Reginald Valerias
Date: June 2
Location: Tangelo Island Pond near Pokemon Center, Orange Archipelago
Pokemon Team: Emeric the Shiny Haunter, Elvira the Munna, Bob the Shedinja, Large Marge the Drifloon, Missy the Misdreavus, Jones the Frillish, Legion the White-Striped Basculin
WCS Rank: 72,758
Interactions: Briar Hightower (ThAtGuY101), Adrianne Silvers (Godjacob)
Hearing Adrianne's words get cut off, he looked over to see her Staryu had actually pranked her. It broke his attempt to take this seriously, smiling warmly at the playful display. It honestly reminded him of his other Ghost-Types. While Baba was studying Aster, he looked back over to see the Smeargle use a Take Down.
Legion watched with rapt attention. Deep within his instincts, it was familiar to him. However, he felt like this was too soon for him to learn. Was his trainer mad? Going against the will of natural law? Granted, he hadn't seen anymore of his kind in a long time, having left the only place that seemingly had them when he was rather young. The fish stared up at his new trainer with wariness. He was very different now from when the eager trainer caught him. Was he bothered by losing just as much as he was? Did he dislike him for losing?
Not wanting to give this human anymore of a reason to dislike him, Legion decided to do what he can to not disappoint him. He refocused his attention onto Frida, fish eyes watching intently. It was similar to Tackle. Heeding Reggie's advice, he surged the colorless energy throughout him to an almost unbearable level. However, the sheen of white light was only marginally brighter than that of a Tackle. Reggie had been watching him, and suddenly locking eyes with him had caused the well-up of energy to falter.
Seeing the Basculin's startled expression, Reggie realized he might have been looking a bit too harshly at his new Pokemon. His expression softened, and Legion visibly relaxed. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He smiled, of which the Basculin stared at him blankly. Why was he apologizing? Did he realize he was overly harsh? Huh, maybe he wasn't so bad. "Don't worry about getting it right immediately. Take Down takes quite a bit more energy than your average Tackle, so I'm not expecting you to learn it now. I'd also rather you not burn yourself out and hurt yourself trying to learn something that's likely too soon for you to learn. So don't worry about it too much, okay?" Was he serious? The wary, narrowed gaze softened and his eyes widened as he looked more at his trainer, the human even kneeling down beside the water.
"I've trained my Pokemon in similar ways to this before, like when I taught my Shedinja False Swipe over Scratch. It was difficult at first, but he managed to learn it in under a week because all he had to do was dull his attack, but that went against his nature. I'm pretty patient. All that we need to do is build up that energy and train your limits on the amount of energy you build up for this kind of energy and then work on how much of that you exert or use. You have the potential to do that if you know Zen Headbutt, now you just need to do the same with a different kind of energy."
When he put it like that, it made more sense. Legion didn't know why he couldn't use more of his colorless energy than his psychic energy, probably because he hadn't trained in this way before and he wasn't there yet. But considering he had the reserves to hold a different kind of energy, he should be able to do the same for this one.
Should, being the correct word here.
Standing back up, Reggie gave Legion an encouraging smile. "Alright, let's try this again. Build up that energy, don't worry about using it up right now." With an understanding nod, the Basculin closed his eyes and began building up that Normal-Type energy, his body shimmering with more light than last time, but it wasn't the amount of energy appropriate for Take Down. If Reggie had to guess by eyeballing it, he was about 40% there to the amount of energy he needed to build up. "Focus on it, now hold it there." Listening to him, Legion continued to hold the energy. However, he began to tire, and the energy began to fizzle. "Now, use the last remnants of your energy and try to break your limit on how much energy you can hold."
Legion tried. Oh, did he try for a few minutes. He shined brightly for a brief moment, having what Reggie would assume 50%, but it was like deadlifting when you were already tired. Legion's body was then slack, huffing and puffing from all that exertion.
Reggie, having rolled up his pants and taken off his shoes and putting his socks in his shoes for safekeeping, sat at the edge of the little pond, his legs up to his knees now submerged. Normally, one wouldn't want to set any bare limb in the same waters as a fish with rather sharp teeth, but Legion languidly swam over to the source of the new ripples in the water, being embraced by the human's rather compassionate warm hug. "Don't worry, Legion. It may be early, but I sense that trying to handle your evolution would be best done early. Spend too much time in this form, and you'd be too used to how you were before and would have a harder time to handle your new form." While what he did say was true, it also had its own cons. He knew that, but he wanted to give Legion the optimism he held for him.
