Pokemon, the Forbidden Star [IC - Not Accepting - PG-16]

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Naomi found herself quite comfortable leaning against Blushy. She had traveled mostly on top of Princess for most of the trip, but she couldn't help but be drawn off the Rhyhorn and onto Blushy's arm. Which the girl didn't seem to like very much. "Soooorry, it's just so comfortable walkin' like this, ya know?" They continued on this way even upon reaching the next town.

 

It was a simple place, but cozy. Seemed like a good place to take a nap. There wasn't a lot of people around, some kids. A muscular redhead was in some sort of arguement with a girl with long, multicolored, hair. She was holding a Venipede and shaking her head with a smile, while the man seemed upset and annoyed

"No one needs four walls, so who cares if I break one of them?" What an odd pair...she would've went over to say hi if Blushy didn't speak.

"We should probably hit the Pokemon Center and leave. There's not much to do here, apparently."

Oh, Pokemon Center. Those places usually had comfy spots to sleep, sounds good....As they neared it however something caught her eye. A fluffy white Pokemon was rolling around between two houses. This one she recognized without having to check the Pokedex. A Swirlix! So this region had Fairy-Types too...

She. Had. To. Have. It.

"ll'be back later guys, m'ona mission!" She said to her companions before skipping off with a grin. This Pokemon would be hers.

 

As she approached, it stopped and turned on its side, showing it's dopey adorable face. Naomi threw a Pokeball as soon as it did, however the Pokemon broke free. "Oh duh! Gotta battle first...er...Go Prin...!" Before her sentence finished, Knight forced its way out of the ball.

Oh yeah.

She had another Pokemon.

Oops.

"Alright, yeah, Knight, that's what I meant. Kay let's do this Knight! Use..." Knight rushed forward in an attempt to Tackle the Swirlix. "Er, yeah that!"

The ball of fluff stuck it's tongue out and rolled away, Knight slammed into the ground.

Naomi hurried over and picked up her Hoppip. "You okay lil guy?" the Hoppip struggled in her grasp and broke out of her grip. It floated after the rolling Pokemon, determined not to give up.

Naomi hesitated, imagining the warm and cozy Center she could be napping in right now, but the she had a strange feeling of determination. Probably inspired by her Hoppip. Either way Naomi decided she would chase this thing down and catch it, even if it took all day.

 

[hr]

 

After twenty minutes of chasing down the Fairy-Type, Naomi and Knight had it cornered. "A'ight Knight let's do this, one more Tackle should do it!"

And that's when the Swirlix started to cry. Giant, somewhat cartoonish, tears ran down it's face as it bawled. "Oh you poor thing, we scared it...Knight hold up." Knight gave her an annoyed look but ceased its attack.

Right then, the Swirlix grinned and stopped crying, launching forward and Tackling Knight.

"Oh, durr, Fake Tears!" They wouldn't be fooled again...Knight attacked once more with another Tackle, crashing into the Swirlix, hard, with a critical hit.

The Swirlix stumbled around in  daze, looking near unconcious. "Kay, time for the Pokeball!" Naomi threw her second ball at the cute pest.

1

2

3

Caught!

"Way to go Knight!" Naomi said, picking up the Hoppip and hugging it tight. "Now let's see..."

Aiming her Pokedex at the Pokeball, she scanned it for her new catch's information.

 

Swirlix, the Cotton Candy Pokemon "Ooooh, tasty......." Naomi zoned out for a moment and nearly missed the rest of the description.

Because it eats nothing but sweets, its fur is as sticky sweet as cotton candy.

Male

Naughty Nature

Level 13

Ability: Sweet Veil

 

"Hmm, I think I'll name this guy....Syrup! Now let's go find the others...and clean this guy's fur, probably got lotta gunk on 'im from rolling around so much..."

[Cosmo.]

Alexander, Naomi and Emily arrived to Bagu Town after a bit of walking out of the forest.

"We should probably hit the Pokemon Center and leave. There's not much to do here, apparently."

"Yes, i agree, but the place looks nice!"

"ll'be back later guys, m'ona mission!"

"Where's she going?! Ugh i guess we'll see her later... Hey after we went to the Pokèmon Center, you wanna go to the SuperMarket to buy some food, i finished my supplies, and probably Naomi will eat anything so we don't have to worry about her"

There was a couple of guys in the town, a muscular boy with red hair and a girl with long multicoloured hair.

"They don't look very right in this town..." Alexander said while looking at them.

 

While he said that, his Ninjask suddenly flew out of the Pokéball and started flying around.

"Oh, no! Llorona come back here!" He said while chasing the Flying bug around

"Yay i got you! Now get back in the Pokéball!" He said while throwing the Pokéball at Ninjask.

"Ouch! I'm so sorry!" He said while running to get the pokéball, he just bumped into the red-haired muscular guy that he saw before, and he didn't look very happy.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

"Yes, yes indeed they are."  He smiled as he answered Corinne's question relating to the Trevenants.  Though he was particularly passionate about raising Bug Pokémon, he did always enjoy both learning more about Pokémon as a whole and sharing what he knew with others.  Once she brought the plates out, he began dishing out finished pancakes onto each of them.  He kept this going until the two of them each had a nice stack of three going for them, which consequently used up the last of his batter.
 
"So, are we planning on staying in this sot for a while or are we going to be traveling throughout the forest?" He hadn't thought to answer the question earlier, mainly because he'd been focusing on cooking up their breakfast without burning the hotcakes.  However, now that he was done with that he could properly answer.

