Dual Pokemon Quest

[Blacksheep]

Jaden didn't hesitate at all in reaching mentally towards the red orb. He could do that now, reach out and do things that adults told him not to with his powers. It was so much better than having headaches. Sam perked up eagerly watching the orbs to see what would happen.

The earth was moving beneath him. He could feel it, just slowly turning beneath him. Volcanoes breathed and slept. Lines of magma breathed beneath the earth and whispered of what could be. Mountains grew, and dreamed of one day being hills again. Something unimaginably ancient dreamed of the world, and in the dream shifted a single eye to look at the child in the mountain shrine within its dream.

Jaden has gained the Imprint of Groudon. A primal god is now aware of him, and he has a deep awareness of the heart of the earth and its movement.

Jaden felt himself stumble, dizzy under the focus and the way the ground no longer felt still under his feet. The priest and priestess lurched forward in worry. "Are you alright boy?" the priest exclaimed.

"He has extra senses, he must have been knocked off balance by the orbs," the priestess fretted.

"Ah, I thought they were sleeping," the priest worried. Jaden was shifted off to a small kitchenette with hot chocolate made and set forward. Sam clambered up and laid in Jaden's lap guarding him while he recovered.

"That...that was wow," Jaden said.

"Yes, the orbs are quite something," the priest agreed. He smiled softly at Jaden. "Their presence can be quite overwhelming. It's good that you're alright." Jaden decided not to mention that he could still feel the earth moving beneath him.

"Can I ring the bell to call death?" Jaden asked.

"You want to speak to Death?" the priest asked in surprise. "Why?"

"I met a shuppet that was really nice here, and they wanted to take us to see their home. But we're not ready to go, and I want to apologize that we couldn't visit," Jaden explained.

The priest smiled broadly. "You certainly can ring the bell then. And perhaps you'll see the shuppet again to play with here."

Jaden happily did so and rang the bell. A feeling of death slowly settled around him, and he clasped his hands to say his message. Positive that it would get delivered he headed back down from the shrine.

Pokemon Actions
[ ]Train your pokemon in battle
-[ ]Write-in specific training (speed, offense, dodging, train a move)
--[ ]Train pokemon team
--[ ]Train Oliver
--[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Uri
[ ]Play with your pokemon
-[ ]With all
-[ ]With Oliver
-[ ]With Sam
-[ ]With Uri
[ ]Write-in

Travel
[ ]Take boat to Route 123 in the south
[ ]Take a boat back north to Route 121

[ ]Poke at the sense of the earth

 

[Blacksheep]

Jasper snorted. "And all that power just might be enough to keep her in one piece."

"Hey, I can still manage to trip on air, thank you very much," Kate joked. She looked up at the regirock with a big smile on her face. "It's a good buddy. I can't believe it just carried me all this way!"

"That will definitely make hauling you away from trouble easier," Jasper teased. Kate pouted at him.

Kate straightened up as Lee spoke about the possible trouble in Lavaridge. "There's only one way," she confirmed. "Well, there's flying, and you can try to cut through the wilderness, but most people don't like traveling off routes."

"Most people don't try and feed themselves to wild pokemon," Jasper said tiredly. "We don't need to check on Lavaridge."

"But we should. They could be in trouble, and we can help them. We've got a lot more ability to help them now, too." Kate gestured to the stone titan. It watched the trio of humans silently. Kate's hitmonlee was currently measuring it up, seemingly preparing to test himself against it.

Jasper looked to Lee for help, but let out a sigh. Outnumbered again. It seemed he was the only one with the sense to try and avoid trouble in this group. Not that he seemed able to stop it from happening and getting dragged along with them. "Guess it's Lavaridge then," he grumbled. "And a bigger target on our backs. Yay."

"It'll be fine! We just need to look after each other," Kate said confidently.

"You should find a pokeball for your new friend," Lee spoke up. "That'll be less conspicious, and make it easier to travel."

"Oh, good idea!" Kate quickly dug through her bag until she found an ultra ball and went to explain it to the regirock about what she wanted to do.

Jasper watched her from his spot with Lee. "Any idea what that thing is?" he asked quietly. Lee took out his pokedex and subtly tried to scan it. The pokedex flashed and told him the pokemon was unidentifiable, and awaited input from Lee on observations about his discovery.

"Nope," Lee answered. The regirock vanished in a flash into the ultra ball. Kate let it out again a moment later and cheered along with the rest of her pokemon. Was that a dratini that was making itself at home on the golem?

Lee was thankful to take a temporary break from the madness that was staring at him to focus on his plans for getting a vulpix, and looking at where to get a possible eevee. There would be vulpix along route 112 and up Mt Pyre, and possibly living around Lavaridge too. Eevees were really popular, there would be a breeder in pretty much every city if he wanted one. He might even be able to check at the pokemon center for possible eevees up for adoption that had lost their trainers for one reason or another. The route up to Lavaridge would be filled with numel, camerupt, torkoal, vulpix, cacnea, cacturne, and nosepass.

Satisfied with his research Lee released Crunchbite to start working with him on launching himself from his Dig into another attack. Crunchbite was not his usual self for training at all however, slow and hesitant. Crunchbite kept glancing at the stone golem as if it would come over and squash him.

