That was certainly a reaction. It was fair. Not everyone would think that Volta was adorable, even if they were wrong.

Volta looked at Anise with a vacant stare while she gave him some mild pet-talk. "Bleh."

Basil would watch Anise get excited over Amelia offering to help train. Well, if she was offering. "I guess I should train too. I need to get some of my newest members a bit toughened up. Actually, I think I have a few Pokemon that I caught recently and have neglected to train." Basil rubbed the back of his head with one hand while holding Volta. Was he a bad trainer? He felt like a bad trainer.

Amelia smiled as it seemed that both Anise and Basil were in the mood for some training. While the young girl herself was not the biggest fan of battling she knew that she needed to be able to do so. The only way she was going to get better was through battling and thus she would have to try her best even in a practise battle. So, with that in mind, she smiled up at the older two.
"Then, if that's the case, I'll gladly be your battling partner, both of you. Determine your teams and then let's find a place to train." She said before looking at Basil. "I know how you feel. I got some pokemon I can't bring with me and I hate that. I wish we could travel with more than six at a time. It's just not fair."

@Joshua Tamashii @Remram

‘That’s right,’ Anise nodded in satisfaction to Volta’s little “bleh”.

‘Alright,’ she said later, when both Basil and Ameli seemed eager enough to battle for training. ‘There looked like there was a field one could battle on a bit further away from here in town, should we go there?’ That or they could head for the arena in the Pokémon Center, because there are always those in the background.

In case they headed for the field, they’d soon find themselves in an open green field. It was between the buildings of Stillwood Village, still under the massive crown of interlinked trees above the buildings with only the light filtered by the many leaves blocking anyone from seeing the sky while in here. The green field had white lines drawn into it, forming the borders of the arena and had a line crossing the middle, and it was currently not in use.

Still, the field wasn’t just entirely flat. There were a couple small, thin trees growing here and there, two bushes and two large rocks had been placed on it in two of the four quarters, as to just simulate a battle in the wild, perhaps. But the majority was still flat and open, there just happened to be a couple bits of terrain that a combatant could possibly make use of.

‘Okay. I am ready. I have four Pokémon that I train. … Zigzagoon has just been a companion, so far,’ Anise said. She took her place, and…

‘I’m ready to go!’



‘Alright. To start with. My newest and lowest level Pokémon.’ She grabbed a Pokéball, turned to the field, and then…

‘Go, Riolu!’ Anise called, throwing the ball and out of the flash of light came a small little blue canine-like warrior with black here and there. He immediately took a brave fighting stance. Riolu recognized it as an arena.



So, how would Anise be responded to?

Amelia smiled as she followed after Anise, who led the way to a battling field behind the Pokemon Center. As they arrived at the field, she took a note of the terrain and saw that it wasn't as flat as most other battle fields she saw on TV and in other media, instead having some plants and stones that could prove to be either helpful or a hinderance depending on how they were used. She took in as much as she could before listening as Anise declared that she would be using her lowest level pokemon before sending out her Riolu.
"If you're sending out your lowest level on, then I will as well. Yamask, you're up." Amelia said while gently tossing a ball into the air. It cracked open before revealing the odd mask-holding pokemon withing.

"YAAAAA!" She cried out as Amelia smiled and gently pet its head.

"We're just going to do our best, okay? No need to feel any pressure." She said to her companion before they flew out and onto the field, ready to face the Riolu.

@Joshua Tamashii

‘Okay. Low level fight,’ Anise confirmed. ‘To start with... I'm very fortunate that Riolu starts with this move. Let's even the playing field. Riolu, Foresight!’ Anise called, pointing forward.

‘Rio!’ Riolu reached forward with its paws, placing them together to look through them at Yamask. The small Pokémon's eyes glowed gently. Yamask was identified!

‘And now, your only attacking move,’ Anise would then call, aiming a punch forward in the air, the punch ending with pointing forward at her opponent. ‘Quick Attack!’

