Amber Pine

Mesalon Pokecentre

@fer1323 @Noxx

Well, this was certainly a change of tone from yesterday's events. A welcome one too. Now Amber could see where Nyxx got her energetic side from - although, right now, the excitement seemed to have drained her again, and the girl was slumped across her mother's lap.

Amber considered the cryptic message. "You mean the way Pokemon with different strengths can work together?" she asked, thinking of how sturdy Kabuto and speedy Yanma worked well as a team. She'd definitely take the opportunity to see more move combinations in action.

As the door opened, she raised her head. A red-haired woman holding a Whimsicott had just rushed in, splattered with mud and clearly distressed. "Ah! What happened?" Amber asked, standing up. "You ok there?"

Solanna Delacloude

Mesalon Pokecentre

Solanna let out a slightly panicked-sounding laugh. All this at once was too much for her. "Uhhh, I-I'm fine!" she insisted, letting Whimsicott hop down to the ground. "R-Really, this is nothing, it's just a bit of mud." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I was just practicing for a contest, and, well, this happened... I-I mean, I don't usually end up covered in mud while preparing for contests. Things kind of went wrong this time. But it's all ok!"

She'd gone from being unable to speak to babbling uncontrollably. Maybe it would be a good idea to run back to the room she'd booked, get cleaned up and hide until she was sure Mistress Hollow would have left. With another nervous giggle, she forced her usual grin.

Mistress Hollow was being nice about it, at least, but... still.

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_{@LuckyBlackCat@Heckno12}

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Alex could only watch as he prepared for the worst, Hammer's knuckles turning white around the stickered-Pokéball. Alex gritted his teeth, about to call out Beldum, but he didn't have to. The camera man whispered something in his ear, and the detective calmed down, demanding to meet with them once he cleaned up. Like Rheese, Alex wasn't eager to find out what would happen next. After Hammer had stormed out of the hospital, the three of them followed suit.. In a less... Angry manner. Alex watched as the fans shot out of the building after Hammer trying to get his autograph, one of them, who tried to sneak in a kiss, got knocked to the ground, not by the other needy fan girls, but by hammer himself.

Now that the group was free, and they had found an emergency exit, it was time to escape. Alex walked back towards the main desk. "You two go on, I need to make sure hammer can't find us." He walked up to the lady at the front desk once more. "Eacuse me. Could you do me a favor?" The woman looked up from her computer, "Sure, sweetie. What is it?" "Well, it's about Detective Hammer," The woman's eyes almost rolled back into her head in disgust as the name left his lips. "I need to make sure he doesn't know where we are. Could you tell him we went to the next route to get some fresh air, and that he can interview is there?"

The woman nodded her head slightly. "Thank you so much!" she scribbled something into her notepad, and Alex ran to catch up with Sophia and Rheese. "Im pretty sure that'll hold Hammer off for a little bit, until he suspects something and questions the poor nurse, He said with a sigh, "Where should we go from here?"

@Noxx@LuckyBlackCat

Mistress Hollow and Amber pounced on a poor girl that entered the Pokecentre and it seems the girl is uncomfortable with all the attention. "Hey, you two. Give her some breathing room." Oscar thinks of an idea of possibly occupying Misstress Hollow. "Misstress Hollow, why don't you meet my other two Pokemon? I am thinking of entering the pair into a contest and could you give me some ideas or pointers?" Oscar releases Skoll and Nomia.

---

"Uh, yeah that's my name. Thanks for the hint, that's actually really helpful." Rheese said to the stranger managing a smile. She seemed kind enough, and she certainly didn't give off the vibe of any of the Hammer fangirls. "As fun as that sounds, the fangirls aren't mine. In fact...Well let's just say there's going to be a very angry celebrity in the near future." He took her lead and the group slipped out of the side exit.

After Alex rejoined the group, Rheese decided to just not question how he threw Hammer off of their trail. Any type of jynxing could be fatal at this point, and as things were the group's luck was far from ideal.

