@Dusksong Yupp. Nicely posted. Eryn's reactions are very understandable. Now, I can finish that post, in a bit. Nice. ... Was Axl's request to see ALL Jacques' Pokémon? I kinda translated into seeing one Pokémon, maybe I got that wrong. Heh.
@Rune_Alchemist Teh-heh. Beautiful post. It made me feel happy. Really, REALLY set the scene beautifully there. Quite a scene. Well posted. I'll see if I can write up a reply up to you alongside the rest of them, heh.
@Rune_Alchemist In the meantime, your post is ready. Here you go. Have fun with that. Ask me questions if... you need any clarification anywhere... haha. Or figure Claire wouldn't look. Because that could be.
Ralia teleported up to Meganium’s head, and the green creature let her be. That was all totally fine. … Until Ralia grabbed one of those antennas and yanked. Now, about those antennas… they’re actually a Meganium’s stamen, which it uses to spread spores, the tips of their giant flowers, with anthers on top, used for making more flowers. Basically, Ralia just yanked his *cough*
‘MEGANI-!?’ Meganium shook, throwing violently with his head as Ralia desperately teleported off. Good thing she did that, because a cloud of purple Poison Powder spread into the atmosphere from the Herb Pokémon, which was getting itself up on its feet with an angered expression, eyes peering partly closed. A few pink petals gathered around him, a hint that Meganium was preparing for a Petal Dance…!
Except the target had teleported away. Meganium calmed down, letting the petals of Petal Dance settle while the Poison Powder scattered around harmlessly. If he could see Ralia he’d be glaring warningly towards her, otherwise it was just in general at everything, before slowly turning to wander in the direction Chikorita went off in, paying Ralia no further mind. She would certainly not be welcome on Meganium’s back anymore, though.
Meanwhile.
Claire minded her safety at least somewhat as she ran through the forest, avoiding Vileplume petals and glaring Roserades on the way, before Chikorita arrived at a little groove where the trees opened up, letting in some light.
Chikorita ran, and in this open area Claire was faster. The small green animal ran around the moss rock that stood here for no apparent reason, perhaps for a lap around it or so. Eventually, through either just insistently following or by changing tactics seeing how Chikorita was now just running around the rock, Claire eventually caught up to the little grass-type Pokémon.
‘Chiko~!’ Chikorita called out happily as Claire caught up to it, looking pretty happy despite everything. Now, regardless of what Claire was going to do next now that she caught up with the little mischief maker…
Something floated uncomfortable close to her head at the edge of her vision. It was decently large and brightly coloured. If we assume she did what any normal human would at this point and turned her head to look at what it was…
Claire blanked out.
Everything became bright white and she stopped feeling connected to her body. She didn’t need to breathe, she couldn’t feel heat or cold, yet everything somehow felt comforting. She’d be forgiven for thinking she had fallen unconscious, except someone unconscious surely wouldn’t have been able to think as clearly as she could right now, not to mention everything was bright, with a pinch of yellow, not entirely black or unclear as unconsciousness would have been.
An image appeared within her mind, branded into her memory. A girl, slightly older than Claire. Her eyes were closed and her hair flowing blue, long and beautiful around her head, unconscious underwater. She was contained within a large container of water within an unknown building, sealed behind metal doors and artificial lights. Instruments were connected to the container, gathering some form of data to screens that Claire could impossibly read from here. Around the container and the doors stood guards, numerous masked men dressed entirely in white with numerous Pokéballs at their belts, ready for any amount of trouble. They looked serious.
Along with this mysterious image of this girl in a container of water, a question appeared in her memory. It was associated with the picture, its intention loud and clear, if a little short on details.
W O U L D _ Y O U _ S A V E _ H E R ?
Claire is free to give her answer any way that comes naturally to her in her present condition.
Sheila saw the one who had provided his funds to her vial approach her. No doubt coming to make some form of statement about his investment. Creep stayed motionless, letting him speak.
