Well it seemed finding a Cacena was going to be the easy part. Dawkin felt a moment of hesitation at catching a Pokémon that could be found so effortlessly. He wanted to stand out after all, could he do that with Pokémon like this? Hm. No matter, if he changed his mind he could simply acquire another Pokémon that filled this role at a later date. Dawkin made a note of the smell that was apparently used to lure prey to the Cacena as he scanned it and released Atlas. Atlas was his most powerful Pokémon and not weak to the grass type moves Cacena would likely know, so he would be good to wear it out. "Atlas, use Headbutt on the Cacena." Judging from the impact of the headbutt, Dawkin would either tell Atlas to switch to tackle or continue headbutting until Cacena was looking sufficiently weak so as to catch with a Pokeball.

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

The first battle went very well, going off without a hitch. Ritz got a bit of battle experience too, though couldn't manage to finish off treeko like she had hoped. Lure finished the job begrudgingly well. Then came the second battle. Lileep and Zeal traded attacks, blow for blow. Zeals power-up punch doing major work on the Grass/Rock type. The acid attacks however, were nothing to laugh at. Just three attacks and Zeal was already hurting. Thankfully though, he was able to pull off a victory just in time thanks to his attack boosts.

"Chim chim!~" Giving a tired, but satisfied cry of victory as his last power up punch nearly sent the Lileep flying over the ledge of the stairs.

"Atta boy, Zeal!" Claire grinned excitedly. "Ya did good!" He leveled up, didn't he? Which meant - Right on cue, Zeal gave a powerful cry, bright light erupting from around the monkey pokemon as evolution took place. His limbs grew longer, muscles becoming more powerful as fire and bright light enveloped his body. His tail grew longer and more flexible, the iconic blue markings of his species appearing on his face. Claire was of course, thrilled.

"Wahahaha, that's my Zeal!" Claire ran over, scooping up the pokemon in her arms and giving him a brief hug. "Alright, I'm even more pumped up now! Lets finish these guys Zeal! Show 'em who's boss!"

With Lileep defeated and Zeal fully healed, it was time to finish up this second battle. Unfortunately, Zeal would have to wait to test his new evolution. With the new fighting type added to him, he'd be weak to Whimsicott's gust without really having a good powerful move of his own...come to think of it, all her pokemon were pretty weak to Flying types now. Oops. Still, best bet for Whimsicott. First Taunt to prevent Status moves, then Ember while avoiding gust to the best of his ability. If he fainted, switch to Ralia and use double team, followed by Confusion and teleport occasionally to avoid when needed.

If Zeal or Ralia was out when Lombre is sent out, switch to Ritz. Use Reflect then Light Screen, then Comet Punch until battle is won or he becomes injured. If so, switch out Del. Use String Shot to hinder Lombres movement, followed by hardening once to resist physical attacks. The Poison Sting until Victory.

Once the battle is over, heal pokemon and challenge the last guy.

Butler Ramsey:
Send out Ritz to start with, starting off with Reflect & Light Screen. Use Comet punch until severely injured, in which case swap out for Del. Use harden a few times, followed by poison sting until defeated.

For Leafeon, if Del is out use Poison sting until Lefeaon is defeated. If he becomes injured, swap to Lure and alternate Bug Bite & Gust.

Lastly, for Nuzleaf, immediately swap to Ralia. Use double team followed by repeated Disarming Voice uses until defeated. If she becomes injured/unable to battle, swap to Lure and use Bug Bite until defeated.

---

^{Pureplain City || Kalmia’s Lab || Mid-Morning}
“What was that about it not being able to serve me?” Eryn called back with a grin when the Skorupi reeled back in terror. The tides had turned, and she was going to take full advantage of that.

Oaken’s reaction, however, made Eryn pause. Was he threatening his Pokemon—a Pokemon he’d only recently received? And over something like a fear of fire when the Skorupi, being a bug-type, was completely right to want to avoid it? As if Eryn could ever get mad at Dei for being afraid of water! Frustrated, perhaps, after repeated efforts to introduce it to him, but he’d be in the right to want to steer clear of it.

“Hey, why don’t you go back to lecturing me instead of your Pokemon?” Eryn jeered. For all his bluster as a trainer, Oaken seemed less focused on training than on winning. He was set on proving a point, and Eryn had only herself to blame for thinking that he might be someone she could look up to.

That said, Eryn owed it to Dei and the Skorupi to see the battle to its end. Both Pokemon needed the experience, and at the very least, the Skorupi could begin to work on its fear.

“Okay Dei, let’s do that again! Aim for the head!” She couldn’t be sure if the fire on Dei’s tail was strong enough to burn the Skorupi through its natural armor, so aiming for the unprotected parts was a good bet, perhaps tapping into the Skorupi’s natural phobia in the process.

