Joshua listened to Dawkin speak without making the slightest sign of interrupting. He was surprised that the boys little explosion of anger was so contained. Kid was definitely the kind to keep his cool in tense situations and he could appreciate that. In fact, probably much to Dawkin's chagrin, Joshua actually smiled at the boys angry responses. When the boy finally finished and left with a huff, Joshua made no attempt to stop him and let him leave.

Amelia simply watched the exchange in silence with a worried expression on her face.
"Are you sure you want to let him go?" She asked.

"No, I don't but it seems better if I do. He's the prideful kind and he might make it out of the desert fine. My concern is when they pride finally gets him in over his head and he's finally dealt a blow to his ego." Joshua said calmly, sipping his drink. "The kid has potential but also many flaws he needs to figure out a fix. For now though, my concern is what you want to do."

"I understand your concern for my safety. I'll let you tag along but..." She began.

"I won't interfere unless absolutely necessary Ame. This is your journey. Soon as we get you to the temple and back, I'm gone on the wind again, finding my own adventures. But this is a route that poses too many dangers that are beyond control If you were stronger, I'd have no issue letting you go. But you're still to green right now, so as a responsible trainer and adult, I can't let you go alone. Unless, as a trainer yourself, you wish to go alone." He said gently, reaching across the table and patting her head, causing the young girl to turn red in the face.

"... so long as I'm still in charge I guess." She said, looking away.

"Alright then. Let's finish up here and get some rest so we're ready to go early tomorrow morning, when it's just starting to warm up." Joshua said. Once they were finished, he paid for the entire meal, handing the money Dawkin had thrown on the table to Amelia before finding them a hotel to stay for the night.

The next morning, the two were up early and Joshua, true to his word, let Amelia take the lead. The first thing she did was locate Dawkin and rushed over to him upon seeing him, Joshua hanging back and leaning against a nearby building, letting the two talk in private.

"Morning." Amelia said to Dawkin, giving him a smile.

@Rune_Alchemist

Uxie looked on patiently and still as Claire was surprised by it, looking at her and evaluating her. It stayed still as she scanned it numerous times, and had her reaction, including to her mission. It did not appear to react to being called a “squinty-eyed nerd looking thing”.

Now, from Ralia’s perspective a bit.

Uxie was still feeling unsure, when Claire went and reinforced that unsurety by talking like that.

"I gotta be honest here, Uxie. Not sure why you'd pick a noob trainer like myself for this sort of thing... … Here Uxie’s eyes suddenly opened wide and Claire froze mid-speech, unmoving. She had been wiped blank for a couple of seconds as Uxie changed its mind. Having done that, however, the unsurety got stronger in a way that felt like “wait, that doesn’t feel right either”. Uxie closed its eyes again and Claire continued talking like nothing had happened, because Claire had no idea Uxie had just wiped her memory for two seconds and then restored it.

Uxie let her continue, showing absolutely no reaction to being patted _{and I have no idea how Uxie feels to touch}, though Ralia could feel over there it wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. When Claire finished on a more positive note, however, Uxie seemed to have decided this was probably good after all. So, when Claire says she’ll give it her best shot…

‘Uxie,’ the Knowledge Pokémon replied, its big head nodding slightly to her, acknowledging her words. After that, it simply hovered where it was. As it informed her, it cannot leave here, so.

At Ralia offering him flowers, Meganium looked at her for a bit. He then proceeded to take a bite out of the ground, spitting out the dirt to the side. He then took the bouquet of flowers with his mouth, pulling it and placing the flowers into the hole it had just bit out. It used its head to push the dirt back around the flowers, and then blew on them. The flowers used the breath of life a Meganium held to take root, becoming a little patch of live flowers in this field. Maganium didn’t look any further at Ralia after that. From the emotions, Ralia could feel that the damage had been mitigated and apology accepted, though she wasn’t entirely forgiven as Meganium was still suspicious of her. Meganium instead focused on the situation in front of them, with Claire, Uxie and Chikorita.

__________________________

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran@Demon Shinobi

Now, Rhyperior’s kinda huge, two and a half meters tall and with those arms and tail even wider, but he offered his rocky arms to Alice and Skylar. Axl and Tank found that hugging Rhyperior was very much like hugging a living mountain, and so did Skylar a bit after. A mountain that appreciated the hug, at the very least. The huge rock with a drill on it smiled proudly at Axl’s statement of how cool he was.

'Rhy!' Rhyperior called to Alice’s hopes for battle and fun in the future, and then looked after her as she was on her way out. He then grinned as well as a Rhyperior possibly could at that she’d win quickly and come in to give her company, lifting the “thumb” on his three-fingered hand in a way that somewhat resembled a thumbs-up, then let her move out with the rest, Rhyperior left standing where he was.

@Dusksong

Oaken turned towards Eryn as she approached him. Through his glasses he held an expressionless stare, looking her and Dei over for a second or so. He wasn’t didn’t have the same somewhat dark look that he had when he was speaking to Kalmia. Eventually he nodded.

'Alright, you look agreeable enough. Let’s do it on the street, so in case your Charmander gets knocked over he doesn’t lit the grass on fire,' Oaken said, though that isn’t actually a danger for Charmanders so Eryn would not have to worry. He took a number of steps before retrieving a Pokéball from his clothes, looking towards Eryn as he stopped.

'I’m Oaken, and I plan on defeating this League as efficiently as possible. … But that hardly matters right now.'

Pokémon Trainer Oaken wants to battle!

'C’mon, new partner. Show me what you got,' Oaken said in a calm and analyzing tone as he opened the ball in his hand, a flash of light as a purple creature took shape before him. One with claws and a long, poisonous tail…

'Skorupi!'





'I don’t believe Charmander knows any fire-moves at this level, does he?' Oaken asked, looking between the Pokémon. 'Fortunate, I would have been in trouble otherwise,' he said, and then flipped up his Pokédex to check Skorupi’s moves. After a bit of analyzing…

'Poison Sting… is too risky. It requires chance to be on my side, to manage to poison the enemy. I will not rely on something so uncertain. Skorupi! Leer once, then Knock Off!'

'Skorup!' the scorpion sounded out, before its blue eyes lit up, intending on shining out and lowering his opponent’s defences. Since all moves take roughly the same amount of time, except for without counting the time to cross the distance between the Pokémon, Eryn can make two commands too. She knows what Oaken has planned, as efficient as he is. What will she do?

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran

'Oh. Um. Good. Uh,' Simon started in response to Skylar’s statement, though was still left standing there somewhat dumbfounded.

'Oh. Huh. Me and…?' Simon asked, blinking a bit overhearing the words of Alice and Skylar.

'… Me,' Vivia filled in, walking to stand beside the smaller boy, working to overcome herself. Simon gave her a look-over, then grinned in determination, his vigour returning.

'… Alright! We’ll be the very best team, like no team ever was!' he announced proudly, grabbing his Pokéball, and throwing. 'Go, Simon #8!' he called, looking excitedly as the Pokéball opened wide and with a flash, an oblong tube of a creature inside a small bubble of simulated water took shape.