The fish looked up at his trainer, unsure if Reggie wanted him to evolve for the human's own gain or to make the fish better. He didn't know what that accomplished. But instead of inquiring with a blank stare, he decided to just rest there, with Reggie massaging his muscles with his thumb knuckle, lightly and firmly pressing into the fish's aching sides and earning pleased bubbles in a content sigh.
Looking over his shoulder to Briar and Adrianne, he smiled a bit easier now that he was tending to his Pokemon. "Sorry about that, but we're going to take a break. We can do this later tonight, then some more tomorrow. Gotta build up his stamina before he can use the move. That's our first priority." He then focused on Adrianne. "Luckily, I know stuff about move theoretics and have dealt in training it myself, so I can help teach some of your Pokemon any moves you want to learn, granted if my Pokemon also know it to make the process smoother. Otherwise, it would be a better idea to just let them learn it naturally as it comes to them. I'm only doing this for Legion for a different reason." He paused, looking down at his fish who was now staring at him.
"As a Pokemon gains a Ghost-Typing when they evolve or do a form shift - like that of Oricorio, Alolan Marowak, sometimes Shedinja, Froslass, Decidueye, and some others I'm not familiar with at the moment, they can have a myriad of sudden changes and it'll be harder for them to be themselves. Pokemon don't normally evolve and gain a Ghost-Typing naturally for a few reasons, because they go from sensing only the natural world they come to know, and then suddenly being bombarded with all these sensations of another world they only vaguely knew was there but couldn't sense it further than when their gut feelings tell them something isn't right. In fact, most Pokemon who do evolve into the Ghost-Type don't do so naturally through training except in a few cases like Alolan Marowak and Decidueye, so their instincts help to cushion the blow of what they see and feel to more manageable levels. To get there for the others though, they have to shed some physical or mental part of them to achieve some sort of spiritual ascension. Well, that's just a theory, but it works in the vein of Froslass and Decidueye." He spoke with a more forlorn tone amidst his factual explanation. Since he told Adrianne, it was obvious as to why, but to Briar, it sounded like he seemingly understood like he had gone through it.
"They now have to not only deal with these new sensations and mostly disturbing sights, but also the raw emotions that come with being connected to a new world they weren't connected to emotionally. It's like living in two worlds at the same time, and almost feeling responsible for both worlds - which is why some Ghost-Types are considered 'evil' when they are only aiding in the strength of the spiritual world because they stopped caring for this one. Some Pokemon that gain a Ghost-Typing can handle this new development, others are a bit more apathetic or not as bothered by it and use it as a tool. However, not all of them can just handle it without-" He paused, as he saw something he thought was reflected in the water. Apparently, talking about the dead had caused a sort of arrival of some human-shaped head to appear within the depths of the pond. He promptly ignored it because he didn't want to spook the others who couldn't see it so, after staring at it for a few seconds, he continued, his tone barely changing but Legion felt his hands twitch and tense up before relaxing. "-without some training beforehand to prep them for what it's like, and even then it's difficult to handle because it's just so stressful. Having Legion evolve earlier than what's normal may have its own fair share of difficulties, but early exposure can also aid in him getting over it faster and accepting what he sees as he wouldn't be too used to what he can see as a Basculin, and he'll have more time to get used to what he's seeing and feeling. Besides, I don't know how strong the Pokemon are on these islands, so I want to make sure Legion is ahead of the game and can handle their strength with better ease without feeling too overwhelmed."
With Reggie's explanation, Legion realized just how conscientious and forward planning Reggie was. He always did find this human odd, but he spoke as if he had been through it and wanted to see him flourish, and taking a shortcut in doing so because of possible threats they'll meet later. He understood the meaning behind the words he spoke and took it as:
I don't want you getting scared or hurt by a new world you barely knew was there, so I'll make the process as smooth as possible.
Despite losing to the fight they had earlier, and getting caught so unceremoniously, he was a good guy. Bubbling happily, Legion swam into Reggie's hand more, and getting pet from it, earning a soft, happy smile from Reggie.
Then, he sighed and deadpanned. "Hopefully earning trust from Jones, our favorite resident drowning ghost jellyfish, wouldn't require me drowning for the second time today, but I have a feeling if I want to train him or work with him anywhere, I'll have to be careful of any deep bodies of water." He groaned, slouching.
