent and instructing Parsley to lay down. The towel and the airflow will both help him dry out, right? Pepper shoves another granola bar under the door and Parsley is happy enough to munch on that while Casey fills the bath with a few inches of warm water and stares down Ginger.

"Bath time."

She crosses her little arms and sinks into the basin. Casey sighs. "Ain't no reason to fight me on this one. I know you don't like bein' all muddy."

Ginger considers this and nods begrudgingly, allowing Casey to scoop her up and deposit her in the tub. "Oh man, your fur gets matted so quick… Pepper! Get my comb!"

Despite Pepper's grumbling, the comb rattles across the tile in short order and Casey begins working it through Ginger's curly fur. Start with the ends and work back, he remembers from when he went on a haircare tutorial binge. Erica had been very good to put up with him during that period of time, though mainly it was Kionte that kept her in check.

Huh. Erica and Kionte.

He doesn't think about them much.

Does he miss them?

Casey has never really missed people. He's always too busy finding new things to do everywhere he goes. People move on, both physically and emotionally. People don't stay together. So he fills his days with new people, new experiences, new goals. He forgets. Forgets to reach out, forgets what people meant to him.

It hurts less than being left.

Aurelia left.

Their parents left.

Esmeralda left.

Kionte left.

Erica left.

And Casey left Pewter.

Ginger makes a frustrated noise, and he realizes he's stopped combing through her fur. "Oh. Sorry."

Casey resumes his task on autopilot. Comb through, drain the tub, refill, shampoo, rinse twice, squeeze out water. He sets Ginger down on top of Parsley while he rinses his clothes and showers himself, wipes down the wet and muddy bathroom, changes the bandage around his wrist, and sets about blow-drying both his Pokémon. Parsley dries faster- he had more time to air out, after all, and his short, straight fur is easier to drain. He escapes into the room to curl up with Pepper, who complains about the intrusion.

Ginger's curly fluff holds so much water that Casey ends up spending nearly twenty minutes drying her, entertaining himself by passing the blow-dryer in front of her intermittently to see her scrunch up her little face in the mirror. His own hair gets a pass just for a bit more volume, because he thinks it looks good. Would look better with either a full beard or a shaven face rather than this scraggly nonsense, but his facial hair doesn't come in super full yet and he'd forgotten to buy a shaving kit in Lavender.

He kind of thought he'd be able to borrow Jordan's again.

He takes the hair dryer to his jeans for a while as well, because denim is hell to dry, then finally gets out of the bathroom and into some clothes. Good. All four of them are clean and presentable for the first time in… quite a few hours.

Time to find a decent conversation.

Pepper Bomb • Charmeleon • lv24 | Ginger • Buneary • lv24 | Parsley • Skiddo • lv21
Casey's Profile | Gwen's Profile | Extra Characters | TRAINERS Art | Current Chapter

 

[QueenNothing]

Gwen Alanis ft. Casey Holt (Aquacorde)
May 25th, Saturday, Evening

---

After a refreshing shower, Gwen just tosses on a pair of black jeans and a t-shirt with a Greedent print on it. She eyes a red and black flannel her sister handed down to her, contemplating wearing it, but realizes her long hair is sopping wet from her shower. It's probably a good idea to dry it off first.

As she moves her hair dryer around to blast waves of hot air on her hair, Gwen's mind is stuck on the events from the day. Not her disappointing battle with Flynn, her two new catches, or even her loss against Jarmie, but rather what had occurred earlier with Casey.

She never had another person her age she really considered a friend. Sure, there was Jennifer or her Pokémon, but those were different feelings of closeness. Jenny was more of a familial bond, and her Pokémon- Well that was a complicated thing. She loved Pokémon and battling, but she couldn't help but think something was kind of weird about the dynamic she had with them. Oh well, nothing could really be done about that.

But back to Casey, how did she feel about him? Did she like like him? Even if Casey holding her hand gave her a foreign sensation she appreciated, or even seeing him shirtless drove her a little crazy, at the moment she couldn't really say she liked him.

What other relationships with her classmates did she have? Well, there was Bethany, but even if Gwen could feel herself warming up to her, she kind of hated her. But despite that, Gwen did feel something when they battled.

She never really had that with Casey- makes sense, they haven't battled before. She did sort of appreciate having him around, and he seemed to know a thing or two about battling- That was something she thought was neat. Plus, he was pretty friendly around her, so that was some kind of indication he liked her. Was there a word for this sort of mutual appreciation? Wait a second…

Did Gwen just make a friend?

She froze for a second, not even moving around her active hair-dryer, struck with utter disbelief. She just barely noticed Bead escaping from his ball to move the hairdryer around for his trainer.

Gwen did a double-take. It might have been too early for the two trainers to call each other friends, and she wasn't really sure how to get to that level. But the premise of a friendship with another person was pretty exciting, and it made her a little giddy. She'd be staying the night in the same facility with him, so that could be plenty of time for that to blossom.

A knock interrupts her thoughts. "Gwen? Still in there?" Casey asks, voice muffled by the door between them.

Speak of the devil.

The knock makes her jump a little, but hearing the boy's voice calms her down. She recalls Bead back to his Pokeball and throws her flannel on, before opening the door.

She has a nervous but wide grin on her face, a little happy to see Casey right now. "Y-yep! D-did you need something?"

Casey grins back, in his usual easy way. "Was just gonna go see what Arthur has for food. And maybe meet this Quartz person. Wanna come along?" Enthusiastically, she nods in agreement. She had no clue who Quartz was, but Arthur was good at baking, and she could go for some food right about now. Casey moves out of the doorway, finally allowing Gwen to see past him and lock eyes with the Pokémon gathered around. The Skiddo and Buneary from earlier, of course, the latter atop the former. But also standing with them- a Charmeleon?

"Woooow! A Charmeleon!!" In character for her, Gwen focuses all her attention on the fire-type in-front of her eyes. "Is he yours?" She remembered someone mentioned a Charmeleon on Route 9, but she never got to see it. This sort of made up for that, at least.

"Yeah, didn't you see him when we were camping? His name's Pepper Bomb. Like the hot sauce. But I just call him Pepper."

Pepper preens under Gwen's attention. "Ooohhhh, that was your Charmeleon." She reaches her hand out to try to pet him. Pepper butts his head into her hand, clearly thrilled, giving Gwen a few giggles. "I bet he's gonna grow into a strong Charizard someday!"

"Might be sooner than you think," Casey sighs, beginning to lead the group down the hall. "Only had him as a Charmander for what, three days? And then he was ready to evolve. He'll be too big to carry, then, even for me."

"...Has it only been three days?"

Casey ticks off days on his fingers for a moment. "Uh, we're at day six now. But he evolved on day three."

It was unbelievable that they had been journeying for a week, when it felt more like a year. To think all this happened in that time span, it certainly didn't feel like a week since she picked Pix as her very first Pokémon.

Although, speaking of Pix, Gwen realized both her and Casey had a fire-type. Being on the same journey, that also meant he had to face off against Beaumont. She remembered Jarmie's words, and Gwen thought she'd ask to see how full of crap Jarmie was. "So, uh, you fought the electric gym leader, right?"

"Beaumont? Yeah." Casey looks annoyed, fleetingly. Gwen may not pay much attention to people, but even she knew that was unusual. "Didn't appreciate his methods much."

His methods. Those words stuck out in her mind. "Did, uh, did he send out Magnemite against Pepper?"

"Yeah, how'd you- oh, you have a Vulpix, don't ya? He did that to you, too." Casey blows out a frustrated breath. "Did you, uh. Did you beat him?"

"I did, but…" She sighs. "I found out he went easy on me. I might as well have lost."

Casey goes quiet momentarily. "Yeah, I woulda been mad if I won, too."

Gwen cocks an eyebrow. "You didn't? Doesn't he go easy on like, everyone?"

"He did go easy. But I wasn't gonna win, so I forfeited."

Gwen remembers her musings earlier, something about how the feeling of battling Bethany gave her. This seems like a ripe opportunity to see how she feels when battling Casey. "Well in that case, why don't you battle me, and I'll see where you've fallen short!"

Casey blinks. "Y'mean like a training battle?"

Before Gwen can respond, Arthur bustles his way into the hall, two folded garments in hand. "If you're going out again, please take these. The rain's lightening up, but I'd rather you not come in soaking again."

The Unovian girl notices one of them happens to be purple. Perfect for her, and she rushes to claim it before Casey can. She'd wear whatever other color is offered to her, as she didn't want to soak Jenny's flannel, but she got pretty lucky it came in her favorite color.

As she slips the poncho on, she plants her feet into the ground, firmly pointing at Casey. "You and me, bring it on!" She didn't really answer his question- To her a battle was a battle.

"There's an open field next to the building- to the left when you walk out the doors," Arthur says as Casey pulls his own vibrant pink poncho on. "It shouldn't be very muddy, but I'll leave some towels out for your Pokémon."

"Thanks!" Casey points at Gwen, imitating her own pose. "Lead the way, Alanis!"

---

Gwen's team

 

[moon]

Ralph Gonder

The Lost Chapter

Saturday, May 25th
Afternoon, Day 6

It's starting to rain. Ralph isn't entirely happy about it, but it also isn't too bad. Mostly windy with some slight wetness, rather than raining glameows and lillipups. Creepy huddles in her hoodie, weighing basically nothing as her few kilos lean on the backpack anyways, but Greeny is down on the ground, getting her paws wet in the dirt. She doesn't seem to overly mind though. And Ralph knows she shouldn't coddle her. The green-eyed Rattata has lived a short but rough life, and she can take care of herself. She would still have made for a cute pet though. And currently, she's a bit behind in battle training compared to Ralph's other pokémon…

She slows down, and glances around. Route 12 is a strange place. The coast is jagged and unfriendly, sharp cliffs as far as Ralph can see. Here and there, she has spotted some houses close to the water, but she's seen no reason to approach the people who were there. It looked like they were fishing, and it made Ralph a bit sick to think about what they were hunting.