'Barbo…?' the Pokémon looked about itself while her trainer opened his Pokédex to check something.





Meanwhile, Vivia took out her Pokéball from her bag that we’ll say she was carrying, and-

She took a pause.

She inspected the Pokéball in her hand, then she inspected her bag closely.

Looking suspicious, she still decided everything seemed fine, and turned to face Alice and Skylar.

'Alright, let’s go then!' she said, making a motion of lobbing the Pokéball. 'Go, Scr-''Rooo~!'

There was two different flashes of light and one distressed wide-eyed expression on Vivia as one Pokémon came from the thrown Pokéball and the other came from her bag without any form of solicitation. From the thrown Pokéball came a yellow creature with big head with large white eyes and teeth, wearing its skin like oversized trousers, while in front of it a small armless orange spirit with blue eyes and an electric aura smiled brightly.









'ROTOM! NO! BACK!' Vivia called desperately, but Rotom was already out, turning and looking into the eyes of Scraggy. Scraggy blinked a bit, noting the eyes of Rotom before it… and had the predictable reaction.

'SCRAGGY!' the yellow Pokémon announced, promptly thrusting its head at Rotom, and predictably fell straight through the giggling ghost-type which drifted away unharmed. Scraggy scrambled to get onto its feet and then charged after Rotom… who was leading it away from the battlefield.

'STOP IT! BAD ROTOM! BACK!' Vivia grabbed the ghost-type’s Pokéball and dashed after the fleeing Pokémon, which was an expert at dodging Vivia’s attempts to return it to its Pokéball while leading Scraggy away…

Meanwhile, Simon wasn’t even noticing, just staring into his Pokédex with a grin.

'There… finally…' Simon spoke, before thrusting his Pokédex into the air with triumph. 'I FINALLY HAVE A POKÉMON WITH AN ATTACK MOVE!'

'First I was given a Hoppip (#2), but it only knew Synthesis! So first thing I did, I went oceanside fishing, and caught a Magikarp (#3)! Of course, that one only knew Splash, but I had it Struggle until I could catch a Wailmer (#4)! But, IT ONLY KNEW SPLASH AND GROWL! Then I headed into Infested Woods instead and caught a Burmy (#5), BUT IT ONLY KNEW PROTECT! Then I somehow fell down into a hole into some form of vast underground, where I met this cool Cubone (#6) which I caught, BUT IT ONLY KNEW GROWL AND TAIL WHIP! I climbed out into the Silent Forest, where I met this cute little Ralts (#7) that I convinced to join me, BUT IT ONLY KNEW GROWL! Finally, FINALLY I’ve come back here and #8 FINALLY has a damaging move! Finally, FINALLY!'

Simon proceeded to point his Pokédex at Skylar and Seabreeze excitedly.

'I hope you’re ready! Because me and #8 are going to Mud-Slap your bird into-' Simon suddenly paused, his excitement frozen. 'Mud-Slap your bird into…' He brought his Pokédex back in front of him to read. 'Mud-Slap…' Then he looked at Seabreeze. 'Bird…' Simon proceeded to look back and forth a couple of times. 'Oh, you gotta be kidding me.'

Somewhere in the background, Jacques had to walk back into the lab a bit to not laugh out loud at the expense at his hopeful.

A second or so of contemplating life afterwards Simon spun to look after Vivia in desperation. 'VIVIA! I NEED SCRAGGY’S HEADBUTT!'

Vivia had just precisely managed to grab onto Scraggy, lifting him away from Rotom and holding one arm for Scraggy to stand on and another covering Scraggy’s eyes so that he didn’t see Rotom abusing his headbutting instincts.

'Scraggy doesn’t know Headbutt yet!' she called back, walking back with a Rotom giggling and pestering around her.

'What do you mean, “doesn’t know Headbutt”!? The Pokédex clearly states he headbutts anything that looks at him, and he just tried to do it on Rotom!'

'He tries to Headbutt, but it becomes Struggle, he can’t do it properly! His only attack right now is Low Kick!'

'Low K- That’s also bad against the bird!'

'I’m sorry, but I can’t help those things!'

'Roootom~!' Rotom called in unhelpfully, trying to cause Scraggy to go after him, which he would have had not Vivia held onto him.

'Oh, you little-'

Vivia then let go of Scraggy, who blinked in surprise as he fell down and fell over on the ground because of the lack of balance in his body due to too heavy a head, and Vivia then grabbed another Pokéball and threw into the ground between her and Rotom. A purple furrball with antennas and red eyes popped out.

'Venonat!'





'Venonat! Foresight!'

'Ven!' Venonat focused her eyes, and a red glow emitted from it, focusing on Rotom. Rotom felt an odd change on him as he was identified.

'Rom?' he asked, before Vivia suddenly came flying with a full round-house kick into the ghost’s face, the kick sending a pulse of loud impact-energy through the area and sending the ghost flying way over multiple buildings towards an infinite horizon. 'ROOOOOOOOoooooootoooo_{oooooooommm...}' … One could then swear a small flashing star where Rotom vanished into the sky.

'I’m sorry about that, let’s continue before he comes back…' she said, placing back her apparently really strong leg back onto the ground and turning back towards Alice and Skylar, breathing out while Scraggy looked back at her in slight confusion.

'We’re facing those two,' Vivia said to Scraggy as the little yellow Pokémon was finally put to face the right opponents, and it called out excitedly. 'Scraggy!'

'Alright! We’re ready!' Simon announced, not sure about their chances, but nonetheless determined.

Pokémon Trainers Simon and Vivia wants to battle!

'What moves do you have!?' Simon asked sideways at Vivia.

'Um. Leer, Low Kick and Sand Attack,' Vivia answered, taking a moment between keeping the info to herself or letting Simon know. Simon grinned.

'Great! Give them your best Leer! Be the best Leerer, like no-one has ever Leered! Meanwhile, #8! Mud Slap at the Horsea!'

'Erk. Okay. Scraggy! Leer!' Vivia didn’t look entirely comfortable being ordered around, but agreed with the plan.

'Barboach!' 'Scraaag!'

Both Pokémon sounded out as the Barboach started swimming through the air for Cici while Scraggy stood back to focus its Leer at the two opposing Pokémon. So, what would Skylar and Alice do?

@Demon Shinobi

Rodger turned to Axl, his eyes showing a hint of interest in his challenge. Rodger smirked wide, and closed his eyes for a bit.

'Heh, fine by me. I do have a stronger team, but right now I’m limited to using this Pokémon I just received. … That said, you might find this fairly challenging, but not because of reasons you could have known beforehand,' Rodger said, his eyes trailing over Tank as the trainer was taking up his Pokéball and preparing for battle.

Pokémon Trainer Rodger wants to battle!

'Alright, here’s the challenge for you. Let’s go, Spike!' Rodger said, throwing out his Pokéball into the air, and with a flash, a round metal ball with green spikes sticking out from all sides took shape…

'Ferrrrro…'





Notable Ability; Iron Barbs - Does damage to those who make contact with this Pokémon.

