‘Alright, with these, you’re both set. You’re ready to start your own Pokémon journeys. Ask me if you want to find out about the surrounding areas, or you can go explore on your own. Either way…’ Professor Kalmia smiled at them. ‘Good luck!’

"Thanks Professor," Rory grinned, petting Spheal, who nuzzled into Rory's leg, "Spheal!" it purred.

After healing Spheal, and taking him back out of his pokéball, Rory decided that he would try and catch up with Erza. Rory went down Route 1 to look for him, since it was the easiest one to navigate. It would also bring him through Highhill Town, and he could show his parents Spheal.

After some time walking quickly, sometimes having to hold Spheal so that he didn't get too tired, Rory thought that he could see someone, and something jumping off of their shoulder. Could this be Ezra and Eevee?

@PlatinumSkink

---

Whatever Yvonne was nauseated with, Claire didn't even register it - she was already gone.

Claire stood in front of the Gym, smirking a bit as she observed the warehouse. The building definitely wasn't exactly very welcoming at all. The building looked halfway done from the outside. She had no idea who this 'Hector' Gym leader was, but apparently he didn't finish what he started...and was that crying of some sort? It was honestly downright spooky. This looked more like a ghost gym than a fighting type gym.

Weird.

...wait, was someone talking to her? Claire had completely not been listening one bit. Blah blah something about explaining the gym, right? Well, it'd be rude to completely ignore the guy. About halfway through his explanation, Claire would interrupt him and stop listening, already intent on challenging this gym leader.

"Well hey," Claire grinned. "Thanks for the heads up, but I can totally take this guy." The redhead stared up at the building again laughing. "I grew up around fighting types, so I know all their weaknesses! And I may or may not have a couple of pokemon that can totally wreck this guy and his weird warehouse. He'll be easier than a level 1 slime on a video game, heh!"

Without further ado, Claire marched past the guy and made her way into the gym. Fighting types eh? Ralia could handle them well enough...if she could get Lure to cooperate, this really would be easy.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

Erika breathed a sigh of relief, hearing directly from Lesley's mouth that they were okay. Still, there was the matter that Erika couldn't help but think about as her attention wandered to Lesley's Salamence and then onto the mountainside where the dragon families were. For sure, a Dragon Type would be a nice teammate in Erika's roster, complimenting Sno and Poli well.

"Mhm.." Erika nodded in agreement with Lesley. The Dragon Trainer had a point and Erika certainly sympathized, though due to her own conflict about it, she didn't provide any additional comments as her gaze moved to the sky, jealously watching the dragons fly freely in the sky. One day...

Erika's attention was brought back at the mention of her name, shortly followed by her mother's. Erika brimmed with pride as her face lit up. "That's my mom, yea!" No matter what, Erika's mom would always be a hero to her daughter but hearing confirmation outside by a complete stranger felt good for some reason. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to hear her recognized now that I'm a trainer, though..." Erika scratched the back of her head bashfully, still encouraged by hearing her hero validated.

Erika froze at the mention of what they were going to do now. She knew what she wanted to do but whether that would be okay or not was something else. "I.. don't know. I'm glad we stumbled into you and this place but I..." Erika swallowed, considering her next words carefully. "I thought it'd be great to catch a Dragon Type this early in my adventure. My mom always said they were strong Pokemon and fiercely loyal, so I would have loved to have one on my team but..." Erika took a fleeting glance at the mountainside before turning back to Lesley. "..You're right they have to be safe somewhere so I understand."

Considering Lesley's position and experience, Erika thought of asking, "Umm... If a trainer were looking to catch a Dragon Type, where might be okay?"

@Project

So, Pureplain City has quite the amount of grass, actually. While there are a lot of asphalted roads, big buildings growing up and so, the suburbs has a lot of passages between buildings where grass grows and Pokémon dwell, and wild Pokémon could also just wander if they felt like it. But, the first Pokémon that Erza laid his hands on… was a brown little canine with furry face and large ears, blinking a little in realization at being targeted.



The little puppy Pokémon was swiftly struck by Eevee’s tackle, and tried to counter with its own. Though, it had been fairly decently hurt by the Tackle, and probably couldn’t handle another one, so Erza could throw his Pokéball. It hit, and the little Pokémon was taken into the ball with a red flash, and the ball fell down onto the ground.

It shook once.

Then it shook twice.



With that over, there was another Pokémon that was pretty much swarming the place. A little bird trying to get food from trainers around and one which every trainer in imaginable existence probably has been annoyed by at some point.



Well, you got to start somewhere.

The battle was similarly swift in its execution. Eevee tackled, the targeted Pidgey got into battle-mood and tackled back, and then Erza threw his Pokéball because the Pidgey wouldn’t have been able to resist another Tackle.



So, after that, he’d find that there were actually few Pokémon around that weren’t either Lillipup or Pidgey. But, hey, training. Eevee got to practice fighting other Pokémon whose only attack was Tackle, and that was fine. Eevee took a bit of damage in turn, but things were largely working out in Eevee’s favor. Then, there was something different. There was a wild white/beige like cat-Pokémon resting on a fence…



Pokédex could probably identify that it was wild. Anyway. After they got close, the Meowth woke up and somehow sensed it’s situation, jumping down to meet them, seemingly confident. Eevee dashed in for a Tackle… But the Meowth countered with a perfectly timed and almost unnaturally quick scratch!

It became a bit of a battle, actually. The opposing Meowth was fairly strong for the level, and quite a technician with Scratch as well, and occasionally seemed really quick with its motions. But Eevee wouldn’t let himself be outdone. Perhaps taking advantage of other moves (maybe Erza adapted some strategy or so), the two Pokémon fought fairly evenly, both managing to get in tackles and scratches.

Eventually, both Pokémon looked fairly hurt, so it was time to throw a Pokéball. It hit the Meowth, which stared in a bit of surprise, before it was absorbed into the Pokéball. The ball then fell down onto the ground.

It shook once…



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Amelia bought an umbrella for 50 P.

Later.

‘Driffff…?’ One of the floating balloons looked down at her, it’s slightly high-pitched voice drawn out in the rain. By its call, the other Drifloons also had their attention drawn. And… they started descending to her, redirecting from their aimless wandering, expelling air to slowly fall to her level. There, they inspected Amelia, the oval eyes of the silly-looking balloons looking at her curiously as they drifted around her.

‘Lllloooon…?’ One of them offered her its heart-shaped “hand”, trying to put it into hers. That is, it seemed to want to be held. Emotionally, it seemed mostly curious about her and wanted to investigate, no hostile intentions. Up to Amelia what she wanted to interpret this action is.

__________________________

@Pyromaniacwolf

‘Duck…!?’ The Ducklett blinked in surprise when Lucian said his trainer had asked that. While apprehensive, Ducklett dropped the “guard” and looked at Lucian, unsure but for the moment seemingly following along with that, watching him as he made the call.

