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Elleni woke up slowly. The room was still dark and very little light was filtering through the hotel window. Her whole body ached and she felt like she just wanted to go back to sleep, but an agonising glance at her pokegear told her she would be doing no such thing.
It was six in the morning. That meant she'd slept for a whopping twelve hours after collapsing in the hotel bed. A pang in her head was all the reminder she needed that oversleeping like that was almost as bad as not sleeping at all. She felt like she'd woken up after a night of heavy drinking, not like she'd had a busy day.
Forcing her way out of bed, Elleni nearly tripped over a canvas bag, a dull clank informing her that something metal was inside. It took her a few minutes to remember that the metal was stakes for the tent she had bought with a chunk of her winnings. After her victory against Bruna, she had left Perdito and Ladrona at a Pokemon centre to recover before going out to buy supplies.
She was intending to make her way to Fugue Town next, that meant roughly three days of travel through the mountains and it seemed more prudent to have a tent than to keep sleeping under the stars in an area where it could sometimes snow at high altitudes - not that it was overly likely that time of the year.
Over the next hour and half, Elleni repacked her bag and ate a simple, but delicious, breakfast at the hotel's complimentary buffet. It seemed she'd hit the jackpot with the decidedly budget sleeping arrangement she'd gone for.
Fed,packed and back in her room, Elleni released Perdito and Ladrona for a while so they could enjoy the comforts of the hotel room… of which there were admittedly few. While her two Pokemon played on the bed behind her, Elleni sat at the desk with her pokegear. She'd be leaving the city soon enough, but she had work to catch up on from the previous day before she could do that.
"That Matt guy had a clean sweep, but it looked more to do with careful planning than powerful Pokemon. I'm not sure whether he belongs on the list. The guy with the Tyrantrum was too experienced to qualify too. Lucia said to keep track of newbies with Pokemon with a lot of potential."
Elleni sighed, keeping that list was unpleasant work. She wanted to just forget it and get back on the road, back to the thrills of being a proper Amateur League competitor. Still, this was part of that job for her.
"The girl with the Nidoran and the boy with the Magikarp. The Nidoran is poorly trained and stubborn but tough and that Magikarp will be powerful when it evolves I think, easy to remember it to since it's shiny. Carmen's Noibat should probably go on the list too."
Elleni's thinking was interrupted by the sudden buzzing of the pokegear, her memo app disappearing as the device showed the incoming call. Naturally, Lucia would be calling. Elleni answered the phone.
"Hey Sis," Lucia's oic came through the call, "I saw your battle yesterday. Perdito's becoming a real tough little bastard, isn't he?"
"Yeah," Elleni said, "You gave me a fighter. My new Nickit's got a lot of potential too and their both being a lot of fun."
"Glad you're enjoying yourself," Lucia said, "Don't forget you've got work to do though."
"Don't worry," Elleni sighed, thinking of her ongoing list, "I haven't forgotten."
"That's my sister!" Lucia said, "Always the hard worker."
"I'm actually in the middle of said work right now, so maybe we can talk later?"
The sisters chatted a little more, but soon said their goodbyes. The call left Elleni feeling unpleasant. She loved her sister dearly and enjoyed hanging out with her and having casual conversations, but when it came to the Amateur League, things always got uncomfortable.
"Bone?" Perdito had left Ladrona frollicking on the bed, noticing his trainer's discomfort and immediately coming to her side.
"Don't worry," Elleni said, "It can't be anything too bad."
She finished up her updates to the list and hit send before returning her Pokemon to their balls and making her way out of the hotel. Suddenly, she felt very eager to throw herself headfirst into her journey.
Chapter Four: Highs and Lows - The Tower Mountains and Fugue Swamp
As the day moves on, you make your way out of Dolce City, heading north or north-east up into the Tower Mountains. The forest terrain persists, but the landscape becomes steeper and steeper as you make your way through the mountains. Soon, you find walls of grey stone rising up around you as you are forced to ascend the mountains themselves or descend into the valleys between them.
Some of you are lucky, finding tunnels that can serve as shortcuts through some of the difficult terrain. Although, the darkness and unfamiliarity of the cave systems are their own kind of perilous, one wrong step can lead to injury or death. Those of you outside face a different challenge, not only is the landscape steep and unforgiving but the weather is not on your side. It is unseasonably cold, and the higher you go, the colder it gets. A torrential rain buckets down on you and those of you who are truly high up may even experience a light snowfall and ground covered in sleet.
You struggle through the mountains, but life isn't getting much easier for you. At the base of the mountains, the forest opens out somewhat and you soon find yourselves trudging through loamy marshlands and wading through swamps. The Swamp poses its own kinds of problems. It's very hard to find safe and comfortable camping ground, to get stuck in mud pits that appear as solid ground until you're chest-deep in sludge and the predominate Pokemon type present in the area is Poison.
Still, you battle on, because once you make it through the worst of the swamp, you will reach Fugue.
Chapter Information
Fugue is not that much further from Dolce than Dolce is from Crescendo when it comes to actual distance to travel, but because of the harsh terrain of the Tower Mountains and Fugue Swamp, the journey ends up taking approximately three days. You are not required to actively RP every day, but always keep in mind how long the journey is and the chronology of your character's travels, especially if you're planning to JP.
As always, you can catch Pokemon of any type. But for the sake of consistency in writing, keep in mind that in the mountains the most common types are Bug, Dark, Rock, Ground and Steel while in the swamps the most common types are Poison, Water and Grass.
The evolved Pokemon available in the Tower Mountains are:
After leaving the salon she was told before the Gym Challenge, Carmen rented a room at the Willow Hotel. According to the hairdresser, it was the best hotel in Dolce City, obviously expensive, but that wasn't a problem. It was located in the city center, but still a little far away from Dolce Stadium. The rooms were comfortable and the staff were very polite. For a normal person this would be heaven but for someone like Carmen, who was used to this kind of service, it just felt like another day at home. She couldn't say she disliked that kind of service, though; she loved it, it was just nothing new.
She took a two hour nap, and by the time she woke up it was already getting dark and once more, she missed lunchtime, so finding a place to eat was the first thing she had to do. She left Echo and Presto at the hotel and took her PokéGear and Gareth's PokéBall with her just in case.
There was a cafe near the hotel, thankfully. Nothing really fancy, but it looked decent enough for her. Just as every building in Dolce, it was covered with vines. Outside, it had four small tables, all of them had ashtrays which served as a warning for her not to stay outside. Inside, there were five tables and stairs that led to an outdoor second floor with a big tree growing in the center. No ashtrays at the second floor for some reason, so she decided to stay there.
"Good evening, and welcome to Treetop Cafe." the young waitress said and handed out the menu with a shaking hand and exchanging looks between Carmen and the small book. She was either new at this or was looking at her because she saw the battle or because she looked good. "If I… ahem! If I may suggest some of our specialities? We have… ugh-"
"It's fine. I'll take a look at the menu. Thank you." Carmen interrupted as polite as she could be, but still a little impatient.
"R-right! Sorry. I'll come back later to take your order."
Carmen nodded and waited for the waitress to retire before taking out her PokéGear. "One lost call two hours ago." she muttered confused looking at the screen. It was her aunt's, probably to congratulate her for the battle. There was something stopping her from making that call, though. It took her a minute of staring at her PokéGear's screen before she finally decided to call her back.
"Hello?" it was her voice. A deep voice she knew too well.
"Hi. It is-"
"Carmen. I called you before."
"That's why I'm calling. I was a little busy at that time." Sleeping. She wouldn't say that, though.
Her aunt laughed. "Of course you were. I saw you on TV, you did pretty well there. I wanted to congratulate you for your first badge."
"I know- I mean, thank you. It was harder than I thought. Weren't it for Echo I wouldn't have won."
"Echo?"
"The Rotom Phone, that's its name. It helped me come up with the strategy against Bruna."
"Oh, so you already opened the gift I gave you." Carmen could feel who she opened her eyes in surprise the moment she said that even if she couldn't see her. She could also anticipate her next question: "So? What do you think about it?"
"It's… useful, but-"
"It talks too much" they both said at unison. "I knew it. But I know it will become handy to you. It even has its own PokéDex and other useful features. But you already know that, don't you?"
"Yes, Echo took its time to explain it." Silence. It was just 3 seconds, but for Carmen it felt like a whole minute. She was waiting for her aunt to say something, but before she even thought about it the words escaped her mouth, she just couldn't contain herself: "I talked to Chairman Mora the other day."
"I expected that. It's just like you." she said unsurprised "What was his impression? A good one, I bet."
"He said he was sure he would hear good things from me." she could hear an agreement from her aunt "He also said you used to be a trainer."
Her aunt sighed. She seemed to be pretty relaxed by it and not upset or surprised as she expected her to be. "I got to admit I didn't think he still remembered me. I was sure you would find out eventually, but not from the Chairman himself." she chuckled "I wanted to tell you, but…" a pause. That was unusual from her.
"But?"
"Forget it. It has nothing to do with you." that answer gave Carmen a bad feeling and made her conclude something she didn't think about until now.
She kept quiet for a while, thinking carefully on what she wanted to say. "You know what I think?"
"Come on, Carmen." Veronica knew that tone very well and was very sure about what Carmen was about to say. "You're not there because of me, if that's what you're thinking. This is entirely about you as it has always been."
"I find that hard to believe." Carmen replied "It-it's just as with my father and music. You didn't succeed at something you liked and made me take the same path because of… I don't know. Frustration, maybe?"
"You know that I'm nothing like my brother, Carmen." her aunt insisted "You know pretty well why I sent you on this journey. We talked about it. Stop jumping to conclusions that, just as with the orchestra ones, are entirely wrong. You want to talk personally with me about it? I'll wait for you at Octave. Simple."
"Then send someone to Dolce to look for me."
"Hah! Forget it. The deal was that you'll only return to Octave to get Ignacia's badge and if you wanted to stop there, I'll let you. If you want to retire and come back now, then get your own money for it, not mine." she paused for a bit and waited for Carmen to say something, but she remained silent. "That's what I thought. You better get ready to go to Fugue. Hopefully that place does something with that attitude of yours. Take care."
"My attitude is fine. Why would it change only for visiting a hole?" she muttered, angrily putting her PokéGear away and taking the menu once more after telling the waitress to wait for another bit.
Elleni's eagerness to throw herself into the next part of her journey had abated somewhat. She was now into the lower foothills of the Tower Mountains, thick forest on either side of her as he trekked up what she thought seemed like an old dirt trail. It was getting progressively harder to actually tell as the few drops of rain she had experienced earlier in the day had at this poin become a torrential downpour, turning the dry dirt to mud.
At this point, her clothes were already soaked through, her hair was plastered to her face and it wasn't particularly easy to see through the heavy rain. She had tried taking shelter under one of the larger trees earlier, but had quickly learned that the leaves offered little protection. Elleni was no stranger to heavy rain, being a native to Vivace, but that didn't mean she was fond of it. Part of her was thriving on the adversity, this was what a real Amateur League journey was meant to be life, but she couldn't deny that she was far from comfortable. She didn't even have Perdito and Ladrona's company, she was keeping them dry in their balls.
Elleni stopped for a moment, pulling out her old pokegear. She squinted at the device, attempting to wipe rain off the screen for long enough to give her a clear view at the map she pulled up. Zoomed out, she looked deceptively close to Fugue - not much further away than Dolce had been from Crescendo. If she didn't know better she'd have assumed that she'd be in the village later that night, booking a room at the inn. The trouble was, the little dot that represented her location had barely moved since the last time she had checked. She'd been walking for hours and had covered a lot of ground, but that was all upward. Apparently, the information was spot-on, it looked like it really could take her as long as three days to make it to Fugue.
Elleni sighed to herself, switching to check the weather forecast. Sure enough, the light drizzle that had been predicted previously had been upgraded to heavy rains… for the next three days.
"Well, I said I wanted to experience the real thing." Elleni sighed, putting away the Pokegear. It was supposed to be waterproof but she wasn't risking it still being reliably so. It was practically ancient after all. "Guess next time I should be careful what I wish for."
That was a sentiment that only grew as over the next hour or so of progressively more strenuous upward hiking, the rain had only gotten heavier and Elleni was starting to feel like she was swimming to Fugue not walking. A more pressing problem though, was the near sheer cliff-face she had just ended up at.
There were plenty of places she could place her hands and feet, it didn't look like a particularly difficult climb. Or rather, it would have been an easy climb if the rocks weren't slippery and wet and a practical waterfall of rain water and mud was sloshing down between the jagged grey stones. It looked like it would sooner turn into a landslide than provide safe passage up to a higher part of the mountains.
That left Elleni only two option, she could go around the cliff and hopefully find an easier path, or she could back track for several hours and find another way from there. Elleni chose the former, moving northward.
So it was that she continued hiking through the rain, now feeling a chill down to her bones and becoming rapidly more irritated. It seemed like the cliff face never ended. There was no sign of a hill, road or even tunnel. Just an endless expanse of nearly completely vertical jagged stone. She was beginning to seriously consider risking it and just looking for the easiest way up she could find.
"Ugh, where did I go wrong?" Elleni aimed a frustrated kick at a smooth stone poking out of the mud.
Elleni had not expected an answer, so was surprised when she got one in the form of a low rumbling growl. She also didn't expect the stone to make a metallic clank when her foot made contact with it, nor that it would start moving.
"Ah, sorry!"
The stone, pulled itself up out of the mud, revealing itself to actually be a small metallic Pokemon with an almond shaped head and big blue eyes. Covered in mud, it had looked like a stone, but apparently Elleni had just kicked an Aron.
The Aron didn't look pleased, and was emitting a rather bothered noise. Elleni reached for Perdito's Pokeball, knowing he had a good match-up against the Steel and Rock type, but froze. The sound the Aron was making was not the same low, rumbling growl she had heard directly after mistakenly kicking it.
She turned her head slightly, her mouth dropping to the floor as she saw a different Pokemon now emerging from the trees. It was also covered in mud, but much less as it was far, far larger than the Aron. It was also metallic, standing on two legs with powerful limbs and two foreboding horns rising out from its skull. Apparently, one of the Aron's parents was around.
"If it's any consolation," Elleni managed to say wryly, "My foot hurts a lot more than your kid."
ft. Juno as Eddie "Edwin" Jones & Magnificent Magilou as Janice Carter
Chapter 3-7: A Study on Amateur Trainers
Party:
Current Location: Myrtle Residence, Dolce City
As the sun rose that morning, Bennett was greeted with a familiar sensation that he hadn't realised he missed as much as he did over these past few days away from home. He woke up in his bed, with the warm glow of morning sun shining through his window. He got out of bed, and parted the curtains to see a couple Fletchling flutter away from the windowsill. He took in a deep breath, and then sighed contently. Looking into the forest beyond his window, it dawned on him just how lucky he was to live somewhere so picturesque, tranquil... perfect, even. Enough so that he felt a little sad he'd be leaving it behind for the time being.
A tug on the back of his pajama pant leg brought his attention back to his companion, prompting him to give him some pets before getting ready for the day. Clean up, get dressed, and then eat some breakfast. His stepmother greeted him with a steaming warm omelette, followed by a kiss on the cheek before letting him eat.
"Morning, Bennett. You're going to be leaving later today, right?" She asked, making the boy look at her quizzically. "I'm not trying to rush you out of the house, trust me, I'd rather you stay as long as you need. But if you're heading to Fugue... it's pretty rough. I don't want my boy hurting himself, so..." She suddenly pulled out a shoebox from under the table, showing off a brand new pair of hiking boots. "A parting gift. Make sure to wear these from now on during your hikes, okay? I also got you a bigger bag, and a coat, and some gloves so your hands don't get too cold, and-"
Bennett was given a bevy of essentials out of nowhere, all of it piled onto the table and almost dwarfing him from where he sat. He was a little speechless, but he knew his mother was just being proactive and looking out for him. But, uh... how was he going to carry all this? On top of what he already had? He didn't say anything about that, but just thanked his mother for all she was doing for him, which made her beam proudly.
Early into the afternoon, Bennett was sorting his things, emptying his old bag's contents into his new one, before the doorbell chimed. Oh, right, Mom had put out that request for help... he was about to ignore it and let Mom handle her guests, before she called for him instead.
"Bennett, dear! Get the door, won't you?"
"Y-yes, mam."
He usually wasn't the one to answer the door, since whoever visited their home would usually just have business with his mom while he kept to himself. Despite this, the boy didn't argue any, and went to answer the door. It would creak open half way as he peaked out, looking straight forward before looking up to meet the gazes of their guests. "Hello...?"
Standing on the other side of the door were two individuals, a blonde girl and boy to be familiar. They didn't seem to be too thrilled to be in each other's presence, as the girl was staring at the older boy with a rather angry glare, but the moment she looked down and spotted Bennett her expression seemed to soften rather quickly. She quickly turned back to her companion and gave him a quizzical look.
"Are ya sure this is the right place…?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
The boy rolled his eyes and pointed at the map on his X-Transceiver. "Yes, and why'd you follow me all the way here if you don't trust me? Honestly..." He looked down, as if noticing Bennett for the first time. "Oh, hello. Is your mommy home?"
"Oh, h-hey." His voice was soft, but he cleared his throat to try and speak up. Bennett recognized the girl almost immediately, while it took a moment longer to recognize the older boy besides her. They bickered among each other for a moment in hushed whispers, while Bennett looked at the both of them blankly. "... Mom? I think they're here for you."
Bennett leans inside to yell to his mother, before a Jangmo-o suddenly runs out from between his legs and right in front of the both of them! The boy doesn't seem phased or concerned as Jingles snarls defensively, before latching his mouth onto the front of the other boy's shoe. A guttural growl comes from him as he sniffs and looks up at the both of them, as if trying to scout them out while asserting that he was top Houndoom around here. In his own, odd way, of course.
The older boy lets out a yelp before shaking his leg vigorously, trying to get the Jangmo-o to let go. The Rowlet that was perched on his shoulder squawked, before escaping to Janice.
"Get—this—beast—off—me!" the boy shouted.
A small smirk graced the blonde girl's lips. "What? He's just tryin' to be friendly. I think it's kinda cute."
He ignored her comment as he continued fighting Jingles to free himself. "These are DENSOKU's—and they're expensive shoes!"
The girl sighed and rolled her eyes before glancing back down towards Bennett. "Do ya think ya can get yer friend off of him? It wouldn't do no good if his shi- I… I mean, pretty new shoes got ruined, ya know?"
