❄Erika Olson❄

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Erika quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Gibs had managed to hang in there and she was quite proud of him and herself even if her respect for self was just a little bit. Gibs definitely look exhausted, however, and so she addressed that. She bent down and patted his head. "Good work, Gibs! I'll let you take a break for now but I'll think of something to reward you later, okay? We got the right message across, I think." Erika returned her Gible to his Pokeball, just in time to hear Jenelle's offer.

It felt awful, Erika believed, that she was actually tempted to get herself a favor like this. Any Pokemon was significant and the potential promise of filling in her team made this offer almost too good to be true. Of course, Erika should have immediately declined but she hesitated letting her silence give up a bit about herself. Yet hearing Farfetch'd behind her, she finally replied with her answer. "No... Not if Farfetch'd gets hurt like that. Sorry."

It felt tough to decline but turning away from Jenelle and looking at Farfetch'd made her feel relieved. "You're okay now, Farfetch'd. She won't bother you any more but you'll need to be more careful about people, okay?" Erika bent down offered a few comforting pets. Now, Farfetch'd was interesting in that while Erika might have wanted to capture him, or her, she felt a bit guilty about the idea oddly enough. As if she'd be doing just the same by taking a Farfetch'd out of the environment and hurting their population numbers. It was a complicated feeling. "Farfetch'd, if you want, you can keep me company for a bit. I was going to go catch a Swablu!" Erika beamed, having made up her mind there and now.

So if Farfetch'd wanted to pal around, he or she, was more than welcome too! Erika even brought out Chic to play around with Farfetch'd while she focused on tracking down a Swablu. The evolution into an Altaria was pretty powerful and would let Erika's team be a bit more flexible, she thought.

Anyway, with capturing a Swablu. Erika would draw out Sno and have her use Powder Snow until the Swablu looked tired. Then she'd use however many Pokeballs she needed.

Dawkin was pleased with his Pokemon's efforts. Wooper was, as always, very excited as well and practically glowing with happiness since he was able to handle the training easily. It was harder to judge Cacena as it was a new addition and didn't seem particularly expressive but both those things would likely change with time. Perhaps now was the time to practice against another trainer. It should provide good practice, and perhaps they'd even be able to offer him a helpful tip or two.

Action: Find a trainer to battle

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Amelia sighed in relief when the other two agreed to join her party. While Golett seemed to be eager to join, it was Honedge who worried her, as it had apparently taken some small intervention on Aegislash's part to convince it to join. Knowing she could only take one and that Honedge was doubting her, Amelia made her decision rather easily, though still very reluctantly. She would give Golett and Yamask each a small hug before speaking.
"I'll have to send you two away, though it is not my choice. If I could have my way, I would have all three of you stay with me and the rest of my friends. I don't know where you will end up, but I hope it is nice and comfortable. However, I will make finding you my top priority." She said to them before catching each of the pokemon in turn. It actually pained her to watch the pokeballs Yamask and Golett were in vanish in a flash of light, causing a single tear to fall down her face. She quickly wiped it away before turning to Aegislash one last time and bowing once again. "Thank you for everything Lord Aegislash. I pray your lives are more peaceful from this day forward."

With that she would let Aegislash say what it would, if anything at all, before she would make her way out of the tomb. Once outside, she would take a second to gather her bearings before opening her umbrella and making her way back to town, being careful to avoid any wild encounters. Once in town, she would find a place to rest, gladly doing so while letting her pokemon meet their new teammate.

When she woke up, regardless of the time, she decided to make one quick stop before leaving town. She would make her way to the gardens in town and once inside, she would look around for the Shedinja she had managed to save from the rather creepy woman Joshua had saved her from in turn before.

@Gardevoiran

So, Celebrity hid somewhere while the rest did their best to act natural. A couple of coins were left on the ground, and it didn’t take too long for a Murkrow to notice. A Murkrow blinked as the coins were located, so the bird swooped in-!

And landed on a building overlooking the area, looking about. Seems he was a bit suspicious. Wasn’t this just a tad, little bit convenient? … Hm. … Nope, too suspicious, and aware of that there were in fact awake trainers nearby. Murkrow waved his wings and flew-

-unknowingly straight over Celebrity’s hiding spot, where she promptly started singing to him. Murkrow spun, trying to avoid, but unfortunately it didn’t roll Insomnia (which was an option for Murkrow) and as such collapsed in a pile a bit further away. Celebrity shot a Disarming Voice at Murkrow, doing significant damage, and also woke the Murkrow up!

Murkrow got up and tried to dart away, but before the black bird could, Skylar threw a Pokéball! The night did not decrease Skylar’s accuracy in the slightest!

The Murkrow panicked, trying to flee, so Skylar was forced to catch him while he was awake, but given the considerable damage Celebrity had done… Murkrow was absorbed into the ball, which fell onto the ground.

The ball rolled o-



__________________________

@Ephemeral

So, the battle began, and Erza sent out both Shadowfang and Princess at once, and-

‘Wait, hold on, it’s a double battle-?’ Charline asked, in surprise, because she’d totally sent out both her Pokémon only so that they’d be seen, still intending that it’d be one-on-one after that, but-

‘SURE! DOUBLE BATTLES, GO!’ Hector didn’t even hesitate.

‘Gah!’ Charline recoiled a little, then grinned. ‘Well, gotta adjust my strategy a bit, then!’ Because double Bide is NOT A GOOD STRATEGY.

She does, however, still command Throh to use Bide when she realizes a Gust is heading for him. Meditite, however…

‘Meditite! Power-up Punch the Pooch! You can win that!’ Charline commanded, and Meditite hovered forth at Shadowfang, while Throh was charging Bide at Princess. Shadowfang would still be able to get off the Howl, increasing his attack, but perhaps Charline’s change of strategy will cause one in Erza as well?

Meditite is going to charge Shadowfang, trying to Detect at bites and trying to Power-Up Punch when given an opportunity. Meanwhile, Throh is going to try to Bide Princess, and after that attempt to run after her for Power-Up Punches.

After that!

Summer proceeded to make a harsh sunlight inside the dark dojo!

‘Gah! B-Boss, it’ll be dangerous to train in this sunlight! We’ll dehydrate!’ a Black Belt called.

‘POWER THROUGH IT!’ Hector called, grinning, sweating where he just stood with arms crossed. ‘SHOW THE HARSH SUNLIGHT WHOSE SUPERIOR! KEEP TRAINING, AND GET PLENTY OF DRINKS!’

And so, those that weren’t partaking in the battle continued training in the harsh sunlight that Summer had called indoors…

Croagunk does not have Dry Skin. Are you saying Erza’s good enough a Pokémon Trainer to know Croagunk COULD have had Dry Skin and that the sunlight would have been damaging to the Toxic Mouth Pokémon?

With the sunlight, Dale figured Summer to be the more dangerous Pokémon and Makuhita flashed up to her and slammed with Fake Out, causing her to flinch and made her an open target as Croagunk dashed forth and broke the floor open to get some mud from underneath and throw it at Summer, doing light yet Super Effective Ground-type damage and decreasing her accuracy.

‘OY! WE’RE GONNA NEED TO PAY FOR THAT!’ Hector called, meaning the floor that was just ripped up.

‘Eh, put it on my tab!’ Dale called with a wide smile, sounding like it really didn’t matter all that much to him.

This meant, though, that meant Flora could use Growth, prompting Dale to go a little ‘oh, darn’ as Flora’s stats were boosted greatly by the harsh sunlight.

‘Croagunk, go after Budew, Mud Slap! Makuhita, stay on Vulpix, Power-Up Punch!’ … Dale also has switched his tactics enough to warrant player input. Makuhita is on Summer, not intending on letting her target Croagunk and intending on Power-Up Punching up close, because Croagunk already Mud Slapped her. Croagunk, the poison type, was of course sent after Flora as a grass type, intended to resist the Mega Drain and then Mud-Slap to get down Flora’s Accuracy before Power-Up Punching despite Not-Very-Effective to eventually do significant damage to Flora. What will Erza command?

Against Madeline, later.

The first thing that happened was that Mankey and Hawlucha both charged forth, intending for quick close combat! Mankey at Vee, and Hawlucha at Pharia! They know no fear! … That’s when Vee Helping Handed, powering up Pharia’s Thundershock! It blasts the flying wrestler, cooking the Pokémon excessively and making it collapse onto the ground! … But wait, it just precisely wasn’t done! Hawlucha managed to precisely reach Phario to deliver a single blow of Power-Up Punch! … Didn’t do nearly as much damage as Pharia did to Hawlucha!

Vee then Quick Attacks away, before Mankey could reach him, straight into Hawlucha and knocks out the last of Hawlucha’s health. Meanwhile, Pharia turned and Thunder Waved Mankey, the pig monkey unable to avoid the paralyzing waves! And from here… Mankey was completely unable to overcome his paralysis as he came under constant fire, Pharia shooting Thundershocks and Vee Quick Attacking into him, disorienting Mankey until he couldn’t take anymore and fainting, providing Erza with his easiest victory!



‘Aaah, no way…’ Madeline complained as she watched the result. ‘… Guess that’s what happens when you’re allowed to customize your team for what you’re fighting, huh! Don’t get used to it!’



