[X] My Assistant

[Living Arrow]

Page 2!!!

"A Feebas?" Darryn stared. "You caught yourself a Feebas..."

He looked over the gross Pokemon's brown and grey scales. They were rough. Some hanging off while others fell off of their own accord. Its fins looked like someone had taken a slash at them and its face was wrinkled and sore. In short, it seemed as though this Pokemon had had an unfortuneate run-in with a lawn mower.

"It's young." He said, noticing the way its pectorals moved more regularly than they should, indicating its lack of swimming experience. "A girl..." He continued, seeing how its stomach swelled closer to its ragged tail. "Doesn't look like it's had a great deal of treatment... but you've fed it something... Bluk berries, maybe? Whatever it was, it was a good move - see how its eyes are so bright?"

Darryn continued his survey of the Pokemon. Despite its disgraceful appearance, this Feebas was in pretty good condition.
With a happy grin, Darryn turned to Mindy. "This is a challenge alright..." He glanced once more at the fish and shuddered. It was SO gross! "But yeah, I'll definitely give it a shot. There's some methods I heard of when it comes to maintaining a water Pokemon's health and, if I do some research, I think I might be able to fix up those scales and put a grin on those flappy lips!"

This post has been edited by Living Arrow: Sep 14 2008, 04:13 PM

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda's eyes sparkled with excitement and joy while Darryn spoke. "Yea, I used whatever knowledge I have about pokemon health and gave this feebas some dry poffin. " she reached into her bag and took out the white plastic bag containing them. As Mindy did so, Feebas started swimming wildly with excitement, her eyes sparkling like diamonds. Melinda laughed and broke the Poffin into two pieces; throwing one half into the container and saving the second half for later. Feebas tried to down the poffin as fast as possible, but stopped when she saw Melinda staring at her. Feebas then slowed down her eating to the one set earlier by Mindy. "Good Feebas!" Mindy cheered. When Darryn finished talking with the acceptance of hee challenge, Mindy hugged him very tightly. "Thank you!" she whispered to him. Feebas was now swimming in circles happily, investigating the far reaches of the Pokemon Center tank.

Melinda checked the time on her Pokégear. "It's almost 8:45 A.M. Where is Jaima?" she wondered nervously. But she put that idea to the back of her mind. Mindy trusted Jaima a whole lot, and she knew he wouldn't let her down. Melinda turned back towards Darryn. "So...Darryn," she began, "where would you start with Feebas? Taking him to a Pokemon Spa or something? If we went to one of those, all of our pokemon could relax and have fun! Sound like a plan?" Mindy asked.

[Living Arrow]

"A spa?" Darryn grimmaced. "I would, but cash is kinda sparse at the moment. But, hey, we can go to the grocery store and I can show you how to do your own spa treatments at a fraction of the cost? We could even take everything back out to the park and show your friend if you like? If he has Pokemon, I'm sure they'd enjoy the things I can make for them!"

He looked back at Feebas once more. "You started out the right way for this little one. Dry poffin is an excellent way to treat a Feebas, but there are some other techniques you can use, too. I've got a couple of treatment books with me and my class notes, so there should be something I can do." He snapped his fingers. "That's right! You have a Combee, right? That could really help out!"

Eevee began to stir. The Spore was wearing off, it would seem. His big brown eyes looked around in puzzlement at first, flicking back and forth to take in the different sights of the Pokemon Center. When he saw Darryn, he barked a hello and stood up.
"Someone's awake." Darryn stroked his Eevee's back and lifted him up into his arms. With nothing between them, Darryn could feel his Pokemon's irregular heartbeat against his skin and it filled him with worry. How could something so happy and small be so ill with no outward signs at all?

