You leave Herenport after a good night of rest, saying goodbye to Joe and the other trainers you worked with. The road passes through wide field of yellowed corn, waiting to be harvested. You spot a few Wurmple moving through the tall plants, probably sneaking in a bite out of the crops before the farmer spots them.

There's little chance to find Shinx in such tall crops, but you can see the end of the fields ahead. Though before you can reach it, you notice a strange rumbling below your feet...

Seymour looked to Jakey with concern when he felt the rumbling. He leaned down to rest his palm against the earth. "Think there is a ground-type pokemon approaching?" he asked. Seymour prepared to leap to the side if it pelt like a pokemon might emerge beneath his feet.

---

Since we are searching specifically Shinx and/or Poliwag, I'll change my team before we leave town. I'll switch to: Lombre, Shroomish, Dunsparce, Roggenrolla, Ditto, Shedinja.

Jake was a bit sad to leave behind Herenport; they made a ton of good memories there. Nevertheless, there were more areas to explore and more memories to make (and trouble to get into). A bit intimidated by the potential flying challenge, he was looking forward to divert his worries onto catching some new pokemon.

When the ground rumbling began, he was not as concerned as Seymour seemed,
"Donno, this is a route on the map, so it should be safe. Maybe a diglet underground?" Jake speculated. Despite being pretty relaxed about the situation, he released Duder for good measure,
"Hey, is that coming from underground?" He asked his tough little pokemon.


Updated current team:
Skipper: Marshtomp
Fetcher: Farfech'd
Growler: Growlithe
Fairy: Larfae
Bandy: Bandicoon
Duder: Geodude

You pay attention to the shaking, as it grows stronger. Soon you also hear a booming sound. Duder looks around, confused, until his eyes grow wide as he points toward the field. Following his gaze, you see...

Seymour's jaw dropped even as he lifted his pokedex to identify the creature before them. Whatever he had been expecting, this was not it. "What is that?" he asked Jakey. Regardless of the reply, Seymour tossed out his Ditto to become a copy of it. Either to battle it, or to be a deterrent. Which one it would be remained to be seen.

---

How tall is this guy? Does he seem aggressive toward us?

Tyrantrum, the Despot pokémon.
Type: Rock/Dragon
Thanks to its gargantuan jaws, which could shred thick metal plates as if they were paper, it was invincible in the ancient world it once inhabited. Since nothing could stop this Pokémon 100 million years ago, it behaved like a king.

You can't tell for certain if it's hostile, or if it's just running through, but you're directly in it's path, something quite terrifying when you're faced with more than 8 feet of rock-hard scales. It only slows when Ditto transform in front of it, something that draws all of it's attention.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:01, Wed 31 Mar 2021.

Seymour's surprise turned into determination as Malley formed nearby. This scary situation was surly going to become an exciting battle instead. To Malley, he said, "It's probably best we don't trample the crops, so wait for it to come to the road before using Dragon Tail."

He looked over toward Jakey, having almost forgotten the trainer was even there for a moment. "Unless you wanted to battle it yourself. In which case, Malley and I will happily spectate." Whether he was in the battle or watching it, Seymour knew it would be an exciting event.

Jake seemed flummoxed by the size and grandeur of the pokemon before him. He was similarly amazed by how flexible Malley's body ended up being -- permitting him to match the size of the giant dino,
"Hey, maybe like, we shouldn't fight it. It is kinda big and angry-looking."

Despite his hesitancy to fight it, he still instructed duder to prepare by using rock polish and follow him off the road until a battle starts or the big pokemon moves on.

The Tyrantrum charges at Malley, hitting it with a ground-shaking blow. Thankfully, the Ditto's body is flexible enough to absorb the shock. Unfortunately, it found itself too close to reply with a Dragon tail. Malley steps back to get the room it needs, but that only leaves it open to the dinosaur's own tail, and Malley find itself flying off into the field as the Despot roars in triumph.

It turns to gaze at the two of you, and you can only wonder if he's waiting for his next challenger, or his next meal...

"No! Rex! Stop!" A woman with short red hair and sapphire-blue eyes runs out of the field, holding a pokeball in her hand. Her clothes, an archeologist work suit, are messed up, like she's been running for a while. "Return!" A red beam shoots from the ball she's holding, but it blinks and fades before hitting the Tyrantrum.

"Rex?" Seymour stammered, a bit off-guard. This Tyrantrum already had a trainer?

"Malley, new strategy. Reposition yourself and use Roar and try and scare the Tyrantrum toward its trainer." It looked like the trainer was having a hard time reaching their pokemon to return it.

Jake breathed a sigh of relief when it became clear that the pokemon had a trainer, but his relief was dispelled when it became clear the trainer was too far away to retrieve the tyrant,
"Ah! Duder, do something! Bulldoze it back home, or something!"

Duder looks as worried as Jake. Still, he takes a deep breath, raises his fists, and slams them into the ground. A shockwave shakes the road, heading to the Tyrantrum... who doesn't even seem to notice. He just glares at the small stone pokemon, and ROARS. The sound reverberates all the way into your bones, making your teeth shake. Next thing you know, Duder is racing away on his hands, faster then you've ever seen him move.

The woman keeps trying to recall her monster, but to no avail. Instead, the beast just huffs, and runs off into the field.

Seying the pokemon run off into the field, Seymour shrugged and turned back toward the trainer chasing it. There was not much more he could have done to try and stop it. Perhaps he could still assist its trainer though.

"Looks like your pokemon is not listening too well. Want a lift? We can try and at least catch up to it." He gestured toward Malley's back. If they rode atop Malley, perhaps they could get close enough to return the pokemon to its pokeball.

She sighs as she stops, looking really tired. "I don't... he just keep ignoring me... and now this thing isn't working right..." She glares at the pokeball, before her shoulder slump. "I don't know what to do..."

After a short chase, Jake was able to recover Duder and get back to the woman and Seymour,
"What's the deal with that big pokemon anyway?"

Jake asked without realizing he was begging the question,
"I don't know if we can knock it out or something. It got duder pretty freaked out. Where is it going anyway? Seems like it is in a rush or something. Could we just follow it till it gets bored?"

"I also have a Shroomish. I could try to stun it with Stun Spore and weaken it with Leech Seed." Stunning it would slow it down, and leech seed would drain its health over time if it still managed to escape.

Seymour waited for the woman to express an interest in a specific tactic before acting, however. After all, it was her pokemon. They should deal with it the way she wanted them to. "By the way, I am Seymour."

"My name's Laura... I'm an archeology student. And I don't know what got into Rex. I grew up with him, he took care of me all my life. I called him out to help move a bolder at our excavation site, but he just ran off all the way here." She holds up her pokeball. "I tried calling him back, but I think I damaged his ball when I fell..."

"That sounds unfortunate," Seymour admitted. "I can try and help you get Rex calmed down using the strategy I mentioned, if it is alright with you.

"It's worth a shot... I just wish I could put him back in his ball." She sighs. "Maybe I'll be able to talk him into coming back if we can get him to stop."

With something as big as a Tyrantrum, it's pretty easy to follow him, even in a field of tall corn. Just follow the path of crushed corn plants. The dinosaur walks in a wavering pattern, but overall seems to head in a precise direction. As you come close to a hill, you notice the sound of an engine drawing closer. A sound that is soon covered by a familiar, and terrifying, roar.

Laura looks worried. "If you want to attack Rex... you need to use special attacks. His scales are too thick for physical moves to do much to him."

"Hmmmm," Jake pondered. The only pokemon he had with him who was good with special attacks was growler who... was not a great fit given his typing. Still, he could still find a way to be useful to Seymour's plan. He ended up releasing... larfae.
"Ok Fairy, you are small enough that the big bad dino won't be bothered by you. Once we catch up, I need you to start string-shotting him while Seymour tries his stuff."

Rex had only seemed to notice other pokemon when they posed a direct challenge to him, so Jake hoped he could take advantage of that.  Well, and if they failed, Jake was still curious where the big pokemon was in such a rush to get.

"Good idea Falkner," Seymour said as they followed Rex. He silently wished that he had brought Locke along with today so he could use his Hypnosis, but Glumpy's Stun Spore and Leech Seed would have to suffice.

As they hustled, Seymour released Glumpy into his arms so he could give instructions. "When we get close, Malley, Transform into Glumpy and use Stun Spore on Rex. Glumpy, you use Leech Seed. Then if one of those attacks takes hold, switch to the other. We need him both paralyzed and drained."

---

Glumpy and Malley are going to work together to stun and leech seed Rex.

You climb on the small hill, and finally see the Tyrantrum, facing off against a harvester. The driver of the farming machine looks very worried, unsure what to do.

Your pokemons rush in, Fairy firing sticky strings at the dinosaur's legs, while Glumpy lands his Leech Seed on him... only for Rex to step on him. He turns to Malley, Roaring at it and causing it to flee. When Rex looks down at the pinned Shroomish, he gets hit in the face with a Stun Spore, stunning him.


Rex is Seeded and Paralyzed, but Malley has fleed.

Seymour did his best to try and return the fleeing Malley to its pokeball, but if he failed, he would need to worry about the Ditto later. Glumpy needed some help. "Great job Glumpy! Try and Mega Drain Rex's foot!" Seymour wanted to send out another pokemon to assist Glumpy, but he also felt like it would be good to give his little mushroom pokemon a chance to show everyone what he was made of. Besides, Larfae was still there to assist too.

Glumpy struggles to get a good hit on Rex, even with Fairy constantly slowing him down. Then, just as the dinosaur was about to tackle the small fungus, the Mega Drain hits him HARD. Rex stumbles, and falls to the side, knocked out.

The farmer, who had backed up a bit during the fight, sighs in relief as he comes to join you. "Boy, that was scary! It's a good thing you kids were passing by! Why did that guy come after me like that, anyway?"

"I'll let his trainer explain the details on that one," Seymour said to the farmer as he checked Glumpy for injuries. Although the mega-Mega Drain probably helped alleviate a lot of the Shroomish's potential afflictions. "Although a broken pokeball definitely seems to be a major factor. Did anything expensive get smashed?" Seymour gave Glumpy some well-deserved attention even as he watched to see what Laura and the farmer would say.

Jake shrugged and deferred to the trainer... for the most part,
"Probably didn't like the noise of your thinger."

Jake gestured to specify the harvester was the 'thinger.'

Laura shakes her head. "That doesn't make sense... We've used heavy machinery at our dig site, and Rex wasn't bothered by it. And it doesn't explains why he came all the way out here..."

"Well, either way, nothing was damaged. Thankfully. I don't think my Primeape could have done much against a beast like that."

Looking around, you see how much of the field has been harvested, as well as Rex's path. He seemed to be traveling mostly to the north-east... at least until he got close enough to the harvester to hear it, when he turned due north to get in it's path.

When Seymour noticed thee direction the Tyrantrum had been headed, he turned to the farmer. "What is in that direction, if you don't mind my asking. Rex seemed to be heading over there, to the north-east. Perhaps there is something in that direction that was causing him to... misbehave." Seymour's curiosity was piqued now. What could cause a big dragon to act in such a way? Not another Naiaqua, he assumed.

The farmer shrugs. "Just my fields. A few pokemon hide in them sometimes, but nothing really big."

With the tall corn in the way, it's difficult to see if anything is hidden ahead.

Jake was a bit skeptical of the truthfulness of the farmer. Maybe the farmer was a smuggler like Joe the Pirate! In any case, he didn't want to throw around wild accusations, instead he wondered aloud,
"Hey, maybe a pokemon hiding in your fields is attracting nasty pokemon to come mess it up?  Lets take a look. Maybe you can use your thinger to frighten them away so we can see them when they move."

Jake pointed to the harvester as he said, 'thinger' to make it clear what he was talking about.

"I wouldn't mind going to take a look," Seymour agreed. Albeit for different reasons than Jakey. Instead of thinking the farmer might be hiding something, Seymour was just curious to solve the mystery of it all.

He returned all of his pokemon, then released Shedinja. "Corium, can you float up a bit and see if you can see anything strange in that direction? Maybe an out-of-place pokemon? Or an unnatural construction of some type?" It was always possible Team Gaia was up to something in the area.

Corium flies over the field for a while, until it stop, and starts to hover in place. When you reach the area it's marking, you're surprised to find a hidden pokemon nest. In it, you find three young Absol. And even without training, you call tell they're not doing well.

"Absol?" Seymour wondered aloud, pulling out his pokedex? "Do you think maybe Rex was trying to help them?" He listened to the pokedex entry for any potential clues, then kneeled down and offered some food from his pack. He scanned for any signs of additional pokemon that might have frequented the nest.

"These poor little guys. Think they have anyone caring for them? Or should we try to find them some homes? You guys need a home?" The last bit was asked to the Absols directly. Of course he didn't actually expect a response. But Seymour wouldn't mind giving a home to one or more of them, if they wanted.

Absol, the Disaster pokemon.
Type: Dark
Swift as the wind, Absol races through fields and mountains. Its curved, bow-like horn is acutely sensitive to the warning signs of natural disasters. Because of this Pokémon's ability to detect danger, people mistook Absol as a bringer of doom.

The farmer rubs his head. "Could be... I have no idea how he knew these guys were there. By the looks of it, these guy's parents hasn't been around for a while..." He looks at them more closely. "Seems like they haven't eaten in a while... and they're feverish."

He fishes out a mobile phone from his overalls. "One of my neighbours has a pokémon farm. He should know how to deal with this."

Absol looked cool. Well, they also looked sick, but the coolness struck Jake before he realized they weren't in the best health. He didn't have a berry on-hand -- potentially one of his pokemon was holding onto one, but Jake was not much of a quartermaster. Jake did have a bit of healing items on him, but the farmer specifically said they seemed to need food.

"Could be Rex is a big softie after all! I think if they want, Seymour and me can catch them up and drop them at a poke center when we pass by. Or we can visit the pokefarmer. Maybe the pokefarmer has some interesting pokemon too!"

"Yeah, what Falkner said. But I would be interested in hearing what the pokemon farmer has to say before we agitate them too much." Seymour continued to try and get them to eat a bit of his food while the farmer made his call. "We definitely can't leave them here in this condition though."

The farmer nods, and completes his call. "He's going to meet us at the road. We should carry them there." As Jake suggest catching them, the farmer looks worried. "I'm not sure it's a good idea when they're that weak. It's like catching a fainted pokemon, the capture process could harm them even more than they already are."

You each pick up one of the cub, carrying them back to the road together. As you pass Laura, you explain what you found. "Is that why Rex was acting up?" She says, surprised. "Then... do you think it would be safe to wake him up?"

Seymour nodded in agreement with the farmer. It made sense when he put it like that. He quickly but calmly helped to carry the young Absol family.

When Laura asked about Rex when they passed by, Seymour was unsure what the correct answer was. "It may have been the reason he was acting up. Probably the reason. But it is impossible to be sure. I would say that you would know better than anyone if it is safe to wake him up, but I would guess that it would be okay..." Although if Rex ran off again, Seymour didn't think he would be able to assist in slowing the big dragon down a second time. Not while helping with the Absols.

She hesitates, but decides to try it. The Tyrantrum slowly wakes up, only to jump to his feet as he looks at the harvester. Once he sees it's not moving, he calms down and sniffs around, until he sees you holding the sick Absol. You feel worried for a moment, but Rex doesn't threaten you. He just looks concerned.

Not long after you reach the road, a pickup truck arrives. "Howdy!" The driver gets out, holding a big cloth bag. "Found yourself some hurt pokemon, Kenny?"

"Hi Brand. Yeah, seems an Absol made her nest in my field, but it seems she didn't come to take care of them for a while."

Brand nods. "Let me see here..." He guides you to the back of his truck, and you lay down the Absol on a thick tarp spread in the bed. "Let's see here... Oh, that's the problem..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:57, Sat 17 Apr 2021.

Jake was pretty certain that Rex would be more relaxed now, but a sliver of him was concerned that Rex was going to take the sick absol as an opportunity for a quick snack. That concern didn't show though, so there wasn't any sense of relief coming from Jake as rex re-awakened.

As the truck came rumbling down the road, Jake was a tad concerned that Rex would take the truck as a new challenger arriving... fortunately, it seemed like Rex was more concerned about the absol than asserting its dominance over modern machinery. He kept silent as the pokefarmer took a look, but couldn't help showing how much the quick diagnosis impressed him,
"Woah, dude, you barely looked at them and you already know whats wrong? You should work in a pokecenter!"


//Side note, are there a million Nurse Joys in Cadien?

Seymour was also thoroughly impressed by the speed of Brand's diagnosis. "What is the problem?" he asked the farmer, leaning over his shoulder to try and get a good view. "Sickness? Poison? Malnutrition?" He found medical mysteries to be somewhat fascinating, although he did not have the stomach required to be an actual medical professional himself.

Brand spreads the fur of one of the Absol, revealing the pale flesh underneath, marked by small black, moving spots. "Fleas. There's been a lot of those this year... Most pokemons are big enough to just find them annoying. But for cubs like these, it can cause anemia. And it seems they weren't feed for a few days too. I can only guess that their mother got too hurt to take care of them."

He pulls out a large syringe, without any needle, and fills it with a sweet smelling liquid. "They'll feel a lot better after getting a drink of Shuckle Juice. After that, a good soapy bath with help with the fleas. Though, I'll have to take them to my farm for that."

"The real question is, who'll take care of them? The mother wouldn't have left them by choice, and they need someone to watch them."

