"Considering the trouble they've caused? I'm sure I can convince my friends to pack you some useful stuff!" With a smile, he digs through his pocket for a moment, until he finds a pen and papers. He makes a quick sketch on the first sheet, marking a spot at the east end of the town. "There a quarry right there. It's been abandonned for years, and the perfect place for young hot-heads to challenge one another. All you have to do, is challenge their leader. I've heard a kid did just that by tossing a rock with a message attached.

I'll gather a few witness, and we'll hide on the edge of the quarry. If the teenagers know we're there to watch, they may realize it's a trap. We'll only come out when you're winning, to catch them with their pants down." He hands you the papers and pen, leaving you to come up with an appropriate challenge.

Seymour nodded confidently as he took what was offered to him, although his sweaty palms may have betrayed his nervousness. "I'll try my best to show him some humility. And I suppose I will use the same rock-message tactic to issue my challenge. What is their leader's name?" He wrote, "Battle me, [Leader's Name]. Unless you're a Feebas," on his message that he would throw into the quarry as a challenge. He then left Logan in order to make his way toward the quarry.

Along the way, he removed all but one of his pokeballs from its position on his vest lapel, so it would look like he only owned a single pokemon. He put Farrah and Locke's pokeballs in one pocket, then let out Lotad, Doom, and Glumpy. He instructed Doom and Lotad to stay out of sight as they neared the quarry, and to only reveal themselves before the battle was finished if he was in danger. In which case, they were to help him get to safety or come to his defense.

Glumpy was to stay at Seymour's side. She would be the pokemon the leader thought they would be battling. A shroomish was not at any particular advantage against either a Pumpkaboo or a Gligar, so her presence would likely instill even more overconfidence in his foe. But Farrah and Locke would be the real combatants.

With the challenge laid down, you wait for the arrival of the gang. After an hour, five teenager swagger into the quarry. Logan's description makes it easy to recognize the leader, Joseph, with his blue eyes and amber-blond hair.

Each of the teen has a pokémon next to them (a pidgey, a litleo, a smeargle, and a lillipup), except for Joseph and his gligar and pumpkaboo. The boy, only slightly older than you, sneers as he sees you. "So, you're the wanna be who wants to challenge me? Ya think your little mushroom makes you hot stuff? Ya won't stand a chance against me. Better run back home before I give you the slapping you deserve!"

As he talks, you see Logan wave at you discreetly, before hiding once more.

Seymour gulped, but tried not to let his nervousness show too much. Although it would probably only help his goal if he did look nervous. His mind was already doing calculations and type-match ups against the other hoodlums' pokemon in the event that he was jumped unexpectedly by the group. But hopefully that wouldn't happen.

Seymour took one defiant step forward, fist clenched. "Did you come here to diss my mushroom, or did you come here to battle? Because right now it's starting to sound like you're grasping for excuses to avoid facing me."

"Ha! Trying to be intimidating? How about Pumpkaboo show you how it's done?" He shouts at his ghostly to attack.

OOC: Give me your first orders for the fight.

As the ghost pokemon approached, Seymour stepped defiantly in front of his Shroomish to make it clear she wasn't participating in the battle, then pulled a pokeballs from his pocket and released his Farfetch'd. In tongue-twister fashion he yelled, "Farrah, place a powerful peck upon the plump Pumpkaboo opponent!" Even as his pokemon entered the battle, Seymour kept a close eye on Joseph in case he tried to gang up on his beautiful bird with two versus one.

---

Seymour is having Farrah use peck repeatedly on the Pumpkaboo. If peck stops working for some reason, he will have Farrah switch to fury cutter. If Joseph sends out Gligar too, Seymour will send out Locke to use powder snow. Hopefully hitting both opponents at once, but definitely focusing on the Gligar first.

Farrah flies out as Pumpkaboo gives a scary look. She slows down, but not enough to save the pumpkin from a painful pecking. As a desperate defense, it tries to confuse Farrah with a ghostly ray. It works, but you're already moving.

Joseph panics as he realize you have a second pokémon, and he signals his Gligar to jump in... just in time for Locke to catch both it and Pumpkaboo with an amazing snow move. Both of Joseph's pokémon fall to the ground, frozen stiff. "No! What the..."

A great cheer comes from the edge of the quarry, as Logan leads a group of people toward you. The teenagers start to panic, hesitating between threatening you, and running off in embarrassment.

"Joseph Edison!" The cheers calm down as a new voice cut over them. A large man, sharing a strong resemblance to your opponent, walk ahead of everyone. "What did I tell you about wasting your time with those fights? You're not cut out to be a trainer, and you'll never be! So get back to the shop and do something useful instead of hanging out with those losers!"

