Amelia watch the other trainers and when they pushed forward one of their own. Amelia gave the boy a kind smile, seeing the pressure he felt being the involuntary spokesman of the group. When he finally said what he wanted to, she thought over her answer carefully. She couldn't really tell them about where she got Phantump and Pumpkaboo, since that would only make more work for Laurinda, who already seemed to have a hard enough time. After a minute or two, she nodded to herself before turning to the group.
"I can't tell you were I got my Phantump or Pumpkaboo sadly. I was asked to keep a secret and I will. As for Litwick, he was my starter, so I don't know where I would find them in the wild other then Witchpeak, where I come from. Shuppet though, I found her in Pureplain City itself. You all likely go to sleep when it's dark out, so you'll rarely ever find Ghost-types. They come out at night for the most part. So look around the city for them, but be careful. They like to hang around houses, so you might be disturbing some people if you try to catch them. Make sure you have permission before attempting to do so." She said, keeping her tone calm and kind so as show that she wasn't so scary. "And don't let Ghost-types scare you. Most of them are more mischievous rather then harmful. I found Shuppet with about a dozen or so others and some of it's friends took one of my pokeballs. I got it back.

Oh, everyone say hello."

"Lit!" Litwick shouted from atop Amelia's head, waving at the youngsters.

"Shu..." Shuppet said, staying in Amelia's arms and turning away from the group shyly.

Phantump moved right into the youngster's face.
"Tump!" She shouted as loudly as it could.

Pumpkaboo meanwhile floated into the hood attached to the boys shirt and got comfortable
"Pumpkaboo!" He said contently causing Amelia to giggle at his antics.

Again Sprout went into battle, the splash of water greeting him as he went head first into the Goldeen, who was ready to retaliate with a strike in return. A quick toss of a Pokeball from Martin stopped the attack in it's tracks, the ball shaking until finally giving up with a click to confirm. "Alright, nice work Sprout. We got that Goldeen, and you didn't even get hit." Martin was already pulling out his Pokedex to check what it knew for moves. Not a bad pick, but probably could use some training later. He quickly shoved his Pokedex back in his pocket getting back to why he was here. "Come on Sprout, can't keep the party waiting this long." Sprout bounded after Martin, his short legs not going as fast as his trainer, who was ready to get back on track.

Martin stopped for a few seconds, a cave like this was not a good place for Sprout to be trying to walk it. He turned back to Sprout, who was still trying to keep up. "Sorry Sprout, you should take a rest. Caves aren't the best place to be having you do a workout. I'll call you out when I need you, sound good?" Sprout sat where he was. It was pretty clear that it was agreeing and was now going to refuse to move otherwise. Martin called Sprout back to his Pokeball, instead calling out Nincada. The bug looked around, for once not trying to avoid the light. He actually seemed a lot more relaxed down here, just what Martin expected.

"Hey Nincada, got you a treat this time. A cave, nice and dark. Also it's been bugging me that I never did give you a name. Got any ideas?" Nincada just blankly stared at him, not giving any response. "Thanks for the ideas... How about Nick?" Nincada continued to stand there, enjoying the scenery more than the conversation. "I'll get back to this later then. Come on, we got things to do." Nincada finally gave a small nod and the two hurried the pace to catch up to Dawkin.

Martin was finally getting used to swapping out Pokemon for the job, as Nincada didn't have any trouble navigating in a cave, the terrain not bothering him at all. He waved to Dawkin as he caught up. "Sorry that took a while. Sprout was a little too powerful, so it took a bit longer than expected. So, which way from here are we going?"

Lucian Vazquez

After the zubats fell, Lucian gestured for houndour to keep moving and continued to follow the pokemons scent. Before he followed the sounds and houndour as the pokemon began to head down the left cave, he turned to Dawkin and Martin "Well, as much as I appreciate your help back there, I have some business to attend to so I must be on my way, unless you intend to go left of course in which case I'd be more than happy for the company" he said to the two boys before turning on his heels and following houndour down the cave, hoping that this was the last turn before he found the ducklett, this cave wasn't exactly the nicest place Lucian had ever been to.

Martin took a bit to think about the choices. On the left was the sound of people, so it could be anyone having a conversation. To the right was just a path Dawkin took earlier. "We'll take the left path. If it's not what we're looking for, at least it's the shorter path. Nice to know we both don't really know the area. We'll just have to keep an eye out for things along the way. Come on, Nincada. We got places to be." Nincada continued his tradition of a simple nod, making Martin wonder if it understood what he was saying. Still, it was good enough to be a team, so he wasn't going to complain. The other person already took his leave, which was fine by him. No need to feel obligated to follow others around. Goldeen was a fresh catch, so he would probably count on his other two Pokemon.

Martin took the left path, checking back to make sure Dawkin was following. "Alright, Nincada. Use your sense of hearing and follow the sounds of distant voices. Even if you can't see, that means you should be better with other senses." Nincada stepped in front of Martin, following for the sounds of other people. Deep in thought, making occasional stops to listen again. This should make it easier to find whoever was this way.

@Rune_Alchemist

Mienfoo did have to break as Ritz swung by in a new direction, and the Meditite blinked as it realized it had become the new target. It tried to aim upwards at Del as he dropped down, but the Confusion it was inflicted with caused the Meditite to sway in the air and lose balance, meaning that when Del pierced down with the poisonous dagger it caused the yoga Pokémon to fall backwards out of mid-air and hit its head hard into the ground below. Meditite hurt itself in its confusion!

‘MEEDIII-!’ The Meditite yelled out in panic and pain where it lay with a Weedle on its head. Its trainer grunted with a deep frown, silent for a moment about how deplorable that went, but then directed a finger up to give commands.

‘Mienfoo, slap that Weedle off Meditite! Then go back after the Ledyba!’ The trainer looked quite ticked-off at how this was going on that front. She spared a look at Froakie, apparently judged that the frog was doing fine, and then continued to focus on these two. ‘Meditite! PLEASE use Confusion on the bug! You’ll take it out, easy!’ She demanded of her Pokémon.

As commanded, Mienfoo switched targets and dashed over to help get Del off its teammate, while Meditite struggled on its back, bound up by String Shot, trying to use its small hands to grip Del and prevent more Poison Stings and get a shot for a Confusion. Wasn’t entirely easy like this. For this moment, looked like Ritz was not attended to.