… No debt, he says, huh. While it could all be a game, that was a relief. He told to be smarter than Ceramix, which she really hoped she could be, and then offered his help, though currently Sheila had no idea if she actually could use his help for something. Possibly to get the Rockers to listen to her, but would it not wrong to have an enforcer from a rival team next to her while trying to convince them she was on their side? No, that wouldn’t do. Besides, he said it would be for advice. Okay. She’d freely admit she might have need of advice, even if it was possible this man had ulterior motives behind them. She’d just have to trust herself to see it when the time came. Having a contact of some sort… would be helpful.
‘… Alright,’ Creep started, her tone more accepting, turning her head somewhat towards him. ‘Give me a means to contact you, and I’ll use it should I see reason to,’ she said, trying to carefully word it so she didn’t sound weak while also not sounding arrogant. She wasn’t sure she had succeeded. ‘I appreciate it,’ she added, due to her unsurety, but immediately had to wonder if that was too much. Still, at that point, she decided she has said enough. She still didn't know his name.
Sheila had noted Swarm looking at her, through her power. She really hoped it was just slight annoyance at losing the vial that would eventually calm, that the current events of them matching the Community would occupy his time…
The guy nodded to her, before handing her a business card with a phone number on it, as well as the name "Thunderbolt" written in fancy letters… Hah, villains have business-cards? Suppose Sheila would have to do something about her reluctance to walk around with a cell phone on her in the future. Imagining herself giving a business card… It looked ridiculous. … Thunderbolt, huh. Mildly intimidated, Creep turned and nodded to Thunderbolt in turn while putting the card into her coat, before he turned and walked off, back to his own.
… It felt strange, to have such an almost civil interaction with another villain. She supposed there had to be such interactions of cooperation and partnerships, or their organizations wouldn't be as troublesome to eliminate, huh…
@Demon Shinobi Yupp. Long, good post that contains all we need. Nicely posted. I'll respond soon enough. And, heh. About a Munchlax's daily intake of food... I won't need you to actually roleplay that if you don't want to. XD It'd be good if you can make references to it occasionally, but I won't demand you to play a certain way just because, hah. Just wanted to tell you that somewhere, heh.
@Rune_Alchemist Alright. That's what I figured you'd do. Nicely posted. And... time to figure out what those antennas on Meganium actually are for. XD
@Old Amsterdam Teh-heh. It'll be fun writing the reaction to this one. Nicely posted. Excited kids are fun.
@Gardevoiran Oh, alright. If you feel more comfortable with sending Xatu home. I will admit that I was under the initial impression that he had the Xatu in order to at all be able to manage travelling in terrain, but if you feel he'll be able to handle himself with only Seabreeze's sight to guide him, then sure. I'm not sure how well he's going to be able to battle like this, but, heh, I'll leave the means of perception to you, then. Nicely posted.
@Joshua Tamashii Whelp. Is this scaring the kid or testing his ingenuity? Hahahaha. Oh, well.
@Dusksong So, I just about want to post again for the ones in the Pokémon Lab. How are you doing? Can we expect a post soon, do you think?
Sheila’s offer had been spurned from anger at Swarm for his suggestion, and now her anger was slowly placating. A slight terror for what the consequences of what she had suggested might be ran through her, but this was no time for regrets. Her focus was on the Broker, slightly aware of the discussion going on between the Lethal Force members over there albeit she couldn’t hear what they said, waiting for the conclusion.
The giant man from the Jacks spoke, the one who had started this meeting. She inspected him. He was huge, intimidating, black armour and skull-like helmet, but the words he had contributed with so far had sounded reasonable. Of course, he was scary as heck and Sheila’d never want to fight him… but he spoke out for her, and even offered his personal money to assist her.
Huh? What? Creep turned to look at him, even though she didn’t need to, in order to show that she was acknowledging him. But beyond that… What? Why? Sheila felt confused. Why would he offer his own personal money to help fund her second vial? Was he just that bored? No. More likely, he was seeking to make her owe him. He’d show up later and possibly ask for compensation. If Creep was a new leader, she was likely impressionable, and as such easy to sway.
