Ask to Join Geminos: ~Threads of Uncertainty~ (Role Play Thread)

[Hecotoro]

Polo braced himself as he received several hits from the multiple Emolga. Above them, the clouds were beginning to disappear, which would cause trouble for the water type. Jacky pointed upwards. "Quick attack won't be enough for us to be defeated, use rain dance and then use Scald to get rid of those pesky clones!"

Polo began shaking his body while still taking a few attacks. But thanks to his effort, the clouds reunited again and the rain began pouring down. Once the Poliwag felt the first rain drops on his skin, he puffed himself up again and shot a string of Scald at every Emolga it saw.

 

[Mango137]

One by one the emolga began to disappear, but Atticus kept the same confident smirk on his face.

She took the bait!

"Do it now, Nuzzle!" Out of the cover of the clouds the real Topaz dove downwards straight towards the Poliwag, it's cheeks cackling with electricity as it prepared the attack that was guaranteed to paralyze if it connected.

That ought to slow them down!

 

[Hecotoro]

"Look out Polo!" Jacky cried out, but it was too late. Poliwag was nuzzled by the Emolga. It shook the Pokemon away as it tried to get away, but the damage had been done. Jacky looked concerned and then upset. "Ugh you people and paralyzing! Polo, Hypnosis!"

Polo looked for his opponent and then shot a hypnosis towards it. The water Pokemon looked tired, but it still had a determine look in its eye to keep going.

 

[Mango137]

"It's too late, this round is ours. Shock Wave!" Just before Topaz took the hypnosis, it launched a powerful electric shock that tore through the energy waves and was guaranteed to hit the Poliwag

 

[Hecotoro]

Jacky watched in shock as her Pokemon took the show wave attack. However Polo only closed his eyes and stood his ground while he was electrocuted. After the attack was over, Polo took a deep breath and fall on his back, unable to continue. Jacky smiled and returned her Pokemon. "That was a great battle my friend." She placed the Pokeball away and took out the next one. "Don't get cocky kid, Cora here is good at destroying newbies."

Jacky tossed the Pokeball in the air, letting her Corsola emerged with a loud cry. She looked full of energy and jumped a few times before putting a serious face. She looked at the Emolga and let out a growl. The match began and Cora quickly jumped towards the flying Pokemon. "That's the spirit! Power Gem!" Jacky called out while Cora was already charging the spikes on her back and shot several projectiles.

 

[Godjacob]

Once the realization had hit the normally sheepish Ellie jumped up and gave a big hug around her partner as she seemed overjoyed she was able to help them get a badge. A brief group celebration followed before Devin allowed his Dragon type to get needed rest as he returned her to its Pokeball though Terra seemed a bundle of energy as she barked and ran around Devin which caused Devin to sheepishly rub the back of his head as he let out a sigh.

"Always a bundle of energy huh?" Devin asked with a sweat drop.

"Bark!" Terra barked happily, as she wagged her tail in affirmation.

"Well, the fishing contest is likely over but least we can do is see how the others did." Devin said, and with that he and his partner moved by where the event was supposed to have taken place to try and catch up with the others.

 

[Mango137]

That power gem would be super effective and Jett would get the advantage while rain dance is still in effect. Time to use my switch!

“Topaz, return!” Atticus extended his pokeball and a red beam of light engulfed the emolga, bringing it to safety before the dangerous attack could land.

I guess some people could think that’s a cheap trick, but she gave me one switch and I have to use every advantage I got in a gym battle!

“Take a nice rest, I might still need you later.” He muttered into the ball before replacing it with a different one from his waist. “Jett, you’re up!”

The orange weasel burst from the pokeball and stared down its opponent, waiting for it to make the first move.

 

[Hecotoro]

Jacky smiled and shook her head. "They spoil you newbies too much." She waited for the trainer to make his switch with her arms crossed, until he was finished. "A water type? Good, this will be fun." She looked at her Corsola and the Corsola looked back, they smiled at each other and both took a deep breath. "Let's go then." Jacky waited for the match to begin before calling out her first move. "Aqua ring."

Cora smirked as a light blue aura began to glow around her, the rock type was ready to begin the battle, willing to take every hit possible.

 

[Godjacob]

As Devin walked on towards the lake where the fishing contest had been set to take place in, he paused for a moment as he scanned his items. Devin realized that on his packing he had gotten careless in one regard, he needed a camera! How was he gonna get the full experience on his first Pokemon journey, and since he lacked one maybe the Poke Mart could provide him with something.

So he quickly pivoted his step back to the Pokemon Center, and Terra in kind turned course, to get a camera if possible as especially with this fishing contest he'd like to get some nice shots from his friends efforts to get some possible new aquatic mates.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Feel the cool breeze brush past you. Smell of the water, and feel of your toes in the water. Not too hot. Not too cloudy. Not too windy. Today truly is the perfect day for fishing. Crack a cold one, sit back, and relax" Dolan said sitting by the waters edge. "Slow" Skol cheerfully agreed. Gosil on the other hand continued to sit smugly on its large rock. Looking down at any pokémon within eyesight.