'… Yupp. That’s your current situation. I’m just going to go ahead and start out with Harden. Harden, Spike!' Rodger said, smiling confidently.

'Feeerrro…' Spike sounded out, starting to prepare to harden up. … It was ferociously slow, though. What would Axl and Tank do?

'… Ferroseed? At this level where most Pokémon only know Scratch or Tackle?' Kalmia asked, looking with a raised eyebrow at Jacques beside her.

'It is, however, slow, and fairly vulnerable to those who can damage it, I plan for it to challenge Rodger to think,' Jacques simply explained, having returned from the lab. Kalmia didn’t look like she was buying it, frowning before looking to Axl and Tank, a bit worried.

---

^{Pureplain City || Kalmia’s Lab || Mid-Morning}
‘Agreeable’ wasn’t a word Eryn would immediately use to describe herself, but she figured it fit, even though the way Oaken said it made it sound more like an insult than a compliment.

When Oaken released his Skorupi, Eryn grinned, then dropped her grin the second after when she realized the dilemma at hand: Dei knew no fire-type moves at level five. Oaken kindly reminded her of this fact, and she resisted snarking back. She could live with not having an advantage. After consulting her Pokedex for the Skorupi’s moves, though, Eryn realized that as it stood, the poison-type actually held the advantage, which was never a good thought to have after the battle challenge had been issued.

A backwards glance from Dei, however, brought her back to the present. She hadn’t chased trainership because it was easy or immediately rewarding. No, she was in for the long haul—the ups and downs, the wins and the losses. So what if she needed to have luck on her side to win? Fighting and learning from those fights was the goal, and in order to do that, Eryn would have to give it her all every time.

In this case, though, it called for some reckless creativity with two options.

“Let’s go, Dei. Scratch twice!” In comparison to Leer, Growl would only serve to prolong the battle, and Eryn didn’t like dragging things out for longer than necessary. While it would potentially soften the Skorupi’s blow, she’d have to have Dei strike sooner or later, and she opted for sooner on the off chance that maybe a good Scratch would throw the Skorupi off-kilter enough to fit in a second.

Hearing her orders, Dei rushed forwards towards the Skorupi, his teeth bared and his mind intent on giving the Skorupi a good slashing.

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

Alice cocked her head to the side at the odd display happening before her. She glanced at Skylar, before chewing on her lip, her mind running through everything they were giving away. Full attack sets, what they couldn't do... They were giving away an entire strategy.

Absently she twirled a strand of hair while they got ready.

"You ready, Skylar? I've got a plan." she said softly, a wry smile lifting her lips. Just in time!

"Alright, Cici! Smokescreen! Can't Leer if you can't see! Follow up with a Bubble and then get some distance! But keep bubble going!" she called out in a firm voice. Part one: blind the enemy. Avoid and counter. Give Seabreeze an opening, with it's enhanced eyesight, and make this fast!

Ideally the bubbles would help cover from the mudslap, even just a little, and moving could help. Accuracy wasn't a concern here, afterall.

"Let's do this, Skylar!"

---

---

Skylar listened intently to what was going on as Seabreeze flapped up, ready to wait around for the battle to start. Simon had the realization that Seabreeze was, of course, a perfect counter to Simon #8, but the Scraggy that Vivia was using was also quite terrible against Seabreeze's amazing typing. As a result, Seabreeze and Skylar were intently ready to show off what they could do.

Alice looked over at Skylar, and after speaking her mind, Skylar simply nodded. His head was in the game now, there's no way he could lose with the deck he was given... and he wasn't planning on it.

As soon as the flood gates opened, Cici prepared her onslaught with a Smokescreen and a Bubble assault, and Seabreeze rose high after giving a solid "Wingull!", growing ever distant as he rose up into the air, giving him an advantage over the other opponents. It was enough to give Skylar a decent idea of where he was in a vague space.

In his mind, he had ideas of where all opponents were. He knew the layout well enough, he just had to utilize it. He knew the Smokescreen was up, but he had to act on this or it'd be wasted.

"Seabreeze! Down towards the Scraggy! Say when you're there."

Utilizing the ultimate ability of Keen Eye, Seabreeze rushed down towards the smoke and flew around the top of it deftly. Finally, he got close to where the Fighting-Type was and let out a "GULL!"

With one swift motion, Skylar brought his hands right up to his ears and cupped them. "SUPERSONIC! AS LOUD AS YOU CAN MUSTER! BEHIND HIS HEAD!"

Suddenly, Seabreeze dove down beneath the Smokescreen, and his position was obscured by the smog. He wasn't affected as bad, but he already knew where to go from being above it. With one loud "WIIIIINGUUUULLLLLL", Skylar smiled through clenched teeth as his bird unleashed his attack right behind the ears of the Scraggy. Combining the disorientation of the smokescreen and the sudden loud noise, there's a fairly high chance that the Scraggy would be Confused.

Dawkin had calmed down somewhat, but was unquestionably still resentful of Joshua's condescending questioning. The night passed peacefully enough and Dawkin found himself at the edge of town, with his knowledge of astrology slightly increased as compared to yesterday. "Yeah, good morning. I'm... uh..." Dawkin wanted to apologize for his outburst, but he couldn't help feeling he was justified so there was nothing to apologize for. "I'm hoping we find the temple without too much trouble." Dawkin ended lamely and gestured for Amelia to lead the way whilst he mentally kicked himself. "We should get going while its not too hot."

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Rrral~" After handing over the flowers to Meganium, Ralia walked over to Claire and Chikorita who was currently busy chasing a leaf around Claire's legs. Reaching down and picking the grass type up, Claire gave her new friend a tight hug. The grass type stopped for a second, focusing on Ralia who had walked up. The two stared at each other for a second before the Chikorita made an attempt to tackle it, only to have Ralia teleport right up onto Claire's head.

"Haha, hey now, play nice you two." Claire laughed, reaching down and picking up the Chikorita. "You wanna come with us, right? Well I just so happen to have an extra spot on my team, haha! So lets see..." What would be a good name...? Something lively and green. "How about...Pip? Nice easy, rolls of the tongue and totally adorable like the both of us." Chikorita, Pip, Grinned brightly before wiggling out of Claire's arms and running a few more circles around her. Ralia was quick to join her new playmate, teleporting off of Claire's head and onto Chikorita's back, causing the grass type to stumble forward, quickly correcting herself and starting to chase after the psychic type.

"Ah, y'know what?" Claire grinned brightly. "Since we're here, we might as well play a bit." Uxie was probably a bit lonely too, considering it was forced to be here after all. "Hey, Uxie," Claire turned back to the psychic legendary causally. "Don't mind if we hang out here a bit do ya? Wanna give my pokemon time to stretch their legs a bit."

@Rune_Alchemist

Uxie stayed at a distance hovering from them, watching. Upon Claire's question, it merely gave a small nod and told ‘Uxie,’ in an okay-sounding tone.

Having confirmed that Chikorita, Pip, was indeed alright, Meganium decided he was done for the day and lay down on the grass to relax nearby. The place is pretty quiet and still, except for whatever Claire and co got up to.