"Now, Eevee." Darryn looked his Pokemon calmly in the eyes. "While you were sleeping, I had your fur cut so you can see and move better. Wanna see?" Eevee nodded curiously and Darryn turned him to look into the reflection of the fish tank. Eevee's eyes locked with Feebas' and he yelped, scrabbling wildly at Darryn's chest. "Your reflection! Not the Feebas!" Darryn shouted, trying to hold his Pokemon still. Eevee took another wild glance at the tank and caught himself staring back. His scrabblings slowed and his head cocked to the side as he examined the cut of his hair, the stylish quiff coming over the bandana and the way that the fur around his paws had been styled. Still in shock, Eevee was set down next to the tank to get a better view of himself. He stared at himself for sometime, looking up and down at the stylised Pokemon looking back at him.

Darryn gulped.

"Ree!" Eevee barked with delight and put his paws up on the glass, licking at his reflection and wagging his tail furiously with delight. Darryn was overcome with relief that his Pokemon liked his new look. Eevee turned around and jumped back into his trainer's arms, licking at his face and neck manically.

"I get it!" Darryn laughed, turning his head this way and that to avoid the puppy's wet tongue. "Let's go with this nice girl and buy some food and other stuff, kay?" Eevee barked again and hopped to the floor where he sniffed once more at Mindy's shoes, his tail wagging merrily.

Darryn looked up at Melinda. "Ready to go?"

This post has been edited by Living Arrow: Sep 15 2008, 07:37 AM

[Master Houndoom]

Smart arse! (Although, I would like to know how she managed to do that over his shoulder...

"I don't believe it... It's just... it's... inconceivable!"

Jaima surveyed the clearing. In the center stood the budew, smiling innocently up at the trainer. To it's left was Grondir, sleeping soundly, if not awkwardly, where he lie, his face planted in the mossy ground. Vines were still out of his bulb from his aborted attack. To the right of the little bud pokémon was Shadow, still trying to move but severely slowed and stiff. Fang was behind it, wretching into the bushes, and Ember was next to him, patting his back with her little forepaws.

Jaima recalled Ember and Fang, and pulled out a small pokéball, recently decorated with a green cap with red horns on the top. He pressed the button, and out came Mercury, who looked around, slightly confused herself. She looked at the budew, who danced in place. With her arms spread wide, she rose to her full height...

And clapped delightedly.

Jaima put his face in his hands. "Mercury, confuse it, will you?" Mercury looked back at Jaima, projecting an image of her making silly faces at the pokemon, with little rough question marks rising over the budew's head. Jaima almost laughed, and would have, in fact, if he wasn't afraid that it might insult the ralts. "No, no, an attack. Confuse it with your mind."

Jaima sensed more than saw a feeling of dawning realization. However, when Mercury turned back to the flower pokémon, it was already opening it's bud, releasing more spores from it.

"Aw, crap."

Just before the spores reached Mercury, a gust of wind came from behind Jaima. Jaima looked over his shoulder, and there, about to land, was Mr. Postman.

"Oh! Waith a minute, Mr. Postman. I have to finish this." The bird nodded, and Jaima turned back to the battle.

There, in the center of the clearing, was the budew, walking around dazedly, twitching, and otherwise showing signs of not only being thoroughly confused, but stunned as well. Mercury was peering at it, pressing her forelimb to her mouth and giving the impression for all the world as if she was trying not to laugh.

Jaima pulled a spare pokéball from his bag and threw it, engulfing the budew in a bright white light. The ball landed and shook, once... twice...

And gave a crackle as the locking mechanism engaged. Jaima gave a sigh of relief. "Good job, Mercury. I don't know what you did, but you did it well!"

An image drifted through Jaima's mind, of a cloud of dust drifting toward Mercury, followed by the gust of wind, which blew the cloud at a crumpled looking budew, which was also hit by the confusion attack. This time, Jaima did laugh, recalling Mercury, Grondir, and Shadow to their pokeballs. He picked up the ball holding the budew and smiled. "The perfect gift."

He made his way to the pokécenter, then realized he didn't know the way. He also realized he was getting hungry, so he thumbed his pokegear back on. "Mindy, come in, over? I just realized I haven't ate breakfast, over. I'm taking the road in the direction you went off with... um... Darryn, over. I'm going to find a place to eat. Do you read?"

