PlatinumSkink

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Meh.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeegh...

Asengav goals made up on the spot

1. Establish Presence. You can't achieve your goal without a base. Increase your staying power, be it by making allies, increasing public opinion, successfully keeping yourself entirely hidden or by making yourself stronger by any means.
2. Disrupt Enemies. There are far too many possible threats to the plan milling about. Keep them distracted, fighting one another, thinking you're not a threat, or otherwise simply utterly destroying them, leaving nothing behind.
3. Contribute to the Empire. Give what you do not need so girls in other worlds can do their job easier. This involves sacrificing captured monsters, magic items and magical girls to Asengav, opening a special portal and see Asengav's tentacles dragging it into the void...

Also extremely meh about Deni not getting anything when she felled a dragon... thought for sure she'd get a gold... meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh...

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Mariette | Lea | Esther | Taihei | Tullia | Suzette | Mayra
Eli | Freya | Jelena | Josefin | Victoria | Ronja | ???

… So, Mariette just shut Nuncio and Sammy inside one of the rooms of her mansion. She was currently having her arm be healed, Ronja keeping it webbed up by several spider-limbs while she was looking down at it in light interest. It was in the foyer of the gothic mansion that belonged to Mariette, with the portraits of the various champions spread across the walls. The same champions stood across the floor, while Mariette currently stood at the top of the stairs facing down at them. The only exceptions were Ronja, currently healing her arm, and Eli, who stood as always on her side. Behind her stood the Black Mirror, ominous in its appearance, echoing in its dark colours.

‘Today, Justine von Visceral was discovered once again to be in Penrose,’ Mariette told. ‘She, or more accurately, her companion, is the one person in the world we know of that can break through into our dimension at will. She’s also hostile, vengeful for the past incident and potentially planning an attack. We cannot sit idle. We have to assume that she will one day come with a full frontal assault. Hence, we must be prepared.’

‘Tullia. Victoria,’ Mariette told, looking towards the two ice-Magical Girls in the group. ‘The area outside our doors is looking a little bleak. Create a blizzard. Use your powers to freeze the dimension over, create a howling blizzard among the glaciers that will freeze anyone who’d arrive into our dimension unprepared. Create a field within which our traps can be plentiful and difficult to discover, a field within our monsters can destroy our foes with the advantage on their side. The Bifrost Staff should be powerful enough to achieve such.’

‘Heh. Alright, you handle to creation of all the ice, and I’ll decrease the temperature,’ Victoria said with a little grin to Tullia, frostbite growing along her arms.
‘Very well. It’s the first time I get to sculpt a whole world…’ Tullia mentioned, and breathed out somewhat in anticipation, grasping the Bifrost Staff with both hands. ‘Frostbite and the Cold Sculptor will not let you down!’ she then told, her gaze serious while Victoria smirked, thinking of those who’d run into their cold little world.

Mariette nodded. Then, she turned to… ‘Taihei. We are going to need a lot of traps and detection systems. I want to know the moment someone sets foot inside our dimension, and I want them to be greeted with firepower. We’ll assign specific areas where we’re allowed to walk, and others that will be trapped. And Josefin…’ Mariette sighed a bit. ‘Just stick close to Taihei. We’re hoping your luck will cancel out her lack of it.’

‘It may be that my bad luck is more powerful than her luck…’ Taihei muttered over there, but the aquatic monster girl quickly got hugged from behind by a cheerful and bubbly blonde. ‘Aw, don’t be like that! Come on, let’s tackle this problem, together!’ Josefin told, happily. ‘The Artificer and the Perky Pilferer is on the case!’

‘Good. And when the fighting starts, I want you close to me,’ Mariette said, looking to Josefin. Yeah, abusing that luck is for the best. ‘Ronja. I want your webs everywhere. Reinforce every surface of every wall, every mirror, strengthen everything. And above all, web up the Black Mirror. We will need it to stay safe for a minute should we come under an attack we cannot defend against. If that web is laced with psychic traps, that’s even better…’

‘Leave it to me. The Psychoarachnid has you covered,’ Ronja said, spinning some web in her spider-hands while her own hands were clasped together in a bit of delight. ‘Tihi, such teamwork…!’

‘Mayra,’ Mariette looked to the dragon-kin among them, who looked a bit surprised to be spoken to. ‘It’s time to use that Darkness specialization of yours. Curse everything.’

‘Oooooooooooooooooooooh now you’re talking…!’ Mayra said, grinning widely. ‘Don’t you worry! The Flame Demon’s on it…!’

‘Esther,’ Mariette said, looking towards the wood-girl standing perpetually silently to the side. ‘The inside of the mansion is yours. Overgrow it. Make it your garden. Spare the mirrors, of course, but otherwise make it a jungle for anyone who attempts getting in. Make it all a part of you.’

Esther made no reply, but the growths of wood on her started to breach into the floor beneath her, preparing to expand her wood-element and make herself a part of the mansion. The Wilted Wanderer spread her influence…

‘Suzette. The girls you’ve been training. We’re going to need them. Give them a final few training sessions in combat, soak yourself in all the emotions you need, then bring them here,’ Mariette told, looking to the blonde empath.

‘You’ll be proud of their development. They can actually fight worth a damn, now, haha,’ Suzette told, giving a giggle as she did. ‘You’ve got the guarantee of the Emptiness Empath.’

‘And send Annie Marchand to my room,’ Mariette added.

‘Oh, it’s that time? You got it~!’ Suzette replied cheerfully.

‘Lea…’ Mariette swallowed a bit as she looked up to the floating girl that was the only one here she did not outrank. ‘We’re going to need more monsters to throw at our enemies. Can I trust you to arrange them for me?’

‘For Asengav,’ Lea replied, raising her head a bit. ‘This mission is of great importance to our lord. Because of that, the Windfall Sprite will do what she can.’

‘Freya,’ Mariette then turned to her half-snake-monster girl ally, who was looking modestly discontent. ‘We can’t know what’s going on inside Beacon. We can, however, find out what’s going on inside the sanctuary. I’d like you to go there and see what you can find out. As a monster-girl, you should fit in well.’

‘Very well,’ Freya simply said, while she internally gave a thank you for that the mission she was given involved her being in Penrose. There was someone she wanted to talk to in Penrose.

‘Jelena,’ Mariette then said, turning to the girl with metal arms. ‘It’s time we employ that trick.’

‘THAT trick!?’ Jelena asked, grinning from ear to ear.

‘That trick,’ Mariette confirmed.

‘Ooooh, boy, I can’t wait~!’ Jelena called, looking super excited.

‘… You can also head with Freya, she might need your Third Eye,’ Mariette added as an afterthought.

‘Yes, ma’am~! Black Rabbit will support the Union Beast!’ the girl saluted with a giant metal hand and looked elated, Freya raising her eyebrow over there.

Mariette now looked towards the final girl. The one that was keeping them all updated. The one that spent the majority of her time inside a room with computers and that gathered information for them. It was… honestly hard to look at her. The moment one looked away from her one could forget how she looked like. She never looked the same when she stalked the streets. She’d been the one to tell Nuncio where to find Mariette when she was in trouble. She was the one who’d briefed Mariette on everything that had happened…

‘… With the recent riots, I believe we have an opportunity to increase the public opinion of us. While the rest of our forces work to make us as strong as possible, I will make alliances, break up fights, destroy monsters and save those in need. You will guide my hand, will you not?’

‘Not like I was about to stop, was I?’ the girl told. ‘The Trespasser will guide your hand.’

‘Excellent. … In addition, when you have the time, could you go back to your world and bring back some weapons and grenades? I predict they would be useful…’ Mariette asked, feeling a bit bad, because…

‘I already don’t get a lot of rest,’ the incognito girl said, sighing a bit. ‘But very well. I will see what I can do.’

‘Thank you,’ Mariette said. Then she realized a certain slime-girl next to her was looking at her expectantly, almost eagerly. The portal girl had initially not intended on addressing her, for her duties hadn’t changed, but… ‘Eli,’ Mariette said her name, and Eli tensed up at her side. ‘You will continue to support me by my side, will you not?’

‘Yes, mistress! The Darkness Harpy will support you, always!’ Eli said, smiling a sweet little smile.

‘… The Reflective Witch thanks you,’ Mariette responded, pulling title only because everyone else was. Eli looked happy enough with that response. The portal girl nodded, and then simply looked to everyone else.

‘Alright. To work.’

With that, everyone turned and departed in different directions, all with work to do.

---

To Give Character To Those Who Lack It

The frost dragon roared, as ice and blizzard was blowing past the two Magical Girls and freezing everything around them. Neither of them were the slightest bothered as ice and snow built up around them, glaciers forming wherever the breath of the frozen dragon touched. The might all came from the shining staff in Tullia’s grasp, the girl frowning and keeping watchful eyes at everywhere her magical might blew her storm of ice and snow.

And beside her was Victoria, not even nearly as magically powerful, standing somewhat awkwardly just making sure everything was properly frozen, doing what she could but honestly looking more like she was giving herself frostbite. Now, in a physical battle, Victoria would positively smash Tullia’s bloody corpse into pulp so was their stat-difference, but that really didn’t mean much in a situation like this where it was an effort of sheer magic that was needed. Victoria gazed at her partner enviously.

‘Man, I wish I’d pleased a god, too,’ Victoria said with a chuckle.

‘I’m sure there are other means of getting significantly powerful magical weapons,’ Tullia said, breathing hard as she focused the depths of her Mana Font to sculpt out this world with the help of the frost dragon behind her. Then, with a whole blizzard formed, the dragon started to dissipate a bit, as Tullia stumbled back in spent magic. ‘Th-there. Now just… wait for my mana to recharge a bit… and then…’ Tullia said, breathing heavily, sitting down on an ice-chair that spontaneously formed behind her. Victoria kept looking at her, and Tullia slowly calmed down, then…

‘Besides, having all this power is not a good thing, always,’ Tullia said.

‘Any particular reason why?’ Victoria asked, raising her arms and placing her hands behind her head, elbows in the air.

‘Well, it attracts the attention of horrors, for one thing,’ Tullia shrugged. ‘I was a normal unremarkable Magical Girl, and then I was given the Bifrost Staff because I saved a bunch of frost giants, which made me really powerful… and then Asengav kidnapped me and I haven’t been able to go home since,’ she told, sighing out. ‘Just because of the staff. Since then, I’ve been more staff than myself. I’m the accessory that’s only relevant because I hold this staff. Because of this staff, I can never see my friends and family again…’

‘Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii see,’ Victoria sounded out. ‘Well, hand it over?’

‘I sincerely doubt I’d be let go even if I were able to hand it over. No, it’s tied to my soul,’ Tullia said with a bit of a smile. ‘Besides, it’s not like I mind my current existence.’

‘Huh, really? Because you just sounded a lot like you were blaming the staff and or Asengav for not being able to see your friends and family again, heh,’ Victoria said with a little grin.

‘No, that’s not it. I was just cautioning about that getting more power might change one’s life forever. Asengav just did what horrors do and secure the greatest power available to him, which was me. I can’t fault him for that,’ Tullia said, unknowing of the mind-bending’s influence on her words.

‘I… see,’ Victoria sounded out, unconvinced. ‘Eh, I’m already in Asengav’s employ and have already lost my original friends and family! More powerful weapons to me!’ she called, reaching out and made a sword out of ice in front of her, swinging it pretending it was a mighty artifact.

‘You… lost it all, huh,’ Tullia repeated.

‘Yepp!’ Victoria said with a grin. ‘I hadn’t even been a Magical Girl for long before I became employed by Asengav! I was just some noble brat in a state that suddenly decided to overthrow all nobles, so we fled, but we ended up dying in a blizzard. I would have died too, but a Lesser Force offered to save “me”. I thought he meant “us”, but that was a misunderstanding, he saved me and left my family to die, so I ditched him immediately, and then just… happened to run into Asengav. Huh, I wonder why?’ Victoria mused, but then shrugged. ‘Eh! Who cares! I’ve been at this for a hundred years or such, now, memories are getting foggy, hahaha!’

‘… So any friends you had would be a hundred years old, huh,’ Tullia said, sounding a bit sad.

‘Eh, don’t care about me! Everyone I knew is dead! Your friends and family! Don’t you miss them? There might be a shot at seeing them again! I know Suzette and Josefin still regularly visit their families, even under Asengav!’