"That sounds like a good idea. But I don't really know where the ruin is, so we might end up getting lost." Amelia said "But I guess if we just keep going straight, we might hit it eventually. So, I guess all we can do is hope and pray that we don't get lost."

With that, she pulled out her umbrella and opened it up before setting out to enter the desert and get to her next destination in mind.

Behind the pair, Joshua smiled and followed but kept his distance, allowing the children to take the lead and determine how this all played out in the end.

Axl’s eyes scanned the Ferroseed along with its trainer as Tank took his position. Immediately he held up his pokedex scanning the pokemon for real in order to weigh his options. It would have been easy to act like he knew exactly what to do, but he didn’t. It might have been possible to tackle it over and over until it fainted, but with its ability, Tank would take just as much damage. Still, with his defensive abilities Tank could more than take a little damage.

”So, it’s gonna be a battle of attrition then.” Axl said with a small smirk, confident in his chances despite the position he was in. In truth, he’d have been disappointed if his first battle wasn’t challenging. Still, Axl did have a few things going for him. First, while his Munchlax didn’t have a defensive advantage, he had an advantage in mobility. Second, when it came down to it, he was confident that Tank could at last the Ferroseed if it came down to who could take more hits. And last but not least, at this stage Ferroseed would most likely be limited to two moves, Tackle and Harden, whereas Tank had at least three at his disposal. ”Tank use defense curl.” He ordered the Munchlax.

”Muuunch`” The big eater pokemon vocalized his confirmation for the order and used his move, bumping his defense stat up one stage. It might not have seemed like much, but it'd help if it came down to who could take more of a beating.

”Now we’re gonna tackle.” He needed to gauge what each of them could take.

"Munch munch!" Tank nodded before charging at his target. Whether or not he landed a blow on Ferroseed was anybody’s guess. Axl didn’t want his pokemon getting hurt if it could have been avoided it, but this was a moment of truth. It was important to know what each pokemon could take in order for him to move forward and devise some form of a strategy.

”Here’s hoping,” he mumbled under his breath almost inaudibly as the thought of his final advantage crossed his mind; a move called metronome. The problem was it was a gamble and Axl didn’t think shooting right out the gate with it was smart.

@Dusksong

Skurupi glared, leered as it was, as Dei as he ran towards the skorpion, and Dei felt that his defense had been lowered… but that meant that Dei got in the first attack!

'Skorp…!' Skorupi recoiled as it was hurt by Dei’s scratch, recoiling a bit from the tear of the claws but being too heavy for Charmander to topple at this moment. For the next exchange, Dei once again struck first, striking a blow on the armour of the scorpion… but Skorupi had pretty decent defenses. In return…

'Skorup!' Skorupi struck up with its spiked claw, striking across Dei’s face somewhat from underneath. While Dei held nothing that could be bashed out of his hands by Knock Off, significant damage was dealt to the Lizard Pokémon, more so than he could cause in return. Oaken looked content.

'… Just in case you’re hoping for a lucky Critical Hit…' Oaken smirked, pushing his glasses back and seeming utterly convinced of his victory. 'Skorupi’s ability is Battle Armor. It means Critical Hits does no additional damage. Such silly things as “Luck” should have no influence on the tide of battle, it is the perfect ability for me.'

Saying so, Oaken simply looked to the battle, still smiling.

'Skorupi, continue your Knock Off. Continue, until your opponent has fainted. At this rate, you will win.'

'Sko!' Skorupi sounded, intent on going in for another blow.

What would Eryn command?

__________________________

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran

Alice and Skylar pulled off their strategy, and the opponents had to calibrate. Cici shot out her Smokescreen pellet at Scraggy…

'Ah! Scraggy, dodge!' Vivia commanded, her eyes widened as she realized how well that countered Leer.

'Scraggy?' Scraggy asked, not entirely sure why he was to dodge until the smokescreen pellet blew up in his face and spread smoke around him. 'Scraaaaaag…!' he complained loudly, spinning in place and kicking about. Then, Seabreeze flew in, and-

'Tsk! Scraggy, behind you! Low Kick!' Vivia commanded instead. On the command, Scraggy spun despite not being able to see, and thrust out his leg! … Right underneath Seabreeze the flying bird, who proceeded to Supersonic him in the face. Scraggy recoiled, stumbling back and falling over, rolling out of the smokescreen before scrambling up onto his legs… and stumbled again.

'Sc-scrag…?' Scraggy asked. Scraggy became confused!

'Geh! Scraggy, go after the Wingull! Low Kick! … Er, High Low Kick!' Vivia commanded, looking a bit flustered by the whole event. Scraggy, still stumbling, tried to stumble around the smokescreen to reach after Seabreeze to try to jump up into the air after him to attempt the “High Low Kick”… however that was supposed to go while Scraggy was confused.

Meanwhile, after having shot out the Smokescreen, Cici had a Barboach chasing after her. #8 kicked up a Mud-Slap against her Bubbles…! … And as we know, Water is effective against Ground, so the bubbles struck right through, the mud thickening as the bubbles hit them and plunging uselessly down onto the grass in between the two Water-Pokémon.

'Agh! This one, too…!?' Simon flinched back, glaring at the match-up…

'Vivia! We still need to team up on Horsea! #8, charge through the bubbles, then Mud-Slap up close!' Simon commanded, and #8 decided to meet the Bubble attack head-on, crashing through the high-powered Bubbles taking decent damage, but intending on getting close enough to Mud-Slap without needing to fear the attack being rendered useless!

'Eh? Vivia blinked a little as she realized she might have diverted from the strategy. 'I-I’ll get back to you on that…!' she said, as Scraggy was still trying to Low Kick a bird.

What would Alice and Skylar's next actions be?

__________________________

@Demon Shinobi

Both Tank and Spike increased their Defense before one another, Rodger just looking on with a doubtful expression for a bit.

'Now, I could just hunker up with another Harden… but that’s no fun. Spike! Tackle!' Rodger called, smiling excitedly.

'Ferrrrro…' Spike called, before starting to roll slowly towards Tank…

And here, not counting Shuckle, we were now presented with the slowest Pokémon in existence and the second slowest Pokémon in existence (shared with two others) heading for one another to Tackle, Tank and Spike charging with determination yet definitely taking their time, Tank’s feet only taking him forward at a very specific pace and Spike’s rolling speed leaving much to be desired. The Munchlax and Ferroseed closed ever closer to one another, one step and partial roll at a time, their eyes meeting every time Spike actually completed a lap and had his eyes towards Tank. … This kept on for long enough that someone might doubt what they were doing, but finally, came the climactic impact…!

Despite how slow Tank was charging, the hit to his opponent came with considerable impact. A burst of force happened as the two Pokémon met, and Tank was the stronger. Yet, the iron barbs stung into him, causing considerable damage as Spike simply rolled away a bit and back into an upright position, not having taken much damage at all. Not very effective, as it were. Spike’s defense was naturally higher, meaning the boosting of his defense had more effect than Tank’s Defense Curl. Still, Tank had far more endurance than Spike and could take more damage, so it was perhaps hard to tell who was in better shape.

