[RP]The Legend of Sparx[RP][R]

[Mickmon95]

Plot:

The legend of Sparx dates back thousands of years in what we now know as the Orre region. This island floated over a luscious and bountiful valley full of flowers that is now nothing but sand. Sparx was home to many people and Pokémon who lived side by side as companions. This was one of the very first examples of a civilization where people and Pokémon coexisted, similar to how life is today. Back then, people and Pokémon lived separate lives. People were afraid of Pokémon’s power and Pokémon did not trust people. It was a different time.

Nobody knows what happened to Sparx and its people other than what the legends tell us. The island of Sparx befell a terrible tragedy that ended their civilization. Legends say that one day the island came crashing down to the surface, but nobody knows why. This caused tremors and quakes across the land. The people of Sparx were presumably wiped out by the crash. Over time, the legends of the floating island have been forgotten by the majority.

This brings us to present day where the island has risen once again. Almost out of nowhere, the land where the island crashed began to quake. From the tremors emerged the island of Sparx and it ascended into the skies of Orre. The island used to hover above the surface and now it was among the clouds.

This sent the region into a spiral.

Since the island’s reappearance, nature has been thrown out of balance. Natural disasters are occurring more often. The seas are storming, which has left everyone unable to flee the region by boat. The only way to get to Orre is via plane. The forest around Agate Village is covered in vines and fractured earth from the quakes. Mt. Battle’s volcano is now active and unstable. The canyon is plagued by sandstorms and tornadoes from the high wind velocity. Pokemon are running rampant and attacking humans, even their trainers.

This is not the first crisis to befall the Orre region. About two decades ago, the region was under attack by a criminal organization: Cipher. Cipher was closing the hearts of Pokémon and using them as weapons to do their bidding. Their ultimate goal was to conquer the Orre region and then the world. They were thwarted twice by brave heroes who stepped up to play their part in their destinies.

Now it is time to tell the tale of new trainers who will solve the mystery of Sparx and restore peace to the Orre region. Or will they be looking for treasure and power? Maybe you’ll be there to defend the chaos. That is up to you. Every story has heroes, villains and antiheroes. The choice is yours to make.

Six months later and the Orre regions is getting closer and closer to ruin with every passing day. You have been contacted by Justy to join his team of top tier trainers to restore peace to the land. Justy has formed the Phenac Academy for Trainers in place of the Pre-Gym. You have either graduated from this institution and Justy remembers you being an outstanding student and or you are a trainer of some notoriety and skill that Justy has contacted. Either way, you have accepted his invitation to Phenac City and have just arrived to hear his plan.

Updates to the Orre region:

Gateon Port is also an airport now. The city has been expanded as the gateway of traveling for the region.

There is a Pokemon League here now. There are 8 gyms:

The S.S. Libra wreckage has been rebuilt and reworked as a Water-Type Gym where there is a Pokemon Center and Mart inside. The gym leader is named Finn, an ex-professional swimmer.

The Snagem Hideout is now a fairy type gym. Their leader Lovrina is a scientist working with the local police department, a reformed Cipher member.

Pyrite City is a dark type gym where the old colosseum used to be. The gym leader is named Cail, a shady guy who is informed of all the crimes of Pyrite.

Dr. Kaminko’s Lab also has a gym. A now grown Chobin runs a steel type gym here.

Mt. Battle also includes a gym along with its usual trial. The gym is ran by Fiona, a fire type expert.

The Orre Colosseum now hosts a gym as well. The dragon type gym leader: Heathe runs the show here. He was once an apprentice of the dragon master Drayden from Unova.

The Outskirt stand has now become a gym as well. It’s expanded and become a small town that offers a motel for weary travelers, a Pokémon Center as well. A few houses for the locals. The gym is inside the expanded train where Reggie runs a ground-type gym.

Realgam Tower also hosts a gym. The gym leaders, Rui & Wes reside here. They use a combination of Eevee evolutions on their team in the style of double battles.

The elite four is hosted on Citidark Isle now. The elite four consists of Eldes (psychic-type), Duking (fighting-type), Silva (ghost-type) and Zook (normal-type). The champion of the region is a grown-up Jovi.

The Pokemon HQ Lab has expanded a great deal. There is a Pokemon Center and a hospital wing as well.

This is set in modern day so everyone should have Rotom phones and such advances in technology.

Other than that, everything should remain the same. If there is anything else that needs updated we can discsuss further.

Wild Pokémon are a well-established part of the region. A mix of Pokémon from regions 1-5 can be found.

The island of Sparx is floating high above the area marked as "Eclo Canyon" on the map, this would be the most Southeastern part of the region.

RP Rules:
1.) No godmodding, flaming, or bunnying.
2.) All forum rules apply.
3.) Only two characters max.
4.) You must be dedicated to this RP (be able to post at least once a week. We are all busy people so I understand.)
5.) No legendary or mythical Pokemon allowed on team. (Special Pokémon with unusual abilities and such can be discussed with me.)
6.) At least two/three solid paragraphs for each post minimum and no double posting.
7.) Please try to use correct grammar and spelling so others can understand your post. Please proof-read your posts.
8.) This RP is rated R for mature themes and languages, but don't be excessively crude per the forum rules.
9.) Let's have fun and be creative together!

 

[Mickmon95]

Maya Bordeaux
Phenac City: Entrance

“Wow!” the words escaped my lips. This was just like grandma described it, but much larger. She was right about the oasis vibes. The city was surrounded by a dry and sand covered landscape. There was a cool breeze upon entering this city. There were streams of water running over and around every house. The colors of the houses matched the tan color of the sand that surrounded them. The doors and windows were blue that could be seen accented all over the city. The oasis motif was smacking you across the face. They could use something more subtle but effective.

In the center of the city, there was the hotel the invited trainers would be staying at: The Oasis Hotel. A little too on the nose for me. I think something more elegant would be better while still getting the message across. They really don’t care for subtly here it seems. Perhaps the Jewel of the Desert or maybe the Traveler’s Gem, but that’s neither here nor there. I wasn’t here to redecorate. Although, that would be fun little side project to discuss with the mayor or someone else.

“Hey Hoops?” I called out.

“How can I be of service, Captain?” my smart phone replied to me as it floated out of the front pocket of my pink suitcase. The latest trend in smart phones was to infuse it with a Rotom to be your little digital assistant. This was a welcome feature as it gave me someone who was always willing to listen and chat with me.

“I would like you to take a note to find the mayor later and run my ideas by them about updating the style of this town. The colors and execution are still from grandma Vida’s times” I chuckled.

“Note has been made. Anything else?” Hoops asked.

“That’ll do for now. Thank you, Hoops” I gave it a thumbs up of approval

Hoops returned to my back pocket: its favorite resting place.

I think I should check into the hotel first then get to the Academy where Justy will be holding the debriefing for us.

The electronic doors slid open as I approached the hotel’s entrance. A cool gust of air conditioning met me as I entered.

The interior was that same pesky tan color from outside with blue accents in the furniture. The lobby had a couch and a few love seats in a circle. In the middle of that circle was a waterfall that descended from the ceiling. It was a gentle stream that embodied relaxation.

Further in, there was a blonde woman sporting the town’s signature blue in her uniform. She had matching blue glasses and shoulder length hair. She stood waiting at the front desk to help guests check in.

“Hello there! Welcome to the Oasis! How can I help you?’ the front desk lady greeted me. She flashed me a “customer service” smile.

“Hello there! Cool waterfall!” I approached the front desk. “I’m here to check in as one of Justy’s guests.”

“Ah yes. He mentioned there would be several talented trainers arriving in town today. Could I see your trainer ID to check you in?” she began typing in her computer.

“Of course” I pulled out my trainer card from my fanny pack and handed it to the lady.

“Yes, I see your name right here. Maya Bordeaux, correct?” she asked.

“That’s me!” I nodded.

“Well it looks like all of Justy’s guests will be staying on the third floor. You’ll be in room 302” she handed me a key card.

“Thanks a bunch!” I took the card and made my way to the elevator with my suitcase rolling behind me.

What a surprise that the elevator was also the signature blue. The metallic doors opened up and I pressed the button labelled “3”.

It opened up to reveal tan hallways and blue doors with a gold numbers on them. Shocker. At least the gold was a refreshing change of pace in their style.

I found my room and slid the key card to open up it up. The layout of the room was typical for a hotel. There was a bed, a desk, a small kitchen with a few counters, a bathroom and a small couch in front of a flat screen TV on top of a dresser. Do I even have to mention the colors?

I laid my suitcase on my bed to rest and looked out the windows to see the backend of the city. I could see the Academy from here. It resembled the design of the Phenac Pre-Gym from the pictures grandma showed me. The main difference was its height. It was more of a tower-like structure with four or five floors.

Justy told us that the debriefing would begin in the auditorium of the Academy at 3pm, which was about an hour from now. There were instructions on how to get there from the inside in an email somewhere. A little over an hour was enough time to freshen up and try not to cry.

I took my glam bag from my suitcase and made my way to the bathroom. My glam bag contained all the essentials to keep me at my default, casual beauty standard.

I reapplied sunscreen which doubled as a moisturizer. I brushed my hair and reapplied my lip gloss which also moisturized my lips. The gloss also added some shimmer because who doesn’t love a little sparkle. I sprayed my floral scented body spray and I ready to head out from the hotel.

Phenac City: Entrance to the Academy

I stood in front of the electronic blue doors that led into the academy. There was a scanning mechanism that would grant you entry into the building. Justy had mentioned that he would email us custom QR codes that would get us in. I wonder what the “Q” and the “R” stood for in QR code. These are the questions that haunt me at night.

“Hey Hoops?” I called out to my digital buddy.

“Yes, Maya?” it appeared in front of me from my back pocket this time.

“Can you be a doll and please pull up the email from Justy that has that code thingy to enter the building?” I asked.

“Zzzzrt! Aye aye, captain!” Hoops buzzed.

“Oh Hoops! I’ll never understand your odd choice to constantly refer to me as ‘captain’” I chuckled.

“Here’s your email, Cap” the screen lit up with a black and white square with my name above it.

“That’s the one! Now be a dear and hover over to the scanner” I requested.

Hoops floated over and placed itself in front of the mechanism that shined a red light. The infrared light scanned the screen then there was a beep. The doors slid wide open.

“Here we go!” I cheered.

Nothing happened. My legs didn’t move.

“Bzzzzz?” Hoops was confused.

“Time to take the first step!” I announced.

My legs were stiff as cement. I was frozen in place. They could’ve thrown me into the ocean and I would sink straight to the bottom.

“What’s wrong, Captain?” Hoops asked.

“Nothing! I’m just storing up energy to take a really big first step!” I laughed nervously.

F**k. I couldn’t move my legs.

“Captain…are you nervous?” Hoops met my gaze.

“I…” I couldn’t get the words out. Yes, I was very nervous. I could pull out a thesaurus to list all of the similar adjectives that would describe the cocktail of emotions in my gut. None of them were very nice to my psyche.

A part of me thought this was some kind of twisted joke. Justy invited me as some sort of scheme to make fun of me in front of the actual team. I didn’t have some champion title to my name and I didn’t come from some elite family. What was I doing here?

“Justy invited you here for an important mission in restoring the peace to Orre, silly Captain!” Hoops giggled.

“Did I accidentally speak out oud again?” I groaned.

Hoops nodded. Hoops couldn’t really nod without an actual head or face, but the phone titled forward and backward so I assumed that was its way of nodding.

“Arcues damn it!” I cursed.

The doors must’ve been on some sort of timer since they closed of their own volition after a few more moments of silence

“Should I scan it again? We have about 45 minutes until the debriefing commences” Hoops beeped.

“That’s more than enough time. I just need a few moments to breathe and collect myself” I sighed and leaned against the wall.

“I’ll be next to you for as long as you need, Captain” Hoops hovered by my side.

“Thanks, matey” I humored his nautical nonsense this one time.

(OOC: The general goal for now is to check into the hotel and make it to the auditorium [second floor of the building] of the academy within your first few posts. Sorry if anything is off or weird. It's been a while since I've RP'd.)

 

[TheSequelReturns]

~ Yulie Stelle ~
- Airplane -

“Good morning passengers! Please buckle up and raise your seats and trays to their proper upright positions as we prepare for landing.”

The chime of the stewardess’ voice over the overhead speakers roused Yulie from her slumber. She pushed the Spinda print hat up off of her face and brushed some of her ash gray hair to the side knowing full well it would just fall right back into place. Somehow, it felt more comfortable after she adjusted it even if it was ultimately unchanged.