With Farrah in a state of confusion, Seymour recalled his two battlers the moment the fight was over. He then scooped up his Glumpy in one arm and turned to look at the spectators. He didn't necessarily agree with Joseph's father's parenting style (or opinions), but he wasn't about to intervene on Joseph's behalf. Instead, Seymour remained silent and took a moment to finally pin his gym badge to his vest lapel opposite the one that held his pokeballs. He figured that action would speak louder than his words.

He decided it was probably best not to gloat to the teens at all, as it would probably only make himself that much more of a target of their revenge. Not to mention he kind of liked the idea of being the mysterious trainer who whooped their butts without saying very much. Instead, he walked toward Logan and said, "I hope that was satisfactory. A little bit of preparation went a long way, it seems. I was certainly not expecting the battle to be over so quickly..."

"It sure does. Something that kid never seemed to understand." Logan shakes his head, watching Joseph get dragged away by his father. On the opposite side, the rest of the teen grab their leader's chilled pokémons, and beat a hasty retreat under the teasing of the gathered folks, many of them senior citizens who fell victim the their pranks over the years.

Pretty soon, their attention turns to you, congratulating you on your victory, on beating the gym challenge, on how well you trained your team... At the same time, they push into your hand things to help you on your journey. An old Great Ball here, a potion there... and food. Lots of long lasting food. It seems no grand-mother can bear the though of a kid going hungry on the road, so when Logan ask for a few useful things, they ran to their kitchen.

OOC: You got enough Pokéballs and Healing items to increase both of those stats by a rank. The pile of food not only increase your Survival gear by one, you also get the perk Food Reserve: if you need to look for food in the wild, you succeed on any roll other than Ex No. If you do roll Ex No, it's still considered a success, but you lose the perk.

"Oh wow! Thank you!" Seymour said to all the people donating their items to his journey. "This gear will help immensely!" If he had known this little side mission was going to end this way, he wouldn't have been so apprehensive about the whole ordeal.

Now that the danger seemed to be past, Seymour put his pointer fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle, calling back Doom and Lotad from their hiding spots. "Just an extra layer of precaution," he explained, then returned all his pokemon to their balls. "Now that all that is taken care of, I suppose I need to find something else to do with the rest of my day. Which is a problem I am happy to have. Do any of you happen to know a good place to relax? Or a place where I could earn a bit of extra cash? Or a place where I might catch some interesting pokemon? Or heck, why not a place with all three?" The trainer was grinning from ear to ear as he talked. Today was a great day.

---

Boosted Pokeballs, Healing Items, and Survival gear by one rank each. Added Food Reserve perk.

Seymour is asking the elders if they know of a good place that is relaxing, where he can earn cash, can catch cool pokemon, or any combination of the above.

"Well, there's not much here in the way of jobs right now. But to relax and catch pokémons, there's a nice trail up the mountain, just east of town. If you don't mind the climb, the view is great, and there's plenty of rocks a ground pokémons running around. I used to go there back in the days, but my legs can't really take the walk anymore."

"Now that I have all of these great supplies, money is not an immediate concern any more. I'll go check out the spot you mentioned. It sounds lovely." After making sure he knew where he was going, and saying thank you to all of his supporters several more times, Seymour headed toward the location he had been told about.

Along the way, he let out his pokemon again so that they might get some exercise and see the view for themselves. Although if any felt like staying in their balls, he would let them do that too. The closer he got to his destination, the more vigilantly he kept an eye out for any wild pokemon that might want to cause trouble for himself and his team.

The trip is quite enjoyable, especially for Farrah. It seems she really appreciate a chance to stretch her wings.

While appreciating the view of the forest from above, you spot only a few wild pokémons. You assume it's due to how close you are from the town, the wild life learned to stay away from the ball-throwing travelers.

Still, as you take a small break, you spot a fresh set of footprints. Small, maybe 10 cm long, and diamond-shaped. They're pretty well defined too. Whatever left them must be close.

OOC: Meanwhile, Farrah leveled up her HP to Above Average, and Locke's Special Defense increased to Average.

As Seymour relaxed and enjoyed the view, he briefly wondered whether or not he should take the time to try following the footprints. But he soon shrugged and said, "What else do I got to do?" He called his Farfetch'd over. "Farrah, you have great eyes. Can you help me follow this trail? Let's see if we can't track down whoever left these footprints." He snapped a couple of pictures in case he needed to reference them later.