To her left, which should be west, a strangely dense and dark forest grows. She supposes that she should enter there and look for wild pokémon… Perhaps she should go down to the fisherpeople and see if any of them were a trainer, even.

That's what she should do. Trainer stuff. She just made a bet with Casey - she can't just go to lazy jail now.

But she also doesn't feel like tainting the sweet mood she's been put in, by talking to strangers who might be weird or bothersome. She'll have to think of other 'trainer stuff' to do.

"Right," she finally says and sets down her backpack for a moment, jiggling Creepy awake. "You two, it's training time! Let's have a little practice battle!"

Greeny sits down in the dirt - ew, she's gonna have to wipe that purple butt later - and gives her trainer a doubtful look.

"Yeah, I know Creepy is a ghost," Ralph says, grabbing and pulling the lizard out of her hood at last.

Creepy is careful not to touch the ground, and isn't at all happy with the wind and sensation of raindrops.

"But if she can avoid phasing through my hoodie, she can also avoid phasing through your Quick Attacks. Right, girl?" Ralph states and gives the solid ghost a stern stare.

Creepy doesn't look happy with the idea, but when she sees Greeny's intense excited smile, it seems like something melts within her, and she nods towards Ralph anyways.

"Good! Okay, let's put some distance in between ourselves."

The three of them stay on the road, but space themselves out in a triangle. Ralph pulls the teal beanie down a bit further on her forehead.

"Alright! Creepy, Greeny, Quick Attack!"


Several days earlier…

"Ready?"

Ralph, disgruntled, finally stood up. It felt strange to leave her backpack here in the tent. What if someone came by and took stuff from it? But then again… Who else was crazy enough to travel this treacherous terrain by night? There were wild pokémon though...

She turned around and was met with two excited eyes whose color was so green that she could almost see it in the dark. It was a cute pokémon. And she liked its personality.

But it wasn't a Bagon.

"Sure," she said plainly.

Joseph waved his flashlight around her. "Sorry that I don't have two of these. Maybe you should get one of your own when we're in Rock Village? Could be good for the tunnel!"

Ralph let out an involuntary yawn in response.

"Haha, alright girl. I get the point. Let's get going!"

They walked through Route 9 for some minutes in silence. The man led the way, using his flashlight and Zorua to find the way. Ralph was more worried about finding their way back though, and wondered what kind of plan Joseph had for that.

She was probably crazy for trusting him like this already, too. Not like she had a choice at this point though.

"Lycanroc are most active by night," Joseph said, and she suddenly realized he was so close in front of her that he could almost whisper and be easily heard. The route was silent otherwise. "Zorua's ears are very sensitive. So is Rattata's. I'm hoping they can find Lycanroc if we go back to where you met it.

They were traveling backwards in her path? Ralph wasn't happy to hear that. She wished to get away from the other Cape trainers who were likely here on the route right now as well.

It wasn't long though, until Zorua and Greeneyes both perked up in attention, which Joseph with the flashlight noticed. He turned it off. "We're close. Stay here."

Ralph barely saw anything. The sky was cloudy, because there were barely any stars, and she could not see the trees and cliffs around them that she could feel with her hands. She was very lucky that darkness didn't scare her.

But it sure did make what happened next hard to grasp.

A howl cut through the night, making the blood in her veins chill. There was movement in the bushes to the right of her. The flashlight turned on, but got dropped or knocked out of Joseph's hand. Where it landed, it lit up a cliff wall, and the angered pokémon that towered in front of it.

Ralph could faintly see Greeneyes now, as the small Rattata growled next to her. Was this the same Lycanroc as earlier?

​

"Zorua, Scary Face!"

Zorua and Lycanroc exchanged some moves, the latter seeming to actually respect the former somewhat and not being as quick on its feet as it had been earlier today. The Scary Face was perhaps very effective.

But Lycanroc still had the upper hand and got in some harsh hits on the smaller fox.

Ralph should help. And an eager pokémon was right here. Was she ready now? Now, Ralph could give her orders. Unlike before. They could try.

"Green... Greeny!" Ralph said, stumbling a bit on the name. "Tackle!"

The Rattata ran forward and tackled the Lycanroc in its mid section while it was preoccupied with taunting Zorua. The tackle didn't seem to hurt it much, but it greatly annoyed it, and now its attention was on the rat and Ralph instead.

Joseph took the opportunity to give Zorua more orders. And Ralph, quick to learn out in the field, grabbed that opportunity to give orders in turn.

"Focus Energy!"

The green eyed Rattata focused its power for a moment, while Lycanroc again was busy parrying Zorua's Fury Swipes.

"Tackle again!"

This time, it hit slightly further up on the slim body, and managed to topple the wolf.

"Good job, Ralph!" Joseph called out from somewhere behind the fight.

But just then, Lycanroc's image seemed to split into three. It momentarily astonished Rattata, and gave Lycanroc the chance to kick the rat off.

"Greeny!" Ralph called out when the small pokémon tumbled out of the torchlight.

The chaos became worse. Someone kicked the flashlight and it fell into a bush, effectively illuminating nothing now. There were many noises and a ruckus, and Ralph had to crawl backwards to avoid the fight which sounded like it was getting closer and closer to her. She got up and made a run for it towards the glowing bush. She could fetch the torch.

Or so she thought. But something stopped her, a shape moving in between her and the light, and she felt a foul breath hot in her face.

Oh no.

In that moment, she was actually scared.

But she was saved. From nowhere, another Tackle came, and the nasty breath was gone. Instead, Ralph felt a small warm creature nuzzle her leg. She bent down and picked it up. Yes, it was the green eyed Rattata. With her in her arms, she dove for the bush and grabbed the torchlight.

Still on the ground, she aimed it towards the noises behind her, and just had time to see a glowing light get sucked into a pokéball and land on the hard ground. It wobbled quite a few times, but finally went still.

"You caught it?" Ralph breathed in the silent night that had now returned.

"I caught it," Joseph laughed triumphantly. "Thanks to my pokémon team - and to yours. That last Quick Attack completely knocked the air out of the Lycanroc. But man, it's got spirit! Must be pretty high level."

Ralph took a few deep breaths to calm down. The scare from earlier was still like a fresh gash in her mind. She finally stood up, hearing Joseph return several pokémon to their pokéballs. She hadn't seen which ones they were, but it made sense. He had said he was a professional trainer. Of course he would have a team with several pokémon on him.

"High level, but low energy. It was very hungry. You'd better feed it well," Ralph said and finally got off the ground, Rattata still in her arms.

"I promise," Joseph's voice came, as she felt him take the flashlight back.

Greeny the Rattata was his plan to find their way back to camp. She knew the land, and she didn't get lost. She led them safely all the way back to the tent and their belongings.


Present Day

"You're doing well! Both of you!" Ralph calls out, honestly impressed.

Neither of the pokémon have many moves to play around with, but they're practicing dodging and speed, and they've both got plenty of both.

"Okay, one last Quick Attack, and aside from phasing now... Both try to actually be the one to hit the other!"

Greeny chooses the tricksy style. She rapidly changes direction as she darts in towards her target. It is easy for her, when her feet touch the ground for every leap.

Greeny instead zooms through the wet air like a projectile, too fast for Greeny to fully be able to avoid. But at the same time, Greeny is too quick moving out of the way for Creepy to fully be able to hit. The result is that they essentially just zoom and jump around each other for the better part of a minute.

"Okay. That's enough, really," Ralph laughs, and both pokémon finally stop and pant. "You're the masters of the zoomies now. Both of you."

She bows elegantly to them both, and the pokémon squeal of joy, leaping over to her. Creepy zooms directly into her warm but now slightly damp hood again. Since she is in solid state, she pushes over some of Ralph's hair so the braids fall down into the mud on the ground. Ralph groans and stands up abruptly, only to see Greeny giggling at her.

"You're laughing at me? You need a mirror, mudball."

She pointedly refuses to pick the dirty rat up as she keeps walking, but she doesn't object when the small creature happily rubs itself against her jeans occasionally. Clothes and hair can be washed. Hopefully, rats can be, too.

Sandsy

Lv 24 | Coldy

Lv 21 | Edgy

Lv 18
Jolty

Lv 17 | Creepy

Lv 14 | Greeny

Lv 9
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

 

[QueenNothing]

Gwen Alanis ft. Casey Holt
May 25th, Saturday, Evening

---

They find the field easily- it's right next to the building, after all, just an unmarked space of grass partially sheltered by a cluster of trees. It's big enough for a battle and fairly dry, considering the weather- the building and trees likely sheltered it from the majority of the rain. Two lights, attached to the side of the building, illuminate the area.

"So how d'you wanna do this?" Casey asks.

Gwen raises an eyebrow, unsure what the boy means. "I wanna battle, duh!" It was pretty obvious to her.

"Yeah, but what format? Pretty sure you got more Pokémon than I do- it's only these three with me. So what're we doin'? Full teams, three-on-three, two-on-two-?"

"Three on three, single-round knockouts," says a different voice. Gwen and Casey turned to see Viveka in a yellow poncho and holding a wide, matching umbrella. "I like that ruleset."

"Sounds good t' me. What're you out here for?" Casey asks. Viveka shrugs.

"Heard you in the hall, thought you might need a referee."

"Sure, why not!" Gwen smirks, pumping a fist in the air. "I can win no matter the format!"

"Take your places, then."

Casey jogs out to the further end of the little field, Pokémon trailing, while Gwen takes her place on the near side, pumping herself up for battle.

Viveka clears her throat. "Trainers, ready your first Pokémon! Three… two… one… Begin!"

Casey ushers Parsley forward, while Gwen examines the Pokemon.

A grass type! I have plenty to handle that, but I think Jess needs the battle experience. Pix should be fine.

"Come on out, Jess!"

She tosses her PokéBall to the ground, popping open to send out her Ekans onto the field.

