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 Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:37 pm
'I can't believe I almost forgot about my bike,' Jasper thought as he steadily pedaled along, quickly making progress from Violet City to Route 36. He'd been this way several times before over the past few years so the scenery wasn't all that new to him, though the continued lack of a pesky Sudowoodo blocking the path continued to be a welcome sight, even if Ditto had gotten really, really good at turning into a watering can for just such an occasion. Other than a minor meander down memory lane, Jasper wasn't really thinking about anything in particular, namely what he'd do after his planned shopping spree. There was always his hometown gym, which he knew was run by a girl named Whitney. He'd heard horror stories about the self-proclaimed "prettiest girl trainer in Johto" and her nightmarish Miltank, and he smirked as he imagined Ditto becoming the bovine Pokemon's clone and throwing all of Whitney's commands back in her face.
'We only just beat Falkner though, we may not be ready for Whitney,' he reasoned as he slowed his bike a little, looking over at the expansive grass that covered the route. Paras, Zorua and even Koffing had done admirably in the gym, though they hadn't faced the leader directly, and he idly wondered if he should stop and maybe find some wild Pokemon to train against.
"Hey you, guy on the bike! Are you a trainer? If so, battle me!" called a voice from somewhere to Jasper's left.
'Or that works too,' the bandanna-clad boy thought, turning his head to see where the voice was coming from. A short kid with dark, blue hair and thick glasses was waving his arm around frantically in an attempt to get Jasper's attention. In doing so, he managed to spill the contents of his bag and he dropped to the ground and quickly tried to jam everything back inside. "Here, let me help," Jasper said, leaning his bike up against a nearby tree before kneeling down beside the kid. A quick glance showed nothing of real value had fallen to the ground, and Jasper silently scolded himself for thinking that way; old habits and all that. "So, a battle, then?" he asked once the last piece of stray paper had been tucked away. "Just what kind of a battle do you have in mind?"
* * * * * * * * * *
Running to the gym at full-speed had seemed like a good idea at the time, at least until Hayley found herself standing at the entrance to the Pewter City gym. "So... here it is," she mumbled, wringing her hands together as she studied the stony front entrance. "It certainly looks like a gym for rock type trainers." A mental war was starting to escalate in the brunette's head, partially because she wanted to sketch the gym (for posterity's sake, of course; she'd never procrastinate like that!) but another, more determined part of her was eager to get in there and show this Brock fella a thing or two. She thought of Cynder and Ivy and all the others, and of Mike and Kasiya and Riza and she sighed, realizing that at one point, those three had been at this exact same point in their journeys as well - and she'd be welling to bet the farm that the three of them didn't stand around outside the threshold of their first gym challenges 'um-ing' and 'ah-ing'. No, those three were go-getters and Hayley wanted to be a go-getter too!
Drawing deep into her fathomless well of positive energy and good thoughts, Hayley put on her game face and kicked in the door. Well, struggled, strained or labored to open said door would probably have been a better way to put it, as it quickly became apparent that the giant stone door was in fact a real, giant stone door and not just there for sake of decoration. It was easy enough to push it back into place once Hayley had squeezed through, and she brushed the dust from her clothes as she took in her surroundings. "Rocks, lots of rocks," she observed astutely as she ventured in further, quickly spotting what looked to be the battlefield as she saw the boundary lines painted on the ground. The gym itself smelled old and sort of musty, but overall Hayley liked the atmosphere and she felt a little more confident with every step she took.
Finally, she spotted a young-looking fellow tending to some of the rocks on the battlefield and the brunette gathered her courage before very-nearly stomping over to the boy. "Hey Brock!" she shouted, causing the poor youth to jump a mile and probably suffer some serious heart palpitations in the process. "I'm Hayley Bennett from Pallet Town and I've braved the elements and scary Beedrill in order to come here and challenge you to an official gym battle! So let's do this!"
For a few moments, the boy just stared at the girl, blinking slowly as he allowed his heart rate to drop back down to somewhere around normal. "I-I'm not B-Brock," he mumbled, now finding the smarts to take a step back from the overzealous girl.
Hayley stared at him, clearly crestfallen. "You're not Brock?" she repeated. The boy nodded. "Oh. Well then, who are you?"
Now attempting to avoid eye contact, the boy scratched the side of his head. "I'm, uh, Jerry," he said, giving the tiniest of unenthusiastic waves possible. "Brock's back there but uh, if you wanna battle him, you have to beat me first."
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 4:02 pm
"Alright, Belzaboul, Fury Swipes," Leon commanded coolly, eyes never once straying from the battle. On the opposite end of the ring, Brody was constantly looking between both the Pokémon and his opponent, still feeling put off by Leon. He felt as if the purple-haired boy didn't even know that he was there.
Belzaboul took a moment to straighten himself up, giving Brody time to ask his sweet Sophie to be ready for the oncoming attack. "Counter it with another Water Gun!" He commanded her, eyes moving back to the weird little creature on the ground. Sophie hovered in the air, keeping her eyes on the emotionless Pokémon beneath her. Belzaboul launched into the air suddenly, and Sophie only managed to move sightly out of the way before she was bombarded with the Sableye's slashing claws. He hit her a few times before he began falling back towards the ground, landing lightly and then immediately being knocked off balance by a stream of water; Sophie had spat the attack after him as soon as she had regained her composure from the Fury Swipes.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 5:56 pm
Unblinking, diamond eyes found their way to Brody and the man shuddered involuntarily; he was really, really not enjoying this battle like he thought he would. He'd met plenty of creepy-looking Pokémon, but most of them ended up being very cute, not actually, you know, creepy. His thoughts were interrupted as Leon spoke up with his next attack. "Night Shade this time."