Camp Actions
[ ]Try to talk to the regirock about what it may know
[ ]Talk with Kate and Jasper
[ ]Battle Kate
[ ]Battle Jasper
[ ]Take the risk of tapping into the current
[ ]Stargaze
[ ]Write-in

Pokemon Actions
[ ]Train pokemon in battle
-[ ]Train Archer
-[ ]Train Crunchbite
-[ ]Train the team together
-[ ]Write-in specific training (speed, offense, dodging, train a move)
[ ]Play with your pokemon
-[ ]Archer
-[ ]Crunchbite
-[ ]Play with them together
[ ]Write-in

I realized I was actually unsure what kind of things Lee might ask the regirock and what to have it answered, so left off on that. Sorry

 

[Space Jawa]

Learning what he did about what lay between their location and Lavaridge left Lee with a small sense of relief. Given the situation they were dealing with, it was already difficult to justify spending much time looking for much of anything, and now he really didn't have to worry about that at all; they genuinely could put focus on getting past Team Magma, getting out of the desert, and worrying about other concerns until after they had successfully escaped from behind what currently felt very much like being behind enemy lines.

[X] Focus on escaping the desert towards Lavaridge Town, try to avoid encountering Team Magma so they don't know you've left the desert at all.

---

While Lee did want to focus on sneaking out of the desert, that didn't mean there weren't other things they couldn't do when they weren't sneaking. They couldn't spend all their time traveling, after all.

The big question, of course, continued to be Kate's new pokemon. They knew it was powerful, they knew it had been hidden and locked away in the Mirage Tower, they knew that Team Magma probably wanted to get their hands on it. But they didn't know much about the Pokemon itself.

Hopefully it might be able to shed at least a little bit of light on the mystery surrounding it.

[X] Try talking with the Stone Titan to learn what it knows
-[X] What is it?
-[X] Where did it come from?
-[X] Ask about the Mirage Tower
-[X] Ask about the Mirage Tower Mural
-[X] Ask why it was locked away in the Mirage Tower - Locked away behind a door, protected by guards, and hidden in a tower that's very hard to find!

Then there was Jasper. He and Kate went well together, effectively providing what the other needed, and serving as the primary mechanism by which to manage the other. They balanced each other out, one preferring excitement, the other preferring control. They went together perfectly even as they preferred very different paths.

Adding Lee into the mix as a third party guest, he in effect became the swing vote for the group.

Yet despite Jasper effectively going along with all the craziness Lee had introduced into their lives since they'd agreed to let him travel with them, Lee could tell that he would have been happier if Lee hadn't inadvertently gotten them mixed up in this Team Magma business. Who knew, maybe they would have gotten mixed up in it anyway. But the way events had unfolded, it very much felt like Lee had played an important part in bringing them to where they were and digging them in even deeper.

"Thank you." Lee said when he had an opportunity to sit with Jasper and talk with him. "I know this probably isn't what you had in mind when you came to visit Hoenn or tried to find the Mirage Tower. But thank you for everything you've already done."

"I know you don't have any reason to be invested in what happens here, but Hoenn, I live here. I don't know what Team Magma is planning, but I know it has to be something big. Teams like that don't operate on a small scale, especially not when they're doing things like taking over a desert so they can find something of great power. Whatever they're up to, it's probably bad news for all of Hoenn. I don't know where it leads, but I have to see it through."

"If at any point, it goes too deep, you decide you need to get out, for your sake, for Kate's sake, I get it. Until then, thank you for the help you've given already, and whatever help you continue to give for as long as you're able to give it."

[X] Have a heart-to-heart talk with Jasper.
-[X] Thank him for the help he and Kate have already given and whatever help they continue to give in the future.

---

Lee found Crunchbite's change in pace curious, though quickly concluded it likely had something to do with the presence of the Stone Titan. He could easily imagine that as a Pokemon that was centered around the Ground, a creature of that much power over the ground would probably set Crunchbite ill at ease.

Hopefully, in time, Crunchbite would adjust and get back into his old grove. In the meantime, Lee made the most of it, adjusting his training in line with the current circumstances.

[X] Train Crunchbite
-[X] Train Defensively (managing hits, deflecting hits, etc - tank up; maybe look into his ability to use the terrain to his defensive advantage)

[X] Archer
-[X] Continue to take it easy, perhaps see if it's possible to help manage Archer's reaction to the Desert so it doesn't take as heavy a toll on him.
-[X] Groom Archer

 

[Tascion]

[x]Would Uri like to try teleporting the group back to the pokecenter?
-[x]If yes, Jaden will try and feel out what Uri does
[x]Play hide and seek, with Uri and Jaden trying to catch and pin down Sam and Oliver
-[x]Practice communicating intent with psionics, for Uri and Jaden to work together to surround one of the other two to tag them out.
[x]Take boat to Route 123 in the south

(sorry for being slow on the vote, I got caught up in other things)

 

[Blacksheep]

Uri is more than happy to attempt teleporting the group to the pokecenter. He even partially succeeds, taking Oliver along with him. He has to hop back to get Jaden and Sam, reading as embarrassed that he had managed to leave half the group behind with his teleport. It was an odd feel. There was a sense of space around them, then stepping back into that psychic world that Jaden had seen in the safari before folding the distance between the two and finishing the jump. Uri was instantly exhausted once he finished, falling asleep completely. Just watching Uri do it and trying to understand it had been tiring.

Jaden left on his next adventure the following day, taking a boat to Route 123. It was exciting just heading up the pier towards a new path he hadn't traveled yet. Sam was already blazing ahead, while Uri slept in his pokeball. The route was full of hills and tall grass. Jaden knew though that further in were full orchards of berries. It wasn't just farmed, but could be found out in the woods that dotted the valleys making up the route.

It was a perfect place for hide and seek. Jaden was quick to explain the game to his pokemon, and how he wanted to work with Uri. It would have been a lot easier if he didn't have a mental link with Sam. He was fully happy to use that in order to keep track of Jaden. While the abra certainly could find Oliver and Sam easily enough, and Oliver was happy to let himself be caught and rewarded with attention, Sam was a lot more competitive. He was constantly on the move, and would cheerfully turn the game on its head by ambushing Jaden when he let himself be located.