Jess stares down Parsley, hissing and harshly rattling her tail. Parsley's trot falters and he rears back, only to take a little dart of poison to the hindquarters. The Skiddo whines.

"You're okay, baby boy! Circle 'round; use Growth!"

Parsley resumes his circling trot, green glow pulsing through his pelt.

"It's gonna be hard to have her wrap around Parsley while he's so mobile…" Gwen thinks out loud. "In that case, Jess, use Screech!"

Gwen covers her ears, preparing for Jess to stretch her jaw and let out a dreadful screech that echoes throughout the night. Casey winces and Parsley's step falters again. He shakes himself, looking more jittery than before. But he continues his trot, setting a Leech Seed on Jess as he does. The Leech Seed plants into her lower body and sprouts a plant that ties it to the ground.

Damn! Can't use Wrap like that. Come on, think Gwen, what should I do…

"That's it!" She confidently calls out as a solution comes to mind. "Jess, bite the plant off your tail...Or, well, I guess your entire body is a tail, but still!"

Jess slides her head towards the plant, using Bite to tear it apart. It was taking a little more effort than Gwen was hoping for though, and Parsley gets a Razor Leaf in while Jess works apart the twisted vines.

It sucks that Jess took a bit, but at least she was able to escape from the Leech Seed. Now with that out of the way, Gwen was back to her original challenge- Parsley prancing around her at a pace that's difficult to attack. As she learned with Beaumont's Emolga, trying to directly aim for a moving target isn't worthwhile.

"Jess, shoot Acid in Parsley's way!" The poison-type makes a few hacking noises before she's able to hurl up a blob of sludge in Parsley's trajectory, which the Skiddo doesn't quite react in time to avoid- he skids through the puddle, coming out the other side to rub his hooves in the dirt and whine, clearly stung.

"Perfect! Now get up close and use Wrap!" Jess swiftly slithers over to Parsley, wrapping herself headfirst around his hind legs, and making her way up to the grass-type's abdomen.

"Try to shake her off!" Casey says, and Parsley smacks Jess with his vines, pulling at her ineffectively, and after a moment flops over sideways to pin Jess between himself and the ground. "Uh- okay, that might work, sure." Jess takes little damage from this, and with her head behind Parsley's, she launches another Acid, this time around his neck.

Parsley whines and thrashes, glowing with a yellowish light as he tries to revitalize the acid-burnt leaves at the back of his neck. The Ekans grins, seemingly at Parsley's futility, shoots a Poison Sting, also behind his neck, and tightens her grip around the struggling Pokemon. A puff of sharp leaves shed from Parsley's pelt does only a little to dislodge the snake.

With her body loosened a little, Jess moves her head to an area she's easily able to make eye-contact with Parsley. Her eyes glow an intimidating shade of red, and she cackles as she watches Parsley in pain.

"Good job, Jess! But uh, I've never seen you act this way before…"

Parsley stiffens and his writhing ceases, wide eyes darting to Casey in a plea for assistance. Casey clicks his tongue. "Alright, that's enough. Let him go, will ya?"

"Uh, s-sorry, I swear she hasn't been like this until now. Jess, knock it off!" The poison-type looks back at her trainer, rather disgruntled. "Look at him, you've basically won!" Jess loudly hisses, to which Gwen raises an eyebrow and recalls her Pokemon. "Jeez, what's gotten into you so suddenly?" She briefly clears her throat before looking at Viveka. "Anyways, I think we can count that as a win for me, eh?"

Casey recalls Parsley as Viveka confirms. "Yeah, that's one point to Gwen. Send your next ones in."

Ginger is ushered out onto the field, less unhappy with this than the mud from earlier in the afternoon.

"Buneary, eh? Who do I have who would be good against a Buneary…" Gwen thinks out loud to herself before coming to a decision. "Alright then, I choose-" She got cut off by the sound of a Pokeball opening, sending out Tusk, who lets out a mighty "KEW KEW!"

"What the- Tusk! You lost so miserably to Jarmie, wh…"

"Buneary versus Axew- begin!" Viveka calls from her shelter.

Too late to switch out now. Gwen has to stick with Tusk until the end of the round. Ginger seems to match Tusk's energy at least, starting out with a quick dart forward, aiming to use her momentum to knock Tusk to the ground. Tusk only flinches instead, and hits back with both claws that dragon energy surges around, but Ginger counters each with a swift kick. The dragon-type becomes frustrated, and during the split second his opponent is in close range, Tusk transfers the purple electricity from his right claw into his left, combining two hits from a Dual Chop into one powerful Dragon Claw that slashes across Ginger's body. The Buneary rolls with the hit, and Tusk furiously chases her down, preparing his claws for another Dual Chop. Ginger dodges one swipe with a backflip and the other misses as she uses her spring-loaded ears to fly high into the air, concentrating power in just one foot as she falls, aiming straight for Tusk's head.

This might be a long shot, but it's worth a try!

"Tusk, use Bite on Ginger's feet!"

With no time to spare, Tusk holds his mouth wide open, leaving nowhere else for Ginger's feet to land but the pointy teeth of an Axew's jaw. Ginger growls, berating the Axew even as she hits him in the eye with a crackling ear, leaving Tusk to scream in agony, loosening the grip his mouth had on Ginger's tiny feet, but is able to focus on charging up another Dual Chop in both his claws. Ginger springs away, darting behind Tusk to kick him in the back- one foot makes solid contact, but the other is deflected by an energy-wrapped claw and is followed up with another claw to her chest. She falls backwards, but even on the ground takes a one-two kick at Tusk's knees, who skids back from the damage, but quickly rushes back in with a Dragon Claw.

Ginger rushes in as well, slamming her whole bodyweight into Tusk's arm, pinning it against his chest as she grabs onto his tusks with her little paws. Gwen was definitely not prepared for this, and she panics for a bit before a thought echoes through her mind-

When all else fails, use Dragon Rage

She's not sure where exactly that came from, but it did help against Beaumont. It wasn't as if she had any other ideas anyways.

"Tusk, get her off with a Dragon Rage!"

The Axew stops shaking his head to charge a Dragon Rage within his mouth, despite Ginger kicking at his chest. Tusk continues to charge the attack, but a specific kick from Ginger causes him to fire the Dragon Rage prematurely, hitting the Buneary at a point-blank range. Finally, Ginger's grip falters and she is blasted backward, skidding away from Tusk, who again chases after the normal-type, leading into another slash of a Dragon Claw that Ginger scrambles to avoid. Her speed boosted through Quick Attack, she slams into Tusk's side, who quickly slashes back with his bare claws. Again, Ginger rolls with the hit, turning that roll into a spring that launches her into the air- not as high as before and this time, aiming to come down on Tusk's back rather than his head. Luckily for him, Tusk is able to turn around and guards himself by crossing his arms, charging up a Dual Chop in his claws. With the purple static flowing through them, he forcefully shoves Ginger back with his arms still crossed. Ginger skids but quickly regains her balance, twirling into two kicks across Tusk's jaw.

Tusk rubs his jaw, feeling just how sore it is. "Are you sure you can keep going? You're looking pretty worn out?" Gwen calls out, but her Pokemon completely ignores her, and desperately runs in with a Dragon Claw he slashes at the normal-type.

Ginger backflips to avoid it, springing away toward Casey's end of the field. "Ginger!" Casey calls. Her ears barely twitch. "We can be done."

The Buneary makes a rude gesture at him. Casey shrugs. "Alright, then."

Casey is probably right, Tusk needs to rest too. But I don't want to return him, that'll be a loss for me.

Gwen muses on her dilemma, only to realize too late that Tusk, without his trainer's input, once again aggressively runs up to Buneary to deliver another Dragon Claw.

"Tusk! Listen to me, you're so unfocused, stop pushing yourself so hard! This'll end up exactly like when we fought Jarmie!"

The Axew still refuses to listen. He swipes with the dragon-type attack using all his might, which Ginger deflects with a twirling kick and connects with his knee with the second. Tusk slightly recoils, panting heavily. He's not able to use any more dragon energy, and just slashes across Ginger's body with his claws. She crosses her arms to take the hit, and Casey tells her to stop once more but she kicks at Tusk still. Tusk sloppily slashes at Ginger again, visibly running out of energy, looking as if he's about to collapse at any second.

"Stop it, Tusk! You're going to lose if you keep pushing yourself!"

Ginger dashes out of range and behind Tusk, her twirl into a kick wobbly and off-balance. Tusk turns around just in time, reaching his arm over Ginger's foot to just get just one finishing scratch across her face, but the Buneary's foot in his own face is the final straw- the final straw for both of them, really, and they both wobble and sit heavily on the ground, panting.

"That looks like a tie to me," Viveka calls.

"You did good, Tusk, but…" Gwen is unsure if she should praise her Pokémon for giving it his all or scold him for not taking Doryu's stance, pushing himself, and disobeying. "...I-I think you need to rest." She instead doesn't even dwell on it and just returns the Axew to his Pokeball. Ginger hauls herself back to Casey, who scoops her up and lets her sit inside his poncho.

"Choose your next Pokémon," Viveka says.

"Well, I only got Pepper left." Casey ushers the Charmeleon forward after handing over some weird sticks. The fire-type is decidedly unenthusiastic about battling in the cold, wet night and complains loudly. "Hush, just try."

"I got this!" Gwen's cocky demeanor returns as she tosses another Pokeball onto the field, sending Marshall out to battle. "This match is basically ours, isn't it Marshall?"

The Wooper does nothing to respond. All he does is blankly smile at Pepper while the raindrops roll down his smooth skin, blinking once. Pepper and Casey both watch him for a moment, before Casey shrugs and commands "Dragon Breath!"

Pepper firms up his stance and exhales a blue-tinged beam of energy straight for the Wooper, starting to move and circle as soon as the beam dissipates. Marshall's gaze follows him, and he opens his mouth to unleash a thick black haze to blind the Charmeleon.

"You can copy that!" And Pepper does so, exhaling black smoke to push against Marshall's. The two clouds hang in the air between the Pokémon, mingling together as light rain falls through them.