Belzaboul's body became enveloped in a dark red glow, while his eyes began glowing black. Two pitch-black beams shot out from the Sableye's eyes, outlined in the same red as his body, straight at the Wingull. It knocked the Water- and Flying-type Pokémon backwards in the air. Brody cried out in dismay, watching his beloved bird Pokémon tumble through the air. "Come on, Sophie! Wing Attack!" He seemed to have forgotten how much Belzaboul creeped him out.
Sophie flapped her wings as she attempted to right herself before she could fall to the ground, eventually gaining enough momentum to throw herself in a dive towards Belzaboul, preparing to strike him with one of her wings.
"Counter with Scratch," Leon said as the Wingull neared his Pokémon. Sableye made no signs that he had heard his trainer, apparently watching the Seagull Pokémon approach him. Finally, at the last second, he jumped to meet Sophie in the air and dug his claws into her with a swipe as she smacked him with her wing. Belzaboul landed a little haphazardly but managed to regain his balance. Sophie, however, fell to the ground with a cry of pain and did not get up again.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:13 pm
Pikachu was still a bit reluctant, but after some apologising and promises of food, he payed his trainer some attention again. Train picked up her bathing suit, which was still very damp, and scolded herself for not having the sense to hang it up before she slept. She shoved it into a separate pocket in her bag so it wouldn't get her other things wet, and wondered if she would forget about it being there. Finally, she pulled her regular clothes on, almost forgetting to put her new flip flops into her bag as well, but she spotted them as she was pulling on her boots and shoved them into her bag as well.
She glanced around the room as she put her belt on, but seemed to have everything. The girl and her Pokémon exited the room and went to the front desk to drop off her room key before heading to the cafeteria.+=+=+=+ Brody recalled his beloved Pokémon, not happy at all with how this battle had turned out. Leon's Sableye did not seem to be showing any signs of fatigue.
"Well, man, that was something!" Brody said, mostly feeling as though he had to be polite. "I gotta get this girl healed up, but that whatever it is sure is…something," He trailed off mostly before he was already rushing away from boy, totally not into the creepy thing and its trainer.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:15 pm
As Kilik entered the Pokemon Center, he gave a little stretch of his arms before Monferno hopped across his shoulder onto the counter. The Nurse laughed and patted the simian on the head. "Just a quick spritz, if you please." Kilik asked with a small bow. She walked off with his Monferno and entered one of the recovery rooms. It wouldn't be long before his Fire-type was ready and raring to go. He took out his PokeDex and scanned through a couple of pages. The native Sinnoh Pokemon were quite interesting, to say the least. He noticed, much to Mike's dismay, the severe lack of Fire-types in the encyclopedia. "So trainers starting really just have the choice of Chimchar? And if they don't pick him, they better hope to find a Ponyta." There were wild Magmar, apparently, on an island to the far far north beyond Sunyshore City. He chuckled quietly to himself and tucked the device away, glancing over to his side. There was only one other trainer in the Center at the moment, and the boy looked rather forlorn. Kilik raised an eyebrow and strolled over. "Hey," he said simply, "What's eating you?"
The boy looked up. He couldn't have been much older than twelve. His eyes were bright and his hair was a little messy. He stood up and wiped his nose. "I've been looking everywhere and I just can't find one," he said quietly. The boy took Kilik's silence as a hint to continue explaining. "A Bonsly! I've really wanted a unique Pokemon for my team! All my friends are using Onix or Golem for their Rock-type! I wanna be a little different!"
Kilik chuckled and scratched the back of his head. He had no clue what a Bonsly was. "Well, what's it look like?" If the kid was looking for one, and it was able to compete with Golem of all things, it must be pretty tough, even if the name didn't sound all that intimidating.
"It's like a bonzai tree!" he held his hands up to demonstrate its height, "it's not very big either! But when it evolves into Sudowoodo, it gets as tall as me!"
The taller boy raised his eyebrows. "Say," he smiled a bit, "Funny how fate works sometimes." The younger boy looked confused. "I happen to have a Sudowoodo back home in Verdanturf. I've only ever used her once and she really is a bit of a fireball. She does deserve to go to a good trainer." Though Kilik was slightly skeptical. His Sudowoodo was fairly high level, probably more than what the kid could handle. But the look in his eyes said otherwise.
"R-Really!" the boy cried out, shaking his fists excitedly, "W-would you really trade her to me?" He tossed out all of his Pokemon, excluding one. They were all fairly decent looking, and trained to a particular standard. A scan of Kilik's PokeDex revealed they were all between level 20 and 25. The kid definitely kept a sense of balance among them. "I'll trade whichever you'd like!"
Kilik crossed his arms and looked at each one. There was the Fire-type, Vulpix. A Water-type, Azumarril. A Flying-type, Staravia. A Grass-type, Exeggcute. And a Psychic-type, Kadabra. He scratched his chin and wondered. The Kadabra would be a powerful addition, and would evolve upon entering his care. But he hated Psychic-type Pokemon with a passion. There were exceptions, such as Exeggcute. Its evolved form was a Pokemon Kilik had eyed before and considered many times, but the opportunity to obtain one never came. Until now that is. "I'll trade you Sudowoodo for the Exeggcute."
