[X] My Assistant

[ROMANA]

With the Practice Hall man gone, Connie felt much happier. She watched Verity run off after Butchette and thought she should follow but Mary seemed intent on 'Mareeping' at the Bulbasaur that had attached itself to its trainer. At least, she assumed that it was the Bulbasaur's trainer.

Having exhausted the accessible sources of ice cream, Mary wandered over after Nils to see what all the fuss was about. <Why are you hanging onto that man's leg?> she asked the Bulbasaur, curiously. <Are you frightened? This is a nice place. They're kind to pokemon in here, it's ok.>

Spencer was claiming ownership of Nils, who had pulled off a rather impressive trick wiith a leafy attack... Verity would have known what it was straight away but Connie was a bit hazy. She knew that grass attacks were good agains water and ground pokemon but she couldn't have told you exactly what her new Oddish had been hitting Torchie with without her friend's pokedex.

Mary was looking at the Bulbasaur with a very sweet expression, Connie thought. "You know, Mary, maybe we should put you in cute competitions instead," she mused aloud but more to herself than her pokemon. "You'd look sweet with a bow in your wool. Or maybe one on each horn." She patted the pokemon and jerked her hand back as a spark of static jumped from the fleece to her fingers "Ow!"

"Mareep," said Mary, apologetically. "Marreeeeep!" She seemed quite insistent.

"Um.... yes," hazarded Connie. Verity came back in and slid her arm through Connie's. "Hello," Connie greeted her friend cheerfully. "Isn't Nils cute in his little hat!" She frowned, Verity looked happy enough, but Connie had known her since they were both very small and she thought Verity seemed worried. "Are you all right, Verity?"

<Trainers,> muttered Mary, as Connie pulled out Mary's ball to put her away for the time being. <Sometimes it's almost like they can understand you. And then they have to spoil everything. See you later, everyone.>

Let me know if Mary's text clashes too appallingly!

[Verity Lily]

"I think I'm okay, but I'm a bit tired," Verity said. Butchette's ball was wobbling furiously, as if she was trying to escape, but Verity thought it best to let her have a good rest until she calmed down a little. She placed a restraining hnad on the pokemon. "I think I maybe ate too much. We'd better go to bed before Nurse Joy puts us in teh pokemachine."

The girls said goodnight to the boys and headed to their rooms. The room was probably small by most standards, but to Verity, who was used to the highly populated rooms of Butterfree Farm, it was a miracle of space and solitude. She flung herself on the lower bunk bed, which was stuffed with psyduck down and much less warm than her mattresses at home, which were stuffed with feathers shed by the flock of torchics and pysducks from the pond - the heat and warmth of the feathers obviously balanced each other out!

"I should ring Mama," Verity said, dully. "We have lots of exciting things to tell her. You caught an oddish!" She tried to regain her earlier excitement. "But oh, Connie - what if they don't know about the moomoo milk? Should we tell her?

"And Butchette was acting really weird outside. Usually she's not cross at all, unless she thinks I need protecting. But she was acting really mean to a truck full of miltanks and oh, Connie, I think she scared them and they were rolling out at each other and they h-hurt each other."

She started to cry, dismally. "It's not the poor miltanks fault if they're not buying our milk anymore. And I don't know how to do contests. And - oh, Connie, what shall we do?"

This post has been edited by Lindley: Jul 1 2009, 02:46 PM

[ROMANA]

Connie was very worried about her friend. They were only a day into their adventure and already she seemed disheartened. When she started to cry, Connie flung herself onto the bunk next to her and cuddled up.

"Don't worry, Verity," she said, soothingly. "They have to know about the milk already, Joy said it had already been a little while. They must have been being brave to send us on our way happy so that we didn't feel like we had to stay at home to help instead." Connie, the weight of the world on her shoulders apparently thought two eleven year old girls would make all the difference. "We should carry on and do our best - they obviously wanted us to go on our adventure. Look, Butchette agrees, and she wants to come out to tell you so."