"There he is!" Gwen points at the smokey haze cloud to direct Martials attention towards it. "Water Gun!" Marshall complies, shooting a steady stream of pressurized water in the direction the smoke came from, strengthened by the wet weather, and further soaking Pepper, as well as dissolving the cloud they formed. Pepper splutters in the face of the onslaught, turning back to Casey to complain further.

"Get behind him, then!"

Pepper complies, circling around to make a valiant attempt at hitting Marshall over the head with one of his sticks. He takes the hit, his body falling back, but with his feet rooted firmly into the mud, Marshall almost immediately bounces back and hurls a blob of mud onto his fire-type foe. Gwen raises an eyebrow, but shakes her head and grins. "Man, I don't know what's up with you Marshall, but I dig it!"

Pepper's sticks are a decent way to deflect the brunt of the attack, but he still winces as the mud splatters across his face and torso. Suddenly, he spins- not into a kick like Ginger had, but into a sweep of his tail, pushing Marshall's legs out from under him. He falls into the mud, still not changing his expression, and then follows up by exhaling another Haze to obscure Pepper's field of view. Pepper coughs, swinging at where he saw Marshall land, but he misses, and shortly after is greeted with another Water Gun to the face that causes the hazy cloud to dissipate, revealing Marshall had backed away by a few feet while Haze was up.

Frustrated, Pepper throws one of his sticks at Marshall. "No, Pepper-" Casey complains, but Pepper doesn't listen. Instead, he throws the other stick.

The stick hits Marshall directly on his head, knocking it back, but as before, he instantly springs back.

"We got this one in the bag!" Gwen cheers. "Marshall, finish him off with one last Water Gun!" Marshall spits one last Water Gun directed at Pepper. But that final Water Gun doesn't douse the Charmeleon as planned- it instead hits the broad, poncho-covered expanse of Casey's back as he squats down to pull Pepper up into his arms. Ginger pops her face out of his collar to examine Pepper, wiping some mud from his snout with a huff.

"We're done," Casey tells Viveka cheerfully, as if this is no big deal. Viveka nods.

"Casey concedes the battle! That means Gwen is the victor!"

That was that. Gwen won, but she felt something was missing, some kind of feeling she got when she battled against a certain young Galarian girl. This wasn't to say she didn't enjoy her battle with Casey, if given the opportunity she'd love to rematch him, but there wasn't a burning rivalry between them.

"Good job, Marshall!" Gwen looks down to her Wooper, who blankly glances back at her. He blinks once and blasts water right at her face. She shakes her head to try to dry it off, and furrows her eyebrows. "Goddamnit, I just dried my hair! Oh well…" She lets out a brief sigh before returning to her thoughts about Casey. She stares at him as he coddles his Pokémon, cooing some kind of nonsense at the disgruntled Charmeleon.

Anxiously, Gwen approaches the boy to ask the burning question she's had on her mind for a while now. It's probably a good idea to try to get his attention first. "Uhh, h-hey, uhh, C-Casey?"

Casey turns to face her with an armful of still-pouting Charmeleon. "Yeah, what's up?"

"I-I-I wanted to ask, a-are w-w-we like, f-f-f-f-f-f…" Gwen struggles to get the words to slide off her tongue. She feels some kind of force preventing her from saying the single word the question hangs on. "Are we, f-f-f-f-friends?" Her heart sinks as soon as she finishes her sentence. She feels confidently as if Casey will strike down her answer, fearfully closing her eyes as she dreads his response.

"Well yeah, o' course." Casey's answer makes Gwen flinch, blinking rapidly in disbelief, and dropping her jaw "Let's get back inside, huh? Viveka's leavin' already."

"Oh, uhh...Yeah! Sounds good…F-f-friend!" She blushes with her final word, breathing heavily, and joyously smiling ear to ear. Her heartbeat kicks up, and a foreign sensation quickly pulses through her, making her shiver for a second. Casey may have not been a rival like Bethany was, but having friends felt just as nice.

---

Gwen's team

 

[Aquacorde]

Casey Holt & Gwen Alanis

Saturday, May 25, 2019 // Evening, Day 6
Route 12 // East Kanto Research Station

6-10. i see trouble on the way

Spoiler: music

bad moon rising - creedence clearwater revival

Arthur had made good on his promise to provide towels, along with a small pail of water to help wipe the mud from the Pokémon, but the man himself is nowhere to be seen as Gwen and Casey make their way back inside. Once their Pokémon are tidied and their ponchos are hung to dry, the pair of trainers wander further into the building, in the opposite direction of the rooms they'd been shown earlier. Without much preamble they find themselves in a large, open room filled with a variety of computers and other equipment. Viveka, at the back of the room, waves them over. Casey keeps a hand on Parsley as they go- he doesn't particularly trust the Skiddo not to investigate something he's not meant to. Pepper behaves himself, and Ginger sticks to curling into his collar. He grimaces- she's still damp- but the person standing with Viveka is more of a priority than blow-drying his Pokémon for a second time in as many hours.

"Doctor Quartz, these two are Gwen and Casey. Cape students. Gwen, Casey- Doctor Quartz. They know more about the factories than anyone else around here."

"Yes, correct!" Quartz, a person who looks more like a university student than a professional researcher, bounces on their heels as they speak. "I've been out here four years now- mapped every site myself in the first two years and have been monitoring them since! There's much to be learned here. Ah, but I've been having a bit of trouble. Maybe you young trainers could assist me!"

"Assist with what?" Casey's curiosity is immediately piqued, though Gwen looks as if she's barely paying attention, yawning softly.

The professor flashes a quick grin. "With my research, of course! I do so much fieldwork out here, but I'm not actually a trainer. And recently, well-" They run a rueful hand through their messy lavender hair, absentmindedly dislodging the hood of their sweater. "I may've been a little, teensy-weensy bit too confident last time I went out to retrieve my equipment. The Pokémon were strangely aggressive, and I may have gotten slightly injured, and Arthur-" they glance around, making sure the man isn't within earshot. "-is perhaps a little, teensy bit protective of me and I haven't been quite able to have another go at grabbing those devices again."

They've been attacked by Pokémon, huh? Casey's morning encounter with a cloud of Gastly flits across his mind. He shakes his head slightly to dislodge the thought. Viveka gives him an odd look, but Quartz and Gwen take no notice. Gwen, clearly, has other things on her mind.

"Did you say Pokémon?" Gwen's suddenly invested in the conversation, making it pretty obvious where her interests lie, even if Casey hadn't already known.

"Of course! Pokémon are everywhere, are they not? My research is in fact focused on the local fauna, and how the remains of the factories impact them. Among other things, certainly, but it's the data from the factories I'm trying to get back! It's quite important, you see. There is a possibility- no, probability- that more species have begun making their homes there, and I'm excited to see how that may tip the precarious balance of relationships already developed in this area."

Gwen's eyes glow and a wide grin of genuine excitement forms. "Count me in!"

"You don't even know what you're agreeing to," Viveka offers mildly. Casey agrees wholeheartedly, though his main concern is actually what Pokémon they may end up encountering. For reasons.

"Depends on which factory you go to! Some Pokémon prefer the old, wet tunnels of the hydroelectric plants, while others prefer to nest in drier, more open areas. Quartz gestures for the trio to follow as they eagerly hop over to a map haphazardly stuck to the wall. There are colorful stickers marking a variety of things that Casey is sure only Quartz can interpret. "I've seen every species native to Route Twelve in each factory at one point or another, that's for certain. But this cluster here-" They rap the map with their knuckles. "-is a surprising grouping. There are usually only four species there, as if they've made a pact of some sort to keep all others out of their territory. The evolutionary families of Inkay, Tynamo, Impidimp, and Mimikyu just don't make any sense to me, not together, not yet, so I'd be super happy to get data from that area!"

Mimikyu.

Mimikyu, Mimikyu, Mimikyu, Casey's brain repeats. His fingers tighten in Parsley's fur. He knew it, he knew there would be some Ghost-type haunting the outskirts of Lavender. He tunes out the professor as they go on about the complexities of cohabitation in Pokémon and thinks.

There's a Ghost-type in that set of factories. Could he go to a different factory to avoid it? No, Quartz said they'd seen Mimikyu elsewhere as well. If he went elsewhere, there'd be a high chance of running into a Mimikyu and several other things he'd be unprepared to face.

Wait. Does he have to go out to a factory at all? This is his journey, and he can do whatever he pleases outside of graduation requirements. What if he just doesn't help Quartz? It's a bit rude, sure, especially after they invited him to stay the night, but does it matter? He's not legally bound to their service. And anyway, if they want to kick him out, he can just camp. No big deal. He and Gwen and Viveka can just leave right now and-

Wait. Viveka's here for the factories, there's no getting around that. She's going to go regardless of what Casey wants to do. And Gwen already volunteered to do whatever the heck Quartz wanted- not like there would be any dissuading her from an adventure with Pokémon at the forefront. So if Casey leaves, there's no way they're coming with- and then what? He'd be camping all on his own, outside in the rainy night, in an area he is now well aware that Ghost-types live in.

Well he can't do that.

And if he stays the night here and leaves in the morning, Viveka and Gwen won't be coming with him then, either. So he'll be alone, which is what he definitely does not want, which is why he waited so long in Lavender and set out with Viveka in the first place.

"Mimikyu!? That's SUPER cool!! Ohmygod, I need to see one! Same for Inkay and Tynamo!" Gwen's voice brings him back to the present. The girl looks like she's two seconds away from jumping into the air with enthusiasm.

"You still don't know what it is that they want you to do," Viveka points out, a little more bluntly this time.

"Not really." Gwen admits. "I just wanna see cool Pokémon!"

"And since you want to go out there anyway…" Quartz prompts, not slyly in any way.

Casey gives Viveka what she wants, even though he's still seriously considering skipping this adventure. Same as he'd skipped the graveyard. Same as he'd skipped travelling with Jordan, Vera, Ari, Ralph... "So, uh, what exactly d'you need?"

