[X] My Assistant

[Living Arrow]

Darryn's ears pricked up at the mention of dark-types. Did this mean that Darck wanted to be a dark trainer? Or maybe he had his sights set on seomthing else...

"Well, we're headed to Lenoilia at the moment," Darryn informed him, "I read somewhere that you can find evolutionary stones in some of the more... rustic... parts of the town. I want to get one or two to help my Vulpix and Eevee evolve when they should. Other than that, I guess we're going to take the north west road to Arasam and its gym."

*And maybe I can have the Lenoilia Joy fix Lady up with some pills...*

"In any case, we really need to get back to camp before anything or anyone trashes the tents and whatnot. THen we need to get moving again, I guess. Lenoilia is still a long way south and it'll probably take most of the afternoon, maybe the evening, to get there and find the Pokemon Center. I heard it's a big city so we'll have to get our bearings or a map as quickly as possible when we arrive."

Darryn moved back, through the trees. "Come on guys."

Leading the way, Darryn's thoughts turned back to Lady and what she had done. He knew it was going to take a while but a seed of determination was beginning to grow inside of him - a seed to make her right and put them both on the path to victory.

No worries, Darck. These things happen

[Master Houndoom]

"Well, then it's settled," said Jaima, still watching in the direction Mindy had turned. He'd thought he'd seen something, but whatever it was had long since gone. "Just let us know how much we owe you for supplies."

As they headed back to camp, all of his pokemon in their usual places, Jaima noticed Shadow nudging Mercury. He turned his head to see what was the matter and caught the ralts glaring at the riolu. When she noticed that they had gotten their trainer's attention, Mercury turned away hastily, a blush creeping between her eyes. Shadow nudged her again, and just as Jaima opened his mouth to reprimand the fighter types, a hasty mental voice filled his head.

sorry.

I'm not mad, Mercury. You just... Worried me.

no lie?

Promise.

With that, the little pokemon hugged Jaima's head, and his mood became lighter.

At the camp, Jaima's pokemon all helped, from carrying supplies, to helping with the breakdown. Before long, they were ready to continue their journey.

1) Thank goodness that we have a page started WITHOUT me on top!!

2) Sorry it's so short, I can't think of anything else.

This post has been edited by Jaima: Jan 30 2009, 08:53 AM

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda opened up her PokéGear to its holographic image of the Furoh region. Mindy zoomed the 3D image in on their specific location and had it set a navigation path to Lenoilia. It was about a half a day's journey to Lenoilia, so the group of trainers would definitely get there before nightfall. Once everything had been gathered, Melinda began the journey by leading the group farther into the forest, just as her PokéGear had dictated to her. Melinda couldn’t take her mind off of the mysterious pokemon that she had only gotten a glance of earlier when Darck captured his Absol. It was…riveting. Enchanting. Horrifying. Entrancing, something she couldn’t take her mind off of. She decided that she would just have to ask Darck about it later. For now, they had a lot of ground to cover.

~

Melinda was in a state of shock, and had been for the past few hours. The forest that the gang had camped in had been nice, but once they began walking, a sort of transformation took place. The peaceful sanctuary that had reminded her of Gigarte suddenly changed into a disgusting, murky swamp. A perplexed Melinda, who was obviously not familiar with the Furoh Region, had thought they had taken a wrong turn or the PokéGear had made a mistake! Jaima comforted her, however, that everything was fine. He explained to her the history of Lenoilia, how the metropolis of Petropolis’ waste had poisoned the picturesque city of Lenoilia, turning it into a human wasteland.

Melinda was horrified at this, not only because of how horrible it must have been, but at the realization of how easily Floaroma could end up with the same fate. If Jubilife City had changed how it handled its garbage, things might have been very different for her home town. Darryn continued the story, adding how Lenoilia now runs rampant with crime and gangs. To think that Melinda had been excited to visit Lenoilia! Darck reassured Melinda, however, that it was not all as bad as Darryn had described.

The group had been travelling down a desolate path for quite some time now. The bright blue skies had been blanketed by a disturbingly dark eerie color. They had been travelling along a river, too. Well, if you could call it a river. Deteriorating trash was visible above the water, and the pungent stench had made Melinda’s numb with disgust. The smell was… well… indescribable. The water had even turned a poop brown color! The path the travelers had been walking on was probably the most pathetic thing Mindy had ever seen. The trainers’ steps created clouds of particles on the dust road they were walking on. To their left and right, fields of desert-like conditions with patches of crabgrass here and there.