 

[kyuukestu]

Eleonor nodded and headed off. Since Rowan didn't have a water-type, they would split-ways until he acquired one. Having a water-type was a simple necessity for the task at hand. But, having said that, even with a water-type the task would prove difficult. Searching all the canals in the city for breaches would be...time-consuming at best.

"Better get started...", a breathy sigh puffed her cheeks and the junior detected headed to the city hall to rent a boat.

==============

"Ahem."

The lure master cleared his throat, the sound hearty despite his age. He stared out at the multitude of trainers gathered before him.

"Welcome to Aquamarine's Bi-annual fishing competition! Usually, we'd take you out into the lakes and canals and see who managed the best catch; but, today we've got special circumstances. There's a Sharpedo in the lake and it's a mighty long way from home. Reports say that it swallowed a young boy, so it must be quite a large specimen. Since we need the cretin removed quickly, the winner of the fishing competition will be whoever bags that Sharpedo!"

 

[sSoul]

Fortunately for Rowan, Astraea didn't take long to locate their trainer, despite initial unresponsiveness. As he heard Sandra's pondering on how the Staryu escaped the PokeBall, the Alolan trainer beegan to ponder that subject as well before remembering that he had important things to do.

"Hey Sandra, can you help me catch a water type Pokémon real quick?" Rowan opened as he scratched his head with a sheepish grin, "I've never fished for a water dwelling Pokémon before, and since you already have a Satryu, I was hoping you could lend a hand..."

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Wave after wave. Splash after splash. Magikarp after magikarp. Dolan sat there with Skol. A voice let out. An older man's voice. Dolan hid behind a rock fearing it was the ghost of the old man from before coming back for revenge or something. It was some other guy. He was announcing the annual fishing competition. "Sounds great! Old Reliable, let's do this!" Dolan said excitedly. He jumped up but quickly began wobbling around as he got up way too quickly and briefly felt dizzy.

Leaning against a tree to regain balance. There was still a fishing contest to be won. He clenched his fists, "time to catch the big one!" Dolan said. He saw some other people who must have cone for the fishing contest, "Great day for fishing! Huh huh!" Dolan chuckled.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Sandra looked up from her starter and saw Rowan make his way towards her. "Yo Rowan, how are you doing?" She didn't get time to wait for an answer though, as Rowan fired off a question of his own for her to answer. "A Water type? Sure, it'll be good practice for the contest. I don't have any Pokéballs left though, so you're gonna have to pay attention throughout the entire process of fishing. Any specific type of Pokémon? I've got lures for the surface, the bottom and the area in between. If you want like a Krabby, I'll have to use the bottom lure and go to actual salt water. This is mostly fresh water from what I've seen, which can have detrimental effects if Astraea is exposed to it for too long. If you want a big bad active predator, I can probably figure something out. You are the person with Grass and Electric moves though, so I'll be relying on you to do the actual damage. Now, do you want a Pokémon from the channels or the lake? Because I was already on my way to the lake, it would be nice to have some company." The girl grinned as she grabbed her foldable fishing rod from her backpack. It didn't look like much, especially when folded up, yet Sandra had confidence in it.

 

[sSoul]

Rowan grinned with relief when he heard Sandra accept his offer. He was suprised and excited upon realizing that the Johtonian was well prepared for any kind of fishing, between having different lures for different water levels and, at the very least the implication of knowing how to fish for certain strength levels of Pokemon.

In reality, I just need something to ferry my Pokémon across to knockout that Sharpedo, but I'd rather have a permanent addition to the team at this point.

"We should go to the lake. After all, you were already headed there." Rowan suggested before pondering the other details about potential aquatic targets, "Really, I just want a Pokemon that's equal in strength to the rest of my party. I don't really care what level you fish from." Once he finished listing out his specifications, he figured that he should compliment her expertise.

"You really know that you're doing here. I think you could be a great Lure Master if you really wanted."

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Equal strength huh? Then we're going for the bottom. Most Pokémon near the surface tend to be young and weak or Magikarp. You ever tried fishing with an Old Rod? You're fishing on the surface of the water with that thing and Magikarp are not strong enough to dive very far. The big predators are generally in the middle, it allows them to strike from below whilst having enough room to manouver around when the situation calls for it. I like to refer to the Pokémon at the bottom as the teenagers. They are old enough to have learned that the surface of the water is very risky to hang around and the bottom protects them from attacks from below, but they are not old enough to venture into the middle. They might not always be the best swimmers, but they can hold their own in a fight. You can expect stuff like Staryu, Shellder and Krabby at the bottom of the water. They should be able to put up a decent match against Mantí and Sulum, that is if you trained them well enough." The Johtonian let out a chuckle before hearing the compliment that Rowan gave her.

"You really think so? Thank you, I've been trying to perfect the art of fishing for a while now. I even have my own custom lures, most of them are magnetic instead of hooked. The Pokémon bites the metal lure and the magnet pulls on the lure, making it harder for the Pokémon to let go. I don't want to become a Lure Master though, I want to become a researcher. There's a lot of pollution out at sea that needs to be cleaned up, it has drastic influences on the local population of Pokémon. The Lapras species nearly went extinct due to active hunting, just imagine what kind of effects pollution has on them."