He looked back at Briar and Frida, giving them a smile. "Thank you for helping us, but I'm wondering if we can do this again later. If you don't want to, that's fine, don't feel like you have to, it'll just take a bit longer to learn Take Down is all." He then looked over at Adrianne and hummed a bit. "Got any ideas for training your Pokemon?"
Akira
Date: June 19; 1 month prior
Location: Route 216 - Snowbound Lodge, Sinnoh
Pokemon Team: Mamoswine, Bastiodon, Chandelure, Chesnaught, Toxapex, Goodra
Interactions: Gwen Tucker (IDKWhatUserNameToDo)
Seeing her get so excited getting praised by him made Akira chuckle and his heart warm. With her determined shout, he nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "Yeppers, that's the spirit! Maybe spice up with something different the next time ya do it, so you have an easier chance at getting your goal."
Hearing her dream to eventually fight Naka and Ron later, he chuckled and smiled. Ah, the wishes of youth. "And someday, you'll reach there, but don't forget to look at the journey you're on and not just the destination. When you travel, you'll understand it more." As her sentence was cut off by a yawn, he chuckled and helped put away some of the stuff that would've been Hina's job. "Good night, Gwen. See ya tomorrow."
As Gwen left, Akira hummed to himself, then clicked his tongue. "Should I...? Nah, they got it handled. I need Mamo to protect the lodge anyhow..."
Nakano Saito
Date: 1 Month Ago (26 years old); June 20
Location: Route 216 - Snowbound Lodge, Sinnoh
Pokemon Team: Chu the Pichu, Fluffy the Flareon, Hanu the Infernape, Yuki the Froslass, Aero the Aerodactyl, Orochi the Zweilous, Silenus the Sceptile, Mudster the Swampert
Interactions: Ron Towers (Hecotoro), Gwen Tucker (IDKWhatUserNameToDo)
The night came and went, the new day sprung forth with a brightness that called for a nice day ahead. The sun's rays pierced through the clouds, making the white snow look even brighter, obtaining a soft glow of light that radiated off of them. Despite the lack of people on this route and the next, there didn't seem to be an issue.
Naka had gotten ready rather early, having softly kissed Ron's cheek and slowly left his side to get ready as quietly as possible. She had fiddled through her backpack to scan the arrows to determine their energy. However, whatever trace amounts of energy were there were now no longer. However, the shaft of the arrows felt wooden, yet flexible, like that of a rachis - a very thick stem of a bird's feather. So it was definitely from a Decidueye, yet the color was off from normal Alolan Decidueye.
Maybe it was a Shiny? Yet, ghost energy tended to linger and stay longer when they use Spirit Shackle. Maybe they just didn't use a typed attack? Bending one of the arrows, she tested its durability. It was firm, very difficult to bend yet didn't snap when she did manage to bend it. It was rather stiff, yet pliable enough for some give. Essentially, a perfect arrow. Still, it was rather thick for a normal Decidueye, and it was consistent with all three arrows. This was either a giant Decidueye or-...
Nah, she honestly didn't want to believe a Hisuian Decidueye was here and being used against them. Unfortunately, besides the freak phenomenon that happened with Furia, Hisuian forms were supposed to be extremely rare. There were a few farms - especially in Sinnoh - that wished to recreate them, either by isolating the genetics by way of the Mendel heredity, Psychic shenanigans, or gene editing. Though, they normally focused on one or two Hisuian lines to better focus and put forth better research on the Pokemon.
So... Would it be possible for there to be a Hisuian Decidueye? Yes, but very unlikely. She'd just have to hope it was such large Alolan Decidueye.
Having gotten everything together, even strapping the arrows on the side of her backpack as the points were still rather sharp, she looked to make sure Ron was ready - if he was even still in the lodging room. Opening the door, she exited, and bursting out of the Pokeballs came her Sceptile and Flareon, stretching and ready to scale Route 217 with them. Smiling, she looked around for Gwen before realizing Akira's Mamoswine was inside. Was there a problem? Though, seeing he was eating from a huge bin of truffles, she realized it likely wasn't anything to worry about.
"Alright, you two! We're going!" She yelled throughout the cabin, hoping Ron could now get up and Gwen was ready.