‘… Don’t look so disappointed! We’re all pathetically poor at this gym!’ Madeline announced like proud of this fact.

Anyways, Erza had two fights before that one that didn’t go quite as smoothly! What does he do in those?

__________________________

@Typical

It looked like the surrounding Onixes were pretty pleased with Eryn’s fright. There was something of a pleasure in being in a position of power, after all. Then, when she showed her gratitude for the egg offered to her, they also looked pretty pleased with themselves, above all the Onix she was thanking.

‘On-on-on-on…!’ the Onix laughed about making that child to be stronger than him, and then he looked her straight in the eyes with a focused glare. ‘ONIX…!’ He called out, and that translated into I’M COUNTING ON IT…!’

The mother Onix merely continued to glare at her, but with Eryn’s proclamation that the child would be safe, she gave a little grunt that may have been an acknowledgement. Maybe. In any case, she picked up the egg and moved on.

‘Diglett!’ the Diglett that had followed her called out to her happily, one final time before she went out and Onix slammed the entrance and caused it to collapse, ensuring nobody would be using it to enter directly into his domain. Still, if Eryn wanted to go back, she’d soon have her very own Onix that could open that very same path, now, wouldn’t she?

After the little clarification with Eri, they headed on towards Lakewatch Town, heading over the waters in order to get to the Pokémon Center.



‘Oh? A Pokémon Egg? Let me see,’ the nurse says, curiously looking over the egg as Eryn came with it for examination. The nurse brought forth numerous equipment to listen in on the egg, shone a little light at it with a special machine, inspecting it with a Chansey standing nearby…

‘It appears to be pretty close to hatching!’ the nurse says, a mild touch of excitement in her voice. ‘Keep travelling like you have, and it’ll come out soon! It’s still a little ways off, but it’s close! … Oh, and, with the shape of what’s inside it… perhaps give it a wide berth when it hatches, okay? The child is going transform, just like in normal Pokémon evolution, so it may come out of the egg considerably bigger than the egg itself!’ the nurse cautioned.

So, that said! Eryn checked with surrounding trainers about Pokémon you could find near here…

Route 14 has Magikarp, of course. She’s also cautioned about Carvanhas, who have a tendency to be violent. Otherwise, there’s a decent mix of tadpole Pokémon and various duck Pokémon…

Route 5 is primarily grass-type, with Oddish and Deerling being the most obvious Pokémon, but with odd bugs like Caterpie and Scatterbug around. Also, some electric rodents can be found among the trees…

Route 6 is, like, a safari. Honestly, go there yourself, if you want to see what you can find, just don’t train there. The Vast Plains, as they’re called, are way more dangerous than the other Routes around here… So she’s cautioned.

Frozen Caves… First, she’s told there are miners there that mine things out of the ice. Ancient Pokémon and items can be retrieved from there! Really exciting! Otherwise… Swinub, Delibird and Sneasel show up pretty frequently. Just watch out for Glalies.

With that out of the way, heading for Route 5!



Eryn’s actions?

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘500 on Lucky, huh…’ Valerie commented on Claire’s bid, something about her tone there. Her hand wandered over to the bath where Togepi and Ralia was playing. She gently gripped around Togepi’s head with a hand, lifting him away from the play with Ralia.

‘Toge…?’ Togepi asked, a bit surprised, before he was dropped into Valerie’s sweet embrace, the queen holding him like a precious child against her.

‘1000 coins on Empress,’ Valerie said, finality to her voice. She then smiled down at Togepi, patting the Spike Ball Pokémon. ‘Don’t you agree, sweetie?’

Togepi looked a little confused, but smiled up at Valerie and reached for her with tiny arms. ‘Togepi!’ he said.

The race was on. To begin with, two of the racers were shooting off faster than any other. The two were Lucky and Empress. Zodiac was still not back at full speed, Grassball did the usual stumble, and Biscuit just didn’t have the pure speed of these two. It looked like it was an even match between Lucky and Empress, when-

-When Biscuit leaned forth to gain a spurt of speed, not catching up to Empress, but one of his heads got far enough to make a furious peck at Lucky’s leg. Lucky, who was focused 100% at running, suddenly caught the peck to her leg and fell down with three panicked yelps, Biscuit now pursuing Empress… but just wasn’t fast enough.

Empress crossed the finishing line first, scoring Valerie a win.

‘Yes, Biscuit will try to target the winner of the last race…’ Valerie said, patting Togepi while maintaining her queenly atmosphere around her. ‘… But with this starting-order, Lucky was placed between Biscuit and Lucky. Biscuit will attempt to attack, but he won’t be able to reach Empress because Lucky was in the way. Hence, he’ll interfere for Lucky instead, meaning Empress got away with the win, Zodiac taking second place. … Besides, it’s very rare for Empress to only win once. Normally, she wins at least two or three times in a row before she becomes too placant,’ Valerie stated, as if she had it all figured out.

Claire just lost 500 coins. She would have won a LOT if she’d won, but… Meanwhile, betting 1000 coins meant Valerie got an additional 400 coins for betting on Empress.

For the sake of the bet, Valerie has 1660 coins total, and Claire has 1440. Valerie’s now in the lead by 200 coins.

Biscuit is looking annoyed again, two of three heads glaring daggers at Empress. Empress, in the meanwhile, is walking back to the start of the race calmly, and in control. Lucky looks a little lost, the three heads pecking a bit at each other, trying to figure out what went wrong. Zodiac looks like he’s in full control again, though, the heads also throwing glances at Empress and Biscuit. And… there’s a bit of a commotion…

‘Oh?’ Valerie wondered, she and Togepi leaning a bit to look down. They were opening a sixth gate for another Dodrio… ‘… Well, I’ll be. Someone’s entered a new contestant.’

A new name showed up on the betting lists. “The Dread Divers”.

‘Hmpf. Horrible taste in names,’ Valerie commented. The odds for them… x3.

Odds are… Grassball (x100) < Biscuit (x10) < Lucky (x5) < Dread Divers (x3) < Zodiac (x2) < Empress (x1.4)

Said Dodrio was wearing black headbands on all three heads, glaring forward like not even acknowledging the other Dodrios. Empress, Zodiac and Biscuit all three looked a bit over the new contestants, Biscuit getting something mischievous in the eyes of two of three heads, though also taking the time to glare at Empress, while the rest just looked forward and focused on the race.

‘So. Our bet continues. Two bets left. You first,’ Valerie said, looking over at her.

The randomized order they’re currently running in, from left to right… DD, Biscuit, Zodiac, Grassball, Lucky, Empress.

‘Huff. Biscuit right next to the newcomer. He’s in for a rough first race,’ Valerie shrugged, apparently not even considering that a tip. Still patting Togepi who was pressed to her bosom, blinking curiously at the lined-up Dodrios.

What would Claire do?

__________________________

@Pirouette

‘T-tsk!’ Jenelle made an annoyed noise at Erika’s rejecting her, frowning and then pointing down at Farfetch’d. ‘Y-you haven’t seen the last of me! I WILL get you, at some point when there’s no trainer around to protect you! Mark my words…!’ … And with that said, Jenelle turned around and fled in full speed over the hill…

So, Jenelle’s parting words were in direct conflict to Erika’s comforting words to Farfetch’d.

‘Farfetch'd,’ the bird said in a neutral tone, looking up at her in confirmation about what she’d just said, nodding a bit as he was petted. She then offered that he could keep her company, which… ‘Farfetch'd!’ Farfetch’d was like “sure!”.

So, with Farfetch’d getting to play with Chic a bit, apparently, Erika focused on getting herself a Swablu. It didn’t take too long to locate, it was just a matter of finding a cloud that was a bit too close compared to how far away a cloud should be. The bigger problem was that… Swablu was flying really, REALLY high for Erika to actually be able to catch…?

‘Farf!’ Farfetch’d suddenly called, and the bird blew off into the skies, past the cloud… and then came down with multiple mighty TWACKS, poking down the Cotton Bird Pokémon with a bunch of stabs with the stalk, bringing down the startled Swablu into range of Sno…!

From there Sno could throw Powder Snow, hitting the cotton bird for super-effective damage, leaving it tired. Swablu attempted to use Sing to put Sno asleep… but Sno somehow managed to dodge the stream of sleep-inducing sound, or more likely, managed to overpower the desire to fall asleep and kept awake at all odds! Not having to deal with her Pokémon falling asleep, Erika threw a Pokéball!

Swablu was hit! The bird with cloud-wings was absorbed into the ball and fell onto the ground…

The ball rolled once! The ball rolled twice…!



__________________________

@Eklispe

So, Dawkin was off to find a trainer to fight! It really shouldn’t take too long…

Except, huh. This was a desert. There wasn’t a lot of people out in the desert at this point. Someone off in the distance there… No, that’s Kristy. He didn’t want to challenge her. With that, he moved on for a while, searching across the desert for someone or something that looked out of place in the desert…

‘U-um, excuse me, up there?’ … He found something exceedingly out of place. He looked down into the dune, and found a girl. A girl with long, green hair, equally green deep eyes, that had sunk down into what appeared to be a conical pit in the sand, which appeared to have been created in the sand by some form of predator. Assumingly the scared girl looking up at him had fallen into the trap built by the predator, but then the predator had been like “wait, this isn’t prey, this is human” and then bailed. She had two Pokémon on her side that looked really unimpressed with her.









