[PKMN FULL] Unific: The Challengers' Journey [M][IC]

Juno · Jan 14, 2020

Rowlet Art Cred | Karp Art Cred

2-2: ALL THAT GLITTERS
It flopped around aimlessly, neither struggling nor giving any signs of cognizance.

Moments ago, Edwin had eagerly let out his new Pokemon. His anticipation quickly turned to confusion, though. The Pokemon looked like a Magikarp. The PokeDex also confirmed this, and told him as much. But its scales were a brilliant, reflective gold.

"Well, he's something special, alright," Edwin observed. But what do I DO with a Magikarp...? Theodore circled overhead, giving his new team member dubious glances.

"Maybe he has an uncommon moveset." He mused hopefully. "Could be a cool element of surprise for opponents if we send out a Magikarp that'll do something no other Magikarp can do."

He spent the next few minutes calling out special attacks he'd hoped the Magikarp might know, but everything from his wildly optimistic guesses ("he's golden, like sparks—I bet he's an Electric-type variant.") to the somewhat more reasonable Water-type moves he attempted, did not seem to be recognized by the Pokemon. Defeated, Edwin eventually concluded this was, in fact, just a Magikarp. A golden Magikarp, but just a Magikarp.

Flop, flop, flop.

"Hm. Okay, well, this is awkward. On second thought, it seems that... you might not actually be the best fit for our team at this time."

Flop, flop, flop.

"It's not you, it's us. Had I known you were a Magikarp... Nothing wrong with the species, by the way, and I can tell you are an exceptional specimen of your kind. Just looking for something a little more ah... a little easier to train, I suppose."

Flop, flop, flop.

"So good news! You're free. I release you, carry on."

Flop, flop, flop.

"R-right, I guess you need to be in water...?"

The creek sloped off gently just up ahead, and ended in a large, placid pond. Edwin hoisted the golden Magikarp, whose scales glittered in the sun, over to the calmer waters. He was much heavier than Edwin expected, but eventually, he was able to gently set the Pokemon into the pond.

"Alrighty, we are all good to go. It was nice meeting you, Magikarp. Have a nice life!" With a salute, Edwin set off along the edge of the pond, whistling. In his periphery, he could see the Magikarp gliding along silently beside him, ripples rolling outward from his golden dorsal fin. Edwin stopped whistling and picked up the pace, signalling for Theodore to do the same. The Magikarp swam faster than it looked like it could, matching their pace. He sighed.

Damn my kind, compassionate nature, Edwin lamented silently, as he knelt down by the pond. "I understand. That was wrong of me. I gave you the opportunity and hope to work with a trainer like me, then ripped it away seconds later. I need to take responsibility for that."

He couldn't really tell if the Magikarp was looking at him or not as he said all of this, but he continued his monologue.

"You sense the greatness in me, too, yes? That's why you are so eager to come along. Very well, we can be the best together. You, me and Theodore!" He gestured towards the bird, who still didn't look too pleased with the new addition to their party. "I have full confidence that I can train you up into the majestic beast you are destined to be. You will be a star... hey, can you give me some indication you are listening to me?"

The Magikarp burbled quietly, and bubbles floated to the surface.

Alright, that's something. "Excellent! Okay, back in the ball we go. I think you'll have some difficulty traversing some of the terrain up ahead, so I'll just let you know when it's training time."

In a flash of red light, the Magikarp disappeared into the Poke Ball once again. Theodore clicked his beak.

"I know what you're thinking, but believe in me. We can whip him in shape together, okay?"

The stupid, blank stare of the fish Pokemon lingered in his mind as he said that.

"...Or maybe we can sell him to some poor schmuck in Dolce. He is golden; he's got that much going for him, I suppose."

Party

Rowlet // Theodore

Tackle
Growl
Leafage
Peck
Shadow Sneak

Magikarp // ???

Splash
Tackle
Flail

Journal

1-1: "Edwin"
1-2: Networking
JP: Unwelcome Reunion
ft. Janice Carter
1-3: Dark Horse

2-1: Theodore Bugsbane
2-2: All That Glitters

Trainer Card

OOC Post

the sloth · Jan 14, 2020

Bennett Myrtle

Chapter 2-3: Battle, Blunders and Bonds in Interlude Forest

Party:

Current Location: Interlude Forest, Northern Wild Area

Both Pokemon took their places at the opposite ends of the clearing, which was just big enough for a small-scale battle such as this. Jingles was as scrappy as ever, looking ready to pounce at any given moment, while the Phantump simply looked happy to have company. Neither Pokemon made a move yet, eventually looking back at Bennett until he realized they were waiting for him to make the first command.

"... Oh! S-sorry, I just... all the Pokemon we've run into today usually attacked first..." He mumbled to himself, pulling out his PokeGear and opening back up a small digital note he'd written detailing the moves Jingles seemed to know for on-the-fly reference. Not that he needed it, after how many Pokemon they fought in the forest so far, but it was just good information to have on hand, he thought. "O-okay, then, let's start with a Headbutt." He duly ordered, which was enough intitive for Jingles to get things moving. He lowers his head, before leaping forward to bash his head into the Phantump.

Curiously, she doesn't move out of the way of the attack, instead letting him ram the blunt scale on his head into her. Both of their heads clash, a hollow, woody echo coming from the stump over her head as she was barely fazed by the attack. Jingles looks at her with indignant confusion and growls, going for another Headbutt on his own with the same results.

Wait a moment, she's a Ghost type, right? And Headbutt's a Normal type move, which has no effect on her... Jingles had vainly continued trying to bash and faze the Phantump before Bennett spoke up with a different command. "C-change of plans, Jingles! That-, that move won't work... um..." He looks over the list again. That was also a Normal move, that move was too situtional to use at the moment and wouldn't hit her... this would have to do. "Jingles! D-Dragon Tail!"

Jingles huffs in irritation as he hasn't even been able to scratch his opponent yet, who's still letting him make the first move and giggling over it. Bennett manages to derail him from his one-track-minded plan by commanding him to use a different move. His tail glows blue with draconic energy, leaping forward again before faking the Phantump out by spinning his whole body 180 degrees and smacking her with his tail! The attacks lands without a hitch, and the Phantump yelps as the power of the move flings her right out of the clearing and deep into the foliage beyond it. Her fellow Phantump gasp in fear of their friend's safety, and even Bennett fears they might've been too rough, before the Phantump returns looking no worse for wear. A little roughed, obviously, but not going down that easily.

She rubs her head, looking a little dazed from the blow... Jingles grins triumphantly, prowling closer for another blow, before she suddenly screams right in his face! The dragon yelps and falls onto his back from the shock of the Astonish, making everyone, even his trainer, burst out into a fit of laughter. The upside down Jingles looks back at his trainer in disdain as he giggles with them, but he couldn't help it!

"Sorry, sorry!" He clears his throat and recomposes himself, knowing how fragile the tough and macho self-image his Pokemon made for himself was and wanting to respect it. "T-that move, it seemed to work well. Go for another o-one-, another Dragon Tail!" His Pokemon gives another irritated huff, feeling like he was being one-upped by a Pokemon that should be less powerful than him, and didn't take kindly to it! He prepares to attack again, but this time the Phantump sees it coming and swiftly dodges before retaliating. She waves her arms, a haunting glimmer coming off of her eyes... but nothing seems to happen. Jingles felt a little weird, though... he doesn't question it for too long and instead goes in for another Dragon Tail, before being met with a nasty surprise. Some unseen force physically prevented him from swinging his tail, it wouldn't even gather draconic energy and glow! None of his offensive moves worked now... he was a sitting Ducklett! Another growl rumbled from Jingles, and before Bennett could formulate a new strategy, he lost it.

He snarled and thrashed in a bitter, immature tantrum, a cacophony of screeches and clanking metal filling the air from his Uproar and disturbing the natural peace of the forest. Various bird Pokemon scattered from the surrounding tree tops, and judging by all the rustling bushes nearby, any other scavengers or perhaps hidden spectators to the battle fled from the noise. The audience of Phantump laughed at his frustration, except for his opponent, who looked a bit bad for making Jingles so upset. Bennett tried to break the stalemate and call a truce to calm his Pokemon down, before something bizarre happened.

His face burning red in emberassment and anger, steam literally came out of his ears as if he was a locomotive, huffing and growling angrily. Bennett had never seen Jingles get into such a fit, and before he knew it, the dragon lunged forward, full of rage. He roared as he bashed his head into the Phantump, who wasn't affected by the move but was similarly concerned. She didn't fight back at this point, instead trying to console the Jangmo-o. Jingles rejected her condolences, steam pumping out of his ears as his attacks continued to simply not work or even faze her. Again and again and again... until he could feel it. Whatever had been restraining his tail from doing its thing suddenly ceased, as it erupted with newfound intensity. Blue flames engulfed his tail, flames that almost dwarfed the little dragon in size and intensity. It was noticed by the others a little too late.

With a triumphant roar, he brutally lashes the Phantump across her wooden helmet, who gets launched back into the woods and out of sight, the sound of a loud CRACK, creaking, and then FWOOSH heard several yards away. Jingles looks back at his trainer for approval, but is instead returned to his ball without so much as a 'congratulations', and Bennett runs through the overgrowth in the direction the ghost had been sent with her friends following close behind.

"P-Phantump?! We're coming!" He yells, nearly tripping over a bush, vine, or root several times as he approaches her. The source of the noise had been revealed; she had been launched so hard that her body cracked and fell one of the thinner trees of the forest, which lay sprawled across the forest floor besides a newly made stump. Bennett kneels down and picks her up in his arms, the Phantump now genuinely dazed and seeing stars at the moment. "I'm so sorry... he's never done a-anything like that, a-at all before..." Bennett mumbles in distress, before her friends return, each holding a different berry and pushing them to her mouth. She eats each one, chewing softly as her eyes focus again. Despite what just happened, she looks guilty, and her tone of voice makes it sound like she's apologizing.

"You don't have to apologize..." Bennett looks back at the ball he'd returned Jingles to, before putting it in a secluded pocket in his bag. "I think he just got... you know, a-all upset because his attacks weren't doing anything." She continued to look guilty about the whole thing, leading to Bennett insisting otherwise. "I-It's not your fault. I promise." He reaches out and pets the stump on her head again, making the Phantump lighten up again and giggle. She then suddenly grabs his hand, tugging on it and pulling in the direction back towards the clearing. The boy follows her back, her friends following before they take a turn right before it. Seemed they were taking a detour, the Phantump wanted to show him something...

North of the clearing, past some more trees and bushes, Bennett was pulled along to somewhere surreal to see so deep in the woods. One tree that was tall, sturdy, but not quite as tall as the rest, there was something nestled up among its leaves. It was a treehouse, worn with age like a relic from decades ago. The other Phantump flew around, playing with each other and giggling before vanishing into it, while he just looked up at it in awe.

"Is... that yours?" Bennett points at the treehouse, and the Phantump guiding him nods.

It is born from the spirit of a child who died while lost in the forest possessing a tree stump.

Bennett's heart aches a little as he remembers that, while the Phantump looked back at him with a simple, cheerful stare... did she used to be a kid before... dying out here? Or did wild Phantump simply have an appreciation for treehouse architecture? Maybe somebody else made it a long time ago? Whatever the reason was, Bennett couldn't say for sure, and the Phantump certainly couldn't tell him, so it would remain a mystery forevermore. The other Phantump return from the treehouse, each holding a different berry and giving them to her as a gift. She smiled with glee, hugging each one of them as she took each berry before... giving it to Bennett?

"O-oh, um... thank you?" He reached into his bag, pulled out a sandwich bag filled with other snacks his mother had packed for him, and put the berries inside. When he looked back, he was surprised to see the Phantump toying with one of his empty Pokeballs, and it was then that he realized... despite Jingles roughing her up, she wanted to come with him. Between the hugs, the gifts from her friends, the berries for the road... "... You want to come with me?" He felt the need to make sure and ask anyways, the Phantump responding with a kind smile and nod. "But... w-what about your friends?"

Her smile weakens a little, but they answer for her, all swarming in for one last group hug that included Bennett, much to his surprise. They all then take turns saying goodbyes to their friend, all of them leaving her on good terms, it seemed. Then they waved goodbye, and dispersed into the many shadows of the forest's overgrowth, leaving just the two of them. An awkward silence followed, the Phantump looking off into the woods before Bennett pet her again, and she looked back at him with a smile.

"... Do you have a name?" He eventually asked, the question feeling a tad awkward to ask. There was a pause, as if she was trying to recall one, before nodding no. "In that case, h-how does... um... how does 'Berry' sound? You seem to really l-like berries, anyways..." The Phantump giggles before nodding in agreement, seeming to enjoy that name.

Through tribulations and grief, he somehow managed to make a new friend today, despite it all.

No way was he turning back now.

Team Updates

Jingles learned a new move!

Dragon Tail, Headbutt, Protect, Work Up, Uproar, Counter

Berry joined the team!

Berry the Phantump

♀ / Harvest / Met at Interlude Forest / Gentle nature / Highly curious
Astonish, Tackle, Branch Poke, Disable

After hearing Bennett's sobbing, a Phantump felt sorry for the boy and lured him into the serenity of Interlude Forest so she and her friends could comfort him. She was roughed up by a frustrated Jingles that learned he didn't have the best coverage for Ghost types, but still wanted Bennett to catch her and bring her along with him. She has other Phantump friends in the forest, but they've parted ways and said their goodbyes as she leaves Interlude Forest for the first time in a long while...

The newly-named Berry is an all-loving Pokemon of nature with a hint of childlike mischief and wanderlust, excited to see whatever parts of Unific her new trainer brings her to. It's not entirely clear how true the rumors of Phantump being the reborn spirits of children who died in the forest are, but whatever the case, she can't recall anything before being a Phantump. She's dwelled in Interlude Forest all her life... er, afterlife?

budube · Jan 15, 2020

Carmen Sylvia
Chapter 2 - Part 2: I present to you, your loyal assistant: ECHO

Staff Meadow, Northern Wild Area

The Pokémon had flown into a berry tree in the middle of a meadow at the entrance of the Wild Area. It wasn't really that far, but Carmen still had her fair share of walking. She had a healthy body but not an athletic one and she was used to sitting down because of her old hobby too. Her arms were resistant but her legs… not so much, and that would be a problem in this journey.

There were a bunch of berries grouped at the bottom of the tree, and more were falling. According to her PokéDex, Noibat used their ultrasonic waves to look for ripened fruit, but Presto was only plucking and dropping the berries there.

"Presto, leave that tree alone. We should keep going."