Her eyes found the seat next to her where Cherry, her Tsareena, was sitting happily with a silvery pack of in-flight peanuts held firmly in her hands. She gave the little package a shake, delighted in the rattle, and kicked her legs happily. Yulie had tried to open the package so Cherry could snack on them but the Tsareena seemed to like them more as a musical instrument and had guarded her treasure the entire flight. The seat she was currently seated in was unoccupied after takeoff and though Yulie was unsure if pokemon could be out and about mid flight no one had said anything about Cherry. She was wearing her seatbelt, at any rate.

Sensing an opportune moment, Yulie grabbed her camera from where it sat on its strap around her neck. It was a deceptively simple looking instrument that cost more than any other possession Yulie owned. The camera itself was that dull off-red color that pokedexes and Ranger uniforms always seemed to be. For whatever reason, wild pokemon reacted less strongly to natural colors like that. But it had all the bells and whistles and more little dails and photo modes than most people could probably interpret.

Cherry too sensed the watchful lens of the camera and turned towards Yulie with a big grin as she held up her prized peanuts. Yulie didn’t have to review that one to know it was a keeper.

“Well, are you ready to see what this is all about?” she asked with a yawn.

Cherry tilted her head curiously and nodded.

“Yeah, me too.” Yulie turned her gaze out the window and watched the troubled Orre region drift closer and closer as they came in for their landing at Gateon Port.

—


- Phenac City -


After what felt like days of traveling, Yulie was finally here at her final destination. It was hard to believe that less than twelve hours ago she was sitting in Luminose City for a last minute photo shoot. They told her it was for some new camera case or something. Yulie would find out when she got her free sample in the mail. Or rather, when she got back home and found a small pile of unopened letters and packages. She had the feeling this was going to be a longer trip.

Still, Phenac city lived up to the travel brochure photos. That was actually unexpected. In all her travels, Yulie had found very few places that did. For every Phenac or Stow-on-Side, there were a dozen other cities who had their landmarks carefully hidden in hundreds of tourist traps and crowded storefronts.

Phenac though was a paradise, at least on the surface. It was a bit monotone, but in the middle of the desert the color blue was as welcome and soothing as indoor air conditioning. Speaking of which, she was in dire need of a shower. Where was that hotel again?

The streets of Phenac proved a bit too photogenic to let Yulie just pass them by and she stopped several times to snap a photo of a waterfall on the side of a building or a particularly interesting looking person standing at a street corner. For once, none of her partner pokemon were next to her side and the absence was keenly felt. Yulie snapped what had to be the tenth photo before she finally worked up the courage to stop someone and ask about the whereabouts of the Oasis.

“Its right up the street on the right, you can’t miss it,” The guy at the drink stand said. His Marill gave a cheerful cry as if to reinforce the notion.

“Thanks a bunch,” Yulie said quietly.

She wound up buying a much needed iced coffee that she sipped on her way to the hotel. If it was any cooler out here, she would have her jacket wrapped tightly around herself to keep herself safe from the prying eyes of the passersby. As it stood, her jacket was tied snugly around her waist and even that seemed like it was too warm for this climate. She would have to settle for keeping her head down then. She pulled her Spinda hat down just a bit and let the coffee distract her from her nerves.

Finally, she found the Oasis. The lobby was clean and tidy and colored much the same as the rest of the town. The waterfall was a nice feature though and Yulie snapped a picture or two of it as she passed on her way to the front desk.

“Hello! Welcome to the Osais! How can I help you?” the attendant asked in that cheery, overly rehearsed tone that was customary in the travel or retail worlds.

“Um…” It took Yulie a moment to remember why she was actually here. Why didn’t she have a script to overly rehearse? “I’m here to check in.”

“Certainly,” the blond woman said with a picture perfect smile. She pushed her blue-tinted glasses up on her nose as she turned to her terminal. “Can I have a name for you?”

“Yulie.” It took a moment for her to realize the clerk was waiting for her last name. It really had been a long day. “That is, Yulie Stelle.”

“One moment…” the clerk went about her work before giving a knowing nod. “Ah, it seems you already have a reservation. You are one of Justy’s guests, correct Miss Stelle?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“No problem, can I see your ID?”

Yulie reached into her pocket, found a spare camera battery instead of her wallet, and spent several moments figeting through pockets before finding her wallet in her jacket pocket. “Sorry about that. Here.”

The clerk took the ID and a few moments later returned it with a friend. “That’s your room key. Your room is number 307 up on the third floor. You’ll find the elevator right over there.”

“Thanks a bunch,” Yulie said. She carefully returned her wallet to its resting place, adjusted the weight of her rather overstuffed backpack, and headed for the elevator.

She found the room without too much trouble. It wasn't the fanciest she’d ever stayed at (That was the Stella Royale in Luminose) but it was far from the worst (Looking at you roadside motel outside Olivine City, that was the last time she opted to not stay at the touristy hotel.)

She dropped off the backpack and checked her watch. It was nearly 2pm. She would have just enough time to get ready and then get lost on her way to the meeting at three. But first…

Yulie looked around the room, decided against letting Marsh or Bean out in this cramped space, and tossed four pokeballs into the air. Toasty the Chandelure, Lemon the Galvantula, Sugar the Hatterene, and Cherry the Tsareena all popped into the room in flashes of white light.

“You guys stretch your legs. I’m gonna shower,” Yulie said. A chorus of cries sounded back. “No webs,” she said with a pointed glance at Lemon. The spider waved a leg in acknowledgement but Yulie gave Sugar a nod to keep an eye on her regardless.

The shower helped more than words could describe. After such a long trip, the warm water felt like it was washing away her troubles and stress and her mood was considerably brighter when she re-emerged into the room wearing her “city” clothes. This was a formal meeting after all, she had to look her best.

“Well, how do I look?” Yulie asked as she adjusted the bright yellow beret one more time. Her hair was straight and clean and hung halfway down her back. With the white blouse and navy skirt, the dark leggings and polished shoes, she looked like one of the trendy girls wandering the streets of Kalos. It was far from comfortable, but it would have to do.

Sugar gave an approving cry and Cherry and Toasty nodded happily. Lemon was too busy poking around in the closet to notice.

“Good, good. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.” Yulie spent a few more seconds checking for wrinkles and checking her minimal makeup before turning to the team. “Ready?”

—


Yulie stood before the big blue Academy doors with a growing sense of apprehension. She felt like she was getting ready for a television interview and the Butterfree were well and truly dancing in her stomach.

“Deep breaths, nice and easy,” she whispered to herself. “You’ve done this before.”

With her nerves slightly placated, she held up her wrist and toggled through her Poketch’s apps until she found the messenger. People told her she should really get herself a Rotom phone, but they were too… chatty. Besides, with the Poketch literally strapped to her wrist, it couldn’t go missing. It was simple and reliable and that was all she wanted.

After a few agonizing minutes of standing in front of the scanner and staring at her wrist, she found the e-mail and pulled up the QR code that was supposed to get her through this door. She held her wrist up to the scanner and had to adjust the angle a few times but it scanned and with a friendly beep the doors slid open and Yulie sighed as she stepped across the threshold.

She glanced at her Poketch. Two fifty eight. Two minutes to find the meeting place. Hopefully Justy wasn’t a stickler for being on time or this was going to be embarrassing.

 

[Monster Guy]

Melissa “Mimi” Shannon
Phenac City

Mimi yawned as she entered the city and looked around. It was a dry desert filled with water. Mimi was less than interested.

“Melissa, hurry up and get to the hotel!” A voice coming out of her pocket shouted. “You’re late enough as it is! With all the time you waste sleeping.”

Mimi sighed. Why did she let her mother program her Rotom phone? Oh right, she didn’t let her. She did it herself. Now she pretty much had her mom in her pocket at all times. How annoying. “I told you a thousand times. It’s Mimi…” Who decided having a sentient being in your phone was a good idea? Her old X-Tranceiver didn’t nag her all the time.

The rotom phone encased in a Musharna themed phone case floated out of her pocket and completely ignored Mimi’s request. “Come along now Melissa. The hotel is over here.”

Mimi followed her phone into the hotel, and towards the front desk. The phone continues speaking on Mimi’s behalf. “Melissa Shannon! Star Psychic Trainer from Unova.”

“It’s Mimi phone… Mimi…” She handed the receptionist her Trainer ID, and Mimi was given her room key, and checked into the hotel. She really hated how this phone would talk her up as if she were some type of celebrity. Her mother’s doing she was sure.

After arriving to her room, she dropped her bag, and collapsed on the bed. Finally time to sleep!

But of course, her Rotom phone would not let her nap. “Come on Melissa. We have to get to the Academy. There is no time to waste with napping.”

She tried to ignore that stupid robot, but it would just keep yammering on and on and would not shut up. So she dragged herself out of bed, and went to the academy. There, she saw there was one other girl standing in front of the doors. A brown haired girl chatting with her Rotom phone. “See? Only one other person here. There was plenty of time to nap before the meeting started.” Mimi said with a yawn.

But the Rotom phone did not care what Mimi had to say. Instead, the pink and purple Rotom phone floated over to the other trainer. “Greetings human. The pink haired human over there is Melissa Shannon. The extraordinary Psychic Trainer!”

Mimi had enough of this phone’s shenanigans. She telekinetically levitated a dream ball out of her hands, and released Shaana. She then telepathically commanded her Musharna to use hypnosis on that annoying talking phone.

“Musharna.” The Dream Eater Pokémon replied and did as she was told. The Rotom phone fell asleep, and Mimi stuffed it back in her pocket. “Ignore that thing. Who thought talking phones were a good idea anyway? The name’s Mimi. That suits me so much more than Melissa, no?” She flipped her hair, and gestured to her Pokémon. “This is Shaana. My bestie, and some would say, my mascot.” She giggled as she leaned up against the Academy building and closed her eyes. Shaana cuddled up next to her. “Do me a favor. Wake me up when it’s time to go inside will ya?” And instantly both her and her Pokémon companion we’re sound asleep.

 

[Sketchie]

Aiden Bradford
- Orre Desert > Phenac City -
- playlist -
​

The first light of dawn was greeted with a rush of hooves and a trail of dust. Out in the desert, a lone rapidash and its rider blazed through the sand in a race against the sun. Aiden had been traveling all night, switching between Mercury and Heather so neither would get too tired, but with the sun rising the team knew that Mercury was the horse to finish the final stretch. Aiden was tired, but his hazel eyes stayed locked in front of him, searching for signs of Phenac City.

The two were more than ready to get out of the desert. Everything smelled and tasted like dust, even with the red neckerchief pulled up over Aiden's face. They had passed the Realgam tower not too long ago, Phenac City had to be coming into view soon. "Soon, soon, soon," Aiden muttered to Mercury (and, frankly, himself), "Almost there, we're almost there..."

At last, over the next dune, the outskirts of the city came into view. The two paused at the top of the dune, the sun at their backs. It was a lovely city, really, truly a marvel in the desert. Aiden adjusted his hat and gave Mercury a pat on the neck, before the two descended into the sandy valley towards the city.

Finally through the gates, Mercury slowed to a walk as the two searched for the hotel they'd be staying at. They looked a little out of place in the resort- both covered in sand and barely awake. Arriving at the door of the hotel, Aiden slipped off of Mercury's back, and fumbled the pokeball off of his belt. "Thank you, 'Cury," he said, recalling his pokemon, "Now, go get some rest now."

Aiden gathered himself enough to walk to the desk. "Howdy," he said, greeting the person at the front desk with a tip of his hat, "Name's Aiden Bradford, I'm told I'll be staying here a second?"

"Ah! Welcome, you're one of Justy's guests," the attendant responded, busy with the computer at her desk. "Well, you're a bit early, but fortunately we do have a room ready for you. It'll be room 305, up on the third floor. Enjoy your stay!" She handed Aiden a key card. He took it, a little clumsily, and muttered a thanks as he headed towards the elevator. Aiden doesn't remember heading up the elevator, down the hallway, or even opening the door, but he does remember falling into the plush mattress.

...

...

"Stoutland! Stout!"

Aiden groaned. He woke to Jack's muzzle in his cheek, sniffing and barking. "Yeah, yeah, Jack," he moaned, "I'm awake, I'm awake! Cut it out!" He playfully pushed Jack away as he sat up. He checked his c-gear and saw it was blinking 1:30PM in the top left corner. Plenty of time. He pulled himself out of bed, Jack nipping at his heels, and headed to the bathroom for a nice long shower.