Suddenly the gang stumbled upon a white board. Melinda looked, her mouth gaping open, at her PokéGear as it dinged, “DESTINATION”. Melinda looked up at the structure before her. A large box-shaped piece of wood had been painted white. Iron letters marked “Lenoilia” quite clearly; even though more than half of them were missing! Graffiti covered the sign completely, making it barely recognizable. The words written in the graffiti were so guttural, that they cannot be repeated here today. Melinda tried to calm herself with the memories of Floaroma’s entrance gate which she took so much pride in. It was a painted floral design, with real living flowers spelling out the words “Floaroma Town”. Her family personally cared for the living sign, which was why she was so proud of it.

But this. Nothing could erase this from her memories.

Melinda felt a few drops of rain begin to sparkle down from the already dark clouds above. Suddenly thunder crackled extremely loudly as the rain started beating down harder. Not even moving from her spot, Melinda turned around to her fellow travelers. “Well, here we are. Welcome to Lenoilia,” she said ever so cheerfully

I FINALLY POSTED!!!!! Lol. This post was a LOT better, but my father's computer decided to be a douschebag on me and shut down after I had spent an hour on it. *SIGH* Well, here we are guys; post 63 aand we're FINALLY IN LENOILIA!!!

This post has been edited by The Rose Crusader: Jan 31 2009, 05:34 PM

[Master Houndoom]

Jaima looked around, horrified. Rather than a pleasant city, he found a wasteland, as if it had been destroyed by a biological terror the likes of which had not been known by man. Dark clouds made the landscape look dark, and, from the shadows came growls and calls that sounded out of this world. Mercury trembled against Jaima's head, and Shadow tensed, hyper aware.

"Everyone back in their balls," Jaima said, sadness in his voice. For once none of his team seemed reluctant. He returned Mercury, Fang, Grondir and Ember, and held Shadow's ball up to him. "If I need help, I will call you," he said, looking in the Riolu's eyes. Shadow nodded, reached out and touched the button on his ball, and recalled himself.

Jaima had looked up Lenoilia on the map card that Kamon had provided him, and had hoped that the description of the city was either very old or false. Looking around at the swamp and city, his hopes were dashed. What pollution hadn't accomplished, gangs had, covering anythng that was stationary with vile graffiti. He looked at Mindy, who looked like she might cry, and couldn't blame her. He felt like he might as well.

It started to rain.

"Well, here we are," Mindy announced in a shaky voice. "Welcome to Lenoilia." Sarcasm dripped from her words.

"Isn't it magical," Jaima replied softly, the same amount of dry humor and absolute disgust in his own phrase.

No one seemed to want to cross the bridge first. Jaima himself wanted to pull his bandolier off and hide it in his bag until they were through the polluted city, but he stilled his hands at his sides instead, wishing he could stop them from shaking.

"Kipf, kipf," came a weak cry from below and to the left. Jaima blinked and looked. Everyone seemed entranced by the spectacle before them, and the noise had been so soft that no one had heard it over the rain. Jaima couldn't even be certain he'd heard it at all.

"Kipf, kipf." The sound was weak, and Jaima looked down. Something in the fecally colored water moved, and Jaima nearly flinched back, but something about the tiny weezing cry made him look over the rail instead.

"Kipf..." The brown blob moved, pulling itself out of the corroded water to flop on the bank. Muck oozed off of it, revealing the pale, sickly blue skin beneath. It couldn't have been very old, but it was a pokémon, and if Jaima had to guess, a water type. Those realizations happened in the back of Jaima's mind, because the only thing concerning his conscious thought processes was the fact that this pokémon was as near death as he'd ever seen.

Jaima vaulted over the rail and landed next to the pokémon, slipping and falling on his rear. He lifted the poor creature and used the rain to try to get the majority of the slime off of it. It opened pale blue eyes and coughed, "kipf, kipf," before closing them again and going still.

Jaima was terrified the little thing had died in his hands, but he held on to it as he climbed up the slippery bank. Once on more solid ground, he pulled off his gi top (revealing a black tank top underneath) and wrapped the pokémon in it. "Guys, I need help here," he called, pulling out his pokégear. The directory came up, and having one hand full, he practically shouted at the device to let the voice recognition software dial for him. "Professor Elm!"

There was a long connection time, then Professor Elm's smiling face came on the screen. The smile faded as he saw the look on Jaima's face. "Jaima, what is it?" His demeanor changed, from kindly to serious, his voice coming out clipped.

