Fandom Pokémon Redwood (Reboot)

[Vorpal Chandelier]

Tiffany, Tobi, Chad, and Aengus eagerly swapped numbers with Yvonne, as well as each other and the other trainer's present if allowed, where as Spike did so more nonchalantly, choosing to be content with just Yvonne's and for some reason, Moonlight's. Doug, overhearing Aengus reading Yvonne's number allowed as he entered it was content just to message her a simple "Hey." And give her a subtle nod when she looked up to see who had messaged her.

Elmer, elected not to take Yvonne's number after Emily went out of her way to turn her back on the girl, addressing Billie to ask for her number once she had finished up with Yvonne herself.

The list of numbers collected by each Trainer completed as follows:

Yvonne: Moonlight, Avery, Spike, Aengus, Chad, Tiffany, Doug, and Tobi

Avery: Yvonne, Moonlight, Aengus, Chad, Tiffany, Elmer, and Tobi

Moonlight: Luther, Yvonne, Avery, Tiffany, Chad, Spike, Elmer, and Tobi

Tobi: Yvonne, Avery, Moonlight, Aengus, Tiffany, Chad, and Emily

Elmer: Avery, Moonlight, and Chad

Tiffany: Yvonne, Avery, Moonlight, Tobi, and Chad

Chad: Yvonne, Avery, Moonlight, Tobi, Elmer, and Tiffany

Emily: Elmer, Spike, Moonlight, and Tobi ( Plus Chad and Avery Copied from Elmer without sharing her number with them, and Yvonne's entered quietly from Aengus' read aloud)

Billie/Spike: Yvonne, Moonlight, and Emily

Aengus: Yvonne, Avery, and Tobi.

Doug: Yvonne.

Other than swapping numbers, and issuing various nicknames privately with the professor, a bit of light socialization began between the young trainers. Elmer, as usual content with his attempts to charm Emily, and both Doug and Spike content to hang back quietly and wait.

 

[FlumpPod]

Yvonne returned Doug's nod with a smile and saved his number. After they had all swapped numbers she let the trainers who chose eggs know that she would be stopping to get the starting money from her parents before buying pokéballs and helping them go catch a wild pokémon.

"But you're all welcome to come meet them if you'd like. Dad looks scary, but I promise he's nice."

Yvonne chatted with the various groups and got her turn to nickname her new partner. She'd debated many puntastic names like Kitsfeune or Flamm-ami, but she decided on Feuvet because it was easiest to say and the cutest, combining the words for fire and fluff from her native tongue. After that she resumed chatting and waiting with the other trainers, trying to bring Spike and Doug a little more into the group.

 

[Vorpal Chandelier]

Emily had to catch herself to avoid visibly rolling her eyes or scoffing again, which was so hard to do when Yvonne was so… charming. “Well, Yvonne, so nice of you to offer but some of us came a little better prepared, or find ourselves more content with the professor's funding, so I’ll have to decline. Ciao. Moonlight, you're welcome to join me, obviously, and you too Spike, if you'd like.” Billie shook her head in response. "Nah, I think I'll see how this one lives." She said, nodding toward Yvonne. Emily stifled her frustration as she prepared to walk out the door.

 

[Amiulord]

When I heard my name I looked over at Emily.

"Uh.. can Tiff come too?" I asked

"Ew, no I'm not traveling with her. I can't stand her, but Avery can come I guess." Emily said with an attitude.

Emily walks out of the room with Elmer following quickly after as usual.

Avery sighs, like a kinda reluctant but sad defeat, and looks down for a moment, then looks at me nodding toward Elmer. Then he says, "Just watch his back for me okay?" He sounds almost as laid back as usual but seems like he might kinda be worried a little to me.

"You didn't say if Chad could come or not!" I yell after her. I looked a little confused about Avery's request since I only had an egg anyway, but I nodded to him.

"It's cool, I wasn't going with them anyway," Chad said with a shrug. I frown and look at the door and then at Tiff.

She smiles at me awkwardly. I hug her "I'm going to go and say my goodbye to Woobie, bye guys." She hugs me back.

"Not going to stay for the battle?" She asked.

"No, not I guess not," I respond.

"Well alright then, see you later Feraligator!" She said smiling. I laughed and shot back: "After a while totodile!"

Spike looks at her pokéball and makes a difficult to describe face, possibly displeased with our choice of goodbyes. I walk out and catch up with Emily.

"Hey, Emily can I go and say goodbye to Woobie first?" For some reason, Emily was walking down the wrong hallway. Maybe she was lost.

"Uhh... yeah whatever, just hurry up and meet us back outside the lab. I'm outta here once I get a psyduck." She said.

"Oh, OK. Be back!" I walk off to go to my house. First I walk over to the backyard to see the lotad I have been playing with through the neighbor's fence.

