Sal, Route 1

Sal and José’s walk was interrupted by a rustling near a patch of grass. José let out a soft growl and tilted his head quizzically. “Weird, right, buddy? Let’s check it out.” The two inched towards the patch, before Sal said in a low voice. “Hey, anyone in there? You can come out, we’re not gonna hurt you. Promise. Just come out where we can see you.”

Adela - Route 3 - Active Pokémon: Gaffer the Nuzleaf - VS a wild Carkol

A bantam grin graced Adela’s face as Gaffer’s attack delivered the desired result. The Carkol’s flinching would give her colleagues a little more time to keep it pinned and, ergo, a little more time to figure out their next move.

"Phillip, Jules, Mr. Preston," she called out, leaning towards them from where she was stood so she didn’t have to raise her voice too much, "keep the Carkol busy for as long as you can. Don’t worry if it gets loose. I might be able to throw it off-balance."

She glanced at Gaffer in the hope that he hadn’t stopped paying attention. This particular idea of hers came about when she took note of their opposing Pokémon’s legs. In all honesty, they were more wheel than leg, and almost sprawling. If she could get Gaffer to strike it at the right spot and topple it over...

While the rest of the team looked like they had the situation under control, it occurred to Adela that it would do Gaffer some good to brace himself in case it fell out of hand.

"Gaffer, use Harden. Just as a failsafe."

At least this order didn’t involve any pointing from this persistent human, Gaffer thought as he allowed his acornesque skin to thicken. As he did so, his body turned light blue for a second, appearing to shine like a purified metal in the immediate aftermath.

Jules Firenze, Route 3, Vs. Carkol

Jules looks at Adela without turning his head, ordering to Scorpius, "Keep up that Sweet Scent. Stir it up with a little Gust." At the same time, his fingers drift over Ako's Pokéball, ready for a counterstrike if things go wrong with whatever his fellow battlers were planning.

Nick the photographer - Betata City gym, with Jacques. (Jack)

Also starring Torry the Rockruff and Emmett the Eevee!

Nick had continued to get photos throughout the battle, trying to get all of the most exciting moments. Sparky, Hadoo, and Aqua delivering a triple final blow to the Yanma in particular was one he was glad to catch. Once the referee called the battle, Nick raised his arms and cheered out. "Woo! Great work, Jacques!"

Once done with his little congratulations, Nick got his camera ready again, preparing to get photos of the trainers accepting their badges.

As the two trainers started their walk down Route 1, they noticed a rustling in the grass nearby a tall tree, one with leaves that were just starting to grow again after blooming some flowers. A small purple rabbit-like Pokemon with huge ears, large front teeth, and a prominent horn on its forehead was scratching up a tree towards something swaying on one of the branches.

In the branches was a small round reddish-pink Pokemon, with two stubby legs, two little eyes, a prominent stem with leaves, and a smaller round offshoot with another face. It swayed on the branch, trying to stay away from the rabbit-like Pokemon.

As Harriet, Vin, Jen and Danny got on guard, Jen and Danny released their Pokemon from their Poke Balls.

"Come on out, Dottie!" Jen said nervously, as she let out her Blipbug.

"Blip, blip!" it chirped, large eyes on the lookout for any sudden movements.

"Let's go, Phantom," Danny said, letting out his Gastly. Phantom floated close to Danny, swirling around him a bit and glaring out at the eyes around him.

There was a standoff for a bit. One of the sets of eyes shuddered in the bushes, while another seemed to get larger for a moment before sliding deeper into the bushes.

"Solololo...!" A high-pitched bubbly cry let out from the bushes, and one of the faces exited the bushes. It belonged to a tiny round green bubble with a lighter-green body inside, two beady eyes, and a large diamond-shaped mouth taking up most of the face. The bubble-like Pokemon seemed to float there, looking determined, as it went to land on the ground and tumble its round body towards Vern. Fortunately, it missed.

The small noise stopped for a moment, then the grass rustled a bit. Finally, a small Pokemon stepped out of the bush, carrying a half-eaten Oran Berry in its hands. It resembled a cream-colored hamster, with prominent stripes of brown and dark grey covering half of its body on each side, as well as prominent pink cheeks. Its beady eyes looked up at Sal, ear twitching as it popped the rest of the Oran Berry into its mouth and chewed. It then looked up at Sal pleadingly.

Hawke smiled at the three challengers, who had stepped forward to claim their prizes.

