Lucian grimaced as he heard Oakens command and saw the bubbles approaching houndor, fortunately they were not dead set on the hound pokemon. "Roll out of the way, get as close to Tyrogue as possible and then use embers right in his face." The darkly dressed trainer ordered. Lucian was taking a risk here and he knew it, getting close to a fighting type was never a good idea, but with houndour being affected by the flash he needed to get up close to him to assure a hit. And it will take some pressure of Shyn I suppose..

After being given his orders, houndor ,rather gingerly, began his roll to safety with his eyes focused on the fighting type and his legs preparing to pounce onto it when he was close enough.

@PlatinumSkink

Nope, no time for bikes!

Claire ran full sprint towards the forest, ignoring pretty much every other trainer or happenings on the route. Route 2 was brilliantly beautiful, and if she was in any way a person to stop and drink in the scenery she might have registered it for more than a brief second. Ralia hung on for dear life, barely hanging onto Claire's shoulder lest she take a tumble towards the ground. Finally, after a minute or so of traveling, Claire finally made her way to the woods.

Wild Volbeat fluttered about, the natural beauty of the forest matching that of Route 2. Wild caterpie skittered across the floor, and Volbeat and Illumise lit the area with an almost otherworldly beauty. Ralia, finally having a moment where she wasn't hanging on for dear life seemed appreciative for the brief respite. Claire only allowed her a few moments though, before taking a look around the forest, deciding on what she should do.

Find a pokemon. As much as she did like certain types of bug pokemon, Volbeat, Illumise and caterpie just wasn't exactly her style. She wanted something a bit...cooler. Sleeker. Where would she find a pokemon like that here? She had no idea, but she wasn't gonna stop until she was certain she either found it or came to the conclusion it didn't exist. taking a brief mental note of the healing hut as well as the odd woman in the distance she decided to focus both on training and finding a pokemon she liked.

"Allllright!" She puffed out her chest, holding clenched fists in front of her in an excited manner. "Lets get to lookin! No slacking! I wanna leave here with an extra fabulous pokemon!" Ralia simply giggled lightly, before hopping off of her shoulder. "That's the spirit! Come on, lets get to it! Lets get some light training in too! No rest!"

With excitement, the two started heading off in a random direction, though made sure not to head into the deeper parts just yet.

---

Do some light training but focusing on finding traces of possible other pokemon in the area.

Amelia woke up with a yawn as she rose out of her bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She had once again been up late into the night, as was her habit, and it was now almost noon but that didn't bother her. She knew she was likely late for this appointment, but she preferred it that way. She was less likely to come across the other people who were there for the same reason and that's how she would prefer it.

After taking a quick shower and quickly throwing on an outfit that consisted of a plain, dark blue t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts that fell just past her knees, along with the usual socks, shoes, and other things. Once she finished packing her other things, she headed down and grabbed some breakfast from the pokecenter's lobby. Adjusting her backpack, she left the pokecenter and headed towards the professor's laboratory. She had been in the town for a few days now and she had made it a point to memorize where the building she was heading to was located shortly after she arrived.

As she traveled, the journey was mostly uneventful until she was more then halfway done with it. At that point, she had to stop as something landed on the ground infront of her with enough impact to crack the ground a bit and kick up some dust. When the dust cleared, she would see it was an orange pokemon with a blue outline. She recognized it as a Rotom, due to one of them possessing her parents washing machine after her grounding once. And she couldn't help but feel pity for the thing.
"Are you okay?" She asked the pokemon, moving over and gently picking it up. She examined it and found what looked like a footprint on it's body. She immediately felt a bit of fury over that fact that someone had hit this poor thing and she took a moment to pet the Rotom on it's head. "There, there, it'll be better soon. Let's get you to the professor. I'm sure she can help you."

If the pokemon was willing and able to, she would let it float beside her as she traveled to the Professor's lab, otherwise, she would keep and gentle hold on it. Either way, she would talk about whatever came to her mind and generally trying to distract/comfort the poor thing. Once she arrived, she would see that there were still a large amount of people there and most of them were battling. Frowning, she carefully moved around them until she spotted someone who might be the Professor, who she slowly approached, her expression nervous. Once she finally made her way to Kalmia, she spoke in a much quieter voice then the one she had used for Rotom.
"Pro... Professor?" She asked the older woman. Her friend back home had said the Professor would be female and this was the oldest female around so she could only assume it was her. If Rotom hadn't wondered off to bother it's trainer, she would hold the pokemon out to Kalmia, an expression of concern on her face. "I... found this one. It's hurt. Can you... help it?"

Martin clutched his bag, looks like things were calming down again. The professor gave him some last words of encouragement as he turned to Route two also known as the Infested Woods. From what he remembered, this was going to be a challenging place full of bugs. Or at least that was the impression that was given to him earlier. Nincada was looking around at all the people, never having been recalled back into his ball. Martin didn't mind having a traveling buddy for the road, seeing as it will most likely be another long trip.

Last he saw was the blur of a girl with her psychic Pokemon hanging on for dear life. His trip was a laid back speed, no hurry to be anywhere, seeing as he hasn't traveled this route yet. Although he thought about seeing if anyone wanted to join him, they all were eager to set off alone. The last battle still fresh on his mind, he had his mind on doing some more training and making sure he got the hang of battling with Nincada.

There were plenty of wild Pokemon in the area. Some Caterpies crawled along the floor while Volbeat lit up the forest. There was the scattered glimpses of other pokemon, but the Volbeats were catching Martin's eye. "Hey Nincada, we need to be a better team if we're gonna make it through this place. Let's do a few battles first." Nincada just nodded like it understood what he was saying. It brought a smile to Martin's face before he looked for a Volbeat by itself, that was his target. "All right Nincada, take that one down."

Action: Train Nincada by battling Volbeats

She smilled as the Kalmia gived the full healed Flame back to her and the pokeballs. With a quick nod to the proffessor, then looked back at Flame which was into her arms " Now get back to the ball" she said and called the vulpix back to it's ball. She put the balls to her bag and bag to her shine. She waved to the proffessor Kalmia before walking toward the route 2.


