[X] My Assistant

[Ganymede]

Waker stared in awe at the PDA. It looked nothing like his father's old Pokedex or Pokegear. He inhaled sharply as the machine began to speak in a robotic voice, re-telling the legend he'd always heard growing up. Once the PDA finished its narrative, Waker clapped his hands in delight. Scooters, weird machines that could talk...He definitely wanted to see Orre now, harsh environment or not. Maybe I can go there once I win the Grand Festival!


Waker listened carefully to Spencer's story, body shaking with laughter at his body-switching story. He'd never heard of legendaries being able to breed - his mother said they couldn't because they were so old and there was only one of each left. Well, the beasts aren't as old as the others, he thought. And they were different Pokemon before, so maybe they can still have children? This is confusing. He'd ask Spencer more about it once they got off the ship.


He felt the ship finally stop and looked up. Large, square warehouses stood facing the port, with many taller white building behind them. Beyond that, Waker could just make out a town, filled with buildings of varying sizes and shapes. He could just make out a large building with decorative banners on it. The Contest Hall! He let out a soundless cheer. We're here! We're really in Furoh now! Smiling broadly and half-dreaming of contests and berries, Waker let himself be pulled toward the ramp and into the new land.

[Verity Lily]

Verity pulled restrainingly at Connie's hand, giggling. "It's not going to be a mummy Oddish, silly. Carmilla's mummy will be a Gloom - or maybe even a Vileplume or a Bellossom, if they were lucky enough to find a leaf or sun stone." All the frantic study she had done to win her pokedex was coming in handy. "Ooh, I wonder which one little Carmilla will be?"

They swung their hands together as they resumed the path towards Barley, Verity chattering happily. The capture of Carmilla had put her in a mood as sunshiny as the day. "I wonder what will be my next pokemon? I hope I don't catch one too soon - Courage is only little, I've barely trained her, and we have a baby pokemon on the way!

"I don't know if we could cope with another little one! But maybe my next one should be a water one - you wouldn't mind if I borrowed your old rod, would you? Oh, Connie, I read that Magikarp are really, really valuable, because they grow up to be Gyradoses, and trainers will pay, like, 1,000,000 poke for just one!" She paused a moment, the vision of Temeprance's ancient Magikarp flopping uselessly around in the pond at home flitting into her mind along with a few doubts, but she resolutely pushed it aside. "And Feebas is worth even more! There are people who make their fortunes catching and seeling Magikarp and Feebas! We could be millionaires... we could afford all the proteins and zincs in the eorld to make our pokemon really, really strong, and we could afford... oh, Connie..."

Verity came to a stop. Before them, Barley spread out at the bottom of a gentle decline, its small buildings glowing in the slowly lengthening light.

"Connie, we could afford all the ICE CREAM in the WORLD!"

[ROMANA]

"I wouldn't pay 10 poké for Nanna's magikarp," said Connie, decidedly. "All he does is Splash! She says he knows Tackle, and she thinks he might even have learned Flail but all he ever does is Splash about." Connie laughed. "I'm not really sure we'll even manage to catch a Magikarp with that rod, but we can try fishing off of the dock, if you like."

Connie and Verity were looking down at Barley now and for all that she had been nervous about setting out this morning, the further they walked, the more excited and optimistic she had become. The town was positively glowing in the sun and Connie didn't think it had ever looked more inviting. She could see the banners of the Contest Hall snapping in the breeze and the blue and red roofs of the pokemart and the pokemon centre.

"You know," she said, still giggling, "we could buy ice cream now. Mum gave me some poké and we're going to win loads in all our trainer battles and there's no-one to say we can't spend it al... I mean we can't buy some ice cream. Just a little one, maybe?" She tugged on Verity's hand. "Aaaaand, I've got honey. We can have lots of flavours all mixed up and cover it in honey!"

She started to jog down the hill.

"I'll race you!" she called, with a grin over her shoulder. Her ponytail caught in the strap of her bag and she got a mouthful of hair that set her coughing. She stopped to untangle herself.