When the little group got to the lake, Sandra folded out her fishing rod and extended it to its full size. It went from a small item that could be held in the palm of someone's hand to a fully fledged fishing pole with a length of 4'4. Taking off her backpack, she grabbed a brightly colored lure and attached it to the rod. "This one is the heaviest, plus it is very colorful. It is easy prey for any hungry Pokémon. Now, we wait." With those words, the girl cast her fishing rod into the water and waited as her lure sank to the bottom of the lake.

 

[Godjacob]

Devin soon enough managed to snag himself a camera, it was far from high quality stuff but he figured as a last minute get at the Poke Mart he could have done far worst, he also got wind that the Fishing Competition might still have been on even after his Gym Battle so naturally he and Terra headed to the lake in the hopes they could catch the action. They dashed through quick as they could, and well while Terra had a good time Devin had not been a runner by nature and it showed as he panted when they came to the edge of the lakeside entrance as he panted a bit.

"W-we should invest...in a bike or...something..."

 

[sSoul]

Rowan meticulously listened to the Johtonian's explanation of where she was going to fish for a new team member for him and her reasoning behind it. He was initially surprised at how much Sandra knew about Water Types and their habitats, though that became less surprising when she revealed that she aspired to be a researcher. Once they got to the lake and Sandra cast her line, the Alolan figured that he ought to give his input on what she has told him.

"I didn't know that Lapras nearly went extinct, and now going through pollution must be rough for them as well..." Rowan took on a somber tone at first before realizing that he could change the topic to something less depressing, "At any rate, I've got no doubt you'll be a great researcher, you're already educating people, after all. As for me, I've only had one goal ever since I got my hands on a Pokémon: being the Champ. Us Alolans are very competitive about the League championship since it's one of the youngest leagues in existence. Champions change in Alola faster than rain falls from the sky. However, before you can compete in the league, you gotta complete all the Island trials. I ...couldn't complete a single one." Rowan chuckled a bit as he realized he was getting too somber again, so he decided to round out the conversation.

"Needless to say, I've gotten better since those days. I'm sure Mantì and Sulum are well trained enough to give any water type a run for their money."

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Thankfully the Lapras population has recovered thanks to protective regulations, so for now they're fine. Though there is a different issue at hand now, there's an overabundance of them." Sandra let out a chuckle at the way that the tables turned. "Whilst that results in a diminishing amount of fish Pokémon because they are getting eaten, it'll balance out eventually. When there is less prey, the amount of predators lowers too. With less predators around, the number of prey increases because they can more easily reach sexual maturity and when there's more prey, the predators can support more young. It's the cycle of nature, and as long as we don't interfere, it should maintain itself. I for one would never be able to catch one though, it just feels wrong to catch a Lapras and remove it from its family group."

Sandra realized that she once again was rambling and decided to respond to the rest that Rowan said. "There's no shame in admitting that. You said that Alolans are very competitive about the championship, no? It would only make sense that the trials would be difficult to push people and their partners to the next level. I know that if I were in your shoes, I probably wouldn't be able to win the trials. That can mean a lot of things though, from inexperience in battles to unable to control my nerves. I'm sure you're going to make it eventually, you just need to be confident in yourself and your team. In the meantime, you can train your team and absolutely curbstomp the first trial. Maybe I'll tag along for a while, who knows? If I wanna be a researcher, I might as well try and see the situations in other regions myself."

As the girl talked, Astraea once again broke out and began lying down next to their trainer. After all, why shouldn't they be able to do what they were doing inside the pokéball when outside of the contraption? The lake side wasn't quite the seashore, but it was something.

 

[Godjacob]

As Devin worked to catch his breath, Terra seemed to scan from the hill that overlooked the lake bed as she scanned the crystal clear water with a touch of nerves, naturally given the previous Gym Battle on top of her already shaky relationship with water due to her typing she had not been the biggest fan of the location. However, that look of worry & displeasure soon took a turn as on the lake bed there had been something the rock pup noticed that had proven far more pleasing as her eyes widened and her tongue shot out happily as a familiar set of faces caught her gaze.

"RUFF!"

"T-err...wait!?" Devin called out, as his partner raced out towards Rowan, Sandra and their Pokemon while Devin frantically tried to follow and soon enough the pair arrived as Devin took a second to catch his breath before he spoke. "Terra, you really need to not do that..." Devin said with a scowl. Terra seemed to not care as she preferred to go by Astraea as she sniffed at the Water Type and lapped her tongue happily its way. "Ruff!" (Hey how you been!)

Course once the breath returned Devin had been stunned to see Rowan and Sandra on dry land. Was the competition over? Or had it just began, either way Devin decided he needed to know as he worked up the tone before he spoke. "O-oh hey Sandra, Rowan uh...how has the fishing gone so far?"

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Gotta have all the fishing bait ready, and now to get a boat" Dolan said pulling out a tackle box. In his tackle box, he had a few lures, hooks, weights, string, and other assorted fishing items. He also had bait. From delcatty food, to marshmallows, candy, and a few other types of bait. Odd but strangely effective. Skol sat at the front, Gosil sat atop Skol's back, and Dolan sat at the other end of the boat. "Back on my sea legs, and ready to fish!" Dolan said.