‘… Uh, I’ve, sort of grown used to being apart from them…?’ Tullia asked, looking sort of confused.

‘Nonsense! Let’s go see them whenever we can! Alright, partner!?’ Victoria called, lightly punching Tullia’s arm.

‘Er, alright…!’ a confused Tullia winced as the punch was still hard enough to hurt, looking at her companion somewhat confused. Guess she just got plans for after all this…?

________________________________

There was a room within the mansion called the Void Room, where it was easier to enter and exit the mansion as long as you were a chosen of Asengav. Suzette smiled a bit as a bright shining portal opened before her, and-

‘That's not the way to our soldiers,’ Ronja commented, the arachnid girl standing by the door in the void behind her with crossed arms and some web hanging from her arms..

‘Did you come here specifically to make sure I didn't go anywhere I shouldn't?’ Suzette asked with a little giggle.

‘No,’ the spider girl said. ‘I just figured that if Justine's going to spontaneously appear, it would be in the Void Room, so I thought I should reinforce that, first.’

‘How sensible. Have a medal,’ Suzette smiled again.

‘So, where are you going?’ Ronja insisted. Suzette took a moment before replying, with a sad little smile..

‘My family still lives. To them, I just suddenly disappeared. Now, I could try to comfort them, but I now look younger than my daughter. I can't see them as I used to, but I'd like to take a look every once in a while.

And… we might die in the coming conflict. It doesn't matter much to older Magical Girls, but I'd suddenly miss decades of my husband and daughter's life. I wouldn't be able to bear it. I’ll avoid it at all costs. But just in case, I’m going to go have a look at them.’

‘You’re… sort of jinxing yourself, aren’t you?’ Ronja asked, tilting her head a bit.

‘I jinx myself if I don’t go, too,’ Suzette replied with a grin. ‘How about you? Don’t you have someone in your previous life you’re missing?’

‘No, not really. I was an orphan, not really close to anyone,’ Ronja said. ‘I had a talent for sorcery, though, so I used that to hypnotize people and become a psychiatrist, but then I accidentally made a mob boss kill himself, and… well, if it weren’t for Asengav, I wouldn’t be alive. I wonder why me? I was just a little kid with some psychic abilities…’

‘Heh, guess you had significant talent,’ Suzette smirked about. ‘Similarly to me. I became famous in my area for being an incredibly powerful empath… and guess Asengav wanted an empath.’

‘Heh, guess so,’ Ronja stated.

The two stared at one another for a bit, and then…

‘Hey, you know how I wanted to have little spider babies?’ Ronja said with a little giggle. ‘If you die, I’ll take your daughter and make her my daughter.’

‘Over my dead body,’ Suzette said, realized what she’d just said, and her face twisted into honest concern. ‘Damn, then I REALLY need to stay alive.’

‘That’s the idea~’ Ronja said with a giggle. It was infectious, and Suzette started giggling a bit, too. ‘Here, give her this, will you?’ the spider then said, handing over a woven yellow sweater…

‘Oh, you bastard, you knew exactly where I was going and caught up with me to hand me this, didn’t you? Is there spider-web in this?’ Suzette asked with a smile.

‘It’s practically body-armour, if she felt like getting into a fight in it,’ Ronja said. ‘A result of my weaving practice.’

‘Oh, you little-’

And then the two laughed together and Suzette hugged her spider friend, before Suzette finally departed and Ronja looked on until she was gone before she took to reinforcing the place as intended.

________________________________

‘… What am I doing?’ Taihei asked, looking up from the device she was making. It was within Taihei’s workshop, the shelves littered with materials and tools…

‘Hm? You’re making items?’ Josefin asked, holding her hands forward and focusing her power to help out with the development.

‘I’ve been doing that for the several hundred years. It’s never changed. It’s never going to change. Even when I die, I come back later, and keep making items. The whole time, I am plagued by constant horrific bad luck. I don’t even enjoy it. Why am I doing it?’ Taihei asked, as she kept striking her staff at the artifact she was creating, unable to really stop working.

‘Why, it’s because Asengav wants you to work, isn’t it?’ Josefin told, and as one of the girls actually aware they’re all mind-bent, she could imagine Asengav having made sure Taihei never stopped working.

‘That’s my sole purpose, is it?’ Taihei stated. ‘Once upon a time, I was a legendary craftsman, people showered me with gifts for my items, people loved me… and then they went to war for my things. They couldn’t agree who’d use them, so men started killing one another, whole armies mustered just to make use of my magical artifacts. My wife, my children, my friends and my country. They all perished because of my talents. My ability to make was my greatest curse. I was unlucky before I was ever a monster. I signed a deal with Asengav to get revenge on them… but after that, everything felt so hollow. Now I make items, to an eternal dark being that will never let me go, reminded day after day that I am using the very talents that all those I loved was killed for…’ Taihei sighed.

‘Sometimes I wish I could just end it all,’ she finished on.

Josefin winced. In comparison to Taihei, she was the most normal of all normal. She’d been a regular girl, a regular Magical Girl, that’d just been exceedingly lucky except for that one moment she decided to walk through a portal and ended up in the thrall of Asengav. More than that, her luck had given her A Way Out. She could bid her farewell to Asengav at any moment, mind-bending be damned. Could she somehow use that way out on Taihei? It was theoretically possible, since using her powers she could- ‘NO!’

Josefin made Taihei look at her with that shout, and Josefin shook her head and frowned. ‘That’s not the way, that’s not the way at all!’ she frowned more and glared at Taihei. ‘I’ll find a way! I’ll find a way to make you happy again! Anything that’s within my power! There’s got to be some way…!’ and in all of that, she couldn’t even imagine somehow turning her back on Asengav, because mind-bending.

‘… Ah, I see,’ Taihei said, looking with weary eyes at Josefin.

‘Huh? See what?’ Josefin asked, confused.

‘… You… were recruited specifically to be my companion, with your luck and your pep. Asengav recruited you specifically to try to make me happy. With other words, I ruined your life, too. Doomed you to eternal servitude, just by existing…’

Josefin recoiled, eyes wide.

‘… I must ask you to leave me be. I’ll get sad just looking at you, for a while,’ Taihei said, turning back to her devices.

You’re wrong! … Josefin thought. I wasn’t recruited to keep you happy, if he wanted you happy he could have mind-bent you to be happy! I was recruited because, at the final phase of the plan, I’m gonna-

But she couldn’t tell Taihei. Because her mind-bending specifically forbid her from talking about it.

‘Kh-!’ Tears in her eyes, Josefin turned around, and ran out of the workshop.

Taihei sighed at the act she’d just committed, to inflict a happy girl wishing her well with such despair. Just her luck, that something like that would slip out of her mouth. Taihei instead let her mind drift to traps she could device.

… So, they were going to remove the Black Mirror in case of an attack, right? That would mean that… oh. And then she could… Oho, what a cruel, cruel little idea that had just occurred to the Artificer.

‘… Heh,’ Taihei cracked her first little smile in a long time, out of sadistic pleasure, perhaps the only pleasure she still felt. And with that, she started to work again…

And then her bad luck made itself known due to Josefin’s departure as one of her Magma Bombs spontaneously exploded and flooded the room with magma, forcing someone to bring Victoria so she could freeze the magma and then Mayra had to come shovel it out.

________________________________

‘… It’s been so long,’ Lea sighed, standing in front of Esther still in the foyer, the wood-being silent as always as her roots spread through the walls of the mansion. The fae-looking monster girl felt just the tiniest nostalgic looking over Esther’s unmoving features. ‘The two of us are the oldest remaining champions of Asengav. How does it make you feel, seeing all these young things running operations now?’ Lea asked. Esther, predictably, did not respond.

‘You know, I still remember… I remember being a Lesser Force,’ Lea said, reaching forward to gently feel the wood of Esther’s body under her fingers. ‘I was tasked with looking after Asengav when he was small and impulsive. I cleaned up his messes and taught him about the world… he was my everything, and I followed him. Followed him until his reach crossed dimensions and he no longer had any use of me. And so… I was reduced to a Magical Girl so that I may still serve as his champion, where my status as Lesser Force would have prevented me from doing so,’ Lea said, mostly to herself, as Esther silently listened.

‘Do you think he appreciates what I’ve done for him? Or am I simply another, if the very first, pawn of his?’ the fey asked, staring at Esther’s unchanging expression.

‘… Did we break you too hard?’ Lea asked, leading her hand up to cup Esther’s wooden cheek. ‘Maybe my pain is pitiful compared to yours. You were the queen of a magical bee-hive, after all. In your world, all magic responded to a single queen. Then we took it, corrupted it, made a loyal monster out of it, and then the whole world was ours because we took the queen… How does that feel? Do you cry, thinking of all the subjects you lost? Are you even capable of thinking about it?’ Lea asked, knowing fully well that the mind-bent Esther could never think negative thoughts about Asengav’s actions against her people. Esther did not react at all.

‘… You don’t make for very good conversation, do you?’ Lea sighed, and backed off, floating a couple meters back. Looking at the utterly unchanging Esther was somewhat annoying her. Fortunately, she did know what the wooden girl liked. From herself, Lea spawned multiple colourful butterflies, and she sent them fluttering around her before sending them over towards Esther. Almost at once, Esther’s eyes opened a little wider, and her wooden hand reached up to make branches for the little butterflies to settle on, which they did. Esther immediately became a bit more colourful, with butterflies of varying colours brightening up the tree girl’s wilted persona.

‘… And that will do,’ Lea said, personally satisfied in having triggered some form of reaction from the wooden girl, before turning around herself and flying off, leaving Esther to infesting the mansion and integrating herself into the whole dimension. Suppose Lea had her own duties to attend to. She flew to see to them.

________________________________

‘Oh, come on! That’s totally unfair! If I can’t react to that with Magical Girl reflexes, nobody can…!’ Jelena complained loudly, gripping a controller and mashing buttons with her metal hands, glaring at the TV inside this particular room of Mariette’s gothic mansion. This particular room was loaded with games across all the walls, a TV for gaming, a computer in the corner, and definitely gave a completely different vibe compared to all other rooms in the mansion… and here came a dragon-monster girl through the door.

‘Hellooooo~! I’ve been told to curse everythiiiiiiiiiiiiing~!’ Mayra told happily as she spread her arms enthusiastically… then stopped short as she saw Jelena completely ignoring her and just cursing at the TV-screen.

‘Huh? You’re gaming now? Weren’t you supposed to help Freya?’

‘Freya’s off searching for some boy or other, wanted to be alone! So, I’m using this time, to finish this god-damn video game!’ Jelena said.

‘FREYA’s looking for a BOY!? Why aren’t we spy-’ Mayra started in an amused tone, when-

‘WHAT!? They seriously want me to collect-!? Oooh, but that’s gonna take so long and be so tedious…!’ Jelena lamented over the new quest she’d just been given, making Mayra look very confused.

‘Um, if you hate it so much, why do it? And why now?’

‘Oh, I love gaming! It’s just, I need to finish this game, I crave closure! With Mariette running us ragged and a great battle looming, I have precious little time to focus on gaming, and I just… I want to finish this game… before the next event…!’ Jelena said, mashing buttons again to fast-travel faster.

‘Huh,’ Mayra made a noise, not really getting it. ‘Why gaming?’

‘Huh?’

‘Of all the things you could spend your time with, why gaming?’

‘Ugh…’ Jelena looked a bit pained to recall. ‘Back when I was a regular girl, it was the only thing I enjoyed. I didn’t enjoy people. My family hated me. So I shut myself off. I think I hadn’t left the room for two years before that Magical Girl battle destroyed my wall, took my limbs, and forced me to swear a contract to save my life. It was just me and my video games. That’s how I preferred life.’

‘Huh,’ Mayra looked a bit astounded. She then grinned happily. ‘Can’t relate!’

‘Hahaha! I know you can’t!’ Jelena laughed. ‘Bet you were the social spirit reincarnated, going to all the parties, doing all the sports, whatever!’

‘Eh… Not really? We didn’t have a lot of those social activities in dragon-land,’ Mayra told.

‘What? Does humans in dragon-land have no such activities? I knew you didn’t know anything of civilized lands, came from somewhere with no technology, but some social structure you had to have, right!?’ Jelena chuckled a bit as she kept playing.

‘Um, I was never human,’ Mayra told.

