Dual Pokemon Quest

[Tascion]

[x]Return to Littleroot, pick up supplies, and then head north. Look for some trainers to battle. Ideally, look for awkward match-ups. Maybe Sam against a lower leveled water pokemon, or Zahra against a lower leveled electric pokemon. Keep Roni to observing though, for these first few times.

 

[Blacksheep]

"What's out there?" Kai asked curiously. He scanned around. "A pokemon from another section crossing by?"

The psychic presence didn't alter at all from Lee staring at it. In fact trying to get a better look at it only seemed to make it harder to look at. It was built entirely wrong for him to gaze at. Only the fact it was so large and powerful had allowed him to sense it at all. Whatever was there would have to reach out to him, unless he somehow managed to track what it was with his aura to contact from there.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

"I don't know." Lee answered.

[X] Try to explain the situation as best able
-[X] Consider whether it would be a good idea or bad idea to try to catch the attention of the presence somehow.

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden stopped by in Littleroot briefly to renew his supplies. It wouldn't do to not take advantage of the convenient town he had ended up at after the fairy party! He tried to head back towards where he had originally camped, but he wasn't in a rush. He was keeping his eyes open for other trainers that he could try to battle.

There were a lot of bug catchers out in Petalberg Woods. There were those with more normal types as well. Each of them were more than happy to battle Jaden, at least as long as it wasn't against Zahra. None of them seemed convinced that they wouldn't be instantly flattened by the gyarados. The way she eagerly watched them each time the offer was brought up didn't help with that impression. At least Sam got some practice battling against surskits, something that Sam was more than delighted by and proved to do better against than the marills. Oliver had struggled figuring out how to battle against a flying opponent when he couldn't just hold his ground, though he could power through on sheer strength.

Uri delighted in the challenges offered in battling against various bug pokemon. He informed Jaden that the odd way they sensed and interpreted the world made them impossible for him to predict and read, forcing him to react to how they moved instead. He would need better strategies for battling them, as his usual set of moves was rather weak against bug types.

Roni was more than happy to watch the battling. It was fairly shy when a battle of its own came forward. It was just against a sentret, but Jaden knew not to underestimate normal type pokemon, and this was its first battle with Jaden. Roni favored keeping back and focusing on using Fairy Wind in battle, preferring to not give its opponent a chance to get in close.

[ ]Train pokemon
[ ]Play with pokemon
[ ]Visit the fairy pokemon
[ ]Look for shroomish
[ ]Head down towards the beach
[ ]Head north towards Rustboro
[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Head down towards the beach
-[x]Practice riding Zahra (for both safety and utility, because Zahra is going to dunk Jaden a lot)

 

[Blacksheep]

Kai listened to Lee's description with interest. "Hm, perhaps you're simply picking up the psychic pokemon in general, as a single presence," he suggested.

"If there is a large powerful pokemon we should meet it and give it hugs," Kate said from her spot cuddling a phanpy.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden headed down to the beach. There was a comfortable cottage set up there, along with a dock for boats and pokemon. A couple boats could actually be seen out over the ocean. Jaden quickly released Zahra and clambered onto the gyarados. She was more than happy to dive into the water and take Jaden along with her.

Jaden wanted to be able to ride Zahra. She could take him all kinds of cool places! The problem would be figuring out how to get her to let him ride her without constantly dunking him in the water. She was full of mischief, and enjoyed that game of hers a lot. Jaden found it fun too, but that wasn't always what he wanted when riding her.

It was a lot of figuring out how to stay on her. Zahra was rather surprised when Jaden lost his hold a few times in the water. Clearly while the gyarados was more than happy to dunk him, she wasn't expecting him to actually get separated from her. She slowly began to figure out what she could do with him riding her. It felt good to collapse on the beach after so long working with her. Zahra curled up around him, and Sam was released to help warm Jaden up after being dunked so many times in the ocean.

"Nice gyarados you've got there," an old man's voice said. Jaden glanced up to spot what looked like a very old sailor with a wingull perched on him. "Learning to ride, hm?"