 

[DarkHydraT]

As Sandra looked back at the fishing rod, her concentration was broken as a certain Rockruff ran by and began interacting with Astraea. "Terra? How're you doing girl?" The girl reached out a hand to pet the Rock type as the Staryu jumped up and shook its body to get rid of any potential saliva before turning to face the other Pokémon.

"Starrrr!" (I've been doing fine, apologies for not seeing your fight through to the end. Rowan needed my help to find Sandra, so I obliged. How did it go?) The Water type asked their friend, curious to hear about the end result of the gym match.

Whilst her Pokémon was busy talking to Terra, Sandra began talking to the Rock type's trainer. "Hey Devin! How did the gym battle go? The competition has yet to start, so I'm just relaxing right now. Rowan asked for help catching a Water type, so that's why I'm fishing. No bites yet, but that's to be expected."

 

[sSoul]

Rowan couldn't help but smile from Sandra's encouragement towards his ability as a trainer. Not only that, but the idea of her tagging along on his second attempt at the island trials enticed him to consider the possibility. However, before he could say anything, he watched as Terra rushed towards Astraea, with Devin disgruntledly following behind.

"Looks like the gang's back together," Rowan said with a chuckle as he let out Manti to meet up with her friends. Turning to Devin, he decided to compound on Sandra's question, "I actually saw a bit of the battle since Astraea was interested. From the peek I got, you seemed to be doing good. Sorry I couldn't stick around though, I was busy helping Ellen with something. Something that I need a water type for, actually." As Rowan was catching up with Devin, Manti eventually made her way over to converse with her friends.

"Fomantis!"(Hey you two, how've you been?"

 

[Godjacob]

"O-oh wow I was worried I'd miss it with the Gym Battle...." Devin admitted, as indeed it seemed like the competition had yet to begin though some such as from what he could tell Dolan had already set out for the water as Devin offered an awkward wave unsure if he'd even see him before he turned back to his close companions to address their questions.

"W-well I think it went, it went well...." Devin said with a small smile as he opened up his jacket and showed Rowan, Sandra and their Pokemon the badge he and his team had earned. And while Devin had been more than willing to let the badge tell the story needed his partner seemed a bit too excited to give her own account of the events.

"Ruff! Rock rock ruff! Ruff!" (Oh no worry guys it was great! Ellie was so awesome, her first battle with us and she killed it! I had to come in and seal the deal, and it was touch but we managed to pull it off and it felt so great!") Terra barked with a wagging tail as her enthusiasm had been at an all time high if that was even possible for her standards.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

As Dolan readied himself. Waterproof camera on the seat beside him, an oar to paddle, and plenty gear to fish for hours. Only thing left to do now was push off. He untied the rope connecting the boat to the pier, and used the oar to push away from the dock. He preferred to manually use an oar. His father always told him motors were too loud so he opted against using one.

Further and further, his best got out onto the waters deep. A golden splashed out of the water, "Goldeen!" It went. Dolan excitedly flashed a photo before the fish could dive back into the waters depths. He took another picture of a flock of wingull and pelipper.

Skol stick his tail in the water, ready to fish. Dolan couldn't help but notice the guy from the pokécenter waving. Maybe he was waving at some people behind him. Dolan turned to see if this was true. Dolan waved back just in case.

With Old Reliable in hand, Dolan was confident that this was going to he a good da⁸y.

Somewhere near the bank of the waters. A small lily pad floated atop the water and floated around in circles. A pokémon maybe?

 

[DarkHydraT]

"All that you missed was me sitting idly, and you'll be seeing plenty of that today." Sandra grinned at Devin, though her grin quickly got replaced with a face of pure amazement as the boy showed his Gym badge. "Yoooooo, that's incredible Devin! I told you that you had it in the bag, I freaking told you!" Jumping up to congratulate her friend, the Johtonian didn't notice that her lure was now a lot closer to the surface as she'd had thrown her rod to the side.

"Starrrr! Staryu." (Congratulations are certainly in order for that, well done! It would appear that the new addition to the team already has proven to be worth the trouble it was to obtain. I'm glad to hear you are okay after your battles." Astraea was still a bit stiff around the edges when talking, but they seemed to be more at ease and less stuck-up. "Yu?" (Welcome Mantí, I've been good. How have you been?)

 

[sSoul]

Rowan grinned proudly when Devin presented his badge, with Sandra echoing his sentiment. Though he still wanted to get his water type, supporting his friend was more important at the moment.

"Proud of ya, man" Rowan beamed as he got up to place a firm hand of approval on his friends shoulder. While he was congratulating his friend, Mantì was still catching up with her friends.

"Mantis, foma!"(I'm doing well, thanks!) She kept a pleasant mood before hearing about Terra's victory, with the news exciting her, "Mantis, Foman?! Fomantis!"(You won, Terra?! Congratulations!)

 

[Godjacob]

Devin noticed Dolan wave to him back as he nodded as if to send an acknowledgement and thankful he caught it before he turned to Sandra and rubbed his head sheepishly with a light blush as she complimented her showing the belief she had him which at times seemed greater that what he had for himself. "T-thank you Sandra uh that means a lot to hear from you..." Devin replied as he closed up his jacket and clearly seemed happy at the support for his accomplishment.

