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It was getting late. Pushing onto Route 2, Graham took a look around for a flat area away from tall grass so he could set up camp. With the help of his Pokemon, he was able to get a campsite built on the upper beach (far enough away so high tide wouldn't catch him by surprise) and even catch some fish for dinner. Lighting the campfire took some effort as he had no Fire-type Pokemon, but in the end he managed to get a flame going to cook the fish. He then reached into his bag and fished around for the Pokemon Food he made sure to include upon starting his journey. He was a tad bit surprised he managed to get 6 Pokemon on him early on, but that was fine. He had enough bowls for everyone.

And so they ate.

After their meals, he washed the bowls with some bottled water (as neither of his water types had access to Water Gun or a similar water move) before rolling out his sleeping bag over a towel. He then set with his Pokemon to watch the waves for a while until they got sleepy (excluding T.T. with his Insomnia).
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Mudkip (Kippers) / Male / Received at Valerian's Lab / Level: 8/ Holding: Nothing / Ability: Torrent /Atk: Tackle /Atk: Growl /Atk: Mud Slap /Atk:
Shinx (Lucius) / Male / Caught on Rt. 1/ Level: 7 / Holding: Nothing / Ability: Intimidate /Atk: Tackle /Atk: Leer /Atk: /Atk:
Hoothoot (T.T.) / Male / Caught on Rt. 1/ Level: 5 / Holding: Nothing / Ability: Insomnia /Atk: Tackle /Atk: Growl /Atk: Foresight /Atk: Hypnosis
Nincada (Sheena) / Female / Caught on Rt. 2/ Level: 5 / Holding: Nothing / Ability: Compoundeyes /Atk: Scratch /Atk: Harden /Atk: Leech Life /Atk:
Shiny Lotad (Miror B.) / Male / Caught on Rt. 2/ Level: 6 / Holding: Nothing / Ability: Swift Swim /Atk: Astonish /Atk: Growl /Atk: Absorb /Atk:
Ralts (Lloyd) / Male / Caught on Rt. 1/ Level: 3 / Holding: Nothing / Ability: Trace /Atk: Growl /Atk: /Atk: /Atk:

So now Nolan was up to four pokemon out of the six he could carry, and he still didn't really know much about each of them. Kind of hard to come up with nicknames for pokemon who were strangers to him. Besides, there was more than one way to train, and this trainer really didn't like the thought of beating up wild pokemon just because they were available. But he did stay around Route 2 for a reason.

Walking down to the beach, Nolan now let all of his pokemon out of their pokeballs, with Dosu getting a chance to finally swim and stretch in the sea. He did find a small rock outcropping where the waves were gentle, and he could sit next to the water while getting a good view of the tidepool that formed in the eddies of the rocks. Shinx spent most of his time poking and prodding Nincada, wiggling with joy whenever the bug turned as it sensed the cub coming closer. Snivy again was sunning herself, and Nolan's Magikarp was swimming close to the other wild pokemon who called this place their home.

Nolan rinsed out his shirts in the sea, wringing them clean, and laying them out on the rocks to dry. They'd be stiff and itchy, but it beat stinky. But Nolan was getting tempted for a swim once Shinx started to paddle around, and even Snivy was putting her feet into the water. Nincada didn't seem to like the sunlight though, and he found cool, damp sand to burrow into, with just his antennae poking out the top, waving around. Quickly changing into his bathing suit, Nolan slipped into the tidepool, careful not to step on anyone down at the bottom.

A thought occurred to him. "Snivy, can you swim?"
The Grass Snake huffed, offended, but after a few seconds she shook her head no. Although, no one laughed at her, so she allowed Nolan to pick her up to gently float her on the water. And the rest of the daylight hours were really just helping the Grass pokemon learn to swim to the point that she and Shinx and Magikarp were racing, with Nincada being the starting point and finishing line. Even though that bug's eyesight was poor, he had a real knack for detecting the winners. Nolan learned more about Nincada, and he was sure all the swimming could toughen up his pokemon. But he was really just happy to have the chance to do something nice for Snivy in return.

It was all incredibly fun, until the sun started to dip low beyond the horizon. Nolan hadn't even been watching the time, but now that the sky was starting to pinken, he sort of panicked. Galloping out of the water, he hurriedly put his clothing back on while his skin was still wet and sandy. There was no time to waste. His pokemon, confused by his urgency, all gathered on shore while the human pulled on his socks and shoes, and stuffed everything else into the bag. Dosu was returned, and the other three hopped, skittered, and trotted after Nolan.

