A Journey of Two, a Pokemon Story

Huh, there are a lot of ties so far. As it is, I'm going to just call the vote here. Time for a dice roll

1 - Focus on Chansey
2 - Misty Gym Battle

Looks like focusing on Chansey wins.

Violet started her week preparing for her battle with one of the Cerulean City attendants. She didn't know who it would be, or what Pokemon they had, but training her companions would certainly make it easier. At least, that's what she had thought, but now she had realized she may be a bit overprepared.

Willow, her self-proclaimed rival, had beaten an attendant almost a month ago. Perhaps Violet could have won the fight at that time, perhaps not. There was no point dwelling on what-ifs all Violet could do was prepare for the future.

The first step was to acclimate Chansey to Dratini and Pineco. While the Mirage and Egg Pokemon got along well, mostly due to her oldest companion's love of attention and the realization dancing would help with that incentivizing him further, Pineco was a bit more standoffish. By now, Violet realized the Bagworm Pokemon was fine with the latest addition to the team, Pineco just preferred to observe rather than directly interject herself into a situation that was already fine.

As Dratini and Chansey played, with Pineco enjoying the view the campsite offered, Violet sat down to watch the battle between Willow and Gym Leader Brock. Surprisingly, her self-proclaimed rival didn't lead with Staryu, instead choosing to send out an Eevee. This led to a lengthy, protracted fight with Eevee sprinting around the arena at an incredibly fast rate, keeping its distance from Brock's Geodude. Using a mixture of Sand Attacks and Growls when at a distance, Willow would have Eevee dart in and out of Geodude's range using Quick Attack to whittle down the Rock-type Pokemon until it fainted.

Then when Onix was sent out, she simply withdrew Eevee and sent out Staryu. Compared to the drawn-out fight from before, this was a quick fight, with Staryu demonstrating a great deal more refinement than Violet recalled. A quick two water guns was all that was needed to cause Onix to faint, something that caused Willow to cheer loudly.

"Chansey?"

Glancing up from her phone, Violet smiled at the Egg Pokemon's call for attention. "Don't worry," she explained, "I just finished what I was doing." Standing up, Violet looked at the three of her Pokemon, realizing that they had something far more nefarious in mind.

Pineco began to hop in a rhythmic pattern, each landing on the ground sounding like a drumbeat. Chansey grabbed her hand while Dratini used Twister to cause a small breeze.

"I don't know how to dance!" Violet said in a panic as the Egg Pokemon began to shuffle along to the beat.

Dratini chirped in encouragement, trying to show Violet what moves she should do. Considering the Mirage Pokemon was more serpentine than humanoid, that wasn't as helpful as he thought it was.

Thankfully for everyone involved, Violet didn't try to perform her best impression of a Dratini moving their head left and right whilst music played. Instead, Chansey laughed at the Mirage Pokemon's instructions, understanding there was a difference between moves a human could perform and those he could perform. Taking charge of the dance, Chansey told Violet to follow her lead, leading to a rather awkward Violet copying what her latest Pokemon did.

The Egg Pokemon's dancing was odd, more akin to an art form than in line with any music Violet knew of. She could tell it seemed to follow the beat Pineco had kept up, but without any other instruments, it felt more like a group activity than a true recital. Trying to keep up with Chansey's moves herself was … she'd call it a learning experience rather than her fumbling her way into maybe half the intended moves.

At least Chansey enjoyed it, based on the smile that stayed on her face for the rest of the day.

After five days in the outskirts of Cerulean City, mainly spent relaxing and getting to know Chansey, who most definitely was going to be a handful, Violet arrived at the Cerulean City Gym, ready to take on one of the attendants.

The gym itself had an interesting layout, with three swimming pools off to the side each containing platforms where the lane lines were. Violet could already tell any fire or ground types would have problems here, but electric types would have a field day. And at the center of the gym, was another pool, but instead of having the platforms distributed in lines, this was more like a maze with Gym Leader Misty at the center.

Signing up for a battle was easy, the four Cerulean sisters each had wait lists, and there was one open a few hours later for Violet. Huh, Violet thought, she didn't realize she shared the same name as one of the sisters. This was going to get confusing, as the Violet of the Cerulean gym was who she would be facing.

After grabbing a ticket with the number 11 on it, Violet walked up into the stands where a crowd had gathered to watch the Pokemon battles. Taking the time to watch some of them herself, the shy girl's eyes were drawn to Misty's 3 on 3 battle for someone's second gym badge. Violet had to rub her eyes on more than one occasion as she realized the challenger had three Hypnos. She wondered why they had thought it was a good idea, as while they had won, two Hypnos had fainted in what should have been far more one-sided.

"Number 11, please report to Pool 2." That was her! Feeling her heart beating rapidly in her chest, Violet took the stairs two at a time as she spotted Violet of the Cerulean gym and her Shellder.

Violet challenges Violet to a 1 vs 1 Pokemon battle! Violet sends out Shellder!


Violet's Perceptive Trait Kicks in!

Regardless of who you send out, Shellder will focus primarily on getting hits in, willingly accepting any attacks thrown at it. It will switch between Ice Shard and Water Gun unless Dratini is sent out, in which case it will only use Ice Shard.

[] [] [] [] Write-in

Alright, I'll be calling the vote here for Charming Chansey. I present to you the battle log.

Yeah, the other Violet did not have fun doing the equivalent of having Shellder try and break through a stall Chansey at their level. Good news is, at least Chansey got a fun bit of practice.