As the other trainer freaked out, Bennett looked on, unnerved by his shouting and aggression even if it wasn't directed at him. Jingles proved to have one hell of a strong jaw as he didn't let go at all, holding on purely to show he could outlast him. At least, until Bennett finally took action and grabbed Jingles. He didn't even say anything before the dragon reluctantly let go, and once he pulled him towards his chest, Jingles would climb atop his trainer's shoulders and watch the other two with a passive, yet judging glare.
"S-sorry, that's just how h-he-, how he says hi..." He apologizes, looking deflated and embarrassed about the incident.
"What's going on out here?" The door would suddenly open all the way, and Bennett slumped to the side without any prompting as Grace Myrtle greeted the two trainers, oblivious to the shoe gnawing that had just ensued. "Good afternoon, what can I do for you two?" The professor asks with a warm smile, radiating a welcoming, homely aura. Fluttering from inside the house was a Chatot, which perched on her shoulder and whistled a greeting to their guests.
The older boy looked like he had more to say about Jingles, but quickly composed himself in Grace's presence. "Ah, just a small incident with your child's… pet. Hello! You must be Professor Grace Myrtle. A pleasure to meet you." He reached his hand out to shake hers, as Theodore migrated back to his shoulder from Janice, chirping a greeting to the Chatot.
"Um… yeah. We're here for that studyin' thing ya had up on that board at the Pokemon Center," the blonde girl stated rather bluntly. "Ya know, for that money you were offerin'."
"Oh, wonderful! Come right in, then! I'll try not to waste your time, you trainers must be pretty busy..." Grace smiled, heading back inside while her Chatot stayed behind, fluttering and holding the door open with her back to let them in.
Their home looked very rustic and comfy, yet up-to-date. The living room had a direct view of Dolce's lush greenery from their back porch, some bugs in the surrounding yard or even inspecting by said door, fleeing whenever anybody came close to the sliding door. A large flatscreen and comfy couch predominantly took up the space of the living room, and off to the side was a dining table and a compact kitchen, and then a hallway presumably leading to the rest of the house. Bennett had started quietly walking off in that direction, but his mother stopped him before he could.
"Hold on, Bennett." She scooped her son up with her arm, holding him to her side and beaming before turning her attention to the other two trainers. "I don't know if all of you have met before, but I'd like you to meet my son, Bennett." She ruffled his hair a little, showing off her pride and joy. Bennett stared blankly again as he was put on the spot, while Jingles hopped off his trainer's neck to avoid the embarrassment. "He's a little shy, but he's the sweetest, most polite little saint a mother could ask for! Keep an eye out in case he gets into danger or anything, okay?"
"... I'll be fine... r-really..." He mumbled weakly, his gaze drifting off elsewhere. While usually not minding his mother's gushing, Bennett felt telling these other two trainers to watch his back was a little... patronizing? Not that he said anything of the sort aloud.
The older boy slowly shifted his gaze from Bennett to the Jangmo-o, and seemed to have finally made the connection. "Oh! I thought you looked familiar." He said, smacking a palm to his forehead. "Yeah, I saw you at Gym yesterday. Think you got your badge too, right? I'm Edwin, by the way, and this is Theodore." he nodded towards the Rowlet sitting on his shoulder.
The blonde girl seemed to be in a daze as she followed the others inside. Her green eyes kept darting around, a small look of amazement quickly overtaking her features as she looked around. It was only after Edwin introduced himself did the girl seem to snap back to reality, a look of uninterest replacing her previous expression.
"Janice," she stated quickly. She paused, rubbing the back of her head gently. "Yeah, we met in the challenge, too. Yer kid's got a helluva arm."
As he was acknowledged by the other boy, Bennett's eyes suddenly lit up, the both of them recognizing each other only from the presence of their partners. Jingles was scooped off of the ground and held against his chest, a light smile curling across the boy's face.
"Y-yes, I did! You're... um... s-sorry, I never caught your name, but I remember seeing you had a Rowlet! I'm guessing you got your badge, too?" He looked a little starstruck being in the presence of another Amateur League trainer, despite being one himself. It was pretty surreal seeing someone in person that's also been on TV... although now he qualified as well. Jingles was silently sizing the Rowlet up... yeah, he could take him, he figured, flashing a confident smirk the owl's way. The Rowlet cocked his head innocently at Jingles.
"Oh, yes, I saw that as well." Grace laughs softly, her hand politely over her mouth as Bennett's enthusiasm is cut short recounting the bug net incident.
"... You're sure I didn't h-hurt you, right?" His tone sounds quite serious, afraid he might've left some lasting harm. But once Janice confirms she was perfectly fine, Bennett breathes a sigh of relief. "G-good, just making sure..." Grace lets go of her son as she walks across the room to pick up some forms, sorting them before putting some into a clipboard and grabbing a pen.
"Since there's two of you, and two of us, I don't see why we shouldn't do things efficiently and split the workload." She passes a pen and some of the same papers she has to her son, who starts quickly browsing them over before looking back to her. "Bennett here is the closest I have to an assistant for the time being. I'll talk to one of you, Bennett will handle the other. Sound good?"
"Yeah, I ain't got a problem with it," Janice replied.
"Sounds good to me, too!" Edwin nodded.
"Wonderful!" The older woman beamed, clicking the button on her pen. "Let's get started, then."
Myrtle Residence, Dolce City | Featuring Bennett Myrtle
Janice soon found herself and Bennett sitting at his dining room table. The blonde took a look around the room, her eyes darting around as she took in every single detail. Quaint little pictures adorned the walls, most of them being of simple scenic paintings, but a few of them depicting Bennett and his mother through various ages. There was a lush, potted plant in the corner of the room. Janice wasn't sure what kind it was, but it was obviously well taken care of. Nothing really seemed to be what people like Edwin would likely consider fancy, but the room gave off a very warm and welcoming air.
"Is this what normal people do with where they live? I wonder if Will would like this kinda stuff… Maybe I should look more into this sorta thing when I get more money," Janice inwardly mused.
Her train of thought would be interrupted as Jingles hopped up onto the table from her side, looking the girl up and down, scowling judgingly before Bennett had to reach across the table and pull him over to his side. "No, down. She's nice." He mumbles to his companion in what's probably supposed to be a reprimanding tone, but lacks the strength to be that. Either way, Jingles relents and sits on Bennett's side of the table, idling watching before lying down, too tired and disinterested to stand but not enough to nap yet.
"Okay, let's just... um..." The boy fiddles with his pen, twirling it around a couple times as he lies the clipboard flat on the table and reads over the forms once or twice before looking back to Janice. "I don't think I've... um, seen your Pokemon before? Which Pokemon did you start your... your journey with?" He asks. He feels bad he didn't get a chance to watch Janice's gym battle, but so many things had been on his mind that day.
Janice jumped slightly, but quickly regained her composure as she glanced down at Bennett. "Ah… That'd be Iris, my Joltik," she explained, pulling out the bug's pokeball as she spoke. "I caught her right before I got my endorsement."
Bennett perked up a little in his seat as Janice showed the Joltik's ball. "Can you show her to me?" He asks, eyes sparkling with child-like wonder towards her ball. "I've seen a couple Joltik before, but they're pretty rare around Dolce..." Bennett muses, it sounds more like he wanted to play with and pet the Pokemon than study her.
"She's just a tiny thing… ya sure ya wanna…?" Janice began, but the look on Bennett's face answered her question quickly. The blonde's facial expression softened. It was just like Will's the night she caught Iris. "Alright, I guess it's for this study shi- I mean, thing…"
Janice pressed the small button on the ball, causing it to snap open and unleash the Joltik that was inside. Iris stretched her tiny body out, taking a cautious look at her surroundings before her bright, blue eyes laid sight on Bennett's excited face. A small squeal was heard from Iris, before the tiny Joltik skittered up Janice's arm and tried to hide on her shoulder.
"Aw, he ain't gonna bite," Janice muttered, rolling her eyes.
Wow! She was so... tiny! Bennett looked down in awe, starting to reach over and offer his hand for the critter to climb into, but she was quick to scutter back to her trainer. Jingles looked down at the spider oddly, not even interpreting it as much of a threat due to her miniscule size and how quickly she flees to safety. Bennett looks a bit disappointed, but recomposes himself shortly after.
"When did you-... oh, wait, you already said that..." He starts to ask, before his voice reduces to a mumble as he scribbles something down, and then looks back at Janice. "How did you two first meet? If that isn't too... personal, or anything."
Janice glanced away from Iris and over towards the smaller boy. Her face hardened just a bit, which seemed to instantly cause the boy to shrink down in his chair slightly. Janice cursed under her breath, leaning forward a bit so there wasn't a chance that Edwin might end up overhearing in the other room.
"Sorry, it's a bit touchy but… I guess ya need it for the study thing, so… whatever," Janice began. She paused, looking Bennett in the eyes. "But what I say here has to stay here, okay? I mean, I know yer mom will probably read it, but don't go spreadin' it around."
"... I promise." Bennett nodded sincerely, his whispering somehow just a little bit louder than his usual, unconfident mumbles. He'd never seen such a fierce glare in her eyes before, somewhat betraying the gentle image she'd created of herself in the boy's eyes before now.
Janice leaned back. "I had to catch her… To get my endorsement, that is. I ain't from some famous family… trainin' Pokemon ain't exactly in my blood. Up until I met that guy from the league, I ain't ever held a pokeball. Hell, I wasn't even lookin' for Iris. I was just… desperate enough that I had to catch somethin'. Hell, I think I would've settled for a Magikarp if it had shown up…"
He looks at her innocently as she talks, his eyes occasionally drifting back to the yellow spider on her shoulder. "... Do you... not like training Pokemon?" Bennett tilts his head in confusion, misinterpreting some of what she said.
"...It ain't a matter of whether or not I like to do it," Janice replied. The girl felt the familiar sensation of Iris creeping down her arm, until the Joltik came to stop on her knuckle. Janice felt Bennett's eyes staring into her, causing the blonde's eyes to adjust their focus onto her Pokemon. "It's more like because I have to…"
"... Have to?" He echoes again. It might seem like he's playing dumb, but the confusion on his face looks pretty genuine. Bennett looks at the Joltik around the same time Janice does. "Pokemon training, it's... a passion sort of thing. I don't know why you would have to-"
"It ain't important," Janice stated bluntly. She glanced back up at Bennett, a pleading look on her face for just a moment before being replaced with a more hardened expression. "I'm sure it ain't got a thing to do with this study, right? So let's get on with it."
Bennett stopped, his expression blank as he struggled to process what Janice was trying to tell him, or not tell him, in this case. Reading the nuances of a person's body language wasn't his strong suit, but he could at least tell Janice really didn't want to talk about it, so he respected her wishes. He cleared his throat before looking back to the forms, and then at her again.
"How do you two... um... treat each other?" He asks, reading off the question as is before rephrasing. "I guess it's asking if... how much you care for Iris is m-mutual."
Janice looked down at the Joltik on her hand. "I guess so… I mean, I feed her and make sure she ain't dead or nothin'. She listens to my orders, so I guess she trusts me back."
"I... guess that sounds about right..." Bennett mumbles, jotting down what she says more or less before looking at the next question. "How do you interpret your r-relationship with your Pokemon? Like a..." He pauses, trying to remember what his mother would say when she asked people these questions years ago. "... A partner, friend, pet, family? Or s-somewhere in between?"
Janice again, finds her eyes drifting down to the Joltik on her hand. Her relationship with her Pokémon… That was a good question. The blonde wasn't really sure if she could view them as friends. She had only had Iris by her side for a week or two, tops. It hadn't even been 48 hours since she had caught Kain and Franky. They definitely weren't pets. They weren't family… Will was her family, the only family she determined she needed.
"...They're tools," Janice thought with a grimace. "I'm literally using them to help me get what I want… What I need…"
Realizing she had been sitting in silence for far too long, the blonde snapped back up and refocused her attention on Bennett. "Partners… Yeah, we're partners."
The long pause causes Bennett to watch her curiously, before glancing back down at his clipboard and writing what she said. Just... partners? Maybe her opinion would change as time goes on, since it sounded like she hadn't been with Iris nearly as long as he had been with Jingles. He idly pets the lounging dragon after he finishes writing, before he hears angry squawking from the living room.
Looking over in that direction, he'd see Rosetta scolding that trainer's Rowlet for... something. He wasn't sure what. But it looks like she wasn't needed right now, so Bennett whistles to grab the bird's attention, prompting her to flutter back across the room and perch atop his shoulder. He taps a spot on the table while clicking his tongue like his mother would, prompting her to hop down his arm and stand where he'd pointed.
"O-okay, now Rosetta's going to ask Iris similar questions..." He glances back to the Joltik in her hand, who might be afraid of the Chatot, but she was a well-trained bird and didn't seem the slightest bit interested in eating her. Rosetta started chirping to her to try and explain just that, in a tongue neither human would understand. "It won't be a... p-perfect translation, but we should get some more insight as to how Iris... well, feels about you." Bennett then slides his papers, pencil and clipboard to Rosetta, whose talons grip them with the elegance and grace of a human hand.
Iris cautiously crawled off of Janice's hand, making her way towards Rosetta. The blonde watched curiously as the Joltik waved one of her tiny claws at the Chatot in a form of greeting. Janice had never seen… or heard of a conversation between Pokémon being translated into human before. In fact, the whole thing seemed kinda sketchy to her. Still, she didn't think that Bennett would be one for lying or just making stuff up… at least not from what she could tell.
Chitters and chirps were exchanged between both Pokemon as they communicated with each other, Rosetta occasionally pausing to write with the pencil in her talon. Bennett was familiar with the sight, but still fascinated as he watched the Joltik talk to Rosetta. A couple minutes passed, before Rosetta put the pencil down, picking up the clipboard and giving it back to Bennett before flying back across the room to Grace's side.
"Here, do you want to read what Iris said?" Bennett offered, innocently offering the clipboard to Janice.
Janice took the clipboard, her eyes narrowing as she examined the paper that the Chatot had been writing on. Immediately, everything on the paper began to overwhelm her. Lines and dots all looked like garbled up squiggles, causing the trainer to grow frustrated at a rather rapid pace. The blonde put the clipboard down, a faint blush of embarrassment growing across her face.
"I um… can't read the damn thing," she said in a hushed tone. Her mind raced for a reasoning, eyes quickly falling onto Rosetta. "Yer Chatot's writin' is really bad…"
Rosetta's quick to scowl at Janice from the living room as she overhears her insulting her handwriting, but Bennett takes her excuse at face value. "Really? Sorry, maybe I'm just used to reading her writing..." He scratches his head awkwardly, and decides to just read off what she wrote himself.
"W-well... it seems Iris really likes you." A warm smile spreads across the boy's face, reassured that the bond between Janice and her Pokemon was strong and genuine. "She says you take real good care of her... I s-see the word 'food' coming up a lot..." He chuckles, silently reading over the few, simple words written to express her feelings before looking back to her. "... I think Iris considers you to be more than... than just a p-partner... not to put words in her mouth, but-"
"Bennett, dear! Are you almost finished?"
"Y-yes, we're finished!" He yells back, putting the clipboard back down on the table. "Thanks for sitting through all... this. Mom will pay you on the way out, I g-guess." Bennett starts to pick up Jingles, walking away from the dining room before Grace intercepts him.
"I assume everything went well?" She asks Janice, scanning over the forms Bennett left on the table before nodding in satisfaction. "Everything looks good. You really are my little assistant~" Grace pinches her son's cheek teasingly, with him just standing there and taking the over-affection. Before Janice can turn to leave, a stack of bills is handed to her from the professor. "Here's your pay, Janice. Don't spend it all in one place!"
"That ain't nothin' ya need to worry 'bout," Janice stated rather bluntly. The girl took the money, eyes narrowing as counted through it. She guessed that it was the proper amount, but she wasn't about to have anyone else count it. "Yeah… thanks."
"Any time!" Grace doesn't sound any less jovial in response, staying by Janice's side until she reaches the door, stopping by the frame and seeing her off. "Best of luck on your journey!" She yells to both trainers, before looking to her son. "Say goodbye to your friends, Bennett."
"... S-see ya." He says with a timid wave, before retreating back inside. His mother gives another wave before closing the door shortly after.
Janice's Current Thoughts: I'm Doin' It For You...
Edwin glanced around the Myrtles' living room as he sat on the couch, waiting for Professor Grace to return with the tea he asked for. The large, flatscreen TV was off at the moment, so the most interesting thing he could look at was out into the back porch. They did have a lovely view of the city below, so he wasn't complaining. He sat idly as he watched a Ledyba crawl up and down the glass sliding door. Seconds later, Theodore barrelled into the glass with a loud thump, scaring off the Bug Pokemon and startling Janice and Bennett, who briefly looked up from their own interview at the sound of the Rowlet crashing against the door.
"Theo!" Edwin hissed. "Get back here, you're embarrassing me."
The Chatot reacted similarly, squawking indignantly and fluttering across the room over to Theo. Scolding him like a parent, she gave him a small, weak peck on the head and nodded no, akin to giving a kid a swat on the hand for misbehaving.
"Rosetta, leave the little one be." Grace sighed, clicking her tongue and whistling to prompt the Chatot to come back to her side. She fluttered back, slightly annoyed but nothing more. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Edwin. Kids will be kids." She laughed, putting down a small tray with two cups of warm tea, taking one cup for herself and taking a long sip before setting it back down. "Mm... so, your Rowlet's name is Theo, correct?" She asked, picking up her clipboard from the coffee table without missing a beat. "Who gave him that name?"
Edwin sat up a little straighter as the Rowlet returned to his side, peeking at the Chatot. He took a sip of the tea and burned his tongue, but tried not to react. "Yes! It's short for 'Theodore', and thank you for your understanding, ma'am—he is still quite young, and has a lot to learn." He stirred the tea a little as he spoke, trying to cool it. "I wanted to give him a strong, dignified name he can carry proudly even as he evolves and grows up." Theodore, who had not learned from his trainer's mistake, stuck his beak in the tea also, and hopped around the living room as he, too, burned his tongue. Edwin smiled slightly. "I guess he still has some time to grow into it."
"He's a curious little gentleman, for sure." Grace smiled, taking another sip of her tea. Either her cup wasn't nearly as hot, or the temperature somehow didn't bother her. Her gaze not so subtly shifted to the Rowlet hobbling across the living room floor as they talked. "Theodore..." She repeated his name under her breath, softly laughing to herself from the posh image it presented before looking back to Edwin. "Tell me, how did you and Theo first meet?"
