Ren listened to the places named by both Jacques and Professor Kalmia, nodding in understanding and flipping open her Pokedex in case there was some kind of notepad function she could use, or somewhere she could type the names so she could write them down on paper later. If no such thing existed, then she'd resort to repeating the names in her head. "Thank you, Professor, Sir. This information will help me greatly in my journey around Isson." Once Shyn had been fully healed, she offered him her shoulders, which Shyn quickly jumped on and wrapped around her neck, happily snuggling in. At Jacques's question, Ren simply smiled. "That would ruin the surprise, would it not?"
This coming from Ren sounded very much like she was going to commit a murder...
Clearing her throat, she looked down the street from where she'd come. "I do not wish to use Legendary Pokemon in my League matches, and I will still become the strongest trainer in the region, without question. However that is but a fun little past-time to what I really want. I won't bore you with the details, however I will leave you a hint:"
Ren paused and cleared her throat. It certainly was fun to be cryptic; she might have to do it more often! Though it was hard to tell her story without a lump forming in her throat.
"Ten years ago, I came to stay in Isson. I haven't returned home since." Offshore Island wasn't exactly the most well-known place, but the people of Pureplain, most notably those who visited the port, likely knew. Ren herself could recall the news reports that occurred shortly after her and her grandfather's arrival, and though the reports generated a lot of buzz for awhile, it died as quickly as it had come. With that simple hint, Ren began walking down the street. "Sorry for leaving so suddenly, however I haven't eaten all morning. I'm going to get some sustenance, and then visit the 'Super Contest'; perhaps the gym, if possible. Do not worry, Professor, Sir - I will return to say a proper farewell. Unless you wish to join me...?"
She was only being polite, of course, but after all they'd done for her, she thought it the least she could do to perhaps pay for their lunches. They likely hadn't eaten in awhile, either, after all. 'I hope I don't need to resort to worse deeds in order to get money...' She thought to herself with a hint of pain, seeing as her economic status wasn't going well.
Ralia, Ralts Level: 7 Status: A bit roughed up, but otherwise fine.
Ritz, Ledyba Level 5 Status: Should probably get healed.
Potion x1 Antidote x1 pokeball x4
Claire whistled. Pinceo was definitely not on her list of pokemon she'd want, and she definitely wasn't eager to 'splode to death. She followed Laurinda, inching around the edge of the Pineco nest. That said, she still wasn't about to turn around and run home with her tail between her legs. She was already here, and she was committed even if it meant bad times. It'd be good experience, and the next time she came here she'd be much more prepared, no?
"Hmm, Nah. Not really interested in most of the pokemon here." Claire said with a mildly annoyed sigh. "I was hoping for something a bit more...fabulous?" Claire continued, trying to think of a better word to use there, but failing. "Heh, not exactly sure that's even a thing." She chuckled, following closely behind Laurinda. "Buuut, yeah. Sticking with you for now. It'll be fun! And good experience!"
She wasn't going to leave without some sort of pokemon from this, or at least attempting to capture one, even if she had to get creative.
Lucian examined the lotad for a moment with disappointment "Houndour,please burn it, then we're moving on to the infested woods. The pokemon here have been nothing short of disappointing" Lucian said, shaking his head as he spoke. "Fine place to train however" He added, almost affectionately patting his pokemon on the head before taking a step back to allow his houndour to work.
Houndour approached his oppenent,somewhat tired of training, and launched a flurry of embers at the pokemon, approaching closer as he fired, intending to immediatly follow up with another blast if the first wave of embers did not defeat the water-grass hybrid.
Now, ghosts likely can go through grips if they want to, but…
Amelia collected the Shuppet, which blinked in a little but then seemed pretty comfortable in her arms. The other three slid to a halt in front of her, with varying expressions of slight guilt when chastised.
‘Shuppet…’ First one looked kind of feeling bad about it.
‘Shupp-shuppet~’ The second one, which had stolen the Pokéball originally, sounded like “my bad” while smiling.
‘Pet!’ While the third one looked the most like “that was fun!”, drifting naturally higher than the others.
Then Amelia said her bit about wanting to take one of them on her journey. The three Shuppets in front of her looked at one another, curiously.
‘Shupp?’ First one asked.
‘Shuppet, pet.’ The second one responded.
‘Shuppeeeet!’ The third one called out happily.
This little exchange seemed to have mostly been them speaking among themselves rather than responding to Amelia. They seemed to reach an agreement, and then smiled at Amelia before they all called out at the same time.
‘Shuppet!’ … It was more out of curiosity on how she’d pick one of them which they all agreed on. None of them really minded either alternative, but that’s how they did that.
‘…’ The Shuppet in Amelia’s arms looked at its friends and then back at her, before looking forward again. ‘Shuppet.’ It added, in a quieter tone than the other three.
Skitty trusted her singing, even as Nincada turned to rush in. The Pokémon maintained her song, Nincada feeling the effects of it, but…
He managed to close the distance and Scratch the Skitty, the kitten Pokémon recoiling with a little sound of distress and the song cut short. Nincada had managed to keep himself awake.
‘Oh, scoot.’ Lena mentioned with a slightly troubled smile. ‘Whatever, we’re not changing strategy now. Skitty, run off a bit, and sing again!’
‘Skit!’ Skitty turned and ran, hoping to be a bit faster than Nincada, expecting the bug to be immediately on her tail but yet ran, intending on eventually spinning around to Sing again.
Because why the heck not, Ren finds a notepad function in the Pokédex, since it appears to have all the functions of a modern phone anyways. At her hint, Jacques raised one eyebrow and smiled a bit, while Kalmia frowned. If any of them connected or not was not said.
‘I see. Well, then. Allow me to simply wish you luck on your journey for now, then.’ Jacques responded to the majority of her words, before continuing on.
‘Thank you for the invitation, but I’ll have to decline.’ Jacques said, tipping his hat a little. ‘With the time I’ve spent here, I’ve left other tasks unseen to. Believe it or not, I have a full-time job. So, without further ado…’ He pulled a Pokéball and threw it, the ball cracking open in mid-air and a large, grey dragon-like creature fell a meter to impact the ground as he landed, glaring forward with a fierce look…
Pokédex Entry #142 – Aerodactyl, the Fossil Pokémon. A Pokémon who roamed the skies in the age of dinosaurs, it has today been regenerated from genetic material found in amber. It’s a savage creature that is known to go for the throats of opponents with its sharp claws.
Jacques wandered and climbed up on the back of the pterodactyl Pokémon, a pleased little smile on his lips. ‘I’m going to take my leave. If you wish to contact me, Kalmia has my number, though I can’t guarantee I’ll be reachable. A lot of people want my time, after all. But…’ He smirked. ‘If your words ring true, then we’ll see one another again soon enough.’
He looked to the one still ongoing battle, speaking so Erika and Vivia could hear. ‘Vivia. I am going to leave. You have my number if you need anything, otherwise I believe Kalmia will provide any support you require. I’ll contact you to check your progress at a later date.’ He informed the assistant he snatched.
‘A-alright.’ Vivia nodded to him, startled and looking a little dispirited from that the one she was representing wouldn’t continue watch her battle, but she then quickly refocused on her battle.
‘Then. Until next time.’ Jacques said to those present.
Now, if any of the two present characters wanted to, they could tell him not to leave yet, halt him for one reason or another. But, otherwise, he’d make a pat on his Aerodactyl, who’d take charge and wave his powerful wings, the heavy Pokémon and rider drifting off the ground with heavy strokes of wind under the dinosaur Pokémon’s wings, before finally a single wave caused the Pokémon and rider to fly off into the distance, Jacques holding onto his hat as he flew north…
‘Show off.’ Kalmia complained, sighing after he had departed (or not if someone stopped him), before smiling a little apologetically at Ren. ‘Sorry. Can’t leave until all battles are completed. Vivia and Erika are still fighting over there.’ She gestured at the battle. ‘But, good luck. While you won’t be able to enter it, the Super Contest should promise to be quite the show. And, while I wouldn’t recommend challenging the Gym, feel free to check it out. I’ll be right here. So, yeah. Good luck~’ Kalmia wished, while stuck where she was until further notice.
