Pokémon: Tipping Point [IC]

[Tesability Black]

"Fighting chance...heh, I'm actually considered a Normal/Fighting Pokemon in this form," Neos remarked off-handedly as he took back the 'dex. "So, I have more of a 'Fighting' chance than you think," he said with a smirk before sliding it back into one of the pockets on the inside of his jacket.

 

A sigh escaped him as he glanced back towards the entrance of the gym. "I said I would help out that particular nurse with recent issues at the center, actually," he admitted before looking back towards Fern. "Here's hoping that the next time we battle, I don't lose my Arceus-damned head in the middle of it." Stepping backwards, he rose a hand to give the peace sign with a hand before turning full around and walking out of the gym proper.

 

~~~

 

Within a few minutes, he was back in the Center, stretching his arms out as he approached the nurse, keeping his voice low so that only she would hear him. "So...your Warmink mentioned something about flooding in the back rooms, I may be able to help you out with that."

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Garbit wasn’t sure why, but the sight of seeing the nurse happy put a smile on his face, it was like this with his pokemon, but he never questioned it then, so why was he questioning now...

 

That was when Neos came it, just in time to interrupt his train of thought, again. Garbit didn’t mind it though, the stuff Neos said was more important than his internal conflicts anyway, this place helped pokemon, and it was in a terrible state, they needed any help they could get.

 

”I…” Garbit couldn’t seem to get the words out as more than a mumbled whisper the first time he tried, he had no idea way he was so anxious though. “I… I… IWantToHelpTo!” The boy suddenly blurted out, probably startling at least one of the three other people in there.

[Htamret]

Well the Magnitude wasn't as strong as Ashley hoped, but beggars can't be choosers, she supposed. What she didn't expect was for her opponent's Pokémon to flat out disappear. That dopey-looking snail looked like it would be a pushover, but if it had something like that up its sleeve, who knows what else it was hiding? She was going to get her Geodude to dish out some damage with a Rollout, but her Pokémon couldn't target something it can't see, so that left only one option. Hopefully the forest could take another attack...

 

"Pebble, use Magnitude again! Let 'em have it!"

[Draconus297]

Without phasing back into sight, the Phasnail audibly accepted the order- "Snail! Pha!" and fired off a Shadow Ball that rocketed through the dense forest at where Geodude was . . . landing a devastating hit mere moments after the Rock-Type hit the ground again with its fist.

 

Suddenly, several of the trees snapped in all of the shaking, and groups of Pokémon fled the breaking timber as the Pokédexes simultaneously chirruped, <<Magnitude 7!>>

 

In shock from the unexpected blow, Phasnail reopened its electric-blue eyes, and in doing so became visible, the quaking having knocked it over onto its side as its yellowish "body" sought stable ground to right itself.

 

This was quite the predicament- if Phasnail could safely land a second Shadow Ball, Pebble was done for . . . but if it couldn't right itself, it was merely a punching bag for Rollout, and who knew how many more hits it could take after two above-average power hits with Magnitude, Recover or no Recover.

 

---Thornbay City Pokémon Center---

 

"Y-yeah," the nurse admitted sheepishly. "The pipes in the back room ruptured, and with how low the doors are cut, I can't get back into my private room in the back without spilling dirty water all over the place . . . Arceus, the padding in my mattress has to be so rotten by now . . ." She whimpered. "I'd have asked Fern for help, because Thisspark are very good at sucking up water . . . but her Predincense just scares me," she admitted. "They're vicious, violent, crafty . . . and hers is some kind of prime example of that. I almost swear it wants to eat me."

 

Turning to Garbit, she smiled, "If we can drain the water in the back and get the pipe fixed, I would appreciate the extra help in helping save anything of mine that hasn't been ruined by spending a few weeks underwater . . . but the gauze on your leg should probably stay clean, above all else. You understand?"

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

"So stay above the water level? Got it!" Garbit said, going to sit on the edge of the table. "I'll just see if my pokemon want to..." It was then that he remembered the types of his two friends. "Nevermind I guess..."