A half hour later, Aiden was noticeably less sandy. (The bathtub could not say the same.) He slipped into a pressed blue shirt and tan vest that he'd tucked into the bottom of his saddlebag, taking a moment in front of the mirror to make sure every lock of auburn hair fell into place underneath his dusted-clean hat. He even took the extra time to clean underneath his fingernails. He'd make a fine impression, he was sure of it. He took a deep breath and turned out of the bathroom. "Ready, Jack?" he called to the stoutland, who stretched to attention at his heel.

Jack shook himself out and butted into Aiden's leg. "Stout!"

"Alright, let's head!" Aiden said, giving Jack a pat on the forehead. He checked his pocket to make sure he had his keycard, checked his hip for his rope, and headed out the door.

Now much more awake, Aiden could properly take in the sights. He'd been in Phenac City a few times before, but since Gateon Port was much closer to the ranch, it wasn't a common destination for him. He walked calmly through the city, hand in his pocket, while Jack trotted along by his side. The air was pleasantly cool, almost humid with the water flowing through the town. Soon, the Phenac Academy came into view, along with a couple of characters hanging out by the door.

Surely, they were there for the same reason he was... but why just hang out by the door? Aiden checked his c-gear again--2:40PM. Strange. It seemed to him they could enter at any time, but one of the two seemed to be panicked and the other asleep against the wall. He shrugged it off, and walked over to approach them.

"'Scuse me, ladies, but I was just wondering if y'all're here on Justy's call too?" he said with his honeyed voice and Unovan drawl. He waved at the woman who seemed very awake and shot her a kind smile. "It is gettin' to be about three o'clock, here. Now, I'm not one to be late, so I'll be headin' on inside if y'all'd like to join me." He looked past the first woman towards the sleeping woman with pink hair, curled up by a Musharna. "Uh, should we be wakin' her up?"

As if on cue, Jack knew his purpose. "Stout!" Jack hopped over to the sleeping woman and shoved his snout into her face, covering her with wet stoutland kisses; a classic Jack way to start the day.

Aiden chuckled. "Aww, Jack, back off of 'er now, she's awake!" he said, holding back a laugh; at least the pink-haired woman seemed to be in good spirits about it. He turned to the brown-haired woman with a smile. "If he's good for anything, he's a damn good alarm clock. Now, come on now!" He strode up to the door with Jack dutifully on his heel. He pulled up the QR code on his c-gear and flashed it towards the door. With a red light and a beep, the door slid open into the academy. Aiden stepped into the doorway, taking his hat off and gesturing inside with it. "After y'all!" he said, a warm glimmer in his hazel eyes.

 

[Mickmon95]

Maya Bordeaux
Outside Phenac City Academy (PCA)


“Greetings human. The pink haired human over there is Melissa Shannon. The extraordinary Psychic Trainer!” a robotic voice interrupted my sulking.

I was met with the gaze of another Rotom phone. It was cute to see a Rotom be so devoted to promoting their trainer like that. It was like having a digital PR manager in your smart phone.

“Aren’t you the sweetest little thing!” I gushed.

Suddenly the Rotom phone fell asleep and was put in the pocket of its owner, the previously mentioned Melissa Shannon I presume.

“Ignore that thing. Who thought talking phones were a good idea anyway? The name’s Mimi. That suits me so much more than Melissa, no?” the pink haired girl introduced herself. I was impressed by her style. Not a lot of people indulge in the color pink like I did. It was refreshing to see someone incorporating pink so boldly into their outfit.

“Different strokes, I guess. As a chatty person myself, I enjoy having someone always available and willing discuss to talk with me” I chuckled.

I saw a floating creature next to Mimi. That’s when it clicked that the colors of her outfit mimicked her Musharna. I love a theme!

“This is Shaana. My bestie, and some would say, my mascot.” Mimi giggled as she joined me in leaning up against the Academy’s wall. “Do me a favor. Wake me up when it’s time to go inside will ya?” in an instant Mimi and her Pokémon were fast asleep.

Wow this girls is one of a kind. It takes a lot of…um…zest to fall asleep on a wall in public next to a complete stranger.

“I don’t know if you can hear me but my name is Maya Bordeaux” I said in a quiet voice. “I love the use of the color pink in your ensemble by the way. That’s my favorite color” I smiled at the sleeping girl.

“Maya has a new friend! Zzzzrt!” Hoops cheered softly.

“Maybe…” I tried not to get too excited. I loved making friends, but I had this habit of getting too excited and doing too much too soon. I will only make her three friendship bracelets. Or maybe she would prefer some pendants. I could get Hoops to calculate her measurements and I could whip her up a new outfit. That would for sure scream “friend”!

“Captain!” Hoops said pulling me back to reality.

“Yes, Hoops?” I laughed nervously.

“I saw that look in your eyes. You were spiraling down a crafting hole for a potential friend, right?” if Hoops had fingers to wag or hands to place on a hip then it would be doing so.

“You caught me” I sighed. “I just get so excited when it comes to making new friends” I explained myself.

“I know, Captain. But you get too excited and make people feel weird. Just try to breathe and put down the art supplies” Hoops advised.

“You’re right. Besides, grandma didn’t let me bring my sewing machine for that very reason” I conceded.

“Grandma did the right thing” Hoops agreed.

“Can I get some privacy for a sec, Hoops?” I asked.

“Sure, Captain. But what about the sleeping girl?” Hoops questioned.

“She’s deep in her slumber. I’ll basically be alone” I said.

Hoops smiled and returned to my back pocket.

“I don’t know if you can hear me at all, Mimi. I just need a second to vent out loud” I told Mimi as she continued sleeping. “I don’t know if it’s just a ‘me’ thing, but I feel like I when I say whatever is on my mind outside of my head there’s like a release of some sort.”

The cool breeze danced in my hair. I could feel my heart racing and it felt as if Butterfree were bouncing around in my stomach.

“You see…a little over a year ago I competed in the Grand Festival. My dream is to become a top coordinator and conquer the Grand Festival. That didn’t work out how I planned, to say the least. I lost…badly. It was humiliating. It felt like a piece of me was lost on that stage and I don’t know how to get it back. I’m starting to feel like I might never-“ my words were interrupted.

"'Scuse me, ladies, but I was just wondering if y'all're here on Justy's call too?" an unfamiliar voice chimed in.

There went my main character moment. It’s probably for the best I suppose. Once I start monologuing it’s hard to stop.

I looked over to meet the gaze of this stranger. I saw a young man smiling and waving in my direction. This was quite a chunk of man too. He was tall and built like a Machoke with beautifully colored auburn hair. Judging by the hat, the boots and the accent this guy was definitely a Cowboy. Wow, I could just melt.

“That’s actually uh a good question” I said nervously. “I’m here per Justy’s invitation but uh Sleeping Beauty over here never specifically mentioned that” I gestured to Mimi. “I think it’s a safe assumption though.”

“It is gettin' to be about three o'clock, here. Now, I'm not one to be late, so I'll be headin' on inside if y'all'd like to join me” he told me.

“Why, I would be delighted to join you” I returned his smile. Score! Another potential new friend! One more and I’m crafting up in this b*tch.

“Uh, should we be wakin' her up?" the young man said referring to Mimi.

“Yes, we should! She asked me to wake her up when it was time to go inside” I replied.

As I moved to wake up Mimi, a Stoutland hopped up and began licking her face. That’ll do it. I giggled as the Stoutland’s wet wakeup call did its job.

“Good morning” I teased.

"Aww, Jack, back off of 'er now, she's awake!" the cowboy said while trying not to laugh. “If he's good for anything, he's a damn good alarm clock. Now, come on now!" the young man scanned his QR code and the door opened. “ After y'all” the cowboy gestured us forward with his hat.

“Thank ya, kindly” I mimicked his accent to the best of my ability and curtsied. “My name is Maya, by the way” I entered the building trying to shove my nerves back down. I could feel my breakfast trying to make a surprise appearance. At least I wasn’t walking in alone, that made it a little easier.

PCA - Lobby

“Greetings! Welcome to the Phenac Academy” the receptionist greeted us as he stood up from his desk. He was a young man with green hair and light brown eyes. He wore the Phenac City’s signature blue in his blazer. There was a pin on his left pocket that displayed the Academy’s symbol: a great ball with 3 letters in gold: “PCA”. Just below the pin there was a name tag that read “Benny”.

I took a quick second to analyze the room and sum up the décor. The room had white flooring and rich Indigo colored walls. There was a hallway to the left of the receptionist’s desk with a few doors. There was a section of seats that made up the waiting area to our left. They wooden chairs were placed on a large blue rug with the design of the 3 members of the Marill evolution line. How cute!

“Hello there. We are here for the debriefing with Justy” I explained.

“Ah yes! Welcome welcome! We have been eagerly awaiting your arrival” the receptionist smiled as he approached us. “If I could get your QR codes I can easily check you into our system.”

“Right! Hey Hoops!” I called to my digital friend.

“Yes, Captain?” Hoops floated out to me.

“Can you show the receptionist the QR code from Justy please?”

“Yes, Captain!” Hoops hovered over to the receptionist and displayed the code.

The receptionist pulled out his own device and scanned my code.

“Maya Bordeaux has been officially checked in” Benny said.

“Thanks a bunch.”

“That elevator on your right will take you where you need to go. The auditorium is on the third floor. Then you’ll go through the double doors on the left. There will be seats labeled by name in the first row for each of you” Benny told us.

“Thanks again!” I began walking towards the elevator. There was a sign that detailed what you find on each floor. It read “1st Floor – Lobby/Registrar/Nurse. 2nd Floor – Classrooms. 3rd Floor – Auditorium/Library. 4th Floor – Teachers’ Offices. 5th Floor – Battle Stadium.”

“That’s all for now, Hoops. Goodnight” I said.

“Ttyl” Hoops floated back into my pocket.

I pressed the button to call the elevator. I could hear the humming of the elevator as it descended to our floor. The doors slid open and dinged.

“Let’s hop in” I stepped into the elevator.

Here we go. There’s no turning back or running away now. It’s real. This is actually happening. F*ck. My chest got tight and my stomach was full of Butterfree again. Anxiety, you’re a real b*tch.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

(I'm definitely a bit rusty at this, btw, bear with me)

ERIC DAMON
PHENAC CITY (NEAR THE ACADEMY)

Eric had just arrived in Phenac City barely a day ago, and he really adored how everything looked. However, getting used to the arid climate would definitely take some time. Sure, he's visited other regions that had a desert or two, but Orre was mostly desert. Eric rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie, and tried his absolute best to stay in the shade. He was wearing quite a bit of sunscreen already, but he felt that he might need to re-apply sooner than he thought. He got up early to beat the midday heat, and was already heading towards the academy.

Soon enough, he saw the giant letters "PCA" more clearly. Was it a mirage? It seemed very unlikely, but not impossible. Eric kept walking towards it, and it was, in fact, the real deal. He opened the door, and stood there panting for a brief period, no more than a minute, before he cooled down. The air conditioning definitely helped improve this situation.

He looked around for other Trainers, noticing that a couple of them at the front desk. He remembered he needed a QR code, grabbed his backpack, and began searching for his phone. It wasn't in his backpack, however...
"Oh, here it is." Eric said, checking the last place he thought it would be, in his left pocket.
This particular phone was similar to a Rotom Phone, but it was made by Damon Enterprises, which is owned by Eric's Uncle Rex, and used some sort of Artificial Intelligence instead of a Rotom, because Uncle Rex insisted on experimenting with that sort of thing. But Eric's phone was still an early prototype of this technology, which Damon Enterprises calls "Athena".

"Athena...." Eric said into his phone, "show me the QR code I saved last week."

"One moment...." a soothing yet sassy, feminine voice that sounded vaguely African-American came from the phone. Eric chose this particular voice for the AI because it reminded him of his old girlfriend Peggy, whom, thanks to Team Rocket, is no longer with us. "Here it is, Eric!", the phone chimed.

Eric re-zipped his backpack before putting it back on, and walked to to reception counter. He showed the code to the blonde receptionist.

"Let's see... Are you Frederick Damon III?" She asked.

"Please, just call me Eric...." Eric responded. He dislikes hearing his full name, but the lady was just doing her job. "I don't like it when people use my full name." He whispered.


"Oh, sorry, Eric. And all I need is your Trainer ID, and you'll be good to go." Eric pulled up an image of his Trainer ID on his phone, and showed it to her. "Orientation starts in less than an hour, the elevator will take you there!"

"Thanks!" Eric said, walking towards the elevator as fast as he could without it being considered "running".