"He liked to hang around our backyard," Edwin mused, thinking back to the times when he would first notice the little Rowlet bumbling about and stealing their crops. "I'm not really sure why he was all alone, but he was definitely a wild Pokemon, and a very young one at that. Bit of a little pest at first, really, but he kept coming back to our… garden," Edwin said carefully, not wanting to let slip that his family farmed crops for a living. "So once I got my endorsement and realized I needed a Pokemon, I figured, 'why not him'? Finally got him out of our garden, and it was certainly better than, say, starting with a little Bug Pokemon, huh?" He laughed nervously, quickly glancing at Janice to make sure she hadn't heard.
Grace glanced up from her papers as the young man paused, but her eyes returned as he continued. "Interesting... a little 'pest', huh?" She made little air quotes with her hands, one still curled around her pen before returning to the clipboard with a gentle expression. "How would you say Theodore's behavior has changed during the time he's been in your care? For better or worse, you don't have to sugarcoat things if you have a little rascal on your hands."
Edwin beamed as the Rowlet returned to him once again. "He's still a little rough around the edges sometimes, but like you said, kids will be kids. I think I've been a positive influence on him so far and refined him quite a bit already," he reached out to straighten the scarf around Theo's neck, before pinching his cheek gently. "He's a good boy. And very cute."
Grace watched Theo's expression and mannerisms as his trainer talked about him, writing some notes for herself off to the side of the forms before filling them in. "That's great to hear. Now, tell me, how do you see Theo in relation to you? A partner, friend, pet, family?" She asked. "... Maybe this is just the mother in me, but you seem to treat little Theo like he's your own pride and joy." Grace warmly smiled, giving the Rowlet a soft brushing of the feathers atop his head with her fingers.
"Hm." Edwin pondered her question as he watched Theodore sing to himself quietly, enjoying the attention. "Never really thought about it like that, but yeah, I suppose… he is like family to me. Someone I would like to watch grow up, and grow with." He smiled back at the Professor.
"Aww, how sweet... " It wasn't clear at first if she was fixated on the coos of the content owl or what Edwin had said, until she looked back at the trainer directly. "That's wonderful to hear. I'm sure Rowlet is grateful to have a trainer with such a big heart." She swooned, hand over her own heart, before glancing over to Rosetta perched on her shoulder. She passed the clipboard and pencil to her companion, who gripped the tools with surprisingly dexterous talons, before fluttering over to Theo chirping at him.
"Rosetta will now be asking your Rowlet similar questions to ones I just asked you. There's no way to perfectly translate how your Rowlet communicates into English, but Rosetta will be trying her best to write down words that best encapsulate his feelings about you." Prof. Myrtle explained, before going back for another long sip of her tea. "I heard you got your first badge yesterday too, correct?" She started making small talk with Edwin, while their Pokemon held a scientific study of their own.
"Yes!" He responded as the birds hopped off to the other side of the coffee table. Edwin watched them in his periphery while he elaborated on their Gym victory. Theodore chirped and gestured animatedly, and the Chatot calmly wrote down answers. He wondered what he could possibly be saying, but figured it must just have been freeing for Theodore to communicate with someone who understood him perfectly the way Rosetta could. Edwin liked to think he was pretty good at talking to and listening to him, but it couldn't be the same as Pokemon-to-Pokemon communication. And Pyrite was... a rather quiet Pokemon.
Minutes later, they returned with the clipboard. Edwin scooted next to Grace to get a better view of the paper. He smiled proudly at the responses that were written down, most of which seemed to express a similar level of love and mutual caring in fewer words than Edwin's responses, with the exception of one—he stared quizzically at the answer next to the question "how did you meet your trainer?", which was simply "I like tomatoes". Fair enough, he thought to himself, trying not to laugh.
"Well, I'd say you two are pretty in sync! That's always great to see with new trainers." Grace seemed more than satisfied with the results, before reaching into her lab coat pocket and producing a small stack of dollars. "Here's the money I promised. Don't go spending it all in one place!" She joked, not realizing just how close to the mark she was hitting with her joke.
"Hah! Yeah, of course not." Edwin quickly counted the money before pocketing it with a smile. Earned back a good chunk of what I spent today already, no problem. "Thank you so much, Professor Grace! It was very nice meeting you, and we'll just be on our way… Theo?" He looked around the room, before spying the Rowlet standing uncomfortably close to a glass cabinet that looked quite expensive. And breakable. "Theo!"
He made his way over the the cabinet, where Theodore was eyeing the peculiar items on display. Edwin quickly picked him up before he could fling himself into any more glass doors, but he reached out a wing to point at a specific rock on display. "Oh, what are these?" Edwin asked quietly.
Rosetta squawked angrily again, ruffling her feathers as she flew over and scowled at the Rowlet with the irritance of a grumpy old lady as Edwin resolved the issue.
"Oh, that?" Grace nonchalantly started to answer his question, as if Theo hadn't just nearly broken their glass cabinet. "A bunch of knick-knacks. I have a superior in Kanto that likes to send us gifts during the holidays. He just has... a strange taste in gifts." She sighed, unlatching the glass door and taking out the stone the Rowlet had pointed at. "This is a King's Rock. That's what he called it, anyways. I was told it can help evolve Pokemon like Poliwhirl and Slowpoke... but I don't have either of those Pokemon, so I suppose it makes for good decor."
Theodore's eyes sparkled and he twittered excitedly until Grace handed the rock to him. He plopped it on his head, admiring his reflection in the glass. Edwin laughed. "King's Rock…" He repeated. "Yes, it kinda does look like a crown, huh. But give it back, Theo, it's not a toy." The Rowlet's squawk resembled a whine, but he did not fight his trainer as he removed the 'crown' and handed it back to the Professor.
Seeing Theodore's eyes sparkle and glow... she'd be lying if she said it didn't remind her of her own boy. Grace smiled as she was given back the rock, holding it in her hands but not yet putting it back. "I'll be honest... I think your little Theo would get more enjoyment out of this thing than I would. How about we make a deal? Give me back some of your pay, and I'll gladly exchange it for Theo's new crown." She chuckled, smiling even more seeing the Rowlet get more excited.
"Oh, you'd do that for us?" Edwin looked at the shiny rock. He liked the money, but truthfully, he would have spent it on something cute like a crown for Theodore anyway. If it really was an evolutionary stone of some sort, it would be quite valuable, too. He took the money out of his pocket, and returned half of it to Grace. "Let's see, maybe… ₱500 for the rock, then?"
"Sounds like a fine deal to me. Here's your Dolce City souvenir." Grace handed over the crown and takes back half of her payout, putting it back in her coat pocket. "Well, Edwin, I believe we're done here." She put forward her arm to shake. "It's been an honor to work with such a kindhearted trainer that has a bond like yours. I'm sure you and Theo will go far in the Amateur League."
"Thank you! It was a pleasure working with you, too." Edwin took her hand and smiled as Theodore merrily put the crown back on his head.
"Bennett, dear! Are you almost finished?" Grace called into the kitchen. The boy yelled back affirmatively, and moments later, he returned with Janice. The Professor paid her as well, and after exchanging goodbyes, they were off.
Party
Rowlet // Theodore
Tackle
Growl
Leafage
Peck
Shadow Sneak
Magikarp // Pyrite
Splash
Tackle
Flail
Bounce
Egg // ???
It appears to move occasionally. It may be close to hatching.
Current Location: Tower Path, Between Dolce & Fugue
Bennett stared back at shrinking cityscape behind him as they walked, already feeling homesick again... his gaze shifted back up to the sky, which was getting increasingly cloudy. The sun was still high in the sky, so he had a long walk ahead of him before nightfall.
Jingles was out and about, prancing around his trainer and happy to be out in the open wilderness again. Berry was floating by her trainer's side and snacking on a jelly sandwich, one of many snacks that had been densely packed into his new bag. The large duffel bag was slung over his shoulder and back, its weight not unbearable, but noticeably heavier than the load he'd been carrying before.
Right before entering the thicker woods leading up to it, Bennett looked up past the treeline to see them; the Tower Mountains. He'd heard of them before, and how unforgiving it could be to trek through them. He also remembered when the daycare people told him and his mother about where Jingles had been found, up in these mountains with nobody to take care of him. He glanced back down at the Jangmo-o prowling by his feet, reminded that neither of them really knew their... actual parents. It felt weird to say actual parents, as Mom had provided for him like he was her own for as long as he could remember.
The crash of thunder shakes the boy from his daydreaming, followed by an abrupt downpour! The rain hits fast and hard, and he nearly trips over himself trying to find cover. The trees help somewhat, but do little to shield him from most of the rain. He spends about 20 minutes under a tree, hoping to wait the rain out, but it doesn't lighten up at all...
Why did it have to start pouring now? Bennett groans in discomfort as he can feel his clothes get soaked. Berry is trying her best to cover her trainer like an umbrella, with mixed results, while Jingles' scales droop from the heavy rain, not looking any happier about the weather. He considered turning around, getting a dry change of clothes, and waiting out the rain, but... then he'd be behind all the other trainers, which could lead to a whole domino effect of him falling terribly behind the competition. The boy overthinks the consequences of turning around, before eventually deciding waiting for the rain to pass wouldn't do any more good, begrudgingly continuing along the forest path. The dirt underneath starts to lose it's place, sliding about and turning into thick mud, which he discovers once his shoe sinks a couple centimeters into the stuff. He whimpers in childish disgust from touching the stuff, trying to dig his shoe into firmer dirt to scrub it off to no avail. And when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he's greeted with a stone wall of the mountain's base blocking his way.
He stares blankly at the impediment, and Jingles is the first to try and climb it. He gets up a few feet before the wet rock causes his foot holding to slip out from his paws, prompting Bennett to catch him from his short fall.
"N-no, I don't think we're getting up that way..." He wasn't even going to try and climb that. Bennett knew his physical limits, and this was far beyond them. He glances around before deciding to go east of steep rock, walking for an hour before reaching the mouth of a valley. Another crash of thunder rings out as he starts walking, the path varying in intensity but being mostly manageable, even in the rain. He can see the mountains he's currently in between as he makes his way further along the valley, although that view is obscured into a grey blur from the thick rain clouds covering the mountain tops and blotting out the sky.
The walk is miserable, soaked to his bones and the weight of his bag wearing on him. Time is an elusive concept as the clouds obscure any possible sunlight, prompting Bennett to check his PokeGear. It's hard to see as rain is quick to smother the screen, but he wipes enough of it away to check the time before putting it right back. It was an hour or so after sunset, yet he felt like they'd barely made any progress. He'd put his Pokemon away hours ago after they looked just as miserable as him in the rain, and Bennett finally paused at the top of a hill, leaning against a nearby tree and trying to catch his breath. Sleep was currently on his weary mind, wishing he could take a nap and wake up once the weather cleared.
A faint light in the distance catches his eye, as if answering his prayer. It looked like... a house? He squints through the downpour and gloom, making his way down the hill he was on with strained muscles, nearly tumbling off his feet before reaching the bottom and following the light like a Mothim. The closer he got, he could tell it was more than just a house. There was a large area of the valley fenced around, stables for equine Pokemon, and there were even some Mudbray splashing in the mud the constant rainfall had created for them. A couple noticed the passerby, and brayed at him from afar. There was also a man looking over all the Mudbray, before he noticed Bennett and did a double take.
"What in the Sam Hill? Boyo! What're ya doin' out here?!" The man has a heavy accent, and looks to be in his late thirties as he runs up to the edge of the fence near the path. Bennett freezes, afraid he might've done something that upset the man.
"I, u-um... Just passing through, s-sir..." He's as stiff as a plank as the man reaches the fence, but he looks much more concerned than upset, now that he looks at him closer.
"Yer gonna be passin' on and pushin' up daisies if you try to march through the valley during a storm!" He huffs, looking back towards his house before signaling for Bennett to follow him. "Come inside, feller."
Reaching the front door, it's locked, before the rustling of keys can be heard inside as the man opens up and lets Bennett inside, the warmth of the cabin quickly hitting him. He's dripping wet, and before he can take a step forward, the man holds his hand out and stops him right in his tracks.
"Hol' up. I don't want ye tracking water all over my floor." He sighs, his voice gruff as he hands Bennett a towel. "Bathroom's on the right. Laundry room's on the left. Clean yerself up, boy. You must be covered in dirt, bruises, or both if ye barreled this deep into the valley while it's stormin'."
Bennett's left speechless, his expression guilty as he felt like he was being scolded, before he quietly went to wear the man told him to. He kept his bag nearby as he put his soaked clothes into the wash, got a shower (he was surprised somewhere so remote had electricity and plumbing), and then changed into a new change of clothes from his bag while his stuff was still in the wash. He comes back out into the cabin's living room to see the man leaning back on the couch, a shaggy Herdier on his lap while the rain, wind, and thunder raged on outside. The man lazily glanced Bennett's way as he quietly came out... the boy looked like he'd been chewed out for stealing from the cookie jar, and he sighs before forcing a smile.
"... Ease up, boyo. Sorry if I scared ya any." The Herdier sits up a little, moving from his owner's lap and hopping onto the floor as Bennett stands off to the side. "But what're ya doin', don't'cha check the weather report or somethin' before bumblin' through Tower Valley?"
"I... didn't, no..." Bennett scratches his head, embarrassed he didn't do so before hiking out here. "I j-just needed to get to Fugue as soon as possible, and I was told it takes three days to get there from Dolce, a-and I don't want to miss the Gym in Mar-"
"Yer one of those Amateur League fellers? That explains it." The man rolls his eyes. "Buncha headstrong kids running across Unific. I didn't know they let 11-yer-olds go hikin' without a parent or anythin'."
"... I'm 14, sir." Bennett corrects him, the man's eyes widening in surprise as he glances him up and down one more time.
"... Ye sure? Eh, sorry, boyo. Ye look so frail, I was afraid the wind was gonna knock ye off yer feet, eh heh." He laughs, before scooting to the side of the couch and patting the other cushion. "Come on, sit down. Yer legs must be killin' ye." The man was right, Bennett's legs were pretty sore. He sits down, giving a soft exhale of relief and leaning into the soft cushioning as he looks at the man better.
He has a caramel tan complexion, with dirt brown facial hair in the form of a short beard encompassing his chin and mouth. His eyes are narrow, yet have a sharp look to them. He's wearing a white t-shirt and some denim overalls, thick socks over his feet as he left his shoes at the door, and has a straw hat over his short, curly hair. He offers his hand to shake, his arm burly and bushy with hair and some dirt probably in between it all from his line of work. "Name's Dennis. I'm gunna go out on a limb and say you have a name too, right boyo?" He snarks.
"B-Bennett." He returns the handshake, tensing in surprise from how tight and firm the man's grip was compared to his own. Dennis notices, and quickly lights up his grip.
"Ye really are a twig of a thing, aren't ye? I'm surprised that bag on yer back didn't snap yer spine in two." Dennis gets up from the couch, walking across the room to a small kitchen that was within spitting distance of the couch. The long-haired Herdier lazily trots across the floor, looking up at Bennett as he sits there, before hopping onto the couch and deciding he was good people, lying his head on his lap to nap. He could feel the vibrations of the old dog's rough snores across his leg, and Bennett couldn't help but smile as he rested a hand on the dog's back.
"Ol' Samuel's a cuddler, he is." Dennis chuckles, before returning with a warm bowl of tomato stew for Bennett. He had plenty of snacks in his bag, but the warmth of the soup is hard to turn down, and he starts gently sipping at it. A few more minutes pass as Dennis gets a bowl for himself, before he sits in a rickety chair across from the couch. "How's the soup? Warmin' ye back up?"
Bennett nods softly in response, and Dennis grins.
"Good, good. Gotta make sure ye don't freeze to death from the rain and wind. Ye probably would've looked like a Vanillite if ye decided to take one of the trails up through the mountains." Samuel moves off the boy's lap to let him eat, instead lying on the side of the couch that wasn't being occupied and going right back to his nap. Bennett keeps quietly eating his soup, but as he nears the bottom, he decides to make more conversation with the kind man.
"... What is this place?"
"Pardon?" Dennis blinks, before realizing what he'd been asked. "Oh, eh, this is the Tower Valley Ranch. I work with the... what do they call them again... the Unific Rangers Association. They pay for the land, all I oughta do is help folks that wanna go up the mountains but can't do it on their own."
"How do you do that?"
"Simple. I specialize in breedin' some of nature's roughest, toughest mountain climbers out there!" Dennis declares with vigor, as if that was the ranch's slogan for drawing in customers. "In other words, the asses ye saw takin' a mud bath out there." He chuckles. "I rent them out to folks who wanna see the peaks of the Tower Mountains. Some folks that pony up some cash also buy a Mudbray or Mudsdale of their own to take home. Eheh, fun for the whole family!"
"Can I see them?" Bennett quickly asks, sitting up from where he sat with an eager glimmer in his eyes that made Dennis pause, before bursting out into hearty laughter.
"Ye just hiked for a few hours through one of Kyogre's sneezes, but ye wanna get drenched all over again just to look at some stubborn asses? Ye got a sense of humor, I'll give ye that!"
Bennett's enthusiasm quickly deflates, sinking back into his seat. That cuts Dennis's chortling short, clearing his throat.
"Er, not that ye can't. It's just probably a better idea to wait until the rain dies down tomorrow. If it ain't raining Purrloins and Lillipups tomorrow mornin', I'll show ye around the stables. Sound fair?"
The boy straightens back up again, happy with that compromise. "S-sure."
"Speakin' of tomorrow, sitting around and talkin' the night away isn't goin' to do either of us any good." He stands back up, taking both of their bowls before coming back with a pillow and blanket, Samuel begrudgingly moving from where he was sleeping so Bennett could use both ends of the couch. "You'll be sleepin' on the couch tonight. Just fer the record, this ain't a bed and breakfast. So don't go tellin' any of your friends to come crash here or nothin'."
"... Thanks for letting me stay the night, Mr. Dennis." Bennett says before the man can turn the corner to his bedroom.
"Don't mention it. Just know yer headin' out the door tomorrow, as long as nothing of yours is broken or that storm gets any worse."
Janice grumbled as she stomped her way through the forests leading up to the Tower Mountains. A map not needed, as she was basically treking her way home at this point, but the scenery left very much to be desired. Her clothes were drenched already, and while there was the thought of trying to at the very least wait out the storm, the blonde knew she was already running a bit behind from taking on that job with Edwin over at Bennett's place. While the girl was grateful to get some of the money that came with it, she had to admit that the whole question part left her feeling a bit moody. She really wasn't angry with Bennett, after all, the boy was just doing the work his mother assigned him. However at the same time it made her question several things about herself, questions she really wasn't keen on answering.