‘Hello, this is Mia.’ Lucian would reach where he intended, hearing the girl from earlier’s voice. ‘You did!?’ She reacted in stunned surprise, and then listened to the rest which he had to say. After the last statement about having some questions, there was a silence in the other end, followed by the muffled sound of her speaking to someone else. It was a short exchange, which they successfully kept away from being overheard through the phone.

‘… I’m currently heading to Lakewatch Town over Route 14, but I won’t be staying. If you could… can we meet on Route 5, where the plains are just starting, east of Lakewatch, around the entrance of Endless Forest? Does that work?’ Mia asked, concern and focus in her voice. ‘Also, let me have a brief word with Ducklett. Just so he’ll be obedient until we meet.’ That was her response.

__________________________

@TheIrishJJ

So Rory set off to follow Erza, somehow missing where he was going at some point and assumed that he was heading for Route 1. After heading along the main road, the buildings of Pureplain City grew fewer and fewer until the remains of the plains which Pureplain City had been named for started out, and he was back on the Route which he had crossed previously crossed to get here.



And then, Rory saw someone, quickly looking towards the person. Could that be Erza and Eevee?

… No, it can’t, because Erza hadn’t left Pureplain City yet. Also, it had been hard to see on a distance, but this boy was considerably shorter than Erza. Aaand, he was heading right over.

‘YOU!’ Called the young boy.



‘You look weak! Let’s fight!’

And in front of him dashed a little purple rat that had previously been on his shoulder.

‘RATTATA!’





Youngster Joey wants to fight!

Welp, now that happened. However, this Rattata is not top percentage and therefore does not stand a chance against Spheal. Rory’s free to just win and then decide on what to do next, on the expanse that is Route 1.



Connected areas:
Pureplain City. Right behind you.
Highhill Town. Requires crossing the route.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Oh, okay. Good luck!’ He simply smiled and let Claire charge on after being interrupted.

So, Claire entered the building… and the first thing that hit her was the smell of hard effort, likely to cause anyone used to the more proper class to flee in terror. This… there was no air-conditioning here, yet it very much felt like she had walked into a real gym, with all the efforts that went into that. Pokémon and people alike were lifting barbells, punching punching bags and sparring hard with different martial arts. Black Belt, Battle Girls and their Pokémon were competing both against one another and against their trainers. Over there a human was trying to wrestle a Machoke, without much success, being easily thrown around and crashing into the ground. It looked painful.

It quickly became apparent that the maintenance outside was because the residents of the gym were constantly hurting their own buildings. The roof where the chains were attached audibly croaked as the punching bags took super-human hits, there were cracks all over the walls in places where opponents had been thrown, many of the walls were built out of considerably different materials, likely added later in order to keep the building from completely crashing down on the inhabitants. The occasional screams were quickly confirmed to be either just trainers or Pokémon shouting out before a strike… or crying out in pain after one.

And… so many Pokémon. Yet, there seemed to be no distinction between Pokémon and person, each living being in here collectively tried to become stronger by themselves, using the same machines, using the same methods, and sparring against one another without bothering to think about genetic makeup. Only that the Pokémon were way stronger than the humans.



And that… was the scene which Claire was presented with.

Then a Battle Girl saw Claire, before turning and yelling across the room.

‘BOSS! CHALLENGER!’ She shouted out, and… most didn’t even bother noticing, but the people in the sparring-area made nods to one another and cleared the area… leaving the one that had been floored by the Machoke. He slowly rose, a wide grin spreading over his face. He had slightly spiky orange head on the top of his head, but wore nothing on the top of his body, showing off an amazingly muscular body while his eyes focused forward, full of intent and battle-lust while stretching his muscles a bit after the battle, waving them about a bit.

‘Hahaha… EXCELLENT! I was just about getting bored!’ He shouted out, despite the fact he had totally been failing to match up to the Machoke earlier.

He was suddenly handed a coat by a random Machop, and he took it. So, he was now currently trying to pull on a brown coat, stretch his right arm and glare eagerly at Claire all at the same time…



‘So, challenger! I am Hector, Gym Leader of Redcoast City! Prepare for an epic battle that is going to blow your mind to-’ Then his expression twitched in absolute regret and he turned around and shouted.

‘GAAAAAAAAH! WHY AM I MINOR LEAGUE!? If I was Major League, I could have shown all of my amazing moves and stun all the challengers and show what I’m really made of, all those Major League battles that I am missing, all those epic displays of physical prowess and tactical might…! And I’m left with…!’ He gasped out, glaring at the wall, and it felt like every other person and Pokémon in the gym did one big collective sigh. ‘I-I’ll be biding my time… One day or another, a Major League Gym Leader’s going to retire… And then I’ll be right there… I’ll get that spot… HEAR THAT, DORIAN!? RETIRE ALREADY, OLD MAN!’

He spun around eventually, faced Claire, and pointed at her.

‘ANYWAYS! YOU! BEGINNER TRAINER!’ He shouted out towards her. He took a moment, and managed to regain his smile, getting ready for what he’d be doing. His smile contained none of the resentment that had been going through him before, showing that he was ready to do his job as he was meant to do. Still, that was hard to forget. ‘How many Pokémon do you have?’ He began with in a mighty confident tone, checking her.

That is, if Claire hadn’t gone off on her own somewhere, just because.

__________________________

@Pirouette

‘Oooh. Johanna’s daughter’s making her trip now, huh? Well, how wonderful. Good luck with that~!’ Lesley grinned a bit at that relation being confirmed, then looked at her again as Erika started asking for other things. ‘Hm, actually catching a dragon, eh.’ Lesley looked away from Erika, out over the hills as she started thinking, bringing one hand up to scratch her cheeks a bit. Judging by her expression, she looked fairly unsure about something.

‘There’s some in the bottom of Wet Caverns, but it’s pretty dangerous down there. There are lots at Dragon Lake, but of course, we’re protecting those. So, uh. There are some in Mt. Strength or Mt. Allmass, though they’re very rare there. Otherwise, Lonely Island or Victory Road…’ Then she frowned, realizing how far away those are. She aimed an analyzing look over Erika and the other two, Joshua and Ewan still looking around inspecting the sights as well as paying attention to the conversation. Then… she smirked.

‘Tell ya what.’ Lesley crossed her arms and looked at Erika with excitement, her tone changing drastically. ‘If ya can convince a lower-leveled dragon to come with ya on its own volition, no Pokéball involved, then I’ll let ya take a dragon off Dragon Roost.’ She then raised her own chin a little in happy confidence, looking at Erika with a great smile.

‘But ya sure about that? Young dragons don’t evolve for a long, long time, and needs lots of love and maintanence, but aren’t actually super-effective against any other type. To get what ya want, a powerful, loyal creature that is a terror on the battlefield, we’re looking far, FAR into the future, Pokémon journeys considered. Ya prepared to go through all that?’ She finished that, looking expectantly at Erika.

