"Well outside of possible danger to yourself, I don't think anyone will complain if while the pokemon are fighting you kick some Team Rocket member in the face."

  Max comments to Buzzkill "Buzz, could you please tell me what gain you get when you are flattened in one shot while barely scratching the other guy?"  There is a difference between 'weak damage, but normal defense'  and 'double weakness oh dear'.

Because of the research Jake did, there is not enough time left and the gym closes for the day. But just as well since Jake mentioned he wants to get more grass types anyway. So Liberty goes with the others to find a place to sleep. The group finds a pleasant place called Cave Inn.

Once in her pajamas, Liberty gets in a pillow fight with Joe, Jake and all the pokémon.

"If you don't understand the meaning of that saying, how 'bout you ask Liberty's team?" Buzzkill answered, "Or didn't you notice how hard won their victory was?"

"The problem with that sayin is that its wording makes it practically unusable," Joey interjects, "Most times I gain without any pain.  A satisfied tummy after a painless meal, for example, happens all the time."

Buzzkill heavy sighs, a little silk strand escaping his lips, unable to come up with an answer.

Jake shrugged.  "Maxims are understood to be generalizations with exceptions.  'Fortune sometimes favors the bold,' isn't very reassuring, and 'A penny saved is a penny less the difference between the inflation and interest rates times the duration of the savings earned' is a mouthful."

"I... don't even understand that last bit," Joey admits, "But it sure sounded like it settled things fairly.  Thanks, Jake!"

"Sure...."

Jake doesn't hide is misgivings about staying at a place named after a disaster, but ligtenes up during the pillow fight and winds up enjoying himself anyway.

  Worrying about the poor taste in names for Inns is beyond even Joe's cynicism.  Well, okay there are probably plenty of Obvious Horror Movie Inn names he'd have issue with, but this is not one of them.

  "It is fortunate nobody here is particularly pointy" outside of the odd horn or stinger,  "Or we would need new pillows pretty fast."

After the pillow fight, Lib is sure to engage in sharing stories with the other two about past Pokémon Masters and what was said to have been their roads to victory.

But eventually, she falls asleep. The morning brings a decent breakfast and an anxious Liberty who seems to be pushing Jake to hurry up and catch what Pokémon he believes he needs.

"Indeed," was Jake's comment on the hypothetical pillow destruction.  During the capture/training montage, he focuses on Joey and Humphrey to weaken the plant types for capture.  Also, Jake tries to pick up conversation with the others:

"I know the reason I'm spending all this time to raise Pokemon, but I haven't asked your reasons.  Why train Pokemon?  What're your short and long term goals?"

  Joe shrugs,  "No particular goals.  Don't feel like letting you two wander around without me and they wouldn't let Max fill out the paperwork."

  Max comments "I can't fight things without being captured by a loser otherwise."    Superbird flaps, "I don't have anything better to do, pidge"  They both look over to Megasaurd.

  "I need a reason?"

 Best team so motivated.

Liberty looks over at Jake. Then looks at Joe and his pokemon as they answer. The answers make her give them a weird look. Then Liberty looks back at Jake. "I just wanted to do it. I don't think I'll be the best, but I'd like to get good at it. Maybe as I do, I'll understand Pokémon, Pokémon trainers, and the whole thing a bit more. Once I've gotten as many badges as I can, I plan to attack whatever major problem I discover by then."

Relic says nothing. But he does slam his fist to his chest and then points at Liberty.

Kozak says, "I just wanna be a ninja worthy of his name..."

Rina says, "I'm here because Liberty caught me. I'm neither loyal nor unloyal and only along for the ride. But I would like to find a boyfriend."

Ever says, "I just like you guys. But I've mentioned I'm not in it for fighting anyway, so really, I'm just a friend tagging along with friends."

"I ask because I'd like to help you all attain your goals while working on my own..." Jake begins.

"And what noble goals they are!" Joey interjects enthusiastically, "Loyalty!  Friendship!  Honor!  Independence!  Finding love!  Helping others!  What a privilege it is to be teamed up with such fine people!"

Jake fidgets.  "I'm a techie.  I noticed that the most recent advances in science were mostly pokemon related.  I started out hoping to gain deeper understanding of how things work today so I could find inspiration for new technology that could make conditions better for everyone.  So far I haven't come up with any viable ideas."

  "I suppose the step up from Bicycles that you can shove in your pocket would be motor scooters?"  Superbird flaps, "Pidge, scooters still not flying, suckers."

  "Do they have medical sprays for humans yet, or is that still just one spray that works safely without side effects for every kind of pokemon from rocks to bugs to ghosts?"

  Max asks Kozak, "If you were a ninja worthy of your name, who would even know your name then with all that hiding?"  Silly Max, this is Pokemon.  Ninjas hang out in obvious Gyms with piles of Voltorbs and are a bunch of losers with no fashion sense.  Joe wonders how much of his Dad's definition of ninja is true and how much is bias.

Liberty blushes from Joey's reaction.

