//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.

"Hello, can we help you," Seymour asked tentatively as the guy approached them. "Is that a..." he began to ask, gesturing at the gray ball he carried. However, he realized mid sentence that he had no idea what it was and did not care to venture a guess. So he amended his question. "Actually, what is that?"

---

If it is ok to mix and match, I will get a new move for Roggenrola, and do a stat boost for the rest. Edit: I went ahead and boosted the stats. Now I just need roggenrola's new attack.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:09, Sat 02 Oct 2021.

"It's... it's the pokemon center! Some weird gang is attacking them! I tried to fight them, but they knocked out Gyro!" With that, he shows you the pokemon he's holding is a Togedemaru, all curled up in his arms.


OOC: Basher learns Smack Down
Smack Down   Rock   P   Average   0   Target looses resistance to Ground and Groundsource moves

This message was lightly edited by the GM at 16:33, Sat 02 Oct 2021.

Jake was happy to let his pokemon run around, chasing the critters. He felt strong and relevant to have a gang of his own running loose, spreading terror and chaos along the trail. Well, limited terror and chaos; no more than other trainers would.

He was happy to see the pokemon center, and not dissuaded by the fellow kid exclaiming that the center had been attacked by the pokemon center. After all, Jake was a badge-carrying trainer!
"Weird gang? I bet it is Team Gaia again. Ah, too bad I don't have duder, else I'd bomb them with him!  Well, there are probably other people there, so maybe best we just go in the normal way."

Jake then turned to Seymour,
"You wanna take them down? I don't feel like camping tonight, and I bet they center will let us crash there if we help them out."




//Boosted stats for all but Growler and Rusty. New moves on them seems like a cool choice

Seymour felt himself turning red with anger. Pokemon centers should be a safe haven immune to attacks. Not a target of unscrupulous thugs.

"Yeah, let's see what we can do to help," he replied. He began marching toward the center with an uncharacteristic air of fury about him.

The center looks normal even as you get closer, other than the door being partly open, and the pokeball symbol above it flickering weirdly. Jake quickly finds a way closer where you won't be seen from the windows, letting you creep up to the building.

Looking inside, the signs of a fight are much more obvious. Some of the lights have blown out, the walls are marked by burns, and a Team Gaia grunt is standing behind a bench, a Magneton floating above him, emitting barely visible waves of energy.

In one of the corner, another grunt and her Nidorina are keeping watch over a scared Nurse Joy and her injured Chansey. And though you can't see much through the opened back door, you see enough moving shadows to guess someone else is there, making a mess.

From what you can tell, there's half-a-dozen windows, and two doors that would let you get inside. The partly opened (and watched) front door, and the closed back door.

Jake liked the aura of fury surrounding Seymour, it was cool to see people get riled up, especially if they weren't riled up at him. He figured it would be best if their roles matched their current mindsets,
"Looks like you want to barge in the front door! You do that, I will slip around back and try to get the door open... if I can't, I'll just use a window."

If Seymour was fine with the division of labor, Jake would try to get the back door open, even if it meant jimmying the door open (maybe with Bandicoon's crowbar assistance).

"That sounds perfect," Seymour agreed. "I'll be the distraction. But let's also make sure we do this smart. I'll have Marigold and Dusty keep lookout on either side of the center to alert us if anyone is coming or going." He released his Magikarp into a small pond on the pokemon center's right side and had his little Absol go sneak over and find a hiding spot on the left side.

Meanwhile, he released his other pokemon too. He knew Team Gaia didn't always play fair, so he didn't feel too bad about preparing his pokemon before a potential battle. "Shuriken, use Minimize and Camouflage and hide near the entrance. The use Harden as much as possible. When the battle starts, jump out and aid us with a Light Screen. Basher, you harden up as well. Glumpy, you watch my back to make sure nobody catches us from behind. Weatherman, you'll be my opener for the battle likely to come. Use Sunny Day, then I'll grab their attention."

Once the sunlight in the sky became more intense, Seymour approached the pokemon center's front door, took a deep breath, then called out to the intruders. "Hey! What are you doing here? You aren't allowed to do that! Let everyone go right now!"

---

Magikarp: keeping watch to the right.
Absol: keeping watch to the left.
Staryu: Minimize, Camouflage, then heading to a hiding spot near the entrance. Then Hardening and jumping out with a Light Screen when a battle begins.
Roggenrola: Hardening and on standby.
Shroomish: Watching Seymour's back and on standby.
Weatherman: Using Sunny Day and ready for battle.

The man jumps as Seymour shouts, and he orders his Magneton to use Supersonic. Weatherman seems to resist as she turns into a sun, filling the room with light. The other grunt looks at the lights and hisses "I'll deal with him, keep up the hemp!" before stepping up with her Nidorina.

In the back, Jake and Bandy crack open the back door, finding it leads into a crapped storage room. You can see a Primeape digging around the shelves, apparently looking for something.

OOC: New moves for Growler is Fire Fang
Fire Fang   Fire   P   Average   -1   Causes Burn on a 1, Flinch on a 0
While Rusty learns Toxic Spikes
Toxic Spikes   Poison   *         Create a trap field that Poison opponent pokemon entering the battle (Badly Poisoned if used twice)

Jake knew enough about primeape to know it was fighting type, so it would be weak against flying, fighting, and fairy. While he had a few flying pokemon, he doubted their flying type moves would work well in a cramped setting... fighting and psychic on the other hand were not represented on his team as well. So, Jake figured he'd just do his best to use the element of surprise to deliver a quick KO regardless of typing.

Jake quickly and quietly exchanged bandicoon for sparker,
"Alright sparker, do your best to sneak up on that primeape and deliver it a nasty spark!"



//Trying to proc Jake's ambush training.
//Would into the wind also proc because no weather effect is active?
//Also, not sure of primeape's gender, but Shinx is male and has rivalry

Seymour raised an eyebrow, almost amused. "You may be interested to know that I have completed the Horde Badge challenge. Dealing with only two opponents at once is a non-issue..."

To his pokemon, he commanded, "Weatherman, keep on that Magneton. Use Ember and melt it into slag. Shuriken, time to reveal yourself. Use Swift on the Nidorina!" It seemed pretty obvious to Seymour that the Magneton was fairly important to whatever Team Gaia was trying to accomplish here, so he did not want to let it off the hook so easily.

The Magneton tries to back away, sending Thunder Waves around it, both to disrupt the electricity in the room and to slow down your Castform, but it's distracting it too much, and Weatherman is able to land a solid hit with her fire. Before the Nidorina can attack your Castform, Shuriken distracts her with her Swift, not causing much damage but making the goon shout "no! Sludge Bomb that fish!" But your Staryu is too fast and small, and avoids the blow.

Sparker creeps into the storage room, before quickly jumping at the rampaging monkey. Unfortunately, the Primeape's thick fur seems to do a good job stopping the electricity, and it jumps to the highest shelf, Screeching loudly.

"Great job Shuriken! Keep using evasive maneuvers and sniping the Nidorina at range with your Swift attacks. Weatherman, keep laying on the heat. More Embers!" He was proud of how his pokemon we're doing, especially considering this was the first major battle he had been in with either of them. He hoped Jakey was having good luck as well.

Jake had a simple solution for dealing with the primeape,
"Sparker, keep that thing busy, I'll go ahead"

Jake wasn't confident that Sparker could KO its opponent, but he was confident it would distract it from... whatever it was doing. Jake then tried to take the opening to find a door to where Seymour was fighting so he could get a flank on team Gaia or rescue some of the staff.