Connie indicated Verity's still wobbling pokeball.

"I think we should o and watch the boys' competition practice tomorrow. I think Mary was telling me she wanted to be a contest pokemon more than anything in the world!"

[Verity Lily]

Collaborative post as we didn't really have enough to fill two, hope that's okay!

Verity sniffled and snuggled back. "I'll let Butchette out, then." She held up her ball and let the shimmering energy form itself into the shape of a small fighting-type pokemon.

"MACHOP! Ma chop chop chop MAAAA!" Butchette bellowed insistently, waving a paw at the window where it looked over the street.

"I don't know what's wrong!" Verity told her, dissolving into tears again. "Don't be so cross!"

Buchette shrugged expressively, gave up on communicating with humans, and stroked her trainer's hair instead. Verity managed to smile a little, cuddled between little girl and pokemon.

"See?" said Connie. "Butchette thinks everything is okay and we should go out and become pokemon masters. And win contests." Butchette stuck out her tongue at her, and Connie did the same back. She wasn't afraid of any old machop.

"I'm going to call Mama," Verity decided. "And tell her all about Carmilla, and about Waker and Spencer making that stupid schoolkid run away, and about contests! I'm going to be a pokemon master and an amazon and a coordinator. I won't talk about the milk, though. And maybe I could find out where to buy a book on contests."

She managed a bright conversation with Bill and cooed at Fiddy, and then handed the phone over to Connie to update her mother on catching Carmilla, managing to find more than it seemed humanly possible to say about such a boring battle and catching a common pokemon. Both girls were smiling by the time the phone was switched off, even though Bill had been somewhat gruff about pokemon contests and positively upset about the loss of Veirty's hat.

"Do you want the top or bottom bunk?" Connie asked.

"Bottom. Um, would you stay with me?" Verity asked plaintively. "It's our first night away from home."

Connie would never have admitted to weakness like not wanting to sleep alone, but she was awfully glad Verity had asked. After all, it was her job to look after Verity, her mother had told her so.

The two little girls snuggled into bed together, with Butchette taking a protective position at the head of the bed. After a little while, Verity became worried that her precious egg was cold, so they got out of bed again and retrieved the egg, and snuggled up with the egg clasped in Verity's arms. Just as they were drifting off to sleep, the horrible thought drifted into Verity's head that Henrietta the pokedoll had never slept away from the farm either, and was probably scared, so she was added to the rather crowded bunk bed. Connie started to hope that it wouldn't occur to Verity that the other pokemon were lonely in their pokeballs, as they were rapidly running out of space.

Eventually, however, the bundle of little girls, egg, machop and pokedoll wen into a happy sleep, with nothing disturbing their dreams but images of gym badges, contest ribbons and Mary endlessly hopping over fences.

[Cube]

"Oh... Um..." It suddenly occurred to Spencer that he never asked the nurse what his room number was.
"Hang on a second..."

Leaving his Pokemon to the TV, he peeked into the Center's lobby, which was already winding down for the night.

"Excuse me? Nurse Joy?" He called, walking up to the unoccupied counter. A chorus of replies rang out from the back of the Pokemon Center.

"...Just one of you, please?"

A single Nurse Joy hurried out of the back room of the center, doing a quick bow at the front desk. "Hello, Welcome to the Port Barley Pokemon Center" she said, obviously in a hurry; "We can restore your Pokemon to perfect health, would you like to-"

"I'm already checked in and everything." Spencer shook his head. Apparently this was one of the younger Joys. The more experienced nurses were probably busy tending to injured Pokemon. "But, you never gave me my room number. I'm registered under Thorn, Spencer."

The Nurse hastily typed something into her computer. "Spencer Thorn, Room 8. We hope to see you again!" Doing another quick bow, the nurse quickly ran to the back room. "Did I miss anything?" she shouted.