'Alright! Keep Tackling! You’re faster than your opponent, for perhaps the only time in your life! Chase him down! Soak in the feeling! ENJOY IT!' Rodger grinned happily, and Spike didn’t need to be told twice.

'Ferrroseeeed…!' Spike called, and resumed its rolling towards Tank!

So, what would Axl do now?

__________________________

@Eklispe@Joshua Tamashii

So, the two headed out into the desert. Then, without any further ado…

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Heh, alright!" Claire reached into her belt, letting her pokemon get some fresh air for now. Ritz and Del were first, followed shortly after by Zeal and Lure. "Break time guys!" The redhead said enthusiastically as Pip accidentally ran into her leg, Ralia trailing along behind her. "And this here is Pip. She's gonna be on the team starting today, so you guys play nice." Claire said, Picking up the Chikorita. Most of the others seemed alright with the Chikorita, save for Lure who simply huffed irritably and decided to buzz off somewhere.

Rude.

"Now hold on there ya little bug," Claire grabbed the Combee before it could fly off too far, holding it under her arm. "Now you wouldn’t wanna be rude to your new teammate, would ya?" Pip wiggled free from her arms and landed on the ground, tossing a few leaves in Lure's direction, causing the bug to deflect them with a strong gust of wind. Chikorita then proceeded to stick her tongue out at the Combee, send a few more flying in her direction only to agitate Lure further, who then proceeded to start chasing her.

Chuckling lightly, Claire pulled out her pokedex and decided to give professor Kalmia a call and see if she could get a hold of her.

"Hey hey, Professor! Future starlet Claire reporting from Stillwood! Guess how many badges this girls got!"

Meanwhile Del seemed complacent enough to simply idly stand near Claire, with Ritz taking interest in the Meganium, slowly floating over and looking up at the large pokemon with big eyes. Ralia had decided to join playing with Lure and Pip, alongside her clones.

It took a couple rings for Kalmia to answer.

‘Pokémon Professor Kalmia of Pureplain speaking,’ Kalmia started out by answering. Claire then said her part. Then Kalmia could answer. ‘… Hiii, Claire! Stillwood, huh. Weeeell~ I may be slightly cheating, because I regularly check the trainer profiles of my trainers and saw you got the Challenge Badge- one heck of a badge to start with, Hector only barely knows what holding back is -but since you're asking, I'm gonna guess you just beat Archie, landing you at two!’ Kalmia guessed excitedly.

"Whahaha!" Claire laughed at Kalmia's suggestion. "Well I'm good but not that good. Hector's the only one I got right now that was a fun battle. Oh, and I also have a Castle Medal from the pokemon in Mt. Strength If that counts, haha!" She briefly recounted a few more snippets of her adventures so far. She hadn't gotten too terribly far in her gym challenges as of now, but she was slowly making her way towards her goal. "Oh, yea! I also met with a few the top Contest Coordinators! I even had a little practice contest with a friend. One of these days I'll be taking that spot myself, heh!" Pausing for a moment to let Kalmia process everything she had said, she continued. "I’m in Stillwood's forest right now. Boy this place is bad for the allergies. Caught a Chikorita though! Who's Archie anyways? Sounds like the name of someone who likes the ocean too much."

Kalmia listened, a bit amazed that Claire apparently met a couple top coordinators already. The bit about Mt. Strength was an interesting tale, Kalmia most certainly was interested in hearing how that went down. Kalmia sounded pleased on the other side hearing about the most recent addition. ‘A Chikorita? Nice. That brings you to six Pokémon, doesn't it?’ Kalmia might have seemed slightly distracted, but refocused at the question. ‘Oh, Archie's the Gym Leader of Stillwood Village, the "Woodland Wanderer". The youngest Gym Leader right now, but he has a certain unnatural ability when it comes to Grass-types, that I'm sure you'll notice when you battle, heh~ Anyways, he typically wanders the forests around Stillwood, away to Silent Forest and even the Endless Forest, he's the one person that's known to be able to walk through there,’ Kalmia explained, sounding like she was smiling.

"Oh, he's a tree hugger then?" Claire chuckled. "Glad I got myself a Chimchar and a few bug types, heh! I'll breeze right by his gym." Taking a brief pause to make sure her pokemon weren't causing too much trouble, Claire continued. "…Hey, you ever heard of a pokemon called Azelf?" A stupid question to ask? Perhaps, but Kalmia could be trusted, couldn't she?

‘I'm sure you will~’ Kalmia said, sounding confident about Claire's chances. Then... Claire asked that. She might be aware of Uxie staring without expression at her from not very far away through closed eyelids. ‘Hm? ...’ There was a pause before Kalmia spoke again. ‘That would be one of the trio that, according to legend, gave their gifts to original humans. One gave emotions, one gave knowledge, one gave willpower... I think Azelf was willpower? I can't tell you more than the legends we learned from schoolbooks, though. We have no recorded sightings of any of them, after all. They may just be legends, as far as we're concerned,’ Kalmia said, though her tone had a tone of curiosity to it.

"Heh, maybe I should've paid better attention in class." Claire couldn't help but to snicker somewhat in a somewhat smug sounding tone as she waved a hand towards Uxie. Well if Uxie was Knowledge, Azelf Willpower, that left Mesprit with Emotion. She was hoping for maybe getting the information a bit easier, but she could at least ask Kalmia for some direction. "Any idea where I could learn some more at?"

‘I think Professor Dunstan of Worldedge City has been studying legendary Pokémon, though I'm unsure if he's actually found anything. He has a pretty big presence in the Information District, middle district of the south side of Worldedge, should be easy to find. Otherwise, there's an academy in Rainrock City full of old books and legends, maybe even Clement could help you out if you go there,’ Kalmia suggests, still curious.

"Hey, Thanks Professor." Ralia had managed to teleport herself on top of Lure who was still chasing Pip. Thrown off balance by the sudden weight, the small bug and psychic type careened right into the legendary pokemon named Uxie.

‘Rainrock City's more closely connected to the ancient culture of Isson and as a consequence its legends, so the Library and Academy there is the place to go if you want to hear about those, but that said, much of what you can find there you can also find with Professor Dunstan, who's basically the man of research in Isson and he's been interested in legendary Pokémon, and you'll find him in Worldedge City, mostly. If he's not off on some research trip, which could happen,’ Kalmia continued, giving some more insight in the different options.

Uxie, through means unknown, could tell that there was hijinks heading its way and simply drifted aside, diagonally up into the air, turning itself to look towards those who had threatened to impact it with a little neutral stare, before turning back to Claire.

‘Though, even if he's off, his research should still be in Worldedge City, if you can convince them you're worthy of reading it,’ Kalmia continued.