Why he was talking like that he had no idea. Possibly, he thought, the giddy euphoria of making a real catch against a tough opponent.

He was pulled from his remeniscence by being buffeted on the head with wings. "Ow, ow! OK! OK! How are you, Mr. Postman?"

"Swell," answered the swellow, dropping the letter in his beak by consequence. Jaima managed to catch it, then grinned at the bird.

"Thanks," he said, looking at the envelope. The grin on his face was replaced by a kind of wistful smile. "I'll have an answer tomorrow, OK?"

"Swell," said the bird, and it took off, rising high against the dome before disappearing.

"Now, to get some grub!"

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda jumped at the sound of her Pokégear talking to her. "Gosh! That is going to take some getting used to." Mindy thought, making a mental note. She brought her spinach-colored Pokégear up to head level so both her and Darryn could hear Jaima's transmission.

"Mindy, come in, over? I just realized I haven't ate breakfast, over. I'm taking the road in the direction you went off with... um... Darryn, over. I'm going to find a place to eat. Do you read?"

Melinda put her mouth to the watch-like contraption "Hey Jaima! Darryn and I are going over to the grocery store to stock up on some things. How about we meet you at the Pokéking that Darryn and I saw on our way to the pokemon center?" Mindy spoke into the gadget. "By the time you get there, Darryn and I should be back from the Pokémart. I'll send you the coordinates for the Pokéking that we'll meet up at, okay? Mindy, over and out!" she said cheerfully. Melinda returned Feebas to her pokeball and turned to Darryn who was watching Eevee weave in a figure eight between Melinda's legs. "Okay, you heard that. We gotta go now to the Pokémart to meet Jaima in time, so you lead the way." she said with a smile. Melinda sent the coords to Jaima and got a message saying they were received. She zipped up her bag and adjusted her green headband. "After you!"

Jaima! Grats on Sparkfang's level 100! (I did it myself! )

This post has been edited by The Rose Crusader: Sep 15 2008, 08:44 PM

[Living Arrow]

"Cool, sounds like we have a plan!" Darryn said as Mindy put away her Pokegear. Eevee bounced alongside him merrily. "Now, the grocery store isn't that far and I'll be really quick with getting what we need, so let's go!"

The walk to the store was only a couple of very neatly arranged and perfectly tended blocks and once there, Darryn whipped out his notebook from his bag. Picking up one of the reed baskets at the entrance, he stalked through the store, keeping his eyes peeled for the ingredients he'd need.
Cucumber. Pineapple. Bananas. Cream. Pecha Berries. Bluk Berries. Eggs. Every item that Darryn needed on his makeshift would-be-used-at-a-spa list was present and accounted for. Paying the grocer and packing the goods into a large brown paper bag, Darryn went over the methods of preparation in his head several times. Eevee barked once or twice at passing Pokemon in the street and threw himself at the grocer window once to try and get at a Glameow that was being walked by its owner. Naturally, the puppy had slammed into the glass and got a nasty bump along with a roll of the eyes from Darryn. "Don't be so Hasty!" He had said.

With the brief shopping trip complete, Darryn regrouped with Mindy at the entrance to the store.

"All done. Looks like our Pokemon are gonna be getting a treat with all this stuff." He grinned. "But I have one request. Can you let your Combee out so that it can collect some Honey? I'll need some for the special treatment i have for your Feebas."

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda watched carefully as Darryn picked out the strange ingredients. She knew that he knew what he was doing, and was very grateful for his expertise. "I can learn a lot from him as long as I am open to the knowledge he's giving me..." she thought. As the went to the counter to check the items out she offered to pay, but Darryn insisted on buying. Melinda reluctantly agreed, even though she did not have much money herself. They walked outside and Darryn told her about Combee's unique expedition.