Meanwhile.

It might be unclear if it was by sheer luck or by the Froakie’s excellent awareness, but it went straight after the right Ralia when she split up and lifted his hand to Pound. However, Ralia got off her Confusion before he could go through with it. Froakie recoiled, closing its eyes and looking away for a brief moment as its expression twitched in pain, before swiftly looking back with eyelids forming a frown on the large oval eyes. Though, his eyes were considerably less focused, balance a bit off… Froakie became Confused!

Though, apparently not confused enough to stop him this time. He quickly swung his Pound at Ralia with one swift motion, and with the considerable difference in physical capability there was little Ralia could do to dodge the move. She’d take a blow. While Pound was powered-down from Growl, Ralia’s physical defenses weren’t exactly formidable to begin with, either. It’d hurt more than the bubbles had. Three more of those would be dangerous, and now Froakie was up in her face. Confused, but up in her face, intent on swinging Pounds like a madfrog.

---

Zigzagoon was initially supremely happy to hand over the golden ball to Lure in exchange for the honey, which it happily slurped on, sweet honey is delicious to Pokémon. Far too late did he realize the trap he had fallen in.

It yelped in surprise and pain as Gust hit him and he spun and ran off a few meters before realizing his mistake and spun back to look after where Lure was flying off.

‘Zigzagoon! Zigzagoon! Zigzagoon!’ He was crying out various panicked complaints trying to chase after Lure, but fail as he came dashing straight into the wall after Lure lifted over the shrine…



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

The kids looked curious about how Amelia said that the grass-ghosts origin was apparently a secret, but respected this fact. Then, they looked to one another with excitement when she said it was actually possible to find Shuppets in Pureplain City. Not exactly clear if they acknowledged her statement about asking for permission and being quiet while doing so, though.

The youngster looked notably relieved when Amelia started talking and was proven to be a very sensible individual rather than a scary one. He nodded to pretty much all she said, listening with somewhat wider than normal eyes. He gained a little smile when Litwick and Shuppet said their hellos, raising his own hand to wave at them a little, and…

‘WAH!’ He flinched backwards absolutely terrified and the whole group jumped with him as Phantump shouted and startled them. It took a moment or so before he realized it hadn’t actually been an attack and he could calm down again, looking at Phantump (who I imagine looks pretty amused). Then he blinked, noting Pumpkaboo making a nest in his hood, and he could breathe out in relief again.

‘Oh, uh, yeah. Guess they aren’t so bad. Haha.’ He gave an awkward little laugh as he was trying to look at Pumpkaboo in his hood behind him, and the other kids were excited.

‘That does it! We’re going on a ghost-hunt tonight!’
‘Yeah!’

There were varying shouts of excitement and maybe one or two worrying their parents might not approve of such a venture in the middle of the night, but otherwise it appeared they had accepted Amelia’s words.

‘Um, thanks.’ The youngster said. ‘Since you answered so kindly… Want to have this?’



‘They sold these down at the docks. I have a bunch, so you can have one!’ The boy grinned as he offered.

Now she could stay and talk to them, or head on, or whatever else she wanted.




Connected areas:
Pureplain City. Close enough.
Infested Woods. Close enough.
Wet Caverns. It’s a bit more, but close enough.



__________________________

@Pyromaniacwolf@Pikmin Eye@Eklispe

So, they followed the way left, following the curving cavern and river here. They likely had to wave off a few more Zubats coming down to visit them because this is a cave, but after sorting the Zubats out in whatever manner seemed the most appropriate they could continue relatively unopposed down the water. There were more Goldeens in the water, swimming away from the direction they were going, but they were definitely getting closer to the voices. In fact…

‘… can’t place it in a Pokéball, because it isn’t ours.’ A soft but strict female voice said.

‘I just wish I- Do I really have to do this!? What are we even doing with this bird!?’ A considerably rougher, more irritated though still young male voice said, accompanied by lighter sounds of wrestling.

‘I was thinking we take it back to base. She obviously didn’t want it.’

‘Well, I don’t want it, either! I just- Can you stop struggling!?’

‘Bear with it. When we get back to base, we can check to see if-’

And that’s as far as the conversation would have time to go before the two moved into vision of the three boys. There were hardly many places to hide if they wanted to, and the two were moving in the opposite direction wading through the river. The two were…



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. He currently had one arm around the body of a struggling angry Ducklett and one hand on the beak to keep it shut.





Dawkin had seen them before, of course. As well as the Ducklett, though his trainer wasn’t here.
Lucian might note they matched the description which Mia had given him, and that’s a Ducklett.
Martin would recognize the girl’s white clothing and the guy’s jacket as parts of a common Team Virtue dress-code. Though he was wearing it badly.

If the three wandered into vision of the two of them, they’d stop momentarily surprised, leaving enough time for the three of them to have the first reaction.

Now, what would they do?

Amelia smiled as the other trainers around her seemed to understand what she was getting at. Though, she hoped they wouldn't get into too much trouble looking for Shuppets. She really didn't want to be responsible for them causing some domestic disturbances. A part of her also worried for the Shuppets living in the city, since they were probably used to a safe and peaceful life. To be actively hunted would probably be a shock to them.

She snapped out of her thoughts when the boy in front of her screamed in surprised and looked up in time to see a highly amused Phantump laughing as it floated back towards her, apparently happy with itself for scaring the group. Amelia herself gained an amused smile when Pumpkaboo settled in the boy's hoodie and seemed happy. Moving over, she gently lifted the pumpkin out, causing it to give her a confused expression. She just laughed and pat it on it's head before turning to leave. Before she could though, the boy who had talked to her handed her a Lava Cookie, possibly as thanks. She just gave him a kind smile before heading back towards town, waving good-bye to the group.

She would stop at the pokemon center one last time before returning to Pokémon Laboratory, wondering if the Professor would still be up. She wanted to show the Professor her new partners and was curious about how she would react to the Shiny Phantump.

@Joshua Tamashii

Amelia received her Lava Cookie and lifted out her Pumpkaboo, the boy staying perfectly still as she did. The situation settled, and Amelia was soon on her way someplace else. Wandering back to Pureplain City, through the considerably long suburbs, she eventually reached Professor Kalmia’s home. Still a large single-floor lab that didn’t really look like a lab but had a sign in the front that said “Pokémon lab”, and a normal if smaller house that grew out the right side with a sincere clash of architecture.

