Dual Pokemon Quest

[Blacksheep]

Jaden wasn't someone to be easily frightened. He dealt with the world's biggest xatu! He had helped build a new island! And he had fought off a wild gyarados! The trainer went right back to the beach to celebrate their success with everyone. Zahra was more than happy to twist along the beach and claim it as hers. She was quieter with her roars, but still looked deeply satisfied with herself. Oliver almost immediately started digging a hole to roll around in, and Uri persuaded Roni to help in turning the dug up sand into a fortress to enjoy. Sam would be joining in, if he wasn't so very busy playing games of chase with Jaden. Jaden may not have the speed of a pokemon, but his reflexes were certainly sharp enough to make getting him a challenge!

Uri slowly dragged everyone into building the fortress. Even Zahra helped, though she also knocked down part of it for fun. When they finally left the beach Zahra and Roni were the only ones who weren't completely coated in sand. Getting it out of Oliver's fur would take true work.

After somewhat washing up Jaden went to watch a gym battle. It was lucky that Brawly was so open about his gym battles, there was enough space for Zahra to join everyone spectating. The challenger was going for his third badge, and had a solid team of mid evolutions. The real trick would be countering the weight Brawly's pokemon could throw around and getting out of the holds they could lock a pokemon in. Jaden was more than happy to bet that the dodrio would be the star of the battle, while Uri countered that Brawly looked likely to pull in a win with the trainer's nerves.

Jaden cheered extra loud when his bet came through. Sam huffed, puffs of smoke coming off him from his excitement. It had been a sharp battle. The trainer had clearly been anxious at points, but they'd pulled through despite that and brought in a win. Jaden would be getting everyone sushi tonight.

[ ]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

 

[Blacksheep]

Lee reached out and did his best to try and sense the power levels of the pokemon in the area. The abras abruptly vanished, and some of the other pokemon withdrew as well. It didn't clear up the psychic presence he was sensing, but Lee was starting to think he truly was simply sensing the intense concentration of psychic pokemon in the area. He could sense a powerful pokemon further into the area. The true problem was the intensity of psychic energy wasn't something he could read with ease. It wasn't aura, and that made it tricky. What he was sensing was too spread over the area, not contained to a single pokemon.

Lee shifted his attention to what Kai was doing. "What are you looking at with Gazer and the natu?"

"Look at how Gazer's responding." Kai gestured at his slowpoke. Sure enough, the slowpoke was at her most animated level of expression they'd ever seen from her. "Something about how the natu is communicating to her is getting through to her at a much faster speed than regular stimuli. I suspect that they are communicating on a psychic level that's allowing the natu to bypass Gazer's usual difficulties. Do you think this is an instinctive response, for the natu to be reaching out psychically? Or more of an active choice? Are psychic responses automatically encoded into what the natu says, and the majority simply aren't picking it up?"

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

While Lee still felt a sense of unease about the psychic aura, it was far easier to ignore now that he had very good reason to believe that it was most likely just a result the high concentration of Psychic Pokemon. Unless something gave him reason to do otherwise, he attempted to look past and otherwise ignore the aura.

Which in turn made it far easier to focus on Kai and what he was doing.

"Well, maybe that's something you could try researching." Lee suggested in response to Kai's questions.

[X] Suggest that Kai consider seeing if one of the Natu wants to come with him and Gazer.

 

[Tascion]

[x]Practice psychic abilities
-[x]Playing on the beach was fun. Spend a day goofing off. Well, get some practice in too. This time, practice pushing sand around psychically
-[x]Try to find Zahra while she's underwater and swimming about
-[x]Try to shape sand for Sam to try and carefully melt into glass. Try to make a glass key for Roni
-[x]Try hiding a shell or other little treasure under the sand for Oliver to chase and find. Maybe that'll be too hard to push something through the sand. If that's the case, Uri can try hiding something while Jaden tries to figure out where it is and guide Oliver to it.
-[x]Practice psychically communicating with Roni, perhaps do a easy-going battle in which Jaden works with Roni and Uri helps Oliver. Sam and Zahara can be mildly disruptive gremlins by creating environmental hazards of fire and water.

 

[Blacksheep]

"It's something to focus on," Kai agreed. He thought for a while longer before tossing out a pokeball and offering it to the natu.

The natu promptly flew off, crushing Kai's spirits. Thankfully he barely had time to hug his slowpoke for comfort before it flew back with another natu. Kai perked up, and quickly caught the new one. "Yes!" He released it back out, and watched as the two natus and Gazer continued to commune. He once more began to jot down notes. "I can't wait until I can start asking them directly."