"Well, I think the gym would be the best place to seek safe harbor here. I wasn't exactly there when it happened, but I heard someone mention that the gym leader was the one that pulled our asses out of that situation. Maybe they'd be willing to help us again?" Rheese suggested. Truthfully he had no intention of hanging around the town at the moment, he needed to train his Pokemon and perhaps find a few new ones. If he could sneak somewhere around the mesa the town sat on, he could probably find a cave with rock or ground types that Wooper and Cottonee would probably be able to handle. A sharp bite of pain in his rib reminded him that climbing down would be a bad idea, he'd have to take an actual route.

@LuckyBlackCat@fer1323

“My, so many questions about contests, how ironic being that my little girl hates them, ” she laughed, getting up from the Solanna and walking towards Oscar with a smile. Stooping down a bit, smiling at both the Growlithe and Eevee making it look like she was evaluating them, but in all reality, she just thought they were adorable.

“This little guy has the potential to be anything, just think about my advice to Amber” Hollow giggled petting the two Pokemon lovingly before she remembered something and stood up.

Walking over to her daughter who was just waking up with that usual bewildered at the world look she always carries and say a Pokeball in front of her with three upper case Z’s on the. “Tempest only had one egg so I decided to give him to you, I nicknamed him sloth” she explained to her little spark plug who sprung back to life in an instant.

“Are you talking about the same old as dirt tempest?” Nyxx questioned picking up the Pokeball

“Take care of him baby, ” she said, kissing Nyxx on the forehead and handing everyone a flyer about her upcoming event “Be sure to make it everyone” she shouts the biggest smile anyone had ever seen “Oh, and you, there are a million different ways to get the same result be like water” she explained clearing the mud from Solanna’s face “Keep at it” she whispered

“I’ll be in town a little longer, be sure to visit mommy if you leave before me, ” she called out to Nyxx before leaving the poke center as the crowd of her fans was starting to swell up outside and she just had to go out and see them all.

Sophia Danvers

Leaving the Hospital -> Outside

@Heckno12 @AbysmalDemon @Dusksong

Sophia glanced this way and that for an easy escape route until a blonde stranger approached the group, giving them directions. "I knew that!" she claimed, trying to take the lead, but instead ended up tagging behind the newcomer. At least the crowd was clearing out. She looked around for a glimpse of Alexis, but there was no sign of her. That prank just now was probably a sign that she was doing better.

Once outside, Sophia buried her head in her hands and cringed. "Oh jeeeeeeeez..."

She'd just majorly pissed off someone it was a really, really bad idea to piss off. Who knew how he'd react if he ran into the group again? As if that wasn't bad enough, she'd also utterly humiliated herself on TV. She had to save face somehow...

"Yeah. I was going to challenge the gym leader anyway," she replied to Rheese, straightening her back. "I mean, I am the one here with half a team. If any of you want to watch and take my example, feel free to."

Solanna Delacloude

Mesalon Pokecentre

@fer1323 @Noxx

Solanna gave another breathless laugh. "It's ok," she said to the guy who had just let out a Growlithe and an Eevee. Whimsicott approached the two Pokemon, her movements slowed by the mud that weighed her down. Usually, Grass types tended to be wary around Fire types, but this one was used to being around them.

"Ohhh! They're so cute!" This time, a genuine smile lit up Solanna's face. She'd have petted them if it wouldn't have meant getting dirt all over them.

As Mistress Hollow set about cleaning the mud off her face, Solanna listened to her words of encouragement. "I will do," she replied, watching her leave. "And I'll be sure to get to one of the contests!"

She stared at the doorway, barely able to believe that had just happened.

"Wow..." she breathed, before turning back to Whimsicott. "Well, how was that for a nice surprise?" It was, ultimately. Mistress Hollow had turned out just as friendly and cheery as she presented herself during her shows. "Come on, let's get cleaned up."

