Route 4

Route 4-Off the Path

"Yeah, I do think you would do well in contests." Sorence said with a big grin. He began to ponder about his future in contests. If I'm getting into contests, I have to come up with some creative moves. As I recall, Blitz used Ember encased in a Smog and shot it off like a spear. I could also use the poison tornado. He begun to remember those moves. The Poison-Tornado move was slow, but impressive and powerful. The Smog-Spear was fast, but didn't seem to pack a punch. Those are just the start. I have to come up with more if I want to be the best.

He watched as Jet was released. He smiled as Combee awoke, then freaked out when seeing the new Pokemon. Blitz and Jet laughed at the frightened Combee. Both Jet and Blitz chased Combee around, in a playful manner, around the fire. Combee just thought he was being chased, so he tried to flee from them, failing to do so around every turn he made. Soon, the Pokemon had their share of fun and Jet was called back to Derek.

"Yeah," Sorence said with a deep yawn, "we should go to sleep too. Come on you two." He said, making a sweeping motion with his arms so they would come. Blitz fell down onto the ground next to Sorence as Combee lazyly floated down into his lap. He had no sleeping bag, but the back of the tree would be good enough. Both of his Pokemon yawned with very high voices. "Night." Sorence then drifted into into a blissful sleep.

Tyler looked around, wondering where he was for a moment. The morning sun blared in his face. He got up, and took a look around, before it had hit him. He had fallen asleep uder a tree the night before. He had seen a building, off in the distance, but had decided not to approach it, and thus, woke up with a slightly sore back.

Torchic looked at him with a small chirp. He had apparently been up for an hour or two, and had barely left Tyler's side. He got up, preforming a few kata's to regain energy, Flare attempted to mimic him as best as he could. When he felt revitalized enough, he stretched his legs, and began walking, coming up too the buildin.

'Aunt Sally's rest stop..." He said...

...


...

DANG IT! Tyler kicked a nearby rock, cursing himself for his stupidity. His stomach groweled, hungry, and a similar vibe came from Flare. Nit knowing weher to knock or barge in, and he politly knocked on the door. "Ummm... excuse me? You wouldn't happen to have breakfeat, would you?" Tyler said, clutching his poor stomach.

Route 4-Off the Path

The sun was at it's highest, it's light shined brightly on the Daycare Center below. "Growlithe, go long!" A seven year old calls out, holding a ball. As soon as the pokemon is in position, he places the ball on the ground and kicks it away. The Growlithe tries to headbutt it back to him, but the ball instead pulls to the left, bouncing into a shed. "Good try. You wait here, I'll go get it." With that the boy ran over to the shack, slipping inside. "Now where is it? Ah!" The boy says, seeing the round toy in the corner. He went to pick it up. Just as his fingers were about to touch it, he was quickly hauled into the air. He found himself suspended in mid-air, encased in a sticky silk-like thread. Then he heard it, the sound of crawling. Shaking, the boy looks to his right, seeing two purple eyes staring back at him. He was about to scream for help when a String-Shot quickly muzzled him. The Ariados climbed out of the shadows, its fangs clicking together, as if congratulating itself. Unable to move or scream, the boy could only watch in horror as the spider crept closer and closer, until...

"Gyaaaah!" Derek screamed out as he shot up, waking from his sleep. The sun was up, almost in the same position as in his dream. The morning rays felt good on his skin, counter-acting the cold sweat he was bathed in. His sream had woken Jet, who was now looking up at him. "Morning." He said, but as he reached out to pet him he felt the sting of a long forgotten pain. Reflexively, he clutches his right arm. Jet's face instantly becomes that of worry. Seeing this Derek, quicky tries to waves it away. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing." He says spinning the arm around a few times for show. His scar, something looking like two large holes parallel to each other, twang in pain once more. Nothing but a bad memory But this time he didn't show it, barely. Jet didn't belive him, but if he said he was fine, he wouldn't push into it. Flapping his wing he hopped onto Dereks' left shoulder. Sighing as he stretched, he looked over at Sor. He and his Pokemon were, luckily, not woken by his yelling, so he let them sleep. He crawled over to the fire, were all but a spark had gone out. Putting some fresh sticks inside and fanning it with his jacket, he got the fire going again. "Hey Jet, go and see if there are any herbs nearby. If there are, bring me back a few, okay?" Nodding, the bird flew off, happy to help. As he did this, Derek walked over to his bag, pulling out a small frying pan, a box of instant pancakes, and a bottle of water. Using some rocks as a stand, he got the pan just over the fire. He poured some of the mix in, stirring in some water.