 

"Both."  He chuckled as he looked up at the female, setting aside the pan to cool while he picked up his plate to begin eating.  Harte and Aife were busy helping themselves to some of the Pokémon Food he'd brought along.  "This is going to be my base camp.  I'll make my way out into the forest from here during the day, and I'll return here for the night.  I've sprayed repel around it, and have more than enough to continue doing so so this is a relatively safe place.  You don't have to stick around, you know.  The road through to the next town should be easy enough for you to reach today."  He smiled at the girl, and began digging into his flapjacks.  No fork or other utensils used, he just ate it with his hands.  The water in his canteen was all he used to wash it down, and he had that meal finished off fairly quickly.  Once he was done, he collected the smaller bag containing his Pokémon related supplies, and got ready to head out into the forest.

[JessicaMuddy]

"Hey, Isaac! When I give you the sign, have Porky attack the Trevenant!" Isaac nodded. He knew that a surprise attack was just the thing they could use to defeat the giant ghostly tree. "Jiron, Isaac, now!" Isaac watched as Elchi's Aron leaped out from behind a bush and spun, slamming into the Trevenant. Isaac then saw his chance to strike.

 

"Now, Porky, surprise attack the tree!" Although he was underground, Porky responded to the call, and leaped up from below the Trevenant and bashed its skull into the base of the tree. Swinub landed next to Jiron and let out its own cry. As Porky and Jiron celebrated Isaac saw his chance to end the battle. Isaac reached blindly into his bag and felt a spherical object. "My lucky Pokeball" Isaac started to remember his history with the ball as he held it in his hand. "No. Now isn't the time to be remembering these things. Go, Pokeball! Capture that wild tree!" Isaac tossed the ball at the wild Trevenant. It stared at the ball as it weakly bounced off of the large wooden structure. Suddenly, the ball clicked open and dragged the tree into itself in a bright red light. The ball violently shook as a purple aura surrounded it. "D-Did I catch it?" The ball stopped shaking, yet the purple aura remained. As Isaac picked up the ball he felt uneasy. He stuffed it in his bag and looked at Elchi. "What now?" He asked.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

It was obvious to the leader of the Trevenent he had underestimated these humans. The power in that Aron especially was unexpected. He let itself be “captured” by the larger human when it realized he would lose this fight. This allowed his Natural Cure to take effect and free him from this paralysis. But he refused to be captured. Not for long. He will wait.

This place was...unusual. It reminded him of the forest he just left, however...he could feel that it didn’t stretch out as long. It was limited, if comfortable. Nothing compared to his forest. He would break out of this place when the time was right...he only had to wait for when they weren’t paying attention, and he would be out. He could hear them above, and see shadowy shapes through the top of his prison. He will wait.

This human enraged him, this human was now his enemy, above all others...For now, however, he will wait.

[hr]

The pair of Trevenents had expected this prey to be easy, but it had surprised them by breaking through the confusion long enough to send out a protector.
A strange and terrifying creature that pummeled them with Psybeams.
It proved too much for the weaker of the two and it was knocked unconscious.
The second, however, was made of sturdier stuff.
It still had the power boost from the Growth. So it attacked the strange...thing with a Horn Leech. If the blow landed it not only would do plenty of damage, but also increase it’s own health.
This fight was not over yet.....

[hr]

The human had a Water type, but one with a Flying attack...it had to retreat, eat its berries to recover and wait for day for Harvest to activate. It would be more careful next human it encountered....

[hr]

“At least let me bust a door down or something.” Conner said with annoyance. “It’s warm, they don’t need a door anyway.”
The younger girl who had been traveling with him giggled. “Don’t be silly there’s no reason to make a mess today. Just try and take it easy for now, I’ll make sure you get a chance to bust something later. We gotta find Omega, don’t wanna get into trouble before that.”

Suddenly Conner flinched. Someone hit him from behind.
"Ouch! I'm so sorry!"
He turned around with a glare as Sophie let out a sigh. “Ooooh boy this is gonna be baaad.”
Conner turned slowly to face the kid who had bumped into him. He silently reached for him, and picked him up by the front of his shirt. With a strange outward calmness Conner walked over to the fountain where the kids were gathered, and tossed him into the water.

In the background Sophie burst out into laughter. “Oh man oh man oh man, he looks like a drowned Rattata!” Her loud voice brought attention of everyone around to the scene. But most of the people either didn’t care, weren’t worried, or weren’t comfortable enough to interfere.

[Tesability Black]

The still-creepy face was still present on the cyber duck's face when one of the Trevenant's branches began to glow before punching through the air with it towards Cysero. Before the attack could hit, however, the digitized Pokemon began to glow with a light that went from being white to tinted red before fading, allowing the attack to still hit through the flat surfaces and launching him towards a bunch of berries...but such an action allowed the tree spirit to realize that what it hit with the move was no longer a Normal Pokemon.

 

Instead, Cysero felt hot to the touch, as if he had been a...oh, boy, it turned itself into a Fire Pokemon somehow!

 

"Nothing like Conversion 2," it chirped with a false sweetness before poking a nearby Oran berry with the tip of its beak to pull the juices out and gain its healing effect before beginning to glow once more, this time to a pinkish-purple glow before firing away once more with the spray of Psybeams, these strangely stronger than the last spray, as if it had suddenly gained a STAB with this attack...

