Fandom Pokemon: Rise to the Stars

[Lucius Cypher]

On this day, in this city, two stars will meet.

It was a sunny day in Rustboro City. A city of Splendor that combines the beauty of nature and the innovations of science. The industrial hub of Hoenn, home of the Devon Corporation. Not only that, but it also had two very popular must-see facilities for Pokemon Trainers: the Rustboro Gym and Rustboro Hall. The Rustboro Gym is considered one of the first Gyms most trainers start at, lead by the Rock-Type Specialist Roxanne. The Rustboro Hall is a large multipurpose facility that is often used for various events, such as Contests, battles, or festivals. Today was a special day as the Rustboro Hall was holding a Contest Audition. After all, not just any trainer off the street can participate in Contests. You must prove your ability as a Coordinator in front of a panel of judges, to ensure that you had a sufficient understanding of how contests works as well as your ability as a trainer. If anything, being a Coordinator is just as grueling if not more so than a regular pokemon battler, due to the intricacies of the art and the fickle nature of the audience.

But elsewhere in the city, a young man arrives. He had just started his journey from his hometown of Dewford, and he eagerly moves towards the Rustboro Hall. "It's been a while since I've been here. Looks like some sort of event is going on. I bet Dia and Gren would love to see what's going on." The young man named Dayvt heads towards the hall and sure enough, it's almost packed with various trainers and civilians enjoying the festivities. There were Coordinators outside practicing their performances to the entertainment of the masses, as well as other trainers showing off their abilities for anyone interested in watching. Plenty of stalls were up selling food and snacks for both people and pokemon. In particular there were a lot of people eating fried Nanab Berries on sticks, something that Dayvt himself was quite interested in getting. Near this stall was two coordinators working together to make a performance. They had a Poochyena and a Skitty working together. The Poochyena seemed to be swaggering about trying to impress the Skitty, getting adored for his confident cuteness. Meanwhile the Skitty pouted and playfully slapped the Poochyena twice with her tail, getting some laughs at the adorable situation.

"Whoa. That's so moe." Dayvt says with a smirk as he continued to look around.

 

[watcherofthewoods]

Some people are much more meticulous than others.

Such was the case with Shay, the boy having stayed overnight in Rustboro to prepare for the audition for today. Finally, he could go from being that lonely kid in to finally becoming a coordinator, if everything went according to plan. The boy hailed from Dewford, also known as the middle of absolute nowhere, but it was finally his time to shine.

So out he stood, practicing. He and Flicker were a dynamic duo, if nothing else-their skills were on point, and they seemed to bounce off one another in terms of energy. They just seemed... excited to be there as the Torchic managed to be adorable naturally and in the way it acted.

That is, until it hopped up to another trainer, chirping at the stranger with a curiosity-Dayvt, to be exact. Shay rushed up, scooping up the Pokemon, his blond hair falling in his face as he did so, pink strands dull and needing to be refreshed. And, well... it wouldn't be hard to take the lanky boy for a girl.

 

[Lucius Cypher]

As Dayvt was wandering by, a torchic ran up to him. He was familiar with this type of pokemon and squatted down to it's level. "Well hey there lil fella. Is there something you need?" But before Dayvt could really get an anwser, someone came up to him and picked up the torchic. The little guy's trainer no doubt. Dayvt looked up to the person and blushed a bit. It was a very pretty looking person, had a sort of cool but attractive air about them. Mature yet cute. The type of person Dayvt would really like to be friends with. And then Dayvt realized he was just checking this guy out and suddenly started speaking.

"Oh hi! Is this your torchic? Cute little guy, don't know why he came up to me but he seems alright. Are you here for this festival? Super cool. It's been a long time since I came to Rustboro." Dayvt just rambled off hoping that maybe a casual conversation would distract this person from realizing that Dayvt had just been checking him out. "I'm Dayvt! Friends call me Munchie. I'm uh... I was just looking around, thought I'd peruse and see what's going on and stuff... What are you here for?"

 

[watcherofthewoods]

"Ah, sorry, sorry-Flicker! You know better!" Shay apologized, then scolding the Torchic, before looking to the boy she'd wandered up to. He didn't strike him as anything TOO special-but, if nothing else, very strong. "Yes, Flicker here is mine... I'm Shay. I'm actually here to compete, to become a full fledged coordinator!" He certainly seemed enthusiastic about it, the way his eyes lit up. The meticulous outfit built to maximise cuteness made sense. "Which is why Flicker and I should be practicing! She shouldn't be wandering off to play with strangers!"

The Torchic responded simply-by chirping and nuzzling Shay, who sighed. "Alright, alright, we can take a break... Where are you from?" He asked Dayvt, suddenly. "I'm from Dewford, technically, but usually I stayed in Slateport with family." He gently stroked the Torchic, wistfully glancing towards the hall. "I've always been obsessed with the Spectaculars, I guess!"