Soon Jet came fluttering back, with a talon-full of herbs and berries. "Good work buddy." He said taking them and crushing some of them into the fluffy substance on the pan. He hear some rustling coming from behind him and smiling. "You guys up yet? Breakfeast is just finishing up Sor." He went back to he backpack and pulled out a can of PokeFood and some plates. He shaked out three even plates for the pokemon and put them to the side. "This is my Dad's own special recipe, hope you like it." Jet hopped over and began to peck at his plate, loving the taste. He lifted the pancake out of the pan and put it on the plate for Sorence. "Sorry, I forgot to bring the syrup. Maybe you could use some of Combee's Honey instead." With that he began to start making his own pancake, the pans small size only allowing one to be cooked at a time.

Route 4 Off The Path

Combee was the first to awake from the trio. His eyes slowly fluttered open and close, sleepiness blurring out his vision. His wings lazily started to flutter over towards the food, unaware anyone was even there. His body leaned in, the bottom face picked up one pellet. His eyes widened, glittering from the exquisite taste of the food. A smile spread across his face and he plunged all three of his faces into the food, finishing it off within seconds. He was completely oblivious to Derek and Jet while eating, but as he floated up, now wide awake, he saw the two. Combee wasn't completely surprised of the two, but the awkwardness between the three could easily be felt. It saw the pancakes Derek was holding. He slowly floated over to them, wings flapping against each other. His body began to secrete honey onto the pancakes, glistening against their soft brown texture. Combee then went over to the remaining two Pokémon foods, eyes still stuck on Derek and Jet. He dropped his honey on the Pokémon food too.

Sorence was the next to wake up; eyes shooting open from the smell of the pancakes. He inhaled deeply and a smile creped across his face. "Mmmmmmmmm. That smells great. When did you make those?" He asked, licking his lips. Blitz awoke from the sound of his lips smacking, nudging Sorence's stomach. Sorence gave Blitz an apologetic look and said, "Sorry Blitz didn't know you were asleep. How about breakfast." He picked Blitz up and placed him in front of the Pokémon food. With an annoyed look, Blitz shoved a piece of food into his mouth. All of a sudden, his arms relaxed, body shaking from delight. He gave a delighted cry and began to shove as much of the food as he could into his mouth. Combee began to slowly float over, shifty look in his eyes, trying to stick his mouth into the bowl to eat the food. Blitz shoved Combee out of the way with one arm, stuffing his face with the other.

Sorence laughed at his Pokémon’s antics. He took a bite of the pancakes and exclaimed, "Oh... My... God... THIS IS DELICIOUS! The pancakes are soft, yet firm, and they smell great! What syrup did you use?" He asked as he gobbled down his plate. After finishing his sixth pancake, he looked over to Derek. "You're a great cook. Where did you learn to make that food, both Pokémon and human? The taste seems so sweet on both. The scent is just amazing." Combee's eyes widened when hearing words, "sweet...scent..." His wings began to flap at a rapid rate and a crystal like powder came from them. Combee began to let off an aroma that attracted both Blitz and Jet towards him. Sorence shot a look of concern towards the Pokémon. "Hey, what's happening to our Pokémon?"

Route 4

Sleeping soundly as the sun rose with the new day, Alice and Dante both stuck close under the warm sheet. They managed to tough out there first night out without any problems.

Suddenly Alice felt a tap on her head, causing her to squirm in her sleep. She sat up and rubbed her eyes still sleepy; she opened them to find two beady eyes staring down at her curiously.
“Gah!” Was the only sound she made before she jumped away from the large yellow head that seemed to follow her motions.

A Level 5 Bellsprout Appeared!

During the commotion, Dante was rudely awakened from his sleep “Char…” Dante noticed the lanky Pokémon and it staring down his trainer. “Char!” Dante growled at the intruder and attacked with Scratch, mistaking it’s curiosity as endangering his trainer.