With that, Riolu braced its legs to blast with considerable speed across the field at Yamask!

Amelia and Yamask could use one move while Riolu used Foresight, then another as Quick Attack was prepared to be used.

Amelia was not surprised when she heard the first move that Anise called out. Foresight was something she had heard a lot of Fighting-Type pokemon could learn in order to hit Ghost-Types. Still, the call out for the little humanoid canine seemed to elicit a change in the younger girl. Her smile vanished and her eyes hardened as she observed the battle and the field it was taking place one. She issued no command right away, simply waiting as Anise gave her second command. Only then did Amelia speak.
"Take it but try to lessen the blow." She said. Yamask understood, holding up and gripping it's golden mask like a shield as Riolu rammed into it, causing Yamask to be thrown back a bit. As contact was made though, Riolu would find itself being cursed, as purple energy surrounded it and whatever ability Riolu had was replaced by Yamask's Mummy ability. "Now, Disable."

Yamask let out a cry as it uncurled itself and its eyes glowed, releasing a wave of energy to try and cut off Riolu's ability to use Quick Attack for a while. Amelia issued no further orders for the time being, simply trying to see what else Anise might have in store for the time being.

@Joshua Tamashii @Remram

As commanded, Yamask held out the little golden mask as a shield. It worked, Riolu slamming into it and grunting, but as the fighting-type was substantially stronger it did force Yamask back and she still took damage… but the defense had worked. Also, Steadfast was replaced with Mummy. And with that, Amelia gave her second command.

‘Wait, that-’ Anise started with a small objection, but Yamask sent its wave of energy and Quick Attack was disabled. Riolu stood staring, looking kind of helpless all of a sudden. Anise grunted.

‘Okay, perhaps I shouldn’t have said the “only attacking move” part,’ she reflected, Riolu giving a rather defeated little cry. ‘But I won’t switch you out. This is training, not a battle for winning and losing. Riolu…’ she took a deep breath, and then pointed forward. ‘Prove your determination! Charge your foe, avoid the mask, and strike! It doesn’t matter that you don’t know any moves! Just follow your instincts and hit it!’

‘Riiii!’ Riolu called out to his trainer’s determination and jumped forward, intending on simply trying to hit his foe with little punches. Now, despite what Anise said, not using any moves for this does most assuredly matter, as the power will be substantially lower.

What does Amelia do?

"... too noisy." Amelia said After Anise was done giving her little speech about this being training and her not giving up. Once again, her usual friendly demeanor and tone were gone and she gave Anise a slightly angry look. She didn't like what was going on here. "So, for the sake of training, you're willing to let your partner suffer for your mistakes? You've put them in a losing scenario and now you're forcing them to stick it out? That's cruel and unfair to Riolu. You should switch it out, watt for a bit, then bring it out when it's better for you. Keeping it out in this scenario isn't going to do it any favors.

Still, this is a battle and I got no reason to give up yet. Yamask, use Astonish. When Riolu gains the ability to use Quick Attack again, Disable it. But try to avoid getting hit as much as possible in the process."

Yamask let out an affirmative cry before once again using it's mask as a shiel to try and block Riolu's attacks. When it did manage to block on, it would quickly lower it before letting out a loud cry in Riolu's face, trying to get the little pup to flinch so it could quickly get off another Astonish. These moves would be more powerful then expected, thanks to the Spell Tag Yamask was holding.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

With their departure set from her new friends, Erika was sure she'd see them again and be in contact. She did give Maple her address so she could find her mother but it wasn't a secret in Cooldome. Her mother advertised herself as a place for trainers to rest. It was kind of like an inn but she'd usually invite trainers to dinner to share stories and offer battling advice if they were interested. Of course, she'd help them with preparations for climbing to the summit. On the rare occasion, she'd be tasked with finding an ill-prepared trainer on the climb. She knew the mountain better than anyone at this point, it seemed.