Pokemon Actions
[ ]Train your pokemon in battle
-[ ]Write-in specific training (speed, offense, dodging, train a move)
--[ ]Train pokemon team
--[ ]Train Oliver
--[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Uri
[ ]Play with your pokemon
-[ ]With all
-[ ]With Oliver
-[ ]With Sam
-[ ]With Uri
[ ]Write-in

Camp Actions
[ ]Seek out farmers and trainers along the route to get in practice battles
[ ]Visit a farm to pick berries
[ ]Explore off route
[ ]Pick berries
-[ ]Look for a specific type of berries
[ ]Poke at the new sense of the earth
[ ]Study the pokemon on Route 123
[ ]Try to catch a poochyena
[ ]Try to catch a skitty
[ ]Try to catch a plusle or minun
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jasper tilted his head and listened silently to Lee's words. When he finished Jasper shook his head. "You don't need to thank me. Kate drags me into more than enough trouble." He gave a slight grin. "And you really think I can stop her when she's made up her mind?" No. Not when it would make her so unhappy.

The trip through the desert was faster than it had been. Kate's new giant friend was more than happy to create pillars of rocks and sandstorms as barricades whenever it sensed possible enemies nearby. No one in the group saw any of the gang members that were hunting for them. Lee had a sick suspicion that they were just dying out of sight of the group when they came too close. He tried not to think about it. They were bad guys after all. And yet.

Lee decided to try and talk to the stone titan that was accompanying them to get some answers. Kate was more than happy to inform him that she had nicknamed the mythical pokemon Pudding. So that was a thing that he was going to have to get used to. Especially how cheerful the faceless pokemon looked at the nickname.

"So, what are you?" Regirock. Stone golem.

"Where did you come from?" Created by the people years ago.

"Why were you in the Mirage Tower? What was the mural about? Why does the Mirage Tower exist?" Mirage Tower. Built to house Regirock after wars. Mural of Regirock's path. Placed there to stop wars. To wait for need.

That was a lot to think about. It was good to have something to occupy his time with as they crossed out of the desert onto the route towards Lavaridge. Lee spent it working with Crunchbite to polish up using Dig defensively, something the trapinch was more than delighted to do. He did slowly relax around Pudding, able to focus more on what Lee was asking rather than the sheer power that the stone titan radiated. Lee even got some time in with Archer, the little rowlet completely thrilled to have time out of his pokeball. Archer was even more thrilled when that time was spent getting groomed, earning coos of happiness from the little rowlet. Archer took the chance to introduce himself to Pudding while he was out, excited about the new pokemon. He was somehow under the impression that Pudding was normal, and that he could grow to match Pudding in power one day.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

Pudding.

Perhaps one of the most powerful creatures currently in existence. Quite probably a one-of-a-kind Legendary Pokemon. A source of power that could have easily been turned to terrible ends in the wrong hands.

And Kate had named it Pudding.

For the first time since he'd begun traveling with the pair, Lee Hinsu got the feeling he had some genuine idea of the kind of headaches that Jasper regularly suffered trying to manage Kate.

Fortunately, he already knew full well why he considered those headaches to be worth it.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that." Lee thought. He wondered how long he could restrain himself to referring to it as 'Kate's Regirock' or other strictly accurate terms before he inadvertently got swept up in unwittingly accepting the name in spite of how silly it was.

[X] Ask the Regirock about 'The Wars'

---

Out of the desert again, past the Team Magma barrier, Lee felt free to relax a little bit. Not too much, but at least the looming feeling of immediate danger had passed. It also meant that, while getting to Lavaridge Town to ensure everything was fine there was still the leading goal, they had a little more freedom with their approach.

[X] Continue to Lavaridge Town
-[X] Keep alert for signs of Team Magma activity, try not to alert Team Magma to your presence if you find them.

[X] Be on the lookout for signs of Vulpix that might be near the path.
-[X] Perhaps Kate's Vulpix Enat could help keep us alert to the presence of any other Vulpix nearby?

[X][Archer] Training
-[X] With Archer kept mostly in reserve through the desert, do refresher training for Archer

-[X][Crunchbite] Train Dig
--[X] Second Attempt: Train to use Dig as the first half of a combo (Dig into Bite, Dig into Astonish, etc)

 

[Tascion]

[X]Seek out farmers and trainers along the route to get in practice battles
-[X] Start out with Oliver, then Uri, and then Sam.
-[X] Oliver can lead the group in exploring areas that he's interested in, until they find a trainer to do a battle

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden loved sending Oliver out front to explore things. The zigzagoon was not as bold as Sam when leading the group, and more likely to check in with Jaden as he went. He also tended to bring back absolutely anything that he thought Jaden would find interesting. He would stick as much in his fur as possible. Tiny white truffles, pecha berries, a stick that Oliver was absolutely convinced was the most valuable thing that he had found. It was fun seeing what Oliver would bring back to show.

The first trainer they came across was a kid like him. He had a torchic and looked like he was itching for battle. All it took was their eyes meeting, and they both knew what was up. Oliver was the first sent out to battle. He gave a deep ferocious cry before leaping across at the torchic with all his might. Jaden was extra pumped, sure that they were gonna take down the other team with ease. Unfortunately it quickly became obvious that just as Sam was the strongest on Jaden's team, the torchic was the strongest on the other kid's. Oliver fought valiantly, and left the torchic tired out and badly beaten, but Oliver was the first to fall.

Uri was quick to depose of the torchic, and the kid was in absolute aw of the fact that Jaden actually had an abra. Psychic pokemon could be so hard to catch! Unless it was a slowpoke, and those were really hard to train. The kid's pidgeotto barely even managed to get started before Uri slammed him out. A moment later Uri shimmered as he evolved into a kadabra, leaving both kids to scream in excitement. This was happening! Uri had evolved! Jaden had a kadabra now, and it was the coolest thing ever! Uri looked around with open eyes peering with curiosity around him. Yes, this was what he had been looking so eagerly for.