"Yup! Do you have a gyarados?"

The old man laughed. "Nope! Never did get one of my own. Had a lapras for a time. Expensive, but well worth it. We ruled the seas together. I'm too old for that now, but that's what I've got my boat for." The man grinned toothily.

[ ]Ask for old sea stories
[ ]Ask about fishing
[ ]Ask about islands to visit
[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Ask for old sea stories
[x]Ask about islands to visit
-[x]Potential topics include: mysteries, unusual pokemon, dangers, islands that actually giant pokemon, islands full of tiny pokemon, islands full of tiny people, flying islands, islands perpetually covered in fog but aren't otherwise mysterious, and islands that are good for camping.

 

[Space Jawa]

"If anyone could pull that off, I'm sure you would be the one to do it." Lee commented.

Not just because of Kate's astonishing ability to avoid the actual consequences of real danger and her aptitude for showering love upon things that it might have been smarter not to, but also because if push came to shove she did still have a very large and powerful Pokemon of her own she was carrying around.

[X] Try to move on to visit one of the other areas.
-[X] If Kate is reluctant to do so, note that there will probably be time to come back here again before the group leaves the Safari Zone.

[X] Keep alert to the Psychic presence to try to gather more clues about it and figure out what Lee is detecting.

 

[Blacksheep]

The group slowly moved on to the forest area in the Safari. Leaving had been a bit tricky, as it turns out that detangling Kate from phanpys that very much wanted to stick their trunks up her shirt was more difficult than expected, especially with donphans standing by and watching to make sure the phanpys weren't upset.

They didn't get far into the forest before they ran into a couple of ariados. Kate squealed in delight and released her spinarak, holding her up and talking about how she was going to evolve and become big like them and how she was currently just perfect for cuddling and was adorable. The wild ariados seemed highly taken aback by this behavior and were making threat displays which Kate seemed to be completely missing. Thankfully Jasper had a very firm grasp on her to keep her from approaching them. Her spinarak seemed pleased at least by the attention from her trainer, wriggling about and making cheerful clicks.

Vigoroths are an odd stage. The slakoth line in general is considered a strange one. The sheer energy that vigoroths put off however is shocking. They seem closer to the mankey line than the slakoth line at this point. Jasper was quick to release his houndoom and arbok to keep from being trampled by the trio that came stampeding by. They were quick to turn on the humans and start showing off, challenging the group to battle.

[ ]Join Jasper in battling
[ ]Capture a vigoroth
[ ]Focus on keeping Kate and Kai safe
[ ]Write-in

Finding a dozing hoothoot nestled in a tree felt like a break after that. Kate was more than happy to take pictures, and Kai took out his pokedex to look up some general notes about hoothoots and compare them with what he was seeing.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

"Oh, you must have seen so many things!" Jaden gushed excitedly. "Can you tell me about it? Have you seen giant pokemon? Wait, what about tiny pokemon? Or an island of tiny people! Great storms, and-and flying islands!"

The old sailor chuckled. "Oh, I've certainly seen my share of things out there on the sea. The world's vast and full of mysteries. I don't travel as far these days, but I certainly have seen enough to know there's some things we just don't understand."

The old man lead Jaden back up to the porch of his fishing cottage, and got drinks for them both. Jaden sat down with his lemonade and listened eagerly as Mr Briney began to spill out his tales of what he had seen. He spoke of riding a current that lifted out of the water and twisted through the air, and seeing milotics dance. He told tales of islands surrounded by shipwrecks, and the hidden dangers around them that threatened to drown anyone who came close. He told about watching a lapras migration, and about riding out a storm out on a boat with just himself and his team.

Jaden is quick to beg for ways to visit such places himself. Mr Briney laughs, but obligingly pulls out a map. He shows the route to Dewford, mentioning that there's a shrine there the boy might enjoy visiting, and points out a couple other islands. There's one that is popular for huntail and gorebyss to hang out by, and he points out another that's good for camping. He makes sure to point out areas that would be dangerous for Jaden to travel through, and offers his own services as a captain if Jaden decides to go to Dewford.