---

@PlatinumSkink

Seeing that Dawkin was determined to catch a Cacnea, Amelia found some place to sit down in the shade cast by the rocks. Once she was comfortable, she closed her eyes and focused. It was very rare that she did so, but she figured that maybe doing so would prove to be useful in a place like this. As she focused, her ability to sense Ghost-types strengthened and allowed her to sense things from further away. She could sense the presence of several ghost-types, but if she had to guess, they likely belonged to trainers. Best to avoid them for the time being, as getting lost in the desert was something she wanted to avoid, even if she knew Joshua was somewhere nearby.

Then she felt it. A presence, one that was not good. Her brow furrowed as she focused on this one, trying to see if she could discern anything about it. She wasn't going to leave Dawkin to investigate whatever was causing this energy, but she wanted to know as much as she could from her ability alone. Hopefully it would glean something, other then it was there and that it was not good. She wasn't betting money on it though.

@Eklispe@Joshua Tamashii

Cacnea stared as Atlas came out, stared at the steel-type…

Then like lifted its arms up and smiled a creepy little smile up at Dawkin.

‘Cacnea?’ “Parley?” … It had realized it basically stood no chance of winning. However, as the cactus still wouldn’t be letting itself be captured by talking a battle still would take place if Dawkin wanted the cactus.

Two headbutts would do nicely, as Cacnea was trying to Leech Seed Atlas back but it wasn’t going very well. It tried to Absorb, which would have done more damage but Atlas’ Steel-type prevented it from doing so. Atlas took a bit of damage, but ultimately could decrease the opponent’s health enough for Dawkin to throw a Pokéball. The ball impacted the cactus, and the Pokémon was taken inside the ball which then fell down on the ground.

It shook once. It shook twice…!



Amelia wouldn't be getting any more information than was described from the previous post from here. Though, she could very clearly tell where the tombs they were seeking were located.

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Zeal was evolved, and ready to show off his new moves…!

Unfortunately, Whimsicott is a frickin’ speed demon, flying forth at a magnificent pace and got off Stun Spore before Zeal had gotten off his taunt, paralyzing him. Then, it became a Gust VS Ember battle between two basically equal Pokémon, both recently evolved, Zeal’s lower Special Defense countered by that Whimsicott lacked a Flying-type. However, paralyzation kept Zeal from acting out first and halted his movement at one point, resulting in that Whimsicott won the overall battle. Zeal fainted.

Ralia came out. Whimsicott was still taunted, so it went for Mega Drain. First it hit, healing itself somewhat before Ralia could get her Double Team up. Next move, Whimsicott targeted the wrong clone, so Ralia got off a Confusion. Whimsicott located the correct Ralia, and hit with a Mega Drain, but then Ralia teleported and Whimsicott had no idea where she went. It made a futile attempt to keep Mega Draining but couldn’t find the real one before being Confusioned to defeat.



Against Lombre, Ritz came out. On average, Lombre’s Bubble is its most powerful move, so Daisy set to spamming that. However, that unwittingly played against Ritz excellent Special Defense, meaning he was free to set up his barriers with ease. After that, Lombre did frustratingly little damage, and Ritz Comet Punched Lombre on and on, and Ritz got lucky in the number of punches he delivered. Ultimately, while it damaged Ritz heavily, he took down Lombre on his own.



‘Oh, wow. I lost, but I got to see a young trainer grow stronger right before my eyes. That’s the idea of gyms, is it not? I’m strangely happy. Maybe this is my calling? … Tihi. Okay, that aside. You’re free to go on!’ Daisy said, a smile on her lips.

Then, after she went to heal, Butler Ramsey stood ready for her.

Ritz VS Skiddo. Ritz got himself Leech Seeded and Tail Whipped, but the barriers were up. Since Razor Leaf would be laughable against a Ledyba, Skiddo went Tackling. This time Ritz didn’t quite get in as many punches using Comet Punch, most of it got healed by Leech Seed, and Ritz found himself too hurt to continue on. Claire switched to Del. Del Hardened twice as Skiddo seeded him too with Leech Seed, but then Poison Sting was far more effective than what Ritz’s Comet Punches had been, poisoning the target on the second try. While Tackle + Leech Seed took a decent chunk out of Del’s health, he still stood victorious over Skiddo.



Del VS Leafeon. Del was still Leech Seeded, but managed to counter that by immediately stinging and poisoning Leafeon through the Sand Attack. Leech Seed plus Leafeon’s Quick Attacks meant Del would have his health depleted first, and as such Claire switched to Lure. Lure may have found her opponent frustratingly powerful, as Quick Attack was really strong, but through biting and gusting and poison Lure still managed to finish the job.