"It's simple, really!" Quartz claps their hands together and leads them toward the middle of the room, to a precarious pile of gadgets. "This," they say, picking up a toolbox-sized machine with a gentle grunt, "is one of my data collection devices! There's also a strap-" they put the device down and rifle through a drawer. "Aha! Here, it attaches like so. On the edges, so you can carry it like a bag."

"Smart," Casey nods. He can appreciate ergonomic design.

"Thank you! They're my own design. Anyway, what I need is for you to take this strap with you, and go get a device, and bring it back to me! So easy, right? And-" Casey's hesitation must be showing. Or, perhaps, they simply want to sweeten the pot. "-if you bring one back to me, I have a good reward! Technical machines! I'm not a trainer, I've said, so I have no use for them. Better in the hands of those who will help out in a pinch!"

"Now I DEFINITELY need to go!" Gwen exclaims, a cocky smirk on her face. Casey isn't nearly as enthusiastic, still, but he's going. He knows this and finds himself agreeing well before he tracks down the thought process that brought him to that conclusion.

Technical machines.

Pepper has great move variety, despite some limitations in the earlier battle due to rain. Casey's not really worried about him. Parsley could do with more moves that aren't grass-type, perhaps. But he kind of likes what the Skiddo has going on in terms of strategy. Though Leech Seed has been broken fairly easily- first by Bruno, then by Gwen.

Ginger, however.

She's the only one without much for range. Her tiny limbs mean she needs to get up close to hit, which puts her in more dangerous situations than the others. But she's prone to rejecting the use of buffs or debuffs, as evidenced by her disgust of Baby-Doll Eyes and complete refusal to entertain the idea of Charm. Defense Curl was the only one she truly utilized, and she's been forgoing that one lately. She likes to brawl.

Would she even use a ranged technique?

Maybe not. Maybe she'd be better off knowing something more along the lines of Endure or Foresight, which have great applications that she doesn't seem to hate. Although, with her recent dismissal of Defense Curl, who knows how long Endure will be sticking around?

They'll have to have a discussion.

For now, Quartz is assigning the party a factory, pointing out the approximate location of the device- two levels below the entrance, apparently. Viveka nods along with the explanations, but Casey knows her main goal is the map data that Quartz uploads to her phone. Casey and Gwen get a copy, as well, with the location of the device marked clearly.

"We'll head out early," Viveka decides, as they leave Quartz to their research. "I want to get there when the sun is overhead- I need as much light as possible for exterior shots."

"Damnit, I wanted to go now." The black-haired girl groans, crossing her arms. "But I guess I can wait...I do need to dry my hair again." She follows with a loud yawn.

"And sleep, I guess!" Casey laughs. "It's not that late, but if you're yawnin' like that…"

"Hey! I'm NOT tired!" she protests. "But I do need to dry my hair, so uhh, uhh…" Gwen blushes as she struggles to get her words out. "S-s-see you later C-Casey." Casey waves her off as she heads back toward the rooms. Viveka watches her go with a peculiar look on her face.

"What?"

"You remember how I said your Buneary was practically in love with you?"

Ginger hisses at Viveka, but doesn't lunge this time at least. "Yeah?"

"I think someone else might be, too."

"Who, Parsley?" Casey's brain catches up as the words are leaving his mouth. "Wait, Gwen?"

Viveka nods thoughtfully. Casey laughs. "Nah, that ain't it. Just 'cause she thinks I'm hot don't mean she's in love with me. Everybody thinks I'm hot."

Viveka gives him a deadpan stare. "I don't."

"That's 'cause you're old- uh, older than us. Out of our age group. It'd be weird if you did. But ev'rybody 'round my age thinks I'm hot. So it's not weird that Gwen does."

"Well, aren't you confident."

Of course he is. All of that is true. "Anyway, she's not in love with me. Is there a place in this lab where I can hang out an' talk to people? A lounge or somethin'?"

"Yeah, back by the kitchen. I'll show you- Arthur's probably there. And I'm always down for baked goods."

Pepper Bomb • Charmeleon • lv24 | Ginger • Buneary • lv25 | Parsley • Skiddo • lv24
Casey's Profile | Gwen's Profile | Extra Characters | TRAINERS Art | Current Chapter

 

[WizardOfOdd]

Richard Wolstenholme​

Lavender Town, May 24^th, Evening

​

Chapter 5 - 9
An Unwanted Reunion
Ft. ???, Courtney Nair, and Sarah Sherwood​

It was no Rotom, obviously, but it was still a good, agile Pokémon with a personality that matched hers. And it acted as proof that she visited the graveyard at night, catching her own Pokémon with her own hands. Those Safari trainers would now be a bit less inclined to bash on her!

That's what Courtney was occupying her mind with as she walked back towards the Pokémon Center - no use being so negative, especially now that there was no going back for the day. She looked over at Sarah, who threw her a smile and kept walking, somewhat struggling to keep Ralph's pace as she shuddered for the cold gusts of wind.

"Congrats on your new Pokemon." Richard congratulated Courtney on the newest addition to her team.

"Oh, thanks! But you know, she asked for it." Courtney giggled. Maybe she should've been more concerned to have a Shuppet attracted to her… but really, she wasn't giving it much thought.

"I guess we're in the same boat, then." Richard smiled as he patted Madeleine's head, much to her delight.

"Oh, then maybe you'll find it easier to train your Pokémon!" Sarah chimed into the conversation. "I don't think Murkrow likes me very much." Courtney laughed at that remark, then asked. "So you got that Chingling instead, Richard?"

"Well, it's not like I have a choice in the first place… Besides, she actually saved my life. Can't complain a lot about that… Oh look, we've arrived… Let's continue our discussion after we heal our Pokemon." Richard couldn't hide his smile as soon as he saw the Pokemon Center, the experience he had at the graveyard already took a toll on him both physically and mentally.

In the meantime, Arianne and the other Cape trainers were already ahead of them and were the first to enter the building. All they did, however, was just wish everyone good night and swiftly get back to their rooms. "Sorry, I can't resist any longer without some sleep…" The Cinnabar girl added, before walking upstairs after Ralph.

"Oh, it's fine. Thanks for staying with us. Have a good rest, Ari." Richard waved her goodbye.

There were only a few people left in the lobby. Most of the group were already back in their room to recuperate themselves for their own journey tomorrow. Just as the remaining people were about to continue their talk, one girl slowly approached them with a worried expression painted on her face.

"Finally you guys came… Did you two realize how late is it now?"

Richard was surprised at the voice, it sounded very familiar. But he thought that it's probably just his imagination.

"Oh, hi Liz! I… didn't expect you to wait for us. I just…" Sarah hesitated. "I just thought you'd go to sleep."

"And I thought you didn't care… not like it went that well anyways. No Rotom in sight." Courtney added right after.

"I didn't think you guys would go for it… I was worried sick, you know…" As soon as he finished saying her grievances, she immediately turned her eye to Richard. "Is he a fellow Safari trainer? I'm pretty sure that I never saw him before."

"Oh? He's from Cape actually, but someone decided to drag him along anyways… right?" Sarah explained, before turning to Courtney. She just pouted at Sarah, but then turned to Liz and nodded. "Yeah, right."

"Oh, Is that so? Sorry, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Elizabeth Klein, you can call me Liz." The girl enthusiastically reached out her arm for a handshake. She was smiling brightly, expecting that the Cape trainer would possibly be a new friend for her. But contrary to her expectation…

Richard's face turned as white as a sheet as soon as he heard her name.

Sarah looked at Richard, then at Liz, then at Richard… but they seemed both frozen in place, like in a picture. "Uh… are you alright, Richard?" She questioned.

"Huh?" Richard turned his head towards Sarah with a puzzled expression. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to realize what was actually happening. "Oh, yeah. Nice to meet you too… My name is Richard… Haha…" Said Richard with an awkward smile while reciprocating Liz's handshake offer.

Courtney just exchanged looks with Sarah, her eyes in between excited and perplexed. "I would've turned more red in Richard's place, not less so!" She whispered to her friend with a playful smile… maybe a bit too loud than she should've.

"Hey, cut it out!" Liz nudged Courtney slightly with a tinge of embarrassment visible on her face.

The redhead laughed at that. "Oops!" She cried out before turning towards Richard, who didn't seem to have picked up on her words.

"Well, uh… Anyway… I think it's late already. You know? It's not wise staying up this late… I, you know… Not in a tip-top shape it seems. Anyway, I think, uh… We shouldn't stay up more than this. I'll hit the hay first, I don't think my head is doing me any favors right now… Let's meet again soon!" Richard held the side of his head awkwardly to sell the fake headache he was trying to assume as he tried his best to escape.

"Wait!" Liz suddenly called out to the scurrying Richard, cutting him off from his golden opportunity to reach the safety of his own room.

"Uh... Yes?"

"Sorry… I know you're not in a good shape to talk right now… I'm really sorry, but if I may ask… Where do you come from?"

"Wuh? Me? Oh… Uh… I come from… Uh… Cinnabar! Yeah, my hometown is in there… Anyway, have a good night, everyone!"

Richard scurried away without waiting for any of the responses from the girls. He closed the door of his room as quickly as possible, while his shaky hands took quite a bit to lock the door properly. Thinking about what had happened earlier, it didn't take long until he was overwhelmed by emotion as he slumped over in front of his door.

"No… It can't be… This wasn't supposed to happen…"

After the three girls watched the boy walk away, Courtney was left dumbfounded. Her hometown was mentioned and yet…

She spilled the tea. "Uhm, if Richard was from Cinnabar like me, I should've remembered that."

"Wait, really? If that's so, then…"
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[WizardOfOdd]

Richard Wolstenholme​

Lavender Town, May 25^th, Past Midnight

​

Chapter 5 - 10
Doubts​

It was already past midnight. Most people who were still awake were either those who were tidying up after the joyous festival or those who were heading towards their home. Yet one young man sat down at a nearby bench away from the commotion.