You know, the two pokémon looked slightly like each other. They had similar size and fur color, after all! However, Eevee had something that the wild Lillipup didn't! A grand, master trainer commanding it's every move - and of course, the Eevee loyally obeyed, which guaranteed the success after the tackle finally connected with the Lillipup. Erza cheered, wildly throwing his hand into the air! "Aye! Now, take this!" From his pocket, a very small pokéball was produced. It grew into an average sized one with the click as Erza pressed the button in it's center and then, it flew straight towards the Lillipup, who was already weakened sufficiently.

It shook once... twice. And bam! Rather, Tick! the pokéball's center glowed with a green light, symbolizing that the pokémon had been caught. Erza took his pokédex, ticked 'no' for the nickname offer and moved to take the pokéball from the ground. He raised it up to take a look, smirking.

"Vee! Eevee! The evolution pokémon seemed quite happy with his and his trainer's success. Great.

Erza moved on. There was many Pidgey around and Erza would obviously try his hand at one - Every trainer probably did! But his Pidgey would be top-percentage for sure. Eevee moved alongside Erza and once the two of them got in range of a seemingly distracted Pidgey, Erza simply gestured, pointing his right arm forward, index finger precisely pointed at the lone Pidgey a few meters ahead. "You know what to do, Eevee! Tackle! And with that, "Veeeee! Eevee simply notified Pidgey and everything around it that it was going for a tackle by chanting 'Vee' until the tackle connected. This Pidgey didn't go down easy, though! It tackled right back.

Of course, Erza wouldn't go easy either. A pokéball came flying straight into the flying type, the red light absorbing it inside the sphere as it fell onto the ground. The ball shook once... twice... thrice. The green light of success appeared once again! That's two for Erza and 0 for... someone! Eevee seemed happy, too. As Erza was terrible with nicknames, he decided to give the Pidgey one at a later date, after more thought.

The trainer leaned down, picking up his new partner's pokéball. Eevee hoped on his shoulder and he tilted his head with a smile, looking at the pokémon. "I was feeling really bad for losing, you know. For a second, I thought I had failed every of my expectations as a trainer... but! I'm not letting you down, Eevee. We just got started, right? Whenever we battle a trainer again, I'm sure we'll do much better!" Eevee however seemed to not mind at all. It just nodded and softly brought it's paw against Erza's cheek. It pointed forward.

And, as Erza looked in the direction Eevee pointed, he saw a pokémon that wasn't as common as the others. There was a wild white/beige cat like-Pokémon resting on a fence. Erza quickly brought his pokédex to his hand, using it to analyze the wild pokémon!


Of course, the boy quickly commanded his Eevee. Tackle was the opening battle choice, as always! The evolution pokémon quick picked up it's pace as it moved straight in the Meowth's direction - who had jumped out of the fence. Much to Erza's surprise, however, the Meowth's reflexes were insanely good. It perfectly countered the tackle with a scratch and it seemed to cause quite the damage on Eevee. Now, this one wasn't like before at all, so Erza assumed that he'd need some strategy.

"Right, right! This one's tough, so.. Let's hinder it a bit, right? Sand-attack!" Eevee used it's paws to throw dirt, sand or grass- whatever he could, to lower his opponent's accuracy. The Meowth however, was quite brave and just dashed ahead, bringing it's claws against Eevee once more. Eevee was hit, but was still up for a fight!

"Now, growl! Follow up with tackle!" With that, Eevee growled and while it wasn't intimidating as an Arcanine, it still lowered the Meowth's attack by one stage. The wild pokémon tried to scratch Eevee again, but this time, he missed by a very small margin; perhaps luck-factor played in Erza's favor now. Still, the Eevee's tackle connected, sending the Meowth staggering one or two steps back.

"Sand-attack again! And don't get hit!" Hinder, evade, attack. This was Erza's strategy for now - it seemed to work fine, by keeping Meowth's attacks away from Eevee until there was a certain possibility for a tackle, Erza eventually managed to overcome the wild pokémon and, the last pokéball in his pocket was used, flying straight into the cat-pokémon. It shook once... it shook twice... Grand! The third pokémon had been successfully caught.

"Eeveeeee! Even while very tired, the pokémon still cheered with it's trainer. Erza picked up Eevee's own pokéball, smiling warmly at him. "You've done a great job, Eevee. How about you get some rest?" While it didn't seem all that intent on returning to the pokéball, the Eevee could agre that it was tired - so, it moved forward and nodded. Erza opened the pokéball, the Eevee flowing inside with a red flash. Now. Erza couldn't move ahead with all his pokémon tired, so... to the pokémon center!

And in the way to the pokémon center, Erza saw something interesting. He mentally agreed to return there once his pokémon was healed... Which didn't take long. He gave his four pokéballs to the nurse and she returned him his four pokéballs. His pokémon all healed and ready to go!

Now, Erza went to the one place he had in mind, assuming it would be worth visiting: The Trainer's School.

Amelia watched as the Driffloon descended to her, their cries and expression showing the usual curiosity that the Ghost-types approached her with. She guessed they weren't used to people approaching them because of the signs. She waited patiently as the Balloons approached her and once they were level with her, she waited to see what they would do. One of them reached out with one of it's hands and she giggled as she gently took it in her own.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Amelia." She said to it kindly. She wasn't scared of getting carried off. She had pokemon and more importantly, she had one that knew Knock-Off. She felt safe taking ahold of a Driffloon, though she doubted any of the ones here had any malicious intent.

Youngster Joey wants to fight!

"You want a battle?" Rory asked, rhetorically, "You can have a battle, let's go Spheal!"

Spheal jumped up, so that he was in the makeshift battle area, "Spheal!"

"Spheal! Go for a water gun!"

Spheal jumped forward, a jet of water coming out of his mouth, drenching the Rattata in water.

"Quickly, Rattata, tackle!" the boy shouted out, and his Rattata ran into Spheal, doing some damage.

"Now go for a powder snow!" Rory told Spheal, who then blew the snow over the Rattata.

"Tackle Spheal again, Rattata," the boy told his pokémon, but Rattata didn't move, frozen.

"Now finish Rattata off with a rollout!" Rory said, a small grin forming on his face. Spheal rolled towards Rattata and hit it, knocking out.

"That was a good match, even if it was quick," Rory told the trainer, whilst walking up to him, before shaking his hand. "Maybe we could battle again when Rattata's a bit stronger."

"Yeah, your Spheal is really strong!" the boy replied, holding his unconscious Rattata in his arms "Thanks for battling me,"

"No problem," Rory said, before continuing on his way to Highhill town.