"Shit, I needa smoke..." Janice muttered.
The girl paused in her walking, taking a look around her surroundings. While the leaves of the trees were providing a decent canopy, they weren't doing exactly the best at keeping her dry. However, there was a large oak looming just ahead, branches wide and thick, that seemed to be doing its best at the very least at keeping things mostly dry. Janice figured that something was better than nothing, and so the girl briskly made her way over to the nearby tree. Settling down against the trunk of the tree, the blonde reached into her bag and pulled out a carton of cigarettes and her lighter. A small, albeit satisfied smirk graced her lips as she inhaled the rich taste... a comforting aroma filling the air all the while. However, it was a peace that just couldn't last. No sooner had Janice closed her eyes to relax for a moment did the familiar sound of a poké ball snapping open and the sight of a familiar light shooting out of her bag come to vision.
"...Franky," the teenager groaned.
The purple Nidoran stretched out his body, bouncing back and forth with excitement. As always, the Pokémon was showing boundless energy. Even the weather was doing little to put a damper on his spirit. Janice sighed at the sight in frustration. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with his silliness, and honestly just wanted a moment alone. At the same time though, she knew that recalling the Nidoran would likely make him see it as some kind of game. Maybe letting him run around would help him burn off some of that excess energy.
"Screw it, go wild..." Janice muttered, Franky's ears shooting up in joy as his trainer spoke. "Just don't go too far. I wanna get this journey movin' as soon as we can, got it?"
Franky cried in joy before bounding off, the Pokémon quickly making himself busy by chasing a stray leaf blowing in the wind. With Franky amusing himself, Janice reclined back against the tree and closed her eyes. Thoughts quickly filling her head all the while.
"Sometimes I wonder if I really made the right choice... Leavin' Will like that, that is..." Janice mused. The blonde took another long drag on her cigarette, looking up towards the sky as she did. "It's funny, I didn't start wonderin' 'bout it like this until I met that Bennett kid. The little guy reminds me of Will so much, though. I wonder how he's doin'. Is he eatin' enough? They're good people, but the Smithersons ain't treatin' him bad or nothin', are they? Do they regret me just leavin' him with them...? Are they in good health? They ain't exactly spring Duckletts..."
Janice remembered the day she told Will her plan. The boy was so excited when he found out that she was going to be a Pokémon trainer. Janice still fondly remembered the look on the boy's face as she spent that night getting herself packed up for her journey across Unific. It was an expression that was quickly replaced with heartbreak when Will found out that Janice had no intention of taking him along with her on her journey. She remembered how he spent most of that night crying loudly into the night, begging the blonde to allow him to go along with her. Janice knew she couldn't do that, though. The roads across the region and even the bigger cities themselves were no place to go dragging a six year old around. She left him behind for his own safety, she knew that deep down he understood that. At the same time however, Janice couldn't exactly blame the boy's sadness. They only had each other, after all... In terms of family, Janice was all he knew. She had always stressed that she was the boy's sister... but part of Janice always wondered if Will didn't view her as a mother figure as well.
"Maybe... Maybe I should bring him..." Janice mused. The girl quickly shook her head though. "No, no... He's fine. He's a tough guy. I raised him that way. I'll drop by while in Fugue, see how he's doin', and then move on. I'm doin' this for him... For him."
Janice took one more drag of her cigarette before putting it out and stomping it on the ground. She couldn't believe that she was having these kinds of thoughts right now. There was much more at stake at the moment, much more to be done. She didn't have time to be dealing with these second thoughts now. Janice pulled herself back up to her feet and stretched before slowly starting to make her way forward once more.
"Yo, Franky! Let's get movin'!" the blonde called out. She glanced over her shoulder, a cold glare quickly coming to her facial features. The Nidoran was nowhere to be found. In fact, save for the rain hitting the leaves and branches, the forest around her was completely silent. "Franky...? Where the hell are ya?!"
The sound of rustling bushes nearby quickly got the trainer's attention. Cautiously, the blonde made her way over towards them. She grabbed hold of Kain's poké ball, readying it in the event that she needed to use the bird to try and fend off an attacking, wild Pokémon. Needless to say, a sigh of relief escaped her lips as she saw Franky come bounding out of the shrubs.
"What the hell were ya doin'...? Didn't ya hear me callin' ya?" Janice scolded. "I swear, sometimes I think yer defected or somethin'..."
She paused. A feral growling quickly filled the air. Green eyes slowly glanced down to a pair of red ones. As if being scolded by a parent, Franky's ears suddenly laid back. A look of guilt overtook his usual, jovial smile. Janice took another step forward.
"Franky...? What the hell were ya doin'...?" Janice questioned again.
She leaned forward, pulling the branches of the bush aside... only for a yelp of surprise to echo out into the air. Before the blonde could even process what was going on, a brown and white blur came leaping out from the bushes and practically knocked over her down in the process. Janice quickly turned, coming face to face with a growling, angry, agitated, wild Lycanroc. His dusty brown and white fur stood on end. His sharp, jagged fangs barred as he stared at both Janice and Franky in absolute hate.
Edwin was a little conflicted about going 'home'. On one hand, he did miss his endlessly chatty mother and supportive little sister, even though it had been just under a week since he saw them, and even less time since they talked. He just didn't really like anything else about Fugue. Although he was born and raised there, Edwin had never felt at home in the little village. He always knew there was something more for him outside of it. Getting endorsed for the Amateur League was his first step into this 'something more', and the few days he had spent in the bigger cities, socializing with interesting people and having his moment in the spotlight felt right; the idea of returning 'home' to the village now suddenly seemed strangely foreign.
But before he would have the opportunity to explore his thoughts and feelings about all that more, though, he had other things to worry about. Mountains and swamps, for example.
Edwin sighed, looking out glumly at the bleak road ahead of him as he left Dolce City. Even the weather was gloomy and uninviting—almost immediately after he stepped foot out of the city, a light drizzle started, prompting him to change out of his DENSOKU's and into some hiking boots. It was a good call; the rain got progressively heavier the further he moved into the Wild Area, and his other shoes definitely would not have survived the trek.
Although he was on his way home, he had never made this trip between the city and village before, so the Tower Mountains up ahead and the Fugue Swamp beyond were all new territory for him. A well-trodden path starting by the base led him up the gentler slopes of the mountain, until, well, it didn't anymore, and he had to rely solely on his X-Transceiver to tell if he was still going in the right direction. Among the camping gear he had purchased back in Dolce was a thin, hooded anorak in charcoal grey, which kept him relatively dry from the waist up, but did little to protect from the cold. In the lower elevations of the climb, this was not as big of an issue since the body heat generated by the demanding trek still kept him quite warm. The higher up they got, though, the colder it was, and the rain was turning to sleet.
"What... have we gotten ourselves into, Theo?" Edwin gasped, as he pulled himself up on a ledge. A crag jutting out of the stony wall provided a bit of shelter from the wind and rain for them, and they hurried to the underside of it to sit down. The Rowlet dropped down into his lap and huddled for warmth. Edwin looked at the soaking-wet owl. Perhaps a more noble trainer would have made him return to his Poke Ball and get out of the rain, but truthfully, Edwin just really wanted his company. Maybe it was a bit selfish, but the Rowlet seemed happy by his side, too, even in the miserable weather.
"If I don't make it, you're gonna have to go on without me. Just take Pyrite's Poke Ball and fly home. Ma and Lil will take care of you—"
Theodore twittered angrily at his dramatic antics, kicking with his feet.
"No, you're right, we can't give up now." Edwin sighed. "Oh! Maybe there's something in here, actually..."
He put down his bag and started rooting around in it, before pulling out a small, compact kit. The man at the sporting goods store said this would contain 'everything you'd need' for this journey, so naturally, Edwin had whipped out his wallet before fully inspecting what all it came with; he decided now was as good a time as any to take a look at its contents. Among a length of paracord, compass, folding knife, and other useful items, Edwin found—
"Matches, Theo! We're saved! Now all we gotta do is, um..." His voice trailed off as the realization set in that he had never built a fire before. Or lit a match, really. But how hard could it be?
He pocketed the matches before gathering several large chunks of wood, creating a little teepee-formation with them under the crag. It took a few tries to light a match, but a triumphant smile flashed across his face as a small flame finally burst from the tip of the little stick. "There we are, see—the elements are no match for... uh..."
His celebration was cut short as the fire was promptly extinguished by the cold, wet log he tried to light.
"Wh—" he gave it a few more tries, but several ruined matches later, he finally came to the right conclusion, and so had Theodore; the Rowlet pulled a towel out of his trainer's bag, attempting to dry the logs.
"I don't think that's going to work," Edwin told him lightly. "Let's split up and look for firewood. I'll carry the big ones, you pick up little twigs and stuff we can light. Maybe they'll be drier under trees."
✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿
Several minutes into their search, a surprised squawk drew Edwin's attention back to where he last saw Theodore. He was standing amidst a thicket of trees, picking up dry, fallen branches as his trainer had instructed. "Theo? Everything okay?" As Edwin neared his Pokémon, he saw that the Rowlet had dropped the twigs he had gathered. The trees overhead were so tall, not a lot of rain was getting through. Edwin started picking the sticks back up. "Don't worry, it's pretty dry over here, I think these will still be okay."
But Theodore seemed to be concerned with something else. He looked ahead suspiciously. "What is it?" One of the branches were swaying in the wind as Edwin followed his Pokémon's gaze. Or was it? He couldn't feel a breeze at the moment, but—
"Ah, son of a—!" The branch suddenly slung back and slammed Edwin square in the stomach, sending him stumbling. Theodore squawked again; now that he was certain which one was the offending tree, he started flying in circles around it. It looked different from the trees nearby. Smaller, with an odd pattern on its trunk.
The commotion rustled some of the other trees nearby, and a few drops of rain leaked through the leafy canopy. The odd tree didn't like that.
Completely dropping the tree act and trying to shake itself dry now, the "tree" was now recognizable as a Sudowoodo, and it didn't look happy to be disturbed in its home.
Party
Rowlet // Theodore
Tackle
Growl
Leafage
Peck
Shadow Sneak
Magikarp // Pyrite
Splash
Tackle
Flail
Bounce
Egg // ???
It appears to move occasionally. It may be close to hatching.
"Why are you so persistent!" Elleni yelled, continuing her downhill sprint. Behind her, the angry Aggron seemed intent on murdering her for the slight of mildly irritating its child and was still chasing her down.
As if the monstrous Pokemon chasing her wasn't bad enough, it would routinely pick up and hurl small boulders in her direction. It was more by luck than by skill that Elleni had avoided being turned into a fine red paste underneath one of the projectiles. Unfortunately, the need to constantly dive out the way had not only made it easier for the lumbering Steel type to keep up with her, it had also resulted in her taking a different route than planned, so she no longer had a clue where she was going.
She thought she was very much done for, but a faint gleam of hope appeared on the horizon in the form of another person running in her direction. That faint gleam of hope was very quickly shattered when she got close enough to recognise that the person running towards her was not an experienced trainer or a Ranger on a rescue mission, but one of the other Amateur League challengers with a Nidoran.
"Turn around or you're going to get killed!" Elleni screamed at the other girl.
Janice's eyes shot up at the sound of the voice before going wide at the sight of the charging Aggron. "Ya gotta be shittin' me…"
The blonde tightened her grip on Franky, glancing over her shoulder at the growling and barking wild Lycanroc, before suddenly turning towards the north. The girl running from the massive steel Pokémon also happened to turn that same way. For a brief moment, Janice happened to think about tripping the poor girl up… if only to get both of the wild Pokémon off of her trail. Then again, she was fairly certain that might possibly qualify as murder.
"We ain't gonna lose 'em by just runnin' up the mountain! We gotta find some place to ditch 'em!" Janice shouted, almost as if she was demanding that the girl running from the Aggron find a way for them to get out of this.
"Them?!" Elleni responded, still dashing toward the blonde. It was at that moment that she saw the Lycanroc on the heels of the other trainer. "Are you shitting me?!"
Elleni and the other girl met in the middle, both moments away from differing methods of painful death. Elleni did the only thing she could think of, she grabbed the other girl by the shoulder and dived to the side into a thicket of thorny plants, pulling her along. She figured the angry Pokemon could take their issues out on each other. She had not figured that what she would find behind the deceptively thin shrubbery was empty space and a drop.
Before Janice could properly react, she, Franky, and Elleni soon found themselves diving into the hole. Thankfully a smooth surface awaited, acting as a very steep slide for the trio to ride down the cave in. Janice cursed loudly as the group descended, bracing herself for impact… that came in the form of an echoing splash. Janice, Franky, and Elleni had somehow found themselves landing in an underground lake of sorts, the water being just deep enough to save them from any major injuries that would have resulted in them hitting the rocky surface of a cavern floor.
"S-Shit, shit, shit…" Janice gasped as she floundered about, trying to keep herself afloat in the water. She could feel her bad leg tensing up, but thankfully she managed to grab hold of a sturdy rock on the water's edge to support herself with. "Good… Now I'm safe but lost… Wonderful damn thinkin'..."
Elleni surfaced a moment later, grabbing the other side of the same rock. She took several deep breaths before looking at the other girl, surprised to see that she appeared to be scowling at her.
"Would you rather still be up there between those two?" Elleni responded.
"Whatever… I wasn't the one with the damn tank chasin' after me…" Janice muttered. A joyful squeal echoed out into the cave, causing the blonde to glance over her shoulder to see Franky having the time of his life. The purple Nidoran was splashing about in delight, paddling along the water without a care in the world. Janice slowly pulled herself out of the water and onto the surface, before slowly pulling herself up to her feet. "Where the hell are we even at…?"
"You didn't exactly seem to be doing much better." Elleni found herself scowling back at the other girl, resigning herself to being in the presence of someone utterly ungrateful for having their life saved… more or less. "Probably one of the tunnels that goes through the mountains. Didn't you read up on the mountains before coming here?"
Janice rolled her eyes before taking a moment to recall Franky into his poké ball. "I know 'bout the mountains... I did come from Fugue to get this far. Ya know, I just did it by crossin' the mountain not goin' through it."
Another pause as she reached into her bag, fishing out her carton of cigarettes. As she expected, the pack was completely drenched, making the smokes inside essentially rolled up, soggy sticks. The girl muttered under her breath in frustration before tossing the useless cigarettes aside.
"Those were supposed to last until I got back to Fugue…" she grumbled.
"I think technically that means I've saved your life twice today," Elleni remarked, eyeing what used to be a packet of cigarettes. "At least your Nidoran seems to be enjoying himself, but we should probably look for a way out. I don't think we're going back up that way."
"Is she really makin' a comment about smokin'...? Don't tell me I'm stuck with one of them kinds…" Janice thought with annoyed groan. She took a glance back up the way the two girls came, just in the off chance there was a way to scale back up… but the blonde instantly frowned as she realized it was in fact going to be impossible. "That way down was steeper than an Onix's backside in the rain… So, how the hell do ya even think we're supposed to know which way to go?"
"I don't think it matters right now as long as the way is out." Elleni pointed at the slope they had come in on, rainwater was running down it. "I don't know how long it takes for a hole in the ground to flood and drown you and I don't want to find out. We should swim to the other side and see if there's a passage."
Janice stared at the water she and Elleni had been in just a few moments prior. The blonde muttered something under breath, all the while dragging her feet to the point that it seemed like she wasn't in too big of a hurry to follow her fellow trainer's lead.
"Problem?" Elleni asked.
Janice turned her attention back towards Elleni. Her cheeks holding a small, red tinge of embarrassment as she spoke a bit louder. "I said I can't swim good… My… My leg ain't good enough for it."
"Fantastic." Elleni sighed, "Well, between me and your Nidoran, we can probably get you across. Seriously, you'd think he's a Water type."
Janice looked down at the ball that held the aforementioned Pokémon. While Elleni wasn't exactly wrong in how Franky seemed to take to water, there was also the problem of his attention span and intelligence… not being too great. Still, it wasn't like the blonde had any other options. Both Iris and Kain were too small for this sort of thing.
"Fine… But if I die, ya can bet I'm gonna be hauntin' yer ass…" Janice grumbled.
The girl called Franky back out of his poké ball again. The Nidoran seemed overjoyed with the fact that he got to go back out into the open, as he was literally bouncing around in circles with a bright smile plastered across his face. Janice sighed at the sight, but pressed on anyways.
"Pay attention, Franky… I… I need ya to help me swim across that water…" the blonde girl pointed, immediately feeling more than a bit annoyed over the fact she was going to not only need his help, but her fellow trainer's as well. Franky wasted no time in quickly hopping into the water, looking up at both of the girls in anticipation. "W-Well, lead on um… What is yer name, anyway…?"
"Elleni, you?" Elleni moved around the rock, ducking under the other girl's arm so she could help keep her afloat. She was a decent swimmer herself, but she'd never attended anything resembling a lifesaving course. She hoped to herself that she wasn't doing something that result in them both drowning.
The blonde shakily reached out, using Franky to help support herself while relying on Elleni to help on the other end. "Janice…"
Elleni flopped onto the hard stone shore and lay there panting, relinquishing her support of Janice. The underground pool seemed less of a pond and more of a lake. In the darkness of the cave, it hadn't seemed quite as far as it actually had been.
Now, away from the entrance, it was even darker, almost pitch black. If she squinted hard enough though, it looked to Elleni like there was a passage up ahead.
"Well," she panted, "We didn't drown. I think that might be a passage ahead too. I'll grab my torch in a moment to check but… let me just lay here a bit longer."
Janice slowly pulled herself onto shore. The girl took only a moment to catch her breath before pulling Franky out of the water and placing the Nidoran by her side. Janice glanced down at the tired form of Elleni, only to climb up to her feet and walk towards her.
"Get up…" Janice said with a huff. "If yer that tired, take a nap after we get outta here. I have shit to do and don't have time for ya to get yer beauty sleep."
"That's easy for you to say," Ellen replied, "You didn't just drag someone's ass across a lake."
Nonetheless, Elleni pulled herself to her feet and slid her bag off her shoulders to retrieve her torch. She was pleased to find that the labels on it when she had bought it were mostly correct about waterproofing, very little moisture had made it inside.
She retrieved the torch and clicked it on, partially illuminating was indeed a passage ahead of them.