‘Huh?’ Jelena looked at her with a frown. Mayra grinned, reached her arms out, and looked super-excited.

‘I was born dragon!’ Mayra explained happily. ‘My childhood was just spent chasing wildlife and headbutting my siblings! Then I got cornered by some magic mermaids but a black void saved me, and then I…’ she gestured at herself.

Jelena took a moment to pause the game and just stare at Mayra for a bit of time…

‘Ya know, that explains a lot.’

‘I thought it was obvious!’ Mayra declared, enthusiastic and amused.

‘Eh, alright. Do your curses, I’m going to keep on playing…’ Jelena said, turning back to her game…

Mayra looked on, curiously, and then got a nasty little idea. ‘Heeeeeeey, how about I curse your controller?’

‘Don’t you dare!’ Jelena replied, with honest fear in her voice.

That’s when Mayra dived forward, Jelena jumped to dash away, and then some laughs and giggles could be heard from the room as they dodged one another in the room while Jelena somehow still made progress in the game…

________________________________

In a room full of computers, a lone girl was eating a hamburger as she was looking across the many screens. … Then the door behind her opened, and a snake-like monster-girl slid inside.

‘You know I don’t like people coming here, right? Someone might have followed you,’ the girl in the computer chair said, as she inspected the city from her seated position chewing on a hamburger.

‘… I was worried that if we used phones, someone would eavesdrop. I don’t like the radio-waves,’ Freya said, imagining someone picking them up magically over a distance…

‘Yeah, I’d eavesdrop, but since you’d be talking to me it wouldn’t matter. I personally guarantee that none of the phones I’ve given you can be listened in on, unless it’s by someone better than me,’ the girl said, before stuffing the rest of the hamburger in her mouth.

‘That’s what I’m worried about,’ Freya said, not convinced that doesn’t exist. Still… ‘I heard about you,’ she said, and the girl in the seat took a moment to just sit still and listen. ‘You were a man who conquered his entire world. You used your connections and your skill as a hacker to overthrow the system, taking complete and utter control of the system. Everything looked perfect, except you had no idea the magical community existed. All it took was a single angry Magical Girl that decided to kill you for your crimes, and your whole mundane empire fell apart…’ Freya shook her head a bit, internally disliking this former tyrant, reduced to an incognito magical girl after she lost everything.

‘You no longer have that weakness. You’re a Magical Girl yourself. Why have you not used your skills to take over this world through your computers, like you once did?’ Freya asked.

‘… You need to understand,’ the girl said, putting her hands behind her head, leaning back and looking at the screens. ‘My world is far more advanced than yours. Technology is integrated into everyone, and there’s an enormous amount of automated robot military that I could control. This world doesn’t have that, so I can’t really take it over with hacking in the same way… But also, now some forces have their eyes on me. Patrons that remember how I conquered a world, wary of seeing the signs I’m trying the same again. Asengav knows this, and keeps me under a steady leash where I’m still useful, but entities don’t come to destroy me.’

‘So, I focus on doing what I can. That is to say, gathering information,’ she said, and clicked a button twice to display a picture of a young man sitting at a park-bench…

‘Oh, and I found your boy. He’s a bit tricky to actually catch, what with him teleporting everywhere, but I can tell you where to stand to have the greatest luck catching him.’

Freya had simply been standing there with arms crossed, frowning at the girl’s explanation and not being entirely convinced by it, but then it turned out she had the info Freya had asked for. ‘Alright. I will head out. Guide me as best you can,’ the lamia-girl told, as she spun around and headed out. The incognito girl in the seat gave a smile and then picked up the phone so she may guide her way…

---

… Later, Annie Marchand walked into the office. She was a Light-specialized girl among those who had been kidnapped by Mariette and brainwashed by Justine, after which she’d once again been saved by Mariette only to be collected by Asengav. Mariette was seated in her own chair in front of her, and turned to analyze her.

‘Annie Marchand reporting for duty, mistress Mariette,’ the new arrival told, looking clearly nervous. Mariette nodded to her, and uncovered her reward for helping to save Sammy. The Red Coin she recently got from Nuncio..

‘You are prepared, then?’ Mariette asked, looking towards the girl.

Annie swallowed. She knew that she could never again show up in the real world looking as she did. Mariette had explained it. They were doing this to save the world. What they did may seem like evil, but in the end, it was the only way to save the world. It required Annie, and all the other girls, to abandon their identities with Red Coins so they could no longer be identified as the girls that Mariette had once upon a time kidnapped, it gave them free reign to act without being noticed.

Yet it meant leaving their whole identity behind. Annie Marchand had been lucky. She was more or less identical to how she looked before transforming, she still had friends, she still had a (fake) family… using this coin meant she could never again return to that life she once had. She’d been kidnapped and done odd-jobs for Asengav for quite a while, sure, but this was the final step that confirmed that she’d never be able to return. Annie couldn’t help it, her eyes moisturized. Yet, she already knew she had to.

‘I am prepared, ma’am!’ she called, even as tears were dripping down her cheeks.

‘You remember what to do?’ Mariette asked.

‘I am going to be SMUG!’ the girl called, taking a deep breath as she announced. ‘And then follow your specifications to the letter! I am going to be the magical girl that you specifically requested, mistress Mariette!’

‘Good! Then take it!’ Mariette joined the intensity of what the girl said, and then reached forth to offer the girl the Red Coin. All absorbed in the energy of her announcement, Annie snatched the Red Coin from Mariette’s hand. A few more tears dropped from her cheeks as she stared with a determined frown at the coin, but then she closed her eyes.

The time for regret had passed. It was now or never.

A red light shone through the room. Mariette lightly shielded her face as Annie’s magic shifted completely. She grew older. She grew wings. Her hair turned blonde. She gasped out loud as she landed on her feet again, breathing heavily as all of who she was had completely switched. Mariette stood up before her, and asked.

‘Who are you?’

‘I…’ the girl started, noting how her voice was different. She was… she wasn’t Annie no more. Annie Marchand had disappeared from this world. A new name was required, so that nobody would associate who she was now with who she once was. Besides that, she now had a title. She was...

‘I am Olivia Giles, the Coin Crafter.’

Coin Crafter, Olivia Giles

Name: Olivia Giles

Age (Magical Girl): 12

Age (Before Magical Girl): 14

Gender: Female

Gender (Before Magical Girl): Female

Appearance: A young 12 year old girl, with shoulder-length blonde hair, red eyes, white stockings. She wears a little blue/white dress that counts as elaborate, showing off her sides and shoulders a bit. On her body she wears small skull accessories, in her hair and a bigger one at her hip. A halo floats over her head, manifested along with her spirit powers, and behind her a couple wings have manifested. She’s an angel-monster girl, somehow, and her mind is suitably warped.

Specialization:
Oddball: Magical Coins - Olivia is an expert at researching, breaking down and developing magical coins. She can apply her magic to generate new effects, understand existing ones and reconstruct it according to her will. Her work takes time to do and won’t work as smoothly unless she has the inherent power of magical coins to work with, but nevertheless she’s able to create entirely new coins with new effects the more she works.
Out of costume, she’s never going to run out of spare change.
& Spirit - Specifically, the power over five specific really powerful spirits. Fighting Styles describe it in detail.

Weapon:
Mystic Menus - When Olivia works, menus manifest in front of her. Using them she can see what sort of effect anything she does has, it gives her status-updates and also allows her to select what to do next. Reading her Fighting Style should clarify a bit, but she also gets a crafting menu that remembers all she’s tried to do in the past when working on coins.

Power:
Third Eye - It helps Olivia identify the magic she’s working with, having the sight.

Perks:
Gifted - It wouldn’t make sense unless Olivia was good at what she does.
Enhanced Sustenance - So Olivia can work all night if so needed.
Training - Olivia knows everything about the development of magical coins.
Get Out Of Jail - If she’s ever kidnapped, Olivia will slip out of the kidnapper’s grasp.
Hammerspace Handbag - So she can store her things/coins somewhere.
Wings - Earned from Wings Monster Girl thing.

Monster Girl:
Devourer - Olivia will occasionally need to devour some flesh. Mariette provides it to her.
Weakness: - Light. To ensure that Mariette can always subdue her.
Second Specialization - Spirit. She can command souls to help her work.
Wings - Just a couple wings. For appearances sake.

Patron: Asengav, Interdimensional Horror

Patron Benefits:
Magical Overload - She became a monster girl.
Supplier - In order to facilitate her work, Asengav provides her with money.
Like all other Asengav girls, she has Creeping Doom, Reasonable, Retrieval and Mana Font.

Patron Drawbacks:
Monstrous Form - She became a Monster Girl.
Bane - Foreclosure notes. Notes of overdue bills. As a girl focused on wealth, her power doesn’t work well with proof of poverty.
Like all other Asengav Girls, she has Quick-Tempered, Mind-Bent and Insomnia.

Fighting Style:
A spectral unit of five characters appears before her. These are the archtypical five members of any team, the swords-wielding DPS, the magic-wielding DPS, the strong tank, the booster/healer and the quick thief/assassin-like character. Olivia controls them like she was playing an RPG, commanding the frontline fighters where to attack and the magic-wielders who to boost and heal, and all-in-all the five of them are much harder to destroy than regular spirits.

Olivia herself is exceedingly vulnerable, but count on these five protecting her at all costs, as far as Mag 20 will let them.

Stats (Untransformed):
STR: 3
AGI: 3
VIT: 4
MAG: 4
LCK: 3

Stats (Transformed):
STR: 4
AGI: 7
VIT: 7
MAG: 20
LCK: 5

Personality:
A girl made subservient, quiet and submissive, made to do nothing but focus on her work as a drone of Asengav’s production, not meant to rest or sleep for Enhanced Sustenance keeps her going. She’s a quiet girl that follows her orders, and that’s all Mariette needs her to be. She still has the material to become excited in there, it’s with honest curiosity that she continues her work on the coins, but otherwise she desires little else than to focus on her work. She’s an utter scaredy cat when it comes to actual danger.

History: Annie Marchand was a common Magical Girl, new and inexperienced, recruited by a distracted Puchuu in a small town. She’d grown up an orphan but gotten fake parents when she made her contract, and was defending her home with a Light-specialization. All-in-all, she was hopeful for her future as a Magical Girl. … Then Mariette kidnapped her out of nowhere, handed her over to Justine who brainwashed her, then Mariette took her back with some charismatic speech or something.

She was then embraced by Asengav, who properly mind-bent her. After that, Mariette required someone to make coins for her. As such, she ordered Annie to take a Red Coin, and to follow exceedingly strict orders for how to create herself afterwards. A new name was required in order to remove all attachment to her former identity as Annie Marchand… and as such, Olivia Giles was born.

Incantation: …
She’s never untransformed, why would she need an incantation?

Additional Info:
She is not ever meant to be in battle.
Annie was a bit of an RPG nerd. She took a few artistic liberties with how her powers manifested, hence the RPG-like setup.

Rolls and Decisions

Smug.
14 years old
Underdeveloped (+1 Mag)
Oddball - Magical Coins (+2 Mag, +1 Vit)
Mystic (+1 Mag)
Elaborate (+1 Mag)
Third Eye

Enhances Sustenance +1 Vit (so they can work all night)
Gifted +1 Mag (good at coin development)
Training +1 Vit (expert coin maker)
Get Out Of Jail +1 Agi (so she can’t be kidnapped)
Hammerspace Handbag +1 Lck (so she can carry what they made + supplies)

Extra Benefit
+Magical Overload
+Supplier

Removed Benefit
-Minions (she doesn’t need them)

Monster
Wings - Because the image has them. +1 Agi, then +1 Agi for the perk.
Devourer - Need to eat stuff.
Second Specialization - Spirit (+3 Mag). Also because of the image.
Weakness. To keep her in check.

Str: 4
Agi: 4+1(get out of jail)+1(wings mutation)+1(wings perk) = 7
Vit: 4+1(oddball)+1(enhanced sustenance)+1(training) = 7
Mag: 4+1(underdev)+2(oddball)+1(mystic)+1(elaborate)+1(gifted)+3(spirit) = 13
Lck: 4+1(hammerspace handbag) = 5

2 silver, 3 bronze = 7 points. All into Mag.

Str: 4
Agi: 6
Vit: 7
Mag: 20
Lck: 6

‘Excellent,’ Mariette said, standing up and walking over to a set of double doors, throwing them open and letting the girl’s eyes widen as she saw what was inside.