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Dayvt was glad that this person seemed to be willing to just chat with him. Now that he avoided the possibility of coming off as creepy, Dayvt relaxed. "Oh, I'm from Dewford too actually! I have family there that run a little jewelry store. I mean... You know Dewford. Always trying to catch up to latest trends. Lots of people willing to pay lots of money to look fashionable there." Dayvt said with a chuckle. Though truth be told, while he doesn't hate it Dewford Town, it was always a small town no matter how trendy they try to be. The Gym was really the only thing that brought people to Dewford Town, and people going for the Gym don't stay there. While he knew one day Dayvt would have to go back there as part of his League journey, he wouldn't mind putting off the trip back home for at least a little while.

"But yeah, you're going to be a coordinator? That's cool! I'm actually here to challenge the gym myself, but I wanted to stop by and just take in the show. There's a lot you can learn from contests that's useful for battling, I think." Dayvt rubbed the back of his head as he tried to talk more about Contests. "Honestly, I thought about trying to join myself, but I don't really even know what my pokemon could do, contest wise. They're cute sure, but not like... Cute, ya know? Not to mention while I know what moves are best for a fight, I wouldn't know what works well in a contest. It's real serious stuff. But I think because it's so serious, it's a good thing to take a break sometime." Dayvt released his pokemon from their pokeballs. A little Aron with green eyes and a carbink that started to spin around excitedly. "This is Gren, my Aron, and Dia, my Carbink."

 

[watcherofthewoods]

"Oh! I'm surprised this is the first time we've met, then." Shay wished that was entirely honest-most people in Dewford hadn't properly met him, and generally he liked it that way. Looking like a girl had social consequences when one wasn't performing... He absentmindedly tugged at the dyed strands that framed his face. Damn it, Shay, you are fine with being girly. Deal with it! He scolded himself internally, before smiling. "Well, that certainly is Dewford for you." He laughed a little. He didn't hate Dewford, per se, but certainly thought himself destined for better things then chasing popularity in a small seaside town. So he avoided it.

"Contests are an extremely professional ordeal, even if it looks fun. Once one stops performing casually, they have to live the stage, and deal with press drama... beyond casually doing it, I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have it as a main goal... Oh, but I'm going off." By now, Torchic had jumped from his arm. "You're doing the gym challenge? I admire that! I can't bear to battle... every time I see a Pokemon hurt, I feel hurt too, y'know?" Shay gasped as the two Pokemon were release, immediately kneeling down. "Well, hello there!" He said to the two, as Torchic chirped happily.

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Dia continued to spin around Flicker, excited to meet someone new. Gren was much more chill as he ducked under Flicker’s spinning dance and nodded at the torchic. He seemed to be raising his front leg out to Flicker as if trying to offer a handshake.

“I usually hang out at the Granite Caves back when I lived in Dewford, just watching pokemon in their natural habitant. It can be pretty beautiful, but also savage. Dia for example would’ve been eaten by Sableyes if I hadn’t gone and saved her. A natural part of pokemon life, sure, but I decided that day I wasn’t just going to watch Pokémon anymore. I’ll raise them so they can become strong enough to take care of themselves.” As he says this Dia tries to pick up Flicker so she can spin him around in her floating body, though Gren is also trying to prevent Dia from doing that since it’s a bit dangerous.

As Dayvt and Shay were chatting, There was some sort of commotion happening near the Hall itself. There was a lot of shouting and it looks like a crowd was forming. It didn’t seem like a performance however as the mood was much darker.

 

[watcherofthewoods]

Flicker was rescued from the Situation by Shay, who scooped her into his arms once more. The Pokemon chirped happily, though did try to jump back down. "It's just their nature, sure, but... I guess I prefer not to think about how Pokemon get hurt. I got Torchic from a professor when I mentioned to him how much I wanted to coordinate... I seriously doubt I could battle if I didn't need to."

Shay's head turned towards the hall. "I should get going, I-hold on a second. What's going on over there?" He asked, mostly to himself, as he returned Flicker to her ball. "We should check that out."

 

[Lucius Cypher]

"Sure." Dayvt says as he calls Gren and Dia back into their pokeballs. The two of you head over to the commotion and as you get closer, you could tell it wasn't a performance but some sort of demonstration. You'd see a large group of people dressed in some sort of strange uniform made of leaves, wood, and scales, ranting about how people need to leave and let pokemon return to their homes. The general jist of it seems to be that these people consider humans constant expansion to be harmful towards pokemon wildlife and criticizing how Devon Corp was deforesting the Petalburg Woods and strip mining the Rusturf Tunnel , causing damage to the pokemon there. And then followed by a lot of ranting about how people have been making pokemon soft and weak, at which point Dayvt was visibly getting annoyed.

"Oh boy, these crazies. I heard about them on my PokeNav. Bunch of yahoos who seem like they're trying to take a page out of the Team Plasma book." Most people didn't seem to like them, but no one was really going to try and stop them. As some began to leave however, various pokemon began to surround the crowd. Magnemites and machops mostly. That's when these people made their intentions clear.

"We are Team Force! We are the forces of nature, and we demand freedom for all pokemon oppressed by the collars of human technology! Release your pokemon now, and everyone can go free!" One of the weirdos shouted at the crowd. This made everyone very nervous. But Dayvt was just getting angrier. "No way I'm letting go of Gren and Dia. I don't know about you Shay, but I'm going to do something about this before these whack jobs hurt someone."