Amelia did accept the helping hand when Jacques offered it to her and listened to him as he said his bit about the trial that she would be facing in the future and then, more importantly, the information he gave regarding the PC and who was in charge of it. To her surprise it was Professor Kalmia of all people. Knowing her next destination, she gave Jacques a slight bow.
"Thank you for letting me know Mr. Jacques. I'll head to her right away. I'll also keep what you said in mind, though I don't really have any adults to turn to if I get in trouble." She said.

"Oh geez, what am I, chopped liver to ya?" Joshua said, walking over, causing Amelia to jump in surprise as she turned towards him. He was walking with his hands in his pockets and Absol by his side. "I spotted little miss Spooks-alot being escorted away from here, so I figured I'd come and see if you had returned. So, going to introduce me to your friend here?"

"Oh. Joshua, this is Mister Jacques. He's in a competition with the Professor and a member of the Elite Four. Mr. Jacques, this is Joshua, my teacher before I began my journey." She said.

"A pleasure." Joshua said before turning to Amelia. "I was looking for you to say good-bye for the time being and to wish you luck on your journey. I won't help you any further from here on, so I can't do anything more then that. If we cross paths again though, that might be a different story. Now, I think I've held you up long enough. Please, continue onwards."

"Thank you." Amelia said, giving him a slight bow as well. Before leaving, she reached down and gently pet the Shedinja. "Stay out of trouble okay. I hope peaceful days return to you."

With that, she would leave the Gardens and resume her journey, heading for the Great Plains so that she could return to Lakewatch Town and from there, make her way to Pureplain. She was focused on being reunited with her other pokemon, but she wasn't going to completely ignore her surroundings, since something of interest might happen.

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Waaaah? Ralia!?" Claire hadn't been paying attention to what her pokemon had been doing, completely focused on the bets. She had been utterly oblivious to her teleporting to the top of Valarie's head until she had been swatted off like a fly. Ralia took the blow, making a tiny squeal in the process as she was batted off the queens head. Claire barely managed to catch Ralia in her arms. "What the heck girl?! you can't just go around teleporting on people!" Claire looked down at Ralia, who was now sitting comfortably, pouting a bit, nuzzling her trainers arm in a hurt fashion.

"Jeez, that's what you get. Claire patted the pokemon on the head. "Sorry about that, I dunno what got into her." Ralia, meanwhile, had turned to face Valarie...and stuck out her tongue at the Queen. Ralia then grabbed a lock of Claire's hair, tugging on it lightly to get her attention. "...eh? Cheating?" Claire blinked, before looking over to Valarie.

"....ahaha, don't be silly." Claire bopped Ralia on the head lightly. Cheating huh. Well, of course she trusted Ralia, but there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it now. Besides, she'd win anyways. She was just that confident. She could bet the same as Valarie. She just needed to bet more...but the problem with that was that with 100 coins, Valarie would have 1060 left. She only had 940, for the sake of the bet. If she was gonna lose, might as well go for broke.

"...I'm gonna do something probably really stupid here." Claire said with a light nod. "100 on Grassball."

@Rune_Alchemist

‘…’ Valerie did not reply to Claire’s apologies for Ralia’s actions, merely turned towards the bets now. She frowned as Claire put her bet on Grassball, but refrained from commenting on it. With all that done, it was simply a matter to wait for the race to start.

The call for the race to begin sounded off…

And the absolutely first thing, out of the gates, what happened was that both Empress and Zodiac spun and unleashed a Drill Peck each at Dread Divers, who called out in pain as he was hit and was launched backwards, straight into a panicked and surprised Lucky who was hit by the sudden missile that was the hit Dread Divers.

The only Dodrio that actually ran for the goal was Grassball.

Dread Divers quickly got up, glaring with all his force at Empress and Zodiac with all three heads… and then he Thrashed himself into combat, Empress and Zodiac meeting him with stride. A fierce fight with Drill Pecks, Trash and Tri Attacks flew off in various directions, with an excited audience that somehow relished in that it was a battle and not a race, while a panicked Lucky somehow snook off and took off after Grassball, quickly catching up.

The smoke settled… and Dread Divers still stood. Empress and Zodiac both lay fainted at his feet. Then, Dread Divers took off like a dark bolt towards the front line, after Lucky. Visibly straight after Lucky. Lucky noticed, and with a panic in all three pairs of eyes she jumped off the race-track, hiding at the wall. Dread Divers dismissed her as unworthy, and then dashed after Grassball. Dread Divers easily caught up with the shiny Dodrio, much faster in his strides. If Dread Divers won, Valerie would still be the one to win the bet. Dread Divers, in all his violence, aimed in a Trashing kick at Grassball’s back…

And Grassball tripped on her own, meaning all the force of Dread Divers’ destructive Trash kick went straight over her back at full speed. Because of the angle of the kick, Dread Divers flew off with a panicked shout, the force of the kick that did not impact carried the confused Dodrio way overhead and into the wall on the other side of the race-track, crashing into it with enough force to cause a Dordio-shaped hole to crack open. Dread Divers hurt himself in confusion! Dread Divers fainted!