<the following is an assumption, tell me if it’s incorrect>

When Amelia called attention to herself by ringing the bell or knocking, she could hear the beginning of a shout on the other side.

'VIV-' It cut short. It took several more seconds before the door opened. It hadn’t been locked. And there stood Kalmia, looking out with a curious look on her. Her hair has signs of having recently been wet and was currently naturally drying.



'Oh! Amelia!' Kalmia smiled widely as she saw who was there. She was looking slightly tired, and was carrying a few papers in her right hand as she had hurried over.

'You know you can call me anytime with the Pokédex, right? But, I’m so happy to see you! I’ve been so lonely since Vivia left on her journey…' A whole day ago.

'So, what can I do for you? Do you want to come in? I have coffee! If you, heh, want it. I might have juice, too.' Kalmia offered, suddenly realizing that Amelia might be too young to have developed a taste for coffee mid-sentence, stepping back and offering Amelia to step into the lab.

The rectangular room had book-shelves placed in a circle around an area in the middle, not properly taking advantage of the space in the corners. The shelves contained varying books and papers of research, as well as the occasional Pokéballs. In the back and right, a large amount of what appeared to be computer servers filled about 40% of the available space, and they were coupled to Kalmia’s laptop which stood on a desk to the left of it. Other than the laptop, there was also a large amount of papers and binders on it, making it impossible to place anything else on there.

To the left was another table, which had been claimed by Kalmia’s Slowpoke, standing there on four legs staring aimlessly at nothing with tail in the air.





To the right of the table was a healing station from a Pokémon Center, with places to place six Pokéballs, along with a large cylinder thing with a glass middle and a hatch that one likely were to place something moderately large within. There was nothing that said what it actually was. While it was tight in here, it was still decently maneuverable and Kalmia knew where everything she wanted was.

There was a side-door to the right, with all probability leading to the off-shoot house on the side of the lab. Kalmia offered to go there, because obviously, that’s where she actually had a kitchen. But if Amelia desired to, then they could stay in the lab.

Martin followed the sound of voices along with the others, hearing the back half of a conversation. He would have loved to hear all of it, but only Nincada would know the secrets, unable to share the words. He didn't have much time to figure out what was happening, but it might be Team Virtue. They had a Pokemon with them, probably stolen. He wasn't going to idly stand by an let such a crime occur. They came around the corner, one of them a girl, and the other was a guy restraining a Ducklett. He saw and heard enough to make a decision right there. He had Nincada out right now, that should be good enough.

Martin looked at Nincada, and pointed at the two strangers and gave a command. "Nincada, free that Pokemon from those two. Use Scratch to make an opening, but don't hit the people. Thieves would do well to not take from others." Nincada gave a nod and ran forward towards the the two people, with claws raised in the air. He ran at the man restraining the Ducklett, aiming for the arm holding the Pokemon. If he got close enough, he would miss, going by to turn around for another command. Martin didn't want to hurt people, not if this was just a really bad coincidence. If this went well, the Pokemon would have a chance to get away, and he would make sure they didn't keep it. He was acting without thinking about the situation, but Team Virtue never sat well with him.

Lucian Vazquez

Lucian paused as he viewed the scene for a moment "Well it seems we've found that girls ducklett" he said more to houndour than anyone else. Before Lucian could do anything else,Martin had charged in with his Nincada. Rolling his eyes he gestured for houndour to follow "Help our friend over there free the ducklett, if they release their own pokemon use embers on them."

Just as ordered houndour ran up to the man restraining the ducklett, growling at him and attempting to push him over from behind.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

”...Powder Snow! …” Erika gave her command, holding her breath as Sno performed his move. Erika held her breath as she waited to see the result and it felt like she was holding it months before the attack hit and Venonat was felled! Erika gasped as she finally realized what had happened...

"Whew... Sorry Vivia, maybe next time!" Erika breathed a sigh of relief, though sounding generally satisfied, with her first battle's conclusion. Erika bent down and gave Sno a pat on his cone top. ”You did great out there!” Erika gleamed and Sno matched her expression. She returned to her feet and walked over to offer her hand to Vivia in a friendly exchange. ”Thank you for the first battle and seriously, I hope you challenge me again!” Erika encouraged her rival, feeling the sudden weight of her first battle being lifted already.

Now it was time to begin her adventure! … Well… At least she thought so. After exchanging final goodbyes with the Professor, she was unexpectedly stopped by the last person she thought she’d see. ”D-dad! What are you still doing here?”

Turns out, Erika’s father had a meeting that morning but it got out early and decided to treat his daughter to lunch. His primary goal was wanting to know everything about how the meeting with the professor went. What Pokemon Erika had recieved, and so on. To Erika, who had a previous commitment, could only hastily respond to everything. She couldn’t say no to her father and things seemed to drag out until finally he wished her off again…

Erika hurried off to Route 2, stopping to occasionally train Sno up who seemed just as eager as her to get this adventure started, although less frantic about being late…

It took Erika awhile but she finally reached the entrance to the Infested Forest. ”Well Claire.. Here I am… Late…” Erika huffed as she dropped her head, remorseful that she had been late and for the moment, forgetting entirely about the phone she had received. Though Sno was doing her best to cheer Erika up by parading around Erika’s feet. ”..Well.. At least you and I can get started. I don’t think I’m brave enough to run in that forest with all those bugs but maybe we try heading somewhere else and meet up later, huh Sno.” Erika glanced up and surveyed the Route trying to formulate her next move...

@PlatinumSkink

---

Alright, somewhat good.

Ritz was free to do as he pleased while Mienfoo and Meditite dealt with Del. Ralia was still holding back that froakie, albeit not very well. She likely couldn't keep this up for much longer unless the frog's confused status could help. What to do here, then? She could have Ritz assist Ralia, or have it halt the Mienfoo, but that ran the risk of Del being done in by the Meditite. Gah, if only that stupid bug hadn't run off somewhere.

"Ritz! Hit that Meditite with as many tackles as ya can boy!" Claire called out. If they could take out at least the Meditite in short order by double teaming it, then they could focus on the Mienfoo while Ralia held down the froakie. If things kept like they were, then they should be fine! More or less. "Del, don't let up! Keep using poison sting on Meditite. Ralia-eh?"