Finally, Ralia VS Nuzleaf. Ramsey _{who knows his types better than the GM} has Nuzleaf Fake Out shoot itself up in Ralia’s face before she can Double Team, causing her to flinch and getting Nuzleaf into close combat. She still managed to Double Team after, but Nuzleaf was good at following her movements. She still got off two Disarming Voices, damaging Nuzleaf considerably, but Nuzleaf was overall the more powerful Pokémon and Ralia had to switch out. Then came Lure. Nuzleaf tried to Pound. Lure was probably immensely unimpressed and Bug Bit the heavily damaged Grass/Dark Pokémon to oblivion.





‘Well done, young trainer. Come, Master Archie’s this way,’ Ramsey said, bowing briefly before (after Claire got to heal) guiding Claire up the stairs…

She arrived at a great platform, gazing out over a sea of trees.



__________________________

@Dusksong

Oaken looked to Eryn as she spoke about lecturing her instead of her Pokémon. He didn’t reply, instead refocusing on what was happening in the battle.

Skorupi missed a Knock-Off because of fear of Dei’s tail, when then the flaming tail hit Skorupi in the face.

'SKROOOOP!' Skorupi yelled out and reversed direction, running away and back behind Oaken before tripping and rolling a few times. It did, however, get back on its feet and scramble a bit in panic. Oaken wasn’t even watching, but he crossed his arms.

'Hmpf, very well. I commend your intuitive battle tactics when all odds were against you. However, as swinging the tail onto your opponent is not an actual Pokémon move, it will merely do superficial damage at best. You cannot win with that move alone. Eventually, Skorpi will get over his fears, and then the battle will be over…'

So he said, but at that time the scorpion came tumbling at his side, looking rather wingly.

'Skor… rup…'

Skorupi has confused itself!

It walked a couple of steps towards Dei, but then tried to Knock-Off way too early, swinging about and falling harshly onto its back over its tail, smacking its face into the asphalt.

Skorpi hurt itself in its confusion!

'… Ugh,' Oaken made a noise, and managed to make a neutral expression look like all of existence had collaborated to make his life nothing but pain. Skorupi scrambled to try to get back on its feet.

'Knock-Off… whenever you can…' Oaken lazily waved his hand, trying to convey the rough idea of the plan. Skorupi was not entirely in a state to respond.

'Skorup…'

So, um. Eryn’s plan from here?

"Well, it seems you finished that up quickly." Amelia said, getting back to her feet after Dawkin finished catching the Cacnea. "I hope you're new friend isn't hurt too badly. You might need them down the line. But for now, let's get going so we can get out of this desert. It would appear the ruins might be in this direction."

With that, she set off, taking the lead and heading into the direction of the ruins, keeping track of where the Ghost-type pokemon surrounding them were so she could avoid any possible encounters with trainers. She didn't want to possibly get in a battle with anyone more powerful then her and Dawkin, since she was weary of this environment and didn't like the idea of being out here with an unconscious team.

Dawkin paused at the curious look the Cacena gave him. It should either be trying to fight back or run away upon seeing him, and more importantly Atlas. However it hadn't done either of those things, instead looking at him and offering that strange smile. "Hold on Atlas." Dawkin said, putting his hand out for a moment, garnering him a questioning look from Atlas and likely Amelia as well. "You want me to catch you? Or something else?" Dawkin asked the short Pokémon, gesturing with an empty Pokeball and his free hand respectively. If he was wrong... Well he could simply catch it anyway.

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

Boy, was it hot up here or was it just her?

Probably both? Both sounded good.

Chuckling to herself at the thought, Claire followed the butler out onto a larger platform as Ramsey closed the hatch behind her. A sea of trees stretched out before her, and she had to hold a hand up to shield her eyes from the harsh sunlight. Looked like she was in a place for fire types, not grass types, hah! It was difficult for her to make anything out with the harsh sunlight, but she could vaguely make out a person moving in the distance. So that was Archie, then.

"Wow, that looks like fun, hahah!" Claire chuckled brightly as she watched him run across the treetops, playing with the pokemon. Ah, she almost wanted to join him and try for herself, but she were here for a gym challenge! Whooping butt first, fun times later, and soon enough Archie ran over, leaping and running across the treetops towards the platform they were standing on...and promptly started prancing around her.

"Wahaha, well, I dunno about fire, but I'm a feisty one." Claire grinned in reply. "I am a precision machine of fabulousness and willpower." Archie then introduced himself formally after the butler commented on his manners. Wow, stick in the mud. He went on to explain the rules of the battle. She used six, he used three. Easy enough, and wasn't likely to be as harsh as Hectors. Hopefully, besides she had some strong pokemon with her against grass types, so this should be easy!