 

[Skillfulness]

Phenac City -> PCA Auditorium
Camilla Jimenez

"I guess I'll be just down the road from here then if you need me. Thanks again for brunch and good luck with the disasters on your end, sis!" Camilla waved to her sister Vanessa and headed the opposite direction from the café they had just been at. She had already checked in earlier that morning, then met up to talk over what had been happening in Orre lately. It was bad enough that Sinnoh Pokémon Rangers were being called in to assist and now Camilla received an invitation to join a regime of top tier trainers in an attempt to put and end to it. To Camilla, it seemed a little fishy, but she needed a distraction from her recent run through gyms and the imminent Elite Four challenge that had her nerves weak even now.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Camllia released Leonida, her Luxray buddy, to keep her company on the walk. Phenac City had a charm she was unaccustomed to and she made a note to make a proper visit here in the future. There was unique geography and the trainers here seemed to have a great handle on their Pokémon so maybe she could pick up some new techniques native to the land. Still, for now she was here on a mission and strolled up to the front of Phenac Academy with 15 minutes to spare. Always best to be early, if you're on time, you're late, she thought with a smile. Pulling up the email on her old Pokétech, she used the QR code on it to scan into the door with a satisfying beep.

"Alright girl, you ready?" Leo nuzzled her trainer in response and pranced ahead, leading the way to the lobby. From there, the receptionist at the desk asked to see her ID, which she offered freely, then the QR code again. Tight on security here, she mused. Then again, years ago there have been a gang, or the equivalent of one, called Cipher devastate the land. She was sure to do her research on the ride over and a lot of changes happened to the region over those two decades. Nothing obvious pointed to a source of the risen island; no red flags or smoking guns.

Now three floors up and in the auditorium, Camilla found the chair labeled with her name and took a mental note of the names of her soon-to-be associates, companions? She hoped she could make a few friends here. While it was great having her brother and sister always by her side, none of the people she met on her travels every really stuck. She wasn't insecure about it, but it would be nice to have a few more pillars of support if she was going forward with battling the Elite Four. Even though she never turned down a good party, her focus on training and battling might have alienated her from others.

"Ten minutes to go," she muttered, starting to idly scratch behind Leo's ear. She pulled open the email again and some articles she bookmarked to sidetrack her thoughts until the others arrived.

 

[Tangeh]

Jasper Harcourt
Phenac City Hotel -> PCA Auditorium

Jasper's golden eyes blinked open from the bed occupying Room 303. The room was a blur of tan and blue, the light filtering from the window suggesting it was still early afternoon. “Pixel?” Jasper called, sitting up and stretching lightly. “What time is it?”

...

Hm, no response. Must still be asleep. That or causing havoc elsewhere in the hotel. Jasper grumbled and felt around the bedstand for his glasses. Slipping them on revealed a sableye gripping the ceiling with hooked claws. The creature snapped its head a clean 180 with a wide, toothy grin as he noticed Jasper looking at him. Jasper just smiled. Neither Pixel nor Dante were any good at staying in their balls. “Morning, Dante. Or, afternoon, hopefully.” He looked back and forth for his cellphone, and, not seeing it, continued with, “any idea where Pixel put my phone?” Dante shrugged back, momentarily gripping the ceiling with only his toes.

Jasper sighed and stood up, using the room's mirror to pull his steel-blue hair into a loose bun. He'd fallen asleep in a long-sleeved black shirt, damaged jeans, and his drop necklace with a ghost-type symbol on the end of it. After a bit of searching around the room, he found his cellphone on the floor. It was a brick by modern standards – blocky, no keyboard, and a monotone screen that showed the time. 2:40pm. Oh, plenty of time, wasn't that meeting at three?

He gently shook the other three pokeballs he had with him, confirming the other three ghosts were accounted for. He gathered a bag together, including among basic supplies several large quartz crystals. He threw one up at the ceiling, and Dante caught it in his mouth, gnashing violently and swallowing. Crystal dust rained onto the bed. He whistled at Dante, who released from the ceiling and landed on Jasper's shoulder. “Alright bud, let's head out.”

...​

After a short walk, Jasper was standing in front of large blue doors that were meant to head into the academy. He pushed on it to open it, but it was locked. There was a QR scanner to the side, which rang a bell somewhere in Jasper's mind. “Damn it, I'll need to get my tablet out,” he muttered, placing his backpack on the ground to dig through it.

Dante jumped off Jasper's shoulder and phased through the door. Jasper could hear him cackle in delight. Well, that was great. Jasper finally grabbed onto the screen of his writing tablet, but it abruptly turned red and zoomed upward out of his hand. “Sike!” The tablet screeched with a gleeful titter. The telltale blue eyes of a rotom popped onto the screen and a mouth materialized to smirk at him.

Jasper tried his best to hide a grin. “Pixel, can you pull up that email from Justy that has the QR code to get into this place?”

The tablet rolled its eyes at him. “Zrrt! What am I, a rotom phone?!” Pixel turned toward the electronic door with a thoughtful hum.

“Pixel, no - ”

The writing tablet dropped back into Jasper's backpack. A default form rotom buzzed thoughtfully around the door for a moment, then popped into it, turning the QR scanner red.

Jasper picked up his tablet, cycling to the email himself. “You always have to do things the hard way, don't you?” The door beeped at him. “You're going to set off the security system. Bad first impression.” A pair of eyes materialized on the scanner, glancing around the room before emitting a beep that tilted upward into a questioning tone. “I don't know if there are cameras – ah, here it is.”

Jasper scanned the code himself, and the door stuttered open. Pixel flew out of it with a mid-air somersault, buzzing dizzily. Jasper walked past it into the next room.

“Zrrt! Zzzz zzzzrt!”

Jasper approached an empty reception desk as Pixel hovered around his head. “No, you did not almost have that, Pixel.”

“Zzzzrt!”

Strange – shouldn't there be somebody at the front desk to check them in? Jasper heard a muffled whimper from behind the desk and curiously glanced over the top of it to find a young green-haired man cowering beneath it, his brown eyes wide and staring at the ceiling.

Jasper slowly looked up. Well, at least he found Dante – once again secured to the ceiling, his body glowing a pale pink as he chuckled at the man on the ground. Dante could be a bit... creative when it came to night shade hallucinations. Jasper looked back at the man, trying to gauge how to fix this scenario. Pixel curiously circled the reception's computer, then popped into it. “Dante?” Jasper said calmly. “This guy isn't one of our new teammates.”

Dante immediately stopped glowing with a start, tipping his head at the man on the ground as he blinked. “Hey, boss,” Pixel chirped from the computer's speaker, “It wants your code, should I grab it for ya?”

Jasper looked doubtfully back at the young man, who was staggering to his feet. “Er, yes, I think you'd better.”

As Pixel zipped out of the computer and back into the tablet, Jasper began digging through his bag for his wallet. “Jazzzzzper Harcourt, officially checked in!” Pixel chirped. “That'zzzz what the screen says!”

The flustered young man put a hand to his forehead. “I-I.. what... what just...?”

Jasper pressed a thousand ₽ into the man's hand. “Uh, sorry, there's no lasting effects – if you could just point us in the right direction?” The man stared at him blankly. “I'm meeting with some guy named Justy?”

“...Elevator, third floor, double doors on left.”

“Wonderful,” Jasper smiled and whistled at Dante, who again dropped from the ceiling and onto Jasper's shoulder. Pixel dropped into Jasper's backpack and reemerged in Jasper's blocky phone. “Have a great day, sir.”

Up the elevator to the third floor, and through the double doors on the left. Easy enough. Jasper wasn't the first one there, and he offered a polite wave as he entered. Pixel floated over to a luxray, gently exchanging some electric sparks with her. “Don't mind Pixel,” Jasper said to the girl sitting beside the luxray, “it has a self-control problem with electricity.”

“Zrrt! I can stop whenever I want!” Pixel argued as it sunk slowly into the luxray's mane.

“My name's Jasper,” he introduced, offering one hand to shake and using the other to restrain Dante, who he could tell was trying to sneak away. He scanned the chairs and spotted several names fastened to them, including his own, so he settled into that one.

 

[Schade]

Ashley Prince
Phenac City - Academy

Ashley hated being late. It was genuinly one of the worst feelings he knew of, right up there besides the feeling of being behind on your work, or the feeling of being just about to sneee but then for some reason you don't have to anymore anyways so you just stand there looking like an idiot. Regardless, it hadn't been his fault that the flock of Swablu decided to fly in the path of an oncoming plane with very visible jet engines, thus forcing the plane to remanouver and do an emergency landing for damage control. Regardless, once he arrived in Phenac city, he was already so down on time that he more or less had to speedrun getting to his room, take a shower, change and get ready to head towards the academy.. Wherever that was.


He saw several other people on their way out from the hotel as he entered and walked up to the reception.
"Hi, my name is Ashley Prince. I'm here for...." he began, but was cut off from the receptionist.
"Oh. We know who you are. Ashley Prince. You're here as Justy's guest, right?" the receptionist said with a knowing smile. Ashley could also hear soft giggling and frantic talking from somewhere behind her, spotting a younger blonde female worker and a tall male worker peeking out from a door somewhere in the back of the receptionist area. Ashley shot them a quick blink, and he swore he could hear muffled screaming from back there. He then returned his attention to the elderly receptionist in front of him.
"Yes, that would be me. I appologise for being so late. My flight had some.. comlications." he continued.
"Not to worry, you should have time before the scheduled meeting at the academy" The receptionist said, correcting her glasses as she was looking over some information on a pamphlet.
"Here's your room key. your room is room number 311, on the third floor" the receptionist said, handing him a small keycard.
"And also, this is from upper management. It's a pleasure to have such an esteemed star visiting us here in Phanac city." she then continued, handing him a small bag with a variety of gifts. By her tone and voice, this was very rehearsed, and she likely had no idea who he was. Regardless, it was always nice to get accomadation on your travels.


Having seen many hotel rooms during his career, this one was nothing more than a basic room with the basic amenities required for overnight stay. It was quaint, and cozy, and luckily not as beige as the rest of the hotel and cityscape around them was. More importantly though, it had running water, and Ashley desperately needed to take a shower before heading off to the academy. Glancing into the gift bag he had recieved, it contained a bottle of matching shampoo and conditioner, a cute keychain, a pamphlet with information and fun trivia about the city (Which lkuckily included a roadmap to the academy) and a small assessment of snacks. quickly yoinking the shampoo and conditioner, he let out Bael the Politoed from her Lure Ball before hopping into the bathroom to get ready for a shower.

"Bael, could you please prepare an outfit for me real quick. I would do it myself but there isnt enough time." he quickly said. He heard a low confused croak before the unzipping noises of bags as the Politoed probably understood what he meant. The shower was quick, and he was out almost as fast as he got in. Bael had also managed to dig out an outfit. It was.... Two pairs of jeans, a sock and a grey hoodie.
"Not exactly the best outfit you could find.." Ashley laughed, before rumaging through his bags himself. He pulled out a weather-appropriate white V-neck, and picked up one of the pairs of jeans Bael had found. He gave up finding the second sock and got a different pair instead, and he pulled out his hair gel, generously sponcored by Gel Gel Gel™ in Unova, and went to work.


Precisely 3 minutes later, he was standing at the entrance. He had returned Bael to her Lure Ball as the desert sun and weather didn't really agree with her froggy queenliness. Instead, he let Astaroth the Scizor out. Astaroth did a long stretch before looking around confused. Due to the traveling, Ashley hadn't been able to see his Pokemon as much as he had hoped, and he felt a tad bit bad over it, hence why he wanted to give them all some time out in the sun now, so to speak. He had also brought the pamphlet from the gift bag in order to more easily find the academy, which he did, with about 4 minutes left on the clock before it was 3:00 PM.


Ashley remembered that he had to use a QR Code given to him prior to his arrival in order to enter the building, but when he got there, the QR scanning machine next to the already open door was glowing red, and was smoking for some reason. That didn't bode very well...
Ashley walked into the reception area, and towards teh dereption desk where the reception guy was standing recepting receptional receptions. The guy seemed pretty young, and had green hair. He also seemed utterly terrified for some reason. What had this poor guy been through today?
"You ok there bud?" Ashley asked. The guy jumped, not having noticed Ashley coming in.
"Yes.. er.. Well.. Yes." he said, fiddling with the keyboard to his computer. "You're here for Justy as well, i assume?"
"Why, yes i am." Ashley said, smiling softly. Astaroth was standing next to him, arms crossed.
Ashley gave the guy his QR Code and he scanned it into the computer.
"Ashley Prince has oficially been checked in" the receptionist said, gesturing him towards the elevator to the 3rd floor. Ash scuffed and went for the door with the big sign saying "STAIRS" on it. It would be faster than if he stood waiting for the elevator, which was already on its way up. He preferred stairs anyways, so it worked out fine for him. Astaroth sighed as he started walking towards the door, not looking forward to this impromptu workout session.

it wasn't difficult to find where he needed to go from here, as there was a welcoming sign on the door to the auditorium. He gave two quick knocks before letting himself in. By the looks of it, he either was one of the last to arrive, or he actually was the last one, as there was already quite the assembly of people in the room.
"Hi, my name's Ashley. I hope i'm not too late?" he said appologetically as he entered. Astaroth followed and stood next to him, arms still crossed.