Martin followed Dawkin down the path, thinking about the possibilities of where the Team could be. He was shaken out of his thoughts by Dawkin talking and the sights of Geodudes. "Even if it's an exit, the fresh air will probably do me good." After a while of walking, a girl blocked their path. She had six pokemon, which meant she was skilled or went happy on the catching. Martin only had three, with plans for a fourth, but that could wait. She was looking for a fight and his were still in good shape. He looked to the girl, his attention undivided. "It's not about how many you have, but how good they are. You ready for a fight, Nincada? I got three to fight you with. Should be able to use the same tactics as before, Dawkin." He wanted to catch a Geodude, but it could wait until after this.

Nincada stepped forward, not even this had looked to interest him. Martin had a Pokeball in his hand, ready to use. Should be a standard fight. Armor up and punish the target, with Dawkin for offense, just like old times.Just as long as he didn't face another bad matchup, which Nincada seemed to enjoy too much.

@PlatinumSkink

---

The first thing Claire noticed, was that this was exactly how her room smelled on a hot summer sunday morning after one of her usual workouts. The sweet smell of hard work, perseverance and...accidentally making a mess of everything, wahaha! She could really spend all day here...in fact, she might decide to come back here later for some good workouts. Looked she could get along with pretty much everyone here, heh!

Ah man, she could really go for a good fighting type to have a nice little brawl with herself...rather oddly, fighting types weren't her absolute favorite. Too...unfabulous for her tastes, but she couldn't deny she'd like to eventually catch one herself. Huh, maybe these guys would know where to find one? Maybe a Hawlucha or Medicham like her dad. She should ask after she kicks all of their butts - which looked like it was about to happen very soon. A Battle Girl shouted across the room, likely to the Gym Leader as Claire watched.

After Hector finished his little spiel, Claire couldn't help but to laugh.

"Wahahaha!~" She laughed heartily as his display, resting her hands on her hips. "I dunno who this Dorian is, but if he's not half as spunky as ya are gym leader guy, he's a loser!" She gave him a wide grin as she continued. "Haha, oh man this place is amazing. I should stick around and work out sometime. Anise didn't tell me this place was so great when I whooped her cute butt at the shrine." She was of course referring to her earlier encounter with the girl in the shrine.

"Annnyways, The name's Claire!" She used a thumb to point to herself as she continued. "And this fabulous trainer in front of you, has four pokemon, and one freshly evolved!" She reached into her pocket and puled out one of her pokeballs. Ooh, this was so excitin! She should probably calm down a bit but this was gonna be great, win or lose. Not that she was banking on the latter considering all of her pokemon were resistant to fighting type moves...but details. "So let's skip the small talk and lets get this show started!"

❄Erika Olson❄

---

Erika returned Lesley's smile, gingerly cupping her hands while nodding her head in a sort of grateful bow for the good wishes. "Thank you very much!" Of course that wasn't all Erika was going to be grateful for.

When Erika realized that Lesley was listing off the places she could find Dragons, she hastily dug her notebook and pen out of her bag and jotted down the locations and the few extra commentaries on each location that Lesley provided. Erika considered the information as she filed her thoughts, circling Mt. Strength, Mt. Allmass, and Lonely Island. It was a safe assumption at this point that these three locations would be the best spot for her to go next, after meeting up with Claire, of course. In fact, Erika's mind pondered a bit about what her and Claire were going to do after meeting up.

The tangent was brief and Erika closed her notebook and put it away in her bag, turning back to Lesley. As far as Erika believed, this information was very nice of Lesley to pass on and for that, Erika was grateful. She opened her mouth, "Th-...", but was quietly overruled by Lesley's excitement. Why was she suddenly...? Oh my...

Erika's eyes sparked with an excitement, leaning on Lesley's ever word of her proposition. A chance to get a Dragon this early in her adventure! "Oh! I'm sure! I'm sure, yes!" Erika beamed, thoughts racing a mile a minute as she was excited but also scared at the idea of trying to convince a Dragon to come with her. Erika took a deep breath and calmed herself. "Hm. I'm prepared to go through all that for another friend on my team and I don't care how far into the future it will be. I'm determined to see it all through, just like my mom did!" Erika's expression turned fierce for a moment before it slowly drooped as Erika's thoughts came back to her, until she appeared slightly hesitant. "Umm... I don't suppose you have any tips for trying to befriend a Dragon, do you?"

---

Whether or not Lesley would provide Erika any tips, didn't deter Erika from at least trying. Erika hung around for Lesley's response before continuing past her and towards the mountain, her mind racing to figure out which Dragon to try and befriend. The Salamence line would be good, great even. The Bagons playing looked cute and approachable, and the thought of flying on the back of a Salamence like Lesley was heavenly. Of course, the Gibles and the evolved Gabite playing a form of tag was also rather darling and inviting. Didn't look like they could fly, though. Maybe their third form could? Assuming they had one, but Erika didn't know for sure. The Axews were also adorable but the dueling Fraxures had scared Erika away from considering them at the moment. Although thinking about it... All of these Pokemon were a bit prone to be violent, Erika considered as she went through her Pokedex scans on each of the Dragon Pokemon in front of her.

Erika gulped as she made her decision and put away her Pokedex and started a careful climb up the mountain, right to Gibles...

Erika cautiously approached and dropped to a kneeling position nearby kindly smiling and observing the Gibles playing, trying to appear inviting to any curious Gible. Erika really hoped none of them would bite her, but a quick glance over to where Lesley was reassured her that the Dragon Master would intervene if something bad happened. "Hi there!" Erika softly offered in the sweetest voice she could offer, which turned out to be pretty sugary. "You guys are pretty cute up here so I thought I'd say hi to all of you."

@Project

So, Erza went to get his Pokémon healed…



… And then he was on the way to the Trainer’s School. It wasn’t far. Actually, it probably was pretty intentionally fairly close to the Pokémon Center.



It’s a school. Kids around Pureplain City flock here eventually to learn the basics of Pokémon battling, or there are trainers that come here only to attend the odd lesson before they embark on their big journey. There’s a patch of grass on the side where wild Pokémon can be found, and every week the teachers are known to have found a new specie to release into it in order to keep the students interested. And, of course, there’s plenty of Pokémon battling among the students as they do their best to learn. In fact…

As Erza steps in, one of many young trainers on the site albeit he’s probably among the older, there’s a list of students in a ranking-list on a wall. A huge list of the 50 top students, ranked in Pokémon battling ability, and there’s a thing that anyone can challenge to get onto the list temporarily. Leaving for too long obviously means falling off the list, but those who rank high gain some benefits and bragging rights.



But even above the #1… The school apparently had their own Elite Four and Champion, that one could assumingly could challenge.

Pureplain City Trainer School
Elite Four:
Georgia - The Brawler
Loke - The Knight
Daisy - The Siren
Jonathan - The Magician

Champion: Maple - The Scorcher
(currently on Pokémon trip, title will be up for grabs on <time suitable for the roleplay>)

Well. That was something. Now he could go around talking to the students.