Rowan also showed his support with his own comment and hand on the shoulder to which Devin shyly smiled again. "T-thanks Rowan, I appreciate the support..."

"Rock rock ruff!" (Oh Ellie is no trouble at all, she is so nice and I am learning to be a better teammate so I am sure it all will work out!) Terra barked out happily, tongue lulled and all as she appreciated the kind words from Astraea. Soon her attention shifted to Manti who offered her own coagulations as Terra barked happily to her fellow friend. "Ruff!" (Thanks Manti!)

 

[ThAtGuY101]

Dolan looked back at Devin. He seemed friendly. Then his fishing rod got a tug. It was a big one! Dolan pulled, and... *fwamp!* a large magikarp flopped into the boat, "We got a big one! Nice one, old Reliable!" Dolan said. His pokémon let out startled reactions. Gosil looked at the red flopping fish ready to attack, and Skol couldn't be bothered to give a big reaction to the fish that was in the boat.

Dolan ripped a chunk off a poffin, and gave it to the fish before tossing it back. A pair of eyes lit up when it saw the magikarp given a poffin. It swam towards the boat. Gosil growled at the moving lilypad. Like an attack dog protecting its turf. Skol was now fishing. Skol lifted his tail revealing a lilypad pokémon! A lotad. "Got 'em! Nice one Skol!" Dolan cheered. "Slooow" Skol went.

*snap!"* The lotad went, "Gah!" Dolan moved back to avoid getting bit. The little guy began squirming. "Hey, hey, hey! Lil guy. Give me a second!" Dolan said ripping a chunk off the same poffin. The lotad saw its opportunity and went for it. He leaped and grabbed the larger piece of poffin before landing in the water.

Minutes later, Dolan caught the same lotad! He gave it a piece of poffin and sent it on it's way. Soon enough, Dolan pulled on his fishing pole, and once more! The same lotad. "You sure are persistent little guy! Wanna stay with us?" The pokémon reached for the poffin, but was met with a pokéball, and caught off guard. "I'll call you... Lucky" Dolan said. After letting Lucky out of his pokéball, Lucky quickly began spinning and dancing for attention. Gosil didn't like this, he needed to be the center of attention. Not this weird leaf monster! Skol was looking at clouds, and couldn't care less.

After a few minutes of watching and cheering, Dolan resumed fishing. Maybe catch 'the big one' this time. Skol let out a yawn, causing Dolan to yawn. Which caused Gosil to let out a cute little yawn, followed up by an angry growl. Lucky let out a yawn a few moments afterwards.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"It really doesn't mean that much, as you're a better battler than you are, but I'm always willing to help!" Sandra grinned as she patted Devin's shoulder. "You're gonna do great man, I just know that you're going to do well on your other challenges. The first step is always the hardest, it's going to be smooth sailing from here." It was just standard motivational talk, but it seemed to do Devin some good and who was she to let her friend feel bad?

"Staryu. Starrrrr." (Teamwork is the most important thing in a team. Whilst each member might be individually strong, they cannot do much against an opponent that they are weak against. I cannot beat Mantí for example, even though I could very well be stronger than them. If I want to get past them, I need the help of my friends like Beepbeep. Whilst Sandra is by no means dumb, her naming can use some work. If I recall correctly, she wanted to call me Starry when we first met. Thankfully her parents were there to save me from suffering such a fate, though I cannot say the same about my other team mates.)

 

[kyuukestu]

Eleonor emerged from City Hall, her expression a mask of despair and dismay. The hefty jingle of coins in her purse told her it was all she had left. The last of the crisp bills she'd brought with her to Geminos had just been spent, and she wore its purchase abashedly. The swimsuit she'd just bought, a silvery-grey one-piece that flourished with gear-like frills, was by no means immodest; but the curious looks she received as she half-ran half-paced towards the canal turned her cheeks rosy.

In spit of her embarrassment, Eleonor pushed on. It was all worth it to protect her clothes. Unlike her earlier venture into the canals, searching for a hole in the protective grates would involve going into the water. Hopefully, it wouldn't take too long.

Soon enough Eleonor was on the water, pushing against the rapids. The trainer reasoned that the hole was more likely to be at the start of the canals—where water from the lake poured into the city—as opposed to the end—where the water flowed back into the lake—because it would be easier for a Pokemon to move with the current rather than against it.

 

[sSoul]

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't support your desires and celebrate your achievements?" Rowan responded with a hearty grin to one of his travelling companions before piggy backing off the motivational speech of his other companion, "I'd be glad to battle you at any time, man. I don't consider myself the best of coaches, but I'd be happy to provide any kind of advice." While her trainer was reinforcing the bonds of his friendships, Manti was doing much the same with her friends.

"Fomantis, mantis. Foman, fomantis."(Wise words, Astraea. Your example goes both ways though. Although Sandra could swap to Beepbeep to get a favorable matchup against me, Rowan could swap to K18 to get a favorable matchup in that regard. As for Rowan's naming methods, I suppose I can't complain too much. Manti, as a derivative of mantis, works well as a word to describe me, even if its a little on the nose. I personally like Sandra's naming ideas, they've got a certain childish charm to them. I'd say that such a charm is an important part of Sandra's personality.) As everyone seemed to be bonding over conversation, the universe seemed intent on reminding them on what they came to do. Out of the corner of Rowan's eye, he noticed a Mudkip nibbling on Sandra's rod, which was sitting near the water's edge.