Laura looks at the three, and says "I could take care of one... but not all three."

"I wouldn't mind taking care of one," Seymour offered. "I bet we'll have 'em back to full health in no time." He turned to look at Jakey to see if he was interested in nursing one back to health as well.

Jake pulled out a pokeball with one hand and flashed a thumbs up with his other hand. He was already thinking about how bandy could teach the little absol all sorts of larceny.

"Well I'm glad to hear that. And you can show you can take care of them for starter. Climb in, I'll drive you to my place so you can give them the bath they need."

Laura looks at the truck, and says "I'll follow you on Rex. Unless you know how to fix pokeball..."

Brand shakes his head. "'Fraid not. Alright, I'll drive slowly so you don't tire yourself out buddy," he tells Rex before climbing in the cab.

Seymour held his Absol tenderly as he climbed into the truck. The poor little pokemon would need a lot of love and care to recover, but Seymour was ready to provide. "Thanks for the lift. And for everything else," he said to the farmer. "Let us know if there is anything we can do to repay you. How long do you expect it will be before the little guys are healthy enough for pokeballs?"

"We'll have to see how fast they recover." Brand has to shout over the sound of his pickup, but you can hear him well enough since he's going slowly.

The drive is pretty short, and you reach a farm house. Looking into the fields, you see a bunch of Wooloo and Mareep grazing. Brand drives to the front of his house. A teenager walks out as he stop. "Back already, dad? What was the emergency about?" She pauses as she sees Laura and Rex. "Woah, that's bigger than I expected..."

Brand helps you get out of the truck. "We got a trio of anemic cubs. They got a nasty flea problem. Could you get the soap while I fill the tub? And tell your mom we'll need a pokemeal with plenty of sugar in it."

After the commute with his new buddy, Jake was curious to see what all pokemon the farmer raised. He was a bit disappointed to see just wooloo and mareep, but since the farmer was helping out, he didn't feel comfortable interrogating him about his lack of poke-diversity. Rather, he feigned being impressed by the farm,
"Woah there, that's a lot of farming! Must be tough work? Any other pokemon around giving all your pokemon trouble?"

He did his best to make small talk as they prepared to clean up and treat the absol.

Seymour helped with the baths as best he could. He gently scrubbed the leas clean from their fur and made sure they were warm and dry afterward. He held the Absol he was caring for in his lap as he fed it the sugary pokemeal that had been prepared. He made sure to feed it slowly so that it would not upset its digestion by eating too fast. Once its tummy was full, he stroked its head until it fell to sleep. He then let it rest with its siblings and went to get further instruction from the farmer.

"Hopefully they will feel better when they wake up. Is there a place nearby that we can stay?" He looked around at the farm as if he expected to spot a hotel behind the barn or something. "Or maybe a good place to set up a tent? We were out searching for Shinx and Pollywags today, so a night under the stars is something we were prepared for already. And if there is any way I can help repay your assistance, just let me know. Maybe there are some chores I can help with? I am sure the pokemon on my team would be willing to help out as well. We are just glad that those Absol got the help they needed."

"A spot to stay? Well, if you're ready to spend the night, you can stay in the barn. There's plenty of space in the loft, and hay's softer than the ground." He shows you the ladder, and you can set your sleeping bags on the hay bales.

Coming back outside, you see Laura helping Brand make a small straw nest for the Absol. Once they're done, she says "I'll have to get going... I need to return to our dig site. I hope I'll find someone there to fix Rex's ball. I'll come back tomorrow morning, alright?"

"Sure, those kids'll need a good night's sleep anyway. In the meantime, there's a little something you could do for me. You said you were looking for Shinx?" You watch Laura leave on Rex, as Brand leads you into the field.

After wishing Laura good luck, Seymour followed Brand into the field to help with whatever it was he needed help with. "Yeah, we were looking for Shinx. Or Poliwag. There is someone who will trade me a Tropius for one of those. Although a Shinx would also be cool to have as a partner too. Do you have a Shinx problem or something?" Seymour was curious what task they were going to try and complete.

"'Fraid so. There's always a few pokemon that attack my flock from time to time. The Mareeps got enough juice to deal with most problems, and my Ampharos is tough enough to handle the rest..." He sighs, as he points at a spot with freshly moved earth. "But then that hot-head went and chassed a diglet, only to stumble into it's hole and break a leg. Now he's stuck in the pokemon center until he's healed."

Walking a bit longer, he shows you small set of paw prints. "And now I've go a Luxio leading a small pack of Shinx harassing my livestock. So, if you want a Shinx, well, this is a good place to find one!"

Jake wasn't sure about trading a shinx, but catching one for himself would be cool. Then he would have three dark type pokemon... maybe it was better to be a dark-type trainer than a water-type trainer. In any case, he voiced his support for the plan,
"Yeah, you point, I catch!  Do they come around at night, should we do a stake-out?"

"You'll need a stake-out. They've come out both during the day and the night."

Jake rubbed in chin in an exaggerated display of thought. A stake-out was a bit of an ambush and a bit of a waiting game. He was good enough at the ambushing part, but less good at the waiting part. That, and they needed some more information to launch a successful ambush,
"Great! This should be fun." Jake chimed as he tried to think of the pieces they needed to succeed.
"Do you have any good beverages other than milk... like some juice? Being outside for a long time is thirsty work. Might also want to take a look around the property to see where we can hide with good view of the flock. If you have an idea of where they come from, that would be useful too. Maybe we can hide in the top of the barn? We'd need to get down quick... or have a way to slow them down. Maybe duder can pretend to be a rock in the field, so he can engage them while we get down?"

After rambling his bit of the plan, he turned to Seymour to see if the smarter of the two of them could organize Jake's words into a coherent plot.

Rolling with Jakey's plan, Seymour added a few suggestions of his own. "I'm not sure about sitting atop the barn myself, but I do like the idea of Duder pretending to be a rock in the field. Maybe Malley can do the same. Heck, we could have a bunch of pokemon stationed in different spots as lookouts. My Shroomish and Roggenrolla can probably blend in with the scenery pretty well too. And I bet your Bandicoon would be able to stay out of sight easily enough. He seemed pretty good at hiding when we first met him." Seymour thought for a moment more, then added, "I bet we could get my Shedinja and your Farfetch'd to patrol around a bit too. They could either spot the targets outright, or keep an eye out for a signal from our other spies. Think that could work?"

You take a moment to walk around the field, to get an idea of the general setup. Brand hasn't been able to follow the Shinx's tracks. While you look around and make your plan, he left for the house (to the left of the map above) to get you something to eat and drink.

"You know, the more I look around the area, the more I think maybe Malley should mingle among the flock. It can be our eyes on the inside," he said with a smile. "I think Captain Lombre could probably hide in that little stream too. Underwater somewhere just atop that waterfall. What do you think, Falkner?"

---

Seymour will probably keep lookout near the barn, unless Jakey has a better spot for him. This is what I am think of for the placement of my pokemon:
Lombre - hides in the water atop the waterfall
Shroomish - hides in the foliage near the top left
Dunsparce - hides near the little structure on the bottom left
Roggenrolla - hides by the structure on the right
Ditto - mingles among the sheep-mons
Shedinja - floats around looking for signs of the Shinx or a signal that one of my other pokemon has spotted it.

"Yeah! Skipper can also hang out in the water. We just gotta be a bit careful because shinx are shockers!"

Jake will try to get on top of the barn.

Marshtomp - Gettin' muddy with it on the north leg of the stream
Farfech'd - Perched on the back-side of the barn (facing the house)
Growlithe - chilling ontop of the barn with Jake
Larfae - Hangs out in the tree in the top right
Bandicoon - Jake just tells bandicoon to hide anywhere it feels like
Geodude - Pretends to be a rock in dead center

After a nice meal of home cooked burgers, you take your positions to watch over the flock. Jake climbs on top of the barn with no issue, and has a great view of the field.

The afternoon paces slowly, giving you a chance to relax... until you both spot shimmering strings floating out of the tree Larfae hid in. You can't spot anything else strange where you are, and it doesn't seem Corium noticed anything either.

What do you do?

"Hey Falkner. You seeing this? What are those strands? Is your Larfae doing something? Or should we be worried about a wild Spinarak attack or something?" Since it was Jakey's pokemon in potential danger, he would let him choose what he thought was the best course of action. But of course all of Seymour's pokemon would be ready and willing to help if Jakey was in need of their skills.

Jake seemed more curious than concerned,
"Looks just like a string shot, maybe it saw something... or it is just wrapping itself up."

Still, it would be good to get a better idea of what was going on, so he turned to face the back of the barn where Fetcher was perched,
"Hey, do a quick runaround the north and come to me directly if you see something suspicious, else just go back to the perch."

Fetcher salutes, and flies over to Fairy's tree. As you watch, you can see some movement, and the tree seems to shake a bit. Fetcher moves close, before turning around in a panic to hover in front of Jake. He alternates between shaking his leek toward the tree, and batting his wings to stay in the air.

Jake sported a quizzical look as he made his way down to ground, retracting growler as he went.
"Hey, Seymour, I'll check it out. You can stay here or come with."

Jake then entered stealth mode. He let fetcher keep watch where he had been perching and lowered his body into a crouch as he swiftly and silently made his way to the tree to investigate. For safety purposes, he kept growler's pokeball in his hand, ready to release if something spooked him.

Seymour nodded, but did not follow. "You got this," he whispered. He kept an eye on Jakey's progress from by the barn, ready to rush over if he needed help. But he had every confidence that Jakey could handle the problem on his own unless it was something truly surprising.

Jake makes his way down the side of the barn, and crosses the field toward the tree. As you get close, you sees Fairy getting tossed into the air, apparently injured. Around the base of the tree is a whole pack of Shinx, seemingly intent on beating up the poor bug.

On seeing fairy getting tossed in the air, Jake opted to reveal himself... and growler,
"Use roar!" Jake sharply cried, trying to scatter a bit of the crowd of shinx. He doubted they would be held at bay for long. However, Jake figured his voice would attract his own pokemon and notify Seymour that something was up.

Upon hearing Jake order a Roar, Seymour figured the situation might be a little bit more serious than he originally thought. He called out to his Shedinja, "Corium, we better go check out what is happening over there. I'll meet you over there." He still figured Jakey could handle it, but he still wanted to get closer in case his friend wanted some assistance.

As Jake watches, Fairy does her best to cling to a branch, as the Shinx jumps and try to bite her. Growler's Roar sends many of them running, but the rest just turn to face the new challenge.

At Seymour's signal, Corium moves down to join his trainer. Looking at the rest of the surrounding pokemons, Jake's team doesn't seem too worried about the screaming. Instead, they follow the flock, as they cross over the bridge to be away from the noise.

When he noticed that the pokemon causing trouble were some of the Shinx they had been looking for, Seymour got excited. "Hope you don't mind me joining in to try and catch one of them," he said to Jakey. "I'll go try to help shield the flock."

Then, to his Shedinja, he instructed, "Corium, use your confuse ray on the Shinx heading toward the flock. Malley! Transform into Growler and try to Roar some of them away again." His Ditto should have still been somewhere among the sheep-mons in disguise. After giving his instructions, Seymour tossed a pokeball at the Shinx that appeared to be the weakest and most distracted. If he could catch one right away, it would be one less for them to ward off.

---

Seymour: giving instruction and throwing a pokeball at a Shinx.
Malley: Transforming into Growlith and roaring at the Shinx heading toward the flock.
Corium: using confuse ray on the Shinx approaching the flock.

Jake didn't seem to mind Seymour trying to catch the shinx as well. Then again, Jake seemed to be occupied with his plan -- if you could call it a plan.
"Duder! Get over here!" Jake called as he dug his heels into the ground, then he called out to his pokemon already present,
"Fairy, use crystal swipe on anyone that gets near you, and growler, use flame wheel straight ahead! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH"

Jake finished with his own primal roar as he charged directly into the remaining group of Shinx. He wasn't aiming to tackle one, but rather to charge his way to where fairy was... any shinx standing between him and his glass bug, he didn't hesitate to try and shove them out of the way.

Growler charges through the Shinx, forcing them to jump aside or stumble away. It didn't do much to the pack, but it did create a path for Jake to run through, letting him reach Fairy's tree. But after you pass, the Shinx's tails starts to glow, and the whole area is filled with electrical sparks. Growler shakes a bit from the shocks, but doesn't seem too injured by the energy.

As Seymour throws a ball into the pack, Malley tries to scare more Shinx away, but it seems they're not focused on it enough to notice. Instead, it draws the attention of a Luxio, who jumps out of the bushes, growling menacingly as electricity runs over it's body.

No wounds on anyone. Seymour's pokeball locks in on one of the Shinx.

After making it to his smaller pokemon, Jake felt in-control enough to whip a pokeball at one of the shinx. He decided to let fairy and growler keep doing what they thought was best and called out again, hoping his other pokemon could hear and respond,
"HEY FETCHER, PICK UP DUDER AND DROP HIM IN!"

If fetcher was able to get Duder involved, he'd order duder to use a magnitude as it was falling into the battlefield -- after all, that's how they were used in war-time!

Jake easily finds a weakened Shinx to catch, as Growler keeps charging through the pack. The Shinx pauses, noticing the bushes are starting to catch fire, and turn to look at Growler with tearful eyes at the damage she's causing. The usually oblivious pouch suddenly feels a bit embarrassed at her reckless fire usage...


I rolled a double on the Baby-Doll Eyes of the Shinx, with a Negligence of Environment description. I thought that would be a funny take on it.

It was becoming clearer that this Shinx swarm wouldn't be easily dissipated. But perhaps if they could eliminate the Luxio leader, it would help convince them to leave. "Corium, target that Luxio with Mind Reader and then Shadow Ball!" He would be ready to throw a pokeball immediately after the Shadow Ball if Jakey didn't seem ready to catch it himself.

However, there were still other instructions to give in the meantime. Seymour yelled loudly enough to catch the attention of all of his pokemon in the area. "Malley, keep Roaring at those Shinx. Basher, Mud Slap any that get near you. Glumpy, use Leech Seed on as many as you can. Captain, bubble out those fires Growler is making." Seymour didn't want their host's pasture to burn down. "And Doom, use Rollout to steamroll these dudes!" He wished he had had the forsight to have Doom use defense curl while hidden, but Seymour had not expected quite so many foes to show up at once.

---

Who is doing what
Shedinja: Mind Reader and Shadow Ball at the Luxio
Seymour: Throw pokeball at Luxio after Shadow Ball, if Jakey doesn't want to
Ditto: Roar at Shinx
Roggenrolla: Mud Slap at Shinx
Dunsparce: Rollout at Shinx
Shroomish: Leech Seed at Shinx
Lombre: Bubble at fires

Jake doesn't seem to have much interest in catching the luxio, instead opting to re-frame growler's attention away from the inadvertent arson and back onto the fight,
"Growler, use roar, then use flamewheel on the big one!"

He then tried to scramble up the tree to where fairy is to coax it to get down and start some trouble of its own,
"Come'on Fairy, use some crystal swipes on the group. They aren't that scary!"

Jake then used his perch to watch the sky to look for if fetcher heard his command to drop duder in for a mega-magnitude. He wasn't sure what the rest of his pokemon were doing, but he wasn't too worried. He was confident that they could win the fight without Skipper or Bandy... but if either of them showed up, he would start shouting orders to them too.

Summary:
Fairy: Crystal Swipes
Growler: Roar, then flame-wheel the luxio
Farfetch'd: Get duder involved
Dude: flying magnitude
Bandy: Whatever
Skipper: Whatever

Growler is relieved to have a chance to get away from the accusing glare of the Shinx, skipping the Roar entirely for a chance to focus on the Luxio. Malley, on the other hand... gets the same treatment as Growler. It barely manages to scatter most of them with a roar, before looking at Seymour like he was crushed by shame. Luckily, Duder does a great job of scattering the last of the Shinx.

The Luxio tries to electrocute Corium, to no effect of course, before turning to threaten Growler. After a bit of mutual intimidation, Growler hits him with a solid Flame wheel, soon followed by Corium's Shadow Ball. The Luxio stumbles from the onslaught, before vanishing in Seymour's pokeball.

With a bit of mud and water moves, the budding fire is quickly put out. And with the last of the Shinx fleeing, you're confidant the flock is safe.

I'll send you your new pokemon soon. Seymour, do you want the stats for the Shinx, or will you just trade it as soon as you can?

Level up time:

Duder increases his SpD to Below Average
Growler increases his HP to Exceptional
Fairy increases his SpA to Weak

Malley increases his SpD to High
Glumpy increases his Def to Above Average
Corium increases his SpA to Below Average

Seymour plopped onto the ground as the last of the Shinx scattered. "Wow! that was quite the encounter!" he exclaimed. The battle had been short, but also nearly overwhelming. So much happened in such a short amount of time. Seymour found it to be exhilarating.

After a moment to catch his breath, the trainer stood again and went to retrieve the two pokeballs that now held his newest two pokemon. A Shinx and a Luxio. "I think I will call you Bolt," he said to the ball holding the Luxio. Then, to the Shinx, he said, "And I think I will leave your name to your new owner." He was extremely excited about the prospect of trading it for a Tropius at the soonest available opportunity.

Seymour looked to Jakey. "Do you have a name picked out for your Shinx yet?"

Jake gave a rock-hard high five to duder. While his hand was significantly redder afterwards, it did not dampen his mood,
"Heck yeah! We showed them who was boss. We are the boss-es." Jake declared.