 

Throughout all of this, Neos himself was still fighting off the effects of the confusion, accidentally hitting a sharp rock with one of his lower legs hard enough to cause a minor bleeding cut...though it was strange to see yellow blood leave him instead of red...

[Cosmo.]

"Worst week ever!" Alexander thought while getting out of the fountain.

No one except Emily seemed to care that he was thrown in the fountain, and there was still no sign of Naomi.

"ahhh! Wet clothing i hate it! Lucky me i left the bag on the bench! Imagine all the ruined pokéballs, destroyed photos and pokédex, that would've been bad!" He thought while sitting on a bench.

"Oh, well, i think i'm gonna go buy more food now, see you later, if you wanna come too i'm at the supermarket." Alexander said to Emily while running to the Supermarket.

 

"Let's see, what shall we eat? This would be nice!" He said while taking some bread filled with custard, and some currypan.

He payed and left.

 

"Ok, i'm back Emily, and there's still no Naomi!" Alexander said while leaving the food in Emily's hands.

"I'm gonna go to the Pokèmon Center to dry my clothing a bit, see ya later!" he said .

[Sethera]

Corinne nodded at her companion's answers. The usage of Repel brought her relief, though she wondered how long it would last if he were to stay here as long as he had said...

 

"You don't have to stick around, you know. The road through to the next town should be easy enough for you to reach today."

 

The girl tipped her head to the side, contemplating that. What to do, what to do...she had just left Silver on his own... Was he in trouble? A flash of guilt shot through her. To leave now without making sure he was safe...that sounded cowardly. Plus she still wanted to find a certain Pokémon...

 

"No thanks," she shook her head. "There's something I want to do here anyway." The older sister part of her wanted to make sure that everybody had gotten out of the forest safely. Why, oh why didn't they all exchange numbers? Then again, it wasn't her business whether the others were safe or not. Staying in the forest and roaming it would be a perfect way to make sure the others were all right. If she found anybody, then she could help them out. Yes, perfect plan!

 

Not realizing how idealistic and foolish her plan was, the brunette nodded firmly. "If it's all right, I'd like to stay with you. I promise I won't be a burden." She glanced out at the forest, brow furrowing with concern for a moment before her expression cleared. Hopefully those Trevenant wouldn't be out and about during the daytime.

[Maeriberii Haan]

"I guess...yeah. It's over now."

 

With the rest of the ghost trees retreating and the boss being captured by Isaac, silence returned to the forest that night. It was getting quite dark, and Elchi was getting really tired. Though, she was still determined in reaching the end of the forest before the morning, and thus, she decided to not sleep or back down just yet. She walked up and went to get Jiron, who was still quite weak from the repeated head-smashing, but otherwise fine. She gave him a potion to restore his health a bit, then picked him up and holding him just like a baby, cradling him while Jiron slowly fell asleep on her hands. After that, she went towards Isaac and Candice, and after making sure they were fine, Elchi turned around to the other direction.

 

"Hey, we're still quit far from the end of the forest, but I think if we continue our walk now, we'll arrive on the other side before the night become too late. So...let's go!"

 

Mustering the rest of her energy and combating sleepiness in the meanwhile, Elchi went forward and started her way deeper into the forest.

[~British Soul~]

Tilting his head back and forth looking for Corinne, Silver backtracked through the forest to search for his companion, even though he fear that the search may end up being fruitless. "I hope she had a good night's sleep and that she is safe." One thing he did note as he walked though the pathways was that the scenery was somewhat different to what it was last night. He was sure that a battle must've taken place, but he wasn't sure of who the combatants were, not that it was any of his concern anyway.

 

Nevertheless, he seemed to be on the right track, as far as backtracking is concernd, but the next thing he knew, a boy had jumped in front of him from the branches above. "You looking for something or the way out. Either or, I could use the company of another so how about he team up for a bit, I'm Azure by the way."

 

Silver wasted no time in replying to Azure's question. "Well I was searching for my companion Corinne, but I'm sure she'll be fine, so I'm up for teaming up with you and... finding a way out of this place, unless there was something else you needed to do in the forest."
 

[JessicaMuddy]

"I guess...yeah. It's over now." Isaac stopped and though about the events that just went down. He just caught a giant evil tree. Not only that, but his Pokeball that captured the Pokemon had a purple aura emitting from it. "Hey, we're still quite far from the end of the forest, but I think if we continue our walk now, we'll arrive on the other side before the night becomes too late. So...let's go!"

"Oh... Um... Okay, let's go!" Porky slowly walked over to Isaac. As he picked it up he saw it was exhausted. He placed the creature on his shoulder an began walking with the others.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, this is what Bagu Town looks like, huh?" Issac scanned the town for anything interesting, but there was nothing but houses and an inn. "Well, since there's not much to do, should we head into the inn to stay the rest of the night?"

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Stupid human hadn't even noticed it break out of the container. The Trevenent returned to his place in the forest. He was weakened still, but at least he wasn't inflicted with paralysis. He planted his roots in order to regain his strength.

If the boy came back, then he would make him pay.

Or perhaps...he would leave his forest for the first time and track the boy down.

But for now, he will wait.

 

[hr]

 

The attack had not worked as the Trevenent had wanted. "Toooo waaaarm" it groaned. The Horn Leech, despite being powered up by Growth, didn't do much damage to the annoying, now red, creature.

Before it could try and attack again the Pokemon had once more change color. And its next attack hit much harder. hard enough that the Trevenent couldn't handle the damage and toppled over. Even without its trainer this strange Pokemon proved strong enough to fend for itself. "No more. Give up give up." It whined.