"I have a sick pokémon on my hands, Prof," Jaima said, his own tone clipped. "We're in a town that's absolutely polluted, and a water type was in what passes for water around here. Any suggestions?"

"Is there a pokécenter nearby?"

"Don't know. We just arrived here, but I don't think there's anything legitimate. The next closest town is Arasam, and we're heading there ASAP."

Professor Elm nodded, relaxing slightly. "OK, I'm assuming you got it out and cleaned it as best you could. He'll need-*" A loud squelching noise issued from the gear. At first Jaima thought it had shorted, but he knew they were waterproof, at least for rain. The screen went white, and the words flashed in red: CONNECTION LOST.

Jaima let loose a string of swear words that were only slightly less vile than the graffiti.

"Do any of you have any potions and antidotes?" Jaima was scrambling in his bag for his kit. "I only have three of each right now. Berries!" He said the last word like a revelation. "Oran, Pecha, Lum, Sitrus, Rawst in a pinch." He looked at his companions. "Please guys, I can't let this little one just die..."

OOOooo, the drama.

"caught" lvl 10

The pokégear going out is in reference to this post.

[Living Arrow]

Darryn's first impression of Lenoilia matched the apparent feelings of both Mindy and Jaima. He wrinkled up his nose at the smell of the murk and dirt all around them and suddenly felt grimy all over. Thoughts of bathing in rose oil were a welcome distraction despite how briefly they lasted.

"Wha-?" Darryn watched as Jaima flung himself into a muddy ditch off the side of the road and proceeded to squabble about with a messy blob in the mud. It was only when Jaima announced that he was holding a living creature was it that Darryn bothered to move.
He watched on in helpless worry as Jaima called for help from Professor Elm of the Johto region and got even more distressed when the PokeGear's signal cut out.

Jaima called for assistance, desperate to give the little Pokemon some aid but shock had rooted itself deep into Darryn's bones.

*Pulse... airways... breathing...* Darryn's first aid course from years before slowly surface in his mind but nothing concrete seemed to form between his ears.

Darryn stared at the bundle in Jaima's arms, frozen to the spot. With all the health care training he had, surely this would be the one place he could put it to best use?! But what to do? Without his books and really understanding the situation, Darryn was at a loss for words.

*Potions and antidotes are no good unless we actually know what is wrong in the first place... oh crap! Come on, Darryn!*

"Give it air!" Darryn suddenly shouted, still standing in the same spot as Mindy bothered over the sick Pokemon with Jaima. Darck watched with a curious frown, completely unreadable. They all gave him a set of stares that almost shoved Darryn back into his silent shell. "I mean, it has to breathe first and foremost. and to really know how it breathes, we need to know what it is..." He ran to Jaima and gently stroked the creature's head, wiping off handfuls of dark sludge. The blue of the Pokemon's skin was smooth... smooth like a Poliwag from the Celadon City pond... but its body wasn't like the round Tadpole...

"It's skin being so smooth and hairless combined with the fact it has legs means it's an amphibious Pokemon so it breathes with both its lungs and through its skin!" Darryn abruptly announced, his confidence kicking back in after its momentary stupor. "It needs to be properly washed first before we try and do anything else! Everyone's drinking water should be enough but then we need to identify cause of injury, take preventative measures, then use treatments like Potions last when we can be sure nothing is getting worse..."

Darryn proceeded to hastily open his canteen and fling the water inside at the muddy Pokemon, half splashing Jaima in the process.

"We need to be fast!" Darryn urged.

[Master Houndoom]

The water from Darryn's canteen splashed half on the pokémon and half on Jaima's face. Ordinarially Jaima wouldn't have minded, considering the rain coming down, but he had been opening his mouth to speak when Darryn threw the water.

"Darryn," he said calmly after a bout of coughing, "you're right, we need to be quick. We also need to be careful." He ticked off on his fingers. "The pokémon is a water type, but it's been exposed to a toxic sludge for an indeterminate abount of time. That means it's been poisoned, and until we get to a pokécenter, we need to find a way to treat the symptoms. That's why I need the potions and the antidotes, to feed to it gradually until we can find a place where a skilled nurse can take over." As he spoke, he felt himself calming as well. "I was hoping I could send her to Professor Elm back home for treatment, but the pokégear isn't working."

Jaima helped clean the little pokémon off, making sure that it was breathing as it did so. "I'm not 100% on water types, especially since I've only treated Johto specific species. I'm worried about this rain. With all the pollution in the air, it could be acid rain. I think she'll be OK wrapped up in my jacket for a while, but it woul dbe best to get her out of the storm, preferably into some clean water."