Lyra the Hex Maniac
Date: July 18
Location: National Park, Johto
Pokemon Team: Pearl the Misdreavus, Clay the Galarian Yamask, Lucky the ??? (Whereabouts unknown)
Battling: Gwen Tucker and Ozzy the Deino (IDKWhatUserNameToDo) vs Pearl the Misdreavus
Interactions: Ron Towers (Hecotoro)
Lyra snickered as her Misdreavus caught the dragon off guard. However, Pearl was much less enthused, as the Deino continued and even managed to land a Bite. A horrific screech erupted from Pearl as she thrashed to get out of the Deino's hold. Even Lyra was getting worried. "No, Pearl!" In this moment, she sounded the most human.
"Confusion!" This was a mistake. The Misdreavus attempted to throw a confusing ray of psychic energy at the Deino, but it just didn't work. Lyra panicked. Then it dawned on her.
"It's part Dark..." She realized the error of her ways, and there likely wasn't enough time to return her Misdreavus, who couldn't retreat through the rocks to safely get returned. They had already used up time to use Confusion.
Nakano Saito
Date: July 19 (26yo)
Location: Pokemon Center, Yellow Rock Isle, Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokemon Team: Mudster the Swampert, Iwa the Wishiwashi, Ludwig the Ludicolo, Aero the Aerodactyl, Silenus the Sceptile, Hattie the Hatterene
Interactions: Rick (Ridge)
Naka raised an eyebrow at Rick's admittance of not trusting flying machines, then she looked over at Iris. She was going to make a joke, but considering she didn't know Rick, she opted to still her tongue.
Yet, biological ones are better? Though, she understood flying machines had their own issues and flying so high in a pressurized cabin was a bad idea.
As he explained what Iris was capable of - even eagerly nodding when he said to keep it a secret - she looked absolutely in awe, darting her gaze between Rick, then Iris, then back to Rick. "That's so coooooooool..." She practically had sparkles in her eyes, following him with her gaze before going to walk. "I never knew there was a new way to do that... Though, the energy must be a bit immense to do a full form shift like that, and if it can only be used for a short time. Which means that whatever you found could potentially be a generator of energy, too..." Though, upon hearing it was an independent researcher he was working for, she wondered if that was who he was calling back at the Pokemon Center. "Oh, I'm in the researcher scene in Sinnoh, too. It's likely I've heard of him. I'll keep it a secret, so don't worry. Wouldn't want to bother with another researcher's thing. I won't ask to help, but the offer is there if you guys need it. Nakano Saito, I'm a field researcher for Professor Rowan and Lucas. I'm also called the Guardian Researcher due to my uhm... Vigilante stuff, haha." She chuckled, scratching the back of her head. "Though, it's not super widely known, I'm sure he's heard of me unless he's nose deep in his work. Anyway, it's nice to have met you. Oh, here, before I forget."
She walked over to the dockworker, who was scanning cards, phones, or receiving cash for tickets. "One ticket to Olivine City please." Once the transfer was done, she grabbed the Olivine City embark ticket and held it out for Rick. "We don't want anymore impromptu showers now." She chuckled. "Would you like my phone number, just in case?" She asked, smiling wide. She asked because it couldn't hurt, in fact she still had her hand on her cell phone she used to pay the dockworker.
Nakano Saito
Date: July 24 (26yo)
Location: Near Cianwood Gym, Cianwood City, Johto
Pokemon Team: Mudster the Swampert, Aero the Aerodactyl, Silenus the Sceptile, Hattie the Hatterene, Chu the Pichu, Fluffy the Flareon, Brute Tooth the Barraskewda, Orochi the Zweilous
Interactions: Theo Hightower (Sir Krazz), Charlotte (Charlotte Pryce)
Mentions: Esther (kyuukestu), Reina (Hecotoro)
Taking a boat to Cianwood City and spending some quality time with Theo (and possibly being noisy for the neighbors because damn Theo was good at playing video games), she helped teach Theo their alphabet - as if it were some sort of cypher - and then helped him with the basics of type matchups. Right after the Whirl Cup, she even gave the guy his Totodile that Professor Elm had transferred over to Naka. The man having a heart-to-heart with his Rotom Phone was honestly quite sweet.
As they docked, Naka departed from Theo as she wanted to explore the beachside city for a bit. She sent out two Pokemon - her Sceptile and her Zweilous. The two Pokemon were able to smell not only the salty sea, but that of the salty sweat the emanated from the gym. Naka wanted Silenus to help train Orochi, but when she realized that Orochi wanted to play more, she instead had gotten on Silenus's back and had the Dark/Dragon-Type run after them as they played chase.
