[h3][color=palevioletred]Eryn Montero[/color][/h3][hr][sup][i]Pureplain City: Kalmia’s Lab || Day 2: Evening[/i][/sup][indent] [/indent] Eryn watched in amazement as her double’s form became shadowy, then shrunk into the form of a small quadruped—Zorua. Rather than slapping herself upside the head for not recognizing the Pokemon’s telltale signs of shapeshifting and ‘wanting to be human,’ Eryn turned around to retrieve the Silk Scarf from her bag. [color=palevioletred]“Before I forget, this Silk Scarf that was meant for you, from one of the cute youngsters you battled.”[/color] Bending down, Eryn tied the scarf around the Zorua’s neck, adjusted, adjusted some more, then frowned. [color=palevioletred]“Doesn’t match your color scheme very well, and,”[/color] Eryn said, checking her Pokedex, [color=palevioletred]“Doesn’t look like you’re going to make much use of it. Maybe for Scratch, but then again, maybe not even then.”[/color] Eryn turned to look at the Zorua’s team, then at her own, then turned back to the Zorua. [color=palevioletred]“Yep, this is staying on you for now. It’s cute, in an odd sort of way.”[/color] Eryn grinned, patting the Zorua. [color=palevioletred]“And—hold on, a guy?”[/color] Brows furrowed, she stared at her Pokedex screen, somewhat confused. [color=palevioletred]“Huh. Well, whatever. ‘Erebi’ instead of ‘Erepi’ then, how about that? Still ‘Eri’ for short.”[/color] The Zorua gave a half-shrug, then a nod when Eryn looked concerned. Still, she didn’t pursue it. She’d have time to talk it out later, but for now, she had goodbyes to facilitate. Some movement from the Pumpkaboo and Cascoon caught Eryn’s attention, and she watched as their joint effort led to a trio of offered Pokeballs. [color=palevioletred]“Oh, for me? You shouldn’t have,”[/color] Eryn said, grinning as she accepted the gift. [color=palevioletred]“Sadly I don’t really have anything to offer back, and the Silk Scarf, well…”[/color] She glanced between the three Pokemon. Cascoon was the only one even remotely able to use the scarf, but it’d have a hard time wearing it, and an even harder time getting a good use out of it. [color=palevioletred]“Wait, hold on,”[/color] Eryn said, snapping her fingers as she turned to Kylie. [color=palevioletred]“The Occa Berry!”[/color] Kylie pulled a face but grudgingly retrieved the berry for Eryn when Eryn held out a hand. [color=palevioletred]“Aw, don’t worry, Kylie. We’ll have lots of chances to get good things later,”[/color] Eryn said, patting the Mawile before turning to the forest trio and dropping the Occa Berry into the previously empty backpack. [color=palevioletred]“Here you are. Considering your typings, any of you could make good use of this, so we better see ya’ll when we come back later,”[/color] she said, winking. Then, after listening, nodding, then mouthing an ‘oh’ about the mask and Phantump, she clapped her hands together, exhaled, then turned to Kalmia. [color=palevioletred]“Well, should get these Pokemon home now. Thanks so much for everything, Professor! Hopefully next time you’ll catch me calling instead of visiting, or I’d be having a rather dull trainer journey,”[/color] Eryn said, laughing as she waved. [color=palevioletred]“Bye Professor, and bye Mr. Slowpoke!”[/color] With that, she escorted the Pokemon out of the Professor’s lab, herding the little group of six onto the streets and onto Route 2, where she spent a few tens of minutes prattling on about the ‘embarrassing stories’ she had about Dei, Kylie, and Tula. [color=palevioletred]“Take it like a champ, Dei. You were about as useful as Tula here without Ember, for that first battle. You’re lucky you have a tuft of fire on you, or we really would have been screwed.”[/color] Dei made no response, of course, as the pack of small Pokemon chuckled, various noises melding together. Instead, he stalked ahead, breathing faint wisps of indignant smoke. [color=palevioletred]“And it looks like we’re about here. Think you guys can handle going in on your own?”[/color] Eryn asked, bending down to look at the trio of Pokemon, who were now huddling around Eri, bouncing as much as they could. While Eri didn’t seem too happy to be leaving his friends behind, he still said his goodbyes firmly, his barks succinct and short. [color=palevioletred]“Bye! Take care!”[/color] Eryn said, waving as the trio disappeared into the forest. Then, after giving Eri a moment of silence to stare after his friends, she found him looking up at her with some mixture of sad acceptance and determination that she couldn’t figure out exactly. [color=palevioletred]“Alright, while I can’t exactly say ‘cheer up,’ no long faces okay? I don’t do well with rain clouds.”