Without having to give the Ralts a command, the small pokemon seemed to rather be...enjoying herself. Despite Froakie's closeness, the tiny pokemon seemed to be treating his closeness a bit similar to a...dance? The small pokemon twirled, doing its best to avoid the pound attacks as best as it could, even so much as trying to lessen a blow so it merely grazed the psychic type.

"R-right! Keep it up girl!"

Amelia smiled as Professor Kalmia answered the door. She didn't know who Vivia was, but she guessed with was someone important if the professor was missing her already after one day. When Kalmia brought up that she could've called her with the pokedex, her smile faltered a bit. She couldn't remember if she had been informed of that or not, but she likely had and just forgotten.

At the offer of coffee and then some juice, Amelia once again regained her smile.
"Some juice would be nice. Thank you professor." She said before following the professor inside. Seeing the inside of the lad for the first time, she found it to be a confusingly organized. She didn't understand why the professor didn't make use of all the pace available. She didn't bring this up though, moving over to the Slowpoke and gently patting it head. She examined it with her pokedex real quickly before following Kalmia into the attatched house and kitchen. Once they were inside, Amelia spoke again. "I have something I wanted to show you Professor. I thought you might like to see one of my new friends."

With that, she pulled out Phantump's pokeball and let the pokemon out, the tiny phantom appearing with a shower of sparkles.
"TUMP!" Phantump shouted, happy to be out of the pokeball.

@Pirouette - Slightly into the past

‘VEEEEEEN…!’ The Venonat was hit by the Powder Snow and fainted, finally, and Vivia’s muscles visibly sunk together in disappointment and feelings of loss on the other side.

‘Aaah…’ The look in her wide eyes told something about that she was expecting this to be a sign of what awaited her for most of her journey.



‘Y-you’re welcome, haha…’ Vivia gave a little smile at Erika’s words, and then took a deep breath to refocus. ‘Alright. I’ll become stronger. And I’ll be able to defeat some people to start with. I will become better! And I’ll-’

And that’s when her Rotom in washing-machine state sank an “arm” down the back of her shirt and gave her a playful shock, causing Vivia to jump wide-eyed on the spot before spinning around with an angry frown to confront her Rotom. It grinned widely at her as it drifted away, when Vivia seemed to realize something.

‘That was… punishment because I lost.’ Vivia stated. Rotom nodded excitedly.

‘You’re going to do that… every time I lose.’ Vivia continued. Rotom nodded even more excitedly.

‘OKAY!’ Vivia announced, extending hands into the air. ‘For the sake of preserving my sanity and skin-color, I will BECOME STRONGER!’ … And it seemed they came to some kind of agreement.

Meanwhile.

‘Congratulations on your victory!’ Kalmia said to Erika as she came along. ‘Before you go, take these!’ And so, Erika was also handed her Pokéballs so she could head out on her trip.



‘If you have any further questions, I can always be reached over the Pokédex! If there’s nothing else, then I suppose you’re ready to start your trip, eh? Good luck on your trip! I’m rooting for you!’ Kalmia happily saw her off, with all that meant and such. Then, of course, she ran into her father and got delayed a bunch, but, that’s a separate matter.

- Later

Finally able to get away from her father, Erika headed down the Pureplain City suburbs in the direction of Route 2. There were lots of buildings and lots of people wandering their way or wherever, but eventually they thinned out and Erika could arrive at a much less travelled path as Route 1 was the main way in and out of the city. What remained here was a wet Route squeezed between the Dragon Lake and Infested Woods, beginning in Pureplain City and ending in the mountains containing the Wet Caverns. You’re getting either bugged or wet in this direction.



So, training on Route 2, Erika would see the most common Pokémon of Route 2. Sno would have little trouble taking out the Pidgeys due to Ice’s effectiveness. The Surskits skipping on the water of the rivers in the route were resistant to Powder Snow, making them slightly more troublesome to take out. Otherwise, most was just neutral in the ice match-up, But, due to a somewhat higher level, Sno would be able to handle them. Sentrets, Weedles and Lotads could all be handled due to neutral effect back and forth, Lotads in particular due to grass being weak to ice while water was resistant.















Then, once. She saw something different hiding under one of the bridges, swimming up to the side of the river. It looked like a blue ball of…? No, wait. That’s the back of a big tadpole.





And… that’s what she’d find. If she wanted to catch any of the Pokémon she met, then of course she could invest energy into that. Otherwise, the training of Sno went off without particularly much of a hitch.



And now, (unless she’s off catching a Pokémon), that’s where she’s standing, on the edge of Infested Woods in between a couple of bridges on this wetter route. Where would she go now? Would she look for Claire?



Connected areas:
Pureplain City. You can get back without complication.
Infested Woods. You’re right next to it.
Wet Caverns. May need to cross a bridge or two to get there.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Del was going to continue stabbing Meditite with the poison stinger, but unfortunately focusing their attacks on Meditite had left Mienfoo similarly unchecked and he dashed in at full speed and slammed a Pound into Del, sending him flying off Meditite’s face. Also, Mienfoo’s destructive power is of note here, as is a Weedle’s fairly terrible defense. As Del landed and rolled further away, he’d very much note that he likely couldn’t take another one of those, or another of pretty much anything. But he hadn’t fainted.

‘Mienfoo.’ Mienfoo stated with satisfaction, facing Del and glaring in combat-stance, ready to get to delivering that second blow pretty soon. Behind it Meditite was happy to be bug-free for the moment, sitting up and trying to refocus on reality around it right about now, opening its eyes… only to see a huge ladybug crashing down on it now instead of a worm with a poison needle. Meditite was floored once again, crashing back as it took Ritz’s tackle and its legs flew up into the air as the head hit the ground and Ritz kept going.

Mienfoo got a pretty stunned expression when he heard the sounds behind him, blinking and looking behind him. Like, “didn’t I just protect…?”, and so. However, despite the repeated hits, Meditite wasn’t out yet, but it struggled to get back on its feet, would most certainly faint with the next attack.

‘Mienfoo! Attack the Ledyba, keep it away from Meditite! Meditite, Confusion on the Weedle!’ The trainer commanded, pointing them in varying directions. Mienfoo nodded, and ran around Meditite to block the way and hunt down Ritz. Meanwhile, Meditite turned to attempt using Confusion on Del. Still confused, but if it could get off the move and hit, then it’d look really bad for Del.