"After you fearless leader." Elleni gestured ahead.
Janice rolled her eyes, motioning for Franky to follow along. Franky beamed at the extra attention his trainer seemed to be showing him today. All the while, he seemed to be blissfully unaware of the blonde's rather foul mood.
"What the hell did ya do to get that… thing to chase after ya like that?" Janice inquired. "Ya gotta have either really bad luck or be downright stupid to get somethin' like that riled up, ya know…"
"Kicked what I thought was a stone, turns out it was an Aron covered in mud and it's mother holds a grudge," Elleni said, "But you're the last person who should be criticising me for being chased when you were in exactly the same predicament. What did you do?"
"Turned my back on an idiot…" Janice grumbled, pointing down at Franky. The purple creature smiled brightly at his trainer, bouncing forward to nuzzle against her. Janice sighed, scooping him up into her arms in the process. "Turns out he thinks everythin' is out to play with him."
"Being playful is a good thing," Elleni leaned over slightly and scratched between the Nidoran's ears, "You should probably train him to be more careful though otherwise it'll just happen again. Is it just me or is there a slight upward slope?"
Janice opened her mouth, ready to tell Elleni to mind her own business about how she raised her Pokemon, but was quickly silenced as the girl pointed out the slope. Janice's eyes narrowed. Sure enough, there was a slope. It was nowhere near as steep as the one the two girls came in on, but the blonde was not particularly thrilled about it regardless.
"Wonderful… My leg is gonna be feelin' this in the mornin'" Janice groaned, as she slowly made her way forward.
"Complaining isn't going to make that any easier on you," Elleni retorted, "Besides, use your head. Up is good, down just means going further into the caves but up might mean a way out."
"I ain't complainin'!" Janice snapped with a glare sent over in Elleni's direction.
She turned her focus back towards the slope and once more began to lead the way forward. Though dry, the slope was quite tricky to traverse. Several jagged and uneven rocks and ledges jutted out along the path, causing both girls to stumble and almost fall more than once.
Eventually the duo managed to reach the top, which opened out into a very wide and expansive cavern. Massive rock pillars towered above the trainers, with several stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. If one listened carefully, they could hear a chorus of cries from Woobats and Zubats.
"...Gimme a minute," Janice said, moving towards a nearby rock. A smooth surface graced it, prompting the girl to take a seat on top. "Just for a minute…"
"If you're that tired, take a nap after we get outta here," Elleni quoted back, rolling her eyes at Janice.
Janice gave Elleni a scowl she had normally only saved for Edwin at this point in her journey. "Look, yer not the one with the bad leg, and just because I gotta bum one doesn't mean I ain't able to kick yer ass with my good one, got it?! Last time I checked it ain't my fault we're down in this hole either, so stop runnin' yer mouth like a Whismur at a singin' constest and stuff it!"
Elleni only rolled her eyes twice as hard at that outburst.
"Trust me, I was dealing with scarier and tougher people than you when I was six. Don't even waste your time trying to intimidate me."
Janice slowly stood up, her glare somehow managing to grow even sharper as she stared Elleni down. If this was the other girl's way of challenging her, then Janice honestly had no problem with having to throw down, if needed. This whole mess had been grating on her last nerve since the duo arrived in the cave and she could honestly see it as some kind of stress reliever. The blonde was about to follow through with her plan of action, when the sudden, deep roar echoing through the cave caught her attention. Janice paused in her tracks, looking around cautiously.
"...What the hell was that?" she questioned.
"Going by what the rest of this day has been like, nothing good," Elleni replied grimly, looking around for the source of the sound but seeing nothing. Either the torchlight didn't reach far enough, or the sound was coming further out the cave. "What now?"
"We still have to keep goin',"Janice replied as she stood off of the rock. "Ya said it yerself, we'll drown if we go back the way we came… Unless ya plan to just live in this cave, that is."
"We could wait and see if it moves away," Elleni answered as the roar echoed through the cavern again.
"Now you wanna wait 'round…?" Janice questioned, glancing over her shoulder at Elleni with a smirk. "I thought ya had experience in dealin' with scarier shit…? Whatever… Stay here if ya want, but I got stuff to get back to. Let's go, Franky."
"Sure, and let you get killed because I'm not around to save your ass again?" Elleni grumbled, taking off after Janice, "Besides, I'm the one holding the torch."
"I didn't know ya cared," Janice shot back.
The blonde led the way forward through the cavern. As the duo moved, the faint roaring began to grow louder, a subtle shaking occasionally being felt at the same time. There were several times that Janice almost lost her balance over it, but the blonde still insisted on pressing forward regardless.
"We definitely ain't alone here…" Janice muttered. She glanced down at Franky, the Nidoran's ears twitching as if trying to pinpoint just where the sound was coming from. Janice looked back at Elleni. "Yo, you got a Pokémon or two on ya, right? Just in case somethin' gets rough?"
"Yeah," Elleni replied, selecting Perdito's pokeball and releasing the Ground type. The Cubone materialised, took one look at Janice and immediately took a step closer to Elleni. "You're our body guard, Perdito. Lucky you."
In response, Perdito hefted his bone up somewhat defensively, although he didn't look too enthused by that arrangement. "How reassurin'..." Janice thought with an eyeroll.
The blonde shrugged and continued on. Occasionally she would check on Franky, essentially using the purple Pokémon like some kind of hearing device. However before much longer, everything simply seemed to stop. The cave grew deathly quiet, only the sounds of the occasional water dripping to the cavern floor or a stray Zubat screech filling the air. The rumbling too seemed to stop, much to Janice's delight for keeping her balance better. A smirk once more graced her lips.
"Looks like we're in the clear," Janice mused as she shot a quick look towards her companion. "Ya can stop wettin' yer skirt now."
"You can put up a brave facade all you want, but I saw you afraid of a bit of water," Elleni responded.
"Alright, I've had enough of your Tauros-shit, ya little pri-" Janice began as she turned to face Elleni.
Before the blonde could finish her insult towards the girl however, the rumbling suddenly returned and much stronger at that. An ear-piercing, deafening roar filled the cave, sending a horde of Zubat fleeing in terror overhead of the two girls and their Pokémon. Rock pillars tumbled over, with stalagmite falling from the ceiling of the cave. Janice's eyes widened as she looked up, before quickly tackling herself into Elleni.
"Shit, get down!" the blonde shouted.
As if from something out of a movie, the floor of the cavern literally began to crack before suddenly ripping open. A thick cloud of dust and debris filled the air. Elleni's torch, which happened to fall out of her hands, shone forward to illuminate a massive structure of stones shooting out from the hole in the ground. A massive, deep roar echoed out through the cave as Janice watched in awe, the girl quickly realizing that this wasn't just some earthquake. That said, she really wasn't sure if she was relieved with that or not. She felt her body trembling with anticipation as the light from the torch revealed a pair of angry, giant, glaring eyes. The "structure" more resembled a massive snake made of literal boulders, with a giant horn protruding out of its head.
"Bone!" Perdito yelped as the Onix continued to bellow at the intruders in its domain.
"All clear was it?!" Elleni yelled over the din, pulling herself out from underneath Janice. "That is one big Onix. Still want to try your luck?"
Janice picked herself off the ground, dusting herself off in the process. Unlike Elleni, a solid, stern look overtook her features as she sent a glare of her own towards the Onix. Her fists clenched, stance steady.
"Oh, ya bet yer ass I do…" Janice retorted. "I've done told ya I got stuff to do, and I ain't lettin' this oversized, overstuffed worm get in my way!"
"Yeah, I kind of figured you'd say that." Elleni sighed and took a breath. "Screw it. I've had one hell of a day and need to relieve stress somehow."
Perdito turned around, looking at Elleni with a shocked look. It was apparent that he did not share this view. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't the disobedient type either.
"Perdito, Bonemerang!"
Without a hint of the reluctance he'd just shown, Perdito hurled his bone through the air. The projectile spun forwards, slamming into the Onix. The Rock type bellowed even louder as the weapon returned to Perdito, only to be thrown right back into the Onix's head a second time.
Enraged, the Onix reared up as much as it could and lashed out with a Slam from its tail, swinging it towards the group and forcing all of them to duck or dive out the way.
"Franky, go for a Double Kick!" Janice shouted out towards the Nidoran.
The purple Pokémon regained his composure from Onix's Slam and charged forward, leaping towards the creature and slamming his tiny paws into its lowered face with as much strength as he could muster. The Onix glared at the duo of Pokémon and their trainers, seemingly growing only more angry as an ear-piercing Screech echoed out into the cavern.
Elleni had to try not to scream as she slammed her hands into her ears in an attempt to block out the ear splitting noise. Wincing, she looked to see the pair's Pokemon suffering even more than they had been, struggling to tolerate the sound.
"Bone Club!" Elleni called over the Screech. Perdito headed the command, pushing through the strain to his ears and rushing forward. Although a fraction of the Onix's size, he swung his Bone Club hard enough to smash the much larger creature to the side, causing its head to break through many of the remaining stalagmites dangling from the ceiling. The Screech stopped, being replaced by a groan. A groan that quickly morphed into another roar of anger as the Onix righted itself.
Far from defeated by the smaller Pokemon's attacks, the Onix reared back and spewed a torrent of purple flames down towards its victims.
Franky quickly hopped back, the Nidoran grinning in excitement as he bounced back and forth. Janice quickly ordered out for the poisonous Pokémon to use Focus Energy. The Nidoran steadied himself, digging his feet into the ground as he took a deep breath and began to focus intently on the massive Onix. The wild Onix wasn't oblivious to this, however. Its tail quickly wrapped around a mass of stones and quickly tossed them in the direction of the purple Pokémon. Franky looked up just in time to see a barrage of stones fly at him, but he didn't have the time to dodge. The rocks slammed into the Nidoran, sending him flying back with a wail of pain.
Perdito hadn't been lucky enough to avoid the entirety of the Dragon Breath, having been blasting to the side being caught on the edge of the attack. As he climbed to his feet to see Franky taking a barrage of rocks, he was in the perfect position to launch a counter attack.
Elleni gave the order and Perdito launched another Bonemerang assault against the Onix. As the big Rock type was moving in to attack Franky again, the projectile smashed into it and knocked it off balance. As the bone flew back towards Perdito, it caught the Onix a second time, smacking it back the other direction and drawing its attention away from Franky.
The Onix dived for Perdito, looking for vengeance. The herculean Pokemon making the cave shudder with the violent motion.
"Detect!" Elleni cried out as she herself ran out the way.
With glowing blue eyes, Perdito gracefully leapt out of the way. The Onix slammed into the ground, sending a shower of stone chips in every direction before rising up and preparing to unleash another Dragon Breath.
Franky wailed as he suddenly charged forward, slamming his feet into the wild Onix once again. The force of the blow from the small, purple Pokémon caused the massive rock snake to stagger back in shock. Its pain only increased as the Nidoran kicked it a second time with just as much force.
"Bone Club!" Elleni ordered, rounding out the improvised combo.
Perdito dashed in from the side while the Onix was still reeling and drove his club into the massive Pokemon. The impact slammed the Onix into the wall, causing the cave to shake and shudder.
As Perdito landed, backpedaling away, the Onix shakily rose back up. It swayed slightly in place, looking disoriented from the series of blows it had just taken, but it wasn't going down just yet.
"Should we finish it up then?" Elleni asked Janice.
"Ya know it," Janice retorted. "Franky, one more Double Kick!"
"Perdito, Headbutt!" Elleni followed.
The Onix's eyes went wide as to its shock, it was charged by the tiny pair. One right after the other, Franky and Perdito's hits landed, smashing the Onix repeatedly back into the wall. The Onix let out a howl of pure rage, glaring at its two challenges. Then, it swayed and flopped to the ground with an almighty thud. Suddenly, there was silence.
"Please tell me that was the last rampaging Pokemon for the day." Elleni eventually broke the silence, walking over to Perdito and patting his head. "Nice work."
"If it ain't, I'm gonna be sick…" Janice muttered, tossing a stray pebble at the now-fainted Onix in frustration. She took Franky into her arms, giving the tired Nidoran a quick scratch behind his ears before turning to face Elleni. "Ya know… ya weren't the worst partner for that."
"I'll take that." Elleni laughed, "You're not so bad either once you stop complaining about everything. Let's get out of here before that asshole wakes up."
Before leaving Dolce, Carmen took many hours looking for hiking clothes decent looking enough for her. After taking her first step on the Tower Mountains and seeing the rain clouds, she went to Dolce once more and spent another hour looking for a raincoat and something to cover her bag since her favorite clothes were there.
She was left all alone with Echo on the each time steeper ground of the Tower Mountains. Her two Pokémon were inside their PokéBalls since Carmen didn't want them to get wet. Presto was also afraid of thunder and Gareth's legs weren't made for this kind of walk.
Carmen's legs weren't made for this kind of walk either, but after the fight she had with her aunt, it's not as if she had any other choice but to take this risk, did she?
She let Echo take the lead once more. It was the smartest thing to do if she wanted to get out fast. The Rotom Phone eventually took her inside a dark stone cave. Carmen was kind of grateful for it, but wasn't comfortable either. On the one hand, she couldn't stand rain and there wouldn't be any of that inside the cave apparently; but on the other hand, she didn't know -and didn't want to know- what she could find in there. That was enough reason for her to take Presto out of his PokéBall once more.
Presto stood over her right shoulder as always. But Carmen drove him off since that would ruin the raincoat, so he limited himself to just fly by her side. He seemed to be pretty comfortable inside the cave, rushing in front of Echo or going through a random tunnel from time to time, but slowing down or going back everytime Carmen told him to behave and stay with her.
Echo used its own flashlight to illuminate the path, but Carmen had her own too. At least she knew Zubats and Woobats won't be bothering them, but those creatures were not what they had to care about. She didn't know that yet.
"Why did you stop?" the girl asked, seeing how Echo suddenly just started hoveinrg on a same spot. It took her some time to realize that a big stone, somewhat different than the rest of the ones inside the cave stood in front of them. "What's that?"
'Gigalith. The Compressed Pokémon. It compresses the energy from its internal core, which let it fire off an attack capable of blowing mountains away.'
Carmen closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Totally not nervous about 'capable of blowing mountains away' "Whatever. I assume you didn't bring me here just to see this thing, did you? Show me the exit."
'This is the exit, Mrs. Carmen. But we didn't make it in time.'
"So? Just look for another path." she insisted. Echo took its time to answer, searching for another possible and quick exit just to confirm there was none, when Carmen was told that she immediately ditched the idea of going through the cave again. She glared at the Rotom Phone and then sighed turning to the Gigalith again. "Okay, how do we move this thing without killing ourselves?"
'If we can push it aside enough to make space to move-'
"Push it aside!" she laughed. "Brilliant! I thought you weren't able to tell jokes. How do you even intend to-?" Carmen interrupted herself after she looked at her Pokémon, politely standing on the Gigalith. "Presto! Think you can push it a bit with Gust?"
The Pokémon tilted his head sideways, thinking the same exact thing Carmen was thinking at the moment: This was ridiculous. But of course Presto wouldn't disobey his trainer. He used his wings to send a weak Gust at the Gigalith, which immediately disappeared once it touched the Rock-type, doing absolutely no harm to it.
"Shit... Another one. Put a little of effort on it this time, will you?" Presto did as told. This time the Pokémon aimed for the head, but once more, there was no result. "Harder! But not at the head."
'Mrs. Carmen, if I may interfere-'
"Quiet! Just once more, if it doesn't work, we'll find another way." she interrupted. "Presto?" Presto gave a weirded look at Carmen, and she was honestly weirded out too with this idea and would certainly give up if it didn't work this time.
Presto flapped his wings with all of his might and multiple gusts of wind were shot at the sleeping Pokémon. This time, they felt stronger. Carmen slowly grew more confident on the situation, regaining her composure as the Pokémon kept attacking. "Keep it up, keep it up!" The little Noibat continued, squeaking sharply as he forcefully released strong air currents until he created a Whirlwind. It wasn't a strong Whirlwind, but it was potent enough to push Gigalith away a few centimeters and force it to take a few steps backwards, making enough space for Carmen to leave the cave.
Of course, waking it up wasn't something good. Just as Presto got out of the cave, the Compressed Pokémon smacked him down with one of his front legs, leaving him unable to get up. The Gigalith then roared and charged against Carmen tilting its sword-like head forward.
"Presto, come back! " Carmen said, PokéBall in hand. But at the same time she dodged a Headbutt from the enraged Pokémon making her unable to return the Pokémon to his PokéBall. The attack made a clean hole on the stone wall it hit. Carmen quickly went to take the hurt Pokémon on her arms and started running away. "Echo, lead the way! We have to- dammit!" Carmen tripped but managed to stand the moment two rocks were shot in front of her from Gigalith's side, blocking the only way out they had. The Pokémon roared again and repeatedly slammed the ground with its front legs, making the ground shake and rocks from the top of the mountain fall, blocking the entrance to the cave as well. There was no escape now.
Current Location: Tower Valley Ranch, Tower Mountains
It was just past dawn when Bennett woke up, finding that all the lights in the house had been turned off after he fell asleep. It was also still near pitch black out, as while the rain had thinned, the murky clouds overhead had not. He squinted, eyes trying to stay open as he sat up on the couch and blankly glanced around the dark while waiting for his mind to catch up with his body. All he can hear are fierce winds blowing outside, which felt strangely hollow when accompanied by a softer downpour.
The back door swings open, causing the boy to look in the direction of some slight light as Dennis's silhouette lumbers back inside, pausing as he notices Bennett's awake at this hour.
"Yer up early, boyo. I thought ye wouldn't be up for another couple hours." He closes the door behind him as Bennett has a long yawn before responding.
"No, sir... I usually get up around this time."
"Really? Didn't think a kid like ye would. Where'd ye come from?"
"Dolce, s-sir."
"... Huh. Fancy that." The man gives a "hm" of interest, before flicking some lights on, which made Bennett's eyes shut again before he could adjust. "Well, a promise's a promise. I'll show ye around the ranch like ye wanted. But first, ye got anything warmer to wear on ye?"
Bennett nods, before going over to his bag. He digs through it, pulling out several things to move aside. A thicker winter scarf as opposed to the usual kind he liked to wear, his old pair of shoes that weren't getting use through somewhere as bumpy as this... He eventually finds what he's looking for, a puffed out coat with a hood to shield him from the cold and rain, and slips it on. Dennis looks at all the stuff he'd stuffed his bag with oddly, but doesn't say anything about it.