Grassball stood up, shook her three heads, and waltzed over the finish line.



A massive amount of cheers erupted around the audience, apparently thinking this was the greatest show in quite a while. Valerie, meanwhile, just watched with somewhat empty eyes while Claire no doubt had some form of reaction. Eventually, Valerie simply sighed, and then turned around as if to leave. Before doing so, she opened her coin case and dumped an additional 10,000 coins onto the table next to her.



‘Congratulations. It would seem you have won. I’ll be taking my leave for today. Tonight, you’re the Queen of the Game Corner… whoever you are,’ Valerie said, because Claire never introduced herself. With that, and with a Fletchinder on her shoulder, Valerie walked to leave. There were numerous people, those same fans of Valerie, that were looking at Claire with some degree of awe now.

‘I can’t believe it…’
‘The Queen… lost?’
‘Who… who is this girl?’

They sounded an awful lot like Claire had won in something more than just a game of chance.

Also, because Dread Divers had KOd Empress, Zodiac and then himself, the Dodrio races with be called off for the reminder of today, attraction closed, look elsewhere.

Claire has found herself with the grand total of 20,970 coins.

What would Claire do now?





What will Claire do here?



Or, if she’d like to head off somewhere else.



Connected areas:
Route 10. South of Worldedge. A farmland employing multiple psychic Pokémon from Mt. Edge to help with the crops.
Route 13. West of Worldedge. A slightly disturbed route, which attracts electric Pokémon due to the proximity of the power plant.
Mt. Edge. The mystical mountain at the heart of Worldedge’s unnatural existence. Few people actually cross its fabled tunnels, most just teleport past.
Route 18. East of Worldedge. A calm stretch of land going from Worldedge to Witchpeak, part of the Allmass Cycling Circuit.





Currently in the Entertainment District.

---

^{Route 5 || Day 3: Afternoon || @PlatinumSkink}
Eryn grit her teeth as Kylie went down.

“You did great, Kylie,” she said, recalling the Mawile and swapping her with Dei.

“Finish it, Dei!”

The Charmander rushed the Magnemite, flames spilling from his mouth as he ran. When he was close enough, he loosed his stream of flames at the Magnemite.

---

His plan worked to perfection. Of course he hadn't planned on his foe... exploding into pieces? "Yeah, yeah I'll help." A little bewildered but certainly ready to help, Dawkin returned his Pokemon and set to gathering up the squirming cells. "I'm Dawkin, I've just started my road as a Pokemon Trainer. And... I'm not sure. It's got information about pretty much every Pokemon I've found so far, I'm not sure where it all came from." Dawkin said. Presumably most of it was from trainers like him but come to think of it, he'd never been told the specifics. "Where did you find that thing anyway?" Dawkin said, curious about the seemingly unique Pokemon she had.

---

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

With a session of training down in the books, it was time to consider her first challenge at the Stillwood Village Gym. It was apparent that she'd have to contend with some grass types especially considering she watched a few challengers face some of the other trainers in the gym. So naturally, she had to focus on strategies with Sno, Chic, Gibs, and Tara. The other two on her planned team, Eep and Kay, were not at any inherent disadvantage. That being said, Erika still had some reservations about challenging a Gym. Was she ready? Guess there was no way to tell without going on to challenge.

So Erika hurried on back to Stillwood Village and went to the Pokemon Center, swapping Chu for Gibs at the Pokemon console. Then she approached the Stillwood Village Gym, ready to challenge the leader inside....

@Gardevoiran

‘It was…’ Vivia replied to what Skylar said, though, then it was refocusing on the woods themselves. Goomy seemed more comfortable with Vivia all of a sudden, for some reason. ‘… Okay, let’s see if we can find any of your friends, Goomy.’

‘Goomy!’ Goomy replied, a bit more enthusiastically.

So, training against some grass-types. Went pretty well, especially for Seabreeze. Mac did have the problem that his fire was being recreased in capability by the rain, but that just meant he was doing a normal amount of damage with the fire on the grass-type opponents. Celebrity did averagely, while Smiley got to peek in occasionally, just because.



Eventually, after more than an hour of searching and looking about, with Vivia training her own Pokémon minus Rotom in the wild as well… finally, something of the right colour could be found underneath the roots of a tree, in a little spring of water found down there.





‘… Goomy?’ the dragon slime asked whatever being it was that found it hiding under the tree.

What would Skylar do, now?





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

Jacques turned and looked with interest as another man showed up to say hi. With the introduction made, Jacques tilted his hat a bit and nodded in greeting, smiling a little to the new arrival.

‘A pleasure to meet you, as well,’ Jacques told, looking a bit curiously at Joshua.

They then had their little conversation without even minding the Elite Four that just happened to be there and listening to them. Shedinja was still where she’d last seen it, and stayed completely motionless still as she petted its hard shell. Still, that was enough, and she could now move on.

So, she arrived at the edge of town, and intended to head back to Pureplain City… when she heard the Elite Four speaking from behind her.

‘Are you… going to head all the way back… on foot?’ Jacques asked, looking her over a bit curiously, tilting his head while gazing at him through his glasses. He did that a couple of seconds, before taking out a Pokéball and calling out a huge rock creature with wings.





