Remram

Pokémon: Start

@PlatinumSkink@Savo

Inventory

Items: 1x Potion, 5 pokeballs, mandolin, sketch pad and graphite pencils

Pokédollars: 1,500p.

Roster

Pokémon Name: Cecil
Species: Darumaka
Gender: ♀
Type: Fire
Level: 5
Moves: Rollout, Tackle, Incinerate
Ability: Hustle
Held Item: None

"Oh yeah, that's a thing." Basil completely forgot that they were being paid to catch Pokemon so it definitely made sense that she would get her money that way, assuming she had pokeballs. While Growlithe sounded like a fun Pokemon to have, he already had a fire type in Cecil so he would have rather branch out his team for the sake of variety than specialize in a specific type.

Cyril's exclamation made the poor boy jolt in place and looked at the taller boy with wide eyes. He had only been around Cyril for only a few minutes and this boy was already making him exhausted. Still, the offer to join him and Chloe on the journey for a bit was a little tempting. "Um, I'm going to explore the city a bit so-" His eyes trailed to the knocking from the door. "Oh, I'll get-" And Cyril had made a mad dash at for the door before he could finish his sentence. He'll just answer him later.

For the meantime, there was another boy, who was introduced by Kalmia as Ryu. "Oh, uh, hi." Basil waved meekly. It was really beginning to feel like he was staying here for a bit too long; he was actually beginning to get a bit restless.

"Well, I think I have everything I need. Thanks for everything Professor." Basil said, smiling at the professor before he made his way out of the lab where Cyril was conversing with Roger. He approached him and cleared his throat. "So about your proposition...I'll think about it before I leave Pureplain. Just call or text me when you're going to leave."

Pokémon: Start

@PlatinumSkink@Savo

Inventory

Items: 1x Potion, 5 pokeballs, mandolin, sketch pad and graphite pencils

Pokédollars: 1,500p.

Roster

Pokémon Name: Cecil
Species: Darumaka
Gender: ♀
Type: Fire
Level: 5
Moves: Rollout, Tackle, Incinerate
Ability: Hustle
Held Item: None

"Um, a pleasure to meet you both." The next few moments were...interesting to say the least. Chloe asked her questions with incredible energy and Cyril was what some could describe as a colorful character to say the least though his Budew was adorable."No you're fine, you're fine. I just wasn't expecting you two to be so...outgoing."

Basil laughed nervously, his hands fidgeting together. "As for my future team it's an exciting thing to think about, but I can't say I have given it any thought. I'm just flying by the seat of my pants at the moment so, uh, who knows what I will have besides Cecil."

What intrigued him was their plan on getting Chloe money since she was broke, but upon inspecting her again, it was pretty easy to figure out why. He recognized the clothing brands that she was wearing mainly because Basil had seen the women from high society in Worldedge City and they certainly were not cheap. "Money huh..." He scratched his chin in thought until he had a little idea. "Any of you busked before? Street perform?" One would not tell from his nervous disposition, when he sneaked away from his family's estate as a kid he would often take his mandolin and perform for pocket money until he was either found out by his family or by the police when they found a boy without his parents. It only so happened that he had his mandolin attached to his backpack, in its black case of course.

As for where Roger went, well, he had not actually gone yet. "You mean Roger? He's about to leave. Why do you ask?"

Pokémon: Start

@PlatinumSkink

Inventory

Items: 1x Potion, 5 pokeballs, mandolin, sketch pad and graphite pencils

Pokédollars: 1,500p.

Roster

Pokémon Name: Cecil
Species: Darumaka
Gender: ♀
Type: Fire
Level: 5
Moves: Rollout, Tackle, Incinerate
Ability: Hustle
Held Item: None

They won? Holy crap they won! He just stood there, not sinking it in for a hot second until he lit up with a wide grin. "We did it Cecil!" He cheered as his Darumaka as she ran to him and he held his arms wide open for her as she leaped at him.

"Darrrrr!" She cheered as she was caught by Basil, who spun around with her in a hug for one whole rotation until the weight of his Pokemon caused him to lose his balance and fall on his back, Cecil in tow. It knocked the air out of his lungs, but he could not help, but laugh despite the very real sensation of his chest being crushed under her weight.

Basil pulled her Pokeball from his belt and with a beam of red light returned her to her comfy little home. "You did well girl, you did well." Without having a boulder on him, he was able to stand up straight. His attention turned to Rodger who gave him praise despite also telling him he won because of move type advantage, but perhaps he should not get too excited beating a trainer who was obviously not going all out against him. "I'm definitely looking forward to it. Until then, I'll train until I'm strong enough to stand on my own."