Uri has learned psybeam

[ ]How does Jaden celebrate Uri evolving

Jaden's next match was up against a farmer. She was more than happy to send out her lotad against Sam. Sam even managed a win, despite desperately needing a rest to recover afterwards. Poor Sam looked like he needed a pokemon center despite his win. The charmander of course kept boasting about his strength and how far he had come even as he hurt from the water battering him. That lotad had packed a much more powerful punch than it should have been able to.

Looking for trainers to battle was really fun. All of Jaden's team seemed to explode in growth as they battled and got in the experience to match their training. They had a much better idea of how to use everything Jaden had shown them now. Jaden was faster at making calls too. He didn't need to worry about working with his pokemon to listen to him. That was one thing that quickly became clear: whatever Jaden asked, they would do it instantly.

Pokemon Actions
[ ]Train your pokemon in battle
-[ ]Write-in specific training (speed, offense, dodging, train a move)
--[ ]Train pokemon team
--[ ]Train Oliver
--[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Uri
[ ]Play with your pokemon
-[ ]With all
-[ ]With Oliver
-[ ]With Sam
-[ ]With Uri
[ ]Write-in

Camp Actions
[ ]Seek out farmers and trainers along the route to get in practice battles
[ ]Visit a farm to pick berries
[ ]Explore off route
[ ]Pick berries
-[ ]Look for a specific type of berries
[ ]Poke at the new sense of the earth
[ ]Study the pokemon on Route 123
[ ]Try to catch a poochyena
[ ]Try to catch a skitty
[ ]Try to catch a plusle or minun
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

The group traveled up the path to Lavaridge, keeping a sharp eye out for Team Magma. At least they didn't have to worry about keeping watch at night. As soon as they stopped for camp Kate would release the regirock from its pokeball and set about doing what she could to spoil her team. Once they were settled in for the night the giant pokemon would keep watch for anything that was out there. The eerie part was how empty the route was. Lee suspected that Team Magma was the only other group along here. Despite the gym in Lavaridge there weren't other trainers to encounter.

"They've got sentry spots," Jasper pointed out. Jasper had been taking the lead in the route they took. He was clearly working around the scouts Team Magma had set up along the path. They wouldn't be able to avoid the team forever unfortunately. Traveling to Lavaridge was as good as screaming a challenge in their face.

The good news was that his search for a vulpix was going well. The word had spread along the wild pokemon, thanks to Kate's vulpix, and several had showed up to see if they could join his team. They varied from bold to seemingly merely curious to thrilled to meet humans. Kate of course spoiled all of them, leaving Lee plenty of time to observe them and take his pick.

[ ]Go for the bold vulpix with no fear
[ ]Go for the curious vulpix that simply watches
[ ]Go for the excited vulpix that is quick to jump in

Lee took the time when they stopped to camp to train his team. Archer was more than happy to knock the rust off his training and show off. It felt great to stretch and remind Lee why he had picked Archer as his starter. Crunchbite was interested in following up on the Dig combos that Lee was teaching as well, starting to get the hang of switching to another attack instead of simply launching himself at a pokemon when he came out.

The night they finally reached Lavaridge they stopped at the town's edge. Sure enough, there were Team Magma grunts patrolling the road in, keeping it sealed off. They would need a plan for getting in. They set up camp that night and talked about their plans. Once they were made, Lee approached the regirock. He finally asked about the wars the regirock had spoken of.

The regirock responded with the full weight of war in its words, impressing the emotions and impact into Lee as it spoke. It had started as a last plea to save the people. Then it became easier to ask the regirock to fight for them. Then it was always fighting. The last time the people were tired when the war ended. That was when the Mirage Tower was built, and the regirock went to sleep to wait for when it would be truly needed.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[X]How does Jaden celebrate Uri evolving
-[X]Carry Uri around, cheering his success. Later, let him pick what to eat for dinner, and then get treats from a bakery as well.
[X]Explore off route
-[X]Look for adventure! Go where people rarely go!
-[X]Poke at the new sense of the earth
--[X]Travel according to gut feelings. Try tying a blindfold on and seeing if that helps. Maybe Jaden should wear the sableye jewel on his forehead like a sableye, and see if that helps.

 

[Space Jawa]

Lee Hinsu was, again, briefly overwhelmed. He'd gone from not even being sure if he'd successfully locate a Vulpix to having his pick of the litter, as it were. It was a good thing he had time to make his decision, because it was time he very much needed. Part of him wanted to pick more than one, though he knew full well that wasn't a good idea.

From what he could tell, two of the Vulpix lined up closely with the Pokemon he already had. One was much like Archer, another seemed to have a lot in common with Crunchbite. Then there was the third Vulpix. Then there was the bold, adventurous one. Considering the composition of his team, he eventually reasoned that perhaps the best option would be to choose that which would help round out the team not just through raw type, but also in personality.

So Lee decided to entrust his team's future fortunes to the addition of the Vulpix that looked ready to take on the world.

[X] Choose the Bold, Fearless Vulpix
-[X] Name the Vulpix "Nova"

With the addition of the Vulpix "Nova" to his team, Lee felt a minor weight lift off his shoulders. He wasn't going to make any plans to become a Pokemon champion any time soon, but he did feel like he now had a well-rounded core, a central group he could build around. A solid foundation that would finally let him actually pull his own weight, and with comfortable breathing room he hadn't had when it had been just him and Archer and a wrong step would leave him fully vulnerable.

It also meant he no longer felt pressure to actively look for Pokemon. He only had half a traditional 'full' team, but it would be enough to meet his needs. Now, he need merely wait, see what Pokemon he came across naturally, and be content to catch only those he really, really wanted.