I decided to leave my yard and go knock on the door to her house. The old lady, who lived there, answered and smiled at me. She was always pretty nice to me and Luther.

"Are you here to play with Floater again young lady?" She asked.

"Uh.. yes and no, I wanted to show him my egg before I leave," I said proudly.

"Oh, you got an egg? How did you manage to do that?" She asked, both curious and surprised.

"The professor gave it to me as an option instead of a starter pokémon." I responded, walking in as she gestured for me to enter.

"Weird, I wasn't aware that was something they did Would you like a cookie?" She asked.

"Yes please," I said. She gives me a cookie and I go out the back looking for Floater. He's chillin' in his pond, so I walk over to him. "Hey Floater!" He swims over to me.

I sit down and pet him showing him the egg. "Look, I got an egg." He just looks up at me and I pet him for like 5 mins, then I get up and say bye to them both.

I go home and go to the tree and sit down "Hey Woobie, guess what? I got a pokémon egg, and I will take care of him like I did you. He or she is going to get big and strong and I'll get more too. I'm going on my journey so I won't be back for a while. I love you and don't be lonely without me." I pat the stone a little, then I fix up the stone so it looks neat and tidy, and go back to meet Emily outside the Lab. I can see Emily currently engaging a big yellow bird pokémon in a battle with her new snivy. She looked so cool!

"Alright, one more tackle Coil, we got him right where we want him!" She shouts. Her snivy shoots forward, waddling quickly but cutely on it's two little leaf-feet as it slams its body into the spaced-out bird, then, she gets into a really awesome throwing position and hits him with a ball, right on the bill.

The pokémon gets sucked into the ball, rolls once, and clicks.

"Woah, great job, Em, you're a natural," Elmer Says.

"Yeah whatever Elmer, let's go. Oh, hey, Moonlight. You ready to go?" She responded, noticing me.

"That was AWESOME!" I said excitedly, walking up to her. "You're so cool!" I told her.

She smiled at me and said, "I know, let's go girl."

With that, we stop briefly at the pokémon center so Emily can heal her pokémon, then head south toward Hue Trail finally starting our pokémon adventure.

 

[Vorpal Chandelier]

​

Emily walked swiftly and confidently out of the room and began heading down the hallway. She knew where the exit was, but wanted to see what kind of security they had in the lab while the professor and the other "winners" were still expecting a battle. She noted a few security cameras on the wall and frowned.

Guess that settles that... She thought. Unless...

"Elmer sweetie? Does Charmander know smokescreen yet?" She asked curiously, turning around to smile at the oaf.

"Uhh... no, I think just scratch and growl. Oh, and I named him Elvis." Elmer responded. "Also you're going the wrong way, the exit is over here."

"Right, silly me." She muttered as she rolled her eyes, replacing the fake smile with her usual bitch face, and striding to the exit.

Guess I will have to settle for a psyduck. She thought, heading out of the building and toward a patch of grass nearest to one of the ponds in front of the lab.



Redwood decided to break the, brief, but no doubt awkward silence.

"Well, youth is tough isn't it? Anyway, I thought perhaps since there's three of you left with pokémon, you could do a three way battle. Might make things interesting, unless two of you gang up on the other that is." Redwood smiled at the young trainers and awaited a response.

"That seems a bit complicated for a first battle Prof, why don't we all team up and battle you? Using three other starters and not your standard team of course" Avery noted.

"Ah, right, of course. Sure, we can do it that way, let me see... three of you chose starters... no, five. So that leaves.... sixteen." Redwood proceeded to pull a handful of dice from, not his lab coat, but his vest pocket underneath, retrieving a set of strange dice.

"I'll just roll my twenty sided Dungeons and Dragonites dice to decide which ones. Numerical order, extra numbers are a re-roll." As he began this process, Tobias slipped quietly from the room.

​

Tobi could see Emily and Elmer headed for one of the many exits,and proceeded to follow. Not out of any interest of traveling or going with them, but primarily because he, himself, was ready to leave. He decided he would cut through the daycare and save a ton of time on his way to Tarton. He was used to the daycare scene from his many visits, and was well recognized by the regulars, and redwood's own pokémon, so for him it wasn't much of a problem. One of the daycare workers did a double take for a moment, and even stopped to ask Tobi how he got the egg, but after showing him his trainer credentials and explaining that the professor gave some out as a starter option, he was allowed to proceed on his way, and exited without difficulty to route 02. He could spend the time he didn't need to use traveling, figuring out what kind of pokémon the Tarton gym used, and then more time catching pokmon in the cave and forest near the city. Sure, he could use the extra time between cities hoping his egg hatched, but he figured he didn't need his egg hatched to handle his first gym.