"Of course I can! Come on out Combee!" Melinda threw a pokeball up into the sky and watched it explode into a flash of white light. The white light molded into three hexagonal figures all connected to each other.

"Bee! Combee!" bussed the little insect, twirling around in the sky.

"Okay Combee, I have a mission for you. I need you to go collect some honey for Darryn and I, okay? Its really important, so make sure you get some very god quality honey to, alright?" she told him.

"Combeeee!" Combee yelled cheerfully, flying high into the sky and away from Melinda and Darryn. Mindy knew that she could trust Combee to accomplish its mission/ It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and sometimes, Melinda forgot that she was in an underground dome. Everything, the sky, the sun, the light breeze that peeled across Mindy's face, seemed so... real"

"Alright Darryn, so we have everything for our little 'Pokemon Makeover!" she giggled with excitement. "Now lets get over to that Pokéking that we are supposed to meet Jaima a-" Melinda started to say, but was interrupted by a very audible growl made from her stomach. "Jaima and I haven't eaten anything all day, and we're starved." she told Darryn, her tummy growling viciously again. "Let's hurry before I pass out!" she cried half jokingly. Mindy grabbed Darryn's hand as they started a fast walk towards the Pokéking. It wasn't going to be great food, and Melinda knew that. But it would be filling and cheap, and that's all that mattered.

This post has been edited by The Rose Crusader: Sep 16 2008, 06:17 AM

[Living Arrow]

When they arrived outside, Darryn took in the bright colours and oily aromas that radiated from Pokéking. It was probably one of the most ugliest things he had ever seen since arriving in the beautiful city. Where nearly everything else was tidy and prim, this was blatant and loud. Even so, the company had obviously made a winning formula, being as popular as it was so Darryn could hardly fault them on that.

Pokéking... Darryn's stomach lurched. He hadn't eaten fast food for years, not since the atrocious incident in the Celadon branch of Poké Hut, and starting again now would just be awful. Then again, things might have changed. Maybe he'd be lucky enough to dodge food poisoning this time?

The unfortunate thing about many food preparation establishments in Gigarte was that Pokémon were not allowed out of their Pokeballs. With a touch of regret, he clicked his Quick Ball, sucking his Eevee back inside, and was very pleased to see the bandana go with him. At least that meant accessories didn't have to be reapplied every time he dressed up a Pokemon. He really loved his new Pokemon and he would have hated for the little Eevee to go without the bandana that he liked so much.

"Is your friend here yet?" Darryn asked, peering inside. "How about we get a window booth so he can see us when he comes by? That'll save more radio chatter." He added the last with a nod towards the pocket where Mindy kept her PokéGear. "Plus, your Combee should be able to find us easily that way, too."

This post has been edited by Living Arrow: Sep 16 2008, 10:56 AM

[Master Houndoom]

Having arrived early, Jaima decided to get to the pokécenter to leave his poor affected pokémon for treatment. He walked through the door, flipping through his mail. There was one from his sisters, one from his mother, and a new one. He slipped them into his bag as he stepped up to the counter. The new one was probably Professor Elm.

"I need to have my pokémon treated." he said, lifting his belt from over his shoulder and setting them gingerly on the counter.

"May I ask what the problem is," asked the Nurse, raising a brow yet still smiling. "It will make treatment go faster."

"Of course," Jaima said with a formal nod of his head. He pulled a pokéball from it, black on the bottom, blue on the top, with a yellow star pasted to it. "Fang here was poisoned. I seem to have misplaced my antidote, so I had to rush here." Ignoring the nurse's frown, he pulled a ball that looked as if it were wrapped in vines. "Grondir is asleep, and I can't wake him. He probably just needs to wake naturally, but it would be better if he were out of his ball to do so." The nurse's frown faded. Jaima pulled a black and tan ball with a fire sticker on the top back. "Ember is just tired. I'd just like her to have some rest." The nurse nodded this time, once again sliding the professional emotionless look onto her face. Jaima next pulled off a blue and black ball with two metallic gray bumps on the top. "Shadow is paralyzed," he said, while pulling off a premier ball that had a clay model of a ralts' head crest over the lid. "Mercury is... actually doing just fine," he said, placing it back, but pulling one final ball, a plain poké ball, from his belt. "This one is the cause of all this trouble. I'm not even sure what it is, let alone its gender. But it is paralyzed as well due to the timely arrival of my family's mail pokémon," the nurse scowled again, deeply, "and Mercury's quick following of my command to confuse it."