During this, she passed by the gym and heard Reina was in there fighting Chuck, and that Esther was nearby. That's when she heard yelling and thought it sounded familiar. That's when her Silenus shot towards the voice on his own, and Naka was able to see it was Theo and Charlotte, a Luxray at her side with Krem in Theo's grasp and his Shinx having popped out to see the Luxray closer.
As she got closer, she had caught the last question that Theo had said, but she elected for Charlotte to answer. Instead, she laughed and waved as Silenus strode up beside the two, only for Silenus to nearly fall forward as Orochi tackled him with a surprisingly fast sprint, sending Naka on the sandy floor. Laughing, she got up and slapped her pants from the sand, her eyes darting between the two. "Hi, oh-... Hey, Krem, you wanna battle, huh?" She laughed, seeing that look in his eyes. "I used to have a Pokemon like you, I had to stop him from training for a whole day, 'cause otherwise he would've hurt himself. Actually..." Grinning, she sent out her Flareon, the Fire-Type yawning before catching eyes on the Totodile. With a cool behavior, he just silently watched the Water-Type, as if daring him to throw the first move.
Catching this, Naka laughed. "Chill, Fluffy. He's just a bit eager to battle's all." She tried to appease the Flareon, but he just huffed a small ember away from the others, his ears up and eyes closed in defiance.
Looking between the two, she smiled. "So, how are you two?" Meanwhile, her Sceptile managed to get away from the playful Orochi, who tried to bowl him over again.
Chuck
Date: July 24
Location: Cianwood Gym - Cianwood City, Johto
Pokemon Team: Poliwrath, Primeape, Hitmontop
Battling: Reina Cortez and Viridis the Scyther (Hecotoro) vs Hitmontop
Stats: +1 Atk, +1 Def
Ah, it was rather fast. His Hitmontop was in for a lot of trouble. While this Hitmontop was agile, he wasn't exactly fast enough to react to everything. The Quick Attack had sent the Hitmontop lurching forward, only to see the Wing Attack come in. With one hit, he was sprawled over on the ground. With a spinning kick to stand upright, he looked back to see another Wing Attack. He was a bit battered and bruised, of which Chuck had to grin.
Gooood...
With Technician, his next attack was going to hurt, especially with the Bulk Up. "Aerial Ace!" His feet glowed with sky energy as he lurched forward on his spinning top and spun towards him. Once they got close enough, he hit the ground with a hand to jump over the Scyther, sending down an Aerial Ace-kick on the Scyther's backside before landing on his top with precision.
Cole Forrest
Date: August 2
Location: Turffield Stadium Lobby -> Street to Pokemon Center, Galar
Pokemon Team: Thwackey, Croconaw, Corvisquire, Galarian Meowth, Stufful, Trubbish, Magikarp, Pancham
WCS Rank: 75,432
Interactions: Wilford Pine (sSoul)
As Cole got himself all ready to go, he had noticed Wilford was being accosted by a group of interviewers. He chuckled, making sure his satchel was in place as he looked over at Wilford with an amused expression. "Hmph, I'm assuming idiots tried wasting their time with you?" He gave a snarky smile at Wilford's comment on his achievement, shaking his head. "To be honest, was a bit worried there. I was a bit underprepared in my Pokemon not having been trained enough to deal with all that. I wasn't planning on doing the gym battle within the week, but seeing such a likeminded individual made me do a leap of faith. Though, I won't be as unprepared for the next one." He said with some finality, his hands in his pockets as he made his way out of the stadium lobby.
"Let's go get our Pokemon healed and give you more fashion cohesion. Though, I can't enter the shop." He shrugged. "Not that I've done anything wrong to them, but Turffield is rather small and word gets around really fast. I don't think they'd give you any amount of good service if they saw me with you. However, once we leave Turffield, we won't have to worry about such rumors affecting either of us."
He really just wanted to get out of here, but he didn't want to rush things. Still, his walking pace - despite the hands in his pockets and slightly slouched shoulders - he was walking rather fast, as if he was running out of time for something. Wanting to start some kind of conversation with Wilford as they got near the Pokemon Center, he decided to go with an opinion question. "What is your definition of a good Pokemon? For battling, at least. Is it their type? Their aptitude as that species or evolutions? Their versatility?" He peered over at him from the side, a hint of a smirk on his own face.