"Or if you aren't comfortable battling us, what with your championship titles and all, you can always make an Aide do it." Avery suggested further, seeming quite nonchalant as the professor finished his rolls.

"No, it'll be a fair battle, and It's been a while since I've had a good romp. So, I rolled a two, an eight, and a three. In order, minus number two from the last roll's line up... looks like I'll be headed back to the starter room to fetch squirtle, Treecko, and Piplup. Go ahead and follow the aide out to the stage, and we'll get things going as soon as I get out there. Those of you with eggs, you can stay for the battle or you can be on your way, I don't mind either way. You can even stand back stage if you'd like instead of returning to the crowd."

"Oh, that sounds pretty neat!" Tiffany exclaimed.

"I think I'll sit out watching the battle and see about catching a pokémon." Chad said. Tiffany looked a little disappointed as he did so.

"I think I'll get going. I gotta get back to Seawaddle and hook up with my crew." Doug mentioned. "Unless one of you fine ladies needs me to stick around for protection." He added, causing a scoff and a chortle from Spike and Tiffany respectively.

"Aren't you a little old to be flexin' at us bro?" Spike added, seeming un-phased when he just shrugged.

Aengus simply nodded and smiled, as he had been looking forward to seeing the pokémon in action. He gazed at his egg wondering if, aside from a pokémon on your party, there were any good life hacks for hatching an egg early.

 

[FlumpPod]

"Oh, Monsieur Doug, I was hoping you would come along with us. But I understand if you have friends to get back to," Yvonne smiled at the older trainer.

"Sorry, moan cherrim, I got shit I need to do, though you're welcome to come along if you like," he replied cooly.

"Good riddance," Spike muttered.

"Oh, but isn't Seawaddle far away from here? Won't you need more than the egg at least?"

"Nah, I got a car."

"Merveilleux! Take good care of the little egg and keep in touch. Bon voyage!"

Doug saluted her as he left the room. The professor seemed lost in thought for a moment.

"Spike? Avery? Let's plan for the battle against Prof. Redwood," Yvonne called the other two into a huddle.

"Yeah, alright," Spike got closer to her. Avery yawned but also joined the girls.

⌛
They had moved to the stage and the professor addressed the crowd.

"Welcome everyone! Here with me are three of the newest trainers in Orbos. All three of them had top scores on the test for their trainer license and have agreed to a battle against me for their first match as trainers. It will be a triple battle with the three of them and their partners agains me with 3 randomly selected starters that were not picked by one of the new trainers. And without further ado we shall begin!" He turned to face the younger trainers and a fast, intense music track began to play. "Go Piplup! Treecko! Squirtle!" The named pokémon emerged from the balls he threw.

"In his debut match, Feuvet!"

"Show 'em what you got, Nail."

"Let's do this, Dennis."

The Fennekin, Totodile and Cyndaquil all took their place on the stage, Feuvet across from Piplup, Nail facing Treecko, and Dennis in front of Squirtle. The trainers all gave their first order and Treecko was first to act, landing a solid paw on Nail's chest. Feuvet took aim and blasted Treecko with small flames in retaliation. Dennis and Nail both growled at the other team causing them to shiver for a moment as they made their move, Piplup slapping Feuvet and Squirtle slamming into Dennis.

"Oh! Well-played. My team, again!"

"Feuvet, once more!"

"Nail, hit that Piplup."

"Dennis, use *yawn* scratch on Squirtle."

Treecko was still faster to act than the rest, hitting Nail a little less hard this time. Feuvet hit Treecko with more fire and knocked him out. The crowd cheered at the small win. Nail rammed into Piplup as Piplup slapped Feuvet again. Dennis swiped Squirtle with his claws but Squirtle was able to get past Dennis's guard driving the edge of his shell into the cyndaquil's side, sending him to the ground hard, a critical hit. The crowd paused but began to cheer again as Dennis got back up, hurt but still able to battle.

"One down, Feuvet use tail whip!"

"Keep it up, Nail."

"Use scratch again, Dennis."

"Squirtle tackle the Totodile, Piplup use pound on the Fennekin."

Dennis flung himself at Squirtle while Feuvet distracted Piplup with his tail allowing Nail to hit the Piplup harder, nearly taking it down. Piplup struck Feuvet's backside and Squirtle ran his shell into Nail's back.

"Feuvet, go help Dennis with Squirtle!"

"Take him down, Nail."

"Keep it up, Dennis."

"What promise in these new trainers, Piplup hit the Totodile, Squirtle back to the Cyndaquil!"

Dennis continued his offense against the Squirtle while Feuvet bounced away from Piplup to help. Nail crashed into Piplup sending them both a few feet away from the other three battlers and knocking Piplup out of the fight, eliciting another cheer from the crowd. Squirtle knocked into Dennis again but it wasn't a good hit.

"Feuvet, use tail whip again!"