‘… Do you want a ride? I actually have some business with Dorian…’ Jacques told, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

Up to her if she wants that. Otherwise, she’s free to proceed onto Route 6.





Connected areas:
More Route 6. West is a vast plain that seem to stretch on endlessly, locked between the mountains of Mt. Chill and the cliffs of the southern sea. Eventually leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 8. In the north lies a comparatively pleasant cliffside walkway with hilly terrain and wondrous view, leading to Freecape Town.
Stalford’s Ferry. North-east, to take a ferry across Route 16 towards Witchpeak City. The only pleasant way across Route 16 is onboard a ferry, but even then…
Raremine Town. A town of miners and researchers that study what the miners find. Also a stop for those who want to travel the desert!



However, like, she’s crossed it once, and a ghost-type’s speciality is running away successfully no matter the pursuer, correct?

So, then back to Route 5.





Connected areas:
Lakewatch Town. On the south-west of the route, Lakewatch Town lies adjacent to the lake on the road to the Wet Caverns.
Stillwood Village. In the north lies the forest which hides the village, Mt. Strength lying behind it..
Route 6. Vast plains start in the south-east, this route leads towards Raremine Town.
Frozen Cavern. After an incline up to the ridge of Mt. Chill, a cavern of ice could guide the way to Route 9 and Cooldome City.
Endless Forest. To the south, a dark forest looms. There are no indications as to why you’d ever want to go there.



To Lakewatch Town.





Connected areas:
Wet Caverns. Water-filled caverns that are located to the east. There’s a small hill to climb to get to the entrance.
Route 5. The main exit of Lakewatch, leading to a grassy incline connecting mountains, forests and plains.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.



What from here? Ferry to Highhill Town for 750P? Through Wet Caverns? North to Stillwood Village to head that way around? What would Amelia do?

__________________________

@Typical

Magnemite took an Ember and fainted immediately!

Tula absorbed Nuzleaf’s Fake Out from there, ensuring that this strategy didn’t do extra damage to any other Pokémon, though did Eryn know that? Still, Tula struggled once at Nuzleaf, who then promptly Razor Leafed back, super effective and critical hit, Tula fainted. Good effort, though?

Eri afterwards, no disguise described. Eri faked tears, lowering Nuzleaf’s Special Defense, but then got Razor Leafed in return. Eri Fury Swiped, doing some damage to the leaf-creature, but it became immediately pretty clear that Nuzleaf’s Razor Leaves were doing more damage. Eryn changed Pokémon to Dei… and Razor Leaf turned ineffective. Dei Embered, and because of lowered Special Defense did a dramatic amount of damage to Nuzleaf. Nuzleaf shot a Nature Power Stun Spore at Dei, causing paralyzation, but it couldn’t stop Dei from shooting another ember and burning down the enemy. Nuzleaf fainted!



‘Well done! But, the water-Pokémon you mentioned, it wouldn’t happen to be your Magikarp? I’m… afraid I don’t think a Magikarp would be able to safely pull us down. Perhaps after evolution?’ Wilhelm said, and… there’s a point in what he’s saying. Plenty of Magikarp’s Pokédex entries tells how even a light current will pull a Magikarp along. It cannot learn Dive in any way, shape nor form. Tula unfortunately cannot dive while pulling you along in this state.

In any case! Back to Lakewatch Town to heal! Then what?





Connected areas:
Wet Caverns. Water-filled caverns that are located to the east. There’s a small hill to climb to get to the entrance.
Route 5. The main exit of Lakewatch, leading to a grassy incline connecting mountains, forests and plains.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.



or alternatively Route 5.





Connected areas:
Lakewatch Town. On the south-west of the route, Lakewatch Town lies adjacent to the lake on the road to the Wet Caverns.
Stillwood Village. In the north lies the forest which hides the village, Mt. Strength lying behind it..
Route 6. Vast plains start in the south-east, this route leads towards Raremine Town.
Frozen Cavern. After an incline up to the ridge of Mt. Chill, a cavern of ice could guide the way to Route 9 and Cooldome City.
Endless Forest. To the south, a dark forest looms. There are no indications as to why you’d ever want to go there.



__________________________

@Eklispe

Florrie was very thankful that he’d helped gather up the cells for her, though then returned to be very focused on her question.

‘L-let me ask the questions for the moment! How it has the information aside, what is that machine!? Who made it!?’ Florrie asked, dodging the question.

Because she needs to know that before she decides to tell you anything further, we’re stuck here for at least one more post.

‘… R-regardless, I need to take my Pokémon to the Pokémon Center, and I’m sure you do, too…’

With that, Florrie was intending to head towards Raremine Town. Does Dawkin come, too?





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.



If not, here’s the desert again.



Current Condition; Clear - Because I’m not about to drop a sandstorm on you after what you just went through. The usual sandstorm blows over the path to the Mystic Oasis, though.



Connected areas:
Raremine Town. A town of miners and research, on the tip between the plains and the desert.
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 what?