Still dripping, Nolan could see less and less the darker it was getting, and now Route 2 was starting to get sort of ominous as night crept up on him. He hated being outside after dark, but he didn't know how far the Ruins were from here, and he didn't know if he could get back to Blyse City without showing up bruised and scratched and half out of his mind. He shivered in the breeze, cursing himself for being this stupid.
"Niv niv!" Snivy pointed down the beach at a slowly dying fire next to a tent. Snivy and Shinx were fine and drying quickly after shaking off the water, but Snivy knew that humans didn't have that luxury and were prone to catch colds. With Nincada leading the way, they brought Nolan over to the small campsite that another trainer had built. A Hoothoot blinked down at them as they gathered a few small twigs nearby to put on the embers. Now that Nolan was here, all he wanted to do was get warm and stay near the light. Snivy was looking severely at the Hoothoot, as if to say 'don't you dare'.

Finally Snivy smiled when she believed she reached a silent understanding with the Hoothoot, nodding at the Owl pokemon. With Shinx sitting to one side and Nincada at the other, Nolan was just glad to get warm and completely dry. Maybe looking for a Fire pokemon would be a good idea in the future, although, camping outdoors really wasn't his idea of good fun. It really was all different when it was dark, and he hoped no Ghost pokemon made their homes around here.

But he'd eventually have to look around and try to come up with a plan. Nolan couldn't spend the entire night awake next to some other trainer's tent. Shinx had other ideas, and he was already curled up on the beach sand, snoozing away. Nincada was wide awake, but Snivy was yawning. Nolan envied the Hoothoot for a second, since it seemed just as comfortable in the dark as Nincada, but he did think he had a solution.
Speaking softly, he asked the Hoothoot, "Do you know where the nearest shelter is around here? Like a pokecenter, or an empty cabin?"

Well, that was no good. Either the Hoothoot didn't know or it just wasn't telling. Feeling a little frustrated, Nolan hoped it was the former and not the latter. However, he did still at least try speaking to the Owl again.
"Would your trainer know of any good place nearby? See ... I don't have a tent or anything. Or really anything to sleep on."

Snivy meanwhile was taking the initiative, because it would do no good if her trainer got no sleep. That would cramp her growth already on the second day, and how else was she supposed to evolve to her full potential? Since Shinx was already dozing away in dreamland, she started giving directions to Nincada, gesturing exaggeratedly to make sure the half-blind bug could understand.
"Nivv nivvy, snn." And she waved towards Nolan and then towards the tent. Unfortunately, Nincada got the wrong idea. Instead of looking for their own shelter, the Trainee pokemon thought this meant to take the other human's shelter, and he skittered right over tent so he could try to knock it down and maybe start dragging it away afterward.

(( 60% accuracy on the Hypnosis, right? So that looks like a miss. ))



Nincada paused, feeling strange and sort of woozy, but shrugged off the Hypnosis this time, and started to poke and snatch at the tent's poles with his front claws, shaking the canvas. If the squawking and the moving tent didn't wake up the trainer inside, he would be a very, very deep sleeper indeed. But none of this was what Nolan wanted, and alerted too by the Hoothoot's cries, he quickly tried to stop the bug, scrambling to his feet.
"No, no, no, Nincada, stop that! That's not yours!"

Snivy sighed. She supposed a dirty bug really was only good for so much after all, but right now she'd let this be Nolan's problem. The noise woke up Shinx as well, and the little cub raised his head to watch the going's on, utterly confused. These kinds of things never happened when Shinx was wild, but it looked sort of like fun! Nolan had picked up Nincada, but the surprised bug pinched on tighter to the tent, making it a tug-of-war between pokemon and trainer. Nolan was also trying to console the Hoothoot,
"Shh! Quiet!" He ordered in a harsh whisper, "No, no, don't be angry, Hoothoot. Gah, let go, Nincada!"