"You all fought excellently. I would expect nothing less from Gym Challenge aspirants. You showed excellent teamwork and willingness to capitalize on advantages. You all have earned this," he told them, reaching into a case an aide had provided and handing each of them a small metallic badge that resembled a flapping wing. "This is the Aero Badge, the gym badge of Betata City," he explained. "Now, ready your Pokedexes." Sarah and Jesse pulled out their Pokedexes, while Hawke readied a small machine. Once Jacques did as well, they would all see data downloading to their Pokedexes.

"This is the TM for Aerial Ace, a quick, cutting Flying-type move that will not easily miss. You can interface your Pokedex with the kiosk in any Pokemon Center and teach your Pokemon this move, if it is able to learn it," he explained. "Your next option is to move on to the next gym. Ordinarily I would suggest heading north through Dalett Cave to reach Dalett City's gym, but there is currently a cave-in at Dalett Cave. Therefore, your next option is to head east on Route 2 to reach Gamaria Town, to challenge the gym there," said Hawke. "Of course, you could also wait until the blockage is cleared up."

Tank and Pudding continued to hold down Carkol, as it shook with rage at being kept still. Scorpius' Gust attack landed, and started pushing Carkol back towards the grass.

"Keep it together, Tank!" Preston ordered. "Strength!"

"Machoke!" Tank barked, and started pushing Carkol north.

"Let's see if we can't herd this back towards Dalett Cave. It should be up the path a ways," Preston responded, looking firm. Carkol had different plans though. At once, it spun in place with a Rapid Spin attack, trying to fling the Machoke and the Ditto imposter off of its body. Tank managed to maintain his grip, but Pudding's gelatinous body was losing its cohesion around the grip area.

Phillip hears and sees what's going on as Adela and Jules pitch in to the battle. He is a bit too focused on keeping an eye on the Carkol to directly respond to them.

"Almost there, Pudding!" Phillip calls out. "Get that Carkol outta here!"

Pudding grunts, working with Tank to shove the Carkol north, back to the Dalett Cave.

But then, the Carkol starts it's Rapid Spin.

"MAAAAAAAA!", Pudding screams, as their body starts rippling at the contact points with the spinning Carkol.

"PUDDIIING!", Phillip yells, rushing to his Ditto with a Potion in hand. "HANG ON!"

Ollie Loto – Route 1

w/ Oobleck the Alolan Grimer

When the group got to Route 1, Oobleck was a bit bummed. He didn’t manage to catch up to Molly and Joker. ”Grime-Grime….”

“Hey…”, Ollie said, petting the Alolan Grimer. “It’s not like that was the only chance for you to prove yourself. It's gonna get better next time—”

And theeeen there’s some rustling of the grass…

Upon further inspection, a little commotion was going on nearby…

“—aaaand that time is now, I guess…”, Ollie deadpanned.

She took out her Pokédex to quickly check Oobleck’s moves again before turning to him.

“Let’s give that little purple instigator a surprise…shall we?”, she said, pointing at the rabbit-like Pokémon. Oobleck complied with an eager nod.

“Alright then. Oobleck, use Shadow Sneak.”

Oobleck grinned mischievously as his shadow gained his mischievous expression and started stretching unnaturally towards the tree aggressor. When it got close enough, the shadow came out of the ground, pouncing at the purple Pokémon.

Edited by Noussibonne on May 6th 2024 at 8:24:56 PM

Sal, Route 1

Sal tilted his head, looking at the creature with pity. “Aww, you’re a cutie, ain’t ya? What do you want from me?” He squatted down and began thinking. Deciding that it would be a good idea to catch it, he took out a Pokeball. “I’m gonna throw this at you. No hard feelings, right? Anyway, here goes.” He breathed deeply and tossed it at the Pokemon.

Adela - Route 3 - Active Pokémon: Gaffer the Nuzleaf

Tank trying to shove the Carkol back where it came from was promising in Adela's eyes. If nothing else, it served to justify her plan to immobilise the Pokémon; it'd be worse-equipped to retaliate when Tank and Pudding (well, mostly Tank, by the looks of things) carried it away.

That was, until the Carkol used Rapid Spin. Jolting back with eyebrows raised an inch, Adela cleared off some dust that had flown onto her jeans during the attack. She wasn't sure what good a Potion would do when it came to reforming Pudding but she had to trust that Phillip was best equipped to help them. Regardless, her focus now had to be on covering for them both.

"Gaffer, try to Pound it backwards a little!" she said, with another point of the finger that would've made Gaffer cringe if not for the urgency of the moment.

Gaffer drew back his right arm, waiting for just the right moment... The Carkol began to slow down — the instant he caught it about to face forward, his arm glowed yellow and swung at the rim of its “cart”, his fist leaving a small white arc of energy behind it. It was a comparatively light hit, especially on such a bulky Pokémon, but it was better than nothing.