Thinking helped him remain calm, remembering his work with Professor Oak. Like many towns with labs in them, they sometimes had to act as emergency pokécenters. Luckily his mother was a breeder and knew some things about different pokémon species. Still, he'd have been happier if he could have had Professor Elm's help on this.


Monk- You're awesome, Jaima.

[The Rose Crusade...]

If Melinda hadn't already been absolutely appalled by the pathetic town, then she certainly was after seeing the poor water pokemon nearly poisoned to death by the toxic sludge! She only wished that she could help! Wait... maybe she could! Melinda reached down into her bag and pulled out her favorite item: the Berry Dispenser. It was a commodity in places like Floaroma Town where berries were used in everyday activities. She had not once needed to use it in the Furoh region, but this sure had seemed like a good time as ever. Melinda owned the extra large dispenser that could hold about twenty berries at a time. Melinda frantically clicked through the berries on the device's LCD screen, trying to find the berry that would be best suitable for this situation. The machine electronically shrinks the berries so that they fit compactly, and then recognizes them, so that it keeps track of how many berries are left. Melinda saw that she had two of pretty much everything: Cheri, Chesto, Pecha, Rawst, Aspear, Leppa, Oran, Persim, Lum, and Sitrus.

"Oran, Pecha, Lum, Sitrus, Rawst in a pinch!" Jaima announced in frustration. Melinda immediately dispensed all five of the berries Jaima had called for and handed them over to Jaima, hoping that he would find at least one of them suitable for the ailing pokemon.

[Living Arrow]

Darryn was completely embarrassed. Not only did he lose his cool but all of the things he had learned at the Pokemon High in Celadon City had gone flying out of his head like an angry flock of Spearow. He watched on nervously as Mindy offered up her berries to Jaima and watched Jaima look from one to the other, trying to decide which to give to the sick Pokemon first. Darryn inwardly groaned. He knew all sorts of things about how each of those berries would improve a Pokemon's condition but their medicinal effects eluded his thoughts.

"Try all of them?" Darryn weakly suggested. He really didn't know what else to say. His personal strengths were in making things look good and training specific abilities with different Pokemon by bringing out the best in their behaviour. Pokemon medicine was completely beyond him and identifying that weakness so clearly at such a crucial time was devastating.

He flicked open his Pokedex - the only thing he had that might even come close to helping in the situation.

[Mudkip, the Mud Fish Pokemon. The fin on a Mudkip's head is sensitive to vibrations and may be used as a radar to detect movement around it without using its eyes. When under water this Pokemon uses the gills on the sides of its head to breath and its tail fin for propulsion.]

"Right, so it's poisoned and needs proper help." Darryn muttered to himself. "Then let's get an idea of where to go. Pidgey!"
He threw the Premier Ball up into the air, forcing the bird to emerge in mid-air. It's litling flight threatened to let it fall but somehow the Tiny Bird stayed aloft.

"Pidgey, go and fly over the town. Find the Pokemon Center then come back here and lead us to it, OK?" Darryn ordered his Pokemon.
Pidgey squawked his outrage at being asked to fly that far but took off nonetheless, floating upwards at a respectable speed and towards the town.
With Pidgey disappearing into the sky, Darryn turned back to Jaima and Mindy, waiting for them to decide on how best to treat the Mudkip for now.

[Master Houndoom]

When Mindy handed over the exact berries he'd asked for, Jaima was too relieved to censor himself. "You're brilliant, Min," he muttered. He washed his hands with his own cantine, then washed off the berries and smashed the pecha and citrus berries into a paste, scooping some up with his finger and sticking that into the pokémon's mouth. "Come on, little one, have a taste..."

It was a tense few seconds in which the little water type didn't move, but then he felt its tongue touch his finger. Immediately, it rasped in a deep breath and coughed, splattering Jaima's chest with mucous.

"Niiice," he muttered, but didn't seem to mind otherwise. Instead he gently ran a thumb across the blue skin between its fin and spiked gil, chewing his lower lip. The pokémon opened its eyes once, then closed them. Though there was still a little gurgle, it seemed to be breathing easier.

Jaima closed his eyes. "OK, that'll have to do for now. Let's get under something and see what we can do from there." He turned to Mindy and Darryn, his eyes full of gratitude. "Thanks for your help. It was a good idea," he said, addressing Darryn directly, "to send Pidgy to find better facilities, and to wash this one off. I should have thought of that myself." He nodded, then looked around. "Come on, there's an eave over that way that's dryer than here." Without waiting, Jaima crossed the bridge into what was once Lenoilia Town.