Back to PokéMania, Erika nodded but she found her stomach turning at the thought of publicly battling against her opponents. She supposed this probably came with the whole grand champion goal as everyone watched the tournament in Isson. She turned and looked at Sno who was watching a colorful display of their host but in neon lights. Erika followed her ghostly gaze and saw a team of Rotoms jumping between the neon lights, sending each one to light up more.

"Well Sno, ready to try this out?" Erika asked, tugging playfully at one of Sno's arms. She shivered, feeling the cold that being both of Ice and a ghost caused. Sno turned and nodded, "Fros!"

Erika moved on to filling her in description and sign-up.
Erika Olson, trainer from Cooldome who is aspiring to be champion one day. Stopping here to learn how to think outside the box better!

With that, Erika waited until she was called out.

Erika nodded as Sno floated in behind her. "Hi, Colin. Erika. You do look pretty cool." She offered before the battle. Away they went. Inverse and Snagem.

That was a bit tricky on first glance but Erika took a moment to consider who might welcome this challenge first in her team. "Alright Gibs, you're up to lead us off!"

She tossed out a Pokeball and Gibs appeared snapping his jaw excitedly.

Starting out against Lombre Erika used Sandstorm and then Dragon Rage. She then used Sand-Attack only and waited until the sandstorm buffeted Lombre down to a weakened state before trying to snag him.

Against Beautifly, Kay was sent out. Swagger before Topsy-Turvy. Psywave twice. Attempt catch.

Against Sneasel. Eep was sent out. Ingrain. Acid until low enough health then try and capture.

@Joshua Tamashii @Remram

‘Wait, huh?’ Anise looked a bit taken aback at being given a lecturing by Amelia. She didn’t seem to have expected that. She frowned a bit more as she replied. ‘What… Fighting-type Pokémon love challenges! Being in losing situations allows them to prove themselves against their foe! Returning him now would just prove I don’t believe in him!’

‘Besides, I was tricking you!’ Anise finished what she was saying, looking just as Yamask let out a cry in Riolu’s face. Astonish is a physical move, therefore…

‘Riolu, Counter!’

… So she yelled, but unfortunately for her Riolu was currently in the process of staggering away with a scared expression from Yamask’s Astonish. Riolu flinched!

And because Steadfast had been replaced by Mummy, no speed boost from the ability!

‘Oh, gloves,’ Anise muttered, her mere words having given away her plan to Amelia.

Does this change Amelia’s strategy?

@Pirouette

‘On this side, we’ve got Erika, the “out-of-box thinker”! Well, not actually, but she sure hopes to learn how to! It’s her first time in PokéMania, so give her your support!’ Makirisu called when it was time to present Erika. Just like Colin, he got a little cheer from the people above that immediately started betting on who would win.

And with that, they were going to prepare for battle!

Gibs VS Lombre. It started with Lombre blasting over with a Fake Out, causing Gibs to flinch and also placing Lombre right up in his face. Gibs blasted out a Sandstorm, while Lombre started draining with Absorb. Grass was normal effective normally against Gibs, and it remained so now. Colin then commanded Lombre to Fury Swipe, doing a fair amount of damage… but not as much as Gibs did with a sudden Dragon Rage flame to Lombre’s face.

When the time came that Erika lifted a Pokéball to attempt to snag the opponent, so too did Colin, but it was clear Lombre had taken more damage. That said, with a Snagem Battle, it was really the luck of the draw that called it! First two Pokéballs, each at the other’s Pokémon. The balls shook once… and then CRASH! Both balls broke open at the same time, Gibs and Lombre both breaking out of the Pokéballs!

Next round, both trainers threw their Pokéballs again…

Colin’s Lombre broke out of the Pokéball again! However, unfortunately, Gibs did not! Colin beat the difference of capture-rate by sheer luck! Unfortunately, it looked like Erika was down one in this fight.

‘Colin takes the first battle! Will Erika be able to recover!?’ Makirisu asked, and the crowd was going wild. The ball quickly opened, and Gibs was returned to Erika, but he was officially out of the match.