Betata City Gym, Jacques.

With most of his worries dealt with now that the battle was other, Jacques gratefully took the badge, giving a small smile at the light reflecting off the metallic surface and resisting a childish urge to strike a pose, settling to carefully place it in a metallic blue and black case.

As the information downloaded to his Pokedex, he was bit surprised that an attack he was worried about being able to try and counter during the fight was something that could be taught with data.

Not...that it would probably be of much use given the only way either his two Pokemon would be able to fly likely involved throwing them skywards which...was silly.

"U-Um, t-thank you. I'm not sure w-when I'll be able t-to make t-those most of it, but hopefully I'll f-find a use for it."

The mention of what had happened made the rookie trainer a little uneasy that he wouldn't be retracing his steps but somewhat thankful. And noticing Nick's praise just made the youth go and even brighter shade of crimson and nervously adjust his scarf, giving a nervous smile back.

"E-Eheh...it was a t-team effort, r-really..."

Still...

"I guess I'm lucky t-the group I was with heading to Aleph Town a few days ago got t-through before the cave-in, then..."

Even if it was an obvious choice to make, everyone was probably already going one way and waiting around wouldn't do if he'd fall further behind.

"M-Maybe I could g-go see if there's n-new Pokemon on Route 3 then...d-depending on how long that takes, might k-keep going to Gamaria T-Town, then..."

Route 3 - Vs. Mawile

To Joachim's surprise, the Mawile's retaliatory strike seemed to do more damage to the Nickit than he'd expected, with Trouble getting knocked over entirely. Given that the Mawile still looked to be in fighting shape, the choice seemed clear.

"Trouble, get back! Fleetfoot, you're - "

"NICK!"

Before he could properly switch out, Joachim saw Trouble get back up and throw his head back to let out a high-pitched howl before throwing himself headlong at the Mawile once more. As if spurred into action, both Gliss and Fleetfoot rushed in to join in on the assault, determined to Beat Up their foe if only to stop the Nickit from pushing himself too hard.

"Nnn..." Joachim grunted, taking out a Pokeball and holding it at the ready. If he had the chance, adding the Mawile to the team might be nice, but catching it this way felt like he was gambling the safety of his team, and that didn't sit right with him.

The purple Pokemon squeaked and winced, taking the attack from Oobleck's shadow. The Pokemon chittered a little, and its horn glowed blue before it rushed over to Peck at Oobleck, jamming its horn into the sludge that made up Oobleck's body. The purple Pokemon struggled, then yanked itself away from Oobleck, chittering angrily.

Molly pointed towards the purple Pokemon and grinned.

"All right, Joker, use Copycat!" Molly exclaimed. Joker took a stance much like the purple Pokemon, and its nose glowed a similar blue, before Pecking back at it with its own nose.

Sal's Poke Ball landed true, and the little Pokemon was sucked into the ball, landing on the ground. The ball shook once, then twice, before bursting open, the Pokemon appearing in a flash of light. The little yellow Pokemon huffed, then a strange transformation took place. It curled up into a dark purple ball, then unfurled. The yellow on its body was now a dark purple, and its eyes shone red. The carefree expression on its face was now replaced with a furious scowl.

"Pekoooo!" it snarled, its cheeks crackling with electricity. It fired a jolting Thunder Shock in Sal's direction.

Sarah held up her badge like a prize, laughing excitedly.

"We did it! We did it! You guys were awesome!" Sarah cheered. Hadoo cooed happily and fluttered around Sarah. Jesse picked up Sparky and cuddled it a little bit.

"You did amazing, Sparky," Jesse told his Chinchou. Sparky chirped, nuzzling into its trainer.

"Good luck on your journeys, all of you," Hawke told them. "You're bound for great things. Go ahead and meet the receptionist in the lobby for your monetary prize, and to heal your Pokemon," the gym leader said.

"You heard him, c'mon, let's go!" Sarah said, and moved up towards the lobby. Jesse was close behind.

Mawile winced away as Trouble, Gliss and Fleetfoot ganged up on it for that brief moment. It ground its huge jaws together for a moment, before slumping a little. Mawile covered its face, letting out a whine, as it seemingly started to cry. However, a slight smirk from the Mawile belied its true intentions. Nonetheless, the Fake Tears released by Mawile seemed to put Trouble slightly off its game.

As well, Mawile didn't seem to be paying much attention to Joachim, rather focusing its attention on Trouble. If Joachim wanted to throw a Poke Ball, he now had a good shot.