So the battle started, barely noticing whatever it was Ramsey had just did.

"Holy-" Claire took a step back as the giant Liligant towered over her. "That's a big flower!" Some people might have been intimidated by this pokemons size. It was huge, and more than a little intimidating...but Claire was not those people. Grinning confidently, Claire took an aggressive stance, reaching for one of her own pokeballs. Well, there was one thing this Gym leader got wrong about her. She only had one fire type, and she was only going to use him if she absolutely needed too.

First thing first, she needed to take down this unusually sized Liligant.

"Alright, Del! Show this overgrown weed whose boss!~" Throwing out her pokeball, beedrill appeared in a flash of red light, buzzing confidently before he saw exactly who his opponent was.

"...beedrill."

"Wahaha, don't give me that look! You can kick that things butt! Poison Sting! Try and poison it!" She was confident that Beedrill was faster than a plant, but the pokemon's level might be higher. Buzzing in mild seeming acceptance, Del sped towards the Liligant, stingers bared and ready to try poisoning the large grass type.

@Eklispe@Joshua Tamashii

‘Cac?’ Cacnea blinked in surprise at Dawkin’s question. Its eyes rolled a bit, considering what exactly to respond, did not expect that. ‘Neaaaaa…’ It started, while making a wave with its cactus limbs in a circle…

‘Cac, cacnea. Cacnea-nea, cac-cacn, nea-cac, Cacnea! Necac, cacnea, nea-nea, Cacnea,’ Cacnea launched into a monologue, and it kept going on for longer than above, except Dawkin doesn’t understand a word, so here’s the translation for Atlas.

‘So, like, I’m just here minding my own business, attracting prey and food, life’s good, I’m fine with this. Then you’re coming along with the possibility of capture with adventure and power galore, amIright? Which, like, I’m totally indifferent to. That’s one major decision, yaknow? I can’t really make that on the fly. Normally a trainer would just go capture a Pokémon on their own, which I’d be fine with, natural law of this world, yaknow? But if you’re asking me what I want for some reason, then things get complicated. I need to actually think for myself. Things was so much easier when I was just living by instinct, which I’m not used to. Yagettinme?

Now, I hesitated ‘cuz, Steel-type, I’m outgunned here, don’t reeeeaaaally wanna fight ya, but, like, that’s how things go, ain’t it? I’d be rather comfortable sitting still for years on end. Maybe find a partner, laze around with smaller cactuses about, be totally chill, yaknow? But, like, I’m not THAT attached to the idea, so I’m fine with whatever a trainer would come along with. And since you’re here, you’re gonna capture me anyway, amIright? … Wait, then it makes sense that I come without a fight, don’t it? I don’t wanna battle, but the conclusion is already determined anyways… Um.’

Cacnea looks like it came to a realization suddenly staring at Dawkin. Then it grinned.

‘Cacnea-nea!’

‘Oh, whatheck, sure! I can come along!’

Cacnea walks over on little stumpy legs and looks happy.




Gender: ♀
Type: Grass
Personality: (Up to player.)
Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: (Up to player.)
Level: 11
Moves: Poison Sting, Leer, Absorb, Growth, Leech Seed
Ability: Water Absorb. Contact with water restores health, including water from any Water-type moves.
Held Item: None.



With that done, Dawkin and Amelia could continue.

Current Condition; Mostly Clear, slightly windy - There’s a swirl in the winds, throwing the occasional sand into the air. It might grow more intense, it might cool down. Only the future will tell. The usual sandstorm blows over the path to the Mystic Oasis…



Connected areas:
Raremine Town. Behind you.
Desert Mines. What Raremine Town stands here for! These mountains are filled with dough!.
Old Tombs. Across the desert, an old and chilling place awaits those who wants to visit…
Mystic Oasis. Somewhere within that sandstorm, that is.



Now, then. The two could head on if they so feel like. Using Amelia’s senses, they were efficiently dodging any Pokémon Trainers with ghosts…

‘Aha! You have fallen for my trap!’ a voice suddenly called out from a rock they passed by. … Not so much for trainers without them.



A rock-coloured poster _{(which as an afterthought is unbelievable they didn’t see, but at the time it was completely invisible)} fell and a young strangely dressed little individual jumped up onto the rock and looked down at them, arms crossed, confident smile and a Koffing floating up to his right from behind the rock. ‘I am a master of staying hidden, of course you didn’t see me! _{I also seem to feel like I was snubbed at a metaphysical level, for some reason.} You won’t get rid of me that easily! It’s time for a battle!’ ‘Koffing!’