Meanwhile.

Now, on an alert and fully focused Froakie, dance dodging wouldn’t have worked. Way too easy to predict and then intercept, too grandiose movements for getting out of the way of dangers. However, on CONFUSED Froakie...

‘Frooooaaaaak…!’ Froakie swung his pounds, hitting nothing but air. Swung for Ralia’s face and she danced under it. Annoyed, he swung down at her, but she had flashed to the side. Increasingly unsteady and angry, Froakie pursued the dancing little creature, but couldn’t seem to land a hit, Ralia always one step ahead of the frog. Froakie wasn’t hitting himself, but it didn’t appear that he was hitting Ralia either. They kept going like that.

Now, how would Claire proceed?

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Upon being petted, the Slowpoke stayed completely still just the same way as it had when she had arrived. It wouldn’t seem to actually be registering that it was being petted, even way past five seconds. Then, when Amelia had turned to walk to Kalmia’s offshoot home…

‘Slooooooooooow!’ There was a fond sound as the Slowpoke sounded out that it appreciated being petted, way after Amelia had already left it. It looked pretty stupidly happy over there, if she looked back. In any case, moving on.

Kalmia’s little house was fairly basic. There was a large living room and a kitchen next to it looking in. A separate door to a bedroom, with all likelihood. Things were a lot more sensibly in order and tidy here, for some reason. Over on a shelf over there and on the wall above it was a lot of pictures, showing Kalmia with several different Pokémon, pictures of her on mountains with a Golem or on oceans with a Lapras and more. Then there was one picture that was a bit larger than the others which appeared to be Kalmia when she had just become a professor shaking hands with an older professor that was smiling kindly with Kalmia looking all star-struck and in complete awe.

Based on these pictures, Kalmia definitely had a Pokémon trip of her own not too long ago.

‘And here you go!’ Kalmia said, handing over a glass of apple juice for Amelia before sitting down by the dinner table to listen to whatever reason Amelia had come for. And…

‘Ooooh!’ Kalmia sounded out in mild amazement as Phantump emerged from her Pokéball. She stood up and inspected the ghost at a closer range for a bit, looking at her from a few angles. ‘A shiny, so soon? There would be collectors and masters alike writhing in jealousy the world over if they heard, teh-heh.’ She’d continue inspecting before pulling out her own Pokédex and check out the data Amelia’s Pokédex had recorded upon capture, because Kalmia could do that with her own master-Pokédex.

‘Amazing. Very well done.’ Kalmia nodded with pride and joy. Then… her expression grew just a little worried, and she looked at Amelia a little. She seemed to consider something, something perhaps worth the worried look, deciding if to tell the young girl or not, if it was worth the worry… but ultimately decided that she should.

‘I… must warn you. The Team Wars are over, now, and Isson is much safer than it once was. Most trainers can travel anywhere and not need to worry about any remnants. But you… You now possess a little diamond of worth to them, here. There may be grunts undercover in the world who’ll go back to their nefarious ways due to seeing your Phantump where they otherwise would stay passive. You have every right to be proud of your Pokémon and take it on your great journey and grow strong together, but… Take care, alright? And don’t hesitate to call me or any of the other trainers using your Pokédex if you’re in any form of trouble. Alright? Alright. Good!’ Kalmia smiled again as she finished her word of warning, giving Amelia her comforting smile again.

Now it was up to Amelia if there was something else she wanted to talk about or otherwise ask.

__________________________

@Pyromaniacwolf@Pikmin Eye@Eklispe

While the area around you were in the middle of a river, due to convenience we’ll say that we’ve reached an area with two parts, a shallow and a deep part, and you’re naturally walking on the shallow part while the deep part with the Goldeens and such is running alongside.

The male trainer blinked in notable surprise as Nincada came running forth at him. His eyes widened considerably as he jumped back from Nincada only to find that Houndour had run around him to push him behind. Unprepared, the guy fell, but he held his grip on the desperately flapping duck and both crashed into the shallow water, the guy maintaining his grip.

By this time, the girl had been quick enough to grip her Pokéballs, two of them, and… she hesitated. Houndour was ready to Ember her Pokémon, and her gaze looked at him with signs of doubt.

Meaning the guy became first. He held onto Ducklett with one arm and the slammed his other hand onto his jacket, somehow causing two bright flashes of light as his Pokémon were released. Out jumped a small orange quadruped mammal with a giant grey metal helmet extending ovally upwards to protect the rest of it like a shield, and a small, round and blue creature with eyes and a swirly pattern on its belly.









‘Shieldon!’ Shieldon was quick to direct its shield to take Houndour’s embers, confirming the Pokédex’s statement as it took a blast straight on with little trouble. It wasn’t very fast, though.

‘Poli?’ As a Water-Pokémon, Poliwag was surrounded by a thin veil of water that lifted it up a little from the shallow water below, no further than the creature was tall.

‘What’s the big idea!?’ The guy shouted out, irritated. ‘Shieldon, be ready with Protect! Poliwag-’

‘Karl!’ The girl called, looking at him with a clear gaze, holding her two Pokéballs. Karl winced, realizing what she was calling for and then gave his command.

‘Water Sport!’ And with that command, Poliwag looked up into the air and gave a huge splash of water, showering outwards. The water wasn’t harmful, but it was filling the cavern and making the air more and more moist, making sure fire-type moves would be less effective. Karl looked to her again with a look of “Good enough?”.

The girl nodded, and then threw down her Pokéballs as well. A bright light shone out, and two more Pokémon appeared. One was what appeared to be two gears floating in mid-air constantly spinning on each other while the other was a one meter tall bipedal snow-tipped tree with tail and arms.









‘Klink.’ Low tone from the flying gears, the “voice” sounding like glass or something hitting together.

‘Snover.’ Deep tone from the frost tree, staring at them.

Aaaaaaaaaaand both Pokémon stayed unmoving in front of their trainer with little interest other than staring at the situation. Notably, despite the supposed interest Snovers are supposed to have in people, Snover looked supremely disinterested.

‘If they’re trying to free Ducklett, then they’re allies of…’ But the girl frowned with her reasoning, looking to Dawkin. It didn’t fit together as long as he was there.

