Dual Pokemon Quest

[Space Jawa]

"Good job, Nova." Lee said as he finally recalled his Vulpix.

He then took a massive gamble as he sent in his second Pokemon.

"Let's win this thing, Archer!" Lee declared, swapping from fighting fire with fire to playing with fire.

A massive gamble...but perhaps not as massive a gamble as it first appeared. Certainly, there was the natural disadvantage of pitting a grass Pokemon against fire. But from what Lee had seen of Flannery's Numel thus far, on everything other than that natural type advantage, Archer may have in fact been the better option.

Numel was a fire type, sure - Flannery wouldn't have used it if it wasn't. But it was also a ground type. Not only did that mean that it heavily neutered his main strategy with Crunchbite, especially the level of power it had shown with Bulldoze, but it also didn't have the same level of defense against grass as it might have otherwise.

Pitting Crunchbite against the Numel would certainly come down to a test of raw power. Not an impossible challenge, but that was Flannery's game, and Lee wasn't going to fall into the trap of trying to best her at it directly.

Pitting Archer against the Numel, that would come down to a game of long-distance tag, which Lee was willing to bet would give Archer the edge he'd need to emerge victorious.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Lee ordered. "Leafage, full spread!"

[X] Swap Nova for Archer.
-[X] Rely on Archer's flight combat and evasion training to avoid getting hit.
--[X] Harass Numel with Archer's shotgun Leafage to both chip away at its health and probe the Numel's ability to counter.

 

[Blacksheep]

Archer launched into the sky pride thrumming through him. This is what he was born for, battling alongside his human. Flames were spat out at him under Flannery's command, but Archer was able to twist around with ease thanks to his training. He let out a cooing acknowledgement before releasing Leafage in strafing flights over the numel's head. The numel did his best to counter, and some of the flames clipped at Archer, but the numel was stuck. He couldn't move well with the ground broken up, and couldn't reach Archer in the sky.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

"That it, Archer!" Lee said, encouraging Archer to keep it up.

By all appearances, Archer was ready to finish the Numel off - but that was by appearances. Which left one big question - did Flannery have any tricks hidden up her very short sleeves she was waiting to pull out at the last minute and ruin Lee's day?

[X] Continue aerial evasion
-[X] Use spread Leafage as cover to hit the Numel with Razor Leaf.

 

[Blacksheep]

Archer gave what would have been a terrifying screech if he was not a tiny rowlet. Instead it was more like a scratchy hiss as he kept up his charge on the numel. Nova had done a good job weakening it, and with this, Archer was able to take it out. He landed back before Lee, slightly crispy but absolutely basking in his win.

"Not bad!" Flannery said. "That was some true passion you showed me!" She crossed over to hand Lee the badge.

 

[Blacksheep]

Latios and Latias thanked Jaden for his help, with Latias still far more enthralled with the xatu than the human that Latios had brought to their island to help them. The xatu brushed a warm presence over Jaden's mind before pausing and looking closer. She gave a feeling of amusement and cheer before letting Jaden go with promises of greatness in the future.

Riding Latios to Lavaridge was so cool. Again, they were going far faster than anything Jaden had experienced before. He thought they might even be going faster than they had when going to the island! It was still comfortable enough for Jaden to hang on and enjoy the feel of the wind as they went by. Latios was definitely doing something to allow that, and it was super awesome. Maybe something Jaden should learn for when Sam would learn to fly.

It was a long ride, and Jaden felt himself almost slipping into a daze as they approached Lavaridge. He could sense how alive the earth was here, how things aligned to shift and move. This was an active place that still shifted. The ancient one dreamed near here, and one of its eyes focused through the dream as Jaden drew near.

Latios lowered himself towards Lavaridge to let Jaden off, just as Mt Chimney erupted.

[ ]Lee Write-in
[ ]Jaden Write-in

This is a Hawaiian Eruption: lots of lava and magma spilling out like a pot bubbling over, and will cover like five miles around the volcano, but can be safely researched

 

[Tascion]

[X] Jaden decided that he could get his team checked out later, and that maybe the local gym would be a good source of information.
-[X] ask somebody at the gym about gems associated with the volcano, neat stuff in the area, and if there were any unsafe areas or pokemon nearby to watch out for.