There should've been one Pokemon beside him, but the boy's plea earlier to the said Pokemon was heartbreaking enough that it decided to enter her Pokeball, even if she didn't want to do it at all.

"What should I do…" Richard stared at the night sky. He wished that all of his problems would just go away and never found him again.

"Sleep, obviously. It's already long past your bedtime." Keith suddenly appeared next to the man with the red jacket, causing the said man to shudder with surprise.

"I knew it was something. It's one thing for you not to answer my calls at ten, it's another thing when you suddenly call me at such an unusual time." Keith sat down on the open area of the bench.

Richard didn't expect that the quick call he made to Keith in desperation would be seen by the said person, let alone alerting Keith to his current predicament. He knew he shouldn't underestimate Keith's intuition. But even when Keith was already there beside him, he sat silently while trying his best to keep whatever resemblance of smile he had remaining.

Richard knew that it was really not hard for Keith to know that he's trying his best to keep himself from breaking down, especially with how haggardly he looked at the moment. But he just couldn't muster the spirit to hide it.

"...I'm not going to force you to say anything… But if you want to talk about it… I'll listen. Of course, if you want me to stay here, I'll wait… Just don't make me wait until dawn, alright? My sleep schedule is already messed up the way it is."

Richard slightly chuckled at Keith's attempt to make him cheer up. But after that, the silence continued for a while with none of them making any attempt to open up.

"...Keith."

"Yeah?"

"I met her."

"Who? Nah, don't pull my leg... There's no chance in hell that..."

Richard only smiled weakly, turning Keith's expression to a somber one.

"You okay?"

"Of course not, are you sane!? Never. Ever. In my wildest dream… Argh!" Richard stood up quickly before kicking the lamp post beside him as hard as he could. All before he started kneeling, overwhelmed by emotion.

"Whoa! Hey, stop it!" Keith rushed to Richard's side to calm him down.

"I…. Argh…" Richard quickly stood up as soon as Keith reached him. He sat once more on the bench, this time he just sat silently with watery eyes.

Keith sat still while slinging his left hand on Richard's left shoulder. He sat down without uttering a single word.

It took quite a bit for the silence between them to be over, but Richard finally starting to open his mouth once more.

"Keith, what should I do? I told her a lie to prolong the facade... But I don't think it will hold up for long…I just don't know what to do anymore..." Richard tried his best to hold his emotions.

"Hey, remember what you said to me? The one about ideals?"

"Of course… The fact that I threw away my ideals was the reason why I did all of those loathsome acts back then."

"...Richard, that's not what I'm trying to imply. Also, I believe we already have a discussion about that too." Keith's face turned stern, causing Richard to hung his head.

"I'm sorry."

"Ugh...I'm tired of hearing that you know? If you are really sorry... then stop blaming yourself for a change!" Keith raised his voice at Richard.

"Keith… It's already past midnight. Stop screaming!"

"Well, I can't help it! Not when my friend is an utter buffoon who couldn't stop blaming himself for EVERY. SINGLE. F***IN. THING!" Keith yelled even louder, causing some of the bystanders to look at his and Richard's way in confusion.

"Pipe down… I beg of you… Why are you the one angry about this?"

"Because I'm your friend, that's why." Keith lowered his voice and took a deep breath. "Look… I know it's hard for you. But didn't you decide to do this journey with a conviction tightly grasped? Why do you waver from it now?"

"I'm just afraid… I don't want to put her in more pain… What if she remembers everything? Then what?"

"Then so be it." Keith sharply answered Richard's musings. "Every action has its consequences, and you can't undo what you've already done. But that doesn't mean neither of us should be stuck with what happened back then… I'm sure that's what she would want us to do if she remembers everything."

"Come on, you're really underestimating her, you know? Liz used to be tough as nails back then. I'm sure she'll be fine." Said Keith while playfully ruffled Richard's hair to uplift his spirits.

"Haha… True. She was one of a kind…"

"Yep, you shouldn't worry. Besides…" Keith stood up from the bench.

"Even if everyone turned their back from you. I'll always be there for you. Cause that's what friends are for, no?" Keith grinned widely at his friend.

Richard closed his face with both of his hands as he tried his best to stop the tears that flowed down after Keith's declaration. But it wasn't a tear of sorrow that he elicited back earlier, the current tear he shed was tears of gratefulness. It was really easy to tell from the smile that the young man show.

Keith grinned when he saw Richard's improved state. "Ooo… Mr.Crybaby is crying once more… I guess it's really past your bedtime."

"Shut up! It's your fault for throwing those corny lines." Richard tried his best to deflect Keith's teasing.

"Well anyway those 'corny lines' don't come for free, you know? You have to pay the receipts, man. You can start by buying me some Quesadilla, or some Enchiladas will work just fine, or... you can even buy me—"

"Yeah, yeah… I'll think about it." The young man had enough of Keith's rambling and decided to put his friend on a headlock while nudging Keith's head.

It's easy to say that it didn't take long for Richard to regain his spirit as both guys shared a lot of laughs back on their way to the Pokemon Center. And so, the long night had finally ended with a high note and Richard was finally ready to face his first big challenge as a trainer.
​

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[Groc]

Vera Hill
Chapter 6 - In and Out
Route 12; Saturday, May 25th

---

The wind and rain haven't let up at all, and trudging through mud and puddles of water is probably ruining Vera's new boots. "Oh, sure!" She complains to no one, "Just send a bunch of teenagers out into the world, with no plan, no supervision, and tell them it's an adventure! What could possibly go wrong?!"

She shudders as Ebony phases through her hood to reappear beside her, looking at her with concern. "Don't look at me like that, I'm fine!" She stubbornly pushes forward, ducking her head to keep the rain off her face.

She eventually makes it to her destination, a squat, square building in a clearing that has already started becoming overgrown again. The front door is chained shut, but she tries it anyway. No surprise, but it's locked. "Great! How did Quartz get in here if it's locked? Ebony, see if there's a window or something..."

She circles left around the building while Ebony goes right. Around the side is a conveyor belt of some kind, going up at an angle to an opening on the side. "Hey, maybe I can climb this?"

She steps onto the improvised ramp, which holds her weight, only slipping a little as she tries to inch her way forward. She almost falls when Ebony flies out of the opening above her, grinning excitedly. "Whoa! Ebony, don't startle me like that!"

Ebony shrinks back, then moves around to the side, waving a lock of hair in a "follow me" gesture. He heads back around, and Vera hops off the conveyor belt to follow him. She lands in a soft patch of mud, to her annoyance.

Meeting Ebony at the other side, she sees a ladder leaning against the wall, leading to an open window ten feet up. "Oh! Good find, Ebony! But, how am I supposed to get down?"

Ebony glides upwards at a 45 degree angle, then glides down the same way, smiling proudly at Vera.

Vera stares for a moment, looking at the ladder. "Oh! There's another ladder inside!" Ebony cheers happily in reply. "Much easier than the other way. Good job." Ebony covers his face with his hair hands, blushing from the praise.

The ladder is pretty sturdy, even with the rain and mud. Vera climbs to the top and looks inside. It's mostly bare inside, but sure enough, there's another ladder she can descend, and right in the middle of the building is a small radio shaped device, just like she'd been asked to retrieve. "Perfect! Let's get this done."

She climbs through the window, grateful for the reprieve from the rain. It's incredibly loud, with the sound of rain hitting the metal roof echoing through the empty building, but it's better to be somewhere loud and dry than out there any longer.

Then, as she starts climbing down, her mud covered boot slips off the rung of the ladder, pitching her forward. Her face hits the ladder, and she instinctively recoils, hands going to her nose to check for bleeding. She feels weightless for a moment, realizing only too late that she's falling.

Time slows, she feels her stomach drop out, she sees Ebony floating overhead, eyes wide with fear...

...and then she hits the floor.

Head... pounding.

Heart... beating fast.

Vision... bad.

Oh, god, I'm dying, I'm going to die here, why did I come here...

And then... it starts to fade. Her eyes focus on Ebony as he softly cries out to her, fretting nervously as he hovers over her. The pounding in her heart settles to a normal pace, and the pounding in her head fades into a dull ache.

"H-hey, Ebony... Watch that first step..." she laughs, reaching up for him. He shoves his head into her hand, reassuring himself by being close.

Sitting up makes her dizzy, and her stomach twists uncomfortably, but after a second she recovers. "Hey, hey buddy. I'm fine. I'm good. I'm great." She tousles his hair and smiles at him. "Takes more than a slip to keep me down."

Getting up doesn't seem worth the effort, but the floor is pretty cold. Probably concrete or something. They probably could have put a carpet down or something. Maybe installed heating? No... if it was supposed to be a saw mill or something, a heater would be dangerous.

"Maybe a fireplace. That would be good. Let's start a fire!" She puts a hand on the floor, pushing herself up. Or tries to. Using her legs works better, and after getting dizzy halfway up, sits back down.

Then she tries again, and it works this time! "Woo! Cool, I did it! Mission accomplished! What's next on the list?" She looks around, trying to remember where she put her checklist. "Maybe it's in my inventory..."

She shucks off her poncho, because it's wet and cold. It didn't even work, because some water still got under it and her shirt is wet, too. But she can't take that off. She has to take her backpack off first.

She checks inside her backpack, seeing the carry strap Quartz had given her. "Oh, right! The radio! I need to get that."

Ebony flies in front of her, panicking slightly. "What is it, buddy? Want me to change the channel? Me too. I don't like this one, too many bells. Let's put on an oldies station, that sounds fun!"

Ebony blinks in confusion, but Vera turns back to the radio, and sees another Pokémon hovering nearby. "Oh! Oh! It's a Squizard! Unless it's a girl. Then it's a Squitch."

The Pokémon in question, a small squid-like creature, burbles at her menacingly. She brushes it aside in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah... I'm working on it! Wait your turn!"

The Pokémon is baffled at her response, and looks over at Ebony. Ebony quietly shuffles closer to Vera as she fumbles with the strap.