 

Looking around he looked for a platform or something he could step off onto. It wasn't much luck however, though that probably was because the nurse had fireman carried him onto this thing. "Could someone help me off of this thing? The boy asked no one in particular, but he seemed to be looking at Neos while he said it.

[Tesability Black]

The false human chuckled as he heard the boy mumble a request for help, a small smile on his face. "Brace yourself, then," he remarked before reaching behind Garbit, hooking one arm around the kid's arms and under his shoulders at roughly the same time he hooked another arm under the boy's knees. Lifting him up with no real effort, Neos lowered him closer to the ground before carefully lowered the arm under the knees so that Garbit could carefully adjust on his own how much weight he put on the injured limb. Only once Garbit gave a form of indicator that he would be able to stand on his own did Neos let him go fully and look towards the nurse.

 

"Lead the way...and you might want to either shield your eyes or wear sunglasses at first." While that was admittedly more aimed at the nurse, it was still valid advice for Garbit to follow should he decide to truly come with.

[👀 REP 👀]

Thornbay City

---

 

Daniel tried his best not to lose his footing as the ground beneath him shook. He turned to the battlefield to see his Phasnail had reappeared on the battlefield... and was now toppled over. This was a rather bad predicament to be in, however, the Geodude didn't seem to be in the best condition either. The Shadow Ball had landed its mark. The situation was rather interesting, as he was certain another Shadow Ball or two would be able to knock out the rocky opponent. However, Phasnail had just taken a heavy hit itself, and was a prime target to start getting beat up by an onslaught of attacks. Firing a Shadow Ball right now would probably be a mistake, as it would be fairly easy to dodge and leave the snail open for an attack. An idea came to Daniel. "Phasnail, Recover!" He yelled out, his eyes intense. 

[Htamret]

"Woah!" Ashley exclaimed as she almost lost her balance.

This was more like it. Perhaps in surprise, the snail-like creature re-appeared and was knocked over. Ashley tried to think quickly, though it was hard to over the sound to her heartbeat. So this is what battling is like. She knew it was exciting, but she didn't expect it to be so... thrilling. Although she wasn't the one actually fighting, she felt for her Pokémon.

"Alright, it's tipped over," she muttered to herself. "Now it wide open for-"

 

"Phansnail, Recover!" Her opponent yelled out with a strong look in his eyes.

 

Dammit, that won't do. Hopefully that Rock Polish paid off, even if it was only one...

 

"Pebble, use Rollout!" she called to her Pokémon, emotion causing her voice to crack. "MAX SPEED! You can do it!"

[Draconus297]

The Phasnail shimmered white as it healed . . . just barely in time, before getting struck in the sensitive underbelly by a rapidly rolling Geodude.

 

"PHA!" it groaned, finally actually reacting to an attack with more than surprise.

 

"Dude . . . dude . . ." the Geodude panted as exhaustion and pain began to mount, taking a wide arc to go for the next hit with Rollout.

 

---Thornbay City Pokémon Center---

 

The young Joy led the child and Ditto to the back of the Center, grabbing the doorknob of what should have been her room nervously. "Okay, the second this door opens, weeks worth of dirty water is going to come spilling out, so I'm going to need you to be off the ground, young man," she said with conviction. "I don't care how you do it, but that leg cannot be within about half a foot of the floor, you understand?"

 

Looking pleadingly at Neos, she put a forearm before her eyes and slowly, carefully turned the knob . . . still too hesitant to actually open the door and see the state her things were in.

[👀 REP 👀]

Thornbay City

---

 

Daniel watched as the Geodude slammed into the snail as it finished recovering, gritting his teeth. Both Pokemon seemed exhausted from the battle, as his eyes followed the Geodude that was making its arc towards Phasnail. He was nervous, but this was his plan. He waited for the Geodude to get closer before making his move. "Phasnail, Shadow Ball!" He commanded his Pokemon when the opponent was close enough to not be able to dodge it. Hopefully this attack would be enough to faint the Geodude, because otherwise it would be his snail would be the one to go down.