‘This is the remaining wealth that we stole from Justine von Visceral’s treasure room,’ Mariette said as she turned and let Olivia gawk at the coins. ‘I trust that you will be able to make good use of it?’

‘A… absolutely, ma’am,’ Olivia winced, looking upon the sheer wealth gathered in this room. ‘But…’ she then had to look to Mariette, a question on her mind. ‘What would you like me to make?’

‘We’re going to need a lot more Red Coins for the rest of you girls that Justine had kidnapped. See if you can backwards engineer one of these we got from Cindy,’ Mariette said, and deposited a Red Coin on the table next to her. ‘But besides that…’ Mariette said, and deposited the White Coin next to the Red One. ‘See what you can make of this. I’d like you to start imagining what you’d need to make your own, specialized coin. … Here.’

Mariette called forth a mirror, and opened it. Through it was only darkness and magic… ‘Through here is now a pathway to the dark magic of Asengav. See if you can involve it in your coins. Can you handle that?’ Being asked, Olivia steeled herself, and nodded.

‘I… will do my best.’

_{(Olivia will be an NPC and an NPC only, not to be used in combat scenarios, even if I liked what I wrote in her combat section. If she’s attacked she is going to lose.)}

‘Good. I’ll leave you to it,’ Mariette said, opening a portal in front of her and then passing through, leaving Olivia by herself in the office…

---

Mariette stood in the air on a portal. At her side was Eli. She’d just hand-written a letter with supplies stolen from a nearby store. She addressed it to Alicia, though anyone in Beacon would do.

“Justine von Visceral is back. It would be in our mutual interest to prepare for battle with her. If you wish to speak, then have someone stand alone on top of the first building of Victory Street,” which is totally a normal street in a decently normal neighborhood. ”without being too guarded. Otherwise, simply consider this a warning. I thought you had the right to know.”

With that written, Mariette put the note in a letter and left it through a portal in the way of a patrol she was decently sure was not going to burn the letter on sight. And with that… it was time to move.

‘Ready to work? Because I have your first SOS, here,’ the Trespasser told her in ear, and Mariette nodded. It was time to increase the public opinion of her.

---

For some time a day from that point onwards, Mariette took to doing some social work.

Say there were Magical Girls fleeing from the Ascendancy, and having ill luck at getting away. A portal suddenly opened out of sight from the Ascendancy, perhaps when those fleeing just rounded a corner, and they’d reappear somewhere completely different in town, safe for now.

Or when there were forces fighting one another. Mariette opened portals between the two groups and speak through portals saying that this is no time to be fighting one another and that they should be unified under the new queen. If they insisted on fighting, well, the Mariette could open portals to drop the backline and teach them a bit of a lesson with Light-magic from unpredictable angles, all from the safety of considerably far away.

If there were monsters around, Mariette could engage those, too. Perhaps drop them through a portal and secure them for Asengav, too.

She’d avoid actually getting into battles, and with a guide in her ear keeping track of hostiles it should be decently easy to avoid those wishing to harm her, but she would be willing to speak to those who don’t.

Things like that.

Pokémon: Start

@Rune_Alchemist

‘A battle? Not against someone who knew you’re with us, I hope?’ the lass asked with a frown as she put on her own mask, which was just the face of a Tympole plastered over the lower part of her face. ‘Ah, nevermind! Let’s go!’

So they ran through the base, and… yeah, some Pokémon battling had definitely happened here. A couple other random individuals were scurrying and escaping, and also pointing the way for the group Claire was now running with. There were damages after huge things had impacted the walls and torn up furniture, and the base itself seemed in a general state of evacuation, there were a couple Abras in the “teleport room” that were sending the refugees who knows where. Still, they entered the Research room, and…

There were busted up science machines all over, shattered glass and expensive-looking machines that had been torn apart. Scientist-looking guys were currently in a state of fleeing. There were a couple of ancient Pokémon just hanging out on the side…

Ancient Pokémon

Pokédex Entry #345 – Lileep, the Sea Lily Pokémon. It attached itself to rocks at the bottom of the seafloor using powerful suckers and disguised itself as seaweed until it caught prey swimming close with its tentacles shaped like flower-petals, devouring said prey whole. It went extinct over 100 million years ago, exists today only due to reanimation through fossils.

Pokédex Entry #408 – Cranidos, the Head Butt Pokémon. A primeval Pokémon, it lived in jungles 100 million years ago, alive today only through reanimation from fossils. Its skull is extremely hard, used for headbutting prey and enemies. It’s known to headbutt trees to snap and fell them for no apparent purpose. It noticeably lacks intelligence.

Pokédex Entry #696 – Tyrunt, the Royal Heir Pokémon. A Pokémon that was restored from a fossil, it originally lived 100 million years ago. It is largely known to be spoiled and selfish, if it doesn’t get what it wants it throws a temper tantrum. Such tantrums are highly dangerous as their jaws are strong enough to chew up an automobile.

There was an open door to a smaller room ahead. The lights within were out, yet all the scientists were looking in that direction with fear as they ran, and the group Claire had arrived with stopped short, holding their Pokéballs as they glared at the entrance. And there… There were calm steps of dark shape walking towards them from the other side of the doorway.

‘Sh-she’s coming…! The scourge of our lab is coming…!’ one of the scientists called as he immediately turned and fled, like this entity was somehow horrifying. The individuals by Claire also tensed up. Finally, out of the shadows came a girl, with blue hair and a thin outfit, holding a piece of paper. … Claire might recognize this person. Their interactions had been minimal, but she might recognize this person anyway.

‘“In ancient times, the Pokémon were worshipping and regularly interacting with the Legendary Pokémon that were their caretakers”,’ the girl read from the paper in her hand. ‘“Cells from their interactions may as such have been trapped in the fossils, and trace amounts may have been resurrected along with the Ancient Pokémon. We therefore research any cells on the Ancient Pokémon, to find these trace amount of legendary cells, using which we hope to track down the legendary Pokémon themselves”… what nonsense is this?’ Cathia asked, folding and then putting the page down into her bag before returning it to her back.

‘None of your business!’ the Lass that had led the group Claire was with shouted back. ‘Also, your luck just ran out! Unlike the rabble you’ve been facing so far, we’re a team gathered to defeat you! Say your prayers!’ the girl said, as she pulled a Pokéball, and so did the other three companions. Claire could potentially take a clue, but Ralia was already out, so.

‘… I’m sorry, but I cannot lose until I face my sister,’ Cathia said, shaking her head. ‘… and besides that…’ She then looked up, an unmistakable show of anger in her eyes. ‘I will never let the likes of you go without tearing you apart, Team Amethyst…!’

sooo

Pokémon Trainer Cathia would like to battle!

Cathia held out both her hands, and with four Pokéballs caught between eight fingers, there was a considerable recoil from one of the remaining scientists.

‘W-watch out! Her twin-tails are coming…!’

There may have been some doubt as to what he was referring to… when Cathia threw the Pokéballs into the floor. Instantly, the room became exceedingly smaller as two giant snakes took form, curling across the room, destroying machines and glaring at the challengers…

Pokédex Entry #208 – Steelix, the Iron Snake Pokémon. An Onix that digs deep finds itself compressed, tempered by high pressure and heat, and its composition changes to become exceptionally hard. Its composition becomes iron-like as it also eats iron-filled soil. It’s known to dig towards the planet’s core, growing harder as it goes…

Pokédex Entry #130 – Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon. A being of extreme aggression, they are drawn to places of conflict. When wars are fought, Gyarados are drawn to the surface, where they rampage for months and tear down villages and forests alike. Some claim the fear of the wrath of Gyarados is responsible for much of the peacefulness of our world’s history.

Along with those, a Pokémon with a flower floated up above Cathia’s head and a blue creature rolled to stand ready at her side, behind the giant snakes.

Pokédex Entry #670 – Floette, the Single Bloom Pokémon. It is attracted to fields of flowers and cares for them, ensuring they do not wilt. When flowers finally bloom, they appear with an elegant dance, much to the joy of a would-be gardener. In battle, it draws out the power of flowers with fairy-magic and uses it to attack.

Pokédex Entry #184 – Azumarill, the Aqua Rabbit Pokémon. It spends all day in water and rivers. It has magnificent ears, serving as long-range sensors hearing through water and air, making a map in its head. A kind-hearted Pokémon, it’s known to blow bubbles of fresh air to envelop those who are drowning so they may breathe until they’ve reached the surface.

The lass shuddered a bit seeing the sheer power of Cathia’s team, but regardless raised her Pokéball.

‘Come on! We outnumber her! Let’s crush her!’ she called, and numerous Pokéballs flew through the air.

Disguised Team Amethyst Grunts would like to battle!

Eight Pokéballs hit the floor. From the “tamer”’s balls, came a large bull and a fiery horse. From the “lass”’s ball came an electric squirrel and a black freezing thing. From the “scientist”’s ball came a bug with a rock on its back and a purple aquatic mammal. From the “rich boy”’s ball came a sentient sword and a rocky automaton.

A bunch of Pokédex Entries

Pokédex Entry #128 – Tauros, the Wild Bull Pokémon. Famous for their violent nature, Tauros are known to rampage endlessly. When charging, it whips itself with its three tails to fuel its anger. They fight among one another constantly by locking horns. The leader of the herd will have battle-scarred horns, that it’s very proud of.

Pokédex Entry #77 – Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokémon. After birth it can barely stand, but chasing after its parent day after day makes it stronger and stronger. Their hooves are allegedly harder than diamond, and they’re known to jump unfathomable heights. Its fiery mane grows shortly after birth, giving it an impressive appearance.

Pokédex Entry #417 – Pachirisu, the EleSquirrel Pokémon. It makes electricity with pouches in its cheeks and shoots charges from its tail. It makes fur balls that crackle with static electricity, and stores them with berries in tree holes. A pair may be seen rubbing their cheek pouches together in an effort to share stored electricity.

Pokédex Entry #361 – Snorunt, the Snow Hat Pokémon. They're found in snow-regions in groups of five. In warmer seasons, they tend to sleep deep in caverns. They can survive on only eating snow and ice. According to old folklore, a house visited or inhabited by a Snorunt is sure to prosper.

Pokédex Entry #557 – Dwebble, the Rock Inn Pokémon. It finds a rock of suitable size. It melts a hole in said rock using a liquid secreted from its mouth, then crawls in and lives in it. A rock-less Dwebble is known to be aggressive until a replacement is found, so be careful should the rock break.

Pokédex Entry #79 – Slowpoke, the Dopey Pokémon. Extremely slow and sluggish, it doesn’t feel pain until 5 seconds after the blow. It fishes by dipping its tail in water and then doing nothing all day waiting for something to bite. To assist, a Slowpoke’s tail is flavorful, and can break off with no pain and grows back after a while.

Pokédex Entry #679 – Honedge, the Sword Pokémon. They are ancient swords possessed by departed spirits, floating by mystical power. Should someone grab the hilt, its blue sash ties itself around the arm to hold it in place as the sword drains the energy of the one foolish enough to grab the hilt of a possessed sword.

Pokédex Entry #622 – Golett, the Automaton Pokémon. These Pokémon were created by ancient scientists and move using an unknown energy which it burns within itself. The source of this energy is unknown, and they’ve each been active for thousands of years. Constructed out of clay, it was meant to protect the civilization that constructed it.

… And so, they moved to clash, Ponyta, Dwebble and Slowpoke having determined Steelix as their target, Tauros, Pachirisu and Honedge floating to combat Gyarados, while Cathia’s Floette and Azumarill stood facing Snorunt and Golett. Cathia looked confident in her victory. Indeed, despite the sheer number of Pokémon facing her Cathia’s opponents weren’t anywhere near able to contend with the Pokémon Cathia had called forth…! She’d done some serious training!

What would Claire do here?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran@Typical

‘Um, land makes sense, doesn’t it?’ Vivia asked, looking to Skylar after his question. ‘Stillwood is just a stroll down Route 5, shouldn’t be too complicated. We might see some new Pokémon, too.’

‘… Hm. Very well. Trading numbers does sound sensible,’ Oaken says, if he hasn’t already with Eryn and I’m forgetting it. ‘I’m going to Route 6, because there’s a Pokémon there I want. Then I’ll wait for Rodger, who is in Stillwood Village until he gets defeats Archie, after which he’ll drive after me. Crossing Route 6 should be a lot less of a bother with his bike,’ Oaken figures, but that aside.