She headed down the hallway, Whimsicott following, and re-entered the lobby a short while later in a fresh red-and-white floral top and a pair of jeans. "So," she said, walking back over to the boy who'd mentioned contests. "You like your Fire types, don't you? I can give you contest advice, if you want. You see, I have some Grass types, but Fire's my speciality."

Amber Pine

Mesalon Pokecentre

@fer1323 @Noxx

"Ehhh... Sorry." Not wanting to distress the girl further, Amber took a step back. After Mistress Hollow left, though, the redhead didn't stick around much longer. Amber frowned, wondering what had happened to her, before turning back to Nyxx.

"Sloth, huh? What Pokemon is he?" With a name like that, Amber figured he had to be a Slakoth or Munchlax, or something similar. Glancing at the Pokemon that were currently out of their Pokeballs, she couldn't help thinking how she was the only one of the group who hadn't nicknamed her Pokemon. That would have to be remedied.

As soon as she let out her Pokemon, Yanma zipped around all over the place, earning a grumble from Kabuto. "Hey, be careful there! We're in a building," Amber said with a slight chuckle. As they'd done the previous day, Kabuto and Yanma headed right over to the other Pokemon.

Watching the group of Pokemon play together, Amber thought over several possibilities. "You two could do with names. Yanma, how about Aeshna?" The Bug-type expressed her agreement by darting around with a happy cry. "Ok, Aeshna it is. And Kabuto..." In the Pokecentre lights, his shell gleamed like a gemstone. "You can be Chalcedony. Chal for short. I mean, it's a tough mineral that sometimes contains fossils, and in ancient times, knives were made from it. It'll be especially fitting when you evolve. Or is that too fancy for you?" Kabuto, or rather, Chal, made a contented sound.

"Alright then." A small smile appeared on her face as she observed the newly-named Aeshna and Chalcedony continuing to play.

She looked over to see the redhead reappear in the lobby, looking happier. The shock must have worn off. "Ah, hi again." She listened to what the girl said. Fire and Grass... This must have been what Mistress Hollow was talking about earlier, with her "opposites attract" advice. Amber wondered how the two types worked together.

As soon as she checked into a proper room, and took a quick bath, Alexis felt much better. Still a bit grumpy, but definitely not as bad as earlier. She managed to change into her more favored clothes, and got herself a little motivated to challenge the gym. It was the whole reason she wanted to make her way there in the first place, after all. Otherwise, she would've just spent the time practicing with her pokemon on what to do for their first contest.

She and Yuki made their way over, asking directions to the gym whenever they got lost. As they walked, Alexis couldn't help but smile to herself. Yesterday, her pokemon had proven that they were good. She had no doubt that they would help her on her journey. Not that it would make any difference. She was destined to rise to greatness, and that meant that her coming opponents were bound to lose to her. So what if there were a few hiccups along the way? It meant nothing in the long run.

As they came upon the building, they took a moment to pause and take in the sight. It was one of the moments Alexis and Yuki would have to just take a moment and think on whether or not they think they're ready for the coming challenge.





When the boy and his Maractus had awoken, they simply had done their morning routine, which consisted of stretching, Deneb taking off his favorite clothes, and doing Maractus' "Morning Wake-Up! Yeah! Yeah!" dance. All they needed to do now was walk the rest of the way over to the the city, and find the gym. It shouldn't be that difficult...Well, it wasn't anyway. The only problem they encountered was a wild Helioptile appearing out of nowhere, and trying to pound them.

"Spiky shield."

The Maractus complied, and crossed her arms into an "X" shape. They tensed for a moment, and the needles on her arm jut out. Upon seeing the needles, the Helioptile yelped and stopped itself, almost getting close enough to get caught. They had sighed in relief when they managed to avoid the danger of coming into any sort of contact with those spines. Unfortunately for the pokemon, Deneb took advantage of the moment and tapped it on the head with a pokeball. The sudden surprise after the rush of nearly running into a stack of needles had allowed the pokemon to end up panicking and getting caught.