As she walked worward the path, she noticed how beautiful the place was, sun was shining, grass and water was sparkling and the flower looked prettier than ever. She stopped for a moment and digged a camera to her bag. She wasen't very got photographer, but liked to take them excpecially now when she was onto her pokemon journal. She taked a nature photos and remembered that she didn't take any photo to Flame, her first pokemon.

She digged her bag again and taked the flames pokeball, calling her out " Don't not worry, I just wanted to take a photo to you, If that's fine" she said to the little fire type. Flame looked at her " Vul.." she said, waving her tail little bit exited. Donna thought for a while " Now stay still" she said and taked a full body pic to the small pokemon and then face pic " This is great, you're a model Flame" she said laughing and scanned her taked photos, noticing something " Wait..what's that?" she said to herself, reaming one of the photo " a pokemon..." she called looking at the bush, where the camera was captured the pokemon in shadows.

She put the camera back to her bag and carefully walked toward the bush, Flame walked next to her not giving any sounds. When she reased the bush the pokemon was seen she heared a crashing " It's still here" she said silently, poking into the bushes seeing something pink " What's that?" she asked taking her pokedex out.

Victory had been assured.

Ren grinned to herself as Horsea's bubble was aimed at Houndour, leaving the perfect opening. "Shyn, now! To the enemy trainers!" Ren ordered, likely taking everyone by surprise. Shyn complied almost immediately and began charging right towards Oaken and Rodger, his speed clearly his best trait. Though the distance was relatively long, she assumed Shyn could not only make it before Tyrogue could catch up, but also possibly buy Houndour the opportunity it needed to land a strike against Houndour with ember, considering both of their pokemon were likely faster.

As soon as Shyn was close enough, Ren grinned and issued her attack command. "Shyn: flash 'em!" Again the little electric creature charged up light, and released it right before the two enemy trainers. Hopefully this would be the distraction they needed to win the battle...

@Rune_Alchemist

Claire decided to do some light training with Ralia and search around the area for other, more interesting Pokémon.

There was definitely no shortage of target practice. Fortunately for Ralia, her Psychic type did not become a burden as the bugs around here were too low a level to actually know any bug-type moves, so by blasting numerous Volbeats out of the air while suffering only minor damage in return, things went pretty well. Other Volbeats did not appear to care what happened to others of their number.



Hm? There's something on the ground, lost by someone in the outer areas of the woods.



As she searched for other Pokémon, she suddenly felt an odd odor. As she wasn't the proper kind of Pokémon, she couldn't understand what said odor meant, but she could track it. Following it somewhat out of the way, she eventually could find it leading to a tree, behind which she could see the faintest sign of red, from what definitely was a Pokémon's head, poking out shyly looking towards her.





If Claire DID pick up her Pokédex to check or just naturally knew from the scent, or if Ralia read the Pokémon's emotions, someone of them might have realized the Ledyba wasn't actually as scared as advertized for a Ledyba that's on its own. … That's the point where she might realize the tree above is filled with around a hundred Ledybas, all hidden to varying degrees by Volbeat lights or branches, but definitely all there, and staring down at her, all of them.

_____________________

@Eklispe

Dawkin, determined to find what all the fuzz was about, stepped with determination towards the deeper places of the woods. He'd note as he kept walking that there were less light in there. The tops of the trees and their sheer concentration blocked out the sun, and as all the Volbeats gathered by the entrance of the woods the glow vanished deeper in, signalling that perhaps it became unsafe for mere Volbeats to travel deeper into the woods. Darwin continued, unfazed, when...

‘W-wait!’ Someone called out to him from behind, in a somewhat hesistant voice. Should he stop and see who it was, he found it was a completely ordinary Bug Catcher, even younger than Dawkin.



However, it did not appear that he was here to seek a battle. In fact, his expression was fairly pale, looking at Dawkin with a worried expression.

‘Y-you're really heading in there?’ He asked, looking a bit scared.

‘Y-you should know. The outer areas of Infested Woods are fairly safe for new trainers, there aren't many worries and one can train and catch Pokémon in peace.’ He took a deep breath, looking into the darker sections of the forest.

‘B-but in there... The level's entirely different. Strong Pokémon will seek engagement on their own, and sometimes in great numbers. They might even pursue, even if you try to run. And... the few trainers that ARE in there, they're... really strong. I've seen the faces of those who come back after having walked in there unprepared...’ He shuddered, apparently scared from a thought of his.

‘I-I'm not going to stop you if you're determined... But are you sure you're prepared?’ The Bug Catcher asked, looking at Dawkin doubtfully.

_____________________

@Pikmin Eye





Martin had Nincada fight against left-over Volbeats that were reasonably on their own. This proved to be quite the success, as other Volbeats did not appear to care much for other Volbeats, they were way to focused on tracking down remnant aromas of Illumise around, while the challenged Volbeats were more than willing to engage the challenger in combat, soaring in and engaging Nincada.

There was considerable effort in fighting the Volbeats, as they were considerably faster than Nincada, with their wings and natural speed helping them engage their opponent, and they also used repeated flashes to attempt blinding their opponent... only to find that it didn't blind their opponent as much as they'd have thought as his Compound Eyes still provided Nincada considerable accuracy. After much fighting, Nincada got the timing down and was soon able to easily bring down the Volbeats to his level.





The training has whittled on Nincada's defenses a bit, the Volbeats' tackles having collectively made their marks. He has suffered what amounts to a good hit of damage. Not enough to affect his performance in battle, but the amount of further collective abuse he can take is reduced somewhat. Something to keep in mind.

Hm? While training, Martin noticed something artificial lying on the ground. Did someone drop it here?



And so, Martin is once again left to another choice of what to do, in these glowing woods infested with bugs.



_____________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Amelia somehow found herself where the Rotom impacted the ground, the Pokémon shuddering where it lay in washing-machine form with the imprint of a foot in its face. However, before Amelia had run up to it, he had a grin on his face. He didn't regret anything.