"Go tackle that Squirtle, Nail."

"Scratch again, Dennis."

"Oh my, Squirtle tackle the Fennekin."

Feuvet darted around Squirtle while Dennis laid into him, Nail was tangled up with an unconcious Piplup and had a hard time getting up. Squirtle hit Feuvet after studying his movements, but he was nearly done after Dennis's onslaught.

"Team attack, Feuvet!"

"Go! Nail!"

"Almost there, scratch again."

"Squirtle, dodge out of the way!"

Feuvet pounced, but Squirtle jumped out of the way in time, but not far enough to get away from Dennis who finally took the victory. Nail came in charging, but slowed as Squirtle hit the floor. The crowd roared for the new trainers and the music changed to a short victory fanfare before going quiet. And once the crowd had quieted a bit the professor's aide, Brenda, Announced the oficial results.

"The team of Avery, Billie and Yvonne has won the match against Professor Redwood! Congratulations, trainers!"

"It's 'Spike,' lady," she quietly hissed to Brenda's back.

"And what a match, excellent use of the status effecting moves so many trainers ignore! Another round for them, folks," Professor Redwood, clapped and waited a bit for the audience to quiet again before speaking.

"Now then, we are ready to get the rest of those who passed the test a starter pokémon, and no need to worry we have enough for all of you thanks to the generosity of the other professors in other regions." His voice faded as Brenda ushered the three backstage where Aengus and Tiffany were waiting, Aengus was practically dancing with excitement from the match but he didn't interrupt their chaperone.

"We'll get your pokémon all healed up and let you out the side of the lab so you can avoid the rest of the crowd out front, but first if you could all check to make sure you got the reward from that battle," Brenda instructed as she booted up a machine that appeared able to take pokéballs. A quick check showed Yvonne's balance at $50, since she was getting the rest of the money from her parents that was correct.

"I have mine, thank you."

"Good here too," Spike nodded.

"Mm-hmm," Avery gave a thumbs-up and yawned again.

"Excellent, now if you'll just insert your pokéballs here...and done. You're all ready to start your adventure at last. Good luck, have fun, take good care of your pokémon and friends, and stay safe!" She wore a warm smile and gave a gentle wave as the group said thanks then left the building.

"Ho-my-Arceus-that-was-amazing-the-squirtle-and-the-piplup-and-oh-the-treecko-then-tail-whip-and-aaaaahh! Did-you-go-to-a-trainer-school-or-something?" Aengus couldn't contain himself any longer now that they were outside, saying a jumble of what he was thinking all at once with stars in his eyes.

"Yeah, we know. We were there," Spike gave him an unimpressed look.

"Uh, thank you, no trainer school for me. And if we're ready we can go pick up my supplies and I'll help you catch something," Yvonne changed the subject in embarrassment.

"Yes! Ahem, we should do that," he looked down to adjust his glasses.

"Right, you two are also welcome to come if you wanted," Yvonne looked at Avery and Tiffany.

 

[Vorpal Chandelier]

​

His egg held firmly, yet gently, Chad made his way quietly out from the laboratory and out an additional exit as directed by one of Redwood's interns as to avoid the eager crowd awaiting the upcoming battle. The outside area of the Lab's property was somewhat modest, but still quite spacious in its own right. He could see the small group of new trainers led by the sassy but popular Emily heading southward toward a grass patch near the property's gate, as well as the quiet but determined out of town loner cutting through the daycare.

I guess being the professor's kid gives him access to some neat shortcuts. He thought.

Scanning the property a little more, he noticed a couple of ponds, and decided to head to one a little further from the building, tucked away by a couple of trees, and an obstructive rock. There was a small but perfect point of access between said rock and one of the trees from which he could cast his line, so he began wading through the tall grass in order to reach it.

So far so good, no wild pokémon battles.

He set his egg gently on the grass shortly after casting, and decided to seat himself on top of the rock. Fishing was a game of patience, he was settled in now and he only hoped that whatever he encountered wouldn't be too strong to deal with.

As he waited he decided to keep an eye on Emily and Elmer. Moonlight seemed to have gone her own way, but the other two were skulking around the grass looking for pokémon. He could see them each engage in a battle or two with wild pokémon, but between the distance, positioning, and grass height he couldn't make out exactly what was going on. Disappointing, but fine.

He also noted that after exiting the grass, and a short conversation, they decided to battle one another. Looks like Emily wasn't so cared to go up against a fire type after all. Thinking he had caught something already, Chad turned his attention back to the water only to reel in an old sweater. Frowning he worked to untangle the mess from his hook, and re-cast his line. The battle was over by the time he looked back over, but based on their body language it seemed like Emily had won. Or at least he figured she'd be a little more pissed if that wasn't the case. He saw the pair exit the property and turn toward the pokémon center before he turned his attention back to the water. Not long after that he could hear the crowd of people exiting the lab. He just hoped it wouldn't scare the creatures away from biting onto his hook.