If there was but one regret about the situation, it was that he was unable to catch Nova the traditional way. However, given the looming threat of Team Magma, he unfortunately couldn't afford an unnecessary battle if the Vulpix was fully willing to join him without one. Not if there was any possibility they'd need to fight a real foe in the very near future.

However, it did bring an idea to his mind. He certainly couldn't justify adding more than one Vulpix to his team. But if the Vulpix were interested in humans, perhaps they could come along to Lavaridge. If things were as Lee feared, then they could use all the help they could get. And who knew what might be waiting for the Vulpix if they were willing to provide such help?

[X] Try to inform the Cautious and Excited Vulpix about the journey to Lavaridge Town and what may be happening there.
-[X] See if the Vulpix are interested in coming along and lending aid if it's needed against Team Magma - if help is needed against Team Magma, the people of Lavaridge would certainly be gracious to anyone willing to provide such aid.

---

Lee felt a small twinge of guilt from learning that Team Magma was at Lavaridge, just as he'd feared. Mostly about the sense of vindication that came from being right. This would very much have been one of those situations where Lee would have preferred to have been wrong, and the trip to Lavaridge to have been unnecessary.

Unfortunately, they had to address the situation as it was, not as it would have been preferred.

[X] Try stealth approach. Try to get the drop on the Team Magma guards without alerting them and incapacitating them without raising the alarm.
-[X] Try to investigate Lavaridge Town without alerting Team Magma, quietly incapacitate what Team Magma people we need to, see if we can get a better idea of what the full situation is before making any big moves. The more we can do without them knowing we're here, the better.
--[X] Keep "Pudding" in reserve as an emergency last resort, deployed only if absolutely necessary. The longer we can keep Team Magma from knowing for sure where the Regirock is, the less we actually have to use Kate's super Pokemon, the better off we'll be.

 

[Blacksheep]

Health problems gonna slow my posting, sorry about that

 

[Tascion]

Don't worry about us. You take care of yourself

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden wasted no time hoisting Uri up to show off to as many people as possible. His team was ecstatic, the guy he'd been battling against was ecstatic, Uri was clearly the coolest pokemon around. For the moment at least. Sam looked at Uri with sharp hungry eyes, eager to grow up and change himself. His kind grew slowly however, and it would be a long time until then.

Uri was delighted to get to pick what they had for dinner, and Jaden would have gotten them all candy and pastries if they had been anywhere near a shop that sold that stuff instead of off down a route between valleys and farm orchards. Jaden did get a ton of berries off one of the farms to give to everyone as a fresh treat at least.

Jaden was really ready to go exploring now. And to try and figure out how feeling the earth moving underneath him worked too. He was adjusting to it, but it was still distracting at times to again have the full realization of how the earth was shifting strike him. He bet he could do some cool things with it. He was learning to do cool things with his psychic powers. This would be like that. He explained his plan to the group before tying on a blindfold. He was going to focus on the feel of the earth, and use it to guide him! It would bring them all to adventure!

Unfortunately the sense of the earth did not include the trees that dotted the area. Jaden spent the first few minutes repeatedly running into them and getting sore from bruising. Sam was eager to take over as a guide to help Jaden dodge stuff, but Jaden wasn't gonna give up just yet. There had to be more to this sense. Surely it would guide him somewhere!

Walking around without being able to see was tricky. Jaden was getting more used to how the earth shifted and moved, but he couldn't actually see anything useful about this sense. He couldn't use it to guide him, and he didn't understand everything the ground was doing either. It felt too big, his head hurt a little trying to grasp onto everything he was sensing and understand it.

If he had his blindfold off he would have had more warning than Sam suddenly vanishing that something was up. He reached out with his senses towards his pokemon. Oliver was calm and happy, Uri felt intrigued, and Sam was excitedly charging at what he viewed as a new challenge. Jaden lifted up the blindfold to peer out, and found Sam growling and circling around a small tropius that was peering out from what looked to be a small herd of them.

[ ]Try to befriend tropius
[ ]See if Jaden can get the fruit that grows on tropius
[ ]Battle a tropius
[ ]Write-in

Pokemon Actions
[ ]Train your pokemon in battle
-[ ]Write-in specific training (speed, offense, dodging, train a move)
--[ ]Train pokemon team
--[ ]Train Oliver
--[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Uri
[ ]Play with your pokemon
-[ ]With all
-[ ]With Oliver
-[ ]With Sam
-[ ]With Uri
[ ]Write-in

Camp Actions
[ ]Seek out farmers and trainers along the route to get in practice battles
[ ]Visit a farm to pick berries
[ ]Explore off route
[ ]Pick berries
-[ ]Look for a specific type of berries
[ ]Poke at the new sense of the earth
[ ]Study the pokemon on Route 123
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Nova has joined Lee's team

Archer was thrilled with the new addition to the team. He barely paid attention to his trainer talking to the vulpix that he didn't decide to catch. The vulpix were happy enough to listen to him, even if their comprehension of the situation wasn't complete. They understood there was danger, but it was among humans. Why should it bother them? They were not interested in what rewards might be offered. No, they would wait for another human that might be worth their time.

The good news, was Jasper's team was about as well designed for stealthily taking out the grunts as it could be considering the situation. Kate's murkrow could scout overhead and let them know what gang members were spotted outside, while the rest of the pokemon divided up to take them down. Kate's haunter could go on his own to lick and paralyze as many grunts as he could manage, with her pincer partnering up with Jasper's ditto to take them out more forcefully. Jasper's arbok went with him to bite anyone that it could along with his grimer, while his pikachu and houndoom were partnered with Lee.

Kate was left in the back to come in with Pudding if necessary, but otherwise to direct her murkrow and stay clear.