[Tesability Black]

Neos picked up Garbit, allowing him to perch on his back much like one would a smaller child. "Sorry about this, but it'll make sense in a second," he whispered to Garbit before continuing. "I'd suggest keeping your eyes closed and covered to avoid being blinded."

Seeing the nurse's hesitance, Neos placed a calming hand over hers before saying, "Back up and let me handle this. Please."

When the nurse would feel comfortable enough to let go without opening the door, Neos took the handle itself and took a deep breath. "One...two..." Without even saying another number, Neos did three things at once.

One of them was suddenly open the door to allow the water to flow out.
Another was rapidly-transform from human to Ninetales, completely skipping the step of taking on his base form in the process and netting a groan of pain from him.
The last was release a ball of heated light, a miniature sun, into the room after rushing into it and the water remained against his legs.

Garbit would see his world brighten, even with his eyes closed and his arm covering both of them. From the outside, it looked like the small sun moved from the Ninetales, through Garbit, and into the air while stopping just below the ceiling. However, Garbit would feel no heat from the light as it moved through him. The heat only began when he noticed it fading slightly.

[Htamret]

After the snail-like Pokémon received her Geodude's Rollout, Ashley thought she had this battle in the bag. Though it had managed to use Recover, there was still a chance. However, she could tell that her own Pokémon couldn't take much more. This battle would quickly come to a close. No matter who won, it would be a useful learning experience. Hopefully the forest wasn't too badly harmed by the repeated earthquakes. As her Geodude went for another pass toward her opponent's Phasnail, she took a quick look around. It wasn't great, but it didn't seem horrible. At least neither of them were using Fire-types...

 

"Phasnail, Shadow Ball!"

 

Ashley grimaced as she heard the command. There wasn't much she could do since her own Pokémon was travelling at a speed that would make it almost impossible to slow down.

 

"Pebble, try to dodge it! Swerve out of the way!" She called out, hoping that the creature could react in time.

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Garbit made no objection to Neos as he was picked up, in fact, he was probably holding the shapeshifter a little bit too tightly, not that the kid would notice that unless something was said to him. He waited as Neos used his move, even turning away from the bright light the pokemon in their new form had conjured up. At first it was only slightly away, but as it got hotter Garbit had managed to be turn himself directly away from the sun, so that he could take his jumper off without getting blinded by the light as he removed his arm from his face and opened his eyes.

 

Underneath the striped piece of clothing he had been wearing up to now was a red short sleeve shirt, and a necklace made out of a small stick, no bigger than 3 inches attached to a piece of string. Once he saw it, the boy just stared at it for a good couple of minutes, before wrapping his jumper around his waist.

[Draconus297]

It happened in the span of a single second.

 

Pebble, moving too quickly and far too close to dodge, took a Shadow Ball to the face right as it caught Phasnail in Rollout.

 

The dust cloud kicked up was fairly large, and incredibly anime . . . and as it cleared, both Phasnail and Geodude were unconscious, Pebble stuck partially in her opponent's shell as the phantasmal "body" seemed to have vanished. The Pokédexes confirmed it:

 

<<Mutual KO!>>

 

---Thornbay City Pokémon Center---

 

The young nurse shielded her eyes against the bright light . . . before gasping.

 

"I-it's . . . dry. I guess the pipe got blocked or something . . ." She stammered, unable to process the knowledge that she could access her room. "It smells a bit, but it's fine otherwise!"

 

Excitedly, she went to hug Neos . . . who was now a Ninetales. "Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Drought."

 

It was a small room, only half the size of the guest rooms everyone else had stayed in, but the nurse's had its own amenities- a full bathroom instead of the half-bath Neos had washed his face in the previous night, a small kitchenette, and a queen-sized bed instead of the twin mattresses everyone else had got.

 

The mattress was utterly ruined; days underwater had led to it becoming infested with mold and a few idle Remoraid who now flopped in the absence of a place to live. There had apparently been posters on the wall at some point, but the ink was stripped from them, and even without looking at the small dresser against the wall, anyone would be able to tell that it had been underwater, too- the nurse's non-uniform clothes were definitely going to be waterlogged at best, destroyed at worst.