‘Rotom?’ The ghost possessing an appliance looked up in mild confusion when Amelia came over and picked him up, losing the grin to inspect the new individual. After having been told that they're heading to the professor, Rotom grinned a bit at her and made a little happy sound at being petted. ‘Roo!’

Rotom was supremely happy to let itself be carried, pretending to be more injured than he actually was. Upon arrival, she'd indeed find Kalmia waving off some other trainers leaving the scene, before her eyes trailed to the new arrival and the Pokémon she was bringing along.



‘Roo...’ Rotom made a pleading noise alongside Amelia's request, looking at the Professor and completely pretending to be out of it. Kalmia, of course aware of Rotom's tendencies, blinked a bit in surprise as she put together the facts, opening and closing her mouth as she considered.

‘Well, at least he had the manners not to do anything.’ She said in relief, mostly to herself, before reaching into a lab-pocket and retrieving a Potion. She looked sternly at the Rotom, who now grinned at her.

‘Don't rile up Vivia before she's done with her match.’ She demanded of the trickster Pokémon, holding off on actually applying the potion.

‘Rotoooom~?’ The Rotom sounded out with a tone that sounded somewhat alike to “Why would I ever do something like that~?”. Kalmia proceeded to give the washing-machine a solid poke between the eyes with the physical potion, before applying it to the spots of impact.

‘This Pokémon is perfectly fine.’ She said to Amelia with a smile before turning to the Rotom. ‘Now, scoot off a bit. I need to talk with this young lady.’

‘Ro~!’ The Rotom jumped out of Amelia's hands, spinning around a bit to give a playful smile at her, which might have meant “thank you” or it might have meant absolutely nothing, but regardless, it headed off a bit so now Kalmia was turned to Amelia.

‘Amelia, right?’ She smiled a bit. ‘Yes. I am Professor Kalmia. I heard about you. Sounds like you've had quite the adventure already. But don't worry, I'm here to help you have your very own Pokémon journey.’

‘So, first, here’s a Pokédex.’ Kalmia said, reaching into her coat and producing a certain item, handing it over to Amelia.



‘Now, to explain this thingamajic…’



‘And then, of course. I knew you might appear late, so I kept it safe.’ Kalmia smiled, a smile of someone giving a present they know will be liked, as she reached into her coat again and produced a Pokéball. She handed it over to Amelia. ‘I heard a bit about you, so I thought that maybe, it’d be fitting you’d get this one.’

- You've obtained Litwick! -

Pokédex Entry #607 – Litwick, the Candle Pokémon. Litwick feeds on life energy, burning it as fuel. The light is out when not feeding, but when lit it can be used to brighten dark areas. Litwicks present themselves as guides to travelers, but is usually leading them astray to leech on their energy.

- Would you like to give Litwick a nickname? -

She’d be free to let her new Pokémon out of her Pokéball, interact with him and so, and for a while left on her own or to ask any questions she might have. She’d have the appropriate amount of time and space to herself, if she wanted it. But, whenever she was done, a person would be approaching, a little Pichu walking at his side, attentively paying attention to his trainer’s every move.



‘Awwww, she’s adorable.’ Joshua said from over there, giving a friendly smile at her while leaning forward a bit to get closer to her height. Reminded of that guy’s existence, Kalmia breathed out.

‘Right. So, Amelia. The other new trainers have been engaging one another in battle, to get a bit of experience like that. Joshua over there was left without opponent.’ Kalmia said, and Joshua smiled brightly, waving at her. Pichu was standing by his feet, and the little yellow mouse looked up at his trainer for example and then copied him, looking at Amelia and started waving his tiny hand while smiling brightly and innocently.



‘Hiiiii. Yupp, we’re totally friendly. I’m Joshua, from Justroad City, and this is Pichu, my friend. We’re starting our Pokémon journey, just like you. You’re cute, so we’d be really happy to offer ourselves as opponents. Of course, we’d battle you seriously, but, you’ll comfort us if we lose, right?’ Joshua grinned as he spoke some potentially confusing words, his voice sweetened for talking to a younger girl.

'Pichu!' The yellow Pokémon raised his hands to punctuate his trainer's words, looking like he had absolutely no idea what Joshua just said.

‘Now, we’re not going to force you to fight if you don’t want to, but would you like to take him on?’ Kalmia asked, gesturing to Joshua with a little smile.

_____________________

@Pink Madness

One way or another, the little creature in the bush was trying to move so it wouldn’t be seen, but Donna’s determined movements paid off. Soon enough, she was able to see down to see… a 0.4 meter tall, berry-like Pokémon with a face, and a smaller other berry hanging on the side, connected by a small green plant-extrusion.

‘Cher…’ The Pokémon made a little noise of distress as Donna looked down on it. It had fallen over on a bit of growth, as it’s pretty giant as far as berries goes, having attempted fleeing from being discovered by Donna. Regardless, it now looked up at her where she peeked down into the bush at it, and it was preparing itself for potential encounter.



_____________________

@Pyromaniacwolf@Delta44

Everyone was indeed surprised when Shyn suddenly turned and ran for Oaken and Rodger. Champ, the Tyrogue following Shyn, missed his Tackle completely just because of the unexpected turn (and because of being, well, slower). He looked in surprise after the Shinx, seemingly a bit unsure of what to do.

‘Champ, foll-’ Rodger started his next command, his expression also a bit confused, but was interrupted by Oaken.
‘Stop.’ His expression was one of cold calculation, staring intently at Ren. Champ indeed stopped, unsure.

Because of Oaken’s command to stop, Champ had remained immobile when Houndour sought in, navigating the bubbles to get close to the Tyrogue and promptly unloaded an Ember into the smaller fighting-type. Champ jumped, clearly considerably damaged, Houndour’s high special attack doing a number on the defensively weak Pokémon, the highly damaged fighting-type spinning around to face the dog. Rodger was itching to give his command, but Oaken was stopping him with a hand.