Azurill looked like she was about to cry from the trainer being so helpless without them able to help, while Sandile looked like she was just about done with all this.

‘C-can you help me up?’

I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume Dawkin would help her up. If he wouldn’t, do tell without reading on, and we’ll edit the rest of the post.

‘U-um, thank you…’ the girl says after Dawkin has helped her up, eyes a bit wide still, looking up at Dawkin… ‘Ah, wait!’ she suddenly looks like she realized something exceedingly important. ‘Grandpa always said, “if your eyes meet, you must battle! That’s the law of Pokémon Trainers”!’ That supposed law is perhaps outdated in Isson. Despite this… ‘I-I’m sorry, but it seems I have to battle you…!’



What would Dawkin do?

Perhaps he wouldn't even help her up. In that case, tell me, and we'll redo it from a bit earlier. Perhaps he doesn't accept the fight, I can't decide that. Anyways!

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"Alright! Good job gang!" Skylar cheered as he went over to pick up the Pokeball with the newest addition to the team. Everyone celebrated in the act of Skylar's success, but when Skylar did the tried and true method of letting the newest addition out of their pokeball...

"MURKROW MURKROW MURKROW! MURKROW! MURKROW MURKROW!"

He was annoyed, and was busy ruffling his feathers into Skylar's face and around his body. Everyone but Celebrity on the team reacted accordingly by getting on guard, save Seabreeze who hopped off Skylar's head to not get involved with that sort of chaos. Celebrity was cracking up laughing in the wake of the chaos that was going on. Paradise cast her a scowl, causing the Jigglypuff to back down and stop laughing. Even she didn't wanna mess with an angry mother.

"Hey whoa there bud! Calm down! I'm not gonna hurt ya!" Skylar shielded his face from the angry Murkrow before reaching into his bag and pulling out a Potion, looking at the Murkrow and spritzing him with it on a bit of a rough patch of feathers, somehow spraying it throughout all the chaos. The Murkrow flapped a bit more, staying angry, before it calmed down as it realized it wasn't in as bad shape as it was. The lessened tension of the situation also helped let Skylar notice that, amongst the blurry shapes, the yellow of the Murkrow's beak formed into a similar shape to a smile... hm... that's an idea.

"Ok, Smiley, are we in any better standings with eachother now?"

Smiley stared at Skylar for a moment, pecked the ground once, and flapped up to where Paradise watched the mayhem, carefully landing on her head and keeping a watch on Skylar. It was clear that Smiley wasn't angry anymore, but whether that meant Skylar and Smiley would get along was anyone's guess. For now though, this was definitely a more agreeable situation.

"Okay... that's a good sign. Maybe you'll warm up to us. Celebrity sure did."

"Puff!" Speaking of the little airball, she was down at Skylar's legs begging him for attention.

"Oh, how could I forget! Good job, Celebrity! You're the best at being sneaky!" Skylar patted the puffster's head affectionately, hearing the 'puff... purr? It sounded like purring. Regardless, she was loving the praise, and Smiley was simply scowling at her from above. It didn't take a genius to know what sort of grudge the Murkrow held.

Skylar stepped over to where his loose change was, grabbing the coins from the ground before his head turned to face a familiar voice.

'S-Skylar? Is that you? I-I had some problems recognizing you in the darkness, g-guess you wouldn’t have that problem, haha… I found something on Route 3, and it… and it…'

"Whoa, Vivia, is everything okay? You sound like yo--" Skylar was immediately cut off, however, by Vivia showing him what she was all worked up about.

'ISN’T IT ADORABLE!?'

'… Goomy?'

"... oh my... Vivia." Skylar's tone shifted notably when he said the girls name. It was very abrupt, and almost kind of scary to be honest. "I'm going to have to politely ask you... WILL YOU SHOW ME WHERE YOU FOUND THIS ADORABLE BALL OF GOO?!"

It was evident the group was going on another rare Pokemon hunt. Thankfully this time, though, Vivia could lead the way.

@Joshua Tamashii

Aegislash made one last gesture to Amelia for gratitude and then she was on her way again. Jonas was in position to escort a confused and dazed boy home from the tomb, and that was that, with all hope. She made her way back across the desert, managing to avoid getting into trouble, and also made it back to Raremine Town without any issues.





Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.



In any case. Amelia heads for the Bug Garden after resting for a while. She intentionally went to check on the Shedinja…

❄Erika Olson❄

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Indeed, it was quite troublesome for Erika to reach a Swablu on the ground. She was beginning to devise some sort of strategy to hit one at range until her friend, Farfetch'd flew off. Some things happened which Erika hadn't been paying attention to but a Swablu was knocked down to her feet. How convenient! "Huh? Oh! Uuh! Quick Sno!" Erika was a bit surprised but managed to rally behind her strategy of using Sno's type effectiveness. With Swablu being weakened, Erika cast her Pokeball and then waited for the capture.

Success!

Erika was pleased as she gripped Gib's Pokeball from her belt and pressed the button to return it to the PC. He certainly needed a rest and he was probably the only one that maybe didn't need training on her team. Erika bent down and picked up the Pokeball of her newly acquired teammate. "Let's see... Swablu.. Lou? No.. Altaria... Tara? Yea that sounds alright." Erika muttered as she filled in the new nickname.

Now, she had certainly realized what Farfetch'd landing there meant. She squatted and reached into her bag. She pulled out all the berries she had and offered him a choice of whatever one looked best to him... or her! "Here, Farfetch'd! For your help, I'll let you pick your favorite! And if you help me a bit more I'll let you have another one."

So with her helper properly rewarded, Erika took the time to heal Tara with a potion and then it was time to begin training. Each member of Erika's team would be given a chance to fight other bird Pokemon, ones that Farfetch'd knocked down within range.

@PlatinumSkink

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"Rrra?!" Ralia puffed out her cheeks as her playmate was taken from her, glaring up at Valarie with a mild look of annoyance. The dodrios left their started areas, bolting down the racetrack. Claire leaned eagerly over the table, watching the race with rapt attention as the one she bet on fell behind.

"Agh, that's another loss." Claire visibly deflated as she lost the second bet. She was now 200 coins behind. Geh, was her lucky streak over? Was it just beginners luck, as they say? She was beginning to lose her confidence a bit, mulling over which one to bet on next when the new Dodrio was allowed in the race. Inhaling sharply, Claire decided to throw logic out the window.

"Alright, 500 on the new guy!"

Meanwhile Ralia teleported on top of Valarie's head.

---

^{Route 5 || Day 3: Afternoon}
Hearing that the egg would hatch soon had Eryn in high spirits through lunch and the early afternoon, and the information she got about the nearby Pokemon told her that Route 5 was probably the easiest route to grind on. Route 6 came with a warning to not train there, and from a glance at the Pokedex’s list of Pokemon for Route 6, Eryn figured that it was just as well. Trying to train against fire-types with her current team wasn’t the best strategy, frankly, and she was looking to train, not struggle. That said, since when was she about to let “danger” stop her? After the Infested Woods and the Wet Caverns, somewhere called the Vast Plains didn’t seem so intimidating.

Just as quickly as she arrived at Lakewatch Town, Eryn left it, knowing full well she’d return soon enough. From what she knew about eggs, they hatched faster when their carrier was travelling, but now that she was thinking about it, that seemed strange. What did an egg know about distance and travel? Many an egg hatched in a barn, after all, and if it weren’t for her picking up the Onix egg, it would have stayed in the caverns until it hatched, travelling only within Onix’s territory. Still, even if it was just time that affected hatching, Eryn figured a little light travelling never hurt. Though that meant Tula was going to have to stay in her ball for the moment, given that neither she nor the egg was particularly light, Eryn had plans for her training-wise, and that began with tracking down some unsuspecting Caterpies and Scatterbugs. As soon as she did, out came Tula to absolutely mash the living daylights out of them—or so Eryn would cheer her on to do. In reality, Tula got in a hit here and there, eventually managing to Struggle the energy out of her opponent, but every time Eryn would cheer her on anyway. Nothing short of the best encouragement would do, especially for the fish she couldn’t carry at the moment.

Thankfully, Dei and Kylie excelled against the grass-types, Kylie’s poison immunity coming into use as always, and though Eri struggled a bit on the route owing to his less than optimal typings, he got going after a few trips to the Pokemon Center. Though trekking back and forth was a bit boring, it was more distance and therefore enrichment for the egg, and it was also more time for Eryn to mull over Kylie and Eri’s new moves. From the Pokedex entries, neither move was amazing. If Eryn was being biased, she’d put it down to the fact that they were normal-type moves, but hey, equal opportunity. Everyone needed to start somewhere.

After training, she tracked down some trainers to fight, and by tracked down she meant “fought anyone who seemed to be up for it.”

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@PlatinumSkink

It seemed the harsh conditions made even infamously determined Pokemon trainers to be in spare supply here. Dawkin shook his head and- huh? A voice from below alerted him to the presence of a girl trapped in the sand. "Ah, of course." Dawkin said in response to her request for assistance, and carefully helped her up. She then immediately proclaimed that they had to battle after making eye contact, although she seemed nearly apologetic. Whatever, Dawkin had been looking for this anyway. "Alright, then battle we shall." he said, taking a few steps back.