‘Fabulous…?’ Laurinda asked, tilting her head a little looking over at Claire while walking. ‘I am… unsure what you’re looking for, or if you’re going to find it in these woods. I suppose Butterfrees or Beautiflys have a certain style to them, Vespiqueens have a certain… wicked grace which they carry…’ Laurinda gave a few, evolved, suggestions on the top of her head. Then, she was distracted by the sound of buzzing, suddenly being heard ahead of them.
‘… Alert.’ She said. ‘Delphox. Be ready. We’ll be depending on you.’
‘Delphox…’ Delphox seemed to think this was a pain, but prepared her flaming wand, the fire lighting up more powerfully as they headed on. The deep vegetation and the darkness of the True Woods spread out, leaving larger open areas with light looking down from above again. No longer did vegetation constantly attempt scratching at them as they advanced, and they could see further than 10 meters around them because the vegetation allowed it. But, the buzzing grew louder and louder. Soon enough, it was unmistakably clear they had gotten to a new part of the woods, for the Pokémon were no longer hiding.
Deep Infested Woods
Trees stood tall. The vegetation died down. Open areas blocked only by occasional trees spread out in every direction. And the buzzing, such buzzing. Here, Pokémon life was truly let to infest. The buzzing came from hundreds of Combees, circling around, and there was seemingly a Beedrill per fourth tree in the crowns of the trees. From here, two Vespiquens were already within sight-range, each one the queen of their respective colony, and the woods promised many more. Kakunas or other such cocoon Pokémon were attached to practically every tree. Going through the woods without stepping on at least a single Weedle was going to be difficult, which was potentially bad because it meant the ground had numerous natural traps of Weedles here and there that were just begging to feel threatened and lash out with their poison stingers and potentially make life really miserable for a while.
There were numerous battles going on within sight. It was Beedrills fighting off the Combees intruding on their territory, and some Beedrills were attracting the attention of the Vespiquens by doing so, the queens striking back with their Attack Orders. There clearly wasn’t enough room for all the different Pokémon, leading to daily all-out fighting across the Deep Woods, and thereby danger to anyone and anything moving through here. Some Beedrills were already flying closer to the group, but Delphox shot out a few lazy bursts of flames here and there to drive them off. Numerous Combees flew close to Claire, likely because she was bright as a flower, but they eventually would fly off as they realized there wasn’t anything to get there and Delphox wasn’t burning them, likely meaning they weren’t dangerous.
Pokédex Entry #13 – Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokémon. It has an acute sense of smell, and can easily distinguish its favorite leaves. It eats its body-weight of leaves every day. Its stinger secretes a powerful venom, and it uses this toxic barb to ward of hostiles.
Pokédex Entry #14 – Kakuna, the Cocoon Pokémon. It sits on a tree, almost immobile while it prepares for evolution. So much activity is being done creating a new body inside that a Kakuna feels hot to the touch. If endangered, it hardens its shell or extends its venomous stinger.
Pokédex Entry #15 – Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokémon. Extremely territorial, should someone intrude on their grounds they attack in furious swarms. They fly at high speed and attack with their venomous stingers. A poisoned prey is then taken back to the nest to feed on.
Pokédex Entry #415 – Combee, the Tiny Bee Pokémon. Three are connected at birth and stick together for life. They spend their life gathering honey from flowers to please their Vespiquen. At night, many Combee stack up to become a beehive and sleep.
Pokédex Entry #416 – Vespiquen, the Beehive Pokémon. It is the queen of a colony, and its abdomen is a honeycomb for grubs which it raises using honey collected by Combees. It uses various pheromones to control Combees and grubs in everyday life as well as in combat.
‘Okay. Claire, Ralia. Welcome to Deep Woods. You’re probably disappointed, but let me tell you. Be happy it isn’t night, the ridiculous number of Dustox spreading their poisonous powders everywhere makes it practically impossible to traverse…’ She then looked to Delphox, frowning.
‘Are we heading much further? I cannot imagine newbies getting much further than here. Which direction are they coming from?’ Laurinda asked, a little agitated.
Delphox stood silent for a bit, her expression neutral, before she slowly lifted her burning wand and pointed it towards the sky.
‘… They’re flying in. Wonderful idiots. There is a reason why Pokémon are usually only allowed to fly their trainers between cities.’ Laurinda sighed, before looking to Delphox again. ‘At least they’re not landing… THERE, are they?’ Laurinda looked at Delphox seeking a negative answer, buuuut.
‘Delph.’ Delphox answered, looking neutral. That didn’t sound negative.
‘… They’re not AIMING for there, are they?’ Laurinda got a sudden serious expression, looking at Delphox.
‘Delphox.’ Delphox shrugged, giving a little smile.
‘… They’re not typical newbies, are they?’ Laurinda glared at Delphox.
‘Phox~’ Delphox smirked, looking a little amused. “You made the assumptions of what they were on your own”, it sounded like.
‘… Drat.’ Laurinda spun around, facing inwards towards the woods. She grabbed a Pokéball, throwing it into the ground, and after a flash a new Pokémon appeared.
Pokédex Entry #609 – Chandelure, the Luring Pokémon. They’re known to hypnotize opponents using their dancing flames. It absorbs spirits, which it then burns in its fires. Its fire burn the spirit rather than the body, so a physical body left behind by its flames is entirely untouched despite the damage.
‘Delphox. Stick with Claire, protect her. Claire, do not follow. This… may be more serious than I thought. Chandelure. Burn the way.’ The Chandelure complied, and Laurinda started dashing into the Deep Woods. Merely a few steps in, and a few angry Beedrills getting in her way but Chandelure shot fire at them, clearing the way as she ran further…
‘Delphox…’ Delphox sighed, but then just crossed her arms and looked at Claire. Like, “What do you want to do now?”…
1. Find Pokémon. Can be specified what kind of Pokémon is being searched for, and how you search. … And how you avoid Beedrills while searching. 2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend that here, though. 3. Seek trainers. Um. … … … Well, leaving the option. 4. Talk. If nobody else, there’s Delphox. Might be a little limited with what she can reply with, but hey. Maybe Ralia wants to dialogue. Haha. 5. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally. 6. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination. Like, if you want to flee back. Haha. 7. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 8. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
9. Follow Laurinda. Direct commands are made to be defied. … Or something like that.
Connected areas: True Infested Woods. Behind you. Always possible to flee. Don’t flee into the Pineco nest.
The Lotad was burned, the water-grass Pokémon sent scrambling with the leaf on its head on fire, thoroughly defeated. Wasting no further time, Lucian and Houndour went on to Infested Woods. On their journey towards the trees, they left the wet area that was Route 2 and approached a place that strangely enough appeared to be… shining.
Outer Infested Woods
The woods glows. Almost everywhere you look, there are shining lights swirling around the trees, flowing along the winds of the woods. It’s a bright dance of yellow light that encompasses everything forwards, shielding the woods from being peeked further into.
The floors of the woods are naturally wet, the waters of the Dragon Lake flowing south and nourishing the woods, giving plenty in the kind of water needed to sustain the woods, and the puddles are excellent for the breeding of bugs. That is the kind of world you’ve stepped into.