And that, that was when Ren and Shyn unveiled their tactic and flashed the trainers.

‘WHATHEFADGALAMUGH-’ Rodger recoiled, closing his eyes and turning away from the battle, considerably startled and clear anger in his expression. Oaken, in the meantime, recoiled as well, but with his eyes shut and considerable annoyance shouted from his whole body-language, his voice sounded out.

‘ON THE HOUNDOUR! BUBBLE, TACKLE! BOTH OF YOU!’ He gave his command to the surprised Pokémon, taking command of both the competing Pokémon on his side.

Neither Pokémon hesitated. Houndour had gotten really close to Ember Champ, and Horsea was pretty close to the Tyrogue. Champ charged headfirst at Houndour, while Horsea flew forward at considerable speed beside the Tyrogue, going in for a point-blank bubble to mirror what Houndour had done, ensuring that staying put would be very hazardous, and dodging the fast bubbles might be hard even if that’s all he’s doing, and that’s without also considering that Champ was charging him.

‘Hey! Champ only-’ Rodger started, anger in his voice as he faced Oaken with an imposing figure, which of course went wasted because neither could see. But, Oaken didn’t let him finish the sentence.

‘SHUT IT!’ He shouted out at Rodger, before looking forward with closed eyes at Ren and Lucian, attempting to open his eyes just a bit, but he clearly couldn’t see well.

‘I don’t need to see to win…!’ He boasted, his fists clenched while Rodger was still reeling a bit on the side. However, clearly, Rodger couldn’t bear doing nothing in the face of this, so he turned in the direction he figured Ren was in, and grunted.

‘You want to fight? I can give-!’ Rodger called out, also angry, raising his fists and taking a step to advance, before Oaken’s hand slapped into his chest, holding him back.

‘STAY PUT!’ Oaken commanded, Rodger still reeling.

‘Oh, my…’ Kalmia blinked a little on the side, looking over at the fight, away from Amelia a bit as she realized what was happening. They were a bit too far away for Ren or Lucian to hear, but Amelia could.

‘That, would have disqualified her from an official match.’ Jacques commented to her, apparently done talking to Cathia and coming over with an amused smile. ‘Quite the hopefuls you’ve attracted. Should I interfere?’

‘Um.’ Kalmia looked at the conflict with a bit of a hesitant expression. ‘Only if they actually start punching each other…’ Looking at Rodger, who had been about to advance on Ren had Oaken not stopped him, it didn’t look like that possibility was too far off.

There was no way Shyn could stop Tyrogue nor Horsea from attacking in time, nor could Houndour likely survive both their attacks. However, she could still possibly attain victory if she played smart, and if Lucian was willing to sacrifice his Houndour. Seeing their current predicament, she assumed he likely knew he had one last attack to make; once bubble and tackle both hit, it was probably over. But she hoped he had the guts to at least take down the Tyrogue before falling.

Ren decided she'd sweeten both their enemies up, just to make whatever came next that much easier for Shyn.

"Leer!" She ordered, and though Shyn followed the command immediately, one could tell from his eyes that even he was unsure if what his trainer had just done was right. "Hmph. Insolent idiot." The hooded young lady muttered to herself in response to Rodger's outbursts. 'Don't expect a dragon to play nice with you in the wild; you'll be thanking me for that bit of experience.'

Lucian smirked for a moment before he heard Oaken take charge of the situation. Houndour was likely going to be beaten down at this point May as well try to take the Tyrogue with him... With that thought Lucian,rather calmly for the situation, said "Houndour, embers on the tyrogue. Then try to dodge the bubbles if you can" If Houndour managed to bring the fighting type down and avoid the bubbles,he may be able to game in the fight, although Lucian doubted that would be the outcome.

His gaze turned to Oaken for the moment, whom he glared daggers at, before turning to Rodger "You know, I'm starting to doubt that Elite Four fellows choice of trainers if they're so easily willing to relinquish command of their own pokemon , perhaps that's something you should sort out? Maybe break the habit now ,hm?" Lucian spoke with the same calm tone as earlier, but there was some acid injected into his voice. He hoped that it would atleast irritate Rodger and at best cause him to try and change his tyrogues command As amusing as that would be, it probably won't happen he let out a slight chuckle at the thought before finally turning to Ren "Wonderful display" He said,clapping slightly before turning his attention back to the battle.

Houndour unleashed a torrent of embers at the enemy Tyrogue ,who was heading straight for him, before desperately trying to evade the bubbles heading his way.

The battles were pretty good for a variety of purposes. Calling out commands felt a bit more fluid for Martin, who was getting better at estimating type match ups and timing. A good flying type was the best way to figure out how to handle a faster Pokemon. Nincada handled the fights well and only sustained light damage. Martin was considering if it was enough to warrant a trip to the hut, but decided against it. He couldn't go running home at the first sign of danger. It sure was a good thing that he didn't trigger multiple Volbeats at once, but he was already distracting himself by thinking about the events earlier and if he could have done it better.

By a stroke of luck, stumbling upon a TM all the way out in the woods was the highlight of their training session. After a bit of looking at it, the thing was for the move Grass Knot, which... As far as he could tell, was useless for his Pokemon. It was pocketed anyways, never know when it might be useful. Martin was feeling taken in by the natural beauty of the woods. He imagined the place would be gloomy and dark, but instead was bright and almost serene. Even the name Infested Woods seemed misleading, so how bad could this place be? Since he felt satisfied by the training, he decided to take a stroll through the woods and just find something interesting off the beaten path. "I got a good feeling about going this way, think we'll find something good over here, Nincada?" His Pokemon just kept nodding, leading Martin to question if Nincada even understands him at all.

