A Journey of Two, a Pokemon Story

Relaxing on the outskirts of Pewter City, Violet kept an ear out for the satellite phone Ben (one of the Pewter City Gym's attendants) had provided her. With the relative lack of strong trainers in the area, Violet had been forcibly thrust into a leadership role against her will. Ben himself took two other trainers that were slightly above her skill level while Brock would be the sole strong trainer guarding Sable City.

Which left Violet in the nerve-wracking position of being one of the main authority figures guarding Pewter City. By the grace of Arceus, she wasn't forced into a leadership role, that was thankfully taken up by a trainer the city had on retainer. But due to her position as the only four-badge trainer for miles (Willow was still in the northeast seeking the Battle Pyramid), Violet was forced to provide her insight into the meeting discussing the scout's findings.

Up north of the city, Ben had located the Onix herd and had started to track it before having a brief clash with another set of trainers who were trying to catch the herd. A group of four trainers that were notorious for selling large numbers of Pokemon to breeders and private buyers, their actions had aggravated the herd into migrating early resulting in a notable increase in both the size and aggression of the Onix herd itself. It was here that Violet was suddenly thrust into the forefront when she was suddenly asked, "Could you take the leader?"

Everyone else in the room turned to look at her as they awaited an answer. Feeling her throat dry up, Violet's eyes flickered towards the image Ben had taken of the main Onix in the middle of an Iron Tail, a goliath of a Pokemon with substantial scars from hundreds of battles. "I…" Violet began as she briefly glanced down at the Pokeballs she had. "Yes." She eventually said without elaborating.

Thankfully the rest of the room noticed she didn't want to get into an in-depth discussion of battle tactics. That or they correctly understood that Violet was the most experienced trainer here.

The rest of the briefing mainly focused on the four trainers responsible for the incident and then began to delve into some legal gray areas. Strictly speaking, the capture of large numbers of Pokemon wasn't illegal per se, but causing the Pokemon to deviate from natural behaviors that disrupt the livelihood of those around them was. An intentionally vague law for occasions such as these, Ben and the two trainers with him did manage to capture three of the four trainers responsible, but the fourth had managed to evade battle entirely.

Returning herself to the present, Violet was more than a little bored with how this had gone. Most of the work had been taken care of by the Pewter City Gym, leaving her to just sit down and relax. While it was good that problems in Kanto didn't need her to resolve, a part of Violet did crave action.

Ah well, at least it meant she could plan out her week a bit in advance.

The 36th Week, Pick 1

Pokemon Actions

[] Catch your Sixth Pokemon - Now that you have four badges, you could catch another Pokemon providing a full team.
[] Train with your Pokemon - All of your Pokemon are skilled in battle with unique skills, but they can see some improvements through practice. Especially with their new moves.
[] Buy and Use TMs/HMs - You're a big enough trainer to afford TMs and HMs for your Pokemon. Even if the options are rather limited in Cremini Town.
[] Train with Willow- While it would be nontraditional to train with your rival, both of you have unique skill sets that could complement each other.

Battling Actions

[] Challenge New Trainers - Now that you and your Pokemon have developed, fighting a few trainers in rapid succession would be easy.
[] Challenge an Experienced Trainer - There are at least a few experienced trainers around here that may be worth fighting.
[X] Challenge the Pewter City Gym - Willow is a bit antsy at the idea of not leaving as soon as possible. While she is willing to wait a few days, she has a hard deadline of next week before she leaves. As such, defeating the gym this week is a must.

Exploration Actions

[] See the Sights Inside the City - There are several interesting attractions in Pewter although you have seen many of them before. Still, it may be fun to revisit them.
[] Explore Unorthodox Locations - Pewter City has a lot that you can explore, some of them have been on your list to visit for years. Try and explore them.
[] Explore the Northwest - Partially on the way towards Johto, the area northwest of Pewter City is rumored to hold a Battle Pyramid. There may also be other interesting sights in the mountains there.

