Dual Pokemon Quest

[Blacksheep]

It had been a long time coming. Perhaps he shouldn't have put it off for so long, but the first while out he had been running, and then he had found himself swept up in his journey. So it was almost six months later that he finally got around to calling his home.

"Hello?" one of his sisters asked.

"Hey," Lee greeted.

"Lee! Guys, it's Lee!" his first sister shouted. There was an immediate commotion in the background.

"Lee, you have to stay on the phone, dad's out in the orchard, Ty's gone out to get him," his sister said.

"Lee? Lee, where are you?" his mom asked. "Are you safe?" It was clear in her voice that she was biting back the request for him to come home. It was too late to ask that, she knew he wouldn't.

>>>

"So where do you think we should start looking for things?" Lee asked Kate and Jasper.

"That's easy, we should start with looking for the ghost pokemon," Kate said happily. Snowflake hovered around her jealously. She patted the haunter.

"Or we could start by asking directly about what we came here for," Jasper countered. "If we want to actually deal with Groudon and Rayquaza. We have experts right here, just waiting to be asked."

"It's more fun to learn on our own," Kate protested.

"That's the exact attitude that had you almost drowning chasing after a wild wartortle," Jasper shot back. Kate pouted.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Examine the strange orb that calls with power
-[x]One last one, because spending all day here is getting a bit selfish.
[x]Ask Oliver what would he like to do.
-[x]Visit the glassworks
-[x]Try a contest
-[x]do a battle

 

[Space Jawa]

Lee had to hold back a laugh as Kate and Jasper continued to prove as entertaining as ever.

"I'm sure there will be time to go ghost hunting while we are here." Lee said. Whether he himself would join said ghost hunting, that remained to be seen, but he certainly wasn't going to digress on that matter in the moment.

"However, I'm with Jasper." Lee added. "We need to keep our priorities straight and focus on Groudon and Rayquaza first. While I'm not going to complain if Groudon wants to keep napping, we can't take for granted that he just decided to go back to sleep and the crisis is over just like that."

[X] (Further action to be determined after call home completed)

---

The call hit Lee harder than he had expected. Yes, he'd longed to leave home and set out on a journey of his own. But it was still his home, it was still his family, and this was the longest he'd ever gone away from either.

"Hi, Mom." Lee replied. "Yes, I'm safe, and I've made it all the way to Mt. Pyre."

Whether that could be considered a completely honest answer was debatable, what with Team Magma, Groudon, and the current quest for Rayquaza. But in the moment he wasn't in any immediate danger, he didn't have to worry about anything interrupting his call trying to attack him. So Lee elected to ere on the side of caution, give an honest enough answer, and do what he could to avoid the kind of details that might give his mom reason to not hold back her clearly burning desire for her son to return home. Or worse, give his parents reason to actively make him come home somehow.

He could give them the full story - danger and all - later. For now, he needed to focus on reassurance.

"How is everything back there?" Lee asked, both buying time for his dad to get there and trying to momentarily shift the conversation to a hopefully less worrisome topic. "What have I missed while I've been gone?"

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden shifted over to examine the strange orb that he could sense power coming from. He was almost done checking out the lab, it was in fact a super cool place for him to have chosen to check out. Definitely a good decision. But he wasn't going to spend the entire there there. So he just reached out to the last orb to examine it.

What he felt was...strange. It was hard to describe. It was life, it was potential. It was bonds and next steps and evolution. It was reaching beyond what should be possible with a friend at your side. It wasn't complete, could never be complete on its own, and yet it would sit at the start of each connection. It was a channel for everything that it meant to be pokemon and trainer, and there it sat, seeming innocent in its case. Jaden found himself catching his breath and wondering how everyone else in the lab didn't notice.

He wandered back out, mind turning over everything that he saw. Space, Jaden decided, was absolutely cool. And even cooler that there were space pokemon. He would have to look them up.