Now, normally, Erika would just send out the next Pokémon against Lombre, but now we’ve written out all the strategies already, so we’ll do all of them like one-on-ones.

Kay VS Beautifly! Colin commanded Beautifly to fly in for a Bug Bite… which did practically no damage to Kay!

‘Oh, my! What would normally be a super SUPER effective move turned into a complete blank! Did you forget it was an Inverse battle, Colin!?’ Makirisu asked excitedly, and the blank look on Colin’s face confirmed, yes, yes he did. It slipped his mind.

Kay used Swagger, confusing Beautifly while also raising the butterfly’s attack twice. In retaliation, and to use the power-boost, Colin commanded Beautifly to Tackle! … And it worked out fine, powering through the confusion to deliver a painful tackle onto Kay! It took around half her health! Kay took the moment to Topsy-Turvy, changing that boosted attack into reduced attack!

This is where Colin tried to use one Air Cutter to bring Kay’s health even lower… and it did not work! Beautifly hit itself in confusion, for meager damage on account of lowered attack! Kay shot a Psywave, which did towards the lower end of the damage it could do! Erika commanded another Psywave… but Colin decided to try his luck throwing a ball! It hit Kay, and she had to try to break out…

And she succeeded! She broke out the ball, and launched another Psywave, this one doing towards the higher end of damage to the disturbed Beautifly! Now, once again, both trainers were readying Pokéballs, and threw them at the same time! And… both broke out! Next round!

Both trainers threw the Pokéballs again, and now it was just the luck of the draw, something the audience seemed to be loving. Kay and Beautifly both were absorbed into the Pokéballs, as allowed by this particular set of rules. Both balls rolled once, then twice, then thrice…

Then Kay victoriously broke free of the Pokéball, and Beautifly did not! Erika won this one!



‘The score is evened! Who will pull out on top!?’ Makirisu commented, and the crowd was looking pretty excited.

Eep VS Sneasel. Colin actively pointed at the creature he was facing and just went ‘What in tarnation is that!?’, apparently not recognizing the ancient Pokémon.

‘Oh, no! It seems Colin doesn’t know what he’s facing! How will he handle the type match-up!?’ Makirisu asked with all her energy up where she was commentating.

‘I mean, I can see it’s a plant, but…’ Colin defended himself.

In lack of any other strategies, Colin started with Quick Attack! Which slammed into Eep and… did a surprising amount of damage! It’s Super Effective! Eep’s Rock-type was working against him! Colin did take note of this! Eep ingrained, healing some health, but not quite as much as the damage he’d just taken! Now, because it was Tackle and Eep has good defense, it wasn’t even half his health, but it did make Colin consider…

So he used Fury Swipes! Super Effective! Sneasel cut with its claws over and over… and over… a bit too many times! ‘Wait, Sneasel, stop!’ Colin called, but in vain! Sneasel cut the full five times and laughed eagerly… a bit too eagerly. Eep fainted! … Eep was healed to full right in front of a confused Sneasel, who hadn’t realized the point of the match was in fact NOT to faint the opponent!

In return, Sneasel got a blast of Acid in its face! Critical Hit! Sneasel stumbled back, looking quite annoyed! Sneasel’s Special Defense fell!

It became another turn of Eep shooting Acid at Sneasel, and Sneasel striking back with Fury Swipes, only three of them this time! Still Super-Effective, but Eep’s defenses held fast! Unfortunately, Acid is quite a low-powered move against a foe with surprisingly robust special defense, so it wasn’t doing a lot of damage! The critical hit and the lowered special defense helped, but only so much! Eventually, however, it once again came to the time where both trainers prepared their Pokéballs.

Eep was absorbed into the ball, but broke out quickly! That ball stood no chance against Eep! Meanwhile, Sneasel, got in the ball, and it shook once, shook twice, shook thrice…

And then it stopped shaking. Sneasel was snagged and out! That’s 2 for 1 on Erika, and we’ll rule it Erika’s victory!



