The door to Professor Rowan's lab opened, revealing a researcher with a red device in his hands.
"Ah, Shin, you're here!" He said excitedly.
He hands over the device.
"Sorry about this, Shin. Professor Rowan was called away on urgent business so he couldn't be here today. Let me teach you how to use the Pokedex."
The researcher points out the many buttons on the pokedex and what they do, giving some basic pointers on how it worked. It gave the user detailed information on pokemon they caught, listing where they could be caught, average size and weight, and more.
"Professor Rowan went to Eterna City, he said he'll be there a while so you might be able to meet him there. We're looking forward to how you'll do, but don't feel too pressured, ok? Take it at your own pace." The researcher said reassuringly.
With that, he closed the door.

The sun bore down on Sandgem town, reflecting off the white buildings surrounding the research lab. The sound of the waves drifted over with the wind, carrying with it the everpresent smell of sea salt. A good day for a stroll, a picnic, or maybe, a little spot of adventure. But first of all, there was the matter of informing friends...

A boy plodded up from the beach, wearing swimming trunks and a blue shirt with a pikachu emblazoned on the front. He carried an old fishing rod on his shoulder as a Wooper trailed behind him. Looking up, he suddenly noticed his friend.
"Oh, hey Shin. What'cha got there?" Sean asked.
@Polaris North

"Good day sir!" Shin greeted as he opened the door to the lab with Crocker following closeby. He would be lying if he said he was a little disappointed that Professor Rowan wasn't there but he wasn't one to look the gift horse in the mouth... or however that saying went. He listened intently to how the Pokedex worked, asking questions when he felt appropriate. Once it was all said and done, Shin tested it out on his Croagunk— and just like that, the Croagunk's information was discovered in the Pokedex, listing out its very first Pokemon.

He turned back to the researcher, beaming, and nodded his head. "Will do! Thank you sir, have a nice day!" It was hard to temper down the excitement he was feeling. He was given such a big opportunity. If he completed this, he might get a pretty good reward!

All...

He scrolled down the Pokedex and the endless black silhouettes seemed more intimidating than ever. Crocker prodded his arm and Shin chuckled, looking down at his friend. "Good thing it's summer vacation huh?" He looked up to see Sean walking up from the beach. He grinned and gave the boy a wave. "This?" He asked as he brought the device up. "It's a Pokedex. Professor Rowan... or well his assistant... gave it to me just now. It's used to record Pokemon entries by capturing them and the professor and his group entrusted me with filling it up with as many Pokemon as I can." With a pause, his eyes drifted towards Sean's Wooper.

"Here! Let me show you." Shin stood beside his friend and lined up the Pokedex's camera with the Wooper. Just like with Crocker, the Pokedex analyzed Woop and out came all of the information about the Pokemon. "See? Pretty cool, isn't it?"

@Spin The Wheel

Indeed, Sean had to agree that this new device was, in fact, pretty cool. In fact, he was of half a mind to test it right now. But how to do it? Sean stared at the red device in his hand before coming to a realisation.
"I'll be right back." He said, without explanation.

The dark haired boy turned and ran towards the beach. His wooper, still smiling from being admired by Shin, turned to look at his master as he went. It waddled towards him in an attempt to follow, hobbling for a few steps begote falling face first into the fine sand. It made no attempt to get up.

Just then, Niko and Fay arrived in Sandgem Town. He had been begging his mother to let him travel to become a Coordinator, and she finally let him. It probably helped that it was summer vacation. His mother dropped them off in front of Rowan’s lab. “Bye Niko, be safe. Call me every day!”

”I will mom. Promise.” Mother and son hugged for a moment, and then she went away, Leaving Niko and his Cleffa alone to start his journey. Niko wasn’t alone for long though. He spotted his best friend Shin was here too. Niko ran up to the dark haired boy, and gave him a big hug. ”Omg! Shin! You’re here too? I wasn’t expecting to see someone I know this soon! What brings you here?” He said all of this without releasing Shin from the hug.

Meanwhile Fay wandered over to the beach, to find a Wooper lying face first in the sand. The pink fairy could only tilt her head in confusion. “Clef…?”