Jaden released his linoone and looked at him. "I decided you can decide what we do next. What do you want to do? Visit the glassworks, do a battle, or check out a contest?"

Oliver was delighted to have his opinion asked. He had no idea what two of the suggestions were, but he knew battles! He was absolutely up for battle. He could show off how much he had grown since evolving. Jaden grinned and headed down to the battle tent to allow Oliver to do just that. He found a grandpa that was battling with an ursaring and asked if they'd be willing to battle Oliver. The old man gamely agreed.

Oliver was quick in showing off his pin missile and headbutts. He managed quick turns and and bites and created an entire dust storm for his sand attack to blind the ursaring in. The ursaring just seemed to absorb the blows, blocking Oliver and bouncing him back. Occasionally the ursaring would pick Oliver up to toss him back. None of this discouraged Oliver in the slightest, continuing on until he was a cheerful puddle laying down on the ground. He had done good showing off, even if his opponent had clearly been way stronger than him.

The old man was happy to congratulate Jaden on his linoone. It was clear Oliver was a relatively new evolution. He suggested looking into ways to start incorporating in the new claws that his linoone now had. They were primarily for digging, but there could be other ways to use it as well. It was also a good time to look into elemental moves, since as a normal typing Oliver had great flexibility.

[ ]Train pokemon
-[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Oliver
-[ ]Train Uri
-[ ]Train all
[ ]Play with pokemon
-[ ]Play with Sam
-[ ]Play with Oliver
-[ ]Play with Uri
-[ ]Play with all

[ ]Visit the glassworks
[ ]Visit the contest hall
-[ ]Enter a contest
-[ ]Watch a contest
-[ ]Get tips on training for beautiful moves
[ ]Visit the battle tent for battling trainers
[ ]Shop at poke mart
[ ]Practice psychic abilities (write in to practice something specific)
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

"It hasn't been the same without you," Lee's mom said. "Ty's been stepping up, the persim berries are doing really well this year. Enough to bring in plenty of pidgeys trying to steal them." She laughed softly. "Rin has found a boy to date, she says it's not serious, but I can tell by that look in her eye she's in love. Hopefully that boy will do right by her. And your other sister, Mei, has been volunteering with the pokemon center. We all miss you though. Our little aura warrior."

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

"I miss you too. All of you." Lee replied. "It sounds like I've missed a lot, but that you're all doing well. I'll have to make sure I don't wait so long before calling again so I don't miss any important news."

[X] Buy time with misc conversation till Dad arrives to talk about things on your end.
-[X] Any other events that mom can talk about? Can she give more details about the things she mentioned?

It was after his dad was finally there that Lee finally said more about what he was up to, that way he could be sure all of them would hear it at once.

"So I've made it to Pt. Pyre, and I've even earned two gym badges so far." Lee said, hoping that it might help assuage some of the fears and concerns about his time away. "I earned a Heat Badge in Lavaridge, which I got with the help of a Vulpix called 'Nova' I acquired just outside the town, and then I finished the fight off thanks to some fancy flying from 'Archer', a Rowlett that's been traveling with me since I left home. Then I earned a Dynamo Badge in Mauville in a double battle where Archer was on a team with a Trapinch called 'Crunchbite' I caught just north of the desert."

While mentioning the gym battles did serve a purpose of trying to instill a feeling of confidence that Lee knew what he was doing, it also gave him an opening to mention most the Pokemon he had with him while conveniently overlooking Fathom, lest they find new reason to worry about the fact that he was currently trying to train a future Gyarados.

"Also, shortly before heading into the desert I met Kate and Jasper, they're a couple about my age that are visiting from Kanto. They've already completed a journey there and I've been traveling with them for several months now. They're both very good trainers with a lot of experience already."