‘The new blood wins! It’s Erika of Cooldome City!’ Makirisu called, and the crowd cheered.

‘Aw, man…’ Colin made a general expression of being disappointed in how the battle went.

‘Now, would you like to go again, or will that be all? If you keep going and you win, the rewards will be greater~!’ so she told Erika. Her Pokémon would be healed, too.

What would Erika do?

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

It was a tense battle. Erika had done fairly well but the inverse had thrown her off there with Eep being called out when basic normal moves would be super effective against his rock typing. Also, wow, did that feel close. Gibs going down in the first round was certainly nerve-racking. A dragon-type might not have been the best considering the all-around resistances. What would have worked well here, Erika thought. Normal types were safe and maybe poison or bug?

She shivered. The thought of having a bug-type on her team freaked her out. All those spindly parts crawling all over. That was maybe the one type she wouldn't end up catching, but if she were truly going to set out to be competitive, she'd need to get over that. Her mother had told her all Pokemon could be ultra-competitive with the right training and it paid to have a strong, diverse team. But those legs!

"...the rewards will be greater~!"

"Oh!" Erika sounded in a startle as she realized she was still on stage and being asked a question. She hastily waved at Colin. "Nice battle! Good luck!" She hollered to him as she turned to address their host. "Yes, I can go on. I'm learning a lot, really." Erika nodded.

Amelia frowned as Anise gave her retort but to the young girl, Anise's reasons for keeping her partner in seemed a bit... weak. Sure, overcoming bad odds was definitely a thrill, there sometimes, you had to know what your limits were. A good example was the situation before her. She knew three of Riolu's moves: Foresight, Quick Attack, and Counter. Of these, Foresight no longer had a use on Yamask and Quick Attack was disabled for the time being. That left counter which her Yamask had no way of dealing with currently. With it's moves, a war of attrition against Counter was simply too risky. Relying on a lucky flinch like what had just happened wasn't worth it.
"Yamask, sorry but this seems to be the best you can do against this one. Come back for now and good work." She said, returning her Pokémon to it's pokeball. This was the best point to switch, as no matter who she switched into, Riolu wouldn't be able to hit and would need to waste a turn on using Foresight to hit her next Pokémon, assuming that the little pup didn't have another trick up it's sleeve. It was still a bit of a risk but a minimal one. "Alright, go get them Drifloon!"

The sentient purple balloon appeared in a flash of light, letting out a cry as it hovered above the battlefield, looking down at it's opponent.
"Drifloon, Gust." Amelia said, to which her partner let out a more aggressive cry before sucking in a large amount of air, inflating a bit in the process, before letting it all out in a powerful burst aimed at Riolu.

Well, it was a battle. Basil watched with Volta sitting on his lap sharing bored expressions, their backs hunched over while they watched the battle. His right leg was beginning to bounce. It was driving him crazy. The last few days had been nonstop action and moving. In fact, this may have been the first time where he actually sat down and did nothing. He hated it, he hated it with every fiber of his being. "How about we go on adventure?" Basil asked the baby electric lizard.

"Blep," it responded unenthusiastically.

Basil hopped to his feet and called out to his traveling companions. "Hey, I'm going to check a few things out. Don't rush on my account." And with that, he made his way back to the main part of the village. Something that Anise said did bother him. The place had law enforcement, so perhaps it was time to get some information on his mysterious stowaway. Basil decided to go to the nearest police station or law enforcement equivalent.

@Pirouette

‘Oh, hey, thanks! Good luck, you too!’ Colin said, before moving off the stage.

‘Erika has decided to go again! But, she needs a new opponent! Her foe will be selected among the ones that won an earlier round!’ Makirisu called. With that, and after a little delay during which most certainly someone was retrieving a person, an opponent was appearing on the other side of the arena.

‘We’ve got John, the Chefmaster! He’s a chef, but he’s also a Pokémon Trainer! He’s so dedicated to his job, he’s LITERALLY STILL COOKING!’ Makirisu called, and indeed, there was a chef… somehow with some food being cooked in a frying pan!