 

[hr]

 

"Kay, that's settled, time to find the others." Luckily this was a small town so it wouldn't take long to find them. Unfortunately Naomi was Naomi and she got worn out after passing the first house. "Ya know what. This is a good enough spot." She said to no one in particular before sitting down on the grass and leaning against the wall. She sent Knight out and hugged the Pokemon, who had expected another fight, tight. "Time for your first official Naomi Nap n' Cuddle Time lil' dude."

Knight was not amused.

However Naomi didn't seem to care as she was asleep within moments.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

"No thanks, there's something I want to do here anyway."  James offered a shrug in response to Corinne's explanation of why she was going to stay with him.  That was fine, and it would be safer for the two of them to travel together at any rate.  The assertion that she would not be a burden was unnecessary, as she'd already shown her ability to handle herself.  Anyone that could survive the worst part of the night more or less alone in a forest filled with hostile Pokémon was able enough by his definition.  In any case, he had his goal for the day and planned to go about it.

 

"Well, I'm gonna get started."  He flashed a smile in the female's direction, "you're welcome to come with me if you would like."  Of course he didn't exactly have any intention of waiting too long before he set out.  He gave her about twenty seconds to gather anything she would need, before turning and making his way out into the forest.  He'd seen a pond a little ways away from the campsite, and in fact the pond had been a deciding factor in choosing its location, the day before.  With any luck, it would provide him with the information he needed.  The pond itself was about what one would expect, algae growing along the edges of the water and surrounded by some of the larger trees James had seen.  Of course now he assumed them to be Trevenants resting through the day, so he took great care to avoid stepping on any of their roots.

 

"Alright, let's see what we can see..." he said to no one in particular as he began to examine the muddy banks of the pond.  As he expected, there were a great many tracks to be had.  All sorts of forest-dwellers frequented this place, but he couldn't quite fine- "Aha!"  He dropped close to the ground as he finally spotted it.  A three-clawed footprint lay in the mud with another close by, the apparent gait of whatever creature had made it suggesting that it was what he sought.  Quickly looking around, he noticed some very distinctive marks in one of the trees.  To the untrained eye it looked like someone had gone to town with a machete, but to someone who had spent much of his early life with little to do but learn about Pokémon it stood out as something else.  The creature he sought was known to hone its scythe-like claws on any and everything in the environment, and thanks to that he now had a trail to follow.  On the off chance that the damaged tree was a Trevenant, James removed a potion from his pack and applied it to the injury to speed its healing.  That done, he set off through the forest to follow the creature's trail.

[Tesability Black]

Though it wasn't able to move on its own, Cysero didn't need to in order to frighten the spirit trees into possibly obeying its own orders.

 

"Get Neos either a Lum or Persim berry, then," the sharp-angled Pokemon commanded. "Now."

 

"Mistress, please," Neos suddenly yelled out in his native Pokespeech, the confusion taking a deep and twisted hold on his mind as the Porygon looked towards his partner. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I did wrong!" Eyes still glazed over, though one could see the faint images of a cruel-looking Mew summoning around herself pillars of ice, which began to break apart before showering him with them. As the images moved, his body started reacting to them, even the clothes he wore became cut open at places, looking as if blades of ice has sliced into him. "Please," he let out with a begging tone. "Show mercy..."

 

Knowing that this confusion has gone on for long enough already, Cysero turned back towards the trees and gave a minor growl, though not like the attack of the same name. "NOW," he managed to roar. "Force feed them to him if you have to, but get those berries!"

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

A green-haired girl knelt down between two trees, and looked over the tracks in the dirt . “Yeah looks like I was right Surskit, someone else is after this guy too.” She looked at the small blue Bug at her side with a wild grin. Not that her Pokemon could see this, as her face was covered by a strange mask. The Surskit looked up at her without comprehension.

 

“See right there, obviously a pair of trainers, and they’re headed same way as the Scyther. Whoever this is they’re smart. At least, smarter than the average scrub I come across.”
She stood and stretched, removing the mask for a moment and taking in a few breaths of fresh air. “Alright Surskit, let’s get going.” Placing the mask over her mouth once more, the girl followed the tracks, steadily increasing her pace, as she worked out a pattern in the direction the tracks were headed, until she was going at a jog.

 

This Scyther was hers. There were several others in the forest but there was something special about this one, it was stronger somehow.
That and it was the one she had decided would be hers. She had found it yesterday but hadn't been able to catch it, and instead simply followed it to find its usual area. If she were being honest that likely was the only reason she was so determined to catch this Scyther, she put in a day already for it.

Either way, she would soon have to take a different path as to not run into her competition. If she took...this path, she should still be able to follow along and catch up before long.
She felt drops of water hit her face and glanced up. Clouds were forming, it was beginning to rain. That would make tracking this thing harder, but in return her Surskit was faster in the rain.
If worse came to worse she could fall back to that rundown shelter she had seen about an hour back, though something about that place seemed off...
Doesn’t matter. She was on a mission. The hunt was on. And Diana wouldn’t stop until she caught her prey.

 

[hr]

 

The crazy color-changing Pokemon had spared it, but now it had to offer it's own Lum Berry to the...trainer. Had it not been so injured it would have refused but the thought of the Psybeams spurred it into action, plucking the Berry and shoving it into the babbling trainer's mouth.

It could only hope that was enough....

[Maeriberii Haan]

"Yeah, we definitely should. I'm really getting tired as of-

Wait, where did Candice go?"