So, there’s a metric tonne of Volbeats flying in every perceivable direction, the combination of water and tight woods shielding sunlight causing them to light up in massive numbers. One could almost see where the sweet aroma of Illumise could be smelled in the air as the swarms flew steadily in those directions, before circling back. They were so many, it made the lights shine in numbers enough that one barely saw anything other than the moving lights, causing the woods to glow.
You weren’t alone in having sought out the Infested Woods. Here and there, bug-catchers or just regular trainers were doing their best to catch whatever Pokémon they desired. The first area of Infested Woods was low-level. It was almost impossible to not see at least one Caterpie crawling along the forest-floor or the trees, and if one didn’t see them it was because of the light of Volbeats.
There’s a hut standing there, on the outskirts of the woods. There’s a sign on the outside saying “We’ll heal your Pokémon for 100 P!”. … Looking at the influx of bug catchers, it seems they might have invested in a fairly successful business venture.
One could travel across the outer parts of Infested Woods to get closer to the Wet Caverns. There was always the possibility of delving deeper into the Infested Woods, further south… but are you prepared for that?
The woods are shining. There are hundreds of Volbeats flying happily in all directions, around the trees and following the scents of Illumise which they might be smelling. Across the yellow-lit woods young aspiring bug-catchers can be seen, hunting for their first bugs and then doing battle with them. At the side stands a hut, with the sign of “We’ll heal your Pokémon for 100 P!”, and there’s quite a number of young trainers making use of their services. There are paths to follow which would lead through the woods to the Wet Caverns, and there are ways deeper into the woods, which are much darker. The new trainers appear to be actively avoiding coming too close to that place. Now, what would Lucian do?
1. Find Pokémon. Can be specified what kind of Pokémon is being searched for, and how you search. 2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding. 3. Seek trainers. There should be quite a few aspiring Bug Catchers. Note, some may challenge you, regardless. 4. Talk. There’s some other trainers around. Maybe seek answers to any burning questions you have. 5. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally. 6. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination. 7. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 8. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 9. Area Specific: Heal at the hut (100p). Might beat having to go all the way back to Pureplain City… 10. Area Specific: Delve Deeper. What might await in the deeper regions of the woods…?
Connected areas: Route 2. Close, can easily get there without complication. Wet Caverns. Requires a bit of a walk alongside the outer regions of the woods.
If he checked his Pokédex, he’d find a record of Pokémon which other trainers had found here.
Ralia, Ralts Level: 7 Status: A bit roughed up, but otherwise fine.
Ritz, Ledyba Level 5 Status: Should probably get healed.
Potion x1 Antidote x1 pokeball x4
As soon as Claire arrived in the Deepwoods, she knew one thing: She was right where she wanted too be. She wasn't exactly partial to any particular type of pokemon since 'Fabulous' wasn't a typing, but those Beedrill she was seeing? Oh sweet baby Arceus, those were right up her alley. She could even say a Vespiquen would have been something she was into if she hadn't already found an adorable Ledyba...well, why not anyways? The more the merrier, after all. She wasn't keen on capturing every single pokemon she saw, but she couldn't resist something a sleek as a Beedrill, or as cool as Vespiquen. They'd totally wrek any noobs.
Also make the other noobs 100% jealous.
"Whaaa? Disappointed?" Claire said with obvious excitement. "How could I be disappointed? Those beedrill look like they could totally wreck some serious carnage." Well, she knew where she was gonna try and stay for a bit. As long as she didn't wonder too far off she'd be fine. Before she could even make the suggestion though, it seemed something had happened. She had no idea what Laurinda and Delphox were talking about, but it sounded like some noobs had gotten really, really, far in over their heads.
Which meant, if she went any further, she'd also be in waaaay over her head. Thankfully for Laurinda though, she had reached where she had wanted and had stumbled across two pokemon she'd not mind taking with her if she could find them. Not only that, she got a free helper. A very high level looking Delphox that could make this as easy as pwning low level noobs for giggles as a max level character. She just needed to win over its help.
With her natural charm and leadership skills, this would be totally easy!
"Hey, its a Chandelure! My mom has one of those." Claire said offhandedly as Laurinda revealed one of her other pokemon. "But yeah, don't worry! Thanks for letting me tag along this far, but I think I see a Combee and Weedle with my name on 'em. But hey, if you need help I may be a noob and get totally rekt by stuff in here, but I can offer encouragement and totally annoy someone to death better than anyone!"
With a brief salute as Laruinda left, Claire then turned to Delphox. She had two goals here. Capture a Weedle and a Female Combee. With or without Delphox's direct help. She'd much rather that be direct help though, so charm time.
"Heeyyyy, Delphox!" Claire said with an almost too friendly smile, cozying up to the pokemon and throwing an arm around its shoulder. "How's my favorite foxy pokemon doing? I know we've just met and all, but I feel like the two of us could totally be besties. It's like, we've got some kinda special thing, yeah?" The redhead proceeded to run her other hand through Delphox's fur, before giving the pokemon a soft poke on its cheek. "So how would you wanna help your new bestie capture two pokemon?"
Ralia giggled, having climbed onto Claire's shoulder, tilting her head towards Delphox. Despite the seemingly friendly smile and demeanor, she shook her head and gave Delphox a smile that seemed somewhat concerned. "Ralts~" 'She's gonna hurt herself if you don't'
Ralia gave Claire a small pat on her cheek. For some reason, she vaguely thought she was being called an idiot.
Martin was amazed at how their tactic was use Sing until they win. Some strategy, even if it could potentially stop them, this was risky for both of them. Even if he wanted to do something different, it wouldn't matter. Martin put on his best villain voice to intimidate his opponent. "So, this is your plan? Just keep singing until we fall asleep? Pity, I thought this would be an interesting fight. Use Scratch again, and stop that voice! At best, Martin figured he can stop any use of Tail Whip with Harden. What had him wondering was why Skitty wasn't bothering to use Fake Out anymore. After this fight, he would be looking up that move, he must be missing something on it. Nincada was fighting the feeling of being tired. The music was such a soft melody, pleasant to hear and soothing. His head shook again, pursuing the Skitty. With tired eyes, he still went after the prize. With another swing of his claws, potentially an ending to this song.
Amelia hesitated, wondering what to do. She wanted to keep things fair but at the same time, she wanted a partner who she felt comfortable with. The three floating in front of her seemed hyper and mischievous, the standard for most Ghost-type pokemon. However, the one in her arms was more along the lines of her personality and her Litwick already seemed to be a high energy, confrontational type. Letting go of the Shuppet in her hands, she knew which one she wanted, so she would have to trick the others so as to not hurt their feelings. She felt guilty about it, but it was the only way to make sure no one came out feeling cheated. "Alright, I'm going to think of a number between one and ten. Let out the number of cries you think is the number I'm thinking of. Okay? Go!" She said.
Lucian looked around the woods, noting the bug trainers with distaste they will suffice for a quick training match later and the healing hut that should save me some time if houndour needs healing.Seeing the volbeats and other pokemon lurking around the woods, he was satisfied this location would yield better results in his search than Route 2. Lucian clapped his hands together and turned to houndour "Let's attempt another search for a new partner shall we? Try to sniff out any pokemon you can, bark if you find a poison type and burn the rest." Lucian ordered before turning to begin his own search, although this time he kept closer to his partner in case of a surprise attack from an aggressive pokemon.
Lucian peered behind the trees and looked up into the tree-tops in his search while houndour once again put his nose to the ground and began to track any pokemon he may find.