"Excuse me, I have something to take care of real quick," Rowan quickly noted before sending out his Eevee. Out of all his Pokémon, Aco was most suited to softening up this Pokémon due to his Normal typing giving him a neutral match up. Manti and Sulum risked fainting the Water type, rendering it uncatchable and K18 was weak to the Mud Fish's strongest attacks.

"Aco, use Quick Attack!" Rowan commanded his normal type. In response, the Evolution Pokémon swiftly rammed into the Mudkip, provoking it's ire. In retaliation, the Mudkip Tackled it to create some space between them. Slightly apprehensive on what to do next, Rowan took a moment to consider his next move before giving his orders.

"Aco, Quick Attack again!" Once again the Eevee swiftly aimed an attack at the Mudkip, but this time the Water type was able to dodge and target a Mud Slap at the Eevee. The mud landed directly in Aco's eyes, causing a reduction in accuracy, but Rowan was not deterred. In fact, he had a specific move to counter this sort of predicament.

"Aco, Swift!" Rowan ordered confidently. The Eevee spent some time trying to get the mud out of his eyes before following through with it's order. Seeing the ray of stars careening towards him, the Mudkip made an attempt to dodge the attack, but he was unsuccessful due to the stars tracking his movements. With the opportunity provided by the Mudkip being caught off guard, Rowan threw a Pokéball to catch it. After the requisite three shakes, the ball steadied itself, cementing the Alolan trainer's acquisition of a water type.

"Good job Aco, come back!" Once he recalled his Pokémon, Rowan walked over to claim his prize. Now that he had a water type in tow, he could finally help out the lure master with the Sharpedo problem, but first he had leave his friends.

"Unfortunately I've got a favor I need to take care of so I gotta go, I'll catch up with both of you soon though!" Rowan said hurriedly as he grabbed Manti's Pokéball and recalled her before running off to the canal.

 

[Godjacob]

"T-thanks, that means a lot to hear..." Devin said with a shy but sincere smile as he appreciated Sandra's offer to help him. He envied her natural confidence and just the way she seemed to presume things would go smoothly, it was admirable optimism. And the fact that such simple words of encouragement were enough to help Devin feel a touch better showed that he was perhaps not the most used to positive reinforcement least compared to average people his age. When Rowan then offered to help with some spars Devin seemed encouraged they'd help each other and him to such a degree as he nodded in appreciation. "I may take you up in that offer if it is okay with you.

"Ruff ruff! Rock!" (I agree teamwork is important but saying you could never beat Manti or vice versa just is too closed minded. I would struggle against you but there are ways to overcome those kinds of battles, I did manage to defeat Pokemon in a pool today so both you and Manti could learn to cover your weaknesses. Still though I agree teamwork is vital to success and it is only shame I understand this now...but am determined never to be the roadblock to Devin or my teammates again.) Terra barked out, as she aimed to try and address both their points as while she agreed team synergy was ideal she herself knew it was possible for one to overcome a type disadvantage with a varied move pool which can help if one if left in an unfavorable battle.

Attention from both trainer and Pokemon shifted to the fishing rods as Rowan revealed an Eevee and seemed ready to do battle with a Mudkip. Naturally both made sure to keep their distance as Terra barked in support of her soon to be new friend while Devin watched with clear interest. He had never seen a wild Starter before so this was a new experience for him. Soon enough, he caught the Mudkip before he made his way over to the canal where he saw others and what Devin could only guess was Eleanor as the competition seemed set to really heat up.

"Y-you should probably get going to. Don't want to miss the fun." Devin said with a smile as he wished both his friends well and he had been content to watch the action.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Sandra looked at Rowan who quickly left after fighting a Mudkip, causing her to furrow her brows. "A Mudkip? Here? I thought they lived in swamps, not lakes. Maybe it is illegally released, in that case it is good that Rowan took it with him. An invasive species can mess up a whole ecosystem, especially a fragile one." Caught in her own musings, she didn't register Devin talking to her. "Huh? Oh, we're at the site of the tournament. Apparently there's a Sharpedo swimming around from what I've heard, and there's no way I won't win when I catch that big fish. You can hang around if you want, it's not like it will be very intense to watch from the bleachers." The girl invited Devin to join her and Astraea as she changed her lure. "Sharpedo hunts by rushing from below and slamming into its prey, so mid to bottom lures should do the trick." Thinking to herself, she cast the rod and sat down.

"And now we wait. Take a seat Devin, this will take a while. In the meantime, do you have any idea about your future team? I'm assuming that you're going to continue doing the gym challenge and building your team. Ellie will become a Dragonair before becoming a Dragonite, but that's quite a ways away and I have no clue what Terra evolves into. Care to enlighten me?"

As Sandra began talking to Devin, Astraea thought about what their friends said. "Starrrr." (I suppose you have a point, some Water Pokémon know Ice moves and humans have discovered a way to teach Pokémon moves that they normally cannot learn. Perhaps with a powerful Ice attack, I can beat Mantí, it's an interesting thought to say the least.) The Staryu gave its two cents on the idea before Mantí's trainer left in a hurry. "Yu." (There goes Mantí, how long until we meet them again?) Leaving the question in the air, Astraea waddled towards the water's edge and laid down, half of its body submerged. They deserved a moment for themselves too, once in a while.