Action: Trigger random Event

Dawkin turned inquisitively to the voice that called out to him, expecting a battle, however what he found was far different. The young bug trainer seemed genuinely frightened of the deeper part of the woods. On the other hand he was fairly young and might just be hyped up on rumors and what not. Dawkin meandered for a moment. He thought about Jacques Pokemon, immensely more powerful than his own. There were many things still stronger then him at this point. He was confident in his skills but he wasn't foolish, perhaps it would be best to make sure he was more fully prepared for this. Dawkin nodded, having come to a decision. "Very well then." he said, more to himself than the trainer, "I will train briefly before entering to ensure I am prepared." After all Atlas and him had only had one battle together and it was a team battle. Some more training without the ability to rely on teammates should prove quite beneficial. Dawkin addressed the trainer directly now, "Thank you for your warning, be assured I will still enter, but I will give it a bit more time to prepare myself." He released Atlas who looked around at their new surroundings curiously before looking back at his trainer. "We are off to train for a bit, unless of course you wish to lend a hand and battle with us?" he asked of the young bug trainer, not really expecting an affirmative response but extending the offer all the same. "Ah yes, do you know of anything that would prove helpful should I find myself on the run from ravenous wild pokemon or where I should acquire it?"

---

Actions:
Offer a duel to young bug trainer and ask for information
If refused do some light training

@PlatinumSkink

---

Haha! At this rate they were gonna be the top trainer in the region in no time. Ralia was showing those who dared to get in the way of their search for the perfect second partner who was boss easily! Bug types were no match for her confusion, and she had nothing to fear from their attacks, unless they ran across a pokemon with a poison type move. Then well, they might be in a bit of trouble but Claire was confident in her and her partners abilities to pull a win out of nowhere as fabulously as they could.

Still, it was a bit disappointing they weren't finding any particularly good pokemon around here. Er, not that there was anything wrong with Volbeat or Caterpies, but she was hoping for something with a bit more style. Maybe she'd have to head into the deeper parts of the forest...perhaps talk with that suspicious looking lady. She stood out quite a bit and looked like she might have some juicy info on some fabulous pokemon. At least she found a pretty useful antidote someone had dropped. That'd come in handy around here.

And then a rather odd smell drifted through the woods. She stopped, taking a look around. She didn't know what it was, or where it was coming from but it was definitely not something that one would find in the city. Then maybe...that was it! That was definitely the smell of victory! Whatever that was coming from, it just had to be hers! A confident smirk formed on the redheads lips as she started to follow it.

"Come on Ralia, We're not gonna let it get away!" The redhead broke off into a sprint as she picked Ralia up and carried her in her arms. Claire followed the scent off the beaten path and deeper into the forest, only stopped to make sure she was following whatever it was the best she could. It took some work, a bit of backtracking and a bit more jogging but eventually it paid off. Soon, Claire and Ralia found themselves at the base of a tree.

"This is definitely where it's coming from...hmm..." Claire stopped walking, looking at the tree and the area. Volbeats were still buzzing around, as well as a few scattered caterpie doing whatever it was caterpies do. "See anything Ralia?"

"Rrral!~" With a cheerful cry of confirmation, Ralia jumped down from Claire's arms and pointed towards the tree. Claire turned her head towards it, noticing a fairly faint color red coming from behind it. Was that...? She pulled out her pokedex, just to make sure. A Ladyba! Well, lucky day indeed! While maybe not her first choice, she couldn't say the little things weren't adorable. It was decided then and there, that she would make the pokemon hers.

Cautiously, Claire approached the tree. At first, she didn't notice the other Ladyba in the tree. She was focused on the one in front of her. It seemed to her, like it was perhaps a little bit lost with all the Volbeat and others around.

"Hey there little guy," Ralia tugged on her pants, getting her attention before pointing upwards. The confident smirk was replaced by an uneasy grin as she noticed the other bug types in the tree. Staring at her. Menacingly. "Ohokay...and suddenly I've waltzed into a socially awkward kids nightmare." She turned her head back to the one hiding behind the tree. Well, she wasn't planning on doing anything to harm the adorable little thing so she was pretty sure she was safe.

"Not exactly giving me a warm welcome, are ya? I'm not some big scary monster from Poke Souls that's gonna defeat ya and take your experience, promise." The redhead gave the pokemon a friendly smile while Ralia walked around the tree a bit closer.

---

Action taken: Talk to the Ladyba.

Amelia watched as the Professor treated the pokemon, taking in the information that came out of their exchange. Apparently, Rotom belonged to a trainer here and had irritated them. Secondly, it was exaggerating it's injury but this didn't surprise her too much and she let it slide without comment. She had spent her entire life around Ghost-Types and knew they could be mischievous little things, playing of ones emotions to get what they want or be treated a certain way.

Once the little guy was on his way, she turned to the Professor once addressed. She listened to everything the professor said, nodding every now and then to show she understood. Most of it was fairly simple and it sounded like the pokedex would be handling most of the work for her. When asked if she had any questions, the young girl shook her head silently. When the Professor finally handed her a pokeball, Amelia took it tentatively and examined it before speaking.
"It's a Ghost-type." She said, her tone making it obvious this was a statement rather then a question. A small smile played on her face as she pressed the button in the center of the ball twice, once to enlarge it to full size, the second to release the pokemon inside.

"Lit!" The little, candle like pokemon said happily as it was released. Amelia's smile grew a bit as she recognized the pokemon as a Litwick but still scanned it with her pokedex, just to get used to it and to hopefully get the money out of scanning her new partner. Extra cash never hurt. Once she declined the opportunity to nickname it, she knelt down and gently lifted the little guy up, getting stared at curiously in response.
"You and I are going to be friends from now on. Nice to meet you." She said, giving the little guy a smile. Litwick let out a cry of approval and Amelia let out a small giggle before placing him on top of her head. "You can stay there. You don't deserve to be stuck in a ball."

Before she could spend much time with her new partner, another trainer approached and began talking to them. Amelia's face immediately became a brilliant crimson at being called 'cute' and she quickly looked away in embarrassment. She still paid attention to this new trainer, whose name was Joshua, and his partner, Pichu. The two seemed friendly enough and challenged them to a battle. Amelia hesitated to respond, biting her lip as she considered the proposition.