She couldn’t truly deny it. He did seem reasonable, she could imagine that she had just been swayed into thinking of him in a positive light, albeit he was also giant and scary. She had no idea what kind of actions were acceptable at this point, so Creep simply gave a slow nod towards him. She hoped it would be translated to “I appreciate it”, but she didn’t want to say that in case it was perceived as weakness.
… Then Purge cut in, and a chill went down Sheila’s spine. Not him. She couldn’t compete with him. Sabotage, too? Well, rather her than him, but… But then the Broker cut short, saying the offer was between her and Swarm only. Sheila didn’t understand entirely why, but she wasn’t about to complain. And then the verdict came… and it was to her. Damn, a tiny part of her that hoped to escape that pressure cursed for her.
Creep grimly nodded to the Broker’s statement, mildly panicked within, unable to reply. She didn’t trust herself to say anything intelligent. The offer had been made in the heat of the moment, because Swarm had angered her. The anger was now gone, and she was starting to consider the scope of what she just got herself into. Not only had she just promised her efforts to the Broker with the slim hope she could make a move to help the world somehow, but she had made herself a target by owning two vials. She felt… so exposed.
With her power, she saw Swarm’s reaction, how he angrily glared at her. The Broker handed her the vials, and the pressure became real. Creep inspected the liquid in her hands, while her power looked at where everyone else in the room was looking. She knew for a fact that Swarm, Purge and Sabotage all wanted those vials, and probably the rest as well. It was a unique opportunity, and all that stood between them was the pathetic and now leaderless Rockers as well as this thin weak-looking girl in a blindfold. It occurred to her that even the man that was now paying for her vial might have done so because he considered her an easy target to steal the vials from after the meeting, since he couldn’t buy them himself as a member of the Jacks. … She could be attacked in this weakened state at any time. She needed back-up.
Options. With these two vials, the option existed to cut her losses and run. The Broker would be mad, but what could he do about it? Except, then she’d be giving up all that she had here, an in on the villains. However, if she stayed, he’d expect her to use the vials. There was no way she’d use them on Rockers. Despite that, these vials presented her with the rare opportunity to get allies of her own, who were aware of what she was doing and potentially supported it. But who in the world trusted her enough for that, that she also trusted in return? There was no such person after she triggered, certainly. Not to mention, they’d have to be an insignificant civilian, or else there was a chance Patriarch had already got his hands on them.
So she’d have to find an insignificant civilian-
Under the blindfold, Sheila’s eyes widened a little in realization.
-that she trusted from before triggering-
Sheila closed her eyes for a moment.
-that also felt an attachment to her in turn.
… There… there were a couple such individuals, wasn’t there? Her friends. Her former friends, from before she triggered. Could she do that? Could she drag them into this hell, all because she felt she needed backup?
... Sheila reckoned she had to think about it. Of course, if she did it, she had to give it as an option that they could deny, and she didn’t even know if the offer would appeal to any of them. Before all that, she had to get the Rockers under her control if at all possible, before thinking about trying to add people to it. First off, she needed to hide the vials.
Coming to this conclusion, Creep started slowly deposited the vials and the note into a pocket on the right side inside of her coat. As she did that, she also attempted to make an illusion with light which would be displayed to others where she reversed so it looked like she was putting the vials in a different pocket on the left side. She figured that maybe she wasn’t trying to affect others, she was simply affecting the light that then affected the others. Worst thing that could happen was simply that it didn’t work. Best case scenario, however, someone who would attempt to pickpocket her would do so on the left side, where there were no vials. Creep then made sure that her illusion (if existent) and her real self got back to the exact same casual stance so she could stop without issue. At the end, she didn’t even know if it had worked or not.
Whenever the meeting ended, she’d have to vanish fast when she came out, that’s for sure. Then deposit the vials somewhere safe, however impossible somewhere like that was to find, before going to try to get the Rockers back in order. Hopefully Visage wouldn’t be troublesome. Ooouugh, what was she getting herself into…?
For now, Creep sat back down where she’d been sitting, keeping part of her eyes on everyone, using her powers. Anyone looking too intently at her, with too much purpose…
@Demon Shinobi Nicely posted. Alright, let's get this show on the road.