It wouldn't be long now before his friends were out as well. He just hoped he'd catch something before they found him.

​

Thick Lined Divider

​

Emily exited the lab with Moonlight and Elmer in tow. She thought briefly about waiting for her other friends, but decided against it. After all, the new girl had a starter that was not only good against hers, but came right out of the ball with a same-type move for that sweet sweet stab. She was furious.

Heading to the nearby pokémon center, Emily found herself eyeing up the grass near the entrance to the property. As they approached the PC, he handed a single un-registered luxury ball to Elmer, and one to Moonlight, then proceeded to register her remaining balls to her trainer ID.

"Woah, I've never seen these before..." Elmer marveled at the design as he waited his turn to register.

"Yeah don't thank me, 250 bucks, come on." Emily held out her hand expectantly to the two trainers.

"Wait what? A pokéball is only like fifty dollars!" Elmer exclaimed.

"Nuh uh, these are luxury balls. They're special and they're very expensive, you want to catch a pokémon now you give me the cash, otherwise by all means, walk across town to get a set of balls on your own, but don't expect me to wait up." She scolded.

"Ugh, fine..." Elmer said as he relinquished some of his starting cash.

"Uh, no thanks. I'm just going to go visit my Woobie and I have the ball professor gave me for my egg if there's an emergency. I should save my money for stuff." Moonlight responded, handing back the Luxury ball.

“Suit yourself. Just be quick and meet us back here at the pokémon center.” She responded to the girl, ignoring Elmer, who was now registering the ball to his ID.

“If we’re not in that patch of grass on the other side of the fence there, or the pokémon center it means you were too slow and you’ll have to catch up.”

With that she grabbed Elmer by the shirt and strode quickly out of the center, and purposefully into the grass near the fence line to the north west of where the pokémon center sat.

“What are we looking for?” asked Elmer, who was feeling a little guilty about ditching Moonlight.

“A joltik would probably be fine, but It’s also weak against fire so I’m not sure. Would be nice if there was a water or rock type around here somewhere…” She was only about half listening to Elmer as they searched.

“Oh shit!” Elmer exclaimed, but before she could look a pokémon jumped quickly at her from the shadows, causing her to dive to one side to avoid being hit by an attack.

“Get ‘em Coil!” She shouted furiously as she released her pokémon and regained her composure.

Quickly she turned to her pokégear, which had detected the pokémon. “Pidgey. Level 03. Male”

“Fucking flying type.” She squaked as she fixed her hair. “Coil, tackle!” Luckily her Snivy was faster, and sprung quickly through the grass to slam into the pidgey’s small body. The pidgey took decent damage, but it was no critical hit.

The pidgey retaliated in kind by tackling back, doing more damage than she expected, but Coil was still going strong.

Guess I’ll try a ball now… She thought, reaching into her bag to retrieve the device and throwing it directly at the little bird monster.

One, two, and click!

Emily let loose a sigh of relief as she retrieved the pokéball that contained her first caught pokémon.

“Good job, Coil. Back into the ball with you.” She said, exiting the grass quickly to avoid another battle.

“Elmer c’mon we’re wasting our time here! Come battle me so we can use the pokémon center!”

She was pretty sure she could coax Elmer into throwing the match for some free experience, and besides, the pokémon here were clearly nothing special.

“Hey, Em!” Elmer said huffing as he exited the grass. “I caught a pikachu! I named him Striker.”

Emily frowned a little. She would have much rather had a pikachu than a pidgey, but whatever, she wasn’t really partial to electric types anyway.

“We should battle, and you should let me win.” Emily said directly.

“Woah, what why?” Elmer was confused and a little put off by this. He didn’t really think it was sporting to just throw a match.

“Because it’ll help us level faster. We both know you’re not that bright, and Moonlight is pretty much a walking disaster, so if we want any chance of surviving out there we need to back our best member. Meaning me, obviously.” She struck a confident pose placing one hand on her hip as she made the suggestion.

Elmer thought for a moment, and reluctantly accepted, deciding that it did make sense. He was usually stoned and they were all novices. She definitely seemed more likely to know what she’s doing.

“Alright fine, one match, but no prize money!” He said.

The battle wasn’t exciting for either party, but Coil seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. He got to defeat two more pokémon and grow two levels, finally learning vine whip.

“That’s much better. Alright Elmer let’s go.”

The two trainers then left for the pokémon center to heal their pokémon before leaving town.

 

[BestrJestr]

​

Avery turned his head slightly to look toward Aengus as his run on paragraph fully registered in his now basically pretty much awake brain. He scratched the back of his head and looked towards the ground briefly.