Find pokemon- once again with a focus on poison types
Dawkin couldn't resist a smirk at knowing the attack would be ineffective but pushed on even faster until he came to another split. Finally dry-land, between the splashing from the three people and two pokemon in the water, along with his own goal in front of him, he didn't hear the splashing down the other path. "Whooper, fire off another water-gun as soon as it attacks, then retreat to me." Dawkin commanded, hoping that the Whooper would be able to hit the Ducklett as it was still recovering from the attack. Not that it really mattered, the Ducklett couldn't do much to Whooper and once Atlas was out it'd be a moot point. Dawkin intended to get to the ground as soon as possible and release Atlas for battle. Finally a chance to turn thing back on these two thugs. He'd battle them at water's edge, so Growlith couldn't be released and they'd be in the quandary he'd been in.
"OK. Well, I will return before I depart so that both Shyn and I may give a proper farewell. Good day for now."
With those final words, Shyn and Ren departed from the vicinity of the Pokemon Lab and began their journey about Pureplain. Ren wanted to get a proper feel for the place, considering she'd never really explored it at all. Plus, it was good to know what was where in such a large city, even if it was relatively plain.
Their first stop was the cafe down the road on which Kalmia recommended, in which Ren and Shyn both managed to score a free meal! After mentioning they came on Kalmia's mention and that they were new Pokemon trainers, the owner of the place began to tear up and told them both of his own beginnings to being a Pokemon trainer. He also remembered how poor he was in the beginning. He couldn't offer a whole lot, however it was enough to keep the two of them fed until dinner time. Ren thanked the man endlessly for his generosity, however he wouldn't take anymore after she'd done it some fifty or so times, and thus the two were kicked out so they could get a move on with their journey.
The next place on their list would be either the Pokemon Gym or the Super Contest... thing. Ren recalled that the Super Contest was down near the docks, according to the professor, so she decided both herself and Shyn would head down there first to see what it was like. She hadn't heard of such a thing before, and she had to admit Isson's 'contests' did intrigue her curiosity to some degree, and thus opted to head there first. With some newly found vigor thanks to the meal, Ren strode toward the Super Contest building with Shyn lazily wrapped around her neck.
She looked at what the trainer girl will do, figuring out about her tactic to defeat Vulpix first, which was of course a treat to her Pidgeys.
"Vulpix Dodge them as much you can, Rose help Vulpix and Tackle back always when Pidgeys use Tackle " she ordered, little nervous now "Vulpix use your Ember when you have the chance" she called. She knowed that if Ember hits the target it if probably make hight damaged to the Pidgey. Her tactic was to hit both of the Pidgeys, so maybe they will faint soon after another.
There was only one problem that always when Rose or Flame get hit By Pidgeys tackle weakened them, but so far it looked good, maybe she can win this match.
‘Huh.’ Laurinda looked a bit surprised at Claire’s reaction to the Deep Woods, but after further consideration that wasn’t even remotely a problem, and it was just to head onwards.
‘Thank you, but stay here.’ She immediately responded to Claire’s offer of assistance, before heading onwards into the woods as previously detailed. She looked to be in a hurry. Sooooo, that left Claire with Delphox here, who stared at her with a bored expression.
‘…!’ Delphox was somewhat startled when Claire suddenly came up and became all cozy. Her eyes narrowed in irritation as her fur was stroked and her cheek was poked, no real reaction other than remaining in place. She was just silent, staring at Claire with an expression that was feeling absolutely no incentive to commit to any kind of action, but then Ralia added her part and the fox’s eyes fell on her. Delphox then rolled her eyes, before giving a little grin under her furry snout.
‘Delphox~’ ”Fine, but do note, anything I touch here will faint.”
Delphox appeared to have given a positive answer. Now, if it was Weedle or Combee Claire was after, they were pretty much everywhere. Weedles were scurrying from tree to tree or plant to plant seeking their favorite leaves, while Combees were flying about moving close to anything that could theoretically be interpreted as having the colors of a flower, meaning several were flying close to Claire, Ralia and Delphox to examine them before flying on, if desired to engage then it was really just to do so.
‘Phox, Delphox.’ ”Attack a Combee, and its Vespiquen will take offense. I can burn her off. Beedrills don’t care about their Weedles, though. They’ll attack because it’s their turf, instead.” So the Delphox mentioned, though only Ralia could interpret it.
‘Hey! I accurately determined I wouldn’t win a straight fight, so I chose to gamble on a way I could win!’ Lena defended, grinning while sounding a bit desperate. Skitty turned to sing again, and…
<Pokémon doesn’t have critical failures, buuuut… she rolled an absolute 100 when she was to roll 55 or lower… Soooo~>
The thing with Sing is that it targets in a certain direction. It is a single-target move, meaning it can only target one opponent, the sound-waves with the power focused on that area. However, when Skitty spun around to Sing again at Nincada, she missed. And, because it was a fairly thin drain, that focused sound-wave carried on, directly at her own trainer.
‘When I decide on a strategy, I stick…! W-with it… huh? I…’ Lena looked considerably energetic and grinning, when she suddenly had to blink in confusion as a sudden drowsiness overcame her, and then suddenly she collapsed onto the drain wall to her right, her feet somehow holding her up. Lena fell asleep!
‘Skitty!?’ Announced in horrified realization, then Nincada was already up in her face with another Scratch. It hit, and Skitty jumped away in sudden fear. ‘Skiiii…!’ Suddenly without a steady source of commands, the kitty turned and dashed away from the danger, only to dash straight into the wall. Skitty hurt herself in confusion!
‘… Ty…’ … And then collapsed. Skitty fainted.
…
Martin was victorious! Martin gained 310 P for winning!
‘…’ The youngster king stared at the sleeping mercenary leaning at the wall for a couple of disbelieving seconds, before turning and staring at one of his now just standing around guards. ‘You lost to this one?’
‘Well… um… Sing hit…’ The tiny guard tried to defend with. The king turned and stared in the direction of the other trainers that participated in the tourney, but they seemed to just have completely decimated the king’s men and then started fighting among themselves for the fun of it.
‘… Very well! I suppose this is all up to me, then! Dark Knight, I commend your power, but now… You face the King!’
Youngster King Lewis wants to fight!
‘Say your prayers, for now you face the dreadful beast, the rare monster who sends quivers through all my kingdoms foes! Its origin is cloaked in mystery, its many arms surely spells doom for whatever it catches, writhing around its foes with an inescapable hatred…’
‘Iiiiih!’ The princess let out another little cry of fear, seemingly scared by the king’s “epic” description.
‘Do not fear, young princess.’ Lewis said, putting a gentle hand on her head. ‘For I have tamed the beast, and it now only attacks the villains that threaten our nation. After this, the Dark Knight will remember this day only with the fright he experienced upon facing this horrific blasphemous terror, which humans have trouble completely grasping!’ He turned to Martin, supreme confidence in his expression and a proud smile.
‘I would rather not have to rely on such dark and terrible powers… but your persistence has forced my hand. I now call on powers far greater than our own. I call upon you… come, great monster!’ He threw his hands up in the air, a Pokéball thrust up in the air, arcing to descend into the drain floor between him and Martin. ‘Protect our kingdom! Lay waste to our enemies! Show them no mercy!’
And then, the Pokéball crashed into the ground, and a flash erupted as a Pokémon took form.
Pokédex Entry #114 – Tangela, the Vine Pokémon. It is constantly wrapped in countless constantly jiggling blue vines that never stop growing. The vines cloak its unknown contents, and are known to entangle anything that comes close. The vines easily detach if grabbed and grow back within a day.
Indeed, as the Pokédex said, the different vines cloaking around its body are all constantly moving, jiggling around as it blinks forward at Nincada.
‘Ingrain!’ Lewis commanded immediately, and Tangela complied, starting to shoot vines down into the drain floor… and through it, somehow. Martin and Nincada had time to make a first move, too, not to mention lots of time to make ready during Lewis’ little speech.
The three Shuppets in front of her momentarily exchanged surprised glances at the means of determining, but okay!