Traveling Actions (Must be taken either this turn or the next)

[] Leave Pewter City - Once you defeat Brock you plan on leaving the city within a few days. Heading out immediately after the gym battle is a viable option (opens sub-vote).

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 Your Parents - Your parents would as usual like a call when you're free.
[] Call Tetsuya - He just arrived in Vermillion City and is going to try and earn his fourth badge.

Due to not having power. The update is going to be delayed till Friday.

But I think now is a good time to close the vote as it's fairly unanimous

Training her Pokemon was an extensive process, where the first step was to determine what exactly she wanted to accomplish. The first step was to adjust her move set somewhat, Magneton needed to learn Magnet Rise for this fight. Without it, they would be annihilated by any Ground move. Thankfully Violet could see a few different methods of doing so, with her preferred option focused on Magneton completely incorporating Flash Cannon into his moveset before regularly practicing Magnet Rise to get familiar with it. Dragonair was a bit similar when it came to Thunder Wave and Aqua Tail.

Beyond that, there were other things to focus on. Blissey clearly needed more practice in her fundamentals of battling, although that was not unexpected considering the Chansey line's focus. Similarly, while Umbreon had been making progress, he could do with some more polish on how he absorbed hits. Forretress was more complicated, as she could get quite a bit from both training her fundamentals as well as improvements on existing moves. Either way, Violet and her team had quite a busy week ahead of them.

Some additional good news for Violet was that she was pretty sure four of the five Pokemon Brock would use against her. Golem, Onix, Rhydon, Omastar, and one other. It made her planning a good bit easier, and ideally, she'd be able to use Magneton to easily eliminate Omastar thanks to the type advantage. More problematic would be the TMs in use which would make it hard to truly predict what moves she would be facing.

Shaking off her thoughts, Violet began to train her Pokemon in preparation for the battle with Gym Leader Brock.

*Dragonair improves Special Attack from C++ to B--*
*Dragonair improves Special Defense from C++ to B--*
*Dragonair improves Thunder Wave from C++ to B--*
*Dragonair improves Aqua Tail from E++/C- to C*

*Forretress improves Special Attack from C to C+*
*Forretress improves Bug Bite from C++ to B--*
*Forretress improves Spikes from C to C+*
*Forretress improves Zap Cannon from E++/C-- to C-*

*Blissey improves Special Attack from C to C+*
*Blissey improves Echoed Voice from B-- to B-*

*Magneton improves Stamina from C+ to C++*
*Magneton improves Speed from C to C+*
*Magneton improves Flash Cannon from C++ to B--*
*Magneton improves Magnet Rise from E++/C++ to C++

*Umbreon improved Defense from B- to B*

It was a tiring week, filled to the brim with training at almost every possible point. From having Dragonair bring Thunder Wave to the next level and incorporating Aqua Tail for additional type coverage to having Forretress gain a viable ranged option with Zap Cannon, Violet could say that she was quite well prepared for the battle with Brock. She had more options, stronger Pokemon, and a schedule to meet.

Violet could tell that Willow was getting a little impatient and nervous. With both of them at four badges and needing to visit four more cities after this, there was a definite time crunch present. More so for Willow due to having to face Sabrina for her planned eight badge, the energetic girl was starting to feel a little worried that she may miss the Indigo Plateau. The two of them promised to talk about their travel plans after they beat the Viridian City Gym, and Violet began to think about them in the back of her mind.

For now though, she had a gym badge to win.

GM Note: Please vote in plan format for this.

[] Her Pokemon's movesets were fine as is
[] Have Dragonair swap out Dragon Tail for Water Gun
[] Have Dragonair swap out Dragon Tail for Fire Blast
[] Have Forretress swap out Stealth Rock for Payback
[] Have Forretress swap out Rapid Spin for Toxic Spikes
[] Have Magneton swap out Supersonic for Electric Terrain
[] Have Umbreon swap out Growl for Protect
[] Have Umbreon swap out Grow for Taunt
[] Have Umbreon swap out Helping Hand for Taunt
[] Write-in

Alright, Moveset Shuffle wins this vote, which does lead to some changes I wasn't expecting myself (and a reminder that Magneton can in fact learn Zap Cannon from Forretress). As it is, I do appreciate the strategy planning as for this fight Golem is going to be first out which does help with the vote choice for this. Sturdy will certainly be a problem for facing Golem, but not an insurmountable one by any means. Not to mention this Golem has a more limited moveset than normal due to having focused a good bit on Rollout over a wider coverage. For simplicity, I'll just be showing what moves the other trainers have above C rank as D rank move usage is rather situational and generally not useful.