"Ah, backtracking is a drag." Claire sighed, giving Ralia and Lure a small frown as they finished up their shenanigans. "Buuuut I don't think I'll have any problem convincing them, heh." Ralia wondered over, so Claire picked her up as Lure shook some dirt off herself and Pip playfully began poking her in the side. "Anyways, Ralia says hi and I should probably get going before I overstay my welcome. Thanks for the help!"

‘Heh, get yourself a capable Flying-type and you won't have to worry about backtracking,’ Kalmia noted with a bit of amusement in her voice. ‘Alright. I'm happy to help. Good luck with whatever you're doing, then. Good luck with Claire, Ralia~!’ Kalmia called, sounding happy.

"Rrral!~" Ralia gave a loud cry of affirmation causing Claire to frown.

"Ye of little faith! I'm the one who needs luck with this little rascal!" Claire harrumphed before laughing. "Bye Professor!" And with that, she ended the call, stuffing her pokedex back in her bag. Best not to linger here before someone else came along and messed things up. Turning to Uxie, she gave the legendary a grin.

"Alright, well I'll be going now. You stay safe, y'hear?" Claire said, poking the pokemon on the head. "And if ya need me or something, I dunno...use your psychic powers or something to tell me. I'll come running no matter what, okay?" Gathering up her pokemon and saying bye to the Meganium, Claire headed back to Stillwood. Lets see if this Archie was as good as Kalmia said he was.

Dawkin took a moment to survey the landscape before him. He wasn't a big fan of hot places, which might make one wonder why he was adventuring in probably the hottest place on the continent, but it wasn't like he'd planned on coming here in the first place. The area was surprisingly craggy for a desert, if a sandstorm did happen they would probably provide a good place to hide out in, and were serviceable landmarks. Once again Dawkin was following Amelia, however he was going to keep his eye out for Cacnea that lay within easy reach so to speak. "So your plan is to head in a straight line until we find something cool? Well I've heard worse ideas. If you see a Cancea I'll make a quick detour, so keep your eyes peeled for green things and ancient temples I guess." Dawkin said and began walking forward, his eyes scouring the landscape as harshly as any desert wind for any signs of Cacnea or the temple they were looking for.

Action: Search for Cancea and Ancient Temple(?)

---

"Well, finding Cacnea isn't all that hard. They're all around us." Amelia pointed out before pointing to a group of the cacti-like pokemon to their left, right, and slightly ahead. "So if you want to catch one go right ahead. As for my plan, it really isn't much of a plan. I could use Driffloon to scout for us I suppose, though I'm not sure how big this desert is and I don't want to end up losing her in here, since this isn't an environment any of my pokemon are meant to live or be in. So I'd rather use them as little as possible."

With her part said, he would proceed onward, trying to avoid any encounters that might turn hostile, her focus on getting to her destination and then getting out of here as quickly as possible. She didn't like this kind of environment and already missed the sight of grass and trees. That being said, if Dawkin stopped to catch a Cacnea, she would stop as well and let him accomplish his goal.

@Rune_Alchemist

Meganium gave Ritz a bit of a stare, but assuming he did nothing else he'd resume his resting.

Uxie looked at her as it was poked, but with her insistence that it should call her and she’d come running, it gave the slightest of smiles and did a small nod. Meganium barely acknowledged Claire, though if Pip was there he’d give her a grunt that wished her well, and that was about that. Back through the old forest and back to…



Then, she headed for the Gym, was it?

The Pokémon Gym of Stillwood Village was a large treehouse, with a large stair leading up towards it. It was a grand creation, round creation circling the tree in white, pillars that looked like sprouted trees holding it afloat over the ground beneath. Under the treehouse was a nest of plenty of Pokémon. By the start of the stairs was a sign, declaring what this gym was.

Stillwood Pokémon Gym - Minor League
Gym Leader: Archie
“The Woodland Wanderer!”

‘Hey! Champion-to-be!’ A voice called out for her. She might recognize him as the same one that had appeared before her at Redcoast City Gym.



‘Taking on your next Gym, are you? Nice! You might need to know, Archie’s Gym is a traditional one, where you need to fight a couple of Gym Trainers to prove yourself before facing the Leader! Don’t worry, you get to heal your Pokémon between each battle. Now, then, if you wish to know…’ … In case Claire was still listening, he’d go on to explain the Grass-type.



With that over, she probably headed up the stairs into the first room. The inside of the building was a big forest of its own, soil spread around the ground-floor to let plants grow, yet in here one more great staircase existed, taking the challenger all the way up the giant tree that the building was constructed around. On the way up the staircase were three great platforms built out of wood, held up by a tree-pillar each, just a simple railing preventing a fall down below. In any case. Claire was to take the challenge, was she not? If so, she could climb up the stairs to the first platform.

Waiting there, like knowing she’d be coming, sat a smug-looking young Aroma Lady on a wooden chair, waiting for her approach.



‘Fuhuhuhu. You wanna challenge the leader? Well, you know the drill. You gonna have to go through me, first!’

Aroma Lady Tanya would like to battle!



Assuming Claire eventually got past Tanya, she could wander up the stairs and face the second opponent halfway up the tree. It was another Aroma Lady, her expression kind and welcoming, yet still very much ready for battle.



‘Hello! Welcome to Stillwood Pokémon Gym! I’m happy you’ve taken our challenge… but I’m sorry, I need to make sure you know we Stillwood Trainers are no pushovers!’

Aroma Lady Daisy would like to battle!



After Daisy, assuming she got that far, Claire’d be walking up to the third and final platform before the top, where she’d face a middle-aged man in a suit, standing politely and awaiting her approach.



‘Welcome, young trainer. Master Archie’s playing just beyond here. I’d let you go see him, but I must make sure you’re up to the challenge first.’

Butler Ramsey would like to battle!



What would be Claire’s strategies in the battles ahead? She’d be allowed to go heal between each, if she so wanted.

__________________________

@Eklispe

It wouldn’t take very long for Dawkin to find a Cacnea, standing on its own in the sands next to a rock. While they weren’t sprawling the place, so to say, it didn’t need much else than simply moving about to see the green of them standing out among the rocks and sands.



The cactus was sending out a scent to attract its prey, except humans are not part of its diet. _{Honestly, I am unsure what is, but anyways.} Not sticking to its usual tactics of waiting the prey to get close, the little cactus pretending to be a normal cactus spun towards Dawkin and directed its “hands” at him, obviously threatening the thorn-like attack which the Pokédex described.

‘Cacnea!’ it announced, looking vaguely threatening. It really only meant to make them aware of it and make them move on… but that’s not why Dawkin was here. Moving forth would most certainly result in a battle. What would Dawkin do?

@Joshua Tamashii

One thing Amelia’d note. She wasn’t the only kinda-mystic that had been attracted to this place. There were Hex Maniacs, Channellers and Mediums about, attracted by the mystic energies of the Old Tombs, and Amelia could feel they had Ghost Pokémon on them. There weren’t a lot of them, one of each specifically, trying to make it through the desert that was SO not their element. She could feel them, but they didn’t seem like they could feel her in return.