"Just Cousin Casey and Pinky getting creamed by Johanna again..." said another Voice, almost identical to the first.

"Aw man! I was hoping she'd win this time..."

"Those Joys..." thought Spencer, shaking his head. "So strange..."

Returning to the common room, which was almost empty now, save for his Pokemon, Waker, and the pale man (Did he have albinism?). "We're in room 8." said Spencer, sitting back down on the couch. "Nils, stop flirting with that boy's Treecko. It's nearly your bed time."

Nils, quite naturally, was mortified. Adjusting his tiny cap, the Treecko made a feeble attempt to recover. <"I'll see you around. ...I guess."> Blushing, Nils sat himself down next to his siblings, where Celia was absolutely enthralled by the events of the contest.

<"Oh! Loony is going to use explosion! Isn't it spectacular?!">
<"Uh huh..."> Vincent was still stinging from the presence of that Uta fellow. There was something about that man that made Vincent feel very strange. A weird blend of arrogance and malevolence. It made Vincent's tail flare up just thinking about it. He barely even registered when Nils sat down next to him.
<"That girl totally digs me..."> said the Treecko, taking a bite out of his berry. <"I could tell. Don't you think she liked me? I think she really liked my whole Berry Slicer appeal I've been practicing with Dad...">
<"Be quiet! This is the best-">

Just as the Drifloon was about to make it's final appeal of the Contest, the channel suddenly cut to a breaking news bulletin. "Lup!" said Celia, clearly disappointed. "Piplup..."

"We interrupt this broadcast of the Sinnoh Master Contest Finals for this important FNBS news bulletin. I'm Marian Tyler." A teal haired woman appeared on the television, standing in what appeared to be a city. A massive mountain dominated the skyline, which Spencer supposed was Mt. Carello.

"Trouble in Mount Carello!" said the woman, her words superimposed at the bottom of the screen as a headline. "Members of a criminal organization referring to itself as "Team Deception" were captured in the caverns of Mount Carello today, outside of Arasam." Mugshots of three individuals in green uniforms - one of them quite rotund - were displayed on screen. "Reports indicate that Team Deception had invaded Mount Carello in an attempt to poach a herd of extremely rare Cranidos, a Pokemon which was believed until recently to be extinct. A group of Pokemon Trainers were attacked by members of the group, but were successfully able to fight them off until the authorities could arrive. Unfortunately, the leader of the expedition has evaded capture, and is still at large, his current location unknown." A drawing of a very large, imposing man was displayed on screen. Spencer could feel his stomach tie itself in a knot at the sight of the image for reasons he couldn't explain, only to relax when Marian returned to the screen. What she said next did little to ease Spencer's nerves.

"Most disturbingly, eyewitness accounts allege that several members of Team Deception were in the possession of Shadow Pokemon."

An image of several pokemon surrounded by a purple aura - thankfully just a stock image created to illustrate the story - was displayed. "Originally created by the villainous organization known as Cipher, of the Orre Region; Shadow Pokemon have been mentally and physically modified, a procedure known, disturbingly enough, as 'having their hearts sealed'. The result is an extremely violent and emotionless creature, a mere shadow of it's ordinary counterparts. At least one Pokemon had it's heart sealed during the standoff, though the equipment used was never found. Thankfully, the pokemon in question was successfully purified thanks to the bravery of one of it's fellow Pokemon."

Spencer could have sworn that his heart stopped upon hearing those words. Those two horrible, horrible words... "Shadow Pokemon".

Spencer had some experience with the creatures in the past... Repressed memories surfaced of strange men invading the ranch, trying to fight them off, only to have them capture his Pokemon with some sort of strange machine. Some sort of vending machine that spat out Pokeballs... ones that didn't care whether or not the Pokemon they were aimed at had a trainer or not.