Her partner, on the other hand, already knew what it wanted and jumped down to the ground from it's perch.
"Litwick Li!" It declared, pointing at the Pichu with a confident look on it's face.

Amelia looked down at her partner before nodding and looking at Joshua.
"I... accept." She said quietly.

She poked her head to the bushes and saw the little cherry pokemon there looking at her. Opening her pokedex to get know more about this pokemon.

Pokédex Entry #420 – Cherubi, the Cherry Pokémon. It stores nutrients for its evolution in the smaller ball, which makes it really tasty and other Pokémon try to eat it. When the smaller ball shrivels, it’s a sign Cherubi will soon evolve. It is attracted to honey. In harsh sunlight, it becomes red.

" Hmm, Grass type huh? well that's great, lets try to catch it" she said to Flame, which standed next to
her " Flame, I choise you" she called, thoughtfully. She knowed that grass type was weak to fire type so Flames ember could damage her, but could it be too effective.
" Flame face her and use ember" she called, taking a pokeball into her arm so she could thrown it when was the time.

Flame run toward the little cherry pokemon and used ember on it.

@Delta44@Pyromaniacwolf

Rodger was desperately trying to blink to regain his sight as he heard Lucian’s taunt. He listened to the events of the battle, before…

‘Helping Hand!’ He shouted.

Champ seemed more than ready to obey his actual trainer’s orders. In a blindingly fast move, the Tyrogue clapped his hands together, resulting in a little glow before pressing his hand onto the floating Horsea speeding past him. The glow was transferred to Horsea, who no doubt became empowered by the act, somehow.

‘Ty!’ Champ sounded out pleased, grinning.

Though, having broken off from Tackle to perform his high-priority move left him absolutely no time to try to avoid the incoming blaze. Houndour’s ember struck Champ in the face and he flew back, crumpling into a heap, too damaged to fight.

Critical Hit! Champ fainted!

However, Horsea was right behind, flying forward at considerable speed. Houndour might have been faster in an all-out dash, but he was currently turned towards his opponent and Horsea had already accelerated. He couldn’t avoid in time when Horsea unleashed a barrage of high-powered bubbles at him. Houndour took multiple hits of watery splashing bubbles, stronger than they’d be normally. It became too much.

Houndour fainted!

‘Did you get him?’ Oaken asked, his eyes etched closed.

‘H-Horsea!’ The water Pokémon sounded relieved, privately hopeful, slightly fearful, as it replied to his trainer.

‘Thanks for the tip.’ Rodger smirked in Lucian’s direction, rubbing his eyes with his right hand. ‘Resorting to unpleasant tricks and personal attacks… I’m getting quite the bad impression of the Professor’s trainers, myself.’

‘Quiet.’ Oaken demanded, not acknowledging that Rodger’s change of tactics may have been what allowed him to take out Houndour. Bubble’s not a strong move, even super-effective it would have trouble actually taking out an opponent in one move. But, with Helping Hand…

‘You have a wide-spread area attack. The enemy does not. Even the playing-field. Horsea, smokescreen the area between you, then stay mobile.’ Oaken commanded, his eyes still shut, no doubt acting based on a mental image he had of how the battlefield looked.

‘Hors!’ The Pokémon replied, and turned to the Shinx… and took his Leer, lowering Horsea’s defenses. A little shaken but yet determined not to disappoint his trainer, Horsea proceeded to use his remaining move to turn towards Shyn and shot out pellets of smoke which blew into size and encompassed the area in between the two Pokémon, before Horsea started moving around behind it, intent on listening for his trainer’s next command.

‘Well done, Champ.’ Rodger spoke, as he returned the Tyrogue to his Pokéball. ‘You’ll grow strong, believe me.’ He smiled to it, affectionately.

_____________________

@Eklispe

‘Hoh. You’re welcome.’ The Bug Catcher said when Dawkin said his thanks, the boy seemingly relieved that he had managed to cause some kind of consideration. His eyes lighted up at the mention of battle, and a huge grin that fit his face a lot better than the worried look earlier encompassed his face.

‘Oh! Yeah, sure! I caught a cool Pokémon earlier, I’d like to try him out!’ The boy said happily, starting to retrieve a Pokéball from his bag.

‘Er. Well.’ He looked a bit hesitant when Dawkin asked for information. Dawkin might get the sense that this kid didn’t know particularly much, either, but he DID know about the deeper woods. ‘Repels are good. Pokémon avoid them, you become less of an attractive target. Some strong Pokémon might attack you BECAUSE of the repel, though, because it annoyed them. The better the repel, the less of a chance that happens.’ He shared.

‘Escape Ropes are good, too.’ The Bug Catcher nods. ‘They’re ropes somehow enhanced by Psychic Pokémon. If you use one in a dangerous area, you’ll be teleported to the place where you entered it.’ Because the GM is not going to try to explain how those would otherwise logically work. ‘Though, they only actually work in dangerous areas, so if you’re attacked outside one, and you can very well be, they’re not actually going to help.’

‘But if caught without any items, then…’ He looked a bit unsure. ‘Run? They’re typically better climbers or flyers than you, so climbing a tree is not a good option. If there’s a river nearby diving into one can help, or maybe you can request help from other trainers around…’ He frowned a bit, because he wasn’t sure what to say.

‘Tell you what. My parents were a little… overprotective, so I have more than I need. Here. Don’t go telling people I give stuff out for free, though.’ He said, reaching into his bag and handing something over.




‘So! A battle, was it?’ The Bug Catcher grinned.

Bug Catcher Karlos would like to battle!

‘Go! Whatever-you-are!’ Karlos called out, energetically throwing out the Pokéball he retrieved. From the ball, an oval roughly spherical purple/white silk ball showed up, spikes sticking out in a multitude of directions from it, eyes staring blankly forward.

‘I have no idea what it is, but it’s cool, isn’t it!?’ Karlos said, eagerly. The Pokémon stayed unmoving, just staring blankly.



_____________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Led…’ The Ledyba shied away a little when Claire approached, but then it seemed to catch itself up in some kind of way, and then braved itself forward.