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii@Eklispe

If Dawkin and Amelia would like to talk once more before being separated, there’s a time in between here. Dawkin’s (probably?) heading for the Pokémon Center, which will take him by the Bug Garden. That could be at around the same time as Amelia exits the Bug Garden to head through the gates and embark on her journey home. This would be before Jacques came after Amelia to look if she’d really go on foot, and also Florrie would already have passed because she does things at high speed when she’s alarmed. So, there could be a small time for discussion there. Potentially.

__________________________

@Pirouette

‘Farfetch'd,’ Farfetch’d called, and took off somewhere, apparently not about to follow her, so she’d be heading back on her own. That said, she was soon in Stillwood Village.



Then, after a brief visit to the Pokémon Center to heal and get her team together, she headed for the Gym, was it?

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

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

There were two girls walking away from the Gym that Erika might recognize…



'That was so much fun! Archie had so many interesting tricks up his Pokémon’s sleeves!' Maple laughed, walking away holding a badge of some kind.

'Ueh... fun for you, maybe… your team is all fire… That was so tiring…' Ellyn said, looking mentally drained. Still, she too, was clutching something in her hand.

'Still, you won, didn’t you?' Maple asks with a laugh.

'Only due to bad luck on his part, with that confusion…' Ellyn sighed, and the two girls walked on…

Up to Erika if she bothered with the two of them. Otherwise, a guy she’d seen the last time she read the sign of the Pokémon Gym stood there, and now eagerly looked towards her.

‘Welcome back! I’m happy to see you return!’ he called.



‘Since you didn’t actually challenge the gym last time, I can imagine the details of my explanation remains fuzzy. If so, I’d be more than happy to explain again for our newest champ-to-be!’ the guy said, in case Erika wanted to listen to him talk.

---

---

"Yes! Vivia, we found one!" Skylar whispered hushedly, still slightly loud and excited that HE ACTUALLY FOUND A GOOMY OH MY GOSH! The trainer could barely hold in his excitement as he thought about what to do next for catching this cute little dragon type and adding him to the roster of Skylar's team. How to go about this, he wondered...

A moment passed before Skylar snapped as he got an idea. He didn't wanna hurt the little bugger, no, but he did want to catch it and add it to the team, and the best way to do that was simply to befriend the little slimy goo ball. The issue is, he needed to get to work with the befriending, though the solution was already right in front of him.

"Paradise, c'mere girl! O-oh, but come slow!" Skylar called his Tropius to his side, the mighty beast walking over slowly as to not disturb the Goomy that was under the roots in the little puddle. Skylar reached up to Paradise's neck, pulling a banana off her bunch, and peeling it a slight bit before taking it in his hand and gently breaking it in half. He grabbed a nearby large leaf off a fallen branch and placed the banana on it, almost like it was a plate. A smile washed over his face as he gently put the banana leaf on the ground in front of the Goomy. Maybe giving it something to eat would help coax it out so Skylar can make friends with it.

In his hand, Skylar still kept the other banana chunk (still in the peel). He was gonna try and use it for hand feeding after the Goomy came out, hoping it would be enough to finish befriending the buddy so he could tap a Pokeball to the dragon-type and end up with the seventh addition to Skylar's team!

... but who would he bench so his dragon could show it's face on the team...?

@Gardevoiran

‘You did!?’ Vivia called out and came running over. ‘Thank Arceus! I was starting to think me finding Goomy here might have been some kind of mistake…!’

‘Goomy!’ Vivia’s Goomy called, still in her embrace.

‘Goomy?’ the wild Goomy asked, as the bit of banana was left for her. She pulled forward, inspecting the banana and then taking a bite out of it, and finding it delicious. ‘Goomy!’ the Goomy called, opening the slime’s mouth and consuming the banana, looking super-happy for the moment. Then, Skylar offered the rest of the banana, and Goomy seemed happy enough to eat from the rest directly from his hand. With it proceeding this well, it was simple enough to pat her with a Pokéball, and Goomy was absorbed into the ball!

The ball rolled once…!

@PlatinumSkink

---

Claire watched each of the Dodrios as the race started. Dread Divers, Empress, and Zodiac immediately engaged in combat. It was an entertaining show to be sure, but that wasn't what this was. This was a race, and whoever made it to the finish line first would be the winner...this meant Grassball had a pretty good chance of getting a head start - but the battle was over all to quickly. Dread Divers made short work of the two, zooming by a scared Lucky and after Grassball.

Claire held her breath, a death grip forming on the betting table.

...Grassball won!

"YEAAAAH!" Jumping excitedly in victory, Claire spun in the air, grinning brightly.

"Rrraaaalts!~" Ralia jumped, making a few clones to form a little cheer squad before Claire quickly took the pokemon in her arms.

"Ahahaha, nice one!" Was there ever any doubt, though? Of course not. Claire gratefully accepted her winnings, both her bet from the race and her bet with Valarie. "The names Claire! Remember it cuz I'ma be the next best thing in Isson!" Turning to the crowd, Claire addressed her adoring fans with a wave.