 

[TheSequelReturns]

~ Yulie Stelle ~
- Academy -


Yulie had less than two minutes to go and it would likely take her that long just to tally up her options. This was fine. Most things tended to start late anyway. As long as she got there before anything important happened all would be well. Maybe she could even skip out on the akward introductions. But as she thought about it it seemed much more likely that arriving late to what might be a fairly small group of people would only make her stand out more. Ugh. There was no winning. Best to suck it up and try to get there as quickly as possible.

She looked around the room as best she could. There was an elevator door which might be helpful. There was also a stairwell nearby, just in case. Another hall stretched off to the side of the room with yet more doors. And the waiting area…

She tried to resist the urge, but the Marill family print rug was just too cute and she took the time to snap a picture of it. It was only after this that she noticed the receptionist. He wasn’t looking at her with the usual expectant but overly friendly smile but rather staring off into space in the general direction of the elevator. Yulie approached the counter and carefully but delliberately placed her hand on the flat surface. No responce.

“Hey there…” she started but the receptionist gave a little jump which in turn freaked her out bit and Yulie jumped back a step.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that miss. I uh… there was this…” he shook his head like he was shaking off a daze. “Nevermind.” He had that same look on his face that Yulie got when she had to explain something several times in a row with his eyes narrowed and his breath coming out in a shallow sigh.

“You okay… uh,” Yulie glanced at his nametag, “Benny?”

“I’m fine. Or, I will be. Its really not a big deal. I um,” he snapped his fingers a few times and the professional composure slowly started taking over again. “I take it you’re here for the meeting with Justy?”

Yulie nodded. “Yes, I was hoping you could tell me where the auditorium is.”

“No problem, I’ll just need to scan your QR code real quick and get you checked in.”

Didn’t she just scan it a few seconds ago at the front door? Yulie sighed and toggled the screen on her Poketch to pull the code back up before slightly awkwardly angling her arm over the counter so he could scan the screen.

“Hey, that’s a blast from the past,” Benny said as he quickly scanned the code and pressed a few keys on his own device. Before Yulie could figure out if that was a compliment or not, he was already motioning towards the elevator. “Yulie Stelle has been checked in. You’re all set. Just head on up to the third floor and take a left. It's the big double doors, you can’t miss it.”

Yulie nodded and self-consciously poked at her Poketch band. “Thanks.”

It took a second for the elevator to work its way to her floor and by the time Yulie was on her way up it was already a few mintues after three. It couldn’t be helped. Maybe if a Celebii were here it could send her back to this morning and let her try again but that was as impossible as arriving on time at this point.

The double doors to the auditorium were relatively normal looking and yet they seemed as imposing as castle gates. Had the meeting started already? Was she the only one running late? Was the whole room going to turn around and stare at her as she tried to sneak in? She shook those thoughts away as best she could and pushed herself forward and through the doors before she could overthink it. The door creaked a little louder than she would have liked as she slid through the gap and, keeping her head down and her hands protectively crossed in front of her, looked for an empty seat. One of them had her name and she quickly darted over to it, sunk into it as best she could, and took a long, deep breath before she finally looked up at the rest of the room.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

ERIC DAMON
Academy 3rd Floor

Eric had gotten off the elevator some time ago, and had followed the others to find the auditorium, because that seemed like the best option, as Eric didn't want to ask anybody for directions except as a last resort.

He took a deep breath, exhaling through his nose. "Peggy, I know you're watching over me from the Glorious Beyond. I'm going to make you so proud, babe!" He quietly muttered to himself before opening the giant double doors and finding a decent seat at the auditorium.

He then realized there was a seat literally with his name on it. He shrugged, and thought "Well, that definitely works for me." Eric sat down in anticipation for this event. He began to look around from his assigned seat, attempting to find any familiar faces. Unfortunately he did not recognize anybody, but it is what it is. Eric also felt like the seat was comfortable enough for him, but not to the point where he might fall asleep luckily.

Eric was trying not to show his excitement too much, and was doing a good job at it.

It was only a matter of time before the show, lecture, or whatnot, would finally begin, and Eric was alert and prepared.

 

[Monster Guy]

Melissa “Mimi” Shannon
Phenac City

Mimi had been sleeping peacefully. However, the peace was soon interrupted by sudden wetness. Startled, she soon discovered she was rudely awakened by a Stoutland licking her face. This was not how she wanted to be woken up. Despite this, she couldn’t help but giggle. “Alright, alright! I’m up!” At least the Stoutland was cute.

The Stoutland apparently belonged to a boy who filled out that suit he was very well… Ahem… anyway, it was time to go in. After getting checked in by the receptionist, and the three trainers went on the elevator.

“It’s so nice that your Rotom phone actually listens to you.” Mimi said to Maya. “My mother programmed mine, and it more or less does what she wants. She says she wants what’s best for me. But tbh, what’s best for me would be for her to leave me be. I did not sign up for the trainer thing to become some sort of celebrity.” She sighed while twisting some pink strands of hair between her fingers.

Just as she said that, Mimi’s Rotom phone woke up, and floated out of Mimi’s pocket to talk to everyone. “Hello humans! Do you realize you are in the presence of greatness! Melissa Shannon! You should get her autograph now before she really takes off.”

Mimi’s face turned bright red and she facepalmed. “It’s Mimi phone…” she grabbed the device, and stuffed it in her pocket again.

As soon as they were on their floor, they took some time to search for the room the debriefing was supposed to take place in. They soon found it, and arrived at the same time as another cute blonde boy who was accompanied by a Scizor. Mimi didn’t like that. Her eyes went wide. “BUG!” She screamed, and hid behind Aiden. “I hate bugs. HatehatehateHATE them! They’re creepy crawly and gross! Keep that nasty creature away from me!” Mimi went as far away from the Scizor as she possibly could.

 

[Mickmon95]

Maya Bordeaux
Phenac City Academy

I did my best to keep my cool as the elevator began ascending towards our destination.

“It’s so nice that your Rotom phone actually listens to you” Mimi said to me. Her words broke me out of my anxious thoughts. “My mother programmed mine, and it more or less does what she wants. She says she wants what’s best for me. But tbh, what’s best for me would be for her to leave me be. I did not sign up for the trainer thing to become some sort of celebrity” Mimi said fiddling with her pink hair.

“Hello humans! Do you realize you are in the presence of greatness! Melissa Shannon! You should get her autograph now before she really takes off.” Mimi’s phone interjected again.

“Yeah, Hoops and I are friends. I indulge in his quirks, and he does the same for me” I hadn’t really given much thought to my dynamic with Hoops. It had always been this way for us. We had just been instant friends who listen to each other. He was my little friend who I could always talk to. “I’m sure your mother’s intentions are good deep down, but she should try listening to you for a change” I gave Mimi a smile. “My mother doesn’t listen to me either, but in a different way. She is just never there” the words just kind of came out. I didn’t mean to get personal in that moment.

Ding! The elevator alerted us that we made it to our floor. Whew, saved by the bell.

“Let’s go, guys!” I stepped forward and out of the elevator.

Then it all happened so fast. As we entered the auditorium, a blonde boy was arriving with his Scizor. Then Mimi freaked out.

“BUG!” Mimi screamed and hid behind Aiden. “I hate bugs. HatehatehateHATE them! They’re creepy crawly and gross! Keep that nasty creature away from me!” Mimi did her best to put as much distance between her and the bug Pokémon as possible.

“Sorry about Mimi. I guess she’s not a bug person” I chuckled. “My name is Maya.” I introduced myself to the blonde trainer and his Scizor. “I’m assuming we are all here for the meeting with Justy. That’s starting soon so we should get to our seats ASAP.” I looked back at my terrified friend. “Would it be too much to ask for your Scizor to return- “my words were cut off by the voice of another.

“Good afternoon, team! Let’s get this debriefing started!” A voice boomed from the direction of the stage.

I turned to see Justy standing on the stage. His lavender shoulder-length hair and silver eyes added to his captivating aura. He wore a long white shirt with a Pokeball logo and fuchsia pants. What an interesting sense of style.

“Everyone, please find your labelled seat and sit down. We will then get started.” Justy had made his way to a podium with a microphone. His voice was deep and cool. He had this presence about him that I just couldn’t quite place. Mesmerizing? Captivating? Something where you wanted to pay attention to him and listen to what he had to say.

“Aiden! Mimi! Let’s find our seats!” I called out to our group.

It looked like the first two rows had labels with names on them. The auditorium looked like what you would expect from a school auditorium. Red cushioned seats and a big wooden stage with red curtains.

I managed to find my seat at the far-left seat on the second row. As I had been getting to my seat, others had been shuffling around to do the same. Then there was silence.

“I want to start off by thanking you all for coming to Orre. I know many of you have travelled a long way to get here. I appreciate all of you taking the time to from your schedules to come and hear me out” he expressed. “There is a lot to cover, so I please request that all of your questions are saved until the end” he told us.

This was it. Justy was about to tell us what he wants from us. Will this be dangerous? How long will this take? Questions like these and many others began racing through my head. My heart began to beat faster.

“I am not going to sugar coat any of this. Orre is in danger and the mission at hand won’t be easy. I’m sure you all have heard that there has been a rise in natural disasters across the region. This has never happened before at this rate. The oceans surrounding Orre are riddled with storms. This has blocked off trade and travel via sea. Gateon Port is suffering greatly because of this. The volcano at Mt. Battle has become active and dangerous. Eclo Canyon has been plagued by tornados causing massive sandstorms. The forest in Agate Village has been swarmed by overgrown vines which has cut us off from the Relic Forest, more importantly Relic Stone. The Relic Stone is a precious sanctum for the people of Orre.”

I remember that. When I was living with grandma thorny vines had created a barrier from entering the Relic Forest. Grandma would take me to visit and meditate at the Relic Stone when I was feeling lost and hopeless. Then almost overnight the vines appeared.

“The nature is out of balance across the region. The Pokémon are also being affected. There have been reports of ‘peculiar’ Pokémon rampaging and attacking humans. According to a few eyewitness testimonies, these Pokémon are reminiscent of the Shadow Pokémon from a couple of decades ago. There only concern seems to be causing pain and destruction. How many of you know of the Shadow Pokémon crisis of Orre?” he asked the group.

I raised my hand. Grandma had told me all about it.

“A criminal organization known as Cipher had found a way to close the hearts of Pokémon and turn them into fighting machines to do their evil bidding. Their plan was to conquer the Orre region and then the rest of the world using these super powered Pokémon. They were thwarted twice by young trainers who stepped up to fight for justice.”

That’s right. Grandma said that they used Snag machines to steal back the Shadow Pokémon from the bad guys and purified the Shadow Pokémon at the Relic Stone.

“Orre is in turmoil once again. This time by a new threat. The legend of Sparx is one that has faded from the memory of the general public. To be completely honest, I didn’t believe it myself until a few months ago. According to legend, Sparx was an advanced society who lived on a floating island that resided above Eclo Canyon. Back in those times, people and Pokemon hadn’t discovered how to coexist with each other yet. Humans feared Pokemon and Pokemon couldn’t trust humans. Sparx was said to be one of the first societies to exemplify Pokemon and humans living together harmoniously. One day, Sparx suffered a tragedy and whatever force kept it floating stopped. The island came crashing down into the canyon below and the society was annihilated. The island was said to have been destroyed. Nobody knows what happened that day.”

That’s terrible. All those lives lost. All that history and culture wiped out in an instant. I wonder what we could’ve learned from them had they been present to this day.

“Then about six months ago it happened. The earth in Eclo Canyon trembled furiously and the island of Sparx rose into the sky once again. The island is seemingly perfectly intact. Coincidentally, that’s when all the chaos began happening across the region. I believe that there’s a connection there. There’s a mystery to be solved and a crisis to resolve.”

I had arrived right before the natural disasters. Justy was right. That’s when things started going wrong about six months ago. What could be going on up there on that island?

“Now, you may be thinking to yourself: why don’t we just fly up onto the island to see what’s going on? We have tried. There’s a barrier there. One of my colleagues flew up there on his Salamence a month ago and he ran right into the barrier. He was electrocuted by an unknown energy source that has left him and his Salamence in a coma ever since.”

