Typical

Pokemon: Worlds Collide

Entry for Camden was horrendously long so I stuck it in a hider. Will do that from now on to save everyone/myself the scroll haha

Pokemon: Worlds Collide

Dana

Ardanata “Dana” Stamos

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^{France || Headquarters || May 14th, Afternoon}

Professor Sycamore’s announcement that afternoon was a pleasant surprise for Dana. Not only was she given a reason to challenge her fellow trainers to matches, but she would also be offered a chance to see how much progress she was making with her team. The later tournament, on the other hand, would serve to set the gold standard for all trainers on earth, and Dana would be lying if she said she didn’t want to achieve that standard. Though it would be a tough climb, she’d done it once before, and she’d maintained her standard of excellence for nearly a decade between her three champion titles. Compared to what she’d accomplished in the past, the current challenge seemed doable enough, and Dana had never been one to back down from a challenge anyway. So, when the Professor’s assistants came around with papers and pens, Dana swept her eyes briefly over the text before signing her name at the bottom with rapid strokes.

But, before she did any actual challenging, Dana wanted to fit in one more afternoon of training—if only to self-assess her team. Seeing as she’d already worked with four of six members of her team, Dana figured that a visit to the Parisian parks was in order, since her Ivysaur’s Poison Powder would give it the upper hand against any Cherubi and Jigglypuff they came across.

Could squeeze in a match after dinner, Dana thought as she located a group heading towards the park.

---

^{France || Park || May 13th, Late Afternoon}

It took no time at all to locate her first target, mainly because of the abundance of trainers around her, most of whom were new and could only take on the weaker wilds in the area. All Dana had to do was watch for wilds successfully fleeing towards the bushes and trees lining the park, since the ones that successfully defeated their challengers were obviously stronger than the ones too scared to emerge from their hiding places.

“Ivysaur, Razor Leaf then Poison Powder,” Dana said when one Jigglypuff broke from the trainer that’d cornered it and sprinted for the bushes in Dana’s general direction. Her Ivysaur nodded, positioning itself to intercept the incoming Jigglypuff.

The Razor Leaf will stun it, allowing for Ivysaur to close in for a Poison Powder, Dana thought, glancing at her Ivysaur as she pulled out a Pokeball. It should have no problem with accuracy, being the most used to its devolved form.

Notes

Pokemon:

• Duskull ♂ — Lvl 34
• Ivysaur* ♀ — Lvl 34
• Combusken ♂ — Lvl 34^
• Scizor ♂ — Lvl 34
• Marshtomp ♂ — Lvl 34^
• Clefable ♀ — Lvl 34

---

@Balthazar007 turned in Mr. Mime. Jigglypuff lvl 17, male. Dana will throw a Pokeball if she wins.

Camden

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Camden Montero

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^{France || Paris Proper || May 13, Dusk}

“Ruby!” Camden shouted, ice-cold alarm coursing through his veins. His hands fumbled for the button on Ruby’s Pokeball, succeeding in summoning the arc of red light after some struggle.

“Hang in there, Ruby,” Camden said, his grip tight on Ruby’s Pokeball as he sprinted for the rendezvous spot. It wasn’t until he sat down on the van and—after one last fruitless examination of Ruby’s Pokeball—leaned back to touch his head against his seat that he realized how hard his heart was pounding.

I signed up for this, Camden thought hollowly. I knew that Gothita was stronger than Ruby.

Ruby’s Pokeball gleamed in the last slivers of sunlight, its flawless surface betraying nothing of the life inside.

---

^{France || Headquarters || May 13th, Night}

A whirl in the healing machine back at headquarters had Ruby fit as he was pre-Gothita, but he appeared quite hesitant about approaching Camden despite Camden’s peace offering of Chesto berries.

“Heya Ruby, you okay?” Camden asked, leaning down to scoop up the Cherubi before sitting down on one of the benches scattered through the camp. “It wasn’t too scary, was it? No emotional scars or anything?”

Ruby didn’t quite seem to understand all of what Camden had said, but, after a brief moment of consideration, he shook his head, his leaves flapping with the motion.

“That’s good to hear,” Camden said, smiling gently. “Here, have some berries. You must be hungry after all that.”

Ruby glanced at the berries, hesitation clear, before looking up at Camden again. “Cher, Cheru?”

A question? Camden thought, mind scrambling to decipher what his Pokemon had just said to him. What kind of question would Ruby ask?