Anyways. Eventually, perhaps, they’d use the Abra…

If they do

With a quick flash of light, they suddenly found themselves at a new location. That is to say, back at the entrance of the Drain, with a-

‘Quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!’ Quagsire announced, the blue goofy face smiling so brightly at them.

‘Oh, you’re back!’ Wilhelm told, looking excited. ‘I’ve picked up all these strange rocks to study! I have no idea what kinds of breakthroughs I’m going to make, but this is really interesting! And this writing, too! I need to compare it to the records and see if I can find any matches in our history books…!’ Yeah, that’s an excited Ruin Maniac. Elsewhere, a Swimmer was trying to sleep on her Tentacruel, who in turn was resting in the water…

‘… … … Ah, is it time to return?’ Lin asked, yawning a bit as she looked up after Wilhelm’s sudden sporadic talking. ‘… And hello, Eryn. … So, where did your twin go?’ Lin asked with a little smirk. ‘Eh, no matter. Shall we?’ she asked, sitting up and reaching her limbs out to wake herself up, Cutiecruel reaching out to stretch tentacle limbs in a similar gesture.

This is when Oaken takes out a Pokéball and calls out Staryu, the Pokémon he used to traverse the waterways.

Pokédex Entry #120 – Staryu, the Star Shape Pokémon. It appears in large numbers by seashores. If any of its limbs is cut, it can regenerate instantly as long as the core is intact. At night, they gather at the surface with their cores flashing red, creating the illusion of red stars blinking across the water’s surface. They say this blinking is an attempt to communicate with the stars.

Now, if they’d like to just head off to Flooded Lakewatch…

Flooded Lakewatch

Flooded Lakewatch

Beneath Lakewatch Town lies a completely different world, one which was clearly constructed to stay. Monuments and pillars showing off the architectural skill of worlds past lie spread around the rocky buildings that to this day serve as the foundation of modern day Lakewatch Town. Countless little buildings stacked on top of one another with little openings for doors, their layout seemingly random creating what could best be described as an underwater labyrinth of buildings that cannot quite be described as ruins, on account that they are far too intact to be described by that moniker. Across the underwater floor countless little forgotten trinkets lie scattered, and in the middle of it all stands a mighty temple of some form… who even knows what it really is?

Suggestions to actions

1. Search the area. Maybe find a Pokémon that isn’t immediately obvious, look for items or inspect the place for interesting things?
2. Train Pokémon. Just be aware that most things here can probably eat you alive.
3. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
4. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
5. Area Specific: Go Deeper. There’s something calling in the depths of Flooded Lakewatch. Do you want to brave the depths and see what it might be?

Connected areas:
Lakewatch Town. Above you.

Flooded Lakewatch, known Pokémon

Common:
#60 Poliwag
#61 Poliwhirl

Uncommon:
#186 Politoed
#340 Whiscash
#537 Seismitoad

Rare:
#656 Froakie

Or maybe they’d like to head all the way back to Lakewatch already.

Lakewatch Town

Lakewatch Town

As one looks upon Lakewatch, it is clear it was once built by the side of the water. Yet, over time, Dragon Lake has actually increased in volume, the water-level rising and swallowing the town. Then the natural conclusion would be to move the town back, follow the water-level, and rebuild at the new shore, right? That, does not appear to have been the thought that went through the minds of the designers of this Town, which is essentially placed out in the water on top of older buildings, the streets of the town flooded in water and to get around one has to make use of their many canoes or get on the back of a Pokémon.

The town of Lakewatch rises fairly high for its size, and vegetation grows pretty freely around the buildings. Most buildings and streets have white floating cobblestone to walk on either side of the streets, with a river of water flowing in the middle. People here are highly accustomed to this, and the streets are constantly bustling with people heading back and forth, as well as people actually gliding down from the higher buildings from the roofs above using strange little paragliders. It appears people live in the higher floors, while business takes place on ground/water-level. There are canoes basically everywhere that anyone’s free to borrow, townspeople commonly jumping down on a canoe, using the force of the jump to drift it to the other side and then simply jump off.

Now, anyone could hear from the name that Lakewatch Town is the town that basically rules the Dragon Lake. The Lakewatchers are a group of people that regularly patrol the waters, and become friends with the dragons that live there. Tours by the Lakewatchers are the primary tourist attraction of the place, along with the fish that is procured from the same lake, and guides are trained to show the way in any surrounding areas. Their boats are also those who trade with the western side through Highhill, keeping the place alive and busy. Plus, there’s always the rumors of treasure or otherwise hiding deep in Flooded Lakewatch, and Descent Tower looms in the middle of town for those hoping to explore… but who really knows? It’s a nice and different place, definitely.

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. There’s plenty of water here. Could be any number of Water Pokémon in the different rivers through town.
2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such.
3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas.
4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
6. Notable Buildings. Visit any of the facilities of the city!
6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon.
6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things.
6.3. Pokémon Gym. ???
6.4. Lakewatcher Base. From where Lakewatchers embark to patrol Dragon Lake.
6.5. Lakewatch Docks. For getting tours of Dragon Lake, just taking a ferry or fishing!
6.6. Explorer’s Guide Service. With all these strange places around, Lakewatch offers guides to the surrounding areas!
6.7. Descent Tower. A tower in the middle of town, with stairs down to Flooded Lakewatch. Come prepared for the underwater.
6.8. Back Alleys. … What? Lakewatch has a darker section? What are you talking about?

Connected areas:
Wet Caverns. Water-filled caverns that are located to the east. There’s a small hill to climb to get to the entrance.
Route 5. The main exit of Lakewatch, leading to a grassy incline connecting mountains, forests and plains.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.

Known Pokémon

In Town
Common:
#194 Wooper
#195 Quagsire

Waters outside
Common:
#60 Poliwag

Uncommon:
#318 Carvanha
#535 Tympole

Rare:

Regardless. What will Skylar and Eryn do?

__________________________

@hatakekuro

Basil called back Cecil and sent out Lupin, who the very first thing that happened to him was that he took a big Tackle because of the negative consequences of switching Pokémon as Skitty was charging at Cecil’s previous position. Faced with another adversary, Lena tried to make Skitty Sing this one too! … But got Taunted before it could happen!

‘Ah, no, Taunt! Skitty, no!’ Lena called, but Skitty already launched into another Tackle! _{Because Taunt is overpowered in this setting, I am going to let opponents use an offensive move instead of standing around doing nothing}

Still, Lupin was far faster than Skitty and the cat-Pokémon was already damaged by the encounter with Cecil. Eventually, Lupin’s scratches brought the opponent’s Pokémon down, with enough scratches.

Basil was victorious! Basil got 434 P for winning!

‘Oooouuugh! … Well, at least I didn’t make Skitty accidentally put me to sleep, this time…!’ Which had happened due to the tight nature of the drain and due to her opponent having got behind Skitty…

Then onto the princess’s Pokémon! … After having waken up Cecil!

To be frank, the mercenary was far more of a threat. Incinerate did some damage, and then Pidgey tackled and did some damage… Cecil’s going to win with just Incinerate, mostly because Pidgey’s level 3. A similar story happened against Buneary, Taunt making it so the bunny had to run forth and try to Pound at once, after which Lupin could once again just use his speed to scratch and run as previously. Yes, these low-level battles are going to go like this a lot.

Basil was victorious! Basil got 12 P for winning!
Cecil grew to level 8!
Lupin grew to level 7!

‘Aaaaah! I couldn’t repel him!’ the little girl cried as she went and ran behind her “king”, who was crossing his arms looking judgingly at Basil.

‘Hmpf! It seems the bard was hiding weapons under his cloak, and is really capable with them! Is he perhaps secretly an assassin?’ the king theorized, making some of his subjects and the princess cower a bit in fear, looking at Basil. ‘It would appear that I have no choice. I must release the horrible beast that once plagued these lands…’

‘N-no, not the monster!’ the princess called, positively shaking in fear.

‘Whelp, guess I’m out of here before it gets ugly!’ the mercenary said, winking to Basil a bit before lifting herself out of the drain.

‘A-are you sure this is wise, my lord?’ Donald asked, his childish little voice matching terribly with the seriousness he was trying to convey.

‘I understand your fears! But I fear we have no choice. Stand behind me! For I, alone, wield the power that can control the beast…’ the king said, lifting his Pokéball towards Basil as his subjects gathered behind him. ‘Are you ready, bard, to face the greatest monster of this kingdom!?’

youngster King Lewis would like to battle!

‘I call upon the might of the unspeakable horror!’ the king announced, and then threw the Pokéball in front of him…! ‘Go get him, T!’

And with that, a creature of countless tentacles took form in front of Basil…!

Lewis’ Pokémon

Pokédex Entry #114 – Tangela, the Vine Pokémon. It is constantly wrapped in countless constantly jiggling blue vines that never stop growing. The vines cloak its unknown contents, and are known to entangle anything that comes close. The vines easily detach if grabbed and grow back within a day.

Indeed, as the Pokédex said, the different vines cloaking around its body are all constantly moving, jiggling around as it blinks forward.

Lewis is going to start with Ingrain, to heal, and then follow a pattern of first trying to Sleep Powder and then Vine Whipping. However, at any attempt to attack Tangela in close combat, Tangela is going to attempt to constrict the opponent, using a lot of tentacles to hold the opponent in place as it next starts producing Sleep Powder!

Basil’s strategy?

__________________________

@Savo

Pidgey looked a bit curiously at Cyril asking enjoying his perch, and gave a little bird-sound in reply that could have meant absolutely anything.

‘Riight!?’ Chloe called happily about Growlithe being a whole lot of adorable. ‘Yes! Please do warm up to me so I can shower you with love, cuddles and happiness~!’ she then said about shy little Mimi, but then there was Velvet, which Chloe looked curiously at… and then got her hand shaken. ‘Ooh, what a cute little attitude~!’ Chloe grinned about Velvet. Then she was all squees of happiness and pats on Cation because happy Shinx! The Cation moved on, Growlithe looking a bunch at him moving about, Sentret looking a bit cautiously at the Shinx, too, and then he got to Rattata. The rat needed a moment to get it, but then jumped up to paw happily on Cation, and then they could play for a bit, because the Rattata was a most energetic playmate, heh.

‘Growl? Growlithe!’ Growlithe called when Aster introduced herself, causing the dog to lower its head and look curiously at her, waving its tail a bit and sniffed at her. Most Chloe’s Pokémon would warm up to them soon enough and get friendly enough.

‘Yes! I got new clothes, as a good-luck charm to catch a Growlithe! Don’t they look adorable?’ Chloe said, leaving out what the clothes must have cost.

Anyways. After all that. Cyril suggested they head over to the forest, and Chloe immediately looked even brighter than usual.

‘Oooh, yes! There’s bound to be a bunch of adorable Pokémon in the forest! We’ve just GOT to go check it out! Let’s go!’ Chloe said, skipping up on her feet and was then already on her way, her four Pokémon looking surprised for a bit before all four of them started skipping / running / flying after her, the Pokémon forced to keep up with their over-excited trainer. As Cyril dashed too, it probably meant they reached the forest pretty quickly!

Welcome To

Southern Silent Forest

The awaiting forest that greeted those who entered it was one of utter calm. The Silent Forest is a peaceful place where little in the way of violence or turmoil, giving credence to the name which it is now known by. Pokémon and people at peace with nature often walk among these trees, little noise other than the occasional sound of a Pokémon making their way or playing in the grass. In comparison to the other kinds of forests that one might find in Isson, this is without a doubt the least dangerous and absolutely least exciting one. Still, it is a boon to those of the calm Pureplain City who simply wants somewhere with fresh air to wander every once in a while.

Being off the map, few youngsters walk here, making it somewhat of a place for the somewhat older to make their home in. Still, the forest belongs to another kind of creature entirely. Because no matter where you look, there’s one out of two species of Pokémon all over. Those being innumerable Petilil playing about…

Pokédex Entry #548 – Petilil, the Bulb Pokémon. They prefer to live areas with moist, nutrient-rich soil. They’ve been known to be used by humans to find areas suitable for planting plants. The leaves on their heads come right back when plucked off, and while extremely bitter, they’re known to refresh a tired body.

… And Cottonees floating about.