 

When Elchi looked back to see Isaac, she couldn't find the whereabout of her other companion, which was odd. She remembered her following the two when they started to traverse the forest, so to have her suddenly missing like this would be quite worrying. Elchi wondered whether she should try going back to the forest to find Candice, but she decided to not doing that for now. And, that reminded her about that boy from earlier, Dennis. Candice probably left to follow him, maybe. Thinking that she left her for that jerk kind of hurts, but Elchi couldn't really bring herself to be frustrated at Candice for this.

 

The two then continued their path towards the inn in the town, and after she paid for the room, Elchi immediately went inside of the two's room, and placed her stuffs immediately and (after a brief scuffle) moved Jiron to his pokeball (so he couldn't eat things in the inn). With that done, Elchi gave off a brief smile to Isaac before she hit the bed and slept soundly throughout the rest of the night.

 

[divider1]

 

The Next Day

 

"Anyway, I'll go find some breakfast for myself and Jiron for now, while doing some sight seeing. Meet me at the entrance to the next route, alright?"

[Sethera]

"Well, I'm gonna get started. You're welcome to come with me if you would like."

 

Corinne nodded, following him without a backward glance. Truthfully, she was curious as to what kind of Pokémon he was looking for. It was a rare bug type apparently...she searched her memory...trying to figure out exactly which he was talking about. Karrablast and Shelmet were fairly uncommon, but not overly so. Same with Paras. Scyther, Pinsir, and Heracross were rare though, as well as Skorupi, Joltik, and Larvesta...

 

Speaking of bugs, wasn't her new Pokémon a bug type? She hadn't yet had a chance to check it out, perhaps it would be wise to do so. Having another teammate on her side wasn't a bad idea. She'd have to do that later, though, when they weren't busy.

 

When they reached a pond, the first thought that popped into her head was Surskit? Surskit were relatively rare, and usually found on still ponds. It stood out to her because its evolution was fairly drastic, not only changing its typing but quite a bit of its shape as well.

 

James started to examine the mud at the end of the pond. "Alright, let's see what we can see..." He seemed to take great interest in a footprint that looked vaguely familiar to Corinne. She was familiar in Pokémon identification as it was another class they taught at the school, but it wasn't her specialty. Hmm...is that? Judging by the size, it was a fairly large Pokémon, so that crossed out quite a few on her mental list. The ones that were left...Scyther, Pinsir, and Heracross...or evolved forms of other bugs.

 

It wasn't until she saw the man pay particular attention to a slashed-up tree that she remembered. "So you're looking for a Scyther?" Scyther were some of the most coveted bug types around, but also the proudest. If you could get their respect, then you would have a loyal companion for life. But getting their respect, there was the rub. And they were also very dangerous. She had heard of overconfident people who had gotten mauled by Scyther after provoking them one too many times.

 

Corinne knew the extent of her abilities. She was fairly decent at battling for her age, her natural cleverness making up for what she lacked in experience. But she was positive that she would not be able to use a Scyther. This man...going after a Scyther. He's either very brave or very stupid. But... She remembered how well his Weedle, Aife--now Kakuna--had listened to him, her skill in battle apparent. If it's him...he might just be able to pull it off.

 

Bug catchers were generally young boys, going through a phase where "bugs are the coolest things ever!" Most ended up moving on when they grew older, or became bug maniacs. Seeing a bug catcher at her companion's age was surprising, but one couldn't deny his skill.

 

Corinne felt her interest pique. Where before, she had been vaguely disinterested, preoccupied with her own goals of catching a ghost, and going along with him for the heck of it, now she wanted to follow him out of interest in what was to come. Would she see what few had seen before? A showdown...between Scyther and trainer? This would be interesting... She followed after the dark-haired man. Living in Hoenn, observing hidden Pokémon, she had learned the art of softening her tread, so her steps were nearly as, if not just as quiet as her companion's.

[Durandamon]

One after another, Emily's partners left. Naomi left to catch a Pokemon, and Alexander got into some trouble with an older kid. The man had red-hair and was quite muscular. Emily was a bit scared, but instead of sitting around doing nothing, she walked up to the red-haired man, with a menacing look. Or at least, the most menacing look she could do, given that the man was at least a foot taller than her. - "Just what do you think gives you the right to treat people like that? Just cuz you are bigger? Well, tell you what, mister..." - As she ranted, Alex walked back next o her, but she ignored him for now, as she was busy scolding the older kid - "And if you can't understand just words..." - Emily pulled out Togepi's Pokeball and pushed it against Conner's chest. - "Maybe I'll have to make you understand by force."

[Cosmo.]

Alexander came back to where emily was with now dry clothes, and he saw her talking and trying to scold the guy from before.

Alexander walked up to her and him trying to make him and emily understand

"Don't worry Emily, it was my fault i should have payed more attention!"

The already pissed off guy, got even more pissed off

"Ok, now he's gonna throw you in the fountain too!"

"Maybe I'll have to make you understand by force." Emily said to the muscular guy that threw Alex in the fountain before.

"Oh no, this isn't gonna end well at all! At least give me your stuff, if this doesn't go well, at least your stuff will not become a stew!"

He said while preparing to watch the battle that was going to start soon.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Conner stared at the girl before him, ranting and lecturing, while Sophie was having a giggle fit to the side. He was getting more and more flustered as this girl went on and on. He didn't understand until the twerp from before came back and he realized they were companions.