[X] Charming Chansey

Violet sent out Chansey, realizing that her newest Pokemon had something the others didn't. Healing potential and sheer bulk. Her opponent's visible sigh both relieved and infuriated her. Chansey wasn't a bad Pokemon by any means, even if people thought of them as pacifists most of the time.

Some of her irritation must have shown on her face, as her opponent shook her hands as she tried to clarify, "Wait, I didn't mean it like that, just that Shellder is a bad matchup for Chansey."

Violet stood there awkwardly, she didn't think there was a question in that, but maybe she was supposed to say something.

"I mean, Shellder doesn't have anything that can get through Life Dew, so he's going to have problems in this fight."

The shy girl glanced at Chansey who was looking around the arena and sizing up her opponent. She just wanted the battle to start rather than get into this conversation.

"That was a sigh of 'I'm going to lose this so hard' not 'another newbie trainer'."

"Can we start?" Violet asked softly, causing Violet of the Cerulean Gym to slump.

"Yes, start, we should do that."

Both trainers prepared themselves, sizing up the trainer on the other side of the arena as well as their opponent's Pokemon. Then, the buzzer rang and both sides shot into motion.

Shellder leapt into the pool, sinking to the bottom before firing shards of ice at Chansey, causing a few minor scratches as she twirled and danced with serene grace. The Egg Pokemon moved across the platforms, using Charm on Shellder who appeared to grow heart eyes and his Ice Shard attack visibly weakened.

As Chansey's voice echoed through the gym and in the pool itself, Shellder began to vibrate from the Echoed Voice. Violet of the Cerulean Gym tried switching to Water Gun, hoping it would do more damage in response. Only for Chansey to almost entirely ignore it, only stepping back a half-step.

The shy girl's opponent tried to switch back to Ice Shard, but there was no hope to begin with. While Shellder could only scratch Chansey, the same was not true in reverse. As the Egg Pokemon's Echoed Voice rang through the gym, Shellder violently vibrated causing the poor Pokemon to grow disoriented. And the battle ended as it used a final Ice Shard only to hit nothing. Then things got worse for the poor Pokemon, as it tried to avoid the incoming Echoed Voice, only to position itself such that it was repeatedly slammed into the side of the pool causing it to faint.

Violet gave a slight smile at the victory. It was far easier than she had thought it would be, and in full honesty, it was overdue. Returning Chansey to her Pokeball, she nodded once to her opponent before heading towards the Pokecenter. While her newest Pokemon was likely fine, it didn't hurt to have her checked out.

After all, they had a gym battle planned.

*Chansey upgrades Echoed Voice to C++*
*Chansey upgrades Speed to D+*
*Dratini upgrades Showmanship to C++*

The Eighth Week, Pick 1
Pokemon Actions

[-] Catch a fourth Pokemon - With four routes branching from Cerulean City, there are dozens of different Pokemon you could catch ranging from Pidgy to Oddish to Houndour. (Cannot be taken till Week 9)
[-] Fish for Pokemon - Cerulean city does have several fishing spots nearby, heading to one to try and catch Pokemon could be useful. (Cannot be taken till Week 9)
[] Train with your Pokemon - All of your Pokemon are good in a battle, and each has unique skills. Training for a few days would help them ensure you beat Misty.

Battling Actions

[] Challenge New Trainers - Now that you, Dratini, and Pineco had developed, fighting a few trainers in succession was doable.
[] Challenge an Experienced Trainer - There are some trainers in the city that have a badge, beating them may be a good experience.
[X] Challenge the Cerulean City Gym - It's time to face your first gym battle. It will be a 2 vs 2 battle, with you having one switch available.

Exploration Actions (New)

[] See the sights in Cerulean City - While you have explored a good portion of the city, there is still quite a bit more to see such as the substations, gym, and other minor tourist attractions.
[] Explore Unorthodox Locations - Exploring parts of Cerulean City most people don't will be an interesting experience. Surely nothing can go wrong?
[] Explore some Caves - Now that you have learned the basics of caving, taking on more challenging spelunking expeditions is viable. And there are a fair few options nearby.
[] Learn to Swim - While you do know how to swim, there is a notable difference between swimming for fun and scuba diving. And an even greater difference when it comes to exploring underwater caves. Learning more advanced concepts would be fun.

Traveling Actions (Can Take 1 of These Only)

[] Travel to Mt. Moon - The cave system leading to Pewter City, heading towards the mountain to travel through will allow Violet to begin an adventure within.
[] Travel to the Power Plant - A large power plant that produces much of Kanto's electricity, it is home to several electric-type Pokemon.
[] Travel to Write-in - There are many locations in Kanto one could take a direct route towards.

Social Actions (For socials, it's assumed you keep up a basic level of contact through text, choosing a social means I write it up)

[] Call up your parents - Your parents would appreciate a call just to tell them what you've been up to. Doubly so as you are about to face your first gym battle.
[] Call Tetsuya - An old childhood friend of yours, the two of you drifted off recently. He recently arrived in Pewter City and lost his first gym battle.
[] Call Willow - The trainer you recently defeated, she seems fun if exhausting. She is currently in Mt. Moon on her way to Cerulean City and has sent pictures of her third Pokemon.
[] Visit Luna - The medical trainer has been involved with Nurse Joy at the Poke Center. Visiting her could provide some interesting insights.