The Bellsprout stumbled back from the attack, not expecting it in the least bit “Bell…” It shook out of its shock and backed away slightly realizing what kind of situation it was now. It readied it’s vines to defend itself it needed. They cracked, trying to intimidate the chimp.

Alice, noticing she was still on the ground, stood up to better instruct her Pokémon to fight, “Alright, Dante use Scratch again but be careful of its vines!” In the mean time she whipped out her Pokédex to take down the information on the new Pokémon.

Dante happily complied with the request and headed in for another attack. But the Bellsprout countered by slamming its vines into Dante’s head, pushing the small Pokémon out towards its trainer. Bellsprout danced happily, its large yellow head leaning to the side on its lanky body. “Bellsprout bellsprout~” It chanted in an innocent manner.

“Dante, you alright? I told you to watch out.” Alice wa obviously worried and wasn’t up for another visit to the center so soon.

Still determined Dante rose back on his feet, the impact didn’t do much damage but it was the surprise attack that sent him flying off his feet “Char!” He wasn’t happy about the Bellsprout’s gloating in the least bit, which made him want to beat down the plant even more.

“Alright, lower its defense with Leer! Then follow up with Scratch!” Dante, already glaring at the Pokémon, sent another harsh glare in the sprout’s direction. Bellsprout froze in its dance, caught in Dante’s leer, leaving itself open for an attack.

Dante rushed in and clawed at it fiercely, sending it back a few feet and tumbling over, earning a haughty laugh from Dante “Chimchar, chim!” The Bellsprout wasn’t happy about it though “Sprout…” It launched its vines in an attempt for a Vine Whip

“Alright, let’s try and move this along. Use scratch again!” Alice instructed, striking the air with her fist suddenly. But she hadn’t noticed the incoming Vine Whip to instruct Dante to dodge; he had already started to charge for the Pokémon.

Luckily he dodged the attack and landed a successful hit on Bellsprout but was then sent flying forward from the vine whip returning back. Bellsprout hit Dante away again and started to run with a obvious limp, not having fun with this fight anymore.

Alice clenched her fist and stomped the ground unhappily, “No way, it ran!” She sighed, figuring that’d be the end of the battle but Dante wasn’t having it and ran after the runaway. He wanted to see this fight to the end and had the need to see the Bellsprout laid out on the ground defeated.

Slowly, but surely, closing in on the limping Bellsprout, Alice decided to try for another attack “Alright Dante, catch Bellsprout and use Scratch!” Dante was ready to use a great amount of energy into this strike, not going to let this go easily.

Bellsprout was easily caught up to, being overpowered with his finish blow. The Pokémon wobbled from side to side, a dance if you saw it incorrectly, and slowly boogied down to the ground, fainting.

Dante gained exp!
Dante grew a level!

Dante threw his head lightly in the Bellsprout’s direction with an angry huff. Alice approached her companion and scooped him up in her arms happily; he crawled up to his usual spot on her shoulder
“Good job Dante, you did really well. We’re lucky it didn’t know any poisonous moves.” She scratched his head lovingly; his sour expression turning into one of content “Char!”

Alice looked back to their campsite which they had wandered from pretty far. “Well let’s go pack up and we’ll keep moving. I recalled the ferry isn’t too far ahead.” The pair headed back to their camp and packed up to return to their journey.

Route 4 - Across the Water

"Oh, thank you!" Claire said, putting back her wallet and re-shouldering her backpack. It wasn't too long until they got across the rest of the water and safely docked on the other side; Charmander hadn't made a sound since they had took off, curled up on her lap and looking a little sea sick.

"I will, sir," she said, "thank you for the advice and the ride. Have a good day!"

The sun was just rising over the horizon as Claire stood up, picking Charmander up in her arms and getting off of the boat. It was still dark and she could barely see the scenery, let alone distinguish tall grass from regular grass, so as soon as she got off of the docking area and onto the dusty earth she sat down and dug through her bag for any possible food.