He would send out Atlas to defeat Azurill with Metal Claw.

He would send out Tyrunt to battle Sandile with... **TACKLEEEEEEEEEE**

If Tyrunt can't get the job done Whooper can clean up with water gun

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@Gardevoiran

Vivia looked at Skylar, eyes wide and hands somewhat shaking as she let Skylar inspect Goomy, who in turn was looking at Skylar in mild confusion. And then…

‘Iip-!?’ Vivia made a frightened little noise when Skylar’s tone changed. Aaaaaaand then she shouted to her to show her where she found Goomy. ‘Aah-!?’ she stumbled back a bit, pulling back Goomy until she’d properly processed what Skylar had actually said, Goomy shaking a bit from the sudden movement. Then, she blinked, and actually understood what she’d been asked.

‘Ah. Yes! Sure!’ Vivia called out, apparently alright with this, getting a smile and regaining some colour to her expression and some determination. ‘J-just, like, bring an umbrella, maybe!’

Umbrellas could be bought at the exit towards Route 3, for 50P a piece.



__________________________

@Pirouette

Farfetch’d looked over the berries presented. Now, Tanga Berries are specifically for bugs to like, apparently, Spelon Berries are so spicy that even Pokémon that aren’t fire-types will breathe fire after ingestion, and Chesto Berries are famously exceedingly tough to chew… so Farfetch’d snaps up that exceedingly juicy though sour Aspear Berry that Erika still has.

‘Farfetch'd,’ the bird will state, as he was offered to get more in exchange for some help training. Sure, then!

Training-time!

Sno had an easy time training well. Look at all these birds! Just throw Powder Snow, and with Farfetch’d helping it was a cakewalk! Though, the lack of resistance meant she took some damage back, too. Down to around 40%.



Now, Eep didn’t have any Rock-type moves to take advantage of the type-advantage, but enough birds tried to tackle him to allow him to train pretty efficiently with Constrict, plus Ingrain meant he could always just heal up whenever and never had to return to the Pokémon Center, so.



Tara was not a stranger to training on Mountain Valley. In fact, she knew where to do so. See, all those Skiddos? Pecking them is exceedingly efficient for a bird! Tara was somewhat tired already, but some form of training could be gained anyway, especially with Farfetch’d’s help.



Chic also benefited from Skiddos. Some roasted grass-goat did the chicken good. Chic took some damage from their retaliation, but only to about 65% health, and was now strong enough to line up with Sno again.



Then Chu. … Chu was the star of Mountain Valley, throwing down Thunder Shocks like it was nobody’s business. The training went EXCEPTIONALLY well for Chu, what with all these birds to fry, and a resistance towards flying types to boot. Chu went up and came in line with the rest of Erika’s strongest, only damaged to like 75%.



Finally, Kay. Kay had a bunch of bouncing Spoinks over there that she could target. The Spoinks didn’t have any attacks that could hurt Kay, all their Psychic-moves unable to hit, and as such Kay did pretty well.



Farfetch’d lands near Erika, breathing out in relief. Honestly, that was quite a work-out for him, too, he took notable damage from helping out, but he looked pretty proud of what he’d achieved.

There, some training done! Now, what?

Currently in Mountain Valley.





Connected areas:
Stillwood Village. A village hidden inside a forest, connected by the Mountain Valley road.
Route 10. The farmlands feeding Worldedge City awaits to the east, giving a mystic feeling.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Hmpf. All on the one you know nothing about. Very well,’ Valerie simply commented, and then placed her own bet. ‘I don’t think Empress is out yet. Let me match your bet, 500 coins on Empress,’ Valerie said, gently rocking Togepi against her bosom. It seemed like it was a bit sleep-inducing, Togepi yawning and relaxing in the motherly grip.

The race was on! … And basically the absolutely first thing that happened out of the gates was that Biscuit pecked one of Dread Diver’s legs, making him stumble over and roll of the ground!

‘Poor soul. Biscuit wanted to interfere with Empress, but Empress was on the other side of the starting-line. He couldn’t possibly catch up with her. Hence, he went for the next-best thing; the newcomer,’ Valerie told, with a bit of false empathy in her voice.

However, the next thing that happened… Dread Diver turned around, all three heads in unison, and looked at Biscuit. Biscuit looked a little surprised, not used to that… when Dread Diver dived him. That… was Trash, the move where Dread Diver basically went ballistic and flailed every possible leg and head at Biscuit in one dreadful combo, blasting Biscuit down into ground and hitting over and over and over again. Biscuit fainted!

‘… Oh, my,’ Valerie stated in slight fake fright at the thing that just happened. ‘Perhaps the Dread Divers live up to their name… yet,’ Valerie said, turning to those actually dashing. There were only two. Lucky was taking it easy again, charging up for the next race, and Grassball didn’t even leave the gate. Grassball’s rider was talking to her from in front while patting her heads, looking like they were having a pretty emotional conversation for some reason. That left only Empress and Zodiac racing for the finish, Empress slightly ahead of Zodiac.

‘It seems that Empress will maintain her win strea-’ Valerie started saying in a content voice… when Ralia appeared on her head. Valerie blinked, and on pure instinct, she jerked to, gripped Togepi in a single arm and swiped with her other over to knock Ralia off, like if a large fly had landed on her. It didn’t matter if Ralia was hit or not. What mattered was that Togepi saw it.

‘Togepi…!’ Togepi called out in slight fright and in objection, blinking up in surprise at Valerie. Valerie blinked down at Togepi, starting to register what just happened, and then looked towards the races, mouth hanging just the slightest open.

Done Trashing Biscuit, Dread Divers’ heads turned around, glaring at those he could never catch up to… when all three heads yelled out in unison, and a Tri Attack flew in a spiral straight across the racing-field. It soared right in, and Zodiac was reigned in a little… leaving Empress in the way. The blast hit Empress’ legs away from down under her, meaning she fell and rolled and ended up on her side, kicking to quickly get up to her legs again. Zodiac ran past…

Zodiac won.

Neither Claire nor Valerie won this particular race.

For the sake of the bet, Valerie has 1160 coins total, and Claire has 940. Valerie is still in the lead.

‘Hmpf, I think I’m done betting for today,’ Valerie turned and glared a bit at Ralia, lifting a Pokéball and calling the mildly upset Togepi back into the ball. ‘But I’ll do one last bet, for the sake of finishing your challenge,’ she said, looking over at Claire.

… When Empress and Zodiac came back to the starting line… they both appeared shocked at the knocked-out Biscuit that lay on the sidelines, his rider forced to call him back and retreat from the races for now. A glaring stare-down took place, between Empress, Zodiac, and Dread Divers. It was clear the former two did not agree with what he had done to Biscuit, or of the Tri Attack he’d sent at them. They didn’t agree with Biscuit, either, but Dread Divers was far worse. Even back in the boxes they started with, the three did nothing but glare at one another. The only two that looked focused on the race was Grassball and Lucky…

Odds are… Grassball (x100) < Lucky (x5) < Dread Divers (x3) < Zodiac (x2) < Empress (x1.4)

Order for the next race is, from left to right… Lucky, Dread Divers, Zodiac, Empress, Grassball. The three powerful racers in the middle, the less so ones on the sides.

‘… 100 coins on Lucky,’ Valerie told simply, not waiting for Claire to bet first this time. She crossed her arms watching the race, Fletchinder flying over to land on Valerie’s shoulder as there no longer was a need to warm Togepi’s bath.

What would Claire do, for the final bet?

_{And I realize she and Ralia might want to react to Valerie attempting to strike the Ralts for landing on her, in which case feel free to react to that and I’ll have Valerie react in turn in the next post.}

__________________________

@Typical

‘Aww, she’s cute! So elegant!’ Jamie said with a smile, having no idea she was just feeding Kylie’s ego, or something alike to that. Onto battle!

Buneary used Baby-Doll Eyes! … It had no effect whatsoever! If that was because of Hyper Cutter, or because Kylie knows all about such tricks and sees straight through them, is up for discussion! Regardless, Buneary then went forth to Pound at her! … The ears she tried to pound into the steel fairy hurt Buneary more than Kylie! Suffice to say, Kylie had no problem whitling down Buneary’s health with Fairy Wind and then Bite with little to no damage in return.

Dei VS Hoppip. … Ember blasted the flying bit down before it ever reached him with a Tackle!

Finally, Jamie’s most competent Pokémon, Eevee, the one she wanted the rocks for! Kylie met the creature, and when the Sand Attacks came Kylie unleashed her Sweet Scent, distracting the target and making Eevee make subconscious sounds from liking the smell, allowing Kylie to locate the opponent! Finally, it came down to a Bite VS Tackle contest, and while Eevee’s Tackles hurt more due to Adaptability, he was still tackling a steel fairy and Kylie won out eventually!