 

[Godjacob]

Once the Mudkip situation had began, it seemed that Sandra had offered Devin a more POV viewing experience as she sat down by her lure and invited him to join. Which given Terra had been eager to be close to friends Devin figured he may as well have accepted as he took a seat next to her. Sandra explained the golden prize of this contest, a Sharpedo of all things which had taken Devin back, this lure was inteded to catch a Sharpedo!? But even as Devin questioned Sandra's ability to reel something like that in she questioned him about his team which caused Devin to pause as in truth he had not thought that over in detail as he sheepishly rubbed his head.

"W-well uh it is more of a catch what I can and work with it thing. I-I don't outline what I desire..." Devin confessed, and when the subject of Terra's evolution came up he moved his hand down and would explain to his curious friend. "W-well the Rockruff line has a divergent evolution path, based on what time of day they evolve. So when Terra gains enough experience, and has the desire, if it is Midday she'll become a Midday Lycanroc and if it is Midnight she'll become a Midnight Lycanroc." Devin explained, though there was one more bit he had only recently heard of. "T-there also have been recent discoveries of possibly another path, one between Midday and Midnight but I am less knowledgeable about that..." Devin confessed.

Terra decided to respect Astraea's wish for a moment alone as she waddled to the edge of the lake as she herself decided one more face needed to join the party. Eagerly Terra had moved by his belt and Poked at Ellie's Pokeball as a bright flash shinned and soon the Dratini had been released much to her own surprise. "Ruff!" (Hey Dratini, come there's a fun fishing contest to watch!) Terra had barked in encouragement and sheepish as she was Ellie figured some fresh air could be nice to as she kept close to Devin who on reflex stroke the back of her head with a light pat to ease her as Terra moved by the Dragon type to observe the lake.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

"Lets see what I caught!... A yellow magikarp? How odd... Ahhh... Throw it back I guess..." Dolan said unhooking, and releasing it. He continued fishing next to Skol who was also fishing.

"Sloow?" Skol muttered.
"In a minute bud, I think I got something" Dolan said.
"Slow" Skol went. .
"Juuuuust a second" Dolan said once more.
*duunnn dunnn… duuuunnnn duun… duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun* a sound rang.
"Pod!" Gosil shouted in anger.
"Relax other bud, it's just my phone" Dolan said.
*Dolan ignored the call, and the ringing sound stopped*
"That's my ringtone I got saved for my brother, don't know why he's calling" Dolan said.
"Slow?" Skol responded once more.
"Okay, what's so important, Sko-"

Dolan turned and looked at Skol with a shocked expression as Skol had a quagsire dangling from his tail. "Uuuughh... What the heck is tha- Wait. Nevermind. It's just a quagsire, I'm stupid. I know what that is..." Dolan said.
"Poke?" Skol went, looking at the Quagsire, and at Dolan.
"You think your gonna evolve now?" Dolan asked Skol.
"Slowpoke?... Sloooooow!" Skol shut it's eyes and tried focusing, maybe it would evolve. If a shelder could make it evolve, why not a quagsire? After a few moments of waiting, Skol didn't evolve, but it did fart. Causing the quagsire to let go, and swim away.
"Uuuughh... Let's never speak of this" Dolan said awkwardly looking at Skol.

Dolan put a piece of canned meat on the end of his hook, "This should work..." Dolan said.

~Few minutes later...~

"I think I got something!... Probably another basculin or a luvdisc" Dolan said. Though to Dolan's surprise, whatever hooked his line gave an immediate tug. "I think we got something good this tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!" Dolan yelled as the boat began moving fast. "Puuuull!" Dolan yelled. Slol used its psychic power to help Dolan pull the fishing rod. After a minute of being dragged around, a large blue creature shot out of the water and went straight for Dolan. just narrowly avoiding the top of his head by a few inches after he ducked. The pokémon landed in the water on the other side of the boat. Dolan was nearly pulled out of the boat as he held onto the line.

Though at this point, Gosil was gone! Nowhere to be seen on the boat. As the large creature leaped out of the water, the creature was revealed to be a sharpedo! Even more unexpected, Gosil was on the back o the creature. Gosil let out a small roar, it was this beast's master now. The bug held onto the shark's back with its legs, holding on tightly with its struggle bug move.

"What should I do, what should I do..." Dolan said before looking at his newly caught lotad, "You really are lucky aren't you!? Your a grass type I think... Use a grass attack on sharpedo!" Dolan yelled. Lucky looked at Dolan in confusion as to what grass attack to use. "You gotta be kidding me... Let's see if I can think of one..." Dolan said quickly trying to think of one. "Oh wait, my pokédex should know... duh" Dolan said.

"What moves can lotad use!" Dolan asked his pokédex. His pokédex listed a couple moves. "How about absorb?" Dolan said. Lucky jumped near the front of the boat and attempted to use absorb on the sharpedo.