That was literally all that was done to hinder them. From that short a distance to the city, it wasn't that hard to just walk on over to avoid any other pokemon showing up.

“Challenge the gym?” Aedre asked, eyes wide. The thought hadn’t even occurred to her despite the fact that she’d read up on the area on her way here. The gym leader was named Lan Sohai, if memory served her correctly. As the leader was a Normal-type specialist, Aedre figured he was probably the humble sort, which made sense as Mesalon was said to be founded around an old monastery. “I hadn’t even thought of that, actually,” Aedre said, frowning.

Despite the fact that she had never really been one to participate in Pokemon battles, Aedre knew that her new subject — Honedge — was a Pokemon that displayed a different side in battle. This was a research opportunity she couldn’t pass on.

“If you’re going to challenge the gym, that would mean that you’re quite strong, right?” Aedre asked, looking at the other girl. Looking between the three people she’d led out of the hospital, Aedre realized that they all looked like rather experienced trainers — like they’d been through much but still knew they had ways to go. Experienced — the adjective she could not apply to herself in the field of Pokemon battles except when talking about statistics and analytics. “Would any of you mind if I tagged along?” Aedre asked with a friendly smile. “I just arrived yesterday and am due to be here for another few days.”

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@heckno12@luckyblackcat@abysmaldemon

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"No problem here, the more the merrier." Rheese replied to Aedre, he was still fairly grateful that she had helped them escape. Maybe she had only saved them a few seconds, but that could have easily been enough time for one of Hammer's fans to notice them. He turned back to Sophia. "I'll come too, I'm not ready for the gym just yet, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to get a look at what we're dealing with." Rheese decided, despite his want to explore the area. It probably wasn't a good idea to wander off on his own only minutes after ditching someone as dangerous as Hammer. With only two Pokemon, he probably couldn't fight a gym leader. Especially since they would be using three Pokemon by default.

"So, this town has a...normal type gym right? I'm pretty sure that's what I read before, but I could be mixed up." He asked Sophia. If it was a normal gym as he thought, it would probably be a good idea to pick up a rock type from the surrounding caves. It was probably good that they didn't head to Vareena straight away given the grass type gym would have wiped the floor with him. Cottonee wasn't an offensive powerhouse by any stretch and Wooper wouldn't be able to fight back against a four times weakness despite his defenses...Though that was an issue for another time.

@LuckyBlackCat@fer1323

With her mother gone the day went by just like normal except the depression and anxiety just seemed to kind of get sucked completely out of the room, even the darkest corners had love in them. Reaching forward and grabbing the Poke ball, then placing it with the rest of them, she couldn’t imagine Tempest having the youth to have another egg. Unbelievable or not it’s what happened and now she has a new Pokémon to raise not that she minded, that was the entire purpose for her to come on this quest in the first place. She got up and went over to the nurse wanting her to cheek Sloth to see if he was healthy, that nickname was specific and her mom didn’t name Pokémon carelessly this little one did something to earn that name.

Nyxx herself leaning on the counter and watched as Amber made a new friend for the group or for herself, yawning at the concept she listened in on their conversation.
Amber was giving her Pokémon nicknames and was being thoughtful about what to call them just like her mom, in all honesty, she just named her Pokémon whatever she was thinking at the time. While the new girl was explaining about different

combinations of Pokémon types and how they worked with one another, same old speech different person. Once the nurse came back with her poke ball confirming it to be perfectly healthy she released it from said ball revealing it to be an Eevee. A very particular Eevee that didn’t waste any time looking around then going directly to sleep, seeing the Pokemon like looking into a mirror actually motivated her to want to do some kind of work.

“Look guys we’ve spent legit the entire morning here, how about we go out and train, do some battles or like challenge a gym or something other than contests” she shouts raising her fists to the air in defiance recalling Sloth

Sophia Danvers

To The Gym

@Heckno12 @AbysmalDemon @Dusksong @OtomostheCrazy


At Aedre's comment, Sophia grinned. Her defenses were up again, secured by this newcomer's view of her. Now all she had to do was prove that view right.