Freezing in place, Nolan dropped the Nincada, and only then did the flustered Trainee bug leg go of the tent and skitter back by Shinx and Shivy. Caught red handed! Or well, it wasn't like that at all, but Nolan couldn't help but to feel that he was breaking some law. It was rude to wake someone who's sleeping and mess with their personal belongings to boot.
"S-sorry! I wasn't trying to steal it. Something just got into my pokemon, and it started to attack it for some reason. Nincada, look what you did!"
Nincada didn't like that accusatory tone from his trainer one bit, and retorted buzzingly with, "Ninca, nincaaaaa!" And he burrowed under the sand.
Nolan felt like he just got a door slammed in his face by a pokemon, but he could only be so apologetic until he knew the full story.

"Niv!" Snivy pointed at Graham, and since the other trainer was awake now, she thought they should just ask about shelter anyway. Nolan would just have to talk to Nincada later.
"Um, well, I was just really looking for a place to sleep, but I wouldn't take someone else's tent. I don't have camping gear, and it got too dark before I made it back to Blyse. I saw the fire, but I don't suppose you know any place around here that's safe?"

"Uh, well ..." But any excuse that came to mind was incredibly lame, so Nolan just trailed off with a small groan. He'd just have to bite the bullet. "Yeah, you're right. I should have been watching the time, or been better prepared before going out this far. It is only my first day."
Nolan did try to put a brighter spin on things, yet that too came out pretty lackadaisical, "And at least I don't think there's anything else I forgot. I have the basics like food and water. A map. First aid, potions, and um, I just didn't think ..."

But there really was no point in trying to make himself look like any less of an idiot when he had really proved that. A closed mouth gathers no foot. Besides, he really didn't want to be out in the strange Etrua region entirely alone with just pokemon. Nolan quit his rambling with a heavy-hearted sigh. The other, and much better prepared, trainer already said he could just hang out around here. Safety in numbers and all, maybe? But this did mean that Nolan had no better option than sleeping out under the stars. His parents would be horrified if they saw him now.
"Thanks, anyway, and I didn't mean to make your Hoothoot angry either. Uh, my name's Nolan, and ... I haven't nicknamed any of my pokemon yet. Oh, except Dosu."

But now that was settled, or as close as it would come to being settled, Nolan went over to where Nincada had disappeared under the sand. But not really sure what to do, he just squatted near the underground bug and had a rather forlorn look while he stared at the patch of disturbed sand. Maybe Nincada won't be mad at him for very long?

Seeing the darknes take cover, Chael returned all but Argos, who lay unconscious in his arms. He pocketed the Pokeballs and said clearly to the Elite Four "It's getting late. I'm going to go set up camp, you're welcome to join if you don't have Pokemon League duties." The boy turned and saw a faint light in the distance. Two trainers had grouped up for the night. He needed to keep on his track anyways. He decided it best to camp away from the forest so he headed out towards the other two trainers, not giving another glance to the Elite Four, who's name he didn't know yet. Yes, he stopped the match but he needed to make sure he found a place of rest while the sun was down.

They were on Route Two as it seemed. A trainer with the Nincada seemed to still be awake so he asked "Hey, would you mind if I camped out here as well? This seems to be one of the few places predators haven't walked around, with the collective trainer Pokemon and fire." A passed out Totodile was in his hands, as the Nincada trainer had seen Argos had been defeated by the Elite Fours Absol.



Totodile (Argos)/Male/Valerians Lab/Level: 12/
Holding: Nothing/Ability: Torrent/
Atk:Scratch /Atk: Leer/Atk: Water Gun/Atk: Rage

Ratatta (Fear)/Female/Route 1 /Level: 12/
Holding: Nothing/Ability: Guts/
Atk:Tackle/Atk: Tail Whip/Atk:Quick Attack /Atk: Bite

Eevee (Tsuki)/Male/Route 1 /Level: 9/
Holding: Nothing/Ability: Adaptability/
Atk:Tackle/Atk: Tail Whip/Atk:Helping Hand /Atk: Sand Attack

Timburr (Bruce)/Male/Route 2 /Level: 9/
Holding: Nothing/Ability: Guts/
Atk: Pound/Atk: Leer/Atk:Focus Energy /Atk: Bide

Blitzle (Lizzy)/Female/Route 2 /Level: 10/
Holding: Nothing/Ability: Lightning Rod/
Atk: Quick Attack/Atk: Tail Whip/Atk: Charge /Atk:   

Chael's Bag- 
1xPokedex 
2xPokeballs 
4xPotions