‘Ow! Not only elegant, she’s strong, too!’ Jamie said with a smile towards Kyllene. ‘Where can I find one of those?’ she asked, looking to Eryn. Then, Eryn asked about Ice and Moss Rocks. ‘Oh, so, they’re special big rocks for Eevees to evolve into their Ice or Grass-type evolutions… Now, I’m pretty sure the Ice Rock is up there somewhere…’ Jamie motioned towards Mt. Chill and/or Frozen Cave. ‘Though, it kind of scares me to go looking for it in such a cold environment. The Moss Rock, though, is supposed to be in a forest around here…’ Jamie sighed and shrugged. ‘… But which one? Stillwood? Silent? Infested? If it’s in Endless Forest, then forget it, we’re never finding it. Hahaha. The next step might be to ask some villagers and see if they know…’ So she said, and sighed.

Moving on.

‘Hmpf! Sure! No way you’ll win! Let’s warm you up, first!’ Adrian said, throwing out Koffing first. … So, Poison Gas did NOTHING against Kylie, her steel-type protecting her fairy-side from the poison, and suddenly Koffing didn’t look so happy anymore. All it had was Tackle. Kylie took it down swiftly enough, basically without damage. Kylie was then faster than Roggenrola, Fairy Winding the rock-creature with poor Special Defense, Roggenrola had time for one more Sand-Attack before Kylie Fairy Winded it to fainting.

‘… Hah! Strong little thing. Well, how about THIS!?’ Adrian told, sending out Gible to face her. Being faster, Kylie sent a Fairy Wind, overpowering the sand attack and doing heavy Super-Effective damage to Gible. Gible responded… by unleashing a- and here’s where the GM remembers that Fairies are completely immune to Dragon-type attacks, not just resists them. Well. Adrian clearly somehow forgot this, alike the GM, despite being a self-proclaimed know-it-all. He blinks a bit in surprise as Gible faints to another Fairy Wind.





‘Gah!?’ Adrian recoiled. ‘Wait, what? No! I KNOW that! If I got that question on a test, I’d ace it every time! So why did I…?’ he blinks a bit in confusion. Then, Eryn asks where he got the dragon from. He pauses for a moment, then grins at her.

‘… Hahaha… You can’t, normally, get a dragon anymore…’ he tells her. ‘The Gym Leader of Lakewatch, Lesley, and her Lakewatchers, as well as Team Virtue on the western side, they’re all watching. Making sure people don’t poach dragons like they used to. It was a very lucrative business. BUT! But, but… There’s a darker side of Lakewatch Town. Ask your way around there, you’ll find a crowd that can catch whatever you want, with any means necessary… as long as you have the money. I bet that’s what SHE did, that pink-haired girl in a blue cap whose dragon burned down my whole team… Hah, nobody’s honest anymore…!’

… So Adrian said, before he turned tail and ran. Next opponent.

‘Heh? Zorua and no illusion? Well. Bronzor, TACKLE!’ Mason shouted out, and Bronzor flew in to tackle. This match-up was a bit tricky, as Steel secondary type meant the match-up was neutral. Bronzor’s exceptional defense was higher than Eri’s attack, and despite Bronzor’s low attack-power Eri’s defense wasn’t very good, either. However, Eri had a more effective attack in Pursuit, and eventually took down Bronzor, but not before racking up considerable damage himself.

Against Gothita, Eryn pretended to change Pokémon into Diglett… And then Diglett and Gothita both did Fake Tears on one another, both Pokémon crying wolf tears in one another’s faces. Both Pokémon’s Special Defense were sharply lowered. Gothita’s Competitive activated, sharply raising her Special Attack… Mason grinned. ‘Diglett knows Fake Tears? Eh, no matter. You realize how much you just boosted my next attack’s power, right?’ With Diglett’s Sp. D sharply lowered and Gothita’s Sp. A sharply raised… ‘Gothita, Confusion!’

And Gothita cast Confusion! It didn’t affect Diglett. ‘… Huh? How didn’t-’ Mason’s eyes widened. ‘YOU TRICK-!’

Aaaaaaaaaaand then Eri went in and Pursuited Gothita to defeat, Gothita’s panicked Pound doing a little damage back and breaking Eri’s illusion but it was far too late. Gothita fainted after the second Pursuit.



Finally, Woobat VS Onix… Mason frowned. ‘This isn’t an illusion again, is it!? I frankly don’t care if I’m tricked again, I just refuse to use Confusion again until I’ve- GUST!’ … And with that, Woobat broke Eri’s illusion first thing with a Gust, Mason standing up triumphantly and pointing in glory. ‘HA! GOT EM!’

So, Woobat still took a Leer and a single Pursuit, heavily damaging the bat, but Woobat still prevailed over Eri on account of the damage he’d taken against Bronzor. ‘YEEEES! I KNOW WE CAN’T BEAT WHAT COMES OUT NEXT, BUT WE GOT THE ILLUSIONIST! WELL DONE, WOOBAT!’ Mason called, dancing. ‘NOW, WHATEVER MONSTER SHE SENDS OUT NEXT, WE’LL FACE OUR DEFEAT WITH DIGNI-’

Eryn called out Tula.

‘… … … … …’

Tula Struggled into Woobat’s face, taking the last of the bat’s health! Woobat fainted!





‘Uuuuuuuugh… D-did it HAVE to be a Magikarp…?’ Mason asked, cradling his Woobat. Then Eryn asked about the Frozen Cave. ‘… Eh. It’s long and winding, treacherous. It’s safe for the most part, but you might slip and slide way further in than you ever intended to go, and there are Glalies in there on way higher level than the surrounding Pokémon who freeze people solid. Don’t enter without an Escape Rope. But, on the outer part are the mines, where miners make a living mining artifacts, fossils and Pokémon out of the wall. I found this thing? It’s what my fortune led me to, but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with it…’ Mason said, holding forth a strange bell, right over his Woobat. ‘Want it?’



Onto the final opponent!

‘Oh? Sounds interesting. I might take you up on that!’ Wilhelm said with an ignited smile, and then the battle was on. Sandile Sand-Attacked Kylie, but she was quick to Sweet Scent that. She then resisted the Dark-type Bite, while she was Super-Effective against his Dark, and so Kylie was a swift victor. Then, Magnemite came out. Kylie was the faster opponent, so she Taunted, ensuring Magnemite couldn’t Supersonic her. Instead, she found herself Thunder Shocked! It hit somewhere sensitive, so Critical Hit!

Suddenly heavily damaged from that Critical Hit Thunder Shock, Eryn attempts to return Kylie… but can’t! Magnemite’s Magnet Pull means Kylie cannot escape battle! Magnemite charges for the next Thunder Shock!

What will Eryn and Kylie do, now?

__________________________

@Eklispe

Florrie helped as she could with crawling up as Dawkin helped her up, breathing in mild panic as she finally got up. Then, yes. Because trainers have to battle.

‘W-wait, that one’s part rock, right…!?’ Florrie blinked into realization, and quickly pointed forward. ‘Azurill, Water Gun…!’

It was indeed, as the little blue creature sent out a spray of water at Atlas, who took the Super-Effective hit… but with Azurill lacking a water-type, for some reason, it didn’t do as potent damage as it could have, and nothing in comparison to when Atlas reached Azurill and dealt a heavy hand of Super-Effective Metal Claw, the lack of water-type failing to protect the blue thing from the damage. Atlas easily overcame the opposition. Thooouuugh, Azurill was too low-leveled to obtain another level for Atlas.

‘Oooooh-!’ Florrie made a disturbed noise. ‘S-Sandile!’

From overleveled to underleveled in comparison to Florrie’s team, Tyrunt VS Sandile turned out to be a bit more interesting. Tyrunt has an awesome Attack stat and a decent Defence stat, while Sandile had subpar defenses albeit strong attack. That said, Bite was a far more effective attack than mere tackling, and as such Tyrunt’s health depleted more rapidly than Sandile’s. No worries, however, this gained Tyrunt a bunch of experience and a quick change to Wooper meant Sandile didn’t stand a chance against the next Water Gun.



‘A-ah! Sandile…’ Florrie looked a bit shaken, taking back Sandile to his Pokéball. Florrie paused there, standing motionless, like if she had nothing else to come with…

Except, there was no notice in the Pokédex about him winning and getting money for it.

Florrie hesitantly takes out another Pokéball, her eyes somewhat wide, as if startled by your strength when it really is just that she herself is pretty weak. She freezes for a second, looking like she doesn’t really know if she wants to send this one out, but then she bites it together, and-!

‘H-help me, Zei…!’

The Pokéball hits the sand, and opens, and a dog of some form jumps out to stand in between Florrie and him. A curious dog with a green scarf, of a kind that Dawkin has certainly never seen before…





And, assuming he did the scanning with the Pokédex that then spoke out loud…

‘E-EH!? H-HOW DOES THAT MACHINE KNOW THAT!?’ Florrie asks, exceedingly alarmed for a moment. ‘E-er, wait, you can tell me after I’ve beat you…! Zei, DIG!’ Florrie commands, and the dog suddenly jumps, starting a flurry of clawings straight down into the sand, which Zygarde promptly disappeared into. There was a movement in the sand where the dog was crawling through, heading at a high speed to under whatever opponent he was currently facing, intending on bursting out to damage the opponent and then quickly diving back in, or pursuing with a Bite if the opponent was damaged enough!

So. In battle, Zygarde has Bite, Dragon Breath or Dig, depending on what is most effective. Dig is the go-to move, where Zygarde will dive into the sand in order to seek out where to erupt from underneath and strike harshly against an opponent! How would Dawkin answer this?