‘Ledyba!’ It stepped forward and extended its wings, not to fly but rather to look larger, looking towards the approaching Ralts and Claire, suddenly a bit aggressive. The eyes above still watched, closely. Didn’t look like he believed her. After all, she totally looks like one of those monsters from Poke Souls to him.

Ralia, feeling the emotions present, would sense a bit of a scenario. The Ledyba in front of them was feeling frightened, and he was feeling a considerable amount of pressure, and a determination. Meanwhile, the bugs above were cautiously curious, but the emotions were not directed at her and Claire, they were directed at the Ledyba facing them. What Ralia made of this, was entirely up to her.

_____________________

@Pikmin Eye

Feeling good about himself, Martin decided to walk a bit off the more commonly traversed paths of the woods, seeking around. It was indeed quite the spectacle around, seeing the woods glow from the Volbeats, the sounds of wind, bugs and trainers doing trainer things sounding around the outer Infested Woods. Taking a path, he and Nincada took a better look around, seeing what could potentially be found. He might see the shapes of two other trainers from earlier, Dawkin starting a battle with a Bug Catcher and Claire investigating a tree, a smaller shape of a red Pokémon in front of her. Martin might have been distracted about that, when he realized a small shape had suddenly appeared floating in front of him.

It was… an Illumise. A blue feminine face on a bug floating using her wings in front of him, quite intentionally having placed herself in his way. Her tiny hands were raised, holding onto the yellow whatever-that-is that curves around over the back of her head, and she was smiling rather sweetly at him…





… Even if he hadn’t actually checked the Pokédex, Martin would be able to immediately tell something was off about this Illumise. The color-scheme did not match that of the image. What was right in front of him was…



After a few moments of floating there, the Illumise suddenly flew forward in considerable speed, and then gently took a step on Martin’s head. It would occur to him that she was considerably faster than the Volbeats he fought earlier, implying a higher level.

‘Illum~’ The feminine Pokémon playfully sounded out, flying past him after having taken said step. As he might have turned around to face her again, he’d realize that he could smell something overpoweringly sweet. The Illumise had used her Sweet Scent… just as she stepped on his head. She turned around in mid-air, gave him a playful wink, and then escaped by soaring off straight up into the air.

@Eklispe@Rune_Alchemist For you two, not necessarily anything that bothered what you were doing currently, but the shining lights in the air suddenly started spinning around, and started heading in a single direction, a mildly sweet scent accompanying, spread over a ridiculously large area.

@Pikmin Eye … So, there’s a tsunami of shining lights of Volbeat tails soaring in Martin’s direction. There is nothing saying exactly why she did it, but the strangely colored Illumise has sent what pretty much collectively amounts to every Volbeat in Infested Woods towards him. As he was skirting the edge of Outer Infested Woods and the inner parts a bit, the vast majority are coming from the direction he just came from himself. His next move is entirely up to him. Run? Where to, then? Stand his ground? Call for help? Some other plan to potentially solve this?

Regardless, it didn’t look like he had a terribly large amount of time to make his decision on…

_____________________

@Rune_Alchemist

The sudden commotion with all the Volbeats suddenly triggering in a particular direction apparently startled the Ledybas in the tree, because they took off. A mixture of red mixed in with the shining lights, but they were heading somewhere else. However, it seems like the one in front of Claire didn’t get the memo. He stood there, facing her, until suddenly…

‘Led?’ The Ledyba blinked upwards, noting that the others of his kind had taken off somewhere. Of course, this realization also caused a huge mixture of apprehension and doubt in the Pokémon, leaving him pretty much standing there, frozen, unsure what to do. Meanwhile the Volbeats swirled through the air above towards whatever was over there that suddenly became so interesting, couldn’t see from here.

_____________________

@Eklispe

‘Oh, wow. Looks like the “queen” is acting up again.’ Karlos commented, gripping his hat as the Volbeats in the air suddenly spun around and all soared rapidly in one direction, though Dawkin couldn’t exactly see towards what.

‘Usually nothing to worry about. So, shall we?’ The Bug Catcher grinned, still facing off with his Cascoon (that Karlos still didn’t even know what it was) stood immobile, facing exactly the same direction as it had when it had come out.

_____________________

@Joshua Tamashii

‘Alright!’ Joshua jumped back, his expression privately proud of having caused such a reaction in the little lady, and now he took a stance as it became time for conflict, Pichu standing at the ready with a determined smile.

‘Whenever you’re ready!’ Joshua said, waiting until Amelia gave her call that she was ready to do battle.

'Pichu!' The little yellow Pokémon made a noise to follow up on his trainer’s call.

‘Alright. Good luck, Amelia!’ Kalmia said with an encouraging smile, before stepping away to give her room for her to give it a go on.

‘Fu-fu.’ Jacques did his little laugh by the side before speaking to Kalmia. ‘You didn’t mention our little-’

‘Shush.’ Kalmia commanded him with a peaceful expression, no need to bother young Amelia with such petty details. Jacques gave her a look, then just smirked.

‘As you wish.’ He told.

When Amelia gave her go that the battle was to start, Joshua quickly checked his Pokédex and smirked, reading Pichu’s moves off it.

‘Tail Whip’s no good, can’t ram him to make use of lowered defense. Charm’s no good, pretty sure the candle is going to fry us rather than ram us. Guess there’ll be no clever plots to this one, eh? Make it a good old Thundershock, Pichu~!’ Joshua reasoned himself to that there really was only one move he could use.

'Piiich!' The Pichu sounded out enthusiastically, the little cheeks sparking up as he was preparing for his attack, facing off towards Litwick.

_____________________

@Pink Madness

Flame approached the cherry-Pokémon and sent its ember at it. The Cherubi was unprepared to deal with that and took a direct hit.

‘CHERUUU…!’ The Pokémon made a noise, bouncing back a bit, out of the bush. It had taken a considerable amount of damage from the Super Effective flame, the leaf and front of the Pokémon left with a bit of a burn-mark. It likely wouldn’t be able to take another one of those. The berry was back on its feet, and started dashing for Flame.