Pokédex Entry #546 – Cottonee, the Cotton Puff Pokémon. They’re extremely light and mostly go where the wind guide them. They’re known to feel more at ease in a group, so they stick together with others of its kind and resemble clouds floating about. If attacked, they shoot cotton at their attacker to distract them.

However, Cyril immediately started training, so let’s see. After running around a bit fighting Pokémon to train, he realized it’s pretty important to be wary of when Southern Silent Forest stops being silent; because with all likelihood it’s a Jigglypuff or a Skitty singing and inducing sleep! Or, sometimes you start falling asleep anyway, because there may be a higher-leveled Glameow using Hypnosis with its tail! Perhaps Silent Forest is also the Silent Forest because people who tread it tend to end up asleep!?

Pokédex Entry #39 – Jigglypuff, the Balloon Pokémon. Looking into its eyes causes it to sing a lullaby which, due to its unique vocal cords, are able to find the exact frequency at which the opponent cannot help but fall asleep. This is its defensive mechanism, and will sing to the point it cannot breathe against an enemy that won’t fall asleep.



Pokédex Entry #300 – Skitty, the Kitten Pokémon. It lives in holes in trees of forests. It easily becomes fascinated with things and chase them, and it commonly seen chasing its own tail. While popular due to perceived cuteness, it is very difficult to earn a Skitty’s trust and friendship.

Pokédex Entry #431 – Glameow, the Catty Pokémon. It claws when displeased and purrs when affectionate. It can switch between the two very swiftly, this fickleness is very popular among some. When happy its tail makes beautiful movements, like a dancing ribbon. Its glare can put foes into a hypnotic state.

It’s a little harder to train here because some Pokémon are higher level, but otherwise training should go well.

Aster grew to level 9!
Mimi grew to level 8!
Velvet grew to level 8!
Cation grew to level 8!

What will Cyril do now?

Oh, and Chloe made a noise and vanished into the forest somewhere while Cyril was training. He can find her again if he wants to.

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. Specify if you’re looking for a specific kind of Pokémon in the forest.
2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding.
3. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally.
4. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination.
5. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
6. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
7. Area Specific: Wander. This place… it’s so relaxing. Wouldn’t it be so nice to just… wander away… without thinking about it?

Connected areas:
Route 1. To the south.
Route 3. If you head north-east for a while.
Silent Shrine. Go north, you should be able to find the road there.

Southern Silent Forest, known Pokémon

Common:
#546 Cottonee
#548 Petilil

Uncommon:
#39 Jigglypuff
#300 Skitty
#431 Glameow

Rare:
#357 Tropius

__________________________

@Eklispe

Dawkin made his way inside the building and placed his ear where it counted, listening in on the conversation.

‘... in ruins,’ he could hear the guy say. ‘They appeared to believe it was our base in Raremine, now deserted.’

‘Excellent,’ said a mature, female voice, unknown as to its origin but by the tone one that was used to having its commands followed. ‘We’re currently suffering what appears to be a small one-trainer invasion at our actual base, but it’s of no matter. We already possess that which we came here to obtain. Allan, Mia,’ the voice told their names.

‘Yes, ma’am!’ Mia’s voice came immediately, the girl also present inside the room.

‘Deliver this to Bigfjord City. I’m going down there to destroy our little interloper. … I don’t need to make clear how important it is this reaches its destination unharmed, do I?’ the woman said, and there was the sound of something being handed over, and someone accepting the item.

‘Certainly not, ma’am,’ Allan says, in a serious enough tone.

‘Leave it to us! We’ll have it delivered safe and sound!’ Mia assured, somehow not sounding entirely convincing.

‘Good. Then be on your way at once. Avoid seeming suspicious, will you?’ the woman said, before what sounded like a hatch opening and the woman stepped down it, probably towards whatever base it was they had. As soon as she was out of earshot…

‘Ooooh, it’s our lucky break! Such an important mission entrusted to us…!’ Mia positively squeed in there.

‘Then let’s be on our way before we find a way to mess it up,’ Allan told, turning to start walking to the door.

‘Oh, have some faith! It’s just a delivery mission! What could we possibly do to mess up a delivery mission!?’ Mia ridiculous, following…

They’re heading for the door. Does Dawkin do anything?

There is a wall to hide behind a bit further in, curving left into another room, if so desired.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Mariette

Specialization: Portals, Light
Power: Tentacles
Perks: Gifted, I. Home, Blood M., Overcity S., I. Tourist, H. Handbag, Allies, Aware, A. Direction
Benefits: C. Doom, Reason, Minions, Retrieval, M. Might, Mana Font.
Drawbacks: Quick-T., Mind-Bent, Insomnia, Bane, H. Sapping
Str: 4 Agi: 4 Vit: 4 Mag: 22 Lck: 10

Eli

Specialization: Reinforcement, Darkness
Power: Third eye
Perks: Dual W., Wings, M. Training, Flexibility
Monster: N. Limbs, Devourer, Amorphous, Second Spec.
Benefits: C. Doom, Reason, Takes to Know, Retrieval, M. Overload
Drawbacks: Quick-T., Mind-Bent, Insomnia, Bane, M. Form
Str: 7 Agi: 7 Vit: 7 Mag: 8 Lck: 4

Deni

Specialization: Reinforcement
Power: Twin S., Shapeshifting
Perks: M. Training, Flexibility, Fated, G.o.o. Jail, BigDamn H.
Benefits: Free Agent, Genki Girl
Drawbacks: Alone, also in debt to Crimson Cradle
Str: 7 Agi: 7 Vit: 7 Mag: 8 Lck: 6

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Ronin smiled to Connie and Mia after the thanks for her help, and then she’d spun to confront Hilaria…

Well, who knows if Ronin had any influence on it, but Hilaria returned to normal eventually! That’s a relief and a half. Then Eliza and Maura came down and called to her that it was time to leave.

‘Oh, alright! Things seems to have calmed down, here, anyway, so let’s go! … In just a bit!’ Ronin called, before spinning around to other people. ‘Yes! Let’s exchange all the numbers! You two, too!’ Ronin called for Mia and Connie. ‘Yeah, this one here’s a dependable and nice-hearted if somewhat chaotic girl! If she says the place is safe, then it’s safe!’ Ronin told, smacking a hand onto Raven’s shoulder (from low). That was before Raven left.

OK, number with Connie, at the very least, possibly.

‘Alright, now let’s go!’ Ronin called to Eliza, and it was time to fly, or whatever they intended.

@Majoras End @FamishedPants @BrokenPromise@twave@Ponn

Pokémon: Start

@Eklispe

Now, there’s not actually a physical Gym in Raremine Town. There’s a Gym Leader and a huge gate that says “Pokémon Gym”, with a sign and Gym Guy in front, except the gate leads straight out into the desert as an alternative way to exit Raremine Town into Route 7. Still, it was indeed closed, because there was no Gym Leader available. With that, Dawkin went and asked around for which direction that Kristy had gone. He was eventually directed to a specific section of town with a couple warehouses…

… and found one of them to have been completely and utterly demolished!

demolisher and Pokémon

Pokédex Entry #344 – Claydol, the Clay Doll Pokémon. It’s said to have awoken from a clay figurine of an ancient civilization when a mystic light shone upon it. It is a floating enigma, flying with psychic powers and firing beams from its hands. It sleeps while floating in the air, and even if it comes apart it can reassemble itself with psychic powers.

Kristy stood, in full fighting stance, facing off against two people in black suits and sunglasses looking utterly bewildered.

two foes

‘Ugh, w-we don’t stand a chance…!’ male grunt

‘I-it’s fine! We did our duties! We held them back…!’

‘Hahaha! Of course you’re losing, you’re facing a Gym Leader!’ Kristy said, smiling at them. ‘Now, I may have been too late to prevent you escaping with the Pokémon, but I’ll have the two of you tell me-’

‘Emergency Abras!’ the male called, and the two grunts picked out two hidden Pokéballs that cracked open and revealed two yellow humanoid fox-Pokémon…

Pokédex Entry #63 – Abra, the Psi Pokémon. Due to the strain of Psychic powers, it needs to sleep for 18 hours a day. However, even asleep it can use its powers, which reads the minds of beings close-by and teleports instinctively if it finds someone hostile. Someone wishing to catch an Abra must clear their mind as they approach.

‘-find- NO, WAIT I’M NOT-!’ she called, Claydol starting to use some Psychic power, but the Abras were faster and the two grunts teleported off somewhere. Kristy proceeded to do some wild arm movements in frustration, but ultimately sighed out, and then turned to see Dawkin there.

‘… Well. We found their lair, so we know it was Team Amethyst behind it now. Can put the accusations against the lab-people aside, I suppose. Unfortunately they all teleported away the Pokémon before we could catch them… but hey! Now we can start hunting them down!’ Kristy said with a grin.

‘Eh, now I have Gym Leader duties to attend to. Can’t be away for too long as a Gym Leader, you know? Only one of me, and a whole continent of youngsters that want their badges, hahahaha. Alright, back to base with me!’ Kristy said, putting her hands behind her head and starting to walk back towards the entrance of the Gym, Claydol floating mildly ominously behind following her.

That aside…

Does Dawkin want a sidequest? If not, disregard the existence of this hider. Otherwise…

Now, Kristy had a multitude of miners examining the warehouse where she’d routed the previous Team Amethyst members, and then walked off… but then Dawkin recognized someone passing by. He’d have looked like just any other traveller, if it wasn’t for the sake Dawkin had seen him before.

the guy

Just a guy in red hair, holding a cigarette as he inspected the ruins of the warehouse. Not dressed in the suit Dawkin saw him in last time, he was clad in a slim Hiker Trainer Class outfit, and it suited him terribly. Still, he looked like just any other traveler, and kept walking like he had. He was going to walk through town a while until he entered a visually uninteresting building with no clear purpose other than potentially living inside. The door was unlocked. There was a corridor beyond where the guy took a left and vanished through another door, after which voices could be heard talking to one another, if Dawkin for some reason followed this far.

Fortunately, he’d not seen Dawkin as he passed by. Would Dawkin want to do anything?

And if he’s just gonna send the authorities after the guy he’ll get away because that’s no fun. XD

__________________________

@hatakekuro

Lupin was, mildly put, superior to Donald’s Rattata in every conceivable way, and the battle didn’t last very long. Just Rattata charging headlong to try to crash into Lupin. While Lupin didn’t have much room to dodge left or right, what he did have was more than enough to counter-attack and take down the rat without much trouble.

The second rat noted Lupin coming at him at high speed during Tail Whip and made a squee of panic as it dodged out of the way, but still, Lupin could without issue dispatch this one, too. Not enough experience for a level from these.

Basil was victorious! Basil gained 112 P for winning!

‘S-sir! I lost!’ Donald reported to the king.

‘Hmpf! Fine, then! The bard seems to have some prowess! Mercenary, have at him!’ the king commanded, and then it was Lena’s turn! She nodded to the greeting, and it was on!

Fake Out indeed started with doing some damage, and then Skitty pulled back to Tail Whip. Cecil shot Incinerate at Skitty… and found it did very little damage, Special Attack is a Darumaka’s worst stat. As such, Skitty easily breached through Cecil’s Incinerate’s with but minor singe damage… and then she suddenly got hit with a Darumaka’s best stat, Attack. Skitty simply could not contend with Cecil’s a bit more powerful Tackles. Left with no other option, Skitty started to Sing! … And she hit! Cecil fell asleep!

‘Woah, that was close! Okay, Skitty, Tackle!’ Lena commanded.

Would Basil want to revise his strategy? Lena’s current strategy is going to be Tackle while he’s asleep…!

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Nincada gave a slow little wave as they descended out of view from the bug and closed the lid behind them, and then… and then Claire managed to fall onto her butt right by the open doorway into a new, foreboding environment.

Welcome to

Hidden Raremine Base

A hidden base underneath Raremine Town, it’s defended by being officially part of Raremine’s floorplans yet hidden behind the stabilizing metal that forms the city’s bottom. The contents are moderately large corridors, filled with unsavory people hiding our as they conduct their less than honest pursuits, scheming and storing what’s needed for their next ill deeds. Fortunately, one does not need to walk without direction, for places like “cafeteria”, “research”, “teleport room”, “sleeping quarters”, “battle room” and more is clearly outlined by a map on the wall, showing that the place is not actually particularly big. That said, these are hostile environments for any well-meaning Pokémon Trainer in Isson…

‘You’re late, too!’ Claire suddenly found herself shouted at by a female voice.