[ ]Take the boat to Dewford
[ ]Ride Zahra to the huntail/gorebyss island
[ ]Take a boat to the island for camping
[ ]Train pokemon
[ ]Play with pokemon
[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[X]Take the boat to Dewford. Ask for teaching for Zahra to navigate. She couldv try leading from the front, and making sure she doesn't get lost in the ocean. Maybe Uri could try steering the boat to follow her, by pushing on it with his mind.

 

[Space Jawa]

"Archer! Crunchbite! Nova! Form a defensive perimeter!" Lee ordered, deploying those who weren't already out and active.

It did feel a little silly, at least for protecting Kate. Kai, yes, he could have easily been overwhelmed by by any Vigoroth that slipped by, but not only was Kate an experience trainer in her own right, and at minimum she had Snowflake backing her up. That was to say nothing about how she also had Regirock to keep her safe if all else failed.

Even so, it did give Lee a way to at least pretend he was being productive without getting in Jaspers way and letting Jasper take the lead. Lee suspected that Jasper could probably take the Vigoroth on his own, but he didn't want to take Jasper's skills for granted, either.

[X] Focus on keeping Kate and Kai safe
-[X] Have Archer, Crunchbite, and Nova form a defensive perimeter around them
-[X] Activate Aura Defense
-[X] Pay attention, be ready to step in and help Jasper if he needs help.

Lee also paid attention to the Vigoroth to see if there might be anything about them that stood out as particularly noteworthy. Normally, Lee wouldn't consider catching a Pokemon that he didn't expect to make a normal part of his team. But for a Pokemon that was being overly aggressive, Lee was willing to consider otherwise - if the Pokemon was willing to pick a fight for no good reason, then Lee was willing to consider catching it even if he wasn't entirely certain how he might make use of it. At least as long as the opportunity was there and they didn't run off too soon the way he'd missed out on a chance to catch the Ghastly that had haunted him back at Mt. Pyre.

He wasn't necessarily set on catching one of the Vigoroth, but it was at least something he was taking into consideration...

[X] Keep a close eye on the Vigoroth
-[X] Consider whether or not whether to try catching a Vigoroth as the battle goes along.

---

(Again taking approach of seeing the battle through first before continuing with the second 'half' of the post.)

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden eagerly asked for a ride from Mr Briney down to Dewford. It would be so absolutely cool to check out! He even asked if Mr Briney would have tips on how to help Zahra navigate through the ocean. The sailor was more than happy to make such promises and they boarded the ship to head out.

It quickly became clear that despite Jaden's wishes for things to be awesome, being on a ship was not cool. The motion was terrible, and he felt sick and adrift. Every single shift the boat experienced had him lurching. It felt almost personal, like it hated him. Not through any psychic sense or anything like that. It just was awful. Instead of an awesome trip and getting to watch ahead and make plans about riding Zahra out here Jaden had to stay huddled up in the center of the boat clutching a bucket.

At least he only threw up a few times. Jaden practically collapsed when they reached Dewford. The old sailor walked over and rubbed Jaden's back comfortingly. "There, there. The sea ain't for everyone. P'rhaps you should stick to flying."

Jaden made his way to a pokemon center and curled up miserably in the room he booked. At least Sam's warm body helped him feel better, and Uri was comforting with his psychic hugs. Oliver was great to use as a pillow too. He really was starting to feel better now that he was on land again too. A good night's rest after the evening arrival and he was ready to go out and start investigating everything Dewford had to offer.

There was of course the beach, and the old shrine that Mr Briney had mentioned. The local pokemon gym could be cool to check out. Oh, and there was a pokemon fan club! Jaden knew about them, but he wasn't actually entirely sure what one did in a pokemon fan club, so it might be worth checking just to finally solve what that mystery was. There's always going to the pokemon mart if he needs something of course.