"Sorry, I'd love to sign autographs," The redhead grinned. "But I'm on a tight schedule. I'll catch all you awesome people later, because I have a date with the prize counter!~!" Fashionably, Claire began moonwalking backwards, waving at her obviously new fans, shooting them a playful grin. Once she had gotten through the crowd, she spun once before making a beeline for the prize counter.

"One Larvitar please." She shoved all of her coins onto the desk.

@Rune_Alchemist

‘… Hmpf,’ Valerie made a noise as she put Claire’s name on her mind, but otherwise just disproved of the amount of noise she made. With that, Claire boasted to the crowd, none of them actually looking too interested in an autograph though they did seem surprised at her winning. Then, it was off to the price corner.

‘Yes, ma’am!’ the lady behind the desk said, starting to collect the coins. ‘That has to be one of the shortest amount of time anyone has ever obtained 20,000 coins in at this Game Corner. Well done! One Larvitar coming up! Which gender do you want?’ she asked.



What would Claire do now?







Or, if she’d like to head off somewhere else.



Connected areas:
Route 10. South of Worldedge. A farmland employing multiple psychic Pokémon from Mt. Edge to help with the crops.
Route 13. West of Worldedge. A slightly disturbed route, which attracts electric Pokémon due to the proximity of the power plant.
Mt. Edge. The mystical mountain at the heart of Worldedge’s unnatural existence. Few people actually cross its fabled tunnels, most just teleport past.
Route 18. East of Worldedge. A calm stretch of land going from Worldedge to Witchpeak, part of the Allmass Cycling Circuit.





Currently in the Entertainment District.

---

---

"Shoot." Skylar looked down on the Goomy in front of him, still horribly excited but now a slight bit more nervous. He really wanted to make friends with this Goomy, but with how he just slightly blew it there it was a little bit tougher to actually have this Goomy want to join his side. Right now, though, it just seemed neutral to Skylar.

Maybe he could pet it? His Pokedex said they were sensitive to contact, but maybe if Skylar was careful enough he could rub the little bugger's... head? Did Goomies have heads? Their entire body was kind of their head, so technically it wouldn't really be petting it's head rather than it's whole body... hm... eh, whatever. Point is, he was gonna rub it gently.

"Hey bud... uh... mind if I just..." Skylar asked before moving in very slowly with his hand, finally gently placing the hand on top of the Goomy's head. Hopefully she wouldn't mind Skylar's gentle pats on her head. Maybe she wanted another banana as well...? Skylar was just hoping she'd trust him enough to join him in his adventures across Isson. She definitely needed a name if she did join.

Paradise lowered her neck, as if she just knew Skylar wanted to give the precious baby Goomy another banana. Skylar reached up and grabbed one off her neck, somehow managing to peel it with one hand before holding it near the Goomy. If she wanted to eat a little more, she was more than welcome to do so. Nobody seemed to mind (save Smiley, but he was just being moody.)

Just in case she trusted him enough, Skylar had another Pokeball on standby. If the pats went over well, hopefully she wouldn't mind him trying another Pokeball.

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Aha, don't care too much." Claire replied in response to the gender. She waited eagerly for the Larvitar to be handed over to her. As it was brought over and handed to her, the small rock type looked up at her with wide eyes, before tilting its head to the side with a small smile.

"Oh my gosh he's adorable." Claire reached down, scooping up the near two hundred pound pokemon in her arms.

"Laarv!~"

"Ahaha, welcome to the team little guy." Larvitar nuzzled Claire, lightly wiggling in her arms. "Oof....geh, you're heavy okay down you go." She sat Larvitar back down on the counter. Hm, what would be a good name for this little guy? They evolved into Tyranitar, right? Something cool and awesome. Strong and could totally wreck a pokemon. Claire mulled it over a few seconds before settling on a suitable name. "How about...Laurel?" She questioned. "It's a really nice shade of green, just like you."

"...Larv!" Clapping his hands happily, Larvitar reached up for more hugs, not giving Claire much of a chance before launching himself at her.

"Bewh!?" Claire once again, nearly was knocked over by the small pokemon. "Alright alright I get it...you like hugs..." She chuckled, reaching into her bag as she let Larvitar sit on her arm. Geh, he really was heavy. How much did this thing weigh!? She needed to send one of the others back...hm, for now she chose Ritz. She'd need to learn how to juggle all these pokemon later, but for now she headed out of the game corner with Ralia sitting on one shoulder and Laurel being cradled on her arm. First, she stopped by the nearest pokemon center so she could heal up her pokemon.

...for Now she decided to take it a bit easy, strolling through the district at a leisurely pace. She had spent long enough in the entertainment district for now, and needed to get a move on. She'd come back and do the Pokemon Mania or Clarity later...and now she found herself in the Residential district, and something just so happened to catch her eye.

"...little cup?" Claire held a hand to her chin. Level 15 and under only...huh. Might be a good place to practice. Laurel was only level five...so it could be a good idea to get a feel for him and his abilities. "What about it? Wanna have a practice run?"

"Laaarv!" Laurel nuzzled Claire in response.

"I'll take that as a yes."