The boy almost popped from excitement. Recalling all of his Pokemon and attaching them to his belt, he held up Exeggcute's ball. "Ready when you are, mister. The name is Davis, by the way." He smiled.
"Kilik," he said in reply. "I'll need to make a call before I bring her over, but..." he laughed, "Meet me in the trading room." Kilik smiled at the kid, who scampered off. Interesting day this was turning out to be.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:41 pm
“Wait, what?” our hero managed to mutter, his eyes locking on to the wriggling cocoon that was once his precious baby Roggenrola. “… Sledge…? You okay in there buddy…?”
The ball of webbing wiggled once, then twice, then began to roll toward its trainer’s muffled voice, bits and pieces of grass sticking to the horrid sticky string. After a few uncomfortably long moments, Sledge made it to his destination, finally tapping against the tip of Scarlet’s foot. The low, rumbling, weirdly clicky growl that emanated from the bound Mantle Pokemon frightened Scarlet in a way he couldn’t voice. “… D-Dude, are you mad…?”
The response never came. Was this the silent treatment? Was Sledge so angry that he actually refused to put forth the effort to click? … How much effort did it take Sledge to click? At that moment, Scarlet was relatively sure he’d never find out. He frowned and knelt down next to the fallen little guy, fishing his pokeball from its spot on his belt. “… I’m sorry. Won’t happen again.” Again, an answer didn’t come. Scarlet frowned and clicked the silver button on the sphere’s face, a crimson light enveloping his Roggenrola. Silk wrappings gently floated to the ground. The victorious cackle that came out of Bradley’s gigantic mouth, however was far from gentle. It was very grating, a little annoying, but, Scarlet supposed, completely deserved. The taller redhead drew himself up to his feet, annoyed scowl softening.
“HAH! WE DID IT!” Bradley cheered as his caterpie inched its way up his leg and eventually up to his shoulder.
“Yeah,” Scarlet sighed, grinning despite himself. “Your caterpie didn’t do half bad. You’re a pretty scary kid.”
“Heh heh! Thanks! We should have a rematch some time when you’re around. ‘Cept maybe not against your weird rock thing… That part wasn’t fun.”
“But that was the only par- oh, okay, I guess I will see you later.” His voice trailed off as the kid disappeared into the woods, presumably to go beat more trainers so he could fight with a cocoon.
“Ugh, it feels so weird without Cindy here,” he muttered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking around for an orange glow somewhere. No luck, of course. After a moment, he stuck two fingers under his tongue, and tried for one of those ridiculously sharp whistles. No dice. Oh right. I can’t do that. Scarlet frowned, making a mental note to get pointers from Amy as soon as he got his hands on a pokegear. “… Screw it. CINDY!” he screamed.
It only took a moment for his better half to come bounding out of the woods and tackle him to the ground. She let out a cheerful bark, then surveyed the battlefield she left. “Quil?”
“Uh, he’s cooling off in his pokeball. We sort of lost?” Scarlet could only avert his gaze to the right, an awkward apologetic smile passing across his face as his Quilava’s head canted. She hopped off his chest, watching as he sat up, and nuzzled his side.
“Don’t worry. I think I just need to have… Halibel ‘karp’ at him later. C’mon. We should see how Jett’s doing.” Cindy extinguished the flame patch on her head, which her trainer promptly patted. He pulled himself from the ground and started his trek back to the Azalea gym, where Athena was no doubt the early bird that was eating the worm. And the bee. And maybe a grappling beetle.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:37 pm
As soon as Rosemary's sunburst had worked its magic overhead Kasiya let out a sigh, apparently not all that upset that she'd managed to fall to the ground yet again. Her rain-soaked clothes felt heavy and uncomfortable as the heat from the sun made everything feel humid and muggy. Not only that, but her knees had started to throb, rhythmically with her heartbeat which was still a little erratic from running and falling and flat-out knocking the wind out of herself. Despite her discomfort she smiled when she heard Mike's voice and slowly she pulled herself into a half-sitting, half-leaning position. She winced at the sight of the boy's reddened, blistered skin but she reminded herself that it could have been worse, and she'd never been so happy over someone buying an umbrella in her entire life and she giggled as he mentioned the ironic role-reversal, even if she wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him and hug him tight and make him swear on her life that he'd never go anywhere without a Pokemon that could use Sunny Day ever again, even if the effects wouldn't last forever.
"I'm okay, really," she said, waving her hand at him as Shocker plodded over, also soaked quite thoroughly and looking a little bit tired from her effort of holding up that Light Screen. It seemed the Raichu was still not at 100%. Kasiya pulled the wet mouse onto her lap and hugged her tightly, closing her eyes and fighting back tears as Mike laughed off what had been an absolutely terrifying situation with a fit of giggles. Still clinging to the Raichu, she looked over the tawny mouse's head at Mike, blue eyes narrowed in a serious expression as she looked up at the giggling boy. "It's really... not that funny," she said quietly, leaning her head against Rosemary's leg as the Meganium had also positioned herself at Kasiya's side. "We got lucky this time, because the Pokemon Center was so close, but next time..." She sniffled as she fought back tears, unable to bring herself to say the next words. It was all very well because she was certain that Mike knew what she was going to say next anyway. "We'd better get inside. Rose's Sunny Day won't last forever." With help from her Meganium, Kasiya got to her feet and slowly started to make her way back to the Pokemon Center, looking back at Mike over her shoulder and giving the boy a small smile as Shocker scrambled up onto the other shoulder.