Presto poked his head outside the tree the moment he heard his trainer's call. He descended to the berry buffet he made and started nibbling on a Tamato Berry he left on the ground.

"Come on, we don't have time for this." she said trying to pick him up. The Pokémon struggled to break free between squeaks of annoyance and anger until Carmen let him go, and kept eating his food on the ground. Carmen sighed in defeat and limited herself into sitting with her Pokémon instead. She didn't like the idea of sitting on the grass, but it was that or standing for minutes while her Pokémon ate.

She put the brown crossbody bag her aunt gave her the night before leaving to Crescendo on her lap and used her free time to take a look at the box it had inside. She had totally forgotten about it the day of the ceremony and now that she had the time, she could take a look at it with no problem.

"Rotom…" she whispered reading the logo of the box. She hadn't heard much of the Rotom Phone, except that it had gotten pretty popular and was a potential competition for the PokéGear. Carmen didn't care much about it either, she had her PokéGear after all, its latest version, even, and it worked totally fine.

The phone had an unappealing orange case and didn't seem to be much different from a normal smartphone, which made it totally useless… or not? It was a gift from aunt Veronica after all, and expensive gifts were not something she was used to give her unless Carmen asked for them, and the Rotom Phone was expensive and wasn't of Carmen's interest; there's a reason why her aunt never bought a Holocaster, after all. It still didn't make any sense that a normal smartphone was the potential competition of the PokéGear, so there was definitely something special about it.

Presto was startled the moment the trainer turned on the phone, shook on her hand and let out a short 'beep' that he jumped on his spot and threw a berry at it. Carmen laughed at him, but was equally startled the moment two horn-like antennas came out of the top and bottom parts of the device and the phone started floating in front of her, showing two blue eyes and a white smile on the back of the orange case.

'Good morning.' the phone's robotic voice saluted.

"W-what the-! How-! What are you-!" Carmen couldn't find the words to express her surprise. An orange smartphone floating in front of her was already too much for her to even cope with the fact that it was talking. Presto was squeaking angrily at the floating phone.

'Please excuse my manners and allow me to introduce myself. My name is Echo, and I am a Rotom Phone.' the phone continued speaking 'The Rotom Phone was developed in the Galar Region by the Galar's Pokémon Association in collaboration with researchers from the Wedgehurst's Pokémon Research Lab, with the purpose of assisting young and veteran trainers in their adventures. In order to do that, the Rotom Phone comes with a series of features such as its very own PokéDex and a Town Map. The Rotom Phone can also keep record of your adventure, storing information about your recently obtained badges or your recently caught Pokémon, and give information about the locations you want to visit. The Rotom Phone-'

"Enough!" the girl interrupted in a desperate voice. She didn't understand a thing about what it said, except for the part that its name was Echo and it had a PokéDex and a Town Map.

'I beg your pardon, but I couldn't understand what you meant with that last statement.' Echo said 'Would you want me to repeat something of what I just said, or would you want me to stop talking?'

"N-no, just…" Carmen closed her eyes and exhaled. "Just don't talk too much." Or simply don't talk at all.

'As you wish. I will now proceed to configure my talking feature to the minimum.'

Silence.

Carmen and Presto sighed in relief after the random scene concluded. She didn't like the new gift, but Echo could come in handy, probably. Having both the PokéDex and the Town Map in a same device was-

'Forgive me for my intrudence but-' Carmen jumped startled and frowned, holding her head with a shaking hand. 'I'd like to know your name before-'

"Carmen."

'Okay, Miss Carmen. If you ever need my help, feel free to call me.' Echo kept quiet for a few seconds before continuing. 'By the way, I'd be careful while walking around here. I detect the presence of Pokémon such as Starly and Taillow nearby. But please take this advice with a grain of salt, and keep in mind that these detections are accurate just 60% of the time.'

That said, Echo's eyes closed and it went inside a pocket at one side of her bag, its size was wide enough for it to fit just right, explaining why her aunt insisted in giving her that bag before going to Crescendo instead of buying a brand new one once she got to the Big City.

Anyways, wild Pokémon nearby? She wasn't having any of those in her current state, but on the other hand, Swellow was a Pokémon that interested her on her team.

Carmen packed the berries Presto left on the ground, and kept walking across the meadow with her Pokémon over her shoulder nibbling the berry he had on his hands. There was no signal of any wild Pokémon and she wasn't going to risk running into something horrible like Raticate or Greedent so she just kept walking her way. If a Taillow appeared before her, good, but if it didn't, she'll look for one later whenever she feels like looking for one.

Carmen's Party:

Stinging Bea · Jan 16, 2020

Janice Carter

Current Party:

/

Chapter 2-2: A Feather Ruffling Encounter

Northern Wild Area

Back when she had been living in Fugue, Janice had heard stories from Old Man Smitherson about his days as a Pokémon trainer. His stories were always filled with exciting encounters with wild Pokémon, down to the wire battles with the strongest of opponents, and taking on the various challenges that Mother Nature herself would throw out. Janice had always had some reason to doubt these stories, always chalking them up to the embellishments of an old man to try and engross those around him in the days of his youth. It was something that always seemed to captivate Will, however. More often than not the young boy would stare at the man with a look of awe and excitement, always anxious to hear just what kind of story the old man would be sharing today. So naturally, the teenager would play along, humoring out the situation if only to keep her little brother happy.

It was something that she found to be completely different when finally experiencing it herself out in the wild. Even though her Joltik and the wild Rookidee were merely staring each other down, both waiting to see what the other would do first, Janice felt a sudden rush of excitement course through her body. A smirk gracing her lips, the blonde girl leaned forward and decided that she and Iris would make that first move.

"Iris, hit 'em with a Poison Sting!" Janice quickly shouted out!

The petite bug Pokémon lurched forward, shooting forth a thin, needle-like object in the direction of the wild Rookidee. The bird Pokémon let out a loud screech as it quickly took of, agilely dodging the attack before diving its beak down towards the Joltik. Iris let out a squeal of pain as it staggered back, back was quick to recover from the attack.

"It's fast, I'll give the little bastard that," Janice cursed. "Iris, go for a Bug Bite!"

The Rookidee turned and dove back towards the tiny bug. Iris let out a tiny screech as she quickly hopped up into the air and landed on top of the bird's back. With all the strength she could muster, the tiny Joltik sunk her fangs into wild Rookidee's back, causing a surprised tweet to come tumbling out of the flying-type's beak. While it didn't seem to hurt the Rookidee too much, Janice could tell it was definitely annoying as the bird began to flip and turn in the air in an attempt to shake Iris from its backside.

"Now heal back that damage some with Absorb!" Janice called out.

Iris went to suck some of the energy from the wild Rookidee, but the bird pulled off one more flip which proved to be enough to send the tiny spider tumbling to the ground below. Iris landed roughly in the grass on her backside, turning her small head to look up and see the wild Rookidee leering at her intently. With a loud screech, the Rookidee dove down and landed quickly in front of her, the wild bird's beak jabbing and poking at her every way it could. The Joltik began to skitter about, trying desperately to dodge the attacks, but the Rookidee was simply too fast. Before Janice could properly react, the bird managed to scoop Iris up into its beak and began to quickly fly off!

"Shit... Iris!" Janice cried out. What the hell was it with these bird Pokémon? Were Joltiks just that delicious. "Iris! Drop her right now you asshole!"

The Rookidee didn't react to Janice's swears and yells as it flew, clearly happy that it was about to enjoy a tasty treat. Iris began to fidget and squirm as its body hung out from the wild Pokémon's beak, the two slowly starting to get further away from the trainer. It was at that moment, that a brilliant burst of inspiration struck the blonde.

"Iris, Electroweb now!"

The bird Pokémon seemingly came to a halt as it slowly glanced down at the Joltik trapped by its beak. A faint, sparkling glow began to surround the tiny spider, before suddenly it shot out a sticky, staticy, surprisingly shocking web in from within the wild Rookidee's beak. Rookidee squawked in pain from the sudden attack, its wings flapping wildly and thrashing about. Without warning, the Rookidee dropped Iris from its' beak, the spider taking a tumble down to the ground below. Thankfully, Janice was quick to react. The trainer quickly called Iris back into her pokéball, the beam of red light engulfing the spider just moments before she would have hit the ground. Janice sighed in relief, placing Janice's ball back onto her belt before turning her focus elsewhere.

There... Laying in the grass... was a shocked and now paralyzed Rookidee. Janice grinned down at the wild bird Pokémon as she made her way towards its side.

"Ya know, I oughta stomp ya into the damn grass under my size seven boots," Janice sneered. "But all things considered, ya put up a hell of a fight... Yer comin' with me, whether ya like it or not."

Not even waiting a single moment for the bird to even try and respond, the blonde trainer pulled out an empty pokéball and threw it down at the injured Rookidee. The ball smacked the bird right in its noggin, before bouncing up and pulling it inside via beam of light. Janice watched as the ball shook... once... twice... three times... before coming to a standstill in the grass. A confident chuckle slipped past her lips.

"Heh... and that's how we do things, Janice-style..."

Rookidee, Male
Adamant, Quick Tempered, Keen Eye
Peck, Leer, Rock Smash, Hone Claws, Power Trip, Fury Attack

Janice's Current Thoughts: ...Not too shabby.

gimmepie · Jan 16, 2020

Elleni Vargas

Chapter Two - Part One

Elleni stretched her arms above her head, letting out a sigh as she let them flop back to her sides. She was sitting in her hotel room, on the side of her bed. Perdito was sitting next to her, looking up at her with concern.

He had been awake for several hours already and been dressed and ready to leave for nearly as long. Yet, at the time ticked by, she remained stationary. Occasionally, she would open up the memo function on her PokeGear and read through her list. She couldn't deny to herself that she was already having doubts about what she was undertaking.

Sighing again, Elleni abruptly stood up causing her Cubone to help with alarm and tumble off the bed. There was a dull thunk as the end of the bone he carried around clunked against the skull worn on his head.

"Sorry!" Elleni winced, kneeling down to make sure Perdito was okay. Of course he was, Pokemon could tank a lot worse than falling off a bed. He was surprised, maybe a bit embarrassed, but definitely unharmed. The Ground type quickly climbed to his feet, looking sheepishly at his trainer.

"Bone!"

"My bad," Elleni said, also getting up, "It was a pretty abrupt decision. We just need to focus on what's ahead of us at right this moment. How bad could it really be anyway?" She concluded with a nervous chuckle before she slung her bag over her shoulder.

She left the comfort of the hotel room and headed down to the lobby where she turned in her room key and made her way out of the building - where her day got very suddenly and immediately worse.

"Hey, isn't that Lucia's sister?"

"Shit," Elleni swore under her breath, wondering just what the hell a group of Reach members were doing outside the Apex Hotel.

There were four of them, two male and two females. All dressed in various shades of dark blue and purple with the imagery of fearsome-looking Dark or Ghost types printed on their attire. The older of the two women sported a Ghost-covered midriff top identical to the one she often saw her sister wearing. She was the one who had noticed Elleni.

Elleni made to hastily walk away, but the Reach thugs were already moving over to cut her off.

"Don't be in such a hurry to get away from us!" the woman said again, grinning wickedly.

"Yeah, we get along real well with your sister - well some of us more than others," one of the men said, laughing as he playfully elbowed the other guy next to him in the ribs.

Perdito clung to Elleni's leg, visibly uncomfortable with the presence of the Reach members. Elleni figured he'd met enough of them by now to know they were just about always bad news. She fought her impulse to scoop him up and comfort him though, showing anything that could be perceived as weakness now wouldn't make the unpleasant situation go away any faster.

"That's got nothing to do with me," Elleni said.

"Nah, it doesn't," the second of the men said, "I hear you've put in some good work for us too though."

"Yeah, ain't you with us anyway? What're you doin' in the Gym Challenge. That's what everyone's in this hotel for right?" That was the second of the women, she had an annoying and squeaky voice.

"I have my reasons," Elleni shrugged.

"Wonder what those might be," the first woman said, her nasty grin deepening.

"And I wonder why you're still bothering me," Elleni snipped back in response and started to make her way past the assembled Reach grunts. People were starting to stare now, and the last thing she needed was to be booted out of the Gym Challenge because people saw her being too friendly with Team Reach.

"What'd you say you little bitch!" Squeaky Voice screeched, lunging for Elleni only to be grabbed by two of her compatriots.

Perdito moved between the grunts and Elleni, brandishing his bone club, the threat implicit. Elleni forced herself not to smile yet. Shy as Perdito was, he was loyal. He and Elleni protected each other, it had been that way for a while now.

"You think I'm afraid of your runt ass Cubone?!" Screechy continued to yell, "I'll boot its ass halfway across the city."

"Picking a fight with a Pokemon sounds like a really good way to end up in a hospital," Elleni said. Perdito smacked his club on the ground, leaving a small but noticeable indent on the concrete to emphasize the point.

"Shut up!" The first woman barked at her companion.

"Don't pick a fight with Lucia's sister, idiot," One of the male grunts hissed shortly after as Screechy continued to struggle, "Do you want to be fed to a fucking Hydreigon?!"

Elleni turned and kept walking, ignoring the struggling grunts behind her. At least that commotion would hopefully stop anyone asking questions she didn't particularly want to answer. It wasn't until she was well and truly out of sight that she exhaled deeply, letting herself sag a little.

"Thanks, Perdito." The little Cubone was at her feet, shaking slightly and making a point of sticking close to Elleni. "At least the next part can't be much more unpleasant than that."

"Bone!"

WizardOfOdd · Jan 17, 2020

Matthew "Matt" Callista
Location : Crescendo City
Partner Pokemon :

Chapter 2 - 1
Rough Awakening

"Thank you, thank you…"

What a spectacular sight to behold it was for Matt. Everyone is applauding and cheering for him after his win against the champion. His parents that were vehemently against his dreams cried in joy at the front row.

"Wow, thanks for your support everyone. Without it, I probably would never even manage to reach these heights in the first place. Of course…"

Matt's passionate speech was suddenly interrupted by screams of panic coming from the audience.

"Be careful, there's a rampaging Tauros on the loose!." Screamed one of the audience.

"What the heck is going on?" As soon as Matt turned his head to the left side, he suddenly felt a major impact on his back.

"Wahhhh!" Matt screamed, and when he opened his eyes he could saw the bed he slept in last night.

"Damn, that was horrifying..." It was thankfully just a dream, he couldn't imagine what would happen if he was actually rammed that hard by a Tauros. But his thankfulness didn't last long as the same pain could be felt by him just a few moments after he woke up from his deep slumber.