‘Hello! I am John, and I’m a chef! But, I also like Pokémon battling! Let’s make this quick, I’m keeping this order warm in the meantime!’ he said, while very jolly.

‘With that, it’s time for a new battle to begin! First, we must decide on the rules!’ Makirisu called, and her Pachirisu excitedly jumped upon the wheel and spun it. There were a lot of options, and the wheel was positioned pretty high so it was sort of difficult to read the options, they were so many. But, eventually, it stopped on…

‘KING OF THE HILL!’ Makirisu called, and the audience cheered. Suddenly, the stage shifted. Mechanics working underneath raised the middle platform, and the rest became an incline leading up to it. The Pokéball shape usually found in the middle of the Pokémon arenas remained flat, and started to shine.

‘The rules are simple! The team that spends the longest amount of time on top of the hill wins! No Pokémon can be knocked out, but they sure can be knocked DOWN!’ she explained. ‘There are two more factors that need to be decided! Team-size and how long the battle will be!’ As she explained so, two more, smaller wheels appeared next to the bigger wheel. They eventually came to a stop, and…

‘Three Pokémon each, the game will only last two minutes! For your team to earn points, there must be NO opposing Pokémon on the top! It only counts when you rule the top alone!’ Makirisu called. So went the rules.

John nodded, and used some serving pincers to fish up three Pokéballs, and then sent them out. A large, dinosaur-like Pokémon with large green leaves as wings, a flying ice-cream and a fire monkey.







‘Okay, here we go…’ John turned to his team. ‘Pansear, try to put your enemies to sleep with Yawn, and use Fury Swipes to get them off the top otherwise. Incinerate works well, too. Tropius, use Razor Leaf to dissuade the opponents from coming to the top as you fly up, and then drop down on the top with a Stomp! Vanillite, blow them down with Icy Wind! All of you, charge for the top, and blow them away!’

John’s strategy might change depending on what he faces.

Erika was to send out her chosen three and possibly talk strategy with them… and eventually.

‘The time has come! Everyone ready!?’ Makirisu asked excitedly.

‘3…! 2…! 1………….!’

‘GO!’

________________________

@Joshua Tamashii @Remram

‘Oh,’ Anise made a noise as Amelia switched Pokémon. ‘Oh, no. A flying ghost,’ she lamented, and she considered her options. However, Amelia did not take her time, so Anise had to make a call. ‘Riolu, dodge! Hide behind a tree!’

Except, the distance to the nearest tree was too far. Riolu leapt, but was caught mid-jump by the Gust, blowing him away with Super-Effective damage! Riolu fainted!

Since this is training, additional experience will be provided.



‘… Alright. I do have one trick up my sleeve, I suppose…’ Anise commented, and she threw another Pokéball… ‘Go, Froakie!’





The blue frog manifested, ready to battle.

‘Froakie! Dodge forward, avoid any gusts or other things it throws your way… Then LICK!’ she commanded, and Froakie nodded and skipped forward, frog-jumping while trying to keep his eyes on his opponent while he looked for an opportunity to jump close with its tongue with this Ghost-type move it learns at a low level for some reason!

What would Amelia do?

________________________

@Remram

Anise was way too focused on the battle to give Basil more than a glance and a tiny nod before refocusing on the battle.

This was perhaps the worst place in Isson to find a police station, as this village wasn’t the most organized with people just living out in nature because they wanted to and such. There was a reason why it is the only settlement called “Village”, after all. Nonetheless, after asking some locals he did find out there WAS in fact a station nearby, as was customary in Isson. He found the location, and presumably entered.

It was quite small, and followed the same architecture as the rest of Stillwood Village. Inside sat a single young lady in a police outfit, watching TV. She had a very large, purple dog next to her with protruding teeth. Upon Basil entering she immediately stood up to walk over to him.



‘Can I help you?’ she asked. She’d left the dog in front of the TV.

How will Basil respond?