‘Cheruuubi!’ The highly damaged Pokémon was trying to use Tackle, basic move it happened to know, in order to defend itself. Pretty much natural instinct among Pokémon to attempt attacking the offending Pokémon, unless there were specific reasons as to why running made a lot more sense. But that wasn’t the case right now, though.

The smokescreen was the perfect cover. Although Ren couldn't see if it had gotten to Shyn, she did know that she could make the most of it and keep Horsea guessing. "Shyn, go around the smokescreen the side your hair is parted on. Tackle the enemy when you're close enough." She wasn't going to make this easy for Oaken, nor Horsea. She already knew Shyn's hair was parted on the right-hand side, and thus knew he would be coming from that direction. It was a fifty-fifty chance whether Shyn could tackle Horsea; Ren hoped he could even tackle the seahorse into the smokescreen to make things even more complicated for Oaken's Pokemon. Oaken would need to plan ahead in order to counter Shyn's move, however even then there were many variables to account for.

Ren herself didn't pay much attention to Lucian's comment, other than a simple "Thank you." Her attention was solely on the battle at hand; the lesson had already been taught, so now she wanted to see how well Oaken fared not only under pressure, but also in his smarts. 'You always learn the little differences between Pokemon when you get to know them personally. This closeness is what separates the advanced trainers from the less-than. Let this be a test of things to come, Shyn, Oaken.'

Of course, being so proud of his fur, Shyn immediately understood what direction he had to go and charged all along the right-hand side of the smokescreen. Thankfully he was close enough to the other trainers that Horsea hadn't smoked him - after all, the last thing it would want is to blind it's trainer even more. Making sure not to run into the smokescreen, Shyn sped along the outside, prepared to pounce at a moment's notice...

It was a nice hike off the beaten path, just Martin and his Pokemon. It was breathtaking just taking in the scenery. That moment was sidetracked by spotting a Pokemon he was struggling to name, who was intentionally standing in his way. There was a moment of hesitation for Martin as he fumbled for his Pokedex and the familiar voice told him this was an Illumise. The problem was the color didn't quite match up, causing Martin to do a double take of looking at the Pokedex, then at the Pokemon and back again. When he looked back up to decide if he wanted this Pokemon, the Illumise dashed towards him faster than the Volbeats that fought him earlier. As he raised his arms upwards to block an attack at his face, it only landed on his head and took off past him. The first thing to meet his senses was an overwhelmingly sweet smell around him. If he remembered right, didn't the local Volbeats love this smell?

This question was about to answer itself quickly as the leaves in the trees rustled with the many wings in the air. Horror struck Martins face as he was figuring out what was about to happen and how little time he had to prepare. He been training on a few Volbeats earlier, but could he handle so many at once? He looked around to see if anyone was in the area, the many lights of the approaching Volbeats helped light up two faces from earlier, Dawkin and Claire. The options he had were decreasing the longer he was standing there thinking, he had to make up his mind.

The first step was getting rid of the scent, and that meant a hit to his nice clothing. Martin scooped dirt and threw it on himself as he turned to face the threat. This wasn't likely to help, but he didn't exactly have time to do much better. "Nincada, use Harden. This might be a tough fight, so it's better to get ready in advance." Motionless, Nincada stood there, tightening it's body, scanning over the threats. The only cover Nincada could use were the trees and shrubs. If he used his environment well, this might just work. "When they get here, it's just like last time. We can handle this." Martin wasn't completely sure what would happen, but someone might head his way and help him if he stayed put. Running further into the forest was likely a bad idea as he could get lost or find something even worse in there.

@PlatinumSkink

---

Claire simply giggled lightly at the Ladyba's spunk. Well, he may have looked shy but there was definitely a fighter under there! She could tell. That was something she was lookin' for, definitely. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on herself, but Ralia seemed to have some idea. The Psychic type looked from the Ladyba in front of them, to the ones in the trees, then back to the one in front of them. She did this quite a number of times, before deciding that the Ladyba in front of them, had totally lost a bet and had to challenge a trainer to a battle.

Yep yep.

Before Ralia could do anything though, the Ladyba in the tree took off. A commotion with the Volbeats in the area causing them to flee. A sweet smell hung on the air, and the lights started moving in one direction. It was, well another beautiful sight, but it didn't seem to be anything important. Whatever had spooked the Ladyba, they had left the one challenging them behind. Well, whatever it was Claire didn't care. She was focused on making this Ladyba her friend, and giving it all the hugs she can possibly give it.

"Woaw, rude." Claire said, watching all the Ladyba fly off in a swirl of color. "Leaving you behind wasn't exactly cool." She turned her head back to the sole Ladyba left with a friendly smile. Before she could say anything else though, Ralia hopped in front of Claire, between her and the Ladyba.

"Rrrrral!~" The small psychic type cried in the most threateningly cute way it could muster.

Amelia used the time that Joshua moved away to check her own pokedex. Litwick's ability was probably going to be useless for this battle. However, she saw it had four moves, three of which where offensive in nature and one defensive. Not only that, but they were various types and could be used various ways. Once she had them memorized, she put her pokedex away and turned back to the battlefield. She heard Joshua's instructions to his Pichu and Amelia responded in kind.
"Litwick, use Ember." She said calmly. The Candle Pokémon inhaled briefly before breathing out a spray of, well, embers on a collision course with her opponent's lightning.

Donna was ligtly happy that the pokemon didn't faint after Flames ember, which was very effective toward a grass type like Cherubi. Thought now she needed to use her head again, because using a ember again wasen't not a option anylonger. Little Cherubi could not stand against a secong fire attack.

Smilling she knowed that this could be her chance to catch it " Flame Dodge" she called, but instead of ordering her to do any other moves she quickly throwed a pokeball toward the Cherry pokemon.

Red light flashes and Cherubi got inside of it. Both she and Flame looked nervously as the ball moved, will the red light go of or will the pokemon break free.