"What the actual--" Matt was pretty pissed at this point, whatever hit his back was going to pay the price. It didn't take long to realize what the source of the pain was as Matt heard a very familiar voice from the back of his body.

"Sherry!" Matt screamed with all of his might, scaring the Calm Pokemon that was standing on his back. Matt quickly turned his body and immediately pinched the cheek of the culprit with both of his hands.

"What the hell are you doing!" Matt interrogated his Pokemon. Hatenna complained in her pain while trying to escape her trainer's pinching. "Do you even understood why the hell I'm ended up in this state, huh!?"

Last night was a rough night for Matt. He thought he just had to entertain the little lady until she was tired enough to be tucked inside her Pokeball. But the leisurely stroll suddenly turned into an actual workout when Sherry decided to ran as fast as he could. Matt had to spend 1,5 hours of running just to get the little princess to stay put. Apparently the Calm Pokemon was trying to trick Matt into training with her, and it apparently succeeded as her trainer had to run as quickly as possible to caught up with her. To add more insult to the poor man, his Pokemon showed no remorse about her actions and instead smugly smiled in pride that she made his trainer stronger from exercising.

"I've tried so hard yesterday… So hard, Sherry! Can't you just give me a temporary solace? At least don't interrupt my beauty sleep, pretty please?" Matt grinned widely while still pinching the cheeks of Sherry.

Sherry kept struggling against her trainer, at that point Sherry already started to use her protrusions to break free from her trainer's powerful grasp on her cheek.

"You know what? Even a Primeape would show more restraints then you do, young missy. Wait, maybe I should just trade you with it? That's probably a better idea than sticking around with you." Matt sarcastically uttered the words toward the Calm Pokemon.

Matt wanted to make a joke against Sherry to pay her back about the disturbance she made, but what he didn't realize was the fact that Sherry took the words from his trainer really hard. Sherry started to cry while screaming in a high pitched voice, causing her trainer to be panicked at the sight.

"Whoa, whoa, what's wrong Sherry… Surely you know it's a joke right?" Matt winced at the sight of the crying Pokemon, he never thought that she would take the joke seriously.

Even with Matt's reassurances, the Calm Pokemon didn't stop to bawl her eyes out. This led Matt to do the only thing that came in mind inside his head. "Come here, Princess." Matt cradled the body of his crying Pokemon to ease up her sorrow. The action of the young man partially pacified her cry as Sherry was still sobbing even after being comforted.

"Where did I go wrong? She usually understood if I was trying to crack jokes like this… Besides, it's just a… Oh no…" Matt finally realized why Sherry was bawling that hard, he bit his lips as he knew that he just caused a very unpleasant thought to surface on his Pokemon's mind.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, Sherry. I'm such an insensitive idiot." Sherry who heard her trainer's words shook her head as much as she could while trying to hold her tears to convince her trainer that it wasn't his fault. For Sherry, it was solely her fault for the fact that she couldn't hold her tears even if what Matt uttered was unlikely the truth. Even so, the sole thought of the only remaining people she loved the most would also leave her just like how the old lady had left her was too horrifying for her to bear.

Matt couldn't forgive himself. It was just two months after Helen passed away and it was a very painful experience for Matt. But there was no doubt that Sherry was the one that was affected the most by her passing. after all the old lady was always there since Sherry was born. The fact that he casually threw a joke like that was a complete mistake looking at the situation at hand. It was a super stupid decision and he promised himself that he wouldn't talk about abandonment anymore in front of the Calm Pokemon so she would never cry any more.

Matt cradled Sherry for a while after that until she stopped crying. He then prepared himself and Sherry for the long journey ahead, full of hope that everything will work out well for them in their journey.

budube · Jan 18, 2020

Carmen Sylvia
Chapter 2 - Part 3: Battle Royale

Staff Hills, Northern Wild Area

Carmen was following her path occasionally moving her eyes to explore the area in case there was a Taillow there, and Presto would stop to look around whenever he heard something weird, which was almost all the time since his hearing was really good. The Wild Area wasn't really that bad as she thought it was going to be… yet. So far she hadn't had any wild encounters, which wasn't bad but wasn't good either. It wasn't bad because the environment of the Wild Area helped her clear her thoughts a little bit, it wasn't good because she could be the only challenger to leave without her first Pokémon.

rustle, rustle

Carmen stopped there, the sound could've been her imagination so she looked back at Presto. The Pokémon had also stopped moving and was staring at one the bushes near them.

rustle, rustle

The girl walked to the bush and looked intently at it. There was something moving inside, two Pokémon one of them was black and the other was-

"Ah!" she covered her face from the Pokémon that jumped outside the bush. A small, blue, oval, bug-like Pokémon with a single horn, followed by a black, winged Pokémon with a long beak and a large red crest. "What is that!?" she said pointing at the blue Pokémon.

The Rotom Phone came out of its pocket and Echo's eyes opened once more, answering another accidental call from the trainer. It floated in front of Carmen, showing her some images of the Pokémon it started describing.

'That's a Karrablast. The Clamping Pokémon. Whenever they feel threatened, these Pokémon spit acidic liquid. For some strange reason, these Pokémon may evolve in the presence of Shelmet after receiving electrical energy.'

"A-acidic liquid!?" Carmen shook her head "W-what about the bird?"

'Pikipek. The Woodpecker Pokémon. They can peck at very fast speeds. They store their food in the holes they makes out of trees. Seeds of the berries they eat are used as ammunition for their attacks.'

Carmen was ready to keep moving her way, none of the Pokémon she saw interested her. However, when she looked back at the battle field, three more birds have entered, one of them was a Taillow. The Bug was cornered, but the other Pokémon didn't seem to want to share their food with the other Flying-types.

"Can you give me information of all of them?"

'Taillow. The Tiny Swallow Pokémon. They dislike cold weather and are often in search of warm places. They would stand even before the strongest foes. They cry when they are hungry.'

'Pidgey. The Tiny Bird Pokémon. They are common in forests and woods. They have a very good sense of direction and can find their nests even if they are miles away. They are very docile and don't like fighting, but can be dangerous if provoked.'

'And last but not least, Starly. The Starling Pokémon. They flock in great numbers around mountains and fields. Even if they are small, their wings possess great power. Their singing is noisy and annoying.'

The bird Pokémon shrieked at each other, while the Karrablast looked around looking for an escape route and shot Acid Spray at the Pokémon to push them back. Taillow and Starly glided against the Bug-type, but they clashed against the other birds too, triggering the battle.

Now that she was focused on her wild Taillow, Carmen wasn't going to stand there and watch. The Flying-types and the Bug-type were fighting each other and that would put her Pokémon in danger. She had to repel the other threats and catch it as fast as possible.

"Presto. Supersonic." the Noibat generated sound waves, inaudible for Carmen's ear, but not for the other Pokémon. The sound waves affected Pidgey and Starly, who struggled to fight often hitting themselves.

Karrablast wasn't affected by Supersonic, and after getting away from Taillow's Peck, its horn was engulfed in dark-energy. The Bug-Type countered its attacker with a strong Night Slash. That move scared Carmen who ordered Presto to protect that Taillow at all cost.

Presto moved at high speed around the battlefield, creating multiple copies of himself. Each copy shot a Gust attack following the original Presto.

Pidgey fled after the attack blew it away and Starly fainted.

Karrablast Endured the hit and Pikipek avoided the attack and along with Taillow, it proceeded to attack Presto's copies trying to find the original one.

Pikipek charged its next attack and flew against the Bug-type. Taillow followed it and tried to stop it from stealing his food, which made the Woodpecker Pokémon change its target.

"Leave it alone, it's mine. Presto!" Presto glided against the two Flying types, attempting to push Pikipek on the way. His spread wings suddenly glowed a white light and his small hands opened, the Noibat struck Pikipek with his forearm. The Bug-type then hit the Flying type with a Night Slash which finally made the Pokémon faint.

The Taillow shrieked at Carmen on its spot seeing how she took a Pokéball out of her bag. "You are mine." she said as she prepared to throw the ball. At the same time, the Tiny Swallow Pokémon spread its wings and prepared to attack the trainer. Karrablast shot some Acid Spray at it, which caused the Pokémon lose its balance and made the Pokéball miss its target.

"W-wait, no! Presto-!" before the Pokémon could react, Karrablast gave a finishing blow at the wild Pokémon with another Night Slash.

Carmen ran to the wild Taillow with her Pokéball in hand, hoping that it didn't faint. It didn't move, and Echo confirmed that it wouldn't. Carmen dropped her Pokéball in frustration, and started breathing heavily.

"Karr" a voice called. It was Karrablast, bowing before the trainer that saved its life as if it were some kind of knight.

'It seems like it wants to come with you.'

Carmen gave a repulsive look at the wild Pokémon bowing before her. For her, what the Pokémon was doing was just mockery. She wanted the unconscious Taillow that was laying in front of her, not that… thing that ruined everything.

"Leave." she ordered in a harsh tone. Karrablast stood there, refusing to move. Carmen got up and said: "I said leave! Go away and leave me alone! There's no place here for… whatever useless thing you are."

Carmen's Party:

Presto learned Wing Attack.

WizardOfOdd · Jan 18, 2020

Matthew "Matt" Callista
Location : Crescendo City
Partner Pokemon :

Chapter 2 - 2
Knowledge is Power

"Let's go, Sherry. It's time to prepare ourselves for the journey." Matt stood at the front door of the hotel while smiling towards Sherry besides him.

"Hat~ Hat~" Sherry hummed in joy, as she finally was able to train. Is it psychic power training? Is it an endurance training? Is it going to be a speed training? Or could it be a full-fledged Pokemon battle? Sherry couldn't stop humming as she thought the endless possibilities of her getting stronger.

After some time walking, they reached the destination. But much to the Calm Pokemon's surprise, it wasn't some quiet area filled with bushes and abundant species of Pokemon. Instead, it was a huge building with a sophisticated design. "Hat?" Sherry was very confused about what this place was.

"Hm? What's wrong Sherry? We have to prepare for our journey as soon as possible." Sherry didn't understand at all what the hell is her trainer going to prepare her, he should've brought her to a training facility of some sort instead of this weird building.

Matt and Sherry both entered the building, and soon enough Sherry's question was answered.

"Hello, welcome to the Crescendo City Library, may I help you?" A woman greeted Matt and Sherry on their way in.

The words of the woman shocked Sherry, in her mind library means books, and books mean studying. She shook her head repeatedly while pulling Matt's pants to make him steer away from the dreadful place.

"Don't worry Sherry, it'll be fine… We're just be going to take some notes before we go." Matt picked up Sherry to cradle her in his arms while smiling.

Left with no choice, Sherry dejectedly decided to stay put.

Matt had a lot of fun picking up books that he deemed important to read, while Sherry just stood beside him while she fought her drowsiness. With a pile of books ready for him to take notes of, he took important notes of the knowledge contained inside the book at a very fast pace, as he already used to do it while in Castelia. After a while, he took a peek at his partner.

"What's wrong Sherry? You look uncomfortable."

Sherry pouted in front of her trainer as she was pretty sure that Matt knew that she wasn't pretty keen on learning something that's unrelated to Pokemon battling.

The young man sighed at the sight. "Look, I understand your sentiments, but I still need to prepare just in case. You can have your battle after lunch, okay?" Matt continued to write notes about different books he took from the shelves.

Sherry eventually nibbled Matt's left pinkie finger to tow him towards the exit with no avail.

"Look, Sherry… I know it's pretty boring for you. But do you know that the next gym leader is a Bug-type user? That means we have to find another teammate. Sure you have Mystical Fire to handle them, but it doesn't change the fact that you're still weak against their attack, also…"

Sherry was struggling to avoid sleeping at that point, she was already tired because her own antics yesterday and it caused Matt's lecture to turn into a lullaby for her.

"... That's why it's important for me to check the habitat of those pokemon, besides based on the data on this book which was published last year… Um, Sherry?" Matt stopped writing and turned his sight to Sherry. The Calm Pokemon was already enjoying her trip to the dream land at that point.

"Geez, I guess I rambled too much… Although now I know what the old lady felt when I dozed off during her lectures." Matt moved Sherry to his lap carefully. He closed the book about the Pokemon habitat in the Unific Region.

"This book should be the one…" He grabbed one book from the pile, it was about research on Psychic Pokemon. Carefully he moved the pages until he reached the page about Hatenna.

"I'm not a genius trainer, nor an overtly strong one, nor one with many connections to smooth things out, I don't even have many privileges of a wealthy one. But I'll try my best, all so we can achieve that promise we made with the old lady." Matt muttered alone while patting the sleeping Sherry on his lap, he then continued his note-taking as silently as possible to avoid waking up the tired princess.

Juno · Jan 19, 2020

Rowlet Art Cred

2-3: SOMETHING FISHY
The sun was setting a lot faster than Edwin anticipated. He had horribly misjudged the time it would take for them to reach Dolce from Crescendo; the landscape was getting much steeper and more difficult to traverse, a factor he had not accounted for. While his bag was big and bulky, it was mainly stuffed full of clothes, and didn't contain any gear that would prepare him for staying out in the wilds overnight.

"Come on, Theodore," He sighed. The Rowlet nuzzling into his neck for warmth hooted back in response. He would still fly on his own occasionally, but for the past two hours or so, he would come back to hitch a ride on Edwin's shoulder more and more frequently. He must be getting tired, too. "We have to hustle."

As they rounded another hill, Edwin could see what was possibly one of, if not the last bit of flatter terrain before the final climb up to Dolce City. He peered off into the distance miserably. The inclining paths after this area did not look like they were going to be fun, especially at their current energy levels. As they pushed on, they approached another body of water; it wasn't quite a lake, but he couldn't see the bottom of the pond, and it was quite wide. More importantly though, in the dim light, he could just make out three colourful tents set up in a row on the opposite side of it, with four specks moving about. Campers! Edwin thought, relieved. Maybe I can convince them to let me crash with them until morning...

As they set out walking around the pond, he couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy, like they were being watched... and not by the campers on the other side, either, who still seemed to be minding their own business. Edwin shook his head, and walked faster. Halfway to the other side of the pond, he swore he could see something dark stirring in the depths of the water. If it was a bit brighter out, he might have been able to make it out, but...

"Keep your eye on the pond, Theo. Your eyes are better than mine, so let me know if something fishy—"

His sentence turned into a strangled cry of horror as a large creature suddenly emerged from the water. The startled Rowlet almost fell off Edwin's shoulder, as the boy stumbled backwards. Glistening in the cool, evening air and towering over the pair, was an enormous Gyarados.

