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!"