@Polaris North@Spin The Wheel

The wooper rolls onto it back, smiling as it sees a pink pokemon arive in its vicinity. A friend had arrived, so he was happy. He tried to get up to greet the friend - a futile effort given the lack of arms and a heavy head. Nevertheless, try it did, heaving up and down in the sand. Perhaps a helping hand would be in order.

Meanwhile, its master paraded back up the beach with a heavy fishing pole. Spying his friends nearby, Sean started waving enthusiastically as he thundered up the beach.
"Hey guys!" The boy said, as if oblivious to the magikarp floundering helplessly on the end of his line.
He skidded to a stop just in front of the group.
"Hey, let it get a peep of this." He said, holding up the magikarp by the hook in the fish's mouth. "Can you check what moves it has?"

@Crimson Flame@Polaris North@Fandom Princess

Shin watched as his friends suddenly left the area, leaving both himself and Woop. He looked down at Woop who Crocker approached and the two Pokemon began mingling as normal. Well, he could wait and— suddenly someone collided into him in a hug. He looked down and saw Niko, an old friend from another town. His face grew brighter. "Niko! Hey! Didn't expect to see you in Sandgem." Before he could explain why he was there in the first place, another familiar face came into town.

"Melody, good morning! Hi Arcanine." He greeted the two and waved them over. "This is Niko, by the way. He's a friend of mine. So, yeah, the whole reason I'm here is because Professor Rowan tasked me to fill up this Pokedex." He waved the device in front of him, showing it off to everyone. He looked down at Crocker who had made his way back to his side and patted his head. "It basically scans a captured Pokemon and gives us all of the info we need to know."

As timely as ever, Sean had made his way back to the group with a Magikarp at the end of his rod. "Yeah, give me a second..." He brought the Pokedex to scan the Magikarp before turning around again so that everyone could view the results of the Pokedex. Unfortunately, it would seem that the Magikarp only knew Splash as a move. "Works just like that! I can scan your Pokemon too if you want? So we can fill it up faster?" He suggested to the others.

@Crimson Flame@Fandom Princess@Spin The Wheel

Rich stood at the phone in the Pokemon Center. A picture of his Grandmother appeared. "Rich, my favourite grandbaby!" She smiled at him.

"Your ONLY Grandbaby." He sighed.

"Well, that still makes you my favourite." She smiled. "Sadly, your granny was never trained as a psychic so unless you wanna cough up that soul for me to ask, best tell me why ye called."

"I'm... In a bit of a jam. A pal of mine wants me to take a trip with him."

"Sounds like a great time to me." She replied. "What does this have to do with me?"

"Well, you see... This isn't exactly a... Short trip." He scratched the back of his head.

"Ah, gap-year?" She asked.

"Pretty much." He replied. "A friend of mine-"

"Sean? You hold him in such high regard. What trouble are you getting into now?" She asked.

"He's got a Pokedex and he wants to-"

"Go off on the same damn idealistic crusade as your father?" She butted in again. "If that Sean has drilled it into your head that you need to go find Lugia, i'm sending a Sableye to hex him!" She growled. Rich shuddered at the mere thought of a Sableye. But then waved his hand to indicate she should stop.

"Please not the Sableye..." He groaned. "It's not that. We're looking for just REGULAR pokemon. The absolutely real, not potentially tall-tales pokemon. He's got a Pokedex and he wants me to help him fill it." He watched the toothy grin creek across his grandmothers face as she began to let out a long, hearty belly-laugh.

"Wait, wait, wait..." She managed to wheeze out. "You're doing the ol' "I wanna be the very best like no-one ever was!" Routine?" She then continued to laugh. Rich looked around as he saw several people looking at him. "Ok, ok, ok..." she finally finished. "Go on and get it out of your system. Just one question, you still got that Abra with you?" She asked.

"Yeah, he's a great partner-"

"Still a lazy coward?" She asked him.

"He is a conscientious objector and i respect his boundaries." Rich sighed.

"Look, bairn, i am willing to let you go out on your own, but i ain't letting you go out there without someone to watch your back." She took a pokeball and placed it on the machine before pressing some buttons. At that point a pokeball appeared in front of him. "He's a bit young, but he's a scrapper. Also, it'll give you a chance to practice that Spirit Medium skills i taught you." He picked up the Pokeball and looked at it.