[The Rose Crusade...]

As the group walked through a desolate city they all came to realize the reality of this pathetic town. Dark. Creepy. Eerie. Sinister. All of these words flew though Melinda's head as they were matched with visual descriptions of their own. All she could wonder, apart from the ailing Mudkip, was that how no one had thought to help this suffering town? Furoh was a fairly wealthy region, and could easily have helped the decrepit town. Regardless, Melinda cleared her mind of such thoughts as the group walked through the barren streets of Lenoilia. The wind had begun to howl violently which Made Mindy shudder. It as getting darker and the day was barely through!

Suddenly the gang heard and saw a Pidgey cooing and flapping its arms toward them. It landed in Darryn's arm and pointed with its exhausted little wings towards a luckily nearby Pokemon Center. Surprisingly enough, the Pokemon Center was fully operational. Spotless of any dirt or decrepitness, it looked just as healthy as the one in Gigarte and Barley. Melinda wondered how this was the only thing that seemed to be cared for in this town. As they walked into the center Melinda decided to sit down on the couches and pick up a copy of Trainer's Weekly, as she had missed last week's issue.

[Living Arrow]

Darryn fussed over Pidgey when his fat form fluttered to his arms and made sure to congratulate the Pokemon on a good job well done. Miraculously the bird had returned with just as many feathers as he had left with, giving Darryn the signal that they were finally beginning to take firmer root with the medicine he had been given in Gigarte. He let Pidgey dive back into the Premier Ball with a flash and followed the others to the Pokemon Center.

One by one the trainers passed their Pokeballs to the Nurse Joy on the other side of the counter and moved to the rest area to wait for their lot numbers to be called out.
Darryn held back on his Heal Ball, retaining Lady at his belt while the others were treated behind the scenes. Rather than sit with the others, he nodded to Mindy and gestured towards the door to signal he was going outside for a bit and left the Center.

In the dark, grimy streets of Lenoilia Darryn couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the stale stench that clung to the flat city air and dug up the memorable sweet freshness of Gigarte. He might have been underground for longer than he would have liked but at least it was clean! He watched a sickly Rattata spring from a bin and dash into a tiny hole, dragging what looked like a bone along with it. As someone who took pride in appearances he was left feeling rather empty in this dirty town and looked forward to leaving. That was until he saw the flyer. It was yellow and crumpled, pen scrawled on it rather than it being professionally printed. It was not how it looked, however, that caught Darryn's eye.

[Evolutionary Stones! Ever wanted to help your Pokemon move along to its next form without the wait? Look no further! Come to Denizen Alley to find all sorts of items that could help you and your Pokemon reach their finest in not time at all!]

He snatched up the paper and examined the map that was scribbled underneath the brief message. It looked as though "Denizen Alley" was in the brewery quarter near to the edge of town. Easily walkable but still around half an hour from the Pokemon Center. He immediately began considering how much time he would have to spare to take the trip across town without the others leaving him behind as they continued his journey. Maybe they'd want to go too? Whatever the case, Darryn slipped the paper into his pocket and focused on what he had gone outside to do.

"Lady."

He clicked open the Heal Ball and his Vulpix emerged, primly snorting and turning her head away from him. He didn't bother to chastise her but instead bent down and took the Soothe Bell from his backpack.

"Lady, I want you to wear this beautiful bell." He said, choosing his words carefully with his hot-headed Pokemon. "I think it would suit you very well and you would look even more pretty."

The vulpine's head swivelled to him, her large brown eyes gazing into his own.

<Beautiful.> Her voice finally said, her head bobbing a nod as she paced towards him and allowed Darryn to fasten the item to her forepaw. Her muscles seemed to relax a little as the soft chime of the bell sounded as she raised and lowered her foot, testing its weight.

"Good girl." Darryn muttered, not forgetting what she had done to Mindy. "Now I want you to make a fresh start with my friends, OK? No complaints, no anger, no calling anyone ugly or weak. Just be calm and still and act how a real Lady would, yes?"

His Vulpix spoke a single "Vul" and nodded, keeping close to Darryn's ankle as he went back into the Pokemon Center and joined the others.

[Master Houndoom]

The nurse hadn't discussed anything with him, just taken the injured pokémon and hurried to the back. She had left the carrier with his actual team's pokéballs on the counter, but a chansey had come out and taken them shortly thereafter. That was when the adrenaline wore off.