Oh my!

“Another question you may be pondering is why you all? Why not reach out to the Pokemon League for help? There are plenty of gym leaders, elite four and champions that can come help, right? Well, the Pokemon League doesn’t believe that there’s a correlation between the natural disasters and Sparx. There isn’t enough proof according to them. They don’t see enough reason to come out and investigate.”

That is f*cked up. Do they not care about Orre and its people? Huh? Did I just see something flash across Justy’s eyes? Was that anger? It was for a split second, but I could’ve sworn his silver eyes shifted just then. He had been presenting all this information in an even and calm tone. He must be hurt that Orre is being ignored by the league. If that’s the case, then I don’t really blame him.

“I told you earlier that I didn’t believe in Sparx and the legend up until recently, right? This book here changed my mind” Just raised an old-looking, brown book that had something red on the cover. “This is a very old diary passed down in my family. My grandfather had given it to me before he passed. He told me about Sparx, but I had kept it on my shelf all this time without any thought about it. I chalked it up to fairy tales. Then I heard the name Sparx from a colleague, and I knew that I had to investigate this further.”

What? Does that mean Justy’s family is descended from the people of Sparx?

“If this diary is to be believed, then I am a descendant of Sparx. The good news is that we may find answers in this book on unraveling this mystery. The bad news is that it’s written an ancient language that very little information exists of. One of our top researchers of the region, Professor Krane, has agreed to help me translate it.”

Profess Krane? I believe he researches Pokemon at the Pokemon HQ Lab. He was a big proponent in helping solve the Pokemon Shadow Crisis according to grandma. He had invented a machine to purify Shadow Pokemon.

“To conclude, the Orre region is in a critical state. I’m not sure how much longer we can endure this madness thrown upon us. It only seems to be getting worse. I contacted you all to join my trainer task force. My goal was to assemble a team of skilled trainers with creative minds and talents. I have researched each of you and invited you based on your individual accomplishments and unique minds. Prowess in battling wasn’t enough. Each of you comes from a different walk of life. Now that I have presented all this information you have a choice to make. You can walk away and return to your lives back home or you can stay and help save the Orre region” Justy concluded. “I will hold no ill will if you decide against this. But I implore you to consider staying.”

Wow. What an opportunity. I don’t know. It sounds like this will involve danger and risk to us and our Pokemon. I don’t know if I can turn my back on the Orre region though. This is grandma’s home. There so many people and their families here. There is a lot to fight for.

“This is your time to decide. If you don’t want to join my task force, then please exit the auditorium now. I will book your return flight as soon as possible and cover your lodging until then.” Justy looked at us with hope in his eyes. He clearly wanted us all to stay.

Huh? What’s that? There’s a light coming from Justy’s book. As if the sun was reflecting light on something shiny on its surface. I saw him look down at the book resting on the podium as confused as I was.

That’s when we were interrupted by a voice over the intercom.

“ATTENTION PHENAC CITY! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE MAYOR! THERE IS A HORDE OF RAPMAGING POKEMON ENTERING THE CITY! FOR YOUR SAFETY PROCEED TO SHELTER AND PLACE INSIDE YOUR HOMES OR THE NEAREST BUILDING! DO NOT ENGAGE! THESE POKEMON ARE VIOLENT AND WILLING TO ATTACK HUMANS”

“Change of plans. If you do not wish to join the team, then please stay here for safety. The rest of you follow me outside to investigate!” Justy ordered and bolted out of the room.

Damnit! There was no time to think. It’s either now or never. This is no time to live in fear. The people of Orre need help.

I stood up and ran after Justy.

Maya Bordeaux
Phenac City

We made it outside and stood in front of the Academy looking out at the city.

There were about 12 of these peculiar Pokemon all around the city causing destruction. They appeared to be a pack of Houndoom and Mightyena. There was something different about them though. Their eyes were bright red. They had little, red specks or particles or something floating around them as they moved.

“I believe these are the peculiar Pokemon I mentioned earlier.” Justy explained to me and the others who followed. “It’s time to battle. Be careful, everyone. These aren’t ordinary Pokemon. You can’t expect your previous knowledge of Pokemon to apply here.” He warned us. He tossed a PokeBall and released his Azumarill.

“Right!” I responded. “Go Neptune!” I called out releasing my Empoleon from his PokeBall.

I heard a woman’s scream nearby. I followed the sound to my left to see a pair of Houndoom cornering this elderly woman next to the Poke Mart. She had fallen and was scooting up against the wall.

“Neptune use Whirlpool to get those Houndoom away from that woman!” I commanded as I ran over to her.

Neptune jumped into the air and let loose a tornado of water that sent the Houndoom tumbling away from their prey.

“Are you okay?” I knelt beside the woman on the floor.

“Yes, thank you!” she gestured with her hand for me to help her up.

I took her hand and assisted her to her feet.

“Get inside” I told her.

“Thank you, dear” she hobbled her way into the Poke Mart, and I heard the door lock behind her.

I turned my attention to the battle at hand. The Houndoom were on their feet as if nothing happened. What the f*ck? Not a scratch on them.

The Houndoom began unleashing red bolts of lightning from their mouths.

Empoleon dodged both of their attacks and hopped in front of me.

“What is that attack?” I muttered to myself. That didn’t look like any attack I had known a Houndoom to have in their arsenal. I hadn’t seen such an attack period.

I looked around to see the other peculiar Pokemon using the same attack or one that resembled Tackle while being covered in that same red energy. I couldn’t see one attack that looked familiar to me.

“Um…” What do I do? “Try Bubblebeam!” I called out.

Neptune fired a stream of blue bubbles at the pair of Houndoom. It was a direct and powerful hit, but it didn’t look to do much damage.

One of the Houndoom fired the red lightning attack and it struck Neptune. Neptune cried out in agony and faltered to his knees. Whatever that attack was it did serious damage.

“Sh*t!” I cursed.

I looked back to see Justy in a similar struggle against the Mightyena he was fighting with his Azumarill. Their fairy type attacks weren’t doing the super effective damage they should be doing.

Neptune struggled but managed to rise to his feet. He stood in front of me as the Houndoom approached. We backed up to the wall. We were in the same position as the old woman had been.

“Let’s keep some distance while we figure out a plan!” I told Neptune. “Use Surf to push them back!” I commanded.

Neptune waved his arms across his body and sent a wave of water at the Houndoom. They were sent sliding into one of the rivers that coursed throughout the city.

The Houndoom popped their heads out of the water and raised their paws on to the ground to begin climbing out.

They’re fire type Pokemon, yet the water isn’t doing anything to them. They should be fainted already. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

“Empol?” Neptune looked back to me asking for guidance.

I could feel my heart racing and the anxiety rising. Stay calm, Maya. You can do this.

 

[Skillfulness]

PCA Auditorium -> Phenac City Center, Poke Mart
Camilla Jimenez

Eventually, other participants started to show up. A man with blue-grey hair and pale skin entered with a Rotom buzzing over to Camilla and Leo, seeming to posses the trainers phone. The two Pokémon gently sparked with one another, the trainer giving some half hearted comment on its self control. Camilla only grinned at the sweet interaction.

“Zrrt! I can stop whenever I want!” Camilla started at the talking ‘mon, quickly connecting the dots. Rotom phones weren’t too common in Sinnoh, surprisingly enough. The trainer introduced himself as Jasper, shook hands, and dragged his Sableye to his named seat.

“Name’s Camilla, pleasure to meet you. Pixel is a great name, is it a real Rotom or one of the modern phones? They honestly never caught on around where I’m from, the old brick suits me just fine.” She chuckled and fiddled with her mobile. More people entered, then there was a short scuffle with three and a fear of bug Pokémon, a bit entertaining. Maya, Mimi, Ashley, and two others that snuck in without an introduction, nametags she could see that read Eric and Yulie. Quite a little bunch she was looking forward to working alongside.

“Good afternoon, team! Let’s get this debriefing started!” Justy appeared on the stage in the auditorium, luscious lavender locks flowing. His charisma oozed as he launched into an introduction; thank yous to the trainers, an explanation of the situation, and theories on what was happening were all covered. Camilla wasn’t too familiar with Orre, the regions, and the history of the place, but some things rung a bell. Her minimal research paid off a bit as she wasn’t completely lost during the presentation. Justy helped put the puzzle pieces together though, the connection with the Shadow Pokémon, Cipher, Eclo, and the newly re-floating island Sprax. It was still hazy coincidence, but it was a start at least.

“Another question you may be pondering is why you all? Why not reach out to the Pokémon League for help?” This was a good point Camilla considered and the answer was disappointing. Were the leaders in this region that callous? Surely they would want to throw at least some minimal support this way. Unless Justy is untrustworthy? Untrusty Justy? Camilla hid her snicker at her own corny joke, but the seed of doubt was planted. He continued to provide his idea of proof, the journal, and that the offer to step away was there. Camilla barely gave it a thought, there wasn’t a question to why she showed up. She would help. Her sister was here to help. The region deserved support even on a farfetched idea of ancient utopias and ancestry clues. Her battling was up to par, so she felt confident in being safe, but would need to rely on others that knew Orre better than her. Caution would be the way forward for a while.

An alarm interrupted any discussion before it could start.

“ATTENTION PHENAC CITY! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE MAYOR! THERE IS A HORDE OF RAPMAGING POKEMON ENTERING THE CITY! FOR YOUR SAFETY PROCEED TO SHELTER AND PLACE INSIDE YOUR HOMES OR THE NEAREST BUILDING! DO NOT ENGAGE! THESE POKEMON ARE VIOLENT AND WILLING TO ATTACK HUMANS”

“Change of plans. If you do not wish to join the team, then please stay here for safety. The rest of you follow me outside to investigate!” Justy shouted and Camilla was on her feet to join him out of the room in a flash. Leo was hot on her heels. Time to put the team to the test.

Outside the academy, Camilla released the rest of her Pokémon; Punchy the Breloom, Spartacus the Jolteon, and Franky the Masquerain. Across the city were a dozen Pokémon, Mightyena and Houndoom from what she could see, with a peculiar red glint to their eyes. Justy warned they would be different from other Pokémon, to be cautious. Camilla took the advice and darted down an alley where she could hear screams for help.

“Spartacus take point, use your speed to stay out of danger and distract. Leo you’ll hit heavy with Franky and Punchy stay by me for protection. Plan good?” There were nods and chirps from the team, assent all around. Camilla saw people running from a Poke Mart, dark figures prowling between the shelves inside. A few trainer stood outside the broken windows looking ready to fight. The Torterra at the front sent a flurry of leaves into the store. The Mightyena inside growled and charged out through the Razor Leaf attack without even flinching. It was surrounded by dark red waves and when it hit the other Pokémon, Torterra slumped to the ground immediately.

Spartacus jumped in with a Thunderbolt, hardly seeming to do any damage, but getting its attention. It gave the other trainer a chance to return his Pokémon and retreat. Leo went in fast with a Crunch, definitely not effective for damage but still doing good to get its attention. Unfortunately, it got the attention of the other hostiles in the store.

“Hey, stay out of range and dodge, everyone!” Camilla commanded the other trainers nearby, the ones who hadn’t fled yet. The Mightyena was taking swipes at Spartacus with no luck, the brat was just too slippery. Franky helped lure a Houndoom away from another trainer while they ordered their Pokémon to attack a third... beast. These weren’t normal Pokémon, were they Shadow ones?

Punchy yelled a warning just before the Mightyena lunged at Camilla. He went into Bullet Punch to protect her while she stumbled back, heart racing. Spartacus and Leo were both crumpled beside the building, getting up quickly but clearly taken down in one hit. What are these things made of!? She cussed under her breath and backed up with the other trainers. It was clear there was something wrong with these Pokémon. Maybe she had to start looking for ways to get out safely instead of taking them down? Would her sister know of any safe places? Thoughts whirring, she got out some healing items and prepared for a tough match.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

ERIC DAMON
PHENAC CITY

Eric was waiting for the lecture to start when an alert went off...


“ATTENTION PHENAC CITY! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE MAYOR! THERE IS A HORDE OF RAMPAGING POKEMON ENTERING THE CITY! FOR YOUR SAFETY PROCEED TO SHELTER AND PLACE INSIDE YOUR HOMES OR THE NEAREST BUILDING! DO NOT ENGAGE! THESE POKEMON ARE VIOLENT AND WILLING TO ATTACK HUMANS”

Eric's Serperior popped out of her PokeBall without her Trainer even sending her out.