 

[Space Jawa]

The thrill of victory was unfortunately cut near impossibly short by the sound of an explosion. No time to contemplate victory, no time for words, the badge was hardly even in his hand when he first heard the boom. His first instinct was to presume that Team Magma was up to no good again, and promptly gathered both his team and his belongings to rush out of the Gym and find out what was going on.

Getting out of the Gym, finally seeing the source, discovering that it was 'just' a volcanic eruption, Lee felt a small sense of relief heavily mixed with suspicion.

Team Magma, an erupting volcano...perhaps Lee was just being paranoid, but he suspected a split of even odds between it being a natural event or evidence that something was amiss.

"Or maybe..."

His research had revealed something about a Legendary Pokemon that was said to be associated with volcanos. Was it somehow possible that it had showed up here?

Whatever it was, Lee was currently ill-equipped to investigate, not with his team practically half out of commission. He needed to do prep-work. Quick prep-work, but prep-work nonetheless.

[X] Get team healed at Pokemon Center.
[X] Acquire 10 Ultra Ball from the Pokemart.
[X] Investigate the Mt. Chimney Eruption.

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden arrived at the gym just in time to see an older trainer rushing out and down to the pokecenter. Guess he must have lost, and badly at that. Jaden shrugged and continued his way in, not bothered by the volcanic eruption in the slightest. It felt alive to Jaden's senses, fun to examine, but he had gems to seek for Sam. He headed further in and grinned at Flannery talking with one of the front workers.

"Hi! Do you know about volcanic gems?"

Flannery blinked at the kid. "Pardon?"

"My charmander wants a fire based gem, I thought there'd be lots near a volcano," Jaden explained. "Also wanted to know if there's any spots we should avoid around here."

"Considering the eruption that just happened, you're likely gonna be stuck here for a few days before it's safe for you to travel again," Flannery said. "Avoid the desert too, a gang's been out there." She hummed tugging on her hair. "As for volcanic gems...well, there's fire stones, of course. Those form around here, even if they aren't easy to find. Fire gems, heat rocks, flame orbs. Obsidian's plenty bountiful if you want to find something, though you'll have to be careful, both sharp and fragile that. You could find some peridot, plenty common, if not something most people think of round volcanoes. And opals, you can find opals if you really look."

>>>>>

The nurse was rather bewildered at the rush to heal Lee's pokemon. The cashier worker was just as much, and then Lee was out the door and racing away. "Hey, where are you going?" Kate shouted.

Jaden

[ ]Train pokemon for battles
[ ]Play with pokemon
[ ]Sign up for the gym classes
[ ]Sign up for battling the gym
[ ]Go to the hot springs
[ ]Head to Mt Chimney to look for a gem for Sam
[ ]Write-in

Lee

[ ]Don't bother to slow down and inform anyone
[ ]Tell Kate and Jasper, invite them along
[ ]Tell Kate and Jasper, go alone
[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

Lee nearly fell over as he came to a sudden stop. He'd been in such a rush to investigate that he'd practically forgotten about Kate and Jasper.

"Sorry." He apologized after he gave them an opportunity to catch up. "I'm going to see what I can do to investigate the explosion. Maybe it's just a natural occurrence, but I can't help but wonder if there might be something more at work. Worst case scenario, Team Magma is up to no good again. However..."

He briefly glanced to the volcano, then back to Kate and Jasper.

"When I was researching other Legendary Pokemon, one that stood out had a connection to Groudon and volcanos." He continued. "Given what Team Magma were up to in the desert, I wouldn't be surprised if they know about the same legends and were pursuing the same leads."

In that moment, another thought occurred to him.

"Now that I think about it, that could have given them yet another reason to invade Lavaridge." Lee thought out loud. "Maybe they thought it would show up at Mt. Chimney for some reason, or had some theory on how to lure it there."