[/color] When Eri looked confused at her statement, Eryn opted to send a more straightforward message. Scooping Eri up so that she now held both Tula and the now bewildered dark-type, she whirled them around, a wide grin on her face. [color=palevioletred]“Cheer up, we’re going on an adventure!”[/color] [hr][sup][i]Pureplain City || Day 2: Late Evening[/i][/sup][indent] [/indent] Over dinner, Eryn had considered her next move, watching silently as her Pokemon interacted. Tula, bless her heart, flopped energetically next to her teammates, who glanced at her from time to time but otherwise paid her no heed. Mute and rather slow, she made a poor conversationalist, thus making her the perfect listener—if only Eryn’s Pokemon appreciated that. Kylie, on the other hand, had taken readily to Eri, all smiles and hugs, which seemed to surprise Eri as much as he appreciated it. Despite her charm, though, Kylie was put aside by Eri in favor of Dei, who seemed as surprised as Kylie by this turn of events. Nevertheless, Dei’s surprise soon turned into smug reassurance, which he wore with pride, much to Kylie’s displeasure. So, at the current moment, as Dei and Eri were involved in a rather serious and detailed conversation across the table, Kylie sat in the corner booth’s middle, glum as she chewed her food beside Tula and Eryn. [color=palevioletred]“Hey now, you can’t be liked by everyone, right?”[/color] Eryn said, lightly elbowing Kylie. [color=palevioletred]“Cheer up! You have my undying love, as well as Tula’s! Right, Tutu?”[/color] Eryn bent down, cooing as she tore another scrap of a standard poffin for Tula. Kylie, looked on apathetically, spooning more food into her mouth. [color=palevioletred]“Alright, fine, don’t appreciate Tula. Ya’ll are going to regret this when she gets big, ‘cuz she’ll be the coolest one by far, then.”[/color] Kylie rolled her eyes, prompting a laugh from Eryn, who then went back to thinking about her next course of action. Originally, her plan had been to train on Route 2 and lap back to Route 1, and she was currently positioned perfectly for that, but frankly, that seemed quite dull. A glance through her Pokedex at the Pokemon commonly found on Route 1 left her wanting nothing really, so after mulling it over further as her Pokemon finished up their meals, Eryn settled firmly on heading through the Wet Caverns to Lakewatch. With this decision, however, came a new set of problems, mainly starting with the fact that she was pretty underfunded for future monetary ventures. Picking up two Great Balls and an Escape Rope before dinner had made a big dent in her balance, and she knew she’d only be looking to spend more in the future, considering Pureplain’s Pokemart was pretty basic. After racking her brains for a bit, Eryn realized that she knew exactly where she could get some quick cash. [hr][sup][i]Pureplain City: Trainer’s School || Day 2: Night[/i][/sup][indent] [/indent] Okay, so bullying kids for money wasn’t her brightest moment, but hey, she was desperate here. It wasn’t her fault if they accepted her challenge, was it? Plus, she had the ranking system on her side here, so her actions were somewhat justified. Cash was cash and winning was winning, and it wasn’t her fault someone had the bright idea of tying them together at the Trainer’s school. With this in mind, Eryn prowled the school campus, challenging any student she deemed to be an easy, cocky target. The school was exactly how Eryn had remembered it from her visit the day before, except maybe a little more empty now that it was the evening rather than midday. Quick cash was the goal, and she’d throw whatever Pokemon worked best at them, healing her Pokemon at the Pokemon Center whenever necessary. Type advantages were her best friend, with fire-, ghost-, fairy-, and dark-type moves in her arsenal. Tula went into battle whenever possible, too, given her need for training, and Eryn gave her best cheers from the sidelines, as always. Easy battles aside, though, Eryn soon found herself intrigued by the ranking list. Where did she rank among the rookie trainers? After some deliberation, she committed ranks thirty to forty to memory and headed around the courtyard looking for the listed names. A few rank twenties wouldn’t hurt either, she figured, though perhaps it was just her overconfidence talking. But hey, the youngster she’d fought the day before had been terribly underleveled compared to her, and