Rina wonders if he pictures himself as a super hero named Fanboy.

Kozak leaps up and thrusts a fist? leg? into the air, picturing himself in one of those anime freeze-frames where the coloring suddently gets all paintedish. (best example I could find of what I'm talking about: https://tinyurl.com/oxpzh68 )

Relic doesn't seem to react to Joey's burst of fanboy, but internally, he's thinking "Damn straight. Liberty is all that but more. About time someone besides me recognized it." ...never mind that he doesn't talk much. He somehow overlooks that fact.

Ever squeaks and then says, "I feel so accepted..."

Liberty then goes to scoop up Joey and nuzzle his nose with hers. "You sure are an uplifting guy, Joey!"

She then looks at Joe. "That is weird, isn't it?" The spray, not the collapsible bike. Because even though the cartoon showed the bikes being parked whenever they weren't in use, the idea of pocket-bikes is not only cool, but consistent with the setting, so GM says YES THEY COLLAPSE! "I wonder why the spray works on every kind of Pokémon, but not humans." Due to this setting allowing Pokémon to talk, the GM has decided the term "people" is often used to refer to Pokémon. Though Pokémon having equal rights is still a work in progress.

Liberty looks at Jake. "Well, Jake... are you more of an ideas guy or more of a techie? Because Joe and I can help with ideas."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:50, Wed 14 May 2014.

"Being worthy of a name doesn't always mean fame," Humphrey esplains.

"Not that I know of..." Jake answers Joe, looking deep in thought.

"Those are some great ideas, Joe!" Joey commends.

"Flight is a good idea too..." Jake adds, "Can't explain why Pokemon tech doesn't work on humans."
To Lib he says, "I'm more a techie, Liberty.  Whenever I come up with an idea I always think of a dozen or more reasons it cannot be done.  So thanks for offering help.  Already you've suggested a couple good ones."

Joey smiles at Lib and returns the nuzzle with a tail-wag.  "Thanks!  And you're a great friend, Lib!"

  "Maybe human DNA is too boring by comparison for it to work, or something."  Aside from the occasional Psychic human you see in one episode or town then never again.

OOC: Superheroes named Fanboy you say?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQyuNpzp29E 

Ever says, "Human DNA boring? I didn't know there was such a thing as boring DNA."

Liberty shrugs. "More likely there is something pokémon have that humans just don't."

Kozak says, "Sounds like a quest to me..."

Rina says, "Wake me up when I either need to fight, or have a potential boyfriend." she returns to her pokéball.

Relic just watches.

Liberty says, "I agree with Kozak. We can chase that after Jake's pewter gym match."

---

Driving Freakazoid nuts / scaring him? ...that's impressive.
But hilariously enough, that looks, sounds, and acts like a cartoon version of our friend Rick. Only instead of spouting Disney fandom, he spouts D&D and Anime. XD

Also, on the human DNA and pokémon DNA topic, I remember Pokemon World MUSH, which was a pokémorph RP place. It had many reboots. Eventually, in one reboot, they allowed humans by popular demand, but as a pokémorph. They were the final evolution of mankey (So: Mankey -> Primeape -> Human). And since you were allowed to start out as a final evolution, I picked me up a couple humans. Namely Maverick and Antoinette. XD

"Too boor...  What?" Jake says, confused.

He shakes it off figuring Joe must have been joking about boring DNA.  He nods to Lib.

"That was my guess too.  Some fundamental difference that separates humans from pokemon yet unites all pokemon.  But my main focus is robotics, not genetics.  So I'm more likely to equip the scientists who will make such a breakthrough than to discover the answer myself."

"Nothing boring about humans," Joey says, "Joe's just being modest."

Jake proceeds to methodically captures up to five grass types as efficiently as he can.

  "Somehow, I would not be surprised if Jake invented robot doctors before universal human fixit spray was invented."

  Joe can't decide if Jake's grass capture binge is either overkill, or appropriate preparedness.

Capturing goes relatively quick (About an hour per capture), but after 4 captures, Jake runs out of pokéballs. During the captures, however, Buzzkill evolves into a Kakuna!

Happy (Oddish Female Lv 7)
 She likes to hop around happily and squee at random. Tries to encourage others to hop with her and will nuzzle up to Jake,Joe,Liberty, and their pokemon at random.
Coptor (Hoppip Female Lv 7)
 Just likes to hover with a big smile. If spoken to, Coptor will often talk like a cop. "10-4", "We got a Blue Falcon here.." and such.
Mala (Budew Male Lv 7)
 Mala likes to walk, but his walk is very slow since he doesn't have legs. He also likes being in the sun, often walking out of the shade if possible.
Claw (Paras Male Lv 7)
 Claw is usually opening and closing his claws very slowly. It is soon appatent that is his state of thinking and daydreaming. When spoken to, his claws stop unless he has to think about an answer. When he gets excited, he opens and closes his claws at rapid speeds.