‘If facing an opponent stronger than yourself, try inflicting status-problems from a distance and see how it goes!’
‘The world isn’t flat. Always look around for things you can take advantage of in the wild. Don’t be afraid to go off the path. You never know what you might find!’
‘Escape Rope, check! Potions, check! Repels, check! … Walking into dangerous areas unprepared is a bad idea, so stock up!’
‘Hm, they say a great beast of fire used to run across the plains that once stood here. But now, Pureplain City takes up pretty much all of the plain. Wonder what happened to the beast?’
‘Daisy is soooooooo pretty! She’s our own little star! She’s surely going to be a real Elite Four one day, or perhaps the Isson Champion! I’m sure of it!’
‘Maple was so strong… She just appeared, melted everything and then went her own way. Where did she even find all those Fire-types? I know there are Growlithes on Route 1, but yikes!’
‘I-I-I… I thought Penelope was just an idol… G-guess she’s also a trainer, she floored us… Hahaha… Guess she’s staying to try to become our Champion for a while… Maybe I can get her autograph…?’
‘Evolutionary stones? Oh, yeah! You want to Raremine Town, and the Desert Mines! They get all kinds of stones from in there! It’s way east of here. Look it up! Otherwise, look near the right element. Thunder Stones just seem to show up around power plants, Leaf Stones in forests, Fire Stones in volcanoes, and so on!’

Yeah, just random talk that may or may not be interesting.

So, Erza was walking along in a school corridor on the second floor for whatever reason, when… Wild ghost Pokémon, here? In bright daylight? Inside a school!?





Numerous Shuppets were drifting outside a slightly open door, peeking in and floating about. Erza might have been confused, but he could suddenly hear what was being said inside.

‘… I apologize for my extended absence, but I-’ Said a low-tone man with a depressed-sounding voice.

‘I heard your excuse the first time! Regardless. You must understand. It is very troublesome for us to have one of our teachers suddenly vanish into nothingness. You must understand you can’t continue doing this.’ Replying to him was a much more upbeat female voice, though it was clearly in distress and lecturing him right now.

‘… I am aware I may have caused harm. That’s why, I’ve collected this small amount of gifts to-’ He didn’t sound particularly sorry. Actually, he didn’t sound like he felt anything.

‘I don’t need your gifts! I just, aah… I just need you to be there when we need you. Don’t vanish. Okay?’ She sounded like she was begging him on the end there.

‘… Okay…’ So he said, before turning and walking for the door.

And then this man came through the door, the Shuppets all hiding behind said door to avoid being seen by him. 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 stalking him was anything to tell by, a whole lot more as well.

In his hands on a cloth were some flowers along with a number of items that looked really rare, special, a Pikachu doll, some kind of statue, and was that a Pokémon Egg? The cloth itself also seemed to radiate energy! He turned to look at Erza, because he just happened to be there.



He stared at him with tired eyes, carrying all this stuff…

‘You. Take these. I don’t need them.’

… Aaaand he just suddenly handed over all he was carrying to Erza.

… And there’s a Pokémon in that Pokéball, he just won’t know which unless he opens it.

The man then turned and walked slowly down through the corridor with empty hands, as soon as he had come any distance at all the Shuppets started moving to pursue him, hiding in various obvious locations obviously desiring to be in his vicinity, drifting through the hallway. Okay, that happened. What would Erza do now?



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

So, Amelia gripped the hand of the Drifloon, and then felt no specific power trying to carry her away. The Drifloon couldn’t exactly smirk, but it expanded a bit and it’s eyes told the story of how it was quite pleased with this interaction.

‘Driiiiiiff…!’ So it called, in a happy tone.

…

‘LITTLE GIRL! LET GO OF THE DRIFLOON! I’LL SAVE YOU!’ Someone suddenly called out. From what felt like absolutely nowhere, a man dropped down from above the treetops, eyes frowning wide in alarm. He was dressed oddly, in what looked like white/green robes tied around his stomach leaving his chest bare, with golden somethings on his shoulders and… he looked very odd.



He gripped a Pokéball and threw it into the ground, and from a flash of light emerged a white creature with a silly smile, the rain that came too close to it immediately transformed into snow due to the temperature around it, and overall it resembled an ice-cream cone.





‘VANILLITE! USE ICICLE SPEAR!’

‘Vaniiiille~!’ The ice-cone smiled widely and focused its power to probably shoot down the balloons.

‘L-looon…?’ The Drifloons not being held by Amelia drifted away, probably seeking safety. However, the one she was holding was instead drifting closer to her, as though seeking her protection, making a worried sound. Now, what would she do?

__________________________

@TheIrishJJ



Yeah, that was simple enough. Now he could move on through the route. While he could watch the youngsters of the route fighting and catching Pidgeys and Rattatas on the side, the battles that were going on in the drain… Huh, seems like they were doing impromptu low-level contests now… There was nothing that stopped him from being able to cross over Route 1 and safely into Highhill Town. And then, he was already back.



… But of course, Rory already knows all this. It’s his hometown, after all. He’s probably already being recognized, neighbors out on strolls waving to him and some children that perhaps knew he was out on his Pokémon journey running over to demand that he show what Pokémon he got. He’s of course free to visit home or anywhere else he might know about at this place, for he knows it. The air is as fresh as ever, and the people work as they always do. He’s sure to get quite a few waves, regardless.

Now, what would he do here?



Connected areas:
Route 1. To the south, is the common route of first journeys. Green and straight.
Route 3. To the north, the route to Rainrock or the Silent Shrine. A wet woodland.
Route 14. To the east, the lake known as the Dragon Lake, potentially for crossing.



__________________________

@Eklispe@Pikmin Eye

‘… Two Pokémon, three Pokémon…’ She breathed out what looked a slight sigh of relief. She let two Pokéballs fall from her right hand, and she caught them in the palm of her left before setting them back into their proper place, wherever that was in that attire. Actually, she probably has a bag.

‘Then let us say you use two each, and I use four. Two on the battlefield at any one time.’ She said, shifting around Pokéballs until she had two in one of her hands. She lifted the hand and pointed it at them, frowning lightly. ‘I am Pokémon Trainer Cathia. Here I go.’ And then she threw the two Pokéballs, and with a flash two beings came out. One fell down and planted its feet on the cavern floor with a tiny roar, the other stayed floating in the air smiling at them…









A bipedal young dragon and a flying fairy on a flower. If they had glanced over during Donna’s battle with her, they’d know Flabébé was her starter. Meaning, she had caught Bagon somewhere else. Cathia stood silent and focused behind her Pokémon, looking intently at the two of them and awaiting them to pick their Pokémon.

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Hector grinned at her statement and gave her a big thumbs-up of approval.

‘YOU KNOW IT! Dorian’s no match for our youthful might! Old men should stay put and take care of their backs!’

‘He whoops your ass on a regular basis!’ Called a rebellious Blackbelt in the back, prompting a few held-back laughters.

‘ONLY SO FAR, CHARLIE! ONLY SO FAR!’ Hector called back in challenge, not denying or making light of the fact.