It went well at first. They didn't give the grunts a chance to respond. About halfway through one of them managed to sound an alarm, and more gang members started pouring out. The fighting started in earnest. Lee even released his relatively small team to aid in the battling. An explosion sounded, and Lee was terrified that Kate had decided to send Pudding in early.

Fire, not earth, followed the explosion. It blew over the town. The heat was enough to knock Archer out despite not being touched directly. Lee half collapsed feeling himself choking with how dry the air became. Most of the grunts turned towards the explosion, leaving a relatively small cluster for them to mop up.

At some point they ran out of gang members, and Gym Leader Flannery marched out. Her elite team followed behind her: a blaziken, an arcanine, a camerupt, a magmortar, a magcargo, and a ninetales. She glared at Lee and his friends, the air shimmering with how much heat was radiating off. "Oh, more punks."

"We're not with them!" Lee said hastily. "We came to fight them."

Flannery raised a brow. "So not punks, just reckless idiots."

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

Lee Hinsu felt many things as he saw Flannery arrive on the scene. Lead among them were awe and intimidation. Few were those who didn't know about the Gym Leaders, among the most elite Pokemon Trainers in the world. He couldn't recall having met one before, but Lee still knew who they were - and in spite of the circumstances, it did not disappoint. Even as reportedly being Hoenn's newest Gym Leader, Flannery was still a sight to behold, especially with the full fury of her team on display.

In retrospect, it probably shouldn't have come as a surprise when she made cleanup of the remaining Team Magma thugs look easy and regarded Lee, Kate, and Jasper as a problem rather than help.

"Well...better that than being a wise coward." Lee said, trying to recover, standing tall as he tried to put forth a false front of confidence. He quickly realized that it probably did more to make him look ridiculous than anything and dropped back to a more casual stance, though still one that at least tried to cover the fact that he was presently just a little bit terrified.

"Look, we encountered Team Magma while we were trying to travel through the desert." Lee tried to explain, not sure how many details he should provide but still wanting to explain why, exactly they were the 'reckless idiots' she had taken them for. "I think they tried to take over the whole place, were trying to block off the path and keep people out. They were hard at work searching for something."

"I'm pretty sure we confirmed they're not going to find what they're looking for?" Lee continued, glancing to Kate and Jasper, trying to explain the situation in a way that was technically true but still uncertain about letting the secret out about Regirock. "But we thought that, since they'd blockaded the desert, and there's only one path in or out of Lavaridge, maybe they'd come here too and we should see if our help was needed."

"I think we were doing pretty well...but I guess it was kind of foolish of me not to realize you could probably handle the problem find on your own." Lee concluded, his front cracking and his nervousness slipping through as he realized the contrast between the helpful intentions and how easily Flannery had settled the matter by comparison.

[X] Try to explain the situation ("Mostly? Sort Of? I hope?")

 

[Tascion]

[x]See if Jaden can get the fruit that grows on tropius
-[x]Challenge the tropius to being an insurmountable obstacle course for Jaden and his team
-[x]Give it a berry per attempt, and if Jaden or his pokemon succeed at getting a tropius fruit, they get to keep it
-[x]Sam will refrain from setting the tropius on fire, but it also has to avoid hurting a challenger. Uri and Jaden can use disorienting mind attacks while they climb though

Pokemon Actions
[x]Train your pokemon in battle: Jaden and Sam versus Oliver and Uri
-[x]Sam and Oliver battle normally, while Jaden and Uri try to use mind powers to disrupt their opponent or bolster their ally
-[x]Jaden will try to mislead Oliver or confuse Uri
-[x]Uri can't attack directly, but can do the same as Oliver or psychically throw things

Camp Actions
[x]Poke at the new sense of the earth

(sorry for being slow on my response)

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden grinned. This was awesome! And he knew exactly what he was gonna do here: he was gonna play games with the tropius. He wasted no time in bouncing up and introducing himself to the herd of tropius. The tall pokemon peered down at the human curiously as he jabbered away, occasionally looking at the charmander that he had brought along with him. The tropius were more than happy to participate in Jaden's challenge of trying to get the fruit. They didn't even need anything from Jaden in exchange for playing: just getting to play a game for the fruit they had was more than enough to make them happy.

The games were quick to begin. The youngest of the tropius were the first to offer themselves to the visitors, as they were playful and eager about the challenge, not yet grown into the more placid and watchful air the older tropius members held. Sam was really good at climbing them, even when the tropius would run, fly, and twist about to try and dislodge the little charmander. He was having a fantastic time "hunting" the tropius and claiming his prize. Every time he came back down he was practically aflame with his enjoyment.

Oliver had similar skills to Sam in climbing the tropius, but he was not the hunter that Sam was, and got shaken off more often. When the older herd members stepped forward to offer themselves it proved a new level of challenge. They may be slower to start, but their moves were more clever, and once they got going they had far more speed than anyone would suspect from a creature of their bulk.

Jaden and Uri found the young tropius fairly easy to confuse. Jaden found himself fully able to grasp how Uri would use his sense of the psychic layer of reality to unroot someone from reality and disorient them. The older tropius clearly had more practice with it, and while Uri still had plenty of success, Jaden struggled to use his relatively new skills on the older tropius. It didn't help that staying on while a tropius was trying to scrape him off under a tree was tricky in itself. He found himself scrambling like a monkey all over them laughing hard enough to struggle to keep up.

They had a HUGE pile of pinap berries, something pokemon loved and would happily trade things for, nanab berries, which tended to make pokemon who ate it drowsy, and sitrus berries.

Gained 40 pinap berries. Gained 20 nanab berries. Gained 32 sitrus berries.