[ ]Visit the pokemon fan club and figure out what people do there
[ ]Visit the pokemon gym
-[ ]Challenge the gym!
-[ ]Take a martial arts class
-[ ]Take a class on Fighting type pokemon
[ ]Shop at the poke mart
[ ]Hang out at the beach
[ ]Practice psychic abilities

[ ]Train Sam
[ ]Train Oliver
[ ]Train Uri
[ ]Train Zahra
[ ]Train the entire pokemon team
[ ]Play with pokemon
[ ]Bond with Sam one on one
[ ]Bond with Oliver one on one
[ ]Bond with Uri one on one

I think I messed up a bit earlier, but as Jaden is bonded with Groudon, the ocean is uncomfortable for him!
[ ]Bond with Zahra one on one

 

[Blacksheep]

His team of pokemon were quick to launch themselves out, Archer circling about overhead while Crunchbite began to throw up trenches and Nova braced herself ready to bark fire at any of the vigoroth that came too close. Jasper was quick in his movement having his houndoom breath flames and force the vigoroths back. Two of them kept back, but one challenged, and pushed to try and get past. Kai stood his ground uneasily leaning into Kate and Lee and muttering to himself about odds. Jasper sent his arbok out to hypnotize the vigoroth that was insistent on pushing forward. That encouraged the other two vigoroth to come in and defend their third. Nova was quick to step in with Confusion to help the arbok and houndoom out. Jasper grinned and gave a sharp order. A moment later the vigoroth troupe was blown back, and Jasper was taking a deep breath. "Hate when that happens," Jasper grumbled.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Visit the pokemon gym
-[x]Take a martial arts class
[x]Hang out at the beach

 

[Space Jawa]

Lee ultimately elected to let the Vigoroth go without trying to catch any of them.

"You fought well, though." Lee said in encouragement to Jasper.

[X] Continue on as before the Vigoroth attacked.

 

[Blacksheep]

Jasper nodded. "And you kept the group safe." He had to admit that had been very useful while he had worked to drive off the worked up pokemon.

Kate was truly in a good mood as she tugged her boyfriend back and gave him a kiss for being a hero before turning her attention to spoil the various pokemon that had helped in the battle. Her haunter looked happy with the result. Nova was especially pleased with the attention, occasionally turning to give Lee looks as if to say 'see? this is what it's meant to be like'.

[ ]Seek out the psychic presence
[ ]Explore more of the safari
[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

Lee tried to humor Nova. She certainly had done a good job, though Lee didn't want to accidentally try to give her the wrong message.

[X] See about visiting the Psychic Area next, see if that might be the cause of the Psychic Presence (or at least connected to it)

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden was quick to sign up for the martial arts course at the gym. The gym leader lead the course. Brawly had a big personality, and encouraged people to let their pokemon train alongside them. Hariyamas and makuhitos filled the gym and helped show the positions.

[ ]Bring Sam
[ ]Bring Uri
[ ]Go alone

The entire focus was on grapples and holds. Jaden got to practice trying to pin someone, and had fun being tossed back and tossing the partner he was assigned to work with on soft mats. His entire body ached from the training. Seeing the pokemon training alongside everyone sharpened the sense of learning how to battle like a pokemon. This was how fighting type pokemon worked. They trained and battled and sharpened their skills and channeled power into their blows to make them even stronger. Humans had learned martial arts from them, and as it evolved they kept on teaching each other. It was a toss up if the best martial artist in the world was currently a human or a pokemon, and there was no true way to find out with how so many martial arts masters tended to pull towards the wilds.

Hanging out at the beach after was supposed to be a chance to cool down. Zahra had been thrilled to dive into the water. A wild gyarados heard her roaring as she played however, and came out to challenge her. Zahra was caught off guard and braced herself to battle.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Bring Sam
-[x]Focus on discipline
[x]Get the team out, and ready to back up however Zahra wants to deal with this. Don't let Zahra get out into deep water though, where her team can't back her up.