@Dusksong@Gardevoiran@Old Amsterdam There we go. I'm sorry if it feels I'm rushing you all along, but I did want to make sure you got to experience the same things as the others did, and that means this potential rival-battle. I did consider that perhaps you wanted to face one another, but eh! Of course, you can just say that you have no interest in that, and then we can move on. You could quick-battle the rivals if you don't want to spend the time roleplaying turn-per-turn, hah. Anyways. I wanted to do this.
Oh, and if any of you have any reactions that would cut the conversation short or something, those could still happen, I'd just need to edit the post, hah.
@Rune_Alchemist And for you... I continue that. You're free to do stuff, heh. Also, Chikorita is apparently 0.9 meters tall. That's way bigger than I was imagining. Think that is to the top of its head or to the tip of its lead? Hah.
Chikorita looked happy as she jumped aside to dodge away from Claire’s initial lounge, making use of her smaller size to slip by an opening in the rocks of the ruins. Given the fact that these were ruins, that means that Chikorita just exited straight out into the forest. If Claire hesitated to follow, Chikorita threw another Razor Leaf that was intended to miss her, before smirking and…
‘Chikorita!’ … dashing straight out into the forest, hoping to be followed. That would be fine and all, except she was intentionally running straight under the giant petals of some planted Vileplumes, dangerously close to a Breloom practicing punching bushes and a pair of annoyed-looking Roserades on the journey dashing through the forest. All of which were suddenly looking around for what was disturbing them.
Committing to the chase suddenly became a bit more dangerous. Would she?
Meganium did not appear particularly worried. The evolved Pokémon was relaxing, letting the little one do whatever it wanted. Ralia wasn’t particularly bothering. To reach higher, an option would be to teleport up to some branches higher up, if that was the idea. Or to disturb the Meganium.
Kalmia looked on happily as she watched the two new trainers getting their first Pokémon while the first new trainer watched as well. She simply nodded to the thanks she received. Then, Alice turned to her with some questions, and Kalmia went straight to attentive mode.
'Oh, for the first Gym, there’s one in Highhill Town just past Route 1, with a fairly lenient Gym Leader. She knows that most of those that will be arriving from Pureplain City will be complete newcomers, so she won’t go all out on you. That should make her a good place to start!' Kalmia shared with a wide smile, and then, the other questions.
'I believe Horseas typically eat insects and rock moss. But, otherwise, PokéMarts carry all the different kinds of snacks that we know Pokémon enjoy!'
'Beldum?' Kalmia looked a little surprised by the specific request, and started considering it. 'Yeah, those levitating psychic metal things that move by magnetism? I wonder. I’d have to check my notes to- No, wait.' Kalmia was about to turn to check a book in one of the shelves, when she froze, blinking a bit. Then, she smiled, and turned back to Alice.
'Right. I know where they are,' she said, a touch of pride in her voice. 'The Pokémon you seek reside within the maze that is Mt. Edge, at the center of Isson, surrounded by Worldedge City. It’s a mysterious place, something within Mt. Edge gives out mystical power that tampers with physics allows Worldedge City to look like it does. Careful, should you wish to travel within it, for Mt. Edge attracts many creatures sensitive to this mystical energy, some more powerful than others, but the Beldum you seek should exist within. They may be rare, but they tend to travel in swarms, if I remember right, so you should know them when you see them. Good luck~!'
-and that’s when Axl came bursting through the door, with all likelihood startling everything except Slowpoke. Kalmia breathed out a bit, then smiled and walked over to Axl.
Kalmia was a decently tall woman, wearing glasses and had blonde hair tied into a ponytail, and wore casual blue clothes under a white professor-like lab-coat. Her hair was completely soaked and she had a towel around her neck for some reason.
+ lab-coat as described, because professor
'Welcome, Axl. I figure you might have been a little stressed, but still, I do appreciate if you can be a bit more careful when opening my doors. That said, I totally understand your excitement and panic at being late, teh-heh.'