[Verity Lily]

Verity took the chance fate had given her and scampered past her friend, her feet gaining speed as the hill's dowward slope gave her momentum. She was never very fast or agile at the best of times, and certainly not as strong as Connie, but for once she felt like she was could outrun a Rapidash. Even the weight of her bag seemed to help her along, given the gravity. Her sensible hat was caught by the wind, and flew away behind her, but of all the things Verity was scared of, losing was always the worst. And besides, Connie was right... they were grown up pokemon trainers now. They could have all the icecream they wanted!

She was really doing very well until she was caught up by the fact that, having already tripped on her shoelace once, she had neglected to actually retie her shoe. Just as the dirt path beneath her tuned to hard paving, the treacherous lace found its way under her foot once again, sending her flying through the air until she came down hard on her hands and feet.

She gasped with shock, her hands and knees stinging and the easy tears coming to her eyes. She took a moment to regain her breath, and was about to call back to Connie that she was okay, really, when a sneering chuckle brought her attention back in front of her.

Barry, the same Starly-wielding schoolkid who had humilated Verity and Butchette on their very first battle, stood in front of her with his legs planted wide apart and his hands planted on his hips. Beside him, a girl who, despite being all of twelve years old had meticulously straightened hair, careful makeup and a miniskirt and who Verity recognised as the belle of the Barley elementary school, giggled. A Skitty wound around her legs and smirked at the fallen little girl in what Verity felt was a patently offensive manner. Her tears rose up again.

"Look, it's the crybaby from the wierdo amazon commune," Barry said. "What, your mommies let you out on your own today?"

"Oh, don't make fun of her. She's obviously too good for us - too good even to go to school," the girl said, tossing her purple locks. "Or maybe she's just too stupid to read and write. And look, she's brought the tomboy with her."

Verity wiped back her tears with a balled fist, and determinedly reached for her belt, her hand closely around the comforting roundedness of a pokeball. "I'm not a crybaby, I'm a pokemon trainer," she said firmly. "Connie? Will you help me show them what we learn on Butterfree Farm?"

[Cube]

Hey, Lindley, Romana... when are we going to meet up? Are you going to head straight for town, or are you going to mill about for a bit?

"So this is Port Barley..." Spencer stared at the contest hall, in awe. "I was expecting something a bit smaller..."

Countless trainers of all kinds filed past the pair as they walked down the gangplank, quite a few of them staring in awe at the contest hall. Barley was a hotspot for trainers and coordinators alike. It was the region's primary port, after all.

The Furoh contest league was divided into 4 Ranks - Normal, Great, Ultra, and Master - with the Grand Festival held yearly in Daioh, and smaller Premier rank contests occurring in various small towns throughout the region. In order to participate in the Grand Festival one needed to collect at least four ribbons, each from a different rank.
Spencer and his family hadn't been breeding for contests as long as they had been breeding for combat, but Spencer was familiar with how the system worked.

"So I suppose the first thing you want to do is try out the contest hall, right?" said Spencer, as they walked through the docks, passing various dock workers and fishermen. "I think first, we should start out by heading to the Pokemon Center to get signed in. And then we can go to the contest hall to get registered. How does that sound?"

[Ganymede]

Um, I hope this is an okay way to bring 'em all together. If not...well, I'm just an idiot. Hehe...

Waker grabbed onto Spencer's shirt to avoid being lost in the crowd. There were Trainers and Pokemon everywhere, most heading towards either the Contest Hall or the Pokemon Center. Waker hastily jumped over a Rattata and then nearly collided with its trainer. Throwing the trainer an embarrased smile, he moved closer to Spencer, feeling a little lost. He'd only seen this many people once, on his trip to Goldenrod City. Back then, he'd had his mother, father, and his father's Gengar to watch over them. Here, Azzy and Pora would probably get stepped on if he let them out.


Waker stared longingly at the Contest Hall, banners snapping in the wind. A group of trainers milled outside the large double doors, Meowths and Skittys at their feet. Wingulls flew throught the air and Pidgeys huddled together on the Pokemon Center's sign. Waker closed his eyes happliy. He already loved Barley.


Waker nodded in response to Spencer's question and followed him as they made their way through the crowd. As they passed a group of elementary school kids, he heard a shout and turned to look at one of the paths leading out of town.


Three girls and a boy stood there, obviously about to start a Pokemon battle. They don't look very nice, he thought, looking at the boy and one of the girls, who had a Skitty curled around her feet. Azzy's pokeball shook and, absentmindedly, Waker pressed the release. Azzy landed on his shoulder in a flash of purple light and growled. "Niii, Nido Ni," he muttered, his ears sticking straight up.