"Uh, yeah... something like that" he responded.

Avery then knelt down and let Dennis out of his ball, petting him and looking him over for anything out of sorts. Seeing that the machine had done it's job properly he then looked up to Tiffany, still petting his new companion gently.

"Chad's probably fishing, and you know how long that can take, what do you think?" Avery asked, "I'm gonna have to see my parents before we leave town, but they're probably in uh, 'high spirits' after my first battle, so I was gonna give them some time to chill out first..."

As Avery waited for his friend to respond he noticed the excitable newcomer remove his hat and bring it to his chest, meaning to chime in, but was however cut off by Tiffany.

"Ah if he's fishing we can watch him catch something in action!" she blurted out energetically, "Then again Yvonne's house seems way more interesting... How about you convince Chad to meet us at the Pokémon Center and we'll go help Yvonne get her stuff?"

"Yeah, no need for my dad to gush over everyone" Yvonne chimed in.

"I'm not much for meeting new people" Billie, or Spike as she seemed to prefer interjected, "Maybe I'll stick with this squirt 'till we meet back up. Avery and I can battle while we wait if he wants, if not I'll just have Nail kick the shit out of whatever his friend catches on that rod. You know, show him what a real water type can do."

"Hah! Good luck, hopefully that red Gyarados is still in your pool. What about you Aengus?" Yvonne laughed, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"J-just the two of us? Lead the way m'lady" he responded with a bow, redder than the aforementioned Gyarados.

Avery scooped Dennis into his arms and stood, choosing to ignore that last interaction for his own sake.

"Sure, sounds good" he replied, giving a wave as they prepared to part ways.

"Onwards!" Yvonne declared, pulling her flushed companion closer to her by the shoulder as she began her march, returning the wave.

As he and Spike exited the lab, Avery looked around to see what he could see. It was about 2pm, and he could see Chad at the pond to the left of the Lab, still no bites, but still mid cast.

"So it was Spike right?" Avery asked, still scanning his surroundings, "I noticed you didn't seem to like the other name"

"Basically, but I only let my friends call me that." she replied, giving him the side eye, "Guess if you don't get on my bad side that means you too."

"I couldn't say for sure yet" Avery chuckled, gesturing to the pond where Chad was, "that's him, but it seems like he hasn't quite had any luck yet"

"We should shove him in." she suggested with a grin.

"Well as entertaining as that would be," Avery replied after an amused huff, "I figured we'd give him a bit more time to get something on the line"

"You said something about a battle?" he asked, turning finally to face her.

"Yeah you game?" she asked, pulling out Nail's ball, already knowing the answer.

Avery simply smirked, took a few steps back, and set down Dennis.

The battle didn't last too terribly long. Dennis used Leer, Nail used Leer. Dennis used Leer again, Nail used Scratch. And it was at this moment that Avery knew. He fucked up. At that point it was just trading Tackles and Scratches but unfortunately even though Dennis had a speed advantage, Nail was stronger, and emerged victorious.

"HA!" Spike exclaimed boastfully, then she turned her attention to her Pokégear, "Oh he learned Water Gun? Sweet."

Avery grimaces awkwardly and hold up the ball that now contains an unconscious Dennis.

"Man I really dropped the ball on that one huh?, sorry buddy" he said, stowing the ball and approaching Spike with her earnings, "gg".

“Keep your peasant money” she replied, “You can pay me in blood”

Avery raises his eyebrows in amused surprise, noticing Chad approach to compliment them on their battle, he elected to give him a nod while he finished his exchange.

“You want that, like in a cup? Or do you have some Tupperware or something?” Avery asked with his signature tired look.

"Well that's no fun. Some gentleman, you could have at least pretended it freaked you out." she said in mock irritation.

“So… where’s Tif and them?” Chad asked.

“Hey man” Avery greeted, “Tiffany went with Yvonne and company to her house, catch anything yet?”

“Actually I’m right behind you” a wild Tiffany cut in, “Yvonne is way fast, I got caught on a door”

“You missed it” Chad laughed, “I caught two Arcodactyls and a Tagnomite”

“I think I’ve heard of the first one, but what’s a Tagnomite?” Tiffany asked with a confused head tilt.

Avery knew Chad was doing this on purpose, but he still had to make an effort to correct him. After all not everyone spent all of their free time pouring over Pokémon Professor’s Dex data like he did. Spike however rolled her eyes freely.

“Oh hey Tiff, have you been here long enough to see me get violently and mercilessly outplayed?” Avery asked.

“What? No, whaddaya mean?” she asked.

“Her Totodile bodied his Dennis” Chad replied.

“Battling already? You just did one” she reprimanded,

“Yeah I figured I oughta put at least a little effort into this whole ‘Pokémon Journey’ thing, so I agreed to a battle” Avery sighed, scratching the back of his head, “But now I owe her an undetermined amount of blood”

He turned to face Spike.