"Using a non-registered pokémon to capture another isn't exactly looked highly on, Mister..." She trailed off, expectantly.

"Kuonji," Jaima said, frowning. "And I didn't use my family's mail pokémon to catch it, he just happened to show up and the Gust from his flapping his wings to land blew this one's stun spore back at it." At the nurse's skeptical look, Jaima raised his brows. "Come on, a swellow's, like, up to my hip! And his wings are HUGE!"

Finally the nurse relented and took the five pokémon back to the healing area. Jaima shook his head as he left. Most Nurses know that accidents happen. Heck, most nurses don't even ask questions...

He made his way to the Pokéking, hoping they had a rice bowl or something other than greasy food on the menu. In the window, he spotted Mindy and Darryn just getting into their seat. He ducked in and walked to the table.

"Sorry I'm late. I decided to take my kids in to get healed. Had a fight with a pretty Hardy pokémon in the park." Turning to Darryn, he put out his hand. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Jaima."

Thanks Mind, for getting Sparkfang to 100! (OMG, he's over 100!)

This post has been edited by Jaima: Sep 16 2008, 02:28 PM

[The Rose Crusade...]

"Good idea!" Melinda said happily, skipping over to the counter. She sat down opposite from Darryn in the red leather booth and picked up a little makeshift menu card. Mindy looked over her options on the menu, and none of them looked extremely appetizing. Alas, it was their only option. The Pokecenter in Gigarte, unlike every other Pokecenter Melinda had ever been to, charged trainers for their meals. She supposed it was because of all the transportation of the food from the land above to the subterranean metropolis. Regardless of why the food was priced, it turned out that the Pokéking was much cheaper. And cheap was what the gang's budget called for.

"Yea, I guess Combee will be able to find us. By the way, what exactly do you plan on doing with the honey?" she asked inquisitively. Honey is a very sticky and gooey substance, and Mindy pondered about how that would be could for a makeshift spa treatment for pokemon. She listened to what he had to say and found it very interesting. In truth, she would have never had such an innovative thought. Something so simple, yet so effective."Wow...Darryn sure is a great person to know. He's an expert on everything that concerns pokemon fashion and care."

Mindy observed as a male wearing a martial arts outfit walked through the motion sensor clear glass doors. He stopped in front of them and looked confusedly about, trying to locate Melinda and Darryn. She raised her hand and waved it wildly. "Over here Jaima!" she yelled. His head whipped around and after he pinpointed the source of Melinda's voice, he made his way over to the booth they were occupying. Mindy was glad to see that Jaima didn't seem too angry about her behavior earlier. Still, she hadn't figured out what made her do something so inappropriate. Melinda made a mental note to tell him about it later. She was also happy that the two seemed to get along well in the conversation that followed their introduction. After it was done, Mindy chirped, feeling her stomach beginning its wild yowl. "Well, guys, sorry to put the conversation on hold, but I think we should definitely order." she stated clearly, her face dug deeply into the menu card. Her eyes and forehead were above the card however, making a funny sight to the two boys.

[Master Houndoom]

Jaima looked at the menu card, muttering the whole time. "Pokekings... I haven't eaten here since I was six..." He looked up at his two companions. You know, Pokebell would be better. Or McDonphan's... Oh well. I'll have a salad."

Jaima looked at his two companions. Instead of making one of them move toward the window, he'd grabbed a chair from a nearby table. "What've you two been up to?" He'd purposely not told his story, not wanting to brag, but he had big plans for his new pokemon... As soon as he found out what it was.