If her clothing had been dirty before, well, the rainwater and dirt she'd accumulated from her fall certainly didn't help much. A slight grin spread across her face as she imagined the tirade of incoherent French scolding she'd get from Sasha if her pink-haired friend were to see her like this. After the lengthy day she'd just had, however, Kasiya couldn't think of anything more welcoming than a nice hot shower to wash away another eventful day's grime and weariness. It was getting late anyway; perhaps it was best they turn in for the night after all. Once back inside the Center, Kasiya quickly swapped Rosemary for Pepper again, and she stifled a yawn as she looked over at her love. "Maybe we should call it a night here," she suggested sleepily.
=-=-=-=-=
Cirrus' pained cry made Jaeshan look over to Jade's side of the battle, and he frowned as he saw the once-tenacious kitten thrown to the side like a discarded toy. Eyes narrowed, Jae allowed his PokeDex to identify the hippo Pokemon as Hippopotas, though at this point, neither of them were surprised to learn it was a Ground-type. Sandstream, he thought, flinching against the sands as Jade switched out her Pokemon to reveal what very likely was her only choice in this situation - her Psyduck. Before anything else could happen though, Aquarius used some sort of hidden power to stop the Sandstorm, and while he stood there like an idiot, Jaeshan's PokeDex piped up, informing them all about Aquarius' power to nullify all weather changes with his Cloud Nine ability.
Grotle, meanwhile, had refused to relinquish his hold on Biker Chick's Spiritomb, even with the woman barking for the Forbidden Pokemon to use Shadow Sneak. The Ghost/Dark-type's shadow darted out from behind it, circling around the two Pokemon before rising up and striking the Grove Pokemon from behind. This finally caused Grotle to let go and he staggered back, shaking his body to rid himself of the sand that had already started to build up in the small shrubs on his back.
"Don't let up, Grotle, we're winning this," Jaeshan growled, catching a glimpse of the boy's destroyed bike off to the side. "Razor Leaf!" Grotle, drawing strength from his trainer's determination, took a step forward, the leaves on his back bristling before a barrage of them were launched at the Spiritomb. The strange Pokemon cried out as the leaves slashed at its incorporeal body, still managing to do some damage and it glared at both Grotle and Jaeshan, trying its hardest to unnerve them.
=-=-=-=-=
Oblivious to the annoyance she had caused Damien, Karrigan took note of the many varieties of shops they passed by as they searched out one that would sell them the items they were looking for. Generally, the people they passed by seemed friendly enough, and they saw even more Pokemon out and about as well, though in such a busy crowd, some of them were recognizable, at least. At first, the redhead hadn't even noticed that Damien had stopped walking, though when she heard him speak she slowed her pace and looked around until her gaze came to rest on the place in question. "Evolution Corner," she said as well, nodding. "I believe this is exactly what we're looking for," she agreed, but the dark-haired sourpuss was already heading inside. And I thought I could be a downer, Karrigan thought, looking up at the bell with a lot less hostility than Damien had, and she mumbled in quiet agreement as they split up to look around.
The very first thing that caught the redhead's eye was a very fancy display case, with dozens upon dozens of glittering objects inside. Upon moving closer, Karrigan realized that this case contained nothing but special elemental stones, and she allowed herself to smile as she tried to count the varieties. "Thunder, Fire, Water, Leaf, Sun, Moon, Dusk, Dawn, Shiny..." She could even see a dull, round and grey stone that was labeled as an Everstone.
"If you give that to a Pokemon, it'll keep them from evolving," said a voice from behind her, and Karrigan turned around to see an older man standing there. His hair was white and kind of scruffy, but his eyes were kind and wise and reminded Karrigan of coffee. "Are you in need of one of my stones?"
Everstone, huh? Karrigan thought, taking a step back as the older man came closer. "Oh, uh, no, not a stone," she said, trying to be polite. "My friend and I are looking for a Prism Scale and a Metal Coat though, if you happen to have those."
"My girl, you insult me," the man scoffed, holding up his hand and indicating for her to follow him. Karrigan smirked, looking across the shop over at Damien as he wasn't in the right part of it at all. The gentleman unlocked a small case and withdrew the two items, holding them up for the redhead to see. "One Metal Coat and one Prism Scale," he said. "Will there be anything else today?"
=-=-=-=-=
Neither Surge nor Manectric himself were entirely sure where the Hitmontop had come from, but in the dying smoke and embers from the Flamethrower, the Electric-type found himself on the wrong end of Lee's Revenge, and it was easily over for the newly-evolved Pokemon. Undeterred, Surge recalled it, obviously quite happy with the development even if Manectric's time in the match was short-lived.