Ninja Boy Alec would like to fight!



Now, one of them could decide to take care of the boy, or they could do it together against both his Pokémon, or simply take one of them on each. … Or they could just tell that they have no desire to battle, in which case Alec’s going to look extremely confused, what kind of Pokémon Trainers does not want to battle?

In any case. What would they do?

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘… Overgrown weed?’ Archie asked over there when Claire made that announcement. He then laughed, leaning forward and smirking. ‘Hahahaha! You going to take that, Lilligiant?’


So the huge plant announced, preparing for combat.

‘Beedrill, eh?,’ the young Gym Leader smiled widely and continued. ‘Poison and bug, and fast too. Hoping to outspeed me? That’s fun. Let me introduce you to Chlorophyll. Lilligiant, Sleep Powder.’

Lilligiant soaked in the sun for a bit… then blasted forwards on those tiny feet-like things under it at a blazing speed, leaf-limbs fluttering in the wind behind it as the massive plant ran straight into Del’s stinger, all while a green powder scattered from the crown of the massive Pokémon into the air over a wide space, likely wider because of the Pokémon’s size. Del would be unable to fly away fast enough because of Lilligiant’s massive speed, and after stinging the enemy he fell asleep, falling down onto the platform. Now, Lilligiant took a brunt of super-effective damage and staggered back a little, but she did not seem poisoned.

‘Chlorophyll boosts a Grass-Pokémon’s speed in the sun, and Lilligiant is already pretty fast. Oh, are you damaged, Lilligiant? Go ahead and use Synthesis, then. Then we’ll Leech Seed the bee and keep it asleep until we’ve won, and do it all over again if she switches Pokémon.’ So said Archie, looking away from the battle over the expanse of trees, while Lilligiant turned her flower towards the sun and relaxed intending on recharging health…

Now, Claire could hope for Del to wake up, or switch strategy entirely. What would she do here?

‘This is usually where first-time challengers go pale as they have no good ways of handling my giant, who’ll put all their Pokémon to sleep and just heal any damage they cause. Then they head off to Mountain Valley to catch a Flying-type to Whirlwind my Sleep Powder away. How about it? Wanna stop the battle here, so you can go prepare?’ Archie smiled so widely, looking over at Claire.

‘Young master, you are not supposed to suggest strategies to overcome your team. They’re supposed to come up with that themselves. Suggesting they stop is also disrespectful,’ Ramsey told his Gym Leader.

‘Oh,’ Archie lost his smile for a moment, then bowed briefly but meaningfully towards Claire. ‘I’m sorry.’

So, yes. What would Claire do in this situation?

---

---

Seabreeze cawed out in slight discomfort as the Scraggy's Struggle made a dent in it, but he kept his guard up and stayed airborne. Skylar was sweating a little bit, he was having a ton of fun. Either way, right now Skylar had one goal in mind, and that was to take down the Scraggy. It was the main key of his plan.

After thinking about it, with the damage suffered from Struggle's negatives, the Water Gun's graze, and the Confusion from earlier, Skylar was in a position to assume that the Scraggy wasn't too well off. Bad for it, good for Alice and Skylar. The blind trainer looked up to his bird's general vicinity and called to it "Seabreeze! Swoop down and Water Gun Scraggy! Take it down with one more gush!"

The Wingull let out a confident "Gull!" before flying upwards into a dive, firing a Water Gun down at the Scraggy before pulling back up into the air.

@PlatinumSkink

---

Well shit.

She knew fighting grass types were going to be annoying, especially for a gym leader...but she didn't expect it to be quite like this. Del was successful in his poison sting, but what came next wasn't what she expected. She was getting a crash course in grass type abilities and move sets pretty badly. That thing was fast. Especially for its size. It out sped Del by a mile, getting off a sleep powder and sending the Beedrill off to dream of something much more peaceful.

"Heh!" A bright, excited grin formed on Claire's face. "Me quit?! Never!" Honestly, Claire had no good plan to win this battle. The first thing she needed to do, was slow that thing down, but she didn't have any good plans for that...aside from Del using string shot. But that might be difficult. She lost the only advantage she had with him being put to sleep so she'd have to make her own. "ALRIGHT!" Shouting, Claire cupped her hands over her mouth.

"DEL! YOU GONNA BE A WIMPY LITTLE WEEDLE AGAIN!?" She barked towards the Beedrill. "Come on, show some fightin' Spirit! Wake up and use string shot now ya bug! Shake off that sleep powder like it was nothin'!"