[Living Arrow]

Darryn gave a wry grin. "Ahah! Well, Honey is an amazing thing. What I'm going to do is mix it with some cream and Bluk berry powder. That'll make a grainy paste. Then, you can rub the paste into the scalesof a water Pokemon - like Feebas. It should break of the rough edges of its scales and sand them down a little, while depositing Bluk granules along the way. That should make it a bit more shiny and smooth and after a few treatments, it's Beauty should be up a notch!"

He patted his bag. "All notes from my fashion class." He added happily.

When Jaima came in, Darryn smiled. For a split second, he almost asked if he could cut off Jaima's enormous braid, but stopped himself short. Reminding people of their Pokemon's appearance was one thing, but taking it to personal levels was usually frowned upon.

"Darryn Kellor, pleased to meet you." Darryn had said. In one day he had met two rather nice trainers and felt pretty good about himself. It beat being on his own, afterall. "What have we been up to? Well, first of all, that so-called nurse at the Pokemon Center had another chance to pick at my Pokemon Health Care skills then we went out to the grocery store to get some things together so that I can show you guys some easy ways to give your Pokemon a treat with a small budget. After this, we should gather all our Pokemon together at the park so they can have treatments!" Darryn realised he was getting a little carried away. It wasn't often that he had the chance to show off his knowledge of Health Care so getting excited about it was understandable.

He picked at the menu for a moment. Everything came with fries. He even expected to see "Fries with a side of fries" but it seemed even Pokéking wasn't that stupid.
"Guess I'll go for the bean burger and fries. Diet coke." He resigned himself to the fast food situation. Likelihood of him getting a gastroinfection again were pretty slim, especially in Gigarte.

[The Rose Crusade...]

"Alright, sounds good Darryn." The waitress came around to the table wearing a ridiculous red and yellow outfit witha cloth crown on her head. The girl seemed tired and fatigued, large circles were obviously visible under her eyes. Melinda felt sorry for the poor girl, it was demeaning. But she couldn't worry about things she couldn't control; she would have to learn that. "Good morning!" she said, trying her best to cheer the lass up. "I'm going to have the wrap from the UnoPoké menu. "About the fries... I'll have them as curly fries please. oh, and I'll take some mineral water. Thanks and have a nice day" mindy chirped with a grin from ear to ear. Anything to make this poor girl's life easier would be for the better.

After Jaima ordered his food, the gang waited patiently for their food to arrive. It wouldn't take long, so they wouldn't have to tolerate their growling tummies for much longer. She peered out the clear glass window and found Combee working busily to collect quality honey for Melinda. She was proud that her pokemon was so loyal to her, and was a hard 'worker bee'. Mindy giggled at that reference. The two boys were talking about the rudeness of the Gigarte Nurse joy, and Mindy didn't bother getting in the conversation. In truth, she hadn't had an encounter with the woman, and didn't want to judge based on other people's opinions. instead, she busied herself watching her sweet little Combee work vigorously at collecting the honey for the treatment.

[Master Houndoom]

Jaima realized something. He was no good at assessing feelings in anyone over ten.

He'd been looking for clues that these two were a couple or had gotten along or had kissed, but they seemed to be pretty much acting friendly to each other and little else. Mindy was obviously excited bout Darryn's knowledge, but no longer seemed determined to throw herself at him.

Which was just fine with Jaima, but he had no idea why.

Darryn was complaining about the Nurse, and that struck a cord with Jaima. "You too? I thought it was just me. I brought my kids in with a few status ailments and she looked like I had been working them in a sweatshop..." Jaima shook his head, glancing at the portrait on the wall of the three mascots of Pokeking: A Slowking, in purple robes, smilng benignly at the camera, rocked back slightly on his tail; a Slaking, lounging with his deep red robes spread over him like a blanket, smirking with half hooded eyes; and a Nidoking, standing regally in royal blue robes.