‘Alright…’ Hector grinned at her, liking her energy. ‘You beat Anise, eh? And you’re Pokémon are at a level where they start evolving…’ He nods.

‘Agreed, she does have a pretty cute butt.’ A Battle Girl on the right somewhere commented.

‘OKAY!’ Hector overruled any further commentating. ‘I’ve got a challenge in mind. Charlie, I’m gonna need your Pokémon!’ He called back.

‘Sure thing, boss!’ And a Pokéball was thrown through the room at a dangerous speed, to be perfectly caught by a single hand of Hector’s raised to catch said ball. He then grinned at Claire.

‘Today’s challenge… Is this. I use three Pokémon, you use four. We start out with a one-on-one battle. Then, for each Pokémon you defeat, you can add another Pokémon of your own to the battlefield, assuming you have any left. In exchange…’ He grins. ‘… My Pokémon are each going to be way more powerful than the last! Understood? Good. Then let’s start.’ So he said, and held the Pokéball forward at Claire with his muscular arm.

‘The Redcoast City Gym Challenge officially starts now! I am Hector! Show me what you got!’

And he threw the Pokéball into the floor, along with the cheering of the attenders of the Gym.

A small, grey bipedal creature jumped out, eyes and nose directed forward, pink vein-like bands on its legs, shoulders and back of head, as well as carrying around a square log…





Hold on, the Timburr wasn’t matching the one on the Pokédex image. The Pokédex showed a thick, bulky and overall impractically large log, excellent for getting stronger and little else. This Timburr’s log was longer, thinner and way more graceful. It was like a battle-staff. The Pokémon also didn’t look very enthusiastic, looking around without much interest at the surrounding trainers in the gym…

‘TIMBURR!’ Hector called, the Timburr flinching and eyes growing wide. ‘GYM BATTLE…!’ Hector told, his wicked grin leaking into his battle-lusting voice, and a change happened within Timburr. It was as if his eyes lit on fire. Suddenly, he spun his log-staff, making it spin over and over as he carried it over from right arm to left, then threw it spinning up into the air while itself made a pirouette, then turned and faced Claire with one arm stretched out, a battle-ready grin on its tiny face that matched Hector’s, and it caught the staff with the other hand casually placed behind it. Then it waved at Claire. “Come at me!”

__________________________

@Pirouette

‘Alright!’ Lesley nodded with a pleased smile at Erika. ‘Then go and break a leg!’ That is, good luck. It might not have seemed obvious that’s what Lesley meant, simply due to the tone she used. Then tips for how to befriend one…? The dragon trainer looked like she considered briefly.

‘I’d say “wear armor”, but it’s a little late for that. Hahaha!’ Lesley laughed a little privately at her own joke that it was quite possible Erika didn’t find the least bit funny, her own armor clinking a little as she laughed as if to prove a point. ‘Nah, but the little dragons have a ton of energy, and they play-fight quite commonly. They love a little challenge…’ Lesley then considered what she had said a little, before smiling. ‘That’ll do as a hint. Good luck~’

---

Common activities of Gibles include resting in holes in the mountain or waiting for prey in them, digging holes or tunnels for itself and others of its kind or play-fighting with other Gibles. And they were doing just that when Erika came climbing up. She had left Joshua and Ewan with Lesley, and they were striking up a conversation of their own. Joshua had probably offered to help, but either Erika had denied him or Lesley would have said “nah, she’s to do it on her own~” if she didn’t. Either way. Here she was.

As she came closer the closest Gabite turned to glare at her, but after a quick glance at Lesley (who was making some form of hand-gesture while smiling) it grunted and turned its attention back to digging. So, it was straight forth for Erika to greet the Gibles.

‘Gib?’ So, painting the scene. After climbing a bit, Erika was arriving at a small plateau part-way up this particular mountain, which looked like it had been dug out by a Gabite for the Gibles. There were plenty of holes in the mountain at the back of the plateau, where some Gibles were sleeping and others were wide awake, other holes were tunnels that went further in but were only large enough for Gibles, but one larger hole likely dug by a Gabite. There were Gibles in the process of digging own tunnels, Gibles sleeping or waiting for prey in holes and Gibles in the middle either just minding their own business or play-fighting with one another.



Not all Gibles took notice of the visitor. But those who did were on guard. ‘Gible?’ ‘Gib?’ ‘Gible!’ The noises were surprised rather than hostile, but it was clear they weren’t used to strangers visiting the nest. Those who had been play-fighting were now looking at her, and then at one another and then back at her, inspecting her for what she was going to do. Then there was one of them that decided that she wasn’t worth stopping for and play-bit the neighbor, and the two of them rolled away a bit while struggling with one another leaving the group.

Now, what would Erika do?

‘If facing an opponent stronger than yourself, try inflicting status-problems from a distance and see how it goes!’
‘The world isn’t flat. Always look around for things you can take advantage of in the wild. Don’t be afraid to go off the path. You never know what you might find!’
‘Escape Rope, check! Potions, check! Repels, check! … Walking into dangerous areas unprepared is a bad idea, so stock up!’
‘Hm, they say a great beast of fire used to run across the plains that once stood here. But now, Pureplain City takes up pretty much all of the plain. Wonder what happened to the beast?’
‘Daisy is soooooooo pretty! She’s our own little star! She’s surely going to be a real Elite Four one day, or perhaps the Isson Champion! I’m sure of it!’
‘Maple was so strong… She just appeared, melted everything and then went her own way. Where did she even find all those Fire-types? I know there are Growlithes on Route 1, but yikes!’
‘I-I-I… I thought Penelope was just an idol… G-guess she’s also a trainer, she floored us… Hahaha… Guess she’s staying to try to become our Champion for a while… Maybe I can get her autograph…?’
‘Evolutionary stones? Oh, yeah! You want to Raremine Town, and the Desert Mines! They get all kinds of stones from in there! It’s way east of here. Look it up! Otherwise, look near the right element. Thunder Stones just seem to show up around power plants, Leaf Stones in forests, Fire Stones in volcanoes, and so on!’

So much interesting information came to Erza all at once. The boy even felt a little disappointed that he didn't bring something to write them down so he wouldn't lose them. But, no matter what, there were two pieces of information that the boy wouldn't let pass in the slightest: First, Growlithes in Route 01. Erza knew that pokémon, a fire-type, strong, loyal and it evolves to Arcanine when exposed to a fire stone - which could be found in Raremine Town or the Desert Mines! Not only that, he could find some other stones in appropriate locations. Maybe there are some leaf stones where I found those flying grass types! Thought the trainer, obviously remembering the event where he encountered a bunch of Tropius together.

There were more information: Daisy was probably a good prodigy trainer. Penelope, possibly a talented one. But, did that really matter to Erza? He wasn't going to stick around for all that long. No, he just wanted to ask some stuff, get the information and then leave - of course, he could get some action and fun here, but...

