Indigo nodded, still feeling sleepy from the whole ordeal. [color=8882be]"Right, sure, good luck..."[/color] He was worried, absolutely, but he also knew there wasn't much of a point in stopping Dan. 


[hider=Indigo catches a Pokemon!]

The next day was quite calm, all things considered, and relaxing. There was some light training fit in, but other than that, it seemed a day like any other. Indigo made sure he and his pokemon got plenty of rest to recover from the day before. 

Indy awoke, however, to some hunger pangs. After tossing and turning, he decided enough was enough and he'd fix himself up something. Stumbling and groggy, he went to the kitchen for a quick snack. Trying to turn on the lights, however, resulted in nothing. Indigo flicked the power switch on and off a few times but there was no response.

The power was out.

[i][color=8882be]Well, shoot,[/color][/i] he thought, annoyed and hungry. Lazy as he was, he figured he could at least help Celia and Cynthia out some by at least trying to make sure they had power when they woke up. It was strange that the power had gone out, he thought. After all, it was a clear night amd it hadn't rained earlier that day. Then again, the house was old and there could have been a circuit that just happened to have shorted out. Whatever the reason was, having been in the house and helped with chores plenty of times, Indy knew exactly where to go.

Heading on outside after grabbing a jacket, putting on his shoes, and grabbing his pokeballs just to be safe, Indigo headed to the back of the house where the breakerbox was. And there was a pokemon clinging to it. He only knew the species because he'd seen them in PSA commercials. 

[color=8882be]"A Magnemite? What's that doing here?"[/color] He blinked, trying to remember what he'd gleaned from school or the occasional home wellness magazines he'd browsed through. [i][color=8882be]Well, they feed on electricity... And they gather during storms... OH that's right, they'll come up to a breakerbox...[/color][/i]

"H-hey," he called out toward the floating, buzzing steel ball. "Cut that out." The Magnemite weren't usually used to humans, Indy thought. Using his unfamiliarity seemed to be the best bet in scaring the Pokemon off.

But the Magnemite ignored him and continued crackling away, the green-yellow glow of electricity coursing through its chrome body.

As much as he didn't want to get into a battle, Indigo felt worthless about the day before. He had barely been able to have been that much help and it would have been terrible if he didn't at least try to help. Sighing, he released all three of his pokemon. Perhaps the Magnemite would be intimidated now?

"Look, I know you're hungry but you're gonna have to go somewhere else. Or you'll have to face us," Indy added. 

The Magnemite finally rolled a glance in his direction, letting out what sounded like was a metallic scoff. Still, the Pokemon noticed that this human's companions were healthy and very well groomed looking. Silly as it was, this impressed the little Magnemite. The pokemon always tried to keep itself well-groomed, but that was difficult in the wild. It flew over to Hawka.

"Hey!" Indigo protested. What was the Magnemite going to do? 

But the Pokemon simply examined Hawka and the two began chattering back and forth in their own language. Kovi and Mimi joined in. 


Addlepated, Indy scratched the back of his head. What exactly was going on? At least the Magnemite had left the breakerbox alone for now. 

The curious Magnemite asked questions, and, finding out that the human wanted to participate in contests, became even more interested. There were places were Pokemon could compete and be lovely in battle? The Magnemite pictured itself polished and shiny, showing off his dazzling electric attacks. Crackling with excitement, it weighed the prospects. It all sounded interesting.

"Are you gonna go now?" Indigo asked, annoyed. Was the Magnemite done? 

But instead the Magnemite launched a jagged bolt of bright electricity towards Indy, who just barely managed to get out of the way. "What the-?" Why did things like this always happen to him, he wondered. 

The Magnemite wanted to see the way the Pokemon battled for himself.

Mimi showed off her Jump Kick and Quick attack, managing to land a hit on the Magnemite. The two duked it out, trying to look more impressive than the other. But when Mimi missed a Jump Kick, Hawka took to substituting herself in.

The fiery little bird went with Embers and Fire Spins, red orange flames blazing brilliantly in the air towards the Magnemite. While the two went head to head, Hawka managed to score a few good attacks, but the Magnemite held steady. Though getting tired, he was enjoying himself immensely.

"Kovi, we've almost got him. Hawka, get back and let Kovi in!" Indigo commanded, not knowing that, quite frankly, the Pokemon were already acting of their own accord.

Kovi was weak to Magnemite's electric attacks. He could send the Magnemite to sleep however, in a cloud of brilliant blue shimmer. 

The battle was longer than Indy thought it would have been. The Magnemite was a tough opponent. Still, their combined efforts weakened the Pokemon and suddenly, the Magnemite, looking exhausted, flew over to Indy. 

"UM," Indigo said. The Magnemite was just [i]looking[/i] at him. He wasn't sure what to do. The Magnemite looked to the pokeballs clipped on his belt.

"Huh? Oh..." Indigo said, realizing. "You... want to join?" The Magnemite nodded. 

Hero, Indy thought, guilty memories flooding him. His poor Burmy. And now, another Pokemon wanted to join him. And it was ugly.

But he didn't want to turn down an ugly Pokemon just for being ugly. 

Maybe I should do this, Indy thought. Maybe... Maybe it'll be a good thing.

"Alright then," Indy said, a small smile on his face. "You got me."