“Definitely won’t happen again,” he said. “I’ll make sure we’re more prepared next time. Don’t know why I thought our Morning Sun routine would work.”

Ruby shook his head again. “Cher,” he repeated, enunciating his syllables. “Cher, Cherub.”

He’s fine with my asking him to battle the Gothita? Camden thought, surprised. But—what is he saying then?

“No more Gothita, for sure.”

A firm head shake.

“I won’t ask you to use Morning Sun near sunset?”

Another head shake.

“We won’t battle again until you want to?”

“Cher!” Ruby repeated, eyes imploring and wide as he stared at Camden. “Cher—u—bi!”

“I… I have no idea,” Camden said, a hand going up to push his hair back. “What are you asking? Is it about the Gothita?” Head shake. No. “My bad judgement?” No. “Me then? As a trainer?” No. “You?”

Ruby nodded vigorously. “Cher, Cher!”

“Okay, you. This question is about you… and the battle?”

Ruby nodded.

“About… your loss?”

Ruby nodded again, then pointed at Camden emphatically with a leaf. “Cher,” he said, then pointed at himself. “Cher?”

“Am I… mad that you lost?” Camden guessed.

Ruby nodded again, this time jumping a few times as well, but Camden’s hands stopped him.

“No, Ruby. I am definitely not mad that you lost,” he said, holding the Cherubi in his hands. “If anything, I’m mad at myself for thinking that you could win against the Gothita.”

“Cher!” Ruby cried, pointing to himself. “Cher, Cheru!”

“Not your fault we lost,” Camden said. “It was mine.”

“Cher!” Ruby repeated, pointing at himself again.

“Jeez, okay, it’s both our faults, alright?” Camden said, laughing. “Stop trying to blame it all on yourself.”

A light bulb went off in Camden’s head, prompting a grin.

“I get it—you have a modest disposition,” he said, pointing accusationally at the Cherubi, who seemed confused again.

“Nevermind,” Camden said, grin still in place as he pushed his forgotten peace offering towards Ruby again. “Here, eat. You must be starving by now.”

Ruby, who looked much more relaxed now that his question had been answered, got to work inhaling the Chesto berries Camden had brought, clearly famished. The size of his mouth expanded to encompass the sizable berries, and Camden got a good look at wads of chewed berry between bites.

I’ll save my lectures on closing your mouth while you eat for later, Camden thought, faintly amused. For now, you get off for being flat-out amazing personality-wise.

---

^{France || Headquarters || May 14th, Afternoon}

Camden, though interested in the conversation occurring prior to the meeting’s start, declined to partake in the discussion, since guessing at imminent happenings seemed quite childish in his mind. So, when Professor Sycamore’s announcement came through, Camden didn’t hold back when he had a question, figuring he could cash out on the words he’d saved up. As such, by the time the Professor finally announced the small tournament, Camden reined himself in to two questions, feeling that any more would make him stand out among the question askers. He wanted to appear engaged, but not too engaged; committed, but not obnoxiously so; and when the meeting wrapped up to allow the Professor’s assistants to pass out the necessary forms, Camden made sure not to allow his absolute giddiness shine through as he signed and returned the form.

Though it wasn’t really a contest like the ones he wanted, it was nonetheless a competition, and Camden had a small competitive streak if he were being honest. Sure he could tell himself things like winning at monopoly didn’t matter, but when he won, it always felt infinitesimally better than when he lost. Okay, so he was a bit more competitive than was necessary to pull off the “cool and suave” image he wanted, but so what? Was having a competitive streak a bad thing? If anything, he had to make up for his overly modest Cherubi—fill Ruby’s ego as fast as the Cherubi emptied it. And what better way than to win a few battles against fellow trainers?

Do I want to win, or do I want to improve? he mused to himself, looking around at his competition. How about both? Now how to go about challenging someone…

Notes

Pokemon:

• Ruby // Cherubi ♂ — Lvl 10^: modest

Pokemon: Worlds Collide

@Balthazar007 Well, definitely messed up with the levels there with Dana's Mr. Mime (thought her Duskull was level 30, so anything over 15 would be fine). But moving on haha

Would Dana be able to exchange her caught Pokemon for Pokeballs, or just request extra Pokeballs when she runs out? I don't think she'll ever actually use the Pokemon I just had her catch.

Also, would NPC battles be available for the battle league? Working like wild battles with dice rolls and whatnot, I mean. And how many days will the league likely go on for?

Pokemon: Worlds Collide

@Cerces22 Oof hope you feel better soon!