It was frightening. Those kids, they knew too much and they probably had practical use for their knowledge, too. Their faces itself already screamed 'I'M A GOOD TRAINER!' alone. Not that Erza wasn't confident in his own abilities - but a fact is a fact: He might've caught three pokémon, but he's still a beginner and has a very long way to go. And this corridor seemed quite long...

... And haunted! Erza noticed something floating around and without doubt, used his pokédex to confirm his thoughts.




The pokédex provided even more information that Erza didn't expect at first: It was wild! And Erza was all grinning and getting ready to catch it despite the fact that it seemed really out of place given the time and place - when he remembered that literally none of his pokémon could touch a ghost type. He frowned, swallowing up the slight frustration that temporarily washed over him as he moved forward. He overheard a conversation - which made him come to a halt. Curiosity, maybe?

... More than curiosity, it was perhaps Erza's destiny to be there. As the man moved out of the door and spotted Erza, he handed all of the stuff he carried to the beginner trainer - who was in disbelief
There were so many things in there! Flowers, a cloth that radiated some form of energy, a feather wing that seemed to emanate inexplicable power, an egg?! Erza could barely believe his eyes - and arms - that all of this had just been randomly given to him. He might've been put into some sort of illusion, for sure?

After a few seconds the man disappeared and all the Shuppets seemed to have followed him. Erza swallowed, still keeping all of the stuff in his arms. Well, asking wouldn't hurt, but if he could keep this all... his journey would become increasingly interesting. The boy stepped into the room where he overheard the conversation before, there was woman here, right?

"O-Oi, wait a second?" The boy began, gesturing his newly given... items. "Th-There was this really imposing man, with a fancy - but extremely stylish - black attire! He handed me all this, I don't think.. I think - erm, should I really keep it? They were your gifts, right?" Finally, the boy took a deep breath - a hand struggled to catch, from all this stuff, the lone pokéball in the middle of it all. Could he tell it wasn't an empty pokéball? The weight, maybe? The way it looked, perhaps? No matter how, the boy felt like opening it and seeing himself it there was anything inside. The man did give him a pokémon egg, anyway - so a pokéball with a pokémon already in it wasn't too unbelievable.... And then, of course, Erza finally decides to open the pokéball and finish his doubts for once and for all! Well.. there was still the many doubts regarding the items and the egg, but this one would at least be eliminated.

Amelia laughed as the Driffloon seemed happy when she took it's hand. She was about to talk to it when someone shouted, likely at her, to let go of it. She turned around to see a boy with white hair, several years her senior, running over to her and the Driffloon. She raised an eyebrow in confusion but she wasn't able to even begin opening her mouth before the boy threw a pokeball and a small pokemon came out. He ordered it to attack and it immediately aim an Ice-type move at the Driffloon. The ones that had been watching her floated away but the one who's hand she was holding cowered next to her. With no hesitation, she wrapped her arms around the Balloon pokemon and jumped out of the way, barely avoiding the icicles. She landed on her shoulder, trying to avoid harming the pokemon in her arms.

Angered, Amelia quickly got to her feet and grabbed one of her pokeballs before throwing it.
"Litwick, EMBER!" She shouted, her tone angered, as the pokeball opened up.

No sooner did the little candle appear with a battle-cry before blowing out a torrent of embers at the enemy Vanillite.

Cathia was pretty confident with this fight, only using 4 Pokemon. That just means Martin was going to be forced to use only two of his. He pulled out his Pokedex, looking over his opponents. Partly from wondering what they were, and mostly to figure out what types they were. A dragon and a Fairy type. He already knew of the stories of how powerful Dragon types were. The Fairy type always threw him off on remembering what that beat. His Goldeen was still new and partly beaten up. He could get by on a few potions if it was needed, but hoping it won't be needed. The best choice would be sticking with his current team. Nincada already picked himself to fight, which left Martin holding onto his other Pokeball in his hand. "Looks like you'll have to wait for a bit longer, let's kick this off with a good defense, Nincada."

Nincada was ready, looking at his new opponents. Not even a change of attitude, blankly ignoring them. "Nincada, start it off with a Harden." Nincada stayed where he was, mindlessly preparing a Harden. There was no reason to be aggressive about this. His current team was about tanking hits and slowly whittling the opponent down.

He turned his head, to let Dawkin know his battle plan, "I'll stay back for a bit, while you can hit them where it hurts." Then he turned back to face his opponent, ready to go. "In case you forgot, my name is Martin, and you won't crack my armor. Looking forward to this fight, so give it your all." He almost wanted to call himself a Dark Knight, but that would be way too silly sounding. Gotta take this seriously.

@Project

Erza went into the room, which he could quickly tell was a faculty office, where he ended up on the other side of a slightly confused woman, who looked up from her paperwork to look at him. An adult woman in a white shirt and tie, a black day-wear underneath and her long orange hair tied back into a somewhat wild pony-tail. On top of her head she appeared to be wearing goggles, for whatever reason.



‘Hm?’ She made a surprised noise when Erza first came in, and then listened to his description. The surprise quickly waned and she got a slight smile as she put together what had happened. ‘Oh, right…’ She stood up with the smile in place, and made her way around the desk up to Erza, examining the items.

‘Suppose I can take these off your hands.’ She took the Pretty Flowers. She smiled a bit at them as she did.

‘Guess this one’s actually kinda cute…’ She took the Poké Doll.

‘I don’t think either of us have use of this one, but at the very least you don’t need to carry it around…’ She’d take the Strange Souvenir unless Erza made an objection.

‘And suppose I could use one of these right now.’ She took the Lumiose Galette. That particular one for greedy reasons.

Her eyes scanned the other items, and her eyes stopped on the shiny little feather. She absent-mindedly reached and picked up the Lunar Wing, inspecting it on a closer range for several seconds, a little absorbed by it… before placing it back among the items.

‘Yeah, you can have the rest.’ She nodded to him.

Then he could check the contents of that Pokéball. He opened it, and with a flash a Pokémon emerged, grey in color and floating in the air, looking at him.



Aaaaaaaaaaand guess he’s keeping it.



‘Sorry if Johannes startled you. He’s been a bit… down there ever since he came back from the Team Wars.’ The woman said with a little smile. ‘He’s an amazing trainer, a brilliant teacher as well as breeder and he was a terror to all of Amethyst back when he was a Team Virtue Admin, but… I really hope he overcomes whatever’s on his mind.’ She nodded and then went back and got seated again.

‘… But with these disappearances of his, he’s not still dealing with them, is he? He said he was done with them. Ooough…’ She sighed and muttered for herself. Then she blinked a little in realization, before looking up at Erza again. ‘Ah, nothing you need to worry about. You’re a trainer on your Pokémon journey, right? Continued good luck on your adventure! Say if there’s anything you need help with!’

She then went back to paperwork. By the looks of things, she was part of the faculty here at the school, so if he had questions she probably could answer them. Otherwise, he could move on.