Ollie Loto – Route 1 – Wild Pokémon Encounter

w/ Oobleck the Alolan Grimer

Oobleck slightly grimaced when the wild Pokémon Pecked into him, making him feel a bit queasy.

“C’mon, Oobee. Get close to that Pokémon and give them a big Bite!”, Ollie commanded encouragingly.

Oobleck’s two teeth began glowing as he advanced towards the wild Pokémon before Biting down on them.

Jules Firenze, Route 3, Vs. Carkol

Scorpius bristles as his allies take the Carkol's Rapid Spin, and huffs, pawing the ground impatiently as he eyes Pudding's grip. He turns towards Jules, grunting slightly. Jules nods back, and the Tropius tenses.

"Alright, if you wanna step in, here we go. Prepare a Leaf Storm.": Jules orders, with Scorpius creating a huge, swirling torrent of leaves swirling around him, waiting for the chance to fire.

"I'm going to pelt the Carkol with this." Jules calls. "If your Pokémon need a break, have them let go."

If a Machoke will hold on, Scorpius' leaf storm fizzles in intensity, and the Fruit Pokémon begins flicking his wings in impatience.

Edited by Jules-Firenze on May 9th 2024 at 10:39:54 PM

Sal, Route 1

At the Morpeko’s sudden change in mood, Sal jumped back a little in shock. “Holy- I thought we had an understanding, you little liar! If that’s how you wanna play, that’s fine by me!” He took a second to calm himself down, before taking one of his used Pokeballs and tossing it into the air. In a flash of light, Carlos appeared, turned to Sal, and chittered inquisitively. “Hey, buddy, I’m gonna need you to help me with this little dude. So, could you please use Struggle Bug? Please?” Once that was clarified, Carlos chittered excitedly and turned to face the Morpeko.

Betata City Gym, Jacques.

"Um, t-thank you. G-Guess we b-better get going, p-probably got a long trek ahead of us..." Jacques nodded in agreement, giving one more polite bow to both his fellow trainers and Hawke before turning to leave.

Although a quick stop at the Center would probably be necessary. He was at pretty aware that Aqua was not in the best of condition for a fight and Carmine...well, that bad apple was probably hungry and annoyed being cooped up in a Pokeball all day.

Hyde Sagasu - Outside Betata City Gym

Zullie the Misdreavus

"Plans? Nah... I guess not. What was it Hawke said? Route 2 to Gamaria Town, or Route 3 to Dalett City?" Hyde pondered out loud. "Can't say I've got a preference. I don't know anything about either place. You mentioned a ferry though, right Flint? That sounds fun to me." Hyde thought back to the times he'd gotten to ride the S.S. Aqua.

"We probably ought to catch up with Nick and Jacques before all that," he added. "They might want to go shopping too and we can coordinate." Meanwhile, as the humans talked, a Misdreavus watched while still very much upside-down. Zullie was busy paying attention to the conversation, though it was anyone's guess how much she really understood. What she wasn't paying attention to was her own dangling hair and how close she was to a certain electric cat.

The purple Pokemon winced as it was caught in Oobleck's jaws, then released. It chittered a bit, then puffed air out of its nostrils and tried to pump itself up.

"It looks like it's gonna hit back hard! C'mon, Joker! Use Barrier!" Molly called out.

"Miiiime!" Joker chirped, and it waved its hands out in front of itself, creating a glass-like wall of force between it and the opponent.

"Nido, Nido!" the purple Pokemon squeaked. It was beginning to look weak, breathing heavily, but still glaring at the opponents. Meanwhile, the other Pokemon in the tree was watching, wiggling its body gently with anticipation.

Morpeko winced back and tumbled to the side as Carlos shot out energy from a red aura surrounding it, slamming into the little Pokemon.

"Peko Peko Peko!" it growled, glaring at Carlos with a Leer attack. The little Bug-type seemed to wince back a little, dropping its guard.

As Jacques started to leave, the receptionist waved him down.

"Congratulations! Come up here for your reward money," the receptionist called to Jacques. Sarah and Jesse were already at the desk, their tired Pokemon resting in their Poke Balls as they were being healed at the machine behind the desk.

Carkol continued to spin around, when it was shoved by Gaffer's Pound attack. Tank and Pudding continued to hold on, while Scorpius started to charge its Leaf Storm attack.

"Now, let go, Tank!" Preston called, and Tank diligently released its grip on the Carkol, to let Scorpius' attack land.

Ollie Loto – Route 1 – Wild Pokémon Encounter

w/ Oobleck the Alolan Grimer

Ollie gave Oobleck an approving nod, smiling. “Good job, Oobleck...” Oobleck replied with a pleased cry.