In the distance off behind the creature, Edwin noticed four pairs of eyes that were now on them. Now that they had moved a bit closer, he could see the campers more clearly and noted they appeared to be a family of four—the group consisted of a middle-aged man and woman, a girl who looked to be in her prepubescent years, and an even younger boy.

None of them appeared to be rushing over to help, but just stood watching. They must have Pokemon if they're in a Wild Area, he thought to himself. This must be quite startling, though. I wonder if they knew this beast was lurking right next to where they set up camp this whole time! We gotta save them—yes, they'll be indebted to us and will have to let us stay with them after.

"Oh, you're messing with the wrong trainer tonight!" Edwin said loudly, hoping to sound heroic. "Get him, Theodore!"

The Rowlet swiveled his head around and gave his trainer a 'wait, really?' look. "Yes, Theo, really," he said through clenched teeth. "Trust me. Give him a nice, strong Growl to start it off, okay?"

Reluctantly, Theodore swooped off his shoulder and flew up to match the Gyarados' gaze. He let out a sharp cry close to its face, which seemed to annoy the Gyarados more than anything. It retaliated by lunging at Theodore and trying to close its teeth around him. The Rowlet zipped around its head, but a couple feathers were pulled loose, indicating it had just barely missed.

Edwin grimaced. That was far too close. He needs to put some distance between them. "Theodore, get out of its reach and attack with Leafage!"

The Rowlet obediently flew higher up. Once he was safely out of reach, he unleashed a barrage of leaves down. Some of them hit its target, but the Gyarados deftly avoided most of the attack in a graceful, practiced manner that almost made it seem like it wasn't a wild Pokemon. It swung its tail at Theodore, sending a large wave of water crashing onto the small Pokemon.

As he watched his Pokemon shake the water out of his feathers, he could see a small figure run up to him in his periphery. The young girl from the campsite was approaching. "Stand back, kid! We got this!" he shouted at her, but she skipped right past him and addressed the Gyarados.

"C'mon, dinner's almost ready," she smiled and motioned towards the campsite. She turned towards Edwin. "Pa says when y' guys are done playin' with Titan, yer welcome to join us, too."

"Titan... I—what?" Edwin spluttered as the soaking wet Rowlet made his way back to his trainer and plopped back on his shoulder. He made a face. "Gross, Theo." The girl had already skipped back off, and the Gyarados had seemingly lost all interest in the battle, swimming towards the campsite side of the pond.

Party

Rowlet // Theodore

Tackle
Growl
Leafage
Peck
Shadow Sneak

Magikarp // ???

Splash
Tackle
Flail

Journal

1-1: "Edwin"
1-2: Networking
JP: Unwelcome Reunion
ft. Janice Carter
1-3: Dark Horse

2-1: Theodore Bugsbane
2-2: All That Glitters
2-3: Something Fishy

Trainer Card

OOC Post

gimmepie · Jan 19, 2020

Elleni Vargas

Chapter Two - Part Two

Elleni's legs were starting to hurt now and she had a weight in her arms now since she'd been carrying Perdito for the last while. It had been several long hours since her encounter with the Reach goons and while the scenery around her was stunning, it was becoming increasingly difficult to appreciate it as the flat plains gave way to an ocean of ever steeper hills.

To Elleni's right, a large thicket of trees gradually grew thicker and thicker until it turned into a full-blown forrest. To her left, it was all open grassland. Ahead of her, in the distance she could see the looming shapes of the mountains behind Dolce. She couldn't quite make out the city itself yet and the sun was starting to hang ever lower in the sky. It was looking less and less like Elleni would be able to reach the city before nightfall.

"Lucia warned me about this," Elleni sighed, "I thought I might be able to outdo her but we left too late."

"Bone?" Perdito questioned from where he was, cradled in Elleni's arms.

"When I looked it up, it was meant to be roughly 24 hours of walking from Crescendo to Dolce," Elleni explained, although she wasn't entirely sure how much of this her Cubone understood, "So a lot of beginners expect to make it in a day, ignoring when they leave, and ignoring that they're inexperienced covering all this Wild Area terrain. I managed to get caught in the exact trap I'd been explicitly warned about. We're off to a great start." Elleni laughed to herself.

Perdito chuckled a little too, apparently content with that explanation.

As Elleni continued her trek, her legs began to burn more and more as it got ever darker. After a while, she could eventually see the lights of Dolce City on the horizon. Elleni new better than to be too excited by this though. Just because she could see the city lights didn't change the fact that it was now night time, she could hardly see anything else and it was almost certainly another few hours before she would actually be able to reach the city.

"Okay, that's enough." Elleni put Perdito down and then practically collapsed, flopping down onto her back at the top of a small, grassy hill near the edge of the trees. "My legs are killing me, I can hardly see and it's still hours until we reach Dolce. We either spend the night right here, or at least let me rest for an hour or so if we feel like braving the night."

Perdito shrugged and sat himself down next to where Elleni was laying on the ground. They stayed like that for several long and silent minutes, exhausted by the trek they had already undertaken.

Despite her exhaustion though, Elleni felt almost exhilarated. This part, at least, was the real deal. The proper feeling of being a Gym challenger in the Amateur League. The physical exertion, the companionship with Perdito. This was so much for fulfilling than her life in Vivace, doing odd jobs for Reach to help keep her family afloat.
"Screw it," Elleni said, sitting upright abruptly, "We'll stay here for the night. The weather is good and it'll be a nice experience. I'm a little uncertain about setting up a campfire on all the grass though, so it'll be a cold dinner tonight.

Elleni pulled out a bowl and filled it with pellets for Perdito who immediately began to munch on the food, sitting in front of his meal with his bone on his lap. For herself, Elleni settled with a couple of apples. She'd be sure to grab a proper breakfast before she arrived at the gym challenge anyway.

It was as she was pulling out her sleeping bag that Elleni remembered that there was something a little tastier also inside her bag. She pulled out a bag of marshmallows, turning to Perdito.

"Want to put your Fire Punch to a practical use." Elleni grinned.

Perdito's tiny fist was soon being used to roast marshmallows. If there was a more Amateur League camping experience than that, Elleni couldn't name one. It was perhaps a little tedious for Perdito to constantly ignite his hand, but they both enjoyed the novelty.

That was, until something streaked between the pair as Perdito tried to snack on a marshmallow of his own, grabbing the sweet off its skewer. It was dark though, and neither trainer nor Pokemon could lay eyes on the thief.

"Bone!" Perdito yelled irritably.

"It's fine, there's more, so we'll just get you another one," Elleni reassured her partner. She skewered another only for this one to be yanked from her hand skewer and all before she even had the chance to pass it to Perdito.

"What the -"

Perdito growled, a sound that was a lot cuter than it was probably intended to be. Still though, Elleni wasn't exactly looking forward to ending the night with a Cubone tantrum.

She reached for the packet again, suddenly lunging forward just in time to pull it out of the way of a thieving pair of jaws. This movement was then quickly followed up by a loud thunk as, with a golfer's swing, Perdito smacked the offender away with a Bone Club.

Elleni turned her torch on the culprit. The torch light revealed an orange, vulpine creature with black boot-like paws and ears and matching tufts on its tail. Marking were also present on its face. With it's slender body and large head, Elleni couldn't help but think it was quite cute.

Elleni recognised the Pokemon, identifying it as a Nickit. They were rather notorious for their kleptomania. Still, she had to admit it was cute.
The Nickit got back to its feet, shaking its head to clear it. Perdito moved forward, wielding his club and ready for battle. Elleni however, was struck by inspiration.

"Hold up!" She interjected before Perdito could attack again. Elleni knew nothing would come between Perdito and sweet food, so she made a point of getting in early before things became unsalvageable. "You want to have some with us, or would you rather risk getting your head clubbed by an angry Cubone again?"

The Nickit looked curiously at Elleni, tilting its head.

"Yes, you. You see any other thieving Nickit's around here?" Elleni said, sitting back down and patting the ground nearby.

Perdito looked at his trainer like she was mad.

"Sometimes you catch more Cutiefly with honey." Elleni shrugged. Perdito resigned himself to diplomacy and sat across from her.

The Nickit stood there in the torchlight for several more minutes, then made up its mind. It trotted over to where Elleni and Perdito were sitting and sat next to them, looking up at Elleni expectantly.

With the aid of Perdito's Fire Punch, suddenly it was dessert for three.

"You know," Elleni said to the Dark type, "Perdito has a sweet tooth so we tend to carry a lot of these. If you come with, you can have plenty more."

The Nickit responded by opening its mouth, something that Elleni had come to understand meant "more, please."

Elleni allowed the Pokemon to take another marshmallow off her stick, reaching behind and tapping a pokeball to the back of its head as she did so. The Nickit was drawn within in a beam of faint red light. The ball shook twice and then became still.

"Looks like we've got a new teammate. You'll have to share those from now on."

WizardOfOdd · Jan 20, 2020

Matthew "Matt" Callista
Location : Crescendo City
Partner Pokemon :

Chapter 2 - 3
Out of Control

"Hat…" Sherry was barely able to hold back her boredom, even after waking up at the library. Her partner immediately stood up and scanned weird-looking discs with a weird device of some sort for a long time, after that Matt didn't go straight to the place where she could test her skills. She was now stuck in a place with a whole lot of strange things everywhere.

"Sherry, we can depart for Dolce City now."

Sherry's attention was focused on the brown bag Matt held on his left hand. She thought that there was something important there, and so curiously she decided to ask Matt what was inside it.

"You want to know what's inside this bag? You'll know soon enough, we will be needing this later in the day." Matt smiled mischievously.

Sherry still wondered what's inside the bag, but hey if it helped her get as fast as possible to the wild area, she's just glad that it was there. With all of the preparation finished, Sherry and Matt both entered the forest just slightly after high noon. Just as Matt researched, most of the area is filled with Bug-types, obviously, he didn't forget to record every single Pokemon with his Pokedex just in case if he needs the data.

Sherry was ecstatic, she couldn't wait to beat every single Pokemon in the forest. However, much to her displeasure, Matt decided to forbid her from attacking other Pokemon until they gain some distance from Crescendo City.

"Hat…" Sherry grumbled, in her mind if she couldn't fight now then when? She was itching for a training session but her trainer kept denying both battles and training again and again. The Calm Pokemon decided, maybe it's the right time to make an action herself, besides she had the utmost trust in Matt that both of them probably could handle whatever the heck she angered in the process. With that in check, she decided to fire her Mystical Fire towards the brown figure she barely able to saw behind the bushes.

"Hmm… What's all that noise. Sherry, why the heck are you burning the bush… Shoot..." Matt was focused on scanning the nearby Kakuna for its data when he could hear the sound of crackling fire behind him. He would've lashed out immediately on Sherry if he didn't see the menacing figure emerging from the bush.

Sherry stood tall in excitement to battle the Pokemon she lured out, she was sure that she could topple anything that comes in her way. But that optimism was quickly snuffed out of existence when the Pokemon she lured roared her so hard that she crashed into Matt's legs.

"Sherry… From all Pokemon here. Why the hell you choose to anger a Pinsir?" Matt could only stand in his place full of worries at the menacing sight of the Bug-type Pokemon.

Pinsir slowly got closer and closer towards Matt, which gave the signal for the young man to bail out as soon as possible. In danger, Matt grabbed Sherry with his left hand while he ran away with all he got with the enraged Stag Beetle Pokemon behind him giving hot pursuit.

"Come on there's should be something we could do… Sherry, Mystical Fire!" Sherry climbed on Matt's head and created a flame circle behind his back, the circle unleashed a stream of magical flame towards Pinsir. Matt was confident on Sherry's ability. After all, he had seen how hard Sherry had pushed herself on training sessions. The fact that Mystical Fire also has special properties that weaken Pokemon also boosted his confidence.

However, Pinsir emerged from the flames relatively unscathed. The flames only fueled his hatred towards the Calm Pokemon even more than before.

"Aw, come on! There should be a weakness we can exploit…" Still running with all of his power, Matt aimed his Pokedex scanner as accurate as possible on the Bug-type Pokemon, all in a faint hope that the Pokedex should be able to give him something to work with.

A mechanical voice came out from his Pokedex. "Pinsir, The Stag Beetle Pokemon. Pinsir is astoundingly strong. It can grip a foe weighing twice its weight in its horns and easily lift it. It grips prey with its pincers until the prey is torn in half."

"Not helping, damn it!" The Pokedex instead caused Matt to sink in more terror than before. Rips prey in half? That means if things actually go south, the place he'll be sent to wasn't going to be the hospital but the morgue. At this point, he was grasping at straws on how he could beat the Pinsir without ending his Amateur League career in a tragic fashion.

"Ahhhh! What kind of sin have I done to end up like this!" Matt could only run as his legs could take him as the Pinsir kept bulldozing whatever was between it and the running man. With the Pinsir closing in, he had to find a solution fast. "Argh… No matter what the hell I'm thinking of, there's only one way it could possibly work…"

That solution was, to find a powerful scapegoat at least enough to delay the Pinsir. But what? The Pokemon he could he see on the vicinity was a Starly, a Shroomish, and a Ledyba. What could they possibly do to delay the hulking brute behind them that was hellbent on revenge, obviously they would only last a minute, no seconds even… It was not a great choice. Matt continued to dodge the obstacles in his way while continuing his search for a decoy.

"Kakuna, no. Poochyena, no. Heracross, n… Yes!" With his hope reinvigorated, Matt dashed towards the Single Horn Pokemon then he slapped his hand over his back in an effort to misled it to believe that Pinsir is the one who did it. Heracross really didn't appreciate that someone was disturbing his mealtime, and was more than happy to punish the miscreant that did him dirty.

The single sight of the incoming Pinsir was enough for Heracross to make its own conclusion. There was no way in hell he'll let this intruder stole the tree sap he coveted so much. With it, the Heracross intercepted Pinsir causing both to lock horns. Pinsir who was easily agitated chose to not bother with the fleeing enemy and instead chose to engage with the more challenging Heracross instead.

"Yes, I did it! Yay me! Let's scan the data of Heracross just in case we need it later." Matt held up his Pokedex once more to scan the Single Horn Pokemon. Little did he realized that the fact he didn't stop running to scan Heracross would be costly as he stumbled on a rock and fell down in a bush in front of him.

Sherry giggled at the sight of his falling trainer, but his trainer started to stare towards her. "Don't you dare think you're off the hook for this, little missy." Hearing those words, Sherry immediately turned down her face, embarrassed at her mistake. Strangely for Matt, Sherry immediately gnawed on his shirt sleeve pulling it downward.

