Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nolan felt like they shouldn't be here, but between his own pokemon and Kiera's - that was ten. Including the two people, that was twelve in all. So just as long as they didn't come across an entire gang of huge, scary, buff pokemon then they were going to be just fine, right? Nolan shook his head at himself, but he was also carrying Snivy in his arms after her feet started to hurt. Squeezing Snivy slightly, it helped him feel a little braver. He just had to remember not to squeeze too tight or the Grass Snake started to complain and wiggle. But so much for making plans, and sticking to his guns so he could stay prepared. But honestly, he was curious what other pokemon there were out here. They had to be totally different, and sometimes that made all the difference in a pokemon battle ...

'Maybe there is something I can replace Taillow with ...' As soon as he thought it, he regretted it, but it was the truth - before he had been frightened when Snivy used her Vine Whip on him, but it hadn't really hurt more than a slap on the wrist. And after seeing her using it in full force against Poochyena, he knew he got off lucky. Taillow though, well, she was probably just scared. That's right, just scared. But who was he fooling? Lost in his thoughts, the walk didn't take all that long at all relatively, and Nolan didn't even realize they passed the crossroads until they were already past it. Once he did actually realize it, however, a chill crept up his spine, suddenly cold despite the warm sunlight. He found himself looking over his shoulder, searching the sky, hoping that no Gatekeeper trainer descended down on the two of them.
"Let's not go much farther. This is good enough, right?"

(( Blargh. Let me just catch a pokemon here for later while we're in the area. I didn't see the other subforum. ))



"What?! The wrong way!"
Nolan was taking it a lot harder than he should have been, but Snivy's feet weren't the only ones getting sore. Fuming, it wasn't very often that Nolan really got angry like this, but he knew deep down he should still be training his pokemon by Blyse - not galloping clear across the countryside before he and his team were fully trained. And he couldn't remember the last time he had ever walked so much within a 48 hour period, but remembering his own manners when Kiera apologized, he did the same,
"No! Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. It's just been a really hard couple of days, but it's not so bad now with someone to walk with. I wish I had asked someone before, but I was too focused on catching pokemon for the gym. I'm not really good at this ..."

Trailing off, he gave Snivy another tight hug to the point that she again complained, rolling her eyes at her sentimental human. She didn't see it as the time to be talking. No, she was scanning the bushes and trees as the landscape started to change along the route, but now the humans were going to turn back. Too soon! Snivy wriggled madly, hopping out of Nolan's arms and she started running out into the wilds.
"Snivy! Don't run away! Where are you going, Snivy?"

(( Aw, okay. I should probably get to sleep too soon. I don't want to sleep in very long tomorrow. Le sigh, night, Chuu! ))



This was bad ... real bad. Snivy was a tough little pokemon, but they were where other tougher pokemon that could be out there, just waiting for foolish trainers like them. They so were not ready for this, but Nolan saw it as though he had no other choice but chase after her. Well, he couldn't just leave Snivy out there, even if this whole thing was just a ploy to run away from him. He had to try, because maybe this was a test instead, but he couldn't help thinking that it really was one big mistake. 'Maybe I'll be lucky that she's leading me into a trap so I can just die instead.' From angry to darkly morose, Nolan just couldn't keep up with Kiera's chipper attitude.

Snivy hadn't really gone far at all in reality, just past the foliage, and she had to side-step quickly so her trainer didn't trample over her. Nolan screeched to a halt, and she smirked proudly at her trainer for what she had found, yet his panicked face made her hesitate for a second, the smug look wilting. But with a sigh she turned and pointed down a sandy pit, showing Nolan an odd looking pokemon buried up to its bulky sides. Two eyes on top of its head, it looked right at home down in the shallow hole, sand dribbling off the port on its back. It yawned widely and smacked its lips together, either oblivious to the strangers or just didn't find them very threatening. Snivy knew the Hippopotas didn't look like a very formidable foe right now, but she had the same thoughts alongside her trainer - they needed to find a replacement for Taillow, and the sooner the better. Well, a Snivy has to do what a Snivy has to do.

"Snivy, wait!"
Nolan, of course, was too late, because the Grass Snake leaped over the lip of the pit, and she was sliding down towards the pokemon sitting at the bottom, her eyes squinted to slits. Hippopotas glanced over at this green blur coming at her, but didn't really care - well, she didn't care until that green blur smacked her right across her nose with its tail. Grunting loudly, the big tan and brown Hippo pokemon freed her legs from the sand, but as she did the sand underneath Snivy's began to shift, sucking the Grass Snake right down towards the Hippo's gaping jaws.

Nolan didn't think and just jumped. Well, it looked like his Snivy was going to be eaten by some big round pokemon, the situation going from bad to worse. The wild Hippopotas was just as tall as Snivy, but had at least eighty more pounds of weight behind that big bite over the Grass pokemon. Nolan tried prying the mouth open to free his partner, but Snivy was already smacking the Hippo repeatedly, whipping her body back and forth like an crazy Magikarp. Nolan hissed through his teeth, snatching his hand back when he got grazed by that leaf-like tail, but Hippopotas couldn't take any more of it at all. She spit the Snake out, reeling from the beating she had taken.
"Niv! Niv!"