‘Anabelle!’ Karl shouted at her as she had drifted off.

‘Ah, right! Klink, Vice Grip them away from Karl! Snover, be wary of Embers, but otherwise, Leer them into fearing battle!’ So she commanded, looking a bit hesitant.

Klink did so, homing in to try to attack those who came close to Karl, but otherwise stayed put if they pulled back. Snover took cover by running behind the Shieldon, but was going to look out to Leer if the coast was clear.

Though, yes. This post is so long now, the three of them and their Pokémon likely had time to do a whole lot of talking and commands by the time that one’s over. The advantage was theirs when it came to initiative and readiness for battle.

The last night was filled with anxiety - even though some of it had been calmed by the sound of waves and the sea in general. Erza was in a ship, taking him all the way from Johto and onto Redcoast City. When he arrived, he was too tired to continue his path, so the boy decided to take a rest on the nearest inn. He was on his own now.

Light entered the inn's room in it's prismatic, morning appearance, awakening the young boy who slept in the simple, yet comfy bed of the room he had rented with his parent's help. He moved from one side to another, eyes searching for a source of the time so he could prepare himself. Luckily, he was far from being late, which made him smile widely from side to side. For so long, Erza had dreamed of becoming a famous pokémon trainer -- no, not a famous one actually, just a pokémon trainer. To train and battle alongside those mythical creatures itself was already a dream, and the boy now knew he was on the right track towards his dream.

Pushing himself out of the bed, the boy leaned down and adjusted the sheets and pillows, leaving it neatly organized - an habit created over the years. He had two backpacks, a simple, medium sized green and black which had many of his daily necessities and a larger, green and brown that stored clothes, shoes and other needs. He placed both over the bed, first opening the smaller one - where he searched briefly until he found a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss. Gotta keep your hygiene in check if you want to be a popular trainer, right? After that, he made way to the small bathroom, spending only about thirty minutes on there.

Then, the boy left, wrapped in a plain white towel around his waist. He placed the objects he previously took from the backpack, back onto it, closing it and then moving to the next one. From there, he began taking some clothes. First, a white and plain t-shirt which he was quick to slid onto his person. After that, a plaid, buttoned black and blue shirt that he placed over the white one. Then, simple underwear which describing is unimportant, after that he searched until he found some dark blue skinny jeans which he quickly put on - the two last piece of clothing to complete his apparel were a light gray scarf, wrapped neatly around his neck and a pair of white high socks. The boy returned the clothing he used to sleep to the backpack and then, kneeled by the bed's side, searching under it for his shoes. He took a pair of black and grey high sneakers from under the bed, placing them on his feet in a brief movement. He tied the laces, got himself up, took the two backpacks - sliding one on each shoulder and then laughed heartily.

Aaaaaaaaaalright, Pureplain city, I'm on the way!

And immediately after his mental announcement mental his stomach growled audibly. Well, a lunch at the inn wouldn't hurt - he still had some money, after all. The boy descended from the room, taking steps carefully as he carried two backpacks with him. Once at inn's restaurant, the boy ordered pancakes with syrup and black coffee without sugar. As he waited, he tried to buy conversation with the waitress, asking her the easiest route to Pureplain. The woman was gentle enough to give him some basic pointers, but he was convinced that his sense of direction would work the more intricate details all by itself. After finishing his meal, the boy made a brief visit back to his room. Y'know, just to brush his teeth again. Habits.

And now finally, he returned the keys, paid everything he needed to and set off to his legendary-to-be pokémon journey! According to the waitress, to go from Redcoast Town to Pureplain City he needed to take route 11 east of there, it'd lead him to Rainrock City where he could manage to gather more information in order to reach Pureplain City. The boy decidedly began walking towards the exit of town and eventually he found himself setting foot on Route 11.

The walk was arduous, honestly. Erza was carrying two backpacks and dealing with an immense anxiety that was building inside him; he was literally walking towards his dream and as soon as he reached his destination, he would get his first pokémon. He actually had no idea of what it would be! It could be anything after all. Not only that, but he was about to get a pokédex as well. That's something extremely important, as well as his identification as an official trainer. Sweet!

While lost in thoughts, Erza had already wandered half way through route 11. He was actually a bit worried regarding pokémon encounters; last time he encountered a pokémon by himself, without a pokémon of his own, he ended up being knocked out cold by his own pokéball. That taught him a lesson: Do not mess with Pokémon, especially with Stantler. He could tell he was nearing Rainrock because there was another route leading up. Erza searched for any signs or something informative, mostly out of curiosity, but skipped ahead nonetheless. Rainrock awaited him!

The boy brought some water bottles with him in his smaller backpack. He took one, drinking half of it's content before returning it to his backpack. It was certainly becoming a tiring walk; he was thankful he had been fairly active in the past few years, otherwise he would honestly feel way too tired by now - especially carrying two backpacks. A few more minutes went by, perhaps a few more and finally, the boy could see the entrance of Rainrock City to the east. He allowed himself a drawn out, tired sigh and then smiled widely as he made his way inside the town. Before moving further, he took his time to search the town for any important information on the routes regarding pokémon, directions, distance and anything he might need to watch out for. The boy, knowing it was still a long way from Pureplain, decided to restock his water, some easy food to carry and everything else.



There was no time to rest, though! Now, Erza knew that his next stop would be Highhill town, south of there. And so, restocked and ready to go, the boy began making his way towards Highhill. Now on Route 3. This one was assumedly shorter, according to what the folk from Rainrock said, which made Erza very happy - he even whistled while his confident steps brought him closer and closer to his objetive. Eventually boy heard the cry of a pokémon and then, a cry from what seemed to be a younger person, coming from his left. He quickly made his way towards the direction of the sound - whenever it was out of curiosity or if he was actually worried mattered little.

When the boy arrived at the scene, he saw a little boy kneeled, holding a fainted rattata in his tiny arms. The boy cried and whimpered while two older looking boys, one standing up a few meters behind the boy, with both of his fists resting against his arms in a dramatic pose, while the other squatted down near the boy. Both of them had their pokémon out: A Machop and a Geodude, respectively.

Without thinking much, Erza quickly opened his backpack and hurried over to the boy, giving him two potions. The Rattata was in a pretty bad shape - it possibly went against those two pokémon and Erza knew both of them had advantage over the Rattata.