As his pokemon regrouped, he gave them all their due respect for their role in the stake-out, even if they didn't participate in the battle. He gave special attention to fairy -- after all, it survived the whole horde of electro-cats. After getting all his pokemon in one place, he released his new catch and responded to Seymour's question,
"Hey y'all, meet Sparker. Maybe Shocker. Nah, Sparker. Maybe shocker later. I guess we still need to get flying pokemon, but now we can knock birds out of the sky like nobodies' business."

Maybe he was overestimating his shinx's abilities, but it was sure great to get a bit more type-diversity on a future team. Well, or perhaps starting an opportunity to become an electric type trainer if the wind blew the indecisive trainer that way.

"You found them?" Brand asks as he comes to see you. "And it looks like you gave them a run for their money, too! Come on, you can tell me about it during supper."

Brand's wife, a solid-looking woman who's clearly used to the hard work of a farm, serves you a well-cooked steak, accompanied by mashed potatoes and a big salad. With the size of the serving, you have a hard time fitting the Watmel berry pie that you're served for desert.


You wake up the next morning to the scent of hay, and the sound of Mareep and Wooloo. Once you're awake enough, you head down to the nest Brand made for the small Absols. Callie, Brand's daughter, is already there, looking at the kids. "Morning! It looks like the kids are doing well!"

The Absols do look pretty well, with one of them reaching for the side of the nest to greet you, it's tail wagging. Another peaks out to examine you, only to be distracted by a passing bug, then a moving shadow. The third one remains in a corner, looking at you, but staying silent as you examine it.

"Two females, and one male. Dad said you two and your friend want to adopt them?"

"That's the plan," Seymour replied. "I figured I would do my best to help nurse one back to health, then let it decide what it wants to do after that. This will be the second baby pokemon that the two of us have raised, and the second time we have helped to rescue pokemon displaced from their homes as well. Although it is the first time both have happened to the same pokemon..." Seymour thought back to the Laconneys and Mantykes he and Jakey had both raised.

Seymour kneeled down and held out a hand to one of the Absol. "What do you say, buddy? Should we have some fun together? We should probably get you all looked at at a pokemon center now that you are strong enough to travel." He had been wanting to go to a pokemon center to make his trade anyway. Not to mention to make sure his Luxio was in good health too.

Jake also confirmed the plan,
"Yeah, well, maybe lacconey is kinda a baby pokemon. Probably more like a teen. I don't really know"

Jake also identified the absol of his choosing (thankfully not the same as the one Seymour chose) and started to build rapport,
"Hey bud, we can raise hell together some day, but for now, lets just grow up strong."

Jake was fine with heading to the pokemon center if that is what Seymour wanted... but after that, he'd want to get back out and look for some strong flying pokemon.

So what Absol are you focusing on? The one jumping at you? The one looking all around? Or the quiet one in the corner?

I'll focus on the quiet one in the corner.

Looking all around

The curious one turns toward Jake as he comes closer, sniffing curiously at his hand before making a small cry. The other one looks at Seymour, standing up sniffing his fingers, before licking them.

Callie smiles as she sees you befriending the kids. "Well, they should be strong enough to travel. They can also be caught, though waiting until you're at a Pokemon Center will make it easier on them." She picks up the third Absol. "Be careful if you want to train them. They're still pretty young, and will need some time to get used to battles."

Jake shrugs,
"Yeah, I don't need them battling yet. I got other pokemon to do that. I might keep them around after I get done with this leg of the journey. I think it would be nice to let all my little pokemon get used to each other so they can grow up with strong bonds."

Jake opted to keep the same team for now... next time he goes to a pokecenter he may re-evaluate though.

Seymour nodded in agreement to Jakey's assessment. "Yeah, it may not be appropriate to bring them along on every leg of our journey, but we will make sure they are well cared for. Even when my pokemon are not on my team, they are spending time out of their pokeballs with my family back home. I am certain they will love playing with little Dusky here." He rubbed the head of the quiet little Absol playfully even as he named it.

"Should we head to the pokemon center then, Falkner? We can give these guys their official checkup. I can make my trade. Then we can find you a strong flying pokemon or two!"

Jake nodded. They were not in much of a hurry, an extra trip to the pokecenter wouldn't hurt. After all, it would be good to check if Fairy had any injuries after the run-in with the horde of cats.

"If you're heading for Vollemond, you'll come across a rest stop with a PC about four hours from here. You'll be able to send them to a pokemon center there, and they'll send them back to you once their check-up is done." Callie tells you. "I know you're fine with camping, but since that's the only place to sleep on the road, you could try spending half the day looking for a flying pokemon, and rest there tonight."

"That sounds like as good of a plan as any," Seymour agreed. "Should we head out, Falkner?" Seymour scooped up the young Absol in his arms and held it caringly. It was rather fluffy, but not ridiculously so. "The sooner we head out, the sooner we can get these guys checked over."

With a last goodbye to Brand and his family, you head back out on Route 113. The trip goes pretty fast, just slowed by Kiddo running around to look at every passing Caterpie.

It's a bit past noon when you spot the rest stop, sitting close to a bridge on the river. A few grass pokemon and their trainers are enjoying the sun, while a Machop and a Meinfoo are getting healed by a Comfey.

Jake kept most of his pokemon out as they travelled. He'd never been inside a pokeball, so he didn't know how comfortable it would be. Plus, it was fun to see his pokemon interact as they walked. As they approached the rest stop, Jake had an idea,
"Hey, there are a few trainers here and we can switch out our pokemon -- maybe we can have a bit of a battle with some of them here before we swap out our team?"

Jake then looked for other trainers making eye contact with him... and was curious to see if any of the trainers relaxing there were any of those they had already met elsewhere.

You see one tall woman who's making eye contact... with your pokemons. The brown haired woman looks from one of your companions to the other, to the point of getting a bit uncomfortably close to Bandy.

You can see a few pokeball at her belt, under her loose red shirt, as well as a tube carrying case, stained by patches of paint.

"That sounds like a great idea," Seymour replied to Jakey. "I think I want to get everyone healed up and maye some trades first before battling anyone though. You can get started without me if you want."

Seymour made his way into the rest area while Jakey was getting eyed up by the tall stranger. He sent his pokemon to get healed up and looked into trading the Shinx he caught for that Tropius. If he was going to do a bit of training, he wanted to get some experience under his belt with his newest additions to his team.

---

If all goes well, I hope to change my team to:
New Tropius
New Luxio
New Absol
Ditto
Lapimage
Snom

You find the exchange request is still there, and after a quick transfer, you find yourself with your brand new Tropius, and with a short message from his original owner: "Thank you for the Shinx! And please take good care of Musa. He may be big, but he's really shy!"

Jake uses leer on the tall woman.
"Hey there lady, you wanna fight."

Jake brandished his pokeball belt trying to puff himself up like a qwuilfish.

After getting his pokemon healed and switched and traded, Seymour headed back outside to watch Jakey's trainer encounters with his new pokemon. He found a nice area and let out his newest pokemon, Absol, Tropius, and Luxio. He released his Ditto, Snom, and Lapimage as well, just so they could get some exercise and get acquainted with their new friends.

"Bolt, Dusty, Musa, do you like pokemon battles? That's my buddy battling over there. Or at least trying to. Maybe we can train later too, if you are interested. Locke, Malley, Blustra and I will all be doing at least a bit of training later, I expect." But for the moment, Seymour was content to watch and see how Jakey's prospective match would go.

"Sure, I think some of your pokemons could be interesting..." She grins as she sends out her first pokemon. "Go for it, Crucibelle!"

The pokeball opens... to reveal a pot. As you look in surprise, it opens to reveal a slime-like humanoid form inside.

"What the devil is that!?" Jake cried in confusion. Biting his lip, Jake regained his composure and gave his first order to his first pokemon -- the one the trainer had her eye on,
"Bandicoon, uh, use thief and steal the lid, or something! Or just mug it, I don't know!"

Seymour chuckled at Jakey's instructions, but could understand why he gave them. Seymour had no idea what Jakey was facing either. So he checked his Pokedex to get the details. Once he knew, he would shout its name and types to Jakey.

Crucibelle, the Mimic Pokemon
Type Rock/Poison
They create their own ceramic shell by firing clay in areas with high geothermal activity. The designs of a Crucibelle's pot reflect the society that it lived in, providing archaeologists with information about ancient civilizations.

Bandy rushes in, only for the Crucibelle to close up tight, forcing the raccoon to try using her crowbar to pry it open. But before she can crack it, the pot vanishes in a red light.

"Hold up, Crucibelle... Go Picasso!" The woman quickly switches pokemon, revealing a dog with a tail covered in paint and shining fur. "Sketch that Thief!"

He waves his tail around, causing a dark shape to appear briefly in front of him.

Jake is surprised to see the pokemon get switched out so fast, but not too surprised to give a quick order,
"Bandy! Quick, fake that new pokemon out! I don't know what it is doing, but I don't like it!"

Bandy tries to Fake Out... but the Smeargle sees it coming, and avoids the attack.

Fake out only works as soon as the user is sent into battle. You'd have to switch Bandy out and back in before you can use it.

"You can do it!" Seymour yelled to Jakey, cheering him on. Meanwhile, Seymour looked at the pokedex entry for Smeargle as well, just to familiarize himself with it. He found this one to be quite interesting. "Smeargle is a normal type," he reported.

Jake switched out from using the pointless move to one with more potential impact,
"Get on top of it, no need to fake out, just for for a quick attack! Fast!"

In the back of his head, Jake thought about which of his pokemon could best counter a normal-type.  Hopefully bandy would make short work of the wanna-be artist though.

Bandy goes for a quick strike before the dog can react, but it's not enough to phase him. "Now, Toxic!" The smeargle's green tail takes a deeper hue, as he flings it's color at Bandy, causing her to stumble as she's stained. Looking at her reaction, you're pretty sure she's poisoned.

"Hang in there and use a tail whip!"

Jake wasn't sure how well Bandy could fight when poisoned, but if Bandy was about to go down, might as well soften up the foe when he had a chance.

Bandy does her best to weaken the painter dog, but first he blocks it with Protect, then... with a wave of his tail, he attacks with Thief. That shouldn't have hurt Bandy too much, but the with poison weakening her, it's enough to knock her out.

"Good work! You can take a rest. Time to get back into it, Crucibelle!" The woman calls back her painter, before sending out the slime figure again.

"Nice try Bandy!" Jake called out as he retracted it into his pokeball. He took a moment in thought to determine what his best move would be. Either skipper or duder... but he hadn't used Duder in a while, so that was the choice,

"Go Duder, lets knock some... pottery! Bulldoze the heck out of it!"

The Crucibelle hides briefly in her pot, before tilting sideways to shoot out a big ball of Sludge at Duder. Not that it does much to bother him, since it doesn't leave enough liquid behind to create a puddle, and Duder quickly scatters it as he starts breaking the ground.

"Crucibelle, try Confusion! That should hurt him more!" The psychic attack does indeed hurt Duder, though his continued movement also starts bothering the Crucibelle. "That won't be enough, you need to poison it!"

The Crucibelle sends another stream of poison at Duder, not stopping until it's clear the rock is poisoned. But despite that, you notice some cracks appearing in Crucibelle's body.

"Not bad, you manadged to injure my Crucibelle! But you'll need something much stronger if you want to hurt my Fabergé!" With that, she brings back her poison pot, and sends her third pokemon... an egg.

"What's up with you and weird pokemon!" Jake cries in protest at the parade of pokemon he hadn't seen or heard of before. Nevertheless, he persisted. He was a bit concerned about the poison on duder, so he switched out to a new pokemon, Fairy.

"Fairy,  spin up that egg in some thread!  String shot it!"

"Fabergé, distract it with a Tail Whip, then Double Slap!" The egg pokemon starts shaking in a funny manner, even as the strings pile up around her. Then, she tries to slap the small bug... eventually. Despite having barely any limbs, Fabergé can only barely move with all the strings gathered around her. It's only when Fairy pauses to catch his breath that she gets close enough to slap her repeatedly, injuring the glass bug.

Jake thought double-slap to be a fighting type-move so he was especially confused when the egg was able to perform it. Still, the egg was pretty slow now that it was all strung up. Fairy was injured, but it might be able to probe the defenses of the strange egg before him,
"Uh, Fairy, hang in there and use bug bite!"

Jake also finally remembered he could use his phone to check the typing of an unknown pokemon so gave faberge a scan.

Chansey, the Egg Pokemon.
Type: Normal
It is said to deliver happiness. Being compassionate, it shares its eggs with injured people. It lays several eggs a day. The eggs are apparently rich in nutrients and extremely delicious.

Fairy jumps at the Chansey, dodging the flailing limbs, and sinks his mandibles into the pink flesh... only to find it too thick to penetrate. At all. "Ha! Something so weak won't hurt Fabergé!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:41, Thu 27 May 2021.

"Fine, you want strong, I'll hard cook that egg of yours, come back fairy and get out there GROWLER"
Jake swapped out to his only pokemon that had a fighting type move to counter the normal pokemon... but he was going for a substantially hotter attack,
"Growler, burn it up with flame wheel!"

He wasn't sure how best to fight this trainer, she seemed to be completely comfortable switching out her pokemon at a moment's notice. An advantageous pokemon could turn into a liability quickly facing her.

Growler rushes out of his ball, charging the Chansey. Again, and again, and again... Fabergé tries turning things around by switching to a Take Down attack, but in the end, it's only because Chansey got burned that she even looked hurt.

"Not bad, you managed to hurt my best wall!" She recalls her Chancey, and sends back out her Smeargle. "I think I'm gonna Sketch that move!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:42, Thu 27 May 2021.

"Great Job Growler!" Jake called out. Beating back the Chancey was a major accomplishment, but there was also the poison pot pokemon. Hopefully this sketcher wouldn't be too much of an issue. Jake suspected the sketch was a way to copy the move... something that he might be able to take advantage of,

"Quick, growler, use ember to knock out that sketcher before it can sketch the fire-wheel!"  Jake hoped that would bait the opposing trainer to use fire-wheel back at Growler -- something it would be immune to and boost its strength.

Growler spits her fire as soon as the Smeargle arrives. It's not enough to injure it, but it's a start. More importantly, it causes your opponent to sigh. "Hey, I don't suppose you'd be willing to try another Fire-Wheel? It'd be really nice of you if you did..." The Smeargle creates a short-lived wall in front of him, stopping Growler's following attack. "I promis I'll skip using Toxic if you do!"

Jake wasn't sure what his opponent's plan was. It might be a trap, but if she used fire wheel to counter growler, it would backfire on her. He didn't quite believe her promise of not using toxic, but he couldn't see a downside to complying. Plus, given how strong growler was, there was a good chance that it would knock out the sketcher before it could try any shennanigans,
"Alright, you asked for it! Growler, use flame wheel! Paint the painter's brush red with FIRE"

As the attack proceeded, Jake silently contemplated how to deal with the paint pot and the chancy. The former was beatable, but the second was soooo tough.

"Whoo! You got this Falkner!" Seymour cheered. He was really enjoying the interesting strategy the opponent was using. It just went to show, he still had a lot to learn about what was possible in the world of pokemon.

The Smeargle waits for Growler's attack to take place patiently, ready to use his tail. The Flame Wheel engulfs him in flames, and as they fade... you see the canine unconscious on the floor. "No! Picasso!" You opponent falls to her knees, looking like someone who got greedy gambling and lost a lot. "I should have stuck to the Ember..."

She shakes off her disappointment, and sends her Crucibelle back in. "Well, the match isn't over yet! Go for it Crucibelle!"

Jake shrugged, "Hey, we can try again later after you get healed up if you want. But for now, time to finish you off! Growler, come back!"

He then switched into play Skipper (or perhaps now should be called Stomper),
"Alright, mud bomb that pot. Get all its poison all dirty!"

Jake wondered how the sketch move worked... maybe he could make some quick pokedollars by just showing off some if his sweet moves.

As soon as the Crucibelle is thrown out, she hides in her pot. Unlike during her first appearance, this time she rolls around the field, dodging most of Skipper's attack. At the same time, the fluid dripping from the pot form strange, almost hypnotic patterns as she spins around.

Your Marshtomp seems a bit confused from time to time, but otherwise, he's just fine. Finally, with a bit of guess works, Skipper lands a Mub Bomb right on Crucibelle, knocking her out.

The woman shakes her head. "That's what I get for trying to change my strategy... Oh well, no stopping now! Let's see if you can beat my final wall!" And with that, her Chansey returns to the field.

Jake shrugged,
"What do you mean by beat?  Skipper, just growl at it, then do some mud slaps. Keep on your toes and don't get hit. We have more pokemon! We just need to outlast her."

The battle didn't have any rules. There wasn't a time limit. There was just patience. Without the specter of poison hanging over Jake's pokemon, he figured it would just be a matter of time till he would be able to overwhelm the chancey with persistent attacks.

"Once you mess her up enough, just start dropping some mud bombs and see if that does anything."

Jake saw that Growler could do some damage, but giving skipper some target practice wasn't too bad of an idea.

In spite of the burn she had previously, Chansey seems only lightly wounded when she returns... and even that vanishes as she eats her own egg. As your strategy becomes evident, the woman shouts "two can play that game! Fabergé, use Tail Whip!"

It takes a while, with Skipper running around the Chansey and growling, while the egg struggles to keep up with him. There's two things that becomes obvious, though. Chansey has a good Special Defense, unlike her normal Defense, and she is horrible at attacking.