"Well, I've had some pretty successful battles so far," she said, thinking back to her battle against Oscar, and the way her Pokemon had held their own against several grunts. The incident with Alexis that had led to this entire disaster, though... That didn't count as a victory. A slight shudder ran through her at the memory. Hoping the new girl hadn't noticed, she started to lead the group away from the hospital, head held high. "So I'm sure this'll be no problem."

She quickly checked her Pokegear for directions. She wasn't going to lead the group in circles again, especially as getting away from Hammer was a priority. "Yep, Normal type gym this way," she told Rheese, gesturing towards the centre of the town.

She kept glancing over her shoulder for any sign of the detective, all the while sensing for anyone approaching nearby. She hadn't yet fully recovered from yesterday's overexertion, and the distant energy pulses kept blurring together. Focusing intently, she nearly took the group in the wrong direction despite having checked the map. Tensing whenever she felt someone approach, she kept turning her head and staring at passers-by, earning more than one strange look.

"Oi, you got a problem there?" somebody yelled before continuing along his way.

Sophia ignored him. Aedre would have no idea what was going on... Time to explain the odd-seeming behaviour.

"You know, you did well to take this opportunity to watch me," she said with a smirk, turning to the new girl, as they neared the monastery. "Let's just say I'm the kind of trainer you're probably not used to seeing. And I'm not just talking about battle skill." She took a Pokeball from her ribbon-belt, making it float around her once and returning it to her hand. She'd have done something more impressive if she hadn't still been drained, but levitating a Pokeball wasn't too taxing.

As she reattached the Pokeball to the black ribbon and turned a corner, her smirk vanished. She'd known there was someone heading towards the gym before she'd looked, but... "Alexis?" she blurted. It shouldn't have been a surprise. She should have guessed this would be the first place someone like Alexis would go.

The moment continued for Alexis and Yuki. They had made up their minds that they were as ready as they would ever be to challenge their first gym. Even after all that had happened...No. They had to move on. Alexis had a destiny to fulfill. A battle to win. She would become the star that she had dreamt of being, and absolutely NOTHING was going to get in the way of that. The moment was now, and all they needed to do was step through that door. Of course, as soon as she took a step towards it, she heard someone familiar call out to her.

"Alexis?"

The blonde girl turned to the voice, and sure enough, Sophia had revealed herself. Apparently, she had grown so dependent on others that she travels with them. Because there was absolutely, positively NO POSSIBLE WAY for her to have gained any following of fans at this point in time. Nope. None at all. Besides, there was only one person that Alexis immediately recognized. Rheese. The others were not quite faces she remembered all that well. If she had even met them before, they must have been insignificant or something.

In any case...Alexis smiled at them, though it was clear that she was focused on Sophia.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the poser. What took you so long?"

Alexis' voice was smug and arrogant. She had returned to her normal self at long last. It was an attempt to push aside the events of yesterday, but she had deemed it a subject that was necessary to forget. After all, if she had focused on it all the time, then she wouldn't be able to focus on fulfilling her destiny.

"I had enough time to leave the hospital, freshen up, and make it here before you. I guess you're not as serious about this as I thought."

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"Yep, Normal type gym this way," Alex just shrugged at the comment. He was planning on challenging the gym yet, and to be fair, while the girl was nice she had a twinge of arrogance in her voice. "I haven't thought of challenging the gym until I get Beldum trained more, and possibly get a second Pokemon. From what I've heard the gym leaders sound like the real deal." Alex said confidently. It was true, from his last battle, it was clear that Beldum needed more training. He was contemplating whether he should watch her gym battle or go catch a new Pokemon. He thought of the latter, but thought of it as rude to not watch after following her there.