 

[Blacksheep]

The group moved on to the psychic area. It immediately felt like Lee had walked right into the center of the psychic presence he was sensing. It wrapped around everything in the area. Natus hopped around with girafarigs and farigirafs. Wobuffets could be seen standing around, and chimecos hung peacefully under trees.

There were even abras, though most of them were keeping back from the group. Kai immediately let Gazer out, drawing the attention of several of the psychic pokemon in the area. Kate kept hugging her haunter and watched as a couple natus cheerfully settled on top of the slowpoke and Kai quickly began to jot down notes.

[ ]Try to talk to one of the psychic pokemon
[ ]Try to locate the most powerful psychic pokemon
[ ]Ask Kai what he's seeing with his slowpoke
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Sam was thrilled at being brought along for the martial arts class. There were continual chirps of bright focus and interest radiating from the charmander. He listened intently as Jaden did his best to impress in the idea of how this was all possible through discipline. The little charmander was definitely thinking about it. He snuggled up close to Jaden as he reflected.

>>>>

The wild gyarados had a much more powerful control over the water than Zahra did. Jaden rapidly released his team heart pounding. He wasn't going to let this gyarados just tear up his pokemon! Zahra was amazing and so much better than that! Uri helped create a barrier to keep the group protected from the water that flooded up the beach and threatened to drown them. Zahra lunged forward and latched onto the wild gyarados' neck biting down wildly.

Oliver was more than willing to throw himself into the water and scramble up Zahra to get the chance to throw pin missiles at the wild pokemon. The wild gyarados was clearly not expecting that. Zahra wasn't expecting it either. The linoone should have been thrown clear or crushed under the pair. Zahra was small in comparison to the wild gyarados, and had spent a lot of time figuring out how to throw people off her. And yet Oliver pulled it off. Uri followed by teleporting out and hitting the gyarados with a psybeam and confuse ray.

The wild gyarados roared and thrashed. Zahra was practically floating just on the tip of the water, dancing and letting dragon energy channel through her. She threw a Twister into the other gyarados' face, and finally, he sunk down and retreated.

Zahra came back to shore. Sam watched carefully for any threats, making sure that Jaden was close by so he couldn't get swept away by the wild ocean. Zahra looked worn but triumphant with her return. She put her head in front of Jaden and nudged him gently. He did his best to hug her. "You were amazing," he told her.

Everyone was returned, and Jaden hurried to the pokemon center to get everyone healed up. That had been far more excitement than he had planned for at the beach! It had been super awesome once the adrenaline wore off, but so scary at the moment!

[ ]Visit the pokemon fan club and figure out what people do there
[ ]Visit the pokemon gym
-[ ]Challenge the gym!
-[ ]Take a martial arts class
-[ ]Take a class on Fighting type pokemon
[ ]Shop at the poke mart
[ ]Hang out at the beach
[ ]Practice psychic abilities

[ ]Train Sam
[ ]Train Oliver
[ ]Train Uri
[ ]Train Zahra
[ ]Train the entire pokemon team
[ ]Play with pokemon
[ ]One on one with Sam
[ ]One on one with Oliver
[ ]One on one with Uri
[ ]One on one with Zahra
[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Hang out at the beach
-[x]Celebrate spontaneous success against a crisis, or whatever the right word would be for being attacked by a big pokemon looking for trouble
[x]Get Jaden's gym badges mounted on strings or wires, if Roni would like to wear them.
[x]Go watch a gym battle
-[x]Bet on picking dinner, via picking winners for each pair off of pokemon

 

[Space Jawa]

As odd as the Psychic presence felt, it was mixed with a small sense of relief. It gave Lee a strong sense that no, nothing was amiss, he had in fact just picked up on the overwhelming presence of Psychic energy all in one place. Certainly not anything he would have ever expected since he wasn't psychic.

Still, Lee didn't want to presume...

[X] Try to locate the most powerful psychic Pokemon
-[X] See if it matches up with that Lee was sensing; try to confirm that this is what was drawing Lee's attention.

[X] Ask Kai what he's seeing with his slowpoke and the Natu