The rectangular room immediately inside the door had bookshelves placed in a circle around an area in the middle, not properly taking advantage of the space in the corners. The shelves contained varying books and papers of research, as well as the occasional Pokéballs. In the back and right, a large amount of what appeared to be computer servers filled about 40% of the available space, and they were coupled to Kalmia’s laptop which stood on a desk to the left of it. Other than the laptop, there was also a large amount of papers and binders on it, making it impossible to place anything else on there.
To the right of the table was a healing station from a Pokémon Center, with places to place six Pokéballs, along with a large cylinder thing with a glass middle and a hatch that one likely were to place something moderately large within. There was nothing that said what it actually was. While it was tight in here, it was still decently maneuverable and Kalmia knew where everything she wanted was.
There was a door to the right leading to the offshoot house on the side of the lab, and from it was a pink Pokémon waddling forward at an extremely slow pace. Still.
In addition, on top of the servers was another Pokémon, a round tadpole-looking blue one with white stomach with swirly pattern on it.
Oh, and then there was Eryn, Skylar and Alice here, too.
'Alright, to catch you up…' Kalmia said, walking over to her desk to retrieve an item from a box. She walked over to Axl and presented it to him. 'Here you go, your Pokédex.'
'Now for a little explaining.'
‘First and foremost, your Trainer Card. It is your ID as a Pokémon Trainer, showing your name, index number as a Pokémon Trainer, a picture of you, the date you got your card, today, and it also shows how many badges you currently have. At the moment, that's zero. If you ever enter the Pokémon League, the Battle Dome or any Pokémon Contests, it will also show your results there.’ Kalmia said. ‘I took the liberty of inserting your new Trainer Card into your Pokédex, for the Pokédex won't function without it, but you can take it out when you need to show it or add a badge to it. It's in the back of the Pokédex.’ (You know how the Pokédex looks like a Game Boy Advance? It's in the place where you'd insert a game cartridge. You may pick what colour yours is~)
‘Your Pokédex has multiple functions. The main function is to give you information on every Pokémon you encounter and register the Pokémon you have caught. Scan a Pokémon by simply holding the Pokédex towards the Pokémon in question and press the scan-button. You'll be told information about said Pokémon, and by capturing the Pokémon you can also see its expected sizes, what moves it knows, what level it is, what types it is, where it is expected to live, all sorts of stuff. Note, Pokéballs needs to be registered to a person in order for them to function, and the Pokédex does that for you when your Trainer's Card is inserted. It's already linked to the PC as well, so any Pokémon beyond the six you're already carrying will be transported to the PC, and you can retrieve them at any Pokémon Center PC.’ It is common knowledge that you can only have six Pokémon at you at any time.
‘If you check the Pokédex, you can play the cries of a specific Pokémon you've previously caught. Use that as you wish. You can also use the Pokédex to find out where you might be able to find a specific Pokémon that you've scanned and want to catch... Or, well, you WOULD be able to do that, but the Pokédex has never existed in Isson and as such that data is not recorded. However, you can input it! So, if someone ELSE of you guys has inserted the data of where one might be able to find a specific Pokémon, then it will display on your map similarly! You can also supply each other with information about your previously caught Pokémon if you wish! Do help each other out~!’ So no need for ALL of you to complete the Pokédex if you don't wish to, you can do it as a team.
‘In addition. Since we are doing this on mission of the Pokémon Research Association, we're actually getting paid. For each Pokémon you catch, the data of where the Pokémon was encountered and such will be recorded, and a number of Pokédollars will be transferred to your accounts. Also, assuming you register a Pokémon trainer battle, you automatically get the winnings transferred to you should you win the battle. Really easy, and you don't lose anything by losing, so you don't have to worry about running out of money out there!’ The Pokémon Association has to do SOMETHING so that Pokémon Trainers don't go broke out there. (… And please ignore the financial contradiction caused by not losing anything by being defeated. I feel you shouldn't have to fear getting into Pokémon battles for monetary reasons!)
‘It's also a communicator that can be contacted by both phone and Pokégears as well as other Pokédexes. I took the liberty of inputting the contact information of all the other Pokédexes I've handed out and to my own central Pokédex, but you can register any other people just as you wish. Give me a call anytime you're in trouble and need some advice! I'm not a Pokémon Professor for nothing!’ Kalmia smirked happily, looking out over the new trainers.