"Whoa, cool trick! I didn't know you could do that!" He was about to say more, until Sophia stopped in front of someone they apparently knew. He was guessin they weren't friends by how the girl reacted.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the poser. What took you so long?" She said in a smug tone, her lips twitching into an arrogant smirk. He was already ticked off by her. He didn't know if he considered Sophia to be his friend yet, but she was still an acquaintance, and no one messing with his... acquaintances... Well damn... It just doesn't sound the same without 'friends'.

"There's only one poser here, and I think we all know that it isn't her. Or are you too arrogant to realize that?" Alex said, voice drenched with venom.

@Noxx@LuckyBlackCat

After waving goodbye to Mistress Hollow, Oscar replies to Solanna "I will take up your offer. I think a contest mindset can help trainer battles if you know how to apply your knowledge correctly." Oscar brushes off Nyxx's negative attitude towards contests but could not blame him. He could have his reasons. Oscar continues "I think we should train either way before the gym battle. Maybe we could watch others beforehand and gain some insight if possible."

Solanna Delacloude

Mesalon Pokecentre

@fer1323 @Noxx

Solanna gave a slightly strained smile at Oscar's mention of trainer battles. "Yep! It really can, especially if you've got two Pokemon working together," she replied. "I used to do competitive battles as well as contests, though, well... It turned out contests were more my kind of thing." She added on this last part hastily, a note of false cheer in her voice.

"Anyway!" she continued in her usual chirpy tone. "What kind of show are you thinking of putting on with these two?" She gestured towards the Eevee and the Growlithe. "You could show me some of the techniques you've already got, if you want. But first, what do you want to do?"

Although she kept smiling, she hoped she wouldn't have to tag along and watch a gym battle. It would bring back too many memories of her days as a new, ambitious trainer.

Amber Pine

Mesalon Pokecentre

@fer1323 @Noxx

Amber glanced at Nyxx. As interesting as contests sounded to her, Nyxx didn't have the same view, and was rapidly becoming bored. "Training sounds like a good idea," she said. "I was planning on catching and training Pokemon anyway before the gym battle. I take it you'll want to train your new Eevee." She looked at Sloth, who had decided to curl up and take a nap. "Interesting species there. All those possible evolutions and battle styles."

She stood up, turning her attention towards Oscar and Solanna. "Well, if you're going to go and practice for contests, we could always meet up later," she suggested.

Sophia Danvers

Outside Mesalon Gym

@OtomostheCrazy @Heckno12 @AbysmalDemon @Dusksong

For a moment, Sophia stood there silent as the guilt came flooding back. Then, Alexis smirked. She was clearly her usual self again.

Sophia sneered back. Her defenses had faltered for a moment, but were up again. Alex's comments helped. She was surprised that he didn't already know about her abilities, she'd assumed he'd heard her conversation with Rheese the other day, and then there had been the berry incident just now... But if he hadn't seen exactly what had happened, that was a relief. The Pokeball trick was a much, much better first impression of what she could do.

"Like it's our fault some jerk was wasting our time," she replied. She'd show Alexis she knew better than to let that little remark get to her. "Oh, come on, you saw him. Is your memory really that bad?" She crossed her arms, her smirk widening. "If you want a poser, you should see what that idiot's like! And you just wait till you watch me. You'll eat your words then. Now, step aside!" With that, she strode past Alexis, into the gym.

“I’ll be tagging along then,” Aedre said with a grin, following Sophia as she led the group in, Aedre guessed, the direction of the gym. Producing a Pokeball, Sophia seemingly levitated it, causing it to float in the air and circle around her before settling on her open palm again. “Whoa — are you a magician or something?” Aedre joked, tipping her head in wonder.