If Claire looked around to look at the individual in question…

… she looked only like an incredibly generic Lass trainer. Yet, she was down here, surrounded by a couple more trainers who alike herself looked very generic, like they could have been any normal trainer on the streets. Among them was the mystery man, too, who was currently putting on a mask and not bothering to look over at Claire currently. The girl looking at Claire kept talking.

‘Anyways, no time to sit around! There’s a young infiltrator making a mess of our base and wreaking absolute havoc on our base! We need to stop her! Here, wear this so she won’t recognize you later! Come on, we gotta go…!’ she said, handing something over to Claire, before turning and dashing down one of the corridors with her company, expecting Claire to follow. They were heading for the Research section.

Claire obtained Delinquent Mask!

^{You may decide yourself what design it has!}

So, what will Claire do here?

She could follow… or she could head elsewhere and loot, or she could go back out. Yupp.

__________________________

@Savo

Alright, so Cyril eventually travelled through the streets of Pureplain suburbs to where the buildings ended, and a green plain started ahead of him. This was the only parts that remained of the original pure plain that the city was originally named after, when the city was first founded. Route 1.

Route 1

Route 1

Route 1 is a long, flat and grassy route where most trainers get their first taste of the world. From Pureplain you can see the hills of Highhill in the distance, from Highhill the scrapers of Pureplain looms in the distance, the start of the Silent Forest surrounding the Silent Shrine on the side. There is a larger road, a main road used for travelling in and out of Pureplain City, there are plenty of more mature travellers taking that road to get from point A to point B. But, young Pokémon Trainers usually much rather use the smaller path going out into the grassland. This is some remnants of the plain which Pureplain City was named after, although most of that plain is now swallowed up by buildings of people living around here. Small roads branch out, leading to different places where some individuals have made their houses.

There are many safe roads, yet take one step out of it and you’re immediately in tall grass, where you can already see many first-time Pokémon Trainers are challenging their first Pokémon. One could expect Pokémon Trainers to be searching for Pokémon either in the tall grass or the forest on the side, and also battling one another as they can. From the looks of it, there are plenty of young trainers sporting freshly caught Pidgeys and Rattatas. As one approaches Highhill Town, the forest becomes more plentiful, as beyond the town lies a forest.

Through the route also runs an indent, a drain surrounded by walls, seemingly made for the water to gather up inside it. It’s currently dry, whatever cause of that might be. Some trainers appear to be having fun battling inside it, and they’re running around challenging one another inside it. But, the drain also raised interesting questions about what kind of Pokémon or things one might find should one explore it further.

The most common here, as could be seen, are common Pidgey and Rattata, found pecking or scavenging among the grass.

Pokédex Entry #16 – Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. They are docile Pokémon that avoid fighting, kicking up sand in an enemy’s face or using Whirlwind to avoid battles. They have sharp senses of direction, capable of finding their nest or destination from very large distances. They inhabit tall grass where they search and prey on small bugs.

Pokédex Entry #19 – Rattata, the Mouse Pokémon. It has impressive vitality that allows it to live anywhere there is food. It scavenges for food all day and reproduces quickly. Very cautious, it’s ears listen for trouble even when asleep. It’s teeth never stop growing, it will gnaw on things to keep their size in check.

Yet start searching among the tall grass it will quickly become evident at least two more species inhabit this plain, one being a poisonous snake hunting the unlimited amount of rats as well as fiery dogs frolicking or protecting their territory.

Pokédex Entry #23 – Ekans, the Snake Pokémon. It stealthily sneaks through grass to prey on small animals and bird-eggs. When born, it is short and has no poison, but the poison develops and it grows longer as it gets older. When it sleeps, it wraps itself around a tree to safely sleep high up from the ground.

Pokédex Entry #58 – Growlithe, the Puppy Pokémon. Known to be brave and loyal to it’s trainer, but will bark threateningly at anyone entering its territory. It has superb sense of smell and will never forget a smell once it has picked up on it. Through smell, it can sense the emotions of others.

And here, Cyril wanted to train!

Though honestly, the low-level Pokémon around here’s not much of a match against his higher-level Pokémon. There was not a lot of experience hunting Rattata and Pidgey. Still, let’s bash Pokémon around for a bit and obtain at the very least one level for each, and a bit more for the smaller ones. Velvet could bash enough of them to grow two, and with some assistance Cation could train to a more capable level, which we skip over somewhat, let’s get some levels!

Aster grew to level 8!
Mimi grew to level 7!
Velvet grew to level 7! Velvet learned Endure!
Cation grew to level 6! Cation learned Leer!

They’ve all taken generic anime damage from training.

‘Cyril!’ Cyril heard called after him after he’d been training for a bit. It was Chloe, her eyes excited, hugging around the shape of a more than mildly disgruntled Growlithe, which she wasted absolutely no time lifting and shoving the face of at Cyril. ‘I got one! Isn’t he adorable~!’ she called, after which Growlithe growled a bit at him, an unsure little growl that told he wasn’t entirely sure about this yet.

Other than that, Chloe was in an entirely new outfit. She was in an orange jacket, black shirt, slightly redder pants, and… and her colours matched the Growlithe perfectly. As to when she’d actually obtained these clothes, who knows, but they were fancy and modern as well.

Except for this, there was also a Pidgey sitting curiously on her shoulder and a Rattata that was trailing after the Sentret that was stopping next to Chloe as she’d started talking to Cyril. It appeared she’d caught some other Pokémon on this route.

‘And it seems I got some money from catching them, too! Which’s perfect, I can have a look at whatever fashion they might have for sale in Highhill Town when I get the-’ and then she promptly shut up, eyes widening as she looked over Cyril’s Pokémon. ‘AAAAAAAAAAAH THEY’RE ADORABLEEEE-!’ and then she was on her knees having dropped Growlithe and lowered her head to ground-level by Mimi, Velvet and Cation!

‘Hiiii! I’m Chloe, Cyril’s friend, Chloe! Delighted to see you…!’ she called, reaching forth a little hand to greet the adorable Pokémon. Growlithe looked on confunded, Sentret scurrying over to stand next to her trainer, and Pidgey and Rattata were looking on curiously.

Cyril’s next actions?

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. There’s searching in the tall grass, and there’s the forest in the left, then there’s the drain…
2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding.
3. Seek trainers. There should be some here and there. Note, some may challenge you, regardless.
4. Talk. There’s plenty of young trainers around. There are also houses and travellers. Maybe seek answers to any burning questions you have.
5. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally.
6. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination.
7. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
8. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
9. Area Specific: Descend. There’s a drain. The kids are having a little tournament in it, challenging themselves to fight in a tight area. Perhaps you’d like to try becoming king of the drain? Or maybe you’d just like to explore it.

Connected areas:
Pureplain City. A bit south.
Highhill Town. A bit north-north-east.

Route 1, known Pokémon

Common:
#16 Pidgey
#19 Rattata

Uncommon:
#23 Ekans
#58 Growlithe

Rare:
#1 Bulbasaur

Pokémon: Start

@Typical @Gardevoiran

‘A-and me as well!’ Vivia declared, frowning and clasping her hands a bit as she said, even though she stumbled over her words. ‘I can’t stand by when I know this is happening. I’ll surely grow stronger and make a difference. Allow me to see this through!’

Azelf took a moment to gaze at Eryn as she made her declaration, and then over at Skylar as he made his, then finally at Vivia. The legendary Pokémon took a moment to consider, until the light of Beheeyem’s hands shone and the memory of spoken words manifested in their minds as if they’d just been said, even though they had not.

Excellent.

Azelf dove, pulling Beheeyem along on the trip, and arrived in front of Eryn. Then, a new memory formed.

A path was given to her. Two paths to the same destination, where the girl was being held. one was through Worldedge City. At the bottom of the Industrial District, there was a factory that wasn’t quite as abandoned as it appeared to be. The facility was manned, but nobody would expect an intruder from that direction. Security was lax, partly because having security there could alert people to the factory in the first place. However, heading through that direction meant having to traverse the entity of the base in order to reach the girl. It could turn into a more difficult route.

An alternative route was through Mt. Strength. In the bottom of the giant mountain was a hidden tunnel, directions to which Eryn now remembers, which leads into an underground maze. Heading east within said maze leads to an elevator, but said elevator is under heavy protection due to the powerful wild Pokémon that can be found in the maze, among other reasons. Breaking through that protection could turn out to be a difficult battle… but if she got through and used the elevator then she’d be just a single room away from the girl’s location. She could be snapped up and they’d be out of there before they could rally a response.

She should be wary of telling the Pokémon League or adults about this. The memory cautioned her that there was no telling who might be on their side. In fact, Azelf’s kin had assured them that at least one person in the Pokémon League is definitely in on it. _{This is to ensure you take on the job yourself and don’t just leak the info, so, like, please don’t come up with loopholes for telling the authorities anyway. Can still tell other players about this, though, heh.}

This all said, she could take her time. The individuals holding the girl was working from a mistaken assumption. They would not make progress in a long while. Eryn had time to grow more powerful, until she was finally ready. _{The plot will wait for the players.}

When Eryn refocused on reality again, she’d find that she had something in her hand.

Eryn obtained the Crystals of Willpower!

A couple red jewels, or crystals apparently, gathered in Eryn’s hand, bound together.

Azelf drifted back, and faced all four of them, now.

I will remain guarding this dormant form, sleeping underneath the center of the lake. The Beheeyem alters the minds of those who I do not wish to enter, making them leave and never come back. Unfortunately, should they obtain what they desire, only the gathered power of the crystals will be able to contain them. Should they learn of me and my kin, we will be targeted for these crystals. Hence why we have distributed the crystals to humans instead. Now go, grow strong, and then when you are ready, complete our request.

And that should do. Azelf now let go of Beheeyem, and spun up into the air and back to floating by the dormant Palkia.

This was when an Abra teleported in, sitting nicely in front of them. Clearly, the intended way out.

Vivia looked a bit tense, looking over to see if the others had anything to say.

Oaken was presently analyzing Eryn, his arms crossed, gauging her current reactions and such.

Eryn and Skylar’s reactions?

__________________________

@hatakekuro

Pokédex Entry #215 – Sneasel, the Sharp Claw Pokémon. It scales trees and ice by punching its hooked claws into surfaces. Naturally vicious, it gangs up and cooperates to lure away the parents while another steals the eggs, which they then eat, though frequently betray their packmates if they can get the food for itself. It uses the shroud of night to conceal its actions.

New Pokémon caught! Basil earned 750 P!

Would you like to give a nickname to Sneasel?

With that aside, Basil headed out onto Route 1! He had all these adventures that would take him far and high that he could look forward to… but let’s start with his Pokémon taking him one level underground for a Pokémon tournament!

There was a bunch of kids having battles centered around a single individual, a youngster that looked way too smug about himself. The first person to lock eyes with Basil and his Pokémon was an even younger youngster, staring wide-eyed at him.

‘My lord! My lord! An invader wishes to partake in the tourney!’ the young boy said, looking with wide eyes at the smug boy.



‘Hmpf, another kid wishing to prove himself worthy of the princess’ hand in marriage,’ the boy said, with a completely straight face, despite being significantly younger than Basil.

‘Iiiiiiiih!’ A tiny girl at his side made a fake-terrified noise and hid behind the “lord”.

‘Very well! Knight Donald, your king commands you to go and test the might of our new challenger!’ the youngster king said, pointing forth at Basil.

‘At once, my lord!’ Donald said, turning around to face Basil and his Pokémon with a nervous smile. ‘O-OK! I, Donald, will knock you all down!’

preschooler Knight Donald would like to battle!

For these battles, keep in mind that you're fighting inside of a decently tight drain!

Donald’s Pokémon and tactics

Pokédex Entry #19 – Rattata, the Mouse Pokémon. It has impressive vitality that allows it to live anywhere there is food. It scavenges for food all day and reproduces quickly. Very cautious, it’s ears listen for trouble even when asleep. It’s teeth never stop growing, it will gnaw on things to keep their size in check.

TAAAAAACKLLEEEEEE…!

Pokédex Entry #19 – Rattata, the Mouse Pokémon. It has impressive vitality that allows it to live anywhere there is food. It scavenges for food all day and reproduces quickly. Very cautious, it’s ears listen for trouble even when asleep. It’s teeth never stop growing, it will gnaw on things to keep their size in check.