"I didn't pack much of anything, did I, Charlie?" She murmured. She had a package of Ramen Noodles, a bottle of water and a thermos for keeping things warm. With a wicked grin, she set to work, pouring the water bottle into the thermos and breaking the Ramen Noodles up until they would fit into the mouth of the thermos. Charlie was sitting on the ground, watching her, an uneasy expression on the Pokemon's face.

She put the lid on loosely, before holding the now-filled thermos over Charlie's tail to warm it up.

"You think your tail is hot enough it'll cook my noodles, Charlie?" She asked, a smile on her face. She still had a bottle and a half of water, and two other packages of Ramen - it was more than enough sustenance for the coming day. As long as she could make it to the next town and pick up some more, Ramen and water would be all she needed. Heck, if she would have thought of it, she'd have brought marshmallows to roast!

As if sensing her thoughts, Charlie grumbled to himself, giving Claire a wary glance.

"I'll share my noodles with you, Charlie. Don't worry," she promised.

---

As Daphne meandered her way down Route 4, she was suddenly ambushed by a wild Spearow!

A level 5 Spearow appeared!

"Mm?"Daphne could have sworn she heard a muted sound, like the flutter of wings. Seconds later, she ducked on instinct as the sound repeated itself, much clearer and behind her. Her eyes locked onto a small bird pokemon- a Spearow, by the looks of it. It's talons had missed her by a hairsbreadth, and she sighed. It probably wasn't going to just leave her be, was it? Behaviorally speaking, this was one of the most fearsome little pokemon around. Apparently Spearow had claimed this area as its territory, and Daphne was officially trespassing. It looped back around and landed on the ground in front of her, its eyes glaring angrily at the human girl.


Reaching for her belt, Daphne detached the pokeball there and expanded it, tossing it into the middle of the space between herself and the angry bird. A flash of white light, and Tiberius appeared. Hmm... keen eye, probably. Smokescreen is useless. Low special defense though. The material from hundreds of books pored over both for school and her father's research filtered in, and she glanced at Tiberius. He's higher-level now, too...

"Bubble, but remember it's a flyer," she stated, and the little seahorse trilled, taking aim and firing a stream of bubbles right for the Spearow, ready to adjust his aim to compensate for the direction of flight the bird would choose.

The angry little bird decided to rush Tiberius head on, too aggresive to do much in the strategy department. Taking a heavy hit from Bubble, it was already nearly fainted as it managed a Peck attack on Tiberius. Fluttering miserably away, it flapped with heavy wings, already severely weakened from the Bubble and going al-out with its Peck attack. Tiberius's training had very obviously paid off, as the Pokemon was forced to land in an attempt to recover its energy. Already lacking in the defense department, now that Spearow had been weakened and could no longer substitute defense with powerful offense it was a sitting duck... or sparrow...

Daphne almost winced when the Bubble hit directly; it seemed that the Spearow hadn't even tried much to avoid then. Tiberius got pecked, but shrugged off the damage as negligible. She actually wasn't sure what to do here. She was kind of hoping that the stubborn little bird would just fly off, but it seemed that this was not the case, and Daphne sighed. "Hm... Bubble again," she decided, almost asking her pokemon to be gentle with it. But she didn't really want to draw this out longer than necessary, and so her actual directive was much simpler.

By now, Tiberius was getting the hang of how to aim at what on his own, anyway, smart little thing that he was (as far as she was concerned), and so she needn't speak too much. Another jet of bubbles followed, this one aimed squarely at the bird on the ground.

And with that the little bird stumbled backwards and fell over defeated with a final soft, "Speee".

Daphne defeated the wild Spearow!

Tiberius gained EXP!

Daphne blinked, making contact with Tiberius. The horsea mirrored the gesture with his red oculars, and she nodded. “Right… can’t just leave it out there in the open. Don’t want an ekans to come by when all it was doing was trying to fight us off…” Crouching near the unconscious bird, she carefully gathered it up and looked around. There was a tree right there that should do nicely. Adjusting her hold so the spearow was slung in the crook of one arm, she told Tiberius to keep watch and ascended the nearest tree- a hawthorn, she noted with a touch of ironic humor, and found a nice spot on one of the branches where the spearow would fit just fine.

“There you go,” she informed the unhearing bird, placing it carefully in the tree and descending much faster, dropping to the ground with a light thud.