[X] Tell Kate and Jasper, invite them along

"Maybe it's nothing, but I'd hate to learn that something amiss was behind this and that I missed out." He said.

It left Lee all the more thankful that Kate and Jasper had caught up with him before he'd run off on his own. While he had just defeated his first Gym Leader, the couple were still far more experienced than he was. Not just in general, but when it came to volcanoes as well - after all, Kate had mentioned she'd acquired her own Vulpix while exploring a volcano.

 

[Tascion]

[x] ask around the gym for anybody living on our near the mountain that needs help evacuating. If so, help out
-[x] otherwise look for people going up to the mountain
-[x] get some burn heals and water from the mart
-[x] let Uri know that now the team is without a pirate problem or other pressing issue, he's got a physical training session coming up. Likely when the team is on the way back down the mountain.

As an aside, I comically misread the prior couple posts. I thought that lavaridge was continuously erupting in the way that Hawaiian volcanos used to a decade or so ago, rather than that lavaridge started erupting with that degree of violence quite suddenly. Jaden wouldn't have been quite so calm if he hadn't thought this behavior for the mountain was normal. Then again, it's been doing this the entire time he's been here so he's not like it's abnormal for his experience.

 

[Blacksheep]

Mt Chimney is a fairly active volcano, and it would feel normal to Jaden with his senses, but yeah for the locals this is abnormal

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden was coming back feeling more serious now with the warnings about the eruption he'd been given. It had seemed perfectly normal, no reason for concern, but people were reacting. He spotted the trainer for earlier and jogged up towards him. "Hey, can I join you?"

Kate glanced at the kid and grinned. "Sure! But stay close, active lava's dangerous."

Jasper mumbled something to himself about Kate needing to worry about herself, and then they were moving.

"Do you really think we're gonna run into another legendary pokemon?" Kate asked Lee. They approached the volcano and stared up. They could already feel the heat coming off from the lava and see the trees burning.

[ ]Jaden Write-in
[ ]Lee Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[X]Searching
-[X]Sam will lead the team, looking for warning signs of lava and heat
-[X]Uri with search with his mind, for people and pokemon, scared or or otherwise, that need help
-[X]Oliver will pick up the rear. His job is to keep track of everybody, in case somebody might wander off or something. This is an important safety job, so if Oliver doesn't feel like he can manage, Jaden will help him.
-[X]Jaden will feel out the mountain in total, in case it's about to get a bigger eruption going or something.

 

[Space Jawa]

Lee admittedly had some misgivings about the new arrival tagging along, but he kept quiet about it. It would have been kind of hypocritical of him given his own tagging along with Kate and Jasper; nor were the three of them acting in any official capacity, they had no more business being here than the kid did.

On the other hand, the more people that were present the more they had to work with, and if his Pokemon were any indication the new kid was even more prepared for this situation than Lee was.

"I don't know." Lee said to Kate. "I think there is a solid possibility of it, and I'd rather not miss out if it happens to be there."

He glanced at the new kid a moment. The Legendary issue, that more than anything was probably what gave Lee pause the most. The increased risk that came with every new individual that learned about Regirock.

"So I'm Lee." He said, trying to introduce himself. "Who are you?"

[X] Stay alert for danger and signs of anything unusual.
-[X] Keep Nova deployed, we're basically in her element.
-[X] Keep Crunchbite in his Pokeball but at the ready, his abilities could prove useful.
-[X] Keep Archer in his Pokeball and in reserve, we might need him but this is not an environment he's well suited for.
-[X] This is likely a situation Regirock is well suited for, especially for helping the group navigate safely and using the ground to redirect any hazardous lava flows.

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden was quick to release his team to help in the search. Sam was clearly thrilled at running towards the lava, letting out occasional raspy barks of excitement. Uri was very busy scanning the environment and picking up everything he could, creating a map of the area and where they would need to go to help. He was quick to locate pokemon in need of rescue, telling Jaden about them. Oliver was very proud to follow in the back and keep an eye open for everyone to stick together. The group was important, and he could handle that.