"How does this work? Ebony, you try... I think it goes like this. No, here, let me do it..."

The wild Pokémon growls in frustration at being ignored. Vera scowls over her shoulder at it, pulling out her Pokédex. "Look... Inkay? Okay. Hehe... okay, Inkay. Okay Inkay, Inkay okay..."

Inkay rushes towards her, trying to grab her in its arms. Ebony jumps in, shouting in its face and stopping its charge. Vera calmy walks past them, Quartz's device over her shoulder. "Inkay okay, Inkay okay..."

Inkay tries to move around Ebony, but he moves with it, keeping himself between it and Vera. It growls again, its beak mouth glowing blue as it snaps at Ebony. He cries out as it pecks him, getting Vera's attention. "Hey! Play nice, children! Ebony, don't let him talk to you like that!"

Inkay puffs up its cheeks at that, and Ebony glances between it and Vera, his eyes wide.

"Oh. Don't let her talk to you like that." Inkay nods at that, and Ebony takes advantage of her distraction to hit her with Spite, his eyes glowing red.

Inkay yells angrily, her eyes glowing white as dark spirals swirl in them. Similar swirls appear in Ebony's eyes, and he crashes to the floor, unable to fly straight.

"Hey! That's rude! Confusing people is Ebony's trick!" Vera throws a Poké Ball, sending out Trixie. "Trixie, did you see that? She copied his trick!"

Trixie just shrugs. She had seen, and isn't impressed. She copies Inkay's Swagger with Copycat, confusing her right back. Vera throws her hands up in defeat. "Okay, now everyone copies his trick. Oh wait... Trixie. She's tricky."

Inkay tries to shake off the confusion. She stares at Trixie, odd strobe lights flashing inside her head. She makes direct eye contact, trying to Hypnotize Trixie into falling asleep.

Unfortunately for her, she stares at the eyes of Trixie's disguise. Trixie Copies Hypnosis, and Inkay falls asleep from her own technique.

"And now, you go in the ball." Vera throws a ball at Inkay, who is too asleep to dodge. It shakes, it shakes again, and it shakes a third time for dramatic effect, then clicks shut. Vera grabs the ball, returning Ebony to his.

"A caught a Squitch." Vera shows the ball to Trixie, who puffs up her chest proudly. "And you helped! I knew you'd be a good partner! Let's get going!" She almost trips over her poncho, so she puts it back on and heads to the ladder.

Climbing back up is rough, as each step up makes her head pound. Going down the other side is just as bad, though at least it's quieter outside. She hangs her head once she reaches the bottom, feeling nauseous. "Ugh... stay close, Trixie. Your poncho isn't as waterproof as mine..."

 

[WizardOfOdd]

Richard Wolstenholme​

Lavender Town, May 25^th, Morning

​

Chapter 5 - 11
Trouble in Horizon?​

Richard had a rough night, both emotionally and physically. Thankfully his ribs were in better shape than yesterday, or so he hoped. At least the talk he had with Keith was more than enough to ignite his spirit once more to face the gym leader even if his body was barely able to keep up due to fatigue.

He had the choice to lay his body down on the bed once more, but he'd rather have everything over with as soon as possible. After all, there was no telling how many trainers that would line up to face Beaumont if he wasn't moving fast enough. With what remained of his energy, he quickly dragged himself out from his bed.

With no time to waste, he quickly finished preparing his luggage and everything else before he faced the gym leader. It didn't take long until he reached the gym just moments before the opening time. There was no one waiting in front of the still closed entrance. Maybe everyone was partying too much last night, and he was completely wrong to assume that they would already wait in front of the gym just before it opened.

Come on, Richard let's do this… He slapped his face several times to help him get fired up… Also to prevent him from sleeping while standing.

But as soon as Richard raised his head once more, he saw one of the staff stood in front of the gate awkwardly. Causing him to feel a slight tinge of shame.

"Uh… Are you okay?"

"O-oh, don't worry I'm fine… Sorry, but is the gym open yet? Or..."

"Wel, honestly you came at the right time, I'm just about to open the entrance… Please, come in." The gym staff quickly opened the gate to let the young man in.

The staff escorted Richard inside the gym towards the front desk. The atmosphere of the gym was night and day from what he had experienced at the Pokemon Tower. Richard couldn't help but be in awe of the interior of the gym.

"So, first things first… May I borrow your trainer card, please?"

Richard gave his card without hesitation. He waited in anticipation as the staff whistled happily while quickly typing on his keyboard. However, the happy face didn't last very long as his face quickly turned into a wincing expression while shaking his head.

"Um… Your name is Richard Wolstenholme, correct?"

"Yes, is there any problem?"

"Are you familiar with the Pokemon Tower Association?"

"...Yes." Richard hesitantly answered, at that moment he knew he was doomed. He already knew that there would be a consequence sooner or later, but it's not like he could walk away without signing the petition knowing how much it meant to Laura.

Without any choices, he just smiled at the staff. There was nothing he could do in that situation, the only thing he hoped was that if he was going to be kicked out from the premise, at least let it be in an easy way out.

"Um… You see there is a little issue about—"

*RING RING RING* The phone next to the man rang several times, cutting the conversation before the said staff managed to explain the situation fully to Richard.

"Um… Please wait for a bit…"

The staff pressed a button on his earpiece, causing the loud noise from the phone to stop.

"Hello, This is the Lavender Town Gym, may I help you? Oh… Don't worry ma'am, I won't spill the beans about your hang— Oh we're not talking about that… Oh, okay… Yes, I understand but… Even if you give me the authorization, it doesn't mean Mr. Tayloz will—"

The staff grimaced as he removed the earpiece from his ear. It was clear as day why the man did it, especially from how loud the noise that came out from the other end.

Whoever was at the other end of the phone wasn't happy with the answer that was given to them, which caused a bit of suffering for the ear of the poor staff answering the phone.

"Yes ma'am… I'm very sorry, ma'am… Also uh… Actually, the man in question is actually standing in front of me, so… Do you want to say anything to him, or... Oh, Okay. Affirmative ma'am." The man pressed a few buttons on the phone before handing over the telephone handpiece to Richard.

"Mrs. Hayden would like to speak to you."

What? Hayden? I don't think I know anyone with that name. Or maybe I just forgot… Oh well, it's not like I'll lose anything from answering the call anyway.

With no time for hesitation, Richard opened his mouth.

"Hello, this is Richard speaking."
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[moon]

Ralph Gonder

Mud & Mudcake

Saturday, May 25th
Afternoon, Day 6

Sandsy

Lv 24 | Coldy

Lv 21 | Edgy

Lv 18
Jolty

Lv 17 | Creepy

Lv 17 | Greeny

Lv 13
Ralph's Profile | Current Chapter

At the time Ralph reaches the southern end of Route 12, she's really, really hoping that rats and jeans can be washed easily. The mood is down; not even Greeny is bouncing happily through the puddles anymore, because the road is pretty much just one big puddle. Creepy is the only one relatively dry, curled up snoring in Ralph's hoodie under all the protective purple hair.

As if on demand, when they turn around the bend of the road, a building is sighted nearby. It stands on the sea side of the road, high up from the crashing waves that relentlessly seem to be marching in from the horizon.

Ralph walks closer, inspecting the building. It's rather large, clad in some simple metal panels. It easily has at least four floors, with plenty of windows and some antennas and gadgets on the roof. Shortly: it looks really boring.

But there isn't any other roof in sight, unless Ralph fancies traveling back towards those fishing huts and odd houses she saw before. And the whining rat at her feet makes her decide, if the rest of her situation won't, that it isn't worth that. Boring building it is.

She approaches the front door, thankful for the roof that's hangs out right outside of it. Greeny shakes her whole being to the core, spraying Ralph's jeans with fine mud stains, and Ralph rolls her eyes and rings the doorbell. It's a fancy noise, some tune that feels really odd considering the boring building.

Soon enough, the door slides open and a man stands there. He's pale and not very old, but he has the air of an old grandpa somehow, Ralph thinks. He eyes her from the top to her feet, and seems to take note of the dirty rat sitting at her feet.

"Welcome to East Kanto Research Station," he says with a smile. "Why don't you come in and warm yourselves up for a bit? And have some mudcake?"

From nowhere, he suddenly holds a plate with bits of a soft, brown cake. Ralph is a bit surprised, but grabs one as they enter the warmth away from the wind at last.

They come into some kind of hallway, and there's not nearly enough rug to wipe their shoes and paws clean from the wet dirt on, but the man with the mudcake doesn't seem to mind when Ralph steps onwards into the hall without taking her shoes off.

The man introduces himself as Arthur, as they walk further inside the building. He is apparently the assistant to the spectacular Doctor Quartz, whom Ralph has never heard of and doubt she'll find interesting. That is, until they enter what looks like a big, airy laboratory with many computers and benches with equipment littered around it, and the Doctor themself looks up from one of these messy benches to see who just entered.

The hair. It's purple.

"They use they/them pronouns, by the way," Arthur says, leaning over to Ralph for a second. "A good thing to know."

"Very," Ralph says, as she watches the wild haired researcher shrug and return to their work. They're wearing a hoodie that is several levels less fashionable than the one Ralph is wearing. And yet, so much less dirty.

"Um, sorry ask, but..." she begins, looking down pointedly at her mess.

Arthur doesn't want her to be sorry at all. He quickly shoves another mudcake piece into her hand (so now, she has two) and ushers her upstairs a couple of flights and into a room that very obviously is meant to be for a resident. But it is empty. Arthur assures her that the linens are fresh and that the bathroom is stocked with shampoo for both her and her pokémon though. Also, there's snacks in the cabinet. Also, she should change clothes immediately, so he can quickly wash them for her. And if she needs anything else, she need just stick her head out and call. He'll hear.