---

^{Route 5 || Day 3: Afternoon || @PlatinumSkink}
Running out onto the field, Eryn scooped Dei up around the egg she was holding. “Eek, Dei, you were amazing! A-ma-zing. Stun Spore’s got nothing on you,” she joked, looking him over. While his tail burned brightly and his eyes communicated his pride in his achievement, his movements were shaky at best, and his snort of smoke delayed.

“Right. I’ll get you healed up in a sec, so take a well-deserved rest for now, okay?” she said, returning the Charmander. Then, turning to face the Rune Maniac, Eryn listened to his words, her grin slipping when he got to Tula. Half of her wanted to defend Tula and say she was fully capable, but the other half stuck with facts, namely the one, common knowledge one that said that Magikarp’s strong life forces didn’t equate to strong muscle power.

“Well, that’s fair. I’m not going to agree that Tutu can’t do it, but I’ll agree that it’d be risky for her to since she’s untrained and not the best at defending or attacking. So, how about we trade numbers and I’ll call you when she beefs up?”

After trading details, Eryn headed back to town to heal her Pokemon up, after which she summoned them all for a small congregation in the Pokemon Center to praise them for a job well done in training.

“Tutu—flawless, and we’re going to be working towards that evolution. Probably still a bit off, but that’s never going to stop us. Dei was awesome, of course, and so were you, Eri. We’ll work on the disguises, but you’re doing great for someone who’s human half the time. And, last but not least, we have Kylie, our resident sweeper. Looks like a sweetheart but an absolute monster on the field. Bite against Magnemite—only you, Kylie.”

Fishing out the Soothe Bell, Eryn held it up in front of each of her Pokemon. “Hmm, how about… Tutu. Let’s see if I can—yep, yep, perfect,” Eryn said, leaning back and admiring her handwork. Around one of Tula’s fins was the tied ribbon of the bell, which jingled with the Magikarp’s flopping.

“Perfect. Now, let’s go get some dinner.”

Leading her Pokemon around town, Eryn found someplace that looked between affordable and homey, settling in at a booth with her Pokemon around her before calling out Tula on the inner side of her booth seat. The seating arrangement, then, was Kylie between Eryn and Tula, with Eri and Dei across from them, chattering away in their usual way. Eri’s voice was hushed given that he was in disguise as Eryn and speaking to Dei in the usual Pokemon way, but otherwise the group looked only a bit strange with two lookalike trainers.

Over dinner, Eryn considered her current options with her Pokedex open in front of her. Currently, she had a few things she’d metaphorically signed up to do. One was to find the Moss and Ice Stones, but that would probably have to wait until some other day because after all that training, her team deserved some time off. Another was evolving Tula, but now that she was thinking about it, why couldn’t she just catch a temporary swimmer for her purposes? She wasn’t a bad trainer, after all, and worst-case scenario she’d displace a Pokemon for a day or two. Of course, there was the matter of finding a swimmer willing to get caught and released after taking her and Wilhelm into ruins, but Eryn had confidence that she was at least somewhat likeable. If it came down to it, she could probably bribe a wild with berries.

Most importantly, though, there was the matter of hatching the Onix egg. As much as she wanted to rush everything along, she figured waiting for the egg to hatch might be better done before she went anywhere risky. As such, Mt. Chill and Route 6 were probably best saved for later, as were the ruins Wilhelm had talked about. That left her with a few options, but none of which she was mad about. While she wouldn’t scale Mt. Chill until she had an Onix on hand, she’d pop by the Frozen Caves. The possibility of mining for treasure was pretty alluring, and she figured that’d be something to check out tomorrow. Another option was doubling back into the Wet Caverns, of which she’d explored very little. In fact, in a way, she’d taken the cop-out route. At the very least, she wanted to be able to say she knew how to get through the caverns, because what trainer who passed through them didn’t? Plus, there was the possibility of finding more Pokemon. She’d seen cool Pokemon inside, but currently she could count the number of species she saw on her fingers, and she was sure the caves held more than that. After all, hadn’t she read something about dragons back in Pureplain?

Her final option was the simplest, required the least travel, but she wasn’t mad at all. After all, she’d never gotten the chance to explore Lakewatch, the town of the water and dragons, and here she was eating in a diner instead of scouring the town for whatever it was worth. That said, though, she didn’t exactly know the town well, and the clear landmarks she could see didn’t hold much mystery. Aside from the Pokemon Center and Pokemart, there was the gym, which Eryn knew was a Major League gym run by Lesley, the dragon-type specialist. With over five years too many of school and postponed desire to become a trainer, Eryn had gotten along by watching runs and reruns about Pokemon, trainers, and the Leagues in general. While Dorian’s normal-type Major League gym was the closest to home, Lesley and her Salamence were much more notable, earning fans with the younger trainer generation. Given that Eryn was only just reaching the level where she felt comfortable entertaining the thought of earning some Minor League badges, she didn’t feel too keen on entering a Major League gym, but hey, what was the harm? That said, she figured she’d save it for another day to not spoil the mood. Her Pokemon had just trained and won a succession of battles, and she wanted to save further inspiration for when they needed it again.