"Is it Sableye? Because if it is i'm releasing it."

"If ye wanna catch them all, you're gonna have to get over that Dark type fear you've got!" She sighed.

"They're... Freaky... They've got no Psychic presence, it's like they're not there..."

"It's not Sableye." She laughed. "Although it's tempting to make ya, i thought your granny should actually give you something you'd appreciate." He pressed the button and through the Pokeball to the floor with Yamask popping out. "He's also pretty easy for channeling with that mask of his." Yamask wrapped its arms around Rich's head.

"Thanks Grammy..." He smiled at her. He then pressed a button to recall him to the Pokeball. "Well, i promised to meet Niko and Sean down by the beach. Sun's good out there and me and the boys wanna catch some rays." He smiled, before waving goodbye to his Grandmother and hanging up.

****

As the group looked at the Magicarp slailing around on the end of the rod, desperately trying to smite its enemies with the fearsome "Splash" attack, Shin would hear "I think it wants to go back to the water. Damn when that one evolves it's going to kill you and everyone you love" From over his shoulder. As he turned around he would see Rich wearing a large straw hat, a pair of budgie-smugglers, a back-pack and Flip-Flops, Abra stood next to him holding an ice-cream cone that his long, thin tongue slowly lapped at. "Great seeing ya guys!" He threw his hands wide seeing who wanted a hug. Abra throwing his non-ice-cream holding arm wide inviting the same, but still lapping at the frozen treat with the thin tongue.

"Aw, ok." Sean said, slightly disappointed.
He had seen many magikarp before and this one was quite a fine specimen. But it did look quite angry, so he supposed he had bothered it enough. He grabbed it by the mouth and unhooked the fishing line from inside of it. The red fish responded by thumping the boy in his chest with its tail, causing both to fall over into the sand.
"A lively one, for sure" sean muttered to himself as he got back up.
He dusted himself off before making his way over to the flopping fish, picking it up and stowing it under his arm.

"Come on little guy, just a bit further."
Seemingly unaware of the irony of his statement, the boy struggled towards the beach with the magikarp about half as large as he was. He chucked it into the water before returning to his friends.
"So anyway, what are we all doing here today?"
It had been some time since he had seen them all in the same place at the same time, though there seemed to be one missing. The airheaded Sean wondered what the occassion was.

Fay did her best to try to help Woop back on his feet. Not an easy task when you have stubby little arms. She struggled to get him back on his feet. “Cleffa!” She exclaimed proudly when the Wooper was upright.

Shin explained that he had gotten a Pokedex, and scanned Sean’s Magikarp. “That’s really cool Shin!” He gave his friend a thumbs up. Soon more friends began to arrive. His eyes went wide at the sight of a girl and an Arcanine. ”OMG! ARCANINE IS SO FLUFFY!” He shouted as he shoved his face onto Arcanine’s soft fur. Then stopped shortly after that because the fire type probably wouldn’t like that. ”Sorry.” He then proceeded to give his friend Rich a hug, because he was asking for it. ”Nice to see you too Richie-kun.”

Then Sean asked what they were all doing here, and Niko was quick to answer. ”I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m here to become a contest star!” Niko struck a pose, and then dug through his backpack, and pulled out his poffin case. ”My mom got me a Poffin Case. Not as fancy as a pokedex, but I can feed my Pokémon some special treats to help them in contests! I just need some berries to make them…”

@Polaris North@Fandom Princess@Spin The Wheel@mattmanganon

"I'll be sure to warn my parents of a Gyarados who's out to get them or something." Shin responded as Rich headed over them. It felt nice to be surrounded by his friends as they talked. He had originally thought that he wouldn't run into anyone familiar until well into his journey. He watched as Sean headed back to the beach where he had caught the Magikarp. "Great seeing you too, man."

Sean came back soon after to ask them what they were doing in Sandgem town. Shin idly raised the Pokedex again. It was where Professor Rowan's laboratory was located so he had to pack up and travel all the way down. He turned to Nikko who explained that he was keen on going to Pokemon contests. Shin's eyes lit up. "That would be so cool. I've only ever seen Pokemon contests on television but I'm sure you can do it, Niko." He encouraged.