"What's wrong?" Sherry used her protrusion to point downward. There was a Pokemon egg hidden beneath the bushes.

"Welp, I never felt gladder than ever that I didn't turn this egg into scrambled eggs. Although, what egg is this…" Matt held the egg with both of his hands, curious with what Pokemon resides inside the egg. He didn't want to move the egg since the parent could come back for it later. "But, that's not a viable option either, eh?" As the battle between Pinsir and Heracross kept getting heated up as time goes, leaving this egg alone is risky as it could accidentally be caught in the middle of the battle.

"I guess there is no choice…" Matt brought the egg with him and Sherry while both of them silently crept away from the battlefield.

Matt kept thinking about what Pokemon egg it was. If it's a type that could handle Bug-type well then it could be a great asset. But, the fact that the Pokemon inside didn't even have a shred of experience at all is also a factor that needs to be considered. Maybe he could leave it somewhere safe… No, he had robbed the little child from its parents. At least, the thing he could do is taking care of the little baby even if it's just temporary.

The thoughts the didn't last long though, as the egg shined in white light. The time of it hatching has come.

"Whoa… I wonder what Pokemon's inside." Matt and Sherry both gazed in awe and anticipation. It also didn't take long for them to realize what Pokemon they were going to deal with as the Pokemon finally hatched from his egg.

"Dew… Budew?"

Spoiler:

Juno · Jan 21, 2020

Rowlet Art Cred

2-4: THE PRODIGY'S PROTEGE
Huddled around the dwindling flames left over from cooking food, Edwin joined the small family in roasting some marshmallows for dessert. They were kind enough to offer him and Theodore some of the stew they had prepared for dinner, and were now chatting away around the cozy campfire.

Theodore stuck his beak inside the warm, toasty marshmallow on the end of his stick. He now seemed to be having some trouble getting the gooey residue off his face.

"Ya shoulda seen how high y' jumped when ol' Titan here popped out of the water," The man sitting across from him chuckled. Noticing the unamused expression on Edwin's face, he quickly added, "But that was a real good effort, though!"

Laugh lines were permanently etched into the kind man's face, and he looked like he spent a lot of time in the sun. Edwin thought he could really use some moisturizer, but rough as his face was, there was an undeniable charm that radiated from his smile. His name was Luis Diaz, and he was a fisherman currently on vacation with his wife, Norma, and their kids. Although they didn't say where they were from, they had a very familiar-sounding accent, and Edwin guessed they were from Marcato.

'Titan', the Gyarados, as it turned out, was not the only Pokemon they had set into the pond for some free-roaming time—he just happened to be the one who decided he wanted to aggressively say hello to Edwin and Theo when they walked by. He shuddered, thinking back to the harrowing encounter. Because of the nature of Luis' occupation, all the Diaz's have Water-type Pokemon that were caught and brought home from his fishing trips.

"Gotta give 'em some time out of their Poke Balls, 'else they get restless," Their daughter Rosa explained, as Edwin joined her at the edge of the pond. He had set Theodore down with the rest of the Diaz family while he figured out his marshmallow situation, and sat down next to the girl. She had her hand in the cool water, swishing it around, as a Finneon and Goldeen followed the treat she was holding between her thumb and index finger. He thought about his own Magikarp. He's been cooped up for most of today since I caught him, maybe he'll like spending some time in that pond, too.

He removed the Poke Ball from his belt and let out his Pokemon. Even in the moonlight, his scales shimmered as he splashed about. The Finneon and Goldeen stopped what they were doing to investigate their new playmate.

"Oh, wow!" Rosa exclaimed in awe. "What a beautiful Magikarp!"

Edwin sighed. "Yeah..." He perked up at the excitement in her voice. "Why, are you interested? You know, for the low, low price of—"

"Ah, no, no," she jerked her thumb towards the Gyarados in the lake. "Titan's mine, actually, and we got enough fish Pokemon as is. I just have a soft spot for these guys because they remind me of him when he was a wee 'karp."

"I thought your dad caught him."

"He did," She grinned cheekily. "Brought 'im home as a Magikarp thinkin' he would be a cute, harmless pet for me 'n my brother, but I started training him instead."

"Train...? What are you, like eight?"

"I'm ten, actually, not that that has anythin' to do with anythin'. My Gyarados woulda flattened yer Rowlet if I didn't stop 'im," she said smugly. "Perks of growin' up around Water Pokemon, I guess, gotta strong connection with 'em. Momma loves fish Pokemon—we got a pretty big pond at home, little smaller than this one, where they just all swim around like this all day. They're cute 'n all, but I always knew I wanted a Gyarados. So we kept trainin' and trainin', and here we are now." She gestured with both her arms at the blue, scaly beast splashing in the other end of the pond with pride.

Edwin was speechless for a few moments. "That's... really impressive, actually. You should try to get an endorsement to compete in the League too, someday."

"Yeah," she said casually, unabashedly acknowledging her talent. She didn't even try to sound humble. "Thas the plan, once I'm old enough. Dunno if they'll let me compete with Titan, though. Not really a problem for me to start over with one of them pipsqueaks over here, but I sure will miss him."

"I can understand that."

A few moments passed, before Rosa spoke up again. She seemed to have been considering Edwin's earlier proposition regarding his Magikarp. "Say, if ya didn't want him in the first place, why'dya catch him?"

Edwin was slightly embarrassed, but he felt weirdly comfortable with these people. Something about them felt very... familiar. He recounted the story from earlier that day with a sincerity that surprised even himself; of how he came across and ended up catching the Magikarp.

"I was really hesitant to keep him, to be honest. I guess it can be rewarding, but they seem pretty hard to train and evolve. Still, I don't know, didn't feel right leaving him behind," he shrugged, frowning. Although, if a child could do it, how hard could it really be? He thought to himself, but decided not to say it out loud.

The girl smiled. "It's not so bad, really. Ya just gotta know how to speak their language, 'n put your heart into the training. Pokemon can feel it, y' know! Give it your all, they will do the same." She paused, watching the gold Magikarp swim around with his new friends. "Want me to show ya some tricks?"

Edwin perked up. "Tricks... for what?"

"Dirt bikin' in the mountains," Rosa said sarcastically. "I meant how to train yer Magikarp, o' course. My, yer a slow one."

Party

Rowlet // Theodore

Tackle
Growl
Leafage
Peck
Shadow Sneak

Magikarp // ???

Splash
Tackle
Flail

Journal

1-1: "Edwin"
1-2: Networking
JP: Unwelcome Reunion
ft. Janice Carter
1-3: Dark Horse

2-1: Theodore Bugsbane
2-2: All That Glitters
2-3: Something Fishy
2-4: The Prodigy's Protege

Trainer Card

OOC Post

the sloth · Jan 21, 2020

Bennett Myrtle

Chapter 2-4: Rocky Relations

Party:

Current Location: Acoustic Prominence, Northern Wild Area

Berry led the way for a short time until they got out of the thick of Interlude Forest, sunlight starting to stream back down onto them once they did. It was late into the afternoon, just before sunset would begin... Bennett was surprised he lost his sense of time so easily in the woods, hopefully they would be able to make decent progress back to Dolce before night fell. Berry was undaunted by the slowly approaching nightfall, of course, for obvious reasons.

The two strolled down a path Bennett rediscovered, the one he took to Crescendo a few days ago now. He took the time to interact with his new friend; holding a one-sided conversation with her, playing a bit of charades as she tried to tell him about herself too, the like. It was all good fun! A couple hours in, Bennett needed to take frequent breathers, stopping and sitting on the ground or a nearby rock to catch his breath and drink some water. He was not the athletic type, or at the very least, didn't have the best stamina. The trip to Crescendo had been just like this, but this time instead of Jingles impatiently pulling on his pant leg, Berry just idly floated nearby, not in nearly as much of a rush. A nice change of pace.

Twilight was descending upon them the next time Bennett stopped for a breather. His legs ached, he was panting... He nearly drops his weight onto a nearby rock to sit on, but doesn't fully, as not to hit his pelvis against the hard stone. He slumps forward with a sigh, grabbing a flask from his bag and drinking until it's empty, Berry hovering nearby and looking concerned.

"... I think we should set up camp, soon." He mutters wearily, before his bag starts... beeping? He must've put his bag down in a certain way and turned something in there on. Bennett fishes it out, seeing his Pokedex come to life. It was pulling up a Pokedex entry for something it found nearby...?

Geodude, the Rock Pokemon

"At rest, it looks like a normal rock, but will react with violent punches by swinging its arms if aggravated. They're commonly found in areas of high or irregular escalation."

Bennett glanced around the immediate area, cast in a shadow and making it a bit harder to make out the fine details. He didn't see a Geodude anywh-

"Wah!" He yelps as the rock he was sitting on suddenly surges upward, his face landing in the dirt. Despite that, he quickly scrambles onto his back to assess the situation, only to see that the rock he had been sitting on wasn't just a rock! A groggy Geodude awoke from his slumber, growling in irritation before resorting to instinct and ol' reliable by swinging its arms haphazardly. A rocky fist narrowly avoids Bennett's foot as he scrambles back onto his feet, Berry looking equally shocked but ready to fight nonetheless. She moves forward to approach the Geodude...

Only for Jingles to jump in instead.

"What the?" Bennett mumbles in disbelief as he sees the beam of light shoot out of his bag, Jingles remanifesting and jumping right into action! He had no idea he could just, bust out of his ball like that! Not that he ever usually kept him in it, but his behavior earlier got him put in a time out. The dragon lunges forward with a confident snarl, pushing Berry aside as he does before locking into a tangle with the rock Pokemon! They roll forward a couple times before stopping, Jingles atop the Geodude while the latter keeps trying to swing his arms. He bashes his tough head against the rock Pokemon several times, it becoming apparent that was his go-to strategy.

"Jingles! I-, what are you-... l-let's just roll with this..." His trainer starts to berate him, before deciding now wasn't the time. "Berry, help him out, please." The Phantump nods attentively, approaching the Geodude and lowering her head, readying for a Branch Poke... before Jingles shifts targets, jumping off off of him like a stepping stone and lunging onto Berry! She stumbles back, disoriented with the dragon her face before he hops off, barking at her as if to tell her to shove off. "Jingles!" Bennett cries out again in both frustration and worry, as he was starting to prove he didn't play well with others.

The Geodude takes this opportunity to wind up for a punch, trying to hit the dragon while his back was turned, but his trainer's yelling made him look back just in time to react! An orange and red aura radiates off of the Jangmo-o as he intercepts the punch with the blunt scale across his forehead, and before the Geodude can react, Jingles retaliates with a counterattack! The Fighting-type technique utterly cripples the Geodude, who rolls back a fair distance like a small boulder, before his arms lie still from being knocked right out.

Jingles holds his head up proudly, smirking before he's yanked up from the ground and into Bennett's arms, who looks... upset? Why is he upset?

"What has gotten into you, lately?" Bennett's tone is upset and distressed, but not quite angry. Jingles stares blankly, before tilting it in confusion. "You k-know what I'm talking about. With Berry." Both look back to the Phantump, who's rubbing her arm uncomfortably. "First, y-you throw a... temper tantrum fighting her, a-and then you attack her when she tries to help you?" Jingles growls, crossing his arms defiantly. Bennett pauses, before sighing and putting him back down on the ground. "... Let's just set up camp for the night."

The rest of the evening is spent with an uneasy air among all three of them while the boy pitches the compact tent that had been packed into his bag. Nothing for a fireplace, but the cold didn't bother Bennett that bad. Not that his mother would've wanted to give him anything flammable, anyways. Berry attempts to bury the hatchet with Jingles, but simply gets annoyed grumbles in return. Both Pokemon are eventually returned to their balls as Bennett turns in for the night, getting in as much rest as he could so he could finish the trip back to Dolce with energy to spare tomorrow.

He wanted to attempt Dolce's Gym as soon as possible, after all. It's presence always daunted, yet teased him for as long as he aspired to become a trainer, the first of many hurdles in the journey ahead of him. Thoughts like those pervaded his mind until he finally fell asleep to the ambiance of nightfall.

budube · Jan 21, 2020

Carmen Sylvia
Chapter 2 - Part 4: Thief!

Northern Wild Area

It was already dark and both Carmen and Presto were getting tired. She lost the count of how many time she'd been walking, but it was more than the six hours she anticipated after leaving Crescendo.

"Echo, show me the map."

The floating device moved in front of her, showing her a map of the whole region and then zooming in to her actual position.

"How long will it take us to get to Dolce?"

'If my calculations are correct, at this pace, Dolce City would take us around fourteen hours more to arrive.'

"What!?" Carmen fell on her knees and exhaled some air looking at the grass below her. It was all grass and more grass. Bugs and more bugs, and the only interesting Pokémon she found was beaten by a bug. Retiring was still an option to consider, Crescendo City was closer than Dolce City after all. But her pride wouldn't let her be the first to give up, that would be embarrassing, and embarrassment was something she couldn't cope with.

"Gotta keep going, you two." she said almost immediately getting up "Is there some place we can stay the night on?"

'I'm afraid not. But, there are many camping spots here. You could ask some campers for help or put your own tent somewhere.'

"No. Bad idea." she negated with her arms "I have no tent, and I'm not accepting any help from… Yuck!"

'Well, we can try getting to Dolce City in the night.'

"You're kidding, right?"

'I'm an Artificial Intelligence, Mrs. Carmen. I don't know how to do that.'

Carmen fell on her knees again but this time she decided to just lay on the ground, it didn't matter anymore, and looked at how much she had to walk thinking that everything would've been better if she got the soloist role for that concert in Octave. She wouldn't be here if everything went the way it was meant to be. She would've been playing in the orchestra and practicing her cello happily instead of laying in the middle of the Wild Area with a talking phone and a lot of wild Pokémon. This challenge wasn't made for her and she hated everyone who was fit for it. Hate. Now that was something she was very familiar with. She hated her family in Grave Town, she hated her ex-girlfriend, she hated the Octave Orchestra, she hated the Chairman, and now she hated her aunt too for lying to her and putting her into this miserable situation. The only one she didn't seem to hate was Presto, who at the same time was the only one with her now; it has always been that way.

She was about to fall asleep on the grass, but a growl from her stomach and Presto's squeaks woke her up.

"Food…" she moved her hands around the grass searching for her bag until she felt it, but she also felt… fur? A Pachirisu was holding one of Presto's berries and nibbling on it, the Pokémon fled the moment it saw Carmen. "Hey! Give it back!" that was part of their food and she won't let a damn Pachirisu steal it, so she got up and ran behind it.

'Mrs. Carmen, I don't think it's prudent to…' but she was gone by the time Echo finished its sentence.