"Well, so far yer showin' that yer pretty gutsy, Baby," the large man laughed. "But if you think I'm gunna roll over and go easy on ya, ya got another thing comin'! Raichu! Front. And. Center!" The red and white sphere practically exploded open in midair, revealing Surge's ace and easily trademark Pokemon. The Mouse Pokemon punched the air with his fists a few times before doing a quick spin and lashing out with his foot. Sparks flared from his cheeks as he studied his opponent - oh yes, he was ready! "Raichu! Let's give 'em a little taste of yer Thunda-bolt!" More than eager to please his master, Raichu leaped into action. With a fierce cry, the Mouse Pokemon unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning at the paralyzed Hitmontop, hoping to score some serious payback for his fallen teammate.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:36 pm
Mike's laughter was cut off immediately as the soft, somber tone behind Kasiya's words hit him like a punch to the face. The contrast like night and day. He stared at her, his mouth twitching open, unable to find the proper words to reply. "No, I-I know that." he struggled to say. "I just-" He paused, breathing sharply through his nose as his constantly shifting emotions clashed inside his mind like a storm cloud. "You just...you know how I get sometimes. All...crazy and the like." he said solemnly, lowering his head. Truth be told, he didn't find the entire thing funny in the slightest. He was scared to death, and if Kasiya had not been there, it very well could have ended much worse for him. It just had become his first instinct to laugh everything off. He couldn't fight it, it just happened. Mike sighed. "I'm sorry." he murmured, tilting his head up and forcing a smile. "I'll be more careful next time. I promise." He felt guilty that he was such a complicated mess of a person and always causing her to worry about him.
However, Kasiya always had a hard time staying event remotely cross with him, and this time was no different. In mere moments she was up and smiling again, and that helped perk Mike up a bit as well. She made the very smart decision to make their way to the center, something Mike happily agreed with. "You're right. In fact, some studies show that the use of Sunny Day actually makes the conditions come back even stronger, due to the wide difference in temperat-" A crash of thunder that sounded more like a bomb than a weather occurrence finished his sentence for him. "Alright! Alright! I get it, we're going!" he shouted, picking up the pace and following his girlfriend inside, panting as the electronic doors closed behind him.
"That doesn't sound like the worst idea." he said at the mention of sleep. The thought of resting on a warm soft bed only reminded him of his crippling lack of consistent rest. "You go ahead and take a shower and I'll get us a room, okay?" Figuring her clothes wouldn't dry off from basically being underwater in the time it took her to clean up, he took off his button up shirt and messily folded it up. "Here." He leaned forward and chanced planting a kiss on her forehead. Success! "You'll get more when you come back." he said, a hint of adventure in his tone. He definitely noticed how his girlfriend's wet, heavy clothes tugged at her features, outlining her figure quite nicely. "Run along now, love."
As she did, Mike handed the nurse behind the counter Camerae and Powalski's pokeballs before making his way over to the rooms. Being a Pokemon center and not a hotel, the furnishings were nothing extravagant, but they were just fine for Mike, the boy who often squatted in volcanoes. After a few tries he found one with two beds and smiled. Just to make sure she knew which one was theirs, he took off his green t-shirt and tied it around the knob before walking in.
He pushed the two beds together, as cuddling on a twin was hard enough to do when your boyfriend wasn't a walking furnace. The rain was coming down hard now. When it was on the other side of a building, it was quite peaceful. The now darkened sky allowed Mike's body to softly light the room as he stood by the window, watching the water cascade down the glass.
Beautiful. a voice inside his head spoke out.
"The deadliest things often are." he replied quietly.
The world is a very different place for us now. it continued. But do not think you are alone in it.
"No." Mike said, turning his head to the door and smiling. "Not at all."
How shall we pass the time while we wait? Mike climbed onto the bed and flipped the pillow so it was sitting tall against the headboard. He leaned over the side and pulled his PokeDex out from his bag and turned it on.
"You never can study too much." he said to his ghostly companions as he changed some of the filter settings and pressed enter. His smile grew at the image that popped up on the screen. "Let's start with my favorite."
"Charmander," the old machine droned. "The Lizard Pokemon. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when Charmander is enjoying..."
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:08 am
The blue-haired Gym Leader hadn't taken too long to return to his gym after the match with that bandanna-wearing smartass; sometimes a quick flight with his Pidgeot was all he needed to clear his mind after a tough battle. Losses couldn't be helped, as it happened quite often with him being the first Gym Leader in the Johto lineup and all (Bugsy could empathize; as the Bug-smart kid was second in line and shared a similar fate with Falkner) and as he and the large bird had touched back down in the gym/aviary, he quickly saw that he had another, apparently younger challenger currently working his way through some of his less-experienced gym trainers. His eyes narrowed the moment that he'd seen that the boy had a Pikachu but he said nothing, watching intently as he stroked Pidgeot's soft feathers. He'd faced his fair share of Electric-types in his time as Gym Leader.
Falkner rose as the young challenger stepped forward, expression still stoic. He certainly hoped that just because he'd beaten a few Pidgey to get here didn't mean that the boy thought he was in the clear, Electric-type in the roster or not. "I suppose you're looking for a challenge, then," the blue-haired trainer said coolly once the boy had reached him. "Two-on-two. No time limit, no item usage. Whenever you're ready." He withdrew a Pokeball and flicked his wrist, an owl-like Pokemon appearing in a flash of light and hooting shrilly. Its large, round red eyes were narrowed as it stared down the boy, daring him to send out his first Pokemon.