"Good Job Skipper, time to switch up the strategies for overwhelming force!"

Jake swapped in Fetcher,
"Alright, give the chancey a good leer, then go crazy with fury cutters. Don't stop till you knock it out!"

Jake figured the big eggy pokemon could be an easy target for fury cutter, the more hits, the more damage! He was a bit concerned the leek would snap under the continued stress of each attack, but he had faith in his birdo!

Fetcher doesn't need to spend much time Leering, before he swipes in to strike. The Chansey tries to reply with Double-Slaps and Take Downs, but there's no doubt how this will end. When Fetcher find an opening, he manages to land a telling blow against the Chansey.

"Hold it!" You opponent says. "Let's face it, this isn't a match anymore, it's just an exercise in patience. If we keep this up, they'll still be wacking at each other until the sun sets. So, I yield. Good match."

Jake never thought of himself as patient... and people have not called him patient either... only stubborn. He was proud of his new title as a patient person and silently vowed to maintain his aura of patience for the future -- though it was more than likely he would forget all about being patient in the future,
"Yeah, good match! You have a really good idea of how to fight! You probably could have won if you used toxic and showed off more pokemon! It felt a bit unfair for me to throw out all of mine... but they all needed to stretch anyway."

Rather than pulling back fetcher, he released his still healthy pokemon to enjoy the outdoors, with a quick comment to them that the fight was over.
"Say, did you want to heal up your painter and see if he can sketch some more moves? I got some time."

He then glanced to Seymour... Jake had gotten so wrapped up in the fight he forgot what they were going to do next.

Seymour walked up next to Jakey after the battle had concluded. "That was a neat battle," he said to the woman. "I am Falkner's friend, Seymour. I thought your strategy was quite inventive! Where did you find that sketching pokemon? Picasso, was it? The Smeargle. It seems like the kind of pokemon I would have a lot of fun training."

"Thanks! Some people tend to complain about that kind of battle though. They prefer the flashy moves and explosions. And if you don't mind, I'd love to have Picasso learn your Flame Wheel. My strategy is pretty strong, but it breaks appart as soon as I face a Poison type."

You head back to the building so you can heal your pokemon. "I'm Estelle. And yes, Picasso is pretty unusual... and not so easy to train. The only way he can learn new moves, is if he Sketches them. He can't even learn them from TMs! But on the up side, he can Sketch pretty much anything, so if I can find someone with a move, he can learn it."

Once you're all healed up, you spend some time training with your pokemon, and discussing with Estelle.


And since we're talking about learning moves, let's give your team some new ones!

For Seymour:

Locke learns Fire Spin
Fire Spin Fire S Low -2 Target is trapped, has -1 HP, and takes a wound if they roll an ExNo. The effect is Very Unlikely to end each turn.
Malley... well, he gets either the ability Discipline (If user has the initiative, he can cure one of Confused, Enraged, Infatuated, or Flinched), or Sturdy (If the Pokémon doesn't have any wound, a OHKO causes 1 wound and until healed, any wound check against the Pokémon that isn't Ex No counts as Ex Yes)
Blustra... has also learned all her move until she evolves. So Seymour, you can pick two stats to increase by 1, except Def.
Dusky learns Knock Off
Knock Off Dark P Average 0 Target drops it's Held Item
Bolt learns Thunder Wave
Thunder Wave Electric * -1 Likely to Paralyze target Pokémon
And Musa learns Magical Leaf
Magical Leaf Grass S Average 0 Hit on any result but an ExNo

For Jake:

Skipper learns Rock Slide
Rock Slide Rock P Ab. Av -1 Causes Flinch on a 1-3, can hit Close group of foes
Fetcher learns Aerial Ace
Aerial Ace Flying P Average 0 Will hit on anything but an ExNo, long range
Duder learns Self-Destruct
Self-Destruct Normal P Super 2 0 User faints when using the move
Growler leans Fire Fang
Fire Fang Fire P Ab. Av -1 Causes Burn on a 1, Flinch on a 0
Fairy learns Shard Shower
Shard Shower Glass P Low -1 Roll 1d6: 1-2 give no modifiers, 3-4 give +2 dam, 5 give +3, 6 give +4
And Bandy learns Feint Attack
Feint Attack Dark P Ab. Av 0 Will hit on anything but an ExNo

"I don't suppose Picasso could learn Transform, eh?" Seymour suggested. He picked up Malley and gave the Ditto a squeeze. Learning Transform would probably solve a lot of the Smeargle's issues, but Seymour doubted that sketching and copying a Flame Wheel would use the same type of skill as changing your actual physical form.

Regardless, Seymour was still curious about where a wild Smeargle might live. "Was Picasso caught nearby? Or what about your other two? The Chansey and Crucibelle. Are they native to the area?" He probably could have checked his pokedex, but it was much more fun to hear it directly from the pokemon's trainer.

---

Pokemon updated!

"Transform? Yeah, I considered it. In fact, someone suggested I should combine Transform and a move called Imprison, to stop my opponent from using any moves. That was an interesting plan, but... it kinda relies on Picasso staying in the fight for a while, and well... you saw how easy it is to knock him out.

Picasso was a gift from my parents. We've been together since I went to high school. Chansey are very rare in the wild, but sometime you can adopt a Happiny from a clinic. As for Crucibelle, they're native to Narmes. I dated a soldier who brought her back while he was abroad, and he gave her to me, saying we'd be a good match. And I have to say, he was right!"

"Huh, that's pretty cool! I guess you and Crucibelle were a better match than you and the soldier!" Jake jested.

After a moment of thought, he considered an offer,
"Hey, I have a pokemon that I don't really use much, he's a Barboach. I feel a bit bad leaving him in a PC all the time, maybe you can take him and he can get some fresh air. And it would be a pretty good story, getting a pokemon from a random trainer on the road, right? How often do those things happen?"

"It sounds like you have gathered pokemon from a wide ranging area," Seymour commented, impressed. He then smiled as Jekey offered his Roach. It was nice of Jakey to think of his pokemon's wellbeing like that. Seymour had a few pokemon of his own that he didn't get to see as often as he would like, but at least his own pokemon got to hang out with his family back home while not actively on his team. He wasn't quite ready to take the steps Jakey was. Even so, he watched eagerly to see how Estelle would react to the offer.

"Oh, I couldn't just take one of your pokemon out of the blue... though..." She thinks for a moment. "You're heading for Vollemond, right? Do you have a pokemon you can fly on?"

When you shake your head, she accesses the PC, and retrieves another of her pokemon. "I traded for Rusty here to challenge the Vollemond gym myself. She's too old to be reliable in competitions, but she's still strong enough to carry someone."

She sends out the pokemon, revealing an old Skarmory.

Jake was surprised and impressed by the bird, and best of all it had a fitting name.
"Oh yeah, this would be perfect for me. Fetcher is a bit small to carry me around. I'm all for it!"

"Wow. Rusty is beautiful," Seymour commented. "I think she will make a great addition to your team, Falkner. We should take her and Musa out for a test flight this afternoon!"

"Great!" Estelle says, recalling Rusty and bringing her to the trade machine. After a short wait, Roach and Rusty are exchanged, and Jake finds himself with a new companion.

Testing out your new flyers, you find that Musa is rather twitchy, always ready to break away from Rusty and Jake when they get close. Rusty on the other hand, is a bit slower, despite the difference in size. As Jake rides on her, he can tell she's getting old. In a way, it feels like teaming up with an old athlete, coming out of retirement for a last round of competition.

It took Jake more than the entire duration than his flight on Rusty to become accustomed to flight -- that meaning he was still not accustomed to it by the end of the trip and likely would remain unaccustomed for some time.
"Well, that was a trip," the teen exhaled as he made contact with terra firma.

He glanced to Seymour... who had a wilder ride than himself, curious to see how his companion handled flight.

____

I'll swap out pokemon tomorrow probably!

Seymour's first flight turned out to be quite... nerve-racking. Between Musa's twitchiness and the general discomfort of being high off of the ground, Seymour could tell that he was not a natural flier.

Even so, he did his best to gently pat Musa every so often and remind him that he was doing a great job. It also helped that he had Malley fly along closer to the ground just in case either himself of Jakey had a fall. But when the two trainers touched ground with their pokemon, Seymour found himself immediately de-tensifying.

"I think it is going to take all of us a while to get used to being in the air together," Seymour commented. "Flying is fun, and handy. But also... intense." He gave Musa a hug around the neck. "But thanks for the ride, Musa. You did great."

He looked to Jakey. "How did you like riding on Rusty? Think you are going to switch to being a flying-type trainer?"

Jake shook his head,
"I'm not ready for that level of commitment to the flying lifestyle. Surfing is way more fun. Still, flying is cool too, I guess. Maybe we get get a bit more practice in as we make our way to the next gym."

Jake then uncharacteristically checked his pokedex for any points of interest between them and Vollemond. Not that he was much good at reading, but something might look interesting.

"Definitely wouldn't hurt to get a few more wings of practice in. I'm a bit afraid I will fall off during the gym challenge. Do they have super big nets to catch us if we fall?"

___________________________

(In Team)
Skipper: Marshtomp
Fetcher: Farfech'd
Growler: Growlithe
Fairy: Larfae
Sparker: Shinx
Rusty: Skarmory

(Non-Team Buddy)
Kiddo: Absol

After sleeping for the night, you set out for another practice flight the next day. You take it slowly, making rather slow maneuvers to get used to the motions, until you feel ready to take a shot at flying combat.

Looking around, you see a few groups of pokemon flying around, far enough that you have a hard time making out exactly what they are, even with your pokedex. One seems to be a group of four orange bug pokemon. The second and third seems to be birds, one group of three green, the other a black or grey pair.

"Want to head toward the birds?" Seymour asked Jakey after having his Tropius dip a little closer. They had already encountered (and caught) a lot of bugs, so the birds seemed more interesting at the moment. "Maybe the green ones? Although I'm not picky."

Seymour was feeling much more comfortable in the air today than the day before, but still far from at total ease. He hoped Musa was getting more comfortable around him and the other pokemon as well.

"Green sounds good," Jake said a bit too loudly, unsure how loud he needed to talk with the wind wooshing by them both.

Jake then patted his steely bird and urged it in the direction of the green birds, trying to get a better view of them before diving in for the catch (or kill, well, KO).

You fly closer to the unfamiliar birds. Two of them seems to be chasing and trying to scare the other away, while the third circles them, pretending to ignore them, but always keeping them in sight.

How do you want to approach them?

Jake was curious about the birds, but not too curious to try to catch them before properly identifying them... after all, with the better look, they didn't look too dangerous.  Still, it seemed safer to go after the isolated one than the two chasing each other. Hopefully they wouldn't notice when the observer was taken out of the equation,
"Alright Rusty, lets hit the alone one out of the equation, use peck!"

After issuing the order, Jake gripped on harder. Already he wasn't super comfortable riding a pokemon, so riding one executing a move was something that Jake wasn't too sure about... but it was something he needed to learn.

While Jakey got ready to attack, Seymour pulled out his Pokedex and Ditto. "Let's see what those are. But regardless, Malley, transform into one!" He wasn't yet sure if he would have Malley play the role of friend or foe. It would depend on what his Pokedex had to say about these pretty bird Pokemon.

Verdakeet, the Sunny Sky pokemon.
Type: Flying/Grass
These birds only come out during sunny days, to feed on seeds and sunlight.

As Seymour listens to the description, Jake charges in on Rusty. The Verdakeet sees them coming, but rather then flee, it spreads it's wings and starts to glow. Not enough to be blinding, but enough to make it seem like everything is brighter. Yet even as it's glow fades, the light seems to remain.

Rusty ignores the change, and strikes the bird with her beak. A good blow, but not enough to injure it yet.

Jake wasn't sure what move the green bird made, but he figured it was trying to protect itself in some way.  More importantly, Jake was able to stay airborne after his first flying attack. There were a couple other moves that he wanted to try out though,
"Alright, now lets try a feint, then aircutter, then peck again!"

Jake hoped his bird could keep all those instructions in its birdbrain as they came around for another go at the smaller bird.

Seymour patted Musa's neck after hearing the pokedex entry. "What do you say buddy? Should we add another grass and flying type to our team?" Then to his Ditto, he said, "Malley! Target the Verdakeet on the left. Lull it to sleep with Grass Whistle. Let's try catching it the gentle way." Once it fell asleep, Seymour planned on tossing a pokeball at it.

Jake's opponent starts to whistle, leaving itself wide open for Rusty's Feint. The bird takes the hit, but it seems to anger the other two fliers, one of whom gets behind Rusty, spitting a stream of seeds at Jake and his mount. You feel like an old school pilot, flinching from his opponent's attack as you try to dodge.

Thankfully for you, Rusty is a pro dog-fighter. He dodges almost all the attacks, only one stream of seeds catches her, causing vines to grow over your mount's body. But Rusty ignores the growth, striking a telling Peck on the first Verdakeet.


Meanwhile, Seymour watches Malley whistle, causing the bird to doze off and float lower. Musa dives to keep you close to it, as you start tossing pokéballs it's way. It takes a bunch, but finally one of them not only catches it, but locks in place. With a call to Musa, you sweep bellow the falling ball, fumbling with it a bit... before Musa manages to catch it in his mouth.

But at the cost of 3 favors. Pokémon stats are on the way!

After managing to hold on and land a few blows on the green bird opponent, Jake was ready to finish the fight.  He rose in his seat a bit to get a bit more range of motion, then grasped at one of his empty pokeballs. Taking aim at his target Verdakeet... hoping his experience of riding stolen bikes around Saffron city throwing rocks through windows would apply to this aerial catch attempt.

"Woohoo!" Seymour yelled victoriously as Musa leveled out, pokebal in mouth. "Great catch Musa! Now we have a new flying buddy! You too Malley. Great work all around." Even as he celebrated, Seymour turned back toward Jakey's own battle, eagerly waiting to see the outcome. It looked like his friend was attempting to capture one as well. He scanned the sky to see if the third Verdakeet was still around too, just in case it was going to try and cause trouble.

Jake tosses a ball... only to see the bird's wound glow, then vanish. Rusty is forced to dodge another stream of bullets, as the formerly injured bird lands another Leech Seed on her.

Looking up, Seymour sees the two-on-one battle Jake is going through as he tries to weaken one of them.

Seeing Jakey outnumbered, Seymour rushed to give his Ditto some new orders. "Malley, Quick Attack over to help Jakey, then try to Grass Whistle one of them to sleep!" Hopefully that would help even things out a bit.

With Seymour's support, Jake felt more confident fighting on without calling out Fetcher.
"Rusty, just a bit more, land one more peck, then I'll try to capture it again."

Jake wasn't sure what would happen if rusty fainted while he was riding it... maybe Seymour would have one of his pokemon catch him... He hoped it wouldn't come to that though.

Malley charges at the third bird, just after it takes another swipe at Rusty. The two green bird collide, followed by a high pitched whistle, and one of them floating down as it sleep. Only, Seymour realize it's Malley who fell asleep!

Meanwhile, Jake tries to block off Rusty's ear, as his target starts to whistle again. The Skarmory holds on, and strikes the green bird with a solid Peck, making it fall in a cloud of leafy feathers. Jake catches the bird in his pokeball, holding on to Rusty as she dives after the captured Verdaket, letting Jake grab the ball in mid-flight with ease.

"Malley, return!" Seymour called out, returning his pokemon to its pokeball as it began to sleepily fall. He kept a close eye on the last green bird to see if it was going to try anything. "Start using Growth, Musa, in case it decides to attack. Gust it if it does."

Then, more loudly so that the last Verdakeet could hear, he said, "If you want to stay with your friends, you are more than welcome to join my team as well. If you would prefer to stay in the wild, there is no need to continue the fight."

Jake did his best to guide Rusty to ground after catching the pokeball. He didn't want to be caught out by the final bird while Rusty was so worn out.  Once making it down, he looked to Seymour to see if his diplomatic gambit would pay off.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:36, Sat 19 June 2021.

Unfortunately, the Verdakeet either doesn't understand, or doesn't want to listen. It dodges Musa's gust, before landing a Leech seed on him.

After successfully landing and dismounting, he directed Rusty to the back sky. Jake didn't have a clear plan, but he suspected the bird would be a continual pest until they knocked it out or captured it.  Jake didn't have much inclination to catch the same pokemon twice, so he directed rusty to just use its best instincts,
'Rusty, you've been fighting longer than I've been alive, so you know what to do. Just knock it out or make it run off, or let Seymour get a chance to catch it.  Just do what you want, really!"

Seymour thought Jakey had the correct idea by heading toward the ground. "Musa, lets go low too. Gust if you can, but focus mainly on evasion." If they could lure it low enough, he could probably switch in one of his other pokemon to finish off the fight. His Snom or Lapimage could probably finish it off quite quickly with some icy moves.

The green bird only went low enough for your ground pokemon to pile in, but it's not necessary. Between Musa's Gust and a Swift attack from Rusty, the last bird goes down.

You feel pretty confident that you can fight on your pokemon's back now, even in flight. The question is, are you ready to face the gym challenge, or do you feel the need to train some more?

While you ponder that question...
Rusty increases her Att to High
Musa increases his Att to Ab. Av.

Jake always felt the need to train more, but there was a deadline -- they needed to get the badges before the tournament. That, and Jake wasn't sure how to prepare for the flight exam without ever seeing it. Would he be able to command other flying pokemon while atop Rusty?  That needed answers. Locating Seymour, he suggested they head to the gym town,
"Should we get going to vollemond and see how fast our birds can go?  Well, not race. I think you have an easier time figuring out how to go with pokedex map than me. That and if one of us falls off... well, good to have friends around."