Eric looked at the long green serpentine creature and began communicating (OOC NOTE: other Trainers who don't understand Pokemon speech will hear Eric saying 'Pyroar' because that's the species that raised him in the wilderness. Also translation for Serperior will be in Italics.)

"Oh, most wondrous! I hath decided to taketh a nap for just a few minutes, and some Pokemon, lacking valor, art now attacking people out of nowhere?! Shall we show our might too calm those Pokemon down?"


"Sounds like a plan! Let's go!" Eric responded to Serperior.

"This definitely isn't good! We need to help the other Trainers fend them off!" Eric thought out loud to himself in human language.

Serperior slid out of the building before Eric, and a Mightyena darted towards Eric the moment he got outside of the building.

Luckily, Serperior's tail began to glow and solidify less than a second before Eric could utter "USE IRON TAIL!", and was struck the angry hyena-wolf-beast-thing down with a mighty blow to the head, but it wouldn't stay down so easily.
It ran towards Eric again, teeth bared and mouth foaming, aiming for Eric's stomach area.
"Leaf Tornado!" Eric ordered Serperior, who unleashed a decent-sized verdant cyclone towards the livid Mightyena, finally defeating it.

"That was close. Thanks, Serperior." Eric said, in human language. "You really saved my hide."

"What can I sayeth except, Thou art welcome!" Serperior communicated to her Trainer.

Eric and Serperior then ran up the other Trainers who were at the seminar but are now fighting off the rampaging clan of Houndoom and Mightyena.
"The name's Eric. My Serperior and I are here to help!" Eric said, adrenaline keeping him pumped.

 

[Tangeh]

Jasper Harcourt
Phenac City Hotel

The young woman Jasper had introduced himself to introduced herself as Camilla. Jasper smiled at her compliment of Pixel's name and agreed with her preference for older phones, though he didn't get to tell her that because Pixel piped up with “you bet I'm real sizZZzter!”

“The rotoms in the modern rotom phones are real too, but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise,” Jasper added with a chuckle. “I've had that cellphone a while before rotom phones got popular – was that the phone I had when I caught you, Pixel?”

“Zrrt! No, I broke that one.”

“Ah, right, I forgot – the reason we can't have nice things.” Right – he'd had to buy the most durable cellphone on the market after Pixel dropped his first one so many times it wouldn't turn on anymore. It was a nuisance to replace, and his current phone's thick plastic lined with multiple rubber bumpers made sure he'd not had to do it since. Pixel hummed happily from inside it, still settled in the luxray's fur.

Other trainers began filtering in. Dante the sableye purred happily from his spot on Jasper's shoulder as a young woman had an absolute meltdown over a scizor who did little more to her than exist in the same room. “Stay,” Jasper muttered to Dante, who grumbled but didn't leap to join the chaos. He wasn't normally so worried about the ghosts behaving, but this whole setup felt so official and serious. He didn't want them getting kicked out before he had a chance to get established. He did feel a little bad for the scizor though, as it was looking deflated.

Pixel popped out of the luxray's mane, and Jasper immediately regretted not keeping it within arm's reach as it flew over to the girl and the scizor and circled them mockingly. “Eek! A girl!” Pixel shrieked. “Hair – so long! ClothezZZz – so – so – PINK!” Pixel gave a staticy sigh and floated on its side for a moment, mocking passing out, then hid behind the scizor. “Bet she smellzZz nice, too,” Pixel muttered into the scizor's ear (supposing it had them), before floating anxiously back to Jasper. “Boss! BossZZzz, you'll never believe it - ”

“Pixel, please,” Jasper grumbled, “be nice, go say sorry.”

“A GIRL,” Pixel continued dramatically, “I know it's been a while since you've seen one of them - ”

Jasper snatched Pixel out of the air and stuffed it back into his backpack. He tapped his phone smoothly to Pixel's pokeball and the phone fell lifeless in his hand. “Uh, sorry!” Jasper waved awkwardly at the girl, hoping he wasn't as red as he felt. Dante cackled at him. Great start.

Thankfully at that moment, Justy finally made an appearance, talking more in-depth about the unusual phenomenon affecting the Orre region. Jasper had heard of the Shadow Pokemon crisis but wished he'd been given more of a heads-up so he could have read about it on the journey over. Jasper frowned and listened thoughtfully to Justy's plea – basically, he thought this whole thing was connected to an ancient civilization that had resurfaced six months ago. The floating island was untouchable, and the League refused to help. Jasper wasn't presently affiliated with the League, at least not until another opportunity popped up, but from his time as a gym leader, the League dismissing something so serious seemed about on par. Heaven forbid a ten-year-old be unable to earn a badge for a few days. Part-time gym leader and part-time national defence is what Jasper always felt the League should strive for – if a position like that opened up, he'd be the first in line.

Justy implored them to either stay and fight or leave now. His story did seem a little far-fetched, but it didn't sound like Orre had many other leads, or many other volunteers. The situation was too dire to back out now. Speaking of – the intercom suddenly alerted them to a horde of rampaging pokemon entering the city. Justy ordered them out – huh, well, that was one hell of a briefing. He glanced up at Dante and the pair nodded at each other. Guess it was go time.

Jasper Harcourt
Phenac City

The danger wasn't immediately apparent to Jasper. There were only about a dozen wild houndoom and mightyena on the loose, granted with eyes that rivaled Dante's mega form and an odd red aura floating off them. His team was at a serious type disadvantage here, but Jasper was used to trainers showing up to his gym with a full team of dark types. The ghosts should feel right at home.

The others were running to answer the screams for help that were echoing around the city. It was a growl that got Jasper's attention. Dante leapt off Jasper's shoulder to stand between him and a houndoom. The beast looked absolutely unhinged; its jaws gnashed wildly and its eyes were strained open. Then – of all things – it unleashed a red bolt of lightning from its mouth.

Neither Jasper nor Dante were anticipating it, and Dante cried out as if he'd been hit by a fairy attack. “That's impossible...” Jasper muttered, but he didn't have time to think about it for long. “Dante, power gem!”

The red gem on Dante's stomach unleashed a pink beam, but far from even trying to avoid the attack, the houndoom ran into the beam full on and continued straight toward Dante, whose eyes glowed green for a moment before he dodged out of the way. The houndoom continued toward Jasper, and he rolled desperately on the ground and grasped the pendant around his neck, activating a glow around Dante. He choked on dust and forced himself up. The gem that was once on Dante's stomach now towered over him. The houndoom lunged again for Dante, and he blocked it with his gem with a grimace. Mega evolving bought them time, but little else.

Jasper fished two more balls out of his backpack, and Pixel – in his default form, for once – and Kratos the ceruledge appeared. “Let's try something else,” Jasper mused. “Pixel, thunder wave! Kratos, fire spin!” The attacks connected – Jasper could only hope that would slow it down some, but they needed to do more than that.

 

[Schade]

Ashley Prince
Phenac City - Academy


A few more people entered the room after Ashley had arrived. Amongst them were two young women; one of which who had a Stoutland with her. the other girl, clad in pink from hear to toe, seriously, even her hair was pink, saw Scizor and promptly screamed her heart out. Screaming bloody murder, it became clear that she wasn't a big fan of Bug-Type pokemon. Astaroth cautionally held one of his pincers up to his face as to point in a "Are you talking about me?" manner, before slumping it back down, along with his head in a sad manner once it became clear that he was absolutely the reason for the womans outburst.

The other girl then talked up, appologizing to Ashley on behalf of the other woman, whose name was Mimi. She introduced herself as Maya before confirming that they had all been summoned by the Justy character.
"I'm not the one you should appologize to." Ashley said in a defensive tone, peeking over to where Astaroth was standing, now awkwardly shuffling his foot as to kick something on the ground that wasn't there. Before anything else could happen though, they were interrupted by a... Phone? Must be one of those Rotom Phones Ashley had heard of. Good investments, although this one seemed rather intent on joining in on the bullying, making snide remarks to Mimi's appearance mimicking her own panic before making snide remarks about her smell to Astaroth? Astaroth tried waving the little pervert away with his pincer just as its apparent trainer? Owner? How did the logistic surrounding the rotom in the phones actually work? Regardless, another guy came over and appologized on the phones behalf.
Astaroth now looked very out of place and saddened for being attacked in such a manner. Maya then, rather rudly, asked if Ashley could return Astaroth to his pokeball to accomodate for Mimi's outburst. Or.. That's where the conversation was going, until she was interrupted.

“Good afternoon, team! Let’s get this debriefing started!” A voice called from the direction of the stage.

The character Ashley assumed to be Justy looked surprisingly young, with a sense of style matching those flashi protagonist from the cartoons many people liked. He asked the group to find their assignet seats. It didn't take very long, but since there were no seats for the Pokemon some of the trainers had out, Ashley recalled Astaroth to his pokeball after all, much to Astaroths apparent relief.


Justy then began speaking about the strange happenings in the Orre region, as well as the regions history with the Shadow Pokemon and his theory regarding the ongoing calamities. While Ashley had heard about the regions mysterious past and current ongoings in various media before, he hadn't ever paid that much attention to it due to his busy schedule and general detatchment from the situation, until now at least. Justy then went on about how the pokemon league wasn't doing anything about the situation due to an apparent "Lack of evidence", which to Ashley sounded like total humbug. He had seen the Pokemon Leage champion of his home region Galar take action during a similar disasterous event with precious little evidence to go on, only chasing bits of history and regional legends.


Finishing up his speech, Justy offered the people to either stay or return home. there was a certain silence in the auditorium as everyone decided. Ashley was divided. While he was all about helping others if he could, this situation seemed a bit out of his comfort zone. Before he could make any judgment though, the old book Justy was holding began to glow.. somehow. Then, the intercom in the building blared off:

“ATTENTION PHENAC CITY! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE MAYOR! THERE IS A HORDE OF RAPMAGING POKEMON ENTERING THE CITY! FOR YOUR SAFETY PROCEED TO SHELTER AND PLACE INSIDE YOUR HOMES OR THE NEAREST BUILDING! DO NOT ENGAGE! THESE POKEMON ARE VIOLENT AND WILLING TO ATTACK HUMANS”

Well would you look at that. Seems like there's a reason to stay after all. Ashley made his desicion as he bounced out of his chair and followed the others.


Ashley Prince
Phenac City

Exiting the academy, the danger became apparent quite quickly. the perputrators seemed to be a pack of Houndooms and Mightyenas. While Ashley was well aware of the Type Chart, there was something... Off about them. They seemed to be glowing with a reddish aura. Ashley wondered if that affected the way they battled..

As if reading his mind, Justy chimed in with additional info.
“I believe these are the peculiar Pokemon I mentioned earlier.” he explained. “It’s time to battle. Be careful, everyone. These aren’t ordinary Pokemon. You can’t expect your previous knowledge of Pokemon to apply here.”. Just great.

Most of the others ran off in different directions to help out citizens in need, and as such Ashley decided to go on the offensive instead. While the pack of wild pokemon had dispersed to cover more ground, there were still a few in his direct vicinity. Especially two Mightyenas who had taken an interest in him. The two pokemon circled him while they snarled menacingly, eyes wide with an unnatural glow and frothing at the mouth like rabid.. .Well, Mightyenas. Thinking fast, Ashley went for his pokeball, and released Bobby the Typhlosion.

"There's no need to hold back, Bobby! We need to save the city from these Pokemon!" Ash yelled at Bobby, who had now taken on the Mightyenas attention. Bobby roared loudly while flames erupted around his neck, readying himself for battle.

"All right, Bobby, use Focus Blast!" Ashley commanded. Typhlosion then quickly charged up a light blue sphere of pure energy and blasted it off towards one of the Mightyena. It did a nice curve, before completely missing the mark. Dangit! The other Mightyena had also started hunting Ashley instead, as the other one was keeping Bobby occupied. It lunged towards Ashley, but he managed to dodge it, if only barely. If he was to survive this, he would need some additional assistance.

As the second Mightyena lunged at him again, he barely managed to release Astaroth the Scizor back out in time to stand in its way, making the Mightyena collide into it and losing its balance.
"Astaroth, pummel that thing with a Close Combat!" Ashley yelled. Astaroth got up close and personal before the Mightyena could get back on its feet and started going to pound-town on it, slamming, punching, kicking and even headbutting, he ended the Close Combat with a powerful strike, sending the Mightyena backwards. Both Bobby and Astaroth then took defensive stances in front of Ashley, awaiting the Mightyenas next moves.