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:43 am
A short time later, Juliet and company rolled into Nacrene City, and the new trainer smiled as she took in the sights. Nacrene was made up of a lot of old warehouses, most of which were painted with bright colors and patterns and it wasn't an exaggeration to say that many of the windows in town were done up in fancy stained glass. It wasn't Juliet's first visit to this town, as last year her hockey team had traveled here for a tournament. She frowned slightly as she remembered how her team had made it all the way to the finals only to go up against the hometown Nacrene Watchog (named after the town's gym leader's most well-known Pokémon) where they lost after triple overtime and a shootout. Juliet's brow creased at the memory, as she'd been the last to take her shot on goal and she'd rung it off the goal post, giving the Watchog an opportunity to break the tie, which they did. Juliet chuckled to herself as she remembered that she'd been completely shutout, unable to get even a single point during the course of the whole game. Her mother had always said that second place was just first loser, but after the initial disappointment following the loss, Juliet and the rest of the girls on their team had actually felt quite proud of their efforts, and she thought of the silver medal hanging on her bedroom wall and smiled. Hopefully, she could start adding achievements from her budding career as a Pokémon Trainer to all of her hockey ones.
After a bit of searching, she managed to spot the Pokémon Center, its red roof standing out even in a city as brightly painted as Nacrene. She locked her bike to the rack outside and stepped through the sliding doors, recalling how her brothers had pretended to be Jedi as they "willed" the doors open with their awesome mind powers back in Castelia. Sewaddle was still cradled in her arms as Lottie ran ahead, looking very much like a small child as she put her paws on the edge and tried to hoist herself up to look at the woman behind it. "Hello, there! Welcome to the Nacrene City Pokémon Center. My name is Nurse Joy; how may I be of assistance?" she asked. Her voice was pleasant, and somehow soothing.
"My Riolu and I battled with this Sewaddle back in the forest, and it got hurt pretty badly. I couldn't leave the little thing all alone. Can you help it?" Juliet asked, setting the tiny bug on the counter.
"Hmm." Nurse Joy leaned down to look at the small creature and subconsciously Juliet stepped back to give them room.
Charlotte was practically begging to be picked up so Juliet obliged her, grunting a little under the Riolu's weight. "God, Lottie, you're getting heavy," she grumbled, eliciting a sharp glare from the Fighting-type. "Oh, come on, you know that's not what I mean," Juliet groaned, rolling her eyes at the overly-sensitive Pokémon. "Obviously you're getting stronger and packing on muscle. That's a good thing, Lottie." Somewhat satiated, the Riolu chirped and the pair looked back to the Nurse.
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:33 pm
"What kind of battle...?" the kid trailed off as he adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. "Um... how about a double battle? I've been working on getting my Pokemon to work together and I think we're ready for a test run."
"Double battle," Jasper repeated somewhat hesitantly, tapping his finger against his chin. Double battles were those fancy matches where one trainer used two Pokemon at the same time, right? It sounded a little bit advanced for Jasper's liking (he still felt like quite the novice, after all), but the earnest look on the kid's face was darn-well near irresistible. "Sure, why not," Jasper sighed finally, figuring he didn't have anything to lose. "I've never had a double battle before," he admitted.
The boy smiled and pushed some of the dark blue hair from his eyes. "That's okay, I can help you out if you want," he said, taking two Pokeballs from his bag before securely zipping it closed. "I don't mind, really."
Jasper chuckled. "Awesome." He watched as the kid then sent out his two Pokemon, a strange, bluish thing covered in writhing vines and some sort of bug. Jasper wasn't sure, but he thought the bug might be a Yanma; he'd heard that they could be found around here and were often sought-after because they were so fast. His Pokedex confirmed his thoughts while identifying the other Pokemon as a Tangela. Almost without thinking, Jasper sent out Paras and Koffing, though the horrified look on the Mushroom Pokemon's face made Jasper believe that he might have just made a mistake. "By the way kid, what's your name? I'm Jasper," he called over to the boy while pretending like his Pokemon wasn't about to suffer a major coronary event.
"I'm Allan. Is... uh. Is your Paras okay?" Allan asked. "I looks kind of... not okay."
Jasper shrugged. "He's fine. He's always like that. He's sorta timid and Koffing still kinda scares the crap outta him, though I can't blame him." Currently, the Poison Gas Pokemon was chortling to herself and spinning in slow circles - not exactly the threatening type. But, considering Koffing's erratic and generally unpredictable behavior, Paras had every right to be nervous. "Do you want the first move?" the bandanna-wearing boy asked, putting his hands behind his head.
"You'd better take the first move, since you're the one new to double battles," Allan said rather cheekily, though he shut up rather quickly when he saw Jasper's amused smirk.
"Fair enough," he said, looking to his two Pokemon. He had no idea how he was going to get these two to work together of all Pokemon, but he liked to think he was pretty clever sometimes and at the very least, he'd learn a few things about a whole new battling style. "Kay. Koffing, use, uh, Smog! And Paras, you use Stun Spore."
* * * * * * * * * *
If you were to look up the word 'pout' in the dictionary, the definition would be a single picture of Hayley's face at the moment. Though cute, the pouting girl wasn't swaying Jerry's opinion any, and he held up two fingers to indicate they would be battling two on two. "Okay, fine," Hayley sighed finally, feeling as though the proverbial Aipom Wrench had just been thrown into her plans. Mike and Kassie hadn't told her she'd have to earn her right to face Brock, and she silently hoped that she'd be able to get past this sour Jerry fella without incident; heading back to the Pokemon Center so soon could be kind of humiliating. Sorta. Still not entirely sure what to make of the weird girl, Jerry backed up until he was on the battlefield, looking between his two Pokeball before making a choice and tossing one out. A small, yellow mouse-like Pokemon appeared and both it and its trainer flinched as the brunette let out a shrill squeal of delight in reply. "OhmiGOSH your Sandshrew is so CUTE! I saw a fully-grown-up Sandslash earlier today and they are just SO COOL!"