“Seriously, do you have like a beaker or an alchemy vial perhaps?” he asked, now with a small grin.

“We’ll figure it out later,” she replied with a grin, “The longer you owe me the more interest I can criminally charge so I can get even more blood.”

“But no!” Tiffany exclaimed dramatically, throwing her arms around Avery, “He’s our bloody buddy!”

“Effort? You sick or something buddy?” Chad jabbed.

Avery froze momentarily as Tiffany grabbed him, but shook it off and shot Chad an un-amused glare, and turned back to Spike.

“You were right, we should’ve drowned him” Avery deadpanned.

“It’s not too late,” Spike grinned maniacally, “Nail! Water Gun!”

There was brief moment where the three of them could see the primal fear in Chad’s eyes before a violent torrent of water ripped through the space between him and Nail, impacting his torso and sending him hurtling backward, skidding to a stop on his flat of his back. Avery was concerned briefly, but began to grin as he realized his friend and his egg were okay, Tiffany tried desperately to stifle her giggles, resulting in a snorting sound escaping her mouth, and Spike in contrast made no effort to stifle her laughter as she called nail back to his ball.

“Holy crap!” Chad laughed, after some coughing up most of the water, “You’re a psycho!”

“Thank you” she replied simply, departing in the direction of the Pokémon Center.

Avery elected to follow while Tiffany helped Chad up from his final resting place.

“I have to get Dennis to the Center before he ‘evolves’ into Den-was,” Avery shouted over his shoulder at them, “after that I’m gonna hit the shop. Y’all coming?”

As they answered affirmative Avery heard a car pull up beside them and turned to face it, seeing Elmer’s father looking rather perturbed.

“Aren’t you my boy’s friends?” he asked in a huff.

“Elmer? Yeah, why?” Avery asked in intrigue.

He tossed a backpack at Avery, who caught it in both hands.

“Give that to him and let him know that the next time I go out of my way to do him a favor, I expect him to be where I ask him to be. And you should stay off the goof-grass” he spat bitterly, pointing at Avery for the last part, and then driving away without awaiting a response.

Avery became flustered at the last remark and began to sputter indignantly.

“Wha-I’m not-I don’t even-he gone” he sighed, hunching over in defeat briefly before composing himself, “dis dude really said ‘goof-grass’”

Avery checked the bag, spotting your standard supplies, like Pokéballs money and food, and then also Elmer’s ‘Pokéflute’ as he liked to call his bong. Upon further inspection Avery realized that it actually had been a Pokéflute at one point, and could be again with the proper attention. This caused Avery’s generally chill demeanor to break, his face betraying him in a deep frown.

“What’s wrong? You find a love letter to that bitch in there?” Chad asked somewhat perturbed.

Avery looked up, still in thought, to see Moonlight frolicking eagerly to her home. He chuckled to himself softly, and looked around in time to catch a glimpse of Spike entering the Mart, and Elmer and Emily walking into the Pokémon Center.

“Nope,” he replied, regaining his former chill, “just an affront to god, and other necessary travel supplies”

“Affront to-“ Chad began, only to be cut off by a mildly perturbed Tiffany, “Shush! I’d rather not know!”

With that mystery sufficiently abandoned, Avery and his squad made their way into the Pokémon Center.

 

[FlumpPod]

​

Yvonne leads the increasingly red and sweaty Aengus by the shoulders towards the lion's den.

King perked up from his post on the porch as Yvonne approached with a stranger in tow. He stood and yawned as imposingly as he could getting a small reaction from the boy.

"Hey King, you must let us through. Mom and dad will want to meet Aengus," Yvonne rubbed the pyroar's mane firmly and scratched under his chin.

"Prrror," he weakly protested letting the stranger past, whipping his tail at the boy's ankles. But he eventually forgot about that as his "sister" continued her assault.

"Go on in, Aengus, King just wanted to say hello before you met his master. Isn't that right? Hee hee!" The pyroar slumped back down onto his blanket, ready to continue absorbing as much sunlight as he could.

Aengus slipped past the impressive pokémon and found a very nicely furnished living room with the only concession to the general style an older trophy case on the far wall, packed with large trophies, some hanging medals and a large belt. A lingering smell of cooked meat mingled with a gentle floral scent, no doubt from a candle.

"I thought pyroar preferred raw meat over cooked meat even though they are fire types. Wait I'm in a girl's house, what do I do, should I--" while he muttered a woman's voice with a strong Kalosion accent came from around the corner that lead into what appeared to be the kitchen, demolishing his ability to speak.