[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden decided to spend some time working on his psychic abilities. He knew there was plenty he could do with them. There was the constant link he had with Sam that let his charmander follow him into dreams and shield him from all the noise that had given him headaches when younger, and the ability to understand what his other pokemon wanted. He knew that wasn't all he could do either. Just look at Uri and everything he could accomplish!

So off they went to the beach again, this time Jaden focused on trying some new things out with his abilities. He knew he could do them, he just had to try! First, he warmed up by tracking Zahra as she swam around. He could get a vague sense of the ocean as she swam through it by linking up with her. It was cool, if not something he could make particularly a lot of sense out of yet. Then he practiced directing Roni psychically in a battle. The klefki was delighted by this new game, especially with the disruptions from Sam in bursts of flame and Zahra in waves of water that challenged their focus. Roni's connection with Jaden was still the weakest of the group, but that would change with time.

Then Jaden had the entire team working together with him on making a new sand castle, even bigger and better than the last one! Except Jaden had to try and use his psychic abilities to move what he wanted to. He ended up doing far less work in making the castle than he'd expected to, half exhausting himself as he worked. It turned out moving sand around and holding it in place was more tricky than Uri made it look.

Jaden's idea to have Sam make flames hot enough to make glass also fell short. Sam was more than enthusiastic about it, and his flames were getting hotter and stronger, but he was only able to get up to a bright orange, and not the white hot they needed. Perhaps buying something from the store, or actual craft tools, would be better for making keys with.

[ ]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

 

[Space Jawa]

[X] When people are finished in the Psychic area, move on to one of the other zones.

 

[Blacksheep]

The group started heading towards the water zone in the Safari. Kate glanced at Lee as they went. "So how do you talk with your pokemon? Just normal figuring out body language? Or anything extra? I'm not lucky enough to have any psychic links with my babies."

"You manage to understand them just fine without it," Jasper pointed out mildly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't want something deeper!"

"Could we survive that?"

[ ]Write-in

 

[Tascion]

[x]Visit the pokemon fan club and figure out what people do there
-[x]Keep Oliver out, the others in their pokeballs, unless the club proves appropriate for larger groups of pokemon

(Sorry, I was holding off until I searched through about the gyms, but didn't have the time and just realized I hadn't actually voted at all.)

 

[Space Jawa]

"I'm sure if anyone could survive it, Kate could." Lee said. "I think surviving may be her superpower or something."

"But as far as I know, I don't think I'm doing anything special to communicate." Lee would add. "I'm not psychic, and as far as I know Aura don't really work the same way."

[X] Continue conversation
-[X] Try to explain
-[X] Continue to Water Zone

 

[Blacksheep]

"And the rest of us?" Jasper asked. He squeezed his girlfriend in a hug and Kate laughed.

"How does aura work?" Kai asked curiously. "I know we met while you were working on it, but I'm not clear on what humans use it for. There's the tales of the aura knights of course, but that's without proof."

They entered the water area and Kate was, of course, immediately charmed by the relicanths swimming lazily at the bottom of the lake. They were large, and looked like rocks when they were still, almost perfectly camouflaged. A couple of sealeos barked at the approaching group with curiosity.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden eagerly entered the pokemon fan club with Oliver at his side. Inside a cluster of people were gathered around, each with a pokemon of their own let out. There was a room set aside that was marked for kids not yet old enough for a trainer's license to hang out in. Interestingly enough there was no space for battling, or even a play area for pokemon to run around in. There were people discussing grooming techniques, and sharing photos of their pokemon. Others were trading advice. A young adult was cradling a pokemon egg with a cheerful glow on their face as they spoke to their friends.

"Welcome to the pokemon fan club! We are all about enjoying the wonders of pokemon here! Your linoone looks wonderful, he's so well groomed. Is his outer coat as thick as it looks?" a guy greeted with a grin. Oliver stepped forward and sniffed at him curiously, tail cautiously swaying behind him. Wagging his tail was a lot more dangerous with his larger evolution.

"His fur is really thick, yeah, and if you reach in it's super soft," Jaden told him.

The guy grinned. "I bet you're wondering what we do here if it's not battling."

"Yup! It looks like you're all just talking?"

"Sometimes you just need a space to brag about your pokemon. Sure you can post it online, but it's great to get together in person. You can ask for advice, show off your pokemon like I said, everyone here loves them, though we have a one pokemon each limit. Otherwise we wouldn't have enough space for the humans!" The guy laughed. "There's free treats for pokemon, and you can even do trades. Occasionally there's baby pokemon that are brought in to find good homes. The biggest things are the occasional events. Costume contests, races, picnics. All of them are made as available for trainers and their pokemon as possible. We even have special events for extra large pokemon so their trainers can show them off as well!"

[ ]Write-in

 

[Space Jawa]

[X] Try to explain.