They had to close the ranch for months after that. Scaling it back to a daycare center. A strange white haired boy with an odd machine on his arm would frequently leave Pokemon at the daycare. Eagun, whom Spencer had always considered the wisest man in the village (he was a Pokemon Master, after all) called them Shadow Pokemon. They were different that most Pokemon Spencer had dealt with in the past. Spencer had a game he would play with himself, almost unconsciously. Upon meeting a Pokemon, he would try to guess their nature by taking note of the first word that popped into his head. Frequently he ended up with words like "Serious" or "Jolly", though he often ended up revising his results over time. But when that boy... Wes... when he left one of those Shadow Pokemon... Spencer couldn't guess their nature at all. Instead of instantly jumping to some sort of conclusion, all he could fell was a strange blend of revulsion and pity, mingling in his gut like angry insects. Spencer couldn't fathom why someone would take a Pokemon and try to turn them into a mindless fighting machine... It was completely beyond his frame of reason. Still... people like Cipher did... and Spencer had seen them first hand. (He also had experienced quite a few Shadow Rushes first hand as well, eventually necessitating the banning of Shadow Pokemon from the ranch. But that's another story.)

"The International Police have been contacted regarding the current situation." continued Marian. "If reports of Shadow Pokemon increase, Professor Krane of Orre has agreed to provide Aura Readers and Snag Machines to police in Furoh, and will assist scientists in Daioh in the construction of a Purification Chamber. In the mean time, if you have any information on Team Deception or their alleged Shadow Pokemon, please call..."

Spencer turned off the television, completely stunned by what had just happened. Silently recalling his Pokemon, a highly disturbed Spencer made his way to the Sleeping Quarters.

"I'm going to be in our room Waker..." he choked, barely managing to get the words out. "I'll see you in the morning."

'Shadow Pokemon? Here?! Just when I finally thought I had gotten away from all of that...'

As he prepared himself for bed, Spencer tried to trick himself into thinking that he had blown this whole Shadow Pokemon thing out of proportion in his head, but all it did was make things worse.

That night, as he lay awake on the top bunk, all Spencer could do was mentally rehearse the events of a Snag Ball attack in his mind. The results varied, but nearly all of them ended with Vincent, Celia, or even Nils being captured and converted into some sort of soulless monster... Spencer felt nauseous at the very thought.

Replayed the scenario in his mind one last time... Himself, with one of his Pokemon out... He chose Nils, since he was a quick little fellow, and would probably be hard to catch. His opponent was some sort of Shadow Pokemon, Spencer chose a Tediursa. Nils would use his Magical Leaf to slice the balls in half, just like that appeal they practiced back home! ...But he couldn't keep it up forever...

Maybe... if he withdrew his Pokemon as the thief threw the Snag Ball... then he could catch it and snag the thief's Pokemon! ...Would that even work? Spencer's ideas grew stranger and stranger as his unconscious took over, until eventually he was dreaming about smacking around Snag Balls with baseball bats, becoming the star batter of the Agate Village Pikachus. His conscious mind completely off line, all thoughts of Team Deception vanished, replaced instead by dreams of ribbons and badges... Cresselia surely smiled upon Barely that evening.

Spencer's asleep now, so he's out.

...I think I might have to edit his character description a bit. He isn't as awkward as I had planned...

Also, no Cresselia isn't actually there. It's a colorful expression relating to Cresselia's role as the bringer of good dreams.

[Ganymede]

Waker fidgeted with his scarf as Spencer left to go check their room number. With a small sigh, he gathered up his notepad and pen and shoved them deep into his bag before standing up.


He immediately regretted it. A dizzying wave of nausea swooped through him and he half-fell, grasping the counter firmly to maintain his balance. Azzy's Pokeball rocked against his chest – the Poison Pin Pokémon was obviously feeling guilty over what had happened. Waker unconsciously reached up to tap the release on the Pokeball and caught himself just in time. Even though the lobby was empty except for Spencer’s Pokémon and the pale man, Waker didn't want to risk another accident just yet. He'd 'ask' Azzy about what happened with Uta later, once they were safely in their room. Speaking of the room...