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Seymour agreed. He was glad that the wild pokemon threat had passed and they could get back to gentle flying once again. "Let's get to Vollemond and get the lay of the land. We can decide if we are ready for the gym or not from there." Seymour urged Musa forward and began leading the way.

Using the road as a guide, you fly north to Vollemond. As you get closer to the mountains, you notice low clouds coming down, making the air hazy. It reminds you of your challenge in Herenport, when you were lost in the mist. Only now, even the ground seems to fade away as you fly into a vault of ghostly clouds.

"This can't be safe," Seymour commented as the ground disappeared from view. "Should we try and land and walk the rest of the way, or should we try going higher and fly above the clouds until we spot a safe spot to land?" Both options carried risk, but Seymour was willing to take the risk of either option. And so he would let Jakey choose.

There was also always the option of turning around and heading back the way they had come, but Seymour had a hard time seeing what the advantage of that would be.

Jake knew Rusty knew how to fly, but he wasn't sure if the bird would be able to take much more damage... like running into a mountain or flying too close to the sun,
"Uh, lets go to ground for now. I think I flew high enough already today"

With that, Jake attempted to lightly go to ground to continue on foot.

You fly lower, until you can find the ground and land. As you head down, the cloud cover gets briefly disrupted by two shadows passing above.

A loud whistling hits you, as the shadows leave as soon as you noticed them.

"Were those... pokemon?" Seymour questioned as Musa touched down. He gave his leafy dino a few thankful pats and pets, then returned him to his pokeball. "Whatever those were, they were like nothing I have seen before. Or were they airplanes?" The trainer still wasn't sure what his eyes had seen. Maybe the mystery would be solved when they reached Vollemond.

Thanks to your compass, you figure out the way north, and keep going where you assume Vollemond is. The wind whistles around you, as the sun slowly sets. The fog starts to thin, but you realize you're out on a hill, with no town in sight.

"Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?"  Jake asked both Seymour and the fog.  Jake wasn't thrilled about spending a night out in the wilderness, but atop a hill was better than in a swamp.

"I guess we can try to walk in the night, after all, we did get the night badge... or we can just rough it." Jake was decidedly undecided on the matter. Either option was worse than spending the night in a town. He never regretting coming to Cadien, but he did miss the abundance of relatively quiet places he could sleep back home.

After a moment of silence, Jake had an inkling of a plan,
"Maybe we could make like a signal that we are lost, like growler spitting some fire into the air or something?"

"Camping out is probably a good idea. Maybe the weather will be better tomorrow," he suggested. "I'm not sure sending out a signal is necessary, but my Lapimage can help with illumination too."

Seymour began surveying the hill they were on, planning a campsite. "Malley and Blustra, my Snom, can create some ice walls to give us shelter from the winds. And Locke and your Growler can provide our firelight! If we decide we want to try and see what pokemon are in the area, maybe Musa can even try to lure some close with Sweet Scent."

---

I think camping for the night sounds good.

You start building a quick shelter out of ice walls, Locke giving you light to work. It's a good think your pokemon work fast too, because it suddenly starts raining. That seems a bit weird, though. Once the fog parted, it didn't look like there were many clouds around...

"This rain... is odd..." Symour commented to Jakey. He sat in their little shelter, gently petting the Snom and the young Absol resting in his lap. "I didn't notice many clouds before, so it makes me wonder if there might be a pokemon nearby causing the precipitation. We might have a better night's rest if we figure out who is responsible," he suggested.

Jake wasn't sure what the deal with the rain was either, so wanted to agree with Seymour. He would have had another plan, but his captured verdekeet had gone straight to the PC -- not much use for a KO'd pokemon.
"Well, growler might be able to track them with his odor slueth,"

He wasted no time releasing growler and having him starting to track, but he did have some concern,
"It might be hard for growler to find something... after all, it is raining..."

<pock>
Even as Jake says that...
<pock>
A dull sound comes from your makeshift room.
<pock> <pock>
Looking out using your lights, you see white shape bounce on the ground outside your shelter.
<pock>  <pock> <pock>
The noise hasten, and you realize the rain is turning into hail. You hear worrying cracks from your roof, but thankfully Seymour's practice during the Swarm gym makes your shelter tough enough to survive.

As you stare into the darkness outside, a foot-tall creature floats toward you, trying to enter your camp.

"Is that what I think it is?" Seymour asked. There was obvious excitement in his voice as he checked his pokedex to be sure. "It is! It's a Castform. There is place not far from where I grew up that would deal with these guys. I always thought they were so cool..."

Seymour waved to the pokemon invitingly. "Come here little guy! You wanna come take shelter from the hail you made?" The trainer knew the hail probably wouldn't hurt the Castform, but it still felt like the right thing to say. "You can rest with us. I have a nice cozy pokeball you can snuggle up inside of too, if you want." Seymour did his best to be kind and inviting to the seemingly mischievous little weather-mon.

Jake was skeptical,
"That little guy made it hail? Really? He's so tiny. I guess if you can keep your ice house up, we can stay here if he will end the hail storm soon."

Jake seemed perfectly fine with Seymour's plan of kidnapping capturing the little floating pokemon.

The Castform pants hard, trying to catch it breath. Then, it shakes itself, and starts to float about, chattering in it's language, and pointing outside your shelter. Whatever brought it here, it seems very worried about something.

Seymour's facial expression quickly shifted from kind and inviting to an expression of concern. He glanced worryingly toward Jakey, then back toward the pokemon "Is there something out there?" he asked the Castform. He grabbed Locke's pokeball and released the Lapimage. "Locke, can you help illuminate the area? I think there may be something worrisome nearby." A moment later he released Malley too. "Malley, transform into Locke and help brighten things up too."

Then, to the Castform he commented, "And if you would be so kind as to clear up the weather, it would help us out a lot too." He hoisted his Snom onto his shoulder so the bug could help look around. His Absol he returned to its pokeball. He didn't want the young pokemon getting hurt if something caught them by surprise.

Jake wasn't sure how to help out, so for the time being just stayed out of the way and watched Seymour figure out a plan.

The Castform nods, before focusing. It starts glowing, then... the hail stops, and is replaced by a shining full moon.

Looking at the Castform, it turned orange, like a miniature sun.


With the moon lighting the area, you're able to see pretty well, even without the help of Malley and Locke. You don't see anything moving, but the Castform still looks worried, floating toward a nearby hill and waiting for you to follow.

Seymour followed the Castform cautiously, apparently ready for something to jump out at them at any moment. As they walked, he asked his friend, "Jakey, you're pretty good at sneaking around, aren't you? What is the best way to spot someone who doesn't want to be found?"

Maybe sniff around? Fly up and look from a different perspective? Catch a Zubat and use sonar? He trusted that Jakey would be able to come up with a good answer for their current situation. In the meantime, Seymour continued to follow the Castform and scan their surroundings with the light provided.

Jake did his best to act offended, though it was pretty clear he was just joking,
"I'm not a copper, I don't know about finding hiding stuff, just hiding stuff myself!"

Of course, he had his two cents too,
"Well, best way of dealing with someone hiding is making them not hide... or find them in a way they don't expect; we don't have a zuzu, but Having growler being a sniffer with odor slueth could help... or if we could lure them out, that could also work."

Jake toyed with fairy's pokeball. After all, fairy was the one who attracted the shinx gang, maybe Fairy would make good bait for this scary-mon.

While you worry about ambush, the Castform seems more concerned with haste, as it leads you over the hill. Before you see what it's worried about, you hear it.

"HIIIII!" A loud squeal, right on the other side of a rock.

The sound is quickly hushed, followed by a low voice. Carefully, you get closer to listen in. "...we need to find that thing again before she reaches the base! Seriously, what were you thinking pulling her out like that?"

"I just wanted to stop the rain while I went to the bathroom..."

"Oh yeah, like hail is going to be better. You're lucky Haynes is so easy going or you'd be cleaning the holes for a long time..."

The two women are drawing close...

Seymour's heart sank a bit as it began to sound like the Castform probably belonged to one of the people they were hearing. Still, why had it left them, and why was it leading Jakey and himself toward these people? Were they injured? Up to crime? Seymour was unsure, but felt he should probably find out.

He signaled to Jakey his intent to reveal himself, then took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the rock. The Snom that was still on his shoulder and the "two" Lapimage standing nearby boosted his confidence higher than it normally would have been.

"Do you two need some help?" Seymour asked politely, trying not to startle them. He tried to judge their true reasons for being out here as he awaited their reply.

Right before stepping out, Seymour notices the two are wearing the garish tie-dye colors of Team Gaia...

Do you want to modify your action?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:38, Thu 08 July 2021.

Jake wasn't sure what Seymour ended up wanting to do, but he had a plan for himself. Stay back and start recording with his pokedex. After all, he didn't know what team Gaia was up to, but they always seemed to be up to no good. Whoever was monitering the recordings on his pokedex might be interested in team gaia's actions.

When Seymour noticed the people belonged to Team Gaia, Seymour shot a glance of warning to Jakey. But it seemed Jakey had already noticed and was acting accordingly. So Seymour continued with his plan. If Team Gaia was out here, there was a good chance they were up to no good. And Seymour was sure Locke would want him to do what he could to help thwart their efforts.

---

I'll keep the same plan. Just with a slightly different motive behind his actions now.

The two women jump in surprise, but quickly recover. "Oh, no... no, we're fine. My friend just had a scare from a weedle." She says. "So... what are you doing up so late? Shouldn't you be in bed at this time?" They look around, but don't seem to have noticed Jake and the Castform, who are hiding behind the rock. The Castform is trying to hide it's light, but that won't work for long...

Jake regretted not bringing Bandy with him -- the sneaky 'mon would have served as a perfect distraction at a time like this. Still, Jake had to make do with what he had. He tried to give quiet orders and act as fast as he could,
"Growler, run along the forest and do a roar."

He then released his Shinx and gave it a similar order,
"Sparker, run in the opposite direction and do a roar too!"

If they made enough of a distraction, he'd finish his orders be releasing Fetcher and,
"Fetcher, use thief on one of the team gaia members! Go for any lights or electronics! Then fly and hide away from where I am hiding until I call you back."

Jake didn't think there was such thing as a chaos-type trainer, but if there was, he'd want to be one.

Sparker and Growler run off, while Fetcher flies up. Not long after, you hear a first roar, making the two women jump in surprise. "HA! What was that!?" The more nervous girl almost jumps in her friend's arms, her scream loud enough to cover the sound of the second roar.

As the second woman tries to reassure her friend, Fetcher swoops down and grabs something off her belt. "W... what!? That's my radio! Come back here!"

The woman runs after Fetcher, soon followed by her friend. "Wait! Don't leave me!"

Seymour was surprised by the roars at first too, until he realized who was responsible. Then, as the two Team Gaia members ran off, Seymour turned to Jakey, impressed. "That... was pretty cool," he complimented to Jakey.

Then, to the Castform, he asked, "did you just want us to help get rid of them? Or was there more? It seemed like they were looking for you. But if you don't want to be found, you could always stick with us. We'll keep you safe." Seymour held up an empty pokeball as a friendly offer to keep it safe.

Jake gave a thumbs up to Seymour, then used his hand to give a big whistle to hopefully get growler and Shinx to come back. He then turned to Seymour,
"Uh, I am not sure what to do next as a part of my plan. They will probably be back soon. I guess it depends on what are new buddy wants to do."

Jake gestured to the castform.

The Castform shakes it's head (and pretty much it's whole body), before flying a bit further to point down the hill. It's pretty dark, but under the moonlight, you can spot what seems to be camouflaged tents. It's hard to tell how many there are, especially since there's almost no lights, just a few pales dots moving about. It looks like these guys don't want to be found.

Not long after, Jake's pokemons return, with Fetcher holding a small walkies-talkie.

"I'm not sure what our plan should be either," Seymour admitted. "We definitely shouldn't wait around to be captured though. Maybe we should fly away and contact the authorities? Maybe hand over the walkie talkie we have and let them know that Haynes of Team Gaia is in the area?"

He turned to the Castform. "Would that be good, buddy? Or are there some friends of yours in trouble right away?" He didn't want to leave any of the Castform's friends to the same fate as some of Locke's family.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:17, Sun 11 July 2021.

"Lets sneak up on that camp,"
Jake proposed. It was a risky plan, but he considered that the camo tents might not actually be team Gaia,

"Your bud might actually have been kidnapped from the people camping there. Or maybe it is more team Gaia."

Then again, Seymour's guess that the castform might be concerned on behalf of its friends was possible. Only way to know for sure was to investigate more.

"Can we make sure the castform doesn't glow so much though? He kinda gives our position away too much."

The Castform looks pensive, before staring up at the sky. It starts bouncing around, like it's dancing, and then...

*drip-drop plunk drip*

It starts to rain again. The Castform, no longer glowing, seems quite proud of itself.

With it now raining, Seymour returned all of his pokemon to their pokeballs. He nodded to Jakey and the Castform, agreeing to the plan to sneak in for a peek. "If anything goes wrong, let's agree to fly out of here as quickly as possible. In that direction." He pointed into the distance, in the general direction the city should be in. "I'll follow your lead, Falkner. And I will listen to the walkie talkie we have in case any relevant information is said over it. I will keep the volume way down though, of course." He prepared to follow Jakey into the night.

You slowly make your way down the side of the hill, when you hear the radio crackle. "Silvia, did you get the Castform back? Over." There's a pause. "Silvia, respond. Over." You manage to make your way somewhat close to the collection of tent. The few lights you saw (akin to the glow made by the sticks you used last time Team Gaia was chasing you) are even more muted by the cloth of the tents, except for a pair near the east end of the camp, standing under a small pavilion for cover from the rain.

Most of the tent seems pretty small, just enough to hold one or two persons. One is bigger, large enough for maybe six persons, while one looks more like a pavilion with the sides covered. Looking closely, you're pretty sure you would not have found this place with out the Castform's help. These tent really blend with the area, making them clearly invisible from the sky.

The glowsticks caught Jake's eye. Maybe this was a military camp... and so maybe the castform belonged to the military. Or maybe the military kidnapped this castform and others and the castform wanted to get its family back. In any case, their castform friend probably knew best,
"Hey, buddy, if we don't need to hide, you can light up. If not, stay dark like that."

While waiting for castform's response, Jake toyed with his pokedex to see if he could use some sort of a night vision mode with his camera. It would be a cool feature if it existed, but Jake wasn't sure it had that feature... and he wasn't sure he'd be able to find it even if it existed!


Jake also considered asking Seymour to do some radio shennanigans, but he didn't think either Seymour or himself could adequately copy Silvia's voice.

The Castform stays dark, and unfortunately, you Pokedex don't have that kind of camera.

Given castform was still dark, Jake decided his skills were required, he turned to Seymour,
"Feel free to keep watch or follow me, Imma check out the big tent. If they are hiding something, it is probably be in there. We will still try to fly away if anything goes wrong, OK?"

Seymour nodded. "Alright. I'll stay here and keep watch. If I need to signal you, I'll make a Hoothoot call to warn you."

As Jake gets close to the tent, he can hear two persons talking.

"Any word?"

"No ma'am."

"Did the rain or hail hit the base?"

"Not according to our scout."

"Good. It's bad enough that those two let the Castform escape, we don't need it tipping the bird brains about our plan."

"Should we wake up the others to help the search?"

There's a pause before the woman talks again. "Just half of them. Someone is supposed to be coming to challenge the base, and I want us to be ready for it."

There's some shuffling in the tent, and the man leaves, heading toward the smaller tents.

Jake did his best to lurk back to where Seymour was hiding,
"Hey, looks like another Castform got away... still not sure if these folks are Gaia or not. In any case. Looks like they are about to send out a search party. Might want to stick close to the base for now -- don't want to get caught while trying to get away."

Jake was also curious about a supposed challenge -- he didn't think they were anywhere near where the night challenge gym was supposed to happen, but they -were- lost.

Someone walks out of the tent, and you can just barely follow his movement by the small light he carries. The light is far too weak for him to see well, forcing him to walk slowly to avoid tripping. You can only assume he's not using a stronger light to keep the camp hidden.

Not long after, a second person steps out of the tent, heading toward the larger pavilion. You don't hear anymore movement from the tent next to you.

"Should we... take a peek?" Seymour asked, reluctantly. He gestured toward the apparently empty tent. His heart was already pounding in his chest, but he did want to confirm that this was a Team Gaia camp (or not) before they scampered off to safety. And if Jakey wanted to stay close until it was safe to slink away, they might as well gather a bit more intel.

"Of course, just follow my lead and make sure our buddy doesn't go bright. Just remember it is night and we can cause a mess if we need to get away. Causing a mess is my specialty."

Into the pyroar's den... proverbially speaking, of course.

You cut your way into the tent, quickly confirming that no one is in it, before slipping in. A bed and a low table take most of the space, though it's hard to see much without light. On the side opposite to the bed are a few boxes, one half open. There seem to be papers on the table, but you can't make out what's on them in the dark.

Jake was less interested in the papers on the table then figuring out what was in the boxes -- after all. He quickly made his way to the opened box and dug around, trying to figure out what they were storing in the tent.

He wasn't sure what Seymour would do, but trusted his friend not to do anything that would alert others to their presence.