 

Still, there were some things that looked okay- a small collection of crystal statuettes of various people and Pokémon from around the world sat on the shelves, slimy bit otherwise unharmed. The slime was apparently recognized by the little Cragmite, though, as it exited its Pokéball and eagerly climbed to try to get at the small, beautifully etched pieces of glass.

 

Bashful, the nurse grinned, "These are my pride and joy. My sisters send me pictures of the neat people and Pokémon they meet, and I make these statues from them! Look, I have Cynthia . . . and Red, can't forget him . . . the red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage, I even made sure to use red glass . . . Made them all myself, out of the sand by the lake!" She mildly boasted.

[Htamret]

<< Mutual KO!>>

 

Ashley's PokéDex chirped out, stating the results of the battle. She returned her Pokémon.

 

"Nice job, you deserve a rest." she said as a bright light from the Pokéball absorbed the unconscious Geodude. It was a tie, not what she was hoping for, but better than a loss. Her second battle under her belt, her body relaxed, releasing tension she didn't notice until it was gone.

 

"Guess we're equal, at least for now," Ashley said, walking to Daniel and offering a handshake. "Nice job. I learned a lot from that."

 

She surveyed the forest which was in worse condition than when they started.

 

"Might want to watch your step on our way back to town." She said to Daniel, giving an uneasy chuckle.

[Tesability Black]

Thankfully for him, the padding that was around his neck gave Neos a buffer on how tightly Garbit was holding on for dear life to during the shift, allowing him to still breath unimpeded.

"I-it's . . . dry. I guess the pipe got blocked or something . . ." He heard the poor nurse stammer from outside of his field of view. "It smells a bit, but it's fine otherwise!" Soon after the Drought did its job of drying up the room, though it was too late to save most of the things in here, he felt another pair of arms trying to hug him.

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Drought."

A minor chuckle leaving the Ninetales' throat, he sat his rump on the ground to allow Garbit to easily slide off his back before returning back to his chosen human form...and laying eyes on the Remoraid. "...well, sheet," he remarked to himself before his eyes laid upon a set of crystalline figurines that she started talking about. Unable to help approaching them, he found himself studying one of them in particular, the one that was linked to a figure named 'Red'.

"That looks kind of like..."

[👀 REP 👀]

Thornbay City

---

 

"Mutual KO..." He repeated the words that the Pokedex had let out. Things didn't quite turn out how he had expected to, but at least he didn't flat out lose. Daniel reached to grab his Pokeball, recalling the Phasnail back. "You did good, bud." He said as the beam enveloped the now unconscious snail, returning it to the Pokeball. He took the time to reflect over what had happened in the battle... he was sure he had made the right calls, and yet they tied. Both the Phasnail and the Geodude were at equal footing, at least Daniel thought so. He began thinking where he had made mistakes in his plans...

 

"Guess we're equal, at least for now," Ashley broke Daniels train of thought as she walked up to him, offering a handshake. She seemed less tense than when they were battling. He hadn't noticed it, but Daniel had also loosened up after the battle. It was an intense one, after all. "Nice job. I learned a lot from that." He was stunned for a second, before nodding his head.

 

"So did I." He replied, accepting the girls handshake. He awkwardly paused for a second, not knowing what else to say. Finally, he replied, letting go of the girls hand. "I look forward to battling you again." He watched as the girl took a survey of the area around them, causing him to do the same. He hadn't noticed how much damage they had done to the terrain around them. 

 

"Might want to watch your step on our way back to town." She said to Daniel, giving an uneasy chuckle.

 

"Yeah..." He simple said, still looking around him. He was amazed at how much damage they had actually done. Sometimes he forgot just how strong Pokemon really were.

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Even after getting his focus away from his necklace, Garbit still wasn’t 100% with it, that was until he felt the surface under him slip. Oh, yes! He was still on Neos wasn’t he?