"Oh, Yvonne is back dear, let us meet her sweet little pokémon!" A stunningly gorgeous blonde woman came from around the corner into the room where Aengus was, now, staring at her. A moment of confusion crossed her face, mercifully Yvonne entered behind him as a large lean man with a fiery mane strode through the same door as the woman, his focus on the cellphone that looked comically small in his hands.

"Alright, let's see that litten, dea--" the man looked up from the phone to see a boy roughly the same age as his daughter staring at his wife. Yeah, she's still got it. "Ahem, Yvonne, would you introduce us to your friend?"

"Yes, he is uh, what is the word for mignon, dear?" Yvonne's mother wore a playful smile.

"Maman, qui est embarrassante! This is Aengus McGregor, I plan on helping him capture a pokémon to start out with and maybe traveling together?" She made the second half a question as she turned from her parents to look at Aengus.

"Y-yeah, that was the plan," his brain finally finding some traction despite the entire room focusing on him.

"Magnifique! Oh, yes, Aengus this is my mother and father Lucienne and Devin Montenét. Mother is a model so don't be surprised if you see her photos around. Father is a business consultant now, but he used to be the best boxer around!" They both shook Aengus's hand in turn.

"Did you ever box with pokémon? I heard that a hitmonchan's punch cou--"

"No, no, for one because that's a good way to get something broken and it's illegal besides. I guess that doesn't stop everyone, but I was a professional, everything needed to be above board," Devin cut Aengus off sensing that it would have been a very long question otherwise. "She said she is going to help you catch a pokémon before you set off, but didn't you get one for yourself? It sounded like Professor uh, Redwood was going to have plenty to hand out."

"Oh, he did! But there was also the option to take an egg that wasn't one of the normal starter pokémon and I decided to go with that since several people offered to help us, like Yvonne. The professor isn't even sure what is in the eggs we got to choose from, though he does know what the possibilities are since he bred them."

"Ah, how wonderful! I remember my first mystery egg. It was my eevee! You remember Ruban, dear? He and King got along so well."

"Mm, yeah that was before King had even evolved. Ah, but enough about old times, this is their first day as trainers! C'mon let's see that litten and get a photo for the album, you too Aengus," Devin held up the cellphone impatiently.

"Papa, I told you I would choose fennekin and I have. But yes, Feuvet, time to come out," Yvonne released the fennekin from its ball and promptly picked him up. Feuvet made a noise at that but seemed happy enough to be held.

"Foo-vay?" Devin tried to suss out the meaning behind the strange nickname.

"Hmhm, I believe it is, ah, fire fluff, dear. You never had a head for puns. Oh, but he is a cutie; perfectly matched to his trainer," Lucienne smiled as she gently scratched the top of Feuvet's head.

"Well, she got her smarts and looks from you afterall, she's only got my toughness," the sound of a simulated camera shutter alerted the girls that they'd been caught by a candid shot of a mother and daughter.

"Papa, je n'étais pas prêt à me faire prendre en photo! C'mon Aengus, let's see that egg and get a picture to remember where we started." Lucienne gave her husband a look as she backed out of the camera's sight.

"Right, uh here we go," Aengus revealed the egg and stood next to Yvonne, carefully cradling the egg with both arms.

"Say 'adventure' in 3, 2, 1!" Yvonne placed her free hand on Aengus's far shoulder and held Feuvet up so that the tips of his ears were just below her own.

After a few photos he seemed satisfied and sent it to their pokégears, slyly acquiring Aengus's number in the doing. King had let himself back inside and was sniffing at Feuvet for a bit before licking him and the two conversed for a while before King wandered over to where Aengus and Devin were discussing training strategies, leaving Yvonne and Lucienne to discuss fur care and diets. King sniffed Aengus and the egg, memorizing the scents and returning to his sunbathing on the porch. He was satisfied that his sister was in good paws.

⌛
"I'll have to talk to the professor and see if he recorded that triple battle, your biggest fan can't be denied that. Agh, I didn't think you'd have your first battle without me cheering you on!" Devin was fired up after hearing of Yvonne's joint victory in the triple battle.

"Yes, dear, I want to see it too. For now though, let us see her off properly. I packed her things and transferred the money already. I'm sure she and Aengus are more than eager to actually start their journey, no?"

"Yeah!"
"Mhm!"

"Aw, alright, alright! Off you go then. Keep in touch and stay safe!" Devin pulled his daughter in for a hug worthy of an ursaring, opting for a more reserved handshake with Aengus.

"Mwa, mwa! Mwa! Bon voyage!" Lucienne traded cheek kisses with Yvonne before planting one on Aengus's cheek and wishing them a good journey as only a true Kalosian would.

Yvonne had to guide Aengus back to the Pokémon Center as he was as red as a voltorb and his glasses were fogged up for the umpteenth time since she'd met him today. Is it really that much more humid in the Orbos region? she thought about the weather while his thoughts were anywhere else.