Pokemon: Worlds Collide

Ardanata “Dana” Stamos

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^{France || Paris Proper || May 13th, Afternoon}

Having turned in the Togedemaru to the Professor’s assistants the night before, Dana set out for the city on her second afternoon, intent on tracking down some psychic-types for her Duskull and Scizor. Simply being fully-evolved made her Scizor one of the strongest on her team currently, but its reduction in strength was still apparent during inter-team sparring sessions.

Paris itself rivalled many Pokemon cities in beauty, which surprised Dana a bit. However, she’d come to train, not to admire scenery, and her Duskull was quickly able to locate its first target: a talented Mr. Mime folding dollar bills into animals without use of its hands. It’d gathered a decent crowd of admirers, but isolating a wild Pokemon was a simple matter of chasing it to a secluded area—something that her Duskull specialized in.

“Will-O-Wisp it over,” Dana said, turning to head to the empty lot she’d passed by earlier. Her Duskull disappeared into the ground, blue-white wisps of flame appearing in its wake as it moved towards its target. Dana hadn’t had to wait long before the Mr. Mime rounded into the lot, a spinning flurry of small flames on its tail.

“Shadow Sneak,” Dana called, pulling out a Pokeball. The flames vanished, and her Duskull’s red eyes appeared in the Mr. Mime’s shadow.

Challenging another trainer would be less of a hassle if I have to catch every wild I battle, Dana thought, tossing the Pokeball up and snatching it out of the air as it came down. Although I do miss the feeling of actually capturing Pokemon.

Notes

Pokemon:

• Duskull ♂ — Lvl 34
• Ivysaur* ♀ — Lvl 34
• Combusken* ♂ — Lvl 34
• Scizor ♂ — Lvl 34
• Marshtomp ♂ — Lvl 34
• Clefable ♀ — Lvl 34

@Balthazar007 turned in Togedemaru; Mr. Mime, lvl 16. Dana will throw the Pokeball if she wins.

---

Camden Montero

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^{France || Paris Proper || May 12th, Sunset}

Ruby liked Chesto berries, as Camden discovered later with delight. Dry flavors corresponded with Beauty Contests—Camden’s favorite, despite the fact that he’d only had pixelated images to help picture most of the moves in the category. Future plans were running through Camden’s head, and though he was sure he was getting ahead of himself, he couldn’t wait for when he evolved the Cherubi. However, evolution required training, and training required battling wild Pokemon, which in turn provided a chance to catch another Pokemon.

So, while he was less irritated during his second day of lessons, he was equally distracted, but this time by the possibility of a second Pokemon. Sure he was wary of Gothitelle’s overused theme, but the black-and-white design was also rather elegant as well, and none of its three forms could be called outright ugly—hideous hairstyles aside. As such, he was equally quick in setting out the second day, excited by the prospect of another Pokemon.

Well I guess I shouldn’t get my hopes up too much, he thought, glancing at Ruby bouncing along beside him. He’d rehearsed a few mock battles with his Pokemon the previous night, but the Pokemon’s moveset was limited to begin with. Still, with a clever script of Leech Seed, Tackle, and Morning Sun, winning was a definite possibility.

Finding a Gothita, however, turned out to be more of a challenge than he’d previously thought. Despite searching through the afternoon, he’d seen nothing but a few Rattata and Mr. Mime. The only upside of the aimless wandering was that Ruby, rather than showing signs of tiredness like himself, became perkier through the day.

Photosynthesis? Camden wondered, dribbling some more water into Ruby’s mouth. I guess he can both consume and make his own food.

It wasn’t until the sun touched the skyline that Camden finally found his first Gothita: a timid little thing that fled as soon as it spotted him. He gave pursuit, scooping up Ruby and running after the small psychic-type, but just as he was about to catch it, a small pebble hit his leg.

“Ow!” Camden uttered, hopping back on one leg in alarm. Ruby jumped out of his arms, landing between his trainer and the attacking Pokemon: another Gothita.

This one’s stronger, Camden thought, glancing at the setting sun. The Morning Sun routine could still work.

“Alright, Ruby. Let’s do this,” he said. “Start off with a Leech Seed!”

Leech seed to set up, Tackle to wear it down, then Morning Sun to heal, Camden recited to himself, watching as Ruby spat out a series of small seeds.

Notes

Pokemon:

• Ruby // Cherubi ♂ — Lvl 10: modest

---

@Balthazar007 Gothita lvl 11. Camden will throw a Pokeball if he wins.