Aedre wasn’t one for magic, being so deeply entrenched in science. Sure there were natural wonders, but the only real human magicians she knew were psychics, people who got their power from their Psychic-type Pokemon. Perhaps this was what was happening? Performing a Psychic-powered trick with a Pokemon required strenuous training and hand-eye coordination just to start, and that Sophia was able to pull something like that off meant that she was definitely somewhat of an experienced trainer.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Sophia as the brunette uttered a name. A passing blonde spun around, eyes scanning the group. She seemed to recognize Sophia and Rheese, glazing over Aedre and Alex before speaking. Her first sentence — tone, mannerisms, posture — caused Aedre to instantly dislike her. This “Alexis” was clearly not a friend of Sophia’s and yet they seemed to have been close at one point — childhood friends-turned-rivals, perhaps?

“Let’s just go,” Aedre suggested, wanting to diffuse the tension as quickly as possible. She was here to see a gym battle, continue her research, and perhaps hone her skills as a Pokemon trainer in addition to being a researcher, not get caught up with the local drama.

---

@heckno12@luckyblackcat@abysmaldemon@otomosthecrazy

@LuckyBlackCat@fer1323

She ended up with another batch of contest lovers, rolling her eyes, she almost decided to follow suit with Sloth’s idea and just start sleeping right here until someone felt like doing something different. Thankfully Amber had the right idea wanting to do some real training her brow perking up when she off handedly mentioned her new Pokémon Sloth; he seemed like he needed to be whipped into shape so battling to get the blood flowing would probably be the best thing to do. Something her travel partner said gave her an idea as she rustled through her backpack, pulling out the thunderstone, she had received before everything went to hell and back.

“Yeah, you have a point there, ” she said, looking at the radiated stone with a lightning bolt blazed across its face eventually she shook herself from the thought and put it in the back of her mind to consider it later.

Getting up from her chair and stretching out “Alright, finally lets go and train a little” Nyxx said happily, “yes we can meet each other later or something like at the gym or the park or something”

---

Rheese outright avoided the small spat that Alexis's return caused. As things were, he was more concerned about what they were all walking into. Sophia's confidence made Rheese cringe internally. That kind of blustering would probably just set her up for a fall. Though, instead of trying to express that sentiment, he simply followed her into the building. This would be their first gym challenge, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Worst case scenario, Sophia would just need to train a bit more and challenge it again. If that happened, Rheese would certainly have to follow suit...after he caught another Pokemon of course.

"I didn't really meet the gym leader before, so I don't really know how strong he and his team are. To be honest, I'm glad someone else is going first." Rheese said, fairly sure he wasn't the only one with that thought. "Good luck Sophia, I'm going to go on and get to the spectator's section and watch."

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Lan received a page from the front counter of the gym telling him that a few potential challengers had just entered. Immediately knowing they would probably be the young people that had been involved in the Team Noble incident the day before he quickly made his way to the arena and sat down on his side of the arena. Several of his students observed from the stands, all with rapt attention.

It probably wasn't the best idea for those people to be challenging their first gym only one day after what they would probably consider a traumatic event. Lan's concern, however, would not get in the way of his duty as a gym leader. Perhaps a battle would be beneficial for them.

Amber Pine

Outside Mesalon Pokecentre

@fer1323 @Noxx

"Ok, see you two later," Amber called to Oscar and Solanna, leaving with Nyxx. She smiled slightly at the feel of the cool air against her face. This peaceful little town would give the group a much-needed chance to relax - and for Amber, the best way to relax was to study Pokemon.

"Seems like most wild Pokemon here will be found in the caves. Though first, maybe we should stop by the mart for some potions..." She trailed off as something caught her attention. A flock of Fletchlings stood perched on a roof, their combined melodious chirps sounding more like an actual song than a mere series of cries.

"Is it alright if I just quickly record this?" Amber asked Nyxx. "It won't take long. This might provide insight into how they communicate." Sitting on a bench, she dug out her Pokegear and set up the camera function.

Chal let out a mildly exasperated "Kabu-to." Trust Amber to get sidetracked. Noticing something his trainer hadn't, he gave a harsher, warning cry. Aeshna darted over, hovering next to Amber.