 

”S-sorry’ Garbit said, clumsily sliding of his friend. He was slightly sad to see them morph back into a human, but he managed to convince himself that the guy probably had a reason for it, probably humans, the selfish bastards.

 

That’s when he got distracted by the Cragmite jumping out of his pokeball. He had to give a slight giggle at how enthusiastic it was to get at the carvings. He couldn't enjoy it for long however as the Remoraids in the room were obviously.

 

“...Made them all myself, out of the sand by the lake!"

 

Wait, lake? “What species of pokemon would you normally find there?" The boy asked quizzically.

[Draconus297]

Thornbay City was bright and beautiful as the two young trainers returned to town, the morning sun glittering on the lake in the distance, and on the shards of broken glass that used to be the greenhouse-themed Gym.

 

A few odd residents poked their heads out of their homes, before sleepily returning to their abodes- 10 AM was too early to be doing anything on a Sunday morning. Sleepy small-town life.

 

---Thornbay City Pokémon Center---

 

Turning to Garbit, the nurse grinned, "At the lake? Mostly just Remoraid and Barboach, the occasional Basculin or Magikarp, and," she whispered conspiratorially, "if you're lucky, you might get to see a Stealthray." Returning to her usual tone of voice, she laughed and added, "but those seem to like the other side of the lake more, probably due to all the free meals they're getting by stealing workers' lunches by Roselode Quarry."

 

Cleaning the slime off her little glass figures and flinging it to the ground for an excited little Cragmite to gather up, she perked up at hearing Neos speak. "Looks like who? Are you a friend of his?"

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

"Okay..." The boy took all the information from the nurse and then, once he was sure he had it all sorted out, got out his pokedex and pointed it at one of the flobbing pokemon.

<<Remoraid, the Jet Pokémon. Water-Type. In the wild, they spend most of their development sticking closely to Mantine to feed off their scraps. However, like many oceanic Pokémon, many are stranded in inland lakes from the flood surge in early winter, and with no natural predators their numbers quickly multiply. Evolves into Octillery.>>

“Miss?” He said, a little more cuteness purposefully to try and get her attention, being returning to his default voice. “Do you have a tank we could borrow to take these Remoraid back to the lake?” He then giggled at the cragmite that was bouncing excitedly around the slime, only just noticing he came out of the pokeball for it. “And possibly a small container for whatever this little guys so interested in.”

[Tesability Black]

"Looks like who? Are you a friend of his?"

 

Neos jolted out of his thoughts upon hearing the voice, standing back up straight before finding himself looking towards the nurse that had perked up at him. "Uh, no, not really...thought it looked more like someone I heard about...Red does not have as much of a similar appearance to Sir Aaron as I thought."

 

At this point, his brain clicked in on the appearance of the Remoraid flopping about and flinched. He just drained their home in a flash on them. "sheet," he muttered under his breath before trying to scoop up as many as he could. Unfortunately for him, he stepped on something still slippery despite the presence of the mini-sun in the room and found himself slipping...sending himself, the Remoraid and whatever he hit on the way down flying everywhere.

 

"...sorry," he managed, everything that was impacted beginning to sting on him.

[👀 REP 👀]

Thornbay City

---

 

As the two made their way back to the town, Daniel took a look around him. He noticed the Pokemon in the wild, who looked like they thought it was too early to deal with this kind of stuff. "Woah..." The view of the town was beautiful; even the chaos that happened in front of the gym glistened as the light reflected on the glass on the floor. He wanted to just stay there and take in the view - however, he had an injured Phasnail sitting in his Pokeball.

He turned to Ashley. "We should probably head to the Pokemon Center. My guess is that your group is there." He walked a few steps forward, before gesturing the girl to follow him. 

[Htamret]

"My group?" The young Trainer asked, tilting her head. Then her eyes widened as she made a look of understanding. "Oh! Yeah, those two. We've only been travelling for a bit only a day or so. Guess they are my group."

 

Ashley looked at Daniel, then to where he was looking. The view from the town, framed by the rising sun, was something to behold. The two continued walking, Ashley giving apologetic smiles to the tired-looking Pokémon as they passed them. Suddenly a question dawned on her.