Frowning, Waker tugged on Spencer's sleeve and pointed at the fight.

[Cube]

"Hm?" Spencer felt the tug on his sleeve as Waker directed his attention to a group of school children, one of them apparently having been knocked to the ground.

"Oh no..." Spencer shook his head. Agate didn't have many children, but Spencer had dealt with young Pokemon long enough to know what was going on. After all, bullying was universal.

"Kids..." said Spencer, with a deep sigh; "and people think Pokemon are vicious..."

Um... Sort post, I admit, but I'm not sure if we should let Connie and Verity Battle first, or if we should intervene now...

[Verity Lily]

We worked out together how the battle would go, so I'm going to post on behalf of both of us. It's our bedtime now, so we won't be posting again until tomorrow.

Connie came running up, worried by Verity's tumble. As she got closer, she realised that they had bigger problems.

Verity suddenly realised, with a flush of pleasure and nervousness, that this was not only going to be her first official pokemon trainer battle, without her mother looming protectively in the background, but her first double battle ever - with her best friend! She lifted her chin. She was determined not to lose - or cry - this time. Her future honour as a pokemon trainer depended on it.

She considered for a moment sending out her own Starly, to show Barry that he wasn't the only one who could catch him, but common sense told her that Courage was too low-level to actually fight a trained pokemon. She released it from its pokeball and told it sternly, "You're just to watch for now, to see how a battle goes." Courage chirped understanding and climbed safely high above her head. "Go, Butchette!""

Beside her, Connie made a similar decision; while Mary the Mareep would have a type advantage, she didn't actually know any electric attacks. "Go, Victoria!" Her Combee fluttered into the fray, squaring off against the boy's Starly while Buitchette took on the Skitty.

"Focus energy, Butchette!" Verity yelled. Butchette nodded seriously, and began to gather concentration, not shaken even when Skitty tackled her. Beside them, Victoria followed Connie's orders to use fury cutter and keep on using it.

""Now, low ki - oh, no, leer to weaken it - I mean..." Butchette looked back at her in confusion, and took a painful blow. Verity winced and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. "Leer, then low kick, and keep low kicking until it's unable to battle," she instructed more firmly. and Butchette obeyed until finally, the Skitty lay down and made it clear that, whatever it's trainer said, as far as it was concerned it was done. It put it's paws over its head and ignored all further orders.

Verity clapped her hands with delight. "Yay, Butchette! Look, Connie - oh, no!"

Connie called her pokemon back. "Sorry, Victoria. You did great. We'll get you straight to a pokemon centre"

Verity felt her eyes swimming again. "It was my fault - I forgot about type advantages," she gulped. "I mean, I remembered that fighting is good against normal, and I forgot that bug -"

"It's okay," Connie said, bravely. She gave Verity a reassuring smile, although she was holding Victoria's pokeball very tight.

"Stupid girls don't know how to pokemon battle," Barry said contemptuously, ignoring the outraged squeal from his companion. "You better clear out of Barley now and run home crying to your farm, or we'll take care of you but good."

The girls became conscious of more children drawn to them by the fight, some considerably taller than themselves. They gulped and drew closer together, and Butchette moved protectively in front of them.

[Cube]

"Hey!"

The group of school children immediately stopped their jeering and turned their attention to a very angry Spencer.

"What the hell do you think you're doing punk?" he spat, at the Starly's trainer. "What makes you think you're any better than these two girls? Huh?!"

The schoolkid's eyes widened. Like most school children, the boy quickly assumed the classic punishment avoidance tactic: "We were just having a double battle mister. We weren't doing anything wrong!"

Spencer wasn't fooled. "Listen punk!" he growled, doing his best to sound intimidating. "If anyone is going to be run out of town today, it's going to be you and your distastefully dressed companion here." He shot a glance at the girl and her Skitty. "Seriously, you're way too young to be dressed like that."
The other girl was apparently too upset to notice Spencer's remark, so he turned his attention back toward the schoolboy, pulling Vincent's Poke Ball out of his pocket.

"Now... it seems to me that you need to be taught a lesson. And since I don't have enough time to teach you how to properly treat a lady, perhaps I can teach you something about Pokemon Battling instead."