What would Dawkin’s actions be?

---

---

First off, Skylar bought two umbrellas. One for himself and whoever was riding in his arms or on his head, and one for the Pokemon seated on Paradise, so literally just Celebrity (who pitched a mighty fit when she didn't get her own umbrella.) Everyone else managed to get into some form of comfortable spot when they could as they stepped onto Route 3. Notably, when the rain started, Seabreeze flew off into the sky to relish in the rain of Route 3. It was actually kind of cute to see the bird happily flapping in the wind, but another bird on the team was NOT enjoying the rain. It wasn't Mac, either. No, instead it was Smiley, who quickly took advantage of Seabreeze being gone and flew over to Skylar's shoulder, perching himself on it despite definitely still being a little annoyed at Skylar for earlier. Still, Skylar was a bit happy that the two were at least not on too bad of terms.

As Skylar, Vivia, and the team ventured forward through Route 3, Skylar was still astounded by every blurry Pokemon he had come across. The Carnivine were massive and the Shroomish were adorable and busy at their works, and Skylar was absolutely enthralled by the sight of all of them. He was even more excited when he noticed a small green splotch move through the tree, and he safely assumed what he had seen was a Treecko, especially considering his Pokedex was going off saying something about Treecko.

The gang walked a little further after, before confusion struck.

‘It was about here… hey, Goomy?’ Vivia asked, holding an umbrella in one hand and had Goomy on her palm and a bit of her arm leaned against her stomach. ‘Could you help us find your friends?’

‘Goom…’ Goomy said, sounding really unsure.

‘E-eh? No?’ Vivia asked, unsure. So, seems like they were looking on their own. ‘W-well, it’s a rare Pokémon! We might be looking for a while…’

"I don't mind looking. If anything, this is still a good spot to train." Skylar noted before he looked over to Celebrity, who was looking towards Vivia with a frown. "Heh, Celebrity sure does like y--"

‘HOLD IT-’ ‘-RIGHT THERE!’

"Hm? Excuse us?" Skylar asked as he looked at the two new guys.


"Wait, do you guys mean these two?" Skylar asked as he pulled out his Pokedex, flipping over to the recent video he took at Silent Shrine, where Valen was being harassed by those two grunts. That red haired guy and the blue haired woman certainly better fit the description than Skylar or Vivia. "Sorry to get your hopes up like that, but it wasn't us, honest. Besides, I'd expect Team Amethyst would think better than to send a blind fourteen year old to find dragons." Skylar said, pointing to his glossy eyes and pointing to the black sunglasses on JoJo's head.

"... we also don't want any more than one Goomy, not counting Vivia's here, so saying we're gonna take all of them isn't really accurate either. Now... if you still wanted to battle..."

Well, Amelia found the Shedinja, at least she thought it was the same Shedinja, but she also found the person she was looking forward to meeting the least. It was the woman from the night before, the one who had been giving off such a dark and oppressive aura. Worse, yet, it seemed the woman had found the Shedinja again and seemed to have noticed Amelia, who took a step back on instinct. However, she was quick to pick up that the Aura that had surrounded the woman before seemed to be subdued now. Before she could even finish her thoughts, the woman began speaking, her words as cryptic as she remembered from the night before. Needless to say, she didn't understand.
"I don't know what you're trying to say but let Shedinja go!" She said to the woman, her voice shaking a bit despite her best efforts. This woman was on her master's level in terms of strength, so if the woman didn't comply, there was really nothing Amelia could do.

Thankfully, it seemed the woman wasn't after the Bug/Ghost pokemon. However, it seemed she was after Amelia as she advanced in a manner that Amelia found rather menacing, causing the young girl to take another step back. Before anything could happen though, another voice rang out, one Amelia faintly remembered, though it seemed to be enough to cause the woman to stop. Jacques had appeared with another woman, one Amelia barely remembered from the night before. Before she knew it, Amelia got to learn some nice tidbits about Angelique, such has her being one of the Elite Four among all things. Before she knew it, Angelique was leaving the garden under pressure from her apparent superior, stopping only to lob a pokeball at Amelia, who barely managed to catch it.

Once Angelique was out of the garden, Amelia let out a sigh of relief and slowly sunk to the ground, feeling a bit weak in the knees. Jacques would then approach her, apologizing for all that Angelique had done while also making a request for any information Amelia might know on Angelique's actions.
"I'm not sure I'll be of much use to you Mr. Jacques." She said, looking up at the older gentleman. "I met her the first time I came here, sensing the Shedinja over there. But, to say there was a battle between me and her would be a lie. It was between my teacher and her. He was also with us when we arrived at the tombs. All I know is that the pokemon in there were in a frenzy so that they could release their master from his seal, a Darkrai. The presence of Team Virtue and their Cresselia only made things worse. It was just pure pandemonium. I never saw Angelique there herself though."

With her part being said, Amelia glanced down at the pokeball that had been handed to her. She contemplated opening it, especially since she would sense there was a ghost-type inside. Knowing there was a risk but not caring, as she was willing to risk grabbing the strings/hands of a wild Driffloon after all, she let the pokemon out of the pokeball and was pleasantly surprised to see a Spiritomb inside. It fixed it's gaze on Amelia before sending a sudden telepathic message. Amelia clutched her head in pain, since it was like her head was suddenly filled with a chorus of voices all speaking at once, though thankfully it was the same message from every voice. When it finished, she looked up at the Spiritomb and blinked, realizing it had translated what Angelique had been saying to her earlier. Amelia herself was a Clairvoyant, Joshua was the Sentinel, and Angelique must've been hoping for the events that had transpired in the Old Tombs to turn out how they had.

This left Amelia with some questions but she knew one thing was for certain. She needed to get stronger and even Angelique wanted her to do so. Not only that, but Amelia herself wanted to get stronger as well, so that she would not be so helpless if such events happened again. Judging by the words of the Spiritomb, it seemed that the next event that might occur was at the Known Ruins. Getting to her feet, she returned the Spiritomb to it's pokeball and watched as it vanished in a flash of light, the new pokemon becoming her ninth party member. Knowing what she wanted and what her goals were now, she turned to Jacques.

Now came the dilemma of telling him what she knew. Jacques seemed like a kind enough person and reliable as well. But this was apparently meant to be a trial for her, set forth by another member of the Elite Four. She was obviously supposed to do it herself, so she had to tell him what she knew without revealing too much. She had to select her words carefully, even if it meant a bit of lying.
"It seems, according to Spiritomb, Angelique has some sort of trial planned for me. I don't know where or when, but I guess she has some sort of plan. Other then that, all it told me was that I need to get stronger." She said to Elite Four member. "So, I need to go off and start training it seems, so that I'll be stronger. Before I go though, I do have some questions for you Mr. Jacques. Do you know who is in charge of the PC system and where I might be able to find them? I... I don't like being separated from my friends and I want to see if there is some way I can at least keep them all with me, while still having it so I can only use six to battle."

The battle went about as Dawkin had expected. He waited expectantly for his Pokedex to notify him the battle was over but no such event occurred. He gaze turned to the girl, she had another Pokemon? After a bit of hesitation she brought out a Pokemon that wasn't even vaguely familiar. "Hm?" Dawkin said and scanned it, receiving a surprising result. The girl was equally surprised that the Pokedex knew what it did, but the battle at hand was more pressing. "Cacena!"

Actions: Cacena take the dig hit and open with Leech Seed and use Absorb

---

@Eklispe

Dawkin's Cacnea came out and took Dig pretty well, decreasing the damage of the blow from underneath considerably. In return, Cacnea managed to throw her Leech Seeds onto Zygarde, the dog twitching as its health was being absorbed.

‘Oooh! Grass-type… that means… Dragon Breath!’ Florrie commanded, and the dog spun around and breathed a massive blaze of purple fire at Cacnea. It hurt badly, despite being Dragon-type and not fire. Cacnea used Absorb on Zygarde, but the dog’s part-dragon typing meant it was somewhat protected against that, and Zygarde committed to another blazing Dragon Breath, and Cacnea hadn’t recovered enough damage to survive another one of those. Cacnea fainted.

‘K-kih… Leech Seed… I need to do this, quick…’ Florrie said, turning to face Dawkin’s next opponent.

Due to Leech Seed, Florrie will favor the weaker Bulldoze over Dig, as it’s a single-turn move, and use it against Atlas, Tyrunt or Pichu if any of them is her opponent. If against Wooper, though, Florrie will have Zygarde use Dragon Breath, which will still take a hefty amount of health due to the power of the move. Florrie most certainly sent out a powerful Pokémon for Dawkin to face, but Leech Seed was slowly sapping away the dog’s health, making Florrie go all out…

What would Dawkin do, now?

Erza messed up, it was not meant to be double battles but still, Hector didn't seem to particularly mind and encouraged the gym trainers to just go with it.

Erza didn't really like the sight of a Throh using bide as the damage he'd deal afterward would certainly ko one of his pokémon. Shadowfang took a power-up punch which did considerable damage already since it was super effective, but since it didn't bring down the dark-type just yet, Erza was quick to refocus entirely on Throh:

"Shadowfang, tackle Throh! Princess, keep using gust and bring it down quickly!"