Tail Whip… then TAAAAAACKLLEEEEEE…!

Both Rattata have Run Away as their ability, which won’t help.

Should he be able to beat the knight, he’d then be faced by a notably older young lady in a green outfit.

‘These kids are so cute, aren’t they? Anyway! I’m a mercenary hired by the king to repel invaders! So you’re not going any further~’ she told, smiling happily.

picnicker Mercenary Lena would like to battle!

Lena’s Pokémon

Pokédex Entry #300 – Skitty, the Kitten Pokémon. It lives in holes in trees of forests. It easily becomes fascinated with things and chase them, and it commonly seen chasing its own tail. While popular due to perceived cuteness, it is very difficult to earn a Skitty’s trust and friendship.

Will start with Fake Out for free damage, and then one Tail Whip, and then Tackle! Should things look dire, she’ll try Sing! Warning, somewhat higher level!
Normalize will not play a role.

After that, the “princess” herself approached Basil, looking at him with wide eyes and a tiny little blush.

‘I-I’m happy, but I’m gonna repel you now!’ she insists.

preschooler Princess Melody would like to battle!

Melody’s Pokémon

Pokédex Entry #16 – Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. They are docile Pokémon that avoid fighting, kicking up sand in an enemy’s face or using Whirlwind to avoid battles. They have sharp senses of direction, capable of finding their nest or destination from very large distances. They inhabit tall grass where they search and prey on small bugs.

She’s going to Tackle. Exclusively.
Tangled Feet will not play a role.

Pokédex Entry #427 – Buneary, the Rabbit Pokémon. It rolls up its long ears, then unrolls them with great force to slap enemies. This attack stings enough to make adults jump and crush boulders to dust. It uses its ears not only to attack, but also to sense danger--they stand straight up when it senses a threat. Its fluffy fur lets it sleep in warmth and comfort on cold nights.

Defense Curl, then Pound!
Klutz will not play a role.

… Basil and co’s strategies?

__________________________

@Savo

‘… Yeah. So it is. Thank you for the sentiment,’ Johannes would nod at Cyril’s words, but otherwise didn’t have much to add, really. Johannes didn’t seem like the most active of talkers. Still, he’ll be around here if so desired. Then a couple of Pokémon showed up and Cyril had that conversation with them. When they were “caught”, the Pokédex lit up.

Pokédex Entry #440 – Happiny, the Playhouse Pokémon. In imitation to Chancey, it carries a round white rock in its belly pouch. If it gets along well with someone, it will sometimes give that person the rock, but may throw a tantrum if the rock isn’t returned. Often a bit inattentive, it can trip people as it likes walking close to their legs.

New Pokémon caught! Cyril earned 1000 P!

Would you like to give a nickname to Happiny?



Pokédex Entry #427 – Buneary, the Rabbit Pokémon. It rolls up its long ears, then unrolls them with great force to slap enemies. This attack stings enough to make adults jump and crush boulders to dust. It uses its ears not only to attack, but also to sense danger--they stand straight up when it senses a threat. Its fluffy fur lets it sleep in warmth and comfort on cold nights.

New Pokémon caught! Cyril earned 500 P!

Would you like to give a nickname to Buneary?

And that would do!

Now, then. They approached the random Shinx just hanging around… which looked up at Velvet with a confused little look.

Sincerely, this Shinx isn’t going to stand a chance, do as you like with him, heh.

If you decide to capture him…

Captured

Gender: ♂
Type: Electric
Personality: (Up to player.)
Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: (Up to player.)
Level: 2
Moves: Tackle
Ability: Guts, increases power when afflicted with a status condition.
Held Item: None.

New Pokémon caught! Cyril earned 750 P!

Would you like to give a nickname to Shinx?

That done with! What will Cyril do now?

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

With the help of Celia and Raven, Hilaria was knocked aside just enough that Ronin could slip Faith out of there. After that, there was a soul sword coming, and Ronin definitely made an effort to avoid it if needed. Her hands were working her Reinforcement magic to try to heal Faith the moment she had the opportunity, Connie didn’t need to request a thing. Still, she grinned as Connie and Mia appeared, looking all worried.

‘Oh, you’re her friends, too? Excellent! You’re in good hands, Faith!’ Ronin called with a large grin as she and Mia cooperated to stop the bleeding and at the very least stabilize her, Ronin somehow grinning the whole time as she focused on healing every little injury she could find with her moderately weak Reinforcement magic. Not grinning because she was enjoying this, more out of principle. Everything is going to be alright, she had to believe.

‘Alright, you look after her? I just became friends with her recently, I don’t know where to take her. Myself, I have more people to save,’ Ronin then said, standing up and drawing her sword, turning to face Celia and Hilaria, who’d been cut by the giant spirit sword. Given that the horrors appeared to have been defeated, if they just could calm THIS situation down, the park should be safe once more. Ronin flashed a happy smile to Raven, if she could, and then headed over. They were going to need to get their legs healed!

Of course, that all depended on how the two were doing in their monstrous metamorphosis.

If they were still raging, even without their legs, then Ronin couldn’t approach. Specifically, Hilaria had been the one to attack everyone. Deni didn’t actually know anything about Hilaria, but in case Hilaria looked like she was still going to attack…

Well. Deni didn’t really have anything to help. She kept a “safe” distance, reaching forward to see if she at all could use Reinforcement magic on this distance to help resolve the damage. Probably not. Still, it was all Ronin could do to take a deep breath and start shouting.

‘Come on, you little tantrum-throwing bitch! Do you really think you raging around like that’s gonna solve anything!? Come on, you’re a fighter! You’re better than this! Set your foot down, get your sanity back in order and face your problems like a woman! Got it…!?’

Would it work?

Probably not.

Worth a shot?

Hell yeah.

And now keep her sword and all the magic in her body charged for heck of a quick getaway in case that just made her angry.

@FamishedPants @BrokenPromise@Majoras End@twave@Ponn

---

&

So, then Amaryllis suddenly showed up breaking through the wall. Eli gave her a surprised stare, and Mariette blinked up at her, mouth slightly open, shocked that Amaryllis had somehow found where to go to find her. She was… here to save her, was she?

‘I… want to escape,’ was Mariette’s simple answer.

Then Nuncio appeared, and, a bunch of talking apparently happened, none of which Mariette was very concerned over. The almanac was taken, but Mariette didn’t care. She just wanted to go home. Her arm hurt. Anyways. Run was it? Eventually anyway. Mariette wasn’t going to consider the command twice, even with Sammy on her.

Mariette launched her tentacles, in the opposite direction of Vermin Killer. She intended to use them to knock away any wolverines that came for her, two of her tentacles gripping around Sammy and Eli to take them along, intending to pull herself away from VK and form a portal on the opposite end of the room where she wanted to simply fall through and end up in a random apartment 500 meters away, from where she’d then be able to take herself further if successful. She was relatively aware the sudden appearance of her bane could stop her escape attempt, as such she pulled tentacles over her head to attempt to break the wall even if it should appear.

She didn’t know what Amaryllis was going to do. She didn’t know what Nuncio was doing. She was only vaguely aware of Sophia forming barriers and then chains shooting in to do things. Mariette currently didn’t concern herself. Right now, she just wanted home.

@BrokenPromise@ERode@Crusader Lord

Pokémon: Start

@hatakekuro _@Savo

Whatever Basil may have expected to come out of him running his mouth like that… Dorian responded with a light chuckle.

‘Hoho. I believe you misunderstand. What is your perfect self, if not simply the best version of yourself?’ Dorian asked the young trainer, a slight smile on his lips. ‘I seek the Pokémon with the potential and drive to seek to become their perfect selves, and help them attain it. I believe you will find that none of my Pokémon are treated unwell or driven past the harmful limits of what they’re capable of. No need to worry,’ he said, intent on easing whatever thoughts might have occurred to Basil. Now, then. About the matter of eggs.

‘I believe you’ll find Pokémon eggs perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. They’re unlikely to crack, will keep themselves warm and all you need to do is be there when it hatches. It helps the process if you can keep it warm in the meantime, some Pokémon have an ability that will keep it warm from within their Pokéballs, but otherwise, I believe you should have no issue simply carrying it around. Good luck, young trainer. I hope to see you back in Pureplain City to challenge me eventually,’ Dorian told Basil before he left, and that’ll be that.

After that, Basil was free to be on his way. He travelled through the streets of Pureplain suburbs to where the buildings ended, and a green plain started ahead of him. This was the only parts that remained of the original pure plain that the city was originally named after, when the city was first founded. Route 1.

Route 1

Route 1

Route 1 is a long, flat and grassy route where most trainers get their first taste of the world. From Pureplain you can see the hills of Highhill in the distance, from Highhill the scrapers of Pureplain looms in the distance, the start of the Silent Forest surrounding the Silent Shrine on the side. There is a larger road, a main road used for travelling in and out of Pureplain City, there are plenty of more mature travellers taking that road to get from point A to point B. But, young Pokémon Trainers usually much rather use the smaller path going out into the grassland. This is some remnants of the plain which Pureplain City was named after, although most of that plain is now swallowed up by buildings of people living around here. Small roads branch out, leading to different places where some individuals have made their houses.

There are many safe roads, yet take one step out of it and you’re immediately in tall grass, where you can already see many first-time Pokémon Trainers are challenging their first Pokémon. One could expect Pokémon Trainers to be searching for Pokémon either in the tall grass or the forest on the side, and also battling one another as they can. From the looks of it, there are plenty of young trainers sporting freshly caught Pidgeys and Rattatas. As one approaches Highhill Town, the forest becomes more plentiful, as beyond the town lies a forest.

Through the route also runs an indent, a drain surrounded by walls, seemingly made for the water to gather up inside it. It’s currently dry, whatever cause of that might be. Some trainers appear to be having fun battling inside it, and they’re running around challenging one another inside it. But, the drain also raised interesting questions about what kind of Pokémon or things one might find should one explore it further.

The most common here, as could be seen, are common Pidgey and Rattata, found pecking or scavenging among the grass.

Pokédex Entry #16 – Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. They are docile Pokémon that avoid fighting, kicking up sand in an enemy’s face or using Whirlwind to avoid battles. They have sharp senses of direction, capable of finding their nest or destination from very large distances. They inhabit tall grass where they search and prey on small bugs.

Pokédex Entry #19 – Rattata, the Mouse Pokémon. It has impressive vitality that allows it to live anywhere there is food. It scavenges for food all day and reproduces quickly. Very cautious, it’s ears listen for trouble even when asleep. It’s teeth never stop growing, it will gnaw on things to keep their size in check.

Yet start searching among the tall grass it will quickly become evident at least two more species inhabit this plain, one being a poisonous snake hunting the unlimited amount of rats as well as fiery dogs frolicking or protecting their territory.

Pokédex Entry #23 – Ekans, the Snake Pokémon. It stealthily sneaks through grass to prey on small animals and bird-eggs. When born, it is short and has no poison, but the poison develops and it grows longer as it gets older. When it sleeps, it wraps itself around a tree to safely sleep high up from the ground.

Pokédex Entry #58 – Growlithe, the Puppy Pokémon. Known to be brave and loyal to it’s trainer, but will bark threateningly at anyone entering its territory. It has superb sense of smell and will never forget a smell once it has picked up on it. Through smell, it can sense the emotions of others.

Now, what would Basil do here?

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. There’s searching in the tall grass, and there’s the forest in the left, then there’s the drain…
2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding.
3. Seek trainers. There should be some here and there. Note, some may challenge you, regardless.
4. Talk. There’s plenty of young trainers around. There are also houses and travellers. Maybe seek answers to any burning questions you have.
5. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally.
6. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination.
7. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
8. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
9. Area Specific: Descend. There’s a drain. The kids are having a little tournament in it, challenging themselves to fight in a tight area. Perhaps you’d like to try becoming king of the drain? Or maybe you’d just like to explore it.
10. Familiar Faces: Chloe. Chloe’s chasing a Growlithe. Could alwaus potentially be greeted.

Connected areas:
Pureplain City. A bit south.
Highhill Town. A bit north-north-east.

Route 1, known Pokémon

Common:
#16 Pidgey
#19 Rattata

Uncommon:
#23 Ekans
#58 Growlithe

Rare:
#1 Bulbasaur