"But we haven't finished our battle yet!" protested the school boy.

"...Since when does a battle involve ganging up to two little girls?" said Spencer, pointing toward the two children, and a protective looking Machop.

"Waker, would you like to teach this punk a lesson, or should I?"

[Ganymede]

We're gonna hold back on this a bit. we don't really want to interrupt the battle in case Romana and Lindley have something planned for it. So, short post is short.

Waker gave a start as he heard his name. Sure, he didn't like bullies - he'd attracted quite a few as a child before he got Azzy - but he didn't like battles, either. He swallowed nervously and looked at Azzy. The Poison Pin Pokemon was growling, his head lowered slightly, horn at the ready. His claws dug painfully into Waker's shoulder. Waker gave a short nod and Azzy leapt off his shoulder to the ground in front of the schoolkids, who shrank back.


"Nii, Ni Ni! Nido!" The Pokemon's ears were tense. He glared at the Starly, who chirped uneasily but stood firm. Azzy shot Waker a quick look, waiting for a command. Waker stood perfectly still, hands pressed firmly to his sides, not daring to shift his feet. Azzy would take any move he made as a sign to attack, and Waker knew that once the battle started, Azzy would keep fighting until one of them was too injured to battle further.


...He's too stubborn, Waker thought. Pora's Pokeball shivered gently. But Pora's not strong enough to fight. Ahh, why'd I send him out?! Waker looked up at Spencer, waiting for a sign of what do to.

[Cube]

"Now, what my friend has sent out here is a male Nidoran. A Poison Type." Spencer tossed his own Poke Ball, releasing Vincent in a flash of red light. "This, on the other hand, is a Fire Type. Say hello to the class Vincent."

"Char?" The fire lizard looked confused. Apparently when Spencer said he was going to teach these kids a lesson, he was being quite literal.

"Now..." Spencer dramatically gestured toward the Starly. "In terms of type advantages, our Pokemon are evenly matched. However, each of our Pokemon have something that your little bird lacks. Vincent, would you be so kind as to demonstrate your Ember attack? Just so our class here can see it."

"Char!" the little fire Pokemon was glad to oblige, spitting a tiny burst of flame into the air. The Starly instinctively hopped back a to avoid the Charmander's demonstration, crying out it's own name in fear.

"Thank you Vincent. As you can see, Ember is a fire based attack with a chance of lighting it's opponent on fire. And... just so you know, feather's are especially flammable."
The young man gestured toward the Nidoran. "On the other hand, we have this little fellow. He looks harmless, of course, but in reality he's quite deadly. You see that little horn he has? Or those little barbs on his ears? They secret a deadly toxin that can cause a Pokemon to faint within minutes if not treated. Any Pokemon attacking it has a chance of being poisoned just by touching it. "

The boy looked nervous now. Spencer smirked; his intimidation tactics were unorthodox to be sure, but one could not deny their effectiveness.

"From the looks of things, you don't have any antidotes or burn ointments with you, do you now?"

The boy shook his head.

"I didn't think so..." said Spencer. "Now, you've got two choices. You can get fried, you can get poisoned, or you can leave these two girls alone."

Spencer reached into his pocket and pulled out his two other Poke Balls, plus a few empty ones for effect. He was banking on the kids not being able to tell the difference. "So what's it going to be kid? Your Starly versus all of our Pokemon?"

[Ganymede]

Waker blinked and nearly started laughing. He hadn't counted on Spencer being quite so literal. He relaxed his arms and moved his foot slightly. Azzy imediately let out a sharp call and ran straight for the Starly, who cried out and flew into the air. Azzy looped back towards Waker, a triumphant look on his face. The Starly let out a pitiful cry from high bove the crowd.


More children had gathered around the six, murmuring and staring at Spencer and the Pokemon in awe. We should get out of here before we attract too much attention... he thought, biting his lip. He looked at the two girls who had been bullied and, with a quick glance at Spencer, walked over to them and held out his hand, mindful of the Machop. Azzy followed him, keeping an eye on the terrified Starly. The owner was babbling by now, tugging on the Skitty girl's arm as he tried backing out of the crowd.