RPGC #17: Singing in the Rain - Voting and Critique

@SleepingSilence Actually I think I'm the one at fault since usually writers should stick to one or the other. However, I don't really feel like making it a point to change, unless I'm going to change for the British version haha

RPGC #17: Singing in the Rain - Voting and Critique

@BrokenPromise

Hider

Going to just reply real quick and say adororant is a typo—meant to say "adorant," so good catch there! Not sure what happened in my brain, and am surprised (horrified) my spellcheck didn't catch that.

Em dash-wise, I'll definitely tone it down next time. Have been sticking to "no more than 1-2 em dashes per paragraph" as my rule of thumb, but will add "no more than 2 per sentence" to that list.

As for the story, it's definitely overly passive, but that was mostly a product of me trying to make it short and sweet. The idea was a passive one, and I'm not mad at how it turned it. However, I definitely will try a more active piece the next time I enter!

All in all, thanks for your feedback, especially on em dashes (my ongoing indulgence and obsession haha).

@SleepingSilence

Hider

Sap here as well, being the writer and all, so you're not alone in that! I definitely agree some of the tangents were sort of boring, but I wanted to inconspicuously set up for my later reveal of Sophie's bullying. I guess my efforts at trying to hide her past scars made them overly flat, so will work on that in the future.

I'm not too sure about some of the grammatical phrasing you brought up, but I do agree I have a lot of unnecessary adverbs and words stuck in there. I'm definitely an overly frilly type of writer, and I'm working on that, so thanks for the pointers!

The "storm, shower, drizzle, downpour" part was my (terrible) attempt at alliteration, and I assumed the strengths went something like storm > downpour > shower > drizzle but I suppose my ordering was awkward either way. Will tone the attempts at fanciness down in the future.

Forward vs forwards is something that I'm lax about, since I like "forwards" (British version) but am American. Technically neither is wrong, but I definitely alter between the two without much care.

This entry was exceptionally wordy since I'd wanted to convey a sort of elegant sadness or nostalgia with it, so I kinda let loose with the random fluff in an attempt to slow the reading pace down and emulate Sophie's mental state. However, I have a problem with fluffiness in my usual writing, so I'll work on that.

But, thanks so much for the feedback! Good points all around (curse my tendency to write run-ons), and thanks the vote!

Pokemon: Worlds Collide

@Balthazar007 So should we just battle more wilds in the meantime then? Or just socialize?

Naruto: Good Tidings

---

Azumi “Ami” Taketori

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^{Early Morning || Konoha}

“Yep, partners,” Azumi said, smiling brightly. At least she had one—if not friendly—alright teammate.“Let’s work hard!”

Her words got her a funny glance from Masumi, who turned instead to address Minori.

“You’re from the Land of Water, right?” Masumi asked. Azumi’s eyes widened—how rude, confronting a teammate about their past right off the bat, especially one so sensitive. Sure her parents had told her not to fraternize with “bad influences,” but Minori had always seemed like a decent classmate, albeit a bit quiet.

However, Azumi struggled to find words to change the subject. Masumi obviously held the most authority in the group, and she knew he probably wouldn’t take kindly to being interrupted, especially not by her. So, instead she fidgeted with her hands, glancing between her teammates nervously.

---

Masumi “Sumi” Rinha

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^{Early Morning || Konoha}

Minori seemed like someone he could get along with on a good day, which was more than what he could say about Azumi.

At least she has tact, he thought when Azumi fell silent, fidgeting with her fingers. He was being a bit mean, he knew, but he also didn’t want to have to deal with her attempts at cheeriness when she was going to be the one dragging the team down.

Minori, on the other hand, was a bit of a mystery—although less so than their team captain. The boy was rumoured to have come from the Land of Water, but Masumi wanted to make sure. Rumors between his classmates were often distorted over the telephone line of whispers and giggles, and now that he was matched with Minori, he wanted certainty.

Well, he’s lived here forever, Masumi thought. Maybe it’ll just mean that he has some nice water techniques.

---

@SimpleWriter

Pokemon: Worlds Collide

@Zarkun I had Dana meet a group of Togedemaru, so feel free to have Jason take on one of them since they scattered (if he followed her, that is)

@Balthazar007 It's fine if I have Dana catch a Pokemon and turn it in to the Professors, right? Also, what's the policy on having more than 6 Pokemon? Do trainers just carry all their Pokemon around for now?