Claire's strategy for now was simple. Beedrill wasn't going to win, that much was certain. But she could easily use him to make it far easier for others too. She just needed to slow that thing down and keep him alive long enough to use String Shot over and over again. It was a good thing she had those two super potions with her. They may just win her the battle.

---

OOC: Basically keep Beedrill on the field until he wakes up, and use String shot whenever he does. If he gets low on health, use the super potions. Use this strategy until Beedrill faints or Liligants speed falls as far as it'll go.

---

Alice pursed her lips in annoyance. Of course she'd forgotten about what was essentially perfect vision. And it had cost her little Cici.

"I'm sorry Cici. But we've still got this because you're amazing!" she called out, thinking. The scraggy looked like it was going to be dealt with, but she needed to focus on what was immediate. Reduced accuracy and taking damage, not able to really mount an offensive....

"Cici, charge on in there. Get close and make that reduced accuracy not even matter!" Since the enemy was moving so quickly she didn't expect it would just stop, giving the perfect opportunity to make mud slap useless if it couldn't move enough to slap. And maybe the close up bubbles could help clean out Cici's eyes, if she was lucky enough.

Dawkin warily watched the Cacena do what seemed to be interpretive dance along with a lot of 'Cacena'ing. However after the Cacena in question waddled over with a happy expression Dawkin thought he understand what the little thing was wanting. Just to make sure Dawkin moved the pokeball he took out over the Cacena and waited for a moment, having received a nod of confirmation Dawkin activated the pokeball and raised it somewhat puzzled. "Well that's not quite what I expected but I suppose it works well enough. I guess we can get going again." Dawkin said to Amelia, he then returned Atlas to his pokeball and continued moving, idly thinking of names for Cacena and his uses in his team. They hadn't gotten far however, when a voice came out of seemingly nowhere. Dawkin raised his eyebrows skeptically as a rock colored poster fell to the ground, revealing what appeared to be a ninja boy behind it. How had he missed seeing that? Whatever. "Amelia do you want battle him or shall I?" Dawkin wouldn't mind the chance to get some experience for his Pokémon but would give Amelia a chance to take the battle herself, if he really needed to train there were plenty of opportunities to do so.

---

---

^{Pureplain City || Kalmia’s Lab || Mid-Morning}
“The key word being ‘eventually,’” Eryn replied, gleefulness dying down quickly. Oaken seemed to think that fear worked like a physical hindrance and could be easily pushed aside when it was in the way, and as much as that would help her in present time, his inability to emphasize with his Pokemon would no doubt hinder his ability to help his Pokemon grow. Sure it wasn’t the worst weakness out there, but the problem was that Oaken didn’t even see it as a weakness. Rather than trying to constantly improve, he seemed to believe that he’d already reached the apex and was currently in the process of proving that to the world when in reality he was just another starting trainer like Eryn, albeit a fair bit farther down the road.

However, winning battles by tapping into the Skorupi’s fear wasn’t what Eryn had set out to do as a trainer. Sure it was a good strategy, but it wasn’t the one often broadcasted on television. Star trainers battled with strategies that highlighted their Pokemon’s skills, not their opponent’s weaknesses. Type exploits were the extent, mostly, but even that was rare since one-sided battles were rarely as engaging as ones where the odds seemed even for both sides. Now that she was battling her own battle, Eryn realized that her expectations of the trainer life really were very different from reality, where the nitty-gritty details weren’t cut out during editing.

Still, while it was unsettling, it remained that the best path to victory was continuing to take advantage of the Skorupi’s fear, and ending the battle quickly was better than dragging it out—for both parties, seeing Oaken’s attitude towards his Skorupi.

“What happened to all that attitude from earlier? Are you giving up already?” Eryn jeered. Where Oaken had started the battle with gusto, believing himself too well-prepared to lose, he seemed now to have adopted an attitude where he was too cool to care about losing. As a person who hated the phrase “giving up,” Eryn was ticked off that her opponent had apparently subscribed to it.

“Dei, Scratch, then hit it with your tail!” Eryn called. “And follow up with some mix of the two!!”

She’d best end the battle soon. There was no more learning to be done from this battle, apparently.

On the field, Dei seemed to be enjoying the battle much more than her. Flicking his tail from side to side, he rushed the Skorupi, claws first but tail no far behind.

---

@PlatinumSkink

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Oh, String Shot?’ Archie giggled, then his smile waned a bit when he considered what that meant. ‘Oh, String Shot.’

‘Lilligiant! Leech Seed first, do healing later!’ he commanded, realizing the threat to his speed advantage, and Lilligiant abandoned her effort to shoot a seed at Del, who lay there sleeping on the floor.