She followed the Electric-type to a copse with Presto behind her.

"You little… Give it back!" she said between gasps. The Pachirisu looked at her scared as Carmen got near it. "Gotcha!"

The Pokémon's scared look suddenly turned into an angry frown the moment Carmen approached it. It threw the berry at her which hit clean on her forehead. "Ow! You-" the next thing she saw was a Pachirisu jumping at her face.

The girl gave small steps backwards as she tried to take that Pokémon away from her, but stumbled and fell on her back. An entire horde of Pachirisu went down the trees to help their friend. Presto tried to stop them but there were too many and his attacks weren't of much help against them.

Carmen looked scared at the Electric Squirrel Pokémon as she heard how the electricity charged on its cheeks. It was over for her.

"Karr! Karr!" she heard pretty close. Carmen gasped in pain the moment she felt 13lbs falling over her at the same time the Pachirisu fled back to the trees.

"Son of a…" she had trouble breathing. Her glance turned at whatever saved her and also caused her all that pain. "You!" It was that Karrablast from before, did it follow her for all those hours even after the way she treated her? It didn't matter because she had more reasons to hate it now even after saving her life.

'Mrs. Carmen, it seems like you got into a little trouble with that Pachirisu.'

"Yeah, you don't say!" she angrily said, sweeping the grass from her hair and clothes "Aren't you a Pokémon!? Why didn't you help!?"

'I was not created with the purpose of battling. None of my moves actually count as competitively viable and any change on my moveset would imply a malfunction of the Rotom Phone.'

She exhaled some air frustated "However. Let's eat now, I'm starving." she walked back to pick her bag. She didn't realize that the Karrablast was starting to leave.

'If I may suggest something, Mrs. Carmen.'

"Speak up."

'With no intention of offending Sir Presto, but on his current state he won't be able to take you through the Wild Area'

"Yeah, I tried to catch something and it fainted."

'What about the Karrablast? It already seems to like you despite your attitude… and it has proven to be a strong battler.'

Carmen glared at the Rotom Phone after that previous remark but ultimately focused more in the last part. She looked with repugnation at the Karrablast that was already some meters away from the group but she knew that Echo was right, at least until she found something better. "You know what?" she asked in a sarcastic tone "That's exactly what I was thinking just now."

"Hey, you." the Bug-type turned at her and saluted. Now that she had its attention, her mind went blank. It was one of those rare situations where she didn't know how to start. Why was it so hard for her to apologize and asking for help? "F-first of all, my body hurts because of you." Wrong! "I-I mean, you…" she sighed. The Pokémon was looking at her with confusion and was starting to leave. Carmen moved in front of it before it started walking. She didn't think that was going to be that difficult for her. It's only a Pokémon, she thought. It probably didn't even understand her at all. "L-look, I'm… sorry. For what I told you before, okay? I wanted to catch that Taillow and you, well… did your thing, I guess? I was angry, and foolish, and... I... I didn't treat you the correct way." she stopped there. The Pokémon stood in front of her without moving. "Truth is… you're very… very… strong? Yeah, you're strong. Very. And well… thank you for saving me back there and uh… Whatever. Come with us."

"Karr?" the Pokémon asked. Carmen didn't understand what that meant, but nodded just in case.

"So, what do you say?" she asked with a forced smile, showing it a PokéBall.

The Pokémon nodded with another "Karr!", and opened the Pokéball on its own. The PokéBall was firmly shut instantaneously, making Karrablast the first catch of her journey.

'Mrs. Carmen, the data on Karrablast has been updated. Moves, gender, ability, everything. I can show it to you whenever you need to.'

"Sure, maybe later. Now let's just… eat something and sleep here, okay? I don't want to walk anymore."

Carmen Caught a Karrablast!

Name: Gareth
Gender: Male
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Shed Skin
Moves: Acid Spray / Bug Bite / Night Slash / Endure / Leer

Carmen's Party:

WizardOfOdd · Jan 21, 2020

Matthew "Matt" Callista
Location : Northern Wild Area
Partner Pokemon :

Chapter 2 - 4
Another Predicament

"Budew~" Budew happily sat on her trainer's shoulder. For her, she was very happy to travel with her 'father' and her 'elder sister'. Both of them already felt warm for her and it was more than what she asked for. Especially Matt who pampered her with head pats earlier on.

"You're doing fine there, Charlotte?" Matt asked his Budew, which she answered with full of joy. This brought a huge smile on Matt's face. It was a huge turnaround from his earlier mood when Pinsir chased the hell out of him.

Sherry was a bit jealous of Charlotte who was currently being pampered by Matt. But she also didn't actually hate the Budew. After all, Sherry was happy for the fact that she got another friend to play with, and the fact Budew was not trying to antagonize her was a great enough proof to her. She didn't mind that Charlotte was the one currently getting all the attention from Matt, she could get her attention from Matt later on when the time was right.

"Still… This is all the reason we need to catch our next member…" Matt mumbled alone, Charlotte's addition to the team was very welcomed by Matt, but she still had the glaring type disadvantage against Bug-type Pokemon, not to mention she was literally a newborn baby that didn't have any experience at all in Pokemon battling. There was still a lot of training that needs to be done for her and she's definitely not gym battle worthy yet.

The party walked farther towards Dolce City. Matt was waiting until the right time to lay out his plan he prepared since afternoon back in Crescendo City. At last, the time has come, blazing scarlet sky disappears slowly which slowly unfolded a blue sky at its wake. There was no time to waste, it was the moment for the plan to unfold.

"This should do it." Matt threw away a golden ball he bought at the store back in Crescendo city, it was a decoration piece that could be easily bought for cheap. But by Matt's judgment, it was a perfect bait to lure the Pokemon he aimed to catch, so it should suffice for the plan. With the trap laid out, Matt and his Pokemon entered the bush to hide their presence from the target.

Silence then enveloped the atmosphere, Sherry wanted so much to get out of the tense atmosphere as it felt choking for her. Not to mention that she was disappointed that all the time Matt wasted earlier at the strange store was to buy the useless gold ball, she bet that the ball couldn't even be used for training.

Charlotte, on the other hand, was pretty happy to sit still and wait on her trainer's side. She thought it was a bonding activity of some sort.

10...20...30 minutes had passed, but there were no signs of the hunted Pokemon. The dusk started to set in and the light around Matt started to grow dim. The hope of the spectacled man was almost completely dashed out as time keeps ticking on.

"Hat?" Sherry was struggling to stay put even longer, she complained to her trainer for the fact that nothing seemed to happen.

"Damn, I guess it failed eh… What am I supposed to do now? I don't have much time to search for another Flying-type Pokemon." Matt mumbled alone while biting his fingernails, he didn't prepare another plan in case of this one failed, and with the apparent situation, he had no choice but to prepare another plan to catch a counter against Bug-type Pokemon. But just as he was focused on thinking another solid idea...

"Dew?" Charlotte saw a mysterious Pokemon coming closer to the Golden ball. The Pokemon in question was tapping the ball with its beak. With a clear view of the target, Budew tapped her trainer's leg warning him of the theft.

"What's wro… Ah, there it is." Matt's somber expression turned into a wide grin seeing the target. With half of the plan going better than he hoped, it's time to nail the other half of the plan. "Sherry, would you be so kind as to help me? Use your Disarming Voice." Whispered the elated Matt.

Sherry nodded, with full concentration she fired a purple beam in a loud shrieking noise, knocking the suspected thief towards the bush nearby it.

However, Matt miscalculated as the black-winged thief rise back and rapidly retreating to its safe haven.

"No you don't, after it!" Matt ordered both of his Pokemon to give chase on the target, but since both Pokemon have very small legs, Matt eventually had to carry them both, much to the delight of both Sherry and Charlotte. The target tried to use the terrain to its advantage, as it didn't have to avoid running to multiple rocks, trees, and other obstacles below. But Matt managed to keep up with sheer tenaciousness even if he had to carry two extra luggage in his hand in the process.

The dusk had set in for a while, and Matt's visibility kept decreasing as time goes on due to the color of the target blended with the night sky. Knowing the fact, the target didn't understand why it couldn't shake off the chasers. Understood that he won't be able to end the chase easily, the target changed strategy and started to frantically squawk.

"If it started squawking that way then it means… Oh no, we have to get out of here!" Matt turned his body away, he started to run as quickly as he could, but unfortunately, his escape route was already cut off by several allies of his target. Suddenly a loud deep cry could be heard from above him, it came from a bigger bird which with its menacing gaze and presence alone caused Charlotte to shook in fear. It wasn't an unfamiliar Pokemon to Matt, after all, it was the final evolution of the Pokemon he wanted to obtain.

"Damn, I never thought I had to face the 'summoner of the night' itself." Matt grimaced at the sight, unsure about his odds of escaping the predicament he's facing.

Juno · Jan 21, 2020

Rowlet Art Cred

2-5: FOOL'S GOLD
"Okay, so this move was one of our faves, back in the day. I call it 'Bounce'."

Back in the day of what, when you were like nine? Edwin raised his eyebrow, but didn't say anything. 'Bounce' doesn't sound terribly impressive, but I'll take what I can get. He looked out at the giant Gyarados writhing in the deep end of the pond.

"That thing's gonna 'bounce'?" Edwin asked dubiously.

"Ah, no—well, I suppose he could, but now's not the time or place, n' we don't wanna startle more hapless trainers like yerself. No, what I meant was—" Rosa stooped down and dangled herself so far over the edge of the pond, Edwin thought she was going to fall right in, but she managed to fish out a large, bright orange Magikarp with her bare hands and held it up. "Titan has children."

She set it down in the grass, where it flopped around, not unlike what his own Magikarp did earlier that day. "This is Finley. She will be your Bounce instructor for today."

"Are they okay out of the water like this?"

"It's not their favourite place to be, but yeah, it's fine," Rosa shrugged. "He'll have to get used to it if he's to compete in the League with ya—not every Gym has a water-based stadium, y'know."

"Yes, yes, of course I know, I watch it every year," Edwin said impatiently. The girl shot him a look. "Sorry. I mean... so how do we this?"

"Here, put 'im down next to Finley. Not too close—yeah, there, perfect." She waved Edwin over to where she was standing. "Now, does he got a name?"

"Ah—" Edwin tried to think of one on the spot since he didn't want to admit he hadn't cared to name the Magikarp yet, and because he still had half a mind to sell him to the first taker he could find, if this 'training' turns out to be a bust. He couldn't come up with anything that didn't sound stupid, though. "No, not yet."

"Hm." She gave him a judging stare, with her hands on her hips. "We'll have ta fix that later. Anyway! First, we'll show ya both what the move looks like. Finley, Bounce!"

On command, the Magikarp bounded straight up in the air to a very impressive height, before landing back down in front of them with a loud THUD.

"Woow..." He drawled. Edwin couldn't really hide his disappointment, but he tried. "...Is that it?"

"Do y'wanna be on the receiving end of 30-pounds of 'karp crashin' down on ya?" She knelt down and patted Finley's belly, making a light, slapping sound. "They're sturdy lil' creatures, very firm n' heavy body. If we teach 'im how to land their weight correctly, it can really pack a wallop. It's a simple but effective move—even yer lil' Pyrite here can do it."

"Pyrite...?"

"It means—" the girl hesitated, and giggled. "Nah, nevermind."

Edwin shrugged. "Kinda like the sound of that, actually." Exotic-sounding... maybe it's a name from a different region? "Pyrite, Bounce!"

Pyrite's first attempt wasn't great. He got off the ground maybe a foot or so, before flopping back down with a soft thud.

"Well, that was kinda pathetic," Edwin remarked.

Rosa looked affronted. "Yer not gonna make it far in the League with that attitude. Tell him you believe in him."

"You know, quite frankly, I have my doubts—"

"Tell him you believe in him!" Rosa hissed at Edwin.

"Gah! Okay! P-Pyrite?" he waved off the girl and knelt down closer to the Magikarp. "That was a really good first try, but I know we can do better! I believe in you!" he glanced back at the girl, who nodded approvingly.

They trained hard into the night. Edwin was surprised her parents let the young girl stay up so late. When the last embers of the campfire went out, Luis and Norma said goodnight, and tucked their youngest child into Rosa's tent—the kids originally each had their own, but Rosa's little brother begrudgingly gave up his tent for Edwin, at their parents' behest.

Theodore moseyed on over when everyone else had gone to sleep and all the marshmallows were gone. He watched the training with curiosity. With Edwin's encouragement and Finley's help, Pyrite made progress with his Bounce, slowly, but surely. In his last couple attempts, he Bounced so high up, he was just a speck in the night sky. Rosa and Edwin clapped. "Careful not to get too high up, though, bird Pokemon like to snatch 'em up sometimes, then they'll be real hard to get back." She eyed Theodore suspiciously. "Don't ever want a repeat of what happened to poor Shelly."

"Who's Shelly and what happened?"

"We don't talk about that."

Edwin chuckled nervously. "Okay... so anyway, I think Pyrite's ready for a live target! Theodore! Come spar with your new teammate."

It took quite a few tries before Pyrite could reliably land his attack on Theodore. In his defense, Theodore really wasn't making it easy at all, flying around fairly quickly, so it was all the more satisfying when Pyrite finally managed to knock him out of the sky. At least, Edwin assumed it was satisfying. Magikarp do not have the most expressive faces. "Oof!" Edwin caught Theodore mid-air, as Pyrite knocked him right into their trainer.

"Alright, I think that should do it!" Rosa cheered, as she tried to hide her yawn. "Just keep at it like that, and keep believin' in him! He'll be a Titan in no time, too."

- - - - -

They returned Finley to the pond so she could get some rest, and Edwin decided to let Pyrite hang out with his new friends there, too, before crawling into the small tent he had to himself. Edwin could barely sit up straight in the child's tent, so he just lay down and browsed the internet on his old X-Transceiver. Let's see... P-I-R-I-T-E. No? 'Did you mean: Pyrite?' Sure, I guess.

Out of sheer curiosity, he loaded up an article on the new name Rosa had christened his Magikarp with.

The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS₂. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue gives it a superficial resemblance to gold, hence the well-known nickname of "fool's gold".

"Fool's gold, huh," he said. He turned to Theodore. "I think she's mocking me."

The Rowlet cooed and rolled over, instantly falling asleep.

Pyrite has learned Bounce!