Jaima avoided the furniture as much as possible. He was still caked with mud and slime from his ordeal with the water pokémon, and soaked to boot. But he really wished he could sit down and recuperate. He felt emotionally drained, as if the gloom of the city had sucked the life right out of him.

Wiping off his hands as best he could, he reached into his bag for a change of clothes and excused himself to the bathroom, where he stepped into a stall and stripped. The shirt was absolutely ruined, and there was a red spot on his chest from where the poison slime had soaked through, but Jaima ignored it for the time being, instead wiping off as much of the grime as he could from his skin before getting into some dry clothes. Once he had some pants on, he stepped out of the stall and washed his chest off. The red mark burned a bit, but did not seem to be causing him any serious harm. He'd keep an eye on it.

He finished washing and dressing, then undid his braid and rinsed the muck from his hair. Afterward he redid the braid and slid his glasses back on.

The image looking back at him looked much older than sixteen, but that would be cured by a nap and a shower.

When he stepped out of the restroom, Mindy caught his eye and pointed to the front desk, where an expectantly looking nurse was looking around. He stepped up to the desk.

"Mr. Kuonji, I want you to know, I'm not the police. We are very discreet here at the pokécenter by matter of survival. But I want to know, so I can treat her properly, where did you get that mudkip?"

"That what now?"

The nurse's eye's hooded slightly. "The pokémon you brought in. It's a mudkip. They're native to the Hoenn region, and is used as their water starter there. Where did you get him?"

Jaima's brow furrowed. The nurse must have been nervous, because she went on before he could answer. "You see, that mudkip came in before with another man, who was large and bald and complained that she wasn't carrying her weight. I offered to keep her and send her to an adoption agency, but he muttered something and left. That was three days ago."

The emotions that Jaima had felt were drained came rising to the top. "Three days! Arceus, you mean she was in that... that... fetid excuse for a stream for three days?!"

The reaction might have frightened someone else, but it seemed to relieve the nurse. "Oh, you found her in a stream?"

"No, I found her in an over ground sewer! Is she all right?" Jaima's fingers clenched on the counter, turning the knuckles and fingertips white. Again, the nurse seemed to physically relax.

"She'll be fine. Whoever did the first aid managed to help the removal of the toxins along nicely. I think she was very lucky that you and your friends happened along when you did." The nurse smiled brilliantly and practically flounced back to the back. Jaima, however, was much more subdued when he went back to his friends.

"She said the pokémon was someone else's. That can only mean they dumped her." He rested his head back and sighed. "Arceus, I hate people..."

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda didn't end up reading much of the magazine, there was too much to think about. The weird town. Th abandoned pokemon. Her pokemon. After they received treatment from the Nurse Joy, Melinda called each of them out of their pokeballs to have a look at them. Misdreavus was her wispy lil' self and Feebas was actually looking more content. Melinda reached into her bag and fed her the last of the stale dry poffin, which again, Feebas devoured quickly. "There's no more Feebas, I'm sorry" she told her pokemon. Feebas sighed, but surprisingly stayed smiling, as if it didn't matter anymore.

Swellow was looking wonderful, better than her other two pokemon combined. Swellow's brilliant blue feather with contrasting red breastfeathers and face gave him a special look among Melinda's team. But it was his sharply shaped wings and tailfeathers that defined his magnificence. Evolution had done wonders for the tiny swallow pokemon indeed. But what made Swellow so different was really his size. Most Swellow grow to about two feet and 50 pounds, according to Darryn's PokéDex, but Swellow was at least four feet tall! Melinda got up to weigh her new pokemon at a machine in the center which told her that the bird pokemon weighed an enormous 76 pounds! It wasn't that he was fat or anything, but strong and fit. "A work of art", Melinda thought, "My lil' blue jay". Mindy was remembering how pathetic the bird had been when she had first captured him. Alone. Small. Weak. Noting like the behemoth that stood before her. Melinda hugged Swellow tightly, whispering, "I'm so proud of you Jay, you're amazing". the pokemon's wings soon covered Melinda, which made her just love him all the more.

Melinda returned her pokemon and walked into a nearby bathroom to freshen up. Her hair was a mess and would need proper cleaning, but that would come later. She combed out all of the gook and put it in a tight ponytail with a hair scrunch, watered down the rest of the grime and left the restroom. Mindy walked back to the main group just in time to see and hear Jaima's conversation with Nurse Joy and was appalled by what she heard. Dumped? Someone actually dumped their pokemon in a toxic sludge infested stream? Melinda stayed silent though, because Jaima did the talking for her. Once the Nurse had left Melinda walked over to Jaima and held his hand as he sat down. She had tried to settle him down, because geeze, was he fumed.