Just touching, you're able to figure out what most of the content is. various nets, ropes, and a strange rifle with four prongs, the kind used to shoot nets at long range. Everything one would need to poach pokemon.

Seymour gravitated more toward the papers than the boxes. Sure, the boxes would be much more interesting, but he had a feeling the papers would tell them more of what they would want to know.

He hovered over the tabletops, trying to use his pokedex or glow sticks as a tiny light source to read what was on the papers and get an idea of what he was looking at. If his own lights proved to be too dim, he would opt to try and search out one of the lights the dwellers of the tent used while inside.

It's hard to make out, but you slowly manage to figure out what they are. One seems to be a map of the hills around here, with both the camp you're in and the military base you were looking for marked on it.

A second, smaller map, made by hand, seems to detail a large airport. Some of the buildings have scribbled notes, like "mess hall", "dorm", "admin"... and "prison" on a large building.

The rest of the documents are print out of photos. Most of them seems to be of the airport, but a few are of blurry elongated shapes. They're hard to make out, but some of them look like the shapes that flew over you in the fog.

"Are these... secret military aircraft? Secret military pokemon?" he wondered aloud as he looked at the blurry photos. "Are they planning to steal military secrets? Or maybe free some prisoners?"

There was a lot to consider here, and they didn't really have the luxury of enough time to think everything through. Seymour began collecting as many of the papers as he could and stuffing them into his pack. "I think we should fly out of here and try to reach the base on this map. They'll probably be really interested in what we found." He hesitated, then added, "And maybe we should make this place a bit more visible on our way out?" Hopefully fire was not the only way to accomplish that, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Catching pokemon the old-fashioned way..."
Jake didn't even know if net-rifles were the old-fashioned way, but it sounded right.  But the rifle didn't feel as right in his hands as a net, which he picked up out of the crate.

"Grab up the papers for sure. Uh, any way to light a fire when we are already out? Don't want to draw attention here when we are still in the middle of it all. And we gotta get some distance before we take off. Else they will see us right away and nab us."

Though you're not familiar with using guns, you've seen enough movies to know they use black powder to shoot. Sure enough, in a corner of the gun crate, you find a water-proof box with several warning labels.

"Hmmm," Jake considered the scene.  He knew a bit about explosives through recreational and criminal use of firecrackers. He knew they just needed to get fire into the explosives, but not too soon. Luckily, there was no shortage of rope!  He released growler to test to see if a bit of the rope was flammable. If it was, he'd rig up a long piece of rope to wind around the tent and end in one of the crates of black powder.

If all went to plan, he'd have growler light the far end of the rope and then quickly and quietly make it to the edge of the camp before thinking about the next move.

The rope doesn't burn too well... but Jake does find plenty of papers that he could roll up to make a type of fuse. Just to be safe, you bring the maps with you, in case the soldiers want to see them.

You run off after lighting the trail of paper, and as you reach the top of the hill, you see the tent you were in is burning brightly.

As the fire grew, Seymour whispered to Jakey and the Castform, "Let's get airborne while they are distracted by the flames." He also wanted to be far far away in case anything went boom.

Seymour released Musa and climbed on the big plant-dino's back. "Let's head up to where I can see the stars. We should be able to figure out which way to go from there."

---

My goal is to use the stars to head in the correct direction (I have an ability for that). Does it seem like the Castform is satisfied with what we accomplished?

It does seem happy to see the tent burn. And once you're out of sight of the camp, it turns back into it's sunny appearance and clear out the rain. Between it's light, the now clear sky, and the map you liberated, you soon manage to fly in sight of the military camp.

The only question now, is how do you want to approach it.

"I'm thinking that heading straight into a military base is not a wise idea," Seymour commented to Jakey. "I suggest we get close, then try and get them to come to us. Let's get my Ditto, Lapimage, and our friendly Castform here to create some lights to attract their attention. Whatever pokemon you want to have join in too. Preferably out of line-of-sight of the Team Gaia camp though..."

If the plan sounded good to Jakey, he would release the pokemon he mentioned and have them do exactly that.

Jake nodded,
"Yeah, we need to alert them that we are here without freaking them out. I'll have growler shoot some embers up too!"

You wait a safe distance away, making visible light to draw the camp's attention. You're not sure if it's working...

Until you are suddenly surrounded by bright lights, and soldiers with their pokemons at the ready. "DON'T MOVE! Recall you pokemons, and do not reach for any others. Failure to comply WILL result in the use of force!"

With the blinding lights in your face, you can't tell how many soldiers are around you, but it's pretty clear you're heavily outnumbered...

Seymour quickly did as instructed, returning his pokemon and putting his hands in the air. "We come in peace! The Castform is a friend, but has no pokeball. It seems to have escaped from the Team Gaia camp we just snuck away from, not far that way." He gestured in the direction they had come from, not lowering his hand very much to do so. "It was on fire when we left, and we managed to snag a bunch of their documents on our way out too." He purposefully did not mention that it was he and Jakey that started the fire, but did not think he would deny it if asked.

Jake demonstrated he wasn't constantly a loose Cannon by quickly complying with the orders... And let Seymour do the talking.

As it's mentioned, the Castform flies up to the speaking soldier. The soldier looks surprised, but soon nods and give a few orders. Two other soldiers climb on a pair of Corviknight, while the leader walks up to you. "I need to see your ID."

You hand him your pokedex, and he quickly confirms your identities. "Seymour, and Falkner. We'll need to debrief you at the base. Please follow us." While you walk toward the base, you hear him talk on the radio. "Call the Colonel. Someone found Weatherman."

Seymour nodded and followed without complaint. He had many questions, but did not feel like now was the appropriate time to ask them.

The walk to the base is rather short, and soon you're sitting in a comfortable office, where a major was waiting for you. "Good night. I'm Major Marguerite Waters. I understand the two of you found our missing Castform? Could you tell me how that happened?" Her tone is rather friendly, compared to the encounter you just had.

Jake was smart enough to know his interactions with authority usually included lying, so he let Seymour handle the storytelling.

//a bit busy this week, will get more detailed posts next week probably!

Seymour nodded and began the story. At first he considered leaving out a few of the more incriminating details, like the arson, but then remembered that their Pokedexes recorded everything anyway. So he left in every relevant detail he could recall.

When he finished retelling their tales, he folded his hands in front of him and said, "And that is how we ended up here. Do you know what Team Gaia was up to? And why they had a Castform that didn't belong to them? I sure hope that little guy is going to be alright after all he's been through."

The woman smiles at the happy Castform. It had followed you all the way here. "Oh, I'd say our little weather man is doing fine now. She's a tough gall." She gives the Castform a pat, before sighting. "I think the reason they kidnapped her is... well, you heard me call her 'weahter man'. We call her that because she's been taking care of the weather for our base. It doesn't matter if we're flying in a plane, a helicopter, or on a pokemon, we need reliable weather. And this lady has been helping with that.

Except last week, she went missing. You see, although she does have a pokeball, she doesn't really have a trainer. She's free to wander around, so Team Gaia probably decided to grab her and for her to mess up our weather to hinder the base.

As for what else they could be planning, I'll have to talk to our intel officer to figure that one out. In the meantime, I can have one of the guest trainer room prepared for you."

Jake was a bit concerned, he thought he heard Gaia talk about two pokemon missing, not just one,
"Is weatherman the only pokemon that went missing, or did another go? I think I heard the bad guys talk about two pokemon running away, I could be wrong though. It was kinda stressful sneaking around the bad guys camp.

The bad guys also mentioned expecting a challenger or something. I didn't really know for sure it was team gaia until after, so I thought it might have been a gym or something... what kind of challenge would team gaia have though?"

While he still had those questions, Jake was very much looking forward to having a proper bedroom. Though there was plenty of drama that night, he'd gladly take a bit of drama if it meant not camping outside.

Seymour was glad to hear that the Castform was back to where it belonged, safe and sound. And also happy to hear they would be provided a bed instead of a jail cell or something.

After Jakey asked his question, Seymour asked some of his own. "So what can we expect tomorrow to be like? Will we be allowed to leave in the morning? Or will you need us to stick around for some reason or another?"

"Well, the major will likely want to talk to you. But otherwise, I don't see any reason we would need to keep you here." She makes a quick call, before turning to Jake. "Challenger? Well, this is the flying gym. I guess they thought someone was coming here to challenge us."

You step back into the cold night, as she leads you toward the barracks. The night is silent, except of a guard coughing in the distance. The base is lit up enough that you can notice some of the buildings on the map you saw, including the one marked 'prison'... where you notice a couple of furtive shadows moving close to it...

Seymour briefly wondered if the challengers could be himself and Jakey, but didn't really have enough time to consider if it actually fit the narrative of what had happened. This was because he was distracted by the shadows moving near the prison.

Getting the attention of the woman leading them through the dark, he asked her and Jakey in hushed tones, "Are there... supposed to be people sneaking around over there?" He would be shocked if the answer were anything but "no."

"What?" The major follows your gaze. Despite what it said on the map, the building doesn't look like what you'd expect from a prison. It's big, but it only has a line of small windows near it's round roof. Honestly, it looks more like a hangar than a prison. "There shouldn't be... I don't recall theire being maintenance work tonight..."

She's interrupted by a sudden explosion from that very building... It's not huge, but it seems on par with a Self-Destruct, at least.

Seymour crouched and covered his head instinctually as the explosion occurred. Hastily, Seymour asked the major, "Their maps had that building labeled as a prison. Could they be trying a jailbreak? You have any of their guys in there?"

Seymour risked a peek from his crouched position, then stood back up when he realized the explosion wasn't actually that big. "And is there anything we can do to help?"

Jake didn't really care that it was marked as a prison. Once they said major said they did not think there was maintenance, he started running towards the building.
"I'll help catch the nasties! I can't believe they attacked now!"

"A... prison?! No, that's our experimental hangar! No one's in there!" She tries to catch up to Jake, but he has a wide head start.

Jake reaches the building first, and sees the door has been blown open. Taking a quick peek inside, you see four person looking around in confusion, waving flashlights around the dark cavernous building. The beams briefly pass over tool carts, lifts, and two planes shape under large tarps.

You can just make out that they say "Latios? Latias? We're here to help you..." in a low voice.

Jake didn't know exactly what was going on. He didn't know who/what Latios and Latias were. He didn't know if the invaders were armed or just had pokemon. Given they might have guns, Jake was a bit more cautious than usual -- which meant he aimed to sneak in as opposed to go in blasting with Growler. He tried to time his ducking into the building around the waving flashlights and get behind some cover. Jake figured the military would come in the way of the blasted door, so if he got in quick and quiet, he might be able to flank Team Gaia.

If he had a chance, he'd try to grab a rock on his way in. After all, he could throw it to spook them and make a sound where he was not!

Seymour followed behind the major and Jakey. He refrained from releasing any of his pokemon just yet and made at least a token effort to remain unseen by the people inside the hangar as they approached.

Jake doesn't find a suitable rock on the way, but there's plenty of tools and small parts that are easy to reach. Something you take advantage of as one of the goons comes a bit too close to you, before being distracted by the noise of a hand-full of bolts skittering across the floor.

As the man passes close to your hiding place, you see he wears Team Gaia's tie-dye clothes, covered (badly) by a camo-style poncho. The man is only armed with a flashlight, and three pokeballs.

From the door, Seymour and the major get a look at the intruders as they search the hangar. One of them lift part of the large tarps, before shouting "these monsters have made war machines out of them!" in a shocked tone.

In the distance, you hear an alarm rings, followed by sounds of pokemon battle...

Seymour grabbed his Lapimage's PokeBall and whispered to the major, "Since it sounds like the people who would normally be coming to take care of this might be preoccupied, let me take the liberty of trying to solve this the easy way."

He released Locke, and even as his glow was just starting to illuminate the room, he said, "Use hypnosis. Put them to sleep, Locke!" He then released Malley too, asking the pink goo Pokemon to do the same.

---

Edit: Just in case it wasn't clear, I am asking Locke and Malley (in Locke form) to use hypnosis to put the intruders to sleep before they can release any Pokemon.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Fri 06 Aug 2021.

Jake took note of the lack of lethal arms on one of the Team Gaia members. Maybe they had a code where they only used pokemon to fight. He didn't know... and he only saw what one member was packing. That being said, the man was pretty close and the pokeballs were somewhat exposed and it was dark.

Jake decided to take the risk of creeping behind the nearby Team Gaia grunt and slide a pokeball off of his belt. If the grunt gets too close to the others, Jake would abort his plan and get back into a hiding spot until more allies get to the prison.

With his experience on the street, Jake has no trouble getting close to the distracted grunt. Reaching up for the nearest ball, you spot his belt buckle, thinking how easy it would be to undo it...

Jake, for 2 favor, you can grab the entire belt instead of just one ball.

You just barely manage to move back into hiding before two blue lights burst into the warehouse.

Locke and Malley jump in, trying their best to hypnotize the men inside. The two closest stumble and fall before they can bring out their pokemon, but the other take cover.

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 249):

(Spent Favor to grab wholebelt)

As Jake watches, the two remaining grunts reach for their pokeballs to call help. Between the two planes, a flash of red turns into a meter tall armored form.

The goon next to you reaches for his belt... then for the other side of his belt... then behind him... "What the... where's my belt!?"

Rather than worrying about the pokemon that got onto the field, Jake decided to reveal himself to the now poke-balless grunt,
"Hey, looking for these?"

Jake taunted,
"Well, if you want them back, maybe you need to surrender and get your pals to as well. Otherwise, well, I've just got three brand new pokemon."

Jake wasn't sure how to feel about the theft... was it like kidnapping? He hadn't done kidnapping before; that was an ethical line that he never wanted to cross. In this case, it might be a bit better because he was only taking pokemon, not a human... that and he wasn't opposed to giving them back if the grunt complied.

Seymour smirked after realizing what Jakey had accomplished. He was thoroughly impressed. With one disarmed and two asleep, it left only one real threat remaining.

"Locke, you're up. These are the same people who destroyed your home. If they don't surrender immediately, incinerate that steely-mon with your ember."

The Gaia grunt shouts for his pokemon to use Iron Defense and Iron Head, showing how serious he is. While Locke starts shooting his Embers, Major Waters asks the Castform to use his Sunny Day to help. And help it does, as the boosted Ember takes down the large pokemon.

Scowling, the grunt throws out a second pokemon. "Go Zangoose!"

Meanwhile, the disarmed grunt's eyes grow wide as he sees Jake. "You little..." He lunges after you, but you're quick to dodge out of his reach. But that's only a short term escape, and you need to decide how what to do...

"Thanks Castform!" Seymour called up to the little weather-mon.

Then, to Locke, he said, "Let's take advantage of the nice weather. Incinerate that Zangoose with your fire spin! Let your ire fuel your flame, just like with the first foe!"

Like all good criminals, Jake had a getaway plan. It was not sophisticated, it was just the standard run-away. After turning tail, he remembered he wasn't a simple thief anymore, but a pokemon trainer and a thief.  He tossed growler's pokeball behind him as he leapt over a table and gave it instructions,
"Roar at that grunt dude and then tackle him if he doesn't stop!"

Jake wasn't sure which direction was best to run, but he heard Seymour's voice and saw Locke's embers, so he tried to escape in that direction.

The Zangoose almost seems to understand what you've said, as it turns to Locke and further taunts him. Turns out, that may not have been a good idea... Locke swiftly traps it in a blazing inferno, before burning it with an Ember. The Zangoose manages to get some payback with a crushing claw, but it's not enough to stop Locke's malignant inferno.

Jake didn't have to retreat far, as Growler's roar quickly makes the grunt stumble. He looks around for help, but the Major has already bound the two sleeping grunts before they could be woken up. Meanwhile, the other standing grunt pulls out his final pokemon, a Prinplup.

"You're doing great, Locke! Try a Hypnosis, Fire Spin, Tackle combo!" Locke probably wouldn't be particularly effective against a water type, but he at least wanted to give his buddy a shot at taking down his foe.

And perhaps there was a way he could still help Locke eek out an edge. He looked up to the Castform above. "Hey, buddy, you have any ice moves you could send Locke's way to freshen him up a bit?" He had noticed in the past that when Locke got struck with ice attacks he usually looked more refreshed than injured.

The penguin turned out to be faster than Locke, attacking first with a Toxic attack, then a Bubble Beam. Locke managed to avoid the poison, but failed to hypnotize it before the water attack knocked him out.

"You tried your best, Locke. Take a rest." Seymour returned the Pokemon to his ball and briefly considered which to send out next. He had two that were strong against a water type, and both had yet to participate in a battle with him. But the choice was easy, since one of them had a clearer advantage with the Sunny Day in effect.

"Musa, can you help me out? Magical Leaf!"

---

Sending out Tropius to use Magical Leaf.

"Major! I got one!"

Jake called out, signaling the grunt behind himself.

"Got him by his pokeballs!" Jake said with a grin as he skidded to a stop by the fight between Seymour and the other last grunt.  Figuring he might as well incapacitate the grunt that was after him, he signaled to growler,
"Growler, tackle the grunt following us to the ground and suppress him with licks!"

The Prinplup just grins, and covers Musa in poisoned gunk. It's enough to surprise Musa, who fires his leaves into the air. The Prinplup confidently runs in to Peck him, only to discover the difference between the two of them: penguins don't fly.

There's a limit to how high the Tropius can fly in the hangar, but the surprise still gives him a bit of an edge over the flight-less bird. The Prinplup still manages to land a Peck by jumping on the covered plane, but the injury closes as soon as it's inflicted thanks to the Castform's sunlight. Meanwhile, Musa gives the bird it's first wound.