“Well, guess I’ll see what else I can see, hm?” Recalling Tiberius, she ventured deeper into the grass, in a place where the tree cover was enough to obscure the early-morning sun, humming as she went. The weather was nice today, it seemed, and she was in a rather good mood at the moment, all things considered. The air was fresh along the route, the trees tall and strong, and the river ran close enough for her to hear it trickle. It was just about the perfect place to take a nap, actually. Maybe she would, later. For now, she settled down at the trunk of an oak and stilled, looking around at her surroundings and trying to decide what she was going to do next.

Route 4

Derek laughed as he watched both Pokemon and trainer devoured their servings. "Thanks for the compliment. And that's Combees' honey, not syrup." He anwsered, pointing his fork at the bee, who was still trying to steal some of Blitz's food. After placing the last pancake on his plate, and blowing out the fire, he started to eat his own. Each blissful bit was eaten quickly, but nowhere near as fast as Sor. When he was halfway through number four, Sorence had already finished. "Well, the Pokemon food was my Dad's recipe. He was constantly making new ones for the Daycare Pokemon." He began, slowing down as he explained. "The pancakes were the result of an experiment I did when doing a delivery." As he polished off his final cake, he noted how sweet the air had become. With a quick look around, he put the pieces together. Uh oh He thought as his eyes widened with realization. "Combee's using Sweet Scent! Tell him to stop before-" Too late. With a soft 'PLOP' a Joltik dropped down from above, centered right between all three Pokemon.

A Level 5 Joltik appeared

"Let me get this one, 'kay?" Derek asked. "Jet! Tackle it, quickly." Not even waiting for an answer, he ordered his partner into an attack. Jet, who was a still a little dazed from Combee's move, charged towards the wild Pokemon. It dizzyness only allowed him to clip the enemy with his wing, but it got the desired effect. The Joltik was pushed away from Combee, and the small shock Jet received from the contact refocused the tiny bird.

Angered, the small bug quickly spun around and fired off a String Shot. "Dodge, then take to the sky." Hopping out of the threads' path, Jet fluttered up, out of range from most of the Joltik's attacks. All but one. Looking up at the bird, it coat and eyes started to flicker with electricty. A few seconds later, it shot a Thunder Wave upward. The speed of the attack and the suprise to both trainer and Pokemon allowed the attack to hit dead-on. "PIIDDGG!"

The attack, even though it was not normally a damaging move, shocked the bird right out of the sky. Grounded, Jet tried to charge into another Tackle, only to find he couldn't move. The wave had caused instant-paralysis, and was stopping the Pidgy dead in it tracks.

The Joltik thought it had it won, but still covered Jet in a Spider Web, just to be safe. "Darn, what do I do?" Derek was worried, if he didn't do something quick, he would lose. He scanned the nearby area for anything useful, soon find the item that could save them both. A Cheri Berry, one of the berries that Jet had brought earlier, was within reach. "Jet!" He called as he bent down and rolled it over to him. "Eat the berry!"

"Pidg Pi? PI!" Jet question him at first, but seeing his situation, decided anything was welcome. Putting everything into it, he lunged forward, picking the berry up between his beak. As he started eating it the Joltik jumped on top of him, it's small fangs glowing as it bit into him. "Pidgey!" He cried out in pain. He felt himself getting weaker as his energy was sucked out by the Leech Life attack. Then the berry kicked in, curing Jet of his paralysis.

"Quickly now! Toss it off and hit 'em with a Tackle." Derek told him, and Jet was happy to oblige. He flapped once, pushing himself upward and the Joltik off. Then, using the new space, sped into a Tackle attack. The suprised attack, catching the wild Pokemon off-guard, blindsided the Joltik, hitting it square it the chest. The force was enough to send the bug into
a tree.

Ignoring the pain, it forced itself to stand back up. Jet, now free from the web, hovered in the air just above ground level. Aimming more carefully now, the Joltik fired off another round of String Shot, this time catching Jet's wing. The sticky thread began to slow down and unbalance him. "Don't fight it, use it!" Derek coached, "Spin into a Tackle attack." Using the tilt to his advantage, Jet started spinning, charging straight at the wild Pokemon. This unexpected move hit the Bug type so hard it went flying into some nearby bushes, and it didn't come back out.