The children in the crowd let out dejected sighs at the lack of action and began moving away, muttering amongst themselves. Waker briefly wondered if they'd done the right thing. He quickly shook the thought out of his mind. What's done is done. We can't fix it now.


Waker turned back to the girls and smiled, Azzy holding his paw out to the Machop.

[Cube]

The preteen threat handily dealt with, Spencer turned his attention to the two little girls.
"Are you two alright? They didn't hurt you or anything, did they?"
He tossed a glance over his shoulder to make sure the other children had left. "I can't believe those kids, acting like that..." He shook his head. "Kids these days..."

[Verity Lily]

Verity had a moment of dreadful uncertainty. When she set out on her battles, it hadn't really occurred to her that she had rarely encountered males older than her own age - sure, there were boys at Butterfree Farm, but after they set out on their pokemon journeys, somehow they never came back to stay the way the girls sometimes did, only dropping in on flying visits to see their mothers and sisters. There had been shopkeepers in town, but she'd always had the comforting presence of her mother or one of the other women from home. And she hadn't realised quite how much the "friendly" rivalry with the Barley schoolkids had depended on an adult escort for friendliness. Verity felt very small, and very dishevelled.

On the other hand, given what pokemon she and Connie had left, she couldn't help feeling that they'd just been rescued by almost-grownups. They must surely be nice almost-grownups, the loud one took pokemon knowledge almost as seriously as she did, it seemed. She looked sidelong at Connie, hoping for guidance, and moving a little closer.

Butchette got tired of waiting and grasped Azzy's paw firmly. That decided Verity, and she shyly returned the Nidoran's trainer's smile. "We're okay," she she replied softly. "But I'm not sure about Victoria!"

[ROMANA]

For a moment when they had first appeared, Connie had been convinced that the boys were turning up to take over pummelling their pokemon. Poor Victoria was exhausted, Torchie and Carmilla could do with a proper rest and Mary and Courage were only little. There was no way this was going to go well. And then the two of them had waded in and chased off their opponents! Connie was so relieved. She know that eventually she was going to have to keep sending out her pokemon, even if she didn't think they had much of a chance but it seemed far too mean for it to have to be in her first trainer battle.

The boys seemed very grown up. She was a little overawed but the Nidoran was incredibly cute and was trying to shake paws with Butchette. That made her smile. Thankfully, Butchette shook the Nidoran's paw and Verity replied and it gave Connie a chance to pull herself together. They were pokemon trainers now and she could be just as grown up as anyone else.

"Thank you very much," she said gravely. "We appeciate it. We were going to go to the pokemon centre and then we were going to have some ice cream and then Verity fell over and I thought she might have hurt her knee. I have some band-aids in my bag but I didn't have time to check. We weren't really ready to battle. Maybe we could get you an ice cream too, to say thank you? My name is Connie and this is my best friend, Verity."

[Ganymede]

Azzy let out a happy "Ni!" as Waker, just a little overwhelmed, pulled out his notebook and pen. After a minute of frantic writing, he held out the notebook to Connie.

Hello Connie and Verity!
It's no problem, Spencer was the one who really helped!
I'm Waker and my friend is Spencer.
Sorry but I can't talk so I have to write :)
We were heading to the centre too!
Ice cream sounds great!
But you should get your Pokemon healed first!
Is Verity's knee ok?

As Waker waited for the girls to read his messy handwriting, he thought about what happened. Spencer must be an incredible breeder to know so much, he thought. But the girls looked like they were scared of us...I wonder why? He turned to Azzy, who was sitting in front of the Machop. He was making waving motions with his paws and "Ni!"-ing loudly, as if he was trying to tell the Machop a story. Pora's Pokeball wiggled jealously and Waker laughed, withdrawing his notebook.

[Verity Lily]

"My knee's okay. I didn't hurt - oh!" Verity noticed with dismay that the rose on her jeans had almost completely displaced itself with her tumble. She wished that Bill had a prettier idea of suitable dress for a future pokemon master. Verity didn't see why pink sparkly denim wouldn't be just as practical.

<Thank you for helping out my humans> the Machop told the other pokemon. <They try very hard, but they're only very little humans> she added protectively. <I don't know what they'd do without me to look after them. My name is Butchette, by the way. It's not my fault.> Her expression and her flexed muscles clearly indicated that giggling could provoke lowkicking, even from new friends.