"Maybe I'll have to make you understand by force."

Suddenly Sophie's giggling stopped. "Did she really just challenge you? Oh this is going to be GOOD. Take her out Conner, go nuts."

Conner grinned widely, the challenge broke through the drone of the rest of her lecture. "Listen up girlie. You've got a lot to say but that's not gonna do you any good when the moves start flying."

He pushed her arm, holding the ball to his chest, to the side as he pulled out his own Pokeball. Taking some steps back to give the two of them the space to battle, he sent his Pokemon out.

"Come on Marill, it's time to let loose!"

 

Sophie set her Venipede down on the ground and pulled out her guitar and hit a few, very bad, chords. "Rumble time, everyone take cover!" She shouted out with a bright smile.

 

[hr]

 

"Hmm, a rumble? Something goin' on?" Naomi stirred and woke up. She stood and stretched, forgetting the Hoppip in her lap as he tumbled off. "Whoops, didn't see ya there. C'mon let's go, sometin's up." Naomi made her way, slowly, towards the ruckus to see what was what.

[Tesability Black]

When the Lum Berry was placed into Neos' mouth, one of his four sharp-tipped fangs punctured the  super-firm berry's skin by mistake, which allowed the juice within to burst out and hit the taste buds on the false human's tongue. The bitterness was the first thing the false human registered, causing him to jolt from the sudden taste, though he still tossed and turned about while speaking in utter nonsense in any language.

 

The taste did not match what he thought was happening. He wasn't eating anything, so there shouldn't be a taste in his mouth. The Mew that he saw in his mind's eye began to flicker in and out as a dry, then spicy taste hit his yellow-tinted tongue, the latter timed to when the ice in only his view began to melt away and reduce his shiverring.

When the sweetness of the Lum finally shone through, Neos found himself lying upon the ground in the middle of the forest, various parts of his outfit and exposed skin cut shallowly, but enough to bleed, not truly remembering what was going on.

 

"Wha...what..."

 

"Don't bother talking just yet, Neos," Cysero almost commanded of the Ditto in human form. "You were confused until just now." With effort did Neos managed to sit up, holding his head with one hand and wincing, still tasting and feeling the berry in his mouth. "And I suggest swallowing that Lum Berry."

 

Lum? Where did one of those come from? Trying to look around, his odd-colored eyes fell upon the pair of trees, one already out for the count and the other fairly beat-up somehow. He immediately rushed to get onto his feet at the pair, remembering that they were the last thing he saw before...whatever happened to him happened. However, the rush had him back onto his hands and knees as the sudden urge to hurl hit him and hard...though, he wasn't acting on it thankfully...at least not yet...

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The rain seemingly came out of nowhere, the skies having been practically clear when the somewhat older trainer set out that morning.  Now it was like the heavens were coming down upon the forest, and he couldn’t help but grin.  Why should he care that the rain was soaking through his bandages and stinging his wounds when the trail he was following was so very fresh.  James could feel it, he was closing in on wherever this Scyther had gone.  Though his body ached, the exhilaration pushed him onward as he sought his prize.  In fact, it almost distracted him from the sound of something moving in the brush.
 
“Who’s there?”  He called out, turning his head back in the direction of the path.  He wasn’t sure it wasn’t a Pokémon, but he suspected there was a person making those noises.
 
“My my, seems we weren’t as quiet as I’d have liked.” Diana stepped from the brush, one hand on her hip as she looked her competition up and down. “Not at all what I expected. A cripple and some girl. Well you got this far so I suppose that says something. But you should know, that Pokemon you’re tracking is my prey.”  The girl’s comment earned a raise of an eyebrow, and a smirk, from the older trainer.  She didn’t look to be more than sixteen, probably younger actually, and she was already going with the intimidation act.  Well, it was somewhat common among teenagers.
 
“Young lady,” he began as he shifted about to rest his weight more evenly on that metal cane of his.  He trusted his tracking abilities enough to catch up to the Scyther, even if the rain grew worse.  “Seeing Pokémon as prey is entirely the wrong approach to take.  Simply because that is what you see this creature as, I cannot allow you to catch it.”
 
Diana laughed, this cripple was funny.  “Allow? I don’t need your permission for anything. Stay out of my way or things will have to get messy.” Her hand hovered over the Pokeball at her waist and she watched the man’s reaction warily.  James’ smirk widened into an honest smile, and a laugh escaped his lips.  Not a mocking laugh, rather the sort one indulges in when they find something truly funny.  In a moment, he had lifted one of the Pokéballs from his belt.
 
“My dear,” he began as he prepared to send out his first, “I took the business end of a Tauros and I’m still, mostly, in one piece.  Believe me when I say that you do not know what ‘messy’ means.” Eyes travelling to the cane in the man’s hand, Diana thought about his words. That would explain a lot. Maybe this geezer was tougher than she thought.
 
“Arceus, you talk even older than you look.” Diana said, her excited smile covered by the mask. “Fine how about this. We battle, one on one, and whoever wins gets to go after the Scyther. Sounds good?”
 
“That sounds like a fine deal.”  The trainer smiled, and more firmly planted his cane in the mud so that it stood up on its own.  That done, he retrieved a second ball from his belt and held it in his formerly free hand.  “Double, or single?”
 