The researcher stopped filming, glancing over in surprise to see a small, grey-brown dog sniffing and nipping at one of the pockets of her bag. It could obviously smell Pokefood. "Nice try, but that's not yours," Amber told it. The Pokemon backed away with a whimper, its blue eyes wide.

"Ruff! Rockruff!" it whined.

That was when Amber saw just how skinny this Rockruff was, its ribs showing. Was this an abandoned stray? "Ohh! I'm sorry. Here, you could do with a good meal." Amber gave it some of the Pokefood, which it gobbled down. Giving a happy yip, it put its front paws back up on the bench.

"Well, I've fed you, so I guess that's it," Amber said with a soft laugh. "You've adopted me, haven't you?" The Rockruff yipped again, playfully headbutting Amber's hand.

"There's just one thing to do now, huh?" She petted the stray and took an empty Pokeball from her belt. The Rockruff pressed it with its nose, disappearing inside the capsule.

Amber checked the newly-added information on her Pokedex. Rockruff, level 9, female. "Kyra," she said, holding the Pokeball. "I'll call you Kyra." The name had two meanings. It could mean sun, or it could mean dark. Whichever way the Rockruff evolved later on, the name would fit.

Sophia Danvers

Mesalon Gym

@Heckno12 @OtomostheCrazy @AbysmalDemon @Dusksong

As her footsteps echoed, Sophia felt oddly small inside the huge building. Was she taking on too much? No, of course she wasn't. Before the morning was out, she'd prove her worth as a trainer.

There was just something she needed to do first.

Still in the front room, outside the arena, she crouched down and let out her Pokemon. Alexis' reappearance had reminded Sophia how badly Gothita had reacted after snapping out of that berserk state, and then there had been that fight they'd all ended up involved in. If her Pokemon didn't want to battle just yet, she'd wait. She'd prove herself later.

"Are you all up for a gym battle?" she asked. "I know yesterday was rough, to put it mildly. So I'll only do this if you're ok with it."

Gothita and Purrloin nodded, while Staryu gave a "Hyah!" of agreement, its core brightening.

"Ok then! Let's show everyone how a gym challenge is done!" Standing up, Sophia returned all three Pokemon and, with a proud grin, strode into the arena.

@LuckyBlackCat@fer1323

Nyxx followed Amber from the Pokémon center and into the light stretching out and yawning eventually waking her body out of its bored slump the town itself was peaceful and quiet a good change from the day before. Scratching the back of her head when Amber suggested they go find a mart and get supplies for the day’s journey, something she wasn’t even thinking about but that was why she stuck with the explorer in the first place other than the obvious. It didn’t take long before she got distracted with something else wanting to do some type of research on the bird Pokemon that were fluttering about. That look in her eyes reminded her of her mother and she knew she’d be here for a while so instead of complaining Nyxx herself sat down on the grass and laid out to bake in the sun.

Sloth the Eevee released itself from its Pokeball and curled up on her chest at the same time it was just as lazy as she was but something woke it up, the combined sounds of a Rockruff a Kabuto and a Yanma going at. Sloth grumbled and rolled off its trainer’s stomach and walked himself into Nyxx’s bag to keep out the noise, it was then it let out a streaking cry and her trainer bag started to light up and glow. The sound itself woke Nyxx up right away and scrambled to her feet to fish the lazy fox from her bag to see if it was alright.

“Youch! Son of a… what?” she went from surprised to hurt back to surprised all in that order when the thing she pulled out wasn’t, in fact, an Eevee but instead a Jolteon. “Huh…. well…. you don’t see that every day, ” she said completely bewildered forgetting the fact she had a thunderstone in there.

Jolteon let out a cry and released a static shock from its body, causing Nyxx to drop him waving her hand to cool it off. Looking back at her new Pokemon who had already fallen asleep “So I guess this is Sloth now, ” she giggled picking him up and going off to join Amber.

“So what are we doing again?”