"Here you go, bro, don't let your pokémon get in this shape again."

The boy looked up, blinking his eyes. The one older boy who was squatting down quickly raised up, grinning. "Your pokémon? That pokémon is MINE now! And yours will be too!" The other one, a little behind, chuckled as he completed. "Yeah, your pokémon, your money and all your stuff!

And now finally, Erza understood exactly where he got himself into. But, he had an immediate plan ready to go.
"Oi? I think I misunderstood you. You want to challenge me? The Johto pokémon league champion, who's now seeking to make his glory a living dream here in Isson too?" The two boys glanced at each other, blinking in disbelief. The one in the back moved closer, both exchanging a quick few words between themselves. Then, one of them said:
"If you are what you say you are, prove it!"

Erza swallowed his lie, looking at the boy with the rattata. He whispered the boy telling him to count to five and then take the Rattata and run away as quickly as possible to the nearest city. "You want me to prove it? I will show you the real power of a legendary champion! My pokémon will come out of it's pokéball and show it's secret move: MEGA PUNCH!" And in some sort of insane, sudden move, the boy lunged forward and punched the one older boy in the face, sending him flying on his back and then, he sprinted as fast as he could towards the forest, using his arm to move branches and folliage out of foliage. Obviously, the two criminals took no pleasure in this disrespect, so the two of them, the Machop and the Geodude quickly began following Erza into the woods.

"I WILL GET MY HANDS ON YOU AND I SWEAR YOU WILL REGRET PUNCHING ME FACE!"

The loud, booming voice screamed through the woods, but Erza paid it no heed! Instead, he just pushed himself further, sprinting faster than before; His four chasers were a bit behind, but they were getting closer and at that rate, it would be a matter of time until they caught him... Well, he knew he wouldn't make it. Maybe with some luck -



Okay. Luck wasn't something that actively followed Erza around. In a moment, the boy felt like he took a wrong step - or that the ground beneath him had just moved. It didn't, actually: IT HAD LEVITATED!

Erza was now atop a big leaf pokémon, known as Tropius. The boy wasn't exactly sure of that, though. He knew it was a pokémon, but never expected to encounter something this big: It had been startled by Erza's careless running and the boy had little option other than hug it's neck and hope to Arceus it wouldn't drop him onto the ocean or into the ground from too high. The pokémon seemed more relaxed, it was surprisingly good at flying too, despite it's huge size.

From below, the fantastic four of two very angered trainers and their pokémon looked up. The boy raised a hand to wave at them.

"I told you I was a legendary trainer! Hahahahah!"

Mocking them took a lot more than Erza expected though. When he raised his hand, one of his backpacks flew from his back and straight onto the forest. It countained nearly all his money, his supplies and his dignity. Which meant other clothes. He almost released the pokémon carrying him accidentally and accepted his fate as a failure, but instead, he held tight and hoped the pokémon would eventually land.

A few minutes after, Erza caught a glimpse of at least three other Tropius flying close to him. Well, that wasn't looking very good - if they were moving to another area, it'd likely be a far off one. Erza calculated the distance between him and the ground right now; jumping was possible, but extremely scary. The pokémon eventually descended enough for Erza to take a deep breath and leap off the creature's back - he was so thankful he wasn't eaten alive and still could move his legs.

When the boy's feet touched the ground, he kneeled and breathed deeply, his chest heaving. What the adventure! His eyes glanced around himself, there was a huge sign which filled his eyes with glee: Pureplain City! Maybe luck had actually followed Erza today.

Still, the boy could barely move. He made his way directly to the pokémon center and that was it for today. He slept like a stone... For a lot more than he actually could. Exhaustion and the incredible adrenaline had taken every bit of his condition, leaving the boy a mess of a to be trainer.

---

When the boy woke up, he nearly jumped out of the couch, his eyes blinking rapidly. Everything went so fast the day before that he thought it was a dream, but a quick glance on himself proved him wrong. Still, no time for that; the boy moved his ragged form out of the pokémon center and immediately to the pokémon laboratory, where Professor Kalmia would luckily be. His mind was filled with negativity such as what if I'm too late? How much time I spent sleeping? But at the same time, he felt slightly hopeful.

Finding the laboratory was almost a challenge, but he was quick to find it after a little bit of searching. Truth be spoken, the boy was a complete mess: His plaid shirt was torn in many places and he could just as well take it off and shove it into the nearest thrash can. His white shirt and jeans were stained with dust and soil, his sneakers were now covered on soil, being a dark brown in color. The only thing that looked like it survived without a scratch was his scarf. The good old gray scarf. His dignity didn't, though...

Impatiently, Erza knocked a few times at the laboratory's door. Here we probably go!

❄Erika Olson❄

@Rune_Alchemist

---

With Claire likely to have moved on, Erika settled and sat at the base of a tree to try and collect her thoughts. She was situated just outside the official entrance to the Infested Forest, careful to avoid any Bug types that may creep out. Sno, of course, was joining Erika although the little Ice Pokemon was fast asleep, trying to rest up with her battle against Erika's new Pokemon, Poli!

The trip out to the Infested Forest had proved to be rather taxing on Erika, but especially on Sno, who had just the roughest time with the several water types. Of course, Erika knew Sno would overcome any challenge because she had faith in the both of them but after a rather prolonged encounter with a Poliwag, it was definitely time for a break. While her Pokemon rested, she recalled the events of Poli's capture rather fondly...

".. Double team!" Erika shouted after getting the drop on the lone Poliwag with a Powder Snow. The attack looked as if it were shrugged off, much to Erika and Sno's dismay, but it was clear that Sno was stronger despite the offensive type advantage. It was a lucky find to spot this Poliwag under the bridge. It was a bit risky at this point, though, as Sno had just come off of several battles, but the promise of covering one of Sno's weaknesses would be a huge asset, Erika thought. A Fire type would just roll over Sno and the addition of a Water type to cover that is huge! Plus... Erika didn't really like the Surskit because it was a bug and Lotad was well... kind of ugly. Not that there was anything wrong with that! ... But well...

Anyway, Erika continued to use Double Team to great effect against Poliwag as all it could do was attack with more water shooting out of its after spraying the area with water. Sno's Powdered Snow had eventually worn Poliwag down and Erika took her chance to actually catch her first Pokemon! So despite the late start, Erika's journey was starting off right!