 

[TheSequelReturns]

~ Yulie Stelle ~
- Academy -> Phenac City Streets -


Lucky for her, no one seemed to mind that Yulie had entered late. And Justy was kind enough to wait for everyone to be seated to begin his lecture. That was enough to calm Yulie’s frayed nerves and she found herself settling into a familiar “sit still and look attentive” routine as her mind both wandered and absorbed the content of Justy’s speech.

He began with the usual courtesies Yulie had heard a million times. But he didn’t dawdle on them. He got right to business with a brief history lesson of the Orre region as well as a concise summary of the troubles currently plaguing it. Some of this Yulie already knew. Other parts, like this Relic Stone thing or the whole business with Sparx, were new. She almost wished she had brought her notepad, but she jotted down a few keywords to follow up on later with her Poketch’s sketch app.

Then Justy said something that made her pause.

“Another question you may be pondering is why you all? Why not reach out to the Pokemon League for help? There are plenty of gym leaders, elite four and champions that can come help, right? Well, the Pokemon League doesn’t believe that there’s a correlation between the natural disasters and Sparx. There isn’t enough proof according to them. They don’t see enough reason to come out and investigate.”

Yulie had assumed he saw one of her interviews in a magazine or one of her photo collections and hired her to document this whole mess, but she was going to be part of the official investigation. In lieu of the League, no less. Was she even qualified to be here? Well, the least she could do was document whatever this group got up to. Her hand absentmindedly went for her camera as she listened further.

With his speech concluded, Justy seemed ready to open the floor to questions. This was normally the part in her public appearances when she would smile for the camera, bow politely, and wander off stage to go hide in the dressing room for half an hour. Now though, she actually had a laundry list of questions and couldn’t decide on which one to ask first. Maybe she should ask if she could photograph that weird book…

“ATTENTION PHENAC CITY! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE MAYOR! THERE IS A HORDE OF RAMPAGING POKEMON ENTERING THE CITY! FOR YOUR SAFETY PROCEED TO SHELTER AND PLACE INSIDE YOUR HOMES OR THE NEAREST BUILDING! DO NOT ENGAGE! THESE POKEMON ARE VIOLENT AND WILLING TO ATTACK HUMANS.''

Yulie nearly fell out of her seat at the sudden shout from the intercom. An emergency? Here? Now?

“Change of plans. If you do not wish to join the team, then please stay here for safety. The rest of you follow me outside to investigate!” Justy ordered and bolted out of the room with several of the others hot on his tail.

Yulie was frozen in place. She wanted to help, but she had no idea what she was getting herself into here. This was already looking like more than she had signed up for and a part of her was wondering if the others would think poorly of her if she sheltered in place and rode this out.

But there was another part of her that knew she couldn’t do that. She might not be an ace trainer, but her pokemon were strong and capable. She could help. They could help. This was no time to sit and wait.

Yulie stood and moved out of the room before she could change her mind.

-+-+-+-


Chaos had already engulfed the streets by the time Yulie emerged from the Academy building. She was already regretting wearing her fancy clothes to this meeting. They were the only set her had brought with her and they weren’t ideal for battling in. Especially not in this climate. But it couldn’t be helped.

Up ahead, a pack of dark type hounds were wreaking havoc, attacking Pokemon and humans alike with some sort of strange red energy attacks Yulie had never seen before. But she knew enough about battling theory to know her ideal match ups.

As she ran towards where the others from her meeting were fighting, her hands moved to her belt. First up was a Pokeball and a Friendball which released Toasty the Chandelure and Bean the Stonjourner respectively. Toasty looked around with a mix of confusion and concern, the latter of which he voiced with a sharp cry. Bean meanwhile tried to cover his eyes but his arms were too short.

Yulie placed a hand on Bean’s huge leg. “It's okay. Don’t worry. I need you and Toasty to find anyone who needs help and carry them to the Academy.” Yulie pointed back towards the building they had just left. Bean was still trembling just a bit, but the rock-type nodded and pumped his fists.

“If anything goes wrong, send up a Will O’ Wisp,” Yulie said to Toasty. The ghost flared up his flames and gave a reassuring cry as he and Bean moved out to look for civilians.

Next up were another Pokeball and a Healball which released Lemon the Galvantula and Sugar the Hatterene respectively. These two would be her guards. If things got sketchy, she’d send out Marsh but for now a double battle was all she could keep track of.

One of the Mightyenas emerged from a side alley right in front of Yulie. It turned for her immediately, snarling and baring its fangs like it had been hit with a Taunt. And that red aura around it… that definitely wasn’t natural.

Yulie tried to step back, but nearly tripped over her own feet. This was so much scarier than hiking and her nerves were failing her. Luckily, her Pokemon weren’t.

Sugar, as quiet as always, let out a massive blast of Dazzling Gleam. It should have been a super effective hit. Instead, the dark type shrugged it off like it had been hit with a Water Gun. What was going on?

It snarled again, and a blast of red lightning shot out of its mouth which hit Sugar directly. And she actually cried out in pain. Sugar *never* cried like that. What was going on?

Yulie could feel her heart beating at a thousand bpm. It was hard to breathe. She was having a panic attack, she realized. That hadn’t happened in years. But this… whatever this Mightyena was was not normal and it was starting to genuinely frighten her. She needed to pin it down. She needed to get away and check on Sugar. Her mind caught up just in time to give her an option.

“Lemon, Electroweb!” Yulie called.

The Galvantula reeled back and fired a thick net of electrified web that glued the Mightyena to the ground. It snarled and bit at the webbing, trapped for the moment but making short work of the tough web and all but ignoring the electricity.

Yulie somehow had the sense to grip her camera. She raised it up and snapped one, quick picture, trying to get as much of the red aura in the frame as she could, before she turned to put some distance between her and the dark type.

That was when she saw the Houndoom, coming up behind her. This was bad. Sugar was still up, at least, but she looked hurt. It was time. She reached for her belt and tossed the Luxuryball into the air to release Marsh the Drampa, before turning a trying to fetch a potion from her bag for Sugar.

The dragon took one at Yulie’s panicked face before roaring a challenge and blasting the Houndoom point blank with a Dragon Pulse.

 

[Sketchie]

Aiden Bradford
- Phenac Academy -
- playlist . sign-up -​

“Thank ya, kindly,” the first girl said, curtsying as she passed through the doorway. Aiden chuckled, bowing his head in kind. “My name is Maya, by the way,” she said as the others walked into the academy.

“Aiden,” he responded, tipping his hat, “Aiden Bradford. Good to make y’all’s acquaintance.”

The group got themselves checked in at the front desk by a richly dressed receptionist. His attire matched the marble floor, deeply colored walls, and ornate furniture. Aiden felt right out of place; growing up in such a small town, he couldn’t help but feel awkward around such display of wealth. When it was his turn, he pulled up the QR code on his C-Gear and held his wrist to the receptionist.

“And, that’s Aiden Bradford, officially checked in,” the receptionist chirped.

“Thank ya, kindly,” he said, stepping out of the way as the receptionist gave them the directions to where Justy would be waiting for them. They all made their way to the elevator and headed up. (During their descent, the other girl’s phone popped out of her pocket and, quite rudely, began to introduce her to her dismay. She hurriedly silenced the rotom and introduced herself properly as Mimi. This is why I stick with the C-Gear, thank you, he thought to himself.)

As they got into the auditorium, they were met with other trainers mulling about. One caught Aiden’s eye: a blonde trainer with a Scizor by his side. So cool! Before he could approach and get a better look, the same trainer caught Mimi’s eye as well.

“BUG!” she screamed, startling Aiden out of his admiration as she cowered behind him. “I hate bugs,” she whimpered, “Hate-hate-hate-HATE them! They’re creepy crawly and gross! Keep that nasty creature away from me!”

The Scizor and trainer both looked stung by Mimi’s outburst. Aiden frowned, looking back at Mimi. “Aww, Mimi, it’s not gonna hurt you or nothin’. It’s okay to be scared an’ all, but it looks like you’ve hurt the poor thing’s feelin’s…” Aiden sighed shortly and nudged Mimi’s shoulder. “How about you go sit away from the Scizor, give you two some space.”

At that moment, a voice came booming from the stage. “Good afternoon, team! Let’s get this debriefing started!” it bellowed. Aiden looked to see a man with lavender hair, sporting a surprisingly low-key outfit of a white shirt and fuchsia pants. Must be Justy. He instructed them to find their seats, and Aiden took the opportunity to guide Mimi away from the Scizor and to the seat labeled with her name on it. He found his seat in the back row, and settled in.

Justy went on into some sort of lecture. Orre’s in danger, natural disasters have been on the rise, and it seemed like Shadow Pokémon were reappearing since their first appearance decades ago. Something about that damn island rising from the canyons, and no one’s been able to get past the barrier surrounding it. The Pokémon League isn’t doing anything, either. (Yikes.) That said, he could turn tail right now if it was too much.

Aiden exhaled sharply at the notion. He was in this until that island was back in the ground and the weather was back to normal. The people and pokémon of Orre deserved better than a Pokémon League turning a blind eye to the destruction facing their region.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a strained voice over the intercom.

“ATTENTION PHENAC CITY! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE MAYOR! THERE IS A HORDE OF RAPMAGING POKEMON ENTERING THE CITY! FOR YOUR SAFETY PROCEED TO SHELTER AND PLACE INSIDE YOUR HOMES OR THE NEAREST BUILDING! DO NOT ENGAGE! THESE POKEMON ARE VIOLENT AND WILLING TO ATTACK HUMANS.”

“Change of plans. If you do not wish to join the team, then please stay here for safety. The rest of you follow me outside to investigate!” Justy said before dashing out of the auditorium.

Aiden made his choice about ten minutes ago. He lept out of his seat and headed towards the city.

- Phenac Academy > Phenac City -​

Outside, they were met with Houndoom, Mightyena, and chaos. “I believe these are the peculiar Pokemon I mentioned earlier,” Justy said, readying a pokeball, “It’s time to battle. Be careful, everyone. These aren’t ordinary Pokemon. You can’t expect your previous knowledge of Pokemon to apply here.”

Aiden nodded curtly, before he grabbed a pokeball off his belt and threw it into the air. “Heather! Looks like it’s time for a lil’ roundup out here!”

Heather burst from the pokeball, hitting the ground with such force that it shook. She was quite the sight to see: Heather towered over Aiden, making her trainer feel small in comparison. She shook herself out, before reaching down to nuzzle Aiden’s cheek.

Aiden giggled, caressing her muzzle. “Aww, good afternoon to you too, miss,” he said sweetly. In one swift motion, Aiden put one foot into the stirrup and jumped into Heather’s saddle. “We’ve got a job to do, ma’am,” he said as he scratched her ears, “Some pups are on the loose and we need them stopped! You ready to go?”

Heather neighed and reared up. Aiden grinned, leaning into his pokémon and letting out a big cowboy “YEEHAW!” Heather slammed her front hooves into the ground, and the two took off.

“Somethin’ just ain’t right about these pokémon,” he muttered as the two sped around the city, watching his new peers take on some of the rabble. “Look at ‘em, Heath, they’ve got them red eyes and everything. I’m not so sure these pokémon are actin’ on their own accord…”

Before he could muse further, he heard a high-pitched scream from a nearby street. The two quickly turned to face the noise. Closing in on a young girl was one of the Houndoom! Its teeth were bared and ready to strike. Without a second thought, Aiden reached for his rope, and Heather galloped forwards.

Slip the knot to the right level. Not too big ( the rope won’t close properly), not too small (won’t go over their head). Just a couple feet closer. He swung the lasso once— twice— and then it slipped out of his fingers and into the air.

The Houndoom lunged.

The girl screamed.

But halfway through the Houndoom’s strike, it found a rope around its neck. Aiden gave it a strong tug, yanking the Houndoom from its attack. It crashed to the ground, skidding onto its side. The girl froze, trembling, and locked eyes with Aiden.

“Go on, get outta here,” he called, keeping a gentle tone in his voice, “before this thing gets up!”

The girl slowly nodded. The words seemed to hit her one at a time, then all at once as she took off running. Aiden took his gaze from the girl to the Houndoom, which was slowly getting back to its feet.

“Yeah, I ain’t tyin’ that thing down,” he said, guiding Heather to take a few steps back, “ain’t no way I’m getting my fingers near those teeth.” The two watched as the Houndoom readied itself, snarling, the lasso still tight around its neck. Tension hung in the air. Aiden tightened his grip. Heather squared herself. She pawed at the ground, taunting the other pokémon.

In a snap, the Houndoom launched itself into a sprint towards Heather. “High Horsepower, now!” Aiden yelled. Heather neighed as her body began to glow orange with earthen power, and charged straight ahead.