Also, wasn’t there something strange in the distance? There was a ghostly presence, but it was volatile. Somewhat akin to what she might remember Angelique caused the evil-minded Pokémon of Witchpeak Cemetery…

Pickup - Pumpkaboo is now holding Soft Sand. Where he found that is anyone’s guess.

---

^{Pureplain City || Kalmia’s Lab || Mid-Morning}
“Dei!” Eryn watched, hands clenched, as the Skorupi struck Dei across his face, leaving visible scratches. Though Dei had managed to strike the Skorupi twice before it retaliated, the difference in power between their blows meant that Dei would likely lose the exchange in the long run if Eryn didn’t come up with something, and fast.

“That’s not what I was hoping for!” Eryn yelled back at Oaken when he started going on about luck again, annoyance spiking as she racked her brain for her next move. Growl? Considering the power difference, a cutback in attack was unlikely to do much. Another Scratch? It definitely wouldn’t win her the battle, but she also had no other offensive alternatives.

“Wait,” Eryn said, striking on an idea. “Dei, your tail. Use your tail!”

While he clearly heard her, Dei looked rightfully confused. The spark of understanding that flashed through his eyes a moment later, though, reassured Eryn that he too had seen the flame on his flicking tail, and he relayed this to Eryn with an affirmative “Char!”

“Alright, Dei. Growl and hit ‘em with your tail!” So what if she was inventing moves at this point? As far as she was concerned, every weapon—or not—that Dei had at his disposal was fair game. Evolution had granted him a flaming tail, and she’d see that he use it.

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

Alice nodded in satisfaction as the mudslap was rendered useless, giving a congratulatory yell to Cici while encouraging her to keep up the great work.

Now then... The enemy was faster, since they were already moving, and she couldn't hope to repeat the bubble tactic at closer range....

"Wait for it....SMOKESCREEN!" she called out as the distance closed. "Follow up with some more Bubbles, luv!"

---

---

Skylar smiled as Seabreeze swooped back up into the air, a single "Gull!" sounding through the area as Skylar updated his spacial map. Alice was getting ready with a combo from Cici, and the Scraggy that was below Seabreeze was struggling to figure out what's going on, giving Skylar an idea.

"Alice, I've got an idea! Lemme know when you need my help with that Barboach!" Skylar said as he fist-pumped the air, giving a command after it was done. "Seabreeze, it's time to fight. Unload a Water Gun into the Scraggy's pants!"

It'd undoubtedly do damage, but if that Scraggy had tons of water in his shorts, he'd be weighed down by all the water and wouldn't be able to get off the ground, preventing the High Low Kick from even happening without the Scraggy stumbling. Skylar felt bad that his plan was what it was. He quite liked Scraggies. They were silly, awkward, and cute, like a lot of Flying-Types.

@PlatinumSkink

---

Getting back to the Stillwood was a breeze, and locating the Gym was even easier since she didn't have to wade through a sea of angry grass types and spores. Treehouse was an impressive sight, especially the grand staircase. The structure curved around the entirety of treehouse, white pillars that seemed to be made to look like trees holding it aloft and next to it was a sign giving information on the gym leader and who was in charge around here, and she was soon greeted by none other than the regional gym helper.

"Heh, hey there! Do I even want to know how you get to place to place so easily?" She grinned. "Anyways, I got this! Thanks for the help though!" Before he could finish giving the rest of his information on grass types, Claire headed inside.

She was greeted by another impressive sight. Were all gyms like this? Hectors wasn't super impressive, but it was in its own way. This Gym had an entirely different sort of impressiveness to it. The place was a forest in itself, with another large staircase leading up. Seeing the only path, she grinned and began running up the stairs to meet her first challenge. An Aroma Lady by the name of Tanya. Should be easy enough! Grass types had a lot of status moves. She wanted to start with Shroomish, then she'd start with her little ace.

"Alright Zeal!" She released the little fire monkey with an eager flourish. "Start it off with taunt! Follow it up with Ember!" Beating the ground with his fists eagerly, Zeal would follow through. The fight would continue much as the same way, with Zeal simply using Ember and avoiding attacks unless another Taunt was needed to stop him from using status moves. Assuming all went well, the Shroomish would be easily dealt with. However, if he became severely injured in some way, She's swap him out for Ralia and use confusion to finish off the hopefully already weakened Shroomish.

The same strategy would be used for Tangela. If Zeal was still out, simply use ember until defeated while keeping distance and avoiding Vine Whip. If Ralia was on the field or Zeal became injured, immediately switch to Lure who would begrudgingly use Gust to finish off the Tangela.

With Treeko on the field, Zeal would use Taunt once more whilst relying on Ember the entire fight again. If Lure was out, switch to Ledyba who would first use Reflect & Light Screen. He would then use a combination of Comet Punch and Tackle until Treeko fainted. If he became injured, she'd swap once more to Lure and use her to finish off Treeko with Gust.

After the battle, return and heal injured pokemon and come back.

Battle against Daisy:

Aroma Lady Daisy was up next. A Lileep? Well, good thing she already had experience with one of those!

First she'd send out Zeal once more, using Taunt to prevent it from using status moves Grass types are known for. Zeal would avoid its attacks as best he could while using Power-Up Punch to both raise his attack and deal damage until fainted. If he becomes badly injured, Claire would switch to Pip for a little battle experience. Simply use Razor leaf until Lileep fainted. If she became injured, switch to Del to finish him off with poison stings.

When she sent out the Whimsicott, if Zeal is still out simply use Taunt once more and then Ember until fainted. If Pip was out or Zeal became injured, immediately switch to Del who would use Poison Sting until Whimsicott fainted. If Del faints or becomes injured due to Gust, Switch to Ralia and use Double Team before finishing him off with Confusion using Teleport to dodge if needed.

As soon as Lombre is sent out, if Zeal or any other pokemon is out switch to Pip for more battle experience. Alternate using Growl and Razor Leaf until defeated. If she faints swap to Ritz and use Reflect and Light Screen followed by repeated use of Comet Punch until defeated. Failing that, swap to Del who would use Poison Sting until Lombre was defeated. If Del had previously been defeated, swap to Ralia once more and use Double Team and Confusion.

Of course, as soon as the battle is done, head to the pokemon center.

Battle Against Ramsey:

Send out Zeal, use Taunt when needed followed by repeated Ember use. If he faints or becomes significantly injured, immediately switch to Ritz. Use reflect, followed by repeated comet punches.

Assuming Zeal is still in play against Lefeaon, Taunt & Ember strats once more until defeated. If Ledyba is out, keep up Reflect and try to confuse once. Afterwards, repeated Comet Punches. If he faints, switch to Lure and use Gust until Lefeaon is defeated.

If Zeal is out, use Power-Up punch against the Dark/Grass type until he's defeated. If Ledyba is still out or Zeal faints, swap to Del and use Harden twice, followed by Poison Sting until defeated. If Lure is out, use Gust until defeated or she becomes injured then swap to Del and use above strategy.

Afterwards, Heal pokemon one last time before heading up and challenging the Gym.