Derek defeated the wild Joltik!

Jet gained EXP!

"Alright! Victory Number 2!" He celebrated, holding two fingers up for dramatic effect. Jet bounced over to him, happy that he had won once more. "Now, to get that stuff off your wing." He said bending down and cleaning out his friends feathers. After clearing it all off, he packed up his supplies, put his jacket back on, and lifted his backpack over his shoulder again. "Well, we should get a move on if we want to catch the next ferry." He said, Jet hopping onto him again. With that he countined to lead the group on the path leading to the port.

Route 4

"Yeah, we should go." Sorence said, picking up his duffle bag. He took his two Pokeballs from his belt, pushed their buttons at the same time. His two Pokemon returned with a flash of red light engulfing their bodies. He pushed the trademark button, shrinking the Pokeball, and returned them to his belt. He sighed. He did want that Weedle, but without a Pokeball on hand, he couldn't catch it. That Weedle would have been a great addition to my team, but I'm doing contests. Six Pokemon will be hard enough to train as it is. I can't even use Combee in contests due to his limited move set. Maybe I should ask Derek about this.

Sorence looked down at the fainted Weedle right as he was about to go off. He felt sad for the Pokemon seeing how he didn't even mean to battle or defeat it. He reached into his bag and took out a blue Oran berry. He left it in front of the Weedle, now lifting that burden off his conscious. Now I don't feel all that bad for beating that poor Pokemon down. He looked up, seeing Derek was already setting off. "Wait for me!" Sorence yelled as he began to sprint after his companion.

After catching up, Sorence said to him with an exhausted smile on his face, "Can't wait to get moving huh?" He began to roll his shoulders, trying to loosen them up after sleeping on the trunk of a tree. "You did great with your fight. I'm surprised you didn't jump at that Joltik like you didn't with those Spinarak. I am impressed how you beat it though. You definitely don't want to give up do you?" He said with a happy smile, now breath under his control. "My question is are you going to catch a lot of Pokemon or limit yourself? I really don't know what I should do. Training for contests really would be hard with a lot of Pokemon, but with a lot, I could do so much more. Oh there I go rambling again." He said with an awkward smile.

"Oh there is the port!" Sorence exclaimed, running off ahead and pointing towards it. It was only about 25 minutes or so away from where they were camping. He was really excited. He never went out of Adinitium City, so life on the road was different for him. He ran up towards the deck and asked a man for a ticket for two on the boat.

Route 4 - Passed Old Sally's

“Do you need something?”

"Not really," Dom said, moseying on beside her. "It'd just look like you knew where you were going, and I would hate to get lost by myself," He said, awkwardly scratching his chin. Leafy cooed behind him in agreement. From his backpack, The Chikorita returned the Spinarak's in the form of a hesitant leaf wave. It was a bug pokemon, and the fact that she was still shy made he awkward as well. But it was her idea of following this girl, Leafy wasn't going to completely hole off into Dom's backpack.

"Besides," Dom continued, "After what we went through last night, a bit of company couldn't hurt. Like hell am I going to give another goon like that the satisfaction," He said, irritation readily apparent in his voice. He shrugged and with that, what irritation was gone, and was replaced by Dom's happy-go-lucky spirit. It was a new day, and a new adventure. What would be the point of being pissed off the entire day. It just wouldn't be seemly. With a smile returning to his lips he took the first couple of steps ahead of Raine.

"Since we are going the same way, I was thinking we could travel together until the next town," Dom could hear Leafy from his backpack sigh. That meant she would have to be around others aside from Dom and his companions. That made her comfortable. Dom knew all of this and saw it as an opportunity to try and coax Leafy out of her shy shell. She couldn't go through the entire adventure wrapped around his legs or in his arms. "It's a lot better than me stalking you from a couple of yards behind, yeah?" He said. The fact was they were going to be heading in the same direction, it'd be awkward for Dom to follow the girl from a couple of yards behind.

"Don't worry, I won't chat your ear off," he added. He'd probably end up spending most of the trip drawing the landscape or Raine's Pokemon. He found the Mareep she had with her extremely interesting and wished for a chance to draw it. Of course, he'd wait before asking permission. One can only be so strange at one time.