‘Shuppet!’ The first one jumped forward a bit, energetic, eager to be first. What it said was actually Me first!, not intending it to be counted, but that was up to Amelia to determine.
‘Shuppet, shuppet, shuppet, shuppet,’ The Shuppet had closed its eyes and waved its head back and forth in the rhythm of its calls, looking extremely happy for some reason. ‘Shuppet, shuppet…’ It blinked a little in surprise, looking confused. It had lost count. ‘… Shuppet?’ It tilted its head and asked, stopping. It had no idea how many times he had actually called out.
‘Shuppet, shuppet, shuppet!’ The third one announced proudly, lifting its head and floating up a bit, smiling brightly. Three it was.
‘Shup, shup, shup, shup, shup…’ The second one closed its eyes and nodded to itself. ‘… Shup, shup, shup, shup, shup!’ It nodded with determination as it finished up. Nothing less than max.
The fourth one drifted away a bit after Amelia had let go of it, looking towards the other three after they had done their parts. It then looked to Amelia, and made its own choice. ‘Shuppet, shuppet.’ Twice. And that was it, the four of them inspecting Amelia with varying level of excitement. Playing games like this was fun!
Once again, Houndour seeks a poisonous scent. He looks around, and he does find multiple examples in the poisonous sting of Weedles, in case this interests Lucian. They’re uncommon in the Outer Woods, but they’re there, if he desired one. Houndour could easily smell one out.
Pokédex Entry #13 – Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokémon. It has an acute sense of smell, and can easily distinguish its favorite leaves. It eats its body-weight of leaves every day. Its stinger secretes a powerful venom, and it uses this toxic barb to ward of hostiles.
As for “burning the rest”, that would take a while. So many Caterpies creep and Volbeats fly around, individually frying each that wasn’t a Poison-type would take near forever. In addition, none of them were much of a match for Houndour who could literally blast them down in one shot with super-effective fire, giving but a negligent amount of experience. Of course, he could still do it, but eventually that would take on his stamina rather than anything else.
However, after a while of tracking, Houndour caught the scent of something new. A… more unique type of venom, different from Weedle-kind. However, it wasn’t from this area. The trail of the smell was leading deeper into Infested Woods.
The Ducklett’s stream of water impacted Wooper, but the impact did nothing to the creature who simply absorbed the Water Gun, and then shot back with its own. The Ducklett blinked a little in surprise and took the Water Gun full on, pushed back with an annoyed expression although not suffering much damage. In the distance, seeing this, the girl recoiled a bit as she was wading forward.
‘Eh!? … Oh, I have other options!’ She recovered and grabbed another Pokéball, throwing it into the air. ‘Go, Minccino!’ And with that, in mid-air, the Pokéball flashed and a grey little creature emerged.
‘Minccino!’ It called out happily.
Pokédex Entry #572 – Minccino, the Chinchilla Pokémon. It likes to keep wherever it lives clean and tidy, using its tail as a broom for sweeping and dusting. If it finds shiny but dirty items, it usually cleans them. When Minccino’s greet one another they do so through thorough grooming of the other using their tails.
So, the grey chinchilla appeared in mid-air, smiling brightly intent on doing its trainer’s bidding… before it fell into water about as deep as Minccino was high. Water splashed around, almost immediately followed by a panicked squealing from the Pokémon splashing about trying to swim.
‘Eh.’ She very quickly realized her mistake, staring blankly down at her struggling Pokémon before promptly returning Minccino to its Pokéball.
‘Consider your surroundings.’ The guy said, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Growlithe had previously been returned to its Pokéball.
‘Shut up. You have one more Pokémon too.’ The girl snapped back, looking at him.
‘… Not applicable, considering our surroundings.’ The guy replied, looking down into the water.
‘Ah, right. Because you’re so flexible that you had to have two fire-types.’ The girl mocked him.
‘Now, now. That didn’t mean I have no plan.’ He replied, gazing after Dawkin, who by now had gotten up to the ground and released Atlas. The guy smirked a little.
‘C’mon, Growlithe.’ He took out a Pokéball, and then leaned forward. He held himself just barely above the water, leaned forward, and then the flash of a Pokémon emerging came from his pocket, and Growlithe stood on his back, glaring forward at Atlas.
‘Ember.’
‘Growl!’ The Growlithe barked before shooting out a burst of flame at Atlas, from numerous meters into water on his trainer’s back.
‘Ducklett! Occupy the Wooper! Use… er… Defog…’ The girl hesitated as she commanded beside him. Using the only other move Ducklett currently could make use of, and Ducklett blew with its wings forward, the wind clearing the path to Wooper… … … Though, there was nothing really to clear the way of. That said, Ducklett was ready to intercept another Water Gun, if needed.
Ren headed on towards the Super Contest area eventually, finding that the amount of people and sounds made suddenly took a sharp turn towards the crowded. Before her stood a large building, probably the fanciest construction in Pureplain City, complete with banners and colorful statues of several Pokémon, at least one example of a Pikachu and a Makuhita smiling outwards towards the crowd, all yellow and so. There were a lot of people walking in and out and talking in excited tones, though the majority appeared to be tourists rather than natives, as natives mostly forgot they actually had this building most of the time.
It was a dome-shaped building with a square base but relatively low ceiling compared to the sky-scrapers around, with all likelihood giving away the presence of a stage on the inside. When Ren made her way inside, sooner or later, she’d find herself in a minor marketplace. To the left and right where stores with souvenirs and accessories for Pokémon, it would appear. Then further ahead, there were multiple signs stating schedules of some kind of shows, each one marked with a time-stamp and which of five categories was competing. Cool, Cute, Clever, Tough or Beautiful. There appeared to be a Super-ranked Cute contest starting soon enough, and a Tough one starting right after.
Up ahead there was a really long desk with multiple staff explaining what this was or selling tickets for multiple of the shows. And then, there was a direction, a corridor to the right in which direction signs pointed potential contestants…
‘WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO! CONTESTS!’ Someone sounded out to her right. … It was Joshua, if she remembered.
‘Here’s where the magic happens, Ewan! Here’s where Trainers and Pokémon alike stand out, flash their colors and perform to a loving audience and become superstars! Just a little bit longer, and all of Isson will know our names…!’ He was calling out, expression shining, hands making dramatic gestures into the air that everyone within a mile could overhear.
‘… You’re going to make me participate, too?’ Ewan asked, frowning just a little.
‘Oh, don’t be silly.’ Joshua grinned at his friend. ‘OF COURSE I’m going to make you participate too! But, we can’t join here yet. To join the Super Rank, we must first clear the Normal Rank in Redcoast City. For today, we’re here to watch in the audience, gain ideas of how we’ll perform, and then we strike! Isson won’t know what hit it!’ Joshua announced, shining. ‘Ain’t that right, little buddy? You’re ready to take the nation by storm, aren’t you?’ Joshua asked the Pokémon on his shoulder.
‘Pikachu!’ The yellow Pokémon announced happily, looking eager to help his trainer out and stand out on the big ring, spiky yellow tail raised high, small hands raised eagerly. … The Pokémon looked a bit different since a fairly short amount of time ago. His Pichu had already evolved, somehow.
Pokédex Entry #25 – Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. It stores electricity in sacks inside its cheeks, which it unleashes if threatened. They live in forests, and use their electricity to roast berries. It monitors its surroundings by raising it tail and sensing electricity. If multiple Pikachu gather up, their power increases.
‘Yeah, that’s right! You’re cool, cute, clever, tough and beautiful all at the same time!’ Joshua grinned, quite eager to get started. ‘Now let’s go! Our magnificent future awaits! We’re shopping for accessories!’ He announced, and then they went onto the shops.