The aged tower in the middle of the town was likely the ‘Descent Tower’ the town was known for, which led down to watery ruins below the town. It was also probably the place Wilhelm had talked about exploring, so Eryn figured that’d be something for another day. Otherwise, she’d seen a few things around town she could understand at a glance: the docks, Explorer’s Guide Service, and the Lakewatcher Base. The Explorer’s Guide Service, for one, hadn’t been subtle at all, instead covered with signs touting its services. Given the number of posts and slogans, Eryn was a bit leery of the place, and as much as she wanted information, she didn’t feel like it was fair paying for it, nor did she have enough funds to do so regularly. Paying now meant wanting more later, and it was a slippery slope. As such, she’d continue as she had: finding her own information and getting lost and found if necessary.

The docks were an obvious part of a lakeside town, and they tied directly into the Lakewatchers, the guardians of the lake and its dragons. Although she’d come with the desire to catch a dragon-type, Eryn figured now wasn’t the best time, given that she had an Onix to hatch and raise. She’d stay in town until the egg hatched, so any thoughts of catching another team member were saved for then. However, if the egg still hadn’t hatched by the time she’d explored everything around here, then Eryn might have to reconsider it. Until then, she’d continue with her current plan of exploring the town, and she kept her eyes on the door, watching for another trainer to enter. Hopefully there were some senior trainers around here looking to challenge Lesley who she could rope in for a conversation. Any trainer competing in the Major Leagues was likely well-versed with the landmarks around the area, and it wasn’t like they didn’t need to eat.

---

"It's called a Pokedex. I got it along with my starter Pokemon from Profeser Kalmia in Pureplain town. I think maybe Professor Oak come up with the orginial design? I'm not sure exactly." Dawkin said, Amiable enough to answering her questions for the moment.

"Yeah I can do with a visit to the Pokemon center, let's get going."

---

---

Dawkin stopped a moment on his way the Pokemon Center in surprise upon seeing Amelia. Not that was neccesarily out of the ordinary tahat she would still be around, he still was after all, but he wasn;t expecting it. Now he felt kind of bad for leaving without saying anything before. "Hey Amelia, sorry I left in such a hurry before. Are you doing alright after all adventure? Do you need anything else from me? Do you want my Pokedex number in case something else comes up?"

---

As she was walking past the pokemon center on her way out of town, she stopped as she heard a familiar voice call out to her, turning around to find Dawkin approaching. The boy quickly apologized for essentially ditching her, though she felt there was no need since she had done practically the same thing when she had gone off the recruit Honedge, Golett, and Yamask. Before she could greet him in return, she was bombarded with questions and she couldn't help but give him a small smile.
"I'm doing fine Dawkin, thank you for asking. I'm just heading back to Professor Kalmia's place to ask her about something. She's apparently in charge of the PCs. I'm sure I'll make the journey fine on my own but thank you for helping me on my way over here and for helping out at the tomb. As for your pokedex number, I won't mind having it." She said calmly and kindly. Once she got his phone number and she in turn gave him hers, she would say her farewells and wish him before resuming her journey.



She was just about to head out of town when once again, someone addressed her, again with a familiar voice. She turned towards Jacques and stared at him quizzically, wondering why he would ask such a thing. After all, it was how she had gotten here before. She had even taken a ferry ride to do so. But, when the Elite Four member brought out his Aerodactyl and offered her a ride, she smiled. She had no reason to refuse such a offer.
"Thank you very much Mr. Jacques. I would be honored to accept your offer for a ride back to the Professor's lab." She said, giving him a slight bow. With that, she would accept any help he might offer getting onto their ride before take off.

Erza winced as Shadowfang got knocked out, a pained expression latching onto his face as he hurriedly reached for the dark-type's pokéball and recalled it, whispering softly to the pokéball before pocketing it.

"You did great, Shadowfang! I'm proud of you."

Despite Princess' opponent having a boosted attack, the flying-type's advantage over fighting-type managed to win Erza the battle. Erza exhaled a long, relieved sigh as he also brought Princess back to her pokéball. "Great job, Princess, thank you."

--

The battle against Makuhita and Croagunk was the hardest so far - without any trace of doubt. Croagunk's typing was difficult to deal with and Makuhita was just a very powerful pokémon- Erza didn't had anything with real advantage over these two, so his strategy was trying to stall them and avoid damage. It worked, but not entirely was both of Erza's pokémon had taken damage and got their accuracy lowered.

After seeing where the confuse-ray landed and how Hitmonlee nearly brought the building down, Erza chuckled nervously, a hand reaching the back of his head as he curiously looked around. They wouldn't make him pay for that, right? And... not for the hole Makuhita had just torn on the ground as well, hopefully. If that powerful blow had landed on either of Erza's pokémon, it would be the end of the battle without any trace of doubt - Erza needed to end this quickly.

"Ok, let's go - Summer, ember the Croagunk! Flora, mega-drain Makuhita!"