[X] Once Dad gets there, tell some about your own journey.
-[X] Mention Gym Battles and Pokemon Team
--[X] Try to 'conveniently forget' to mention Fathom if it can be helped without actually lying about it at all.
-[X] Mention Kate & Jasper
-[X] If possible, try to avoid bringing up Team Magma, the current quest for Rayquaza, or any other of the very dangerous events that have happened thus far to avoid scaring them. For now. At least till you're in a better position to tell them about it without Mom and Dad being convinced they should try to make Lee return to the safety of home.

 

[Tascion]

[x]heal everybody up in the pokecenter
[x]Aiming games
-[x]Head out of town to an open area.
-[x]Have Uri throw rocks with both telekinesis and physically (for exercise), as targets for Sam and Uri to try and hit at range with puffs of flame and pin missile respectively.
-[x]Jaden will try to mentally throw off the aim of any of the three, or maybe even try nudging the rocks with telekinesis

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden headed to the pokemon center and had his team checked over. Oliver was more than happy to have a break after all that battling. Then it was out for training, this time, focusing on distance attacks. Kind of. Jaden would be seeing what he could to do interrupt them and gain points for that, while Uri would toss snowballs for Sam and Uri to hit with their attacks.

Being out in the snow with snowballs throwing around was kind of distracting. It itched at Jaden to join in throwing his own snowballs. Maybe he could even see if Uri could teach him how to use his psychic powers to throw them with his mind. That would be super cool! But he had really wanted to get some training in.

Sam was eager to prove himself and was competing sharply against Oliver over who could hit the most snowballs. Uri was enjoying switching up how he tossed the snowballs, calculating angles in his head. Jaden actually peeked in, and Uri showed him how he was using math to draw mental pictures with the snowballs he was tossing. Jaden didn't really get it, but it did look cool.

At the end of training all of them had gotten better at keeping their focus despite Jaden's attempts to disrupt them, and Oliver's aim had improved a fair amount. Sam took the crown for having hit the most snowballs however.

[ ]Train pokemon
-[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Oliver
-[ ]Train Uri
-[ ]Train all
[ ]Play with pokemon
-[ ]Play with Sam
-[ ]Play with Oliver
-[ ]Play with Uri
-[ ]Play with all

[ ]Visit the glassworks
[ ]Visit the contest hall
-[ ]Enter a contest
-[ ]Watch a contest
-[ ]Get tips on training for beautiful moves
[ ]Visit the battle tent for battling trainers
[ ]Shop at poke mart
[ ]Practice psychic abilities (write in to practice something specific)
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

"That would be wonderful!" Lee's mom gushed. She was more than happy to fill Lee in on some of the neighborhood gossip. One of the local farms was struggling with their finances and was considering selling. Another had a city boy marrying into the family, and there were quite the number of stories about mistakes he had made while figuring out how to work on a farm. Scattered between that was tales of the family around dinner until Lee's dad arrived and the phone was placed on speaker.

"Lee," his dad said calmly. "It's really good to hear from you."

"From Kanto?" Rin asked curiously. "Do they have Kanto pokemon? Or only local pokemon?"

"Congrats on your badges bro," Ty told him proudly. "Think you'll make the eight?"

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

Lee listened dutifully to his mom's words, speaking up only as much as was strictly necessary to assure her he was indeed listening to what she had to say.

---

"It's good to hear you too." Lee replied to his dad.

---

"They brought their whole teams over." Lee answered Rin. "I'm pretty sure neither of them have caught any local Pokemon yet, though Jasper did pick up a shed Ninjask husk we found in the desert on the offhand hopes it might eventually awaken as a Shedinja somehow."

It was only after he'd spoken that Lee remembered that Kate did in fact have a local Pokemon. A very major local Pokemon. In this case, however, it was because he'd actually forgotten. Which did make it easier for Lee to refrain from correcting himself when he did remember that she was indeed carrying around a local.

Besides, technically speaking, she hadn't so much 'caught' 'Pudding' so much as the group had recruited it. Lee still couldn't say for sure if there was anything really keeping the giant pile of rocks from leaving other than a devotion to its assigned purpose of protecting and obeying Kate.