"Yeah, I'm sure it was," Jerry said, clearly not caring in the slightest about which Pokemon this crazy girl had seen before coming here. "Are you gonna send out your Pokemon, or stand there yammering all day?"
"Ooh, yeah, you're right!" Hayley giggled, taking her first Pokeball and giving it a good throw. Her own little yellow mouse appeared, blinking and scratching behind her ear with her hind foot. When she saw that she'd been put into a battle, however, her eyes went wide and she looked back at Hayley indignantly.
Jerry, meanwhile, sighed loudly and rolled his eyes upon seeing the Pikachu. "Seriously? Sandshrew is a ground type. Do you even have any idea what you're doing at all?"
Hayley smiled. "Of course I do! Kaylee, Quick Attack!" she said, pointing at the other mouse. Apparently able to get over her annoyance, the Pikachu gave a cry and raced towards Sandshrew, blindsiding the slower mouse with a hit-and-run attack before darting away again. "Oh yeah, where are my manners? I didn't introduce myself, my name is Hayley!"
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:39 pm
Lee's Revenge had struck (painfully) true, leaving the paralyzed, smoking Handstand Pokemon balancing unsteadily on the ground. Amy was admittedly relieved to see that Surge was recalling his Manetric, meaning that she had only his final Pokemon to face. "Gutsy?" she repeated in response to the large man's compliment, smiling hesitantly all the while. "I-I wouldn't say so, but... thank you! And don't worry," the bespectacled girl said, stepping forward slightly, her smile becoming more certain. "I wouldn't dream of that!" She felt as though she had come so far in this gym, so it would not be to anyone's gain if Surge decided to go easy on her now. This was it, all or nothing. Amy called out for Lee as soon as Raichu was released, ordering him to back away, but it was no use. The Fighting-type slid back, falling off the point of his head and tumbling away dizzily as the Thunderbolt struck dead on.
An attack of that force had created more haze in the battlefield, obscuring the full amount of damage that her Pokemon had suffered. As the smoke cleared, however, Amy was almost shocked to see Lee so... still. The Hitmontop laid in the middle of the battlefield, knocked out, when she had almost naively thought that he might be still standing, after all of that. She recalled him wordlessly, looking back up at Surge and his Raichu with another small smile. "I guess it's time for the final round, huh?" Amy plucked another Pokeball from her belt, considering it for a moment. She had no idea how the battle would turn out, at this point, but she knew that she would give it her all. Even though it had just been a short period of time, she no longer felt like the scared, naive girl that had entered the contest in Cerulean. She observed the way the Pokeball shook slightly in her hands, whether it be from excitement or nervousness. Is this what being a trainer is? She tossed it into the air.
"Showtime, Marshall! Use Mud Bomb!" Matching his opponent's eagerness, the Wooper practically exploded out of his Pokeball, little legs flailing in midair as he tried to stick a solid landing. As soon as his feet touched the ground, however, he was kicking off, shooting toward Raichu with a gleeful 'Woop!'. His mouth filled with mud and he spit it up toward the Electric-type with gusto, grinning widely as he and his trainer watched its trajectory.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Having Aquarius on the battlefield was much better for Jade's nerves; while Cirrus was a formidable battler, the Shinx was unpredictable, even to her, and he was wont to disobey orders in order to do as he so pleased. She felt much more assured in her victory when the Psyduck was back on track, and the Sandstorm dissipating was only a bonus on top of that. Her expression took on a certain indifference, its aloofness only serving to further enrage her flustered opponent.
"What d'ya think yer doin', lookin' at me like that, girly? This battle ain't over, y'know!" Clay boomed, face reddening. What was worse, his boys behind him had only grown more silent as the battle continued on, and now his declarations earned only a few, half-hearted cheers. The man ground his teeth. He didn't need any of them! He'd win this battle on his own and take that girl's Pokemon!
"Sorry," Jade shrugged nonchalantly. "But this battle's pretty close to being over. Shouting noisily won't change a thing about it." Just as she'd expected (or hoped), Clay practically screamed for a Take Down attack, and his large hippo began to charge for the Psyduck, who had yet to move from his spot at all. "Confusion." With another groan, no doubt caused by Psyducks' famous headaches, Aquarius held his head and squeezed his eyes shut, mustering up the power to send a weak bout of psychic energy to disrupt the hippo's course. However, the hippo merely winced at the power and charged on, surprising both trainer and Pokemon as it rammed into Aquarius, sending him tumbling away with a loud, nasally cry. 'Pssssssssy-duck!' He laid on the ground for a beat before getting up, looking utterly miserable. "Sorry, Aquarius," Jade said, eyes narrowing as she turned her gaze upon Clay, a challenge clear in her eyes. "We'll make sure that they can never reach us again, okay?"
"We'll see 'bout that," Clay snarled, aiming a fat finger at the yellow duck. "Hippopotas, use Dig!" The hippo nodded, using his powerful jaw to open up a hole in the ground to promptly disappear. Jade found herself again in this situation, waiting to see where the hippo would emerge. And, yet again, she had no plan of avoiding the attack. Maybe Aquarius would surprise her and come up with something on his own.