"So how about it?" He asked, thumbs jammed into his pockets. Leafy peered over the lip of his pack and awaited the answer likewise.

---

Not noticing the girl sitting silently at the base of the tree, a little Pokémon made its way from the nearby brush, sitting almost literally directly next to Daphne.

A level 6 Bulbasaur appeared!

Daphne had let her eyes drift shut slightly, and so when she opened them again and saw a Bulbasaur sitting there, she was suitably surprised. Rather than freaking out or yelling and startling the poor thing, she was for a moment unsure what to do. It seemed to be minding its own business, but then she really didn't want to be by herself when it discovered her presence. Surreptitiously as possible, she released Tiberius and motioned for silence, looking over at the grass pokemon.

It would be a tough battle if it came to it, given the types involved, but Daphne was pretty sure their training had paid off enough to make it doable. Slowly rising to her feet, she tried to be as nonthreatening as possible. "Hello, Bulbasaur," she muttered, hoping to alert the creature to their presence.

Unfortunately, Bulbasaur was indeed startled by Daphne's voice, and jumped backwards into a battle position. Seeing Tiberius, the Pokémon charged ahead for a full body Tackle, coming in quickly towards the Horsea.

Backpedaling to place distance between herself and her much more battle-ready pokemon, Daphne directed Tiberius to use smokescreen and try and throw off the Bulbasaur's accuracy. Chances were, they weren't going to be able to do much damage here, but a little misdirection would buy them time. A cloud of fog doused the immediate area of the battle, and Daphne found herself standing against another tree, waiting to see what the Bulbasaur would do.

The Bulbasaur's somewhat instinctual attack was not well aimed or thought out to begin with, and Smokescreen's effect made his Tackle miss entirely. The Pokémon had charged blindly through the Smokescreen, but once it turned around it realized the futility of another rage-induced charge at the speedy little seahorse. Instead it looked carefully for the seahorse through the Smokescreen, watching patiently and forsaking an attack to in order to try to determine the location of the Horsea.

Daphne peered through the haze with a squint. It looked like the Bulbasaur was waiting patiently now, a tactic she could appreciate. Of course, if she didn't attack, the battle would never go anywhere, but maybe a distraction of another kind was also in order. Searching around on the forest floor, she found a palm-sized stone and lobbed it towards some bushes, producing a rustling sound. "Bubble, and quickly," she told Tiberius, and the little pokemon exhaled a torrent of bubbles, moving positions immediately afterward, both hoping that Bulbasaur would have been sufficiently distracted by the extra noise. Bubble wasn't going to be very effective, but it was the only attack move they had.

Bulbasaur maintained its focus as it rushed Horsea after seeing the direction the Bubble came from. It took the Bubble fairly easily due to it being not very effective, but Tiberius's superior power made it hurt a lot more than it should have. Bulbasaur managed to get of its Tackle attack on the sea horse, pushing him backwards and out of the Smokescreen. Bulbasaur stood its ground in front of the cloud, trying to guard it from reentering the smoke and forcing it to have to generate another.

Daphne chewed her lip as she assessed the situation. It would seem that this Bulbasaur didn't yet have any of its grass-type moves, so that meant all Tiberius would have to do was endure enough Tackles to slowly wear away at the other pokemon's HP. The Smokescreen tactic didn't seem to be working so well, and Leer wasn't going to help since Bubble wasn't a physical attack. She was going to have to consider taking Tiberius to the move tutor in town for situations like this. For now though...

"Bubble again, and try to get back into that Smokescreen, Tib." He complied without hesitation, shooting a stream of spheres and trying to simultaneously skirt Bulbasaur and disappear back into the cloud.

The Bulbasaur was proud, and stood firm against the Bubble when it should have tried to dodge. It took Tiberius's attack hard, but managed to use Tackle against him as he moved toward the cloud, pushing him away. However, it was clear that despite his type advantage, Bulbasaur's energy was beginning to wane. It crouched, breathing heavily in front of the cloud of smoke, struggling impressively, but mostly in vain, to keep in the battle.