‘…’ Ewan stared after his friend, scratching a bit at his throat feeling awkward, but then shrugged and followed Joshua. Wasn’t anymore he could do but that right now.
Now, Ren was still in this pretty active place where one could do multiple things… what would she do?
1. Participate. Or, well. Find out why you can’t. Haha. 2. Watch a show. Can specify what category you’d like to see.. 3. Shop. Plenty of accessory shops around and places to otherwise… fancy things up. 4. Talk. There are plenty of people to talk to around here to ask what’s up. 5. Move along. Or, you could decide this isn’t what you came for and leave. 6. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 7. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 8. Familiar Faces: Joshua and Ewan. Joshua appears quite knowledgeable about this, and is currently checking shops. Ewan’s wandering after.
Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on Flame’s side this time, and she was unable to dodge out of the way of either Pidgey as both soared in and succeeded in tackling her. She took considerable damage, but managed to hold out. However, they didn’t manage to do it without consequence as, Rosa managed to tackle one of the incoming Pidgeys, though it continued its tackle after taking the damage. Slowed down by the tackle, Flame was able to Ember it after it had tackled her. It wasn’t possible to hit both of the Pidgeys like this, but she could hit the one Rosa had already tackled and upon impact it became too much for the bird and it crash-landed a number of meters away. Pidgey fainted!
The remaining Pidgey landed beside Audrey with a bit of wide eyes, staring at the burned and fainted companion before looking to his trainer in hesitation. Audrey hesitated too, but…
‘Th-the Vulpix is almost done! If you can tackle it, you’ll win! The plant can’t beat you one-on-one! Go! Tackle!’ Audrey commanded, inspiring her Pidgey, and the Pidgey took off for Flame… but, a single Pidgey tackling would both be much easier for Rosa to intercept and for Flame to dodge. It wasn’t that much of a danger anymore.
Flame was able to dodge the Pidgey’s movements fairly easily, and then Rosa’s tackle plus an Ember from Flame meant the bird would be taken out pretty quickly.
‘Aaaaah! Pidgey!’ Audrey sounded out. There were no longer any birds around her, and now she just looked like an average defeated lass.
Donna was victorious! Donna gained 470 P for winning!
Flame grew to Level 6!
Rosa collectively grew to Level 5!
‘Ah, geesh! They can’t win against anything! I don’t want to be a Bird Keeper anymore!’ Audrey complained, looking around. ‘But, then, what to do with all my Pidgeys… … …’ Then she looked to Donna, blinking a little. ‘Hey. You. Do you want a Pidgey?’ She suddenly offered a Pokéball. Of course, Donna could disregard the offer if she wants to.
Gender: ♀ Type: Normal/Flying Personality: (Up to player.) Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: (Up to player.) Level: 3 Moves: Tackle Ability: Keen Eye, prevents accuracy from being reduced. Held Item: None.
Status: Fainted.
Donna received Pidgey!
New Pokémon caught! Donna earned 500 P!
Would you like to give a nickname to Pidgey?
‘Aaaaah… Time to look for a new passion in life…’ Audrey then stated, regardless of if Donna accepted or not, and then walked off somewhere, numerous Pidgeys that perhaps came back to see if there was anything left landing where she once stood and looked around confused. Now, the choice of what to do on Route 2 once again opened up for Donna.
Route 2
1. Find Pokémon. Can be specified what kind of Pokémon is being searched for, and how you search. 2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding. 3. Seek trainers. There should be some here and there. Note, some may challenge you, regardless. 4. Talk. There’s some other travelers around. Maybe seek answers to any burning questions you have. 5. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally. 6. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination. 7. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 8. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 9. Area Specific: Fishermen Huts. See what the fishermen over there's got going. 10. Familiar Faces: Lucian. He recently headed into Infested Woods, you might have seen him pass.
Connected areas: Pureplain City. You’ve walked a bit now, but could get back without complication. Infested Woods. Close, can get there without complication. Wet Caverns. It’s a bit more, but you can likely get there without complication now.
Amelia listened to each Shuppet as they gave off their number of cries. She kept track of how many they let out but she had already made up her mind and she was going to stick to it. She pulled out the pokeball from earlier and reached out for the quiet Shuppet, giving it a smile. "And you're the winner, congratulations. Would you be willing to join me on my journey?" She said to it gently, enlarging the pokeball and waiting to see if the shy one would accept. If any of the other three tried to get the ball or get inside of it, she would quickly withdraw.
"Litwick lit!" Litwick said to the other three, warning them not to interfere.
Dawkin let out a noise of begrudging respect at seeing the fire trainer's creative response to the situation. "Atlas, use Whooper as a shield against their attacks. Whooper, fire a water-gun at the Growlithe: Atlas, attack at the same time with Mud Slap!" The combined assault should hurt whatever it hit, whether it be the Ducklett getting in the way or the trainer and his Growlith. Whooper should be able to take any attacks that came its way with ease, allowing his two Pokemon to barrage the enemy with ranged attacks until they were forced away. "I'm trying to figure out if you two are smarter or more stupid than the average Bonny and Clyde, but either way you're not going to take me out that easily!" Dawkin announced confidently. His strategy should work, if not he'd bail and have to inform the professor about the dragon poaching these guys were planning, she'd know what to do about it. But that was a last resort, he planned to take care of things here and now! Taking down two criminals planning on poaching Pokemon would be a fantastic achievement at such an early point in his journey.
Martin was prepared to bite the bullet, it was a gamble to keep running towards the sound of the voice. Skitty spun around to face it's opponents and sung another song. What threw Martin off was that Skitty hit it's trainer and put her out cold. Nincada didn't stir from his concentration and ended it with one last attack. Holding back a laugh, Martin was trying his best to take this seriously. He was supposed to be some kind of villain, but here was a trainer sleeping while standing up. Thankfully the "King" stepped forward,t he last defender of his noble castle. Now this was the final boss fight, and he was the boss. Martin coughed before regaining his composure. His opponent was giving such a long speech, complete with the entire backstory on his champion. Part of him wanted to just attack while he was talking, but might as well put on his own show.
"Are you done talking, foolish King? Give your final speech while you can, for even your best mercenary fell before me. No more hiding behind your Knights, your guards, not even the hired help. Let's see if you really are worthy of the title, before I take even that away from you as well. I said it before, but I'll say it again. My Nincada will end this fight quickly. I do not need to fear any dark beasts you own, for mine is the true face of fear. Go quickly and use Scratch!
Nincada was less impressed by it's current opponent, but still charged again into battle. With his defense, the best and quickest way to hit his opponent was head on. Martin was still enjoying the speech he gave. This was great being some villain invading a kingdom.
Ralia, Ralts Level: 7 Status: A bit roughed up, but otherwise fine.
Ritz, Ledyba Level 5 Status: Should probably get healed.
Potion x1 Antidote x1 pokeball x4
"Thank you, darling. I'll be sure to return the favor at some point~" Ralia gave a brief nod and a smile to Delphox in appreciation.
Seeing that Delphox was seemingly in agreement, the redhead backed off, giving the fox pokemon a wide grin. Well this was just going so well, wasn't it? She was confident in her ability to handle Weedles and Combee, but against Vespiquen and Beedrill? She'd get rekt harder than a level 4 noob waltzing into a high level area accidentally. With delphox keeping them off of her though, this would be a piece of cake.
"Awesome, thanks a bunch Delphox! I owe ya one sometime!" Claire cheerily replied. Right then...now where to start. Considering how close the Combee were flying to them, they'd be a lot easier to get her hands on. Plus, they weren't as aggressive as the Beedrill were, which meant it'd be easier to catch one and she'd have some fairly good steam left to fight a Weedle if she needed it. So, first on their checklist - catch a female Combee.