He slid the Pokedex back into his pocket and looked around. He personally knew that it might be too hard to fill the Pokedex on his own and it might get a little bumpy during the adventure, not to mention lonely if it was just Crocker and him. With a nod to himself, he decided. "You guys wouldn't be interested in joining me, would you? It's gonna be a long adventure if we want to fill up the Pokedex and it'll be a little lonely. Besides," he turned to Niko. "We can go to some Pokemon contest venues while we're at it and cheer you on!"

His aunt Phoebe insisted on driving her as-pink-as-Shellos pick-up truck, so the idyllic ride from Eterna City was somewhat pleasant. Chance Seaver in his loose white hoodie and Luxury his groomed Shinx lazily lied prone on their backs. Their bodies hopped with the truck over bumps and hills. In comfortable silence they did nothing but gaze up at the summery sky. It was the shine of gold as clouds scrolled by with the looming Mt Coronet, not the sky blue that shone from his eyes. Luxury was sleepy however Chance was not. For as long as he was outside, he was alert for any Combees. The allergy wasn't a major concern but a precaution on his mind nevertheless. There were not many things that he could control or knew how to, so avoiding Combees was simple enough. Not before long, they were parking full stop in Sandgem Town.

Amber curls and bangs rattled as Phoebe in overalls, boots, and gardening gloves sang hootfully with thrilled little claps, "Here you go! ~ ❀ Off you pop, Chancey! Visit home everyday you hear me? And never walk into tall grass without Luxury, you don't have health insurance ~ ❁ Seriously call if you need anything. Toodles, hun!"

Chance waved and Luxury growled endearingly as aunt Phoebe drove away in her sputtering pink pick-up truck.

He and his Shinx turned from the north facing south and curiously looked around Sandgem Town. A quaint place set nearby the beach even further to the south, fragranced with the salty scent of the sea. The Pokémon Center was next to the Pokémon Research Lab, the landmark of Sandgem, where Prof. Rowan worked. Sure enough, Chance could see other Trainers he knew from school gathering with their Pokémon and headed over there to greet them.

"You're kidding! ~ ✧ Came all this way from Eterna to see the Professor. Guess I have to go back, oy! ~ ✦ " Sheepishly smiling, he flashed them dazzling teeth. "If you're heading there, I'll join. Also, did someone say Berries?" Luxury screamed at its playmates, "Shiiii!"

It was plain for all to see that Sean was quite happy, the wide smile on his face was practically identical to the one his Wooper wore as it hung around his friends' own pokemon. It had been quite some time since he had been together with all of his friends, given that some of them lived quite far away. With the arrival of Chance, the group finally felt complete.

"Sure, I'll come with you all." He said in reply to Shin.
He wasn't really sure if they could catch all the pokemon, and truth be told, he didn't really care. After all, what really mattered was friendship, right?

As Niko approached Rich for a hug, he pulled him in tight, before letting go. "Honestly, i'm glad you decided to come with us!" Abra then looked around as nobody seemed to take him up on his offer for a hug, so instead wrapped his arms and legs around Rich's leg, a dollop of freezing Ice-cream dropping straight onto Rich's foot which sent an uncomfortable shiver straight up his leg. "AaAaAaAaAaAaH!" He listened to the others talking about their reasons for coming along as he picked up Abra and held him like a toddler, Abra sitting in the crook of his arm. "Personally, i'm just hoping to put some of the Psychic and Spirit Mediuming training to the test." He walked over to Arcanine and placed a hand on it's head, trying to communicate... "I'm sensing..." He said. The Arcanine growled at Abra as it continued to lick its ice-cream "... That you don't like ice-cream..." He said, throwing his hands up and turning around, before walking back to the group.

As Sean decided to get the group moving, Rich looked down at himself. "Mind if i get changed first, because, this isn't exactly walking gear" He motioned to the get-up that everyone else had been too polite to tell him made him look like a moron.