For a moment there, he felt like there was an intense murderous rage coming from somewhere and he turned to see it was Kalmia all smiles, in her yard, after they -Basil and Cecil- tore it up. Chuckling nervously, Basil said,"Uhhhh...Hi Professor. I guess you could say that?" It was not long until Thing 1 and 2 just appeared out of nowhere with shovels to hand to both trainers, looking a bit too happy about this. "Okay, fair enough."

Shovel in hand he helped Rodger put the yard back together, which was not something he could say was easy because all the dirt was flung everywhere, everywhere. At least with that out of the way, Rodger left as soon as he came.

"Oh, um, thank you Professor. Sorry about the yard again." He apologized as he watched her heal Cecil with a super potion. It really was a wonder how these medicines healed Pokemon so quickly, even though he should know how they work considering his family owns one of the largest Pokemon pharmaceutical company in the region.

Upon receiving 5 Pokeballs, he was all set to go out on his journey! Well, sorta...He was actually standing there awkwardly rather than excited at the prospect of finally starting his journey. "Actually, there is one thing. Maybe, um, could you introduce me to Cyril and his friend?" His face was flushed red and his eyes glancing down at the ground. If there was a neon sign with the words 'wants friends' flashing with bright lights, it would be pointing at him.

Pokémon: Start

@PlatinumSkink
Okay so my discord decided to shit the bed so until that is fixed I'll have to use this instead.

Pokémon: Start

@PlatinumSkink

At this exact same time, Cecil and Basil had the same thought. Well shit.

Cecil was deep in a hole of dirt after spectacularly missing Ace and has destroyed Kalmia's garden. Hopefully she doesn't have a temper or else, well, things were going to be ugly.

Speaking of things getting ugly, that little bird menace was flying towards Cecil to peck her until she was black and blue. There was not anything that could be done to get out quickly enough, try as she might as she wriggled around in her hole. "Come on Cecil, you have to get out!" Basil ordered, but all she could do was wriggle herself out enough that her arms were free, but she not fast enough to free herself as Ace was about to jab at her with his beak.

Basil began to scratch his neck nervously as he tried to find a way out of this situation. "Dammit Basil, think!" He thought aloud to himself. There was no way to avoid the attack...Wait, he did not need to avoid the attack.

The fledgling trainer yelled out to his pokemon, "Cecil, grab him to pull yourself out and then Rollout with the bugger!" If there was no way to avoid it, then they'll just face it head on!

"Dar!" Cecil reached out whatever part the bird Pokemon was using for its Fury Attack in hopes of following through. If she were able to succeed, she would have pulled herself out and used Rollout while holding onto Ace, making her attack as point blank as possible. That is of course if any of this worked at all.

Pokémon: Start

@PlatinumSkink

Basil furrowed his brow at the sight of his plan absolutely failing. "Crap, I just made it angrier." That was a bad call on his part, but he did not know that the bird could somehow resist accuracy lowering moves. Not to mention that Cecil was now a rolling ball of absolute death tearing up Kalmia's yard until she stopped on her own or something else occurred. That something else was Rodger ordering Ace to drag the bucket over and try to catch Cecil with it.

There was a chance that Cecil could just break through the bucket; she was an 80 pound boulder that was picking up speed with every passing moment to just hit that bird with even greater force. Then there was the fact that this Rollout was not only gaining power from its building momentum, there was also the factor of Cecil's ability, Hustle. At the cost of accuracy, Cecil was throwing more of her body into the attack to just turn the bird into pancake. One hit is all that it would take to take Ace down, but then again, Cecil was not exactly a tiny thing. The possibility of her just getting lodged in was also real and the battle would be lost.

Well, just because Cecil could not stop rolling did not mean that she could only move in one direction. "Circle around him and hit from from behind!" Basil commanded and following his instructions, Cecil made the attempt to get behind the bird so that it could deliver her strike. The turn she would have to make would have to be sharp like her impromptu skid earlier in order for this to work. The logic behind this was that she was faster than Ace at the moment due to the virtue of not being encumbered by a bucket and that Ace would have to make more of an effort to turn it around in time to catch her.

At least that was the plan. Not much of one, but it was something.

Pokémon: Start

@PlatinumSkink@Savo

Basil nodded at Kalmia and smiled at her, a nervous one, but a smile nonetheless. "Thank you, Professor. We'll do our best."