Spencer walked back in, pausing to call Nils back. The poor Treecko looked embarrassed by his trainer's sudden entry and Waker couldn’t help but smile. He walked over to the TV, where Spencer and his Pokémon had gathered, just in time to hear the news bulletin.


"We interrupt this broadcast of the Sinnoh Master Contest Finals for this important FNBS news bulletin. I'm Marian Tyler." A pretty woman with teal hair appeared on the screen, cutting of Loony mid-Explosion. A serious expression was on her face as she recited the news.


"Trouble in Mount Carello! Members of a criminal organization referring to itself as "Team Deception" were captured in the caverns of Mount Carello today, outside of Arasam." Waker's smile faded as he came to a rest next to Spencer, who had a worried look on his face. Team Deception? Who names their team that? Waker thought. He didn’t think he could take a team like that seriously with such a silly name. Team Avenger, however, sounded a lot more imposing.


"Reports indicate that Team Deception had invaded Mount Carello in an attempt to poach a herd of extremely rare Cranidos, a Pokémon which was believed until recently to be extinct." Waker tilted his head as an artist’s interpretation of a strange-looking Pokémon appeared on-screen, his dark hair falling into his face. He shook his head to the side, letting his hair flop. "A group of Pokémon Trainers were attacked by members of the group, but were successfully able to fight them off until the authorities could arrive. Unfortunately, the leader of the expedition has evaded capture, and is still at large, his current location unknown. Most disturbingly, eyewitness accounts allege that several members of Team Deception were in the possession of Shadow Pokémon."


Shadow Pokémon? The picture that appeared on screen shocked Waker. He shrunk back against Spencer, wondering how someone could be that cruel to a Pokémon. The aura around it...he shuddered. It was nothing like the clouds of gas that had surrounded the Gastlys in Ecruteak - they were simply pranksters. These 'Shadow Pokemon' looked ready to kill.


Waker looked up at Spencer and gasped. The older boy looked about ready to throw up. He tugged at Spencer’s sleeve but he seemed to ignore him, eyes focused intently on the screen. Without a word he turned off the TV and recalled his Pokémon, looking highly disturbed. "I'm going to be in our room Waker..." he sounded horrible. "I'll see you in the morning."


Spencer, wait! Waker opened his mouth before snapping it shut, biting his lip. He shifted his feet and looked back at the blank face of the TV. Those Shadow Pokémon...they scared him. Has he met one before...?

Something nudged at Waker’s mind. Something Spencer had told them when they’d first met…Waker shook his head. It was much too late - he’d ask Spencer about the connection in the morning. He took a step forward and felt a tug on his leg. Looking down, he saw the Happiny that had treated his arm earlier. She was holding a small blue cloth and was waving it around slowly, trying to get his attention. Waker instantly recognised it as his bandana. It must have fallen out of my jacket earlier... Waker smiled gratefully at her, leaned down, and gently accepted it. "Happy," she said, and, with a nod, pushed at his legs until we was in the lobby. With a wink, the Baby Nurse Pokémon shut the bandannacommon room door.




Waker slowly opened the door to room number 8. He could vaguely make out a lump on the top bunk. He's already asleep, Waker thought. He crept over to the bottom bunk and pulled his bag over his head and laid it on the floor. He unwound his scarf, placed it inside his bag, and, after a moment's hesitation, decided not to call out his Pokémon.