---

"I don't know." Lee answered Rin. "I guess I didn't set out looking to earn badges. Maybe I will, but I haven't made it a priority."

---

[X] Continue conversation for now - We don't want it to last forever, but it wouldn't do to end it early and it's not certain when another call will happen.

 

[Tascion]

[X]Visit the contest hall
-[X]Watch a contest
[X]Check out the news, see what's happening in the world
-[X]Has Mt Chimney calmed down?
-[X]Any news from the Safari
-[X]How is the path towards Rustboro City?

 

[Blacksheep]

"What are their pokemon like? Are they really good battlers?" Rin asked happily. "My eevee's been training hard, but I still haven't decided what I want him to evolve into."

"Well, journey's about finding yourself," Ty said thoughtfully. "You don't need badges for that. Did you say you're at Mt Pyre? Think they have some good soothsayers there."

[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden was excited about the contest he was going to see. The contest hall in Fallarbor was one of the smaller ones, but contests were a long tradition in Hoenn. The place showed that with its older architecture and feel of grandeur despite being the same size as a pokemon center. He bought tickets to a contest themed around Work, and watched as pokemon came on the stage to perform.

The contest was apparently set for duos this time, pairs of pokemon working together to perform pantomimes of people working away. They used their moves to add flair and spectacle to their plays, one of them having a skitty that seemed determined to get in the way of the much more patiently working sylveon, with their performance ending with the sylveon "rescuing" the skitty from falling into a "hole". Jaden clapped cheerfully at each performance and listened to the rankings. There was a lot about creativity in how moves were used, technicalities, and holding true to the theme given. Jaden didn't really understand how it was all done, but he'd had a lot of fun watching it. Maybe he would release his pokemon to watch with him next time. Or enter a contest!

Jaden hummed happily as he released his pokemon to tell them all about the contest. Oliver was especially excited to hear about it, repeatedly butting his head into Jaden's head as he told them until he managed to pin the linoone still. Back in their room he decided it was a good time to look up what was going on around Hoenn. Visiting Draco Island had been awesome, but he wanted to know what else was going on. He checked up on Mt Chimney first. The volcano had returned to dormancy, and there were positive reports of the area being fully recovered from the eruption in the next two months, with people having already resumed their normal lives.

Over in the Safari there was big news and celebration about the girafarig herd gaining their first farigiraf. Conditions for the evolution of a farigiraf in the wild were much more difficult to meet than in captivity, and the Safari was proud to be announcing such a development and the new research grants that would be available for the studying of the interactions in the herd, with care taken of course to make sure the herd was not disturbed from its natural behavior.

The last note that Jaden checked was the route to go south towards Rustboro City. It would be tricky with the snow, but going through Meteor Falls would help, as the cave paths would be sheltered from being covered in snow.

[ ]Train pokemon
-[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Oliver
-[ ]Train Uri
-[ ]Train all
[ ]Play with pokemon
-[ ]Play with Sam
-[ ]Play with Oliver
-[ ]Play with Uri
-[ ]Play with all

[ ]Visit the glassworks
[ ]Visit the contest hall
-[ ]Enter a contest
-[ ]Watch a contest
-[ ]Get tips on training for beautiful moves
[ ]Visit the battle tent for battling trainers
[ ]Shop at poke mart
[ ]Practice psychic abilities (write in to practice something specific)
[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x] Stock up on generic supplies and then head south towards Rustboro City, though Meteor Cave
-[x]Sam and Jaden practice moving while guiding each other. They can take turns guiding each other as one of them hikes with his eyes closed.
-[x]Uri and Oliver can practice with Oliver trying to track and chase Uri while Uri tries to trick Oliver's senses.

 

[Space Jawa]

[X] Tell them more about Kate and Jasper and their Pokemon
-[X] Tell them more about Archer, Crunchbite, and Nova
--[X] Try not to bring up Regirock or Fathom right now

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden took a while to make sure he was properly packed to take care of everyone in a trip through the snow. Hoenn was a pleasant country, with only specific areas where it really got cold, but he still wanted to make sure everyone would be nice and warm and not want to stop to rest.