Outside it was still raining, but not pouring nearly as hard as yesterday, at least for now. Not that the Mudbray frolicking about mind any. Dozens of the foals start whinnying upon seeing a person, approaching Bennett once he's let into the fields. The ground is... very muddy. He winces, but stays mostly in one place as he pets and lets all the Mudbray come to him. Being bred to help people, they're all very friendly, or at least amicable, with a few staying by the side of the ranch's only Mudsdale. He giggles like a kid at a petting zoo, and appropriately so, Dennis is kind enough to give Bennett a couple small berries to feed them.
"Now see, this one's Mudpie, that one's Clopper, that one's Bertha..." Dennis starts pointing out the names of a lot of the foals, impressive considering a lot of them looked pretty identical, barring subtle nuances with their features. While feeding, one Mudbray pushes itself before Bennett stubbornly, its sturdy and defined legs putting it a good few inches above the others, and it seemed to be older and more matured than the foals. Bennett's taken aback a little as it asserts itself, while Dennis just chuckles.
"Eh heh heh! Looks like even Rugged wanted to say howdy!" He gives Bennett a friendly slap on the back, making the boy stagger in place a little, but is otherwise unharmed. Bennett gets another berry to feed the Mudbray, but Rugged pushes the others aside with his snout, eventually to the point of annoying the other Mudbray to leaving Bennett alone.
"... I guess you don't play well with others...?" He mumbles, but the Mudbray just stares at him with a blank, stoic expression. Somehow, it told him all he needed to know. He feeds him a couple more berries, but as he goes to leave, Rugged starts following him out the gate. Dennis closes the gate before he can, making the mule bray in irritation and start softly nudging the fence with his head. Bennett looks back, hesitant to leave him, but eventually heads back indoors to gather his things.
It only takes another hour or so to prepare for the road again. Bennett properly dresses for the rain this time, as it's starting to pick back up even now, with a sturdy coat to shield him a bit better from the elements.
"Thank you again for letting me stay the night, Mr. Dennis!" Bennett thanks the old farmer with a bright smile on his face, which proved to be infectious.
"Don't mention it, boyo. But hey, use that head of yers! There won't always be folks like me generous enough to save yer a-"
The clop, clop, clop of rock-hard, mud-caked hooves onto the wooden planking of the porch stops Dennis, the both of them glancing behind the boy to see a certain stubborn Mudbray with a coy, slightly proud smirk on his face.
"What the?!" Dennis sounds like he'd just had the air punched out of his lungs, and runs out the back door. He loudly curses once he gets out back, leaving Bennett to nervously and awkwardly stand in place while Rugged looks proud of himself before the rancher comes back out front. "Damn rascal chewed the planks right off the gate!" Dennis groaned, not sure whether to be mad or impressed at the feat. He scratches the back of his head awkwardly, looking at the Mudbray, then back at the frailer Bennett. He grumbles something under his breath, a long moment passing before he nods and speaks up again. "Ye know what, let's kill two Fletchinder with one stone..."
The farmhand heads back inside and opens a wooden drawer, digging around until he finds what he's looking for. An old Pokeball from a dozen or so others stored in there for safe-keeping, covered in a light coat of dust and dirt that makes it look like it's been in disuse for who knows how long.
"Here!" He prompts for Bennett to open his hand, at which point he slaps it into his palm. "Since Rugged wants to see ye off so bad, I say he should be as good as yers! I got more than enough Mudbray here without him biting off my handiwork."
Bennett stares blankly for a moment, before he realizes what was happening. "You're... giving me the Mudbray? To rent, or...?"
"I don't care what'cha do with him, just get him outta my hair so I can fix the darn gate." Rugged softly breathes out, making his lips briefly flap like lots of horses do, the dopey noise almost punctuating Dennis's frustration. At the very least, he doesn't seem to have any objections about having a new owner. "He's a sturdy one. And stubborn. But he might just save yer hide if yer as stubborn as he is about reaching Fugue as soon as possible. In fact..."
Dennis helps take Bennett's bag off his back, before slinging it over the Mudbray's shoulders. It hovers just above the ground on his side, and he doesn't flinch any from the added weight due to how durable he was. He then gives Bennett a flimsy old saddle, strapping it over Rugged's middle before having him sit on him. To his surprise, it kinda worked! He had to hold his legs up a little to keep them from dragging, but it worked. There were no reins or anything for him to use, and as Dennis started explaining to him how to control him, he found a much easier solution. Whenever Bennett asked the Mudbray to move or go a certain way, Rugged seemed pretty keen on listening to him, pacing around the porch with a leisurely trot.
"Well, look at that! Rascal found someone he actually wants to listen to for once." Dennis descends into a begrudging, almost defeated grumble, before quickly returning to his usual tone, looking down at Bennett as he sits on the mule and looks like a teenager trying to ride a miniature carousal. With a surprising amount of wiggle room, Bennett's already short stature helped with that. "I know it's a tad awkward, but the valley doesn't get any tamer from here! Mudbray are sturdy fellers, Rugged should be able to handle the terrain just fine. Just don't fall off, eh heh!"
Bennett continues to thank the man over and over for how generous he'd been, providing him somewhere to stay and even a new companion that would help him get through the worst of the valley. Dennis humbly denied the praise, just laughing before shooing the boy off. He'd watch him continue down the trail on the back of his new "steed", before heading inside.
"... Might wanna call the rangers before that boy gets himself killed..." He mumbles to himself with a half-joke, before going back to his usual routine.
Rugged the Mudbray
♂ / Stamina / Met at Tower Valley Ranch / Relaxed nature / Good endurance
Mud Slap, Double Kick, Bulldoze, Smack Down
A stubborn mule and one of the older Mudbray that populate the Tower Valley Ranch. He seems to simply do what he pleases, but also seems inclined to listen to the soft-spoken trainer he was handed off to. His insistence on saying goodbye to him before he could leave got him kicked off the ranch, but he doesn't seem to mind any. He's yet to fight, but promises to ease up the strain of long travels and literally carry the team.
"Ah—quit it! I understand your concerns, but look, the more you rustle these trees, the more rain is gonna come through the top, so you are not helping the situation."
Edwin stood up, slightly winded from the irate Sudowoodo's attack, who didn't seem particularly interested in listening to his logic. It was bouncing on its feet and holding its branch-like hands in front of it like a boxer now, preparing to fight Edwin. Theodore flew around it angrily, before finding an opening and Tackling it little effect. The Sudowoodo now turned it's attention to him, throwing a Hammer Arm his way instead. The Rowlet deftly dodged the attack.
"Peck it!"
Like the Tackle, the attack seemed to be completely ineffective against the tree Pokémon, and only served to make it angrier. "Why is it...?" Edwin shook his head. "Try that again!"
When the second Peck also barely scratched the Pokémon, The boy was getting a little concerned. What the hell is this tree made of? He thought to himself. As soon as Theodore flew a little lower, the Sudowoodo took the opportunity to sweep at him with a Low Kick, catching the Rowlet by surprise. He let out a startled squawk as he was sent flying into the muddy ground. "Theodore!" Edwin rushed over to scoop up the owl.
He tried to clear his head and plan for their next move here, but a faint whistling and some cheerful chatter in the distance caught his attention. Voices that were far too cheerful given the hellish conditions of their surroundings.
"—nice and relatively dry here, but lot of trees. Careful with your tail, sweetie!"
Emerging from the thicket behind the Sudowoodo, something bright was illuminating the silhouette of a man and woman. As they got closer, Edwin could see that a Charmeleon was leading the way, the flame of its tail lighting up a small radius around them. Fire! Edwin thought with relief. We're saved!
"H-help! This tree Pokémon has super-strength or something! Burn it, please!" Edwin called out to them.
Surrounded on both sides, the Sudowoodo took up a fighting stance once again, but clearly wasn't sure where to focus. It shifted its eyes between the two groups as they shouted back and forth around it.
"And what, start a forest fire?" The woman laughed lightly and peered around at all the surrounding trees. "It's not even gonna—"
A sharp, robotic voice interrupted before she could finish her sentence. The man next to her was holding a Rotom Phone, with what sounded like a PokeDex app opened.
Sudowoodo. The Imitation Pokémon. Although it always pretends to be a tree, its composition appears to be closer to a rock than a plant.
The man looked up from his device and turned his attention to Theodore, smiling. "Hey, little buddy, do you know a Grass-type move?"
Theo perched himself on his trainer's shoulder and leered suspiciously at the man trying to give him instructions, before turning back to Edwin to await his command. The boy shrugged. "Y-yeah, I knew that... Rock-type..." he muttered under his breath before clearing his throat. "Um. Yes. Hit it with a Leafage, Theodore!"
On Edwin's order, Theodore flew back up and pelted the Sudowoodo with leaves. The Pokemon grunted, holding up its arms to protect itself from the foliage raining down on it, while taking a few steps back. Noticeably affected this time, it looked like it wanted to retaliate, but quickly saw it was now vastly outnumbered. It wiggled its way between some trees, before disappearing into the dense forest. With the path between them now cleared, the couple and their Charmeleon marched towards Edwin.
"Oh! Thanks for uh... reminding me what Sudowoodo are made of. It's been a rough day—I'm disoriented and forgetting a lot, I guess."
Edwin tried to compose himself, fully aware of the mess he was looking like right now, and how stupid he sounded. He also inched closer to the Charmeleon as he talked to its trainers. It was very warm. The Charmeleon shot him a glance and scooted away when it noticed.
The man chuckled. "Hey, don't worry about it, bud. You guys are lookin' pretty cold up here. Also a bit underdressed and underprepared, if I may say. First time through these mountains?"
Edwin nodded as the woman stepped up beside them, scratching their Charmeleon's head. "You know, we're actually on our way to a little lodge around here right now—we make this trek a few times a year and found that it's really important for us to take a break somewhere nice and warm in between." She smiled. "You could tag along if you want."
"There's a lodge up here?" Edwin was a little incredulous someone bothered to build anything up on this Arceus-forsaken mountain.
"Yeah, Major Hill Lodge. It's pretty close by, actually—kinda surprised you didn't accidentally stumble upon it, considering you came from that direction." She jutted her chin towards the path behind Edwin, where he and Theodore had entered the forest.
"O-oh. Well, I'd definitely like to come along, if you don't mind. This mountain is horrendous." Edwin complained, but stopped himself before adding 'I don't understand why anyone would want to make this trip several times a year.'
"Hah! It's not so bad if you're well equipped and know the shortest routes through, really." The man started walking ahead, with the Charmeleon bounding beside him. "Flint here does help keep us warm, though. Might want to get yourself a Fire-type if you plan on making more trips like this." He grinned. "Name's Adam, by the way. And this is my fiancée, Beverly."
"Nice to meet you guys! I'm Edwin." Theodore twittered in his ear, before sitting up straight and pretty on his trainer's shoulder. "Yes, yes, and this is my Rowlet, Theodore."
Party
Rowlet // Theodore
Tackle
Growl
Leafage
Peck
Shadow Sneak
Magikarp // Pyrite
Splash
Tackle
Flail
Bounce
Egg // ???
It appears to move occasionally. It may be close to hatching.
Chapter 4-3: Ambush! Prowler Under Blotted Out Moonlight
Party:
Current Location: ???, Tower Mountains
"... It turns out, he actually chewed through the wooden gate of the enclosure. Enough to worm out at least, from what Mr. Dennis said." The boy passes the time of their travels by recounting what he had been through while his partners were sleeping in their Pokeballs, from Dennis's generosity to how Rugged ended up accompanying them. Nestled in his trainer's lap, Jingles showed signs of jealousy, but also begrudging respect for what he was doing for them all. Berry was just happy to see another new face, and kept trying to hover by Rugged's side and talk with him. From the frequency of his muffled, one-note whinnies, Bennett wagered he was a quiet one. Didn't stop Berry any, though.
As the sun rose, it at first got gradually warmer, but more clouds rolled in as the day went on, and the temperature dropped. Even with his coat, Bennett found his teeth chattering, and he could soon see his breath appear before him in the form of a cloudy vapor. The cold was too much for Jingles and Berry, and they were put away once more to protect them from the elements. Rugged kept treking on, though, and if the cold was bothering him like it did them, he was doing a good job of not showing it.
After a few hours of walking through the valley, Bennett's woken from almost falling asleep as Rugged suddenly turns from his otherwise straightforward gait. What was he doing...? He's walking towards one of the mountains that enclosed the valley, but as they got closer, Bennett saw a rocky path upwards emerge. It seemed roundabout to go this way instead of continuing through the valley, but he didn't vocalize his concerns. Rugged must know these parts well enough, this was probably the better way to go.
His opinion on that somehow hadn't changed an hour later, as they were heading up a steep trail through the Tower Mountains. The air feeling like it was sub-zero. The rain changing into cold slush that pelted them over and over. Trees from the valley that towered over him before now looking like specks, if he could still see them from up here with all the clouds.
He was hating this so much right now. Not out of bitter spite from the harsh conditions, but from the very real and possible fear this trail could be his grave. The frigid cold and his paranoia kept his eyes open during the hike, looking back to Rugged now and then. He started stroking his neck and mane more often for comfort, and Rugged would sometimes glance back and give him a subtle, but warm all-the-same smile.
The trail had its twist and turns, working through the mountains and never quite reaching the peaks but always far above the valley below, sometimes opening up into small plateaus. True to Dennis's word, Rugged walked across it all like it was nothing, no matter how steep or, well rugged the path got. Bennett gradually loosened as he trusted the Mudbray to keep him safe, nearly drifting off to sleep as he watched the snow and slush crunch under Rugged's hooves...
Then he stopped. And he just... stood there. Bennett got back to his senses as he noticed this, looking around them and taking in their surroundings. A thick haze filled the sky, and the fact it was also starting to become dark out made it hard to see anything beyond the plateau they were currently on. The slush had started to turn into actual snow, and it coated the ground with an inch or two. But that wasn't why Rugged had stopped.
"Are you okay...?" He asks, stroking his mane again. He doesn't respond, instead slowly turning his head. Bennett doesn't say anything else, which is when he finally picks up on why Rugged stopped. He could hear it too, just beneath the howl of the wind.
Crunch... crunch... crunch...
Foot steps in the snow. Each one was ever so slightly crispier, louder... closer than the last. Bennett glances around the frozen waste, heart pounding as he can't quite tell where the sound is coming from. And then it happens.
It lunges from the mist. A black shadow appearing almost out of thin air, lurching with murderous force! Rugged is just barely faster, however. He bucks forward, sprinting away from where the beast pounced. Bennett is carried with him, frozen in terror as he felt something sharp graze the back of his neck. It slashed the fabric of his coat, just barely grazing by. It felt all too close to having reached his skin...
Their attacker stumbles as it lands where they had been standing a moment ago, leaving its imprint in the snow atop of theirs. Bennett quickly reaches into his bag for his companion's Pokeballs, catching a glance of the rouge behind them as it stands back up. The figure is bipedal, but obviously not human. Its arms are long and lanky, almost reaching their feet as it slouches forward. Its eyes are a blood red, like its fur coat, and pierces their prey with a glare more bitter than the cold. The Midnight Lycanroc carries a cocky sneer on its face, and carries itself with a lazy sway as it lumbers towards the two of them.
His companions shiver as they're hit by the cold, but don't take long to notice the apparant danger. Once off his back, Rugged shakes himself, working his head out from under the strap of the duffel bag and letting it drop onto the plush snow before galloping to the frontlines. Bennett has his three companions, all glaring down the wolf beast. Two prey become five, but it doesn't seem daunted any by being outnumbered, almost welcoming it.
Jingles jumps into action almost right away, snarling as he bashes the wolf with a Headbutt. With faster reflexes than his sluggish sway would suggest, the Lycanroc quickly throws up its arms defensively to take the blow. With a slight of hand, it grabs the smaller Pokemon and before he even realizes he's been grabbed, lobs him like a ball, right at his trainer! Bennett has the wind knocked out of his lungs as he catches Jingles with his chest, but falls back onto something hard...
It was a haphazardly tossed together arrangement of blades of grass, rocks, and seemingly anything else somebody could find to create a nest. Egg shells of varying colors littered the ground, also revealing to Bennett that he was near the mouth of a small grotto. It was too dark to see in any further, but as Jingles scrambles out of his arms to get back into the fight, he notices one in-tact egg. It had a crack along its side, but the brown and blue egg looked fine, if it wasn't dying from the cold.
His attention snaps back behind him as he hears a snarl of pain and anguish, as everyone ganged up on the Lycanroc. Rugged pins the wolf down with its powerful hindlegs, while Berry gets in jabs with its branches and Jingles is all too happy to bash the Lycanroc with Headbutts over and over. It snarls, feral anger rising as its blood absolutely boils, and manages to shake them all off by launching small boulders that materialize seemingly out of nowhere at each of them.
Lycanroc takes advantage of the recoil to pounce, punching the ground and causing a circle of stalagmites to emerge from the ground beneath them to create a makeshift barrier. Berry floats above the shield of stones curiously, but is met with the Lycanroc throwing itself at her with a leaping pounce! They both land on the ground, and their fangs gleam with a red flare and twisted excitement as it rears them for a nasty bite.
"Jingles! Uproar!" Bennett screams, the desperation and panic in his voice evident. The Jangmo-o acts, screaming with an ear-piercing wail in the Lycanroc's direction, materializing as powerful sound waves that stop it dead in its tracks. It's quick to cover its ears, whimpering and body tensing irritably, while Rugged flinches from just being near the sound. Berry's quick to jab the Lycanroc right after with the branches atop her head, making it howl and stumble back.
A rumble beneath their feet makes everyone suddenly freeze. The sound comes from above, and only then does Bennett do the math. High, snowy mountain top... making a deafening amount of noise...
"I-in here! Quick!" He screams, the rumbling picking up in intensity shortly after as he snags his bag back and runs like hell into the grotto behind them. His Pokemon follow suit, as does the Lycanroc. It flings itself forward once more for a pounce and a quick escape back into its cave, but is denied as Jingles intercepts with a whack of his tail. The Dragon Tail sends the wolf tumbling back from the mouth of the cave, scrambling to get back onto its feet, but its too late. The rumbling reaches its loudest as a rush of white barrels down from the mountain tops, causing the cave to go completely dark as its only entrance or exit is covered by an avalanche.