Somehow, Basil knew that he should not have been surprised, but he was. Even in a village as peaceful and high in the sky, there had to be something resembling law enforcement. Well, after talking to some people it turned out that there was one, such as it was. What he found was not a building that imposed authority, but what was essentially a shack. "Well, it is what it is," the young noble muttered to himself.

Upon entering, he saw a young police officer sitting with one mean looking purple dog watching television. In the back of his mind, Basil could not help, but wonder if it was one of his family members though he would have to tuck that thought away. The policewoman approached him and asked him if she could help him.

"Uh, hello. Yes, I would like to make an inquiry." Basil cleared his throat. How in the world could Basil ask without implicating himself? Well, it was obvious; lie like his life depended on it. "Have there been people looking for a Gothita? Did someone important lose it? I was leaving Lakewatch when I was approached by a group of people looking for it. Apparently, she's very strong from what I can tell." It wasn't entirely a lie. Technically they did approach him, and they were looking for the Gothita.

@Remram

‘No, there hasn’t,’ the officer answered automatically. ‘I’d have remembered if someone came here looking for a Gothita. That said, let me go check if there are any missing Gothitas issued by other stations,’ she continued, walking over to a computer that was behind a counter. She sat down, clicked a couple times, wrote some things down…

‘None that match your request,’ she stated simply. ‘There’s only a single request for a missing Gothita, and it’s in Worldedge City, where a prominent wild Gothitelle has apparently not been seen with her Gothita lately. However, that’s a wild Pokémon so a trainer might just have caught her, and since she was wild she wouldn’t be particularly strong.’

‘Should I open a new request for around Lakewatch Town and Stillwood Village? We can look for it, but it does sound like this wouldn’t be for you, but for the others that you found searching for her. Do you have any additional information about them?’ she asked, looking up to Basil.

How will Basil respond?

LIKE HELL IT'S WEAK! Basil screamed internally with a completely straight face. However, it was odd. Basil was somewhat aware of the Gothitelle in question from his little escapades of when he would sneak off the family estate and explore his home city and busk in the more populated areas. The Factory District was not one he frequented often, but from what he heard on the streets he was aware of how powerful she was and how beloved by the locals she was. He had heard that she had a child, but no one ever said anything about it being so powerful, which would make sense if it was a fresh hatchling though if the one, he had was the same then it made no sense.

What the heck happened in the short time that he left Worldedge? If it was the same Gothita, then it raised questions how it became so strong and why she was on the run. Who were those people? Concerned locals trying to bring her back to her mother or something else? Whoever they were, they were probably stronger than him and without being aware of their intentions he needed them to get them off his scent.

"No, that will not be necessary. Chances are you're that a trainer already has it." A trainer indeed already caught it, that was the problem. Basil gave the policewoman an uncertain shrug. "I wish I could tell you more, but they were just dressed in normal clothes. The only thing that I can say is that they were weirdly well organized, somehow were able to track it from Worldedge to Lakewatch, and they were very much ready to fight a freakishly strong Pokemon around pedestrians. They could be dangerous." That much was true at least.

"Oh, uh, you need my name for the statement, right? It's Basil Rivens and uh, yes, that Rivens," the Noble said with an awkward grin. He really did not like dropping his surname, but he really had no other choice in this context. Perhaps she would even take his words more seriously After doing whatever else was needed like signing a statement or whatever, Basil gave the Officer Jenny a polite nod. "Thank you so much and my apologies for taking your time. Have a nice day."

Once that was done, Basil left the station. He walked as far as he could from the station and looked for any spot that was too open to the public eye. Once he did, he pulled out a Pokeball and with a ray a white light come out the source of his troubles.

"Alright, we need to talk." Basil knelt down, so he was closer to eye level with the Pokemon. "I need to know what is going on. I know you're the Gothitelle's kid from Worldedge, but I don't expect you tell me anything for free so let's play a game." From his backpack he pulled out some graphite pencils and a drawing pad. "We'll ask each other questions and we have to answer. The moment one of us doesn't answer, the game is over. You'll answer my questions by drawing on my pad here. Do we have a deal?"