"Then, to add insult to injury, she criticizes the way I caught a pokémon! I mean, it's a gift for crying out loud, and stunning it was an accident..." Well, that had spilled the beans, but Jaima mentally shrugged. It wasn't like he had to hide it.

"So, you're going to teach us how to treat our pokémon, huh? I look forward to it. Especially if it's pretty cheap. Money isn't exactly falling into our laps, you know?" He thought a bit, then nodded. "But I'll have to go get my kids before we try. The only one I have on me is Mercury..."

[Living Arrow]

"So, Pokélicious food, a trip to the Pokemon Center, a bunch of therapies.... then what?" Darryn looked between Jaima and Mindy. "You guys haven't really said what you're doing here in Gigarte yet? And where did you come from? I'm assuming that it isn't for the tourism, so what's the deal?"

The tired-looking waitress soon returned with their respective meals and set them down with a meagre 'You're Welcome' after they gave thanks and shuffled off back to the rock she had crawled from. Darryn tried not to look at her too much. Some people were beyond him. True, not everyone could have great looks, but effort at least showed respect for oneself and those around them.
Darryn took a delicate bite out of his bean burger and chewed the flavourless cardboard down before he swallowed, followed by a sip of coke. It wasn't diet. He had ordered diet!!!

*Deep breaths, Darryn.* He mentally warned himself. Deciding to let the misorder go, Darryn kept eating and counting calories with every bite. Just thinking of all the grease made him want to scream, but he held it in. MAN that was hard. Even so, he was hungry enough to keep eating and didn't want to seem snobby in front of his new friends.

[The Rose Crusade...]

"Well, I guess that's a fair question..." Mindy answered Darryn after swallowing her first bite of the wrap. "Well, I come from Floaroma Town in the Sinnoh region, and Jaima over here hails from the Johto region." she uncapped her water bottle and started taking small sips. "Jaima and I arrived earlier today from Barley. Trust me, it was an intense trip." Melinda said with a deep sigh. She felt bad for having put Jaima through the horrible ride. But in truth, he had NO idea the consequences of Melinda spending the night outside.

"We've both come here to challenge the gym and try to earn ourselves a Stonebloom badge!" Mindy shouted with enthusiasm, thrusting her right arm up towards the ceiling. Some people stared at her while others just kept eating. There was an awkward silence for a moment as Mindy brought her arm back down to the table. "Anyway, yeah, so that's our main objective to accomplish in Gigarte. And we’ll stay here until we both attain that badge, right Jaima?" He responded with a simple nod, obviously focused on his food. He was obviously hungrier than she, and had a harder night in the truck. She would apologize to him later; another mental note had been created. "Gosh, these mental notes sure are piling up" she thought.

"What are your plans Darryn? Aside from helping us with our pokemon care, there must be something else you are up to." she told him. Melinda took another bite of her wrap and drank some mineral water. "Oh, and what do you two know about the Gigarte gym leader? I don't know a thing about the Furoh Challenge at all really. All I know is that you need four badges, and that this is where you can get one of them." she 'informed' the boys. Melinda took yet another bite form her wrap, listening to the males continue the conversation.

This post has been edited by The Rose Crusader: Sep 18 2008, 05:52 AM

[Living Arrow]

"You don't know anything about Chloe and yet you're challenging her gym?!" Darryn's jaw practically hung slack. "How long have you two been training, anyway? No-one has walked out of that gym with a badges in months! Are you sure you're up to it?"

He fingered his food briefly, looking back and forth between the two. He knew very little about Gigarte's gym leader, too, but at least he knew what sort of Pokemon she used. The girls from the Celadon gym had cheered the Grass-user when they had found out that he was moving to the same city.

"She uses some really strong grass Pokemon, so I'm told. But here, in Furoh, the gyms use dual types to compensate for the fact that there are only four badges. Chloe also uses rock type Pokemon, making her squad an amazingly powerful team as one type's weaknesses are balanced out by the strength of the other. You will really need to know what strategies to use before going in.