"The pokemon centre has really good icecream, and we can take care of our pokemon then too. If you haven't been there already, I mean," Verity corrected herself, suddenly unsure if she was being silly in acting like the boys didn't know all about Barley and its pokemon centre and even its icecream. Just because she hadn't seen them before didn't mean they were strangers, and maybe they wouldn't want to be bothered with a couple of newly minted pokemon trainers anyway, not with powerful pokemon like they obviously had.

She read Waker's message, and beamed at him, feeling much better - this obviously wasn't some arrogant Barley boy. "You were both big helps! Poor Courage needs practice before she can battle."

Edited because our posts crossed, sorry!

This post has been edited by Lindley: Jun 24 2009, 03:53 PM

[Cube]

"I'm glad to hear that you're both okay." said Spencer, with a reassuring smile. "Kids like that just..." he shook his head. "Ugh... I can't believe people like that!"

The young man pointed at Verity's Pokeball. "Heading to a Pokemon center sounds like a good idea. Waker and I were on our way there ourselves." He pointed towards the small building just down the road. "Come on, you can come with us."

Sorry for the short post! I got called away to cook dinner!

[ROMANA]

Connie peered shyly at Waker as they walked to the pokemon centre. She had never met anyone who talked by writing before. It must make things quite difficult. If you tried to walk and talk at the same time, she supposed, you might end up walking into things. She slipped her hand into Verity's as they walked. It was comforting to know Verity was there with her. The boys seemed very nice but she was always a little awkward with new people.

"Here we are!" she said, leading the way inside. The pokemon centre was the usual busy rush of people and pokemon. Connie paused. looking around warily for the boy and girl they'd been battling. There didn't seem to be any sign of them at the moment, thank goodness!

"Blissssey!" said a Blissey, beckoning them over. "Bliss." Connie thought the freindly pink pokemon with its little nurse's cap was adorable.

"Now, who needs their pokemon looked after?" asked the cheerful, pink-haired nurse behind the counter.

"My Torchic, my Combee and my new Oddish all need some rest, please," said Connie, fishing for their pokeballs. "And, Verity's Butchette. And, um, Spencer and Waker, what about you two? Your pokemon seem very tough. We're only just starting to train ours. Have you had lots of battles? While the pokemon are being looked after, we can go in there." Connie pointed through an arch.

The room beyond was decorated in cream and pastel pink. There were tables and chairs, and booths at the far side. There was also a bar, with pink bar stools. The far wall had a big mural of happy Miltanks in a light green field under a pale blue sky with fluffy cream clouds.

"They use milk from our farm to make the ice cream and milkshakes," said Connie, proudly. "The picture is supposed to be our Miltanks, but I've never seen them look that friendly. And none of them are rolling at anything, which is rather unlikely. I like raspberry ripple and rum 'n' raisin and mint choc chip and toffee honeycomb and chocolate and moomoo milk surprise best."

[Ganymede]

Waker gaped at the inside of the Centre. It was nothing like the one in Ecruteak, an old building made out of wood with few furnishings. He relaxed a little at the familiar site of a helpful Blissy bustling around, helping her nurse tend to injured Pokemon. Azzy dug his claws into Waker's shoulder happily, Ni-ing contentedly. He seemed proud of the outcome of the mock battle with the Starly. Waker smilied warmly at him.


Azzy and Pora are fine :)
I dont battle much. Im really bad at it!
Instead I want to become a Coordinator and win the Grand Festival!


Waker held out his notebook and glanced around, catching sight of the mural on the far wall. He silently agreed with Connie about the Miltanks - he'd snuck out of Ecruteak to visit the Moomoo Farm plenty of times, and the Miltanks always welcomed him with angered cries and Rollouts, calming only when he fed them the berries that grew near the farm. Pora's Pokeball shook again, a little more violently this time, and Waker pressed the release. In a flash of blue light, the Nidoran was on his unnoccupied shoulder, sniffing at the air. She looked hungry.


Mint choco chip sounds amazing!
Can the Pokemon have ice cream too?


<"Ice cream?!> Azzy said, ears shooting straight up. <"I love ice cream! Hey Pora, d'you think they have spicy ice cream?">

This post has been edited by Nezzie: Jun 26 2009, 12:23 PM