With a happy bark, Growler sit on the grunt, licking his face. It's not enough to hold him down, but he stops struggling when he sees the major coming closer, her pistol drawn.

While Growler and the major handle the grunt on his tail, Jake looks to the last grunt left standing and makes his move. Using what cover he had, he ducked and weaved towards the battling grunt. Hoping the grunt was distracted by giving his pokemon orders, Jake goes in for the tackle himself!

"Musa, you're doing amazing! Finish them off with some razor leafs!" Seymour was so distracted by the battle that he didn't even notice Jakey was about to try and end it in his own outside-of-the-box way.

"Don't stop! The poison's still weakening it, just keep..." The grunt is cut short as Jake tackles him, stopping him from giving his pokemon commands. But the grunt is stronger, and easily tosses you off.

Still, the attack is enough to distract the Prinplup, who hesitates long enough for Musa to attack again. The two pokemon trade blows again, but the penguin is too distracted to land a blow, while Musa's attack have a hard time causing enough damage for his opponent to notice.

Meanwhile, Jake and the grunt circle each other, trying to find a way to get the upper hand on one another.

Jake was confident he already had the upper hand. After all, he had a friend with pokemon battling and another friend with... well, a gun. That, and they were in the middle of a allied military base.  So Jake kept circling, feinting, and generally keeping the grunt's interest as everyone else played their part.

"Try Magical Leaf again Musa. You can do it!" Seymour was worried the poison was going to overwhelm his pokemon soon and was ready to switch in his electric Pokemon if the dino looked about to faint. He was holding out hope the opposing trainer would just give up though. Especially with Jakey attacking him directly and all of his allies already detained.

Musa stumbles as the Prinplup lands a solid fury swipes, but it just makes the flying dinosaur angrier. Waves after waves of enchanted leaves rain down on the Gaia pokemon, soon knocking it out.

With a confidence quite out of place when considering the difference in size, Jake charges the grunt again, surprising him with your boldness. You manage to grab his leg, and pull him to the floor, before jumping on his stomach to pin him.

Before the grunt can recover, he realize he's on his own. The major quickly come to help, tying up the man's hand with his own belt. "Ouf... good work, kids. These guys could have caused a lot of damage..." Waters says as she looks at the still covered planes.

"Great job Musa," Seymour said to his pokemon, returning him to his ball the moment the battle was won. He would need to take care of his poison as soon as possible. But for now he walked over to where the intruders were being tied up.

"You think that is why they were here then? To purposefully damage your planes? Why?" Without really thinking, Seymour casually took a peek behind one of the covers of the planes to see what it was Team Gaia was trying to damage. Which probably wasn't a smart move considering the planes were probably supposed to be top secret...

She thinks for a moment. "No, I don't think that was their plan. I think they mistook our planes for pokemon..." She helps you pull the tarp from the front of the planes, just enough to get a look a their coloring and shape. The front looks rounded, it's wings triangular and sweeping, and a white paint scheme with a red band over the cockpit.

"It's pretty hush-hush, but we've been working on a new plane design, based on the legendary dragons. Latias," she nods to the other plane. "And Latios. From what I heard about Team Gaia, they hate the idea of soldiers having pokemon, so if they thought we had an actual pair of Eons here..."

"Wow. That would be an impressive feat to catch not one, but both of those dragons. And kind of horrible, if I am honest. But I would be hard-pressed to find a more fitting source of inspiration for a fast plane design. Those look cool!"

Seymour pointed a thumb at the goons on the ground. "What is the plan for them? Jail?"

"Well, King Sharpe is quite impressive... He took a group of scientist on a trip once, managed to find both, and after fighting them... he convinced them to let the scientist examine them. A few weeks later, we got plans for those prototypes. According to the rumors, he didn't even use pokeballs."

She turns to look at the captured grunts. "As for these guys, we'll send them to the brigs for tonight, and transfer them to a jail for trial."

You wait a bit longer, until reinforcement finally show up to deal with your prisoners.

Seymour watched as the thugs were collected, ready to assist again if they tried anything sneaky. But it seemed there was not much left for them to do here. "Is there a place nearby to heal my Pokemon? I think I wouldn't mind resting them and myself, now that the excitement is over."

He looked up at the Castform and waved, "And thanks again for all your help, buddy. Without you, who knows what would have happened tonight."

Jake seemed impressed by the replica planes, even if he wasn't familiar with the pokemon they were trying to replicate,
"Oh man, I bet they feel dumb now, trying to save pokemon only to realize these weren't steel type pokemon, they were just steel!"

Jake was also wanting to heal his pokemon, it had been a while since the last opportunity to do so, and his steel bird was still hurt from their fight with the green birds earlier.  He did have one additional question,
"Oh, I got some pokeballs off of one of the grunts. Whats the deal with it? Is it like the spoils of war, or do they go back to the trainer?  I mean, they are terrorists, so they don't get their pokemon back... right?"

Jake was right now more interested in seeing what pokemon were hiding inside of the balls than repossessing them.

"We have to keep them as evidence. After they've been judged... well, that will depend on what the judge decides." She leads you to the infirmary to your pokemon, before leading you to the barracks so you can sleep for the night.

"Oh yeah, that's cool. I just wanna know what pokemon he was packin'."

Jake then sighed, despite the youth being a veritable well of energy, it was a long day of walking, then sneaking, then fighting.

"Gosh, I am looking to actually getting some shut-eye in a good cot. If there is another attack, don't wake me up!"

He managed to retain a bit of a strut as he entered the barracks, but after getting to a bed, it didn't take long for him to collapse onto it for the night.

"Feel free to let the judge know that I would be willing to take in any Pokemon that need a good home. They will have lots of friends to keep them company. I am always happy to welcome new buddies to the team."

After that, Seymour healed his pokemon and returned to the sleeping quarters they had been given. Like Jakey, it didn't take long for Seymour to fall asleep. As he drifted off, he looked forward to finding out what the next day would bring.

You sleep well, and easily find the mess hall the next morning to get breakfast. Major Waters finds you once you're done eating, and leads you to a briefing room.

As you step inside, you see a military man in dress uniform waiting for you. A man of high rank. Looking at him, you're reminded of a vulture. The man is pretty old, with a hooked nose, and dark-gray hair around his head, drawing attention to the bald spot on top.

"Falkner and Seymour? I must say, you've done impressive work yesterday. I imagine we'll be able to track a lot of sabotage to those troublemaker."

"That's good to hear," Seymour replied in earnest. "Can I ask what all you have found out?" He was also curious why they had been brought to a briefing room, but was a bit too nervous to ask.

"Not much so far. We'll wait the the interrogator to question the prisoners. We did raid their camp, but they had little information worth mentioning." The man says. "Team Gaia has the annoying tendency to keep few notes, to avoid leaving incriminating evidence."

He nods to the seats closest to the board, inviting you to sit down. Looking closely, you can spot his name tag, identifying him as COL STEVE SOLOMON.

Jake beamed from the compliment on a job well done. He was still waking up a bit, so he was not quite as chatty as usual, but couldn't help taking a dig at Team Gaia that ended up being projection,
"Maybe they don't keep many notes because they don't even know how to read and write good!"

Jake also made himself at home in the briefing room, lounging on one of the chairs as he waited for whatever will happen to happen.

"Possible. Either way, I understand you're here for the gym challenge, correct?" After you nod, he flips over the white board to show a map of the area around the base, as well as drawings of pokemon in flights with long trails behind them, and trainers on their back.

"As the training ground of the Cadien Airforce, our focus is on aerial superiority. Most trainer battle are one-on-one, against a limited number of foes, but as you've experience in Roarac, you may find yourself grossly outnumbered. In such situation, it's important to focus on the enemy's leadership.

In aerial battle, that's the riders." He says, pointing at the pokemon drawing. "Of course, attacking trainers in a friendly competition is far too dangerous. Instead, you'll have to target the trainer's trail. Those long ribbons represent your opponent, and you own, endurance. If it's cut down past the black line, the trainer is out." You notice all trails have a line about a quarter of their length from the base.

"Oh wow! That sounds both exciting and challenging!" Seymour exclaimed. His nervousness seemed to melt away now that they were talking about the gym challenge. His mind was already busy strategizing based off of the small amount of information they had just been given.

"So the objective of this challenge is to take out the opponent's trail? Do we have a trail we need to defend ourselves, or is this a purely offensive exercise? And the way it sounds, there will be other opponents besides the leader, correct? Would those be other trainers or simply other pokemon? And will my friend and I be attempting the challenge one at a time, or as a team?

Seymour felt like he had a million questions, but tried to stick to only the most pertinent ones.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 10:16, Tue 31 Aug 2021.

"You will have to defend your own trail. And the match only ends when you or your opponent loose your trail. You will be furnished with a reserve of medical items to revive your pokemons if they pass out.

You will only have one trainer to fight against, but both you and them will have to control two pokemon at the time, your mount and your attacker. Mister Falkner, you will face off against Major Waters. Mister Seymour, I'll be your opponent."

He pulls out two satchel bags with a pokeball symbol on them, before waiting for your next questions.

Jake was not sure how well he would do; he was still a rookie flyer. He did trust Fetcher and had his new green bird as a potential backup, but the bevy of healing items made him think he only needed Fetcher.
"Sounds all good to me. I'm sure we can figure it out as we go. Just like fighting kites. Well, except you are flying on the kite..."

The colonel nods. "Then if you have no more questions, you have one hour to pick your team, and to decide on what pokemon you will fly. Present yourself at hangar 4 to have your mount fitted with it's trail at 0900. We'll meet in the sky after that."

"I look forward to it, Colonel Steve Solomon." he said, enthusiasm clear in his voice. "I'll see you in the sky!"

Now with the prospect of a gym challenge looming in the near future, Seymour went off to strategize and select the Pokemon he would use for the challenge. Musa, of course, would be the one he rode. And Farrah was a clear choice for an aerial cutting competition. And he definitely wanted Malley along with. His new Verdakeet, Sunny, seemed like a solid choice as well. Which left two more to pick for his team.

Out of his remaining Pokemon, only three of them could fly in some capacity, even if they weren't all flying types. His Mantyke, his Vivillon, and his Shedinja. He opted to choose Turbo the Mantyke since so many on his flying team would be weak to flying attacks. It would be nice to have another that wasn't. Plus, the little guy's twister attack might surprise his opponents. For his last Pokemon he decided to go with his Vivillon, Flutter. He was much faster than Corium, and Seymour figured that would be important for this match.

With his team decided, Seymour headed to the meeting spot to get the competition underway. Musa needed to get his trail fitted.

---

Switching my team to: Tropius, Ditto, Verdakeet, Farfetch'd, Vivillon, and Mantyke.

Jake didn't have much in terms of flying pokemon, but he was just planning on having Fetcher out the whole time, so he wasn't too concerned. After doing some poke-swapping, he also showed up to get ready.

Team: Rusty (Mount), Fetcher, Manty, Sparker, Duder, Skipper

"Oh hey there Rusty! Back for another ride?" The soldier smiles as he pats Jake's mount, before installing her harness and trail. You can tell how often she's done that, as she adjusts her position to help them set her up.

A marked difference from Musa, who needs reassurance as the technicians adjusts the various straps of his harness.

"It's okay, Musa. It will be okay. Let's try to get some practice in before our challenge starts. We'll want to make sure everything is working properly anyhow." As soon as the trail was secured, Seymour led his flying-dinosaur-tree into the air to do some warmup exercises. He would have released his entire team for warmups, but he liked to keep his team roster a secret a much as possible from his opponents. He didn't want them all in plain view when the colonel showed up for the challenge.

Jake was a bit surprised they recognized Rusty. Maybe his prior trainer kept taking the test, or Rusty was just a weird pokemon that got passed around to anyone about to take the test, then immediately flogged onto another trainer.  In any case, it didn't take Jake much time to hop up on him and get ready for the test,
"Does this fella usually pass?" Jake inquired to the soldier that recognized the mount.

Once in the air, he let our his fliers, but also checked to see if Growler and Sparker could balance on Rusty while it flew about.

"Oh yeah, he goes through it a couple of times every years. I think he used to belong to an old pilot who retired a while back. Now a days, a lot of trainers looking for a pokemon big enough to fly on will end up getting him in a trade so they can take the test." The soldier shrugs. "I guess he's just meant to be in these skies."

As you mount up, you're told that once you feel comfortable with your mount's trail, to climb to 150 feet to start the competition.

Jake, as you practice with your pokemon, you see they can't really keep their balance on Rusty's back. They're just not comfortable enough. Except Inky, who can use his suction cups to stay stuck to your metallic mount.

"Good luck!" Seymour called over to Jakey when it became clear they were ready to start their challenge.

Then, to Musa, he said, "You ready buddy? Should we give this a shot? When you're ready, let's head up and make a cloud of Sweet Scent." The big dino let out a begrudging grunt, but soared skyward.

Seymour then tossed another pokeball into the air. "Come on out, Flutter. It's your time to shine! When our foes approach, let's show them what your Psybeam can do." The blue Vivillion fluttered quietly around the Tropius like a beautiful little moon, but the butterfly was clearly ready to defend its leafy pal.

---

Tropius will use Sweet Scent to enshroud himself and leave a scent trail in his wake, and Vivillion will use Psybeam on the enemy pokemon.

Jake gave a wave back to Seymour as he started his ascent. As he got to the proper altitude, he released Fetcher and gave basic instructions,
"Alright Fetcher, let's see what they have. Just stay close to us for now until we know who and what we are fighting..."

Apart from Fetcher being one of Jake's favorite, it was also a pretty neutral typing with some strong offensive capabilities. His other fliers were broadly weak, but good at disabling. They were a good backup, but he best held in reserve until the time was right.

//Pokemon with Jake updated in description. I forgot verdekeet existed for a hot moment.

Climbing in altitude, you see a few clouds below you as you prepare for the fight. Suddenly... you notice the wind turn in a strange way. Looking where it's coming from, you spot your opponent coming.

Major waters, riding on a Pidgeot, zooms past Jake, followed closely by a Talonflame. Behind her, the Colonel follows, heading toward Seymour. You look around, but you can't spot his second pokemon.

"Shoot," Jake exclaimed as he saw a fire-type bird tailing his target. He hoped the rules meant that the opposing team could not attack his mount at all.

He decided to test to see how quick his opponent would react if he switched out his pokemon; he pulled Fetcher back and released Manty,
"Hey, Manty, long time no see. Stay close with me and get ready to fire bubble-beams if that talonflame gets near.  I think Rusty here can coast in the air pretty long."

Jake then tried to pull up even higher. He didn't want the talonflame to get above him... that, and he had another plan up his sleeve.

Seymour felt his heart pounding as the challenge officially began. But where was the colonel's second pokemon? Was it camouflaged? Waiting to ambush? Approaching in a blind spot? He quickly scanned the clouds for hidden pokemon, and looked toward the sun for a pokemon using the brightness as cover. But the trainer knew he couldn't wait around for the opponent to make a move, so Seymour chose to go on the offensive.

"Musa, use Magical Leaf to cut that trail while his defenses are down! Flutter, protect Musa's trail. Fill the area surrounding his trail with Supersonic waves!" With a lot of luck, maybe Seymour could end the challenge before it even started.

---

Seymour is scanning for the missing enemy pokemon.
Musa is going for the enemy trail with Magical Leaf.
Flutter is protecting Musa's trail with Supersonic. Basically firing in random directions, but obviously avoiding Seymour/Musa as he does.

I will use up to the maximum 25 favor points if it means Musa would cut off the colonel's entire trail in the first hit. :-P

The pidgeot circles around Rusty, staying a safe distance away, while the Talonflame charges in. And it's fast. Way faster than Rusty or Manty. As it rushes in, you're afraid for a moment that it's going to hit your trail before you even have the time to attack... only for your heart to jump in your throat as the world turns around you. Looking behind you, you see Rusty did a barrel roll, suddenly slowing you enough that the Talonflame's wing passes in front of you. Manty manages, barely, to reply with a couple Bubble Beam, causing the bird to falter a bit.

You notice a sharp whistling sound, and suddenly the Talonflame changes it's path, focusing on Manty.


Musa shoots his leaves at the Colonel's trail, shredding over half of it right away. The  Mandybuzz looks surprised at this, screaming something to Musa, causing your mount to pause, confused.

But before you can focus on that, you see Flutter pause his attack too, as his antennas twitch toward a spot below you. Following his gaze, you see a Zubat has hidden itself in you shadow, mouth wide open in an unheard shout.

Seymour's head tilted and his ears perked up, listening for a sound beyond his range of hearing. Had both his pokemon become confused? Or just Musa. Probably just Musa. Regardless, it seemed it was time to go on defense. He didn't want to ruin his early lead by being too rash.

"Musa, evasive maneuvers. Cloud yourself in Sweet Scent again and try to clear your head. Flutter, Psybeam that tricky little bat. You've got this." Seymour held on tight to his mount, read for the possibility that Musa might do something unexpected in his confusion.

Jake barely managed to lose his lunch -- in part because he hadn't eaten it yet. He gulped down what bile came up with the evasive maneuver and patted Rusty,
"Good job, keep it up,"
As much as he wanted to ask for a warning the next time, he know there was not always going to be time for warnings.

He let out a sigh of relief as the flaming bird switched targets,
"Go on manty, keep blasting him with your bubble beams!  Don't let up, don't give up!"