Depending if Throh was brought out or not, Erza would follow the same strategy against Meditite. Gust and gust until it disappears - or Princess faints.

--

The next battle didn't start out quite well. Erza did not know about the possibility of Croagunk's ability being Dry Skin (otherwise he would also know that Croagunk could pack ground type moves) - it was just his writer trying to outsmart the GM and failing miserably.

With Summer being interrupted by Makuhita's fake out and right after taking more damage from Croagunk's ridiculous digging skills, Erza's mind began racing with so many ideas and strategies that he actually felt lost on what exactly he could do.

"Alright, Summer! Flora! Stay together!" This would diminish the distance between them, so Erza could proceed with his next move. "Now, Stun Spore Croagunk! Summer, confuse-ray him!"

Disabling the poisonous frog would help Erza's situation greatly. As long as it worked, Erza would...

"Now, Stun-Spore Makuhita, Summer, confuse-ray! Let's get these two out of our way."

--

The third battle was a walk in the park even with Eevee's huge disavantage against two fighting types. Thank Arceus to this. Vee grew a level, Erza earned an extremely low amount of prize money, heh.

Huh, that Zygrade seems a lot stronger than her other Pokemon. Why did she hesitate to bring it out? Whatever, his leech seed had landed so if he could stall out the fight it should be simple enough. His best chance of doing that would be status moves. With that in mind...

Send out Pichu with Sweet Kiss until success, then swap out to...

Whooper with water guns

If/after faint, send out Atlas with Headbutt

---

@Typical

‘Aww,’ Jamie made a little disappointed noise at that Eryn didn’t actually know where Mawiles came from. ‘Guess I can ask the staff, though!’ Then there was the little part about sharing contact information in case Eryn finds something about those rocks. ‘Oh. Yeah, sure! I hope you’ll find something, then! I look forward to hearing from you again!’ Jamie said, excited.



Adrian indeed bolted when Eryn started lecturing him, along with a frown and a click of the tongue. So, he was off, leaving Eryn lecturing thin air. Later, though.

‘I wasn’t celebrating early! I knew I’d lose to the next Pokémon, I was just celebrating having taken down at least one Pokémon…’ Mason defended himself with a sigh. Then there was the part about the Frozen Cave, and the question about if he did mining. ‘Well, er, not extensively. I’m not cut out for physical labour, you know? But I did find the bell in the ice. Which is weird, aren’t those bells a relatively recent invention, in comparison? Eh, I don’t know,’ Mason finally said, and probably stood up to walk off somewhere about now.

Against Wilhelm’s Magnemite. Eryn used a Potion, which regained around half of Kylie’s health, but then another Thunder Shock bit off around 30% of her max health. Kylie then went in to bite. Bite was the stronger move, but this was offset by the fact Kylie was no Dark-type, while Magnemite was an electric-type doing electricity… but that was in-turn offset by that Kylie managed to Critical Hit Magnemite with one fierce Bite, as revenge for that previous Thunder Shock! After that, it became a pure Thunder Shock VS Bite battle, on roughly even terms… However, in the end, Magnemite’s best stat is its Special Attack and with decent defense, while Kylie’s special defense wasn’t as formidable, so after an arduous battle Kylie fainted first. Magnemite was about to basically faint, however, and would be knocked out by whatever Eryn sent out next.

‘I know, right? I’m pretty proud if him!’ Wilhelm said when Nuzleaf came out, the Grass-Dark type ready for battle.

So, without Kylie’s Taunt, how would Eryn start out this battle? Continue with the same strategy, just remove the first part? _{If so, I can just edit in here.}

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

‘Huh? You mean you’re actually blind? Those sunglasses aren’t because you’re supposed to be cool bad guys?’ white-haired guy asked, looking towards the video.

‘Don’t be fooled!’ red-haired guy called. ‘It’s probably prepared deflective evidence! Like Team Amethyst would go out on missions DRESSED as Team Amethyst members, right!? Being in disguise makes a lot more sense!’

‘… Yeah! You’re right! They probably paid people to dress like Amethyst members and then filmed them! And we DID catch them hunting dragons! Makes sense!’ white-haired guy nodded.

‘Y-you’re just grasping at any straws to accuse us, aren’t you!?’ Vivia complained at them.

‘Quiet! Come quietly! Gastly, Hypnosis!’ red-haired guy called, pointing forward. With that, Hypnosis and Thunder Wave headed for Vivia…

‘Iip!’ Vivia yelped back, closing her eyes a bit as the waves headed in… and Goomy frowned (as best a Goomy can frown), and called out. ‘Goomy!’ With that call, Protect blinked into existence, a white barrier erected which deflected the waves. Vivia blinked a bit in realization as she’d been protected.

‘Darn, they’re defending themselves!’ red-haired guy told, about the mere act of raising a barrier.

‘As if Amethyst would come without a fight! Let’s go!’ white-haired guy called… yeah, no, no way to escape this!

‘G-geesh!’ Vivia sounded annoyed, now. Taking out a Pokéball to join the battle. ‘Venonat, go!’

So. JoJo and Venonat VS Gastly and Mareep. Realizing the threat of a Psychic-type against his poison ghost without a ghost-type-move, Gastly was commanded to Hypnosis at JoJo immediately. Because of the time for the waves to get to him, JoJo successfully duplicated himself with Double Team, successfully dodging the waves, while Venonat managed to dodge out of the way of the Thunder Wave heading for her! Venonat countered with Disable at Gastly, successfully Disabling Hypnosis! Since putting the enemy to sleep was Gastly’s whole plan, the enemy panicked a bit…

Gastly shot a cloud of Smog at JoJo, while JoJo replied with a Confusion! Despite Double Team, the smog managed to collect around the correct Ralts, causing Super-Effective poison-damage against the fairy-side of JoJo, while JoJo shot a Confusion that made the entity of Gastly recoil and take heavy damage. Basically, both Pokémon did considerable damage at one another. Meanwhile, on the other side, Mareep Thunder Shocked Venonat… but got itself Supersoniced in return!

Then, luck took a heavy turn, because not only did Gastly hit with the next Smog, the next Smog became a Super Effective Critical Hit at JoJo! That became too much, unfortunately. JoJo fainted. On the plus-side, that last Smog made Vivia realize the threat of the opposing Gastly, and commanded Venonat to use Confusion on it, and so the bug used its Psychic capabilities and struck another Super Effective blow against the ghost, and given how fragile Gastly is two Super Effective blows was too much for it and Gastly fainted! Meanwhile, in its confusion, Mareep managed to charge into a tree and hurt itself in confusion!

Skylar now sent out Paradise, while the red-haired Virtue grunt sent out Spheal. There was a blink of ‘hold on’ when that happened.

So, while he’d use Rollout against most Pokémon, he did know his type match-ups, and commanded Spheal to use Powder Snow against Paradise. This did not happen before Paradise sent Razor Leafs into both Spheal and Mareep, dealing Super Effective damage to one of them! This is when Mareep shakes off Confusion and attempts to Thunder Shock at Paradise, but mid-move the faster Venonat calls Disable at Mareep and prohibits the electric sheep from casting bolts! Spheal called a Powder Snow on Paradise, however, which hit her and caused some terrible x4 Super Effective damage! Paradise is a sturdy girl, though, and took the damage in hand, and just replied with another Razor Leaf, which with another Super Effective hit took down Spheal and did more damage to Mareep! That, combined with Venonat doing another Confusion on Mareep, took the sheep down!

Then Grimer came out. On his own. … Paradise Stomped and Venonat Confusioned, and that’s the end of that.






‘G-gah!’ the red-haired one jerked back as the last of their Pokémon fainted and was returned to the Pokéball.

‘H-how did they-!?’ white-haired guy asked, confused.

‘Y-you haven’t heard the last of us!’ red-haired guy called, pointing at them.

‘Th-the higher ups will hear about this, and then it’ll be OVER for your little schemes, you hear…!?’ white-haired guy called… and then both of them dashed away in all haste.

‘Ooogh… I can’t believe them…’ Vivia just said, shaking her head at them where she still held the umbrella, and holding Goomy close to her. ‘Thanks for defending me, Goomy. And thanks for fighting them off with me, Skylar. And thanks, Venonat, Paradise, JoJo,’ she told, first to Goomy, and then to Skylar, and then to the partaking Pokémon. ‘Goomy!’ Goomy called out, happily enough, and Venonat returned to her trainer, happy enough too. With that done…

What would Skylar do now?

Currently on Route 3.





Connected areas:
Rainrock City. Across the route, north.
Route 4. Head east just before Rainrock.
Silent Shrine. Head west just before Highhill, through the forest.
Highhill Town. Just south.
North Silent Forest. If you jump off the road west.
Route 14. If you went onto the water to the east.



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

‘Hm. I see,’ Jacques said, having gone down on his knees next to Amelia on account that she’d fallen to the ground. ‘Sylvia, the girl with the Seviper, claimed it looked like Angelique had Cofagrifus attack you, which your teacher then defended you from. If so, that’s a grave offense on her part. Other than that… we didn’t even know Darkrai was sealed there. Makes us wonder why Angelique knew, or better yet, why Team Virtue of all people apparently knew. What else do they know that we don’t? Hmmm…’ Jacques questioned, crossing his arms, looking troubled.