Now, something apparently resonated with Del through Claire’s shouting, because he promptly woke up, command already in mind, and he shot out strings at Lilligiant that bound about the monstrous plant’s form. … Then he was put to sleep again by Sleep Powder, Lilligiant moving to stand above him and be ready with the Sleep Powder while Leech Seed was draining him. Second time he fell asleep was worse, he slept for longer, allowing Lilligiant to use Synthesis to heal and then do a couple of (very ineffective) Mega Drains. Del woke up again and was able to String Shot the Lilligiant a second time, the strings tightly binding the giant Pokémon by now, but Archie had managed to predict when Del would wake up and put him to sleep again with another Sleep Powder.

Now, Lilligiant was now bound by two String Shots and wasn’t nearly as fast as she previously was… but Del was running out of health. That was the point where Claire started preparing a Super Potion, and…

‘You don’t want to do that,’ Archie stated with a smile, looking over to Claire. ‘You don’t want an item-war with a Gym Leader~’

… Now, the result of NOT using them would be Del fainting in his sleep next turn, but could Claire risk the consequences?

__________________________

@Dusksong

Oaken gave Eryn a stare at her words, frowning somewhat. Skorupi was struggling in confusion, and got visibly frightened when Dei came running for him. Skorupi took the scratch, taking the damage, but before it could attempt returning the blow Dei spun around and hit it with his tail, sending the scorpion scrambling back in fear.

'Skoooorp…!' it objected.

Oaken was still staring at her, gesturing at his Pokémon with one hand.

'How am I supposed to maintain an attitude when…' he said, then sighed instead of finishing the sentence. Then… his look focused, staring straight at Eryn, and he spoke. 'Skorupi, close your eyes.'

'Skorupi…?' Skorupi sounded confused, but followed its trainers command, sitting still and closing its eyes. Dei went in for the attack, when…

'To your right! Knock-Off!'

'Skorp!' Skorupi followed its trainer’s command and Knock-Offed to its right! … Too much to its right, and Dei could easily dodge aside it, and then go in for a Scratch. Skorupi recoiled at the damage, and then cried out a bit in panic feeling the fire again.

'Run off!' Oaken now commanded, and Skorupi was more than happy to run off from Dei for the moment.

'Turn 180 degrees!'

'Skorupi?'

'… Face behind you!'

The scorpion got it and spun around to face against Dei again, eyes closed.

'Steady…' Oaken said, keeping focused. Appeared that Skorupi had been shaken out of its confusion, though had taken considerable damage now. Oaken was now commanding a Pokémon with closed eyes, following his voice with both claws ready to Knock-Off, which would still do considerable damage if it hit. What would be Eryn’s plan here?

__________________________

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran

Seabreeze dove down towards Scraggy after Skylar’s command, and Vivia was quick to react… though perhaps not with the most descriptive command.

'Scraggy, dodge aside!' Vivia commanded in a hurry.

'Scragg…?' Instead of following the command, the confused Pokémon turned to look around at whatever was going on. It promptly took a Water Gun blast directly into the face and rolled over a couple of times in the damage. However, it wasn’t out, and spun back to its feet. 'Scraaaaaaaagg…!'

'Scraggy, go to #8 and-' Vivia tried, but Scraggy had made up his own mind.

'SCRAGGY!!' Scraggy called and launched itself up into the air after Seabreeze! … But this time it was magnificently off-target with its aim, flying straight past Seabreeze and through the air in a beautiful arc before crashing down into a heap on the asphalt a distance away. Scraggy hurt itself in its confusion! Scraggy fainted!

'Ngh!' Vivia bit her mouth together and waved a fist in front of her slightly out of frustration at how that went.

Meanwhile. Cici dove into the smoke, pursuing her opponent. #8, startled, tried to Mud Slap in turn. Something akin to a brawl took place within the smoke, Cici spouting her bubbles in most directions and the occasional burst of mud coming out from a different direction. However, eventually the smoke settled (fairly literally), and Cici floated. Somewhat blinded from Mud Slaps, but victorious, #8 lying on the ground beside her. Mud Slap was the less versatile move, needing slight wind-up and range before it could be used while Cici could just Bubble like crazy, and because of that Water beats Ground Bubble also beat Mud Slap when the two moves met. Simon #8 fainted!

'#8!' Simon ran forward and scooped up the Barboach from the ground, #8 knocked out from the bubbles. 'Don’t you worry! In time, you’ll be the very best fish, like no fish ever was! Count on it!' he encouraging muttered to the Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Vivia was biting it together and closing her eyes, looking as if she was bracing herself for something.






Kalmia was looking on proudly over there. … Meanwhile, Jacques looked more curious about Eryn and Oaken’s fight right now, but he had surely noticed.

---

---

And like that, it was over.