...

Although there was now a serious question of where to go next. Erika started to fiddle around with her Pokedex, rediscovering the various applications installed. The map function was very useful for the moment as Erika searched her bag for a notepad and pen, jotting down ideas and strategies for her next move. [color=6ecff6]"...With a Water type, I feel safer now that I have Poli to cover fights Sno can't... It'll be awhile before Poli is feeling well enough to fight... Pureplain is closer but I was just there... Maybe Lakewatch and then..."

Erika spent almost an hour debating her next move until she grew bored and kept playing around with her Pokedex until she discovered the contacts list. "Oh...yea.." Erika's face reddened a little as she remembered she could have just called Claire to let her know she was going to be late... Erika steeled herself as she pressed the button on her Pokedex and called Claire to check up on things.

"Hi Claire~! I'm sssoo sorry for being late but my dad wanted to see Sno. I just wanted to ask if you wanted to meet up later and we can talk about everything so far if that sounds good?"

---

Following the conclusion of her phone call with Claire, no matter the outcome, Erika decided it was best to continue on and head East. Going backwards now would feel like Erika was walking in circles at this point...

Erika recalled both Poli and Sno to their respective Pokeballs and set out to head East to the Wet Caverns, moving along with a relative uncertainty on what was going to happen next!

@PlatinumSkink
@Pirouette

---

Del was flung off of Meditite, rolling to a stop some distance away from the fighting type and definitely hurting. The bug type managed to get back to its tiny feet, but he wasn't doing so well. Ritz was faring better, simply because he could remain out of the fighting types reach as long as Meditite couldn't get a confusion off.

She was hoping that'd last move would have been enough to take out the Meditite. She frowned, gritting her teeth as she began to sweat a bit. No way in hell Del could take another hit from the Mienfoo like that - and if Meditite got off a confusion she might as well be as good as dead. Her second battle against another trainer! Lost! Talk about a rough start. Hah, well, her luck had to run out at some point but she couldn't rely on luck at all. Thankfully, as always she had an idea of what she could do next.

"Del, avoid any attacks that come your way! Slow down that Meinfoo if you can, but focus on dodging until that meditite is down! Ritz, don't let that Mienfoo do anything - give it a nice up close and personal supersonic!"

Huh...was her pokedex...ringing? She swiftly reached into her pocket, pulling out the device.

Oh, it was Erika!

"Erika, great timing, no really! I'm not in a pretty bad spot in a battle right now, nope!" She chuckled. Oh right, she was in a battle. Couldn't get distracted. Time for a little game plan changer. "Ralia!" Immediately upon hearing her name called, the psychic type spun to a halt, facing the direction of Meditite and raised its arms. "Hit that Meditite with the strongest you've got, girl!" This was the best plan she had for now. Del was too weak to get up close and personal with any of the opponents pokemon. Ritz was the only one able to even remotely try and keep up with that Meinfoo and stop it from squishing the poor bug. Ralia though - could attack the Meditite from a distance and she could likely still take a hit from the froakie unless something went horribly wrong.

"H-huh? Oh sorry, trying not to crash and burn here," She returned to her conversation. "Yeah, I'm all the way in Redcoast! You're not gonna believe how I got here either..." The rest of the conversation between the two of them was fairly short - Claire was distracted by a battle after all, but she did at least get across to Erika that she could totally meet up with her once she finished up in Redcoast. Travel east after this - head towards Stillwood through Rainrock. Shouldn't be long after a bit of messing around with Yvonne. Maybe she could even convince Yvonne to come with her?

Right, battle.

It was about that time, Lure decided to make her way back to her trainer. The bumblebee fluttered into the slightly dilapidated Shrine, managing for the most part to ignore the current battle going on as it hovered by Claire.

"E-eh? Lure? Where have you been!?"

"Bee. Combee." It made a show of the nugget that it had in its grasp. Claire looked at her with a blank stare.

"...I'd start thinking you might care if you obviously didn't since you don't seem keen on helping a girl out here."

"Bee."

"One of these days, I'm going to feed you to a Skarmory."

Nincada did his best, swinging wide at the person in question, but he stubbornly held onto the Ducklett. They pulled out their pokeballs, the multiple flashes of light revealing more Pokemon coming to their defense. Was Martin off with his assumption? They didn't immediately attack back, but were staying on defense. He pulled out his Pokedex to scan the potential opponents, while giving a basic command to Nincada. If this was a fight, he needed to be ready. "Nincada, get away from that attack and use Harden. What are you two doing with a Pokemon that's not yours? I hope you have a better answer than you found it. It doesn't look to happy to be with you." Martin was thinking which Pokemon would be a good choice here. He had a Water type and a Grass type available. Nincada was already ready to go, and he doubted they were going to be polite about this.

Nincada did as it was told, jumping back a small distance, and running back the rest of the way. He braced his body for incoming attacks, trying to look intimidating in response to the Leer attack. It didn't look that good, as his expression was still as blank as ever. It could have been happiness for all anyone knew. He looked around at the sudden appearance of all the new Pokemon looking at him. Martin got the same sentiment, being outnumbered wasn't going to end well. He reached for his belt and called out Goldeen. There was a stream on the side, which would be great to cover with his new Pokemon. Goldeen dove elegantly into the water, surfacing again to look around her new environment. "Goldeen, use Tail Whip on Klink. Cover the waters, but stay close to Nincada. Nincada, watch out for lightning." Martin was also setting up in case this went south.

Lucian Vazquez

Lucian turned to Martin as he questioned the duo about their theft of the ducklett "As it happens, that ducklett is the entire reason I'm in this miserable cave" he turned to the duo "so if you would be so kind, return the ducklett peacfully and we won't have any trouble." Lucian stood in silence for a moment before sighing "Okay that's not going to work,is it? Houndour circle around the Shieldon and hit the Snover with embers, if you can catch the Shieldon in the fire, even better." As he gave his orders houndour took a few steps back from the shieldon before running around the shield pokemon and unleashing a barrage of embers at the Snover hiding behind it.

Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved the pokeball containing Venipede and released it in a flash of light. As the poison type gained his bearings Lucian gave his orders "Poison sting on the poliwag. If any opponent gets in your way, do the same to them." After being given his orders the poison type skittered across the cave to attack his target, launching himself at the water-type as he grew close.