‘Any questions?’
With all that said, Kalmia walked back to her computer and pressed a couple buttons. A Pokéball materialized, downloaded from the servers, and Kalmia took it and placed on the table where the other two had picked up theirs.
'And here, is your first Pokémon. Go for it!' Kalmia smiled to him, stepping aside to offer for him the room to go pick up his Pokémon.
With the assumption he went to open the Pokéball.
- You've obtained Munchlax! -
Pokédex Entry #446 – Munchlax, the Big Eater Pokémon. It consumes its own body-weight in food every day. The excess is stored within its long body-hair, although it often forgets it has hidden food there. It energetically seeks things to eat, swallowing it whole and often without chewing. Its stomach is sturdy enough to handle anything even remotely edible, even if it’s rotten.
- Would you like to give Munchlax a nickname? -
With that, Axl was allowed to have his little moment of meeting his Pokémon. Insert that here.
And then, after that… there was a knock on the door.
'… Hm? Did I forget anyone?' Kalmia asked, walking over to the door and opened it…
'Ah! Jacques!' Kalmia took a surprised step back from the door as the top-hat and suit wearing white-haired man in glasses smirked at her.
'Fu-fu. Hello again, Professor Kalmia. I heard you acquired some more hopefuls. Am I in time?' he asked, before looking into the room with the newly become trainers. 'Ah, it would seem I missed the most crucial moment. A shame,' he said, pulling his hat down over his eyes like he was sad, but he was still clearly smiling his sneaky little smile. Kalmia frowned at him a bit, before looking back to the trainers.
'Okay. Trainers, this is Jacques, of the Elite Four. He was-'
Edit: @Old Amsterdam has informed Alice is about to "start a F*****G FIRE" around here, interrupting the conversation and going for Jacques. Details in her post as soon as it's posted, reactions to which will be posted after. Eventually, Kalmia might be able to continue.
'Heh, okay. Jacques here last time I gave out Pokédexes, too. He was here, because…' Kalmia started, after the last turning her eyes to him again. It was clear she wasn’t entirely comfortable with him (Edit: though Alice's reaction will likely have somewhat brightened her mood). Jacques, of course, simply smiled.
'Because I, too, have given numerous young hopefuls Pokédexes and Pokémon so they may partake in this experience. See, not knowing Kalmia was doing the same, I made a request to Professor Sycamore of Kalos to provide Pokédexes for the trainers I picked out. He was more than happy to provide, a really pleasant fellow, that one. But, when I heard Kalmia was doing the same thing, I thought it would be an excellent idea that our trainers could meet, because life is so much more fun when you know other hopefuls,' Jacques told with a proud smirk.
'I’m here to offer our friendship. More hopefuls with Pokédexes is simply a good thing for Pokémon research, after all. So for that, I wanted to offer a friendly competition. You all, against my hopefuls. Be it in Pokémon Battle, catching the most Pokémon or perhaps even in Contests, I feel that having some rivals should drive you all to become the very best you can.'
'So he says,' Kalmia said, tone neutral, not looking at Jacques or at them, clearly not having been given a choice in this.
'Fu-fu, Jacques chuckled a little. 'So, with all that said… How about we start it off with a Pokémon Battle? I brought a few of my trainers back from their trips, waiting outside. Don’t worry, I’m making them use all-new Pokémon for this special occasion, so they won’t be stronger than you are currently,' Jacques offered, looking eagerly to the new trainers. Kalmia sighed a bit.
'I’ll emphasize that you don’t have to if you don’t want to and want to be on your ways. That said, would you like to kick these guys’ asses for me?' Kalmia waved a thumb in Jacques direction, with just a slight smirk aside from her other irritation at Jacques inserting himself into the scene. Jacques exhaled slightly from his nose and rolled his eyes just a little at Kalmia’s choice of words, not falling for that one again.
Xaltwind
Framing A Moose
Ariamis
Not a Sayan
SkyeOfStars
Remram
Apollosarcher
King Kindred