When Jaden reached out with his earth sense into the mountain, he felt something ancient reach back. It was stirring from its dream at Jaden's approach, coming closer to waking. The discussion the other older trainers were having was almost only half heard.

"I'm Jaden," he introduced. "That's Sam, he's my partner and starter, and that's Uri, he's brilliant, and Oliver, he's really dependable."

"I'm Kate," Kate said happily. She released a giant stone titan out into the landscape. The regirock looked around steadily and immediately began to create deep trenches of earth to divert the lava to safer areas far from the group. They would not be harmed while it was here. "This is Pudding, it likes hugs and building things."

Nova let out a soft yip as they walked, clearly heavily on edge with the environment. She was eyeing up Sam at the same time, clearly interested in the charmander but more distracted by the threat they were walking into. Jasper didn't introduce himself, just walking with a scowl and hovering over Katie.

Jaden
[ ]Reach back to the dreamer
[ ]Pull away from the dreamer
[ ]Go to rescue the numel that Uri found
[ ]Go to rescue the cluster of cacnea Uri found
[ ]Go to rescue the ninetales pair Uri found
[ ]Write-in

Lee
[ ]Head deeper into the volcano
[ ]Work with Pudding to divert the worst of the lava
[ ]Search for the legendary
[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Ask Kate if the big statue pokemon is as unlimited as he looks, but quickly prioritize the pokemon in danger and explain that Uri has found three groups potentially needing help.
-[x]Jaden offers to Lee for Uri to remotely guide Nova to the pair of ninetales in trouble, and to go himself with Sam and his team after the cacnea.
-[x]Offer to point Kate and Pudding in the general direction of the numel
-[x]Once the splitting up is settled, let Oliver guide Jaden's steps while he reaches back to the dreamer and let it know that Mt Chimney is erupting, and that it should be careful if it's susceptible to such like lava, crushing pressure, and pyroclastic flows.

(@Space Jawa, I'm expecting your plan to disagree with mine, as Jaden doesn't know Pudding's capabilities and so on. Just saying that debate and disagreement in character won't be intended or taken personally.)

 

[Space Jawa]

"Splitting up like that, in this environment, that's a terrible idea." Lee said. "It would be far too easy for the lava to cut us off and then we'd need to rescue each other."

"Your Kadabra, Uri, can he teleport?" Lee asked. He knew that teleportation was a signature ability of the Abra line but exact specifics weren't the kind of thing he knew of the top of his head, let alone for this Kadabra in particular. "What kind of power and control does he have for getting around?"

[X] Work with Pudding to divert the worst of the lava.
-[X] See if Pudding can create a path that will allow the group to reach each of the Pokemon that need rescuing and either gather them up in turn or create safe paths that will allow the Pokemon to escape to safety.
-[X] Find out from Jaden if Uri has the ability to use Teleport to help rescue the stranded Pokemon.

While the focus for Lee still remained the possibility of either Team Magma or some Legendary Pokemon, if there were those in need of help, he couldn't have brought himself to be so selfish as to ignore the clear need to lend assistance.

 

[Tascion]

"My kadabra can teleport, but that doesn't work with large groups. They mostly use it to escape by themselves, not doing groups or sending another person or pokemon by themselves. He can get my team out, if he really pushes himself. We need to act on at least the cacnea. Those are plant pokemon, and while they like dry heat I'm pretty sure they're going to catch fire and do really badly soon."

 

[Blacksheep]

"Pudding can get us a safe route to the pokemon," Kate said confidently. "We just need to know where to go." Pudding let out a gravely sound of agreement. With that they were on their way towards where the cacnea were. Uri was more than happy to direct the route, leaving Jaden free to reach out to the dreamer to warn it of what was going on.

The dreamer's response was a deep welcoming, and an increased awareness of the earth. Jaden felt himself tip slightly, feeling what it was to be the volcano as it erupted. The volcano bubbled up further as the dreamer shifted again, intrigued. Perhaps it was time for there to be more. There was room in the tectonic plates here for another to be added. The earth would shift and change, and the world would expand.