"Jaima, it's okay. Mudkip is safe in your hands now. You can't control what these other brainless insensitive jerks do with their pokemon, but at least you saved little Mudkip. It's over for him, so don't feel bad, okay?"

[Living Arrow]

Darryn noticed the way with which Lady tensed up when she saw Mindy and instinctively picked her up, cradling the Vulpix in his arms softly but firm enough so that she wouldnt be able to struggle free for whatever reason she might make the attempt. He crossed the foyer to catch the tailend of the Nurse's conversation with Jaima and instantly felt terrible. Caterpie and Pidgey were in awful condition when he had taken them as his own but never ever had he considered treating them the same way that the wayward Mudkip had been.

"It's over for him, so don't feel bad, okay?" Mindy reassured their friend.

"Yeah, plus raising her to be the best she can be would be the biggest and best come-back you or her could ever give her previous owner. Just think how they would feel when they realise the idiocy of what they've done. You never know, it might even convince them to treat their Pokemon better if they ever saw her again." Darryn added his own advice, Lady nodding along with him.

<Strong. Beautiful.> She told Darryn, giving what seemed like begrudging support. A Chansey toddled over to the front desk with Darryn's Pokeball Tray and he reached down to take up the three balls and fasten them all back to his belt.

"Aaaand," Darryn fished in his pocket, "this place might be able to help! They say they can help Pokemon evolve and I'm sure they must have other things to make ours even more amazing. I'm planning on heading over town this evening if either of you guys want to come?" He spared a look for Darck who was waiting near the Nurse's station. "You could come too if you fancied it."

[Master Houndoom]

((For some reason, I spent all this time not knowing Mindy had posted ))

Jaima sighed, squeezing Mindy's hand lightly before letting go to accept his tray of pokémon from the chancy, who bowed (as much as she was able) and scampered back to the healing area. The Nurse of the pokécenter had been behind the chancy and bowed, holding the mudkip in her arms. The mudkip looked tired and still pale, but much better than when Jaima had pulled her out of the muck.

"Mr. Kuonji, I'm sorry I implied that you had stolen this pokémon. You other pokémon are fit and healthy, and you obviously went to some lengths to make sure the mudkip survived." She took a deep breath and blew it out, as if preparing to say something difficult. "She's obviously abandoned. Why don't you claim her?"

Jaima looked the nurse in the eye and nodded, fishing a pokéball out of his bag. He held it up to the mudkip, who tilted her head at the device. The pokémon looked at the nurse, who smiled encouragingly, then reached out and touched the button with a foreleg. It was instantly swept up in energy and pulled into the device.

The nurse smiled. "Thank you. I hope you will take care of her. And congratulations for the brilliant first aid."

"My friends helped." Jaima's voice was tight. "Darryn helped wash her off, and Mindy provided the berries. Darryn's pokémon also found this place." The nurse smiled at each of the three companions with Jaima, and walked back to her counter.

"Darryn, I'll go with you. I think I'm going to need to see if there's anything to help Tsunami," he held up the plain red and white pokémon that he had just "captured" the mudkip with, "grow strong."

[Living Arrow]

"Awesome-o!" Darryn bobbed on the spot, shaking Lady uneasily around and making her Soothe Bell toll its merry chimes. "Well, how about we all get some dinner then head on over to this place? It's in town so there will be streetlights around even when it is dark so there shouldn't be anything to worry about."

He added that last part for Mindy, remembering her worry from the night before. He felt a little weird having to reassure someone for being scared of the dark but if anyone caught onto his fear then they'd probably think the same of him.

"Hopefully evolving will make my Eevee calm down a little or at least give him some sort of maturity so I don't have to keep an eye on him all the time." Darryn sighed, crossing through the Pokemon Center to the food court where they would have their evening meal.

It's short but I was struggling a bit to write anything :p

[The Rose Crusade...]

Melinda sat down at the table with her fries, hot dog, and a shake. She sat next to Darck who decided to get a burger. "So Darck..." she began, trying to strike up some sort of conversation with him. Darck had been pretty silent since the gang ad arrived in Lenoilia. "What do you think about Darryn's evolution scheme? It might be good, maybe it could even help some of our pokemon!" she exclaimed as she took a hand full of fries.

"I think I want to just explore this town a bit. None of my pokemon are compatible with evolution stones, so there would be no point in me going there." Darck explained while taking a bite out of his burger.