Bennett balls up into one corner of the small cave, everyone huddled close as the rumbling continues for a few minutes more... and then eventually stops. His breath is heavy, drawn out... he hugs his Pokemon close, all of them nuzzling for comfort and warmth. Everyone was pretty shaken by almost being caught by the avalanche, but... they were fine. Berry also hugs Jingles for saving her, and upon realizing just that, he growls in contempt. It's not like he meant to save her, he just wanted that mutt done with...
There's barely any light in here, minuscule amounts streaming in behind the tons of snow. Bennett slowly gets to his feet, legs shaking from fear and shock still as he walks to the mouth of the cave. They were saved, but... now they were trapped. He notices something by his feet, and sees that same egg from before had luckily not been too close to the front of the cave and didn't get swept away with the snow. He kneels down to pick it up, starting to unzip his jacket...
... But they weren't going down that easily.
Lunging through the wall of snow with fangs lit aflame, the Midnight Lycanroc pounces! It tackles the boy onto his back, a glare nothing short of insane and bloodthirsty. Bennett screams as he's pounced, weakly trying to push the wolf off before his eyes fixate on the flame coming from their mouth, it being the brightest source of light in the room. He feels his body go cold with dread. He could feel it... this was where it ended. He was about to be brutally mauled... He closes his eyes, gripping the egg in his arms for some form of comfort before his painful end...
But thankfully, this was not where Bennett's journey was to end. He wasn't alone, after all. A small rock launches in the Lycanroc's direction, sailing right into its mouth as it goes in for the bite! It crunches the rock into dust all the same, before glaring at the offender, Rugged. Of course, as soon as they look up, they're met with a faceful of hooves in his face as he's brutally kicked, making the wolf howl and stumble back painfully.
Not giving them a chance to fight back, everyone jumps in to defend their trainer, bashing the predator without remorse. It at first continues to fight to defend the cave it claimed, but is slowly worn down by Headbutts, Branch Pokes and Double Kicks, its anger dissolving into anguish as it whimpers and bails. Wanting nothing to do anymore with what should've been easy prey, its fangs light up once more, and it melts and claws itself a path through the avalanche before running away with its tail between its legs.
He waits until he can't hear the Lycanroc any longer, and once he knew for sure that they were safe, he nearly collapses as he sinks back down to the floor against the cave wall. Bennett sighs, quivering from both the cold and that near-death experience, clutching the egg close to his heart and using it as an outlet to cope. His companions all come back to his side, right by his side to comfort him once more.
"... T-thank you..." He mumbles weakly, letting them all huddle close around him and the egg that he was now nesting in his jacket. Jingles sniffs the egg curiously, looking back up at his trainer with a puzzled look. "I d-don't know... I found it lying here... I don't think it was theirs, but if it was, I don't think they're coming back for it..." He rubs the smooth surface of the shell, gently as not to possibly damage it any further than it already had been.
The harsh winds outside remind Bennett they were no longer snowed in, thanks to the Lycanroc's last ditch effort. He still feels shaken to his core, but the faith in his companions helps get him back on track, reloading Rugged with the bag and putting everyone else away. Soon enough, they're back on the road, the way through the mountains that Rugged had been taken luckily not too heavily snowed over. Sitting the egg in his lap, Bennett stays vigilante for the rest of the day, however short the remaining daylight was, and even late into the night before being unable to fight off sleep any longer.
It was unlikely, but he could only hope that the worst of their travels across Unific were now behind him.
Elleni woke with a stir to the sound of a light pattering on the roof of her small tent. She was becoming increasingly glad she had bought it. The next sensation she experienced post-relief was pain. She was sore all over from the events of the previous day and jamming herself into a one person tent with Janice over the course of the night had done exactly nothing to help with that situation. She couldn't believe that the other girl hadn't thought to do something about protection from the elements.
She extricated herself from the tent to look outside only to find that the sun was far from fully-risen. A quick look at her pokegear informed her that it was about 5:30am. She'd chalk that one up to a poor night's sleep.
"Well, that's a promising start," she commented.
"A what…?" a groggy voice called out from the tent.
A yawn escaped the blonde's mouth as she sat up, her eyes squinting in the darkness as she fumbled around for her hat. She merely ran her fingers through the wavy mess that was her hair, before tucking her prized hat over it and crawling outside of the tent to stand beside Elleni.
"What time is it…?" Janice questioned, quickly taking note of the sun not even being up yet.
"Half-past five apparently," Elleni replied, trying to stretch some of the pain away without much success.
"Hmm… Must've been more tired than I thought," Janice sighed. The girl paused, reaching into her pocket to pull out her cigarettes and lighter, only to be reminded of their fate from the previous day. A groan of frustration slipped past her lips. "Withdrawal already… Holy shit…"
"Just how early do you normally get up?" Elleni raised an eyebrow at that. She didn't exactly think of herself as a layabout but considering 5:30am a sleep in was madness. Then again, so was mourning the loss of a box of cigarettes. "Maybe now's a good time to quit since the universe seems pretty intent on it."
Janice merely rolled her eyes at Elleni's comments on her smoking. She didn't know why the girl seemed so intent on basically being an anti-smoking ad, but the blonde figured since her companion let her occupy that tent instead of sleeping in the rain, she'd let it slide. As for Elleni's first question…
"I ain't exactly sure," Janice stated bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked out ahead. "I really don't have a good way of keepin' up with the time. It's usually a bit brighter than this, but… I've always had a reason for needin' to get up early, so it ain't that big of a deal to me."
"Well, since we're both up early anyway," Elleni said, "Should we eat and then get a head start. If we leave now we should be able to hit the swamp before lunch if we make good time."
Janice nodded. "Fine with me. That whole incident from yesterday put us far enough behind as it is, so the sooner we get movin', the better."
The duo went about preparing for the day ahead, Janice offering to make a light meal for the duo as well as their Pokémon while Elleni went about cleaning up the camp so they could get a move on down the last stretch of the mountain and towards the swamp that stretched just outside of Fugue. By the time the duo and their teams had eaten, the sun was rising into the sky, giving it a orange and blue gradient. That said, it didn't last too long before the familiar gray tint of a cloudy morning returned. The sounds of singing Kricketot being replaced by the early morning chirps of wild Fletchling and Starly.
Even though it had only been a few days since Janice had left the small village, the scenery of Fugue Swamp felt like sort of a grand homecoming to the blonde. It was nice to not have to worry about getting lost or needing directions, and there was a slight spring in her step as she essentially led the way through the swamp lands.
"What's the hold up back there?" Janice called out, glancing over her towards Elleni. Despite the girl being the one with the better leg of the duo, she seemed to be having a bit of a more difficult time in keeping up with Janice's pace. A small smirk graced the blonde's lips. "Do ya need me to carry ya, princess…?"
"Careful, there might be a puddle around somewhere," Elleni replied. She couldn't deny though that she was having a slightly harder time making her way through the thick swamp mud and mangroves. She supposed being a Fugue native had its advantages. "I've never been through a swamp before, although I can't say the weather is entirely unfamiliar."
The rain was already starting to pick up again and it had left Elleni wondering if the added water was going to make the mud easier or harder to get through. She was silently hoping for the former on the off chance it spared her from Janice giving her crap for being a foot or two behind.
Janice nodded. "The mud can be a bit thick at times… It's one of the reasons why we prefer to wear boots over sneakers. Makes it easier to wade through."
"Maybe next time I'll worry less about conserving cash and more about not sinking into a pit of mud. I prioritised shelter from the rain I guess." Elleni continued to force her way through the sludge.
Janice glanced up towards the sky. It was difficult to tell how late it was getting, with the clouds and the rain… but regardless, the blonde could tell that they weren't exactly making good time. At least, not with how much her companion was struggling through the mud. A small sigh escaped her lips as she turned, making her way back towards the red-haired girl and offered her hand.
"Come on… Grab on," Janice offered.
"I can manage," Elleni declined. There was no way she was going to leave herself open to more torment by giving Janice an easy excuse to rip into her. Besides, she'd dealt with worse than a little mud and she wasn't about to let that beat her.
"Look, yer havin' a hard enough time and I'd like to get to Fugue before next week," Janice stated in a huff. "Lemme help ya through so we can move faster than a Magcargo goin' uphill!"
"Fine, just until I get the hang of it." Reluctantly, Elleni reached out and grabbed the offered hand, allowing Janice to lead her through the swamp.
Janice nodded, returning her focus to the muddy path ahead. She tightened her grip on Elleni's hand, more or less starting to drag her along in the proces. The blonde made a mental note to thank the people back in Fugue later. Elleni wasn't remotely heavy, but Janice did have to put in some effort to drag them both through the swamplands. It turned out that tending to those farmlands was a better workout than she gave it credit for.
The two continued on like that for a fair while longer, the mud getting thinner as the rain continued to pick up. Gradually, it was becoming somewhat easier to move, although somehow even messier.
The further the pair moved into the Swamplands, it seemed the less time they spent on firm ground and the more time they spent wading through mud and murky water. Elleni had joked about puddles before, but as they paused in front of a particularly large pool, she was honestly wondering if they would have to start swimming at some point.
"I suppose there's no point in complaining about having to wade into something deeper since we're already drenched and covered in crap," Elleni said to Janice. She made to take a step forward when movement in the water caught her attention.
A moment later, she was ducking as two torrents of water erupted out of the water in their direction. Janice wasn't as lucky as Elleni had been. The blonde took a surprisingly chilly blast of water to the face, nearly causing her to lose her balance in the water.
"What the hell is it now?" Janice sputtered.
"The same as usual," Elleni stood back up to her full height, watching the water carefully. Soon enough, a pair of blue forms surfaced. Aside from their colouration, the pair of Water types couldn't have looked more different.
The first of them was amphibian in nature, with enormous yellow eyes and what seemed to be a trail of foamy bubbles floating off its back. The second was crocodilian with a large, sharp-toothed jaw and red spikes on its back.
"A Froakie and a Totodile," Elleni commented, "They're both meant to be really rare so it's kind of weird seeing them together. Don't suppose you have a Pokemon that's good at swimming."
"Not yet…" Janice admitted. She considered sending out Franky again, but the Nidoran was starting to get in rough shape from all he had been through the previous day. "I think I'll have to go for an aerial attack instead for this one. What about you?"
"No such luck," Elleni sighed, "But I'd say this one's a better bet than hoping Perdito doesn't sink."
Elleni tossed Ladrona's Pokeball, the Nickit appearing in a flash of light on the most solid bit of land available. She bounded around in a few tight circles, stretching out, before turning her attention towards the pair of Water types with a wicked expression.
"I hope you can swim, Ladrona," Elleni said, earning a cheerful yip in response. "I'll take that as a yes."
Janice tossed out Kain's poké ball, unleashing the Rookidee inside. He let out a determined set of tweets and chirps as he circled overhead, before landing on a nearby rock and eyeing his partner for this battle. A somewhat judgemental look graced the bird's features. Clearly, he wasn't too impressed with the Nickit by his side.
Blissfully unaware of, or maybe just uninterested in, Kain's disdain, Ladrona readied herself for battle as the Froakie leapt up from the water and unleashed a spray of Bubble against both.
"Kain, go with Fury Attack and pop 'em!" Janice ordered.
The Rookidee flapped his tiny wings forward, diving towards the Froakie's incoming Bubble attack at full force. His small beak began to rapidly peck at the spewing water attack, popping the bulk of them with ease. The Totodile grinned eagerly at this, and it wasted no time in suddenly launching itself towards the petite bird. Kain let out an annoyed set of chirps as the wild Totodile slammed its claw-like fingers into him, sending him flying back towards Janice and the others in the process.
"Tail Slap on the Totodile!" Elleni instructed.
Before the Totodile could pull back or push the offensive, Landrona dashed is and lashed out twice in quick succession with her tail. The first strike knocked the Totodile off balance, the second smacked him well back into the water.
There was little time to celebrate the success of the attack though, the Froakie burst back up out of the water with a glowing blue sphere between its hands. It lobbed the bubble towards Kain and Ladrona, the orb exploding into a rush of water that slammed into both and knocked them sprawling.
"Kain, Rock Smash!" Janice shouted.
The Rookidee quickly pulled up from his nosedive, and made a straight line for the wild Froakie. The frog Pokémon croaked in pain as Kain's beak slammed into it, sending the frog right back into the water from where he came. Kain circled the surface of the water, watching carefully for the Froakie to pop back up. This left him distracted towards the wild Totodile however, who made his return to the battle by spraying a blast of cold water from his mouth aimed at Kain. The spray pelted the small bird right in the back, knocking him forward and away from the wild Froakie.
The Froakie was quick to capitalise on the tumbling of the Rookidee. It spat another stream of forceful Bubbles from its mouth in the bird's direction.
"Quick Attack!" Elleni interjected.
Landrona moved in a blur, shooting towards the Froakie like a bullet. She smacked into the Froakie, knocking it aside and saving Kain from the worst of the attack before flopping into the water. She paddled in place, but was wide open to a counter-attack from the Totodile.
The Totodile grinned as it quickly swam towards the Nickit. Mouth wide open, the the wild gator suddenly leapt out of the water and snapped its sharp, jagged teeth onto the fox Pokémon's tail. An almost eerie-sounding gurgle of delight seemed to echo from the wild Totodile as suddenly it dove back underwater, seemingly trying to take Landrona with it.
Landrona thrashed about on the surface of the water, struggling to keep herself from being dragged below by the water type. She was fighting a losing battle though. Ladrona lacked both the physical strength of the Totodile and its home field advantage.
"Assurance!" Elleni called desperately.
A faint purple outline glowed around one of the Nickit's paws as she curled in on herself towards the Totodile. She was dragged under at that moment, but slammed her paw in the Totodile's face. The Water type yelped and let go, allowing Ladrona to flounder back to the surface.
The Froakie had recovered now though and was powering towards her, one of its large fists glowing with a bright orange light.
"Fury Attack, Kain!" Janice exclaimed.
Kain quickly dove towards the wild Froakie, attempting to intercept the blow that the wild frog Pokémon had intended for the Nickit. The Rookidee grunted, wincing as the fist suddenly slammed into its underbelly, but remained determined to attack. The Rookidee began to rapidly slam its beak into the Froakie, causing the Pokémon to croak and wail in pain from the force of four repetitive strikes.
The Froakie dove under the water to escape Kains furious pecking, the Totodile rushing forward to take its place. It leapt right over Ladrona, mouth open wide in an attempt to Bite the Rookidee.
Landrona watched the Totodile with sharp eyes as it sailed over her, tilting her head back before thrusting it forward with a savage snarling noise. The soundwaves shot forward through the air, radiating a faint purple light. The attack slammed into the back of the Totodile, causing it to fall out of its leap and plummet back into the water.
Elleni blinked, doing a double-take. She was fairly certain that Snarl had not previously been in Ladrona's repertoire.
"My Pokemon choose the most interesting times to learn new moves," Elleni commented. "Snarl again!"
Once more, Ladrona prepared to attack the Totodile, but this time she was the one intercepted. The Froakie burst out the water and delivered a weighty Pound to the Dark type's back, skipping her across the water like a stone.
Janice shot her battling partner a quick side glance. "Think she can keep them busy for a bit longer…?"
"What did you have in mind?" Elleni asked, not shifting her gaze from the battle ahead of them.
Janice smirked. "I can guarantee that Kain can knock one of these little assholes down for the count… I just need a turn or two to get it ready."
"Tail Slap, then Quick Attack the other one!" Elleni ordered, giving Janice a slight nod.
As the Froakie dived for Ladrona again, she counted with two quick strikes from her tail. The Froakie was knocked beneath the surface of the water, resurfaced and was knocked to the side instead. Ladrona then leapt from the water, laughing as she bounded off the top of the Froakie's head. Moving like a missile, she followed through by colliding with the Totodile and sending him spiralling through the pool.
"Kain, Hone Claws!" Janice ordered.
The Rookidee chirped in response and flew back towards the rock he had stood on at the start of the battle. He began to scrape and shuffle his small talons against the surface of the stone. All the while, he kept his eyes glued on the battle ahead… just in case Ladrona should find herself overwhelmed.
The Froakie rallied, jumping into the air. It formed the glowing blue sphere between its hands again and launched it at Ladrona. Landrona was quick, but in the water, not quick enough. The Water Pulse collided with her, exploding into a wave.
"Snarl!" Elleni ordered.
Ladrona made a savage barking sound, releasing the soundwave attack. The Snarl struck the Froakie as it descended, sending it flying back across the swamp. From behind her though, the Totodile struck, catching Ladrona in the back with a Metal Claw. Ladrona cried out in pain and surprise.
Reacting quickly, Elleni called for a Tail Slap. Ladrona complied, whipping her tail about in a frenzy and striking the Totodile several times, battering it aside. Janice quickly remained focused on her size of the task. She winced herself, noticing the pain the Nickit was going through, but still ordered her Rookidee to use Hone Claws again.
The Froakie was back again though, plunging a glowing orange fist into Ladrona's side. She was sent careening through the water, taking huge damage from the Power-Up Punch. The Froakie made to follow through, leaping after Ladrona again.
"Snarl!" Elleni instructed, keeping watch on Kain out the corner of her eye as Ladrona managed to repel the Froakie again, sending it splashing back into the murk. "Now would be good."
Already, the Totodile and Froakie were rushing back towards Ladrona and she didn't have many more hits left in her.
"Now, Kain! Power Trip on the Froakie!" Janice shouted.
The Rookidee screeched in response and puffed out his chest before charging towards the frog Pokémon. The wild Totodile stopped dead in its tracks, eyes widening as it noticed the small bird essentially dive bombing towards its partner. The blue alligator quickly shot a glance towards Froakie, before quickly turning tail and diving back underwater. Meanwhile, the wild Froakie stared in shock at the oncoming attack. Before its mind could process what to do, Kain slammed into it with as much strength as he could muster. The wild Froakie went flying back in response, crashing into a nearby log that was floating atop the swamp water.
Elleni watched as the Froakie clawed its way up onto the log and slumped there, either unable or unwilling to continue the battle now that its partner had fled. For a long moment, Elleni just stood there looking at it before impulse took over.
"Screw it, why not?" She said to herself more than to Janice. Elleni grabbed an empty pokeball and lobbed it at the defeated Froakie. The water type was drawn inside by a beam of red, the pokeball landing precariously on the log. The capsule wobbled, then stopped. For painstaking seconds, nothing happened. Then, there was a click. The capture had been a success.
Elleni waded out over the log and took the ball before returning to Ladrona and stroking the Dark type's fur. Ladrona yipped happily, but was clearly exhausted, so Elleni thanked her before withdrawing her back to her own ball.