 

"Hey Daniel? You're from Unova, right? That's a long way to go as a solo Trainer. Are you fresh off the boat, or did your family move to Teno too?"

[Draconus297]

[spoiler= Quick OoC Correction]

Um, Reptilious? Your Pokémon is called "Phasnail". "Phase" (as in, move through objects) + "snail".

 

Also, you two do you, given that there is very little I can add to your current situation. You're both about 20 feet outside Thornbay City proper, and the lake is on the other side of the city. I'm not sure if either of you wants to RP owning a fishing rod, but I've given you the encounters in the nurse's offhand statement if you want to try for one/train up after healing up.

 

 

 

"Sorry, I don't have any large tanks or anything like that to carry them all. I've got a decently large mixing bowl, but that wouldn't be too much better than carrying them back in your hands- it could probably only hold three or four of them, and there's like twenty in here," the nurse hemmed and hawed over the conundrum, "and even the three of us working together couldn't get them all to the lake in one trip."

 

Turning to the wall for some kind of easier problem, the nurse analyzed the slime on her figurines carefully. "Huh. This is some sort of Jelly. Not sure which kind- I'm not exactly an expert on the stuff- but given how much your Cragmite seems to like the stuff, I'd hazard a guess at it being Jolly Jelly or Swarm Jelly. Maybe Granite Jelly, I'm not sure. I could put it in some little medicine bottles for you, as a thank you."

 

The Remoraid flopped about in Neos's arms, and a few that slipped from his grip began to bounce on his head as they idly sought water to right themselves.

 

The Cragmite, meanwhile, was quickly gathering up more and more of this "Jelly", carrying some on its back in a kind of bulbous ball.

 

[spoiler=Jellies]

I'VE BEEN WAITING TO INTRODUCE THESE.

 

Jellies are a unique type of item in that they have two different effects, depending on situation. The three I mentioned are some of the more basic ones, but they're all really powerful for this point in the game.

Swarm and Granite Jelly are Bug- and Rock-Type variants of the same item, that are consumed upon using or getting hit with a move of the corresponding Type. If you're using an attacking move of that Type, it increases the power of that move by 50% (basically giving you STAB); however, if you're hit by a move of that Type, its power is reduced by 33% (negating STAB if the opposing Pokémon had it). Either way, its Happiness is increased a little upon use.

 

Jolly Jelly, though, triggers either when fainting an opposing Pokémon or getting fainted. If you take out an opposing Pokémon, it gets consumed and raises your physical attack and defense by one stage each; if you get fainted, it revives you with 1/16 of your base HP (what you'd recover off Leftovers). Either way, small Happiness boost.

 

The catch: Jelly is rare as hell until the very late game.

 

 

[Tesability Black]

Peeling himself off the floor after slipping and landing square on his back (even Pokemon are prone to slipping on areas lacking traction), one of the Remoraids tried hopping about and accidentally hit him in the face causing him to flop back down and hit the back of his head on the floor.

 

Stars aplenty in his vision, Neos took a few seconds to get back up on to his feet, rubbing the sore spot on his head upon doing so. "Damn, wish Khaki stuck around now...or I had figured out how to turn into an Alakazam like him. Telekinesis like that would have been usef--"

 

Neos facepalmed rather hard upon realization.

 

"I am idiot. I have a Golduck form memorized." Pulling his hand off his face, and revealing how much more yellow his face had become from the impact, Neos looked towards the Remoraid around the room and said, "I'm gonna Transform into one and summon a water bubble to hold and move these guys in. I'm gonna need you all to put them in it...and don't worry about 'popping' the bubble, either."

 

Standing up fully (and making sure he wasn't gonna slip again), Neos allowed his body to let go of the human appearance to change, first into his normal blob-like form, then shifting into that of a Golduck. Kicking the ground with one webbed foot, a small wave of water emerged before the red jewel on his head began to glow, raising the summoned water into the air to shape into a decent-sized sphere. It wouldn't be able to hold them all, but it would certainly hold a large number of them.