---

Does a pokedex work on pokemon footprints? If so, Seymour will definitely try and identify what he might be tracking.

Although the pokedex has a footprint sample for some of the pokémon, there doesn't seem to be a way to search for them. So you are left in the dark as to what made those tracks.

You do your best to follow the marks, but it's not easy, as the ground passes from dirt to stone and back. Farrah does her best to spot them from above, but it's hard for her too. After a short while, you find yourself waiting as she circles over you, trying to find more tracks. That's when Locke's ear start to twitch.

He scrambles on your head, swiveling his ears and seeking something. Focusing toward a large rock, he taps on your head and point in it's direction.

Seymour nodded to the pokemon atop his head, gently, so as not to dislodge it from its perch. He then began to creep toward the rock quietly to get a glimpse of whatever it was that Locke had noticed. He kept his pokedex handy so that he might be able to identify it quickly if it was a pokemon.

Leaning to the side, Locke gets the first look behind the rock... and regrets it immediately. A stream of rocks burst from around the rock, one of them knocking Locke off of your head. As the bunny shakes off the surprise, you see the hidden pokémon is a Roggenrola.

"Roggenrola, the mantle pokémon. Its ear is hexagonal in shape. Compressed underground, its body is as hard as steel."

OOC: Both Locke and the Roggenrola are ready to throw down, though that first rock did cause a wound on Locke. Farrah is also very close, and ready to jump in if needed. The others are a bit farther, and will need a turn to get into the fight.

"Locke!" Seymour exclaimed as his pokemon was struck by rocks. He had to think fast. Maybe his Laconney could take advantage of Heat Mirage until one of his grass pokemon got close enough to tag in. "Locke, stall. Use ember and keep yourself safe. Lotad, Glumpy! I need one of you to switch in, pronto!"

If Lotad got there first, a bubble attack would be in order. If it was Glumpy, then Mega Drain was on the menu.

Unfortunately, Locke was too shaken to follow your command. Instead, he only just managed to dodge the rock pokémon's charge. You watch for one of your other companions to replace him... only to realize Lotad didn't follow you! He only just woke up when you called him!

Thankfully, Glumpy did follow, and quickly takes Locke's place. He starts draining your opponent, but it's a tough little stone. The Roggenrola charges Glumpy with a strong headbutt... only to discover how bouncy the Shroomish is! Instead of injuring him, the Roggenrola finds itself bouncing right off the side of the mountain...

"Uhhh..." Seymour was at a loss for words. He wasn't too worried about the hard-skinned pokemon getting hurt from the fall, but he certainly hadn't expected this outcome to the skirmish. He used the surprise moment of battle delay to return his Laconney to his pokeball, then went to peek over the edge of the mountain. He wanted to know how far the Roggenrola had fallen, if it looked injured, and if it meant the battle was indeed over.

Luckily, the mountain side is not too steep. You could climb up from there, though it could be rough. The Roggenrola skidded about thirty feet, before striking a larger boulder. He's still conscious, but he appears injured.

"You put up a good fight!" Seymour called down to the injured pokemon with sincerity in his voice. "But how about I bring you to a pokemon center and get you patched up?" Seymour lobbed a pokeball down toward the Roggenrola. He hoped to capture it from his safer perch up above and have Farrah bring the ball to him.

Then, if he caught the pokemon, it seemed his next stop would be a pokemon center before dinner with Jakey.

The Roggenrola seems just angry at your offer, screaming angrily... before kicking your pokéball. Which trigger it. And traps the stubborn rock. It may not be the sharpest rock on the slope...

After shaking her head at the display, Farrah bring the ball back to you, and you return to the town.

As Jake straddled back to town (his legs too sore from all the high impact biking) he slipped his pokedex out and hit up Seymour to see if it was just about time to grab dinner. Jake had a lot to talk about with all the crazy biking and geodudes everywhere. Most of all though, Jake was looking forward to sitting down and downing a ton of food. He had worked up quite an appetite when racing up and down the mountain. It took Jake a minute or two to punch out the following message,
"Kno any all u can eat places. I super hungry!"

Seymour replied to Jakey's message with a long and overly detailed one of his own. "I don't know if it is all you can eat, but I saw buffet-style place in town today. The restaurant's banner had a passed-out Munchlax, so I think that is a good sign. I'll send you the coordinates. Just let me finish up at the pokemon center first and I will meet you there. I had a couple of neat battles today that I would love to tell you about."

In his monstrous paragraph to Jakey, Seymour purposefully left out his capture of Basher, the Roggenrola. He wanted his new group member to be a surprise.