“Single, don’t want to have you overdo it and have a heart attack on me.” That said, Diana impatiently sent out her Pokemon, an Ekans. “Let’s get going, so I don’t have to spend all day in this rain.”  Responding with only a brief nod, James sent out his own Pokémon.  It was none other than his Kakuna and oldest friend, Aife.  The smile remained on his face, and he awaited his foe to make the first move.  “Let’s take care of this fast, Ekans, Poison Fang the shrimp!” Not wasting any time Ekan opened its mouth wide and, its fangs glowing purple, it launched itself at the Kakuna.  Poisoned fangs met a hardened shell and resistant body, hardly affected by the strike.  James’s smile seemed to widen as he gave his own command.
 
“Aife, show the snake what a real bite feels like.”  The surrounding area was treated to the sound of chitin grinding against chitin as the cocooned Pokémon opened its mouth, and set to bring its jaws firmly shut upon the serpent that had bitten it. Ekans let out a hiss of pain, but otherwise didn’t seem too affected by the attack.
 
“That all you got? Too bad Ekans excels at close-combat. Wrap it now!” Ekans coiled itself around the Bug and began constricting its body.  Of course, all it took was a simple gesture from James and the Kakuna held its ground.  The snake was subjected to bite after bite after bite, Aife was nothing if not persistent. Dania could tell this wasn’t going to work. “Shake that thing off, then use Glare, that’ll show this pest.” Ekans uncoiled and swung its body. It took some damage but freed itself from the small biting menace. Straightening the snake-Pokemon looked directly into the Kakuna’s eyes as its own eyes flashed menacingly, in an attempt to Paralyze the smaller Pokemon.  While Aife did seem to be struck by the effect, one of those wondrous abilities of cocoon-type Pokémon came into play.  The outer layer of her shell fell away, and she was right as rain.
 
“My my, you show some promise.  Aife, how about you show ‘em what it’s like to get wrapped up!”  An affirmative clacking of chitin followed, and the Kakuna fixed her opponent with her gaze before spraying out quite the stream of silken, sticky string. Ekans couldn’t get out of the way before the string covered it, slowing it down and limiting its movement.
 
“This is such a pain…” Diana said, starting to feel a headache coming on. Forcing past that and trying to focus on the enjoyment of a good battle she called out to her Ekans. “Use Poison Sting on the Kakuna, then Bite on the string!” Ekans opened its mouth and shot out a barrage of small needle-like projectiles at the Bug, before chomping down on the string in an attempt to free itself.
 
“Aife, Harden and then move in to finish it off!”  Taking advantage of the foe’s limited movement, the Kakuna used the delay in its firing to reinforce its shell, the little needles plinking off harmlessly like the rain.  As the barrage was ended, and the Ekans turned its attention to trying to free itself, she demonstrated remarkable agility for a cocoon and hurled herself at the Ekans with an open mouth waiting to chomp down once more. Ekans was able to break free of the string, but not fast enough to avoid the Kakuna’s attack. Once more Ekans felt the sharp pain of the Bugs surprisingly sharp teeth.
 
“Can’t take much more of this..” Diana whispered. “Ekans lets show them your strength, Bite back!” Ekans fought past the pain to use her Bite attack on the Kakuna, getting a mouthful of bug in an attempt to end the fight quick as she wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
 
“Aife, harden up and tank one last hit.  Then, take it down.”  As her trainer commanded, the Kakuna reinforced her shell one last time.  That blow struck harder than the last for sure, and left her with hardly anything more, but she had enough for one last go.  Jaws opened, and came clamping down upon the serpent’s face in retaliation. Ekans reared back in pain, before collapsing into the now soaked ground. Several seconds past with no movement before Diana let out a long sigh.
 
“Seems you got this one...Ekans, return.” The young hunter brought back her beaten snake and secured the ball to her side. She walked up to the man shaking her head in wonder. “Of all things, a Kakuna. Well...can’t say I expected that but, you did well for a cripple. Next time we meet I won’t underestimate you.”
 
“Next time we meet, I have my doubts Aife will be a Kakuna anymore.”  He chuckled, and knelt down beside the quite injured Pokémon to administer a few healthy doses of potion to her.  “You know, Scythers will often form social groups.  Odds are there will be two, maybe three others with the one we’ve been tracking.”

“Tempting as that is, think I’ll stick to myself for now, Ekans needs a rest and I sure as hell don’t want to track through this place for long with just that little guy.” She gestured at the Surskit that was currently zipping back and forth, occasionally running into trees. “I’m sure I’ll see you both later. Go get em, Tiger.” She gave James a friendly punch on his right shoulder before walking back down the path. Just as she passed by the girl who had been observing the battle she stage-whispered to her “He’s a tough one, you’ve got yourself a keeper there.” Waving back at the man, she left, whistling for her Surskit to follow.  James, on the other hand, made sure that his no longer so little friend was alright before returning her to her ball for some much needed rest.  A moment was taken to find the trail again, and even though the rain had somewhat diminished it he was able to find it again.  It was time for him to face his next challenge, and he planned to face it head-on.

[Sethera]

Corinne was a bit stymied when some random lady neither of them knew had interrupted their search. But she had been amazed at the battle. It had been nothing short of magnificent. Watching people battle...she had immediately stepped back when the fighting started. She was an observer, not a participant. That was just how she was.

 

When the woman had asked about a double battle she had discreetly stepped back. Not out of cowardice, but she just wasn't invested enough to risk Dru in what she deemed a needless risk. If he ended up fainting, then all she would have to defend herself would be a Pineco she still hadn't actually met. The thought had prompted her to send the little thing out while the others battled. They would be here for a while.