"As for me, I'm gonna focus on raising my Pokemon to the best they can be and maybe start in a different gym - my Pokemon don't really have any particular strengths to use in that gym without having major weaknesses at the same time. Instead, I'm going to fill out my portfolio to show the development of weakling to Gym-dominating warriors when I make it to a gym they stand a chance in."

He frowned. "I'm not even sure how many Pokemon you have to use in the Gigarte gym. Most gyms play off a minimum of three but I heard some use the full six or even a one-on-one. We should probably find that out before you guys start your final preparations, huh?"

[The Rose Crusade...]

"Dual types? That's not good..." Melinda sighed. "Rock?" Mindy gasped. "But I thought Gigarte was famous for flying types!" she paused, took another bite to collect her thoughts, and then continued, "None of my pokemon have a strength against the Rock type. I mean the grass pokemon is easy with Taillow and Combee. But Rock? I guess Feebas..." Melinda started, fingering the poor little fish's pokeball. "No, definitely not Feebas. She can barely float, let alone hold her own in battle!" Mindy said with a sigh. "I have practiced with my pokemon a great deal. I definitely want to use both Combee and Taillow, the have worked extremely hard for this time. But both of them are weak to rock, in fact, Combee is two times weaker than Taillow."

For a little while, no one said a thing. Truly, Melinda was in a predicament. Her eyes turned to Jaima who was still involved in his meal. "Wow, Jaima has not one, but two pokemon that would work against the rock type. But he doesn't have any pokemon that work against the grass type..." Mindy then got a crazy idea. Wicked, but crazy idea. "Guys, do we have to use our own registered pokemon in gym battles? Because I just hatched this plan that might just be wacky enough to work. Okay, so here it is..." Melinda began. "Jaima has two pokemon strong against the rock type. And I have two pokemon strong against the grass type. What if we were to switch a pokemon each? Then our teams would both be balanced and ready for the battle. Whaddya think?" Mindy asked. She made a silent prayer that they would agree. Melinda didn't have a backup plan for this. If this didn't work, her only hope would be to use the environment around her with Combee o somehow pull of a victory. But that was a very big stretch.

This post has been edited by The Rose Crusader: Dec 13 2008, 08:20 AM

[Master Houndoom]

Sorry it took me so long to answer, and that this is so short. I am sick today. Maybe tomorrow I'll edit it with more details.

Jaima looked up, misisng his mouth with the limp lettuce leaf he'd been aiming to pu in it and leaving it sticking to his face when he was done.

"What? Switch? Like a trade?" He thought back. He had Grondir, who was strong agianst rock, and Shadow, who was as well. For the grass types he had Ember, and, if he remembered correctly, could use Mercury if any of them doubled as a poison type. But Mindy only had Taillow, Combee, and Feebas, and Feebas wasn't well trained yet.

"I'll ask them," he said, finally. "I don't think Grondir will mind. He's pretty easy going sometimes." He realized, too late, that he was agreeing to let her use his strongest pokémon and leaving himself with the weaker, but in the end it didn't matter. They'd both need some training.

[Living Arrow]

"In any case, a think you guys should do some more training before you go to the gym, so how about battling me? I know I only have three Pokemon, but I should be able to give you a little more experience before you go in. Hey, maybe I'll even win!" Darryn didn't really believe that bit. Well, not unless Eevee got lucky. The other two certainly wouldn't be winning anything anytime soon.

He watched with utter distaste as a Pokéking employee began sticking up a poster for their new fish side to the menu. A new mascot had been appointed accordingly - a Seaking with green robes and an odd little crown.

"Maybe we can even come up with a few strategies against rock types? Since we're underground, theres a whole bunch of rock and ground types over by the far side of the park where the city meets the edge of the crater. We could go out there and try our luck on some of the wild types there? At least we'll be able to see what you've got yourselves in for!"