Pokemon and trainer followed Rodger through the lab and when they reached the door, those two trainers that were battling earlier opened it so they were now face to face. "Oh, um, hello there." Basil said, shifting about awkwardly. Sweet Arceus above the young man with brown hair was tall and looked like a model and the blonde girl was really pretty. In comparison, he felt like a potato. His eyes darted around anxiously until they fell upon his backpack with what looked like a very small instrumental case attached to it. "Excuse me." He snatched his pack and quickly walked passed the two.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Remain composed. Let a shred of doubt in and we're going to lose. There was no luxury to be an anxious mess now; he had a Pokemon of his own that relied on him now and right now, Cecil needed him to direct her in battle.

One of the legs of his jeans was tugged by Cecil with her looking up to see if he was okay, concerned if he was having second thoughts. Basil exhaled slowly and opened his eyes and looked down at his little Pokemon. He smiled and knelt down to pat her head gently. "I'm okay, Cecil. Do your best, okay?"

Cecil nodded and with a cheeky grin bounded towards the battlefield as well and gave that spunky Rufflet a glare of her own, ready to knock that annoying little spitfire down a few pegs. Meanwhile, Basil was looking at his Pokedex to see what kind of moves that his Darumaka had in her kit, which were Rollout and Tackle. They were not exactly the most versatile moves, but he will just have to make them work.

It looked like Rodger was not really going to hide his strategy, which as odd, but whatever works with him. "So do I." Honestly, Basil was flying by the seat of his pants so to say that he had a plan

Lack of battle plans aside, it was time for his first every battle! "Let's go!"

And right at the start Rodger was true to his word and ordered his Rufflet to use Fury Attack as a full frontal assault. There was no doubt that this aggressive battle style was meant to overwhelm them and make them fall into Rodger's pace, but they could not afford to let that happen. Its mobility made it a pain to deal with; the bird would just keep following after them relentlessly if Cecil dodged and it could just fly up to avoid any attack Cecil threw. They needed to stop its mobility just long enough for a clean hit.

There was an idea, but Kalmia was not going to be exactly happy with what he was going to do. Well, better to ask for forgiveness than for permission. "Cecil, tear the ground up with Rollout!" The Darumaka rolled up into a ball without question and began to spin at high speeds towards the Rufflet though when it got near the flying type, it made a sharp left turn, kicking up dirt and blades of grass to launch at the bird Pokemon's eyes. It would not be able to fly around easily with dirt in its eyes if this worked.

Pokémon: Start

Huh, so that's what was going on. It looked like Cyril was having an odd experience battling Chloe if his Budew was going to get dunked on with a bucket.

Then there were the little monsters that were the twins, circling around him like Vullabys as he got back up on his feet. Somehow he had rolled Cecile off him, much to her displeasure and certainly was not liking how close the twins were getting to Basil. The Darumaka almost seemed to be puffing up as if it was trying to make itself bigger and intimidating, but luckily, Kalmia was able to drag them away before it could become anything more. Basil arched his brow in puzzlement. Assistants? That's a job a bit too big for those two. For a hot second he thought they were the Professor's kids, but it was probably a mistake. Hyper little guys they were; he couldn't help, but feel somewhat envious of them for having such a carefree life.

But those feelings were pushed aside as his line of sight fell upon a certain Elite Four member that walked into the lab when he didn't notice. Basil stiffened straight and felt his spine tingle as Jacques analyzed him, unable to get a read on the man despite his smile. "B-Basil Rivens, an honor to meet you." He somehow choked that greeting out and was too nervous to hear the Elite trainer's comment.

It was not until the situation was explained to him that he began to calm down slightly. So it was just a failure of communication between the two of them. That would explain why someone like Jacques would actually care about coming down to see the new hopefuls since he had a stake in this, but it looked like Basil was the one that slipped through the cracks, or would have if he did not arrive on the same day as that Cyril guy did. It was pretty unlikely that Jacques would have someone lined up for him to battle to keep up tradition...Wait a minute, what did he mean by hardly?

Basil just watched on as the elite went to Kalmia's computer room, Cecil tugging at his pants to get his attention and then they both nearly leaped out of their skin; a roaring engine broke the silence in the room and it grew closer and closer. Looking out the window revealed an older boy that oozed confidence and had an aura that screamed bad to the bone and yet, he was on a first name basis with an Elite Four member. Hold on, another Pokemon? Was this guy one of the trainers that Jacques had selected before?

Something stirred in him when Rodger shot him that unimpressed look. Was he really that pathetic? Was he really that spineless that he could be looked over with not even a second glance? Even Kalmia did not expect him to even want to fight them because yeah, they were intimidating. One of them was the Elite Four and the other was an already experienced trainer that looked like the definition of a Bigfjord City resident; a punk that had a rough life on the streets, but all the stronger for it. And Basil? He was a timid, bloody noble, a useless one at that, that no one expected anything from.