Armed and ready Jaden lead the path down towards Rustboro. He had some cool ideas for everyone to work on together while they hiked. It would make the walking more interesting, if also a lot harder. He and Sam would take turns leading with the other having their eyes closed, while Uri and Oliver would play a game of hide and seek with their trail. Oliver would try to track Uri down and Uri would do his best to confuse Oliver's excellent nose.

Following Sam was easier than Jaden had thought it would be. With his sense of the earth it was fairly easy to tell where the ground was, and Sam glowed in his mind. Sam following Jaden was harder. The charmander was clearly eager to keep up, and challenged himself to match Jaden in skill, but he couldn't sense the ground like Jaden could. Jaden found himself reaching back along their connection to help Sam.

Uri and Oliver were both having a lot more fun. Oliver didn't have any defenses against psychic abilities, and Uri was seeing just how little he could use to throw Oliver off. Uri was enjoying the more subtle uses of his abilities, and Oliver was having a blast doing his best to figure out what the trick was before charging towards the kadabra in delight. It was fun seeing Oliver sharpen his senses as they went along the trail, figuring out what wasn't right.

[ ]Go fishing in the falls that are nearby
[ ]Look for magikarp climbing the falls
[ ]Play a game in the meteor craters
[ ]Check out the weird house built in the mountain
[ ]Write-in

[ ]Train pokemon
-[ ]Train Sam
-[ ]Train Oliver
-[ ]Train Uri
-[ ]Train all
[ ]Play with pokemon
-[ ]Play with Sam
-[ ]Play with Oliver
-[ ]Play with Uri
-[ ]Play with all

 

[Blacksheep]

Lee turned the conversation to talking about his pokemon. He shared how his starter, Archer, was always cheerful and looking for something new. He was a happy fellow with big eyes. His vulpix Nova was a brave soul, and he spoke about how eagerly she defended him and her cleverness in hiding in the flames. He did keep back the time spent training her to not accidentally set the tent on fire, deciding he'd wait until he was a little more sure of Nova's obedience to share that. Crunchbite charmed his entire family with his steadfastness and happiness to follow whatever Lee ordered.

He began to share about his friends' pokemon next, speaking of how Kate was rarely without a pokemon and how her haunter Snowflake often helped her from getting lost and organizing her things. He spoke of how Jasper's pokemon were quick and cunning and how his friend had shared his training programs with him. He shared how Jasper had a ditto as a starter, and how impressive it was.

His family drank in his words eagerly, and it felt like it was too soon when the call ended.

[ ]Get tested for aura classes
[ ]Explore the cemeteries
[ ]Climb to the Summit
[ ]Speak to a priestess about Rayquaza and Groudon
[ ]Hunt ghost pokemon
[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

When the call finally ended, Lee Hinsu sat in silence for several long minutes. His family and his conversation with them running through his head.

It all weighed on him heavily. And much of it was more than he could really get his head around in the moment.

---

When Lee finally turned his mind to where he actually was, there was one predominant priority at hand.

Aside from being a convenient resting place, they had stopped at Mt. Pyre in order to learn anything that might be available to aid the mission to Rayquaza. And so that was the first matter to which Lee turned his attention.

[X] Speak to a priestess about Rayquaza and Groudon

 

[Tascion]

[X]Look for magikarp climbing the falls
-[X]Cheer them on while having a picnic lunch. Share some food with the magikarp that are tired from trying and not quite succeeding yet.
-[X]If any of the magikarp want to chat, find out what personally drives them to make the climb
-[X]Later, Jaden will want to check out the weird house built in the mountain

 

[Blacksheep]

The trio walked through Mt Pyre, Snowflake staying almost draped around Kate as they walked. The haunter wasn't taking any chances in this place. It still felt strange to Lee, walking through a place that he could feel was so clearly other, with a conditional invitation. He wondered if anyone else here could feel that as well, or if it was just him.