Jaden loved adventure. There was always plenty to explore. He needed his pokemon ready for his big adventures when he went out, and that meant training for battle so when something happened they'd all be ready. They were all generally awesome at this already of course, but there's always room for improvement! And it was fun to test out things that could be done with his team.

Jaden set up a battle with Uri and Oliver against him and Sam. Working with Sam was simple. It almost felt like they melded together when they battled, their emotions feeding off each other and helping them take advantage of any openings they could spot. Sam was hitting harder, and he was thrilled to get the chance to practice his flames.

Uri and Oliver struggled more. While Uri could give orders as easily as Jaden could, it quickly became clear that Uri lead a battle like a wild pokemon would. Jaden would have to teach him strategies to use in battle if he was gonna be effective at this game. Uri was much more likely to give general directions, and then focus on when he could disorient or throw in something at Sam than look for strategy combos to play up. At least Oliver was happy.

Sam has learned Slash. Oliver has learned Bite.

Trying to go somewhere through sensing the earth didn't work like Jaden had hoped. He wasn't gonna give up on this however. He just knew that this could allow him to do something good. So he was gonna spend some time poking at this sense and see what it did. Jaden sat down to focus on what he could feel without falling over. It could be tricky to keep his balance when the earth kept shifting beneath him. Jaden actually thought he had gotten really good at moving with the earth when he walked so he wasn't stumbling all over the place.

Poking at it now, it felt like the earth was breathing. It was alive without being alive at all, shifting and growing and changing. If Jaden hadn't known it was cause he touched the orb that had all that earth stuff in it, he would be wondering how everyone missed how the earth was constantly busy doing things. He could feel a mountain growing just sitting there. He could sense the shift in the plates of the earth sending out small ripples that would eventually cause earthquakes.

[ ]Focus on the small area of earth just around the camp with the sense
[ ]Focus more on the rhythm of the world that Jaden can feel
[ ]Write-in

Pokemon Actions
[ ]Train your pokemon in battle
-[ ]Write-in specific training (speed, offense, dodging, train a move)
--[ ]Train pokemon team
--[ ]Train Oliver
--[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Uri
[ ]Play with your pokemon
-[ ]With all
-[ ]With Oliver
-[ ]With Sam
-[ ]With Uri
[ ]Write-in

Camp Actions
[ ]Seek out farmers and trainers along the route to get in practice battles
[ ]Visit a farm to pick berries
[ ]Explore off route
[ ]Pick berries
-[ ]Look for a specific type of berries
[ ]Poke at the new sense of the earth
[ ]Study the pokemon on Route 123
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Flannery listened with a raised brow to what Lee had to say. Frankly, what the teens had pulled off was impressive. They had come up with a plan that their low level pokemon could handle, and used it to take out a fair number of grunts. More importantly, they'd caused enough of a fuss that Flannery had been able to make her move. She was less impressed that the commotion they had caused had almost gotten a couple of the hostages killed, but it wasn't like the kids would know about that. The way they spoke they had ended up tangled in something else that Team Magma was up to, and checked in on Lavaridge cause of how close it was.

It still wasn't something she was going to encourage in any way. That only lead to dead trainers playing hero. "You got lucky," she told the pair of boys in front of her.

Jasper nodded his head and pulled out his phone, texting Kate that it was clear to come into town and to leave Pudding in his pokeball. Yes, he did need to make sure that was clear. Kate wouldn't put Pudding at unnecessary risk, but Kate didn't have a great sense of what risk was.

Lee had definitely drawn the gym leader's attention talking about Team Magma in the desert. She looked at Lee, who seemed to be the leader of this small team. "What was in the desert Team Magma was so gung-ho about? No, wait, hold that. Need to finish securing these idiots, and then we can talk."

For the next couple of hours the town was busy fixing itself up, having police from other areas contacted to drag the captured grunts off to be interrogated, and generally doing what it could to get back to normal after having been forcibly taken over for days. Flannery looked much calmer once she took a seat across from Kate Jasper and Lee in a diner with supper set out before them. "Now, what is it exactly that Team Magma was doing in the desert that you ran into?"

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

There was a very noticeable, unquestionable pause of hesitation from Lee when the question of Team Magma came a second time. While it was understandable that Jasper didn't speak up to fill the void, that Kate remained quiet was a small but welcome surprise. Lee wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but it did seem that in spite of being the outsider of the trio, Lee now somehow found himself increasingly falling into the role of leader and spokesman.

"There's not a lot we know for certain." Lee started, still hesitant about what exactly to say and trying to figure it out on the go.

In a way, though, he was already questioning how much he could actually keep entirely a secret, especially since the pause following Flannery's question would give her every reason to suspect he wasn't being entirely honest.

"What we do know..." He continued, then looked to Jasper and Kate. "Where's that information we copied in the desert?"

That, at least, they were going to share with proper law enforcement anyway, no sense keeping it a secret here.

"One of the few things we know for certain is that they were looking for Mirage Tower." Lee said as he tried to navigate around his explanation.

"Kate and Jasper, they're veterans from the Kanto region. They were headed for the desert to look for Mirage Tower themselves when we crossed paths and were nice enough to let me tag along. We got away with bluffing our way through by pretending to be new recruits at first, until their local supervisor actually paid attention to who we were. That's how we got a look at this information we picked up."

"So based on what we stole, Team Magma is looking for ways to control Legendary Pokemon. They probably thought that any possibility that Mirage Tower might be real and be hiding that kind of power was worth taking over the desert. As fate would have it, they sent us exactly where we needed to go to find the place. And..."

Another pause followed as Lee confirmed in his head exactly what he wanted to say. Whether to share their secret with Flannery. He could only hesitate for so long, and in the end, Lee had to admit that they kind of had to. He'd already de facto exposed that they knew far more than he'd initially let on, and if they couldn't trust someone like Flannery, then who could they trust?