---

Was hoping not to go too much into inventory management, but since Pokemon talk in this, every little pokemon counts and is important. After all, this thread isn't a videogame. That said, I've made a thread for keeping track of our pokemon and noticed I miscalculated a little... Brock's Onix is lvl 14, so some of our pokemon would have evolved by now. I'll say Kozak evolved during the fight with Brock.

Jake blushes at Joe's compliment.  "Thanks.  That's a very big challenge, but worth aiming for."

He's of course happy to meet and befriend his new Pokemon buddies.  Joey is quick to welcome them to the team and fan-boys about Jake and the others, making Jake blush and the newcomers wow.

"Let's go get that badge," Jake suggests.

"Affirmative!" Coptor cheers!

  Joe doesn't feel bad for having the least amount of pokemon, because Pokeball costs add up fast.  Well, that and the insane wishful thinking of his player to set up a 6 pokemon set and stick with it.  Because yeah that will totally work, honest.  "Unless things go spectacularly wrong, I don't think your newest pals will have to worry about this Gym fight much Jake."

  OOC: Hazy at the moment, but so far Wishlist for "Other Gen 1 Pokemon I thought were cool" is Sandshrew and Staryu (hey that rhymes).  Also a Paras for purely for metagame reasons <.<  >.>  He is the ONLY gen 1 pokemon that A: Has a bug type attack.  B:  is not a Bug/Poison like Beedrill therefore psychics still kick it's ass due to poison type.

Sandshrew and paras I can pick up whenever.  But IC logic wise, Staryu would be either a bit before or after water Gym. Little me is so lucky that when we got red and blue for me and brother, I went red, because my very favorite Gen 1 and some others I liked were Red Only

Hmm.  personalities.
  Sam Sandshrew: Gives no ****s, will mock anyone having trouble with Electric types.  Superbird will mock right back regarding Flying type immunity vs Ground.
  Steve Staryu: BUZZ LIGHTYEAR SPEAKS TO THE STARS IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
  Pete (and Pete) Paras:  Actually catching two Paras... But we can't tell the difference between them, and they think/act like the same person.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:11, Tue 17 June 2014.

Jake's gym fight goes better, but not as overwhelmingly do-SunTzu-proud better as Jake maybe expected. After all, the newly acquired pokemon are not as well-trained as Jake's first pokemon. Liberty cheers him on, of course, but soon Jake has his badge.

Brock congratulates all three, saying this is a first for him; seeing a group of kids determined to all get the badge before moving on. "For one, it isn't common to see a group of friends go on a pokemon journey together." Why is that, anyway? Seems like common sense.. "For another, usually if there is such a group, it's only 1 who's interested in getting the badges."

Jake sighed in relief when the match ended and thanked Lib and Joe for the encouragement.  And of course praised his pokemon.

"Dunno why it would be uncommon," Jake says, "Wouldn't people want to travel in the company of their friends?  Wouldn't they want to encourage their friends to make accomplisments worthwhile and neccesary for future advancement?  I suppose if I were aiming at becoming a champion I would be happy to hear about such weak competition but I dunno.  Seems strange.

"Thanks for the commendation, Mr. Brock."

  "Well, I had considered it.  But it would be kind of a waste of time to go all that way and not take a shot yourself."  He looks to Max,  "That and some of us want the shiny objects more than others."

In the original game, the badges allowed you to KEEP YOUR POKEMON'S MIND BOUND TO YOUR WILL, but in this reality, friendship is enough. The badges are only needed to get entry to the Pokémon tournament.

Once the group leaves, the sun is setting. Liberty yawns. "What a day... Jake, are you going to go on a Pokémon capture spree every time we go to a gym? Not saying it's a bad idea; you proved it's a good idea. Just wondering if that should be our pattern from now on."

"What an honor to be in a group of such exceptional people!" Joey commented, "You all make me so proud!"

Later, Jake answers Liberty's question with a yawn of his own.  "There are innumerable different approaches to developing an individualized Pokemon training strategy, each having its own distinct advantages.  I've been watching yours and Joe's carefully, plotting and analyzing the results.  While a larger sample would mean more accurate result data, I think a more varied group of data sets would be more advantageous for comparative referencing."

"Wow!" Joey chimes, "That sure sounded neat.  But I don't understand.  Did you answer her question?"

Jake hmms.  "What I was getting at was...  we should each try different things to see what works best for us."

  The game tells you to trade pokemon back and forth if you want their next evolution, then makes it so you can't use them anymore because they were understandably upset at being shoved through a gameboy link cable.

 "...Planning?  Well I guess 'discourage fights they may get horribly stomped in' is kind of a plan?"

  "Pidge, not my fault I'm Ground attacks don't phase me but Rock one's hurt.  What kind of sense does THAT make? Rocks are made of ground!"

  OOC:  My basis for taking the Red copy while Brother got the Blue copy, was that I saw it had Growlithe and I'm all like. Yes.  I have no idea why my brain thought Sandshrew was Blue version, but he is also awesome.