Amelia decided to open the Pokéball given to her by Angelique put Jacques in an alert state, and then Amelia clutched her head in pain as she heard the message. When she returned… a Pokémon stood between herself and Spiritomb, one which actually was the very same as one Joshua had.





Jacques was where he was, though he had a serious expression and held forward an open Pokéball. When Spiritomb didn’t do more…

‘… Weavile, return,’ he called the Pokémon back and adjusted his hat. ‘Just in case,’ he told, simply.

With that, then, Amelia got to her feet, Jacques offering his hand to help her up if so needed, otherwise he simply stood up along with her, looking at her observantly as it was clear she’d obtained new-found determination. He listened to the words she said, and part-way through that he pulled on his hat over his eyes for a bit.

‘No adult should force a trial upon a child if the child doesn’t want it or doesn’t know they’re taking it, especially if it leads them into a clash between Legendary Pokémon. If ever you don’t desire to play along with her schemes, I ask that you call an adult,’ Jacques said. Now, for gameplay reasons, I don’t want you to have an Elite Four’s phone number in your pocket, otherwise he’d totally have offered his.

Then he raised his hat again as Amelia asked about the person in charge of the PC system, which simply caused Jacques to chuckle a bit, then looked at her with a sly little smile.

‘Why, for your particular group of trainers, that would be Professor Kalmia herself. She wanted to be able to examine the Pokémon in their state within the boxes, in order to further her own Pokémon research. She’s a young Pokémon Professor still, yet to find her own personal field to specialize in, but she does have a bit of a flair for the technological side. You do have to understand, though, the limit of six Pokémon per person is in place to limit the firepower each individual trainer can muster on their own, and also because it was the decided number for competitive Pokémon battles. Without this limit, hostile trainers could have raised armies on their own, stubborn trainers might try the quantity over quality approach to battle, and we couldn’t have that. Still… perhaps Kalmia could work something out?’

And that’s about that. She’s currently in the Bug Garden of Raremine Town.





Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.





__________________________

@Ephemeral

So, it turned out Throh was on dramatically lower level than Erza’s Pokémon.

Shadowfang got hit with one Power-Up Punch first, but ran by Meditite then to go strike at the Biding Throh. Between Princess’ Gusts and Shadowfang’s Tackle, Throh took too much damaged and fainted under their unified assault. … Unfortunately, then came Meditite and slammed into Shadowfang from behind again with a Power-Up Punch, sending Shadowfang flying, fainted. Then it was Meditite VS Princess, where Meditite had +2 attack due to Power-Up Punch. However, in this battle of distance-fighter VS close-combat fighter, Meditite floating after Princess couldn’t land a good hit on her while Princess just did Gust, after Gust, after Gust.

Finally, Meditite fainted, and Princess was around 63% health left.



‘Oooooooooooooooouch…’ Charline sounded out, grinning a bit.

‘What was that about “eating him”?’ Dale asked with a smirk.

‘I may have held back too much~’ Charline sounded out, mildly playfully. ‘Whelp, back to punching punching-bags with me~!’

‘Heh, my turn,’ Dale told.

And then, during the battle…

Both Erza’s Pokémon actually held the speed-advantage against his opponents. Meaning, Croagunk just suddenly blinked as Flora unleashed a cloud of paralyzing powder over him… unfortunately Croagunk’s Mud Slap meant Summer missed Confuse Ray, the glowing ball of confusion-inflicting flying past the frog!

Confuse Ray flew on through the crowd and hit a random Hitmonlee… who blinked in surprise as he was delivering a flurry of kicks into a punching-bag. Confused, Hitmonlee stumbled a couple of steps aside, and then continued with the flurry! … Not realizing he was aiming it straight into the wall of the already breaking building! Hitmonlee’s feet had already created numerous holes and cracks in the wall when he was jumped by numerous shouting humans and Pokémon trying to stop him from damaging the building any further…

Regardless, missing Confuse Ray meant Croagunk wasn’t confused when he- when he couldn’t move due to paralyzation! Though, then Summer took a heavy hit from Power-Up Punch from Makuhita, which also raised Makuhita’s attack. That one hurt. So, next they shot Stun Spore and Confuse Ray at Makuhita! This time, both of them hit, Makuhita ending up Paralyzed and Confused both…

Makuhita grinned. Guts boosted his attack further due to paralyzation! … He just needs to hit!

Croagunk managed to move despite paralyzation and shot a Mud-Slap at Flora, that hit and did regular Mud-Slap damage and reduced accuracy a little!

Then Makuhita aimed! He wanted to slam Summer with his Guts- and Power-Up Fist- infused fist of super-power! He directed backwards, aaaaaaaand-!

-Fell over in confusion and slammed this awesome power straight into the floor! The massively powerful blow split the floor-plate apart, sending cracks in all directions and leaving a huge Makuhita-fist shaped indent! Critical Hit! … Against the floor!

‘Why do trainers keep using confusion as a weapon against us!? It keeps making our Pokémon damage our own building! Hahahaha!’ Hector laughed about it.

So, Makuhita did HEAVY damage against himself in confusion, due to how powered-up he was. Still, the battle wasn’t over yet. Both Summer and Flora had been Mud-Slapped, Croagunk’s only damage was being paralyzed, and Makuhita was still heavily powered up, despite Confusion, Paralyzation, and heavy damage.

What would Erza command next?

__________________________

@Eklispe

Pichu came out, and darted using his best stat towards Zygarde. Zygarde, with ferocious speed, lifted his front legs and stomped into the ground. Pichu jumped, we’ll say, and managed to escape above the sand-shattering attack to land upon the dog’s skin and gave it a nice little Sweet Kiss. Confusion curled through the dog, as did paralysis because of Static, paralysing on contact, and some Leech Seed energy passed to Pichu. Zygarde basically immediately knocked off Pichu and slammed down with an awesome Bulldoze, but Dawkin had already called back Pichu to exchange for sending out Wooper, who took the Bulldoze instead, but then got back some Leech Seed health.

Zygarde’s next motion was to stumble and knock his head into the sands, taking damage in his confusion. Wooper shot a Water Gun at him, and Leech Seed drained him extra. Zygarde now looked exhausted and damaged, not much left.

But Zygarde locked his eyes onto Wooper, growled a bit, and then charged for a Dragon Breath! … Except, he forgot to open his mouth in confusion. Zygarde blinked a bit in surprise, and then… the dog promptly exploded into numerous pieces in an explosion of purple dragon fire that came from within!

‘Aaaah! Zei!’ Florrie called out in panic.

Now, a Pokémon exploding would normally be pretty horrific to witness… but, there wasn’t any of the usual byproducts, like, internal organs, or whatever else an actual exploding living being would have produced. Instead, what flew about was…



Small, clearly alive little green things that landed a bit here and there where they felt like. Only one of them seemed really alive, having flown straight upwards from the place where Zygarde had stood, and then landed straight down, only to slowly rise up and look up at Dawkin.

‘… Zy?’ it asked Dawkin.

Then it was promptly snapped up into Florrie’s embrace, before she went after the next little cell that was crawling off in random directions!

‘H-help me gather them up!’ a rather alarmed Florrie requested.

Well. Regardless. He’d managed to beat Zygarde, here, anyway.



Eventually, no matter if Dawkin helped or not, the Zygarde cells were eventually gathered up and Florrie brought out a green object resembling a truncated octahedron, which she put the cells inside. She breathed out a bit in relief when they’d finally been gathered.

‘… So, uh. Who are you? Why does your machine thing know of Zygarde…?’ Florrie asked, eyeing Dawkin suspiciously.

What would Dawkin do?

---

---

"Eh, it was nothing. Paradise and JoJo here did the heavy lifting, I'm just the circus leader for this show." Skylar said as he patted JoJo affectionately, returning the tired Ralts to their Pokeball. "Good job, Jonathan. Take a good nap for a little." He'd certainly have to hit up the Pokemon Center before tackling the gym in Highhill, probably to turn in for the night and give the team all some well deserved rest. As JoJo was returned, Skylar grabbed his sunglasses off the horn of the kid and put them back on. They weren't really an "item", so sending them into a Pokeball probably wasn't a good idea. Plus, they did help Skylar a little bit with his sight.

"Quite rude of those guys to assume we were Team Amethyst members, and even ruder of them that they didn't give us a leg to stand on." Skylar said as he patted Paradise's neck affectionately, congratulating her on a job well done. "I'm glad we got some good friends on our side, or else we might've had our Duckletts cooked." He chuckled a little to himself, mainly because of his stupid little quip that he knew was definitely stupid. "Still, our hunt for a Goomy continues! Maybe we'll even find a Shiny one, if we look hard enough!" Despite the sunglasses and glossy gray of his eyes, it was evident that Skylar had an excited glint in his vision.

A moment passed for Skylar to think before he looked down at Mac in his arms. "Tor?"

"And while we're looking, maybe a few of the wildlife would like to help us get a little stronger."

With that, Skylar continued on his quest to find 'the weakest dragon-type.' If it ended up being Shiny or not, it didn't matter, so long as Skylar could find one and make it his friend, everything would be A-OK.