His fists balled up and this strange sensation swelled in his chest, as if he was going to breathe fire any moment. "Are you done messing around? Your fight is with us." Basil was shaking, but there was no doubt that there was a budding, yet fierce rebellion in his eyes that just needed time before it would bloom.

So what if he was scared? So what if Rodger had more experience? So what if no one had expectations for him? He'll tear down those notions and show them the person that he will become.

"Cecil, lend me your strength."

The Darumaka nodded and stood by his side, ready to throw down."Dar!"

@PlatinumSkink

Pokémon: Start

@PlatinumSkinkI'm sorry. I keep forgetting to tag you in my posts.

Pokémon: Start

Basil had questions, several questions, like who were those two trainers battling and why are those two brown haired twins so eager for blood. The big question though was why one of the Elite Four watching a battle that was not exactly of highest stakes or level. He was to afraid to ask and he was completely uncertain about what to do, looking around with a slight panic for the professor, but luckily it looked like she found him. Really, he did not know how he did not notice the woman wearing the white lab coat. He sighed with relief and greeted the professor with a sheepish smile. "Uh, hello Professor Kalmia."

Wait, Jacques was looking at Basil. Why was he looking at him? Alright Basil, keep it cool, keep it cool. He repeated over and over in his head. Maybe if Basil didn't look Jacques in the eye then maybe the Elite trainer would not sense his fear.

Oh thank Arceus, they were going to go inside. Basil followed Kalmia inside and left his bag at the door. What he saw, well, it certainly was a lab alright. He imagined that it would look something out of a movie or TV show, or at least having enough space not to shoulder check the shelves. Just how in the fresh hell did she get anything done around here? There was barely any room to breathe let alone work. Also, was it safe for the Pokemon to be wandering around in such a tight space? Couldn't that Pikachu just fry the servers or the Spiritomb just be a spooky terror the other Pokemon and just cause panic?

Considering the importance of her work, wouldn't the government be more interested in funding research? At least not attached to someone's house. Can't imagine not bringing home your work when your work is your home. You know what, it's probably best not to think about these things.

Besides, with a Pokedex presented to him it would be hard to think of anything else. It was a dark, desaturated purple for the main body with silver streaking through the middle. An actual, honest to god Pokedex from Professor Oak presented by Kalmia. In that moment, he was then struck by a stream of words as she explained everything. She must have been tired repeating it to every newbie trainer that walked through her doors. "Thank you very much Ms., I mean, Professor Kalmia. I won't let you down!" He said, perhaps a bit too eagerly as he tried to show that he had some sort of confidence. She was trusting him to complete the journey, not remain a spineless Jellicent.

More importantly, Kalmia presented him with a Pokeball. For a moment he thought his heart stopped. It suddenly became more real that he was doing this, that he was going to have to be responsible for living beings and take care of them and himself out on the open road. Would the Pokemon even like him? Would he even be good at this? He stared at the ball, almost afraid to receive it, visibly shaking.

Oh to hell with this! He took the ball slowly from Kalmia and looked down at it, taking a calm deep breath before releasing it from its ball with a white flash of light.

"Dar?" The little creature surveyed her surroundings before looking up at Basil with quite an inquisitive look.

Basil knelt down so he was closer to her eye level. He did not think that she would be so small, but it could probably knock the air out of his lungs if it wanted to. His hand reached out for the creature, not touching her, but allowing the pokemon to sniff it before she pushed her own head into his palm for rubs. ""You're a sweet one, aren't you. For the first time since he left home, there was a genuine smile on his face, calm, enjoying the moment.

He took this moment to scan her with his Pokedex before the device spoke in a very digital voice.

- You've obtained Darumaka! -



Pokédex Entry #554 – Darumaka, the Zen Charm Pokémon. When its internal fire burns, it cannot calm down and has to run around. When the fire diminishes, it falls asleep and pulls its limbs into its body to form a state where it will always right itself no matter how it is pushed or pulled. Because the droppings of a Darumaka never cools down, they can be used to heat clothes by those who doesn’t consider that disgusting.

- Would you like to give Darumaka a nickname? -

A nickname? The thought didn't occur to him until now."Hm... Hey little one, how do you like the name Cecil?" He didn't even get a chance to check for a reaction when his Darumaka tackled his chest, knocking him down on his back, and then snuggled on him.

"I think she likes it." Basil said with half breath. Holy Arceus above, Cecil was heavy. It took a considerable amount of effort just to sit up while holding onto the Darumaka. "Thank you so much, Professor."