 

[sSoul]

As much as Rowan wanted to run into the canal as is, he realized that he was poorly dressed for the occasion, so he had to get changed. Fortunately, being from an archipelago meant that he came suitably prepared for an eventual underwater affair, and after he used the Pokémon Center's bathroom to get changed into his swimming trunks, the Alolan trainer was finally ready to take down the Sharpedo. Of course, he had no idea where it was, but he figured that Ellen may have found something by now. Rowan walked as fast as he could to the beach, preferably he'd run, but running while barefoot was just asking for injuries. Once he made it to the beach, he called out his Mudkip and, after careful consideration between Manti and Sulum, decided to call out the former.

"Alright you two, let me explain what we're going to be doing here," Rowan got down on his knee so he wouldn't have to look down on his Pokémon, "There's a fishing contest going on right now, but there's a Sharpedo in the canals, endangering the contest and the safety of this town as a whole. As you can imagine, I wanna put a stop to this Sharpedo, and that's where you two come in." As he was about to address his Mudkip singularly, he realized that he never gave a nickname to the Mud Fish Pokémon up until this point. Fortunately, Rowan wouldn't take long to come up with a nickname for his latest party member.

"Flippers, I'll need you to carry Manti when we get into the water, that way, she can fight the Sharpedo head-to-head." Rowan tried his best to be gentle with his instructions, not fond of ordering around the newbie during a high stress situation. Flippers was unmoved by his trainer's attempt, but he was ultimately not dissuaded by the ordeal. With the clarification out of the way, Rowan stepped into the water and tried to locate Eleonor, with his Pokémon following.

"Mantis, mani!"(Nice to meet you, Flippers!) Rowans partner greeted the newbie in hopes of making him feel welcome as she clumsily climbed onto his back, unfortunately, the efforts were less than successful.

"Kip...mudkip kip..."(Why'd I have to be named Flippers? That's like calling you Claws or Headbulb...) Concerned by her new teammate's disgruntled comment, Manti decided to indulge in his line of thought.

"Fomanti?"(What would you call yourself?)

"Mud....kip kip"(I dunno... Loxal would be a decent nickname.)

"Fomantis! Fomani mantis."(I'll talk with Rowan after this! Surely he wouldn't mind a name change if it makes you happy.)

"Mudkip..."(We'll see...)

 

[DarkHydraT]

"There's nothing wrong with that, I'm doing the exact same to be honest. Of course, I don't have to keep the league challenge in mind. You just do what you want to do, as long as you feel comfortable with what you're doing, you're doing something good." Sandra eased Devin's mind before he talked about the evolution method of Rockruff. "Really? That sounds similar to how the Pokémon Eevee evolves into Espeon and Umbreon based on the time of day. To my knowledge, there is no twilight evolution though, but Eevee is known to evolve into many different forms. It wouldn't surprise me to see that a twilight evolution does exist, we'll see." Noticing that Terra had released Ellie, the girl decided to release her Pokémon as well. "Let's introduce my team to yours, okay?" Soon, a Magnemite, a Kangaskhan and a Magikarp joined the group. Sir Flopsalot stayed near the coast and decided to hang out with Astraea whilst Beepbeep and Crouton began checking out the surroundings.

Loud splashing drew Sandra's attention as she spotted the Sharpedo! That's her target, though it had something on its back. "There's the Sharpedo, but what is it carrying? Some kind of weird bug?" Keeping an eye on the Brutal Pokémon, she had to divide her attention between her target and her Water Pokémon who were getting increasingly anxious due to the existence of the apex predator.

 

[Godjacob]

"I appreciate that Sandra..." Devin said with a smile, he chuckled before he added on. "...it's funny I remember watching a TV show with Wallace on it from Hoenn, he was asked about his team construction and said something along the lines of "find Pokemon you click with, and work a style around them rather than vice versa" and it stuck with me..." Devin said before he heard about the Eevee info and nodded along. "Yeah I heard Eevee was the Pokemon with he most evolutions so that would seem plausible." Devin said before Sandra released her team and this caught Terra and Ellie's attention.

Naturally Ellie curled by Devin a bit sheepish at the sudden party of Pokemon, the Dratini a bit nervous of so many new faces but by contrast Terra had been excited as the Rockruff hung her tongue out and decided to go inspect the group. In specific the Magnemite and Kangaskhan to sniff them curiously if they allowed it.

The Sharpedo of course drew eyes as Devin looked on with interest as he kept quiet to allow Sandra to focus while he stroked the back of Ellie's neck to sooth her nerves.

 

[ThAtGuY101]

The sharpedo slowly began to go underwater until the only things sticking out of the water were sharpedo's dorsal fin and Gosil's antennae. Dolan's boat was still being pulled by the shark, but the shark began to show signs of fatigue.

Dolan held his fishing rod tight and Skol used its telekinetic abilities to assist him. Lucky used absorb but it would take more than that to stop the rampaging shark. Soon enough the shark was fully submerged, "not again, I think I'm gonna need some... help?" Dolan said in confusion as his boat went to a complete stop. He looked at Sandra and Devin then looked at the water.

"SPLOOSH!" The sharpedo leaped out the water, jaws wide open. This thing lunged at Sandra. Its piercing red eyes locked on her as it opened its maw.