They approached a priestess who smiled at them. "How may I aid you?"

"What can you tell us of Groudon and Rayquaza?" Lee asked bluntly.

The priestess blinked. "Why do you wish to hear of the lord of the skies and the sleeping earth?"

[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden poked around the falls, and excitedly called his pokemon over when he found a selection of magikarp pooled at the bottom of one. Every once in a while one of them would turn and start swimming up the waterfall trying to get to the top of it. The magikarps were the biggest ones that Jaden had ever seen, and some of them even had scars on them. He hadn't known magikarp could scar!

He quickly set up a picnic to watch the show and cheer them on as they leapt. Sam was very curious and wandered right over to the edge to watch. Oliver was more than happy to just flop on top of Jaden and get attention during the break, while Uri monitored the entire event and let Jaden know there was a build of energy in the magikarp that would dissipate each time an attempt was failed before starting again. It was super cool.

Jaden tried to reach out to talk to the magikarp, and surprisingly had a measure of success. Magikarp were not known for being smart pokemon. Their plentiful nature wasn't the only reason they were one of the most common pokemon to be devoured. But these ones had a sharpness to them, and something driving them to the falls. Jaden did his best to ask why. He received back a sense that there was something waiting for the magikarps who could make it to the top, something worth it. Something they would fight for, and something they had struggled along. The odd part was, Jaden wasn't entirely sure they actually knew what that something was.

[ ]Keep watching
[ ]Move on
[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

"It's a bit of a long story." Lee replied.

[X] Tell the Priestess of events in Lavaridge, Team Magma, Lee's encounter with Groudon, and the expectation that Groudon is planning to wake up.

 

[Tascion]

[X]Keep watching
-[X]Watch until needing to leave to get to the entrance of the cave in time to make camp before nightfall
-[X]Encourage the magikarp, and give some food to the ones that need it

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden watched as his pokemon played, and petted them when they were close by. He got out some food to give to them, and encouraged them to keep doing their best. They leaped, and leaped, and just as Jaden was getting up to leave, one started surging higher than the rest. He froze and stared. It was happening! It was gonna make it! Jaden started cheering on, his pokemon joining in. The magikarp swam even faster, their cheers seeming to power it forward as it crested. It leaped to the top - and kept going. Power surged and Jaden stared in awe as the magikarp elongated and darkened. A gyarados circled briefly before collapsing back at the top of the waterfall.

[ ]Run, that's a freshly evolved gyarados
[ ]Celebrate like mad for an evolution
[ ]Stay frozen
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

The shrine maiden listened to Lee's story with a calm and serious demeanor. She nodded as Lee reached the end. "I can see why you would be reaching out to learn more to deal with this."

She took a moment to think before starting to speak. "The sleeping earth is a great titan. It is not uncommon for the world to be stirred by his dreams, but from what you say it is deeper than that. There are records of a time when the primal god woke in the past while humans walked the earth, but it is thousands of years old. Always before when the primal gods have stirred we have calmed them back to sleep."

"I am not surprised that it was at Mt Pyre that the sleeping earth stirred. It is the closest location to where he slumbers that humans can reach. There is a shrine there that is attended to keep him asleep. I suspect this gang you encountered disrupted the rites there. If they are resumed, perhaps he shall sink back into dreams. Or perhaps a ritual of dreaming shall be necessary. We have artifacts stored here to help facilitate such an event if it happens."

"The lord of the skies is a different matter. Only the draconid tribe has unfettered access to the Sky Pillar where Rayquaza can be reached. They are able to track his movements. The lord of the skies is a benevolent one. Those of a brave and sincere heart are said to be heard by him if they can reach where he flies. To be considered worthy of such, there are trials they would ask outsiders to accomplish. It is difficult, the last outsider to successfully do so is our champion, Steven Stone."

[ ]Write-in