"Right, Ralia, keep your eyes open for a Combee! We need a female, since I want a Vespiquen." Ralia climbed off of Claire, standing in front of her. Preferably they could find a friendly little Combee and then they could catch it without angering a Vespiquen, but Ralia pretty much assumed the chances of things going horribly wrong was about 100%.
She jumped up and down when the last Audrey's Pidgey fainted. Taking a deep breath she calmed down and taked both her pokemons into her arms "Great job Flame, Rosa you two are good team" she said to them.
Thought her happiness was very short timed, because the words what Andrey said, about quitting to be a bird keeper. That shocked her she didn't want to hear anyone to lose their dreams so easely "Please don't say that, you are great trainer and strong opponent..." she said to her "Don't let this break your dreams to be a bird keeper" she continued trying to comfort her, but in vain. She noticed that the girl didn't even listen to her and even keep up offering one of her pidgey to her.
First she was confused about the suddent offer and didn't know what to answer to that, thought it seemed that the Audrey almost throwned her Pidgey away. Hearing the girl muttering something, before walked off, leaving her there with a pokeball "I guess This is mine then" she said to herself glancing at the ball on her hand.
Donna received Pidgey!
New Pokémon caught! Donna earned 500 P!
Would you like to give a nickname to Pidgey?
Sighing she taked the pokeball at her bag and called her own pokemons back to their balls to "Time to rest" she said to them, before they vanished to the red light. Sighing again she looked at the path again "Wet caverns are there" she said to herself watching the large rocks ahead of her.
As the duo made their way about Pureplain, Shyn eventually spotted the Super Contest dome, guiding Ren towards it. She was discontent with the number of people in the vicinity, finding the place far too crowded for her liking. However, with a mission objective in mind to see all of Pureplain before she left, Ren pushed onward, into the building. She was surprised to find such an expansive marketplace within the contest dome, thinking such things were only really outside from her past experiences, and she continued to wander about, looking at items and whatnot from a distance.
"What... is this...?" She found herself muttering unconsciously, looking around at the numerous stores selling their wares and items. "If it isn't a contest of battling skill, then it must be something else... Perhaps it's... some kind of performance?"
It didn't take long for Ren to get her answer.
Joshua and Ewan had entered the vicinity with her, and were wandering about. Thankfully for Ren, Joshua was something of an outgoing speaker, and thus told the world all of the information she conveniently needed to know. 'So it's more akin to a celebrity, where one with their Pokemon does performances... That would explain the categories...' Her eyes quickly darted over to the 'categories' section of on a board, listing the various categories of the system, then back to Joshua and Ewan to stalkwatch over them. After all, Joshua's Pokemon already appeared to have changed dramatically, or at least it was a different Pokemon all together. She pulled out her Pokedex and scanned the electric mouse.
'The same one from the statue, huh...?'
Curious, Ren opted to follow the two in order to settle herself in and see what was going on in the area. After all they appeared they had a better idea about the place than she did, and she wanted to see what exactly if the contest thing was worth her time. She knew for certain that it definitely intrigued Shyn, whom was really interested in being put into a cool contest to show off his magnificent style. He also appeared pretty excited to see the electric mouse, trying to call out to the Pikachu a few times, ignoring the advice of it's trainer. "Shyn!" With an excited bounce, the small electric casanova jumped from his trainer's arms and over toward Ewan and Joshua, bouncing up and down in front of them excitedly, as though to say hi to both them and Pikachu. Ren was forced to follow to try and quiet the Pokemon down, however she found herself right in front of the two as a result, nervously trying to get Shyn to be a bit quieter. "Sh-Shyn, please be quiet, or I will be forced to put you back into the Pokeball..." The threat apparently worked, however Shyn was still very excited. Ren, on the other hand, was nervous. "O-oh, uh... hi... S-sorry if I disturbed you..."
Lucian sighed as houndour tracked yet another weedle hiding behind a bush, he watched in disappoint as it nibbled on a pile of leaves, completely unaware of his company. Holding his head for a moment, he addressed his partner "Tell me there is something else, anything would be better than these worms". As the trainer spoke, houndours head rose for a moment before it returned to the floor and followed in the direction of the new scent he had detected. Hope appeared in Lucian's eyes as he noticed the dark type's activity. Houndour tracked the mysterious poison type's scent and Lucian followed, deeper into the Infested Woods.
The chosen Shuppet looked a bit surprised at being chosen, but then smiled and nodded. ‘Shuppet!’ … And then fairly excitedly drifted to the Pokéball, letting itself flash into it and be captured without any shaking. Click.
Amelia obtained Shuppet!
Gender: ♀ Type: Ghost Personality: (Up to player.) Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: (Up to player.) Level: 5 Moves: Knock-Off, Screech Ability: Insomnia, prevents Pokémon from falling asleep. Held Item: None.
New Pokémon caught! Amelia earned 750 P!
Would you like to give a nickname to Shuppet?
‘Shuuu-uuupp…’ The first Shuppet looked a bit disappointed, tilting over in defeat. ‘Shup, shup!’ The second one smiled and commented, starting to move to drift around Amelia for an unspecified purpose. ‘Shuppet!’ The third one drifted upwards and called out like a congratulations.
‘Who goes there?’ … And then suddenly the Shuppets dispersed, because the door of the house had opened and a man stood in the opening, staring with tired eyes. He was wearing a black outfit of a class that didn’t feel it really belonged in this age, his lightly brown skin and bleach-colored hair not entirely fitting together. He stood straight with a grace and class that looked like it had been pounded into his body, yet his eyes told of wear and tear, exhaustion, and if the Shuppets in his eaves was anything to tell by, a whole lot more as well.
His eyes drifted at Amelia, seeing where she stood. ‘… A trainer…’ He commented, his eyes drifting towards the Shuppets in his eaves before he sighed. ‘Kids shouldn’t be out at this hour… There’s no telling who you might run into…’ He spoke, sounding like he said that with a piece of irony to his voice. Amelia was free to react as she wanted.
The king recoiled a bit at Martin’s speech, obviously a bit intimidated by his unsure expression, but stood his ground, clutching his fists with the princess hiding behind him.
‘No more speeches! We’re doing this!’ He then turned his gaze on the battle.
Nincada moved forward, the time to engage about the same as the time it took for Tangela to root himself. And then, he scratched. Tangela recoiled, the jiggly tentacles taking the damage of the tearing claws, but stayed attached to the ground and ready to retaliate. It would appear that defense was also a strong part of their opponent.
‘Constrict!’ Lewis commanded, and the tentacles struck out, and Nincada would be too slow to avoid it having moved in to scratch. The arm which scratched the tentacle-monster got entangled in the blue tentacles, which were reaching out to bind the bug. They hardly did much damage, but if it continued unopposed it could get dangerous. Tangela was periodically healing himself with Ingrain from tentacles pushed into the ground, as well.
Wooper defended Atlas from the fireball that Growlithe sent flying and the flame burst into the water-type’s face. The fluids on Wooper naturally defended her from the flames, but… Growlithe was higher level than the freshly caught Wooper and Wooper’s special defense is low, meaning Wooper still took considerable damage and was forced to at the very least recoil. Too many of those would still be dangerous, even if she could handle at the very least one more.
Meanwhile, to the response of the Water Gun and Mud-Slap Ducklett swooped in, taking the blast of water and the sent mud with its wings held in front of it to defend, but a quick swipe with its wings blew away the mud and Ducklett stared intently forward at Atlas and Wooper, relatively unharmed. Ground and water would neither be very effective against the duck.
‘… Sure. Gauge how smart we are. Hey, girl who’s not doing anything.’ The guy called to his companion, who immediately turned and glared at him.