Nolan finally understood that Snivy meant for him to catch this pokemon, and groping blindly for one of his last two empty pokeballs, threw the capsule at the Hippo.

"Too late boy. You've already been found." chuckled a voice.

Sauntering through the sand like he owned the place was Desiderio. He was in a good mood, having caught a pair of Trainers out on their own without the watchful eyes of any sort of League member. And it looked like one of them just had a near miss with disaster. Burning Route 1 wasn't enough to satisfy his thirst for destruction and despair, so perhaps bullying these two would prove to be a little more entertaining. With a smirk, he reached into his cloak for a pair of Pokeballs.

"Now... how shall I play with you two brats...?" he mused, his visible eye focused on the pair.

Pkmn Ranger? Desiderio would like to battle!

((For future reference, please make sure the Pokemon you roll for is found in the subforum you're in. Hippopotas are found in the Route 3 North/Addobe Town/Route 4 NE subforum, not the Route 3 SE/Fort Ammoa subforum))

((I brought the mistake up with Crew, so hopefully they'll fix it. They actually had some of the subforum names wrong. Mostly with the directional route names and such. This thread was supposed to go in the other Route 3 subforum, I believe.))

The boy was trying to reason his way out of why they came out this far, but Desiderio was shaking his head. It seemed like they didn't know why he was attacking them. The pair would be educated shortly on the why. He pulled out the Zangoose's Pokeball before enlarging the capturing device by pressing his thumb on the button.

"Don't let them escape now, Scar." he said, ignoring Nolan's excuses as he let out the Zangoose. "I've been meaning to test the quality of the newcomers without letting that League trainer know, and now that we've found a pair all the way out here I'm not too keen on letting them run before I'm finished."

The fierce Zangoose flexed his claws, glaring down at the smaller Pokemon near Nolan and the girl. Desiderio waited a moment, formulating a battle plan, before he smirked. "Pursuit, Scar."

The boy's Snivy's Vine Whip at least managed to stop the charging Zangoose from striking at Nolan, distracting him enough to make him stop his claws right before Nolan's chest. The boy was spared for now. Desiderio was amused at the Zangoose's careless mistake. Normally, he would have dealt with the Pokemon the Trainer had, but it seemed like Scar had forgotten that they were not maiming Trainers right now.

"Really, Scar? Are you going to take that?" asked Des as the Zangoose shook his head, jumping a few paces away from Nolan to focus on the Grass Snake. "Tear it to shreds. Use your Slash on it, and if it runs, Pursuit."

Scar raised a paw, claws gleaming before he swiped at the Snivy.

What was this? The boy was running now? The smirk on Desiderio's face widened. This was how he liked things. Intimidate the opponent by laying a threat to their life and watch them try to flee. He began to laugh.

"Yes, yes! Run while you can, boy! Let's play Cat and Mouse!" he cackled, running after the boy as he readied Skulltula's Pokeball.

Scar missed, but his order to use Pursuit if they ran was still valid. So the Zangoose tore off after Nolan, fueled by the fact that they were running away. The Nincada swiped at his foot to trip him, but it did little to halt the Pokemon even after it stumbled. Scar was right back up on his feet and ran after the retreating boy, though being tripped had slowed it down a little. It was still fairly fast, however, and would soon catch up to Nolan with Pursuit.

Desiderio reached the Nincada now, and pulling his leg back like a soccer star, attempted to punt the Trainee Pokemon back to his Trainer before releasing the second Pokeball in his hand. "Skulltula, follow Scar after the kid with Shadow Sneak!"

The Ariados landed on her spidery legs before tearing off after the Zangoose.

The Nincada was successful in blinding Des, and as he struggled to get the sand out of his eye Scar and Skulltula had caught up to Nolan. It seemed like he was attempting to release all his Pokemon to try to keep them alive. What folly. It was not going to help him at all. In fact, it was only going to make matters harder for him.

Desiderio eventually managed to unblind himself and he approached Nolan. The boy only had a splashing Magikarp and a Snivy hanging around now. He wasn't sure where that Nincada had scurried off to after he kicked it, but it was no doubt somewhere close. It wasn't like it could have been punted off onto another Route or anything. Hell no, he didn't have that kind of kicking power, even with steel-toed boots. But to be safe, he did send Wickersham to go hunt down the Trainee Pokemon. The little candle was all too pleased to go cause more trouble as she Minimized before going off to scour the sand for the Nincada. He turned to look down at the boy in the pit before smirking.

"You can stay there all you want, boy. I don't know if you know this, but there's a fierce Pokemon called Trapinch that reside in the desert, and they make excellent pits such as these to trap their prey. Their Ability, Arena Trap, also prevents you from running away. And don't even get me started on their boulder-crushing mouths. Want to wager a bet, kid? Whether or not the pit you fell into belongs to a Trapinch or something scarier?" he asked with a sly smirk as his two Pokemon watched with intrigue.