Connected areas:
Pureplain City. All around, of course.



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Vanillite shot out numerous icicle spears, flying through the air… and Amelia grabbed the Drifloon and jumped out of the way. Both the guy and the Vanillite looked considerably confused. Then, Amelia went immediately on the counter-attack, with Litwick coming out and unleashing a fiery ember at Vanillite, who was too stunned to dodge.

‘VanIII…!’ The ice-cone flinched back from the hot impact, rolling a bit on the ground and looked part-melted, and the trainer was blinking in surprise. It should be noted the ember was weakened by the rain, but it seemed to do considerable damage anyway. It’s super effective!

‘Whatthe- I’m trying to save you! That Drifloon… they take away little kids! You’re a kid! Haven’t your parents ever threatened that a Drifloon would come and-’ He looked utterly disbelieving as he returned the damaged Vanillite to its Pokéball.

‘No matter, I’m ready to defeat you to save you, if that’s what it takes!’ He took out another Pokéball. ‘Bonsly, go!’ He threw down another Pokéball, and after a flash…!

‘Bonsly!’ A small tree-seed-like Pokémon with two legs and no arms looked up.





… And with that in mind, in this rain, Bonsly basically immediately used Fake Tears no matter if it wanted to or not, the water from above just pouring through its system and then out from under its eyes while it stared forward at Amelia, Litwick and the Drifloon.

‘Bonsly! Use Rock Throw on the Litwick!’ … Is what the trainer is going to command if he isn’t interrupted. However, if Amelia wishes to, she may have acted before him in some manner which would make him have to reconsider. Maybe. Up to her.

Erza made no objections. So, the woman took four items from the expansive list of Erza's newly found belongings. That was... unexpected, he still got to keep the largest section and the most interesting variety, in his eyes. Since the woman wasn't keen on taking anything else, the boy neatly placed those items in his backpack. He'd find an use for them, later. For now, he focused on the pokémon - which he was apparently keeping for himself, too. The pokédex gave him information, a pure ghost type - a good break from the all normal types the boy had caught until now. Not only that, but this one apparently knew a move it wouldn't naturally learn: Pain Split. It was breeded!

Grand and marvelous, Erza seemed to be in the perfect spot today. His journey had just started and such opportunity certainly sky-rocketed him above the average, putting him in a good position when it came to confidence. Surely it was a hand out, but it was one that Erza appreciated with much delight. Who would deny so many great gifts? Maybe he'd go ahead and teach this pokémon Payback. Now now, he was anxious as ever to move ahead and start collecting MORE pokémon. What was that some time ago, about Growlithes in Route 01? Yeah!

No, wait. The woman. She was still talking with Erza and actually said some very interesting things. That man, the one with the fancy attire who had given Erza a dream worth of items, was actually a Team Virtue admin... Well that explains why all this things that seemed like everything to Erza meant so little to him. He was probably tough - as tough as it gets.

"He didn't startle me at all, I mean.. He looks quite shady, but he just approached me and gave all this stuff like it was nothing. It left me confused, to say the least," The boy nervously giggled, his eyes moving up to the Duskull floating above him. "Well, so it seems you're my newest buddy. I don't have a name for you, yet, but we'll find something fitting later, right? And it will be Extraordinary-" There was a gasp that made Erza's eyes fill with an intense light. "... OOOOI! Your name is Extraordinary!" Whenever the pokémon liked it or not, was hard to tell. It's expression didn't seem to change much - it was almost as if she didn't exactly care. Well. Erza returned the Duskull - or rather, Extraordinary to it's pokéball, smiling grandly.

"... I don't think theres any other help I could get, except... What are the wild pokémon here at the trainer school? And, am I allowed to catch them?" If the species are interesting and Erza's allowed to catch them, the boy would proceed, otherwise, he'd ask one last thing and then make his way to the pokémart and refill his potion and pokéballs stock.

"And.. this pokémon egg," In his arms, the egg is the only thing left from the previous item-pile given to him. The rest was in his backpack. "... Do you have any idea of what's inside? And how I should take care of it?"

"I don't need saving, especially by a bully!" Amelia shouted back, obviously less then pleased by the man's efforts. She still held the Driffloon in her arms, which meant that she was getting wet due to the rain. That wasn't much a concern for her right now though, as her attention was on taking down the jerk in front of her and keeping the Driffloon in her arms safe. Upon seeing and scanning her next opponent, she quickly withdrew Litlick before grabbing another pokeball. "Pumpkaboo, give me a hand!"

In a flash of light, the little floating jack-o-lantern was out, looking around and spotting it's newest opponent.
"Trick-or-Treat!" Amelia commanded.

"Pump!" Her companion shouted before shooting an odd ghostly energy at Bonsai. If it hit, then Bonsai would find itself feeling rather... Ghostly.

Lucian nodded as Mia told him to bring the pokedex down to Ducklett (obviously she did not see it) "It's for you." He said in a half-humorous half-sarcastic tone.

After Mia was finished speaking to the Ducklett he said his goodbyes to the trainer and put the pokedex in his pocket "Come along then, I trust your trainer didn't tell you to try and rob me before we arrived." He beckoned for the duck pokemon to follow him as he and houndour (who still seemed mildly amused by this entire situation) made their way back into the caves.
"Houndour tell me if you pick up the scent of anything particularly exotic, otherwise I'd like to move through this miserable cavern as soon as possible." He ordered to the hound pokemon who was now walking by his side , with Ducklett walking opposite to him.

@PlatinumSkink

---

Claire grinned, ho boy she was gettin' excited. Hectors challenge seemed easy enough. Three versus four. Well, three versus three, really. She wasn't putting much stock into having Lure really help her out a lot at the moment. Ralia, Del, and Ritz were the only ones she could reliably use. Simple enough still, though. She just had to play smart, remember that this was a gym battle and not let the excitement go to her head.

Still, this was exciting. Win or loose, she was gonna have A good time.

"Wahaha! You're on, Gym leader guy." She grinned enthusiastically. "Try not to cry like a little baby when I whoop your butt! Come on, Ralia!" Claire released the Ralts onto the field, the pokemon appearing in a flash of red light as she was released.

"RRrral!~" The small pokemon appeared, landing on its feet and doing a little twirl. It looked between Claire and the Timburr for a moment, easily picking up on what was happening. It didn't take Claire long to decide on a strategy to deal with Hector and his challenge. It was going to be a team-battle - which she liked to think she excelled at. Only problem, was that his pokemon were going to get progressively stronger. So that meant she had to deal with the weaker ones as fast and with as little damage as possible so she could save the good stuff for the strong guy.

"Alright, lets speed run this! Ralia, Double team and Confusion!" Immediately, the Ralts exploded into the usual five or so copies it created of itself in an effort to make itself harder to hit. A few twirled away and waved at the Timburr, trying to get its attention, while the others seemed to prepare the confusion attack.