As he gave the order to manty, he signaled Rusty to go even higher yet, trying to get into position above Manty.
"Alright Rusty, lets see if you can land a swift when the talonflame gets near to Manty."

Jake did not seem too concerned about the trainer on the other bird. A pidgeot was scary, but he was hoping that he would get a chance to land another solid hit on the talonflame before he switched his attention to pidgeot.

The Zubat slips up, looping above Musa to strike Flutter with a sharp Wing Attack, making his stumble a bit. But not enough to stop his counter attack, causing the bat to cry audibly. But rather than counter attack, the Zubat makes... well, you guess that could be a cute pose, with teary eyes, if it had eyes... It's enough to make Flutter pause and hesitate, at least.

As the dogfight take place above you, Musa tries to regains his senses. At least, the Colonel stays at a distance, rather than swooping in to attack.


The Talonflame's movement is impressive, as it does an Immelmann turn to attack once more, but it made one mistake: Manty isn't a dogfighter. Rather than try a complex maneuver to avoid the blow, she just floats there, firing at the attacking bird, forcing it to break it's attack. It's a short break, however, as the Talonflame does only a short dive to avoid Manty's attack, before climbing back up past you, striking the ray in the same movement.

Rusty takes the opening, hitting the raptor with a shower of homing stars, though none cause serious damage.

"Don't fall for its cuteness, Flutter!" And it certainly was cute, in its own way. "Psybeam again! Musa, let's try to keep those two between us and the colonel." Then, more quietly so that only Musa (and probably the zubat) could hear, "and launch another surprise Magical Leaf as we move for cover." Seymour didn't know if the Tropius would have a clear enough mind to pull off such a trick, but it would be worth it if they could land another hit on the enemy's trail.

---

Flutter is using Psybeam on Zubat. Musa is moving to put Flutter and Zubat between himself and the colonel, and launching a secret Magical Leaf attack on the way. Again, I will spend up to the maximum 25 favor points if it means ending the gym challenge impressively quickly.

"Nuts," Jake curses as the barrage was not enough to disable the talonflame.  Nevertheless, he still felt he was in good shape to continue.

"Alright Manty, now you've softened it up, lets try a supersonic, then another bubble beam!"

Jake wasn't sure how many options he had to go on the offensive. It seemed like speed and maneuverability were essential for attack, and between Rusty and Manty, he barely had any compared to the competition. Fetcher could likely make some quick moves, but that would leave Rusty open to attack.

There were a couple of ideas that Jake had to turn the tables, but neither one seemed appropriate, he needed a few free moments to execute either. Either confusing talonflame or knocking it out for a couple moments would be ideal.

Your call helps Flutter shake off the infatuation, and he lands another solid Psybeam on the Zubat. It panics and tries to confuse him again, but Flutter manages to knock it out with a follow-up shot.

At the same time, the Mandibuzz waves her wings, and you can feel the wind turns against you. But despite that, Musa manages to fire a stream of leaves right as the Zubat vanishes, catching the Mandibuzz by surprise and cutting off the last of the Colonel's trail!

OOC: And that's for a cost of 5 favors!


Manty switches her attack for a moment, but the Talonflame seems unaffected. It does, however, switch it's focus from attacking Manty, to targeting your trail. But Rusty's experience really shows up, as it uses it's slow speed to curl your trail out of the way, causing the Talonflame to miss repeatedly.

Unfortunately, Manty still can't land a blow on the fast moving bird, spraying water all around you to little effect.

"Oh come on, give me a break," Jake's patience was wearing thin as the Talonflame started going after him again. In his impatience he retracted manty into its pokeball, but didn't release a new one.

"Ok, Rusty, just keep going dead ahead, try to get the talonflame to tail us."

Jake then readied his next pokeball and turned to track where the talonflame was flying. He had one chance with this gambit, but even if it failed, he'd probably buy himself a bit of time.  Once he is satisfied with his position with relation to the talonflame, he'd fling the pokeball right at the opposing pokemon, releasing Duder.

"BOOM TIME!" Jake called, out, signaling his rock to use self-destruct just as it emerged from to pokeball, hoping to catch the talonflame in the blast.

Knowing the geodude would instantly be KO'd he flicked out Fetcher's pokeball,
"Ariel Ace on that Pidgeot tail ASAP!"

"Is it- Is it over already?" a stunned Seymour asked. The trainer sat atop his Tropius, absolutely surprised that his gambit had actually worked. But it sounded like fireworks were going off in the sky not too far away, so he must have won, right? "Musa, Flutter, you two were outstanding! Fantastic job!"

---

The "fireworks" Seymour referred to was actually an exploding Duder. :-P

Rusty nods at your command, going into a wide and lazy turn, climbing a bit along the way. The spiral she made was wide enough to convince the Talonflame to take chase, but tight enough that the bird can't use it's full speed.

You time your throw, as best as you can, before sending out Duder. The Talonflame's eyes grow wide for a moment, before vanishing in a large explosion. You just have time to recall the falling Geodude, as the raptor falls as well, forcing your opponent to dive to catch it back.

Fetcher chases after her soon after, slicing off part of the Major's trail while she's distracted. Moments after, she sends out a second pokemon: a pom-pom style Oricorio.

OOC: That risky stunt costs you 5 favors, but takes out the Talonflame and gives you the high ground. What's your next move?


The Colonel flies up to Seymour, nodding in acknowledgment, before moving to observe Jake's dogfight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:09, Tue 14 Sept 2021.

"Great job, now lets finish this off!" Jake patted Rusty and then signaled for a nosedive as he gave instructions to both Rusty and Fetcher,
"Fetcher, use thief to take the last of the enemy tail"
"Rusty, lets dive past the enemy location and then rise up with feint to ensure we get all the tail. Its OK to fly a bit risky, you can afford to lose some of your armor!"

Jake was confident he could safely ignore the Oricorio if he finished the battle with one, or well, the second decisive action.

With his victory confirmed, Seymour led his pokemon over to watch the rest of Jakey's challenge as well. He even released the rest of his pokemon so that they could watch too. "Farrah, Sunny, Turbo, Malley, come out and join our celebration. Malley, take the form of that Oricorio and help cheer on Falkner!" The Ditto waved its new yellow pom-poms in the air, cheerfully and encouragingly.

You've heard that Pidgeot were fast, but you didn't realize they were that fast! As soon as the Oricorio is out, the Major dashes away from Jake and his team, leaving them to deal with the yellow bird.

Speaking of whom, the bird starts dancing like a cheerleader, creating a blast of electricity that injures Fetcher. Your bird tries to reply, but even though he lands a hit, the shock he took stops him from causing damage. And Rusty, rather than wait in front of the dancer, dashes past it to chase the Pidgeot, briefly sending it spinning.


The Colonel suddenly looks worried as Malley changes form, and shouts "that may not be a good idea! Oricorio do..."

Before he can finish, Malley starts imitating the Oricorio fighting Jake, creating a cloud of sparks around Seymour and Musa, shocking both of you quite painfully.

"...that."

Jake was a bit surprised that his all-out attack didn't work, but he was not ready to give up yet. He did yet another swap of pokemon, recalling Fetcher and bringing out his Inky, which he kept suctioned to the side of Rusty.
"Alright Rusty, try to get as close to the pidgeot as you can while evading the dancer thing. Use another feint if you feel like you have a shot to get the trail.
Inky, do you think you can manage a switcheroo if we get close?  If not, just use swagger on the dancer to confuse it."

Jake wasn't sure if it would already be confusing enough for him to use two non-flying pokemon in the flying gym challenge. It left him a bit more open, but given the rules of the challenge, he wasn't overly concerned about a direct attack.

The Oricorio looks confused for a moment when it's target vanishes, then even more confused as the little squid hangs upside-down from Rusty's neck, teasing it and baiting it. It takes it a moment to recover, giving you a moment to get away from it.

Looking ahead, you see the Pidgeot slow down, as the Major digs through her bag to revive her pokemon.

The Oricorio is still confused, but hot on your trail. It doesn't seem to carry anything, though.

"Ow..." was all Seymour said when he finally rediscovered his ability to form coherent sentences again. "Malley... Maybe find a new form instead..." He lead his Tropius to a sunny spot where it could soak up some sun and recover. He would have found Jakey's new strategy to quite interesting if he hadn't gotten so distracted by electrocution.

Jake wanted to switch back to Fetcher, but seeing the Major slow down, he opted to keep Inky in for a bit longer and let Rusty take another shot at the line.
"Rusty, use another feint to try to finish this."

He did have a bit of a plan for Inky,
"Inky, can you use your suction pads to take off some of Rusty's armor? We need more speed, stat!"

//Trying to get a synergy between Inky's suction cup ability and Rusty's weak armor ability.

Inky nods, and starts pulling the rusted feathers on Rusty. She grins, and taking a sharp dive, your Skarmory gives a sudden burst of speed, chasing after the Pidgeot and leaving the Oricorio in the dust. The Major looks surprised as you close in on her, Rusty darting back and forth behind her, as she struggles to get her own mount to turn around and grab your trail, even as you swipe at her.

The two of you are so close, you can almost reach it...

You hear a rip, as Rusty's wing snags just enough of the trail to win you the challenge!


As Malley takes the form of Musa, you can just make out the Colonel saying "so he's using that tactic. A bold choice."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:12, Fri 17 Sept 2021.

Upon snatching the rest of the trail, Jake immediately turns Rusty down to land. While he had been up in the air longer before, it certainly was not as up-down and all-around as this time. While he wouldn't classify himself as sick, he was getting a bit light-headed and was quite wanting to feel land beneath his feet.

Unfortunately, his legs were still a bit used to being clamped onto Rusty's harness so his first few steps on land were more wobbly than triumphant, but once he regained his footing, he thrust both arms into the air victoriously!

He noted Seymour already on the ground and correctly assumed his friend already won,
"Dang, you got done faster than me! I felt like I was only up there for a few minutes! Its totally not a race, but if it was, you smoked me."

Jake then popped all his pokemon out of their pokeballs, healed the ones who needed it with the healing items provided with the challenge (after all, why use his own supply when they provided it), and congratulated each of them -- even verdekeet who didn't get a chance to shine.

He especially lavished praise on duder,
"Way to take one for the team! How did it feel to do another bombing run? Bring back any memories"

"I may have been faster, but your challenge was certainly more spectacular to watch. Who else could have effectively used a Geodude in a sky-battle? That was... brilliant!" The trainer helped to congratulate both Jakey's pokemon and his own before turning to the major and the colonel. "Is there anything else to be done?" he asked them respectfully, but he could still barely contain the excitement he was feeling from their awesome victories.

The major grins. "Well, we still have to give you your new badges! You've earned them!" She's about to signal one of the privates nearby, but the Colonel stops her.

"Actually... considering the assistance they gave us last night, I think they deserve something special..." He reaches into his inner pocket, and pulls out two small boxes. Stepping closer, he opens them to reveal a pair of gold filigree in the shape of a Latios.

"To celebrate our newly developped crafts, we decided to change our badges to ones comemorating the legendary pokemons that inspired them. The final product will likely be closer to the standard badges in appearance, but these are the prototypes. You will likely be the only ones to have badges like this."

The Castform sweeps around you, looking quite cheerful. Major Waters smiles as she sees it. "That reminds me... normally we offer a TM when a trainer completes the challenge. However, our Weatherman seems to have taken quite a liking to you. Would you like to take her with you?"

"Oh wow. That looks really cool!" Seymour said as he accepted the new badge. He was so distracted by its shiny curves that he almost missed what Major Waters said next.

"Wait, what? Weatherman wants to come with us?! Heck yeah! There is always room for one more friend!" If a Castform wanted to come along with them, he definitely was not going to turn it down.

"Damn, that's some fine bl- badge."
While Jake was excited about the badge, he was more lukewarm about the castform travelling companion,
"If the weatherman wants to come with, cool with me. I am still trying to figure out how to manage my big team, but if Seymour wants to be in charge of him, I think it is a great idea!"

With a nod, the Major turns to Jake. "So for you, what TM would you like? We have Fly, Roost, or Air Slash."

And while you make your choice... level up time!

Seymour
Musa and Malley get a stat upgrade of your choice
Sunny raises his HP to Average
Farrah raises her Speed to Exceptional
Flutter raises his SpA to Superhuman
Turbo raises his Def to Average, and learns:
Wing Attack   Flying   P   Ab. Av.   0   Can move to attack distant foe

Jake
Fetcher raises his Def to High
Verdakeet learns:
Tailwind   Flying   *         Gives +2 Speed to user's team for 4 turns
Rusty raises her Def to Super2
Duder learns:
Stealth Rock   Rock   *         Create a trap that gives -2 HP to foes entering battle (modified by resistance)
Inky raises her SpD increase to Ab. Av.
Manty raises her HP to Ab. Av, and learns:
Wing Attack   Flying   P   Ab. Av.   0   Can move to attack distant foe
   and HP to Ab. Av

You can also increase one of your stat by one step, and can pick one of the following ability:

-Evasive Maneuvers: You can give an order to your pokemon that is likely to increase it's Evasion.
-Into the Wind: You and your pokemon get +1 Speed if there are no special weather effect in the battle.
-Sniper Attack: Ranged attack can hit farther target, and have higher accuracy if making called shot in normal range.

I boosted Malley's speed and Musa's SpA. I boosted my own IQ. And I chose the Sniper Attack ability. It seemed to fit with the victory Seymour achieved. (It applies to my pokemon's ranged attacks, right? Because I don't see Seymour himself making ranged attacks.)

I will change my team after another post or two.

//Woo, Boost reflex and taking into the wind.
//Also will take fly. Call me basic. Making the rest of the changes now. Will get a story post up later~

"That was certainly a lot of fun, but I think I will enjoy keeping my feet on the ground for a day or two. Or at least a couple hours. Flying is fun." Seymour shrugged. "For now though, I think I will get my pokemon looked at at the center, then switch up my team. Train with some newer buddies, and some buddies that haven't gotten to stretch their muscles for a while."

He turned to the major and colonel. "Out of curiosity, did they ever decide what would happen to the pokemon the Team Gaia members had?"

---

As of now, changing my team to: Roggenrola, Castform, Shroomish, Absol, Staryu, and Magikarp (Marigold).

"I'll take fly, after all, I've been doing a lot of that!" Jake exclaimed.  He also took the time to swap out his team and get used to being on ground. Of course, he was also interested in hearing what pokemon the team gaia agent was sporting.


New Team:
Fetcher: Farfech'd
Rusty: Skarmory
Skipper: Marshtomp
Growler: Growlithe
Bandy: Bandicoon
Sparker: Shinx

"That will depend on the result of their trials." The colonel says. "Should they be found innocent, their pokemon will be returned to them. If not, they will probably be either release, or offered for adoption."

"Now that you have four badges, you qualify for all the gym challenges. Have you decided where you plan on going next?" Major Waters asks.

Seymour nodded when told what would happen to the Gaia pokemon. "If any of them need a good home to be adopted into, don't hesitate to contact me. As for where we are headed next, I am unsure. Falkner, do you want to pick? All I really know at the moment is that I want to do a bit of light training and exploration along the way, like we usually do."

"Same." Jake didn't have much more definitive to add about anything really. But he did have a question for the colonel,
"So, what's the hardest gym. I think I won enough badges that it is about time for me to lose in a gym challenge, but go out with a bang!"

"Well... Northlone tends to be pretty hard for those who take our challenge, while those who avoid our challenge often complains about Montaunin. But most of the time, it's Carcamiers that gives out the least badges. Their challenge focuses on explosive and artillery, something few trainers are used to deal with." The Major explains.

"Explosives and artillery?" Seymour said with a bit of apprehension in his voice. The thought of accidentally blowing himself up definitely made him nervous. But then he remembered Jakey's Geodude just a few minutes earlier and he ended up smiling. "I guess that might not be so bad. After all, Falkner already has some experience with big booms. What sorts of Pokemon tend to be helpful in that challenge?"

"Water types are excellent, as well as Rock and Ground types, since most of the Artillery Corp likes to use Fire type pokemon." The Colonel says. "However, Flying types could be useful too for spotting purpose."

"Of course, you'll have to pass by Argenvers if you don't want to take a long detour..."

"Ah, yes, the survival and traps training. It can be a rather long challenge, but it would give you another Third Rank badge. You can reach it by taking Route 206 north of here, then turning west on Route 105."

"Huh, first traps, then then booms?  I feel like I've got quite a bit of water pokemon at my duder. I think I could handle fighting back some explosives.  Seymour, what do you think? It seems like it will be a bit of a walk, so we can train and catch on our way there... or are there other gyms your thinking of?"

"I'm not in any particular rush at this point, so I am fine with walking and training for a while. I would like to eventually try each and every gym challenge, but now that we qualify for all of them, I don't feel so pressured to optimize our 'path of conquest,' so to speak. For now let's head toward the explosion challenge and make detours as we see fit. If another gym challenge is convenient along the way, we can always decide to try it out too."

With a final goodbye, you head out along the wide Route 206. You take your time walking along, letting your pokemon run around as you travel, and chasing the few wild critters around. They're all small bugs or normal types, and nothing you're too interested in capturing. Still, it's a bit of experience for your partners.

As the sun starts to set, you spot a Pokemon Center at the crossroad ahead. But as you get close, a guy about your age runs toward you, out of breath and carrying what looks like a gray ball.


OOC: You can either increase the lowest stats of the pokemon in your team (or one of them, if they have two equally low stats), or you can have them learn their next move.