Entering the Pewter City Gym, Violet took a moment to study the terrain at play. While Pokemon arenas generally had regulations to them, and the ones at high-level battles were usually uniform, gyms could and usually did modify their arenas to better represent the general theme of the fight. Brock had done so by the simple task of not having a constructed floor across most of the gym. Instead, his gym floor was replaced by dirt and rock.

There were a few ideas that came to mind for Violet, throwing the rocks was certainly an option, not to mention the use of Dig wouldn't require replacing sections of the flooring afterward. While she hadn't prepared anything of note, in a pinch she could attempt to have one of her Pokemon use the boulders as thrown objects. Then again considering the speed of rock types, that was almost certainly unnecessary.

As she was studying the gym, Brock wrapped up his battle and began to head in her direction. Turning her attention from the gym to the gym leader, she spotted the expected five Pokeballs on his belt as well as his general demeanor. Glancing toward the general placement of the Pokeballs on his belt, Violet noted some slight alterations between the two of them. Likely related to the fossil Pokemon the nearby lab had been reviving, it helped confirm her suspicion that she would be facing an Omastar and either an Aerodactyl or Kabutops.

"I recognize that look," Brock began, sounding suitably impressed. Snapping her gaze back to his face just in time to catch his next words. "I don't get to see it that often around here."

Violet didn't say anything at first, trying to piece together any hidden meaning in his words. She knew by now that her perceptiveness was well beyond most trainers. Although she had always suspected that elite trainers would have eyes similar to hers. Even if Brock made it sound like they were rare. "It's how I fight." Violet eventually said after a second or two of awkwardness.

Brock nodded in approval. "Most trainers tend to overlook the minutiae of Pokemon comfort." Holding up to the two Pokeballs with fossil Pokemon so Violet could have a better look, she could easily see the slight differences from a normal one. "These two are a little apprehensive of regular Pokeballs, which is why I asked Professor Oak for some vintage models."

Violet hummed a little at that. While the topic might be useful for her eventually, she did have a notable lack of fossil Pokemon to take advantage of that. "How … how long have you been training fossil Pokemon?" Nonetheless, she could easily recognize when someone wanted to engage in a conversation. And Brock was polite enough about it that she could humor him.

"A little over a year now," a mixture of pride and regret at the decision warred within him before switching to pride entirely. "Some of them are more trouble than others." He let out a little chuckle, allowing Violet to realize who she would be facing.

"Does … does the overlap in types for Omastar and Kabutops cause any problems?" Violet asked, recognizing by Brock's tone that one of the fossil Pokemon was far too much trouble to be used in a gym battle. And only Aerodactyl matched that description.

An expression of surprise crossed Brock's face before a dawning realization took hold and he let out an amused chuckle. "I see you know who you'll be facing." He leaned forward, opening up his arms subconsciously, and lowered his voice. "But who will I be opening with?"

Violet's lips curled into an amused smile. "Golem."


Violet's Perceptive Trait Kicks in!

Golem will open with Earthquake before switching to Rollout, aiming to have it build in power rapidly. If he sees a chance during the first three rounds to use Focus Punch, he'll do so.

If Magneton enters the battle, Brock will immediately use Earthquake followed by Explosion. If Umbreon enters the battle, Brock will attempt to feint with Rollout then use Focus Punch, only sticking with Rollout if it's already been used thrice in a row successfully. After which he'll continue to use Rollout.

During all of this, Golem will be in the Turtle Stance. Willingly refusing to dodge in exchange for managing to reduce incoming damage.

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