As he pulled the covers over his head, he thought about his bedroom back in Johto. His parents would always tuck him in, kissing his forehead (and Azzy’s, too, once he had hatched) before turning off the lights and shutting his door. His father would always leave his Gengar in Waker’s room to suck up any nightmares with its Dream Eater move and protect him from the occasional Gastly that drifted in through the window. Waker's thoughts of home slowly faded as he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Assuming that Ayra doesn't post again, this is the end of this RP. If a mod could lock this after a few hours (I want to give Arya some time to reply), it'd be wonderful. A grading post will be submitted soon~

This post has been edited by Nezzie: Jul 2 2009, 11:40 PM

[Lost Eventide]

Alright, I'll get a quick post up now xD Have a party I need to get cleaning for and such xP Sorry I've been a bit sparse. Had some stuff I needed to get done the last few days, and I'll admit, dang, you guys post fast! xDDD

Everything seemed to move so fast. At least, to Ciro. He came from a town where everything was relatively slow moving considering the lack of technology, and to him, it seemed that this group of people he had come upon were jumping from one subject to another much faster than he could possibly comprehend. He stared blankly for a moment, trying to frantically organize his thoughts before he allowed a nod in Waker's direction to indicate that no, he couldn't talk, and he added a small sign to confirm the matter, and to show that he was capable of sign language -- really, that was actually his preferred method of communication, but one really couldn't expect everyone to know that.

He also nodded in response to the inquires of if his Bulbasaur was alright, blushing faintly as he rubbed the back of his neck. He's just a scaredy-cat... he thought absently, shooting the Bulbasaur a small look. Verdell looked back, but continued to hold on tightly to his leg. There were too many people now! First it was Thorn, now there were too many people!

Thorn raised merely gestured absently in the direction of Ciro when this... Nils asked her what she was doing in the area, though she refrained from introducing herself. After all, she had no idea of knowing she had a nickname. Her trainer had never told her it, and really, she doubted he could. She cast a small glare in the albino's direction, but as Nils announced that he'd "see her around", she simply waved and jumped lightly onto her trainer's shoulder. Even if he was rather incompetent, at least his shoulder provided some form of comfort when it came to sitting. She absently took note of the half a berry she still had clenched in one of her hands, and couldn't help but smile slightly as she took a bite out of it. Well, flashy maybe, but at least that Treecko had a somewhat basic idea of how to please a girl.

However, Ciro noticed that a lot of the general populace seemed to have turned their attention to a TV -- that was what it was, right? -- monitor, which was something he never had quite gotten to understand. Radio, of course, he knew what that was, but the addition of pictures was a rather big step. All the same, he couldn't help but feel slightly intrusive, seeing it seemed that most of the group had known each other. He glanced outside, debating about leaving, but as far as he saw, this was probably the best place to at least catch some sleep. It wasn't like he really needed a room, anyway. He bent down and managed to tug Verdell off his leg, before turning and choosing to venture into the lobby of the Pokemon Center where he dropped down on a chair. He heaved his bag onto the one next to him, and replaced the notebook and pen he had used for at least a moments communication, before he hugged his Bulbasaur tightly to his chest.

"Bulb..." Verdell commented, his eyes drooping as he snuggled closer to his trainer and let his head rest just under the man's chin. Yes, one person was much better. And Thorn wasn't being held like he was, so all the same. This was nice... very nice... It didn't take long for the Bulbasaur's crimson eyes to close completely and his breathing to become slowed, a sure indication that the Pokemon had fallen asleep.

Thorn had dropped off her trainer's shoulder, casting him a glance that was a mixture of disdain, yet some sort of dim realization that it wasn't his fault he contained the flaws she saw in him. She huffed, shrugging the feeling away as she finished off the berry and curled up next to her trainer's bag. She would be just fine without being held. Especially by someone that couldn't command her in battle, nor give her a reasonable name. Her eyes dropped so that she was just staring at her trainer and her "partner Pokemon" out of thin slits, though she began to smile faintly as she resisted the urge to hit Verdell lightly with her tail. She'd get him later.

Thorn was probably the last to doze off, as the Treecko chose to remain alert for at least ten minutes more before she finally chose to fall asleep. Though, as she drifted off, it was noticeable that she had slowly inched herself closer, so that when she finally did drop off her body was resting fixed and warm against her trainer's side.