"...what we found inside Mirage Tower was mostly Pokemon. There's some Vulpix that have taken up residence. Some...golems that maintain the tower and guard it. We found some fossils that...I'm not sure how to explain it, but I could swear they still have some lingering sparks of life inside. And then, locked away, we found..."

Yet another pause followed as Lee braced himself for what he was about to say next.

"...'Pudding'."

He pointed at Kate.

"That's what she calls it now that it's her Pokemon. We..."

Another brief moment of hesitation followed.

"Could we show you somewhere more secure where it won't make a scene?" Lee asked. "We're trying to keep it a secret right now as best we can. Trying to keep Team Magma from knowing as long as possible. That's why we had Kate keep it in reserve instead of leading with it and giving Team Magma a really bad day."

"Well, worse day."

[X] Share the stolen information, acquired from Team Magma in the desert, with Flannery.
-[X] Try to convince Flannery to let us show her 'Pudding' somewhere that don't cause a commotion and will minimize how many more people know about Regirock.

 

[Tascion]

[x]Focus on the small area of earth just around the camp with the sense
-[x]Try to feel out the structure and energy of the earth in more detail
[x]Seek out farmers and trainers along the route to get in practice battles
-[x]Ask Uri and Oliver to practice trying to find people
-[x]Have Sam keep an eye on Jaden
-[x]head towards route 118

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden focused and did his best to narrow his attention down to his immediate surroundings. It felt a bit like before meeting Sam, with the world pressing in around him and struggling to narrow things down enough to be able to act. He was actively reaching out to this part of himself though, and he knew more. He knew how to build up shields to help sort through what he found. With his pokemon's help Jaden was able to block it down to just the area around him, and really look.

The earth here was healthy and alive. He could sense that it was tended to. There was a vague, almost but not quite, feel of contentment. That wasn't quite the right way to put it, as the earth wasn't alive, it didn't feel, but that was the best way that Jaden could think to put it. He could feel it working alongside what grew on top of it, and sense the small streams of water that ran beneath the surface. He could even sense a few tunnels and burrows that had been dug into the earth. That was more tricky, but with some practice Jaden could learn to seek out those tunnels and burrows on purpose.

Jaden was hyped. He was ready to keep traveling down the road, and start challenging more trainers to battles. It started out with him having a fair number of losses, but Jaden learned from each one, and his pokemon were growing with him. The farmers he battled with were happy enough to give advice to a kid on his journey on how to use his pokemon better. Sure they specialized in tending to their orchards, but that didn't mean that they didn't have experience in battling to offer.

Uri brought in the most wins, with Sam aggressively clawing his way up and quickly proving himself as the fastest at improving. Oliver continued to just be delighted by everything, content in bringing in the least wins. Jaden made sure that Oliver knew that wasn't nothing. He was close behind Sam and Uri after all! Oliver did amazing in his battles! Oliver was really playing up the zig zag part of being a zigzagoon, confusing his opponents and dragging them into silly plays before he would turn around and smack them good. His pokemon were awesome, and they needed to know that.

Pokemon Actions
[ ]Train your pokemon in battle
-[ ]Write-in specific training (speed, offense, dodging, train a move)
--[ ]Train pokemon team
--[ ]Train Oliver
--[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Uri
[ ]Play with your pokemon
-[ ]With all
-[ ]With Oliver
-[ ]With Sam
-[ ]With Uri
[ ]Write-in

Camp Actions
[ ]Seek out farmers and trainers along the route to get in practice battles
[ ]Visit a farm to pick berries
[ ]Explore off route
[ ]Pick berries
-[ ]Look for a specific type of berries
[ ]Keep training earth sense
[ ]Study the pokemon on Route 123
[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Explore off route
-[x]Sam should help with cooking, to practice using his fire in a controlled and consistent way.
-[x]Uri should walk and run more, to get more fit.
-[x]Oliver should practice hiding from Jaden's senses
-[x]Jaden should practice tracking Oliver by means other than the classic five senses.

 

[Blacksheep]

Interestingly, neither Kate nor Jasper were quick to hand over the information they'd collected in the Mirage Tower, though in Kate's case it seemed that was because she had been busy studying the gym leader and hadn't heard Lee, rather than Jasper's more calculated hesitance.

"They think they can control legendary pokemon?" Flannery asked with some doubt.

"Maybe," Kate chimed in. "They already force normal pokemon to listen to them."

Flannery didn't look like she knew how to take Kate ranking legendaries at the same level as regular pokemon for Team Magma. She did shrug and give a nod at Lee's suggestion. "Sure, let's take a look."

They reached the clearing, and Kate tossed her pokeball. "Come out Pudding!"

Flannery stared in shock as a pokemon she had never heard of before came into existence before her eyes. The stone titan looked around before spotting Kate and gently kneeling. She rushed over happily to hug it. "I'm going to keep Pudding safe," she declared. "It's not for using."

"I definitely have some people I gotta contact," Flannery said. She stared at the regirock gently humoring the teen girl that was hugging it.

"She's really something," Jasper said proudly. "Clumsy, a little too excited, but a pure heart of gold."

Flannery frowned and turned to the group again. "And you say that Team Magma was looking for this, er, Pudding?" Jasper nodded. "Great. So there might be other unknown pokemon out there the gang's after." She took a deep breath. "Alright, thanks for letting me know. I'm guessing I can't talk you into handing Pudding over?"

"No," Kate said firmly. The stone titan shifted, clearly becoming ready to fight on its small human's behalf.

"Got it." Flannery nodded. She grinned sharply at Kate. "You're gonna have a lot of training to do to keep it safe then." She looked at Jasper and Lee. "They're not gonna leave you alone now, you know that?"

[ ]Write-in