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:13 pm
Ben nodded as the Leader addressed him, showing that he understood the parameters of the battle. He was nervous, to be sure, but he had to try his best. In choosing which Pokemon to send out first, Ben decided that Pidgey would be the better option - he doubted that the Gym Leader would have sent out his best Pokemon first, so neither should he. He needed to save Pikachu for the bigger challenge. Nabbing the pokeball from his belt, he tossed it out and watched as his Pidgey appeared, ruffling his feathers and ready to fight. "Pidgey, you're up! Use your Gust attack!" he called out, Pidgey's wings flapping quickly and kicking up a great gust of wind that he aimed in the owl's direction. He imagined that the area up here had been through a lot of wind, what with being so high up and subject to Flying-type matches.
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:17 pm
Sasha's heels clicked a merry tune against the stone as she walked. Adding to the beat, Sasha had taken out her drum sticks and began gently rapping on nearby surfaces, ignoring the occasional irritated look from people as she did so. Sasha bobbed and sauntered to the tune in her head like she was shooting the introduction to a music video. Rat-a-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat! The world was her instrument, and she was its superstar. Speaking of, Sasha shifted her sticks into one hand and pulled out her phone. "Vingt minutes jusqu'à ce que ma séance photo." she said to herself. Plenty of time! she thought, eyeing the agency in the distance that peeked through the cracks between the tall, needle-point buildings. If she kept this pace, she would make it with ten minutes to spare, which was good. Celeste, her...unique photographer, often ended her shoots early either due to frustration or confidence that she got the perfect shots. There was one point where Sasha witnessed a disgruntled Celeste literally punt one model out of the room. She was apparently being mouthy. You don't mouth off to Celeste.
But it was tedium that vexed her the most. That was when things got truly bizarre. Sasha showed up to one shoot-completely on time, mind you-and saw that Celeste had dressed all of her interns in sparkling, ivory colored dresses (including the boys), and stacked them in a pyramid.
"Look, Sasha! It's historically accurate!" she claimed proudly in her vaguely European accent. She didn't even take any pictures.
Sasha quickened her pace.
18 minutes.
------
Jett's all but immediate retrieval of his snarky comment only caused the gym leader to smirk wider. Newbies, he chuckled. He would grow into the mold eventually. He certainly had this battle down pat, however. Even as busted up as he was, the kid's (he said as if he wasn't easily a few years younger than him) Beautifly was putting up one heck of a fight. Though weaker than the last, the Gust attack was plenty strong enough to take out Beedrill of the fight. The Poison Bee Pokemon spiraled in the air, and was recalled before he could hit the ground with a well-aimed shot by the gym leader.
"Well here it is, my last Pokemon." Bugsy said, looking at the forest behind him. "I have to say, I'm very impressed with your Beautifly. He's quite the scrappy fighter. I'm pumped to see how he performs with some more experience under his belt!" Out from the woods flew a Ledian, a bit late on his cue, who rubbed his eyes groggily. "I know it's a bit early for you buddy but we have a battle to do! Honor is at stake!" That seemed to be the buzz-word to kick the ladybug in the proverbial behind, and the Ledian snapped to attention, raising its four arms in a battle-ready pose. "Let's knock this butterfly out of the sky with a Comet Punch!" With all the moxie one would expect from a ladybug (which is obviously a lot, duh), the Ledian took off, winding up all four of its arms and releasing them in a flurry of blows at the grouchy Aerosmith.
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 3:19 pm
The raven-haired boy and his Beautifly watched as the Beedrill slowly fell, recalled just in time by its trainer. The gym leader didn't seem to mind, though; if anything, he seemed happy with this battle so far. He even paid Jett and Aerosmith a compliment. "Oh, thanks," the boy replied, a tad surprised by the kind words. He smiled self-consciously. "He can be a bit of a handful at times, but I'm glad I met him." Aerosmith didn't take too kindly to being talked about as if he was not flying right there, but his indignant retort was cut short by another bout of poisoning. He fell a few feet before catching himself again, huffing and puffing to stay airborne. Concern flashed across Jett's features, but before he could do much, Bugsy sent his last Pokemon out: a Ledian, his Pokedex told him. "Stay alert, if you can," he said aloud, earning a glare from his Pokemon, which was to be expected. He could battle all day! Aerosmith didn't know why Jett even bothered with other Pokemon; he could solo this gym and then even go for another battle with that owl afterwards--
"Fly," he grunted, leaning back to dodge the first Comet Punch that interrupted his internal boast. But, unfortunately, the next few blows came faster, nailing his tiny body in succession. That Ledian sure packed a punch. Jett winced in sympathy, seeing that his Beautifly was still miraculously conscious after that. His wings were working overtime to keep him afloat, however, and he couldn't hit for anything. He'd be pissed at Jett later, but...
"Sorry, but you're done, Aerosmith," the boy said, half-smiling as he recalled his overworked butterfly. "One victory is enough for you. Besides," he added, retrieving his last Pokeball for the battle, "Scarlet must be getting impatient by now. Athena, let's wrap this up -- Aerial Ace!" He released his Pokemon as he spoke, and the Noctowl emerged silently, looking up at the Five Star Pokemon and canting her head to the right. Finally, she hooted and kicked off, flying at much faster speeds than a beleaguered Beautifly could. Her claws began to glow, and she readied to slash them across Ledian's body in the move that, surely, could not miss. Bugsy would have Falkner to thank for that beautiful, beautiful attack.
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