“This Pokémon...” She looked at the purple Pokémon. “They’re weakened…”

She might have a shot at this...

She took out a Poké Ball and, with a cool glare, threw it at the wild rabbit.

Sal Martinez, Route 1

Sal gave a little noise of happiness, and turned to Carlos. “Good job, bud! At this rate, you’re gonna do really good. I think they’re softened up now. Keep up the good work!” Carlos turned back to Sal and clicked in happiness before Sal returned him to his ball. Sal then took out yet another ball, and threw it at the Morpeko.

As Preston calls for Tank to release its hold on the Carkol, Phillip finally notices the Leaf Storm Jules' Tropius is preparing to unleash on the Carkol.

"You too, Pudding!", Phillip frantically calls out. "Let go!"

Pudding releases their grip on the Carkol and somersaults backwards, just barely missing Phillip in their tumble.

Jules Firenze, Route 3, Vs. Carkol

"Glad you trust me." He didn't sound like he meant it, but still commanded Scorpius to use

"LEAF STORM!"

Scorpius, finished charging, stomps his feet into the ground and howls as gales of leaf-shaped energy blasts flew from his wings, hoping to batter the Carkol enough so it doesn't keep moving around. At best, he hoped to blind it somewhat and leave it disoriented enough for the Machokes to finish the job. After firing it, the Tropius looked visibly tired, his wings drooping a little as the toll of such a large attack suddenly hit him.

Betata City Gym, Jacques.

That...made the rookie trainer stop in his tracks. Well, less the prize and more being called out towards as he gave a polite, if nervous smile and 'bonjour' to his fellow trainers as he glanced back at the machine. ...Like a Pokemon Center? Here? ...That...actually made a fair bit of sense.

Aqua seemed rather adamant on not getting sent back to her Pokeball, though. She was fine, just tired. That battle was NOTHING.

"N-Now, now...medicine and berries aren't going to h-help some of the injuries...this certainly will. You d-did your best out there, only f-fair you get the best t-treatment, right?"

The tiny aquatic mouse blinked in surprise, not quite sure how to react to that. It was true, to be sure! She'd shown those birds she wasn't to be trifled with!

...Although a pat to the head caused Aqua to go a slight shade of purple with a surprised squeak and retreat to her Pokeball out of...embarrassment? Shock? Seemed there was a limit to how much praise she could handle which just left left the trainer just as flustered.

Either way, Jacques handed over the Pokeball first as Aqua getting healed was the more pressing concern. Especially since the moment he was awarded his money...at least half of it was sent back to Kalos through his Pokegear as the trainer gave a small sigh. This was going to a recurring thing, to be sure...

Edited by TheRealWren on May 16th 2024 at 10:56:59 PM

Outside Betata Gym

“I don’t have a preference to where we go either…though depends on the cave I guess. Could be full of Zubat, could be full of bigger mons.”

A beat passes, “Could be ruins too…hmm.”

However, Hyde’s point about catching up with the others causes Adrian to blush slightly. He’d almost forgotten about them. He quickly shakes off the embarrassment, “Oh, r-right. Guess we’ve been outside a while, so they might be done by now,” Adrian chuckles, “and if we don’t get him, Nick’s probably liable to stay all day shooting the matches.”

Meanwhile, the advent of dangling ghost strands activates something in Luna.

The wavy form, the soft appearance, it was simply…too much.

“Shhhhhh-in! In! Iiiiinx!”

The fierce lady of the hunt makes it her sworn duty…to jump and bap the hair with her mighty (read:soft) claws (read:paws).

Nick the photographer - Betata City gym, with Jacques. (Jack)

Also starring Torry the Rockruff and Emmett the Eevee!

Once the badges had been handed out and the challengers made their way back to the lobby, Nick was quick to head that way as well. Emmett trailed closely right behind Nick's legs, while Torry happily bounded ahead. Once Jack was in view, the Rockruff let out a happy yap and scampered over, his tail wagging in excitement as he circled around the other trainer's legs a couple times.

"Yo Jacques, great job out there!" Nick said with a little wave as he walked up. "Here Torry," he added towards the Rockruff, who responded with a happy yap and returned to the photographer's side.

"You guys had all three of your Pokemon still up when the battle ended. That's the only match so far with that outcome," Nick noted with a very congratulatory tone and a beaming grin.

"So, shall we meet back up with the others and talk about where we're headed next?" Nick asked, and raised his camera. "I was actually thinking I might like to go up to see the situation at the cave. I might be able to get some good photos of the cleanup operation," the photographer then explained.