‘Hey, I just defended you against TWO super-effective moves! Show some-’ She was interrupted by the guy with a Growlithe on his back lobbing a Pokéball to her, and she blinked in stunned realization as she just managed to grip it.
‘Throw that and your Minccino’s Pokéballs past him.’ The guy commanded, giving a little smile at Dawkin. ‘Ember.’ He then commanded his dog. Growlithe knew he was aiming for Atlas, currently protected by Wooper, so he shot the fireball at Wooper.
‘… Fine!’ The girl took a step forward in the water, annoyance in her eyes, and pointed turned with the hand holding his Pokéball turned away, ready for a baseball-style long-throw, intending on attempting throwing it past Dawkin in the corridor. Ducklett floated in the water, ready to move to block any moves, knowing his role in this.
Looking for a female Combee did not take a long time. Not only does the Pokédex actually have a function to determine the gender of a Pokémon, but as a fellow Pokémon Ralia could easily point the way. Now, among the different Combees that headed their way, inevitably a few were female. For instance, this one here, who happened to drift close to Ralia with her little wings keeping the three conjoined bugs in place drifting down to examine the fellow Pokémon due to being attracted to the colorful red horn that could have been a flower. But, well, it wasn’t.
‘Combee?’ The three bees asked in a choros, staring down at Ralia, who happened to not be a flower. Not to say she isn’t pretty as one, but… anyway!
Meanwhile, Delphox moved forward gazing into her flame a little lazily, then absent-mindedly thrust her wand and a burst of flame at a Beedrill whom she had triggered from walking closer to his territory. As the Beedrill’s fainted and charred body fell to the ground a bit away, Delphox placed herself in-between Claire and a specific Vespiquen who was taking in the nectars that her Combees were gathering. The fox already knew exactly which bug would trigger in case of if Claire attacked a Combee.
Audrey blinked a little in surprise at how Donna suddenly argued that she was a great trainer. She turned to Donna, blushing a little and scratching behind her head.
‘Awww, heck. I can’t stay depressed if you’re going to encourage me like that. Okay, maybe I’ll give it one more chance…’ She giggled a little, though then. ‘Though, I still don’t need four Pidgeys. A bit more variety is probably good. So, you can still have her. Okay~?’ And with that she waved and wandered off, with Donna still left with a Pidgey.
And then, Donna moved on. It should be noted that Flame suffered a considerable amount of damage in the last battle and her new Storm is still fainted from the same battle.
And so, the roads started going up, inclining as the rivers stopped and the surroundings became just a bit dryer, if only from the altitude. She had reached the next location.
Entrance of Wet Caverns
It’s just a hole in the mountain, anyone could enter it. By the entrance, Donna could notice that there were two individuals standing by the entrance. A girl with white hair and whiter clothes, a long blue tie hanging in front of her and darker boots, stockings and sleeves. And, a guy with brown hair, a blue jacket and multi-colored pants, looking like a mix-match of a thug trying to dress a bit more fancily with a serene-like girl.
‘Halt! You there! Are you-’ The guy called out, glaring in Donna’s direction. However, he was interrupted by the girl placing a hand on his chest to stop him.
‘Calm yourself. Our quarry was described to be a girl and a boy in unusually fine black clothes, and the girl’s hair was described as long and cyan. This is not her.’ She said, focused.
‘… You’re right. Sorry, I’m a bit on edge…’ The boy grunted to Donna, turning away to look into the cave.
‘Be careful. We have received warnings from travellers that two people in suits have been sighted around here despite the conditions, which is the tell-tale sign of Team Amethyst. If you see them, let us know. We shall handle them.’ The girl said to Donna. ‘Now, esteemed trainer. If you wish, I can heal your Pokémon. It would be dangerous to walk into Wet Caverns with a damaged party. Should I?’ The girl offered.
Donna could pick if she wished to get healed or not, and then she was free to make another choice.
1. Enter Wet Caverns. Time to go in. 2. Turn back. You always can. 3. Talk. There are two strange people here. If you wish, you could ask them things. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
Joshua and Ewan were inspecting a few of the stores when…
Pikachu’s ears twitched as they picked up on being called out to, his tail rising to sense electricity. Moments later, Pikachu spun around on Joshua’s shoulder in Shyn’s direction, eyes highly attentive and excited. ‘Pika-chu!’ He sounded out excitedly, getting his trainer’s attention.
‘Hm? What’s up, little buddy?’ Joshua asked, turning and looking in the direction just in time to see Shyn running up to him. ‘Oh! A little friend!’ He crouched down to him and was more than happy to be jumped at, smiling from ear to ear and lowering a hand to attempt patting the little guy. ‘What brings you here? Oh, Pikachu here, right?’ Joshua smiled happily and turned his shoulder with Pikachu forward.
‘Pikachu!’ The excited Pikachu jumped down to greet Shyn, also totally happy with seeing another electric-type around, and was totally about to playfully jump onto him when Ren came shuffling forward. Ewan had blinked a little in surprise when Shyn appeared, looking down at him, but otherwise stayed calm and noticed Ren approaching before Joshua did.
‘Oooooh! Aren’t you… Yeah, you’re one of Kalmia’s…’ Joshua grinned happily. ‘Appearing here… The cool mystery-girl is interested in contests! … And she’s pretty cute up close, too! My heart leaps with joy!’ He stands up straight and looks about as excited as Shyn or Pikachu was as he happily offers his hand to Ren. ‘I’m Joshua of Justroad City! Don’t worry, you’re not disturbing. In fact, you coming over to talk just made my day!’ The dark-green haired boy said happily. He then gave Ewan a little glare of “say something~!” before looking back to Ren with the same happiness. Ewan noticed, maintaining calm, and then looked to Ren.
‘I’m Ewan, also from Justroad. The Master-Rank Contests take place there, and Joshua’s been influenced by them since birth.’ No mention of how Ewan managed to avoid it. ‘Are you interested in contests?’ He asked about what Joshua had just automatically assumed.
Meanwhile, Pikachu was totally trying to instigate playing with Shyn, excitedly jumping about and generating lots of static electricity.
Lucian headed down into the forest, following Houndour. The two led themselves down from the glowing parts of the Outer Woods into the deeper parts, where vegetation started growing tighter, the area grew darker as more trees blocked sunlight from above and the sounds of life died down yet the stares of countless little predators still could make themselves be known through the woods. This was the next area of Infested Woods.
True Infested Woods
Houndour could track the scent, and followed a path. For this particular path, it seemed like Lucian was remarkably unopposed for whatever reason, though small sounds could be heard here and there, wind gripping at the tops of the trees while he had to manouver tight areas in the woods to reach their destination. There was a while of walking, one could almost start wondering if this trial was actually going to lead anywhere or if it just went on forever. However, eventually, Houndour reached a tree, where…
‘Ven!’ A 40 centimeter tall bug suddenly jumped down at Houndour, intending on getting an attack in before a fight had even broken out. Houndour would be able to avoid the bite (which the GM supposes counts as a Poison Sting attack for now), but the bug clearly was asking for a fight.
Pokédex Entry #543 – Venipede, the Centipede Pokémon. It senses its surroundings using feelers on its head and tail through vibrations in the air. It is extremely aggressive, and its bite contains a powerful poison that can paralyze even large birds.
… And it wasn’t alone. There were four more Venipede’s jumping down from the tree, glaring at Houndour and Lucian, as if indicating that they definitely had wandered into the wrong neighborhood. These bugs were the source of the other poisonous smell that Houndour had picked up on. Now it was up to Lucian if this interested him.
Flame the Vulpix | Lv5 | Moves: Ember, Tail whip
Rosa the Cherubi | Lv3 | Moves: Morning sun, Tackle
Storm the Pidgey | Lv3 | Moves: Tackle,