Daphne had to admire that kind of persistence. It wasn't really a trait she had, and she refrained from directing Tiberius to attack again. Instead, she reached for one of the spare pokeballs at her waist. She could do with a little more help, and though grass-types weren't her favorite, there was something formidable about this little one that would not be dismissed. "Looks like it's my turn to do some of the work," she mumbled in what might have been a resigned sort of way. With a precise flick of her wrist, the pokeball was sent flying for the Bulbasaur, making contact with the tired creature's forehead.

The Pokéball flashed open and the Bulbasaur was sucked inside. The ball shook violently as the creature attempted to escape, wanting desperately to win the battle... the settled as the Pokémon resigned itself to its fate!

Daphne caught the wild Bulbasaur!



Level 6 Bulbasaur
Gender: Male
Nature: Rash
Ability: Overgrow
Moves: Tackle, Growl
Held Item: Oran Berry

Grasping the now-occupied pokeball in a hand, Daphne smiled down at Tiberius. "Guess we're not alone, now," she pointed out, and her pokemon trilled, apparently pleased with the development. "Well, come on then; I suppose we ought to get Atlas to the Center, and you also..."

A good distance away from Old Sally's

Beep!

A sound came from his wrist as his X-transceiver was acting up. Dom pulled his wrist up to his face as Raine was talking. "Yeah, yeah... Get moving... Strange Pokemon... Good stuff, update complete?" Dom asked as he tapped the device. He was moving ahead, barely aware of Raine. He wondered if her device said the same thing. As he walked the Transceiver pulled up a map of the area There was a lake in the way in which they were moving. Looks like they were going to have to take another ferry. All of these ferries were going to nickle and dime him! Good thing the kindly old man gave him some scratch for running off the sketchy fellow... Well, assisting in running him off.

As he played around on his X-transceiver, Leafy poked her head out of his bag and looked over his shoulder at his fiddling. "Apperently, the bloody thing updated itself. Some technology. Either way, it looks like we're going in the right direction." He said, followed by a couple more beeps he managed to find the name of the Lake. "Lake Arcan huh? Sounds like there's a settlement too. Hmm. Not that far away either. Looks like we got our heading," Dom said, letting his wrist fall down to his side. Leafy hopped out of his pack and began to inspect the Mareep. Luce.

The Pokemon was shy, just like her. The Chikorita started sniffing around the Pokemon hesitantly, hoping she didn't make herself seem too awkward. Interacting with other Pokemon besides her comrades was hard for her, but she would try. She couldn't be trapped in her shell forever.

Dom found Leafy's timid display cute and chuckled softly. "Let's see what this town holds in store for us. I bet it's a beautiful place, a town on a lakeshore. I really want to draw it... Maybe if we fool around long enough, I can manage to see the sunset on the lack..." Dom said, talking outloud as he walked. He was excited for the chance to see such a place like that. A town on the edge of the water... What's not to love.

Far Past Old Sally’s

Beep!

A curious noise caught Raine’s ears, and she quickly glanced at her X-transceiver. “Update complete?” she echoed. Looking over at Dom, it seemed the one on his wrist had performed a similar action. “Yeah, it sounds like we’re heading to Lake Arcan then,” she said. She remembered hearing some rumors about the place before. “Something about some wealthy people living by the north shore,” she murmured.

Well perhaps she could make some money there, since she certainly needed it if she wanted to get across another ferry. “Hurry up, Luce,” she sighed, glancing back at her pokémon. To her surprise, he was awkwardly trying to be friendly with Dom’s chikorita. Obviously, it wasn’t very easy for him – Raine wasn’t surprised seeing as he was intimidated by Silas and wary of Arden, his own comrades.

However, as the mareep bleated in an attempt at greeting, Raine chuckled. She found his antics a little too adorable. Glancing at her X-transceiver again, she said, “It looks like the lake isn’t too far now. We’ll get there long before night fall.” Picking up her pace a little, she looked up at the sky to see clouds in the distance… come to think of it, she never did try to see how accurate a treecko’s weather predictions are. She noted to herself to ask Silas a little later. It would probably be beneficial to know what the weather would be like while they travelled.

“I wonder what the town’s like,” she mused out loud. She had never been outside of Adinitium City before, so Raine had never visited a lakeside settlement. Although she didn’t show it, she was rather excited about what she would see.