"Alright, that's cool," Melinda told him. "I think I'll join you in exploring. Don't want to be caught alone in this town, you know"" The boy nodded as the couple ocntinued their meal in silence. Soon Jaima and Darryn had joined them and they continued their talk of evolution. Melinda had already evolved two of her pokemon: Taillow and Vespiquen. She wondered if her Feebas had any potential in evolving, but didn't want to sound stupid and ask the question. Mindy was sure Misdreavus could evolve because she had seen Fantina's Mismagius on her television plenty of times as a kid. Melinda wasn't so sure that Misdreavus wanted to evolve, however, so Mindy decided to keep it at that.

"So are you guys going to the evolution exposition tomorrow or tonight?" Darck asked quite randomly as he finished his burger.



This post has been edited by The Rose Crusader: Mar 2 2009, 11:05 AM

[Living Arrow]

"Well, I'd rather go tonight." Darryn said as he pulled up a seat and sat alongside Mindy. "I don't know about you guys but I'd sooner get this done then leave this town first thing in the morning. I don't think the air here is doing my Pokemon any good and Lady's going to need some training at some point - preferably somewhere less covered in grime."

Lady gave a nod of agreement, her Soothe Bell laughing on her ankle.

Darryn hastily muched down his own meal, pushing most of the meat onto a fork for Lady to have to herself. Her trainer spared the briefest of moments considering his actions towards her, hoping that his other Pokemon would not become jealous, but that only turned into thoughts of evolution.

*Eevee would benefit the most from evolving - he really needs a more mature outlook on his behaviour and a few stronger attacks would really help him out in battles rather than relying so much on defense and dodging...*

"So, tonight? What do you guys think?"

[Master Houndoom]

"Tonight sounds fine," Jaima said, setting down his kontatsu and ramen and taking the seat next to Darck. "We should probably take a pokemon for protection." Picking up his chopsticks, he started pulling noodles into his mouth. As soon as he found out Tsunami was okay, he felt ravenously hungry. "I'm going to leave Mercury, Fang, and Grondir with Tsu. They're the easiest to acclimate her. Shadow and Ember will come with me." He turned to Darryn. "We'll go after dessert, huh?"

Jaima's food was gone soon after he'd announced who was going woth him, and he had to spend a few moments consoling Mercury and Grondir about being left behind. They finally seemed to understand and soon Mercury was cooing over Tsunami, who was awake, though still groggy.

"OK, Darryn, let's go."

Because Jaima was heading out, he didn't hear the Nurse, who was young herself (who else could be convinced to take such a dangerous post but a teenaged Joy?) Ask Mindy if the "tall blonde boy" was single...

This post has been edited by Jaima: Mar 6 2009, 03:32 AM

[Living Arrow]

Darryn shooed Lady off his lap to rise from his seat and join Jaima but quickly spared time to give Mindy a <be careful> look coupled with a glance at Darck before fishing out the poster from before.

Out in the streets of Lenoilia, Darryn spread the sheet open and showed it to Jaima so they could both get a look at the scribbled map. Darryn hated to admit it but he was terrible with directions and waited for the other trainer to point in the direction which they should be headed before they began the walk across town. The late evening air was stale and stank of open bins much to both trainers distaste but neither wore their opinion as openly as Lady who tiptoed around every inidentified blob on the sidewalk with her nose lifted high with self importance.

It took a little over a half hour to reach Denizen Alley after one wrong turn and an unfortunate encounter with a Spinarak which Darryn begged Jaima not to mention to anyone... ever...
Denizen Alley turned out to really be just an alleyway with a single shadowed door in one wall with a cracked and faded sign above the threshold. It read 'Rock Polish Rewards' but Darryn saw nothing rewarding about the place. It looked like it had been abandoned for more than a couple of years and a family of Rattata seemed to have made a home in the drain by the door, judging by the footprints left in the excrement that had been left there.

"Ugh," Darryn groaned, "I guess they don't care too much about appearances, huh?" He gave Jaima an apologetic look, sorry for bringing him to such a nasty place, but was intent on going in and not wasting the entire trip. Slowly, Darryn pushed the door open and was very surprised to find that it didn't creak like he expected and merely slid back to reveal a dimly lit interior.
Lady looked inside then back at Darryn with a look of *You don't expect me to go in there, do you?* before snorting and padding in first, her trainer close behind.

As Darryn's eyes conditioned themselves to the gloom of the shop, Darryn called out to the surroundings, "Hello? Is anyone here?"