Party

Rowlet // Theodore

Tackle
Growl
Leafage
Peck
Shadow Sneak

Magikarp // Pyrite

Splash
Tackle
Flail
Bounce

Journal

1-1: "Edwin"
1-2: Networking
JP: Unwelcome Reunion
ft. Janice Carter
1-3: Dark Horse

2-1: Theodore Bugsbane
2-2: All That Glitters
2-3: Something Fishy
2-4: The Prodigy's Protege
2-5: Fool's Gold

Trainer Card

OOC Post

Stinging Bea · Jan 22, 2020

Janice Carter
with Madison Bloom

Northern Wild Area

Chapter 2-3: Confusion

Current Party:

Time slowly ideled by as Janice wandered the wild area in search of Dolce. It was a challenge proving to be quite difficult for a number of reasons, though Janice determined that the main reason to blame had to be the old town map she had been given. No matter which way she looked at it or how long she studied the aged parchment, the blonde teenager couldn't make heads or tails of where she was going… or where she was. In fact the more she thought about it, the more Janice began to question just how many times she passed by a particular, moss-covered stone. And she was fairly certain she had seen that berry tree at least five times now.

A frustrated curse slipped past her lips as she quite suddenly plopped herself down on the ground. The sudden descent was enough to jostle Iris, who had long since been healed from her battle with the Rookidee, who had now become her first teammate. The said bird Pokémon, who Janice had decided to name Kain, was resting on the trainer's other shoulder. He let out an annoyed series of tweets and twitters, which in turn caused the girl to merely look over at the bird and roll her eyes.

"Look, feather duster… Yer lucky I didn't chuck yer ball in the nearest stream after after ya tried to eat Iris," Janice threatened. "I wouldn't exactly go pushin' yer luck right now."

Janice and the Rookidee seemed to engage in a staring contest of sorts, one that quickly ended when the girl gave the flying-type a scowl that spoke literal volumes. He quickly hopped down off the girl's shoulder, instead choosing to nest on a branch of the nearby berry tree. With that taken care of, Janice turned her focus back towards the map in her hand. Her eyes narrowed, the girl studying her surroundings and then glancing back at the paper in an attempt to try and determine her location.

"Damn it, this whole thing is written in some weird language… Just how old is this map?!" Janice questioned. She tossed the map aside and reached into her bag to pull out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter. Placing one of the sticks between her lips, the girl took a deep inhale before leaning back and staring up at the early afternoon sky. "Take ten, guys…"

"Uh… excuse me, blondie?" called out a voice from nearby. It was none other than the scientific trainer, Madison, who was holding the tossed map in her right hand. Her beldum was floating nearby too, making small beeps and bops for an attempt to introduce itself, but… no one could understand it. "Look, it's not my business," Madison greeted, opening up the map back up. "But aren't maps supposed to be important?"

Janice jumped, the sound of the girl's voice surprising her slightly. Still, the blonde trainer managed to keep her cool just enough to not look like a complete weirdo. She turned to glance over her shoulder, a cold glare sent in the direction of the girl holding her town map.

"Yer right, it ain't any of yer business," Janice stated rather bluntly as she rose to her feet and stormed over. She wasted no time in grabbing hold of the map and prying it from the other trainer's hands, somehow managing to not rip the thing in two in the process. "The damn thing's useless anyways. Can't tell where the hell we even are and the writin' looks like some stupid language I ain't ever seen before."

Madison took a quick glance at the map. Then back to Janice. Finally to the map again, and then turned to her Beldum who in turn gave her an exchanged look. And a beep. "Blondie?" Madison began in a soft tone, turning back to Janice. "This… this is written in English. The language you and I are speaking right now."

Janice hesitated. The language was their own. Of course, it was. She knew that. It was just… More like it was...

"...The writin'," Janice quickly spat out. "It's old and worn out, hard to make out."

Madison took another look at the map. It was not at all what Janice had described. "Blondie, look," Madison guided, pointing at a certain section of the map. "This says Northern Wild Area. In bolded letters." Madison followed downward. "Furthermore, the disclaimer below reads, This map was made very recently and new. It provides bolded letters so that it's easy to make out."

Janice grunted in irritation, pulling the map further away from Madison. Iris let out a small whimpering noise, glancing at her trainer curiously. "I knew it said that! I just… don't have my glasses."

"Oh. Whatever then," Madison replied with a disinterested tone in the current subject. Still, she was curious about another. "You're a trainer too, aren't you, blondie? A greenhorn?"

Janice raised an eyebrow, but nodded in response to her question regardless. "The hell's a greenhorn though? If that's some kinda Pokémon, I ain't ever heard of it."

This is going to be my day, isn't it? Madison could only think. "It means you're a newbie. A total noob."

Janice's eyes darkened, the girl taking a long drag on her cigarette before responding. "And I guess yer some pro? I saw ya at that ceremony thing. That rust bucket ya call a Pokémon ain't exactly sendin' any shivers down my spine."

"Not enough skill points in your perception ability I'm afraid," Madison replied. "I'm Madison, a beginner trainer as well. Zero experience points myself." she then turned to her hovering Pokémon. "And this tin can is Iron, my Beldum. It's harmless, hovers around a lot, makes a lot of noises that I don't understand, and… that's about it."

Iron beeped and bopped a little while. Madison nodded. "See what I mean? But, apparently it communicates with others by sending controlled pulses of magnetism… and it keeps itself floating by generating that same magnetic force that repels earth's natural magnetism. Well at least, scientifically that's the basic explanation."

"Scientific… magnetism…" Janice repeated. The blonde could feel her head throbbing as she tried to figure out what in the world Madison was going on about, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt like her head was honestly going to explode. "If half of that crap that came rollin' outta yer mouth was English, then it was nothin' I've ever heard of before."

"But… that is English…" Madison said softly. "Perhaps I've put too much skill points in INT… oh well. If you saw me, that means you were at the ceremony too, weren't you blondie? What's your name?"

Janice glanced back up from the map and in Madison's direction. "Does it really matter? It ain't like yer gonna get too far in this whole thing…" Janice returned her attention back to the map, an annoyed sigh slipping out shortly thereafter. "It's Janice, alright?"

"Janice. I'll remember that," Madison declared. "You have an interesting hypothesis. I just wonder how it will work out, ohoho…"

Janice rolled her eyes in response. This girl was definitely a weird one, and the blonde suddenly had a strong desire to put as much distance between herself and Madison as she could. She glanced over shoulder once more, whistling towards the nearby berry tree which prompted the nesting Rookidee to come flapping out and perch on her shoulder.

"Well, it's been a stellar meetin', but I think we're gonna be headin' on," Janice grunted. "Later."

And with that the blonde began to make her way towards the nearby town… of Crescendo.

"Um..." Madison muttered to herself, followed up with some beeps from Iron. "...Yup, this kid is as dense as a brick. But she's interesting, so I guess I should help her out."

She then sighed, and started raising her voice calling after Janice. "The battles are that-away, dear," she called out, while pointing towards the opposite direction.

Janice froze, gritting her teeth as a mix of annoyance and embarrassment ran through her body. "I know! I just… thought I saw somethin'."

Janice gestured to some nearby bushes. Thankfully, they seemed to rustle as if on command. The blonde was more than just a little surprised by this, but managed to hold her composure as she watched a small, purple horn poke out of the bushes… followed by a pair of long, purple ears… before a purple, rabbit-like creature hopped out. Janice's eyes went wide. The cigarette dropped from her lips.

"Holy shit, it's a baby Rhyhorn!" the blonde exclaimed.

Madison examined the Rhyhorn. And what a Rhyhorn it was! There was just one teeny problem. "Actually, Janice…" Madison began. "...That's a Nidoran. A male one, if memory serves."

Janice looked unconvinced. "Yeah, right… And I bet yer gonna say that so I say forget it and let ya catch it instead? There's 'bout as much chance of that happenin' as a Pikachu surfin'!"

"No, no, it's all yours," Madison said casually. "Consider me a humble observer."

Janice turned her attention back to the "Rhyhorn". She could tell Madison was up to something, and she wasn't going to give this girl the chance to steal a prime catch such as this. The blonde glanced up to the Rookidee on her shoulder and smirked.

"Alright, Kain… Time for ya to earn yer keep here," Janice remarked. "Get out there and show 'em how it's done!"

The Rookidee hopped off of Janice's shoulders and flapped its tiny wings towards the direction of the purple, wild Pokémon. This seemed to get the creature's attention, as it turned and stared at the small bird cautiously, before a sudden, wide grin graced its features. Janice and Kain both watched as the purple Pokémon hopped forward, playfully standing on its hindlegs for a moment before starting to hop back and forth.

Janice stared at the creature in silence for a moment, the blonde practically feeling Madison's smirking face staring at her from behind. "It's… It's just tryin' to trick us. Catch us off guard."

"You. Can. Do. Iiiiiit! You. Can. Do. Iiiiit," Madison oddly cheered. "Bonzai, bonzai, bonzai, bonzai…"

Both Janice and her Rookidee paused, glancing over in the direction of Madison. Something about this girl was just… off in general. Thad said, there were more important matters at hand, and the blonde was not about to let the oddity of Madison distract her from catching such a rare Pokémon.

Returning her focus back to the baby "Rhyhorn", Janice smirked and prepared to battle. "Alright Kain, start things off with Peck!"

The Rookidee let out a fierce, well as fierce as it could sound, tweet as it took off flying towards the wild purple Pokémon. The bird Pokémon slammed his beak into the into the purple creature, causing it to fall back. That said, the baby "Rhyhorn" didn't seem too upset about it. In fact, the creature merely bounded forward, slamming his own horn into the Rookidee. Kain fell back, the tiny bird shooting the wild Pokémon a rather angry glare. Meanwhile, the wild Pokémon squealed in delight as it bounded forward, practically tackling the bird in a strange… almost affectionate display. Kain began to flounder about, struggling to pry himself out from underneath the purple Pokémon.

"K-Kain, give 'em a Leer attack!" Janice ordered. Kain flew up into the air, shooting a rather nasty glare in the direction of the purple Pokémon. Janice really couldn't tell if the technique had any actual effect or not. In fact, she could have sworn she heard some sort of… giggle-like noise escape the wild Pokémon's mouth. "Rock Smash, now!"

Kain let out a high-pitched screech as he flew up high into the air. His crimson-red eyes narrowed as he focused on the wild Pokémon, before suddenly making a divebomb straight in the creature's direction. Meanwhile, the baby "Rhyhorn" happily began to bounce back and forth. A wail of surprise echoed out into the air, as Kain slammed his beak into the wild Pokémon with as much force as it could muster. The purple creature was sent flying back from the force of the blow, landing rather roughly on its back from the impact. Kain landed on the ground gracefully, eyeing the wild Pokémon carefully.

The tiny bird Pokémon slowly hopped forward. A sense of dread filled up in the pit of Janice's stomach all the while. The wild Pokémon wasn't moving… did it faint? It was going to be impossible to catch if the baby "Rhyhorn" if the Rookidee accidentally took the thing down. Kain slowly looked down at the still Pokémon… only to suddenly received two fierce kicks in a row! The Rookidee tumbled back in surprise, as the baby "Rhyhorn" flipped back up onto its tiny legs with glee.

Kain let out a loud, angry tweet. The bird Pokémon flapped its wings in a blind fury, before suddenly charging towards the wild Pokémon. "K-Kain, what the hell are ya doin'? Get back!"

The girl's protest fell on deaf ears, however. Kain took off straight towards the wild Pokémon, beginning to drive its beak in rapid succession into the wild Pokémon's head. The baby "Rhyhorn" stumbled back, unable to even respond to the attacks that were so quickly being thrown in its direction. Janice determined that this was going to be her golden opportunity. Without wasting another moment, the girl readied a pokéball and lobbed it right into the creature's direction. The ball smacked right into the wild Pokémon's head, quickly snapping open and pulling it inside. The ball didn't even shake once.

"That little weirdo really put up a fight, but… Looks like we got 'em," Janice said confidently. She smirked over her shoulder at Madison, before making her way towards Kain and the ball which held her new team member. "Ain't nothin' to this trainer business. Ya better be payin' attention, 'cause I'm gonna be takin' this thing with ease with skills like this!"

Janice turned her attention back towards the ball, scooping it up into her hand with glee. Kain puffed his chest proudly, watching as his trainer fished her Pokédex from her bag and began to fumble around with the device once more. After a series of… several failed attempts, the girl managed to finally get the device to scan the ball so she could get some information on the creature. The smirk quickly fell from Janice's lips as the device began to read.

"Nidoran, the Poison Pin Pokémon. Its ears are always kept upright. If it senses danger, it attacks with a poison sting."

"Son of a…"

"Well, that was fun to watch," Madison said while beaming. She turned away from Janice to head off in her own direction. "Have fun, Janice. Next time we meet, let's see if your hypothesis is right, hmm?"

Franky the Nidoran
Male, Jolly, Somewhat Of A Clown
Leer | Peck | Focus Energy | Poison Sting | Double Kick

gimmepie · Jan 22, 2020

Chapter Three: The First Hurdle - Dolce City

Eventually, you all find your way to Dolce City. Some of you manage to make it during the first day, but for most, your arrival comes the following morning. You climb the ever steepening hills and soon come face to face with a beautiful city.

Dolce is appealing in a different way than Crescendo. Far smaller than the largest city, Dolce feels almost as though it is a part of the natural landscape. It rises up in tiers as the land becomes progressively more mountainous, with several buildings serving a dual purpose as a bridge between two distinct tiers of the city, connecting the segments with stairways and elevators within.

Everywhere you look, the city seems seamlessly integrated with nature. Most of the buildings are the same colour as the rocky cliffs themselves, some even being hewn from the same stone. Everywhere there is green. Vines and creeping plants run along the sides of buildings, trees grow everywhere - even on the roofs of buildings of which many have been built as parks and gardens. Already you can see many of the locals tending to orchids where berries are grown. Dolce stadium is easily visible, sitting centrally in the middlemost rung of thee city.

For those of you who have not been to Dolce before, it likely represents a total departure from what you expect a city to be.

Chapter Information

This chapter is the first Gym Chapter. You are, of course, free to explore the city and engage in other interactions or even to pass on this first Gym. For those of us who are challenging the Dolce Gym however, please remember that everyone undertakes Bruna's challenge simultaneously (regardless of the chronology of our actual posts) and then the leader herself takes challengers one by one after.

You can still catch Pokemon within some areas of the city, where there is plenty of open space and it isn't very crowded. No evolved Pokemon can be captured this chapter, that is reserved for the Wild Areas. For more information on Dolce, remember you can check the Locations of Unific segment in the OOC.

The Dolce Gym

As the time reaches 10:00am, you have all gathered at Dolce Stadium and been directed by staff to changerooms where you can switch to your Amateur League uniform. From there, ushers have lead you out into the main field of the stadium.