@Dusksong@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran@Demon Shinobi

In the background, Kalmia suddenly got a phone-call and had to take a couple steps away from Jacques, but she still very much kept her eyes on the battles. She did look suddenly perplexed from what she heard over the phone, but overall smiled. Her attention was still on the battles, Jacques turning to eye her a bit curiously a little before looking back.

__________________________

@Dusksong

Oaken dropped the confident smirk at Eryn yelling back at him, frowned a little _{as he internally considered that perhaps his little speech had been uncalled for} and he simply refocused on the battle, looking at Skorupi going in to attack against Dei. Then, both Skorupi and Oaken heard Eryn’s next command.

'Heh,' Oaken made a small amused sound, 'I understand your desperation, but something that isn’t a proper move is not going to serve you. Skorupi! Go!'

'Skoruuup!' Skorupi sounded out, Growl reducing its attack as the scorpion tried to go in for another Knock Off… when the flaming tail was waved at it.

'SKRPI!' Skorupi sounded out in a positively terrified tone and winced backwards, crawling back and away from Dei. Oaken blinked a bit in confusion.

'… Skorupi, what are you doing? He has no moves that can hurt you. At him. Knock Off,' Oaken commanded, frowning at the thing not doing what he wanted.

'Sk-skoru-pi…' the scorpion replied, looking back at his trainer and then towards Dei, shaking a little.

'You’re… afraid of the fire,' Oaken stated, getting it finally. … He reacted by closing his eyes, frowning hard in annoyance, lowering his head, and closing his two hands into fists with enough annoyance one could hear the bones knack a bit. Skorupi tensed up, scorpion-eyes wide, hearing the cracks.

'Skorupi… Do you remember… what I told you when we met?' Oaken stated, in a barely restrained focused tone, seething in contained anger. 'You understand… what’ll happen if you lose this battle that by all accounts you should win?'

'Sk-skoooo…' Skorupi sounded scared, this time both of the fire before it as well as the trainer behind.

'You do understand,' Oaken confirmed, like a teacher done lecturing a naughty child. He pushed his glasses back a bit, and then stated in a tone that said that there were no other options. 'Go. Win.'

That command made, Skorupi forced himself forward, trying to find a manner to get a Knock-Off in without getting hit by the flaming tail.

… What would Eryn command?

__________________________

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran

Cici shot out a Smoke Screen pellet, which hit #8 straight on and a cloud of black smoke emerged around them, close enough to Cici that there was nothing to be seen… except the sudden burst of Mud-Slap coming out of the smoke to hit her in the face. The burst of mud did some Ground-type damage, and some got into her eyes to lower her accuracy slightly.

'That’s it! Keep up the Mud-Slap! Use her loss of accuracy, dodge the bubbles and Mud-Slap again!' Simon commanded from over there, and #8 pressed on the attack. The fish appeared to have a pretty good idea of where Cici was despite the smoke in its face. #8 kept close to Cici, trying to dodge the Bubble attacks and going in for another Mud-Slap. Seeing how Mud-Slap is also the only move in #8’s arsenal, that’s probably how it’d continue, too.

Meanwhile, Seabreeze was setting up and starting to Water Gun at Scraggy’s “pants”. Scraggy didn’t even register anything except the force, stumbling a bit but preparing to attempt to jump. It was a bit heavier, but with such a burst of water it was hard to actually make the make the majority stick to the pants… but Scraggy was confused with reduced accuracy.

'Scraaaaaaaa-!' Scraggy let out a yell and leapt right into Seabreeze! … Except, instead of hitting Seabreeze with a kick, it instead just flew straight up into the bird, headfirst!

Scraggy inadvertently used Struggle! As such, both Pokémon took a significant dose of damage. In addition, Scraggy fell out of the air headfirst and hit with his head first into the ground. It hurt itself in confusion! Seabreeze could just keep afloat.

'Scraggy!' Vivia called, somewhat worried. However, the Dark/Fighting-type wasn’t out yet, struggling back to its feet. 'O-okay. Um. Run and help #8! Go Low Kick the Horsea!' Vivia commanded.

'Scraggy!' Scraggy confirmed, trying to run in the direction of the other battle… in a less than straight line, considerably damaged already.

So, how would Alice and Skylar proceed?

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

The Gym Guy looked like he was considering how to answer Claire’s first question, then she went on to say she got this. He smiled in reply.

‘Alright. Go show them what you’re made of!’ he encouraged, and then Claire climbed the stairs to enter the gym.

Aroma Lady Tanya would like to battle!

Shroomish was slower than Zeal, meaning Zeal immediately got his Taunt off. Trying to get some damage off, Tanya commanded Shroomish to Tackle, hoping Effect Spore would be induced on the contact. However, while Shroomish got a Tackle in, Zeal was too hot for spores, and Zeal Embered the Shroomish into smoking ruin.

With Tangela, Tanya went all out with the Vine Whips, ignoring any possible Taunt! Despite being Not-Very-Effective, Tanya got an additional Vine Whip off while Zeal was Taunting, counting on just being overall stronger with the vines! Zeal replied with Embers, that did way more damage, however come the time when the burns on Tangela finally caused it to faint Zeal was pretty badly hurt.

Treecko quickly turned out to be Tanya’s most capable Pokémon. Zeal being damaged, Claire switched to Ritz. With Ritz being Bug/Flying Absorb would do Treecko no good, so Leer plus Quick Attack it was. However, after the Leer he was quick to impact into a Reflect wall, making life difficult. The two Pokémon found themselves pretty evenly matched. Treecko was overall more formidable, but Reflect evened the playing field. Quick Attack and Comet Punches were exchanged, the punches doing 3-3-2-5 hits, leaving Treecko badly damaged. However, Ritz was damaged too by repeated Quick Attacks, and as such Claire switched to Lure who promptly Gusted the damaged Treecko to its defeat.






‘Fuhuhuhu… Ouch, having to use Grass-types only really hurts~! One day, I’m leaving this gym and town behind and make a name for myself with a more varied team~!’

With that, Claire could walk by Tanya, then up to Daisy!

Lileep was prevented from using Confuse Ray by taunt, but in a move to make Taunt less OP, it instead sent Acid shooting at the chimp-Pokémon without sacrificing a move. Power-Up Punch was super-effective, but as Chimchar wasn’t a Fighting-Type yet and Lileep had considerable Defense, Lileep was still tethering onto a smidgeon of health left after two punches. It had managed to spit acid onto Zeal thrice before Zeal could finish it off with a punch that ultimately was powerful enough to have OHKO’d it, Daisy having to hurry to return Lileep before she flew over the edge. The three acids, the second one lowering Zeal’s special defense, had left him pretty damaged. However… speaking of not being a Fighting-type yet…



… … … … …

Oh?

Zeal felt a certain energy having gathered within him. He can choose when he wants to release it. Is this the most optimum moment? For dramatic reasons, the event that approaches would fully heal him, along with the more notable thing it’ll do. The choice is his, and potentially his trainer’s if he manages to ask her. Not going through with and leveling more would not have any negative consequences long-term when it comes to moves.



We pause here a bit, because that decision might impact all the battles ahead.