Amelia wasn't too surprised to see the Riolu go down with little effort. She honestly felt bad for the little humanoid dog. But with it out, Anise switched pokemon, sending out the Froakie that she had seen among the older trainer's pokemon. She frowned and considered her options before pulling out Drifloon's pokeball and returning it to the confines of the device. She took a moment to consider her next move before nodding to herself and pulling out a third pokeball.
"Come on out Pumpkaboo!" She said, sending out the small floating pumpkin.

"Pumpka!" It cried out, facing the Froakie.

Amelia heard Anise cry out for Froakie to use Lick and grimmaced. It was going to be risky now, since her pokemon could end up getting paralyzed if she was unlucky. Regardless, these were the risk of battling and Lick didn't have the best odds of paralyzing. She would just have to hope things worked out.
"Pumpkaboo, try to avoid it and use Trick-or-Treat!" She called out. Pumpkaboo cried out in confirmation and did what it could to avoid Froakie, taking advantage of it's ability to float around freely. While doing so, Pumpkaboo gathered ghostly energy before sending it at Froakie. Should it hit, Froakie would find itself feeling a bit less... physically there, as it would gain the ghost-typing. If the attack was successful, Amelia would follow up with. "Okay, how use Confuse Ray!"

Pumpkaboo cried out as a ball of flickering, multi-colored light gathered in front of it before launching out at Froakie.

@Remram

The officer was a little bit confused by Basil first saying that there was no need to search for the Gothita, but then went ahead and described the group searching for Gothita potentially dangerous and was leaving his information on them. She blinked a little and stared at him when he mentioned he was, indeed, from that Rivens family, but never said anything else about it.

‘Alright. I’ll give my coworkers a heads-up. Thank you for coming,’ she said, looking down on the notes she wrote down while Basil was talking with a frown. She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this, but she got it.

With that, Basil went outside and found a spot to have a private enough conversation with Gothita. He found something eventually, there’s trees to hide behind all around, after all. He pulled out the Pokéball and the little Gothita came out.

‘Gothi…?’ she asked, immediately looking around at this new area, before turning to look up at Basil as he started explaining. She tilted her head at the statement about being Gothitelle’s kid from Worldedge. He explained the rules of the gane, and…

‘Gothita,’ she answered, nodding and turning to him, looking like she accepted the deal. So, now was just a question of how he was going to ask the questions that this Level 72 Gothita would be able to answer for him. The Pokémon in front of him that the Pokédex clearly told him was level 72.

What would Basil do?

________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Amelia switched to Pumpkaboo! Pumpkaboo tried to avoid the Lick, but turns out even when floating away from it, the decently well-trained frog was too fast. Pumpkaboo tried to avoid and float away, but Froakie nimbly dashed under him and leapt, extending his frog-tongue and hitting!

This is a moment when Amelia might realize, with the Super Effective damage Pumpkaboo just took and with Froakie’s fast movements. Anise’s Pokémon were, Riolu excepted, several levels above hers. Level 11 VS 15, roughly.

That said, Lick is a weak move and Pumpkaboo avoided being paralyzed. He survived with more than half his health. In return, a Trick-or-Treat was shot back, hitting Froakie, the frog blinking and looking confused.

‘What did that do!?’ asked an equally confused Anise on the other side, clearly having no idea what that move did. ‘Er, hold on. That’s… that’s a Grass-type, isn’t it?’ she asked, frowning a little. After a moment of consideration…

‘Froakie, return!’ Anise returned her Pokémon to his Pokéball, and then grabbed another… ‘Meditite, go!’

A new Pokémon appeared!



… And the floating meditating Pokémon immediately got hit by Confuse Ray! The light made the Pokémon flinch, starting to tilt where she floated in mid-air, her eyes spinning!

‘Okay. Fight through it, Meditite! Use Confusion!’ Anise commanded! That was for her next turn!

What would Amelia do?