 

To be safe, though, she backed away quite a bit before releasing the bug, just in case it exploded again. When it exited the ball, she aimed her dex at it to get the details, ignoring the happy chirps it made.

 

Pineco, the Bagworm Pokémon

Level 8

Female

Ability: Sturdy

Personality: Impish, scatters things often

Known Moves: Tackle, Protect, and Self-Destruct

 

Then the dex showed the base stats for its species. "Hmm, so you're a defensive type, then," Corinne mused. "That'll be useful in the future."

 

“My my, you show some promise.  Aife, how about you show ‘em what it’s like to get wrapped up!”

 

Corinne glanced back at the battle, noting that the Kakuna looked fine before turning back to her new teammate. "Hmm...do you want a nickname then? Or would you prefer to be called Pineco?" She didn't care one way or another about nicknames, but some Pokémon liked them, her starter being one of them.

 

When the Pineco nodded, the girl went through a tally of names and eventually settled on "Contra," because the Pineco had been so contrary when she first met it. "Well then, Contra, why don't you sit next to Dru here and watch the battle with me." She pointed at the various participants. "That's James, my traveling companion, and his Kakuna, Aife. He also has a Nincada, I think, but that's his main fighter. And over there is a strange woman who's looking for the same Pokémon he is."

 

With Pokémon, intelligence varied depending on the species. Some, like Magikarp, were fairly dull-witted, while others, like Pikachu, could learn to understand human language almost perfectly. She wasn't sure which category Pineco fell under, but she would assume her new teammate could understand unless indicated otherwise.

 

That done, the girl leaned against a tree to watch the battle with her Pokémon, both of whom were fairly quiet, which was normal for Dru, not so much for the Pineco. But, I suppose that makes sense. I wonder what she's thinking...about me, its capture, and the battle. The battle itself wasn't as long as she'd expected. It seemed that Aife had gotten even stronger since her evolution.

 

“Next time we meet, I have my doubts Aife will be a Kakuna anymore.” Corinne couldn't wait for when she became a Beedrill. That'd be something to see.

 

When the woman leaned down to whisper to her, Corinne fought back an automatic jerk. “He’s a tough one, you’ve got yourself a keeper there.” The girl stared at her in puzzlement. What...where had she gotten that...?

 

She shook her head and followed James when he set off again. She would keep an eye out for that girl, in case she showed up again, but for now it was time to continue with their search.

[Tesability Black]

"I wouldn't try to do much right now," Cysero remarked with a firm tone after managing to turn around with incredible difficulty, his dotted eyes focused on the false human for the moment.

 

Seeing that the strange angular creature was focused on the humanmorphed Pokemon at the moment, the Trevenant grabbed a hold of its knocked-out ally and managed to beat roots out of there...not that the Porygon had any issues with that for now.

 

"But they..."

 

"Enough. Once that Lum fully kicks in, it might be a good idea to get out of this place."

 

Neos lowered his head as he slowly tried to stand up, shaking in his footing a little as he did. Night was definally settling around him, so taking on his usual form for flight would be a good thing to do.

 

"Fine," Neos surrendered, releasing a sigh as he did. "You're gonna need to get into your Pokeball, though."

 

Cysero was actually quiet for a few seconds after this comment, eventually leading to him clicking his tongue in annoyance. "Fine, but make the flight quick." With this did Neos pull back his jacket to reveal another Pokeball next to where he kept Cysero's, causing a look of confusion to appear on the Virtual Pokemon's face. "Wait, when---" Before the question could be asked, the Porygon was recalled into his 'ball before Neos looked around in all directions. Satisfied that he was alone, he Transformed out of his human form and back into his Pidgeot one, making quick work to Fly out of there and onto the next town...

 

~The Next Day~

 

Man, he could snore...

 

Neos had managed to get to the next Pokemon Center late into the night and had uncerimoniously passed out on one of the couches in the main room, thankfully keeping his human form when he did do so. In fact, he didn't wake up until the middle of the day and that was only because Cysero popped out of his ball and onto the false human's chest before poking him in the ribs with his beak.

 

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

 

"Ah, what?!" Neos fell off the couch at the sudden awakening, flipping the Porygon onto his back while the false human landed flat on his face. "Ow..."

 

"Brilliant," Cysero grumbled as he tried and failed to flip itself over, wiggling his limbs in the air. "Now, pick me up, a******..."

[JessicaMuddy]

"Yeah, we definitely should. I'm really getting tired as of-

Wait, where did Candice go?"

Elchi looked back at a confused Isaac, who hadn't noticed Candice's disappearance. He had no idea where she could have gone off to. It's not like she knew the region all that well. Isaac continued to follow Elchi to into the inn in Bagu Town anyways, and after giving a small wave to Elchi, slumped into his bed and fell asleep, with his Swinub lying on top of him.

 

The Next Day

 

Isaac woke up and jumped out of bed, basically throwing Porky onto the ground while doing so. He walked outside the inn and saw Elchi with her Aron, presumably waiting for him. As Isaac approached her, Elchi started to speak. "Anyway, I'll go find some breakfast for myself and Jiron for now, while doing some sight seeing. Meet me at the entrance to the next route, alright?"

"Sure, sounds like a great idea." Isaac unzipped one of the side pockets of his bag and pulled out a PokeNav. It looked very similar to the PokeDex, though it was more like those "PokeGear" things Isaac had heard of from the Johto Region. Isaac flipped it open and checked the time. "It's 9 O'clock now, so how about we meet up at 3?"