"So, think that was the last wild Pokemon attack for a while? Or are we just magnets for disaster?" Elleni said, turning her attention back to Janice.
"Hard to say…" Janice mused. Her Rookidee fluttered back down to his trainer, perching himself on Janice's shoulder. The blonde gave the small bird a congratulatory scratch on the back of his head, before returning her focus towards Elleni. A playful smirk on her lips. "All I know is I didn't have these situations goin' on until I started travelin' with you."
Elleni caught Froakie!
Male | Serious | Proud Of His Power
Pound | Bubble | Quick Attack | Water Pulse | Mud Sport | Power-Up Punch
Instinctively, Carmen took Gareth out of his PokéBall, and immediately moved sideways, seeing how the Gigalith charged at them with another Headbutt.
Gareth shot some Acid Spray at the wild Pokémon, which didn't seem to do much damage to it, but was enough to change targets from Carmen to Gareth.
It materialized two rocks out of nowhere and with a loud, cold roar shot both of them at the Bug-type. Gareth was quick to avoid the first one, but wasn't lucky with the second one, which sent him rolling back to where Carmen was.
Before Gareth could get up, the Compressed Pokémon went for another Headbutt.
'Mrs. Carmen, to your right!'
Carmen grabbed the Bug-type using the one free arm she had, with a little trouble because of how heavy he was, but managed to roll away from the attack just in time. The Headbutt made another clean hole on the second stone wall and the impact shook some leaves from a tree standing over it.
Gigalith shook the leaves and branches out of its head and slowly turned to the girl who was too afraid to get up and run. It raised its legs and attempted to stomp her with a second Smack Down. That's what grounded Presto before! She thought to herself, being unable of doing anything else. Shit, I don't want to die this way!
It fell forcefully over Carmen. The girl closed her eyes and covered herself with her left arm, while holding the still unconscious Presto with the other one, using her body as a shield to protect him.
She could hear the Gigalith stomping the ground, but the attack… didn't connect? Carmen opened her eyes. She was between the Pokémon's legs, and under its body, a purple liquid poured from both of its legs, and Gareth stood by his trainer's side with his guard up.
The Pokémon walked back a few steps, each one of them made the ground shake. Carmen too moved back until her back touched a tall tree. Gareth stood on his same spot, though, without lowering his guard and eyes firmly shut on the Rock-type Pokémon, ready to protect Carmen at all cost.
Gigalith lunged and charged against Gareth with its head pointing forward. Gareth braced himself and leaned forward, charging Dark energy on his horn at the same time. The Headbutt interjected with Gareth's Night Slash. The Bug-type held the Pokémon's pointy head with his horn, and tried to keep it away from Carmen. But Gigalith has heavier and stronger and could easily drag the Bug-type back.
Carmen was finally able to get up, and waited for Gigalith to get closer to her. The Pokémon was each time gaining more speed whereas Gareth's endurance was fading out. The girl quickly ran away from the tree and called Gareth back to the PokéBall, summoning him again in front of the two rocks that blocked the path.
The Rock-type crashed into the tree and took it down, trapping the Pokémon between it and other trees. It roared, stomping the ground and heabutting the trees while Carmen returned Presto to his PokéBall and took off her bag looking for a Liechi Berry. Back at the stadium, Echo told her that one was able to raise the Pokémon's strength. It was one of the candidates for Gareth to hold during the battle. Thankfully, they didn't use it back then because it was the only one she had. Eventually, the Pokémon made its escape and charged at them again.
"Eat this. Do the same thing you did before! Endure and Night Slash! I have an idea." Gareth nodded and ate the berry. Carmen ran to the other side of the field. The two attacks interjected again, but this time Gareth was able to endure the attack better. "Gareth, move it to your right!"
Gareth did as told and walked sideways, still holding the Gigalith as tight as he could until he had the two rocks behind him. Carmen moved in front of Gareth to be able to return him to the PokéBall.
"Perfect." she muttered with a smirk, taking her Pokémon back before Gigalith started getting more speed.
Just as before, the Gigalith crashed. It smashed both rocks with its body and tripped. The Compressed Pokémon stopped moving.
"Did we win?" Carmen asked as she started walking forward. Her question was answered by the Pokémon slowly getting up and walking at her giving weak growls. "Shit! Is this thing invincible?!"
The Pokémon stopped moving again and just stood in front of Carmen now. Suddenly, it felt as if the air around her was starting to heat up for some reason.
Carmen looked at the Pokémon with insecurity "I think it's safe walking past it. Let's go-!"
'Mrs. Carmen, I don't think that's a good idea.'
"What is it now, dammit?!"
'It's charging energy. the Rotom Phone answered a few seconds later. 'This Pokémon is about to explode!'
"W-what?! And you say that with all that calm?!" Carmen moved backwards, looking at Echo with a frown. "Can't we stop it somehow?!"
'We can if we make it faint first. On the current state of your Pokémon that will be impossible.' the Rotom Phone explained 'The best choice you can make now is hide so Explosion doesn't hurt you too much. But there's not a lot of time left.'
Carmen felt a lump in her throat, starting to think again that she was indeed going to die here, as she slowly moved away from the Gigalith.
Crack!
That sound snapped her back into reality. It was a broken branch from the tree from before. The trunk was laying behind her and was big enough to cover her. Echo hid on its pocket and Carmen ran to the fallen log.
Gigalith exploded. The wave blasted Carmen away, making her stumble with the log and hit her forehead with a another tree. Then everything went black.
Beverly was right—their destination was pretty close in distance to where Edwin had tried and failed to set up camp. He just would have had to climb up onto the crag and then directly up again onto the adjoining cliff to have even seen it. It did not show up on his map, either, so how the woman thought Edwin might have just "stumbled upon it" was beyond him, but he was definitely glad to have run into their little group regardless. They knew a small path up that, although was a bit slippery and narrow, did not require much climbing experience or scaling up the wet rocks. It was still a tiresome journey, and he was relieved when Adam finally announced they had arrived.
Major Hill Lodge was not aptly named. It was really more of a cabin, if anything, but it was warm and clean inside. A very tall bonfire contained by large rocks was burning brightly outside it, and a Fletchinder dutifully flitted out of the lodge from time to time to replenish the flames with a strong Ember. It was also what drew the attention of many cold hikers that happened to come this way; on its own, people passing by may not have even seen the lodge. The sleet and wind curiously did not seem to affect this little campsite much, and Beverly later explained that the owners' Fletchinder was also responsible for using Sunny Day on the premises to keep their little area dry and relatively warm. Although completely unremarkable-looking, Edwin could see why this place was so packed that people were even camping outside it.
Soon, they were standing inside the stuffy "lobby" of the lodge where people checked in, which was really just the cabin's kitchen with a cashier set up on a small table in front of the stairs going up. It was busy in here; a family of three was already queuing behind him, as they waited to check in at the "front desk", too. The main kitchen area around them was bustling with activity, with other lodgers either coming downstairs from their room or popping in from the campsite to do things like filling up their bottles with clean water and using the appliances to heat up a meal.
Adam and Beverly checked in first, standing at the counter and talking to a grizzled-looking man. It was a good thing they called Flint back before coming inside—his tail would have definitely been a fire hazard in this cramped, wooden building. Edwin watched as they gave the man some papers and paid him. Once he finished logging their arrival in a leather-bound book, he handed them a key, then rang a little bell on the counter. An older woman, presumably the man's wife, came downstairs to lead them up to their room.
"Well! We'll maybe see you in the morning." Adam turned to shake his hand as Beverly smiled and waved from the stairs, clearly too exhausted at this point to stay around and chat. Edwin couldn't blame her—all he wanted to do was collapse into a nice, warm bed, too.
As they disappeared up the stairs, Edwin stepped up to the counter and smiled brightly at the man, who did not look up from his ledger.
"Welcome to Major Hill." he greeted him unenthusiastically in a low, monotonous voice. "A camping spot by the fire and a hot meal will set you back ₱450."
"Oh... no, I was looking to get a room inside the lodge." But... ₱450 to camp outside? Edwin shuddered, and not from the cold. He had no qualms about paying for quality, but was hesitant to even rent a room at this little place if he had any other options, let alone paying to sit outside in the cold. "How much would that be?"
The man's eyes scanned the page his book was open to. "Got a reservation?"
"Reservation... for this place?" Edwin looked around the dingy, unassuming lodge. Reservations. That was something Adam and Beverly failed to mention. "Um. No?"
The man put down his pen and finally looked up from the leather-bound book. "We got nothing available for you, then. The rest of our rooms are reserved until 6 AM—if a group doesn't show up by then, maybe you can have it."
"But I need a place to stay tonight—"
"Then if you can find a spot by the fire, you're more than welcome to sleep outside for free," the man droned on. "But if you got a tent that will take up a good amount of space, you're gonna have to put down that ₱450 before setting it up."
Edwin glanced outside again. The bonfire and near-perpetual Sunny Day took care of the sleet and some of the cold, but it was still not a very appealing option, knowing there were warm beds and rooms indoors just steps away. Stubbornly, he took a deep breath and tried a different angle.
"Look, I didn't want to do this, but I'm actually... something of a celebrity."
The man didn't say anything, but his aloof expression shifted into a look of doubt as Edwin pulled out his Trainer ID and showed it to him.
"...What's this?"
"I'm in the Amateur League. Do you watch TV?"
The man laughed wheezily, the first sign he wasn't a robot in human skin, as he gestured around him at the rustic mountain home they were standing in. "Boy, does it look like we got a TV up here?" At least he finally seemed to be in a better mood, but this wasn't quite the reaction Edwin was hoping for.
"Just... it's kind of a big deal, trust me. You treat me well, and maybe I can help promote this place and draw more business here. How about it?"
Glancing around the already-crowded kitchen and the tents outside, the man raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, we definitely need more of that, with our six rooms upstairs and copious camping grounds. Look, we got a fire out there, and maybe a hot meal for you around 6 PM if you want." He repeated. "Take it or leave it."
Edwin sighed, considering his very limited options. He looked behind him, and the family that was waiting to reach the front desk was staring back at him, looking slightly impatient and annoyed now. Edwin gave them a small, sheepish smile before turning back to the man. "Alright, alright, here's the ₱450."
❆ ❆ ❆ ❆ ❆
After setting up his tent and instructing Theodore to watch his supplies, Edwin headed back inside the lodge. He was greeted once again by the scowling man.
"What do you want now, Celebrity Boy?"
"I need to use the facilities." he ignored the mocking moniker but hesitated, hoping he wasn't about to be denied access to the toilet. "Th-that's covered in the ₱450 fee, right?"
The man's frown twisted up a little, slightly amused by Edwin's uncertain query. He jerked his thumb towards a door on his left. "If it's empty, sure. And don't even think about squatting there for the whole night just to stay indoors."
It honestly crossed his mind briefly, but Edwin shouted back, "Wasn't planning on it," as he swiftly made his way to the door.
He rinsed the caked dirt and mud from underneath his fingernails and used the bathroom quickly so that the old man would not think he was trying to sleep in the bathtub or anything like that. When he returned to his tent, however, something pink was sticking out of his bag. It looked like the backside of a Pokémon.
"Wha—Theodore! I told you to watch my stuff!"
The Rowlet twittered about, pointedly pecking the creature's tail, as if to say "I tried". Edwin hurriedly checked on the Egg first and sighed with relief to see that it was still fully intact, before grabbing at the little thief. He grunted. It was a lot heavier than he expected, but he was able to pick it up with both his arms and carry it outside.
"Excuse me, does anyone own this... thing?"
A couple heads poked out of their tents to check if they had dropped something, but most people shrugged or shook their head at the sight of the pink creature Edwin plopped down. From his right, a voice called out, "It's a Slowpoke. They're from the swamp, sometimes they get lost and come to this side of the mountain. No biggie, they're pretty harmless."
He felt like he had heard about this species recently from someone, but couldn't quite remember why it was significant for him. He looked at the blank expression on the its dopey face, as it slowly started to migrate back inside Edwin's tent.
"I mean, I wasn't worried about this thing attacking me or anything, but how do I keep it out of my stuff?" He watched the creature bumble about with curiosity. "What the hell is in my tent that it wants so badly, anyway..."
The young man that answered him simply shrugged. "Maybe it just wants shelter from the cold here, I dunno," was all he offered, before disappearing back inside his own tent.
Back inside, Edwin watched as the Slowpoke continued to stick its face inside his bag. It was simultaneously very determined to get something from it, but also not—it kept returning to the bag no matter how many times Edwin pulled it away from him, but wasn't particularly persistent or quick enough to actually pull out any items. Theodore, on the other hand, hopped between the two and quickly tugged his crown out of a pocket. This seemed to draw the Slowpoke's attention away from Edwin's bag, and its eyes followed the Rowlet as it strutted around the tent with his prize.
Edwin laughed. "Is that what you're after? Sorry, Theo worked hard for that one. You'll have to ask him if you want to wear it."
Theodore did not want him to wear it. Unable to keep up with the owl, the Slowpoke simply flopped over and rolled onto its back, breathing out gently. It was kind of cute, in a really stupid way. The sun was starting to set now, and Edwin didn't really have the heart to push him outside. Curious, he pulled out his Pokedex and started skimming the entry for the Pokémon.
"Part Psychic-type, interesting... Never would have guessed that by looking at you..." he scrolled down some more, reading quietly to himself. "Likes to fish with its tail... That could come in handy."
About a minute later, he looked up from his Pokedex. "Alright, you're in. Just stay out of my bag, okay?"
The Slowpoke didn't really seem to be paying attention to him, its eyes still following Theodore. Edwin continued speaking to it regardless.
"You're gonna need a name, won't you?" He rubbed his chin. "No Pokemon of mine is going to walk around being called 'Slowpoke'..."
He glanced around for inspiration, before looking outside again at the bright bonfire illuminating the landscape.
"Oh! I know. To commemorate our meeting here on Major Hill, I'll call you Major. How's that sound?"
Major did not react to his new name, but lazily swatted at Theo one final time instead, before rolling over and giving up. The Rowlet gave a territorial hoot, and settled down on the other side of Edwin.
"Yeah, Major. Strong name. I like it."
Major has joined the team!
Party
Rowlet ♂ // Theodore
Tackle
Growl
Leafage
Peck
Shadow Sneak
Magikarp ♂ // Pyrite
Splash
Tackle
Flail
Bounce
Egg // ???
It appears to move occasionally. It may be close to hatching.
You know, having a bucket of bolts was trouble enough...
But also having a tin of magnets really takes the pokecake.
'CLINK!' The two steel pokemon had clung together again, with blank expressions on their faces, as always. Madison turned back to her two pokemon, to forcefully break them apart.
"This is my life now..." Madison said to herself, observing her two pokemon. She and the two oddly robotic pokemon had made their way eventually to the mountains, a bit more north-east from Dolce City. It was a steep climb that kept going on, until they had made their way to the rocky area. Iron the Beldum and Tin the recently caught Magnemite floated side by side with Madison, who started to be envious of their power levitation. It wasn't an easy climb as she started to make her way through the Tower Mountains.
BeepBopBeep!
"No Iron, I do not have a hovering function," Madison replied. "I am a human, understand?"
Mi-Ti-Mite-Ti!
"Well put the definition of human in your memory banks!" Madison suggested to the little Magnemite. "A being that is not a pokemon, nor a machine. Got it?" The two pokemon beeped and bopped and made even more sounds in unison. Sounds like they are doing just as instructed. By the way, it would appear that Madison could now get the gist of their so-called robotic language, even though she has actually no idea what they are actually saying, or to her actual realization.
The tunnels through the mountain started getting more and more rough and jagged. The boulders to Madison got more and more imposing, even shown from the flashlight Madison had on her that shined. It was like, the boulders and rocks started to move...
"Hm?" Madison had her flashlight trained to one rock that.. did indeed seem to move. It was a much smaller rock that was a deep shade of blue. It also had two smaller rocks attacked to it, that seemed to look like... feet? "Is that... a pokemon?" At any rate, Madison saw that it was seemingly stuck inside a small hole from an indentation of the wall cavern. Curious, she set down her flashlight and keeled down right near to it. She then grabbed both its seemingly small feet, and pulled. It was certainly wedged in there - Madison could only think as she pulled further and further.
Bop? Beep Bip Bop?
"No, I am certainly not doing the tango!" Madison grumbled. From her frustrations, Madison pulled even harder, and harder. Soon she could feel the rocks that were wedging the pokemon in started to crumble away, until she could fully pull out the pokemon that was followed up by a series of smaller rocks tumbling down, surrounding the area by a layer of dust.
The blue pokemon had finally made it's way back on it's feet. It seemed to be a fairly small, angular, hard bipedal pokemon, which has a peculiar feature -- its bright red nose. It proudly stood on both its.. stubby short legs. Madison brought out her Pokedex.
"Hm, says you're a Nosepass," Madison observed from reading the new Dex entry. Iron hovered closer to it to try and observe it, or perhaps register data from it -- Madison could never tell which -- only for Iron to be promptly repelled, and hit against the cavern wall. "...And your nose is magnetic that can repel other things." Unfortunate for Iron.
The Nosepass gave Madison a friendly salute for a greeting. "Oh, um... you're welcome?" Madison could only say. It was odd, it saluting Madison like that, but perhaps that's what it calls a friendly show of appreciation. "I'm just glad you're okay."
Madison nodded to her two pokemon -- as Iron made a complete recovery -- as they started to go down the path again. That was until, the Nosepass tugged on Madison's coat. Madison looked back at it. The Nosepass gave another salute. "...Can we help you...?" Madison could only ask. The Nosepass started to wobble until it gotten in front of her way. It then pointed towards the way Madison was seemingly going, then it pointed back at it. Madison gave it a questioned look. "Are... you saying you want to guide us?" Madison could only ask, with another salute from the Nosepass as a response. Saluting seems to be the only way to get its message across.
Nonetheless, Madison nodded. "Ah, you're the Compass Pokemon... your nose is like compass needle that points towards north!" She then gave it a smile. "Alright then, let's see what a Compass Pokemon can do!" Nosepass gave another salute, as it started walking, or in this case, waddled in front, paving the way for Madison to get through.
Mit Mii Mi Mii!
"What do you mean, you have a bad feeling about this? Do... you even have bad feelings?" madison asked her Magnemite. She then shrugged. "What's the worse that can happen?"
*****
They were now running.
Running.
And more running.
From the hordes of Lairon they had encountered from their den. Then from the Sudowoodo. Then the Mightyena that were fighting the rival Lycanroc nearby.