Skylar extended his cane to the side as Seabreeze flew back, landing not on the cane but rather on Skylar's head. The trainer giggled before patting his friend on the head, Seabreeze responding with an affectionate "Gull...~" Not too bad for a blind kid and his flying type, eh? Anyway, he looked over to Simon and Vivia, finally stepping forward. He had something to say to Simon on the matter of his Barboach.

"Good battle you two! I don't think I'll forget it ever!" he started, cheerfully as heck. "But, uh, Simon? Do you think you should rename your Barboach? I think it'll be the best fish Pokemon in the world, for sure, but I don't think the best fish should be named 'Simon Number 8'. It needs it's own identity to be the champ!" He accompanied his statement with an enthusiastic fist-pump, followed by him turning around to face Alice.

Of course, Cici wasn't the best fish Pokemon. She was the best Dragon. Big difference.

"How'd you like that battle Alice? I thought it was the best first battle ever!"

Well, it really was, since he'd only get one of those.

---

Alice squealed as the smoke settled, running to Cici to wrap her in a hug. She reached up and brushed what mud she could from her eyes, murmuring praise and affection the entire time, while the others spoke. "You did amazing, Cici!"

She stood up, carrying the little Pokemon, as she stepped up to the trainers they'd fought against. She held out a hand to each, speaking quietly to them.

"Simon.... Thank you for making me get creative and to better analyze the situation. You could be amazing, but you really should treat your friends with more care and respect. It's not fair to them to be treated like points on a paper, and I'll personally hit you if we meet again and you're still treating them poorly." Her voice carried a slight hint of anger to it before she turned to Vivia.

"Vivia.... I'm sorry the types were against you. Please don't beat yourself up, you did amazing with everything that happened. I think a little time to get Scraggy to trust you and for both of your confidences to grow you'll make a scary good team." Her voice was soft, a slight smile on her lips.

"And Skylar... I think we make a great team. Great job out there!"

She stepped away, moving back towards the adults. "I'm coming for your, Jacques!" she exclaimed with a giggle. "Professor, do you have anything I can wash Cici with? I don't want her to have to sit around with this gunk in her eyes when she did such an amazing job out there. And can we let that poor Rhyperior out of the house? He was such a sweetheart."

"It's shouldn't be that surprising. I didn't capture any of my pokemon through battle. I find talking to them to make them friendly and willing to come with you the more humane thing to do. The most battle I had to do was against Pumpkaboo's sibling to prove I was worthy to take him along." Amelia said as she got up from her spot. "I also think it's the better way to do it for the sake of compatibility, since you might capture a pokemon but you might have a clash of personalities or styles. It might be tricky for you though. I just happen to be gifted with Ghost-types."

They weren't walking for very long before they were interrupted by a boy who had hidden behind some sort of camouflage. She watched and listened to the boy before sighing and turning to Dawkin when he addressed her.
"Honestly, I'd rather just skip the whole battle. This isn't the best place for me to be and I want to get to the ruins as soon as possible so that we can get back to town as soon as possible. So, I'd rather we skip anymore detours or distractions. But, given tradition, I guess we need to oblige him. I'm not going to be able to focus as well as I would like with this heat, so I'll let you handle him if you want. If not, I guess I could try."

Dawkin considered Amelia's words. Although he considered battle to be the standard way of catching Pokémon, he had still only caught one of his Pokémon that way. She had a good point. Perhaps he should keep that in mind when he tried to catch his next Pokémon. Regardless, Amelia wasn't looking to battle, but Dawkin would feel out of place if he refused a challenge. "I'll try to take care of it quickly then. Alright kid, let's go down to it."

Dawkin would bring out Atlas first to combat, commanding him to use a slew of mudshots to bring down Koffing. Given that was successful, he would switch out to Wooper and have him use mudsport to reduce the effectiveness of sand attack and then use a salvo of waterguns to claim victory.

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

"...Item war?" Claire frowned. Urgh, well, she supposed she did hear something about not being able to use potions in a battle with a Gym leader. Or rather, if one side did then the other could as well. Maybe if she had an unreasonable amount, but with just two...Claire sighed, brushing back loose strands of her red hair as she smiled. "Alright well..." Reaching for another pokeball, Claire would simply wait it out. She couldn't risk letting the Liligant getting in a free hit when she switched. When Del inevitably fainted on her next turn, Claire recalled him.

"Alright, well...Zeal!" Tossing out her Monferno, Claire had a tentative plan in place. She just hoped she could pull it off. "TAUNT! And move your butt faster than it!" If he could just wait out the sleep powder, or at the very least, trade a hit here then she could easily win this! She just had to get lucky, hah.