Grumbling could be heard over the gentle roar of the engine of the compact car. A young strawberry blond woman at the wheel, her green eyes watching the dirt covered road as she navigated through the country side. Sinéad Gallagher was the youngest daughter and one of Lochlan's sisters. She had taken it upon herself to drop her youngest and only brother off in Sandgem town, despite his vocal protests.

"Come on pup, it was either me or Saoirse." She started with a smirk, eyes never leaving the practically deserted road. The rosette didn't even let the young boy respond before continuing, "I doubt you wanted to spend the last few hours hearing her gripe about how Periwinkle clashes with her skin but brings out her Milotic's azure scales."

Beside her sat the pup in question, his brows furrowed in displeasure at both the situation and the thought of being subjected to his middle sister's ranting. He loved his sisters's despite the huge difference in age and opinion but there were times where Sinéad really was the only one he could deal with. This being one of them.

Sighing in defeat, the red head finally spoke. "Fine! Doesn't mean I have to like it though, 'Néad." A giggle was his only response. Well than and a soft "Bun?" from the pleasant wieght of warmth and fluff in his lap.

With a smile, he snuggled the rabbit-like pokemon before giving him a small kiss on the forehead. "We're almost there Caelan."

"I still don't get how someone as rough as you can bond with such a sweet little buneary." Sinéad responded to the display as they finally entered the town and began to slow to a stop before local Poke-Mart, just in sight of the beach. A beach that seemed to contain quite a few familiar faces to the more vibrant red head.

"Well...thanks for the ride." Lochlan muttered as he quickly unbuckled and got out of the car, his buneary hopping about to rest on his shoulder. Just as he was closing the door he added an awkward and hasty "Love-you-see-ya-tell-the-girl-and-dad-I-love-them!" before racing to the beach to engage with his school-mates. The obnoxious sound of his sister laughing following him.

~~~`~

Upon reaching the beach, he was greatly appreciating his own boots as he fought through the sand. He just managed to catch Rich's reaction to the cold ice cream and his attempt to commune with an Arcanine that he could only assume belonged to Melody.

"Now why didn't I get an Invite to this party?" The dark clad red head asked with a cocky smirk, hopefully surprising the resident psychic. Meanwhile Caelan hesitated for a moment before heading to the small congregation of pokemon to the side and attempted to aid the fallen Wooper with a small grunt of "Bu-buneary."

Niko’s eyes went wide with excitement when Shin made the offer for all of them to travel together. “Omg! Yes yes yes!” Niko started bouncing up and down. “You all can watch my contests, and we can find some cute Pokémon! It’ll be so much fun!” He then walked up to Chance, took his hands, and started jumping up and down. “And we can pick berries together! I need them to make treats for my Pokémon!” Then he gave Chance a hug.

Rich asked if he could change clothes, and Niko tilted his head confused. “I think you look fine. Why do you want to change?” Of course Niko was wearing a pink dress shirt and tie with a pink bunny hat, so maybe he wasn’t the best person to ask for fashion advice.

Then, Lochlan arrived, and Niko gave him a hug. “Lochy-kun! You made it!”

Sean seemed like he couldn't wait any longer.
"Come on, let's go, let's go!" He said excitedly,
He began running towards the entrance to Sandgem town. Woop noticed this, breaking out of the encircling pokemon to follow after his master, before falling on his face again. Suddenly a pokeball fell from the air, bouncing off of the Wooper's head before opening and swallowing the pokemon inside. Sean jogged over to the ground to pick it up.
"Almost forgot again." He muttered to himself.
He gave Lochlan's buneary some quick pats before turning back and running again.
"Come on guys, let's go!"

---

The scent of the sea faded and made way for the fresh scent of pine trees. The sun beamed down from above, clothing the grassy fields in glorious gold. But off the beaten path, underneath the pines, only a scant few beams of light touched down on the ground, the rest filtered out by towering branches. Even on the well worn traveller's road snaking towards Jubilife city, there was no telling what was in the tall grass that lined the route.

Sean scanned the area and thought to himself for a moment.
"It'd probably be better if we split up. I'm gonna go over there and catch some pokemon." He said, pointing in a random direction.
He didn't really know where to go, but anywhere was probably fine.