 

[Tascion]

[x]Get some grooming tips for keeping pokemon healthy while traveling. What kinds of supplies can fit in a backpack, potential irritants or allergens to watch out for, and that sort of thing.
[x]Go watch a gym battle. See what kind of line up is happening.

(FYI, I'll be almost certainly unavailable for the next 8 days)

 

[Blacksheep]

Lee frowned in thought. "Aura is like an extra sense. I can reach out, and it tells me how everything feels. If things are well, or unbalanced. I can reach out to pokemon using it, but...I can get lost using aura. It's like reaching out to an enormous ocean and trying not to drown. I've learned how to use it in smaller doses, but that can be tricky."

Kai hummed looking out at the sealeos. "That sounds all rather vague."

Lee snorted. "It does, doesn't it? It can be frustrating."

"Do you ever use it with your pokemon?" Kate asked.

[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden grinned. "So do you have tips for grooming when traveling? I've got Oliver, but I've also got Zahra, she's a gyarados, and Sam, he's my charmander, and Uri, he's my kadabra, and Roni, they're my klefki! How do you groom steel pokemon anyways?"

The guy grinned. "Come on over and I'll show you what we have." The group was more than happy to pull Jaden in and start offering advice. Surprisingly the biggest piece of advice for Oliver was to not ever get him a haircut. Apparently it could damage his undercoat. Everything else was about keeping the pokemon in good condition and how to tell when pokemon needed help with their claws. He ended up with a small bottle of polish that was safe for use on steel pokemon like Roni, which was super awesome cause it was free!

When Jaden headed down to the gym to check it out he was quick to bring Sam out to watch with him. The charmander was thrilled, giving out chuffs and snorts as he watched. There were hariyama and makuhita and he even saw a throh. The fighting pokemon seemed to focus a lot on throwing their opponents around. Jaden cheered when a makuhita managed to pick up what was likely a freshly evolved marshtomp from the panic in its eyes as it was tossed out of the arena.

[ ]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
[ ]Visit the old caves

[ ]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

 

[Space Jawa]

[X] A few times, mostly with Archer
-[X] (There should be some memory of it - or discussion of it - from before Kate and Jasper went on their own way before they met up with Lee again)

 

[Tascion]

[X]Visit the pokemon gym
-[X]Take a class on Fighting type pokemon. Have Uri out and attentive. He's likely to be the best and most important at dealing with the best of the gym during a challenge. Afterwards, explain to the others on the team about what was learned in the class. Get a good night's rest in preparation for the next day, with the intention of challenging the gym.

 

[Blacksheep]

"Mostly with Archer," Lee replied honestly. "He's happy to help, and seems to channel it the best. He's good at helping to keep me from getting lost."

Kate grinned. "He's probably due to evolve soon, isn't he?"

"So is my Hex," Kai boasted. "We should make a stop somewhere for them to do so. Would you be alright with me recording Archer's evolution Lee?"

[ ]Head east towards Lilycove
[ ]Head west towards Fortree
[ ]Head south towards Mt Pyre
[ ]Train pokemon
[ ]Battle Kate
[ ]Battle Jasper
[ ]Battle Kai
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden was excited about the class on fighting type pokemon. He brought Uri along, which drew quite a few laughs. The instructor even took the time to carefully inform Jaden that a psychic pokemon such as kadabra could not be trained in fighting type moves. Jaden stubbornly countered that Uri would be fighting against fighting types and the knowledge would be useful to him! The teacher obliged, and Uri seemed super eager to absorb the knowledge.

The class over the week covered the basics of how to care for fighting pokemon and what made them different from normal types. A lot of it added up to internal enhancement of their body over external use of abilities. Fighting pokemon tended to need a high calorie diet, and the majority loved eating meat. Fighting pokemon tended to seek battles out, making them one of the more dangerous types of pokemon to encounter in the wild as they would fight you simply for happening to be there. Teaching a fighting pokemon to stretch could increase the health of a fighting pokemon, and it was heavily recommended that only highly active trainers adopted them in order to keep up with their intense drive to use their bodies.

Jaden hadn't thought a lot about what it meant that fighting pokemon had inspired so many combat arts for humans before. He also hadn't thought about what it'd be like to have pokemon that constantly wanted to train and fight. Sam loved fighting, but he was just as happy chasing things and playing with the team. It sounded like more work than he'd thought too. He turned it over in his head as he thought about who he wanted to use in the gym.

[ ]What order should the pokemon be used in the gym?

 

[Space Jawa]

"Is he?" Lee answered, a bit surprised.

He wasn't actually sure. He knew that Archer would evolve eventually - how could he not - but as for when, Lee didn't actually know.