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Erika hurried over to the Stillwood Village Gym after the Pokemon Center. One glance up to the top of this massive treehouse had certainly been a slightly intimidating sight and perhaps, she was a bit mystified by the view up until she heard some chatter approaching her. Her gaze dropped to the spiraling staircase where two familiar characters were coming down. Of course, these two were some of Elite Four Jacques's prodigies. Erika let those two pass without stopping them, quietly trying to hide by keeping her head down. It was obvious those two had just challenged the Gym and won. She didn't want to broadcast she was up next for that still lingering doubt in her mind.

Despite successfully not attracting the attention of the prodigies, Erika did manage to attract the attention of the Gym Buddy. She nodded along and paid attention as much as she could to be polite. However, she certainly knew all of this already. "Mhm! Thank you for telling me all that." Erika smiled, continuing. "I'm... going to do what my mom wanted. I'm going to be Pokemon Champion and it starts here." She clenched her fists tightly as her gaze wandered over to the stairs. With a deep breath, she took that plunge. Onward.

Erika climbed up to the first platform. A trainer was awaiting her and she didn't know why, but these Aroma ladies always had this smug lording attitude, like they looking down on her! "Let's do this." Was Erika's response.



Since Erika has a fiery spirit right now. She will use one potion on each: Tara, Eep, and Chic. Therefore allowing her to continue on.



Assuming victory came from this battle, Erika would reluctantly retreat to use to Pokemon Center before pressing on.

@Gardevoiran

‘… Goom,’ Goomy said as Skylar reached down to pat her. So, the Pokédex says that grabbing a Goomy is bad, but patting is probably fine. Skylar would find the surface of the Pokémon to be exceedingly slimy and slippery, to the degree punches and kicks just slide off without doing damage apparently, but he still managed to pat the creature, the little slimeball shuddering slightly under his touch.

‘Go-ooom~’ Goomy made a pleased noise, and then was offered another banana. The Pokémon was quick to accept, happily biting on another banana while being patted by Skylar. Seeing how this was going so well, Skylar could take his next Pokéball and tap Goomy with that one, too. Goomy was transferred into the Pokéball, which fell down onto the forest floor to roll.

The Pokéball rolled once. It rolled twice. It rolled thrice…!



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Claire earned herself plenty of waves from the staff at the Game Corner as she left, calls of that “I hope you’ll return!” and otherwise, as she kept her new Larvitar and went on with her journey. She entered the more peaceful Residential District. Here the atmosphere was calmer, far more families and children walking about, having little laughs… or crying their hearts out for a reason or other… while Claire continued her wandering through the strange architecture of Worldedge City. That was, before she found this little stadium marked the Little Cup, which she entered and went to the front desk of…

‘Welcome, miss, to the Little Cup stadium!’ the man behind the desk said. ‘Little Cup exists to ensure even the smallest of us get to experience Pokémon Battle on a level with actual stakes. Miss, you…’ he smiles at her. ‘… are a bit older than the average contestant here, but we accept all entrants! You need to pay 300 P to enter. You’ll battle four trainers in a row. Each battle is three-on-three, but you can bring all six of your Pokémon and select which to use before each battle. You get to heal between each battle, as well. At the end, the one who won the most, or let the fewest of their Pokémon faint, wins a price! This is partly money, and partly other little goodies that are sure to spread joy! First to fifth place are all rewarded! … Are you interested in partaking?’ the man said, offering a ticket.

300 P. Would Claire partake?



Or if she heads of elsewhere.



Connected areas:
Route 10. South of Worldedge. A farmland employing multiple psychic Pokémon from Mt. Edge to help with the crops.
Route 13. West of Worldedge. A slightly disturbed route, which attracts electric Pokémon due to the proximity of the power plant.
Mt. Edge. The mystical mountain at the heart of Worldedge’s unnatural existence. Few people actually cross its fabled tunnels, most just teleport past.
Route 18. East of Worldedge. A calm stretch of land going from Worldedge to Witchpeak, part of the Allmass Cycling Circuit.





Currently in the Residential District.

---

---

Now, of course Skylar also didn't speak Dragon, but as for the rest of his team goes, when Paradise lifted her head up to glare down at the Goomy, everyone could kind of tell her own patience was worn thin. She didn't say anything, but everyone kind of knew. The first Pokemon to even say anything about the situation was Seabreeze.

"Well, that's just rude of you! Skylar's a great trainer!"

"Whoa, Seabreeze, what's gotten into you?" Skylar asked, clearly unable to understand what Seabreeze was saying. Though, Paradise definitely heard it, and nodded in agreement to what Seabreeze just said.

"Tch, speak for yourself."

"Sh, Smiley. You've only been with us for a few hours!"

"... fine. He's not all bad. Still, I don't think he's all that great-"

"I wike him. He gives nice huggies."

"... huff... okay, the kid likes him. It must be because I haven't been around him long enough."

"... wait... where's-"

The only one that hadn't chimed into the conversation so far was Celebrity, though unaware to the Goomy that Skylar was trying to catch, she was right behind her, and it was very evident that she was not happy.

"How dare you take my headpats and sentimental affection without so much as caring that this child wishes to make friends with you?! THAT'S MY JOB, AND YOU WILL LEARN YOUR PLACE!"

"Wait, Celebr-!"

Celebrity used Sing on the wild Goomy!