she was looking to train her Pokemon, not crush spirits. [color=palevioletred]“We’re going to get you all spruced up before tomorrow, Eri, so you better be prepared to pull some moves in those caverns,”[/color] Eryn teased, glancing at her new resident dark-type, who seemed perkier after a good meal and chat with Dei. Speaking of, the fire-type was still attached to the hip to Eri, and they exchanged words more often than Eryn did with either of them—a new first for Dei, but Eryn was more happy for them than perturbed like Kylie. [color=palevioletred]“You too, Tutu. I’ll be counting on you in pulling some fancy Struggles in the water,”[/color] Eryn said, bouncing Tula in her arms. To her credit, Tula wiggled a bit, but Eryn was unable to tell whether she’d done so reflexively or out of understanding. Still, it brought a grin to her face, and that was enough answer for her. [center] [/center][hr][hider=Actions][u][b][color=palevioletred] Actions: [/color][/b][/u] Eryn accepted 3 Pokeballs and returned the favor with Kylie’s Occa berry, then escorted the Zorua’s Pokemon to the edge of the Infested Woods. Then, after buying 2 Great Balls and 1 Escape Rope from the Pokemart and having dinner, Eryn heads to the Trainer School and goes around looking for people to train against. She takes out a bunch of easy targets (similar to Youngster Kale) for quick cash—sorry not sorry—and starts looking for ranks 30-40 on the ranking list, of whom she’ll fight any and all available. She’ll also be looking to fight a few rank 20s if they’re around her level, though she’ll probably bail before taking a loss so close to leaving the city for (hopefully) the final time. Since it’s nighttime, I don’t expect too many trainers to be around, but fingers crossed! For the ranked trainers, I’ll handle strategies in my next post. [hider=Strategy for Easy/Quick Cash Battles] Tula when she’s a viable option, and Dei or Kylie depending on who’s more suited to the situation. Eri when he has a type advantage. Taking down opponents rapidly is key here, since she’s in it for the cash grab.[/hider] [/hider] [hider=Pokemon][u][b][color=palevioletred] Pokemon Party: [/color][/b][/u] [hider=Dei — Charmander][h3][color=palevioletred]Dei[/color][/h3][hr][img]https://www.smogon.com/dex/media/sprites/xy/charmander.gif[/img] [hr][sup][color=silver]Charmander [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] Level 12 [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] ♂ [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] Blaze [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] 100%[/color][/sup] [list][*]Physical — Scratch [*]Status — Growl, Smokescreen [*]Special — Ember [/list][h3] [/h3][/hider] [hider=Kyllene — Mawile][h3][color=palevioletred]Kyllene | “Kylie”[/color][/h3][hr][img]https://www.smogon.com/dex/media/sprites/xy/mawile.gif[/img] [hr][sup][color=silver]Mawile [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] Level 12 [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] ♀ [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] Hyper Cutter [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] 100%[/color][/sup] [list][*]Physical — Astonish, Bite [*]Status — Taunt, Growl, Fake Tears [*]Special — Fairy Wind [/list][h3] [/h3][/hider] [hider=Tula — Magikarp][h3][color=palevioletred]Tula | “Tutu”[/color][/h3][hr][img]https://www.smogon.com/dex/media/sprites/xy/magikarp.gif[/img] [hr][sup][color=silver]Magikarp [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] Level 9 [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] ♀ [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] Rattled [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] 100%[/color][/sup] [list][*]Physical — (Struggle) [*]Status — Splash [*]Special — N/A [/list][h3] [/h3][/hider] [hider=Erebi — Zorua][h3][color=palevioletred]Erebi | “Eri”[/color][/h3][hr][img]https://www.smogon.com/dex/media/sprites/xy/zorua.gif[/img] [hr][sup][color=silver]Zorua [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] Level 9 [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] ♂ [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] Illusion [color=palevioletred]◼[/color] 100%[/color][/sup] Holding: [b]Silk Scarf[/b] [list][*]Physical — Scratch, Pursuit [*]Status — Leer, Fake Tears [*]Special — N/A [/list][h3] [/h3][/hider][/hider] [hider=Inventory][u][b][color=palevioletred] Inventory: [/color][/b][/u] Pokédollars — 4490 [list][*]Potion — 1 [*]Pokeballs — 6 [*]Great Balls — 2 [*]Old Rod [*]Escape Rope [/list][h3] [/h3][/hider] [@PlatinumSkink]