It surprised him a little. He'd gotten so accustomed - so comfortable, even - to Archer in his current state. It was ironic, really. He'd named Archer on the basis of his eventual expected final form, yet now he was having a hard time imagining Archer changing beyond what he currently was.

[X] Allow Kai to record Archer's evolution process (whenever it actually happens)

[X] Continue through the rest of the Safari Zone (This is mostly just enabling the group to see the rest of it but without the need to go into detail about the rest of it)
-[X] After leaving the Safari Zone, begin the journey east towards Lilycove

 

[Tascion]

[x]Start with Sam, focusing on establishing battlefield disruption through the use of smokescreen. Switch to Uri to finish off the fight, either when Sam weakens or at the second pokemon opponent. Uri should dodge, relying on his psychic senses to overcome the smokescreen, and then wear down his opponents.

 

[Blacksheep]

"Yes! It's subtle in rowlets, but you can tell because they slow their activity and start preening more often," Kai said. "I looked that up when I began to travel with you. It's cool you got an Alolan starter."

"I inherited Snowflake from my family," Kate told them. "He's haunted my family for generations. He evolved for me, it was really surprising."

"Doppel's mine," Jasper said as he hugged Kate.

"I thought gastlys didn't linger long," Kai said in surprise.

"He just wanted to stay with us," Kate said with a shrug.

The group eventually left the Safari and started heading down the route towards Lilycove. They made some good distance before they picked a spot to start setting up camp. Kate of course released her herd of pokemon as soon as she had the chance to and let herself be buried in them. Pudding helped set up the shelter, summoning walls of earth around the camp. The effort the titanic pokemon put into securing them was unnecessary, but it seemed determined to act as a protector.

Kai had released Hex, and was carefully looking over his wurmple. The pokemon did seem bigger than before, and more sluggish in response. "It should be any day now," he noted with cheer.

It was midway through the next day when it began. Kai excitedly forced everyone to stop and took out an actual video camera to record Hex's evolution with. He cooed over the smooth silk coccoon his pokemon formed and carefully began to study it. He even very carefully selected a single strand to extract and study. "The subtleties are absolutely beautiful, look at the shading here," Kai said eagerly as he held Hex. "It's just barely there, but you can see the slight hint of purple from the poison he'll be producing now."

"He's beautiful," Kate congratulated with a coo.

Archer didn't seem particularly pleased with all the fuss. Almost as if in retaliation he settled into his own evolution as soon as camp was made that night. When it finished up and settled into being a dartrix he stubbornly shoved himself into Lee's lap refusing to acknowledge the fact he was now only slightly smaller than Lee's torso. Bright joy and eagerness spilled over from Archer into Lee's mind.

Kate insisted on setting up a celebratory meal for everyone. Jasper was quick to claim cooking duties, with Kate pouting at him as he did so. Jasper was in fact a good cook, and served up a good thick stew for everyone with fresh pan bread. He even made campfire brownies for everyone to share.

What to Do While Traveling
[ ]Train pokemon
[ ]Practice Aura
[ ]Battle Kate
[ ]Battle Jasper
[ ]Battle Kai
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jaden signed up for his battle with Brawly and braced himself. He had a strategy laid out, and eagerly shared it with his pokemon. Sam and Uri were both eager for it, Sam even puffing out huge amounts of smoke. Jaden had to return Sam to his pokeball before actually entering of course, or it wouldn't be much of a surprise for who he was sending out. He bounced on his feet as Brawly stepped out and flexed his arms. "You sure you're ready to handle this much power, lil dude? If you're not careful you'll be swept away!"

"I'm ready!" Jaden shouted.

Brawly nodded. "Then let's RUMBLE!" He tossed his pokeball forward and released a machop. Jaden eagerly sent out Sam, the charmander still puffing smoke. As soon as he registered he was in battle he let out a great breath of smoke clouding the entire area. "Hold steady! Bulk up!" Brawly commanded.

"Dragon dance and slash!" Jaden ordered. Sam charged in through the smoke and started targeting the machop. A series of blows could be heard within the smokescreen. Sam was tossed back once, but quickly rolled back up and let loose a torrent of flames that cut through the smoke. Jaden quickly had him reestablish the smokescreen before he charged in again.

Sam let out a roar of triumph as he knocked the machop out. Brawly grinned. "That's a tough pokemon you've got kid, but let's see how well it holds up against my makuhita!" He sent out the sumo pokemon, and Sam charged in once more. Jaden was caught off guard as he realized Sam was taller than before, only a moment later realizing that Sam had evolved, hidden in the smoke.

[ ]Let Sam stay in play
[ ]Switch to Uri as planned

 

[Tascion]

[x]Switch to Uri as planned
-[x]Encourage Sam to stick to the plan, but that he should be ready to back up Uri if things change