Dolce Stadium is built with a fairly standard amphitheatre setup. Tiered seating rises up above you, starting a full story above ground level. The pitch is vibrant and grassy, maintained by the same methods as Crescendo's with a battlefield marked out at the centre in white paint. Around the edges, Dolce Stadium differs somewhat from others. A number of trees and thick shrubbery form a ring around the battlefield, this being the setting of Bruna's challenge.

You all gather in the centre of the stadium, from the stands you can already hear the excited audience cheering for old favourites, friends and relatives. In front of you, a smaller group of the gym's staff have gathered, bearing bundles of bug catching nets. In front of them, looking a bit uncomfortable and carrying a microphone is a young, orange-haired girl dressed in her green uniform. This is Bruna, the newest Gym Leader. Younger than many of you, it may be easy to be fooled into thinking her a pushover. Some of the assembled remember all too well though that she is far from weak, two years prior she won the Challenge Cup at the age of twelve, missing out on being the youngest winner ever by only a few months. It was only the next year that the entry age for the League was bumped to thirteen.

"Um-is this thing on?" Bruna mumbles, the awkward question being broadcast by the most-definitely-on microphone she forgot to cover with her hand. "Guess that answers that question."

Bruna looks over you all, taking a deep breath before she addresses you.

"My uh, staff told me that most of the other Gym Leaders don't talk to you personally beforehand and leave this part up to the Gym employees. It wasn't that long ago though that I was standing there and old m - Gym Leader Adeph was in my spot. So I um, I guess I felt like I should do this myself and talk to you personally. I probably should have actually prepared something, because now I'm actually doing it I have no idea what to say."

A light laughter runs through the audience and assembled challengers alike, and if you look around, you may notice some challengers become more relaxed.

"Well, I know it's stressful, but that's part of the thrill. Right? So good luck, I hope to battle a lot of you. I'll leave it to my assistant to explain the challenge to you."

Bruna hands the mic to a fit-looking man in his fifties, dressed in a standard green and white Dolce Gym uniform.

"The challenge ahead of you is simple enough, not easy, but simple," he says to you, his voice surprisingly gruff. "Much like Leader Aleph before her, Leader Bruna requires you to use the nets we will pass out in a moment to catch three of the Bug Pokemon hiding in all that greenery. Those of you who have done this before will notice we have dropped the number from five. That is because under Bruna's leadership, we have now mixed in a large number of Ditto who have disguised themselves as Bugs."

Some of the Challengers audibly groan hearing this, but the man ignores this and continues.

"You have twenty minutes to successfully capture three Bugs, presenting them one at a time to members of the Gym staff who will tag them with your number. Please try to give all your Bugs to the same staffer if you can. Those of you who succeed will then be allotted a chance to battle Bruna for the Chrysalis Badge."

The man concludes his explanation and his juniors begin handing out the nets. A few minutes later, a horn blares and the challenge has begun.

Gym Leader Bruna

Bruna's battle is a 2v2 single battle in which only the challenger is allowed to use switches. Her strategy is twofold, boosting her own Pokemon with Quiver Dance whilst using various status moves to weaken her opponent. Her available Pokemon are listed below. For more information on Bruna, check the NPC Dex in the OOC.

- Pieridae the Butterfree (Female, Compound Eyes) - Quiver Dance, Sleep Powder, Pollen Puff, Gust, Psybeam
- Camberwell the Beautifly (Female, Swarm) - Quiver Dance, Air Cutter, Attract, Silver Wind, Giga Drain, Electro Web
- Gypsy the Dustox (Male, Shield Dust) - Quiver Dance, Poison Powder, Confusion, Venoshock, Silver Wind
- Eggar the Mothim (Male, Tinted Lens) - Quiver Dance, Signal Beam, Giga Drain, Confusion, Electro Web
- Monarch the Vivillon-Fancy (Female, Shield Dust) - Quiver Dance, Supersonic, Draining Kiss, Stun Spore, Struggle Bug, Energy Ball
- Luna the Venomoth (Female, Tinted Lens) - Quiver Dance, Disable, Poison Powder, Confusion, Signal Beam, Venoshock

the sloth · Jan 22, 2020

Bennett Myrtle

Chapter 3-1: Back to Your Roots

Party:

Current Location: Northern Wild Area

Punctual with his schedule, Bennett woke at the break of dawn, and wasted no time packing up the tent. His Pokemon would be released from their balls to see the sun having just fully risen past the horizon, before they were both greeted with pats on the head.

"Good morning... I hope you two got some rest. Today's going to be busy." His voice barely rises beyond a tired mumble, but the way he bends down to reach their levels makes it easy enough to understand them. Berry, while not full of energy, seems happy to feel the morning sun shine down on her stronger than it ever had before. Jingles was looking groggy, but at least wasn't giving Berry any more strife at the moment. That still worried Bennett a little bit, but maybe he was just getting used to having another companion? He was always pretty scrappy with other Pokemon.

The morning was silent as Bennett walked, Berry floated, and Jingles prowled right in front of them protectively. Hills got steeper, but never quite unbearable. They were easier to go up than down, as the boy recalled nearly tripping going down them days before. They had to travel for a few hours more, during which Bennett got a call on his PokeGear. He hesitated, but picked it up as soon as he saw who it was.

"H-hello?"

"Good morning, Bennett. Did you get lots of rest last night? Don't tell me you're still sleeping..." A warm, motherly voice greets the boy's ears, and he couldn't help but smile and perk up as he heard it for the first time in a couple days.

"No, I-I'm up. We started walking again once dawn broke." He explained. He'd always been on-time with these sort of things, but knew his mother only asked out of concern.

"Good, good. To think, my little boy walked all the way to Crescendo on his own..." Grace mused to herself, before returning to the subject at hand. "Everything go well so far? I saw you on TV during the opening ceremony. You and Jingles looked so cute out there..." His mother gushed a little, and Bennett looked down at his dragon companion in front of them, knowing he wouldn't take well to being called cute.

"Y-yes, everything went well. There's a lot of people, but I'm... I'm getting used to it, I think." He neglected to mention the run-in he had with those... bottom-feeders yesterday morning, that would only make her worry and try to pull him out of the running if she knew what had happened. "... I made a friend, too."

"You did? Oh, that's wonderful, dear! What's their name?"

"Berry, I gave her that name after I caught her. She's a Phantump, and really sweet, too." Bennett gushed talking about Pokemon, as Berry glanced over at him hearing her name be mentioned before coming closer to the receiver and saying hi.

"... Oh! I see, I thought you meant... that's great, dear." Her enthusiasm had deflated a little upon realizing he'd made another Pokemon friend, not an... actual, human friend. She supposed that would come with time. "How far are you from Dolce, dear?" Bennett looked up from the ground he'd mostly been staring at as he talked, and could see Dolce over the horizon. Not near, but not too much farther.

"I'd say we're... a c-couple hours away." If he wanted to reach the Dolce Gym in time for the qualification challenge, he needed to get there by ten. "... I'm sorry, I m-might have to go to the gym first, before coming to visit you..." His heart sank guiltily, but his mother just chuckled softly in response.

"I understand, dear. We'll have plenty of time to talk after you go for your first badge. I'll be watching, so do your best, sweetie!" She chimed in a happy-go-lucky tone, and the two would talk some more before hanging up and leaving Bennett with the sounds of nature around him, sounds which didn't fade even once he did reach Dolce.

Home sweet home.

Current Location: Dolce Stadium, Dolce City

He'd reached Dolce somewhere around nine, so he had to report to the stadium ASAP. He rushed down familiar streets with Jingles in his arms, who was a bit more awake now and pumped up to tackle the Dolce Gym. A challenge which had always lingered just within their view for a couple years now, and they could finally confront it... Bennett had Beautiflies in his stomach thinking about it, even more so than in the much bigger Crescendo, but took deep breaths as he changed into his uniform, and all the way out into the stadium.

Bennett recognized some faces, and didn't remember others as they all lined up at the center of the stadium. Despite the roars of the crowd, the lush grass underfoot and the trees lining the arena felt homely to him, giving him a small bit of reassurance and confidence. He stood politely and attentively, listening to the gym leader herself and recognizing her as Bruna, the Bug-type underdog from a couple seasons ago. Representing his hometown, Bennett had watched many of her league battles and caught as many of them as he could, and the news that she'd become Dolce's gym leader was really heartwarming and inspiring! Of course, while others relaxed because of her age and inexperience as a leader, Bennett was pretty nervous since he knew some of her biggest wins came from opponents that underestimated her...

After listening to the challenge laid out before them, Bennett was handed a net, and while he fiddled with the tool, jumped at the sudden blare of the horn signifying the challenge had begun. He knew almost every kind of Bug type that made its home in Dolce, so picking out the real deals from the fakes shouldn't be too hard. It was the catching part that might be a bit more difficult, since a traditional net was less wieldy than, say, a Pokeball...

Dragon · Jan 22, 2020

► Madison's Log 3

So she wasn't like an evo of Primeape after all.

But perhaps closer to a Tyranitar?

After Madison parted ways from Janice, it was time to do some reflection. Since she volunteered to put Jancie's hypothesis -- or what Madison calls it anyway -- to the test, she must dwell on the proper steps to see whether she was correct or not. With her Beldum floating overhead, the first step quickly came to mind. Pokemon hunting.

Madison ordered her Beldum to scout around for some pokemon, but most ran away as they did not expect a floating hunk of metal just... watching them. Perhaps Beldum just wanted to talk about the weather, but it's face appeared to be too frightening. After a long while of finding pokemon and failing to even battling them, Madison sighed. "This isn't what I would call a successful endeavor," Madison commented. "Perhaps... a change of scenery is in order? Or..." however, her thought process was soon interrupted by her Beldum suddenly floating sideways. Without his knowledge. Once Iron realized it was suddenly drawn in by something, it beeped and bopped all over. Madison could only assume it was cries for help, but... she couldn't help but be astounded by this phenomenon.

"Hmm, this isn't a psychic attack..." Madison pondered. "Wait... this is..."

Magnetism.

Madison's conclusion after her Beldum went face first against a small metallic pokemon. A Magnemite. Beldum was clinging on to the Magnemite as they both had such emotionless looks on their faces. Madison at first thought, are they... kissing? But then she remembered. Oh. They don't have mouths.

They both clung each other while making similar beep and boops noises. Emotionless. Nothing but beeps. And boops. That was until Beldum slammed the Magnemite against a nearby tree. Madison was surprised. Were they... insulting each other? But they looked so... peaceful... Still though. This was Madison's chance.

"This will be our first captured pokemon!" she declared. "Okay... as step-father said, I have to use Beldum's attack moves to weaken each wild pokemon before capturing it... good thing I've studied Iron's moves before setting out. Okay you bucket of bolts, use your Iron Head!"

Her Beldum glowed a metallic silver, charging straight on to the Magnemite. The Magnemite, seemingly equally ready for battle, charged straight in as well, Tackling against Beldum's attack. However, the two pokemon became stuck together again. Madison slapped her forehead. "You were supposed to win..." she muttered to herself. She then had a thought, as she pulled out her pokedex. "Hmm... Magnemite has the ability Magnet Pull, meaning Steel-types can't switch out or flee from battle. Magnetism indeed..."

Magnemite started to charge an electrical current of power. Madison gritted her teeth. It's about to conduct a strong electric type attack....

(GREETINGS! IRON BELDUM HERE! PLEASE EXCUSE MY METALLIC VOICE. IT IS WHAT I AM BORN WITH. ALSO. PLEASE EXCUSE ME BEING CLUNG TO THIS MAGNEMITE RIGHT NOW. IT IS ACTUALLY A VERY UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION. TO WHOM THAT ARE READING THIS. YOU MAY BE ASKING: WHAT IS MAGNETISM? TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK NOR CARE TO LISTEN. TOO BAD. I WILL TELL YOU ANYWAY. MAGNETISM IS THE FORCE THAT CAN ATTRACT. OR REPEL. OBJECTS THAT HAVE MAGNETIC MATERIAL SUCH AS IRON INSIDE OF THEM, AWAY. THANKS FOR READING. LET US GET BACK TO THE FIGHT.)

Beldum got shocked by Magnemite's electrical move. "Don't just float there, you bucket of bolts!" Madison ordered. "Give it a Zen Headbutt!" managed to power through the electrical current to hurl itself and the Magnemite towards the ground. It released a strong pulse from it's head as it collided, resulting in a shockwave that made a grove on the ground from impact. Beldum hovered away from the small crater it made. The Magnemite followed suit, barely just hovering above ground.

"It's on its last legs... er, so to speak," Madison stated. "One more move should do it. Go! Use your Take Down!" Beldum did as commanded, rocketing itself towards the Magnemite, sending it flying towards another nearby tree. After it collided with it, it dropped down, seemingly not able to move due to the impact. "Let's see... it's time for the Pokeball!"

Madison got out a pokeball from her fairly large carry on bag,and threw it straight at the wild Magnemite. It made contact, and opened. It absorbed the Magnemite inside, and closed it back up as it fell on the ground.

It shook once.
Twice.
A third time.

Finally, after a brief pause, 'ping!'. The sound it makes when the capture is complete. Madison rushed on by to pick it up. "So this is what it feels to be a trainer..." she observed, followed with a small giggle. "Oh.. I'm getting the greatest chill up my spine..."

► Madison's Log 4

MAGNEMITE OBTAINED!

MAGNEMITE attaches itself to power lines to feed on electricity. If your house has a power outage, check your circuit breakers. You may find a large number of this POKéMON clinging to the breaker box.

Still studying what its relationship to my Beldum.
Though that may be beyond science.

[PKMN FULL] Unific: The Challengers' Journey [M][IC]

2-2: ALL THAT GLITTERS

is loafing around

Bennett Myrtle

Chapter 2-3: Battle, Blunders and Bonds in Interlude Forest

Team Updates

Berry the Phantump

Hi I'm Cube

Chapter Two - Part One

Kirbmeister

Hi I'm Cube

Kirbmeister

2-3: SOMETHING FISHY

Chapter Two - Part Two

Kirbmeister

2-4: THE PRODIGY'S PROTEGE

is loafing around

Bennett Myrtle

Chapter 2-4: Rocky Relations

Hi I'm Cube

Kirbmeister

2-5: FOOL'S GOLD

Chapter Three: The First Hurdle - Dolce City

Chapter Information

The Dolce Gym

Gym Leader Bruna

is loafing around

Bennett Myrtle

Chapter 3-1: Back to Your Roots

lover of milotics