Ralph is quite weirded out when she's finally left alone in the chamber, a simple top and her swimming trunks hastily put on so the old clothes could transfer into Arthur's arms - but she's also very grateful. She tugs one of the big towels off a rack in the bathroom and wraps it around herself as she sinks down onto the floor next to the bed for a moment. She's a bit tired. A lot has happened over the past days and she hasn't gotten enough sleep, nor has her body fully had time to heal from ordeals it's faced. She slowly eats one of the mudcake pieces and feeds her Rattata and her Dreepy with the other, even though she silently worries that chocolate might not be healthy for them.

Eventually, she's pulled herself back up and the temporary clothes off again. The shower gets a visit from her, and thankfully Greeny is easily convinced to join her. Creepy curiously watches as both purple haired creatures become cleansed and subsequently dry off. Greeny smells very nice now, thanks to some berry scented shampoo. Ralph gladly carries her around in her arms as she's pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and hoodie again. The same clothes she wore on the first days of her journey. When she met Ari and Deen. It feels like ages ago.

A knock comes on the door, and it's Arthur back already. The clean clothes she's handed make her wonder how long she really spent dozing off on the floor and rinsing off in the shower. Arthur informs her that it is not quite dinner time yet, but that Quartz has a request and that it would be nice if Ralph hears them out at the very least.

As she doesn't mind that now that she's in a good mood again, Ralph and her two shoulder pals follow Arthur back down to the messy, spacey lab. The Doctor is no longer busy with some trinkets, instead they're pacing forth and back until they finally spot the trainer and her assistant, and shines up.

"There you are! I have something I need you to do!"

They suddenly paused and glanced to Ralph's side, and she notices that it's Arthur giving her some kind of look.

"And... I'm sorry for being busy earlier. It's nice to meet you! I'm Doctor Quartz. And you are?"

"Ralph Gonder," Ralph says, not sure why she decides to state her full name. Maybe the kindred hair just makes her like this person. Or maybe it's the fact that they seem to cut straight to the chase, even if Arthur doesn't want them to.

"Right. You're a trainer. I assume."

"Yup."

"So you can go into the ruins on Route 12 and fetch my research devices without fear of wild pokémon attacking!"

Ralph blinks. "What now?"

They explain further.

Ralph takes a decision. Even though the weather really doesn't entice her, the reward sounds nice and she doesn't think it can be anywhere near as bothersome as being lost in Rock Tunnel, so she should be back before bedtime.

In the middle of her eating some quick meal brought by Arthur and preparing for heading out again, her dad calls on her pokégear. It's unusual. Turns out the situation is a bit unusual. Softy hasn't been doing well in Pewter City. She's nervous and mostly hiding from them, and her dad figures that she's feeling alone. Ralph feels a sting of guilt now for putting the precious sporeball there, but she can't carry more than six pokémon. Instead, she decides to send over some company for her instead. Sending pokéballs away apparently takes less energy than receiving and materializing them, so she easily does it with her portable device there and then, after telling Edgy carefully to look after the Venonat well.

After Arthur takes pity on Ralph's sad attire and advises her to invest in better weather gear in Vermilion, he's dressing her up in a rainproof poncho with a hood. He still wrinkles his forehead obtrusively and sighs as he looks at her definitely not waterproof sneakers, but apparently he doesn't have any boots to lend her that would fit.

Before dinnertime, Ralph takes off again. Greeny and Creepy are both inside of their pokéballs now, safe from the weather. It isn't dark yet, at least, but Ralph has a flashlight. She's learned her lesson in Rock Tunnel, and made sure to acquire a good one in Lavender.

She's off to fetch some dumb device the Doctor can't get because of wild pokémon being aggressive, or something. It's marked on her map. It'll be fine. She's dealt with aggressive wild pokémon before, several times. It's been scary, sometimes. But she's always pulled through.

It's not like things will be very different this time, right?

 

[Juno]

[tab=backtostory2]

[/tab] [tab=pkmn2]

[/tab] [tab=inv2]

[/tab]

Tangles Art Cred

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6-1: Ghosts and Ropes

🏨 Lavender Town Pokemon Center 🕙 May 25th, Late Morning​

A watched phone never dings. Or was it rings? However the adage goes. Just stop looking. Jordan reminded himself. He set his phone down for the third time since he got back to the Pokémon Center and returned to his packing.

It'd been a few hours since he last saw them. He didn't really expect Vera to text first, but he'd have thought that Casey would've tried to reach out by now. It might be nice to have some alone time on the road, but it was still an uneasy feeling knowing they might still be upset. He didn't really want to apologize, but...

Nah, I'll just give it a little longer. He told himself. Didn't really know what to say yet, honestly.

Only Tangles and Tiny were out at the moment—Hop had decided that post-evolution was a good time to get Tiny back for last night, so he was currently taking a small time-out in his Poke Ball. The room was no longer big enough for him to throw a tantrum in, and his squawks were a lot more piercing now.

Ding. Well! What do you know, the adage was right. And it was Casey.

send nudes
jk
send me a pic of your ghost​

Jordan grinned, a wave of relief washing over him. At least he's not mad, probably. It seemed like he was trying the whole exposure therapy thing, after all. Good. It was a start. He wrangled Tiny down and snapped a few pictures. He figured if Casey had to look at a Ghost, he would at least get a kick out of the tasteful shots he'd settled on.

Feeling a little lighter, Jordan whistled as he continued packing. Tangles handed him a T-shirt she'd retrieved from under the bed, which he rolled up and wedged in his backpack. The bag was feeling a little full. It was time to start getting creative with his packing. His phone chimed again.

can i have a video?​

Jordan checked his gallery. It wasn't that he couldn't take a new video, but it was kind of difficult, with how much she tended to move around. He had taken one earlier at breakfast to send an update to his family that would kind of work, but Tiny wasn't the focal point of that video. Spirit and Hop, still a Pidgey at the time, were also present, and the camerawork was pretty shaky. Hm.

"Hey, come here, Tiny. Tiny!" It took a little coaxing, but the Pumpkaboo finally settled down long enough to be captured on film. "Okay. Do something cool."

Tiny's eyes began glowing, and a muffled cry behind Jordan alerted him to a levitating Tangles. "No—not like that. I... nevermind." Cool, indeed, but not something Casey was ready to see, probably. The breakfast video will have to do. He watched it again before sending it out. Chaotic. But tame.

He stuffed the last of his clothing into the near-bursting pack, as Tiny continued to Trick-Or-Treat Tangles. She was getting used to it. They... looked like they were having fun? Jordan may not share Casey's fear of ghostly and rope-like things, but he had to admit that his Pokémon were kind of weird.

"Okay, weirdos, let's go." Tangles flexed her toes to touch the ground. "...Right. We'll go when you stop floating."

🛣️ Route 12 🕙 May 25th, Afternoon​

Jordan's raincoat was a little wrinkly from sitting at the bottom of his stuffed bag for so long, but no one was around to see that, and it did its job just fine. Aside from Spirit, who preferred to be dry, the rest of his team did not seem to mind the weather and were all out accompanying their Trainer on his trek, for better or for worse.

"I said Parsley is not here," Jordan swatted at Sage, who kept nipping at his backpack, convinced he was hiding the other Skiddo's Poke Ball. "We'll see him... soon."

They continued well into the afternoon, and while the day flew by steadily, the weather stayed fairly abysmal. By noon, he was getting pretty hungry, and his companions probably were as well. Route 12's neighbouring forest had some fairly large trees that provided good enough cover from the rain for them to sit down and have a quick bite, so Jordan decided to do just that.

As he sat on a deadened log and put down his bag, he peered into the depths of the woods at their backs. Looming structures were in the distance, but something was off about them, and they definitely did not look inviting. Creepy. "Let's not... There's enough shelter under the trees here, don't think we need to go in any further in. Got a sizeable container of trail mix and crackers here—" Squawk. "yes, trail mix again, Hop—sorry if that disappoints you, but we are hiking—but if you want some berries, I think I saw a couple bushes back over there. Don't stray too far, though, and not that way, please."

Hop and Tangles decided to take him up on that and go gather some fresh berries, which was just as well—Jordan did not trust Tiny or Sage to run off without him. Luckily, the two were content with the trail mix he had put down, and settled down a few paces from him as Jordan ate his own sandwich. He continued to peer into the woods occasionally, a little curious... no, we are not making that detour.

As he finished up with his lunch and took a few swigs from his water bottle, he glanced back over to the trail mix container, and was glad to see all three of his Pokémon still there, picking from the granola and candies. Wait, three? One, two, three—right. A small, bluish figure stood under an oblivious Sage, grabbing from the container by the tiny fistful. That one is not mine... it's probably just hungry. No harm done.

But then another one joined. And another. And the container slowly started migrating away from Sage and Tiny.

"Hey, no—" Jordan didn't really have to verbally object, though. It was Sage that cast the first stone, swatting aside one of the blue Pokémon with a Vine Whip, causing the other two to start squeaking angrily in defense of their friend, and Slamming into both the Skiddo and Tiny. A little more pushing and pulling ensued, which finally resulted in the container going flying.

There was a brief beat of silence as the five Pokemon stared down at the spilled trail mix and crackers. Then, they all erupted in a cacophony of squeaks and bleats as they lunged at each other.

"Oh, boy."

Party

Tangles
Tangela | F | Lvl. 17

Ingrain
Constrict
Absorb
Vine Whip
Sleep Powder
Poison Powder

Hop
Pidgeotto | M | Lvl. 18

Headbutt
Whirlwind
Gust
Mirror Move
Roost
Wing Attack

Spirit
Alolan Cubone | M | Lvl. 14

Leer
Growl
Bone Club
Headbutt
Swords Dance

Sage
Skiddo | F | Lvl. 12

Tackle
Growth
Vine Whip
Play Nice
Tail Whip
Leech Seed

Tiny
Pumpkaboo | F | Lvl. 18

Razor Leaf
Shadow Sneak
Confuse Ray
Scary Face
Worry Seed
Trick-or-Treat​

Inventory

- Pokédex
- Pokégear
- Tangles' plant

Moon Stone
​