Lee glanced back at the kid whose kadabra was leading them to rescue pokemon. An odd feeling ran through him looking at Jaden. He wasn't quite all there. The lack of awareness bothered him.

[ ]Jaden Write-in
[ ]Lee Write-in

 

[Tascion]

Jaden agreed with the dreamer that volcanos were awesome, and more volcanos was more awesome. The speed of making this one was endangering pokemon living nearby though. Maybe slow down for a day or so, to give them time to evacuate everybody? Or do some nifty earthquakes in the interim time. Shake the ground frequently, both as a warning of the eruption resuming soon and to make sure any gaps in the local area are well settled, like patting down the sand in a sandcastle on the beach to check for rocks and sticks and stuff.

Regardless of the dreamer's response, continue evacuating the pokemon as planned for the moment. When on more steady ground than most, ask about what kind of pokemon Pudding is.

 

[Space Jawa]

[X] Keep an eye on everyone, make sure the group stays together and focused on the objective.

 

[Blacksheep]

The dreamer shifted, waking further as they conversed. Sam roared angrily as Jaden was pulled further along their link. That was his partner! Jaden was beside him, but far and gone. The dream shifted, the volcano calming and the earth trembling instead. The path of the earth opened before Jaden leaving him to hang and watch how new land was born. Each part was touched with attention care and love. The plates shifted in preparation. The earth sent out minute trembles to tell the world its plans.

Kate watched with worry as the kid that was helping them evacuate the cacnea stumbled. He walked a few more steps before dropping into a faint. "Pudding, grab Jaden!" she ordered. The stone titan obediently did so and cradled the human carefully in its arms. Kate looked to Lee in worry. "We need to split, Jaden can't stay here."

[ ]Lee Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

While Jaden was out of it, Lee remained adamant that the group couldn't afford to split and go in multiple directions amid the chaos.

Fortunately, there was very much a potential solution that presented itself.

[X] Have Uri point the rest of the group in the right direction for the Pokemon that need rescuing, if possible communicate proper routes to Pudding so the Regirock knows the way.
-[X] Have Sam and Oliver returned to their Pokeballs so it's just Jaden and Uri.
--[X] Have Uri teleport himself and Sam (with the other Pokemon in their Pokeballs) back toward the safety of Lavaridge.

 

[Blacksheep]

"There's an active eruption ongoing, we can't split, what if someone ends up hurt?" Lee argued. "No, I have a better solution." He turned to face Jaden's kadabra. "Uri, can you share the locations of the pokemon in need of rescue with someone directly?"

The kadabra nodded. "Do that with us." A moment later impressions of the trapped pokemon came into Lee's mind. It wasn't organized the way he was used to. The impressions were different from what he would get using aura, but he was quickly able to organize it in his mind to know exactly where those pokemon were.

"Alright, Sam, Oliver, return to your pokeballs." Sam growled wrapping himself tightly around his fallen trainer. "You can come back out again later, but you need to be in your pokeballs for Uri to teleport Jaden back to the pokemon center." Sam considered that before reluctantly doing so. Oliver followed his lead, and a moment later the kadabra picked up Jaden and teleported away.

Lee took a deep breath. "Alright, that's taken care of." He looked to the cluster of nearby cacnea they had come to rescue.

[ ]Have Pudding divert a stone path for them to take to safety
[ ]Carry them to safety
[ ]Create a safe spot in place for them
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden was part of the earth. It wrapped around him, embraced him. He could feel the life within it, the pockets where things lived within. Content pokemon in caverns, more active ones digging away in burrows. He could feel the slow flow of lava even as that calmed, and the tremors of excitement as the earth braced for growth. It was hard to think of more than the comforting thrum of the earth and the hand that guided it. The ancient one was pleased to share his work, and how Jaden could see it.

Far away was a faint call of...something.

[ ]Continue to dream
[ ]Try to look at the ancient one
[ ]Try to figure out what's calling
[ ]Write-in