A Journey of Two, a Pokemon Story

Ngl, I wasn't expecting you to go after Gyarados but in hind sight I should have. At the very least it'll be quite fun. Thankfully Violet is knowledgeable enough to not use AoE attacks underwater.

You now have one mildly crispy Gyarados defeated

Violet realized rather quickly that she had forgotten something in her haste to counteract Team Rocket's plan. While she had taught her Pokemon and Willow basic hand signs for communication when diving, attempting to battle underwater was significantly more complicated. Instead of shouting orders, the reduced ability to communicate resulted in her simply pointing at Gyarados and gesturing for Magnezone to get in the way of the attack.

Water boiled as the Atrocious Pokemon unleashed a charged Hyper Beam. The attack didn't allow the liquid enough time to get out of the way, instead it forced its way through ripping apart the bonds between individual molecules to get through the water faster. The attempt to destroy the underwater base and the attackers within met the shimmering cloak of Magnezone's Protect and turned into a shotgun spraying fragments of the Hyper Beam across the undersea landscape. Gouges were torn within the sand, some exposing more of the base and others simply terrifying the wildlife and wild Pokemon present.

While Willow and a mildly tired Starmie charged Rhydon, Violet simply pointed her index finger at Gyarados and gave a bow. A blast of electricity was sent out, the seawater conducting it to a terrifying degree. For a moment Violet feared that Magnezone had used an area of effect attack. While the more rational part of her mind said the Magnet Pokemon didn't have any such moves, the hindbrain screamed at her to run. Momentarily frozen, her eyes remained open during the attack causing her to flinch as electricity turned to light and caused a mild burn in her eyes.

Blinking away the residual dark spots from her vision, she saw that her opponent was doing little better. While an unconscious Gyarados floated in the water, the Rocket fumbled blindly for their remaining Pokeballs. Noticing what they had planned, Violet gestured for Magnezone to come closer to her even as she palmed Gengar's Pokeball.

A Hitmonchan had the unfortunate luck of trading punches with Gengar before the Rocket switched to their Houndoom after they fainted. Violet simply responded by cocking an eyebrow and sending in Slowbro. A switch to Pikachu failed to do anything besides leave them open for a switch to Magnezone who got off a Flash Cannon. Venusaur was then met with Dragonite before Golem's Explosion was countered by Protect. A desperate Rocket then tried to send in Venusaur, Pikachu, and a Steelix against Dragonite only for Violet to reply by sending out every one of her Pokemon.

They didn't have any more AoE attacks, so why bother holding back?

Violet felt a little bad after defeating the Rocket. Mostly due to them simply floating listlessly as they stared at her as if seeing a monster. Violet tilted her head, causing a mild flinch, before she ordered Dragonite to restrain the trainer.

Turning to Willow's fight, Violet wasn't surprised to see that it was a far closer fight. Rhydon was significantly stronger than Gyarados which indicated that Willow's foe was also significantly more skilled than Violet's. A hypothesis that was proven true by the sharp, fierce battle that occurred with both trainers having to pull out multiple tricks.

While Violet did swim towards Willow to support her, the energetic girl stopped her with a gesture. This was her battle, her trial to overcome. And by Arceus she would dig deep into her back of tricks to secure it.

Violet made several notes of events in the battle she found interesting. While the Rocket had a Golem that should have prevented Willow from using more Pokemon than the Rocket at any given point, she had developed a risky strategy. That was simply hoping to react faster than the Rocket. By sending out two Pokemon, she was usually able to fit in a single attack with one before Golem could be sent out allowing for brief moments where she had a notable numbers advantage.

Moreover, it was clear that Willow had trained extensively with team attacks. Starmie and Minun's efforts had indicated it, but the sheer synergy between her Pokemon was impressive. Violet counted another two team attacks, one with Umbreon and Minun and another with Bronzong and Minun (it did make Violet suspect a pattern in their design).

The rest of her realizations came from the Rocket, who was clearly displeased with the prospect of having to face Willow while being watched and observed by Violet. Here she could see the value in pre prepared strategies for use in specific situations. It reminded her of Tetsuya's ideas, but far less spontaneous and far more polished. It seemed that every one of the Rocket's Pokemon had some sort of trick for underwater battles which allowed them to match Willow's Pokemon individually despite being somewhat underpowered.

Eventually, however, all battles had to come to an end. While Willow was able to adapt to the Rocket's prepared strategies, the Rocket wasn't able to adapt to Willow's own strategies. Over time they were worn down until at last they were defeated.