After resetting the breaker box, Indy went to sleep, a total of four pokeballs around his waist. 
[/hider]
 
[hider=The next 11 days]
The next few days were spent training and relaxing, mostly relaxing, if Indigo was being honest. The encounter at Pewter had scared him enough though. They had been close, too close to getting seriously injured. If it hadn't been Daniel's Uncle Richard that attacked them, what if it had been someone else? Someone less forgiving?

[i][color=8882be]My pokemon couldn't even fight anymore... What if he killed me on the spot...?[/color][/i]

Avoiding the traumatic incident and thoughts of it, Indigo definitely did. But the encounter had also left him with a strong and paranoid sense of fear. What if he was ever hunted down again? They had seen his face! 

So, Indigo began to [i]try[/i] to train his pokemon more. It was difficult because at the same time, he wanted to avoid the reality of acknowledging the events at Pewter. But, knowing that his pokemon were growing stronger and that they could be better equipped to protect themselves and others around them was comforting. Most of the time, the avoidance won out and Indigo refused to train, understandably enough. He was able to be somewhat productive, at least.  

When training, Indigo didn't want to stress the pokemon too much with the events. He didn't want to come off as scared or worse, incompetent. He tried to be as cheerful and relaxed as possible, even when he sometimes wanted to scream about what had happened. But could he open up to his pokemon about how frightened he was? He wasn't sure. He had already messed up once with Hero. What if... What if they decided to leave him for not being strong enough? He had to maintain this confidence, even if it wasn't real. Didn't he? 

Kovi, Hawka, and Mimzy, being higher in strength had been Indigo's main concern, yet in a turn of events, the vain, fierce, little celebrity-wannabe Magnemite he had just caught ended up being his main focus instead. It was after he had spoken with Dan and Margo about catching his Magnemite. Margo had quipped that Indigo ought to train the Magnemite more. After all, the little steel ball needed to catch up to his peers and learn how to better hone his skills, and grace. And, perhaps, Indigo wanted to prove to himself that he wasn't such a horrible person. To himself, Margo, and Dan. So Indy tried his best to do just that. 

After all, Hero... Hero was out there with Jack, somewhere, he thought. He couldn't make the same mistake again. He couldn't deny a pokemon just because they were ugly. So, even though it was somewhat annoying that he had such a hideous pokemon, there was a brighter side. 

Though the Magnemite was even uglier than Hero, Indigo had to admit there were some qualities that were lovely about it. When he finished polishing the pokemon, his steel like exterior shone with a silvery brightness. When surrounded by his electric attacks, the Magnemite looked absolutely luminous. And, Indy thought to himself, the electric blue that sometimes emitted during a particularly fierce electric attack was nothing short of stunning. The color in particular reminded him of blue neon lights. Magnemite became Neon.

Hawka had started to molt, a different, more yellow plumage appearing around her head and newer, darker, blood orange feathers coming in. Her talons seemed sharper. She was supposed to be close to evolving, the Nurse at the pokemon center had said. And yet, Hawka didn't evolve, Indigo thought, glancing at the downy chick pokemon. Why didn't she?
The small bird had troubles of her own. Though Hawka enjoyed her team, and she was on better footing with Indigo, she was scared of evolving. Her human, after all, preferred cute pokemon. If she evolved, would she still be a good contest pokemon? Or... Would she be ugly? 

It seemed that Indigo's praise had given the little Torchic a complex of sorts. As she and her trainer grew to understand each other more though, it would hopefully sort itself out. Or so, the little pokemon hoped. She would think back to Hero the Burmy. Where was he, she would wonder in her own way. At the same time, she would often hear Indigo talking about Hero. The human missed Hero terribly. They would find him then, because Indigo truly seemed to care, Hawka was sure of it.

Mimzy managed to increase her bond and friendship with Indigo. The little Buneary was much more carefree, and though she though back to Hero with sadness at times, she was able to not let it affect her as much. She noticed Indigo was sad, for some reason or another. She didn't quite understand. But he seemed to cheer up when she was cheerful, so that was what she focused on.

Kovi stayed brilliant, being the most elegant and strongest of the group so far. The butterfly made sure to practice his attacks with flair. But, it wasn't all for show. Having more wisdom than the other pokemon, Kovi picked up on Indigo's fear more than anyone else. It seemed that the events from the battle they had partaken in had shaken the human, and Kovi wanted to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Through the rest of their vacation, Indigo was able to relax a little more each day. He was able to forgive himself a little more each time. And he had a little more confidence and strength, little by little, all the while increasing his understanding of his friends and the world around him.
[/hider]

The trip back to Septoh was uneventful, for the most part. Though his new Pokemon raised some discussion, most of the trip Indigo spent daydreaming about being home and doing nothing. They docked back at Wanzo and took a bus ride to Shamba. 

Oh yeah, Indy thought as the bus rode in. It was late afternoon and there was still plenty of time he had to be productive. He had a gym battle to complete. And then.. Maybe they could go up the mountain path. 

Margo still wasn't speaking to him much though, and he knew he had to fix that. Somehow.

[hider=Current]
Hawka the Torchic F- lvl 24+3=27
Mimzy the Buneary F- 24+3=27
Kovi the Vivillion M- 28 + 3 = 31
Neon the Magnemite M= 24 + 5=29

*The three levels are two levels gained in light training during the week and the battle with the Magnemite. The rest of the training during the week was dedicated mostly to bringing Magnemite up to the team's strengths.

Items: small pearl ×1 
Kee Berry ×9
pokeball ×2
White Herb ×2
Cheri berry x11

Money: 64 poke +14 days(5)= 134 poke
$50
[/hider]