With the Rockets defeated, Violet looked to a happy but exhausted Willow and gestured that they should check in on the Pokemon ranger's battle. Thankfully that had gone rather well. Helped out by Willow already defeating two of the weakest Rocket's Pokemon, the ranger was capable enough to defeat the remaining four. Moreover they did get a chance to finish the download, something that had clearly been frustrating for them.

As they waited for the League to arrive, Violet and Willow had some time to themselves. Where they decided to

[] Read the Station Logs - It'd be nice to get a history of this base and the significance of it to Team Rocket. The ranger may be unhappy if you ask them to help though.
[] Explore the Secretive Parts of the Lab - Exploring the rest of the base would be interesting and you may run into other Rockets hiding down there. It'd be useful to see what they were working on.
[] Interrogate the Rockets - Surely some of the Rockets would be willing to talk? The one that confronted the three of you is very selfish and quite likely to turn on their colleagues.
[] Claim the Base - Technically this base isn't owned by anyone. And Willow and you did take it over. You're not sure about the legalities, but it sounds like that makes it yours. See if you can formally claim it.
[] Write-in

Alright it seems that exploring the secretive parts of the lab and looting it to the ground win. In the next update Violet and Willow delve into the depths of the base and find no less than 20 TMs.

The ranger wasn't exactly happy when Violet and Willow began to head deeper into the base. He cited safety concerns such as the possibility of running into traps. However, the two girls weren't willing to simply wait for the League to arrive. Trainers around the world acted swiftly and decisively, and there was a place to explore right in front of them.

Begrudgingly the ranger stepped aside. He knew that he couldn't stop them, not to mention it was better to recon the site earlier rather than later.

Delving through the winding corridors, the rooms seemed to grow cleaner and more maintained. Condensation grew rarer, cable management improved, and the amount of dust decreased. Passing by rooms filled with equipment surrounded by stacks of paper. Looking at some of the papers in question, Violet's head began to swim at the amount of math and technical jargon on it. Hoping that she could find something deeper in the facility, Violet put down the paper and continued.

During their exploration, the two girls ran into what could only be described as a training room. Filled with a variety of potions and Pokeballs, Violet was far more focused on a bank of TMs. The moment she saw it, she immediately made a beeline for it, ripping out everything from it that she could.

"Are … are we allowed to do that?" Willow asked hesitantly. "The League might have a problem with that."

Violet looked at her, a contemplative expression on her face. "We took this base, right? So it's fine."

Suitably mollified, Willow joined in on the looting. And by the time they were done, they had a stack of what had to be dozens of TMs. Moreover, the two girls also found quite a lot of cash in a safe which they grabbed.

Eventually, their exploration took them to the deepest part of the base's research lab. Behind a locked door that required multiple Pokemon to force open, was a series of monitors streaming data to a variety of charts. Vials of unknown substances were neatly arranged within special containers along metal shelves. And on a central computer was a statement. 'Simulation 318210 Failed.' A second later it flashed and another statement could be read. 'Simulation 318211 Failed.''

"What is this?" Willow said out loud, staring at the charts. "Pokeball weight vs Capture stability?" She muttered, reading the axis of one of the graphs.

Violet tilted her head, scanning the data for a hint of what it represented. "It's a capture simulation for a Pokeball," she said after several seconds.

"Those are some insane requirements then," Willow said with an awed tone. "Are they trying to capture a Legendary?"

"It looks like it."

After that discovery, Violet and Willow emerged with their spoils just as the League arrived. An army of dozens of League trainers swept in, securing the site and temporarily confiscating their recovered TMs and money. That led to a short, but sharp discussion among various investigators on legal case law and the rules for spoils of conflict. However, in the end, they provided Violet and Willow with a copy of all recovered TMs and while they confiscated the cash, they did provide them with a card that contained an equivalent amount of money. The ranger simply gave the entire exchange a wry smile, clearly happy that Violet and Willow were someone else's problem.

Once that was dealt with, the two girls were escorted to Fuchsia City on a League transport. Dropped off at the Pokemon Center, Violet and Willow now had a gym to face.

[] Face the Gym Week 44 - Setting aside the entire week to face the gym, you could get it out of the way now.
[] Face the Gym Week 45 - Adding a few days to train may be worthwhile even if you can already win. Plus it'd allow you to see which Pokemon Willow finds.
[] Face the Gym Week 46 - Training for some time in Fuchsia may be useful. Even if it'd delay Willow's 8th gym badge.
[] Write-in